Sungyeol worked hard at the public bath house. He often worked the front desk though, checking people in. So, most times he’d be seeing the same ahjummas who were so used to him being there that they brought snacks or food or alcohol for him and it was great. He really really loved food. Strangely enough, lately there had been an influx of more relatively attractive people and he felt upset. Usually the old ladies ogled him but now there was some one new, Unacceptable.
He stared at the new people and he was annoyed. The old ladies should be oogling him. He approached one of the new people, a tall girl and tapped her on the shoulder.
“Excuse me. Can you take your prettiness elsewhere?”
Sungyeol enjoyed quite a few variety of hobbies and things he watched on TV when his wife was alive. She had been a fan of figure skating and often watched all the compettions on TV. Sungyeol always joined her and watched simply for the sake of his mangas and stuff, but he didn’t know the skaters all that well. He was just kind of the creator of skating manhwa called Lock on Ice. But of course, his wife knew all the names. She often talked about all her favorites ones like Mao Asada, Kim Yuna, and even junior skaters from the junior levels of figure skating.
He never kind of paid attention but simply often just watched her smile and laugh and talk so animatedly about all her favorites that he kind of missed that now. He was looking at clothes in a clothing store, just looking at hoodies and figuring out whether he wanted a new hoodie to wear when out of the corner of his eyes, he spotted someone very familiar.
Or more like familiar in the sense that she had been his wife’s favorite junior skater and the inspiraion for the main character in Lock on Ice. He approached her and politely asked, “Excuse me. Are you Son Seungwan, the ice skater?”
He often drew people because some people had just fascinateing characteristics for him. He watched how they walked, how they dressed and how they simply carried themselves. It was fascinating watching people from all walks of life. The rich girls and boys, like him, all walked with a certain flair and a certain snobbiness in their pacing. They dressed like a hundred bucks and then there was the middle class, looking normal but walking with confidence, faking the same rich air. The poor were slouched and often walked slowly as though weighed down by the world on the shoulders. Sungyeol drew everyone.
The more he watched people out of the window of that cafe, where he always hung out, the more he had ideas, muses for his stories, for his characters. A poor person in his story may inspire a rich CEO type who walks with a limp and hunched over, while a rich person may inspire the underdog.
He often sketched and drank coffee at the same time. However, one day, a girl walked into the cafe and she seemed entirely different from all the girls he had seen and drawn prior. He was amused and immediately, he approached her. “Excuse me,” he said, “But may I draw you?”
Sungyeol worked hard at the karaoke bar and often felt like he was working a bit too hard. He liked having fun and dancing and singing while he worked and the karaoke bar often provided the best acoustics and the best space to simply show off his very awkward personality and overall awkwardness. It was great. He was often just kind of chill and when he worked at the bar, he could let loose a bit.
He still had to remember that he was at work and that he wasn’t at home, but sometimes, he just ran with his life and everything. That was how it was going down tonight. He was dancing as he cleaned the shelves behind the counter, when he heard a voice. He quickly turned around, embarrassed at having been caught.
“Welcome! How may I help you?” he asked, blushing a bit.
Sungyeol was a closet manga and anime fan. He was always working very hard at his own manhwas, and often he ended up drawing inspiration from the very best of writers in the anime and manga worlds. Paticularly admiring the works of the great Osamu Tezuka, the father of modern anime and the great Hayao Miyazaki, Sungyeol was always in bookstores, looking at the manga and art books from movies like Astro Boy, Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke.
Currently, he was comfortably seated in one of the aisles at the bookstore, on the floor, with a book open on his lap. It was the art anthology of Black Butler and he was fascinated by it. He looked up briefly from the art book to see a girl reaching for a manga herself but it seemed like she couldn’t reach it. He walked over to her, after quickly getting up.
Lee Byungho watched his grandson play with toys and run around, pretending that he was an airplane around the office on the top floor. He glanced at his son, who was watching the boy with adoration. “Father, would you believe that innocence that just shines out of that boy like a ray of sunshine?” Seokyung asked, looking at the older man. Lee Byungho harrumphed in response. ”Your son,is being very irresponisble and not acting like a future heir!” he exclaimed, “I wish you would have taken my suggestion and sent him to a private school,” he added.
Seokyung laughed and glanced at Sungyeol who waved at his dad before running off again, making more airplane noises. “See, dad, you just don’t see the innocence,” he stated. The Chief laughed and looked at the paperwork on the desk. “You should send him away for a while. He’ll grow up in the process.” Soekyung was free to follow his own desires but as head of the family, Lee Byungho demanded that all decisions were logical and decided by him.
September 2002
Sungyeol: Age 10
Sungyeol did get sent away. To Busan, and then back home to Jeju from Seoul. He was sent away for five years. He was alone and scared. His grandfather had told him that it was for his own good, but Sungyeol was scared. He hated this. He didn’t like being alone. He cried every night, begged his parents to let him come home.
They wouldn’t. They tearfully said that it was for his own good. He lived with a nanny, a butler, some maids and some cooks. There were people around him every day and yet, the ten year old never felt more alone than now. He started hating his grandfather for taking him away from his family and sending him to a place where he was alone and scared.
Sungyeol tried calling his grandfather but all he ever got was voicemail or his secretary. He never got a call back.
July 2007
Sungyeol: Age 15
When Sungyeol was 15, he decided that enough was enough. He called his grandfather and demanded to talk to him. He wasn’t taking any secretaries or anything whatsoever. He was going to talk directly to the man. When he got connected to the phone, Sungyeol heard the familiar grumbly voice. As a kid, that voice used to invoke love and adoration from him and now it invoked nothing but hatred. “Grandfather, I wish to come back home.” he said. Lee Byungho laughed. “As though I’d let you.”
