By Zephyria 
The four hid behind a container in the valet parking lot, surveying their surroundings. After dealing with a few Zombies who had chased them after hearing the motorcycle, they finally felt the murderous heat all over their bodies.
It was early morning, not even 8 a.m., but the humid air was already bearing down, and sweat streamed down their temples. They took turns drinking from a bottle of water they had brought, then reorganized their weapons and regrouped.
This operation was to be led by Hee-soo, who knew Neverland’s geography as well as Hee-sung. She spread out the tattered amusement park map she had brought from the campsite on the ground and reviewed Plan A once more.
“The moment we pass the ticket booth, Hee-sung and I will split off and act as bait, so you guys go straight to the Sky Cruise.”
Hee-soo drew a crooked circle with a red marker over the picture of the Sky Cruise. Then, she marked an X on the Rose Garden, which was on the opposite side of the cruise.
“I brought some Improvised Explosives. We’re going to detonate them in this park to draw the Zombies in the vicinity to one place. In the meantime, you guys go through the back door of the restaurant in front of the cruise….”
“Wait a minute.”
Ha-jin interrupted her. He had been silent the whole time, and his voice was hoarse. All eyes turned to him.
Hee-sung looked particularly surprised, because Ha-jin hadn’t said a word even last night in the bathroom when he was kowtowing. He hadn’t even shed a tear after hearing about Jun-seok’s death.
Frankly, everyone, including Hee-sung, was secretly worried about Ha-jin’s abnormal reaction.
“The bait operation won’t work.”
With that, Ha-jin pointed out the dangers and contradictions of Hee-soo’s plan one by one.
“Looking at the map, the rides surround the park. Even if you detonate the Improvised Explosives and get out right away, it’ll be hard to escape with the Zombies falling and the Zombies rushing in from all directions.”
He still looked dazed, like a man walking in a dream, but he didn’t stop moving his finger on the map.
“Besides, if the Improvised Explosives go off, all the Zombies from far away could be drawn to the park. If that happens….”
Ha-jin, who had been calmly expressing his opinion, suddenly stopped talking. Eden and Hee-soo looked puzzled by the abrupt end of his sentence, and Hee-sung lowered his head with a gloomy look, as if anticipating what he was going to say next.
After a moment of silence, Ha-jin spoke with difficulty.
“Jun-seok might move toward the park, too. It’s no use if we go to the cruise and miss him.”
A strange silence followed the end of his statement. Eden’s gaze went to Ha-jin’s fingertips, which looked more damaged than before. He felt a faint, inexplicable pain in his chest as he looked at the rounded fingernails, broken here and there.
Hee-soo, noticing the mood, carefully broached the subject.
“Then do you have another idea?”
Ha-jin looked at the map with a distracted gaze and nodded.
“You said there’s an Abandoned Ferris wheel in front of the cruise. I’ll go up there alone. Then I’ll be able to see all the Zombies in that area.”
The three people listening opened their mouths at the same time.
“What?”
“Do Ha-jin, you can’t do that.”
“Hyung, then I’ll go with you…!”
But Ha-jin didn’t seem to hear anything, and elaborated.
“No matter how high it is, Jun-seok will recognize me right away.”
Unlike his confident tone, his voice was still gritty, as if he had swallowed sand, and his eyes were as empty as hollow beads.
“But that’s too dangerous. What are you going to do without safety equipment?”
“Do Ha-jin, there are other ways. Plan B isn’t bad either.”
Hee-soo chewed her lips anxiously and shook her head.
“The entrance to the Ferris wheel is blocked by an iron gate. How are you going to get in? You can’t climb up there with your bare hands, it’s too high.”
Then Hee-sung timidly contradicted her.
“That’s not a problem. There’s a master key in the restaurant, and you can open all the restaurants and rides in that area with just that one key….”
“Hey, can’t you be quiet?”
Hee-soo slapped her brother’s swollen eyes with the palm of her hand, as if he had no tact. In the meantime, Eden tried to persuade Ha-jin several times, but the differences of opinion were not narrowed. After a fierce discussion, the four people who had changed their plan got up from their seats.
The two motorcycles headed toward the restaurant next to the cruise, where the master key was located. They took a shortcut to get rid of the Zombies and safely reached the hill where their destination was.
