Chapter Text
Ryan is exhausted.
Coming back from school always left him feeling more drained than necessary, and all he wants to do when he gets home is plop on the sofa, sneak in a couple of drinks and mindlessly scroll through the many channels in their TV. One, good relaxing day after a shitty one, that’s all he ever wanted. But really, he should have guessed that he wouldn’t get one in this household.
He gets to the living room only to find his parents sitting comfortably in front of the TV, unaware that he’s home.
“Ma! Pa! Can I use the TV?” He called, setting down his bags on one of the chairs.
“No, not right now.” His dad waved off.
“Are you still watching that thing? You guys know that has literally no plot to speak of whatsoever, right?”
“Hey, we’re paying the bills aren’t we? Don’t complain and rant about how our tastes don’t align, what with you still going on and on about your guitar.”
Irritated, Ryan took a moment to pause, take a deep breath and calm down. He loves his parents, like any other kid really, but their obsession with this show: MoneyxFinance (very original by the way) is... it’s just horrible. From what he can gather when he’s not asleep, or zoned out because of its sheer blandness and repetitive storyline, the show has a slice of life, office-driven plot that’s a real piece of work to pay attention to.
“Why do you even watch this show? It’s so boooorriiinggg!” He whined, which doesn’t help his argument but he’s tired, so sue him.
“Ryan... what did I just say?”
“Well, I mean, there’s drama...” his mom piped up.
“IT’S AN OFFICE PROGRAM! THERE IS NO DRAMA!!”
His mom’s eyes narrowed in defiance, “Well, it still helps to know more about money and how to deal with it.”
“And yet we’re still broke.” Ryan mumbled, leaving his parents downstairs in favor of staying in his room, dinner be damned.
Its ridiculous, of course it is, yet TV time is the only time the house could get some peace and quiet, with his sisters getting roped into watching it to their displeasure along with his brothers, it infinitely makes his job of being invisible easier as he slips out unnoticed and practices with his own guitar in his room, peacefully and utterly alone.
***
There are nights where he can’t get out of watching the damned show, his parents apparently thought it’s a good program to teach their kids about money. Ryan does NOT know how they came up with this brilliant plan because more than half of the characters looked like they’re in debt, and he would bet on his life that they are as broke as they look.
On one of these nights, a new character is introduced, a fresh graduate named Min-Gi Park. He is a newbie accountant that characters on the show keep sizing up. Several episodes are centered around him as the different characters of the show sabotage and/or destroy his work, covering it up as a joke, or some weird form of initiation into their clique. Ryan noticed the guy and felt sorry for him. Even though Min-Gi took these incidents in stride, he could feel the second-hand embarassment through the screen. So with great reluctance, Ryan sat with his parents and watched as the show’s antics progressed from pranks to bat-shit insane heists.
“How long has this show been running on?” He asked one day during a lull between the commercials.
“It has many adaptations actually, this is just the most recent one.” His mom answered.
The brunette’s eyes bugged out in surprise. “What?! Nooooo... No! no way that plot is good enough for people to continually adapt it. No!”
His mom gave him a cheeky smile. “Yeah, I admit the first two seasons are... not the best-“
“-HAH!!”
“-BUT! Look, the show would always introduce a blank-slate character, and they would always come in and make them more interesting. The character usually represents a minority group, or something like that. Last time, it was a Latina immigrant, this time, I guess its an Asian graduate.”
“Do they always do this?”
“It’s their unique and iconic formula. You would never know who that character is, because it could be anyone. Isn’t that cool?”
Ryan, admittedly, finds this very cool.
“Wait, how did you know all of this?” Ryan asked, looking at his mom intensely.
This time, his mom blushed and fiddled the loose threads of their couch. “I looked it up. You would be amazed by how many people watch this show.” She then turned to him. “Not so bad for a show that’s booorrriinggg, ain’t it?”
“Ma, stop!” He groaned as his mom chuckled quietly.
Ryan goes back to watch the show. Yeah, Min-Gi’s character is charming or whatever, but he still thinks the show is a little boring with all their money talk.
***
Throughout the course of the show, Min-Gi is characterized as plain yet charming, cautious yet eager, smug yet aware of his shortcomings (most of the time). This mixed well with the rest of his colleagues’ personality with the exception of a few of his bosses. In the aftermath of his introduction, he continues to be a soothing character in the background, a friend helping others move, a co-worker bringing them coffee, the worker who always finishes his work in time without complaints. In short, he was the perfect employee.
