Chapter Text
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The alarm was going off. It's annoying and it drilled straight into your head but if you tune it out enough it actually makes for a bearable background noise.
Wait.
Why was the alarm going off?
"Shit."
Woonhak just about threw himself from the bed, vision spinning as he adjusted back to reality.
"I'm going to be late!"
He saw Donghyun frozen from where he was standing, holding his hands up in defense. "I've been waking you up for a minute. Don't say I didn't try."
Woonhak nearly pulled all his hair off. "Donghyun hyung, can you please put my bag and coat outside?"
"Done. I also put your shoes out." Donghyun gave him a thumbs up.
"Thank you, thank you!" Just like that he rushed to grab whatever fresh clothes he could pull out of the cabinet before running to the bathroom.
"I'm going ahead, okay? Don't forget to brush your teeth!" Donghyun called out.
"Got it! Thanks, Hyung!"
Today was an important day for Woonhak. He had two class presentations that morning which he had been telling himself he just had to pull off before going on happily with the rest of his day. Now he was going to be late for the first one. It just cannot be.
He took a quick shower and managed to brush his teeth without stabbing his gums just like his roommate had told him. Woonhak then paced for a few seconds before remembering Donghyun had already brought his stuff out of their room. He grabbed everything and put on his shoes before heading outside.
Woonhak can only pray that the last bus heading to the university was still running when he got to the stop.
It was not.
He checked his watch. Ten minutes left before first class. Their professor usually arrives late for an additional ten minutes but Woonhak was not about to take the chance.
He did the next best thing he knew and made a run for it on the sidewalks, clutching his bag for dear life, and trying to ignore how his shoes that day were totally going to get him sore blisters in his feet.
By the time he arrived in the lecture hall, gasping for air and his hair sticking out from all directions, most of the class were already present. The professor was still nowhere to be seen.
Choi Minje, Woonhak's best friend, was already waving at him from the middle row. He saved him a seat, at least.
"Hey, thanks." Woonhak dumped his things on the empty seat next to him, managing to greet Minje breathlessly as he sat down.
"I didn't make it to the bus either," Minje said. "We're lucky the old man's never on time."
"Yeah, I wasn't about to take a risk today." Woonhak shook his head, chuckling. He definitely meant to take a risk, just not this morning. "Did you print what I asked for?"
"Absolutely." Minje rummaged through the envelope inside his bag before handing Woonhak a thin stack of papers neatly put together using what seemed to be Minje's new-found obsession, a star-shaped paperclip.
Their professor arrived just then, wasting no time as he called for the first presenter to head up front.
"Wish me luck." Woonhak sighed before jogging down the steps, clearing his throat as he did.
Safe to say, Woonhak did not butcher his presentation in the end. He even managed to get complimented for his clear and chronologically accurate rendering of details. All those nights of idly searching through the internet just a few minutes before he slept and skimming through some suspiciously outdated books in the library seemed to have paid off.
When the last presenter finished theirs, Woonhak along with the rest of the class immediately darted for the door. He had an hour of free time before his next class and Minje had to rush to his in the building across, leaving Woonhak by himself and not before they agreed to meet back with each other for lunch.
He felt like everything was going in his favor that morning and so Woonhak gave himself the space to relax and breathe. He decided to sit by the grounds, earphones already plugged to his phone as he listened to whatever was already playing from his playlist.
They're now in their last semester of freshman year which made the days feel like it was going faster. The first semester had been a struggle with Woonhak finding himself in a constant state of agitation and sleepless nights. It's not like he wanted to but it came with the thing.
The Big Unfathomable Thing, he liked to call it.
Woonhak might say he was a creature of habit. By that, he meant the things which make up his life and who he is never fails to find him in the right place, right time, and especially in the wrong ones.
It all began during his last week as a high school student.
Their school had been lucky enough to get chosen from the roster of the district to participate in an educational tour held once every three years by YR Corporation, the high-grossing biotechnology and scientific research conglomerate currently dominating the country.
Woonhak had been interested enough in the advancements of technology to not skip the tour, opting to go there instead of his scheduled university open house at that time.
