Chapter Text
"Chungae!" Gyeongseok screams, aiming towards no specific direction. He curses himself for his carelessness; for always letting his dog slip away when he wasn’t paying enough attention.
He had just gotten her a few months ago when he turned 21, thinking he was responsible enough to get one and now, he's lost her for the third time.
He frantically yells out her name repeatedly, giving an apologetic look to anyone who stares weirdly in his direction. For a moment, he slows down, trying to catch his breath, hoping she hasn't been taken or harmed in any way.
But just as he was about to start to take off running, he hears being called from behind,
"Hey!"
Gyeongseok whips his head around, almost snapping his neck in the process. The first thing he sees being a beautiful, tall man smiling, walking towards him while carefully holding his small puppy.
He gasps, running towards the two, almost crying tears of happiness when he sees Chungae okay.
"I'm assuming this is your dog?" the man asks, pointing to her collar, which displayed her name in colorful letters Gyeongseok had made himself.
"Yes she is." Gyeongseok sighs, grabbing her carefully from him and just adjusting his puppy in his arms, "Thank you for finding her. I'm such a bad owner. I've lost her so many times already."
The man laughs, "No problem. Really. Maybe you should put a leash on her or something though. Small dogs tend to run off in a blink of an eye."
"You...know about dogs?"
"I have one back at home. A small one like yours."
"And you get her to behave?"
"Yeah. I mean....it took a whole lot of training, let me say that, but yeah. He's a good dog."
"Well, I hope one day I'll be able to manage this thing." Gyeongseok laughs, shaking his head. He smiles, holding out his free hand, "Park Gyeongseok, by the way. Again, thank you for finding her."
"Cho Hyunjun." the man nods, "I swear I've heard your name before...which college do you go to?"
"Oh um....Myeongin University, it's like 20 minutes away from here?"
"No way! I go there too. You don't....happen to be an art major are you?"
"I am! How did you know?"
Hyunjun smiles, "One of my good friends is an art major too, and she talks about people in her classes sometimes, so I thought I recognized your name."
"What did she say about me?"
"I don't remember. I tend to zone out whenever she talks."
Gyeongseok snorts, shaking his head, "As long as it's not anything bad." he tilts his head, "What major are you?"
"Business."
"Business?! That's right next door to our building! We should meet up and hang out again sometime."
Hyunjun smiles, nodding, "Give me your number and we'll see."
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Gyeongseok and Hyunjun did hang out again. Then twice. Then three times... It didn't take long for them to be inseparable.
Despite their obvious differences, it was so easy for them to talk about anything to one another.
They'd stay up until 3 am, doing anything under the sun together. Their favorite thing would be to go to 24 hour open fast food restaurants and stay there until they get kicked out.
One night, while driving back to their dorms, Gyeongseok takes a look at Hyunjun while he's driving.
All he was doing was turning the steering wheel while making stupid jokes about who knows what, but Gyeongseok found it incredibly charming.
His laugh, his smile, the way his face looked under the beautiful streetlights....
He swears that if he were a girl, he would've already fallen in love with him a long while ago.
And as if Hyunjun could read his thoughts, he stops talking, looking back at Gyeongseok who quickly turns his glance away from him.
"You okay?" Hyunjun asks.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"You don't sound fine."
"I was just thinking."
"About...?"
"I just love you a lot you know."
It takes Hyunjun by surprise. He grips the wheel harder, trying not to let himself get distracted on the road.
"Was that weird?" Gyeongseok peeps.
Hyunjun shakes his head, feeling a warm smile being plastered on his face, "I love you too."
The rest of the drive to the dorms passed mostly in silence, broken only by the faint hum of the radio. Once they parked, Hyunjun reached for the door handle, ready to leave, until Gyeongseok stopped him.
"Wait, Hyunjun." he quietly speaks.
"Is.....everything alright?"
Gyeongseok nods slowly, "Yeah...yeah I just- I don't wanna go in yet."
"Oh, okay. Did you want to go anywhere else?"
"No, can we just, stay here for a while?"
Hyunjun blinks for moment, then nods, rolling down the windows so fresh air could enter the muggy car.
A long long 30 seconds pass in complete silence before Hyunjun awkwardly clears his throat, "So......are you excited for your date with Eun-seong tomorrow?"
Gyeongseok sighs with a blank expression, "I don't know."
"What does that mean? You don't like her?"
"I mean. I don't really know. She's pretty and she asked me so why not, right?"
"It doesn't really sound like you're all excited for it.
"It's a first date, how much could it mean?"
"Even if it doesn't lead anywhere, then so be it. Nothing terrible could happen on one date."
