Chapter Text
Love has never been Dongshik's thing. He's always been more interested in hatred– death, rather than love. It's just not his thing, he keeps on telling himself. Sure, he had a girlfriend or two in highschool but it was just a silly teen crush. Nothing serious, nothing meaningful. Besides, he isn’t particularly interested in girls anyway.
So, when he hears Cher ask, "Do you believe in life after love?" on the radio and he finds himself actually feeling something because of the question, he feels weird. He's not sure why this particular line stuck with him. It makes him think of his life and think of one particular person in it. Dongshik looks at the date in the corner of the computer screen and finds out it has been exactly a year since he last saw that person.
Inwoo.
If one were to ask Dongshik about his life after Inwoo, he'd say he's doing fine. Great, even. His life changed quite a bit. He's helping Bokyoung solve murder cases – he helps her identify the culprits and their methods. It gives him some satisfaction. He's always been interested in murder mysteries – using his knowledge in field feels amazing.
He got some money from the police after managing to take Inwoo down. He used it to buy the escape room he's been frequenting for quite a while at the time– he first used it after waking up with Inwoo's diary in his hand and mistaking it for his own. What an idiot he had been, thinking he's a serial killer.
Still, Dongshik mistaking himself for a serial killer did wonders for him, Dongshik's ready to acknowledge that. It made him more confident, made him fight for himself. He wouldn't thank Inwoo for that, he's not that dumb. It would feed his ego and it’s not like Dongshik had many chances to see him. The last time Dongshik saw him, Inwoo was unconscious and chained to the hospital bed. Dongshik thinks he's fine with that.
He's using Inwoo and his story for his soon-to-be bestseller.
He's writing a book about him and Inwoo, and everything they've been through. He writes at home, he writes on his days off, he writes during his shifts at the escape room. It gives Dongshik the perfect environment for writing – it gives him money, people show up sometimes, but he can mostly focus on writing. The work gives him a steady income, he can still afford his small flat, so he's fine with that. He's never been the type to want over the top luxuries.
The book occupies Dongshik's mind and so does Inwoo. There isn't a day that Dongshik isn't recalling a situation involving Inwoo. It's all for the sake of the book, he keeps on telling himself. Bokyoung sometimes points out that he needs his much needed break, but Dongshik wants to finish the book. Then he'll give himself a bit of a break, he assures himself and everyone else.
And like that he goes back to writing after finding himself pondering on how he's been doing after Inwoo left his life. It's a slow kind of day and closing hours, so Dongshik's sure no one's actually going to show up at this point. Cher stopped singing a while ago, the radio's now playing some other pop song. Dongshik relaxes and reads the last few sentences he wrote.
"Dowon sat down on the other side of the table. The atmosphere in the room was suffocating," he mutters under his breath, leaning on the leather chair as he strokes his chin. "Gorae continued to stare at him as he always did. Something mischievous was hiding in the dark of his eyes. Dowon was his prey and Gorae was ready to eat him alive."
Dongshik tilted his head, thinking.
"Eat him alive? That can't be," he leans in after a moment, ready to erase the last part.
Dongshik continues writing when someone walks into the escape room. The bell above the door rings, but Dongshik doesn't even bother to look up. People usually leave in a hurry if they find out the escape room’s almost closing, so he’s not worried about that. Bokyoung’s not the one to walk into the escape room as well. Dongshik knows she’s on her night shift and she has way more important things to do than visiting him.
"Sorry, we're closed," he says, expecting the other person to leave. "Come back tomorrow, please!"
"It's still 5 minutes left until you close," he hears a familiar voice. The same emotionless voice he knows by heart. Dongshik looks up and sees Inwoo, his white hospital outfit tainted by the red blood around his stomach. He has a doctor's white coat on as well. Dongshik stares at Inwoo, eyes wide open, mouth open as well. He's feeling so many emotions at once. That earns him a chuckle from Inwoo, "What? You look as if you've just seen a ghost."
"What are you–? You shouldn't be here," Dongshik mutters in disbelief. He slowly gets up from his seat, his eyes not leaving Inwoo. His hand goes for his phone, ready to call for either the police or Bokyoung or Chilsung. Either way – someone to help.
Something flashes across Inwoo's face. The look in his eyes changes a little, it's different from the warm one it was a few seconds ago. Seems like seeing Dongshik really made him feel good. Now it's different, He's focused now, and maybe a little bit mad. "Stop," he says. "Don't."
The hand doesn't leave Dongshik's phone. He's still holding it, but his eyes are focused on the person in front of him. Inwoo opens his mouth, most likely to continue trying to persuade Dongshik not to call the police, but his face quickly shifts in pain and Inwoo falls on the couch behind him. One of his hands goes over his bloody stomach, Dongshik's eyes go there as well. Seems as if he's injured? Dongshik doesn't know what to do. "Are you okay?" He asks.
"Obviously," Inwoo groans.
"You sure?" Dongshik asks again with a little bit of worry in his voice.
Inwoo sighs and looks at Dongshik, "What do you think?"
Dongshik's mouth parts and he's not really sure what to say. Then he grins, "Aww, Inwoo, are you too proud to ask me for help?"
And Inwoo? Inwoo's shocked by the sudden shift, "What?"
"Do you need help? What do you need? Painkillers? Bandage?" Dongshik asks, trying to remember the stuff in his first aid kit. "I'm not the best doctor, but I suppose I could treat your wound."
