[Neo Zone] Population: 23 Kids

The Retrieval

This chapter does include mention of Hendery's surgery. It is very minimal and at the end.

Jungwoo had had enough with the state of the basement, so he was picking up. No one was sure what he expected when twenty-three boys lived down there, but they weren't stopping him. Instead they just watched him pick up while resuming their three day long game of Riskopoly. Without WinWin.

While changing Hendery's sheets for him, he noticed he had also picked up the habit of placing things under his pillow. Instead of a hair tie, he had his eye patch.

"Should we bring this over to him?"

He held it up for the others to see, giving Chenle the perfect opportunity to sabotage Ten's dice roll so he didn't win.

"Maybe that's why he hasn't come back." Jisung answered innocently, though they all knew Hendery normally kept his eye patch at the cafe. If anything that would've been the reason he would come back.

Mark stood up, tired of the game. "Let's go bring it to him, then."

"And get killed by his brother? I don't think so." Xiaojun tugged him right back down onto the floor.

"He can't kill us if we bring the Tiny Witch Doctor and nerf guns." Johnny reasoned, his nerf gun already in hand and cocked back. No one knew how he already had it on him.

"We can't just show up to Hen's house and shoot his brother. Then we'll be dead for sure." Doyoung fired back.

"We're not going to just shoot him, it's for protection. And we can always use our attack dolphin." Jaehyun nodded towards Chenle, but he shook his head.

"Hen's house is too close to Granny's. Mom might see me."

"You've got to stop hiding from her." Jaemin said with a sigh, wishing he had a cup of coffee to dramatically take a sip from.

"And she's at work. She won't see you." Kun pointed out.

"Oh, then I'm coming."

"So we're actually going to show up at his house? Are we sure that's a good idea?" Poor Sungchan looked terrified, and Haechan patted his head.

"Safety in numbers. He can't kill us all."

"Haechan! Don't scare the child!" Taeyong scolded, but Haechan was more focused on the high five he was getting from Ten.

"No, I think he's got a point. Twenty-two against one are some pretty good odds." Yuta pointed out, his own nerf gun in hand now.

"Twenty-one. Dad wants me home for dinner in a few minutes." Jisung corrected, and Taeil sighed.

"Make that twenty. Mom also wants me home. My grandparents are coming over."

"Don't we have to be home now?" Shotaro whispered to Sungchan, making the younger groan.

"Eighteen. Shotaro and I have to yeet home."

"I think we need to kidnap Hendery before anyone else has to leave. Let's just go now and then we won't chicken out." Ten stood up, nerf gun tucked into his waistband and covered by a jacket.

"Let's go!!" Lucas shouted, catching the nerf gun Chenle threw at him.

"We all going?" Jeno asked, and WinWin smacked the back of his head.

"Weren't you paying attention? We're all going to get killed, come on."

So they all grabbed a nerf gun except those who had to leave, and they snuck out the back door of the cafe. After saying goodbye to those splitting off, they approached Hendery's house and stopped in front of the door.

"Last time I was here his brother almost killed me." YangYang shuddered at the memory, causing Renjun to sigh and push himself to the front of the group.

"You guys are cowards."

He knocked on the door without hesitation, and within a few moments Hendery's Mom opened it.

"Renjun! I'll go get Hendery."

They waited outside the door, hands rested on their nerf guns in case Hendery's brother came out of nowhere and tried to attack them. All eighteen of them instantly smiled as soon as they saw him, eyes covered with sunglasses.

"You came right on time. We need to go. No questions."

Hendery was pulled to Johnny's side as they took off sprinting down the street, keeping him in the middle of the pack so he couldn't be seen or touched. Naturally no one said anything until they were safely back in the basement, out of breath and collapsed on the floor.

"Why were we running?" Jisung managed to get out.

"Mom hasn't let me leave the house in days. If we waited I'd still be trapped there."

"We thought your brother was going to kill us! Don't scare us like that next time!" Lucas smacked Hendery's arm and the room fell silent save for their heavy breathing for a bit.

Jungwoo passed Hendery his beloved eye patch and he happily switched his sunglasses for it. He had felt practically naked without it for the past few days, so putting it back on made him feel so much better.

"Why did she keep you home anyways?" Xiaojun asked, Hendery sighing.

Instead of saying anything he lifted up the eye patch and showed them his plastic eye that looked identical to his real one. The only remainder of the incident with the corner of the metal rack was the scar tissue around it and the fact that his fake eye didn't move.

"I'm going to take a guess and say it's not real." Johnny spoke up, and he nodded, putting the eye patch back over.

"Mom didn't let me leave the house after the surgery because she didn't want it to get infected or whatever."

Lucas waved his hand on Hendery's blind side, satisfied when Hendery didn't seem to notice. Even if he had put the eye patch back on.

"Now we can harbor two fugitives." Yuta said with a smile, and Hendery tilted his head in confusion.

"We've got a lot to catch you up on."