Hyun Suk stood at the front of the room, waiting for all eyes to turn to him. When he saw that he had everyone’s attention, he folded his arms across his chest and glanced around at their faces. He was usually a man of few words, but as the boss, he felt that only he could say what needed to be said. “We all woke up yesterday like it was a normal day,” he said. “We showered, we dressed, we probably complained about petty little things.” He paused and closed his eyes for a moment. “But then everything changed. We’ve had to face dangers we didn’t even know existed. And we’ve lost some people that we loved…” He paced back and forth slowly, rubbing his chin, but then he stopped and stood in the center again, looking at all of them. “But we have survived. And, as a group, we will continue to survive.”

“Yeah!” Kwang Soo yelled. Everyone looked at him and laughed.

When it was quiet again, Hyun Suk smiled and looked down. “There’s a saying… ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.’ Well, I agree with the first part…” He walked over to Ji Hyo and swiped the bottles of soju from the floor in front of her, holding them up so that everyone could see.

The group cheered and clapped now. Hyun Suk didn’t wait this time for it to quiet down. He yelled over them. “Today is our last day in this building. I say, let us eat and drink… for tomorrow, we are saved.”

Everyone stood up now, hugging and crying and laughing. They didn’t bother looking for plates or cups. They grabbed the food that had been found in the desks and passed it around along with the bottles of soju that Hyun Suk now gave them.

Jae Suk walked past everyone eating and drinking and made his way to the front of the room.

“Quite a speech!” Jae Suk said.

“Aish, all I needed was some blue face paint and a horse,” Hyun Suk said.

Jae Suk pushed the glasses higher on his nose. “It’s good that you’ve given them hope. But you know that it won’t be easy getting to that rescue center.”

“They don’t need to think about that now,” Hyun Suk said. “Let them have fun. We’ll do all the thinking and worrying for them.”

“Shall we go somewhere else?” Jae Suk asked. “The gym maybe? And look over the plans again?”

Hyun Suk nodded.

Jae Suk looked over to where Jong Kook was sitting with the other Running Man members and gestured for him to come over.

Jong Kook saw him and began to stand but Ji Hyo pulled him back down.

“Don’t go,” she said, passing him the bottle of soju.

“Ji Hyo-yah, you know I don’t drink.”

“You do sometimes,” she said. “And what better day than today?”

Jong Kook glanced over at Jae Suk, still standing at the front of the room.

Jae Suk gestured for him not to worry. He was happy that Jong Kook was willing to step down and try to relax. Grabbing the blueprints and street map now, he followed Hyun Suk down the hall to the gym.

Jong Kook watched them go with some regret. It was hard to suppress his need to lead. But as he looked at Ji Hyo now sitting beside him, that regret began to fade. He accepted the bottle of soju and took a big gulp of it, nearly choking afterward as everyone laughed.

“Whoa!” Kwang Soo said, nudging Gary and pointing to Jong Kook. “He can go from healthy muscle man to crazy drunkard in 1.2 seconds!”

“Yah!” Jong Kook yelled. “Watch that mouth of yours.” He smiled now at his dear friend and took another swig.

“Don’t get too drunk,” Ji Hyo said, laughing. “At the rate you’re going, you’ll be passed out before the sun even goes down.”

“Ai, don’t worry about me, Ji Hyo-yah,” he said, passing the bottle over to Gary.

Nearby, the Big Bang boys were sitting with the 2ne1 girls, sharing the other two bottles of soju.

“We should play a game!” Daesung said. He took a swig of soju and pulled a sheet of dried seaweed from the bag, and then passed both to Minzy next to him.

“Like what?” Bom asked. The seaweed snack and soju then reached her and she now ate and drank a little, too.

“Let’s play the truth game,” G-Dragon said.

“What truth game?” Dara asked.

G-Dragon smiled and looked at the others. “Everyone gets to ask someone a question. And they have to answer truthfully no matter what.”

T.O.P. smiled. “This is a kid’s game,” he said.

