Chapter Text
Eun Haje turned, eyeing him. He seemed anxious? He was firm, but he looked— well, worried.
“Haje, I'm worried about Roe.” Shit her too. Hah.
“It's about Baek Saheon… I don’t think it’s a good idea to leave Roe there with him, I know the Agents are there but—“ Minseong was starting to ramble.
“Yea I know I was just thinking of going over there to ask him. Do you wanna come with me?”
He was stunned for a moment before smiling, “Yea let’s go.”
“It’s not just Baek Saheon I’m worried about though… Do you think the Entity— The talkshow host, is keeping in contact with him somehow?” He spoke just before they could leave. “They seemed really friendly, like last time.” His face frowned when he said that.
“Honestly I swear that guy has no sense of self preservation.” She clenched her teeth. Eun Haje really missed her cigarettes…
Yea, Haje thought the same thing. That entity was too friendly and kept asking Roe about the talk show again. Not to mention Roe's obvious response, he seemed to be a little… lightheaded? She wasn’t sure how to describe it, maybe more dull? Not in the sense of personality, but thinking…thinking like his guard was down. Roe looked drained from when we first got here, but it seemed like his brain was working. Now it’s more like he’s calm… which what we’ve learned now is definitely…
‘It’s not normal for Roe to be this calm.’ She brought a hand up, a migraine of stress starting to form.
‘Did they do something to us? I'm feeling okay, tired but working but I can’t shake this feeling of something being… off with Roe.’
“Minseong, does it seem like your brain is fogged? Or maybe like… your thinking is slower?” Eun Haje turned to him, waiting for his answer.
He hesitated, thinking before speaking. “No, not really, especially with the contamination feeling…gone… just fatigued at most. Why are you feeling something’s wrong?”
“No it’s not me I’m worried about.” She turned back to Roe.
“Ah I see… you think he’s what? Not his normal self? He did seem more exhausted and tired but I assumed it was because of this situation.” He looked down, guilt written on his face.
“I don’t think we should bring it up yet, we should probably check base with S—Jaheon too.” She was about to say Supervisor out of habit, before correcting herself.
“If something's wrong with Roe, Supervisor would definitely know.”
This guy…
“Let’s just check up on him and make sure he doesn’t need anything okay?” She pulled his arm, waiting for him to come along.
“Okay let’s go.” They walked towards him, where Soleum was talking with Braun. Eugh…
[Roe I’ll be staying with the ██████ during your resting hours! Unfortunately I cannot stay with you.] he was talking as if he actually felt that.
‘What was that? Who or what… Why was it Tagged? She can’t deal with more right now…’ she sighed, and stored that information for another time.
“It’s fine Braun, I'll see you tomorrow." Roe sounded like he was trying to soothe the entity… she really needed to interrogate him during a proper break.
“Roe!” She grabbed his attention before he headed off, waving him over.
“Yes Falcon?” His stone cold face betrayed nothing, but with dishevelled clothing and hair, along with fatigue starting to affect his face, Soleum was just a little easier to read.
“Are you going to be okay with Baek Saheon? We know you guys aren’t exactly on good terms.”
Roe blinked, likely not expecting that. “Aha, thank you for your concern, but I have my own ways to deal with him.” A deplorable expression crossed his face for a moment.
“Let us know if you need help or anything… If needed, we can try to ask the entity? It seems quite tame.”
“No really it’s fine… but thank you .” He let out a little smile. Unbeknownst to Eun Haje, all he was thinking about was “Don’t do anything to piss off the entity.”
“Okay we’ll let us know okay? Really, what else are seniors for?” Minseong butted in with a cheeky smile.
“Thank you.” He bowed and walked off.
“Welp, let’s head to our rooms now! We can talk more with him later.” Eun Haje’s eyes blurred at the mention of a room. She planned to talk to the agents later on about Roe, but that’s later… right now she just needs to pass out on a nice comfy bed.
They walked into the rooms, and the first thing they saw when they walked in was Lee Jaheon. With pajamas. With lizard patterned pajamas. Eun Haje and Minseong stared in shock, how could he pull it off so well and still look handsome. She wished she had her phone so she could snap some pictures.
“Where’d you get those clothes, Supervisor?
“There is clothing to change into inside the restroom.” Supervisor Lee pointed to the bathroom.
“Thank you, I’ll go get changed, then it’s time for me to knock out.” Before she entered the bathroom, she noticed Jay already snuggled in his bed.
“You’re J3 right? How do you know Soleum?” Her hands fell down to her waits.
