Chapter Text
“ Can you stay up all night? Fuck me ‘til the daylight. Thirty-four— ”
Yoo Joonghyuk hated his job. He absolutely loathed it. And the worst about it: He had no way of leaving.
“Joonghyuk,” called The Worst Absolute Bastard of a Coworker, formally known as Kim Dokja. Yoo Joonghyuk almost squinted from the brightness of his smile. Two-faced rat. Go choke and die. Infuriating man. “Are you okay? You look moodier than usual. I’m not bothering you, am I?”
Yoo Joonghyuk grunted in response. Kim Dokja’s smile morphed into a sly smirk for a second before switching to cordiality before he nodded and went back to his work. If Yoo Joonghyuk were a weaker man (he was), he would stare incredulously at Lee Hyunsung (he did) to see if his other coworker had seen that smirk. Lee Hyunsung looked the other way.
“ I’mma leave it open like a door; come inside it— ”
“Shut up.”
“What did you say, Joonghyuk?” Kim Dokja didn’t try to hide his smirk now. Yoo Joonghyuk wanted to strangle him. Again. He scowled.
Yoo Joonghyuk was hours, minutes even, away from killing his coworker. Kim Dokja was a menace — he was an asshole, a jerk. Sure, Yoo Joonghyuk had strangled him once, whatever. But honestly? Fuck that guy. Yoo Joonghyuk would kinda do it again.
In front of them, Lee Hyunsung wriggled uncomfortably. He leaned to Lee Jihye and whispered, “Is it okay to let Kim Dokja sit beside Joonghyuk-ssi?”
“Uh, I don’t know, but it’s not like we can stop ahjussi from being stupid.”
Kim Namwoon glared at them. Yoo Joonghyuk couldn’t tell if he was mad at him or Kim Dokja, but he was sure the teen would try to beat them up both. For good measure. At this point, Yoo Joonghyuk doubted he would try to stop it.
“Whaaat? Joonghyuk and I get along great! There’s nothing to worry about, Hyunsung-ssi.” Kim Dokja kept smiling. Yoo Joonghyuk visualized that brilliant smile on the monster he was currently fighting on screen. He won with the highest score possible.
Lee Hyunsung tried to match Kim Dokja’s smile. It came out like a grimace instead. “Of– Of course! I don’t doubt it, but….”
“I doubt it,” grumbled Kim Namwoon, glaring at Yoo Joonghyuk. Why Yoo Joonghyuk? Did nobody else see how Kim Dokja has been behaving? Kim Dokja was the only one provoking here.
“Ahjussi, please stop bothering Master,” sighed Lee Jihye tiredly. Yoo Joonghyuk sent a grateful look at her. “Do you really intend to torture him for all eternity?”
“Well, technically, no. But if I ever die at Joongyuk’s hands, I’m coming back from death to haunt him.” Kim Dokja leaned back and pretended to think something over. “Although… that might happen soon, given his previous murder attempts. So I guess I am kind of planning on it, huh….”
Lee Jihye’s face morphed into indignant. “Ahjussi!”
Yoo Joonghyuk decided that the best course of action would be to ignore them. Kim Dokja had broken rule #6 (Do not mention or reference The Strangling Accident). According to rule #3 (Ignore any problem until it blows up in your face or someone else brings it up) and rule #4 (If someone else brings it up, it’s okay to react violently), Lee Jihye was in her right to get mad.
Yoo Joonghyuk didn’t know if these rules existed, but he was confident they did. It seemed to be one of those implicit things around the office.
Surprisingly, Kim Namwoon was the mediator this time. “You know what? Ahjussi, let’s switch seats.”
Kim Dokja made a choking sound, and his cheeks slightly colored. He must have realized that Kim Namwoon was genuinely tired of his shit if he was willing to give up his seat next to Lee Jihye. Yoo Joonhyuk internally sighed with relief. If he had to choose between sitting next to Kim Dokja or next to Kim Namwoon, the latter won by the tiniest difference.
“Master, you’ve leveled up!?”
Lee Hyunsung shook his head with disappointment, and Kim Dokja huffed in frustration.
“If you level up your character at a different speed than your team, the story will change,” explained Kim Dokja. Annoying story-obsessed guy.
