The Songwriter's Diaries (featuring Demons from Hell)

by chl0rate

Summary:

Jinu's lyrics are outdated, and despite all the studying he did on idols and boy bands, all in all, their debut isn't faring so well.
Enter you, an honest and determined songwriter with quite a troublesome past. Can you help the Saja Boys in their endeavor ? Can you all work through your own shortcomings to work perfectly in sync in order to make them avoid the backstreets ?
Maybe you'll even get close to one of them, who knows ?

Chapter 1: Soda Pop

It was a simple afternoon, you had done your groceries, as usual. Your work had been taken care of, as usual, and by work, you mean taking care of the stray cats that usually hang around your block.
Your life is pretty mundane, you can count your friends on one hand, you live in a simple yet cozy apartment in Seoul, and your true work, the one that brings money to the table to be able to do your groceries is… Well, it’s songwriting.

A lot of artists nowadays use people like you, songwriters, to keep up with their tiring busy schedule, especially these new artists who rise to the top overnight. Of course, this kind of job is rocky, you can never be sure of when a commission is going to come in, but you’re well known in the field.

You’ve always been an artistic child, ever since you picked up a pen for the first time, you’ve somehow never been able to put it down. Of course, you run out of ideas sometimes, but that still doesn’t stop you from journaling, or simply writing whatever comes to mind. Your teachers used to say you were perfect in any task that involved ink, and that’s how you came up with your pen name: Typo.
Funny right? Since you were perfect and now your name’s basically “spelling mistake”? Get it??

Anyway, you’ve been handling things pretty well on your own, but one day, something seriously ticked you off

You were just out on a morning stroll to gather some ideas for the song of a new client. Sunny day, pen and notebook in hand, you were minding your own business. Huntrix posters were plastered everywhere after the release of “Golden,” their new single. Well, they’re always there, but this time, there were more.
Funnily enough, you don’t listen to K-POP that much, you leave that to your sister and your friends. If they ever find out you slipped some lyrics to some of their favorite boy groups… you don’t want to think about it.

Eyeing a small convenience store, your eyes fall on a soda can, brightly colored, cold looking, and definitely tasty.

“Hm-hm, that’s the stuff.”

You say, taking a sip from your cherry-flavored soda, walking down the street.

“Oh, that could work! Let’s see,” you scribble some ideas down on your trusty notebook. “My little soda pop… that sounds fun.”

The client wanted something sweet but also cheeky, maybe you can submit a song about soda.

You finish the can, throw it away, and keep scribbling on your notebook, inspiration flowing through your veins. You already finished eighty percent of the song, now all you needed was a chorus...

You're all I can think of
Every drop I drink up
You're my soda pop
My little soda pop
Cool me down, you're so hot
Pour me up, I won't stop
You're my soda pop
My little soda pop

“That’s the chorus!” you declare, but as soon as these words escape your lips, you crash into someone and your belongings fall to the ground. “Urgh!”
“Oh my… I’m so sorry. Here, let me help you.”

A beautiful black-haired man extends his hand out to you to help you up. You take his hand while apologizing.

“No, it’s truly your fault… I wasn't paying attention… Are you okay, sir?”
“I’m okay, thank you.”

Dusting yourself off, you take a look at the man… the men standing before you. They all look like models, perfectly groomed, dressed wonderfully, and their faces were to die for. Five handsome men in one place? That's unusual. One of them even seemed to have worn a small shirt on purpose to let his muscles peek out. They were all tall, the smallest one had a round face that made him look babyish, but his stern expression gave off another vibe completely. One had gorgeous pink hair, the other even had the upper half of his face covered by his fringe.

Can he even see like that?

“You dropped this.” The smallest one of the group handed you your open notebook, with the pen attached to it.

When did he get it?

“Oh, thank you!” you gently take it from the man’s hands, your fingers brushing slightly against each other. You nervously brush your hair behind your ear. “Are you guys idols? You sure look like it.”

The seeming leader of the group answered.

“We are, actually. We’re the Saja Boys. I’m Jinu, this is Abby, Romance, Mystery, and Baby.”

Peculiar names if you do say so yourself, but with one like Typo, you better keep your mouth shut…

You could've sworn you heard some sort of jingle, but you brushed the thought aside.

Jinu kept going. “By the way… I couldn’t help but peek at your notebook…”

“Ah you saw the lyrics…”
“Those were… lyrics?”
“Yes, I'm songwriter. I was finishing up a piece for a client when I bumped into you… Again, sorry about that.” You bowed slightly.
“No problem.”
“What about them?”

Romance nudged Jinu’s arm before he could answer.

“Oh, we have to go. It was nice meeting you…”
“Typo, just call me Typo.”
“Alright Typo, have a good one!” Abby suddenly chimed in as they waved goodbye.
“Y-You too!” you stammer. You hadn’t spoken to someone face-to-face like that in quite some time.

Well, you better go as well, you need to head home.

Making your way home across the familiar streets, a purple smoke caught your eye. It was diffusing on the plaza for everyone to see. Your first thought, of course, was that a chemist had a mishap in the middle of a public space, but the music fading in told you otherwise.

A performance! I’ll stay and watch.

Propping yourself on a nearby bench, you listen excitedly to… the Saja Boys???

Jinu stands proudly in the center as they dance seamlessly, perfectly synced with one another.

Don't want you, need you
Yeah, I need you to fill me up
마시고 마셔 봐도
성에 차지 않아
Got a feeling that, oh, yeah (Yeah)
You could be everything that
That I need (Need), taste so sweet (Sweet)
Every sip makes me want more, yeah

Your ears twitch at the words.
Huh… That sounds awfully familiar.

Lookin’ like snacks 'cause you got it like that (Woo)
Take a big bite, want another bite, yeah
너의 모든 걸 난 원해, 원해, 원해
너 말곤 모두 편해, 편해, 편해
When you're in my arms, I hold you so tight (So tight)
Can't let go, no, no, not tonight

“No… There’s no way."
Your eyes widen in shock as you search through your bag.

지금 당장 날 봐 시간 없잖아
넌 내꺼야 이미 알고 있잖아
'Cause I need you to need me
I'm empty, you feed me so refreshing
My little soda pop

I just met them ! How did they-
You frantically flip through the pages of your notebook. Reading the lyrics in time with their voices.

You're all I can think of
Every drop I drink up
You're my soda pop
My little soda pop
Cool me down, you're so hot
Pour me up, I won't stop
You're my soda pop
My little soda pop

My little soda pop

These bastards stole your song. 

Chapter 2: Playing Cat and Mouse

Notes:

Omg ??? I didn't expect so many views that early, thank you !!!
You asked, and I shall deliver, here is the second chapter of The Songwriter's Diaries !!

Those slimy little-

 

Your eyes were brimming with tears, ready to pour out at any moment. Nobody had ever stolen your work before… Well, not like that, you usually get paid first.

The worst part is that everyone absolutely loved that song. Your song… your work.

 

The group started wandering around the plaza, doing good deeds while singing like giving gifts to kids.

 

That song could’ve brought food on MY table… Now, THAT’S a proper gift… You think, enraged.

 

As they prance proudly around the plaza, one of them meets your wet eyes.

 

Baby.

 

His eyes go from the open notebook in your hands to the puzzled, almost betrayed look on your face. You don’t see his expression from that far away. An uneasy feeling was buzzing in your entire body. You don’t know what it was, but it made you get up and meddle with the audience.

