Work Text:
My seniors were acting very suspiciously. And by very suspiciously, I meant absolutely crazy suspiciously. It started about 8 days ago. I was just sitting at my desk in our waiting room, filling out some paperwork and writing reports, when suddenly something landed on my desk.
A crumpled piece of paper. The one who threw it was sitting innocently at his own desk, winking at me.
"..." I resisted the urge to massage my temples.
I eyed the paper warily before picking it up and smoothing it out in an attempt to read what was written on it.
𝑮𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒆𝒔-𝒊𝒆, 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒔?~
"..."
Woah. I really wanted to crumble it again and check on my aiming skills by throwing it at the trash can across the room. Naturally, I couldn't do it. It wouldn't fit the image I crafted for the bureau as an introverted agent, and I thought it would be unnecessarily rude, even if it might be a little bit tempting just to see Agent Choi's reaction.
Anyways.
So, resisting the urge to look the other dead in the eye and flatly say "no", I decided on the overwhelmed-hobae answer.
"Sunbae, I'm not sure what you mean by this," I said timidly, eyes darting left and right.
Agent Choi propped his hand on his chin, his eyes crinkling. "Just as written there. So, Soleum-ah, do you like them or not?"
'Why would he even ask that?'
My eyes narrowed slightly. There definitely was something fishy about the way he spoke, as if he was plotting something. It wasn't uncharacteristic for someone like him, but I wasn't sure what to make of it.
Maybe this was a test to see my association and interpretation skills.
'Let's just go with it, then.'
"I'm not sure? I don't hate them, but surprises often call supernatural disasters, right? So it really depends, I guess." Yes! That was the safe answer!
"..."
But why did Agent Choi look so unhappy with what I said? Wasn't this a test? Did I overthink?
'There has to be more to it..'
The agent in question leaned back in his chair, letting out a deep sigh.
"Our Grapes-ie.. always thinking about work." And then, as if mumbling to himself, "I need to tell the management to keep the schedules light; which senior let his junior get this overworked..."
I pretended not to hear it and just smiled politely before turning back to my monitor.
'Anyways..'
Knock knock
The door opened slightly, an agent whose name I didn't know putting his head through the gap. He briefly looked at me, nodding politely in acknowledgement before turning his attention to the other person in the room.
"Agent Choi, Agent Haegeum called for you. Please come with me."
The man in question tilted his head slightly before sliding out of his chair smoothly, standing up. "Alrighty."
Shooting me another grin, he joined the other agent and left the room.
My eyes followed them out, a feeling as if something out of place was nestling itself into my chest.
'Weird.'
It sounded important, but I was sure the Dark Exploration Records didn't mention something like this. So even though I mentally skimmed through several possibilities, I regrettably couldn't quite put a finger on it.
"..."
With that, I turned back to my computer screen to continue working, the strange feeling never really leaving me. I put today's incident aside with a mental note of it being a one-time occurrence.
☾·༺ :·༻·
In fact, it wasn't a one-time occurrence. Quite the contrary, it got even weirder.
That day, I was just walking towards the waiting room after coming back from lunch break when I heard voices talking enthusiastically coming from said room.
'Are they back already?'
Normally, Agent Bronze would be the first one to return, then me, and then Agent Choi, having gotten himself another cup of oversugared coffee.
- Once you reach my age, you'll understand; this sunbae needs his daily dose of sugar rush to keep awake through work.
- How old are you exactly, sunbae?
- Aigoo, you don't just go around asking people their ages. Jaekwan-ah, look how Grapes-ie has hurt this poor senior's feelings.
- You're the one who brought it up, agent.
The point was, the room should be silent right now, containing only one person, and I doubted Agent Bronze would hold a discussion with himself.
'Should I just eavesdrop?' Honestly, I was very curious for this not to happen normally. So maybe, even though I felt bad a little, just a few seconds surely wouldn't do any harm..
I tiptoed the rest of the distance to the door, my ear gently pressed against the surface of the door. The voices were a bit muffled, but it wasn't that big of a problem to understand.
"I told you we can't prevent him from walking in midway. How do you plan on going about this?"
"Maybe we ask another agent to keep watch?"