Inwoo's weirded out by the sudden change in Dongshik's behavior. He notices the phone's still in his hand, so it's not like Dongshik completely abandoned the idea of calling the police on him. Still, if Dongshik asks, then Inwoo, being the mature and eloquent person he is, has to answer. "Could you do that for me?"
Dongshik's grin turns tease, as he prompts, "Do what for you?"
"Give me the painkillers… and treat my wound."
"Beg for it," Dongshik's tone suddenly turns serious. The grin disappears off his face as well.
Inwoo finds himself dumbfounded. He’s not sure what to think of the sudden change in Dongshik’s attitude. He’s a little used to seeing Dongshik act cocky; Dongshik was being cocky while fighting with him after all. Inwoo relieved that situation a thousand times in his dreams, so he remembers Dongshik well. Still, he can’t help but be surprised.
"What?"
Dongshik chuckles, then turns serious again, "I said: beg for it."
"I," Inwoo stutters. He bites his lip as he feels another wave of pain incoming. He supposes it's better to give Dongshik what he wants right now, it's not like he came there for anything else. He’s actually not sure why he came there in the first place. He obviously wasn’t thinking clearly. It must be the hurting wound that made him this way. Irrational. If nothing happened to him, he would have never come here. He’s sure of that. But the past already happened and Inwoo can’t change that, so he has no other option than to say, "Please, help me."
Dongshik smiles for a second, before he leans in a little and says, "A bit louder."
Inwoo does his best not to roll his eyes, annoyed at Dongshik's sudden antics and says, this time a bit louder, "Please, help me, Dongshik. I beg you."
"You know, this is my second time treating a stab wound," Dongshik starts as he leans on the chair and his eyes focus on Inwoo's wound. It's already taken care of. The whole process was accompanied by silence– Dongshik murmured something under his breath sometimes, but it didn't prompt Inwoo to reply. Dongshik chuckles as he continues, "Weird that it happened twice, but hey, at least I know how to do that now, right?"
Inwoo doesn't say anything. He just stares at Dongshik's hand, the cuffed up sleeves of his black turtleneck. He looks good, Inwoo supposes. Inwoo’s actually a little bit surprised by the change in Dongshik’s fashion sense. When he first met him, Dongshik would wear shitty patterned shirts or cheap sweaters. Now it seems as if he took inspiration from Inwoo and started wearing more turtlenecks. Inwoo can't be mad about it; he was always born to be leader– even if it comes to something as meaningless and silly like fashion trends.
They're sitting in the hospital room– the one Dongshik frequented with Bokyoung when they used to investigate her parent's accident. The one where Dongshik tried to kill Inwoo, but failed miserably. Dongshik decided that it would be better to hide there. He knows no one would actually walk in, but it’s still better to hide in there than to sit on the couch right next to the glass door. Dongshik’s not dumb like that. Also, being in the hospital room while treating Inwoo’s wound helped him get more in the character.
"Actually, now thinking about it," Dongshik ponders. "It's my first time treating a stab wound by myself. Chilsung was with me the first time I did it.."
Inwoo once again says nothing. He's not even annoyed by Dongshik's rambling. It's actually nice for him to hear.
"It was at your apartment. On the day, you… you know," Dongshik chuckles. "Fell into the garbage truck."
"It happened on the next day," Inwoo recalls weakly. Dongshik lets out a questioning noise, his eyes going to Inwoo's face. Inwoo feels obligated to clarify, "You stabbed yourself at 10pm. I fell out sometime after midnight."
Dongshik stays silent for a moment, then shoots him an easy grin, "Aww, Inwoo, your memory is so good. Make sure you remember everything when the police arrive to question you."
Inwoo looks at Dongshik. He's somewhat panicking, "Did you call them?"
The grin drops as Dongshik realizes that no, he didn't call the police. He fumbles in his pants pocket and takes out his phone. He turns it on and sees a few notifications. "Oh, Bokyoung called," he notices under his breath. He then looks at Inwoo, "Everyone must be looking for you now."
Inwoo purses his lips, then, after a quick moment of wondering whether he would be able to take Dongshik and run away in his current state, he decides to beg Dongshik, "Please, don't tell them I'm here."
"Oh? But isn't that illegal?" Dongshik asks, staring at something on his phone. "To help wanted criminals, I mean."
"You've already helped me."
Dongshik takes a look at him and puts on an innocent smile, "Fair enough, I guess." Then goes back to his phone.
Dongshik's not sure why he hasn't called the police yet. He was occupied with treating the wound, but now that he has time to do it, why didn't he? Why won't he? Bokyoung probably knows about Inwoo running away, since she called. But at the same time Dongshik doesn't really want to call the police. He's enjoying the situation so far, so he assumes he's going to keep up until Inwoo falls asleep (or until morning of the next day if he doesn't) and then he'll call Bokyoung.
It's a mystery for Inwoo as well, but he knows better than to question it loudly. It's not like he wants Dongshik to actually call the police. He didn't run away just for that guy to ruin everything for him again.
"Okay," Dongshik hums, then looks at Inwoo. "I'll call Bokyoung back. You stay quiet, okay?"
Inwoo just nods weakly. Dongshik picks out the number and puts the phone to his ear. Inwoo's surprised at how loud Dongshik's phone is– he can hear the signal perfectly.
