By Zephyria 
Ha-jin’s struggle to free himself intensified more than ever as he spotted his struggling lover. Sticky sweat seeped from his palms.
“Come down carefully!”
He heard someone calling him again from below. Ha-jin gagged at the metallic smell seeping into his nose, but he didn’t lose his focus. He desperately held on with the single-minded determination to meet Eden safely without getting hurt.
He saw the woman who had arrived on the ground first get on the back of the man’s motorcycle. Ha-jin, with only the height of the first floor left, quickly jumped down. The impact made his knees throb, but he ignored it and quickly got to his feet.
Only after taking Eden’s warm hand held out in front of him did he finally release the breath he had been holding. He was pulled in strongly, and without even having time to say thank you, he quickly climbed onto the back of the motorcycle.
Ha-jin kicked away a Zombie clinging to the wheel, barely dodged an Aberrant aiming for his side, and desperately bit his lower lip. He felt like he would burst into tears if he opened his mouth.
He tightly hugged Eden’s back, soaked with sweat and fatigue, and heard Eden chuckle softly.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
Contrary to the relaxed question, the situation unfolding before him was not easy. Instead of answering, Ha-jin looked up past Eden’s shoulder. The motorcycle was swerving in an S-shape, dodging the Zombies like an acrobat.
Fortunately, thanks to the motorcycle ahead skillfully clearing the way, they didn’t end up cornered in a dead end. Ha-jin belatedly asked about his well-being.
“I’m okay…! How about Jeong Tae-geon?”
“I came back from the brink of death, but as you can see, I’m fine.”
They shook off the swarming Zombies and finally passed the broken ticket booth. As the tension eased, a hot flush rose above his neck. The hand holding Eden’s waist trembled.
Having escaped the crisis of death was only temporary; Ha-jin’s face turned blank as he remembered Pie, who had run away earlier.
“Jeong Tae-geon, we have to find Pie…!”
Eden nodded, as if telling him to calm down, at the urgent touch on his shoulder.
“Look ahead.”
“Yes?”
“He’s over there.”
Ha-jin cast his gaze beyond, as if possessed. The first thing that caught his eye was the red motorcycle in the messy valet parking area, and the man and woman standing next to it.
The woman, who had been waiting for Eden and Ha-jin with her arms crossed, stepped aside. Then, Pie’s long torso, sitting proudly, came into view. A dampness gathered in Ha-jin’s eyes as he spotted Pie.
Eden, noticing the unusual breathing, glanced back at him.
As he finally sniffled, a sigh that resembled a smile escaped Eden’s lips. Ha-jin had been bravely riding the Gyro Drop, but from the moment he got on the bike, he had been trembling and holding back tears.
Eden didn’t know exactly what emotion it was, but he felt that his lover clinging to his back was very admirable and lovely.
They passed the wrecked vehicles and stopped the motorcycle where Pie was. The woman asked, as if she had been waiting, in a rapid-fire manner.
“So, what are you going to do? Are you coming with us, or not?”
Ha-jin got off the bike and hugged Pie’s neck tightly as he wagged his tail and approached. He let out a sigh of relief and slowly raised his head.
“Where is it that you said your sibling is? Is it… very far from here?”
“No. It’s only about 20 more minutes by motorcycle.”
She frowned, smoothing out her hair, which was soaked with rain and sweat, with her fingers.
“You don’t have to come if you don’t trust us.”
She couldn’t ignore Ha-jin’s desperate eyes, who had come to save his family, so she had unintentionally meddled, but she didn’t want to do good deeds while being treated like a liar.
“We saved your lives thanks to you, so we’re giving you one last chance. Oh, of course, this whole mess happened because you ignored us and came inside Neverland.”
The woman added, as if blaming them, but her attitude towards Ha-jin and Eden was definitely much more relaxed than before. The man also nodded quietly beside her, as if agreeing with her words.
Eden glanced at Ha-jin. As if waiting for their eyes to meet, his puppy-like face was looking at him anxiously.
There was still no justification for trusting the man and woman, but there was no reason not to believe their words either. If they had bad intentions, they wouldn’t have followed them inside at the risk of their lives.
Besides, Eden couldn’t ignore Ha-jin’s desperation to grab at straws. How could he, as a third party, say anything about the perfect opportunity to confirm Jun-seok’s fate?
“Let’s go with them.”
At his calm words, Ha-jin looked like he was about to cry again.
❖ ❖ ❖
@Gold Spoon
The place they arrived at after escaping Neverland was a campsite in the forest. Behind the blood-stained building labeled “Welcome Center,” five RVs and torn tents were lined up in a row.
