Mingyu redirected themselves to the kitchen, which was just behind them. It was a noticeably bigger structure than the others.

Upon entering the kitchen, the smell of cooking wafted up their noses. Wonwoo noticed that two boys were already up and preparing breakfast.

"Jisoo, please stop hiding behind me. It's just bacon." An older boy scolded with a gentle tone. Behind him was another boy the same age, holding a spatula and shielding himself using his friend. "Just bacon? It feels like acid when- NOPE." Searing oil jumped out from the frying pan, causing him to flinch farther from the stove. "How about I cook and you focus on making the sandwiches? You're getting nowhere with the bacon." Jisoo instantly complied to his friend's suggestion and passed the spatula to him, rushing over to the counter before any more oil could pop out of the pan.

"Guys, how long until food's ready?" Mingyu took a seat behind one of the two dining tables, Wonwoo sat across him. Both older boys turned their heads around, the one who was cooking answered the question, "It won't take too long, just give us a few minutes." his shoulders twitched as oil landed on his skin. The boy who Wonwoo took note as Jisoo smiled at him, "Hey, how's the one-way trip to nowhere?" Wonwoo raised an eyebrow and deadpanned, "Amazing," sarcasm dripping out from his words. Jisoo chuckled and caught on, "I thought so too."

Mingyu joined in the conversation and shook his head, "Don't even joke about it." The boy by the stove turned around, "Am I the only one who actually enjoyed the trip? It was so peaceful- Oh, by the way, I'm Jeonghan." he changed the subject mid-sentence. Jisoo didn't need to be told to introduce himself, "I'm Jisoo, you might've heard Jeonghan call me that." Wonwoo felt more comfortable with them and allowed a smile to slip, "I'm Wonwoo."

Right at that moment, another person went through the entry way. A younger boy grumbled and took a seat to Mingyu's left, "I don't know why I still share a room with Seungkwan." Jeonghan turned around with a plateful of bacon, placing it in the middle of the table, "At least you have an alarm clock." The boy replied back, "Jihoon needs an alarm clock more than I do." The older sighed, "Well, you know him. He only gets up when he wants to."

Wonwoo reached out for a piece and munched. He hadn't known how long he's gone without food, and he didn't realize how hungry he was until the bacon was set out. Soon after, Jisoo put down one of the tray of eight sandwiches, one each for the people that could be seated in one table. "Mingyu, eat your fair share." He precautioned, "I'm sure you remember last time." Mingyu looked up, chewing three pieces of bacon stacked on each other, "Yeah, I'll take one sandwich." his words muffled as he chewed. Jisoo pursed his lips, "Same thing applies to the bacon." Though he knew he it was too late and sighed in defeat, "Just don't eat all of it." Jisoo laid out the other tray of sandwiches on the other table behind them.

One by one, everyone settled into the kitchen and introduced themselves. The boy who entered earlier had been Chan, the youngest of the inhabitants. The room gradually became crowded and boisterous until Wonwoo couldn't even hear his own thoughts, but he didn't care too much about it. His mind needed a break.

The leader figure of all the boys took the chance to get to know the recent addition and sat to his left, Seungcheol was his name. "Sorry for the noise, the guys have always been like this. Not once has a day ever been quiet for months now. I miss it sometimes." The leader shook his head, despite doing so he had a grin on his face and took a bite out of the ham sandwich in his hand. Wonwoo nodded and ate his own sandwich. Mingyu was quite busy with the others, listening intently to Seokmin, Seungkwan, and Soonyoung as they relentlessly threw jokes. Within minutes, Seungcheol resumed the conversation. "It was dead silent when I came here, but then Jihoon came along." Seungcheol spaced out as he explained his experience

"Then how long were you here?" Seungcheol perked up at the question Wonwoo finally asked of him, "Ah, it's been about a year now. There's a new guy in a monthly basis. Since you're the thirteenth, you're the first to arrive on our second year."

Two years. Wonwoo began concluding why they seemed to be desentized with the isolation. It had been a full year since the first boy arrived, so as time passed, it turned into a norm.

Wonwoo thought it shouldn't be. Thirteen amnesiac boys stranded in the middle of nowhere should not be a norm. He could feel the disbelief and bewilderment he woke up with grow as he saw how careless they were. He couldn't bring himself to speak anything of it, fearing that eyes would bore into him if he uttered a word about it. Laughter rang in the room and smiles were seen everywhere like what would be typical of an innocent hang out. It made him uneasy. Wonwoo looked down at his plate for food only to be met with just greasy streaks from the bacon. Everyone else had already helped themselves with seconds, clearing off all the bacon they were served.

That left Wonwoo with only one distraction left. He shifted his stare down to his hands, though he clearly knew it did nothing to settle his discomfort.

How could they be like this? Didn't they want to return back home? Are they not concerned over their family and friends?

