Why Won't You Let Me Slack!?

Chapter 16

"I still can't believe they actually managed to get banned from the channel."

It has currently been a little under four days since Cale and the group left Oksu station.

While (at first) the group had been trying to regroup with Bud and Archie after finding out that Chungmuro was the station they had to aim for, things didn't go the way they planned.

What should have been a simple trip from Oksu to Chungmuro ended up with multiple detours throughout the rest of Seoul that occurred due to things like (but not limited to) fighting monsters, looking for supplies (mainly clothes), stockpiling on food, smacking a few thieves in the back before scamming said thieves, and (almost) falling into the Han River on more than one occasion.

So although they were nearly four days behind the other incarnations in Geumho, they still came out with a few thousands of coins and a couple stores-full worth of food richer. (A/N: for those curious, they made 6,298 coins between the four of them to be exact😂)

But, after having a s̶u̶s̶p̶i̶c̶i̶o̶u̶s̶l̶y̶ easier time making it through the last couple blocks from the poisonous air having already dissipated to safe levels (for them), they finally make it to Chungmuro only to find out that the reason for said decrease in difficulty was a result of a deadly game of monster hunter between their two hyungs.

After spending another night out instead of heading straight for Geumho station as initially planned, the four were now standing near the Han River once again, only to run into someone they had hoped to not see for a while.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Oh ho ho! So we meet again huh?"

"..."

There stood the former office worker Kim Dokja, who still remembered the fact that three of the four had run off without him while carrying their youngest in their little race to get off the bridge.

"I feel like he's mad, but I can't be sure since he's doing that thing Cale does where he just keeps smiling until you give in." At that moment, Cale turned, smiling at his three hyungs after overhearing what Kim Namwoon had whispered to them.

"But I'm not mad? I mean it's understandable. You wanted to survive and keep your younger sibling safe."

Walking towards the four teens, Dokja went across one by one to pat their heads.

"You made a good decision back there that day."

'This is weird. Shouldn't he be getting mad? I mean, didn't we kinda intentionally leave him behind to fend for himself back there?' As the three older teens all had this thought in mind, their dongsaeng had already made it halfway down the street with Kim Dokja.

'Might as well give him some clothes since it is pretty much our fault that his are ruined.' While Cale was absent-mindedly giving Kim Dokja clothes so that there would be no possibility of wanting some sort of compensation later on, he failed to see the soft expression he was making while looking at the teen.

Though it was true that he wasn't mad at the teens since he knew that he would have made the same decision if he were in their shoes, Kim Dokja hadn't really expected anything from them since it wasn't their responsibility nor necessary for them to try to pay him back for what happened. Because unlike him, who was both an adult and was currently one of the most knowledgeable people around when it came to information about the scenarios, they were still normal kids.

It would be wrong of him to expect anything more from them.

'Still, it's pretty cute how he acts like he doesn't care despite still doing what he can to help.' letting out a light chuckle at the thought, he gave Cale one last pat on the head before heading into an empty store nearby to change.