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Byung-gyu had been sound asleep when the incessant wailing of his phone ripped him from his blissful slumber. Groaning, his face remained buried in his pillows as he groped the surface of his bed stand. Once his fingers slipped around the familiar contour of his phone, he brought the device to his face and read the caller's name. His eyes widened in surprise.
Quickly sitting himself at the edge of his bed, he switched on his bedside lamp and answered the call. "Yoon-ho…?"
A beat of static silence. Then, a low, groggy voice came through the line. "Um… Hey."
"Hey…? Why are you calling me so early? It's like—" Byung-gyu glanced at his clock. "—three in the morning."
"I know. Sorry, man. It's just…" Static filled the line again, but in the distance, as if Yoon-ho had pulled away from the phone, Byung-gyu heard him sigh. "I just needed to hear your voice."
Something wasn't right. There was an unusual rasp in Yoon-ho's voice. It sounded raw and strained, like he'd been crying.
"Are you alright?" Byung-gyu asked warily. "You just sound… I dunno. Do you need a moment? I don't mind giving you time to—"
"Actually…"
Byung-gyu could hear the plea in Yoon-ho's voice, even though he'd only said one word. "Can you stay on the line? Not for a long time, I promise. Just a couple of minutes?"
The answer was immediate. "Yeah. Yeah, of course."
"… Thanks."
Awkward silence held the static drone connecting them, which only deepened Byung-gyu's worry. Yoon-ho was always blunt and straightforward, and he didn't wait for others to take the wheel on conversations. Beating around the bush wasn't his style. What was going on with his best friend?
Unable to tolerate the silence anymore, Byung-gyu tried for a lighthearted approach. "So, am I going to get an explanation as to why I've been robbed of my precious beauty sleep?" Humor had a way of putting people at ease. He was hoping to get a laugh out of Yoon-ho, but to his disappointment, he wasn't even able to coax out a measly chuckle.
"I…" Yoon-ho began, but stopped. He took a sharp inhale, then let out a slow breath. "I had a dream that you died."
"Oh," Byung-gyu breathed, not sure how else to respond to that.
"We were on Jeju Island," Yoon-ho continued. "On our last raid. The ant king attacked us. You know how things went."
How could Byung-gyu forget? A flurry of black zipping across the scene, blood spraying the air and screams echoing around him, the nauseating sound of Cha's bones cracking as her body was flung into a wall. Everything had happened so fast. He didn't even have time to process the moment he was attacked. For a brief second, he had been staring into the soulless eyes of that creature, then he was awaking to blinding light and the smell of septic, where he later learned that Cha had died from her injuries.
If Byung-gyu hadn't gotten knocked out, he was certain he could have saved her life.
"But," Yoon-ho's voice drew Byung-gyu out of his thoughts, "instead of killing Cha, the ant king killed you."
A chill rippled over Byung-gyu's skin. "That was just a dream," he reminded Yoon-ho.
"I know that. But, that dream, it felt like a memory. It felt real. So real that when I woke up, I was absolutely certain you had died, that I had actually watched the ant king kill you right in front of me, and that I couldn't do anything but scream your name, just like when Eun-seok was—"
Yoon-ho's breath caught, seeming to choke on their fallen friend's name. He took a moment to steady his composure before returning to the line. "Sorry, didn't mean to start rambling there."
"No, you're fine." Byung-gyu's heart bled out for Yoon-ho. He wished he could reach through the phone and give him a hug. "So, is that why you called? To make sure I wasn't dead?"
"Yeah… Something like that."
"Well, as you can tell, I'm perfectly alive and kicking." A yawn shuddered out of Byung-gyu. "Mayyybe not kicking. I'm one blink from keeling over from sleep deprivation."
"Oh, stop being dramatic."
"You think I'm playing, but I can only function like a normal human if I get nine hours of uninterrupted sleep. Any less and I'm practically a zombie."
A laugh rang from the other end of the line, putting a smile on Bygung-gyu's face. "Such a princess. Guess I won't keep you away from your beauty sleep any longer."
"Are you going to be alright?" Byung-gyu asked. Yoon-ho was sounding more like himself now, but his shaken composure from earlier still left him with unease.
"Don't worry, I'm feeling much better now that I've talked with you," Yoon-ho assured, the end of his words stretching from his own yawn. "Thanks for the company, and sorry again for bothering you."
"No need to apologize. You're not a bother at all." Byung-gyu was about to give his goodbye when he suddenly added, "And, Yoon-ho?"
"Yeah?"
"If you ever have another nightmare, or if you ever just want to talk, don't forget that I'm only a phone call away. You were always patient with me when I used to bother you about my nightmares, so the least I can do is be there for you the same way you were for me."
Yoon-ho chuckled softly. "I won't forget. Night, Gyu."
"Good night. Sleep well." A beep resounded, signaling the call's end.
Byung-gyu laid his phone across his lap and stared up at the ceiling. In the silence that filled his bedroom, Yoon-ho's words started to play in his mind.
It felt like a memory. It felt real.
A nightmare of a different ending to that harrowing raid. A timeline where Byung-gyu was in a grave instead of Cha. What a disconcerting reality to think about.
Byung-gyu tried not to think too deeply about that as he turned off his lamp and went back to bed.