MY ACTOR | woosan

chapter ten

wooyoung's life had been the way it usually was for one whole day and a complete morning, now evening.

he'd be lying if he said the thought of san crossed his mind, because it didn't. if anything, his subconscious was thankful he hadn't been in sight as of late. wooyoung was aware san went out the previous night; he'd seen him leave somewhere during the mid-day.

for this feat, he didn't know if he should thank karma for quitting toying around with him, or the handful of paper talismans he'd shoved in random objects in his apartment.

to celebrate the glory of nothingness, he cooked some ramen for himself. the clock struck 6pm and yeosang had come over like he always did around this time of day, as if he had a handwritten daily routine that said "annoy the living hell out of wooyoung at 6pm". wooyoung didn't bother to turn back and look at him.

"hey," he spoke with a mouth full of food. "met your landlady on the way. she said something about an assault & robbery case."

"in our apartment complex?"

"worse. in this building."

"sucks." wooyoung responded absent-mindedly, looking at his empty bowl and patting his stomach. in that aspect, wooyoung was just like most people; obliviously believing that the worst could never happen to them no matter the proximity of the crime. yeosang always nitpicked at him for that, saying one day he'd actually walk into wooyoung's apartment and find him dead on the ground in his own pool of blood with a dozen stab wounds just because of his ignorance. wooyoung gaslit him by telling him not to victim-blame.

he stared up and out of the window in front of him. there was a heavy, freezing downpour outside, accompanied by loud thunder. "how did you even come up without getting yourself wet in the rain?" wooyoung asked, not lifting his gaze off the rain.

"what do you mean? i'm dripping wet right now."

wooyoung looked over his shoulder, eyes hitting on yeosang who was just standing there, dripping water from head to toe like he said, having left a trail of wet footsteps all the way from the door to where he was standing.

"get out of my apartment."

yeosang shrugged him off and sat on the couch. wooyoung grimaced, a disgusted chill running down his spine. "isn't it scary, though? the victim is just a floor above you. she's at the hospital right now." he turned back and met eyes with wooyoung. "you better be careful," he said, pointing his finger at him accusingly, "you don't even lock your door on most nights. you even sleep with that window open. haven't you seen it in the movies how thieves break in?"

"alright, alright, i'll be careful from now on." wooyoung defended himself and obeyed, because locking doors and closing windows wasn't asking for much. he earned a satisfied nod from yeosang, who then, unfortunately, continued to speak.

"right, your landlady asked me to give this to you." he said, waving two sheets of paper around in his hand. "it's a notice. she asked you to give it to your neighbor as well. personally."

wooyoung grumbled. "why do i need to give it to him personally? leaving it on the door would be enough."

"apparently she keeps finding the notices and advertisements that are left at his door crumpled up in the trash the next morning. she's sure he doesn't read them because she left a notice a few days ago about maintenance scheduled at his apartment yesterday evening, but he was out." he scoffed, "what a snob. this one is important, so she wants you to give it to him personally." he then held it down to his eye-level, reading the words on the sheet of paper. "hmm.. oh. they're installing deadbolt locks in the apartments starting tomorrow because of the increase in crimes in this vicinity, especially your complex."

"leave it on the table," wooyoung said, already slightly agitated. "i'll give it to him when i feel like it."

"will you take responsibility if something bad happens to him?"

wooyoung rolled his eyes. "i'll get it done by tonight, don't worry."

"this won't do," yeosang concluded, getting up and deciding for himself. "i'll just give it to him myself. you lazy ass."

wooyoung perked up at that and immediately left the dining table, pouncing at yeosang and snatching the sheet from him.

he had always been like that, yeosang. he was blindly inclined to taking the role of the parent no matter the person of concern. he was like that, back in high school too; always being wooyoung's peacemaker, and cleaning up his wounds after every duel. wooyoung had friends, but yeosang was more than that. he was like his older brother of some sorts, seeing how even though he never made a show of affection, he always looked out for him and everybody he loved— people either initially loved or hated wooyoung, but yeosang did neither at first. he just, accepted him.

yeosang gave wooyoung a suspicious look. "you're not acting like yourself. is there something about your neighbor i shouldn't know?" he said, narrowing his eyes.

"what are you talking about?" wooyoung responded, playing dumb, which really didn't take much effort. "he's just a jerk, like i said before. i'll deal with his ass." he assured, and yeosang hesitantly stopped doubting as wooyoung, even more hesitantly, walked out of his apartment.

wooyoung rang the doorbell and waited, hands clasped behind his back loosely, paper held firmly in his grip. half a minute went by, and no one answered the door. was he not home? where could the idiot have gone when the weather is like this? wooyoung clicked his tongue, getting annoyed. he really despised the man to the extent that he was irritated by him when he spoke, and even when he didn't.

he let out an agitated sigh, stepping back, only for his leg to hit on something. looking down, he found a black plastic trash bag, filled to the brim with crumpled advertisements and a whole lot of tissues. wooyoung's lip twitched. how lazy and entitled do you have to be that you can't walk down a flight of stairs to put the trash where it belonged, but instead, leave it in front of your apartment?

confident that the bag wasn't there when wooyoung went out to take out his own trash earlier, he resorted to knocking. "i know you're in there." he said, loud enough to get through the door. "stupid sloth." he mumbled under his breath, referring to san and his supposed laziness. even wooyoung wasn't this much of a slug.

another half of a minute went by, and wooyoung found himself growing more impatient as the seconds flew. he ran a hand through his hair and knocked on the door a little louder this time.

"are you really gonna be like this? you man child-" he almost went into a rage induced rant— only to be cut off by the door being swung open, and he stumbled forward, caught by surprise.

"woah- fucking finally." he caught himself before tripping on his feet, stepping back. "you know you're not allowed to do this, right?" he reminded sternly, looking at the trash bag sitting by the door. "i don't know what kind of princess treatment you got wherever you were before this, but you take your trash out on your own here. no one's going to do it for you. and the notices..." he was cut off again— this time, by himself as he finally looked up and his eyes fell on choi san.

not like he was dumbstruck by his beauty like it was love at first sight, or something.

certainly not that. instead, he stared blankly at the man in front of him who didn't quite look like himself at the moment, sweating all over, face flushed with a worrying shade of red and stance incredibly weak. heck, he couldn't even keep his head up straight as he leaned against the door for support, looking like he was going to pass out any moment now.

"...you good, man?"

san finally pushed himself off the door, making an unstable step towards wooyoung to get hold of the sheet of paper he was holding out for san to take; and wooyoung only watched as san's powerless hands merely brushed the paper before he completely gave in and collapsed, his entire weight falling on wooyoung, his heavy head landing on his shoulder.

oh, for god's sake.