Lee Seng stepped out of the makeshift hospital room and shut the door behind him. He took one last glance at the sleeping Calis before letting out a yawn. He rubbed his eyes and tiredly marched over to the bathroom on the other side. He could feel the guards' eyes glance over to him before returning their attention to their current post.
Lee Seng stepped into the bathroom and hung a right. He followed the wall, turning left and entering the bathroom. What once was pristine was now a shell of its former glory. Lee Seng stepped over to the urinal and relieved himself. He pulled his pants back onto his waist, flushing the toilet and washing his hands.
'I didn't think they'd have running toilets and water.' Lee Seng thought. He dried his hands and made his way out. 'I guess it's not all doom and gloom.' He started back to the room where his friends had all made into their rooms. He popped out of the halfway point and looked right.
A large group of tired and worn people filtered into the room. Lee Seng broke his glances and focused on heading back to the room when a familiar voice called him out.
"You!" Elizabeth shouted. Lee Seng turned and noticed Elizabeth stepping out of the group. Most of the group members looked done with her, but Elizabeth didn't care. She simply pushed forward with her finger pointed at him. He sighed and turned, stepping away from the hallway and into the lobby with the guards watching. "What did you say?"
Elizabeth marched right up to Lee Seng and puffed her chest out like she was trying to intimidate him. Her face was scowled in anger as she glared at him. Lee Seng turned his head away and covered his yawn. He was too tired.
"I don't know what you mean." Lee Seng told her.
"You know what you did! You couldn't take it so you acted like you didn't care and then ratted me out?!?" Elizabeth shouted. Lee Seng twitched at Elizabeth's loud voice. "Are you happy? You just wanted me out because I called you a monster? You're not a real man or something now? You can't just take it and leave it?" The lobby grew extremely quiet. The crew members all stared, wondering what would happen next. Nero, Chrono and the man in all black weren't anywhere to be seen. Lee Seng sighed and ruffled his hair. "What? Got nothing to say? You wanna do something to me? You can't huh? You're just a stupid fox monster who doesn't belong here."
"Enough." Lee Seng's voice was sharp. He glared at Elizabeth, shifting his tiredness to the side and changing his entire demeanor in a second. He could tell most of the people in this room were scared, but the stupid woman in front of him held her best in front of him. "I only told the truth. You and many of them are scared of me. I look slightly different. I have Fox ears. I'm a monster in your eyes, right? I told Chrissy that."
"And now we're all being reprimanded for it!" Elizabeth shouted. "I didn't do anything anyone else would've done in that situation! How was I supposed to know you weren't going to hurt me or my team?!? You kept staring at us with those weird eyes of yours—"
"Oh no, a predator!" Lee Seng jokingly threw his hands up and pitched his voice up. He shifted the heavy energy into something lighter. He covered his mouth and tilted his head while keeping eye contact with Elizabeth. "My entire being is being threatened because I'm not comfortable with differences!" He dropped the act and scoffed. "That's how you sound."
"Tsk!" Elizabeth's tongue clicked. She moved forward, raising her fist and swinging straight for Lee Seng. Her fist connected with Lee Seng's face, hurting more than he thought it would. He stumbled to the right, raising his hand to touch his face. Elizabeth smirked at him. "Serves you right." No one did anything. They simply watched.
ραΠdαsΝοvel.cοm Lee Seng listened as a set of footsteps approached from behind him. It was Chan-Yeol's footsteps. He could tell. Elizabeth kept her obnoxious smile and started to circle Lee Seng like he was some kind of prey.
"You're in for one helluva ride if you think you're safe!" Elizabeth spat at Lee Seng's face. Lee Seng stepped away, wiping the spit. She reached for her back and that's when Lee Seng had enough. The energy in the room changed in an instant as Chan-Yeol moved from his spot.
"That's—" Chan-Yeol began to say when a heavy pressure pushed down onto the room. Elizabeth and the crew gasped for air.
