As they traveled west away further in the Yellow Sea, they saw the three islands that formed the Bukdo chain, the land set against the deep purple of the late evening sky.

They sped on past the easternmost island, Sindo, and continued around the northeastern tip of the middle island, Sido, looking for the house that, according to Hyun Suk’s map, was right on that northern shoreline where the land was cut back in somewhat of a halfmoon shape. When they came around the tip, the trees made way for a secluded sandy beach that led up to what appeared to be the back of the house. As G-Dragon eased off the throttle, everyone stood up on the boat trying to get a better look.

It was a modern house with two tall white sides that each came up to a triangular point where the roof peaked. The center part between the two sides had a large window with a rounded top. A wooden pier stretched from that center part out to the water. At first, G-Dragon thought it was a dock and had planned to steer right up to it, but as they got closer, he noticed that the pier stopped short of the water.

“We’ll have to drop anchor here,” he said.

They took the canoe and rowed in groups to the shore. No one said anything. It was getting dark and they wanted to be careful in case there were zombies around.

“Where’s the perimeter fence that Hyun Suk-ssi was talking about?” Ji Hyo asked Jong Kook, as the group slowly walked up the beach.

Jong Kook pointed ahead. It seemed that the fencing Hyun Suk had mentioned didn’t encircle the house, as they had all imagined. Instead, it only extended around the front of the house, the two ends stopping at the edge of the treeline out back where the greenery met sand.

“So, zombies can still get us from the beach?” Minzy asked.

The others looked now, too, seeing that, indeed, zombies could follow the fenceline to the end of the trees and then just stagger up the sand.

“We can deal with that tomorrow,” Jong Kook said. “We’ll find something to extend that fencing out all the way to the water.”

They walked up to the back of house now and waited as G-Dragon dug the key from his pocket and opened the door.

“Our new home, appa?” little Ji Ho asked, his eyes heavy from the long journey.

“Maybe,” Jae Suk said, picking up his boy.

Dara held onto G-Dragon’s arm, the two walking in first. Everyone stayed quiet as they entered the dark interior, not knowing what to expect.

“I don’t suppose anyone has a lighter?” Jong Kook asked.

Everyone mumbled no.

“Okay,” Jong Kook said. “Let’s just try to keep quiet and–”

“Yaaahooo!” G-Dragon suddenly yelled out, his voice resounding through that empty space. His yell woke the baby, who was now crying in Ji Hyo’s arms.

“What are you doing?” Dara asked G-Dragon, her eyes wide.

G-Dragon glanced at the others around him. “If there are any zombies, better to know now.”

They all waited there, hearing nothing other than Dream’s cries.

“Shh, shh,” Ji Hyo said, trying to rock the baby in her arms.

“We would’ve heard the zombies by now, right?” Minzy asked.

“Maybe,” Gary said. “Maybe not.”

After a moment, Dream stopped crying and all they could hear was their own breathing.

“I think we’re okay,” Daesung said.

“We should still be careful,” Jong Kook said.

They continued to quietly creep throughout the house, occasionally bumping into walls due to their limited sight. When they reached the kitchen, G-Dragon went directly for the fridge and opened it, hoping that the light inside would illuminate at least part of the room. But the inside of the fridge was just as dark as the outside.

“No electricity,” G-Dragon said.

“There doesn’t seem to be much of anything in here,” CL said. “No furniture… nothing.”

Bom looked up at T.O.P. with a worried expression. He pulled her in close to his chest. “It’s okay,” he said. “We’ll make this work.”

Hyun Suk had told them that he had recently rebuilt this house, but he had failed to mention that it wasn’t furnished. As for the electricity, they didn’t know if Hyun Suk had purposely shut off the utilities or if this was an effect of the outbreak. Regardless of the reason, they were stuck in what was essentially a shell of a home – dark, empty, and cold.

Thinking that the moon would at least provide some light, they decided to head back outside to the pier, which opened out to a square platform at its end on which they all now sat.

“We should come up with a plan for tomorrow,” Jae Suk said.

“Tomorrow?” Bom asked. “What about tonight? Where are we going to sleep?”

“We’ll sleep together on the floor inside,” T.O.P. said, as he reached for Bom’s hand. “Just like we did at the YG building. Remember?”

“It’ll be like Family Outing,” Daesung added. “Except we don’t have blankets. Or pillows. Or… anything, really.”

“We can keep each other warm,” G-Dragon said, now putting his arm around Dara. “We’ll just keep our bodies close.”

“I don’t know about you anymore,” Dara said to G-Dragon, winking at him. “You’ve been acting weird lately.”

“What? How so?”

Dara smiled. “You were acting like Jack Sparrow on that boat! And then calling out that yahoo or whatever inside like that?”

“I think we all feel a little crazy,” Ji Hyo said. She smiled and repositioned Dream against her chest.

