Realistic or Modern ⇻ 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩. ♡

[sox]

"sweet, haha... so... you think i'm her type, then?"

2... 1... click!

"sure, man,"

jinwon had muttered into his camera at the time, disinterest coating his words as the burly senior hovered over the park bench to take a peek, reeking of potent cologne and veiled insecurity. seriously, what was the deal with urbanites and their plethora of suffocating fragrances? he could hardly take a proper breath in his morning macro course without some pungent, saccharine scent clogging up his sinuses and souring his mood from the get-go, a far cry from the vague air of diesel and mint lingering on his own clothes. as such, when the sociable park taesik chose to follow him after their shared statistics lecture and crowded his space during his dwindling lunch break to sneak a glance at the snapshot of his portrait, jinwon had simply scrunched his nose in displeasure as he shifted away to put some space between himself and the encroaching data analytics major.

well, whatever. even if he didn't like the dude very much, he just needed to get this over and done with— taesik had promised to introduce him to someone useful if he helped him score with his crush, after all.

choi yujeong... he didn't know too much about the woman he was setting taesik up with other than the obvious traits: young and beautiful, likely the same age as himself; ostensibly wealthy, based on the quality of her accessories; extroverted and bubbly, without a doubt; single? most likely, if he trusted his own observations of her behavior over the last few days— he would inevitably find out for sure once her admirer approached her, though his intuition had yet to lead him astray after nearly twenty years of practice.

now, however, as he sat at the very back of the political science hall that briefly created a tangential connection between their otherwise discrete bubbles of interaction, idly watching her from his periphery in wait of a clear shot, jinwon couldn't placate the mildly unsettled feeling in his gut that warned him against making haste. playing with the hearts of strangers had become a cathartic form of entertainment that came with its own risks, but he always tried his best to mitigate them by doing his due diligence in researching potential matches long before taking the plunge. this time, though...

"that's all for today,"

came the professor's shrill dismissal as the students around him began to gradually shove their belongings back into their bags.

"remember to buy the textbooks i outlined in the syllabus before next week's quiz!"

time was quickly running out— per his own instructions, taesik was bound to appear at any second to sweep this unsuspecting girl off of her feet. this was his last window of opportunity to guarantee a successful confession scene before he lost sight of her for good.

2...1... bang!

at the very moment that he lined up his shot and sealed choi yujeong's fate with a single flick of his finger gun, the flippant senior sauntered in and plopped down onto the chair in front of her with his back to the white board, leaning forward onto her notebook to prevent her from running away before he could shoot his own shot.

"hey, beautiful, recognize me? don't lie, i saw you checking me out at the northern roast café last week,"

taesik crooned, reaching out to twirl a lock of her hair around his finger with a self-assured smirk. a chorus of subdued snickers erupted from the few onlookers that lingered nearby, clearly amused by the demeaning introduction meant to pass as flirtation.

"if you have plans tonight, cancel them— i'll show you a good time instead. how about it?"

surely this was a bit? no way this guy was being serious... just barely within earshot to eavesdrop on their conversation from his position several rows away, jinwon's neutral expression contorted in distaste at the crude pick-up line.

'the hell... gross bastard.'

despite stiffening in his seat, however, he still opted to shield his face behind the brim of his cap for the time being to monitor just how their collegiate love story would nevertheless come together atop such a rocky foundation with the silent aid of his inexplicable abilities. after all, choi yujeong must already be plenty enamored with that clownish man by this point— certainly enough to find even the most grotesque advances charming so long as they came from park taesik.

'cheers to the future lovebirds.'

he belatedly wondered if the new shipment of radiator coolant he'd ordered had arrived at the shop yet.

jinwon.

mood.

'just... don't make a mess.'

location.

poli sci classroom.

outfit.

 

[Uxie]

no sane person wanted to be in class on a monday morning — 8.30am, slumped over a desk with all the world's dread on your shoulders. a most sorry reminder that free time existed only on the weekends, especially for a law student. always fleeting, and always leaving you with symptoms like an addict chasing something you can only wait like an idiot for. to make matters worse, she'd been abandoned by the only friend she'd convinced to take this class with her, though she should've known better than to expect anything from han gyeri, who had an attendance rate of negative three in the past semester. she wasn't sure she'd ever be catching a glimpse of that girl in this class.

all that to say, yujeong was feeling like shit. hot shit, at the very least, because she'd picked out a cute outfit in an attempt to cheer herself up this morning, but shit was shit, no matter how many pretty ribbons you slapped on it.

