Insanity ♧ L. Cheong-San x OC (All Of Us Are Dead)

[15] void

"Na-Ri, quick and steady, okay?" Joon-Young yells down.

His voice is shaky, and I can tell he's starting to panic so I take another deep breath and quicken my pace.

"Na-Ri, take it easy or you might slip!"

I look down and see Su-Hyeok looking up at me. Wu-Jin's head pops out from beside him as well.

I lose my footing on one of the last few loops, making me yell out in surprise.

Su-Hyeok climbs on the window sill, holding out a hand to help me steady myself once I get down while his other hand grasps the metal bar of the window tightly.

I make it down safely, Su-Hyeok's hand circling around my waist. Wu-Jin holds my hand as I climb down, wobbling slightly due to the heaviness of the backpack.

"Go help Joon-Young." I tell them.

As the boys help Joon-Young down the rope, I hurry towards the table to place the backpack on the flat surface. The girls surround me at once, helping me take out all the contents of the backpack so Joon-Young can assemble them later.

"Aish, I'm never doing that again." Joon-Young wipes the sweat off his forehead, walking towards us. He starts to massage one of his arms when he stops in front of the drone. He turns to narrow his eyes suspiciously at me. "How does a tiny woman like you have such a strong grip?"

"What do you mean?" I ask, blinking.

"I feel like my arm's going to bruise because of how tight you held onto me." Joon-Young answers.

Both Su-Hyeok and Wu-Jin take a step forward.

"Na-Ri, what is he saying?" Wu-Jin asks, glaring at Joon-Young. "Why were you holding onto him?"

Joon-Young rolls his eyes at his friend's behavior. "Relax, I don't mean anything by it."

"Joon-Young protected me from the man-eating rat." I declare proudly.

"Man-eating what?" On-Jo asks, confused.

"She's exaggerating." Joon-Young sighs. "There were rats inside the lab, she almost shit herself."

"Yah!" I punch Joon-Young's arm and he flinches.

"Na-Ri, what are you not scared of?" Wu-Jin asks with a blank expression.

I walk over to Wu-Jin and kick his leg, making Su-Hyeok snicker.

"How long will it take for you to finish assembling the drone?" Ji-Min asks, impatient.

"A while." Joon-Young sighs and pulls out a chair to sit on while he finishes assembling the drone.

While waiting, I see Nam-Ra looking out the window with a wistful expression. I decide to walk over to her.

"Penny for your thoughts, Prez?"

She smiles when our gazes meet. "I was thinking about what you said earlier."

"About the man-eating rat?" I ask. "It's true, right? They eat people?"

"No." Nam-Ra laughs. "About hope."

"Oh? What about it?"

"Maybe it's not so wrong to have hope after all." Nam-Ra says, glancing towards Joon-Young who was just about to finish setting up the drone.

I follow her gaze and smile. "Let's stay alive, okay?"

"Okay."

Joon-Young lets out a long sigh once he finishes assembling the drone. He sets up the small monitor and positions it towards us as we gather around the table. He pulls the goggles above his head and positions it on his eyes, then grabs the large remote. Once the monitor is on and the drone flies out the room, we can see everything Joon-Young is seeing.