“Hey you alright?” Hyukjae asked worried seeing the human boy skip off happily with void eyes. Sungmin turned back to him with his hands tightly intertwined behind his back and let out a sunny smile, “Of course! I’m just really excited! I’m on a journey to somewhere far, you know? I haven’t really gone out much back in the city. Mostly stayed home or worked. It was kinda boring, but this will be fun, I’m sure of it!” Kyuhyun stared and analyzed the black-haired boy noticing the fake happiness in his voice and grunted before looking away. He knew he was at fault for this, but he couldn’t help it. The idea of living once always put him on the edge.    

“Oompfh- I’m so sorry!”

The brown-haired boy turned his head back to see Sungmin splayed on the ground and a woman with long black hair and serpent yellow eyes apologizing continuously. Hyukjae bent down to help Sungmin up, which he gladly took and laughed sheepishly at the lady before him. “No no! I should be apologizing! I wasn’t looking when I bumped into you,” The lady put on a shy smile and twiddled her fingers, “That’s alright. I-I was just looking for a hotel nearby. Although I’m not quite familiar with this area.” The lady rubbed the back of her head embarrassedly which led Sungmin to smile about. “We can help you look for one! We’re planning to stop for a break, right?” Sungmin said looking at Hyukjae for permission and the male just nodded with a small smile.

“W-we?”

“Hmm?”

“I-is there someone else tagging along with you?”

“Oh yeah they’re right here-” He stopped mid-sentence and froze. He forgot other people couldn’t see the two soul beings he was travelling with. Sungmin smiled nervously, “Uh yeah…they’re not here right now. They’re catching up with me b-because I’m so fast!” He lied. The woman didn’t seem to notice and asked, “Oh alright. So…let’s go?” The nineteen year old grinned and nodded, walking by her side.

Kyuhyun could have sworn he saw the lady give him a devilish smirk before turning away and continued talking to Sungmin. He stood his ground, alarmed at the unexpected eye contact and looked at Hyukjae, who also stood by him with a fallen smile. “Did you see that?” The younger male asked, the other stayed silent. After a few minutes he spoke back, “Yeah…keep your guard up Kyuhyun. We have to be as discreet as possible. Don’t show any signs.”

His companion scoffed, “You should know me by now Hyuk.”

Hyukjae chuckled and moved forward, “Yeah. That’s right, I do.”

“We found it!”

The woman panted and leaned against the door frame of the wooden cabinet. On the way, the two decided to find an abandoned house or some sort after looking for a hotel for quite some time. Sungmin stood proudly with his chin up, almost wanting to boast.

“Thank you so much for helping me!” The lady thanked once she calmed down. Sungmin shook his head and began to retreat backwards, “No problem! I should get going now. My friends will be looking all over for me.” He waved a goodbye at the lady, but stopped when she called out to him, “You know you can wait here with me. I’m sure there is a phone inside or something. In fact, why not stay a little? You said you wanted to rest right?” She said with a kind smile.

Kyuhyun narrowed his eyes at the woman while Hyukjae walked up beside Sungmin, as the boy gave him nervous glances on what to say. “Tell her it’s alright. We gotta get going anyways.” The human boy nodded small and looked back at the lady with a timid smile, “No it’s okay. I’ll just head back. Thank you for the offer though!” Once again, he turned around to flee but was held back by a hand gripping on his wrist, rather than a voice. “Oh no, no! I insist you stay! I’ll be kind of lonely by myself here in this cabin, plus I’ll give you a treat.” The woman persuaded already pushing the protesting boy into the cabin without a second thought.

Once the door was shut, the two living souls stared after the scene with lost thoughts. Hyukjae broke the silence between them with a loud sigh, “Well…isn’t this just perfect.” He muttered and scratched his head, “I don’t know what she’s up to, but it can’t be good-” His talking was cut short by the younger who rolled his eyes remarking sarcastically, “Ya think?” The pink-haired male glared at the other and walked to the door, “Come on. We gotta help Sungmin out and get out of here as soon as possible.” Hyukjae opened the door with caution and went in followed by a grumpy Kyuhyun who grumbled in annoyance.

Sungmin was sitting alone on the couch terrified, but with no lady.

“Where did she go?”

Sungmin looked at the two who came and gave a sigh in relief. Glad that they came and didn’t plan on ditching him off with the strange woman. “I think she said she would make some coffee or something…she’s kinda freaking me out. I just want to get out of here!” The nineteen year old said exasperated making Hyukjae laugh a bit. “Don’t worry Sungmin we’ll get you out of here. Just hold on, me and Kyuhyun will think of a way so she won’t notice you leaving. Hopefully she’s not some psychopath who keeps people and tortures them or anything like that, haha!” The joke seemed to make the human boy’s face go pale. Kyuhyun noticed