“Thank you for the food Yonghoon hyung!”

“You’re the best!”

Geonhak followed the rest of his five best friends as they stood up from the chairs they occupied. They got their stuff and headed to the front doors of the café just as their friend and the owner of the café Yonghoon told them it was his pleasure and that he was glad they liked the food. All six of them were studying at the café they frequented since this afternoon and before they knew it, it was already evening. It wasn’t something new though, since they always stayed until late in the café to the point where their Yonghoon hyung always had food saved especially for them.

“Hey guys, look!” Geonhak heard his friend Keonhee’s voice call excitedly as they exited the café.

“What are you so excited about, Keonhee-yah?” Seoho asked, chuckling. They were walking down the brightly lit street, Geonhak trailing behind a bit because he liked watching his friends interact in front of him.

“The moon,” was his taller friend’s answer. “It looks extra pretty tonight, for some reason.”

This prompted Geonhak to look up and observe the moon in the sky. It was a full moon, and it shone brightly like it was demanding everyone’s attention. No wonder it caught Keonhee’s, he thought.

A few minutes of walking, Keonhee looking up at the moon at least five times and a couple of bickering -courtesy of Seoho and Dongju- later, they were at spot where they usually separated. After all of them bid their goodbyes and told each other to be safe, they went their separate ways: Seoho and Dongju turning left; Youngjo, Hwanwoong and Keonhee turning right and crossing the road; and Geonhak continuing straight ahead to his bus stop.

---

There weren’t a lot of people on the bus Geonhak was in, and soon enough he was alone (except for the driver). His was the last stop and so it wasn’t new for him to be the only one left.

He had about fifteen to twenty minutes more before the bus reached his stop so he decided to sit back and look outside. He watched the buildings and people pass by as he recalled the lesson they had earlier in their Literature class. Their topic was on myths and folktales of other countries, and as much as Geonhak tried to pay attention, he just couldn’t because he didn’t think of those stories as real. He didn’t see the importance of studying them because they weren’t real. His friends seemed to think otherwise though, because that was all they talked about when they were taking breaks.

Fairies, elves, sirens and dragons? Please.

He blinked and adjusted so that he was comfortable on his chair. He was about to put his earphones on when he happened to glance outside and then the moon caught his attention. He looked up and saw that the moon was shining brighter than when they saw it earlier.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Somone whispered beside Geonhak.

He jolted at the unexpected voice and when he turned to his side he got even more startled when he saw who was occupying the seat next to him. “Youngjo hyung?”

What? How the hell is hyung here? Last I checked I was alone?

Youngjo chuckled at the younger’s confused face. “What’s with the face?”

“Wha--what are you doing here?” Geonhak frowned. “No wait, how are you here?”

“Magic.” Youngjo winked.

Geonhak stared at Youngjo, unimpressed.

“It’s true though,” another voice piped up. Geonhak jerked and saw Hwanwoong peek from above the seat in front of him. “One snap and voila we’re here!”

“Hwanwoong too?” Geonhak scratched his eyes to make sure that he wasn’t just seeing things. When he opened his eyes he just got even more confused. “Wait what’s up with your faces?”

Youngjo and Hwanwoong glanced at each other then back at Geonhak.”What do you mean?” Youngjo asked.

Geonhak squinted at them. “You-you look… different?”

Hwanwoong smirked, his head on his arm that was on top of the seat. He looked like he was kneeling on the chair—which Geonhak found to be dangerous but Hwanwoong didn’t seem to mind. “Different how, hyung?” His voice was teasing, as if he knew exactly what Geonhak was talking about.

“Well…” Geonhak’s eyes alternated from Youngjo to Hwanwoong until he realized what was different. “Your ears and nose look weird. They look… pointier?”

Youngjo shrugged. “We always look like this though; are you sure your eyes aren’t playing trick on you hun?”

“I’m not even sure if you’re really here or not hyung,” Geonhak groaned. “We all went our separate ways half an hour ago and yet you and Hwanwoong are here.”

“Keonhee was supposed to be here too,” Hwanwoong pointed out. “But he couldn’t just pass up the moon tonight.”

