Work Text:
Kang Yihak walks into Baekilmong's top-floor break room, and finds Jin Nasol.
She'd only been meaning to see if the break rooms upstairs, which were more often used by the Elite teams, happened to stock more expensive brands of instant coffee than the lower floors — and if so, start taking her breaks upstairs, because everything, even instant coffee, tastes better when it costs more. Instead, when she opened the door to the break room, her eyes snapped to where Jin Nasol was lounging on a love seat, legs crossed and eyes closed.
Spotting Jin Nasol, her words from the last Darkness they cleared together replayed in Kang Yihak's head:
"If you're lying, I'll give your personal info to the Bureau, then take out a long-term secured loan in your name on the way out."
"Go right ahead."
She hadn't ended up being detained, but… "Hey, Assistant Manager, I've been wondering…"
Jin Nasol cracks open an eye, then sighs, closing it again. "Speak."
"I was just curious, how much money do you make, anyway?"
Jin Nasol leans her head back. She crosses her arms over her chest and recites a number. The amount of zeros she lists makes Kang Yihak see stars, and she rushes over to sit at Jin Nasol's side.
"Completely unrelated follow-up question — Assistant Manager, have you ever considered the efficiency of getting married?" Jin Nasol doesn't say anything, which, coming from her, is basically agreement, so Kang Yihak barrels on. "Nowadays, there are a lot of tax benefits for being married, like filing taxes jointly, so if you marry me, you'll never need to waste time doing taxes again! I'll do it for the both of us! Oh, oh, and you'll be able to put me down as an emergency contact! Isn't it more efficient in an emergency to call someone already familiar with Baekilmong and Darkness?"
She stops to judge her reaction. Jin Nasol looks almost convinced, so maybe she'll give it one last push: "Getting married is suuuper easy too, I can quickly do all the paperwork by tonight and just need your signature!"
"I've heard enough." Jin Nasol holds up her palm, and Kang Yihak instantly snaps her mouth shut. She mentally waves goodbye to her ultimate dream: marrying someone both rich and attractive. Jin Nasol's eyes flutter open fully, just the slightest edge of irritation to them, and Kang Yihak prepares to leave the room as fast as possible until— "You've got yourself a wedding."
Kang Yihak grins. Three hours later, they're at the District office.
There wasn't a ceremony, which was fine. It would've been a waste of money in the long run, anyway. All Kang Yihak needed from this arrangement was the paperwork, signed and jointly filed after a day of work, legally entitling her to half of the financial assets of one gorgeous and filthy rich, Jin Nasol.
For Kang Yihak, — a woman who had only ever imagined her future weddings with one increasingly rich man after another, drawing hearts around high net worths the same way others made dream wedding Pinterest boards — marrying a rich woman, especially this early in life, was a vast upgrade from her original plans.
Her victory carried into the next day, Kang Yihak humming on her way to work with the joy of a woman who woke up much richer than she was the day before. She walked her usual path from the employee dorms to Baekilmong's corporate building with a skip in her step.
She stopped in front of her usual intersection when a dark-colored car rolled up, sleek and expensive. Kang Yihak had just begun to estimate its market value when the side window rolled down to reveal Jin Nasol in the driver's seat.
"Get in," Jin Nasol states flatly. Her dark, signature acrylic nails click impatiently against the rim of the perfect leather upholstery of the steering wheel. Kang Yihak tries not to stare too obviously at the designer sunglasses sitting on her head.
"No need, Assistant Manager! The building is right around the corner—"
Jin Nasol reaches up to her hairline, pulling off her sunglasses. Underneath, her bangs are perfectly neat and straight. She tilts her wrist, sunglasses still intertwined between her long, pale fingers, in Kang Yihak's direction. A ray of sunlight hits the sunglasses' folded frames, logo shining tantalizingly under the morning sun. Kang Yihak's eyes follow subconsciously.
"Come with me during your lunch break today, and these are yours," Jin Nasol snaps, pulling back her arm before Kang Yihak's fingers follow her eyes. "Wear them, sell them, trash them, I don't care. Just get in."
