ᴍʏ ɴᴇᴡ ᴍɪꜱꜱɪᴏɴ . ꜱᴡᴇᴇᴛ ʜᴏᴍᴇ ² ᵃⁿᵈ ³

III. ᴇxᴘᴇʀɪᴇɴᴄᴇꜱ

Sung-hyo didn't know when she'd dozed off in the jeep, but she was jolted awake when Ji-ji accidentally drove over a large dip in the road.

"Sorry," he apologised. "That dip was bigger than I thought."

Sung-hyo looked out the window next to her, noticing the sun had risen. She also seemed to recognise where they were.

"Ji-ji... where are we?" Sung-hyo asked.

"I just need to see if I can salvage anything," Ji-ji replied, not really answering his sister's question. "I want you to stay in the jeep, understand?"

Sung-hyo didn't say anything, now knowing exactly where they were.

Green Home Apartments.

Or what was left of it, anyway.

The entire middle of the building has collapsed in on itself, leaving only the outer sides of the building standing. Sung-hyo felt her eyes tear up at the sight.

Her home of eleven years... gone just like that.

All of her things... her treasures... buried or destroyed.

Her home. Gone. Nothing but rubble and dust.

Ji-ji turned off the engine, taking in the building too. Sung-hyo didn't care that he wasn't reacting as much as her; he'd been able to conceal his feelings ever since he was a kid.

"Stay here," Ji-ji ordered his sister, picking something up and placing it in his trouser's right pocket. "I'm gonna see if we can salvage anything."

Sung-hyo's gaze went down to whatever her brother was holding. Her eyes widened as she realised it was a pistol.

"Where did you get that?" Sung-hyo asked.

"It was in the glove compartment," Ji-ji answered. He almost immediately noticed the looks his sister was giving him. "Don't worry. Unlike a lot of the tenants, I listened to what you and Hyun-su told us. I won't fire unless it attacks me, I promise."

Ji-ji exited the vehicle. Sung-hyo stayed put, following her brother's order, but also because of her injury. It was still only two days old.

Sung-hyo kept staring up at the building. Two days before...

She let out a sigh, looking down at the promise bracelet Hyun-su had given her as she tried to ignore all the thoughts she was having. No point wishing on time to be rewound. It was just her and her brother now, and things had to stay like that until they found Hyun-su, Eun-yu, Ji-su, Su-yeong, Yeong-su--

A crash snapped Sung-hyo from her thoughts. 

Her eyes widened as she saw something she'd hoped to never see again.

The blind monster with one giant ear. It was impaled by a forklift through the stomach and was groaning as it tried to break itself free. 

Sung-hyo then spotted what had made the crash. The eye monster was here too, but it had grown eyelashes and seemed longer than Sung-hyo remembered. Looking back at the blind monster, it seemed more veiny and decaying. 

Had they evolved? If so, they were in trouble.

Sung-hyo couldn't leave the jeep without making a noise, and she was aware of how sensitive the sounds were to the blind monster. But then something in the rubble caught her eye... something that made her start to second-guess.

Her machete. The one Mr Han had given her back when this whole thing had started.

Sung-hyo knew that weapon worked better than others... but it was a risk to go get it.