ㅤㅤCHAPTER_SEVEN.TXT✧
ㅤㅤFICTION? NOT ANYMORE! ✧ CHECK UPDATES!CRANKY, THE AMERICAN AHJUSSHI
the first thing hong dongcheol notice the morning he'd walked into his bookstore was that, there was something... off about it.
something isn't right, and although he isn't quite sure what that something might be– he knows where he should start. he walks slowly, in his steady and intimidating way, towards the room at the back of the store– the off-limits room, or as his son always calls it: the gateway to hell (the dramatic genes wasn't from him, it's from his wife. he himself can confirm.) he squints slightly, already sensing what exactly is wrong with the bookstore and the room at the back of it. the door had a yellowing, dog-eared paper haphazardly glued on it with the words “employee only”.
when he pushes open the door, there was nothing really obviously, conspicuously wrong about it. at least, the stack of ruined comics he'd stacked and tied together is still in its place along the walls and the room is still as dark, the air ventilation still as bad. but he knows what's wrong about it. he knows exactly what's wrong about it. “those school girls,” he whispers under his breath, standing in front of a stack that is carelessly put together, 6 manhwas he'd hid there to blend in with the other normal ones gone.
“you're finally gonna kill me, aren't you, hwang nari?”
hwang nari have almost zero patience for anything– waiting in line for the famous beef restaurant, having to stand for almost 50 minutes during the assembly, seo ddal and of course, kim rowoon. especially kim rowoon. let's be honest here for one second. rowoon sure is hot and nari had never laid eyes on any guys that hot before her entire life, but when an other-worldly hot guy keeps on following you around and accusing you of having plans to murder him– it gets annoying. hot or not, one day she really might bash this guy's head in with one of her couture stilletos. “if you don't shut the hell up, then i will, kim rowoon.” she replies, toneless, eyes kept on the screen of her iphone. rowoon growls under his breath, but heeds her reply anyways. sometimes nari wonders why this guy, supposed mafia gang leader, actually wants listens to what she said. it's absurd– he's the mafia gang leader, not her. what is he even afraid of?
she brings the phone to her ear after minutes of tinkering with it and sighs loudly as a lieu of a hello. “seo ddal, where in the hell are you? i've been waiting for almost 3 minutes.” she ignores the fact that rowoon is staring at her with those eyes again. she's gonna have to ask him to lower his gaze or someone's getting their eyeballs stabbed with a mascara wand.
there was a lot of noise in the background before ddal's cheery, almost child-like voice comes through the speaker. “unnie, it's been 3 minutes. you're making it seem like it's 3 hours.” moonbin's raspy voice intrudes the call for a second, and nari have to listen to ddal yelling at moonbin to not get off the train yet, it's not our stop while moonbin keeps on complaining that he knows how trains work, he'd been on one way before ddal had. hwang nari does what she always do in these kind of situations.
she rolls her eyes, sighs dejectedly and ends the call without even so much as a goodbye. rowoon stares at her, arms folded across his chest and she raises her perfectly-drawn on eyebrows, mouthing a ‘what? wanna die?’ to him. the man takes his eyes off her and nari almost folded on herself with the thought that she actually is really becoming a mafia gang leader's daughter, slowly... but definitely surely.
seulbi kicks at nari's feet gently from under the table, raising her eyebrows with jutted out in the direction of her phone. “ddal? she's okay? is moonbin bullying her again– that son of a manhwa,” she began but nari shakes her head, pushing a strand of hair away from her face. roy is seated next to seulbi, his hands on his lap but it's very evident in his eyes that he's dying to stand up and stay beside seulbi because butlers don't sit down, you know? especially not next to their bosses and particularly not while she's having tea with her friends. since when is his young lady friends with these lower-classes girls, though, and since when is it acceptable not to wear evening gowns to a tea party?
most importantly, what are those transparent cups?
