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Click. Creeak.
Shinhui steps into her house and looks around the living room and walks though it.
She passes a picture of her father wearing a police uniform, practically ignoring it.
Minjoo looks steps one foot into her living room, then looks back outside towards Junghwa's house, which is 2 houses down and across the street.
" Huh.. You never said you were practically neighbors with Junghwa." Said Minjoo with slight annoyance.
Shinhui smiles and looks back Minjoo, continuing to walk forward. " You never asked. I also have no reason to tell you." Shinhui giggles.
Minjoo becomes noticeably irritated, but she hesitantly asks. " Did Junghwa know?"
Shinhui walks into the kitchen without answering, and Minjoo follows her. She enters the kitchen and finds Shinhui inside the pantry throwing cans of food into a backpack.
" What are you doing? And where did you find a backpack?" Asked Minjoo.
Shinhui looked at the labels on the cans and seperated the good ones from the bad ones, placing the good ones in the backpack. " I'm collecting food to take. It's what Junghwa told us to do, remember?"
Minjoo thinks back on Junghwa's directions.
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Junghwa stops running after arriving at his house. Out of breath, he looks up ahead at his friends, who unlike him, are barely out of breath.
Damn! I should've worked out more before the apocalypse started...
Jinsung and Shinhui are model students, excelling in sports and their studies. And Minjoo's really athletic, i guess that's why she carries 10 pound dumbbells around school everyday...
Who knows why they've been wanting to be friends with someone like me... But then again, we all do like video games..
" We made it to your house, Junghwa. Oh, it's locked. Do you have a key?" Asked Minjoo while trying to turn the locked doorknob.
" Wait." Muttered Junghwa while catching his breath. His friends turn to look at him.
Junghwa slowly stands up after catching his breathe. " Alright, we have to split up for a bit.."
He turns to Shinhui. " Shinhui, could you take Minjoo to your house?"
Shinhui nods. " Um- Yeah, I can. Why should we go to my house, though?"
Junghwa gestures to Minjoo. " Well if I remember correctly, Minjoo lives pretty far, but not too far-"
" I live on 30th Street!" Yells Minjoo excitedly.
Everyone turns to look at Minjoo. Junghwa looks at her with a slightly confused expression. " You live on 30th street? How do you get to school at the same time as us? There's no busses around here."
Minjoo grins. " I run!"
" You run? You don't get a ride from your parents or someone heading on the same direction?" Asked Junghwa with a confused expression.
" Nope! I run!" Exclaimed Minjoo with pride.
Junghwa smiled awkwardly before changing the subject, which annoys Minjoo.
Junghwa turns to Shinhui. " Anyway, her house is too far, so Minjoo will go with you to your house, Shinhui. And, if you don't mind, Minjoo can borrow some of your clothes."
Shinhui briefly looks at Minjoo before turning to Junghwa and nodding. " It's alright, I don't mind."
Minjoo turns irritated and opens her mouth to deny his command, but then she looks down at her blood stained clothes and nods begrudgingly.
Junghwa gestures everyone to huddle up.
"Alright, then it's settled. Shinhui and Minjoo will go to Shinhui's house, they'll pack up clothes and food, then they'll come to my house."
Junghwa points at Jinsung and himself. "Jinsung and I will go into my house. We'll gather materials and wash up while you two are gone."
His expression turns serious. " Be fast and be careful. There could be some dangerous people or some type of creature around here like that dragon we saw earlier."
" That was a dragon?" Asked Minjoo with a surprised expression.
" Yes, that was a dragon." Said Junghwa.
" But don't dragons look more like a muscular lizard with wings?" Exclaimed Shinhui. Minjoo agrees.
" Yes, but-"
" Not necessarily, in chinese mythology, dragons have a snake-like body and four limbs. They also have beards." Said Jinsung, interrupting Junghwa.
" Enough guys, we have to-"
" That might be true, but-" Responded Shinhui before being interrupted by Minjoo. "But the ones I see in movies look like giant lizards with wings-"
Junghwa silently becomes irritated.
These pieces of...
" What you see in movies?! Not all movies aren't real, especially not the ones with dragons!" Exclaimed Jinsung, raising his voice.
" Are you calling me a liar?!" Responds Minjoo.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
" Enough! Everyone drop this useless debate and move on with the plan!" Yells Junghwa after clapping loudly.
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Minjoo giggles after remembering their debate, but quickly composed herself after noticing that Shinhui is watching her. " So what are you packing?"
Shinhui answers without looking back. " Just some basic stuff like ramen, canned fruit, corn, and meat."
Minjoo nods and turns around, opening the fridge. " Alright, sounds good, sounds good."
