#miajuwon

there wasn't much for hyunwoo to do for the rest of the afternoon after finishing all of his daily tasks and getting in a good workout. he'd found some ink that he kind of wanted to tattoo himself with but was waiting for a better time so he'd resigned himself to sharpening his weapons in his free time. the weapons keep was pretty empty at this time so hyunwoo didn't have much company to keep while working on his katana. his machete was already set up and ready for whatever next mission or training would come, the katana taking a bit more time and care.

hyunwoo was expecting a quiet evening; he'd work on his weapons and maybe drop in and pay his parents a visit while they worked. dinner would be soon which timed perfectly with how he was progressing with his weapons maintenance. he wasn't expecting a communication come in from his dad non-prompted.

"your friend, agent phantom, is inconsolable. requesting you down by main entrance. ASAP"

juwonnie? hyunwoo was quick to put away his weapons, he'd pick them up the next day when they were needed. it didn't seem like an attack situation, he wasn't sure what could be happening with his friend to warrant such a reaction. he knew juwon was out for the day for something, not privy to all the details when he'd been busy with his own tasks. the situation was bad enough for his dad to know about it and call him down, hyunwoo worried for the worst.

it was a quick trip from the weapons section to the entrance, no one using the elevators at the moment. hyunwoo had no idea what he was going to walk into but just knew his friend needed his help.

the image would be burned into his eyes for the forseeable future. when his dad had comm'd him, he'd only mentioned juwon, not...

"wonnie?" his voice was just a wisp of air. he couldn't care that he should probably be calling him by his alias. how could he focus on that when sieon was- "w-what happened?" there's no response and hyunwoo can't bring himself to blame the other man. he caves to the whims of his body, knees folding underneath him and dropping beside his friends. "sieon- is he?" he had to make sure, had to properly assess the situation before moving forward. he had to know exactly what state juwon was in before he tried to help. a shake of the head from one of the agents around them told hyunwoo all he needed to know. they gestured to sieon's body and tilted their head towards where he knew the medic area was. not that sieon would need medic help now, he wasn't breathing anymore. they'd have to look at him, they'd have to take him away and-

and in those moments we are left to wonder if we did all we could to foster a brighter future  than the present we had.  ( @miajuwon flashback. 8 years prior. seaside agency )

sometimes daesu questions if he’s doing the right thing. 

it’s been ten years since he was brought to the agency and living in seaside has been so vastly different than it was in his home. the village way beyond the walls. sometimes he finds himself missing his old home and his family who protected him from as much of the harsh reality of life that they could. he misses the days when the city of invicta was just a mere thought and nothing he would ever reach to see in person. now all he sees is the ruins of a once great city. 

his hands in his pocket, and head in the clouds, daesu makes his way through the agency. the junior agent utilizing his free time to get lost in his thoughts instead of kicking his own ass in the training room like he normally might be. he knows if he goes that path again today he will only find himself banned from the halls until he takes proper care of his health. 

ha. he wonders how much of this is the agency actually caring about him and how much of it is them maintaining the image of a caring agency. he sometimes wonders if anyone else can sense the darkness that seeps through the cracks of this agency and makes his skin crawl when he’s alone in a darkened room. as if negative energy is growing in the walls and just waiting. 

his eyes land on a figure ahead of him, the teen cutting across the hall going a different way than daesu. something about juwon’s posture though has the agent pausing. he doesn’t interact too much with the teens and civilians around the place. preferring to not form those attachments as to only protect his own heart. “yah, juwon. is that you?” he calls out, shifting his walking path to catch up with the teen, jogging a little to clear the distance. expression pinching in concern. 

COMMUNICATION RECIEVED FROM GHOST

@miajuwon

a familiar face, one he used to look forward to seeing, perhaps tainted with feelings of hurt and betrayal. the last time jiwon remembers seeing this face, it was twisted with scorn, eyes filled with pain at something the boy could only theorize about. not that he did, as back then he had simply taken it as juwon's true feelings towards him, that juwon had simply played him for a fool. for what reason? jiwon wouldn't know. the absolute lack of closure for their relationship left him with only empty questions and an ache in his heart.

so when he sees this familiar face across the room, features sharpened by time and with age, but still recognizable, he struggles to contain the stiffness that threatens to overtake his body. there's a moment of disbelief as a lump forms in his throat, but he pushes it all aside when the unbelievable happens. juwon smiles.

