The two ventured to the highest floor of the hotel, to the singular “grand suite” that was exclusive to the rumored, sleepless leader of Gangcheori–Dae-Seong.

“Come in.”

–His voice called after a single, gentle knock against the fine, wooden set of doors.

In they entered, seeing the silver-haired, tout man not even raising his gaze as he was busy working on paperwork, drinking from a cup of piping hot coffee.

“Jeong-Hui? Yeong-Un? What do I owe a visit from you two, at this time?” Dae-Seong asked after finally looking up after having them wait a few minutes for him to finish his writings.

The two looked between each, with him deciding to be the one to explain.

All of the details were given to the level-headed leader, who adjusted his glasses after staying silent for a moment, “I see. That’s strange, indeed. An Earthly creature morphed into a Defect of some sort, and it was that powerful? I’ll look into this–for now, here is your pay, and…”

“Potions,” Yeong-Un insisted.

“And potions,” Dae-Seong assured.

Bringing up a prompt, the man with slicked back hair waved his finger before manifesting a few of the vials containing the softly glowing, pinkish-red liquid, tossing them to the two young men.

“Get some rest–both of you,” Dae-Seong said before settling back behind his desk.

They were elated to receive the potions, quickly gulping their own down, saving the extra for Sol as their wounds rapidly recovered.

After gulping the recovery essence down, he looked at the leader, who had already begun focusing on papers.

“How about you?” He asked.

The question seemed to catch the man off guard as he looked up briefly, “Pardon?”

“You should rest, too.”

“–” Dae-Seong went silent for a moment, “…I have much work to do, Jeong-Hui. But…I’ll get some rest soon.”

He smiled at the reassuring words from the leader, waving off as he and Yeong-Un left, returning to Sol’s room as they dropped the contents of the potion into his mouth as he slept. The healing liquid mended the wound on his head, and the internal injuries he likely was inflicted with.

–_.

“Man, that turned out to be one helluva event, didn’t it?” Yeong-Un said with a smirk, scratching his head as they stood in the hallway.

“That’s a bit of an understatement…” He agreed with a wry smile, rotating his arm as it felt stiff.

“Anyway, thanks for the help. Gonna spend that extra cash on anythin’ special?” Yeong-Un asked.

It was a question he hadn’t really considered. There weren’t many things he had an interest in anymore–in fact, not a single thing came to mind.

“Not really,” he laughed, rubbing his own head, “I guess I’ll figure it out whenever I go to a shop.”

“I see…” Yeong-Un smiled, extending his fist, “Well, I’ll cya tomorrow, fire-head!”

“Right! Cya, man,” he met his friend’s extended fist, bumping their knuckles together as they marked the end of a surprisingly eventful night.

As Gangcheori slept for the night, with the trio returning to their beds for a much deserved slumber, that day reached its end.

However, the next one to come would bring its own event–one surpassing any experienced before.

–

[The Next Night]

After experiencing such a battle together, it seemed the bond between the three had grown–for better or worse.

His room was more lively than it had ever been, and more packed, with both Yeong-Un and Sol settling in, bringing in futons while speaking loudly.

“Damn! Yer’ place is spotless, fire-head!” Yeong-Un commented.

“I didn’t take you for a minimalist, dude,” Sol added.

He sighed, sitting on his bed, “Call it whatever you want, I only use my room for sleep.”

Due to the fact his room barely had anything in it, yet the two were so determined to use his place as the base for their sleepover, Yeong-Un marched back out to the halls, coming back with an entire television set.

“What the–?! Where’d you get that from?!” He asked in surprise.

“I was wonderin’ why ya’ didn’t have one in your room! I guess they must’ve skipped yer’s or somethin’!” Yeong-Un laughed, setting it down.

“I see…Oh, you guys forgot drinks!” He realized.

“Ah, crap, yer’ right!” Yeong-Un looked back.

There was only a large pile of snacks, but no drinks to be seen: that was obviously a problem.

“I’ll fetch them–you both just set that T.V. up, I guess,” he said, leaving the room in search of beverages.

As he wandered into the halls, he noticed one of the doors that was always closed was open for once, prompting him to peek in as his curiosity got the better of him.

What the…? He thought.

It was completely something unexpected, unfitting of the hotel; a medical setup inhabited the room, with the rhythmic beeping of machines sounding off.

Sitting on a gurney, with tubes attached to his arms and running up his nose, a malnourished-looking, white-haired young man laid, staring out of the window. It was a sight that took him back in that moment, listening to the labored breaths of the sickly young man.

Just as he caught himself staring too long, he saw the snow-haired adolescent’s head begin to turn, prompting him to move away and quickly move down the hall.

“What was that all about…?” He mumbled to himself.

Going down to the lobby, he retrieved an assortment of drinks, ranging from strawberry milk, banana milk, and more “splurgy” beverages like cola.

His arms were full as he returned to the room, finding the two having already set up the television and a console, though Sol was the one who did the brunt of the work.

“Damn, ya’ grabbed a lot,” Yeong-Un commented, looking at the assortment he returned with.

“Well…” He said, setting all of the drinks down, “…It’s probably going to be a long night, isn’t it?”

As he predicted–it would be.

The first movie was an action flick–”Six Shot Aces”–obviously, a choice by the rowdy, spiky-haired young man.

