1950, Seoul.
He thumbs at his collar.
It's too tight around his throat.
The mid February night is somehow too hot.
That's stupid.
Seoul hasn't once been hot in February.
The guests are too loud.
That's stupid, too, because they're such a polished sort, that even when they're drunk they're measured.
His god damned collar is too tight.
Stupid.
He didn't even have his collar buttoned like this at graduation.
Over these past weeks, he thinks he's seen it all.
Everything Seonghwa has lived with for all these years.
He's been working at the Big House since his graduation last month.
Out of goodwill for the years his grandmother spent in service of the Park family, they were allowed to remain in the outhouse despite her being unable to work.
Out of that very same goodwill, he was allowed to finish school before he took her place in their service.
Not as a cook, but as a literate man with the ability to drive, with no money and no social standing.
Perfect for an ambiguous role doing anything and everything he needs.
"Boy, what's taking you so long?"
"Coming, sir," he responds.
He pours out three more glasses of whisky, scrunches his nose at the smell.
He doesn't like it.
He gathers them up on his tray and turns back to the room.
They're a scattered crowd at the far end of the library, fancy type, of course they're fancy they're at a dinner party in The Big House.
He wouldn't expect anything less than hugely successful businessmen, their wives and children, public officials Juinnim is trying to butter up.
He doesn't know who's who, he just knows they want him to keep his head down, and so he does.
Seonghwa sits among them, too.
He's wearing a new suit, deep brown against a cream colored shirt.
He sits with the poise and certainty of someone who owns things.
He shines among them, he thinks.
He shines with kindness, that's something he has that none of the others have.
His soul is kind.
He's been mostly reserved, engaging in pleasant conversation with the middle aged woman beside him, and her buck toothed teenage son.
YOU ARE READING
↱SEMPITERNAL↲ ⇾seongjoong⇽
FanfictionA story where Hongjoong and Seonghwa find each other in three lifetimes. "What if I said I'd find you in lifetimes to come? What if I loved you in all my lifetimes past? Wouldn't that be lovely?" "I think I'd say you're a god awful poet."