 

You were pushing and walking past everyone to get to the very front, where the Saja Boys were headed.

 

As soon as they got back to their starting spot, a soda can-like stage emerged from the stone paved floor. You watched in awe, but you were seething with rage. The can was the same cherry-flavored soda you had written the song about.

 

The boys ended my song while announcing their appearance on a popular variety show tonight, under the clamor and fangirling cries of an entire audience.

 

Jinu said goodbye to the crowd with a simple “Saja Boys love you !” while the other boys posed cutely for their new-found fans.

 

Your eyes met. All of your eyes met. Those thieving conniving bastards...

 

Jinu snapped his fingers and… they disappeared.

 

But you knew where to find them.

 

---

 

Your songwriter connections paid off. You found the variety show’s studio and got granted an entry pass with my connections only. You entered the studio while they were playing a hot sauce drinking game with the hosts, they all wore a cutely-colored bibs with their stage name plastered on it.

 

Your first instinct was to hide at the very back of the room, although you totally deserve to be here, given your involuntary involvement in their sudden rise to fame. You can’t make it in this business with just your looks after all.

 

“Now, it’s between Baby and one of our hosts ! Can our host make it to end ?”

 

Baby won. He put his bottle down with a simple and sarcastic “Goo goo ga ga.” that didn't fit his appearance at all.

 

The girl group Huntrix made their appearance on stage, introduced by the Saja Boys. As the staff pulled out slides for them to go down into a pit of colorful balls, their leathers pants squeaked all the way down… Ouch.

 

Now’s my chance.

 

You slipped backstage, waiting for the Saja Boys to show up.

When you finally saw them, they were running to the back door with Huntrix on their tail, for some reason.

 

Oh no you don’t.

 

You ran as well and followed them to a bath house, then into the… men’s bath ?

Should I be here or-

 

“Wow, you really followed us in here ?”

 

You were peeking through the door, watching Huntrix and the Saja Boys stare at each other in contempt. Well, contempt on Huntrix’s part. The boys seemed to be having fun.

 

After some banter you didn’t quite hear, something about the souls of the fans, the boys slipped off through another door, leaving Huntrix to fight… Demons ?

 

You couldn't see well because of the steam, but eerie silhouettes emerged from the bath water, launching at the girls with all their might. 

"Don't let this discourage you from going to the bath house Rumi ! It's usually very fun ! And relaxing !" Zoey shouted, spinning around with multiple glowing kunais in her hands.

 

What… Is all this ?

 

You watched from the sidelines, squinting your eyes to get a better view.

 

Are they filming something ? Am I intruding ?

 

BANG !

 

A demonic being just got slammed against the door you were peeking through.

 

You froze up, palms sweating profusely, your knees shivering from pure anxiety. You felt like going back home, but you still had something you needed to do.

 

I need to run. I need to get away right now !

 

You slipped past the commotion, hiding in the steam and surely ignored with all the action happening two feet away. Rumi, Huntrix’s lead singer, followed Jinu while you kept running behind the other guys.

“Stop ! Stop right there !” You called out to the boys, who didn’t even look your way.

Was one song even worth all this trouble ? Yes. Because your honor was on the line.

 

You were tired, your legs were giving out, your mind was scrambled and hazy from what you just saw and what that possibly entailed for you. You definitely saw something you should not have. But your songs mean everything to you, in every possible way, that is why, instead of stopping and going home feeling defeated, you launched yourself on one of the guys after one last sprint. You knew your legs would be done after that.

 

You landed on Baby, holding him down, straddling his back. The others stopped and were simply watching you two.

 

“Urgh… You…” He started speaking.

“Why did you do it ?” You looked up at the other boys before shouting.

“Why did you steal my song ?!”

Baby squirmed under you, your grip tightened on the nape of his neck. He did not even seem alarmed of hurt, just… neutral and unbothered.

 

Abby spoke. “What song ?”

“Don’t play dumb with me. You stole my lyrics, the ones in my notebook.” You grabbed the base of Baby’s hair to get his attention “The one you gave me back earlier today !”

“How could you memorize it that fast ? No, before that, why would you do that ! You’re debuting idols for God’s sake !!”

 

You could’ve sworn you were on Baby one second ago, but somehow, in that other second, Mystery was holding you by your arms while Baby got up and dust himself off in front of you.

 

“Strong grip…” He mumbled, massaging the nape of his neck.

You struggled in Mystery’s hold, kicking and screaming insults with all your might, but nothing made him budge. He was like a huge brick wall.

“Let me go you edge-lord looking ass !! I’m not done with you all fuckers !!!”

The air turned cold, as if the steam had completely disappeared. Romance, Abby and Baby stood before you, eyes gleaming with a strange golden hue. Romance grabbed youe chin, forcing you to look up at him in an intimidating manner.

“You don’t scare me. You can’t scare anyone with pink hair, dickhead.”

You were scared to death. Four tall and strong men against one of you, that’s an unfair battle.

“Yeah ?” Abby questioned with a playful tone. “Then, why are your knees shaking ?” He crouched down and tapped your knee with his index finger.

Rage pooled inside of you. You rapidly raised your knee to his face, but he grabbed it before it could reach his precious idol facade.

“Now, don’t get too bold, Typo. You don’t have power here.” He got up, a smug look plastered on his face.

“Maybe not here, but once I tell any producer what you’ve done, they won’t-” Baby put a finger on your mouth to shush you.

 

How dare he…..

 

You bit down, hard. Baby yelped and shot you a fiery glaze.

 

That’s what you get.

 

“You seriously need to stop hurting me.” He snarled.

“Maybe I wouldn’t hurt you if you weren’t such a-”

 

“What is going on here ?” Jinu suddenly appeared, a stern look on his face.

 

Mystery’s grip loosened significantly. You shoved him off of you and faced Jinu.

 

“Jinu. We need to talk.”

 

Notes:

I don't really know where this story's plot will go, but I'll try my best lol

Chapter 3: Payment

The tall man sighed. He looked… shaken, somehow. You gathered every drop of courage you had and started talking, trying to remain as calm as possible.

“First… You steal my song-”

“Do you have any proof we did ?” Abby chimed in, still wearing that same smug look he had earlier while he was mocking you.

“Abby,” Jinu held up his hand, telling him to stop talking. “We know we did. Let them talk.”

FINALLY!

“Then…” you continued. “You ignore me, even though I know our eyes met. Multiple times.” You stared at Baby, trying to gauge his reaction. You found nothing but a stern look with a strange glint in his eyes.

“And now… DEMON FIGHTS?” You point to the bath house; you still remember the rattling of the door as that demonic looking person got knocked out from Mira’s blow. A shiver ran down your spine.

As you rambled on and on about how you surely weren’t supposed to see that filming set and how the government was going to fake your suicide in the upcoming weeks due to a power hungry movie director, Romance put a heavy hand on your shoulder.

“You weren’t supposed to see that.”

“Yeah I know!! But wait, that’s not the point. You stole my song! Take responsibility.”

“Pfft-” Baby snickered. “You just saw demons and you care about a song?”

Demons don't exist. Is he trying to scare me off ?

You ignored his remark, persuaded he just wanted to be let off easily.

“My work is extremely precious to me.” You gripped the hem of your shirt for comfort.

“Take responsibility? And how exactly?” Romance asked, his voice calm, a curious expression on his face.