“So what?” G-Dragon said.

“I’m in,” Seungri said.

“Me too,” CL said. She chugged from the bottle. “I got nothing to hide,” she said, smiling.

The seaweed and soju made its way around the circle back to Daesung, who asked if he could go first. “Do I just pick anyone?” he asked.

G-Dragon nodded.

Daesung briefly looked at Minzy and then down at the floor. He had a particular question he wanted to ask her but didn’t feel brave enough yet to do so. He took another swig from the soju and turned to Bom instead. “Ai, uh, so, you kissed Tabi on the cheek. What are your true feelings for him?”

Bom covered . “Wae! You can’t ask me that!”

“That’s the game,” G-Dragon said.

Both T.O.P. and Bom blushed. With her hands still partially covering , Bom looked at T.O.P. and said, “I wish everything was normal and we could date.” She then covered her face and shook her head quickly from the embarrassment.

T.O.P. looked at Bom and smiled. And then he reached for her hand and stood up, pulling her to her feet with him. Looking at the others now, he said, “We’ll leave you to play your kid’s game.” He gestured for Bom to leave with him as the group teasingly booed them.

“Bommie, don’t leave!” Dara said.

Bom shrugged as T.O.P. led her out to the hallway.

G-Dragon smiled. “Who’s next?”

Jong Kook could feel himself swaying back and forth. It was like he had lost control of his body and couldn’t keep still. That soju, he thought, as he fought to keep his small eyes open.

Ji Hyo nudged him. “You still awake?” she asked.

Jong Kook closed his eyes and smiled. “Yeah, Ji Hyo-yah. Ji Hyooooooo. Saranghae.”

“Wha–” She smiled now but didn’t know what to think. He was obviously drunk.

“Whoa!” Kwang Soo said. “What did you say, Jong Kook-ah?”

Jong Kook felt like he suddenly woke up. “Yah, what did I say?”

“Saranghae,” Ji Hyo said.

Jong Kook looked at her now, his eyes wide as he stared at her. “You… you love me?” he asked.

Ji Hyo smiled and rolled her eyes. “That’s what you said,” she said. “I was just telling you what you… aish, nevermind.”

“I love you, too,” he whispered.

Ji Hyo didn’t know what to think. Was he being serious? She remembered Jong Kook saying once that he would never utter those words unless he was saying it to the woman he would marry. Had he changed his mind since and was now throwing those words around casually? But it didn’t sound casual. It sounded like a confession. She breathed in deeply and grabbed the soju from him. “Come on,” she said, lifting him to his feet. “You need to wake up.”

Gary helped Ji Hyo lift him and the two of them now stood on either side of Jong Kook, holding him up as they led him out of the office. Kwang Soo followed, not wanting to be left out.

T.O.P. and Bom had been standing together in the hallway, just outside the office door. As Ji Hyo and the others made their way past, Ji Hyo handed T.O.P. the soju that she had taken from Jong Kook. “You two can finish this off,” she said.

They watched as Ji Hyo, Gary, and Kwang Soo helped Jong Kook down the hall to the bathroom. When they were alone again, T.O.P. and Bom turned back to face each other.

T.O.P. drank some of the soju and then passed Bom the bottle. “So… what would your perfect date look like?” he asked her.

Bom sipped the soju and then bit her bottom lip. “Perfect date?” she asked.

T.O.P. nodded and smiled. “If we could go anywhere, do anything…” he said.

Bom swayed a bit and looked up at him. “This is nice,” she said. “Right now, just alone like this.”

“Your perfect date is standing in the hallway with me in the middle of a zombie apocalypse?”

Feeling bold from the soju, Bom said, “Maybe. If you were kissing me.”

T.O.P. tried to squeeze his lips tight to hide his smile but he couldn’t. He looked down at Bom, in awe over how beautiful she was, and then closed his eyes as he leaned down to kiss her.

Bom closed her eyes, too, and wrapped her arms around him. His wet lips rubbed against hers in these soft, sweeping motions. She opened more and let his tongue slide in, the two playfully tasting each other.