After a moment Bokyoung picks up and Inwoo can notice how fast Dongshik can put on a smile and cheerful persona. "Hi, Bokyoung! How are you?" Dongshik greets her.
"Hey, Dongshik. I was wondering… Did Inwoo show up?" Inwoo can hear Bokyoung perfectly as well. Does Dongshik not value his privacy?
Dongshik's smile drops and his face shifts in worry. Inwoo's surprised at how easy it is for him to fool others. He noticed it before when Dongshik started reenacting movie scenes, but it's the first time seeing him do something like that on his own. “Why?”
“He ran away, Dongshik,” Bokyoung’s tone is serious. “He’s not in the hospital. He might be coming after you.”
Dongshik thinks for a few seconds. He knows well that Inwoo ran away, he knows well that Inwoo's not in the hospital– he's lying in front of him after all. But still, Dongshik has to keep up the act, so he answers, "No, sorry. Not yet. I think I might have been wrong about that."
"You know him so well. Maybe stay a little longer? He has to show up eventually," Bokyoung asks. "You're the one who told me he'd go after you first after all."
Dongshik swallows and his eyes go to Inwoo, who just stares at him. He knows Inwoo heard all of it. Dongshik's face turns a shade of pink as he stutters, "Ohh, o-okay. I'll wait a few more minutes. If I see him, I'll call you, okay?"
It takes a few seconds for Bokyoung to reply. "Sure. I'll make sure to call you once we find something on him. He was chained to the bed for the whole past year. There's no way he got away that far. Stay safe."
"Sure, thank you. You too stay safe. Good luck," Dongshik hums as he hangs up. He then looks at Inwoo, who observes him. "What?"
“You told her I’d go after you first?” Inwoo asks with a hint of a grin in the corner of his lips. Yet it’s true, Inwoo has to admit. Dongshik was the first person he thought of after waking up, but it's not like Inwoo wanted to think of him. He just wanted revenge, he supposes. He still wants revenge.
Dongshik’s mouth parts, face warming even more. His lips shake, as if he wants to say something– so many things at once, but ends up taking a defensive position, “Well, I was right after all, right? You came here on your own.”
Inwoo realizes what Dongshik is implying and his tone turns defensive too, “How do you know I wasn’t somewhere else before I came here?”
Dongshik thinks for a moment as if he’s really considering it. They both know well that Inwoo has nowhere to go. Not wanting to continue the topic, his eyes wander to Inwoo’s stomach and the bandaged wound. “Right, what happened to you? Did you get in a fight with someone?”
Inwoo thinks whether to go for a snarky remark or an honest answer. It’s not like he has anything to gain from it, except maybe Dongshik being a little bit nicer to him. As if he’s not nice already. Inwoo’s actually surprised that Dongshik didn’t call the cops on him right when he walked in through that door. Is Dongshik really that nice? Or maybe he wants to ruin Inwoo on his own. He has reasons to do so, Inwoo admits; he hasn’t been that nice to Dongshik.
Either way, Inwoo concludes he should stay focused around Dongshik.
“No,” Inwoo admits weakly. “I think someone wanted to mug me?”
Dongshik starts laughing, “What?” He looks at Inwoo. “You’re telling me someone mugged you? But you don’t have anything valuable on you…”
Inwoo stays silent. Dongshik notices the slight shift in his mood, but he doesn't care that much about Inwoo's feelings on that, so he chuckles an 'apology', “Sorry. It’s just kinda funny.”
Inwoo thinks for a moment, before he asks, “What are you going to do with me?”
That earns him a questioning noise from Dongshik. Truth be told, Dongshik doesn’t really know what to do with Inwoo. He just… took care of his wound and that’s it. He can’t, and doesn’t want, to call the police either. He imagines his reputation and connections would help him if he ever got accused of helping a violent criminal, however he also doesn’t want to let Inwoo go. But, he remembers not to fully trust Inwoo, so he has to keep the possibility of calling the police in mind.
Dongshik bites his lip. “Well, first of all, you can’t stay here, I guess. Someone booked out this room, so… And also you need to change.”
Inwoo looks at his bloody clothes and realizes that he's been lying there with his bare chest out the whole time. He covers it with part of his shirt and asks, “So, what’s your plan?”
Dongshik’s nose wrinkles, “Plan?”
“If you’re not going to keep me here…”
“No, it’s too dangerous here. Right,” Dongshik shakes his head and closes his eyes. “Give me a sec.”
Inwoo stares at Dongshik. He has his mouth slightly open, his eyes are closed. How come he didn’t notice things about him earlier? The way he smiles, the way he’s playful one second and serious the other, how good he looks in a turtleneck… Inwoo looks lazily at his hand lying freely on his stomach, but no matter how much she wants to get his mind off Dongshik, the guy with the fluffy hair always comes back to fill it with himself. What is it about Yook Dongshik that makes him crawl into Inwoo's head so easily?
Finally, Dongshik gets an idea and opens his eyes to look at Inwoo, "I think I know a place you can go…"
If anyone told Inwoo from the year before that in the next year he'd find himself waiting for Dongshik to find the keys to his flat, he'd laugh at them for suggesting something so ridiculous. Yet there Inwoo is, wearing one of Dongshik's coats, pockets full of old receipts, waiting as Dongshik fumbles in his pockets, trying to find the goddamn keys. He's usually patient except this time he has to get in quickly, so he's actually growing pretty inpatient by now. The police are looking for him after all. Who knows, maybe Bokyoung decides to show up at Dongshik's flat just to check how he's doing now that Inwoo's on the run?
