Cuuvet

AU: Hotel “Squid” sangihun/inhun

Jun-ho receives it one day in the mail. There's no return address, no letter, just a photo.

It’s a very odd photo of who he assumes is his brother and a new bride.

It raises many questions. When did his brother have time to remarry? Who even is the woman in the photograph? Was he forced to do this? Why?

Why?

It lingers on his mind.

Not just the questions, but the uneasy feeling Jun-ho has. The photo is monochromatic, the bride's veil covers her entire face and her dress is decorated, glamorous, and... modest. The bright white of her dress and veil give her an ethereal, unnatural appearance. His brother is dressed in all black, in the same uniform he uses to run the games on that island. The same geometric mask.

He doesn't bother to show it to Woo-seok or Kim. He knows who this photo was addressed to even if there was nothing written on the envelope.

He lets it sit on his desk for a while. Doesn’t want to think too much about it. They never found the island. Captain Park says they could always try again some day, or maybe even soon– but without Gi-hun, it’s almost hopeless. 

Gi-hun, whatever happened to him? They all still ask the question from time to time, even if they already have a likely guess. From what he’s heard, Woo-seok has started running the Pink Motel with a friend and plans to turn it into a legitimate thing. It’s a nice thought. They’re not particularly sure what to do with the room, still full of cash. Gi-hun hasn’t come to claim it, Gi-hun hasn’t come back to them to say anything. Gi-hun is… most likely dead. 

Their final attempt at finding a trace of the island rests on finding the new winner. If Gi-hun is dead, there must be another winner. But who? They search for anyone who has recently gone missing, ask if any of them came back. Look in odd disappearances and try to find a reappearance. They try to work backwards– nothing. Nothing for a long enough time that they give up the search, and begin to pray for a break they know is never coming.

All the while, that mysterious monochromatic photo haunts Jun-ho.

The ghostly woman and her pale white bouquet. The veil that drapes over her like a sheet over a ghost. It makes no sense. The more Jun-ho looks at the image, the more he wonders if In-ho is truly gone. He wonders if In-ho sent him this picture to let him know that he's doing okay, or if he sent it to tell Jun-ho, "Your brother is gone. Don't look for me anymore."

He holds it up to the light. The woman's veil looks like it's glowing even more now. The more he stares at the picture, the more he sees two ghosts.

Two ghosts...

Oh god.

Jun-ho has the photo scanned electronically. It's crazy, he's going crazy. There's a feeling of dread that weighs down on every movement, every step he takes to unearth the identity of the woman. He tries to raise the contrast of the photo, adjusts the saturation, changes almost everything about the image. All he gets is a silhouette, it's all he needs.

He knows that silhouette. He's seen it before on a man who went to the island and never came back.

Jun-ho goes to bed that night shaken.

He leaves the photo in his drawer. Unsure if he ever wants to see it again.

-

chatted w @headless-doe and this came out of it after the topic went to forced inhun wedding. big thank you to her for the amount of brainworms it spawned.

post it was also based on.

extra doodles:

I saw some questions on my last post about the drawing on gi-hun’s desk, here’s an explanation:

In this version of the office au, I just wanted to make sae-byeok and ga-yeong sibling cuz I thought it would be cute, ermmmm that’s it ig?

Having to keep watch at night can reveal things about people…

That feelin' when the bug starts runnin'.

✂️ - - - Korean n' English page/fully-drawn version under the cut - - - ✂️