Chapter Text
2011
With slightly shaking hands Seo Inwoo mixed the crushed sleeping pills into the energy drink. From the reflection in the window, he could see the girl behind the cash register stare out with a tired expression. Pitiable creature maybe, but it wasn’t his fault she had crossed paths with him on a bad day. Besides, in the larger scheme of things, it was no loss. Someone like that was never going to amount to anything. Surely it was more like a favor to put an end to that useless existence. He swirled the liquid around in the small bottle, watching the white dust dissolve. The only other customer in the store had left moments ago. Almost ready. Now…
The door of the store was pushed open, and a scruffy-looking guy wearing round glasses staggered in, scrunching a bagel in his hand and coughing furiously. He made his way to Inwoo, swept the bottle from his hand and gulped the drink down.
“Sorry,” he croaked, slamming the empty bottle down on the table. He beat his chest with his fist. “I was... choking. I’ll buy you another one.”
Still coughing, he walked towards the drink shelf. Inwoo stared at the empty bottle transfixed. Oh, hell. He picked up the bottle and stuffed it into his pocket, hurrying out of the store. No one had seen him give the drink to the guy, surely. He hadn’t actually done so, anyway. Whatever happened to the guy from here on was not in any way connected to him.
“Hey, wait!”
Inwoo glanced back. The idiot was rushing after him, holding two bottles. Inwoo hastened his steps and pretended he didn’t hear.
“Your drink! Hey!”
There was a loud crash and Inwoo spun around, seeing the idiot guy sprawled on the pavement, surrounded by a scattered stack of crates he had knocked over. With his glasses askew, he struggled to get back up, but couldn’t find enough balance to even get to his knees.
A group of old men had emerged from behind the corner, alerted by the noise.
“What’s the matter with him?” one of them asked. “Should we call an ambulance? Or the police?”
“Isn’t he just drunk?”
The guy on the ground waved the bottles he was still holding towards Inwoo. He sure was persistent.
“Your drink,” he said breathlessly.
The group of men turned to look at Inwoo.
“Is he your friend?”
Inwoo contemplated just turning and walking away, but if this lot called the police, they might realize the idiot wasn’t just drunk. Someone might wonder how he got drugged, and now these men had seen Inwoo. He hurried over, took the bottles from the guy’s hands and helped him up.
“He had too much to drink,” he said, flashing a bright smile to the men. “I’ll just take him home.”
“I didn’t drink… whoa…” Supported by Inwoo, the guy held his head, swaying in place.
The men turned away, shaking their heads, and Inwoo dragged the staggering guy by the arm towards his car.
He’d ditch him on some bus stop after he passed out. Plop a bottle of liquor in his hand, and soak his clothes in it, too. Then no one would believe any claims he’d not been drinking.
“What’s wrong… with me?” the guy said, struggling to keep up with Inwoo’s fast pace. “I didn’t drink…”
“Really? How strange,” Inwoo said, holding him steady by the arm. He opened the door of his car. “You should sit down, you don’t look too good.” The guy nodded and climbed in. Inwoo slammed the door shut after him. The day just kept getting worse.
Inwoo got into the car and turned to look at his unwanted passenger. The guy had curled up on the passenger’s seat, and seemed to already be asleep. He was hugging his backpack tightly, breathing slowly, and mumbled something. Inwoo leaned closer to listen.
“Mom…”
The corner of Inwoo’s mouth twitched. He leaned back in contempt and drummed his fingers against the wheel. On the other hand, now he had this unlucky idiot at his mercy. He chuckled. He could just drop him off a bridge or something. No, too boring. He’d be out for a while, in that time he could surely think of something. Something terribly fun…
“Hey!”
Someone knocked on the window of the car. Inwoo rolled the window down. One of the men from before handed him a cell phone.
“Seems he dropped this,” the man said. “His sister is calling. I told her he’s drunk as a badger.”
Hesitantly Inwoo took the phone. He rolled the window back up as the man walked away.
“Hello?”
“Oh hi, so, you’re with our Dongsik?” the female voice on the phone said.
“Yes.”
“And you’re in Gwangju?”
“… yes.”
“Right, so…” The woman laughed. “I guess it’s a bit much to ask you’d get him back to Seoul, so maybe you could drop him off at a police station, or somewhere he’ll be safe.”
Inwoo glared at the sleeping guy. So now not only had Inwoo been seen with him, but his family also knew he had taken him into his car. If something happened to this accursed idiot now, it’d be hard to claim he’d had nothing to do with it.
“Actually,” he said, trying to keep the annoyance out of his voice, “I need to return to Seoul myself, so I’ll just bring him home. What’s the address?” No doubt his family was at least stupid enough to not be able to tell apart being drunk and being drugged.
“You would?” the woman said. “That’s so very kind of you. Thank you.”
After receiving the address he hung up. Kind? He clutched the phone angrily in his hand. How was it that nothing was going his way today? He took a few deep breaths to calm down. At any rate, it was true that he’d best return to Seoul. This miserable place had turned out to be one big waste of time.
He slipped the phone into the sleeping guy’s pocket, then after a moment’s consideration, removed the guy’s glasses that were almost falling off anyway, and folded them into his pocket, too. He leaned over and attached the seat belt for the guy, wrapping him and his backpack into one neat package. Idiot package. The guy again mumbled something in his sleep and smiled contently. Smiling like that, with his white coat and his irritating cloud of curly hair, he looked kind of like an angel. Inwoo turned his eyes away. Disgusting. He’d like nothing more than to kick him off the roof of the tallest building he could find. See how he’d ruin his plans then.
“Dongsik,” Inwoo said, sneering as he started the car. “What a stupid name. I don’t know if you’re tremendously lucky or unlucky, but you’d damned best hope after tonight I never see you again.”