At exactly 3AM, Jeongguk mysteriously wakes up from sleep.
He thinks it's probably because his throat feels dry or his bladder decides to remind him that hey! You haven't taken a piss in five hours, go to the bathroom, so he begrudgingly sits up, rubs his eyes, and listens to the annoying tick of his bedside clock as it echoes throughout the room.
Just as he's about to fall back into his slumber, he hears it. The unmistakable sound of continous sobbing coming from somewhere in the house, and it makes the ends of his hairs stand up.
Now, here's the thing: Jeongguk isn't scared of ghosts, okay? He's scared of jump scares... which are caused by ghosts... so maybe he's actually scared of ghosts? He doesn't know. His mind is currently in a state of shock, the same shock he felt when he received his first saw a huge F on his Science paper back in seventh grade.
The landlord hasn't mentioned any signs of paranormal activity before they moved in, so that eases his heart a bit. But maybe he did mention it, though? Maybe he didn't just hear it because he was busy trying to keep Lalisa from jumping through the window back then, but maybe there's actually ghosts in here and the landlord didn't know.
He gulps, and tries to strain his ears to hear more of that sobbing. It's still going on, apparently, because it only seems to get louder and louder as the time passes.
Surprised, he throws his fucking duvet at the wall like some idiot, thinking that it might do something--but it doesn't. The sound is still there. He eventually picks it up in shame along with his phone and his 5-inch thick philosophy book which will serve as a weapon in case someone broke in.
Tiptoeing out of his bedroom, he peeks his head out and checks both the sides of the hallways. It's empty. No sign of a ghost or a serial killer. It's safe.
Or at least he thinks it is, because the sobs resume again. This time though, it seems to be coming from one of the rooms--Lalisa's room specifically.
Jeongguk huffs and walks across the hall to knock softly at her door. She doesn't respond. Taking the matter into his own hands, he turns the door knob slowly and pushes in carefully.
There she is, hunched over her MacBook with her duvet around her body and crying as if there's no tomorrow. She doesn't take notice of him, still wiping her tears and snot with a worn out towel from beside her.
It's instinct, then, that he hurriedly goes to her and engulfs her into a hug.
Lalisa freezes in his arms, sniffing, and when she looks up, a frown was on her face.
"Gguk," she rasps out, voice breathy. "What are you doing here?"
"Is something wrong? Why are you crying?" He asks as he smooths her hair down. Lalisa bit her lower lip as if to swallow down a sob, so he hugs her tighter again. "Something happened with uni?"
She shakes her head. "No, no, it's just--"
"How about with Jimin?" He remembers her sending him a text that she and Jimin were going to have dinner together. "I swear if he hurt you I'll make sure he won't be able to move his limbs again."
Lalisa hits his head weakly. "No, you idiot. It's not because of him."
"Then what?" Jeongguk pulls away and turns to her MacBook screen, which was playing a documentary named Slaughterhouse: What the Meat Industry Hides. "Is it--"
She wails again. "I'm w-watching this documentary about these a-animals being turned into meat and I--" she sobs again, "I feel so bad. Like, we're killing these animals!"
Jeongguk doesn't know what to say. "Um--"
"Imagine this: we're eating pork belly, right? But what if I tell you that all those meat came from a mommy pig that had little piglets and her children were left alone just so we could eat their mom--"
He stares at her dumbfoundedly as she continues to ramble on about the economy, animal abuse, and animal cruelty. There is no way she would be crying just because of some documentary about animals, right? But then she's Lalisa, and Lalisa is always full of surprises.
"--and so some of these animals are captured without their consent and are abused by these hideous--"
"Why are you watching a documentary at 3AM?" He finally interferes. "It's late."
"Were you even listening to me?" She looks like she's about to cry again, so Jeongguk nods enthusiastically.
"Of course, but... what do I do with this information?"
She sighs. "I think we should go vegan."
What.
"Permanently."
Yeah, Jeongguk thinks he would've prefered seeing a ghost rather than going vegan.
