"Hyung~ I'm so bored! There's nothing to do!" Kim Namwoon complained beside him, face planting on the bed. Anyone can easily imagine smoke coming out of his head as he groaned, completely out of energy.

Around a day had passed since Cale found out about Na Bori's sponsor, and now, the teenage girl was sitting behind him, braiding his silky black hair with a soft hum of a tune.

Apparently, she really liked soft things, so she asked him for permission. Cale had no reason to refuse and simply nodded.

It's making him a bit sleepy. The way small fingers gently tugged on his hair reminds him of On. The kid also loved playing with it whenever she takes on her human form.

That particular reminder made him smile slightly. He really missed the children.

"Just go to the tunnels and kill something," Cale suggested nonchalantly.

"Ehh," Namwoon lifted his face off the bed, a displeased look on his face. "I would, but you said we don't have to hunt anymore since the meat stock is enough!"

The stoic man raised an eyebrow, genuine confusion etched on his face. "Since when did you listen to people?"

"..."

Kim Namwoon was silent, before planting his face back into the sheets.

Cale's frowned, while Na Bori watched the exchange silently before turning her attention back towards the half-made braid.

'Does Ahjussi really not know that the guy only listens to him?' She wondered, recalling each moment Namwoon had blatantly disrespected other adults and ignoring whatever they said.

"And you, why are you even here anyway?" The teen boy asked her without looking up.

She held back a sigh, slowly getting used to Namwoon's tendency to pick a fight with people. "I'm here because Ahjussi said I can."

There was silence, so she glanced to the side, only to meet Namwoon's glare.

Based on his expression, his thoughts were quite obvious.

'What are you doing? Don't touch hyung. Get away from him. I'll kill you. Get out right now.'

Na Bori smirked and stick out her tongue at him, which made him even angrier, an irk mark appearing on his forehead. But she knew he wouldn't suddenly yell out to threaten her, especially not when Cale was already asleep.

The girl slowly settled Cale down on the bed, the black braids sprawling beautifully while framing his delicate features.

"Woah... Ahjussi is really attractive..." Bori gasped and whispered, looking down on the sleeping man. Well, no one can blame her for admiring a pretty face.

Namwoon scoffed. "Stop staring at him like that, you're being creepy," He said in a quiet voice.

"Pft, you're just jealous he let me play with his hair. If you'd just stop being so prideful, you probably can do it too."

"You—"

Suddenly, someone barged into the tent unannounced, breathing heavily as if they just ran a marathon.

"CA—"

The shout was immediately cut off when the newly arrived man saw the vicious glares from the two teenagers. He could see Cale's sleeping figure and his mouth formed an 'o' shape before mouthing an apology.

"There's a p-person... outside... haa, t-they're coming from the tunnel..." He stuttered out between intakes of breath.

Namwoon and Bori looked at each other simultaneously, one was cautious while the other was confused.

BANG!

Just then, they heard a loud sound that echoed through the station. Bori and the man flinched, but the noise made Namwoon frown.

He was the first to exit the tent, while the other two followed suit.

There was a small crowd not too far ahead, while the rest decided to warily observe from their spots. However, the white haired boy didn't hesitate to approach.

A tall man stood, a sword in hand. Although he wears black, most people could smell the scent of blood on him.

Kang Gunwoo was seen trembling slightly before the unknown person, but he didn't back down. His gaze unwavering as he pressed on. "Sir, we don't know who you are, so we're simply asking what you need from our leader. You're demanding to meet him even though we've told you he's resting. I'm sorry if it's impolite, but we're trying to be cautious."

The man was silent, but his gaze sharpened and it made some people yelp quietly.

"Who is your leader?"

"Sir—"

"What the f*ck is all this commotion about, huh?" Kim Namwoon intervened, not caring about anything but the previous noise. "Hyung is resting. If you keep being this loud, you lots are gonna wake him up!" He snarled.

People's fearful expressions were quickly replaced by guilt.

"We're sorry about that, Namwoon-ssi," Gunwoo sighed, "but this man..."

Namwoon immediately turned to the stranger, not giving a chance for Gunwoo to elaborate. "You. If you're a new survivor, keep it down, damn it. So annoying," He grumbled.

Na Bori stood near, peeking from over his shoulder to observe the newcomer.

She could see something strange flash in the man's eyes, even though his expression remained blank.

"... How are you here?" He asked out of the blue.

The teen sent him his typical 'what the f*ck are you talking about' expression.

"The hell? Why wouldn't I be here?"

The stranger paused for a few seconds before opening his mouth.

"Kim Namwoon."

The said boy widened his eyes. "Wha— How did you—"

"Do you want to come with me—"

"What?"

"—to the end of scenarios? I know you're a person who desired strength—"

"Huh?"

"—and you'll be able to achieve that by simply coming with me."

"Hold on!"

The man said what he wanted to say without minding the interruptions.

Kim Namwoon clicked his tongue in irritation. "Tsk, what makes you think I want to follow anyone?"

Na Bori gave him a look. 'Remind me who keeps following his dearest hyung like a giddy puppy again?'

"And I don't give a damn about gaining strength. I can do that even without you," The boy continued as he seized this odd stranger from head to toe.

It was obvious.

'This Ahjussi... is really really strong.'

He didn't even bother wondering how the other knew him. Right now, Namwoon is being extremely vigilant.

'There's no way I'd let this bastard approach the weak hyung.'

"Is that so?"

The man's passive answer made the teenagers tense. Although the tone was flat, both of them could sense the underlying curiosity— the bad kind. The type where someone would dig multiple graves with their bare hands just to find the answer, and ruthlessly deal with the hidden truth afterwards.

Namwoon and Bori subconsciously reached for their respective weapons ever so slowly.

"Namwoon!" She yelled out, just in time.

