There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 507 - 500. Visitation

Chapter 507: Chapter 500. Visitation

"Noona!"

"My baby!" Reina jumped to hug the alighting healer the moment he saw the black hair peeking out of the bus that brought him from the airport. She pulled back in surprise and pinched her fiance’s upper arms. "Oh! You gain muscle!"

Han Shin pursed his lips and sighed. "Bas made me do a lot of labor."

Reina laughed and squeezed the healer’s cheeks. "Don’t worry, you still look cute," she pecked the pouting lips briefly before pulling the healer into her car. "Let’s go have brunch and I’ll take you to your brother."

Han Shin waved at the other members of Trinity--who were also leaving the bus to go to their own destination--before entering Reina’s car. After toiling for six months inside the Deathzone, some of them were finally allowed to leave. There would be four batches of returners within a month, and each batch only had a week of vacation before they had to get back.

That one week included the two days of commuting to and from Althrea, however, so effectively, they only had five days--one of which they had to use for psychological assessment, so really...there wasn’t much time.

Immediately, Han Shin asked to be taken to an open-air cafe, even if it was in the middle of winter. Who cares if it was suddenly snowing--he wanted to look at the sky as much as he wanted before returning to the perpetual darkness of the East. Sure, they lived under the canopy of three shards’ light; but above that light, it was always the dark ceiling of miasma instead of the real sky.

Thankfully for Han Shin, it wasn’t snowing. As if taking pity on him, the sun even shone brightly and made their brunch taste even better. Han Shin made sure to order each dessert available in that place and scarfed everything down even though it made him feel a bit sick afterward.

Who cares? He only had five days to enjoy as much as sweet as he could!

No matter how nauseous he was, however, they still drove to the military base--to be exact, to where the prison was. It was a strict place with a strict schedule, so he could only see his hyung at the exact allocated time.

"I’m going to drive around, so take your time, alright?" Reina ruffled the healer’s hair. "Give me a call when you’re done with your visit."

"Be careful, Noona!" Han Shin waved cheerfully and watched the car drive away before heading to the building. It was cold and stiff and Han Shin usually would feel apprehensive in this kind of place since it reminded him too much of his cold father.

But--but! He was there to see his older brother after such a long time, and no amount of anxiety would stop him. He marched through the door and gave the staff his name and ID. The staff brought him through a long corridor that needed more lighting and a new touch of paint before they finally entered a cold room. Like...it was literally cold.

Did the military lack funding for a heating system or something?

But who cared about the cold? The moment he saw the former Mobius Captain, Han Shin immediately forgot everything and ran to hug his brother. "Hyung!"

He clutched the coarse grey uniform tightly, burying his face in his hyung’s chest. Oh, he was cold--was it because of the weather? Did he not get adequate heating too inside the prison? But as Han Joon embraced him back, Shin thought the hug was still as warm as ever, just like when he was still a child who followed his hyung everywhere.

"No touch--" the soldier who led Han Shin there was about to warn them, but a pair of sharp black eyes flicked toward him, and the soldier suddenly felt like something sharp was pressed into his neck.

Swallowing nervously, the soldier cleared his throat and turned his face away. From the way his legs fidgeting, it seemed that he would very much like it if he could get out of the room that seemed to be getting colder, but alas--duty bound him to the place.

Ignorant of the exchange between his brother and the soldier, Han Shin stepped back and pursed his lips. "It’s annoying that they do not allow the visitor to bring food," he grumbled while taking a seat at one of the only two chairs available there.

But then, as he observed his brother who was also taking a seat, he tilted his head. "Oh, but hyung...you seemed bulkier?"

"Why--do you think I’m going to look pathetic inside? All thin and miserable?" Han Joon chuckled as Shin averted his eyes awkwardly. "We are fed quite well here since they send us to clear dungeons as community service. Naturally, we keep getting training if there’s no raid."

"Ooh..." Han Shin clapped his hand. "But still...the food couldn’t be that good."

