Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The sun is well into its journey through the sky by the time Soleum finishes unloading the last box from his coworker’s van. At this point in the year, soft breezes tend to rustle the leaves and hang around the atmosphere as mild fog.

“Thanks again for helping me,” he comments as he pauses to wipe the sweat pooling on his forehead away, “I don’t know how I’d manage the move otherwise.”

If his last apartment complex hadn’t undergone an unreasonable rent hike he might not have had to move at all, but there’s nothing Soleum could do about it now. Except internally complain and grumble about his former landlord.

Though, with the looks of this place, it’s about to get a whole lot worse.

“Ah, don’t worry about it,” Soleum’s coworker says absentmindedly, seemingly caught up in looking around.

“Something wrong?” The words come out as a bit of a grunt as he stoops to heave the final box back into his arms.

“No…” He looks anxious. “Actually... Well, Soleum, how did you say you found this place?”

Ah, this again. Soleum is well aware of the sorry state of the complex, having frequently pondered if it was worth it to go into debt instead of living in the building it seems a large chunk of the ghost stories he reads could be set in.

But also, the price this place is offering is unbelievable. So even as he cowers at the way the building seems to have been built early in the 90’s and stayed there, he knows this is a deal he absolutely can not pass up.

(Soleum ignores the voice in his head telling that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. So what? A murder had probably happened here, dramatically lowering the appeal. Or perhaps gh- ghosts roamed the halls! Whatever it is, Soleum would rather face it than end up either on the streets or on the run from a shady creditor.)

“That, ah,” he nods in thanks as his acquaintance opens the door for him, “I think the advertisement was on a bulletin somewhere? Maybe a street-post…”

The mail. Soleum had received the advertisement in his mail. But he isn’t going to admit what sounded like the classic set up for a trafficking scheme so easily, knowing his semi-friend is already quite worried.

That last thought causes him to pause a bit. Is Soleum going to get trafficked? He hides a shiver, probably not. (Hopefully not?)

“Oh, I see…” The man shuts the door to Soleum’s new living space behind himself, watching Soleum set down the box before speaking again. “It’s just, uhm, I didn’t see this place listed anywhere online?”

“I mean,” Soleum crouches to open a box in lieu of making eye contact, “that much makes sense. I’ve already signed the contract, so they’re probably legally obliged to take any advertisements down.”

Or so he guesses. 

The man’s tone is oddly serious, “No, I mean, I couldn’t find this building itself anywhere online. I was half-convinced it wasn’t real and nothing would be at this address until we drove here.”

Again, not a surprise. Soleum had done his own research, of course. And yeah, it was a little troubling that this building isn’t listed anywhere, but:

1. Soleum has next to no choice. The next cheapest option costs almost twice as much.
2. Maybe the landlord is the traditional sort?

Small comforts. He’s recited these reasons to himself repeatedly, in the hopes that it’s rationalization and not delusion.

“Oh, that’s odd. But the landlord I met was kind of old, I guess he’s not very tech-savvy. I’ll make sure to recommend it.”

That’s a lie. He never actually met the landlord. Soleum had visited the place and signed a contract through a proxy— some Ho guy that may or may not actually be a resident here— which acted on behalf of the landlord. Or so the guy said.

Regardless, Soleum’s (faux) calm attitude has managed to relax his friend enough to be comfortable leaving the man here.

“Oh, before I forget!” The man digs into his coat pocket (that Soleum had not noticed was full of something until now) and pulls out a plant… succulent?

“For your new apartment, a housewarming gift.”

Soleum’s eyes widen in surprise. While he hadn’t expected the gift, to receive one was… quite touching.

“Thank you.”

His words are quiet, soft, but the genuine gratitude is palpable and his friend no longer feels any discomfort at the thought of leaving Soleum here. He invites the man to stay and hang out, but he unfortunately has a family event to get to. 

The atmosphere is jovial as Soleum sees his friend out at the lobby, turning to go back from the lobby only when the man leaves his sight. Despite his misgivings when he was agreeing to the contract, the building itself is unassuming. Then again, it is still early into the day.

He startles a bit upon noticing someone else in the lobby, uniformed, leveling him with a piercing stare. Soleum feels goosebumps prickle at his nape. Golden eyes, quite unusual.

“Are you the doorman?”

Truthfully Soleum probably wouldn’t have asked normally, but the awkward atmosphere has gotten to him.

The man tilts his head, silver strands shifting to get in the way a little bit, not that he looks like he minds. When he speaks, the words are a little stilted, “Ah… No, I’m security. Was that a friend?”

He examines the man, a lanky guy with more slight of a build than you would expect of someone working a physically demanding job. Although, it doesn’t seem like he’s lying from his body language and it would make sense for a security guard to know who’s familiar with the residents and who isn’t.

Ah, screw it.

“Yeah,” he nods, “I just started living here, nice to meet you.”

The man’s mouth rounds to an ‘o’ of understanding, “Kim Soleum?”

“Yeah, and you are?”

Gosh, Soleum’s so uncomfortable right now, through no fault of the man in front of him. Something about apartment lobby air at 3:00 P.M. is not conducive for friendly conversation. And he can’t remember if he locked his unit’s door. Though, he would have to be exceptionally unlucky to get robbed his first day living here.

Think good thoughts, Soleum.

A mild smile graces the guard’s face, “I’m Jay.”

Another awkward silence starts to settle. The guard’s now just staring at him. Is he supposed to say something? Thank him for his service? He’s not sure how much action an apartment guard usually gets; doesn’t feel like it should be much, but the dark circles and slightly gaunt countenance on this man tell another story.

“So when I’m in danger, call you?” He laughs a bit, trying to lighten the atmosphere.

Jay takes him uncomfortably seriously, though, “Yes, but… Try to stay out of trouble… It’s a bit of a hassle to rescue residents.”

Hold up, rescue from what? Is there an unprecedented rate of crime in this building? Once again his mind drifts anxiously to his unit that may or may not be unlocked. The one fortunate thing is that Jay has seemed to ascertain whatever he wanted at this point because he moves closer to Soleum and pats his shoulder.

“Oh,” his hand rises to his neck to rub at it, “Is there a sweet you like… or something?”

Soleum’s getting the increasingly strong feeling that it would do him good to be well-acquainted with the security in this place. 

For the first time, Soleum sees some real emotion enter Jay’s face. His eyes shine as he nods semi-enthusiastically, “Donuts.”

“Alright,” Soleum flashes a real smile back, “I’ll be sure to keep that in mind, Jay.”

Jay lets go of his shoulder and he takes it as a sign that he’s gotten the approval to make it back to his apartment.

The elevator ride turns out to be an equally peculiar ordeal.

The rustic aesthetic lining the building extends here too, no sign of the sleek modern elevators usually lining buildings. Instead the elevator has dark wood paneling covering the walls.

Surprisingly high end?

The lights flicker and brighten as they please, but remain relatively normal. The lacquer on the walls is uncomfortably reflective, oftentimes showing Soleum shadows that didn’t exist when he happens to turn around.

Soleum’s gut cramps further and immediately his collar grows tight around his throat. He should have just taken the stairs, then he wouldn’t have to deal with this.

Just as he thinks something is reaching to grab his shoulder, the reflection on the wall not making it clear as to exactly what, the elevator DINGS, indicating that he’s at the desired floor. As Soleum is about to step out, something strikes him as abnormal about the floor numbers. He doesn’t get the time to figure out what it is, though, because the doors start closing in front of him and he has to scramble to press the button for holding doors open as he dashes out.

Come to think of it, how is it that the elevator seems to be something that might come out of the 2000’s and yet the hallway doesn’t match? The maroon carpet running flush to the floor as far as the view extends is reminiscent of an older era, though the style itself has persevered until later. The building of the construct seems to have sprawled across ages, choosing and plucking from design principles at random.

An industrial exterior, art deco elevator, and so on… 

Soleum’s sure the friend he had learned all of this from would love to examine this place in-person, but until he’s confirmed its safety, he would make sure no one he knows would take a step in this building. Well, other than the coworker that had helped him, but that was a one-time incident!

He’s broken out of his reverie by the intercom crackling loudly. Soleum whips around, startled, and spots a speaker situated higher up on the wall.

“Attention, dear residents, it seems our newest friend on the third floor has well and truly joined! Residents on the same floor, please head out and give him a warm welcome.”

Third floor… That's his floor! He looks around, noting there to be no one else populating the floor right now. In a moment of confusion he points to himself, tilting his head. Of course, he feels extremely silly a moment later, after all, this mysterious announcer likely did not have any access to cameras—

“Hahaha,” boisterous laughter rings out, causing Soleum to flinch slightly, “Yes, you. It’s been so long since someone new decided to join the family, we’re all so incredibly happy to meet you.”