Looking back now, maybe he should have just gone to the open house as he originally planned.
It started off as your usual field trip set-up. Imagine a bunch of kindergartners who are visiting the zoo for the first time, except they were all teenagers and had a ridiculous inclination to anything remotely considered a trend. That's what it felt like stepping inside the corporation's headquarters.
They'd been ushered by a team of security from the entrance where they were then greeted by none other than the scientist Yoo Ryungjae, Nobel Prize laureate, whose research for the last two decades has greatly contributed to the rapid changes seen in the field of medicine. He also happened to be the only son of the founder of YR Corporation and sole heir to the whole foundation.
Everything was almost magic, nearly fictional for its outlandishness particularly to a high school student's eye. Something you're only supposed to see in manhwa or films.
Then the incident occurred.
On their way to a restricted portion of the laboratory with Yoo Ryungjae leading them at the front and was citing an anecdote to their group, a temporary emergency lock down was announced.
Woonhak vividly remembered the red alarm lights and warning siren followed by the startled screams and shouts of his classmates. Too late did Yoo Ryungjae realize, still completely absorbed in his story, that the bunch of teenagers had begun to scramble to their feet in panic, stumbling and toppling over each other on the narrow hall they were passing through.
Woonhak then found himself staring up at the scientist himself, awed and shocked to be even getting that close to him. Then he remembered a quick, sharp sensation that reached the back of his neck, like a needle had pricked him. He remembered making a startled sound, not so loud but loud enough for the scientist to hear amidst the commotion.
Yoo Ryungjae looked at him worriedly before rushing to the group behind them.
When Woonhak reached for his neck, there was a smear of blood on one of his fingers. A trivial amount, nothing too serious. He briefly wondered what caused it before going to help his friends.
Some minutes later, the siren and lights stopped. It was eventually announced as a false alarm. He heard Yoo Ryungjae commenting that it has happened before and that they need not to worry about anything. Woonhak then shrugged off the whole ordeal until they finished the whole tour.
It wasn't until he got back home that Woonhak began to feel odd. His sister had been constantly knocking on his bedroom door, asking and begging for him to tell her about everything from the tour. He shut her off, immediately feeling guilty for the mean act, but he was really beginning to feel ill.
Before all of it, Woonhak considered himself to be fairly healthy. He did not have a bad eyesight, he was not terrible at sports, and he was not particularly vulnerable to viral infections. Aside from your usual cough and cold and seasonal allergies, he interacted with his surroundings just fine.
When he woke up, and he does not even remember going to bed, Woonhak felt terribly feverish. Like a Victorian child dying of the plague, he felt helpless and weak. When he moved, a searing pain spread across his neck. That's when Woonhak noticed the lump where he had first felt the pricking sensation a few hours before. The world spun around him, it made him want to vomit.
He knew their aunt and uncle had been calling him from outside, probably because of dinner. He'll have to tell them sorry for being awful and sour tonight. His sister has stopped bothering him for now and he knew he had a lot to make up for the next day. By then all Woonhak could do was pray to each and all names for it to be over.
The next morning, it felt like it had been nothing. As if he'd just dreamt his whole near-death experience in a lucid manner.
Woonhak recalled trudging up to the bathroom, seeing himself in the mirror and staring at his reflection for a good minute or two. Something was wrong but he could not pinpoint what. And since when did his bathroom mirror become so clear? Why were the pipes too noisy and the whole house was breathing? Why did he feel lighter in his feet?
It came to him in ripples.
When he grabbed the toothbrush, it snapped in half and the remains of the toothpaste he'd been emptying splat all over the faucet. When Woonhak tried to grab his towel hanging from the shower rod, the tension from it just snapped, sending the rod cluttering down the floor.
Since when did he get so strong? Or the objects around him so fragile? Whichever it was, it did not help Woonhak's growing confusion and horror.
Then the insatiable hunger, as if a black hole had begun to live inside his stomach. He even started eating heaps of their aunt's version of stir-fried pork that he secretly powered through when eating on the days it was served on their table.
The biggest surprise came on the night of their high school graduation.
