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To say that Jihun hated the graveyard shift was an understatement.
To be more accurate, he despised it with a burning passion that he had never felt before towards anything or anyone else. Well, except perhaps his high school pre-calc teacher who deliberately failed him due to a personal grudge, but that was irrelevant. Unfortunately, as a deadbeat college student caught up between classes, schoolwork and his disappointing lack of social life, the only shift he could take was the dreaded graveyard shift.
So, that was how Jihun stood where he is now, behind the counter of a musty, almost completely deserted 24-hour gas station at quarter past one in the morning, flicking through his cello-taped together textbook which he hastily hid away everytime someone entered said gas station - that being, really not very often.
Every night, Jihun saw very few customers - honestly, it was to be expected, considering the position that this dingy little station was located. Very little people travelled down here, and even if they did, there really were far better choices for them to stop off at to buy snacks and take a break than this “four health violations and counting”, “stocks approximately only ten items at one time”, “looks five minutes away from shutting down” gas station.
That being said, Jihun really should go out and try to clean off the mould that was starting to grow near the back of the shop…..
Jihun sighed - he was not paid enough to deal with this, and the minimum wage pay cheque he was given wasn’t about to convince this lowly cashier to go and complete the job of the non-existent cleaners the management were too cheap to afford. He remained where he was, slouching over the counter, trying to make sense of the tiny lines on his book that were blurring together as the clock continued to tick by.
Time continued to pass just as slowly as before, crawling by, as Jihun waited until he could finally clock off. During this whole time, only one person came into the gas station - a big, burly, biker version of Hulk, who chucked a six pack of Red Bull, a one litre bottle of caramel syrup, a pack of frozen dumplings and 10 boxes of condoms for the poor cashier to scan.
Jihun really didn’t want to know what the plan was with that selection of items. His only comment was that at least they were staying safe…. right?
However, nothing else had appeared after that one customer, and Jihun resigned himself to trying to make sense of whatever was going on in his textbook.
It was past 4am now, still over another two hours until he could clock out. The only thing he wanted now was to drag himself out, take a (most likely cold) shower whilst moaning about how his roommate, Inseong, still hadn’t called anyone to fix their heating, and take a nap before his 11am class started.
However, it was still a long time before he would be allowed to leave, and the most Jihun could do was to keep slapping himself in the face with his book to prevent himself from falling asleep on the clock.
When the flickering digital sign in the wall showed 4:30am, Jihun vaguely registered the sound of the ‘half fallen off its own hinge’ door clattering open, and he quickly pulled himself out of three dream world he had already half fallen into, plastering the best customer service smile he could muster into his face as he clumsily shoved his book onto the shelf below the counter. No matter how much he despised his job, Jihun really couldn’t afford to lose it, along with the measly minimum wage earnings that came along with it, especially not due to some random asshole disliking the attitude he gave them at some random fucking o’clock and reporting him up to management.
“Welcome to 220! If you have any difficulty finding anything, please feel free to ask!” Jihun said through his gritted teeth, trying to sound as chipper as he possibly could. Rather than the rough grunt of acknowledgement or loud shuffling he was expecting to hear, Jihun was instead met with pure silence - no talking, no mumbling, not even the slight rustling of movement.
When Jihun finally lifted his eyes to see what was happening, he found a tall man standing a few feet away from the counter, dressed from head to toe in a formal suit. Jihun could feel his smile freezing in his face as the man continued to glare at him, not seeming like he was about to move anywhere any time soon.
Finally, he seemed to give up, striding away towards the back of the gas station. Letting out a sigh, Jihun peered towards where the strange man had walked to, taking a moment to appreciate the stunningly long legs attached to him, before shaking his head.
That guy was probably just some ruff chaebol who had been forced to stop off here to pick something up, Most likely, he had never even seen a place like this before in his life.
Jihun scoffed silently, turning around, A damn waste of visuals, honesty…..
He sighed again, before quickly scrambling up to stand straight once he saw the only other person here approaching the front counter. From the closer distance, Jihun could see that the man was a couple of inches taller than him, and probably around roughly the same age, and still hanging on his face was the glare from earlier.
The stony expression locked on Jihun as the man placed his items onto the counter in front of them. Jihun gulped. He’d be lying if he said that he wasn’t at all intimidated by the man in front of him. He'd also be lying if he said that he wasn’t at all intimidated by him either. Jihun gave up, turning away to scan the items that then man had placed down, before having a double take.
Jihun raised his eyebrow, looked at the two items, before looking up at the man before him, and then back to the items, and then back to the man, before finally returning to the items in the counter, starting to wring them up. The corner of Jihun’s lips curled up slightly, even as he felt vaguely confused, taking a close look at the pororo design on the peach fizzy drink and the cat shaped rice snacks he was bagging up.
Finally, Jihun handed the plastic bag to the other man, this time a smile coming a little more easily back into his face.
“That will be 3500 won.”
Slowly, the man handed over a banknote that once again caused Jihun’s smile to freeze and threaten to slide off his face.