Soleum shivers. Family? By any chance, is it too late to terminate the lease agreement? In any case, which apartment gives someone full access to the intercom system? It feels like an abuse of privilege, or something of the sort. Not that Soleum would do anything stupid like send a formal complaint and jeopardise his new incredibly cheap place of living.

Before he can make any sort of gesture in response, a door some ways down the hallway opens. Soleum swallows nervously; this would be his first encounter with another resident of the building. (Jay probably doesn’t live in the building, right? That’s how it usually is with contract workers, assuming he is, in fact one of those).

To his relief, the lady that makes her way out into the hall seems exceedingly normal. While he shouldn’t let his guard down entirely, at least a little should be good, right?

“You must be regretting your choice to live here huh,” she says it like she’s both doing the same and also trying to make him feel better about said choice.

The lady holds out a hand, “I’m Go Yeongeun, nice to meetcha.”

“Kim Soleum, likewise,” he shakes her hand, “And no, not at all regretting it. I think.”

Total lie.

“Just,” he glances at the speaker and speaks with a lower voice, a little unnerved, “Is that usual?”

“You mean the announcements?”

When he nods, Yeongeun answers him with a mildly frustrated look, “Pretty much, you’ll get used to them eventually. He’s just like that.”

Soleum’s brow furrows, “He, as in—”

“Braun.”

The two of them turn towards the new voice. A man is standing in the doorway of the unit Soleum had walked past earlier, being closest to the elevator. He’s wearing an eyepatch, but not a medical one, the kind pirates on TV wear. This prompts an eyebrow raise from Soleum before he’s able to school his expression back into neutral.

This must be his other neighbour, given that there’s three units to a floor. He takes the chance to scrutinize this man further. He’d be in close contact with him for the foreseeable future, after all. He has a pretty unassuming appearance, slightly curly brown hair and a softer-looking face.

He’s wearing a smile, but somehow it makes Soleum a little uncomfortable. Takes him a little while to notice that it’s because the expression doesn’t seem to quite reach his eyes.

“This is Baek Saheon,” Yeongeun gestures to the man, “He’s the other person living on this floor.”

It might just be his imagination, but they don’t seem to be too fond of each other. Regardless, it’s time to launch into another introduction.

Soleum nods at the man, “Hey, I’m Kim Soleum. About Braun— you were saying?”

“He’s the guy on the announcements, who introduces himself as the apartment’s dedicated announcer.”

“There’s a job like that…”

“Isn’t,” Yeongeun shakes her head, “I’ve tried finding an office or something and asking him to lessen the frequency, but I could never seem to reach one.”

“That’s quite rude,” this time the speaker near Saheon’s door crackles, indicating he’s using the individual intercoms now and not the entire apartment.

Soleum pales, “You can hear us? Is that not a breach of privacy?”

Laughter sounds again. “You’re so silly, Mr. Deer. And so expressive. I can tell we’re going to be good friends.”

Now that the volume is louder and Soleum isn’t startled by its existence, he can notice the presence of a faint accent in the words. The kind typical of someone who was not a native speaker, although fluent. That isn't the concerning part though.

Confusion fills his face, mouthing the words, ‘Mr. Deer.’ 

Yeongeun coughs awkwardly, “Yeah, he’s assigned us all animals, for some… strange reason. Maybe he doesn’t have access to the residents’ personal information?”

“Could be, but doesn’t everyone refer to each other by name? Like how we just introduced ourselves…” Soleum tilts his head.

“I’m going to go back inside,” Saheon clearly doesn’t seem interested in discussing this with them any further, though he never was invested. Perhaps he had come outside just for appearances. Not that he would know, but something about that man just does not seem right to Soleum.

“So soon,” the speaker sounds again, “He didn’t stay for the most important announcement…”

Soleum tries to ignore the discomfort settling at his spine, “Which would be?”

This time the announcement sounds through the apartment speakers again.

“Attention, everybody! There will be a welcome party for the new resident this evening at 7:00, please be sure to attend! It hurts this Braun very much when the beloved members of our family ignore each other…”

Now he doesn’t know if that’s actually a threat or just the man’s peculiar way of speaking, but he sure as hell isn’t keen on finding out. Soleum will be attending the gathering being hosted.

Soleum frowns, “He didn’t say where?”

“Oh,” Yeongeun’s expression brightens, “That’s because there’s only one place we do stuff like that. There’s a sort of recreational room on the first floor, along with a gym, convenience store, the usual.”

“I’ll see you there, then?” Soleum asks as a sort of goodbye and also because he wants to confirm that there will be at least one sane person attending this gathering.

“Mm-hm, see ya,” Yeongeun shoots him another warm smile as she heads back to her own apartment.

Soleum is relieved to find out that his door had indeed been locked this whole time. Not that his neighbours seemed to be people to worry about. Mostly. There’s still something off about Saheon he can’t quite place.

He heads into his apartment, exhausted by the day’s events. Unpacking is tomorrow’s problem. For now he’s going to take a nice, long nap and unwind.

When Soleum wakes up hours later, his vision’s bleary, heart is pounding, and it feels like he’s been dropped in the scene of a late-night thriller show.

He bolts upright from the mattress he had plopped directly on the ground, not having the energy to assemble a bed frame at the moment. That, and it would probably be better to plan out at least some semblance of a layout first. But that’s a problem for the Soleum of tomorrow.

For now, Soleum presses a palm flat to his chest as he tries to relax a bit. It’s okay, it’s just the nerves from his first time sleeping in an unfamiliar place. He’s long since grown accustomed to this gnawing anxiety, but it doesn’t make these feelings any less of an ordeal to go through.

With a groan, the man rolls over to check the time.

6:00. Great, he should have more than enough time to wash and freshen up before heading down to his supposed welcome party. He just moved in, what would they have time to organize anyways?

Soleum briefly wonders if that Braun from the announcements was planning on attending as well, but with the way the residents don’t seem to know what he looks like, he doubts it.

It takes another five minutes before he’s properly able to rise out of bed. The salaryman does the bare minimum, taking a quick ten minute shower, using hand soap and splashing some water on his face, then brushing his hair out into its usual part.

Of course, the hardest part is deciding his clothes. It should be a casual event, right? But would he look like a slob if he shows up in sweatpants and a hoodie… In the end he opts for a simple crew neck and jeans. Not much for him to go wrong with there.

By the time he’s making his way towards the elevator, it’s 6:50. To his discomfort, he finds himself stepping into the elevator alongside Baek Saheon. Great, not exactly the neighbour he’d prefer speaking to. Would small talk be the correct thing to do?

As always, Soleum tends to act one of two ways when he’s nervous: shut down or ramble excessively. While he usually ends up in the first category, for some reason today he ends up speaking to the man instead.

“So,” he clears his throat despite Saheon’s clear disinterest in speaking, “you heading down for the welcome party?”

Saheon nods, “Of course, I wouldn't miss an opportunity to welcome our newest neighbour.”

He says it jovially, but there’s a complete lack of warmth.

To his horror, another question starts making its way out of Soleum’s throat, maybe something like ‘How long have you lived here,’ but he’s saved by the bell. Or more accurately, the chime the elevator makes as it announces their arrival.

They walk side by side in silence. Soleum falls slightly behind to allow Saheon to take the lead, given that he’d know where this recreational room on the first floor is. Not that it would take him much time to find it himself with the limited space in the building.

He walks into the room, entering behind him, and finds the sight to be quite something. 

The room is decorated with a few balloons and banners, which is about as much as he’d expected. Though what’s surprising to him is the buffet style feast laid on a few tables against the wall. Soleum raises a brow— is this catering?

Soleum doesn’t expect Saheon to introduce him, and he doesn’t. While he awkwardly tries to find a way to announce his arrival as the guest of honour, he happens to make eye contact with Yeongeun.

“Hey, he’s here!” Her words grab the attention of the other occupants in the room. There’s only a couple other floors, definitely less than a dozen other people milling about. Soleum wonders if Braun would be disappointed by the lack of turnout.

He shouldn’t be, this was actually quite impressive on a three to four hours’ notice. Yeongeun grins at him as she begins introducing everyone.

“These are the folks living on the floor above us,” she gestures to a trio that have been hanging around relatively close to each other. The lady, with navy blue hair and sharp, keen eyes sits lazily on an armchair. A guy with lighter brown hair and an unassuming expression leans across the back of it, chatting to her. Close by, but not quite a part of the conversation, is a man with white hair and striking red eyes. … Albino?

Upon Yeongeun’s arrival, the duo at the chair perk up in attention.

“Heya, I’m Park Minseong. I’ve been here a couple years, so anything you’re confused about, just ask me!”

“That’s very kind, thank you.”