"Say no more!" Kang Yihak beams, and steps into the car.
Despite all of its supernatural dealings, at the end of the day, Baekilmong was no different from your average workplace setting, complete with employee group chats, sporadic smoke breaks, and office gossip.
So of course, by lunch, the entire company had heard that Kang Yihak and Jin Nasol had gotten married.
When questioned, Jin Nasol only answered, "She asked." Any further questioning would be met with the same expression that Jin Nasol made when she was deliberating whether or not to throw someone to the wolves, so no one tried to question her any further.
When questioned, Kang Yihak would smile brightly and say, "She has a great personality!" That was obviously a lie. Everyone knew that was obviously a lie. No one liked Jin Nasol's personality, except Director Ho and maybe, on a good day, Director Cheong. But then, Kang Yihak would adjust the sunglasses sitting atop her head, flashing the obviously expensive logo, and suddenly everyone could guess what she was referring to when she said 'personality.'
Neither would give a straight answer on the confirmation or denial of their marital status.
Until they came back from lunch together with matching rings.
Baek Saheon grits his teeth as he watches Kang Yihak and Jin Nasol enter the elevator together, reluctantly keeping his hand over the 'open door' button. 'I'm probably the first person in the office to be seeing their rings up close,' Baek Saheon realizes, as he catches a glimpse of the matching bands, but that thought only makes him angrier. 'Does that mean, in the Mermaid Grave, I was their bait from the very start?'
Kang Yihak, oblivious to his plight, looks at her ring giddily. 'How much has my net worth gone up in the past 24 hours?' she thinks, watching every inch of the 24-carat gold shine under the elevator's fluorescent lighting. Its centerpiece is an eye-catching, square-cut diamond, inlaid optimally to preserve as much of its value as possible.
And buying the ring itself… Kang Yihak had to admit, it was kind of romantic. When they got to the jeweler, there were rings already laid out on the counter, each to Kang Yihak's taste (read: expensive). She could've spent hours there, in the jewelry store, trying out increasingly expensive rings one after the other.
In the end, she settled on, of course, the ring most worth its weight in gold. After choosing the design, they were able to walk out, day of, with the rings on their hands, perfectly sized. Jin Nasol was able to figure out her ring size just from holding her hand, and called to report the sizes beforehand.
All in all, a near-perfect outing.
Kang Yihak finally deigns to look up from her hand, catching Baek Saheon's gaze, and frowns at his terse expression.
"Are you homophobic?" Kang Yihak asks, because it would be great if she could report him to HR and get a bonus.
Instead, Baek Saheon startles, then scowls. "No, what the hell, I'm literally gay."
"Single, then," Jin Nasol proposes, and he damningly doesn't respond. Kang Yihak cackles into the silence.
Kang Yihak picks up the Security Team transport case. Her ring clinks against the handle, and the sound makes something in Kang Yihak's chest curl in satisfaction.
The sound even echoes through the case, and inside, for the first time in a long while, an entity feels curious.
Against the walls of the case, a tap echoes, and Kang Yihak startles, putting the case back down. "Ah! Yes, Employee-nim? Is something wrong?"
They're supposed to already be en route to the Broadcasting Station, but the Man in the Screen doesn't seem to be a time-sensitive Darkness in which clearing it slowly would dock their pay. And Assistant Manager Dolphin seems fond of the Security Team Employee, so Kang Yihak's sure that she wouldn't mind if they were delayed a bit.
A stream of black smoke begins to flow steadily out through the checkerboard-grid bars of the transport case, and the two of them wait patiently as they twist into the shape of readable words. The characters are a little wobbly, but the message is unmistakable.
Question: Pony marital status?
"Ah… yes, this happened after you left," Assistant Manager Dolphin starts, but Kang Yihak jumps in soon after.
She grins, and through the bars of the cage, to the Security Team Employee, a memory sparks. Is that an expression he's seen before? It's familiar, of course, hazily reminiscent of a dark road lined with shops that only take nonhuman currency, but… it's not quite the same.
