"Does that even exist? Stop playing, Minhyuk" Jaehyo glared at him before smacking his hand away from Kyung.

"Of course it exists. More now than ever" He took a sip of his tea and perched on the edge of the bed.

Jaehyo huffed, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "No. We need to go to the doctors. They'll give him some drugs or something and it will be fine." He didn't meet any of their eyes.

"Do you really think that?" Minhyuk questioned him almost sarcastically "It's not like the can give him a packet of pills and he'll suddenly be cured. It's not a little virus, Jaehyo."

"Well, what is it then?!" Jaehyo was getting more angry just talking to Minhyuk. Who did he think he was? Mr ing-know-it-all witch doctor?

"Your little boyfriend has gone and got himself cursed." His voice was harsh and mocking. He saw that Jaehyo was seething, but his naivety would be the end of Kyung, and maybe even himself.

"He's not my boyfriend! And how could you speak like that?" Jaehyo's fists were clenched, veins protruding from underneath his skin. He was breathing heavily through his nose as he glared at Minhyuk. His body was so tense that he nearly jumped 3 feet when Kyung touched his arm. Kyung was staring at him with his brows drawn together and his eyes wide. He placed his hand back onto his arm in an attempt to soothe Jaehyo.

"I think Minhyuk might be right, Jaehyo" his voice was unusually soft. Jaehyo hadn't noticed that in the midst of things they had completely excluded Kyung from the conversation.

"But.. Kyung-" he was defeated.

"It's not just a fever, like how Minhyuk said. I know that, and you know that" Jaehyo could see the pain in his eyes. He did know it, truly. He saw how Kyung flinched and clawed at his own skin in the sleep, if he was even desperate enough to go to sleep. Sometimes he would just sit, with a completely blank face, staring at nothing. It wasn't like him at all. He was so quiet and warn out now that it was eerie.

Jaehyo sighed and looked at Kyung. He was pleading for him; his shoulders were slumped and the circles under his eyes were the darkest he’d even seen. Jaehyo sighed, then slowly nodded his head.

They sat in silence for a while, processing what they had all just agreed to do. None of them knew quite what they were getting themselves into. This wasn’t just going to be a walk in the park. There was no friendly guide, or printed map. They weren’t just going to walk in, get the cure, and walk out again. No, this was going to be a trip that they would never be able to get themselves out of.

“How do we get there then, ?” Jaehyo broke the tension and looked up towards Minhyuk, who was smiling for the first time today.

They were set; Jaehyo held a backpack full of supplies like a worried mother, Minhyuk was scribbling in a small leather notebook and Kyung was looking more sickly by the hour.

“It really shouldn’t be that hard to find” Minhyuk told the others. He showed them the page in his notebook, which was covered in rushed drawings and messy handwriting. “The circus is never really in the same place, otherwise normal people would be able to find it easily. Sometimes it may even cease to exist at all.” He looked up to see if the others were listening; Jaehyo nodded his head. “I’ve been working on this for a while…, for, uh, personal reasons. And it kind of follows patterns. Right now, it should be at it’s strongest.” He finished explaining and flipped his notebook away.

Jaehyo hummed, trying to process the information. He wondered for a moment what Minhyuk’s ‘personal reasons’ could be, but decided not to ask as whatever it was it must be pretty dark for him to go searching up a possibly mythical circus. “What’s the pattern it follows?” he asked instead, curiously.

“I’m not to sure. I don’t think it’s just one factor.” he told them. “Like, I think it has to do with the phases of the moon, or the time of year, or something completely different”. Jaehyo was surprised by how much thought Minhyuk had put into this. He really was impressed. Kyung, on the other hand, could barely stay awake. He was swaying slightly, blinking his eyes occasionally.

“We should get going, before Kyung, uh, before it’s too late”. Jaehyo nodded in agreement before following Minhyuk and dragging Kyung along behind him.

After a half an hour bus ride and a hike up an extremely long mountain road they found themselves in a small village. It was the kind of village you read about in old fairy tales, which was fitting in the situation, with gnomes in the front gardens of drafty houses painted in once bright colours. The sky now matched the grey of the cobblestoned paths, and so did Kyung. Jaehyo looked over at him, concerned. He was clearly struggling.

