𝗔𝗪𝗔𝗞𝗘 [ UNDER HEAVY REVISION ]

AWAKE : THREE

Y/N'S POINT OF VIEW

Grabbing my keys, I wasted no time starting the car. The clock ticked – 4:00 pm. We had an hour to reach the Han River, but the possibility of a chaotic road ahead loomed large. Better to leave early than be caught in gridlock.

"I still can't believe it," Nayeon muttered beside me, more to herself than to me. Her voice was a threadbare whisper, swallowed by the unnatural silence that pressed down on us. "It's too quiet."

Our prediction turned out to be a horrifying reality. The road was a scene straight out of a nightmare. Bodies sprawled everywhere – slumped over steering wheels, sprawled across sidewalks, even piled haphazardly on top of each other. A sickly sense of wrongness permeated the air.

Despite the stillness, the scene wasn't entirely devoid of movement. A few cars, like mine, navigated the obstacle course of the sleeping. The occasional blare of a horn, a jarring intrusion in the silence, only amplified the eerie atmosphere.

A cold dread coiled in my stomach. Hating people was one thing, but this... this was beyond anything I could have imagined. An unsettling feeling prickled my skin, like a thousand unseen eyes were watching us.

"This is creepy," I croaked, my voice barely audible. "The whole thing... it makes my skin crawl." Each turn of the wheel felt like a gamble, each car horn a sinister echo in the deathly quiet.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, I pulled into a parking spot near the river. The drive that usually took ten minutes had stretched into an hour of nerve-wracking tension. 

 The city, once a bustling metropolis, was now a desolate wasteland. The only sounds were the sputtering engine of my car and the faint hum of a few others navigating the chaos. 

We were here, at the Han River, but a sense of dread hung heavy in the air. 

Nayeon's sharp cry cut through the unsettling silence. "Look, there's a girl!" Before I could react, she was already sprinting towards a lone figure hunched over a phone near a bench.

I sighed, following at a slower pace. This wasn't my style – the whole meet-up with strangers felt reckless. But Nayeon, bless her heart, always saw the best in people. 

As I approached, I couldn't help but dwell on Nayeon's earlier words. She was only twenty, yet life had forced her to grow up too fast. Taking on a part-time job, all to provide for us... the unfairness of it gnawed at me.

Suddenly, a voice interrupted my thoughts. "And this is Y/n," Nayeon announced, gesturing towards me. "She's my baby."

A confused frown creased the girl's brow – Mina, if the phone screen was right. "Baby? You both in a relationship?" she asked, her voice laced with amusement.

My cheeks burned. This wasn't the impression we wanted to make. Nayeon, however, just burst out laughing. "Wait, what? No!" she exclaimed, wiping tears from her eyes. "I mean, she's my younger sister. My baby sister."

The explanation seemed to clear things up. Mina chuckled, a welcome sound in the tense atmosphere. "Ah, I see. Nice to meet you, Y/n." She extended a hand, and I hesitantly took it. 

Mina settled on the bench, her gaze scanning the deserted landscape with an intensity that made me uneasy. Nayeon, still recovering from her laughter fit, decided to break the silence. "So," she began, "what do you think happened?"

There was a long pause before Mina finally replied. She spoke in a soft voice, but her words held an unexpected edge. "I don't know," she said, her eyes never leaving the river. "But if I'm not mistaken, humans can be... irrational. They'll chase after anything that promises money, happiness, anything that feeds their desires."