Title: cue
Fandom: 어느 날 우리 집 현관으로 멸망이 들어왔다 | Doom at Your Service (TV)
Mods: This can be tagged with the kdrama generic fandom tag
Length: ~500 words
Contents: no warnings, spoilers for Episodes 1-2

Summary: People are horrible. (Maybe Dongkyung is, too.)


Dongkyung is halfway through her weekly report -- how her authors are doing, who's going to meet their posting deadlines (everyone, if she can wheedle them into it) -- when she glances down to see her tablet is typing away without her.

He thinks you're annoying.

Her eyes flick back up from the table, and around the group. No one else can see her screen, they can't see this, she tells herself as her pulse starts to pound. It might not even be real -- sometimes Doom's tricks are illusions. This has to be an illusion, right?

Her team leader's expression doesn't shift at all, even as her words falter.

"And... so... Writer Seorabeol's new chapter is headed in a much more interesting direction, isn't it? And his readership is up, too..."

It gets her a vague sound of acknowledgement, but nothing more. Cha Jooik is impossible to read at the best of times--

He's only waiting for you to stop talking so he can stop pretending to pay attention.

--It's just how his face is. Even when he's about to say something funny. It's not-- he's not--

"Thank you for listening," she finishes abruptly, hoping the way she ducks her head will cover her nerves.

For a moment, the room is silent. Then Cha Jooik nods politely and turns to the next editor, and all eyes skim off of Dongkyung as if she's gone invisible.

She takes the chance to pull her tablet into her lap and type back quickly. What are you doing? Stop that!

Stop what? Telling you what they're thinking?

Disturbing me while I'm at work.

She doesn't wait to see his response, just shuts down the tablet display. And then she turns it face down on her lap, too, just in case.

She hasn't missed much of Manager Jo's speech, at least, and Dongkyung tries to focus on it. It's good to know what everyone else is working on. It's good to know that they're all working hard to help their authors.

(It's boring.)

And see, Cha Jooik's face is just as blank listening to Manager Jo as it was when Dongkyung was talking. He's not just pretending to pay attention.

(... unless he does it all the time. But if he does, then it's not about her, is it? Wait, no, he's not pretending at all. Is he?)

Dongkyung stomps that line of thought deliberately. It doesn't matter. It wouldn't matter even if all of her co-workers were as horrible as Doom wants her to think they are. The don't deserve what he could do to them.

Dongkyung makes herself smile as sweetly as she can, feeling the strange way her face stretches and folds around the edges. Manager Jo glances at her, and her eyes light up in affection even as her own lips turn up in response.

It feeds the tiny spark of defiance in Dongkyung's heart, and the smile stops feeling strange. Even if it's only half real, even if it's only sometimes when they see her and it reaches through whatever thoughts they're drowning in -- it doesn't matter. Her co-workers aren't horrible. They're just people.

She just has to keep that in mind.




Prompt note: Originally, there were going to be flowers and a card in this story. And then I changed... pretty much everything about the scene and it no longer made sense. So. Um. There are no cards, sorry.