Youngjo chuckled. “You know how he is. Plus it’s this kind of moon that Keonhee loves to eat, remember?”

“I’m sorry, what?” Geonhak asked but the two continued their conversation as if he hadn’t asked anything.

“I guess that’s true, though he’ll prolly end up spitting it out again.” Hwanwoong laughed, turning to his left to look at the moon outside. “The moon really is extra beautiful tonight though.”

“I’m lost,” Geonhak sighed helplessly. “What are you two talking about? Are you really even here? Why do you look so weird?”

Youngjo, who was sitting beside him, patted his shoulder. “There there. You’re just tired. But weren’t you listening to your lectures today?” the eldest teased. “You weren’t, were you? Because if you were then you would know that we’re talking about Bakunawa.”

Geonhak looked at his Youngjo hyung in disbelief. “The moon eating dragon? But it's not real. And you said Keonhee—“

“Yeah Keonhee. Didn’t you see how he kept on looking at the moon earlier?”

“Yeah but what does that have to do with Bakunawa and what do you mean Keonhee loves eating moons?”

“Well Keonhee is Bakunawa so it should make sense he’d want to eat the moon.” Hwanwoong had said it so nonchalantly Geonhak didn’t know if it was true or if anyof this was actually happening.

“You’re so cute when you’re confused.” Youngjo dodged the hit Geonhak threw at him, laughing fondly at his friend. “Oh, look, there he is.”

All three of them looked out and saw the silhouette of a serpent-like creature heading for the moon. “This isn’t happening,” Geonhak said to himself. “This can’t be happening. Bakunawa isn’t real. It’s just a myth.”

“And yet there Keonhee goes, trying to swallow the moon again.” Hwanwoong points at the silhouette of the dragon who appeared to have its mouth open and about to eat the moon.

“You do remember how the story went, right?” Youngjo asked as they watched the moon disappear just as the silhouette closed its mouth. “The dragon got fascinated by the moon and wanted to keep it to itself that’s why it swallowed it. The people of the village where it was said the dragon came from got orders from their god to bang pots and pans and to just make noise in general to scare Bakunawa away and give the moon back.”

“Just like now.”

Out of nowhere Geonhak started hearing what sounded like frying pans being hit against each other and gongs being banged. He had no idea where the sounds were coming from and it just added to the mess his mind was currently in right now.

“And there you have it, a lunar eclipse.”

Just like Youngjo said, the moon was now visible again and the silhouette of Bakunawa retreating. “Poor Keonhee. He didn’t get to eat the moon again.”

“You guys serious about this?”

Hwanwooung and Youngjo nodded. “Of course. I mean, you did just see what happened, right?”

Geonhak got defensive. “I don’t know what I saw.”

Hwanwoong laughed. “You know what you saw, hyung. You just don’t believe in us that’s why you have a hard time believing what you saw.”

“It’s getting late,” Youngjo stated, getting up. “We better go, Woong. Get home safe, Geonhak ah.”

“See you tomorrow, hyung.”

Suddenly, the bus jerked into a stop, making Geonhak almost slam into the seat in front of him. When he recovered, he saw that he was the only one in the bus again, save for the driver who was heading toward him. “Are you okay, kid?” Geonhak nodded, looking around.

The bus was empty, as if it wasn’t occupied by three people earlier.

“I’m sorry about the sudden stop,” the driver apologized, scratching his nape sheepishly. “I almost missed the bus stop. And I think you were busy talking on your phone because you didn’t notice too.”

Talking over the phone? But he wasn’t though?

The young blond got up and gathered his things. The driver bid him goodbye and wished him a safe trip home just as he stepped out of the bus.

Geonhak stood at the bus station, mulling over what he experienced inside the bus a few minutes earlier. He looked up at the moon, just hanging out in the sky as if it wasn’t swallowed and spat back out by a mythical dragon. He then remembered his friends and how they looked really weird and different, and how they just appeared out of nowhere and then vanished into thin air. He must be going crazy if he was to believe all that.

None of that was real.

Right?

“What the hell just happened?”

---

“Guys did you see the eclipse last night?” Geonhak asked the moment he saw his friends waiting for him at the gates of the university they attended.

