Work Text:
Kim Dokja didn’t know how it happened. When? He didn’t know either.
It’s just that one day, when he was woken up by his alarm- Wait, no. It wasn’t his alarm.
The salary man woke up to the violent vibrating phone beside his pillow where he accidentally fell asleep while reading.
He thought it was his alarm, trying to tap on the snooze button randomly on his phone since it’s hard to open his eyes.
However, even if he tap on every possible spot that the button may appear, the vibration didn’t stop. It made him so annoyed that he sat up and tried to force his eyes to open.
Kim Dokja squinted his eyes at the brightness of his phone, he still couldn’t see the button through the blurry vision. He rubbed his eyes, thinking that it could maybe help him see clearer.
It did, but that doesn’t mean he could process whatever was happening at his lock screen notifications.
He blankly stare at the unstopping notifications flowing into his phone. He could think of nothing as he tries to read one of the notifications.
“Who on earth..” He squinted his eyes even harder as he brings his phone closer to his face.
If a question mark could appear above his head, it would. Kim Dokja looked even closer at the notifications through his squinted eyes, questioning who all these people were.
“I don’t.. I don’t know you?” He scrolled through his notifications, “I don’t know you either..?”
His vision fully came back as his brain started to slowly function, immediately questioning all the random usernames that he have never seen.
He kept scrolling through the endless notifications, “WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE!?” He screamed with his hoarse voice, widening his eyes.
The salary man tap on the app where he had received countless notifications. It was all usernames he didn’t recognize that suddenly followed his account.
Keep in mind that the notification still haven’t stop.
Feeling bothered by the confusion he felt, he scratched his head with frustration, “What..”
He paused himself, “Actually, I’ll deal with this after I shower and clear my mind...”
Kim Dokja sighed as he turn off his phone, not forgetting to charge it before he went to grab a towel and shower.
The man sighed to himself, relieved from the frustration of confusion for a second. Even after the bath, his phone still vibrate on the table where he had charged it.
“Now, where did you all come from..?” He said, sighing again.
He sat at the edge of the bed next to where his phone was charged, he unlocked the screen full of notifications that came from just one app.
Kim Dokja decided to ‘investigate’ what in the world happened while he went to have a nice, quiet, peaceful sleep after 5 days non-stop working.
His followers increased, from 1 to 91k in one night. The man's jaw dropped to the floor, too shocked at the unbelievable numbers. That 91k then turned to 99.9k after he refreshed his page.
“H-huh??” He nervously smiled at the number, blinking rapidly.
Kim Dokja couldn’t believe how ridiculous this situation is. He had already pitched his own cheek while showering. Clearly stating that he’s not dreaming.
He tap the inbox category, ignoring the throbbing pain in his head from the confusion as he scrolled down.
Most of the notifications- that still haven’t stop, was just random people following him. He kept scrolling, until he saw a notification that mentioned him in a video.
Kim Dokja took a deep breath, preparing for whatever video that mentioned him.
He thinks, ‘I mean, the worse it could be was a stalker, right?’
The mention took him to a video, where there was a handsome looking guy. When he said handsome, he meant really, really, very handsome. He stare at the face, shocked and forgot what he was there for.
The man's face was rather similar to a certain main character he had read in a novel. The face that he had imagined from the description, the face that could slap anyone a hundred times.
Kim Dokja shakes his head, and focus his attention to the voice this time. Only, to be shocked yet again when he heard that deep voice.
“Damn it, too many surprises.” He muttered under his breath.
The man ignored his hot feeling cheeks as he try to listen to the voice in video again.
“I need help.” The deep voice in the video immediately said after he rewind the video.
It sounded desperate, but his face was blank, even looking as if he was angry at someone. Kim Dokja really can’t believe that the man actually needs help.
“I was just- just- ahem.” The man in the video accidentally stuttered.
