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Soleum didnt expect his channel to blow up the way it did. He honestly hadn't expected anything from it when he'd started it—he'd opened it as an escape from his shitty corporate life, finding solace in the tiny community that filled up his chats when he played.
He was just glad for the company honestly.
However, as the people in his stream chats grew in numbers, so did the number of trolls and haters alike. Their messages ranged from low-level insults to biased critiques, but it was easy for Soleum to pay them no mind.
He was already accustomed to negativity, courtesy of troublesome clients and hard-to-please bosses over the years, so it didnt faze him as much as it should've.
Regardless, there was one particular user who stood out more than the others. One that almost religiously tuned in each stream, just to fill his comments and chats with his snarky, hateful remarks.
His viewers were practically begging him to do something about this persistent individual.
He knew that. He should've drawn the line and blocked him from the very first message, like he did the others, but there was something entertaining about his obsession with Soleum. It was almost endearing actually, once you looked past the expletives and insults.
(And soleum just could not be bothered...it was hard enough as it is, trying to slot in game runs amidst his busy life.)
That feeling did not last long.
One particular day, after a business deal went underway—one that had taken weeks and weeks of endless overtime, draining away at his mental and physical health—suddenly that feeling of endearment bubbled into absolute disgust and irritation.
Soleum, running on nothing but an unhealthy amount of caffeine, finally clicked the button that freed him from this person.
And so, that user was successfully blocked!
Now the only way for him to parade him with comments beyond his social media dms was if he made alternate accounts. Soleum would recognise him immediately if so.
But surprisingly...
He didn't.
For some reason, it felt ominous.
Like a wrong option pressed in a dating sim…
Soleum woke up to the smell of asphalt and dust.
Despite the aching pain shooting across his body, he attempted to get up.
But.
The weight of something unfamiliar held him down.
Hissing through his teeth, he looked over to the source of pain, only for his eyes to shoot open at the sight.
What..?
The gleam of a metal ring around his ankle, like that which you see in medieval movies, sparkled in the dim.
It was quite cold against his skin.
His eyes followed the length of the thick chain it was attached to, and found a spiky silver ball connected at the end. A shift of his ankle revealed that it was much heavier than it looked.
“Ah, you're awake.”
An unfamiliar man awoke from the shadows, bearing an eerie grin as a greeting.
…
…So he'd been kidnapped.
Soleum understood what this situation meant for him very quickly. Although he didn't yet understand why he was chosen specifically… the fact remained that he needed to get out of here. fast.
He wasn't planning on staying here for long, lest his diligent yet well-meaning boss decorate the city with missing posters.
Alright. He steadied himself.
He would need to choose his next words carefully.
Due to the contraption that sealed him down, his chances of getting out via brute force were low, so sweet-talking himself out of here might be his only bet.
“Um… sir…”
The man's head perked up from where he had been silently, yet very impatiently, standing in the dark.
As if waiting for him to speak.
"Where am I, exactly?"
"My basement, obviously," he replied, matter-of-factly.
Haah....Soleum could tell this wouldn't be easy. Regardless, he'd have to keep trying.
“Can you please tell me why you have me locked up in here?” he went on, with the same sweet tone he used with his senior colleagues.
Right now, getting on this man's nerves might not work out well for him, given how there was no way to properly gauge the level of threat he posed to him.
Soleum would need to study him further.
For now, he'd test the waters, observing what it took to stir the man up.
“Hmm…”
The man, with his hands behind his back, tilted his head gently to the side. He mulled over Soleum's words theatrically.
“Guess.” He ended, the corners of his lips pulling up.
The man looked expectant, a small glint in his eye.
This reply was, however, completely unprecedented for Kim Soleum.
What….? What's wrong with this guy?
Soleum gave himself a moment to think, barely recovering from that absurd request, and answered quickly.
“Because… you're 'obsessed' with me?”
It was a reasonable deduction.
Plausible even.
