“Can’t believe I manage to get away from work and end up doing manual labour instead,” Jongdae grumbled, feeling his muscles becoming sore from carrying all the boxes. “Why are you moving so suddenly anyway?”

“Quit complaining.” Jongin kicked Jongdae in the . “You need more exercising anyway.”

After Chinsun and Sehun had shut themselves in the archive Jongin had grabbed Jongdae to help Baekhyun pack up his belongings so that he could move out on the day. Fortunately, Baekhyun was quite a bit of a procrastinator and never finished unpacking his boxes to begin with so there was not that much work to do.

Baekhyun had given the one month notice to the landlord, meaning he had to pay one more month of rent despite not actually living there. However Chinsun reassured Baekhyun that in exchange he did not need to pay the first month of rest for the new flat to which Baekhyun was grateful since his savings were not exactly limitless even though he was still earning royalties from his previous novels.

“I didn’t really feel comfortable living so close to a mass grave,” Baekhyun explained, thinking up of an excuse on the spot. “Chinsun said her building had an empty flat and rent would be cheap so I thought why not.”

Jongdae nodded in understanding, finding the reasoning very plausible while Jongin gave Baekhyun a look of approval, secretly impressed with his ability to think on his feet. That was certainly a skill that both Jongin and Chinsun lacked in.

“This is everything?” Jongin asked Baekhyun as he put the last box in Mama Kim’s car that they had borrowed.

“Yep.”

“We can’t all fit in the car because of the boxes.” Jongdae frowned, eyeing the backseat that was occupied by Baekhyun’s belongings.

“You can walk then,” Jongin stated as though it was the most obvious and natural solution.

Jongdae’s jaws dropped and then started rolling his sleeves, ready to throw a punch at Jongin in protest but Baekhyun intercepted, showing Jongdae his charming boyish grin.

“I’ll walk with you, come on.”

Pulling Jongdae’s arm, Baekhyun waved goodbye to Jongin who was already sitting behind the steering wheel, ready to depart and not minding Jongdae’s reaction at all.

“Have you ever seen a younger brother be so mean to his older brother?” Jongdae huffed, giving a stinky eye at the disappearing car.

“It’s his love language,” Baekhyun chuckled, throwing his arm over Jongdae’s shoulders. “Lead the way then. If we take it slow hopefully Jongin will have moved all the boxes into the flat for us by the time we arrive.”

“Knowing him he’ll do exactly that,” Jongdae snorted. “And then spend the rest of the day sulking about it.”

Letting Jongdae’s feet guide them, the two friends marched their way along the quiet streets, enjoying the company of the summer sun and the chirping of the birds. Looking at his surroundings, a sudden realisation cropped up in Baekhyun mind.

“Where does Chinsun live exactly? It’s not above Naesae is it?”

“No.” Jongdae shook his head. “Aunt Kwon owns a building 10 minutes away from the shop. It’s mostly people who come to Jeju for holidays who rent the flats so it’s quite a quiet and desolate place during off-season.”

“And Chinsun lives there all by herself?” Baekhyun gasped.

“Yeah, though she doesn’t seem to get lonely at all, granted we are just 10 minutes away. I suppose that’s why my mum was okay with her staying there by herself when Aunt Kwon was travelling, which is like always,” Jongdae noted. “Now that I think about it, her habit of talking to herself probably started because she’s been pretty much living by herself all these years.”

If only you knew. Baekhyun chuckled silently to himself.

“It’s good that you are moving in. She’ll have proper company when she goes home,” Jongdae added. “I have no idea why I didn’t think of it when you first mentioned you needed a place to stay. It completely slipped my mind. You’ll like it there, it’s got a large balcony from which you can see the sea. Not to mention there’s a 24/7 convenience store downstairs.”

Jongdae said that just as the convenience store came into sight, the obnoxious colours of its sign sticking out like a sore thumb against the otherwise modest and quiet neighbourhood. Mama Kim’s car was parked right outside, the boxes inside gone, meaning Jongin had indeed moved everything inside already.

“So that’s why you guys hanged out at Chinsun’s place when you were kids,” Baekhyun chortled. “Infinite access to snacks and junk food without your mum catching you.”

“Damn I got caught,” Jongdae exclaimed dramatically while punching the air in front of him.

Chuckling, Baekhyun gave a good look at the exterior of the building that would become his new home. It was a small building with only five floors. There were not many tall buildings in that area of Jeju to begin with so that was nothing unusual. Jongdae walked towards the already open door that led to the higher floors which stood humbly next to the convenience store’s glass entrance that was covered with colourful posters. Baekhyun frowned at first, thinking that it was rather unsafe to leave the door open.

“The door is left open during the day and locked at night after 10pm, after which you need a code that is changed regularly to enter. Kind of like a hostel I guess,” Jongdae informed Baekhyun as though reading his thoughts.

“Got it,” Baekhyun hummed.

Thinking back, he had to look twice to find the entrance even though Jongdae was pointing at it directly. It simply blended too well with its surroundings, so Baekhyun felt further at ease.

They had to go to the third floor, however the lift was currently on the fifth floor and showing no signs of coming down any time soon. Too impatient to wait, Jongdae nudged Baekhyun and the two walked up the stairs. At first Baekhyun thought he was imagining it, but the closer they got to the third floor, the stronger the spiritual energy that he felt became. It was a warm and comforting feeling that reminded him of Naesae and Baekhyun concluded that it must be the protective barriers and charms that Chinsun and Jongin had put up.

Reaching the third floor, Baekhyun saw the doors of flat 9 and 10 wide open and he assumed that one of them was Chinsun’s flat while the other was his new home