Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

'I know how you feel, you cant hide it from me. You wanted to kill them right? Why hold yourself back darling?'

--

'So, you want me to..live at a residence and see if there's anything happening?', Yoon Jongwoo looked at his friend with a raised eyebrow in question as she frantically nodded and said yes.
'Jongwoo..it'll be hard but i've had some suspicions around the place lately! Do you remember that person who went missing a few weeks ago?', he nodded, 'Well apparently he lived in the residence before he went missing..maybe there are clues as to why he's not there anymore.'
Jongwoo sighed and reluctantly agreed to stay at the residence, maybe it would help him get a promotion? or maybe more ideas for his novel? Or it was just in the kindness of his heart to help out his very much desperate friend.

'Okay great! Thank you so much Jongwoo! Lets make a call to the residence then', he smiled and agreed, fishing his phone from within his pocket.
'What is the place called again?'
'Eden Residence.'

--

Tightening a grip on his bag strap, he looked up at the residence and questioned what he was actually getting himself into. The place looked like it may collapse at any minute and the paint faded away, dirt evident along the walls. Hoping the place looked better inside, he checked his phone looking at the time, the background of his girlfriend, a feeling of reassurance going over him.

Realising he was late to the time he said he should be there, he hurriedly rushed into the building, unaware of a pair of eyes watching his move.
Dragging his case up the stairs, he wondered what could possibly be going on in this place that made Jung-hwa so suspicious.
Spotting an open door on what seemed to be the third floor, he entered and knocked on a small window.
The windows opened and an old lady appeared, smiling brightly as to who Jongwoo associated to be the landlady of the residence.

'Are you the young man who called earlier?'
'Oh..Uh yes I am, sorry i'm late.' She waved him off assuring that it was nothing.

'If you haven't guessed already, i'm Ms Um, the landlord. Well then, follow me', she grabbed a pair of keys off a hook hanging inside of her small room, walking down the hallway with Jong-woo following behind. He stared at the walls, mold was practically covering every inch of the place and dirt lay everywhere. He wouldn't have been surprised if the place hadn't been cleaned in centuries but tried his best to wipe the look of disgust from his face, not wanting to be rude.

He watched carefully as the landlady fumbled with the keys within her hands.
'This says room 303 right?', Jong-woo gave the keys a quick glance and looked towards the door number and nodded.
'Ah yes..good', she managed to open the door and Jong-woo peered inside, a slight look of disbelief shown on his face.
The room was small, hardly any space. There was no windows, blank walls and a molded ceiling with cracks evident, a small desk fit up the space of one of the walls and a bed rested underneath it.

He fixed himself and nodded, wondering if it was already too late to quit the idea of Jung-hwas.

Ms Um studied Jong-woos face as he stared at the room and considered his choices, 'How about we talk over a cup of coffee? hm?', Jong-woo hesitantly nodded and followed the lady as she walked back to her small room at the entrance of the building, shrugging off the feeling of somebody watching him.
Sat in the small room next to the landlady who had handed him his drink, he felt engulfed by the silence. Having said he would think about it, the lady made no rush for him to choose even though he could feel her patience wiring thin.

Sighing, he glanced at the drink the lady had given him, taking a small sip.
'Did you make up youre mind yet?'
'Oh uhm..'
She smiled at Jongwoo, the smile sending a shiver down his spine, 'You know you wont find such a room like this for so cheap anywhere else right?', he nodded even though he knew perfectly well he could find somewhere better and less shabby to live, as he already was.
'I'll take it then.'
'Perfect! Here are your keys, make yourself feel at home!' Jongwoo nodded and took the keys in his hand, standing up from where he sat and thanking the landlady before walking to the room with his number on it.

Room 303 it read. He looked up at the sign on the door, 303. Matched.

Putting down his belongings, he inserted the key inside the door, unlocking it with a turn and a click. Feeling watching eyes upon him again, he decided to not ignore it this time. Turning around he was met with a man wearing a worn out tank top and blue joggers, staring at him. Jong-woo felt disgusted seeing the man who looked so disheveled. He nodded his head and shown his best, fake, smile and entered his room with his bags trailing behind, attempting to get rid of the creep across the hall.

Shutting the door, he settled his bags against the wall and placed his backpack onto the desk. Sitting on the bed, he grabbed his phone from his pocket scrolling through his list of contacts he landed on the name he was looking for, calling them.