with that in mind, it would make perfect sense that she'd been fighting off her sleepiness amidst the grouchiest mood known to mankind, and it would make perfect sense that she had resorted to sudoku puzzles to keep her eyes from falling shut.

perfect sense, too, that she'd completed a grand total of thirty-four puzzles by the time the professor hit his final slide and was half-certain she could enter herself into a competition and get somewhere with it. her last puzzle had taken her only seventeen minutes and twenty-six seconds for the second-most-difficult-difficulty, no hints, and surely that had to count for something, right?

so engrossed, that "that's all for today," was mere white noise against her boxes and numbers, even as students began packing up and filing out of the classroom. would a nine go there—

the screen disappeared from view, replaced by a burly forearm with the hint of a tattoo peeking from beneath rolled sleeves. yujeong barely eked out an indignant

"hey!"

before he launched into a dramatic little monologue.

"don't lie, i saw you checking me out at the northern roast café last week," her nose scrunched in disgust as a finger came a little too close for comfort — his entire, sleazy person was perpetually too close for comfort, if you asked for her honest opinion — and she leaned back in her chair in a futile effort to distance herself from him. her hands tugged helplessly at her laptop (and her poor, unfinished sudoku! she hoped the timer paused automatically.) but the weight of his upper half locked it in place on her desk, and she was left to endure the rest of his parody of a confession.

"if you have plans tonight, cancel them— i'll show you a good time instead. how about it?"

her features flashed disbelief, and for a moment, she was at a loss for words. utter incredulity would be an under-exaggeration, and as soon as her mind finally kicked back into action, yujeong let out a scoff and a snicker — a quick, dismissive little sound.

"what? ew, no, who the hell even are you?"

the unfounded confidence seemed to melt from his face, replaced with a sense of confusion she was quite certain should not be difficult to figure out. her lip quirked up in distaste, eyes rolling before coming to settle on where his forearm was still resting on her poor laptop.

a strong, sturdy tug, and his arm flopped away, and she hugged her laptop close to her chest. in case he might try to hold it hostage again, or whatever. and she took back her lock of hair, too. for good measure.

not that he seemed capable of it, at that moment, at least — he was looking a little... bug-eyed. he'd been bug-looking before, but he was selling the look with far more conviction, now, cheeks pink and gaze looking off into the distance. she passed a glance over her shoulder and spotted another boy just a few rows away, brim of his cap tipped over his face in a super-suspicious way. ah...

had she totally missed her cue?

"oh, my god!"

a laugh flickered from her lips, a half-hearted sound.

"i'm so sorry, that was a joke, right?"

he finally looked down at her, and she forced a smile — a grimace, it probably looked more like — as she gave him a half-hearted pat, her fingers barely brushing the air against his sleeve before darting away like he might leave a stench. such a shitty prank, but she was sure he was embarrassed enough.

"you must have lost a bet or something to have used that pick-up line, right? it was so bad, hah."

why wasn't he laughing along? god, this was so awkward.

her laptop safely in her bag, she pushed herself to her seat and began to shuffle out from behind her desk.

"so, um. that was so funny,"

she said, humour fading from her voice,

"i'll see you around— ah?"

his hand had found its way around her sleeved wrist, and she stared at it for a moment before her eyes lifted to his face. somewhere, somehow, that dazed look had disappeared, too, except he had not returned with a slimy suaveness. whatever he was sporting now felt a bit more... brutish. his grin was a little more terrifying, actually, and his grip on her arm was not helping that fact.

"i don't appreciate you making a joke out of me," he all but growled, and her eyes widened. "but i'll overlook it for you, baby, if you consider my offer seriously." she almost gagged. he'd been serious?

her eyebrows furrowed in vexation, and she tugged at her hand to no avail.

"okay, i'm not interested. like, at all."

"kept making eyes at me last week and now you're not interested?" his tone was taunting, and her eyes flared.

"what the fuck are you talking about?"

she pulled again, to no avail.

"dude, let go of me—"

"c'mon, you're just playing hard to get now. i can see it in your eyes."

oh, he'd be seeing something, alright — stars, if he didn't fuck off.

"i'm going to give you three seconds to let go of me before i kick you in the balls."

yujeong.

mood.

'who the fu-'

location.

poli sci classroom.

outfit.