The lady snorts, brushing a lock of hair out of her eyes, “Yeah, right, Minseog, you still get lost, which doesn’t even make sense, this building’s not that big.”

Minseong yelps and leans closer to hush her, “Ya, I’m trying to look cool here, give me a break, Haje.”

She levels a deadpan look towards Soleum, “Is it working?”

His eyes dart between the two, not sure who he should side with, if he even should. Ultimately, he’s unable to decide what he should do and what comes out is just the honest truth.

“Ah, not particularly cool, but kind, yes.”

They blink, exchanging a glance. Minseong pulls away from Haje’s hair, that he had started ruffling in revenge, and clears his throat, “Ahem, yes exactly.”

She rolls her eyes, trying to smooth her hair back into what it had been before his assault. 

“Yeah, yeah. I’m Eun Haje.” She takes a pause, as if considering what she should include in an introduction, “I work as an investigative reporter, Minseong here is a corporate slave for some pharmaceutical company.”

He complains again, but before he can say much:

“Me too, haha,” Soleum says, relieved that the conversation’s progressed to a level where he’s at least comfortable.

Minseong’s eyes light up, a slightly intimidating gleam entering them, “You too, huh?”

“We’re comrades now,” he says as he leans in to swing an arm around Soleum’s shoulder. As he does so, his gaze falls upon the other resident of the floor.

“Oh!” Minseong exclaims as he backs off, “Right, meet Chief. Or well, Lee Jaheon. He won’t tell us his job but he just gives off that aura…”

Haje nods, “Hence, Chief.”

The man nods at Soleum, “Welcome to Lemures.”

At his expression, which might as well be a loud question mark, Minseong explains, “Ah, that’s the name of the building.”

Seems like the type of thing that should be on any standard advertisement, including the one mailed to him, but who is Soleum to judge?

“Oh cool, it doesn’t sound Korean but it doesn’t sound like English either?”

“Yeah,” Haje grins, “Latin.”

She seems like she’s about to tell him the meaning, but something tells him he actually probably doesn’t want to know. Which is why Soleum feels a hint of relief when someone else’s voice sounds out.

“This the new guy?” The voice belongs to a lady who seems to be around his age. She’s got light blue hair (why did so many of the residents have coloured hair?) up in a ponytail. 

He fidgets a bit at the intense, laser-like focus.

“Seems like it.” He turns towards the voice, another lady, leaning against the wall. She looks the distinct opposite of welcoming.

“I’m Lee Seonghae, that grump over there is Jin Nasol. We’re from the seventh floor so I doubt we’ll be meeting often in the future, but nice to meet you.”

And here’s another person whose wide smile doesn’t match their eyes. Except, whereas Saheon felt like he was faking a smile, she feels like she’s faking friendliness. Soleum swallows nervously, it seems this floor would be one it would do him good to avoid. He briefly wonders where the third from their floor is, but doesn’t dwell on it.

Could be sick, busy, or just didn’t care. Any number of reasons. After a few introductions with the rest of the people who were there, the atmosphere in the room grew more comfortable. People were off in little groups, presumably floor-wise, having their own discussions.

Meaning Soleum is free to do as he pleases. And maybe enjoy the food at this ‘Welcome Party.’ Hey, it was hosted for him anyways right? He fills his plate up with mild glee, it wasn’t often that one could treat themselves to a nice meal.

Out of the corner of his eye, Soleum notices a flash of silver.

“Oh, Jay, you’re here too?” 

The man nods. In his hands is a plate… stacked with purely desserts. Soleum suppresses a chuckle, it seems like the man really has a sweet tooth.

He chews a bit more before speaking, “I was late because I had to deal with an incident.”

Soleum waves his hands a little frantic, “Oh, no, no, that’s okay.” 

Jay just shrugs, turning his attention back to the plate in his arms. Except Soleum had the distinct feeling that perhaps the words had been an attempt at small talk. Maybe? It’s not like Soleum is hosting this party, so he has no particular feelings towards whether people are late or don’t attend.

“Err, if you don’t mind,” Soleum continues speaking with Jay, evidently startling the man, going off of his jolt.

“Could you tell me about the incident?”

He gets to make conversation with Jay and learn more about this odd building. A win-win.

The man tilts his head, oddly reminiscent of a puppy. This guy… should they really have made him a security guard? It seems like a crime.

“Nothing big, someone just got stuck in an elevator.”

“Oh,” Soleum’s brow furrows, “That seems to be a maintenance issue, why are they making you…”

“The elevator didn’t malfunction.”

Oh. Oh? Should Soleum actually avoid it from now on?

As if reading his mind, Jay adds on, “It’s best to use the stairs for a few days, give it time to calm down.”

The words fly out before they can help it, “The elevator?”

Except he doesn’t receive an answer. Jay just nods, uncaring of the way Soleum pales. Then his eyes sharpen, demeanour growing alert. He sets his plate down, looking at the donuts he was abandoning in mourning.

“I have to go.”

Soleum takes a look at his oddly emotive eyes and shakes his head, “Don’t worry about it, I’ll look after these.”

It’s a small thing, but it seems to elicit a disproportionate amount of joy as Jay exits the recreational room, oddly rushed. Another incident? Soleum grabs the guard’s abandoned plate and hesitates for only a moment before piling more desserts on. Sure, it isn’t fair for one person to hoard them, but Soleum has to have a share of the food, right? So he’s just giving his share of sweets to Jay, making it even. 

Soleum makes this justification as he takes it, situating himself in the armchair in the corner. There’s a matching armchair to his left. It strikes him as a little odd that the seating is situated against the wall with a T.V. instead of in front, but he supposes there’s enough stationed there anyway.

He examines the room, finding a strange feeling growing inside him. They didn’t seem to all be on good terms, but at least… There’s a sense of community. His gaze lands on the trio from the— actually, he never got their floor, but the first ones he was introduced to.

Even from across the room, he can hear Minseong’s boisterous laughter and an exasperated groan from Haje. He accidentally locks eyes with the… Chief Jaheon. The man returns a steady gaze. Strangely enough, while he’s not smiling at all, he feels much warmer than many others.

Soleum smiles slightly and his gaze slides past. It’s then—

BZZZ. BZZZ.

His phone vibrates in his pocket, prompting him to pull it out a little frantically. The number doesn’t seem to be from his contacts, though. Spam? Soleum lets the call go through, but to his utter surprise mere seconds later, it starts ringing again.

Not spam, then. They would just move onto the next number in their database, attached with a voicemail.

Mildly curious and having nothing better to do, Soleum picks up the call.

A low voice sounds out, smooth and… slightly accented?

“How have you been enjoying the party, dear guest? A little rude that so many didn’t attend, but unfortunately there’s nothing I can do about that.”

Soleum’s eyes widen dramatically.

“Who is this,” he questions, voice thick. The truth is, he already knows, but he doesn’t really want it to be true. After all, how did his phone number end up with—

“Oh no! Did I not leave an impression… It seems my skills have dulled over the years away. I’m Braun!”

“Right,” he speaks slowly, “You were saying?”

Though he wants to question how the man got a hold of Soleum’s phone number, he’s a bit tired after the day's events and would rather not delve into something that’s just going to stress him out more.

Soleum is unable to suppress the flinch that jolts out of him when he hears the CLICK that is characteristic to—

A TV turning on. Sure enough, when he glances back and up, the television has been turned on, though the screen is still blank. He furrows his brow, searching across the room for whoever could be using the remote, but no one seems to be paying attention to the corner Soleum’s occupied.

“Silly Deer, it’s me.” As the words resonate through his device, an emoji fills the TV screen. Not a real one, as far as he remembers, but a sort of mutant between the eyeroll and the one that’s covering its mouth and laughing.

Suddenly the food he was able to get down earlier starts to rebel, dissatisfied with its prison. Soleum’s stomach lurches this way and that way.

“Oh.” Really, there’s not much else he can say. How is one supposed to make conversation in this situation? Luckily, or not, he doesn’t have to.

“As I was saying,” the audio comes out as slightly tinny through his device, “are you enjoying the party?”

“Yes,” Soleum swallows nervously, “Did you put this together?”

“More or less.” The emoji switches to a pleased, close-eyed expression. “I’m so delighted you were able to join us. I can’t believe some people would rather go to work than spend time here.”

Well… He’s one of those people… Though the statement itself surprises him a little.

“Work?” It’s quite late now, almost 9:00. Of course, there were a number of jobs that operated at this hour, but not very many.

“The lot on the fifth floor. On shift. Unless an actual fire happens, it’s so much more entertaining over here…”

Firefighters? No, isn’t that really important?

“Oh!” An exclamation mark flashes on screen, “Looks like time’s up. See you soon, Mr. Deer?”