And that would be his greatest disadvantage.
An episode showed another side to Min’s character: stubborn and fiery, a turn from his usual docile, polite self. It began when Min-Gi’s fed up with the minor work his boss has been putting him through. They keep saying its to “ease them slowly into the company”. Yet its been a month and a half since he got the job and all he does is photocopy shit, not putting him in with the records and all the bookkeeping stuff he studied for, he won’t stand for it.
“We need to talk.” Min-Gi fixed his boss with a hardened stare.
His boss, whose name Ryan can’t remember and would not bother to do so, smiled half-heartedly. “Ah, Min-Gi Park, how’s our fresh graduate from Haldou-“
He raised a palm to stop him. “Excuse me, sir, but let’s set aside all the pleasantries and cut to the chase. I mean, I’ve been here for roughly two months to know you... sir.”
“And you’re the greatest asset this company had the delight to have!” He smiled all too happily.
“Then you wouldn’t mind if I made a request to be transferred to the accounting department. Officially.”
His boss dropped his smile, momentarily stunned at the boy’s brazen statement before putting on a million-dollar grin, albeit apprehension still remained in his posture. “I am not quite sure what you mean. You are a part of this team, ever since you applied here!”
“No, you know what I mean.” Min-Gi stopped him, ignoring the last sentence. “I applied in this company for a job, and I know that job is not to be someone’s errand boy. I applied for a job that I studied for, not to fetch coffee or photocopy another sheet. I know I am qualified, you said it yourself, so here’s what’s gonna happen.”
Min-Gi calmly stood up from his seat, not to look threatening, but to make a point as his boss unconsciously looked upward.
“You either place me in that goddamn department, you know which one, or I quit.” he said with a tone of finality.
“But-but wait” his boss sputtered. “It’s been barely months, you can’t just quit your job! Your tactic won’t work here easily.” He finished smugly.
Min-Gi shrugged. “I know.” He said. “But I’m young and graduated at the top of my class, how hard do you think it is for me to get a job with my skills.” He smiled coyly.
As soon as Min-Gi made it outside and closed the door, Ryan watched him unravel as the man’s usual skitterish attitude came back.
“Oh, oh god why did I have to stand up?! Why did I say that- why did I- what the hell- why why why...” Min-Gi mumbled, and Ryan could admit that was a little dramatic of Min’s character as he made his way towards the open office cubicles, with his face a few shades darker and a hand hopefully covering his shame. When he came into view, his co-workers surprised him with a party popper, one of them even jumping in his back as ‘hurrahs’ and cries of commendation rolled over him.
“Who knew you had the balls to do what you just did, Park!” One of them nudged.
With the rest of his office colleagues seeing Min-Gi in a new light, they started to finally respect him and appreciate the guy. Ryan can’t help but do the same, now entranced with this character. From that point on, he watches the show and pays extra attention in scenes where Min-Gi is. Even when Min-Gi finally got what he asked for and is now officially part of the accounting department, he is sadly still a side character, but Ryan detests that fact and claims its worth it sitting through the pointless main drama for Min-Gi’s dry humor and occasional incredulity.
***
Ryan got popcorn and sat with his parents waiting for a 2-hour special of MoneyxFinance, a sentence he never knew he’ll say less than a year ago. It will start in five minutes and he is high. on. euphoria! because this ‘movie’ is a change from the usual main characters and plot, focusing on the side characters and a summary of their stories, which means more Min-Gi content. Maybe he just likes the complexity of the character in a less than stellar show, or maybe he’s just obsessed with the guy because he’s cheeky, reserved, smug and full of praises, the dichotomy is making his head spin in a good way. He wouldn’t lie but Min-Gi seriously makes the show better and the only reason Ryan even watches the dumb thing.
And he’s not the only one sharing this sentiment, there are a lot of people on the internet that watches the show for Min-Gi alone, and there’s even a fan page about the character (which Ryan immediately joined, no shame in that). Ryan oftentimes goes to the internet to discuss the ridiculousness of the plot, his focus on Min made him more enthusiastic to interact with other fans, and a lot of people he talks with agree that their stories are, at best, formulaic, uninspiring and very outdated.
