From the Darkness

15. The Can

Jongho didn't pursue Wooyoung, so he had room to digest the news. Either he or Mingi merely left a tray with food in front of Wooyoung's room and he munched on some cold ravioli without tasting them. His encounter with the cure kept repeating behind his inner eyes.

He had so many questions.

How did Jongho run into Seonghwa? What did Seonghwa tell him to clarify what he was? Had it taken long to convince Jongho? Or had he been keen from the beginning, eager to try anything if only it could improve this world? Was he selfless or foolish?

Wooyoung ran his fingers through his hair. This was utter madness. Their life left them no time to dream and joke around. They had food to gather and shelters to protect.

But at the same time, was that everything there ever was to it? Running until his bones flayed enough that a hungry maw could catch up to him? The poisonous embrace of age and illness? If Jongho succeeded... If Seonghwa truly was the cure and they brought him to his facility... Would it all end? Would the world restore the peace buried in the traces of time, when life wasn't a race every day?

Would Wooyoung see the sky? The true sky, unbridled by dust clouds and nuclear smog. Just the vast, open expanse of nothingness.

With a curse, he put down the can. His room felt stifling. He needed to walk around, get his mind off things. Perhaps hunt an animal or two.

He left the chamber together with the empty can so he could clean it and hand it to Jongho to use for his tinkering. Halfway down the corridor, he ran into San.

At the sight of him, Wooyoung almost turned on his heel and went back, but he remembered in time that his disarray gave the other raider an opening. Instead of carving in, he steeled his shoulders and met San head-on.

The blaze in his eyes must have been dulled because San saw right through him. He halted before Wooyoung, a bandaged arm stemmed into his side.

"You don't look as surly as usual. But rather distraught. Did you eat something weird?" He greeted, swiping his eyes over the can in Wooyoung's fingers. Clutching it like a weapon, Wooyoung shook his head. For a moment, he considered lying. Pretending that nothing happened and his mind wasn't a chaos of new information.

But if anyone understood, it was San. Jongho was too far into it to halt and question the nature of what he was doing, and Mingi was his accomplice, teammate or not.

After a moment of biting his lip and staring at the ground, Wooyoung dared to ask.

"Did he show you?"

San cocked his head.

"You mean Seonghwa?"

Wooyoung nodded mutely. He leaned against the wall for support and San did the same, so they were out of the way. While Wooyoung played with the can, San rested his broad back against the cool concrete and contemplated what he saw.

"I met him. He isn't what I expected, but neither did he disappoint. He convinced me that this operation isn't an illusion. What about you?"

"It was a lot to take," Wooyoung confessed. "I didn't expect anything, really. I was convinced Jongho had gone mad from eating too much coyote meat. Don't meet many sane people out here." He gave a pointed glimpse at San. San's eyes flashed in a grin.

"We live quite the uneducated life. You never know what's out there until you give it a chance. I might be peculiar to you and you distrust me, but I turned out to be not half as bad of a teammate as you pretend I am. The same goes for Jongho. He wouldn't be so dedicated to his cause if it were fruitless. And even if Seonghwa can't do it and the fabled AI is wrong? At least for a while, there was movement. A purpose in what we do over baseless survival."