Archive of Our Own

It wasn't that office work was particularly hard. If you can peacefully get along with monotonous routine, only possible problems might be a bad team or the absence of a coffee machine. In the end, Lee Hakhyun was lucky with both, so only real difficulty was that around ten in evening, it became very hard for him not to fall asleep. Every day after work, he sat down to write his novel, which sometimes reduced his sleep time to two or three hours a day.

But he tried very hard to work well so that he wouldn't be forced to write a resignation letter of his own volition. They paid decently here, he wasn't required to constantly handle complex tasks, management was quite normal, and moreover, office building wasn't too far from his home. He wasn't aiming for high positions, so he had no competitors like other employees.

By that time, not many people were left in building. Closer to eleven or twelve o'clock, usually only he and a couple of other employees were in office itself, but most often, Yoo Joonghyuk kept him company. It seemed they were both glad to know that the person at other end of office was behaving quietly and not bothering with empty chatter, but sometimes a conversation started on its own. Mostly, they talked about what they did on weekends or about how their boss had recently earned nickname Asmodeus for his strange behavior.

Darkness reigned outside panoramic window. Their office was located above sixtieth floor, so instead of lights from other houses, they were met with nocturnal emptiness. Due to light pollution of megacity, it was impossible to make out stars in sky. A rather sad picture, because Hakhyun tried to think about anything except his own reflection in glass. He urgently needed to go wash his face after making necessary printouts, and then get himself some coffee before he started looking like a zombie.

As soon as he left office and headed to printer — their own one had recently broken — he started waiting. The quiet sound of printing on paper was lulling, but he immediately slapped himself on cheeks to perk up.

For convenience of employees, several printers stood along corridor in case of breakdowns. But Hakhyun assumed it was related to how workers didn't like constant noise of printer in their office... so probably, printers broke not just by chance.

Suddenly, he heard a quiet rustling of papers nearby, and he looked at person next to him.

...he had the impression that other was about to make a mistake.

"Wait a second."

Hakhyun rarely communicated with Joonghyuk, but he considered their relationship could be described as "normal." Normal enough to calmly discuss something or gossip from time to time. He noticed how nervously other was inserting paper and decided to help, but in response, he received such an angry glare that he immediately changed his mind. When had he managed to anger him?

From that glare,  man fully woke up and rubbed his palms, and as soon as his documents were ready, he immediately left scene. The last thing he needed was to start a fight.

When Hakhyun headed back to his office, he froze before opening door. It seemed there was a coffee stain on other's shirt? Maybe that's why he got so furious?

After thinking a bit more, he still opened door and flew to his desk, trying not to look in Joonghyuk's direction. In his mind, a loud signal sounded "do not approach," but Hakhyun didn't consider it useful to avoid solving problem. The longer he delayed, the worse their relationship would become, and the last thing he needed was cold ignoring.

So he grabbed his cardigan, which was hanging on back of chair, nervously crumpled fabric, took a deep breath, and resolutely headed to his colleague.

"I don't have a shirt, but you can..."

Before finishing sentence, a dark sweater caught Hakhyun's eye. It seemed he was so sleepy that he hadn't noticed how Joonghyuk had returned, and apparently, he had managed to change before ending up here. But now other was waiting for continuation of phrase, and at that moment, writer felt like an idiot.

"No, nothing. Forget it."

When he returned to his workplace, he wearily rubbed bridge of his nose and shook his head. How embarrassing he felt now!

"No, you just wanted to help. There's nothing to be ashamed of," no matter how hard he tried to think in that direction, he still wanted to hide.

Next few hours passed in usual silence.

Kim Dokja hated his job. Despite decent salary, every day of his was spent in irritation because of a few people. One of them was Han Myungoh, a shitty boss who was trying to hit on another girl, but his flirting was so disgusting that everyone wanted to smash his skull, and other, strangely enough, was Yoo Joonghyuk.

Oh, recently a new employee from another department was sent to their office. It seemed this upstart had been temporarily demoted, and now he was taking out his anger on others. Dokja couldn't stand such arrogant people who considered it their duty to put everyone in their place. Of course, he got incredible pleasure when other put Myungoh in his place, and yet that didn't outweigh fact of hating his presence every damn day.

