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“Noru-nim.” Golden eyes glint at him, intrigued and wanting.
“Podo-yah.” A blue gaze looks on fiercely with worry.
Kim Soleum gulps in response to the two people staring at him, their voice tones completely different.
Director Ho is hovering above him, caging him in from the left with a low but sweet tone, clearly trying to be charming. Meanwhile, Agent Choi is on Kim Soleum’s other side, smiling but not letting him leave either, his voice casual, as if it is every time he speaks the bureau agent title from his lips.
“Which do you prefer?” Director Ho asks as Kim Soleum just blinks, surprised that they care for his opinion.
The director looks calm, but Kim Soleum has seen that same calm face threaten to kill him. He doesn’t answer right away, not yet. He can’t. His throat bobs in unease as the man looks at him, waiting for a confirmation.
Agent Choi glares at Director Ho, adding, “At least I don’t try to dehumanize him.”
“Not all of us are humans,” Director Ho responds unkindly, his voice nearly as sharp as his nails. One of his hands is by Kim Soleum’s shoulder, preventing him from slipping away, while his other hand's on his thigh, each nail a perfect, nearly curved point.
“In fact,” Director Ho says, his eyes glinting, “you’re the only one here.”
Agent Choi’s facial expression flickers as he tries to wrap his mind around that sentence. Kim Soleum is also confused by that, but he doesn’t have time to decipher all of the director’s codes.
The fox continues, “It would be problematic if tensions rose, wouldn’t you say? I’d hate to accidentally harm you—”
Agent Choi has never been the type of person to hold back. He keeps his hand on Kim Soleum’s shoulder, the fingers digging in deeper and harder than before, making Kim Soleum flinch and bite the inside of his cheek so he doesn’t make a noise. He can’t distract Agent Choi, making it likely that Director Ho gains the upper hand.
“He prefers being called Kim Soleum.”
Director Ho’s eyes flicker. “I stopped myself from killing him, isn’t that enough to make you stop complaining?”
He doesn’t wait for a reply. He pushes his knees forward, slotting it between Soleum’s legs. The fox’s knee is touching his thigh, and instead of being revolting, Kim Soleum likes the way the warmth spreads throughout his body. Oh, shit, he needs to leave; otherwise, he won’t be able to look either of them in the eyes ever again.
Agent Choi smiles toothily, and moves his hand. Instead of staying on Kim Soleum’s shoulder, it caresses his neck like a claim. The agent’s thumb is rough against his skin. Kim Soleum tries to lean toward it, finding it comforting and stabilizing, but suddenly his hair is grasped.
Director Ho is smiling; it’s a threat full of violence and anger. Kim Soleum gasps as his hair is bunched between Director Ho’s fingers, and tugged to the side, pulled away from Agent Choi’s hand.
“Noru-nim should focus on me. I can provide him with the pleasure that he needs.” Director Ho’s words aren’t sultry; they’re a stated fact. To have so much confidence in his words, Kim Soleum swallows roughly, envisioning what Director Ho is thinking about doing.
Agent Choi argues instantly. His hand is gentle as it pats him around the neck. He looks upset with a dark shadow over his eyes. Kim Soleum would say this is when a protagonist would suddenly pull out a hidden card, but this is real life, so he just waits with an uneasy feeling in his stomach.
Suddenly, Kim Soleum is dragged down the bed, the ceiling spinning above him.
His head hurts, Director Ho’s grip loosening but not quite leaving his hair. The knee between his legs is suddenly right against his crotch, but Kim Soleum is also given more freedom. Agent Choi pulled on his legs, and now Kim Soleum is no longer sitting up; he’s against the mattress, blinking up at the director and the agent with surprise in his wide pupils.
Director Ho’s nails scrape across Kim Soleum’s legs. It makes him shiver, not in fright, but in want. He’s a mess, and he knows it.
He knows that this isn’t supposed to be a time to get hot and heavy—this started as an interrogation. A peace talk of sorts. Director Ho and Agent Choi met, and Kim Soleum couldn’t stop it. If J3 hadn’t left earlier…
Kim Soleum shakes his head and knows there is no escape from this. He had learned a lot over the past hour.
Agent Choi knew he was a Baekilmong spy, Director Ho wanted the information within a month or else Kim Soleum would die, and maybe, just maybe, Kim Soleum is fucked completely since he can’t stop thinking about how if Director Ho and Agent Choi were just a smidge closer when they spoke, they could dip their heads into a kiss.
Director Ho doesn’t move his knee. Kim Soleum doesn’t know if he should be thankful or not. He both wants to be used, and to be pushed to the side to see the tension between the Baekilmong director and the Bureau civil servant clash. He hopes it ends with a kiss. Preferably, where he can see.
The air in the room is tense and stale. Kim Soleum sucks in a breath from his position, his lungs heaving as quietly as possible.
He wants to tell Agent Choi and Director Ho to calm down in some sick attempt to be a mediator, but Kim Soleum was never good at that, so he lies silently with a racing heart as the two men continue to argue above him.
He’ll let them sort this out. He can’t change what’s already been done. He’s been marked by Director Ho with his life on the line, Agent Choi knows he’s a spy, and it turns out he’s a really bad person for making J3 wait so long for him.
