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Time Will Tell - Chapter 1.35

My Time Will Tell Masterlist

My Cha Hyun-su Masterlist

My Navigation and Masterlist

The Time Will Tell Glossary

Warnings: Guns, that's about it Word Count: 1,606

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You could distantly hear the sounds of helicopters flying overhead as you made your way back to the trapdoor to the tunnels and descended down them. You truly wished you could stop yourself but your head glanced over your shoulder every 10 seconds to see if Hyun-su was following only to find him not there. 

‘Pathetic,’ you insulted yourself. ‘All this for a boy you met a month ago and who doesn’t even remember you.’

You paused in your tracks when you had that thought, though. Images flashed through your head as you thought of the interactions you’d experienced with that same boy; all the times the two of you were together and the world seemed to pause in its orbit. It didn’t matter if you’d only met him a month ago or if he didn’t remember you; you would never regret your time with him or how you grew to love him. 

You only wished you had some more time to find a perfect opportunity to say that to him. 

You sped up in your slow tracks when you heard screaming from a familiar voice. 

Eun-yu!

“Oppa! Oppa, no!” You heard her scream for her brother and then also scream for you, which surprised you but you didn’t have time to think about that. 

“Eun-yu!” You screamed back and nearly ran into her when you rounded the corner and saw her being dragged back by Yi-kyung and Jae-hwan while the older woman tried to close and lock the gate. 

Eun-yu went silent and you faltered when you saw the tears running down her cheeks. Yi-kyung quickly reopened the gate to let you in before closing it behind you. “Wait! Hyun-su hasn’t come yet! We need to wait for him!”

“Eun-hyuk went out to look for you and him,” Eun-yu sobbed as you brought her into your embrace. You finally understood why she had been screaming for her brother and you looked at Yi-kyung with a heartbroken look when she had already closed and locked the gate. 

“No, no! No, you can’t! They’re not back yet! Stop!” You screamed in protest, trying to run back to get her to unlock it. You didn’t get far when a few of the residents came up behind you and started dragging you and Eun-yu - who was also screaming her protests - down the narrow hallway. You sobbed, finally giving up on fighting against them and letting yourself get dragged away.

30 hours.

It had been 30 hours that you’d been trapped in those tunnels.

30 hours of no sunlight.

30 hours of no sense of direction.

30 hours of no Cha Hyun-su. 

You weren’t sure you could bear much more. Your tears had run dry with no more to give. You didn't sleep; you couldn’t. Not with everything that was going on. One would think that the darkness of the tunnels and the quietness since no one felt the urge to talk would be relaxing and sleep-inducing but not for you. You knew it was for some people - a case in point being the two children asleep in your lap; even Jin-ok, who sat next to you, had her head resting on your shoulder as she dozed off. You envied them, hating it when all you found in the darkness and the unbearable quiet were the intrusive thoughts that crept through your mind’s barricade despite your attempts to ward them off. 

‘Why would he leave me?’

‘He promised he would come back but he’s still not here.’

‘Did he lie?’

‘No, he would never lie to me about that.’

‘Right?’

‘No! He wouldn’t lie to me about that. Not when he promised.’

‘He promised!’

‘How could he leave me after he promised he wouldn’t?’

That last thought made your eyes sting with unshed tears and you refused to let them fall. 

“Do you think we’ll die down here?” Seung-wan asked pessimistically. His voice broke through the quiet and you thanked him mentally because it broke the toxic cycle of thoughts that rampaged through your brain. 

“Shut up,” Jae-hwan told him and you could imagine the eye-roll that would accompany the words. “I’m not gonna fucking die here.��

The quiet returned and so did the thoughts in your head. You felt the tears building and your nose burning as it got more and more silent. Quieter, and quieter, and quie-

Ring, ring!

A small bell rang somewhere nearby, awakening you from your dreadful thoughts and bringing you to the present where Hye-in’s dog - Bom - came into view. The dog suddenly barked and ran past you and everyone else down the hallway you sat in.  and then started running in a different direction. 

Hye-in, of course, ran after her pet and Yi-kyung followed. It seemed everyone else was inclined to do the same as they all got up. You woke your siblings up along with Jin-ok - who had woken up from a flashlight being shined in her eyes - and followed behind the group with quickened footsteps. 

You couldn’t see past everyone’s heads but you could hear the sound of a helicopter flying by. It was slightly muffled but you could hear it. 

That meant you were closeby to a place where the sound could come through!

It was minutes later that the group had managed to get past the rusted fence blocking you from the exit and to the ladder. Your siblings went up first after Yi-kyung followed by you - after Jin-ok had forced you to go first - and then Jin-ok. 

You walked forward, leading the group onward until you stopped as what must have been 50 soldiers appeared from behind a car. Each one held a rifle in their hands and dressed in the same black uniform. It was a bit frightening, you weren’t going to lie. 

You wrapped your arms around your shaking brother and sister and Jin-ok wrapped her arms around you. It was something you were grateful for considering you were also scared. Some of the soldiers were holding their guns up, aiming them at your group members with their trigger fingers ready to fire if given the command. 

Yi-kyung fearlessly walked in front of the frozen members of your group - frozen with fear and the cold snow underneath and around you - and stopped in front of one of the soldiers. 

The soldier held up a tablet in her hands where the word ‘TARGET’ was emphasized over a red dot on a map. 

“I pushed it, all right? I-” Jae-hwan confessed, walking forward while holding a black plastic button that you realized must have been the button that put that ‘target’ on the map. He was cut off by a soldier walking forward and interrupting his path with a push that knocked him to the ground. 

“That means you didn’t push it,” the woman holding the tablet stated the obvious. You couldn’t help the hatred that built up in your stomach at Jae-hwan. He was the reason Hyun-su was gone and had to leave in the first place. You tried to push it down but it still remained as a simmering feeling on the backburner. “It looks like you don’t care about Nam Sang-won anymore,” the woman stated further, reaching forward to take the silver briefcase out of Yi-kyung’s hand and into her own instead. “We consider the deal canceled.”

Yi-kyung didn’t respond. She remained staring into the woman’s eyes intensely even when a few of the soldiers rushed forward to usher your group into the back of a truck. 

Your family was the first to get on and you made sure your siblings and Jin-ok - who you’d come to consider a part of your family as well - got on before you. When you stepped up to get on as well, you lost your footing due to the snow that was on the edge of the truck and nearly fell. You startled when two hands gripped onto your forearm and waist to catch you and stop you from hurting yourself. 

Your eyes locked onto those of your savior and you saw the soldier who had been standing just to your right. You nodded in thanks and he nodded back, helping you into the truck this time and doing the same for all the people who got on after you, clearly not wanting another accident like that to happen. 

You ended up sitting with Ji-su to your left and Su-yeong to your right. They objected when the soldiers closed the truck’s door behind Eun-yu once she’d settled in, saying that you all were waiting for someone.

It was true. Yi-kyung hadn’t come aboard yet, but she suddenly walked into your view and stood in front of you dressed in the same uniform as the rest of the soldiers surrounding you. The only difference was she wasn’t wearing the helmet and face covering. 

“You must survive,” she said simply, leaving you with those final words as the engine of the truck started up and she got further and further away as you drove off. Her eyes didn't stray until you got too far to see and she started walking off. 

You let out a disbelieving scoff after a few minutes but stayed silent otherwise. Your gaze remained unfocused throughout the first half of the ride. All you could think about was what would happen next.

Would you finally find a safe space in this decrepit world? Would it all be a lie?

Would you ever see Cha hyun-su again?

Nothing about the future was certain, but you were certain you would take it in stride as best you could. 

And you would find Hyun-su again, no matter what it takes.

~

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Time Will Tell - Chapter 1.27

My Time Will Tell Masterlist

My Cha Hyun-su Masterlist

My Navigation and Masterlist

The Time Will Tell Glossary

Warnings: Character death, Hyun-su cutting his hair tehe. Word Count: 1,625

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You were getting a little worried, having walked around for ten minutes trying to find Hyun-su to no avail. Your mind went to every terrible possibility and it made that ugly beast of anxiety stir in your stomach. 

“Cha Hyun-su!” You called out, still walking down and looking through every room. The only rooms you hadn’t checked were the ones down the hallway you walked down which included the men’s bathroom and a random janitorial closet. “Cha Hyun-su! Cha Hyun-s-” You cut yourself off when you passed by him and saw his green sweater in the corner of your eye. “Cha Hyun-su? What are you doing? I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

“Oh… I’m sorry,” he said, looking at you sheepishly. It was in that next moment that you noticed the large pile of hair sitting atop the counter and the lack of hair on his head. He still held the scissors he used and you had to physically shut your open mouth. 

“Oh… Um… Wow. I’ve never seen you with such short hair,” you exclaimed, still semi-in shock and looking at him oddly. The hair wasn’t very well cut yet but the sight of him with it made your heart race. He was always cute in your eyes, even with the long hair, but you couldn’t get over the way his hair looked when it was shorter. “Do you… Do you need any help? I used to cut Yeong-su’s hair so I know a thing or two about being a barber,” you said after snapping out of your short daze from his new appearance. 

He was silent for a moment before answering. “That’s okay, you don’t need to.”

“Please, I insist.”

His face showed the conflict he felt between wanting you to do his hair and not wanting to bother you. After a long while of you patiently staring at him, waiting for him to make his decision, he gave a slight nod and slowly held the scissors out for you to take. A smile brightened your face when he did and you could see a light pink color on his cheeks, but you could’ve been imagining it. 

He started walking back into the bathroom and you followed. When you got in, you stretched up and started cutting his hair, but you winced when the skin of your abdomen started stretching, pulling on your wound. 

“Are you okay?” He asked immediately, gently grabbing your wrist to stop your cutting and looking into your eyes. 

“Yeah, it doesn’t hurt that badly, it’s just a little sting,” you told him.

Liar.

He looked at you and you could tell he didn’t believe you. That was solidified when he walked out of the bathroom without a word. At first, you sighed and looked down, angry at yourself for what you thought was disappointing him; then, he came back in with a metal folding chair in his hands and placed it down in front of the mirror, making it easier for you to cut without having to stretch your abdomen at all. 

“Thank you,” you said and he nodded, looking away to hide his face. It was something you noticed he did a lot in your presence and it made you smile every time. 

The process of you cutting his hair was fairly quiet. He sat and watched you through the mirror as you worked. He wasn’t focused on his hair at all; how could he be when the girl cutting it was none other than the most beautiful girl he had ever seen?

The actual cutting of his hair was a little difficult considering you had to use one hand for the entirety of the haircut because of the injured knuckles of your non-dominant hand, but you did pretty well all things considered. 

Both of you were a bit disappointed when you finished the last section of hair and the mini barber shop appointment ended. 

“What do you think?” You asked nervously, placing the scissors down on the sink countertop and waiting for his answer anxiously. 

He just stared at himself for a while and you couldn’t decipher what he was thinking with his blank face. His eyes were the only thing that showed any emotion but even they were difficult to figure out. The only emotions you thought you could see were things like nostalgia and a hint of… anger? It didn’t seem like anger at his hair or anything but rather a person or thing from his life in the past. 

His eyes slowly looked up to connect with yours through the mirror. You could clearly see his chocolate brown gaze shifting from whatever other emotions he felt to fondness and gratefulness. “I love it. Thank you.”

You smiled widely. “I’m so glad.”

A silence fell over the two of you as you stared into the other’s eyes, studying the colors like you wanted to memorize them forever. You realized that despite knowing him for barely over a month, you would do anything for this boy, and the thought simultaneously scared the shit out of you and made you feel more love in your heart than you've ever felt before. 

A silly, selfish part of you wished and hoped that he felt the same way. 

You stood by the elevator and waited with your back to the wall. Because of the soldier arriving and a scare from his walkie-talkie, Hyun-su and Sang-wook were about to head up to the roof and take down the SOS sign. You were just waiting for them to get there so you could say goodbye. 

When they did arrive, Hyun-su saw you first and approached with an apprehensive look. “If you’re wanting to come with us, I ca-”

“I’m not wanting to come with you,” you interrupted to reassure him. He sighed in relief but then his face changed to one of confusion. 

“Then why are you here?”

You hesitated and you were sure it showed on your face when his eyes went from confused to concerned. Eventually, you just decided to do it and you took a step toward him and wrapped your arms around his waist. While burying your face in his sweater, you could feel how he tensed under your touch. Immediately, you went to pull away, worried that you crossed a boundary, but his arms wrapped around your back and pulled you back in as gently as he could. He made sure to completely avoid touching your side when he squeezed you against him. You sighed in relief at the contact and wished the moment would last forever.

It couldn't, though, of course, and you reluctantly pulled away from Hyun-su to look at him. “Be safe, okay?”

He nodded and you stepped back to give him space to enter the elevator along with Sang-wook. He did so slowly and kept his gaze on you until the elevator doors closed and you were left staring at them in silence. 

When the alarm went off, you were sitting in the nursery with your siblings. You were reading the book ‘The Giving Tree’ to them and answering any questions they had. As soon as you heard it, though, you immediately went into protective panic mode. You grabbed your axe and hurried the kids over to the corner of the room away from the entrance. 

“Stay there, you understand?” You asked them. They stayed silent and you sighed before kissing their foreheads. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. You will stay here and not move, you got it? This is very important so I need to know you understand me. Do you?” You asked again. This time they reluctantly nodded and Su-yeong grabbed Yeong-su’s hand tightly. 

With that, you left the room and locked the door from the inside on your way out. Then, you started heading where you heard screaming. 

When you got there, out of breath from your sprint over and your side screaming from the pain, you saw Jae-heon fighting with only one arm against a fly-ridden monster. The other shoulder where his right warm was supposed to be was cut off at the shoulder and was bleeding vigorously. He was leading him backward towards the elevator and you did the first thing you could think of. 

You threw your axe at the monster. It landed dead on its temple but seemed to do nothing to stop it. You started running forward but got held back by Eun-hyuk who then yelled for Jae-hwan to help him as Jae-heon shoved the monster into the elevator and started yelling for Seung-wan to throw the Molotov cocktail. 

“Throw it!” He begged and your eyes started watering as you fought against the people holding you back. 

“Let me go! He needs help! Why aren’t you helping him?” You pleaded but they ignored you. Eun-hyuk handed you off to Jae-hwan as he held you back tightly. When you started struggling too much and nearly got out of his grip, he slammed his palm against the wound on your side. The pain incapacitated you and you gasped for air, falling to the ground and he finally let go of you since you were no longer a danger to yourself or anyone else. 

You could only watch in agony as Eun-hyuk was the one to throw the cocktail at Jae-heon and put him out of his misery. Though, you wouldn’t call it an act of mercy, since a death by fire would be a painful one. You sobbed as you watched the fire spread around him and burn and burn until the elevator doors closed, locking them inside together. It was always the ones who deserved to live the most that got the worst treatment in life. 

And this time, in death.

~

Finally updated! Sorry everyone for the wait school's been kicking my ass.

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Time Will Tell - Chapter 1.32

My Time Will Tell Masterlist

My Cha Hyun-su Masterlist

My Navigation and Masterlist

The Time Will Tell Glossary

Warnings: The fight with Ui-myeong, character death, mourning, memory loss. Word Count: 2,955

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Yeong-su fell asleep with his head against your shoulder as you walked to the daycare and you were grateful. Grieving was almost always easier with sleep and you hoped this was one of those times.

You left him there with Su-yeong who had also fallen asleep nearly immediately after you got into the daycare. They were safe there, especially since Jin-ok promised to take care of them and she sat close by as they slept. You needed to speak to Hyun-su and figure out what was going on since you hadn’t gotten an opportunity to since you got down from the roof. 

On your way to the main lobby, you nearly got toppled over by a familiar scarred face carrying a wheezing Yu-ri. 

You jogged after them to see what was happening and watched as they both got sent flying back, Sang-wook knocking into the chandelier and Yu-ri harshly falling to the ground. 

Ui-myeong walked forward, his face in the shadows from the leather hooded trench coat he wore. He dug a foot into Sang-wook's wrist and picked something up from his hand. You didn’t know what it was until he spun it around his finger.

Car keys.

Then, the boy you’d been searching for walked up after hearing the commotion. “What’s going on?”

The hooded man held up the keys, jingling them a bit. “They were trying to leave.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Hyun-su protested with a flat voice still. 

“If they report us, the soldiers will come,” Ui-myeong reminded him. Hyun-su’s face relaxed a bit but it was so minute you wondered if anyone besides you noticed it. 

“We won’t be here by then… because I’m gonna leave with you.”

You gasped. An audible gasp that made you clasp both hands over your mouth. The hooded man’s eyes shot over to where you were standing and he grinned while the boy who said it had to force himself not to turn around. He looked back at the boy with a satisfied smile just as Hyun-su leaned down to talk to Sang-wook. 

