#even death

He knows all the Recruiters' old haunting spots, and almost immediately happens upon a recruitment attempt in a cold corner of Ssangmun station.

He doesn't know why he picked that subway station in particular (except that he does. Of course he does) but he's glad he doesn't have to search long. From across the rails, he watches the Recruiter slap a young man around for close to fifteen minutes before finally handing over a very familiar card.

The Recruiter leaves. The young man studies the card, frowning, and and Inho studies him, waiting.

And then a train arrives. Inho curses his luck and tries to catch sight of the young man through the windows and rushing crowd.

He sees him, standing in the same spot, but the young man's not alone. He's speaking to someone.

A man with an umbrella. The umbrella's closed and held carelessly just over his shoulder, positioned in such a way that Inho can't see the stranger's face. But he sees the man's hair - waves of it, a mass of brown fluff that's painfully ridiculous and achingly familiar - and just the corner of one eye, crinkled in a smile as the the stranger holds his hand out to the young man.

With a frown, the young man hands the card over, hesitant. The man with the umbrella slips it into a breast pocket, quick and efficient, then pats the young man's shoulder, leaning close and saying something Inho can't possibly hear in the din of the station.

And then, with one last pat, the stranger sends the young man on his way.

The young man leaves the station with a look on his face that says he doesn't know why he's walking away from the chance of a lifetime. Like he doesn't understand how someone convinced him to turn his back on the Recruiter's promise. But still. He leaves.

Then the man with the umbrella turns, and almost immediately meets Inho's eyes. He smiles. Waves.

Inho is rooted to the spot. He doesn't think he's breathing. The world seems to tilt around him.

Of course, at that moment, the train leaves. Inho continues to stare, as if he can see right through the metal and glass and silent passengers at the man across the station. When the train is finally gone, the platform is nearly empty.

The man with the umbrella has disappeared.

But Inho knows, somehow, he'd just seen Seong Gihun standing across from him, smiling and waving and holding Inho's gaze like no one else ever has.

A dead man. Or a dream.