Through the ‘movie’, his phone has been blowing up, messages and commentaries are made as more and more side characters talk about their own lives outside the office. Their stories are, surprisingly, more captivating than he initially thought for side characters. The production’s cheaply made ‘found-footage’ technique is a thinly veiled attempt of the show’s way to be more self-aware as they settled for an introduction format, probably to save time, which is for the characters to state their full (FULL) name, age, specific department, closest friends and interesting facts about oneself. Ryan can’t sit still as the ‘movie’ is almost finished, because it’s Min-Gi’s turn at the near end, being one of the newbies.
When its time for Min’s side of the story, they go through the usual format of introduction. Ryan is at the edge of his seat as soon as Min opened his mouth.
“Soooo... you all know I’m Min-Gi Park.” He nervously laughs with an array of books, sheets of paper and a calculator in front of him. “I’m 20 years old, working on the accounting department.” He gestures on the mess on his table. “I guess me, Kirby and Zammy go for coffee sometimes. And... uh.. I guess I’m fluent in Korean.”
The camera goes slightly out of focus before a voice that is not Min’s asked. “Anything to add Mr. Park?”
“Erm... uh, no. Nothing at all.” Min-Gi smiles sheepishly before burying himself back in his work.
His segment finished early, the process only took 10 seconds, and they announced that they have 14 minutes and 50 seconds to spare. Embarassed and flustered, Min-Gi mutters that maybe others have something to say about themselves, where the scene cuts to some other random person talking enthusiastically about maps or some other thing.
Ryan is distraught, irritated at the show for having a short screen time with his favorite character. Disgruntled, he fishes out his phone, doesn’t give himself a breather and rants about it on the fan group page (the majority agree and shares his sentiment, except for some people who says he’s not important particularly important anyway, to which Ryan gave them a very passionate and severe dressing-down online.)
Dissapointed that the two hours are about the end with little Min-Gi content, Ryan stops listening and zoned out. He thought about how much he knows about the man, and if he were real and not some character of fictional instances, they would have been pretty good friends, maybe even more if Min-Gi doesn’t get tired of him, doesn’t get fed up with his restlessness, recklessness and lack of any rule-abiding behavior. But then again they probably wouldn’t, after all, the guy mildly chastises his coworkers for putting the wrong ink in the wrong cartridge. In real life, they probably won’t get past acquaintances before Min-Gi decides to give up on Ryan and avoid him entirely for his annoying and wild attitude. And yes, maybe that’s a lot of thought process for a hypothetical situation with a character that’s not even the main character of the show, but he can’t help how he always thinks back to the slick black-haired (not so) newbie. How he would have loved to laugh alongside him, to go to ice cream parlours and talk about music, his guitar or anything Min-Gi prefers to talk about, to sit outside the bench with him while prom music flutters through the air...
He comes back to reality enough to see the scene with Min-Gi in the middle of doing something hectic, papers now even more askew than before, his calculator overturned and muttering something about the deadline of the accounts, yet he looks composed and not freaked out at all despite the chaos of the scene. He is asked about his last words, since he didn’t get to use up his fifteen minutes earlier. Ryan hurriedly scrambles up and listens intently, starved of more Min-Gi content, distantly aware that his phone has been erupting like crazy. The scene cuts to a close-up of Min-Gi thinking about the question, his eyes lighting up for a split second before covering it with indifference and tells them no.
“AgKk, no! NoOooOoOO!!!” Ryan cries out loud, looking ridiculous. His parents laughed at his expense and Ryan honestly forgot that they were there watching the two-hour special with him.
The organizers (presumably) asks if he’s sure, and Min-Gi pauses, clearly hesitating on the decision, before putting down papers and takes out some sort of a device, with a pen attached to a cord that sticks out on the side of the rectangle box thing.
Min-Gi started. “I used to play music you know. I learned the viola and this little thing.” He holds up and shakes the mini-synth (he learns later on), grinning at the camera with a face full of fond nostalgia, then catches himself and frowned back at the intrument.
“But it’s just a toy. I wanted to be a musician, growing up. But then, being Asian lowers a lot of chances in that department so... I took financing instead. And here I am.”
Shocked, Ryan can do nothing but stay silent for the first time, ignoring the heat spreading on his cheeks and his heart thumping hard in his chest. He suddenly gets Min-Gi, getting the mockery of his dreams, the disappointment of growing up, and a wave of affection blossomed somewhere within him.
