By Zephyria 
Incomplete breaths leaked from Ha-jin’s lips. His ribcage was already swollen to its limit, making it difficult even to inhale.
The sudden turn of events caused a throbbing in his temples and dizziness. The longer he locked eyes with Eden, the more his sense of reality seemed to fade.
Even as he tried to calmly retrace the situation, his memories were jumbled like a tangled skein of yarn. A helicopter, a chocolate bar, a Zombie searching for his mother, a steep hill, and Jeong Tae-geon looking down at him….
Just as he was about to raise his hand to slap his cheek, wondering if it was a dream, his wrist was seized with great force. Eden pulled the slumped Ha-jin to his feet. No sooner had he staggered to his feet than he heard a bark from somewhere, “Woof!”
Ha-jin flinched, startled this time. He whipped his head toward the sound, and the exuberant Pie came into view.
‘Pie…?’
Pie was sticking out his tongue and bounding toward Ha-jin. Only then, having finally grasped the situation, did he slowly open his mouth as he felt the dog’s stiff fur brush against his calf.
A familiar voice flew into his ear once more.
“You’re a mess.”
Jeong Tae-geon, whom he thought had left, was standing before him again.
A variety of emotions began to surface, one by one, in Ha-jin’s eyes, which had been unfocused all along.
“Huh….”
A hollow breath escaped his lips. Relief, resentment, bitterness, joy, sorrow, and surprise mingled together, causing his thick eyelashes to flutter as if an earthquake had struck.
Ha-jin was speechless for a long time, feeling the warm temperature of the hand gripping his wrist and the affectionate gaze. It was only when his body touched Eden that he realized how desperately he had longed for human warmth over the past few days. It felt as if all his skin would melt away, like a snowman in midsummer.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t keep my promise.”
Eden apologized for breaking his promise not to follow. As if fully understanding his complex and confused feelings, he raised his hand and carefully brushed away the blood and dirt from his cheek.
Then, a parched and cracked voice burst from Ha-jin’s dry lips.
“How did you track me all the way here?”
Instead of answering, Eden pulled something out of his pocket and placed it on his palm. It was a green flowerpot keychain with eyeballs. The doll, tattered and damp from being chewed on by Pie’s snout, lay pathetically on his large hand.
Ha-jin immediately recognized the keychain and let out another hollow breath. It was a doll he had given to Eden as a gift at the repair shop, but it was a keychain that had stayed in his hand longer until just before he left. He never imagined that he would use this to find him with Pie.
Eden, seeing him only blinking as if he had lost his words, asked him with a sly look.
“Pie got a lot of slobber on it, but do you want it back?”
Ha-jin lowered his gaze to Pie, who was sitting with the most innocent expression in the world. When their eyes met, his long tail swished back and forth across the floor as if he was happy. After barely catching his breath while looking at the cute, tawny snout, he raised his head.
“When did you start following me? What about the helicopter? What happened to the helicopter? Did Jeffrey and Byeol get away safely? Did they leave safely?”
As if he had come to his senses, Ha-jin unleashed a barrage of belated questions. Eden pressed down on the trembling skin under his eyes, as if telling him to calm down, and answered.
“I left around lunchtime yesterday, and the helicopter has been safely repaired. It’s also true that Byeol and Jeffrey were on the Transport plane that just passed by.”
“Why didn’t you go with them?”
“Do you have the Yongwoon Institute card key?”
At the non sequitur, Ha-jin’s chest swelled up like a balloon and then deflated. Having barely suppressed his excitement, he took out the white card he had carefully placed in his pocket. Eden received the Employee ID with Chun-beom’s face on it.
“I’ll keep this. It’s the only escape key, so it’ll be a problem if I lose it.”
At that moment, Ha-jin’s fists clenched. The words ‘the only escape key’ made him feel completely grounded in reality. This reckless and fearless man before him had finally followed him into hell.
“Are you… really crazy?”
“I knew you’d say that.”
Ha-jin tried his best to calm his trembling Adam’s apple, but he couldn’t hide the look of bitterness in his eyes.
“Do you even know why I left Jeong Tae-geon?”
“Then, Do Ha-jin, do you even know why I followed you all the way here?”
“…….”
“…….”
A heavy silence followed, but the gazes they exchanged burned as quickly as a lit fuse. It was an atmosphere where it wouldn’t be strange if something exploded. In the precarious and heated standoff, Ha-jin gritted his teeth and muttered.
“I want to punch you.”
Eden raised his eyebrows as if he had misheard and asked blankly.
“…What?”
In the middle of asking, his chest was pushed violently. Before he could even plant his feet, a fist flew toward his left cheek. Thwack――!
