Chapter Text
If San could meet up with a friend he hadn’t met in a long time, the most obvious question that would come up in their conversation is, ‘What have you been up to?’ or something similar of the sort.
And San can name a few things instantly.
First and foremost is his beloved Byeol. She takes most precedence, the reason he's earning enough, and the top priority in his every expenses. Byeol, San's one and only beloved siamese cat.
Second is his company. The one that he built a year after graduating college then is successful enough so he lives a carefree and luxurious life (for Byeol). Prior to establishing his own company, he started as a freelancer; making software programs or some other jobs that require programming where he saved what he’d earned so he could fulfil his goal of creating his own company (also he’d been working other various part-time jobs since college).
He did this because he never had his parents’ support– which instead urged him to take up medicine (like his cousin) ever since. But he never followed what they said so he started everything independently; although he’d received help from his upperclassmen and professors in college, all went successfully because he persevered and was sufficiently smart. Although when you ask his peers how smart, they'd say the genius kind of smart (he can create programs and softwares without much difficulty, actually. Also why his parents wanted him to take up medicine because he is that intelligent).
So at 24, he already has a successful technology company for a year since its creation (not to exaggerate but he immediately had clients from when he worked/helped before– during and after college. He did that well of a job, that’s why they came back). So it is now evident how busy he was that he didn’t have much of a social life.
Third, and in a really unexpected manner, he's a streamer. Streaming his games never crossed San's mind at first. But he was so bored one day that he decided to record himself while playing Genshin Impact. Aside from the beautiful graphics, story-driven gameplay, and an open world system, the game is a known gacha game; and if anyone's gonna ask, you'll either be celebrating or crying in the corner depending on the result of your gacha. Ultimately, for a gacha game like Genshin Impact, luck should always be on your side as obtaining characters, weapons, character stats, drops are all dependent on luck.
But unfortunately, San's luck is nonexistent whenever he plays the game.
So looking back at his video clips, as it was frustrating to be unlucky, it all turned out funny so he decided to edit and upload those clips on his Instagram reels. At first, he just wanted to share a fun video. But as his video uploads increased, it reached a bigger audience and more people found his videos amusing. He gained more followers because of that, along with the occasional comments as to how it would be even funnier if he was on live too. Although he disregarded those ments.
There were also some other comments that asked if he was a gamer and were curious as to what other games he plays because his computer set-up had explained it in the brief moments it is shown. But honestly, what most got the netizens’ attention is how it is heavily pink-themed. For a man as buff as San (his posts and stories that showed his built or the times he shares whenever he were at the gym), people totally didn't expect for him to have a quite adorable set-up.
So building quite the following, he started listening to his followers’ requests and also started posting some of his Valorant clips. Quite a big difference when compared with Genshin Impact which is a player versus computer game while Valorant being a player versus player one, but that was totally San's intent.
And to speak, Valorant didn't necessarily need luck but skills and strategy and San is quite good at it. To his precise aim, strategic thinking, and sharp intuition, his Valorant instagram reels showed how good a player he is.
And as it stands, his videos gained fairly large attention again. So it was only expected to garner a variety of comments.
‘hes actually good at games’
‘where is this luck in genshin 😭’
‘nah bet he has more fails behind the scenes’
‘SAN LOOKS HOT WHEN HE'S FOCUSED???’
‘uncut video or unreal’
‘maybe now it makes sense that hes a ganyu main’
San has also made it a habit to read his comments because he's glad that other people find his videos funny too (because it is already awkward enough to laugh on his own when he looks back at his recordings). But ever since his followings increased and other game clips posted aside from Genshin Impact, he started getting comments he wasn't pleased with.
He complained to Jongho about it once (actually multiple times). They were in his office, Jongho updating him of some new clients when San wasn't in the right focus.
“But it wasn't by luck!” San suddenly exclaims.
“ㅡand yes you are not listening. What are we talking about here?” Jongho exasperatedly asks.
“My aim! My kills! The headshot?!”
“What?”
“Because look!”
San then passes the phone to Jongho and shows his recent Valorant reel in the comments section where there were a few doubting statements about San's skills.
Jongho passes the phone back to San and facepalms.
“You know what you should do?” Jongho starts.
“Two things, San.”
“What? And that's hyung for you.”
Jongho ignores the latter statement and continues, “First, your follower count has considerably increased so you should at least expect this much attention and the amount of comments that would also make no absolute sense. Get it?”
“Yeah, I know but–” Jongho cuts him off before he could complain more.
“And second, we need to talk about this new client because this actually takes a higher priority than those silly comments, don't you think?” Jongho uses a stern voice that sometimes San thinks he's the boss here rather than him.
So he drops his phone and lets Jongho talk about the reason he is in San's office in the first place.
And of course, San's kind of stubborn so the outlet of his frustrations also turned frustrated for the repeating complaints about San's comment section.