Woonhak had been asked by their uncle to buy a bundle of spring onions, the one ingredient he forgot for the dish he was cooking, in the 24/7 corner store on the other street. He was on his way back when a stranger dressed in black clothes and black mask suddenly attacked him from behind.
Except he wasn't attacked.
By the time he blinked his eyes open, the mugger was already struggling and screaming in pain under Woonhak's chokehold. He instantly let go of the stranger and even had the politeness to apologize profusely. What the hell had just happened?
He went back home with a horrified expression on his face. Their aunt and uncle simply looked at him with concern before Woonhak excused himself up to the rooftop seeing as dinner was still being prepared.
Woonhak enjoyed sitting on the concrete rooftop railings. That was until a sudden wind knocked him, sending him over the falling edge. He thought he was going to die and he knew they were going to report it as self-inflicted or tragically unfortunate. But that's when Woonhak discovered these white threads keeping him from falling head first on the ground three stories below the house.
He struggled to get up but the threads, stronger than any rope he has ever encountered, really supported his weight well. Once he recovered from his heart attack, Woonhak then inspected the white threads. It had been difficult to remove from where it was sticking on the concrete. What was it? Where did it come from?
In the same moment, his little sister came bounding on the rooftop saying dinner was ready which startled Woonhak and that's when he heard the sound of spritz. More of the white threads dropped to the ground. He was quick to hide it from his sister and immediately trailed behind her
There was just no way it's coming from where Woonhak thinks it does. No freaking way.
They celebrated his high school graduation over dinner. Once everybody else was asleep, he decided to test his theory.
Woonhak had come up to the rooftop again, the moon showed itself in crescent. It took him a few attempts and some silly hand movements he's never even thought of doing in all his life before it worked. He almost sent himself down the ground once more because of sheer and utter surprise.
It wasn't just sturdy white threads. Upon closer inspection, they resembled webs. Spider webs, specifically. Fine threads that if bound together created a silk-like texture which held itself better than most ropes. And Woonhak was producing it from his wrists. How was that possible?
It's not supposed to be, was the thing.
But one from midnight to sunrise of frantic researching on the internet and clicking on countless news articles, tabloids, and forums, Woonhak was able to come up with one speculative answer to his bizarre situation: radioactive spider experiment.
It wasn't all that hard to trace it back to the YR Corporation incident. To Woonhak, it made sense. Or at least he tried to make it make sense in his head. It checks out with what happened to his neck, the symptoms after that, and now.
He just developed spider senses and the ability to shoot webs. What the fuck?
Once summer vacation fully rolled around, Woonhak was already halfway through mastering his new skills. He eventually gained the confidence to swing around using the webs albeit through an injurious adrenaline-fueled trial and error method.
He learned early on that this was not a thing, a phenomenon that any person was used to. If he was found out, Woonhak knew it'd be straight to a covert facility for him where he'd be experimented on until he was completely out of commission, then after which he'd probably still suffer under the curious eyes of people once he gets displayed into a museum. Well, probably. But also Woonhak had watched too many strange films from a young age.
It wasn’t long before Woonhak began to indulge his own daredevil. Every night when the rest of the world had gone quiet, he would sneak out and do all sorts of stuff like swinging and hanging upside down, testing how far the webs could take him or just how far he could climb walls vertically after learning about the electrostatic power that also came with his spider senses.
For a while, Woonhak was more than happy to just be exploring and discovering the potential of his abilities until one time.
A fire had broken out in this old apartment complex near where they lived. He knew them because one old lady who lived there happened to work at this family restaurant Woonhak frequented. It was around midnight when the first explosion occurred. Everyone from their neighborhood had gathered around in panic, the fire department and emergency response team were already at the scene and rescuing those who had been stuck inside.
Woonhak and their uncle had gone to see the commotion, still both in their sleeping wear. When the firemen declared the burning building clear, that’s when he heard something. A weak voice. Somebody was still inside. In a panic of his own, Woonhak had immediately zipped up his jacket and worn the black mask he had with him the entire time before hurriedly excusing himself from their uncle who was still absorbed in observing the scene.
