PROJECT WEB | J.JK

PART THREE

Jeongguk didn't know where he was running to, he just needed to get away from the traffic and the noises and eventually finds himself in some alleyway behind a shop.

He's sweating worse than ever, body temperature rising faster and his limbs aching. Legs giving way slightly, Jeongguk finds aid in the wall by leaning against it. As he rests his forehead on the cold, damp brick, he finds that it cools him down considerably. After a minute or two, he decides to try and stand straight again, using his hands to lift off the wall.

Pressing his palms against the brick, he releases. Or at least, he tries to.

His hands refuse to release with a gentle tug, and Jeongguk assumes the worst of having placed them on some questionable, unknown and sticky substance.

"Gross," he shudders, pulling hard which results in his hands coming free. Except there's no residue or evidence of anything that made them stick, save from the dampness of his palms caused by the precipitation. "Right, okay. That's not strange at all... This is such a normal fucking day, isn't it Jeongguk. See, you're even talking to yourself like some freaking psycho!"

His dishevelled state causes his breathing to increase in pace. Staring down at his hands again, he looks closer. Sticking up all over his fingers and hands are tiny, almost microscopic protrusions that look like tiny hairs. He's certain that if anyone else tried to look at them, they wouldn't be able to see without a microscope.

"So, that's... a thing now," he swallows, hands shaking slightly. "Cool... that's cool." His wavering voice isn't even passing off as calm to himself, but he pushes down the rising sense of sickness and slowly places his hands back onto the brick wall.

Just as before, they stick to the wall as though there's some sort of glue holding him in place. Rolling on the balls of his feet, Jeongguk begins to pull his entire body weight by his hands, still adhered and suddenly he isn't on the ground anymore. Like a spider. Images of the science exhibit flash in Jeongguk's mind, but he stores them for later and concentrates on the current situation.

His core strains as he advances, but it soon becomes easier and easier to practically walk up the vertical wall. However, not having any anchor below, he accidentally loses his footing and slips.

Before a gasp can fully escape him, he's already fallen and landed with perfect precision. Feet perfectly poised in a landing position, with one hand steadying him on the ground and the other extended outwards to balance him.

"Woah," Jeongguk breathes out, a rush of adrenaline running through him. "So, I can walk up walls now, huh. How the hell am I going to explain that to Y/n?" He adds this on as an afterthought. What if you thought he was a freak? A wall climbing, sticky-handed, spidery freak.

That way he could never, ever even think to tell you he liked you more than a friend probably should. You were way out of his league, smart and pretty and kind. And he was just, well, Jeongguk. That, combined with all this weird stuff happening was definitely not going to make you see him in any sort of positive light.

"Snap out of it, dumbass," he smacks his forehead as though it'll knock some sense into him. "You just realised you're a human-spider anomaly and she's your first thought? Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic."

In the midst of his own thoughts, Jeongguk doesn't hear the trio of men walking into the poorly-lit alley soon enough to run out.

"Hey!" grunts out one of them and Jeongguk's eyes go wide as saucers as he hurriedly pulls up his hood to conceal his face before reaching for his backpack. Before he can get to it though, another one of the scruffy looking men snatches it off the ground.

"I don't think so," the man growls, alcohol clearly staining his breath and a wave of nausea flows through Jeongguk. "Give us your wallet if it isn't already in here, kid."

"I-I don't have it on me," he lies and then panics when the man pulls Jeongguk's camera out of his bag. "No, I- come on dude, not my camera," he begs, sighing resignedly. He'd spent months and months saving up for it to boost experience for his aspiring photojournalism career.

"I'm really not looking for any trouble, fellas," Jeongguk tries to sound nonchalant and calm but his heart rattles in his ribcage because he can't fight to save his life. When one of the men pulls out what looks like a pocket knife, he realises he might actually be fighting for his life. "Uh, so if I could just take my stuff... I have chemistry homework I gotta do for tomorrow and I'm not really in the mood to get a detention," he tries for an unconcerned shrug and reaches out his hand to pluck the bag away from the thug, but is instead met with a hand closing roughly around his wrist.

"Man, what is it with people grabbing me however they feel like it today?" he mutters, sighing. And then he lunges.

He doesn't know what drives him to do it, but it almost comes like second nature to Jeongguk when he twists the hand holding the knife, causing it to clatter on the floor. Kicking it out of the way, he drives his fist into the intoxicated man who grunts and falls to the floor and finally manages to pull his bag and camera away, then throwing them out of the way to safety before making sure his face is still covered by his hood.

Then he faces the other two who are standing, fists as the ready. Nervously, Jeongguk presses his inside of his palms. None of them were prepared for what happened.

Feeling an odd sensation from his wrists, Jeongguk looks down to see a silvery thread shooting out of each wrist. His first instinct, looking back on it, may not have been the coolest reaction. But he can't help but yelp at the top of his lungs, haphazardly slapping at his wrists as he tries to rub off the sticky webs.

The three goons, the previously indisposed one now recovered, advance on Jeongguk, probably assuming he was playing some trick with the webs and not intimidated by his confused behaviour. He successfully manages to pull away the webs in time and his head snaps up at the approaching figures so he does the first thing that pops into his head.

Without thinking it through, Jeongguk presses the inside of his palm with two fingers pressed down and the other three sticking outwards, this time aimed at one of them.

He did try to aim for his chest to throw him back a little, but Jeongguk's obscured vision due to his hood means that it ended up flying into the man's face.

"Oh, shit. Uh, sorry dude," Jeongguk winces as the other two stare, shocked at the muffled curses coming through the layer of sticky web. "That was totally an accident, I swear." He puts up his hands in a surrendering symbol as another one narrows his eyes at Jeongguk.

"Oh, you're going to get it now, you little fu-"

"Whoops, my hand slipped," Jeongguk webs his mouth to shut him up, and then his hands.

The third, untouched man watches apprehensively, wisely not making any moves towards Jeongguk.

"I think now is the part where you all run away," Jeongguk clears his throat and stands in an attempt to look menacing. Surprisingly it works and the three goons run away as fast as their legs can carry them.

Exhaling a huge sigh of relief once they're out of sight, Jeongguk bends over with his hands pressed tightly against his thighs. "Oh, God. I'm gonna throw up. No. No, that's not cool, don't do that, Jeongguk." If anyone were to walk in on him talking to himself in this way, they'd probably be quite worried for his sanity. At this point so is he.

Although, he can't help but feel an odd sort of exhilaration that he can only describe as heroic and brave. Kind of like one of those Avengers, he muses, running his fingers along his wrist. All he needs is a suit and mask and he's a superhero he thinks, scoffing internally at the thought.

But the more he ponders on it, the less ridiculous it sounds. He's just proven that he can get himself out of a tricky situation and now all of his senses are heightened. He even has webs shooting out of his wrist. He practically has superpowers.

Shaking the thoughts out of his head for now, he hikes his back onto his back and makes his way home.

He wasn't kidding about that chemistry homework.