Work Text:
Climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing, climb-
I was climbing like mad up the long ladder of the vertical shaft with Baek Saheon and Jin Nasol ahead of me when it happened-
Click.
A door from below opened and sweet melodious music filtered up through the vertical passage.
Ah ah ah-- aaaaah~
Ho ho ho~ sobsob please- hohoho~
Ririririri Aughaahaha!
I blinked, my feet unconsciously moving in rhythm to the melody.
‘Actually, isn’t this pleasant?’
Before, the human-turned-instruments, had been played lopsidely, but coming together like this, the unstable parts smoothed out into a grand ensemble.
My head bobbed up and down as I continued climbing upward.
Whew.
I was relieved the music wasn’t affecting me terribly. I had the breadth of mind to even point out the individual melodies which actually formed a trio. I almost wished I was a music major to be able to further appreciate the harmony.
AAAAAH AAAH AAAAH AH SOMEONE PLEASE SAVE ME
See? The human oral structure really is efficient and unique.
Despite the instruments having been former humans, they really all were full of individual character, producing their own distinct pitch and pronunciation.
I clicked my tongue.
“You know, leaving ██’s language structure intact like this is rather unconventional, an excessively radical cultural experiment- but given the Purgatory Choir’s nature, it’s simply an element rooted in their own heritage.” I explained pleasantly to my fellow music-goers.
“What the fuck are you talking about?!” Baek Saheon swore from above, looking like he wanted to strangle my neck.
Did he really not get it?
“I mean, it makes sense, really-- purgatory is a place where you atone for your sins, after all.”
I could almost shed tears. Actually, the moving melody was already making me shed tears.
I hummed along, hoping to spread my appreciation of the melody to my companions. “Mmm,”
“Shut up!”
Above me, Baek Saheon staggered and swore.
I pouted. I mean, seriously, the acoustics and reverb were fantastic right now, why was he interrupting my listening experience?
“I’m hurt,” I said, raising a hand to my chest. “Is it because you don’t like my tastes? Should I just climb back down and listen a little more closely?”
“What did you say?!” Baek Saheon screamed, his eye shaking. Honestly, this guy was so high-strung all the time. If he listened to the music a bit more, his nerves would surely relax.
Anyways, it wouldn’t be so unpleasant in becoming an instrument, after all, it wasn’t a true death. I mean, even having your head cut off and served on a silver platter doesn’t kill you here.
I threw my head back. “Wouldn’t it be cool having your spine curving into a cool, stylish little arch?” I said innocently to Baek Saheon, blinking dolefully.
“Shut up! Shut up!”
More than anything….
Why me hhk why me hhk
Didn’t it just sound wonderful?!
Aaaah- aah aaaaaah- aah-ah aaaaah aaah- aaaaaah aah aaah ah- aaaah aah--
AAAAAH AAAH AH SOMEONE SAVE ME ho-oh-ho ho-ho-ho-ho ho-oh-oh ho hohohohooh
hhk--hhk-hhk hhk why me hhk hhk why me hhk ri-ri-ri--- ririirir- ri-rit-ri-ri-ri rit-ririri
Hoo-hoo-hooo-hoo-hoo hoo-hoo-hooo-hoo-hoo-hoo
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Beautiful!
“HAHAHAHAHA!” I laughed synchronously with Jin Nasol who had a more fantastic ear for music than my former roommate.
“Fuck!”
I locked eyes with Assistant Manager Jin Nasol and we bobbed our heads together, smiling pleasantly at each other.
Aigo~ I wish I had saved some more of those instrument-care pills. Surely just one pill was a bit lacking.
‘Hmm, well, let’s just make do with what we’ve got.’
And I could do it right now, too. Because…
“No, no…” My arms were shaking joyfully in barely constrained excitement.
“Fuck…” Baek Saheon was feverishly climbing back down toward me.
I’ve got alcohol in my backpack!
High-grade alcohol too! The kind that was good for instruments unlike nonsense like useless fruit flavoring or high-fructose corn syrup.
Grinning triumphantly, I hung onto the ladder loosely with my legs to use both of my hands to pry my backpack open.
“You crazy bastard!” Shut up, Baek Saheon and let me enjoy myself, okay?
A clear bottle of vodka came out of it. Humming happily, I opened it and brought it to my lips--
“Hey!”
Whack.
Such a shame! A perfectly good vodka bottle shattered in my hand and fell away below us.
“Whoa, I almost fell too~ hahaha!” I swayed.
Aww I was going to share some with the Assistant Manager, too!
“Please, just stop!” Baek Saheon pleaded, looming close by.
Ooh~ His face was just as soaked as mine was. Bastard, if he wanted Vodka as well, he could have just said so! No need to kick it out of my hands!
I watched liquor, tears, and blood running down my hand.
“Hmm.”
I could just put it straight like this.
“Just go.” Uwaa~ was that my voice?
I raised my trembling red-stained hand up and traced Baek Saheon’s face.
“...!”
I clung a hand tighter onto the ladder and carefully pried Baek Saheon’s lips open with my other hand.
