Archive of Our Own

If someone asked Kim Soleum why he read Dark Exploration Records, it’d be hard to narrow it down to one specific reason.

For one thing, Dark Exploration Records had seemingly an infinite amount of content being churned out every single day, stories sitting at the tip of his finger waiting to be re-visited and consumed with all its cliches and twists.

His work as a finance manager was rigid and monotonous at best. Stressful would also be an appropriate description, considering he had to constantly figure out how to deal with that missing zero in the company’s budget. His salary couldn’t take another reduction, he needed to survive somehow.

What better way to relieve his stress than reading a Ghost Story about a subway transporting you to the pit of hell itself while he’s riding one himself? Truly, the only way to combat stress was by replacing it with another kind of stress. Negative times negative, they cancel each other out, no?

In addition, the thrill of reading a fresh execution of an overused concept, the exhilaration at the act of creating, the warmth of stumbling upon an entry that is wholesome and not at all horrible—all of it pushes him to always return for more.

However, Kim Soleum could confidently say there’s one other thing that kept him hooked.

Characters.

In a setting where you could lose your life just by turning toward the wrong alley, characters who repeatedly appear across the explorations were bound to attract his attention.

Employee D who somehow always managed to turn any Ghost Stories into an action genre every time he appeared. It culled down the horror aspect, but the sheer relief anyone would have felt when an absolute tank of a man fought all the increasingly grotesque-looking ghosts without so much as breaking a sweat was palpable.

(Lee Jaehoon is a monster of man. A lizardman? But Kim Soleum wouldn’t have it any other way.)

Agent Choi might be the top in his list of favorite characters. A bright and cheerful man foremost, an enigmatic agent who tried to save everyone second, and someone who as of now, Kim Soleum didn’t know the fate of.

(Kim Soleum could still feel that suffocating despair at reading his disappearance in Looky Mart.)

And then, there’s Viper.

Now, Kim Soleum didn’t know what to feel for that man.

On one hand, the absolute depravity of his deeds in order to survive repulsed him. The moment he saw Viper being mentioned in any capacity, he knew blood would be shed, countless bodies would be dropped, and he would come out of the story losing more hope for humanity.

On the other hand, Kim Soleum found his undying, almost obsessive desire to survive somewhat astounding. No one, and he meant, no one clung to life as desperately as the man. Frankly, if it’s not for the sheer amount of heinous crimes he committed that should warrant him a permanent resident in the jail, Kim Soleum would have respected the man.

After spending months living as a roommate to such a dangerous individual, Kim Soleum thought he knew how to deal with the devil’s incarnation himself. Act sociopathic and he would give Kim Soleum a wide berth. Say something outrageous and the man would refuse to meet him in the eyes. Don’t push your luck or else the man would push back equally hard.

Every single day, Kim Soleum has to fight for his life, desperately trying not to let his guard down. A viper, no matter how cute they looked dressed in sheep’s clothing, is still a venomous animal.

But.

Kim Soleum stares at Baek Saheon’s wet cheeks.

What is this?

“You called me cute.”

Kim Soleum blinks and snaps his gaze back up. A mistake because now he has a full-frontal view of a pair of glistening eyes.

No seriously, what is this?

Baek Saheon is still staring at him, face flushed, nose scrunched up like he had swallowed something bitter.

“You. Called. Me. Cute,” the man repeated as if Kim Soleum is an idiot for not answering the accusation.

In his defense, he had way too many glasses of soju. His head felt like someone is treating it as a rice cake, pounding it with no mercy. Assistant Manager Eun Haje was relentless in her pouring—way worse than any boss he has to deal with before. Where did all those bottles come from anyway?

Wait, he needs to focus on the current problem at hand.

After struggling to move his heavy tongue for a bit, he manages to formulate a somewhat intelligent response.

“What?”

Baek Saheon looks ready to throw a chair at him.

Thousands of thoughts clamor in Kim Soleum’s head.

Cute? When did he call Baek Saehoon cute? Huh, but that scrunched up nose does make him look cute. Not to mention the tears made him look more innocent— hmmm? Tears? Why is Baek Saheon crying? Why is the Viper crying? Is he upset for being called cute? Oh god, he is upset, isn’t he? He’s so screwed. So damned screwed. Baek Saehoon is going to kill him in his sleep for calling him cute. Cute? When did he call him cute anyway?

It’s no wonder his mind decides to crumble and his default response when dealing with an upset client falls through.

“Sorry.” The world spins. Kim Soleum squeezes his eyes shut, gripping the chair in front of him until his knuckles turn white. Just in case. “Do you need damage compensation for that?”

Baek Saheon sputters, face visibly reddening. “What kind of nonsense are you spouting—”

Sober Kim Soleum would absolutely smoke him for not using honorifics. A drunk Kim Soleum is busy rummaging through his pockets because Viper or not, seeing someone with tears in front of him is a distressing sight.

“Here, I’ll give you an item.”

He finally fishes out an item out of his pocket; something small and star-shaped he picked up in his latest Darkness exploration that he originally intended to be used as an emergency supply. It’s not a huge loss, considering he’s still got a couple of Nostalgia Candy left.

“Chew it when you lose your way and keep walking. When the gum tasted stale, that’s when you’ll find a safe way out.” He takes Baek Saehoon’s shaking hands and drops the item. “So…um…don’t cry, okay? We’re even now.”

Baek Saehoon still looks like he wants to swing a chair or two at him from how red his face is. Kim Soleum takes this as a sign to get the hell out while his legs hasn’t been reduced to jelly…yet.

Mustering as much dignity as he can, Kim Soleum releases the grip he has on the kitchen chair and turns toward his bedroom. “Good night.”

“Huh? Wait—”

Kim Soleum slams the door behind him shut, drops to bed, and promptly passes out.

The sun stabs at his eyes when he wakes up. Not closing the curtain last night has been a huge mistake.

Kim Soleum licks his chapped lips, tries to sit up, then promptly flops back down when a killer headache paralyzes him. His mouth tastes like sand and his throat is doing a perfect simulation of being a desert. Being chewed inside a Darkness before being promptly spat out must have been a better experience than this.

He’s never going out to drink with his squad again. Ever. Especially if Assistant Manager Eun Haje is sitting across from him.

Kim Soleum groans and tries to smother himself with his pillow. After a moment, he turns his head toward the pink bunny doll sitting on his desk; the Bloodbath and a flickering flashlight laying not too far from his spot. Not a second later, the flashlight dies out just like any of his will to live.