Ha-jin blankly pictured Jun-seok’s face among the many Zombies passing by. Like an audience watching a black comedy movie, he felt as if all of this was unrelated to him. Even the fear he had felt when he first came to Neverland was now just dull.
What if he didn’t find Jun-seok at all? If he believed that he had survived and was living tenaciously somewhere, wouldn’t the remaining days be a little more peaceful?
Ha-jin frowned at the chilling wind that stung his eyes, and prayed earnestly for a chance to escape.
While he was lost in thought, they arrived at the back door of the restaurant. While quietly dealing with the Zombies who had noticed their presence and rushed at them, Hee-sung, who had entered the restaurant first, brought out the master key.
The group hid among the weeds that came up to their calves. All procedures had to be carried out secretly so as not to be seen by the Zombies in order to survive, so they decided to wait quietly until the area was clear.
After 20 minutes, when their hunched backs were aching, Eden signaled. Now was the chance, with all the Zombies gathered below the hill.
“I’ll go.”
Hee-soo, who was small and nimble, got up with the key in her hand. She dashed toward the iron gate and easily opened the rusty lock. The three people followed her closely behind her defenseless back.
By the time a Zombie swaying like a seesaw at the bottom of the hill turned its head, everyone had already safely hidden inside the iron gate. Creak─! The gate closed with a chilling creak. The Aberrants, reacting to the sound, reoccupied the area, but fortunately, no dangerous situation occurred.
“It’s safe here.”
Hee-soo said, looking around with a limp. Except for the large Ferris wheel and the bathroom, the vacant lot was overgrown with weeds.
Ha-jin forced himself to ignore the worried looks of the three and walked toward the Ferris wheel. His face was serene as he looked up at the white structure that stretched out in all directions like a spider web.
Eden grabbed Ha-jin’s shoulder as he was about to climb up without hesitation.
“Let’s go up together. It won’t help me recognize my brother, but at least I can prevent a fall.”
“I’m not going to die.”
“That’s obvious.”
Ha-jin narrowed his eyes, and he sighed and added.
“I don’t know how this will sound, but Do Ha-jin’s safety is my priority. I don’t care about anything else. So listen to me.”
Eden indirectly expressed the reason why he hadn’t actively stopped Ha-jin’s dangerous choice and gestured for him to lead the way. In the end, Ha-jin couldn’t find a reason to persuade him and quietly climbed onto the steel frame.
Sweat soaked his palms as he gripped the equipment. As he clung to the steel frame covered in black dust with all his might, his heart, which had been quiet, began to pound wildly with a different amplitude.
He crawled slowly in a straight line. The strong wind made his neat hair flutter wildly. Ha-jin, who was holding onto the structure so hard that the veins on the back of his hand bulged, swallowed his trembling breath and turned his head. A breathtaking view unfolded before his eyes.
The Sky Cruise with its broken cables, the restaurant surrounded by piles of weeds, the cracked concrete hill, and the Zombies circling around it came into view. Eden, who had come up next to him, also grabbed his arm tightly and looked down at the dizzying view.
It was a chilling height that made him feel dizzy.
“Are you okay?”
Ha-jin just mouthed the words, missing the timing to answer.
The bottom of the hill was blocked by dark bushes, and the Zombies were constantly wandering in a fixed place, like pests trapped in a glass bottle. Hee-sung’s words that he was sure Jun-seok would be here were definitely reasonable.
For a while, Ha-jin lost his mind and just stared at the Zombies, packed together like bean sprouts. He wanted Jun-seok to appear. No, he wanted him not to be here at all…. The two wishes struggled in his heart.
The wind that whipped his ears and the Zombies’ roars mixed together, making him nauseous.
“Tell me right away if you see anything.”
It was at the same time that Eden spoke. Ha-jin’s gaze went to a Zombie wandering near a bench.
The Zombie was wearing a navy blue uniform that was torn and dirty. The Zombie’s shin bumped into the bench as it walked slowly, showing its familiar back. Ha-jin’s gaze lingered on the Zombie as it hesitated, unable to move forward easily.
His abnormally pounding heart had somehow cooled down. He remained in the same spot until the sweat on his chin dried up in the hot, strong wind, and until he no longer felt any sensation in his toes on the structure.
Ha-jin, who had finally found Jun-seok, began to slowly collapse in silence.