According to a bunch of Gwangju locals, the night flea market was the busiest during Sundays. These were the times when vendors would attach more colorful quilts over their makeshift stands, shouting louder than usual in hopes of attracting more customers than the stall across from theirs. Husbands went around to look for the cheapest cuts of meat while wives went and bargained for the prettiest scarves they could find for their children during the wintertime. Rows and rows of stalls selling a variety of items lined the sides of the streets, leaving the area in the middle clear for the people walking around.

Sehun and Hyerin walked arm in arm along the night market, dressed heavily in layers of jackets and wool scarves to fight off the cold.

“I don’t know how they do it,” Sehun mumbled. “I just don’t understand how they do it.”

“Do what?” Hyerin asked uninterestedly as she pulled Sehun towards a small stand selling hats.

“We’ve been here in Gwangju for two weeks already and I still can’t believe how these people can stay in this cold weather every night.” Sehun picked up a black fedora and tried it on. “Does the weather not affect them at all?”

Hyerin shrugged. “Well obviously they need the money.”

“How can they earn money when everything here is like, way cheaper? If they want to have a lot of money they should go to Seoul and work there.” Sehun placed the fedora back on the table and walked further along the market. “Seriously, it’s so cheap here, especially the food,” he said. “And speaking of food, let’s go get something to eat.”

“I think that’s a food stand over there,” Hyerin muttered, making her way through the crowd.

Once they made it to the street food stand, Hyerin ordered bungeoppang while Sehun asked for two servings of dakkochi and soondae.

“But you know,” he blew his dakkochi to cool it down, “I do kind of like it here.”

“Me too,” Hyerin agreed, taking a bite. “It still doesn’t feel like home, though.”

Sehun looked down at Hyerin, the corners of his mouth tugging upwards. “Well you’re doing a really good job so far.”

Hyerin stared up at him. “With what?”

“With cooperating. You’re being a really good sport about all this and I know for a fact that it’s not easy,” Sehun said, burying his hand inside his coat pocket while the other held the small food container. “Believe it or not I expected you to have at least one or two tantrums and so far you haven’t complained even once.”

Hyerin scoffed, pushing the boy away. “Jerk.”

“I really admire that about you, though,” he said, starting down the pavement. “I wish I was more like that. Strong physically and mentally and doesn’t take crap from anyone.”

Hyerin shook her head. “Trust me, you don’t want to be like that,” she chuckled a little. “You’ll be a pain in the a hundred percent of the time.”

“I just really miss home,” he mumbled. “I mean, Gwangju’s a beautiful place and all but we don’t belong here.”

“I know.”

“It just doesn’t feel right. I want to go back to Seoul, but then again I don’t really have anyone to go home to.” He lowered his head. “Not anymore.”

Hyerin sighed, patting Sehun’s back. “I’m really sorry about what happened to your mom.”

“Eh.” He shrugged. “ happens,” he said casually, although his eyes were starting to water.

Hyerin pretended not to see it and continued to gobble down her food, startled after a couple of minutes when Sehun lightly pulled the ends of her hair.

“What?” she asked.

“Your hair is ridiculously long now, Hyerin. It looks gross,” Sehun scoffed, seemingly normal again. “Don’t you plan on cutting it?”

“Hell no! I kind of like it,” she said, pouting as she inspected the ends of her hair.

“You look so basic. You look like one of those countryside girls who don’t know how to use a cellphone.”

“Hey!” She punched the boy on the shoulder. “That’s not nice!”

“Well I’ll be nicer if you get a haircut because you need it. Badly.”

“Do you see any hair salons around you? Do you?”

“No,” Sehun chuckled, “but we’ll look for one.”

---

Back in the apartment, the other boys were doing their own thing. Luhan was busy making dinner while Baekhyun sat on the kitchen table, polishing their guns and weapons. Tao was benching weights at the living room transformed into a home gym while Kris spotted for him.

