By Zephyria 
Eden felt his chest getting damp and patted the small body in his arms.
“Huuuuh…”
Relief, bitterness, and apology flashed across his face as he soothed his increasingly thin nephew. Every time Byeol let out a tearful sob, Ha-jin, who was hugging Mi-so and Jeffrey, also had the tip of his nose reddened.
Inside the small mountaineering wear store of about 12 pyeong, everyone including Eden was speechless for a while at the unexpected, miraculous encounter. They were just busy quietly feeling each other’s presence and swallowing their sobs.
Even without exchanging many words, the past days of struggling between life and death seemed to be vividly drawn in each other’s minds. You could tell just by looking at their beggar-like appearances.
Byeol’s trademark braided hair was half undone, and Mi-so also had one shoe tattered. The worst of all was Jeffrey. The stench emanating from him was unusual, as if he hadn’t washed for a long time.
Ha-jin looked at Mi-so, Jeffrey, and Byeol, who were thinner than before, in turn, and roughly wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes with the back of his hand.
He made eye contact with Eden, who had been staring at him, and a weak smile escaped him out of embarrassment. He cleared his throat and carefully broached the subject to lighten the heavy atmosphere.
“Um… I don’t know if it’s just me,”
The gazes of the people who were moved and swallowing tears all turned to Ha-jin.
“I think Jeffrey smells like poop.”
The moment Ha-jin finished speaking, Mi-so, who had been hugging Jeffrey, moved away with a scream. At the same time, Eden and Byeol covered their noses. Pie, who happened to be passing by Jeffrey, also bared his teeth fiercely and stepped back.
Everyone burst into laughter at Pie’s reaction, who revealed his presence at the perfect moment. The group smiled with tearful eyes, happily folding them at the comfortable sense of stability they felt after a long time.
“By the way, when did you separate from Chun-beom? I haven’t seen him since earlier, so I thought he already said bye.”
After the lingering feelings of the miraculous encounter had subsided to some extent, Mi-so asked about Chun-beom’s absence as if she had been waiting for it.
[Yeah. It’s still a bit far to get near Dragon Cloud City. Isn’t it too early to separate? Is his family home around here?]
“Huh! I promised to play clap hands with Chun-beom Uncle?!”
Eden quietly exchanged glances with Ha-jin. Originally, it was right to inform them of Chun-beom’s death, but considering the remaining journey ahead, there seemed to be no need to lower the group’s morale. Since they had discussed this issue in advance, Eden naturally told a benevolent lie.
“Park Chun-beom returned home safely. It hasn’t been long since we parted ways.”
Ha-jin nodded bitterly at his calm lie. Mi-so, who did not suspect Chun-beom’s death at all due to the two’s reactions, shrugged and sighed.
“Oh, I’m glad he got home safe. But I can’t help but feel sad. We parted without saying goodbye properly….”
The group, who had been expressing their regret over Chun-beom’s absence for a while, turned their attention to their new companion this time. The new companion, Pie, who seemed very excited for some reason, was playing with a pack of wet wipes with Byeol.
Ha-jin explained in detail about the circumstances of meeting Pie in order to make up for the depressed atmosphere. In the part where he said that he had brought Ha-jin’s lost brooch in his mouth and came down the mountain himself, Jeffrey patted Pie’s butt as if he was proud.
After that, they shared the various hardships they had experienced and gradually filled the gaps in time. It was already past 10 PM. To mark the end of a tiring day, the group lay down on the clothes spread out on the floor.
Mi-so muttered as if she couldn’t easily fall asleep.
“It’s really like a dream. I never imagined we’d meet like this.”
Ha-jin, who was lying next to her, also let out a sigh of agreement.
“I know. To be honest, I was worried about what would happen if we parted ways like this.”
“Well, even if that happened, I would have survived just fine.”
When a confident remark came back, he snorted.
“You’re too thin to be so confident. Did Jeffrey give you a hard time?”
“Hey… seriously, don’t even mention it. His mental age is younger than Byeol’s. I felt like I was taking care of two Babies.”
As if she had been waiting for it, her complaints burst out. Keo-eong— Keureureong— Jeffrey, the person of interest, was snoring loudly and fast asleep. Mi-so, who had been harshly criticizing Jeffrey for a while, turned her body in the direction Ha-jin was lying.
“By the way, did anything happen between you and Jeong Tae-geon?”
Her eyes, which had been wandering in the dark, glanced at Mi-so. Even in the darkness where there was no light, her eyes seemed to shine brightly. Ha-jin tried to avoid the burdensome gaze.
“What could have happened? It’s just the same as usual.”