Jihun blinked at the golden 50000 won note that was shoved against his face, sighing internally at the counting he was preparing himself for. Just to be petty, Jihun looked up, an eyebrow raised towards the man as he snatched the 50000 won note over, although his eyes quickly slid back down again once faced with that glare.
Quickly, he started counting his change, vaguely tempted for a second to just give the other man his change entirely in 10 won coins. He didn’t of course - because he was nice, unlike some people, and had better things to do with his time. Quite honestly, there probably weren't enough coins in the cash register either to begin with.
Quietly, Jihun handed over the changes bid the man farewell and pulled up his tattered textbook again, watching the man’s car pull away in the darkness, leaving behind just the trailing tail lights. Jihun sighed once again, for the nth time throughout that entire transaction, and peered towards the flickering signboard.
4:43am.
Jihun couldn’t do anything after reading that except to sigh again.
Honestly, at this rate, his mouth was going to become seriously dry.
Tha had only taken just over 10 minutes, and now Jihun was left alone once again to struggle through the remaining two and a quarter hours of his graveyard shift.
Jihun hated his life.
It was almost 8am when Jihun returned to his apartment. Inseong, his roommate, seemed to be just preparing to leave, standing in the doorway with his coat and backpack, eyebrow raised at Jihun.
“Well you look like shit.” he commented, watching Jihun shuffle past him slowly, already appearing to be half asleep.
“I feel like shit too, so I guess that works.” Jihun replied, yawning. “ There was a weird dude who came into the shop this morning.
Inseong hesitated a bit, shifting his bag onto his shoulder before replying. “Jihun, everyone who goes into that gas station is weird.”
“No, but like…. It wasn’t some crusty old middle aged gangster, or something like that - Some rich chaebol walked in, I think, who probably got lost. He looked like he was pissed with the whole world during the entire transaction, but walked up wanting to buy a pororo designed snack?” Jihun shook his head, laughing at the ridiculousness of the whole situation. “ The dude tried to pay with a 50000 won note, I swear, I stood there for so long just counting up his change.”
Jihun scoffed at the memory.
Inseong rolled his eyes at Jihun’s whining, leaning against the open door.
“How inconsiderate of him.” He finally answered. “I need to head to class now, but there’s leftover tteokbokki and takeout in the fridge if you want it.
Inseong levelled a glare at Jihun
“Remember to microwave it. You know how your stomach acted up the last time you ate cold leftovers.”
Jihun stuck his tongue out at Inseong.
“Yes mum~”
“Don’t call me that!” Inseong sighed. “And don't forget to set your alarm! Choi won’t let it go if you’re late again.”
“Yes Mum!”
Jihun laughed when he heard the muttering curses, followed by the door slamming shut, before heading into the kitchen to find something to eat.
Inseong really was like a mother hen at times, but he meant well, and, if Jihun was honest with himself, he probably needed someone like Inseong in his life.
Checking his phone, Jihun sighed. He had barely any time before he had to head to class, and after class he would once again need to cycle over to the gas station to work the night shift again.
He really, really hated the graveyard shift.
“I hope you have a good day!” Jihun forced out the words through his gritted teeth, trying to sound as chirpy as he could while avoiding the leery eyes of the customer in front of him. Whilst Jihun was fairly certain he would be able to fight off the person in front of him if the situation called for it, he couldn’t exactly afford to lose the job, and the pay cheque that came along with it.
Jihun gingerly passed the customer’s item’s over to him, internally groaning at the mix of cigarettes, red bull and dried squid, still ignoring the customer’s trailing eyes.
“You’re a pretty little one, ain’t you?”
Jihun presses his lips together into a forced smile, looking downwards to avoid seeing the customer, his textbook digging tightly into his upper thigh below the counter.
“Is...is there anything else you would like, sir?”
The other shuffled closer to the counter, whilst Jihun slowly inched away from it on the other side.
“Well….there is something-”
The door suddenly clacked open, interrupting what the other man was about to say, now muttering angrily under his breath, annoyed, before storming out.
Jihun let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding back, before straightening up again, remembering that another customer entering had been what saved him from the previous one.
“Good morning, and welcome to 220! If you have difficulty finding anything, please feel free to ask!”
Somedays, Jihun really just felt like he was a NPC placed there, repeating the same three phrases over and over again. It was only four hours into his shift today, and he had already lost track long ago of how many times he had repeated those words.
Jihun looked up, wanting to see who had been his ‘saviour’ this early morning. Seeing the face in front of him, he paused. It was the same chaebol kid as yesterday,
this time in a crisp, ironed, white shirt and slacks, but with the same unmoving expression as yesterday,
Still, no matter how intimidating he was, it was better than that annoying, greasy customer that was intent on attempting to defile him with his eyes. The man in front of him stood there for a while, a few feet away from the counter, staring at Jihun, before striding away towards the back of the shop.
Jihun finally relaxed, stepping back a few more steps.His eyes searched the flickering digital display for the time, and sighed. It was only just past half past three, and Jihun had been running entirely on caffeine and pure spite for the past day.
His fingers tapped on his textbook under the counter, wondering why this customer had come in at around the same time, twice in two days. Surely he hadn’t needed to fill up on gas again already, right?
