Chapter Text
POV: Kim Soleum
“Mr. Roe Deer?”
Braun’s voice drifted in from somewhere far away. My brain registered it, but I didn’t even slow down.
I had a very important task.
The room’s stifling heat pressed in, growing heavier by the minute. My back was already slick with sweat. Strands of hair clung, damp and uncomfortable, to my neck. Strangely, only my right hand felt cold – a sensation I was trying my hardest to ignore.
My fingers had begun aching a while ago. The muscles in my wrists burned.
But… I couldn’t stop.
“Mr. Roe Deer?!” Braun sounded more worried now, but I only bit my lower lip, desperate to stay focused.
I had finally found the rhythm.
My fingers moved – circling, lining, working furiously.
Just… a little more.
“SOLEUM!”
My hand jerked at the shout, and the piping tip slipped.
A thick, ugly red line cut straight across the neat row of cookies on the kitchen table, ruining half the batch in one careless stroke.
For a second, I just stared.
…Had I really destroyed thirty minutes of careful work?
Slowly, I turned to Braun. The plush sat on the other side of the table, sealed beneath a glass jar. The curve of the glass distorted him slightly, catching the warm kitchen light in soft highlights.
So innocent… As if he wasn’t guilty of what had just happened.
Maybe I should keep him there for the whole nig–
My gaze suddenly caught the oven, and I nearly dropped the piping bag.
THE COOKIES WERE BURNING.
In an instant, I was across the kitchen, hands trembling slightly. I’d already lost the battle with decoration – I couldn’t lose this one, too. I couldn’t let them burn to a crisp and… and…
The pleasant chill in my right hand twisted into nausea.
I cracked the oven door, letting a wave of hot air spill out, then grabbed the tray with oversized oven mitts and yanked it free.
…Huh.
They didn’t look that bad.
The edges were darker than I’d planned. A little too dark. But… it almost looked intentional.
Stylish, even.
I picked one up and took a cautious bite.
If you ignored the faint charred aftertaste… it was actually good.
I glanced at the clock. It ticked loudly on the wall – each sound sharp, like a timer counting down to something unpleasant.
“My friend,” Braun asked, painfully polite, “are you certain this activity is meant to bring joy and happiness?”
I slumped into a chair beside him. From this angle, I could see everything clearly: flour dusting the counter, sugar scattered like snow, smears of frosting and red dye streaked across the table.
And flour dusting Braun’s jar, too.
It had been a good idea to cover him. I didn’t even want to imagine trying to wash him. What if he asked for another blood bath?
No. Bad thought.
“It’s fun,” I muttered. “I’m just… not great at baking. And the best part is presenting the cookies.”
“Hm.” Braun sounded thoroughly unconvinced.
I couldn’t think of anything else to say. Instead, I pushed myself up, forcing energy into my limbs.
No time to rest.
“I’ll show you,” I said. “I just need to finish the decoration.” I eyed the mountain of cookies with mild despair. Half of them looked… tragic.
Okay. I could always call it an intentional design.
Right.
I flexed my right hand, testing it. A faint resistance answered – my muscles felt dull, like they were slowly numbing from the creeping cold.
I could still do this.
***
POV: Baek Saheon
The sudden, loud knocks on the door almost made Baek Saheon drop his phone on his face. For the past few hours, he’d been scrolling mindlessly, hoping sleep would eventually knock him out.
But… the noises coming from the kitchen had been making him nervous.
What was his psycho neighbor doing?
The moment Kim Soleum arrived, he’d gone straight into the kitchen – and he’d been in there for at least six hours.
Was he preparing some ritual? And now he needed a victim?
Was that why he’d come here?
“Crazy… crazy bastard,” Baek Saheon muttered as he got up, moving as quietly as possible.
Could he pretend he’d fallen asleep?
He hesitated for a second, but the knocking kept going – sharp, relentless, hitting him right on the nerves.
He wrapped the blanket tighter around himself and rushed to the door, still in his green pajamas, with zero intention of changing. Respect was the last thing he owed that monster.
Baek Saheon yanked the door open – and almost cursed out loud.
Kim Soleum’s raised fist hovered inches from his nose.
Did he want to break it?!
The fist lowered, and Baek Saheon let out a shaky breath.
What a psycho…
Then Soleum’s face split into a wide, unnerving smile, and Saheon instantly regretted answering.
He should’ve pretended to be asleep. And deaf.
In horrifying slow motion, he watched Soleum’s other hand slowly come out from behind his back.
Did he come to kill him with a knife?
“Take it.”
Baek Saheon blinked.
His one good eye had to be hallucinating. Because what he was seeing was… a plastic bag of cookies.
“Uh… what’s that?”
Soleum looked genuinely surprised.
“Cookies. Do you need an eye doctor?”
Cookies?
Who in their right mind delivered cookies to a neighbor at three in the morning?!
Were they cursed? Poisoned?
