Chapter 18

The next day, Kagome and Sang-Wook returned to the makeshift shelter, relieved yet weary from their overnight excursion. As they stepped inside the main room, the air crackled with tension, but they found a familiar face that made it easier to breathe. Hyun-Su stood at the back of the room, leaning casually against the wall, his sharp eyes scanning the newcomers. The moment he caught sight of them, his expression softened, only to be met by Sang-Wook's cocky smirk.

"Miss us?" Sang-Wook quipped, his tone laced with bravado as he dropped a heavy bag onto the table, rattling its contents.

Kagome rolled her eyes but couldn't suppress the smile that tugged at her lips. "Ignore him," she said, striding over to Hyun-Su. "It's good to see you. What did we miss while we were out?"

Hyun-Su sighed, brushing a hand through his hair. "Not much, just the usual. More complaints, more demands. People weren't too happy when I couldn't bring back everything on their lists. And you two being out overnight didn't help."

Kagome's smile faltered, replaced by a look of concern. She glanced at Sang-Wook, whose smirk had shifted to a grimace as he caught snippets of the hushed conversations and glares being thrown their way. The division among the group was growing, an invisible rift that widened with each unmet expectation and miscommunication.

The runners—those who ventured out into the treacherous upper floors for supplies and information—were starting to bear the brunt of frustration from the others who spent their days hidden, idle, and demanding. Kagome knew it was unsustainable, but it wasn't until everything came to a head that she realized just how bad things had gotten.

Two days later, the blow finally landed.

The sound of raised voices and an urgent scuffle echoed through the narrow halls. Kagome's heart clenched when she rushed into the room and found Hyun-Su lying pale and unconscious, blood seeping through a hastily wrapped bandage around his arm. He'd been injured on a run for a trivial item, something that had seemed unimportant until now. The room fell silent as Sang-Wook stood tense beside her, his jaw tight and eyes blazing with barely controlled fury.

"That's it," Kagome said, her voice cutting through the heavy quiet like a blade. Her gaze swept over the room, landing on the clusters of wide-eyed survivors who looked away guiltily. "This ends now."

Sang-Wook raised an eyebrow but said nothing, letting Kagome take the lead. She straightened her back, a determined fire lighting up her eyes. Here she was, alongside Hyun-su and occasionally Sang-Wook, risking her life to venture out into the complex to find food, water and just over all everyday supplies and they, fully able bodied adults, were lazing about without a care in the world.

"You guys really need to start pulling your weight around here." Her voice was even, not showing a hint of her anger. Even so it made a few of those she was talking to bristle as she called them out on their laziness.

"What gives you the right to try and boss us around?" Leveling the male with a blank look she decided to try a different approach, she was not in the mood to deal with wounded male egos.

"Look, I'm not trying to tell you what to do but trust me when I say I speak from experience. You guys really need to get up and start helping around here. We won't always be here to save you or go out on supply runs...what happens if we get separated or worse?"

She paused to let her words sink in. "You guys need to know how to survive not only in here but out there. There's no telling when or if help will come or who is going to turn next or if at all. At the very least you need to know the basics."

She turned to the young soldier, giving him a small smile. "He can start some self defense classes as well as basic survival tips and tricks. I'm more than willing to share the knowledge I've gathered in my years as well whatever else you think I can help with. And as much as I hate to say it, Du-Sik isn't getting any younger. At least one of you should try to learn under him so that we're not left with our asses hanging out."

She gave a small apologetic grin to the old man as he grumbled under his breath about whippersnappers, a tone of family playfulness lining his words .

Cha Jin-Ok cleared her throat, deciding to offer her expertise as well. "I will continue to offer my educational lessons to the children and anyone else that would like a refresher course. I used to be a middle school teacher before I opened my day care." Piece said she sat back down and waited for someone else to speak.

Eun- Hyeok shoved his glasses up the thin bridge of his nose. "I'm not a fully medically trained doctor, yet, but I have more than enough textbooks at my disposal." One by one the residents put what skills they thought could benefit everyone on the table. It made Kagome smile, glad to finally see everyone come together, it gave her the sense of pack that she had been longing for.

Son Hye-In cleared her throat slightly shifting closer to Kagome to whisper into her ear. "I don't have a lot of...skills per say but I know just about everyone who lives here and can give insight when it comes to future supply runs..."

Nodding Kagome eagerly gestured for her to follow her to a nearby table and they began talking and making lists of who lived in what apartment as well as who might be more liable to have certain items in said homes.

Sang-wook rolled his unlit cigarette between his teeth, his mind reeling from the sudden change in the room's atmosphere. He didn't know how she did it but she seemed to calm everyone and pull them together.

