Chapter Text
EPISODE 1:
“I’m Jung Jae-Heon. I live in Room 1506.”
Jae-heon holds out his hand for the girl to shake. She was the new resident that took place in the room across from his, Jae-Heon quickly pieced together. She was carrying a guitar case on her back, which Jae-Heon recalls hearing a muffled melody playing throughout the past days. There was also noticeably pink dyed hair strands on the girl.
The younger girl declines his handshake, retracting her available hands into her pockets.
Jae-Heon notices and backtracks, “I’m sorry. Am I being too forward?”
The girl shakes her head trying to reassure him, “No, it’s just that my…” The girl sniffed her hand. “…My hand reeks of cigarettes.”
“Oh.” Jae-Heon says. The girl started laughing quite nervously, bowing to Jae-heon.
“I’m Yoon Ji-su.”
Ding.
The elevator they were waiting for finally came, both Jae-Heon and Ji-su entering the elevator in with silence. Ji-su immediately goes to the right side of the elevator while Jae-Heon takes the left side. They both stay quiet, Ji-su looking at the mirror to possibly distract herself from the awkward silence Jae-Heon was aware of. He prayed that he hadn’t made her feel uncomfortable as it wasn’t his intention.
Jae-Heon glances at Ji-su’s guitar case on her back. Wanting to make small talk he asks, “Do you play guitar?”
Ji-su nods, “The bass, yeah.”
“Oh, right.”
After another brief moment of silence Ji-su asks, “And what do you do?”
“I’m a Korean language teacher, ” Jae-Heon says proudly, Ji-su nodding. He takes pride in his occupation, holding a loving passion for it; teaching meant a significant amount to him and wanted everyone who asked to know.
Ji-su makes a quick glance towards Jae-heon, particularly on the Bible he had on hand. She quickly averts her eyes once Jae-Heon meets her gaze.
Jae-Heon looks down at his Bible and states, “I’ve got this Bible because I’m going to church, it’s Sunday.”
As scheduled, Sundays were the day of church, Jae-Heon making sure he attends every Sunday with a pledge.
“Oh…” Ji-su gives a painfully forced smile to him.
Was he making this worse somehow?
They stare at each other for a moment, eyes not blinking. “That’s…nice,” Ji-su comments.
Silence then takes over the elevator again, this time it only lasted for a second or two.
“I’m not a missionary,” Jae-heon reassures her. He’s used to the looks he gets from other residents whenever he rides the elevator on Sundays, always acting so strict and obedient, and awkward around him. Truly, he doesn’t wish anyone to be uncomfortable around solely because of the book in his hand.
Ji-su stiffly nods in a reply, “Right. I get it.”
Ding.
The elevator doors open, and Ji-su gives a short bow to Jae-heon. “…Bye then.”
After the less-than-a-five second goodbye, the bassist hastily leaves the area and to wherever her destination is. Jae-heon walks out of the elevator, wondering if his openness was the cause of her discomfort. He did have a habit of being… overly friendly. It didn’t help that it happened to be Sunday that he met his new neighbor, worry that he left a bad first impression. Wondering the many ways to make up for this, he didn’t notice the person in front of him, accidentally bumping into them as he exited the elevator.
He turned back to the person to spew out many apologies but noticed the man he bumped was ignoring his presence or possibly didn’t even notice what had happened. Bumping into the stranger who held a plastic bag, an item had fallen out of the bag and Jae-Heon quickly went to pick it up.
Green tape? Jae-heon wondered, but didn’t think of it as much as it wasn’t his business.
As he was about to call out to the stranger, the elevator doors, with its inconvenient timing, started closing; giving Jae-Heon a small amount of time to take in the man’s appearance. The man was someone Jae-Heon hasn’t seen before but has heard the quiet murmurs and rumors from other residents talking about the supposed gangster with the menacing scar on his face. With the stranger in the elevator, Jae-Heon could piece two together.
