The Outskirts (ITZY Shin Ryujin)

8

"It wasn't that bad, now was it?" Lia glanced at Luke who just came back from vomitting in the bathroom.

He glowered at her with groan but it soon disappeared when he noticed the new presence at the table.

The girl had shoulder length brown hair and fair skin. Her glistening, dark brown eyes scanned over him silently before she went back to eating her food.

Luke wanted to vomit again at the sight of the girls enjoying the dish but managed to suppress the urge.

He sat down between Lia and Yeji, a burger sitting in front of him in the place of the Maorh. He glanced up at Lia and gave her a soft smile, silently thanking her. She returned it immediately before going back to her own food.

"You'll get used to it," Yeji chuckled. "Trust me, my first time eating Maorh was terrible. I hated it and it took me a year before I finally started to like it. This kind of cuisine was never made for humans."

Luke simply nodded in response before peering at the new girl. She kept her head down but she still looked awfully familiar. He swore he had seen her before. His mind was racing, trying to think of where exactly he saw this girl but before he could come to a conclusion, Lia noticed his stare and spoke up.

"Of course, I forgot," she sat up. "Luke, this is Ryujin. Ryujin, this is Luke."

The new girl finally took her attention off her plate. Her eyes scanned him once more before she offered a slight smile.

He instantly returned it before taking a bite out of his burger.

Yuna sat up in excitement.

"Have you told him yet?" She asked, her tone hyper.

There was silence.

Luke searched their faces but each of the other girls, tried by all means to avoid his gaze, even Lia.

"Told me what?" He questioned.

Yuna slumped back into her seat, guilt evident on her face.

"Oh..." She uttered.

"Told me what?" He repeated, a little louder.

"It's nothing, Luke," Lia placed her hand on his arm. "Just finish off your burger and we'll find you a job to do in the daytime."

He eyeballed her for a couple of seconds before sighing.

"Is it something I shouldn't know?"

There was silence until Chaeryeong opened her mouth to respond.

"Technically, you should know... But the question is, should you know yet. Thing is, we don't want to you react negatively. We want you to understand."

Lia ran a hand through her hair.

"She's right. That's why we can't tell you... Unless you know you won't misunderstand the situation. Will you understand?"

"Depends. What is it?"

"We need a definite answer," Lia told him.

"Fine, I will understand."

"He's lying," Yeji uttered. "He just wants to know what it is."

"Just tell me already!" Luke yelled, growing frustrated.

"You're right. Maybe it's best we forget it," Lia nodded at Yeji.

"Forget it? You can't bring something up then just forget it! Just tell me. Please."

"Luke, how do you feel about being on laundry duty, huh? Or you could be on cleaning duty," Chaeryeong grinned at him.

"Don't change the subject! Just-" He started but Yuna interjected.

"I can't take it anymore!" She yelled. "Ryujin was the one who pulled you into the Outskirts."

And suddenly the whole table was silent again.

Ryujin stood up, glowered at Yuna before walking off, clearly anger. The youngest of all the girls cowered in her seat with a slight pout.

Luke stood up not long later, running to catch up to Ryujin and when he did, he grabbed her wrist.

"You did this?" He asked, also obviously angry.

She swivelled and glared at him.

"Yes, I did it. Happy?"

"Why would you? I spent my whole life trying to figure out how to get creatures like you back into the towns and this is what you do? Try to kill me?"

"I was saving you!" She retorted, offended by his assumption.

"Saving me? By pulling me into the land of the monsters? Seriously?"

"Monsters?" She glowered. "You think we're monsters? Trust me,you and your stupid town-hogging humans are the monsters. Do you even know what they did to us? No, and you probably don't even care."

"I don't need to know! I was very happy with my 'town-hogging' life, you were the one who ruined it! Why would you even think you were saving me?"

"Because your idiotic self didn't notice the 'monster' creeping up to kill you! You had a siren following you!"