“So I heard Gwangju’s the home of the best artists in South Korea,” Kris remarked after Tao’s last set on the bench press. “Maybe this is where you belong, Baek.”

Baekhyun looked up from polishing the weapons to nod at Kris. “That’s right. There’s this thing called Art Street near downtown spanning at least three blocks full of artists and their works in galleries. It’s pretty cool.”

“Yeah, I heard from our neighbors,” Tao said, stepping in front of the mirror to check himself out. He gained back his normal weight but needed to work on his muscles. “We should go check out those galleries when we have the time. You up for it, Baek?”

Baekhyun smiled as he assembled his gun. “Yeah, for real.”

The front door opened, revealing Sehun and Hyerin with several bags in hand and completely new hairstyles.

“Woah, what the hell is this?” Tao laughed, approaching the two to help them with the bags. “Extreme Makeover: Gwangju Edition?”

“That’s right!” Sehun exclaimed, dropping the bags and skipping towards the T.V. to turn it on. “How does it look?”

Sehun his heels and showcased his new hair. Instead of his soft, light brown hair, he had platinum locks neatly styled and parted in the middle, the sides of his head shaved and dyed black.

“You look weird,” Tao laughed, wiping his sweaty face with a towel.

“And of course, look at Hyerin!” Sehun exclaimed, pulling the girl to show everybody her new hairstyle. “Isn’t it so nice!?”

Hyerin shrugged, smiling. “I like it.” Her once long, black hair was now cut short above her shoulders, a long side-swept fringe framing her face nicely.

Luhan stepped in front of her and inspected her hair. “I like it too,” he mused, smiling. “You look more mature.”

“It’s really pretty,” Kris agreed, giving her thumbs up.

Hyerin turned to Sehun and smiled. “I guess that decision to go to the hair salon wasn’t such a bad idea.”

Sehun winked at her. “I told you.”

Hyerin nudged him with her shoulder before leaning down to pick up a plastic bag. “Here, Luhan,” she handed the bag over to him, “that’s the stuff you asked us to get from the market.”

“Oh, thanks! Dinner will be done a little over twenty minutes,” he said, taking the bag and heading back inside the kitchen.

Hyerin nodded slowly, brows furrowed together as he watched him walk away. She suddenly got an idea.

“Hey, Sehun,” she called out.

He turned around. “Yeah?”

Hyerin took his arm and lead him to the kitchen. “You know I was meaning to help Luhan make dinner but I forgot I had to do something else. Do you mind helping him out?”

His eyes widened. “What? No, I don’t want to! What are you supposed to do anyway?”

Hyerin shrugged as they entered the kitchen. “Well, I was originally going to-” she caught sight of Baekhyun sitting on the kitchen table cleaning the weapons, “-help Baekhyun do the laundry!”

Baekhyun looked up. “Do what?”

“Yeah, I already promised him I’ll do it with him so…yeah, you have to help Luhan.”

“But I don’t want to, I-”

“Okay, I’ll see you guys later! Have fun making dinner!” She gave Sehun a cheeky grin before pulling Baekhyun out of his seat and outside the kitchen.

Baekhyun raised a brow. “What was that all about?”

“It’s about time for them to talk,” Hyerin sighed, placing a hand on her hips. “This stupid silent game they’re playing has gone on for too long.”

Baekhyun nodded quietly. “I see,” he said. “So are we really doing the laundry?”

Hyerin smiled. “Of course we are!” she exclaimed, about to head over to the rooms to gather their clothes.

“Hey, Hyerin,” Baekhyun called out before Hyerin could disappear.

She whipped around. “Yeah?”

Baekhyun smiled. “Your hair looks really pretty.”

Hyerin opened to say something but decided otherwise. She gave him a small smile, murmuring thanks, before walking inside the first room in the hallway.

The two gathered everyone’s clothes before heading out to go to the coin laundry across the street from their apartment. It was small, rundown, and no one was inside except for the two of them and the owner. The latter ignored them while they loaded one of the many washing machines with their clothes.

