Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Mama."

The girl called out to him with a voice sweeter than honey. If Kim Dokja wasn't having an existential crisis right now, he would have kissed the baby on the cheek.

"Wow- Kim Dokja when did Yoo Joonghyuk knock you up?"

Han Sooyoung's insufferable voice reached his ears. He didn't need to turn around to know that she was wearing a shit-eating on her face.

The thing is, he also had no idea why a baby that looked like the carbon copy of Yoo Joonghyuk was calling him "mama".

-

That day, Kim Dokja woke up feeling particularly refreshed. It had been a while since he had such a good sleep. Kimcom did a great job in completing a sub-scenario yesterday and they managed to gather a lot of useful equipment. Not to mention a certain sunfish was gone for a few days, meaning that he was (temporarily) free from that annoying (handsome) bastard's nagging. Yep, everything was so good so far.

He quickly put on his clothes and headed towards the shared dining room. If he remembered it correctly then it was Yoo Sangah's turn to cook today. Thank god he no longer had to endure Han Sooyoung's disastrous cooking that could even poison a Lv.6 monster. Not that his cooking was any better though.

With a cheerful demeanor, Kim Dokja opened the door, expecting to see members of Kimcom sitting at the dining table eating their breakfast. What greeted him instead was the sight of Yoo Sangah carrying a baby while being surrounded by the remaining members of their company. A look of trouble could be seen on her face as the girl seemed to be whining nonstop. The others were trying to soothe the crying baby by making funny faces that definitely didn't suit them.

They were too focused on the baby that they didn't notice him entering the room. It was only when he raised his voice did they notice his presence.

"Good morning. Anyone cares to explain what's going on here?"

He asked with the usual smile on his face. Everyone in the room turned to look at him, including the baby who had stopped crying after hearing his voice.

"Hyung-"

Lee Gilyoung was the first to open his mouth to speak but this sentence was soon cut off by a cheerful baby voice.

"Mama."

The baby in Yoo Sangah's arms looked at Kim Dokja with a smile rivaling the sun. Now that he'd had a good look at the girl, she looked suspiciously like a certain sunfish that Kim Dokja was always more than ready to curse (lovingly) to death. No, it wasn’t only like, the baby was a carbon copy of Yoo Joonghyuk. Everything about her was exactly the same as the protagonist, except for the other's signature frown which was now replaced with a blinding smile. Kim Dokja swore that if Yoo Joonghyuk learned how to smile then it wouldn't be that much different from the baby's.

It took everyone, including Kim Dokja, a while to register what was going on. They all stared at him in disbelief, as if he had just returned from death (one more time). This time, it was Lee Hyunsung that broke the silence.

"Dokja-ssi... I didn't know that you and Joonghyuk-ssi have that kind of... relationship."

The man blushed while trying to finish the sentence. His eyes didn't meet Kim Dokja's for once.

"What relationship?"

Kim Dokja, being the fool he was, had no choice but to ask for clarification.

"A relationship where you gave birth to Yoo Joonghyuk's daughter of course."

Having recovered from the shock earlier on Jung Heewon flashed him a grin that he'd rather not see it again. Other members of Kimcom were also looking at him with eagerness in their eyes as if they had the same thought as the woman.

Kim Dokja felt a headache coming his way.

-

"So you are telling me that you, Jihye, and Yoosung were playing outside when you guys saw the baby and decided to bring her here?"

Kim Dokja looked down at the girl who was sitting on his lap with a content smile on her baby face. Ever since he saw Kim Dokja, the baby refused to leave the man's side, crying whenever someone tried to just touch her. As a result, Kim Dokja had no choice but to put her on his lap while he was talking to other members of Kimcom.

"That's right, hyung. She was crying so loudly that my beetles were scared away."

Lee Gilyoung glared at the baby, who only stared back at him with big round eyes.

"I think it was your stupid bugs that scared the poor baby."

"Whose bugs are you calling stupid huh Shin Yoosung?"

"Who else but you?"

"You-"

Before Kim Dokja could ask them anything more, Shin Yoosung and Lee Gilyoung had already broken into their usual bickering. For some reason, the baby seemed to be very happy seeing them fighting.

"Jihye, are they telling the truth?"

