#Time Will Tell 💌 quack-quack-snacks

[quack-quack-snacks]

The Time Will Tell Masterlist

(Picture from @ hyunsuwife on pinterest)

Cha Hyun-su x Fem!Kim!Reader

Warnings: Talk of past self harm, near suicide attempt, violence, monsters, slow-burn, angst, fluff, possible smut in future chapters. Total Word Count: 60k+

My Navigation and Masterlist

My Sweet Home Masterlist

My Cha Hyun-su Masterlist

Most would think moving back in with your parents was a weird and uncool thing to do.

You disagreed.

Moving back in with your dad meant seeing him and your two younger siblings, Kim Yeong-su and Kim Su-yeong. It also meant you were moving into an apartment complex that housed the cutest boy you'd ever seen.

After a few random encounters and then a monster apocalypse, you figure out your feelings for the boy. How will you navigate these feelings? Are they reciprocated?

Only time will tell.

Glossary

Season 1:

| Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 |

| Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 || Chapter 6 |

| Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 |

| Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 |

| Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 | Chapter 15 |

| Chapter 16 | Chapter 17 | Chapter 18 |

| Chapter 19 | Chapter 20 | Chapter 21 |

| Chapter 22 | Chapter 23 | Chapter 24 |

| Chapter 25 | Chapter 26 | Chapter 27 |

| Chapter 28 | Chapter 29 | Chapter 30 |

| Chapter 31 | Chapter 32 | Chapter 33 |

| Chapter 34 | Chapter 35 |

Season 2:

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Time Will Tell - Chapter 1.20

My Time Will Tell Masterlist

My Cha Hyun-su Masterlist

My Navigation and Masterlist

The Time Will Tell Glossary

Warnings: Blood and injuries Word Count: 2,575

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“It will only be for a little while, okay? I’ll be back before you know it,” you promised, placing a kiss on Yeong-su and Su-yeong’s foreheads as they started to worry about you and the new plan you made. 

“Please, don’t get hurt,” Su-yeong begged you and you nodded with a smile, promising her you would come back safe and sound. 

You walked over to Jin-ok who was watching the scene between the three of you and placed your hands on her shoulders. “Please, take care of them while I’m gone. I’ll be back soon,” you pulled her into a hug and whispered your next words. “But if I don’t come back, don’t let them fall into despair. They deserve a good life.”

She nodded at you when you pulled away and you smiled. With a quick grab of your bag, holding just the bare essentials you had - including your soiled sweatpants after you changed into your work pants - you walked out of the nursery and started heading in the direction of the stairs. 

You hadn’t told Eun-hyuk you would be joining Hyun-su. Hell, you hadn’t even told Hyun-su you would be joining Hyun-su, but you were joining him no matter what. You didn’t expect him to stay with you anyways, you just needed to go to the 12th floor and grab the things you needed before heading back down. 

Because you hadn’t told either of them, Hyun-su had already started ascending the stairs and Eun-hyuk had already returned to the surveillance room when you reached the staircase entrance. You knew he would see you on the cameras and scold you when you got back but you didn’t care. You slipped through the doors as quietly as you could and started running up the stairs. You could see the messy mop of hair that belonged to Hyun-su just reaching the third level. 

“Hyun-su!” You called out and you could see the flinch it caused him to make. You felt bad but kept ascending. “Hyun-su, it’s me!” You said again, hoping to ease his fears. You got up to where he was pretty quickly - especially with him descending to reach you faster as well - and saw him standing there with a confused and concerned expression on his face. 

He said your name in a whisper, looking at you like you weren’t real. “What are you doing here? You shouldn’t be up here, it’s dangerous!” He said, trying to lead you back downstairs. 

“Cha Hyun-su, I am not going back downstairs. I need to get some stuff from my apartment so I am coming with you.”

He looked even more confused then. “Why didn’t you just tell me what you needed when I asked?”

You smiled lightly. “I don’t want you to worry about my stuff. You have enough things with those lists everyone’s been giving you,” you said the last sentence bitterly. “I’d prefer if you weren’t doing this at all but I know that won’t happen.”

You saw the light blush that started to creep up his neck but decided not to mention it. “I would’ve gotten them for you,” he tried one more time; this time, less confident in his words. 

“I know you would’ve. That’s why I turned your offer down,” you told him gently, slightly teasing but not wanting to scare him off. “Now come on, let’s go get the things everyone ‘needed’,” you told him as you held up air quotes with your fingers. 

He nodded reluctantly and looked at the list given to him by the residents. “The first room is 613.”

“Okay,” you agreed. “What do they need?” You asked and held out your hand for the paper. He gave it to you without any protests and you read it, your face getting more annoyed as you read through each item. “This is fucking ridiculous,” you cursed under your breath. You kept your walking at an even pace despite your anger and allowed him to continue taking the lead. “Sending you up here to get tarot cards of all things.”

He stayed silent and you decided to not say anything else about it. He probably had been thinking the same thing anyways. The two of you continued walking up the stairs in silence until you got to the 6th floor. 

After a lot of protesting from the boy, Hyun-su finally agreed to let you go with him and not just wait outside the staircase’s doors. You helped him enter the code to the door of the first apartment and search the rooms for everything they asked for. Luckily, the list only had three rooms to check on it. The rooms just had a lot of stuff you had to retrieve from it. 

You reached the door to the 12th floor and stopped in your tracks. Hyun-su stopped after a few steps, realizing you weren’t following him, and turned around. His face was confused, wondering why you were stopped on a floor they didn’t need to stop at. 

You smiled at him, albeit a little sadly. “I just need to grab some stuff from my room. You go ahead without me, yeah? I’ll catch up in a bit.”

It was then he realized the floor you stopped in front of was the 12th floor. Your floor. You walked over to the door when he didn’t respond and opened it, prepared to go in alone until the door opened wider without your help. Looking over your shoulder, you saw Hyun-su there with a determined look on his face. “I’ll come with you.”

“But what about-?”

“I’m not leaving you alone,” he interrupted you to promise. 

You held the intense eye contact between you, both determined and unwilling to back down, but you couldn’t help the way you melted under his caring gaze. After a few more moments of staring, his gaze unwavering while yours started to falter under its intensity, you looked away and sighed. “Fine. Let’s go then; don’t want to waste any more time,” you conceded. 

He smiled a little as you turned your back to him and reached for the door. His smile dropped though and he rushed forward when your hand touched the door knob. “Wait!” He said loudly before clearing his throat and trying again. “I should go first, just in case something’s in there.”

You frowned. “If something is in there I don’t want you going first just to end up getting hurt. That’s awful.”

His stare was blank as he watched you, unrevealing of the storm of emotions whirling within it: confusion; relief; protectiveness; anxiety; but more of all, a growing affection he couldn’t quite seem to control. That last one made him more and more nervous regarding his monster. Whether he wanted to recognize it or not, he was falling for you and it was a hell of a dive. His desire - previously only being his want deep down to give back all the hurt he received to everyone who wronged him in his life, as well as his slight resentment towards anyone who was happier than him - started to include you in it.

He desired you.

Not in the resentment part, but in the way that he wanted you by his side forever. 

He wanted you by his side as he killed everyone, taking back what he deserved.

He hadn’t even realized his eyes turned black and he lost all control until it was already too late. 

You watched as the darkness unfurled from his pupil and covered the whites of his eyes, leaving them as a pair of bottomless pits that you could get lost in. The small gasp of shock you let out was almost unconscious, as was the step back when he took a step closer to you. Your hand was still on the doorknob, trapped under his from when he grabbed it to stop you from opening the door. A manic grin placed itself upon his lips, showing more of his monster’s side than his human’s. 

You didn‘t realize how you were being backed into the door until your back hit it with a soft thump. You would’ve hit your head on it too but Hyun-su’s hand was already covering it and protecting you; it made you blush a bit. 

“Um… Hyun-su?” You asked hesitantly. His eyes were still fully black and his smile manic but you couldn’t bring yourself to fear any part of him. Eun-hyuk would call you stupid, no doubt, but you just couldn’t be afraid of him. Not him. Never him. 

Not when he always looked at you so softly. 

Not when he always asked you if you needed anything before his trips.

Not when the few times he’d ever touched you he acted like you were made of glass. 

Not him. 

“I’ve been waiting to meet you,” he giggled, his hand protecting the back of your head sliding down your neck and shoulder to your waist. You gasped when his burning touch met you there but you must have been Rhianna because you liked the way it hurt and stilled your body in fear that one move and he would pull away. (Love The Way You Lie by Eminem ft. Rhianna)

“What do you mean?” You asked. You had a suspicion of what he meant but you weren’t sure. 

