Work Text:
There was a sound of metal clinking against a marble floor.
Kim Soleum woke up and found himself in a very dark room—oh wait, his eyes were just closed.
When he slowly opened his eyes, he realized that he was inside the lobby of his old workplace, Baekilmong Co. Instinctively, he knew that something felt off. But upon closer inspection—he found that nothing was actually out of place. Everything was exactly as he remembered. The planters near the entrance, the fluorescent lights above his head, the bright sunny scenery outside, and even the ambient noises seemed normal!
Except that all of the glass doors, windows, and emergency exits were..
Dirty.
It seemed like they hadn't been polished for weeks! There was even a layer of dust on the floor all around him and on the reception counter, and the plants were dry and wilted.
Oh, this just won't do. This place was not adequate for a special segment at all! This is not how a set should be maintained! The cameras will need to be turned off for now. The viewers can't see him in a place so dirty like this!
But Kim Soleum will handle this. He can make it work, somehow. He could film a stimulating segment of interviewing his old coworkers—or call in a crew to help with cleaning! Ideas for an intermission flashed through his mind in quick succession.
In his excitement, Kim Soleum failed to notice that the 'ambient noises' weren't coming from the outside world. They were coming from the people around him. People who, just like him, woke up because of the sounds of clinking metal.
In one gloomy corner of the lobby sat a huge porcelain doll. Kang Yihak, with her eyes turned to precious stones, observed the creatures around and kept throwing golden trinkets near their heads to wake them up. She hoped that some poor fool would fall for her bait, and every time they didnt—her body swayed back and forth with disappointment, akin to a gambler who lost half their life savings.
There were many people here, so surely someone would eventually perish for her. For now, they had started moving around.
Kim Soleum made himself busy by calling a very good friend of his, a sophisticated professional in this field, for advice and help.
[My friend is calling me!]
~
Agent Choi, clad in his supermarket's signature green apron, quickly got down to business. After seeing that there was no way out of this place, he concluded that everyone here is a potential customer! He quickly took out a stack of advertisement posters and gave half of them to his junior, Go Youngeun.
Her job was to use these posters to promote their supermarket and gain more sales. Quick to adapt, she started sticking the papers in an orderly manner along the walls—if 'orderly' meant 3 posters overlapping every two steps.
Eun Haje was witness to all this, and she was shocked. She didnt expect the capable rookie to act in such a way, following orders from someone who clearly looked like trouble. Eun Haje was right on Go Youngeun's heels, taking posters down as swiftly as they were being put up.
After all, vandalism of school property is absolutely unacceptable!
On the other side of the room, Section Chief Lee Jaheon sat down on the red sofa near the waiting area. The sunlight poured down on him as if its only purpose was to illuminate Lee Jaheon's face and make him glow even brighter than the white suit he was currently wearing. He sat with a bouquet of yellow flowers in his hands, facing the huge windows while looking outside.
The expression on his face seemed almost longing, but, upon closer inspection, it was actually just his neutral expression—nothing to long for here. It seemed like he was completely unbothered by the bloody axe that rested beside him. Ryu Jaekwan was still sleeping soundly on the couch, unaware of all the chaos around him.
That was until Agent Choi slapped two posters on both of his cheeks in order to let him know a very important piece of information. That Looky Mart was holding a special event, and dirty old raincoats like his could be exchanged for brand new ones! New ones—made out of premium stretched human skin, of course!
In a matter of seconds, leaflets were thrown into the air like confetti, and an axe had missed its mark by mere inches. Choi had procured even more posters from his apron, and he threw them all behind him like it was a smoke bomb.
However, his makeshift bomb didnt block anyone's vision—the only thing it blocked was Ryu Jaekwan's rationality and voice of reason. How dare he call his raincoat old and dirty!? And how would human skin even protect him from rain?! The coupons offering '10% off for your own funeral!' were mercilessly cut down by him.
He tripped over a couple of shiny objects on the ground, and immediately, his target had shifted from a weasel to a doll.
Littering public places like this is a hazard. It can be dangerous to the innocent people in this building.
The doll shook in fear, the action causing even more trinkets to be scattered around her. The axe-wielding killer was approaching fast, and she couldn't move from her place! She lurched violently in a fit, and with a "Thud!", she rolled over sideways, onto a clear path.
The 'clear path' was right over the sleeping body of Park Minseong.
The Axe-man jumped over his body and continued running behind the bowling pin-shaped doll, his steps full of purpose and killing intent.
Park Minseong opened his eyes and took in the scenery around him. The floor was covered in a very interesting selection of items.
He noticed Kim Soleum talking to someone nervously, and then a man with a huge build chasing another person with a bloody axe. There was also a quiet shadow in the corner with two glowing spots of yellow a few feet away. The air seemed to be a bit different there, somehow.
His coworker Eun Haje, with an absurd amount of posters in her hands, and the short-haired rookie were locked in a stalemate. Go Youngeun was pitching an item that could apparently cut through anything and everything, including illusions and the holographic noose around Eun Haje's neck.
After an astute observation, Park Minseong came to a conclusion. The children were fighting!
This cannot go on; this environment isn't appropriate for departing education. As a perfect teacher who follows the handbook, he needs to find a way to calm everyone down. What better way to do this than to grab everyone's attention with a short fairy tale about a red-cloaked girl!
Unfortunately, a teacher cannot notice and pay attention to every single student in their class.
So when half of the entire lobby was covered in a large, wolf-shaped silhouette with countless yellow eyes and maws, Park Minseong could not do anything about it.
The pressure shifted heavily toward one corner, the lights dimmed, and strange sounds could be heard. The scenery outside shifted from a sunlit road to a dark, gloomy forest with the branches of the trees scraping against the glass.
The wolf looked like it could engulf everyone in this room, porcelain or not. It was about to go on a rampage, but Kim Soleum had other things to worry about.
Or rather, other things to be happy about- like the announcement of a brand new show segment, made personally by his dear good friend.
Snap!
The room instantly quieted down at the sharp, crisp sound of fingers snapping.
Intermission was over.