You pondered for a while. Surely, making them your slaves was out of the question. An apology would be nice, and maybe…

“Money.” You said, deadpan. “Pay me for my song. As every client should.”

Romance chimed in as well, but in a more respectful way than Abby. “And how much would that song cost?”

“Considering it was intended for a wealthy client, I’ll work with their price range. Depending on how well the song does, and right now, it’s going viral, I’d say you owe me at least 1,588,130 won.”

Abby’s smug grin dropped instantly. Mystery and Baby looked at each other, eyes wide—at least, you think Mystery widened his eyes since his fringe shook a little bit. Romance put a hand to his mouth and Jinu’s jaw dropped.

You didn’t expect such reactions.

“Wh-What?” Jinu mumbled, visibly shaken by such an amount of money.

“We just debuted. We don’t have that much money and you know it Typo.” Baby looked at you, visibly agitated.

“Hm.” Mystery agreed.

“Then, you better get it soon. Because if I don’t see that money in two weeks, I’ll take this to the media, and your career will be pretty much over.”

“Could you give us a second?” Jinu gathered his members to make his decision. It was quite comical to see. A few words got to your ears.

“King Gwi-Ma... kill us! What if we—”

“The huntresses—”

“… Get rid of them?”

“No. We need… Souls.”

The men came back to you after a while of discussion. Jinu wore a smile that was supposed to butter you up, but you weren’t that dumb.

"We... Have an offer." He said, in a soft-spoken voice.

You crossed your arms defensively. Whatever he's going to offer, you weren’t even considering it.

"Why don't you become our official songwriter? The fans loved your words and our voices. Surely, we can make something work."

"Becoming your songwriter won't solve today's issue."

Jinu's eyebrows furrowed slightly. Did he expect you to come grovel at his feet?

Romance spoke up.

"If you become our songwriter, you get money out of the song's sale, right? Is that how it works?"

You nodded.

"Then, why do we need to pay you now? Can't we wait until Soda Pop gets even more popular to give you the profits?"

"Because I spent time on this song. You stole it, now I have to rewrite another song, and since this client is picky, it'll take at least a week. You need to own up to your mistakes."

The boys were silent. Their serious faces contrasted with the setting of your discussion: the bath house.

You sighed.

"You know what? If you make an appearance with me on one of those variety shows you're invited on, I'll let that slide. Let's say you'll pay me in visibility."

Their faces lit up.

Baby sighed of relief as Mystery visibly relaxed.

"I knew you were a nice human!" Abby gave you a harsh pat on the back. You think he broke something...

"We'll meet you tomorrow at 8 on the plaza then. We'll go on the shooting site together." Jinu smiled.

"Tomorrow?! You mean... In the morning??"

Baby crossed his arms in front of you, looking coy.

"Duh. Not a morning person?" He smirked, he's definitely challenging you.

"Just you wait." You took a defiant step. "I'll be there, as fresh as a daisy." You slightly pushed his torso with your index finger.

"Then, it's settled." Jinu declared. "See you tomorrow, Typo."

What had you gotten yourself into...

———

Purple and red flames were dancing in a mesmerizing manner. As if they had just come back to life. In front of this sight was Jinu, giving his report to King Gwi-Ma. Ruler of the demon world.

"My little soda pop ~" King Gwi-Ma hummed. "It's catchy."

"Just you wait, you'll get even more souls soon." Jinu declared confidently.

"I have to admit it... Your plan is working. I'm excited to see the upcoming results."

Jinu walked down the stairs that led to King Gwi-Ma's throne and searched for his band members among the suffocating air of the stale, burning land they’d grown accustomed to. He walked in on the middle of a heated conversation between Abby and Baby.

"I did NOT let that human touch me on purpose! We had to keep up our human facades!" Baby snapped.

"I'm just saying... You were strangely docile when they held you down." Abby wore his usual smug, seductive smile.

"What kind of human struggles when their head is held down while someone is on their back?! You didn't feel their hand pulling your hair so you wouldn't know, but that human wanted to rip my head off man." Baby looked desperate.

"Oh... they pulled your hair? I didn't know you were into that Babe." Abby wriggled his fingers in front of Baby's face, taunting him.

He held his face in an exasperated manner; this banter clearly had been going on for some time.

Romance greeted Jinu.

"How did it go with the King?" He asked, fidgeting with a strand of his hair.

"King Gwi-Ma is pleased with us."

"Did you tell him about the human?" Baby stopped insulting Abby to ask this question.

"Ooohhh ~" Abby cooed.

"I'm going to fucking kill you Abs."

Jinu smiled. It had been quite a while since anything fun had been going on. After all, they were all stuck there together for an indefinite amount of time, and the scenery and people were pretty much the same.

"He'll find out eventually." Mystery stated.

"We need to keep our distance. In the end, that human's soul belongs to Gwi-Ma and will end up just like the others." Abby crossed his arms as he said those words. "So, don't get too close." His gaze fell on Baby.

"Tsk." He left, followed by Mystery.

"Where are you going?" Mystery caught up to him.

"Away from this hunk."

"You know he's just joking, Abby is always like that."

"I know Mist. And that's what bothers me the most, because he's right this time." Baby plopped himself on the ground, crossing his legs.

"About the human?"

"Yeah."

"You like them?" Mystery crouched down.

"What?! No! I just know he's right on the 'don't get close' part..."

A small silence made its way between them.

"Do you like them then?" Baby averted his gaze.

"Not really, they called me an edgelord..."

Baby chuckled.

"Look at your hairstyle man, they were kind of right..."

"I know you're not talking. Goo goo ga ga? Really?" Mystery tilted his head in a taunting manner.

"What? The fans eat it up." Baby stopped at each word playfully. "Really, it's weird. Humanity is always depraved, no matter the time period..."

"Typo sure didn't treat you like a kid." Mystery smirked.

"Ugh. I'm leaving."

Notes:

Sorry if some sentences are weird... English is my second language, I wrote most of this on the train, and my throat is itchy 🥀

Chapter 4: Visibility

I hope I'm not too dolled up or anything...

You definitely put more effort into your outfit this time. After all, you're going on TV!

You wore the nicest clothes you owned, trying to put together an outfit that said "I'm chic enough to be here but I'm not a jerk."

7:30AM. Maybe you're too early. But still—it's a pretty big occasion, and you can't afford to take any risks.

Even though you settled on visibility as a means of payment, you definitely intend to get your bag, now or later. You even worked on your original client's song before going to bed, so you're feeling pretty psyched.

7:50AM. They're sure taking their sweet time.

The Saja Boys arrive at 7:57. All effortlessly handsome. They sign autographs while walking and take pictures with some fans as they get closer and closer.

They sure are loved already...

"Good morning Typo." Jinu is the first to greet you.

"Yeah, hi..."

His brows furrow slightly.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I just don't know how we'll get to the set on time... You'll definitely get stopped multiple times along the way."

Romance arrives as well. "We'll make it work." He says, a confident expression on his face.

"Well... If you say so."

You still don't know how to feel about them. There's the whole song-stealing bit, but there's also those demonic figures from the bath house. They seemed accustomed to them in an eerie way. You should definitely question them, but it feels like if you do, something bad might happen.

The others catch up to you, a tired look on their faces.

Abby sighs. "I hate the way fans drool over me."

"Why do you flex every chance you get then?" you ask. "I mean, I haven't got anything against small shirts but you, you build a world record."

Abby stares at you like you're the stupidest person he's ever met.

