“Well then...this changes things doesn’t it?” Daewon muttered. He looked around the room at his men and released a deep sigh, “Alright, fellas. You can put down the blades. Release them.” he instructed simply.

      The gang-like group of men surrounding the innocent young adults removed the sharp weapons from their necks and shoved them roughly away. The group had to stop themselves from falling forward. They looked around at each other with relieved expressions, though they were still wary.

      The gang retreated behind Daewon, and D.O did the same, still looking at his friends in disbelief.

      “The sun should be coming up in a couple hours,” Daewon said, turning to D.O, “We’ve been terrible hosts to your friends, Kyungsoo. You know what? Breakfast is on us this morning!” he said cheerily, patting the singer on the shoulder while he smiled down at the idols and cousins, “Why don’t you go get our guests some food and make yourself useful? Same for the rest of you,” he instructed, and the men quickly scurried off across the market in search of food, “Come on let’s go have a seat,” Daewon said, motioning to an open area with a large quilt on the floor that the men were sitting baskets of food on top of.

      Wordlessly, the group got up and walked over to the space that Daewon had pointed to. They sat down, giving one another questioning gazes the entire time, “What’s going on?” Chen whispered to Amber, who shrugged while glaring. They had formed a large circle on the quilt, sitting with their legs folded as they waited for the intimidating bunch to break the awkward silence.

      “Have some fruit and bread,” Daewon said from the opposite side of the circle, passing around a basket of goods. TOP took it, and bowed his head in thanks slightly. They reached into the basket one by one, taking the items they wanted as the men’s eyes continued to bore into them. It was quiet for a while besides the sounds of crunching fruit and stale bread, “So do you all have names? Come on, let’s be comfortable!”

     “I’m Seunghyun,” TOP introduced himself.

     They went down the line until they reached Hana who was sitting at the end.

     “Hana?” Daewon said, musing over the name. Hearing it, tasting it as it played on his tongue, “That means flower in Japanese. Did you know that?” he asked in a voice that resembled the coddling of a toddler.

      “So I’ve been told,” Hana said, stuffing yet another apple in . His tone was sitting strangely with her, even Shin had to spare a bewildered gaze.

      Daewon his lips, “You’re just as beautiful as your name, my sweet,” Hana nearly choked on her food, having to force it down with a nearly painful swallow.

      Her and Shin exchanged a quick look of disgust and unease.

      Daewon cleared his throat, “Sorry about earlier. If I had known that you all knew our friend Kyungsoo over here things may have gone a little differently,” he said smiling, throwing an arm around the singer, who was sitting next to him and wearing a blank expression. It was slightly chilly in the market, it was about an hour before dawn, and the outside air came rushing in through the openings, ”We like this place a lot because of all the food that came with it, but we’re not a fan of all the exposure. A few dead ones might wander in from time to time because there are no doors we can close, but that’s why my men are on watch. As you can imagine, it’s also a real pain in the when it rains.”

      “How’d you end up out here?” TOP questioned. It was directed to Daewon but he was looking at D.O when he asked.

      “We found this place a couple days ago after a lot of traveling through different towns, wandering without a clue of where we were going. That’s how we found Kyungsoo actually,” he said, “We were in this real fancy part of the city, and we were trying to find a place to sleep for the night, when all of a sudden we saw a few dead ones going into a restaurant. We were about to keep going but then we heard a scream. We went inside and there he was, curled up in the corner. It’s the most pitiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life. After we found him, he joined our little group here. I mean how could we not have let him in, he looks like a damn puppy, we had to keep him!” he said with a laugh as Kyungsoo stared blankly down at his hands.

      The idols still had many questions.

      “We kept on walking, looking for a place to call home. We went without food for two days but then a miracle happened. We found an apartment above a store, and it was packed with all kinds of food.”

      “What kind of store was the apartment above?” Shin asked curiously.

      “Some kind of flower shop,” Daewon said passingly, “But the apartment looked like it belonged to some old lady. Either way it was nice.”