Jihun shook his head, and straightened up, seeing that the man had come striding back, items in hand which he quickly placed on the counter. Jihun peered curiously at the items, wondering if the cuteness of the selection yesterday was just an one-off situation.
Jihun was not disappointed, turning over the digimon designed snacks.
Jihun rung them up, internally praying that he wouldn’t try to pay using a 50000 won note again.
“That will be 1200 won.”
Jihun let out a breath of relief looking at the collection of change that was handed over, quickly counting them up and handing him his change back over to him.
“Thank you for shopping here, I hope you have a good day!”
Jihun chuckled as the customer seemed stuck for a second, before pocketing the change and walking out.
“Cute,” he thought, looking out the window to see him driving off, before reluctantly dragging up his textbook again. He still had a half finished essay that's due tomorrow morning.
After that, seeing that customer at the gas station became a very common appearance. Every day that Jihun was working the night shift, he would see him coming in around 4am, bringing the cutest selection of items up to the counter, still with that every unchanging glare on his face.
Jihun only worked at the gas station from Mondays to Thursdays, so he asked the night shift workers for the rest of the week, Dongwon and Heejun, if they had seen him.
Dongwon had never seen him before, but Heejun had had something to say.
“Around this tall right?” Heejun waved his hand around the height. “Looks super scary and formal.”
Heejun asked Jihun while trying to attempt to attach his name tag to the front of his shirt.
“Yeah, did you see someone like that?” Jihun quickly put on his padded coat, feeling only slightly reluctant over the fact that he still had to cycle in the freezing cold back home.
“Uh huh,” Heejun nodded, before raising his hands in success as he finally manages to clip on his name tag. “He came in on a Friday, in the early morning? He walked in, looked at me for a few seconds, and then walked straight out again.”
“Huh?” Jihun stared at the other cashier, confused. “He didn’t like... buy anything?”
Heejun shook his head.
“No… He was barely inside here for a minute. It was basically straight in then straight out. I was super confused, I thought he had gotten lost or something. I never saw him after that.”
“Huh….” With nothing else much to say, Jihun bid Heejun goodbye and walked out, wondering why that customer didn’t stay to buy anything from Heejun that day.
Maybe he could ask him tomorrow, and finally talk to him properly.
Jihun spun his pen around restlessly, eyes flickering up from his phone every few minutes to the time on the display board, before peering out the window to see if he could see the familiar car lights he was starting to look forward to.
It was almost five am now, and Jihun’s ‘Cold, Tall, and Mysterious 50000 won” customer, as Inseong so eloquently dubbed it, still hadn’t come in.
Jihun sighed. Of course it was with his darn luck that the one day that he finally got the nerve to talk to him, that was the day that the customer didn’t turn up.
Jihun turned over the Pororo design drink bottle in his hand, which he had placed on the counter.
Whilst staring at the pink container, Jihun heard the sound of the half broken door clattering open. He hastily straightened up, sucking up a breath that he almost choked on when he saw who was there.
“Wel-welcome to 220, if you have any difficulty finding anything, then please feel free to ask me!” Jihun choked out, not expecting him to come in right then. He was, like ever, dressed in formal wear, the same expressionless face towering over the already very tall Jihun.
Jihun watched him walked to the back of the shop, considered the items on the shelves before carefully picking a couple of items, and strode back towards the front of the shop, placing them on the counter before Jihun.
After seeing him a few times, Jihun found his glare becoming a lot less intimidating than before, although his selection of items was as adorable as ever. He turned over the cartoon design covered plastic packaging and rang up the items, eyes flickering up at the man.
“It’s cute, isn’t it?”
Jihun looked up to see if there was any reaction.
“A-ah?”
“The design.” Jihun held up the box. “It's cute, isn’t it?”
As Jihun continued to ring up his items, he watched the other stutter, a pink blush slowly travelling up to his ears.
“Y-yeah, it is.”
Peering curiously at him, Jihun smiled. This was such a contrast with his outward appearance. It seemed that his personality really seemed to fit the items that he brought.
He’s so cute
“My name is Jihun, but you probably saw my name tag already. That’s 4930 won by the way.”
“S-Seoham. My name is Seoham.”
The now named Seoham fumbled clumsily to get out his wallet, and Jihun smiled at this side of him. He accepted the money, counted out his change and handed it back to Seoham. Quietly, he slipped the pink Pororo drink on the counter in with the items too.
“That’s on the house, but don’t tell anyone,” Jihun shushed him. “Or I’ll get in trouble.”
The other took the bag holding his items, laughing softly.
“The design really is very cute, but… I think you’re cuter.” Jihun quickly covered his own mouth after saying that, watching Seoham’s own face slowly becoming more and more red, and felt sure that his own face was mostly the same.
Seoham grabbed hold of his purchases, and clumsily stumbled his way to the exit, pausing for a second to straighten his suit.
“I’ll see you next Monday?”
“Uh-uh huh.”
He tripped over again, almost crashing into the already half broken door, and taking the whole thing down with him.
As Seoham left, Jihun let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, staring at the figure standing just outside the door.
Maybe, just maybe, the graveyard shift wouldn’t be so horrible anymore.