“Why are you trying to leave?” He asked but received no answer. Instead, all Sang-wook could do was watch Yu-ri in desperation as she continued wheezing. When the boy caught onto this fact, he grabbed the keys from Ui-myeong and placed them in the scarred man’s hand before helping him up to stand and shoving him towards the gasping girl. He fell pitifully and started his attempt of getting her onto his back again. “Let them go. They’ll die anyway.”

The boy in the trench coat smirked and together they watched as the couple started jogging towards the car again. 

Five gunshots rang through the eerie silence and Hyun-su screamed as Ui-myeong shot at the two. When he rushed forward to stop him, the boy simply brushed him off with a push of his arm but it sent him flying. 

Everything went by in a blur: Ui-myeong started shooting at everyone inside, declaring nobody would leave; Byeong-il placed himself in front of Hye-in and took the bullet meant for her; you hid behind a pillar and blessed your intuition of leaving your siblings in the nursery; Yi-kyung came out with a gun and shot at your assailant as many times as she could; and you began to drag Byeong-il away with the group. You watched as the life left his eyes and felt tears fall down your face as Hye-in sobbed for the loss of her friend. 

You didn’t get any time to grieve when gunshots were heard and Hyun-su - who had tackled Ui-myeong just before he could start shooting at all of you again - was thrown across the room and sent skidding into the wall. 

“I should’ve known when you were a bum after killing that woman,” the boy said as he walked up to your love who was groaning in pain on the floor. His voice sounded distorted, like multiple voices were saying the same line. A hand shot out to grip Hyun-su’s chin and lift him so he was paying attention to his words. “Wanna hear something funny? Let me tell you the truth. You didn’t kill anyone,” he confessed. The injured boy on the floor looked confused and rightfully so. It wasn’t until the monster stabbed a spear shaped part of his hand through the boy’s torso that he expanded on what he meant. “Because that woman was me!” He laughed maniacally.

He pulled away and the mirror fell on top of him, shattering around him from the impact. “Nobody can leave.”

“Cha Hyun-su!” On instinct, you sprinted forward to help him but didn’t get far when the same person who saved you from a chokehold position on the roof locked you in another one. 

“Where are you going little birdy? You can’t fly now,” he teasingly whispered in your ear. 

Eun-yu screamed your name but stayed back, terrified of the man holding you. You had no such fears and kicked and screamed at him with all you had - which wasn’t much in comparison to him considering he had monstrous strength. “Fuck you! Why would you do this? How fucking dare you!”

He just laughed and tightened his grip around your neck with a smirk as you started to gasp for air and claw at his arm. The laugh quieted down real quick when all the light in the sky disappeared with an unexpected eclipse. Ui-myeong turned around, sensing a change in the atmosphere and in Hyun-su.

You watched in fascinated horror as little thorns of a flesh and bone combination impaled their way through the skin of Hyun-su’s arm and out to the surface. He let out a pained scream as a thousand more spikes suddenly formed a wing and shot out from his shoulder. His eyes were pitch black with black and purple veins protruding through the skin around the socket. They writhed and moved around uncoordinatedly but that could have been the loss of oxygen getting to your brain from the choking you were still receiving. Your fight died down and you were barely scraping the palms of your fingers against the leather jacket. 

Despite having you in a chokehold, Ui-myeong clapped excitedly and laughed as Hyun-su approached him - and you. 

You calmed your racing heart as you watched the boy approach closer and closer and aim his wing to strike. 

It was fine. 

If this was how it ended for you that would be fine.

You would have none but one regret dying to the one you loved, the only one being that he was the one who had to live with all the guilt. 

But it would be okay.

As long as he got to live.

You closed your eyes, preparing yourself for the feeling of spikes piercing through your body when you heard the sound of his wing swooping through the air, but it never came. Instead, the constriction around your throat seemed like it vanished into thin air from how fast it was released, and you collapsed forward into a familiar chest, coughing and taking in heavy breaths. 

Your head cleared as you began to regain your breath and you watched in surprise as Hyun-su lowered you to the ground against the wall - with much more gentleness and control than you expected he would be able to have in this state - and kneeled down in front of you. His face stayed the same with its emotionless expression and you couldn’t get a read off his eyes since they were just two dark voids at that moment, but you could somehow tell he knew it was you and that even in this lack of controlled state, he would still never hurt you. 

You only heard the crashing as Ui-myeong cut a hole in the ceiling, making it fall directly on top of you. You didn’t flinch when you saw his wing rise above you like a shield from the debris despite the way everyone else who watched did and screamed as they feared for your life. They thought he raised it to attack you but you knew better. Neither of you had broken eye contact despite everything. The only reason you looked away was when dust got into your eyes and you tried to blink it away.

When you opened your eyes, your savior had disappeared. Confused and worried, you looked around and found him with his wing around Ui-myeong, the sharp pieces of bone and flesh impaling him before he melted away with a happy and satisfied smirk. 

You watched as Hyun-su walked towards Eun-yu, Eun-hyuk, and Ji-su, the latter two of which were holding a Molotov cocktail and a flamethrower but being held back by your friend.

“No… Hyun-su!” You tried to stop him, slowly getting up because your legs felt so weak from the exhaustion. He swung around his wing uncontrollably and you cursed. If you didn’t do something, he would attack them. 

And you knew he would hate himself for it. 

Just as you finally stood up and prepared yourself to run over and stop him, the last person you expected to run towards him did. 

Han Du-sik sprinted towards him, hugging him and allowing the boy’s wing to go through his chest. The acid that came from his new appendage dropped to the ground and you heard it sizzling as it ate away at the tile. Du-sik groaned in pain but hid it as best he could as he continued to hug Hyun-su. 

“It’s okay, Hyun-su,” he reassured. “It’s okay. It’s not your fault. It’s okay.”

He continued to reassure him until the black void in Hyun-su’s eyes got sucked back into his pupils and the wing slowly retreated back into his skin. You covered your mouth as tears filled your eyes as the boy you loved started to sob into the older man’s shoulder. They fell to the floor, Du-sik still holding him tightly and refusing to let go. 

The stillness of both their bodies is what scared you the most. You couldn’t even move from how paralyzed with fear you were. 

The previously eclipsed sun finally revealed its rays once more, shining brightly through the windows and illuminating the dark scene. Hyun-su opened his eyes slowly and sat up. His gaze was unfocused and unfamiliar. You walked towards him with staggered steps, your breath hitching with your sorrowed tears. Hyun-su didn’t recognize or acknowledge your approaching figure; instead, he looked at the older man sitting next to him. There was no doubt he had passed away and the boy could tell that instantly. 

A tear fell down his cheek after a few moments of staring at him and he looked agonized yet confused. 

“Who is he?”

You watched and more tears filled your eyes with the sudden lapse of his memory. He didn’t remember him. He didn’t remember the man he started to see as a friend, a companion.

As family. 

“Why am I crying?” He asked then, more tears falling and his expression slowly transforming into one of grief and despair. “My heart is… breaking.”

All you wanted to do at that moment was wrap him in your arms and comfort him as best you could, but you were terrified he had forgotten you too, and would reject your attempt to help. 

He raised his gaze to the three behind him, looking at them with wide eyes as they stared right back. Then, he finally turned his gaze to you. There was a flash of recognition that gave you hope he remembered you but he still seemed so confused. 

He broke the locked gaze between the two of you and stood up, walking past everyone and aimlessly wandering in that direction. 

You followed after him slowly, ignoring the sobbed calls of concern from Eun-yu and continuing on. 

Hyun-su entered into none other than the arcade room. You watched through the window as he tried to fix the sweater that was hanging from his body by a thread and failed. You wished you could wash him off and help him but you had no idea how. 

After what felt like hours but couldn't have been more than half of one, he opened his phone with a blank face and just stared at it. He didn’t scroll or do anything to it, they just stared. It must have been the last straw for you because you quietly opened the door and entered the room. 

He kept his head down for a few seconds before looking up at you. You sighed nervously and walked over to be sitting next to him, making sure to give him plenty of room to not make him feel uncomfortable. 

“How are you feeling?” You asked softly while looking down at your lap. 

He was silent for a moment, like he wasn’t sure how to respond, until, “I think I’m okay.”

“That’s good. I’m glad,” you said with a small smile. Then, you took a few deep breaths and asked the question that had been weighing on you. “Do you… Do you remember… me?”

He looked up at you from where he was looking at a filing cabinet straight ahead. His face remained emotionless and you wondered if he was able to feel much of anything at that moment. Losing your memory must have a huge impact on you mentally and you couldn’t even imagine what he was going through. 

Instead of answering your question, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a scratched-up velvet box.

Wait… you recognized that box.

“Wha-”

“I think I was supposed to give this to you,” he interrupted you unintentionally and hesitantly held out the box. You took it with all the gentleness you possessed and clutched it to your chest. 

“I- I don’t- But we left it?” You stammered, opening the box expecting to see the broken necklace and ring that didn’t fit you. Instead, you saw the necklace fixed perfectly and the ring strung onto the chain. You gaped at it, tears welling up in your eyes but not yet falling. 

“I-” his eyes looked conflicted, like he wasn’t sure what to say. Finally, he said, “I don’t remember. I just know that I meant to give it to you.”

“I- I don’t-” You took a deep breath and wiped the unshed tears onto your sleeve. “Thank you… Hyun-su.”

He nodded and looked down at his bloodied hands settled in his lap. You looked down at them and saw his phone in one. 

What surprised you, even more, was the lock screen on it. 

It was the picture of you and Hyun-su that you took as your profile picture in his phone; except now it filled the entire screen and you could see the tiny little smile that lit up Hyun-su’s face. 

It only broke your heart more to see it. 

“You… You really don’t remember me… Do you?” 

He looked up at your words and saw the devastated look on your face. His heart hurt seeing the tears you had wiped away return and fall down your cheeks. You chuckled sadly and a fake grin was plastered on your face as you scrubbed the tears away from your face. 

“Sorry, it’s okay, you don’t have to answer that. I’ll just leave you alone for a bit, I shouldn’t have come,” you scolded yourself out loud. As you stood up to walk away, he grabbed onto your still slightly injured hand. It was light enough that you could easily break out of it if you wanted to and wasn’t strong enough to hurt you - like he subconsciously knew where the hurt areas were - but firm enough to communicate he didn’t want you to leave. 

He didn’t speak, he merely tugged you to sit back down, this time closer to him than you had been previously. Your knees skimmed against each other’s and your breath hitched each time. 

“What were you to me?” He asked all of a sudden, breaking the comfortable silence that had settled over you like a blanket. His hand still held yours gently; you got distracted each time his thumb skimmed over the halfway-healed scabs from where you punched the glass surrounding the axe when you traveled up to your house with him. His eyes seemed to be captivated by the injuries, almost like he was trying to heal them with his gaze and mind alone. 

“I don’t know,” you answered honestly, your eyes focusing on the soft caresses of his thumb and the warmth of his thigh from where yours nearly pressed against it. “We were friends… but I don’t know if I was anything more than that to you,” you squeezed his hand gently, ignoring the slight pain that shot through your arm at the action. “I-”

You paused. Were you really about to admit your feelings for him? Admit that you loved him in every sense of the word? Admit that you would do anything for him just to see that small smile you saw those few times? Even after he had forgotten everything about you? After he’d forgotten everything the two of you had been through together and the soft words you shared?

No…

No, you weren’t.

But if you didn’t do it now, who knows when you might be able to do it again?

Should you?

Yes. You should. 

“I… I care about you a lot.”

‘Such a fucking coward,’ you thought to yourself.

His lips seemed to twitch into something like a smile before they fell and the emotionless expression took over yet again. It simultaneously brought you hope and broke your heart. 

“I think… I know… I cared about you too,” he confessed. 

At least you could smile enough for the both of you.

~

@hyeon-yi

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Time Will Tell - Chapter 1.34

My Time Will Tell Masterlist

My Cha Hyun-su Masterlist

My Navigation and Masterlist

The Time Will Tell Glossary

Warnings: Being shot at. Word Count: 1,647

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You stood behind your siblings with each of your hands on their shoulders. Each hand held an origami flower for each of the people getting buried, but you had to wonder where Du-sik was and why he wasn’t getting buried as well. You knew he wasn’t in the lobby anymore since you had to walk through the lobby to get to the cemetery room. 

You caressed each of their shoulders gently, feeling Yeong-su shake but no tears filled his eyes. He was probably too tired and worn out to cry, the exact opposite of how you’d been feeling lately. 

Yi-kyung stood three feet deep in the hole they were digging in order to be the burial site of the two deceased. She stopped digging when she heard and felt her shovel hit hard metal instead of soft dirt. 

Eun-hyuk rushed up to join her when she knelt down to figure out what the metal was and it revealed a trap door. 

“I guess, in the end, he found it,” Yi-kyung whispered fondly, just loud enough for you to hear from where you stood. 

It was the tunnels under the building that he’d explained and insisted on finding. They were real and he’d found them. It seemed that he was able to solve each item off his bucket list before he died. 

Give the Kim family their medals: Check.

Outlive his nurse: Check; unfortunately.

Find the underground tunnels that resided below the Green Home Apartments building: Check.

He had nothing else to do, and you just hoped the way he left this earth was peaceful. 

“Now you can rest in peace,” Eun-hyuk said softly, speaking the words you were just thinking. 

“Oh! It’s snowing!” Your little brother exclaimed. Sure enough, little white snowflakes fell through the broken roof and started piling up upon the dirt mound beside the hole. 

It was peaceful to watch it fall. Such an innocent thing on such a sad occasion.

You remember the days when you would drag your dad and siblings outside when it snowed and force them to play in it with you. Your father was always reluctant at first, not wanting to get wet, but he always gave in and had the most fun out of the four of you. Your siblings went along more than willingly just because their older sister wanted to do it. They were your sheep, just following you wherever you went and wanting to be just like you. 

They grew out of that phase, somewhat, but they still followed you around like sheep a lot of the time. 

The only thing that confused you was that it was the middle of August. Why was it snowing in August? You understood that this sort of thing shouldn’t be that surprising to you considering how normal humans had been turning into villainous monsters all around you but it was still odd. 

It made sense why the past week had felt so cold though. You were grateful you packed some jackets for your siblings when you went up to your apartment that one time. You were also thankful to the woman they called Ms. Im for making them the scarves they wore every day. 

You wished you could have thanked her in person. 

The rest of the day passed quickly. You spent most of it with your siblings, teaching them how to make origami dragons and swans. Origami was something you shared with your mom and you wanted to be able to pass that down to your siblings. 

The other part, leading more into the nighttime when the sun had set and your siblings were reading with Jin-ok, you spent with Hyun-su. You finally got to tell him about your relationship with your siblings and how your life was before the apocalypse. You explained everything you could, just rambling on as he watched you with a blank stare. He nodded occasionally to reassure you he was listening, but the only indication that really gave you any hope that he enjoyed listening to you was the spark in his eyes whenever you spoke. 

You just hoped you weren’t misreading it and he didn’t actually hate having you there. 

You left for a moment to go try and snag some food for the two of you as well as check to see how your siblings were doing. The second one came first when you saw them with the rest of the group surrounding a contained fire in a large steel can.

You smiled at the two kids as they snuggled up together. Just as you opened your mouth to speak to them, a booming voice interrupted you. It sounded like it was announcing itself from outside and was using a megaphone. 

“You’re all surrounded. 

Surrender the infected immediately. 

Survivors will be transferred to a safety camp.

You are completely surrounded. 

Surrender the infected immediately. 

Survivors will be transferred to a safety camp.”

You didn’t trust it one bit and it took a minute for you to shake yourself out of your thoughts and remember the ‘infected’ they were talking about was Hyun-su. 

Fuck!

Your leg shook as you debated whether you should go jog back down the hallway to meet up with him again or not. Your thoughts were interrupted by the boy who occupied them slowly walking into the room you all were settled in. 

He took slow steps past you and everyone else and you couldn’t find the air to say any of the protests you desperately wanted to. 

He stopped when the small hands of Yeong-su wrapped around his ripped sweater, tugging on it slightly. “Where are you going?” He asked. “Hyun-su! Your hands are cold. Are you cold?” He worried. 

He took off the scarf on his neck and wrapped it around Hyun-su’s right hand, securing it tightly around it. “I have to go,” Hyun-su told him without any real rush or hurry in his tone as he worked. 

“It’s not cold if we’re together,” Yeong-su promised, holding Hyun-su’s scarf-wrapped hand gently. 

You finally found the words to speak after he said that. “Don’t go.”

He turned to look at you and you swallowed the lump in your throat that promised tears would follow if you let it grow. 

“Stay here with us. You don’t have to go. Please.”

He looked down in thought before his eyes focused back on the front of the building where he could hear the sound of helicopters flying overhead and car engines grumbling. 

