Chapter Text
I.
The cafe near campus was bustling as ever. Go Youngeun barely managed to weave through the crowd before finally spotting her friend in a corner booth.
Kim Soleum seemed to notice her at the same moment. He waved, ushering her over to the table.
“Ha—sorry I'm late! Traffic was brutal today,” Youngeun gasped as she slid into the seat.
“It’s fine,” Soleum replied, his gentle demeanor instantly contrasting the loud, chaotic crowd surrounding them. The noise was likely due to the shop's current promotional sale.
“We both actually arrived ten minutes earlier than we intended to, anyway.”
Youngeun found herself smiling. Her friend was always so incredibly calm, acting as though nothing in the world could ever faze him. Back when they first met, she used to wonder how someone so responsible and brilliant had ever ended up befriending her. Though over time, those insecurities had faded as she got to know him better.
In fact, one of the main reasons she had stopped doubting their friendship was laid out flat on the table between them: several character sheets, colorful stickers, and detailed manual printouts that anyone else would have mistaken for a serious university case study.
“You saw the latest update, right?" Soleum asked, his dark eyes finally lighting up. "I knew the author would do a Halloween special, but I didn't expect it to be this good.”
“Mhmm! I read it right before my morning class,” Youngeun admitted, leaning forward. “I had to bite my lip to keep from squealing when Agent Silver actually made it out alive at the end.”
“Exactly! I was about to bomb the test earlier if he had died. Oh, my poor agent…”
Kim Soleum was a massive nerd just like her.
As their department representative, Kim Soleum treated major subjects and department tasks like candy, even chasing extra credit on electives he was already passing with flying colors. Yet, he spent most of his free time buried in a fictional supernatural wiki filled with horror stories and intricate worldbuilding.
Some of their classmates actually thought he was psychotic, whispering that he was actively looking for ways to sabotage anyone else trying to get ahead during lectures. In reality, the grand scheme Kim Soleum was cooking up was just a new entry to post on the Darkness Exploration Records Wiki.
If anything, Youngeun believed she had seen Soleum work harder on creating compelling lore than on his actual coursework.
Geniuses really were something; choosing to pour all their brainpower into a niche hobby rather than the very degree that would make or break their career.
“I checked the wiki earlier and guess what?" Soleum said, leaning in. "Employee D finally made his comeback.”
“Woah, really?" Youngeun asked. "Hasn’t it been months since his last appearance?”
Employee D was Soleum’s absolute favorite character in the records. Originally meant to be a one-time gag, he had easily skyrocketed in popularity.
He even managed to surpass legacy characters like Butterfly—the Daydream employee whose entire selling point was her stereotypical cruelty—and Agent Choi, a beloved Bureau veteran whose tragic character death had previously broken the fandom.
And for that reason of being a Daydream employee, Youngeun honestly hadn't expected Soleum to get so attached to the character.
Soleum was Team Bureau all the way and openly detested the edgy nature of the evil pharmaceutical company. But here she was, witnessing her friend get completely giddy over one of the evil company’s powerhouses.
A subtle piece of lizard merch dangled from his bag, matching the one on his phone case, as Soleum enthusiastically showed her his detailed analysis of Employee D’s recent expedition.
“My boyfriend is truly the best,” Soleum sighed happily.
Ah. There was also this side of him.
It had given Youngeun serious whiplash the first time she witnessed it.
Kim Soleum was a die-hard fanboy.
Much like people who form intense parasocial relationships with real-life celebrities and idols, Soleum was showing concerning signs of a parasocial attachment to a character made entirely of text. But since this man was her friend and her ultimate ride-or-die in this hellish university, Youngeun was determined to be supportive.
To an extent.
“Hmm… but it looks like your boyfriend is up to his usual tricks, Sol," Youngeun teased, skimming his phone screen.
"He just bulldozed through an entire stone maze like it was nothing. You'd think the author would finally let him feel some actual pain for once.”
“But he is feeling pain," Soleum countered immediately, his tone shifting into serious mode.
"Look at this sentence in the third paragraph of the recount page. He doesn’t outwardly show emotion or weakness, but the author uses a metaphor here to show the toll it's taking. It highlights how much mental and physical strength he's burning through just to escape.”
“...Right.”
No one could outperform him when it came to this.
“I hope he comes home soon…," Soleum sighed, propping his chin on his hand. "It’s been ages since I last saw him.”
Youngeun tilted her head, taking a sip of the highly customized frappuccino: complete with matcha drizzle, pistachio, and two spoons of honey that Soleum had ordered for her beforehand.
In contrast, her friend's drink was a simple mocha smoothie, and he was currently staring so deeply into it you'd think he was mourning a loss.