Dongshik finds the keys after a moment. Turns out he didn't reach them the first time. He takes out a set of maybe five or six keys; two or three old receipts fall on the cold floor. There's a keychain of plush Jigsaw from Saw attached to keys and Inwoo can't help, but smile at it. He finds movies rather boring, but it's related to Dongshik, so he's– Inwoo shakes his head. No, he can't allow that. He's just using Dongshik for now. Once he feels better, he'll run away. Maybe he'll offer Dongshik the grace of being killed by him before running away; Inwoo's not so sure on that.
Dongshik finally, although nervously, opens the door and lets Inwoo get in first. Inwoo looks inside and walks in, taking off his shoes– the Birkenstocks he stole from some other patient. He puts on some slippers Dongshik left on the floor and heads further inside.
Yeah, the interior screams Dongshik with its many thriller movie posters on the walls, shelves full of DVDs and cassettes and empty plates left on the table in front of the small TV. There are some paper sheets as well, there's lots of stuff written on them, but Inwoo doesn't bother to look closer for now. He takes a step in and looks back at Dongshik, who's fighting the lock, trying to close the door. After a few seconds he's done. Dongshik turns around, his eyes meet with Inwoo's and Dongshik sends him a slight, reassuring smile.
He takes off his shoes and realizes his slippers aren't there. His smile drops and his mouth parts as he looks at Inwoo– particularly the slippers Inwoo's wearing. Dongshik stops himself and thinks for a few seconds, whether to tell Inwoo about it or just take out a new pair of slippers out of the wardrobe, but then decides to go for the second option, not wanting to spend time arguing over useless stuff like that.
He throws his bag on the couch and walks into the kitchen, adjusting the turtleneck. The kitchen's connected to the living room, so Inwoo doesn't have to follow Dongshik into the kitchen.
"Umm, so. You want anything to eat?" Dongshik asks. He looks into the fridge, but there's not much. Well, he wasn't really prepared for a visit from anyone. "I have, uhh. Chapagetti?"
"What?" Inwoo looks at him.
"Well, I don't have anything else," Dongshik sighs. "Unless you're not hungry..?"
"I am," Inwoo says flatly. "Ch… Chapagetti sounds fine."
And after a while they find themselves eating together by a small table in Dongshik’s living room. Inwoo's silent and even though the bloody clothes he has on him are starting to annoy him, he enjoys this moment. So does Dongshik.
The food is hot and truth be told, Inwoo has pretty much forgotten what normal food tastes like (if he can call Dongshik's store bought ready to make chapagetti normal food). It's not his fault; it's actually Dongshik's fault for lying to him and fighting him on the last floor of Daehan Securities building. Still, he's thankful to Dongshik. The chopsticks still feel weird in his hands and Dongshik suggested bringing him some other utensils for him to try first, but Inwoo insisted on chopsticks, so Dongshik just focused on eating.
He's never had a normal meal with anyone before. His family is too pretentious for them to have normal family dinners (depends on what one considers normal; if Inwoo didn't notice how others' families eat, he would've still assumed that his family was somewhat normal). So it's basically his first time eating with someone that's not his family or someone he's trying to manipulate into doing what he wants them to do. Even though he still wants revenge on Dongshik, he knows there's no point in lying to the other guy. They know each other well, just like Bokyoung said. Dongshik would be able to smell Inwoo's bullshit from a mile away; Inwoo would do the same with Dongshik.
After a moment Dongshik breaks the silence between them and asks, "So what's your plan?”
Inwoo stops eating then looks at him, a slightly surprised expression on his face. "My plan?"
Dongshik looks up at him and nods. “Well, you ran away for a reason, right?” Seeing Inwoo’s still confused face, he continues, “When I ran away from prison, it was to help Bokyoung. If you didn’t pick up that phone, I’m not sure whether I’d be able to run away. I was very hopeless at that time.”
Inwoo finds himself feeling a little saddened by Dongshik’s confession. “The prison was very hard on you, huh?”
Dongshik stares at Inwoo for a few seconds, as if he’s unsure whether to reply. As if he’s unsure whether to be honest with Inwoo. Then a slight (though a little sad) smile shows up on his face as he looks down on the food, “Yeah, I guess so.”
Inwoo nods, then continues eating. It’s time for him to be a little honest, he guesses. “I don’t have a plan. I just ran away. If they found out I woke up, they would’ve thrown me to prison.”
“And you don’t want to go there.”
“Of course I don’t,” Inwoo sighs. “You’ve been in prison. You know how it is. Besides, I don't deserve to go there. It’s not a place for me.”
Dongshik stares for a few seconds again, then chuckles. Inwoo doesn’t understand what’s so funny. “You really think you’ve done nothing wrong?”
“Doesn’t matter if I think like that or not. Neither does it matter whether I did something wrong or not. Prisons are simply not for people like me.”
“That is?” Dongshik asks as he looks up at Inwoo. He scoffs, “You still believe in that predator-prey bullshit?”
Inwoo’s surprised. And also, maybe, a little offended. “What’s wrong with that?” He asks. “It’s all I’ve believed in my whole life. It’s what my father taught me.”
