By Zephyria 
“Can’t sleep?”
Eden stroked Ha-jin’s cheek with the back of his hand as he kept tossing and turning. Ha-jin, who had been wriggling on the dusty blanket, nodded. Pie and Jeffrey were snoring loudly, fast asleep.
The unlit hangar was as dark as a cave. Ha-jin turned to Eden and whispered softly, just loud enough for him to hear.
“Why aren’t you sleeping, Jeong Tae-geon? You should go to sleep soon.”
“I’m planning to sleep after watching Do Ha-jin go to sleep.”
“Okay. I’ve closed my eyes, so you close your eyes too, Jeong Tae-geon.”
The neat hand that had been stroking his cheek now caressed Ha-jin’s eyelids.
“What are you doing?”
“Checking if you really closed them.”
“Pfft….”
Ha-jin, who muffled his laughter, grabbed the long hand that was feeling his face. Then, as if not to be outdone, he reached out and carefully caressed Eden’s face.
The smooth skin, without a single bump, was as soft as glutinous rice cake. As he went down a little further, sure enough, the short stubble on his chin tickled his fingertips.
To remember this sensation, Ha-jin carefully traced his face. Passing over the dry skin of his lips and the hollow of his philtrum, he reached the tip of his nose, which was as high as a mountain. After running his finger over the smooth bridge of his nose, this time his well-groomed eyebrows wrapped around his fingertips.
It was a meticulously thorough and obsessive touch. The careful touch continued as if performing some sacred ritual.
“……”
The magician’s fingertips, which could keenly recognize even the slightest change in the thickness of a card depending on the humidity, were more accurate and sensitive than any other sense. Ha-jin was vividly engraving Eden’s face onto his fingertips, a face he couldn’t capture in a photograph.
If he couldn’t remember his face in the future, he planned to recall the sensation he had engraved on his fingertips tonight over and over again. He wondered if he could be allowed that much greed. Ha-jin was quite desperate at this moment, to an extent that surprised even himself.
“Do Ha-jin. Did you wash your hands before touching me?”
“Stay still. I’m concentrating.”
Ha-jin gently caressed Eden’s slightly raised lips. A low voice softly chided him.
“Where are you going alone, being so clingy?”
“Jeong Tae-geon, what do you think is the reason people are amazed by Magic?”
Eden’s mouth closed at the sudden question. Ha-jin elaborated without removing his hand.
“It’s because it’s a first experience. Because it’s a completely new stimulus that they’ve never seen anywhere else.”
“……”
“Because their bodies float, defying gravity, or they reverse time and predict the future. Those are phenomena that they can’t experience before or after. Um, should I say they’re caught off guard? That new and amazing stimulus becomes deeply imprinted in their hearts.”
Ha-jin, who had finally stroked the tip of Eden’s chin, smiled quietly.
“So, Jeong Tae-geon, you’re like a first experience to me.”
He would probably never forget him for as long as he lived. Eden was no different to him than a Magic trick without a solution.
“I’m honored, I guess.”
Ha-jin, who finished speaking playfully, removed his hand.
Eden, who had been listening intently, grumbled as if he was dumbfounded.
“Isn’t it a bit unfair to say something like that when you’re leaving?”
Even without looking, he could easily imagine his face twisting strangely. Ha-jin chuckled and turned his body, which had been facing Eden, to look at the ceiling. He had been nervously worried that he might shed tears, but surprisingly, he remained indifferent throughout.
The relief that he had barely managed to protect Eden from danger was filling his heart tightly.
“Do Ha-jin.”
Instead of answering, Ha-jin slightly turned his head.
“Try to stay away from villages and rivers as much as possible and stick to forest paths. Of course, it will be much later, but never forget that safety is the top priority.”
Gray eyes, as if a drop of ink had been dropped into them, wavered for a moment at the unexpected advice.
“I packed a rope in your bag, so if you run out of weapons, try making your own as I taught you last time. I also packed more of the necessary medicines, but if it’s too heavy, just take out the saline solution and throw it away. It’s a time when people are more dangerous than Zombies, so try to travel alone as much as possible.”
“……”
“Do Ha-jin, you’ll be able to survive on your own without me.”
Ha-jin’s eyelids trembled slightly at the last words. A sudden tension rushed in, and his mouth became parched. He consciously exhaled evenly.
He focused all his attention on him, wondering what else he would say, but Eden didn’t open his mouth any further.
Surprisingly, that was the end of their conversation.