“Eclipse?” Dongju turned to Geonhak as he reached them. He nodded as they entered the campus. “What eclipse?”

“Yeah what eclipse, hyung?” Hwanwoong joined their conversation. “The news said nothing about an eclipse happening last night.”

“What? But I saw it,” Geonhak argued. But then he frowned.

“Why the frown, hyung?” Dongju asked, noticing that Geonhak had become quiet. “What’s up?”

“I don’t know,” he answered. Now all five of his friends’ attention was on him. “I saw something weird happen last night and I can’t explain it.”

“Why?” It was his Seoho hyung this time. “What did you see?”

Geonhak thought about it before laughing dismissingly, receiving weird looks from his friends.

“He’s gone mad,” Keonhee declared. This resulted in all of them laughing.

“Yeah I think I have,” Geonhak agreed, “especially with what I saw last night.”

“What did you see?” Youngjo asked once they calmed down.

“You,” Geonhak answered, stopping in his tracks to think. “And Hwanwoong. But you guys looked different. Like your ears and noses got pointier and you didn’t have philtrums. It was… strange.”

This intrigued the other five and so, after checking their watches and seeing that they still had a lot of time before their classes started, the five of them dragged Geonhak into one of the empty pavilions just outside of the nearest building.

“That’s impossible since we all went our own ways after we ate,” Hwanwoong pointed out. “Are you sure about that hyung?”

“To be honest, I’m not,” he answered. “I don’t really know what happened.”

“Judging by your face, there’s more to the story,” Dongju said.

Geonhak nodded, frowning before chuckling. “You’re right. It actually gets weirder. The weird looking Youngjo and Hwanwoong started telling me about this dragon that eats the moon—”

“You mean Bakunawa?” Keonhee asked. “The one we were taught yesterday?”

“Yeah. They—” Geonhak let out another disbelieving chuckle—“they said that that’s why you were so attracted to the moon last night. They said you were Bakunawa—and I told them that that was complete bull. Then they pointed to the moon and that was when I saw this—this serpent-like creature heading for the moon and swallowing it.”

Silence.

Then, all six of them laughed so loudly at the story they found so absurd.

“What the hell hyung!”

“But you don’t even believe in that stuff!”

“Exactly!”

“That’s prolly just Keonhee and his obsession with those kinds of things rubbing off on you.”

“Hey it’s not an obsession!” Keonhee defended. “I just really like myths and stuff.”

“But really,” Youngjo said when all of them calmed down from their laughing fit. “That’s probably just your imagination, hun. As you can see Hwanwoong and I have normal ears and noses and our philtrums haven’t left our faces. Also Keonhee may be lanky but he’s not serpentine. You of all people know these myths aren’t real.”

“You’re right hyung,” Geonhak agreed, but not missing the slight change in Youngjo’s tone when he said his last sentence. He just couldn’t put his finger on what it was. “I was prolly just imagining things last night. I was tired. My mind probs played tricks on me. Sorry.”

“It’s fine, plus it gave us a good laugh.” Seoho checked his watch and saw that they had a few more minutes, just enough for them to get to their buildings. “Let’s get going guys. Class starts in a few and we don’t want to be late.”

A chorus of ‘yeah’s and ‘you’re right’s was heard as the six of them started getting up and getting their things. “That was a good story though.” Dongju grinned as they made their way across campus. “You have one wild imagination hyung. You should consider writing storie—okay okay I’m sorry I’m kidding!”

Geonhak grabbed Dongju in a headlock while the youngest kept laughing and Seoho bid the others farewell as he dragged the two towards their building.

Youngjo, Hwanwoong and Keonhee waved as they watched Seoho, Geonhak and Dongju stumble to the direction of their building, said three completely missing the knowing look the former three shared.

---

To be honest i have no idea what i wrote because i wrote this for two evenings until 1 and 2 am and yeah oh wells orz =))) this hasn't been proofread yet, will get back to it after work today so yas imma leave this here and go to sleep bc it's 1:05 in the wee hours of morning rn yes have a good day to those that gave this little fic a chance you guys are awesome!