 

[sox]

"dude, let go of me—"

"c'mon, you're just playing hard to get now. i can see it in your eyes."

previously content with mulling over which side dishes he'd make later from the root vegetables his grandmother had sent him last weekend, jinwon's piercing gaze immediately snapped back towards the scene before him once yujeong's raised tone caught his attention and pulled him out of his reverie. when the hell had park taesik decided that it was acceptable to get physical with her? that freak was going too far—

"i'm going to give you three seconds to let go of me before i kick you in the balls."

in a flash, jinwon was on his feet and standing between the two, his tall frame cutting off yujeong's view of the senior as he clasped taesik's forearm in a vice-like grip and forced him to release her arm.

"are you right in the head?"

he muttered through gritted teeth, purposely keeping his volume low to avoid attracting any more prying eyes than they already had.

"she already said no."

taesik's stunned expression twisted into a tense scowl once he regained his composure upon being suddenly interrupted, shifting his focus to jinwon's familiar face as the ruby hues of humiliation coloring his vision slowly morphed into wrathful crimson.

"butt out, kid,"

he hissed under his breath, raising his fist to threateningly ball it into jinwon's collar and yank his face closer.

"you're the one who said—"

"and i was wrong. now what?"

jinwon shot back, his own eyes narrowing as they searched the other man's quivering pupils for any sort of rationality beneath the rage.

"one girl doesn't like you back so you start harassing her? not a good look, man. just... be cool and walk it off."

under the ever-growing watchful stares of their nosy peers, several seconds of tense silence stretched on for a short eternity before taesik begrudgingly released jinwon's collar, an exasperated sigh escaping his lips once he accepted that he'd achieve nothing by escalating this any further. after one last lingering glance at yujeong, the burly senior fixed him with a displeased glare and stormed out of the classroom, taking his rapt audience along with him.

"dickhead."

jinwon grumbled to himself as he removed his cap to wearily rake his fingers through his hair before turning around and locking eyes with the still-present choi yujeong, realization belatedly dawning that she hadn't bothered to escape amidst the commotion. his expression contorted in an instant, souring past its previous pinched neutrality— had he just blown his cover? he certainly wasn't sticking around to find out.

without another word, jinwon spun on his heel to briskly return to his desk and begin shoving his note-taking materials into his bag with haste, the growing guilt that wracked his gut over instigating this entire situation greatly overshadowed by the creeping sense that he would have to deal with something really annoying if he stuck around for even a single moment longer.

jinwon.

mood.

'i'm leaving. i've left.'

location.

poli sci classroom.

outfit.

 

[Uxie]

sure, maybe it was just spite and unfounded courage talking, but how hard could it to do? at its core, all it was was just an extension of the leg, a quick and forceful one. she'd just needed to aim it right! she shuffled into position, ever so slightly, her foot angling off the ground.

and then, in a split-second, yujeong was staring at the back of a jacket, and her arm fell out of the brute's grasp. she rubbed at it where he'd grabbed her, more out of disgust than any real discomfort, before she took stock of the guy who had stepped in. cap guy! maybe they weren't in the same league, after all?

now that she looked closer, it was a pretty nice jacket. musinsa, maybe? it looked good on someone with his figure. he was tall — a good head above her? some girls were into that.

"...already said no." they were continuing their conversation in hushed tones, so much so that she could barely make out what they were talking about. each second word slipped away into the buzz of their surroundings. "you're the one who..."

she peered out from around him to get a better vantage point — it was a fight for her dignity, after all. she deserved to know — just as cap guy's voice raised to a normal volume. "and i was wrong. now what?" her gaze flickered between them, narrowing in confusion at his words. "one girl doesn't like you back so you start harassing her? not a good look, man. just... be cool and walk it off."

the brute seemed to hold on for a tense moment longer before he released him, huffing off with the demeanour of a petulant child. she watched him go, shooting a scowl at his back before turning back just in time to lock eyes with her hero.

just in time to see his features twist into an expression that didn't seem quite... pleasant?

"huh?"

she muttered to herself as he scampered back to his seat, a hand reaching up to touch her cheek, on that teeny-tiny off-chance her make-up had somehow run during that whole ordeal. or maybe while she was doing sudoku? she fumbled for her phone, checking her appearance with a concerned eye in her front camera to confirm that no, she still looked pretty as ever!

so what was that all about?

brows furrowing, she turned to look at him, watched him shovel his belongings into his bag with all the grace of a wild mole. and then, without even so much as a pause, he was slinging his bag over his shoulder and speed walking out the door.

well, she had time to look for answers.

