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Crouched under the trees, face covered in mud, he hid. Hid with leaves on top of him, waiting for the monster to come closer. When it was close enough, he sprung out from under the leaves and thrust his sword up through the bottom of its jaw and through its brain. With it dead, he yanked his sword out and promptly began to skin the creature.
With precision movements he carved meat out of it, then ran from the site. Other monsters would show up at the scent of a fresh kill. He had to return to his safe haven to cook his catch before they swarmed to take it all from him.
Meat in his makeshift sack slung across his back, he ran, nimbly going under over around the trees. Eventually he found his territory and slowed down, eyes darting in search of intruders. He sniffed the air and found no trace of a threat, so he crept into his cave.
There he lit a small fire in the crevice he’d fashioned into a fire pit and threw the meat over it, then covered it with a hollowed out rock to block the scent from getting out. Then he crouched to wait.
There was a loud snap outside, and that was all it took for him to leap, sword in hand, out the mouth of the cave, ready to fight for his life and his food.
But he stopped.
Eyes wide, he stared at the disheveled looking child lying face down in the dirt.
A human?
A human--
A child.
Instinct from being alone for so many years, being on guard and fighting for his life screamed at him to be careful, but it was crashing against emotions long dead that rose again like baleful zombie hoards in his mind. He stood frozen, unable to move for a solid minute, then kicked himself into gear. He crept closer and gently nudged the still form.
The soft whimper that greeted him sent shivers down his spine. Throwing the screaming wariness away, he scooped the boy up into his arms and retreated into the cave.
Kim Roksu was not having the best day. Few days really went well for him anymore, but this one was decidedly a very bad day. He’d ended up running out of the house without his shoes in a moment of weakness, which he nearly instantly regretted, but he couldn’t go back.
Not now, while his uncle was in a rage and a blaring danger.
So he ran, thinking to escape to the local park where at least there was grass damp with the night air to cool his stinging skin. It was almost too dark to see; for some reason the street lights on his path weren’t lit, which made it easy to run without being spotted, but it also made sure he didn’t see the curb in time.
His little toes rammed into the concrete and he went careening face-first towards the pavement. Kim Roksu flung his arms out to catch himself, but the curb never came.
Instead, he found himself waking up in a cave with a strange, wild and messy teenager using water and his own shirt to clean Roksu’s feet.
He shot back in a moment of fear, yanking his foot out of the teenager’s grasp and accidentally kicking him in the face in the process. He pressed against the wall of the cave and watched in terrified amazement as the teenager didn’t even look hurt from the kick-- just confused.
They sat there in silence for a few moments, both watching the other warily. Then the teenager crouched lower to the ground and opened and closed his mouth a few times. Kim Roksu was amazed and somewhat confused by the sheer hoarseness of his voice, as if it hadn’t been used in years.
“I… I am… Choi… Han. I…”
He seemed to struggle to find the words, his hands raised with their palms open.
“Y, you… hurt. I want… help.”
Kim Roksu stared, then looked down at his body. It was true-- he hadn’t really evaded the bottles in time, and his feet looked pretty awful . Now that he was calming down it hurt a lot, actually.
“Please,” the teenager pleaded.
It was something about the gentle earnestness in Choi Han’s voice that drew him to unstick from the wall and come back to the pile of moss he’d been laying on. Choi Han seemed to brighten immensely at him, but kept making his movement large and dramatic. Kim Roksu wasn’t sure why the teen kept acting as if he was a scared small animal that needed constant reassurances he wasn’t going to be hurt (though he did appreciate them, he realized), but he grudgingly let the stranger finish cleaning his feet off.
Then Choi Han produced some weird looking leaves and proceeded to wrap his feet in them. When he went to reach for Kim Roksu’s shirt, the child drew back and flinched, throwing his arms protectively around himself.
…Nothing happened.
He peeked slowly out from behind his arms to see Choi Han had drawn back, his palms raised and open again. Kim Roksu uncurled, ignoring the slight flush that rose to his cheeks. This guy was only trying to help him, after all, but…
“...Choi Han?” he asked, wrapping his arms around himself.
The teenager brightened, his face lighting up like a colorful sunrise, then burst into tears.
It took a while for Choi Han and Kim Roksu to become acquainted with one another, but after the first monster found the cave of refuge, Kim Roksu had come to realize very fast that he wasn’t in Korea anymore and that his uncle was no longer the scariest thing around. It also took a while for Choi Han to stop crying any time he spoke, which he learned was because it really had been years since Choi Han had spoken to anyone.
In fact, Choi Han didn’t even remember the last time he’d seen a friendly face, much less a friendly creature at all. He didn’t know how long he’d been in this hell, alone, fighting for his life.
“Ah, but I strong now,” he promised, his language still broken, though it was rapidly improving. “I keep you safe. Please don’t leave.”
“Where else would I go?” Kim Roksu retorted sharply. “Give me that meat, you’re going to burn it again.”
He ignored the smile that was so reminiscent of the sun on Choi Han’s face and cooked the monster meat. Amongst the things Kim Roksu learned was the fact that Choi Han’s method of cooking was basically “burn it until I don’t think it’s raw anymore” and that he was very paranoid about monsters coming to take his food away.
Choi Han also took to carrying Kim Roksu around if he could help it, given that little Roksu didn’t have any shoes, and seemed almost paranoid about the child getting hurt. Kim Roksu naturally didn’t have any problems with this. He hated pain, and it turned out that Choi Han was no liar.
Nothing even came close to hurting Kim Roksu with Choi Han by his side.
Time passed. Winter came and went, and spring saw them still together, lost in the monster infested woods. Choi Han and Kim Roksu worked together to sew themselves new clothes out of monster hides, including very terrible slippers for Kim Roksu. Winter was harsh and cold for them both; Choi Han wasn’t used to having a non-aggressive companion, and Kim Roksu wasn’t used to human affection.
Cuddling under hides was still warmer than the alternative, though, so they got used to it. Nights saw Choi Han often taking watch with Kim Roksu tucked under his arm and monster pelts wrapped around them for warmth. This trend continued even into Spring, as Kim Roksu had gotten so used to being held and Choi Han insisted that if they were ambushed then Roksu was already in his arms.
Time passed. Spring left and so did summer.
Kim Roksu got good at cooking and foraging, and Choi Han was even stronger by the day. They were comfortable talking to each other by now. They devised a sort of sign language between them so they could speak without words in case of a monster attack, but Roksu made sure to talk to Choi Han at least once every day.
Neither of them spoke about the nightmares that Kim Roksu had. If he woke up once in a while, shaking in fear, tears running down his face, Choi Han would simply hold him tight and promise him in a gentle voice.
“I’ll keep you safe.”
Time passed. Summer left and another winter blew them around the forest.
And time passed.
And time kept passing.
They weren’t sure how many years it was now since Choi Han found Kim Roksu outside his temporary shelter. Neither of them seemed to age. Neither of them cared.
Time passed.
And then, one day, they came across a tall wall, made by human hands.
Choi Han stared at it, then reached out his hands to Kim Roksu, who obediently climbed onto his back and held on.
“Looks like humans do live here after all,” Choi Han said, backing up to get a running start.
“ We live here,” Kim Roksu replied.
Choi Han laughed. “Ready?”
“Yes, Choi Han.”
“Call me Hyung.”
“No.”
Choi Han ran up the wall and nimbly alit on the top. He gave an audible gasp on seeing the world below, excitedly pointing out the village not far from them. Kim Roksu gave him an encouraging squeeze.
“Let’s go get some real food.”