"That ty vampire."

It had been almost a week since Jisoo had gotten banned into the archives. On top of the incredibly boring job of sorting thousands of dusty files in alphabetical order (without being able to open them to satisfy his burning curiosity), Seungcheol had ordered the other Unit S members not to talk to him. Therefore the only people who had visited him in the windowless room had been Chen, who had taken his sweet time to rub in that the monk was currently earning less since he wasn't doing any assignments, and Seungcheol himself, who had told him that his first training session would be on Friday before he had disappeared without another word.

There was also a Human – or at least Jisoo assumed that she was human - who brought new files from time to time, only to silently dump them onto a table and leave.

It was absolutely maddening. That wasn't a simple punishment anymore; that was clearly workplace bullying.

"Why’s he such an , seriously," Jisoo whined and swallowed another shot. The strong alcohol burned in his throat.

His attempt to find someone to rant to had brought him to Tao's lab. The shaman had been on his way home when Jisoo had grabbed and bribed him to get dinner together.

"Well, you went against his orders." Tao flipped the sizzling meat on the small grill in the middle of the table while the monk clutched his glass as if he was drowning. "You're lucky that he went easy on you."

Loud voices and laughter rang through the stuffy air. Smoke tickled their noses.

"Urgh, I only wanted to help that poor woman! Can’t blame me for that, no?" Jisoo reached past the side-dishes for the next bottle of soju and opened it with an expertly flick of his wrist. For a few seconds, he stared at the bottle cap in his hand before he sent it flying over his shoulder. The alcoholic haze made it easy to ignore the disapproving frown in front of him.

"Don't you think you've had enough? That's the third bottle."

"Hah? You taking me for a lightweight?" Such an attack on his masculinity couldn’t be tolerated. "In ma best days, I drank five bottles alone!" The monk puffed out his chest and downed another shot. A drop of soju ran down his chin.

"Impressive," Tao said drily. "And why do I have to watch you destroying your liver?"

Jisoo blinked at him after setting down the glass, his eyes already quite heavy-lidded. "Eeh, you're my only friend here; 'course we gotta drink together." Tao raised an eyebrow. "And you don't try to eat me," the monk added as an afterthought. He giggled. "You're a nice guy. Come on, one more." Jisoo poured the reluctant Human a second shot who accepted his fate without another word.

It took the monk half an hour to finish the third bottle while his complaints got louder and his speech more and more slurred. At one point, the shaman excused himself to go to the toilet while Jisoo remained hunched over the table, playing absentmindedly with their left-over kimchi.

Thanks to his ty partner, he hadn’t been able to attend any meetings and he still hadn’t been able to get closer to his other unit members. Not that he necessarily wanted to; the thought of seeing Soonyoung again was still terrifying and most of the other guys hadn’t seemed too happy about his presence – but he still wanted to be at least on neutral terms with them. Additionally, he still wanted to know what kind of Beings they were. It had been two weeks since he had joined and he was still clueless. Wasn’t that unfair?

He dropped a small piece of kimchi onto the grill and watched it shrivel.

Neither Chan nor Jihoon had come to see him in the archive. It had been Seungcheol’s order not to visit him but who would listen to such a thing anyway? It was probably all fun and games for them to make him feel lonely. They were probably laughing at his misfortune together. Stupid Beings. Stupid Seungcheol and his stupid punishment.

The sharp smell of burning food permeated the air and Jisoo glared at the kimchi that was slowly turning black.

Fine. He wouldn’t be the one to make the first step! They could stay away forever for all he cared. Screw them.

He reached for the soju bottle, knocking it over in the process.

It was empty. Why was it empty already? He needed more. It had been so long since he last had alcohol. Three years? Maybe more. And now he was craving a cigarette.

Jisoo his dry lips. Where was Tao? They had to celebrate his freedom. No more prayers at 5 am in the morning. No more teachers who whacked him over the head when he fell asleep during meditation. The only thing he missed were his roommates.

No. He wouldn’t let himself get depressed.

He looked around, swaying on his seat, until his unfocused eyes made out the mop of Tao’s black hair a few tables down the room. He was talking on the phone while walking towards him.

Enthusiastically, Jisoo waved and gesticulated towards the bottle. "Taaaaao! More soju! C’mon!"

The shaman stopped walking and grimaced before he turned towards the bar.

Jisoo sighed in content and focused back on the piece of charcoal that had once been kimchi. At least one person had his back. Humans were better after all. Tao’s only flaw was that he wasn’t drinking enough. He needed Minghao here.

Hanging out, getting drunk out of their minds, hitting on girls and then making fun of each other after they had failed. Good times.

The craving for a cigarette grew stronger.

The monk almost fell off his stool when something cold and wet suddenly touched his cheek. "What the fu-!"

"Here," Tao said and placed a beer bottle in front of him before he sat down.

"I wanned soju," the monk whined but stopped once Tao shot him an annoyed look. He didn’t want his new best friend to hate him.

They stayed silent, both absorbed in their thoughts, while Jisoo sipped his beer, spilling some from time to time, and Tao ate the remaining meat. The silence between them persisted until the shaman spoke up. "Oh look, you’ve got a guest."

It took a moment for Jisoo to comprehend the words through the haze that was clouding his senses.

Why was someone disturbing them now? They were enjoying themselves. Letting loose. Having a good time.

While the shaman got up from his seat, Jisoo frowned, attempting to turn without toppling off the stool, and-

An unpleasant mixture of frying fat, cooked meat, smoke, alcohol and sweat assaulted Seungcheol as soon as he stepped into the restaurant. His nose wrinkled in response without him being able to stop it. He'd never been fond of places where many people gathered; unlike the rest of his species, he liked being alone.

It took him a moment to filter out the familiar scents of Tao and Jisoo. He walked in their direction, weaving through tables, Beings and Humans, until he could make out the familiar grey monk robe and Tao's relieved expression. It seemed that the shaman had been on the look-out.

"Oh look, you’ve got a guest."

He made it sound as if this 'guest' was here out of his own free will. As if he hadn't called him ten minutes ago, telling him to come and take care of his unit member.

The monk turned - not without swaying on his stool. Tao had not exaggerated when he had said that Jisoo was completely wasted; once Seungcheol focused on him, he could smell the alcohol in his blood.

This Human was so utterly different from his former partner that it was almost laughable. Almost.

His face was flushed and Seungcheol tried not to focus too much on it while the corners of Jisoo's mouth immediately turned downward at the sight of his leader.

Amusing, really. As if he were happy about having to babysit him.

"Whatta you doin' here?" the Human slurred. "Go away."

The robe he was always wearing so proudly