First working days when Joonghyuk ended up in their department went more or less normally. It seemed there were three such days, because soon their first fight happened. He no longer remembered what exactly it was about, probably some insignificant trifle, but it started their war.

Dokja was irritated by fact that this asshole wasn't being taken back to his own department. Let him continue giving his senseless orders there and leave them in peace.

"Why are you so strict with each other..." — Sangah quietly sighed and shook her head while treating abrasions on Dokja's face.

He had repeated several times that he could take care of himself and thanked girl for caring, but she insisted. She knew that Dokja's self-care meant no care for his own wounds, plus cheap food that ruins stomach and gives no energy at all. Moreover, he was considered an effective employee because he could work even when seriously ill, so he absolutely couldn't be left alone, or he wouldn't live to thirty.

"It's impossible to find common ground with him."

"But I think you have a lot in common," she concluded.

Dokja looked at her distrustfully.

"Only thing we have in common is hatred for each other."

She sighed again. The whole office behaved much quieter with Joonghyuk's arrival, but very fact that someone else was commanding them drove Dokja crazy. He already had enough of usual management; this crazy idiot had such high demands that for same salary, workload tripled. And the most unpleasant thing was that demands were only for him.

Need to fill out one table? He'll fill out ten such.

Deliver something to another department? Here's a ton of boxes.

Write a report that would take a couple of minutes? Be kind enough to spend several hours on it.

They had equal positions, but thanks to his authority and reputation, Joonghyuk calmly gave orders to others. It seemed he himself was irritated by being among idiots, but Dokja was pissed that he saw everyone as stupid except himself.

So at eleven in evening in cafeteria at table, he unpacked sandwiches with angriest look and waited for tea to brew. His "introverted ass," as Sooyoung usually referred to him, wouldn't talk to someone else, but this time he sat down opposite another person. Maybe because by that point his irritation had become so strong that he suddenly forgot about his habit of avoiding other people.

"Do you know Yoo Joonghyuk?" — as soon as Dokja finished fiddling with wrapper, he crumpled it and threw it in trash bin, then out of corner of his eye noticed a nod.

Lee Hakhyun — read name on badge. He couldn't remember an employee with that name. If he was new here, then clearly not from their department, but agreeing with question didn't confuse him at all. In whole building, there wasn't a single person who didn't know that asshole!

"Did something happen between you?"

"What happened is fact of his appearance in this world."

New interlocutor looked at him so surprised that he even stopped eating, but nodded again, thereby showing that he was listening to other person.

"Recently he threatened to cut my salary. He's not even boss, so what the hell?"

Dokja ate so quickly and behaved so energetically because adrenaline was splashing in his veins. He was ready to tear and throw.

Even in a demoted position, Yoo Joonghyuk could very well arrange that.

"Oh..."

Hakhyun was confused and didn't know what to say. Maybe because he wasn't so involved in personal office feuds that he didn't know about such conflicts with his colleague, but now he suddenly really wanted to find out what was going on.

Next fifteen minutes they spent talking. More precisely, new acquaintance complained, and second quietly listened and occasionally asked something while eating.

However, as soon as Kim Dokja finished his story, he felt as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over him. Before, he always hid in storerooms to avoid crossing paths with other face unnecessarily and read his favorite novels, ignoring additional orders. He fulfilled his work quota and didn't see need to constantly do something extra for which he wasn't even paid, so he immersed himself in world of interesting stories for several hours. No one searched for him, and, gods bless Sangah, she didn't give away his secret places to Joonghyuk.

So, due to his habit of reading in any situation, Dokja didn't talk much to anyone. His friend was a wonderful girl, but usually he himself was listener. This time, he talked as much as he hadn't spoken his whole life, and for some reason, his new acquaintance turned out to be a magnificent listener. Dokja felt that his problem really interested other person, so at some point, he himself felt ashamed. Without reason, he dumped a bunch of negativity at once, so why hadn't he been sent away at very beginning of this tirade?

"Do you want me to talk to him?"

This offer from Hakhyun caused such strong surprise that for a second Dokja doubted reality.

"I don't think it'll do any good. Sangah already tried."