'Hey Ji-eun'
Did you find the place?
'Yeah i did'
That's good! I talked to Jae-ho by the way
Jongwoo rolled his eyes at the mention of the name, 'Really? What did he say?'
He said he managed to fill in a spot for you to see if you want to work there!
'Like an internship or something?'
Yeah! Will you do it?
'Yeah sure'
Great! I'll go tell him now
'Okay thank you Ji-eun, bye'
Bye! Love you
'bye, me too'

Taking the phone away from his ear, he ended the call. Sighing and throwing his phone onto the desk.

Automatically, he heard a loud banging against his door, making him jump and momentarily freeze until another knock threw him back into reality and he quickly opened up the door.

He stared at a man, well over his 30s he guessed, with scars covering his face as if he had been in a lot of fights.
'Look, if you are going to make a call, go outside will you?', the older man yelled in his face and Jongwoo quickly apologised and watched the man walk off into his own room. He figured the walls must've been thin and he was glad he hadn't called Jung-hwa yet.

Retreating back into his room, he shut his door. Sighing and averting his eyes to his bags, grabbing his laptop from his backpack and laying it upon the table.
'Maybe i should get started on that novel now', mumbling to himself, he sat down at the desk and began writing.

Chapter Text

'You belong to me 자기야 [darling] so, trust me'

--

He stared at his laptop, he felt as if he had been working on the same sentence for ages. Yet it had barely been 10 minutes, no matter how hard he thought, no ideas came to his head to continue the chapter. The feeling of somebody watching him definitely didn't add to the atmosphere.

Realising he wasnt getting anywhere with this book any time soon, he decides its best to call Jung-hwa and inform her that nothing has happened yet. Standing up, he made sure his laptop was switched off properly and made a turn towards his door, twisting the handle. Almost immediately, he felt the summer heat get stronger around him, quickly making an exit and paying no attention to the broken fan that kept clicking in attempts to rotate.

As he walked up the stairs, he noticed another door on the 4th floor. It looked more worn out than the one downstairs, almost as if it hadnt been used since the place was built. He kept a mental note of the floor in his head and carried onto his walk to the roof, feeling his phone vibrate in his hand, he quickly opened the door that gave access to the roof and answered. Immediately recognising the voice of Jae-ho.

Hey Jongwoo!
'Hello Jae-ho', Jongwoo walked towards the side of the roof, leaning against the railings that stood.
How about we get a drink later hm? We can talk about your internship too
'Oh uhm, yeah sure', as much as Jongwoo didn't want to meet the other man, he decided it would be best if he did do so.
Great! I'll text you the location! Also ask Ji-eun if she wants to join us will you? It would be nice to see her again!
Feeling himself starting to get irritated after the mention of his girlfriend, he quickly made an excuse saying she was busy and he had to make an important call.
Alright then, ill text you the location, bye Jongwoo

Without a proper goodbye, he took the phone away from his ear and hung up on Jae-ho, cursing the other man in his head.

'Are you okay over there? You look troubled!', Jongwoo swore he nearly jumped out of his own skin when he heard the scratchy yet loud voice of the landlady walking past him, cleaning up her plants that followed along the sides of the roof.
'Oh..I..Uh i'm fine! I actually have to meet someone now..bye!', he barely gave the landlady a chance to speak as he rushed through the doors and ran down the stairs.

As he reached the ground floor, he took a chance and went outside, looking up to check the landlady wasnt peering at him from overhead. Leaning against the walls, allowing himself to gain his breath back. Jongwoo realised he probably had no chance in calling Jung-hwa with the such small amount of privacy he has no matter how much he wanted to inform her about the rundown residence. Instead, he sent her a quick text saying everything was alright with a thumbs-up.

Oh alright then Jongwoo! Thanks, if there is anything, message me straight away.

Glancing at the surroundings, he saw a black figure watching him from the top of an opposing building, putting his hand above his eyes in attempt to look closer against the sun, seeing nothing. Turning on his phone, he noted about it in one of his apps, even if it was just his imagination. While having the app open, he decided it would be best to write a few more notes just in case.

Eden Residence - Notes
- Black figure on roof, maybe imagination?
-fourth floor door? talk to the landlady
-check neighbours if able
-thin walls

As he finished up the notes, he received a text from Jae-ho about the location. Sighing, he took another glance at the roof.

Nothing.

Walking away from Eden Residence, he walked towards the location Jae-ho had sent him.

--

I apologise for this skip, I just can’t be bothered to write the full meeting with Jae-ho

—

‘You want one?’, the two men were stood outside the bar they had decided to meet up at, Jae-ho signalled to the cigarette pack in his hand.
‘I quit’
‘Really? So you got no lighter?’, Jongwoo shook his head as he noticed a fight between two boys in the middle of the street.

