MAD, BAD, AND DANGEROUS TO KNOW

Zero’s features freeze, glitch, refreeze. His smile loses its light; his eyes are dimming too, growing even more dark. Again. It’s happening a-fucking-gain. Nobody wants him for long.

𝐡𝐞𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 , a playlist for corinne & zero .

VAN HELSING

THERE  IS  A  FLICKER  OF  DISTANT  RECOLLECTION  IN  JONGWOO’S  EYES  AT  THE  MENTION  OF  ZERO’S  NAME.         then,  all  at  once,  it  dawns  on  him  —  his  eyes  go  wide,  his  mouth  opening  in  a  shocked  sort  of  grin.  oh!  oh!  he’s  pointing  at  zero  with  realization.  grinning.  ecstatic.

“  yes!  yes,  that’s  where  i  know  you  from!  icarus,  right?  and  flower  children?  gosh,  i  loved  those  films.  very  inspiring.  the  practical  effects  seemed  so  real.  very  incredible,  extremely  compelling.  fantastic  work!  ”

the  horror  might  have  let  his  eyes  at  the  sight  of  the  blood,  but  it  returns  three  fold  as  zero  pulls  himself  from  the  water.  jongwoo  averts  his  eyes,  practically  turning  full  body  so  as  to  block  this  strangers  nude  from  from  view.  his  cheeks  burn.

and  now  he  has  to  tell  him  about  his  creative  projects?  god.

“  uhm,  i  wrote  a  crime  thriller.  타인은  지옥이다,  or  —  hell  is  other  people.  though  the  most  popular  english  translation  is  strangers  from  hell.  ”

          “I do know you!”           He beams, wringing water from his golden curls; the chlorine has given them a sickly greenish pallor, like polluted seafoam.          “I love that book. Wish I could read it for the first time again. The way you infuse eroticism into the violence, this palpable, unacknowledged undercurrent—masterful. Electric. Bet it hits even harder without all the muddiness of translation.”          (He can practically hear Tabby, smugly omnilingual: Yeah, it does.)

He did, in fact, look at the photo on the back flap of the novel, wondering about the person who wrote it. He’s kicking himself now for not recognizing him; the novel is sensational not only for its content but the circumstances surrounding its publication, the artist’s purging of a real-life event. Jongwoo is not only a writer but a survivor, the same portrait at the back of the book also found in news articles, thinkpieces, true crime retrospectives.