17 Days - SVT

003

"Head count." said Mingyu suddenly, counting everyone in the group. "Ten people... there are still three people who haven't woken up."

"I saw one of them." added Soonyoung. "He was literally almost smaller than Chan. I think he's in mine, Junhui's, and Wonwoo's year."

"And the other two are my age." said Joshua. "I'm one of the oldest here, I'm fourteen."

"How old are you, Chan?" asked Seungkwan, turning to the youngest among them.

Chan swallowed. "Ten. Shouldn't we check on the ones that haven't woken?"

"Good idea." said Dokyeom. "There's one right near the shoreline, right? I'll see to that."

"I'll come with you." said Joshua, running after him.

"I don't think splitting up is a good idea." said Wonwoo quietly, but the two boys were already out of earshot.

"Well, let's stick together, then." said Junhui. "Let's check on the one that's closest to them."

They all knelt around the boy close to the boy Joshua and Dokyeom were caring for. "How can we make him wake up?" asked Soonyoung.

"Hyung, you have to be patient." said Minghao.

"I'm not a patient person." said Soonyoung.

However, at that moment, the boy opened his eyes, confused. "Why are you all staring at me?"

Before anyone could answer, he quickly sat up. "Where is he?"

"Where's who?" asked Seungkwan.

"The kid that saved my life. Where is he?"

They all looked at each other. No one spoke.

Suddenly, the other boy stirred too, looking over at the first boy, who quickly ran to hug him.

"Um- what-"

"You saved my life."

"You knew it was me?"

The first boy nodded. "I was about ten percent conscious. And that's enough to know who saved me. Thank you so much."

"I- you're welcome." said the other boy, flustered. "What's your name?"

"I'm Choi Seungcheol." said the first boy. "And you are?"

"Yoon Jeonghan." said the other one. "And, uh... who are all you people?"

Mingyu took a deep breath. "This is Joshua, Junhui, Soonyoung, Wonwoo, Minghao, Dokyeom, Seungkwan, Vernon, Chan, and I'm Mingyu."

"You sound like a rapper." said Vernon, impressed.

"So there's twelve of us." counted Jeonghan.

"Thirteen. Someone hasn't woken up yet." corrected Dokyeom.

"I know where he is. Let's go find him." said Soonyoung, standing up swiftly. "You're welcome to join us if you want."

So the twelve of them walked to a shady area, Soonyoung leading the way. Sure enough, a small boy was lying in the small patch of grass.

"You're sure he's your age? He looks like a five-year-old." said Seungkwan, kneeling beside him. 

The boy's eyes opened slowly. He jumped up and kicked Seungkwan in the face.

"Ow! What the-"

"Get the hell away from me! I can do much worse than that!" yelled the small boy. "I heard what you said about me, too!"

"Hey, we're not here to hurt you." said Seungcheol, holding his hands in the air. "We're going through the same situation you are. We were hoping you would let us protect you."