Work Text:
Cumulonimbus clouds covered the sky, painting the afternoon the dark gray color of an impending storm. The strengthening winds swept past the land of Seoul, sharpening its edges against the remains of the cataclysm--broken edifices, roofless structures, and mountains of rubbles.
In one of the miraculously salvaged buildings, a man poked his head from a window on the 2nd floor and gazed at the darkening horizon. The man's slightly longer hair was tied into a ponytail, and it danced along with the wind.
"It's gonna be a heavy rain," the man commented before pulling his head back into the safety of the room and closed the window. He turned his back against the view outside as his hand rested on the scabbard hanging from his waist.
"Team Leader Lee Soohyuk," called one man from a desk a few feet away from him. "D'you reckon it'll be a thunderstorm?"
Team Leader Lee Soohyuk looked up beyond the window glass and onto the heavy clouds and answered, "Most likely."
The clock inside the small office continued to tick as the time neared 5 pm. The heavens continued to become even more dreary.
"Hey, Roksoo," Choi Jungsoo, the man who called Lee Soohyuk prior, turned to his friend, who was poring over documents beside him. "Yah, Kim Roksoo. You're sweating even in this cold."
Kim Roksoo, the friend who's intently reading a bunch of papers, turned towards Choi Jungsoo. Kim Roksoo's face was flushed, and as Choi Jungsoo pointed out, sweat beads rolled down the sides of his face even in the cool temperature. His reddish-brown eyes looked almost cold and emotionless. He was using his ability: Record.
Roksoo's mouth slowly opened and a deep voice emerged with the words, "Don't worry. According to my analysis, there is less than a 5% chance of a monster rampage today."
"..That's a relief then." Choi Jungsoo leaned back on his chair and glanced at the time. He turned to Roksoo again. "It's already 5. That's enough for now."
Jungsoo snatched the paper from Roksoo's hands and heaved him up like a kid. Roksoo frowned at him but didn't make a move to push Jungsoo away.
"Hurry up, boys." Lee Soohyuk was already at the door, waving goodbye to his fellow employees leaving and greeting the night-shift workers entering the office.
Jungsoo helped Roksoo in organizing the paperwork for a few minutes before they followed after their Team Leader out the door, down the lobby(a room barely qualified to be called one), punched out of work, and stepped out of the building.
What greeted them was a heavy downpour accompanied by a sound much louder than a marching band. Lee Soohyuk, Choi Jungsoo, Kim Roksoo, and a few stranded employees watched the ongoing rainstorm.
"It's strong..." Kim Roksoo muttered as he stepped back to avoid the splattering waters.
"Uh-huh," was Lee Soohyuk's reply before he patted Jungsoo's and Roksoo's shoulders. "Wait here for a bit."
Jungsoo and Roksoo, confused, watched him enter the building. A few moments later, Lee Soohyuk emerged before them with a big, multi-colored umbrella in his hands--an umbrella usually used by ice cream peddlers.
Lee Soohyuk raised the umbrella and smiled at them. Choi Jungsoo, with a boyish grin, exclaimed, "Team Leader is really like a boy scout! Always prepared!"
"Of course." Lee Soohyuk puffed his chest in pride before adding, "Jungsoo, let's move the sleep-over at your house tonight."
"Are you serious?" Roksoo interjected, his eyebrows creased. "I didn't bring any extra clothes or pajamas."
"Worry not, dear Roksoo!" Choi Jungsoo draped a well-muscled arm around Roksoo's broad shoulders and did a gentle headlock on the younger man. "Your big brother Jungsoo has a lot of spare clothes that you can use."
"I don't want to use other people's clothes--"
"Oh, come on now!" Jungsoo ruffled Roksoo's hair, earning a string of protests from him. "Don't be picky!"
Roksoo, after all the flailing and twisting, managed to free himself from Jungsoo's grasp. He brushed a hand across his hair as he listened to Team Leader Lee Soohyuk agreeing with Choi Jungsoo.
"It's only for one night, anyway."
"Still, what about my..." Roksoo paused and glanced at the other people nearby. Making sure that none of them were listening, he continued in a low voice, "My...under...you know..."
Lee Soohyuk and Choi Jungsoo, dumbfounded, stared at him in silence. Kim Roksoo felt embarrassment rising in his system and he wished he didn't say anything regarding his...private garments.
"Forget it," he grumbled, trying to worm his way out of this awkward situation.
What an idiot, Roksoo thought to himself. He shouldn't have said anything.
Manly giggles-- giggles? Did he heard that right?-- were heard from Lee Soohyuk and Choi Jungsoo, which then turned to suppressed laughter. Kim Roksoo, pulled out from self-berating, glared at the two older men--though the glare was more of embarrassment than hostility.
Lee Soohyuk was the first to recover and placed his free hand on Roksoo's shoulder.
"Sorry, eherm"--he cleared his throat--"It's just...unexpected."
"What...?"
Jungsoo, who finally calmed down, inserted, "It's unexpectedly cute."
"Cute...?" Roksoo was utterly confused.
"I mean, of all things you're worried about," Lee Soohyuk paused as if in thought, then shook his head. "Nevermind. Let's forget it, as what you've said."
Choi Jungsoo let out a cough--obviously a fake one--to mask his chuckle.
Roksoo, still embarrassed, grimaced and motioned to the giant umbrella on Lee Soohyuk's hand. "Let's just go."
"Right-ho."
Lee Soohyuk stretched his arms and pried open the umbrella. "We should fit under this."