'Sh*t!'

He immediately blocked the strong attack of a sword with his black dagger. "Urk—" A groan slipped out, and he realized the man isn't even using half of his strength, while he's already struggling just to hold his stance.

The others spread out, knowing that this is not a fight they can win, but they were preparing themselves— to either flee or fight back, anything to survive.

Na Bori immediately ran towards a certain direction. There's a strong incarnation she knew that could at least talk to that unreasonable man.

'Heewon Unnie!'

"Why?"

An emotionless voice asked.

"Why what, you bastard?!"

Namwoon retorted aggressively, grunting through his words. Then his breath hitched the moment he looked at a piercing yellow eye.

"Why is that your answer? Who are you following right now? Tell me and I might let you live."

"Are you crazy?!"

He exerted a great amount of strength, and that managed to push back his opponent slightly.

"What makes you think I'll tell you?!"

Kim Namwoon glared, gripping his dagger tighter.

"I know better than to bite the hand that feeds me."

And the two men clashed with each other once again.

• • •

Meanwhile, a certain cream-colored creature nudged the sleeping black haired man with urgency.

[ Hey. Oi, wake up. ]

Cale didn't even stir in his sleep.

Saga had moved the channel so it would show the fight outside so none of the constellations could see him doing this.

He sighed, biting his bottom lip.

[ Haaa... It'd be really interesting to see him finally meet Yoo Joonghyuk. I've been waiting for this since days ago. ]

The dokkaebi looked down on the peaceful figure, dreaming away as if he's not the reason why the chaos ensued outside.

[ Seriously. If you stay still, the kid will get hurt. ]

He said calmly, it didn't help at all.

It was like... Cale is in a deep sleep, trapped in a place that his mind had showed him.

None of them knew, but he's currently in the middle of his record playing, triggered by the way Na Bori previously did his hair.

< "Cale! Stop moving!" On scolded him, pouting while keeping the braids from getting messy.

He stopped shifting in his seat and allowed himself to relax, and the girl happily continued on her masterpiece.

"Huuuumaaannn!!" A small black dragon slammed the door open, followed by a red kitten behind him. "Look at what hyung and I made!"

Cale looked down on the plate that Raon had carried, and Hong easily hopped onto his lap.

"Cookies?"

"Dongsaeng and I made them, nya~!" The kitten claimed happily. "Beacrox was the one who taught us!"

"Try it, try it!" Raon urged him in excitement.

Well, the cookies smelled good. So, why the hell not?

He gave it a taste, and his eyebrows slightly shot up in surprise. "It's... really good."

The two young children puffed out their chest proudly and On let out a giggle, tying his hair with the last ribbon.

"Done! How does it look?" She said and gave him a small mirror.

Cale looked at his reflection. The two small braids looked neat, they were tied together at the ends and leaving the rest of his long red hair flowing down his back. The black ribbon complimented his hair really well.

"It's pretty."

He gently patted the children's heads.

"Good job, all of you." >

• • •

It took a good fifteen minutes before Cale finally woke up, and Saga heaved out a deep breath.

[ You finally woke up, hm? ]

He blinked his eyes, getting rid of his daze. He wasn't exactly sleeping, a record had played the moment he lost consciousness. When that happens, it's always hard to wake him up. Most of the time, he just had to let the record stop by itself.

"You... What are you doing here?"

[ Are you secretly the sleeping beauty or something? I tried waking you up for the past twenty minutes. ]

The dokkaebi said with folded arms, causing him to frown.

"Why?"

[ Yoo Joonghyuk is here, and some other incarnations followed shortly. ]

'Excuse me?'

Cale widened his eyes slightly.

[ There was a small bit of commotion, but Jung Heewon had it under control. It seems that the fact she's the incarnation of Archangel Uriel had caught the regressor's attention. ]

"... I see."

Cale... wasn't sure what to think.

He slept and managed to avoid getting killed by the protagonist right off the bat. But at the same time, Jung Heewon and Yoo Joonghyuk met earlier than expected. They were supposed to have an encounter in Chungmuro Station once Main Scenario 2 ends. Besides, Jung Heewon hasn't even met Kim Dokja yet.

He didn't know whether this is actually a good thing or not.

Then they could hear fast footsteps, and Saga turned invisible.

The entrance revealed an exhausted Na Bori, and she seemed relieved to see him awake. "Ahjussi!"

Cale furrowed his brows in concern. "Why are you in this state?"

"Ah... Haha, I was just running around and chasing Namwoon, don't worry," Bori chuckled, swiftly avoiding his gaze.

He knew she was lying but didn't pester her about it. Based on what Saga told him, he could more or less figure out what happened because of Yoo Joonghyuk's arrival.

"Speaking of Namwoon, where is he?"

"Oh! He's... Well, he said he's bored, so he went out to hunt."

Na Bori couldn't tell him that Kim Namwoon had gotten injured. There was no way someone like Cale could ignore something like this, especially since the reason it happened was because of him.

Namwoon had made it clear to Bori to not say a word and reassure her the healing potions would work perfectly, like he never had gotten scathed in the first place.

"Alright," Cale accepted that answer easily. "Did something happen?"

"..." Bori was hesitant, but finally spoke in the end, "There are a bunch of survivors. Do you want to see them?"

It wasn't 'They would like to see you'.

It was an offer. The girl is giving him an option to not see them for some reason.

"... Lead me to them."

• • •

And there he was, standing in all his glory.

The protagonist.

Yoo Joonghyuk.

———

a/n: haha... i really need to sleep...

and i'll be taking a week's break from writing! college is currently beating me in the ass. see you guys soon.

also, namwoon would 100% square up against joonghyuk if he ever lands a hand on cale. my boy doesn't care if he'll die in the process. 💀