Work Text:
Luck has a particularly strange way to work.
The train is packed, but Inho still managed to enter, advance until he's next to his target, and even score the seat next to him. Supposedly, the pregnant lady that got up is quite glad that she could get off the train: the man sitting next to her reeks of alcohol, his hair and beard are unkempt, is dressed probably with the first clothes that he could find that morning, clothes that have not been properly washed in weeks. Seong Gihun really is nothing more than a ghost of his former self, too lost in his own thoughts to care about the disdain of the people around him, of the way they murmur when they look at him, blaming the collapse of society on what they they think is a homeless man guilty of taking the train.
He barely acknowledges Inho when he sits next to him. Not that he could recognize him, after all player 456 was blindfolded the first and last time they have met officially - still, Inho chose to blend with the crowd by wearing a surgical mask and a hat to further make himself unrecognizable. Just an extra precaution, really.
Now that he's sitting right next to his Gihun, though, there's little he can do. He didn't plan further than this. Actually, he isn't really suppose to be here: although is part of the Frontman's duties to keep a constant eye on the ex contestants, to follow them around is a job usually reserves to his lower rank subordinates. Still, sometimes, Inho likes to be the one to personally check on player 456. A habit from his days in the force, he rationalized: better do the job yourself if you want to make sure that it's good, right? Especially when Ilnam has taken a like to the winner of this year's edition, to the point that he has express the desire to meet Gihun again more than once now that his days are numbered.
It's only natural for him to be here, really.
The smell of cheap alcohol and of dirty clothes doesn't disturb him that much - he has smelled worse things in his days as detective, and the mask keeps out the worst of it anyway. Inho keeps his eyes on an oblivious player 456, observes him, tries to find traces of the fighting spirit that has fascinated so much during the games. He only finds a tired, broken man, staring at nothing and uncaring of the people around him.
What a bizarre turn of events. Usually, winners would enjoy their immense new fortune from the get go, the trauma of the games keeping them from squandering everything immediately, now more appreciative of their life and the second chance they were given. Not player 456 though. Something else must have happened to him after the games, Inho can see it in his eyes. His are the same ones he bore after he found his wife and child dead upon his return. He should take a look to his file later.
The train keeps moving, its steady movement lulling some of the sitting passengers to sleep. Inho looks at them and tries to imagine himself in their place, coming home after a long day at work to a house where there would always be a warm meal for him and full of children's laughter. He can't do it: he finds it hard to imagine things after she died, after the illness ate her and their baby away. Especially now that he still reeks of the hospital Junho has been admitted to, deep asleep into a coma. He really hates the way hospitals smell - something inevitable, really, considering how much of his life he has spent into one, always at the side of someone else.
Inho flinches when he feels a sudden weight on his shoulder. He turns his head slowly, to not wake Seong Gihun, who is so exhausted and not bothered by the world that he has fallen asleep against a complete stranger. Anyone else would have probably shoved him away, maybe start yelling at what they see as a hobo making the train filthier with his presence alone. Inho remains still; he looks up: the last stop is still far away, there's still time and it doesn't look like player 456 has somewhere to go to. Plus, he's tired too, from looking after Junho and his step-mother from the distance and the games and everything else. He can allow himself to rest a little, too.
So Inho remains still, ignoring the way the other passengers are looking at him - a mix of disgust and pity, some of them taking out their phones to take pictures - and closes his eyes, the welcomed weight of Seong Gihun on his shoulder warming his side.