“The world really is ending again.” Ilhoon sighed still lingering over the events that happened earlier that day. That was his first time reacting to an earthquake since the incident with his parents. Normally he froze up and went into shock, but Ilhoon had been quick on his heels when he worried about Sohyun’s safety. It was now dusk, the sun slowing fading and the last day of school was long gone. Sohyun was able to walk on her own, and that’s pretty much all she’s been doing since they left the shelter. Ilhoon aimlessly followed her, for some reason. The creature they discovered was now used to being in Ilhoon’s pocket, and it stuck its head out every so often to see what was going on and then went back in to mind its own business. “Sohyun, do you think you can survive it?”

“What?”
“You know…the world ending.”
“I don’t waste my time thinking about such things. I don’t think it's that big of a deal anyway. Deep down I feel like it won't even end.”
Ilhoon tilted his head and caught up to Sohyun’s pace. “Why do you say it so surely?” He asked curiously.  “It happened before. Same symptoms as last time. It can happen again.” He smiled and put his hands in his pockets. The creature pet (who Ilhoon named Ace) crawled out to his arm and onto his shoulder. Sohyun glanced at it, astonished how well it adapted to its new owner and how cute it actually was too.
“He suits you.” Sohyun complimented.
“She.” He corrected.
“How do you know?”
“I can tell. Females of any species can’t get enough of me.”
Sohyun scoffed and nudged his arm at such cheesy arrogance. They came to a stop light in the deserted town. There were no traffic or cars passing through at all; but the street lights were still on, including the traffic walk light. Ilhoon stepped out to cross even when it was red, but Sohyun grabbed his arm. “Why?”
“Just because you think the world is ending, and it feels like the world is ending, does that mean we have to act like the world is ending?”
It took him ten seconds to understand her point, and even when he got it he thought it was a bit ridiculous and laughed. “It’s just a stop light, girl.”
“I know. But wouldn’t you feel more human if you abided by society’s laws, which plays a part into our humanity, even for just another week? So they say. If people get complacent and think they can get away with this or that, breaking small laws and eventually bigger laws, do we have the right to call us civilized?”
Ilhoon got a good grasp of her point even more, and it brought an earnest smile to his face.

“To think a girl who vomits monsters and knows how to fly encourage a normal boring guy like me to stay a normal boring guy…well…I guess that isn’t all too bad.” He playfully pushed her out the way to press the walk button on the streetlight pole. “Happy?” He teased.
“Very.”
And they both smiled and waited for the walk light across to turn green. They watched, still with their goofy grinning and silence, stifling a laugh here or there, and then when it turned green it was completely crushed by a giant bird like creature falling on top of it. The monster struggled to its hind legs. It screamed in pain and even shook its long head as though it had a hangover. It was confused and gathered its senses all the while Ilhoon and Sohyun stood watching the whole time.