"hwang juwon," he addresses, moving towards him instinctively. there's an odd burning sensation in his body. after all this time, this is what it's come to? "what are you doing here?"

        her fingers were hovering over the keyboard of her computer, silence filling the air. usually, it was a mixture of low voices flooding through the door frame into her office, or the soft sound of typing. even the smells were different that day; her coffee had gone cold, the calming aroma of it long gone. her mind was elsewhere and it had been for a few days now. the hiring of new agents didn’t pahase her, as there was a distance between her and them. obviously, she was curious, as anyone else would be, but... this time it was different. the name was too familiar. a name that brought her back to seaside, to a different time. 

        some nights, the things she had seen in her past, things she had experienced and people she had met, would keep her awake. staring up at the ceiling, she would remember. sometimes, she doubted her memories. some things were so far away, that only a fraction of what had happened was still in her brain – some memories were more vivid than others. one of them was hwang juwon. yejin would not often find herself wondering about him, as sometimes people’s fate were unchangeable, and most of the times, out of her hands. but even back then, there was something about the young man that was just so convincing that his life would be different. so many hardships that could have been avoided. and maybe, just maybe, she could have done more. 

        with a sigh, yejin leaned back against her chair, arms folding in front of her chest as she looked at the monitor of her computer. 

𝚑𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚐 𝚓𝚞𝚠𝚘𝚗. 𝚌𝚞𝚛𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚜: 𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚐𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕 𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚐.

        it wouldn’t hurt to confirm her suspicious sooner than later. putting on the jacket of her suit, the tech agent made her way through the building, wondering if there would be secret places she hadn’t been at. maybe the solution to all problems was somewhere behind one of these thick walls. her steps were resonating through the hallway, reminding that she was alone, until she reached the medical wing of meia. with a soft knock, she pushed the door open, being greeted by a few beds and a feeling of misery – she wouldn’t wish sickness upon anyone there.

        the little chart hanging from his bed told his name, but she recognized him. he had changed. in her memory, he looked sad – but not this sick. yejin approached him carefully, not wanting to startle the young man. her hands felt clammy and she could feel her throat closing up a little – she knew she could have done more. how could parents abandon their own child? make anyone go through such misery? at least he was safe now. 

in some ways, seb owes a lot to juwon. 

no, maybe that’s not the way to say it. he has a lot to thank juwon for, is probably more accurate, even if he’s done that too.

the first thing that comes to mind, especially today, when the team prepares to separate, is juwon protecting dojoon and doyun. the last time seb wasn’t with his team, dojoon was attacked and turned into a demon, and seb very well could’ve lost them all if not for juwon’s skill and heroism that day.

because of that, he isn’t too worried about him. 

that, and the fact that seb knows juwon. even with a year of experience as a senior agent under his belt before juwon rose from the dead (see: returned to meia), it still took getting used to being his superior. he knows juwon, and he’s known him his entire life, only separated by a few years in age and prime candidates for friendship.

the past near-year of being juwon’s team leader broke him of any awkwardness quickly, but things with juwon are still a little different than they are with the twins. had juwon not vanished during the war, presumed dead, he might even be a senior agent beside seb right now. that’s the amount of trust seb has in his skill.

still, skilled agents die all the time. they make mistakes and they fail and they fall short, and there’s always that chance. he knows juwon knows it too, but he also knows he’s prepared.

juwon is team member, but well before that he was friend, and seb would feel better if they could be together today. they can’t, though, so seb makes the rounds, checking on every member of his team before they truly separate for the mission. (it’s probably just as much for his peace of mind as it is theirs.)

“do you have everything you need?” it’s an open offer for seb to help retrieve anything he’s missing just as much as it’s a call to double check, or triple check or quadruple check, depending on how much juwon has done so himself. “want a snack for the road?” he says it with a smile, light-hearted, even if he is prepared if juwon says yes.