"But trying is better than doing nothing, right?"

There was some truth in that. If it really could change something, then maybe he'd worship this person for rest of his days.

Jokes aside, Dokja really didn't understand how that was possible. He didn't know reason why someone wanted to help him. He didn't understand Sangah's desire to treat his scratches or bruises after a fight with Joonghyuk again, didn't understand why Sooyoung constantly reminded him to eat properly so he wouldn't die of hunger. So this time too, offer of help from a stranger made him want to leave.

"I think it's time for me."

With that, their dialogue ended. Soon, only Hakhyun was sitting in cafeteria. It seemed energy of the new interlocutor had transferred to him too, because he resolutely headed to his office.

...all the resolve evaporated as soon as he met eyes with Joonghyuk.

He nervously crumpled folds of his sleeves behind his back while thinking how to start conversation. Initially, his decision was to approach water cooler and pour himself some water, but those onyx eyes constantly left him with an empty head. So stupid.

"I heard you recently argued with one employee," — by habit, he touched wall with his back and squeezed his fingers harder. — "His name is Kim Dokja."

Interestingly, was it a good idea to start this conversation when they were left alone here? Maybe if someone else was here, they would join conversation... on other hand, Hakhyun considered this something personal, and he didn't like it when rumors spread around, so better they discuss it alone.

Yoo Joonghyuk thought for a moment before answering:

"Who are you talking about?"

"Well, Kim Dokja. He's about same age and height as me," — Hakhyun gestured near his head. — "He said you even managed to fight with him."

Joonghyuk even briefly distracted himself from viewing charts on computer monitor. Clear confusion was readable in his eyes.

Usually, he didn't wear a badge with his name. In general, half of their employees quickly forgot about that rule.

"Confused with somebody else?"

At this answer, Hakhyun quietly chuckled. Honestly, a person like him couldn't be mistaken for anyone else.

"Probably some mistake," — he pushed off wall and headed to his computer.

Night passed as usual.

It was another working day.

Unlike office, sometimes lamps in corridor had a habit of quietly humming. This sound was calming. It was something like white noise for Hakhyun. Like noise of machine making coffee, or rustling of papers in employees' hands. Rarely were there working days that he would remember as noisy. After experience of working in a cafe, where everything constantly clangs, office work became almost a fairy tale for him.

That was until person next to him kicked vending machine with food.

It was Kim Dokja again. Once more, several band-aids adorned him, and he himself was too disheveled. Hakhyun looked around to make sure there was no one else in corridor besides them, then approached him and quickly understood reason for irritation. A candy bar was stuck in the machine.

Before unfortunate machine got another shake, he quickly inserted a few bills and pressed needed number.

"person you have quarrels with, is it definitely Yoo Joonghyuk?"

They both held a candy bar in their hands, and while Dokja nervously unpacked his, Hakhyun looked somewhere to the side.

"He said he doesn't know anything?"

To sarcastic question, which Dokja clearly asked without thinking, he suddenly received an affirmative nod. Suddenly, he forgot he wanted to eat, and his level of indignation was about to break through local ceiling.

"Has this psycho completely lost his mind?"

There was no one in whole corridor except two of them, so Hakhyun sighed and shrugged. At least, it's unlikely anyone else would hear about it at one in morning. By this time, Joonghyuk was already home, and he himself didn't see need to call during non-working hours, so he couldn't go and ask him in more detail now. However, he saw how angry his colleague was, so he hurried to declare that he would ask again tomorrow.

But if it really was a misunderstanding, then who needed to pretend to be someone else?

This question didn't give Hakhyun peace even when he himself returned home.

He remembered that Joonghyuk usually didn't wear a name badge, but such badges, besides everything, were passes to work. Usually, he put it in desk drawer as soon as he arrived at office... could it be that someone stole pass?

Periodically, man was overcome by insomnia, but today he had no strength left to write a new chapter, so he decided to rummage on websites in search of various office cases. Setups, conspiracies, attempts to fire a disliked employee — one could list endlessly what other people are ready to do when they dislike someone. In this way, he read about different cases for about thirty minutes before stumbling upon one that interested him the most.

My partner saw two of me, what does that mean??