Dongshik sighs in frustration. “Your father was an asshole. Don’t you hate him? Why would you believe in something he told you? He literally treated you like shit, didn’t he?”
Inwoo doesn’t know what to say. He’s never questioned the stuff his father taught him. It was all natural to him– the world order he came to live in. It’s all he ever knew. How is he supposed to question it?
Inwoo is a predator, no matter how much Dongshik wants to deny it. It’s the truth. He did, and still does, hate his father’s guts, but Inwoo knows that when it came to stuff like this– his father was right. Some people are predators in a world full of preys and Inwoo just happens to be a predator. That’s all.
And so Inwoo speaks up, although his voice reveals he's a little unsure. “How my father behaved is a different case. It doesn’t mean his theory is invalid. He just turned out to be one of the preys, that’s all.”
Dongshik starts laughing. “You’re so unserious. Do you even hear yourself? This sounds insane."
But then Dongshik sees Inwoo's serious face and gradually stops laughing. It must be important for Inwoo. Dongshik realizes that by mocking Inwoo, he won't be able to change his mind. Wait. Does Dongshik even want to change his mind? Inwoo should just go to prison and rot there until the day he dies. Or manages to dig another hole under the toilet, but knowing that Inwoo's a clean freak, Dongshik doubts Inwoo would ever manage to do it. Still he feels somewhat pitiful for Inwoo.
Inwoo wants to change the topic so he looks at one of the paper sheets lying on the table. It contains notes for the book. Inwoo's a little interested.
"You're writing a book?" He asks.
Dongshik flushes and grabs the paper sheet along with a few others and puts them on a shelf under the TV as he laughs awkwardly, "Yeah. It's just a hobby though. Nothing serious."
"What is it about?" Inwoo asks, genuinely curious. Someone as dumb as Dongshik certainly won't be able to write anything ambitious, but he hopes this question would help him bury the topic of Inwoo and his father's beliefs. Also, he's interested. He needs to know how Dongshik's doing. He's just doing research, right.
Dongshik's face turns a shade of even darker pink as he stutters, "Uh, you know. A murder story."
"Oh? Tell me more."
Dongshik laughs. "It's, uh. A story about a guy who finds a serial killer's diary and thinks he's the serial killer?" Dongshik sounds unsure and a little embarrassed about the whole thing.
Inwoo thinks for a few seconds, before he says, completely serious, "So it's about you and me."
"I guess, yeah. You're correct. Do you have anything against it?" Dongshik asks. "It's not like you can sue me or something, so it doesn't matter, but it's still nice to ask."
"Am I the villain in it?"
"Obviously," Dongshik snorts. "No, actually. Yeah, you're the antagonist, but it's not like you're completely evil. You have a nice side to yourself as well… The evil side completely overshadows it though."
"You're the first person ever who told me I have a nice side," Inwoo notices.
Dongshik's surprised. He parts his mouth, ready to say something, maybe talk more about Inwoo's nice side, when suddenly the doorbell rings. Inwoo panics. Dongshik as well. He looks over at Inwoo, his voice quieter than usual, "Hide somewhere. I'll check who that is."
Inwoo nods and stands up. He looks around, takes his shoes and gets into the room behind him– Dongshik's bedroom. His room is messy just like the living room and kitchen, but there's this homey feeling to it. Inwoo stands by the door and waits for what's about to come. He's panicking. He doesn't want to go to prison. He doesn't want to leave this flat. He doesn't want to leave Dongshik.
Dongshik gets up and rushes towards the front door. He quickly adjusts his clothes and nervously opens the door. Bokyoung is standing outside the flat. Dongshik prays Inwoo doesn’t do anything stupid. Bokyoung seems a little out of breath, was she running here?
Dongshik puts on a tight smile. “Hi, Bokyoung.”
She smiles at him as well. “Hey. Can I come in?”
Dongshik’s a little hesistant to let her in, but not allowing her to come in would be a little suspicious of him, so he moves to the side and says, “Yeah, sure.”
Bokyoung gets inside and takes off her shoes. She then notices a pair of Birkenstocks, a pair she’s never seen before. “New shoes?” She asks.
Dongshik’s a little confused at first, then he notices what Bokyoung’s talkibg about and smiles awkwardly. “Yeah… My father actually gave them to me a while ago..”
Bokyoung stares at Dongshik for a few seconds. “Can I sit down?” She asks. Dongshik agrees. She then goes further inside and stops in the living room. She sits down as she notices the food on the table. “Oh, you’ve been eating?”
Dongshik follows her and sits next to her. “Yeah, eating… helps me with stress.”
Inwoo can see them both as the door to the bedroom is open a little. Dongshik notices him too in the mirror in the corner and shakes his head slightly, trying to mouth something like, “Close the door”.
Bokyoung doesn’t notice it, but notices something else: two bowls on the table. “Two portions? You must be very stressed about this whole situation. I thought you’re over it.”
“I thought so too…” Dongshik sighs. He needs to do something. Try to get her attention away from the food. “Right. What about Inwoo? Is he still on the run?”
The smile disappears off Bokyoung’s face. “Sadly, yes. We still haven’t found him. Are you sure you’re safe?”
“Yeah. Don’t worry about me. Just focus on finding Inwoo.”
Bokyoung thinks for a moment before she looks at Dongshik. “Maybe you’d like protection?”
“What?”
Even if Inwoo wasn’t in the next room right now, Dongshik would never accept protection. It’d be too annoying for him to deal with.