“Does that mean we’ll take a different path?” Lee Hyunsung hesitated before adding, “Do… we have to do another Story Meeting?”
Everyone went still. Lee Jihye started saying “No, no, no” repeatedly, and Kim Namwoon's face went ashen.
“What is a story meeting,” asked Yoo Joonghyuk reluctantly. In his experience, most of the terms around the office were better left unknown. He still shudders when he hears Beach VolleyFireball. However, this seemed important.
"It’s pronounced ‘Story Meeting,’" Lee Hyunsung corrected, shaking his head, "with capital ‘s’ and ‘m’.”
Kim Dokja beamed before clapping his hands and yelling, “Story Meeting!” Lee Jihye squeaked and hid under the table. Lee Hyunsung looked on the verge of tears.
“Next time you do something like this,” whispered Kim Namwoon to Yoo Joonghyuk, “you deal with them and cover us while we try to escape.”
“What—”
Han Sooyoung’s door slammed open. The writer had a neutral face (actually unnerving), and she sat dignifiedly (like a queen about to pact a war) in front of Kim Dokja (When had Kim Namwoon left his chair?) (Get her away from Yoo Joonghyuk).
“Yoo Joonghyuk,” she said composedly without breaking her eyes away from Kim Dokja’s. “This is your first Story Meeting, right?”
“Yes?” Yoo Joonghyuk was starting to fear.
“I’m sure you’ve noticed that the game relies very heavily on its storytelling. For example, you are playing as a protagonist type, right? Your character naturally tends to level up quicker than other types, but if your skills are too different from your party’s, you’ll unlock the ‘Regressor’s hell’ route.”
Kim Dokja’s eyes sparkled as Han Sooyoung talked. With an uncharacteristic enthusiasm and a good mood, he looked at Yoo Joonghyuk. “That’s why we hold Story Meetings. When possible divergences like this occur, we decide whether to try unlocking the sub-plot or keep going with the conventional main story. Now that you’re more leveled up, we could take that other route!”
That didn’t sound bad at all. Why was everyone else overreacting?
“So we have to decide if we continue what we were doing, clearing the scenarios as a group, or I split up. Is that it?”
Kim Dokja, smiling, nodded like he didn’t hate Yoo Joonghyuk’s voice. It was off-putting.
“Yes, that’s the main idea.”
Then, Han Sooyoung crossed her arms and leaned back. “I advise you to take that route.”
“Why?” asked Yoo Joonghyuk before Kim Dokja could.
“The conditions for this route to unlock are three: A protagonist character with the regression skill leveled up to three, a significant power difference between the character and the party, and must be beyond the tenth scenario. If these conditions are met, you can diverge to the ‘Regressor’s hell’ during a critical hit to your team.” She shook her head. “Since it’s the reader’s mission to prevent critical team hits and keep the protagonist in check, it’s difficult to unlock.”
Yoo Joonghyuk began to feel wary. It sounded overly complicated and…. Whether it was a coincidence or a joke, Kim Dokja already had the role of “reader” when Yoo Joonghyuk started working, So ultimately, following this route or not is up to….
“No.”
Lee Hyunsung murmured something like, “And so it begins.” Han Sooyoung's smile became pissed off. “Why not? It’s easier if you do it now!”
Yoo Joonghyuk also wanted to know what was in that moron's head.
“If we do that, we’ll get a bad ending,” argued Kim Dokja.
“There’s no bad ending, Kim Dokja. You’re beta testers. Eventually, you’ll have to unlock this route and check if it has any bugs.”
“But story-wise, it’s the bad ending, right?”
“I guess so,” sighed Han Sooyoung. “Although it depends on which character you play. I consider it the best ending for the party.”
“What?”
“In this game, you must sacrifice something to win a ‘good ending.’ Isn't it best for that sacrifice to be the protagonist? In the story, he has caused too much suffering in his previous lives, and if pressed hard enough, he doesn’t even want to reach the end. It's perfect in-game to sacrifice him of all people. You could save everyone with the least pain.”
Kim Dokja looked like he had been slapped. No, maybe even worse. Even when Yoo Joonghyuk choked him, he didn't have that furious expression.
“But wouldn't it be best for the reader to die?” said Kim Dokja. “The story didn't even need them in the first place, and their abilities harm the rest of the party. The protagonist has morals and the will to fight. They can guide the party and deserve it more for their suffering.”
