By Zephyria 
He carefully pulled the rusty doorknob and opened the rooftop door. Eden, who had been standing with his arms leaning on the railing, turned his head to identify the uninvited guest who had suddenly appeared, then turned his gaze back.
Ha-jin stuck the heavy pliers in his back pocket and approached Eden. There was no reaction from him as he stood next to him.
The man was looking out over the city with his arms crossed. Just before dawn, a subtle apricot color poured over his hair.
Eden’s profile looked chillingly cold and empty. He had a face full of thoughts.
Come to think of it, he hadn’t seen him get a proper night’s sleep in the past week. It was an absurdly late realization.
Eden, who had been enduring Ha-jin’s gaze, turned his head. Their eyes met. This time, his eyes went to the silver brooch in Ha-jin’s hand. The silver brooch with the initials ‘HJ’ engraved on it shone brilliantly in the light. It was the brooch that had been on Ha-jin’s stage costume.
“Ah, this… Jun-seok gave me this brooch as a gift. He’s my younger brother.”
Ha-jin, who had blurted out words he hadn’t even been asked, fiddled with the brooch as a habit. Eden didn’t respond. Normally, he would have said he hadn’t asked, or that there was no need to say information he wasn’t curious about, but he was just gazing at the cityscape again.
Ha-jin also followed him and looked at the sunrise that was brightening his vision. The dawn sky, cleared of fine dust, was clear. Lush green mountains and buildings spread out in front of them. The large and small foundations of life were in a eerily quiet silence.
No people were visible, and only zombies with broken necks were wandering around the ruined city. It was ironic that the beautiful nature and the ruined city were harmonized like a painting.
“Do Ha-jin.”
Ha-jin, who was blinking with messy hair, turned his head. Eden’s lips, blooming red even in the stuffy sunrise, caught his eye.
“Let’s go together. To Dragon Cloud City.”
Am I still not fully awake from my dream? It was the words he had wanted to hear so much, but Ha-jin couldn’t react in any way. In the midst of his dazed state, his breathing gradually began to roughen. Relief and sorrow were rising from deep within his chest like a tidal wave. Finally….
“But there’s a condition.”
Ha-jin couldn’t open his mouth rashly and swallowed his saliva.
“We will never take anyone other than us as companions. No matter what situation we face, I can’t compromise on this. Do you understand?”
He nodded his head vigorously without even thinking. The sudden movement caused his vision to flash white for a moment. To regain his senses, Ha-jin tapped his cheeks a couple of times and barely focused his eyes. For some reason, he had the illusion that Jeong Tae-geon’s eyes were shining brightly.
“The condition is, ahem, is that all?”
When he asked in a hoarse voice, Eden continued.
“From now on, refrain from acting alone and do your best for the team. Since we’ve decided to go together, Do Ha-jin’s life is my life, and my life is no different from Do Ha-jin’s life.”
Ha-jin’s mouth slowly opened. It was because he finally realized that the meaning of ‘companionship’ that he had been shouting for and the meaning of ‘companionship’ that he was talking about were different.
Not just simple travel mates, but comrades in the battlefield clutching each other’s dog tags.
There must have been a reason why he had been pondering over his proposal for the past few days, which were short if short, and long if long. Thinking that it was his own way of accepting his people, Ha-jin was dumbfounded as if he had been hit in the back of the head. His past mistakes of lightly proposing companionship with clumsy flirting flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern.
‘To be honest, I’m in a situation where it’s hard enough to take care of my own people.’
Now he seemed to understand the meaning of those words. Looking into his serious eyes, it seemed that he had never taken this issue lightly.
“I’m thinking of looking around the hardware store when the morning breaks.”
Eden slowly patted Ha-jin’s shoulder, who was breathing heavily.
“The day will be quite long, so get some rest now.”
“Are you really planning to leave the day after tomorrow, no, tomorrow?”
“We have to move before it gets any hotter. It’s already late enough.”
“…….”
“Do you have anything to say?”
“…No, just….”
Ha-jin stared blankly at Eden’s bloodshot eyes and moved his lips.
“Thank you for accepting me.”
Eden, who smiled insipidly, turned his body towards the rising sun again.
“I feel the same way.”
A vague sense of relief filled him at that answer. Perhaps he wasn’t as much of a jerk as he thought, and hope began to adorn his head.
Ha-jin stared at Eden’s still-life profile for a moment before slowly turning his body.
❖ ❖ ❖
“Do you have ten lives? Do you have no muscles in your legs?”
