The morning sun shone through the cracks of Krystal’s light blue curtains. She squinted her eyes a little before proceeding to close them again to stretch and curl her toes on her comfy linen bed. She then slowly opened her eyes, adjusting to the bright glaze of sunlight slowly entering her room. While lazily trying to roll off her bed, a realisation struck her.

OMG I’m supposed to be up early today. How long have I been asleep? Why didn’t my alarm clock ring?

She fumbled around on her bed looking for her phone. It was already quarter past eight. She had to be at work at 8.30 which meant she had only 15 minutes to shower, get ready, eat breakfast and drive off to work. Plus it was her first day at work with a new job since she moved to Seoul.

breakfast. I’ll take brunch later.

After 10 minutes of rushing around in her apartment, she was ready. Armed in a navy blue blazer with matching navy blue tight fit trousers and a light blue striped Henley tank top, she drove off to 221b DragonDen Art Gallery, her new workplace. She had recently moved to Seoul after graduating at Deagu Arts University where she achieved a degree in Fine Arts Theory and Curatorial Studies.

It took her a full 5 minutes to get to DragonDen Art Gallery (which was kind of lucky considering the amount of traffic there was and the annoying car honks that was directed to her for being very inconsiderate towards the other people on the road(okay she was naturally a bad driver)).

She parked her car a few meters away from the gallery- only because she didn’t have time to wash it as it was getting dirty and she didn’t want to leave a bad impression that she was a lazy to her new workmates- and walked there.

Krystal confidently strode up the stairs and opened the door. She was greeted by a tall (187cm to be exact), handsome man who she’d met before already during her interview to get the job.

“Good morning Miss SooJung. Just in time I for work, I see. Not too late or too early,”

“That’s me,” Krystal smiled meekly. Nope. Not a good start. She made a mental note to buy a new alarm clock since the old one just gave up on her for her first day at work.

The tall man’s name was Wu Yifan or more formally known as Kris, a Chinese-Canadian bloke who migrated from China to South Korea to pursue a career in arts. The conditions in China didn’t allow him to continue with arts so he decided to move to somewhere else where his art was more appreciated. So he did. He moved to Seoul, South Korea two years ago where he opened up his own art gallery and named it DragonDen Art Gallery (no one seems to know why though). The art gallery was a huge success...well kinda.  Kris always said it was due to the fact that he was born with a gift for arts. Everyone else begged to differ. It was more because of his assistant, Do Kyungsoo, a short doe-eyed man who had helped him to open up the gallery in the first place. And Kyungsoo had more of an eye in arts than Kris would ever have in a million years. Oh yes, Krystal found out all this while waiting outside Kris’ office for her job interview.

“Well, since it is your first day here, and you haven’t seen the whole place yet- Hyobin, do me a favour and come here for a minute,” Kris suddenly stopped in mid sentence to call out the young receptionist.

“Who’s going to handle the reception?” the young receptionist called out.

“For goodness sake, Kim Hyobin, get Sehun to do his work. I didn’t pay him to sit around doing nothing,”

The receptionist poked the man sitting beside him who was apparently fixated to the screen of his phone doing god knows what with a pen and loudly whispered Oh Sehun, I’m not going to help you find another job if you get fired this time. He then proceeded to stand up and try to get to where Krystal and Kris were.

Krystal mentally facepalmed herself watching the cute guy stumble and drop pens and papers trying to find his way through the mess at the reception counter. She was baffled at how unorganised the area behind the reception was.

What do they do there? Why is there so much papers and stuff at the reception? Don’t they have a proper office to put all those stuff in? Why is there so much paperwork in a reception of an art gallery anyways?

Her thoughts were cut off by the sound of Kris’ booming ghetto voice.

“Soojung. This is Kim Hyobin, our receptionist. Hyobin. This is Miss Soojung, our newly appointed art curator. Show her around the gallery and her new office. I have an important meeting with Kim JunMyeon in a minute. I will meet you later,” and off Kris went.

“Pftt. A meeting? More like a date,” Hyobin silently cursed under his breath and rolled his eyes.

“What?” Krystal was getting more and more baffled by the minute.

“Nothing,” Hyobin smiled “this way then.”

After nearly an hour of showing Krystal around the gallery, a couple of small talks here and there and a short bump in with a blank faced curator with a thick Chinese accent and deep dimples on both of his cheeks specialising in anthropology named Zhang Yixing, they reached Krystal’s new office.