Kim Dokja turned to the oldest of the trio, expecting a more sensible explanation from her.

"Yes. Oh, and she reminded me of Master so much that I couldn't abandon her outside. We were guessing she was Master's daughter but who knew she was also your daughter."

Kim Dokja knew she was trying to stifle a laugh but he decided to ignore her because the baby was tugging on his shirt. She looked up at him with an innocent smile while kept calling him "Mama".

The man would be lying if he said he didn't care about the girl. She was cute and lovely, everything that you expected from a 1-year-old child. It didn't help that she looked exactly like Yoo Joonghyuk, who he had a soft spot on but never admitted. Whenever he looked at her, his omega felt content, with warm and fuzzy feelings rising inside his chest. It was the first time he experienced such sensations, but Kim Dokja didn't dislike them. In fact, he subconsciously wished for them to stay just a little bit longer.

"Dokja-ssi, what should we do with the baby? Should we keep her for now?"

Yoo Sangah's voice broke him out of his trance. He hadn't even spent more than 10 minutes with the girl yet why was he feeling so drawn to her?

"Ah yeah, you're right. I suggest we keep her with us while looking for the parents. Sangah-ssi, may I trouble you with that?"

Kim Dokja smiled at the woman apologetically. He wanted to help her but when it came to tasks like these, no one did it better than Yoo Sangah. The woman, with her sociable personality, never failed to complete jobs that involved human interactions. Plus, it seemed like the baby wouldn't leave his side any sooner.

"No worries, Dokja-ssi. I should go check the complex's birth registrations then."

With that, Yoo Sangah left the room. Kim Dokja then turned to another source of headache in his life that had been staring at him and the baby for a while with a shit-eating smile on her face:

"Before you say anything, first we didn't fuck and second the baby isn't ours."

"Quick to explain huh? Didn't they say those who are guilty are quicker to explain themselves?"

Han Sooyoung's insufferable smile was still there. Just by the look on her face, Kim Dokja knew she would never let this live down.

"It's the truth. We aren't even in that kind of relationship."

He looked at her with a tired expression on his face. For some reason, Han Sooyoung was very adamant about his mating with Yoo Joonghyuk. Didn't she have eyes to see that someone like him could never live up to the protagonist's standards? Hell, his standards were Lee Seolhwa, goddammit.

"Ha, you say as if you guys aren't stripping each other with your eye-"

"Han Sooyoung. The kids are still here."

Before Han Sooyoung could say anything vulgar that was definitely not G-rated for the children, Kim Dokja quickly shut her with his words.

"Fine fine. But are you really going to keep her? We don't even know where does she come from."

Both of them looked down at the baby that was now sleeping on Kim Dokja's lap. One second she was crying and the next one she was sleeping. Babies really were mysterious creatures that he could never understand.

"We can't leave a defenseless child like her outside. Plus, I..."

A gentle smile bloomed on Kim Dokja's face as he observed the girl. She was sleeping peacefully with one hand on her mouth and the other clutching his shirt. He could hear her mumbling something inaudible in her dream while smiling like an angel. At that sight, Kim Dokja couldn't stop himself from bringing a hand up to gently stroke her hair.

"I have a feeling I should stay with her."

His voice trailed off at the last sentence. It wasn't him exactly, it was his omega that wanted so. But Han Sooyoung didn't need to know that for now.

-

"You know, you are also like that when you are young too."

Kim Dokja's mother told him as she looked at the baby.

He was reading a picture book with the girl in the shared living room when his mother walked into them. After she woke up, the baby was extremely fussy, not responding to any of his efforts at calming her down. Going around the room, making funny faces, and giving her milk. Nothing worked until he stumbled upon an old picture book for children. He never thought that he could find such a thing in the middle of the world where they were living now. After all, their life was filled with nothing but horrors and deaths looming over their heads.

The baby stopped crying the moment he picked the picture book up. As if knowing what it was, she pointed at the book and signaled him to open it. It was such a cute sight that Kim Dokja couldn’t help but let out a chuckle for himself.

They then proceeded to sit down on the sofa with the girl on Kim Dokja's lap while he read the book to her. He doubted she could understand any of the content in it, but she seemed to be having a lot of fun by herself as she kept staring at the letters.