“you’ve got this, yeah?” he adds more seriously. seb has faith in him; he has faith in all of them, really, even if he still has his concerns. at least he doesn’t have to worry about phantom picking a fight with his partner, or losing control of himself because he isn’t with his twin brother.

with him it’s just the normal stuff. too many demons that are too strong, the demon agent he’s in a trio with losing control, the potential of an accident among the team members. thankfully, he has silk on his team as well; a medic to assist should anything go south.

everything will be fine. right?

@miajuwon

change has never been a favorite of sujin’s. too much drastic change has taken hold of her life in the past, and now, its clammy hands are gripping at everything it could once again. with the agency moving, she was losing the only home she has ever known. a dark feeling was creeping into her heart again, one she hasn’t truly felt since her world was turned completely upside down eleven years ago, when the feeling seeped into her skin and every thought she had.

normally, she would turn to training for a distraction. a bow in her grip and the calming slow breaths of concentration that came with it. maybe even with a partner. but even that was different now. at first, she understood, accepted the change when she was suddenly transferred teams. until she was told why she was transferred.

filling a gap is necessary. plugging a hole could prevent a leak or a larger break that could result in a gaping chasm of emptiness. but in this instance, she was beginning to question why she was chosen to be that plug. an agent, loved and trusted by his team, killed in action by a demon. a demon like her. how could they trust her? they’ve never even been in the field with her. how could they want her to have their back? after what happened? 

her thoughts paused with her wandering feet as she spotted a familiar form on a nearby bench. sujin hadn’t had many conversations with juwon since she joined the team. they were close as children of agents running amok around the civilian grounds of seaside, but the grip of change had molded them both into infinitely new beings by the time he made his miraculous return to the agency. she did know however, that he was close with the agent on team finch before her. 

@miajuwon

he feels like he’s living up to his namesake these days. a shadow. nothing more than a dark spot floating through life, not quite fully sentient though just short of lifeless. geon thought he was lost when he was wandering in the wilderness for nearly two years. that’s nothing compared to this type of lost. he knows how to navigate meia by now, how to tell which path goes to what part of the complex, but... there’s no direction. no aim. sometimes his head feels like it’s spinning so much that he doesn’t even know what way is up, where’s down, or his left from his right. his entire world is gone, as far as he’s concerned. blown up, destroyed, and he’s not even allowed to go to it to mourn the loss of the only family he had ever known.

ari, he hasn’t tried to send his thoughts so far since he thought he was dying. he doesn’t know if his old friend heard him then, let alone if he can hear him now. if he’s even still alive. are you still out there? if i go looking, will i find you?

as always, there’s no response. there never is, no matter how much he practiced with a person. just silence. his own voice. and, well, haneul’s too sometimes. but she’s quiet right now. he hopes she can’t hear him, his misery. he hopes that she can’t feel the black hole that’s eating away at his chest. when geon looks in the mirror, past the greasy, unwashed hair and sunken, tired face, he’s scared at what will look back at him. sometimes he thinks that the red in his eyes has taken over the white, that the black marks on his upper body have spread further. he runs his tongue across his teeth and swears that they’re sharper than they used to be. he’s so afraid he’s losing his humanity. his dreams are full of blood and flesh, of destruction, and sometimes when he wakes up he can’t remember himself for a few terrifying seconds.

but if there’s anyone who looks worse than geon, it’s juwon.

if geon is living up to ‘shadow’, then juwon is also living up to ‘phantom’. he too walks through the halls like a ghost, pale and lifeless. there’s no light here, no spark of life. the parts of geon that aren’t already shattered crack and break a little more when he sees him, one of his first friends when he came to meia, drifting through life like a dead man. he still has it in him to pity him. geon keeps a wide berth, at first, not knowing if juwon would appreciate the company of a demon so soon after what happened to the other agent. but... geon can’t help it. he’s always been a little too soft, maybe even more so now that he can hardly focus on anything other than his own fear and misery.

juwon’s sitting down, so geon sits next to him. he doesn’t move away, so geon takes that as acceptance that he can be here, that juwon doesn’t hate all of demonkind after what he was witness to. words don’t come to geon’s lips. they haven’t since he first heard of what happened to grand heights, his tongue feeling too heavy to lift. but it’s alright, he can still communicate important things. he leans down, trying to catch juwon’s eye; he can’t send him anything without that. geon takes advantage of the briefest glance.

you look worse than i do... i’m so sorry.