“The last thought he thinks about before he falls asleep… I have to say, the memories he holds pale in comparison to how you look in person,” he complimented and you felt your cheeks burn. He lifted the hand holding yours on the doorknob and brought it to your face, brushing a knuckle down the slope of your cheekbone. His eyes followed the path of his fingers as he did. Or… at least you thought they did. It was hard to tell when they were just a black void. “So pretty…”

You cleared your throat, trying unsuccessfully to cool the heated skin on your face before speaking. “Wha- I don’t understand,” you confessed. 

He laughed and buried his face in your neck as he answered; his words vibrated against your skin with each word. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

He then completely disconnected from you and you watched his eyes start to fade back to their natural brown. His face immediately formed one of concern as he looked at you. 

“Are you okay-?”

“Are you okay-?”

The two of you spoke at the same time. You lightly chuckled but he didn’t seem to find it amusing as he continued to watch you with worry. 

“I’m okay,” you promised when his glare wouldn’t abate. “Are you okay, though? You look a bit shaken up.”

He nodded, his eyes lingering on your flushed face before going to the door behind you. “Yeah. Let’s go,” he then looked at you, a hint of amusement in his eyes but mostly remaining serious. “And let me go first.”

You rolled your eyes with a fond smile while he opened the door. The spear which you hadn’t even realized he set down at some point was back in his hands and gripped tightly. He was ready for anything and promised himself he wouldn’t let anything happen to you. 

The door opened with a soft creak and you cringed. Hyun-su stepped out first, looking back and forth in each direction of the hallway before deciding it was clear. He shot you a glance over his shoulder to make sure you were following before stepping through the door. 

You crept around behind the messy-haired boy, cursing yourself for not bringing some sort of weapon. If anything were to happen you would have to rely entirely on Hyun-su.

‘Fuck,’ you thought to yourself with a frown. ‘I’m no better than anyone downstairs.’

After that thought, you were determined to not be a damsel and looked around for something, anything, to protect yourself with. Your eyes brightened when they landed on a glass case with an axe inside. The case said ‘BREAK GLASS IN CASE OF EMERGENCY’ and you thought this was emergency enough for you to take it. 

The only downside was you couldn’t figure out how to break it and you didn’t want to slow Hyun-su down any more than you already had. So, with an intrusive thought you didn’t think about nearly as much as you should have, you sent your non-dominant fist flying into the glass. It hurt like hell but you held your breath to keep from making any excess noise as the glass broke; luckily, the sound of it shattering was much quieter than you expected it to be, but that could’ve been because you were in the staircase for 12 flights of stairs and each of them made your voice echo loudly no matter your volume. Your knuckles were bloody, shards of the shattered glass had cut them. Damn, you were stupid sometimes.

Hyun-su whipped his head around at the noise so fast you would’ve thought he might have given himself whiplash if you were looking at him. Instead, you were reaching your non-dominant hand through the broken glass to grab the axe and pull it out. The bigger pieces of glass still connected to the case grazed your skin even more when you pulled the weapon through and the blood dripped down your fingers and onto the handle before falling to the ground. You didn’t notice Hyun-su was right next to you until you saw his hands enter your peripheral and ever so gently grab the axe from your hands. He placed it on the ground, leaning it against the wall beside his spear. After that, he wrapped a hand around the wrist of your injured hand and pulled it closer to him. 

“Why would you do that?” He asked softly, lightly scolding you but mainly worried and confused. 

“I don’t want to be a burden, so I’m choosing not to be one,” you said with a determined tone. He raised his gaze from your hand to look at you scrutinizingly. 

“You’re not a burden. Why would you think that?”

You sighed, trying to shove the guilt down for making him worry. You were so stupid, why didn’t you just use something else to break the glass? “If a monster comes and attacks, I would be useless and just have to depend on you to protect me. I don’t want to use you like that.”

He smiled gently, squeezing your wrist lightly. “It’s not using me if I offer it,” he tried to reassure you but you still frowned. He leaned down and grabbed both weapons in one hand while the other still held your wrist. When he stood back up, he turned to you with a look in his eyes that looked almost fond, but you pushed that thought away, not wanting to get your hopes up. “Come on, let’s go find your apartment.”

You followed behind him quietly, his hand still lightly wrapped around your wrist to keep you close as he led you down the hallway. He kept his eyes and ears peeled for any monsters but there weren’t any, luckily. Before you knew it, the two of you made it to the apartment and you entered the code quickly to get in. 

0717. It was the date of your parent’s wedding. You let out a shaky sigh just thinking about your parents but entered the apartment quickly nonetheless. Hyun-su followed close behind you and closed the door as quietly as he could. 

[quack-quack-snacks]

Time Will Tell - Chapter 1.23

My Time Will Tell Masterlist

My Cha Hyun-su Masterlist

My Navigation and Masterlist

The Time Will Tell Glossary

Warnings: Hyun-su meeting his monster, reader is a cutie pie, the beginning of the basement and spider monster scene. Word Count: 1,443

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It was dark when Hyun-su opened his eyes, the only light a strange watery reflection on the walls he was surrounded in. Somehow, he knew what he was experiencing wasn’t real, and that thought was solidified when he sat up and saw himself standing 2 meters in front of him. The only difference between the two of them was the fully black eyes of the one standing. 

“What are you?” Hyun-su asked the boy who looked like him.

“I don’t know,” the monster answered honestly, his face devoid of any emotion as he spoke.

“What?”

“I honestly don’t even know what I am."

A rush of calm washed over him as a strange but pleasant sensation ran across his forehead. The monster in front of him seemed to feel it too, because they both sat there in silence, not trying to find out what it was that made them so calm. Rather, they were just enjoying it. Enjoying the strange feeling in their hearts as the touch continued. 

It was only after a minute when the feeling left completely that the monster spoke again, his motives much more clear with his next words. “You can start over in this place. You can live however you want now.”

“But if I reveal my desire, I’ll become a monster?” Hyun-su asked from his place still on the ground. 

The monster’s face formed a manic smile at his words. “Yeah. So tell me what you really want.”

The monster snickered as the original Hyun-su stood up and walked over to him, suddenly holding his spear. “Fuck you,” he said before jamming the spear into his other self. 

Except, the spear didn’t touch flesh. It stuck itself into a mirror, shattering it so that the monster Hyun-su in the reflection seemed to multiply. 

“Fine. Good luck, then,” the monster taunted before the same calming sensation passed over their foreheads. 

Hyun-su took a step back from the mirror and dropped the spear. The smile dropped from his monster’s face and he seemed more at peace than the entire interaction Hyun-su had just had with him. The touch moved down until it stopped at his upper arm, and all he felt was contentedness. It was a feeling he hadn’t felt in years. 

“Oh, I see,” his monster suddenly said. Hyun-su snapped his head back to him from where it had shifted away. “It’s her, isn’t it?”

Just as he was about to respond with a question, asking what it was his monster meant, his eyes opened. He found himself back in the arcade room, lying down on a few crates with his head on a soft fabric cushion. A warm hand rested on his upper arm, just like the feeling in his dream, and it caressed little shapes with its thumb. He raised himself from the crates, looking over his shoulder at where you sat reading. Or well, you were reading. Now, you were looking at him with a soft smile but concern in your eyes. 

“You’re up,” you said softly and pulled your hand away from his arm. He instantly missed the touch but did nothing to try and get it back. “I was worried about you. I am worried about you.”

“I’m fine,” he said on instinct and you gave him a light glare.

“I know that’s not true. You don’t have to hide how you’re feeling from me, Cha Hyun-su. I’m not sure if you trust me already, but I hope you feel you can someday.”

“I do,” he whispered, looking back down at his lap.

“Hm?”

He hesitated for a moment, taking that moment to look up at you again with such a sincere look in his eyes that you felt your heart skip. “I do trust you.”

Your heart skipped again at his words. “You… you do?”

He nodded, interlocking his fingers and averting his gaze back to his lap. You smiled and nodded, your face heating up despite his words being so simple. So simple yet so powerful. 

“Now be honest with me. How are you really feeling?” You asked him after the two of you sat in silence for a long moment. 

“I’ll be fine,” he reassured you.