❖ ❖ ❖
Ha-jin got up before dawn. Pie, who noticed the presence of people, wagged his tail and pressed his body against Ha-jin’s legs. He gently stroked Pie’s back and carefully slung his luggage bag over his shoulder.
Unable to see well, he crawled on the floor and barely escaped the sleeping area, then crawled to the back door he had seen in advance and placed his hand on the doorknob.
‘It’s cold.’
Before opening the door, he turned his head and scanned the dark hangar. Suddenly, his heart began to beat as if it would burst.
Was this how Mi-so felt? Recalling her back as she bravely set off alone, Ha-jin tried to ease his tension.
After checking once again that he hadn’t left anything out of his bag, he knelt down in front of Pie, who was panting and guarding his back.
Holding back the words he wanted to say in his heart, he hugged Pie’s neck. As if sensing something strange, Pie began to desperately lick Ha-jin’s cheek, making a groan… Ha-jin quickly wiped his wet cheek with the back of his hand and got up.
“Goodbye.”
After whispering, he turned the doorknob. Creak…. This time, Pie put his front paws on Ha-jin’s back and clung to him. Ha-jin, who staggered for a moment, kissed Pie’s nose several times as if to soothe him.
At that moment, he sensed someone’s presence. Growing impatient, Ha-jin resolutely pushed away Pie, who was trying to follow him, and stepped outside. Click…! Pie’s whimpering could be heard through the closed door.
Covering his ears, he started walking as if running. It was still before dawn, but the illuminance was much brighter than in the dark hangar. As he walked mindlessly, a tall barbed wire fence came into view. Outside of it, round masses were clustered here and there.
Narrowing his eyes and looking closely, he finally saw the faces of people sitting on the street, asleep. Ha-jin forced himself to look away from the pitiful sight and walked towards the back gate.
He was still in a daze. Leaving Eden’s side. He couldn’t believe it at all. Was he perhaps dreaming? To come to his senses, he washed his face with his dry hands and pulled up the bag on his shoulder with all his might. Even while doing so, Ha-jin desperately tried not to think of his sleeping lover.
In front of the back gate, there was a young master sergeant leaning against the fence, dozing off. He erased his thoughts and approached him.
[Do Ha-jin!]
He heard someone calling him from somewhere. Surprised, Ha-jin reflexively turned around. Jeffrey was walking towards him, panting, through the dimly brightening dawn.
“Jeffrey…?”
Soon, a strong force snatched Ha-jin’s shoulder.
“Ugh!”
[You should have told me you were leaving, what are you doing?]
He dragged Ha-jin, who was staggering from the force, into a corner.
[Are you a thief? Why did you sneak out without saying goodbye at this early hour?]
“No, it’s just that I thought Byeol would cry a lot if I left in the morning, so I just wanted to sneak out before he woke up….”
[You heartless bastard. Seeing this, you and Eden are the same.]
Jeffrey glared at Ha-jin with reddened eyes. Feeling embarrassed, Ha-jin scratched the back of his neck for no reason.
“I didn’t know you’d wake up, I’m sorry.”
[Do it in English.]
[…Okay. But Jeffrey, I don’t have time to be doing this. What if Jeong Tae-geon wakes up and comes out….]
[What are you talking about? Eden is already awake.]
[Yes?]
Jeffrey sighed deeply in front of Ha-jin, who was asking back in a daze.
[Anyway, you’re all just obsessed with being cool… You met each other well. One leaves without saying goodbye, and the other pretends to sleep calmly even though he knows you’re leaving.]
[…….]
His bushy eyebrows were mercilessly furrowed as if he was resentful. After grumbling for a while, Jeffrey suddenly grabbed the banding of his pants and rummaged around inside his underwear.
[What, what are you doing?]
[Wait a minute.]
He was doing something strange, spreading his legs wide, and after rummaging around for a while as if looking for something, he finally straightened up. In his hand that came out of his underwear, there was a white card.
[Take it.]
[…Yes?]
[Take it quickly. It’s important.]
What…. Ha-jin stared intently at the card Jeffrey held out with an ominous look on his face. Looking closely, the card was an Employee ID. And it was one with the face of the person he missed dearly clearly printed on it.
As he was just blinking his eyes and looking at Chun-beom’s Employee ID, he shook the card as if urging him.
[It’s the Yongwoon Institute entrance key. Chun-beom said he loses things easily, so he asked me to keep it just in case, but I’m leaving here now, so I don’t need this card key anymore.]
[…….]
[Don’t you know what I’m saying? I’m saying that after you find your brother, go straight to the Yongwoon Institute.]
Only then did Ha-jin realize Jeffrey’s intention and raised his widened eyes.