      “It wasn’t so nice after we were done with it,” one of the men in the circle muttered, earning many chuckles as they remembered the aftermath. The idols and cousins glanced at one another, wondering if they were hearing the same thing as everything clicked. Their mouths hung open in disbelief- the nice, hospitable image they were portraying then contrasted greatly from the condition that the apartment was left in.

      “No wonder why Mrs. Lee was so scared,” Shin whispered to himself. The idols stared warily at the group of men, remembering how they had been attacked only a few moments prior and reminding themselves not to be caught up in the image Daewon was showing them at that moment.

      A few of the men suddenly raised themselves up from the quilt and began to disperse around the market. One of them bent down to Daewon’s level and whispered something into his ear, causing him to look at the young adults before getting up himself, “If you would excuse me for a moment, I have some business to take care of,” he said before walking away with the man, leaving the idols and D.O alone on the quilt.

      “Kyungsoo, can we talk to you?” Amber asked, motioning for the short singer to get up and walk over to an area farther away so the remaining men couldn’t hear them. As if he didn’t want to talk with them, he pushed himself up from the ground and walked over, all while rolling his eyes and looking uninterested. The idols were thrown off by his attitude, “First of all, how the hell are you alive? Second of all, how did you end up with them?” Amber asked.

      “You heard Daewon, they saved my life. I wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for them, I owe them everything.”

      “What happened to the boys?” Chen asked, “Baekhyun and Junmyeon...why aren’t they with you?”

       A sudden wave of emotion coursed through D.O upon hearing their names, it showing on his face until he cleared his throat to get rid of the pain, “They’re dead.”

      The idols were shocked to hear such a blunt answer, expecting for him to at least soften the blow if it was bad news. Chen had already thought this to be true, but seeing D.O gave him a tinge of hope that his other friends were okay too, “Oh...what happened?”

      “Before we could make it back to Manager Yongmin’s place, he got bit. He turned, and bit Baekhyun. Baekhyun turned and bit Junmyeon. Before Junmyeon could turn...I had to kill him. I had to stop the chain from continuing, before he could kill me.”

      Amber and Chen took a moment to process what they were hearing, the information coming at them so fast it was almost surreal. D.O’s bluntness was hard to handle as well.

      “They’re actually gone…” Chen said as it hit him, pain welling up in his eyes that he had to force back.

      “And I would be too if it wasn’t for Daewon and his group.”

      “It isn’t just us, you know? There are others,” Amber said, “Chanyeol, Jongin, Sehun, Eunhyuk, Donghae, Henry, and Jieun are all back at our house. Oh dude, it will be awesome, and the boys will be so excited to see you when you come back with us-!”

      “No,” D.O interrupted.

      The group was taken aback, confused by the word.

      “No?” Chen asked.

       “I won’t be coming with you guys. I can’t.”

       “The hell do you mean you can’t?” Amber questioned angrily, “What, are you being held prisoner here or something?” she asked as a joke, but D.O didn’t respond, “Kyungsoo…?”

       “No...it’s payment. You wouldn’t understand.”

       “Payment? You’re not making any sense here, Kyungsoo,” TOP said.

        D.O sighed, “Since they saved me, I have to stay. It’s only fair. They gave me another chance at life, the least I can do is help them by being here. Numbers make them stronger. That’s what Daewon does, he saves people and in return they stay with him to help the group survive. It might sound bad, but it’s really not,” Kyungsoo insisted.

       Chen sighed, beginning to plead, “Come on, Kyungsoo. Our group is way better than there’s. Don’t you want to be with people you actually know and can trust-?”’

       “I can’t leave, alright!” he shouted, face turning red in frustration, “They were skeptical in adding me to their group in the first place because I’m not as strong as the rest, but I’ve had to prove myself...I’ve had to do things here. Terrible, god-awful things but in the end it’s not that bad because I’ve got shelter, weapons, a tough group of guys and all the food I could ask for, and we didn’t have to steal it this time either,” he said with a glare at the group.

      “Do you hear yourself right now?” Amber wondered, “You’re choosing this gang of violent, dirty, scumbags over your own family? Kyungsoo we’ve known you for years! Can you really do that to us?”