***
Before, if Ryan have ever had second thoughts on being a musician as a career choice, he is now firm in his decision to be one for the two of them, and he knows that reason alone is irrational. For one thing, Min-Gi is right, how many Asian dudes dominated the music industry? Realistically, it’s a great but far-fetched dream, and doing it for a fictional character in a B-rated show is delusional for him to begin with. But even before Min-Gi, Ryan loves music for as long as he can remember, knows he’s more than a decent guitarist, and he’s been practicing since he was in diapers. He has no delusions of anything about it being easy, but then he thinks about strumming the strings that felt like home in his fingertips, and Min-Gi holding the synth in dejected resignation, the risks are overshadowed and then forgotten.
Okay, maybe Ryan has a little, teeny tiny crush on Min-Gi’s character. That’s normal. Perfectly normal. Other dudes have crushes on TV stars, why can’t he admire a fictional character? They’re practically, almost the same. It’s not bad to zone out and daydream about just the two of them playing music together in a band instead of his plan to go solo. Its not a harmful thing to imagine that they would always be together, wherever one goes, the other follows, that sort of thing. Ryan would grow up with this thought as the show also progresses. He sees Min-Gi grow developmentally, as he himself grows up hopelessly attached to the character as a year passed.
His sisters would notice his infatuation when they caught him staring a little too hard at the guy, causing them to tease him mercilessly. Ryan’s fine with that, as long as he gets to tease them about their nightly rendezvous with their secret boyfriends. Funnily enough, it never fails to shut them up.
***
As graduation day creeps up to him in a painfully slow manner, problems in-show and in his own life started to spring up. Obviously, his parents are not happy about their middle-child deciding to be in a less reputable and low income industry, but ultimately did not care when the time comes to pack his bags and pursue his off-road plan. Before he left, his mom gave him a knowing look. Ryan tenses up, afraid his mom will call out the ridiculousness of his plans and dreams when his mom sighed instead, and gave him a menthol balm before waving him goodbye. He went out and did gigs here and there while keeping tabs on the show. There are some days worse than others, and Ryan would seldomly lay down on a moldy mattress and think if he had done something he’d horribly regret. If he took his feelings and let it decide his future, messing it up irreparably. If his dreams are worth the statistical risk, as Min-Gi would often mumble out. But then he would take a long look at Min-Gi, a guy who must have once loved music as much as him, and see how he turned out to be: a man with a steady job and a steadier icome, looking older than he should be and permanently dissatisfied as he strives for a level of perfection that is impossible to reach. Ryan would feel a sudden melancholy at how Min-Gi’s life turned out, surprisingly giving him enough stubborness and determination to get through the day.
In-show, Min-Gi’s slow descent into an unfeeling young man started to show, signs of discontentment with his job and life bleeding into his treatment with his co-workers. No amount of exceptional work done or faceless dates improved his monotonous day-to-day life. Ryan is terrified for him, frankly, as Min’s work ethics started to slack, he became more secluded from everyone even more than usual, and his eyebags look heavier. Although he’s just an animated TV show character, he can’t help but feel unsettled with the direction the show is taking.
***
His shows have been steadily attracting more and more people, even if they’re not as fast as he thought it would in the beginning. But he’s getting there, as talk of Ryan has been spreading faster than a wild fire in Australia. He would still sometimes camp out in the living room of the people he had worked with after a particularly good show. Money’s still short, but not dire, when his sisters would occasionally send him a practical package or two without any note. Ryan is content with that, he is. He doesn’t exactly know what to make of it, as he picks up what seems to be a pack of towels, tubes of toothpaste and a cup this time. Though he has some spare towels in his van, he appreciates the effort, and reminds himself to send a ‘Thank You’ postcard. Surely, they haven’t seen the beauty that is Casa Loma.
With all his shows in Montreal, so close to his dream goal of playing in New York City, he barely has time to watch the daily episodes of MoneyxFinance (and it’s not like he could buy a TV with his meagre earnings, or use the shitty ones at the motels). He opts to binge watch them on his phone, or when there’s a marathon of the show while he’s camping at someone’s house. He didn’t bother interacting with the other fans on Twitter either. He barely has time to meet up with people he promised to meet up with after each show, and he’s sure that cost him a few relationships on the way. Not that he would appreciate them tagging along anyway, only for them to glare at his living standards or nag him at all hours. No, this is better this way. Anything otherwise would be absolutely horrendous.
