the steady ticking tells him time is passing. the voices and footsteps that have drifted in and out inform him of that, too. there is a world passing by. and yet he remains still.
there is no job to do. there is no one to talk to. ingo is gone.
ingo is gone.
gone. what a funny word. here one moment. vanished the next. not just on a split track, but entirely derailed.
like getting off at a ghost station. perhaps he could follow en route. perhaps he could search for a set of rails with an unknown destination.
but that was always ingo's thing. emmet is not an idealist —— he only sticks to what he knows.
he does not know where ingo is.
he does not know what time. what place. where to.
he does not know why he left. where he left. how he left. he does not know if there is a station for ingo to arrive at. he does not know if their tracks will join again. he does not know if their tracks can join again.
yoojin knew from the beginning that when he decided to take his singing classes more seriously, some things were going to change. he could feel the pressure on his shoulders because being a vocalist meant he had more eyes on him; he could lead a group one day.
one thing was being a dancer or a rapper, where you gather attention, but it isn’t the main focus, unless you’re covering your part. when you’re a singer, a main vocal or even a lead vocal, it’s expected that you won’t miss a note, that you’ll carry your whole performance without any mistakes.
and that was exactly where yoojin wanted to be right now - he wanted the challenge, he wanted to be there, and carry performances and attention. he felt it was his time, and he wasn’t going to let that escape.
When they read the schedule of their trainee workshops, his smile was evident when intensive singing lessons were in their first week - he could hear a lot of trainees complaining, but yoojin was excited about it.
however, nothing prepared him for how intense that first week was. Normally, their practice hours would already be intense, with coaches giving them little room for mistakes, making them cover songs completely out of their comfort zone. but this workshop was beyond advanced - yoojin felt his vocal cords complain at the first two, non-resting hours of practice.
they had to cover a female soloist song, but not using their comfortable singing zone, but reaching closer to the original version. every note was being taken into consideration, and they could only move to the next part of the song if the coach felt they reached a minimal presentable level.
most of them, including yoojin, failed that first task, being told they weren’t good enough to be considered a singer, and even if yoojin did agree with the coach, because he just recently shifted his focus to singing, it was still unfair to be told that they weren’t supposed to sing the same as a female, not when their voices were so different.
“excuses. all you’re thinking of are excuses, i can hear your thoughts,” the coach said, making the trainees sigh. “take a 5-minute break, drink some water, and then return. this is just day one of hell week, i want you singing in your tone now. let’s see who’s really worth keeping in this class.”
the camera was shaky as yoojin set everything for his vlog. surprisingly, it didn’t feel like a schedule, something they had to do. instead, he felt that was just one of his videos, ones he used to record before legacy took him in.
after a while, the scenery around him was a park, and because he decided to start recording when it was still early, it was empty. seoul just had its first snow, and the weather was just perfect for a little chat.
“it’s been a while since we had this conversation, right? it certainly feels like a lot has happened during this year, and now that november is about to end, it feels like the perfect time to start it. did you miss me?”, he winked to the camera, taking some time to sip on his hot chocolate and also to warm his hands up.
yoojin never had a problem with his words; he hardly struggled to have his thoughts transformed into words, but during the year he had gone through changes, he allowed himself to take a step back and really put into perspective everything related to his career. it wasn’t an easy road to let go of some of his strong beliefs, but his efforts were being recognized.
and now it felt like the best time to talk about it.
“if i start saying my biggest goal for the next year is to debut, i’m sure you will all think this is the biggest cliche of all time, right? but it really is. i mean, of course, it’s my dream, my main goal, but during the course of this year, so many things have changed. i felt like it was okay to accept i wasn’t the same person that started on this road years ago. i found happiness in things i didn’t know i could, and this made me a better trainee. i still want to be a great dancer, but now i want to be a better singer. i listened to a lot of what you and the coaches told me this year, and i’m improving. i can’t wait to show you all this new side of me. just wait a little more, ok? 2026 is going to be our year. together.”
yoojin accepted his metallic blue headphones and immediately opted for a r&b station for the evening to enjoy the event. it was the first time he joined a party like that, and he could see people around were still adapting to the whole silent environment; sure, there were the ones who “broke the rules” and decided to have heated and loud conversations instead of listening to their song choices, but they were rare.
he saw a couple of familiar faces, all of them immersed in their own music, eyes closed and jamming to whatever was coming out of their headphones. it was a weird experience, and yoojin wanted to watch it from above; it would be something even more different and interesting.
a hand tapping on his shoulder broke his train of thought, as a girl (he didn’t recognize her as a trainee, so she was probably one of the people who got the chance to be there at the party) asked him what he had picked. when yoojin told her it was r&b, she gave him a look and then looked disappointed “i was looking for someone with the same taste as mine, i have 2000’s pop blasting,” she spoke confidently. He kind of laughed as she turned around to leave - she didn’t need to say that, because wearing a pink outfit and having equally pink headphones, that was definitely her vibe.
