jihoon's not quite sure about his existence if he was completely honest. his physical appearance is nothing like he desired when he was younger; he wanted to be tall like his dad, he wanted his mum's oval shaped face and his parents billion dollar smiles. jihoon wanted to be the kind of son that every (mostly, those of asian descent) parent would want - for their kid to excel academically, to secure their path to wealth by being a doctor or a lawyer.

unfortunately, jihoon had the (mis)fortune of being shorter than average, an impossibly round face and an awkward smile complete with a (seemingly?) misplaced dimple. jihoon tried to study, studying all day and night, only to consecutively fail at almost everything. his parents [only] cared for 'real' subjects, such as maths and science.

as comical and cheesy as it may sound, jihoon would not be able to get through his record-breaking amount of failures if not for noraebangs. (if jihoon was forced to boast about himself, he must admit, his passion and love for music and literature was quite astonishing). jihoon would collect his results every year, [with disappointing grades of mostly C's and a couple of A's... but those were from subjects that meant little to nothing to his parents] and he would sing his sadness out, filling his own noraebang booth with the saddest melodies for hours on end.

he had friends, who had friends, and they had parties and jihoon's awkward. awkward as in 18 years of age (aka legal) yet the thought of staying at home watching dramas or reading books or writing sounded more appealing than getting d by strangers in a club grinding to some overrated english pop song. (according to society, jihoon was the “weird one”.)

like most teenagers, lee jihoon had a part-time job. however, his job was probably one that most would sought out for - minimal work for £6 an hour. oh what a life he led. jihoon enjoyed getting money for little to no work but it was so goddamn boring. jihoon's mother's friend's friend was hiring new staff for a little takeaway/restaurant and jihoon had been more than happy to be hired with no previous experience whatsoever.

the sound of windchimes used to be beautiful to his ears before getting employed at this place, now it just announces a potential customer to ruin the peace and quiet that was perfectly accompanied with one of jihoon's countless novels.

"yah, lee jihoon!" a giant who has to duck to be able to get through the door announces his presence unnecessarily. jihoon sighs quietly to himself before inserting his tiger bookmark at the current page he was reading before being interrupted.

jihoon puts his most unconvincing fake customer voice complete with an awfully uncomfortable looking smile and greets the giant with a "how may i help you?"

kim mingyu (the ever so childish giant), pouts like he's 12 and says "stop being mean to me!!"

lee jihoon was "the usual?"

the giants face lit up, nodding his head enthusiastically, "oo, and maybe also add squid rings... i enjoy squid rings!!!"

sometimes jihoon wished his woes were as easily erased as mingyu's at the mention of food.

"... or maybe i should just get the squid pieces in spices and garlic??? i don't know jihoonie it's such a hard decision, please decide for me!"

jihoon did not enjoy decision making so he turned to the giant and said, "no." and let the giant pay for his usual.

soon enough the food was finished and mingyu looked like he was about to cry, for jihoon had given him both squid dishes for free.

jihoon held his palm up as if he knew what mingyu was going to say, claiming that 'the chefs cooked the wrong thing so we decided to give it to you as a freebie because we're not hungry' even if they both knew that there were no other orders.

A/N: jicheol feels r overwhelming me!!! the chapter's called green screen bcos it's the background of jihoon's life kinda chapter bcos the green screen is the background idk i thought it was clever and i hope u enjoyed it, already working on the second chapter! comments make me happy (✿◠‿◠)