Christina skidded to a stop before Seojun, gasping for air, her complexion deathly pale and her skin gleaming with sweat—a clear reflection of Seojun’s own bone-deep fatigue. Her hands twitched at her sides, as if she was resisting the urge to cover her mouth, while she gazed at the motionless figure on the ground.
Fred’s gas mask slipped from his grasp and clattered to the ground, leaving a bloody imprint on the earth.
“Sorry? What do you mean by ‘Sorry’, Fred?”
Seojun’s body betrayed him in the most unsettling ways as he fought for survival. His teeth chattered uncontrollably, each click sharper than the last, and a sudden icy chill swept through him, as if he’d been plunged into an icy river. His hands and feet went numb, while his head burned with a feverish intensity that threatened to consume him.
Seojun abruptly snapped his mouth shut and stared at Johan in a daze. Slowly, the pieces began to fit together, and he felt like a complete idiot for not seeing it sooner. Granted, he wasn’t exactly the smartest person around, but with all the clues staring him in the face, how could he have been so oblivious?
From the moment six-year-old Seojun saw Christina, her exceptionally familiar cute and adorable face sent a jolt through him. Her smile, bright and full of dazzling teeth, made him feel suffocated. As she effortlessly mastered the alphabet, his unease grew, and when she progressed to numbers and telling time, his world spun.
Bobby’s face crumpled like a discarded tissue, and the dam of his emotions burst. Tears gushed down his cheeks in torrents, and his shrill cries shattered the silence like a shrieking banshee. Bobby worked himself into a frenzy, making sure every molecule of air in the vicinity knew that he was very much alive and kicking.
If the stench had a color, it’d be blood red. The closer they got to the door, the more intense and sickly sweet it became—like rotting meat dried to a crisp, the odor seeped through the cracks of the cabin… It was no laughing matter. They were right on top of the Hamon Production Workshop, which was surprisingly close by.
Johan stood there, staring blankly since he didn’t quite get what was happening. Seojun shamelessly walked on, as if he had replaced the skin on his face with an iron plate. He strutted confidently, chin up like he was just taking a casual stroll and not running away from something. His walk was a bit stiff and awkward, like a puppet on strings, but it would’ve been convincing if not for his flushed cheeks.
Johan closed the gap between them, their faces so close their noses brushed, a fleeting touch that sent a shiver through Seojun. Johan’s eyes, bright and lively, held Seojun’s, his face breaking into a wide, heartfelt smile as if revealing his deepest feelings was his greatest joy.
Some people just come into the world a certain way. They might be born as natural right-handers, stand head and shoulders above the rest like living giants or have wild, curly hair and captivating green eyes. Some are extraordinarily perceptive — as if they possess their own kind of magic.
Obviously Seojun, known for his prickly attitude, wasn’t suddenly overcome with compassion. He idly played with the binoculars slung around his waist, lost in thought.
Seojun’s gaze was locked onto the raging inferno before him, his eyes stinging from the intensity of the blaze. The heat scorched their skin, but he and his group couldn’t bring themselves to leave.