Somehow, Braun had agreed when Kim Soleum told him he couldn’t join him. Something about him needing this team building experience and a good friend would stay behind to ensure no distraction would happen. Kim Soleum had wisely closed his mouth and poured his blood into the bath.

He is the tiniest bit thankful that Good Friend Doll can’t talk outside of Ghost Stories. The addition of another voice into his buffering brain would no doubt push him to the brink.

Kim Soleum twists his body to stare at the ceiling. Another big mistake. Pain shoots through his head.

He would kill for some hangover soup right now.

Speaking of that, he should probably leave his bed soon. While it is Saturday, there’s going to be a huge sale happening in the supermarket a few blocks ahead in just a couple of hours. That giant bag of grape candies would be his no matter what.

With that thought in mind, Kim Soleum stumbles out of his room into the kitchen to fetch a glass of water.

The sight of a sealed container sitting innocently on the dining table makes him freeze in his tracks. He stares at the hastily slapped sticky note beside it, Baek Saheon’s familiar cursive handwriting stares back at him.

'Hangover soup. Heat it up before eating it. I bought it from the jjigae store next door.’

That translates to ‘I didn’t poison the soup. Feel free to eat it.’

He still doesn’t remember when exactly he called Baek Saheon cute.

But as he leans on the counter to stare at the bowl of hangover soup spinning inside the microwave, a complicated mixture of resignation and calmness settles over him.

He should probably try to remember that, shouldn’t he?

Yeah, no remembering that would be impossible.

A wave of migraine hit him every time he tried to fill in the missing gaps of that particular day. Maybe it was his own brain’s attempt to cover up the truth.

Well, he should listen to his brain. After all, missing a memory or two shouldn’t be that big of a deal.

But surely if he did something horrendously embarrassing that his brain decided to scrub clean the scene, shouldn’t Baek Saheon jump at the opportunity to use it as a blackmail material? Then, why isn’t he doing anything? Frankly, it’s been a couple of days since then and the lack of trickery from the other party is making him antsy.

Speak of the devil.

…?

Shadows fall along the wall, shrouding the kitchen in a blanket of darkness. Had it not been for the faint moonlight trickling in from outside, Kim Soleum wouldn’t have noticed the absolute terror currently staring down at him.

Baek Saheon sits on one side of the kitchen table, his black-purple eyeball glowing faintly.

Kim Soleum petrifies right where he’s standing at the doorway.

What kind of sick bastard sits in the kitchen without the lights on at 3 in the morning???

Kim Soleum wants to cry, then scream, then cry some more. He doesn't want to deal with any of Baek Saheon’s nonsense during this ghost hour.

And he would slam the door shut, backed away to his room, and willingly suffer through another sleepless night with that scary sight forever etched into his mind; if it's not for what he glimpsed at the very last second.

The sight of tears trickling down Baek Saheon’s face.

He is struck with a strong sense of déjà vu.

Kim Soleum's fingers twitch from where they rest on the door handle.

He could still turn back around. Could pretend that he simply forgot what he was looking for just in case Baek Saheon smelled the fear in him and came hounding for answers the next day. This is Baek Saheon he’s talking about.

Except, he couldn't possibly ignore someone in distress even if they are a psychopath. Shouldn't comforting them to get their good grace be the correct response here?

(Kim Soleum wisely ignores the twinge in his heart and the sorrow in Baek Saheon's eyes. The exact same shade he finds swimming in his eyes each time the mirror reflects the light in a certain angle.

He wants to go home.)

Kim Soleum pushes the door wider open.

Warm golden light spills from the hallway connecting the kitchen into the bathroom, driving away the darkness within. He leaves the door ajar as he steps toward the fridge, every step he takes feels like a shrimp swimming closer to a whale's mouth.

To his credit, Baek Saheon is no longer staring at him.

“Trouble falling asleep?” Kim Soleum begins, ignoring the way his hand trembles as he opens the fridge’s door.

Baek Saheon snaps his head up from where he's nursing a cup of chrysanthemum tea, catching his gaze.

The white, fluorescent light hits the left side of Baek Saheon's face, turning the tear stains into glinting silver veneer and his black-purple eye into a glittering galaxy; a description he never considered would be directed at Baek Saheon. Faint warm light encroaches his other half, muting the viper green of his eye into something soft…and almost soothing. Like the rustling of spring grass.

For one incomprehensible second, Kim Soleum understands why the ushers treated eyes as the most valuable thing to collect.

“Not quite, sir. I'm simply enjoying my own free time.”

The lie is so lame that it banishes the buzzing distress out of his body. What ever happened to the silver tongue Viper wielded effortlessly?

“At three in the morning? Shrouded in darkness like some demented serial killer?”

Baek Saheon doesn't flinch, but he stiffens for a brief moment before he's back to smiling.

“I don't see why you should care if I have trouble falling asleep…sir.”

Kim Soleum itches to reprimand the slip up. Hearing the hesitation and genuine confusion in his tone stops him.

Should he care? Why, he wouldn't be here if he didn't.

Kim Soleum focuses his attention back to scanning the fridge, looking for that one item he was planning to use in the first place. It should be around here somewhere.

“What use would you be if you're sleep-deprived? As a bait, you need to be in a prime condition at all times.”

“Why you—” Baek Saheon clears his throat when Kim Soleum sends him a smile that's a bit too bright. “Sir, with all due respect, a good… bait would not be affected by a minor setback such as a lack of sleep.”

“So you admitted to having trouble falling asleep?”

“…”

In the silence, Kim Soleum almost rolls his eyes. Typical Baek Saheon. Typical sleight of words that wraps around to being honest.

Behind the rows of canned sikhye, hidden underneath the shadows of a sealed kimchi container, Kim Soleum finally finds it.

“Hold your hand out.”

Baek Saheon narrows his eyes at him yet does as he's told.

‘How obedient’, Kim Soleum thinks distractedly as he drops the item into Baek Saheon's outstretched hand.

“This is?”

“Are your eyes suffering from early degeneration already? It's songpyeon.”

Baek Saheon bites his lips, no doubt swallowing a plethora of curses down his throat. “Of course I can see that, sir. I was just asking about its effect.”

Gibbous Songpyeon—yet another item he managed to pick up in his recent exploration, courtesy of the D-class Darkness, Twinkle Twinkle Little Moon.

Suffering through weeks long of insomnia that not even watching children’s cartoon could help was a special kind of torture. He seriously feared he'd drop dead from sleep deprivation. Thankfully, by some curious and suspicious timing, Assistant Manager Park Minseong dropped the Darkness into his laps. Literally.

(Something in the back of his mind told him his senior knew about his sleeping problem.)