“I am coming back grandfather and that is all.” he said. Byungho rolled his eyes at Sungyeol and sighed annoyed at him. “Fine. But don’t expect the king’s welcome. You are not a worthy heir and I will make sure that you never become the head of the company. You are a rebellious awful child.”
Sungyeol hung up in outrage. He had come back a few days later and was absolutely ignored. He had registered himself at school and just stayed by himself at the family house. Everyone was too busy for him now.
August 2011
Sungyeol: Age 19
“Grandfather, this is Jiyu, my girlfriend.” he said, introducing the girl of his dreams to his parents and grandparents. His parents were warm and affectionate towards Jiyu and she had given him a sweet smile in slight shock. Lee Byungho however, seemed cold towards her.
“We had chosen a lovely girl for you to marry and you choose to ignore our wishes and you bring this trashy girl into the house,” he said, standing up and leaving the room. Sungyeol stared after his grandfather, confused. He had expected this but he was shocked at how he reacted. “Hey, Yeollie...we’re going to be okay.” he heard. He offered a smile to Jiyu. “Thanks.. yeah, we’re going to be great,” he said, smiling.
December 2012
Sungyeol: Age 21
Jiyu looked at Sungyeol. “Should we send your parents an invitation to the wedding?” she asked. Sungyeol looked up from the tablet, where he was drawing and he looked at Jiyu holding their year old baby girl. He was so madly in love with her and even small accident like Haebin made him really happy. “I think we should. I think we should also send my grandparents one too,” he said. “But I want to hand deliver them. We can send out all of them, but the ones meant for my family, I’ll deliver.” he stated.
“well, they're ready. Haebin and I will be waiting!” she said, handing him the invitations. Sungyeol pressed a kiss to her cheek and he headed out to see his family. However, his grandfather even refused to see him.
July 2015
Sungyeol: Age 23
“JIYU! GRANDFATHER, PLEASE.” he rushed into the private hospital where his wife had been taken. He had only heard about the accident twenty minutes ago and he immediately rushed over to the hospital. Miracle Corp owned the hospital. He wanted his grandfather to help her. He couldn't;t lose her. Not like this.
“I can’t. I have an important patient in surgery right now and to remove them from the OR to save her...would kill the company.” he said. Sungyeol collapsed to his knees. “Please, grandfather. I have never asked for anything my whole life. Just this one thing. Please. Save her. Her daughter needs her. I need her.”
Lee Byungho took a deep breath, “I’m sorry. I cant.” he said, as the monitor flatlined. Sungyeol couldn’t believe that this was happening.
“You can however bring your daughter to the main house. She shall grow up as the next heir.” his grandfather stated. “But I have one condition: You will not be allowed to see her.”
Present Day
Sungyeol: Age 24
Sungyeol was scared. It has been a year since he lost her. He refused to even talk to his family. He felt bitter. Meeting his grandfather though, again, after what happened, angered him. He was convinced that the man had no regrets as to what he did to Sungyeol. “Grandfather.” he said, greeting the man, as he walked into the charity gala thrown by Miracle Corp.
“Trash. It’s good to see that you still haven’t proven yourself.” he said. Sungyeol glared at the old man. He was going to not say a single word. “you let her die. you took my daughter away. I will never forgive you for that,” he said. Sungyeol stalked right past him.
Despite the fact that he already had a car, Sungyeol wanted something a bit more sexy. A bit faster than his car. Of course, he liked his car but he felt that he a had way too many memories associated with the car. He had driven his wife around when they were dating. He had driven to the hospital when she was taken from her accident. He practically lived in the car for a while. But it was time to change it.
Sungyeol had gone to a retailer where they sold motorbikes and faster cars. He walked around among the cars, and not one had caught his eyes. He then began looking at the motorbikes and then one in particular caught his eye.
A sales associate approached him and Sungyeol awkwardly glanced at the young man trying to sell him the fastest bikes. He shook his head. “No, no. There’s one I like.” he said, pointing a green bike.
“Oh, but that’s one of the newer ones. It’s a very expensive model!” the sales associated told him. Sungyeol rolled his eyes. “So, just because I dress like this, I’m poor?” he asked. “Can I get another sales guy? I’d rather give my sale to someone who can understand me. The guy gulped and Sungyeol cocked an eyebrow. The sales associate apologzied and led Sungyeol over to the new models.
He walked around them a bit, before he saw the bike that he saw when he walked in. The green chrome finish was amazing and he was interested in it. Sungyeol asked the sales associate how much was the bike and when he got his answer, he nodded. “I’ll take it.” he stated.
He gazed at the guy in front of him. He wanted him to rap? Sungyeol coughed and gazed at him. “Uh, Park Junse, right?” He asked making sure that he had the name correct. When he received a nod, Sungyeol awkwardly blushed and sighed. You’re really insisting on making me rap?“ He asked. He didn’t want to do this because he was so awkward at this. He was kind of bad at rapping but he could try.
"Go ahead, Sungyeol-sshi whenever you’re ready,” Junse said encouraging the taller male. Sungyeol sighed and closed his eyes. He was going to be so bad and it was going to be great. The failure would be interesting. Sungyeol stared at the other and took a deep breath. He was going to try but it was going to be very very very bad.
“Alright, I’m warning you. It’s going to suck.” he said. He got a nod in response and closed his eyes. “Yeah, my name is Yeol. Gotta remember that, because like a bomb, I’m gonna drop. The game is art and the art is a movie. Remember the game. Remember the name. Yeah, I’m going to rock it like a thousand and gonna blow your mind. It’s the how, and the now. Lemme rock it on the down low. We’ve dropped.” he rapped.
Oh god that was so bad. He cringed as he finished and quickly took a bow and ran off.
