Though reluctant to go together, Wooyoung had no way to see Seonghwa by himself. He couldn't deny his curiosity about how San handled the AI, so he trudged along, careful not to match his pace to San's to invite conversation. As much as Mingi distrusted them, he abode his oath to stick with Jongho's call. He marched ahead without another word and Wooyoung studied him vigilantly. He would bet Mingi knew how to use every single one of the weapons he had for sale in his little cart.

When San spoke up to fill the silence of their wandering, Wooyoung tensed at first, thinking he would become the victim of his nosiness. Thankfully, San had enough tact to leave him to his brooding.

"How long are you staying?"

Mingi hummed. He didn't light a lantern, used to these corridors and their emptiness where Wooyoung's paranoia wanted to double-check every cranny.

"I come and go. Jongho will be fine for a few days without me since you two don't seem too dubious. I will be here once you depart."

Right, Mingi wasn't part of the fellowship. Two didn't sound like a whole crowd, and neither did three. Then again, Jongho needed a fast and secure crossing, not an army.

Mingi opened the door for them and stemmed his shoulder into it until San and Wooyoung entered. He leaned against the entrance once it shut, disinterested in their conversation. His gloves sparked a flame on his boot as he lit a cigarette.

The rectangular screen came to life, illuminating the dark. Instantly, peace filled Wooyoung. The sense of looking at something grander, something beyond human shortcomings.

"Smoking damages your lungs," Seonghwa scolded Mingi, gentle like a summer breeze. He showed the image of the lantern again, neither too bright nor too dark. Fascinated, Wooyoung sat down on the ground before his table. San preferred to stand.

"As does this world. Pick your poison."

Did he believe in Seonghwa? Clearly, he took him seriously enough to work along with Jongho, but did Mingi truly believe they could make it?

Perhaps Wooyoung would never know.

Since Mingi couldn't be argued with, Seonghwa directed his words at the two raiders.

"Both of you returned. This time, together," he noted. Somehow, he knew whom he was talking to, he saw.

Wooyoung played off his shudder.

"We were curious about you," San purred in that charming way, never missing a beat. He was clearly more used to talking to people than Wooyoung. Where Wooyoung was awkward from his sheltered upbringing and the few people in his life, San talked like one used to a community.

"I will respond to any question," Seonghwa replied, as if just as elated to see them. His voice carried that scary empathy again when he addressed Wooyoung. It wasn't so unnerving that Wooyoung would punch that screen and see if a person hid inside, but haunting enough.

"How are you feeling? You are less pale than last time."

Though the inquiry was meant well and innocent, Wooyoung grumbled to himself. Now San was looking at him again with those eyes that burned holes into walls.

"I can be less of a salt pillar," Wooyoung offered. No way would he fall back behind San.

He stubbornly kept his eyes on Seonghwa until San lifted his gaze away. Only then, he exhaled.

Seonghwa laughed, a quiet and pleasant sound. Wooyoung never talked to an AI before, but they weren't so bad. Uncanny, yes, eerily not human yet so close, but a voice in the solitude.

"Did you decide to stay?"

"Jongho is building a weapon for me," Wooyoung replied vaguely. "I'm sticking around until it's done."

"Do you look forward to the big day? Now that Jongho found a guard, Mission Bluebird is taking shape," San asked, crossing his arms lazily.

Wooyoung tilted his head.

"Bluebird?"

"It's our name for my transferal to the mother system. Jongho calls it many names, but its symbol suits me the most. After all, we pursue the freedom of birds under the blue sky."

Wooyoung couldn't imagine that, but it sounded marvelous. The few birds that survived the apocalypse stayed far from the desert.

"I look forward to it, though I cannot calculate our outcome. The theory of it is clear. A long journey, thousands of dangers along the way. Once I am there, I will be overwhelmed, as you are with me. I never was part of such a big computer system either. Of course, I am afraid to fail. I cannot change my coding, but what if my software is too old? What if something else is inaccessible to me? The number of potential failures that await us is depressing," Seonghwa answered the prior question. He resonated with insecurity surprisingly well and Wooyoung once more felt as if he were talking to an actual person.

How would they fare? Would the fouls overwhelm them on the way and rip their flesh from their bones so they would never make it to the north? Or would they get all the way there through countless risks and Seonghwa failed to upload his program?

Wooyoung was almost too interested to find out.

"You know many things," San noted, and Seonghwa hummed. To distract his hands, Wooyoung picked on his nails.

"I have an extensive database from before the holocaust. I can describe why things are how they are and thus I know my method will fix them if only we make it there."

"What's the place called where we need to bring you?" San quizzed him, ever so fascinated with Seonghwa's effortless knowledge. He didn't think about it. Just spat out the facts as if they waited on the tip of his tongue.

"We are searching one of the continent's five major radio stations. Back in the day, they were used to direct satellites and airplanes. The one best retained is the CRC, the Canadian Radio Complex. Worldwide, their systems are the only ones that didn't get destroyed during the war and should be able to signal my data across the globe."

Those were a lot of foreign words, but San drank them up with awe.

"Canadian, is that how the people named it? We call the region in the north Anda."

"Canada, yes. The records of its full name must have got destroyed."

"Canada," Wooyoung formed with his lips. A place of the old world. And this powerful facility made it through the war well enough to save them even now.

