By Zephyria 
Ha-jin, who had been catching his breath with his eyes closed for a while, slowly got up. He went to the right corner where Eden was standing and started trying to get a signal.
After struggling for about five minutes, Ha-jin finally put the phone to his ear. He picked up a dial tone that he hadn’t heard before. He suppressed his anxiousness and waited for about 30 seconds, and then Jun-seok’s voice came through.
—Hyung!
Ha-jin swallowed the sigh of relief that was about to burst out.
“Jun-seok, you’re safe, right? Where are you now? Are you in the dorm? Or are you working?”
—Hyung, I’m now, in… front of the Coaster…
The signal was bad. Ha-jin rubbed his sweaty palms on his thighs and calmly continued.
“Jun-seok, I can’t hear you very well right now, okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”
—I’m okay, now hiding with Hee-sung in the souvenir… shop in front of the Twister….
“Haa.”
Fortunately, he seemed to be hiding somewhere like him. Jun-seok was working as a Neverland cast member at the amusement park. Piecing together the broken voice, it was clear that he was hiding in the souvenir shop in front of the Twister ride.
—Hyung, what should we do? Can we meet…? What is this?
“I’ll find you, even if it’s late. Jun-seok, I’ll go even if it’s late,”
Chik, jjjik, chik—…
—I’m scared. Hyung, I can’t even get out….
“Pull yourself together and hang in there, Do Jun-seok. Got it?”
—Okay… I’ll wait….
“If it’s too hard to hold out there, go to the dorm or somewhere. I’ll check all the places you might be, so don’t worry, okay?”
—Okay… Hyung too….
The call was cut off around there. Ha-jin stared at the disconnected screen and bit his lip. The data display had completely disappeared, as if it had gone into airplane mode.
“Ha-jin, what did Jun-seok say? Is he safe?”
Mi-so, who had approached Ha-jin, put her hand on his shoulder. Ha-jin nodded and sat back down. After that, the internet, which had been working for a while, was completely cut off. Not to mention phone calls.
Fatigue was heavily cast over Ha-jin’s face as he sat back down. Ha-jin checked the time. It was just past 3 p.m. If things had gone as planned, it would have been the time to give thanks to the audience at the end of the closing remarks. When he thought about that, he felt drained in another sense.
He shouldn’t have started it in the first place. He shouldn’t have even tried to realize his ego with a solo stage or whatever. As the voices of the screaming audience and the faces distorted by terrible fear came to his mind, Ha-jin’s Adam’s apple bobbed.
It all… felt like his fault.
“Do Ha-jin.”
Mi-so, who noticed Ha-jin’s thoughts, called out to him.
“It’s okay.”
“…….”
“It’s not your fault.”
She patted Ha-jin’s shoulder once more and looked towards the door. The unidentified monsters were making strange sounds, rattling their throats and grinding their teeth.
As the warehouse fell into silence with each person lost in their own thoughts, Park Chun-beom carefully approached Eden.
“Excuse me, Director Jeong, can I talk to you for a moment?”
As Eden untied the rope around his arm and nodded, Byeol, who was in his arms, got up from his seat. The child, rolling his eyes, ran towards Ha-jin’s direction.
“Jeong Byeol.”
Eden, who got up from his seat, called out to Jeong Byeol as if scolding him. The child didn’t care and stopped in front of Ha-jin, shaking his shoulder.
“Magician Ahjussi.”
Ha-jin, who had buried his face in his palms, raised his head. His eyes were filled with embarrassment when he found the child.
“I want to sit on Magician Ahjussi’s lap.”
The child’s eyelids, who had stopped crying, were swollen like macarons.
“Ah… uh, okay.”
As Ha-jin nodded in confusion, Jeong Byeol quickly snuggled into his lap. At the same time, Ha-jin and Eden’s eyes met. Eden frowned.
“I told you to come here, Jeong Byeol.”
“I don’t wanna. I’m going to be with Ha-jin Ahjussi.”
“You—,”
“It’s okay with me. Go ahead and talk.”
Ha-jin, who blocked Eden’s scolding, shrugged as if telling him not to worry.
Eden, who was fiddling with his bloody eyebrow with his index finger, sighed deeply.
“Then, I’ll leave him in your care for a moment.”
Apart from his affection for his nephew, Jeong Byeol was a fatal weakness for him in the current situation. It was because it made Eden, who had never bowed his head to anyone, constantly make regretful noises.
If he had known this would happen, he wouldn’t have listened to his Hyung’s request to take Jeong Byeol on his business trip to Korea. He shouldn’t have cared whether he got homesick or not….