Gyeongseok shrugs, "Yeah. You're right. Nothing terrible could happen with dating. So why haven't you been?"
Hyunjun blinks, contemplating what he should say in the best ability he has, "I can't date. I just....I don't feel right lately about that."
"What? Why?"
"I'm...I don't know. I just feel like something's wrong."
"Something's wrong? Did you want to switch your major or something?"
"No, Gyeongseok. Something's wrong with me."
"In...what aspect?"
Hyunjun shakes his head, not wanting Gyeongseok to see him getting emotional, "I don't know."
Silence lingers as Gyeongseok carefully takes Hyunjun’s hand, hesitating as he tries to find the right words.
"Well, you're top of your class, you're smart, funny, good looking, you have a lot of friends, and you could date anyone you wanted. Hell, if I were a girl, I would've already been so in love with you already."
Hyunjun snorts, "Stop joking."
"Who said I was?" Gyeongseok smiles, slightly nudging his shoulder, "I'm serious."
The laughter slowly dies out. Hyunjun turns to Gyeongseok, his expression remembering serious now, like he truly wants to know. “And… what if I were a girl?”
"If you were a girl?", Gyeongseok blinks, "I honestly think I would've married you on the spot."
Hyunjun tries to look into his eyes, trying to find anything in his face that said he was lying, "C'mon...be serious for once."
"I am being serious!"
Hyunjun sighs, reclining his seat back, playing with some fuzz on the side of his car, "Why can't we just get married then?" he asks.
Gyeongseok almost laughs, then freezes when he sees Hyunjun’s face. He isn’t joking. And before Gyeongseok can find the words to respond, Hyunjun sits up and opens the car door.
"It's late. Way late, you have an exam and a date tomorrow, so rest up."
"Oh...oh- yeah right. Okay. Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
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"I'm dropping out to....join the military." Hyunjun suddenly reveals one random Tuesday night.
“What?!” Gyeongseok exclaims, staring at him in disbelief. “Why- I don’t even…When?!"
"Not so soon. In....a few months."
"That is soon Hyunjun. W-Why are you leaving? You're top of your class and-"
"Something's wrong with me Gyeongseok. I need this. I need this time to fix myself back into place."
"Is something bothering you that much? Is there anything you can do instead of just leaving like this?"
Hyunjun looks up, "No, there's not...I'm sorry."
Gyeongseok, tears welling at the thought of not seeing his best friend every day, covers his face and quietly cries, while Hyunjun holds back his own tears to comfort him.
"I'll be back. I promise I'll be back."
And in a few months, he did just as he said, and he left school to go to the military.
But as life hit them harder, it was harder to keep in touch with each other through their phases of life. Gyeongseok graduated, got a job, had a child, while the whole time, Hyunjun never came back.
And for both of them, it was easier to let go then to hold onto something so fragile. So they stopped communicating altogether.
However, Gyeongseok found his life being significantly harder as he continued to live it.
After having his baby, he needed to take a leave off work due to his hectic schedule, and later had to fully quit his job because his girlfriend didn't have any interest with being with him or the baby anymore, threatening to kill herself if he forces her to become a mother.
He eventually found a new job, got over his heartbreak, until the worst possible thing could've happened.
Cancer.
His precious daughter had cancer; and he had no way to pay for the treatment.....
So that's how he wound up waiting at the side of the road for a car to come pick him up because a random man who he played ddakji with told him to.
And while he waited, he thought to himself how his life could get any lower than this...
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Gyeongseok woke up to the deafening sound of a trumpet song alarm as he felt every bone of his body ache.
He looks at himself, questioning where he was and what he was wearing. He starts to panic, wondering if he got himself into some prison of some sort as he looks around at the number of people all in the same tracksuit as him.
He climbs out of bed as people start to ask questions, to the suspicious pink-masked guards who entered the room, only to receive vague, unhelpful answers.
He looks up at the screen as it starts flashing people who apparently needed money just as much as he did.
"Cho Hyunju ₩330 million in debt"
It doesn't even hit Gyeongseok at first. Until it did.
But as soon as he realizes what he thought he had seen, the next person flashes up on screen.
He frantically looks around, thinking maybe his mind and body were deceiving him and somehow, he was just so mentally unstable that he was hallucinating.
But once he spots a woman on the other side of the room, her face too familiar to forget, Gyeongseok freezes.
"Cho Hyunjun....?"
Is that really him? Or....her? Am I going crazy? Is this what he meant when he said 'something wasn't right' 15 years ago?
And before he could think another thought, the crowd of people were already getting escorted to who knows where.
He tries searching for her, but it was hard to spot one person out of 456.
So he plays the first game, his old friend more on his mind than the possibility of dying.