He tried to sound as calm as possible, but he couldn’t even swallow his saliva for fear that his lie would be exposed soon. Mi-so was a friend who could tell his mood just by the tone of his voice.
“Judging by the way you’re talking, something definitely happened.”
As expected, Ha-jin’s prediction came true.
He bit his lower lip hard to avoid reacting to the whispering words. The memories with Eden, which he had been trying to forget, popped up in his head one by one like popcorn. The events of last night, when they senselessly indulged in each other’s bodies, were vividly replayed in front of his eyes, and Ha-jin’s ears became hot as if they were on fire.
“Well, it would be weirder if nothing happened in more than ten days.”
“…….”
His heart began to beat anxiously at Mi-so’s mumbling, which seemed to be inferring more than he thought and hitting the nail on the head. However, with the words that followed, Ha-jin was able to realize that the ‘something’ she thought of and the ‘something’ he thought of were on completely different lines.
“You guys were always growling at each other whenever you made eye contact. You fought, sulked, and bickered at the drop of a hat. So I thought you might have had a fistfight while you were together.”
“…Me and that guy? We didn’t fight that often.”
“Yeah, right.”
Mi-so snorted and shook her head. Her loose, long hair scattered roughly over the clothes piled up like a pillow.
“Anyway, Do Ha-jin…. I’m so, so glad to see you again.”
Soon, a rough hand reached over Ha-jin’s head. Ha-jin closed his eyes, using Mi-so’s voice, filled with emotion, as a lullaby. The lingering feeling of meeting the group like a miracle warmed his chest again.
But apart from that, complicated thoughts about Jeong Tae-geon still lingered in his head.
‘To be honest, I wondered if Do Ha-jin was planning to eat me up and throw me away like this.’
Anyone would think I was the one who pounced on him.
He couldn’t say that the reason for teaching him magic was purely out of good intentions, but the more he thought about it, the more he felt unfairly accused.
“Hoo….”
Ha-jin unknowingly let out a long sigh.
Even if he acted as his heart led him, Dragon Cloud City, which was his final destination anyway, was not far away. It meant that there was not much time left to spend with Eden.
But why did he use the expression ‘throw away’? He now regretted that the conversation had been cut off before he could even ask what he meant. Until the moment he fell into slumber, Ha-jin couldn’t stop thinking about Eden.
❖ ❖ ❖
@Public Toilet
It was early dawn. Jeffrey, who had finished relieving himself coolly over the urinal, pulled up his pants and asked Eden.
[What happened?]
Eden was spitting out mouthwash into the sink. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and raised his eyes. His handsome eyebrows rose and fell as if he didn’t understand the meaning of the question at all.
Jeffrey walked over to Eden and leaned his butt against the sink, crossing his arms. After a moment of silence, he met Eden’s indifferent gaze and opened his mouth.
[Tune. How did he die?]
Hoo, Eden, who let out a short sigh, swept back his falling bangs. The guy, who was usually so oblivious that it was frustrating, was a genius when it came to useless things. Jeffrey poked him in the side as if urging him to answer, and Eden made a sound.
“Um….”
He didn’t want to explain the death of his subordinate, with whom he had shared affection for a short time, in a gossipy and lengthy way, so he came up with a concise answer after much deliberation.
[He was shot and killed at the Ranch.]
[…Are you talking about the time we were running away?]
When he nodded slowly in response, Jeffrey’s face darkened at once.
[Fuck, that’s a real dog’s death.]
A hollow breath mixed with profanity and anger fell heavily into the bathroom.
Eden raised his right hand and patted him on the shoulder. Jeffrey glanced back at him at the unusual gesture of comfort and asked.
[Were you okay?]
[What’s not okay?]
Jeffrey carefully examined Eden’s face for a while as if trying to figure out his inner thoughts. But he couldn’t read any signs of depression anywhere, so he sighed briefly and shook his head.
[No. It’s enough if he was sent off well.]
Eden shrugged and pulled out a sheet of paper towel attached under the mirror. Even though he understood the meaning of the question of whether he was okay, he pretended not to know and kept his mouth shut. In fact, he had been too busy sticking with Do Ha-jin to even think about the shadow of Leo, who had died.
Eden, who was crumpling the towel and throwing it in the trash can, suddenly turned to Jeffrey.
[By the way, did you wash your hands after you went to the bathroom?]
[…You perceptive bastard.]
[Let’s try to live a little cleaner.]
It was the moment he grabbed the doorknob of the bathroom entrance to go outside. Jeffrey asked another sharp question.
[The hickey on Do Ha-jin’s neck, was that you?]