hydra | svt

CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR.

wonwoo

my mother arches a brow as i patter down the stairs, heading straight for the door as soon as my arms are through the sleeves of my denim jacket. i tug my sneakers on with my own brows furrowed and mumble a quiet 'goodbye' as i leave, staring up at the sapphire sky above me.

i spend a good majority of my walk to orbit cafe glued to the screen of my phone, going through the instagram messages again and again; the app refuses to even let me open the conversation with izzy and a strange feeling settles in my chest when i realise that was it from her and mark. the part about our home universe becoming restless caused me to bristle like a cat, despising the foreboding essence tacked to each letter.

i cross the road and come to a stop right outside the aforementioned cafe, slowing my pace to peer inside. thankfully, junhui's present behind the counter, serving a pastry in a brown paper bag already spotting with grease. i push through just as the customer is leaving and i hold the door open for them kindly.

"oh, wonwoo! you're already here!" i glance at the clock hanging above the counter and grimace at my early arrival by seven minutes.

"sorry, i guess i walked faster than i thought." i take a seat in an empty booth, barely filling the vastness of it by myself. jun shakes his head, wiping his hands on his apron before reaching to untie it: thankfully, he looks just as he did before, with the same megawatt grin and sparkling sable eyes. the only change is the fading bruises and cuts that blemish his skin.

"i'm pretty much done here anyway, give me one sec...MINJOO!" he disappears into the employee's only room, shouting at the top of his lungs for who i assume is his coworker. while he's gone, minghao and mingyu step inside the property, the bell tinkling above their heads. mingyu seems highly amused by it and by the decor of the cafe in general, gulping down the minimalist furniture and the pretty plants adorning the space.

"wonwoo, good morning!" minghao spots me first, sliding into the seat opposite me as mingyu follows. they're grinning at me eagerly but the smile i return is strained. jun quickly joins us, momentarily surprised by the new arrivals.

"now that everyone's here, what's with this place mingyu?" minghao asks, absentmindedly picking at a hangnail. mingyu's face is saturated with an 'i thought you'd never ask' look and he pulls out his phone from the confines of his jacket. after some determined swiping and tapping, he pushes the screen out into the middle of the table and the rest of us peer over it with curiosity.

the picture is jarringly high quality for such a fleeting shot. the poster is violently purple and has 'heng:garae fun fair' plastered at the top in bright yellow font; it's a graphic designer's worse nightmare but there's nothing tacky about the supposed 'fortune teller' they're promoting. the top half of the face is obscured by a cloth that fades into the background but the plush lips and curved smile look oddly familiar.

"well, what are we waiting for? let's go!" junhui is already striding over to the door, waving goodbye to his miffed coworker before stepping out into the brisk outdoors. the rest of us trod behind, reluctant to leave the warmth and the inviting coffee aroma that blesses orbit cafe.

"how far?" the spirit mage has enough energy to compensate for minghao and i as mingyu opens google maps and starts pointing down dodgy alleys and deserted side-streets, each one bringing us further away from metropolitan society.

a short walk later, we emerge on the side of a highway after trekking through a field of unidentifiable crops. when it's all clear, we rush to the other side, towards the obnoxious fairground edm and vibrant tents in red, yellow and blue. it's not even dark out and the lights are already flashing.