That One Pretty Day | A Lizkook AU

12 Minutes & 3 Hours - Pt III

"What do you mean?"

"Well...I don't know much about these things...or these people," Yes, you clearly don't. "But I constantly hear about it from my friends. Chae likes to follow all these celebrities and the who's-who here, and she talks about it a lot! Whenever I hear about all these dramas or scandals from her, I'd get worried a lot. But he wasn't like those guys at all,"

"Those guys?" Jeongguk frowned, not quite understanding.

"Like...okay for instance! This morning Chae was talking about someone on the news. Um...what's his name..." Oh God, please don't let it be me - "Jeon..." Oh dear God! "Jeon...Jeon..."

"Jeon Jeongguk?"

"Yes!" Fuck my life! She's really gonna use me as a reference?! "She told me about this guy - how like, he's the heir of something-something - I can't remember -" Really?? That's how un-memorable he is?! "And how he's always caught in some type of scandal with all these hot girls. I feel like I've heard so much of the same type of news, you know? I was always anxious on when it'll be my ex's name popping up but it never did. Until today of course, but at least he wasn't showing it to the entire world. Or maybe he should, then it would've ended way sooner,"

"So you're saying...that you're lucky cus he kept it well-hidden?" He can't help but feel angry. "At least the other guys with their so-called scandals were being themselves and not pretend to be something they're not right? At least they don't lie -" 

"No...you're looking at it the wrong way - it's not about whether they're being themselves or not," Her tone also changed, matching his. "There are a lot of ways to show who you are as a person and of course - in an ideal world, everyone wants to do whatever they wanna do. But reality is, everyone should be mindful of their own actions and how it'll hurt people,"

"Or maybe, people should learn how to not butt into other people's business all the time!"

"If that's the case, your neighbour could be starving or dying and you won't even care,"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Everything! Empathy creates reactions and reactions pushes people into actions. These 'people'...the ones who sits at the top of the chains - they're idolised for something. They're being looked up upon and admired over something. That's the whole reason why they're up there and why people cared so much about their lives. What do most people struggle for in life - it's money, respect and love - and in the eyes of the world we live in, these 'celebrities' or 'chaebols' have it!"

"But it doesn't mean they can interfere -"

"If they can't treasure that, they'll lose at least one of those three, which is either respect or love. Do you think it's easy to get that? People like Chae - people who reads into these things - they look for something that'll make them wanna be better, but instead they're given all these unflattering sides that makes them lose interest. These people with power...they can do so much and help so many people if they weren't selfish enough to think only about themselves. I'm not saying everyone should change the way they are...but at least be mindful as they are setting an example. We've had enough dictators running the world, don't you think?"

"Dictators? How - just how, going out with a few women made -"

"Younger generations are looking at them, holding them on a pedestal. Young minds who developed a thinking that 'one day, I wanna be like them'. And that's all there is to it. Would you feel good about it? If your kids or your friends' kids watch the news and saw you changing partners every week like it's some sort of a trend and tell themselves 'he's so cool, I wanna be just like him when I grow up. He can do whatever he wants and gets away with it' - does that make you feel good?"