"Let's kiss."
Yoon Taehee's eyes widened in surprise.
"...What?"
Jaegyeom threw off the blanket and sat up abruptly, then climbed onto Yoon Taehee. The bed creaked under the sudden movement.
"You always do what you want, so why can't I?"
Jaegyeom spoke nonchalantly.
"..."
Yoon Taehee looked at him with a very flustered expression. Seeing that expression, Jaegyeom felt an exhilarating sense of satisfaction.
Then, Yoon Taehee abruptly turned his head away.
"What are you doing?"
Jaegyeom grabbed Yoon Taehee's face, forcing him to look back. He seemed extremely uncomfortable, his eyes darting around, not knowing where to look.
"Close your eyes."
After a moment of hesitation at the harsh command, Yoon Taehee reluctantly closed his eyes, his eyelashes fluttering slightly.
Jaegyeom gazed down at the picturesque face and slowly leaned in.
Just as their lips were about to touch, Jaegyeom called out, "Hey."
With their noses barely touching, Yoon Taehee opened his eyes.
"You're not Yoon Taehee, are you?"
His expression stiffened. Jaegyeom, holding his cheeks, pressed one hand against the bedside and with the other, gripped his jaw with strong force.
"Who are you?"
At that moment, the jaw Jaegyeom was holding suddenly turned jelly-like, mushing under his grip. Jaegyeom gasped and withdrew his hand in shock. As he looked down at his hand in confusion,
..Huh?
"Seven-seven!"
***
"Seven-seven!"
Suddenly feeling pulled out, Jaegyeom's eyes snapped open.
Blinding white light poured into his opened field of vision, unpleasantly bright. The first thing he saw was Lim Hyomoon's face.
"Wh- what?"
Startled by the completely different face from the one he had just seen, Jaegyeom jerked back so abruptly that he fell backward along with the chair.
"Hey! Are you okay?"
Lim Hyomoon quickly reached out his hand in alarm. Jaegyeom, having fallen onto his buttocks, took his hand and staggered to his feet. Looking around bewilderedly at Lim Hyomoon, Jaegyeom surveyed his surroundings.
"Why am I here..."
This was the lounge on the third floor of the main building.
Suddenly feeling pulled out, Jaegyeom's eyes snapped open.
Blinding white light poured into his opened field of vision, unpleasantly bright. The first thing he saw was Lim Hyomoon's face.
"Wh- what?"
Startled by the completely different face from the one he had just seen, Jaegyeom jerked back so abruptly that he fell backward along with the chair.
"Hey! Are you okay?"
Lim Hyomoon quickly reached out his hand in alarm. Jaegyeom, having fallen onto his buttocks, took his hand and staggered to his feet. Looking around bewilderedly at Lim Hyomoon, Jaegyeom surveyed his surroundings.
"Why am I here..."
This was the lounge on the third floor of the main building.
***
Jaegyeom had spent the entire night awake.
"When I kiss you, you can slap me."
The previous day, Yoon Taehee had kissed him as he had promised.
And as soon as the kiss ended, Jaegyeom slapped his cheek. Unlike the last time, when he was caught off guard, this time he was aware enough not to use any spiritual energy. Nonetheless, the slap was forceful enough to stagger Yoon Taehee, reopening the wound on his lip that had just begun to heal.
Having been slapped, the man, with his head jerked to the side, shifted his eyes to look at Jaegyeom. Then, seemingly unaffected by the pain, he bit on the reopened wound, sucked on his lip once, and promptly turned his back, leaving the emergency exit.
Left alone in the dark emergency exit staircase, Jaegyeom sat there dazed for a while. When he returned to the office, Yoon Taehee had already left work and his desk was empty.
Jaegyeom had slapped him purely out of pride. He had warned him not to kiss him, but the other person blatantly ignored it. It was an act of resentment because he thought the other man thought he wouldn't be able to hit him, but as a result, Jaegyeom felt angry all night long as he felt like he had fallen for the provocation.
The thought that tormented Jaegyeom the most was how he should deal with Yoon Taehee moving forward. This question that kept him tossing and turning all night lingered into the next day.
And coincidentally, Jaegyeom had to come to work that morning.
When he arrived at the office, only Pyo Jiho and Kang Yibin had checked in. Due to the nature of their work in the Exorcism Department, nights were busy and days were quieter, especially mornings, which were the most peaceful time with the fewest people around. As dawn breaks, the activity of spirits drops sharply, leading to a decrease in incidents and accidents.
