The Trash Wants to Live

Everyone was tired, including the animal. So as soon as the door opened, I quickly caught Cookie, who tried to run out.

"Put me down, Ki Yoon Jae!"  

Cookie growled and barked, but I couldn't let it down because we were in an airport. When I got my luggage and went outside, Rachel was standing wearing stylish sunglasses and holding a placard.

“Welcome to the USA! Welcome to the country of freedom!"

Rachel laughed as she looked at our blank faces, then pointed outside with her thumb, saying she had brought a pickup car. We moved to the hotel in a large black van that I thought might be bulletproof. They hung an ID card around our necks so we could rest at the hotel since it would have been tiring to continue moving today.

"With this, you can use all of the hotel facilities for free. Restaurant, club, bar… Oh, Mr. Ki isn’t an adult yet, so you can't use the bar." 

She smiled teasingly. 

“That's a shame. You've come all the way to Las Vegas, the city of pleasure, and you can't even experience the casinos."

"Haha…"

I was a little disappointed to hear that. So all we could do was look around? I heard that only people over the age of 21 could enter. If you put it that way… Kwon Jae-Hyuk, the oldest of us, was only 20 years old, so even he was below the standard.

Rachel laughed cheekily at my disappointment and disappeared, saying that she would see me in the morning. We went into the prepared suite, unpacked our luggage in our rooms, rolled around, and then went to the restaurant and ate. The food I ate on the plane was delicious, but it was more delicious eating on the ground than in the air. After eating, I went back to the suite and called Jung Yi Joon who entered the room. 

"What is it?"

"I need to fill up my skills before you go back.”

At that, Ki Hyun Joo screeched and hurried into her room. 

Damn it, the next time the system sends a message, I'll ask it to change the method.

Ha Eun Seo didn’t make any sound, but she responded the same way as Ki Hyun-Joo. I wasn’t hurt by this at all… I looked at Jung Yi Joon, ignoring my slightly tingling eyes.

Jung Yi Joon grinned at my words and said, 

"There's nothing I can't do if you want." I was a little pissed off at him.

"Oh, hurry up!"

"Are you in such a hurry? All right."

Jung Yi Joon teased me until the end, then lowered his head to kiss my lips. Behind him, I could see Eui Yeol. Somehow, it was he and Ha Hyun-Seo who lined up behind Yi Joon.

Kwon Jae-Hyuk stood a little further away with his arms crossed, smiling as he watched us.

"What? You are not going to go?"

"No!"

"…"

"What the… This?"

"Me too, me too… I want to kiss Yoonjae Hyung too!"

So Jung Yi-Joon frowned his face when Ha Hyun-Seo said he would turn into an animal and play with me. He might have felt left out because I’d never borrowed Ha Hyun-Seo's ability before.

But he's too young…

I didn't have any feelings, but he was the youngest, so I felt like I would be trash if I did anything. Jung Yi-Joon trembled and was angry that the little boy had become so cheeky, while Jang Eui-Yeol, who sneaked away from Ha Hyun-Seo who confronted Yi Joon, grabbed my hand and asked.

"My ability… You don't need it?"

"Oh?"

"Hey!"

Jung Yi-joon, who was confronting Ha Hyun-Seo, turned his head back as he looked at Jang Eui-Yeol when he came in suddenly. As expected, Jang Eui-Yeol smiled brightly and lowered his head when I nodded. I thought it would be better to receive it, after all, the more abilities the better. Oh, come to think of it, this was my second time with Jang Eui Yeol. Jung Yi-Joon always approached me to ask if I needed his skill, but Jang Eui-Yeol only did it in the hospital room once before.

But the person I did the most…

That's him. I glanced at Kwon Jae-Hyuk. We've kissed each other many times under the pretext of sparring. I thought he was still looking at us with a generous smile on his face.

Eh?

But unexpectedly, he looked at me and Jang Eui-Yeol indifferently. His expression made it seem like he was looking at something strange or unbelievable. 

A profound and mysterious expression that I couldn't understand… It's just not enough to say “hoho”, but it was vague to say that he disliked it. He was just smiling when Jung Yi-Joon was doing it, but why, when Jang Eui-Yeol…?

"Yoonjae-ya."

"Huh? Yeah…"

Jang Eui-Yeol looked a little sad. Jang Eui-Yeol's lips touched mine carefully when I was puzzled, not knowing why he was making that face.

"…Good night."

