Chapter Text
"Sir? Sir? Excuse me, sir, is everything alright?"
Kim Soleum blinked at the sudden voice, and then froze. The man talking to him had a nametag pinned to a red button-up, with a black ribbon crossed under the collar where a tie would normally sit.
The uniform of the DER pop-up store…!
Was- was he finally back home?
"Ah, yes," Soleum manages to respond, and the employee nods, walking away and leaving Soleum alone to finally register the weight sitting in his arms. Hanging off of one arm, sliding towards the crook of his elbow, was the large bag filled to the brim with merch that he feels like he picked out and purchased a lifetime ago. Sitting between his hands was the surprise roulette 1st place prize merch box, and, resting innocently on top, a Daydream employee ID.
Around the store, everything seemed unchanged from when he left. In front of the roulette wheel, there was a long line of fans, each waiting their turn to spin. If Soleum focused, he could hear light cheers as participants received their prizes. To the side, he even spotted the same teens he'd walked past earlier, taking pictures and talking about him as they waited in front of him in the line to enter the store. All around the store, there was quiet chatter among fans as they browsed the merch and attractions.
A sudden BANG sounded from his left, and Soleum flinched, wildly looking around for the source of the noise, until his eyes landed on two giggling teenagers standing beside a display: a glass window with painted handprints.
Embarrassment begins to creep up along his back, heat ticking at the base of his neck. Calm down, Soleum thinks, as he pulls out his phone. The familiar weight and the curve of his fingers around the Memorial Popsocket brings him comfort.
He's home. He's really, truly, home. There's nothing to be scared of anymore.
Soleum's phone rings, and he jumps again, before sighing.
…he just has to get used to being home again, and then it'll be alright. Everything will go back to normal.
The contact on his phone flashes again, a soft reminder to pull his attention back to the glowing screen.
'Kim Haneum' glows the contact name, and Soleum picks up with a quick swipe.
"Hyung!~" says the voice on the other side of the phone. "You're off work today, right? How about you come over and help out?"
Soleum looks down again at the merch box, still resting innocuously in his arms, and makes a split-second decision. "Sure."
"I know you hate helping out at the bakery— wait, huh? Did you just agree?"
"Did you want me to say no?" Soleum can't help but tease, inwardly laughing as he imagines his younger brother's scrambled reply.
"Wait, hyung—!"
The texture of dough squishing under and between his fingers, accompanied by the comforting and everlasting scent of fresh bread that permeates the bakery's industrial kitchen, is just the right combination of sensations that will never fail to make Kim Soleum think of home.
"Are you sure you want to spend your vacation like this?" Kim Haneum asks, and Soleum nods.
He's aware it's uncharacteristic of him. He doesn't hate helping out at the bakery, but he does tend to avoid it, more often than not. The annoying customers always outweigh the benefits of never-ending fresh bread.
But, and Soleum reluctantly admits this privately to himself, he can't imagine sitting alone at home right now, with its lonely rooms and emptier hallways, the merch box sitting on his desk like a ticking bomb. Or sitting on edge in his office cubicle, looking over his shoulder at every sound, even if he knows he's not working at Daydream anymore.
So he called off work for a month.
In comparison to surviving life-or-death horror story situations, front-of-house duties become a lot less tiring. It was still his least favorite position in the bakery, but after having DER's vicious Viper as a roommate, running for his life in countless horror scenarios, and even working in the Disaster Management Bureau as a Daydream spy, talking to customers was hardly any difficulty at all.
…And, surely, one month would be enough time for things to get back to normal.
Outside the kitchen, a bell rings, indicating that a customer has entered, and a light wave of relief softly crashes over Soleum. Ever since returning, the sound has reminded him of the Bureau's cleansing bells.
Soleum looks to where his brother is elbow-deep in a vat of frosting mix, then down to the already well-folded ball of dough on the counter. He sighs.
"I'll greet them," he says, as he washes the remaining bits of flour off his hand, drying his hand on a tea towel as he exits the swinging 'Employees Only' door that separates the kitchen from the cashier.
"I'll be right behind you," Kim Haneum calls out as the door swings closed. Soleum doesn't think so, based on how much frosting was coating his arms, but it's fine. He can handle one customer on his own.
