THUNDERBIRD | CHA HYUNSOO

07

it didn't take long for dasom to find jisu and jaeheon since they could be heard yelling from the floor about her, "is everyone alright?" she calls out, slowly approaching the two.

jaeheon smiles, "yes, everything is fine."

"no! everything is not fine. he just almost killed himself." jisu nudges her shoulder to the gaping hole in the wall. dasom looks over the edge and sees the monster no longer moving.

"you're not dead, good job!" dasom chuckled, "despite all this we need to find food, about eight people worth. your apartment is down that hall, i would offer mine but i haven't done much shopping."

"yeah that's fine, let's just get moving." jisu takes one more glance to jaeheon before walking ahead of the other two.

as they made it to the front of her still bloody apartment door, she opens is and slams it behind her. jaeheon was the first to step in, "jisu, wait."

he looked around the room. there was trash and glass bottles everywhere, the room smelled heavily of cigarettes and instant noodles, clothing was thrown at random locations of her tiny living space, "someone must've been here."

jisu sighed, "you're pretty rude sometimes." she trudged her way to a corner and began shoving whatever she could find into her bag, "you're the first person to visit my room."

"oh. is your room usually..."

"it's not usually this bad." dasom could tell jisu was uncomfortable with the state of her room and jaeheon's passive comments. dasom crouched next to jisu and began to help her in hopes of getting out of the tense room.

jaeheon was busy trying to get the cheap sensor timed lights to turn back on, "i hate those things. i feel like those timers get shorter and shorter." dasom grumbles, trying to move past the unbearable situation that just happened.

just as they were about to head out, jaeheon called out to jisu, "jisu, aren't you going to take that?" he diverted his eyes to her bass guitar case. she was hesitant, but grabbed it as the three continued on their way back to 1408.

——

dasom took the liberty of helping jisu prepare the meals. the two of them carefully took the steaming hot containers out of the microwave and over to the small table that had managed to sit eight people.

shortly after, hyunsoo had exited the bathroom, "come and sit." dusik called out to the teen boy. he took a spot between dusik and dasom who had given the boy a small smile and handed him his utensils.

"kids, what are your names?" dusik was the first to break the momentary silence.

"kim yeongsu." the boy said, "kim suyeong." the girl finished.

dasom gave the two a warm smile, "those are some pretty cool names you two got, eh?"

"those are peculiar names. i guess your parents gave you similar name so you two would stick together, right?" dusik asks.

"dad named us..." suyeong whispered, sadness evident on her face. "dad." the little boy cried out, small tears falling from his eyes. dasom felt empathy for them, she didn't even want to imagine watching a family member, let alone a parent, fall to their death. thank the universe they had the older woman to take care of them.

dusik held out a beer to jaeheon, but he politely declined. jisu, however, didn't have any problems downing the alcoholic liquid down her throat in big gulps, "you sure know how to drink." dusik joked.

he had opened another one for hyunsoo who as well declined, "oh, you're a minor. right, there are kids here. let's not break the law, i'll buy you a drink when you become an adult. you should learn how to drink from adults."

"do you think that day will come?" there was an unsure tone in hyunsoo's question, everyone could hear it. no one had stopped to think how much time anyone had before even worse disasters broke out, or the possibility of death.

instead, everyone quietly continued to eat. no one even dared to speak a word.

——

everyone decided that anyone who was capable of doing so would stand watch while they slept in shifts. dasom stood watch first, then jisu, and now hyunsoo.

"i'm infected." hyunsoo confessed to jisu as she was the only one still awake, "i know."

"if i turn, kill me." he numbly demanded, "sorry." she responds.

"what?"

"if i turn, kill me and i'll do the same for you." jisu and hyunsoo came to that agreement. he couldn't help but glance over at dasom's sleeping figure. she was propped against the leg of the desk, one of her legs pulled tightly to her chest to secure her arms as he breathing steadied out.

hyunsoo kept asking himself, why? why did dasom show him so much kindness? why did she follow him around like a puppy and him vice versa? he had only known her for a mere twenty-four hours and yet she impacted his life in that span of time than anything else had in months, many horrible months.