Steam rose from the bowls laid out across every table, the low clatter of spoons and the soft shuffle of feet filling the cafeteria with a kind of quiet, settled energy. Nothing loud. Just the hum of a place full of people who'd been waiting to hear how things had actually gone.
Seul and Areum moved between the rows, setting down extra bowls, refilling trays, Areum's movements steadier now than they'd been on the walk back, whatever the healing at the medical center had left in her clearly holding.
Jin stood near the front of the room, hands loose at his sides, waiting until most of the plates had been filled before he spoke. Behind him, the long table where leadership usually sat held Echo, Joon, and, once she'd set the last tray down, Seul as well.
He let his eyes move across the room first, from Taesung near the entrance to the newer recruits still adjusting to a world that hadn't given them much time to catch their breath. All of them were watching him now.
