Chapter Text
"Cha Hyun-soo, we need to talk,” said Eun-hyuk as he entered the room, completely ignoring Suk-hyun when he tried to convince him that he was fine and could leave.
Hyun-soo stood up, ready to follow Eun-hyuk, but barely took a step when Suk-hyun grabbed his arm and said, with a voice firm and filled with resentment, “He’s just going to use you.”
His words made Eun-yoo stand up as well and she quickly approached them. Without hesitation, she grabbed Suk-hyun by the neck of his shirt and pulled him backward. For a few seconds, she held him there, choking him slightly, then forcefully threw him to the ground.
The man, with an aggressive look, tried to get up to attack her, but he didn’t get far, as she harshly kicked him in the chest and kept him on the floor, her foot pressing down on his shoulder. Suk-hyun let out groans of pain.
Eun-yoo leaned toward him, her eyes blazing with fury. “Touch him again, and I’ll kill you myself. Do you understand?”
When he didn’t respond, she applied more pressure, causing Suk-hyun to scream in pain.
“Answer me.”
“Y-yes!” he exclaimed, his voice broken by pain and fear.
She gave him a cold smile, a smirk of satisfaction, and stepped away from him to approach Hyun-soo. He extended his hand to her, and Eun-yoo didn’t hesitate to take it. Together, they left the room and followed Eun-hyuk, who observed them in silence for a few seconds before leading the way.
“The front door isn’t blocked as it should be, and the stairs are only covered with boards and planks. That won’t stop the monsters. It’s the same in the place where you were,” he said, stopping and turning toward them, focusing on Hyun-soo. “Why do you think I sided with you? I’ll be frank; you’ll do the risky jobs. If you don’t want to, I won’t help you.”
Hyun-soo swallowed hard, uncertainty clouding his mind as Eun-hyuk’s voice echoed in his ears.
“What jobs?” he asked slowly, his voice trembling slightly.
“The man from room 1408. Can you...?”
But before he could continue, Eun-yoo interrupted him. Her laughter rang out, loud, jarring, and clearly forced. “You? Protect him?”
She approached her brother threateningly, her eyes sparking with barely contained fury.
“You didn’t even say a damn word at the meeting. I’ll protect him.”
Eun-hyuk held her gaze, his expression hardening. “You don’t understand, Eun-yoo. It’s not just about protecting him. It’s about the survival of everyone. He’s our best weapon...”
The word "weapon" hung in the air like a blow. Eun-yoo, with a quick, uncontrolled movement, raised her hand, for a few seconds wanting to hit him, but she restrained herself. Her eyes shone with uncontrollable fury. Despite her effort, Eun-hyuk took a step back, her gesture not going unnoticed by him.
“Weapon,” she repeated with disdain, her voice dripping with venom. “He’s a person, still human. He feels pain, he can get hurt.”
Eun-hyuk tried to remain firm, his voice faltering slightly. “And he can recover. He’s our best option.”
Eun-yoo, feeling a surge of anger and frustration, stepped closer. “And what if a monster attacks him? What makes you think he won’t die from it? It’s true that he can recover, but can he do so from wounds inflicted by monsters?” Her voice became sharper, her tone more challenging. She knew Hyun-soo could survive, but her brother didn’t, and she would use that doubt to her advantage. “If that’s the case, you’d be sending him to his death.”
Eun-hyuk lowered his gaze, avoiding his sister’s intense scrutiny. His voice became a whisper. “We need his help to secure the building.”
The girl gritted her teeth, her gaze unwavering. “Then say that. But don’t use him as a pawn. Don’t sacrifice him. He won’t do anything he doesn’t want to, and I won’t let you force him into anything.”
Lee lifted his eyes, his gaze burning with a mix of frustration and desperation. “So what am I supposed to do? Put everyone at risk for him?” His voice rose. “Will you risk us all for a stranger? It seems like you care more about him than your own brother...”
Before he could finish speaking, Eun-yoo struck him. The sound of the impact echoed in the room, leaving them both stunned for a few seconds.
The brown-haired girl closed her eyes, trying to control the emotions that consumed her. Each breath was an effort to stay calm.
Finally, she opened her eyes and spoke with a firm, resolved voice. “I’ll go.”