So he asks, “Protection..?”
Bokyoung nods. “Yes. Police protection like the one I got when you were on the run.”
“Wouldn’t that cause too much trouble?”
“Are you not afraid of Inwoo?” Bokyoung asks. She sounds concerned. “You’re obviously stressed out about this whole situation. I just want to help.”
“I know and I appreciate it, but…” Dongshik purses his lips. “I don’t think I need it. I’m not sure what Inwoo’s plan is, but… I’m ready to face him. Maybe seeing me with, uh, protection around me would throw him off and make him run away for real.”
Bokyoung stares at him. “Fine, if that’s what you want,” she sighs, getting up. Dongshik stands up along with her. “I’ll get going then. Do you need anything?”
Dongshik smiles, “No, thank you.”
Bokyoung nods and starts putting on her shoes. “If Inwoo comes here or to the escape room, tell me, okay? We need to catch him.”
It takes Dongshik a few seconds to react. “Sure. I’ll message you.”
Bokyoung looks at Dongshik and smiles. “Thank you. Stay safe, okay?”
Dongshik nods. “Sure thing. You too stay safe, Bokyoung.”
Bokyoung shoots him a slight smile and leaves. Dongshik lets out a relieved sigh. Inwoo hasn’t been caught. He hasn’t been caught. Bokyoung hopefully didn’t notice anything weird. It feels kind of weird for Dongshik to lie to Bokyoung like this. It wasn’t that hard after all. Still, it leaves a bad taste in his mouth, but he can’t help it. He guesses he should think of it as acting. It would make everything easier. But how to stay sane if the play is your real life?
He turns around and sees Inwoo leaving his bedroom. He stares at Dongshik for a moment, before he sits down and continues eating. Dongshik joins him and they finish the dinner in silence as Dongshik’s not really in the mood for a conversation and Inwoo doesn’t know what to say.
Then Dongshik prepares some clean clothes for Inwoo to sleep in– a t-shirt and a pair of pants. Inwoo goes to take a shower while Dongshik cleans up the mess he left. He collects the paper sheets; he was planning on cleaning them up for a while now, so Inwoo being there sort of motivated him to finally do it. He gets a pillow and a blanket for Inwoo; he can’t offer him anything better since he doesn’t have it. Then he goes on to wash the dishes.
Inwoo finally leaves the bathroom and approaches Dongshik. To Dongshik’s suprirse, the clothes fit Inwoo well. Inwoo stands next to him and puts a hand on the counter.
“I’ll stop by my family’s restaurant tomorrow for some food,” he tells Inwoo. “You liked the food there, right? Or did you lie about that as well?”
“I didn’t,” Inwoo admits almost immediately. “The food was good.”
“If you’re lying, I’ll make sure you regret this,” Dongshik grins at Inwoo as he lifts up a knife from the sink. His face gets serious as Inwoo smiles slightly, “I’m not joking. You insult my family’s cooking and you’re gone.”
“Don’t test me, Dongshik,” Inwoo says, moving closer, and Dongshik would’ve assumed he was completely serious if he didn’t know Inwoo. Dongshik knows he’s joking, but at the same time… Why did Inwoo come closer? Inwoo sees how Dongshik is feeling, so he takes a step back. “Are you going to work tomorrow?”
“I’ll leave earlier so I can stop by the restaurant and keep an eye on you.”
“You treat me like a little child,” Inwoo notices.
Dongshik looks at him. “Can you blame me? I can’t leave you on your own.”
Inwoo wants to argue, but he knows Dongshik won’t change his mind. Inwoo wasn’t even planning on doing anything that could bring others’ attention to him. He wasn’t really planning on leaving Dongshik. He got him free food and accommodation, on top of that he hides him from the police. Why would he want to lose that?
Dongshik finishes doing the dishes and looks at Inwoo. He looks a little sad, maybe worried. “Are you going to kill me?”
Inwoo’s offended by Dongshik’s question. He looks him straight in the eye. “Who told you that?”
Dongshik doesn’t reply, so Inwoo continues, “Was it Bokyoung?”
“No. I’m just asking,” Dongshik puts on a tight smile and looks away, trying to focus on something else. “I don’t actually care, but… If you’re going to do it, just know I won’t be an easy target.”
“I wasn’t planning on killing you,” Inwoo says. “I was planning to take revenge on you, but after doing some thinking it doesn’t matter to me whether I do it or not. Maybe I’ll do it some time in the future when you have two kids, a lovely wife and you expect it the least. Maybe not.”
“So what I’m getting is… you’re not sure whether you want to kill me or not?”
“If that’s how you put it and it makes you feel better,” Inwoo shrugs. He starts walking away to the couch, Dongshik follows him. Inwoo sits on it. “We can talk more about it tomorrow. I’m tired now. You can go.”
Dongshik rolls his eyes at Inwoo’s bluntness. “Of course, your majesty, “ he sneers. “I’ll go wash up then. You can watch one of the movies, but don’t set the volume too loud. I’m a light sleeper.”
Inwoo looks at the shelves full of movies. They’re all thrillers that are completely uninteresting to him. He looks at Dongshik. “I don’t enjoy thrillers that much. I’ll just go to sleep.”
Dongshik nods. “Sure. My father has an air mattress, so I’ll ask him if I can borrow it. Sleeping on the couch is a little bit uncomfortable.”