Suddenly, a loud, distant echo of an explosion sounded, followed quickly by a nonstop attack of gunshots. Luckily no one was hurt as Eun-hyuk and Yi-kyung rounded the corner and started ushering everyone towards the cemetery room. You were one of the last ones to leave the room, going right in front of Hyun-su and that was only because he forced you to leave before him. 

Once you got to the cemetery room, you watched as your siblings were the first to follow Yi-kyung down the ladder before being followed by everyone else. Eun-yu shot you a short glance before she descended into the tunnels followed by her brother.

When it was your turn, you descended the ladder and waited at the bottom for Hyun-su to trail after you.

Only he didn’t.

You didn’t think twice about going back up to ask what was wrong and you panicked when you didn’t see him in the room. 

“Cha Hyun-su!” You called out, exiting the graveyard room and walking around. You tried your best to avoid the bits of broken rubble and glass that littered across the floor while you searched. Thankfully, it didn’t take long for you to find the boy and catch up to him. “Hyun-su!” You grabbed onto the hand surrounded by your younger brother’s scarf to grab his attention. 

When he looked at you, there was something that resembled pain or guilt that flashed through his eyes but in a fraction of a second, it was gone again - back to the emotionless void he’d had since the death of Han Du-sik. 

“Where are you going? We have to get to the bunker, why are you walking away?” You questioned him, trying to hide your panic over him possibly leaving you. 

“I just have to do something,” he told you in the same emotionless tone he’d sported for the last hour. He looked a bit hesitant before assuring you, “I’ll go down in a bit.”

Your eyes locked and you desperately tried to find some piece of him that would be like the Hyun-su you knew before he lost his memories. With your hand loosening the grip you still had on his scarf-wrapped hand, you raised your pinkie in the same way you had that day on the staircase and asked with a breaking voice, “Promise?”

His gaze stared at your raised hand for so long you almost put it down in dejection and hopelessness but he slowly raised his hand as well, gently wrapping his pinkie around yours in a touch that gave you butterflies. “I promise. I’ll come back.”

You sighed in relief, hearing the genuineness in his voice and seeing the softness in his eyes. The eyes that almost looked like the ones of your Hyun-su. 

You nodded with a long exhale. “Okay. I’ll be waiting for you,” you promised yourself before reluctantly letting go of his pinkie and walking away. You tried to will yourself not to look back in case he wasn’t looking at you but you lost that fight. With a glance over your shoulder, you saw that he wasn’t looking at you. Instead, he was looking down at his still-raised hand with his pinkie standing up. 

You bit back that smile that threatened to raise your lips and continued your journey back to the tunnels. 

You didn’t see Eun-hyuk as he hid behind a pillar to avoid your gaze.

~

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Time Will Tell - Chapter 1.33

My Time Will Tell Masterlist

My Cha Hyun-su Masterlist

My Navigation and Masterlist

The Time Will Tell Glossary

Warnings: Cuddling, talk about a funeral. Word Count: 1,623

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You spent over an hour with Hyun-su, mainly just sitting in silence, but you also told stories of all the interactions you’d had with him when he asked. 

You reluctantly left him eventually, needing to get back to Yeong-su and Su-yeong and check on how they were doing. Hyun-su understood and you were thankful for that. You promised him you would tell him everything about the two kids later in the day.

That was when his face lifted in the tiniest smile you’d ever seen. 

You searched everywhere and finally found your siblings hanging out with Mr. An in Mr. Han’s old workshop. They were holding hands and sitting down, leaning against the desk there quietly. Mr. An sat on the desk itself, looking at the contents inside of a red velvet box, reminding you somewhat of the box that held the necklace now around your neck. 

Hyun-su had helped you with putting it on and it was the softest most intimate moment you remember sharing with him. His fingertips unintentionally - or intentionally - traced against your shoulders as he locked the clip of the necklace so it wouldn’t fall off. He let his fingers lightly skim against your back as he slowly moved away from you when he was done. Goosebumps had emerged along your arms and you got them again just thinking of the moment. What made it even better was when he grabbed your hand again after you turned back around. 

It was magical. 

When Mr. An noticed you approaching, his eyes lit up even more than they already were. He stood up quickly and bounded over to you. “You’re here! Perfect!” He laughed softly with a big grin. He turned the box in his hand around to show you and you saw a beautiful medal with a moon and a wolf pendant attached to it. Also in the box was a small envelope. “Han Du-sik made it for you. Both your siblings have one as well!” He exclaimed excitedly. 

“I… I don’t know what to say… Thank you,” you told him gently. His smile grew smaller but no less happy and genuine. 

He stepped forward and you let him place the medal on your jacket. Then, he handed you the letter, and that’s when you noticed it had your name on it. 

When you opened it, you read the final words Han Du-sik had left for you. 

Since I first met you, I always saw you as a protector. You’ve put yourself in danger multiple times to protect those you care about, but most of all, to protect your siblings. You are someone who deserves the good in life. This world does not deserve someone as pure as yourself. 

Just like a wolf, you protect those you view as family with all of your might. I managed to be one of those people and I could not be more grateful for you and the caring nature that comes along with you. 

Carry on, my wolf, and do not let your kindness be stolen by this world. 

Sincerely, 

Han Du-sik.

You didn’t realize you’d been crying until a teardrop fell and splashed onto the paper. You looked back up at Mr. An and wrapped your arms around his midsection. 

“Thank you, halabeoji.”

He sighed and wrapped his arms around you, hugging you back. It was a calm moment until you felt two pairs of arms wrap around the two of you and include themselves in the hug. It made you smile and you looked down at them. 

With the childlike wonder that filled their eyes as they looked up at you and the way they clung to you, you just knew.

You would protect these two with your entire life. If you could control the world and life itself, they would never know pain again.

It was late when you returned to Hyun-su and you found him sleeping against a filing cabinet, looking peaceful despite the awkward position that would most likely hurt his neck in the morning - monster or not. 

You walked over and sat next to him, taking off your jacket - despite how cold it seemed to be, in the middle of August no less - and carefully pulling his body over so he was resting on your lap. You placed the jacket over his half-naked torso and fixed it so as much skin was covered as it could be. 

Your fingers scratched through his hair in an attempt to soothe him when he stirred. He melted under your touch and you were sure he wouldn’t wake up after that. Your fingers didn’t stop moving through his soft locks but you started talking, whispering. 

“I wonder if you knew that I loved you. Before you lost your memory,” you thought out loud, yet still quiet as a mouse. “I don’t think I hid it all that well, to be honest. I might as well have had the words ‘I’m in love with Cha Hyun-su’ written on my shirt,” you joked to yourself. “Please don’t leave me, Cha Hyun-su,” you suddenly got deadly serious and a silent sob wracked through your chest.

‘God, I have been crying so much lately,’ you thought to yourself as you wiped at the tears that built in your eyes. 

The exhaustion from the day finally seemed to catch up with you and you allowed your head to fall back against the wall with a soft thump. Your fingers in Hyun-su’s hair slowly came to a stop and they lay there, still as a stone. 

Your eyes fluttered shut and you lost touch with reality as the land of sleep took over. Distantly, you could feel yourself being moved but you weren’t sure if it was in your dreamland or the real world. 

When you finally awoke the next morning, your position had changed, and you were lying on top of Hyun-su. His arm loosely curled around your back as you lay on his chest. When you looked up at his face, you were unable to look away. 

His eyes were shut and breaths were even as they escaped through his perfectly shaped nose. There was dried blood on his cheeks but it wasn’t anything you weren’t used to. You were accustomed to seeing Hyun-su covered in blood, unfortunately. 

Once you snapped out of your daze, you were finally able to realize that you’d slept there with him. You really needed to get back to your siblings and let them know you were okay. You would hate to worry them. 

When you tried to get up, however, Hyun-su just tightened his grip around you. It surprised you a little considering this was something you thought only happened in movies or books, but here you were; in real life with a boy trapping you against him in his sleep.

A boy who doesn’t remember you, though. 

The thought made you try again to separate yourself from him again but he wouldn’t budge. 

‘Goddamned monster strength!’

You cursed yourself for not even wanting to separate from him. He was so warm and so comfortable to lay on. You noticed the boy had placed your jacket on top of his chest before he set you on top of him so you wouldn’t be touching the dried blood on his chest. It warmed your heart and you cursed yourself for melting into him even more. 

If you’d looked back up at his face, you would’ve noticed the small unconscious smirk that played on Hyun-su’s lips. 

It was about 30 minutes later that you felt the boy beneath you move and loosen his grip around you. You looked up at him and watched as his eyes slowly opened, finally rising from his slumber. 

He looked back down at you with no hint of shock or embarrassment in his gaze. The gaze was blank, emotionless, but the soft circles he started to draw onto your lower back conveyed everything you needed to know.

Even if his memories were gone, he still cared about you. And in that moment, that was enough. 

The moment was interrupted by your dearest friend Eun-yu entering the room with a solemn expression. She made no comment about how the two of you were cuddled up together and instead said what she came there to say. 

“Mr. An passed away in his sleep. We’re holding the funeral for him and Byeong-il in ten minutes.”

You looked shocked but nodded in acknowledgment. She nodded back and quickly exited the room with only a slight glance toward Hyun-su. You could tell she was a little scared of him since he had almost killed her, Eun-hyuk, and Ji-su yesterday. You couldn’t blame her for a natural bodily reaction but it still somewhat offended you on Hyun-su’s behalf.  

He didn’t seem to take it into account at all considering he mostly didn’t remember the girl. 

After a minute of silence, you sat up. This time he let you. You turned to him with a sad smile. “I should go back to Yeong-su and Su-yeong. They’re probably not doing the best with Halabeoji’s death,” you told him disappointedly. You wanted to comfort your siblings but you desperately didn’t want to leave this boy. Hyun-su nodded and you grabbed his hand, squeezing gently. “Would you like to come to the funeral?”

He shook his head no but squeezed your hand back. “I don’t think I would be very welcomed there. I’ll pass.”

You knew he was telling the truth. Most of the people probably wouldn’t want him there and it pissed you off. You just nodded towards the boy beside you and reluctantly let his hand go to stand up. 

“I’ll see you soon. Okay?” You reassured him and smiled softly when he nodded.

~

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Time Will Tell - Chapter 1.30

My Time Will Tell Masterlist

My Cha Hyun-su Masterlist

My Navigation and Masterlist

The Time Will Tell Glossary

Warnings: Shooting, choking, Hyun-su being a sweetie <3. Word Count: 2,280

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Watching the elevator doors close and separate you and the people inside from Eun-hyuk and everyone outside made you feel queasy. The sight of Hyun-su lying unconscious on the floor didn’t help with your nausea either. The leader wouldn’t take his eyes off you as you made weak efforts to escape the clutches of the person restraining you. He didn’t even blink until the bell dung signaling you were at the top floor. 

The person holding you, and you by result, were the first to follow the leader out when he exited the elevator. Meanwhile, two of the thugs behind you were in charge of dragging Hyun-su and all of you ascended the stairs up to the roof. You cringed every time the thugs let Hyun-su's legs bump against the steps loudly. Ui-myeong was the last to leave the elevator and follow behind them.

The man in front of you stretched his arms wide and sighed when he crossed the final step and reached the roof. The sun was just starting to set over the horizon and it left the remaining streams of light to shine in a golden glow over each of you. It would have been a beautiful sunset if you had the opportunity to enjoy it without all the chaos that was happening. 

You remained in the bandana guy’s grip the entire time; he didn’t falter it for a second. Even as he held up a lighter in one of his hands to light his boss’s cigarette, he still didn’t falter his grip. 

“Let’s just burn him,” he suggested. You stilled your movements, utterly terrified they would do that and make you watch as the boy lost his life. 

“Mm-mm,” the leader denied with a shake of his head. “That’s no fun,” he looked over the edge of the building thoughtfully before a grin lit up his face. “Will the fall kill him?” He asked finally. You knew personally it wouldn’t but you didn’t want to tell him that in fear they would try something else. It may have been selfish but you would’ve rather Hyun-su fall from this height and get a few injuries that he could recover from instead of possibly die from whatever other method of torture the leader had brewing in his mind. “No, wait. Let’s gut him, huh? Or should I cut off his head and keep it as a souvenir?” He asked rhetorically, unintentionally confirming your point.

The bandana guy laughed nervously. “No…”

“He’s not human anyway,” he reasoned before his eyes set on you. “Have you got nothing to say little bird? You were fighting so hard to get out of your cage earlier,” he pouted mockingly. “Now you look too terrified to move. Ooh, I have an idea,” he grinned. “Maybe we should make you watch? Kill that little sister of yours if you don’t? What do you think?”

Your eyes widened in fear for the girl but you didn’t get a chance to answer when Hyun-su rose to stand up and started walking towards the roof’s entrance. You felt a mix of relief and betrayal as you thought about him leaving you alone with this group. 

“What are you going to do? Are you going to leave your girl here, lover boy?” The leader teased again. Hyun-su didn’t falter with his steps even at the mention of you and he kept walking until he got shot in the back of the shoulder by the man. 

He fell to the ground just as he reached the entrance and breathed heavily, trying to overcome the pain. He grabbed the flimsy metal gate that covered the entrance and slammed it shut with him still out on the roof with you. The betrayal and relief both disappeared from your system, replaced with a different relief and then fear; relief that he wasn’t leaving you and fear that he wasn’t leaving.

After that, he stood and turned around to face the group. “Nobody gets down from here,” he promised them, but his eyes landing on yours told a different story. 

‘Nobody except for you.’

“I see… You’re pretty tough,” the leader praised as he wrapped an arm around the shoulders of the bandana guy, consequently bringing you closer to him as well. Hyun-su’s eyes narrowed in on the action and you saw the rage building inside them. “You don’t seem to get the picture here. I’ll kill you slowly, as many times as I want, all while making your little princess here,” he condescendingly grabbed your cheek like a grandmother would a baby. “Watch each one.”

He then started walking toward the boy, raising his gun and you started thrashing again, screaming out your protests until suddenly something stopped him in his tracks. 

Blood spurted from his mouth as a tentacle appendage punctured into his throat and lifted him off the ground. You followed the limb down from where it went through his neck and saw it was attached to Ui-myeong. 

He walked him backward, raising him over the barrier of the roof so he was dangling over the edge. Ui-myeong clicked his tongue in disappointment. “You crossed the line this time, Jung-seop.”

When he yanked his hand back and the man started to fall, you could only watch in a mix of horror and fascination. You could only wonder, was he the same type of monster as Hyun-su? Was he the kind who was able to take control of his monster and not give up his humanity? 

The guilty relief you felt at the loud satisfying crash signaling the death of the leader - only feeling guilty because it was a human life that was lost - was cut short when one of the men off to the side pulled the trigger to their gun and sent a bullet into Ui-myeong’s neck just as he turned around. He fell backwards and you almost thought your predictions about him being the same as Hyun-su were incorrect until he righted himself and the bullet was sent flying back into the man who shot it with incredible speed. 

The man holding you froze with fear, not even noticing his arm around you had tightened to a point where you were choking but you couldn’t bring yourself to try and get out of it. You were so exhausted; not to mention, you were a little scared too. 

Ui-myeong approached the two of you, his eyes staring down at you before he looked at the bandana guy. “You want that too?” He asked, a teasing lilt to his voice. 

“No…” the man protested, shaking his head lightly. “No, no. I don’t… I don’t want that, please.”

Ui-myeong seemed content with that answer as he gently unraveled the guy’s arm from around your neck and you started gasping for air. He wrapped an arm around your shoulders and you surprisingly didn’t flinch at the touch when he did and started to lead you over to Hyun-su with him. You stumbled with each step but he kept you steady. When you looked at Hyun-su, he seemed just as shocked in place as you were and it made sense why he didn’t come after you immediately. When you got close enough, though, he snapped out of it and reached for you, pulling you into him for a hug. You gripped his bloodied sweater and breathed, just trying to get everything in your body under your control again. 

“I like that look on your face,” Ui-myeong told the boy holding you and you could practically hear the smile on his face. “It’s nice to meet you.”

A helicopter flew by overhead and you snapped your head up to look at it. When you did, you saw a bunch of orange fliers falling from the sky. 

The boy across from you leaned down to pick one up from the floor and looked at it before his attention focused on the bullet wound in Hyun-su’s chest. He touched it gently and sighed. “It must hurt. I know how it feels,” he confessed. “You can never get used to it.”

“Why did you kill him?” Hyun-su asked him the question that had been burning in your mind ever since he dropped Jung-seop over the edge of the roof. 

“Well, I thought you’d be grateful especially since I saved your girl from having to watch you die instead,” he looked at you and caressed a strand of your hair with his bloodied hand. You couldn’t bring yourself to muster the energy to pull away so instead you just let him. 

“But the two of you were on the same side, weren’t you?” You asked him. Your face was still partially buried in Hyun-su’s sweater but your voice was loud enough to be heard. 