The scene was suddenly replaced by two men in military uniform. One man limp on the ground as another sat on top of him, punching him. Blood painting his fist.

Snapping back to his reality, he gave no thought as he ran towards to the boys, separating them.

‘Don’t get involved in our business you bitch!’

Before Jongwoo realised it, a punch had been launched towards his face. He fought his insticts to punch the man back.

Luckily enough, sirens sounded, alerting someone was on there away. Most likely called by a passerby.

—

‘Here’, Jongwoo had sat himself on a ledge against a wall as Jae-ho passed him a cold drink, immediately taking off the cap and gulping it down.

‘I’m surprised you didn’t hit him back, I would’ve’
‘I’m a detective..I’m not going to..hit someone..’, Jae-ho nodded.

‘Look, I’m heading back home now, goodbye Jae-ho’
‘No wait here-‘, Jae-ho suddenly signalled his hand out as a cab drove past, pausing in its tracks as he pushed Jongwoo towards it.

‘Take him home will ya?’, Jae-ho shoved Jongwoo inside and pushed money into his chest. Waving a goodbye and shutting the door, giving Jongwoo no chance to speak.

‘Where are you going?’, Jongwoo sighed as he told the man the location, rethinking the events of today so far.

—

Passing the driver his money, he thanked him leaving the car and staring up at Eden Residence once again as the cab drove past him, leaving.

He walked up the stairs, unknowingly passing the fourth floor and appearing on the roof. Once again standing at the edge, overlooking the very small view of the lights that shone over the rest of Seoul.

Too captivated in the view and his thoughts, he had failed too notice a shadow behind him.

Turning around, he was met with a taller man wearing a white button up shirt. Jongwoo jumped, not had expecting someone to be behind him, as the man smiled.
'I apologise for not showing my presence'
'Oh..No its alright-'
'Ah you're the new guy right? In room 303'
'Yeah, how did you-'
'The landlady told me, im in the room next to you, 304'
'Oh..I see'
'By the way, im Moon-jo'
'Jongwoo..', why is he smiling so much?

Jongwoo eyed Moon-jo with curiousity, trying to find anything about him. There was no way someone so normal lived here right? Jongwoo didn't see anything odd with the taller man but something felt, wrong. Like he should run away, fast.

'Here', Jongwoo looked up to see Moon-jo offering him a drink, 'It's beer, nothing bad. Just bought it'.

Jongwoo nodded, accepting it. He turned away from the other man, taking his eyes back to the view as he opened the drink.

He could feel the others eyes on him but he decided not to dwell on it too much.
'Why do you keep smiling at me?'
'Sorry if that was offensive', his smile still did not falter nor did Jongwoo feel any sincerity in his words.
'No it wasnt-'
'I just..like you'
'What?', Moon-jo looked at Jongwoos hands, 'You have sensitive fingers..and a smart suit..are you a writer? or a detective?'

Jongwoo looked shown a face of surprise, how did he know? Did he really give himself away already?
Quickly fixing himself, Jongwoo laughed it off, bitterly.
'I'm no detective..I am a writer though, how did you know?', somehow, his smile got wilder and the feeling of running away grown.
'Every person has a mood or feeling that outline who they are or what they do. I actually do something similar, dismantle..assemble...and recreate'

Jongwoo looked at the man, suddenly feeling an aura of awareness and awkwardness, he took a drink of his beer. in attempts to make the atmosphere less uncomfortable he decided it would be best to ask a few questions.
'How long have you lived here then?',
'A while'
'You know, I can tell you are unsure of something.'
He looked at him, dumbfounded. Can he read minds or something?
'But, if you trust me, I can help you figure it out and maybe find your true self, darling.'

What was he on about? And darling? Did he not realise he had a girlfriend? Jongwoo had realised he may have been too friendly with the Moon-jo, regret filling him and the instinct to leave coming over him. Moon-jo stared down at him with interest as Jongwoo placed down his drink.

'I should go now..i have to wake up early tomorrow'
Jongwoo swore he saw the smile falter for a second but immediately regain its facade, 'Oh of course!'

Jongwoo nodded and bowed his head slightly towards Moon-jo.
'Well, uhm, goodbye and goodnight'
'Goodnight darling, lets do this again shall we? Maybe you can tell me something about your book too!', Jongwoo tried his best to smile at the man as he walked off towards the doors connecting the roof to the stairs, nearly tripping down half of them as he tried to rush to his room.