Chapter Text
What's so great about him?
Jaehyun watches Park Sungho, his rival in running for school president, put up a poster on the wall near the entrance of the school. He's the type of boy greatly talked about for his handsome looks, his narrow cat eyes, and his long dark brown hair styled in a middle part. So boyish, yet chic it makes Jaehyun annoyed. He scoffs to himself, that stupid smile on the poster, the perfect example of perfection. Who would vote for him anyway? He’s got no real examples of true leadership.
“Jaehyun.”
Jaehyun, on the other hand, has an outgoing reputation as strong as steel.
“Jaehyun? Hello?”
He must have more votes, he’s sure he knows just about everyone in this school. If he tried hard enough, he could convince every single—
“Jaehyun!” a student behind him shouts once more.
“What?” Jaehyun turns, recollecting his consciousness. “Ah, yup. That's a good spot.”
“Thank you.” Woonhak mutters something else under his breath, which Jaehyun just finds cute.
Woonhak is like a little brother to him, even though they're nowhere near related. Their mothers were best friends in high school, leading to the blooming friendship between him and Woonhak. They hated each other at first, Woonhak is a year younger than Jaehyun, which gave him the natural instinct to tease him every chance he gets. Yet, through a relationship with love and hatred, they’ve been going strong since elementary school.
The last bell had just rang, the rush of students heading outside to go home or catch their buses. The chilly air pushes gusts of wind into the building as the doors open and close abruptly. It's the start of the week, Monday, but the second week of voting.
“I can tell you’re thinking about it,” Woonhak says as he secures Jaehyun’s poster on a wall. He agreed earlier to help Jaehyun stick these posters around the school, honestly he’s been doing most of the work.
“You might be able to win, just have hope! Seriously, you’ve got a pretty good chance. I mean, you’re like the golden boy.” He finishes sticking the tape.
Jaehyun grins. “You think I’m the school's golden boy? Aww—”
“Shut up,” Woonhak hisses back. “I’m trying to say your well known and respected—“
Jaehyun places a finger on Woonhak’s lips. “You’ve said enough, you truly are an angel, Woonhak.” Jaehyun gives a warm smile teasingly. Woonhak groans in response, smacking away his finger.
Jaehyun glances around, catching the sight of Mr. Perfect himself. Sungho walks near their direction, he leads a student beside him who seems to be helping him stick posters around as well. When they make eye contact, Jaehyun gives a very forced smile while waving. Sungho looks at him with a straight face, and only gestures a wave before completely ignoring him.
Jaehyun scoffs. “Did you see that?” Woonhak just raises a brow, wondering what he's on about this time.
“I waved at him and he didn’t return a single crumb of warmth—“
“Jaehyun!” A voice calls behind him.
“I asked some people at my table who they’re voting for, they all said you! You’re going strong already.” Jiyu says, as a few other students follow behind her.
“Am I? I’ve been worried, honestly,” Jaehyun sighs.
“We’re going to the convenience store later, you’re coming right?” says Jeongin, seemingly appearing out of nowhere behind Jiyu.
Jaehyun nods. “Yeah.”
Woonhak glances around, taken aback about how quickly the people swarmed around him. “O-kay, well I'm gonna head out,” he says, waving.
“Thanks for the help, woon-baby.” He coos, quickly waving back. He earns an Ugh from Woonhak.
The group he's almost always been with are well known around the school, a friend group made up of Jeongin, Sujin, Jiyu, and Ryujin.
Ryujin, someone with a cool, chill vibe. Jaeyun knows her as someone who often makes smart remarks like she's the smartest person in the room (she likely is, with a strong 4.0 GPA.)
Sujin is yet another symbol of perfection. With being good at just about anything, she’s an advanced cellist, captain of the cheer team, and an aspiring lawyer. Jaehyun often wonders how she’s surviving in general.
Jaehyun sees Jiyu as this friendly puppy. If you ask anything about anyone in the school, she knows them. He never knows where she gets any of her information, she just knows. Even for the quietest people, she knows at least one thing.
Jeongin is well known for his foxy eyes and deep dimples, popular among the jocks for being the captain of the same soccer team Jaehyun is in. He's quick-witted and can charm his way into things, it’s no doubt he’s looked upon by other people. Would Jaehyun be wrong to say he does too?
Jaehyun couldn’t give a solid reason (or he wouldn’t like to admit it) on why he hangs out with them. It's been his norm to migrate to them, like his place of acceptance, and something that he relies on for the sake of his image. It’s not like he doesn’t want to, but more like he has to. He likes to think that means he’s a good friend.