An idea slipped into Wonwoo's mind, clearing his messy contemplation.

Fear of failure.

The river discouraged them from leaving the village and even if they had somehow crossed it, they could be endlessly walking through the vast forest. There was no determination on how long it would take until they find civilization. The dangers of the unknown wilderness have intimidated them, therefore the safety of the village is chosen over the uncertainty of retrieving their normal lives.

If that was the case, Wonwoo thought, then he completely understood it. However, it was not enough of a reason. He needed to convince all of them to take their leave, but how?

"Wonwoo!" A hand frantically waved in front of his face, yanking him out from the clouds. A wave of irritation came over him, but he remained composed in reflex. Mingyu had risen from his seat, ready to take off, "Come on, I'll show you around. Any later and we'll be walking around the village in the heat." Seungcheol gave him a nudge, "You should go and get it over with. Just be a bit patient, Mingyu can be a bit of a bother."

"Let's go." Said person ignored the comment, tucking his chair in with a kick and walked out the door. Wonwoo nodded towards Seungcheol as a means of informing of his leave and the other returned an acknowledging one. Wonwoo stood up and followed suit.

"There isn't much to show you," Mingyu began, "but there are some rules that we go by." The two began walking along the river, both admiring how the waters were beginning to glisten under the warm sunlight.

"Number one," Mingyu nodded his head towards the river, "no attempting to cross the river. This is for our safety. At the least, tell somebody before you do something stupid. Oh- that's also a general rule." The rule only gave Wonwoo more motivation to cross the bridge.

"Number two," the two continued to walk along the river, "getting along with the others is mandatory. Seungcheol doesn't tolerate any of us being on bad terms." Wonwoo did nothing else but nod in agreement. There was no room for negativity when you will be seeing the same people everyday.

"Number three, do your fair share of chores. We all have to make living together easier for everyone." This was starting to sound like a list of household rules. Mingyu tilted his head as he added on, "It's nothing complicated, we just clean up after ourselves, take turns cooking, and do our laundry. We don't go around cleaning every shack in this village, though. That's insane."

"Number four," he gave the newcomer a smile, "this is the weird one." Wonwoo raised an eyebrow to that. "Number four, if you need anything, tell the tree. Most of the time we can only ask for small things like daily necesse-"

"Wait, what?" Wonwoo interrupted. The list Mingyu went through seemed normal, but then suddenly it came back to that weird tree. "Yeah," Mingyu was almost speechless over how he could possibly explain it. "You just kind of," he paused, "walk up to it and say: 'Hey, I need a couple of shirts.' and you'll get it within the next day."

When he realized there was going to be a lack of reply from Wonwoo, the guide continued, "As long as it's plausible to get, then it'll give it to you. We can't seem to ask for any communication devices, they never pop up even if we've asked a lot of times." Mingyu looked like he wanted to add more, but he shook his head and resumed showing Wonwoo around.

Mingyu showed him around the village. Most of the buildings they used were at the bottom of the hill near where they slept. The shack beside the kitchen was a storage room where they stocked up different kinds of imperishable food, clothing, and toiletries. There were also some beddings folded by the shelf. Another shelf held lamps and candles with matches and oil to pair up. All these items were provided through requests.

The shack to the other side of the kitchen stored items meant for leisure activities. There was a small couch set against the farthest wall, beside it was a small shelf filled with books. There was a shelf against another wall stacked up with board games and sports equipment were also racked up by the walls. A small table was in the middle, along with a few foldable chairs leaning against a wall.

By the time Mingyu had finished rambling about their place, the sun has shown itself from the trees and up in the sky. They now stopped where they started, at the bottom of the hill standing around the open space. Some of the guys began a game of soccer, some were playing badminton, others spectated. "So," Mingyu turned to Wonwoo, flashing a dorky smile, "what do you think of our place?"

Wonwoo looked around. A light breeze blew around them and the sun warmly shone on everything, speckles of cloud hung among the blue sky. The water flowing through the river was faintly heard and the trees beyond it swayed slightly. The village was, without a doubt, a place of tranquility.

If it weren't for the mysterious amnesiac state they were all in, the abnormal oak tree, and the apparently impassable river. Wonwoo could feel the unease of the isolation and lack of civilization on his shoulders. They were cut off from society. They were placed in a village among a vast forest, yet their world was disturbingly small and shut out. Just thinking about it made Wonwoo sick in the stomach.

Despite all of that, he forced himself to fake a grin and look at Mingyu in the eye, "It's really nice." 

Author's Note

I am back.
I am back and extremely determined to finish this fic. I've planned more than half of this story, so there's no way I should ever completely abandon this story. I'll definitely have writer's block while this is ongoing, but I will finish this (I swear on all my SVT albums-). I'm sorry for the wait.