"Because they want me to. Isn't that obvious? You should be acquainted with how the public sees idols given your type of work."

A small blush of shame creeps up your neck. Right. That was a dumb question.

"I didn't realize." You mumble as you stare at the ground.

He doesn't answer, but you can tell his eyes are on you.

"It's the same for me," Baby explains. "I'm forced to act like a kid in front of fans because I'm the maknae." Strong disgust distorts his soft facial features. You didn't know he could make a face like that.

"You just debuted, there's still time to build your identity as a group... You'll rebrand yourself over time." Your voice is meant to be reassuring, but you sound way too meek. The stress of today's show is really getting to you.

"Yeah... Time..." Baby looks into the distance, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Nice outfit."

You turn your head to see Mystery. He got behind you? When?

"O-oh, thanks. Is it too much?" You show off your outfit excitedly. It feels great to be noticed for once.

"No, it's—"

"It's great." Baby cuts Mystery off, still looking away.

"You're not even looking at me though..."

"I don't need to." He crosses his arms, meeting your gaze.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

A taxi honks at you. You all get into it and soon, you arrive at the filming set.

The boys are truly the stars of the show. Staff greet them with warm smiles, which they reciprocate perfectly. Jinu leads the group, handling interactions for them.

Jinu is truly the leader of the group, just look at how he handles business...

You stand behind them for the most part. If Jinu doesn't mention your presence each time, people wouldn't even greet you. They're too tall...

The filming set is popping with bright colors. One big velvety yellow couch sits on one side of the stage, two cushioned armchairs of the same color are positioned in front of it. Multiple sweets are presented nicely on a tray that’s placed on a table to the couch's right.

The staff hand out cards and position you all on the couch. You clearly weren't meant to be here. It seems the staff intended to place the boys according to their heights.

In the end, you end up on the far left side of the couch, with Baby by your side. With their tall frames, the couch suddenly looks and feels smaller.

"Hello and welcome everyone, today, we're with very very special guests, everyone give it up for the... Saja Boys!"

"Hello everyone, the Saja Boys love you!" Jinu starts the introduction, and the boys follow.

"From what I understand, you brought someone else with you today." The host looks at you curiously.

"Yes," Jinu answers. "This is the person behind our hit song, Soda Pop!"

"H-hello! Thanks for having me here! You can call me Typo." You bow slightly and wave bashfully at the cameras.

Shit I stuttered.

"Pfft—" Baby looks away, clamping his lips together.

"So nice to meet you Typo! How did you meet Saja?" The host looks interested, like you waved a sardine in front of a cat.

"Well—"

"We contacted them first, we heard about them from word of mouth and were very interested." Jinu doesn’t let you answer.

"I see! Back to you Saja, how does it feel to rise to great heights overnight?"

"Well..."

Jinu answers for the group and the filming continues. It's now 10AM, and you're getting hungry. Trying to hide the noises your stomach makes, you eye the other side of the couch, where the sweets are.

They're too far. I'll just wait for a break...

"Are you hungry?" A whisper makes its way to your ear. You jump, startled.

Turning to Baby, you nod.

"Yeah, but I'll just wait..." you answer, whispering as well.

Baby whispers in Mystery's ear, who whispers in Abby's ear… you get the gist.

Soon enough, a handful of chocolates makes its way into your hands. You smile, surprised by their candor. Your gaze fills with gratitude, and you mouth "Thanks."

"Typo! If you were hungry, you should have told us!" the host exclaims apologetically.

"Oh, it's no big deal really, I was just too shy to ask..."

"And I helped them either way!" Baby grins from ear to ear as he links his arm with yours. His voice gets significantly higher.

Is this his "kid-like" act?

You accept the gesture either way.

"I have to ask Typo, how did you write such a catchy song? Was it intended for Saja in the first place?"

"No it wasn't, but after seeing them in person, this song just felt... right."

You're a good liar. "I wrote this song while I was out on a walk actually."

"I remember seeing you and your notebook so clearly, as if it happened yesterday." Jinu says.

It did happen yesterday though. What a sneaky guy.

"They begged us to take their song! It was kind of embarrassing." Jinu laughs while acting shy.

"Uh... Begging is a strong word!!" You turn to Jinu, anger cracking your voice.

"You did though," Romance adds. "You look like idols, you're made for my song, take responsibility." He smirks, resting his arm on the couch, crossing one leg.

Baby's arm tightens on yours. His fake doe eyes sparkle with malice.

They know you can't make a fuss on TV.

"Hahah!! This looked like a fun interaction. How did you know it had to be them, Typo?"

"Well... I knew this song needed handsome faces, so I guess that's how I knew." How irritating.

Everyone laughs.

"Right, right they are handsome aren't they? We'll be right back after a short ad break!"

You sigh. Lying comes to them so naturally.

 

———

 

"You’re going to do this every single day?!" You heave as you enter the fifth building of the day for another photoshoot.

"Well, yeah. That's our work now." Abby briefly looks at you from behind his shoulder.

"I'm tired too, but the fans want us." Romance coos from behind you.

"Huh... Good thing I'm not an idol."

"Not that you could ever be." Baby smirks tauntingly.

"Shut up before I tackle you like last time." You spit, threateningly.

"Please do!" Baby smacks Abby's shoulder, angrily.

"Hello Saja! I’ll be your photographer for the day. Who’s this?"

"This is Typo, Soda Pop's author."

"How wonderful! Absolutely have to capture you with my lens today."

"What? Oh no that’s not necessary!"

"Yes it is." Mystery pushes you in front of the camera.

"Uh… I... I never posed before..."

"It's okay, it'll come naturally." The photographer reassures you as she hands you the clothes you need to wear.

...

"You're not a natural, that’s for sure..."

Every single picture has you looking tense and stressed. You even get redder and redder with each picture.

"It’s like a gradient..."

"Jinu. Don’t start." You shoot a somber glare in his direction.

"No, really. Look."

Abby takes the photographer’s mouse and switches back and forth at rapid speed between the pictures. Jinu’s right. It is a gradient.

"Can someone else come pose with them?"

"..."

Silence falls between the boys.

Ah right. You almost forgot the nature of your relationship. Transaction.

"I’ll do it."

To your surprise, Baby walks up to you, wearing clothes similar to yours.

"What do we need to do?"

He’s serious—nowhere near his usual idol facade.

"Just go with the flow. How do you want to pose?"

After a few seconds, Baby grabs your waist and hand without saying a word.

"Like this." He speaks gently, his voice almost too quiet to hear.

You redden instantly. The only beings that usually get that close to you are the stray cats you feed every day.

Baby notices this.

"What? Can't handle a little proximity?" He whispers, putting his usual tone back in use.

Your brows furrow. You answer his snarky remark by closing the remaining distance between you, pressing his body against yours with an arm behind his neck. You feel his hand twitch in yours as his eyes widen slightly.

"I can handle a lot of proximity." You whisper back, triumph leaking from your words.

"Hm, you can't really see the clothes that way." The photographer ponders.

Abby calls out to his turquoise-haired friend. "Yeah Babe, how 'bout some distance?"

"Wait." The photographer exclaims. "Keep this expression Typo. I want you to tip backwards."

Trying to respect the directions, you let Baby's hand go from your waist to your back to support you as you tip backwards.

"Baby, let go of their hand and lift up their leg… Perfect. More desire in your gaze Baby… That's it!!"

Isn’t that a little bit too sensual for their concept?