Moving among the people, he finally found the booth where he could pick songs or play something. it wasn’t in his nature to not feel confident, but somehow, yoojin hesitated when he saw so many people playing their song choices and having fun. what if whatever he picked wasn’t interesting enough to make people talk about it. he wanted to make a good impression in the sea of trainees, idols, and the music industry.
when he was about to turn around and leave, again, a new set of hands pulled him by the hoodie he was wearing. “don’t try to run away, i’m sure you can give us your best. what song shall we play?”
there is no choi residence, because the small apartment yoojin and his sister share during the time he’s not in the legacy’s facilities can hardly be called that. during that holiday, specifically for that year, his sister lily decided she was going to help him out to cook good food and enjoy their time together properly.
he didn’t suspect her intentions at first, yoojin had been really stressed about training and the family concert they just had; all he wanted was to have a familiar face that was going to keep him grounded again. so when she asked him to visit their parents’ grave site, and that she didn’t want to go alone, yoojin didn’t have the strength in him to say no.
they visited their parents' graves the next day, with lily even trying to convince yoojin to have a small picnic there. it was the first time yoojin visited them, and even if he still missed his mom, he couldn’t let go of what their father did to them, how much he took from them, leaving them helpless with their lives ahead of them.
his sister looked fine after their visit, and yoojin gave her credit because she was younger than him. He was the one who got home first and found their parents dead, so when she insisted that everything was fine, yoojin lied with a smile, as they headed back to the apartment.
during the afternoon, on that same day, lily convinced yoojin to allow her to go visit a non-korean friend and spend the rest of the night with her, so he spent the rest of the day by himself, drinking the rest of the soju bottles he had in the apartment. when he ran out of them, he left the place to get some more.
it’s during his 3rd bottle that he bumped into @lgcdom, who looked as bad as he was. lucky for them, the convenience store he visited earlier was close to the apartment, and they both returned to yoojin’s place, passing out with no witnesses of that moment.
It was the end of the summer, and my memories were still a blur, but I could feel in the air that something was going to change. That year, we had an eclipse, and while everyone was so excited about it, all I could think of was the number of people that was vanishing from our neighborhood. Some people pretended that nothing was happening, but I could see tension building among the tenants of that building, especially when a specific person went missing. Investigations started, and skeletons were pulled from people’s closets, but still, that body was never found. This is a story of how a serial killer changed the summer of 2025.
The anomaly that had happened all those weeks ago, that house. Abel's memory of it was foggy at best. Perhaps it was the shit he was on at the time, perhaps it was his mind trying to protect him from that he'd experienced there.. but he couldn't really remember much but the hollow terror that rose in his throat and choked at him any time he spent too long thinking about it. He knew that if anyone.. anyone tried to talk about it he'd shut them down. He'd walk away if he had to. But he wasn't going to think about it. He wasn't going to talk about it.
Well. That's what he thought.
||Get up. Get the fuck up||
Abel grunted, jerking to sit up from his bed as his hand dropped to the gun he'd kept at his nightstand. A reflex that no longer really mattered in the world he lived in. One that clearly didn't matter to the man that was somehow standing in his room laughing callously. Somehow alive? "Wh- what the fuck!?" Abel barked out as he scrambled back to the other side of the bed and pushed to stand, buck-ass naked as what had to be his mentor stood there in the corner and laughed. His voice sharp and cruel and his visage was just how Abel had last seen him. Perfectly normal-- well. Except for the blood darkening his shirt and the caved in bit of skull and brain in the back of his head from the blunt-force impact that had killed him. Eyes that were once bright blue were now white and when he laughed, blood darkened his mouth and tongue. ||What are you gonna do, kiddo? Kill me? Being responsible for my death wasn't enough? You wanted to pull the trigger too?||
Abel recoiled, realization bleeding through the shock on his features and dark eyes closed in exhaustion and pain as the ghost started to dig into him. Sighing sharply. "Come on.." he bit out, reaching for the whiskey bottle on the nightstand and chugging it. Pitching the empty bottle toward the ghost. ||What, Abel? You can't even do that pathetic excuse for a job sober? Need to get drunk or high to be a dirty piece of shit?|| The wolf grunted, grabbing his jeans and yanking them on hard. His gaze decidedly avoiding his Mentors line of vision as the ghosts voice turned from taunting to vicious.. angry shouting. Berating and demeaning the man who had so looked up to him in life. Abel didn't know what would stop this.. but he knew he had to get out of here. Yanking his shirt on and not even bothering to button it, Abel made his way toward his front door in long, desperate steps.
The visage that met him in the darkness of early morning as he opened his door caused him to jerk to a stop. It silenced his mentor even as the large wolf's dark eyes stared in desolate confusion at what he was seeing. It wasn't exactly human, though a humanoid form was clear but undetailed in the bright orb of warm red light that surrounded it. Simply standing out on his porch, his dogs slept as if nothing was there. He couldn't see her features but he knew it was a woman. He couldn't see her eyes but he knew she was looking at him. Trying to talk to him, the form even reached out.
"No! NO!" Abel barked out and jerked back. Instantly, the form stopped and seemed to become more transparent, arm dropping as if obediently as Abel stormed past it. Unlike the red glow, his mentor recovered and scowled at the glow, stalking past it and following Abel persistently into the darkness.
Seminar series “Hypnoselling” event di kota solo dari iBizCOACH, di Hotel Aston Solo tanggal 27 September 2017. Seminar untuk sales dan marketing di kota Solo.
