touch of nature ＊ JIYOO

17. "Before and After"

› THE NIGHT BEFORE:

Yoohyeon slightly opened her eyes, noticing she was hanging upside down. She widened her eyes instantly, looking around as to how she could've possibly gotten into this position after passing out for a few hours.

She tried to remember how it happened, only remembering in how much pain she was and how she almost turned. The only possible way for her to have not turned infected was if she was under UV lights, and the only way for that to have happened would be if she was found..

"Is she awake..?"

Yoohyeon turned her head to her left, seeing a girl with a mask, maybe younger than her, holding a knife while visibly being cautious of her.

"M-Maybe she's turned, don't go near her!"

A masked boy from Yoohyeon's right spoke, making her turn to look at him and scaring him even more.

"I-I'm sorry, please don't hurt us.." The boy said with a stutter, standing behind the girl beside him. "You're such a scaredy cat! If she wanted to hurt us, she would've tried to escape and done that immediately.." The girl scoffed, walking closer to Yoohyeon and tilting her head with a glare.

"Just what exactly are you, Kim Yoohyeon?" The girl said, surprising Yoohyeon because she knew her identity. "How do you even know who I am?" Yoohyeon asked in worry, slightly making the masked girl confused because she expected Yoohyeon to act hostile instead of curious. "I'll tell you only if you tell me how the hell you're not turned." The masked girl crossed her arms, making Yoohyeon sigh in defeat.

"I'll tell you if you get me down from here. I'm feeling too dizzy to even speak." Yoohyeon shook her head, earning a scoff from the boy. "You might kill us for all we know!" He scoffed again, suddenly getting a slam on his head in return that surprised him.

"Shut up Jiho! She's too weak to attack us anyway, so I'll free her." The girl scoffed, walking towards the rope that was on Yoohyeon's feet. She abruptly cut it, making the older girl fall down on her back and wince.

"What a nice landing.. I definitely have good experience with landing on my back.." Yoohyeon groaned, releasinh herself from the ropes that were around her hands.

"Now speak. What are you exactly?" The girl pointed the knife at Yoohyeon, making her raise her hands up. "I don't know what I am, all I know is that I can be infected whenever I want to." Yoohyeon said, closing her eyes and showing her black-green eyes for a second before switching back. "I'm not planning to hurt you two. I just want answers without any fights since I can tell you two aren't fond of battles." Yoohyeon assured the two, taking her hatchet from her side pocket and throwing it away.

The two gulped, not expecting the rumor they've heard to be true. They sat down, giving eachother a nod and taking their masks off to show they didn't mean anything bad as well. Yoohyeon glanced at both of them and frowned, realizing just how young those two probably were. They slightly smiled, bowing down to the older girl.

"We're from the 'Explorers' faction. I'm Lee Jiho and that's Kim Jiwon, my comrade." The boy introduced himself and his friend. "We know about your identity because of a weird group of Bulldozers. Only they know of your identity because they want the knowledge for themselves.. And they know about the infected thing because of some fight you've had with Sacred." Jiho added, making Yoohyeon tilt her head and nod because it made more sense to her now.

"Oh wow, they really do know a lot..- But you guys seem so young.. How are you two Explorers?" Yoohyeon asked, getting a little sigh in return from Jiwon. "We signed in with the faction last month because our
survivor crew got attacked by mutated infected.. We are both 17 and it's our only way of providing food and stuff for our people." Jiwon answered, lowering her head.