Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

When asked of his thoughts regarding the familiar ruckus that's currently happening outside of his office, Sangyeon leans back in his chair, a polite smile to wrap it all together. "It is what it is. I still don't know if Jaehyun flirts with everyone on purpose or he's just that friendly. Hyungseo still calls me 'bro' even after I asked him not to, Younghoon told me I have an ahoge before coming in, I have no idea what that is, I'm not even sure that's even a word. I'm pretty sure Youngjae officiated a wedding the other day instead of mining the register, which reminds me, Chanhee is...another case. I could go on but for the sake of my own well-being, it's barely 10AM so I won't." There's an exasperated-looking Sunwoo stalking past the sideview window, aggressively pointing at an excessively-grinning Haknyeon while shouting the lines of: 'Fucker—' that Sangyeon tunes out with a strained laugh. "I won't. I'm a man of patience."

That, however, will soon be driven off of the guardrails. 

—

Sunwoo walks up to Changmin by the women's clothing section with the broadest smile ever to be worn. "Hey, hey, Changmin hyung, look what I've got."

Changmin is already two steps ahead when he sees the launcher that Sunwoo's holding, "No way," gasping and hastily rolling up the blouse that he's supposed to be folding. 

"You mean yes way! The tank even has some gas left."

"Didn't Junyoung hyung confiscate it in his office after—I can't even bring myself to say it—after, you know."

"I know." Sunwoo heaves out a solemn sigh. "Last year's Christmas party brought out the worst in humanity that I want to unsee. It was mostly the booze though."

"And a total lack of supervision. Someone with half a mind would've stopped Younghoon hyung from bringing in those drinks."

"I didn't drink a drop, you reeked the most, hyung but that's not important!" he rushes to say at Changmin's incoming cavil. "I have a free shift, one thing led to another, turns out one of the old display mannequins in the back was holding it."

"Ah," Changmin slowly nods, a certain sense of achievement painted on his face like he just cracked a cold mystery, "a classic move: hidden in plain sight. By voicing it out loud, he just made us think that he was hiding it inside his office."

Sunwoo leans closer to whisper, "Should we ask Chanhee hyung to come over here?"

Changmin takes a one-eighty and whacks his shoulder with the rolled-up blouse. "Think, Sunwoo, think. First, you went digging around a graveyard and now, you want to get Chanhee in trouble after how many times he has helped your ass?"

Sunwoo knows that his chestnut-haired senior colleague is wholeheartedly right about those two things even as his wordings are nothing short of hyperboles. First entry: the old mannequins are put in the back for a reason—lacking all the care while perfecting in all things hyperrealism—when months ago, Ju fucking Haknyeon scarred the lungs of a few middle-aged women on Halloween. He got called in by Sangyeon, Sunwoo was there to greet his deepened scowl by a buoyed smile by the door. All in all, it means Junyoung is goddamn smart, he hid the launcher for over ten months. 

Second entry: Chanhee is three years short from entering his thirties and yet, Sunwoo's proud to say that eight out of ten times, they are there, surfing through the same wavelengths of being two different peas in two different pods that is both occupied by Changmin. They shook hands, perpetually share laughter for good seconds as Sunwoo is in need of a favor and Chanhee is obligated to fulfill their pact. Chanhee does help him cleaning up his mess as much as Changmin helps him makes it.

"You don't mind."

"Uh, yeah? That's because I'm the cooler, more chill one." Changmin makes it obvious that it's an obvious fact to the panning camera. "Come on, are we going to test this thing out or what?" 

Sunwoo eagerly nods, chucking the aforementioned blouse into the transparent tube which earns him encouraging pats on his back. It takes about ten seconds for it to fit just right.

"Welcome to ReBuy:ReStock! You buy, we stock, everything that you need in a single place."

And it only takes one second for a scowl to take its rightful throne on his lips. Oh, how he misses the old shift.

"As of September, our branch can resource you with your home furnishings needs. Bathroom, bedroom, you name it! Not just that, not only will you be eligible for a whole-year-round refund—as long as you keep the receipt of course—you'll also be able to save up to 20,000 won for every purchase. All with your own ReBuy:ReStock membership cards, now digitalized with Toss! I know there's only like six people around right now but hey, long as someone's paying attention."

Changmin is all grins, more radiant than the lure of Christmas lights that somehow ended up adorning Jaehyun's SUV at the end of that night, while Sunwoo looks like the crushed, extensive cable roll under said-SUV's wheel. Nobody has to point out the glaring obvious, but Changmin being Changmin, takes into account of what it could mean and decides to say, "You gotta admit, his PSAs are pretty good."

"It's just reading off a pre-prepped list. His blubbering niece with her 'alooga-balooga' language could do that."

"Oh, that's interesting." Changmin blinks at him. "How'd you know he has a niece? I don't think he's ever mentioned it before, I don't think so."

"That is not—what even, playing detective is enough, hyung, you don't need to be a conspiracist, too."

"No, no, you can't spin that on me, didn't you block each other on all social medias?"

Sunwoo would like to stir this conversation elsewhere. "No."

"Couldn't even put you in the same group-chat without turning it into a war-zone and our phones into ticking time-bombs."

Sunwoo grumbles as he hugs the launcher to his chest, "Stop mentioning him, hyung, I'll take this baby back to Junyoung hyung, I'll do it."

Changmin erupts into laughter, proudly displaying his entertainment. On the other side, it makes the camera quivers into jolted movements. "Okay, hothead, forget I ever said anything. Are we cool?" 

"Yeah, yeah, cool," Sunwoo says after a few beats, his own lips pulling at his colleague's beam as the guy springs backwards while looking around, avoiding bumps into anything that could cause a dent to his—their wages. "Ready?"

Changmin rubs his hands together once he's far enough, anticipating. "On my mark."

Ask anyone who's watching, they'd think an intense match is about to go down. But it is simply just two dudes, benefiting from a slow afternoon, the royalty-free music playing through the store as their anthem. Taking an exaggerated stance as an impassioned rocker would, Sunwoo positions the hefty launcher so that it would face the recently-bleached ceiling. A strident sound is soon released with a clear pull from the trigger. Puffs of vapor disperse from the tube as the blouse flimsily flies up, up for mere moments then comes down flat to Changmin's reaching grasp. 

They look at each other with pulling cheeks and Changmin is in such awe that he looks down at the blouse with an unnecessary amount of fondness. "That was so satisfying."

Sunwoo, same difference, is gazing at the launcher like he had birthed the thing. "I know, right? It was born to do this." Thankfully, it doesn't last long. "Wanna try launching some real balls? Some kid tore open a ping-pong packet yesterday, it should still be there."