“That’s not what I asked, Cha Hyun-su. I asked you how you were right now?” He sighed almost imperceptibly and looked down at his lap, staying quiet. You sighed too, reaching down and pulling out the first-aid kit again. “Now this is familiar, isn’t it?” You teased as you pulled out the band-aids in the kit. “If you don’t want me to see where you’re hurt, that’s fine… but you should treat them. They might heal quickly and you might not die from anything as serious as infection, but you still need to take care of yourself,” you whispered. You took out one of the band-aids before grabbing his hand and wrapping his fingers around the box holding them. Then, you gently lifted his right arm up, presenting the scars on his skin to you. You unwrapped the band-aid you took out and placed it over the healed wound. Then, as a response to the intrusive thought when it popped into your head, you pressed a gentle kiss onto it. Your face flushed and you glanced up at him embarrassingly before gently placing his arm back into his lap. “Goodbye, Cha Hyun-su,” you whispered before turning around and escaping out of the room. Your face burned as you played the whole interaction you had with him over and over in your mind. 

Eun-yu, who had originally come looking for you when she didn’t find you in the nursery when she returned, had seen everything and was smiling so brightly. She was serious when she said you were her best friend all those days ago. She didn’t have many friends, so even you showing her the sliver of kindness that you did made her want to keep you in her life forever. 

She walked away from the door since you escaped through the other exit and immediately saw her brother and Yoon Ji-su walking towards the door; her brightened smile disappeared immediately when she realized what they were there for. 

The night passed by quickly when you fell asleep next to your siblings, holding them tightly and keeping watch until your eyes were too heavy for you to hold them open. You ended up being the last one to wake up. Everyone decided to leave you in peace until you rose on your own, something you were equally frustrated and grateful for. 

When you did get up, the first thing you did was head straight to the arcade room and check on Hyun-su. You weren’t sure if he would be upset about what you did yesterday but you didn’t want to avoid him just because of that fear, especially when everyone else made it seem like he was the physical embodiment of the plague. 

You walked into the arcade room, expecting Hyun-su to be sitting there and staring off into space but finding the room empty instead. You felt anger but also confusion as it flared inside you. You weren’t sure what they could possibly be sending him up for this time but you were going to find out. 

You slammed the surveillance room door open when you got to it and opened your mouth, ready to curse Eun-hyuk out again. You stopped when a familiar figure was staring directly in the lens of one of the cameras. 

���Hyun-su?” You asked into the air, but it was quickly replaced with a gasp when his body got flung backwards and was left dangling in the air by a string. It looked like a giant spider web, but you wouldn’t be surprised if the monster was a spider. 

“Shit,” you heard Eun-hyuk mutter but your gaze was too trapped on the screen showing the boy you were slowly starting to grow affection for getting wrapped up in the webs of a giant spider-looking creature. “Han Du-sik, you’ll stay here and watch the cameras,” he then turned to you, grabbing your attention away from the screen and directing it to him. “You too.”

“What? No! I need to be down there with you guys!” You protested. 

“No, you don’t. What you need to do is be here with your siblings in case something goes wrong. They need you,” he said, and you could tell by his tone that he wanted the same to be true about him and Eun-yu. 

You waited for a few seconds, turning the idea over in your head before letting out a sigh and nodding. “Okay, just please bring him back safe.”

“We will.”

[quack-quack-snacks]

Time Will Tell - Chapter 1.15

My Time Will Tell Masterlist

My Cha Hyun-su Masterlist

My Navigation and Masterlist

The Time Will Tell Glossary

Warnings: Cursing, panicky feelings, the voting scene. Word Count: 1,545

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The papers pulled out and accounted for were placed on the table while Eun-hyuk kept track of them with the whiteboard behind him. It was down to the last two slips of paper in the box and you were getting worried, the fear and panic building up inside your stomach and threatening to take over. 

“If one of the last two ballots is in favor, he’ll be kicked out,” Eun-hyuk declared as Seok-hyeon grabbed all the slips and looked around at the residents in the room with something like betrayal. 

“Seven people opposed? Are you all crazy?” He yelled. 

“Opposed,” Eun-hyuk read off the next one he pulled out and wrote it on the board, just like he did with the others. “Eight to eight.”

“All the bitches and bastards on his side should be thrown out with him!” He screamed, looking directly at you and the three people near you: Eun-yu, Ji-su, and Jae-heon. 

“Will you calm the fuck down?” Ji-su asked him, her face curled into one of disgust. You would have said something too but your throat was closed up with your anxiety. 

“Don’t get worked up yet,” the boy keeping score placated everyone, looking at you in particular when he noticed the growing panic on your face. “The last vote here will determine the result.”

He drew the final paper from the box and you buried your head in your arms, reminding yourself to breathe.

In. 

Out. 

In. 

Out. 

In- 

“Invalid.”

You looked up as he showed the paper to everyone, revealing the circle with an X drawn through it. You didn’t know you could feel such relief but you did and let your head fall back against the pillar behind you. 

“Oh, no way!” Seok-hyeon cursed as he grabbed the paper from Eun-hyuk’s hands and turned to Byeong-il, demanding he bring Hyun-su to the room. “Bring that bastard here!”

“Y-you mean me?”

“Yeah! We need to get rid of him!”

Byeong-il looked reluctant to do it but eventually walked off to retrieve the boy. 

“Voting, my ass!” The older man yelled at the boy in the front before turning around. “Are you all crazy? Did you forget that someone just died?”

“Are you against the result?” Eun-hyuk asked rather calmly. 

“What?” Seok-hyeon asked as he turned back around to face him. “You don’t know squat. Murder is killing a human being, not killing a giant fucking monster!” He flipped the small table holding the box and papers over, it falling rather anticlimactically to the floor. 

In a moment of what you liked to call instant karma, his nose started bleeding tremendously, the first sign of monsterization. 

“This is… it’s just because I’m tired!” He tried to reason, walking towards the middle of the group while everyone backed away from him in fear. You stayed on the ground, watching the scene in slight amusement that you wouldn’t dare show on your face. The amusement faded when he stopped in front of a familiar figure donning a black hoodie. You quickly stood and looked at his face, a face you missed despite you seeing it no less than an hour ago. 

“Hyun-su…” you whispered. His eyes flickered to you but he kept his attention on the bleeding man in front of him. 

“You better brace yourself,” he warned, almost tauntingly. 

“What?” Seok-hyeon asked?

“The monsters are coming for you.”

You nearly laughed at the fury that filled Seok-hyeon’s fear-filled eyes. “You son of a bitch!”

Hyun-su moved his gaze to the box and papers scattered on the floor, walking over and kneeling down. He picked one up that already had a circle drawn on it. “Can I cast my vote?” He asked, hovering the paper with a circle above the box. 

“Hyun-su, what are you doing?” You objected, ready to walk forward and pluck the paper from his hands if it were for Eun-yu grabbing your arm and pulling you back. 

“If I put this in, he’ll be thrown out too, right?” He asked before looking directly at Eun-hyuk to make sure. You let out a light gasp when you saw his pitch-black eyes. “Am I right?”

The thud of Seok-hyeon’s body falling to the floor interrupted the staring contest between the two and everyone looked over. The blood still pouring from his nose pooled around his face and chest, staining his white shirt beyond repair.

“That’s right,” Eun-hyuk declared, drawing everyone’s attention back to him and the question asked. 

“Wait! No, no, no, we can’t just kick them out! Some of the monsters weren’t evil! I’ve seen them through the windows, how are we sure these two won’t turn into those types of monsters?” You tried to reason, looking at Eun-hyuk with your pleading eyes.

“Alright,” he compromised. “We’ll quarantine them. We’ll put them in the arcade room for now so we can keep track of them during the transition periods.”

Your face fell but your eyes held relief. You were happy that at the very least they weren’t going to be exiled out of the building, but you weren’t sure you were too fond of the idea to completely isolate them from everyone else. Your gaze moved from his to Hyun-su’s where he was already watching you. You moved over to kneel next to him. He still had the hand holding the paper hovering over the box, ready to cast his vote and make it so that he and Seok-hyeon would be quarantined. “Are you okay with that?” You asked him, your voice quiet and meant just for him. You wanted him to fully be in control of what would happen, but knowing that wouldn't happen you could at least tell him his options. 

His eyes remained on yours as he placed the paper in, casting his vote and condemning himself to nearly complete isolation from everyone else. “Yeah. As long as it keeps… everyone safe,” he said, nearly saying ‘you’ instead of ‘everyone’ but catching himself. 

You nodded reluctantly, whispering, “Okay.”

“The votes have been cast. The infected will be quarantined in the arcade room until further notice,” Eun-hyuk announced as the meeting came to a close. You stayed kneeling on the floor beside Hyun-su while a few members helped pick up Seok-hyeon and carry him over to the arcade room. 