“He… He bought me… donuts.” Wow Soleum won his heart doing that.
“It’s nice to officially meet you, Minseong has told me a lot of things— good about you.” She gave the friendliest smile she could, which was just her everyday look.
“Ah… I.. Thank you…. I’m honoured…” it seemed he had a little trouble speaking, she’ll end this quickly, she didn’t wanna make him uncomfortable. She changed, but before going to sleep, wanted to talk to Jaheon.
“Supervisor.” She tapped him on the back, to which he turned around.
“Yes?” He stared.
“Do you think Roe is contaminated?”
“No.” Well then what the hell was up with him? Was Haje overthinking this? She sighed and asked,
“Then is there something else wrong with him?”
Supervisor went quiet for a moment, before responding.
“I am not sure.” ??? Supervisor Lee, not knowing something? What the hell was wrong with Roe.
“I see… thank you sir.” Eun Haje turned and headed for bed, staying up all night thinking about this situation.
--------------------
Soleum had just walked off after talking to Eun Haje…
‘Hah… how am I going to deal with Saheon.’
He had no idea what to do with him, honestly, just wanting to get some sleep…
‘And what was with her asking if I was alright?’
Is he acting off? Why are they worrying about him? It’s probably because he's exhausted, tonight would be a good opportunity to get some sleep.
Walking toward his room, he noticed Agent Choi waiting for him by the exit.
“Soleum-ah? Are you done talking? There's showers and rooms for us.” He was smiling, he had recently changed into pajamas, with a white tank top—still with his jacket—and some blue Adam Sandler shorts.
“Hmm.”
He signaled for Soleum to follow him into the room, not before sneaking a hand on his lower back.
“Our rooms are labeled by the little animals at the top, guess which ones yours?” He grinned at his own comment.
Soleum walked in, before the dread settled into his bones.
There were, in fact, rooms. However, they were not separated.
Why was he with Baek Saheon??? Please let him die already. Whywhywhywhywhy does this misfortune only happen to him.
His eyes twitched a little. Not the only psychopath (Seonghae was a sociopath,) having to end up with Soleum.
Baek Saheon had a little goat symbol above his, Soleum’s beside it, with a Roe deer. The two Agents were togethe…Agent Choi with a tiger? Hm.. He couldent— Maybe because of his contract with the spirit? And Agent Bronze… a grizz— no, brown bear? Maybe because of his domineering yet protecting presence?
Thankfully right now Baek Saheon was showering elsewhere, as no one was in the room anywhere.
“Thank you Agent…” he mumbled out, he strayed away from looking into his eyes.
Agent Choi stood there for a moment.
“You should probably go shower,” an awkward laugh followed. “It’ll warm you up okay Soleum-ah?” Agent Choi slowly dragged him towards the bathroom.
He threw him in and closed the door. “Have a good clean okayyy…?” He stood there expectantly.
“Ok…” Soleum might’ve just passed out right then and there from how fatigued his body was. There was a garbage can, which he threw the wet and withered lollipop stick into.
He slid off his clothes, folded them, and hopped in the shower. The tiles were cold, and the shower was cramped, but it wasn’t rusty or dirty. He checked the bottles of soaps, Soleum didn’t do much with hair, just the basics like shampoo and a little conditioner.
With that, he turned the handle, and the hot water hit him like acid. ‘Agh..! Ehhh.’ Turning it to the cold side, the burns quickly subsided, the relief brief before it almost froze his limbs off. After switching between boiling alive and being on the verge of hypothermia, he finally picked an okay temperature. More on the hot side, enough to warm him up, but cold enough not to burn when the water touched. Seriously…
--------------------
After he had forced Soleum into the bathroom, he went to sit down with Bronzie, who was on his bed.
“Bronze-ah, I've written down some stuff, yah?” He sat down and pulled out the notebook from his jacket pocket.
Waving it around, he had a devilish grin, “I think I got a little bit of information.” Bronze sat up, leaning in.
“So there's Abyss transfer, which we now have the guide to how it works. Not sure how we can get rid of it for good, but it’s a start.” He opened up to the other pages he would ramble about. “They also identify Disasters with numbers, the code for Abyss Transpo being Qterw-D-16. It’s used for Orientation as well.” He made sure to get all the information down, quickly writing it down before it disappeared.
As he kept rambling on, he obviously brought up the lure of Daydream; The wish potion.