Maybe it was because Jae-Heon saw the best in people, as he didn’t see the man as menacing at all. Just a bit gruff. The man wore a somewhat gaudy leaf shirt, which looked out of fashion— at least to Jae-Heon’s limited knowledge of clothing. The man’s raven-colored hair was pulled back with a couple of hair strands sticking out, most likely as a style choice. Even with the ragged burns on the right side of stranger’s face, Jae-Heon saw him entirely handsome. To which Jae-Heon immediately backtracks as he barely knows the man, let alone their name.
The elevator doors closed, not giving Jae-Heon a chance to return the green tape that had dropped from the stranger’s bag. Looking back at the tape he was holding, Jae-Heon was definitely intrigued by the man’s presence.
——
Pyeon Sang-Wook
That’s what it said on the receipt, having to put his signature after purchasing a suspicious amount of green tape. After one last look at the receipt, Sang-Wook crumpled it and shoved it into his pocket.
Coming back from a store that was near by, Sang-Wook walked back into the apartment complex, plastic bag in hand full of dozens of tape bundles. The tape belonged to a certain culprit that Sang-Wook had in mind. Thinking of the many ways to confront his target, he mindlessly walked towards the elevator, having felt something brush against him but paid no mind to it and entered the elevator.
He always avoided taking the elevator, preferring to take the fire escape stairs because of the lack of people present. This time, he needed to get to his destination quicker. And with the elevator finally closing it’s doors, Sang-Wook was on his way to that bastard.
——
By now, Sang-Wook wasn’t aware of how fast the hours went by. He wanted to take a breather as he had managed to knock out his target, before throwing a couple of harsh hits with the target conscious, and wrapping the individual in tape.
He decided to take a break on the emergency fire staircase as it provided a makeshift balcony with a ‘decent’ view of the city. He leaned against the railing, taking in the view and the weather. It wasn’t hot or cold, just a couple cool breezes passing by. Sang-Wook pulled out a cigarette, lighting it and inhaling the cancer smoke into his lungs and exhaling it out. Nothing could beat the comforting atmosphere. But of course nothing is perfect, as Sang-Wook could hear from behind someone approaching him. He ignored the person, hoping his reputation would prove useful and scare away the person.
Sang-Wook kept on looking outward to the city, but the feel of the person staring right at him was rightfully distracting.
“Is he a bum?” The voice next to him says, having a young feminine tone.
Sang-Wook internally groans at this but showed no facial emotion. He did not want to engage in useless banter.
“He looks more like a gangster, though.”
Sang-Wook blinks, trying to ignore the girl next to him. That was the majority of everyone’s assumption of him in this apartment complex. He wouldn’t associate himself with that label, seeing himself simply as just someone who does jobs that pays well with proper motive. Sang-Wook knew the gangster labeled was the effect of his appearance. His scarred face was known for scaring off people, which was beneficial in scenarios like these. He knew he looked displeasing, and he loathed the way the scars painted over his body.
“Do you even pay rent?” She asks, in an irritating way.
“Why don’t you ask your questions at school?” Sang-Wook asks with an intentional gruff tone, wanting to shut up the girl.
The girl snickers.
“I got expelled...” The younger girl lets out an exhale, “...For setting it on fire.”
Is that suppose to impress me? Sang-Wook having his fair share of arsonists in his past couldn’t understand why the younger girl sounded proud. With that, he finally made eye contact with the girl who was also smoking. They stare at each other but stay quiet for a moment. The girl couldn’t have been older than eighteen, Sang-Wook wondering why the hell such a young kid would even bother with cigarettes. But, then again, he could give less of a fuck. Even with this being the first encounter with her, Sang-Wook already painted her as an annoying troublesome teen.
Without reluctance, Sang-Wook leaves, not wanting to stick around and get to know the younger girl. He was already irritated that he couldn’t get much of a break or a peace of quietness, knowing that staying out here longer wouldn’t benefit him. Maybe on his next smoke break he would get that deserved peace, this train of thought being oblivious to the events that would take place after this encounter.