By Zephyria 
Unlike the first floor, the second-floor lounge was decorated like a dining room. A large wooden desk sat in the middle of the room, and a total of nine people, including the three siblings, were sitting around the table.
Hee-sung, who spotted Ha-jin, jumped up from his seat and waved his hand happily.
“Ha-jin Hyung…!”
Then, realizing he might have overdone it, he smiled awkwardly and sat down. Ha-jin and Eden sat next to the three siblings.
“Are you both feeling a little better?”
A middle-aged woman, whom he remembered seeing briefly yesterday, asked kindly.
“Thanks to you. Thank you.”
Ha-jin stood up from his seat and bowed his head once again to the people. He added a polite greeting, thanking them for not turning a blind eye to their difficult situation and accepting them, which made everyone, including Da-yeon, wave their hands and stop him.
A long-haired woman who looked to be Da-yeon’s age said.
“I heard you were the ones who helped Da-yeon when she was in danger. Of course, we should help you too.”
Then, a man who looked to be in his early twenties next to her revealed his snaggletooth and playfully added.
“Honestly, Da-yeon is pretty much the boss here. We just do whatever she tells us to do.”
It was the black curly-haired man he had seen at the entrance yesterday. Da-yeon tapped his shoulder lightly as if telling him to be quiet. The man smiled as if he liked being hit.
Ha-jin looked at the man, who was blushing at Da-yeon’s soft punch, with a pleased expression. It was amazing to him that love was blooming in this world.
Ha-jin and Eden exchanged brief introductions with the people who spoke to them one by one. Everyone except Da-yeon said they originally worked here.
The three women were a garden consultant, a public relations staff member, and a coordinator affiliated with the botanical garden, and the other two men were gardeners who had not been employed here for very long.
They generally gave off a simple and innocent feeling, which Ha-jin realized was because they had never been outside since the Zombie outbreak. Da-yeon explained that the only outing they had was to repair the barbed wire fence surrounding the site.
“After I came to the botanical garden, the only time I went out was to get medical supplies from the hospital. That was the day you saved me.”
At Da-yeon’s words, the curly-haired man clenched his fist as if he was upset.
“If I meet those bastards, I swear I won’t let them get away with it.”
The middle-aged woman joked slyly, trying to lighten the mood that was about to become serious.
“Stop it, stop it. You’ll be lucky if you don’t get beaten to a pulp.”
People burst into laughter at the same time. Meanwhile, Ha-jin hurriedly picked up the vegetables, rice, and nuts placed in a round porcelain bowl and looked around. It was the first time since visiting the temple with Mi-so that he had a friendly meal with a large number of people in a safe place.
Feeling much more at ease, he quenched his thirst and inadvertently turned to his side. He noticed the faces of the three siblings, who were smiling awkwardly and trying to follow the flow of the conversation.
Hee-soo, who didn’t smile much, forced the corners of his mouth up, and Hee-joon, who hardly spoke, was also opening his mouth to add to the conversation in some way. Only Hee-sung, the youngest, was smiling brightly as if he was genuinely enjoying himself.
Ha-jin, who had been watching them silently, was about to start a conversation to ask the people for a place for the three siblings to stay when Eden, who had finished his meal, spoke first.
“If you don’t go outside, how do you get your meals?”
At the quiet question, the middle-aged woman shook a lettuce leaf and replied.
“Fortunately, we have a garden, so there are plenty of vegetables and fruits to eat. But we just ran out of rice that we had stored as food for the staff, so we’re very worried…”
“We were just about to organize a team to go out and find food.”
“We’re also trying to make weapons by grinding up things like branches.”
The two men added as if they had been waiting for it. They were looking at Ha-jin, Eden, and the three siblings, who had survived the harsh outside world, with somewhat wary eyes. To be exact, it was a look of concern that they might ignore them, who had lived like greenhouse flowers.
Eden leaned back deeply in his chair and pointed to the three siblings.
“These people are experts when it comes to food. They know where the food storage is, and they’re good at dealing with Zombies.”
At the unexpected remark, Ha-jin turned to look at Eden with wide eyes. The three siblings were also glancing at him with bewildered yet embarrassed expressions.
Eden continued to speak in a voice that gave confidence while maintaining the cold and rational tone characteristic of a businessman.
“You all said that you’ve been living here all along since the outbreak. You’ve never been outside. You’ve been lucky so far, but it will be difficult to maintain this state.”
A sense of tension swept over the faces of the people who had been laughing and chatting at the sudden remark.
