Nomadic Dwarf

Kim Dokja was something of an enigma—powerful, maddeningly unreadable. Still, he held people gently, soft and nurturing where no one else was. He was the worst kind of person—a bastard that gave parts of himself to protect the people he loved most.

Today, Yoo Joonghyuk would realize just how much Kim Dokja was willing to sacrifice to keep his loved ones safe.

Extra: The Shape of Memory

Joonghyuk had always been cold.

Before the Facility, he would have days when the cold would seep up his spine and crawl through his limbs, numbing his face and cheeks. On those days, he bundled himself sky-high in thick blankets, his baby sister cuddling close to him to warm him up, giggling under her breath.

This was one of those days.

Some stories were never meant to end happily.

“No. But I regret that it wasn’t enough.”

Or: Two emotionally compromised idiots have a conversation.

The one person who had been his anchor through years of pain. The same person who exposed his life to the world.

His mother.

In the quiet, Dokja crumbled apart.

Lucky for him, a certain squid knows how to help.

Or: a lesson in tea, touch, and warmth.

Even in the safety of the new world, he can’t sleep without the gnawing fear of dreaming again—of salvation, of safety, of comfort.

Yoo Joonghyuk, who has crossed lifetimes to reach him, now faces a single, endless task: to anchor a god who is afraid of his own dreams.

It is a simple truth—one that has remained unchanged for years, through the end of the world and everything that came after.

It remains true, even when Yoo Joonghyuk calls him in the middle of the night, voice warm with happiness, and says:

I’m getting married.