(ep. 10) I really appreciate the depth being added to Yikyung and Jihoon. Jihoon has ambitions and is realizing that he wants more from life, for himself and his friends. He cares for them very deeply, and goes out of his way to try and help them better themselves. Yikyung is less motivated, but still loves Jihoon and Jungho, and is willing to do just about anything for them.
(ep 8) Halfway through the show Yikyung and Jihoon are going from Jungho's lackeys to his parents. They do so much to protect him and (try) to keep him out of trouble
Apparently babysitting Jungho is a full time, two-person job. Who woulda thunnk
A/N: Inspired by the manga Yume no Soko. It's freaking fantastic. This will be a series of shorts--kinda like School 2014 but with a more solid story line hahaha. This will be the last chaptered fic of School 2013 that I'll write so in total I will only have three longer stories to focus on.
pairings: none, at least not purposefully
rating: PG
summary: Oh Jungho goes into a city of dreams and meets the owner of a ramyun restaurant, Go Namsoon.
1. Welcome to the City of Dreams
---
Growing up, Oh Jungho has thought many times: Ah, life is not worth living.
His father was an abusive drunkard. His mother abandoned them. His older sister left one day and never came home.
"I'm not leaving you," they had told him, hugging him tightly. "I'm leaving this lifestyle."
At five, he believed his mother and waited. She hadn't left him. She'd be back. She left him her ring after all.
At ten, he stopped believing. When his sister left that day, he doesn't believe she'd be back. And she never did.
Even so, he held onto the hope--in the form of a ring he couldn't fit on any of his fingers, and his two best friends insisted that there was more to life than waiting.
Other than waiting, what else was his life for? He wakes up. He gets in trouble. He gets beaten. And he goes back to sleep only to repeat this cycle.
So one night when he went to bed, Jungho doesn't think of tomorrow. He doesn't think of school or of his father or even of his friends. One night, Jungho closes his eyes and the next morning, they don't open.
---
Usually when Jungho dreams, he's not in control of anything--scenes fly by and people run away. He usually can't see his own body or see much actually. His dreams were usually dashing colors and formless blobs and hazy silhouettes.
But this street was as clear as day--or night as the sky was inky black. The cracked concrete below his feet and the dirty shop windows were in sharp focus. He could count the number of street lights and read the store signs with ease. Most of the stores looked closed--their lights off and only dark shadows apparent through the windows, but one store was open.
Midnight Snack, a sign in neon lighting, hung shabbily across the top of the door. It seemed like a doubtful establishment but that never detoured Jungho before. It was the only place open and he was getting hungry.
He entered the propped open door and a waft of savory ramyun hit his nose. The first thing he noticed walking in was a lump slouched over the front counter. The next thing he noticed was the menu board above the lump--there was only ramyun.
"Welcome," the lump sighed. It seemed to use a lot of effort to move upright and when it somehow managed it, the lump turned out to be a boy probably Jungho's age. With slightly wavy hair and an absentminded look, the boy pointed lazily at the menu board. "Let me know when you're ready."
Without another word, the boy falls back onto the counter in his original position. Jungho blinks but reads the menu board.
"Pork ramyun," Jungho said finally.
"Don't have that," the boy mumbles into the arm he used as a pillow.
"Beef ramyun then," Jungho sighs.
"Don't have that either," the boy mumbles again. This time he opens up a sleepy eye but doesn't move from his slouched over position.
"Spicy ramyun special?" Jungho tries again. He was feel his annoyance build and build, but he was hungry and this was the only place open.
"Hmm, nope," the boy yawns. He sits up, stretching out his back, and slouches back down.
"Then what do you have?" Jungho scowls.
"Ramyun special," the boy says as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. Jungho looks up at the menu board and reads the tiny description: Combination of pork and beef with special spicy broth!
There was a long moment of silence in which Jungho could only gape at the infuriating little--!
"One ramyun special coming up," the boy says, standing up all of a sudden. "Just sit somewhere and it'll be right out."
Jungho is still fuming when the boy disappears into the back, presumably the kitchen. Unable to contain his frustrations, Jungho slams open the kitchen door. The boy looks back, seemingly unsurprised and almost expectant.