For that reason, most exorcists preferred to come to work in the morning. It allowed them relatively free time to surf the web or study privately. When scheduling for the month, there was fierce competition to increase the number of mornings one could work, to the extent that newcomer Jaegyeom's opportunity to work in the morning was purely thanks to the team members' concessions and consideration.
However, unfortunately for Jaegyeom, this coveted morning shift was a misfortune. For Jaegyeom, who had been tormented by thoughts all night, the blank space was painful and wanted to fill the gap where thoughts emerged. However, Jaegyeom was a newbie who had just joined the company. The seniors had no intention of asking the newcomer to work much, especially at the busiest time of the day, so there was nothing Jaegyeom could do.
The only silver lining was that Yoon Taehee was off today.
"Jaegyeom, are you feeling okay? You don't look well today."
Kang Yibin, sitting opposite Jaegyeom, peeked over the partition and aske dwith a worried face. Jaegyeom was trying hard to shake off his thoughts by scribbling incantations used in paging on the back of a paper. The once blank back of the paper was now densely filled.
"Go out and get some fresh air."
Kang Yibin stood up and approached Jaegyeom, pushing him on the back. Despite his repeated refusals, insisting he was fine, her pushing hand was persistent. Left with no choice, Jaegyeom stood
up.
Jaegyeom, who left the office as if being chased out, meandered down the corridor and headed to the break room on the same floor.
At the end of each floor in the main building, there was a space designated as a pantry and lounge. He loitered around the coffee machine and microwave, then grabbed a newspaper from one side and took a seat at a table. He planned to kill some time before
returning to the office.
Or rather, he had definitely been... reading the newspaper in the break room.
He must have fallen asleep without realizing it while reading the newspaper.
"Fuck... what dream..."
Jaegyeom grasped his head after grasping the situation. It was unbelievable the kind of dream he had. Was it because he hadn't said much to Yoon Taehee yesterday and it lingered in his mind?
Maybe he wanted to open up comfortably, even in his dream. But, to think of kissing Yoon Taehee at the end...
Of course, he knew that one's actions were involuntary in dreams, regardless of will. However, Jaegyeom couldn't forgive his dream self. The problem was that the dream felt too vivid.
"Seven-seven, did you stay up all night? Whew, Look at those dark circles under your eyes."
Jaegyeom, who was clutching his head in confusion, looked up. He had forgotten about the presence of Lim Hyomoon. The latter had already taken a seat across the table where Jaegyeom was sitting
"...Anyway, what are you doing here?"
Jaegyeom reluctantly acknowledged him.
"Hm? I came to get a drink."
Lim Homoon pointed to the beverage vending machine in the corner of the break room, explaining his purpose.
"I woke you up because you were groaning in your sleep, thought you might be having a nightmare."
Lim Hyomoon, who had come to get a drink, saw someone lying on the table, sleeping in the morning. It felt familiar, and upon closer inspection, it was none other than Seven-seven. Seeing him looking so free, Lim Hyomoon was envious of the apparently idle Exorcism Department. However, seeing the sleeping figure looking as if tied down and unable to move, he decided to just wake him up. Doing so, he was even more startled by the intense reaction.
"Did you have a nightmare? What kind of dream was it?"
In response to Lim Hyomoon's question, Jaegyeom just cleared his throat.
"...Don't- Don't you have a break room on your floor? Why come here?"
Jaegyeom quickly changed the subject.
"Huh? Oh, the vending machine on our floor is broken."
Hurry and fix it, why don't they fix it, he wondered. Jaegyeom glanced at grumbling Lim Hyomoon and then turned his gaze back to the newspaper. As he aimlessly flipped through the newspaper with a troubled heart and sighed deeply.
"So you had a morning shift today, too. Huh? But why weren't you on the bus? What time did you leave?"
As expected, the morning had been busy. This morning, Jaegyeom had let several number 7212 buses pass by and took another bus to work. At the moment, the effort of taking a different bus seemed pointless...
"You're noisy. Don't talk to me."
"Let's chat since we've met as colleagues."
"I have nothing to talk about with you."
"Why would we have nothing to talk about?" Then, Lim Hyomoon looked around curiously and added, "So, what happened?"
"What?"
Jaegyeom bluntly responded to the sudden, contextless question. At that, Lim Hyomoon squinted his eyes and lowered his voice significantly.
"The person we talked about the other day."