Not so thankful was the fact he only took one box in his haste to escape. D-class or not, no one would want to spend an eternity with nothing but the void and the moon rabbit who stared a bit too intently as it pounded its rice cake. He was just glad the moon rabbit didn't have a pair of red eyes.

Admittedly, he's been abusing the effect of the half-moon rice cakes a bit too often—doesn't help the fact that it’s actually delicious— which means he's running out of it.

Now that he's relinquishing the last one to Baek Saheon, he has basically none left. Guess he would have to make do with sleeping pills this time. He really doesn’t want to increase his dosage intake again.

That psycho better be grateful.

“It gives you a sense of fullness and immediate drowsiness,” Kim Soleum explains, staring at the plastic wrapped white songpyeon sitting on Baek Saheon's palm. So long good night sleep. “The kind of fullness you get when you eat a hearty meal and immediately fall asleep afterward. You won’t remember your dream, but you will wake up feeling refreshed, like you have the best dream of your life.”

White for a restful sleep. Green for an energetic morning. Never eat the Red one unless you're keen on being chased around by a mortar in your sleep and got turned into rice cake ingredients.

Baek Saheon stares at him in an expression Kim Soleum does not care—nor dare— to decipher, so he continues.

“Make sure your room is dark. Eat it while the moonlight shines down on you. Once you've done that, you can go to sleep as normal. Just don't close the curtain to let the moonlight enter your room.” Kim Soleum gestures toward the microwave. “You might want to heat it up first though. It tastes better that way.”

“And how do I know you are not playing tricks on me, sir?”

The audacity of this man.

“Have I ever lied or tricked you?”

“…No, sir.” Baek Saheon looks lost for a moment before he sobers up. “No, wait. What are you getting out of this?”

Nothing. Hell, he's even getting a minus by gifting his last white songpyeon. There's no way he's going to recover from this. But a well-rested Baek Saheon would be easier to deal with than a sleep-deprived and cranky Baek Saheon. Predictable or not, he's seen the damage a particularly cranky Viper inflicted toward his group mates.

Second, losing sleep over nightmares is something he understands all too well.

Kim Soleum shrugs as casually as he can. “Tears don't suit you. It ruins the overall vibe of the room.”

“I wasn't crying.”

“Wipe the evidence off your face first before saying that.”

Baek Saheon, who finally realizes that tears have long since dried on his cheeks, vigorously wipes them away with the back of his hand. When he's back to staring at him, red dusts his cheeks. From the force of his rubbing or embarrassment, Kim Soleum doesn't know.

“Good,” he announces, preparing to leave now that his conscience is finally soothed. “I would much prefer to not see it on your face again.”

“And what if it happens again?”

Something in Baek Saheon’s tone rubs him the wrong way, like the soft beeping of a morning alarm. But like how one would do to an alarm, Kim Soleum hits the snooze button.

“I don’t care, just do it somewhere out of my sight,” he says, and preferably somewhere he couldn’t hear as well. He doesn’t think he could survive—mentally or emotionally—if he hears a sob coming from the bathroom in the middle of the night.

“Or maybe.” Kim Soleum smiles because he has a reputation to uphold. “Feel free to do it in front of me. Your tears will definitely fuel my dopamine.”

Kim Soleum doesn’t wait for Baek Saheon to answer, merely moving to the side to take a cup from the cabinet, hoping Baek Saheon would bite down on his bluff. He's currently not equipped to deal with Baek Saheon's twisted mind.

Maybe he’s playing it safe in case he changes his mind and takes the item away, but Baek Saheon doesn’t try to continue the conversation further.

Water sloshes as Kim Soleum fills his ceramic cup, its warmth seeping into his skin. The faint scent of chrysanthemum from Baek Saheon’s tea curls around him like a calming blanket. Moonlight continues to trickle in through the window, mingling with the golden light from the hallway outside, and falling upon the space between him and Baek Saheon.

Kim Soleum turns around to make his way back.

“Good night, sir.”

Kim Soleum stops in his tracks, fingers curling around the door handle.

It feels like a truce one way or another and something in his heart settles at that quiet realization. He doesn't look back when he replies with a quiet:

“…Good night.”

He had genuinely thought that would be the end of it.

They would both return to their own separate bubble— slurping a hot bowl of ramyeon while the other holed themselves up in their room, leaving the dorm with the other set of dress shoes already conspicuously missing in the entryway and returning to that very same place at night, still as cold as the moment they left it. They would—should have— fall back to their usual rhythm of ignoring the other’s existence even if they’re sharing the same living, breathing space. Like the sun and the moon fated to never meet each other in their solitary excursion.

Except what happened to crying out of sight, out of mind?

In the span of a few weeks, the amount of times Kim Soleum found tears dripping down Baek Saheon’s face was concerning…compared to the entire span of Dark Exploration Records with its gleaming record of zero.

(The only liquid Viper dripped is the blood of his unfortunate victims; not even his own blood because he has too much of a self-preservation instinct to let claws and shadows with way too many eyes get close to him.)

For some reason, he has the abysmal luck of witnessing it every time, which translates to the unfortunate effect of having his own items depleted to pacify the other man.

No matter how often he saw it though, he physically couldn’t make himself walk away from the sight. Like some sort of moth drawn into the flickering dying light of the balcony where he found Baek Saheon curled up on the lawn chair, face pressed into the fold of his arms. Kim Soleum almost dropped the cigarette he was holding at that time and subsequently abandoned his earlier intention to smoke in favor of escaping to his bedroom—not before he placed Happy Charming Soda at Baek Saheon’s feet.

Or that one time he physically felt his heart tumbling out of his mouth when upon entering the bathroom, Baek Saheon was already inside the bathtub, soaked to the bones as he leaned back against the basin. Still fully clothed. Still with an eye patch over his left eye. Still looking just as sorrowful as the time in the kitchen. Kim Soleum dropped the Pain Be Gone Towel over his head and fled to the kitchen with his toothbrush because you got to have a few screws loose to bathe with your clothes on.

In another occasion where they happened to exist in the living room at the same moment, Kim Soleum had to physically force himself to stare at Pororo running around the screen, else he did something as dumb as running his hand through Baek Saheon’s curly hair while the man slept at the other end of the couch, cheeks once again wet. He did place the Shimmering Band-Aids over the scratch on his cheek before once again retreating to the safety of his bedroom.

At some point, it blurred together. Baek Saheon cried, he dropped the item, offered some insults or half-baked consolation, fled—left the room— with as much dignity he could muster, cursed Baek Saheon in his head. Rinse and repeat.

