Chapter Text
kwon jiyong loved everyone.
that was the problem.
or maybe, him being kind to absolutely everyone was the problem.
kwon jiyong was the type of guy to cling onto anyone when he was tired. he was the type of guy to compliment and praise his friends 24/7, take someone out for dinner just because, or act like a sweet boyfriend to practically anyone, because he believed that everyone deserved kindness.
it was naive, really. or maybe choi seunghyun was just naive.
seunghyun had been head over heels for jiyong ever since they met, back at 13. seunghyun had always thought they'd had a special connection, but as time flew by, he realised that jiyong was just that way with everyone. and unfortunately for seunghyun, it hadn't made him stop liking him. how could he?? jiyong was perfect.
the only thing he minded was the lack of attention. recently, it felt like jiyong was all over everyone but him. seunghyun was absolutely not direct enough to openly ask about it, so he'd just kept his mouth shut. despite that, he still hung onto every bit of praise or compliments jiyong gave him as if it was reserved for just him and not everyone in their circle.
the energy after a concert was always high. the group sat together in the dressing room, talking about the job well done tonight and praising eachother. daesung soon went onto a rant about how his drum set was adjusted differently tonight and that he missed a beat, which seunghyun barely registered because his eyes were focused completely elsewhere.
the red hair, slick with sweat at the ends and the pretty brown eyes beneath it, laughing at the conversation happening around them.
"hyung?"
nothing.
"hyung. you're staring really weird," that snapped seunghyun back to life as he blinked a few times, jiyongs eyes being straight on him, almost in crescents because of how big his smile was. seunghyun shook his head, glanced down at his glass of wine as if it was 100% more interesting, and shrugs.
"yah, i wasnt. you were staring first anyway."
jiyong looked at him for a moment before laughing it off with a shrug, and the group soon migrated to the parking lot where their cars were. with a few bro hugs and overly affectionate hugs from the one and only, seunghyun was soon hunched in his car on the way back to his penthouse with the radio playing faintly in the background.
just another, boring day. returning to his house felt even worse.
silence.
the kind that only expensive homes ever seemed capable of producing. most people would've envied it – luxury furniture, big kitchen, nice view, modern art. just everything expensive and immaculate made just for him.
seunghyun tossed his keys into the bowl by the door and within an hour he had finished showering, a quick meal and was now laying flat in his bed with his head just slightly propped up by some pillows and balancing a laptop on his chest, his brows ever so slightly scrunched as he scrolled through what was trending currently to occupy himself for the rest of the night..
until a headline made him pause – big black letters read "TRIPLE HOMOCIDE IN AMERICA IN THE SPAN OF TWO MONTHS".
seunghyuns brows scrunched further and he clicked on it, out of curiosity really. news like this didn't hit korea often, especially when it was from the united states. finally, his eyes settled on the actual text.
"a woman from the united states has been arrested after murdering three people over the course of two months."
the footage played automatically – a woman, seemingly in her early twenties with dark hair and a bloodied face, who looked beyond terrified and panicked, was being dragged out of a home surrounded by yellow tape to a police car.
"i didn't kill them–!" the woman exclaimed at one of the cops who was holding her wrists while people spoke over her. "it was the one wish willow— please, it wasn't my fault, it was a wish!" the camera cut and seunghyun saw his reflection in the screen. seriously, america was out of it, he thought. then he scrolled down to see the comments.
"LMAO."
"she thinks a magic wish killed people?"
"lol what did she wish for, to kill her friends and get away with it?"
"anything but taking responsibility."
"schizophrenia"
"documentary incoming."
seunghyun sighed and decided this was enough internet time. people really did come up with the most strangest excuses, didn't they? he moved the cursor towards the x button, before he paused just before clicking.
one wish willow.
the name itself sounded.. specific. not like an urban legend, or something someone on the internet made up once and people just ran with it. it sounded like a real thing. clicking his tongue at his stupid thoughts, seunghyun opened another tab and searched up the words in english.
most results were exactly what he'd expected. dead links, urban forums, some sites that looked like they'd lead him directly onto the dark web. there were articles debunking myths, videos titled "don't fall for this hoax", more links denying it working and it being a collector item.
he clicked a link.
dead.
another.
archive unavailable.
another..
nothing.
now he really wanted to know. twenty minutes passed. then thirty. the internet got stranger and stranger the deeper he searched.
he came across a fairly new article saying that the willows were banned from being on sale because the crime had "damaged their reputation" and that was it. and then finally, he came across something fairly trustworthy. it looked like a page from the dark web. black background, white serif text and a single picture of a small long box. the post simply read:
ONE WISH WILLOW
quantity remaining: 1
remove the box and just make a wish!
spark the middle and break it in half.
single use only. grants one wish. no multiple attempts. only one wish per life per person.
seunghyun snorted at the description. damn, these people really were into fantasies, weren't they? his eyes drifted lower.
there was no other explanation. no reviews, no nothing. just that, and at the absolute bottom, a single purchase button.
₩43 000.
seunghyun stared. fourty three thousand won. that almost made him laugh. what kind of ultra money scam was this??
seunghyun leant back. it was fake. ridiculous, even. some internet joke feeding off the news story, he was willing to bet. that was just america living in a different world again.
he stared at the image for a moment before his phone buzzed from next to him. he glanced over to see a single text from jiyong.
good work today, hyung. get some sleep. 😊
seunghyun smiled despite himself. there it was again – the effortless kindness jiyong always gave everyone. the same kindness he probably showed anyone. youngbae. daesung. managers, stylists. just anyone.
it wasn't special.
it never was.
you too.
he erased it, and typed again.
sleep well.
deleted that too. eventually, he settled on the safest response.
you too. goodnight.
almost immediately, it got reacted to with a single heart emoji. simple and friendly, exactly the sort of thing jiyong did. seunghyun set his phone aside as his eyes drifted back to the laptop screen. towards the little photograph, towards the absurd sentence "only one wish per life per person."
he shook his head again, but despite that, a thought had already rooted itself somewhere deep in his mind.
one wish.
anything.
his eyes shut for a moment. the first thing that appeared in his mind wasn't fame – he already had that. it wasn't money, he had more than enough. it wasn't success, or awards, or sold out concerts. it wasn't even happiness or health.
the only face he saw in his mind was jiyongs.
laughing. calling him hyung. looking at him with something more than just simple affection. something selfish, something that belonged to only him.
seunghyuns fingers, almost of their own accord, drifted absentmindly towards the glowing purchase button. he hesitated, just for a second.
"..its only 43 thousand won."