"Hyewon, we have to go, now."

"Hm... Kkura, where- why?"

Sakura flopped out of bed in the same fashion a fish would flop out of a shallow bucket, both hands gripping onto Hyewon's arm tightly as though she meant to rip it off.

She sighed, frustrated, anxiety  progressively building in her chest, and typed a message into the group.

Dread settled in the pit of her stomach like a heavy stone.

...

Kkurachan: one of you turn on your location

Yuri: sakura whats happeni

Nakochan: smoke

ChaeYEON: my location is on

Eunbi: i can't find yujin

Eunbi: i told that bastard child to hide now shes lost its my fault we're gonna find that god damn 170cm body dead

Yudaeng: LMAOOO BASTARD CHILD

Yudaeng: ALL JOKES ASIDE I HAVE WONYOUNG BUT IM NOT SURE WHERE YURI IS

Hitomichan: i cant breathe chaeyeon

ChaeYEON: hold on for me, im coming in okay?

Hitomichan: ok

ChaeWON: WHERES MINJU

...

Hyewon received every notification, but didn't tap on the chat.

She was looking into a certain ticket site.

JEJU TOURS FERRY SERVICE

next ferry 0430

later times 0700|0830|1230|1600

"Shit..." she muttered. It was only 2AM.

She tugged on Sakura's ear with a forefinger and thumb.

"What?" Sakura hissed. Her gaze fell onto Hyewon's phone screen and looked it over. "Four thirty- we can't wait, Hyewon! Who knows what might happen to them in two hours?! It takes an hour to get back alone, if you don't include a half-hour long bus ride! Wh-"

Hyewon clapped her hand over Sakura's mouth.

"Pack your bags, now."

"Huh? But there isn't any ferry-"

Hyewon kicked Daeman's back gently. He rolled over and muttered groggily but was silenced by Hyewon's palm.

"Daeman-ah. There's been an emergency at home and you need to help us," she said, tapping his cheek.

"What emergency?" Daeman whispered through her fingers.

"Hunters are after Kkura. Get us home please. I'll buy you rice cakes for a week."

Daeman didn't need it, but he still grinned and rolled out of bed, careful not to wake Miyun as he peeled the blanket off his legs.

"Hyewon?"

Hyewon turned her back on Daeman to face Sakura.

She looked so small beside her duffel. The darkness only outlined her, making her look like a child.

"Yes, Kkura?"

"How are we gonna get back fast enough?"

Silence weighed down the air between them until the tension snapped.

"Honestly speaking, Sakura, I have no fucking idea," Hyewon said, one hand resting on her luggage.

"That's very comforting," Daeman snickered, getting down on one knee in front of Sakura.

"What are you doing?" Sakura asked, puzzled.

"Get on my back. You don't expect to limp all the way to the station, do you?"

Sakura looked down at her bandages.

She huffed. "Fine."

They left, door closing behind them with an almost unnoticeable click.

...

It was too dark.

"Are you okay?" Minju whispered, rubbing gentle circles on Nako's back. The smaller girl managed a nod. Hitomi coughed softly beside them, knees folded to her chest and pressed against Nako's thigh.

Chaewon sniffled somewhere close to Minju. The toe of her shoe touched Minju's forearm. She wanted to pull her close for comfort, but the constricted space prevented even Nako from moving.

"I thought the coop was destroyed?" a velvety voice said. Eunbi.

"Wonyoung made it sound way worse," Hitomi whispered.

"Ah-ahh nice chicken- nice chicken..." Nako squeaked. A chick hopped over her finger.

"Where are Yuri and Yujin and Wonyoung?" Chaewon asked, pressing herself against Eunbi.

"I'm not sure. Let me check." The older girl flinched when the brightness of her screen glared into her and Chaewon's eyes. She set it to night mode and tapped on their chat icon while the screen warmed into a darker hue.

...

Kwangbae: wherever you guys are

Kwangbae: stay the fuck hidden because we're on our way right now

ChaeYEON: language!

Kwangbae: korean??

Minguri: NOW IS NOT THE TIME HYEWON

Minguri: CHAEYEON WHERE ARE YOU

ChaeYEON: where are YOU

Eunbi: we're in the coop it stinks worse than Yujin

Yudaeng: how you dare

Hitomichan: omg shes alive

Yudaeng: we're not hidden but we're far from the barn

Duckieyena: wasnt the coop destroyed

Wonyoung: ok so maybe i panicked and made it sound way more dramatic

Eunbi: only the sty fence got blown off and a piglet got blasted into high hell but otherwise everything is fine

Duckieyena: anyway im alive and i have annyeongz

Duckieyena: anyone seen yuri?