"Yes! Employee-nim, would you like to give me a wedding gift? I'll accept anything in solid gold!" The smoke wobbles a bit, and Kang Yihak laughs. "I'm only joking! We didn't hold a ceremony, but if we ever do, you'll be invited for sure! Make sure to prepare a gift for that day, and I'll accept that as your apology for the late congratulations!"
The dark smoke shifts again: Question: Identity of spouse?
At the follow-up question, Kang Yihak smiles impossibly wider. It's a grin tinged with a slight gloss of purity, like for once, aside from money, there was something else to smile over.
"You haven't heard yet? I guess even gossip struggles to make its way down to the Security Team offices. How about this, I'll tell you this for free, as a show of my goodwill!" Kang Yihak leans her head down towards the bars of the carrier, covering her mouth conspiratorially, though the actual volume of her voice is closer to a whisper-shout. "I married… Assistant Manager Jin Nasol!"
The sheer amount of delight that Kang Yihak feels saying that surprises even herself. But other than the financial gain, this is Kang Yihak's second favorite part of their arrangement. Kang Yihak has been disinterested in marriage for a long time, discounting the obvious financial gains. She's never cared as much as other people did about societal norms, paying minimal attention to any social contract that wasn't increasing her net worth. But something about being able to brag to other people about being married to an accomplished, successful, high-ranking, rich spouse? It's exactly the type of thing her parents would've wanted to hear from her, if she still went to family reunions.
It seems that, more than anything else, being married to Jin Nasol has made Kang Yihak feel like there is some tangible benefit to marriage, beyond a legal splitting of assets.
Agent Choi couldn't help but feel relieved at the identity of the Baekilmong employee in the Glass Prison. Each employee the Bureau interrogated reacted to the questioning differently: some were staunchly loyal to the company, others would react violently or lie creatively, conveniently getting around the mechanism of the Glass Prison.
Pony, in contrast, was easy to understand, and easy to convince. She was motivated by one thing: money. And that means they could get any information from her, with a 100% reliability guarantee, as long as he was willing to open his wallet.
In the grand scheme of things, Agent Choi was willing to do to get more information about what happened to Grapes, spending some money would be little more than a drop in the bucket.
"Of course, we need to test your information first," Agent Choi starts, thinking of a test question to throw out. It would be best to gain some more information about Baekilmong's Elite Employees too, and the last time he ran into the Pony Employee, she was with… "How about you tell us everything you know about the Butterfly Employee? Remember, if your intel is good, I can match the price~"
The Pony-masked employee giggles, suspiciously light considering her position. "Well~ The most personal detail I know about Assistant Manager Butterfly…" She leans in closer to the prison's glass walls. "Her cup size is—"
Ryu Jaekwan shuts off the mic connecting to the cell. Pony's laughs can still be heard through the wall. Agent Choi turns the mic back on.
"Aigoo, can you call that information equal to the deposit I gave you?"
At that, Pony cackles, a full, resounding, echoing laugh. "Apologies to the generous agent at the Bureau~ But the loss I would take from telling you too much about Assistant Manager Butterfly… I don't think you've even seen that many zeroes in your life."
It was odd, how defensive Pony was of the Butterfly Employee. But, selfishly, Choi couldn't bring himself to care to look into that too hard. There was only one thing that he really needed to know from her.
"How about an easier question, then, I'm sure it's easier to give out information about a fellow rookie as opposed to a Deputy, right~ So, do you know who Roe Deer is?"
And she delivered a response that left no room for Choi to care about the dealings of the Butterfly Employee.
If not for the massive salary and hazard pay, Kang Yihak would have most definitely quit Baekilmong by now. That's probably a thought that most, if not all, of her coworkers would've had at least once during their time there, but no other time does it ring truer than after narrowly clearing a particularly dangerous, unrewarding Darkness. Or, in today's case, finding oneself in the clutches of the Disaster Management Bureau.
It's because of said company benefits that Kang Yihak is at a bar down the street from the company building, getting drinks with her wife-maybe-girlfriend, supervisor from another squad, instead of turning in her resignation letter.