San and Jongho are on their way out of the office when Jongho stops him in his ramblings.
“Then why don't you just show them?” Jongho suggests.
“I did! I showed uncut videos of my gameplay but they'd still have something to say about how it was just a stroke of luck or I have a good mouse or the enemies were beginners– god how am I facing beginners when my rank is Immortal 1?!”
Jongho sighs, “Then post the whole game recording or go live or something,”
“Instagram reels can't handle hours in a single video– wait, go live? Oh, that makes sense! You're a genius, Jongho!”
And so that was what San did. Later that night, he went live on Instagram and corrected the doubters in his comments. Then he ended the live show and kept the recording on his profile, feeling proud about speaking up.
Days after, he'd discovered that there were some of his fans who created an account dedicated to him. There he found clips from his recent Instagram live and compilation of what was said.
Of course, he goes straight to the comments to see what the netizens were saying.
‘hes looks like he's fighting for his life lmaooo’
‘damn those doubters i know my king is good’
‘tell them san!!!’
‘HE LOOKS LIKE A CUTE AND WHINY KITTEN DEMANDING FOR FOOD PLEASEEJDJJDK’
‘he has dimples 🥺’
‘whatever u say babygirl’
And several other comments that just left him speechless. But what most caught his attention was the multitude of comments about whether he should try live streaming his games. Because from what he can gather, his unlucky streak in Genshin, skills and strategy in Valorant, and interesting facial reactions, he'd definitely thrive from streaming.
And San thought, what was the harm in streaming? Given that he's an introvert but he could at least handle interactions behind the screen. So after some thinking then asking Jongho about his schedule, he finally decided that he'd try being a game streamer.
So he did just that. And just for less than a year, he'd gathered enough audience and actually built his second career of streaming.
Now back to the initial topic– lastly– this is kind of controversial– the type that San would think twice about sharing to a distant friend but anyway, it's interesting as it gets.
Another thing he enjoys is calling the house cleaning company. Weird? A little, but he loves talking to the lady who has been cleaning his apartment for a few years. She is like a mother– well, he does call her mom, but only because she suggested it (not because San accidentally blurted it out one morning when his stream got late and only had a few hours of sleep).
But recently, Ms. Jung has been acting a little weird. Aside from the occasional homemade food for him, she had started talking more about his family and his much-loved son Wooyoungie that San had never seen but might as well know him as a person for the amount of times Ms. Jung had mentioned him. Wooyoungie is a bright but honest kid, never greedy and always responsible; might be a little loud with that talkative mouth and boisterous laugh but never annoying– and instead is quite endearing and charming. Or at least that’s what Ms. Jung had said.
“Wooyoungie also loves the color black and coffee as dark as that. He has real passion for art and keeps on working hard to improve himself day by day.” Ms. Jung adds.
San can only hum as an answer as he ponders on what kind of person her son was. Perfect, was San’s initial thought and he’s having a hard time comprehending that. If they were in some kind of novel or alternate universe, then San would believe every word Ms. Jung had said. Maybe she had an inkling of bias towards his son but as he observes the lady’s eyes, there was genuine fondness behind it.
So maybe Ms. Jung is truly blessed for having a son like him.
But seriously, if she says that he’s good-looking too, then San had a right to doubt–
“And well, not to boast but my son has attractive features too. Quite handsome, if you ask me.” Ms. Jung states like he had read San’s mind.
Yeah, right. He is–
“And you know what I think? You’d match well with my son! You’d make a very good couple!”
Uh, what?
San blanks for a second– thinking if he heard that right.
“What?” San bafflingly answers.
“You’re a good kid, San! I’d surely approve you if you ever get together with my Wooyoungie,” Ms. Jung further adds with a smile on her face.
San gets flustered at the suggestion and only smiles an awkward one at the older lady.
A few more weeks after that, Ms. Jung would always somehow make the topic of their conversations about Wooyoung. And as every time, he’d mention how they’d both look good as a pair. So San would either veer the conversation away from that topic or playfully agree with the old lady.
Despite the lady acting like some kind of cupid between him and his son, San would allow the impossible yet amusing talk (San thinks he and that Wooyoung would just never meet as they didn’t technically have any reason to) so as a new cleaning day arrives, San is still quite excited about the arrival of his favorite cleaning lady.
In all likelihood, that was what San would expect to happen but he’s instantly proven wrong when everything already goes wrong the moment he wakes up.
San’s Genshin Impact stream ended too late last night when he thought doing a simple world quest would be quick and easy– only for it to last four hours and the quest wasn’t even done (he had to give up halfway the Sumeru Aranara quest as sleep is slowly calling him while playing).
Because of that, he’d effectively overslept and was only woken up by the sound of his doorbell.
San isn't the type to get grumpy every morning but sleep deprivation is getting to him– only thing that motivates him to move is that he'll see Ms. Jung, at least.
But he opened that door and it wasn't his favorite cleaning lady behind it.