“Take them already,” Soleum said, impatient. “I’ve got more people to deliver to.” He tilted his arm, revealing several more bags dangling from it.
Oh. That explained it.
His neighbor had gone completely insane.
“O-okay.”
Carefully, as if handling a live bomb, Baek Saheon took the bag by a single corner. After a visible internal struggle, he finally grumbled.
“Thanks…”
Apparently that was enough. Kim Soleum gave a curt nod and turned away.
Baek Saheon shut the door immediately. After a moment, he held the bag up to inspect it through the plastic.
Cookies.
Almost ordinary.
But… why were they so grotesque? He brought them closer, trying to figure out what had gone wrong with the icing and sprinkles. It was hard to tell what was supposed to be what.
Hesitantly, he cracked the bag open… and immediately sealed it again.
The scent of vanilla.
Of course.
What a creative assassination method.
How had that maniac even found out he was allergic to vanilla?
***
POV: Kim Soleum
The words stuck in my throat.
Chief Lee Jaheon stood in his doorway, lit by the hallway light. He was wearing light-blue satin pajamas… complete with a matching nightcap, perched perfectly on his lizard head.
I had the sudden, urgent need to rub my eyes.
The sight was utterly surreal.
“Is there something you require, Mr. Soleum?” Even in the dead of night, Lee Jaheon didn’t look the least bit surprised to see me.
“I… brought you. Cookies,” I managed, hesitating a moment before extending the plastic bag toward him.
This was beyond awkward. Seeing him like this… and having to act normal.
Lee Jaheon stared at the offering without moving.
“I see.”
“Could you… take them, please?” My voice came out thin, almost a whisper. I just needed him to accept them.
Please. Just take the bag.
After several seconds that stretched far too long, his hand finally moved and accepted it.
“Thank you.”
“Haha, it’s nothing!” My laugh sounded dry and brittle.
At least he didn’t ask any questions.
Two bags left.
A fresh current of anxiety shot through me as I turned and hurried back to the waiting taxi, the night air cold against my flushed face.
Time to find J3 and Supervisor Park.
“Are you certain,” Braun pondered aloud, “that delivering cookies in the middle of the night is a Christmas tradition?”
“Yes?” I let out a weak, unconvincing laugh that dissolved into the dark.
***
The office building loomed against the night sky, a block of shadowed glass and steel that felt more like a tomb than a workplace. On any other night, I would have turned and walked away without a second thought.
But… the cold inside me was spreading – a slow, insistent creep that had now passed my shoulders. That alone was enough to keep me moving.
I had to finish this before it reached my heart.
I pushed through the heavy front doors and made for the basement stairs. The lobby was cavernous and dark, the only light a pale blue glow from the security panel near the entrance.
All the elevators had mysteriously stopped working the day before, leaving only the old gray stairwell. The only light came from stingy little windows and the occasional flickering bulb.
Why hadn’t Daydream installed proper lighting? The company was doing great, wasn’t it? They weren’t running some kind of Darkness experiment on their employees… right?
“Soleum?”
A familiar, soft voice from the shadows behind me made my heart jolt against my ribs.
I spun around, nearly losing my balance.
It was Assistant Manager Eun Haje, her figure half-swallowed by the gloom. But… what was she doing here? At this hour?
Was she even real?
Panic coiled tight in my stomach. In the poor light, her face was pale, almost spectral, her eyes wide and unblinking.
“A-Assistant Manager Eun Haje?” My lips felt numb as I said it.
“What are you doing here so late, Soleum?” she asked. A faint frown touched her brow, deepening the shadows under her eyes.
…
I swallowed.
“Braun”
“Yes, my friend?”
“Is she real? Or… is it another mimic?”
…
“The person in front of you is a real Eun Haje,” Braun replied cheerfully, as if we were discussing the weather. “At least, the same being who worked with you.”
He must have been enjoying it.
“I… I came to meet... security,” I said, forcing my voice steady. “But what are you doing here? I thought you left the company…”
Her expression tightened, like she didn’t want to answer. Or… couldn’t.
“It’s fine,” I said quickly. “Don’t answer if you can’t.”
“Thank you.” She seemed to relax a little. Then she looked me over. “And you? Meeting… security officers this late?” There was disbelief in her tone, and then her expression shifted into concern. “Are you alright, Roe?”
“Y-yes.” I forced an awkward smile. “F-fine. I… have a case to discuss.” I hesitated, then added, “Actually, since you’re here… could you take these cookies?”
I held out the plastic bag.
She stared at it in silence.
…
“Cookies?”
“Y-yeah…”
…
“Any explanation?”
My fingers trembled, making the bag rustle softly. “S-sorry. It’s… very important.”
For a second, her face went blank.
Then, slowly, she reached out and took the bag, handling it with care.
“Okay.”
Relief washed over me so strongly my knees nearly buckled.
One left.
It seemed I was getting lucky tonight.