Bloodstains and burn marks remained like scars everywhere. Ha-jin recalled the nets and Improvised Explosive traps they had encountered on the way to the campsite. He didn’t know the details, but it seemed certain that the man and woman had been fighting a fierce battle for survival to defend the campsite from external threats.
However, there was no sign of anyone at the place they arrived.
“It seems my sibling went out for a bit, so let’s wait first.”
The man accurately pointed out Ha-jin’s question and went straight into the RV. Soon, he came out with new clothes and said as he passed them.
“It’s better to wash up first. Come along if you want.”
His body was already soaked and smelled fishy and nauseating, so the two of them followed him into the public restroom without complaint.
“Only use the water in that bucket over there. Use the soap in front of the sink.”
While they were taking off their tops and washing up according to the man’s instructions, the woman walked into the restroom with heavy steps. Ha-jin was inwardly surprised but silently focused on showering and washing away the dried blood from his body.
After roughly washing her hair for a while, she lifted her face, dripping with water.
“You said your sibling was trapped in front of the Twister?”
His heart seemed to drop at that seemingly insignificant question. Ha-jin nodded, taking out new clothes from the bag Eden had brought.
“To be exact, I heard he was in the souvenir shop. Of course, it’s been a long time since I contacted him, so he probably wasn’t just there.”
“That’s right. When we went, there were only Zombies in front of it.”
“…….”
“But you never know. My sibling was rescued near there, so maybe he knows your sibling.”
“Thank you.”
Ha-jin’s mood didn’t improve at all despite the woman’s rough consolation. His heart seemed to be beating even harder than when he was hanging on the mini Gyro Drop earlier.
The four of them, who had finished showering briefly, went outside again. The early evening sky, where the rain had stopped, was being dyed in a strange color.
“Come sit here.”
The woman called out to Pie, Ha-jin, and Eden, who were standing blankly. She led them to a wooden table set up next to a white RV and squatted in front of an artificial fireplace.
A long pair of tongs stirred the blackened firewood. Soon, a few potatoes wrapped in foil came out.
“Eat.”
Ha-jin received the food with thanks. He had just engaged in a fierce physical fight with Zombies to survive, so his stomach was empty and his stomach was aching.
But strangely, he had no appetite. Was it because his worries about Jun-seok were growing like a snowball?
The woman, who was munching on the food, poked Ha-jin’s shoulder.
“My sibling will be here soon. He never listens, even if I tell him to stay put.”
“What about the others?”
“The people staying here?”
“Yes.”
“There are about six of us, including him, me, and my sibling. We usually don’t leave the campsite, but it seems they went out to get some medicine today.”
Ha-jin looked at the man stacking dominoes on the floor with empty beer bottles in the distance, then turned his gaze back to the woman.
“Come to think of it, I haven’t asked your names yet.”
“Lee Hee-soo. That’s Lee Hee-joon.”
“Are you twins?”
“Yeah.”
After briefly introducing himself, Ha-jin put the dry potato in his mouth. The pungent and savory smell of charcoal stimulated his sense of smell, and he soon regained his appetite. While sharing food with Pie and eating ravenously, Eden handed him a drink.
“Thank you.”
He drank the sweet fruit drink he had brought from the bathhouse, and he finally felt a little better. After a simple meal, they sat blankly at the wooden table, cooling their heads in the blowing wind.
“But is it okay to let strangers use water and share food like this?”
Ha-jin scratched his cheek, expressing his doubts about their kindness. After a moment of silence, the woman looked at the flock of birds flying away and let out a hollow laugh.
“I guess we felt a sense of kinship. I thought we were the only crazy people jumping into a fire to save family members who may or may not be alive.”
“When did you go to save your sibling?”
“I met Hee-sung a month ago.”
Ha-jin’s hand, which was sipping the remaining drink, stopped for a moment. He swallowed the sweet drink that had gathered in his mouth and slowly turned to the woman.
The woman, who had been looking at the sky, lowered her gaze as she noticed that Ha-jin had suddenly become silent.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Is your sibling’s name Hee-sung?”
The woman nodded, meeting his trembling pupils.
“Yes. Lee Hee-sung.”
‘I’m okay, I’m hiding with Hee-sung in the souvenir… shop in front of the Twi, ster now….’
No way.
Ha-jin’s lips slowly parted, and at the same time, he heard footsteps from somewhere. As if possessed, he turned to the entrance and saw a gaunt man entering the campsite.