They were inside the elevator when Jae leaned close and threw his arm around Channing's shoulders, heaving a sigh.
"What a shitty day, am I right, Chan?" he said. "Who would've known we would be hit with an earthquake?"
He pulled out his cellphone as the elevator continued up, scrolling through his contacts. "Dang it," he muttered. "Everything will have to be rescheduled till it's safe. I called my assistants and they've got everything covered. It seems that our headquarters remained safe...did you call June yet?"
"I did," Channing answered. "He's fine. So is our tower...but the hotel..."
"You know," Jae interjected. "You should check the builders in charge of the hotel. The quality of the foundation seemed...quite bad, I'm not gonna lie. I'm afraid you and Liu might have been tricked, dongsaeng. The amount of money you've sponsored shouldn't have resulted in such a poor building. It seems all the flashy decor was just for show."
Channing exhaled, crossing his arms. What Jae said did indeed raise some red flags. "I'll deal with that later," he grumbled.
"Right," Jae said, clicking away on his device. He dialed a number and held the phone to his ear, one of his secretaries picking up.
"Yoyo~" he sang. "How are you?"
"Get straight to the point now, will you?" a female's voice huffed. The sound of a clacking keyboard filled the background of the call. "I'm kind of busy here, boss. Where are you, anyway? A six-point-eight earthquake and you're nowhere to be found. Don't tell me you've run to the next city to mess with President Yue again..."
"Aww, my secretary knows me so well!" Jae chirped, dramatically touched. "I'm so moved!"
Yoyo sighed, her keyboard tapping non-stop. "What do you want?" she complained.
Jae flashed a grin. "Help me reschedule all the shootings and events held within this month to a later date. Unaffected areas can move along as normal."
"Got it."
"Thank you~"
"I don't like you."
"I'll give you a week off~"
"Bye."
Channing snorted as Jae's secretary ended the call without another word, leaving him to whine about mistreatment from his employees. "Do they not appreciate me because I am a foreigner?" he wailed, wiping his nonexistent tears on Channing's wrinkled suit. "Is my accent that unbearable?!"
"That sounds like a 'you' problem," he replied indifferently. The elevator chimed on the fifth floor, and the doors slid open. "Come on, now."
He dragged Jae off the lift, and both were greeted by the receptionist behind the counter.
"Good evening, sirs," the elder woman said brightly. "How may I help you?"
"Yes, can you tell us where five-o-seven is?"
She pointed left, down the winding hall. "Just that way, the third door to your left," she answered.
"Thanks."
She smiled and waved as they turned, not questioning why the taller man with the silver-hair was being dragged so mercilessly by his friend.
Room 507 came into view, the wooden door closed. Channing reached up, knocked, and received no response.
"I think we should just enter," Jae suggested. "The door's unlocked anyway."
Channing turned the handle and slowly pushed the door open, unsure what he was supposed to expect. He slipped inside the room, followed by Jae, and-
Channing stopped in his tracks when he found the room void of Lune's presence. There was nothing on the desks, the sink was unmoved, the bathroom was wide open and empty, the bed...the bedsheets were set aside and the window was open...
...The window was open.
Channing's eyes widened with horror and Jae's mouth fell open. The two wasted no time and ran to the open window, assuming the worst. They leaned over the frame and down into the street, but there was nobody.
"What the hell?! T- this is not what I think it is, right?!" Jae paled in shock, unnerved. "Is he crazy?!"
Channing grimaced, frantically hoping for another possibility. "There's no one there, maybe he went out of the room without anyone noticing."
"Doesn't look like that to me!" he exclaimed.
Channing elbowed him, scowling. "Don't curse it, you little shit! Call security, we gotta find him!"
.
.
Lune rested on the edge of the roof of the strange, infirmary-like building, free from the confinement of that little room. Out in the open, it was much more refreshing, with the purple sky slowly turning black above him.
He didn't expect to be brought here, and heard a few mortals call this place a...'hospital'.
[Lune.]
Lune sat up straighter in attention at Quest's voice. 'Sister,' he greeted.
[I saw what happened, don't feel bad about yourself. You did your best with the time you had. We all know a quake isn't that easy to handle.]
'You and Brother would've done much better...,' he pointed out.
[But you did your job, didn't you? No one died. And even if someone did, it was fated...meant to be, you understand?]
'You're just saying that to make me feel better.'
[I am, but it's also the truth. Don't linger on it too much. It's a task every immortal has and will do. Get over it. The Jade Emperor is not an unreasonable person, he won't punish you or anything of the likes.]
'...'
Quest sighed. [Alright, I won't say anything about this anymore. I'll leave it to you. Just know that you're doing just fine...]
'...thank you, Sister.'
[Ah, you know...you should be careful with your actions, however. Remember that mortals aren't the same as us. Say, what will happen when they see you on the roof, in which they consider a deathly height?]
'...But no one will notice I am gone-'
[That is where you think wrong. Don't you know there are some who have grown quite attached to you already? How likable you are...] Her voice held light amusement that wasn't there before.
Lune frowned, his legs dangling over the side of the rooftop. 'Oh?'
[Lune, don't be ridiculous. And there is one, who you have exposed yourself to, isn't there?]
'...I'm sorry, I had no choice. He was more observant than I thought.'