Kim Dokja was felt a mix of surprised and amused, “So even a guy like him can stutter? Pft-”
“I was going to record a vlog about a shop that everyone had been telling me to go, but-" He paused himself, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
“Actually- I’ll just show you that vlog.”
The video of the man sitting in his house changed to another video, the vlog where the man had recorded.
The man didn’t make a comment or talk throughout the vlog, unlike the previous video where he did speak. He bought.. a teddy bear? Why would-
“For my sister.” The man in the video suddenly spoke, as if he could read the viewer's question.
Kim Dokja snorted, seeing the man having to explain what he was doing seems like this wasn’t the first time.
It was normal, nothing that had involved the salary man happened for him to be mentioned. Kim Dokja watches as he kept recording. Suddenly, a child saw the bear he was holding and pointed to the man.
“Mom, look! I want that teddy too!” The child’s voice was loud, making everyone stare at the child and the man.
Some people started to recognize the man, “No way.. Isn’t that Yoo Joonghyuk?”
“For real? The Gamer? That Yoo Joonghyuk?”
“Holy Crap, it’s Yoo Joonghyuk!”
The voices slowly started becoming audible, loud to the point it became annoying even for Kim Dokja who was watching from a screen. He then blinked as he felt a sense of déjà vu.
‘Wait, isn’t this..?’
Then a figure- too familiar figure appeared in the vlog. It was him, Kim Dokja.
“I knew it..!” He silently screamed, somehow.
The Kim Dokja in the video took Yoo Joonghyuk away, taking his hand and pulled him away from the crowd. It wasn’t far, but he was able to let Yoo Joonghyuk breath.
“Are you okay?” He asked with concern, letting go of his hand as he turned around.
The man was silent, he didn’t respond, just like how Kim Dokja remembered. At that time, he was rushing to work. He could’ve ignore the man and go to work, but something made him move. And it was definitely not his head.
Seeing that Yoo Joonghyuk didn’t respond, Kim Dokja flashed him a smile, trying to not be rude, “I’m a bit late for work, I hope you’re okay.”
After that, the video ended and instantly went back to a room with the man. Like before, his face is blank, showing no emotions on his face.
“That guy. I want to find that guy and thank him. That gift for my sister wasn’t revealed because of him.” Yoo Joonghyuk’s eyes glance sideway before looking back at the camera.
“I hope he have a social media account.” He said quickly before the video went back to the beginning.
Speechless. Kim Dokja could not believe what had happened. He blink at the video he had paused, then tap the comment section out of curiosity, wondering if anyone figured him out.
A01 :“That guy looks like that one child?” There was numerous replies under that comment.
A02 replied to A01 : “Who?”
A01 replied to A02 : “The murderer's son.”
A03 replied to A01 : “Lmao. That’s such a long time ago though? He probably moved on.”
A01 replied to A03 : “His mother killed his father. How could he move on?”
A02 replied to A03 : “I’d kill myself if my mom killed my dad and then killed herself.”
A03 replied to A01 : “How tf would I know? I’m not him.”
A03 replied to A02 : “Lol you’re weak. He’s clearly stronger than you since he’s able to stay alive this long.”
Kim Dokja couldn’t continue to read the replies anymore, especially since there’s 49 more replies under it. He thanks that user for backing him up, probably.
Other comments made him laugh, how a few make fun of the man in the video for stuttering at the beginning. Some was.. shipping them? Which made Kim Dokja absolutely confused.
“I don’t know him..? I don’t even- whaaaattt.. .”
Kim Dokja's eyes widen when he saw a few comment complimenting his looks. Which he felt- a bit insecure about. Yet they were talking about how cute he was?
A04 : “That guy is so handsome!!”
A05 replied to A04 : “Weren’t you the one who was shipping them in another comment?”
A06 replied to A04 : “Exactly. He’s exactly my type of guy.”
A07 replied to A0 5 : “Shipping them cause no harm to either of them.”
A08 replied to A04 : “He's not handsome.. he's cute!”