“Stop talking to him.” Agent Choi’s hand is heavy on the crook of his neck and shoulder. Kim Soleum doesn’t flinch in case it makes Agent Choi not do what he plans for next. He lets Agent Choi pull him across the bed. Director Ho tsks in annoyance, letting go of the dark hair strands in his grasp.
Kim Soleum wants to slide off the bed and disappear. He wants to sit in the corner and watch. He is not given that choice. Agent Choi practically cradles him in his arms, and Director Ho crawls forward so that he can grip Kim Soleum’s limbs. He’s stuck between them, nothing but a play piece.
“Noru-nim,” Director Ho says, ignoring Agent Choi completely as he glances down at Kim Soleum, “you were happy at Baekilmong. Once you complete your assignment, you’ll be welcomed back with open arms. If not by me, then by the Assistant Director.”
Cheong Dalle? Kim Soleum swallows roughly at the memory of getting on her wrong side. He’s not someone who can put up a fight against her. She’s powerful and has influence that Kim Soleum never will.
“He won’t go back, even after this,” Agent Choi argues. His arms are shaking, Kim Soleum notices in surprise. His fingers reach out toward Agent Choi’s biceps. He wants to rub soothing circles on the muscles, but he also doesn’t want to come off as odd.
Kim Soleum settles for lying quietly and still, never to move at all. His head is supported by Choi’s shoulder. It’s comfortable. He can envision this being their normal, him falling asleep against Agent Choi after watching a movie in the dark. It’s comfortable and peaceful, aside from Director Ho, who looks as if he’s going to tear them apart limb by limb.
Director Ho is a terrifying beast, magnetic and powerful. He’s too charming for his own good. Kim Soleum’s mouth is dry. He wants to apologize for not being better just as much as he wants to run away. He doesn’t want to return to Baekilmong. He likes the bureau. Yet, he also missed D-squad and the memories he created with them.
“You’re going to fall apart once he returns to us,” says that devilish fox. Director Ho looks anything but innocent. He seems ready to pounce and strike, kill his prey and haul it away to his den.
Agent Choi makes a face. He then grits his teeth and says, “You’re a bit stupid, as far as I can tell. It’s obvious that he won’t return to you. I know who he is.”
Kim Soleum shakes, fear building up in his chest. Agent Choi trusts him too much. He abhors that he’s gained such a thing from a person who is not supposed to trust others easily. He wants to poke out his own eyes and tell Agent Choi that everyone is a liar.
He is a selfish person for not stopping Agent Choi then and there.
He is selfish for agreeing to the mission at the bureau so that he could acquire a Wish Potion sooner.
He is selfish for looking at Agent Choi and Director Ho with strange electric currents going down his spine. He wants, oh how he wants, to do more than he’s already doing.
“Someone as young as you is calling me stupid…?” Director Ho’s voice sounds like he’s in disbelief. His tone is concealing all the rage he must feel—his fingers quake, trembling with anger that Kim Soleum knows will erupt from him if he doesn’t get a handle on the situation.
Kim Soleum decides to do something impulsively. He’s an idiot on the worst of days, and a coward on most of them. He tugs on Agent Choi’s shirt at the same time as he pulls on Director Ho’s tie. The two men look on in disbelief as their faces collide.
He’s inwardly cheering when Agent Choi freezes, only to respond once Director Ho moves his lips. He full-on grins when Director Ho raises one of his hands to hold Agent Choi’s head better in place. Agent Choi can’t move—he’s holding Kim Soleum, and really, Kim Soleum needs to apologize. He wants them to kiss until there is no more strife between them.
He tries to sink down, away from the faces that are really getting into it. Kim Soleum hears Agent Choi moan, and Director Ho gasps, murmuring something about being bitten. Agent Choi grins, and Kim Soleum really tries to get away then, but neither man lets him escape. They want him there stuck in between.
Kim Soleum is half-way through passing out, his head faint and vision blurry, when the two men separate. Agent Choi’s breaths are sharp and quick in comparison to Director Ho’s low, calm breaths. They both look excited at how this situation was resolved.
Though Director Ho closes his eyes, and reopens them only to smirk. Agent Choi’s eyebrow twitches in contempt. Kim Soleum worries between them, hoping that he doesn’t die suddenly. At least his last moments were spent witnessing two men kiss. He would have loved to join in, but he isn’t sure how that’d work.
Director Ho combs his fingers through his hair, smoothing it back into place. His cheeks are dusted pink. He averts his gaze as he says, “I want both of you out.” He grins afterward, teeth shining as he looks at them. “Or else I may lose control.”
Kim Soleum wonders if Director Ho is envisioning a hundred different ways to kill him and Agent Choi. The director detests the bureau more than anything, as far as he knows. Kim Soleum gulps, and pats Agent Choi’s shoulder hurriedly. They must leave while Director Ho is in a good mood!
Agent Choi gets with the program with a short delay. As soon as they’re standing, Kim Soleum takes the man by the hand. They only last a minute before reality sets in, and Kim Soleum realizes that his sunbae probably hates him for being a Baekilmong spy.
He smiles at Agent Choi awkwardly, receiving a long, distressed sigh from Agent Choi in return.