Already the air in the room felt warmer, lighter.

Hope sparking to life in the otherwise depressed and fearful residents.

It made his skin crawl, it wasn't that he didn't like the shift because honestly he was glad everyone was ready to get off their asses it was just the fact that he felt like an outsider looking in.

It was a feeling he should be used to, hell he had been, but by spending so much time with Kagome and Hyun-Su was making him go soft.

It was turning him weak and he could not afford to let that go on. He still had to find that fucking bastard and put an end to him otherwise there was a great chance it would come back to bite him in the ass.

Mind made up he pushed off the wall near the doorway he had been leaning on. The faster he found that damn chomo the faster he could snuff him out.

He paused as Hyun- Su placed a hand on his arm, his eyes meeting his. Normally the younger man would quickly advert his gaze to the ground. Instead he not only held it but seemed to tilt his chin up a bit. It made a small sense of pride spark to life inside of him.

Being around Kagome, and in turn himself, was good for the young man, it was helping the normally timid young man grow a pair.

"If you're going out on your own again you should at least let her know." Hyun-Su's voice was a bit louder then its normal low tempo and it made him want to snort. While he was glad the boy was finally finding his back bone he was not anywhere near where he needed to be if he thought he could tell him what to do.

As if realizing the effect of his words on the older male he swallowed lightly, his tone losing a smidge of its confidence. "I mean, you don't want her to worry or come chasing after you, again, do you?"

Sang-wook let a sigh escape through his nose, Hyun-Su was right, if he didn't at least tell her he was going out she would track him down just to harp his ear off.

It was like she had taken up the role of his old lady without even realizing it. Nodding at the young man he gave a short whistle making everyone turn to look at him, Kagome included. Tilting his head he mentioned for her to follow after him and ignored the small annoyed huff that left Hyun-Su as he jerked his arm out of his grasp.

Kagome could only roll her eyes at Sang-wook's antics. The cocky jerk was lucky she thought he was cute...

The woman she had been talking to looked horrified, "He can't just whistle at you like you're some dog!" The dog in her arms gave a low yip as if in agreement with its owner.

Waving off the older woman's words she moved to follow after Sang-wook. "It's fine, its just part of his charm. Don't worry, I'll be right back." She smiled at Hyun-su as he followed her into the hallway shutting the door behind them to give the three of them some privacy.

The acidic scent of his lit cigarette made her nose burn, without thinking about it she gave his arm a light smack. "You know you can't smoke in here!" He let loose a deep chuckle as he took a long drag of his smoke, just to spite her.

"What you gonna do? Spank me?" The teasing in his voice was clear for them to hear and made a light dusting of pink bloom on her cheeks as she crossed her arms under her chest.

"You wish, so what's up? You gunna go all lone ranger again?" She knew that big groups were not his thing and if he felt more comfortable venturing out on his own she wasn't going to stop him. She did however expect him to at least have the common courtesy of telling her when he had the itch to venture off.

Yet again he was surprised by how well she knew him and in turn how well Hyun-Su knew her.

Seeing the two flirt so openly in front of him made Hyun-Su squirm and his blood itch. Just beyond the two of them he could see a vision of his other self, a dark scowl on its lips as its pitch black gaze glared at Sang-wook.

Without missing a beat Kagome reached out her hand grasping his in a light comforting grip, her gaze never leaving Sang-wook as they bantered playfully.

Releasing a deep sigh Sang-wook snubbed out his cigarette on the already stained wall. The foul taste lingering in it having nothing to do with the cancer stick he had been puffing on moments before.

"Look, I probably won't be back for a few days, a week at most. So try not to miss me too much." His voice had lost its playful edge and instead held a small hint of jealousy in it.

Internally rolling her eyes as she read the room, Kagome could only shake her head.

Men.

They always had to make everything a pissing contest.

"Relax, I think you're both pretty. So you can stop with the pissing contest." She ignored both of their dumb founded looks and continued on, her voice layered with sincerity instead of mischief. "Thank you for letting me know that you're going off on your own. Really, it means a lot that you keep me in the loop. I'm sure Hyun-Su and I can hold down the fort but don't make us wait any longer then we have to." She stressed the word us, hoping both men weren't daft enough that she had to spell it out for them.

Again.

If they were then that was tough shit for them because she had way too much on her plate to have a sit down with them and put all her cards on the table, again.

Once things had fallen into a routine she would pull them both aside and spell out her feelings and intent in large bold letters, again. Until then she would have to hope they were smart enough to put three and three together and maybe this time it would stick.