Han Sooyoung also looked agitated. “But this is the reader's story. Don’t they deserve a chance too?”
Kim Dokja's face worsened, so Yoo Joonghyuk decided to step up. He still had to pick Yoo Mia up from school, and this argument was dragging on too much.
"Han Sooyoung,” the writer and Kim Dokja snapped their heads in Yoo Joonghyuk’s direction like they had forgotten he was there. “This route, can it be unlocked at later scenarios?"
"Uh, yes,” conceded Han Sooyoung. “At any point from now, if kept that power difference."
Yoo Joonghyuk nodded. "Then we'll keep doing the route we had already planned. ‘Regressor’s hell’ can be the last option or a backup plan.”
Everyone stared at him. Despite never caring much about being the center of attention, Yoo Joonghyuk felt uncomfortable. Maybe he had broken another one of the implicit rules. Kim Dokja’s face was hard to read.
Lee Jihye peeked her head from under the table. “Master… You’re incredible! Saving us from ahjussi’s and unnie’s fight before it escalated to throwing chairs around..:!” Before it escalated to what?
“Hey, Kim Dokja and I don’t fight during Story Meetings. We discuss,” Han Sooyoung emphasized. She didn’t comment on the part about throwing chairs.
“Unnie, ahjussi… All you do is talk about the story instead of the game…. That’s why we never accomplish anything in Story Meetings….”
“I guess I’m going now,” sighed Han Sooyoung. “Man, this is the first time a Story Meeting is so short and amicable.”
“So you admit you fight with Kim Dokja?”
“Nope.”
When Han Sooyoung’s office door closed, Kim Dokja blinked, reached for the keyboard, and opened the game.
“Thankfully, we’ll see what route we follow right now,” he said. “The last time we played together in the story mode, we were in the twentieth scenario, right?”
Lee Hyunsung shook his head. “Yes, but it wasn’t a very action-leaned scenario.”
“Didn’t it have a skill level-up requirement, though?”
“Yeah, about that….” Kim Namwoon scratched his neck. “I just wanted to get off work early that day. The scenario didn’t stop me from entering or anything.”
Yoo Joonghyuk had figured out that, of course, but he had let it go because he also wanted to get off work early. Judging by Lee Jihye’s bashful expression, she, too, knew and did the same as him.
.Kim Dokja’s face kept neutral. “Alright. What’s the scenario about?”
“Uh… Some puzzles, I think? It wasn’t too hard or anything.”
“Then let’s—”
“Hey, ahjussi?” Lee Jihye suddenly interrupted. “The people in the original story, do they have secondary genders?”
Yoo Joonghyuk’s disgust must have shown on his face because Kim Namwoon scooted his chair away.
“It’s not clear,” Kim Dokja shrugged.
“Huh? How?”
“I guess it just doesn’t impact the story, so there’s no need to mention it. I mean… the protagonist could be an alpha, but it’s not explicitly said. The same for other characters.”
Lee Jihye and Kim Namwoon both had confused faces. The latter spoke, “But... they do have secondary genders, right?”
“Again, it’s not clear. I always assumed they don’t.”
“That doesn’t make any sense, grasshopper ahjussi.” Kim Dokja grimaced at the nickname. Yoo Joonghyuk intuitively knew there was a story he wasn’t sure he wanted to learn behind it. “How does that work? Do people just… not get heats? No smells? Do they do whatever they want?”
Kim Dokja leaned back on his chair, sighing. He gave up on the pretense of playing, and Yoo Joonghyuk started to subtly save his progress and close the game. It would be great if he could get off work early today.
“Why don’t you just read the novel? It’s free.”
Lee Jihye made a disdainful expression. “Only your tastes are that bad, ahjussi. The rest of us has no interest in wasting our life reading a thousand-chaptered, power-fantasy novel.
“Teens these days are so rude to their elders.”
“So answer! How does it work?!”
“Why is it so important?” Kim Dokja shook his head. “That’s not what’s interesting about the story. People wouldn’t get heats because it’s the apocalypse — it’s too stressful to happen. They don’t—” he paused, looking embarrassed, “have sex.”
Lee Hyunsung cleared his throat. “No one would think less of you for reading… adult novels, Dokja-ssi.”
