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Just a usual day at KimCom, everyone's busy doing their own thing -- Yoosung and Gilyoung non stop bickering, Heewon and Hyunsung sparring, Sangah reading a historical book and Jihye asking her to explain most of its contents.
Han Sooyoung and Kim Dokja are also busy discussing something. Yoo Joonghyuk joined too but he didn't talk a lot. He just listened to the other two discuss even the most trivial things in the world. These two can talk about anything anytime and still not get enough of their discussion. Han Sooyoung still has her lemon lollipop in her mouth while busy arguing with Kim Dokja.
She took a glance on her side and saw Yoo Joonghyuk staring at the other person she’s talking to. She didn’t mind it and still continued talking until they started talking about a silly topic – colors.
"Mine's yellow, though. What about you, Joonghyuk?" Han Sooyoung interrupts Yoo Joonghyuk's idle thoughts.
"Hmm?"
"We're talking about our favorite colors! What's yours?", she asked once more.
"Oh, wait, let me guess!" Kim Dokja says while trying to figure out his favorite protagonist's favorite color.
"Blue!" He says with a wide smile on his face.
Yoo Joonghyuk had no favorite color.
Well, most of his personal belongings are black, as it doesn’t get much attention and it’s easier to hide the dirt – whether it’s blood, dust, grease and sweat in an apocalyptic world. If someone asks him his favorite color, he could say it’s black. But it’s more of a convenience, rather than liking and having any meaning to it.
It’s better to see things in black, white and grey. Only then is he able to have a better judgment on things. Colorful things are useless in a world where anyone could die at any moment. There’s no use picking a color as your favorite or even as your comfort when there are more important things to deal with every single day.
Yoo Joonghyuk had no favorite color.
Until Kim Dokja said it’s blue.
“Yes, blue.” Yoo Joonghyuk says as if he’s giving affirmation to Kim Dokja’s answer.
“Why blue, though? And which one? Light? Royal? Deep blue? There are lots of blue!” Han Sooyoung asks as if she wasn’t satisfied by the answer she heard.
When he first met him, Yoo Joonghyuk thought of Kim Dokja as indigo.
A type of blue that isn’t clear, something that he couldn’t read and comprehend no matter how he looked at him. He was a color he tried and hoped to understand.
When he finally got to understand Kim Dokja a little bit, he thought that he was dark blue.
Someone he can trust without saying anything, someone who holds so much authority and intelligence inside him. The color that signifies dignity suits him.
At some point, Yoo Joonghyuk thought Kim Dokja was bright blue. It was during those times of Kim Dokja’s self-sacrifice for his companions that Yoo Joonghyuk thought bright blue suited him the most.
Yoo Joonghyuk had never hated and admired such a color at the same time before.
It was during the end of the scenarios and epilogue that Yoo Joongyuk completely discovered a new type of blue in his companion.
He started seeing Kim Dokja as light blue – someone who radiated openness.
He didn’t know someone could display and relay such emotions without saying a word. Kim Dokja tried not to show his feelings to his companions during the scenarios. But little did he know, his companions could read his emotions like an open book.
“I missed you.”
“I’m here.”
“I hope you are doing well even when I was expelled from the scenarios.”
“You are important to me, that's why I’ll protect you.”
“I don’t mind sacrificing myself a lot of times just to see the end of the scenarios with you.”
Kim Dokja would rather spend millions of his coins than say these things out loud, but his emotions and actions were enough to convey those feelings.
– Someone who felt as vast as the light blue ocean.
Even when he was sleeping soundly in that hospital room his companions had frequently visited, they could still feel his presence. It was as if he was and wasn’t around at the same time.
– Someone who was ethereal.
At first Yoo Joonghyuk couldn’t see Kim Dokja’s face clearly. But as the scenarios progressed, he started seeing his pale skin, long eyelashes and sparkling eyes. Only then he thought that Kim Dokja was as ethereal as the light blue sky.
– Someone who gave a sense of peace even when the world was being destroyed.
During his 1,863 regressions, Yoo Joonghyuk had his companions follow and rely to him, being the captain of the group. But it was only in the regression where Kim Dokja appeared did he feel the sense of peace in someone else – the feeling of having someone to rely on, the feeling of security as long as this someone exists beside him.
Kim Dokja was the only one who could give Yoo Joonghyuk a sense of peace he had never felt in someone else in the thousand lives he lived before.
“Hey, are you still there?” Han Sooyoung elbows Yoo Joonghyuk who was drowning himself in his own thoughts of different shades, tones and hues of blue that he could think of.
“Hmm.”
“So what kind of blue?” She asks once again.
“Just blue.” Yoo Joonghyuk responds, still firm with his answer.
“You’re so boring!” Han Sooyoung decides to drop the topic and continues discussing another subject with the other person.
Kim Dokja has different kinds of blue in him.
He is the epitome of color that signifies dignity, dependability, coolness and peace.
And Yoo Joonghyuk doesn’t mind discovering another type of blue in him.