Eventually, it was just you, Hyun-su, and Eun-hyuk in the room. “Time to go,” the bespectacled boy told him. You let out a sharp breath before standing and offering your hand to Hyun-su. He spent a few more moments than necessary just staring at your hand until finally raising his and accepting your offer. It was more for the sake of physical contact than for actually helping him up, but you appreciated it while it lasted, and you hoped he did too. Once he was standing, you slowly let go of his hand and let him walk behind Eun-hyuk as he started leading him to the arcade room. 

It didn’t take long for the three of you to get there. Seok-hyeon was placed on the only couch in the room, leaving Hyun-su the option of the floor or a raised plastic platform as his bed. You let out a sharp sigh, feeling your eyes sting but holding back the waterworks. Quickly, you took off the jacket around your waist, not caring about how the air seemed to be getting chillier over the past couple of days and only thinking about Hyun-su’s comfort. 

“Here,” you gave him the jacket. “You can use this again as a pillow. It’ll probably be more comfortable than anything else here.”

“No,” he refused with a confused shake of his head, still looking surprised by your endless acts of kindness toward him. “I can’t, you need this. What if you get cold?” 

You smiled. “If I get cold then I’ll come and ask for it back. How’s that sound? Just use it until then though, okay?” He still looked unwilling to accept it so you sweetened the deal. “Just for the nights you sleep in here. I’ll take it back in the morning, okay?”

He begrudgingly accepted, taking the rolled-up jacket from your hands with one last attempt to convince you otherwise. “But what if I get blood on it?”

You gave him a look that said ‘Really?’ “We’re living in the apocalypse now. A little blood never hurt anybody,” you teased. When he still looked hesitant, you gave a solution. “If you’re so worried about it, you can put your hood over your head to make sure it won’t get on it, but I really don’t mind if it does.”

He nodded, giving you a small genuine smile in thanks. Your own smile widened at the sight of his. It was the first time you saw it and it was honestly an adorable sight to behold. 

A call of your name from the arcade’s entrance brought both of your attention over there and you saw Eun-hyuk. “Come on. Time to go.”

You sighed, looking at Hyun-su with an apology painted over your face. “Don’t bore yourself to death in here, okay? I’ll try to bring you something to do,” you promised. He nodded and you turned, walking out with a final glance back at him before Eun-hyuk closed the door with a click. 

[quack-quack-snacks]

Time Will Tell - Chapter 1.05

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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 1.14

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The Time Will Tell Glossary

Warnings: Blood, boxcutter threat from Seok-hyeon, Seok-hyeon being an abusive little shit. Word Count: 1,863

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You sat in the chair beside the makeshift bed Hyun-su lay on, watching his chest rise and fall ever so slowly. The bed wasn’t much - consisting of your jacket as a pillow and his own as a blanket - but it was enough. 

Eun-hyuk tried to get you away from the boy but you refused, not allowing yourself to move from that chair. He allowed it reluctantly but didn’t feel safe leaving you alone with him so he sat in the corner. 

“Is he dead?” Eun-yu asked. You hadn’t even noticed her appear at the doorway with how focused you were on watching Hyun-su take in slow breaths. 

“No. He isn’t dead,” Eun-hyuk replied for you. 

“I’m going to get you some water, you don’t look so great,” he excused himself after you looked over your shoulder at the girl and saw how you looked. 

“Gee, thanks,” you said with a light laugh, deep down knowing he was probably right.

After he’d left the room, your fingers brushed the hair out of Hyun-su’s eyes before your eyes fell on the blood drying on the boy’s neck. Looking around the room, you found a box of tissues and grabbed it, taking some out and gently wiping them across the blood. You couldn’t do much damage to the blood staining his clothes but you wanted to do whatever you could to make him as comfortable as possible. It was after the third tissue was completely soiled and you grabbed a fourth that his eyes shot open. 

He whispered out your name and your eyes quickly looked over at him, finding him awake and alert. 

“You’re awake,” you exclaimed quietly, setting the tissues down and placing the back of your hand on his forehead, feeling his unusually cold body temperature. “Are you okay? Can I get you anything? You’re so cold…”

“W-what happened?” He got out, his eyes looking between yours as you stared down at him, a worried look he wasn’t sure he deserved on your face. 

“You passed out after you fell from the 9th floor,” Eun-hyuk’s voice interrupted you as you were about to talk. Your hand fell from Hyun-su’s forehead as you looked over at him. The boy nearly whined from the loss of your warm skin but you were none the wiser as Eun-hyuk spoke again. “It was the golden hour that saved you. Did you know that?”

“Eun-yu was the one who saw you when you fell. It was… terrifying,” you admitted. 

“It’s ironic though,” Eun-hyuk continued. “Golden hour used to mean it was the last hour you’re able to save someone’s life, you know?” Hyun-su looked off into the distance, unable or unwilling to reply to his comment. “Are you okay?”

He brought a hand to the back of his head, pulling it away and watching with wide eyes as it came back bloody. “Yeah, I think I’m okay.”

“Okay,” Eun-hyuk said, shooting a glance at you before persisting. “It’s going to be tough from now on.”

You walked in between the two boys as everyone gathered in the nursery. As you were wrapping the jacket you gave to Hyun-su to use as a pillow around your waist, it wasn’t hard to notice the way everyone seemed so cautious of the boy. Stumbling over each other to get away from him and whispering as they stared. You rolled your eyes at all of it, glancing over at Hyun-su every once in a while to make sure he was okay. It didn’t outwardly seem like any of it had an effect on him but you weren’t sure. 

The only one who didn’t scramble away at the first sight of him was Seok-hyeon.

“You’re all out of your mind. You brought a monster in here,” he said, moving past Eun-hyuk from where he stood in front of you and you stood in front of Hyun-su. Hyun-su almost instinctively pulled you behind him to keep you safe. “Don’t you dare turn. Got it? You crazy monster.”

The sound of a boxcutter opening filled your ears and you pushed yourself back in front of Hyun-su so you were standing between the two men. “I suggest you put that down before you get hurt,” you warned. “Because trust me,” you continued as your eyes never left Seok-hyeon’s. “You will get hurt.”

Seok-hyeon looked at you in shock for speaking up against him. “Why you little- I ought to cut out your tongue for that!” He yelled furiously. 

“Like how you killed that guy in the blazer before? How did that turn out, again?” You asked rhetorically as you brought a hand up and gently poked at the bruise on his forehead. “Oh, yeah. You got hurt,” you laughed. 

Seok-hyeon put the hand holding the box cutter down and held up his other one instead, about to strike you when two separate hands latched on and stopped the hand before it could reach you. You smirked slightly, a bit surprised but mainly finding it funny how the anger on the man’s face went from 10 to 100. 

“Go inside,” Eun-hyuk ordered him. He yanked his hand away before retreating to the nursery, cursing as he walked. 

The bespectacled boy sighed and rubbed at his eye before looking at you. “Why would you taunt him? You should know he’s not above hitting people.”

“He was never going to hit me. If not for the two of you, I would’ve made sure of that myself,” you promised him. You turned around so you were facing both boys and smiled at them both gratefully. “I’ll see you in there,” you told them before heading into the daycare. 

“What did you say?” You heard one of the members of the new team to join the bottom floor, Jae-heon, ask as you got closer to the group.

“We can’t just do that,” the other newest member, Ji-su, backed him up. You were confused about what you couldn’t do, but it was cleared up with Seok-hyeon’s next sentence. 

“We can’t miss golden hour,” he said, and you knew they were talking about what they should do about Hyun-su. 

“The Lord said you-” Jae-heon started until the store owner interrupted him. 

“I’m sure Jesus never lived in a world like this, did He? It’s for all our safety!”

You slid down the wall of a pillar and placed your head in your hands, another headache forming from all the arguing. It seemed that was something you were going to need to get used to in this new world. 

You couldn’t help thinking of how much you missed your dad, your siblings, hell even the annoying bird that woke you up each afternoon. You missed your home, and you weren’t sure if you would ever see it again. 

The thought made you tear up until a slam of a box on a table uninterrupted your thoughts. 

“Here,” Eun-hyuk started. You weren’t sure when he had entered the room but when he did your eyes immediately glanced around the room for where Hyun-su could be stationed. You frowned when you didn't see him.

“What’s that?” Seok-hyeon asked.

The boy held up a stack of sticky notes. “Everyone please grab a piece of paper. If you think we should expel Hyun-su then go ahead and draw a circle,” he started to explain. You couldn’t help the sliver of fear in your stomach as you figured out he wanted to do a voting system. You couldn’t figure out who would be on which side of this group and it scared you.

It scared you for Hyun-su’s sake.

 “And if you don’t think we should, draw an X. Then put the paper in this box.”

