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There’s a lot of things J3 doesn’t like about his life.
How tired he is all the time, watching the employees run around the company, brushing his hair, making eye contact, not knowing where Kim Soleum is…
But there are a few things he does like.
Badger. Kim Soleum. Donuts. His uniform hat.
Not remembering the past with any real clarity.
Overall, J3’s feelings on his life are currently….neutral.
Plenty of stuff to like. Plenty of stuff to dislike.
His restrictions chafe as they always do, but he lives with it as he always does. He sits cross-legged in his swivel chair, head propped up on an arm.
Mostly, this job is just boring.
But occasionally, he’s disturbed.
Sometimes it’s a positive disturbance, like Kim Soleum or Badger coming in to talk to him. Only sometimes, though.
Most of the time, it’s a negative disturbance.
“Ah, Mr. J3. How are you?”
J3 tips away from being neutral and toward bad.
He spins in his chair to face Director Ho.
J3 cares for his employers very little. Still, he sees the benefits in Director Cheong’s restrictions, and she has not done anything directly to harm him or his life.
Director Ho threatened and hurt Kim Soleum. So that brings him down in J3’s estimation.
“Mm……not so good…..” J3 says, narrowing his eyes. “Less good….with you around.”
Director Ho laughs. “Oh, Mr. J3, but I come bearing gifts!”
J3’s sharp eyes scan Director Ho’s body.
“Not a physical gift,” he says. J3 doesn’t like the smile on his face. “Well, you could say it’s physical, but I don’t have it with me.”
“Then….where is it?”
Director Ho’s smile widens. “Basement floor 13.”
J3 narrows his eyes again. “....You’re going to have to be more specific than that.”
~~~~
It turns out that Director Ho did not, in fact, need to be more specific.
In the basement, on floor 13, in room 666, is a familiar beast.
J3 stares up at what Kim Soleum has become, and his mouth dries up completely.
“You were supposed to go home,” J3 says quietly, when faced with the creature in front of him. “What happened?”
The smoke billowing from the body he continues to just stare at begins to form words.
Irrelevant question.
Lifetime Employment at Daydream.
J3’s heart sinks. What’s left of it, anyway.
“.....I’m so sorry, Roe Deer.”
Invalid address.
J3’s mouth twitches. “Then what do I call you?”
Unknown.
J3 remembers the moments before he got his uniform. The moment he lost his name and became The Wolf instead of Wolf. He remembers the confusion and the rage.
He takes a step forward.
“....Well…..seems like a shame to leave you alone down here….”
Cannot leave assigned zone.
“I thought…..you might say that….” J3 smiles ever so slightly. “.....So I’ll come to you.”
After a moment, the smoke writhes, but it doesn’t form new words.
J3 looks up at what remains of Kim Soleum through his hat and tries for a smile he doesn’t feel through the cold in his bones.
“......Do you still like donuts?”
~~~~
It turns out Kim Soleum can’t eat, which makes J3 feel the slightest bit luckier about his fate. But only the slightest bit.
J3 doesn’t like feeling luckier than Kim Soleum.
He sits down on the bed in the small room and eats his donuts quietly, watching 130666 watch him right back. Because apparently his designation is 130666, according to the video that plays in the room.
J3 doesn’t like this. He really doesn’t. But there’s nothing he can do except watch Kim Soleum watch him watch Kim Soleum watch him. He doesn’t like that his friend is down here, alone.
He can’t ask Director Cheong. He can’t even find her, most of the time, so he doesn’t bother to try.
But he can try his best to be here. Or figure out what’s wrong.
His donuts don’t taste as good as they usually do.
They don’t really talk. J3 just takes his time analyzing Kim Soleum while Kim Soleum stands there in silence. Kim Soleum had always been quiet, like J3 was after his reassignment, but now he is silent.
J3 misses his friend.
When he gets up to leave, he looks at Kim Soleum one more time.
“.....How can I help you?” he asks. It’s a question he’s asked before. Countless times. But he means it right now. He meets 130666’s gaslamp eyes.
Smoke forms.
Security Captain cannot help.
Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.
J3 wants to cry. It’s an alien feeling. He doesn’t remember the last time he cared this much for another person.
“......Okay……” he says, voice quiet.
When J3 turns to leave, smoke blocks the door and covers the knob.
He turns back around silently.
Request for Security Captain: Return.
J3 blinks. “....Here?”
Affirmative.
J3 cracks a small smile. Maybe his life is coming back up to neutral for now.
“Okay……I’ll come back…..just….” His smile grows a little. “.....don’t die…..in the meantime.”
The smoke retreats, and J3 leaves the room with a new sense of purpose.
Kim Soleum is alive. And here. Even if he is bound the way J3 has been…..
J3 can still help him. Even if he doesn’t know how yet.
But he’ll come back. He will.
He passes Director Ho when he leaves the elevator.
And because he’s feeling so good, he doesn’t even punch him in the face or maul him with his teeth.