Just a little further…
My fingers, dripping with alcohol, delved deeper in-
Ding-- dong
[An Announcement for all guests in attendance.]
[The Purgatory Choir’s impromptu performance parade will now take an intermission of ███ seconds before resuming.]
Baek Saheon took the opportunity to violently pry my hand out of his mouth. I frowned.
[During the intermission, we would like to take a moment to introduce a distinguished guest who has joined us today to grace this occasion. If you are currently listening to this announcement…]
My mind flashed back to Braun who liked his performative guest appearances. Aahh wouldn’t it be great to see my friend again?
I was tempted to climb down the ladder to see my friend despite the music having temporarily been stopped-
“Hey!!” Baek Saheon shouted in my ear.
Bastard, you kick me and now you speak so rudely to me?
“I said climb!”
I, I…
“I don’t want to!”
“...!”
“Looks like he’s still out of it.” Assistant Manager Jin Nasol, who had a suspiciously red hand-shaped print on her face, looked down at me. “Come on! Snap out of it!”
I tilted my head. Snap out of it? But my mood was so pleasant. None of that dour fear could reach me with my mood as high as it was. In fact, I was a bit sad that I couldn’t see the parade preceding down below. I mean, such an occurrence wasn’t recorded in any of the Darkness Exploration Records!
“We don’t have the time for this! Assistant Manager, help me pull Kim Soleum up!”
An arm grasped around my shoulders and I grunted as I was kicked.
“If you don’t start moving, you’re going to die.” A voice whispered in my ear venomously.
My fear was starting to come back and I started climbing again. If only that pleasant melody could start playing again, I could just forget!
“Leave me, leave me behind~!” I sing-songed.
“Fuck, why the hell would they block the escape route, what is this shit!”
We reached the end of the exit route, and both Assistant Manager Jin Nasol and Baek Saheon seemed to be struggling with entering the code for the exit.
Hahaha! What’s with all the struggle?
“Isn’t the answer obvious?”
Baek Saheon’s eyebrow twitched violently and he hauled me up. “You- Just spit it out if you know!”
Aww~ But teasing you is the fun part!
“Well, I recognize this exit route from the abandoned central systems room! I even rebooted it into safe mode! Whew… no one would’ve used this for who knows how long…”
“Just put in ‘0000!’” Baek Saheon screamed at Assistant Manager Jin Nasol.
“It’s done!”
The door above opened and I was hauled up.
To the outside.
Baek Saheon breathed heavily, slamming down the exit as soon as Kim Soleum was dragged out with such force, the whole door rattled.
Good. All those bastards down there could die.
He looked down at Kim Soleum, the only one who mattered in the end. The day laborer looked at the glowing blue sky with wonder.
Hah… you gave me a lot of stress back there, you know?
But they had escaped so everything should be fine now, right?
“...”
“...”
“...Hey, you’re actually sane now, right?” Baek Saheon asked, fighting to keep the tremor and exhaustion out of his voice.
Unease seeped in as the man tilted his head. His black eyes swirled with an unfathomable abyss, as if they couldn’t quite focus. “...Yeah.”
ShitShitShit!
“But…” The man tapped a bloodstained finger to his lip. The Section Chief watched it with a tense expression. “You really should have left me, you know?”
“What?” Jin Nasol, who was probably experiencing the extent of this guy’s suicidal tendencies for the first time, came up to them. At least she seemed sane.
But him… why did it have to be him?
The man named Kim Soleum smiled angelically. “The music, it’s really beautiful!”
‘Fuck! He’s still contaminated!”
…
Pulling Kim Soleum’s backpack away in case the idiot actually had another bottle of Vodka stowed away, Baek Saeheon took on the responsibility of cleaning off the blood and glass off of Kim Soleum.
“How high is your pain tolerance?” Baek Saheon muttered, plucking a few shards of glass out of Kim Soleum’s arm.
“It’s not bad~” His roommate playfully replied back, swaying with the waves around Jeju Island. “I’ve had worse!”
He giggled as if recalling a fond memory.
“Hold still!” Baek Saheon grunted.
“There was this big whooole grill! I had this knife and when I placed my arm on the grill, I had to cut the portions verrry carefully! Oh! But of course, it wouldn’t come right off- so I did it again- and again-”
“Shut up, you’re giving me a headache.” Jin Nasol glared at them. Baek Saheon wouldn’t admit it but he was silently mildly appreciative of the interruption.
“What a freak cutting your own arm off. Seeing as you’re whole, I bet you couldn’t do it so stop day dreaming.”
The man pursed his lips together, furrowing his brows. “But I did! I could show you too! I just need a Happiness Maker-!”
‘Shit!’ That reminded him that he had items including the Happiness Maker on him right now. ‘There’s no way I’m giving you that item so back off!’
“Let’s delay distributing the items until this guy gets back to his senses.”
Jin Nasol narrowed her eyes on him. ‘What? You want to argue?’
But in the end, she didn’t rebuke his decision. She must have come to the same conclusion as him that Kim Soleum would inevitably do something unpredictable if he came into contact with any of the items.
Once Kim Soleum was patched up, they left him on the black basalt beach. The man was kicking and splashing amongst the waves like a kid.