Soleum turns to face the customer, and the towel falls out of his hand, falling onto the floor with a light thump.
"Grapes-ie?" says the voice of DER named character, Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau Member Agent Choi.
Soleum turns around and goes back into the kitchen.
His brother blinks at him from where he's hunched over the sink, arms wet from the elbows down.
Soleum turns back out of the kitchen.
The customer — customers, there are 2 — is still there. Soleum's eyes slide down to his neck to see that unmistakable scar. It's actually Agent Choi, not a hallucination, and even worse, standing next to him, is Agent Bronze.
"Hello, how can I help you," Soleum manages, voice robotic.
"…Soleum-ssi, that… is that you?" comes from Agent Bronze, voice uncharacteristically uneasy, layered with the slightest twinge of earnest hope.
"What are you doing here?" Soleum says, instead of responding, and doesn't ask the question he really wants to ask. How are you here?
"What are we doing here? Solving a Disaster, of course, what else?" Agent Choi says, and Soleum feels his blood run cold. A Disaster, here at home? Not possible. But Soleum can't help but panic, unable to stop his mind from running through all the DER entries he's remembered reading involving bakeries, or bread, or cake, maybe a pastry? What if there's a new Darkness involving kitchens? Or one that can appear in a variety of locations, like Qterw-F-243, just because there wasn't an entry where it took place in a bakery, doesn't mean that it can't—
Soleum blinks. Agent Choi has been quiet for a while. Instead, his hand is waving in front of Soleum's face, and Agent Bronze looks on with unbridled concern. "…Sorry, Agent."
Agent Choi smiles again, looking entirely unconvinced. "Make sure to pay attention to this last bit, okay? After Bronze-ie and I used the colored shoelaces and ended up in the middle of the street instead of the waiting room, we just entered the nearest building to ask where we were." Agent Choi then turns the full force of his attention onto Soleum, and he can't help but meet that unblinking stare. "Now, Grapes-ie, answer this question honestly for your sunbae, hm? What are you doing here?"
"I work here, Agent."
Agent Choi's eyes fly down to his breast pocket. Soleum knows what he's looking at: a nametag that reads Kim Soleum, wobbly but stark in permanent marker. His nametag was the first made, back when his brother first opened the bakery; before they had machine-printed nametags and each name was still written in his younger brother's shaky hand.
"Eh? Did you quit Hyunmoo 1 to work at a bakery?"
"…Is this your home?" Agent Bronze says suddenly, voice a near whisper, and Soleum sighs. He supposes there's no getting out of this one.
"Haneum-ah! I'm taking a break," Soleum calls towards the kitchen, knocking quickly against the separating wall for good measure, then gesturing for the two agents to sit at a small table against the wall. Before he follows, he reaches into the electric-warmed glass cases of baked goods acting as the only barrier between Kim Soleum and facing two people he believed to have left behind forever, and pulls out a tray with two plates, one perfect pastry laid on top of each.
Soleum makes his way back around the counter to where the two agents are sitting. On Agent Choi's face is a well-hidden but expectant look, while Agent Bronze is looking at him with a not-so-hidden curiosity.
In front of Agent Choi, he places down a plate with one elegant slice of apple pie, crust perfectly crispy and golden brown, apple filling spilling out the edges. To Agent Bronze, he offers a fluffy blueberry strudel, flaky and light, cinnamon icing and puffs of powdered sugar generously dusting across the top. Both fresh, having only left the oven, and before that, Soleum's hands, just that morning.
The pastries are a futile, desperate, and embarrassingly obvious distraction, and Soleum knows it will only buy him the shortest of seconds. But it's enough time for him to collect his thoughts. Haneum will come out eventually, and Soleum has to explain to Agent Choi and Agent Bronze where they are before Haneum comes out, lest Soleum have to explain to his little brother the worst experiences of his life.
Soleum takes a deep breath, stilling his hands in his lap and fighting the urge to rub at the galaxy swirl stark against his pale wrist. It was something he had caught himself doing a few times throughout the day, since returning home. Each swipe where his finger met resistance, instead of sinking into an inventory, was one more confirmation that he was safe.
Then he opens his mouth.
"Welcome to my home, Agent Bronze, Agent Choi. A world without ghost stories."