At some point, Kim Soleum stares at his reflection in the microwave’s glass and wonders where he went wrong in life to give Viper items without asking for anything in return. Has he lost his mind? When did it all start anyway?

Deep in the fold of his brain, a parasite—that dreaded sentence—crawls its way out of its drunken-induced slumber to induce psychological damage.

“You. Called. Me. Cute.”

That’s right. That’s the exact moment where everything began to snowball, wasn’t it? A conundrum that he would never be able to solve. A Darkness that he couldn’t figure out even if he squeezed his brain for any morsel of information. A concept so bizarre he didn’t even know if it's real or simply a figment of his imagination.

…Was Baek Saheon toying with him?

Inside, the bowl of sundubu-jjigae continues to spin, like a sick reminder of his current predicament—spinning round and round, but always in place. It still looks oddly relaxing.

Kim Soleum doesn't even realize the subject of his plight is within a very close proximity until the clicking sound of the stove being turned on snaps him out of thought.

Baek Saheon stands there, damp brown strands falling over his eyes, conspicuously missing his eye patch, as he placed a kettle above the burner. Kim Soleum looks back to see a ceramic cup sitting on the kitchen table, no doubt filled with crushed chrysanthemum tea leaves at the bottom.

Rotten personality aside, Baek Saheon has got some good taste for his tea. Kim Soleum took a peek at his tea collection and almost stole some for himself— and Braun because the host would definitely enjoy scented water for his bath—if it’s not for the fact that Baek Saheon would notice and possibly demand for more things in return.

Silence fills the air between them; a regular and expected thing when it’s just the two of them in a room. A lone moth circles around the pendant light, lost in its way to leave the room. The kettle continues to boil. Out of sight, out of mind, his sundubu-jjigae continues to spin and spin—

Baek Saheon sniffles.

The speed at which Kim Soleum whips his head back to stare at his reflection should be illegal.

For a second, he was worried his age would catch up to him because back in his office days, that speed would have sprained his neck. But it seems Daydream potions have done a lot of the heavy lifting when all he could feel is his speeding heartbeat and not his bone snapping.

He shakes his head. No, just because Baek Saheon sniffles, that doesn’t mean he is going to cry. He shouldn’t be jumping into conclusions.

Even as the second ticks away, even as his eyes struggle to stare ahead, even if he has to endure the most excruciating three minutes of his life. Not even the sheer distress of having the convenience store ghost looming over his shoulder as he punched in the date could rival how sweaty his palms currently are. But he keeps them where they are, gripping his biceps like a lifeline as he waits.

Okay. The moment the microwave stops, he would take his jjigae out, grab the spoon and flee to the living room. Never for a second try to look in Baek Saheon's direction. Oh, the seconds are ticking. Three. Two. One.

Ding!

Funny how such a simple noise brings such an overwhelming relief.

Fweeeee!

And funny how that is destroyed by an equally simple sound that follows shortly after.

Kim Soleum squeezes his eyes shut, feeling the telltale signs of headache in the back of his head, and steels himself.

He presses the microwave's unlock button, takes his scalding hot jjigae out, grabs a spoon, and sits at the kitchen table. The illusion of ease as if he isn't seconds away from sprinting out of the room.

Might as well own the fact he's been escaping way too often. At this rate, Baek Saheon would start to get suspicious of his true nature. Besides, there's still a 50% chance the man would leave after pouring water into his tea.

Baek Saheon sits across from him.

…

Kim Soleum swallows the tofu-shaped curse in his mouth.

Fine. He will just pretend he doesn't exist then.

“Supervisor.”

Kim Soleum is seriously wondering if someone out there is currently testing his sanity.

“What? If you have anything to say, make it quick,” he says, never once breaking eye contact with his still steaming soup. “I'm eating.”

“Is the jjigae from next door?”

That…isn’t a question Kim Soleum expects to hear. So much so, he almost lifts his head to shoot him an incredulous look. Almost.

“And why do you want to know that?”

“No reason.” The sound of tea being sipped. A ‘clack’ as the cup is placed down. “I was just wondering…if the soup tasted good? because you haven’t paid me back for the hangover soup.”

Kim Soleum feels his eye twitching.

This slimy viper. After all the items he gave him, the man still dares to push for more. Going through the events in his head, however, all these items gifting happened under the guise of consoling a crying Baek Saheon. By the man’s logic, Kim Soleum hasn’t actually paid him back for the hangover soup.

…Ah, is that what all the crying has been about? A twisted machinery to rob him of items because he failed to pay him back once?

Kim Soleum lifts his head up from staring at the bobbing tofu inside the broth to stare at the man across him. He isn’t sure what kind of expression he’s making, but it’s enough to make Baek Saheon squirm in his seat.

“Right, I haven’t paid you back for that one,” he said pleasantly, his voice ringing hollow in certain places.

Kim Soleum doesn’t think he’s someone prone nor easy to anger. Years of tuning out a demanding manager who has a hobby of yelling his ears off has trained him to operate in the down low. One should keep their cool when the others are not. One should know when to brake and when to hit the gas pedal. One should not waste their energy on unnecessary grievances.

With the way his chest burns as the realization sinks in, it might be the closest thing to that raw ball of heat in a very long time. He just doesn’t expect that raw ball of heat to be tangled with a constricting thread that makes it harder to breathe.

All the items he gifted—scratched that, got robbed of—for something that Kim Soleum no longer sure was real in the first place. Was that glimpse of sorrow a lie? Had all the tears been a product of a carefully crafted mask? Has he falsely assumed that The Viper is capable of showing genuine emotion?

(But that sorrow, that sorrow—)

He knew. He knew what kind of man Baek Saheon was. A venomous viper, no matter how pretty their scales looks, is still venomous. A single bite will hurt.

He just doesn't expect it to hurt this damn much.

Kim Soleum wants to laugh.

Just what kind of cheap man do you think I am, Baek Saheon?

“Here then. Take it.”

Kim Soleum slides a dice across the table. Baek Saheon catches it before it can slide off the table, shooting him a questioning glance.

“Each number have different effect. All the even numbers have beneficial effects, two for healing, four for protection, six for escape, as for the odd numbers…”

He smiles, tilting his head. Ever since the start of this whole debacle, he certainly hasn't been doing much of his psychopathic act. He should start doing that again.

“…I hope all your important organs are intact. Won't it be funny if you return while missing the other eye because you failed a dice roll?”

The way Baek Saheon’s face contorts into horror before shakily settling back to a faux calm is amusing enough for the painful knots in his chest to untangle. Just for a bit.