"Ababa."

Once in a while, the baby would stop him to point at one of the pictures. He really had no idea what she was trying to tell him so he just smiled back at her instead.

"I see."

It was all he could say before he continued with the storytelling. Well, she didn't seem to dislike his response so maybe that was enough?

When they were halfway through the book, his mother suddenly joined them. The atmosphere turned uncomfortable since Kim Dokja didn't know what to say to the woman. He longer held any hard feelings toward her, but it was still awkward every time he tried to strike up a conversation with her just like now.

"You started to love reading before you could even speak. I still remembered showing you picture books and you would smile just like her."

Hearing no response to her earlier words, his mother continued.

"We didn't have that much money at that time, so I could only buy you a few picture books. Yet you never got bored of me reading them for you over and over again."

"Sometimes I even wondered if it was normal for a baby to like reading that much. But when I realized whose son you are, I immediately knew that I was worried over nothing."

She chuckled at the last sentence. They didn't talk about the past a lot if at all, since doing so would only reopen the wounds inside their hearts. In fact, they were running from it, afraid that the same darkness would engulf their life all over again.

Yet this time, his mother told him about one of their few memories, a happy one even. Kim Dokja didn't know why but his chest was feeling fuzzy all over again just from his mother's earlier words. The omega inside him was satisfied once again.

-

"I thought you have no experience with babies Dokja-ssi~"

Jung Heewon teased him as he fed the baby some dumplings. They were sitting in the same dining room with other members of Kimcom while a baby seat had been specifically set up for the girl. She was by Kim Dokja's side, focusing intensively on the bowl of boiled dumplings in front of her.

He was skeptical about whether she could eat those at first, but after consulting with Lee Seolhwa, he decided to feed her some of Yoo Joonghyuk's handmade frozen dumplings.

The baby, for some reason, was as picky about food as the man. He tried to feed her a few things before, but she would just give him an unimpressed look while refusing to open her mouth. It was only when she saw Kim Dokja boiling some of Yoo Joonghyuk's dumplings for himself that she showed an interest in eating. Those dumplings just so happened to be the last ones too.

Having no other choice, he reluctantly gave the baby his dumplings for lunch. Well, hopefully he could rob the sunfish into making more of them in the future.

Kim Dokja boiled the dumplings thoroughly before cutting them into small pieces with scissors. Then, he let them cool down for a bit before feeding them to the girl.

"Say ahh."

Ignoring Jung Heewon's remarks, Kim Dokja decided to focus on the little headache in front of him. In constant to her earlier fuss, the baby was now particularly obedient, never failing to open her mouth every time the spoon he fed her with was near.

It was adorable, really. He felt like a mother hen feeding her baby chicks with food and said chick was in the form of a mini Yoo Joonghyuk. He somehow even had the urge to find out what her favorite food was so that he could buy more of it. Why buy and not make it you ask? He knew better than anyone to not feed a baby with his disastrous cooking.

Like Yoo Joonghyuk once said: "Calling it horseshit is an insult to the horse."

"Ahjussi, do you know when would Master return?"

Lee Jihye suddenly looked up from her plate to ask him.

"I don't know. He didn't tell me anything."

He answered with a shrug. It was the truth. Yoo Joonghyuk never told him whenever he went outside on his own. He wanted to ask what the man planned to do and if it was dangerous or not, but he knew he didn't have the right to do so. After all, he also did the exact same thing.

"Sigh, why doesn't Master return sooner so I could see his reaction? I swear it's gonna be funny."

Lee Jihye poked at the food with a pout on her face. Well, he couldn't wait to see Yoo Joonghyuk's reaction either. How would the man react when a kid that looked exactly like him called Kim Dokja "mama"? He must have felt disgusted at the prospect of having someone like him as his children's mother.

Kim Dokja knew better than anyone that he was plain-looking and didn't smell good, unlike the other omegas who could charm an alpha with just their looks or pheromones. He was miserable even when compared to an ordinary omega, let alone someone as charming as Lee Seolhwa. It was obvious that an unrivaled alpha like Yoo Joonghyuk would never set an eye on him - an incompetent omega.

"Mama.”

