/With fingers intertwined, Myungie now pulls Taewoong towards him. It feels easy, natural. Taewoong’s face flushes with warmth as Myungie’s other hand encircles his cheek./

M: Taewoong, 

Did you ever love me? 

/Myungie gently plays with Taewoong’s hand./

M: I feel like I’m losing my mind.

I know I can’t change things, 

I know it’s all over, 

but for some reason, 

I still need to hear you say it.  

/Taewoong is lost in his thoughts. For a moment, he doesn’t dare look at Myungie. What will he possibly find there? Will he find the Myungie of his memories? The one for whom he felt so many conflicting things - the one who abandoned him? Or, if it is a different Myungie that greets him now, what would that mean for both of them?/

/As if to prove that he is not dreaming, Taewoong reaches out and touches Myungie’s collar. Myungie immediately, visibly responds to this brief contact./

T: You want to hear me say it? 

OK.

We lived together for 5 years, some of my best…

....All because I knew you, all because

you let me know you.

/Flashback: two hands reaching for each other, nearly touching, as they walk down the tree-lined path of the park. In the bright sunshine, they are nearly interconnected shadows./

T: And, well,

maybe that doesn’t sound like much.

/Taewoong finally looks at Myungie, and his eyes are vulnerable, and afraid./

T: But for us, it was,

wasn’t it? 

Otherwise, 

Why would it hurt so fucking bad - 

/Myungie finally bridges the trivial distance that was keeping them apart, and kisses Taewoong - swallowing the remaining words, all of Taewoong’s pain. And Taewoong holds still, wincing, allowing Myungie to take everything from him./

/When Myungie finally pulls back with a huff of breath, his face is flushed, and his eyes are fixated on Taewoong. Taewoong looks at him searchingly, trying to understand what Myungie might be feeling, thinking. But before he can find an answer, he is pulled forward again, and soon they are lost in each other./

/As Taewoong holds Myungie close, he thinks to himself./

[T: I wish I could do it all over.

This whole life. 

I guess that’s not possible though.

And, I bet you wouldn’t do the same for me. 

That’s fine. 

It’s just

how I feel.

You said it…we’re all powerless.

But,

so what!]

T: ?

Hey - stop for a second.

M: Sigh… 

Fu-u-uck, Taewoong.

You’re killing me!

/The two are on the floor - Myungie had already removed his sweater, had pinned Taewoong underneath him - and is in the process of showering him with kisses - when Taewoong suddenly interjects./

T: So, you contacted Seungho first? 

But why’d you make it sound like…he texted you?

M: Did I? 

T: Yeah, 

you did. 

You said, he approached you. 

/Taewoong can be remarkably self-possessed when he’s fixated on something. Myungie grudgingly backs off, but cannot resist mussing up Taewoong’s hair one more time. Indeed, it looks like he’s sneakily changed Taewoong’s parting back to what it was before their falling out…/

M: Dude, it’s the truth!

He approached me for advice recently, but

We’ve been chatting since his college entrance exam!

T: Wait, what. 

/Now Taewoong is sitting all the way back up, and Myungie is on the defensive./

T: !!

Are you the reason he flunked his test??

M: Uh, I don’t think so?

T: …Are you the reason he didn’t try a second time??

M: U-Uh…

T: What did you say you’d give him in exchange for fixing us up??

/By now Taewoong’s head was so full of hot air that it had grown to nearly the size of a blimp. Flustered, Myungie can only gasp,/

M: …Oh, look!

…Walls!

/Taewoong is unimpressed./

T: You know Myungie, 

you may not lie, 

but you sure as hell don’t tell the whole truth.

/Myungie, who can also latch hard onto something if he puts his mind to it, immediately notices Taewoong’s choice of words. His eyebrows shoot up./

M: What? 

…

Damn, when’d you get so slick! Now you’ve said it twice…

Care to make it a third time? 

/Taewoong, who is vigorously trying to fix his parting, roars back,/

T: What the flaming fuck are you talking about - 

Oh. 

/And then, with a great deal of caution, he intones,/

“Myungie” - 

/But before he could add either verb or object to that sentence, the subject in question leaps up and tackles him to the floor again./

T: Alright!! 

Alright, that’s enough!

Get some self-control, 

before we start another urban legend!

M: Oh? Do you like me that much? Ha! Ha!

/What will happen to these two? Did we actually resolve anything? Pan out to the exterior of Apartment 2-34 as the snow continues to fall, enveloping the not-so-silent night./

[Epilogue!]

/We are now watching a video on Instagram:/

[Did you KNOW? 

Dark history of APL Boys…]

/In this frantic edit, we see snippets of what might be a strong contender for the worst music video ever made: male idols in an assortment of outrageous costumes and horse ears (they may as well be devil horns) hamming it up on a rainbow-themed set./

???: Back back we’re back again

???: Legend of the horse, 

we’re back again

???: Second comeback and we’re steady as can be,

???: lighting up the sky with our sick beats!

/An ostentatious rapper, who shall remain nameless - he does look an awful lot like Taewoong though - is sitting on a metallic throne with fake CG dragons towering behind him. He is wearing a leopard-print muffler and spiked jacket, throwing heart fingers, rapping English lyrics that he clearly did not write, and…yeah, it’s not good./

Taewoong: We’re heels down, and chest high,

Stick the landing 

and fly,

“Hackamores” on our side,

Haters can move to the left side - 

J: Oh, 

I’ve got a new DM.

/Putting this extraordinary cinematic masterwork aside, Jinnie checks on her DMs. She sees that she has received a new message from someone she doesn’t know, a “Catlover013…”. Curious, she takes a peek at the contents - and immediately regrets it./

[Catlover013: Fufufu…digging up dark histories about innocent people for views and likes? 

How about paying for the meal you ruined with the proceeds?]

/Jinnie panics and throws her phone down as if it had been covered with spiders!! There are only a handful of people who know what transpired on that day at 3 Sisters, and she thinks she knows which long-haired daredevil sent her this veiled threat!/

J: GASP.

C: Jinnie! Christ Almighty…

/Chaeyeon sighs. As usual, she and Yoona are left to pick up the pieces after one of Jinnie’s failed recon missions, and are now hustling to make their deadline!/

C: Sigh…

I just hope you’re reflecting on leaving the footage behind again…

J: Gulp!! How could I have been so careless??

My only fault was loving Malik too ardently,

don’t be angry, my pearl!

C: Your “only” fault? Wow!! That’s a reach. 

Now quit whingeing and get over here!

See this post? 

We have to polish it up by Monday’s deadline, and you promised something good - but wait, why am I doing this! 

You’re the webmaster!

J: B-But Chae, 

this is your baby too - 

C: Since when!!

/Yoona, who looks like she’s dressed for a slumber party rather than a last-minute coworking marathon, gives her bickering besties an appraising look. She seems to want to bring something up, but decides against it. Probably, they will just ignore her again./

C: Some of us have actual goals in life, like becoming Prosecutor General - 

J: Are you planning to arrest me -

Y: …

Guess they won’t need these…

/She says, looking regretfully at the polaroids that she had taken of Taewoong and Myungie and sulking to herself. She puts them into her shiny pencil box with a snap of plastic, never to be seen again…or??/

[Really, the end?]