[I know...now it is up to you how you will handle that problem.]
And Quest's presence left his mind before he could respond. It was the same tactic every time; Quest would stop their conversation kill off any retorts Lune would shoot her way, having him ponder on his own.
A sudden buzz of qi he held in the building beneath him drew his attention. At first he was concerned, but he found no dying qi other than the ones hospitalized for old age.
He sensed people running up and down, figuring something must've caused a bit of an uproar. He shook his head, reminding himself as Quest said: his only job was to prevent as many deaths as possible.
However, it wasn't long before he heard a loud thump somewhere behind him.
"He's there!" someone shouted. "On the edge!"
"Huh?" Lune tilted his head towards the unexpected cluster of noise rushing towards him. There were at least five that ran from the stairs up to the roof, and someone was shouting into a crackling, communications device.
Two other voices shouted over each other, and again, he recognized Jae Young and Channing Yue.
Why does it seem to always be these two that kept following him wherever he went? ...is this the attachment Quest told him about? But what is there to be attracted of a lone immortal wandering the mortal realm?
"Yah! Lune! Don't be so rash and get down from there! It's dangerous!" Jae shouted.
Lune frowned, confused. "What?" Dangerous? That is absurd...
"Lune..."
Lune turned his head at Channing's voice. He found it strange. There was this fear he felt from him, something new that came off his normally firm tone. What is he so afraid of?
"Please, come away from the edge," Channing pleaded with agitation, taking cautious steps forward. "We can talk it through if you need, but don't jump...please."
Lune sat there for a moment, utterly confused. Just what was he rambling on about? Jump? Who in their right mind would climb up a building only to jump to their death?
And then that's when it all dawned on him, and he realized they all must've mistaken him to be suicidal.
Ah...how different the two realms were. If he were back up in the immortals' realm, someone sitting at the edge of a cliff would've been shoved down just for fun without too much of a thought in mind...
.
.
Channing stiffened. He could hear his heart thumping loudly in a calm panic as a bright grin graced Lune's lips for the first time since they've met, exposing his smooth, white upper teeth. It was nothing like his usual polite and gentle smile, nor did his daring attitude match his previously composed aura and-
He was fascinated, but seeing so was also terrifying.
Is he out of his mind?!
He was so calm, unbothered even as he was sitting right on the very edge of the roof, and the wind that began to pick up wasn't any more reassuring. Lune had completely ignored their pleads.
The security guards behind him gathered around, as they also had no choice but to wait. One of them proceeded to call for help through his radio.
"Chan, what do we do?" Jae whispered. His face had gone colorless with trepidation. "Lune, come on!" he called out a bit senselessly. "Weren't you just fine earlier? What's up with you, yah?"
Channing flashed him a frantic glare, grabbing both sides of the collar of Jae's shirt fiercely. "Are you crazy? Jae, you-"
"Yes, I was fine, thank you for noticing," Lune suddenly said, amused. "I was fine, and I still am, if you cannot tell."
Jae and Channing blinked synchronously.
Channing slowly released Jae's clothes and stepped forward, stopping only when he could not go any further and tilted his head up at where Lune sat on the ledge above him. "If you are fine, then what are you doing up there?"
Lune's grin slightly dropped. "I came for air," he answered, making it sound like his answer was obvious. "Is that against mortal rules?"
Again with his fancy rhetoric.
"N- no..." Channing replied. "But...why come up to the roof? It's dangerous. How did you even get up there?" Is he not blind?
A moment of suspenseful silence followed his question, and Channing tensed as Lune's smile completely disappeared. It was as if his unspoken question was already made known to him.
He then turned back around and slid both his legs back over the ledge towards the interior, freeing everyone of their worries; however, no one knew that their concerns were anything but meaningless.
Channing raised his arms instinctively, figuring that Lune would require his assistance in climbing down the near ten-foot-high ledge, only to awkwardly find himself unneeded as the unpredictable man pushed and landed soundlessly right beside him.
Wha-
It took him a moment to remind himself, this was the same person that spoke with his mind, the one that pulverized sturdy doors to dust, and the possibly the one that kept them safe in the midst of a natural disaster.
Lune turned his head towards Channing, and it was only then that Channing realized that his trenchcoat was missing. The man only stood there with a loose, white t-shirt and faded green trousers...clothes that he had no idea where he acquired.
Indeed, this casual and daring version of Lune was completely different from the one that had collapsed in his arms hours before in a sickly state.
"You have found me here, is there something that is needed from me?"
His tone was kind, but his words seemed to unintentionally stab Channing through the chest, forcing him out of his boggled mind.
He hesitated for a moment, trying to form the right words in his head. After all, this wasn't what he expected to happen when he entered room five-o-seven with plans to transport Lune from the hospital.
"You...you are alone. Do you have a place to stay?" he asked carefully.
The corner of Lune's lips quirked up. "Hmm...you don't have to trouble yourself with that. I don't plan on staying in one place."
Channing found himself speechless as he watched Lune walk away, the words dissipating from the tip of his tongue.
It wasn't long before the mysterious, lone, blind man silently disappeared into the stairwell, leaving the five on the rooftop to stare after him, stumped.
And for the entirety of the next month, Lune was nowhere to be found, his disappearance stirring quite the unsettlement.