Echo || NCTau ||

3 - Anyone

Haechan had not died.

That was quite awesome.

The Taiwanese men who had helped the Korean girl to save him had initially been very upset with his carelessness but their hands were warm when they forcefully helped Haechan up and led him to the other side of the red pedestrian bridge. He wasn't sure whether they walked with him because they didn't believe in his ability to cross over alone without endangering his life or if they had noticed how the released adrenaline had made his entire body wobbly soon after understanding that he was safe.

Either way, the men spouted their reprimands in Chinese while parading him between them and Haechan used all of his Mandarin language skills to react to their scolding – meaning that he repeated "yes", "genius" and "tasty meal", over and over again, hoping that the guys would get the gist of his gratitude.

By the third "tasty meal", the men exchanged a worried look and one of them pressed a hand on his forehead to check that he wasn't feverish.

It wasn't until the men ushered him back to safety on the other side of the bridge that they let go of him after shaking their heads at him for the last time.

Haechan tried to elevate their stern mood by winking and aiming a finger heart at his helpers.

Instead of laughing – like he had planned – the men exchanged yet another incredulous look and left, probably worried that he would do something even weirder if they stuck around.

Comedy was indeed dead.

Speaking of dead, Haechan was bummed that he couldn't thank his third savior for keeping him alive. While the girl had been the first one to reach out to him, afterwards she had pushed his hand away as if it was something gross and slimy.

Haechan rubbed his hands together. They were indeed sweaty which was understandable, considering how he had been hanging onto the railing for his dear life. Maybe the girl with hollow eyes didn't like the feeling of sweaty hands.

Then again, who did?

As soon as Haechan started walking again, the otter in the back of his head noticed a sparkly coin on the driveway. It really wanted him to pick up the coin.

A car drove over the coin.

Haechan steered away from the street, staying on the sidewalk. One almost-whoopsie with death was more than enough for one day.

The otter was devastated by his refusal. According to its vague logic, the coin would've made a perfect souvenir for Renjun.

Haechan inhaled, reminding both himself and the otter of the last time he had brought a gift (a very nice rock!) to Renjun.

The otter was quite certain that this coin would've been different. Renjun could've used the coin to buy something!

Haechan didn't have the heart to remind the otter of the fact that since they were still in Taiwan, the coin was most likely New Taiwan Dollar instead of Korean Won. Besides, Renjun was currently adventuring somewhere in China with Chaewon, his girlfriend (who also happened to be a walking lie detector) and no one knew how long it would take before they returned.

Instead of bothering to give the otter a reality check, Haechan reassured his second half that he would pick up the next shiny coin and as a gift to his roommate.

The otter swelled with pride, already imagining how impressed Renjun would be with the present.

Allowing the doubler to enjoy its dreams, Haechan steered towards the restaurant he was supposed to dine in with his co-workers and the people from the Taipei branch of their office. It would've been quicker to take a taxi or use the public transportation but stretching his legs and enjoying the beautiful sunset had been what he needed in order to endure the upcoming night of drinking. Almost dying on the side had been quite an exhilarating addition to the experience.