New Beginnings (6)

They cared. His roommates, Reggie and Ryeo Hyun. The others, Mi Yong, Jung Hyun-Ok, and even Baek Du-Ho. Song Chunghee even crowded Joon-woo on the way back to the dorms. And the stares that were filled with a slight malice and jealousy were replaced with slightly sad ones. 

Immediately, upon entering his dorm room, Reggie pulled Joon-woo into a tight and American hug. Joon-woo's face was still stained with fake tears and his face was puffy. It looked terrible and anyone could tell something had gone down. 

"Joon-ah…" Reggie cried into Joon-woo's shoulder, "Joon-ah, I'm sorry."

What? Joon-woo looked down Reggie's slouched body. He saw Ryeo Hyun's feet a few yards away, but in view.

Ryeo Hyun took a step forward and despite being an inch shorter than Reggie, pulled his dongsaeng off of Joon-woo. 

"Reggie-ah, don't squeeze him that tight." Ryeo Hyun scolded the now sulking Reggie. 

"Yes Hyung…" Reggie huffed, sending Joon-woo a last look before taking a seat on his bed. 

Ryeo Hyun turned to Joon-woo. They hadn't really had many conversations since Bo Jaesang's elimination. But still, Ryeo Hyun looked at the shorter and younger with softened eyes on his hardened face. 

Joon-woo was slightly giddy that he wouldn't be expected to start a conversation. His acting had fooled many, and based on the look from Ryeo Hyun, him too. 

"Joon-ah." Ryeo Hyun placed a hand on Joon-woo's shoulder and looked down to avoid eye contact. Ryeo Hyun had never avoided eye contact with Joon-woo before. Had Joon-woo taken it too far? "You… Why didn't you tell us?" 

Joon-woo began to feel slightly bad. Though he had been wronged by Producer Jang-Soo, it really wasn't to the extent everyone was acting as it was. 

"I'm… sorry." Joon-woo replied. 

"Don't say that, don't." Ryeo Hyun placed a finger to Joon-woo's mouth. "Just– How can you support Jaesang-ah up from his depression so… well, then go and keep a producer literally abusing you to yourself?"

Joon-woo didn't know how to reply.

"You're too good at helping everyone else that you forget about yourself, Joon-woo." Ryeo Hyun spoke and it sent chills down Joon-woo's spine. 

Joon-woo was silent, gagged. Even Reggie was silent at the words. 

"Hyung, hey–" Reggie spoke after a moment of silence. 

Ryeo Hyun removed the hand from Joon-woo's shoulder and turned towards the door. No one stopped him. 

"I'll be in the practice room." Ryeo Hyun spoke coldly, softly closing the door behind him. Now Reggie and Joon-woo were left alone in the dorm. 

They looked at each other with a worried look, and it was about Ryeo Hyun this time, not Joon-woo. 

"Hyun Hyung is… is he mad?" Reggie asked after a moment. 

Joon-woo stared at the door Ryeo Hyun left through. "I think so. F*ck, have I– it's my fault, isn't it?" His words held some truth, though communicated through Joon-woo's actor mask. 

Reggie shook his head, grabbing Joon-woo's wrist and pulling him to sit on the bed next to him. "No, don't say that Joon-woo. I'll really get mad if you do." 

Joon-woo couldn't imagine Reggie being mad. "You? Angry?" He joked. 

Reggie nodded. "You should've seen me during the first challenge when that bastard hit you! Yong Hyung said my eyes were all dialated and I walked scarily and all." He replied, almost excited to come off as scary. 

"I don't believe you." Joon-woo resolutely replied. 

"Joon-ah…" Reggie cried, leaning his tall body on Joon-woo's, effectively placing his head on Joon-woo's shoulder. 

Joon-woo had to place his hands on the sheets to keep himself from tipping over at Reggie's weight.

"It's true, I was really angry. And I'm angry now, too." Reggie huffed, his hair tickled at Joon-woo's neck. 

Joon-woo had the urge to ruffle Reggie's hair at that moment, forgetting he wasn't a 29 year old woman anymore, but an 18 year old kid. 