So pardon his surprise when binge-watching the series almost gave him an insane amount of distress when he can't find neither head nor hair of his favorite accountant. Sure, an episode might have its admittedly abysmal plot to blame for. Three may be a fluke. Ten is quite enough to cause the fucking dread to creep up on him from the sidelines. Day in and day out, he spent sleepless nights watching out for some sense of a continuity error, some massive plot reveal! Something!! But on the 20th episode special, the series finally gave some explanation.
Characters on the show acknowledged that Min-Gi never came back to work, and nobody’s even close enough to know what happened to him (Ryan felt a phantom pain on his part). So it became a personal mission for the main cast to find out what just happened to Min-Gi Park. What should have been a ten-minute ride to the police station to acquire on the guy’s whereabouts has been dragged on for an hour and a half as theatrics and things that Ryan knows is pretty illegal (from experience) made the search all more complicated as Ryan watched them lose track of their goal, to his immense displeasure, only to finally pull it all together in the last thirty minutes to present the big reveal.
Min-Gi went missing.
The interview with his parents, the raiding of the guy’s apartment (Ryan still despises the fact that they “absolutely” have to do this), and the information from the police all pointed to and led to one thing: that Min-Gi Park went missing sometime ago as he went home from his job. He has no girlfriends at the time, having broken up with the last one long before he went missing, his parents received no unusual calls from their son, he was last spotted doing fine, acting and looking fine. He just vanished. Like the wind, they say. Police would say they’ll work on it. Ohhh, they always do.
They wrote Min-Gi’s character as missing and wrote him off the show. Ryan was devastated, like some important part of him has been ripped to shreds. And yet despite all of this, he shouldered on and still performed numerous shows, again, for the sake of them both. The thought of the two of them on this stage, rocking it out and enjoying the performance as much as the audience, instead of just him doing it all, is stronger than ever before.
***
The aspiring musician watched the episode special twice, then three more times, a little in denial and still not quite believing it. He heard that the show has dropped ratings since Min-Gi was written off. He doesn't care, not really unless they put him back. He wants... needs... to see him one last time, and it's ridiculous because he's all over the internet, there are pictures of him in Google and videos of him in YouTube. He just wants to know what happened, why is he gone? Did he run away? Was it all too much for him? Whatever it is, he wants Min to come back, just one last time, because he wants to be there, beside the man he came to like and admire. He wants to be there, together, when Min decided to vanish. But all is said and done, Min-Gi really is gone, and that fact never took the time to sink in properly when he flung himself into shows and parties, travelling without really knowing where to go and what to do afterward. He is so awfully alone as he sits in the vehicle thinking about nothing in particular. His mind can’t decide on where to settle as this dark, blank (something) feels so heavy, the crippling silence almost led him to selling the van.
God, he is so pathetic, getting upset over a fictional character. He should have never have gotten obsessed over him in the first place. Ryan blames himself for falling for Min-Gi’s charms.
(Ryan scoffed. And people say his charms are nonexistent. Pshh! They’re lying, because he’s here isn’t he? Mooning over that gelled-back raven haired boy, mourning him like some lost lover. He didn’t even have the peace to know that he’s dead, because he may not be. He may be missing, he may have been kidnapped, and that is a fate as good as he’s dead, because nobody in that production team probably cares. He’s just a minor supporting character who happens to be Asian that’s all. They have no clue how important he is to-)
Ryan gets out of his van and got drunk. He doesn’t know how much time passed by since that last coherent thought. At one point, he downs gin and whiskey as if he’s a desperate man and the next he runs out of the bar drunk, still reeling from Min-Gi’s absence. He doesn’t notice a couple of men looking for trouble, and he hasn’t seen them looking at him. He doesn’t notice them coming over until they’re crowding Ryan. Ryan only noticed his own body fall to the ground after a hand roughly pushed him.
Panic subtly flashed through his drunk-addled mind. In a daze, he only spotted empty beer bottles and acted. His hands moved, then there was noise, and a loud, piercing scream. Even drunk, he knew that he can’t take them on, so he sprinted as soon as his legs coordinated enough and his arms ran out of bottles to throw. He runs down the street, took a sharp turn into the subway and away from the pub, cursing the resulting migraine. He narrowly avoided an arm, his brain did not get the chance to fall into hysteria before it focused on pushing his legs to run faster.