They’re by the checkout, waiting in line as Ryujin pays for her stuff. Jeongin runs a hand through his hair in frustration. “I forgot to get a drink.”
Jeongin immediately spins around. “Could you get it for me?” He bats his eyes at Jaehyun almost like a cartoon character.
“Stop that.” Jaehyun stifles a laugh yet cringing at the same time. “Hold my stuff,” He orders, handing his basket over.
As he heads to the refrigerator, spotting a figure looking through the section he needs.
“Hey, sorry. Can I just—“
The figure turns, and he sees Mr. Perfect, out of all places. He’s dressed much differently than the usual neat image Jaehyun sees him in. He's dressed in grey sweatpants, a black hoodie with a random text graphic printed on the front of it, hood over his head, and black thin framed glasses.
“Oh.” Jaehyun says, his tone changing, making Sungho’s eyes narrow. “Could you move?”
Sungho smirks a little. “Well, I’m not done looking.”
Jaehyun is taken aback by the sudden rebellion he wasn’t hoping for. “Well, I’m kind of in a hurry.” He says, snatching the door handle, lightly shoving his way into Sungho’s spot.
“Well, you can wait your turn,” Sungho murmurs as he pushes Jaehyun back.
“Oh, that's why you’ve been holding up.”
Sungho turns his attention to the voice, Jaehyun takes his chance to push Sungho over, he grins triumphantly as he snatches the drink he needs.
Jeongin forces a smile as he walks over with pocketed hands, the rest of the group following behind him. “Hey, Sungho.”
“Hi,” Sungho says monotonously.
Jeongin gestures towards Jaehyun’s direction. “What are you holding him up for?”
“I wasn't—“
Jeongin cuts Sungho off. “Shouldn’t you be more considerate of your fellow classmates? I mean you’re running for school president after all.”
Sungho observes all of them with sharp eyes. For a moment, his mouth opens to snap back a response. He closes it, saying nothing before stepping back and gathering his items like he’s given in.
Sungho walks past Jaehyun, and through the group. Jeongin suddenly sticks his foot out in his path, and Sungho stumbles a little but catches himself. The items in his arms fall out, scattered across the ground.
Sungho glares at Jeongin. “Seriously?”
Jeongin grins, satisfied. “Oops.”
Sungho scoffs, and quietly picks his things up off the ground.
Jaehyun looks at his friends, they all silently glance at each other, all except Jeongin. Jaehyun considers helping Sungho, he wants to. Then there's Jeongin, who walks past him with a blazing trail of confidence. Jaehyun glances to find the rest of the group follows along, like they’re obliged to as well. That’s simply the way Jaehyun thinks with Jeongin, too. Yet, Jaehyun still stands there, he can’t seem to move.
“Jaehyun?”
Jaehyun blinks, looking up at Jeongin who gestures for him to follow. Now he's reminded that Jeongin is watching, and now what choice does he have?
-
Tuesday morning, they make the morning announcements per usual of school updates, as well as a reminder to cast your votes for the school’s president.
Woonhak, who sits behind him in his first period, pats his shoulder. “Myung-jae, Myung-jae, Myung-jae,” he chants quietly.
“On that note,” the voice over the speaker adds. “We’ll inform who's currently in the lead.”
The announcement was followed by a suspenseful silence, Jaehyun is sure they’ll call his name. He didn’t set up all those posters for nothing, right?
Right?—
“Park Sungho!”
He freezes.
“Again, be sure to cast your votes! Thank you for tuning into YOUTH Radio, this was Chaewon!”
No, no. It’s no big deal.
Woonhak clears his throat, definitely aware of Jaehyun’s shock. He taps his shoulder and leans over to him. “You were probably about one vote off, who knows? Don’t sweat it.”
“Is my popularity fading away? You’re a liar Kim Woonhak.” Jaehyun whispers back.
“Don’t be dramatic. Give it—uh—another two weeks? Seriously! You’ve got plenty of time,” Woonhak ensures.
Jaehyun sighs, slouching in his chair. This is definitely karma for the other day. This isn’t that serious as he makes it out to be, but Jaehyun can’t stand losing.
“Hey, I'm sure he won by just a tad.” Jeongin says, swirling the straw of his drink idly.
The rest of the group had left to buy snacks, leaving just Jaehyun and Jeongin at the table.
Jaehyun props his elbow on the table, resting his head on his palm. “What if lose?”
Jeongin gives a quick glance around before leaning a bit closer. “You know, “ he lowers his voice. “I’ve got a good idea.”
Jaehyun glances at him suspiciously. “What?”