“Is there a difference between the odd numbers?” Baek Saheon asks, a bit too quiet in manner.

One for a curse, three to get a random organ being taken, and five to be transported into a random Darkness.

“Who knows?” is what he chooses to answer with, light and airy as the wisps of dusty moonlight.

Call him petty, but withholding some part of the information is not enough of a payback. Worse comes to worst, Baek Saheon wouldn't die if he lost another limb. With a mind as sharp and as sly as him, Kim Soleum knew Baek Saheon would survive. That's the only thing he does best.

(The core of everything that makes Kim Soleum falls in love with his character to begin with. Which is why it hurts. Maybe he is hoping for something…more out of him. Maybe he is hoping Baek Saheon sees him more than an item dispenser.)

“There, you have it.” Kim Soleun leans his chin on his closed fist, his smile not faltering. “Now, we're even. Are you happy now, Baek Saheon?”

Much to his surprise, there's no usual flicker of glee across his face. If Kim Soleum dares to hazard a guess, the way Baek Saheon bites his lips is less of him trying to prevent a smug smile from forming, and more of him trying to not let guilt mar it.

But is Baek Saheon even capable of guilt?

“I…yes. Thank you, Supervisor.”

Whatever complicated mix of emotions on Baek Saheon’s face disappears as soon as he finishes his sentence. No doubt due to his true purpose being fulfilled, Baek Saheon doesn't waste any time to stand up from his seat.

The untangled knots in his chest have once again tangled themselves up.

Kim Soleum seriously wants to laugh.

And yet.

“And to answer your question,” he begins. Baek Saheon turns to look at him. Kim Soleum scoops the broth into his mouth, “the soup does taste good.”

Baek Saheon stares at him for a few imperceptible seconds before he nods and scurries out of the room. Kim Soleum watches his retreating back. As soon as it disappears beyond the frame, he slumps back, hands covering his face in horror.

Why did he even say that? However horribly implied it was, what's the point of telling Baek Saheon he has a great taste for soup? Not to mention, he asked if he's happy with the deal. Of course he's bound to be elated. An item with questionable usage rate is still an item.

The knots in his chest tighten.

Kim Soleum brushes his bangs away from his eyes with a long suffering sigh.

Well, now that he's no longer back into a corner, he could certainly start to enjoy this game of push and pull between the two of them. It would be a crime to not enjoy the sight of Baek Saheon's crying face.

Kim Soleum doesn’t know if Baek Saheon knows that he knows, but their little charades continue. At times, it becomes the awaited eventful beat of the day. At times, he wonders why they're still doing this confusing dance.

On that day in the kitchen, he could easily put a stop to the man’s entire shenanigan. Just like that time he forced the man to relinquish his hold on the Fountain Pen. With a few quick word—some mild threats—to rattle him, Kim Soleum could put a stop to it.

He doesn't, which is just mildly concerning because since when did he ever care about his own curiosity?

(It's Baek Saheon. Who could resist the urge to not pry the man open?)

Now that he's no longer weighted down by the knowledge that no genuine tears is involved and that Baek Saheon is crying for the items, Kim Soleum is able to view his interaction with him in a more objective light.

Arguably, the knots in his chest are still as tangled of a mess as ever, the simmering ball of heat enclosed in its cocoon. It's a battle between his pettiness and the strange feeling that he might genuinely does not want Baek Saheon to get hurt—‘in fear of repercussion’ his mind logically comes to defense—to not drop a horrible item in his hands. He doesn’t know what Baek Saheon would do in such case, and he’s not eager to find out.

Arguably, the most damning discovery he made wass: “Baek Saheon really has such an expressive face.”

Arguably, that's not a recent discovery, but a simple fact that Kim Soleum finally had the mental capacity to process and question its absurdity.

How did this man even get the moniker ‘Viper’ again?

Reading through the text alone, he imagined a man with suave and unparalleled charisma, the kind who pulled people in effortlessly. A man who exhales lies and inhales the intoxicating mix of people’s desperation and fear. Someone Kim Soleum would have trouble saying no just because of their seemingly lax yet demanding attitude.

Not someone who’s on the verge of tearing their hair out just because the cup ramyeon seal keeps tearing off under his fingers.

Kim Soleum stops from where he's taking out a bag of tea to glance at his side.

Baek Saheon stands at the kitchen counter , a cup of ramyeon in hand and a torn off seal in his other hand, looking like the world has crumbled above his head: chewed lips, scrunched up nose, frown between his eyebrows, and a look of utter devastation swimming in his eyes.

Once again, they stand shoulder-to-shoulder, but this time Kim Soleum chooses to not look away and stares.

He’s been doing that a lot, he realizes almost absentmindedly. Observing. Reading. Processing. Watching the minute changes in Baek Saheon’s face is a form of amusement in its own right.

The pinch between Baek Saheon’s eyebrow deepens by a fraction, like a scowling puppy struggling to figure out why that stick its owner throws is nowhere to be found. But just as it happens, his whole countenance shifts. His tongue sticks out, a determined glint replacing the devastation that fractured his eyes.

Cute.

He has also been doing that a lot in his head.

“You’re doing that again.”

Kim Soleum blinks to awareness, blinking even more rapidly when Baek Saheon is already staring at him, face now missing its determined look in favor of narrowed eyes.

“…What?”

“You’re calling me cute. Again.”

Did he? Must have been a slip.

“Did I?” Kim Soleum turns around to take his cup out of the cabinet, voice purposefully light. “You need to get your ears checked. It wouldn't be good to have another malfunctioning organ.”

<Cute.>

Kim Soleum freezes.

His own voice echoes once more.

<Cute.>

Kim Soleum cranes his head to squint at Baek Saheon.

“Did you just record me?”

Baek Saheon grips his phone so tightly that Kim Soleum is worried he will fling it at him. To say his face is red would be an understatement. It will be closer to call it a tomato with how red his face is. Strangely, the usual sheen of tears that normally follows such a spectacle is missing.

“I had to.”

The raw ball of heat burns itself out of the tangled knots in his chest.

“Excuse me?” Kim Soleum asks, laughing in disbelief. Has Baek Saheon underhanded tactics reached a new unprecedented bound? What new trick has he been trying? But before he can get any word in, Baek Saheon beats him to the punch.

“I had to…Sir,” Baek Saheon repeated, tacking on the honorifics belatedly at the end. He chews on his lips—a habit that Kim Soleum has started to catalogue as nervous—as if he's carefully choosing his words. In the next second, however, he takes a deep breath and exhales the loudest sigh Kim Soleum has ever heard from the man.