"Typo, keep your hand relaxed on the nape of his neck… Just like that. Keep your other arm relaxed!"

Multiple camera shutters are heard.

"You look amazing guys!" The photographer says excitedly.

"You look good from up here." Baby smirks.

"Shut up or I’ll hurt you."

"I’d love to see you try."

---

 

Over the last two weeks, the Saja Boys won one weekly award against Huntrix, and thankfully for you, they credited you each time the hosts gave them the microphone. Their singing skills and, let's face it, their faces, made them known idols in a very short amount of time.

They're even famous enough to be signing autographs in the middle of a Huntrix fan-event. You know, cause you were there. At 6 in the morning. You joined them at the place you all agreed on a day earlier because... well... They still didn't give you their phone numbers.  They disguised themselves as hardcore fans by wearing sleeping bags and spending the night on the sidewalk, right in front of the venue... How sneaky can they be ?

You stood at the very back of the room, watching Romance, Abby, and Mira get into some weird throuple rumors. Is it because of their pink hair ? Rujinu became a ship name while Zoey and Mystery somehow became Baby's parents in the fans' minds. It's weird what celebrity does to your image. Speaking of celebrities, Huntrix really doesn't seem to like Saja. Rumi even stomped on Jinu's foot. The fans saw it as "playing footsie", but you have to be blind to not notice the clear tension between them.

Abby, as narcissistic as ever, traced his abs with a pencil on a sheet of paper and handed it out like flyers. You rolled your eyes. That guy's sick.

Strangely enough, seeing Baby interact with his fans is... Weird. He's so weird. Or is he weird when he's interacting with you ? 

Your eyes met. He gave you a discreet, but still mischevious smirk as he chugged on his water bottle.

Your brain replayed the day of the photoshoot, and you felt your back and ears heat up instantly.

Am I getting sick ?

Chapter 5: New Clients

You join Saja as they leave the fan-signing event. You don’t know why you keep following them. After all, your appearance on the variety show and the photoshoot basically “paid” you enough in visibility for you to leave them alone. But they don’t say anything either.

“You guys are dorks.” You laugh, realizing their rivalry with Huntrix is truly something. “Sleeping bags? Really?”

“Yeah, it was my idea.” Jinu declares, proud of himself.

“Definitely not ours, that’s for sure.” Abby sighs, tired.

“I can’t believe you… barked.” You say, looking at Mystery.

He smiles, slightly grazing Zoey’s pen in his pocket with his fingers.

“The fans even got you all bouquets! How cute is that?!” You squeal, searching for the bouquets in their arms.

“Where did the flower bouquets go?” You ask, realizing their hands are empty.

Jinu hesitates, fidgeting with his pocket, or the paper that’s in it. “We… uh…”

“We gave them to the staff.” Romance explains.

“What a shame, they were so pretty.”

“Do you like flowers?” Mystery turns to you.

“Of course they do, every human likes flowers.” Abby rolls his eyes as you glare at him.

What’s his problem?

“You’re a human too, Abby. Don’t think you’re better than anyone else for not liking flowers.”

He simply chuckles as he walks up to Jinu, who’s walking in front of the group.

The boys talk among themselves. You stay silent, taking in the scenery that the night paints on the city. After a while, Baby slows down to match your pace.

“So… Do you like flowers?” he asks, his hands in his pockets.

You smile. He’s a brat, but he can be cute sometimes.

“I do. Do you?” You tilt your head, looking up at him.

“I… don’t know. I never paid attention to them.” His voice is low and somber.

“Never, ever?”

“Never, ever.”

A small, comfortable silence makes its way between you two.

“I’ll show you my favorite flowers some time. It’s almond blossoms and Easter lilies.”

“The Jesus flower?” He snickers, clearly mocking you in his own friendly way.

“Yeah, the Jesus flower.” You laugh as well.

You take a moment to look at his smiling face.

“You look like a bluebell.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing, you just look like one.” He frowns, confused.

“Oh yeah? Well you look like… uh… you look…”

You laugh again. It seems like he took your words for an insult, but really, it was more of a compliment.

Jinu stops abruptly.

“Oh, I almost forgot.”

He turns toward you and hands you a full envelope. Curious, you open it. Inside is one million won, neatly stacked.

Your jaw drops.

“Wh– When did you–” Your hands tremble.

“It’s payment. For a future commission.” He smiles triumphantly.

“We promise it’s our own money. We didn’t steal it.” Abby is sitting on a bench next to the sidewalk.

“You want me to write a song for you guys?” You clench the envelope, making sure not a single bill could fly out of your grasp.

“Yeah,” Baby rearranges his clothes. “Soda Pop was great, we want to book you for another hit.”

“Can’t you do it?” Romance holds both of your hands expectantly.

“Well, I have a lot of clients on hold already and—”

“Please?” Mystery’s head peeks out from your shoulder.

When did he get behind me? Again?!

“You know what? Fine. At least you paid me this time.” You place the envelope in your pocket, smiling.

Jinu relaxes. “Thank you, Typo. You don’t know how much this means to us. We don’t want to disappoint our fans, after all.”

“Can I get your phone number? I’ll need it to keep in touch with you guys about the theme and the advancements I made on your song.”

“Uh… How about we simply meet up once a week?” He gives you a tense smile.

“Uhm… Yeah, that works.” Weird.

“We can’t meet where it’s too crowded though.” Romance chimes in.

“Right, do you have any place in mind?” You ask, curious.

They stare at you blankly.

No.

“Oh no, no no no no. Absolutely not.” You take a step back but get blocked by Mystery’s tall frame.

“It’s the only possible place, Typo.” Abby puts his hand on your shoulder in a ‘there’s-nothing-we-can-do’ way.

“Don’t you guys have your own home? We could meet there!!” You ask, panicked.

“Yeah no, you don’t want to see that.” Baby hisses, looking away with a concerned look.

You sigh, defeated.

“Is there really no other way?”

They all simultaneously shake their heads.

“Fine.” You rip a corner of one of the pages from your notebook and scribble your address on it. “Here.”

Jinu takes it and hands it to Abby.

“You guys figure something out. I need to go somewhere.” He hurriedly leaves you in the middle of the street.

He has a date. 100% a date.

“So…” You hesitate, fidgeting with your notebook.

“We’ll meet in two days.” Abby states.

“At 2PM.” Romance adds.

Gosh, that’s not that far ahead…

“Alright… See you then!”

You turn your back on them, ready to head home. But someone grabs your wrist.

“I’ll walk you home.” It’s Baby.

It looks like he acts on impulse, because he instantly lets go of you and tries to justify himself.

“That way, I’ll see where your home is and uh… We won’t get lost when we come by.”

You chuckle. “Sure, let’s go Babe.”

“Don’t steal my nickname.” Abby glares at you, but you ignore him and leave with Baby.

As you walk in comfortable silence, one question runs through your mind.

“What’s your name?”

He turns his head, confused.

“...Baby.”

“No, not your stage name. Your real name.”

He pauses. A frown makes its way to his beautiful face.

“I… Uhm…”

“It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me, I just wanted to get to know you better, since we’re working together now.” You smile in a reassuring manner.

Baby looks down at your bag, where your notebook is peeking out from.

“When did you start writing?”

He changed the subject.

You take a moment to think.

“Ever since I could physically write. I always loved writing stories as a kid. Poems too.”

“You write poetry?” He’s genuinely curious.

“Well, songs are poems in some way. But yes, I do.”