Question:

Today my boyfriend told me about something very strange. He said he woke up early in morning because he needed to go to the bathroom. When he came out and looked into hallway, he claims he saw me sitting on couch in an uncomfortable and rather strange pose, as he described it. I was sitting with my back to him and was dressed in my usual clothes: blue jeans and a green tank top. He found it strange that I was sitting on couch fully dressed at 5 a.m., but he thought I just couldn't sleep and decided to get ready early. He himself, on contrary, was very tired, so he went back to bed without saying anything. But when he came to our shared bedroom, he found me sleeping in bed. He went out of the room again and saw "me" sitting on couch, then looked at me sleeping in bed. He immediately woke me up to tell me about it, but when we went to check, other "me" on couch had disappeared without a trace. I don't know what that means and who was sitting on couch. But I'm really uneasy. My best guess is it was some kind of impersonator, but I'm not 100% sure and don't know how to deal with it.

Hakhyun involuntarily rubbed his own shoulder, feeling goosebumps all over his body, and scrolled a bit lower to read comments. These are just mystical stories, why did he suddenly feel uneasy?

A bit further were similar posts. He opened one of them and soon stumbled upon a similar story.

Two months ago, I ran into an absolute double of my ex, whom I broke up with 12 years ago. Only he seemed to be living onstreet (though I know that's not the case), and looked bad. As if he came from a parallel world where he was unhappy. I was in shock and called my two best friends in tears. It was "him." I didn't talk to him because he was "weird," and I was scared. And I thought: "Okay, I must be going crazy." But I dated him for 5 years, and it was a perfect copy of my ex. So creepy.

In the end, after that, Hakhyun turned off laptop and leaned back in chair. He urgently needed to go to sleep, or else he might believe what was written.

Another working day turned out to be nothing like what Dokja had expected.

At least because Yoo Joonghyuk came into storage room. Taking a few empty boxes, he left room in silence, but what he saw almost caused phone to slip out of Dokja's hands. Immersed in Jaehwan's story, Kim Dokja didn't immediately notice him enter, and at first, it seemed to him that it was one of employees, and only later did it dawn on him that it was very person he had argued with a few hours ago. In all the time he had worked here, Joonghyuk had never entered the storage rooms, delegating task of fetching something to other people, and if he had seen Dokja sitting there reading a novel, he would have immediately gotten a reprimand... and they would probably have fought again. Even if that stupid half-boss had the idea to enter the storage room, Sangah would have convinced him that she would go herself, because she knew what it could lead to. But now he just came in, took a couple of boxes with duct tape, and left, as if nothing had happened.

...and since when did this pedantic person, who usually wore a suit, suddenly come to work in a hoodie and jeans?

Intrigued by what happened, Dokja put his phone in his pants pocket, adjusted his clothes, and opened storage room door, when he suddenly bumped into something hard.

His foot had just stepped on someone else's, and he raised his head to apologize, when he met a gaze filled with indescribable coldness.

"So this is where you've been all this time."

Each word was overflowing with venom. It seemed the stupid sunfish had gotten its long-awaited joy. He had just managed to discover Dokja's hideout, place where he could rest from constant bickering and engage in his most important activity: exploring worlds invented by writers. Reading had been meaning of his life since childhood, and he didn't want to devote all his time to work.

From Joonghyuk's eyes he could see that by tomorrow all access to storage rooms would be in his hands.

Fuck.

Hakhyun woke up to sound of duct tape. That unpleasant sharp sound pierced his ears, and he rubbed his eyes with his hands. However, judging by everything, other person was trying to work as quietly as possible.

Wait, he had fallen asleep at his workplace, and for all four hours, no one had even woken him up?

Shaking his head, his decision was to get up from chair and help whoever it was. Every time, Hakhyun felt wrong if he saw others working while he himself sat idle, but as soon as he approached, in an instant, he woke up as if he had slept twelve hours before that.

Not understanding reason for such an agitated state and suddenly accelerated heartbeat after meeting Joonghyuk, he nodded and took an empty box. Apparently, they needed to throw away used paper and outdated documents. With each year, humanity was getting closer to transferring everything to electronic format, so where did they constantly get so much waste paper from?

