it was 18:03 pm.

 

changmin was bored out of his mind. 

 

he’d spent the day scrolling on his phone, going through netflix and youtube, but nothing was of interest to him. it was the same routine everyday, and he never had much motivation to change it.

 

“ i want you pick me up, pick me pick me pick me up, pick me pick me pick me- ” his phone was ringing. changmin really needed to change his ringtone, it was getting quite old and not as funny as he thought it was originally. 

 

he didn’t recognize the number, but he brought the phone up to his ear.

 

“hello, ji changmin! i’m choi chanhee with TMB information inc. we’re calling because our system detected a virus infecting your computer and we need to run a few tests, are you available for at the moment?”

 

changmin chuckled slightly. scam , he thought to himself. but, it was something to do, so he decided he’d entertain this guy. 

 

“oh no…. of course! i’ll get my laptop opened right away!” changmin replied. 

 

“when you’ve gotten logged in we’ll need you to download a software called screenconnect client. this is just so we can go into your laptop and find the files that are harming your computer.” changmin gave a quick okay. typical, he thought. when will they think of something more exciting? 

 

“alright, i have it downloaded, now what?”

 

“you’ll just enter our email [email protected] and then your job is done..” the man on the phone sounded bored. voice monotone. seemed tired of the repetitive script..?

 

after giving access, changmin saw his mouse moving around without his control. it was the typical scam. delete some random file off the computer, then black out the screen and attempt to send themselves money from the victims computer. 

but, changmin knew this, and he was excited to scare the out of the guy on the other line.

 

“your name is choi chanhee right?” changmin asked.

 

“yupp, why? i’m almost done by the way.” he was almost to the point where a transaction was about to occur.

 

“born april 26th 1998?” the line went silent. there were no sounds coming from the keyboard on chanhee’s side any longer. “born in jeonju?”

 

“h-hey stop! how do you know all of this?” chanhee asked. his voice was shaky.

 

“older brother? roommate named…. eric sohn? i can go on,” changmin smirked at the phone, although chanhee couldn’t see him.

 

“stop please! i’m sorry! i’m not going to do anything else. here, i gave control back to you,” chanhee says. instantly, changmin's laptop is no longer locked. “I promise you i just work for these people to be able to pay rent. i don’t want to be scamming people. i’m not even good at this job anyway, i don’t enjoy doing it. just stop looking me up, please.”

 

chanhee was desperate. in his two months there, this had never happened. usually their targets were older people with lack of computer knowledge, this wasn’t expected. at all.

 

“woah.. woah!! calm down man, sorry. just never had the chance to get back at scammers before like this, and it was quite fun to be honest,” changmin laughed a little, hoping to lighten the mood.

 

“well it didn’t! know some random guy knows all this stuff about me that he shouldn’t know!” the boy was getting increasingly more stressed out and his voice kept getting higher and higher.

 

“yah! be quiet. if you’re that unhappy at your job just keep talking to be. i’ve got nothing to do. but, if we talk you can't be screaming or i’m sure your supervisor will notice you aren’t doing your job right. okay, chanhee?” changmin was doing his best to calm him down, but he wasn’t really experienced in the calm-down-a-scam-caller-you-just-tricked department.

 

chanhee lets out a breath, and most likely the energy he was about to take out on this guy on the other side of the phone. “alright. so, changmin, who are you?”

 

changmin was sort of shocked by the question, and hesitated to answer. “well, um.. i’m ji changmin. i’m 23 years old and a university student. i don’t have many friends,” that meant no friends, but that’s not the best way to introduce yourself to someone, so he left it out, “i’m interested in technology and related things, hence why i’ve been dying for a scam call like this. i was expecting more anger than you gave, but i’m not the best with confrontation, so i guess that’s why i stopped with you so early. sorry again, by the way. how about you?” 

 

sitting in silence for a few seconds, chanhee takes in what he was told. he wasn’t expecting him to actually reply. he didn’t even expect for them to talk this long. he expected a quick end of call and back to his usual routine, but no. 

 

“as you know, i’m choi chanhee. born april 26 1998, making me 23 as well. i can’t even begin to imagine how you found my roommate. anyway, i’m not in university, obviously. i work multiple different part time jobs because i ditched high education to chase my fruitless dream of becoming an idol. didn’t work out. parents disappointed. blah blah blah. i like to sing. and i’m interested in fashion, but i don’t have the paycheck to pursue that either. so, i do odd jobs and scam people to be able to survive. the usual.”

it went silent

 

“oh my god i’m sorry that was way too much. we don’t even know each other. i’m so sorry i got was too caught up in everything a-” chanhee started ranting nervously, but was cut off

 

“it’s okay! you’re perfectly fine, chanhee. it seemed like you needed to get that out. i’m glad you could tell me, even if i’m just some random guy you tried to scam,” changmin laughed, brightening the mood a bit.

 

“oh thank god… but still, sorry,” chanhee sighs and they both stay quiet for a quick, comfortable silence. “i hope this doesn’t sound weird, but i feel like i can tell you my whole life story. is that weird? it’s definitely weird. right? i’ve known you for what? 10 minutes? and i’m alrea-”

 

“you’re doing it again,” changmin says playfully, smiling widely, “but i agree with you. also, it’s kind of cute. keep talking.”

 

-

 

the two talk for almost an hour, just pouring out their whole life to each other. family drama, funny school stories, personal problems, and things they’ve never told other people before. it was a huge weight lifted off their shoulders. they felt so carefree and comfortable.

 

“alright, i have a question, but if you’re uncomfortable answering, please let me know,”  changmin says.

 

“go for it!” chanhee replies.

 

“why did you give up on becoming an idol?”

 

it goes dead silent. not a word is said for at least two minutes. 

 

changmin can’t stand the silence anymore, “chanhee, please say something. we can talk about something else. i didn’t know it was a sensitive topic. i just thought because you menti-”

 

“no. let’s just… move to the next topic.”

 

chanhee had done a completely 360. just 5 minutes ago they were laughing at some story from changmin's high school, and now chanhee was cold and his tone of voice was harsh.

 

“o-okay. i’ll just put ‘chanhee idol’ on my list of things not to say,” he chuckled nervously, trying to lighten the mood with a joke. it did not work.

“are you serious, changmin? after that you think it's a good idea to make a joke ?! i’ve got to go. it was nice talking to you, but i have work to do. sorry, changmin.” 

 

changmin messed it up. it was going so well. he connected with someone. a potential friend. and he messed. it. up.

 

he was desperate to fix the situation. he had no idea what to do.

 

“c-chanhee, please, don’t hang up,” changmin pleads, the desperation in his voice increasing.

 

the line goes dead. chanhee hung up.