the world has a funny way of being small in the worst of circumstances, so when things align in a way that makes her heart race with excitement, she tries to remind herself that life doesn’t always work out the way she wants. once upon a time, she had a sister whom she adored in a lifestyle she hated, but her sister made it bearable. to tip the balance, seulgi abandoned her. as a hacker, she had friends; those she met online with the same thirst for knowledge, the same clicks of coding being pressed into their keyboards and invisible locks opening for them to explore further. to make sure she remembers that happiness is fleeting, her father decides she should be a con artist instead, tears her away from the computers and the circles she’d made and into the real world. an eye for an eye; a taste of freedom but intensified loneliness, because what is being able to breathe the fresh clean air if you can’t walk along the beach with a close friend or hang around in a cafe to study after school? every time she took a step forward, life pushed her two steps back. when she hears about bomin, makes the plans, she wonders what’s going to crash in and ruin everything for her. she hopes it’s just that he turns out to be ugly as sin, rather than anything important. it’d be a shame, but at least he wouldn’t be a long, lost half brother she never knew she had or eighty years old, or something.
maybe she’s just been watching too much television.
she’d told him she’d be wearing red. it’s a red summer dress to be exact, but that hardly matters. it’s a way for her to feel a little more guarded. if he turned out to be not at all what she was expecting, she could always deny being the girl he’d met online; that the colour of her outfit was purely coincidence. the ball is on his side of the court, too, though, so if she isn’t what he expects either, he has the option to leave before they can even talk. it would suck and it’d be a waste of her afternoon, but this way, she feels like they both have equal standing. after all, if binge-watching mtv’s catfish taught her anything, it’s to be careful about meeting strangers from online.
it’s getting a little late and he’s on the way back to his dorm. for some reason, he decides to take a rather different route by a much less lit walkway. bomin isn’t one to believe in ghosts, but when he begins to hear high pitched noises getting louder and louder, he can’t help but think that maybe, just maybe, he’s got himself in some weird horror movie.
though it’s then when he spots a tiny kitten through a glass door, stuck inside a store.
bomin loves animals. or well, he loves most animals. some are cute, some are creepy (toads) and some were just odd (owls). still, he’s got a soft spot for animals and it isn’t something he’s afraid to admit.
he contemplates for a minute. was it the owner’s cat? but then again, the cat didn’t look as though it wanted to be there. he walks towards the glass and tries to peer into the store. he doesn’t spot anything for the animal to eat and he comes to the conclusion that the cat had been locked in the store by mistake. shit.
“i’ll get you out of there,” he says, “i’m gonna get you out of there.” he looks around to find anything to break the glass door with. bomin isn’t afraid, he could always just delete any cctv footage later, he’s sure he’ll find some way to deal with it. he grabs a nearby rock but is stopped by a voice.
“what is this scene i am witnessing?”
shit (again). he pauses, turns around and his eyes meet those of a stranger’s. “i…” he begins, “i’m trying to save a cat,” he replies honestly.
jinah doesn’t go on late-night walks for no reason. by tomorrow, someone will have found another target of hers in a dark alley, dressed up as a homeless person, supposedly sleeping soundly on a piece of cardboard. it’s inconspicuous. he could have died from dehydration, or choking on his own vomit. either way, jinah didn’t want to make it messy, so she walked down the street to throw the bottle of poison away in some public bin.
she’s walking back to her car when she passes by a suspicious man. jinah can let a lot of things slide, but if he’s trying to break in to kill a cat...
well – not that many people will immediately jump to murder, but far it be from her to judge a book based on their seemingly innocent cover. she knows better than most people that everyone’s capable of killing anything or anyone. “sure,” she replies, suspicious as ever, narrowing her eyes and crossing her arms over her chest.
she must look like a sight now: wearing full black, with the only shade of colour the red on her lips. she must’ve looked like someone straight out of a noir movie, but that doesn’t matter, because she’s just about ready to beat this man to the ground for even thinking about using a rock to break in and potentially harming the cat he’s claiming to save. “if you use that rock, the shards will go all over, you’ll scare the cat away, cause property damage, and a bunch of other things. all to save a cat? at least do it right.”
but she doesn’t lift a hand to help. “have you even broke into anything before?”
who are your top three favorite people? top three least favorite people?