And Braun’s gone before Soleum can even question what he means. Soleum’s eyes wander around the room again as he considers the man’s words. They pause when they land near the table. Baek Saheon and Go Yeongeun, his neighbours, are there.

Their volume is too low for him to discern any meaningful words, but they look to be arguing? Soleum frowns, it wouldn’t do them good to have disharmony on the floor.

Saheon has a helpless smile on his face, but doesn’t seem to be backing down from whatever is making Yeongeun point a finger at his chest. At one point he waves placatingly, but Yeongeun holds up a hand, annoyed, as if to tell him to stop.

Whatever they’re talking about has got her so heated that she ends up fast-walking straight to the door, clearly done with the gathering.

Soleum closes his mouth, which had opened to say a goodbye to her as she passed. His attention turns back to Saheon, whose expression has gotten stone-cold, devoid of any of the warm front he was putting on earlier. The man does what may or may not be an eye roll (Soleum can’t quite tell, there being only one of them…) and goes back to the food as if nothing happened.

The change of demeanour is quite unsettling to Soleum. This man… is not someone Soleum is keen on getting close to.

“Back.”

He jumps, having not expected the voice. Jay is back, looking very eager to dig back into the treats, judging by his laser focus on Soleum’s lap.

As Soleum hands the guard his plate, his eyes narrow in scrutiny.

“You added some.”

It’s not an accusation, but a statement.

“Ah, yeah.” 

Feeling quite embarrassed, Soleum finds he has to look away as he speaks to Jay, “I don’t like sweets that much, so I thought… They’d be better off with you.”

Having turned away deprives him of what Jay’s reaction might have been, but it’s not necessary. Jay settles down in the armchair beside Soleum, digging into the assortment of delights. The gap in his more rough aesthetic and his sheer joy is surprising, and slightly cute.

“Ah,” with less than five bites on his plate, Jay stops eating to speak. “Thank you.”

Soleum shakes his head, “No worries.”

It’s the end of his first day here. There’s people he feels like he can trust, people who are friendly, people who are anything but, and people that don’t quite fall under any of those boxes.

Soleum doesn’t know how long he’s going to be living here, but in the meantime, it feels like it might be able to become home.

If he ignores the obvious paranormal activity, that is.

Chapter Text

Despite it being Sunday, the weekend, Soleum does not get to sleep late into the day. Because even with the blackout curtains he had immediately added to his bedroom window and the optimal temperature he’s set it to, there’s an issue.

Said issue is a certain disembodied voice greeting the residents of the apartment through the intercom system. 

“Rise and shine, people of the Lemures Apartments! Let’s start the day bright and early– full of productivity. We’re not in Elysium, you know~”

Soleum groans, dragging half of his pillow over his head to sandwich it in the material. He does not want to be getting out of bed at 8:00 A.M, should he not have to, thank you very much. So he ignores the announcement, thinking nothing of it.

But then smooth jazz starts playing through the speakers. Not anything Soleum’s heard before, but it is quite pleasing to the ears.

He groans louder, tossing whatever was closest— a secondary pillow— at the wall and missing. Not that hitting the target would have done anything to shut off the noise. He wipes at his eyes blearily in weary acceptance that he won’t get to sleep again.

When Soleum turns on his phone to check the time flashing back at him again, he finds that the track has been playing for almost five minutes. On cue, the speakers shut off. Is this the morning routine, then? An announcement from Braun and five minutes of— presumably— his taste in music?

Offhandedly, he regrets not being able to use a song recognition app to check the tune, just a bit. Unfortunately, he’s quite sure that the same will be happening the next morning, so he’ll get his chance. 

Soleum yawns as he turns over. To get out of bed, or to not get out? He could stay in here, for hours even, but he knows he won’t get another wink of sleep. Surprisingly, his slumber had been deep and uninterrupted. He’s relatively well-rested, leaving the choice to be clear.

The man yawns as he rolls out of bed, already constructing a plan of what he’s going to be doing today. He shuffles through what would be reasonable or asking for too much and ends up on a singular goal— get all of his furniture and (minimal) decorations into place. 

Soleum starts off by whipping the curtains open, a fresh stream of daylight rushing in. The warmth reflexively brings him a smile as it kisses his face. Maybe waking up early isn’t so bad. He quickly washes his face with soap and water and brushes his teeth before he deems himself as set.

He’s about to get straight into moving, but a loud groan from his stomach interrupts Soleum immediately. Despite there being no one around as a witness, he flushes. Right, it’s probably not a smart idea to begin a day of intensive labour on an empty stomach. But of course, his fridge is empty.

Soleum roughly browses through the nearby supermarket locations as he exits his unit. He pauses in the hallway, feeling an odd prickle, but there’s no one there. His eyes widen as he reads the address of the closest store— the address of Lemures. Which probably means it’s on the first floor.

Come to think of it, the nice lady next door— Yeongeun— mentioned that there is a convenience store. He moves towards the lift reflexively, before halting in his tracks. Jay said to give it a few days. While he doesn’t have to listen to the man, for some odd reason he feels like he should trust him.

That and the fact that you would have to be clinically insane to ignore a horror flag like that.

Soleum shivers as he bypasses the elevator in favour of the door to the stairwell. He’s quite lucky he’ll only have to travel two flights. Even more so when he notes the steps and walls to be concrete, matching the industrial exterior.

This seems like the perfect setting to have a suspicious maroon stain—- No, think good thoughts, Soleum!

With more than a little trepidation, he reaches the convenience store at last. He reads the name of the place a little curiously, Looky Mart.

Wait, no. He blinks and— Soleum is standing in front of Lucky Mart. He frowns at the occurrence. Maybe he hasn’t woken up properly, yet. It is only a couple hours into the day. Luckily, the hours indicate that the shop should be open right now.

He takes a quick, calming breath before pulling the door open. Tall aisle barriers obstruct Soleum’s view of the counter. He browses slowly, choosing while thinking of the next few days. 

He makes his way to the cashier with a small number of items in his basket: eggs, milk, sugar, a few cooking ingredients, and some frozen meals. Oh, also a frying pan. While he had a specific box set aside with stuff he would need immediately, like hygiene products and some basic dinnerware, his cooking materials would be shoved somewhere in the boxes. And though he could just sort through the labels until he finds the one he needs, it seems like a lot of work to do on an empty stomach.

“Haven’t seen you around, you new here?”

And he’s brought back to the present. Soleum’s gaze slowly drifts up to examine the person checking him out. His eyes widen in recognition.

“You’re—”

“Surprise!” One of the residents from the seventh floor, Seonghae if he remembers correctly, stands in front of him, long blue hair tied up.

“I didn’t expect one of the apartment residents to be working here,” he makes small talk as she scans each item.

Seonghae tilts her head, ponytail swinging to follow suit, “Of course, who else would?”

“...”

Yeah, there’s not really an answer he can give to that. She chuckles as she tells Soleum his total.

“Interesting selection of items you got there.”

“Is it?” Soleum raises a brow, beyond confused. Are these not the groceries typical of an exhausted salaryman?

“No, it’s just, you’re shopping like you actually—” Seonghae’s interrupted by the chime of the door opening, twinkling loudly.

He tilts his head. Strange, had the bell rung when he walked in?

“You were saying?”

Soleum’s attention gets diverted back to the lady. He shakes his head, “No, you were saying…”

Seonghae shrugs with a grin, “If ya can’t remember, then it must not have been important.”

His jaw drops slightly. Wait, no, he never said he doesn’t remember— But any sort of protest gets shut down when the other shopper arrives at the cashier, a man with wild hair and a look in his eyes that makes Soleum distinctly uncomfortable.

He squints suspiciously at the man’s items— a large amount of batteries. What? He shakes his head, resolving to ignore creepy things that don’t involve him as he exits the store. 

Soleum lets out a large exhale as he stands outside the entrance to Lucky Mart. How does he feel so tired this early into the day? With a sigh, he starts on making the journey back to his unit. Thankfully, Braun makes no comments during it. He’s probably just waiting for the optimal time to strike, though.

Soleum hums slightly as he tosses the omelette in the pan, the same jazzy tune from that morning. Before long, he’s set to dump the eggs into a plate— freshly pulled out of his quick box— and turn off the exhaust.

He takes a slow look around the room, breakfast in hand.

The stools he could place at the breakfast bar were all packed away. He doesn’t even have a couch, given that he decided transporting his old one would be too much work (and money) and instead had sold it secondhand. Doing so had reduced his furniture all to things that could fit in his friend’s larger car, though they had to make several trips.

So the only option remaining has to be the floor, in front of one of the only furniture pieces that weren’t disassembled and squashed into packaging— a coffee table. Only mildly disgruntled, Soleum sits on the wooden floorboards, raising an eyebrow at the resounding creak. He wonders, offhandedly, just how old this building is in the first place.