"'Try to be patient. Try to be understanding of those who aren't like you.'" Lee Seng quoted. "It's a bunch of bullshit when it comes to people like you who think you're better than me. News flash, Elizabeth, we're all in the same shitty situation. Capitol City was once known as the number one place in the entire world that's safe and look at it now! Broken into tiny pieces with people trying to fight to stay alive! There are people here who are trying to make conditions better for those people but you would rather sit here and be racist against the way I look! Nobody should point out our differences! Nobody should be scared to walk outside! I damn well won't be ashamed of the way I look in front of someone like you!"
"You little—" Elizabeth growled. Lee Seng slammed his foot down, interrupting her and scaring even more people. He stepped to the side and revealed Chan-Yeol standing off in the distance. He pulled his energy away and watched as her eyes grew wide.
"Have fun trying to get out of this." Lee Seng turned and waved. Lee Seng made his way back to his room, nodding at Chan-Yeol who lifted his hand. Chan-Yeol leaned over and whispered to Lee Seng while keeping his eyes on Elizabeth.
"Are you okay?" Chan-Yeol asked.
"I'm fine." Lee Seng whispered back to Chan-Yeol. "Just make sure she understands what she did is wrong. The last thing you need is racists trying to separate what little people you have. Night."
The next morning was loud. People were up and going about as Lee Seng woke up from his slumber. He looked around the room and noticed his friends were gone. He rubbed his eyes and pushed himself up onto his feet. He groggily opened the door and listened to the loud buzz.
Lee Seng shuffled out of the room and down the hallway. He caught people giving glances in his direction and then quickly returning to whatever they were doing. He looked around for his friends, eventually finding them outside. Calis was strolling around with Ev and Ritsuka by his side.
"I'm fine." Calis told his two friends. "I don't feel like I'm going to die anymore."
"C'mon, you can't be too careful." Evan responded. It was cool outside and there was a nice breeze. Lee Seng's eyes burned as they tried to adjust to the sun.
"And I thought you guys left me." Lee Seng yawned. The group turned their attention to their sleepy friend. He sat on one of the benches and yawned, again.
"Calis wanted to walk around. He insisted on it." Ritsuka caught Lee Seng up on what they were doing. Calis moved over and sat with Lee Seng while Ritsuka and Evan stood parallel to them.
"He should be resting but insists he's fine." Evan sighed. "You should tell him he should rest more. It's not like we're going to do anything extraneous today. Mr. Chan-Yeol told us he'd like a word with us anyways."
"Oh really?" Lee Seng asked. Evan nodded.
"Said something about last night needs to be addressed and continuing our conversation." Ritsuka added. Lee Seng nodded and closed his eyes.
"Do you think it's cooler now?" Lee Seng asked.
"For now. The ground's oozing with some heat." Evan answered.
"When do you think it'll cool back down to normal?" Lee Seng asked.
"A couple years?"
"A heated sun core sitting in the lab would have lasting effects… I'm glad we're done with that." Lee Seng sighed.
"Are you still sleepy?" Calis asked Lee Seng. Lee Seng silently nodded to Calis's question.
"Did you not get enough sleep? I think I heard you come back into the room late last night." Ritsuka asked.
"Some stuff happened… Probably what Chan-Yeol wants to talk about… Lemme just rest my eyes for a little longer before we go." Lee Seng yawned. Evan glanced into the building and noticed some people were pointing at them.
"Why are they pointing at us?" Evan asked. "Do they know we can see them?"
"Just ignore it." Ritsuka elbowed Evan. "We won't be here long anyways."
"But it's rude! What if I started pointing at them, hm? Would they like it?"
"Just leave it."
"It's only almost 8:30 am and they're already trying to start shit! Ugh, I'm getting so mad just thinking about this!"
"Calm down, bro. They're probably not even gossiping about us. They probably find one of us handsome."
"Do you think they find me handsome? I'm pretty good looking if I say so myself." Evan looked at the group inside and made a kiss face at them. They gave him a weird look and scattered. Ritsuka laughed at Evan, leaving his friend to turn sour.
"When did Chan-Yeol want to see us?" Lee Seng asked Calis. He let his head fall onto Calis's shoulder, soaking in as much air and sunlight.
"Whenever you woke up." Calis answered. "Wanna get it over with?"
"Yeah, we should…" Lee Seng nodded. "Just… give me a sec."
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