Nudging back the mat back with his shoe, he rolls his eyes, mostly in fondness. “Of course.” He snatches up the key. “Just like the movies.” The key fits in perfectly and Mika tiptoes inside, slipping off his shoes and shutting the door as quietly as possible behind him.
“Minjae,” he whispers, peering around the corner into the living room. “Hey! Sorry for coming over so suddenly. Can I use your PS4?”
minjae figures only the sweet release of death can deliver him from this heat, but the thought of like, dying and stuff is kinda dark and terrifying so maybe not. but he is, quite literally, cooking in this house, like that one western fairy tale about the witch that got… well, she was shoved in an oven, so maybe it’s not the same, but he thinks he can understand her peril right now. even with the fan on full blast and every window open, he can feel sweat beading on his nose, his upper lip, on his back—nearly every uncomfortable crevice of his body. his shirt sticks to him, damp and heavy, limiting his movements.
this is the kind of weather you nap in, he thinks, sprawled on the floor. and he would, since he has no summer classes today ( and his phone is dead so no reason to go outside either ), but his grandparents are home and the last thing he wants is to get caught sleeping should they poke their head into his room unannounced. lying on the floor while staring at the ceiling is hardly better, but minjae can recover more quickly from that. offer to do something around the house or run an errand before they get mad.
but he’s—he’s a little bored and tired, fighting against his heavy eyelids to stay awake. it’s too hot to move or even play video games and his brain is working pretty sluggishly. so sluggishly that he doesn’t register the small click! of their front door shutting behind someone until a few moments later. “ma?” pushing himself up into a sitting position, he scoots over and sticks his head out of his bedroom. “is that you?” his mother isn’t a quiet person, though. she’d make an entrance banging pots and pans if she could. it can’t be his dad either; he won’t be back till the evening. which means...
maybe… they’re being robbed.
minjae wants to laugh at the thought. someone breaking and entering in gaenari? into the ryu house, of all places? no one would dare. still, he should probably investigate before his retired grandparents have to. with a groan, he gets up and pads over to the living room expecting to find that the noise was a figment of his imagination or something. instead, he gets a tall stranger standing in the middle of his living room.
minjae’s mouth opens—to yell, to ask a question, to do something, but no sound comes out and he closes it again. “wh—” who is… what are… how did… oh wait, he knows this guy. it takes a couple of seconds for minjae to pinpoint the intruder as someone he’d met at university, a gaenari resident who seemed to be interested in games. minjae invited him over to use his ps4 sometime, but when he told mika to come over “anytime!” he meant like… after calling first?
“uh, mika? what are you doing here?” laughing nervously, minjae scratches his ear. “uh, not that it’s not cool to see you or anything! but why are you—how did you get in? how long have you been here?” this is the start to a horror movie or something, even if mika is a… ‘friend.’