As if sensing his gloomy thoughts, the baby reached her small hands out to him while looking at him with those big round eyes. The eyes were the only thing in her body that didn't match Yoo Joonghyuk, as they seemed to resemble the night sky full of twinkling stars instead of the dark deep abyss. Every time Kim Dokja stared into them, he couldn't help but feel like they were weirdly familiar.

"I'm fine, Byeol-ah."

He gave her a reassuring smile. Back in the days when he still dreamt of being held by another alpha, he would often read books about childbearing and childraising so that he could be better prepared for a future that would never come. It was said in the book that babies were extremely sensitive to scents so they could sense the changes in their mother's mood. Maybe that's the reason why the girl knew he was having negative thoughts again.

All of a sudden, the room went into silence and Kim Dokja could feel the other members of Kimcom staring at him. Did he just say anything weird?

"Ahjussi, who is Byeol?"

Shin Yoosung was the one who broke the silence, a look of confusion on her face. Ah, did he say Byeol's nickname out loud?

"Ahaha I thought it was inconvenient for us to not have something to call her so I came up with a nickname. You guys can use it if you like too."

Kim Dokja tried to laugh off the silence in the room. He's telling the truth though. He didn't want to address the girl with just "hey" or "little one", so he came up with something on a whim after looking at her star-filled eyes. The girl also seemed to like her nickname too.

"Byeol? It's a nice nickname, Dokja-ssi."

Yoo Sangah smiled at him with her usual kind smile. Despite being an alpha, the woman was surprisingly gentle.

"Hyung, why does she have a nickname while I don't? I want a cool nickname from you too!"

"If that's the case then I pity those who have to share the same nickname with you."

"Dare to repeat that, Shin Sooyoung?"

"I said-"

Shin Yoosung and Lee Gilyoung broke into a fight once again. While their bickering made the industrial complex more lively, it could be a headache for others too. Kim Dokja had no choice but watch them argue with a helpless smile on his face.

He was too busy watching over the pair of children and Byeol to notice Han Sooyoung muttering behind his back.

"I knew that you would get attached to her, you fool."

-

Nighttime soon came and it was time for bed. After a good 30 minutes of telling Shin Yoosung and Lee Gilyoung why he couldn't sleep with them because of Byeol, Kim Dokja finally managed to get back to his room. Byeol was still with him just like the rest of the day, the smile on her face still hadn't disappeared. Earlier on, when he was trying to coax the children into sleeping on their own, the girl had an expression that looked suspiciously smug. Maybe he was just imagining himself since there was no way that a baby could have such an expression.

"Byeol-ah, it's time for you to sleep."

He gently placed the girl down on his bed. The bed itself was originally too bare to be called an omega's. People always thought that everything about omegas had to be soft and delicate, so they would never have imagined that an omega like him would sleep on a bed without any bodypillows or fluffy blankets.

Kim Dokja personally liked the simple way his bed was, because lying on a hard bed every day could distract him from the fact that he was an omega. An inadequate one even.

So when he knew that Byeol was going to sleep with him, the man had no choice but to go borrow more pillows and blankets from other omegas. It is said that the child should be placed inside the nest with the scent of both their father and mother, but unfortunately, they couldn’t afford that luxury now.

"You will have to bear with me for the night then."

Hearing Kim Dokja's words, the girl nodded her head as if she understood what he said. Really, Byeol sometimes made him wonder if she was a baby.

Even after he turned off the light, the girl still stayed awake with eyes opening out wide. It would be bad for her health if she stayed up late so he better thought of a way to lull her into sleep. Then, Kim Dokja was suddenly reminded of the lyrics of an old folk song that he used to learn in school. With a soft voice, he began to sing to Byeol, wishing for her to be met with a sweet dream in her sleep.

The next morning, when Shin Yoosung and Lee Gilyoung came to wake Kim Dokja up, even if they saw him curling alongside Byeol with a content smile on his face, they didn't say anything and just leave the two of them in their own world.

Chapter Text

"Papa."

Yoo Joonghyuk thought he misheard something when he heard the child in Kim Dokja's arms call for him. Maybe the exhaustion from the past few days was catching up on him.

"Papa."

She called him again, this time with big round eyes staring at him innocently. Meanwhile, the squid who was carrying her in his arms just looked at him with a helpless smile.

