Part 1 ⧫ Carelessness

care·less·ness

/ˈkerləsnəs/

noun

Failure to give sufficient attention to avoiding harm or errors; negligence.

_____

The first time I met Byun Baekhyun, he was drunk and trying to scale the wall of someone’s mansion.

He was also missing a shoe.

I, on the other hand, happened to be walking home, having just missed the bus. The next bus was maybe an hour’s wait, and despite the warm summer breeze wafting through the air, loitering an hour after the sky had already darkened didn’t sound like the best idea, even if it meant I had to walk. Though it did mean exercise.

The sun had completely set, but the moon was still only a thin crescent in the sky. Countless stars twinkled with a faraway glow. The street lamps provided enough visibility for me not to slip and fall on my face, though I still stumbled over a ditch about every ten steps, quite unfortunately. That simply was enough to make me regret volunteering to go out and buy groceries (and regret being too sure about my abilities to navigate Seoul via bus routes, because I obviously couldn’t). I didn't even mention the fact that it had taken me about three hours and counting to find the proper way home, which had promptly thrown my plans to get back before dark right down the drain.

My backpack felt like it weighed a hundred pounds, and my shoulders were extremely sore from the weight of the books and groceries I had somehow managed to stuff into the darn bag - I was beginning to wonder if waiting an hour for the bus might’ve been a better idea - and that’s when I saw him.

I had been walking through the streets of a tremendously wealthy neighborhood, where half the houses were practically castles and the other half were mansions - most of the houses actually had walls built around them. Ever since the age of five, I had always liked this neighborhood. It was relatively quiet compared to the rest of Seoul, and the mansions were masterpieces with intricate designs(if a house could be described as a work of art). Trees that were extremely tall and at least hundreds of years old stretched out overtop. So the obnoxious laughter I heard (which could only have come from teenage boys) immediately didn’t belong in the neighborhood.

The logical part of my brain told me to steer clear of trouble. It wasn't safe and I always played it safe. However, just this once, curiosity got the best of me. With a cry of protest, the logical part of me was shoved into the back of my mind.

It didn’t take long for me to find the source of the laughter. Obviously, I had missed half of the commotion because one of the boys was already three-fourths of the way up one of the walls that surrounded the house. That was the first thing I noticed — the second thing was that he was missing a shoe. His right one to be exact. I also wasn’t quite sure how this guy had managed to climb so high, because the walls had practically no footholds- with the exception of a few jagged pieces of stone sticking out here and there (and they were stone; wouldn't his feet hurt?), so somehow, my first thought was, is he half squirrel?

The third thing I noticed was that he was swaying slightly. My eyesight wasn’t the best - I had glasses, though I barely wore them, so I found myself squinting - but it was quite clear, even with my nearsightedness, that he was drunk.

Ignoring the fact that being around drunk, hormonal teenage boys wasn’t exactly the best idea, I made my way towards the group, once again blocking out the logical part of my brain that was once again screaming at me to stop.

I tapped the nearest guy on the shoulder. He was extremely tall and towered over me significantly, though the most noticeable thing about him might’ve been his huge ears. When he turned around, I figured he was at least somewhat sober.

Hopefully. 

“What’s happening?” I asked.

By then, the wannabe Spiderman was balancing on top of the wall, arms out, looking down at his friends. He was definitely intoxicated, there was no doubt about it. No one would be able to look that giddy standing at such a breakneck height unless he were drunk.

The boy whom I had just questioned stared at me, frowning. He had a baby face, complete with large eyes and a naturally pouty expression. We were standing fairly close, and I couldn’t smell alcohol on his breath.

Okay. Sober.

He scrutinized me for a couple of seconds, then finally asked, “Do I know you?”

I fought the urge to slam my head against something hard. Maybe he had been drinking because this wasn't a normal response. There was someone on top of a brick wall, drunk, unable to balance properly, and most likely going to fall off and die if he stayed up there any longer. This guy was choosing now to ask me who I was? I voiced my thoughts to him and my tone was maybe a little more aggressive than I had originally intended to sound.
 

He shrugged his shoulders, unworried.

“It was a dare. And I'm not drunk."

“You dared him to scale the wall of someone's private property and possibly kill himself!?”

He glanced upwards, at his friend, then back down at me. “To be fair, it wasn’t just me who dared him.”

He nodded his chin at the rest of the his friends.

“Jongin came up with it, so technically I’m just a bystander. Besides, Baekhyun didn’t have any objections, so…" he paused, then tilted his head rather thoughtfully.

"We were originally going to film it, but unfortunately it's too dark and it’s going to be hard to see if we try. That would’ve been a good video though.”

There didn’t seem to be a proper reply to that, so I didn’t try for one.

Wannabe Spiderman, whom I guessed was Baekhyun, was slowly making his way along the length of the wall (which was pretty narrow, I might add), laughing as he walked. He looked as if he didn’t have a care in the world, even if he fell and killed himself. His friends below shouted something to him and he almost doubled over with laughter, wobbling dangerously. Miraculously, He regained his balance, and continued his stroll along the wall.

“See?” the guy whom I was talking to suddenly said. “He’s totally fine! He didn’t fall at all. I highly doubt he will.”

“Are you sure you’re not drunk?”

He shot me a dirty look. “Yes, I’m sure.”

I wanted to ask him why he was so weirdly happy about this - being calm was one thing, but being happy was another thing entirely- but upon seeing Baekhyun wobble again, I decided to reprioritize my questions.

“Why is he doing this, though? Just because of a dare? Why would someone dare their friend to do something this suicidal?”

“He’s drunk, they’re drunk, and Baekhyun’s good at balancing even while drunk. This isn’t bad. The guy’s half monkey -- he can practically climb anyth-”

“Chanyeol hyung, c’mon!” one of the taller guys from the group of boys yelled in a slurred voice. “Whaddaya waitin’ for?”

The guy who had been answering my questions — Chanyeol — shot me a grin (that somehow made him strongly resemble the Chesire Cat) and an apologetic shrug - well, it might’ve been apologetic if the look on his face didn’t say otherwise - before turning away to catch up with the rest of the group as they followed Baekhyun’s process of tightroping — tightwalling…? -- leaving me standing alone.

It took a couple seconds for me to respond as I stared after the