After they were done with that, they waited.

Hyerin sat on top of one machine – just next to the one they were using – while Baekhyun settled on a wooden stool right across from her. It was quiet and a little awkward, with only the steady sound of whirring from the washing machines and the clothes inside splashing, plus the loud humming of the fluorescent lights above them. It was a noisy kind of quiet.

They sat there for thirty minutes, maybe even around forty, before Hyerin looked up from counting the tiles on the floor to glance at Baekhyun.

“What was it like?” she asked, head tilted a little to the left as she stared straight at Baekhyun.

Baekhyun looked up, startled. “What?”

“Being with Jiyong,” she said, noticing the sudden discomfort in Baekhyun’s expression. “I’m just curious. But I mean, if you don’t want to tell me it’s fine. I totally understand.”

“No, it’s okay,” he said quietly. “I don’t know. To be quite honest, I don’t even remember how it felt. Everything was just so fast-paced then that I never really paid attention to the details.” He shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck. “All the pain and loneliness and all that stuff…I just don’t remember it anymore. And of course, I wouldn’t want to remember it.”

Hyerin nodded silently, bringing her knees to her chest.

Baekhyun chuckled slightly and looked down on the ground. “But I do remember thinking about you,” he mumbled, gaze glued to the ground as the corners of his mouth tugged upward. “I thought about you a lot, actually.”

Hyerin raised her brows, surprised. “What?” she mumbled in a barely audible whisper.

“Don’t get me wrong, I thought about the others too but it always came down to you – how you were doing, if you were hurt, how you were coping with all the stress. I was always wondering what you thought about me after doing all the horrible, horrible things I did,” he said, “then I realized that you probably already hated me so I resorted to just reliving the past inside my head.”

He chuckled, shaking his head. “I wish you knew how happy I felt when you confessed to me the night we went out on that date.”

Hyerin stared at him dejectedly as he continued.

“If only the circumstances were different,” he whispered to himself, shaking his head. He hummed, smiling to himself.

“If only.” Hyerin said quietly. Baekhyun looked up at her.

“How long ago was that? A couple of weeks and a few days ago?” he wondered solemnly. “Would it be weird if I told you I wasn’t entirely just acting like I had feelings for you, too?”

“Baekhyun, where are you going with this?” she asked gravely.

He shrugged weakly. “The moment called for it,” he said quietly.

Hyerin gave him a pained look. There were no more blushing, no more weak knees when he’s around or butterflies inside the stomach. She didn’t feel that way about him anymore and it was both sad and relieving. She loved him, but not in the way she thought she did before.

“You know it’s never going to happen, right?” she said, resting her chin on her knees as she looked to the side.

Baekhyun bowed his head, lacing his fingers together. “I just wish I took advantage of that moment during that date,” he mumbled. “Maybe smiled at you or hugged you or kissed you or something. Anything except saying ‘I’m sorry’.”

Hyerin stared out into the streets and blinked the oncoming tears away.

“You know, every time I saw you all sad and angry and stressed, I always wanted to hug you. Like really, really tight. You know, and say that I’m always going to be there for you,” he said, swallowing the lump in his throat. “But I can’t. I can’t because I know I’m not the one you need. At least, not anymore.”

Hyerin’s tears started to flow down her cheeks, having no clue why she was crying in the first place. She was still looking away when Baekhyun stood up from his chair.

“But I’m alright. Siding with Jiyong had its consequences, and this is one of them,” Baekhyun said, giving her a small smile. “Can I have a hug, though? Just for the record.”

Hyerin wiped her tears before nodding, jumping off the washing machine to hug Baekhyun.

“I’m sor-”

“No,” he cut off, smiling sadly. “Thank you for giving me another chance.”

---

“Hey, Sehun,” Luhan said while he was washing the dishes.

“Hm?” Sehun hummed, stirring the pot of soup on the stove.