Yoo Joonghyuk suddenly had the urge to sit down and polish his sword.

-

"Oppa! Why don't you tell me that I have a niece?"

Yoo Joonghyuk had just returned from soloing a sub-scenario when he saw Yoo Mia, Shin Yoosung, and Lee Gilyoung playing near the industrial complex's entrance. The children also saw him coming so they ran up to where he was standing. Feeling exhausted from the trip, the man planned to just give them a simple greeting before heading back to his room.

But the moment he opened his mouth to say something, his sister had already glared at him with a displeased look on her face.

"Mia-ah, I don't get what you are talking about."

He tried his best to not frown at his sister. The girl didn't like his frowns, after all.

"You have a daughter! And with that ahjussi too!"

She stomped her feet. Besides her, the other two were also glaring at him. Somehow he had managed to offend the kids during the time he was gone from the industrial complex.

"A daughter? Ahjussi?"

Yoo Joonghyuk couldn't help but give his sister a look of confusion. He had absolutely no
idea what she was talking about.

"Don't you play dumb you bastard! When did you and Dokja-hyung become mates?"

It was Lee Gilyoung's turn to be angry at him. Why did the boy suddenly bring up that annoying squid's name?

"Mia, Yoosung, Gilyoung. If you don't explain then I won't be able to understand what you are referring to."

A sigh escaped from Yoo Joonghyuk's mouth. He didn't want to waste any more time staying here because it had been a while since he'd had a decent bath and he was craving for one now.

"Ah sorry for not being clear. It's just that a baby looked exactly like you arrived yesterday and she kept calling Dokja-ahjussi "Mama" so we just thought that you guys somehow had... become mates."

Noticing that she and the other two were bothering Yoo Joonghyuk, Shin Yoosung apologized to him while trying her best to avoid his gaze.

It never occurred to him that there would be a day when the word "baby", "mate", and his and Kim Dokja's names would be in the same sentence. As a result, all Yoo Joonghyuk could say in response to Shin Yoosung's explanation was:

"What?"

-

The trio then led Yoo Joonghyuk to the room where Kim Dokja and the baby were apparently staying.

"Oppa, I'm telling the truth. She looked exactly like you and me."

Yoo Mia kept trying to convince him on the way there. It didn't help that Shin Yoosung and Lee Gilyoung were also very enthusiastic about telling him why the baby was his too.

"Hey Yoosung, do you remember last night when she was sticking to hyung so that we couldn't sleep with him? I swear her smirk was just like this bastard's!"

"Gilyoung, you are being rude. But I must agree with you this time. It felt like she was mocking us."

Yoo Joonghyuk wanted to say that maybe the kids were just imagining things and there's no way a baby could smirk but he decided to keep quiet for the time being. If he opened his mouth now, they would just bombard him with another round of explanations.

"Knock knock."

Shin Yoosung knocked on the door when they finally reached Kim Dokja's room. It was only a short distance from the complex's entrance to here yet Yoo Joonghyuk felt like he'd trudged through the entire Seoul with how noisy the children were.

"Come in."

Kim Dokja's clear voice came out not long after.

"Ahjussi, we are coming in."

The trio entered the room first, followed by Yoo Joonghyuk. The moment he entered the room, he was met with the sight of Kim Dokja sitting on the bed with a baby sitting on his lap. Said girl was smiling at him radiantly while mumbling something that sounded suspiciously like "mama".

Yoo Joonghyuk didn't miss the way Kim Dokja looked at the girl with affection filling his eyes. The man even gave her a small smile, one hand petting her head while the other supported her. For some reason, his alpha felt extremely content at the sight.

"Good mor-"

Kim Dokja looked up to greet them but his sentence halted midway when his eyes met Yoo Joonghyuk's.

"When did you come back?"

The earlier smile immediately disappeared as Kim Dokja turned to scowl at him. Yoo Joonghyuk couldn't help but feel empty for a moment.

"I just went back."

"Then why are you here?"

He pondered for a while before answering Kim Dokja's question. After all, he couldn't say that he came to see a baby who was told to be his daughter. No, that would sound like he had a screw loose in his head.