"And then? Wouldn't that be suspicious, making him want to enter even more and check out what's going on?" The voice of Agent Bronze sounded slightly irritated.
Footsteps, as if someone was pacing around the room in circles. "What if we assign him a disaster for that time?"
A short silence. "What if he takes too long to clear it?"
"..."
I had a peculiar feeling. Were they talking about me? It definitely sounded like it; who else would they discuss like this? Even more important, why would they want to throw me into a disaster just to prevent me from entering somewhere? If I didn't know it better, I would have thought my seniors were contaminated. It was utterly ridiculous.
"Ah. By the way, shouldn't he be back by now?"
Another brief silence.
"Just a sec."
Swoosh.
The door opened to the inside. I was barely able to catch myself from stumbling to the ground, having lost my balance from the sudden lack of surface to lean on.
"..."
Two pairs of eyes bore into me.
"Agent."
"Grapes-ie."
"..."
I was in trouble, wasn't I?
'Think, Kim Soleum, think!' I desperately racked my brain for something to say.
"U-uhm, I've only arrived here; I didn't want to interrupt you!"
Wow, really that? Is that all I could have come up with? It just screamed, "guilty!"
They seemed to share the sentiment, looking at each other, silently communicating through their eyes before turning back to me.
"It was just some report-related stuff, you don't have to think about it." Agent Choi donned his signature grin that somehow looked a bit on edge.
"Understood. I apologize."
Aye, sir, I won't pry further into that contamination-like state you two are in, thank you very much.
"Eyy, no need. Now c'mere, gonna need to prepare some team bonding for the next routine disaster checkup we'll enter this afternoon." As if to underline his words, he closed the distance between us and hooked his arm under mine and Agent Bronze's.
From the periphery of my eyes, I could see the latter frowning in slight distress.
I internally sighed, feeling a throbbing headache coming my way.
☾·༺ :·༻·
The thing is, sometimes the absence of something that should be there is even more worrisome. In this case, it was the fact that they stopped doing unpredictable things. No weird notes, no secret meetups. They just.. stopped. I didn't know whether to be concerned or relieved.
I wanted to desperately believe that they got a check-up and any possible contamination was stripped off of them and they just didn't bring it up anymore, but for obvious reasons I wasn't convinced. Perhaps I should ask?
"..."
'I already told them I would forget about it, so I can't actually do that, right?' A sigh of resignation left my body.
Lamenting my fate, I left the motel room I rented and made my way to the bureau building. It was chilly, a light breeze blowing through the trees and a few clouds covering the otherwise blue sky. A perfectly average September morning.
I pulled up the zipper of the bureau-issued jacket higher, not wanting to catch a cold. The subway wasn't too crowded, so I arrived at the building on time. I made my way through the corridors, opening doors here and there and finally arriving in the section where the Dispatch & Rescue unit waiting rooms were located.
"..."
'Wait.'
Something felt off.
Wasn't it.. just too quiet? Sure, it was morning, but normally there should be more people running around here, getting coffee or doing small talk to lift the mood.
Of course, there were the civil servants still doing exactly that, but I had the feeling it was less people than usual.
I took a mental note as I arrived at Hyunmoo 1's room door.
I thought I heard hushed murmuring from the inside. I looked at my phone: 8: 58 am. For a reason that sounded like an excuse, the agents told me to come in today at 9 instead of 7 like usual. Initially, I wanted to protest, but they didn't take a "no" for an answer.
Anyway.
I pulled the door handle, opening it with a soft screech.
'Huh?'
Pop
Something exploded in front of my eyes. An ocean of different colors.
Was that.. confetti?
Before I could react, something was strapped around my head, a weight no more than a paper, sitting comfortably on my head.
"..."
W-wait. This-
"Our youngest." I turned to the voice in a daze. A hand squeezed my shoulder.
"Happy birthday, Grapes-ie." A kind and warm laugh; the voice was incredibly gentle, like dipped in honey.
Before my brain could interpret this whole situation, another voice chimed in, a deeper one.
"Agent Grapes." This one was equally as soft and friendly, the tone pleasant to the ears. "From me as well, happy birthday."
"..."
'Ah.'