He did stumbled upon something, got over a hanging striped board and hid behind some guard house of some sort. Ryan’s not sure that he lost them, panting, his breath coming out in quick puffs of fog, eyeing the train tracks in front of him with an exhausted gaze as a train passed by.
And stops.
The door opens with an eerily green glow. He looks up in suspicion and debates whether or not to take this ride to get some reprieve, but when sounds of the men’s shouts are loud enough that he could hear them, Ryan has no choice but to board the train that miraculously stopped in front of him.
***
Jesus. Its cold.
Ryan wakes up with snow on and inside his jacket, instinctively rubbing his freezing forearms to conserve what’s left of his body heat. Confused, he surveys his surroundings to see everything covered in white snow for miles. Pine trees, bare shrubbery, and the slow drizzle of the snow are all that he sees, and he gets the sinking feeling that those are the last of his worries.
He clearly remembers boarding a train drunk out of his mind, yet he doesn’t feel like a truck just hit him. Not in the way that one gets after all the heavy drinking he did. He is cold though, and with all his shivering, he wonders the possibility of snow inside a train, and how he’s gonna pay the tickets on this train he illegally boarded. After a time, a long time just alternatively crouching and standing on the snow, Ryan thinks that maybe if he could get off inconspicuously at the next stop, no one would notice. With a teeth-chattering grunt, he adjusts his guitar bag and starts moving, curious eyes roaming all over the white (and somewhat beautiful) Arctic background.
His musings were cut off with a scream, and for a moment, he thought those men followed him into the train. But hearing it again for a second time, this one is filled with terror. He looks around to see a.... floating bell? Before he could question everything, chasing after ‘it’ are a trio of... parka fish?? Ryan’s brain went offline for a moment, the bell’s screaming being his only saviour that prompted him to move and run as far away as possible from the trio chasing them.
God, Ryan does not like being chased twice in a day.
“Hey! I’m Kez, how y’all doin’? I didn’t do some sort of irreplaceable damage on you did I?” The thing talked.
The brunette’s eyes bulged, his (metal??) boots slipping slightly on the ice as he almost tripped. “I... wha- no??!”
“Oh that’s good. By the way, they’re after me, so sorry for that.”
Ryan wanted to scream in confusion. But he had other priorities as of the moment, so he pushed himself to run faster. Again.
Thankfully, the bell seemed to know where it was going, because in the distance was a door, and beside it was a man looking down and shaking something on his hand. Hoping it to be a way out, Ryan ran faster and finally reach the door.
“Fuck, goddammit open!” He pushed to no avail, even pulling the gold blades with the same lack of results.
“Oh, yeah. That wouldn’t work, I tried doing everything to it, believe me.” The man offered. “It might have something to do with this though. Don’t know how it got here but I’m 80% sure you wouldn’t find this in a place like... this.”
Ryan, in his panicked haste, look at the thing the man was holding earlier and grabbed it. Ignoring the lack of response, Ryan broke the glass encapsuling the arrowhead resting on the blue end of the thing. He moved the arrow over to the other side, the red end, and to his shock, the environment changed into hot, blazing volcanoes.
“Too far right to the blue end is too cold, and red being too hot... Ryan! Try the middle!”
Ignoring once again the fact a stranger knows his name, he positioned the arrow to the middle. The environment changed into a jungle, complete with looming trees and creeping vines. He could hear the man grunting in effort, failing to open the door once again.
“What are we missing..?” The man muttered. “Its an era... stat. That’s clear. Changing the geological eras on a whim when either of us changed where the arrow is pointed at. You seem to know this place, how can we work this thing, Miss Bell?”
“The name’s Kez, stranger. Sorry but, no clue here.”
Ryan examined the dial resting innocently on his palm when he noticed something green underneath it. He lifted the device to see three, glowing toxic green numbers etched on the skin of his palm, staring back at him: 111.
What the heck is this?!
He was still picking and prodding at the mystery of how the numbers got there, with the dial, era-stat, on his other (thankfully) numberless palm when the stranger stepped forward and grabbed for the dial.
“Give me a second on this thing.” He waved him off. “If we place it somewhere, would the thing work?” He asked Kez.