ChaeYEON: I HAVE YURI

ChaeYEON: JUST SAY WHERE YOU ARE AND WHO YOU'RE WITH

Yudaeng: i got yena and wonyoung with me

Yudaeng: i ran back into the barn to get wonyoung and yuri but yuri wasnt there and they were ransacking the whole place so i grabbed wonyong and got out

Yudaeng: yena's dumbass was outside and looking like a deer caught in headlights so i grabbed her too

Yudaeng: we're behind the water tower right now and even though we arent entirely covered the people from the truck cant see us

Yudaeng: but yuri is missing

Eunbi: ...she's with chaeyeon

ChaeYEON: stay there we'll come for you

Kkurachan: no stay where you are and dont move a muscle

ChaeYEON: sakura i appreciate your concern but i am Not gonna sit in chicken shit for the rest of this night

Kkurachan: valid but only go out when they leave

ChaeYEON: roger that

Eunbi: wait chicken shit?

ChaeWON: chaeyeon you're in here too??

ChaeYEON: not exactly im in the back

ChaeYEON: just stick your hand through the egg collecting hole thing and you'll touch my shoulder or something

...

"Minju," Nako whispered. Soft rumblings of moving truck could be heard in the background. "Can you move your shoulder?"

Minju shifted, squishing Chaewon's arm. "Why?"

Nako said nothing. She stuck her arm through the imperfect hole in the wood surface.

"Chaeyeon-ah," Nako whispered, fingertips finding warm skin and cotton clothing. "Is this you?"

Chaeyeon struggled to turn around. She inched around painfully slowly. Nako's small index finger and thumb stuck out of the opening. She picked away wet splinters to open it up more and pulled Nako's hand further through.

"I have Yuri with me," Chaeyeon whispered, rubbing comforting circles on Nako's hand. "And Hitomi."

"What do you mean? I'm with Eunbi and Minju on the other side!" Hitomi said.

"But... you're sitting next to me..."

"You're Lee Chaeyeon, I guess? Thank you for taking care of Sakura."

"Who the hell are you?!" Chaeyeon gasped, jerking sharply around to face the stranger. Her elbow crunched against the wood.

"We're gonna need Sakura back, however."

...

"Loosen y-your grip Sakura! I-I'm gonna suffocate before we can get there!" Daeman wheezed.

Sakura bounced on his back as he ran like they were running from the devil, Hyewon hot on their tail.

"I didn't know you could run!" Sakura yelled over the wind in her ears to Hyewon.

"Oh shut up!" Hyewon shouted back, untied hair whipping around in the salty air.

They were reaching the sea.

Daeman halted very abruptly all of a sudden and Sakura lurched forward, almost taking Daeman down with her.

Hyewon couldn't stop fast enough, though, and collided with the two. They tumbled noisily down the slope in a whirlwind of white sand and salt. Daeman yelped and shot up to his feet quickly with Sakura still on his back when the cold water lapped against his elbow.

Sakura spat out part of a mussel shell, shooting an annoyed glare at Hyewon.

"Now what?" she asked, looking around. The world was navy blue and black, with only moonlight illuminating the surface of the water...

...and some motorboats.

"Sit down. It won't take more than five minutes," Daeman whispered, letting go of Sakura's leg gently as he lowered her onto the sand.

"What is he..." Sakura trailed off, looking up at Hyewon. Her jawline was defined in the pale glowing light, as were the whites of her eyes.

"He and I, we have a past," Hyewon chuckled fondly, as though reminiscing a good time long gone.

"I thought you liked girls?"

"Not that kind of past, Sakura!" She delivered a playful smack, clipping the tip of Sakura's ear. Although Sakura was blind in the dark world, the warmth from Hyewon's laugh soothed her.

"We used to hijack people's vehicles and run off with them. We'd return them after a few hours. Though not always with the complete contents.

"Our families were well off until my mom hit a crisis and disappeared. After that my dad went psycho and died too."

"I'm sorry, Hye-"

"No, it's fine really, don't be. My only family was really only my brother and Daeman. His family helped us out for a while until his dad fell ill. It turned out to be skin cancer. His mom went to live with his grandma without him - she blamed him for his dad's death.

"We were in school too, same class just like right now. He doesn't live with me, but he comes by every now and then. He's met Eunbi a couple of times.