"We are here to see the baby! This bastard just didn't admit that you and him have a daughter so we decided to prove it to him!"

But before he could say anything, Lee Gilyoung had already answered the question for him. The boy then pointed at the baby sitting on Kim Dokja's lap with a fed-up expression on his face.

Now that he had a good look at her, she resembled Yoo Mia a lot when she was still small. Yoo Joonghyuk remembered his sister's appearances back then clearly because, at that time, she was the treasure of his life.

"I told you that Byeol is not my daughter!"

Kim Dokja immediately flushed at Lee Gilyoung's words. For some reason, Yoo Joonghyuk found the other's blushing face extremely... lovely.

"She calls you "mama"."

"No that's-"

"She sticks to you like glue. Even Sangah-ahjumma couldn't take her from you."

"I think-"

"Ahjussi, everyone knows that you like her calling you "mama". Stop denying it."

Yoo Mia dealt the final blow to Kim Dokja, rendering the man speechless. The man coughed into his fist for a few times before turning to Yoo Joonghyuk:

"Anyway now that the father is here then I think it's no longer my duty to take care of her. Yoo Joonghyuk, come take your daughter."

Kim Dokja held the baby out to him and said girl was staring at her with that same innocent look.

"Why is she my daughter-"

"Papa."

Yoo Joonghyuk was about to question the squid's sanity for calling a random baby his daughter when he was cut off by the baby. The room fell into silence with everyone whipping their head to look at him. After a while, his sister decided to break the silence.

"See, we told you, oppa."

-

"Oi, when did you knock Kim Dokja up? Tsk tsk I thoughts you guys are gonna be G-rated for the rest of your life but who knows-"

"Han Sooyoung. Eat."

Yoo Joonghyuk slammed the bowl down in front of her. Sensing his murderous's aura, she didn't say anything more and chose to focus on eating instead.

They were inside the dining room with other members of Kimcom. Since it was still early in the morning when he got out of Kim Dokja's room, the protagonist decided that he would cook breakfast for everyone to relieve his stress. He even specifically chose to make jjajangmyeon from scratch so that he could have something to punch on.

The others had been eyeing Yoo Joonghyuk and Kim Dokja ever since they entered the room but after seeing his face, they decided to keep their mouth shut lest something happened to their life. It was only when Han Sooyoung came that she dropped the tickling bomb everyone was trying to avoid.

"Eat."

After delivering Han Sooyoung her portion, the protagonist turned to Kim Dokja's side and placed his portion on the table.

"You know there's no way I can eat both, bastard."

Kim Dokja frowned at the two bowls in front of him. One contained jjajangmyeon like everyone else while the other had porridge with minced meat inside it.

"It's for the baby."

Yoo Joonghyuk grumbled. When he was halfway through cooking breakfast earlier on, he suddenly realized that they had a baby with them and jjajangmyeon would be too heavy for her to eat. Therefore, he quickly minced some pork left from the ingredients of the noodles while cooking porridge with a rice cooker. It was a trick that he learned when Yoo Mia was still small.

"Oh..."

A look of realization crossed Kim Dokja's face as he registered the protagonist's words. Then, with a playful tone, he turned to the baby and said:

"Byeol-ah, your papa cooked breakfast for you. Why don't you say thank you to papa?"

"Papa!"

The girl immediately looked up at him with excitement filling her eyes. Yoo Joonghyuk didn't fail to notice that while she was exactly the same as him everywhere else, it was her eyes that were different from his. Somehow, they reminded him of the vast night sky where one couldn't help but awe at the sight of countless constellations shining brightly. And they were oddly familiar too.

"It's nothing."

Yoo Joonghyuk's alpha was weirdly happy at the baby's earlier expression, but he tried to brush the feeling off by displaying his usual emotionless face.

"Oi, bastard, can't you say something nicer to your daughter? She was looking at you with such cute eyes too!"

"Byeol-ah, what should we do? Your papa didn’t seem to like you."

For god knew why, Kim Dokja decided to play a prank on him and faked a sad face at the girl. Seemingly understanding the other's words, she then turned to stare at him with pleadings eyes and droopy mouth.

"Papa?"

Her innocent gaze made him feel guilty all of a sudden. It didn't help that Kim Dokja also decided to give him the same puppy look.

