“Ouch!”, Yeji flinched as she rubbed her shoulder. She looked up and immediately shut her eyes, feeling droplets touch her skin – but it was not water, or at least it didn’t feel like it. There was a lingering pain, an itching irritation on her skin. “G-Guys, we need to take shelter!”, she yelled as she grabbed Jisu’s hand and ran across the field towards an abandoned grocery store out of many.

She quickly grabbed a packet of candy from the nearest aisle. As she waited for the others to enter the store, she threw the packet outside on the ground, watching closely as the droplets fell over the wrapper. “Wait, j-just watch!”, she said as she crouched down and let her eyes linger on the packet a metre ahead of her.

“… It’s not water that’s raining down… It’s that corrosive liquid!”, Seungmin pointed out as he noticed how the droplets formed tiny holes over the packet. “We have to wait for it to stop! The umbrellas in this store will probably have holes in them too if we use them!”

The others agreed and let their bodies relax for a bit. They leaned against the walls and the shelves, and sat on the chairs behind the counter of the store, some of them nibbling on some snacks from the store, while others stuffed a few packets into their bags for later. It was too dark, but they didn’t need light to see the concern and apprehension on the others’ faces even with the soothing silence engulfing them despite the pitter-patter of the potentially harmful raindrops outside.

Meanwhile, in a tall building further away from the river, the occupants on one of the floors were just as worried and fearful. Soobin was sitting on a small couch as he rested his head against the marble wall behind him, his crutches sitting just beside him; he watched the people in the room pace back and forth, and he wished to tell them to calm down but how could he? He wasn’t calm either.

He stiffened his shoulders as he felt a familiar presence beside him.

“Soobin,” Mr. Choi started off as he slowly sat beside the other, keeping his gaze fixated to the front. “those friends of yours are dating after all, hmm?”

Soobin held back the urge to let out a groan; he couldn’t believe the man would bring up Taehyun and Beomgyu’s relationship at a time like this. He dropped his head low, fidgeting with his fingers before clearing his throat, “Sir, with all due respect, I don’t think now is the right time to talk about it…”

“Oh, son, you don’t understand. They are a bad influence on Yeonjun. No one would want a son like that, would they?”

At that, Soobin whipped his head to his side, his fists tightening at his sides. He wished he could pour out his rage somehow, but he never could feel so furious to the point of blurting out a series of curses and such. “Excuse me, but what do you mean by that? Taehyun and Beomgyu dating each other doesn’t make them any less human, and Y-Yeonjun-hyung should have the rights to love whoever he wants to.”

He flinched as the cruel man suddenly glared at him, a sickening smile on his face.

“Oh, Choi Soobin, Choi Soobin… Your parents never taught you manners, did they?”, Mr. Choi placed a threatening hand on the other’s shoulder. “Purple hair, hmm? Ah, of course, you could easily be one of them.”

Soobin couldn’t hold back no more; hearing the blatant, unnecessary and false insults about his family made his blood boil. He shrugged off the other’s hand from his shoulders. He could feel the forbidden words sitting at the back of his throat, but just as he opened his mouth to speak, a figure approached them.

“Please, I request you both to avoid any arguments at this time. There are sleeping children and anxious parents.” It was a police officer, a rifle hanging on his back. He bowed slightly before gesturing Soobin to get up.

The latter did as he was advised, standing up immediately. “I hope you know how uncomfortable and angry Yeonjun-hyung feels around you for obvious reasons.”, he said softly but loud enough for Mr. Choi to hear. He huffed, using his crutches to walk across the hallway to the couch on the other side. He let his body fall with a thump, forcing a small smile as Yeonjun’s driver ruffled his hair.

“Hoseok-hyung, hi.” He was glad he could talk to the other and clear his mind of any negative thought.

“Mama! It’s raining!”, a young, surprisingly enthusiastic voice spoke. It was a little girl, waving her hands desperately as she tried to open the window across the hall.

“Oh, darling… I am so sorry… This is not how I wanted your birthday to go… Do you want to play in the rain? You’ll have to play from here though.”, a woman replied as she pulled the little girl into a warm embrace. The lady pushed the window open and put her arm out for a minute or so, smiling at the cold sensation on her skin, before yelping in surprise.

“Mama?” The little girl walked towards the window and frowned at the sight of her mother.

The latter quickly retracted her arm, shutting the window in an instant. She let out a cry as she stared at her arm in disbelief.

At that, Soobin rose to his feet, grabbing his crutches from beside him. He walked over to the woman with a few others, and he let out an audible gasp. His eyes widened with sheer fear as he looked at the woman’s arm – her skin was pale and her veins were oddly clear, with small patches of red and maroon covering her arm, spreading out like an infection. He knew that it was strange for it to rain at this time of the year.

A nurse rushed to her aid, inspecting her clothes for any droplet or wet patches, before pouring water over the part of the skin that looked almost cadaverous.

“Acid rain, perhaps?”, another woman asked.

“N-No. Acid rain would only lead to chances of health complications, like breathing issues and stuff. Acid rain won’t deliberately burn the skin… This is not acid rain. It’s that weird liquid that the machine was secreting.”, Soobin explained as he stared out the window.

“The others must know.”

Soobin whipped his head around at that voice – it was Yeonjun’s father. Seeing him indirectly concerned about Yeonjun and the others made Soobin feel a little spark of hope within him.