Work Text:
Kim Soleum is 8 when he looks up around him as he is walking with his family, and promptly realizes, with that slow process only children who do not yet have to carry the burdens of the world can have, thinks ‘that building is really tall.’ It is tall, truthfully, for the skyscraper lives up to its name, seeming to pierce the heavens themselves as dusk rolls in. Kim Soleum does not dwell on this thought for long, as he is happy, and happy children do not wonder what it would be like to fall from so high.
Kim Soleum is 30 when he clocks out of his job, and while walking along the faded gray of the sidewalk, looks up and thinks, ‘what would it be like to fall from there?’ Kim Soleum nearly freezes right there in the bustling crowd, but he is not shocked, honestly. For Kim Soleum has had this though many a time before, so maybe he should be used to it by now. But he is not, and so life goes on. Kim Soleum looks away from the horizon, and thinks that ‘perhaps it would be nice to read a few ghost stories when I get home.’
Kim Soleum is 31 when he walks into a pop-up store for his favorite series. He buys what he wants, wins something from a prize wheel, and Kim Soleum looks at the company I.D. In his hands for a company that does not exist, and says he will cherish it. Kim Soleum is a liar, deep in his bones, and will not regret that if it means people will believe him when he says he’s only tired when caught staring at the building that has never left his mind. As Kim Soleum falls through to a place he does not want to be in surrounded by people he knows better than they will ever know him, he thinks ‘is this what it would be like? to fall from a building that tall?’ Kim Soleum finds himself wishing he had gathered his courage when he was still there. It would be better to look up at the skies once more as I take my final breath than to be here.
Kim Soleum is 26, again, when he knows well and truly this was not his body. But Kim Soleum is a liar to the end, and so, so very human. So he protects who he used to be, convincing only himself that this body is just one he has once outgrown. Kim Soleum does not want to be on this train he was forced on, yet he does not look away from the melting souls that got off at sorrow, and his gaze lingers on the statues of gold with carved expressions of fear and pain. Kim Soleum allows once again the selfish part of him to hold up that eye, because Baek Saheon is a foolish man, and he is not one to pity them. When tranquility arrives, Kim Soleum does not know if he wants to step off. Kim Soleum does not want to drown, feel water fill his lungs as black bleeds into his vision. The only death he will ever crave is the weightlessness of himself as he flies without wings, soaring closer and closer to the ground before he makes his depart. So he sits once more in a row of so many less people than were there before. Kim Soleum is off that train, and he holds that fluorescence of the wish potion in his minds eye. Kim Soleum is a coward, but there is only one way he will let himself die.
Kim Soleum is still 26 again as he looks down from atop the company building. He does not linger, for this is not the one. Kim Soleum earns points for cheating his way through a convenience store ghost story, for he is a coward. Kim Soleum is afraid as he goes on another mission so soon after, but does it matter? In the end, Kim Soleum will do anything to find a way home, so he schools his features and acts as if he is brave. Kim Soleum is scared when he meets the Tuesday Quiz Show Host, yet he is captivated by him at the same time. So Kim Soleum puts on a facade, telling a story of a man who is enamored to be on his favorite show. Kim Soleum puts flair on his words, ponders on questions, and smiles when he wins. And some lonely face of him, the one he hides in the depths of his soul basks in the attention this host gives him, and feels no guilt when he soaks in the feeling of their fingers brushing his, and the hand on the small of his back as he accepts his winning prize. So when a new team is shoved in the same story, Kim Soleum does not feel much of anything for them, even as one of their teammates gore is splattered onto the floor, or as one burns to a pile of dust. Kim Soleum feels sick, but not because of them, rather the lack of remorse he feels for them. He cheats once again to gain favorability with the host that still seems so grand, and asks for a break. Kim Soleum may not care for his teammates the way a human should, but he refuses to lose what he is working so hard to see again. He makes a plan to get out, yet when speaking to the host once more, Kim Soleum finds it so easy to speak truly how he feels about this show, and is that the most terrifying part for him? That he feels more for the host that has gotten his show’s budget cut than the people that same host has killed? The plan works, and that great, blazing fire as the creature lesser than this host is burned is something so, so beautiful in the moment. He goes to the apartment he lives in for free and can only think of how his chest felt near to burst when that illustrious host said it was because of him.