“Do you go around calling people cute when you're drunk, sir?”

Hmm?

Baek Saheon continues on as if he doesn’t see him opening his mouth.

“That one time it happened, I brushed it off as some drunken ramblings. People say a lot of weird stuff when they're drunk and I thought you were such a case. But then, your first instinct when seeing a person with teary eyes is to give them an item? What kind of a shitty response is that.”

There's a lot of things to unpack there. But, Baek Saheon doesn't even give him a chance to do so because he bulldozes on with even more heat than before.

“I know you're doing it to shut me up. Hell, it makes such a damn sense to see such a response from you. I’ll be even more weirded out if you tried to comfort me, which surprise, surprise, you also did! Still in a shitty kind of way because who treats crying as something to get compensation for! Heck, I wasn't even actually crying at that time!”

Kim Soleum's world spins, that similar dizzying feeling he felt back when he's fighting for his life to stand upright.

“…You weren't?” He cuts in the moment Baek Saheon had a lapse in his rambling.

“I wasn't!” Baek Saheon points his finger at him, weirdly agitated. “And before you said anything bad about me, it’s your fault for assuming. I’m just taking my chances. Who would pass up an easy item like that?”

Kim Soleum squeezes his eyes shut, fingers itching to massage the bridge of his nose. To think the deception lies since the very start. And yet, the truth bomb only leaves him strangely empty, as if some part of him had expected this. One thing for sure, he definitely, definitely won’t be caught drinking again.

“I know you prefer not being stuck in the same room as me. I do too. Yet you still took your time to comfort me in the kitchen because yes, I’m a weirdo for crying in the dark at three in the fucking morning like you said.” Baek Saheon rolls his eyes. “But you still gave this weirdo an item and let this weirdo drain you off items when it would be the easiest thing to turn away. Scratch that, no one here is weirder than you.”

Wait, what stuff is he hearing now?

“You are such a confusing person. Your words and actions are never align with each other. One second you gave me a beneficial item, the next second you told me that crying ruins the overall vibe of the room. It didn't happen a mere once or twice, but every damn time you saw me with wet eyes. Just, what do you want, Kim Soleum?”

Kim Soleum can't help the feeling of being wronged. Isn't he the one who's supposed to be mad here? First, he's being recorded without consent. Second, who's the one getting his items robbed? Third, why is Baek Saheon acting as if he just twisted his heart?

“Now, you’re standing here with that flat look on your face, perfectly sober, and have the audacity to call me cute when I’m not even crying.”

Huh?

“Do you find it fun to torture me? Are you that much of a psycho? You can't just…” Baek Saheon’s voice falls into a whisper, “…you can't just play with someone's heart like that.”

Kim Soleum blinks, his brain does the equivalent of the Windows shutting down.

Huh???

As soon as Baek Saheon utters those words out loud, all the drive, all the pent up annoyance, all the blended mixture of confusion and hope and hurt leave him in a wide berth. In exchange, embarrassment takes its place back on his cheeks. Baek Saheon knows his face is boiling hot already. Adding another layer of red won’t deter his attempt to stare pointedly at Kim Soleum.

The usual mask of perfect impassiveness on Kim Soleum’s face has shattered. There's a certain, no, a lot of satisfaction in seeing the man looking as bewildered and as lost as he is. Baek Saheon would even say the wide-eyed look he’s sporting is reminiscent of his codename.

Ha, serves him right. That’s what he gets for putting him through an absolute wringer for the past couple of months.

Really, on that absolute mess of a day, Baek Saheon was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Ever since he got his Black Purple Eyeball, his eyes dried up a lot easier. Baek Saheon wanted to curse Kim Soleum for that, but he begrudgingly swallowed any complaint. Having to use eye drops every once in a while as a side effect to a special eye is still a fine exchange.

(He won’t ever forget the Fountain Pen he had to sacrifice for that though.)

With Kim Soleum out for hours already, Baek Saheon thought the living room would be a safe place to do his thing. It’s a lot easier to use the eye drops on the couch with its comfy pillows. So after a shower, he went on to do just that, missing the few first drops as usual until his cheeks were wet and scrunching his nose at the bitter taste.

The door to the apartment chose that moment to burst open.

It was the most unput together he had ever seen the man. It was also the most human-looking, oozing with such raw openness that it felt strange to see it on the man.

Baek Saheon could still vividly remember the flush over Kim Soleum's cheeks. His ruffled hair sticking out of his usual middle parting. The folds and creases on his suit. The way his heart sped up as those glazed twin red pupils settled on him.

He expected laughter or mockery. It wouldn’t be an out of the blue reaction from that psycho.

Cute was not a word Baek Saheon expected out of Kim Soleum’s guileful mouth.

Him demanding an explanation is a perfectly justified and normal response. Any sane person would question being called cute by a drunk psychopath who has a hobby of tormenting him.

(Any sane person should also not blush like a damn highschool girl at being called cute by their crush. But you have to be a little insane working in Daydream anyway is his futile excuse.)

Said psychopath gave him an item instead—without a need for exchange, dealings nor barters just for a smidgen of Kim Soleum's item. And while he was still trying to make sense of this mind-boggling, mind-shattering, mind-wondering conundrum, Kim Soleum slammed the door shut.

All of that happened in the span of five minutes.

It's not his fault he thought everything had been a figment of his imagination. Everything had been too good to be true?

He spent the rest of his night losing his damn mind. The word ‘Cute’ circled around his head. The image of Kim Soleum standing at the foot of his bed, red pupils staring down at him as he demanded his part of the bargain kept flashing through his closed eyelids. The rushing of his blood at being reminded of a…vulnerable-looking Kim Soleum.

It was a special kind torture that psychopath had concocted for him.

Baek Saheon even prepared a hangover soup the next day, just in case Kim Soleum sobered up and came knocking to get his item back. He would whip up the excuse he took care of him while he was drunk and said he has paid up his debt.

But Kim Soleum never came knocking, never acknowledged that peace offering. Just like that the days went by. The cloud rolled in, the rain fell, the hallway returned to being cold, and Baek Saheon was starting to believe his mind had played tricks on him.

Until the nightmare rudely woke him up.

It had been a while since his sister's sacrificial day visited his subconscious mind. That must have been the only reason tears streamed down his face and an anguish he had long thought to be buried came crawling back to his marrow. What better way to deal with it than to drink his sorrow way?

So he did. He went to the kitchen, made his tea just like the way his sister taught him to do back when he’s too young to join the adults in drinking, but still wanted to glue himself to his sister's side. He never ended up liking the taste of alcohol anyway. It burnt, like the damning realization that he might be the slightest bit attracted to that psycho.