He was trying to locate where the voice had come from. It seemed the person was getting weaker and weaker by the second from inhaling too much of the smoke and Woonhak knew he had to act fast. He just had to hear them one more time. He just needed one more sign.
There was a knock. Somewhere on the third floor.
That’s it.
He circled fast to the back of the building, a spot he knew people would not see him. That’s when Woonhak used his webs to climb up, entering one of the broken windows. Now he just had to find the right unit. The building was slowly collapsing on itself with the fire. Even Woonhak was not immune to the smoke and ash, he immediately started coughing as soon as it hit him.
He dodged an incoming wall falling off and knew he had come to the right unit when the door would not budge.
“Hey! Can you hear me?!” Woonhak shouted. He started kicking down the door. “Come on!”
It took him a while before it broke down.
Tears have begun running from his eyes because of the gas and the heat. Woonhak could not find the person. He went further inside and that’s when he heard a cry from the kitchen.
“Hey.”
It instantly hit Woonhak when he realized it was a kid. Probably around his sister’s age.
He reached out to the little girl who was sobbing and on the verge of passing out. “Hey, hi. You’re okay, you’re safe. I’m going to get you out of here, okay?”
She nodded, grasping at Woonhak’s arm with all the strength left in her.
He did not waste any time and scooped up the little girl, securing her tightly before making their way out. Where he came through was no longer an option as more debris fell within. Woonhak had no choice.
He pushed their way through another unit, it had been a miracle that its windows were completely open and Woonhak made the brave decision.
“We’re going to jump alright? It’s going to be okay, I promise. You just have to hold on to me tight,” he reassured the little girl.
In one breath, Woonhak jumped. One hand embracing the little girl and the other already producing webs for their support on the way down.
The chorused shouting came first then some more.
“What in the world was that?!”
“There’s a child!”
“Somebody help them!”
A member of the emergency response team was already making his way towards them. Woonhak gently put down the little girl who offered him a smile.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. You should be careful, okay?” Woonhak patted her in the head before making a run for the other street.
“Wait! Hey, you! Hey!”
He was not going to take the risk of being found out. After the stunt he just pulled, Woonhak knew questions from the neighbors were going to be wild, rumors were going to spread, and he was better off unidentified.
Woonhak tossed the black mask in a bin before running some more and removed his jacket as he did. Now he just had to go around to get back to their house. If their uncle questioned him where he disappeared to while they were out to inspect the fire, Woonhak merely played it off and said he suddenly had to meet a classmate who had to give back something.
Right after that incident, news spread fast in their area and the entire city really. About the fire in the old apartment complex and about the masked man who went to rescue a trapped child on his own while jumping a few stories down unscathed.
That’s when he also realized how much more he could do with these spider abilities, that he could actually help people with it. The question was how, without other people finding out who he really is? Woonhak then began to search for disguises or costumes that could work. He figured he might as well stick with the spider branding for that matter.
So, for the rest of his summer vacation, Woonhak found himself exploring and experimenting on that until such time he found a suit that worked, something DIY-ed and tailored, to which he immediately began testing out. He started small by catching petty thieves around their neighborhood then he branched out to the nearby places, until Woonhak was brave enough to go out into the big city to help around and play catch with criminals.
People began to talk about the masked vigilante swinging around and helping others particularly during the night. His heroic acts began reaching the local tabloids and soon enough there were posts and discussions about him on the internet as well. It all happened in less than two months and even Woonhak can’t help but wonder how he managed to pull those things off while also preparing for university.
Soon enough, the moniker Spiderman was born.
The public started calling him a local superhero and a headache to law enforcement. Spiderman was idolized by kids, teenagers, and the elderly. Woonhak basked in that knowledge. Even his sister began talking about him which only made his pride soar.
Sightings of Spiderman is always a hit whether it’s on the news or on the internet. So many people looked forward to hearing about the ventures of their local web-slinging superhero. Groups and individuals were always on the lookout to get a shot of him in the air.
To this day, Woonhak has managed to keep it all a secret from the rest of the world.
