Chapter Text
Screams and shouts echoed as they hobbled down the hall, Hyun-su struggling to keep his feet moving and being heavily supported by Sangwook, Ji-su darting up ahead of the group with her bat raised. Glass shattered and flames roared; the shriek of the spider had Hyun-su’s heart thumping against his ribs. They stumbled into the room just as the spider sliced through the rope around its leg and fell to the ground in a screeching pile of limbs. Du-sik was on the floor, wheelchair nowhere to be seen and a trail of blood streaking the floor behind him. Sangwook swore under his breath, gaze darting between Du-sik and Hyun-su.
“Can you stand?” he asked.
Hyun-su steadied himself on the nearest crate and shoved him forward. “Go!”
The spider screeched, smoke curling from its skin and its rear legs dragging limp and useless behind it. Sangwook and Jaehyun hauled Du-sik out of its path in the nick of time as it finally clambered to its feet, bloodshot eyes now fixed on Eun-hyeok. Hyun-su watched him struggle to load his crossbow, the spider careening towards them, too fast, not fast enough—
Hyun-su was moving before he had time to think, plunging his spear into the creature’s chest with a crunch of cartilage and a crackle of electricity. It screeched and spasmed, and he snarled right back, eyes black and burning with inhuman rage. Its legs swiped down, slicing into his shoulders, his back; one jabbed towards his face, and he barely caught it time. Slowly, painstakingly, his fingers dug into its joint, and with a terrible popping and snapping of tendons, he ripped it clean off. The spider let out an ear-splitting shriek; its leg flopped to the ground, black blood spurting from the stump left behind. It made one last desperate lunge, and Hyun-su toppled to the ground, the monster collapsing on top of him with a dying gurgle. It twitched once, twice, then fell still.
He laid there for a good few moments, chest heaving, until Sangwook stumbled over and dragged him out from under the creature’s steaming corpse. Hyun-su was grateful for about one second before Sangwook had him by the back of the neck and yanked him up to meet his furious gaze.
“What the hell is wrong with you!?” he hissed. “I leave you alone for five seconds—”
“It was going to kill him!” Hyun-su protested, gesturing to a shell-shocked Eun-hyeok. His eyes flickered black and his face twisted into a snarl as the monster seized control. “Maybe if he’d moved a little faster—”
“I don’t want to hear it!” snapped Sangwook. He gave them a little shake; the monster growled and scrabbled at his grip on their nape. “You are in NO state to be fighting right now!”
“I’m fine!” The monster twisted free and made a break for it, but Sangwook grabbed Hyun-su’s hoodie and dragged him back into a headlock.
“30 minutes without oxygen!” he fumed. “Possible brain damage!? You’ll be lucky if I ever let you out of my sight again!”
“Possible WHAT!?” shrieked Eun-yu. Both of them froze as she stormed over; the survivors watched in confusion. “Answer me, goddammit! What the hell happened out there!?” Sangwook and Hyun-su exchanged wide-eyed glances, neither looking eager to respond.
“Hyun-su wasn’t breathing when we found him,” Eun-hyeok said. He twitched as the full fury of his sister’s gaze turned to him. “We still need to check if there’s any lasting damage from the hypoxia.” Eun-yu’s expression lay somewhere between frantic and enraged. She closed her eyes, took a deep, calming breath, and let it out slowly. She then lunged for Eun-hyeok and began aggressively shaking him.
“I told you to bring him back in one piece!” she shouted.
“He is in one piece!” Eun-hyeok protested, looking rather like a gazelle that had wandered too close to the lion’s den.
“’Possible brain damage’ is not one piece, you stupid asshole!”
Hyun-su began to sag in Sangwook’s arms, distracting him from the bickering siblings; he glanced down to see Hyun-su’s eyelids drooping, every part of him going lax.
“Kid?” Sangwook gave him a little shake. “You alright?” Hyun-su blinked himself back to awareness, the black in his eyes replaced with a hazy look.
“Fuck,” he groaned. “’M okay. I’m good.”
“You sure?” Sangwook asked, with no small amount of skepticism in his voice. “Lost steam pretty quickly there.”
