Aside from the little hygiene concern, Wonwoo was able to work with Mingyu quite efficiently. He seemed to have a knack at cooking. While they prepared the lunch, Mingyu told him the layout of the kitchen and what items were stored in which cabinets. Due to the lack of electricity, they had a cellar where they kept ingredients that were meant to be in the fridge.

The smell of beef had already attracted the inhabitants to enter the kitchen and sit themselves down, only a few were missing from the dining tables, though they would likely arrive shortly in time before everybody starts eating. At some point while everybody gradually poured in, somebody had set the tables with plates, glasses, and cutlery. Wonwoo was pleasantly surprised with how everyone seemed to be efficient despite their boisterous demeanor, he began to think that living with these people wouldn't be as bad as he thought it would be. 

Lifting two separate, big bowls of rice in each hand, Wonwoo laid them down to of the two tables. Mingyu followed up with the stir-fried beef he cooked up. Though he didn't like to admit, Wonwoo was slightly traumatized for the rest of the time they spent cooking. Luckily enough, there weren't any more hygiene incidents that occurred. 

Once the food was set down, the boys lightheartedly chortled out their thanks to Mingyu and Wonwoo. "Dang, there's always so little," Soonyoung commented. Mingyu chimed in, "Then share." Seokmin didn't miss a beat, "Oh? That's rich, coming from you!" He raised his bowl and put up his chopsticks, twirling them in circular motions as he pretended to inhale food. Mingyu couldn't counter the truth and sat himself down with the two, grinning in defeat 

Within a flash, chopsticks were digging into the beef and rice.

Wonwoo found a spot next to Hansol, both busying themselves with filling up their small bowls with a portion of food. They didn't talk until both of them had food in their bowls. "So," Hansol began, "how did Mingyu do?" Wonwoo simply stated, "Touched the beef." Hansol immediately let out a short laugh and slapped his knee. Just being reminded of that sneeze made Wonwoo uncomfortable. His germs were definitely boiled off when the beef was cooked, he didn't care about the germs being in contact with the beef. The personal hygiene part was the concern.

"Careful, he might use you as his human tissue," Hansol nudged and Wonwoo could only grimace. The boy apparently got a kick out of that reaction. Seungcheol was last to arrive in the kitchen, looking at the scene in front of him, he shook his head when he realized that the boys once again began to eat without him.

He plopped down on the empty seat in front of Wonwoo, flashing a greeting grin before helping himself with some food. "So, you liking this place so far?" Seungcheol started off, Wonwoo could only half-heartedly answer, "Yeah, it's pretty nice here." The leader let up a relieved and welcoming smile, "That's great! We all look forward to getting to know you, it always gets more fun when someone new comes here."

Wonwoo looked forward to getting to know himself, too.

He could only bashfully return Seungcheol's smile before redirecting his focus back to his food. In his peripheral vision, he saw that the boy in front didn't mind his shyness and also focused on eating. The leader was intent on letting the new addition open up at his own pace. While Wonwoo was chewing the beef and rice, he took the atmosphere in and observed everyone.

As usual, the room was energetic and carefree through the lighthearted jokes and aimless conversations made. Wonwoo found himself enjoying atmosphere, the laughter ringing out and the smell of cooked beef comforted him.

His eyes trailed back to the person in front of him, though he noticed an odd mark on the side of his right arm. It was faint, but it seemed to be a scar. Anybody could miss it, but the brown splotches formed almost a circular shape.

Seungcheol noticed that he had caught Wonwoo's attention, lifting his arm up and letting him see his scar. "This has been on me since I could remember," he sheepishly grinned, "which obviously isn't much. I like to think that I might've fought with a little sister who got a little too aggressive."

Wonwoo smiled at the sentiment yet couldn't help but feel down hearing what Seungcheol said. He realized they could only fantasize what their life was like before arriving in this village. They could only use their imagination to fill in the blank pit in their memories. They all lost a chunk of their lives. 

"You should settle your stuff somewhere while it's nice out," Seungcheol switched up the conversation, "There's a spare bed near Mingyu's, you can grab whatever you want in the storage rooms and place your belongings in the bedroom."

