WARNING !

❝ you only want to want me ❞

introducing song yongju, mechanic at the noh gas station. she’s local to ilsang and a well-known skeptic, despite all that she’s seen. don’t be surprised if you’ve heard her name before--her little band of punks are always getting into trouble.

💌 ( 1 )  𝕟𝕖𝕨 𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕖𝕣  !

       ⤷     delivered to: @ilsyongju !                titled : safe in the dark.

“buy you a lemonade?! you know i was gonna anyway!” he says, somehow sounding mad as he throws himself and his wallet at the counter to order a hot tea for himself and the lemonade for her, and turns to point to a table questioningly.

yongju stares at haneul for a moment, face blank in an attempt to conceal all amusement - but it doesn’t last long, and yongju eventually succumbs to laughter. full on laughing, the loud kind that makes your sides hurt when it goes on two seconds too long. “‘leave my ass in ilsang.’” when they repeat haneul’s words, it only highlights the absolute absurdity of them. “yeah, okay. i think you have a higher chance of convincing the aliens to move in among us down here than you do ever stepping outside of this god forsaken town. even if you did leave without me, i don’t think you’d go a day without crying for me to come find you. god, you make me laugh.”

it’s a joke, of course. maybe a little mean spirited, but mean is not how they’re intending it. they have always been the type to rag on haneul a little harder than anyone else - probably because haneul lets them get away with it. 

they get inside and get their drinks. yongju plops down comfortably, spreading out into the space without a second thought as to where haneul’s going to sit. haneul’s like a mouse when he’s in public. he’s quiet, and small, and he tends to curl up into a little ball like his life depends on it.

ㅤ ↻ now playing: “f##k everything,” a playlist by song yongju.

with 45 songs in total, this playlist captures yongju’s personality, preferences, and past.

💌 ( 1 )  𝕟𝕖𝕨 𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕖𝕣  !

       ⤷     delivered to: @ilsyongju !                titled : safe in the dark.

god, he hated that they could even make him get on something like this. his arms tighten immediately, and a few more times after that. his eyes are screwed up tight, not wanting to see anything.

once they’re on stable ground, he sighs. his grip stays clear, and he wants to hit them and kiss them all the same. “yongju, i fucking hate this thing!”

and, there it is, they think amusedly to themself. they had expected a flustered remark to come up about the bike eventually. they slide off the bike and pluck the helmet off of haneul’s head. they tuck the helmet under one arm with practiced ease. their other hand darts out in the direction of haneul’s face - they flick his forehead, right where the blonde bangs part to expose his gently freckled skin.

“if you hate it so much, then you can walk home. alone. in the dark,” yongju says, with a smile growing slowly on their lips. “who knows, you might can catch a lift on an alien spaceship. they are apparently very common in this area, according to... oh, that’s right. according to you!” 

yongju leans in, breaching haneul’s personal space. they have to slightly raise onto their tiptoes in order to better reach haneul’s forehead. softly, yongju kisses the reddened skin they had just flicked. they’re fully grinning by the time they pull away. 

it isn’t often that yongju gets time away from the shop. in a moment of spontaneity, she has decided to drive her car down to the yeong stage and catch a movie. it doesn’t even matter what’s showing tonight - she’s got her popcorn, she’s got her parking spot, and she’s prepared to have a good time.

that is, until... he arrives.

he’s got a stupid car and an even stupider haircut. everything about him screams spoiled brat. what’s a guy like him even doing in ilsang? and what is he doing, parking right in front of her car? to make matters worse, he’s climbing out of his car to sit on top of it - completely obscuring her view of the screen, despite the impressive height of her brother’s beat up old truck. her jaw clenches - so does her fist.

never one to shy away from conflict, yongju kicks open the driver’s side door and hops out. she’s still got her tub of popcorn, so she takes a fistful of the buttery puffs and lobs them at the guy’s head.

