Chapter Text
Nam-gyu was sitting at the toilet stall, fiddling with his hands, each move making them sweatier. What went on at the second game made him shudder with curiosity. But there was a person that stood out in the lights of greed and guilt.
There was a proud soul living in the herd. The rock star, rap star, and the scruffy head that pulls it off with ease. The Thanos. Oh, his purple shiny hair, like a synthetic wig. Though covered in grease, it bloomed as pretty as a newly born rose. Purple reminded him of the glamorous, delicious cadbury chocolate.
Suddenly, his mind escaped into reality. Thanos was looking over the stall, his hands laying restlessly on top of the placard teal stall, his hair shown though the bathroom was dimly lit.
“Hey what's up my man!”, he said, pulling off the American accent.
Nam-gyu blushed, pulling his slightly too short hair back, it falling in front of his face anyways.
“Saw you killin’ it in the second game my bro!”, said Thanos. Nam-gyu almost tinkled in delight. Admiration from such a mighty soul, took pleasure on his arm hairs.
“Well, it was nothing really.”, said Nam-gyu, pulling aside a stray hair out of his face yet again.
Suddenly, Nam-gyu forgot about the fact that Thanos was looking over the stall, bit creepy, but with him, it was an effing delight. Nam-gyu's face gave him away, because Thanos suddenly had a distraught look on his face, scrunched up like a leather sofa. He looked around like he hadn’t seen the room yet.
“Oh this, no biggie my dude!” exclaimed Thanos, pointing at his surroundings, mostly Nam-gyu, because he was the star in between amateur actors.
Thanos pulled himself back, in formality, though it was a rare sight. "Hey, let me show you something my Willy Wonka.” he said to Nam-gyu, “though you might be lucky enough to see the first part.”
Nam-gyu couldn't help but wiggle his arms in excitement. He couldn't contain himself, though he still stood up, a monotone face covering up extreme cheekiness. His favourite rap star, showing him to… actually that was still a mystery to him.
He unlocked the stall and light flowed back in, all he saw was contestants burrowed into their own pocket of life, washing their hands and popping a slight toot, though Nam-gyu noticed… that was him.
He came back out into the main hall of beds, greeting a guard as he went in. Nam-gyu followed Thanos like a busy bee. Thanos was delving deeper and deeper into the shadows of the beds, this was a cold to the touch corner not to be messed with. Nam-gyu reeled back, thinking this was trouble.
He ducked under the beds, his arm holding on to one of the bedframes above him.
“Hop in my brother!”, Thanos exclaimed invitingly.
Nam-gyu realised he wasn't alone. This, he didnt wanna admit, made his face falter.
He looked at the other two people there, exchanging some rather awkward laughs. There sat a cute penguin faced boy with his number labeled as 125. Next to him was a girl, loosely extended over the foot of the bed, her arms out in an unbothered sense of style around people. They caught each other's eyes.
“Hey Thanos, who is this little peep?”, said Player 380.
Thanos’ eyebrows raised in hesitation, like a deer in headlights. “Oh this? Don't worry girl, this is just a new man joining!”. Nam-gyu didn't agree to anything, but his face stayed the same as he didn't want to upset Thanos.
“It’s chill man,” said Player 380, only now Nam-gyu realised her cool haircut with choppy 80s layers. His hair sadly could not compare. Nam-gyu's face suddenly burrowed deep into his jacket. He could never be the right companion or lover for a fashionable fiesta like the Thanos, that could fit the expectations of Thanos. A tear shed down Nam-gyu's eyes. He had never been so emotional before, even when his grandma died he kept a monotone face. But this was a pointless adventure, that only he could be so stupid to get into.
“Hey man, let me give you a tour!” Thanos exclaimed. Nam-gyu's shoulders took one more shake, like the start of an avalanche.
Player 380 didn't look all too thrilled, Nam-gyu could see that, even through his outgrown bangs. Player 380 cleared her throat and jutted her eyebrows towards his direction, but with her shoulders it was a fiesta. She stood up, put her gentle hand on his shoulder and said reassuringly,
“Hey, name’s Se-mi. Han Se-mi. Even Noona works if that rocks your boat.”
The little short haired boy was tapping Se-mi on the shoulder with tired eyes. “What?” said Se-mi with a shallow voice. He gestured to a cut on his arm that she had to attend to. “Well, gotta run. Nice seeing you…” her voice trailed off, eyebrows like caterpillars.
Nam-gyu worked up the courage to say, “Names Nam-gay.” He shot out the sentence like a cannon before coming to a realisation.
“Gyu. Nam-gyu” he said, slotting his formality back into place, just like a jigsaw. Se-mi put up a friendly hand.
“I get it man”, she said, “I know a lot of people get kinda nervous around me. Nothing to worry about, we're cool.”
“Yeah, cool…”, Nam-gyu responded.
Se-mi saw Nam-gyu's eyes trail towards Player 125’s hand. “Hey, wanna get that checked out little man?” Asked Nam-gyu. Se-mi shot back into place and her eyes shot up in worry. She ripped off a piece of cloth and wrapped it around his bleeding arm soothingly.
“Better?” said Se-mi with a friendly eyebrow.
“Much, much better” said Player 125.
“Oh,” said Se-mi, “this, this is Min-su. Doesn't talk much, but a friendly bro at best.”
Thanos shot up like a catapult. “Yeah, he’s the best, dude!”, he said, squeezing Min-su’s arm a bit too much. Min-su was not a mighty soul.
“Dude, you're hurting him!”, said Se-mi, hitting Thanos’ hand off with a protective hit. Thanos came back to his senses. “Okay, no need to get alarmed by it.”, he said, throwing theatrical hands. Se-mi took Thanos’ attitude like thunder.
Thanos suddenly stood proud as if he created the world whole and spoke. “This is the one and only Goon Corner!”