      “I’m not the same person you remember taking vocal lessons with at the SM building anymore, Amber. I’ve changed, and if you’ve been through the same things that I have, then you would have changed too.”

      “Tell me this,” TOP said, “what would happen if you left with us?”

       D.O’s expression quickly darkened, “It wouldn’t end well, for me or for you. So let’s just drop the whole idea, okay?” he looked around at the faces before him, some familiar and some new. He shook his head, “You guys coming here just made things more complicated than they had to be.”

      The sound of approaching footsteps made D.O turn around. Daewon and two of his men were walking back into the area, the rest on duty elsewhere, and with a quick glance, D.O quickly scurried over to his side, leaving his old friends in utter shock.

       Daewon and his men were deep in conversation when he accidentally stepped on the duffle bag of guns; it laying on the floor where Hana had dropped it earlier. He looked down at the bag before crouching down to see what was inside. The group tensed up and took a few steps forward as if to stop him when he opened the zipper and took a look.

      “Damn,” he said in astonishment, “This is some pretty heavy stuff. How did folks like you get these?” he looked up at the two men behind him and said in a lower voice, “This is the kind of weapons we’ve been needing, boys.”

      “Luck I guess. We know places...people,” TOP replied, trying to downplay the heavy artillery Daewon was busy musing over.

      “We used to have guns too ‘ya know? But we used the last of our bullets saving Kyungsoo’s back in the city,” he laughed, petting the singer on the head, “We chucked them in a bush a while back since they’re useless without rounds, and we’ve been using the blades from here ever since. It’s definitely not ideal and this is the kind of weapon we’ve been looking for,” he explained, sifting through the guns in the bag.

      The idols began to step forward more, growing uncomfortable with the situation. By this time, they were about three full strides away from the men.

     Daewon stood up straight when the idols began to approach him, and the men behind him changed into a slightly more defensive stance. He smiled wide, “I have a preposal.”

     TOP looked around at the group standing with him, “We’re listening.”

     “We’ll let you take the food you stole from us, if you give us the guns. That way, everyone wins,” he suggested, his voice cheerful and exaggeratedly nice.

     TOP stood unfazed and Amber nudged his side as if to get his attention. He looked over, and many of the idols and cousins were looking at him expectantly. It was at this moment that he remembered that they were all waiting for him to take charge and make a decision for the whole group. He was the leader after all, no matter how much he didn’t want to be, especially during times like now.

      “I...I…” he began, still debating.

      “Let’s just do it. Don’t we have a lot more guns at home?” Amber said in a low voice, but not low enough to go unheard by the men across from them.

       Daewon didn’t miss it, instead his eyes shone with interest, “Home, huh? It must be pretty nice considering how well put together you all look. See us?” he asked, pointing at himself and his scruffy comrades, “This market isn’t anywhere close to home. It’s just a place to lay our heads and get a meal. But we’re constantly on our toes, patrolling the perimeter and on watch twenty-four seven. Just waiting on the next group of undead bastards to walk through those doors. I bet you don’t have to deal with that , right?”

      The idols said nothing.

      One of Daewon’s men muttered, “It’s probably a big, comfortable place, too.”

      Daewon smiled at the group, “You’ve got space for a few more, right? I’m sure you can handle a few more roommates.”

      TOP shook his head, “I’m sorry, but this isn’t an open invitation.”

      Daewon was surprised by the quick answer, but he masked it with a chuckle, “Look, if this is about what happened earlier, we apologized already. We were just protecting our territory, I’m sure you would have done the same thing-”

      “It’s not that,” TOP said, “We’re just not looking for any new company at the moment.”

      Daewon was quiet for a while before nodding his head, putting his tongue inside his cheek, “Is that so?”

      “Yes.”

      Daewon calmly glanced over to one of his men, and flicked his head in the direction of Chen, whom he was standing the closest to. The large man grabbed Chen by the wrist before shoving him harshly to Daewon, who put him in a chokehold. The idols began to protest, until they saw Daewon’s free hand reach back on the butcher table. He picked up a meat cleaver by the handle and placed the blade on Chen’s throat while he had a firm grip on the singer’s hair.

      “What about now, Seunghyun? Is it still not an open invitation?”

