Chapter Text
Kim Soleum is a normal office worker at Daydream Incorporated. Sure, he may have accidentally ended up at the company initiation despite never applying and became known as the famed top rookie of Team D, but the work isn’t difficult, he gets free housing and lunch, and his coworkers are great. Unfortunately, this company has no goddamn hazard pay or insurance, and he has the terrible luck of getting into situation after situation, costing him millions of won in damages for things that aren’t even his fault??
For example, due to a misunderstanding, his good friend Braun ended up trashing the office, demanding for Kim Soleum to come back to work for him (after he had officially quit, okay, he was unemployed when Daydream snatched him up). Nowadays, they’re on neutral terms, and Braun’s even featured their company on his livestreams as a goodwill token. So why is he the one paying for the repairs of the still-broken company TV at Team D’s office?
(He knows why. Braun had offered to cover the fee in exchange for a “favor” and Soleum wanted nothing to do with it.)
And thus, he is broke. After only six months at his cushy job, he was forced to get a second job on the weekends. He’s a sad, single man with no hobbies except reading ghost stories, so his workaholism is hurting no one but himself.
Luckily, he found a second job quite fast. He was wandering around on the weekend and came across a newly opened flower shop across the company dormitory. He had only been looking for a moment, debating on whether or not he should comment on the mediocre arrangements, when one of the workers rushed out of the store and urgently asked if he was looking to work there.
“Just on the weekends,” he said, too bewildered to lie.
“Great, you’re hired. I’ll be back as soon as possible,” the worker replied, all but pushing the keys into his hands and running off somewhere.
So now he was hired as a part-time worker at the, uh, aptly named “Flower Shop”. After getting over his surprise, he decided to just roll with it and began arranging the flowers on display properly. Because yes, he has done this before. Before he had worked for this flower shop, Daydream Inc., and for Braun’s company, he had once worked at the Golden Flower Shop at the Cheerful Theme Park. It was there that he learned the basics of floral arrangements, flower language, and how to manage a shop.
When the worker returned to the shop after two hours, he could barely hide his surprise that Soleum was actually there, which was honestly valid because Soleum couldn’t believe he actually stayed. After some quick arrangements, Soleum was officially employed and given a two-week advance for the trouble. The pay was better than he expected, and now he could live comfortably (by sacrificing his weekends, but it’s more than worth it for all the horror merch he could buy.)
And so, here he is on a Sunday morning, watering the seedlings of this quaint little flower shop. He feels awful due to having to work overtime yesterday and he suspects he’s coming down with the most awful cough known to man, so he’s glad this place gets less foot traffic than usual. They do make decent sales, and surprisingly, their most popular products are the seedlings, not the flowers. It’s a real shame, though, because Soleum’s very fond of those golden daffodils they have out front. Maybe he could ask his manager if he could take one home.
The bell at the door rings, and Soleum braces himself to assist another customer, but he freezes in his spot.
It’s Baek Saheon.
His coworker at Daydream Inc., and the person who despises him the most.
He turns off the hose and retreats behind the counter, mentally recalibrating his usual customer service attitude, but Baek Saheon calls out to him before he’s ready.
“Hey, you there. Can you make a bouquet?”
On instinct, Soleum nods, but inside he’s shaking. What if he tells the company? There’s a reason he used a codename when signing the employment contract!
“Can you make one that says ‘I’m better than you, fuck off and die’?”
…?
“Well?”
Kim Soleum nods again, deliberately hiding his face as he picks out a few flowers. Baek Saheon was crass with it, but they do have a few flowers with negative connotations. Red amaryllis for pride, orange lilies for hatred. For death… he goes for three white orchids; elegant but iconic funerary flowers. He hopes the poor recipient doesn’t recognize that.
He shows the selection to Baek Saheon, but he’s visibly not paying attention, so Soleum sucks it up and wraps the bouquet before retreating to the counter, pointing out the price on the cashier display. At his confusion, Soleum taps on the whiteboard next to him, the words “Sorry, I can’t really talk, but I can hear you just fine” written on it. It seems that for how awful he acts at work, he’s a decent person in public because he barely complains and pays the exact amount. Soleum’s fingers tremble as he hands the bouquet to his coworker, but the man barely gives him a second look and leaves the store as quickly as he entered.
Soleum sighs in relief. It seems that with the combination of his unstyled hair, glasses, and face mask have successfully hidden his real identity from Baek Saheon. Either that, or he’s just ridiculously face blind. No matter the reason, his job is safe… for now.
When he arrives the next morning, he’s surprised to see a commotion around their office. He gets a bad feeling when Assistant Manager Eun Haje walks up to him first, smirking the whole time.
“...Is something going on?” he asks, and she only smirks wider.
“You should see for yourself, Soleum-ie.”
She clears the way for him, and lo and behold, there’s something bright and colorful stuffed in his locker, which he’s never used before. Upon closer inspection…
It’s… the bouquet he made yesterday. At Baek Saheon’s request. And what was the message he wanted to send again? ‘I’m better than you, fuck off and die’?
“Oh, is this a secret admirer situation, Soleum?” Park Minseong asks, all too naive, and it takes everything in Soleum to hold back a sigh as he stares at the bouquet. He ends up taking it to his desk, not wanting the flowers, however harsh the message is, to wilt. His coworkers share amused glances, and their Section Chief ignores their cheeky remarks as he gives them the brief on today’s tasks. From the corner of his eye, the bright colors of the bouquet on his desk only serve to reproach him, and he kind of wants to punch Baek Saheon now.
What an asshole. If that’s how he wants to play, then he’ll play.