➴ downtown。

@kim mingyu. In his line of work, Jisung had met many types of people, so the remark from the other male hadn't came as a shock, but only caused the smaller to let out a half-hearted chuckle, his nose scrunching up from the smell of dirt. The words going right over Jisung's head, he had heard them, but he didn't pay any mind to them at all. He had come this far but wasn't about to give up now. "Gotta be to keep the job." Was all he said, when Jisung had set his eyes on something it was hard for him to give up on obtaining it, no matter what it was. So when he heard the answers firm denial in wanting to do the interview he hadn't paid much mind to it, it was the following words that Jisung clung too.

"I'd offer to disagree." Jisung said he had been just as firm and steady with his voice. The prospect of his own work having been one of the only ways to get him to step out of his own comfort zone. If it was any normal situation, Jisung wouldn't have bothered past the first dm on Instagram, and left it there. "News articles are very much biased, and they love to paint things for a good rouse." He replied. He knew how easily the words could be turned around on him, but if he had to argue, he would say that his bias had been in the convicts favor. Had things gone well.

His hand dropped to his side, confused a bit when the hard hat was placed on his head, but it had only spurred Jisung's curiousity more, the guy in front of him certainly didn't seem that bad. Sure he was a bit harsh with his words but there had been more of a sarcastic undertone in their exchanges in messages, and then now he showed that he had at least cared about others, in subtle ways. "No." He shook his head, attempting to straighten his stance a bit, his shorter stature being hard to be taken seriously sometimes. "What you say may be true, but I know that there's got to be a reason behind it. There are plenty of actual bad people out there not being punished for their crimes, so.. i don't know.." he paused for a moment to take a deep breath. "I like to see things from a different light."

@han jisung. "I wasn't asking because I wanted to know- Wait. J.one. Why does that sound familiar..." The man dusted with dirt and debris poked the inside of his cheek as his tired eyes scanned the man before him. Realization dawned on him when he remembered the brief exchange in his dms the night before. His lips thinned. "Scammer. Wow, stalking my socials wasn't enough, you had to find out where I worked, too? You journalists are persistent, aren't you?" He shook his head in disapproval as he tossed the hammer to the side of Jisung's feet, the object clinking aggressively against the other dangerous metals the journalist probably hadn't noticed yet. The site was an active safety hazard and the small male stood out like a sore thumb.

"The answer is still no. Stop believing all the Reddit posts on me and read the official news articles. I'm not someone you want to be around." His own words stung like acid on an open wound. Mingyu thought 6 years would wipe away the lingering bitterness he felt since the day of his arrest, but after coming home to find some of his friends abandoned him including his ex, it was hard to believe that it wasn't his fault. Could he blame them, though? It wasn't like he was a model citizen. He was known to be quick to anger.

"I used my fist. I broke the law. I put the kid in the hospital. Bad people deserve to be punished." He turned away from Jisung's outstretched hand before placing a hard hat on him. "End of story. Watch your step on the way out. Get crushed here and you won't be able to write any articles." Placing a firm hand on Jisung's head, he gave it a few hard pats, his jaw clenching to keep his emotions at bay.

@kim mingyu. Jisung wouldn't like to admit that he was desperate to get an interview from the guy known as Kim Mingyu but he was. In every sense of the manner, he needed more articles to go into his portfolio and this particular case had intrigued him a lot, it was something that had felt a little personal to him as he was also bullied in high school, and this guy had went to jail for defending his sisters against her bullies. He wanted to shed a new light on the manner since everyone had been painting it in such a bad light. At least, that's what Jisung had hoped to gain from the interview anyway.

Showing up to the place of work of someone he had been potentially interested in interviewing wasn't new for him, but it was definitely a stretch. Jisung had been a man of research and just as easily as he was able to get the other information from the guy, he had found his work. If seeing him in person didn't change his mind, Jisung would surely give up his efforts... eventually. He knew when he would be wasting his time chasing something he'd never get.

Once he reached the site and had asked one of the workers about Mingyu, Jisung looked up at the taller man blinking with a small smile, flinching lightly at the harsh words, stumbling a bit he offered his hand out for the other. "I'm Jisung.. or J.one." He said, introducing himself, if he was finally talking to the man in person he thought it would be best to be on a first name basis.

@han jisung. Mingyu didn’t ask to be in the sweltering summer heat. He didn’t ask to be worked to the bone until every fiber in his muscle burned and get paid close to nothing. He never meant life to go the way it did, but he would do it again in a heartbeat if it meant keeping his sister safe. Minjoo was his life and the only relative that he bothered caring about. The only reason that kept him waking up every single day to drag himself to the construction site despite his aching muscles and unpleasant coworkers. He groaned and arched his back to get rid of whatever tension he could before taking a step back to examine his work. “Not bad for 27000 won an hour.”

Just as he was about to get back to work, his phone rang. The fifth call since this morning from a nobody journalist who wanted to interview him about his case. It was dumb. One interview wasn’t going to give him his life back. It was just a waste of time and he’d already wasted two years of it he’ll never get back. “One more and I’ll change my number, holy. Why won’t he give it up?” He sighed as he heard another site worker call out to him saying someone was here to see him. “What now?” The man groaned under his breath and turned around to see an unfamiliar man much shorter than he was. “Who the are you?”