Chapter Text
Unfair. The word swirled around his eyes before taking its place at the tip of his tongue. Sangwon had to physically swallow it down before he could hurl it at the man sitting in front of him, along with an array of other not-so-respectful things he wanted to say.
But he didn’t. Couldn’t. He was in no position to claim that his direct seniors were treating him like a living, breathing trashcan they could dump all of their problems in. Not when it had barely been three months since he started working at the company, at an entry level job at that.
So he listened. And listened. And listened.
Until he had been held responsible for each and every one of his department’s shortcomings. Until he had been handed a week’s worth of work to complete within two days. Until everyone on their floor could feel how utterly humiliated and insulted he felt as he walked towards his desk, head hung low to hide the tears threatening to fall down his cheek and shatter the mask of indifference he had been clinging on to ever since he first stepped foot inside the company.
One hour.
Just one more hour.
It's already Friday.
You've been through worse-
“Holding up well, newbie?”
Talk about things getting worse.
The unnervingly pleasant voice was accompanied by a hand on Sangwon's shoulder, grip steely enough to cause discomfort without coming off as hurtful. Kim Minyoung, their head of department, suddenly clouded his line of vision, sporting his signature, borderline threatening smile.
“Yes, sir.”
If there was one thing Sangwon had learned during his time as a corporate slave for a company that couldn't care less for its employees, it was how to put on a convincing act. Short answers and polite smiles that didn't reach his eyes had become the norm for office-worker Sangwon. Nothing that would warrant follow-up questions was expected from him. So, he followed the unwritten rules and kept to himself, completed his work and disappeared from everyone's sight before they could assign anything more to him.
Kim Minyoung, seemingly satisfied with the answer, just reminded Sangwon of a couple deadlines before walking away, probably checking off ‘fake concern for the new employee to maintain your reputation’ from his to-do list. Sangwon watched him head off until the elevator door closed behind him before returning to his own work. And, contrary to what Sangwon had wishfully hoped three months ago, it remained as uncooperative as it had been when when Sangwon wasn't on the verge of exploding.
Sangwon all but ran out of the building as soon as lunch break began. His mind was still replaying the incidents that had occurred over the previous hour, but his feet guided him exactly where he needed to be the most.
Yet again, he found himself sitting alone on the swing in the playground near his home. It had become his getaway spot during lunch breaks ever since he had begun working. The black-haired boy found inexplicable comfort in half-heartedly moving his legs back and forth on the swing after hours of being suffocated by overflowing workload. It made him feel alive again. So, it had become an everyday thing for him, which worked out in his favor because it wasn’t like he had any friends to talk to in his team anyway.
Usually, this routine was enough for Sangwon to crack a tiny smile and give him the strength to get on with the rest of the day. But even the joy radiating from the now empty playground couldn’t get his spirits back up this time.
It seemed as if he kept sinking deeper into his own misery the more he tried to swim his way up to the surface for a breath of fresh air. And to top it all off, he couldn’t get himself to share his condition with anyone. He didn’t want to seem like he was throwing a tantrum as soon as he stepped into the real world, so he refrained from telling his family much, at least not before he was sure he had settled into his first ever job. His friends, on the other hand, had all just started working as well and he knew firsthand how valuable every minute of free time would be to them. So he didn’t want to trouble them with his problems when he knew they must have too many of their own to deal with.
As he thought about his friends and family, Sangwon finally let the tears fall. He allowed himself to let out everything he hadn’t dared to even think of. About how much he missed them. About how much he missed the Sangwon that had existed with them, before he started working. Before he became unrecognizable even to himself.
He was sobbing by now. Loudly. Embarrassingly. And then he was laughing while crying because he probably looked so stupid- a young man in formal clothing, bawling his eyes out in a playground for children.
Suddenly, a tiny hand appeared by his side, sporting a handkerchief with several Pokémon characters designed over it.
“Did you fall? Does it hurt? Did Jihwan bully you too? Or was it someone else? My elder brother is a brown belt in karate, so he can punch them for you.”
Sangwon looks down, meeting the wide eyes of the owner of the handkerchief, a little girl who couldn’t be older than kindergarten age. She was wearing a lemon yellow dress with polka dots all over it. Her hair was tied in two pigtails, held together by rubber bands that matched her dress and the bracelet she had on.