“He’s not crazy,” T.O.P. said, smiling. “That’s his actual personality coming out.”

G-Dragon smiled now, too. “What about you?” he asked T.O.P. “You’ve been acting like Mr. Smooth this whole time but I’ve seen the real you come out when you get all excited in the studio and just start walking all crazily and saluting random people.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen that,” Bom said. “You saluted me once. Why do you do that?”

T.O.P. blushed and looked down.

“Aw, don’t be embarrassed,” Bom said, squeezing T.O.P.’s arm. “It’s cute.”

“Maybe we don’t know how to act anymore,” Gary said. “We’re not really the same people we were before all this happened.”

Everyone stopped and thought about what he had just said.

Jong Kook looked over at Ji Hyo and saw that her eyes were getting tired. “You want me to take Dream?” he asked her.

Ji Hyo nodded and smiled. “My back hurts,” she said, passing him the baby.

Jong Kook wanted to tell her that he’d massage it for her, but he felt uncomfortable talking like that in front of the others. As he looked around at them now and saw that they all still seemed lost in thought after what Gary had said, he decided to refocus the conversation back on planning for tomorrow. “All that’s left of the bags Ji Hyo and I brought is the baby food,” he said. “Tomorrow, we’ll need to scavenge for supplies.

“We need dog food, too,” Gary said, looking over at Caesar sniffing around the beach.

“If we’re going to scavenge, we shouldn’t go far,” Jae Suk said. “Maybe just search some nearby houses. And while we’re there, we can look for some other necessities, maybe something to extend the fence, and some furniture...”

Kyung Eun now looked at her husband. “Can we talk… somewhere?” she whispered.

Jae Suk quickly glanced around at the others, picked up his boy, and followed Kyung Eun inside. The others watched them go and then resumed their conversation.

“Okay, so we’ll need a scavenger group,” T.O.P. said. “I’ll volunteer for that.”

“If you’re going, I’m going,” Bom said.

“Well, if you two are going, then me and Ji Yong-ah will go, too,” Dara said.

Jong Kook nodded. “I’ll head up the group,” he said.

“We also need weapons,” Thunder said. “I’m out of arrows and could use some help making more. Plus, I could really use a better bow.”

“Daesunggie and I can help with that,” Minzy said. “Just stay here and sharpen sticks? That sounds easy enough.”

“Not to be gross or anything, but we need to figure out a bathroom situation,” Gary said. “Nothing works inside.”

Everyone stood around, looking at each other. No one wanted to volunteer to be on toilet duty.

“Maknae!” G-Dragon said, looking at Seungri.

“No way! First, you kept calling me your cabin boy. Then you made me that hose. And now… what? I have to dig a hole out here somewhere?”

“That’s actually a good idea, Seungri-yah,” CL said. She felt bad that he was being made to suffer and tried to now point out the practicality of his quick thinking. “We can make a couple of outside toilets. One for girls, one for guys.”

“I’ll work with the toilet group,” Jae Suk suddenly said, as he walked down the pier to rejoin the others. When they were inside, Kyung Eun had voiced her concerns about Jae Suk risking his life on missions. He had a child to think about, she had said. And so he promised her that he would find some other way to help out.

Jae Suk now looked over at Daesung. “You were right, Daesunnggie. This is like Family Outing, complete with morning chores!”

“At least we don’t have Lee Hyori-ssi yelling at us,” Jong Kook added.

Jae Suk smiled, but then he wondered how Hyori and his other castmates from the show had fared since the outbreak, and his smile now disappeared, knowing that they probably didn’t survive.

When they returned inside, they stared at the hard floor on which they would all sleep without the luxury of pillows or blankets, their high expectations they’d had of this place in stark contrast to the reality in front of them.

Daesung looked around at their sullen faces and wanted to cheer them up. With Family Outing still on his mind, he called over to Jae Suk. “Hyung, we should do sleep rankings!” he said. Daesung was referring to how sleeping arrangements were handled on Family Outing, which consisted of female cast members rating male cast members – and vice versa – to determine where each member slept, with the highest-rated members receiving the best bedding locations.

“Ai, Daesunggie,” Jae Suk said. “I’m not in the mood for that. And anyway, I want to sleep next to my family.”

“And I want to sleep next to Dara,” G-Dragon said, as he put his arm around her.

“Aish,” Thunder said, squeezing his eyes closed. “Just don’t be kissing my sister right in front of me.”

“Fine,” G-Dragon said, smiling. “Then we’ll look for our own room.”

Dara stared at G-Dragon. “What?”

“Actually, we might find our own room, too,” Ji Hyo said, reaching for Jong Kook’s hand. “The baby will keep everyone awake otherwise.”

Bom then pulled at T.O.P.’s hand, gesturing for him to go outside with her.

“Is everyone leaving?” Daesung asked, pouting. “No fun sleepytime games?”