“Well this will be your new home for now. Sorry if it’s quite small. We’re renovating the part of this building.”

“No, this is fine. I don’t think I need a big office anyways. This will do, thanks,”

“You know we never really get female workers here. Actually, you’re the first,” Hyobin let out a small chuckle and his eyes formed crescents with barely visible crinkles at the side.

Wow. Very attractive.

Krystal nodded and smiled back at Hyobin.

“Okay then. If you ever need me, you know where to look,” Hyobin gave a wink and a small wave at Krystal before proceeding back to the reception.

As soon as Hyobin left the room, Krystal’s eyes went straight to a painting on the wall of her office. It was a very peculiar painting. It looked somewhat like a wolf but at the same time like a pig. A wolf-pig maybe? And it had a very unusually large frame for a decently sized painting. She walked towards it and started to touch the big wooden frame that enclosed the painting. Her delicate fingers tapped rhythmatically on the frame.

This frame is hollow.

Krystal began to tap harder on the frame.

DUSHHHHH

A long huge bag fell on the floor and powder began to spread out from it surrounding the whole office. Krystal instantly covered when the powder started to get into . She instantly had a coughing fit. Her hands were constantly fanning her surroundings to get rid of the powder sticking up and clogging .

Suddenly a head popped out from the front door of her office.

“ Woah! Chanyeol’s going to get mad someone found his stash of crack,” the short blonde haired man with small eyes exclaimed.

“What?” Krystal barely spoke before having another coughing fit.

“You’re the new curator, right? Hmmmm,” the blonde man walked into her office and scanned Krystal’s body from head to toe before proceeding to hold his hand out for Krystal, “Hi, I’m Baekhyun. Byun Baekhyun. Head of human resources. Also head of communication relations.”

Krystal held out her hand that wasn’t being used to cover .

“I’m Soojung. As you said, I’m the newly appointed curator. Would you care to explain what all this is?”

“Ah yes. Sorry. This used to be Chanyeol’s office before we relocated him to another room. He’s a bit barmy, you see. He’s on crack. This is his stash of drugs you just ruined. And I think we should clean this place up before he finds out,”

“YOUR BOSS HIRES DRUGGIES TO WORK AT AN ART GALLERY?” Krystal was barely digesting what Baekhyun just told her.

“Shhhhhhh. Yes, he’s on drugs but he’s the best Finance Manager we have. Always keeps the records in shape. And he doesn’t do drugs as often as you think. It’s only when you see him with that crazy grin on his face.”

15 minutes later and both Krystal and Baekhyun were sitting on the floor exhausted. Who knew trying to clean up all the drug powder was exhausting. Both of them promised to keep quiet about the whole ordeal and pretend that nothing ever happened. Baekhyun exclaimed that it was the best thing to do since Chanyeol could get pretty crazy at times even though he had a friendly face. Krystal agreed since she did not want to get involved with a very tall and half-crazy (as Baekhyun describes him) man on crack. 

Krystal sighed heavily after they had cleaned up her office and Baekhyun went back to his work. She was tired and hungry. Her official work hadn’t even started yet and she was already exhausted. Krystal glanced at the neatly place clock on her office table.

Well it’s nearly lunchtime. I might as well go out and get lunch early since Kris hasn’t even given me any work yet.

Krystal happily hopped of her seat and walked down to the lobby with the thought of food on her mind. On the way down the stairs, Krystal suddenly slipped on some wet patches and ended up on her .

Ouch. That hurts. Why is it wet here anyways?

Krystal let out a small grumble.

“Oh dear. Didn’t you see the ‘Cleaning in progress. Beware.’ sign? Here,” the thick lipped man held out his hand for Krystal.

Krystal took his hand and once she got on her feet all that came out of was “Hyobin?” accompanied with a baffled look on her face as she examined from head to toe the man who had just helped her up. He obviously looked like Hyobin to her but why was he wearing something different and holding a mop in one hand.

“Hyobin? The receptionist? Why? Is there something wrong?”

“Aren’t you Hyobin. You sure look like him,” somehow Krystal’s voice sounded like she was in a daze.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” the man said with a concerned look on his face. The lines on his forehead crinkled in despair.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” Krystal reassured him by flailing her arms around motioning him to step away, “......but if you’re not Hyobin, who are you?”

The young man holding the mop on his left hand began to scrunch up his face in disbelief.

“I’m Lee Taemin. The head caretaker of this gallery. Actually, I’m the only caretaker here but that’s another story,” he began.