“hey!” she yells, feeling her face grow hot with rage. “yeah, i’m talking to you--guy with the ‘my other ride is your mom’ bumper sticker!”

the man turns to face her, and all at once, recognition floods her body. of course it would be him. she sees every car in town eventually, so recognizing his car didn’t immediately click the pieces together in her head - but now the memory of where she has seen this car before is returning to her with sharp edged clarity. 

the clouds outside are in a total turmoil - tall thunderheads an ominous green-grey, teeming with purple veins of lightning. the surrounding sky is dark; the sun has long disappeared below the trees. the parking lot outside the library is empty except for a single row of cars near the front, their hoods illuminated by the warm light bleeding through the glass doors. yongju pulls into one of the spots remaining and runs to the library entrance with her jacket hood thrown over her in lieu of an umbrella. the rain’s already starting to come down hard, and within an instant, she’s soaked. 

shivering and wet, she takes a moment in the cold entryway to wipe her shoes and shake her jacket. it barely makes a difference, but she feels better stepping into the building after she’s at least tried to dry off.

as she suspected, there’s no one visible between the endless rows of shelves. surely there’s someone else in the library - the cars outside told her as much. but from a first glance, it’s as if she were completely alone. not even the librarian is occupying the front desk at the moment. yongju stands at the crossroads, eyes keenly scanning the genres listed along the tops of the bookshelves for her desired section.

she follows the posted signage. there’s an entire wing of the library dedicated to rentable films, and once she’s there, she’s struck with the sense that she really must be alone now. the shelves here aren’t nearly as full, which lends to large gaps between each section that gapes, open and darkly, like the maw of some creature. silence surrounds her as she browses, broken only by the sound of rain pattering against the roof overhead, until- 

BOOM ! 

thunder splits her eardrums. the lights flicker briefly, and in that window of darkness, someone’s hand has taken the opportunity to shoot through the opening between the shelves and clasp around her wrist. a chill strikes her spine.

“what the fuck!”

it’s another slow night at the noh gas station, where yongju has finished up the majority of her projects in the garage and all that’s left for her to do is attend the till until the morning sun breaks the horizon. it’s fairly simple, and when she offers to take over this portion of the job she’s reasonably compensated for the work - not that there’s much work to be done. hardly anyone stops by this late. yongju is expecting one, maybe two people in total tonight. she’s never seen more than three people after this hour.

she pops one airpod into her left ear and walks aimlessly around the aisles of the gas station. she pauses when she finds anything in disarray, meticulously tidying the shelves. there’s a freezer in need of a restock on the energy drinks, so she goes to the back and grabs a box. 

there’s someone walking through the front door by the time she steps out again - the tell-tale sound of the bell signals their entry. she’s already greeting them with a warm, “welcome!” as she hurries to her post at the front of the store.

the greeting dies in her throat when she finally catches sight of who’s come in. yena. her grip tightens around the box. she tries to carefully set the box down, but she ends up revealing her true emotions through the action - the box slams against the ground, bottles rattling harshly against each other in a symphony of glass. she lets out a frustrated sigh and straightens up. making a beeline for behind the register, she avoids the other woman’s eye contact. things just haven’t been the same between them since...

💌 ( 1 )  𝕟𝕖𝕨 𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕖𝕣  !

       ⤷     delivered to: @ilsyongju !                titled : safe in the dark.

“besides. i never feel old, cuz, when i look at you all i see is daisy fuckin’ dukes, man. or like, spiderman. other youthful hot people in a not creepy way. uh—i like feeding fish? remember when i had fish named after me and that chick i was crushing on? and they had fish babies? that was pretty cool. did you know halibut means holy flatfish? it was only eaten on holy days, originally… cool, huh?” rambling was certainly his strong suit, and he often found himself doing this.

when haneul takes her hands in his, yongju freezes - but only for a moment. she’s known haneul since childhood, and the length of their friendship lends to endless exchanges of easy affection. ever since haneul went off to university while yongju remained in the outside world (not by choice), there has been some distance between them. they never stopped being friends, but they have definitely been more distant in recent years - and while they’re working through the changes, slowly closing the gaps, it still takes her by surprise to feel his hands clasping hers. it feels different now, for some reason, although she can’t quite place her finger on what. they used to hold hands all the time, for every occasion - why now does it make her heart thump heavy in her chest? the sensation is strangely familiar, she has definitely felt this way before - and in regards to haneul as well - yet it’s foreign to her as well. have her feelings changed in the reprieve of their friendship? or have they intensified? all the same, it petrifies her to feel haneul’s soft fingers press against her wrists.

they force themself to relax, willing their shoulders to drop and their fingers to loosen the ironclad grip around haneul’s own. it’s easy, falling back into their old patterns, when haneul mentions the paranormal - they know exactly what to say based on past experience.

