Chapter Text
The cacophony of evening rush hour had long melded into a sea of white noise. In this liminal hour, one was not asleep, not awake, the mind in a suspension of paradoxical state.
In this paradox, a man stood out.
By all means, he shouldn’t. He had a face and body shape that blended in the crowd. He was looking at his phone, like many others. He held his briefcase against his body, almost vulnerable. An office worker, by the way he was dressed.
Lee Hyunsung would not have paid attention to this man were it not for how the latter had saved him. It was not a severe danger: some drunk women were touchy-feely with Hyunsung, and Hyunsung was too intimidated to push them away. Other onlookers pretended they didn’t see anything, laughed at him, envied him and one tried to film him without asking for permission.
The office worker put away his cellphone and stood up. Then, as he was about to walk away, he threw his phone toward Hyunsung and bent over to pick it up, blocking the onlooker filming Hyunsung and pushed the women away.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Ah. Here’s my phone. Carry on.”
Lee Hyunsung wasn’t the brightest man, but even he could tell that the office worker pretended to drop his phone to save him.