Kim Dokja looked so baffled that Yoo Joonghyuk almost laughed out loud.
“Yeah, ahjussi, it’s okay if that’s how you cope with your ruts. We know that’s, like, your only option,” Kim Namwoon added.
“You know, ahjussi, a friend’s mom is single—” Lee Jihye butted in.
“Stop meddling in my love-slash-sex life.”
Lee Jihye chuckled. “Only have eyes for Master, then?”
Yoo Joonghyuk’s head snapped up, and his jaw fell open. An uncomfortable silence fell over them.
“Uh, sorry. Bad joke.”
Lee Hyunsung sweated profusely. “Hey, let’s get back to the game—”
Kim Dokja interrupted him. “That psychopath and I? Be careful, Jihye. He might try to strangle you, too, for implying that.”
“Okay, it was a bad joke, I know. But Master is not a psychopath, and even if he was—”
“Crazy, then.”
“He wouldn’t strangle me. Master wouldn’t do that.”
“Oh, so it’s just a ‘me’ problem?”
Lee Jihye was getting madder and madder, and Kim Dokja was not above fighting teenagers if it angered Yoo Joonghyuk too.
“Look, whatever the hell happened, I don’t care. If you keep this up, I’ll—”
Just at that moment, Jung Heewon came in with lunch. Yoo Joonghyuk internally sighed with relief, seeing this opportunity to flee.
“Hey! Uh…” she deflated, looking between Lee Jihye’s angry face and Kim Dokja’s poker one. “Is everything alright?” Lee Hyunsung sighed and got up to help Jung Heewon set up the table in the break room without saying a word.
“I’m leaving earlier today,” announced Yoo Joonghyuk. They never counted on him for lunch anyway, and he didn’t want to be present for Lee Jihye’s and Kim Dokja’s glare contest. And he could pick Yoo Mia up on time for a change.
“Bye, Master,” mumbled Lee Jihye. Yoo Joonghyuk nodded at her. He put his coat on, picked up his bag, and left. Even outside, he could still hear the arguing.
“I just don’t get why you’re still acting like this,” Lee Jihye complained. “You should apologize.”
“Apologize?! He’s the one who tried to choke me to death for no discernable reason! He owes me an apology!”
“ I know, and I’m also mad about that, but—!”
It was not worth staying. Yoo Joonghyuk walked off.
“Ugh…” he groaned at the front door of the building. It was pouring heavily outside, and — just his luck — he had forgotten his umbrella. He would have to wait it out since his car was parked far. At least it was quiet… even if it was a shame that he might not get in time to pick up Yoo Mia after all.
He spent some time watching the rain pour. Yoo Joonghyuk always found the noise comforting. After he made Yoo Mia dinner, he would go straight to sleep.
“Joonghyuk!” Kim Dokja called. Of course. There were no nice things for Yoo Joonghyuk as long as that devil existed.
Rolling his eyes, Yoo Joonghyuk turned around with an exhausted expression at the panting man. Had he run down the stairs? He was almost impressed. Kim Dokja looked like he could barely run a block.
Kim Dokja got closer to talk comfortably but stopped at a respectful distance.
“Hey, uh…” he began, trying to catch his breath. “Lee Jihye insisted that I….” He gripped his bag, twisting the strap on his hands. “I mean, I’m leaving early too, so I thought….” He paused.
Neither of them seemed willing to say anything, even with Lee Jihye’s words undoubtedly ringing through both of their heads. Yoo Joonghyuk knew he should have apologized ages ago and wanted to. But… It wasn't exactly pride that was keeping him from doing so, but something close. It was already shameful enough that Kim Dokja held Yoo Joonghyuk's secret. Bowing to Kim Dokja would be too much. Even if he did deserve an apology.
So they both stayed quiet, no apologies exchanged. It wasn’t strange since situations like this had risen time and time again since The Strangling Accident. They both chickened out every time they tried to have a civil conversation.
At the end of his first two work months, Yoo Joonghyuk knew three things.
“What’s your scent like? I couldn’t quite catch what it was when I smelled it,” said Kim Dokja out of the blue. Apparently, he had given up on whatever he wanted to say before. His previous nervousness resided a bit but didn’t go away completely. “Is it true that you smell like a warrior coming home after slaying ten thousand enemies?”
