𝐏𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐲 ❅ 𝐋𝐞𝐞 𝐄𝐮𝐧𝐡𝐲𝐮𝐤

[ 𝟑𝟏 ]

"Who are you two?"

The woman with the crossbow inquired, her eyes narrowing into slits as she stared at the two with her piercing gaze. Despite having the lower half of her face covered, Yujin could still sense her slight hostility through the red bandana.

Yujin contemplated whether or not telling the woman who they were was a good idea, but quickly decided that telling their real names to a stranger was really the least of their concerns at the moment.

"Uh- my name is Yujin, and this is Hyunsoo," she stated, raising her hand slightly in an attempt to show that they were in fact harmless. The woman didn't respond, instead, she shifted her attention to the right and stared at the two bodies lying limp against the door.

One belonged to a certain long-armed monster, while the other belonged to Sangwook.

His body slumped against the door with his head hung low, and across his thighs was the abnormally elongated arm of the monster. The sight was enough to make a thick lump form in the back of Yujin's throat, a feeling of dread crept up from the pit of her stomach.

Please don't be dead, please don't be dead.

The woman with the crossbow hastily kneeled down next to his unmoving body and reached for his neck, feeling for a pulse. All four of them let out a huge sigh of relief when the woman turned around and said, "He's alive."

A wave of relief washed over the two teenagers, slightly calming their thumping hearts. "Oh thank goodness-" Yujin exclaimed, silently thanking all the gods in existence for not letting Sangwook die like this.

The old man standing not far behind widened his eyes and looked at Sangwook aghast. "The monster left him alive?" he asked while trying to wrap his head around the fact that the monster had not taken his life.

Hyunsoo peered through the opened door and into the dark room, where piles of bloody dead bodies scattered the ground. His belly lurched as he stared at the disturbing scene, and he couldn't help but wondered what had happened to them.

The woman lifted her gaze and noticed how frightened the young boy had looked, she was quick to snap him out of his trance and questioned, "What are you doing?"

He tore his eyes off the bloodied corpses to look at the owner of the voice, before immediately realizing what she had meant and bent down to help lift up Sangwook's body.

"You ready? One, two, three."

The duo lifted him up on a count of three, and the arm of the monster that was previously across Sangwook's body slumped on the ground in a sickening thud. While they began dragging the unconscious man away, Yujin caught sight of a small notebook right next to the monster.

Curiosity getting the best of her, she hesitantly crouched down and picked up the notebook on the floor. Despite the messy handwriting and how the pages were covered in ashes and droplets of blood, she could still faintly make out what was written on the paper. She scanned her eyes over the paragraphs, and her blood ran cold after reading the words.

I couldn't reach my son's hand. I couldn't do anything when the monster took my son. If I had caught my son's hand, if I had been able to reach that far, would my son still be alive? I can't forgive myself, it's my fault that my son died. It's all my fault.

Yujin stared at the messy handwriting with a mix of paralyzing terror and gut-wrenching sadness. Her gaze flickered down to the long-armed monster laying before her, when she realized that the man had become of monster because of his desire to save his son.

The guilt became too much for the poor man that he decided to give in to his deepest desire and become the monster that he was now. A heavy weight of sadness and guilt pressed hard on Yujin's chest, her grip on the notebook tightened as she did everything to fight back the tears of grief and heartache.

Yujin knew how it feels, to lose your family in a tragedy and being the only one that was left. Horrifying memories of her parents' accident 2 years ago flashed through her mind, and it was almost like she was living through the nightmare all over again.

She could remember how her entire world went pitch black when her teacher suddenly called her out of the classroom to tell her about the tragic news. How she was rushed to the hospital to see her parents but realized that it was all too late. How she witnessed her parents' bodies being taken away in cadaver bags before she even got to say her final goodbyes.

Even after two whole years, the pain never seemed to go away and the memories never seemed to fade. Her heart still ached every time she remembered, and the feeling was still painful as ever.

"Hey you- are you coming or not?" the woman with the bandana called out, snapping Yujin out of her trembling thoughts. She quickly snapped out of it, well aware that they were in the middle of an apocalypse and she couldn't waste time dwelling on things of the past anymore.

The past no longer mattered, because what mattered now was the present. Right now her mission was to rescue the weapon expert along with the two kids, and get back to the ground floor all in one piece so that she could see a certain boy again.

If Yujin wanted to survive and not receive the same fate as the monsters or the dead bodies she had encountered, she must stay strong and remain level-headed at all times. It was the only way to survive, the only way.

She forced herself to blink away the tears and swallowed the thick lump lodged in her throat, pushing away the overwhelming feeling of sadness that wrecked her insides. "I'm sorry," she whispered to the creature on the ground, hoping that somehow he could hear her before walking off to join the trio in the distance.

She had to keep going. She had to survive.

/author's note/

i hope that u all enjoyed reading the book as much as i enjoyed writing it!

feel free to vote if u would like to, and i'll see u on the next chapter <3