The man clearly didn’t hear him, or pretended not to, as he lunged for the dial anyway.
“What the- stop! Kez! Kez help! What are you doing??” He called out to the flying bell, tugging the dial back. The two engaged in a tug-of-war for the odd thing when Ryan looked up to lock eyes with the stranger, who owns the blackest orbs he’d ever seen.
Suddenly, the environment whizzed by quickly, changing into a thriving metropolis, the trio chasing him and Kez nowhere to be seen. A click from the door pulled all of his attention towards it, the blades moved and the door finally opened.
“Oh, yeah! This is what it looked before.” Kez said as she floated past them. “The dial thingy was in that.” She said, eyeing the vending machine.
Not wanting to take anymore chances with the trio finding them, Ryan, Kez and the man wasted no time and went through the exit quickly, shutting the door behind them.
Panting hard and completely exhausted at the turn of events, Ryan leaned on the door and slid to a crouch. He stared at the distance, the sky dead-set on taking a dreadful orange incomparable to a sunset, train engines moving and gears rusting against each other being the only sounds between the three. Then he looked back at his palm, anxiety and fear setting in. After a while, and with a sigh, he pushed every single worry into a dark corner of his mind and gets up to thank the man, and question, possibly get frustrated, at Kez for putting them in this position in the first place.
He turns to the man, and froze. Now that he finally got a good look at the stranger, without the immediate need to escape blurring everything around him, the man has a face he knows pretty well after staring at it through the screens of his laptop and television for a whole year. Because the man, who is looking at Kez with awe and delight, is none other than Min-Gi Park himself.
Min-Gi, the bright, oddly charming young man who gets frustrated at worst, who gets so smug that his smile stretches on for miles, who sports a ridiculous amount of hair gel instead of sensibly cutting his hair, who wears blue all the time because he loved the sky, who's very handsome when he gets all happy and buzzing like a live-wire, who's deep, dark eyes he stared into earlier.
Who's... not supposed to be here.
Min-Gi, finally aware of all the cooing sounds he makes at a blank-faced Kez, blushes a delightful red and looks away, clearing his throat.
“Oh, uh, hi. There. My name’s Min-Gi Park. Gi, hard G.” He introduced himself (not that Ryan needs the info). “You were with that floating, talking bell, Kez was it?”
Kez gave them a dead-eyed stare that could drill holes. “So, to be clear, you guys didn’t know each other. Up until now.”
Not quite true, but Ryan nodded his head anyway. He can’t exactly explain that he knows Min when Min absolutely has no clue about Ryan. Besides his name. Huh.
“Oh, huh. How about that. Anyways! So both of you are, like, brand- brand new. Cool. I’ve never done the whole explanation thing before.” She mused.
Ryan looked at Min-Gi, both silently agreed this is gonna take a while.
“Okay, so you know how in life, you make, like, choices? But there were other choices you could have made too that would have been kinda, different?”
Both boys nodded.
“Good, so it’s basically that. Like, how you guys got here, was that, a secret pocket opened up in your world, and you, like, climbed inside it.”
A beat passed.
“Is this why you usually don’t do the explanations?” Min-Gi piped up, causing Ryan to chortle in surprise. Min-Gi grinned at him in return.
“Oh, my God! You guys, look. Where you were before, this isn’t where you are now! You’re in a pocket, alright? And you got here by, like, getting on the train. And now you have to learn lessons and stuff and get your number down to zero. Otherwise, the train won’t let you off.”
Ryan looked back at his number. 111. Get that thing down to zero, huh?
He looked at Min-Gi and is a little alarmed to see all humor gone from his face. Instead, it was replaced with wide, fearful eyes and a pale, stricken look. The poor man looked like he’s going to vomit.
“What? Why do you look like that?”
Without a word, Min-Gi chuckled humorlessly and raised his own palm against Ryan.
5,851.
Jesus.
Ryan turned away to give the man some privacy and asked Kez more questions. “So, we gotta learn- lessons?”
“Yeah," Kez said matter-of-factly. “‘Cause you were, like, screwing up your lives and junk.”
Min-Gi remained silent, still looking at his palm in worry. Ryan does not know what to say, certainly not to someone he’s had a little, teeny, tiny crush on since, what? A year ago?Min-Gi shouldn’t be all but a stranger to him, doesn’t know him enough to be on THAT level to be comfortable. But then again, Min-Gi wasn’t supposed to be real either. So, Ryan didn’t say anything and let the silence drag on.
