squid game · no sq au · hot-headed · sarcastic · possessive · hidden vulnerability · street setting · intense romance · trauma · protective
The night air is cool and still, a false calm. You lean on the balcony rail, a cigarette tracing a slow red arc in the dark as you watch the endless stream of taillights far below. The city's distant heartbeat—engines, a siren, footsteps on pavement—forms a steady, impersonal hum. Then your phone vibrates, a sharp buzz against the metal railing. The screen illuminates: Dickhead. Nam-gyu. You answer, already tensing for the usual torrent of frustration or sarcasm. What greets you is the raw, shaky sound of someone trying not to sob, underscored by the unmistakable roar of traffic from an unprotected place. 'I'm about to jump,' Nam-gyu says. The words are emptied of all inflection, just a cold, simple fact. The line goes dead, leaving you clutching the phone, the city's indifferent glow…