"Fine."

"I hope that you like my cooking... Byeol."

After some moments, Yoo Joonghyuk had no choice but to surrender. The destructive cuteness of both the omega and the baby was just too much for him. Not like he would ever admit though.

"See, that's much better. Then Byeol-ah, say ahhh."

Satisfied with his response, the squid finally stopped teasing him and went on to feed the baby. Considering how clumsy he was with his daily life activities, Kim Dokja was actually decent at taking care of Byeol. He held her correctly, knew how to feed her, and never failed to calm her down whenever she was crying. He also seemed to like her genuinely as Yoo Joonghyuk couldn't count the number of times he saw the man gazing at her with affectionate eyes. For some reason, the alpha inside him would always purr at such a sight.

Yoo Joonghyuk was too busy observing Kim Dokja feeding Byeol that he didn't catch the rest of Kimcom whispering behind his back.

"Oh my god, they look exactly like a family."

"I know right? Heewon-unnie, your constellation must be going crazy right now."

"You must be blind to not see how those idiots are smitten with each other. Damn, I thought they would fuc-"

"Han Sooyoung, language. Anyway, should we start planning for their wedding?"

"Noooo I don't wanna hyung to marry that bastard."

-

"I have something to do so take care of Byeol for me. And don't give me that look, she wouldn't go with anyone besides you and me so I had no other choice."

Kim Dokja told him as he dropped the baby in his room. Before Yoo Joonghyuk could voice his protest, the man had already run off to god knew where.

"Papa?"

At this point, Yoo Joonghyuk had already accepted his fate and decided to go along with whatever the squid was scheming until they managed to find her parents. That also meant he had no choice but to address himself as Byeol's father.

"Yes, papa is here."

He looked down at the little girl in his arms. She was so tiny that at one point, he was afraid he might hurt her somehow. It had been a long time since he last held such delicate creatures, so Yoo Joonghyuk was bound to be more conscious of what he was doing. But with Kim Dokja's mocking (encouraging) smile, the man managed to overcome his fear and was soon to be comfortable with holding Byeol.

Yoo Joonghyuk pondered over what he should do for the time being. Since he had some free time to himself until dinner, he planned to wrap some dumplings and freeze them. The last time he checked the fridge, it seemed like they had run out of those.

But now that the baby was here with him, the man doubted he could spend that much time standing in the kitchen. After all, it took quite a long time to make dumplings from scratch.

It was then that Yoo Joonghyuk suddenly remembered the small pancake recipe that he would often make for Yoo Mia whenever she was craving some snack. They were easy to make and the girl also enjoyed them a lot so the recipe was his go-to during those days. He wondered if Byeol would enjoy the same snack.

"Byeol-ah, would you like to eat pancakes? Of course, we wouldn’t tell your mama."

He knew that his addressing Kim Dokja as "mama" was weird as hell but he had no other choice because the girl seemed to only register the man as her "mama", not responding to even his name or anything else.

"Abababa."

The girl made a happy noise upon hearing his words. He doubted she could understand what he said but well, it's not like he could understand what she said either.

The pair then moved to the kitchen where Yoo Joonghyuk quickly whipped up some pancakes while Byeol was focused on playing with her toys. By the time he was finished, he could tell that she was about to cry out of boredom.

"Here. Eat yourself."

Yoo Joonghyuk placed a small plate of pancakes in front of the baby. The pancakes were all bite-sized so she could grab them easily.

"Papa?"

"I'm not your mama so I won't feed you. You are a big girl now."

From his experiences, children should be taught to eat on their own as soon as possible and Byeol seemed mature enough to know how to eat with her hands. Therefore it would be good practice to encourage her to do that so teaching her to use cutlery in the future would be a tad easier.

"Ababa."

After eyeing the plate for a while, the girl picked up a piece of pancake and put it into her mouth. The moment she chewed on it, her eyes brightened while a big smile blooming on her face. And before he knew it, she had already finished the whole plate. The way she devoured the whole thing was so cute that he couldn't help but chuckle to himself. It kinda reminded him of a certain squid who would react the same whenever Yoo Joonghyuk made his favorites for dinner.