"Let's go!" Choi Jungsoo beamed and bounced towards Lee Soohyuk's left side.
Half a step back, Kim Roksoo hesitated as he imagined him and the other two huddled together under one giant umbrella. It was a ridiculous sight. Three grown-ass men squeezed together, trying to salvage themselves from a strong downpour under a huge umbrella.
Yet, even when he found such sight to be ridiculous, Roksoo found himself pulled by Jungsoo to join them with not a single complaint escaping his lips.
"Time to run."
And so, the three well-built ability users of Seoul began to face the rainstorm with their big umbrella as a shield. Above them, the sky kept on rumbling, and the bursts of lightning appeared on irregular intervals.
Kim Roksoo found himself thanking the fact that Choi Jungsoo's residence--a room in a worn-down edifice, the product of the apocalyptic events that befell upon the earth--was nearby.
Lee Soohyuk, Choi Jungsoo, and Kim Roksoo went past the multiple dilapidated buildings, maneuvering around puddles. Their combat boots--they're usually involved in fights, so they chose combat boots over office shoes--were muddy and wet.
The wind continued to pick up strength, the rain pouring mercilessly. Squeezed together as if their life depended on it, they sped down the sidewalk. Even with all the effort of staying away from the shower from heaven, the three failed to avoid getting sprinkled by a few stray droplets. Choi Jungsoo and Kim Roksoo, in particular, found one of their shoulders drenched due to the inability to completely hide under the umbrella.
"It's cold." Roksoo shivered. Lee Soohyuk and Choi Jungsoo nodded in agreement.
"Endure it for a bit more, Roksoo-ya," Jungsoo tried to assure him.
"...I will."
Jungsoo flashed another boyish grin at Roksoo before addressing Lee Soohyuk, who was holding the umbrella with both hands between Choi Jungsoo and Kim Roksoo.
"By the way, team leader. Your sword's been slapping my thigh for a while now."
"Oh! Sorry 'bout that." Lee Soohyuk quickly reached for his scabbard with his left hand while the other held onto the umbrella. That was a crucial mistake.
As soon as his left hand stopped holding the umbrella, a powerful, high-speed wind began to blow and dragged the umbrella forward and away from the trio. Even with his well-built body, Lee Soohyuk was hopelessly dragged along with it.
Surprised by the sudden turn of events, Jungsoo and Roksoo frantically grabbed onto Lee Soohyuk and the umbrella's handle. The two younger men began to pull Lee Soohyuk and the fleeing umbrella towards them.
The umbrella, unfortunately, rebelled by turning itself inside-out.
"What the f*ck." A curse rolled off Roksoo's tongue as he watched the upturned umbrella flailing along with the wind.
"My umbrella..." Lee Soohyuk grieved for the umbrella he bought for a cheap price just two days ago from a convenience store(it's rare to find one nowadays).
Thunder clapped beyond the horizon, and the heavy downpour mercilessly slammed onto the trio's broad bodies, drenching them entirely in less than a second.
"Wow...what a magnificent way to start the evening," Choi Jungsoo spoke in a mechanical voice.
"Let's not just stand here, run!" Roksoo screamed over the sound of the thunderstorm.
"What about my umbrella--"
"Team leader, you can just leave it here."
"No! It can still be fixed!"
"Whatever you want."
And so, they began running.
Under the pouring rain and the blowing gale, three well-bodied men dashed across the street with one big, upturned umbrella trailing after them.
Anybody who saw such a sight would find it peculiar and ridiculously entertaining.
However, that's none of the trio's businesses--for now--and the image of a shelter where they could be safe from the harsh storm was the only thing revolving around their minds as of the moment.
Forget appearances; they already resembled drenched rats, so why should they care about it now?
Lee Soohyuk ran in front, followed by Choi Jungsoo to his left and Kim Roksoo a few steps behind to the right. Their boots and pants have gone extremely muddy; their drenched clothes clung onto their flesh, outlining the well-toned muscles the three possessed. What a spectacle, indeed.
They ran with the speed of someone being chased(possibly by the umbrella, but it was being dragged with them instead), their faces shielded by their hands as they bulldozed their way to the building that held Choi Jungsoo's residence. To their utter relief, the said building was now only a couple of blocks away.
The sight of the structure--their salvation from the storm--ignited the desire for shelter within them and adrenaline began pumping faster into their system, their pace quickening with every passing second.
At last, after a great battle against the rain in their soaked clothes and shivering figures, they finally stepped onto the protection of a roof. They panted and leaned against the cracked walls. Water trickled down their bodies, creating a pool of water by the entrance. The pitiful umbrella was still in Lee Soohyuk's hand, looking more terrible than the trio.
"Sh*t," Roksoo cussed, his teeth chattering due to the cold.
Airy laughter left Jungsoo's throat as he pushed himself from leaning against a wall. "Let's...hurry inside and dry ourselves, shall we?"
Lee Soohyuk then thoughtfully looked at his battered umbrella. Jungsoo noticed this so he said, "You can leave that there"--he pointed to a vacant room that no longer had a door or any pieces of furniture inside--"and come back later to fix it."
"Will nobody try to steal it?" Lee Soohyuk wondered.
"Nope."
"Alright, then." So he entered the room and placed the poor umbrella near the doorless doorway. He then turned towards Jungsoo and Roksoo. "Shall we?"
The trio entered further into the building. This time, the damaged umbrella was left behind, waiting for the time when Lee Soohyuk will return and fix it.