“He’ll obviously be kicked out, why bother?” Seok-hyeon asked cockily. “Raise your hand. I want him out,” he started his own voting system and faced the residents. “Hands up. Hands up!” 

No one raised their hand. 

It was when he saw this and saw not even his wife raise her hand that he turned to her. “Raise your hand, you cow.”

Seon-yeong looked contemplative, scared to disobey but not wanting to raise her hand either. Luckily, a familiar voice interrupted everything. 

“Well, I don’t,” Eun-yu announced as she walked into the room. 

“You’re way too young to vote,” Seok-hyeon complained. 

“It’s the end of the world, who gives a shit about ages in voting?” You asked quietly but everyone could hear you in the silence of the room. Eun-yu smirked at your words. 

“Exactly, age doesn’t matter.”

“How dare the two of you talk back to me? When an adult speaks, you should listen,” he scolded and you rolled your eyes before plopping your head in your arms again, something he saw. “Don’t fucking roll your eyes at me! You’ve really been pissing me off today!”

You made no move to respond to him and his attention was captured by a bunch of hand movements from Eun-yu, secretly spelling out the words “FUCK BASTARDS LIKE YOU.”

“Did you just swear at me?” The shopkeep asked her, confused by the strange movements. “If I was your dad, I’d give you a good old-fashioned beating!”

“Of course you would, because you’re abusive,” you whispered, but apparently Ji-su heard it since she was standing next to you and she let out a laugh before slapping a hand over her mouth to stifle it. You shot her a grin. 

Eun-yu smiled extra sweetly at him and shook her head. “I didn’t. I said you’re cool,” she reassured falsely before aiming a finger gun at him that spelled out the words she just signed to him and pretended to make the gun go off. 

“To protect everyone’s privacy,” Eun-hyuk continued as Eun-yu moved to sit on the ground against the pillar with you. The two of you shared a quick fist bump before paying attention. “It must be a secret ballot.”

“What?” Seok-hyeon asked, confused.

“Because expelling him… would be like taking part in murder.”

Everyone stayed quiet at the boy’s words and your eyes stared off into space, glazed over with worry for the boy you grew fond of over those short meetings. 

Seok-hyeon scoffed when he saw the looks of conflict on everyone’s faces, standing up to face them. “Privacy? No way, man,” he laughed it off before raising his hand. “I want him out. Hands up. Hands up! It’s not murder,” he tried to convince. “We’re doing this to survive. Don’t be scared now!”

He turned to his wife to start screaming at her and demanding she raise her hand but your mind drifted, your teeth pulling at your fingernails in your worry over the boy who must have been in the next room over since you couldn’t see him in the room you were in. You only stopped picking at your nails when Eun-yu pulled your hand away from your mouth. Instead, she placed a pen and paper in it, silently telling you the voting had started. You drew down an X, obviously. There was no way you were letting Hyun-su get kicked out, even if that meant threatening to leave with him or doing whatever it takes to make sure he stays safe.

[quack-quack-snacks]

Time Will Tell - Chapter 1.26

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The Time Will Tell Glossary

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

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The reaction was instant when you heard the crash. Everyone in the room with you from your place in the lobby ran up to the blocked front entrance to the building to sneak a peek through the gate.

A clanging noise is what brought your attention away from the wall you were glaring at as if you could see through it to where Jin-ok had walked in with a handful of pipes and other makeshift weapons. “Take these. We have to protect this place,” she told the three men all huddled up against the gate. You felt two pairs of small hands grip 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.

[quack-quack-snacks]

Time Will Tell - Chapter 1.12

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

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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 1.04

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 1.02

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 1.03

My Time Will Tell Masterlist

My Cha Hyun-su Masterlist

My Navigation and Masterlist

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 1.29

My Time Will Tell Masterlist

My Cha Hyun-su Masterlist

My Navigation and Masterlist

The Time Will Tell Glossary

Warnings: Fighting, gunshots, not very detailed gore. Word Count: 1,309

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“I like you, so what do you say?” The leader of the invading group asked Eun-hyuk after they found his blueprints of the place and found out he performed the surgery on Eun-yu. “Will you abandon them and join me? Or will you… just die?” He proposed the two options. 

Eun-hyuk took a minute to think it over before eventually walking over to their side. You weren’t entirely sure why everyone was so surprised by him walking over considering the other option was death, but you didn’t say anything.

The leader laughed. It sounded like wheezing or a heavy smoker’s laugh. “Good choice, hmm? Smart guy,” he praised.

“Sir!” The man with the red bandana came rushing over. 

“Huh?”

“There’s a monster here.”

They laughed and the man wrapped his arm around Eun-hyuk’s shoulders just as he did with Ui-myeong. “Let’s go kill some monsters, shall we?”

With that, they walked off. You couldn’t help the fear that rose in your chest at the thought of the monster. While you hoped it was just some random monster in the building, something in your gut made you know it was Ms. An. 

It was barely a few minutes later when you were brushing Su-yeong’s hair away from her eyes and wiping the tears that tracked down it, that another gunshot sounded in the distance. Hyun-su shot up from his spot and you instinctively reached out to grab his hand and pull him back down. 

He looked down at you as you tugged and his gaze turned thoughtful. You looked away and hugged your sister tightly with your free arm when she started letting out small crying noises. After a few more tugs, he sat down again and pressed his leg against yours. It was a simple comfort but one that you needed desperately in the moment. 

“Unnie,” Su-yeong cried. “I’m scared,” she leaned in to whisper in your ear. “What about Yeong-su?”

“It’s okay, everything is going to be okay,” you reassured before pulling her closer so you could whisper back to her. “Yeong-su will be fine. He’s most likely still hiding and he’ll be okay.”

You weren’t sure if you believed yourself but you needed to in order to convince her. 

“-really doesn’t suit our group,” you heard someone say in the distance. The volume of their voice increased with each word as they got closer.

You looked over just in time to see a man - not the one you heard - get shot in the head and fall to the ground with a thump. The room echoed the screams that erupted from everyone and you ducked down with Su-yeong in your arms to avoid getting shot as the thugs started shooting at whoever was responsible for killing the man. Hyun-su placed his chest over you, keeping you down just in case and protecting you with his body.

When the shots stopped and two men ran after the culprit, you both shot up to look around. You handed Su-yeong off to Jin-ok, who sat behind you, and stood to look and figure out what was going on. 

“Cha Hyun-su! Now!” Eun-hyuk screamed as he wrapped his arms around the leader and restrained him from all mobility. 

The boy beside you wasted no time rushing forward and knocking the guy in the red bandana over, sending his gun flying across the room. He pushed the one he was fighting up against a pillar, not seeing the one creeping up behind him. You couldn’t stop yourself when you rushed forward to help despite your side flaring up with pain. You attempted to completely knock the guy to the ground but were only able to kick his weapon away. He pushed you back rather easily with your weakened state of being and you ended up knocking into the main leader who had managed to throw Eun-hyuk over his shoulder and placed a heavy foot on his chest to keep him down. The man wrapped an arm around your neck, locking you in a chokehold that didn’t really restrict your breathing but rather restricted your movements. You struggled - especially when you saw him shoot Hyun-su in the chest - but he wouldn’t budge. 

“Everyone, stop!” The leader yelled over the chaos. Eun-hyuk looked up at you with worried eyes and you would have laughed if you weren’t in this particular predicament. It was ironic how he was the one on the floor but he was worried about you. “Let them go,” he said slowly as he held the gun in his hand up to your temple. You didn’t stop struggling even with the cold barrel pressed against your head, but you could tell Eun-hyuk and Hyun-su both wanted you to. “Or I’ll just blow their fucking brains out,” he threatened, quickly gesturing his gun to you and the boy beneath his boot. 

The residents did as he said, not wanting to see either of you dead on the floor, and the members of his group limped over. 

“Sir,” the bandana guy said, pointing to the approaching figure behind him. When he saw her - Ms. An, who was supposed to be dead - he let you and Eun-hyuk go immediately, backing up behind his group to get out of the way. 

Coward. 

You helped Eun-hyuk up just as the once-dead woman’s hand speared through the neck of the man shooting her. She kept approaching, walking towards you and Eun-hyuk while getting ready to strike. 

It all happened so fast: Eun-hyuk pushed you behind him where you landed on the floor, Hyun-su jumped in front of Eun-hyuk just as she struck, and then he choked her to death, sobbing the entire time. You would have gotten up but you were paralyzed in shock. 

He fell to his knees when she fell to the floor, still crying and shaking with guilt until he passed out. The shock wore off and you leaped forward, rushing toward the boy to check on him until you were stopped by none other than, you guessed it, the leader of the other group. He grabbed you by your collar and yanked you back, choking you in the process but not caring one bit. 