"Do you think management has ever read all these reports?" — he skimmed a couple of papers before putting them in the box.

"I doubt it."

Smiling with corners of his lips at this answer, he suddenly thought that two of them always worked like this. Having reached a silent mutual understanding, most often they did everything very efficiently, as if knowing in advance what other would need this time.

When they finished stacking all papers, they had to carry it all to first floor. There weren't that many boxes, but they might have to go up and down several times, so he would have time to ask Joonghyuk about what he had recently learned himself.

"Regarding that employee..." — in elevator, Hakhyun looked somewhere to side again, — "Well, Kim Dokja. He said it was definitely you."

The feeling of something wrong didn't leave him. As if some parts of information he received didn't add up. If Dokja really argued with him, then at what time? Usually, people jokingly teased Joonghyuk and Hakhyun that they would soon become record holders for time spent in the office.

"Has your pass been stolen by any chance?"

While boxes stood in the corner of elevator, Joonghyuk shook his head and pulled out key to desk drawer along with pass.

Hakhyun nodded and realized that even if in theory he had stepped away for a short time, other employees would have noticed someone trying to break into drawer. There was always someone in office paired with someone else, and in the end, there were cameras everywhere. If one person remained in office, in case of loss, all suspicions would fall on him. If two people were breaking into drawer, someone third who came in later would find it strange to see two employees at someone else's workplace. One way or another, even if we discard all other options on how to try to steal pass, one question remained: who even needed to frame Joonghyuk?

"Maybe you recently crossed someone's path?"

Hakhyun's interest in this situation might seem a bit strange to another person, and realizing this, he began to worry, but tried his best not to show it. It's fine, this is ordinary concern for a teammate. Yes, right, he just doesn't want him to suddenly get fired for fighting at work.

Yoo Joonghyuk shifted his gaze from floor number to Hakhyun and habitually leaned his shoulder against metal body of the elevator cabin.

"What did he tell you?"

He, unable to withstand his own tension, immediately turned to him.

"He said you constantly argue, and sometimes people even came to separate you during fights." — he seemed about to bite his lower lip until it bled, — "I saw band-aids on his face."

Hakhyun sincerely didn't want Joonghyuk to be fired. Of course, he had found common ground with other employees, but for him, that one had become the only one with whom they had formed a connection.

Perhaps Hakhyun had imagined it all. No, most likely he had wound himself up and it turned out to be some misunderstanding. And even if it was all really happening, how did it concern him?

And yet...

"Which department does he work in?" — is dark eyes carefully watched as they descended to first floor.

"Advertising."

Picking up boxes, they carried them to entrance, and from worry, Hakhyun couldn't find peace. Meanwhile, Joonghyuk's movements were as always smooth, but quick and precise.

He pressed button for desired floor just as quickly when they returned to elevator.

When midnight struck on clock, they sat without an answer in their office.

Fifteen minutes were spent asking everyone who was still working at that time if they knew a person named Kim Dokja.

Another ten minutes to carry out remaining boxes.

And another five to spin in his chair and try not to die of shame.

He had thought of so many suspicious things about Joonghyuk, with whom he had worked for a year and a half, but it hadn't occurred to him to find out if his new acquaintance was a fraud and if he really worked here!

And before getting up and apologizing for it, he discovered that Joonghyuk himself had approached him.

"Hyunsung is in charge of the security system."

"Huh?"

He stopped spinning in chair so abruptly that due to dizziness, he had to grab first object that came to hand.

It turned out to be someone else's wrist.

Hakhyun immediately removed his hand and sat up straight, then nodded.

In the end, their plan for tomorrow was to ask him about possible entry into building without a pass.

However, when Lee Hyunsung explained to them why it was impossible and asked what was going on, Hakhyun immediately winked at Joonghyuk and with a sweet smile replied that they needed it for another report.

He couldn't tell him that some impostor suspected his colleague of violence in workplace.

But Joonghyuk didn't get hint and answered directly, so Hakhyun was dying of shame again. God, he had winked at him for a reason!

What a blessing that at that time Hyunsung was already checking database to see if such a person worked for them. And, as it turned out, among so many employees, there wasn't a single worker with a similar name.

In the end, they returned with nothing.

