Chapter Text
After thoroughly checking a few different walls, they finally came across one with the number ‘8’ carved on it. Without wasting more time, the two men hurriedly wandered around the maze for a bit until they found another safe zone.
It was as Kim Soleum had suspected.
The number on the safe zone’s door was the same as the carving on the wall.
“4/8”
As Choi was preparing to pull the door open, the agent suddenly spoke up, “Let’s be more careful.” He couldn’t help but recall their strange experience at the previous safe zone. Although Kim Soleum wasn’t sure yet if the strangeness from those people had been caused by contamination, it was safer to assume the worst.
The safe zones may serve as a resting place to escape from monsters but the humans inside were unpredictable.
Choi immediately understood and nodded. Wordlessly, he pulled the door open and stepped inside with the agent closely following behind him. Once again, all eyes in the room shifted towards their direction. Before Kim Soleum could even scan the room properly, a voice suddenly called out, “Grapes!”
At that moment, Kim Soleum locked eyes with a familiar figure who was already quickly making his way towards him.
“Sunbae—“
“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?” The senior agent asked worriedly with his hands grasping Kim Soleum’s arms.
“Subae-nim, I’m alright.” Kim Soleum reassured him with a smile.
The senior agent looked relieved upon hearing his words but his eyes still continued to scan the other agent’s figure to confirm his physical state. After determining that nothing seemed wrong with his junior, his gaze landed on the man next to Kim Soleum.
“You….” The agent’s brows furrowed upon meeting Choi’s gaze.
“Hello.” Choi’s lips slightly curved up as he greeted him. “You must be Grapes-ie’s senior?”
Instead of responding, the agent quickly pulled Kim Soleum over, practically shoving his junior behind him. He protectively stood in front of Kim Soleum, sending a vicious glare towards Choi who remained unmoved.
Kim Soleum sensed the growing tension between the two men and hurriedly spoke up, “Agent, can we talk for a second?”
Fortunately, the agent agreed almost instantly and after sparing one last glance towards Choi, the duo quietly made their way towards the corner of the room. When they were far enough from the others, the agent called out, “Grapes—“
“I’m really fine!” Kim Soleum interrupted him, hurriedly explaining, “After we separated, I found myself here and there was nobody around except the Daydream employee…. so we agreed to cooperate with each other for now.”
For the first few seconds, the agent didn’t respond and stayed silent, as if he was still lost in thought.
“That’s it?” He asked.
“Actually, he—“ Kim Soleum paused. He originally wanted to mention the part where he was injured and had to drink a C-grade healing potion offered by Choi but suddenly felt like it was unnecessary to do so. Instead, he decided to tell the agent about the red string along with what he’d discovered about the darkness so far.
The agent silently listened to Kim Soleum with his expression turning more serious as the time passed.
“So…. even if we’ve found each other now, you’re telling me that you’ll still be sticking to him after we leave this safe zone?”
Kim Soleum didn’t say another word, only flashing him with a small smile in response.
“Hah…” The agent sighed, seemingly frustrated as he ran a hand through his hair. “Fine. I’ll go along with whatever plan you have in mind.” As much as he despised the idea of his junior agent having to run around with a bastard from Daydream, Kim Soleum had already reassured him that Choi was currently incapable of pulling anything against him.
Kim Soleum understood the resentment most Bureau agents had towards Daydream and chose not to comment on it.
“Agent, what about you? What happened after we separated?”
“Ah.” The agent gestured towards the other side of the room where Kim Soleum spotted someone curled up against the wall with their eyes closed.
“I found a civilian wandering around alone with a lantern. At that time, he was being chased by a monster and ran straight into me. I had intended to rescue him but the monster suddenly ran right past us.” Kim Soleum carefully listened and understood rather quickly. The agent continued, “I was confused at first but after wandering around with the civilian for a while, I realised that having another person and a lantern with you might be a way to stay safe from monsters.”
“You’re right.” Kim Soleum nodded, his gaze wandering off towards where Choi was.
The Daydream employee was busy conversing with the two other people occupying this room. Like Choi, the duo were both dressed in suits and wore animal masks. At first, Kim Soleum had suspected them to be Choi’s teammates like the woman wearing the rabbit mask he’d met earlier but his suspicions faded quickly after seeing the two employees walking off.
‘They don’t seem close…..’
Then again, Kim Soleum wasn’t exactly knowledgeable when it came to the relationships between employees working at Daydream.
