dark side | minsung

02

"Jisung, you look like shit," was the very first thing his co-worker told him as he arrived at the Seven-Eleven two blocks away from his apartment building. "Mate, what happened to your face? Are you okay?"

Chan was looking at him worriedly, his eyes solely on the bruise that blossomed on the left side of Jisung's jaw. It didn't look pretty at all, for it was purple and blue and pretty swollen too. Needless to say, Jisung had completely forgotten to grab an icepack to soothe it, resulting in an ugly and prominent bruise.

The blue-haired boy grimaced. He had come up with at least a dozen excuses to explain his injury, but now that he was put on the spot like that, he forgot about them all. What was he supposed to tell his colleague?

"I-I was robbed on the streets last night," he blurted out after thinking it over for a second. That sounded pretty convincing and credible, right? "They wanted my wallet and thought a punch to my face would convince me to hand it over."

"God, that's awful," Chan commented, a look of sympathy crossing his face. "Did you go to the police?"

"I didn't, they didn't manage to get my wallet so they took nothing from me," Jisung said. "It's okay, hyung."

The lies spilled from his lips with much ease, as he learned to do so skillfully over the past six years. How else could he explain the cuts and bruises he got over the years? Lying was the only way. He had to hide his occupation and most importantly, his super powers. Who knew what would happen if word got out that Han Jisung possessed a whole bunch of inhuman skills and abilities?

"But they punched you," the older commmented, looking at Jisung in disbelief - as if he was crazy for not going to the cops. "Isn't that enough reason to at least notify the police? That's assault, Jisung, which is a felony."

"I know, I know," Jisung sighed. "But really, I don't even know what they looked like, so there isn't much I can tell the cops anyway."

"If you say so," Chan hesitated, obviously not convinced. But he dropped the subject and Jisung was thankful for that.

He was tired, too tired to deal with this. Since his so-called job as local superhero often kept him up at night, he barely slept at all. He was awake during the ungodly hours of the night, but during the day he had his other jobs that waited for him. He struggled to fit any sleep into his tight schedule, and he relied on caffeine to keep him running.

He grabbed a can of Monster energy from his backpack, tugging on the ring pull. It popped open with a sizzle, and Jisung eagerly gulped down the drink. He really needed it if he wandet to get through today.

"Hey, hey," Chan called out. "Do you know how unhealthy that stuff is?" He seemed genuinely worried, either about the younger's heart or sanity.

"You tell me every time, hyung," Jisung nodded. "But believe me, I need this stuff or I'll drop dead."

Maybe that was a little dramatic, but really, he wouldn't get far without the much-needed boost he got from the caffeinated drinks. They somewhat made up for the lost hours of sleep. The only downside was that he felt even worse once the effects of the caffeine wore off, but he'd just chug down another can until he was able to crash onto his bed for a blissful minute later today.

"At this rate, I'm starting to think that you're addicted to that stuff," his co-worker sighed, eyeing Jisung with concern. "That's not good."

"No shit, Sherlock," Jisung muttered.

He was well aware of his dependancy, but did he care? Not really. Someone had to protect the city at night, and sleeping at day wasn't an option either since he also had to pay the bills. He worked three jobs, a few shifts per week at the Seven-Eleven being one of them. Well, he couldn't perform well on those jobs while running on one stray hour of sleep. Not without a little help.

Jisung shot Chan a look, heaving out a deep breath. "Really, hyung. I'm okay. Don't worry about me."

"I'll try," Chan replied quietly.

Then he saluted, moving to the front of the store to start his shift. Jisung would follow soon, he only needed to change into his Seven-Eleven t-shirt and he was good to go. He grabbed the piece of clothing from his locker, taking off his hoodie and pulling the shirt over his head. Then he patted his tousled blue hair, hoping to arrange the messy strands properly again. He'd done so many times, and was able to somewhat determine the state of his hair by touch alone.

When Jisung deemed himself decent enough to appear in front of the store's customers, he dumped the empty can in the trash and went through the door that separated the staff rooms from the actual Seven-Eleven. He sighed lightly. A new day had begun, a day in which he pretended to be just your average twenty-two years-old. As if he didn't hide a big secret, as if he didn't live a double life.

Sometimes he wondered how much easier his life would be if he just chose to expose himself and his powers. He would never do such a thing, yet he couldn't help but imagine sometimes. Imagine how fast he could stock the shelves, using his inhuman speed? Imagine how easy it would be to lift the heavy boxes filled with new supplies, using his inhuman strength? Imagine how catching shoplifters would be child's play, using his superpowers. A whole new world would open up for him. He would be the Han Jisung, the famous superhero of Seoul.

Either that, or he would be taken into custody or being targeted by the government who wanted to exploit his powers for their own use.

Yeah, not very appealing.

Jisung didn't want fame, he didn't want attention. He wanted to keep the city he loved safe from harm. He badly wanted a purpose in life, and his superpowers gave him one. He acted secretly and silently, and only rumors about some sort of mysterious superhero existed. A hero who acted in the dark, watching over the city as twilight fell.

"Jisung, you're spacing out," a voice called out, and the boy blinked a few times as he saw Chan standing in front of him.

He had been zoning out indeed, staring at a shelf filled with batteries for a couple of minutes. He sheepishly grinned, muttering a sorry, hyung as he grabbed a box and began to stock the empty shelves below the batteries with even more batteries. Apparently, the AAA batteries were popular, as they ran quite well.

Focus, Jisung, focus, he told himself. He showed up with a massive bruise on his jaw and now he was spacing out. If he didn't want to raise suspicions, he had to keep his act together, or it wouldn't go well.

Chan offered him a look of concern, and in return, Jisung shot him a smile as convincing as he could muster. He had to pretend everything was okay, or things wouldn't go well. But he was good at that. After all, that was what his entire life was about.

Pretending.

——

i know i said i wouldn't update this before i finished lessons in love but i'm just too excited lol