Throughout the entirety of the movie, Yeong-Un repeatedly yelled out at each character for every dumb mistake they made on screen–pumping his fists and sometimes looking as if he was one second from grabbing the television and violently shaking it.

Multiple times, he and Sol tried to assure him it was “just a movie”, but Yeong-Un forgot their words whenever the next scene would begin.

“Ya’ dumbass! Grab the silenced weapon–if ya’ shoot that, you’ll alert everybody–argh!” Yeong-Un yelled out.

From the constant noise–an unsurprising result came: a knock on the door.

Opening it, he found himself greeted by a disgruntled, messy-haired Korain who did not look happy to be awake.

“Jeong-Hui…”

“I know, I know…” He sighed out quietly, using his thumb to point to the two in his room who were engrossed in the flick.

Korain looked past him, understanding what the source of the racket was, “Ah…I see. Well, try to keep it down a bit, would ya’?”

“I will, sorry,” he smiled, nodding a few times.

Returning to the room, it was time for the next flick–one he chose this time: “Red-Red Dark Night”–a classic horror flick.

Again, if there was one benefit in the apocalypse, it was that all of the resources in nearby stores were free, meaning an endless supply of DVDs and such.

“…What’s this one about–a-again?” Sol asked, trying to hide his fear with a wavering smile.

“Oh? You’ve never seen “Red-Red Dark Night”, Sol?” He looked at the hazel-haired adolescent.

Sol slowly shook his head, gulping as the title card of the movie popped on, already making him flinch from seemingly just a mundane splash of text.

“Ha-ha! I loved this when I was a kid!” Yeong-Un laughed.

“K-kid? It’s not too bad then, right?” Sol gulped.

“Oh, no–it’s freakin’ terrifyin’! Gave me nightmares for an entire month! Ha-ha!” Yeong-Un laughed, much to the dismay of the worried, hazel-haired man.

Holding a pillow close to his chest, Sol’s eyes widened and wavered like a shivering pup, “…N-nightmares…?”

Damn, he’s really that easy to scare, huh? He thought.

Though, for some reason, he felt compelled to spur on the frightened antics of the young man, adding his own take.

“Yeah…I honestly couldn’t sleep for an entire two months after I saw this,” he added with a slight smirk, selling his words well.

To his satisfaction, Sol seemed terrified of his words, gripping the pillow firmly against his chest as if it were his life support.

“Y-you were just a kid, too, right?” Sol gulped.

He shook his head, “Actually, it was only two years ago.”

“Gyah!…T-two years?!” Sol jumped just at his words.

It was honestly amazing just how shrouded in cowardice Sol was, seemingly frightened at the very concept of being scared.

“Do we have to watch this one…? Look, we have others! Err, “Peach Bay Escape”–oh! It’s an action one! You’ll like this one, Yeong-Un!” Sol dug through the DVDs, pulling one out in an attempt to get the other two to swap the movie.

“Can it! This one is good!” Yeong-Un denied the proposal.

“Yeah, it’s definitely a heart-throbbing experience,” he added.

Sol grew more desperate, “You both have seen it, though! Don’t you want to watch something new?!”

“We’re willing to stick through it so you can experience its greatness, right?” He asked, looking at his wild-haired friend.

Yeong-Un nodded, “Hell yeah!”

“…Alright–but if I go into cardiac arrest, it’s on you guys!” Sol begrudgingly accepted.

All lights were off, leaving the television that was displaying the horror flick as the only source of light–which wasn’t much, as the movie produced a dark, dreary atmosphere.

Even though they all sat close together, Sol was still trembling like a chihuahua, gripping the pillow close to his body.

“Is it almost over yet…?” He asked in a mumble, peeking out from behind the pillow.

“Huh?! It only just started five minutes ago!” Yeong-Un replied, munching on a bag of spicy-flavored chips.

For himself, he preferred cheese-powdered chips, snacking on them while enjoying both the movie, and the whimpers of his easily-frightened friend.

Each time a jumpscare would pop up, or any sort of scare for that matter, Sol would yelp out, quickly covering his mouth.

“Haah–!”

Sol shrieked like a girl as soon as a splatter of blood appeared on screen, prompting him to swiftly faint from the sight of such potent crimson.

“Really…?” He let out in surprise.

Yeong-Un had caught him before he fell back, holding the limp, unconscious young man by the back of his collar, “The squeamish bastard faints at the sight of any blood.”

“That’s totally lame,” he muttered.

“I know, right?” Yeong-Un smirked.

Still, they weren’t going to just leave him hanging; Yeong-Un tucked the passed-out, squeamish adolescent into his futon, letting out a sigh as he ruffled his own hair before plopping back down.

“You knew he was going to pass out, right?” He asked.

“Huh?” Yeong-Un looked at him.

“I mean, you knew about his phobia of blood, didn’t you?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, it just slipped ma’ mind–to be honest, I just really wanted to see him freak!” Yeong-Un chuckled, “…It was totally worth it.”

“I don’t disagree.”

After the horror flick came to an end, with the accidental state of slumber that Sol had fallen into, the two decided to call it a night as well, falling into their respective places of rest.

He laid there in the dark, soon having to be subject to snores from both of his friends as he smiled slightly, looking at his own hand.

…Not a day goes by that it doesn’t still hurt. I think about it each day–perhaps every moment. All of this regret…I wonder if it will ever truly subside? At least, though, I’ve found something worth marching forward for–I won’t let the same happen to them, he thought.