Luhan blinked several times before opening his mouth to speak. “Sorry about what I did back in Seoul,” he said. “You know, when I stopped you from visiting your mom at your house.”

Sehun shrugged, going over to the cupboard to retrieve six bowls. “It’s whatever, man. It was pretty stupid of me to go out and do that anyway. Plus, what the hell would I do if I saw her dead body just lying there, you know? I don’t even know how to bury a corpse.”

Luhan dropped the plate he was washing in the sink and whipped around to face the younger boy. “Sehun, I’m really, really sorry-”

“Oh, just stop it,” Sehun sighed, pouring soup inside the bowls. “It’s all good. I mean it that she’s dead and I’m really sad it happened, but on the other hand I’m tired of being mad at you.”

Sehun placed the bowls on a tray and carried it with two hands before looking up at Luhan. “You didn’t kill my mother, Luhan. Suzy did. So stop beating yourself up, okay?”

Luhan sighed deeply, leaning back against the counter. “You have no idea how relieved I am right now, Sehun.”

The maknae smiled before nodding towards the kitchen door. “Let’s go. I think Hyerin and Baekhyun are here.”

Luhan nodded, taking the rest of the food before following Sehun outside. Like what he said, everyone was already home and seated on the table.

“Hey guys,” Hyerin greeted. “How was cooking?”

“Fantastic,” Sehun said, placing the food down the table. “Though I did most of the cooking. Luhan was just no help at all.”

“Excuse me?” Luhan chuckled a little awkwardly, still not used to the boy talking to him again.

“That’s really good to hear.” Hyerin smiled, happy to see the two getting along.

“What about your little trip to the Laundromat?” Tao asked, hair damp with sweat and clad in nothing but sweatpants because of working out for three hours straight.

“It was…” Hyerin trailed off, looking at Baekhyun.

“It was good,” Baekhyun said nonchalantly, smiling at Hyerin with reassurance. “It was the best Laundromat experience I’ve ever had.”

Kris raised a brow, looking at him weird. “O-kay. That’s a bit weird but whatever.”

“Seems like things are looking up, Tao,” Hyerin remarked, referring to his body.

Tao grinned, flexing his biceps. “I know, right? I’ve been working hard to get my body back so definitely no carbs for me tonight.”

“We’ve all been working hard,” Kris said. “And I’m definitely sure that this will all pay off in the end. So just hang in there a little bit more.”

Everyone nodded, silently agreeing with the leader before digging in.

---

Blue sky. Warm breeze. Sunshine. Grassy field. Picnic basket. Laughter.

Kyungsoo smiled.

He picked up a watermelon slice from his plate and took a bite, all the while listening to Hyerin talk and talk and talk endlessly about something he didn’t understand. He nodded anyway.

She was grinning as she babbled away, sitting across from him on the picnic blanket laid out on the grassy field. She was clad in a familiar pink floral dress and a cute little flower crown on top of her head. Her long black hair was flying everywhere because of the wind, but it made her look all the more angelic. He had never seen her look like this before.

He leaned forward to tuck a strand behind her ear.

Kyungsoo sat there quietly, trying to comprehend whatever it was that she was saying, but the more he tried to listen the more unclear her words became.

His brows furrowed, tilting his head to the side. Her usual loud voice was a little muffled, as if someone was covering his ears. He gave her a questioning look, but she continued talking as if there was nothing wrong.

He was starting to panic. His eyes frantically wandered around – even the wind sounded faint and muffled. He was about to stand up and leave when a hand on his arm stopped him from doing so.

“What’s wrong?” Hyerin asked, eyebrows curled up with worry.

Kyungsoo blinked several times, exhaling through his nose, before plopping back down on the blanket. “N-Nothing,” he said, chuckling nervously.

Hyerin gave him a heart-stopping smile. “Oh, Baekhyun,” she laughed. “You’re so weird.”

Kyungsoo’s smile faltered. “…Baekhyun?”

