Red Lights || HyunChan

Chapter 28.

"According to this.." Chan traced his finger following a line drawn with that looked like golden ink, "from the palace, we should head east".

"Okay, and then what?" Hyunjin asked.

"I don't know" Chan replied.

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"That's all it says here." He closed the book.

"Didn't you say your father always talked about the place and he was obsessed with it?"

"Yes. That does not necessarily mean he got to the lands."

"So" DaEun spoke, trying to understand, "we're just gonna walk east and hope for the best?"

"Both of you should stop being so negative. I know it will work."

"How." Hyunjin questioned once again. Chan turned to him, annoyed, and pulled DaEun closer to them. He once again opened the book, but instead of showing the "map" his father had traced, he went a few pages ahead.

He placed his finger over the page he had stopped at, looking at both Hyunjin and DaEun.

"Because this is not a coincidence." He said, showing them what he got.

"Your family's crest?" DaEun asked.

"I thought it was just our crest, too. But that changed when that man gave my mother that stone. A man that had never been to our lands, he had a stone with our crest carved in it, and he did not even do it himself."

"Either way, we-"

"We need to get going." Chan interrupted Hyunjin. "Every single minute you are here counts way more in your timeline. And if my mother knows about this you two will probably never go back. Leave the questioning for later."

"Damn, he's bossy." Hyunjin rolled his eyes.

"So are you." DaEun mocked.

"We have to avoid the palace, so we have to walk a little north first."

"Aren't we like inside the property?"

"Exactly. We have to move before anyone notice we are here."
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The first 20 minutes of walk were silent. A mix between uncertainty, anxiousness, awkwardness and doubt. All three of them probably wanted to talk about everything that had happened in general, but none of them could.

20 minutes meant at least two weeks back home.

"We're far enough I think." Hyunjin looked back, looking then at Chan. Chan nodded and started walking east now.

"How much more do you think it'll take to arrive?" DaEun asked.

"Why? Are you tired? Do you want me to carry you?"
"What's wrong? Are you tired? I'll take you."

They both replied at the same time.

"Uh no, I don't need either of you to take me, I can walk. I was just curious." She walked past them and continued ahead. Both of them remained silent, eyeing each other before clearing their throats and following.

DaEun's POV

This is fairly awkward. Being with both of them at the same time is killing me. Trying to figure this out is stressing. Walking without knowing our destination feels hopeless.

I can't stop thinking about my parents and how they'll be extremely worried if I go missing, and that's if they haven't already reported me. It's been 30 minutes and I don't even want to imagine what's going on back there.