Apparently, Kez has enough self-awareness to realize that this is getting too much.
“You know what? Let’s not stress about dials, or trains, or numbers and junk. Let me take you to mi casa de Kez, and we can just, chill. You’ll meet MY roommate, Morgan.”
Ryan turned to Min-Gi, who turned to Kez, contemplating the pros and cons and all that probability Ryan always hears him muttering about back when he was just in the TV.
He decided to encourage Min, just a little bit. “Can I come with you two? I mean... if the party has room for one more.” He leaned at him and smiled with anticipation.
Min-Gi immediately lit up. “Yeah. Yeah, let’s stick together. Who knows what else might be trying to kill us.” He giggled at the thought, before stopping suddenly, narrowing his eyes at Kez. “There are, no other... car creatures that are out to get you. Right, Kez?”
“Ah, nah. Most people are, like, super chill.” Kez supplies. “Oh, and we’re not ‘car creatures’, rude! We’re ‘denizens’. “ She said as the trio began to cross the bridge to the next train car.
Then it occurs to him and Ryan has the immediate need to ask Min-Gi.
“Oh, oh! Min-Gi! How did you know my name by the way?”
Min looked shocked and... blushed? (Is he seeing right?) “You, you said Min-Gi? As in, Min-GI?!”
Ryan almost panicked himself into a stupor, afraid that he gave himself away. “Isn’t that- tha- that’s what you told me, you told me earlier when you said your name is Min-Gi?”
“Yeah, it’s just... nobody ever gets it right.” He mumbles.
Ryan sighs in relief. “I know right. I mean, I have a pretty common name and people somehow manage to mess up ‘Akagi’!”
Min-Gi laughed. “Let me guess, Aka-jee?”
He smirked. “A-kay-gai.”
Both had to stop as they laughed hard, nearly falling from laughter and by Gods, Min-Gi has the most beautiful laugh he’s ever heard. It’s a deep chortle that cuts off in breathy gasps. Come to think of it, Ryan has never heard him laugh like this in the show.
It was amazing.
When the two finally managed to get their breath back, Ryan looks up to see Kez looking amused. Ryan just gave her a quick squint before Kez ‘shrugs’ in a way a bell only can and floats away.
“Anyway, its the name tag on your guitar case.”
Ryan looks at him confused. “Huh?”
Min-Gi gave him a bright smile. “The name tag? You asked me how I knew your name? I took a peek at your name tag. That, and you look like a Ryan.”
The brunette took a quick look at the back to see the name tag swinging innocently. “I so do not look like a Ryan, good sir.”
Min blinks rapidly “For sure.” He says blandly and turns at the side, looking at the horizon beyond the train. Ryan follows his gaze, frowns, and looks back up at Min-Gi.
If the brunette’s being honest, he’s seeing this as an opportunity to know more about Min, and if he’s really like the one in the show, he wants to get an explanation and know why he went missing.
***
Bonus Scene:
Just before they could open the door to the other side, they took a break. One, because they don’t know if they can afford to rest on the next car that may lead to certain death, two, because he has questions. If Min-Gi wasn’t supposed to be real, but apparently now lives and breathes in the same reality as Ryan, does that mean... ... does that mean he’s one of the ‘car creatures’? Kez wasn’t a possibility, he travelled a lot and he’s sure nothing but drugs can make you see a floating, talking bell, so if the train can make the impossible real, what does that say about Min-Gi’s existence?
“Be careful. If you think too hard, you’re gonna have gray hairs before you turn 30.” Min-Gi quipped, a half-smile forming on the corner of his lips.
Ryan doesn’t turn to look at him. “Min-Gi are you, like, Kez? a ‘car creature-“
“Denizen!” Kez yelled and continued floating leisurely.
“-denizen?” He asked.
Min smiled reassuringly. “Nope.” His brows raised quickly in realization, looking agitated and echoes back. “Ryan, are you a denizen?”
Ryan reassured him that no, and he’s very sure of that. “I look nothing like Kez. In fact, I look much better than Kez anyway.”
“Anyone looks much better than a floating talking concierge bell that shoots out glitter, Ryan.” Min replies, and the two laughed freely, cackling as they sat in a world they don’t know and don’t understand.