Day 4

It was day light and the storm had passed. 

They were back on the road and passed by several cars wrecked and still smoking. It seemed like the unfortunate casualties of the storm. 

"No signal yet?" asked Taeyeon to a surprised Yeri who was holding her phone.

"No internet. No cell service. No nothing."

"At least not here. Keep monitoring it." said Taeyeon.

"Okay."

.........................................

If the other night was full of storms, today's adversary was a heatwave. Even the car's aircondition could not contend against the hot temperature. 

They passed by an intersection which said "Damyang".

"Stay on the road Wendy," Taeyeon said, holding a map on hand.

"It's okay, I have friends who live not so far away. We can stop there and resupply." Wendy replied, eyes focused on their new path.

"We can resupply anywhere, but we don't want to stray from our path." Taeyeon said, not convinced.

But Wendy wasn't not about to back down, she's got a feeling that they need to stopover and her friends can help them. 

"I do the planning and you just drive." Taeyeon nagged.

"Taeyeon listen, I said they're friends okay? And they're not just my friends. They're also Irene's friends. They'd help us." Wendy said appealing to the other woman.

Taeyeon held her stare for a few seconds and conceded. 

Yeri looked at the two older women from the backseat and new that they were back to palpable silence.

....................................................................................

Wendy turned right in an intersection full of trees and cornfields.

Up ahead there were cars and school buses blocking the road. A crowd of men were gathered. Some civilians and uniformed officers. Hopefully this won't be another encounter with a lunatic person. As Wendy pulled over, an officer approached their car. Rifle on hand.

"Halt. There's no service here, no gas, no nothing." said the officer, face gaunt and impassive.

"We've been on the road for a while. A good friend of mine lives here in the town." Wendy explained politely, looking straight on the officer's eyes.

"Everyone who stops over here says they've got a friend in town." the officer said glaringly.

"Her name is Kang Seulgi, she was born and raised here. I was here when I attended her wedding last year with Park Joy..." the officer stared at her and the rest of the car's occupants.

"... and they own a ranch here, Joy manages it well from what I remembered...I..l-look we just wanna get off the road for a couple of hours and we'll be gone..."

The officer was silent for a few moments before he called out another officer.

"Jinyoung, find an for them over the Kangs. And make sure if they got turned away, they come straight back here."

"Understood sir.Let them through boys!"

After that Wendy and her companions were led by a pickup truck full of armed civilians, preying at them. Wendy didn't let her guard down throughout the drive.

It wasn't long when they reached the gates of the Kang residence. Wendy pulled over, still being watched by their envoy.

The door of the residence opened and a woman came out. She was wearing a long green dress, long locks of black hair untied.

"Wendy? What are you doing here? Oh my God, how did you even get here?" she asked as she ran to give her a very tight hug.

"Hey Joy." Wendy returned the hug. "This is Taeyeon, Irene's mom and Yeri, a friend." 

"Hello, nice to meet you." Taeyeon said.

Yeri just nodded her head.

"I'm Joy. Welcome to our home. We should probably go inside." she said as she eyed the civilians watching their interaction from the battered pick up truck.

"Yes, let's do that." said Wendy.

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Taeyeon accompanied Yeri on checking their car, while Wendy and Joy chatted in the house.

"So you're telling me Seulgi went to Seoul a day before it all happened?" asked Wendy.

Joy took a deep breath but her hands would not stop trembling. Wendy held her hands to offer comfort to her friend.

"Yes, I thought you would know about it by now." she said.

"What do you mean?" asked Wendy.

"Because it was Irene who called her to go to Seoul."

"What?" 

Wendy was surprised. Irene haven't mentioned it before she went to Daegu. What could Irene have needed from her best friend that she had her fly all the way to Seoul. Something about Joy looks more distraught than she initially realized. 

"Hey. If anyone's going to survive this, Seulgi is definitely one of them. She'll return to you."

"It's just... I know none of this makes sense but... I just feel with all these storms, heatwaves and earthquakes that she..she..."

"it's gonna be okay Joy, they'll be alright... I promise you," Wendy consoled her.

"Do you really think so?" Joy did not want to sound bitter and desperate but her thoughts were overwhelming her.

"Joy please... you have to believe in Seulgi" 

"I'm sorry... it's just I haven't been sleeping well lately, being alone in this house and thinking of Seulgi's whereabouts," Joy's tears fell and Wendy moved to give her a hug.

"It's okay... they'll be alright."

Joy pulled out of their hug.

"Do you want to take a shower? There's plenty of water, you can take them in our room."

"Yeah, that would be good." Wendy smiled at the woman and Joy returned it gently.

..................................................................

Once they were done checking the car, Yeri sighed loudly. 

"What is it?"asked Taeyeon.

"The car's engine and system seems to have been affected by the heatwave. It's not gonna last enough to take us to our destination."Yeri said worriedly.

"What are our options then? Do you need spare parts? Anything?" Taeyeon asked, she knew they couldn't afford to lose their transport now.

"Installing new parts will take more than a day."

"So what do we do? We need to get back on the road asap."

"We might be needing a new car, Taeyeon-sii..." Yeri said with a shrug.

...................................................................

Wendy just finished taking a bath, towel wrapped around her torso. Standing in front of the mirror, she was in her sports bra, trying to massage her head. She has not realized the continuous ringing in her ears until now.

"Are you done now?" asked Joy as she entered the room. She was wearing a red satin dress this time.

"Yea, thanks for letting me use your shower" Wendy said, feeling slightly awkward that Joy sees her half in the room. She knows they're friends and that they're both women but...still.

"I think we need to get that wound on you forehead cleaned. How did you get it anyway? " asked Joy as she took out the medicine box near the night stand. 

"We got into an accident while travelling.. It was actually Taeyeon who sustained more grave inj