The first fact: Kim Dokja knew Yoo Joonghyuk was an omega.
“What.”
“It’s a theory I read on Twitter. It was surprisingly popular. Is it true?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Come on, you can tell me. We’re alone, after all,” Kim Dokja smirked. “I promise I won’t make fun of you.”
The second fact: Because Kim Dokja knew that Yoo Joonghyuk was an omega, Yoo Joonghyuk couldn’t leave the job. He had to know for sure that the bastard wouldn’t expose him. Because of this, he couldn’t stop him from bothering him either.
“No.”
Kim Dokja giggled. Despite putting on a confident front, he couldn't hide the way his hands shook as he took an umbrella out of his bag. Finally, he stared up at Yoo Joonghyuk through his eyelashes.
“Say… Is there any chance you can give me a ride home? I can walk, but it’s raining, and I’d like to arrive early….”
Yoo Joonghyuk’s heart thumped awfully. He didn’t want to — he really didn’t. He also wanted to arrive home early; Yoo Mia was waiting for him. And being with Kim Dokja in a closed space for so long….
The last fact: Yoo Joonghyuk knew Kim Dokja was attracted to him. Whether it was because he knew he was an omega or plain attraction was unknown to Yoo Joonghyuk and irrelevant. This had been going on since the first day Yoo Joonghyuk came to the office, and The Strangling Accident did nothing to dissipate it. That’s why despite claiming he hated Yoo Joonghuk, — instead of ignoring Yoo Joonghyuk or resigning — Kim Dokja kept “talking” to him.
Yoo Joonghyuk wasn’t interested in the slightest. But how could he communicate that? If he rejected Kim Dokja outright, then who knows what that bastard might do.
“Pretty please?” Kim Dokja asked in a poor attempt at being cute.
Really, the worst person ever had to find out his secret.
Yoo Joonghyuk braced himself and clenched his fists.
“No.”
He had to put some limits. Kim Dokja would not get Yoo Joonghyuk to do everything he wanted out of fear. Yoo Joonghyuk didn’t stare at Kim Dokja’s face. He was prepared for threats or even violence, but….
“Ah, that’s a shame, but I didn’t expect anything else.” Yoo Joonghyuk’s snapped his head towards Kim Dokja. The man wasn’t staring back, but he smiled faintly and opened his umbrella. “Then… Shall we share an umbrella until you get to your car?”
And that was a good idea. It was surely a convoluted reason to get physically closer, but good nonetheless because Yoo Joonghyuk didn’t want to get wet.
However, “No,” Yoo Joonghyuk repeated to push his luck. To see how far he could refuse until Kim Dokja forced him onto something. Kim Dokja didn’t even react.
“Ah, so cold, Joonghyuk… Are you really mad at me this time?” Kim Dokja sighed and covered his head with the umbrella. “Bye then. Try to drive safely. Avoid dying in a car crash, 'cause that would transmigrate you into a romance novel for sure— you’ve got that protagonist vibe.”
“I have… no idea what that means.”
Kim Dokja chuckled again and patted him roughly on the back. “I won’t be coming to work tomorrow, so you can rest assured.”
Without saying anything else, he left, leaving Yoo Joonghyuk standing there with a dumb expression alone in the reception.
That was… surprisingly civil. Yoo Joonghyuk knew he shouldn’t get his hopes up. That Kim Dokja didn’t try to do anything today didn’t mean that he wouldn’t try to in the future. But… they were alone; he had the perfect opportunity to threaten Yoo Joonghyuk. And he hadn’t done anything.
He shook his head. Maybe he deemed that this wasn’t worth it. He should still be careful around him. No more careless mistakes.
Later, while picking Yoo Mia up from school….
“Oppa, you have… Wait, let me take it off.” She stood on her tiptoes and touched something on his back. He looked at her and the post-it note she was holding quizzically.
She snorted and quickly covered her mouth.
“What is it.”
She laughed and gave it to him.
The post-it was wrinkled almost beyond recognition. It simply said, “This is how your face will look if you keep frowning all the time!” accompanied by a drawing of an angry… fish?
Yoo Joonghyuk felt a vein pop out in his forehead.
“Whoever that was, they are right, Oppa.”