Exception

VIII. Lotte World (2)

If Inseong had known that his flatmate was a scaredy-cat, he wouldn't have asked him to tag along. He must've felt pressured, Inseong thought to himself. Jaeyoon was a mere witness who wanted to help, yet he ended up living with a policeman, and on top of that, he was asked to accompany Inseong during fieldwork. What was I thinking? One year without solving a case, and now I'm pulling civilians into the water. Great.

"I'm so sorry, I really should've asked you beforehand. I wasn't thinking." They were still floating on the flume, passing through fake cave tunnels where water shower over their heads without warning. Luckily, there didn't seem to be anymore drops at the moment - only quick turns and meandering and winding routes - except, of course, for the last big fall in the end.

Jaeyoon shook his head, trying to let Inseong know he was fine, and didn't need reassuring, but he could already feel his breakfast churning in his stomach, threatening to come out.

Inseong didn't know what to do. And it wasn't because he was afraid of Jaeyoon filing a complaint on him after this ends - he knew someone as nice as him wouldn't do that anyway. It was mostly due to his weird eagerness to please and impress this man in front of him. He thought that, this was it, he was finally presented with the person in his life who had the ability to make his heart race and palms sweat; there was no way he could screw this up.

The screams were getting nearer by the second. With a sudden willingness to protect him, Inseong dared to place a hand on top of Jaeyoon's on the safety bar. The contact caught Jaeyoon's attention, and he turned to look at Inseong, who was wearing the most sincere expression on his face. "I know I'm being out of the blue, but... just listen to me first, okay?"

Jaeyoon nodded slowly, taken aback and slightly bewildered.

"I know why most people are scared of rollercoasters. They think they might fly off, or an accident will happen or something. But in fact, the probability of a rollercoaster accident is one in 24 million, and the chance of being killed in one is only one in 750 million." Inseong paused. "Okay, maybe telling that to you wasn't a good idea."

Jaeyoon was trying to register all the numbers and statistics the detective just spewed out, but it turned out he wasn't finished. "How 'bout this: You already know what's coming up, you anticipate the scary drop into the water down the mountain. So you can prepare yourself. Like-" Inseong halted, realizing that he had unconsciously progressed to hold and squeeze Jaeyoon's hand during his animated lecture about rollercoasters. Flushed with embarrassment, he hastily released it, and a smile flickered around Jaeyoon's mouth.

"I'm sorry, I didn't- I mean, I, it wasn't on purpose!" Inseong leaned back as far as he could on his side of the boat, as if to establish the fact that he wasn't trying anything to cross their professional detective-client line.

This actually made Jaeyoon laugh out loud. "I didn't expect to see you at a flustered state, detective."

"W-what?" Confusion spread across Inseong's face. "So.. you're not angry?"

Jaeyoon tilted his head like he was considering. "I think I should at least respect your status as a policeman, and for the fact that you chose to believe my ridiculous story about superpowers. Plus, you're older than me, too..."

Seeing that Jaeyoon took the awkward situation easy, Inseong decided to feign disappointment as a joke. "Oh, so do I look old to you now?"

"No, I never said-" But he never got to finish his sentence because he felt his stomach shoot upwards to his throat, and when he finally turned back to look at what was in front of him, he realized they were rushing head first into a pool.

Neither of them were paying attention, so all at once they reached out to search leverage, only to end up holding each other's hands. They joined in the screams of the other passengers as an onslaught of moist wind struck at their faces, followed by a giant pillar of water that shot up to the sky and fell back at them, drenching them.