After the initial panic died down, the Kim's moved their grief to the privacy of their home, Woori holding tightly to Hakyeon the whole way. He understood why they were grieving, truly; there was such a slim chance of Wonshik coming back as the man they all knew and loved. What he could not understand was their acceptance of the situation. Mr. Kim was already three cups down in liquor, drowning his sadness, and Hakyeon very nearly wanted to grab him and shake him to ask why he was not going after his son. It wasn't his place, though; he was a good friend, but still not family, and their acceptance paired with his growing anger pointed that out ever so clearly. 

He carefully excused himself from the Kim family, giving Wonshik's mother one last hug before slipping out the door and heading for his own home at a brisk trot. Just because they weren't going to do anything but sit and cry didn't mean that he had to join in. Pushing open his door, he grabbed his bow, stringing it quickly with a practiced ease before throwing it over his shoulder and reaching for the quiver. He didn't have any experience in the woods, but how much different could it be than hunting rabbits across the fields? He buckled his skinning knife onto his belt and, with one last glance around his small home, lit a small shuttered lantern before taking it and heading out the door. He hoped to be back soon but the realistic side of him said that it was unlikely, but he would still try and hurry. As he turned toward the tree line several hundred feet from the village, he spotted a tall figure standing in the twilight shadows at the edge of the trees. His heart jumped into his throat as for a moment he thought maybe it was Wonshik; the build was right and the height as well, but as his steps neared he realized that it was instead Hongbin, the baker's son.

The taller man turned toward him as he approached, his eyes shuttered and face still as he took in Hakyeon's gear. "You're going after him," he said softly, and though it wasn't a question Hakyeon nodded in answer. Hongbin shifted his feet, looked back at the steadily darkening woods, then pointed a finger at Hakyeon. "Don't go anywhere, I'm coming with you." And with that, he took off in a run back for the village, leaving Hakyeon staring open-mouthed at his rapidly retreating back.

Squatting down onto his heels, Hakyeon waited impatiently for the other man, his mind reeling with the possibilities of what they would find in those woods. The one time he had been in them was more than a decade prior, and he couldn't deny that he was feeling increasingly nervous the longer he sat there. His hands fiddled nervously with the arrows in his quiver, wondering what they would find in there. What could take someone from the village itself without being seen, only to wipe their minds and send them back? Sunggyu's words about Taekwoon and dark magic were too close to what kept running through Hakyeon's mind for comfort, and so when Hongbin came back, Hakyeon was pacing back and forth in front of the tree line.

"I'm ready," Hongbin said softly, lifting a heavy knife in his hand before letting it drop back to his side with a shrug. Hakyeon's brow raised as he took in the lack of weapons on the baker's person, and suddenly he wondered what the hell he was thinking to take someone more used to kneading bread than skinning rabbits into the haunted wood. Hongbin must have known the reason for Hakyeon's expression, because he darted his eyes away from the older man and motioned into the trees. "Are we going, or not? Or do I need to go without you?"

It was his last words that settled Hakyeon's mind, and he gave a sharp nod before turning to head off down the treeline, motioning for the taller man to follow him. Hongbin scrambled to catch up, despite his longer legs, and so by the time he fell into step beside Hakyeon they had already reached the road and had turned down it. "Where are we going?" the baker asked breathlessly, and Hakyeon shook his head as if he