Chapter Text
“Just use an illegal website.” she said while crunching down on her lollipop as Kim Dokja looked at her in disgust. One of his favorite web novels was getting a Netflix adaptation and he needed to see how it turned out. To see whether it does a good job of staying true to the novel’s purpose and doesn’t make a mess of things. He was ready to fight random people online on this topic, but that wasn’t the only reason.
“I want to support the author.” Admittedly their situation wasn’t ideal for this and going down the illegal road had crossed his mind more than once, but this was one of the novels he genuinely loved with all his heart. Not that it came close to the absolute devotion he had towards tree ways to survive the apocalypse, but not watching the show from the official source feels like he’d be making a direct attack towards the novel’s author.
“Yea, but we’re running out of emails to run through the free trials, and we can’t afford it right now.” Han sooyoung said matter-of-factly. It had been a while since she last released a novel and Han Sooyoung not getting paid means that Kim Dokja doesn’t get paid either, seeing as he makes a living as her editor. Their savings could still support them for a while, but it was tight and they for sure didn’t have any money to spend on Netflix.
“And that’s exactly why I came up with this plan,” he pointed at the PowerPoint slide currently showing his elaborate-but-not-so-elaborate plan to get close enough to a rich person so they can successfully leech off their Netflix subscription long enough so Kim Dokja can watch his web novel adaptation while also supporting the official source. “So we don’t have to find a new way to get access to free trials. We just need to get close enough to someone with a Netflix subscription until they invite us over someday and we can watch the show.”
“Let’s be real here I love the idea of pestering the rich for absolutely no reason as much as the next guy but Dokja, this is Netflix we’re talking about, do they really need your support? Plus this all sounds like too much work.”
“Think of the ratings, Han Sooyoung, think of the rating.” He said while flipping through the slides for the umpteenth time, reviewing his so-declared flawless plan. “You don’t have to be the one to talk to them either way just try not to get them to hate us too much.”
“You have no idea how this works do you.”
“Well, do you?”
“More than you do at least.” She said while reaching for another lollipop “besides, this all sounds like way too much work and there’s just a month before the show starts streaming”
“Yet another reason to get to it.” Kim Dokja turned to look at her “its not like we have anything better to do. Aren’t you already planning to go people watching to get inspiration for your next novel?”
“Fine, guess that’s true,” she paused “but I’m choosing where we’re going”
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Han Sooyoung had selected a famed café, known for its food and pastries more so than its coffee. It was a hot spot for people wealthy enough to afford its ridiculously high prices and, in this century, being rich usually equals having a Netflix subscription. Which is lucky for Kim Dokja because that meant that he wouldn’t need to look very far to seek what he needed. Plus it wasn’t verry too long from their apartment, being only a few turns down the road. All in all, a pretty solid place to run their operation.
As they made entered the café, Kim dokja was surprised by how few people were inside. Since it was almost diner time, he had expected more people to be there. Not that it mattered verry much, it just narrowed down his options.
He turned to Han Sooyoung who seemed to be looking intently towards the counter where a brown-haired barista was cleaning some cups.
“You know we can’t afford anything they sell right?” he frowned.
“I know that, idiot.” Han Sooyoung said while elbowing him in the ribs “that’s not why I was looking at her.”
“Then why where you looking that way?” Kim Dokja said in confusion.
“I wasn’t looking at the food, dumbass” Han Sooyoung said, unimpressed. She looked like she wanted to say something else, but someone cut her off before she could continue.
“Dokja-sii? Is that you?” the barista from earlier noticed their entrance and called out to them. Now that Kim Dokja thinks about it, she seems kind of familiar.
“Yoo Sangah?” she had been his co-worker from when he worked at minosoft. Granted, they weren’t verry close, but she was one of the few he didn’t dislike.
“Yes, its me.” Yoo Sangah smiled at them as they made their way towards the counter
“You know her?” Han Sooyoung whispered to him.
“She worked at minosoft with me” he said to her before turning towards the barista. “Sangah-sii, I didn’t know you had another job.”
“I quit recently,” Yoo Sangah laughed. “I realised I didn’t want to work there for the rest of my life, so I left to continue my education. I work here part-time for the meantime. So what would you like to order?”
“Hum, actually,” Han Sooyoung spoke up. “We were wondering if we could, you know, just sit at a table for a while. We don’t have any money on us right now and we’d like to take a break before continuing our walk home. We still have a long way to go, and we are so verry tired.” Han Sooyoung said as she fluttered her eyelashes, trying to look as innocent as possible while lying trough her teeth as Kim Dokja gaped at her bad acting.
“Alright, it isn’t busy right now so it should be fine.” Yoo Sangah smiled at them in understanding.