“there’s no such thing as ghosts, how many times do we gotta go over this? c’mon,” they sigh, tsking at them and shaking their head - but their amusement is impossible to conceal. “even if there were, i promise you, no ghost would just wanna hang around by your bed. you think they wanna be in the splash zone? absolutely not!”

haneul launches off into one of his famous rambles, and yongju entertains it for about three seconds before rolling their eyes and yanking him off the porch.

“daisy dukes? now i know you’re old. your age is totally showing! please don’t say anything else,” yongju sighs, interrupting him in the middle of... whatever it is he was saying. something about- fish? how did he even get from ghosts to fish? seriously, that kid’s mind is something else, they think fondly. 

yongju pulls him pointedly to the motorcycle. they pass him the helmet, then tie their hair back using the elastic off their wrist. they swing their leg over and find their balance against the leather seat. “hop on,” they say, gesturing with their chin to the available space behind them.

💌 ( 1 )  𝕟𝕖𝕨 𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕖𝕣  !

       ⤷     delivered to: @ilsyongju !                titled : safe in the dark.

before he can make up another intruder, his hand is reaching for his phone, and he makes a call, voice small and scared. “i haven’t been able to sleep since— well, i didn’t sleep at all last night. i’m worried i’ll stay awake again,” a shaky breath, still calming himself. “can you come over…?”

without surprise, there is agreement. even less surprising is the doorbell ringing not long after they hang up.

“baby!” he says, sounding relieved for the first time since his last shift. yongju is pulled into a tight hug, one where haneul is burying himself into their shoulder, sighing happily as he takes in everything about them. her scent, her clothes, her warmth, everything that is theirs is so comfortable. “thank you, i thought—it’s not important, i just need you, fuck, man!”

as the evening approaches, dark shadows spill across the garage like oil in the ocean - there’s a dangerous quality about them tonight, although yongju can’t place her finger on what exactly is sending chills down her spine. she’s spent hundreds of hours alone in the garage, and rarely has she ever felt so unsettled. as if something is brewing out there in the grey-golden haze of oncoming nightfall. she’s watched one too many horror movies this week, she reasons, and squares her shoulders in an attempt to shake off that growing sense of paranoia within her.

by the time the sun has completely disappeared below the horizon, she has already resigned to finishing up earlier than she anticipated. she only has one car in the shop anyways - if she really needs to, she can come in earlier and make up for the lost time then. there’s something reassuring about sunrise... knowing the darkness will inevitably come to an end is infinitely more comforting than sunset, when the night has only just begun.

what’s gotten into her? she’s not normally this much of a scaredy cat. that title has always been reserved for-

suddenly, her phone buzzes in her pocket. incoming call. speak of the devil. 

it’s jun haneul - her best friend since childhood. they have been through everything imaginable together, and even some of the unimaginable things they’ve been through together too. not a single soul in ilsang could rival the levels of fear and anxiety which radiates off of haneul in waves. if you look up scaredy cat in the dictionary, his picture would be printed there for all to see. she thinks all of this with the utmost fondness, of course.

she would be lying if she said she didn’t jump at the feeling of her phone, though. she answers with a simple, “hello?”

his voice gives away everything. she knows him too well. she’s already mounting her motorcycle before he finishes asking her over. it’s a quick trip across town - one she’s made so often, she knows every bend in the road better than the lines in her palm.

he looks absolutely ill when he answers the door, and her heart drops in worry. whatever it is that’s been keeping her on edge all night, haneul looks like he’s been dragged kicking and screaming over that same edge by it - and then some. 

she frowns, fixing his hair gently and then holding his face with easy affection. “well, i’m here,” yongju says. “should we get out for a bit? get some warm tea, some fresh air…” 

she normally would suggest they go lay down together. the feeling of someone beside him helps haneul knock out sooner than later, even if it might take a while for him to settle - but there’s something off about his expression, like he’s scared to invite her in, almost. whatever he thinks he’s seeing must be more unsettling than the usual. hell, if yongju is feeling it tonight, it must be rough. something in the air, she supposes.

“we can go down to the docks, too. get something from the 981 to feed the fish,” she offers.