Jaehyun suddenly walks past them with two stacks of shoe boxes, most probably on his way to the women's shoes section, laughing that freakish laugh of his. "Real balls."

Sunwoo stares at Jaehyun's retreating back, wondering what the hell is going on inside that head before turning back to Changmin. The older of the two curtly nods like a man of duty. "Balls it is, let's go."

Keep in mind that in strenuous days, they take their work very seriously. ReBuy:ReStock is a legit workplace, he is a legit employee, both of them are. And to remind that they are indeed, legit employees, the metaphorical sky elects to rain on Sunwoo's metaphorical parade with Haknyeon's voice blaring through the P.A. system.

"Employee Kim, don't think that I didn't see nor heard you abusing the store's T-shirt cannon. Are you five or are you five?"

"Calling me five, if this thing was a paintball gun instead," he mutters. "Stand back, Changmin hyung." Changmin could only give a shrug to the camera. Sunwoo alternates his footing, the launcher now supported on his shoulder, and he glares at a definite place: the horizontal rows of clothing ending once it reaches the Help Center where Haknyeon is currently seated, an upright posture with that one smile that seems to always be directed Sunwoo's way. "Says the guy who watches Pororo and his fucking stupid aviator's cap on a daily basis!"  

In hindsight, it's so ill-timed and so, so should've been kept inside his mouth that he feels the immediate embarrassment crashing in. Because not only does a customer who was closing in, now turns back around, Changmin also whispers to him, "I think you should know that Haknyeon watches it for his niece."

"I know," Sunwoo mutters, too late to take everything back, and it's followed by another blare of Haknyeon's voice of "Employee Kim. Anything that you'd like to say to me, you can say it to Sangyeon hyung."

And the absolute King Kong that thrashes his building of self-regard is Sangyeon who pops out of thin air, emerging from the empty space that's so conveniently blocked from his line of sight. That two-piece suit Sangyeon is clad in should be a dead giveaway like black ink on pristine white paper. Everyone that works here, Junyoung included, only ever wear what they've been given: navy polo shirts and some dull-colored slacks with their ID badge hanging around their necks. 

Needless to say, the readiness to run the opposite direction is clashing with his need to march over there and stomp on Haknyeon's shitty smile. Those two joining forces are still no match for the tone of discontent that's slithering past Sangyeon's effort to stay affable.

"Sunwoo, come have a chat with me in my office. And bring the launcher with you."

"Changmin hyung—"

Changmin tries to blend in with the background. "Don't drag me into it, I'll call for backup."

"You said not to bother Chanhee hyung."

"Not that backup."

"Changmin? Care to join in?"

"No, no! Sangyeon hyung!" He reattains his initial task, making a grand show of folding the wrinkled blouse. "These clothes aren't going to fold themselves!"

"Can I help fold—?"

"Sunwoo. Now," Sangyeon finalizes, then takes his leave.

Sunwoo despairingly glances at the camera, the look of a man whose purpose in life has been plucked away from his very grasp. 

As he drags his feet past the Help Center, Haknyeon makes him stop in his sluggish tracks. "Try not to be a sore loser and an inadequate employee. I'm gonna have to make you a custom mug for Christmas this year."

"Despicable ass."

"I'm sure yours is, mine is admirably well, thank you."

The idea of becoming twin flames with indignation is getting more and more appealing every passing second Haknyeon is in his vicinity.

Fucking Porong Porong Pororo.

—

"Over the course of eleven months since we started, Employee Kim has neglected the fact that I have an actual name. Or as he said it, 'eschew the devil's calling'. I've thought about filing an official complaint to Junyoung hyung but I thought again, was I really bothered by it? Then why even bother? So I came up with something better." Haknyeon holds up a yellow-pastel pocket journal. "He's called me forty-eight different names." He flips through it. "'Asshole' has its own pages, so does 'fucker', he loves that one—oh! 'Despicable ass', six times. Now seven."

—

"I once said Haknyeon is cutely lovable and Sunwoo came at me with, 'the fucking devil with fucking absurd round cheeks erupted from fucking lava'." Jaehyun laughs. "Oh, to be young, to be," he dreamily sighs, "tremendously stupid." 

—

It would be a lie to say that this is Sunwoo's first time ever being chastised by Sangyeon (and Junyoung but that's a separate matter.) It is the truth that this is a first to be called in alone when the previous five, six times, Haknyeon would also be here, rolling his eyes until they reach the absolute end of his skull and Sunwoo would wish they would never come back.

Sangyeon's office is not exactly his personal office. With the type of budget that they get, it's a room spacious enough for two extended cubicles and a tall-divider for it to be interchangeably called 'Sangyeon's office' and 'Joonyoung's office,' the branch manager and the floor manager respectively.

"I've noticed there's a discrepancy between you said you would start navigating your attitude at work and how it actually is," Sangyeon says.

Sunwoo has taken a seat on the right, accustomed enough for him to call it as his. "If this is about the launcher, hyung, I promise you, I'll only use it when there's no customers around. Swear to the Almighty."

"You will use it never, I thought Junyoung took away that thing." Sangyeon slides off the launcher from making more of a mess of his desk and leans it somewhere behind. Sunwoo's dejected noises makes the branch manager raises a brow at the tailing camera. "That's only a small part of it, the reason why you're here is the same reason why you're always here."

"But that's usually a two-person proceeding."

"It's not a court room."

"I feel like I'm being judged. Just me. Alone." Sunwoo waits for Sangyeon to say no, to just shake his head and maybe say the fucking devil's gonna be called in next. Sangyeon's countenance warps instead. "But. Why?"

"I'm glad you asked, one moment." Sangyeon rolls his swivel chair to the back, one hand disappearing into Junyoung's cubicle and another rummages through his own drawers. "Could you pass me that paper I asked you to print?"

"Uh—"

"It should be in one of your folders, the green one."

The sound of a paper flicking fills the otherwise silent room. "This one?" comes a voice that has Sunwoo narrowing his eyes.

"Thank you, Junyoung."

"No problem," comes a pitched voice that is definitely not Junyoung, and Sangyeon doesn't even bat an eye at it.

On the desk, now lies a piece of paper with a pie-chart divided three ways. "This," Sangyeon slides it closer to Sunwoo, "will explain why I'm doing this." Next to it, lies a fairly thin book with bold colors and bold letters that reads, Change your way of life in less than 180 pages, as its enticing premise. "This. Is me hoping that we won't have to do this in the future."