Ui-myeong laughed like you made the funniest joke. “How can a wolf and a rabbit be on the same side? Oh, you’re adorable. The rabbit was pretending to be a wolf so I just played along,” he explained. “But there’s no need for that now,” his gaze returned to looking Hyun-su in the eyes. He raised his hands in an innocent gesture before saying, “It’s not a crime for a wolf to kill a rabbit. That just makes sense in this crazy world now.”

“There are monsters that don’t harm… humans,” Hyun-su told him in a way that almost seemed judgemental but you were inclined to believe it wasn’t. 

“Yeah? Do you know of one? Because I haven’t seen one like that anywhere.”

The two stared at each other for a moment before Hyun-su leaned down and wrapped one arm under your knees and the other around your back. He lifted you up bridal style and you squealed before he turned around and walked into the staircase. Ui-myeong followed behind him. 

“Hyun-su, what are you doing?” You asked him, cautiously wrapping your arms around his neck as he started walking down the stairs. 

“You were stumbling earlier. I don’t want you to have to walk,” he said quietly. It was a sweet gesture and you smiled while placing your head against his shoulder. “How’s your side feeling?”

You shrugged the best you could in your current position. “Could be better. I don’t think moving and thrashing as much as I was helped it but I’ll live.”

“You better,” he said under his breath so softly you wouldn’t have heard him if you weren’t so close. 

The rest of the walk as he descended to the 14th floor was spent in silence. The trip was short considering the building was only 15 stories and it was only a floor difference. He walked down the hall before stopping in front of door 1408 and walking inside. 

Ui-myeong looked around the room curiously while you were placed down gently on the bed in the corner. 

To be honest, it had been so long since you’d last slept in a bed that just the feeling of it mixed with how exhausted your body was made you feel close to dozing off while sitting up. You completely tuned out the conversation the boys were having as you tried everything to keep yourself awake. 

Eventually, you failed and found yourself passed out on the bed. 

Meanwhile, Ui-myeong turned away from the baby monster in the bathroom once he grabbed his coat and looked at Hyun-su. “But will there be humans that don’t harm monsters?” He pulled out the folded flier that the helicopter distributed when you were on the roof and tapped it against Hyun-su’s chest. The text on the paper said:

SPECIAL INFECTEE REPORT GUIDE.

WE GUARANTEE THE SAFETY OF ANYONE WHO REPORTS A SPECIAL INFECTEE. YOU WILL BE TRANSFERRED TO A SAFE CAMP. 

It was utter bullshit and anyone who was paying attention would be able to figure that out, but the majority of the people downstairs would probably be too scared to think straight and view it as an opportunity to be saved. “Do you still think those people you’re trying to protect will welcome you after reading this?” He asked him with a tilt of his head. Then, he pointed to where you were lying down on the bed. “Do you think she will?”

Hyun-su looked over at your sleeping face and wished he could imprint it into his mind forever. Every moment he’d spent with you in the past month flashed through his mind. Every kindness, every laugh, every smile, every hug. It made him more than sure that even though he had doubts about every person waiting for him downstairs, he would trust you, always and forever.

You wouldn’t turn him in even if he asked you to and that was something he was sure of. 

So, instead of answering his question right away, Hyun-su walked over to where you lay and kneeled in front of you. Your face was peaceful as you slept and it made his heart flutter. As he brushed a loose strand of hair out of your face, he smiled softly. “She will. I know she will.”

“How about we find out.”

You’d woken up very shortly after you fell asleep and found yourself in Hyun-su’s arms again but this time in the elevator. It was descending slowly and you watched the numbers go down.

11

10

9

8

It kept lowering and you finally really noticed you were still in Hyun-su’s arms. “You can put me down now, it might be weird for the group to see me being carried for no reason,” you reasoned as you ignored the heating of your cheeks. 

He nodded reluctantly and placed you down just in time for the elevator to descend the last 3 final floors and open to the lobby. 

Ding!

~

A/N: I don't know why the number for the elevator floors are so big if you're reading this on a computer. Idk how to fix them so we will just have to endure it.

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Time Will Tell - Chapter 1.28

My Time Will Tell Masterlist

My Cha Hyun-su Masterlist

My Navigation and Masterlist

The Time Will Tell Glossary

Warnings: Mourning, another character death, hostage situation with the gang at the end of Season 1. Word Count: 2,796

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You handed the origami flowers you made with Yeong-su and Su-yeong to Mr. An and he walked over to place it on Jae-heon’s grave. “You died when you should have lived,” he started saying. “And I lived when I should have died.”

Your face remained blank save for the tears that streamed down your cheeks, but your eyes lit up in recognition when you noticed Ji-su had walked in. She walked out just as quickly after seeing Jae-heon’s grave, and you couldn’t blame her. 

You gave each of your siblings a kiss on the head before going after her. 

It didn’t take long to find her since she was only a few rooms down the hallway, but your heart broke when you heard her sobs. They quieted down when she heard your footsteps approach and you kneeled down in front of her. When she saw the sympathy and similar pain in your eyes, she bursted into tears again and you wasted no time in wrapping your arms around her shoulders and bringing her into your embrace. You held her as she sobbed and you let your own tears fall. You knew her pain was much worse, especially since you could see the obvious love the two of them held for each other. You just wished you could help her but it was death. Death wasn’t something you could stop, and it took time to grieve. So even if you couldn’t take away all her pain right now, you would try your best with the comfort you could provide. 

She didn’t fight you physically but she tried to warn you to stay away from her. “I’m nothing but bad luck. Everyone around me dies,” she sobbed and you shushed her. 

“None of that is your fault. Jae-heon would never blame you for his death, and I know that for a fact. Don’t blame yourself for things you cannot control.”

She sighed with a sob at that and you hugged her tighter. 

You were simultaneously surprised and not when Eun-yu walked in. She placed a pack of chocolates in front of the girl next to you with a soft glare. “Eat this. You know you are always ugly, but you really look like shit right now.”

You glared at her and opened your mouth when Ji-su cut you off with the same speech about staying away from her. 

“You want to live, right?” She started. “Just act like you did before. Nothing good will happen if you’re near me,” her voice started to crack. “Get away from me if you want to live,” she sobbed. “I’m nothing but bad luck.”

“Oh jeez,” Eun-yu scoffed and you knew she was about to say something rude. “You really hate yourself, don’t you.”

Called it.

“Everyone around me keeps on dying,” Ji-su started crying again and you stroked her hair softly. “Whether they kill themselves or get killed by monsters-”

“Enjoying your pity party?” Eun-yu interrupted.

“Eun-yu,” you scolded with a glare. She rolled her eyes but you could see the genuine worry in her gaze. 

She slid down the wall and started telling both of you about her story. About how her parents died in a car crash on the way to a ballet recital she wanted to see. How her brother quit medical school to pay for her ballet classes. How he didn’t blame her even when she thought he should have. 

You wanted to hug her too but you knew that would be something she wouldn’t enjoy. 

Once she was done talking, she looked over at the sword she had brought over. It was Jae-heon’s and even though it was partially broken, she still reached over to grab one of Ji-su’s hands and wrap it around the handle. 

“You don’t need to make yourself miserable. Things are bad enough as it is,” she told her before standing up and exiting the bathroom. You watched her go with a warm feeling. Even though she didn’t show it very well, it was clear Eun-yu cared about everyone in this building. 

You had followed Eun-yu out of the bathroom shortly after she left when Ji-su asked you for some space since she just wanted to be alone for a bit. 

Now, about an hour later, you were in the basement with Yeong-su, taking turns watching outside through the binoculars with him. You turned around when you heard footsteps and saw Mr. An and Yi-kyung walk in. Mr. An took a seat next to you on the stone platform and you looked at him. “Halabeoji,” you called, addressing him with the same name Yeong-su and Su-yeong had resorted to calling him by. Yeong-su looked over a little from where he was looking out the window but returned his gaze outside quickly. 

“Let me ask you a favor,” he asked Yi-kyung. “There’s something inside this place. We must find it.”

“Find what?” She asked. 

“I don’t know. An underground tunnel or a bunker or something.”

‘Oh. I guess he wasn’t lying when he was telling that story yesterday when he was drunk,’ you thought to yourself. 

“What do you plan to do?” The woman asked him abruptly. 

“We will use it to hide,” he declared determinedly. “People keep dying. Young people with their whole lives ahead of them are dying. I believe that you’ll survive this. I can tell from your face.”

She looked down before the conversation was cut off by Yeong-su grabbing your attention. 

“Unnie, halabeoji, look.”

You let Mr. An take the binoculars first and look out before he gave them to you. You saw a large army truck driving in the direction of your building and your heart rate sped up. You gave the binoculars to Yi-kyung so she could also see and the looks on all your faces were intense. 

“Is the army coming to rescue us?” Yeong-su asked innocently. The gut feeling told you the answer to his question would be a no but you couldn’t find the courage to say that to him. Instead, you just rubbed his back. 

Mr. An sighed before turning to Yi-kyung and you. “Move out. On your own. I’ll greet our guests.”

“What?” Yi-kyung asked. 

“The soldiers, you can't trust them. You might not understand,” he explained and the expression on her face turned somber. 

“I do understand.”

Mr. An chuckled lightly before turning to Yeong-su. “You have a sidekick. Yi-kyung is a secret agent. She’s just like you.”

Yeong-su turned to face the woman beside you and you spoke to the older man. “I can’t do anything. I lost my axe and I’m already injured so I’m not all that useful,” you protested. 

He hummed, thinking for a minute. “Then you should hide with your brother. Your mission will be to stay hidden and not get caught!” He said. His voice was still playful for the sake of Yeong-su and you worried your lip. 

“What about Su-yeong? I need to protect her too.”

“I will protect her. Don’t you worry, okay?”

You nodded reluctantly and allowed yourself to be led along with Yeong-su into the building again. After a while of looking, you all found a vent and you helped Yeong-su climb in. You talked a bit more to Mr. An and Yi-kyung before you all split up and you climbed into the vent with your brother. You hugged him closely while he sobbed quietly and placed your hand on his mouth when a few strange people with guns walked by. You saw them dragging Mr. An and nearly gasped but you were able to hold yourself together. He smiled at the vent and in a manner of quick thinking and paranoia, you grabbed Yeong-su and placed him on the little area above the vent’s entrance. He sat there and looked at you with confusion. For a second you thought you really were just being paranoid but you were glad that you did it when one of the men came back into the hallway and pointed the gun at the vent. He opened it and saw you immediately. 

“I fucking knew it. Get the fuck out here,” he sneered with a smirk. You held your hands up and avoided looking at Yeong-su as you came out. 

“Okay, okay. I’m coming out just don’t shoot,” you pleaded with him, carefully climbing out of the vent and stepping down. You nearly fell when he grabbed the collar of your shirt and started dragging you away with the gun pressed against your head. 

When he dragged you into the lobby, you saw the other residents huddled up against each other. Some were crying while others just looked scared. You saw Mr. An next to Su-yeong shushing her. The man pulling you shoved you into everyone and you tripped over your own feet. Just as you expected to feel yourself hit the ground, you were caught by familiar arms. 

Though Hyun-su held you softly, his eyes glared at the man who pushed you. He continued to glare even when you untangled yourself from his arms to hug Su-yeong. 

Mr. An whispered in your ear, “What about Yeong-su? Is he okay?” 

“He’s okay,” you whispered back. “Everything’s okay.”

The man who pushed you suddenly held up a red crayon/chalk. He whistled as he circled the group, drawing a line around all of you. 

“It’s a bit bigger than last time,” one of the thugs teased. 

The man in the hat with the red bandana around his neck - the same man who dragged you to the group - smirked. “Should I measure the area every time?” He asked but didn’t wait for an answer as he addressed everyone in the circle. “This is your jail now,” he laughed.

Suddenly, a gunshot rang out and Ji-eun started stumbling. Everyone screamed in horror as she fell to the ground. Mr. Han got pushed into the ‘jail’ as well. He started crawling toward Ji-eun to help her but got pulled back by everyone. 

“No, Mr. Han! Stay here, they’re going to kill you too!”

“Please! What are you doing?” He screamed to the leader of the group who was the same man who shot the girl. You all watched as the light drained from her eyes and she passed away. “How could you kill her? How could you?”

“You’re so emotional,” the man with the red bandana laughed. “Are you going to cry for everyone?” He looked down and started nudging Mr. Han’s arms with his gun. “Mister, you crossed the line. Go inside.”

“Just squeeze in,” the leader said. “That’s your home. A tiny home,” he smiled. You wanted to run up to him and smack that smirk off his scar-ridden face but you couldn’t. It would just be a death sentence. 

You sat down next to Mr. Han with Su-yeong and everyone followed suit. Soon you were all huddled together sitting on the floor with Hyun-su sitting next to you, pressing his side against yours just enough to reassure you of his presence while not making it too obvious of his concern and care about you. The cries quieted down and everyone sat silently, trying to process everything that was happening. 

The leader climbed up some stairs so he was elevated and started talking. “My name is Shin Jung-seop. Why don’t we all just get along without fighting?” He suggested. You wanted to laugh at the irony of that statement. They were the ones who came in here and killed one of the residents yet they wanted to ‘get along’?

“How can you say that after what you did?” Mr. An said exactly what you were thinking. One of the men held up a gun to his head and you shoved Su-yeong’s head into your chest to direct her sight away from it. “How can you treat people like this? We’re not animals!”

“I’m sorry,” the leader ‘apologized’ and held up his gun, shaking it a bit. “This is all I know. If you all do as I say, I won’t kill any of you.”

“So… What do you want from us?” Eun-hyuk asked. Ever the brave one holding the role of the leader, his voice did not quiver and he showed no signs of fear. It was something you admired about him. 

“We should get to, uh, know each other,” the man explained, stepping down the stairs and approaching the group. You pulled Su-yeong closer to you to get her away from anyone that would approach and it seemed to catch the leader’s eye. His eyes narrowed in on where Hyun-su’s hand had unconsciously protectively wrapped around the wrist of the hand not holding your sister and he smirked. The sight of the grin sent a sense of dread down your spine. “I bet you’re curious about us, too.”

Eun-hyuk stood up and you wanted to smack everyone in the circle. Why was everyone so desperate to be brave and stand up to the people who literally have guns and are more than willing to shoot them? “Why don’t you tell us? Where were you before you came here? What happened out there?”

“They were dead,” the man told him apathetically. “All of them.”

“Did they just die? Or did… you kill them?” Eun-hyuk asked forwardly. You wanted to smack him upside the head. 

“It was a small church,” the man started to tell his story after a beat of tense silence. “They’d had it fortified well, so I got my hopes up, but all of them were already dead. What’s interesting is there were no signs of a monster attack. They had all killed each other,” he said and took a step closer to the bespectacled boy. “You shouldn’t be worrying about monsters. No. Humans are… the scariest.”

He giggled under his breath while Eun-hyuk looked down and clenched his jaw. The smile on his face was menacing and it made you anxious. 

Suddenly, a guy with spiky hair in a bright red hoodie and a lot of piercings came into the room and walked up to the leader with another guy behind him. Both guys gave you bad vibes but something about the second guy was a special type of unnerving. The type that you got whenever you got attacked by a monster. You shrugged off that thought though as the guy in the red started talking. “What?”

“What?” The leader asked in response.

“Ui-myeong said you were looking for me.”

The leader looked over his shoulder to the second guy - Ui-myeong - with a questioning gaze but he just shrugged and softly shook his head.

“Hmm? I wasn’t.”

“You son of a bitch!” The man yelled at Ui-myeong, turning around to face him and glaring at him. Everyone around you gasped at the sudden loudness but you couldn’t look away from the guy. There was something about him that made you feel uneasy. He seemed to notice your stare because he looked directly at you. His blank face and eyes showed nothing but you still thought it was weird. 

“Did you find anything?” The leader asked the man in the red with a laugh, drawing his and Ui-myeong’s attention back to him. You sighed in relief when he looked away. So far, despite the uneasy feeling he gave you, he was the one of the group you felt most safe with. He was the only one who hadn’t done anything particularly violent. 

That didn’t mean you actually felt safe around him though. 

“There’s a girl. She’s hurt.”

Ji-su...

Eun-hyuk’s face showed his worry for a second before he schooled it back to normal. 

“Stop frowning,” the leader scolded playfully. “These people are already scared.”

He walked over to Ui-myeong and swung his arm over his shoulders before walking off. The man in the red walked off in the other direction before being stopped by another thug. “You left her alone? Why? Was she not your type? Can I have her?”

“I’m saving her for later,” he said and it made you terrified for the safety of Ji-su. 

Eun-yu tugged Eun-hyuk back down to the ground and started reprimanding him. “Are you crazy? Stop standing up to them.”