      “Don’t tell him, Seunghyun!” Chen yelled, wincing as Daewon pulled harder on his hair.

      The idols looked for any way out of this nightmarish situation once again, “Seunghyun…” Amber said, looking up pleadingly at the rapper as he stood with a tortured expression.

      “It doesn’t need to be like this, Daewon,” he said calmly.

      Daewon nodded, “Exactly! It wouldn’t have had to come to this if you had just let us stay with you. But here we are,” he said, “So I’ll ask you one more time. Where is this “home” you mentioned earlier?”

      TOP locked eyes with Chen, who was shaking his head furiously, pleading.  Chen began to breathe heavily, all while mouthing, “Don’t do it…”

      TOP frantically searched for advice from his comrades, but they all looked up at him for the answer, drawing a blank themselves. He sighed, turning back to Daewon who looked on patiently considering the circumstances.

      The rapper’s mouth was dry, and he said the following words in a tone that resembled begging, “I can’t let you join us. But please...I hope you understand.”

      Daewon exchanged an indistinguishable glance with the two men standing by his side. He was relatively undisturbed, and surprisingly unruffled by the answer. Turning back to the young adults, he pursed his lips and a tight smile grew across his face, “Understood.”

      The slight calm they felt immediately disappeared when Daewon yanked Chen’s head back painfully, making him yell out. There was a quick jerking motion as the blade slid across the talented singer’s throat, making a red smile appear and drip all the way down to his collarbones.

      When Daewon let go of his hair, Chen fell to the floor, unmoving by his feet.

      Shock. Rage. Heartache.

       The only tangible things that could be felt in that moment. The idols stood frozen, eyes going between the dead body of their friend on the ground and the man who had killed him.

      Amber was the first to react, “YOU MOTHERER!!!” she screamed, lunging forward to attack Daewon, only to be knocked to the ground by one of his men before one of the idols could stop her. Daewon’s goon crawled on top and punched her in the face, making her grunt in pain. The man reached back in his waistband to retrieve his knife, but before he could use it, Shin ran over and kicked it out of his hand, making it slide off out of reach. The man and Shin began to full out fist fight, and Amber joined, flinging her arms wildly.

      Daewon instructed the other man who stood beside him to attack TOP, and he ran towards him full on, crazily slicing the air with his knife as TOP tried to evade him.

      Hana looked on in panic. She was the only one not in combat, and she tried to find any way possible she could help. In the chaos around her, she noticed the bag of guns on the floor, but when her and Daewon made eye-contact, she knew that he had too.

      The bag was the same distance between them, and they both lunged for it, diving on the ground desperately. When it seemed like Daewon would get there first, Hana slid on her side, kicking the bag beneath a table.

       She crawled after it, and when it was just within arm's reach, she felt a scarily strong grip on her legs. Against her will, she was dragged backwards from under the table, her kicks doing little against Daewon’s strength. In a matter of seconds he was on top of her, pointing the meat cleaver downwards towards Hana’s throat. She kept the weapon away by keeping her forearms straight as he pushed down, but her strength was waning.

       “I’m sorry it had to go down this way, princess. If your friend would have just let us stay then it could have all been avoided, so technically it’s his fault, right?”

       Hana didn’t entertain his antics, she concentrated on not letting the blade get closer, but her arms began to spasm and cramp.

      “Now stop moving or I’ll end up ruining your pretty face instead,” he pushed down in a sudden burst of strength, and before the blade could make contact with , Hana moved her head out of the way, making the cleaver slice her shoulder instead. It wasn’t too deep, but enough for her to let out an audible gasp.

      When Daewon came down, he was put off balance. Hana took advantage of this, and rolled from under him. Daewon tried to grab her forearms while they wrestled, but before he could get a good grip, she quickly snatched the cleaver from his hands and swung it downwards, leaving a deep gash from his left ear down to the corner of his mouth, covering his entire cheek.

       He screeched, holding his face as he writhed uncontrollably. Without a thought, Hana crawled under the table once again (her shoulder gnawing at her miserably). She grabbed the first gun she saw and checked to see if it was loaded.

