ꜰɪɴᴀʟ ʙʀᴇᴀᴛʜ . ꜱᴡᴇᴇᴛ ʜᴏᴍᴇ ¹

XXIII. ɪɴᴠᴀꜱɪᴏɴ ᴏꜰ ɢʀᴇᴇɴ ʜᴏᴍᴇ

A funeral was held for Jae-heon not long after the fire was finally put out.

Ji-su, who was finally up and moving (slowly), arrived where the funeral was being held just as Eun-hyeok and Ji-ji finished burying the body. 

Gil-seob stepped forwards after and placed a yellow origami flower on top of the mound. "You died when you should have lived, and I lived when I should have died."

Ji-su then seemed to realise who they were mourning, especially when she noticed the person missing. She walked away, entering an empty room where she could cry.

Back at the funeral, Sung-hyo was rubbing her hand up and down Hyun-su's back, slowly and comfortingly as he stood next to her, tears falling down his cheeks continuously.

When the funeral was over, Hyun-su still couldn't stop crying.

But Sung-hyo didn't leave, continuing to comfort the teenage boy.

"If we'd warned them..." Hyun-su cried.

"There was no way we could warn them," Sung-hyo pointed out, her voice a hushed, comforting tone. "But that didn't stop us from trying to get down there as quickly as we could to help."

"It's my fault," Hyun-su wept, his tears touching the sides of Sung-hyo's thumbs. "If I had gotten there sooner-"

"No, no, no, don't do that to yourself!" Sung-hyo shook her head. "Jae-heon chose to protect the others. He chose to step forward. I understand that it hurts. It's agonising, maybe. But that is what causes grief. And we wouldn't have grief if we didn't love those around us. I know Jae-heon would want you to keep him in your heart, like everyone else. Okay?"

Hyun-su nodded, but that didn't stop him from leaning towards Sung-hyo, wrapping his arms around her as he began to cry into her shoulder.

"I love you," Hyun-su let out, his voice muffled slightly as his face was resting against Sung-hyo's jumper.

Despite being surprised, Sung-hyo gently began to run her hand through Hyun-su's hair, resting the side of her head against Hyun-su's.

"I love you too," Sung-hyo smiled slightly, tears of her own now falling down her face.

ᶠYͧoͨᵏu

Sung-hyo left Hyun-su alone not long after, as he'd requested some alone time.

She had just moved down another hallway when a loud crash came. Sung-hyo contemplated heading towards the sound to investigate, but she didn't have her knife with her.

Sung-hyo decided to head towards the noise. She could still help out.

However, as she was heading towards where she believed the noise occurred, she managed to walk by Sang-wook, who grabbed her and pulled her up against him, his back pressed to the wall. He put his hand over her mouth and said "Stay quiet."

She obeyed, noticing how stern his voice had become.

Not even a moment after he'd removed his hand from her mouth, the sound of two men came from down the hallway. Sung-hyo recognised neither of the voices.

"It'll be easier to just shoot them."

"You always talk about killing everyone. We should have fun with them."

"A robbery in the middle of the day?" Gil-seob suddenly appeared in front of the two men before they could discover Sang-wook and Sung-hyo hiding nearby. "Didn't your mother buy you any paper? Why the hell did you scribble on your face?"