Sunwoo stares at the book. "I don't see how a self-help book has anything to do with what's going on here."

"I don't plan on keeping you here for long, believe it or not, I'd rather be doing paperwork. It's fine that you're not the best of buds, all I'm asking for is just a little bit of cooperation that won't end with another almost-viral video of the two of you going at it, which reminds me, I need to have a word with Chanhee," Sangyeon murmurs the last bits, pondering for few moments. "Anyway, the three-point-six reviews are bad enough."

Just as Sunwoo is about to take offense at everything that he just heard and come up with defenses of his own, and swerve the trajectory towards Haknyeon and his shitty-shit smile, the gentle knocks on the door stop him from doing so.

So gentle. Almost too gentle.

A floating head and a feline smile soon hang by the slightly ajar door.

"You know how things could either really go your way or not at all? Sunwoo is, and I say this with much adoration, he has a certain charm to make it go to hell. Juyeon on the other hand, is an unintentional optimum candidate." Changmin reluctantly gazes away from the camera as he mumbly delivers, "Also, Youngjae went poof, couldn't find him. Juyeon was the only one who was willing to help out."

Sunwoo tries to look as inconspicuous as he can, telling Juyeon with movements of his undulating eyes and lifted brows to tread lightly.

The message, unfortunately, isn't received. "Sorry, sorry, Sangyeon hyung, I don't mean to interrupt but Changmin said something about Sunwoo being in big trouble?"

Before their eyes can even meet, Sunwoo puts up a barrier of his own hand and he hears Sangyeon says, "Let me guess, you're here to white-knight the gentleman in distress from getting a reprimand?"

Juyeon has the audacity to rub his nape, the handbook example of embodying bashfulness that could even soothe Victor Fries' icy, hollow heart, and it's barely even intentional. 

The branch manager revels in an affectionate smile. "That's sweet of you, Juyeon. He's fine, no one's getting fired, we can't really afford to lose anyone anyway," Sunwoo gazes at the camera, alarmed, "but please inform Changmin that I do not want him to enable anyone's antics anymore, at least not before 6PM or I will get someone to drag him here."

"Gotcha, hyung. Again, I'm so sorry for interrupting, I just had to make sure," Juyeon says. As his gaze flicks over to Sunwoo, his hand is balled into a fist of encouragement that the recipient frowns at (out of pettiness), then tightly smiles at (out of socially-correct gratefulness.)

The door clicks close just as gently and Sunwoo heaves a breath, glossing over his current state of employment that was, supposedly, in contemplated deep waters. There's a stretch of silence between the smile lingering on Sangyeon's lips and it withering away like today's spring and it's immediately autumn as their eyes meet once more.

It might be arising paranoia, muddled with aforementioned pettiness and swirled along by whatever it is that he feels whenever he even thinks of Haknyeon. Sunwoo is convinced that if Sangyeon could fire him right now, he would. He should be freaking out.

"It's good to give them a little scare once in a while. Brings me peace, brings them something to think about," Sangyeon says.

Sangyeon smoothly continues, a neutral expression settles. "Like what I was saying, we're low on staffs lately as it is. If this particular self-help book could help me get through my early days earning this position, then why not let someone else be happily mindful, too?"

Sunwoo frowns, unconvinced. "I just have to ask, you have another copy of it lying around, right? It's not just for me?" 

"No," Sangyeon faintly says, causing Sunwoo to slump.

"Really? Because you should, hyung, he's way beyond me in the worst way possible, he's fuckin—" Sangyeon clears his throat, "—he is extremely worse, I'm sitting here because of him, hyung, this is blatant targeted harassment, he should be sitting here with me. Scratch that, he should be the only one sitting here."

"Did you or did you not take the launcher from wherever Junyoung had hid it?"

"He could've been an adequate employee and call me out before I played with the damn thing but he chose not to, this is a ploy," he concocts.

Sangyeon simply blinks, unimpressed, and sighs. "Right. Sunwoo, did you even take a look at the pie-chart I handed?"

"It's about me," Sunwoo taps his nails on the paper, attempting at nonchalance, "and the asshole who 'borrowed' the fumigation guys' suits and the store had to close for a few days. People did more than talk, do you remember that, hyung?"

This time, Sangyeon conveys his disbelief into the camera. "You took part in that."

"I didn't say I didn't, I just implied he started it. There's a huge gap of responsibility there. I don't think an unpaid suspension was enough."

"We're getting off track, it's the pie-chart, look at the pie-chart. It's about just how many times you both start your squabbles and who took it a step too far, and makes me want to shave my head to stop myself from wanting to tear my hair out."

Now that Sunwoo is here and he gets to take a closer look at Sangyeon, the branch manager looks more disheveled than yesterday, cowlicks decorating his hair that's not gelled for once. And the day before. And the day before that. Oh, fuck, how did he not see this?

Sunwoo definitely wants to freak out right now. "The pie-chart could be wrong, I follow orders, I'm an order-follower."

"The pie-chart is absolute. You took a whopping sixty-five percent while Haknyeon took about thirty. The remaining five is the Roxette incident that ruined my workplace-Christmas." 

"I cannot promise you that it won't happen again, you'd look just as handsome with a bald head, hyung." Sangyeon gives him the look: the one his dad used to give him when he asked for another game on his PSP.

"You like grabbing at each other's throats, I'm aware of it. I tolerate it. You like what you like, who am I to judge? Well, I'm your boss so I can but I won't. I'm just going to ask you to tone it down—" a hard thud transpires from the other side of the cubicle, "—you okay there, Junyoung?"

Not-Junyoung replies with a muffled 'mm-hm.' 

Sunwoo tries to take it upon himself to check it out but Sangyeon continues, "Keep the blowing fuse to a minus one if you can," that brings the inquisitive staff's leaning-sideways upper body to go rigid straight, "if not, just leave it in the break room. You two can go all out to your heart's content then."

"It's unfair, hyung," he says. "You're basically giving me the short end of the stick."

"Ninety-nine percent of the time, Sunwoo, it just comes down to who started it and who made a whole scene out out of it."

It's more somber, his subconscious floating out when he repeats, "...Really?"

The look morphs into a smile. "There's no denying numbers. It's not even a two-hundred page book, bring it with you when you're taking a number two, you'd be done in no time." When Sunwoo still looks unconvinced, Sangyeon adds, "If you finish it, I'll consider doing the same thing to Haknyeon."