“Why couldn’t it be you who’s contaminated?” Baek Saheon fitfully glared at Jin Nasol. ‘Then I wouldn’t have to share my items with you.’
The former Assistant Manager crossed her arms. “The effects of the Choir are lasting longer than expected.”
Right, it should have been over by now. Jin Nasol came to her senses as soon as the Intermission occurred.
That guy…
An idea manifested.
“Could it be that Kim Soleum is more prone to contamination than others?”
“...!”
“I mean, it makes sense,” Baek Saheon was on a steam roll, growing fervent as if the missing pieces of a puzzle were clicking together. “In all the times I’ve seen him, I’ve never met anyone who’s been contaminated more times than him.”
Lord cat, Mermaid Grave, TV █████…
He had even been contaminated enough to land himself in the Security Team during his rookie days!
‘Fuck!’
“It can’t be permanent.” He couldn’t bring Kim Soleum to headquarters and he had no intention of getting involved with those Bureau bastards for decontamination.
“Let’s just ask him.”
“What?” Baek Saheon frowned.
Jin Nasol shrugged. “He’s coherent enough to talk. Maybe he’ll know more about his internal state than us if we ask.”
“...”
Baek Saheon looked at Kim Soleum who was playing amongst the waves.
No way was this bastard going to give them coherent answers when he looked more likely to catch a cold.
Actually, he looked like he was trying to float away among the waves.
“Fuck, let’s go retrieve him.”
…
Contrary to expectations, Kim Soleum actually had a reasonable explanation for his state.
“It’s like an earworm!”
“An earworm?”
“Yeah~” Kim Soleum bobbed his head up and down. “You know when there’s a catchy song and it gets stuck in your head?”
“So you’re saying that fucking terrible melody is looping in your head currently.”
“Mhmm. It goes like- Ho-”
““Shut up!”” Both Jin Nasol and Baek Saheon shouted.
Kim Soleum’s eyes wobbled as if they had deeply offended him. “Wha… Who are you to interrupt my listening experience!”
“You…”
“You?”
Despite himself, Baek Saheon flinched.
Kim Soleum continued without noticing. “You should have left me behind! You don’t even like me! Leave me behind like you did to that researcher!”
Stop being suicidal for one goddamn moment please.
Still…
“Hah, turns out that memory of yours ended up being your undoing. Not so impressive now, are you?”
Baek Saheon had it all figured out. Kim Soleum, the overdoing bastard he was, had unconsciously memorized the Choir’s contaminated melody, and like a record, it was playing in his head, keeping him contaminated even if no music was actually playing.
So obviously, they had to make Kim Soleum focus on something else other than the melody. Either by finding another catchy music piece or replacing the memory with a new one. There was also erasing the memory but- no way was that an option.
Kim Soleum smiled sunnily at him, as if praising him for a job well done. Which was kindof pleasant-
Slap!
Kim Soleum blinked at him as if he had slapped himself. Which he did but-
“...Let’s just eat.”
There was no way he was going to admit this contaminated version of Kim Soleum was actually cute-
Slap!
“Stop slapping yourself.” Jin Nasol said from behind him.
…
Wrangling Kim Soleum into a new set of clothes, Baek Saheon took the liberty of dragging the freed day laborer into a restaurant.
Which was absolutely a terrible mistake because--
“In the <<███>> ████, do you know the Chorus of Living Sacrifices! In ███ explorations, how beautiful- episode 111 ███ ███ purgatory of the ██████ hahahahaha! summerisburningIlikeapples!”
“Fuck!”
“Shut him up!”
Whack!
Kim Soleum slumped over in his seat having been knocked out by Jin Nasol.
“Hah…” Who knew this guy would start spouting contaminated nonsense once he had food in his stomach?
Don’t tell me he has other contaminated knowledge knocking around in his brain besides that melody…
Because the source of his ire was no longer awake, Baek Saheon irritably turned to Jin Nasol.
“Why’d you have to knock him around like that?”
“What? It’s not any worse than the kicks you gave him. At least I avoided his face.”
“...”
As if coming back to sobriety, Kim Soleum blinked his eyes open to a hotel room.
“Back to your senses?”
Baek Saheon asked, his arms crossed, his singular eye watching him intensely.
Kim Soleum smiled. “Yes, all thanks to you.”
And he meant it sincerely.
Baek Saheon turned his head away. “Good. I paid for your food and clothes with your cash so all you need to take is your items. You’re lucky I’m being fair. Your contamination caused me a headache, you know. You remember right?”
“I know. You saved me.” Kim Soleum actually could only recall vague pieces but he knew the Section Chief had done more than enough to help him get away from the Branch. “I wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for you.”
A not entirely unpleasant feeling ran down Baek Saheon’s spine. He coughed into his hand, fighting down a blush. He was not embarrassed, damn it!
“I’ll collect back the favor from you, remember it.”
“Of course. Anything for my savior.”
“...” Damn it, this guy said it so naturally.
He huffed. Well, at least he won’t have to deal with a contaminated Kim Soleum tonight. Actually, he was looking forward to a peaceful rest with him in the same room together.