By Zephyria 
Ha-jin, wearing a raincoat, used a long umbrella he’d found in the bathhouse to protect Pie’s slender body. Beside him, Eden walked with the hood of his windbreaker pulled up.
Thanks to the drizzle that seemed like it would never stop, they were able to make their way along the road with ease. Instead of struggling through the forest path, they moved onto the road, which significantly shortened their travel time.
Neverland was now only about two hours away. A tension Ha-jin hadn’t felt before settled on his face as he neared his destination. An intangible anxiety lingered in his heart, but he consciously tried to distract himself and push the thoughts away.
Perhaps because he was noticeably quieter, he felt Eden glancing at him from time to time. But instead of offering trivial interjections or questions, he simply walked in step with him.
No particular conversation passed between them, but Ha-jin could tell that he was being considerate of his state. As if he fully understood the worry about the worst-case scenario more than the joy of reunion. Instead of saying everything would be alright, Ha-jin found great comfort in Eden’s solid presence by his side.
Lost in thought, the two entered a new neighborhood. Bright sunlight shone intermittently through the thick, dark clouds.
Ha-jin blinked slowly, mentally familiarizing himself with the surrounding scenery. On the right side of the road was a central commercial area with a cluster of hospitals, and on the left were warehouse-style home goods stores and apartment complexes. After passing an elementary school with a large playground, they came across a small neighborhood stationery store.
Just as he was about to pass it by, Ha-jin’s shoulder was suddenly grabbed.
“Wait here for a moment.”
“Huh?”
Eden said that and disappeared into the stationery store, its door broken and tattered. Ha-jin stood in front of the store with a bewildered expression, and it wasn’t long before Eden came back out.
“Why suddenly here?”
“Take this.”
Instead of explaining, Eden held out something familiar to Ha-jin. A rectangular, heavy Card Deck rested on his white palm. Surprise gradually spread through the eyes looking down at the playing cards.
“It seems like Do Ha-jin’s fingers can’t stay still. I saw you playing with the leaves earlier.”
It was a common occupational hazard for magicians. They couldn’t stand the feeling of their hands being empty, and they had to be holding something and moving their fingers busily to feel satisfied… Even while talking, they would constantly fidget with their hands, a habit that often earned them scolding for being distracting.
Moreover, today, with the added tension of worrying about Jun-seok, his fidgeting was even worse than usual. Ha-jin realized that Eden was paying quite a bit of attention to him and blushed.
“I didn’t even think of it. Thank you so much.”
Of course, the playing cards he had gotten were cheap poker cards made of plastic, not for Magic, but they were much better than nothing. As if possessed, he tore open the paper packaging, and a plastic case containing the cards popped out.
The thin box, which looked like it would break easily if dropped, had a terrible finish, but it was enough to bring a pleased smile to his face. Ha-jin habitually took out the two Joker cards and put them in his pocket, and then he noticed another item in Eden’s hand.
“What is that…? Why do they sell something like that at a stationery store?”
“I don’t know. It was in a pile inside the counter.”
Eden shrugged and stuffed a large box of condoms into the front pocket of his backpack. He didn’t want to act innocent after they’d already had sex, but Ha-jin’s ears inevitably turned red at the sight of the ridiculously large number of condom boxes.
“Jeong Tae-geon, you’re really horny.”
Eden glanced at his dumbfounded expression and suppressed a chuckle. Condoms, which could be used as water pouches in an emergency, could hold up to 1 liter of water. It was only brought as a survival item, but he didn’t bother correcting Ha-jin’s misunderstanding.
He wondered what his reaction would be if he revealed that he planned to shoot his semen into his hole without condoms in the future.
“I brought a lot, so let’s try to use them all up soon.”
When he said that with a serious face, Ha-jin coughed and cleared his throat.
“W-we don’t have time for that.”
“Time can be made.”
“There’s not enough space either….”
“Outdoors isn’t bad either.”
Ha-jin, realizing that it was a conversation he couldn’t win, quickly shut his mouth. Instead, he carefully put the poker cards he had gotten into his bag, cooling down his flushed face.
After fanning himself and starting down the road again, Pie suddenly growled and lowered his body. Startled by the sudden alertness, Ha-jin and Eden froze and looked around.
“…….”
“…….”
The sound of rain falling on the asphalt and the sound of their small, tense breaths filled the silent space. They stood still for a while, rolling their eyes around, but they didn’t see any obvious signs of danger.