“You don’t have to,” Inwoo says. He then opens his mouth, as if he wants to say something, but then decides not to, instead lies down on the couch.
Dongshik just nods. He turns around and takes a few steps towards the bathroom before he looks at Inwoo. “By the way, I won’t have a wife.”
Inwoo lets out a questioning noise. Dongshik clarifies, “You talked about me having a lovely wife in the future. I won’t have one. I’m not interested in that.”
Dongshik doesn’t wait for Inwoo to react and gets in the bathroom.
Dongshik leaves early and Inwoo doesn’t even get a chance to see him. He’s surprised for how long he managed to keep up on his toes, considering he spent the past year chained to the uncomfortable hospital bed. But then, he notes, he hardly had the energy to get a shower. He’s happy he still managed to do it though.
He sits up and looks around. The blinds aren’t fully up and the morning sun shines through them. It doesn’t feel that bad. He finds a sticky note on the table in front of the couch and picks it up. It’s from Dongshik. “Don’t leave, don’t open the door, don’t show yourself in the window. The food is on the stove. The bandages are in the bathroom. I’ll be back soon,” it reads. Nothing particularly hard.
And so he does his morning routine, though he had to modify it a little. He takes a shower, changes the bandage, and eats breakfast. He had to skip his morning jogging as he can’t really leave the flat, so he thought he could replace it with 15 minutes of stretches but he quickly found out it was a bad idea. He’s still not strong enough to exercise. He believes it’ll change after a few days of walking around the small flat and eating nice food.
After a moment he finds himself bored out of his mind. It’s not like he’s not bored most of the time except for when he’s killing or messing with Dongshik, but he manages to tune it out most of the time. He had duties and responsibilities he had to perform back then. Now he has nothing and on top of that he’s stuck in this small apartment. Dongshik should’ve thought about it as well before he left him there.
It’s not even 10am by the time Inwoo decides to find out more about what Dongshik’s doing in his free time. First he goes for the bedroom and particularly the paper sheets. He quickly finds them as it seems like Dongshik wasn’t really trying to hide them from Inwoo.
Inwoo finds out that the character based on him is named Gorae. There’s a page full of character notes, so Inwoo can find out quite a lot about Gorae and, maybe, what Dongshik thinks of him. He’s not really okay with Dongshik’s decision to write a novel based on the stuff they did, but he can’t really do much about it.
Gorae is just like Inwoo, except Inwoo doesn’t really like the extraragatted descriptions of his murders. Surely they were fun, but they were nowhere as over the top as the murders in the book. Inwoo finds out Dongshik changes quite a few things about the murders as well, but it’s mostly done so that he won’t get sued. There’s a character named Jinah based on Bokyoung. She’s a police officer as well, her father’s a detective, however in the book he’s dead. He was killed by Gorae at an abandonded high school.
There’s a subplot where Gorae tries to go out with Jinah and Inwoo finds it ridiculous. He never tried to do that. Bokyoung must’ve gotten some facts wrong. Okay, maybe he tried to go out with her, but it was a part of the plan and if she decided to go with it, he'd eventually dump her. His father wouldn't have approved of this marriage anyway.
Still it's wrong for Dongshik to include it in the book. Or, if he really wants to do it, he should include Gorae's inner thoughts or reveal to the readers that it's part of his plan. Having a romance subplot in your story about a psychopath is so cheap and it's always done in a bad way. If Dongshik only listened to Inwoo, maybe it would bring in a breath of fresh air to the market oversaturated with cheap and bad romance stories.
There's another character and his name is Dowon and he's based on Dongshik. Inwoo reads a little about him, but the stuff is pretty much the same as Dongshik's real life except his family is vegan? Not sure why Dongshik would make this artistic choice, but Inwoo doesn't care enough to question him about it.
Eventually Inwoo's done going through the notes and has nothing to do left. He takes a short nap on the couch, then decides that it's time to watch something. He turns on the TV and watches the news. They don't say anything about him running away. Perhaps the police don't want to alarm people yet. It's only a matter of time until they do and since Inwoo's time is running out, he has to act quickly.
He suddenly remembers something incredibly important. He has some money and a fake passport hidden in a locker at one of the metro station's. He just had to remember the passcode, get it out and then he's done. The passcode is probably something important to him. It's not really his birth date as Inwoo isn't that stupid. Is it… Inwoo remembers it. It's Dongshik's birth date. Why did it have to be Dongshik's birth date? Inwoo's not sure and it's not like he wants to remember it.
Now he only has to either get Dongshik to go to the locker and bring it to his flat for Inwoo, or Inwoo has to get it out himself. He's not sure what to do yet, but he still has at least a while until he's forced to act.
Inwoo browses through various channels, but doesn't find anything particularly interesting, so he goes through Dongshik's collection. He picks out one VHS tape with ugly graphics of a foot and a hand on white background as well as a text saying 'SAW' between them on it, and plays it.
Meanwhile Dongshik arrives at his family’'s restaurant. As soon as the customers finally left the escape room, Dongshik rushed out as well. He called his father in advance to ask him to prepare some food for him (and Inwoo), so he won’t need to wait at the restaurant and most likely get questioned by their own family. He also asked for the air mattress, so Inwoo won’t be uncomfortable… and also he asked for it so he can keep an eye on Inwoo. That’s why. Exactly. With Inwoo in another room, especially one that's connected to the kitchen, it's more dangerous for Dongshik.