“You’re going to get yourself killed like that, Eun-hyuk,” you butted in, scolding him as well. 

“I did it because I wanted us to live,” he rebutted.

“By provoking them?” You asked sarcastically. 

He ignored you and turned to Hyun-su. “We have to wait.”

“Until when?” The boy asked. 

Eun-hyuk leaned in to whisper even softer. “It seems like they killed soldiers and stole their weapons and ammo. They only have a few guns and there are dozens of monsters out there.”

“We have to do something,” Hyun-su insisted. 

“When the time is right… we’ll act,” Eun-hyuk told him reassuringly. “You’re not the only weapon we have.”

~

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will you be contuining 'time will tell' 🥺

I WILL I PROMISE I JUST HAVENT HAD TIME TO EDIT THE CHAPTERS!!! Hopefully I will have the next chapter or two released by tonight or tomorrow!!

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Time Will Tell - Chapter 1.2

My Time Will Tell Masterlist

My Cha Hyun-su Masterlist

My Navigation and Masterlist

The Time Will Tell Glossary

Warnings: Talk about shitty friends and being cheated on in a past relationship, an almost suicide attempt, talk about shitty graveyard shift job. Word Count: 3,266

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You loved and missed living with your dad, and you knew he loved having you around. The ones you missed the most, however, were your two younger siblings.

Your one free hand opened up the front door to your apartment and you walked in. You set your things down before wandering toward the childlike voices you heard coming from the living room. It took a moment for them to notice, but once they did the reaction was all you could hope for. 

“Unnie!”

“Noona!”

Su-yeong and Yeong-su yelled simultaneously as they both jumped up to run and hug you. 

“Dongsaeng! I’ve missed you guys!” You exclaimed back at them as you picked both of them up in your arms and swung them around. It really hadn��t been that long since you saw them in person, perhaps maybe a little over a month, but it felt like forever. 

“We missed you too, Unnie!” Su-yeong told you with a smile that you missed seeing on your little sister’s face in person. Over the phone calls you would regularly make to them, they would be happy but it was obvious they missed you so and were sad about it. 

“Let’s go say hi to appa, yeah?” You encouraged, adjusting your grip on them and traveling further into the apartment so you could find your father.

“He’s fixing the kitchen sink,” Yeong-su told you and pointed towards the kitchen. You nodded and started walking towards the room where you found your father tightening a bolt around the visibly new, silver sink faucet and testing the handles to see if they let the water through. Spoiler alert, they did. 

“Appa,” you called and he turned around to look at you, taking out the headphones playing the too-loud music that you’ve continuously scolded him about. A smile lit up his face and he set down the wrench he was holding before moving toward you and pulling you - and as a result, Yeong-su and Su-yeong - into a big, reunifying hug. You laughed and tried your best to hug him back before he pulled away. 

“What happened to me picking you up at the university tomorrow?” He asked, playfully annoyed but mainly happily surprised. 

“I wanted to surprise you all,” you said simply as you smiled up at him. 

“Well you succeeded, and you’re just in time for dinner. We’re having ramen since today is an easy meal day.”

You laughed at the irony of what just happened in the elevator but made your way over to the kitchen table regardless. Su-yeong and Yeong-su sat on the sides of the table beside you while your father sat across from you. The table was a square and was perfect for your family dynamic. 

You spent the night eating ramen and laughing with your family at everything you had missed during your time at the university; you told them everything you had done during your time away as well and it was a relief to be able to talk to the most important people in your life like this again. 

You walked up the stairs towards the rooftop, needing some space from the world as everything seemed to be going wrong in your life. 

Since moving in with your family, it seems the universe gave you one good thing only to take away 10. You got fired from your job for something you completely didn’t do, your best friend of 10 years ended up being the one your boyfriend of the time slept with during your relationship in high school as well as the one who spread rumors about you, your father was asking you to babysit Su-yeong and Yeong-su more and more often - which you usually wouldn’t mind but you were just so stressed - school was starting up again relatively soon, and your laptop broke last minute as you were applying for a new job. 

Suffice to say, you had a rough week. You just needed some space from the world, some time to recollect your thoughts and be away from any responsibilities or fake friends or anything of the like. 

You could feel the tears burning behind your eyes but you refused to let them fall, at least until you got to the roof. If you could have it your way, they wouldn’t fall at all, but that was unlikely. 

You got to the final step of the stairs and walked through the door, your eyes immediately landing on the messy-haired ramen boy from before and widening when they saw him standing on the edge with one foot hovering in front of him. 

“‘You will face many defeats in life, but never let yourself be defeated.’” You quoted softly and leaned against the stair's door frame. He planted his hovering foot back on the ground and turned his head to look at you. “An American poet named Maya Angelou said that once. It’s kind of cliche but the hardest things in life prepare us for what’s next. There is always darkness before it is followed by the light; always a storm before a rainbow,” you told him before walking forward, giving him plenty of space as you sat down on the edge and faced the setting sun. It was a beautiful sight, how the golden light shone between the buildings and reflected off the windows. The golden hour. “I don’t know or understand what you’ve been through and why you believe this is the only option but if I can make you think the rest of today is worth living then I’d be satisfied,” you finished, looking up at him from where he was still standing. 

You engaged in an intense lock of eyes until he let out an almost imperceivable sigh and lowered himself to be sitting on the edge beside you. You smiled at him, undeterred when he did not return the gesture. “If you need to talk to anyone, I’ve been told I’m a great listener,” you assured him. He just looked away from you and down at his lap at your words. “Okay, well maybe you’d just like to listen? I have some shit I came up here to deal with too.”

He looked over at you, staring at your comforting smile before giving a slight nod and looking back at his hands. 

You grinned, partly at his obvious shyness but also because of the opportunity to vent and gossip about the things going on in your life, especially since the person agreed to you venting about them. “Well, in high school I was dating this guy. We had been going out since sophomore year until I found out he cheated on me. It’s only recently that I found out he cheated on me with my best friend of 10 years. Then, he had the audacity to-” You vented to the boy for what felt like hours, the two of you moving off the edge and to the floor to lean against the railing at some point. It was when the sun had officially gone down that you wrapped everything up, looking at the quiet boy beside you, who had stopped looking at his lap at some point and started looking at you intently with each word you said. 

“Come on, let’s start walking down,” you told him with a wave of your hand and a small smile on your face. He got up to follow you quickly, the two of you walking down the stairs in a surprisingly comfortable silence. It was when you reached level 14, which you remembered was his floor, that you stopped at the door and looked at him. “Well, I’ll leave you to it. Try not to overwork yourself, okay?”

You turned to leave after letting your words sink in for a moment. You only stopped when you felt a hand gently gripping your wrist to pull you back. Just as quickly as it was there, it was gone. Hyun-su was back to avoiding your gaze before he spoke ever so softly. “Thank you. This… was nice.”

Your smile grew even bigger at his words and you nodded. Turning around and starting to descend the steps, you were once again stopped, this time by his voice.

“What’s your name?” 

You looked back up at him with a smile, telling him your full name which he repeated, testing the words on his tongue. 

“I am Cha Hyun-su.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you Cha Hyun-su,” you told him sincerely. 

“Yeah, you too.”

Your first night on your new graveyard shift and you were asked to stay late. It frustrated you beyond belief but you knew you needed this job. So you accepted, staying late a total of four extra hours to help with setting up the security cameras around the convenience store where you worked. It was a very hard four hours where you were constantly holding heavy things above your head, or inhaling - and sneezing - the little bits of styrofoam that came off from the ceiling tiles. 

So, right then, four hours after your shift was supposed to have ended - 12 p.m. - you walked into your apartment complex building. Seeing the elevator doors start to close you started to run. “Please hold the doors! Please, please!” Only for the doors to close fully just as you got to them. “Fucking shit,” you whined, placing your head against the door when it suddenly opened, scaring you and causing you to jump back. Standing there like your knight in shining black hoodie and sweatpants was Hyun-su. It was like a breath of fresh air to see him after the day you had and you happily stepped into the elevator with him. “Thank you so much.”

“It’s okay, sorry I didn’t open it sooner,” he apologized while scratching the back of his neck. Leaning down to pick up the ramen box he’d placed down in favor of hitting the elevator button to open the door, you noticed the sleeve of his hoodie had raised slightly, revealing deep scars running along his forearm. Your eyes widened momentarily but you made no other visual reaction that would show you saw them. The last thing you would want to do is make him feel uncomfortable around you.

Instead, while you reached over to press the 12 button on the elevator number pad, you asked him, “What flavor did you get this time?”

He looked over, then down at the box, then back over to you with a sheepish smile. “Spicy.”

You laughed. “That’s fair,” then, hesitantly, you continued. “You shouldn’t just have ramen though, if that’s all you eat. I know it’s not my place and you can do whatever you want but you really should have some of the other food groups in there as well.”

He stayed looking at the box for a minute just until the elevator beeped, saying it was hitting the 12th floor. 

“Just think about it, okay? And if you need someone to help cook for you, just know I make a mean chicken pot pie,” you winked and walked off. 

“I will,” he said quietly, barely audible as you walked away but it left you with a smile as you walked towards your apartment. 

It had officially been a month or so since you moved back into the apartment and you couldn’t be happier about your decision. Although it hurt, you were glad to cut your ex-best friend out of your life, especially since you started to see how toxic the friendship was in the first place. With your new job at the convenience store, despite it being a graveyard shift, you were able to still work and enjoy your time with your family. You hadn’t done overwork since that first day which you were thankful for. 

This day started like every other; you woke up around 3 or 4 p.m. to the sound of a pesky bird that loved to tap on your window each day. It always tapped around the same time, working as a very effective, but also very annoying, alarm clock. You’d been staying up in the mornings after your shifts to say good morning and goodbye to your family as your father took your siblings to daycare before going to work for the day. He was thankful to find out their school had a free daycare program and he stopped relying on you to babysit them all the time, especially since he knew your time was tight with the new job and everything. It was a good thing they loved it there and had good friends who were there to make the experience more enjoyable. You remember hearing them cry the first time your dad had dropped them off. They wailed nonstop, not wanting him to leave them there. You were glad it was no longer like that. 

You went into the kitchen after shooing the bird away and changing into a burgundy short-sleeved shirt with a half-zipped-up grey jacket on top and grey sweatpants to match. You looked around for some eggs and bread so you could make yourself some ‘breakfast’ at 4 p.m. Luckily, there was just enough of both for you to make some French toast. 

Although you were home alone when you woke up, the sound of the door to the apartment opened and revealed your father and two younger siblings. You smiled at all of them as you stood from your chair just in time to catch Yeong-su as he launched himself into your arms. “Noona!” He yelled excitedly as he wrapped his tiny arms around your neck. Su-yeong was not far behind as she wrapped her arms around your waist and squeezed tightly. 

“Anyeong, dongsaeng,” you replied affectionately. “How was daycare? Did you guys finish those drawings?” You asked as you once again sat down on your chair at the table. Su-yeong pulled a chair over to be closer to yours as Yeong-su started talking about the professional sketches they were given by their instructor and were told to fill in with color. She interjected every now and then but was content with just listening and swinging her feet that couldn’t quite reach the floor yet. 

You quietly ate the rest of your meal while you listened, commenting occasionally to let Yeong-su know you were listening. Your dad traveled around the kitchen, looking through the fridge to try and find something to cook dinner with.

Your dad and you had a much different relationship compared to the one he had with your younger siblings. Since you were already 18 and your mother passed during childbirth when she was having Yeong-su, you became the main woman/mother figure/older sister figure of the household. Your dad tried his hardest but always needed to rely on you for certain things when it pertained to caring for your siblings. It never bothered you that you needed to take care of them because you loved them with your whole heart. They were your world, and you simply orbited around them like a moon. 

Despite the significant age gap between you and your siblings - you only being twelve when you took on the responsibility of caring for them as their older sister, but also providing yourself as a motherly figure - and the fact of you being adopted into the family when you were a baby, you couldn’t have imagined growing up any other way. You loved your mother, and the loss of her life was heartbreaking for everyone in your family, but you chose to see the good that came with it, no matter how small that good presented itself as. It was important to you that they could always come to you for anything they needed, anything children would usually ask their mothers or older sisters. 

After a while, you finished your plate of food and Yeong-su finished his story about the beautifully designed drawing of a boat and pirates that he colored. He even showed it to you and you hung it on the fridge. You asked Su-yeong to tell you about her day as you stood to wash up your dishes and she told you all about how she finally stood up for herself against the boy who kept picking on her. It turned out he really just had a crush on her and that was the only way he knew how to express it. 

“The term ‘boys are mean to you because they like you’ is completely wrong. Never let any boy you date in the future be mean to you as a way to show his affection. Do you understand me?” You asked her, turning around from the drying rack where you just put your washed dishes to look at her and make sure she was taking your words to heart. She nodded just as your dad hummed in agreement and you smiled, going over to pat her on the head and hug her tightly. “Stop growing up! You’re getting too big, you need to shrink!” You complained playfully. She giggled and swatted at your hands when you lightly pressed down on her head as if stopping the growth. 

“I can’t help it!” She replied with a laugh and you pulled away.

“I know, and I’m so proud of you for who you are becoming. You are such a strong girl and I know you will do great things.”

She smiled before burying her head in your stomach and hugging you tightly once again. You hugged her back tightly until she pulled away to go play with Yeong-su in the living room. It was then that you addressed your father who had been silently watching you interact with your two siblings with a smile on his face the entire time. 

“Hi, appa,” you told him with a smile as you gave him a hug. He returned it with a heavy sigh. 

“Hey, kid.”

“Do you want me to go grocery shopping on my way home from work tomorrow morning or are you going to? If it’s easier for me to do it then I can do it in a heartbeat,” you reassured him.

“No, it’s alright, I’ll go tonight or tomorrow but it’ll be okay.”

“What about tonight? Do you have a plan for dinner?” You asked him as you pulled away from the hug and looked to him for his answer.

“I saw some cans of soup in the pantry and we also have some frozen pasta in the freezer so we’re not completely out of food,” he reassured you.

“Okay, that’s good. That way Su-yeong and Yeong-su at least have a choice of what they want,” you breathed out a slight sigh of relief. “Don’t worry about doing anything for dinner, I’ll take care of it if you want to just go watch some TV. I know you probably had a hard day at work.”

He sighed in relief and gave you a tired smile. “Thank you, kid. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“No problem, Pops,” you playfully saluted at him and he laughed, gently pushing your head away by your forehead and knocking you off your balance. You collected it in time to not fall over and laughed too. “I’ll be leaving around 8 tonight and coming home around 7 - 8 tomorrow morning as usual. Don’t wait up, okay? You know it’s pointless and I’ve given you my work schedule.”

He nodded reluctantly. “Okay, but be safe when you’re on your way there. I worry about you sometimes with it being so late.”

“I know you do but I’m always careful. Don’t worry.”

[quack-quack-snacks]

Time Will Tell - Chapter 1.1

In honor of season 3 being released today, here is the first chapter of my full on fanfic of our beautiful boy <3

My Time Will Tell Masterlist

My Cha Hyun-su Masterlist

My Navigation and Masterlist

The Time Will Tell Glossary

Warnings: N/A, just fluff Word Count: 1,250

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While some of the people you knew would be embarrassed at moving back in with their parents at 18, you didn’t feel that way. Living in the university dorms was not the most fun experience you had and you wished you would have just stayed at home in the first place. Your roommate was messy and rude, always leaving her things on your side of the dorm; the water from your shared bathroom never got over 70°; the floor you lived on was gender-neutral - which you usually wouldn’t have a problem with if the boys on your floor weren’t creeps; and the food at the food court was nowhere near the quality and taste of the homemade or even store-bought food you always ate at home with your family. 

All those reasons are why you were there now, standing in front of the entrance to the Green Home Apartment Complex with a suitcase in each hand and an overly packed bag slung diagonally over your shoulders. You walked towards the entrance and sighed in relief when a man on the phone on his way out held it open for you. 

“Thank you,” you mouthed your gratitude with a smile he halfheartedly returned.

He barely waited for you to fully be inside the building before letting go of the door and walking off. 

It was as you were walking away that you heard him. “I might be late, I need to buy some sunscreen for my face to keep me pretty,” he said into his phone and you laughed under your breath.

You greeted the security guard once you got close enough and realized he looked on the verge of passing out. You walked past his desk towards the elevators but were surprised when you heard him snap up, nearly giving himself whiplash, and call out to you. “Stop there!” You turned to face him and tilted your head in a confused manner. “I haven’t seen you through here before, what is your business here?”