A04 replied to A 08 : “Ahh! You’re so right!!”
Kim Dokja decided to close the comment section. That was really.. He couldn’t find a word that could explain how he felt reading all those comments.
A thought pop up in his head, ‘How did they even found my account?’
Again, curiosity made him open the comment section. This time, it was really to make sure he’s safe and not out of pure curiosity.
He ignored the comments that would make himself feel embarrassed. Trying to find comments that mentioned people.
That man must have really a lot of followers.. to the point of having millions of comments.
“Ah- So they’re randomly tagging people that looks like me?” He said as he saw some people tagging others that’s not him.
“It’s probably because of my profile picture, better change it than interact with people.”
And before he changes his profile picture into something else in his gallery, the salary man thought of an idea. A stupid idea.
He went to the gamer's profile and took a screenshot of a random post. Kim Dokja cussed him, murmuring how much of a handsome guy he is. More handsome than any guys he had seen.
Not that he looks at men.
He felt proud of himself for thinking such a great idea. Little did he know- it was the worse idea he could’ve thought of.
Unbeknownst to Kim Dokja, who turned off his notifications and went to read a new chapter, his followers increased even faster.
He already have about 151k followers now. And the mentions? A lot of people corrected them and mentioned Kim Dokja instead.
So basically, his idea backfired and his identity was confirmed by the community. Of course, he didn’t notice until he went back to the app and was faced with many comments.
“????”
Immediate confusion was on his face, “What happened..??”
The salary man tapped on the notifications category, then saw more mentions than before between the notifications of people following him.
Too disturbed by it, he changed his profile to a random fox he saw in the app and changed the bio to “Who are you guys..?^^”.
Look, Kim Dokja is not the type to use emoticons but he would use it when he didn’t want to be mean. Personally, “^^” is his favourite.
When the man refreshed his page to check if it’s updated or not, his followers grew to 205k. He’s now no longer confused but was concerned.
‘Maybe, it’s time to reply to that video..’ He thought as he tap a notification that mentioned him.
“But what do I respond?..” He muttered.
Kim Dokja read the recent comments while thinking of a response. Those recent comments were all talking about how they had found the man.
A04 : “Omg omg omg!? He changed his profile picture to Yoo Joonghyuk!”
A08 replied to A04 : “His @?”
A04 replied to A08 : “@areader.web !”
A06 replied to A04 : “His username is so smart lol"
He- again, felt his cheeks warm up as he place his hands against his cheeks, mumbling a small thank you.
A09 : “His @ is @areader.web yall!”
A03 : “He will absolutely freaked out when he woke up LMAO"
A07 replied to A03 : “No shit fr. I’ve never seen this happen to someone.”
Then he decided. Why not make a post instead of commenting? It’s better to speak along with his face than type something that could be taken as an insult.
Kim Dokja sets his phone on his table against a book to record, but his phone fell over. He sighed, putting it up before starting to record it again.
Yet he was quiet once the video started. His mind went blank after the video started. He groaned in frustration at the already 2 nd take.
He quickly start to record, behaving as well as he could, “Uhm.. Hi? I’m.. Kim Dokja. I’ve seen your video.. and the comments.. so- and- well- thank you for uh- the followers.”
He smiled, even though it was just to make it look like he’s friendly, before he ended the record.
Kim Dokja immediately went to watch the video he had recorded, there’s no way he would post right after recording.
He cringed at himself as he watches the recording, “What are you stuttering for..?”
Since the salary man isn’t quite satisfied with the result, he took another video. He didn’t know what to expect, but it was definitely not stuttering even more.
Not satisfied with the video, he took another video again.
This time, although he didn’t stutter, he seemed like he was tired of it. That’s not good from the perspective of a viewer.
And so, he took another try. Again, and again until he was sure of the video that won’t let him be made fun of.