—

"'Perseverance is just a speck of dust in the valley of emotions. You picked up this book because you want to understand the ultimate key to unlocking the greatest strength of all: patience. But beforehand you must know, patience is not just a virtue.'" Sunwoo bewilderedly shakes his head. "I could've written this shit in high-school."

—

"That book got passed down to me from my cousin who got it from his uncle, who got it from his altruistic old man who decided to write a book couple years ago during his time as a live-in monk at a monastery. Not sure why he thought it was a good idea, he only lasted two weeks. It has a two-point-eight star review the last time I checked," Sangyeon confesses, guilty yet dismissive. "It seemed like a good chance to get it out of my hands for good. Don't get me wrong, I still think it'll be good for Sunwoo to read it."

—

Sunwoo stands about outside of the office, simply glaring down at the book in his possession. Unaware of the uncleared coast, Youngjae gives himself a scare when he also walks out only a few moments later. He presses himself against the wall, horrified. "Holy shit, I thought you'd left."

Sunwoo swerves the glare at Youngjae's direction then. "Be quiet, I—" he quietly gasps, "Not-Junyoung hyung, what were you—"

"Nothing."

"Youngjae." The called-out man gingerly backs away, hands behind his back as Sunwoo takes his steps closer. Both of their steps rapidly get faster as Sunwoo says, "You were there, you heard all of that and you chose to stay quiet, what kind of—Youngjae, come back here, I got victim-blamed in there, Youngjae," that overlaps with Youngjae's long wail of 'I'm sorryyyyy,' that turns into a game of cat and mouse.

Their somewhat-chase abruptly ends when Youngjae fucking dashes past the Help Center, not even looking back, and Sunwoo cutting short his stalk when he sees the pawn spawned from Hell innocently blinking up at him.

"Employee Kim," he has the nerve to use the P.A. system when Sunwoo's right there, "this isn't recess, you're not running around a playground." He eyes the book in Sunwoo's hand that the younger man hastily hides behind his back. This time when he plucks on Sunwoo's nerve, he leans away from the microphone. "It speaks volume that Sangyeon hyung admonishes you by telling you to read a book."

Reminded of the branch manager, Sunwoo not only swallows down his urge to say every word that comes as fast as a bullet train in his mind, but also his wounded pride. He designates on a glower, looking at the direction towards Sangyeon's office just to make sure, and Haknyeon snorts into laughter.

Sunwoo isn't a person of hyperbole; he is a man, deeply rooted in reality. But he is one-hundred-and-twenty percent sure Hellboy's horns has nothing on Haknyeon's elongated one.

—

By the next morning in the break room, Sunwoo is already grumbling over a few things: he is not and never will be a chirpy person in the morning, this is pushed to the edge by Juyeon picking him up earlier than usual to buy some food from the market that Jaehyun's been craving; he has read about five pages the previous day, quarter a page during his morning poop, and almost cried at how small the font is, twice; he arrives only to see Haknyeon's car is already parked where it is. 

To pick himself up, he decides to wear himself down first with coffee to go with the complimentary snacks Juyeon is good-natured enough to also bought for him. 

But no. By the first sip, he not-so-elegantly spits it back out into his mug that has an approaching Younghoon breaking out in a grin that reaches his ears.

"I'm gonna fucking kill him." The grin turns into snickers that waft around the room. "I'm glad you find my misery amusing, hyung."

"I'm amused that you find your 'misery' amusing."

"What's that supposed to—You know what, I don't even want to know, excuse me, I have a bone to pick with—" he groans in lieu of finishing, turning on his heel.

Younghoon stares at the swinging door before shrugging. "Eh, not his worst."

He fills himself a mug then takes a long sip. A pleased, comforted hum makes its way out.

—

"The one thing about monitoring CCTVs, you're supposed to see the things that you shouldn't be seeing. Now, I don't really care about things when they don't affect me but coffee," Younghoon approvingly holds up a thumb at his 'Best Employee 2019' mug, "is an essential part of the job. And Haknyeon makes one hell of a kettle."

—

Haknyeon veers from a hunched position. "This work can be a fucking drag most of the times. You're here for almost twelve hours a day, got no idea if it's gonna be yet another one filled with window shoppers or just people who take up seats for the free Wi-Fi, and sometimes you just want someone to come up to you and ask if, I don't know, any other motifs are available, and—"

Someone briskly taps on the window behind him. He turns to see Sunwoo, who's holding a very chic-looking mug with its simplistic black surface and gold lines of Jin from Samurai Champloo, all the while mouthing, fuck you.

When Haknyeon faces the camera again, a smile has slipped in and it's bordering on being complacent's uglier older brother. It's condescending. "Did I, one morning, wake up and decide to make some fresh-squeeze just for this? Very likely. It doesn't have to be a fucking drag, honestly, it's invigorating when you try making it a hoot."

—

"It's not an innovation, it's a 'no-isance.' Why do people do this? Why can't we just let things be the way they are?" Sunwoo somberly stares at the camera. "He put orange juice in the coffee maker. There's orange juice in my coffee. Orange juice. In my coffee."

—

To say that Sunwoo hates, despises, resents Haknyeon's guts is a bit wonky oversimplification. To say that Haknyeon is all of those verbs towards Sunwoo, is also debatable.

To those, these three have three separate things to say.

"No, I wouldn't say Haknyeon's evil, he's an alright kid. He taps my ass a lot, based on that, I'd say we get along pretty well." Changmin rubs his chin, seemingly in deep thoughts. "Do I like having fun? Yes. Do I know when to stop having fun? ...Yes. He's just really impish, you know. Someone like that would find someone like Sunwoo really fun to mess with." 

"Oh, they definitely hate each other," Youngjae pointedly says. "If the emotion-soot thingy from Shadows House existed, this place would already be like a coal burning site. I'll tell you what I know: it's worse after Christmas. One minute we were exchanging gifts and enjoying the maca—snacks that Junyoung hyung brought, then Haknyeon hyung and Sunwoo did a very aggressive rendition of Roxette's Dangerous the next." He shudders at the memory, Sangyeon's smile becomes even more tight-lipped, and Changmin delightfully laughs. 

Coupled with a nervous laughter, Sangyeon says, "I mean, how old are they? Twenty? Twenty-one? Youngsters these days, boy, if there's something that they don't like, they make sure everybody knows. It's a positive change, of course, got us older generations on it as well. Depends on the situation. When it's the same grade-school nonsense packaged differently every single time, I just wish they wouldn't be so vocal about it. That would actually be a really nice change. You can only push someone to do so far."

Youngjae sympathetically nods. "You deserve to have your well-earned break, hyung," and Changmin follows behind by rubbing the branch manager's back.

