“Wake up, Yun!”

The sound of my friend’s voice echoed in my mind. There was no way he was here with me, so I must have imagined it.

'I guess I missed him more than I thought...'

“Yun! Get up!”

My friend’s voice called out to me once again. This time his voice was louder, as if he was speaking right in front of me. It was so clear that I couldn’t ignore it. I felt a chill down my spine and my dull senses were returning to me. 

I struggled to open my heavy eyes, and I came face to face with my friend. His face was full of worry and concern.

“Minho…? You look… so young…”

My friend Minho, shook my body roughly.

“You have to get up!”

‘Oh I see… I must be dreaming again… I’ve been having the same one everyday lately…”

I closed my eyes again. I didn’t want to dream of this anymore.

‘Just let me rest now…’

SLAP!

I opened my eyes from the sharp pain I felt on my left cheek. 

“Ow…”

‘Wait… I can feel pain?’

I looked straight at Minho, with my eyes now fully open. I reached over and placed my hands on his shoulders. I could feel him trembling. This sense of touch was too real for it to be a dream.

“Yun… I’m sorry… Are you okay?”

Minho looked at me with worried eyes. The corner of my lips stung, and I could taste blood in my mouth. 

I wiped the blood off and looked around.

I was inside a familiar cave. 

There was a tall guy standing by the entrance, looking out at the dark forest. He had his back against me and I couldn't see his face, so I struggled to remember who he was. 

'I think his name was Hyunwoo... and he was one of my classmates...'

The memories came back to me one by one, and I remembered that he was one of the bullies on the rooftop.

I was surprised that I wasn't angry seeing him. I was actually pretty happy to see him again.

'It's been so long since I saw someone from earth...'

Behind me in the back of the cave, there was another guy sitting on the ground.

I was able to remember his name much faster than Hyunwoo's.

'That's Moon. I remember him... I really hated him back then. Now that I think about it, he was the one hitting us on the rooftop.'

He was one of Hyunwoo's lackeys and followed him around everywhere. In order to appear tough, he was always violent with Minho and I.

I hated him in the past, but I no longer felt those feelings. The years I lived were too long.

Moon must have felt my stare, because he turned his head and looked at me. 

"What are you looking at?! Do you want to get beaten up again?!" Moon yelled angrily.

"Shut up, Moon! Now isn't the time to fight!"

A girl with blonde hair who was sitting against the wall flinched when Moon suddenly yelled, and told him to shut up. 

'That must be...Seri. She's Hana's friend.'

Sitting next to Seri was my ex girlfriend Hana.

She was looking at me with a complicated expression.

'Is she mad at me...?'

She turned her gaze away when I met her eyes.

“Yun, do your wounds hurt?”

I turned and faced Minho again. Now that I was looking more closely, I saw that his left eye was swollen and bruised, and his cheeks were red. 

I touched my face and I felt similar wounds. 

They were the injuries we got from Moon. 

"Minho…”

“Hm?”

“How is this possible…”

I was sure of it now...

I’ve gone back to the past!

While I tried to understand the unbelievable situation I was in, Minho looked at me with a frown and let out a sigh. He understood my words differently.

“… I don’t know either… after you lost consciousness on the rooftop, there was this bright light that covered all of us. It was so bright I had to close my eyes, and when I opened them, we were in the middle of a forest.”

Minho looked up at Hyunwoo who was still looking out into the forest.

“We all fell into panic, but Hyunwoo… he suggested that we find shelter, so we looked around and found this cave close by.”

Minho’s eyebrows furrowed with anger. I understood because Hyunwoo was one of the bullies that made everyday in school a living hell.

‘It’s the same. Everything… everything is the same!’

I gripped my fist without anyone noticing and concentrated all my efforts in remembering the next events that would occur.

‘In a few days… the first great being is going to come here to take Moon away.’

I glanced back at Moon.

He was bitting his nails. He couldn't hide the fact that he was scared.

That night, we stayed inside the cave until the morning. It was too dark to go looking for something to eat, so we tried to get through the hunger by sleeping. 

When we woke up, Hyunwoo had the group split up to look for food. 

"Yun and Minho will check west, I'll go north with Moon, and you girls go east."

The short girl holding on to Hana, jumped at Hyunwoo’s orders.

“B-but, we don’t know what’s out there! I can’t go… I won’t!”

Seri shook her head and gripped Hana’s arm tightly. Hyunwoo looked at Seri with no expression, but that made it all the more terrifying. 

“If you don’t want to go, then don’t. But if the rest of us finds food, don’t expect us to give you any.”

He turned around and started to head north with Moon.

Seri’s face turned red with frustration. 

“W-who does he think he is?!”

“Seri, we should go look.”

Hana looked at her friend with determination. Seri looked at her with disbelief, but didn’t argue.

In my previous life, I tried to stop Hana from going because I was worried about her.