“Based on what that entity said, that “Talkshow Host.” It seems like the Wish ticket might be plausible, as if someone had used it, but…” Bronze tensed. Did Choi have to tell him that someone, possibly their junior, had received the ticket? It was Important, but Bronzie would probably just worry…
“But either way, the Wish ticket is not to be trusted, there are still too many variables about it, we don’t have any official confirmation.” Agent Choi stopped, and looked towards Bronzie for his opinion.
“I agree, whether or not it is valid, it should not be used.” Bronzie was always firm with his beliefs.
Choi decided to change the subject to Soleum, "We’ve learned a lot about our Soleum-ah, but there is still some stuff we haven’t seen. Like how he met that entity, or how even ended up at the Bureau.”
“Agent Choi, how did you come into contact with Kim Soleum during his time at Daydream? You said earlier you’d tell me when we had more time? I think we have a lot of time now for this.” He forgot about this, rolling up his sleeves, he was about to explain when…
As Agent Choi did that, he forgot what he had found earlier, because Bronzie suddenly blanked, and stood up.
Fuck.
Choi pulled his sleeve down, trying to cover it up, not before his junior saw it. Jaekwon's eyes widened. He got up and gripped fiercely onto Choi's arms, directly onto the “burn.”
“!Eugh.” Shut up Bronze-ah’s hand trembled when he heard that, and quickly let go. “Agent Choi? Where did you get that? What happened, was it before we got here?” He tried to come closer to Choi, before being pushed away.
“Bronzie it’s fine, stop trying to change the subject, I’ll tell you what you wanted to hear okay?” He backed up, and tied his sleeve.
“Besides, it’s not much, it was something from beforehand, just a burn from trying to boil some water… okay?” Agent Choi tried to play it off, but guessing by his juniors expression, he wasn’t very convincing.
“Agent, don’t—“ He was about to grab him again when…
The door to the bathroom suddenly opened, and their new roomie Baek Saheon, walked out. Or at least tried to, stumbling a little on his feet, he leaned on the door for support. A towel was slumped around his waist, water glistening on his body. He seemed to be on the underweight side, but he was still refined. His shoulders were a little bit slumped.
His curls were… curling? They looked well done. And his eyepatch was already on, even before changing.
He looked something akin to intrigued, before putting on an irritating mask. “Am I interrupting? I’ll be heading to sleep now, excuse me.” And walked right off, asshole.
“…”
“…”
“Let’s pick up this conversation tomorrow okay Bronzie?”
“Agent I'm not going to let you ignore this, we can’t just brush this off—“
“Agent Bronze. I am fine,” his voice was stern, trying to communicate his stubbornness on this. “We don’t need to make this a big deal, and like I said earlier, these burns were from before the Disaster. I burned myself trying to make some noodles. Now, please, let’s get some sleep.” Ripping his arm out of his grip once again, and headed to bed. He turned away from Bronze and covered himself with the blanket.
Something flickered in his eyes too fast for Choi to see, but he didn’t really want to know what it was. Unless he wanted his determination for this conversation to end waver.
“Agent Choi, I know those weren’t from before,” He winced a little on the inside. “Those burns couldn't be achieved from a simple water burn, it looked like it was.” He clenched his jaw. “.
“M...” the word whispered out, barely audible, Bronzie's voice starting to sound angry, words gritting through his teeth.
“I cannot do anything right now to heal them, and I understand you can’t either, but If I find out this is a sign of contamination, I will inform Agent Grapes and the rest of them. You could contaminate others, and not only you but others could get contaminated.” His voice was uncompromising, however there was still that soft sternness tinted in his voice.
“…”
“…”
“…I’ll see what I can do.”
“..Goodnight Agent Choi.”
“Night…” It was sad to see that the Darkness had better bedding than he did. Now he just needed to figure out what these “burn” marks were.
Choi sighed and closed his eyes, hoping for something resembling sleep.
--------------------
What the fuck was that!! Baek Saheon had asked to use their shower so that Soleum could have his own, he didn’t expect to run into this bullshit! He had just gotten out of the shower when he heard the two other Agents speaking, it was about… Soleum! It was about Soleum!
He tried listening through the door, but because of the water on his feet and floor, he stumbled a little towards the door, interrupting them. Ah. great. Now look what happened.
Saheon held onto the door to keep himself standing, trying to gain back his composure and make it look like it totally wasn't because he slipped.
“Am I interrupting? I’ll be heading to sleep now, excuse me.”
And walked off, his ass did not need to get more involved with stuff. He walked off into his room, where unfortunately his roommate wasn't back in yet.
The only beds there were… bunk beds.
‘The universe simply hates me.’ Saheon really had it up to here with bullshit caused by Soleum. He’d have to take the top bunk, knowing there was a good chance of getting murdered in his sleep if he took the bottom bunk.