“Got bit,” Hyun-su mumbled, grabbing the torn and bloodied shoulder of his hoodie. His arm dropped again just as quickly. “I think it’s still…” he trailed off, gaze slipping to somewhere in the distance. A bolt of fear struck through Sangwook’s chest.
“Shit. Yu-ri!” he called.
“I’m here,” she said, kneeling beside him. Despite being noticeably disheveled, her gaze was clear and focused as she looked over Hyun-su. “What’s wrong?”
“The monster bit him,” Sangwook replied, a trace of panic in his voice. “I think it might have been venomous.” Hyun-su’s gaze flicked up to his face.
“Don’t freak out,” he slurred. “It won’t kill me.”
“I’m not freaking out,” snapped Sangwook. He pulled back Hyun-su’s hoodie, baring the scabbed-over bite wound. “Yu-ri?”
“I think he’ll be okay,” she said. She prodded the wound; Hyun-su hissed. “I don’t see any swelling, and this isn’t new. He’s had time to get some of the venom out of his system.” She frowned at the still bleeding cuts on his back and shoulders. “I’ll need to clean these. Hyun-su, can you stand?” Hyun-su frowned and stared at his legs, which didn’t move.
“No,” he decided. Sangwook sighed and hauled him to his feet; Yu-ri hurried to support his other side.
“Alright, let’s go.”
It wasn’t an easy trip, Hyun-su’s feet dragging the whole way and Yu-ri struggling to keep pace with Sangwook, but they made it to the infirmary. Hyun-su tipped over the moment they set him down; Sangwook swore and scrambled to catch him before he cracked his head open on the table.
“Sorry,” Hyun-su mumbled as Sangwook propped him upright against his shoulder and Yu-ri went digging through the cabinets for supplies.
“Not your fault,” Sangwook replied. Wrestling Hyun-su out of his shirt and hoodie proved difficult, given he could barely even lift his own arms, but they managed. Sangwook hissed through his teeth as the wounds came into view, deep and sluggishly bleeding.
“Got you pretty good, didn’t it, kid?”
“Its legs were sharp,” Hyun-su said. “We should make weapons out of it.” Sangwook snorted.
“Yeah, that ought to work well.” Yu-ri tossed him an alcohol wipe, which he caught one-handed. “Crack it open like a lobster.”
“I could,” insisted Hyun-su. “I ripped its leg off.”
“I know kid, I was there.”
“Did it with my bare hands too. Ow.” Hyun-su winced at the sting of alcohol but couldn’t muster the energy to squirm away. Yu-ri returned, her arms laden with bandages, and dumped her supplies onto the table next to Hyun-su.
“You’re not healing,” she said, pressing a gauze pad to the bite wound on his shoulder. “Do you know why?” Hyun-su shrugged, then winced.
“Don’t know,” he mumbled. “It’s been taking longer lately. ‘M tired.”
“Yeah, we can tell,” Sangwook said. He held the gauze pad to Hyun-su’s shoulder while Yu-ri wrapped it in bandages. “How about the other you, does he know anything?” Yu-ri raised her eyebrows but didn’t comment; Hyun-su had just enough time for his eyes to go wide before they flickered black.
“You knew?” demanded the monster. Its voice was clear and cold, with none of Hyun-su’s previous slurring.
“Kid, I’ve watched you try to fight monsters for fun,” Sangwook deadpanned. “The first time we went to the upper floors together, remember?”
“Oh, yeah.” The monster frowned petulantly. “You punched me in the stomach.” Yu-ri shot Sangwook a disapproving look.
“Just to snap him out of it,” he defended. The monster grinned.
“You know, Hyun-su feels more of that stuff than I do,” it said. Sangwook winced.
“Okay, now I feel bad.” The black disappeared from Hyun-su’s eyes.
“He’s lying,” interjected Hyun-su. The black returned, as did the monster’s scowl.
“Fucking snitch.”
“I’m not even going to ask,” Yu-ri muttered, tying off the last of the bandages. The monster watched her carefully; she sighed. “Look, I’m not going to tell anyone about your… situation, so long as you take it easy for a few days and let yourself heal.” She looked the monster in the eye, not fazed in the slightest by the coldness of its gaze. “Alright?”
The monster grinned.
“You’ve got yourself a deal.”