“You go sit first I’ll stay here for a bit” Han Sooyoung turned to Kim Dokja while leaning slightly on the counter. Making a shooing motion at him.
While Kim Dokja did not know what took over Han Sooyoung, he knew when he was unwanted. And as much as he loved his friend, he did not want to see her making any more of those doe eyes towards Yoo Sangah Infront of him. Her change in personality freaked him out a bit. Kim Dokja almost feels sorry for Yoo Sangah. Besides, he already had plans about what he would be doing today. And while it involved people watching, Han Sooyoung did not qualify as people.
He started making his way towards a table on the sides where he’d have a nice view of the entirety of the café when he spotted a familiar mop of long blue hair. It reminded him of one of his old college upperclassmen, Kyrgios Rodgraim. He used to tutor him for a while, but they haven’t met again since graduation. He could be mistaken, but there wasn’t a lot of people with hair like his, and it wouldn’t hurt to check.
If it really turns out to be his old tutor, Kim Dokja doesn’t know how to feel about the fact that he met two people from his past in less than five minutes from walking into the shop. But it would be nice to catch up with Kyrgios for a bit. And there was a good chance Kyrgios would be his best bet to find himself a Netflix subscription. So he made his way towards the small man and lightly tapped on his shoulder.
The man’s eyes widened slightly in surprise as he turned around. “Kim Dokja?” Kyrgios gaped at the man in front of him, not expecting to see his old disciple here.
“Hi, it been a while, hasn’t it?” Kim Dokja smiled. It was nice to see that his old teacher still had not forgotten him. Though maybe it was hard to forget the one who stole your notes on more than one occasion. “Can I sit down?”
“yes” Kyrgios said, seeming to finally break out of his stupor.
As Kim Dokja sat down, he realised he had no idea on what to talk about. thinking about it, maybe he should have come more prepared if what he wanted was to befriend people in the first place. At least Kyrgios didn’t seem to be much better than him, as they just sat in awkward silence, raking their brains to find something acceptable to say. He faintly recalled reading a wikihow article about how to talk to people back in middle school but seeing as that didn’t help him much back then he might as well let it be.
The awkward silence continued for quite some time, both debating if they should say something first or wait for the other before Kyrgios broke it with a cough. “So… how have you been?”
“I’ve been good I’ve been good…” Kim Dokja said while repeating the second part more like an after thought. “How about you?”
“I have also been good.” At this rate the conversation would just run into an endless motion of dead ends if they didn’t do anything about it.
“So… what were you doing?” Kim Dokja eyed the laptop Kyrgios was previously typing on.
“Work.” Kyrgios said plain and simple “what about you?”
“Hah… I was taking a walk with my friend over there,” he lied as he gestured towards the counter where Han Sooyoung was pestering Yoo Sangah. “We decided to take a break and came in here.”
Kim Dokja did not dare even thinking of mentioning he was really here just to find someone suitable enough to leech off their Netflix subscription. His old tutor would probably not take that verry well and he did not want to satiate his reputation as a swindler even further. Kim Dokja doesn’t think Kyrgios ever truly forgave him for stealing his notes those times. He would surely give him an earful.
Even then, nothing could have prepared Kim Dokja for what came next. That question that gave him so much whiplash, despite being quite a normal one. A common question that would come to mind when looking at two people who seemed close, but nevertheless still made his skin crawl eve thinking about it. In tree, simple words, Kyrgios had asked; “is she your girlfriend?”
Kim dokja choked on air right that second. Its not that Han Sooyoung was repulsive per say, in fact she was quite attractive. Kim Dokja was most likely verry much uglier than she was. But he thought of her more of like a sibling than anything. He knew the feeling was mutual too, Han Sooyoung would probably have had an even more violent reaction than him all things considered. Plus he had a hard time imagining himself in that kid of relationship with anyone.
After he regained himself a little, he managed to let out a small “no, she’s just a friend” in between coughs as Kyrgios looked at him with thinly veiled concern.
“I… I see.” Kyrgios said after a pause, debating whether or not to offer him water.
“Anyways, so,” Kim Dokja said while waving off the previous minute and a half. “what do you do now that you’re out of university?” it might be a stupid question, seeing as they both were in the same major, but hey you never know maybe Kyrgios was a professional parachutist now or something. And hey, anything to keep the conversation going.
“I do programing” Kyrgios said while checking the time “talking about that, I need to check in to work soon so ill need to go”
“weren’t you doing work just now though?” Kim Dokja frowned.
“yes” Kyrgios said as he put his laptop onto his bag. Glad to see Kim Dokja wasn’t the only one who turned into a corporate slave after graduation. “So… I guess ill see you next time?”