As Soleum chews his food, a small grin slipping onto his face at the taste, he formulates his attack plan on moving in. He’s so deep into his pondering that the last bits and pieces of his food go cold when he’s finally done. He quickly shovels them into his mouth as he goes through a final mental rundown.

1. Unbox and assemble all of his larger furniture pieces:
   • Bed-frame
   • Stools
   • Book-case
   • Nightstand
   • Office Desk & Chair
2. Place his larger decor (or practical furniture items) around the place:
   • A couple lamps
   • Standing fan
   • Family and friend photo frames
3. Pull out and go through diligently of each his smaller boxes:
   • Books
   • Knick-knacks 
   • Office Supplies

Even as he gets up, brushing his hands off on his sweatpants with a sigh, he knows he’s definitely missed quite a few things. But it’s okay, as long as he has his basic plan, restructuring throughout the day wouldn’t be hard. Soleum sets the plate and fork quietly into the sink before getting started in earnest.

Except. Already there seems to be a hitch in the plans.

None of Soleum’s boxes are labelled. He frowns, having sworn that he would have labelled them, that he had labelled them. But when he racks his brain to when he was packing them, he can’t recall doing so. The only packaging that remains distinct is that he had made sure to put all of his clothing into suitcases.

Now Soleum could push the boxes around and gain a decent guess of which ones would contain the first of his plan, but… It would do him good to organize and label them all now. 

…

With what marker though?

Ack— Soleum runs a frustrated hand through his hair, messing it all up. Seriously. Briefly, he considers running down and making another trip to the convenience store. He immediately waves the thought away— If he was going to be opening all of the boxes anyway, why waste time getting a marker that would already be placed there with his stationary?

It’s just not in the order Soleum prefers. With mild irritation, he plants himself next to the boxes and yanks the one closest to him. Loud clinks resound as he drags it. He winces. Great, he better not have broken any dinnerware…

His eyes soften when they land on the set staring back at him upon opening the box. A dinner set gifted to him from his parents. He reminisces quietly as he traces the plate sitting up at the top. Soleum sets to pulling them out, startled when his hand knocks against the bottom of the box. He takes another look at the stack of plates and cutlery grouped together. Everything is there. Then why—

He shakes his head, trying to shake the odd feeling off. It’s a new apartment, not a creepypasta, for god’s sake. 

Each new box unlocks another treasure trove of memories. Pieces of his friends and family, gifted to him as parts of their souls. Books full of art, a souvenir from a hot country in the middle-east, a pair of shoes he never wears, yet still treasures.

Okay, good, all of them are labelled. He frowns. He had been transported to the past with each new discovery, but the most potent form of all— photos— hadn’t been uncovered. He goes through each box again, this time more thoroughly, but no dice.

Soleum’s gaze darkens. Just where the hell are his photos? He runs through the entire ordeal of moving, not clear on exactly where they had disappeared. Though if he had packed them away and yet they were not here right now, they must have been lost somewhere along the journey.

He must have left them in his friend’s car.

It’s the explanation that makes the most sense, and yet. That doesn’t mean it actually makes sense. He makes a mental note to text his coworker about it. Not that it’s entirely needed, given that he’ll be seeing the man the next day at work.

He runs another hand through his hair, a little worried he’ll go bald from stress before he gets a promotion and is able to leave this place. That or his meager investments make their (hopeful) returns.

He stands up, finally ready to make progress on his initial plan. He stretches each arm slowly, ready to face the task. Armed with only a faded white t-shirt and ratty sweatpants, he faces his apartment with grim determination.

Shortly into assembling the furniture, Soleum encounters yet another roadblock. Being that he’s actually quite bad at it. Last time he had to do this, when he moved into his previous apartment, he had help.

A bunch of people had banded together to make sure the process of leaving his parents’ home into his own apartment was as smooth as possible. And now…

He’s alone.

It hits Soleum all at once.

He’s well and truly alone. His friends don't live nearby like before, he’s now hours away from his parents, and this new apartment is creepy as hell!

His mouth twists. His face falters. His fingers twitch, maybe to pick up his phone and shoot his parents a message.

‘Do you miss your son?’ He wants to know. ‘Can you come here?’ He wants to ask.

Instead he wipes away the tears that have started to bead up at the corners of his eyes with clenched fists. He’s an adult, damn it. He’s got to pull himself together, even if the world feels like it’s falling apart after he couldn’t put together one barstool. The literal first piece of furniture attempted.

He’s about to try once more, struggle through it and perhaps succeed. That or, upon immediately failing, work up the courage to ask one of the two friends he made if they’re good at assembling furniture. The second option being infinitely more embarrassing, he decides he’s not going to let it come to that.

KNOCK. KNOCK.

Two quick raps sound at the door. Soleum turns to face it, wondering who would be visiting him. Perhaps Yeongun? She is on the same floor, after all.

Or it could be Saheon. He shivers. Hopefully not.

He walks to the door with no small amount of trepidation. When he looks through the peephole, though, it’s all black. Could they be covering the peephole? Surely not. Brushing that uncomfortable thought away, he prays to any god out there that he wasn’t about to become a headline.

He unlatches the first lock and unlocks the deadbolt, slowly pulling the door open. Two men stand in front of him.

The one on the right has dark, short hair, a bit cropped, thick eyebrows, and blazing blue eyes. The intensity of his stare is unnerving. Despite all of that, he looks kind, somehow.

The man on the left has unruly chestnut locks and slightly tanned skin. He’s sporting a bit of a smirk. Soleum’s eyes widen slightly when his gaze dips down to spot a gnarly scar wrapping around the man’s neck. He yanks it back up just as quickly, better not to stare.

When they don’t say anything for a few seconds, Soleum tilts his head in confusion. Isn’t it customary for the visitor to introduce themselves?

As if on cue, the brunet starts speaking with a close-eyed smile. 

“Hey, we just wanted to meet the new neighbour and congratulate ‘em.”

Soleum raises his brows. The gesture is appreciated, kinda, but it isn’t really necessary. He nods, about to thank them briefly, but it’s then that the other speaks.

“Sorry, we couldn’t attend yesterday,” his voice is a bit gruff, “we were on shift when the apartment scheduled your welcome party.”

By apartment, he’s referring to the people as a collective and not the building itself, right? He forgoes that train of thought when he processes the shift aspect of the man’s words.

“Shift,” Soleum stands a little taller, “Are you the firefighters—”

Braun mentioned. He doesn’t really want to say that part, though. It feels weird treating the man using the intercom as a normal aspect of life and he’d rather not. They don’t seem to notice the strange cut off in the sentence. Or if they do, they don’t particularly care.

“Mm-hm,” Soleum’s eyes flicker to the left in attention, “Ya got that right. Me and Jaekwan-ie here are firefighters, so you can call us anytime.”

Soleum blinks. The man is nudged lightly by his companions, who raises a hand to rub a few fingers at his forehead in stress. Man, does Soleum get that.

“No, if you have an actual fire, please call the fire department.” 

Well, duh. It’s not like Soleum would be taking up this strange man’s offer, had it been genuine, in the first place.

It strikes him, though, that they’ve been standing in the doorway this whole time and he winces a little. God, that was rude.

“Uh, come inside,” he offers tentatively, “I still haven’t caught your names.”

Well, except for Jaekwan. But a proper introduction was customary. The man on the left locks eyes with Soleum and stares intensely for an uncomfortable amount of time. Soleum finds himself noting that they are mostly an inky black, but if you look close enough, pay enough attention… A rich blue spreads from the center.

Just when Soleum is about to retract his offer, finding a way to do so in a manner that wouldn’t be rude, he grins.

“Sure!”

And he pushes past Soleum, arms brushing slightly. He steps back in surprise, not expecting the contact. Jaekwan gives him an apologetic nod and follows suit, both remaining only a couple steps in.

Soleum examines the peephole before he closes the door. They indeed hadn’t been covering it, given that there is no peephole on the outside of the door. He frowns, poking his head outside and looking around until he can spot Yeongeun’s door. No peephole there, either, so at least Soleum isn’t this building’s sole victim.

“Ah sorry,” he turns around to find them staring quietly at him, “there’s nowhere to sit, really. Can I get you water? I don’t have anything else at the moment…”

Ah, this is really embarrassing. He shouldn’t have invited them inside. Or he should have bought some refreshments when he was at the convenience store earlier. There wasn’t really a way to have known he would have guests, though.

“That’s—”

Jaekwan is interrupted before he can get more than a word out, “We would like water, thanks!”