“Don’t worry, Sol," Youngeun offered, trying to be comforting. "The holidays are coming up, so I’m sure the author will drop a special event soon.”
Soleum looked up, blinking.
“No, I mean—I hope my boyfriend actually comes home. Like here at Seoul.”
Right. Yes. Youngeun was well aware of this "boyfriend."
But considering the man in question was made of pixels and prose, the chances of her friend ever meeting him were completely non-existent unless you counted the off-chance of meeting his author at a convention.
“Yes, yes. I’m sure your completely real boyfriend will come to visit you soon,” Youngeun said gently, tapping her straw against her cup. “Now, weren’t you going to explain the lore of his recent expedition?”
And like magic, Soleum’s mood did a complete 180. His eyes lit up, and he proceeded to ramble her ear off for the next hour, dissecting every hidden metaphor and theories made by other fans.
As Youngeun sat back, nodding along while watching him passionately gesture over a character sheet, a firm resolve settled in her chest.
It was time to cure her friend of his supernatural wiki addiction before he lost his grip on reality completely.
Operation: Find Kim Soleum a real, breathing partner!
II.
Baek Saheon was tired of living life on the edge.
It was bad enough that he’d entirely forgotten to register for his electives during a twenty-two-hour Legends of League marathon. He had only managed to snag the last spot in a class required for his major after staying up the entire night frantically refreshing the registration portal.
He thought that desperate, sleepless survival act would be the worst of his problems.
But today was the day he realized his fate was truly, officially sealed.
Why? Because the psycho was in the exact same elective.
“Hey. Where’s your part?” the psycho asked pointedly. His sharp eyes flicked toward Saheon’s laptop, clearly doubting that Saheon was about to pull his own weight.
Saheon wanted to rip his hair out, but he forced himself to swallow the nasty remark threatening to spill past his teeth.
“I just sent the draft.”
Kim Soleum merely nodded, barely acknowledging that Saheon’s file had landed in their group chat only a few seconds prior, before turning back to type furiously on his own screen.
Kang Yihak, their third groupmate, who Saheon knew was heavier than he was, snickered from across the table.
She leaned back, tossing a stupid smirk Saheon’s way.
God knew how much effort it was taking to hold on to his patience.
“Got anything to say?”
“Well~ you know,”
Yihak drawled, raising her hand in front of him and rubbing her thumb and fingers together like some crook in an alley.
“You could always just pay me to do your share if you don't want to work.”
This bitch.
“And what? Submit garbage after wasting my money? No, thanks.”
“Garbage?!”
“Am I wrong?”
“At least I sent my part yesterday! Where was yours, huh?”
“In the group chat," Saheon countered smoothly, crossing his arms.
"Unless greed's made you completely blind, I'm not surprised you missed it."
Ugh. How long was this lunatic planning to pick a fight with him?
Yihak drew in a sharp breath, her mouth opening to fire back a nasty retort. But before she could speak, her bravado instantly vanished.
“Yihak,” Soleum said, his voice level and equally dry.
“I hope you were able to make progress on the thing I sent you earlier.”
And in an instant, the money crazy fool’s smug expression flattened into pure panic.
“Ah! Yes, yes. Of course, Soleum-ssi. I’ll, er, send it to you in a sec.”
From the corner of Saheon's eye, he caught a glimpse of her laptop screen.
The glowing, aggressively red Grammarly logo was spinning in a blank document, desperately trying to find text to check.
Heh. Looks like you haven't even started it.
And she had the absolute balls to try and extort money from him.
Soleum’s gaze shifted directly to him. The cold, lingering stare felt like ice water down his spine.
“You,” Soleum addressed him sharply. “I’ve sent back your file. Please review it.”
Saheon’s laptop chimed with a notification, and his chest tightened with pure frustration. He opened the document, bracing himself for whatever demonic notes were waiting for him.
It was a well-known fact across the department that Kim Soleum was infamous for ruthlessly dropping groupmates who slacked off or underperformed, and the bastard was infuriatingly efficient at sucking up to the professors to get away with it.
Staring at the screen, Saheon felt a headache coming on.
‘Crazy bastard. Might as well color the entire file red!’
Seriously, how could a twenty-year-old guy be this obsessed with hunching his back over academic files? Why wasn't he out enjoying his youth? It was insane. They weren't even Literature majors, for Christ's sake.
Yet somehow, the guy had a growing fan club. Yes, an actual fan club. With members, scheduled activities, and all that nonsense shit.
It baffled Saheon to his absolute core, because how could anybody actually like someone like him? They all fell for the gentle, polite mask Soleum wore around campus, oblivious to the cold, calculating freak underneath.
