Unusual

chapter 7

lowercase intended

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hyunwoo halted when the feeling of the calling stopped. he almost toppled over as jooheon ran into his back. he ignored the younger, shaking his head and looking around in confusion as he seemed to get himself back. he has no idea what came over him the past few minutes. what he heard and why he ran to search for it. it almost felt like his body was possessed to do so, yet he was well aware of his self doing it.

"that was tiring," minhyuk says with extra-dramatic breathing as he sprawled himself on the forest floor, his legs tired from running. he let out a surprised oof

when changkyun jumped on top of him, followed by jooheon in a dog pile. hoseok happily diving as well as soon as he saw them. hyunwoo saw this and laughed.

"we ran for what?" kihyun asked hands both resting on his knees as he caught his breath, clearly unhappy and unimpressed.

"my feet hurts..." hyungwon mutters, sitting on the forest floor with his hands rubbing his ankles.

hoseok quickly got up from the pile, earning loud grunts of complaints from the other three boys as he pushed himself up with a little too much pressure. he quickly went to hyungwon to make sure he was okay. which he is, just being dramatic.

hyunwoo looked around, searching for an answer to give kihyun. he himself also unsure of the reason. he heard something, felt something. but whatever those has vanished like it was never there.

"whoa! what is that?" changkyun's voice took hyunwoo's attention. the boy quickly ran past him, the rest following his excited steps.

they were greeted by a tree house.

"it's a tree house!" changkyun exclaims as if the elders didn't know what it was, looking back at them enthusiastic about the discovery.

his eyes landed on a vine arch, strangely standing in the middle of the forest.

it was abandoned and looked horribly unsafe. but that didn't stop them from looking into it, especially their rowdy youngest who climbed the unstable ladder with no hesitance. hyunwoo tried to stop him by reaching over to try and grab the back of his clothes but the boy slipped past his hands like soap.

"kyun, i don't think....yeah" hyunwoo called after but didn't finish his sentence as the wood broke under him by the third step making him fall. jooheon, hoseok, and minhyuk let out a loud gasp, the three of them quickly flocking towards the boy to help him up.

hyunwoo shook his head and decided to examine the place from where he was standing. his gaze paused when he caught sight of something.

there was a vine archway, strangely standing in the middle of the forest, just a meter away from the tree house. a stem of golden bells shaped like foxglove flowers hanging at the top, creating a soft sound as the breeze passes. it was what hyunwoo had been hearing.

hyunwoo furrowed his eyebrows looking at the bells, then he slowly soothed them. maybe his ma was right, he has really sharp hearing.

"do you guys think someone owns this?" minhyuk asked, appearing behind the tree after his little survey.

"maybe before, it seems like it had not been visited in a long time," hoseok says, standing up after he made sure changkyun was alright.

"how about we make this ours?" kihyun exclaims like it was a brilliant idea. no one seems to care about it now with how it looks anyway, he's pretty sure they could just use it at their little hideout.

"ours?" hyunwoo questions raising an eyebrow as he looks at kihyun who is now standing right beside him.

kihyun frowned at him and glared "you're not included" he huffed, crossing his arms and looking away.

"hyunwoo was basically the one that found it though," minhyuk says which earned him a glare from his feisty friend.

"i don't know guys, it doesn't look so safe" hyungwon says, eyeing changkyun who's still sitting on the forest floor with injuries on his arm and forehead, jooheon still fussing over him, while the youngest assures him he is fine. the two of them not even paying attention to the current conversation.

"hyung, i'm fine. it's just a scrape" he had fallen off so many things that falling off that tree meant nothing to him. as long as he doesn't have broken bones, he's fine.

"you're literally bleeding!"

"its cause i have a healthy blood flow" changkyun giggled like jooheon was the silly one. he stood up and went to the older boys to listen in to what they're talking about, leaving jooheon speechless and worried.

"we can fix it" hyunwoo suggested, looking up the old tree house. his father has taught him several things over the years, it'll be nice to finally put them into use.

"what are we fixing?" changkyun asked.

"the tree house. we're making it our hideout!" minhyuk informed him with a bounce, locking their arms together.

"really?" changkyun's went big, matching the energy minhyuk has "can we put a helm on it?"

"what is that even?" kihyun asked his face contorting in a funny look, dumping cold water in the mood. hyunwoo disapprovingly glances at him but did not say anything.

"it's like a steering wheel for boats!" changkyun replied not letting anyone dampen his mood, not even recognizing the attitude in the older's tone.

"like a pirate ship!" hoseok chipped in, hearing it.

all of them started talking about their plans for the tree house, sitting on the forest floor in a circle as they debated and bickered for about an hour. hyunwoo doing his best to calm them and do the thinking on how to compromise as none of them seem to bother. it was a relief that they listened and agreed to him, though the grumbles under kihyun's breath never went unnoticed.

in the end, they decided hyunwoo would bring most of the tools and they would bring whatever they could the next coming weekend and start from there, making whatever their materials could and making sure the tree house was safe.

before going away, hyunwoo glances back at the vine arch innocently and oddly standing there all alone. for some reason he felt eyes on him. he squints his eyes, almost expecting something...someone to walk out of it.

"ow, watch it"

kihyun suddenly bumped into him, averting his attention from the vinearch to the younger.

"you're the one that bumped into me" hyunwoo tell him as he looks down at him with a neutral look on his face.

"well, you're in the way" kihyun spats looking a little embarrassed but too prideful. he scoffs at him before walking past hyunwoo.

hyunwoo watch his back, frowning.

what a brat

he thought with a sigh mixed with unimpressed and disbelief. he glances back at the archway, shakes his head, and finally followed after his friends back to get their things and go home.

"that's him right?" a tall girl with long limbs and autumn leaves for hair say looking at her brother for confirmation. both of them standing on the other side of the vine archway.

"he...didn't see us?" her brother says instead, looking in the direction where the children disappeared into. he is similar looking to his sister, from the autumn leaves hair to the thin pointed features on his face and his long limbs. the only difference they have is the branches on his head that look like deer antlers.

"he doesn't believe. only when he does, he will" an older voice appeared from right behind them.

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Idk where this is going