“hwayeon- what's this? how do you make the water stay in place like this?” mercury almost yelled, one hand pointing at the plastic cups their coffee is served in while his other hand covered his mouth in shock. hwayeon grimaces apologetically to rowoon, nari and seulbi, scratching at her cheek hesitantly. “have you been lying to me? you're like, a master at this, too, aren't you? you've got people trapped in boxes and voices in like, those rectangle things.. now you have levitating water...”
rowoon slams his fist down on the table, eye-ing the rather excited, but confused mercury and points back and forth between him and hwayeon, who cowers in nervousness. “what are you, huh? what master is he talking about? hey girl, you trap people in boxes? you work for hwang nari?”
mercury straightens up, his head tilted slightly to the left as he mutters out a, “my name's mercury venus.. what kind of question is what are you– that's so rude.” rowoon was about to stand up from his seat when a loud sound resonates from the entrance to the coffee shop, just as roy gets up from his seat to get tissues for seulbi even though the girl clearly doesn't need any. they all turn simultaneously to the direction of the door, seungjae with her eyes closed and her face paler than ever.
a boy is clinging to her arm.
a full-grown teenage boy with dark circles under his eyes and a wince on his face. “dude, i said it'll be fine. what the hell is up with you, it's a damned cafè.” seungjae's strained voice wasn't that loud but as the little group is sitting close to the entrance, they could hear it all. seulbi breaks out into a small laughter as roy stares at them with questioning eyes. rowoon and nari, for the first time in a long while, lets out the same disappointed sigh. hwayeon thank god mercury isn't as clingy as jaehyun (but she does hope he's as handsome) and mercury reaches out for the transparent cup, poking at it to see whether the water inside would move.
seulbi finally gets up from his seat and nears the couple, laughter still evident on her face. “hey, you're jaehyun, aren't you? i'm hong seulbi and i'm a shaman or something close. there are no evil souls here!” she announces brightly, her head only reaching jaehyun's shoulder. still grinning, she points to hwang nari, who's eye-ing the situation with absolutely zero interest and stands on tip-toes in an attempt to whisper in jaehyun's ears. “you see her? she's a witch. be careful.” with a final pat to his back, seulbi manages to detach seungjae's dying arms from jaehyun's iron grip and ushers them to the empty chairs opposite hwayeon and mercury.
hwayeon waves to jaehyun, trying to keep a smile on her face while mercury pushes the cup of coffee towards him, asking him to try it first because he's afraid it might be ‘poison’. jaehyun only squints at him as seungjae picks up the cup and sips on it promptly before showing him a thumbs-up, proving that it's drinkable. hwayeon ignores the tug at her chest as mercury proceeds to use the same straw to taste his coffee. “are you okay?” she asks jaehyun instead, leaning forward in her seat. jaehyun squints harder, confirming that this girl isn't someone from his past and she's still very much alive before nodding.
he opens his mouth, trembling hand outstretched, “my name is-”
“listen, mingyu. just because you're hot, it doesn't give you the permission to call me flat-chested. you shouldn't even be staring at my... my–”
“your flat chest?”
“shut- shut up!”
roy blinks twice at the interaction, eyes trained on the two unlikely couple who'd just stepped into the cafe. he hasn't been in seulbi's world for long but he can confirm that men from his times are way, way more respectful than the ones he'd unfortunately have to meet today. “did she just say chest out loud-” he asks seulbi, voice low and seulbi stifles in her laughter, nodding and patting roy's hand as a gesture for him to not comment on it so they won't make more of a fuss. their group as a whole had been an odd sight to the other customers and the staffs, from the moment roy had wipes at the cafe's glass doors before letting seulbi in... to the bickering mingyu and naeul.
“was there any blind date appointments...? why are there so many couples here?” sooyeon whispers under her breath, holding a few menus to her chest. her co-worker raises his shoulder, letting out laughter that hints at his confusion at the incredulous situation currently unfolding right in front of them.
something isn't right, and although he isn't quite sure what that something might be– he knows where he should start. he walks slowly, in his steady and intimidating way, towards the room at the back of the store– the off-limits room, or as his son always calls it: the gateway to hell (the dramatic genes wasn't from him, it's from his wife. he himself can confirm.) he squints slightly, already sensing what exactly is wrong with the bookstore and the room at the back of it. the door had a yellowing, dog-eared paper haphazardly glued on it with the words “employee only”.
when he pushes open the door, there was nothing really obviously, conspicuously wrong about it. at least, the stack of ruined comics he'd stacked and tied together is still in its place along the walls and the room is still as dark, the air ventilation still as bad. but he knows what's wrong about it. he knows exactly what's wrong about it. “those school girls,” he whispers under his breath, standing in front of a stack that is carelessly put together, 6 manhwas he'd hid there to blend in with the other normal ones gone.