Wonwoo was quick to take up on that offer, "Yeah, I'll do that." He wanted to have some peace and quiet for himself and think about the situation he was in.

He didn't really end up going straight to gathering his things, though. Wonwoo decided to play have another go at badminton before heading out. Time ended up flying past him. At some point, he did have to step out and get to the storage rooms when he noticed the sunlight was shining down at the opposite direction.

Soon after, there he was. Wonwoo was in the storage room lugging around a plastic crate. He grabbed some beddings and stuck a pillow in each of his arms. He was now in the storage room where the leisure items were placed, crouched down in front of the bookshelf. He had already grabbed all the necessities, leaving some space for some books to dump in. Wonwoo had been skimming through multiple prologues for a while now. He could only tell through how stiff he was feeling from sitting in the same position.

Though he probably would've been done choosing his last book a while back if he had hopped off his train of thought earlier.

The more Wonwoo thought about leaving the place, the more he felt cornered. They obviously couldn't force themselves back into the tree where they came from. He remembered clearly that from the highest view by the oak tree, the forest spanned across past where they could see. Camping was probably going to be a bad idea with how many people they needed to accomodate.

He could feel himself become more grumpy just thinking about it. Without further thought, he dropped the book into the crate. 

Making sure both his pillows were tucked securely between his arms, Wonwoo lifted the crate and walked out of the storage room, the wooden door creaked as he kicked it out of the way. 

"Hey," Mingyu stood in front of him, "Seungcheol told me to show you where our room is." Wonwoo didn't know if he could ever get used to Mingyu popping in. "Oh," he could only start off, "thanks."

They ended up walking into the shack across the kitchen. It was slightly cool when he took a step in, the floors were tiled and the room was simply furnished.

There were four wooden framed beds in each corner of the room, all partnered with a side table to put their claimed personal belongings. The bed closest to the door on his right was empty, the mattress on it was bare. Wonwoo grabbed the mattress cover, and wordlessly, Mingyu grabbed the opposite ends. The two worked together to tuck it under the mattress. Wonwoo dumped his two pillows on top of the bed and plopped the thick cotton blanket after. He decided to sort out the rest for later, gently kicking the plastic crate under the bed.

"Thanks for helping out again," Wonwoo turned to Mingyu. He only shrugged, the corners of his mouth tilting up, "It's no problem, really!"

The day went on with the boys busying themselves with their hobbies and interests. Wonwoo sat with Jihoon, Jisoo, and Jeonghan for a while, they seemed to be more relaxed compared to the others. He was grateful for that and ended up having some time for reading one of the books he chose.

Night rolled in and dinner was served in a warm atmosphere. They had to use oil lamps and light up some torches mounted on the walls to give themselves light due to the lack of electricity. Wonwoo didn't mind it at all, the night was chilly and the flickering flames nearby them made the room toasty.

After that, everyone took their time washing up by the river before going to sleep. The cool water was calming.

Seokmin and Soonyoung ended up being the other two roommates. Though they were visibly drowsy, they still had some energy left to continue throwing inside jokes back and forth. Wonwoo was already lying down while they chatted, snuggled comfortably under his cotton blanket and burying his face into his pillow. Looking to his right, he saw Mingyu sitting up, getting ready to slip into his blanket. "Good night," he greeted his roommates. Wonwoo sounded out a sleepy murmur, "Good night." Soonyoung and Seokmin chippered the same greeting, finally lowering their voices as they realize their roommates were going to shut their eyes and go to sleep.

Wonwoo saw as Mingyu grabbed on the his blanket, and there he saw some narrow scars running through his left arm. Scratch marks. He closed his eyes before Mingyu could notice him staring and didn't open his eyes for the rest of the night.

Seokmin and Soonyoung's voices still whispered through the night, but they soon became less coherent and later on, the night was silent.

Wonwoo slipped into slumber.

Heart pounding against his chest, feet hitting on the ground, sweat on his skin being blown by the breeze.

He felt himself fall and crash into the ground, but as quick as he fell, arms lifted him up and pushed him to run further.

Determination. Desperation. Panic.