Then the first semester of college came around which meant Woonhak had to leave for the dorms meaning he also had to leave his sister under the care of their aunt and uncle. He promised to visit as much as he could and that he would call often to check up on her.
The first few weeks were hard. Woonhak itched to get out there and do some action. He missed being playful and silly under the guise of Spiderman, making a fool of criminals he happened to come by that day. But he also knew he had to focus on academic work. He was not just going to miraculously graduate idling by.
The Big Unfathomable Thing sometimes was not so big, with Woonhak pushing it aside in favor of playing a good student.
Then there was another incident, totally unrelated to Spiderman, which happened to Woonhak during orientation week at the beginning of the year.
He met Minje again that morning. They’ve been friends since elementary and always went to the same school. They even managed to take up the same program hence why they were together in most of the classes.
Woonhak was making a beeline for the music club booth, pulling Minje with him. He’s always had his heart set out that he would join the club which was his first love and interest. But something else had caught his eye on the way.
There was a booth littered with pictures and polaroids stapled on its board and there was one photo, the biggest one on their bulletin, a high-speed shot of none other than Spiderman swinging from the N tower.
Even Minje had stopped in his tracks, a big reaction on his face. “Woah.”
“Hey! Are you guys interested in joining the photography club?” That’s when Woonhak was genuinely taken aback, seeing the man who emerged from the side with the biggest grin on his face. He looked like a puppy
“Did you take this shot, Hyung?” Minje, ever the friendly one, pointed at the Spiderman photo they were just staring at.
The man laughed. “Me? Absolutely not! But they’re our newest inspiration for the club. I’m Myung Jaehyun, by the way. You guys should sign up, if you’re interested.”
“Kim Woonhak, what do you think?” Minje nudged him while he was still frozen in place, shamelessly staring at this Myung Jaehyun guy who had turned his attention on him while displaying a smile.
He blinked. “Huh? Uh, yeah, sure. Do we need our own camera? Because I do not have one.”
“Nah. Our club’s got every equipment and we can request more if needed.” Myung Jaehyun then passed them the clipboard to write down their names. Minje wrote his own immediately and Woonhak mechanically followed.
“So, Minje and…” Myung Jaehyun squinted at the clipboard. Woonhak felt the heat rising to his ears knowing he definitely wrote his name in chicken scratch. “...Woonhak! Welcome to the club. Here’s our flyer, you can just scan the QR code to join the chat. Club meeting schedules will be sent there and other details. It’s supposed to be totally chill so you know, no pressure.”
“Thanks, Hyung! We can call you Hyung, right?” Minje smiled and Woonhak fought the urge to smack his best friend.
“Sure thing!” Myung Jaehyun smiled. “I’ll see you two around.”
“Thank you,” Woonhak offered him a polite bow before Minje pulled him away. Before they left entirely, he saw Myung Jaehyun calling someone from the booth telling them they just recruited two new members. He was jumping up and down.
Cute, Woonhak thought.
Just like that, the photography club and one Myung Jaehyun easily became a fixture in Woonhak’s freshman year. They immediately became close with both of them sharing similar interests and humor. It wasn’t a surprise either when during one field day while they were out and about practicing perspective shots, he had told Woonhak that he was a big fan of Spiderman.
This knowledge made Woonhak smile but there also came his inner dilemma.
Because it seemed that he was taking interest in Jaehyun and maybe because Woonhak was trying to settle with the fact that he was also starting to like the guy.
Which was exactly the problem, knowing that Spiderman and the dating scene could never be a good combination. Not that he was trying to score a date with Jaehyun. No. Not at all.
Well, either way, Woonhak has managed so far. Juggling his life as a university student, trying to be a good older brother, fighting crimes while hiding his identity, and perhaps slowly falling in love with Myung Jaehyun day by day though he was also unaware of this yet.
The alarm startled him out of his daydreaming again.
Right. It was his next class already.
Woonhak unplugged his earphones before getting up and brushing off the dust from his pants. He opened his bag, chucking his earphones inside, and inwardly grinning when he saw the familiar red suit folded up. Just one more presentation to go and he was ready to swing around.