paper cranes | uc.

( 03; torn apart )

' paper scent.'

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"he was fast and definitely much stronger than he looked..."

"that means the other two are in Korea as well, right?"

jang-mul hummed in agreement, sitting at the end of the table, "i'm afraid so."

the entire time they were gone, ha-ru was able to fill in [name] about what had happened to the counters that resided in china. apparently, counters resided all around the world and mr. hwang and his companions, gelly and li-qang, recently annihilated all the chinese counters and were now in korea, threatening to destroy the peace of the korean counters as well.

mun even made drawings of their faces and stuck them in the restaurant, and she got a pretty good look at them too - admiring his art skills of course because her drawing was amazingly horrible.

"he'll avoid the territory from now on since that's how he met us..." ms. chu stated in worry, not liking the idea of her own words. "it's going to be harder to catch them..."

[name] only stayed quiet for now, not quite sure what she should say in a situation like this.

"ms. so wasn't the only victim i saw in his memories..." ha-na spoke, "i saw min-ji too..."

i don't know who that is, but...i don't think i want to know in the first place...

by the time the clock struck midnight, her and ms. chu were the only people left in the noodle shop. ha-na, so-mun, and mr. ga were gone to visit someone [name] didn't really pay attention to, so now here she was, sitting in the same place she was left, mind full of cotton and fingernails scratching against her arm.

"what's wrong little lad?" chae-ok asked, taking a seat beside her, "you seem a little distracted..."

[name] let her lips curve up slightly as a response and looked up, shaking her head, "i...i guess i just feel like a headless chicken the longer i stay here..."

"are you worried about your powers?"

[name] nodded, her leg bouncing as she tried to suppress any negative feelings of fear and self-hate that she always was devoured by in tough times, "do you really think...i'm the right person for the job?"

chae-ok could see the tears gather in the female's beautiful, glimmering [e/c] eyes, realizing that such a look on the young girl's face made a small crack in her own heart.

ms. chu had been on this job for a pretty long time, over ten years to be exact, and she'd seen many youngsters like her, new at the job, lose their lives in her own arms.

for all the injuries she was unable to heal, all the bruises that ruined their ethereal features; she never got used to it. if mae-ok was to exaggerate, she would even say that people like her, naive and slow-witted, would die the moment they stepped into territories.

chae-ok lets a breath of exasperation leave her lips, and began patting on the young girl's shoulder, startling the poor girl. the two met eyes, "don't worry, because..we'll protect you, okay?"

a bubble bobbled up and down in the [h/c]-haired counter's throat, feeling warmth spread all over her body and regain control over her nerves that overflowed with negative feelings. she nodded and let a teardrop fall down her cheek.

for the first time in her life, she understood what it felt like to be thought of, and to be cared for.

i...i want to protect you all too.