As Jiyoung and Hyun descended down the stairs to the 12th floor, the beeping from their phones only continued. It was unnerving to Jiyoung who could only follow behind the boy. Jiyoung gulps as she wished the only thing she could hear was the breathing between the two of them, but the beeping meant they weren't alone. 

Hyun stood in front of the girl as he tightly held onto his weapon, the other hand pushing the door open enough to peek out. Jiyoung could only peer from behind him, and even behind his head and unruly hair, she could see the monstrosity that was the monster ahead of them. With bulging muscles, the monster stood taller than anything she has ever seen. Its face was even more disturbing as it was the smallest part of its body and had a smile that sent shivers down her spine. Jiyoung takes a step back, her eyes widening. 

"Ben...c...h pr...ess..."

The monster disappears behind the wall leaving the two of them to sit in silence while its thudding footsteps grow quiet. 

Hyun looks back at Jiyoung and points towards the empty hallway. She tilts her head, her eyes looking for what he was seeing. There at the end was apartment 1210. She nods to him before they cross the boundary of the safety in the staircase to the open hallway with a monster that larger than the two of them put together. 

Light thudding fills Jiyoung's ears. She turns her head to Hyun as he quickly looks around the corner. He turns back to her and nods. It was still there. 

"Pp...r...o...tein...." The thuds grow even softer but are interrupted by a cracking sound. Jiyoung scrunches her eyebrows, leaning against Hyun to take a peek at the scene. All she could see was a bloody spot with an arm that she was sure was attached to the rest of an unconscious or dead body. She shudders at the sight and then she grimaces as the arm disappears from view. 

"No," Hyun mutters in disgust. Jiyoung lightly shakes the boy causing him to take his attention off of what was taking place at the end of the corridor and more on the kids in the door a few feet away. They were more important than someone who was gone. 

Hyun looks at the end of the hallway while Jiyong makes her way to the door. She takes a deep breath and knocks lightly, her knuckles barely hitting the metal door. "Hello," she whispers, her lips nearing closer to the door. 

After a moment of silence and no answer, Hyun reaches his fist up and raps on the door. "Hey kids, I, uh we came to rescue." 

Still there was no answer from the kids behind the door. The thoughts ran through Jiyoung's mind, what if they weren't even in the apartment anymore? What if something got to them? 

"Guys?" Hyun's unsure voice came out in a whisper. The silence was deafening. Jiyoung couldn't help but glance between the end of the hallway and the door. Her hands slowly went to the handle, but she turned to look back at Hyun. Were either of them prepared for what was behind that door? But instead of a reassuring nod, she was met with a confused look and Hyun's slime covered fingers. She stares quizzically at the mysterious liquid, her fingertips barely touching it as she then looked up along with Hyun. 

Drip.

"What the hell?" Jiyoung mouths to herself. Hyun shakes his head and his hand of the liquid and pushes past Jiyoung to get inside. The door opens with a creak, and Jiyoung looks in only to hold back a gasp at the sight in front of them. It was the large eyes that stood out in the liquid body that caught Jiyoung's attention. 

She hits Hyun's jacket to get his attention causing him to stare into the apartment with shock. 

"Yo..u...se..e....meee...?" Before either of them could make a move, the monster shoots out its arm at Hyun. Jiyoung's mouth flies open as her eyes dart between the monster and a suffocating Hyun. She couldn't scream for the monster to stop. With a crash, the monster throws Hyun across the room. Hyun coughs heavily into his arm.

"Hyun!" Jiyoung shakily takes out the gun, holding it up towards the monster, yet it didn't make any movements toward her. "Hyun, are you okay?" Jiyoung mumbles out just loud enough for him to hear. 

"M..o...m-"

Hyun struggles to get up but his fingers manage to reach his weapon and press the button, electricity coursing through it. 

The monster's eyes turn slowly, bubbling through it's liquid figure. Jiyoung turns away in disgust as the monster faces Hyun. 

"Where are they?" Hyun questions as he stands up. With no answer, Hyun grows angrier. "What the hell did you do to them?!" 

The two were only met with silence while Jiyoung tries to take a few steps towards Hyun. The monster bubbles, its eyes sloshing as they look between Hyun and Jiyoung who grew closer. Hyun sees as the monster's eyes land on Jiyoung and he raises his weapon, charging forward at it. 

But the effort was futile, as soon as Hyun made the attempt, the monster flees, its liquid body raising until it disappears through the crack in the ceiling. 

Jiyoung ignores the monster that just left and rushes towards Hyun without a second thought. He looked to be fine, she thought, as the boy sighs in relief. "Maybe it wasn't violent-" Jiyoung suggests but was interrupted. 

Creak.

Jiyoung's head turns but only sees the terrified expressions of the two children, tears streaming down both of their faces. 