It is a guy, San guesses they are close in age; his hair a combination of black and blonde underneath (if San was being honest, the hair color immediately made him think of oreos) and he's wearing baggy clothes that actually compliments his body type.
San shouldn't have been confused; he should have known from the gloves and cleaning supplies and products alone that he may be from the cleaning company. He still asks, anyway.
“How may I help you?”
“Hi!” the guy greets first, flashing a wide smile at San, “I'm from the cleaning company. Didn't you have it scheduled today?”
“Yes, but–”
“I'm not the usual?” the supposed to be ‘cleaning guy’ interjected, “I know, yeah– and I guess my mother wasn't lying when she said she's close with this one buff guy with sharp but handsome features but also has surprisingly cute eye smile and dimples. Her words, not mine, okay? But anyway, she's sick today so I'm covering for her. Will that answer your question?” The guy rambled and San had trouble absorbing all that they said because he totally talked too much in a single breath.
Cute eye smile? Dimples? Who? Me? And the one supposed to be sick is Ms. Jung? In the first place who even is this guy–
“Oh, and by the way, I'm Wooyoung! Nice to meet you, San!” He visibly pauses then continues, “… ssi? I'm sorry if that turned out so impolite, we are the same age so I just got ahead of myself. Please ignore it, San-ssi!”
“W-wait, so you're covering for Ms. Jung?”
“Yes!”
“How do I know that's true?” San asks.
“Well, I don't have an I.D. to prove myself as an employee of the cleaning company and if I'm being honest, I shouldn't be doing this but–! I have a reason, okay? You see, my mom, if you've known her for quite a few years already, she's stubborn, isn't she? So as I said a while ago, she's sick but she's insisting on cleaning your apartment today, San-ssi. She could have called in sick but she's not listening. So I suggested covering for her. And if I had a choice, I would have said that in a false manner but she'd eventually find out about me not doing her favor. So now, I’m here. Will that be okay? Also, you won't tell the cleaning company about me, aren't you?”
Again, a whole paragraph in a single breath. Does this guy need to talk so much? And he did not just easily confess about working illegally but San would need to agree about Ms. Jung being stubborn.
“Well,” Wooyoung starts when San is still caught thinking, “I wouldn't want to suggest this ‘cause she's sick, you know? But would you mind talking to my mother instead?”
All things considered, the situation is still suspicious even after that lengthy explanation. Even if San knows that Wooyoung is the name of Ms. Jung's son as she'd mention it several times already. And even if the guy in front of him feels strangely familiar when San knows he had never seen him before.
“Okay, sure. Let's call her.” So San agrees.
Wooyoung gets his phone from his pocket, taps a few times and the next seconds, a caller I.D. ‘ Mom ♡ ’ flashes on his screen. The call gets picked up after the fourth ring.
“Hey Wooyoungie, is everything alright?” Ultimately, San recognizes the voice.
“Hi, mom! Sorry for calling when you're sick but San-ssi just wanted to talk to you for a sec,” Wooyoung says and motions his phone closer to San.
“You can speak, you're on loud speaker, mom.” Wooyoung adds.
“Hi Sannie, do you need something?” He hears Ms. Jung say.
“Hello, Ms. Jung. I was just worried when I heard you're sick.” San starts.
“Hmm?” Ms. Jung answers shortly.
“Do you need anything, Ms. Jung? Are you–”
“Come again, what did you call me, Sannie?” Ms. Jung interjects.
San gets confused; What did I call her?
“Ms. Jung, is something wrong–” Oh. San realizes, “Uh,”
“Hmm? Are you saying something, Sannie?” And there was a slight change of tone in her voice; a tinge of teasing, if San would say.
“Well, uh, I was just saying to get lots of rest and eat and drink your medicine. I hope you feel better soon,” San pauses for a second, “... Mom.” he finishes.
He steals a glance at Wooyoung; whose head is turned to the side, shoulders slightly shaking.
Definitely laughing.
So now San knows that Wooyoung also realized why his mother kept on making San repeat himself. All because Ms. Jung wanted him to call her ‘Mom’. And San is left flustered because he really just called Ms. Jung ‘Mom’ in front of the real son. How embarrassing.
The call ended after a few more exchanges between Wooyoung and his mom.
And if Wooyoung actually tried to stop his wide smile; still amused because of the earlier situation, then San wouldn't be glaring (San tries but he's more like pouting) at him.
“Are we fine now? I can clean your apartment?” Wooyoung asks, unperturbed at San's glare.
“Yeah, fine. Whatever,” San settles on saying and allows Wooyoung to come inside.
So all in all, if San met a close friend he hasn’t met in a long time and talked about what was up in their life recently, he’d definitely say it instantly– his beloved cat Byeol, his own company, his game live streaming, and his favorite cleaning lady. And maybe a new addition to that, his favorite cleaning lady’s son, Wooyoungie.