Incarnadine | Prequel to "Viridescence"

19

25th October
2005

Seonghwa pants heavily, stressing more and more while recalling his memories. In his hand is a gun and in front of him is a practice target. Five more bullets plant themselves into the target in no time, every single one of them hitting close to the centre.

Ever since he killed someone, he hasn't been able to sit still. Moping around all day is a response some may have, but Seonghwa has been doing all he can to avoid his thoughts, even if it's somewhat useless. Training in a variety of things is all he does all day. His extraordinary aim and natural shooting skill is still his strongest point, but he's been getting a bit more familiar with knives and daggers too. He doesn't see any use for any of this, but it keeps him busy and that's exactly what he needs right now.

"That's enough, let's do something else." Hongjoong's voice faintly enters Seonghwa's ears, but he chooses to ignore it. He's simply too absorbed right now. The next bullet hits closer to the centre of the target and that pushes him to keep going.

"I can't believe I'm the one to be telling you to take a break. Let's go look for Jangmi again," he whines.

Seonghwa freezes at the mention of her name. Looking for Jangmi is exactly what they were doing when he lost his composure and shot someone dead. Annoyance surges through Seonghwa's veins.

"Why are you always looking for her? What's so great about her to make you look for her this hard?" he snaps. Hongjoong's eye twitches out of agitation but after seeing Seonghwa's state, he takes a deep breath and steps in further.

"She means the most to me, as you already know. No one matters to me like that, I'm sure you understand," he replies. Seonghwa's mind travels to his aunt and uncle and his heart aches. As long as they're okay, he might just manage. Being away from home killed him on the inside before but now he's found peace here knowing that his only family left are living a healthy life.

Plus, he can't find it in him to face his aunt and uncle ever again. He murdered someone. He feels the weight of shame too heavily to bear living with his loved ones once more.

"Sorry for getting angry, I understand," he responds in a stale way, setting his gun back into its case. He robotically approaches Hongjoong and awaits by his side.

"Hwa~ Why are you so boring now? It was more fun when you kept trying to run away," Hongjoong jokes. Seonghwa manages to force out a scoff at the thought. "What's the point of escaping now? I don't deserve to return to my previous life anymore," he solemnly admits. "Nonsense, there's no point sulking like this. If you're stuck here then may as well find a way to enjoy it."

Hongjoong appears calm and composed, but he's also questioning a lot of things internally, though to a different degree. Why is he bothering so much with Seonghwa? Maybe it'd be easier to just kill him off straight away but something inside him is making him feel differently. It's a similar feeling to how he feels when he thinks of Jangmi. It'll take time to figure it out, but it does feel odd to care so much.

Seonghwa thinks more about what Hongjoong said. If he's stuck here then he may as well find a way to cope. But what can he even do? He lifts his head and makes eye contact with Hongjoong and strangely enough, he feels slightly more at ease from the brief gesture, which spurs his next decision.

"Let's go find Jangmi."

The two boys travel out the basement and Seonghwa's anxiety is successfully distracted for a bit by Hongjoong. They trek up the stairs but before they get too far, phone rings fill the air.

The landline phone, which is usually never active, is ringing. This in itself is a massive red flag for everyone in the gang that's present in the building, but Seonghwa decides to investigate it anyway since he's the closest.