For some reason, he wouldn't mind cooking for this little rascal again.

-

It was finally nighttime but Yoo Joonghyuk's headache didn't end there.

"Byeol-ah, your papa has to go to sleep so can you let him go? I would sing you a song, ok?"

For some reason, Byeol started sticking to him after eating the pancakes. He didn't mind it at all during the day, but at night it would be a different matter. An alpha like him should never be allowed to sleep alone with a baby. Without the soothing scent of omega, his scent would just irritate them and make it harder for them to sleep. Plus, his bed was too bare and hard for a baby to lay on.

At Kim Dokja's words, the girl just clutched to him even tighter. The man tried to persuade her some more but she refused to listen to him. The more they took, the more impatient Yoo Joonghyuk became. It was a long day for him and he really wanted to lie down now.

"Sorry, Joonghyuk, I don't think she would listen to me any sooner so could you bear until she fell asleep and I took her to my room?"

Kim Dokja smiled at him helplessly. The protagonist fell something snapped inside his head.

"Or we can just go to your bed to sleep."

He said it as a matter of factly. Right now, his head was filled with nothing but the thoughts of finding a place to enjoy his sleep.

"Eh? But-"

A blush immediately appeared on the other's face, which made him no different than a thoroughly boiled squid.

"No, but, let's go. I'm tired."

With one hand holding Byeol and another hand dragging Kim Dokja, Yoo Joonghyuk reached the latter's room in no time. The moment he entered the room, he was greeted with the soothing scents of old books and white roses. Those scents calmed his mind while lulling him deeper into sleep.

The protagonist didn't hesitate to flop on the bed together with Byeol and his body was once again enveloped by Kim Dokja's scents. The more he inhaled them, the more he fell in love with them. They were not as sickeningly sweet as the other omegas' while still being comfy and homely. From the back of his head, Yoo Joonghyuk subconsciously thought that he wouldn't mind having these scents by his side for the rest of his life.

Kim Dokja was still standing by the door when he and Byeol had already made themselves comfortable on the bed.

"What are you waiting for? Turn the light off and come here."

Seeing no movement from the other man, Yoo Joonghyuk scowled, a frown appearing on his face. The longer Kim Dokja stood there, the longer Byeol would stay awake and the shorter his well-deserved sleep would be.

After taking a deep breath, the man finally turned off the light and joined the pair of father and daughter in the bed. His blush was hidden in the darkness while Yoo Joonghyuk was too sleepy to see through his nervous shaking.

To his surprise, Kim Dokja sang her the lullaby, and the girl fell asleep in no time. He knew that the man had a clear voice, but he didn't expect his singing to be this... warm and tingling. But he didn't have much time to mull over it because lulled by the other's tranquil voice, he also slowly drifted into sleep. That night, for the first time in a while, Yoo Joonghyuk was freed from the nightmare of his previous regressions.

-

"Hey, I think they are asleep now. Quick, take her."

"Thank god she is here. Master would kill us if he knew we let her go missing."

"Nah it's fine, don't you remember that he's still going on a trip with that man? I bet he is too busy being a simp to even pay us any attention."

"Whatever the case it's your fault for leaving her alone, Kim Namwon."

"Hey, weren't you the one who snuck out on us to watch TV, Jihye?"

"Urgh fine fine. Anyway, we gotta take her and leave quickly. If they saw us then we are done for."

"I mean yeah but can't believe Master is a simp in this universe too. Urgh why do I come up all the way here and still see them flirting like usual?"

-

The next morning, Yoo Joonghyuk woke up to the sound of Kim Dokja screaming in his ears:

"You... You… Why are you in my bed???"

"What..."

He mumbled. It was still early in the morning, not to mention that he went to bed later than usual last night. Therefore, Yoo Joonghyuk was still in a state of half asleep half awake.

"Let me go, you bastard!!!"

The squid didn't stop squirming but his tight embrace kept the man in place. The only thought in his head at the time was how warm and comforting Kim Dokja's body temperature was. He didn't know why he ended up on the other's bed but that didn't really matter for now.

"Stay still. It's early. I'm sleeping."

With that, Yoo Joonghyuk drifted into sleep once again, promptly ignoring a boiling squid who was fighting for his life (and dignity).