So he finds his way towards Mr. Yook's Meat Republic. He can see his brother, Dongchan, standing not that far from the restaurant… and smoking? Dongshik's never seen him smoking before, so that's news to him. Still as an older and wiser and more mature brother he has to intervene. So when Dongchan has problems in the future, Dongshik can proudly look at him and say, "Didn't I tell you?"
"You," he yells from what feels like a few meters from his brother. His bag over his shoulder, Dongshik runs towards his brother. "Yook Dongchan!"
His brother notices him, throws the cigarette on the ground and quickly stomps on him. Unfortunately for him, Dongshik's already seen it all.
"What was that?" Dongshik asks as he stops in front of his brother, panting. "The smoke…"
His brother shrugs. "It's a meat restaurant. We use grills. Of course there will be smoke."
"The smoke was coming from your mouth, idiot," Dongshik rolls his eyes. "Are you seriously smoking? Are you trying drugs too?"
"Obviously not," his brother protests at the groundless accusation. "Ok. I do smoke, but I'm not the type to try drugs or weed, okay?"
"Okay," Dongshik asks.
"Besides, I've seen you smoking too a while ago," his brother recalls. "Right in this place. Before parents' marriage anniversary."
"Huh?" Dongshik's dumbfounded. It's true that he tried smoking in the past two or three months, but it's not an addiction. Dongshik can control himself. On top of that, he's not doing that anymore. "You've seen me?"
His brother nods. Then looks at Dongshik, "Can you keep quiet? I'll stop, but don't tell my mother… Don't tell our father either, you know how he is."
Dongshik thinks for a moment. Surely, telling Dongchan's parents would only put him in trouble and Dongshik doesn't really want that for him. So he says, "Sure. Just try to stop, okay? Don't want you sick or anything."
"Yeah. Don't worry," his brother sighs, a little disappointed at the fact that he's been caught.
They get into the restaurant and Dongshik quickly manages to get the mattress and the food and leave. His father questions him as to why would he want the mattress, but Dongshik manages to make up a bullshit excuse about how his bed and mattress broke at the same time and he has to look for something new. His father seems to buy it and Dongshik feels glad he didn't offer him to look for something new together. Dongshik's not planning to spend any money on that.
Finally Dongshik can go back to his flat and Inwoo, and make sure everything is in its place. Inwoo can be nosy, so him being alone in Dongshik's flat with all Dongshik things to himself is a bit scary to Dongshik.
Dongshik doubts he'd do that, but if Inwoo decides to surprise him and attack him with a knife, Dongshik has a pepper spray ready in his bag. However Dongshik knows Inwoo's too weak to do anything at least for now, so it's not really much of a problem right now.
Bokyoung has been texting him all day about Inwoo, asking Dongshik whether he showed up or not and telling him about the places the police looked into in their search for him. They've found someone suspicious at some point, but it turned out to be some tourist walking out of the convenience store. So far they found no trace of Inwoo and if he and Dongshik manage to keep it up, the police will stop actively looking for him. Dongshik's not sure whether he's particularly happy about that or not. He just goes home.
"What do you mean I don't know anything about you?" Dongshik puts the food away on the kitchen counter as he turns to look at Inwoo, who just coldly welcomed him. It wasn't the first thing Dongshik expected to hear.
"That Gorae guy," Inwoo hums, watching some TV program about how to make your home interior pet and eco-friendly. It doesn't interest Inwoo at all, but he doesn't feel like watching more movies from the 'SAW' series. "I don't like him. That's the guy based on me, right? He makes a few good decisions, but why does he act so unreasonably when it comes to Dowon?"
Dongshik sighs as he sits down on the armchair. "What do you mean? Wait, have you seen my notes!?"
Inwoo decides to ignore one of Dongshik's questions and instead goes on to explain himself. "I mean, why would he be so nice to Dowon after Dowon turned out not to be a psychopathic serial killer? Instead of straight up killing him, he acts towards him with some sort of special affection. Why?"
Dongshik doesn't understand Inwoo's complaints. "That's how you acted though?"
Inwoo looks at him. "What? No, I didn't. I've never felt anything for you. It was all a part of my plan."
"I never said you did," Dongshik points out. "You know what, you can write down your complaints if you want. Part of the stuff is just your own interpretation, you know?”
Inwoo’s offended by that. “If you can’t write stuff clearly, so that your readers have a clear idea of your charachters’ relationships, maybe you should just admit you’re a bad writer?”
Dongshik’s offended by that even more. He stands up and starts putting on his shoes. “Just write down your complaints, okay? I don’t have the time or energy for that.”
“Just admit you can’t accept criticism of your work,” Inwoo stands up and walks over to him. “Where are you going?”
“To get some fresh air,” Dongshik sighs. “The food is hot, so eat it quickly, okay? And leave some of it to me.”
“You’re mad, because I’m not calling your work the best thing on the planet, that’s it, right?” Inwoo asks. “I’m just stating the facts. I’ve read many books in my whole life. I know what makes a good book.”
Dongshik stands straight and looks at Inwoo, their faces close to each other. “Just because you’ve interpreted Gorae’s affection as more than platonic or manipulative is your own problem.”
Dongshik grabs his bag and his coat. He looks at Inwoo for the last time before he leaves the flat. Inwoo feels bad.