      “Seunghyun!” she yelled. He was still fighting off the man with the knife as best as he could, dodging slices and kicking to further themselves. He became elated when he saw that Hana had the bag.

       She slid one towards him from under the table. He quickly reached down to grab the rifle and without hesitation, shot the man who attacked him in the middle of the forehead.

       As Daewon continued to scream, two more men came out of a back room at the sound of his anguish, “Get her!” Daewon demanded as he held his face, crawling behind a display table.

      The two men charged at Hana as she pulled a handgun from the bag. In her hurry to check the gun, she wasn’t prepared to shoot. The first man ran up to her, his form as if he were going to tackle her to the ground. Her gun still not ready to fire, she did whatever she could to distance themselves. Before he could lay a hand on her, she landed a solid kick to his gut, making him fly backwards. They were standing in front of the butcher’s station, and there was a large meat hook that was usually used to display different cuts of the day’s specialty, but in that moment the man fell backwards, all of his momentum forcing him back hard and hooked the back of his head on the sharp metal. He died instantly.

       Hana and the other man looked at the scene in shock. All she wanted to do was get him away, not kill him (in such a gruesome way at least). The other man grabbed a knife from the table in anger and ran forwards. By this time, Hana had the gun at the ready, and fired at the approaching man in the chest and he fell to the floor motionless.

       She was floored for a moment. Surely, she had killed zombies before, but even that had taken some mental assurance. But the men on the floor before her were...human. Never did she think she would kill another person, even if they were the ones attacking her first. She had to tell herself that self-defense was a good enough reason for her actions.

        D.O was crouched over Chen’s figure, holding in his crushed emotions. He covered his mouth while he held his hand, closing his eyes trying to not let the tears slip though, “Why did you have to find me?”

       Lured by the screams and gunfire, hungry, undead corpses began to walk into the market, “We need to leave!” TOP yelled as he shot down as many zombies as he could. They began to increase in numbers, and though TOP and Hana tried their best to stop them, a few got through unnoticed and began to feast on the stilled bodies of Daewon’s men on the floor.

       “Didn’t Daewon say his men are on watch all the time? So how are so many zombies coming in here?” Shin yelled over the gunfire.

        “We probably killed all the people on guard duty,” TOP replied. More and more began to fill the market, causing the group to become panicked, “We need to go! Now!”

        As the group began to make their way to the door, Amber rushed beside D.O, and gripped Chen’s hands as well as she sobbed.

        TOP ran to get her, “Amber! We have to leave, he’s gone!”

        She gave Chen’s hands one last squeeze before being practically picked up from his side. As she and TOP ran to the door, she looked behind her at D.O who was still crouched beside the singer, “Kyungsoo! Come on, we’re leaving!”

        At the same time, Daewon’s voice could be heard as he got to his feet, “Kyungsoo! Help me please!”

       He looked between his friends who were waiting for him by the exit, and the man with the bloodied face who he only recently met. D.O rose to his feet and sprinted to Daewon’s side, helping support his weight as they quickly made their way to a room in the very back of the market.

       “Kyungsoo? What the hell are you doing?! Kyungsoo! Come back here!” Amber screeched, TOP having to hold her back by the waist as she tried to run back to get him.

      “Stop! We can’t do anything about it, he’s made his choice!” Amber didn’t fight it anymore as she and the others ran back to the cars, narrowly avoiding the undead bodies as they drove out of the area and sped back to the Hallyu Village.

      “Jongdae’s gone! He’s dead! He’s ing dead, Seunghyun!” Amber yelled, kicking in the passenger seat of the Porsche, “That bastard killed him!”

      TOP sighed heavily, “I know…”

      “And Kyungsoo just stayed to help him! He helped him get away! What’s wrong with him? Does he really think he owes him that much, that he’ll help out the man that killed his own friend?!” she sobbed.

      Shin and Hana followed closely behind TOP and Amber. Unlike the car in front of them, they remained relatively silent, stunned by the events that had just taken place. Hana held the dufflebag to her chest as she thought everything over.

