It took sheer will for him to not violently rip off whatever Jaehyung was forcing over his head. Especially since they had been shoved onto his head without his knowing.

"Alright Ijin," Jaehyung sat down right next to him, gently leaning on him as he pushed his phone into Ijin's hands," Listen to this and tell me what you think."

Listen to what?

Jaehyung pressed play and the headphones that Jaehyung forced onto his head started to play music.

Oh.

He had forgotten that he and Jaehyung had agreed to try and find a genre of music that he liked.

He listened to the song, it was a song in English, and although he had interacted with English-speaking soldiers before as a mercenary, he didn't know nearly enough English to know what they were saying. The beat was certainly fast, and he could tell that the words were on the beat. But he wasn't interested in a song that he couldn't understand.

He shook his head, letting Jaehyung press the headphones back against his ear when he tried to take off the headphones to hear what his friend was saying. Despite the fact that he wasn't allowed to take it off, he told Jaehyung that while he liked the beat, he wanted a song he could understand.

He wasn't sure if Jaehyung even heard him before they were moving on.

A song started again, and he nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard a man start screaming in his ears.

For a split second, he had to remind himself that he wasn't listening to the screams of men in Grian, that it was just a song he was listening to.

He wrenched the headphones off and sent a glare to his friend.

He was actually annoyed that Jaehyung played such a song. Who the hell wants to listen to a song that starts with a man screaming?

Jaehyung leaned away with a nervous smile," ok," he said dismissively," Got it. No rock. Uh…" Ijin huffed as Jaehyung awkwardly put the headphones back onto Ijin's head," You said you like the beat of the first one," His voice was slightly muffled now that the headphones were on again," Let's try this one."

He huffed again as the music started.

It was much calmer compared to the last one. It had a slower beat, but there was something about it that was slightly calming.

I see shapes.

The vocals were nice.

Moving with shadows on the walls.

The artist did an amazing job with his voice, making the perfect tone inflections that went well with the background music.

He listened for a few more seconds.

There were a few verses that really struck a chord with him.

Though there was one verse that hit home.

Will I make it out alive? Welcome to the twisted circus of my mind.

Ijin knew that he didn't think normally compared to other kids his age.

He knew that.

There were times when he was so high strung from either lack of sleep, recent events, or paranoia, sometimes he struggled to not react negatively each time one of his friends would randomly touch him. It was all him. Sometimes even Yeongchan tapping his shoulder when he was concentrating on work made him want to slap his hand away. Though those days were rare, they still happened.

The song was almost perfectly describing the paranoia he felt at times. When he found himself wondering how much longer he could live the peaceful life he craved so much. Wondering if and when the rest of the camp was going to find out about him. If and when Mad Dog ordered the camp to take him out because no one was allowed to leave the camp with their heart still beating.

The song finished, and it was silent as he heard the muffled voice of Jaehyung asking," Did you like that one?"

He nodded his head, looking down at the phone that had long turned off," Can you send that one to me?"

Jaehyung grinned as he took his phone back," Teflon Sega is a good artist," Was that the guy's name?

Ijin had to agree.

He felt his phone vibrate as Jaehyung sent him the song. Still, their endeavor to find Ijin's preferred genre of music did not stop," Now that I know you like that guy," Jaehyung said brightly, his voice still slightly muffled," how bout this guy? He's from a different genre but I think you'll like the beat."

He nodded his head, prompting Jaehyung to start the song.

It had a calm beginning like the last song. It was rather different compared to the one that Teflon Sega wrote. While the lyrics didn't have any significance to him, the beat was rather nice, upbeat, but still rather calm.

He liked it, not as much as the one by Teflon Sega, but it was a good start.

Jaehyung looked ecstatic as he started another song.

Ijin had to admit that Jaehyung knew a lot of songs.

The more that he agreed, the more accurate Jaehyung was getting in predicting what songs Ijin might like.

In the end, Jaehyung managed to find five songs that Ijin liked. Which considering the fact that Ijin had a hatred for music for most of his life, as well as having no knowledge of what music he might like, was rather impressive.

He held out the headphones for the shorter boy to take back.

"Nah," Ijin blinked in surprise when Jaehyung pushed the headphones back into his chest," you keep them, I got another pair at home for me to use."

Ijin held them back out," They're yours."

"Nah," Jaehyung had a grin on his face as he pushed them back," They're yours now. Just take them man."

Ijin stared at Jaehyung for a few seconds, trying to see if his friend was serious about giving him the headphones.

He didn't know a lot about technology, but he had worked with enough headsets and radios to know that the headphones that Jaehyung was giving him were one of the more expensive brands of headphones.

But yet, there was not a single ounce of hesitation in his friend's eyes, letting him know that he was quite serious about giving him the headphones.

He let out a quiet huff. He already knew that he wasn't going to be able to convince Jaehyung to take them back.

"Thank you," he said truthfully as he hung the headphones back around his neck," you didn't have to."

Jaehyung waved him off," Nah I did," At the blank look, he added on," It was a damn near tragedy that you didn't listen to music at all. Don't worry about it man."

Ijin smiled.

Despite everything that was going on, despite everything that he had done in his short life.

He really did have good friends.