Jang Eui-Yeol gave a short goodbye and went into his room. His sad face remained like an afterimage and strangely weighed on my mind. It wasn't that he was to blame.

In the end, Ha Hyun-Seo couldn't beat Jung Yi-Joon. They could have fought using their abilities, but they seemed to have an implicit agreement not to use such methods, as it could get really dangerous if they did so with each other. Ha Hyun-Seo, who was pouting, couldn't overcome his anger and he screamed.

"Fu–! I'll do it next time!"

"Ugh! T-that little!"

Jung Yi-Joon chased Ha Hyun-Seo, who kicked his shin and ran away. Ha Hyun-Seo quickly ran away and locked the door, as Jung Yi-Joon shouted to open the door. I looked back at Kwon Jae-Hyuk. Kwon Jae-Hyuk was smiling as usual. I stared at him for a while and then silently walked into my room.

We weren’t even in the mansion, but Cookie still occupied my bed. 

"You're here, Ki Yoon Jae." 

Cookie saw me come in and looked up, but he was still so covered in fur that it was difficult to distinguish between his front and back, so it looked like he raised his butt. 

Hmm… It's weird if I came in and he raised his butt, so let's just think that he raised his head. 

I thought it was just that he considered my room a good place to sleep, but when I saw that he tried to sleep in my room even when we weren’t at the mansion, it seemed that Cookie inevitably preferred being with me no matter the place and chose wherever I stayed as his sleeping place. I spent some time lying down and stroking Cookie's soft fur. 

It was a little past eleven o'clock. My body was stiff after a hard day of travelling, but I got up from my bed. As I got up and the bed shook, Cookie, who was about to fall asleep, woke up. 

"Ki Yoon Jae?" 

"I'm going out. Keep my room safe, okay?"

“Where are you going?” 

"I'm going to meet someone." 

I grinned. I decided to go to America partly because I wanted to see the SNT, but also because I had someone to meet. He was in America now.

I opened the door quietly and saw the living room of a quiet suite. I think the others already fell asleep because they were tired.

"Yoon Jae-ya."

It was Kwon Jae-Hyuk calling me quietly in the dark. I wondered how long he had been waiting for me. Of course, I told him to escort me later because I had a place to go, but…

He hasn’t been waiting for me since I went in, right?

For some reason, I got the feeling that he would have done so. I swallowed my thoughts and asked something else.

"I'd like to sneak out without anyone finding out… Do you have a way?"

Kwon Jae-Hyuk grinned at my question. Kwon Jae-Hyuk, who walked ahead as if intending for me to follow, headed to the terrace attached to the suite.

Behind the big whirlpool terrace, the colourful lights of Las Vegas outside the fence disturbed my eyes.

"It could be a little scary, is that okay?"

I wondered what he meant by that, and realised it was the answer to my question earlier. I nodded and he hugged me. It wasn't a princess carry, but it looked like he supported my hips with his arms as if he were holding a child. Thanks to this, my field of vision lifted and I looked down at him. I grabbed his shoulder and looked down at his face. Kwon Jae-Hyuk's dark grey eyes shone with the reflection of the nightscape and me. 

Kwon Jae-Hyuk asked me if I was ready and I nodded. Then he easily climbed onto the railing while hugging me. Kwon Jae-Hyuk's body fell slowly as he took a step forward as if walking on air. My centre of gravity felt numb from the fall. 

I swallowed a scream and hugged Kwon Jae-Hyuk's neck.

Kwon Jae-Hyuk lightly stepped on the decoration that slightly protruded from the hotel's outer wall. It didn't look very solid because it was a decoration, but it didn't shake at all.

Considering how Kwon Jae Hyuk held my body as we fell, I didn’t even feel the impact as he stepped on it.

He stepped down gently on the slightly protruding decorations. Only the colourful night view was reflected on the black tinted hotel windows, but there was no trace of us. I felt like a ghost.

"Here."

When Kwon Jae-Hyuk's feet touched the ground, he let me down gently. Still, the two of us seemed to be completely see-through. Even passersby didn’t seem to recognize us who fell from above and suddenly appeared.

"This…"

When I was a little flustered, Kwon Jae-Hyuk smiled.

“…Isn't it hard to maintain something like this?"

"Well, a little? It's mostly hard to maintain if you're far away."

Kwon Jae-Hyuk smiled silently as I looked up and he reached out and held my shoulder. If it would be hard to maintain if I was far off, it would be better to stick together.

T/N: I will update 56 tomorrow.