Eden suppressed a sigh and moved to the corner with Park Chun-beom. Park Chun-beom, who pushed up his crooked glasses, asked in a small voice.
“What’s Your Highness’s plan? Can we… get on the Transport plane?”
“We need to move to the rooftop of the building across the street by 5 a.m. tomorrow. You can come with us if you want, Manager Park.”
Park Chun-beom looked dazed at him as he spoke as if doing him a favor. He asked if he wanted to come with him. Of course, he was going to follow him…. Eden elaborated, as if he had misunderstood his expression.
“You can go separately if you don’t want to.”
“Yes? No, no! That’s not it. Then what is our destination….”
“Well. According to the exhibition manual, I think we’ll be moving to a first-class national security facility. Like an airport, a harbor, or a nuclear power plant. If that place is also devastated, we’ll go to a nearby island.”
Park Chun-beom swallowed hard and paused for a moment.
“Do, do you have any plans to go to Dragon Cloud City? I think I heard you mention the Dragon Cloud Research Institute earlier.”
“That’s assuming the worst-case scenario. ‘Evolution Tech’ is the only one with the technology to communicate with the other side of the world. I think you know better than I do since it’s Manager Park’s company.”
“So you’re not saying we’re going straight to Dragon Cloud City?”
“For now, the top priority is to evacuate to a safe place led by the Transport plane. The destination is not something we can decide.”
“…….”
“Is there a problem?”
Eden tilted his head, looking at Park Chun-beom, who was obsessively wiping the sweat from his forehead. Park Chun-beom hesitated and opened his mouth.
“It’s just that… my parents live on the outskirts of Dragon Cloud City, and it seems difficult for me to go and find them alone through this mess. Is there any way to get off in Dragon Cloud City in the middle? If you could just say something when we board tomorrow,”
Eden cut him off as if he didn’t need to hear any more.
“Manager Park.”
“Yes?”
“I don’t think you understand the situation at all.”
Eden habitually swept back his sweaty bangs. Unlike his gentle tone, his face was full of undisguised annoyance.
“Do you think the Transport plane is a taxi or something?”
Park Chun-beom swallowed hard as Eden let out an absurd laugh.
“Ah, that’s….”
“I understand your feelings, but it’s best to take refuge in a safe place for the time being and watch the situation. I have to do this much,”
Eden took a deep breath, barely holding back the words he was about to snap.
“If you’re worried about your parents, Manager Park, you can go separately. I won’t stop you.”
Chun-beom opened his mouth as he watched Eden turn around as if there was nothing more to say. He had been with him for five months, but he still couldn’t get used to his ruthless and merciless reason. It was still amazing that even obvious words hurt twice as much when Eden said them.
Depressed, Park Chun-beom turned around to go back to his seat. As the people who had been whispering and talking closed their mouths one by one to replenish their energy, the warehouse was once again enveloped in a gloomy silence.
❖ ❖ ❖
“Come here.”
“I don’t wanna.”
Jeong Byeol leaned his head against Ha-jin’s chest and waved his small hands. It had already been five hours since they had taken refuge in the warehouse. Eden sighed deeply as he watched Jeong Byeol, who was shamelessly clinging to Ha-jin and fulfilling his personal desires without even realizing he was being a nuisance.
“I told you to come here.”
“I don’t wanna.”
“You’re getting too sassy.”
It was quite an extreme expression for a child. Ha-jin, who had been blinking his sleepy eyes, was startled and lifted his eyelids.
“It’s because he takes after his uncle. His uncle is a swearer.”
Jeong Byeol, the person in question, was countering his words as if it were nothing.
“What, you little punk?”
“…Um, Byeol. Your uncle is worried about you, so stop now,”
“I like Ha-jin Ahjussi better.”
Perhaps because they had gone through a life-threatening situation together, the child kept trying to hug Ha-jin, who was practically a stranger. Ha-jin, who was in trouble, scratched his head, and this time Mi-so intervened.
“Your name is Byeol, right?”
The child, who had been wary of Mi-so for a moment, nodded.
“Your hair is very messy, so can Unni tie it up for you?”
“…….”
“Unni is good at tying hair. I can even braid it for you. Do you know what a braid is?”
“…I know.”
“Then come here.”
Mi-so skillfully coaxed the child. The child got up from his seat as if he were possessed and sat on Mi-so’s lap. Ha-jin massaged his numb knees and thighs and let out a small sigh.
When he raised his head, he met Eden’s eyes, who was staring at him intently. The man’s face had dried bloodstains that he hadn’t wiped off.