Sure, organ harvesting was a definite possibility, but Soleum's internal system was in no condition to warrant illegal harvestation.
No black market would take organs in such poor health.
Choosing him, a weary salary man over a healthy-bodied athlete or young student, when there was so much risk associated with the very act, seemed far too improbable in his eyes.
(and mind you, there was no one else around!! What else was he supposed to make of it??)
However, this bold proclamation seemed to have hit a nerve. Judging by how the man's face flushed red out of anger…
“What?!!” he shrieked, no trace of his earlier demeanor anymore.
“You're so full of yourself!!!”
Well, soleum thought it made sense…
Was it that absurd?
The man's lips formed a pout, and he huffed with indignation.
He paused briefly, as if thinking deeply, then spoke again. Even in the poorly lit basement, Soleum could make out traces of rouge coloring his cheeks.
“I.. its not because I like you or anything…”
Soleum didn't mention anything like that. What was this man saying.
“But!” he yelled suddenly, startling Soleum from where he watched him.
He was suddenly fired up, his fists clenching at his sides.
“How dare you block me!!!? You coward!!!!!”
????
Soleum was stunned speechless.
Absurd. That's it. This man was everything that word represented.
Soleum held himself back from biting a hole into his lips, and steeled himself to continue.
By this time, he'd already recognised who this person was meant to be. That persistent troll of a fan that filled up his stream chat, even going as far as to donate money just to get his attention, was standing right in front of him, likely holding the keys to the chains around his ankles.
He'd heard about obsessive fans and sasaengs, but this was insane! He wasn't even that popular!
Actually, it was upsetting to think that such a person looked like this.
At a glance, his captor was outlandishly handsome. Pretty even.
Enough that soleum thought it was a shame what he chose to do in his free time….
“Well?!”
Right, he was still talking.
Soleum had droned him out at some point, realising that he tended to repeat the same things. He neither shared the man's grievances nor his bizarre point of view. Really, if he were to summarise...he was simply justifying his actions from start to finish. From when he'd decided to rampage Soleum's chats with his criticism, to how he'd kidnapped Soleum as 'punishment'. What a talkative man....
He found that, despite the odd circumstances, this man's voice was annoyingly very nice-sounding. Ignoring his words and listening to the way it sounded was much more comforting for him in this situation.
He held back a sigh… and spoke up.
“Ah…”
“But sir….It was really getting a bit too much…”
The man looked at him with incredulous bewilderment. He got closer very quickly, sending soleums heart speeding a mile-a-minute, and crouched down so their eyes met.
“So what???” He pressed.
“You're a celebrity! You should be able to deal with at least this much!!”
Really… ? Do celebrities often get kidnapped and scolded like this?
If anything, Soleum was flattered this stranger thought him as such, but Grapes was not yet a common enough name on the internet for him to make such bold claims…
“I'm just a normal office worker who plays games online to blow off some steam. My viewers demanded it…so it had to be done.”
“I apologise if blocking you hurt your feelings.”
Soleum was certain this was the right approach.
Clearly, the man was upset at him, perhaps having formed some kind of pseudo-relationship with him in his mind, of whatever nature, and wanted an apology.
"..."
There was a silence that dragged on till the air seemed to stagnate. A look on his face that Soleum couldn't quite decipher.
Suddenly, the man quickly schooled his expression to something a little bit like construed anger.
“My feelings??? Just who do you think you are???”
???
That wasn't it either??
Soleum generally thought of himself as someone who always knew what the other wanted to hear, but this person was peculiar enough that he kept hitting the wrong mark.
What exactly was it that this man wanted?
Assurance? For soleum to console him? Tell him he wasn't wrong?
The way he acted reminded Soleum of those antsy, insecure girlfriends he'd overhear having fights with their boyfriends on the subway.
He wasn't the nosy type, mind you… He just happened to hear it.
Hah….
Just how was he going to get himself out of this mess?