“you're finally gonna kill me, aren't you, hwang nari?”
hwang nari have almost zero patience for anything– waiting in line for the famous beef restaurant, having to stand for almost 50 minutes during the assembly, seo ddal and of course, kim rowoon. especially kim rowoon. let's be honest here for one second. rowoon sure is hot and nari had never laid eyes on any guys that hot before her entire life, but when an other-worldly hot guy keeps on following you around and accusing you of having plans to murder him– it gets annoying. hot or not, one day she really might bash this guy's head in with one of her couture stilletos. “if you don't shut the hell up, then i will, kim rowoon.” she replies, toneless, eyes kept on the screen of her iphone. rowoon growls under his breath, but heeds her reply anyways. sometimes nari wonders why this guy, supposed mafia gang leader, actually wants listens to what she said. it's absurd– he's the mafia gang leader, not her. what is he even afraid of?
she brings the phone to her ear after minutes of tinkering with it and sighs loudly as a lieu of a hello. “seo ddal, where in the hell are you? i've been waiting for almost 3 minutes.” she ignores the fact that rowoon is staring at her with those eyes again. she's gonna have to ask him to lower his gaze or someone's getting their eyeballs stabbed with a mascara wand.
there was a lot of noise in the background before ddal's cheery, almost child-like voice comes through the speaker. “unnie, it's been 3 minutes. you're making it seem like it's 3 hours.” moonbin's raspy voice intrudes the call for a second, and nari have to listen to ddal yelling at moonbin to not get off the train yet, it's not our stop while moonbin keeps on complaining that he knows how trains work, he'd been on one way before ddal had. hwang nari does what she always do in these kind of situations.
she rolls her eyes, sighs dejectedly and ends the call without even so much as a goodbye. rowoon stares at her, arms folded across his chest and she raises her perfectly-drawn on eyebrows, mouthing a ‘what? wanna die?’ to him. the man takes his eyes off her and nari almost folded on herself with the thought that she actually is really becoming a mafia gang leader's daughter, slowly... but definitely surely.
seulbi kicks at nari's feet gently from under the table, raising her eyebrows with jutted out in the direction of her phone. “ddal? she's okay? is moonbin bullying her again– that son of a manhwa,” she began but nari shakes her head, pushing a strand of hair away from her face. roy is seated next to seulbi, his hands on his lap but it's very evident in his eyes that he's dying to stand up and stay beside seulbi because butlers don't sit down, you know? especially not next to their bosses and particularly not while she's having tea with her friends. since when is his young lady friends with these lower-classes girls, though, and since when is it acceptable not to wear evening gowns to a tea party?
most importantly, what are those transparent cups?
“hwayeon- what's this? how do you make the water stay in place like this?” mercury almost yelled, one hand pointing at the plastic cups their coffee is served in while his other hand covered his mouth in shock. hwayeon grimaces apologetically to rowoon, nari and seulbi, scratching at her cheek hesitantly. “have you been lying to me? you're like, a master at this, too, aren't you? you've got people trapped in boxes and voices in like, those rectangle things.. now you have levitating water...”
rowoon slams his fist down on the table, eye-ing the rather excited, but confused mercury and points back and forth between him and hwayeon, who cowers in nervousness. “what are you, huh? what master is he talking about? hey girl, you trap people in boxes? you work for hwang nari?”
mercury straightens up, his head tilted slightly to the left as he mutters out a, “my name's mercury venus.. what kind of question is what are you– that's so rude.” rowoon was about to stand up from his seat when a loud sound resonates from the entrance to the coffee shop, just as roy gets up from his seat to get tissues for seulbi even though the girl clearly doesn't need any. they all turn simultaneously to the direction of the door, seungjae with her eyes closed and her face paler than ever.