✧ ┊ honesty hour ┅┅┅┅ catching up on ancient memes ( mentioned: @miseoah @mixspencer @mibomin @babyxmi @mihyunjin )
jihoon isn’t really one to play favorites– at least this is what he claims. he’s supposed to be honest, so he knows it isn’t really true. he just knows so many people; sorting them is difficult, and yet names emerge anyway, but somehow, those are difficult to accept too. “do i have to rank them in order?” he asks. it would be an extra challenge, and jihoon never shies away from those. “i can do it in order.”
but can he? most of his top three is hard to admit– things he’d rather change his heart on or not talk about, lest of all honestly. the favorites will be much harder than the least, likely because some of his favorite people have so shaken him up lately– one in particular. one in particular would’ve previously earned the top place without contest, and he would’ve talked about him happily: bomin. now, however, bomin isn’t here; bomin is in hawaii, the place he ran away to, only telling jihoon in the day he was catching his plane. jihoon doesn’t know if he’ll ever come to terms with it, or ever be able to forgive him– both for leaving him after all the life they spent together, and for not thinking he deserved to know and prepare himself for the way his entire world would change.
he can’t say bomin is first anymore.
“seoah,” he says, and he grins, and this is sincere. she’s an easy choice– but is she an honest one? he thinks so. she’s close at the very least, so she’s the one he says. “seoah is like a good older sister. maybe other people may not think she’s good, because she’s not a conventional older sister, but i’m not a conventional guy,” he smiles again, teasingly this time. “she takes care of me in her own way– in a way that knows i don’t really need to be taken care of, but she just…offers support, always good conversation, and doesn’t treat me like a child like some of the staff that have watched me grow into my role do. she’s tough and she’s funny and she’s capable in everything she does,” his admiration and gratitude to her is clear, even when he doesn’t say it outright. “plus, she’s useful.” that medical background does always come in handy.
second is easy too, and easier to talk about than he wants him to be. jihoon stares off, thoughtful, lips quirking up in an involuntary smile. “spencer is second,” and he could probably be first, if he didn’t still want to take the easy way out– if he wanted to still deny his fondness for him, which he clearly still does. “spencer is– i don’t know,” he bursts out into a laugh. “he’s loud, and annoying, and playful and bold and funny, i guess, at all of the wrong times, intentionally. he really gets on my nerves but…” he trails off, suddenly troubled, but exaggeratedly so– a little staged. “i kind of like it,” and he grins.
“the way spencer cares about me is different. it might be different than the way anyone has ever cared about me. nobody has seen what he’s seen of me and been even more drawn to me. he’s fucked up,” another laugh, and he almost groans. “but i like that too. i like how he looks at me, and being his…gravitational pull.” he doesn’t know if it’s an appropriate analogy, but it’s what it feels like. he knows this isn’t about spencer anymore, but about jihoon, and what spencer gives him, but he also knows that’s why spencer is his second favorite person. he hums, trying to think of what else to say– where this favoritism stems from, but some things he just can’t explain. “he’s soft with me when i let him be, and affectionate too, and he’s so willing to just…do what i want, even if he pretends he’s not. he’s warm, and he has such an unarguably good heart, and it’s not that i’ve never had that, really, it’s just that i’ve never had that where i have spencer.” he might be able to keep talking about him, but he doesn’t want to. this is more than enough, and more than he thought he’d ever admit. “i…love all of that about him.”
that was unsettling enough; now he has to go onto the third favorite, which is the hardest choice, and the hardest admission. it’s the saddest too: this fall from grace, this hole in his heart. “third is bomin,” he says, and his hands ball up into fists. “he was…is…? was…my best friend. i was always afraid this would happen, but we always assured each other that it wouldn’t, and i still can’t really believe it did. i’m so mad at him.” he doesn’t know what to do without him. his vision starts to blur, and maybe it’s rage, or betrayal, or heartbreak, or all of it. “i’ll never forgive him,” it’s not fitting for a third favorite person, but maybe jihoon will never forgive him for how much he still cares about him, either. “i don’t know how he can still make it on this list,” and he rubs at his eyes. “but we’ve been through so much. i owe him so much. he knew me better than anyone, and supported me for so long, no matter what i did, even when i treated him like shit, and–” he chokes on his words and shakes his head. “i really miss him, but i hate that i do.”
he wishes he said his least favorite people first. he squeezes his eyes shut, trying to will away this emotion– these tears. he doesn’t know how to keep talking after this.