You nearly scoffed, firstly at his attempt to be intimidating and secondly, at the fact that he would just do that to the first unfamiliar face he would see. “I’m the eldest daughter of the Kim family in 1210. My business is that I’m moving back in with my dad and siblings,” you heard the sound of the apartment complex’s elevator doors opening behind you but paid it no mind as you continued to spell out your reasoning for being there to this man who you personally thought had no need to know. “Now, would you like to see my birth certificate, or am I free to go see my family now?” He seemed taken aback by your boldness but motioned for you to continue on with a slightly shocked face. You plastered a bright smile on your face and winked at him. “Thanks, sweetie.”

The moment you turned around, you rolled your eyes and the smile fell from your face. You were surprised to find a boy with shaggy overgrown hair wearing a black hoodie staring at you, noticing the interaction between the two of you and watching it all as it happened. Although his face was blank, you could see the surprised and impressed look in his eyes. As soon as he noticed you looking at him looking at you, he looked away with a light blush on his cheeks, seemingly waiting for his turn to talk to the security guard. You let out a soft chuckle before walking past him towards the elevators. Your laugh gathered his attention again and you gave him a flirty wink while walking, much different from the one you just gave the security guard. You could feel the eyes of the boy on your back before the security guard called his attention again. “Sir?”

“Yeah, my delivery guy said he left a package for me.”

“Okay, what is your name?”

“Cha Hyun-su.”

‘Cha Hyun-su,’ you thought with a small smile. ‘Cute.’

The wheels on your suitcase sounded quietly across the lobby’s tiled floors as you approached the elevators and pressed the button. It didn’t take too much time waiting for the elevator to get to the lobby floor and you entered it immediately. It was when you got in fully that you saw the boy, Hyun-su, walking towards the elevators as well, this time with a package in his hands. You held your hand out to stop the elevator doors from closing and he looked somewhat shocked by your act of kindness. He walked in, albeit a bit hesitant, and quickly said a soft thank you. 

“What floor?” You asked him. He looked confused for a moment before softly answering.

“14.”

You smiled in response, clicking the button to the 12th and 14th floor as the doors finally shut and the freight started its journey up towards your destination. You could feel him actively avoiding looking at you so you weren’t scared to shoot a quick glance over at the boy beside you. The box he held told you one thing about him. 

‘He likes Ramen,’ you thought with a hidden smile.

“I love that brand,” you expressed quietly and he snapped his head over to you, seeming confused about why you were talking to him. “I ate it all the time when I was staying in the university dorms, though that wasn’t for a very long time.”

He nodded hesitantly and looked down at the box in his hands. It was almost like he was scared to say anything in case you would hold it against him. “Yeah, it’s my favorite.” 

You nodded back at him before rather awkwardly turning back to face the front and look at the small screen displaying what level you were on. 

7.

You got the impression he wasn’t the most sociable person so you didn’t want to bother him anymore, so it surprised you to hear him continue the conversation. 

“Spicy or Regular?”

“Huh?” You questioned but understood the moment he opened his mouth to clarify.

“Which do you prefer?”

“Oh! I usually prefer the spicy ramen,” you answered. You saw his lips tilt into a smile for a split second before returning to their resting position. 

“Me too.”

He spoke so softly, half the time it was like he was whispering. 

You smiled at him just as the elevator doors started to open and you reached the twelfth floor. 

“Well, it was nice meeting you. I’ll see you around,” you bid him goodbye and gathered your luggage, starting to walk out and being only halfway through the doors before he spoke again.

“Wait!” He spoke louder than you’d heard throughout all of the past five minutes of knowing him before going straight back to his normal soft tone. “Do you… need any help?”

He nodded to the luggage you were slightly struggling to haul behind you and you laughed appreciatively. “You’re very kind but no thank you,” you turned down. “Looks like you have your hands full already, I wouldn’t want to add on to that.”

He looked both relieved and disappointed by your words and you didn’t know whether to feel good or bad about rejecting his offer. “Okay.”

You smiled at him once more in goodbye before turning around and heading toward where you knew your family’s apartment to be. 

You didn’t hear the soft, “I wouldn’t mind,” Hyun-su said as the elevator doors started to close behind you. 

You also didn’t know you would share many more experiences with the messy-haired ramen boy.

[quack-quack-snacks]

Time Will Tell - Chapter 1.4

My Time Will Tell Masterlist

My Cha Hyun-su Masterlist

My Navigation and Masterlist

The Time Will Tell Glossary

Warnings: The fight against the tentacle tongue monster, description of wounds. Word Count: 1,496

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“Found the damn switches!”

You pumped a fist into the air in victory before turning back around from the hallway you were heading down. The emergency exit wasn’t all too promising anyways so you thought the front gate opening was the best option.

It didn’t take long for you to venture back the way you came and arrive at the doors again. Once you got there, everyone was predictably crowding around it, anxious to get out. 

What was not predictable was the strange man-looking creature that stood just outside. 

A sinking feeling developed in your stomach and it lowered the more the gate rose. The dog in the lady in the dress's hands started barking and growling at the figure. You saw the boy from before walk up and stand beside you to look out at the rising gate. 

“Close it,” Eun-hyuk said softly, looking at the creature blankly, almost in shock at its existence. 

You distantly heard your own voice let out a gasp when the thing’s mouth opened inhumanely and a long, tentacle-like-tongue slithered its way out. 

The first crack of the glass was what sent everyone out of the shocked stupor that seeing the beast put them in. They stumbled back, tripping over each other in their fear to get away from the shattering door. 

“Lower the gate! Hurry!” Eun-hyuk yelled at the old man, this time with more conviction and authority in his voice. 

The screaming and stumbling of the residents disoriented you until you were somehow on the floor. Glass cut into your forearm and you winced, but the sight before your eyes was much worse. 

The creature had latched his tongue onto one of the people and had it dangling in the air, looking like the life was being sucked out of him. One minute you were watching the lifeless body get dropped from the beast’s clutches, and the next you saw Eun-hyuk spraying the monster with the fire extinguisher from earlier. Distantly, you swore you could hear “Warriors” by Imagine Dragons playing but decided not to dwell on it in the heat of the moment. 

“Hey! When I give you the signal, lower the gate!” He yelled. You knew he intended for the message to go to the one who originally opened the shutters in the first place, but he was too obviously disturbed and in shock to do anything other than stare fearfully at what was happening. 

“You’re fucking useless!” You yelled at him before standing to your feet and running to the management room. Once you got there, it only took a short look around the room until you found the switches. 

“Lower it! Now!” You heard and took it as the signal it was to press the lower button of the gate. You wasted no more time on it before running out the door and checking on the boy you were now acquaintanced with. 

You cursed your, and his, luck when you saw the end of the fire extinguisher's life start to show and for it to sputter to a stop. The boy froze in fear as the monster took slow steps towards him and extended his tongue again.

“Dude, move!” You screamed and started running toward him. What made you stop was the monster suddenly being slammed into and thrown out the doors along with the lady you talked to earlier. The boy took the initiative to grab ahold of the shutters and keep them from closing while she tried to run back. “Hurry!” You screamed at her when she looked back at the creature after it threw a shard of glass at her, tripping her. You ran forward, crouching under the shutters and holding your hand out for her to grab, pulling her towards you and to safety when she did. “Let it go!” You screamed at the bespectacled boy when everyone and everything was inside. The shutters dropped to the floor loudly just as the tentacle tongue slid through one of the gaps, stopping only inches away from the lady’s face and scaring the three of you half to death. It writhed and snapped back and forth before sliding out of the shutters altogether and back into the monster’s mouth. 

The three of you panted for a moment, silence overcoming the area around you as the Imagine Dragons song also started to fade away. 

“Thank you,” Eun-hyuk said, breaking the quiet and expressing his gratitude to the woman beside you, who was still tightly gripping your hand. 

You decided not to tell her just yet. 

“What was that?” She asked, slowly releasing your hand and giving you a thankful nod. 

“Not a human, that’s for sure,” Eun-hyuk responded. 

“At least my boss won’t be as pissed at me if my reason for being late is a tentacle-tongued monster trying to kill us,” you lightly joked, still panting from exertion. It fell short even to yourself when you looked further outside and realized that wasn’t the only monster out there. 

Your mind instantly went to your family, and you breathed a sigh of relief knowing they were most likely safe. 

But they have no food. 

The boy looked down at you after helping the woman up and his eyes caught on your still-bleeding arm. 

“Are you okay? I didn’t know you got hurt.”

You startled at his voice but shot him a shaky smile. “Yeah, I’m fine, it was just from the glass,” you reassured and took his extended hand to help you up. 

As the three of you were all finally standing, the other residents slowly trickled back in, each with hesitant and fearful expressions. 

“Hey,” the older, loud man from before said to the woman beside you. You realized she was leaning all her weight on her left leg and bleeding out her right, but decided you would keep that to yourself until later when you could help her. “I heard you’re a firefighter. What’s the government doing about this?”

“You’re a firefighter? That’s so cool,” you praised under your breath. You assume she didn’t hear you when she answered the man’s question. 

“I’m sure they’ll handle it.”

“We’re paying so much in taxes. They can’t take care of one monster?” He complained and you looked at him incredulously.

“No. It’s not just one,” The boy you walked down the stairs with said just as you unintentionally interrupted him. 

“Have any of you actually looked outside right now?” 

Everyone turned to the shutters again, looking out and realizing exactly what the world was becoming. 

“What the hell is going on?” The woman questioned under a fearful breath. 

“I don't know,” The boy said. “Maybe the world… is finally coming to an end.”

The tension and unease growing in the air was unbearably thick. It filled your lungs and made it hard to breathe until you found something to focus your attention on. 

“Hey,” you called to the lady still standing next to you. “You’re injured. Let me help. There has to be a first-aid kit somewhere around here.”

She looked hesitant, glancing between you and the wound on her leg before nodding reluctantly and following you when you started walking. 

You walked over to the edge of the hallway where there was a simple bench perched up against the wall. After motioning for the woman to sit down, you walked into the management room and started looking for a first-aid kit. Luckily, you found it faster under the desk holding the security cameras and brought it out to the woman. 

You kneeled down in front of her with the first-aid kit beside you. “Can I roll up your pant leg or do you want to?” You asked politely. She didn’t respond, instead just leaning down and, in a manner you believed to be too rough, pulled the pant leg up above her wound and held it there. You decided silence might be your best option with her. She didn’t seem like a very talkative person, so you worked quietly as you picked the stray small pieces of glass out of her wound and wiped it down with an alcohol wipe. She winced but otherwise didn’t move around much. After bandaging the relatively small wound, you stood up and smiled at her, offering your hand to help her up as well. 

She took the offer and stood to her full height, pulling the pant leg down and over the bandage before offering her hand in a more standard handshake. “My name is Seo Yi-kyung. Thank you for helping me.”

You beamed at her, taking her hand and introducing yourself as well. “I have a lot of first-aid experience from being a clumsy kid so if you ever need help with that, just know that I am here.”

She gave you a small, awkward smile like she wasn’t used to it. Then, she turned and walked away. 

All in all, you’d say it was a job well done and you’d made a new acquaintance.

[quack-quack-snacks]

Time Will Tell - Chapter 1.5

My Time Will Tell Masterlist

My Cha Hyun-su Masterlist

My Navigation and Masterlist

The Time Will Tell Glossary

Warnings: Anxiety? Word Count: 1,815

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The worry and anxiety about your siblings and father got worse with each minute. It was fine in the beginning, knowing they should be safe inside your apartment, but with every growl you heard outside the apartment walls, the more the dread in your gut sank like quicksand. 

Watching Yi-kyung and the man in his military uniform as they carried the man who was attacked by the monster into a separate room so as to not constantly traumatize the residents made you feel sick with fear. 

Not for yourself, but for all the people in the lobby with you. Fear for Yi-kyung and the boy you learned was named Eun-hyuk, no matter how little you knew them. But most of all, fear for, of course, your family. 

It was the pleading of the desperate mother in the lobby with you that was the last straw for you. 

“My daughter isn’t back yet!” The woman protested as the residents started to barricade the gate, putting whatever they could find in front of it to make up for the wall it lacked. “What are you doing? You can’t block this! If anything happens to Min-ju, it’s all your fault!”

You stopped from where you were dragging a medium-sized dry-erase board you found in the management room and looked at her. Your face remained blank but your eyes showed everything. Eun-hyuk just looked at the mother, his own face blank of any emotion. 

“Block it,” he told everyone. The mother looked back at him with shock and a hint of betrayal. 

“Please wait,” she told the two beside her before running over to another two residents dragging over an arcade game machine and trying her best to stop them. “I said wait!” She pushed the one closest to her out of the way and opened her phone to show Eun-hyuk the tracking app she had on her phone. “She’s here!” She pleaded with him. “I can go get her quickly and come back! Open it, please!” 

You sympathized with her emotional state but couldn't think of anything you could do to help. 

“I can’t do that,” Eun-hyuk answered the woman before grabbing onto the machine where she had pushed the other man to help move it over. She pushed him again, her expression becoming one of more anger rather than just stress.

“And who are you? Do you know who I am?”

“I have to keep this place safe,” he told her. 

“There’s no way you can know that’s actually her, too,” you supported him, slowly starting to drag the whiteboard over again. “She could have dropped her phone, and you would just be going out there blindly.”

“Then that’s my decision to make!” She screamed at you. Eun-hyuk grabbed onto the machine again, starting to pull at it while the woman fought against it. “Please, stop it. Stop!”

Suddenly, everyone’s phones started to go off, buzzing with the same type of alert you’d get if a natural disaster were to occur. You weren’t entirely sure if this disaster could be considered ‘natural’ with the way the monsters looked outside, but you decided not to dwell on it.

“It’s working,” the boy wearing a light green shirt over a black and white striped undershirt said. You’d come to learn his name was Jae-hwan. He was the same one who opened the door for you the first day you moved back into the apartment complex.  

Everyone, safe for you with your broken phone, pulled out their devices and started looking at the alert. You moved to Eun-hyuk’s side and peered over his shoulder to look. He moved it so you could see more easily. 

The alert read: 

EMERGENCY DISASTER

[MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR AND SAFETY] DISASTER ALERT: ANYONE SHOWING ABNORMAL SYMPTOMS SUCH AS NOSEBLEEDS, BLACKOUTS, OR SUDDEN AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR MUST BE IMMEDIATELY QUARANTINED. 

“Is it an epidemic?” You heard one of the residents say, though you couldn’t place which one it was. You heard people talking but couldn’t tear your eyes off Eun-hyuk’s phone screen. 

You could hear sobs as they bounced off the walls and echoed around the room, and you could feel the fear radiating off everyone around you. It filled the air like a thick smoke and did nothing to help you deal with your own emotions. 

“Are you okay?”

It took you a moment to realize that they were talking to you. It took you even longer to raise your eyes from the screen and to look into the calm, brown eyes of Eun-hyuk. 

You tried your best to smile but it was little more than a slight tilt of your lips. “Y-yeah. I think… I think I just need a minute.”

You stumbled over to a bench, the same one you helped clean Yi-kyung’s wounds on, and fell onto it heavily. You brought your knees up to your chest and plopped your chin on top of them, staring mindlessly into the void as you tried not to think of every possible bad outcome that could happen to your family while you weren’t with them. 

“Let’s all go home,” you suddenly heard Jae-hwan say after a while of everyone sitting around in silence. He had just been pacing back and forth until then. “What are we doing sitting here?”

“Won’t the rescue squad come?” The shorter man with glasses and a dark teal shirt, Seung-wan, asked him, his previously anxiously bouncing leg stopping. 

“Do you not see this? Huh?” He asked somewhat condescendingly. “I think we’re all fucked.”

“Our country won’t go down like this. It won’t,” Seung-wan tried to say with conviction, but the wavering in his voice betrayed his lack of confidence. “Right, Mr. Military Man?”

The ‘Mr. Military Man’ in question snapped his head over and stood up straight when called upon. “Uh… Yes. You’re right,” he said. You scoffed in response, only receiving a quick glance from the residents but otherwise being ignored. “If you stay calm and wait-”

“I can wait at home!” Jae-hwan screamed in response. 

“Oh!” The taller man who hung around the loud, short man exclaimed. “There must be an emergency shelter nearby. Right?” He suggested. 

Jae-hwan rolled his eyes in frustration. “We don’t know where.”

You blocked out the rest of the conversation, your head throbbing from all the arguments and yells. It got even worse when some of them started heading towards the stair doors, intending to go up only to be blocked by a few of the other residents. You rubbed your temples and looked at the clock on the wall to see what time it was. 

11:47

It barely felt like it had been five minutes, let alone more than two hours. You don’t know where Eun-hyuk wandered off to, but he was nowhere in sight. The thought had you feeling a sliver of fear traveling up your spine but you knew he could take care of himself, as he had proved earlier in the night. 

A sudden banging on the door and the silencing of the yells caught your attention and you stood up quickly. You watched as everyone backed away from the door in fear when the handle started to turn and quickly tried to look around for something to defend yourself and the people around you with. You came up with nothing just in time for the door to burst open and reveal-

A man?

