Chapter Text
The morning greeted him with the natural sound of cars on the street. The radio of the apartment next door, like every day, recited the most relevant news of that morning in a volume loud enough to wake up the neighbors of the adjoining apartments, who without fail began to hit the walls, ceilings and floors of their apartments for a little morning peace.
A ray of light passed through the window and rested calmly on his skin, gently coaxing him to leave the sheets and start the day.
— "Kim Dokja. Kim Dokja."
This had been one of the best nights of sleep he had had in months.
Kim Dokja turned over to the other side to sleep for a few more minutes, satisfied with the faint scent of floral fabric softener on his pillow.
— "Kim Dokja".
What would that sound be?
He didn't think it was important.
Finally, in a louder, more authoritative tone, the voice insisted.
— "Kim Dokja. It's late."
His heart hit a hard beat, sinking into his chest.
Confused, he raised half of his body and rubbed his eyes lazily as he tilted his head to the side.
It hadn't been a dream after all, the apparition was still there and he was sure that if it wasn't for the partial transparency of his body, Yoo Joonghyuk's shadow would devour him completely from that position.
—"Good morning, Joonghyuk-ssi." — He said, dragging his words. —"Were you trying to wake me up?"
Yoo Joonghyuk nodded.
The protagonist's attention left him to concentrate on a specific point in the room, the one where he usually hung small notes that made constant reference to Ways of Survival and rarely, homework. In the same way, a few drawings could be seen that, although they were far from being professional work, were in the same way inspired by that novel.
He really hoped that this visual information would be filtered by the system, just like the content of the novel because he would have no way to explain the hundreds of drawings -mostly failed attempts in form of paper balls or works in progress- of the protagonist on his desk. He would make sure to put them away later.
With this, an old memory came to his mind. The sensation that it provoked came to be savored somewhat bittersweet. At that time, Kim Dokja did not know of another protagonist who was not part of a literary classic. Kings, princes and knights plagued the stories.
For some reason, his mother had been a faithful reader and collector of fairy tales. If he had been a bit more mature back then, he would have realized the obvious reason behind it.
They all had one thing in common: the prince always rescued the princess and the knight always defeated the dragon, even kings ruled righteously.
They were all happy endings.
And at some point he wondered.
'Will I also be able to have a happy ending?'
He did not consider himself a greedy person, he only asked for a place to return to after a long day and open arms to receive him, a promise to stay by his side.
Shaking her head from side to side, Kim Dokja reined his thoughts and walked out of bed and headed for the refrigerator. There was nothing better than a balanced breakfast in the morning…right?
Unfortunately, there was nothing he could use to do anything fast. Those people had gone and left only a couple of eggs, leftovers from days ago and the occasional spoiled vegetable right at the bottom.
The smartest thing would be to go down for something simple at the convenience store near the apartment.
He was about to walk out the door when a huge figure blocked his path.
—"Will you go back to that place?" — Yoo Joonghyuk asked with a stern look on him.
—"I'll go get something quick. I won't be long."
Of course, Yoo Joonghyuk's face was not satisfied with his answer. He had a frown on his face and with a single glance he sent him back to the kitchen.
Kim Dokja opened the refrigerator door again, showing the inside of him with open arms.
—"You see? There is nothing".
The protagonist checked the contents carefully, eventually breaking the silence to give a list of ingredients that Kim Dokja pulled out of the fridge and off the shelves as quickly as possible.
—"But I don't know how to cook!" — He exclaimed as he washed the rice in the sink.
He didn't give him time to protest further. Kim Dokja took his aunt's apron and began to do as he was told.
— “When you finish cutting this, cut the onions.”
They were using leftovers from a previous meal to make, what Kim Dokja guessed from the ingredients, an omurice.
—"Wait, you're going too fast!"
Yoo Joonghyuk threw the instructions and criticized Kim Dokja's methods until they came as close as he would to being in charge of the kitchen. He learned quickly, but he still had a long way to go to reach the height of the protagonist.
He guessed that this would be the closest he would get to tasting Yoo Joonghyuk's food, which he had only been able to imagine from the explicit descriptions that tls123 wrote at the time.
Seeing it this way, he couldn't wait to see the end result.
Cheer up, Dokja! He just had to endure a few more minutes of Yoo Joonghyuk's spartan cooking class to taste the fruit of his efforts.
—"It's not that bad..."— He said, admiring his creation.
For someone who didn't have a strong background in cooking, making something as simple as an omurice from scratch gave him a mild satisfaction. Ignoring the multiple holes and uncooked parts, he declared this mission a complete success.
— "It can be better".
He was sure he was going to say something, it's just that when Kim Dokja turned to do so, Yoo Joonghyuk had a faint smile on his face.
— "Kim Dokja, won't you go to school today?"
He seemed to be so absorbed in the taste of his breakfast that he completely forgot what time it was. If he didn't get out now, he would be late for first period.
He looked at his breakfast and popped the last bite into his mouth before leaving. He would wash the dish when he got home from school.
[ “Oldest Dream” ]
[ Status: Satisfied ]