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The cold winter air nipped at Seong Gi-hun's cheeks as he walked along the vicinity of Incheon. Incheon is a big city, and he passed by at least 50 shops,
all well-lit, before finding a convenience store isolated from the rest of the populace.
Perfect he thinks, pushing the glass doors open.
Inside, it was much colder than it was on the outside. Gi-hun rubs his gloved hands together, hoping to create some friction to warm himself up. He badly needed a drink for his nightly self loathing, he was lucky he had all the money in the world to buy one, or two, depending on how much it hurt tonight.
Contrary to popular belief, Gi-hun did not feel happy winning the games. He barely spent any of it, opting to give it away to the families of his deceased friends and keeping the rest safe inside the gold card. He'd spend some occasionally, but it hurt, so he only spent things which could benefit his survival.
This... wasn't exactly for his survival.
He shook his head, four sojus it is.
He makes his way to the fridge, pulling out 3 bottles of soju, he decides to grab a snack, Samgak Gimbap (a triangular riceball, he remembers when Sangwoo used to share his back when they still attended the same school
in Ssangmundong, they'd never get to do it again), a pained expression crosses his face at the intrusive thought, which came and went quick, but his head subtly bows down in defeat.
Gi-hun had his head bowed still when he approaches the cash register, bumping into someone on the way. Thankfully the person had great reflexes and managed to catch one of the sojus Gi-hun had impulsively almost dropped to the floor.
He dusts and composes himself, "You should really be more careful" ,the stranger hands him the soju, "감사합니다 (gamsahabnida/thank you)", Gi-hun says, finally looking up. Turns out, he bumped into a man who was a couple centimeters taller than him, sporting a black turtleneck and a gray trenchcoat. He looked expensive and important, Gi-hun gulps.
The man smiles at him, "Don't mention it", he looks at the cash register, "Although... that's alot of drinks for one person isn't it? Mind if I join you?".
Gi-hun's eyebrows crease a bit, was this stranger interested in him? He supposes it wouldn't hurt. Its been months since he's socialized with anyone, talking to shop owners doesn't count.
"Ahm... 아저씨 (Ajeossi/Mister)", the pretty lady behind the counter meekly spoke, "Would you be checking those out?".
Gi-hun looks behind him and sees 2 other people with impatient looks, embarrased, he nodded, "Uh, yeah, here", he hands her 3,000 won, pretending not to be intimidated by the man watching his every move. The lady hands her the brown paper bag containing his purchase and Gi-hun walks out with the stranger.
He knew he should be less trusting of people, considering what he'd been through and the amount of money on him. He didn't even have any self defense weapons he could use incase this guy decided to do a 180 and mugged him behind an alleyway but... his gaze flickered to the man again, would he? really? unless he wanted him dead, there was no reason this guy would steal from him. He owns a Rolex for god's sake.
The man gestures towards two seats outside the store, a table in between. Gi-hun takes a seat to the right while the man sits on the opposite side. There was tension between them, it was awkward, so to break it, Gi-hun takes out the contents of the brown paperbag and realizes there was only one Samgak Gimbap and he flushes.
"Oh.. uh, sorry I only bought one", Gi-hun says, smiling nervously, "I wasn't expecting to be with anyone tonight, but you can have it", he kindly presented the snack to the stranger but the man only shakes his head and smiles fondly.
"No, its fine, I'm not hungry", he raises his left hand and brings it down again, "Although, I have to ask.. 4 sojus? Is everything alright?", Gi-hun feels uncomfortable being scrutinized by the guy but also feels glad someone was paying attention to him.
"Yeah, everything's fine", Gi-hun says, not fully sure why, "Just needed to let off a little steam, you know how it is". Gi-hun hand the other the soju and the man gladly accepts, "By the way, you never told me your name... Eh, I suppose I hadn't either, I'm Gi-hun- Seong-Gi-hun", Gi-hun extends his hand out for the other person to take.
The stranger stares at it for a bit before gently grasping Gi-hun’s hand, Gi-hun’s stomach lurched, "In-ho".
"In-ho? That's a nice name", he says, letting go of In-ho's hand, "Really? No one has ever told me that, I used to think my mother just half-assed my name.. I always hated it", he huffs out a laugh and Gi-hun smiles, maybe he had the wrong impression of this guy, he takes a gulp of his soju, he winces, peach, his least favorite.
He notices that the soju he bought all had different flavors. There were 2 peaches, a grapefruit and green grapes (which he also hated). Grapefruit is his favorite and unfortunately, he gave it to In-ho, who calmly takes a sip of it. He sighs and closes the bottle, having wasted money, he hopes In-ho wasn't observant and wont notice him not drinking any of his soju.
"Aren't you going to drink any of that?".
Gi-hun glances at In-ho, seemingly snapped out of a trance, "Ah... its embarrassing but.. I hate peach and grapes".
The man nods and closes the cap, slowly, he inches the bottle of grape fruit soju towards Gi-hun.
"I- What".
"We could share", he spoke calmly and Gi-Hun thinks he might die of embarrassment.
"NO", Gi-hun exclaims, flushes when the onlooker's attention snaps to them, "I mean.. no thank you, its yours, I'm not craving it anyway", he picks up the kimbap and unwraps it, "I'll just have this".
"Come on Gi-hun", In-ho says, "You paid for it, you should drink, just a bit".
Gi-hun studies the man's face carefully, he came to the conclusion that In-ho wouldn't move on from the conversation till he drinks a bit from the bottle. Sighing in defeat, he places the kimbap back down and uncaps the soju. Midway, he realizes what he was doing, and what this meant, but sucks it up and places the sealing surface to his lips, taking a sip of it.
In-ho, seemingly satisfied, leans back in his chair, looking at the horizon. Bits of snow fell calmly on the side, and Gi-hun absolutely does not think the man looked appealing like this. The way the street lights were reflected in his brown irises and his face calm and tranquil, yet had traces, remnants, of a bad past. Gi-hun couldn't explain it, but something told him this man experienced things just as bad as he had.
Was this gay? Was he attracted to In-ho? That can't be right, he had a wife..
"You're staring"
"What", Gi-hun blinks, and realizes In-ho was now looking at him directly, "Oh.. sorry, got lost in thought".
He hums, You do that alot, I've noticed", Gi-hun recoils, disturbed at how observant this man is, "I don't mind though, I think its quite....", his face scrunches up, thinking of the word, "cute".
"Thanks?", Gi-hun says, fanning some of his red hair away from his face. His stomach was killing him, if these damn butterflies don't stop he'll-
In-ho checks his watch, "I'm afraid I must go now", he stands up and Gi-hun does the same, packing the bottles of soju in the brown paper bag, Gi-hun contemplates before saying, "You can take that".
"Excuse me?"
"You can.. take the soju.. I mean", he realizes how embarrassing that is, this man probably owns a huge collection of expensive, foreign wines. He's done nothing but embarrass himself all night, he sighs internally then looks up. The look In-ho was giving him made the feeling in his stomach worsen.
"Alright, thank you Gi-hun", he smiles, taking the paperbag in his arms, "I'll see you some other time?". He pulls out a business card and Gi-hun was hit with a sense of deja-vu, as if he’s seen this before. But he chalks it up to the business card's color, a mixture of orange and brown, with numbers printed dead on the center...
Gi-hun didn't expect In-ho to want to see him again, but apparently, he did.
"Yeah, I'll see you", In-ho gives him a final, soft smile and walks into the opposite direction, disappearing when he rounded a corner. Gi-hun sat back down his seat, the kimbap lying right next to the grapefruit soju already going cold. He looked forward to meeting him again.
If only he knew who In-ho truly was.