"Coming from the two of you, it doesn't mean what you think it means." All comes to a halt as Youngjae and Changmin sheepishly thin their lips at the camera. Meanwhile, Sangyeon's smile stretches into a strained grin. "Like I said, situations precede the change. My cheeks are starting to hurt."

—

While everybody has practically welcomed Haknyeon's uninspired fuse of brewed coffee with amused hums and alight spirits, and even with delightful comments of approval, Sunwoo is still recovering from its revulsed taste on his tongue, down his throat, into his stomach, some days later. 

If words were to be spoken, it's to the extent of bringing his own thermos flask ever since then. He is taking the ultimate consolation in a sound break room during a Haknyeon-free shift break. Jaehyun is seated with him—or rather, slumped face first into his arms on the table across from him—dispirited about his Gongju, a compact SUV, being stuck in the workshop for the next few days rather than the guaranteed four hours. Sunwoo lets the man grieve.

I know, the word 'micromanagement' leaves a bitter aftertaste on every person's tongue who has ever had to deal with prying bosses and probing employers under the pretense of management care.

Sunwoo distractedly eats a spoonful of his homemade (mom-made) lunch.

But as we try to look at the word through the lens of someone who was once oblivious of the concept of peace that knows non-duality, it becomes a tool that we are able to utilize. Not weaponize. But utilize within our own self in that, we can micromanage our approach and reproach to things in life. I should know. I had brought home the first step to enlightenment.

That is the most self-righteous thing he has ever read, why, Sangyeon, why? Why does his branch manager trust this guy? He shoves another spoonful in.

"To think I was actually impressed you're actually reading it. You're so fucking disgusting, don't snort while you chew."

"And you're too fucking close, don't invade my breathing space," Sunwoo weakly retorts despite his choice of words. It's Haknyeon's voice, it's Haknyeon who's standing behind his chair. He clasps the book close and instantly wants to cry when he notices that the bookmark hasn't been slipped in. "If you're here for Jaehyun hyung, don't bother, he's been like that for the past fifteen minutes."

"Please, I know better than to get in between a man and his bed-ridden car."

Warily, he slides his thermos flask and Samurai Champloo mug closer to his line of sight while continuing to finish his lunch. "Then why are you still in my breathing space? Your mountains of oranges are over there and your fucking fizzy coffee shit ran out."

With the setting and countless incidents that have happened here, portraying a man attempting to ignore the presence and/or existence of another man has become a recurring role of some sort. It's not his best act per se. There's a broad board for announcements that you'd be greeted with once you walk in: flyers and notices about old and current promotions, and absentee forms; and a minuscule whiteboard that they found in the lost-and-found box hung at the far left with two names written on, and corresponding numbers '3' and '14' to accompany those names. There are also their respective lockers where, since they were hired days apart from each other, an unhealthy amount of shoulder-shoving and key-hiding happened. 

So rather than being disregardful, he's leaning more towards very conscious. But that's not the weird part. The weird part is Haknyeon jabbing him on the shoulder then says, "Actually, Employee Kim, I'm here for you," without sounding sarcastic in the slightest.

Did. Did Sangyeon already have the talk? That can't be, that—he props an arm on top of the chair and faces Haknyeon. "What are you trying to pull here?"

"Choose one."

"Why?"

"Chanhee hyung and I went to the mall. I bought doughnuts," Haknyeon states in a way that is not at all like he's explaining to a five-year-old child. And they're there, clear as day, three pieces left in a box for twelve. 

Sunwoo snorts. "I know that, smart-ass, why are you giving it to me?"

"Because he bought doughnuts from the mall," Juyeon answers from another table as he chews on a glazed one (in the background, Jaehyun can be heard snickering while repeating, nuts.) He holds up a hand when Sunwoo turns to glower at him. "Don't mind me."

"What Juyeon hyung said." Haknyeon is still acting like a weird asshole, like that trope in shows and movies where the nice guy that's introduced early turned out to the bad guy. "If I wanted to kill you, I wouldn't do it with eyewitnesses around to throw my ass in jail for first-degree murder."

"Take it to court and we'll see about that. The line between eyewitnesses and accomplices is unelegantly smudged."

"Employee Kim, you dimwit, it's 'inelegant'."

"You're inelegant," Sunwoo mutters, loud enough that Haknyeon hears it and mockingly coos with: "What a baby, does baby want a piece of doughnut to cheer him up?"

As he's about to grab one and stuff it into Haknyeon's face, Juyeon softly chimes in again, saying, "Teetering the line there, Haknyeon."

Haknyeon laughs, sounding kind, light-hearted. "Okay, hyung, I'm sorry." He raises his brows at Sunwoo then, not kind. "Go ahead, choose one."

Sunwoo reaches. Then retracts his hand. "This is bull, what's the fucking punchline?"

That seems to exasperate Haknyeon because he says, "Oh my God, just choose one." 

Sunwoo narrows his eyes at him. Maybe. Maybe the self-righteous author almost has a point. Not about the enlightenment thing but about the other thing that Sunwoo's too lazy to process right now. Weapon, utility, that one. 

Haknyeon thrusts the open box forward.

Fuck it, if he dies, it's gonna be from the sweet taste of rainbow sprinkles, the fucking classic, looking pretty good. Haknyeon pulls the box slightly back. "Not that one." Alright, too bad, ooooh, sweet, sweet, pure chocolate—"Also not that one."

Sunwoo distastefully frowns, looking back up at Haknyeon who, when he asks, "The hell's this?" proceeds to dump exasperation altogether in exchange for that one contemptible smile.

"Orange slices. Best part yet: they're candied."

—

"He knows how I feel about oranges," Sunwoo bleakly says, enunciating the last few syllables.

—

Haknyeon nonchalantly shrugs. "He knows how I feel about oranges."

—

"I—You—I don't—This thing," Sunwoo incoherently stutters, the thin book flapping as he gesticulates to symbolize pretty much nothing. Consequently, or not, the book got thrown onto the ground. He takes a deep breath then. "Please edit this out, destroy the evidence, Sangyeon hyung can never find out."

—

Weapon, utility, the only utility over here is him weaponizing his probing nature and scrutinization to good use because this damn, diabolical, Jeju descent bastard. 

Sunwoo scoffs but he doesn't turn back to his mom-made lunch. He glares at the Jeju descent bastard. "No thanks, I'd rather starve myself."

"Suit yourself." Fucking asshole laughs, the sound of derision thankfully tapering down as he directs his attention onto someone else. "Jaehyun hyung. Want another one?" 