“Hi!” Waving his hand to the screen, “I’m Kim Dokja, the guy in that video. There’s no point in hiding my face since it’s literally my profile picture- Okay off topic.”
He cleared his throat, “Anyways, you don’t need to thank me. I was just-“ He moved his hand around, not even the man himself knows what’s he's doing.
“You know- Helping someone.. in need? It’s really fine. I don’t need payment, although I thank you all for the followers-"
He let out a laugh, “-that came out of nowhere. I was really shocked. Thank you nonetheless, have a great day.”
As the recording was coming to an end, the man in the video bowed before it went back to the starting of the video.
“... it sounds like I’m apologising.” He muttered, laying on his bed as he drop his phone in the process.
Kim Dokja would like to remake the video again, but it was already the 9 th try. He would rather not to retake another recording after half an hour of trying to try and get it right.
“Whatever.” He quickly picked up his phone and typed something random in the caption, tapping fast just so he couldn’t think twice.
That was a mistake. He only noticed the misspell after some comment mentioned it.
A01 : “Look at the misspells in the caption, that’s so stupid.”
A03 replied to A01 : “Are you obsessed? Why are you hating on every video that has him lol"
A04 : “8 takes?! You’re amazing TT”
A06 : “8 tries damn.. I want to see the first try!”
A10 replies to A06 : “He seems like the guy to stutter imo"
A06 replies to A10 : “I think so too..”
Kim Dokja grumbled at the comments that had guessed correctly. He’s the type of guy to stutter? Yeah no. It was just once in a while.
He was so focused on reading the comments that he didn’t even notice it was already afternoon. Those comments were really interesting, you see.
The thing that made him remember he didn’t eat breakfast was his stomach. The loud growling that came from his stomach made him pay attention to it.
“..I don’t have the appetite.” He talked to himself, as if talking to his own stomach.
In reply, it growled again. Which made him groan and get off the bed, taking his phone with him to the kitchen.
Kim Dokja placed down his phone on the table that’s near the kitchen. Just when he was thinking of making a sandwich, he found that there was nothing in the fridge.
The only thing left in the fridge is the tomato flavoured chips his co-worker gave him as a thank you gift.
The man made a disgusted face as he took the snack and threw it in the trash can. He was thankful that his co-worker gave him something, but he would never eat anything tomato.
“Sorry, Sangah-ssi.” He apologised with little sincere.
Kim Dokja’s fridge is now completely clear, nothing inside it. Not even ice. Just a fridge with cold air inside.
There’s two solution: buy groceries and cook it at home or eat out.
Too bad Kim Dokja doesn’t know how to cook. He also doesn’t like eating out. So he’s left with buying instant food and bread.
Sighing, he closed the fridge's door and put on a cap. It’ll be hotter than usual in the afternoon.
Kim Dokja made sure that he has his wallet in his jean's pocket. Who would go out and forgot their wallet?
He did. Twice.
The man locked the door after he got out of his apartment. Waited for the elevator and walked to the market.
It wasn’t too far, it wasn’t nearby either. However, it’s close enough to walk to the market.
Get it?
Anyways- When Kim Dokja was inside the market, he didn’t bother taking a trolley and simply went to the food section.
All he had to buy was some bread and other small sized ingredients. There was no need to bother himself to take a trolley.
Everything went well until that handsome man- the gamer, went past his sight while he was just about to leave the market after paying at the cashier.
“Uhm.. Hello?” the cashier’s voice brought Kim Dokja back to earth from his momentary shock.
“Ah. Sorry.” He quickly took the plastic bag and briskly walk to the exit.
Not once- or twice, had he ran this fast out of a market. Not even when he was late to work. Yet, he’s running away just to avoid a guy that he had only met once.
If anyone was paying attention to him, they’d think he had stolen the items without paying from the look of his walking speed.
Kim Dokja quietly cussed in his head, ‘Is his place nearby? How is it possible that I met him again?’