But Saheon was no fool.
He wasn't going to let his GPA become a casualty of the psycho's high standards. He was going to ace this project and ensure he never had to breathe the same air as this lunatic again, even if it meant begging a professor on his hands and knees next semester to avoid a repeat of this nightmare.
By the time they wrapped up, Saheon and Yihak had endured a painstakingly long lecture from Soleum about their lack of progress and a massive to-do list for tonight. Saheon wanted nothing more than to go home and rot in bed. He just needed this to end.
Ding.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
A barrage of notifications suddenly chimed. Soleum instantly stopped grilling Yihak, who had been completely spacing out anyway.
Curiosity getting the better of him, Saheon peeked over at Soleum’s phone. A very familiar, edgy forum layout was pulled up on the screen. Saheon bit his tongue to hold back a cruel smile. Jackpot. This was his chance to finally get the upper hand and expose this department golden boy as a massive loser!
Leaning forward, Saheon adopted a sickeningly sweet, innocent voice.
“Ah, Team Leader~ I didn't know you were into stuff like this.”
Soleum slowly lifted his gaze, blinking.
“...?”
“Ah, Team Leader~ I didn't know you were into stuff like this,” Saheon mocked, dripping with sarcasm.
“The whole... hidden anomalous entities and classified containment procedures thing. Ooh, 'a cave that houses blood-thirsty elves.' Man, that sounds so scary! Do you actually lose sleep over this stuff, Leader?”
How about that now!
Saheon inwardly smirked, waiting for Soleum to flush red and scramble to hide his phone in embarrassment.
Instead, the temperature at the table dropped ten degrees. Soleum didn't flinch. He just leveled Saheon with his signature, unblinking psycho stare.
Ding—
A new wiki notification lit up his screen, and the change in Soleum was instantaneous. Anyone with working eyes could see he had basically morphed into Satan right then and there.
“It is scary,” Soleum replied, his voice chillingly flat.
“The subcutaneous nesting habits of those entities bypass standard physical defenses entirely. If a recovery team doesn't use thermal containment, any cross-infection is completely irreversible.”
Saheon’s smug smirk instantly froze.
What the fuck?
Isn’t he just spewing random bullshit now…?
“The author's prose here perfectly captures the psychological horror of isolation,” Soleum continued smoothly, leaning in.
Fuck why was he getting closer!
“I'm glad you're interested, Saheon-ssi. I’ll send you the link to the deep-lore forum so you can read up on the cave's architectural layout before our next meeting.”
If Saheon wasn’t terrified before, he was now. Pray tell why this lunatic was lecturing him on fictional cave architecture with the hyper-fixated glare of a man high on pure adrenaline.
“Here, I’ll even refer you to my boyfriend’s—”
“You have a boyfriend, Soleum-ssi?!” Kang Yihak gasped, breaking her trance so fast the coins in her pockets literally jingled.
Saheon just rolled his eyes. As if anyone would actually date this freak.
“Well, yes,” Soleum replied smoothly.
Without a hint of shame, he flipped his phone over and slipped a small piece of plastic out of his clear phone case. It was a photocard.
Saheon stared, his brain short-circuiting.
The man printed on the glossy paper looked like a drop-dead gorgeous Greek god.
A broad-shouldered, incredibly hot, mature character who looked like he belonged in a gritty action thriller. Yet, this grown-ass, lethal-looking man was doing a textbook K-pop idol "flower pose" selca, framing his ridiculously handsome face between his hands against the brightest, most aggressively pastel-pink background known to mankind.
“Lee Jaheon,” Soleum introduced proudly, gazing at the card with soft, starry eyes. “Isn’t he just the cutest?”
The card flipped over.
‧₊˚❀༉‧₊˚.‧₊˚❀༉‧₊˚.
[Character Information]
Name: ███ ██████ (Employee D)
Occupation: Daydream Employee
(Field Exploration Team)
Mottos:
"A wall is only a challenge waiting to break."
"What will not be yielded with words will be yielded with effort."
"Endure. Advance. Overcome."
‧₊˚❀༉‧₊˚.‧₊˚❀༉‧₊˚.
…
“Guys?”
The silence that followed couldn’t get any damn heavier.
‘Oh,’ Saheon thought, head swelling from what he’d just heard. ‘So that’s what he is.’
‘Oh,’ Yihak thought, her greed forgotten. ‘So that’s what he is.’
For the first time in their lives, Baek Saheon and Kang Yihak were in complete, perfect synchronization. They didn't see a terrifying department dictator anymore. They didn't see a cold academic monster.
They saw a parasocial creepypasta fanboy.
And starting that exact day, both of them viewed their team leader in a different light.