      Daewon had killed one of her roommates and in retaliation, she alone had killed two men and permanently disfigured another. And who knew what happened to the guy Shin and Amber were fighting....

      Shin glanced over at Hana, and didn’t comment on her bloody shoulder or the fact that the entire left side of the carseat was coated in red. Hana looked over at him, and noticed that his nose was bleeding nonstop like a faucet- the fight had been harder than she thought.

      They eventually made it back to the neighborhood, coming to a screeching halt in front of the house. The sun had finally made an appearance and the early morning breeze was chilly. They all exited their cars and burst into the house. To their surprise, all of the lights were on. Voices could be heard coming from the living room, and suddenly the rest of the house ran into the foyer wearing relieved expressions.

      “Where were you guys?” Henry asked as he came into the room, “I saw the note Jongdae left on the fridge about half an hour ago, and I woke the house up to let them know you were gone,” he finally noticed how distressed they all looked. Down to TOP’s tired eyes, Shin's bloody nose, Amber’s tears, and Hana’s blood soaked shirt, “What happened? Why’d you leave?”

      TOP sighed, “Shin needed to go out and find his mother and Hana went to help, so we left to make sure they were okay…” he began, “While we were out there, we stopped to get food at a market not far away from their house, and we ran into a group of men. They were more like a gang. Kyungsoo was in their group-”

      “Did you just say Kyungsoo?!” Chanyeol exclaimed.

      “You saw him?! Then why isn’t he with you?” Kai asked.

      “We begged him to come with us, but he didn’t want to leave the group he was already with,” TOP explained.

      “He picked them over us?” Sehun asked in disbelief.

      Chanyeol scanned the group, and something was definitely off that wasn’t being discussed. That’s when he noticed it, “Guys...where’s Jongdae?” he asked, getting an odd sense of deja vu.

      Amber  became red once again, and she turned to the side to hide her face and stop the torrent of tears from falling. When Chanyeol saw this, and the others drop their heads, he got a sinking feeling deep within his chest, “He’s dead isn’t he?” he whispered.

      TOP nodded.

      “How?! What happened? Did he get bit?” Henry demanded.

      “No, he was killed...by a person.”

      “A person killed him?” Eunhyuk said, rushing towards the door, “Oh hell no, we’re going out there right now and killing that bastard. We’re going to show him what we’re made of. He messed with the wrong-”

     TOP held out his hand to stop him, ”There’s no use, the damage is done. We killed and injured a few on our way out, we did what we could in that moment.”

     “You killed people tonight?” IU asked, shocked.

     “We had no choice.”

     Kai’s lips were held in a tight line as he tried to hold himself together, but his eyes were already puffy, “W-why? W-why’d they do it?” he stuttered.

     “The group wanted our guns, and then when they found out that we had a house they wanted to stay with us. They killed Jongdae because I said no.”

      They all stood a moment, little could be heard in the foyer besides the sound of the occasional sob or sniff.

     Eunhyuk looked over at Shin as if he had a sudden epiphany, “If they had kept the blindfolds on every time we traveled, they wouldn’t have figured out how to get to their house. But no one listened to me!”

      “It wasn’t necessary, Eunhyuk,” TOP tried to defend them.

      He was far more energized than anyone else in the room. He had fire behind his eyes as he slowly approached Shin, “This is all your fault,” he said, “You too!” he said pointing to Hana “If you hadn’t left in the first place, Jongdae would still be alive right now! Tell me, Shin. Was his life worth your little trip?”

      “No. No it wasn’t” Shin replied simply, refusing to break eye contact, his jaw tight.

      He shook his head at the younger boy, “Do you even realize how bad you messed up? Psycho…” he whispered ironically.

      “So Kyungsoo is alive, and Jongdae is dead,” Sehun said in a distant voice, “I don’t know what’s happening anymore”

       Eunhyuk took another step closer to Shin, pushing him in the chest with his finger, “This is on you. You’re the one that has to live with this, and I won’t let you forget it.”

      Shin stared emotionlessly into Eunhyuk’s eyes, unflinching, “Okay.”

      “Hey, stop it,” IU said to Eunhyuk, causing him to take a step back. She turned to Shin, “It’s not your fault, Shin. Don’t let him get to you.”

