after a scandal, wooyoung, a defunct k-pop idol, runs away to his sister's hometown. he craves anonymity, yet his quiet routine is disrupted by a chance encounter- a local with a warm presence, who offers him a glimpse of a life beyond the spotlight...
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jongho worked down the road at a chicken shop, just like hana had said.
wooyoung didn't know why he was so surprised about this. jongho had always been interested in different career paths throughout his life. when wooyoung first met him, he'd wanted to be a firefighter. as the years progressed, he changed his mind, and he wanted to do something in the field of law instead. the last he'd heard was 'surgeon'. alas, here he was, working at his family-owned little chicken shop. strangely, the joint was named 'chick magnet'. there was no doubt jongho came up with that name.
according to jongho, the little shop was busy almost every hour they were open, so it was highly unsafe for wooyoung to be seen around there before 11. but by half past eleven, the small town fell quiet, and hardly any people were out and about.
wooyoung's eyes roamed the interiors of the shop as jongho fiddled with something behind the cash counter. the place was cosy, welcoming and nice. there were dozens of framed photos hung up on the wall, and the dim yellow lighting was soothing enough to almost send wooyoung off into a deep slumber. wooyoung eyed the drunken, sloppy scribbles on the wall, his right hand circling the rim of the shot glass that sat on the circular table.
he squinted at the messages scrawled across the pale chicken-yellow paint. "jongho is the cutest fry cook ever!" declared one in messy black marker, adorned with hearts and a crudely drawn chicken flexing its biceps.
"you do the cooking here?" wooyoung raised his eyebrows sceptically at jongho, who was rubbing his palms on the sides of his pants as he approached the table.
"mhm. why? is that too hard to believe?" jongho sat down across him. "i'm a man of many talents, woo. you should know this better than anyone else."
"whatever you say," wooyoung said, and he let out a small laugh. "so, surgeon dreams out the window then? along with lawyer, firefighter, and what else..." wooyoung folded down a finger with the mention of each profession.
"okay, okay, i get it," jongho huffed. "not everyone gets to achieve their dreams, you know. but i wouldn't say i failed to achieve my dreams. i just didn't really know what i wanted to do with life, and then i somehow ended up helping my parents out here. and i've been here for what, 3 years now?" jongho paused for a moment before nodding. "yeah. it's great, you know. i get to spend time with the fam and the townspeople are sweet."
"i see what you're getting at. getting in on the local gossip thanks to your closeness with the people in the neighbourhood... sounds ideal."
"you get me," jongho responded playfully.
wooyoung didn't know why he expected the worst of the situation earlier on. spending time with jongho wasn't awful at all. instead, it took some weight off of him, knowing that there were still people besides his family that cared about him. not that jongho was the kind to express his feelings. his way of being considerate, in this case, was avoiding asking any questions, even though he probably wanted to. though he felt guilty, wooyoung was still grateful.