He looked normal, besides the burn mark on his right cheek, but you didn’t think that made him look any less normal or… attractive even. He had on some light brown shiny khakis along with a beautifully decorated button-up shirt that made you wish you had something like it. A blazer that matched his pants was gripped tightly in his hand. It was only after a second of him standing in front of everyone that you noticed the blood on his right shoulder. 

“What are you looking at?” He asked, scanning the faces of the people surrounding him. He turned to the right and walked a few steps before you, and the people in the circle realized the blood on his shoulder came from a bite mark. He stopped in his tracks when he saw the barricaded state of the gate, sighing softly in annoyance as Seok-hyeon, the older loud man who owned the shop of the building, yelled at him to stop. 

“Byeong-il,” Seok-hyeon said to his companion. 

“Yeah?”

“Check him. Go and check him.”

“What, me?”

They argued back and forth for a bit as you got up from your seated position and wandered toward the man to make sure he was okay. You were stopped by a familiar presence and hand.

You looked up at Eun-hyuk but he wasn’t looking at you. Instead, he was looking cautiously at the newcomer as Byeong-il went to check the wound. You only looked away from him when you heard the sound of a taser and the thump of a body on the floor. 

“I got him! You saw me, right?” Seok-hyeon said nervously, still holding the taser with caution. 

“Why would you do that?” You asked him, pulling yourself away from Eun-hyuk’s grip and jogging to kneel beside the passed-out man on the floor. You somewhat registered the other newcomer who came in through the doors but focused your attention on the first one. “He didn’t even do anything!”

“Haven’t you seen any movies? The bitten one is always the one to destroy the group!” Seok-hyeon explained like you were stupid but you gave him a look of disbelief. 

“Those are just fucking movies! This is real life! Don’t base your knowledge off of fictional situations!”

The man pushed you away and you fell backwards while they started to drag the man into a separate room. You watched silently, conflicted about how you should feel about what they were doing. 

The opened door tempted you to go back upstairs, back into your home, and reunite with your family so you could fight this together. You didn’t even realize you were walking towards it until the same gentle grip from before latched onto your wrist and pulled you back. 

“It’s too dangerous to go. You need to stay down here,” he told you when you slowly raised your gaze to look at him.  

“My family is up there, though. I need to find them, they… they could be in danger,” you protested, your voice breaking before you fixed it. 

“Wouldn’t you running in just mean you would be put into danger too? They’re in your apartment, right?” He asked and you nodded. “They should be alright as long as they stay there, but you need to keep yourself safe too. So stay here.”

You stood there for what seemed like ages, contemplating his words against your raging anxiety. Eventually, you gave a slight nod and moved away from the door. 

He closed it soon after.

[quack-quack-snacks]

Time Will Tell - Chapter 1.12

Can you tell that I'm having trouble finding gifs that fit the chapters?

My Time Will Tell Masterlist

My Cha Hyun-su Masterlist

My Navigation and Masterlist

The Time Will Tell Glossary

Warnings: Minor character deaths, passing out 🤪. Word Count: 1,706

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According to the clock on the wall, it was 5:13. When your legs got tired of wandering in circles, you chose to join Eun-hyuk in the surveillance room. It had been a while since you’d talked to him since he spent all his time in there, just waiting for his sister to come back downstairs and for Yi-kyung to return from her brave venture into the basement. 

A knock on the door brought his attention away from the wall of screens and over to you as you entered into the room. 

“Hey, everything okay?” He asked once he turned around to look at you with his normal blank stare. His voice was quiet but had the slightest hint of concern. 

“Yeah, everything’s good. Seok-hyeon has selfishly completely blocked off the market to everyone except him and his wife, so our food source is down unless that opens up again,” you sighed and propped yourself up onto the table next to him as he returned his gaze to the camera. After opening your wallet, you saw the limited amount of cash you had. “I was thinking we could all combine our cash and use it to buy as much food as possible. At least that way Seok-hyeon would open the door for us,” you theorized out loud. He refocused his attention on you as you came up with ideas for what you could do about the food situation. “Maybe we could just steal some,” you theorized again, this time much quieter and sneaking a look at the door to make sure no one was coming in to hear you. 

Eun-hyuk softly laughed at that idea and you shot him a sheepish grin. “That doesn’t sound like a terrible idea honestly.”

Your grin turned more confident and teasing. “Exactly! Wow, Eun-hyuk, never expected you to be one for thievery. Such a rebel,” you teased with a light laugh. 

“We need as much help as we can get,” he said, his voice starting out with a light tone but fading to a more serious one.

You nodded, the smile on your face becoming more subdued. “Yeah of course. Oh! That reminds me, there’s a new guy in the lobby now. He came down with a suitcase full of food that he shared with everyone.”

“That’s good at least, we have a better hold of the food situation for now,” Eun-hyuk nodded.

“I guess, but he seems… off. I don’t know what it is but I don’t trust him,” you confessed, fiddling with your fingers as you remembered the feeling he gave you when you saw him walk toward the group with that suitcase. 

“Okay,” Eun-hyuk started, trying to reassure you and validate you about your feelings. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

You nodded and smiled at him gratefully. “Thank you, Eun-hyuk,” you told him. He nodded in return and looked back at the cameras, occasionally glancing back at you as you sat there in silence. When you felt the air start to thicken with a bit of awkwardness due to the silence, you took it as your leave and stood up. “Well, I’ll see you later, yeah?”

“Yeah, see you later,” he replied. “If you see my sister, could you send her my way?” 

You nodded with a reassuring smile. “She’s tough, she’ll be okay.”

He nodded, looking down at his lap. He was worried but he knew your words were true. Eun-yu was tough, tougher than he wanted her to be. He knew it was the trauma of losing their parents that caused her to be that way, just like how it caused him to become the caretaker of the both of them. 

Even if she hated him for it. 

He shook his head when the daily music sounded from the speakers, realizing he’d been staring at the door where you’d just walked out of. Instead, the music reminded him of when he tried to use the speaker system to call for other survivors. He tried the other day to announce it over the speakers but it didn’t work.

‘Maybe this time…’ he thought.

And so, he stood up to try again. It was the same as before for the first few tries, just straight static and no connection to the building’s speakers as he tested it with his voice. 

It was only after he kept trying, attempting to keep his mind off his wandering sister, that it finally worked. 

You were just wandering around when you heard the speakers projecting Eun-hyuk’s voice all over the building. 

“Survivors,” he announced. “The first floor is safe now. Come to the first floor. We’ll be safer together. We survivors… Must stick together. Please come down. Come down here now… I said, please come down-” His voice cut off and the speakers went back to being silent. You sighed, hoping there would be some people who would be brave enough to get down to the first floor and bring some food and water, but you weren’t going to place any bets on it. 

Your pacing stopped when you heard distant screaming and arguing and you started running towards it. Once you saw the group, you ran up beside everyone. “What the hell is happening?” You asked Eun-hyuk, who looked spooked by your sudden presence. 

“Min-ju! Run!” The woman screamed again just as the young girl was fully in view and revealed herself from behind a flipped-over truck. She sprinted as fast as she could towards them, not stopping or slowing down and not even looking at the ground as she ran. That was her downfall when she tripped over a pothole in the ground, spraining or possibly even breaking her ankle. Jin-ok continued to scream for her daughter as she limped towards them, pain and fear showing on her face. 

“Shouldn’t we do something?” Jae-hwan asked. “We need to decide now!”

“What do we do?” Seung-wan screamed out. 

Just as you had made up your mind that you wouldn’t just let this girl die without any help, you quickly started to step forward. You couldn’t get more than a foot forward when Eun-hyuk protectively wrapped his arms around you, stopping you from moving any further. 

“No!” You screamed. “Let me go! She needs help!” You protested, he just tightened his grip around you without saying a word. You struggled and screamed some more until the two of you were bumped into, stumbling to the side as Su-ung - the resident dressed in military clothes - ran forward, nudging everyone out of the way as he sprinted out of the gate toward Min-ju. Your struggling stopped as you watched him get closer and closer, getting nearly within reaching distance of her until-

Stab!

The tongue of the monster you’d fought off during the first night pierced its way through the chest of Min-ju and through the stomach of Su-ung. With his hand still outreached for the girl, he coughed up blood and fell to the ground with a slap from the tentacle. Min-ju was even more unlucky. The tongue stayed pierced through her as it seemed to be stealing her life, just like it did to that man that first night. It lifted her off the ground, everyone too much in shock at the moment to do anything besides watch in horror as she was harshly dropped onto a concrete slab on the ground. 

Blood dripped down each of the two’s faces, scattering the red liquid all across the bricks underneath them. 

Jin-ok finally broke out of her shock, wailing as she watched the life drain from her daughter’s body. 

“She could still be alive, you know,” the new man said quietly as he approached from behind you and Eun-hyuk. His words broke you out of your stupor and you shot him a glance before moving into action. You watched as Seung-wan and Jae-hwan ran to close the gate and you sighed slightly in relief as you saw it start to close ever so slowly. 

“No way,” Eun-hyuk said as he ran to pull everyone away from the entrance. You took the next step of lifting the storage cabinet to block the entrance again. Eun-hyuk came up to help you when he saw you struggling slightly from the weight and you both succeeded in lifting the box. 

It was so fast you almost didn’t see it happen when the cabinet’s door swung open, knocking Eun-hyuk away with the force and sending him onto his back while you stood less than an inch away from the creature’s tongue. It opened and closed its ‘mouth’, slithering around while it searched for its next meal. You became a statue with how still you stood. You didn’t breathe, didn’t blink, didn’t do anything in shock and fear of the creature. You could hear Eun-hyuk quietly calling your name but you had no reaction, not until the creature slithered back out of the hole when it started to be crushed by the lowering gate. 

You panted heavily as Jin-ok started to sob loudly. Eun-hyuk stood up, stumbling over to you, probably just as much in shock as you were, if not a little less. 

“Are you okay?” He asked. His voice was breathless and shocked but still had worry lacing each word for you. 

You didn’t respond. You couldn’t. How could you respond after having the fear of God put into you when you almost died. 

“It’s all your fault!” Jin-ok sobbed out, standing up and going to Eun-hyuk. He turned around to face her, his face blank of anything as he tried to comprehend everything that was happening. “I should’ve gone out!” She started to punch at his chest in her sorrow. “It’s your fault. You killed her!” 

You wanted to stop her, tell her she was wrong with her words and Eun-hyuk wasn’t at fault at all, but you just couldn’t move. It was like your brain had disconnected from everything else. Your feet were cemented to the floor, your eyes glazed over and unfocused, even your ears made everything sound like you were underwater. You could hardly even breathe. 

Correction, you couldn’t breathe. 

Everything was light and bright and you could see and hear things the way they were, and then there was only darkness.

[quack-quack-snacks]

Time Will Tell - Chapter 1.3

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The Time Will Tell Glossary

Warnings: Being late to work, nothing else really, cursing? Word Count: 1,656

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After you cooked the frozen cheese stuffed tortellini and green beans, a unanimous decision among the family between that and soup, you spent the rest of your day at home relaxing and playing with Su-yeong and Yeong-su, making your brother’s dinosaur roar and attack him with tickles. While you didn’t eat a giant serving at dinner, you hoped the average serving that you did eat would hold you off until your meal break during your shift. 

Around 7, you decided it couldn’t hurt to start a movie with your family before your shift. After all, you had an alarm set, right? 

Wrong.

It didn’t take long for time to fly by. The next time you looked over at the screen on the oven showing the time, it was already 8:10. That was 10 minutes after your designated bus pick-up time. You quickly cursed to yourself and rushed to your room to grab your work bag - consisting of your work uniform, which you would change into when you got there, and your list of essentials: wallet, phone, etc. After that, you quickly made your rounds around the couch to say your goodbyes to each family member. Yeong-su was falling asleep on your dad’s shoulder and Su-yeong was eating popcorn, her attention barely moving to you as you kissed the top of her head since her whole focus was on the movie. After you gave your dad a quick and final wave, you ran out the door, locked it behind you, and started speed-walking down the hall to leave for your shift.

You opened your phone to call your co-worker Hae-won as you ran, mindlessly pressing the button pointing down next to the elevator when you got there. 

“Shit, shit, shit,” you cursed under your breath as you looked back over to the elevator when you heard no movement and realized it was ‘under maintenance’. “Since fucking when?”

You smoothed a hand over your head as you turned towards the staircase entrance and started carefully treading down. You always hated going down the stairs. Staircases never had a good rep when you were a woman, especially at night. 

Ring-ring.

Ring-ring.

Ring-ring.

“Hey, it’s Park Hae-won, leave a message.”

You hung up to try again when you heard banging coming from the hall a few levels above you. 

You shook your head and called again, only to find a loud screeching sound coming from it. It freaked you out so much that you actually threw it away from you. You rubbed your ear which was ringing from the noise as you approached the face-down device on the ground and reached to pick it up.

“Please, please, please, please, please,” you begged to yourself quietly before just ripping the bandaid off and flipping it over. Your head fell in disappointment when you saw the entire screen cracked like a spider web. “Of course.”

Picking it up, you clicked the power button a few times and frowned when it wouldn't turn on. You decided to just ignore the problem for the moment and put it in your bag until further notice; preferably until you could get it fixed. 

Just as you were zipping open the pocket of your bag to place your phone inside, you heard the door to the floor below you open up. Looking down the stairs, you met eyes with a boy who seemed to be around your age or older. He wore a grey shirt with a red and white flannel on top along with casual blue jeans. Atop his nose sat some black wire-rimmed glasses that fit his face well. 

“Oh. Hello,” he said after a moment of the two of you staring at each other. He scanned over your crouched form and broken phone and only a small pull of his brows conveyed his concern for you on his otherwise blank face. “Are you alright?”

You gave him a semi-embarrassed smile and stood back to your feet. “Yeah, I just dropped my phone. Doesn’t seem to be working anymore,” you frowned again as you looked down at the broken device in your hands, pressing the power button to no avail. “I was calling my co-worker and this weird noise scared me so I kind of… just... threw it,” you told him sheepishly, trailing off as you realized it might have been too much information than he needed to know. You threw him another embarrassed smile and he returned it with a small but genuine one. 

“Do you want to borrow mine on the way down?” He offered. 

You walked down the short collection of steps separating you from him before answering. “No, that’s okay. I don’t remember her number anyway,” you confessed before your eyes lit up. “But it would help a lot if you could look up the next pick-up time for the bus down the street!”

He nodded and started walking down the steps, expecting you to follow him which you did. It only took a second or two after he opened the app to realize he had no service.

“Oh,” you sighed when you glanced at the screen. You reassured him with a smile, albeit a little disappointedly. “That’s okay. I’m sure there’s one coming soon so it’ll all work out.”

“You shouldn’t stay at the stop too late if it doesn’t come. Especially if you’re alone.”

Your forced smile turned into one more genuine and you nodded at him. “Thank you for your concern. I-” you trailed off, about to reveal your taser, pepper spray, and knife that you had on you, but realized that probably wouldn’t be very smart to say to a guy you just met in an empty staircase. “I’ll just head back up if anything goes wrong.”

“So, why are you heading down the stairs this time of night?” You asked him, not liking how the silence settled over the two of you like a blanket.

“I have night classes, so I’m on my way there,” he admitted. “Where are you headed?”

“I work the graveyard shift at the convenience store on Yulgok-ro. I have for about a week or so,” you told him just as you saw the sign above the door you just passed say ‘2’, meaning you just passed the second level. Sure enough, you saw the opened doors to the lobby floor come into view after only a few more steps down and let out a sigh of relief. “Thank god we’re here. I hate stairs.”

The boy laughed softly as the two of you exited the staircase. You laughed along with him but it slowly faded when your eyes landed on your - and your boss’s - worst nightmare. 

“What the hell?” You whispered to your newfound acquaintance as you looked at the lowered shutters blocking your and everyone else in the lobby’s exit. 

“Excuse me,” a lady’s voice asked from behind the two of you. You both turned around and saw a woman with her hair in a low ponytail dressed in grey cargo pants, a white shirt, and a brown long-sleeved overshirt in front of you. “Do either of you have cell service?” She asked. 

You turned to look at the boy you ventured down the stairs with and saw him attempting to make a call. It didn’t take your ear to the phone to hear the same noise you heard before you accidentally threw yours earlier. “I guess not,” he told her. You guessed it was for the sake of courtesy above anything else since the two of you figured that out on your way down. 

The lady sighed in disappointment. 

“Do you know what’s going on? Why are the shutters down?” You asked her as you looked at all the frustrated, confused, or straight-up panicking people around you. 

“Did you two just come down here?” She asked in response.

“Yeah,” the boy answered for the both of you. 

“Didn’t you see anything strange?” She asked again, oddly vague. 

“Like what?”

“Never mind.”