“How much further do we need to go?” Kyung asked quietly, raking a hand through his slightly matted hair. They’d been walking for what felt like hours and it wasn’t great for his condition. He felt like he was just going to collapse and force himself into a very overdue sleep. When was the last time he’d slept, again? It felt like he was going on two days. Maybe if he just sat down, to rest a moment, he’d be fine. Just for a moment.

Suddenly, there was a loud thump. Jaehyo and Minhyuk turned around to find that Kyung had flopped onto flat moss covered rock. Jaehyo rushed over to him and gently patted his face.

“Kyung?” he called, “Kyung, are you OK?” He checked his pulse, just to make sure his heart was beating like it was supposed to. He felt the soft thump of his heart and sighed with relief. “He’s just asleep. I think”. Minhyuk nodded in recognition.

“I guess you’re going to have to carry him then” he told Jaehyo, “we have a little way to go yet”.

Instead of arguing with Minhyuk and risking waking Kyung, he just lifted him up into his arms carefully. He was so small compared to Jaehyo, yet he still struggled with his weight and flailed over nearly accidentally dropping him.

“You ready?” Minhyuk asked

“Yeah, I am. Thanks for the help, friend” he glared at him, something he was making a habit of doing.

“Oh yeah, because Kyung’s really big and heavy” he replied sarcastically. “Anyway, I think it should be near here somewhere”

“Where even is here?” Jaehyo hurried along behind Minhyuk, trying to catch up with his fast pace. He looked around but didn’t recognise anything specifically. It was just an old village. However, oddly enough, they hadn’t seen any other people. They hadn’t really seen any signs of life for at least a couple of hours, except maybe a stray cat.

“I’m not entirely sure, if i’m honest” Minhyuk told him as they were walking over an old stone bridge. The water below was cloudy with algae and moss and flowed very slowly.

“So, you’ve just been leading us to who knows where?” Jaehyo asked incredulously. “We could be in the completely wrong place”.

“No, we’re not in the wrong place. There’s signs that we’re in the right place” He didn’t look at Jaehyo, or even stop walking.

“Like what?”

“Like how we’re in an abandoned village, with no sign of humanity whatsoever. I mean, how often do you come across that. Or how Kyung is getting weaker and weaker the closer we get.” He stopped abruptly so that Jaehyo nearly walked straight into him. “I think we’re closer than we think”.

Jaehyo looked up, and then he understood why Minhyuk had stopped. They had reached a fairground, of sorts. An old, creepy, abandoned fairground, to be exact. The spookiness was only amplified by the looming grey rain clouds above which cast everything into a dreary blur.

“Are you sure about this, Minhyuk?” Jaehyo stuttered and cowered away from the large gate.

Minhyuk looked down to Kyung who was huddled into Jaehyo’s arm. “This is the only way, Jaehyo” he’d dropped the sarcasm and was looking intently at Jaehyo. He nodded his head, before rushing over to Minhyuk’s side and following him.

They walked cautiously through the squeaky rusted gates, looking around for any signs of anything, really. The inside was like an old fashioned carnival, with a red and white helter skelter and shattered stalls. The ground was muddy and their feet sank in as they tried to walk.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang, accompanied by Jaehyo’s yelp.

“It’s OK, it’s just the wind closing the gate” Minhyuk said before turning round to comfort Jaehyo to realise that he wasn’t by his side anymore. He spun around, searching frantically for him. “Jaehyo!” he shouted out, but no response came. “Jaehyo! Please, stop playing!” he started running. Jaehyo was there just a second ago, he was clutching at his side. He needed to get out of here. He bolted back the way they had come, aiming for the gate but after a few minutes of running he realised that the gate was gone. It was only a few meters behind him, he could have seen it from where he stood before. He didn’t recognise any of this.

Then he saw a fence and sprinted toward it. He gripped at the metal bars, shaking them with all his might, but nothing.

“Oh no, there is no way out” a voice cooed at him. He spun around to find noone there. “At least not for now” the voice giggled, and it was the last thing that Minhyuk heard.