He looked down on his body. His legs were skinnier, as well as his arms and waist. He took the mirror lying in between him and Hyerin on the ground to look at his reflection, only to see Baekhyun’s face staring at him.

Kyungsoo screamed, throwing the mirror away. What was happening? Why is he Baekhyun?

Soon enough, Hyerin’s voice was muffled once again until there was no sound left at all. He stared at her with wild eyes, his vision starting to become blurry.

“Hyerin!” he exclaimed. He was starting to get dizzy. Everything was spinning at this point, and he probably collapsed along the way. He could make out Hyerin’s blurry image hovering over him, probably checking if he was okay. The last thing he saw was the blob of pink from her dress before completely blacking out.

Then she was gone.

He didn’t know how long he was out, but he was determined to go back to Hyerin. Yet when he finally regained his consciousness, it wasn’t what he was expecting.

No blue sky. No warm breeze. No sunshine. No grassy field. No picnic basket. No laughter.

Instead, there was the steady sound of a beeping heart monitor and the profound smell of dirt with a hint of disinfectant.

Kyungsoo forced his eyes open, blinking a couple of times to clear up his vision. He figured he was in M-LX’s medical center, only to be proven wrong immediately.

Instead of the usual sterile white ceiling he was so used to waking up to, there was a huge tree.

Kyungsoo’s eyes widened in panic as he sat up straight, regretting it soon after when his whole body ached from the suddenness of his actions. He groaned as he collapsed back down on the ground from pain.

“D.O!” someone yelled. “Guys! D.O’s awake!”

Kyungsoo turned his head to the side – the only body part he could move so far without struggling too much – only to see Xiumin hurrying to kneel down beside him. Soon after, the rest of the boys circled around him.

“D.O!” Suho exclaimed. “You’re awake!”

“Obviously,” Kyungsoo groaned, his voice cracking here and there. “What happened to me? Where are we?”

“Don’t you remember?” Chen asked. Kyungsoo shook his head.

Behind the boys, Agent M and Zero entered the scene. Myungjae came up to Kyungsoo hastily, placing his palm against the boy’s forehead to check his temperature. He nodded to himself in satisfaction and fished two pills from his pocket.

“Here, take this,” he handed Kyungsoo the pills, “you’ll need it.”

Agent M fed him the two capsules. Kyungsoo obediently swallowed the medicine, finally having the time to actually look at his surroundings.

They weren’t in M-LX; they were in the woods. He didn’t know exactly why or how, but judging from the makeshift blanket tents, the scattered sleeping bags and several piles of firewood, they’ve been there for quite a while already.

He turned to look at the others who were staring at him cautiously. Instead of the usual M-LX getup, they were all dressed in layers and layers of dark clothing, from jackets to long-sleeved shirts to dark cargo pants. Almost everyone was wearing either hats or beanies, and almost everyone seemed significantly tanner and older. Even Agent M and Zero who usually dressed clean and sharp looked scruffy and unshaven.

Kyungsoo frowned. “How long was I out?”

The boys looked at one another.

“Two weeks,” Lay said, shedding his jacket. “So much happened.”

“What are we doing here? What happened?” Kyungsoo asked.

“Jiyong found M-LX’s second headquarters,” Chanyeol said, an assault rifle slung loosely around his shoulder. “They attacked the HQ, and thankfully we survived. The bad news is that pretty much all our staff and other agents got massacred. It was a bloodbath,” he explained, chuckling bitterly. “We couldn’t save them. Be grateful you didn’t see it.”

“We had nowhere to hide. All the equipment and good weapons were left behind at the HQ. There was no time to get all of them so we’re pretty much left with just us and a couple of weapons,” Chen explained. “Like I said, there was nowhere to hide so we had no choice but to hide in the woods. We’ve been here for one week and two days I think.”

Kyungsoo couldn’t believe his ears. Their world was just getting smaller and smaller.