A burning pain flared up like fire on his cheekbone and inside his mouth. Caught off guard, Eden staggered and fell to the ground. He squinted his left eye and looked up at Ha-jin with a dumbfounded expression, as if asking what he was doing.
Perhaps the inside of his mouth had burst from the surprisingly sharp blow, as a bitter taste of blood lingered on the tip of his tongue. Eden ran his tongue over the inside of his mouth and spat a pinkish, bloody saliva on the floor. He had risked his life to come, and the answer he received was just a punch.
“…Haa.”
He let out a dumbfounded laugh and wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. However, no sooner had he gotten up than Ha-jin rushed at him again with all his might.
Eden instantly grabbed Ha-jin’s arms and waist, blocking the second attack. He didn’t intend to be docilely beaten a second time, even if he had been the first time.
“Do Ha-jin.”
Sensing the unusual atmosphere, Pie moved away from them and watched cautiously.
Ha-jin struggled desperately to escape from his grasp. Eden dragged Ha-jin into the bushes. Ha-jin, struggling, burst into tears, panting. As if he couldn’t understand at all, Eden furrowed his thick eyebrows.
“What are you doing right now?”
Ha-jin finally broke free from Eden’s grasp and pushed his chest hard once more. His trembling hands pushed against his solid shoulders. Eden, who had been taking the hits silently, let out a deep sigh.
“Stop it.”
“I wanted Jeong Tae-geon to be safe. I wanted you to get out of here!”
“I feel the same way.”
Eden swallowed his anger and grabbed Ha-jin by the collar. Excitement that they couldn’t suppress overflowed in their breaths, which were close to each other.
“Hit Jeong Tae-geon too.”
“Are you crazy?”
“I don’t care, just hit me.”
He knew he was making an absurd request, but Ha-jin just wanted to quickly cut off these tangled emotions like a skein of yarn. He should be prioritizing Eden’s safety above all else, but he couldn’t bear to feel relieved and happy first when he saw him again, and he couldn’t stand himself for being so pathetic and creepy.
Ha-jin couldn’t stand such a selfish version of himself, so he was pouring out his resentment in the wrong place. Of course, it would be a lie to say that his emotions weren’t at all involved in the punch.
“Hit me.”
When he brought his forehead close, Eden’s face contorted fiercely this time. He roughly let go of Ha-jin’s collar and muttered.
“You’re out of your mind.”
Eden, who had run his tongue over the torn flesh inside his cheek, warned Ha-jin.
“You’re acting like this because you think I really can’t hit you, but I won’t let it happen a second time.”
Ha-jin, feeling a sudden surge of murderous intent, inhaled sharply. He belatedly scanned Eden’s face slowly. Perhaps he hadn’t controlled his strength well, as his once-smooth cheek and cheekbone were slightly swollen.
As the heat in his head, which had been running high due to his excitement, cooled down, he finally felt the tingling in his knuckles. To think he had punched him in the face with all his might, to the point where his fist ached.
As his reason slowly returned, cold sweat trickled down Ha-jin’s back.
“…I’m sorry.”
When he offered a timid apology at the end of the suffocating silence, Eden conspicuously stroked his throbbing cheekbone.
“I was expecting you to at least swear… Ha, I never know where you’re going to bounce next.”
He pulled Ha-jin’s awkwardly standing arm and let out a deep sigh.
“Were you that unhappy that I came? Couldn’t you have at least said you missed me, even if it was a lie?”
Ha-jin’s wet eyes widened at the unprecedented tone, as if he was sulking. He was even more flustered because he had been preparing to be punched.
“You asked me why I followed you. I was just worried about Do Ha-jin too.”
“…….”
“Even when you left without saying goodbye, I tried to respect that choice. So, at least pretend to try to understand me, Do Ha-jin.”
Ha-jin gaped with a blank face, at a loss for words.
“I can’t go back now anyway. Let’s find Do Ha-jin’s brother first, as planned, and then go to the Yongwoon Institute.”
Eden, as if his mouth was uncomfortable, spat out blood-stained saliva roughly on the floor once more and turned around, adding his last words.
“Let’s rest early today and leave at dawn tomorrow. Unless you’re going to meet your brother looking like that.”
Leaving the bushes, he slung Ha-jin’s luggage, which had been thrown on the floor, and his own luggage over his shoulders. Ha-jin stared at Eden’s receding figure and let out a sigh that he had kept deep inside his heart.
Belatedly, the Zombie he had killed caught his eye. …It’s definitely not a dream. The moment he recognized that fact once again, Ha-jin was overwhelmed by the urge to rush over and hug Eden’s back tightly.