“Okay. You’re Taemin. Not Hyobin. Okay. I need some fresh air, I’m getting dizzy. Okay.” Krystal staggered off still flailing her arms around because Taemin was still holding on to her elbow in case she fell again.

I must be out of my mind right now. Why do I feel so dizzy? I’m not hungry anymore either. Something is wrong with me.

Instead of walking to get some fresh air, she decided to get back to her office. She was dizzy but no longer hungry.

On the way back to her office, she caught a glimpse of two young men in a room. One orange haired man and one chubby faced man. It wasn’t the bright orange hair that caught her eye. It was the chubby faced man. He was doing some fancy footwork with a football. The other man was quietly watching at the sidelines. But it wasn’t his fancy footwork that made her stop in her tracks and stare at these two men.

Why on Earth are they playing football in a room. Okay not actually playing football but still.....there’s mirrors everywhere in this room. If he’s not careful, one of them is bound to break.

The chubby faced man stopped playing with the ball and held it under his arm when he saw Krystal awing at him in the corners of his eye. He turned to stare at Krystal. The other man followed suit. A small smirk formed at the corners of their mouths.

“Hey. You must be new here!” the chubby man exclaimed ecstatically.

“I’m Luhan. This is Minseok. You are?” the other man continued as ecstatically as the first man.

Krystal lightly shook her head to restart the wires in her mind. She was getting more and more dazed by the minute.

“Ah, I’m Soojung, the new curator. Nice to meet you guys, I guess...” Krystal rubbed the nape of her neck and flashed an awkward smile.

“I was just wondering, what are you guys doing?” she continued while looking directly at the football that Minseok was holding.

Luhan and Minseok turned to face each other and smiled knowingly. Luhan glanced at him shoes before looking back at Krystal.

“I guess you are really new here. We’re the creative directors here. And we get real creative. Like this,” he turned around, gestured towards the mirror that was directly opposite them and nodded his head at Minseok.

After acknowledging Luhan’s nod, Minseok took the ball, threw it up in the air and kicked it towards the mirror. All three of them then covered their ears on impulse. The ball went exactly towards the centre of the mirror and made a huge crack on it.

“HOLY WHAT DID YOU JUST DO?” Krystal’s face had just turned white from amazement.

“You’re asking the wrong question. Tsk,”

“WHAT?”

“The question should be ‘Why didn’t the mirror shatter into a million pieces?’” Minseok said with a satisfied look on his face.

“That’s a good point. Why didn’t it? Wait a minute....what exactly are you guys doing?”

“The reason is that mirror over there is extra-durable. That’s what the shopkeeper said anyways. But that’s not the main point. The main point here is if there is enough power exerted onto the ball with the accurate angle, there will be just enough force to create a small crack in the middle of the mirror and if the crack is wide enough...”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Krystal held up her hands and interrupted Minseok’s long speech which she barely understood.

“Yes,” Minseok gave her the eye. No one interrupted him in the middle of his explanation.

Krystal stared blankly at them.

“It’s okay. He always does this. Don’t mind us. We do this all the time. You’re just going to have to get used to seeing us doing weird things around here,” Luhan broke the silence.

He walked towards Krystal and led her who was still in an apparent daze (again) towards the door. A ‘they never understand’ was heard behind them. Krystal muttered a short thanks to Luhan and headed back to her office.

My mind is so messed up right now.

Krystal sat on her chair. She tilted up her head and closed her eyes.

BANG

The door swung open. Krystal sat upright. Her eyes opened wide. As soon as she saw the figure at the doorframe, she rolled her eyes.

 Kris Wu Yifan. Bloody hell you can make an entrance.

“Hi. Sorry about that. There must be something wrong with the door,” Kris proceeded to gaze and touch the doorframe.

Krystal rolled her eyes again.

“Well...” she snapped Kris out of his affair with the door.

“Ah, well you see, I’ve forgotten about your work this morning. I was supposed to bring the paperwork for you to start working on the new pieces of sculptures we brought in but I got caught up in something,”

“And...”

“Well, since you have no work to do today, you can leave early,”

“Oh...”

“Let’s just call it a small gift from me. I heard from Baekhyun you had a rough day. I don’t know what that means but yeah, you can go now.”

Krystal pupils dilated and her eyebrows went up an inch.

“Don’t give me that surprised look. I’m a nice person. Now go before I change my mind. Oh, and don’t forget to come early tomorrow. I’ll have the paperwork ready for you to start on by tomorrow morning,”

“Ahhh. Yes, yes. Thank you sir,” Krystal hurriedly stood up and gave multiple deep bows before proceeding to scan her office for her belongings.