“No! Hyun-su!” You protested, still trying to get out of his hold and run to the boy you loved. “Hyun-su!”

The leader laughed in aggravation and then sighed. He threw you back and you were quickly caught by the bandana guy in another chokehold.

Goddamn, these men love their chokeholds.

You watched in horror as the leader kneeled behind Hyun-su and stuck his hand into the wound made by Ms. An piercing through him. “You have secrets, huh?”

“Sir, he’ll recover soon,” one of the men said.

“We should kill… all monsters.”

The men worked to cover Seon-yeong’s body with gasoline before lighting it on fire. You sobbed as you watched it and your struggles died down from exhaustion. 

However, your energy sprung back up the moment the men started dragging Hyun-su into the elevator. “No! Fuck! Don’t you fucking touch him!” You screamed, completely disregarding your well-being as your anger took over. 

The leader laughed and walked up to where you were still being held in place by bandana guy. His lips jut out into a playful, mocking pout and he skimmed a finger down your cheek. You cringed away but he didn’t care as he roughly grabbed your chin. “Let’s bring this one along, too. The monster seemed to care about her so she might be good leverage.”

He didn’t wait for an answer as he walked into the elevator and you started getting dragged along with him. You heard Su-yeong screaming for you and watched as Eun-hyuk tried to stop them from taking you, but got stopped with a gun to his face. You reassured him silently with a mouthed sentence neither of you believed. 

‘I’ll be fine.’

~

Taglist <3

@hyeon-yi

@haowonbins

@mythical-mushrooms13

@visualconcern

@yomsy

[quack-quack-snacks]

Time Will Tell - Chapter 1.01

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 1.06

My Time Will Tell Masterlist

My Cha Hyun-su Masterlist

My Navigation and Masterlist

The Time Will Tell Glossary

Warnings: Arguing with Seok-hyeon. Word Count: 1,902

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The night was restless for you, luckily having warmth from your jacket but becoming increasingly uncomfortable on the cold concrete floor as the hours passed. You woke up multiple times, visions of your family dying in your arms from the creatures you saw outside the gate flooding your head and making it nearly impossible to rest properly. It was about 6 a.m. when you gave up on getting any more sleep and decided to just get up. 

After a while of wandering around, you found yourself sitting next to the girl who came in after the bitten and well-dressed man from before. You weren’t sure how exactly it came to this and why you were sitting with her but you felt a peaceful and somewhat comforting feeling in her sarcastic personality. 

You learned quickly that she was Eun-hyuk’s sister, Eun-yu, and she was taking possession of his flannel until further notice. You laughed when she told you that. 

“So, why were you with that guy yesterday? It seemed like you were walking together,” you asked.

“There's no reason, really. I’ve met him in passing before, the fucking bum, but yesterday he helped save me from this freaky cannibal contortionist. We were both just walking down to the lobby after that.”

“Ah. That makes sense. Your brother helped save all of us from another freaky cannibal creature. It was a really scary situation, to be honest, and I’m glad he was brave enough to do something. Everyone else just ran away. I tried to be helpful too but all I could really do was press the button to close the gate,” you explained to her while playing with the cuffs of your jacket. She rolled her eyes and smacked your shoulder. “Ow!”

“Don’t belittle yourself! You did your best with what you could and guess what! Most of the people down here are still alive! So shut the fuck up,” she scolded you. Her tone was rude and even her words were a little condescending but you understood the message she was trying to get across. It made you smile. 

“How would you know that I did my best? You only met me 10 minutes ago,” you teased with a small smirk. 

“Only met 10 minutes ago and yet now we’re besties,” she teased back and interlocked her arm with yours, pulling you closer to her from where the two of you were sitting and over-cheerfully smiling at you. It made you burst into laughter which she quickly joined in on. 

The two of you started talking about anything and everything. It was nice having someone like her around because she seemed like such an easy person to talk to. You liked her bluntness and how she wasn’t afraid to call someone out on their bullshit. You never asked but you were pretty sure you were about the same age as her, so that was a bonus too. Safe for Eun-hyuk, everyone else staying with you seemed to be much older than you and more awkward to make friends with. With Eun-yu, you were positive you could call her a friend. 

It must have been hours later when you were in the middle of talking about your family, specifically your siblings and your fears about leaving them alone, that Eun-hyuk walked into the area you were chatting in and looked at the two of you. 

“The group has decided we will be staying in the daycare. It’s the safest place on the first floor and farthest from the entrance. You should head over whenever you can,” he told you both. Eun-yu scoffed from beside you but you subtly elbowed her in the rib while giving him a smile.

“Thank you, Eun-hyuk. We’ll head over soon.”

He nodded at your words, shooting a fleeting glance at his sister before walking back the way he came from. 

You turned to face Eun-yu and lightly pat your thighs before standing up. “Well. I’m going to go to the bathroom before heading over. So, I’ll see you when I get there.”

She grabbed your arm before you could go and shot you a serious look. “I’m going to head back upstairs to my apartment first to get some stuff. Don’t wait up.”

You hesitated before nodding and squeezing her hand. “Just stay safe, okay?”

“I will.”

The bathroom still had running water, which was a blessing you wanted to appreciate to the fullest while it lasted. If the government wasn’t able to contain this whole disaster before it spread worldwide then you would savor every bit of the modern tools you had before they were gone. 

Your point of that was proven later that day when the sun had gone down and you were sitting in the daycare reading a book. You'd found a small bookshelf in the security guard’s office with many classical reads like Romeo and Juliet, The Great Gatsby, Pride and Prejudice as well as some more indie authors that you’d never heard of before. You got about halfway through the book you chose when the lights suddenly went out and you were plunged into darkness. Confused, you sat up from your reclining position against the wall, as did everyone else in the nursery. You stood to your feet and walked toward the management room where you knew Eun-hyuk was looking at the surveillance cameras. You weren’t one to shy away from scary situations, and you decided this wouldn’t be the day you started. 

Just as you neared the door, it shot open and Eun-hyuk walked out. He looked startled at the sight of you in front of him before his expression cooled back into his normal neutral look. “Oh. Hi. I’m guessing you noticed the blackout as well?” He asked you, motioning for you to follow as he walked in one direction. 

“Yeah, none of us could see anything in the daycare so I wanted to see if you had an idea what was going on. And also offer my help if you needed any.”

“I’m not sure,” he said just as you passed some barred windows that were higher up on the wall. 

“Wait,” you said when you noticed there was still light shining through them. You quickly climbed up some of the boxes stacked against the wall, nearly falling but catching yourself in time, and looked through the window. “All the buildings down the street have their lights on. Do you think there’s a circuit problem or something?” You questioned somewhat rhetorically as you got back down from the boxes. 

“Could be. We should meet up with Yi-kyung and figure out a plan. I know the electrical unit is down in the basement so that could be an option,” he thought out loud and your eyes lit up. 

“Yeah, that’s definitely the most promising. I could maybe go down and look around, figure out if maybe something got flipped or broke,” you offered. He suddenly got more serious and looked at you. 

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to go. It could be dangerous.”

You scoffed light-heartedly. “Everything is dangerous right now. At least this way I’ll be doing something that could benefit the group and I won’t just be sitting on my ass all day.”

“The answer is no,” he shot you down, continuing his walking while you stared at his back for a moment. You could tell he was just worried and probably a little protective but it aggravated you. You just hoped the reasoning behind why he wouldn’t let you do anything was because of some stupid sexist reason - though you somehow doubted it.

The biggest reason you could think of was because of Eun-yu. Anyone with eyes could see they cared about each other like true siblings, despite Eun-yu’s complaints about him and Eun-hyuk’s cool, calm, and indifferent facade. 

You wondered if he saw some of her in you because of your similarities in age. 

When you caught up with Eun-hyuk, you walked with him in silence until the two of you got to the small supermarket with Seok-hyeon, his wife, Seon-yeong, and Yi-kyung already inside.

“Can you two stay in the management office? I need to check the electrical room,” Eun-hyuk asked Yi-kyung and you before speaking to the woman directly. “We saw some places with their lights still on outside on our way here. A blackout would affect the whole district.”

“Which means it’s probably something to do with this building and we should get it under control as soon as possible,” you urged. 

“I’ll confirm all of that when I go down there,” the boy told you with a reassuring nod. “That’s all the food we have,” he said, looking at the food inside the fridges of the market. “So, we have to be quick.”

“What?” Seok-hyeon asked as he looked at the boy beside you. “Hey, you don’t think this is all yours, do you? Don’t be fucking ridiculous,” he scolded him. 