Minjoo's eyes widen excitedly as they land on a certain beverag, a grin forming on her face. She quietly looks back at Shinhui before moving out of her line of sight.
A slight echo and cluttering can be heard while Shinhui seperates cans.
" So where do you keep your trash bags?" Asked Minjoo, out of Shinhui's line of sight.
Without looking, Shinhui takes out a roll of black bags from a box to her right, then tosses it out of the pantry. " That's a roll of small bags."
Minjoo picks up the roll and takes a piece off, then opens it up. She opens the fridge and quietly puts 5 cans into the bags, then closes it.
Shinhui stands up and leaves the pantry. "Come on, we're running out of time. Let's go to my room and get the clothes."
Minjoo ties up the bag and follows Shinhui out of the kitchen, then upwards the stairs. Minjoo curiously looks at the pictures hung up on the walls.
She notices a picture of a young and smaller Shinhui standing between her mom and dad, holding their hands. Their wide smiles were full of nothing but pure joy.
This picture and next few pictures with similar emotions made Minjoo smile slightly, but her smile disappeared after she saw the last picture at the end of the hallway leading up the stairs.
The picture frame showed a picture of Shinhui sitting on a chair and her dad stood behind her. Although he was wearing a suit, his appearance looked disheveled.
Compared to the previous pictures, he had changed quite a bit, he had grown out his hair. He's unshaven and he has darkened eyebags.
His and Shinhui's smiles looked...formal.
Huh..These pictures are arranged in a sad order..
Minjoo follows Shinhui into her room and looks around her room.
Shinhui opens her closet and takes out a backpacks for Minjoo, then she kneels and opens drawers at the end of her bed.
Minjoo glances at the desk next to her bed, multiple study books opened on it. She looks to her left and finds a small bookshelf full of study material.
" So you like to study then, right?" Asked Minjoo, kneeling down next to Shinhui, opening another drawer.
Shinhui nods, placing clothes into her backpack. " I kinda like it. It's more like a hobbie though since I couldn't really get into anything else."
A moment of silence passes as they look through their clothes.
Shinhui picks up one of Shinhui's bras and places it on her chest. Her nose wrinkles as it covers her chest completely without her feeling it touch her chest.
Her past annoyance returns. Shinhui notices her expression, and she opens her mouth, speaking bluntly. " Why do you hate me?"
Her question surprises Minjoo, who looks at her before looking away. " I don't hate you. I just don't like you."
" Why don't you like me, then?" Shinhui persists.
Minjoo glances at her before looking down and putting more clothes in her bag, responding while avoiding eye contact. "Let's just say, we're aiming for the same thing. And only one of us can have it."
Shinhui's eyes twitches. She smiles as she looks down and continues moving clothes, understanding her words.
Minjoo glances at her before speaking. " So about my question earlier, does Junghwa know that you live this close to him?"
Shinhui gently shook her head. " No. He never knew that I lived this close to him. He only just found out that I live on the same street."
Minjoo zips up her backpack and stands up, slightly smiling. " I see." Minjoo then offers her hand to Shinhui. " Come on then, let's go to Junghwa's house. "
Shinhui smiles and takes her hand, pulling herself up. " Hold on a second, there's still one more thing I need to take with me."
Minjoo watches with curiosity as Shinhui walks past her, kneels next to her bed, then sticks her arm under the bed and takes out a large briefcase.
Minjoo's eyes widen with awe, then she runs up to Shinhui and kneels down next to her excitedly. " Is this what I think it is?"
Shinhui smiles and opens the case, revealing a black pistol with six loaded magazines. She picks up the pistol and loads it, then cocks it.
She winks at Minjoo, placing the gun into her pants. " Well need this for our fight, don't you think?~"
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Junghwa panics, he looks around his room for any signs of a break-in.
Window?! No, it's just the way I left it.
He leaves his room and runs downstairs to look at the back door any signs. He passes Jinsung, who flinches as he opens another soda can.
It looks alright, there's no broken wood. No signs of a break-in!
Junghwa gives Jinsung a thumbs-up before running back upstairs and into his room.
He rummages through his belongings, trying to see what else was taken, but nothing else was missing.
Why? Why was nothing else taken?
Junghwa grips his hair, but freezes as he spots something at the corner of his eye. He turns to look at the empty bookshelf again.
His eyes widen as he sees a translucent, but brightly lit red orb at the center of the middle shelf.
" What is that?" Junghwa slowly walks towards it, reaching out to touch it.
But before he could...
Whack!... Thud!
Junghwa collapses as he feels an object hit his head.
What? Did something hit me? No.. someone?..
His vision blurs. He sees a pair of black boots walk into his line of sight before he passes out.
-[ To Be Continued...]-
The mysterious person spoke. " Please forgive me, ■■"