Somehow, he wanted to see it. He was ever so fascinated with leftover places and relics, wanted to hear all of their stories. Seonghwa could tell them, each and every one.

He never made it as far as Anda, rather modest in his travels, but travelers gathered their own bunch of information.

"We are currently in New Merica, the leftovers of a country once called the United States of America. It sounds close, but the path is far. According to my information, the north is inaccessible and overgrown."

Would it be a peaceful place to live? Did it have many shelters? Wooyoung wanted to know why it wasn't destroyed as much as the place they lived in now. And he wanted to know about Seonghwa and who gave him all of that information. Before he ended up in this cave, he must have been programmed somewhere, by scientists of the modern age, that worked on solving this issue. Were where they? Dead?

"Do you have a way to find the station? Some places are inapproachable by foot," Wooyoung pondered. Especially during such a long trip, it would be difficult to find shelter. Not that the fouls were after Seonghwa. But he wouldn't make it if he had no one to carry him.

"Jongho is working on fixing a car. Luckily, I could help him once Mingi provided all the parts. As soon as it is done, we can depart. There are many fuel stations left from the old world," Seonghwa soothed him. Suddenly, it sounded much more feasible.

"A car?" Wooyoung echoed with a glance at Mingi. He always wanted to have a car. Yunho kept declaring how good of a driver he would be and that he would drive Wooyoung to a safe home one day.

Mingi shrugged.

"Plenty of skeletons out there. We found one relatively in shape and have been working on it for the past months. Don't mistake us with experts. That was all Seonghwa."

The computer giggled as if flattered.

"These two work hard for me and as much as it breaks my heart to leave Mingi, I am happy to have made the acquaintance of a new team member. And yours, of course, Death."

"Don't mention it," Wooyoung uttered, but he couldn't help another stab of trouble. This was such a major concern. Such a significant event for everyone in the world. He was right there to witness its root and Seonghwa's tentative determination.

Could he let the team go without saying anything? Could he wait until the clouds cleared by themselves?

Or did he want to chase through the lands with them, explore the old world anew and ride in a car? None of them knew how to drive, but Wooyoung trusted them to figure it out. And then Seonghwa could tell them everything and scour the new world.

It sounded like much more fun and excitement than sitting idle in a cave and crying about Yunho.

Naturally, it would be even better with him, but Wooyoung couldn't think of it like that. He needed to keep his brain busy, and this was how.

"Death?" A hand on Wooyoung's shoulder startled him. He must have looked anxious because concern knitted San's brows into a line.

With an awkward shrug, Wooyoung shook his hand off and stood. Suddenly, his mind returned to the corridor, to all the things he had been running from, and his fingers trembled on their way through his hair.

"I'll get going first. You can continue talking about the mission," he feigned nonchalance. San stared at him as if he would find answers if he stripped Wooyoung bare, but Seonghwa called out.

"Was it too much information at once? I can talk slower," he proposed, mindful of their human limitations. But Wooyoung waved it off with a chuckle.

"I should check on Jongho," he insisted and took his leave before they made him stay. Mingi trusted him to find his way himself and Wooyoung hastily shoved San from his mind. While the other raider helped him clear his indecisiveness, he also added a whole new bunch of thoughts running through Wooyoung's mind.

Or had he? Did Wooyoung read the signs wrong? Had San merely leaned closer to... look into Wooyoung's eyes?

No, conscious or not, it had been unmistakable. That damned bastard was taunting Wooyoung, knowing his focus was elsewhere. Yunho. Yunho was the only one Wooyoung should think about that way. Being close to anyone else meant betraying Yunho while he was gone.

Wooyoung would not sink that low.

He and San needed distance. And though Wooyoung wouldn't be as far from him as he'd like if he stuck around to join the team, he at least could avoid being alone with San. Whenever they were, their tension drew them together like magnets.

As promised, Jongho sat at his table tinkering away when Wooyoung caught up with him. He lingered for some small talk about the weapon and wasted time berating him about wound care. Only once he mulled every single thought, quizzed himself on every decision he ever made, he voiced the question that had been floating around his mind.

"Hey, Jongho."

Jongho's hands never stopped moving, screwing and hammering as he switched tools so fast his movements blurred before Wooyoung's eyes. The raider swayed about with his fingers hooped into his pants.

"What's up?"

"Do you think..." Wooyoung gnawed on his lip, staring at the exoskeleton of his rifle.

He gathered all his courage.

"Do you think I could join your mission, after all? I know I said I wouldn't, but Seonghwa roused my interest."

Wooyoung winced when the hammer clicked on the table. Sheepish, he met Jongho's gaze.

Stars sparkled back at him because if those weren't stars, Wooyoung didn't know what was.

"Really?" Jongho gasped out, almost jumping to his feet. "You want to join and bring Seonghwa to Anda with us?"

Another slow nod. Wooyoung wished he was elsewhere, but this felt right.

"I want to look in front instead of back. Seonghwa doesn't know what will happen and I do neither, but... Nothing keeps me. You ensnared me successfully."

Jongho's grin was so bright it could fix the sky all by itself.

"You are more than welcome in my team," he beamed and though Wooyoung hadn't been worried, a weight lifted from his chest.

This was it, his new life. No more dwelling in the past.

He gave Jongho his hand.

"Glad to be here."