Home is Where You Are

His Regrets

Home. How long had he not been hearing that word...?

"Let's go home"

"Come back home"

"Welcome home"

There are various sentences with different sentiments that can be arranged with such a single simple word. However, it has been so long since Lee Soo Hyuk forgot the true meaning behind those four letters... home.

Losing his house and losing his family in a blink of an eye should have been enough as a trauma that would last for a lifetime, yet apparently, the universe is still asking for more from him.

He counts himself as a strong-hearted person for not foolishly freezing in place while seeing with his own eyes how monsters ripped his parents' bodies apart.

He counts himself as stable for not crumbling down when he heard the news about how he's one of the lucky few people who survived the first wave, the start of this ridiculous apocalypse.

He counts himself as somewhat sturdy for being able to rescue and lead many people away from their death even after hearing the dreadful news about the state of the shelter he left behind.

Despite how his reason to leave from the start was to seek help for his new source of comfort. It's truly a heart-breaking experience for having his home repeatedly snatched away by the cruel hand of fate as they lie to him to face the angel of death when his name wasn't even on the list.

People come and go like a passing wind, yet his heart remains open for a solid chance to experience it again—

The warmth of home.

—Or maybe... At this point, it might even be a desperate wish he kept close to his very soul as the last resort of having it shatters as badly as his hope.

And yet, even with all the losses he had experienced, he kept his smile present to brighten the days of his dear ones—

Until one day... it's just rudely wiped off his face once again with the sudden and uncalled-for deaths of his lifelines.

Kim Rok Soo and Choi Jung Soo.

The two rookies which he easily took a liking to, despite their polarizing personalities. Two young men whom he's starting to see as his own little brothers.

Two people whom he's starting to reopen his heart full of scars to—

'...why...'

The everlasting confidence of that smiley team leader crumbled right there and then.

Falling to his knees, Lee Soo Hyuk could barely utter any coherent words as he saw the piling bodies of Rok Soo and Jung Soo carefully being "recovered" by the backup team.

That team leader cannot function for a while.

If he had been Kim Rok Soo, he would have carried on with his duty despite feeling empty. And if he had been Choi Jung Soo, he would have had a total breakdown, which would have been valid given the situation.

But he's neither of those two.

And both Kim Rok Soo and Choi Jung Soo whom he adored so much have actually lost their lives in this tragedy and truly have gone forever...

Death is inevitable for everyone. And death can't be undone.

However, when Soo Hyuk returned to the place where just that morning he's still able to hear the two of his favorite people's voices bickering towards each other— the deafening silence he's experiencing now is a whole nother level that he had thought of himself possibly be the one who died.