He’s awakened by loud banging on his front door. It’s way too early for his neighbors to bother him. Who the hell is awake at nine in the morning on a weekend? People who don’t have a life, that’s who. He begrudgingly gets out of bed, stumbling over furniture and items scattered on the floor. There’s still banging on the door by the time he gets to it. He opens the door, ready to chase away whoever decides it’s a wonderful idea to disrupt the peace of the floor. He’s greeted by a tall figure smiling at him.

“Who the are you to—“

“Hi,” greets the tall stranger, cutting off his sentence. Ilhoon frowns. The man has a familiar voice, but he can’t put a finger on it. He isn’t sure where he’s heard the voice from, but it sounds too familiar—like mentally scarring familiar.

“Uh, hi, it’d be nice if you—“

The stranger extends a hand towards Ilhoon. Now he can’t slam the door shut in the man’s face, just great. How is he supposed to chase him away now? He looks at the hand and hesitantly takes it. The man beams.

“I’m Yook Sungjae from the Minstar Association of Escorts and Gigolos; it’s a pleasure to finally meet you face to face, Ilhoon.”

Ilhoon’s eyes widen in horror. No wonder the voice sounds familiar. No wonder it’s the mentally scarring type of familiar. It’s Sungjae, the goddamn person that basically ed to himself while on the phone. The urge to slam the door in front of his face is stronger than before, but the man has already invited himself into his apartment.

“Nice place, not even the room I rented out looks this nice,” Sungjae comments after scanning Ilhoon’s living space, “I guess your job pays you well. Well, mine does too but—“

“Did you say association of escorts and gigolos?” Ilhoon asks. “You’re a e?”

“I really prefer gigolo, but—“

“You’re a e,” Ilhoon repeats.

“I’d really prefer if you—“

“e. That explains how you’re able to—do you always yourself out to people?” Ilhoon shakes his head. “That’s a stupid question, you’re paid to yourself out to people.”

“For a cute face, you have a foul mouth.”

Ilhoon frowns. “Are you hitting on me?”

Sungjae laughs and shakes his head. “Nope, it’s a really bad habit actually.” He sits himself on Ilhoon’s dark, leather sofa, making himself comfortable. “So, you look like you just woke up.”

“That’s because I did just wake up, ,” he grumbles.

“Well, if that’s the case,” Sungjae stands up and hands Ilhoon a slip of paper. He looks down at the paper and sees an address scribbled onto it. He’s pretty sure the location is somewhere in the red-light district, somewhere he really doesn’t want to go. “Meet me at this address in three hours!” He winks. “I’ll let you rest up some more and freshen up a bit before we talk business.”

“Isn’t this place in the—“

Sungjae shushes Ilhoon, “don’t think too much about it.”

“I’m not going to—“

“Remember, I have your phone number, and I can just pester you.“

Ilhoon has a short flashback to yesterday afternoon; it’s engraved in his mind. The conversation is never going to leave his memory at this point. “No,” he says a bit desperately. ”Please no. I’ll go, just don’t leave me messages.”

“Great!” Sungjae claps his hands together. “I’ll see you then!” He stands up from the sofa and heads towards the entrance, opens the door and slams it shut. Ilhoon is left standing awkwardly in the middle of his living room with a slip of paper. He has no clue what just occurred; all he knows is that the stranger from yesterday’s phone call has just barged into his house, claimed that he’s from an association of es, and handed him a slip of paper with an address on it. Where is his life going to at this point?

Just where is it heading to?

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a/n: extremely short chapter. but the next one will probably be a lot longer \o/ and more new characters too !! the story itself is actually done? but i feel like some parts are a bit too rushed....