“Jinyoung, are you okay?” Sandeul asked, still being held by the running vampire. Gongchan, who was significantly far behind the whole time, was now catching up and racing beside them. 

     “I’m fine,” Jinyoung hissed. But the truth was, Jinyoung was starving. It was a long time since he snacked on blood, and now he was paying for it with his lack of stamina. It was when he felt dizzy that he came to a stop. Gongchan stopped to catch his breath, too—although he wasn’t as tired as Jinyoung. 

     Sandeul was accidentally dropped, but he was quick enough to catch himself on his crutches before falling on his behind. He watched Jinyoung pant, sitting on a rotted tree stump. “You’re definitely not okay. You’re not sick, are you? Or are you just reeeeeaally hungry? You’re not going to our blood, right?”

     “Stop with all the questions!” Jinyoung groaned into his shaky hands. “Yes, I’m hungry. But I have no desire to drink zombie blood or wolf blood.” His heightened sense of smell picked up their scent, which made him gag. 

     Gongchan had already recovered enough to run the rest of the way to the concert hall, but Jinyoung looked worse by the minute, turning pale as snow. Between the trees, Gongchan saw the sky turning red, orange, and pink. The full moon could show up any minute now, but he couldn’t think about that now. They had to think of getting to the concert. 

     Jinyoung sniffed the air and Gongchan’s ears perked up when they smelled and heard someone approaching. They kept silent, looking in the same direction. 

     “Mweo!” Sandeul squeaked. “You two are acting strange–”

     “Shhh!” Jinyoung hushed him, standing and ready to attack if he needed to. 

     The sound of a motor drew nearer, and eventually the three could see the headlight of a moped, which made them sigh in relief. 

     “See? I knew they’d be all right,” Baro said, then spotted the sick-looking Jinyoung. “Well, at least they’re not killing each other.”

     Shinwoo hopped off the moped, taking off his helmet and putting it on Sandeul’s head. “Just because no one died doesn’t make your plan a good one. Sandeul, you’re riding with Baro. I’ll go with Mister Hairy and Mister– Ya! Jinyoung! Snap out of it!”

     Luckily Shinwoo spotted Jinyoung reaching for Baro, whose type B blood smelled tastier than the rest. Jinyoung blinked hard as soon as he realized he could’ve bitten into his friend. “Sorry,” he apologized to the terrified rapper. 

     “I-I should get going,” Baro stuttered as he started up the moped again. “Get on, Sandeul. We’ll meet you guys there.”

     “What about my crutches?” After getting seated, Sandeul couldn’t find a decent place to put them. 

     Baro took one last glance at Jinyoung who was already in another hunger trance and decided to speed away at once, making Sandeul drop his crutches.

     Shinwoo heard the snap and went to pick up the broken crutches, seeing that they were now useless. He sighed, “At least Sandeul can sit through the entire performance… If we get there on time.” He turned to Jinyoung who was trying to get back to reality, rubbing his eyes. “And if we’re able to perform.”

     “I said it before: I’m fine, and I meant it,” Jinyoung mumbled. “Now, let’s get going so Baro and Sandeul aren’t waiting.”

     Shinwoo hopped on Gongchan’s back who seemed stronger than ever before, maybe even taller too. Jinyoung tried his best to keep up with Gongchan’s quick pace, but was beginning to fail as they emerged from the forest. 

     Jinyoung came to a halt to catch his breath. “I can’t go any farther… You’re going to have to perform without me.”