"Assistant Manager, what drink would you recommend? You'll buy a round of drinks for your junior, right?" Kang Yihak nags, already planning to try the most expensive alcohol of her life on someone else's dime. She follows Jin Nasol through the doors and conveniently doesn't mention the credit card she took out in Jin Nasol's name as emotional compensation after getting let out of the Glass Prison.
Jin Nasol doesn't say anything in response, but waves over a bartender. "Put everything she gets on my tab," Jin Nasol says as soon as they're seated, so flippantly that when the bartender asks Kang Yihak what she wants a second later, she almost forgets to order the most expensive drink on the menu.
It was almost strangely domestic, Kang Yihak thought as she ordered five expensive shots in quick succession, to have no favors pile up between them. They share a bank account after all; there's nothing to pay back.
Their drinks arrive, and Kang Yihak watches Jin Nasol pick up hers, a deep, midnight-purple seltzer in a champagne flute. Long, elegant fingers wrap around the stem, and Kang Yihak takes a shot to stop herself from staring. It's not very successful.
The purple lighting of the bar drapes over Jin Nasol almost ethereally, like a dark veil sitting over her hair and reflecting off her nails and, most eye-catchingly, on her ring finger, reflecting off a familiar, square-cut diamond. Jin Nasol catches her eye before Kang Yihak can turn away to pretend she wasn't looking, and smirks, swirling her half-emptied glass, and nods down at her shoulder.
Kang Yihak can't help but giggle, three shots in, as she lays her head on her shoulder to disrupt that untouchable image of a butterfly perched upon a single petal.
Two shots and two hours later, they're stumbling out of the bar. Or at least Kang Yihak is, her work heels in one hand and her other hand holding onto Jin Nasol's. (She can't figure out when that happened.) The way that Jin Nasol runs through Darkness even with heels like that is a supernatural phenomenon in and of itself.
"You might as well stay with me," Jin Nasol says, as Kang Yihak is about to make her way back to the company housing building. "And anyway, you own half the property, so you should at least see it."
Kang Yihak wasn't too drunk; after her initial shots, she didn't end up ordering anything else. Her stumbling came more from the fact that she had taken off her shoes. Jin Nasol had gotten a second glass of her drink, but didn't seem to be any drunker. And by the way she's holding her keys, Kang Yihak thinks that drink was nonalcoholic the whole time. But admittedly, Kang Yihak was curious to see what Jin Nasol's house looked like, and she certainly wasn't going to say 'no' to a chance to check up on her investment, so she obediently followed.
Kang Yihak climbs into Jin Nasol's now familiar car, sliding into the passenger seat. Originally, Kang Yihak had thought the coating was black, but after all the times she's seen it, she's starting to think the actual color is a deep purple.
"Hold on tight," Jin Nasol says, pulling out of the parking lot, and it isn't until then that Kang Yihak realizes this is the longest ride she's taken in her car.
"What do you mean, 'hold— ACK!'"
Jin Nasol drives like the road is on fire behind her and the speed limit is barely a suggestion. On Kang Yihak's right, the passenger window is rolled down, like it usually is. Unlike usual is the wind rushing against her face, cheeks reddening against the force.
It's absolutely exhilarating.
"Wash up in any of the bathrooms," Jin Nasol waves her hand down the hallway, as Kang Yihak stares wide-eyed into Jin Nasol's home. She's pretty sure the kitchen is larger than her entire company-issued room, including her roommate's side. And half of this… is also mine. "And you're free to use any of the bedrooms here tonight."
Kang Yihak startles at that. "Ah, Assistant Manager, I didn't happen to bring any clothes."
Jin Nasol raises an eyebrow, before pushing open the first door down the hallway they're currently standing in. "Fine. Pick something of mine. I'll even let you keep it, if you finish your paperwork quickly tomorrow."
The door opens to a sparsely decorated bedroom, but before she can look around too much, Jin Nasol leads her to the side and swings open another door, this time to a fully stocked walk-in closet. A light switch clicks, light bulbs around the room sparking to life, and Kang Yihak has to hold herself back from salivating at the thought of how much everything in that closet cost.
