ᴡᴏɴᴅᴇʀ | ᴊᴀᴋᴇʜᴏᴏɴ

- 𝟎𝟕 -

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Sunghoon didn't understand why he was in front of his local ramen stall at 2 AM at night.

Well, unmistakably late-night ramen trips were cool, but this was the first time he was meeting someone in this precise setting.

Technically this was his first time agreeing to hang out with anyone in general, but let's ignore that.

So he sat, a mask and cap on, while he waited for his company to show up.

"Hey!"

He turned around and saw the silhouette of a hooded figure walking toward him. He would have immediately gotten up in alarm if the voice hadn't been familiar.

Instead, he just dusted off his pants and paused to greet the man.

Once he had approached the table, courtesy of the streetlight, his crescent-eyed smile became visible, despite the mask covering his face.

"Hi, um I hope this table is fine," he greeted nervously.

Jung-Gyol just chuckled before sitting down. "You're too nervous Mr Park, it's just a table, not a big deal," he said warmly.

Sunghoon's ears turned red and he laughed awkwardly. God, he was such a donkey when it came to talking.

Silence fell over them, Sunghoon having an internal battle in his head as to what was happening, what he should say, or what he should.

Gyol on the other hand just smiled at the latter's behaviour. The way he was fiddling with his fingers, constantly drumming his foot, and changing his stance every five seconds. It was all...very cute.

"Um well, you wanted to uh..." Sunghoon paused, having no idea what to say next. Why did Gyol call him here?

The other male just sighed, sitting up straight. "I think I should make something clear here, I'm not here to debate some potential business arrangement, nor some joint deal, or convince you to get married to my non-existent sister. I'm just here to casually chat with you," he expressed.

Sunghoon frowned. As simple as it sounded, in the world in which he was brought up, this sounded dubious. Nobody merely desired to talk for no reason.

"Well why do you want to talk to me?" he said. Jung-Gyol leaned closer before speaking. "I'm just intrigued by you, I find you interesting."

Sunghoon chuckled in incredulity. "You sound a bit like a serial killer when you say that Mr Hwang," he joked, unable to control himself.

Gyol laughed jovially. "I suppose I do huh? Well, I'm not a creep, trust me, it's just that you often sound like one when you attempt to make genuine friends in this weird world," he sighed.

Sunghoon felt the statement hit him hard.

Yeah, it was like that, right? Asking someone to hang out, which wouldn't be a big deal usually, sounded so....bizarre in his world.

It was absurd.

"It is, isn't it? Sorry for my um...reluctance earlier, nobody has ever approached me like this before," he spoke.

Gyol sighed. "I get it, no worries. You know that was part of the reason I wanted to know you more, I felt like both of us had a lot in common."

Sunghoon's prudent composure began to unwind and he leaned closer. "Huh, well we both hate this world, I guess that's one thing on the list."