Kim Soleum is still, still, still 26 again when he holds the plush that holds the mind of the man who shone so beautifully under the stage lights. His friend’s name is Braun, and Kim Soleum can feel his heart shifting to make room for the word he has been gifted so freely. Kim Soleum gives his in the same vein of truth. Kim Soleum does not dwell on how a coward and a monster can seem to fit so well together. But Braun helps him out of this mess of a world, so again he does not dwell on how a monster makes him feel safer than anyone ever has. Those thoughts are for the greedy parts of him to consume and grow larger in their want. He tucks Braun into the pocket closest to his heart, and pretends once more that he is fine as he steps out of the park that wants him as their own. Kim Soleum goes back the apartment, and talks to Braun once more, not caring how selfish it is as that chasm in his chest feels smaller than before. For a moment his wish for the ledge of that thought consuming building is pushed to the back of his mind. It still stars in his dreams, as Kim Soleum will not allow himself to forget, even in sleep.
Kim Soleum has given up on dates as he looks to the shadow on the wall to see how Braun lies in this plush body. Kim Soleum’s skin is still ill fitting, and he no longer looks in mirrors for fear he will see cracks splitting him apart at the seams, or see his eyes tearing from the middle as a new iris slots itself into place. So he instead helps his dear friend with his own discomfort, because Braun has been so very kind, and he wants to repay him the best he can. The Building has near consumed his thoughts. His family and friend’s faces and names have been long forgotten, yet the building stays crisp as the day he saw it last. But he will push his yearning to the side for Braun. Of course he would. Braun is his dear friend, and he is Braun’s. So he continues to use Brauns shadow as a guide, happy he can help.
Kim Soleum is [???] when he first debuts as a co-host on his dear friends show. He is so, so happy. He is happier than he has ever been, and it is all because of his dear friend. Braun has helped him so dearly, has helped him forget what lingered in the edge of his vision, has helped him fit in this world. Braun has held him so dearly as he split the threads pulled taught so that his form would not have to bleed if it were to try and outgrow them alone. He held him so close as Braun pulled the thread from his sides, kept him close as his form stretched and broke, the once constricting skin loosening to allow him to spread. Kim Soleum has always been a monster, and has always loved like one. He and Braun love each other in the way only the worst monsters do, love fueled by blood and gore, by obsession for one another. Their love is two wolves with maws caked in blood as a heart is shared and torn apart between them. It could not exist any other way, not when he is so loosened from mortal coils.
[Braun’s Late Night Talk Show]
Daydream Inc. identification code – Qterw-A-104
Recently changed from [Tuesday Quiz Show] after 99 attempts were made by Field Exploration Teams with no casualties, an unavoidable consequence was installed for every question answered via guest star 'Chorus of the Living Sacrifices' consisting of a conductor and thirteen silver trays that he summons. When answered correctly, the contestants head was added to on silver tray, and when incorrect was incinerated by the host of [Tuesday Quiz Show], the guest star was incinerated by the host after irritating him for ‘screaming’ when a silver tray was broken. This was the last episode of [Tuesday Quiz Show] ever aired.
<Braun>'s new talk show season, features guests -- ghost stories -- with an audience of participants that were invited after applying for an audience ticket. Audience members watch the host <Braun> and co-host <Kim Soleum> interview guests -- ghost stories -- about their experiences. While the audience often starts off confused about the situation, they gradually become contaminated throughout the show as shown by their abnormal reactions to horrific acts, such as applause gory transformations of an audience members.
A Thank You card is sent to the audience members after the show. Some audience members become so engaged with the show's guest that they follow the instructions attached to the card and willingly enter the associated darkness to meet the guest.
Additionally, there is an additional 100-second segment involving <Kim Soleum> engaging the audience, via asking them for their thoughts on the show, or other varied questions.
During the entirety of the episode it is strongly recommended to not speak while the guest -- ghost story -- is being asked or is answering questions, or engaging in inappropriate comments to <Braun> or <Kim Soleum>, as when directed to <Kim Soleum> will result in incineration, and when directed to <Braun> will result in being thrown off the skyscraper nearest their workplace.