Work Text:
Agent Choi waddled across the Hyunmoo-1 office without any care, completely absorbed in reading the paperwork he had somehow typed out with his flippers.
Now, you may be asking why Soleum was staring at his sunbae? It was quite simple: Agent Choi was an otter.
An otter who had a DMB coat and an official badge hanging off of it.
Soleum stared and stared, shocked to meet the infamous Agent Choi in person. He read about Agent Choi in the DER Wiki, but nothing ever suggested that he was contaminated to be an animal or that he was an animal from the start.
Jaekwan noticed his staring, and said helpfully, "I don't really know either… He just sort of showed up one day and never left. I think he escaped from an aquarium? It was too boring for him there."
Why was Jaekwan saying such a thing with a straight face?
"Agent Choi isn't from a Disaster?" Soleum asked, frigid and tired as he tried to settle the concept in his mind.
The other man's face twitched, his brow furrowing for a second, before he nodded with confidence. "Agent Choi's an otter."
How was this legal? This had to be breaking some kind of animal endangerment laws. Was the DMB above the law? Were they just ignoring it? Was Agent Choi even an otter, his true identity so complicated or sinister that the DMB covered it up?
"Just an otter," Soleum echoed, not feeling reassured at all.
Jaekwan bobbed his head. He repeated what Soleum said, patted him on the back, then said, "Bring him fish if you ever need to get on his good side."
Genuinely, had Soleum walked into another universe by accident? This couldn't be an actual thing that was happening.
-
They entered a Disaster together. Normal, right?
No.
It was odd for Soleum to trust in an otter—even if that otter was apparently one of the best field agents in the business—so he cautiously hovered around Agent Choi as if he were a weapon of mass destruction that would go off at any moment.
Things were going well at first. Soleum appreciated that Agent Choi was quick to sniff the air or make a bark-like noise when something dangerous was incoming.
What he didn't expect was for Agent Choi to pull out a blade and attack the incoming entities.
Soleum tripped when he watched an innocent-looking otter absolutely pummel a crowd. Agent Choi slapped his belly happily afterward, spraying blood across his body and smacking it onto his surroundings—which just so happened to include Soleum, who was too shocked to move.
"Agent Choi… where did your weapon come from?"
The otter's eyes were full of light previously, but now they were beady and black. Soleum swallowed roughly and turned away to give his sunbae the respect he deserved.
Soleum was going to have nightmares about murderous otters now.
What was his life becoming?
-
Agent Choi was waiting at his desk when Soleum walked in that morning. It felt like a death sentence of awkwardness.
Soleum hesitantly greeted Agent Choi, and then attempted to sit down. Before he could, however, Agent Choi tapped Soleum with one of his flippers.
"Yes?" Soleum wasn't sure what he was missing.
Agent Choi had poor communication skills. It wasn't his fault that he was an otter.
Another slap.
This time, Soleum looked to where Agent Choi's flipper was pointing.
On Soleum's desk lay a green grape drink. Soleum picked it up, nervously wondering how Agent Choi carried it into the office, but figured that if Agent Choi could wield his jakdu, he could handle holding a bottle.
"Thank you," Soleum said after too much time had passed.
Agent Choi's beady eyes stared at him.
-
"What… he's an actual otter?" Soleum couldn't take his eyes away from the sight.
Everyone was smaller now. They had been turned into their younger selves to enter the Disaster, but still… This was too shocking.
An itty bitty otter was not in front of him, but rather a small child who didn't know how to speak and kept clapping his hands together.
Jaekwan's gaze was hard on the side of Soleum's head. "You're surprised?"
"I didn't…" believe that he was an otter.
Soleum was still struggling to process that Agent Choi wasn't an entity from a ghost story who was working for the DMB.
Agent Choi was an otter. Even after being turned into a small child with the help of dokkaebis so they could enter the Mermaid Palace, he didn't behave like a human.
At that moment, Agent Choi decided to glomp Soleum's shoulder. It was rough, and Soleum wondered if it was an attack, but he settled down once Agent Choi squeezed him tighter.
It hurt, but it was comforting.
Perhaps he had been too harsh on Agent Choi.
-
He felt faint of heart. Blood was pounding in his ears. Was this…
"What is happening?" Soleum asked, his voice screechy and shrill.
Jaekwan blinked, then gave Soleum a look of judgement, as if thinking, 'I thought you were better than that, Agent Grapes.'
"He deserves a treat for all of the work he's done," Jaekwan said, speaking up for Agent Choi, as if on his behalf.
Agent Choi, who was in a kid's play pool in the middle of the Hyunmoo-1 office, was slapping water all across the floor.
Paperwork was in danger. Their monitors were in danger. Their lives could be in danger—Agent Choi was stronger than he looked.
"This can't be protocol," Soleum said, feeling haggard and aged beyond his years.
Jaekwan shook his head and smiled knowingly. "It's Agent Choi," he said, "the rules bend for him."
Look, Soleum knew that Agent Choi was pretty cute and was possibly the most adept agent in the bureau, but surely this was pushing it? It had to be a safety hazard, if nothing else. Water was all over the floor!
"Arf!" said Agent Choi, grinning from the pool.
Soleum smiled back on reflex. Self-preservation.
...
So this was the DMB, huh?