When she saw the confusion in his expression, the girl leaned closer and whispered, “Take this. It will make all the pain go away. Don’t tell anyone, but this hanky has Pokémon powers. Nurse Joy and Chansey are in it, so it makes you healthy again.”
The kid wasted no more time and placed the apparently magical Pokémon handkerchief in Sangwon’s hands and looked up at him expectantly, as if she was sure he would feel better already. Sangwon concluded that he didn’t want to be rude to the child and didn’t really have anything better to do, so he dried his tears with it and placed the side with Nurse Joy on his arm, pretending to feel better after she healed his imaginary wound. He didn’t mind playing along after seeing the huge smile on his little savior's face when she thought the magic worked.
“Thank you so much. I’m all better thanks to you and Nurse Joy,” Sangwon said, not wanting to disappoint the little bundle of happiness standing in front of him.
“Chansey too. Everyone always forgets her but she works so hard,” the girl huffed, her hands moving to her hips and a pout forming on her face, giving him a look that suggested she had already had this conversation before.
“Oh! I’m so sorry, how could I forget Chansey? She’s the best,” Sangwon said with animated movements as a subconscious smile formed on his lips.
The little girl, seemingly satisfied with that answer, twirled on the spot and gave him a little bow as a response to his gratitude, accepting her magic hanky back, probably tucking it away for future supernatural remedies.
“I’m Lily,” said the girl as she extended her hand towards Sangwon for a handshake. He took her tiny hand in his and gently shook it, which evoked a giggle out of the younger one. “I’m six years old,” she added, holding up all of her fingers and gradually closing four of them.
“My brother says it’s rude to not introduce ourselves when we shake hands with a new person,” Lily added cheekily.
Sangwon let out a laugh. He absolutely adored kids.“My name is Lee Sangwon and I’m 23 years old. It’s a pleasure meeting you, Lily.”
Lily nodded her head in approval before her eyes went comically wide, one hand coming up to cover her mouth. She all but exclaimed, “You’re almost the same age as my brother! Can you please be friends with him? He really needs one so he can finally leave me alone.” With the way she beamed while saying that, one would think she was wishing him a happy birthday, not discussing her brother’s social life, or lack thereof.
As if on cue, a voice from behind Sangwon called out Lily’s name.
“Oppa, I’m here,” Lily yelled back, waving her arms all over excitedly. She started jumping up and down, clinging to the man when he reached her.
“Sorry Lils, I got a really important work call,” the man said, leaning down to Lily’s level. He was carrying a small school bag on his shoulder, also decorated with Pokémon characters. His black hair was a bit longer than Sangwon’s own, framing his face perfectly. The man, who Sangwon assumed to be Lily’s elder brother, hadn’t noticed Sangwon until Lily pointed out, “It’s okay, oppa. I was having so much fun with my new friend.”
At that, the guy raised his face and looked Sangwon straight in the eye, as if trying to intimidate him with his gaze. It would have worked had Sangwon not noticed that he had the same wide eyes as his sister. And the fact that he had an extremely handsome face. Objectively speaking, of course.
The guy turned to his sister and almost whispered, “Lily, you shouldn’t wander off like that. And you know the rule about not talking to strangers.” He spared Sangwon a not-very-kind glance as he said the word ‘stranger’.
Oh. So he must’ve thought Sangwon was some shady guy trying to kidnap his sister or something. Sangwon couldn’t blame him, really. He absolutely wouldn’t buy it if he was told that his younger sister was the one consoling a working man who had been crying on a playground swing.
But before Sangwon could think of something to say to Lily’s brother, Lily stepped in herself. “But he was hurt, oppa. It’s bad manners to not help someone when they’re hurt,” she explained.
Her brother’s expression softened a bit at that, and he asked, “Are you alright? Did something happen?”
“No, no. I’m fine, all thanks to your sister and her magic hanky,” Sangwon said, as he pointed at the handkerchief in Lily's hand with a small smile, hoping it would be enough for the brother to understand that he meant no harm.
Lily looked over at her brother, patting her shoulder proudly after managing to save yet another human being with her superpowers. Her brother seemed to understand the situation at that and looked at Sangwon apologetically. “I’m sorry if Lily was bothering you. I’m Lee Leo, her elder brother,” he said, standing up and extending his arm. Sangwon took it while standing up himself. “I’m Lee Sangwon. And your sister is very sweet. She really did help me feel better.”