Soleum nods and rustles through his glassware box to pull two out. He looks at them suspiciously, before sighing and deciding it would be better to wash them again after all. He hears notions of whispers behind him and he can’t help but be a little curious as to what the duo is talking about.

They set to introducing themselves properly after he hands them the glasses.

“We both live on the fifth floor, so visit us if you ever need help with anything. I’m Ryu Jaekwan and this is Choi.”

His eyes flick towards ‘Choi’ in curiosity after he waits for Jaekwan to finish the man’s name but nothing more comes.

“Just Choi?” Soleum blurts the words out before he can stop himself and he winces, regretting it immensely.

Choi doesn’t seem to be offended though. He just has this sort of mischievous smile, “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

Well, yes. That’s why he asked.

Jaekwan shakes his head, “Don’t mind him. Yeah, you can just call him Choi.”

Soleum nods. Understood.

“Moving in must be hard, eh?” Choi muses as he looks around the room, full of boxes and nothing else.

He flushes, embarrassed, “Yeah, it’s been taking some time…”

“You’re doing it alone?” The words seem to be slightly incredulous and Soleum can’t fathom why.

“Ah, yes. I’m currently trying to assemble the bigger furniture.”

“Let us help.” It’s Choi who speaks and it isn’t a question. Soleum’s eyes widen at the sense of authority in the tone. The offer is kind and all, but…

He shifts on his feet, uncomfortable, “I can’t let you do that.”

What kind of a man puts two people he just met straight into work? Soleum’s boss, probably, but that's besides the point. He couldn’t possibly let these two kind strangers do his manual labour for him.

Although, being firefighters, they probably would be good at it and Soleum’s been struggling for a long time anyways.

“We insist,” Jaekwan’s voice is firm, but not unkind. “It’s our day off, today, anyway.”

“Even worse, then,” Soleum waves his hands, a bit flustered, “I can’t make you do work in your break too!”

“Not making us do anything,” Choi shrugs, “We offered. It‘s a good way to get some physical activity today anyways. The gym’s closed.”

He bites his lip a bit, chewing in thought. This could be a way to gain more friendly faces in the apartment, there was likely no way he was getting through putting that all together by himself, and they were being awfully insistent.

“I owe you one, then.”

He’ll order dinner of course, but on top of that, offering to spend the day helping someone you don’t know is excessively kind. He adds them to the list of normal people living in this apartment building.

“So, where do we start,” Choi brushes his hands on his pants after placing his empty glass on the island.

Soleum’s eyes narrow as he considers the question.

“Perhaps you can let us know everything you need to assemble and we can go through them in order of priority?”

Jaekwan seems to have a good head on his shoulders. Soleum nods, pulling from his mental list and conveying everything aloud. He feels a little embarrassed that he was going to be making himself a seat first, but the open box with the barstool is out of view, so it should be fine. Mostly.

“Your bed frame, then,” Choi singles out immediately, “Wouldn’t want you sleeping on the floor again~”

He leads them to the bedroom where he had pushed the boxes containing the bed frame pieces next to his mattress.

“Where are your tools,” Choi asks while Jaekwan sets to methodically pulling the pieces out of where they’ve been packed away.

“Ah, one second,” he speed-walks to where he had been working on the barstools and returns with two screwdrivers— a minus and a plus.

The duo stare blankly at him. Jaekwan clears his throat, “Is… That all?”

Soleum turns bright red in embarrassment. Well, yes. But is there really a need for anything else? All furniture could be assembled using these. But now that he thinks about it, when his friends had come over, one of them had brought his toolbag. They had laughed at Soleum for not being mechanically inclined. Hindsight truly is 20/20.

“Ah… Yes…”

Choi turns his head to hide a laugh in his hand. Soleum’s eye twitches. An amused smile makes its way to Jaekwan’s face as well, but he’s remarkably nicer about it.

“It’s okay, we won’t be needing much anyways. Although an allen key would definitely be necessary, and perhaps different sizes.”

He stands up out of his squat, “I’ll bring mine over, but make sure to head over to Lucky’s later on for at least a drill, measuring tape, scale, wrenches, you know, the essentials…”

Soleum nods despite some of that flying into one ear and straight out the other. Choi examines his blank face and laughs again.

“Don’t worry, we’ll go with you some time.”

He nods slowly, watching Jaekwan leave through the door. A few seconds later:

“Ah, you’re really gonna leave the door unlocked?”

Soleum looks down curiously at Choi. Given that he’s leaning against the wall near his door frame while the other man is sitting on the floor near his mattress, there’s a height difference.

“I assume he will only be a few minutes?” 

Choi laughs, “Still.”

Okay, that seriously creeped the hell out of Soleum. With a wary stare at the man, he exits the room to lock the front door. Fearing an awkward conversation, he just waits until the man returns and offers another two short knocks.

Soleum sighs in relief as he unlocks the door and pulls it open.

Not only is the man carrying a large toolbox, he also has a sort of stackable tray system in his other hand, full of screws, nails, and anchors.

Noticing Soleum’s stare, he explains, “I figured we might need to hang things later on.”

His mouth makes an ‘o’ in realization. How smart.

When he leads Jaekwan back to the room, they enter to find Choi scrolling aimlessly on his phone. He perks up when he notices they’ve come back.

“Alright, let’s get started!”

Well, the enthusiasm is certainly appreciated.

Soleum tries to help, truly he does. But he finds himself to be subjected to unfortunate embarrassment every time. So he gives up, just a little.

“Right, just sit there and look pretty,” Choi exiles Soleum to the mattress after his third time knocking something over.

He’s glad Choi stopped him before they reached the point of having to hang things up with nails, because he can only imagine how that would have gone over. Probably a nail in his thumb. Or a broken thumb.

Soleum startles when Jaekwan turns on the light, it having become too dark to be illuminated purely by the sun. Given that it’s summer, it must be truly late in the day right now. Sure enough, when he pulls his phone out of his sweatpant pocket to check— it’s quite late into the day.

And on cue, Choi announces that he’s hung the last art piece up— Now all that remains are Soleum’s smaller decor items and belongings that he would rather put away himself.

He smiles at them, “Thank you very much. Please, stay for dinner.”

It’s the least he can do. And now that his dining table and chairs— gifts from his parents— have been put together, they can dine peacefully.

Jaekwan shakes his head, “We couldn’t impose like that. You should enjoy your first dinner on your table in peace.”

Choi droops, seemingly in disagreement.

On cue, Jaekwan’s stomach growls. Loudly. His face remains stoic as ever, but his ears? They’re flaming red. Choi bursts into laughter, amused beyond belief. If he laughs any harder, his own face will turn red.

Soleum smiles as well, “Are you sure about that?”

Choi roughly pats Jaekwan on the shoulder, “Come on, there’s nothing more enjoyable than eating dinner with others.”

Well. He’s right. And to think Soleum was feeling lonely earlier this very day.

“Besides,” he averts his gaze, “I already ordered, and if you leave now, it’ll be too much for me to eat alone…”

Choi laughs again, “See! Come on, let’s not disappoint—-”

He freezes. Then blinks a couple times.

“You never said your name.”

Oh. Right. He’s a little surprised, because how could he miss that? But he had been in a strange mood when they arrived.

“Oh, my bad. I’m Kim Soleum.”

“Nice to meetcha, Soleum,” Choi grins at him.

“Likewise.” And it truly was. The thick gloom that had descended onto Soleum earlier that very day had all but vanished.

He heads out the door to grab the food in the lobby with a small smile on his face. Upon his departure, Jaekwan and Choi exchange a glance.

Soleum had just left them in his apartment… Alone…

“He’s too trusting,” Jaekwan comments with a frown.

Choi sighs, “Way too trusting.”

Soleum is starting to get real tired of having to take the stairs up and down. Once again, he’s immensely grateful his unit is on the third floor and not, say, the eleventh or some high number like that. Yikes, could you imagine?

The first floor is desolate when Soleum arrives; no one is behind the counter either. The eerie emptiness is a bit off putting, but he’s lived in an apartment before. This kind of thing isn’t so odd. Par for the course, even.

His brow furrows. Hold on, empty? The delivery app said the food was here, though, so where is the guy? He looks around for some more time before he spots some take out bags near the entrance to the lobby.

Wow. It’s either cowardice or laziness, but either way it’s just a little bit irritating.

When Soleum reaches the entrance and bends over to pick up the food, he pauses. The view outside the apartment building is visible from his vantage point, through the glass. The sun set some time ago, leaving the street illuminated only by the glow of tall lamps.

But that’s not what caught his attention.

A few paces from the door are three gigantic black dogs. Or, well, dog-adjacent creatures— canines .

They’re pitch black, sucking out light as if what he’s seeing is not something coloured black, but a void. Soleum curses his sharp vision, because he can easily make out their piercing red eyes. They shift and twitch in place, but avoid the glow of the streetlamp entirely.