Dokja pressed a cold can of soda to his temple while sitting by vending machine with drinks and closed his eyes.

Unfortunately, they didn't want to fire him because, despite his absence from workplace, he effectively found good advertisers, and his stupid phrases about how to better promote company turned out to be effective time after time. If he strained a little, he would have been promoted long ago, but along with that, more responsibility would fall on his shoulders, which he didn't want.

They didn't want to fire Yoo Joonghyuk... well, because he had been temporarily demoted from position of chief boss due to some difficult conflict with top. Although there were rumors that Namgung Minyoung did it as a joke.

Dokja thought how nice it would be to quit himself, but this was only job with a good salary and minimal duties, so he prayed that one asshole would finally be transferred to another department. But he seemed to feel at home and irritated his eyes every day.

Today's day was no exception.

He envied clock, which showed that it was already eleven in the evening. At least clock didn't have to fight with other clocks.

Suddenly, Dokja felt a surprised gaze on himself, and he was immediately grabbed by wrist.

Hakhyun was in such delight, as if he had won at a casino.

"Can we go to my place for five minutes?"

And before he could answer, he was already being led towards office.

When hated person was discovered in this office, Dokja grimaced and backed away. He even whispered to Hakhyun what the hell, but Joonghyuk, apparently, had a built-in ability to read lips, since he answered him:

"That's what I want to ask you."

Nevertheless, Hakhyun didn't want to let go of his new acquaintance, and he was so worried about the whole situation that he even began to think he had gone crazy.

However, even after twenty minutes, they came to nothing.

Dokja claimed that all this time Joonghyuk had been looking for ways to make his life worse, while Joonghyuk himself listened silently. From his gaze, Hakhyun saw that he had no idea what was going on. To be honest, he himself didn't know how to explain it at all.

"So... You're claiming that you constantly argue?"

With a loud thud, Kim Dokja set can of soda on the table. It had long since become warm.

Hakhyun hurried to continue:

"Don't you find this strange?"

"And where's guarantee that he's not pretending now that he doesn't know anything?"

Yoo Joonghyuk sat in chair. Usually, he types something or maybe talks to someone on phone, but now his posture showed incredible boredom. In the end, he had no work left for today.

...which irritated Kim Dokja even more.

"As I already said, I have no idea who you are."

Hakhyun hurried to confirm his words:

"We recently asked security and checked your name, but it wasn't found on the list."

Although, during Kim Dokja's tirade, he periodically looked at pass hanging around his neck, as if it could still turn out to be fake.

Atmosphere was becoming more and more tense until finally Hakhyun suggested they walk to the cafeteria. He was very hungry, and besides, over food, you can always learn a little more.

Kim Dokja sometimes watched gaming streams. Not that he was an avid fan, but sometimes interesting games came up, and usually he chose streamers who play silently.

So, on one such stream, he watched a playthrough of Backrooms while writing another report. This universe had many different games, but atmosphere of quiet spaces attracted him. He didn't really like it when monsters were inserted into such games; it seemed to him that it greatly spoiled immersion and negated all efforts to feel fear from liminal spaces.

Although, of course, he wasn't scared.

And he would gladly lock Yoo Joonghyuk in one of those rooms with yellow wallpaper. Their office very much resembled those games, though setting was done in a more modern style.

One way or another, doing something so that he wouldn't see that annoying face anymore seemed like a great idea to him.

However, more they tried to come to some conclusion, more he doubted his own judgments about Joonghyuk. All this time, he hadn't tried to twist conversation to make Dokja look like an idiot, and what was stranger, he seemed like such a calm person that even if right now they learned about explosives in building, man would just go to the exit as if nothing had happened.

Probably, that was influence of Hakhyun. He himself began to calm down after these conversations.

He was even amused by story about doppelgangers that the other had recently read.

"And you believed that?" — it seemed even Joonghyuk was amused by thought.

Because of their reaction, Hakhyun got embarrassed again and rubbed bridge of his nose. No, he just shared, why did they immediately believe?

But fifteen minutes later, they were no longer laughing.

It seemed that in his entire life, he hadn't felt more frightened than at this moment when another Yoo Joonghyuk appeared before them.