They had one week left to stop the end of the world. There was nothing to do for him but wait.

Baekho had never been too good at figuring out his feelings. For the longest time in his life it had been an advantage not to show any. But back in those days he had a very special reason to keep going.

He had expected if his family ever found a way into a better life he would feel overwhelming happiness. But there was only this odd lack of drive left in him. What kept him going now that his life’s mission had been so incidentally accomplished by the organization?

***

“-and both your cousins work at that factory I mentioned, it’s finalized. The pay is really good there so I expect to become an aunt soon.”

Baekho’s mother had been rambling about every single family member that had been helped by the organization. And the other people in their community that had been resettled under the pretense of a social mobility program. If only his loved ones had moved, it would have seemed suspicious and they needed to believe he had found his new job by total coincidence.

The boy had the phone lying next to him on speaker, not really paying attention as he did crunches on his carpet. Occasionally he acknowledged her tale with a noncommittal grunt.

She went on. “I’m still surprised every day when I walk into the bathroom and the water is actually warm. I had forgotten what a working boiler does to brighten my life. But you know what would really brighten my day the most?”

Baekho sighed. Was she going to bring this up every time?

“Mom, you know I can’t just drop by. First of all we’re cities apart and-“

“Yes yes, I know. You always say your job description includes staying where you are. But I still don’t get what it is you do? And don’t give me that vague nonsense again. I know you well enough to know that nobody would hire you in a consulting position of any kind, and off the street no less. You’re not that smart.”

“Wow thanks, mom. It’s not like you raised me or anything.”

“Don’t change the subject.”

“Look, it’s really hard to describe but as long as the checks keep rolling in you don’t have to-“

“Listen here, boy!” Her voice was rather strained at that point. She must have decided to press the issue this time, no matter what. “If what you’re doing is illegal, young man, I’ll give you the first spanking of your life.”

“No, mom. I sent you all those official documents for you tax files, remember. It’s totally legal.”

His mother did one of her exaggerate sighs, which meant she was willing to let it rest. The conversation turned back to Baekho’s relatives and soon they said their goodbyes.

The crunches hadn’t tired him out. Perhaps he just needed to punch things again.

***

The building in which the boys were stationed was used for a multitude of purposes but it certainly had all the comfort of a hotel. One of Baekho’s favorite facilities was the training room where he hit bags until he felt better.

He had done so pretty much every day since the failure at CourtesySolutions. They were just sitting around anyway. What little he was told didn’t sound promising. The agents of the void were extremists. They were perfectly fine following orders without knowing what they were accomplishing at all as long as they were lead to believe it furthered their nebulous agenda.

Everybody was getting antsy as the end of the world drew closer. Baekho wasn’t immune to the general rise in anxiety, but didn’t feel any particular way about the issue, unable to conceptualize what it really meant. Or at least that was what Ren had told him after assessing his emotional landscape.

It all came down to the previous train of thought again. What was he fighting for? Everyone he cared about was safe – at least until earth exploded or whatever was going to happen on the 27^th.

***

The five boys usually ate together. They even had an extra room next to the regular employee’s cafeteria for that purpose.

Baekho didn’t really like being treated like a special snowflake but it meant he didn’t have to queue for food – and seconds and thirds – which was a boon as far as he was concerned. He’d have to find out how they made the Ramyun here so delicious and put an end to it. He had to be gaining weight at this point, no way around it.

“How are your Twi orb experiments going?” Junior asked. He was loosely holding onto Ren’s hip, sitting very close to the pretty boy on a bench that had huge amounts of free space. Was the coming doomsday what had brought them together? Where they official? Why did he even care?

“I’m fairly precise now,” Baekho said between bites. “And I can shoot about every two or three seconds so I guess I’m unbeatable in melee.”

Junior nodded and smiled. He did that a lot, always encouraging s.

Minhyun stole a scoop of rice from Aron’s dish and the two got into an argument that included kicking each other under the table until Aron simply reached over and vaporized Minhyun’s plate.

“Hey, no fair! You should be nicer to me, Aron. I could give you nightmares on purpose.”

The accused only chuckled. “Have you ever?”

“I’m strongly considering creating a precedent.”

 Their bickering was cute to watch. Cute to watch? Since when did he have thought like that?

Baekho’s chop stick holding hand froze in midair, the noodles slowly sliding back into the bowl. He had brothers now. He had a new family. And he had grown incredibly fond of them. When was the last time anyone had entered the circle of people who meant something to him rather than left it? When had been the last time somebody had been nice to him and not asked for money right after?

He cared. He didn’t want to see them hurt. He had something to fight for after all.

Now if only it wasn’t one week till the end of the world with no lead to preventing it.

A/N: These healing time chapters will come in between all arcs to give some character development and breathing space. Going forward each arc will be from the perspective of one boy the whole way through. Also, I looked at my statistics and saw most readers skipped Baekho's introduction chapter. I knew he was kinda underrated but, dang, I didn't know it was by that much.