Along one side of the wall were hangers upon hangers full of formal wear, the fit matching what Kang Yihak recognized from Jin Nasol's normal office wear. Not the standard company-issue suit, no — suit upon suit custom-tailored for Jin Nasol, each made with the highest quality material and to her exact fit. Next to the suits were shelves upon shelves of designer shoes, bags, scarves, and any number of other accessories. To the side stood a vanity, countless bottles and products adorning a smooth, polished desk surface. Each brand seemed to be more expensive than the last. Under the desk sat a desk drawer, which Kang Yihak pulled open to see — jackpot! Rows upon rows of jewelry, ranging from gold to silver and with a rainbow array of different gemstone cuts. Kang Yihak reached for a particularly solid-looking bracelet, wondering how much jewelry was acceptable to wear to bed.
"You're still looking?"
Kang Yihak whirls around, and if she were anyone else, the sight she's met with would've led her to drop the bracelet. But Kang Yihak will always be herself, and so even the sight of her incredibly attractive superior in nothing but a thin silk slip, one strap sliding down her shoulder as her hand rests against her hip, is not enough to make her lose grip of the gold between her fingers.
It is, however, a close thing.
"Ah—! You change quickly, Assistant Manager!"
"You change too slowly," Jin Nasol parrots back, walking past Kang Yihak to pull out a dress near-identical to hers, near-sheer and flowy. "If you're worried about the price, this," she pushes the gown into Kang Yihak's arms, "is more expensive than everything else you've ever worn combined."
Kang Yihak beams. "Ah, you know me so well!"
"After you change, feel free to stay in any of the bedrooms," Jin Nasol waves her hand down the hallway, as she leads her into the connected bathroom.
"Which room happens to have the sheets with the highest thread count?"
The corner of her lips peeks up just a bit. "Mine, of course," Jin Nasol replies, and closes the door to the bathroom.
When Kang Yihak changes and reenters the bedroom, Jin Nasol is already sitting on the edge of her bed, removing her acrylic nails.
"So, Assistant Manager," Kang Yihak slides up, hands folded innocently behind her. Maybe this is a long shot, but, "If this junior wanted to sleep — just for one night! — on the bed with the highest thread count…"
Jin Nasol looks at her, and for a second, Kang Yihak is sure she's about to be denied.
(She should've known better. Jin Nasol has not denied her for a long, long while.)
Instead, Jin Nasol tugs her down, and Kang Yihak quickly pulls her arms back out from behind her back to catch herself before she face-plants straight into Nasol's chest.
A long, slender finger catches against her chin and forces her gaze. Have Jin Nasol's eyes always been that purple?
"You're asking to sleep in my bed, and you're still calling me 'Assistant Manager?'" Jin Nasol's voice is smooth, velvet deep, and just slightly sultry. "Try something different."
For her entire life, Kang Yihak has been told that she's shameless, and they're normally right. She's long since learned that life won't give you anything if you don't ask for it, and subsequently gotten over the embarrassment of asking for handouts.
…but wouldn't you also feel differently if you were asking something personal from an attractive woman?
"C-could I sleep with you tonight," Kang Yihak manages, face possibly redder than it's ever been in her entire life, "…Nasol-unnie?"
Jin Nasol's bed is as comfortable as Kang Yihak imagined it would be. She would've married Nasol, even if it only meant access to this bed for the rest of her life.
"Can you think of a better wedding gift than a government-funded honeymoon?~" The pony-masked employee sings, skipping through the dilapidated lobby of Sekwang City's Body Casino. Next to her, the butterfly-masked employee only hums.
Agent Haegeum generally trusts the judgement of the Bureau Agent known as Agent Grapes. She has made her fair share of bad calls throughout her long time at the Bureau, and she's fairly confident that trusting him, at least in this situation, is not one of them.
It's just, she's not sure if this pair fits the qualifications she asked for.