“Nothing’s left?” Kyungsoo asked desperately. “Nothing at all?”

Agent Zero shrugged. “There might be a few weapons or gadgets left if Jiyong’s men didn’t completely destroy everything.”

Kyungsoo sighed in disbelief. “And I was out the whole ing time?”

“Yes.” Agent M nodded. “Don’t you remember?” he asked, looking down on his arm.

“…What?” Kyungsoo whispered, following Agent M’s gaze.

Suddenly, everything made sense. Kyungsoo kept his eyes down on his right arm. The whole of his shoulder down to the tip of his fingers were heavily bandaged with a thick layer of gauze. His heartbeat began to quicken as he realized what was beneath the heavy bandaging.

“W-Was the surgery successful?” he asked, although he already knew the answer. He could clearly make out the shape of a hand through the bandages.

Agent M smiled for the first time that day. “I wanted to wait till you woke up before taking off the bandages.”

Kyungsoo blinked several times before nodding once, a go signal for Agent M to take off the bandages.

Agent M sighed. “Okay,” he mumbled, sitting beside the boy to unfasten the gauze.

“If you look around you, you can see that you’re surrounded by medical equipment. The operation wasn’t necessarily completed when Jiyong took over our HQ. I had to bring you and all the stuff needed for your operation with me,” he chuckled. “If I didn’t you’d be dead by now.”

Kyungsoo looked around him and saw the heart monitor on his left and the IV on his right. A tray of medical equipment was laid on top of several towels beside him, and alongside that was a big first aid container filled with several bottles of medicine.

Agent M finally removed the last thin layer of gauze. Everyone gasped at the sight, including Kyungsoo himself.

His right arm was completely replaced with a bionic limb. It was completely made out of steel and wires, but had the size of a normal arm. Its mechanical appearance intimidated Kyungsoo a little, but nonetheless he was fascinated.

“Go ahead, try to operate it with minimal movements,” Agent M urged.

Kyungsoo nervously tried to lift his bionic arm. Instantly, a weird, warm sensation started to build up from the whole of his bionic arm to his spine and finally to the back of his head, startling him. With no complications, he managed to lift his mechanical arm.

“Woah!” everyone exclaimed.

“That’s spectacular,” Chen said in amazement.

Kyungsoo used his left hand to reach out to the back of his neck. He felt a bump inside his skin.

“What is that?” he asked.

“In order for the bionic arm to work like a normal limb, it had to be attached to the brain for it to function through a cognitive process,” Agent M explained. “Trust me, it was pretty messy.”

Kyungsoo stared down at his new limb in bewilderment. He opened and closed his fingers, gradually getting used to the sudden warm sensation in his spine every time he moved the arm.

“I can’t believe the procedure actually went through,” Kyungsoo mumbled under his breath. He looked up at Agent M with gratitude. “Thank you so much, sir.”

Agent M smiled. “It’s no problem. Plus, we really need you right now. So much has happened and we need that bionic arm to fix up,” he said, suddenly growing serious. “Although do remember the setbacks I warned you about. That arm can be very dangerous,” he added. “You need to get used to how to operate it, as well as how you’re going to deal with it when it malfunctions.”

Kyungsoo nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“All good? Okay. Now that you’re awake, you have to go grab something to eat. Lay, try to get rid of the soreness of his body and Chanyeol? Go get D.O. something to munch on. The rest of you go back to work.”

Agent M turned to Kyungsoo and smiled. “As for you, get all the rest you need because we have a lot of work to do.”

“A lot?” Kyungsoo asked, raising a brow.

“A lot,” Agent M said, nodding, before standing up to leave.

---

A/N: HAPPY NEW YEAR! Have I ever mentioned that Guts might be ending soon? (✿◠‿◠)

btw so sorry for the late update (again) but it got so ratchet in my room last night like it was super turnt

P.S. idk where kai is??? like ppl ask me where he is and imma be like (╯◕_◕)╯