“Since they give you papers to write in your votes, you could always just,“ he grins. “Slip in a few more.”
“I’m not doing that. That’ll get me in trouble, even worse, disqualified!”
A smug look remains on Jeongin’s face. “You’re not going to get in trouble, not if you don’t get caught.”
Jaehyun scoffs, not budging.
“But you can always just be a sore loser.” Jeongin shrugs.
He starts to think Jeongin has a good point.
No.
Maybe?
“How would I do that anyway?” Jaehyun asks, trying not to seem too interested about it.
“Sujin helps out with the front office sometimes, she has the key to unlock the doors. I can just ask her for those, ” Jeongin explains. “All you need to do is get a couple papers, fill in some nonsense, then leave.”
What a deathtrap, he’s not desperate enough to do that.
“Well, what if there’s staff?” Jaehyun counters.
“Doubt it,” Jeongin dismisses. “I’m giving you an easy solution, don’t overthink it. It’s your chance to win.”
Jaehyun sighs, easy is a huge understatement. Yet, watching Sungho from afar, taking his role. It wouldn’t hurt to slip in a few, would it?
No.
He can’t.
That’s too low, and Myung Jaehyun wouldn’t go that low just to win a student council election. Who would?
Apparently he would, because he finds himself outside the school building at 7pm just for that.
He tosses a black jacket on, placing his hood over his head extra lower than he would. A small beep is heard as he scans the keycard to unlock the front doors. He looks behind him to see Jeongin doing a shoo gesture towards him. He groans, carefully opening the doors.
The dark halls of the school intimidate him as he makes his way to the doors of the front office. He scans the card for the doors, to which more darkness intimidates him.
Don't overthink it, Jeongin says. Things are going strangely well with no staff in sight, so what does he have to worry about? Jaehyun goes past the front desk, down the hall, into a small room and points his phone flashlight around. Eventually after opening cabinets and looking through printers, he opens a drawer with a stack of papers. The voting papers.
He quickly takes out a pen he saved in his pocket earlier, and observes the voting paper. All he has to do is just put a name and circle which person he wants to vote for.
Didn’t they make this a bit too easy to cheat? He thinks. Well no idiot would want to cheat votes unless they’re Myung Jaehyun.
He thinks for a moment, debating how much he should take. Eventually, he simply grabs 3 papers and fills them out.
Suddenly he hears a noise in the distance that makes him freeze.
There's a jingle-jingle of keys that grows louder and throws Jaehyun into a panic. Jaehyun mindlessly grabs a few more papers and shoves them in his hoodie, all while trying to close the cabinet as quietly as possible. He takes a peek down the hall.
He swears his heart actually stops for a moment when he sees a figure with a flashlight in the distance, undoubtedly staff.
How could he be desperate enough to do something so stupid? He’s going to get caught and disqualified!
Jaehyun quickly runs around the corner to hide. The soft jingle of the staff member’s keys fade out, and he hears the front doors of the school click open.
He takes that as a cue to drop to the floor, and crawl out as soon as possible.
He finally makes it to the front of the school, rushing to get back into Jeongin’s car. His heartbeat finally starts to slow down, just for this moment he’ll take triumph for not getting caught.
Jeongin tells him he’s cool for pulling off something like that. He can’t help but be anxious, whenever someone touches or opens his backpack the slightest he can’t help but snatch it back and find a quick excuse for them not to touch it. He really needs to get rid of these soon.
The next day, Jaehyun has practice for his soccer team after school. He arrives later just before sunset. Jaehyun’s mother dragged him along to a store to buy dinner, as well as some to give some to their neighbors who fixed their lights all day.
-
There's a quiet ding that rings in the room when they open the door to the restaurant. Jaehyun’s mother and him head to the desk, greeting the owner who returns a warm smile.
“Glad to see you again Mrs. Myung,” the owner says, tapping a few times on the device in front of him. “What can I get you?”
“Give me a moment.” Mrs. Myung says pensively, and she tilts her head to look up at the menu.
Jaehyun looks around the store, it’s not huge but it's average and there's a few people sitting and enjoying their meals. The big emphasis on Sundae in their store name is definitely there with how many stickers and posters variations are on the wall, a poster on the wall even promotes a MMA fighter who came to eat here.
Jaehyun’s mother looks at the menu, listing all the things she wants. Mr. Park nods diligently, tapping the screen in front of him to place her order.
“Oh!” Mrs. Myung exclaims. “One last thing, a medium serving of dumplings.”
“A fellow came here earlier and bought tons of those, I think we might be out.” Mr. Park lets out a small laugh, and turns hesitantly to a figure behind him who seems to be storing plates away.
