Echoes of Hollow

"Guess who it is?"

With the warm touch of fingers over his eyes, Hye felt his heart race briefly, and at the sound of that solemn voice, his face warmed along with his chest.

Bringing his hands to his face, he uncovered his eyes, revealing a beautiful smile as he turned around. It quickly faded, replaced by a suppressed click of the tongue.

"Oh, it's really no fun playing with you."

Sliding her hair from one side of her face to behind her ear, Alyia fully revealed part of her face as she sat beside Hye. As their gazes intensified, she crossed her legs.

"So, why did you want to meet so early today? Miss me?"

"Also."

The lack of hesitation in Hye’s almost immediate reply surprised her somewhat, causing her words to momentarily escape her and be replaced by a naturally beautiful, but shy, smile.

"But I also need your help with something. Do you know any place where it's possible to order food for more than 900 people... for today?"

"900...? That’s complicated..."

Her eyes wandered around, observing the constant increase in the number of people gathering around them.

"However, we won’t find anything here, so why don’t we go somewhere else?"

Holding onto Hye’s hand, which he hadn’t let go of until now, Alyia stood up and walked beside him through the crowd. The eyes followed them, as did some people, but most soon gave up as they lost sight of them. However, this didn’t mean the gazes stopped; wherever they went, there were always more and more people nearby.

"900 people is a bit complicated, especially for delivery today... sorry, sir, I don’t even know if there’s a place capable of handling such an order in such a short time."

"So... how much could you manage?"

"Sorry...? Ah, well, maybe for around 150 people. If we really push and have a bit more time, 300 people wouldn’t be impossible."

"Really? Then we’ll just need it for 150 people. Are you sure you can deliver it by lunchtime?"

"Well, if it’s just simple dishes, yes, probably. The latest would be around two in the afternoon."

Choosing the dishes was certainly quicker than finding the establishments where the food would be purchased. Excluding time-consuming dishes that required significant preparation, they quickly moved on to the next place.

"So, divide the total order among all the stores, right?"

"Yes, it would be impossible to place an order for 900 people to be delivered by lunch today. This is the best and only viable option."

In the next store, the number of people they could serve was only 100. 120 in the one that followed. And so, while their hands remained clasped at all times, although at some point, or perhaps from the start, Alyia had even stopped paying attention to it, they continued moving from store to store, placing orders at every large restaurant they came across.

“We could place an order for 200 people, but the delivery time would probably be around 1:30 PM, maybe 2 PM. Is that okay for you, miss?”

"Sure, that’s perfect. We just need to choose the dishes now, right?"

Being the last restaurant they visited, Alyia selected the dishes to be delivered even more swiftly. Her eyes scanned the options, choosing each item effectively. With the delivery address given and payment made, she stretched her arms as she passed through the store’s door. Leaving the quiet environment with a spicy aroma behind, the noise of the streets intensified from all sides.

With a big smile on her face and a sigh of relief escaping, she didn’t even notice the sudden increase in the number of people staring at her, especially as her blouse and shirt lifted with her arms. At this moment, everyone’s eyes focused simultaneously on one spot before returning to her face.

"Aaah... Finally! Is that everything? I hope there’s nothing more to buy. I don’t think I could step into another restaurant after this."

"Well... actually..."

Stepping in front of her and deliberately blocking the view of others around, Hye adjusted the position of his clothes before briefly scratching his own chin.

"Seriously? Tents? Why not just take them all to hotels?"

"I even suggested that, but she said it wouldn’t work. Obviously, since they probably wouldn’t handle the abrupt changes in environment and reality."

"Well, this is at least a bit easier..."

Approaching the automatic door of the next store they would visit, Alyia sighed.

"We won’t need 900 tents, right? I don’t even know if it’s possible to find that many."

"No, around 400 should be enough. Especially if they’re large."

"400... and you say it like it’s a small number..."

It took several turns to find close to 450 tents. After that, not due to physical or mental exhaustion, but simply from sheer boredom, Alyia couldn’t, or rather, didn’t want to, keep herself awake on the way to the mountain in the southwest.

As he brushed away the fallen strands of her hair, Hye looked out the car window. The leaves beside the road moved, even though, as he could easily hear, there wasn’t a hint of wind in the surroundings.

Dust was lifted from the ground, and small stones, barely visible to the naked eye, were displaced along the dirt road they traveled.

'Hmm... Seems like they really live up to the beast they carry in their bodies, don’t they?'

'Beast?'

'Yes, the Hydra is quite an interesting creature. They say if you cut off one of its heads, two more grow in its place. I’ve never seen one in person, but at least in this case, it seems to be true.'