      “Thanks…” Shin said with a brief smile down at IU before turning on his heels and walking up the staircase. IU looked after him sadly and walked back to her bedroom, and Eunhyuk shook his head before disappearing himself.

      Amber flung her arms around Chanyeol as she cried into his chest, as he did into her shoulder. Sehun, Kai, and Henry joined them, making it a group hug of grieving.

       “I’m...I’m sorry…” Hana tried to say, feeling partially responsible for the night’s events. She stood on the side awkwardly, watching as the group continued to mourn. She began to walk back upstairs.

       “Hey,” a deep voice suddenly called, “Aren’t you going to do something about that?” TOP asked, pointing to Hana’s shoulder with a concerned look. Her entire white sleeve was now crimson.

       “Oh...I forgot about it honestly,” she replied quietly.

       “You forgot about the gash on your heavily bleeding shoulder?” TOP asked, slightly amused, thinking she was just trying to put up a front.

       Hana rolled her eyes, “I’ll just go wash it off under some water, it’s really not as bad as it looks.”

       “I actually have the proper tools to clean that in my bathroom...but if you want to risk getting your arm amputated when it gets infected then be my guest.”

       Hana sighed, “Fine, lead the way,” she said, and they walked down the hall and through his double doors. Past the fireplace in the very back of the bedroom was the expansive bathroom. The black and white tiles made the space seem humongous, and it was so clean it looked nearly untouched. The countertops were granite, and there was a huge marble shower that covered an entire wall.

       “I’ll go get the stuff, you can stand by the sink if you want,” he said, reaching in the medicine cabinet and drawers. Moments later TOP walked over to Hana with a handful of supplies; everything to gauze, antibiotic ointment, and tweezers.

      “Okay, show me the wound,” he instructed. Hana began to raise her sleeves, only realizing they were too tight and long for him to help.

       “My shirt is too tight…” she began, but he was already leaving the room before she could finish her thought. He came back with a short sleeve shirt that he had gone to retrieve from a drawer in his room.

        He tossed it to her, “This might be better,” he said. Hana stood in admiration of the thoughtful gesture, and then remembered that she was supposed to change right then and there. TOP cleared his throat as if remembering this himself and turned around to face the opposite wall. There wasn’t a word spoken as Hana quickly raised the shirt from her head and placed another one on, feeling the her shoulder stab at her as she moved.

      “Are you finished?” TOP asked reluctantly as he continued to face the wall.

      “Yeah,” she answered a bit awkwardly.

       TOP meekly turned around and walked over to the counter next to her, turning on the faucet and gently grabbing her arm so she could place her shoulder under the cold water. His surprisingly warm hands balanced out the water, creating a strange phenomenon as the temperature of his touch and the water seemed to fight for dominance on her skin.

      After a few minutes of this, he cut off the water, got down on one knee, and grabbed the tweezers, “This may hurt, okay?” he warned before placing the tweezers within the wound and picking out pieces of fabric with a steady hand and careful gaze. The entire time, Hana didn’t concentrate on her arm being operated on, but instead at TOP’s face as he put all his attention on his work; his sharp nose scrunched up as he focused.

     He glanced up at her, and she quickly averted her eyes when she realized she was staring, “How are you so calm?” he asked, astonished, “Are the metal prongs digging into your skin not painful?”

     “I mean it’s not pleasant, but it’s not excruciating either. Uncomfortable is the best way to put it,” she explained.

     “Well I’m done with them now. I was hoping I would see you show some emotion for once,” he said with a joking grin. He grabbed the roll of gauze and was going to cover the wound completely when he noticed another bandage in the crease of her arm. It was covered in red from the bleeding shoulder wound above it, and was partially brown with dirt and sweat, “What’s that from?”

      “Oh that?” Hana asked. She had forgotten it was even there, “I’ve had it for a couple weeks, disgusting I know. It’s from those vaccines we all had to get. I just keep forgetting to take it off,” she said, finally unraveling it and throwing it away in a trashcan under the sink.