And it was true. Sangwon had almost forgotten about how bad his day had been going after meeting Lily. He was more grateful to the cute little girl than she could ever realize. However, now that he was feeling exponentially better, his brain suddenly cleared up and he remembered that his lunch break must’ve been on the verge of ending.
Sure enough, he checked his watch and noted that he had exactly 7 minutes and 23 seconds to get back to work. Thankfully, his workplace was nearby. Sangwon was calculating just how fast he would have to run to reach there and somehow also have the time to eat at least a protein bar when Leo interrupted his trail of thoughts.
“You seem like you’re in a hurry. I can drop you off if you’re okay with that,” Leo said.
“It’s fine. My office isn’t far away,” Sangwon replied, not wanting to bother them anymore.
“It’s the least I can do after you’ve had to put up with this little devil,” Leo said, looking pointedly at Lily, who made a face at him but turned to Sangwon almost immediately. “Yes! We’ll drop Sangwon oppa! And Leo oppa will punch the bad person who bullied him,” she said, throwing the cutest punches Sangwon had ever seen into the air. He chose to ignore the fact that Lily had apparently already become comfortable enough around him to call him ‘oppa’ because it sounded so adorable when she said it.
Leo, meanwhile, looked horrified at the dramatic proposition of violence. He lightly flicked Lily’s forehead before saying, “No one is going to punch anyone, Lily. How did that thought even enter that mind of yours?”
Then, Leo simply took Lily’s hand and gestured towards Sangwon to hurry because he had apparently decided that they were dropping him off no matter what. Sangwon wasn’t in any position to argue because they were doing him a huge favor, so he hurried off after them and sat down in the backseat of Leo’s car along with Lily.
“It’s not much but I figured you might not have eaten anything on your break while Lily kept you busy, so you should eat this. I just picked them up from a bakery nearby, they’re supposed to be really good,” Leo said, rummaging through a tote bag and turning back from the driver’s seat to hand him and Lily a donut each and a lemonade to accompany it. Sangwon realized Leo must’ve bought the donut for himself and was just about to refuse when his stomach rumbled loudly because he had, indeed, not eaten anything the whole day.
Thankfully, Leo didn’t comment on it and just gave him a gentle smile before turning back and driving towards the location Sangwon had given him, though Sangwon was sure Lily stifled a laugh beside him before realising it was probably rude to make fun of him for it.
Sangwon scarfed down the donut and the drink with embarrassing speed. He didn't really have time to think about it though, because the drive didn’t even last five minutes and before he knew it, he was hurriedly saying his goodbyes and thanking the siblings who sported identical smiles while waving goodbye themselves.
As he got out of the car, he saw Leo approaching him from the corner of his eye. He took Sangwon’s now empty glass of lemonade into his hands and said, slowly, probably trying to not offend Sangwon, “I know it’s not really my place to interfere, but I hope you’re okay and Lily was just joking about the bullying thing. Do you, by any chance, need any kind of help?”
Sangwon did not know how to answer that, actually. He had half a mind to just start crying again and tell the stranger everything he had been feeling, simply because Leo was the first person who had asked. But, he decided not to do that for the sake of both of them. So, he straightened up a bit and tried to maintain his composure as he answered, “That’s really sweet of you, but I’m fine. I just had a rough day at work and Lily found me at the wrong time.”
He knew it wasn’t really convincing given that his eyes were probably still a bit bloodshot from crying, so he added, “But she did tell me about your karate skills, so you better be ready to beat someone up whenever I do need it.”
Leo let out a little laugh and let Sangwon head back to his work. With exactly 37 seconds to spare, Sangwon made it into his company building and punched in his ID, heaving a sigh of relief before settling into his seat. He was back to office worker Sangwon mode now, though it was difficult to do so after the most eventful lunch break he had had since he started his job.
It was easily noticeable that he wasn’t as miserable as he had been an hour or two ago. He even started humming a song he used to love as a kid while doing paperwork, which provoked a few judgmental glances from his co-workers, but Sangwon couldn’t find it in himself to care.
Because of two complete strangers, he was feeling better than he had in months. Unknowingly, they had rekindled a spark in him that Sangwon had no idea he had almost lost. As he completed his day’s work, Sangwon wished he would someday be able to repay their kindness and somehow get to meet them again, because they had helped him meet the old Sangwon once again, even if it was for a few minutes.