a boy is clinging to her arm.
a full-grown teenage boy with dark circles under his eyes and a wince on his face. “dude, i said it'll be fine. what the hell is up with you, it's a damned cafè.” seungjae's strained voice wasn't that loud but as the little group is sitting close to the entrance, they could hear it all. seulbi breaks out into a small laughter as roy stares at them with questioning eyes. rowoon and nari, for the first time in a long while, lets out the same disappointed sigh. hwayeon thank god mercury isn't as clingy as jaehyun (but she does hope he's as handsome) and mercury reaches out for the transparent cup, poking at it to see whether the water inside would move.
seulbi finally gets up from his seat and nears the couple, laughter still evident on her face. “hey, you're jaehyun, aren't you? i'm hong seulbi and i'm a shaman or something close. there are no evil souls here!” she announces brightly, her head only reaching jaehyun's shoulder. still grinning, she points to hwang nari, who's eye-ing the situation with absolutely zero interest and stands on tip-toes in an attempt to whisper in jaehyun's ears. “you see her? she's a witch. be careful.” with a final pat to his back, seulbi manages to detach seungjae's dying arms from jaehyun's iron grip and ushers them to the empty chairs opposite hwayeon and mercury.
hwayeon waves to jaehyun, trying to keep a smile on her face while mercury pushes the cup of coffee towards him, asking him to try it first because he's afraid it might be ‘poison’. jaehyun only squints at him as seungjae picks up the cup and sips on it promptly before showing him a thumbs-up, proving that it's drinkable. hwayeon ignores the tug at her chest as mercury proceeds to use the same straw to taste his coffee. “are you okay?” she asks jaehyun instead, leaning forward in her seat. jaehyun squints harder, confirming that this girl isn't someone from his past and she's still very much alive before nodding.
he opens his mouth, trembling hand outstretched, “my name is-”
“listen, mingyu. just because you're hot, it doesn't give you the permission to call me flat-chested. you shouldn't even be staring at my... my–”
“your flat chest?”
“shut- shut up!”
roy blinks twice at the interaction, eyes trained on the two unlikely couple who'd just stepped into the cafe. he hasn't been in seulbi's world for long but he can confirm that men from his times are way, way more respectful than the ones he'd unfortunately have to meet today. “did she just say chest out loud-” he asks seulbi, voice low and seulbi stifles in her laughter, nodding and patting roy's hand as a gesture for him to not comment on it so they won't make more of a fuss. their group as a whole had been an odd sight to the other customers and the staffs, from the moment roy had wipes at the cafe's glass doors before letting seulbi in... to the bickering mingyu and naeul.
“was there any blind date appointments...? why are there so many couples here?” sooyeon whispers under her breath, holding a few menus to her chest. her co-worker raises his shoulder, letting out laughter that hints at his confusion at the incredulous situation currently unfolding right in front of them.
THIS_IS_AELI: hi..... who am i..... after almost a year? of disappearing i'm back!! i'm on holidays, now, and i feel bad for appearing here again but not updating this– i hope the people who'd been awaiting for this mess to unfold is still here and alive.. somewhere... somehow...
please don't kill me.
BUT IT'S HERE. the actual meeting!! (minus the moonstar couple) anticipate more messes, i've actually missed these casts.
(also, i'm wiping my tears at the lack of bts in this fic like... wow... a fic without bts. that's New. they're everywhere, but i love them nonetheless.)
ANYWAYS. if you all have any scenes you'd like to see in the next chapter, hmuuuu sis.
please don't kill me.
BUT IT'S HERE. the actual meeting!! (minus the moonstar couple) anticipate more messes, i've actually missed these casts.
(also, i'm wiping my tears at the lack of bts in this fic like... wow... a fic without bts. that's New. they're everywhere, but i love them nonetheless.)
ANYWAYS. if you all have any scenes you'd like to see in the next chapter, hmuuuu sis.
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