Within Us. ➛️️ SWEET HOME

Chapter 22

  
A laugh is all it took for Minseo to find some light in the darkness and she felt like she was waking up.

She found herself in an unfamiliar place and looked around before hearing the laugh again.
It sounded more like an evil chuckle.

"You warn others that their desires are obvious. What about you?"

She saw herself standing not too far from where she was sitting and frowned.

"You may not make it obvious but you have a strong desire too."

Minseo's reflection smiled creepily, not like herself.

Minseo's brows, still creased, she asked, "I thought you may already know what I want, but that's not true," she slightly smirked, "Even you don't know what I want," another chuckle resounded but it was real Minseo now, "Keep going. I'm not the one who easily gets manipulated."

The black eyed, standing Minseo frowned this time and shook her head,
"You may be a strong minded girl, but I'll wait for you. I know…you will give in soon."

Minseo shot open her eyes and immediately sat up straight, a suddenly headache striking her, making her wince.

Eunyu glanced at her before she continued to read the book in her hand.

Minseo sighed, thankful for the awful dream to be just a dream as her eyes landed on the figure lying opposite to her.

Hyunsoo was groaning and turning a bit as if he was in uncomfortable.

Again...
What is comfortable here?

He woke up not long afterwards and looked at his surroundings.

"You up?" Eunyu asked not even sparing him a look as he sat up. "I knew you were a pushover," she continued, "Being a doormat is in your blood."

He didn't say a word and rested his back against a pillar, adjacent to Eunyu.

"But I've been wondering…who did that?" She used her torch to point at his arm, which was full of cuts.

Minseo who was quite the whole time, focused on the wounds of the boy and her eyes widened.

"I did," he replied without emotion.

"I mean, why'd you do it?"

He finally looked up at her, "Because of me."

"You can't do it because of yourself," Minseo's statement confirmed her presence and both of them looked at her.

"Does it feel better to think that way?" Eunyu stood up, again looking at Hyunsoo, "That's why everyone blames you. You have to throw a huge fit to make people understand."
She glanced at Minseo too, "Doesn't it hurt?"

He shook his head.

"You were groaning miserably earlier," Eunyu, took off her bandage and put it on his arm, which was barely covering his cuts, "I don't know where you're hurt, so stick these on yourself."

She dropped a packet of bandages and got ready to leave. Turning to Minseo, "You too, don't always smile."

"I–"

"I don't need these, I'll recover–"

"Make it obvious," Eunyu turned to him again before finally leaving, "‘I got hurt because of you. It fucking hurts!’ Okay?! Why don't you get it?"

"Hyunsoo," he looked up from the band aids to Minseo, "How are you feeling?"

Are you alright?

He hummed, "I'm fine."

"I guess you were having a nightmare," she wondered if he had same dreams as her.

Dreams?

"Are you thirsty or something?"

Hyunsoo shook his head and sighed, "You look tired too."

Minseo smiled lightly, "Too tired of sleeping I guess..?"

He smiled in return.

It was true. There was nothing to do, and sleep was only making the matter bore.

Are you really fine?
She wanted to ask but didn't. He was smiling it wasn't full hearted.

Am I like this too?
She was about to get up to leave when Eunhyuk entered the room.

He simply came and stood in front of Hyunsoo. Didn't even bother to ask how he was, and jumped straight to the point.
"We'll have to go outside. There's no guarantee if we'll be safe here or not."

Eunhyuk said, "It's taking you longer and longer to recover. We don't know when you'll turn into a monster."

Hyunsoo looked at him, "You think, I'll hurt everyone of I became a monster? …There are monsters who don't hurt anyone."

"So, are you sure you'll be one of them?" Eunhyuk reasoned, "A monster is a monster."

Minseo who was once again invisible to the people in the room, snapped at Eunhyuk and he eyes widened for a moment for no one was looking at her.

A monster is a monster.
That's all I can be

"We don't have time. So we must find a way to survive while you can still resist." Eunhyuk continued, "I don't expect you to understand. Just do your job."

Hyunsoo was then sent to the basement, as Dusik, Eunhyuk and Minseo saw him through the CCTV. But what they didn't expect from him, was, to turn the camera up, so it only captures the ceiling part of the basement.

Confusion spread throughout the security room but only for a short while. Until, Hyunsoo was attacked by a monster, his whole body covered in spider webs and green, slimey substance as his body hung upside down from the ceiling.

Eunhyuk looked at Minseo and moved out of the security room. She followed him. He saw Jisu nearby, taking to Jaehwan and went to them. "We need to go in the basement."

The attention diverted to him, coincidentally Sangwook came out of the store too, "Hyunsoo is trapped there, now, we need to go."

"We should get our weapons," Jisu said and they moved to get their stuff.

Eunhyuk came behind Minseo, "What are you doing?"

"I'm coming too."

"Don't," he stopped her, "You should stay here."

"No, there is no reason for me to stay here, I must come too."

Minseo really didn't want to leave this chance, especially when she knew that even after being hurt, she'd be able to recover sooner than anyone.

"No Minseo, just, stay here," his voice carried a hint of worry, "Not all of us can go down, so stay in security room."

She could see concern for herself in Eunhyuk's eyes but she really wanted to go. However, she knew she shouldn't push him and waste his time.
Minseo gave up pretty soon.

Now all she could do was, silently observe the activity though the camera, which still continued to display an upside down hanging Hyunsoo. Making her feel sick at the thought of how he must've been feeling.