She pulled away just for a moment, their faces still close but their lips no longer touching. “Do you think we’ll be okay tomorrow?” she asked.

He lifted her face to look directly into her eyes. “Yes,” he said. “I will never let anything happen to you. I promise.” He pulled her even closer now and pressed his lips against hers again, never wanting their kiss to end.

“If the world was ending,” Seungri said, “like it is now, coincidentally, and, uh, everyone else seemed to be all paired up, would you consider me then?” He stared at CL, waiting for her to answer.

“That depends,” she said, laughing and looking at the others in the circle. “Who else is available?”

Seungri sneered. “Yah, I just said that everyone else is all paired up.”

“Kwang Soo doesn’t seem to have anyone,” CL said. “Or Gary. Or Jae Suk.”

Seungri’s mouth fell open. “You’d rather be with… with Kwang Soo than me? Or… ew… Jae Suk? He’s like sixty! You might as well just be with YG-sajangnim!”

Everyone started laughing.

“Jae Suk’s not sixty,” G-Dragon said.

“And Gary’s kind of cute,” Dara said, winking at CL.

“Yah! What is this?” G-Dragon said, nudging Dara. “You already looking at other guys?”

Dara smiled. “You know I only have eyes for you,” she said, teasingly.

G-Dragon smiled. “That better be the case,” he said, gently squeezing her hand. He leaned close now to whisper in her ear. “Sleep next to me tonight,” he quietly said.

Dara pulled away and looked at him in shock. “What?”

“We’ll talk about that later,” he quickly said. Looking back on the group now, he said, “Okay, so, CL, you going to answer Seungri’s question or what?”

CL smiled. “If everyone else was paired up and it was just me and Seungri-yah, then yeah, I’d consider him.”

“Aish,” Seungri said. “Had to drag that out of you.”

“My turn,” CL said. She looked at Dara now. “What did Ji Yong-ah just whisper in your ear?”

Dara’s mouth fell open. “No way! I can’t say!”

“That’s the game,” Seungri said, trying to imitate G-Dragon.

“Um… I’ll be right back!” Dara said, nearly falling over from trying to stand so quickly. “I have to pee!”

“You can’t leave!” Daesung said, laughing. “Not until you answer the question first!”

“I’ll answer it when I get back,” Dara said.

As she left the office, she saw T.O.P. and Bom kissing just outside the door. Seeing them together made Dara realize just how much this situation had brought all of them together in ways that no other situation had before. Since 2ne1 debuted, the years they had spent with the Big Bang boys had been full of flirtation, but never anything more. Until now. It was so crazy, she thought. There was nothing holding anyone back anymore.

She crept quietly down the hall and noticed Kwang Soo and Gary sitting outside the men’s room. The two guys waved to her and then continued waiting for Jong Kook and Ji Hyo.

Inside the men’s room, Ji Hyo was helping Jong Kook freshen up. She made him splash water on his face as she held onto him, making sure that he didn’t fall.

“I’m not drunk,” he said, as he stumbled over the sink.

Ji Hyo laughed.

“Maybe a little,” he said, smiling. He turned off the faucet and dried his face with the hand towel Ji Hyo gave him. “I don’t need you taking care of me like this,” he said, embarrassed.

“I like taking care of you,” she said.

“Are you still dating Chang Joo?” he suddenly blurted out.

“No,” she quickly said. “We’ve been separated for months and were supposed to announce it yesterday, but then… then the world kind of went crazy.” She put her arm around his back and led him to the door. “You feel awake now?” she asked.

“Awake and happy,” he said.

“Good,” she said, smiling. “Now you just need some food.”

As they opened the door and joined Kwang Soo and Gary in the hall, they saw Hyun Suk and Jae Suk emerge from the gym across the way.

“Everything okay?” Jae Suk asked.

Ji Hyo nodded. “What about the plans for tomorrow?” she asked. “Is everything good?”

Hyun Suk sighed. “Let’s hope,” he said.