“Even if you survive the Zombies, you won’t be able to stop humans who are determined to break in. If you’re a nomadic group, a small number is advantageous, but in a community that has to protect this Safe house, the more people there are, the better. Especially if you have several people with excellent survival skills.”
“……”
“I’m talking about people with strong hearts who can even kill humans who are worse than Zombies, depending on the situation.”
Everyone stiffened with bewildered faces at the very realistic advice. Ha-jin looked anxiously at his lover, who was not afraid to choose his words.
At that moment, Da-yeon, who had been listening quietly, carefully raised her hand.
“Are you perhaps saying that you want to continue living here with us?”
No sooner had the question ended than the curly-haired man interjected.
“Still, accepting five people at once is something we need to discuss…”
“That’s right. It’s not something we can decide suddenly.”
As the people who had been watching the situation began to add their words one by one, Ha-jin, who had been worried, opened his mouth.
“No, I’m not saying that you should accept everyone.”
Everyone’s eyes, including Eden’s, turned to him.
“Eden and I are planning to leave this place as soon as we recover. We have a place to go.”
Ha-jin glanced at Eden, feeling a strong pressure on his right thigh. He met his gaze, asking with his eyes if he was okay. Ha-jin smiled only with the corners of his mouth and turned his head again.
“As Jeong Tae-geon said earlier, these people know where the food storage is, and they are all survival experts who have survived outside for a long time. If you live with them, they will be helpful in many ways.”
Following Ha-jin, who was shining his eyes brightly, Eden took over the words.
“I know that it’s difficult to bring in outsiders. I don’t mean to say that you should decide right away, so at least live with them for a week or more and think about it seriously.”
A brief silence followed. The three siblings were looking back and forth at the two of them with faces that seemed somewhat touched, even though they didn’t know what to do.
The middle-aged woman, who had been staring intently at one spot on the table with her arms crossed, nodded.
“I understand what you mean well enough. Um… we’ll consider it seriously and tell you.”
Da-yeon rolled her round eyes around and, realizing that it wouldn’t work, clapped her hands lightly and stood up to lighten the slightly heavy atmosphere.
“Okay, everyone, if you’re done eating, let’s clean up. Oh, and applause for the siblings who kindly shared their nuts and rice!”
“Oh, that’s right. We were just shamelessly eating and didn’t even say thank you. Thank you.”
“Thank you, it was delicious.”
“It was delicious!”
Everyone who had finished their meal lined up and left the lounge. Someone tapped Ha-jin’s shoulder as he walked down the second floor side by side with Eden. When he turned around, Hee-soo was standing there with a flushed face.
She whispered softly.
“What was that earlier? Suddenly, without even consulting us…”
“We didn’t discuss it either. Jeong Tae-geon just brought it up first, so I added a little.”
“Really?”
Hee-joon, who was standing next to Hee-soo, cleared his throat and thanked them. Ha-jin responded with a smile, and Eden just nodded roughly.
“I’m going to go to the bathroom for a second.”
Ha-jin, who arrived on the first floor, headed to the bathroom alone to wash his hands. When he turned around at the sound of someone, Hee-soo, with a very excited expression, was following him with quick steps.
“This is the men’s bathroom, though?”
“Who cares about that.”
She stood close to Ha-jin, who was standing in front of the sink. Ha-jin glanced at Hee-soo’s curious face and avoided her gaze, feeling embarrassed. She was definitely trying to question him about kissing Eden earlier.
However, contrary to Ha-jin’s expectations, she blurted out something absurd.
“There’s no need to be embarrassed. I noticed this morning that you two are like that.”
…This morning?
It wasn’t that she had noticed it earlier, but the fact that it was this morning was strange, and Ha-jin’s eyebrows twitched. Hee-soo seemed to be quite touched that he had praised them at the meal earlier, and she shrugged her shoulders with a pleasant face.
“You noticed this morning, what does that mean?”
“Honestly, I thought Jeong Tae-geon would say thank you for saving him. But he suddenly started talking about you. He said that he was hurt and Do Ha-jin must have been very surprised, and that he was grateful that you were there with him…. The point was completely wrong, so I wondered what it was. When I thought about it carefully, well, I figured it out.”
Ha-jin’s eyes widened at the unexpected story. A reddish rash, like the feathers of a flamingo, bloomed on his cheeks, which were calmer than yesterday. When he quickly put water on it to cool it down, Hee-soo giggled mischievously.