Chapter 12

Terrible Discovery

“Yoseob!?” Himchan called out. The four boys spent the past three days searching through the forest for the missing boy. However, they stayed within Yongguk’s shielded territory. Jongup was especially worried, because Yoseob was very kind to him. And he knew about Yoseob’s young daughter.

“Hyung!” Zelo called out, about fifty feet away from the other three. Yongguk ran to his aid, hearing distress in his voice.

“What happened—“ Yongguk froze mid-sentence. Yoseob’s body lay on the forest’s floor. His eyes were still open, and they were black. Zelo backed away, his eyes wide in disbelief.

“Jung Daehyun did this, didn’t he?” Jongup choked out these words. Yongguk went down on his knees next to Yoseob’s cold body. He didn’t say a word.

Zelo had run off, but Yongguk just couldn’t move. He felt frozen. Stupid. He shouldn’t have let Yoseob out on his own. He shouldn’t have let the boy alone all of the time. He shouldn’t have assumed that Daehyun wouldn’t attack anybody else besides himself and Zelo.

“It’s all my fault…” Yongguk muttered, his voice deeper and sadder in tone.

“No,” Himchan placed a hand on Yongguk’s shoulder, his other hand was wrapped around Jongup’s body. “It isn’t your fault. No one could’ve prevented this.”

“But still,” Yongguk’s voice trembled. “Yoseob was a good person. All he wanted was for everyone to be fine. He took care of us. He fed us. He did the things we couldn’t do to stay alive.”

Himchan remained silent.

“We—no, I—owe him my life.” Yongguk mumbled. Himchan squeezed the man’s shoulder.

“I’ll take Jongup back and—wait, where’s Zelo?” Himchan looked around, his voice panicked. In an instant, Yongguk’s head snapped up and he looked around hysterically.

“Zelo?!!!” He yelled out, breaking into a run, following the boy’s blue mist.

Himchan stared after him, letting Jongup stand on his own.

“We’ll have to bring Yoseob’s body back to the camp…”

Himchan tuned to the body.

“Wait, where did Yoseob go?!”

The two boys looked around frantically, desperately trying to find the body that suddenly went missing. They looked at each other, uncertain of what to do. Should they go after Yongguk and help him find Zelo, who was alive? Or, should they continue to try finding a dead boy’s body?

“Let’s help Yongguk instead.” Himchan suggested. “Having someone who is alive and safe is better than looking for someone who is definitely dead.”

Himchan’s blunt choice of words hurt Jongup’s heart, because he referred to Yoseob as just a dead body… But he realized the importance of life, and it was better to look for life than the death of a friend. Jongup nodded reluctantly, taking one short glance behind him, where Yoseob’s body had been, before scrambling as quickly as he could to catch up to Himchan.

Back at the camp, the four boys sat around the fire inside the cave, chewing their food—the last of what Yoseob had cooked—with despair and silent agony. Himchan put the meat he was holding on the wooden plate.

“Yoseob’s body disappeared.” Himchan said. Yongguk looked up at him, stopping mid chew. He had thought that Himchan and Jongup successfully buried him with Junhyung’s body, so he dodged the subject completely, trying to keep the mood up, even though it had never been this low.

“What?” Yongguk asked.

“Yoseob’s body disappeared…” Himchan spoke softly. “And this isn’t the first time.”

“What are you talking about?” Yongguk’s voice rose suddenly, his eyes narrowing.

“First was Youngjae’s body.” Himchan spoke. “Daehyun told me and Jongup to bury his body by the rose bush near the manor. But when we finished digging the ditch to put Youngjae’s body in, his corpse wasn’t in the wheelbarrow anymore.”

“Yes, just like that, it vanished.” Jongup spoke. “I was keeping watch, but when I turned around to respond to Himchan’s call, it disappeared.”

Zelo looked at them in confusion. “So the dead bodies just disappear?”

“What about Junhyung? Did he disappear too?” Yongguk asked.

“I’m not sure,” He said. “We were holding his body the whole time while we buried it, so there would be no chance for it to disappear suddenly.”

“We should check on him.” Zelo spoke. “I think something is going on right now.”

Yongguk relaxed a bit and nodded, standing up from his seat. “Let’s go now… I doubt that anyone can sleep tonight anyway.”

The rest stood up