Saheon got into bed and attempted to sleep, however, not even 15 minutes later, the devil appeared.
Thankfully, it was pitch dark, so he couldn't see him peeking.
Right now, Soleum was just staring into his bed. Fucking weirdo…
He stared a bit longer before walking out of the room.
Sorry?
Where… where the hell was this bastard going?
‘What the fuck…’
After waiting for a few minutes and internally debating whether it was worth keeping his limbs, he decided today would be a good day to lose another eye at the hands of Soleum.
He climbed down, and as discretely as possible, followed Soleum.
What he saw… was honestly something he was quite used to.
It was Soleum, with that pink plush, watching cartoons while sitting on the couch. He was huddling the pillow, the pink plush cuddled in the other hand. It was… quite nostalgic. And frankly disturbing.
It really wasn’t just to scare the hell out of Saheon?
With his ruffled hair and unkempt appearance, he seemed quite pathetic, his pajamas clingy loosely to him.
Saheon stayed for a moment, his eyes drawn to Soleum.
‘Hah.. I have no need to pity this psycho, he can go crazy for all I care.’ He rolled his eyes, a feeling bubbling up at the sight of Soleum. It was disgust.
Deciding to ignore that and instead do something more important.
Saheon was gonna go explore this area. Nobody was up, beside Soleum who was wrapped up in his. It would be the perfect time to check out this place, see if there were any items.
Saheon left the “reaction” room, noticing there were much more rooms and doors than what they had seen before.
He walked, not finding much. It was just pitch black rooms.
He finally entered, which led to a maze of other doors frames. Not doors, just door frames.
“Hah..” There were dozens of different paths, all floating in different areas, orbiting aimlessly inside the room. It seemed like the Darkness didn’t keep track when it wasn’t during the reading. The Frames were each filled with a scene, though he couldn't see it clearly, like it was blurred.
Saheon weaved his way around the doors, making sure not to make contact with any of the doors. Before long, he stumbled upon a door that had Saheon in it. Multiple doors, in fact. Multiple doors full of Saheon, all of things he’d seen before. The day he applied to Daydream, when he was roomed with Soleum. A memory of the first year he returned to JISAN village after his escape… a memory of his sister… right when they…. When she killed herself.
When he had to watch.
‘…’
Saheon left before he could dwell on that any further. He kept looking for new memories, seeing if there was anything useful information he could gain. Maybe something from Soleum’s memory? Though it only seemed to show Saheon’s, it seemed like other memories besides his were off limits. He had to keep looking for something. And something he found.
It was a pitch black door, not blurred. Just an endless void of black.
He inched closer, but still kept a small distance, though that didn’t matter.
The door wanted him anyway.
The door started to pull him in, just straight brute force. Attempting to resist, his hands grasping tightly onto the edges of the frame, but to no avail. Shit! It started to whisper things to try and get him to come.
“Saheon-ssi… don’t you want to become part of us.” It whispered.
“Saheon… we’ll help you… please, create new memories with us.” It laughed.
“Your unnie’s waiting for you.” …
“I’m waiting for you, Saheon-ah…”
It whispered things in her voice. It was irritating. A tear unwillingly slipped down his cheek. The hands clawing so desperately onto the frame trembled, slipping.
The doorframe was adorned with scratching, Saheon desperately tried to keep going, but eventually.. he succumbed. The abrading, the noise, the whispers and the pull of the door, they all stopped.
He was gone.
--------------------
Soleum didn’t get good sleep, if you couldn’t tell. He tried somehow communicating with the entity, trying to get a tv to watch cartoons with. And got more.
He got the tv, and a plush. Of course, Braun wasn't possessed in it, but it still brought comfort.
However, the problem arrived after, when he was finally starting to sleep, he’d head back to his room. Only for him to be wide awake again.
Irritated, he went back to the couch, and when tired, he’d head to his room to sleep. Except it’d end with Soleum starting up at his ceiling.
‘Are you fucking kidding me.’ His brow ticked, throwing the blanket off and hugging his legs to his chest. Frustration simmering, finally surfacing.
Soleum started to cry, body violently shaking. He really wanted to sleep. But he had to keep himself calm, who knows what would happen if he woke up Baek Saehon.
“Hahagh…” he let out a choked laugh, his throat closing up.
His sobbing intensified, before his fear took over. He started to take deep breaths, trying to shut himself up. That thinking wouldn't help him.
