thereaderdownstairs



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  1. Public Bookmark 29

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    Summary

    In a desolate world ten years after civilization's fall, Kim Dokja has adapted to life as a supply deliveryman for the remaining survivors.

    But everything changes when an emergency broadcast reveals that the region's last major hospital has succumbed to a bizarre infection that brings the dead back to life. With questions swirling about its sudden emergence after a decade of survival, Dokja can only cling to whatever luck he has left against these horrors of man.

    Along the way, he encounters a lone wolf with a troubled past, whose only goal is to reunite with his little sister.

    If he plays his cards right... this unlikely partnership might just save the whole goddamn world.

    Language:
    English
    Words:
    22,389
    Chapters:
    5/?
    Collections:
    1
    Comments:
    26
    Kudos:
    159
    Bookmarks:
    29
    Hits:
    1,859

    14 Jul 2026

  2. Public Bookmark *

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    “You know how much my grandfather has been pushing for marriage,” Joonghyuk attempts to reason.

    “He won’t like me,” Dokja argues.

    Joonghyuk is used to this, of course. “He’s traditional, and you’re with,” he pauses, “my child. He’ll beat me once and tell me to wed you.”

    He said ‘my child’. Wow. “There’s nothing stopping him from suspecting that I was the one who seduced you.”

    At that, Joonghyuk starts looking him up and down. “I doubt he will.”

    “... What’s that supposed to mean?”

    Long-time friends Joonghyuk and Dokja fall into bed on an unlucky night and it produces... results. Naturally, Dokja attempts to flee, only for Joonghyuk to make an offer that he can't bring himself to decline, for some reason.

    Language:
    English
    Words:
    24,337
    Chapters:
    4/5
    Comments:
    251
    Kudos:
    924
    Bookmarks:
    186
    Hits:
    11,062

    14 Jul 2026

  3. Public Bookmark *

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    Summary

    “I suppose it’s less humiliating, the less people that know,” Kim Dokja said with a sigh. “I won’t lie and say I’m enthused, but I’m not unwilling.”

    Yoo Joonghyuk stared at him.

    Kim Dokja scowled back. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m giving you realistic options. It’s either me or Lee Seolhwa. I’m not letting you die.”
    .
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    Yoo Joonghyuk's pride gets him poisoned with an aphrodisiac. Kim Dokja's emotional constipation gets him stuck in A Situation.

    As if his life wasn't stupid or complicated enough.

    Language:
    English
    Words:
    18,450
    Chapters:
    1/1
    Comments:
    89
    Kudos:
    1,904
    Bookmarks:
    399
    Hits:
    17,379

    13 Jul 2026

  4. Public Bookmark 12

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    Summary

    Kim Dokja once believed it trickier to cheat those who’d been cheated before and had avoided such cases whenever possible; but the truth was far different than what he’d assumed. The most vulnerable were those who had indeed already been cheated—and who didn’t believe they could be tricked again.

    Such was always the case.

    The freshest of meat always tasted sweeter, but meat that had already been tenderized took away nearly half the effort of cooking it.

    Alas, Kim Dokja was not into men.

    OR

    Proud swindler and con artist Kim Dokja has no idea what to think when he encounters Detective Sergeant Yoo Joonghyuk due to unforeseen circumstances. But the occult world is no laughing mater and neither is the fact that both men are determined to put a bullet in the other's head.

    Language:
    English
    Words:
    9,884
    Chapters:
    2/?
    Comments:
    16
    Kudos:
    31
    Bookmarks:
    12
    Hits:
    300

    11 Jul 2026

  5. Public Bookmark 35

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    Summary

    Yoo Joonghyuk went into the prison expecting to die.

    He did not expect to find someone worth living for instead.

    Kim Dokja has been buried underground so long he has never know the color of the sky. He laughs too easily for someone with nothing. Knows things he shouldn't. The guards won't look at him directly. And the mark over his heart burns in the dark like something that has been waiting a very long time.

    Joonghyuk tells himself it doesn't matter. That the man in the next cell is a means to an end. That whatever this is, it isn't something he needs to name.

    He has never been good at lying to himself.
    --------

    Some people are buried because the world fears what they might become. Joonghyuk doesn't care what Dokja might become. He just wants him to see the stars.

    Language:
    English
    Words:
    25,303
    Chapters:
    7/?
    Comments:
    152
    Kudos:
    198
    Bookmarks:
    35
    Hits:
    1,933

    08 Jul 2026