a bendy straw is perched from the side of his mouth, almost forgotten as he goes over the lyrics he just wrote. words don’t come so easily to him but once they start flowing he always jumps on the opportunity. he mutters over the melody of his verse and idly chews on the end of the straw, crossing out a word and adding in another. he continues like this for a while longer, time going unnoticed in his focus.
for the past month, he all but vanished from his life in Seoul. one afternoon, seemingly a lifetime ago, he answered a call from his mother. shortly after, he went back to his apartment, made a few calls, then hopped on a bus to Gwangju. the ride itself took a few days and another to fully recuperate. he hates long bus rides.
now, he’s been ‘home’ for a couple of days. home to wilted plants, a pitifully sparse mailbox and news that he lost his job in his absence. a slight frown creased his brow when he heard the message from his boss; it was more out of sentiment to how long he had the job rather than the job itself. it doesn’t matter–he allowed himself a few days of rest before he’d start another job hunt.
he jumps in surprise when his phone vibrates on the tabletop beside him. it’s strange how he got used of not having his phone and also how much he missed it. “hello?”
“hey little bro. when did you get back? why didn’t you call?”
he plucks the straw from his mouth and twirls it between his fingers, smiling at the unconcerned tone of his sisters voice. “I got back a while ago. mom says hi.”
“vague asshole.” she says under her breath and Hunchul snorts a quick laugh. “let’s go out tonight, I’m hungry. a new place opened up in Hongdae and-”
his mind immediately wanders and every so often he hums a quick 'uh huh’ and 'yeah’. he skims over the one and a half-page lyrics he wrote, deciding that he needed to catch up with his friends before doing anything music-wise. he thought of the repercussions of his sudden disappearance and sincerely hoped it's possible to pause your life, vanish, then unpause again and continue on like nothing happened. unfortunately, Hunchul is anything but an optimist.