He stares at you, eyes filled with an emotion you can’t quite pinpoint.

“Let’s play a game,” you say. “Give me three words, and I’ll recite a poem right now, just for you.”

He laughs. “What an honor.” Looking up, he thinks about the words he wants you to use.

“Spring, king, doom.”

You pause for a moment, your eyes widening just a little bit.

“Wow, you gave me hard ones on purpose.”

“Where’s my poem?” He gives you his usual challenging smirk.

You sigh, but you give it a go.

“Where summer lies, near the end of spring,
The scorching king shall fall, defeated by newly found wings.
As I roam the streets, hurt and hollow,
Love will give me the final blow,
To arise from doom and start anew.”

“…”

“What?”

“The end didn’t rhyme.”

“Poems don’t always rhyme!”

“Yes they do… That’s what they’re made for…”

Soon enough, you arrive in front of your apartment.

“Did you even take time to look at your surroundings so you and the others won’t get lost?”

“I did, don’t worry about me.”

“I’m not worrying.”

“You are though…” He crosses his arms, defiant.

“Ugh, it’s too late for this…” You hold your forehead.

“...Your poem was nice.” Baby avoids your gaze. You can’t see his face clearly, but his voice tells you he’s embarrassed.

“Even if the end didn’t rhyme?” You ask, jokingly.

He giggles. “Yeah, even if the end didn’t rhyme.”

“I had fun today.”

He pauses.

“Me too.”

“Goodnight, Baby.”

.
.
.

“Su-Jin.”

“What?”

“Call me Su-Jin.”

You take a step toward him, and initiate a small hug.

He doesn’t push you away, but he doesn’t reciprocate it either.

“Good night, Su-Jin.”

You pull away gently and enter your apartment building.

You look back to watch him leave, but he has already disappeared.

Chapter 6: Session One

Notes:

Thank you so so so so much for your comments, they mean a lot to me !

I hope you find the pacing to be good, I'm trying my best despite the lack of time indicators in the show, it's hard lol

You had a nightmare that night.

You found yourself in your room, or at least what you thought was your room until you felt a pair of eyes on you and the moist caress of steam filling the air. You suffocated. You tried to find an exit, but you couldn't.

There simply wasn’t one.

As the dark figure approached you, you could only try to push it away. Your arms felt numb and weak. Tears ran down your cheeks, leaving behind a sticky, hot feeling that only got worse with the steam. You couldn’t do anything. Soon enough, the creature sucked out your very soul.

You were floating in a freezing abyss. Your body wouldn’t respond, no matter how hard you screamed in your mind for it to simply do something.

“Somebody, anybody, save me.”

 

You woke up and tried to ignore it, but the same dream returned the next night. The only difference was the color of the figure’s eyes. They were blue. A beautiful blue.

You woke up in cold sweat, tears streaming down your face.

 

What? Where…

You frantically searched around your room for any remaining trace of last night’s shadowy figure, in vain.

Your alarm rang. It read “Saja”.

Saja? Why…

Your interaction with the boys from two days ago replayed in your head.

“FUCK IT’S TODAY?!”

You got up in a panic and started getting everything ready for your first songwriting session.

The Saja Boys were coming to your house in a few hours and absolutely nothing in your home could bring you shame. You scrubbed every single corner, cleaned every nook and cranny of your apartment, prepared snacks, drinks, and of course, paper. A lot of paper.

After cleaning, you hopped in the shower and washed off the sweat and tears from the night before.

Once you were in a comfortable but nice outfit, you heard footsteps in the building, on your floor.

The doorbell rang.

When you opened the door, you were met with a huge flower bouquet before anything else.

“Good afternoon!” Jinu brightly exclaimed.

“Oh wow, thank you guys…” Unsure of what to do, you took the bouquet and let them in. They took off their shoes and quickly made themselves at home.

This bouquet is huge…

You set it on the dining table and quickly joined the boys, who were already munching on the snacks you had prepared.

“Let’s get to work, shall we?”

You sat in front of the coffee table, and they all followed.

“First, what kind of emotions do you want to use to write this?”

Romance tilted his head.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, for example, Soda Pop is joyful, flirty, and youthful in some ways.” You started scribbling in your notebook. “Do you want a similar concept?”

“How about something dark but still endearing?” Abby asked nonchalantly.

“Yeah.” Mystery nodded.

“We want something that will… enchant the fans, something that will make them ours forever.”

Jinu scribbled something on a piece of paper and showed it to everyone.

“How about a demonic concept?” he said, showing you all a few keywords.

Su-Jin read them aloud.

“Soul, sins, choir… That works, no?”

You froze. The boys all seemed to agree, but something about those words sent shivers down your spine.

“Typo? You alright?” Abby waved his hand in front of your face.

“Huh? Oh—yeah sorry, I spaced out.” You shook your head to snap out of it. “A demonic concept can work. If we use words that call back to the feeling of desire, that would totally fall into the sexy category.”

“Sexy… I like that.” Romance smirked, resting his elbow on the table.

Jinu stared blankly at a piece of paper.

“Jinu?” you called out. “What’s on your mind?”

“Oh, uh… I was just thinking about something, don’t mind me.”

“Thinking about your date?” you smirked, giving him a knowing stare.

He flinched, his eyes widening, and his frantic gesturing gave it all away.

“Date?! I didn’t have any date! Not one!”

“Yeah, right.” Su-Jin crossed his arms, clearly not buying it.

“Can we focus on the song?!” Jinu angrily grabbed a pen and started writing more keywords.

You giggled and got back to work.

“Since we’re going for a demonic concept, how about throwing some Latin words in there?”

“Like what?” Abby asked, sounding bored.

“Just the basic ones, like Dies irae, Illa… You know!”

“No, I do not know.” He gave you a deadpan look.

“Pray for me now.” Mystery spoke calmly.

“That works!”

“Maybe the Latin words could be sung by a choir as we repeat that bit?” Su-Jin looked at you, sheepishly hoping for your approval.

You wrote the ideas down in your trusty worn-out notebook.

After a while of discussion, you realized something.

“Do you have the melody ready? It'll be hard to write lyrics if we don’t have the beat that goes with it.”

“Oh yeah, we asked someone to make it for us.”

Jinu pulled out a USB key from his pocket and handed it to you.

“I don’t really see how that thing could be a melody though.” He eyed the key suspiciously.

You laughed, unsure of how to respond, and simply plugged it into your laptop to listen to the MP3 track. They all watched you like they’d never seen anything like it before.

You listened to the song labeled “Sajaboys2ndhit.”

That producer is definitely a fan of theirs. How cute.

“That’s absolutely gorgeous. It totally goes with the demonic concept you wanted!”

“Yeah, we gave the producer some keywords as well.” Su-Jin explained.

You all got back to work soon after that, playing parts of the instrumental to see if your lyrics matched.

Pray for me now (Dies irae)
Pray for me now (Illa)
Pray for me now (Vos solve in)
Pray for me now (Favilla)
Pray for me now (Maledictus)
Pray for me now (Erus)
Pray for me now (In flamas)
Pray for me now (Eternum)
I'll be your idol.

“And that’s the intro! See, we can make this work. We’ll have your song in no time.”

“Our song.” Mystery gently grabbed your shoulder.

You chuckled.

“Yeah, our song.”

After a few more hours of chatting and working, the boys left your apartment in the evening. You took a look at everyone’s paper—Abby had drawn himself.