"No, but I used to survive with military food and rations," Han Joon shrugged, and Han Shin winced in disgust before looking at his brother in pity.

Joon covered his lips to hold back from laughing. He wasn’t picky about food, but Shin was totally different. The healer was very particular about his taste and always had a hard time adapting to lesser-quality food.

But Joon was glad. It meant Shin grew up with a better palate. He worked hard to make sure Shin could try all kinds of delicious food until the little boy grew up enough to purchase his own delicious meal.

"I’m going to take you to lots of delicious places once you get out, okay?" Han Shin said seriously, which put a proud smile on his face.

But still, he leaned back and said teasingly. "I think Radia will beat you to it, though? I’ll probably get out of here before you can get out of the Deathzone."

"Aaagh!" Han Shin groaned and pressed his forehead to the cold table, lamenting. "But--" he lifted his head immediately, pursing his lips. "He will only take you to those healthy places, Hyung--it won’t be fun! So you should still look forward to my chosen places!" he argued energetically like an ambassador for unhealthy gourmet. "Good food should have an explosion of taste! Spice! Flavor enhancer!"

This time, Han Joon couldn’t hold back his laughter anymore--which made the soldier guard flinch. "Alright then," Joon nodded. "Make a list so we can cross it one by one once your operation ends."

"Yeah!" Han Shin gripped his fists in triumph although there was no competition at play, really. "Haa...but really..." he suddenly deflated again, slumping in his chair. "I thought this operation wouldn’t take this long, but..."

"Don’t you think there’s a reason why the time stipulation is five years?"

"Well--I know, but..." Han Shin chewed on his cheek and exhaled slowly. "When we established the base in just a week even after facing that creature, I thought ’Ah, it won’t take a long time’ and I was so fired up."

"But?"

Han Shin lolled his head to the side while sighing. "But locating the...you know..." he glanced slightly at the soldier who pretended to look elsewhere before continuing. "Locating the ’keys’ is the hard part. It’s already been six months and we only managed to find three."

"Hmm..." Han Joon crossed his arms and smiled. "Or you could see it as you already find three," he said. "Five, if you count the two others...right? So you only need to find...what? Eight?"

"...oh!" Han Shin exclaimed as if he just realized it. "Oh!"

"You silly kid," Han Joon shook his head with a warm smile. He glanced at the soldier slightly before addressing his baby brother again. "Now, tell me how far have you proceeded."

Han Shin blinked and straightened his back, clearing his throat as he talked at a slightly higher volume than before. "Right--hear me, hear me! So we already mapped a part of the underground system. I will never go there, but those who did found a lot of paths already. About twenty of them were dead ends--which is good, actually--and five ended up in some colonies we immediately purged. We still haven’t found the way to the other side of the desert, though...but, oh! On my way here, I heard that they found a path to the ruin we saw when we crossed the desert."

"A ruin? Do you think there’s a ’key’ there?"

Han Shin shrugged. "That kind of information is now kept strictly by Zein and Bas, so I won’t know until they send an expedition."

"I see," Han Joon nodded. "And what about the creatures? Radia said you had started to hunt them?"

"Oh, that!" Han Shin slammed the table energetically. "We had eliminated two small ones since then, and the hunting division was tracking another three beyond the mountain. If we can’t find a way across the desert, we have no choice but to look for a detour through the mountain."

"Well, it’s good that you keep moving forward," Han Joon nodded. "What about the second base?"

Han Shin grinned widely and gripped his fists in triumph. "Of course, we’ve done it! We even established a proper road between the first base and the second base, including bridges. We put purification devices along the road, tightly so the road itself became safe zones."

Han Joon raised his brow in genuine surprise and amazement. While Radia kept him updated, he didn’t hear this much before. "Well, well...isn’t this mean you already conquered at least one eight of the Deathzone?"

Han Shin grinned widely, and Joon glanced at the soldier near the door again. Naturally, the man had heard everything they talked about here. With the meager salary of a guard, Han Joon didn’t think the soldier would wait long before the things they talked about here spilled to the media.

Just as Radia wanted.

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