Jaehyun sits right up with alight eyes. "Don't mind if I do. Is it okay if I take the chocolate one though because—" 

"Yeah, totally."

Or fucking not. Sunwoo scoffs again, donning an involuntary, petulant smile; a tongue bumping his cheek at Haknyeon who's tilting his head at him while biting into Sunwoo's first choice of dessert delight.

Sangyeon says that it's okay to go all out in the break room, oh, he will go all out. "I hope you choke on that thing."

"Aw, thank you," Haknyeon replies in the midst of his chewing—What. A. Hypocrite. "Likewise, Employee Kim." Light on his feet and as if he's hopping away, he goes on, "Normally, I wouldn't do this but, oh well, I'd tell your mom that her son got his comeuppance. Wanna know why? 'Cause he doesn't know how to show gratitude when he needs to. That's the fucking punchline." 

What.

And there's the enlightenment. Sunwoo is so done with him, with his own feelings that he actually stands up and shouts, "Gratitude?!" Even as the break room is once again a Haknyeon-free space, he turns to the two heads who watched the whole thing went down. "Gratitude?! What for, huh?!"

"What is it good for?" Jaehyun sings in a mumbly voice.

"Absolutely nothing," Juyeon says, making Jaehyun amusedly snort at the same time as Sunwoo echoes, "Absolutely nothing!"

Jaehyun leans sideways in his seat, blinking. "You know what I think?"

And once more towards the door. "There's no fucking punchline!"

"I think you two need to file a restraining order against each other."

Sunwoo grumbles, "Eat your goddamn doughnut and moan over your goddamn car, hyung."

Jaehyun simply laughs, light-hearted, and gets up himself to ruffle Sunwoo's hair. "'Fucking this', 'goddamn that', rinse your pretty mouth before ever kissing your mom with it, hm?" But also to break the chocolate doughnut in half, proffering a piece into the mouth of a grateful Juyeon; the remaining half into Sunwoo's scowl.

Sunwoo is too busy peevishly biting into it to notice the smiles that the two other men share behind his back.

—

"I was totally kidding about the restraining order, they're not that bad," Jaehyun waves it off. "They were even sort of on a 'friendlier term' on Christmas. But then, Sunwoo said some stuffs then Haknyeon said some stuffs, I was just glad to see everyone getting along for a short moment. I'd call that a Christmas miracle."

—

"Ah, Haknyeon can go a bit too far with his amusement sometimes. Changmin said that Sunwoo doesn't really like it when I try to help out, he thinks I'm babying him. Which is why, I didn't tell him I tried talking to Haknyeon about the going-too-far bit. Once, it was like weeks ago. As you can see, I didn't succeed." Juyeon hunches forward to catch the camera crew's question. "Oh, I told him Sunwoo talked about him all the time in the car."

The boom operator almost drops the mic.

—

The day starts very dearly: his self-brewed coffee is bleh and eugh but it's getting there; he earns a point on the scoreboard and receives an eye-roll from his competitor, two points; and during the morning meeting, Sangyeon looks presentable like how he ought to be, his hair is gelled once more and he considerately comes up to Sunwoo and asks about his progress on the book. He's proud to say that he's gradually earning back Sangyeon's approval because there's something so weary yet wary when Sangyeon takes a double-look at Jaehyun who's trapped Junyoung in a kabedon. 

There's a little progress. His last fuse that had been blown is still kept in the break room. If he sees a doughnut stand or even at the mere mention of it, or even smell it, he doesn't really feel like stuffing a dozen of them into Haknyeon's contemptuous smile anymore.

He still wants to see Haknyeon choke. That's his forever and always. 

—

Rather than conforming to society, Sunwoo oh-so-livelily greets Haknyeon's lethargic presence. 

Thirty pages into Change your way of life in less than 180 pages might got something to do with the change. Maybe that, maybe it's the show that he's currently watching.

"Well, well, well," he folds his arms across his chest, "look who got his shift reassigned back to the storage room. Is it the guy who swore to only see daylight from then on? Wait, or is it the fucker who got caught by Sangyeon hyung doing something so despicable?" He throws a smile, Haknyeon doesn't waste a second to hurl one back. Both are sickeningly wide for their own good. "Surprise, surprise, they're both you." 

"Trying to prove to me that the hamster in your head is running its wheel?"

"Someone fucking fell and you laughed over the intercom, everyone and their ancestors can hear the squeak of your hamster's rusted wheel. Bet it's not even a hamster, it's a—stupid ass penguin dawdling in there with his stupid flight hat."

Haknyeon is grinning. "You are oddly worked up about that, Employee Kim. It's a cartoon. There's a little green dino that likes fishing and the beaver is fucking pink."

"Just like you, the things you like don't make any sense."

Junyoung sighs as he trails behind Haknyeon. "You pay attention to Haknyeon and the things he says and the things he does, we know that, Sunwoo, moving on."

Sunwoo is keeping his friends close, his enemies closer.

Exhibit A: What we are feeling are a continuous conscious decision that we can control. Make it our friend, or our foe. It's our choice. Your choice. Great advice, sounds something like a monk would suggest.

Exhibit B: fucking Death Note. 

As of now, he has three enemies to defeat: his own pettiness, whatever entitled expression that Haknyeon has on his face, whatever names he's calling Junyoung inside his head.

He has considered a few times, telling Junyoung about what he saw (or heard) in the floor manager's cubicle. "I'm being an appreciative colleague, hyung." Forget about it though. He wishes Youngjae continues to get away with it.

"The beds for display are coming in this afternoon and since the storage guys are going to have a whole rearrangement on their hands," Junyoung gestures at two two-stories long rows filled with old, dusty and lofty cardboard boxes, "I need you to lend them a hand."

"Sweet, you're letting us use the forklift?" Sunwoo asks.

"Don't be stupid, you're going to drive a fucking hole into the wall," Haknyeon says.

"I'm feeling nice today so shut up—Do you need someone to call our suppliers, hyung? I can do that, leave it to me."

Haknyeon's sudden cackle derides him and it sounds so ugly. Sunwoo glares. "What are you laughing at?"

Haknyeon blinks at him, lips disappearing. "Nothing."

"Just spit it out."

"Okay," Junyoung immediately cuts in, literally in speech and in body. Not subtle at all with the way his arms are keeping them apart like they're the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park. "No one's driving any forklift, no one's making holes, no one is definitely making any calls to our suppliers. The computer's over there, I just need you two to open the boxes, take out the old goods, count them and set them aside by the cabinets instead."