The salary man walk as fast as he could. It’s too bad that the world doesn’t work in his favour. A stranger saw him and yelled as she get in the way of his path,
“Wait- Are you Kim Dokja from that video?!”
His mind was in chaos when his name was revealed, ‘No, no- Why are you screaming!?’
He tried to act clueless, “Hm? Me? Sorry, you got the wrong person.”
Kim Dokja half-heartedly smile and tried to go pass the girl, but she grabbed his wrist. The pull made him stumble a bit.
“You are! Your face and your voice is exactly the same in the video!!”
‘Why did you ask then!?’
“I think you’re mistaking me as someone else. I’m in a rush to g-"
“What are they doing?” A whisper came from his side.
“....That guy..” a mumble came from his back.
Slowly, he could barely focus on a whisper. The voices began to overlap other voices the longer he stood still in place.
The salary man was conscious of the whispers from the surrounding, afraid that the attention will lead him to the person he wants to avoid the most.
He harshly pulled his own arm, which was enough to make the girl let go of her grip on him. He didn’t bother apologising and tried his best to leave quickly.
Kim Dokja cussed the media in his mind as people started crowding around him. The attention of media that he had gotten again is something he will never ask for.
‘What’s wrong with these people?? I’m just a nobody..!’
He was planning to push his way through the crowd, but instead, he was pulled by someone. Kim Dokja has no idea who it was but if there’s one thing he’s sure of, it’s that the hand does not belong to a woman.
“Are you Kim Dokja?” The guy asked after leading them to a empty area.
‘Ah,’ he thought while catching his breath, ‘this voice..’
“Yoo Joonghyuk..?”
The gamer was a bit thrown off, “You know me?”
He dropped to the floor, knowing that it’s not someone random “How could I not..? Since.. ha.. that happened because of a famous- popular, handsome gamer.. who wanted to find me.”
Kim Dokja was annoyed, not a lot but still enough for him to lineout the description of a certain gamer. Finally able to breath normally again, the salary man stood up from the ground.
“ Ahem ,” He cleared his throat, “Thank you for pulling me out of there though.”
Yoo Joonghyuk said with a weird, odd tone, “Just doing what you did back then.”
“Back then..? Ah.. Please forget that, I’m kind of regretting my actions.” Kim Dokja looked elsewhere, it was a miracle that he was able talk face to face with the gamer.
“.. Sorry.” Yoo Joonghyuk apologised as he bowed.
That alarmed Kim Dokja, who didn’t expect someone with that face would apologise so quickly. He thought the gamer was a jerk who was spoiled his whole life.
“No, no! It’s nothing! I just didn’t expect this would be the outcome!” and who would’ve known that Kim Dokja was weak to apologises?
Yoo Joonghyuk peeked through his slightly raised head, “You’re.. not blaming me?”
‘Well, I did..’
“It’s not like you can control their actions anyways, right?” The salary man shrugged, it’s true.
Yoo Joonghyuk raised his head and stared at Kim Dokja. The man he stared at was confused and slightly tilt his head to the side.
“What’s wrong?”
That seemed to bring the gamer back to earth, “Oh- Nothing. Uhm- Well-" He stuttered again, words not coming out from his mouth properly.
The salary man tilt even more, “..?”
“Would you like a coffee?”
Kim Dokja blinks, speechless at the sudden invitation given to him. He didn’t know what he expected, but it was definitely not an invitation to a coffee.
Yoo Joonghyuk realised the words that he spewed, “Oh- it’s okay if you don’t like coffee.”
Kim Dokja blinks more, trying to process what he was asked to. That was when he saw that slight pink-ish coloured ear hidden by the gamer's hair.
Seeing that Kim Dokja didn’t answer, Yoo Joonghyuk felt embarrassed and tried to take back his offer.
“Or if you decli-"
Kim Dokja felt a tiny bit flustered after he processed everything that happened, “Sure- I like bit- sweet- I mean bitter coffee.”