“You shouldn’t be so selfish. If you hog all the food and we all die, then it’ll be you who’s living with twenty corpses and spoiled food,” you told him with a sarcastic smile. “You don’t want that, do you?”

“Why you little punk!” He yelled but Yi-kyung diffused the situation by responding to Eun-hyuk and his original statement. 

“I’ll do it,” she declared. While part of you was thankful Eun-hyuk wasn’t the one going down there - not only for his own safety but for the sanity of your new friend, and his sister, Eun-yu too - you were worried about the firefighter in front of you who started stuffing certain items from the shelf into her bag as she prepared for the trip. 

Seok-hyeon started screaming at her for stealing, making your ears ring while he was at it, meanwhile, she ignored all his complaints. “You’re stealing you know!”

“It’s an emergency,” she reasoned, though you felt she didn’t need to. 

“Hey!” The man screamed again and you rolled your eyes in annoyance before taking your backpack off and pulling out your wallet. Taking out 30,000 won and throwing it in the rude man’s face. 

“Please just shut up. You’ll burst my eardrums,” you complained, nearly laughing when you saw his shocked face at your audacity but holding it back. You walked out to follow Yi-kyung and Eun-hyuk after they’d left, grabbing a small pocket knife from off the shelf and bringing it with you. 

You jogged to catch up to the two just as they finished their conversation and Yi-kyung turned to leave. “Yi-kyung!” You called out to stop her. She turned around and you held the closed pocket knife out for her to grab. “Just in case anything goes wrong, you should keep this on you.”

She took the knife and looked up at you, giving a grateful nod before silently turning and heading to the basement door. 

“I’m worried. I have a bad feeling about the basement in general,” you confessed to the boy. He was staring in the direction Yi-kyung just went but looked at you at your words. 

“I know what you mean. All we can do is hope nothing goes wrong,” he said. You nodded but couldn’t shake the strange feeling you got from his tone. There was a hint of something like guilt underneath, though you couldn’t be sure you heard it correctly. 

“Hope might be all we have.”

[quack-quack-snacks]

Time Will Tell - Chapter 1.22

My Time Will Tell Masterlist

My Cha Hyun-su Masterlist

My Navigation and Masterlist

The Time Will Tell Glossary

Warnings: Kim Seok-hyeon's death tehe. Word Count: 1,879 Author's Note: I couldn't find a gif for today's chapter :(

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The rest of the day as well as the morning and afternoon of the next passed by quickly. You’d mostly played with your siblings, finally starting to feel better after that much-needed crying session on Hyun-su’s shoulder. You visited Hyun-su during both the morning and afternoon, just to check up on him and make sure he was doing okay. You also saw him when he stopped by to ask if you needed anything on his next trip up. Like always, you shook your head and refused, thanking him for the offer and wishing him safe travels. 

What you were doing right now, though, was sitting in the apartment complex’s alcohol room with your two siblings sitting beside you. You were helping along with some other residents empty beer bottles and then filling them with water. The sun outside had already faded away behind the horizon, leaving the stars glinting in the black sky. Your injured hand still hurt with every movement but you made a point to not complain and just keep doing your part in the work. 

“When do you think Hyun-su will be back?” Seung-wan asked after there was a lull in the previous conversation about Byeong-il drinking the beer. 

Your hands stilled above the bottle you were holding and you looked down. 

“I don��t know. He’s late today,” Hye-in replied nonchalantly. “Do you think something happened to him?

You hadn’t even realized how much time had gone by but it had been a while since he left indeed. It scared you a little bit, wondering if he was safe and well. 

“You know he doesn’t die,” Jae-hwan answered with a condescending voice. “Even if he gets hurt, he gets better after a nap.”

“And that’s an excuse as to why we shouldn’t worry about him?” You asked him, fixing your cold glare on him. He shifted in his seat and looked away. 

Just as he was about to respond, the whistle signaling a monster sounded through the propped-open door. It continued to blow frantically, like the person was hyperventilating while blowing into it. 

Everyone shot up from their seated positions and ran out the door, ready to take on whatever it was that was in their safe zone. 

Everyone was screaming and shouting, panicking over the slow-moving monster that looked like a human-mop hybrid. 

Sang-wook walked forward, ready to fight it off when Seon-yeong put a hand on his arm to hold him back. “That’s my husband. Stay back.”

She walked forward, ignoring everyone's calls for her to get away. “Don’t go near it Seon-yeong!”

She paused a few feet in front of him. “Pull yourself together, Kim Seok-hyeon,” she demanded. He growled and took another step forward, his hands breaking through the mess of hair surrounding his body. “Kim Seok-hyeon. Pull yourself together!” She raised the pipe in her hand up like a baseball bat before swinging it down on him. 

You looked around for your siblings and saw them standing beside Mr. Han. You ran over, grabbing both of their hands and leading them away from the scene. You heard screams and sobs echoing behind you as you led the two into the nursery. Jin-ok wasn’t far behind you when you sat them down and told them to ignore it. 

“I’ll come back in a bit when everything has settled down, okay?” You told them and they nodded. Jin-ok nodded as well, thankful you were there to protect their innocence for as long as possible. 

You ran back to the lobby when you suddenly heard the buzzing noise of the door to the stairs ringing. You walked up quickly and opened it, not at all surprised to see Hyun-su standing there. 

What you were a little surprised about were the endless voids that stared back at you in the place of his eyes. You would probably never say it but you thought those black eyes were one of the most beautiful things you’d ever see.

But they would always remain in second place to the brown eyes that lie underneath those voids. 

He was leaning against the wall and breathing heavily. When he pushed off the wall to start walking in and stumbled, you rushed forward to grab him, standing unnecessarily close to him. You looked up at him only to find him staring back at you, his black eyes fading as soon as your eyes met his. 

The sobs from Seon-yeong interrupted your moment and you remembered where you were. 

You looked away first, not letting go of him yet as you asked, “Can you walk on your own?”

He didn’t answer for a second until he nodded. “Yeah.”

“Okay, I’m going to let go of you then,” you warned him, though your grip didn’t loosen at all for a long moment. You gave him a small smile that his own lips didn’t respond to, but you could see it in his eyes how much he wanted to return it. 

When the two of you reached the bottom of the stairs, Seon-yeong had just delivered the final blow to her husband. Blood was scattered all over her face and neck, a pool of it flooding the area where Seok-hyeon’s body laid. 

You could see the horror on Hyun-su’s face as he scanned the scene in front of him, and the way he actively avoided looking at it as he started heading toward the arcade room. He stopped halfway there and looked at the pool of blood reflecting his own face, standing there for a minute before dropping the bag of stupid supplies and continuing to the room designated to him and his ‘infection’. 

You started to follow him but you were stopped by Eun-hyuk grabbing your arm and shaking his head. So, with a few hesitant looks between Eun-hyuk and the direction Hyun-su went, you started heading to the nursery to check up on the three people in there.

You sat in the nursery with the rest of the residents, candles lit all across the room since the power went out. Yeong-su sat in your lap and you rubbed his back while he cried. He was never good with the dark, always picturing monsters lurking in the shadows.

It didn’t help that now his fears were rational. 

“Let’s wait a little, Ji-eun,” Seung-wan said consolingly to your left. “It’ll be okay.”

Hye-in scoffed lightly when she sat down. “How do you know? It’s obviously not okay.”

“What’s gonna happen now? I hear we’re about to run out of food,” Jae-hwan said worriedly as he snuggled up against Hye-in. 

“The water will be cut off soon,” Ji-eun said, her voice shaking. “I’m really scared.”

“Noona, are we gonna die?” Yeong-su asked. Tears had already streamed down his face despite you trying your best to comfort him. You couldn’t say anything in fear of it being a lie, so you just held him closer in your lap, squeezing him reassuringly. 

Everyone was silent for a moment as they thought about the boy’s words. It was only broken when Byeong-il broke and spilled his fears. “Yeah, it’s over. We’re all totally fucked!” He yelled.

“Hey!” You yelled at him, using a leg to kick him harshly on the thigh. He groaned in pain but you didn’t care because the whimper of fear from Yeong-su and Su-yeong caught your attention more. You whispered words of care and love into their ears as you wrapped an arm around Su-yeong as well and pulled her into the hug. 

“I really hope I go to Heaven when I die,” Byeong-il continued, yelping and groaning when you kicked him again in the same spot. 

“So what?” Eun-yu asked. “So what? Who cares? Do you want us all to drink the fucking Kool-Aid and just give up or something?” She yelled at him before standing up. “Stop whining, asshole! Whining won’t change anything. Trust me,” she finished and walked out while you still held your crying siblings close. 

