STAY - Against The System | CHOSEN 2 (MINSUNG FF)

FOUR

2320.12.07

Wow.

This district has truly been abandoned.

Ten minutes ago Jisung was still sitting in one of the hard subway plastic seats, when a synthetic voice had announced the terminal stop over the speakers. And no, that has NOT been his stop.
It seemed like the public transportation didn’t work anymore in these outer districts.
Well, at least he only had to walk one more stop. Plus another twenty minutes.
In the dark.
And cold.

A quiet chuckle left Jisung’s throat. No, this trip wasn’t one of his best ideas so far.

The street he currently walked on was scantily enlightened, the orange glint of the street lights presented a pretty sad view. The avenue was empty, not counting the huge amount of stray cats Jisung could spot in every corner. The cold December breeze blew old newspapers and pamphlets over the gray asphalt and made the alleys howl an unpleasant melody.

Maybe the boy should’ve told at least one of his friends about his plans. Or maybe he should have taken one of them with him. The thought of a pale Felix, scared to death, crossed his mind. Yeah, maybe not Felix, even though Jisung called the freckled boy his dearest friend in their friend group. After Minho, of course.

“Ay. You sure you should be here?”

Startled Jisung looked in the direction of the voice. A woman, maybe a little bit older than himself, leaned next to the entrance of a shabby office building, smoking a cigarette. Was it a cigarette? The boy wasn’t sure. She wore a pencil skirt and a blouse, both looking pretty rough, like they’ve seen better days. The street lights didn’t manage to illuminate her face, but Jisung was sure that never in his life he had seen such long fake lashes.

“Uh, Yes?” That sounded more like a question.
The girl chuckled, what quickly turned into an unhealthy coughing. Her dark hair fell in her face, she didn’t bother to brush it back behind her ears. “Doesn’t sound convincing to me. You should go home, pretty boy. This is no place for someone like you.”
She blew out the smoke, threw the cigarette stub on the ground and put it out with her red stiletto. Without another word she turned around and entered the bureau building, not really ready to continue working after her short break.

It seemed crazy to Jisung.
Working here, in the outer districts of the city, was nothing you would choose voluntarily. Like all occupations the system decided who would have to do this kind of work. If the system didn’t consider you as capable enough, as intelligent enough, as usable enough, it would choose lower jobs for you. Less attractive places of residence. Longer duty stroke. Inferior payment.

Turning around the next corner, a huge, empty space spreaded out in front of Jisung.
Years ago a highway with six lanes had connected the capital with the southern cities. Nowadays ordinary citizens weren’t allowed to own a car. As if an own vehicle would have been necessary, the public transport system worked pretty well.
At least in the cities. In the outer districts…

Jisung started to cross the highway. Plants had made their way through cracks in the concrete, but were frozen to death by the winter’s cold embrace.
It was a weird feeling to cross the abandoned highway, knowing that it had bursted full of cars and trucks only half a decade ago.
It took the boy some minutes to leave all six lanes behind him. Now only a high talus separated Jisung from the meeting point.
If he didn’t got lost.

He looked up the construct made out of heavy looking concrete slabs. Over the years the concrete had perished at some spots and the boy was able to find a way to climb up the three meter high wall. On top of that he had to stop and catch his breath. The occasional gym visits with Chan and Changbin were nothing against this.