Typical Abby…

Mystery drew stars and childlike flowers, Romance drew hearts: bleeding hearts, broken hearts, plump hearts, shining hearts… Every kind he could think of.
Jinu drew a tiger and a bird with a hat.

How cute.

Su-Jin had drawn multiple flowers. Among them were…

Almond blossoms.

Beautiful ones, even.

You took the drawing and put it up on your bedroom wall, with all the other pieces you’ve collected or made yourself. These drawings usually serve as inspiration for when you’re stuck with writer’s block, but you know this one will cheer you up.

You didn’t have any nightmares that night, but you still woke up feeling unsafe, like something was lurking around you… or in town. Something evil.

You woke up around noon, passed by the massive bouquet the boys got you, made lunch as the TV droned in the background, and got ready for the day. As you were getting dressed, you suddenly heard the jingle of a certain variety show.

Half-dressed, you ran to your couch and stared at the TV screen. There you were, on TV, with the Saja Boys.

“God… I look so nervous…”

The more you watched, the more you sank into your seat. They even kept the part where Baby gave you a handful of chocolates. They zoomed in, highlighting the moment with huge, pink sparkly text that read : WHAT A MAN!

Come on, it’s only chocolate!

Later on, when Baby grabbed your arm and kept it there, the text read : TYBY FOR THE WIN

You turned off the TV and decided to focus on your work. You even went out to feed the neighborhood’s stray cats, like usual.

After a few hours, you unlocked your phone and were met with a massive pile of notifications.

You checked social media, something you rarely do, unless it’s to contact or reply to artists.

A hashtag had taken off in just a few hours.

#TYBY

You’re joking…

Notes:

As you surely noticed, this movie has consumed my very being and I cannot stop writing, more chapters coming soon !! Xoxo <3

Chapter 7: Comforting Ramyeon

Notes:

y'all are going to hate me lmaoooooo

I can’t believe this.

 

You sighed, embarrassed of the apparent ship name for Baby and you. The editors sure know how to rile up the masses…

You  tried to ignore the multiple posts and tweets about your supposed relationship by distancing yourself from them, but you had to admit it, you felt giddy.

 

I’ve only known him for a few days. I need to get a grip !!

 

He was handsome though… Anyone would be happy to be shipped with a guy like that.

 

You worked until the sun went down, and decided to take a late night stroll to try and keep your mind off of Su-Jin.

Spoiler alert : it didn’t work.

 

The Saja Boys were plastered everywhere. Soda Pop was playing on loop in every single store you entered, hell, even people were doing the dance on the street.

 

So much for keeping my mind off of it…

 

This strange obsessive love for the Saja Boys was getting weird. Yes, they’re handsome. But to overshadow Huntrix and their new single like that ? Maybe they really enchanted everyone.

To avoid thinking about them, you hummed Huntrix’s song, Golden.

It was your own petty way of going against the Saja hype, and you felt proud.

However, Soda Pop made its way into your mind, and you started singing it mindlessly. You had written a catchy song after all.

“You’re all I can think of, every drop I drink up…” You entered one of the multiple alleyways that led to your apartment building. As you took the turn, you heard heavy footsteps on your trail. You kept singing, to let your potential stalker believe you were oblivious.

“You’re my soda pop, my little soda pop.” Speeding up your pace while clutching your keys, You tensed up. You turned again, and again, but you kept hearing footsteps.

Someone’s following me. Someone’s following me !

You ran as fast as you could. Just as you sprinted away from your stalker, a growl echoed in the street you fled from.

Something inhuman.

You heaved with every single stride you took, your apartment seemed so far away.

You remembered the nightmare you had. Was it premonitory? Were you going to die tonight, somehow?

Please, anybody, please!!!

You opened your mouth to scream, but nothing came out. You were too scared to say anything, let alone cry for help.

As you were about to give up and slow down, a hand grabbed your wrist and pulled you into a small alley, almost too narrow for two.

A hand was put on your mouth to stop you from screaming. Not that you could anyway.

You recognized those fingers, you bit one of them before.

Su-Jin.

He held you tight, shielding your face from view as he pressed your head against his chest. You grabbed his clothing so tight, you could’ve ripped them right then and there.

The air turned colder than before as the heavy footsteps got closer and closer. You felt a breeze pass by the alleyway, and you could’ve sworn the thing looked straight at you both before walking away.

Your fists were balled up so tight that your knuckles turned white. You shivered in Su-Jin’s embrace as you silently waited for the coast to clear.

You don’t know how much time passed before his hold on you loosened. As soon as it did, you choked in disheveled sobs.

Visibly taken aback by your outburst, he flinched and tried to calm you down.

“You’re okay Typo, you’re alright.” Su-Jin caressed your hair softly.

“It’s okay, you’re okay, I’m sorry.”

What is he apologizing for?

You sniffled, hugging him as tight as you could with your trembling limbs.

“You saved my life.”

You looked up at him, tears streaming down your face, a soft smile tugging at your lips. You were okay.

His blue eyes were filled with an emotion you weren’t expecting. Guilt.

His gaze left yours as he took a look outside the narrow alleyway.

“Let’s get out of here, I’ll walk you home.”

He took your hand gently with urgency in his voice.

You took a step out of the alleyway, and as soon as you did, your legs gave out.

Su-Jin instantly crouched down to check on you.

“Typo! Are you okay?!” He put a hand on one of your legs, checking for injuries.

“Yeah, it’s just that back there, the only thing holding me up was you.” You chuckled nervously.

He sighed, relieved.

“I’ll carry you.” He said, resolute.

“What? No! Don’t! What if you get hurt too?”

His usual playful smirk was back.

“I’m stronger than I look.”

“Really, don’t, I’ll be good to go in no tiIIIME—”

In just a second, you were in Su-Jin’s arms, in a princess carry, to top it all off.

“Ah! Put me down!!” You put your arms around his neck and held on tight.

He laughed.

“I won’t let you fall.”

“Yes you will!!” You wriggled in his grasp.

“If you stop moving, I won’t!”

.

.

.

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

The walk home was silent. You didn’t know what to talk about besides your near-death experience, so you kept your mouth shut.

As you gently held onto his neck for support, you rested your head on his shoulder, even snuggling against it, searching for comfort.

“Getting comfy?” He cooed.

“Oh, I’m sorry…” You quickly removed your head.

“You can use my shoulder, I don’t mind.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I just wanted to tease you, but you have every right to use me right now.” He sounded sincere.

You giggled as you snuggled back against him.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

He doesn’t smell like anything. Not even laundry detergent.

Soon, you arrived in front of your apartment building. He gently put you down, taking another good look at you to make sure you were okay. The warmth his body gave you left and soon enough, you felt cold.

“I’ll see you soon. Take care of yourself.” He glanced at you before turning to leave.

“Su-Jin.” You grabbed his wrist.

A blush crept up your neck.

This is going to sound so weird…

“I don’t want to be alone tonight.”

His eyes widened.

“Stay.”

“I… Uh… Stay the night?”

You nodded, embarrassed.

“I don’t feel safe with what happened… I don’t know if I’ll… uhm… sleep good if you’re not here...”

God, strike me down. RIGHT NOW.

“Sure.”

You silently made your way up to your apartment.

“Uhm… Are you hungry? I can make you something…”

You opened your cabinet.

You were supposed to go grocery shopping, but you forgot. The cabinet was filled with instant noodles.

Upon seeing your awkwardness, Su-Jin chuckled.