(Displeasing personality aside, Kim Soleum is good looking; Baek Saheon could even admit that. He just couldn't believe the fact that he is superficial enough to be attracted by mere looks only. Nothing about that punk’s personality attracted him, right?)

Brain in its sleep mode, he genuinely didn't realize the light was off until the golden light from the hallway cut through the darkness of the kitchen.

Kim Soleum stood at the other end of the room, giving him a wide eyed stare.

It’s another expression Baek Saheon has never seen before, the briefest glimpse to the clusters of emotion running beneath the image of a calm, untouched man. Confusion? Fear? And something else that Baek Saheon couldn’t parse through. What a bewildering mix of emotion that he didn’t get the chance to be intrigued on for long enough. The instant Kim Soleum noticed his stare, his usual flat look came to take its place back. He moved and Baek Saheon looked away on instinct, falling back on their normal rhythm; pretending the other didn’t exist as long as they’re not within their line of sight.

Never in a million years would he expect Kim Soleum to be the one who addressed him first. In a sober state of all things considered with none of his usual psychopathic talk with him. He simply asked if he had trouble sleeping. Frankly, that’s even more terrifying than his usual thing. Since when did Kim Soleum care?

Besides, who would admit they basically woke themselves up to tears?

Kim Soleum called him out on his lie immediately as if he had expected the answer in the first place. Infuriating man. The irritation was short-lived, immediately replaced by confusion when Kim Soleum dropped an item in his outstretched hand.

Baek Saheon wondered if he somehow died in the kitchen and he’s unaware of it.

Twice has Kim Soleum given him an item under the guise of stopping him from crying. Twice has he been put into extreme confusion because what was the psychopath trying to pull? Was this some kind of boredom-induced game for that dopamine junkie?

And yet, the look Kim Soleum gave him the item stopped this train of thoughts haunted his mind. If Baek Saheon wanted to delude himself, he would call it concern.

The fluttering in his stomach he refused to acknowledge as butterflies were still as relentless as ever though. It must have been the nerves for the thing he planned to do. From these two occasions he observed, item gifting happened when crying was involved. It’s not hard to put two and two together and turn it into four.

Suffice to say, his plan went on without a hitch.

Heck, he could even cry on command now; a useless skill for some, but no doubt would be useful some time in the future. The real surprise was that Baek Saheon didn’t even have to cry for real. He could be doing something that mimicked crying—curling up, soaking up, sniffling—and Kim Soleum would drop items at his feet before fucking off to god knows where.

The items he got mounted higher and higher, but so was that heart-pounding feeling Baek Saheon came to know as euphoric and definitely not fear and guilt.

Would he know? Would he notice? How long would this charade of his continue? What would happen if Kim Soleum figured it out?

At some point, however, the line between acting and reality blurred together.

No matter how much he tried to convince himself that everything was a mere act, some true feelings were bound to slip in. After all, a perfect facade is crafted when there's some kernel of truth to it. The tears, the pain, the sadness, on several occasions, they had been real.

Like on that day in the kitchen; when Kim Soleum didn't even try to take advantage of his most vulnerable moment.

It's not a wonder his brain—without his own consent mind you—decided to somehow choose Kim Soleum as his source of comfort.

Dread. Relief. Funny how those two words had come to be associated with that man. Funny how the order of it has been flipped nowadays. It's crazy after every disastrous dive into the Darkness, his frazzled mind seemed to settle at the sight of Kim Soleum sitting at the couch, watching those silly little cartoons Baek Saheon found to be entertaining at times. He would never admit he purposefully ‘fell asleep’ on the couch just to hear the cheerful exchanges between the characters and to feel Kim Soleum’s warmth beside him.

Kim Soleum is an enigma of a man. His words cruel, his actions kind. His gaze cold, his touch warm. His mind unfathomable, his visage discernible. Really, Baek Saheon wanted to pry this man open and see all those bizarre shapes and bloody marrows that made up this bewildering but fine specimen of a man.

Even after the disastrous jjigae-questioning day, this dichotomy persisted. Baek Saheon knew that punk knew or at the very least had suspicion about everything when he started receiving questionably safe items, as if Kim Soleum was telling him he shouldn’t try his chances any longer. And yet, that punk didn’t put a stop to it.

It's no wonder his rotten heart was confused.

This must be a game for him? But why would anyone play along when they’re in a disadvantageous position? He is a dopamine-junkie but surely even he has a limit? Is he overthinking things? Maybe he should just shut his brain off and enjoy this rare ‘amicable’ arrangement between them.

He did.

Until the accursed word is mentioned again.

But now that he finally catches the man in the act, he is not letting him escape.

“Time.” Kim Soleum holds a hand out, his other hand covering his face. Baek Saheon stares in muted awe as the tip of his ears redden. “What do you mean ‘play with your heart’?”

“Exactly what I said, sir.”

Kim Soleum peeks through his fingers before dropping his hand entirely. Save for the faintest red coloring his face, his countenance is back to normal. “I find it hard to believe you have a heart.”

Somehow that sentence stings. What does he mean by that?

“I'm still a human. Of course I have a heart. Do you, sir?” Baek Saheon snaps. He doesn't intend to come off as clipped, but watching Kim Soleum's hastily pieced together mask crumbles once more fan his flame to hit the gas pedal.

Tears well up in his eyes, trickling down his cheeks. He looks up through his wet eyelashes, mimicking the heartbroken stare of a dog who has just gotten told to leave the house for being naughty. Hours spent on watching K- dramas to hone his skill is coming out full force. His sister would be laughing at his face if she knew.

Kim Soleum looks close to having an aneurysm.

“Do you, sir?” he repeats in a softer voice.

It takes Baek Saheon a long while to notice; the glimpses of a soft, beating, bleeding flesh beneath that hard, psychotic exterior of his. After all, that softness has never once been directed toward him. You can’t exactly blame him for not figuring it out sooner; Kim Soleum doesn’t exactly make it an easy task. And yet, however callous he tries to spin himself to be, his touch has been warmth.

He knows he won’t ever fully understand the extent of Kim Soleum. But maybe, with this slightest crack in his shroud of secrecy, he’s hoping that heart could beat and bleed for him in full view. Even just for a moment.

Kim Soleum looks away after a long battle of fighting to get air into his lungs, face in an interesting shade between pale and blushing.

“Of course I have pr else I wouldn’t find your tears as dopamine fuel.”

Still playing him for a damn fool.