“my least favorite people,” he begins with a deep breath, reminding himself of the task at hand. “jisu is the worst,” and he’s the easy way out too. it’s easier to put him in first than think he might be any lower, but it is hard to think of anyone else to surpass him. “jisu ruined my life,” he says simply. it’s an exaggeration now, but his life is different. he’s had to make space, and make adjustments he never wanted to. “he changed it for the worse. everyone around me thinks he’s so cute, and are so glad he’s with us, blah blah blah, they love giving him attention and oh boy, does he love getting it.” they are brothers, after all. “jisu is a whiny ungrateful brat, and every time i look at him he’s crying or throwing a fit. my parents love him and are so happy he found us again but he’s weak and isn’t going to survive here.” he can’t think about jisu without thinking about execution day, and that gun held up to his head, and jihoon arriving just in time. he can’t help but think about jisu cowering, and how he comforted him, and as much as it supports his claim, it also invalidates everything he’s said, because he knows he would do the same again. he knows, that as much as he wishes jisu wasn’t in his life, he doesn’t ever want him to lose his.
“second is…” surely there are more people he dislikes. he pretends to be friendly, but surely he isn’t on that good of terms with everyone, right? his primary annoyance comes to mind then, and his eyes light up in joy at discovering who earns this position. “hyunjin,” he says easily. “hyunjin has been a lifelong annoyance and i can’t get away from him because our families are friends, so that makes it even worse. he’s my worst enemy.” he’ll leave it at that because he doesn’t really have that much worse to say about him. hyunjin infuriates him, and sometimes he hates him, but ultimately, they’re…friends, and jihoon knows it in his heart, even if he’d never admit it.
third hurts again, but he knows this one is true. “third is bomin too.”
would you be willing to let me out of your life if i asked you to?
✧ ┊ honesty hour ┅┅┅┅ catching up on ancient memes ( mentioned: @mibomin )
“why are you asking?” jihoon is the one to ask, and he feels a panic welling up in his chest. they said they would never leave each other, so it must be a question out of curiosity. they’ve fought over this too, jihoon reassuring bomin that he won’t leave, bomin doing the same in the face of jihoon’s own insecurities, and who is jihoon if he doesn’t trust bomin? he doesn’t have any reason to doubt bomin, but bomin knows him better than anyone, and jihoon has always feared that anyone knowing who he really is won’t want anything to do with him anymore.
and yet, he’s had bomin for years. they grew up together early on, corrupt parents finding friendship in each other, and they did the same, even as bomin grew to resent his and jihoon grew to follow in the footsteps of his. they stayed together, despite their differences and their unconventional friendship, destined to never be normal, mostly jihoon’s doing. nothing with jihoon could ever be normal, inevitably some kind of dark and tumultuous, and jihoon knows how much bomin wants a normal life. that panic stays. “bomin, why are you asking?”
jihoon knows he’s the best version of himself around bomin, too. they’re both far from the best people– maybe far from good in the first place. jihoon knows he is, but he knows there’s potential for better for bomin. he always thought they may not make each other better, but that they didn’t make each other worse, and that was all that mattered, but in this moment, he realizes differently– realizes bomin is the only person he’s ever wanted to be better for. he’s the only person he’s really felt remorse over manipulating, and the only one he ever actively tries to resist manipulating.
but jihoon is just manipulative by nature, and if bomin is asking– if there’s even a thought in his mind about leaving him, jihoon has to do everything he can to make sure it doesn’t happen, even not realizing his own toxic behavior. “you’d never leave me, right?” he asks, crooked smile, and jihoon already knows his own answer to this question is no. he knows he’d never be able to let bomin go, and he’d do anything to keep him in his clutches. he was already willing to do anything to ensure he was bomin’s only best friend– obsessed over whether he was the most important person in bomin’s life or he wasn’t, always wanting to ensure the former. even being nothing to bomin would be better than a life without him.
he can’t keep it up. he can’t smile, can’t summon any of his usual bright facades, and he’s never really been able to with bomin; he’s never had reason to. this is the only place he can be himself and accepted for it– with bomin. how could he ever let go of that? “i don’t think i could let you go,” he admits, and he smiles, but it’s watery, and his throat feels tight, and he laughs, low, to try and cover it up.
jihoon would do anything to keep bomin in his life, even if it meant making him miserable. “but if you really wanted to leave me, i don’t think i could stop you no matter how much i wanted to,” and it wouldn’t be for lack of trying. it would be because bomin knows him better than anyone, and might be able to resist him better than anyone, too.