This time, I wouldn’t have to because I already knew that she would return safely. I turned around and went west with Minho. 

I could feel a stare at the back of my head as I walked away.

Sigh

After walking west for about an hour, Minho let out a sigh and wiped the sweat off his forehead. The two of us were slowly running out of stamina.

“Yun, I don’t think we’ll find anything here. Let’s go back.”

“…Just a little bit further.”

“…”

Minho looked at me, unable to understand, but continued to walk. He also knew how hard it would be to get through another night without eating.

While Minho walked in front, I looked around.

‘I’m pretty sure it’s somewhere close…’

I looked at the leaves and traces on the ground, trying to remember the path I had taken. In my last life, we had come this far out only after the others were saved. On this day we were supposed to return to the cave empty handed. I remember that night was especially painful.

‘There it is!’

My eyes glowed when I found a green bush with leaves that looked slightly different from the ones around it. It had two points instead of one. 

“Minho, come here!”

“Hm?”

Minho turned around and crouched down next to me, while I rummaged my hand through the bush.

“Look!”

I pulled my arm out and in my hand, there was a white fruit. I handed it over to Minho.

“Is this… fruit?”

He furrowed his brows as he examined the fruit. It wasn’t like anything he’d seen on earth.

I reached into the bush again and plucked out more of the same fruit until I could feel no more. There were a total of 4.

Growll

As I stood up and patted the leaves off my clothes, I heard Minho’s stomach growling.

His faced turned bright red and avoided my eyes.

I chuckled softly.

“You should eat one, Minho.”

“What?? No, I can’t. We have to share it with the others!”

“The amount isn’t enough for everyone anyway. And no one will know!”

“But still…”

“Do you really want to give all of these to Hyunwoo and Moon? We don’t even know for sure that they’ll share it with us evenly.”

“…”

Minho’s expression darkened. He looked at the white fruit and took a big bite.

“!!!!”

Minho’s eyes widened as the juice dripped down his arm and mouth.

“This… this is amazing! It tastes like... sweet melon. You have to try this!”

Minho handed me the white fruit and I took a bite. I had forgotten how good this fruit was. 

The two of us finished the fruit and walked back to the cave with the other 3 in our hands.

—-

When we got back to the cave, we saw the dark expressions of the others. Hyunwoo and Moon managed to bring back a bottle filled with water, but no food.

“What took you so long?!”

Moon jumped at the sight of us and his face was red with anger. He looked like he was about to grab my collar, but Hyunwoo stopped him with his arm. Hyunwoo’s eyes widened slightly when he saw the fruits in our hands.

“You found something?”

I looked up at Hyunwoo and nodded. Minho and I handed one white fruit to Hyunwoo and one to the girls. 

Moon exploded at the sight.

“Wait. Give me that one!”

Moon reached for the last fruit in my hand and I quickly pulled away.

"You avoided it?" Moon asked in a threatening tone. He wasn't questioning my physical ability.

"I'll give it to you if you ask nicely."

Even if I no longer hated him, I wasn't just going to let him have his way. My mind was 60 years older than him, and my pride wouldn't allow it.

"You...!"

Moon snarled and swung his fist at me.

He was always so quick to violence. 

I tilted my head back and let the fist fly past my noes. Moon's eyes widened at the fast that I dodged. 

If there was anything I learned in my last life... it was how to avoid a punch. For someone as weak as me, it was my only way of surviving. 

I gripped my fist tightly and striked Moon's face through his opening. I could feel the strong impact of the blow.

"UGH!!"

Moon's head flew back making him lose his balance. He fell on his back on the ground.

I quickly loomed over him and swung more punches. 

BAM! BAM! BAM!

'This is for my past self!'

"AHH! Stop..Stop!!"

"Yun, what's gotten into you!"

"H-he's bleeding!"

"That's enough!"

The others held me back and stopped me. Surprisingly, it was only Hyunwoo who simply watched. 

I looked down and felt satisfied when I saw Moon's fearful eyes.

"I'll give you this if you ask nicely."

"...Can I please have one."

I handed Moon the last white fruit and he ate it quietly. Hyunwoo and the girls also ate and their faces lit up with joy. 

"Hana, this is so good!"

"It really is."

Hana took a bite and looked at me.

“Yun. You and Minho should eat too."

She passed the half eated fruit to me. 

I exchanged looks with Minho. We had already eaten one, but if we told the group it may come off the wrong way. 

I shook my head.

“It’s okay, Hana. You can have it all.”

“Eat it.”

“It’s oka-“

“Eat.”

“…”

I unwillingly took the half eaten fruit, and Hana returned to sit by the wall of the cave.

I felt a pang of guilt. If she knew I had already eaten, she wouldn’t have given up her share. 

Minho, understanding how I felt, patted my shoulder. 

Together, we enjoyed the rest of the fruit, and fell asleep.