"hey!"

yujeong called, jogging lightly to catch up,

"can i talk to you for a sec?"

she made her best attempt to fall into step beside him, but his gait was too wide and his pace was annoyingly unceasing. his legs were far longer than hers, and it was not a very fun challenge trying to keep up.

"excuse me!" it was a poor, untimely warning by a student racing down the corridor, and she couldn't dodge the arm that bumped against her bag, sending her off-kilter. she bit back a swear as she stumbled to the side, already precarious step even more unsteady.

yujeong.

mood.

'omg, slow down!'

location.

poli sci classroom.

outfit.

 

[sox]

“stop following me, what the hell…”

jinwon muttered under his breath, brow furrowing even further as the click-clack of choi yujeong’s luxurious shoes trailed behind him like a perilous omen. what other business could she possibly have with someone of his caliber besides a one-sided interrogation on his involvement in the confrontation that had just transpired? no thanks. surely she’d lose interest and leave him alone soon enough once her attention caught onto the next most gripping attraction, as was the tendency of most other frivolous urbanites.

plus, his shift at the body shop was due to begin in a little over an hour— he simply did not have time for her or anyone else’s pointless games, no matter how hard they pleaded.

despite his callous attempts to outrun her saccharine scent, however, jinwon quickly found that he couldn't actually bring himself to brush off someone so earnestly calling for his attention, no matter how badly he wished to avoid any troublesome matters. coming to a hesitant stop with a low groan of defeat, the public policy major took a deep, stabilizing breath, whipped around on his booted heels, and searched the immediate area for yujeong's familiar face just in time to witness the stray, careening body of a frenzied student sending her tiny body reeling to the side with a carelessly hurled

"excuse me!"

'oh, shi—' taking action before his mind could catch up, jinwon's arm snaked out and grabbed the top of yujeong's backpack in a vice-like grip, pulling her back upright and then some as his snappy overestimation of her weight led to him lifting her body a few centimeters off the ground before hastily plopping her back down onto her soles.

"are you..."

the habitual words of concern died on his tongue before they could fully take form, stifling them with a clearing of his throat at the last minute lest he risk sounding fickle after blatantly ignoring her until now. instead, he conducted a cursory scan her limbs for visible abrasions and nodded once in approval when he found none, relieved that she wouldn't be able to blindsidedly slap him with medical bills down the line when he least expected it.

"do you need something from me?"

jinwon asked after a short moment of silence, hesitation coloring his words as he carefully dispelled the irritation from his expression to shove his hands in the pockets of his jacket and finally look her in the eyes beneath the brim of his cap.

he rarely left home without the accessory— it was always a hassle whenever girls took interest in him based off of the external features he was born with only to be disappointed by his stoic demeanor— but inexperienced as he was in the realm of women and their whims, he took solace in the half-baked reasoning that no one would be foolish enough to suddenly fall for the man that had visibly blown them off in front of their peers, especially not someone as popular and likable as choi yujeong.

"if not, i have to get to work, so..."

jinwon.

mood.

'great. just great.'

location.

hallway outside the classroom.

outfit.

 

[Uxie]

it all happened very quickly.

one moment she was floating, hanging from nothing but the straps of her backpack, and then the next, she was back on the ground, stunned but steady. yujeong blinked once, twice, a hand absent-mindedly re-adjusting the straps. it was certainly a very demeaning way to be saved, but she was still trying to process what had just occurred.

her gaze flitted to his arms — she wondered what hid beneath that jacket — and then to his face — that was what hid beneath his cap. and then his eyes met hers, and against everything she had ever known, she felt the strangest of warmths creep onto her cheeks. was it the mere sight of him, or had he swooped to her rescue one too many times today that she was suffering a massive case of misattribution?

the latter, certainly. at first sight? that was unheard of.

but — and that was certainly a very big but — if he'd really been an accomplice earlier, the pair should've sent him instead. she wondered if he'd mind letting her snap a picture for gyeri. maybe if she told him it would get her to come to class?

"do you need something from me?"

"you..."

what had she wanted to ask him? she suddenly couldn't remember. too many things had happened at once. she looked away, lips pursing as she tried to recall the words she'd been dwelling on. in hindsight, the look he'd given her hadn't been quite as malicious as she thought. she'd probably just been taken aback, after everything that had happened. residual anger from the brute he'd disposed of, perhaps.

