I woke up early, and I was thankful for that. I was afraid that I'd wake up late given yesterday's somewhat taxing task, but as I looked up towards the half-torn building roof I could see that the sun was nowhere near the top of the sky. I sighed. I looked to my right, where Taemin slept. His neck was twisted painfully and he was drooling slightly, but it was his eyes that looked the worst: they looked puffed and had very dark bags underneath them. It was heartbreaking to see such a young man have to go through such an awful event just because of another man's greed for power. I got up and checked from a window the surroundings. I squinted slightly, and then gasped. Whatever I had seen yesterday was directly coming our way, and looked way bigger and more threatening that it did before. 

A sand storm or a troop of helicopters, for sure, I grimly thought. I sighed, as I knew it would be hard to convince the sleeping young man to leave his dead brother behind, but it had to be done. I couldn't protect his little brother, but the least I could do was try to keep him alive. 

I took out the canned tuna and the bread and prepared our breakfast. I knew we would be walking for most of the day if we planned on escaping, so we'd both need energy. I quickly ate my loaf of bread, and I woke up Taemin. 

He looked up at me, and I shuddered slightly at his cold and empty eyes. I gave him the bread, and he ate it silently while I took the metal bars we'd used and carefully placed them in my bag. They could come in handy in the future, if we ever needed hand combat weapons and ran out of ammo or guns. 

When he finished eating, I gestured to him to follow me to the window. I gestured towards the commotion towards the east horizon, and worded a "Tasukete" (help). His eyes suddenly shined, and I immediately regretted my wording. I shook my head and he looked confused. I racked my brains for a word that would be more logical, but I wasn't the good one in Japanese, James was. 

"Euh.. Ah, .. No good! Danger! Oh, right, Abunai!" (dangerous), I managed. He looked at me and his shoulders deflated. I then made gestures with my hands towards the opposite direction, and with my hands I made small legs running on my palm. He looked back to the pile of dirt, and shook his head. I pointed to the east again, and made killing motions, my hands pretending to choke me and beheading me. 

He looked torn, and I was sure that the idea of having to leave his brother so quickly, to never see him again or be able to pay respects to his "tomb" was breaking him. He looked towards the ground then nodded. I squeezed his shoulder, and gestured to my wrist, explaining that we had little time. I showed him the number 30 on the dirt, to explain that he had thirty minutes to say his goodbyes to Kai. He turned his back to me and sat next to the pile of dirt, softly talking to it. Meanwhile, I went to scavenge to the buildings that I hadn't looked through yesterday, hoping to find some helpful supplies for the trip. 

We were between Daegu and Busan, in Myriang to be more precise, and I was hoping we'd reach the coast line in two or three days at most. I knew of a safe place in the outskirts of Yangsan, and I hoped it hadn't been found yet. We would rest there, pack up and try to get or - in the worst case scenario - build a boat. 

I figured our best chance was to take a boat to Tsushima Island, get more supplies there, and stop from island to island like that until he got to Taiwan, and then the Philippines. I had contacts in both Nagasaki and Kagoshima, and hopefully they would still be alive and supply me with weapons and a better boat, but the toughest part of the plan would be the journey between Busan and Tsushima. I could only pray we would find a half-decent boat. 

I headed back to Taemin with a flask of alcohol and two flasks of drinkable water, as well as a torn jacket that would fit him and some paracetamol. 

I handed Taemin the jacket, and held my hand out. He didn't take it, just got up and brushed his pants, and we headed out. I guessed he had somewhat of a grudge against me at the moment, but frankly, as long as he didn't die on me, I was fine with that. We headed south, since I didn't want to risk getting closer to any possible threat, althought it would take longer. Every two or three hours I would give Taemin some water, taking some as well, since the sun was pounding on us mercilessly. We kept walking until night fell, and we only got to the outskirts of Yangsan past midnight. Taemin had complained much, but I played deaf to whatever he was trying to say. 

I stopped him as soon as I spotted a familiar path. I signed to him to keep quiet, and carefully stepped towards my goal. Given that the enemy could be hiding here after having discovered a hideout here, I was extra careful. I was in an open field, and I looked around carefully when..

Cough

I looked at Taemin, and he put his hands together and bowed slightly. I signed again to keep quiet, putting my finger against my lips, and turned back. I could see something that had moved in the darkness, so I was even more cautious. I took out the one revolver I had found weeks ago, and carefully pointed it to the dark. 

Cough, cough. 

I looked at Taemin, face fuming, then looked back towards the darkness. 

Cough, cough, splutter, cough

Goddamnit, I thought, really? This is what I call real awful timing!

Something jumped out of the shadows and I unconsciously shot it. Then I heard a thud on the floor and an animal whimper. I quickly sped over to whatever I had shot. 

A dog. I had shot a dog. 

I had wasted a bullet and hurt an innocent being, for nothing. I sighed. At least my shooting was off and I only hit its leg, but the dog kept on whimpering. I felt immediately bad, and waved Taemin over. I riped part of his jacket and took a nearby stick, and put the stick against the dog's hurt leg, wrapping it with the torn cloth. I looked around, and guessing I had been perhaps a bit too paranoid, I carried the dog over to the hidden door on the floor. I pushed the sand aside with my feet, and gestured Taemin to open it. He did, and I carefully carried the injured dog down, and Taemin followed after. 

"Close it," I said, I had enough with Japanese and was in a foul mood, but Taemin understood and closed the door, locking it before quickly jogging to keep up with me. We were in the tunnel, and I turned left on the Y division. We got to an electronic door and I punched in the code. It beeped, the light turned green, and I pushed the door open with my back.

Taemin kept coughing sporadically, and after I placed the dog on Kevin's old carpet, I gave Taemin the paracetamol that I had found. It would work as well as Tylenol would, since it was the same thing, but then again I didn't know if Korean products worked the same way or had some weird extra side-effects to them. Taemin quickly popped it into his mouth and gulped it down, and nodded thankfully at me. 

I gestured to him to follow me, and opened the door to the bunk beds. I pointed to the lower one, then to me. There were two bunk beds, so he could choose to pick the top bunk if he wanted to, or the bottom one. I left to check the weapon supply, glad to have found that no one had found the place or stolen anything, and dropped my backpack there. I headed towards the kitchen, and decided that an actual meal would be in order. I took out two packs of ramen and heated them with tap water. The smell must've carried throughout the hideout, since Taemin came out not long after. His eyes were as big as saucers, and I couldn't help but laugh. As soon as one of the packets was done, I gave it to him, and he almost burned his tongue for immediately putting some on his mouth. I smiled and handed him so water from the mini fridge, which he gulped down immediately. We ate in silence, but I could sense that Taemin was beginning to accept my choices... or maybe the Ramen worked as a momentary bribe. 

I was just glad that our mutual silence wasn't as tense as it had been for the whole day.