A rare occurrence: they concurrently groan at it. Haknyeon says, "There's gonna be another clearance sale, isn't it?"

The floor manager can only give a drained look at the camera. "Yes because that's what you do when there are stock surpluses that you want to get rid of to save more space to bring in more money to keep the store alive."

Sunwoo sees Haknyeon solemnly nods and hears him murmuring, "I don't think that's in Business 101," and holds back the urge to snort at him.

"Now that that's out of the way, I have to be somewhere."

Sunwoo is suddenly alarmed. "Wait, hyung, you're not gonna stay here?"

"No. I have some...issues...to unravel. Can I trust you meatheads to be civil?" He can't even protest because Junyoung is pointedly pointing and looking at him. "And don't take things that don't belong to you. Don't turn it into a competition. Just this once." 

So Sunwoo opts to call Junyoung more names in his head. He, not-so-livelily anymore, answers, "You got it, hyung," while Haknyeon chirps, "Sure thing, boss!"

Junyoung is quiet. Then he deeply inhales. "I'm not even going to show that I'm worried you two answered that a little too quickly for me. If there's even one little thing that's off when I check, I'll take it out on your performance reviews."

And then there were two.

Sunwoo doesn't want to admit it. But he's pretty the look dawning on his face is the same as the one he gave his mom when she asked to hand over the PSP.

—

"Junyoung and I actually go way back, he's more of a brother than a colleague so to say." Sangyeon fondly smiles as he recalls. "When anyone has gone through what this store has gone through, they'd also lose what's left of their thinning patience. He's still an angel through it all." The smile slowly fades. "I need to make it last. For this store's sake. I've been put in a tough position. "

— 

First and foremost, Sunwoo is not good with people in general.

Furthermost, he's a stickler for a good time just like anyone. Extreme discomfort with uncomfortable silence that includes people in general is not it. It isn't a surprise, pry Juyeon for a Sunwoo-related anecdote and it's a minute of details of that infamous time when Sunwoo got up from his seat and started to wash the dishes out of nowhere because the family dinner got too stilted.

Chanhee has a good one up his sleeve.

"And previously in my phone until he stared me down and reminded me of our pact so I deleted it," Chanhee says. "It was early, a few days post-Christmas so people are either sadly hungover or sadly sober, and this one customer was so obviously the former, he would just keep holding his head, wouldn't budge from the counter. As much as I would've loved to help out, I couldn't tear my eyes away." His lips are trembling at what he makes known. "You can't blame me, Sunwoo took a powerbank from the shelf and scanned it and paid with his own card, and continued to just stand there. The customer basically got a free-of-charge charger. Never assigned him the register since." 

—

"I don't like to talk about it," Sunwoo says. He sounds like he's out of it.

—

It doesn't really make sense, but like a pink beaver, fears and things along those lines don't always come with reasons attached to them. Sunwoo is only a few moments away from soaking in dreading his dread and he doesn't want to dwell on them as much as he does. Moreover when the dread that he's speaking of, is nothing more than being in an enclosed environment with the one person that—when he tries to recall—never has been left alone with him. Ever.

This is a sick, sick, sickening joke. 

Haknyeon doesn't look like he's affected by any of it though. Now, Sunwoo just needs him to open his mouth before he does something obtusely stupid.

And as if King Yama heard his desperate plea, Haknyeon's eyes glaze over to him with a distinctive glint that he knows all too well. "First one to finish up on two boxes wins?" Junyoung didn't even so much as look at Haknyeon when he decided to execute Sunwoo with his glare. "Whatever the winner wants."

Sunwoo slips back in as he says, "Why two? Don't say anything, one's too limited, three's a hassle, I hear myself." His breakfast actually wants to come up when Haknyeon hums like he endorses yet snubs Sunwoo. "Put a timer on it. Whatever the winner wants."

They shake their hands on it without actually having to make contact and spew words without having to make actual conversations: Haknyeon gets the computer up and ready, Sunwoo is fiddling enough to opt out the blunt utility knife on top so his colleague would choose that one (but he's better than that); Haknyeon makes an unwarranted snide comment and Sunwoo bypasses the need to elbow him by pulling off the CPU's plug (no, he's not better than that.)

The 'competition' is only another way to rush time, doing the absolute mundane things like cutting open strip-closed cardboard boxes as hastily as possible and running like a madman to the other side of the storage room to input codes and numbers, and fucking—"Fucker, no hoarding! That's cheating!"

In some sick, twisted way, he is—and he wants to punch his brain for it—relieved and comforted that Haknyeon is a broken sink that won't let the water stop running. Battle, commenced; warriors, an aptitude for conquest.

To the zooming out camera though, there are two hasty figures with terrible breath control, sprinting back and forth, squeaky shoes against polished grounds. And a fatal blow away to their performance reviews.

Twelve long minutes later, they're seen gripping onto a storage rack, in the midst of taking back what's theirs: the lack of air in their lungs. Some more than others.

Sunwoo feels his lips stretching so smugly wide despite it. "You...see that?" He's the goddamn Cheshire Cat when it's met with a refusal shake of Haknyeon's head. "See...that? Inadeq...that...my ass," he pants as he aimlessly waves his finger around. "Win. Victory. Mine."

To his dismay, Haknyeon laughs. "Even my niece can speak better than you. And she still can't get my name right." His eyes widen with epiphany. "Oh my fucking God. Look at that. You two got that in common."

"Shut the...up," which only results in Haknyeon laughing even harder. 

"You know, you're right. You won this time. So don't act like a sore loser, okay? You're supposed to make me feel bad about myself," Haknyeon gloats; fuck Sunwoo's fears, this one is inexplicable.

Sunwoo can only incredulously says, "...What the fuck, what are you?"

"A second away from convulsions at your dumb face, let's hear it, put a timer on it, don't be impossible."

A reminder: Sunwoo is still light-headed from all the sprinting. His breath is literally taken away, seriously, playing FIFA 18 on the PS4 isn't enough, he has to work on his stamina. 

Another: he's also on a mission to keep his friends close and hold his enemies closer. The question still remains, which of his proclaimed enemies that he wants to focus on?

The emotions-feelings bullshit that he wants to swallow and never feel again, then there's the bastard-who-keeps-staring-at-him bullshit that he's currently glowering at. His seeming victory only lasted for seconds because Haknyeon has an awful way of making things feel like a loss even with capital letters of WINNER blinking right above Sunwoo's head.

To self-help-book it, or to Death-Note it. A big part of him wants to do the latter. A small portion reminds him in the vivid image of Sangyeon's unimpressed stare that he was in the brink of unemployment.