“Not until you do as I’ve asked you to,” Jongsuk replies easily, tilting his head as he observes the hacker, observes the way that the blood as left the other man’s face, how his breaths are faster as panic pushes his pulse rabbit quick. Just a little more pressure and the Columba hacker would surely give in.
Jongsuk presses the muzzle of the gun in his hand to the temple of the boy bound to the chair between them. He’s no one-- a random civilian picked off the streets to use as leverage to make the Columba hacker cooperate. So far, he’s doing an excellent job of motivating the other man. The civilian sits blooded between them, eye already swollen in its socket from being pistol whipped as a result of the hacker’s obstinance.
“Now,” Jongsuk continues conversationally, the mask he wears still hiding most of his features from view, “I want everything that Columba has on our dear congressman. We can’t have any scandals hitting the media right before an election-- you understand.” His smile is hidden, but evident in his tone all the same.
When the hacker still hesitates, Jongsuk clicks the safety off of the gun in his hand. The sound is deafening in the otherwise quiet room.
❛❛ i know that you’ve been hurting all this time. ❜❜
sentence starter meme mi universe. could be canon?
it hits a little closer to home than she expects. only a handful of people really know what she’d been through before she found freedom this year and bomin isn’t quite one of them but he knows enough for her lip to start to shake and her fingers to tremble against her thighs. he knows she hadn’t been allowed to go out when she was younger, that she couldn’t go to public schools, that she had some reason to be hacking at such a young age. he doesn’t know about seulgi, about her father, about the years she’d basically spent in captivity, later conning, a ‘bodyguard’ ( babysitter ) on the back of her heels constantly. maybe he knows she’s been hurting, but he doesn’t know how much. still, to have it acknowledged weighs so heavy on her heart that she can’t help but look down at the table between them, hands tightly held together on her lap to stop them from tapping bruises into her legs through her jeans.
“I’ve had it pretty good compared to some,” she admits, a small shrug following, though she still doesn’t meet his eyes. it’s hard. it’s hard to talk about the things she’s been through with anyone, even bomin. “sure, it’s not been... the best, but I wouldn’t say I deserve any sympathy or pity,” she knows it’ll be in his gaze, maybe that’s why she avoids it, “especially seen as I don’t have any troubles anymore. not like the past, anyway. I can go buy instant noodles from bimil whenever I want, or go for walks just to breathe in the fresh air or see the forest around the city.” she sucks in a long breath. “yeah, I’ve been hurting but it doesn’t matter anymore. I’d rather forget about it and move on, if that’s okay.”
16. what part of your body are you most uncomfortable with?
answered !
17. who are you most comfortable around?
“bomin,” it’s the obvious answer; bomin is the person that jaein has cried in front of the most. sure, he’s comfortable with most of the people he hangs out with, but if he had to pick a best friend right now, it would always be him. bomin is the one that jaein goes to in tears, the one he goes to with good news, and the first person he called when he hit rock bottom entirely. “he’s my closest friend right now and he’s always helping me out. i don’t know if i can ever pay him back for everything he’s done for me, but i hope he knows how much i appreciate him.”
The university canteen was empty, the staff having filtered out hours ago, only the lights were flickering. But Chan-ri was deep in thought. The death of her father had been years ago, but still she sat with no answers and endless questions. The more she pondered the more reckless her ideas became. Tapping her fingers on the table, her thoughts wander to the figure of Bomin walking towards her.
Ah Bomin. Yes, she could trust him & she did; wholeheartedly infact. It was strange that she felt like spilling all her insane ideas and difficult thoughts -- but he would listen. She trusted him because he seemed more in control than she did, that there was always something bigger at play with him, she could tell by the way he seemed to understand computers better than she ever did. At the end of the day, Chan-ri knew she couldn’t do this alone, but with him she felt like she could find answers.
“I’ve been thinking.” She pauses as his figure sits down, pushing a carton of flavoured milk towards him and scrunching her face in concentration. “We should try and sneak into the MPD, I mean, hacking can only get us so far.” Her tone is casual, but the look in her eyes is serious as she stares at him “Thoughts?”