“Yep, till next time” Kim Dokja waved him goodbye as he got up.
Well, that encounter was awkward to say the least. He sighed as he looked over to Han Sooyoung who seemed to be in deep conversation with Yoo Sangah. at least she’s having luck today. He taught.
His interaction with Kyrgios, despite having been cut pretty short, had drained all his social energy for the day and he’d be content just waiting for Han Sooyoung to be finished talking with Yoo Sangah so they could leave after. He’d keep his masterplan to secure himself a Netflix subscription for another day. The rays of the sun hitting trough the window was making him kind of sleepy, maybe he’d take a nap. Kim Dokja knew Han Sooyoung wouldn’t shy away from waking him up when she was done.
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Little to say, he was surprised when hands suddenly slammed down on his table, startling him awake. Geez, he thought. I knew Han Sooyoung was rough, but I seriously thought she would have the decency to shake me awake instead.
But Kim Dokja was, yet again, surprised to see not Han Sooyoung standing before him, but a man he’d only ever seen before on the news.
Before him stood Yoo Joonghyuk, a retired well-known pro-gamer who, despite having quit a few years ago, was still verry popular. Seeing him up close like that, Kim Dokja had the thought that, maybe his looks had something to do with it. As the man was even more handsome than he would ever have thought from seeing his fans scream about him on internet forums. Words did him absolutely no justice.
He reminded Kim Dokja a little of his favorite protagonist, yoo Joonghyuk. You know what, sharing the same names too? That cant be a coincidence he’ll have to ask Han Sooyoung about this and have the talk about how plagiarising isn’t good. Even if it was just ‘strongly basing a character on a real person’ as she’d probably say. Kim Dokja refused to believe the novel he has read for so many years was actually just a fanfiction on this pro-gamer guy from television. No way.
“Leave.” The gruff voice snaped him out of his mental stupor and served to confuse him even further.
“What?” he asked while looking around to find Han Sooyoung who crossed eyes with him for only a second before grinning sheepishly and shrugged him off turning to Yoo Sangah, confirming his suspicion that she had done something and handed off her burden on him again. Oh they would have that talk and Kim Dokja would be sure to make it extra long and naggy.
“Leave.” The man repeated
Kim Dokja just now noticed that Yoo Joonghyuk was wearing the same apron as Yoo Sangah, and he guessed that he must be an employee too. He probably didn’t like that Han Sooyoung was bothering Yoo Sangah then. Which, in all honesty, was perfectly understandable. But he had still interrupted his nap with quite a lot of force and the way he talked to Dokja ticked him off. Pretentious bastard would get what was coming for him and Kim Dokja would try to be as infuriating as possible.
“What if I order something? Are you really going to turn down business?” he grinned.
Yoo Joonghyuk frowned at that. “Order something now and leave.”
“I’ll have a glass of water then” Kim Dokja said.
“10 dollars.” Yoo Joonghyuk said, glowering down at him.
“What?”
“10 dollars for the water.”
“that’s absurd” Kim Dokja gaped at Yoo Joonghyuk. He knew the other was a pretentious bastard who probably wanted him dead by that point with all his glaring, but he didn’t think he’d go as far as to inflate the already non-existent price of café tap-water like crazy just for him. He was a little touched really.
“Then leave”
“alright” Kim Dokja’s chair scraped the floor as he pushed himself up, grinning slightly. He knew when to stop and he had his fun, its not like he planned to stay longer anyways. If he pushed anymore, he’d probably get banned altogether. So he went over to fetch Han Sooyoung, who was still flirting with Yoo Sangah.
“Han Sooyoung, it’s getting late. we’re leaving.” He said as he reached her.
“Alright just let me do this first” Han Sooyoung said while scribbling something fast on a post-it note and giving it to Yoo Sangah before following him out the door as Yoo Joonghyuk glared at them until they were out of his line of sight. In all honesty Kim Dokja was half expecting his to follow them out just to make sure they leave the perimeter for real. He didn’t though, so that’s a relief.
“What was that guy’s problem?” she asked him as they walked back towards their shared apartment.
“I don’t know but I’m pretty sure Yoo Joonghyuk would have kicked us out by force if we stayed any longer.” Kim Dokja said. That bastard needs anger management classes pronto.
“What did you do to make him want to kick us out.” Han Sooyoung snorted at him.
“In my defense, I didn’t do anything. I swear.” He lied. Not that she’d know, Han Sooyoung probably thinks this is her doing. And in all fairness, it is. But if their bodies are found in a dark alley somewhere that would be his fault for riling up Yoo Joonghyuk even further. It would have been worth it though.