As soon as Kris left the room, Krystal gave out a deep sigh of relief and sat back on her chair. Krystal was getting exceptionally hungry. Starving, to be precise. And delusional, she thought. She hadn’t had breakfast nor did she have lunch and it was already 3 o’clock. At least now her boss had given her permission to leave early she could go home and eat.

Well time to go home now. I’ll stop by a restaurant somewhere and have a hearty meal.

She packed up her belongings (not that she brought much with her anyways) and staggered off lazily towards the front door of the building.

“Hey, miss. The front door this way if you’re looking for it,” a deep voice exclaimed.

Krystal turned her head to the direction of the voice. She squinted her eyes to see the man that called out to her. She shook her head disbelief and started to rub her eyes. Was she seeing double...or maybe triple.

“Um, isn’t that the front door?” she pointed her hand towards the direction she was heading.

The man who was dressed in white security uniform let out a loud chuckle.

“No miss. That’s the back door,”

“Ah,” Krystal scratched her head and gave a meek embarrassed smile, “I know this might sound really weird but can I ask you question?”

“Sure,”

“Do you know Hyobin?”

“Hyobin? The receptionist? Yes. Nice guy. Unlike the other receptionist, Sehun,” his face scrunched up a little when he mentioned the name Sehun, “Is there something you want to know? He’s probably at the reception now,”

“Ah, no, no. Just asking. And may I know who you are?”

The man gave another loud chuckle.

“You’re very peculiar, you know that. I’m surprised you couldn’t guess from my uniform.  I’m the gallery’s security guard. Head of security actually. Kim Jongin. Pleased to meet you miss,”

Krystal’s eyes fell to the name tag that was pinned to the security guard’s uniform. KIM JONGIN. She scratched her head again and laughed meekly.

“You’ll be seeing me around then. I’m Jung Soojung, the new curator here. I need to go now. Thanks for the info. Nice too meet you too. Ah, and the front door’s that way right,”

Jongin’s mouth formed a small O and nodded his head at Krystal while gesturing his hand towards the direction of the front door. Krystal nod back and hurriedly went towards the direction pointed out.

Well that was fun. Another person who looks exactly like Hyobin. Or is it just me? But I’m sure they look the same. Their eyes, their nose, their lips, their jaw line. Exactly the same. Well at least I didn’t make a fool of myself like I did with that caretaker before.

Krystal shook her head. She was definitely going crazy. Once she had reached the reception, she turned to the reception desk. She was about to go up and speak to Hyobin about the funny incidents that occurred throughout her eventful day when she realised that the person behind the desk was Sehun, not Hyobin.

“Hey, where is Hyobin?”

Sehun glanced up from his phone and gave the most annoyed look and shrugged.

Well that was VERY helpful.

Unexpectedly, once Sehun went back to focus on his phone, he mumbled a ‘He must have gone to the toilet.’  A very distinct lisp escaped Sehun’s mouth.

A small smile unknowingly crept up Krystal’s face. It wasn’t the cute lisp; it was more like the way that Sehun actually responded to her query that made Krystal smile.

 “Thanks,”

Just as Krystal was about to turn and walk away, another mumble was heard from the desk. It was more like a small ‘hmm’ but Krystal made up her mind that it was probably Sehun’s way of saying you’re welcome.

Not such an like they make out you to be, Oh Sehun.

She turned back to face Sehun and gave her brightest smile she could even though Sehun probably wasn’t looking. Then she turned back and walked out the front door.

“Well, that was the craziest day ever,” she whispered to herself and she made her way towards her car. Her mind played all the weird and wacky incidents that happened earlier that day. Having a gay boss who apparently had a for doors, meeting 3 people who looked exactly the same, finding out she had a workmate who was kept a stash of drug in the most peculiar place and meeting 2 men who apparently were making art from extra-durable mirrors and a ball was certainly an eventful day. She was curious why all this happened on her first day of work. It might be the fresh air in Seoul, she thought.

Or it must have been the crack I inhaled earlier.

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a/n

i must have been out of my mind when i wrote this orz sorry in advance. i just had to write a hyostal/taestal/kaistal fic but i ended up doing crack. its more of a krystal-centric fic lol. i wrote this for a friend of mine but since she doesn't want to be friends with me here on aff i cnt tag her -.- if you're reading this, i hate you! and comments appreciated !