“No,” both boys said instantly, their voices filled with urgency and concern.
Eun-yoo continued, “Yes, I’ll go. I’ll bring the man from 1408, and you won’t have to put Hyun-soo in danger. I won’t put anyone in danger. Isn’t that what you wanted?” she asked, looking at her brother.
Eun-hyuk frowned, his mind struggling to find a solution. “Not like this...”
Before he could say more, Hyun-soo intervened. “I’ll go with you.”
Eun-yoo turned to him, her expression one of surprise and concern. Her first instinct was to reject his offer, but before she could say a word, he continued.
“You said I wouldn’t do anything I didn’t want to do. I want to do this,” he murmured, gently taking Eun-yoo’s hand and caressing it with a tenderness that contrasted with the gravity of the situation. “Your...” he began to say, but his words hung in the air, caught between the desire to protect her and the growing sensation of something dark and fierce bubbling inside him.
His gaze shifted to Eun-hyuk, who was watching the scene with a mix of concern and something dangerously close to disapproval. Hyun-soo could feel the weight of that gaze, and with it, a torrent of possessive emotions began to flood his mind, darkening his thoughts. It was as if the mere fact that Eun-hyuk was trying to influence the situation, even looking at Eun-yoo that way, sparked a fire that quickly spread, threatening to consume him completely.
Before he could stop to think, his body was already moving, acting on pure instinct. He positioned himself in front of Eun-yoo, his stance shielding her from any possible intervention, almost hiding her small, slender body with his own.
When he found himself face-to-face with Eun-hyuk, their eyes met, and the tension in the air became almost palpable. The discomfort between the two was evident, but beyond that, there was a silent challenge, an implicit confrontation that neither was willing to back down from.
“I need to talk to her alone,” Hyun-soo finally murmured, his voice barely a whisper.
The silence that followed was tense, filled with stifling anticipation. Eun-hyuk didn’t move, his expression hardened by uncertainty and concern. But Hyun-soo wasn’t willing to let the situation drag on.
“Leave,” Hyun-soo repeated, this time with a stronger, harsher tone, making it clear he wasn’t asking, but demanding.
And then, the boy’s eyes began to change. A liquid darkness spread over his pupils, quickly extending until his entire eye was covered by a deep, disturbing black.
“Eun-yoo...” Lee called out alarmed, his voice laden with a mix of concern and fear as he tried to move quickly around Hyun-soo, looking for a way to reach his sister.
Mine, whispered a voice in Hyun-soo’s mind, a voice too similar to his own but deeper. Don’t you dare take her away from me.
But he wasn’t going to let that happen. The black-haired boy moved to block Eun-hyuk’s path and with a smooth yet firm motion, pushed Eun-yoo further back, away from her brother’s reach.
Eun-yoo felt that something wasn’t right. Although she couldn’t see what was happening in front of her, there was a tension in the air, a change in the atmosphere that put all her senses on high alert. Hyun-soo, with his body completely shielding her, blocked her view of what was happening. Intrigued and worried, she tried to move to the side to see better, but just as she was about to touch Hyun-soo’s arm and try to move him, a shout stopped her. “Don’t touch him!”
She stopped, confused. She looked up at her brother, hoping to find some explanation on his face, but what she saw confused her even more. Eun-hyuk was pale, his body tense, his eyes fixed not on her, but on the boy who was hiding her, with a mix of alarm and fear.
A low, threatening growl, barely perceptible to Eun-hyuk, sounded, but for her, who was so close, she was able to hear it. She felt a chill run down her spine, and her gaze instinctively slid toward the source of the sound, too close to her for comfort.
A furious darkness had overtaken Hyun-soo's gaze, an anger not directed at her, but at her brother. It was a rage so raw, so primal, that it seemed ready to overflow at any moment.
Without thinking, she wrapped her arms around him, pulling him close with a desperation born only from the fear of losing him, of seeing him transform into something unrecognizable.
This hadn't happened before. This hadn't happened before.
She felt his body trembling against hers, but he didn’t resist. In fact, he seemed eager to get even closer. She fell to the floor from the ease with which he allowed himself to be guided, and instead of pulling away or resisting, he went with the movement, sinking deeper into Eun-Yoo’s embrace. He moved even closer to her.