Soleum squints, realizing something else is also going on. The dogs are crowded around something. He can hear through the glass, he realizes. And the low frequency he had previously attributed to the summer air, as it sometimes sounds, he now recognizes to be a growl.

Suddenly, one of the creatures snaps its jaws and something flashes too quick for him to catch, narrowly escaping certain death.

The more Soleum watches the scene, the more words from a certain memory flash in his mind.

The gytrash is a mythical creature from British folklore— roaming desolate roads to lead people astray.

It can appear as a giant black dog with burning eyes.

For a second, he wants to pick up the food and turn straight around. He doesn't have to deal with this. But, three monsters against what is most likely a helpless animal? It's an obvious outcome.

He remains conflicted for only a couple seconds longer, gaze flickering between the creatures on the street and the food in his hands a few times. With a sigh, he sets it down, deciding it would be okay to leave inside for now.

If he could barely find it, what were the chances that another apartment resident would not only find, but steal his food? Unlikely.

Soleum steels himself up as he pushes through the heavy glass doors. 

He makes it only a couple steps outside the complex when he stops himself. Just what is he doing? How in the world will he chase them away? Soleum scans the surroundings until he sees a large stick lying under a tree. Perfect. (Maybe.)

He creeps towards the stick, trying to give himself a pep talk all the while. Luckily, the dogs don’t seem to notice him, still focused on capturing whatever prey keeps on just evading their grasps.

When Soleum’s just a foot away, he lunges to grab it quickly. He sees their ears twitch, but they don’t turn towards him, somehow.

Alright, it’s showtime.

He’s heard intimidation is a tactic that tends to work on most animals, even the dangerous ones. Show them that you’re the apex predator, that even as a hunter they too can be hunted, and you’ll be top dog. Ha. Isn’t that ironic?

Soleum smacks the stick on the ground near them, puffing his chest and trying to make himself appear larger than he really is.

They don’t run, but they don’t immediately pounce, either. The furthest ignores him completely, still trying to paw at its prey. The two within range lower back onto their haunches, wary and on guard.

It’s not working so well.

So, even knowing he’s going to regret this very, very, much, he opens his mouth. And barks. Really, loudly too. 

Except, to Soleum’s extreme misfortune, instead of running off they take it as a sign to attack instead. One of them lunges, getting the stick in its jaws. Soleum stumbles back a bit, trying to free his weapon from the dog’s tight grip.

No dice, instead the action incapacitates him and leaves him open to the other dog’s attack as it launches. It’s able to capture his left arm in its maw.

Soleum curses as the pain immediately sets in, “Fuck!”

That hurts so fucking much. The pain blinds nearly all his thoughts. Why did he think he could win in a strength battle? He should be using his one advantage— his brain. Soleum quickly goes over what his friend had told him about this creature, eyes shut tight in an attempt to mitigate the pain.

“Hey,” he yells, only a little surprised that they freeze, seemingly listening, “could you show me the way home?”

If a gytrash leads you astray, then they should try and take him anywhere but the apartment. Sure enough, though the pain still cuts at his arm, the pressure vanishes immediately.

Soleum opens his eyes. The light at the end of the street has gone out and they wait there, the only sign of their presence being their eyes— specks of lava that flicker like embers. Soleum shivers.

‘Sorry, but I’m not going to be following you.’

He takes a look at whatever poor creature they’ve been harassing instead. And freezes.

God, someone has to be kidding him. A cruel god playing a twisted joke on him. Soleum yelps as he stumbles back. Because what sits on the pavement staring back at him is not some nervous bunny or twitchy squirrel, vulnerable to predators much stronger than it.

No, he’s currently looking at a shiny, scaly, navy blue snake. And not some flimsy garden variety, Soleum can see the muscles ripple underneath the surface as it slithers around a bit.

His eyes soften a bit, after the initial unrest. A creature like this— if it could escape, wouldn’t it have? Sure, it might be a predator itself, but with these mythical beasts? Did anyone stand a chance? Hell no.

So instead of getting up off his ass and running straight back into the apartment, like he wants to, Soleum kneels and examines the snake further. If it’s injured, then it might not last long anyway and all that work he just did would be for nothing.

He squats, hands on his knees as he looks closely at the reptile. It doesn’t seem to be injured? He’s startled into a yelp and falls onto his behind, again, when the snake jumps. It launches itself up one of Soleum’s arms, speedily wrapping around his arm. Interestingly enough, the one that doesn’t have a gnarly wound from canine teeth.

His breathing halts for what seems like an eternity as he waits for the snake to finish the job and make its way further down his body around his vital organs. Like what an anaconda or boa constrictor would do, restrict blood flow.

While it does move, the snake instead slithers further down his other shoulder, hanging off of him like— well, a boa. Okay, now this is just getting strange. He attempts to pick it up with his right arm and extricate himself out of the reptile’s grip, but it’s no use.

Soleum sighs. He’s spent some time out here, this snake’s not letting go, and he may or may not be getting light-headed? He decides to just go inside.

As he’s making his way to the door, he feels a prickle. Like he’s being watched. Soleum whips his gaze around, more than a little on edge, but there’s no one there. Though he wants to let it go, he still feels it and not knowing will drive him crazy.

His gaze travels up, slowly. There. On the… One, two, three— fourth floor, on the fourth floor, someone’s watching him through the window. Well that’s a little embarrassing. Especially considering he just barked at a trio of dogs.

The fourth floor… He expected the person watching him to duck down and out of sight as soon as they noticed Soleum stare at them, but they remain there, eerily still. It’s a man’s build, so not Haje.

Thanks to the distance and the light being behind the man, leaving his features cast completely in shade, Soleum is unable to tell whether it’s Minseong or Jaheon up there. He doesn’t know which option would be better either.

What could one stand to gain from watching Soleum face it off against a bunch of dogs that weren’t really dogs?

To Soleum’s disappointment, the food is indeed no longer steaming hot when he enters the lobby. It’s still there, though, and so he counts it as a win. He winces at the dark blood that’s now dotting all over his t-shirt, transferred to wherever his left arm occasionally touched.

It still seems to be oozing more blood, a bit, but the pace has thankfully slowed down. So now he’s got a dirty t-shirt and is late for a dinner that he had just planned. Great. Soleum makes sure to hold the food far out from him as he makes his way further into the lobby.

Of course he can’t be given a second of peace because it’s then that Braun decides to speak up.

“Oh Mr. Deer. Don’t you know it’s not good to mess with dogs? And you got hurt, too... Ah, but who’s surprised? It’s only in your nature.”

He frowns., giving himself a pat on the back for not rising to the easy bait. He doesn’t have a chance to reply even if he wanted to.

Soleum hears thundering footsteps as a man enters the lobby from the stairwell. His eyes widen in surprise.

It’s Jay, but he’s in his pyjamas. Hold up, Jay lives in this apartment? Forget that, he also looks incredibly worried…

“You’re hurt,” his words are still spoken in Jay’s characteristic drawl, but at a hastened pace.

“Uh,” Soleum just holds his left arm up, deciding it’s a better answer, “Yeah…”

Jay shakes his head, “This is what you’re supposed to call security for.”

“Oh.”

Well, that certainly does make sense.

“I appreciate the concern, thank you, I’ll make sure to call for you next time I’m in danger. Although, I hope there isn’t one.”

He’s about to give his farewell and rush to the third floor, but somehow he finds himself getting led by Jay instead. At first Soleum thinks it’s a worry thing, that he’s trying to make sure Soleum reaches the third floor without any incidents, but Jay starts tugging him on the second floor landing.

“We need to treat that,” he points at Soleum’s arm.

“Ah, I’ll do it at my apartment, there’s no need to worry.”

He shakes his head, “You need to treat it properly.”

Well, okay. It’s not really hurting him, Soleum supposes. But there’s one thing he is curious about. Does Jay not care about the massive snake on his shoulders? He doesn’t really know how to bring it up, either.

So he stays silent as Jay leads him into his apartment.

…

Should he have a better sense of self-preservation?

Jay sets him down at a table and disappears, eventually returning with a medical kit. Soleum lets his gaze drift over the apartment unit as the man gently grasps his arms, first cleaning the blood flaking on his arm.

Soleum decides to speak to the man as he dutifully gets rid of the specks of blood all over his arm.

“Jay, I didn’t realize you lived here, too.”

He shrugs, “Nowhere else to live.”

Then after a pause, “You can come visit at any time.”

“That’s very kind of you. My unit is 303. You’re also welcome over, whenever.”