To think that he might not be as much of a jerk as he thought, those words are completely canceled. There’s no jerk like this jerk.
Ha-jin was at the point where he wanted to gouge out his own eyeballs that had looked at Eden with satisfaction for a moment at dawn.
“Heok, heok… Just a moment, breathe, hua, let me catch my breath!”
“It’s not like you’re a newborn giraffe, who walks when I tell you to run at full speed.”
Eden grabbed Ha-jin by the scruff of his neck and led him to the corner. Even as he was being dragged away, Ha-jin looked at the dozen or so zombies stuck to the glass door of the hardware store and had a fit.
“Do Ha-jin, let’s build up your stamina from now on.”
Shibal…. This companionship was a mistake after all. Ha-jin, who wiped the sweat flowing under his chin, barely got up from his fallen body.
“My stamina, hoo, is enough.”
Surprisingly, stamina, flexibility, and agility were considered important virtues for a magician. In order to make one magic trick his own, he needed the stamina to endure tens of millions of practices, and he needed flexibility and agility to use the tools like his own limbs.
For this reason, Ha-jin was the type who didn’t neglect exercise, so he couldn’t bear the criticism that he was weak. Of course, his endurance had weakened because he hadn’t moved while being holed up in the motel….
At that time, Eden muttered in passing.
“Only your mouth is alive.”
“Mmm, yes?”
“I was talking to myself.”
Ha-jin, who was about to get angry, obediently shut his mouth thanks to the zombies threatening him by scratching the glass door with their fingernails. Squeak, squeak!! Kyaak! Kickkakakak! Goosebumps rose at the ear-splitting noise. He hid his body in a blind spot and swallowed his saliva into his throat, where the taste of blood was boiling.
Today, as soon as the morning broke, he had been led by Eden to the hardware store.
The hardware store was across from the motel, in the middle of the second alley. It wasn’t far in terms of distance, and there were no zombies in sight when they came out, so he wasn’t too worried, but after going out on the street for the first time in a while, his legs gave way and he fell.
Just in time, two zombies passing by the street ran at him excitedly, and Eden, instead of him who had fallen, hit the Aberrants’ heads with a hammer, causing them to cave in. In any case, he had once again owed him his life, and that was the situation so far.
“Pass me the newspapers in the corner.”
At Eden’s urging, Ha-jin picked up the newspapers he could see and handed them over.
Eden, who had spread out several newspapers widely, strode up to the glass door. The zombies that were left outside rushed at the glass door as if they were going to break it. The zombies with swollen eyeballs and eyelids were very aggressive despite the fact that they were decomposing.
Eden opened the water bottle he had prepared and poured water on the edge of the newspaper. Then, he slapped the damp newspaper on the glass window and sprinkled water on the rest of it. When he covered the entire glass door with newspapers, the movements of the zombies, who had been banging their foreheads mindlessly, began to subside.
Eden, who had blocked the zombies’ view, looked around the dark interior and searched for useful items. The hardware store, which was only about 5 pyeong, seemed to have been out of business for a long time, and the number of stocked items was poor.
“When we go back, keep your mind straight and run.”
He warned Ha-jin, who was still catching his breath.
“Hoo, y-yes….”
Ha-jin was dumbfounded by the fact that he was looking forward to the day when Eden would fall, even as he answered obediently.
What did I hear earlier? A newborn giraffe…? A silly, untimely laugh came out at the unheard-of creative curse.
Next time, he would definitely repay his life debt. Ha-jin, who grabbed his trembling legs, got up from his seat and immediately followed Eden.
Eden took out well-sharpened industrial scissors, thin wire, and various types of rope and handed them to Ha-jin. He only had a lot of rope, wondering what he was going to use it for.
“Aren’t we taking our weapons?”
“Can you run around carrying a chainsaw? It’s quite heavy.”
“…No.”
“Let’s look for more weapons at the mart.”
Eden, who knew the geography and stores in the area, confidently spoke about his next plan. Ha-jin nodded and searched for survival tools on his own, but Eden repeatedly rejected them, saying they were not practical.
The only thing that was useful was a mountain climbing bag placed in one corner of the hardware store. Ha-jin, who approached the dusty bag, stuffed all the ropes he had received from Eden into the bag. Just in time, he was able to find three flashlights and a large number of batteries in the toolbox hidden under the bag.
“I found flashlights and batteries too!”
“Take as many batteries as you can.”
There wasn’t much in terms of variety, but he had managed to get the essential survival items. Ha-jin put the industrial knife and scissors, four bundles of rope, flashlights, and batteries into the bag and slung it over his shoulder.