“No wait-” you stopped her with a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Please tell us,” you begged. She sighed and turned back around so you continued. “What’s going on?”

“We’re trying to find out. The back doors and the parking lot doors are locked as well,” she explained.

“Are you saying we’re trapped in here?” The boy asked. 

“Yeah, I think someone may have locked us in.”

“Fuck, my boss is gonna be so pissed,” you whispered to yourself as you looked around for another possible way out. 

Yelling from in front of the management office gathered all of your attention and you walked behind the lady as she approached. 

“Is it still closed?” You heard her say as you followed loosely behind. You weren’t all too surprised to watch her push the lady holding her dog and the loud short man out of the way to kick at the doors to the room. 

You looked around when you didn’t see the glasses-wearing boy come to stand beside you and saw him walking towards the group with a red item in his hand.

It was a fire extinguisher. 

He extinguished your confused thoughts when he parted through the crowd with polite words and broke the chain locking the door with only two hits of the tin cylinder. 

“Are you okay, sir?” He asked the loud, shorter man who had been yelling the whole time. The older man had fallen backwards - dramatically, might you add - when he was breaking the chain. “Your hair.”

When he got no response, he placed the extinguisher onto the floor and turned around, heading down the hall presumably towards a different exit. 

“That little fucking jerk,” the man cursed him.

You let him go off on his own and started walking down a different hallway where you knew there was an emergency exit located. 

The walk was quiet and peaceful until you heard the faint sound of someone screaming, “Found the damn switches!”

[quack-quack-snacks]

Time Will Tell - Chapter 1.17

My Time Will Tell Masterlist

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The Time Will Tell Glossary

Warnings: Grieving, crying, Hyun-su having self depricating thoughts. Word Count: 2,156

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You waited by the entrance to the stairs all night, your eyes begging for sleep but your persistent worry over Hyun-su taking priority. The only time you got up from your seated spot on the ground was when you heard fighting.

You thought fighting was kind of a loose term for it, though. It was really just Sang-wook killing Yoon-jae after finding out he kidnapped and killed all those kids. You only saw a glimpse of the pictures from the phone he dropped before Jae-heon picked it up but it gave you enough of an idea of the situation. 

Okay... So Mr. Blazer has good style and a good heart. A great combination.

You hadn’t realized you dozed off until two familiar tiny people tackled you.

“Unnie!”

“What! What? Huh?” You woke up with a start, snapping your head up and not realizing who-what-when or where you were until you saw ⅔ rds of the three people you’d been missing horribly for the past week clinging to you like you’d disappear. “Oh, my- dongsaeng? You’re here!” You hugged them close to you, kissing both of them on the head as you tried to comprehend everything. When they pulled back from you, you saw how their faces were tear-stained and how the cries weren’t stopping. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” You asked them anxiously. 

“A-appa... he... Noona...” Yeong-su cried out in broken sentences, returning his head to the crook of your neck where he sobbed quietly. 

“W-what?” You asked nervously. 

“Appa f-fell from the window,” Su-yeong started to continue her brother’s words, “H-he’s gone.”

She also returned her face to the other crook of your neck, relying on you for comfort despite this being your first time hearing about it. 

Hyun-su and Eun-hyuk watched from further down the hall, their conversation being interrupted from the moment your siblings saw your sleeping form. They saw the shock in your eyes and the way your arms tightened around the two, squeezing them close and caressing their hair while whispering sweet words of comfort into their ears. Slowly, they continued their conversation from before the distraction, still glancing over at you occasionally but not focusing all their attention on your family moment. A moment you would probably want to remain private. 

The conversation stopped again when they looked over again and saw you walking towards them, your two siblings asleep on each shoulder. It was heartbreaking to see the unshed tears that gathered along your waterline as you stopped in front of them. You flashed them a quick, watery, halfhearted smile. “I’m gonna go put them in the daycare for bed and maybe get some rest too. I’ll see you both tomorrow,” you addressed them both before facing Hyun-su and speaking to him directly, your voice breaking halfway through. “T-thank you for bringing them home to me.”

He didn’t know what to say so he just nodded and allowed you to pass by him and Eun-hyuk. You sniffled, trying to keep it together at least in the presence of your siblings, not wanting even the slightest chance of them seeing you like that. You knew they needed you to be strong. You were the only person who they could turn to right now. You couldn’t break, for their sake. 

When you got to the nursery, you gently placed them down in the napping corner, placing your jacket over them when you found the small box labeled ‘BLANKETS’ empty. You didn’t wait long before lying down next to them, giving each of them a kiss on the forehead and resting your head on your arm. You knew you wouldn’t be getting any sleep that night, but it was okay.

As long as they were with you. 

You were right to think you wouldn’t get any sleep because you didn’t. You stayed up the rest of the night swallowing your tears and brushing your fingers through the two children's hair when they stirred. You heard the whispers, saw the shadows of the residents who gave you space - most likely a command from Eun-hyuk that you would thank him for later. You were thankful, but it just made the need to cry even worse. 

You stayed there until the morning light shone through the covered windows and onto the two beside you. You watched fondly as the light made the two stir but wasn’t enough to wake them up. It was relieving honestly. You weren’t sure you were ready to be strong just yet. 

Instead, you got up to leave the room, knowing they would be safe while you were gone, especially since you wouldn’t be gone for long. You traveled to the area of the lobby designated to food with a hollow look in your eyes. The supermarket had been completely cleared out since Seok-hyeon started his symptoms so the food could be managed and distributed properly. 

You could see the pity and sympathy each resident you passed by gave you but you paid them no mind. You didn’t want to think of what you lost. You wanted to think of what you regained. And what you regained was two of your precious family members that you loved so dearly. 

“‘Morning,” you said to Jae-hwan, the current resident in charge of the food distribution, with your lips curled up the slightest in a pathetic attempt at a smile. “I’ll come back for my sibling and I’s food in a bit but could I just have Cha Hyun-su’s portion? I want to give it to him myself.”

He looked surprised before a slightly disgusted expression took hold of his face. “Why would you want to do that? He’s just a freak, you shou-”

“I haven’t had a great past 24 hours, so I’d suggest you shut your mouth while I’m still feeling nice,” you warned, giving him a tired glare that still seemed to do the trick as he swallowed nervously. He nodded and served you Hyun-su’s portion without any further comment. You gave him a nod of acknowledgment when he gave it to you, no longer bothering with the fake smiles. 

The walk to the arcade room was a nice change of pace, the soft chatter that filled the main area quieting with each step you took and leaving you to yourself. As you entered the arcade, you made sure to be mindful of your volume since Seok-hyeon was still asleep, snoring peacefully on the couch. 

It bugged you that of all people, he got the couch, but what could you do about it? Hyun-su wouldn’t complain, you knew that much about him, so it wasn’t worth fighting for it if he would just give it up before it was given to him. 

Speaking of the boy, he was awake before you walked in, sitting on his makeshift bed and looking at nothing. 

You walked over silently and sat down beside him. He didn’t make any moves to show he noticed your presence besides the small twitch of his fingers which lay in his lap. You sat there with your own hands in your lap, waiting for the right moment to give him the food you held. After a minute, it seemed like there wasn’t a perfect time to hand it over so you just reached over and placed the food in his lap with a plop! 

He looked down to see what was there and saw a bowl of rice and a small pack of seaweed. With minimal emotions showing on his face, he turned to look at you in question. 

“A thank you,” you explained. “For bringing my family back to me. I would’ve gone up long before if I realized my dad…” You swallowed harshly and looked away when you felt tears building up in your eyes. “Just… Thank you.”

“I was just doing what I was told,” Hyun-su muttered rather dejectedly as he also looked away from you. “That’s all.”

“But that’s not all,” your voice broke and you looked up, trying to stop your tears from falling. “You saved them after my father lost his l-life and couldn't protect them anymore. After I couldn’t protect them. That is something I will never be able to fully repay you for, but I can at least keep you as well-fed as the rest of us. So eat up,” you insisted while abruptly standing up and walking back towards the exit when the first tear of many fell down your cheek. 

Hyun-su let you walk off without a word, too wrapped up in his shock over you wanting to thank him when he wasn’t even able to save your dad. While he knew his death wasn’t his fault and was the fault of that eye monster, it was still something he could have done to help avoid. Then those kids would still have their father. You would still have your father. 

It was as if you heard his thoughts as you stopped in the door frame and turned your head slightly. Not enough to let him see your tear-stained cheeks but enough so you were speaking more directly to him. 

“I don’t blame you. For anything. You did your best, and you helped people. You help people. That’s all I could ever ask for.”

And then you left the room.

You stopped by the bathroom and kitchen before heading back to the daycare, rinsing the evidence of tears off your face and grabbing your siblings and your rations. You carried them carefully but they fell from your hands the moment you heard the undeniable sound of your siblings’ wails. You ran, not caring about the food on the floor - it was all sealed individually anyway so it didn’t matter - you only cared about the safety of your siblings. You thought they would be safe by themselves, were you wrong?

No. 

You weren’t wrong.

The wailing was coming from your siblings, but it was also coming from Jin-ok as she embraced the two and they cried together. You sighed in relief, thankful none of them saw you so you could go back and grab the forgotten food off the floor before returning. You set the rations down on one of the small tables carefully and approached them. With a gentle hand, you alerted Jin-ok to your presence prior to wrapping all three of them in your arms. 

Once again, you allowed yourself to be an anchor of support for the people you cared about. It was something you’d done your whole life.

And it was something you would do again without hesitation. 

Sitting in a circle teaching your siblings how to make an origami flower was something you would expect to do on a normal weekday. After their days at school, you might’ve taught them so they could give a flower to their teacher. 

That life was over now, though. In this new life, you were teaching them how to make origami flowers for the funerals happening soon for Jin-ok’s daughter and the military man. 

“Then you fold it like this,” you showed them, creating the first ‘petal’ of the flower. 

“Noona, why can’t we get appa?” Yeong-su asked, sniffling while he tried his best to fold the origami. 

You sucked in a harsh breath, looking at your two siblings, both who were looking at you. “Well, appa fell down in a place where it would be too dangerous to try and get him back. And it w-would be too sad to see him. I don’t want you guys to have to see that,” you confessed, trying your best to keep your voice steady for them.

‘I have to be strong.’

“That doesn’t make any sense, though!” He complained, another teary state taking over. 

You looked at him sadly before motioning for him to come closer to you. When he did, you picked him up and placed him in your lap, hugging him tightly as he cried silent tears into your shirt. “We’re going to make a grave for appa, okay? We’ll make it really pretty and we’ll know that he loved…. That he loves us. So let’s get back to making those flowers, yeah?” You asked. He nodded in response and climbed off your lap, choosing to sit right beside you instead with his head leaning against your arm. 

You looked up at Su-yeong and saw her looking down at her half-made flower sadly. “Su-yeong,” you called her. She looked up with sad eyes. “Come over here.”

She waddled over to your other side - the side not occupied by her brother - and sat beside you, also leaning her head against your arm. 

You sat there with them, making your origami flowers and playing with their hair. You forced yourself to be strong and not cry in front of them, but it was so fucking hard. 

All you knew was that you would protect these children with your life. If you lost them, you didn't know how you would live with yourself.

[quack-quack-snacks]

Time Will Tell - Chapter 1.26

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My Navigation and Masterlist

The Time Will Tell Glossary

Warnings: N/A really Word Count: 1,318

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onto your clothes and didn’t even need to look down to see it was your two younger siblings. You wrapped your arms around them just as Jin-ok approached you and handed you your axe. “Take them somewhere safe and stay there. Protect them.”

You knew what she wasn’t saying because it’s what you were thinking as well. 

‘At all costs.’

So you grabbed Yeong-su’s hand while he grabbed Su-yeong’s and you tugged them over to the safest place you could think of.

It was only after an hour or so had passed, when the sun was starting to fade over the horizon and all the growls and howls and bangs had stopped, that you were found by Eun-yu when she came looking for you. After that, you immediately went off in search of Hyun-su only to find him sleeping against a filing cabinet in a secluded room. 

You watched as his chest rose and fell a few times just to give yourself some peace of mind before ultimately deciding to leave him alone for the night and get some sleep yourself after a quick shower.

You didn’t sleep for very long when Eun-yu somewhat drunkenly woke you up. 

“It’s story time! Don’t be a bum, come and hang out with us!” She whined and you laughed, reluctantly agreeing and listening to Gil-seop tell his scary story. You didn’t want to be rude to him or Eun-yu, but you were falling asleep more and more with each word. 

BANG!

The door to the daycare slammed open and you jolted awake with a yelp. Everyone had a similar reaction as they saw the unknown new man walk in and dash straight for the drained jar of Korean wine. He greedily ate scoop after scoop of the marinated berries at the bottom. Yi-kyung walked up behind him like a mother following her wandering child and sighed. 

“Who are you?” Mr. An demanded while holding up a metal pipe. 

“I think he’s a runaway soldier,” Yi-kyung explained her theory. 

The soldier pushed the jar away from him when he saw the mess it made on his hands and started mumbling incoherently before falling to his side and passing out. 

Everything seemed to blur as they took him into another room and everyone settled in for bed until you found yourself aimlessly wandering the dimly lit halls with a candle. Your side still hurt so it was more of just stumbling around while using the wall to help you, but you’d be damned if you woke someone up to help you have a midnight stroll. 

You’d be damned if the perfect person you could ask wasn’t sitting on the staircase you were walking straight towards. 

Hyun-su looked to be lost in his thoughts while staring at his wrist before you announced your presence with a small, “Hey.”

He looked up and his eyes widened at the sight of you. You stumbled over, using the rail of the stairs to help you as you ascended and sat a level above him, placing the candle you held between the two of you. “Hey,” he replied, a little too late for the conversation but you decided to ignore it in hopes of not embarrassing him. 

“You shouldn’t be alone without a buddy, you know,” you teased. “I’m walking around without a buddy because both my official and unofficial buddies are passed out, drunk, in the daycare.”

“Are you scared?” He asked you after a beat. 

You sighed, thinking about your answer before saying it. “I don’t think so. Not for myself, anyway. I’m more scared about what will happen to Yeong-su and Su-yeong, to be honest,” you shot him a non-committal smile. “Hopefully, when this is all over, they can go back to living a semi-normal life.”

“Do you… think there will be a time after this?” He questioned rather pessimistically with his head down. 

The silence went on for a while until you decided to break it with an attempt to lighten the mood. 

“Hey, give me your phone.”

“Huh? What? Why?” He asked in return and you flashed him a cheeky smile. 

“Just do it. Just for a minute,” you insisted. He reached into his pocket and placed the unlocked phone in your extended hand. “Thank you,” you expressed as you searched around before settling on the Contacts app. “How about after all this…” You spoke as you typed, sounding a little distracted before finishing. “You give me a call and we can meet up, yeah?” You handed the phone back to him with a shy grin. 

He took it back, staring at you for a moment before he glanced down at the cracked screen. There, he saw your name with a heart emoji written into his contacts. He was stunned, just staring at the phone until you gasped, remembering something and snatching the phone back out of his hands. 

“Oh! I forgot to put a picture in! Hold on,” you insisted as you opened up the camera and held it up, fixing your hair and wiping a stray drop of blood from your cheek. Then, you scooted closer to Hyun-su, who had been stating his thoughts at you in bewilderment and awe and held the phone up to take a picture. “Say cheeseeee!” You took the photo, smiling brightly at the phone, but when you looked at it your smile turned into a frown. “Hyun-su! You weren’t even looking at the camera!” You complained, turning to look at him and finding him already looking at you. 

He sneaked a glance at the photo and couldn’t help the stuttering of his heart when he saw it. You looked just absolutely gorgeous with your smile. Sure, he wasn’t looking at the camera - instead looking at you with the smallest hint of a smile on his lips - but it was 100% worth it for that joyful look on your face in the photo and the adorable pout you sported as you looked at him in real life. “It’s perfect.”

You felt your cheeks heat up at his soft tone and tried to huff it away as you started making it your contact photo. “I wish you would’ve looked at the camera though.”

He couldn’t help the warm feeling that grew in his chest, and he honestly didn’t really want to. When you handed the phone back to him, he spent a long moment just staring at the screen, admiring the way your smile was brighter than the phone itself. 

He only broke out of his trance when your pinkie suddenly interlocked with his. “What are you doing?”

Your lips shaped a shy smile and the sight tugged at his heartstrings. “You’re making a promise to me. Promise me you’ll call me when this has all cleared. Please.”

He couldn’t deny you when you sounded like that, so he minisculely tightened his grip around your pinkie. “I promise.”

He said it so softly you thought you would have fainted on the spot if his touch wasn’t grounding you. With your shy smile growing even shier, you pressed your thumbs together with a soft giggle and a whisper, “Promise.”

Neither of you truly knew what the feelings growing inside you between each other were, but neither of you wanted it to go away anytime soon.