His fury only grows when Hajun proves to be hard to hate. The boy is disgustingly nice. He offers to hold Hwanin for him, and—unlike Seokga—doesn’t hold the baby like he’s a mangy cat carrying rabies. Before heading to Deck 10’s stairwell, Hajun even buys Seokga a large iced coffee from Deck 8’s bustling Creature Café.

“For morale,” the boy offers over the chatter with a kind smile that makes Seokga grimace. He dearly wishes he could be as revolted as he’d like to be by this kindness, but the truth is that after the hideousness of the past day, he is not capable of his usual spectacular rancor.

“Thank you,” mutters the trickster god reluctantly, and sucks a long drag of coffee with one cream, one sugar, into his mouth. Hajun smiles, orders an iced matcha for himself, and Seokga watches in a growing bad mood as he makes easy small talk with the cashier before paying in Jeoseung coins—black coins with Yeomra’s grinning, winking face on them. Somehow, Hajun manages to hold a dozing Hwanin in one hand and his small drink in the other.

The second morning of the SRC Flatliner is just as packed as the first. Shoes clatter against the polished corridors as excited guests rush to the many attractions of the day, cheerful despite their state of being very, very dead. Surprisingly, though, there are few gwisin who bear the scars of their deaths, even when they’re young (which means, Seokga concludes, their endings had to be vicious and nasty). Hajun catches him staring at a grinning young boy, no more than ten, who is carrying a large stuffed teddy bear—presumably won from the noisy casino and arcade a deck below.

“He’s a repeat guest,” Hajun explains in a quiet tone. “The kid isn’t ready to reincarnate just yet, so the CEO’s let him stay on for another cruise or two. Kisa fixed him up with some Restoration when he got here. You’d never even know he was in a crash. It helps him, being here and looking whole. In time, he’ll be able to move on.”

Seokga glances sideways at Hajun. The idol has no signs of injury, either, though if what Seokga remembers from the papers about ST4RL1GHT’s beloved maknae, Kim Hajun…Seokga’s gaze drops to Hajun’s wrists.