"You little fu--!" Jungho begins to say, raising his fist, only to find his back slamming against the closed kitchen door. He struggles to get back on his feet and when he does, the boy is swirling around a pot.
"You can't take a joke can you?" the boy asks. "If moving on is a touchy thing, then you should just tell me."
"Moving on?" Jungho echoes.
"This is the last stop, you know," the boy says, adding some vegetables and whatnot into the pot. "There's not coming back once you cross over to the afterlife."
"I'm not dead," Jungho says. He feels a wave of cold fear tingle down his spine. He wasn't dead. He had just gotten into bed. Young people like him didn't die in their sleep did they?
The boy is quiet. He reaches under the counter and pulls out an egg. Cracking it against the pot, he splits the shell over the boiling ramyun and says, "The egg is usually extra, but I'll throw it in for free."
"I'm not dead," Jungho says again, more forcefully. The cold had reached the tips of his extremities and it wasn't going away. He was scared. There was no way he was dead.
"Denial is common," the boy responds easily. He continues like he was reading a script. "Usually when kids as young as you come in, it's an accident. Usually they don't know they've died and it's alright. Eat your last meal, pay your dues and cross on. Everything will make sense after you move on."
"But I'm not dead!" Jungho yells. He slams his fist against the kitchen counter and a bottle of dried spice falls on the floor from the impact. The flakes float onto the ground in no particular pattern--scattered around like the current state of his mind. "I went to bed and I fell asleep! I'm not dead."
"I guess you can say that," the boy shrugs. He empties out the content of the pot into a large bowl. Carrying the bowl with one hand, he hands Jungho a pair of chopsticks with the other. "Eat. You'll feel less cranky at least."
"Why would I--" Jungho swings his arm in full to hit away the chopsticks and it was satisfying to hear clanking against the floor. Embolden by his actions, Jungho moves to shove the other boy but just like before, he found himself slammed against the kitchen door. This time with a foot planted squarely on his chest.
"It's true," the boy says quietly but seriously. "You might not be dead. This is the city of Dreams so you might have somehow found your way here in your sleep--as unlikely as that is. But regardless if you're alive or not, I will not tolerate such disrespect to ramyun."
Jungho opens his mouth but closes it.
"Let's eat then," the boy says, lowering his foot back to the floor, and Jungho nods.
They sit down at a small square table in the front and the boy somehow procures a pair of chopsticks and a spoon from nowhere. Jungho grudgingly takes the offered utensils and dug into his food. He was slightly taken aback at the taste--it was really good.
"How is it?" the boy asks. Jungho doesn't respond but the speed of which he downed the contents of the bowl seemed to provide the other with his desired answer. "That's good."
Seeing Jungho fully engaged in his food, the boy stands up and returns to his place at the front counter--slouched over with his arm as a pillow. The small store was only filled with the noise of Jungho eating until the boy suddenly sits straight up at his seat.
"If he's not dead," the boy says loudly--presumably to himself. "Then how is he going to pay?"
Jungho chokes on his noodles. He looks up only to see the other boy staring at him with narrowed eyes. Jungho glances at the propped open door and the night outside.
"Don't think about it," the boy says. "Everyone pays and if they don't, they work."
Jungho closes his eyes and sighs. If there was one thing he found more worthless than living, it would be owing debts.
"How long?" Jungho mutters.
"Until you wake up," the boy reasons. "It's not like I can keep you here."
"Fine," Jungho agrees. It's true. He doesn't know when he'll wake up from this strange, strange dream. If he were lucky, he might wake up now. Opening his eyes and still seeing the ramyun bowl in front of him, Jungho groans. He should have known that he'd never be that lucky.
"Go Namsoon," the boy says.
Jungho looks toward the counter but the boy--Go Namsoon--had already returned to his hunched position, facing away from Jungho's table.
"Oh Jungho," he responds. There was no acknowledgment or even a twitch from Namsoon and Jungho wonders whether he looked foolish sitting there.
"Welcome to the city of Dreams, Oh Jungho," Namsoon said. He turned toward Jungho and smiled. It was a slight quirk of the lips with mostly amusement shining in those lazy eyes, but it was the most affection Oh Jungho had ever received from a complete stranger.
And he wonders whether it would be alright to keep dreaming for now.