He’s so caught up in speaking that the jolt of stinging pain in his arm is truly a bolt out of the blue. He winces as the antiseptic enters his wound, jaw dropping open when the snake’s tail reaches out to flick Jay’s head. The man pauses in his ministrations. His gaze slowly rises up to the animal on Soleum's shoulder, letting him know that Jay does indeed see the snake and it is real.

“Hey. This is helping him, not hurting him, okay?”

His tone isn’t very friendly. The snake flicks its tongue; Soleum flinches when he feels the slightest tickle. It retracts its tail back to Soleum’s side, which elicits an eyebrow raise. Are they… communicating?

Apparently so, because Jay is able to finish cleaning and wrapping his wound in fabric bandages peacefully. Before wrapping, he rubs an ointment into the injuries. He safety-pins the edge, placing Soleum’s arm on the table gently in satisfaction.

“Thank you. You’re very kind,” Soleum makes sure to repeat as Jay drops him off at the next floor. He tries to wave the gratitude away, but does perk up when Soleum mentions treating him in return as a favour.

Thus, Soleum is a bit nervous as he enters his apartment. He’s left two strangers unattended in his house for around an hour, which is both rude and dangerous. His eyes widen to see they’ve already set the table with dinnerware and utensils. Granted, he had left the box open, so it wasn’t like they rooted through his cabinets to do so.

“Haha, did you get caught—-” Choi goes silent, upon taking in Soleum’s appearance.

“Well, shit,” his voice is quieter, “I guess you did.”

“Are you alright?” Jaekwan immediately gets out of his seat to help Soleum with the food, the kind soul that he is.

“Uh…” If he thinks about it really hard, then he’d have to say, “More or less?”

He winces at how much of a question it sounds like.

Choi gestures to him, “You can sit down and tell us what the hell happened, Jaekwan will reheat the food, assuming it does need reheating.”

“Well, yes,” Soleum hesitates, “but it’s fine, I’ll do it.”

“Don’t think that thing’s gonna let ya.”

Sure enough, the second he steps towards the stove, the snake starts hissing really loudly in Soleum’s ear. Well damn. So he makes his way to the table instead, occupying the head that Jaekwan had previously been sitting at. Choi is at one of the first seats along the sides, in his diagonal. 

Soleum waits until Jaekwan has got some food on the pan to start speaking.

“Ah, it’s nothing much really, there were some… dogs outside attacking this snake, so I chased them away. But it didn’t seem to want to leave, afterwards.”

Choi nods, “Yeah, ‘cause you’re its hero.”

He flushes a little, “I wouldn’t say that.”

“You should,” Jaekwan calls from the kitchen, “doubt he could have gotten away, otherwise.”

With the speed it had slithered up Soleum’s arm, he’s not so sure about that. The issue is…

“I think I’m going to go to the vet or some animal adoption center to hand it in, later, after researching a bit.”

“Good luck,” Choi snorts.

“Huh?”

“I don’t think it will be so simple,” Jaekwan calls over his shoulder.

“How so?” Soleum tilts his head, realizing the problem when his cheek comes in contact with the smooth scales of the snake, startling him a bit.

“He’s quite attached,” comes Jaekwan’s response.

He can see that, yeah.

“Might as well name the little guy,” Choi’s finger comes out to maybe stroke its head, but the creature snaps at him, hissing after he retracts his hand.

“I don’t think I’m fit to take care of it, though…” Somewhere in the back of his head he has a sinking feeling that he’s going to have to and dropping it off for adoption will not go as planned. He tries ignoring it.

“Ah,” he’s curious, though, “but if I did have to keep it, what would you name him?”

“Don’t ask Choi—” Jaekwan tries warning him.

“Yongyong,” the man interrupts as if he had the suggestion on standby and had merely been waiting for someone to ask.

Soleum blinks in surprise.

“Like, as in dragon?”

Of course, what else could he mean?

“Yep,” Choi sends him a lazy grin, “it fits him, doesn’t it?”

“Choi…” Jaekwan returns from the kitchen to grab their plates, leaves again, then arrives shortly after with two steaming hot plates of the takeout Soleum had ordered.

He clears his throat, “Choi, you do know that snake is not a dragon right?”

Said man squints in offense. “Well yeah, but they’re close enough, right?”

“And it’s like the myth,” he snaps, “the four beasts! Or was it guardians? Anyways, blue dragon. You got a blue dragon.”

Choi ends his declaration by pointing at the snake, this time making sure to remain well outside of its reach.

“It does seem to be very protective,” Jaekwan comments as he arrives with his own food.

As if in agreement, the snake— Yongyong— tightens around Soleum further and slides around his arms.

“You like that?” He questions it, a little amused. Surprisingly, Yongyong seems to have some level of understanding because it pauses to nudge Soleum with its head.

“Guess it does,” Jaekwan comments.

Soleum feels a warmth overtake him as his first dinner with other people in his home proceeds. It’s a good feeling.

The men had ended up staying, after minimal convincing, afterwards to wind down and drink something while they chatted a bit more. Choi had insisted on them exchanging numbers with Soleum before they left.

While the experience was quite enjoyable, it leaves Soleum still wide awake without some of his tasks completed, near midnight.

It’s then that another strong knock shakes his door.

Soleum’s brows raise. Were they back? But why, could they have forgotten something? But the style of knocking was a little different. While it could be them, still, Soleum has the slightest feeling that it’s not the case.

He shivers slightly as he opens the door again.

Soleum’s eyes widen. It was Lee Jaheon from the floor above. What could he possibly have to speak to him about? Especially near midnight?

“I saw you in the parking lot earlier,” Jaheon says in lieu of a greeting.

“Yes?” He’s so caught off guard that the reply stumbles reflexively past his lips.

He gestures to Soleum’s shoulders, still carrying Yongyong, “Where you picked up the snake.”

Well, it didn’t exactly go down like that, but sure. Soleum’s mostly grateful he doesn’t seem to be interested in bringing up the barking.

“Oh, right.”

And then he waits, because what else is he supposed to say?

The man’s red eyes rove over Soleum’s frame, catching on the bandaged arm. “You should be more careful, it’s dangerous outside for you.”

Soleum’s jaw drops a little, but Jaheon takes no mind and continues speaking, “I made this booklet to assist you in the care of your new pet.”

He hands a booklet, apparently freshly assembled. When he flips through it a bit, they seem to be care instructions. Soleum raises his brows. Wow, was this what he was doing for the past few hours?

“Ah, thank you,” he accepts, before freezing. Wait no, he’s going to be returning Yongyong to the vet the next day.

Soleum sees the man’s gaze flicker downwards to the blood stains engulfing a good amount of his shirt.

He clears his throat hesitantly, “Ah, you wouldn’t happen to know where the laundromat is in the building, would you? I couldn’t find it on the first floor, but it was mentioned in the utilities when I was getting a unit.”

“There’s one on every floor, connected to the breakroom.” His pace of speaking is slow and measured.

“Break room?” 

“Each floor has a break room for the residents on that floor to meet or engage in recreational activities.” He turns slightly to point at a door in the hall, which he does notice after it gets pointed out. 

“Thank you.”

Jaheon nods at him and then he’s off. Just like that.

Soleum really does need this shirt washed sooner than later and it would be good to get acquainted with the facilities. He enters his bedroom, now thankfully mostly decorated, and changes his shirt.

He drops the booklet on his desk, though not before checking the first page out of curiosity.

There’s a snake there that looks just like Yongyong. Eastern Indigo Snake. There are some details on the species underneath, but he ignores them in favour of pointing the photo out.

“Look, that’s you.”

Yongyong moves along his body to stick his head out and his tongue flicks the paper. He hasn’t read the pamphlet so he’s not quite sure what that behaviour means, but he takes it as a good sign.

The hallway is completely silent as he pads across it to enter the laundry room Jaheon mentioned, shirt in hand.

Of course, he has no other dirty clothes right now, so he’s grateful to find the area to already have a hand wash station. Soleum scrubs at the shirt with a frown for a while. Yeah, it was a white shirt but..

“Is blood supposed to be that hard to get out?” Soleum mutters, as his third attempt at scrubbing yields no results.

His attention is stolen by a clatter by the doorway.

It’s Baek Saheon, who has just let his laundry basket slip from his hands to the ground.

Saheon seems to step back a bit, swallowing. Soleum tilts his head in confusion, what’s wrong?

The man mutters, “I heard… Hydrogen peroxide helps…”

He then turns around and walks straight back out, after picking up his laundry. Soleum frowns, didn’t he have something to do?

But more importantly…

From anyone else, the words would not be suspicious, but from Saheon…

Is this man a serial killer?

The thought haunts him, still, even as he lays in his (thankfully assembled) bed that night. Yongyong curls around him tight and Soleum lets him, albeit with a small prayer that the snake won't kill him in his sleep.