"We always only took a few bills from wallets. We were careful too. It was always him breaking the locks. I just wore a glove and picked out what we needed."

"Did you guys have to do time for it?"

"Prison? No. Never. Daeman only got caught once, but even then he got away. We stopped when his aunt started taking care of him."

Sakura looked up at Hyewon. She was straight faced again, digital light illuminating her features.

A mechanical whirring and the sound of water churning broke Sakura's trance. She whipped her head around to see Daeman expertly maneuvering the vehicle towards them.

"I got it, let's go!" Daeman called out as he neared them. "Quick! It's not like they don't have security patrolling the area-"

A white light flashed onto Daeman, catching his bare shoulder and part of the design on his sleeveless top. Hyewon pulled Sakura to her feet by her underarms.

"Put your hands in the air and get off the-"

Hyewon threw Sakura and their bags on, making sure her arms were wrapped around Daeman's middle, then planted her feet on the plate behind and slapped the boy's head.

"MOVE, DAEMAN! GO!"

He slammed his foot on the pedal and they took off. Sakura's heart beat uncontrollably in her chest. Salty droplets of seawater hit their skin like bullets. Hyewon let out a muffled cry as a large droplet hit her in the cheek.

"I swear to high hell, if the hunters don't kill me this will!" she screeched as Daeman sped across the water at full speed.

"How long do you think we'll take to get to the bus station?!" Hyewon shouted.

"An hour, tops!"

...

Twenty minutes later, Sakura turned her head around under Hyewon's arm.

"I think they lost us," she breathed out.

Daeman slowed. It was still fast, but Sakura breathed a little easier. Hyewon relaxed her hold on the side bars.

Sakura's phone vibrated in her pocket.

She switched it on. A call.

Yuri

Accept Call

She put the phone on speaker. Hyewon craned her neck closer to hear.

"Hi, Yuri? Is everything okay?" Sakura asked.

"Sa- Sakura... Chaeyeon f-found me, I'm alright..."

"Oh, that's good, we're on our way back now, so-"

"There was a girl..." Yuri's voice was growing faint. Sakura could pick up Chaeyeon's low voice and someone coughing.

Yuri sounded like she struggled to breathe.

"She... w-wearing your school uniform... I recognised the blazer... Sakura you have to go away... she wa- wasn't Hitomi..."

"Yuri, you aren't making any sense, you're hurt now and you have to rest, okay? Let Chaeyeon take care of you, we'll be back soon-"

"She's- ah- she said she's going to kill me- if y-you don't turn yourself in- Sakura turn back I'm going to be okay-"

A thud and a click.

Sakura tapped the screen to check if the call had disconnected. It hadn't.

"Hey? Yuri?"

"Hello, Sakura."

The voice... that voice! Sakura's heard it before, sweet and angelic...

"I'm not the type to commit murder just like that, but you need to know that our job is to eliminate pests... like you. I hope you understand."

"Yuri, it's me, Hyewon. Can you say something?"

"Kang Hyewon?"

"How do you know me?"

"I know you too, Miyawaki Sakura. I know you, Daeman... and you should turn back right now before the girls realise you've gone."

"Sakura, we're here. I got you the number seven bus, let's go," Daeman said. He ignored the voice from the phone, softly pushing down Hyewon's hand so the device didn't block Sakura's face.

He lifted Sakura over the motorboat seat with the help of Hyewon and steadied her as she stood awkwardly, most of her weight shifted to the uninjured leg. The soles of her shoes tapped against the stone of the ground.

"We're coming, guys," Hyewon whispered.

Call Ended

"Hyewon, you have to take it from here," he said sadly. "I have to return this." He tapped on the handlebars.

"I'll see you in school," Hyewon said indifferently, trying to maintain a straight face until Daeman pulled her and Sakura in for a brief hug.

"Bye for now," he said, before turning and slamming his foot onto the pedal.

Hyewon and Sakura made their way to the bus stop only a few meters away as the sky grew light again.

Headlights shone against the tar as the bus approached.

Hyewon pressed a handful of crumpled bills into the bus driver's hand before collapsing into the nearest empty seat.

"I'm placing my bet it's Seunmi," Sakura growled through gritted teeth. "I told her too much."

"It was my fault to tell you we could trust her," Hyewon said guiltily.

Sakura didn't respond. The bus rumbled over speed bumps and turned sharp corners on the road to the train station Yujin and Wonyoung took to Starship Point.