"if not, i have to get to work, so..."

"your number,"

she blurted out, lips curving naturally into a cheery smile,

"i'll treat you to something, as thanks for... you know."

the mere word would've probably sufficed, but he was cute, and choi yujeong had been raised an opportunist. her phone was already in-hand (conveniently!) and it was a matter of tapping a familiar way to her dial pad, anyways.

the last time she asked someone out must've been in middle school, but she could write this off if she really wanted to. it could make for an innocent scene, right? a poor girl, friendless in her class, getting lunch with a classmate who'd helped her out. nothing more, though she wouldn't be opposed to more. more than anything, it certainly wouldn't hurt having a single friend in this class, and it would hurt even less if he looked like him...

him. him, him, him!

"oh,"

her smile turned sheepish, a light, bemused laugh bubbling from her throat.

"i don't even know your name! what should i call you?"

a tilt of her head, the flutter of her eyelashes.

"i'm yujeong, by the way."

yujeong.

mood.

'omg, slow down!'

location.

poli sci classroom --> hallway outside the classroom

outfit.

 

[sox]

"your number. i'll treat you to something, as thanks for... you know."

jinwon silently released the bated breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding at the revelation that she was not, in fact, chasing him to point fingers or to curse him out for the multiple ways in which he'd already slighted her without her knowledge. relieved and unguarded, it took several seconds for him to realize that she had stopped him for something far, far worse, stiffening again instantly in discomfort at the prospect of a one-on-one meal with choi yujeong.

"oh, uh, that's not..."

but she had already pulled up the dial screen and shoved her sleek, expensive smartphone in his direction— one of those newfangled ones without a trusty home button— and he ultimately missed the right timing to reject her offer of repayment outright.

what was the body shop's contact again? pulling the digits from the recesses of his memory with a furrowed brow, jinwon slowly typed it into the number slot and handed the phone back, mentally apologizing to his boss in advance for the call she would hopefully never recieve once yujeong lost interest.

his own cell phone was rather old and pitifully slow, anyways; it wouldn't be able to handle whatever fancy stickers and hq photos people his age liked to spam each other with nowadays. sure, he could probably afford to get a new one if he dipped into his savings, but life was simpler this way; there weren't too many people he needed to keep in contact with.

preoccupied with the mental cost-benefit analysis of trading out his decade-old device with something more functional, jinwon snapped back to reality at the combination of fluttering lashes and breezy laughter manifesting before him, stomach dropping to his feet as he recognized the familiar pattern of behavior.

"what should i call you? i'm yujeong, by the way."

oh. oh god.

"i know,"

he answered plainly, unconsciously taking a half-step backwards before wincing at how that must have looked in her eyes.

choi yujeong was a pretty woman beyond a shadow of a doubt, the kind of soft beauty that captivated anyone who stared into her radiance for too long, but he had no need for such a poetic love life of his own— far more importantly, he still needed to investigate why the hell his matchmaking power hadn't worked this time, a task that would become a rather tedious chore should she misread his intentions for paying attention to her along the way.

in a belated attempt to hide the fact that he literally just backed away after she'd flirted with him, jinwon reached out and repositioned one end of the fashionable scarf tied around her neck that had drifted astray over her shoulder from the near-tumble, pulling it back to the front to fall where she'd styled it earlier.

there, nice and neat. they were even!

"my name is jinwon,"

he finally answered, hands dropping back to his side before he unceremoniously shoved them into his pockets, already poised to flee the scene once more.

"um, i gotta go now. get home safe, yujeong."

jinwon.

mood.

'.....???'

location.

hallway outside the classroom.

outfit.

 

[Uxie]

"i know."

oh, he knew? her gaze fluttered up from her phone curiously, just in time to catch the way he inched backwards like he was at risk of catching something from her. an eyebrow raised, smile fading ever-so-slightly, and she opened her mouth to point it out—

wait, why was he reaching over?

her eyes shut on instinct, shoulders tensing as she felt him draw near. and then the shift of fabric against her neck, the gentlest brush of a fingertip as it tugged over the end of her scarf. when she looked up at him again, her eyes must have been as wide as dinner plates, her cheeks redder than a blooming rose.

what the fuck was that?

"my name is jinwon," it was a pause before she finally registered it, keying it hurriedly into the contact name field. it was a nice name. why the fuck had he done that? "um, i gotta go now. get home safe, yujeong."