Once the two other employees had left his sight, Choi pressed his back against the wall with a hand shoved into his pocket. He rummaged for a bit before pulling out two items that Kim Soleum could recognise right away. It was a box of cigarettes and a lighter.
“Those two Daydream employees….” Kim Soleum’s voice trailed off, his gaze still fixed on Choi. “Did they cause you any trouble?” He asked, watching as Choi lit up a cigarette before placing it between his lips.
“They were staring at us cautiously but didn’t try to approach.”
“I see….” As Kim Soleum spoke, Choi pulled the cigarette away and exhaled.
“I also noticed that they seem to have their own lantern.”
“It’s because they’re here for work.”
“I thought so.” The agent didn’t sound surprised at all.
At that moment, Choi looked up and immediately locked eyes with Kim Soleum. His lips suddenly curved up into a sly smile. Beneath the tiger mask, there was a certain expression on his face that the agent couldn’t quite read. Kim Soleum felt too flustered to maintain eye contact and quickly averted his attention back to the agent next to him.
“I’ll explain the plan I have in mind to you and the other two people accompanying us.”
· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·
‘Fuck…. Seriously…..!!!!’ Kim Soleum could only swallow his screams, repeatedly cursing in his mind as he ran.
In order to confirm his speculations, they had to find the edge of the maze but because they were wandering around in a group of four, it attracted a creature over which resulted in an intense chase. All three of them were experienced with running away from monsters and could handle being chased for a while but they couldn’t afford to drag this out any longer. There was a civilian with them— the agent’s partner.
They had to find the edge of the maze quickly.
Kim Soleum led the group, running as fast as he could.
Once they made it to an area that was divided into two directions, he decided to try his luck and turned left without thinking. The group continued to run for a bit more until Kim Soleum spotted a wall in front of them.
“Don’t stop and keep running straight!” He shouted.
Behind them, he could hear loud squealing that belonged to something inhuman trying to catch up to them.
Kim Soleum gritted his teeth as the distance between him and the wall became closer. Right as he was about to crash into it, the area suddenly shifted around them and the wall instantly disappeared out of sight. He abruptly stopped running and stood weakly, feeling as if he was about to collapse at any second.
“Grapes… The wall….” His senior agent struggled to speak through heavy breathing.
Kim Soleum turned his head to look behind him but couldn’t find the monster that had been chasing them. Instead, all he could find was another wall.
This outcome confirmed his speculations.
While wandering in this darkness, Kim Soleum found it strange whenever the maze shifted. It always occurred once he hit a dead end and was facing a wall. He thought it might’ve just been a coincidence because the maze still shifted sometimes despite him not being anywhere near a wall.
Later, he started to think deeper into it and realised something. What if the maze was just one large space made up of different rooms? If one person hits the edge of a room, they would be transferred to another room, bringing along other people in the same room with them.
In other words, the rooms weren’t “shifting” at all— They were the ones moving across the rooms.
In an unknown space full of walls with only pitch black to welcome them, how could one realise that they were the ones moving through the rooms?
And so, Kim Soleum made a gamble.
He decided to run into the edge of the maze to see for himself.
“Fuck…. This is insane.” He heard Choi mutter under his breath.
Kim Soleum couldn’t even take his time celebrating this moment as it was only a matter of time before the monster of this area found them. He wiped the sweat off his chin and spoke hoarsely, “Let’s split up now.”
It was what they had agreed on. If Kim Soleum’s speculations were confirmed then they would immediately split up because it was safer to travel in pairs instead of a group. They had been chased by a monster already and barely managed to escape it earlier.
The senior agent nodded and as he got ready to leave with the civilian, he couldn’t help but send one last look towards Choi.
“Don’t worry, dear agent. This lowly company employee will take care of Grapes-ie well.” Choi smiled as he swung an arm around Kim Soleum’s shoulder, startling the agent.
The senior agent didn’t speak a word to Choi, only sending him a warning look before averting his attention back to Kim Soleum.
“Grapes, I’ll wait for you at the center of the maze if I arrive first.”
Kim Soleum nodded.
“I’ll wait for you too, Sunbae-nim.”
“See you later.”
With that, they went their separate ways.
· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·
“Are you close with that agent?” Choi asked curiously as they walked, breaking the silence between them.
“He’s my senior. We’re from the same team.” Kim Soleum answered honestly.
“But are you two close?”
