Han Sooyoung was pretty much Kim Dokja's second in command. Yes, Yoo Joonghyuk was the other founding member of Kim Dokja's Company, but when Kim Dokja had first disappeared, it had been Han Sooyoung he'd trusted to lead the others. And during the three years he'd vanished, it had been Han Sooyoung who'd led the others, this time without him having to tell her to do so.

(She had never gotten to see him between his two disappearances, and this frustrated her. If she had known that he would vanish for so long, she would have taken the chance to see him when she could. But she'd thought… She'd thought he wouldn't leave them again. But now he had.)

Three years. Three years of not knowing whether Kim Dokja would return. Three years leading the others, even when some of them, such as Jung Heewon, didn't want her to lead them, but she was the best for the job and Kim Dokja had trusted her before. Yoo Joonghyuk stayed with them, but even that wasn't definite, considering how much he disappeared.

Han Sooyoung had to laugh, but not in an amused way. Three years. Three years of this bullshit. Three fucking years.

Kim Dokja, where are you?

"Han Sooyoung-ssi," a voice called out, and Han Sooyoung looked up to see Yoo Sangah. Ah, right, Yoo Sangah had worked with Kim Dokja before the scenarios had begun, hadn't she?
"Yoo Sangah-ssi," Han Sooyoung returned the greeting. She and Yoo Sangah weren't exactly on the best of terms, but they had gotten closer during these three years in which Kim Dokja was gone.

They had all gotten closer, except for Kim Dokja himself.

Looking at Yoo Sangah, Han Sooyoung could immediately tell that something was off. "You've been using your powers again, haven't you?" she questioned.

Yoo Sangah gave a strained smile. "I have to."

"You'll die," Han Sooyoung muttered numbly. She had seen so many people die.

No one that she had known before the scenarios began was alive, as far as she knew.

"I'll be fine," Yoo Sangah said calmly. "It's not me you have to worry about."

"I have to worry about all of you," Han Sooyoung said with a roll of her eyes, but she knew exactly what Yoo Sangah was talking about. "…Have you heard anything about him?"

Yoo Sangah shook her head. "I haven't."

"Ah," Han Sooyoung murmured.

"I just have a feeling," Yoo Sangah continued. "We'll see him soon."

Oh, how Han Sooyoung wished that were true.

"I had always known," Han Sooyoung said, "that he was an ugly squid."

Shin Yoosung shot her a glare. "Ahjussi was a very good-looking squid!"

Kim Dokja's incarnation looked indignant, but Han Sooyoung knew that all the members of Kim Dokja's Company were too pleased by Kim Dokja's reappearance to care much about whether or not he was an ugly or good-looking squid.

Right now, the constellation lay on the bed, unconscious. It was best for him to stay that way, really. He couldn't leave them again if he was asleep.

(Han Sooyoung knew this was fucked up, but all of them had become fucked up people. The scenarios did things to a person.)

"Is he okay?" Han Sooyoung asked Lee Seolhwa. The doctor was studying Kim Dokja.

Lee Seolhwa nodded. "He should be fine. I think there are other more pressing problems, though."

Han Sooyoung winced. It hadn't been too long ago that Yoo Sangah had gone into a critical state due to her overuse of powers. Damn Olympus.

"You go to Yoo Sangah-ssi," Han Sooyoung told Lee Seolhwa. "I'll send someone to tell you or Aileen if something happens with Kim Dokja."

Lee Seolhwa nodded and left the room. Shin Yoosung, the only other one still in the room at the moment, said, "Unni?"

Han Sooyoung looked down at her. "Yes?"

"You said you'd send someone."

Han Sooyoung nodded. "Yeah, if something happens with Kim Dokja."

"But…" Shin Yoosung worried at her lip. "I'm the only other one in the room, and I want to stay with ahjussi."

…ah.

"Alright," Han Sooyoung said with a sigh. "If something happens to him, I'll go and get Lee Seolhwa-ssi or Aileen. You keep an eye on him."

Shin Yoosung brightened. She had grown older since Han Sooyoung first met her, but she was still as adorable as she had been back then. "Thank you!"

Han Sooyoung regretted having wanted to kill the girl when they'd first met. Turning to Kim Dokja, she continued watching him.

Thankfully, nothing bad happened in the few hours they spent there.

Of course, when he returned to the land of wakefulness, Kim Dokja leapt right back into his self-sacrificing plan. At least Yoo Joonghyuk went with him to the Underworld, even though Kim Dokja hadn't planned on it.

And Han Sooyoung was left as the leader of Kim Dokja's Company once again.

We should really rename it Han Sooyoung Corporation. I've been leading this group longer than Kim Dokja has!

As she mourned the idea of a day without stress (or, at least, with the least amount of stress possible, because every day in the apocalypse was a day with stress, but dealing with these idiots just made it more stressful), she thought about Kim Dokja.

Really, she hadn't known him too long. Most of her time after the scenarios started was spent without Kim Dokja (again, three fucking years. This man disappeared for so long!), but he was constantly on her mind.

It was true for all of them, but part of her wondered if, maybe, she thought about him a bit too much.

She wondered if, maybe…

Then she dismissed that possibility. She liked Kim Dokja, she really did, but not in that way. Definitely not.

It was only after Kaizenix that Han Sooyoung realized that yes, it was most certainly in that way.

Thank you very much, Yuri, Han Sooyoung thought, annoyed. I wouldn't have come to that realization if you hadn't proposed to him while we were sharing the same body!

Yuri would probably think Han Sooyoung's realization was a good thing. Han Sooyoung very much disagreed.

But as she and Kim Dokja were talking, and Han Sooyoung told him about her plans to write a novel and her hopes that Kim Dokja would read it, and Kim Dokja suggested she write a romance novel, she accepted that she could deny it no longer.

"After the scenarios," Han Sooyoung said, "when we don't have to fight for our lives every day, maybe we could… try a date?"

Kim Dokja looked at her, bewildered at the sudden change of topic. "I mean—do you want to?"

"Of course I want to!" Han Sooyoung shot back. "Why else would I ask you?!" Taking deep breaths and trying to calm herself down, she added, "I really do want this, if you…"

He smiled a bit, flustered. "Yeah, I… I'd like that too."

Han Sooyoung rested her hand on top of his for a brief moment before the sounds of Lee Hyunsung's and Jung Heewon's voices made her take it away. "Well, we should move on then."

Kim Dokja nodded in agreement. "We should."

…After the scenarios. After the apocalypse. If those things ever ended, and she had to believe they would…

Then maybe they could have their date, two fucked up people in a fucked up world.

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