Ring... Ring...
"Going to voicemail…"
"Hey Jihoon, where are you? It's 10 a.m., the convention is about to start. Get here
before Seokjin loses his mind, and don't forget your drafts."
With a long beep, the voicemail came to an end.
"Uhhh..."
A hand slowly pushed out from underneath the bed covers to slam on the bedside alarm
clock before a slim figure emerged. His black hair glistened lightly under the rays of
sunlight streaming through the half-open window on the right side of the bed, giving him
a charming appearance. As if in a trance, he turned towards the window for some
seconds, trying to recollect where he was or who he was before he came back to his
senses.
"Oh my God, what's the time?" he said as he picked up the wristwatch that sat on the
bedside stool.
"10:03. SHIT!" he said as he felt cold sweat trickle down his skinny back before he
dashed for the bathroom to get a quick cold shower.
He quickly put on a plain blue shirt and black trousers. Jihoon had never been one to
dress extravagantly; most times, he preferred sporting some oversized joggers and
random anime shirts he bought off Amazon. But today he had to look good, or at least
better than usual, because today he was going to have a meeting with one of the largest
comic publishers in all of East Asia.
"Oh, where is it?" he said, looking for his synopsis. Jihoon made his way back to the
bedside drawer, flipping through all the documents searching for the synopsis for his
comic he had written the night before.
"I'll be late if I keep this up," thinking to himself as he pulled up the second drawer with
enough power to pull it out completely.
"Fuck, I hope it isn't broken," he muttered to himself while trying to jam the drawer back
into its hinge. He heard a click. Then he turned around, his gaze swept through the
entire room, hoping to remember where he might've kept it. He made his way towards
the table directly facing the bed, rummaging through all the pieces of paper and wild
sketches he made the day before.
He pulled back the chair, trying to check underneath the table. That's when he saw his
bag on the chair. He opened it, and right there was the synopsis the fucking synopsis he
had spent the last five minutes searching for. It sat gracefully inside the bag between
two random books he had bought from a bookstore the day he went sightseeing around
the city. He wasn't sure why he bought them, or rather he couldn't remember why, but
now he recalled that he had kept the synopsis inside the bag before dragging his sleep He hadn't slept since he came to this city; between catching up with his cousin who
relocated here after her 20th birthday and trying to come up with ideas for his synopsis
and adding the last finishing touches to his characters, sleep could never fit into his
schedule, and last night his body couldn't take it anymore.
"At least I got everything done," he said as he checked his bag and pockets before
reaching for his keys from the table. He exited his hotel. Fortunately for him, the lobby
was empty more like deserted. As he walked towards the elevator, just a few steps to
his right, he noticed how oddly dented one of the door handles was.
"Hmmm, room 505, weird," he whispered as he walked towards the elevator to get to
the ground floor. He pressed the ground floor button and waited a bit before he heard
the elevator coming up.
With a ding, the elevator door swung open.
Soft moans filled the air.
An elderly man in a black leather jacket and jeans so tight they
left little to the imagination leaned in close, his oddly translucent sunglasses catching
the light as he smothered an older woman with affection.
Jihoon's face turned slightly red from shock or from embarrassment as he watched the
ghastly scene happening right in front of him. He stood frozen. It felt like an eternity
before the old couple noticed the presence of their unwanted guest and hastily broke it
up.
The old lady, now red as ever, sheepishly walked out of the elevator towards the first
room by the right. She fiddled with the key for a bit, adding to the already awkward
situation. After a couple more tries, the door finally gave way as the old lady hastily
dashed into the room. Not long after, the old man gently walked out of the elevator with
a gentle smile on his face. Jihoon watched as the man walked all the way to the door
before giving him a wink and heading into the room.
Still in a daze, he walked into the elevator and pressed the button for the last floor.
Trying to get the horrific scene out of his mind, he brought out his phone and went
through his messages, but as ever... nothing. Jihoon was basically an introvert. Was it by choice or by circumstance? He never knew.