“Bullshit. Call me cute right now then.”

Silence fills the room, a palpable tension Baek Saheon can feel pressing down on him. A lot of things flicker though Kim Soleum’s face, way too fast for him to properly decipher until at last, the man’s voice cuts through the air.

“You’re cute, Baek Saheon.”

“I don’t think I’m hearing it pro—” The rest of Baek Saheon’s words shrivel up the moment Kim Soleum reaches his hands out to cup his cheeks.

“It took me a long time to realize I was being played like a fiddle by you. The realization did make me angry, but still I couldn’t bring myself to ignore the tears down your cheeks. What if your sorrow had been real?”

That night in the kitchen flashes through his mind. Kim Soleum’s wide eyed stare, the confusion, the fear, the understanding—

Ah, so that’s what it was.

Kim Soleum’s thumbs brush the tears away, his eyes softening by a fraction. His touch is so, so warm. Baek Saheon allows himself to lean into the touch, heart thumping like crazy inside his chest.

“The way you scrunch your nose is cute. Your little lines, the glimmer in your eyes when you think you’re getting away with fooling me. The tilt of your lips as you rattle off why I should make another deal with you. All of them are cute. But I think your determination to survive is what gets me the most. No one wants to live as badly as you and in a way, you intrigued me.”

The words hit him like a sledgehammer, punching the air out of his lungs. He doesn’t even get the chance to read too deep into that last sentence when Kim Soleum destroys whatever this weird, tender atmosphere they’re having with his next words.

“If it wasn't for your rotten personality, I would have probably called you cute in your face much sooner.”

Baek Saheon’s face explodes. Blood rushes to his brain so fast it makes him dizzy.

Rotten personality??? Who is the one who has a rotten personality now???

Kim Soleum smirks. Baek Saheon shouldn’t find that hot.

This man really dislikes him having the upper hand, huh???

“Assho—”

“Hmm?” Kim Soleum pinches his cheeks like he’s a mandu.

“…This is uncalled for, sir.”

“Why? You want me to call you cute.”

“I didn’t ask you to pinch my cheeks.”

“Why not? You’re making such a cute expression right now.”

Baek Saheon is taking back every single goodwill of the man in his head. This man is a psycho through and through.

…Maybe.

Baek Saheon lifts his hands up, clasping them right on top of Kim Soleum’s hands, effectively trapping him. He manages to catch the flash of panic in Kim Soleum’s eyes.

Okay, he’s getting better at reading him.

“This doesn’t mean I will stop doing my own things,” Baek Saheon announces triumphantly.

“Manipulating and tripping me into unfair deals?” Kim Soleum muses. “I’m still mad, just so you know. How are you going to make it up for me?”

“I’ll get you another bowl of jjigae from next door.”

It has been his favorite store after all.

Kim Soleum blinks and stares and stares and stares. Baek Saheon resists the urge to squirm.

“Okay.”

Kim Solem smiles in a way that poets will wax poetry about, soldiers swore their undying loyalty to, and kings to engage in a decade long war for. But because Baek Saheon is none of those things, he stands there stunned, looking very much like a fool.

Fuck. he's maybe more than slightly attracted toward the man now.

“I drain your money while you drain my items. Seems like a fair deal to me.”

…This punk is seriously testing his patience.

“I’m taking your tea leaves.”

“What, you fuc—” Kim Soleum gives him a look, the knife he’s holding glinting under the light. Baek Saheon swallows the rest of his insult to give him a saccharine smile. “It’s my tea leaves, sir. Why do you want that?”

“It smells good when you make it. Also, you haven’t paid me back for that last item I gave you.”

Baek Saheon almost drops the pot filled with boiling hot water. Kim Soleum stares at him in unconcealed amusement.

While nothing much changes to their spats, their apartment fills warmer. The TV blasts out the cheerful tune of the rotating children’s cartoon. The fridge is fully stocked, and once it’s starting to suspiciously look like college’s guys fridge, they’ll be off to get grocery. Soft clangs of pots and pans now fill up the kitchen, a tray full of cut veggies lays on the counter and a pre-packaged dough looms beside it.

“Fine. Here.”

Baek Saheon places the tea canister before him, grumbling about how this is the third time this week that Kim Soleum robs him of his things. He pretends he doesn’t hear it. It's an equivalent exchange.

Kim Soleum rubs his sore neck—Baek Saheon bites like a rabid dog—and tries to remember how many dried chrysanthemum flowers Baek Saheon usually puts in his tea. Two? Three? Three, it is then.

“No. You need a couple more of that.” Baek Saheon comments the moment Kim Soleum reaches for the kettle. Without waiting for his answer, he drops three more flowers into the teapot.

Kim Soleum blinks, but lets the man take over.

“Don't let it steep for too long unless you like a richer, more herbal flavor. Three to five minutes is enough.” Baek Saheon pours water in and Kim Soleum watches in muted awe as the flowers unfurl. The transparent teapot makes it so he's able to see golden color seeps into the water.

“You want some honey with that?”

“I never saw you use it.”

“…I like to taste its natural flower.”

“No honey for me as well then.”

Baek Saheon looks at him in a way Kim Soleum comes to interpret as ‘trying to figure out if he's pulling anything but wisely chooses to observe instead of making a big deal out of it’, which is rude. Kim Soleum never pulls anything if Baek Saheon doesn't pick a fight first.

The tea finishes steeping while Baek Saheon drops the veggies Kim Soleum cut into the simmering pot.

He takes a sip of the tea and hums in satisfaction. “It tastes as good as it smells. I’ll be stealing it more often.”

Baek Saheon merely sighs and doesn't even fight him knowing the futility of it. It's less of asking for permission and more of declaring his stake in things.

Kim Soleum takes another sip of the tea, watching Baek Saheon pulls at the dough before dropping it into the pot.

A year ago, he wouldn't have imagined standing in the kitchen, watching The Viper move about from one stove to another. He wouldn't have imagined spending even a minute being inside a room together. Back then, he would already be sweating buckets to not show even an ounce of weakness; a way to survive, a way to live because how is he supposed to get home if he doesn't?

But Baek Saheon is Baek Saheon and Viper is Viper. Kim Soleum could deal with Baek Saheon's flawed method in attempting to use him. No relationship under the sun is free of transaction. Dropping an item or two in exchange for cooked food and some very…enthusiastic sex in the bedroom has proven to be a better method in controlling the man.

Said man is staring at him with an eyebrow raised, no doubt wanting him to get his ass over to help.

Kim Soleum smiles into his tea.

Living like this….maybe it's not such a bad thing after all.