"It just doesn't make sense," Hoseok mumbled, garnering Sunghyung's regard in a flash as the latter gazed down at him with adrift eyes. "Something isn't adding up."

"What are you trying to say?" The old man slurred, there being a fitful variation in his pitch.

Hoseok grinned in a lopsided manner, still unable to wrap his head around the other male's determination of reveling in an alcohol-induced bliss when he was unmistakably an exemplary lightweight. His incomprehensible speech and half-operating brain were definitely not an outcome of heavy drinking, poor man had ended up causing humiliation to his own self barely after chugging two shots. Hoseok shook his head as he watched Sunghyung venturing to suspend the thoughts that were now cartwheeling around in his head, his addled visage manifesting the pandemonium therein.

An endearing smile crawled up to occupy the majority of Hoseok's face. "You're so drunk. It isn't even past eleven yet. How are you gonna hold out till this bottle gets finished?"

Sunghyung's expression somewhat relaxed, though his eyebrows continued to remain in a mild strain. "I advance steadily, lad. Everyone with an experience in this field does this- they hold back their horses. Trying to get ahead of yourself will only result in your puking uncontrollably in the end. How do you fare through your company dinners when you're not aware of such a basic rule?"

"I've only recently joined the agency. Anyway," Hoseok cleared his throat, muttering inaudibly, "that's not what I was implying when I said that something here doesn't fit well in the frame."

"Well then, w-what... did you want to as... sk?" Although Sunghyung had stumbled over his words, he stayed thoroughly nonchalant about it, proceeding to pour another round of makgeolli into his cup.

"Even though the room stinks like gutter, it's mindbogglingly clean for a space that seems overlooked at the first glance. If we were to consider these two aspects, we arrive at two different conclusions." Hoseok paused, glimpsing at Sunghyung as he pursed his lips in contemplation. "It's either the miracle of nighttime or there's a story stashed in some corner of your heart. It has got to be one of them, or even both. To be honest, even I don't know what I'm saying right now. Why is the coffee kicking in in a reverse fashion?"

Hoseok scratched the back of his head in confusion, eyes purposedly widening as he attempted to breach the thin line between hallucinatory dreams- one of which he was most probably being put to endure at the moment- and reality. He had gained nothing, though. Not a beam of refracted light that could save him from this overbearing darkness that he had been involuntarily damned to. Not an assurance that the wild scenarios springing in his mind were merely just those. Not a signal from Sunghyung's side which would convey that his query was pointless after all, and that the old man's life was as transparent as the emotions that his gestures strove to deliver.

Sunghyung's countenance had almost wilted, every trace of ecstasy drained out of it. Hoseok had instantly caught sight of the gradual development that the atmosphere was undergoing solely due to him, as apprehension consequently eclipsed his features. He hesitatingly parted his lips, hopeful that his efforts at making the situation cordial as earlier would wind up undoing the whimsy intrusion from his side that he had miserably failed to fend off some moments prior, only to be interrupted when he could, at long last, deem himself capable of righting a few of his wrongs.

"There's nothing to go back to." After a brief period of avoiding gazes, Sunghyung's melancholic one finally met Hoseok's.

"I-I'm sorry. I'm so sorry that happened to you." Hoseok fumbled, disappointment seeping into his skin when in spite of his endeavors, a more sympathetic statement could not be uttered by him.

"It's okay, it's not your fault. They're not dead anyway. Not that if they were, it had been your fault- Dammit I can't think straight." Sunghyung drew in a shaky breath. "Family is like an unattainable dream for me now. I didn't care about it when it was there, when my people chose to be there with me. I never bothered to acknowledge their value. But now that they're gone, I can't help but long for them, for them to return to me. To give me another chance. To allow me another shot at protecting them like my most precious treasure. Is that too much to ask for?"

"It's not. One can't realise the worth of something until it's lost. I totally get you, sir."

"Call me uncle." Sunghyung inserted a terse remark, and Hoseok's heart could not refrain from thumping dully once his brain had comprehended the essence of it. Their coordination had reached its zenith.

"Is this the alcohol talking or you? Because permitting me to view you as my uncle would be giving me the freedom of treating you as one too. I either go all in or don't give a flying fuck, can't stand being in the middle, y'know?" Hoseok arched one of his eyebrows from behind his coffee mug, leisurely taking a sip from it.

"If that brings to me a new family then I don't have a problem."

"What went down with your family, then? If you feel comfortable to share, that is." Hoseok checked with himself that his demand did not sound too blunt for the grieving man.