He took a breath, and let it out, repeating the process. Soleum tried to think about stuff that cheered him up… like his…
His Good friend? about Braun..
How Soleum was still mad about what last happened.
How Braun abandoned him.
How he hadn’t even apologized.
Remembering how Braun had laughed during the situation.
A resentful feeling that had faded clawed at his heart once more.
Now they're stuck in here together, that Soleum’s stuck in here, with everyone viewing his humiliation. How even Braun treats him…like he's just something can gain… constantly bothering and hindering him about the Talkshow. He can’t even do anything to help. Bitter tears filled his eyes, nearly damping his pillow. Soleum's grip on his legs tensed up, head digging into his legs.
“Hahhhhahaahaha….” Just stop thinking. He closed his eyes, letting his thoughts wonder. He needed to stop, and get some rest.
Perhaps the tears had worn him out, because he fell asleep sobbing shortly after.
And now, after he finally fell asleep, a blaring alarm and strobing lights start to go off.
“Agh…!” He hastily covered his eyes, almost tearing them out with aggression.
What the hell was that? Why… can’t he just get any sleep?
--------------------
Please get up and get ready! We’ll be starting chapter 6 soon! Head to the main room!
--------------------
It was the entity, screaming at us to get up.
Sighing, he got up, going to change and wash off the morning gunk
He looked in the mirror, to see his eyes… bloodshot red!
Now he’s really fucked…
--------------------
Changing is not necessary! If comfortable, you can stay in those pajamas! :3
--------------------
‘Hmmm…. I mean.. they were comfy.’
Ignoring his other problem(s), he wanted to focus on the positives.
He decided to stay in them, they were quite comfy.
Soleum headed to the bathroom, and found a lollipop on the counter, the same flavour as last time. Before he could unwrap it, he cleaned and scrubbed his face.
He remained standing, glancing at the lollipop, before unrolling the wrapper, sucking on the stick. It… had a nice… flavour..? His breathing calmed, and his mood lightened. What was he even thinking about earlier…
Soleum headed to the main room, nibbling on the lollipop.
When he walked in, he noticed everyone else had changed into their work clothes. He flushed all the way down to his arms.
‘Oh my god… I can’t handle this embarrassment.’ He tried sneaking back into the room, unfortunately being spotted.
“Soleum-ah!” Agent Choi yelled across the room.
All eyes turned to him.
His funeral was going to happen soon, sooner than expected, thanks to Agent Choi. Really, thank you so much.
Before anybody could do anything, the entity decided to come back.
--------------------
Let’s get started!! For reals this time! I promise ^^
--------------------
Everyone was again shuffled into seats, his looking very familiar, with Jay, himself, and Agent Choi beside him. This time they were on the left couch. In the middle was Lee Seonghae, Agent Bronze, Lee Jaheon, Eun Haje, and Park Minseong.
Where was Baek Saheon?
‘Come to think of it, I didn’t see him this morning either…’
Holy shit. Shit he get himself killed.
Lee Seonghae interrupted, asking the question in his place.
“Exscuse me miss…?”
--------------------
Call me ██████!
--------------------
It went silent, the tagging familiar for few.
--------------------
…Please just call me V, Seonghae-ssi !
--------------------
“V, if you don’t mind me asking, where is Saheon-ssi?”
The entity went quiet, as if not registering the question.
--------------------
…A-ah! I will return shortly, the Reaction will continue in 15 minutes. The rules are still upholded in my absence.
--------------------
The viewer’s voice sounded panicked for a moment, before regaining her composure.
“Well I guess we just have to wait.” Agent Choi leaned on him, Jay following up.
“Wow your pyjamas add extra fluff hah..” Agent Choi sighed and fully embraced the fluffiness.
What did he do to get these guys to crush him with their bulk? Haaaaahh
“Hahaa Roe, why’re you still in your pajamas?” Eun Haje gave a look, something more than just curiosity.
Soleum grew embarrassed, bashfully looking away. “I just… I was feeling tired, I apologize…”
“Hah, it’s fine really—“
Baek Saheon poofed right beside Agent Choi, briefly getting everyone on their guard.
He looked dishevelled, utterly wrecked, eyes puffed up. His clothes were wrinkled, it looked like he had just escaped a Darkness. Saheon himself looked slightly dazed, and… very irritated.
He blinked, finally registering where he was, and sighed. He leaned on the couch, his vexation radiating.
Well that was fast… 15 minutes sure went by quick…
--------------------
Now! Let us finally, finally start with the 6th chapter!
--------------------
As the screen played, the only thing going through Soleum’s mind now, was what the hell was going on?