“….”
He suddenly felt the urge to hit Choi with the lantern again.
“Did you know those two Daydream employees from earlier?” Kim Soleum decided to avoid answering by asking his own question instead.
“Oh, them? They were from a different squad.”
It was just as Kim Soleum had guessed.
Choi continued, “What? Are you interested in actually joining Daydream? Is that why you’re asking?”
“I’m not interested.” Kim Soleum sighed. “Why are you trying to recruit me anyway?” He’d never heard of a Daydream employee trying to convince an agent into joining their company but then again, he’d also never heard of an agent working with a Daydream employee either— well, this was a completely different story though. He had no choice in this and it was only temporary to begin with.
“Well, let me ask you this then—“ Choi moved closer towards the agent as they walked. “—Why are you working at the Bureau in the first place?” The question caught Kim Soleum off guard. He was so thrown off that his steps paused abruptly.
The agent was about to open his mouth to answer but suddenly pressed his lips into a thin line instead.
Why was he working at the Bureau?
He hadn’t considered such a thing before.
After escaping Daydream with the help of another agent, Kim Soleum thought that he could help people while gathering information for himself— he thought that if he continued doing this long enough, he might just find a way to go back home.
But in the back of his mind, there were doubts.
‘No… Really…. Working at the Bureau is much better than Daydream.’ He told himself.
“Working at the Bureau is nice…..” He answered. “I like helping people.”
Choi stared at him in silence.
There was an odd look on his face that Kim Soleum couldn’t quite recognise.
“Agent….” Choi spoke up softly. “You—“
At that moment, a loud scream interrupted his words.
“H-HELP….!!! HELP ME!”
Kim Soleum was the first to move, immediately making his way towards the direction of the scream.
“Wait a minute—“ Choi had wanted to stop him but the agent had already run off. “Damn it.” He cursed, quickly rushing after Kim Soleum.
After running for a few minutes, they spotted a civilian who had screamed for help. He was being chased by the monster that was practically hovering over him. Once his bloodshot eyes met theirs, he started to run towards their direction and cried out, “Please help me!! Please!!”
“Run over here and grab onto my hand, okay??” Kim Soleum shouted with one of his arms extended.
The civilian continued to run and did as he was told, grabbing onto the agent’s hand. Kim Soleum wasted no time to pull the civilian along as he ran.
‘Where is it? Where is it???’ The agent kept turning corners, anxiously looking for a safe zone or the edge of the maze.
Eventually, a door came into view.
“A safe zone!” He shouted, almost wanting to cry out of happiness but the relief only lasted for a brief second. “Get in!” Kim Soleum hurriedly shoved the civilian and Choi inside before shutting the door with a bang, locking himself out.
They had shaken off the monster by repeatedly turning corners but it wouldn’t take long before it caught up to him again.
“Agent Grapes!!” Choi yelled, repeatedly banging against the door with his hands. “Fuck. Why can’t I—“
“You can’t leave the safe zone without your partner.” The civilian who had been shoved inside the room had already fainted. “Stay here for a bit, okay?” Kim Soleum spoke calmly but his voice slightly shook.
“What about you?! You—“
“I’ll be fine.” The agent lifted the lantern in hand. “I still have this with me.”
“But you don’t have a partner with you….”
“I can still run, don’t worry.” Kim Soleum flashed him a reassuring smile.
“Agent…..” Choi sent the agent a glare. “Find a partner and come back.”
Kim Soleum shook his head, raising a finger to point at the sign on the door and said, “The capacity of this safe zone is two.” The sound of the monster approaching gradually became louder. He continued, “Just get to the center of the maze and don’t wait for me, okay?”
“Agent—“
“If you see my colleague there, tell him to not wait for me.” Kim Soleum turned around.
“Agent!” Choi continued banging against the door, helplessly watching as Kim Soleum prepared to run. In the end, he could only voice out, “Don’t you dare fucking die! You hear me??”
There was no response.
Kim Soleum had completely disappeared out of his sight.
At that moment, Choi suddenly realised something. He quickly lifted a hand to check his ring finger, expecting to see the red string Kim Soleum had tied but there was nothing.
Choi’s brows furrowed, confused as to how it had disappeared. To his knowledge, the red string wasn’t supposed to vanish unless….
His eyes widened.
“Fuck.” Choi wanted to laugh. “Agent Grapes….”
That bastard had cut the red string without telling him.