His dad was a civil engineer who worked for the government, meaning that he was
never around. And even when he was, he wouldn't stay for long. His mother was in
charge of taking care of Jihoon and his younger sister. That was until his mother passed away from lung cancer.
Jihoon, who was only 10 at that time, never understood what really happened. The only
thing he knew for sure was Mum wasn't coming back, and his dad was depressed for
months. Having no one to take care of the kids while he was away on his work trips, he
decided to sell their home and bought a huge camper, taking the kids with him to any state he was deployed to. He would enroll Jihoon in middle school and his sister in
elementary school, and that was how their life continued until his dad finally got
promoted, meaning they did not have to move around. With the money he had saved
up, he bought them a house in Seoul.
By this time, Jihoon was already 15 while his sister was 10. But since Jihoon was
always the outcast, either joining class in the middle of the school year or leaving
abruptly, he never made any real friends neither did it bother him. At least he could be
glad that he wasn't getting bullied.
With a ding, the elevator doors opened, revealing a rather generic lobby with black-and white tiled floors, some rows of seats by the left, and a rather nice front desk by the
right. Jihoon walked towards the exit.
"Good morning," he said with a gentle smile as he walked past her.
"Good morning, Mr. Han," she said curtly.
Not really minding it, Jihoon pushed open the glass door. The rays of the morning sun
glistened on his white skin as he jogged towards the gates of the hotel.
He let out a low but subtle sigh as he stopped right in front of a security guard.
"Good morning, Mr. Xing," Jihoon said.
"Good morning, Jihoon. Off to meet your lady friend again?" Mr. Xing said, his voice
rather raspy.
"Hhuhu, you know we are just cousins, Mr. Xing," Jihoon replied.
"Yh yh, I hear ya," Mr. Xing said condescendingly before pushing open the mini gate.
Jihoon, not wanting to continue the conversation, just walked out of the gate and
straight to the bus station.
Jihoon made his way into a bus heading to the Sung Dungan Plaza. Making his way to
the back of the seat, he realized how almost everyone had on very light clothes. In fact,
now that he noticed it, he had been sweating ever since he left the hotel.
He made his way to the last seat at the back of the bus before retrieving his phone from
his back pocket to make a call.
"Hey Yoen Choi, h—"
"Where the hell are you?! The convention is about to start, and Mr. Li Guangming will be
here any moment now! You know the number of people waiting here to also pitch their
ideas to him, right?! And only one lucky person might get to sign a contract with the
largest comic publisher in all of East Asia."
"Noona, I know, I know, I'm sorry! I overslept, you know I haven't been able to catch
some sleep in over a week. I'll be there in five, I promise."
"You better be! I took a sick leave from the office just to be here to support you." With a beep, the call disconnected. Jihoon looked outside the window for a while before
getting a notification on his phone:
PLANE CRASHES INTO THE PACIFIC OCEAN, OVER 250 DEAD
"Huh, that's the 10th plane crash this month," he murmured as he scrolled through
Birdie, a social media app or as he called it, the news app (only he called it that). As he
scrolled, he stumbled upon a post made by a user named The Engineer.
"What a weird username," he thought, but he was intrigued by the post.
"The world is on the brink of collapse. Everyone is urged to stock up on food, water, and
essential resources. According to research conducted by NASA last year, Earth's
atmosphere has shifted from its original position and is gradually moving away from the
Sun toward Mars. This phenomenon has been the cause of the erratic climate changes
observed worldwide. Hot and humid regions like Dubai, Kenya, and Nigeria are now
experiencing unusually cold temperatures as low as 17°C, while parts of Asia grow
increasingly hotter each day. Additionally, certain areas of the ocean are either receding
or drying up at an inexplicably rapid pace."
Jihoon opened the comments hundreds of people in the comment section ridiculing and
calling him a madman. Before Jihoon could scroll again, the bus came to a halt.
With a robotic voice indicating that they were now at the plaza, he hurriedly picked his
bag that sat beside him and made his way out the automatic door