"Eun-Yoo..." he whispered, his warm breath against her skin.
The girl exhaled a sigh, one full of relief, as she held him tighter.
Good, he was still Hyun-soo.
"Eun-Yoo!" Eun-Hyuk shouted. He took a step forward, trying to get closer to them, but stopped abruptly when Hyun-soo turned his head towards him. In that instant, everything changed. Hyun-soo’s eyes, which moments before had shown a spark of humanity, darkened again.
Eun-Yoo, aware of the danger her brother was in, spoke quickly, "Go, I’ll be fine."
She nodded, hoping that gesture would be enough to calm Eun-Hyuk.
Then, she turned her attention back to Hyun-soo. He, after her intervention, seemed to have completely forgotten her brother's presence.
Hyun-soo, with his head resting against Eun-Yoo’s neck and shoulder, let himself be carried away by the warmth of her closeness. His breath was a soft whisper against her skin, and his disheveled and soft hair brushed the exposed skin of her neck, causing a slight tickling sensation.
“Are you better?” she asked, her voice low and calm as her fingers gently ran through Hyun-soo’s hair.
At first, she got no response, or at least that’s what she thought. But then, amid the prevailing silence, she thought she heard a whisper, barely a murmur that was lost in the air, almost inaudible.
“Hyun-soo?” she asked again, leaning a little closer to him, trying to catch what he was saying.
Her movement, however slight, provoked a reaction in Hyun-soo. He moved too, adjusting to the new angle she was in, seeking to get more comfortable against her. It was a subtle movement, but enough for his lips to accidentally brush against the skin of her neck as he whispered.
The contact was fleeting but electric. Both remained still, frozen in that instant. Eun-Yoo felt a shiver run through her entire body, a mix of surprise and something deeper, something she couldn’t name but clung to her very being.
Hyun-soo whispered again, his voice soft, his words brushing against her skin as if the urgency to express himself was greater than the clarity of his thoughts. Each time he spoke, his lips brushed against Eun-Yoo's skin, sending a series of small tremors throughout her body.
It barely lasted a few seconds, but to her, it felt like an eternity, a moment suspended in time where everything else disappeared. And then, when the words stopped, when the whisper faded into the air, his lips, which had only slightly brushed against her skin before, now rested firmly on her shoulder, placing a soft kiss. It was a simple touch, but it was deep, too deep for both of them.
Eun-Yoo, still feeling the echo of that kiss on her skin, remained motionless, as if any movement could break the fragile peace that had descended upon them.
Hyun-soo, for his part, stayed still, his head still resting on Eun-Yoo’s neck. The kiss he had placed on her shoulder had not been planned; he hadn’t even been aware of it until it happened.
And so they remained, motionless, in silence. Neither of them dared to break that moment.
There were no words, no thoughts, only the shared stillness, the feeling that, in that precise moment, nothing else mattered.
They didn’t move until someone came to find them.
.
.
.
When they reach the door leading to the stairs, they don’t expect to find so much noise or commotion. Not when they should be in absolute silence to avoid attracting the monsters.
However, it seems there are people too reckless to care about their own safety.
Sang-wook is throwing the things blocking the door towards the stairs with such force that it’s almost exasperating, but fortunately, it doesn’t take long for him to clear the entrance.
Eun-Yoo and Hyun-Soo are about to leave when Eun-Hyuk approaches them, his steps cautious and his expression serious.
"Bringing Han Du-sik is crucial. The children are secondary. Remember that: if something goes wrong, leave the children."
Eun-Yoo feels a burst of anger so strong that it’s hard to contain. Every fiber of her being screams at her to hit her brother. But instead of acting, she digs her nails into her knuckles so hard that she almost draws blood, as if that physical pain could substitute the blow she so desperately wants to deliver.
"When did you become such an asshole?"
She doesn’t wait for an answer.
Without looking back, she begins to walk. She doesn’t need to turn around to know that Hyun-Soo is following closely.
Was this really her brother? Had he been like this the first time, and she just hadn’t noticed? Had he already been a monster before becoming one... or was she to blame? Was her presence in the past changing things? Was she changing people, turning them into something worse?