"So, where are your parents?" Minseok brought up the question on their third day together. They were sitting at the beach, having just taken a dip in the cool and clear seawater.

 

 

"They ate each other," Luhan said softly. Yet Minseok sensed a sadness behind his cheerful façade.

 

 

"C-Cannibals eat each other?" Minseok asked cautiously. He was thoroughly creeped out. 

 

 

Luhan nodded. "Yeah, it happens very often when there isn't enough human meat to go around. Which is pretty much all the time now since human sightings started declining a few years back." 

 

 

"I was scarred for life. You can't imagine how it felt like, knowing your own parents killed each other to stay alive. They―they killed my sister at first. Boiled her into a soup with radishes. They were pretty nonchalant about it too, I heard them say the soup was delicious. They laughed and drank and made merry and all I could think about was my sister who was there, in that bowl of soup. I―I starved myself. I just couldn't bring myself to―" Luhan faltered, "to eat my own sister." Minseok listened attentively, more sad than creeped out. Luhan had evidently gone through a lot. 

 

 

He continued. "I―I knew they were coming for me next. I mean, I could see the looks they gave me. They weren't looking at me like a son, but like a piece of meat waiting to enter their mouths. So, I ran away." Luhan bit his lip, tears welling up in his eyes. "When I came back, they'd already ate each other." Minseok wanted to do something, anything, to make Luhan stop crying because when Luhan cried Minseok's heart couldn't help but tear itself into tiny little pieces.

 

 

"I'm the only one left."

 

 

Minseok opened his mouth wide in shock. "Y―You're the only one left?" He repeated dumbly.

 

 

Luhan nodded in painful remembrance, eyes looking down on the ground where his feet were, kicking mindlessly at the sand.

 

 

"Wow. It must have been really hard for you, coping all alone," Minseok softly said, trying to wrap his mind around exactly the kind of ordeal that Luhan had gone through. Compared to Luhan, Minseok realised that his life had been comparatively smooth-sailing, without much cause for distress. 

 

 

"I was pretty much starving for days and days after that. I didn't know how to hunt. But then I learnt to live on forest berries and the occasional tree frog or lizard that got caught in my traps, if I was lucky. But those were pretty rare so I had to make do with grubs and larvae a lot." 

 

 

Minseok made a gagging noise. He hated frogs and lizards and was about to remark to Luhan how disgusting they were when he realised that for Luhan, it was a matter of life and death and of course he couldn't care less about the grossness of eating them so he promptly shut up. Luhan cocked his head and looked at Minseok opening then closing his mouth like a fish, and laughed a melodious laugh.

 

 

He continued, "I wasn't used to eating anything besides human meat. But survival was of foremost importance and I didn't really have a choice. And besides, they do tend to taste okay after a while." Minseok nodded in understanding. No wonder Luhan was gaunt and bony and looked slightly malnourished. He had nothing decent to eat for... how long?

 

 

"I'd offer you a piece of me, but then I'm too afraid of dying," Minseok joked, which lightened up the atmosphere a little. Luhan laughed out loud, his head tilted back, eyes looking slightly starry when he finally stopped.

 

 

"Do you regret not eating me?" asked Minseok, because he was genuinely curious as to whether Luhan liked having him around. Minseok tended to be a bit too picky at times, which irked Luhan. ("Minseok, you're living in a forest now, learn to live with it! It's not like where you came from!" "Shut up, Luhan! It's not my fault that my standards are higher than yours!")

 

 

"No. I never regretted that decision. In fact, I think I'm beginning to feel thankful for it," confessed Luhan.

 

 

"Really?" Minseok felt flattered.