"You.. you guys!" Hyun sounded relieved, as was Jiyoung who rushed towards the small closet and opened it wide open. 

"Are you guys okay?" She bends down, looking them over. Most kids would annoy her, they were noisy, irritating, and not smart, but a part of her felt responsible. She had given a part of herself to get to the children and get them to safety. They had no one except for their father who was gone. She knew the feeling of missing a father who wasn't around, even if hers wasn't dead. 

The two kids only nod through their sobs. Jiyoung starts by taking the young boy out of the closet first. He reminded her of her brother, Suho. If only she knew how he and her mother were doing. Were they okay back at home?

Then she took the girl out and sat down next to them while Hyun crouched down in front of them. Both of them looked around the apartment. In the days everyone was shut in with the monsters, it was obvious there was no more food and they were desperate. Jiyoung remembered when their father died. He was trying to get out to get food. 

Jiyoung was shaken from her thoughts as Hyun was in the middle of speaking to the kids. "Your mom's in Seoul?" By now their crying stopped and they were left with red puffy eyes. "So you came to see your dad without telling your mom?" 

"Yeah," the girl answers in a soft voice. Hyun sighs heavily as he takes another look at the apartment. 

"Please save my daddy," the little boy then says. 

"What?" 

"Daddy... fell down because of the monster." Jiyoung frowns. It wasn't something kids should see but they did and now what they were left with was two teens trying to help them. 

"Yeah, I know," Hyun replies. 

"Maybe... he's still alive. Just maybe..." 

"No one can stay alive after falling down from the 12th floor," Hyun says, causing the older girl to jab his side. "Ow," he mutters. 

Even if they shouldn't get false hope over their father, Jiyoung knew it wasn't right to say it like that. On the nights when Suho felt the loneliest after their father was taken away, Jiyoung and him would spend the night doing things to take their minds off of the pain. She regretted the false hope she always gave him. Even when their father came back, it wasn't great. It was the same disappointing reality until he was taken away once again. 

"Your dad is dead, you should accept this and move on." Jiyoung's eyes widen as the two kids start to cry more over the hard, cold truth. She jabs him again with a glare as she then moves to the kids.

"Hey, hey. Listen, I know it's hard. But you two have each other. And you have us. We're going to help you, I promise. I'm not leaving you." 

Jiyoung doesn't see as Hyun clenches his jaw in thought of his family. He then opens his mouth. "There is this man I know. He has quite a lot of food, and has weapons to protect you. You guys must be hungry, right?" The two kids nod eagerly. "You don't wanna stay here by yourselves right?" Once again he is met with nods. 

While crouching, Hyun moves closer, patting the young girl on the shoulder as Jiyoung rubs the young boys back. 

"From now on, we're going out into the corridor where the monsters are roaming, ... so are you guys ready now? How old are you guys?" 

"I'm Jiyoung," Jiyoung then says, then pointing to Hyun. "And this is Hyun, what are your names?"

"I'm nine years old, and my name is Sook... my brother is Yeong... and he's six years old." 

"Wow, so big-"

"Perfect age to fight monsters," Hyun interrupts with an awkward chuckle. "Don't worry too much, we'll protect you." Sook looks down at the shaking hand on her shoulder but says nothing. 

Hyun begins to explain to the two what would be happening once they leave the apartment. "As I said before, the elevator is not working. It'll be a little dark, but we're taking the stairs." 

"We'll be fine as long as we stick together and be quiet." 

"Like Jiyoung said, the monsters are sensitive to sound, so you'll have to follow us quietly," he continues while fumbling with his weapon. He stands up, readying the weapon and bag, turning back to the kids. "Are you guys ready?" 

"Yes, yes!"

"Okay then, let's go." Jiyoung and Hyun both put their earbuds in, hearing the beeping in their ears but ignoring the sound. The monster with large muscles who yearned for protein was still around, that was obvious, doing what, Jiyoung didn't want to give it a second thought as she heard the chomping and mutters about muscle. 

Hyun walks slowly in a crouch towards the other side of the hall as he then beckons for the three to follow. Jiyoung pushes the kids between her and Hyun so she would be last in line. Hyun opens the door with a creak, letting all three of them in and once again taking the lead. 

As he climbs up the stairs, he glances back at the kids, his eyes then landing on Jiyoung who smiles comfortingly up at him. It was a toll on the both of them, she could tell. Trying to protect these kids was going to be hard. But Jiyoung's smile soon fades. Her eyes widen as her mouth gapes open as Hyun's nose bleeds heavily while his eyes grow red all around.

 She grabs the two kids in front of her and puts them behind her, feeling them hold onto her in fear. Her hand grips the gun harshly. She didn't want to do it, especially to the kid she was growing used to, but she may have no choice. 

___

A/N: Hey guys! Thanks for reading and thanks for 6k views it means a lot! What do you think of Hyun and Jiyoung's friendship?