‘…What is it?’
Did he see a passing bug or something? He was following Pie’s gaze, who was still growling and staring at something.
“…Aaaagh!”
A piercing scream and a hubbub of noise erupted from afar. Startled, Ha-jin dropped the umbrella he had put on Pie as if throwing it away and hurriedly rummaged through his bag. While frantically searching for the pliers he had put in, he heard the sound of someone rolling and running across the ground.
A Zombie? But the rain hadn’t stopped yet, and Pie’s reaction wasn’t as intense as usual.
Then Eden hid Ha-jin behind him and gripped his axe tightly. Ha-jin, suddenly being protected, desperately pulled on the hem of his top as he tried to step forward.
“What are you doing? Don’t step forward, just hide with me!”
He looked around urgently, but unfortunately, there was no suitable place to hide. He was wondering if he should run back to the stationery store. Then, a woman was seen running towards them, tears streaming down her face.
The woman, spotting the two, shouted loudly.
“Help me! Save me!”
Her voice, filled with fear, seemed to transmit fear just by listening to it. The woman, who had already arrived in front of them, collapsed into Ha-jin’s arms.
“Ugh…!”
He reflexively caught her slender body and fell on his butt. At the same time, a group of men appeared en masse from the direction she had run from.
Ha-jin pushed the woman off his body and struggled to raise his upper body. Even in the midst of the urgency, a look of bewilderment appeared on his face.
The woman, who was crying so hard that her eyes were swollen, smelled amusingly of flowers. Not a figurative expression, but literally the scent of real flowers.
‘Perfume?’
In addition to the overly sweet smell, a clean shampoo scent was emanating from the woman’s body. He had never seen anyone walking around in this era, in this neighborhood, with such a neat appearance, so the question could only grow.
While he was quickly examining the woman, who was trembling and begging to be saved, a vile voice was heard from beyond.
“Our pretty girl, you’re running unnecessarily fast, aren’t you?”
He was momentarily stunned by the cheesy line that wouldn’t even come out in a third-rate movie. His arm was grabbed roughly, and his body was lifted up by a strong force. The woman in his arms also stumbled and stood up, following Ha-jin.
It was none other than Eden who forcibly pulled Ha-jin, who was entangled with the woman, to his feet.
“Get off.”
He glanced at the woman with an emotionless face. Hiccup…! She swallowed her sobs and hesitated, hiding behind Ha-jin. Meanwhile, curses and sexual harassment were constantly being heard in his ears.
“I haven’t done anything yet, but if you keep running away, I’ll be sad, huh?”
The men in front of him reeked of filth and kept uttering the disgusting nickname of pretty girl. One of them even pulled his pants down to his thighs and performed a bizarre act of bouncing his pelvis.
“Hic… crazy bastards, really….”
The woman shuddered at the nauseating harassment and desperately hid behind Ha-jin.
Ha-jin considered the possibility that the woman and the group in front of him were in cahoots, but it seemed unlikely. The appearance of the woman, whose neckerchief was clean even though she was soaking wet, and the men who reeked of filth were not even comparable.
He quickly scanned the white backpack hanging on the woman’s shoulder. Surgical latex gloves and a stethoscope were in the half-open bag, and a name tag with ‘Seong Da-yeon’ written on it was hanging on the front pocket.
Then, a man with a knife scar on one cheek stepped forward and called out to Eden and Ha-jin.
“Guys. If you have any sense, you should just get out of here, don’t you think?”
No sooner had the ridiculous words ended than Ha-jin glanced at Eden. Sure enough, his face was full of annoyance.
Ha-jin’s situation was no different. He had to get into Neverland before the rain stopped, but his nerves were on edge because the sudden appearance of these trash was delaying him.
Moreover, what they were trying to do now was not a simple robbery to survive. There was no sense of guilt on their faces as they naturally packaged the act of destroying the bodies and souls of the weak.
Ha-jin recalled the murderers he had encountered at Misan Ranch and suppressed the rising nausea.
Then, a shocking line popped out of Eden’s mouth.
“I don’t care, so take the woman or leave her, do whatever you want.”
Ha-jin turned to look at him with a wide-eyed expression, as if he had been hit hard on the head. The woman also screamed wildly, seemingly surprised by the unexpected situation.
The man with the knife scar on his face burst into a satisfied laugh at Eden’s unhesitating offer.