The supposedly greedy Pony has wrapped her arm around Butterfly's, pulling her over to where a crowd is watching a dealer starting a new game, instead of sitting to join the game, or trying a slot machine, or any other actions that she suspected to see from a money-crazed person. And for someone "utterly devoid of mercy," Butterfly seems visibly indulgent towards the employee still hanging at her side.
Still, it's too early to tell. Even the craziest of people at Baekilmong know how to play it safe when necessary; otherwise they would've died long ago.
Pony has started to point at the table, gesturing, and Agent Haegeum steps closer to the crowd as well to catch what she's saying.
"…so, no matter the game, playing against the dealer is a sure-fire way to lose! Even in Darkness, casinos are consistent like that!"
"I see. So, 'the house always wins,' refers to this."
"Yes, yes, it's impossible to make a profit without cheating!"
"What's your idea, then? Tamper with a slot machine? You can borrow my equipment to unscrew the panels," Butterfly says, pulling at her long acrylic nails.
Pony shakes her head. "No, the true money maker at casinos is the guests! They're already all addicted to gambling, so we just have to become the house!"
Butterfly blinks. Agent Haegeum blinks. Pony just turns around and taps the shoulder of the casino guest in front of her.
"Hey, hey~ you've been watching for a while, right? Which one of those players has been doing better?"
The man turns around with an unamused look, but tiredly answers her. "The one in the middle."
"Say~ are you confident about that? Because someone bet 50 coins that the one on the left was going to win, haha!"
A spark of light returns to the man's eyes, and Agent Haegeum suddenly understands what Pony meant when she called them all gambling addicts, because the next sentence from the man is the most excitement she's heard from anyone in Sekwang City. Including the Disasters.
"Go back and tell that man he's made a sucker's bet! And, while you're at it, put me down too, 50 for the middle player!"
"You got it, sir!" Pony giggles, taking the small stack of coins she was handed over, and winks over at Butterfly.
Then, she taps the shoulder of the next person over.
Agent Haegeum finds herself entranced, watching Pony collect coins over and over with nothing more than a casual smile and taunting words. It's because of this that she doesn't notice when Butterfly steps away, until a scream comes from the direction of the dealer's table.
At the sound, Agent Haegeum turns towards the table, pushing past lethargic gamblers. She's always had a commanding aura, and so the crowd parts for her until she gets a clear view of the table.
Butterfly holds a bloodied knife by the hilt. On the table is a splatter of blood, and a guest is holding a hand to his chest. A hole is punctured straight through his palm.
"Having cards up your sleeves is cheating," Butterfly says flatly, ignoring the man's rapid cursing and reaching straight into his sleeve and pulling out a single, worn playing card.
Pony bounces over from the edge of the crowd, money pouch significantly larger than when they entered. "Assistant Manager, you're so diligent! Stopping a guest who cheated, as expected of an Elite Team member, haha!"
Agent Haegeum kindly does not mention that not even an hour earlier, Butterfly was fully willing to pry open and sabotage a slot machine.
Another man pushes through the crowd, shoving past Agent Haegeum with his shoulder.
"M-move!" He says, heading straight towards where Pony and Butterfly are still standing by the dealer's table. "I'm feeling good luck for the next round, so if you're not going to play, then get lost!" His arms flail out to push them out of the way, and Agent Haegeum prepares for an intervention.
She needn't have bothered. Before she can even step forward, Butterfly has shoved the gambling addict onto the floor, one foot stepped up over his back. Agent Haegeum winces at the way Butterfly's stiletto heel digs into his spine.
"If who gets to play is determined by 'luck,' then useless trash in a position like yours should never get to play," Butterfly says coldly. The end of her still-bloody knife grazes the edge of the addict's neck.
A money-crazed pony-masked employee, and a cold, merciless butterfly-masked employee. One set of matching golden rings between them. Agent Haegeum lightly runs her thumb across her own ring finger, the ghost of another gold band still weighing against its base. A ring, after having witnessed the fall of countless Disasters previously, now sits in her waiting room at the Bureau, after its pair was lost with Haegeum's second half in Sekwang Technical High School.
Young love, and destroying a Disaster together. Yes, Agent Haegeum was right to trust Kim Soleum's judgement.