Jin was up before the sun.
He went down to the boiler room first. Echo was asleep on the stairs outside the door, his head tipped back against the wall, his mouth hanging open. Jin nudged him with his foot. Echo jerked awake, blinked twice, and immediately said, "I wasn't sleeping."
"Sure," Jin said.
"I was listening with my eyes closed."
"You were snoring."
"Listening very deeply," Echo said, and got up and stretched until his back cracked. "He woke up about an hour ago. Cried a bit. Prayed a lot. Hasn't tried anything."
Inside, Dong-hwan was sitting exactly where they'd left him, still tied, still blindfolded, wrapped in the blanket Joon had dropped over him. He turned his head toward the sound of the door.
"Is someone there?" he asked hoarsely.
"It's me," Jin said. He crouched and pulled the blindfold off. Dong-hwan flinched at the dim light, then squinted up at him. His eyes were red and swollen. He looked like he hadn't slept at all.