       A few weeks prior, it was made mandatory for the entire country to get vaccinated for Hepatitis A due to a new healthcare law that was passed. Everyone had to get the vaccine within a month of the law being passed or else they would be forced to pay a ridiculous fine, only to be given an extra month to complete the task later.

      “Oh, I got that too, I took my bandage off the same day,” he said, “A lot of the idols I know didn’t get the vaccine and just paid the fine because they were “busy”,” he said, making quotation marks with his fingers, “To me it wasn’t worth it to pay that much only to have to take it later. I just got it out the way.”

      “Shin and I didn’t have that luxury...or the money...so...,” Hana trailed off.

     TOP nodded in understanding as he began to wrap the gauze around Hana’s arm, “Speaking of...do you think he’ll be okay?”

     “Shin? I’m really not sure, but I know for a fact that he feels guilty for what happened tonight. I don’t know how he’s going to handle it, he’s never had so many terrible things happen all at once.”

      “Shin shouldn’t feel guilty. He did nothing wrong by trying to be a good son in the apocalypse. He had nothing to do with what happened at the market...he didn’t make that final call...he didn’t make Daewon do what he did.”

       Hana realized where he was going with this, “Seunghyun, neither did you. It was all that evil bastard and his thugs’ fault for what happened. All you were trying to do was protect the group, and that’s what Jongdae wanted before he…” Hana tried to convince him, unable to finish the sentence.

      “But I hate that I’m being given this role as the “leader”. I never asked for it...it just kind of happened. Moments like what happened tonight is what I hate most. Everyone looks to me to make calls for the group when I honestly have no clue what I’m doing. Sure, I know how to use a gun, but that’s literally it. I hate this role because in the end I’m responsible for what happens to the people I’m around, and I told Daewon no tonight because that’s what felt right in that moment...but now I’m having second thoughts. That’s something that you don’t want in a leader, someone who doesn’t stick to their decisions.”

      “But it was the right choice. Who the hell knows what would have happened if we would have let them come back home with us. They probably would have just murdered us all as soon as we pulled up to the gate. You made the right choice, we were all just in the wrong place at the wrong time tonight. Sadly, what happened to Jongdae was a product of that.”

      TOP nodded slowly, taking in her words, “Thanks...I’ll try to remember that,” he said. He had finished wrapping her arm a while ago, but his hand was still placed on the gauze tentatively. He pulled his hand back when he noticed this and stood up. He grinned down at her as he remembered something, “I saw what you did to Daewon’s face before we left. You got him good.”

      “Why do you sound so surprised?”

      He shrugged, “I don’t know. I saw you two fighting and got scared that we were going to lose someone else tonight. But I should have believed that you were going to handle it. I’m not sure when you’ll stop impressing me, honestly.”

      “I’ll try to do worse than mess up his face next time,” she said as she began to walk out the bathroom, “Thanks for cleaning my wound by the way. It was nice that you cared enough to help.”

      “No problem,” he said as he put the items back.

      Hana was almost out of the room when she stopped in the doorway. There was something that had been nagging her, and being her blunt self, curiosity got the best of her and she just had to ask, “Seunghyun, why are you so nice to me?”

      He stopped in his tracks and pursed his lips, “You’re the only person that has had my back on numerous occasions since the world ended, so I have to have yours too, it’s only fair. You’re also one of the few people in this house that I can tolerate without wanting to punch after only a few minutes of being around,” he added, making her scoff, “I like you. And might I add, you’re not as weird as everyone says you are.”

     Hana wasn’t sure where to focus her attention- the fact that her roommates were calling her “weird” behind her back, or the fact that the T.O.P said that he appreciated her, and even liked her more than some of the idols he had known for years.

     He walked out of the bathroom and back into his room, Hana following behind silently until they made it to the double doors, “We can change that gauze tomorrow if you want. Unless you want to leave it on for another two weeks,” he tried to joke, though he was obviously exhausted and it didn't reach his eyes.

     “Okay,” she nearly whispered. She stepped into the dark hallway as he stood in the door frame.

     With a nod of their heads and a wave, they wordlessly said goodbye, putting an end to a sorrowful night of unfortunate events.

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