That someone wore a black hoodie, with a body frame that Jaehyun swears he’s seen before.
“Are we out?” Mr. Park calls to him, “of dumplings.”
The figure turns around, “I can—“
His eyes widen before he slips on his hood and turns back around quickly. Jaehyun just barely catches his face, but he knows those glasses and parted hair all too well.
There's no chance.
“Sungho?” Mr. Park asks confusedly.
Sungho forces out a nervous laugh. “I think we’re out. I’ll just go make—“
“Is Sungho your son, Mr. Park?” Jaehyun asks.
Mr. Park looks back and forth between the two, eyes immediately lighting up. “He is! Do you know him from school?”
Mr. Park drags Sungho back by the hood, and Sungho shuts his eyes, accepting his fate at this point.
“Why didn’t you say so earlier?” Mr. Park chuckles, patting Sungho’s shoulder.
“Huh, I didn’t know you were friends either!” Mrs. Myung says, raising her brows.
“Sungho, why don’t you—I don’t know, show him around? Whatever you kids do these days.” Mr. Park lightly pushes him towards the back.
“I have to make the dumplings though—“
Mr. Park cuts Sungho off. “I’ll make it, don’t worry. Go!” He dismisses, way too excited over this situation.
Sungho makes eye contact with Jaehyun before letting out a deep sigh.
“Follow me.” He mutters, leading Jaehyun to the back.
They’re met with a moment of silence before Jaehyun clears his throat in an obnoxious way to get Sungho’s attention.
Sungho slowly turns his head, but not all the way so he’s just side-eyeing him.
“Nice to see you again,” Jaehyun says casually. Sungho glares at him in response.
“I’m just trying to start a conversation.” Jaehyun mutters, looking away. “This doesn’t make us seem like friends.”
“Because we aren’t friends,” Sungho snaps back, halting in front of Jaehyun. “Why would I want to be friends with you?”
“Rude.” Jaehyun murmurs, but he realizes his mistake when a particular memory comes to mind. “I mean, I don’t blame you, but—”
Jaehyun cuts himself off as he gets a good look at Sungho. His eyebrows are slightly furrowed, almost like an angry cat, Jaehyun somehow has a change of heart at the sight. “I’m sorry. I can repay you with something? If you want..” Jaehyun mutters.
Sungho just shakes his head. “I don’t want anything from you, Jaehyun.”
Sungho glances to the front where Mr. Park and Mrs. Myung chat together, and he hands Jaehyun’s mother the bags of food as well. Sungho takes this as a cue to head back to the front, Jaehyun silently follows along. His peace offering made things worse, so might as well shut up for now.
“Sungho studies so much. He’s a smart boy, but he tends to get so lost in it I worry whether—”
Sungho cuts Mr. Park off. “Tomorrow!” He blurts out.
Mr. Park looks at him with surprise, waiting for what he has to say. Sungho definitely did that out of impulse just to get his dad to stop talking.
“Me and Jaehyun were planning to hangout tomorrow, right?” He turns to Jaehyun, who is incredibly puzzled.
So much for not wanting to be friends with me, he thinks.
Sungho rests a playful hand on Jaehyun’s shoulder, that is, to Mr. Park’s perspective. His hard grip on it was definitely not playful, If only Mr. Park knew what this liar was doing.
Jaehyun forces out a laugh, playing along. “Yes we are.” He shimmies a little in hopes to get out of Sungho’s raging grip on his shoulder.
“Oh!” Mr. Park exclaims. “That’s great! What a nice son you have, Mrs. Myung.”
“What can I say?” Mrs. Myung shrugs, a proud grin spreading across her face. “My son’s always been a social butterfly, ever since he was a child.”
Sungho releases his grip, Jaehyun quickly kicks his ankle as revenge while his father is distracted.
Sungho sharply inhales, turning to Jaehyun with a forced smile and crazy wide eyes like he’s about to choke him out. “I’ll text you tomorrow,” he says quickly, and begins to walk behind the count.
“Wait!” Jaehyun exclaims. “I don't have your number, do I?” He gives a cocky grin.
“Right.” Sungho says, slowly walking back towards him.
Jaehyun hands him his phone to which Sungho types in his number. When he hands Jaehyun back his phone, Jaehyun peers at the contact number, which says Don’t text me. He looks up at Sungho who has a blank face, and playfully remarks “good one” to him.
Later that day when Jaehyun’s back home, boredom takes over him and the sudden urge to piss off Sungho makes him grab his phone. With expectation, he sends Sungho a text curious to see if he’d really answer.