"what? wait, oh—"

another belated reaction, the gears in her brain still stuck in overdrive at the tenderness of his action. something about how he said her name sounded so charismatic, like his tongue had added a level of coolness to it. and— and he cared that she got home safe?

by the time her heart stopped beating wildly out of her chest, he'd already sped off at a pace more fitting for fleeing from a serial killer than walking away from a girl he was super into. probably. or did he hate her guts? even in hindsight and with a head that wasn't muddled by a baby pink, romance-addled fog, she couldn't make heads or tails of his reaction. yujeong wasn't used to facing rejection, but she was maybe 40% sure that was a rejection— a modest estimate, too.

she stared at his back, rapidly retreating down the hallway, lips pursing into a small frown. then to her phone, still opened to his new contact. she supposed she could wait and see.

a cheery call, yelled down the hallway to him right as he hits the corner,

"i'll text you!"

yujeong.

mood.

'so weird. but in, like, a cute way.'

location.

hallway outside the classroom.

outfit.

 

[Uxie]

scene 2.

weather.

cloudy, with a chance of chaos.

location.

university cafeteria.

 

[sox]

for the first time since he packed up his minimal essentials and uprooted his entire life to move to the bustling, unforgiving city of seoul, park jinwon stared down the barrel of his monotonous daily routine and found himself hesitating to go through the motions, a million and one unanswerable questions ceaselessly circling his brain on their own planetary orbits as he found that he'd placed the oil drain pan just out of reach from where he lay on his back atop the under car roller for the third time that shift. while his ordinarily uninterested manager shot him one concerned look after another as sticky, black-brown oil splattered across his trousers before he could shove the pan in place, however, he merely squeezed his eyes shut and released a long, exasperated sigh.

it was just a one-off glitch, surely, so why couldn't he shake the mounting anxiety welling within him? if he dropped his guard and let his weary mind wander away from the task at hand, it landed without fail on the bubbly visage of choi yujeong and her glistening, expectant irises every time, gazing up at him with the curiosity of an entire world and its complexities hidden within... a distant planet he would never come to understand the appeal of traveling to, let alone care to immerse himself in its flashy opulence. yes, that must have been it, the entire crux of the issue— he had simply been thrown off kilter by a pretty girl's sudden interest in his unassuming self which would inevitably fade before he ever had to reject her. it certainly had nothing to do with the classy way in which she rolled with the punches no matter how crass his responses to her cordiality, nor with the rosy flush of her glowing cheeks and gentle curve of her berry-tinted lips that plagued his—

"i'll text you!"

bang—

"fuck!"

he hissed, rubbing the tender spot on his forehead where it had slammed against the vehicle's mechanical underbelly and grimacing at the fluke that once again caught his scowling manager's attention from where she lounged across the hood of an out-of-service suburban.

"just go to class, buddy... and cover that bruise before you give your professors a heart attack."

despite his adamant protests, she dabbed some of her own high-end concealer onto his purpling wound and chased him out of the body shop with a whip-like smack of her petroleum-scented rag against his arm, leaving no room for argument as he eventually found himself heading back to campus an hour early against his will. unlike his usual jam-packed routine that rarely consisted of wiggle room between commitments, he had ample time today after washing up at the student gym before he was due for his first dreaded lecture with her, and thus he decided to stop by the cafeteria for a proper bite to placate his nerves instead of settling for his typical banana on-the-go.

armed with a loaded tray of fresh, sizzling pho and an array of side dishes, jinwon made himself comfortable in the back corner of the food hall and tucked into his meal, completely oblivious to whoever may or may not have been judging his lonesome, unbothered presence from their close-knit cliques. he had always been most comfortable in solitude, free from the grating pressures of small talk and tonal cues that determined one's place in the social hierarchy, and the only exceptions to that mindset had been left behind in the rural countryside praying for his wellbeing from afar.

so yes, this distance was perfect for someone like him, someone who carried on without the privilege of stability and generational wealth. for the sake of his own people did he labor endlessly in this distant galaxy, alone and unfettered— he would protect their peace no matter what, even if that meant breaking a naive, innocent girl's heart along the way.

the belated image of a dejected choi yujeong's pouting, disappointed face when her texts inevitably bounced off the body shop's line flashed across his brain once more like a parasite leeching off of his brainwaves, an image that he immediately attempted to wash away with a long, decisive sip of piping-hot beef broth.

jinwon.

mood.

'do rich people eat pho?'

location.

far corner of the cafeteria.

outfit.