“Okay,” you decided. “It’s time for bed, yeah? Get comfy and I’ll read you a story, okay?” 

They nodded, excitement momentarily taking over their fear. They always loved when you told them stories since you did the funny voices and had a great way of painting a picture in their minds.

You told them the story until they fell asleep, cuddled up against each other with tear stained cheeks and puffy eyes. You smiled at them with loving eyes before standing up. The rest of the people in the room were also quietly getting ready for bed so you weren’t worried about them waking the tykes up while you went to go check on Hyun-su. 

You grabbed your book, a flashlight that was sitting next to the door, and the first-aid kit you grabbed from your apartment before you set off towards the arcade room. You hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Hyun-su since he stumbled through the door after you opened it. It really looked like he had a bad encounter during his trip upstairs and it scared you. You hadn’t seen any visible signs of injury on him but the way he limped and couldn’t seem to catch his balance was enough to show you he probably had some sort of concussion and/or a leg injury. It would probably be healed by morning but it was still scary to think about. 

When you got to the room, you entered quietly, not wanting to wake him up in case he was asleep. It was a good thing, too, because he was out cold on a little bench next to a pillar. You tiptoed over to the chair placed next to his head and sat down, setting the first-aid kit under your chair. Before you opened your book to start reading, you folded the jacket wrapped around your waist and gently lifted his sleeping head to place it underneath. After you finished, satisfied with how he looked at least a little more comfortable, you opened the book and started to read, balancing the flashlight you brought in the crook of the chair’s headrest and body so you could see the words on the pages. 

It must have been at least an hour or two before Hyun-su started to stir. You thought nothing of it at first until it happened again. He let out a small sound you almost didn’t hear but from the way he was moving and groaning you knew it must have been a dream that wasn’t all that dream-like. 

You placed your hand on his forehead to feel his temperature and it seemed like an instant change in his behavior. His groans quieted and he stopped moving, save for the occasional twitch. You lifted your hand, satisfied that he was calmer and returned to your book. It was only a few minutes later that his thrashing and mumbling and groaning returned, this time seeming worse and more intense. You hesitated but placed your hand on his forehead again, experimenting and seeing if what you thought might happen would happen.

Sure enough, he calmed down almost instantly and you sighed again. Moving your hand, you brought it down to his bicep instead of his head, leaving it resting there while you used your other hand to continue reading your book.

[quack-quack-snacks]

Time Will Tell - Chapter 1.08

My Time Will Tell Masterlist

My Cha Hyun-su Masterlist

My Navigation and Masterlist

The Time Will Tell Glossary

Warnings: Hyun-su lowkey kinda simping? Pretty strictly follows the shows dialogue and plot. Word Count: 1,317

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Hyun-su ran around his apartment, trying to find the blue duct tape he knew he had somewhere. When he found it, he brought it over to the kitchen counter where he used half of it to tape his biggest kitchen knife to the end of his mop stick, effectively creating a spear that he would use against any monster he might’ve encountered. 

Once he was done with making his weapon, Hyun-su gathered his jacket and anything he thought he would need in his small black backpack's pockets as he got ready to go. With the final thing being his phone and headphones, he grabbed both and stood a foot away from the door. There was a moment of hesitation and doubt that slipped through his mind when he made a call to 112 and heard the noise but he wouldn’t let himself back out. Those kids needed someone to help them and he wasn’t going to let them die from his negligence. 

With his shaking hands gripping his spear and the handle of his door, he stepped out of his apartment and into the hallway, prepared to travel the short distance to the room of the man from earlier. 

‘1408,’ he thought to himself, reminding himself of where he was headed. 

His movements were as silent as he could make them as he closed the door to his apartment behind him and snuck through the hallway, eventually arriving at the door and stepping through, just as the man had told him to do. He took off his shoes and placed them beside the door, not wanting to be rude even in the face of the end of the world. 

The man watched him enter with a straight face. “My name is Han Du-sik,” he started off the conversation when he realized Hyun-su wouldn’t. “You?”

“I’m Cha Hyun-su,” he said while averting his eyes from the man, instead focusing on the floor in front of him. 

“You’re a little shy, huh?” Du-sik asked. His tone wasn’t teasing, just a simple observation. 

Hyun-su ignored his words and shot his head up, asking the one question he traveled to the man’s house for in the first place. “How can we…” he stopped when he saw the way Du-sik looked at the word ‘we’. “How can I save the kids?”

“Well, it’s all on you,” Du-sik confessed. There were the sounds of metal parts moving together as he moved himself out from behind the desk he was previously settled at. With his legs now showing to the boy, Hyun-su could see he was sitting in a wheelchair and realized it truly was down to him and only him to save the kids. “Should I?”

Hyun-su breathed out, a sound of what must’ve been a mix of embarrassment and apprehension releasing with the exhale. Du-sik let out a sigh before speaking again to fill the silence. “I used to be a legend in Cheonggyecheon. You heard? They can build any tank as long as they have a blueprint,” he explained with a hand tiled diagonally to emphasize his point. He smiled reassuringly but Hyun-su continued to look at him with the same face he entered the room with. He let out a little hum of agreement, still mostly in shock from everything. Du-sik hissed out a breath from the silence once again filling the room. “What that means is I can transform your little stick into something much more useful,” he explained further. His words drew Hyun-su’s attention back to him and he pointed at the staff in his hand. “Hand me that thing?”

“What?” Hyun-su replied rather dumbly, his voice breathless and perfectly portraying his lack of awareness at that moment. 

“Bring that over here. Your spear,” Du-sik demanded. 

“Oh, this,” the boy looked down at his hand and realized exactly what he wanted before stepping forward. The older man leaned back when the knife’s edge was pointed toward him and Hyun-su quickly righted the way he handed the staff to him, facing the sharp point toward himself instead. He looked away from the intense eyes of the man after he’d finished inspecting the weapon, only returning his gaze when he moved back to the desk and started gathering the items he would need to upgrade his weapon. 

The two sat in silence as he worked and Hyun-su found himself thinking back to all the interactions he had with the pretty girl who haunted his thoughts.

You. 

You were like an angel with the way you moved, smiling so innocently at the security guard before he watched your face fall when you looked away. He’d felt butterflies flutter in his stomach when you directed a much more genuine smile his way when you noticed his stare. He’d felt them again when you were so effortlessly nice and held the elevator for him and when you’d expressed concern for his eating habits just a short while later. It was like night and day the way your kindness flooded through him each of the few times the two of you interacted versus the way he was treated all throughout the past few years of his life. Of course, those two encounters were hardly comparable but he couldn’t help but feel like you were truly an angel compared to so many of the people in his life. He wished he’d seen you again before all this happened but life seemed to never be on his side. 

It didn't help that he couldn’t remember what floor you got off on. He cursed himself for having two opportunities in the elevator with you to figure it out but being too distracted for both of them. To be fair, he was too busy admiring the way your smile lit up the dimly lit box room and how your laugh made him feel like there was nothing wrong with the world for a few seconds. Not to mention the concern you expressed towards him when you met him on the roof during your second meeting made his tongue - that seemed to always tie itself into a knot around you - roll into a pretzel. 

He got out of his own head with a fright when Mr. Han turned on the electric mode of his now-improved spear. It zapped and reflected its light off the sides of the room, reminding the boy of lightning. 

“They still move around with their heads chopped off,” Mr. Han reminded the boy. “A kitchen knife can’t do the job. But this will do.”

“You think… I can kill them with that thing?” Hyun-su asked, pointing at the monstrous creation of a weapon held in the man’s hands. 

“No, you cannot.”

“How do you know that?” He asked him. 

Mr. Han let out a sigh of exasperation before leaning forward and looking Hyun-su dead in the eye. “I just know it. Avoid them at all costs,” he warned. “If you come across one, run as fast as you can... no… Don’t even let them see you, yeah?”

Hyun-su swallowed nervously before his eyes settled on the makeshift weapons attached to Mr. Han’s wheelchair. “Then, why don’t you give me one of your bigger weapons?” He queried as he pointed to one of the crutches. 

“No. It’s no good. This can only fire a few shots at a time. I already fired one. I might need another one. And,” he told him before a small smile lit up his face. “The last bullet is reserved for me only. So I don’t die old.”

Hyun-su nodded in understanding before collecting the weapon from the man, stuffing the main power box into the backpack he brought over, and returning the headphones to his ears, calling 112 again. He gave a quick reassurance to the man that he would be back with the kids before exiting the room and swiftly making his way down the hallway towards the stairs.