"Don't be." Joon-woo replied, "I don't want you to get angry or get worried over me." 

At those words, Reggie stared at Joon-woo with eyes calling him dumb. "Ahh y'know, Hyun Hyung was right, you're so insistent for no one to worry yet you're such a… [worrybug] yourself." He admitted it slowly, eyes looking up at Joon-woo cautiously. 

Joon-woo pushed Reggie's head off his shoulder curtly at the words. "I try my best." He joked. 

Reggie shook his head after letting out a single chuckle, "Aish… Whatever. Just be more honest with us Joon-ah, we really  do care about you." 

"Maybe." Joon-woo replied, his eyes looking to the door where Ryeo Hyun had walked out. 

–+–

"F*ck this shit!" Producer Jang-Soo slammed his fist into the wall of his office. The drywall crumbled beneath his now busted knuckles.

Carre watched the scene and she was as bored as could be. Standing from her ball of a sleeping position, she stretched out her body and trotted onto the desk to get some height. She looked at Producer Jang-Soo like he was a fool. 

"The job of fulfilling lost dreams is only gifted to those calculative, experienced, and level-headed. Get yourself together." She hissed, "You're embarrassing me."

"Gifted? You call this a gift?" Producer Jang-Soo gestured to his body. "Y'know, when people die, they actually expect to go to Heaven or Hell or whatever. But no! Me, Joon-woo, and whoever else did just to be taken and put in the body of some loser who was too much of a wimp to fulfill their dreams!" He was breathless after the rant, but obviously had more to say. 

"I– I–!" His voice broke, "Carre, I really just wanted to die. I didn't want to do this. I was already a producer. I was already successful. I already did all of this and more. Don't call it a gift, really, Don't." He squatted and placed his hands over his face. 

Carre watched him silently. She didn't move from her sitting position. 

"What's it been? 7, 6 years since I got forced into this body? Haven't I achieved all I was needed for already?" Producer Jang-Soo muttered almost incoherently. 

Carre was silent.

"Carre, Carre, my sponsor– I know I messed up. I know I messed up so bad. I know I shouldn't've provoked that kid. I know, I know, I know. It's over anyway. He has more up his sleeve, we always do. I finished my mission, I did, I did." Producer Jang-Soo looked to his sponsor with pleading eyes. "I know I'm an angry mess. I know I can't control my emotions well. But I did my mission, I did it so well, Carre. Carre–"

"Are you ready to pass on, then?" Carre interrupted Producer Jang-Soo. She was not happy in the slightest. "Do you think you've fulfilled the dreams of this body?"

Producer Jang-Soo's eyes shimmered with hope. "Y-yes, I believe so." 

"Okay, then." Carre hummed, jumping off the desk and sitting in front of Producer Jang-Soo's feet. Producer Jang-Soo watched the siamese with a tense and slightly frightened look. 

Suddenly, the producer clutched his chest, ruffling his shirt in the process. He let out a groan of pain. "A-ah," He exclaimed, breathing heavily in a fit of coughs. 

While one hand held his own shirt, the other held the blood he had coughed up in another fit of rough coughs. A splat of coughed up blood stained a white spot on Carre's fur. The siamese didn't flinch. 

"F-f*ck..!" Producer Jang-Soo spoke, his legs giving out on him and his vision slightly burning. 

He collapsed onto the carpet with a loud thud, breaths shaky and heavy. "Hah– Sh*t! I forgot how it felt–" He coughed and a small puddle of blood followed, "To f*cking die…"

"Exactly the same way you went out originally? No?" Carre hummed, watching Producer Jang-Soo crack a weak smile her way. He almost looked relieved. "Enjoy yourself up there, Salem Davis." 

Producer Jang-Soo's eyes were wide on Carre, but unmoving. Splats of blood covered the floor and Carre too. She turned towards the closed door to the office, noting the feather of a bird right at Producer Jang-Soo's feet. 

"It seems a bird was snooping around…" Carre muttered under her breath.