That was right, wasn't it? It should be that day today, even if I hadn't truly thought about it before, subconsciously putting it aside. An unnamed feeling rose to my chest. Somehow, I wanted to cry a little bit.
"Aigoo, too stunned to speak?" A scarred hand pulled on my cheeks like one would do to a child, snapping me out of my thoughts.
"Agent." My voice came out a bit hoarse. "This.." I was at a loss for words. Why would they.. so, was this what the note a few days ago was talking about..? But I never-
"You didn't expect your seniors to forget, right?" And after another heartbeat. "You never told us, but Jaekwan-ie and I figured out anyway." Still so gentle, that voice. He sounded a little proud, even.
The both of them each took one of my arms, pulling me more into the room and placing me on the couch. At the ceiling hung a colorful pennant banner, seemingly attached in a hurry. Some motifs that looked like poor attempts at drawing grapes were scribbled on it.
"Then, shall we sing a little birthday song?" Agent Choi seemed far too happy with this situation. I thought it wouldn't be too strange if he started bouncing up and down at any moment.
I glanced at Agent Bronze. His face said it all; he definitely did not want to sing, his lips pulled into a thin line. The contrast between the two was weirdly wholesome, endearing even. Not that I would ever say this to their faces.
"...fine." The man forced himself to say, clearly resigning himself to his fate.
A fleeting laugh escaped my lips. "No, it's okay, you don't have to." I looked at the both of them. "But I appreciate the thought, really." And after another heartbeat. "Thank you, truly."
There was a short silence. Just as I started pondering if what I had said was too awkward-
"Aw, I think this senior's heart is gonna burst from cuteness." Agent Choi lowered himself to my eye level and pinched my cheeks again.
'Really, what does this man have with my cheeks today?' I sighed internally.
Then he stood up straight again, made some gestures I couldn't quite interpret, and mumbled something unintelligible before stepping away and leaving the room. I looked after him with a questioning gaze.
Agent Bronze sat down beside me. "He's probably very happy right now." A light smile tugged at his lips. "It's been a while since we got to celebrate a birthday that isn't our own. Even more so for a team member."
'Ah.'
I thought that made sense. I glanced at the whiteboard in the corner of the room, lots of different handwriting present on it, all belonging to different agents that had once been part of Hyunmoo 1. A bittersweet feeling rose to my chest.
"I understand." I simply said, hoping it would convey the feelings I couldn't put into words.
"Thank you for having me."
A hum of agreement before a pleasant silence settled into the room. Rays of sun shone through the see-through curtains, dust gently floating in the air.
A door opened, footsteps closing in, then the clearing of a throat.
"Look at you two having the time of your life, all that without me." There was a playful pout in his tone.
Then he put something on the table that stood before the couch we were sitting on.
"Tada~"
"..."
'...strawberry cheesecake?' I blinked, staring at that far-too-diabetes-inducing-looking cake.
From somewhere, Agent Choi pulled out candles, smoothly putting them on the frosting before lighting them.
"Y'know, as a senior, I shouldn't promote such unhealthy eating habits in the morning, but we can make an exception today, alright?" He clasped his hands together, still looking far too happy for this occasion. It reminded me of the purity of childlike joy.
"Now, Grapes-ie, close your eyes and make a wish." Voice soft, eyes cast towards me with a gentle expression. His hand patted my head tenderly.
Agent Bronze squeezed my shoulder in reassurance.
"..."
You know.
I knew this was just a silly tradition, wishing before blowing out the candles in hopes the wish would come true. But somehow, this right now felt too important, like I shouldn't make a mindless wish. As if I had to seriously consider it, as if it could truly hold an impact, being meaningful.
'I shouldn't wish for something light-hearted.'
The thought just felt right. I pondered for a moment, watching the flame of the candles flickering delicately.
"Alright," I whispered.
Closing my eyes, I recited a sentence in my head, the wish my heart longed to be voiced. Surprisingly, it wasn't the same wish I would have asked the Wish Ticket to fulfil. This one was far more innocent yet meaningful for the moment. It made my chest flutter with warmth, the tenseness in my body easing away.
Then, with a smile, I blew out the candles.
☾·༺ :·༻·