"I had a son, a brilliant one at that, someone whom his peers could not hold a candle to. He had always been the winner- be it academics or sports- never knew how does it feel to lose every once in a while. Such an exceptional child was bound to be noticed by charities that dish out scholarships and so on, one day or another. That was when my ill-luck decided to leap for my son's shadow as well, and he got selected as one of the recipients for the endowment of- dare I say, a substantial financial assistance extended by a major philanthropist." Sunghyung sighed penitently.

"My lack of foresight disabled me from seeing what actually was awaiting us behind the facade of that benevolent deed. I could only focus on the windfall, willfully turning a blind eye to the damage that slick gale must've effectuated on the flank that remained out of my field of vision. Foolishly, I let them interfere in his daily life, paying no heed how he won't even return home on days. If it hadn't been for my wife, I would've never registered that not only our son and us had grown physically apart, but we could also no longer be ideologically on the same page for most of the times." A redolent smile now appeared to be encompassing Sunghyung's lips, as tears simultaneously pricked his eyes.

"He didn't even think twice when they offered him shelter and love for the rest of his life on the condition that he forsook us, officially. He never spun around to capture a last glimpse of us, whilst our eyes stayed fixated at him until we couldn't cope with the pace of that car that wrenched him away from us. Soon after my son abandoned us, my wife did the same with me. Her being angry with me is justified though, I don't deserve to be called a father or a husband after having proved my incompetence to them. It's not always about merely receiving a title and exploiting the privileges that accompany it. You've got to live up to it." A lone tear splashed out of Sunghyung's eye, streaking through one of the many profound wrinkles that were the highlight of his face.

"And if you can't," he shuddered. "Better retrace your steps and work on it until you become sure that you won't end up ruining another set of lives."

"Did you try contacting him after that?" Hoseok questioned, concern underlying his mellow voice.

"I prefer him forgetting about me over subjecting him to the brutal reminder of what his life used to be by repeatedly popping up before him. I can't do that to my son. If he's happy, then that's more than enough for me." Sunghyung asserted, suspending his bottle of booze over his mouth until the very last drop had bled out of it.

"So you don't plan to bring him back home?" Hoseok's follow-up, though piercing, was the need of the hour.

"Where he's at currently is his home... if he perceives it as his home."

"And what if he doesn't? How will you be informed about it?"

"If he ever reckoned us his true family, he'll come around. Instincts never die, I'm sure he'll be able to locate me, or even his mother as a matter of fact. However as for me, I won't do anything that could potentially jeopardise the life that he's now living. I can't act so ignorantly twice in a row." Sunghyung eased down on the floor, laying on his side as an astronomical yawn rushed out of him.

"Fair enough," Hoseok did a subtle nod in agreement. "And what about-"

A spontaneous, airy snort prompted him to phase out, his features contorting out of incredulity in the ensuing minutes. Hoseok's eyebrows closed the gap between them as he scoffed, an unsurprised yelp being produced by him in the process. Across him now rested the same man whose mental presence had only been degrading ever since he commenced guzzling alcohol down his throat, his overestimation of his own self contributing brazenly towards his downfall.

Nevertheless, all that glory and prowess Sunghyung could not assert ownership of despite his unabating desire, did not cut him some slack even after he had flaked out. And as if that was not mortifying enough, whatever amount of dignity he did hold in Hoseok's eyes hurried to slink out of his gaping mouth, the latter remaining alighted on his spot even while his expression showcased extreme stupefaction, lent testimony to the grave disillusionment he ought to be undergoing right then.

Hoseok's eyelids fluttered like a pair of butterfly wings as he sought to gauge the degree of sleepiness still residing within him. Much to his dismay though, he did not feel dazed when he opted for taking a breather. For some unexplainable reason, he was now wide awake. Every single dash of slumber had wriggled its way out of him, making space for a banal void to occupy the hollow of his eyes.

Maybe the unfortunate man's tragic story had taken a toll on Hoseok's mental composure.

Or maybe the coffee had ultimately stepped forward to assume control of the reins of his brain.

"Tonight's gonna be a long night." Hoseok exhaled, fleetingly scanning the screen of his phone only to discover that it was already past midnight.

a/n

i'm aware that jungjae isn't that old hahaha but for the imaginative purposes, pls think of him as an individual aged around 55-ish. and dayum, was that an uncalled-for disclosure. i wonder if it's significant? hm👀 anyway, pls leave your precious votes and comments for me and i shall revert to my old updating schedule from this week hMPH😤