So he chooses to, once again, fuck it. He two-birds-one-stones it. "Don't...Don't try anything funny to me."

"Seriously?" Haknyeon snorts, intrigued. 

"Seriously," Sunwoo echoes few beats later. He isn't panting anymore, but his breathing is involuntarily shuddery.

"You're asking me to stop messing with you?"

"Asking, like hell I am. I'm telling you to stop messing with me. For as long as possible."

"You're telling me to stop messing with you for as long as possible?"

"For fuck's sa—I'm ordering you—" the moment Haknyeon impudently makes a face at him, he hears himself, "asshole, I know you have a hard time not being an asshole but a bet's a bet."

"First of all, 'as long as possible' is not putting a timer on it."

"I'm saying let's try and be fucking civil for a minute, one week, two weeks, a whole month. That hurts no one."

"Second of all," Haknyeon enunciates, "Employee Kim, what is happening to the hamster in your head? Did it learn to read? Is it reading a book, too?"

Oh, never mind, he wants to pop a vein—Haknyeon's blood vessel if he can. "I'm this close to changing my mind." Perseverance, Sunwoo, perseverance. "Actually, no, I'm not changing my mind, it's not a democracy."

Haknyeon takes a step closer to him, arms crossed. His usual smile slips in. "Do you even have the slightest idea why I mess with you?"

"I don't need to know why an asshole is an asshole, it's like asking why we take in and—and extract air out of our lungs, it's just fucking is," Sunwoo argues. "I won, you lost, I'm in, you're out, time to drop down the entire notch."

"And boohoo, the guy who suggested to act civil is the one acting like a baby tyrant. Shocker that he doesn't see how ironic that is."

"All I hear is some goat yapping away, I don't recall asking for any insightful comment."

Haknyeon clicks his tongue in annoyance and Sunwoo is annoyed at his annoyance that he elbows him on the side. It earns him a (deserved) slap on his arm, which makes the fucking devil swat back, which turns into an inadvertent show that the camera zooms in on.

"You know what you are?" Haknyeon dumps the utility knife in his grip inside an open cardboard and grabs a mess of shredded papers in a tight clutch. "An intolerable winner that I would very much like to suffocate." 

Sunwoo can't help but to retaliate, "Don't act like you're a saint that shit world peace and eternal rainbows out of your unmarred ass, you may have your entire family and the customers and the security guard's weird soft spot for you fooled but you can't fool me."

"Telling me that I have a great ass isn't going to change the—"

"In your fucking dreams."

"—fact that you are impossible."

"Have you just met me?" he asks, rhetoric than anything. But of course.

"Fucking wish I just did," Haknyeon murmurs. "Back in my day, things were simpler, I got my job done just as is, Junyoung hyung still knows how to smile from time to time."

"Shut up, shut up, you're—!" Sunwoo clamps his mouth shut before muttering, "You were hired literally two days before me."

"Looks like I got you all worked up there, my liege of tyranny. Your buttons are too easy to push."

This sick bastard. Sunwoo puts on an inelegant display of a pseudo-smile. "You. Can't do that. I still won the bet. You have to honor the bet." 

"I'm just fucking saying, if I can turn back the clock, I'd know to stay away from you." 

Sunwoo, however, interpret the sway of Haknyeon's words differently. "I'm going to vomit all over these. You trying to say you're the moth to my flame?"

"You're the cow to my fly, that's what you are."

"Word it however you like, if I attract you, I attract you." They idly stand side by side, he scoots farther to get his breathing space as they continue to cut open the remaining cardboards. "Just stay the fuck away from me and we're good to go."

It is so weird, Haknyeon actually laughs. It sounds like something Sunwoo usually hears whenever his colleague is conversing with customers; or when he watched the asshole watching Youngjae trying to fast-wrap last-minute Christmas gifts before the staff party (before eventually helping), like, that's so fucking weird. It's almost on par with the silence that's starting to settle in, so close to freak him out, it's a close-call.

Thankfully, irate grates through the forlorn wall at what leaves Haknyeon's mouth next: "Wow, I gotta hand it to you," Haknyeon hugs some tumblers under his pit, looking sly, "you're not completely a self-absorbed ass that your hole did not just close up on itself and you're not making it impossibly hard for me to follow through the bet at all."

Emotions are like wildfire, the book says. We are the forest. It doesn't matter whether you are feeling as if you are the greatest person to have ever lived or feeling as if you are akin to the concept of God's dirty sorrow. Getting caught up in the highs or lows must be evaded.

Sunwoo settles for a glare only. 

Haknyeon pats him on the shoulder without warning that he, not at all in a dignified way, evades. He ends up looking like someone with a neck pain. "I'm trying to be civilized over here, Employee Kim, looking at me like that is discouraging. Try loosening up."

Or. Fucking. Not. "I—I, fucker, you know what? I would loosen up if I want to, you can try and be a fucking human being if you want, if you don't, fine. That's fine."

"Fine."

"Fine. You can be pretty great with your family or act like you're the customers' sunshine or whatever the fuck and Jaehyun hyung can continue to say you're cutely lovable despite it all and," what is he even saying, what is this unending word vomit, "I can fucking see it, but I see through you, okay? You're none of those things. You're as see-through as a tracing paper, they are all just blind to your smile and your fucking cheeks, there's no way in the face of fucking enlightenment that you're cutely lovable, no chance."

Haknyeon blinks, wide-eyed. "What did you just say to me?" which is something new directed at Sunwoo but he can't give a damn. 

However, in the events that things occur different, this one simple suggestion would do.

"That you're acutely incorrigible," he forcefully spits out, his footing stumbling back; looking around in a semi-frantic haze as if Sangyeon or Junyoung (or Hell forbids, both) will suddenly pop out of thin air. "The bet's off! It is off! I have a say in this, you don't." The rack shakes when he doesn't really watch where he's going, but he can't give a shit, he has to get out of here.

"Where do you think you're going, we've only done four boxes!"

"None of your business!"

It doesn't matter (in the heat of the moment) that Junyoung will definitely give him most hell, he can't give a fuck, he should've gone full Death Note instead.

—

"Shut up," Sunwoo says with an aggrieved look. "Just shut up."

—

Haknyeon slowly admits, "Full disclosure. That's the nicest thing Employee Kim has ever said to me. I don't know how to feel about it." He bounces his leg for some time, unspeaking. "'Acutely incorrigible' though. That's a new one for the book. He says things like 'unelegant' then drops a bomb like that. Wild."