New Place to Begin

Unexpected encounter

"Yunjin, hey."

Yunjin groaned, vaguely aware of someone shaking her shoulder.

"Hey!" came a louder voice from up front. "We can only afford to stop for about fifteen or twenty minutes, so get her up and awake. Jimin, too."

Internally, Yunjin sighed. She wrenched her eyes open, forcing herself to sit up. Rubbing her eyes, she glanced over at Chaewon, whose hand was still resting on her shoulder. A fond smile covered her face as she met yunjin's eyes. Thankfully, through her sleepy haze, Yunjin barely registered it enough to blush like she normally might've. "What time is it?" she asked, trying once again to rub the sleep from her eyes.

"About noon," Chaewon answered. "We stopped for some gas and everyone's getting out to stretch their legs."

Yunjin blinked, reaching over to unbuckle her seatbelt. She'd been sleeping for almost four hours.

"Hey, Jimin!" Chaewon called across her. "Jimin, wake up!"

Jimin shifted in her seat with a groan, blinking a few times.

"Do you want to stretch your legs?" Chaewon asked patiently. "We're stopped, but I don't know when we'll get another chance."

Jimin provided a loud grumble as a response, promptly turning away from them and leaning her head back on the window.

Yunjin suppressed a laugh.

"Ok, let's just leave her," Chaewon said with a sigh. "I don't think she wants to move."

Yunjin pushed herself off the back row of the van, squeezing through the seats and almost falling flat on her face as she stumbled out of the van doors.

Outside, Eunbi was filling up the tank and the others were slowly making their way towards the gas station building. "Nice of you two to join us," Eunbi said teasingly, giving the two of them a smile. "I'm surprised you even managed to get up, Yunjin, you were sleeping like the dead."

Yunjin breathed a laugh, stretching her stiff arms. "Yeah, didn't get a lot of sleep last night, I guess."

She pointedly did not look at Chaewon when she said this, but she was hyper aware of how she stiffened slightly at the mention of last night.

"Well, we'll be back on the road in just a bit, so go grab some snacks or something," Eunbi said, turning back to the screen to finish filling up the tank. "Try not to take too long, though."

"Got it," Chaewon replied, already beginning to walk towards the building. Yunjin followed, glancing around at their surroundings.

It was a secluded area just off the highway, with only a few restaurants and businesses surrounding the gas station. Only one other car was in the parking lot, a small toyota parked near the back of the building, presumably belonging to an employee.

"Wait," Yunjin asked suddenly as they reached the door, eyes wide. "Won't people see your sword? And my knives?"

Chaewon looked back at her, shaking her head. "No, they shouldn't." she answered, holding the door open for Yunjin to walk in. It was a small area, and the others in their group were the only other people filling the aisles. Yunjin stared nervously at the weapons hanging from their waists and on their backs. "There's this thing called the mist. It keeps regular mortals from learning about things like monsters and demigods."

"But -"

"When they see your daggers," Chaewon continued, gesturing to the line of daggers holstered across Yunjin's torso. "The mist makes them think it's something else, like maybe a strange sash or a fanny pack or something."