“Ramyeon’s fine.”

He took a long look around your living room as you filled the kettle with water.

“No family pictures?”

You joined him on your couch and stared at your shelves.

“No. My parents aren’t exactly…”

He watched you intently.

“Picture worthy.”

“Why? Did something happen?”

You fiddled with your clothes.

“When I told them I wanted to be a songwriter, they threw me out.”

His eyes widened as his lips parted. He let you continue.

“I was a smart kid. They had enrolled me in this prestigious university and after the first semester, I flunked out to tell them I wanted to write songs… They were absolutely pissed.”

Su-Jin scooted closer to you.

“My relationship with them was always rocky. You see, they didn’t love each other, and it showed. If they weren’t my parents, I would not have wanted anything to do with them.”

“When did they…” He cleared his throat. “… throw you out?”

You took a moment to think.

“About five years ago? I was so preoccupied with side jobs that time passed quickly…”

He got closer, your knees touched each other.

"But hey, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?"

You joked to lighten the mood. He squinted and clamped his lips together, as he does when he holds back his laughter.

"Pfft... That's so dumb."

His voice got low, lower than before. He asked you, in a suave whisper: “You’re okay now… Right?”

You turned your head away from the empty shelves to look into Su-Jin’s eyes.

He’s so close…

“Yeah.” You whispered, inching closer and closer to him. “I’m okay.”

He put his hand on top of yours.

Your eyelashes fluttered lazily. His gaze fell to your lips, then went back up to meet yours. Without thinking, you rested your hand on his torso, wanting to feel his heartbeat. He grabbed your hand hastily and intertwined your fingers.

Oh God, is this really happening?

DING

The water finished boiling.

Chapter 8: Disclosure

Notes:

BACKSTORY TIME !

I snapped back to reality and let go of their hand, distancing myself in the process.

 

What was I about to do ?

 

I sat there, stunned, as Typo quickly got up and poured the boiling water into the cup noodles.

Initiating a kiss after they opened up about their parents ? I’m an animal…

 

Rearranging my clothes nervously, I stared at Typo’s nervous demeanor. Their face was red, even redder than the one we saw on the photoshoot. I didn’t know it was possible.
They made sure to keep their back turned towards me. I found it adorable.

No one ever got nervous around me like that before, and if they did, I was too deep into Gwi-Ma's hands to even notice.

 

Speaking of Gwi-Ma, I don’t…

 

I don’t hear him.

 

“So- uh…” Typo came back on the couch, placed my ramyeon in front of me, and sat on the floor to put some additional distance between us.

 

How fun.

 

“What about your parents, Su-Jin ?”

 

Changing the subject huh ?

 

My expression darkened. I don’t normally speak about them, unless Gwi-Ma forces me to remember their past existence. Since they spoke about their parents, it’s only fair I speak about mine. I must be careful not to reveal too much. They can’t know yet.

Solemnly watching the cooking ramyeon, I cautiously revealed my past to the curious songwriter.

 

“I… Was a sick child.”

 

Typo frowned, worried. I reassured them right away.

 

“I’m better now, obviously. But back then…”

 

I closed my eyes to remember the neat corridors of my childhood home. Everything was cleaned to a tee. Not one speck of dust could be seen or could even be imagined on any of the lustrous furniture. The smell of cleanliness was the only scent I was allowed to bask in.

Every single one of my steps were recorded and reported back to my mother, who took my father’s place when he was away for work.

 

“My mother watched my every move, she was probably worried I’d fall, scrape my knee, and contract a deadly illness that could wipe me out in one single night.”

Typo listened to my story. They even slurped their ramyeon in a way that wouldn’t make any sound, to avoid disturbing me.

“Her controlling behavior got worse as I grew up.” I sighed, remembering her disapproving face each time she saw dirt on my shoes.

“Even if I was better than I was as a toddler, she still did not let me go out of the estate to play.”

“Estate ?”

I chuckled.

“Yeah, I was rich.”

I eyed the huge flower bouquet on their dining room table. If I had the tenth of my father’s wealth, I would’ve bought them something much more valuable than those measly flowers.

Twirling my ramyeon, I continued.

“I remember my fourteenth birthday. I snuck out to go watch the fireworks that took place each year for a festival. This time, they happened the day of my birthday, and I wanted to go so bad that I even bribed our family gardener…” I chuckled sadly.

“A family worker close to my mother saw me, dragged me home in the middle of the firework launching, and brought me to my mother. She yelled so loud I thought I would lose my hearing. She slapped me for the first time that night, and locked me in my room for a week. I never saw the gardener again.”

The gardener was old and scrawny. He did not have any strength left to take on a new job. I still don’t know what happened to him.

“When I was eighteen years old, I was still extremely isolated, and that resulted in excessive shyness. My mother did not want me to meet anyone from the outside. ‘They could give you germs!’ she said.”

“What about your father ? What about school ?”

“He was too absent to care. He just gave my mother enough funds to… homeschool and protect me from the outside world.”

Right. That’s the kind of man my father was.

“To give you an example, when I turned eighteen, he was away on a business trip but still took time to have a cake custom-made and sent to our home. The cake had peanuts in it. Little did he know… I was allergic to them. Gravely, even. I couldn't speak for a week because of my swollen throat. I almost died.”

 

They brought their hands to their mouth, horrified.

Why am I telling them all of this ? Abby said we should keep our distance, but I can’t for some reason.

 

Typo gulped the rest of their ramyeon in one go to keep their tears from falling. It’s a good thing I didn’t tell them the whole story, they would have been bawling their eyes out.

Gwi-Ma came to me on a sunny day in august when I was twenty. My heart was acting out and the pain was so bad that I was bedridden, despite the hot season. I kept cursing my body for being so frail and weak. I kept cursing my mother for being so controlling. I cursed my father for being such a moron.

That’s when I heard him.

 

Health. That’s what you need.

 

Health…

 

With just a little more health, you could be outside, making friends.

 

Friends…

 

I can give you strength. I can help you get rid of everything that’s dragging you down.

 

A new beginning ?

 

A new beginning.

 

That night, the constant ache in my body disappeared, as if it was never there to begin with. I could run, jump, scream… Every basic human thing I always wanted to do.

 

I remember the concerned and shocked look on my mother’s face as I ran around the garden, laughing like an idiot. Everything felt incredible. My life had become perfect overnight.

However, I began noticing weird mood swings. The kind I never had before. The patterns showed up not long after. Starting from my heart, they spread out fast. Faster than I thought they would. Maybe it had to do with the severity of my illness to begin with.

My mother saw them. She thought it was another severe illness I contracted from being too… alive.

 

“I never should have let you run around like this !” She screamed, her perfect makeup barely hiding the paleness of her skin.

“Mother, it’s not what you think ! Please ! Believe me !” I clutched the bandages that hid these forsaken patterns, hoping that if I hid them well enough, all of this would be forgotten.

 

The room was in utter distress. Multiple objects had been thrown onto the ground. Mirror shards were spread across the floor. The only light they reflected was the one in the corridor in front of my room. In front of this light stood my mother’s figure. Her shadow.

 

“This is dirty ! Disgusting !” She was hysterical, throwing more and more objects on the ground.

“How could you do this to me ? To your mother !”

 

She grabbed my shoulders, tight. I could feel the nails on her trembling hands dig into my bandaged flesh, as if I would evaporate if she let go of me for one second.

 

“I will protect you.”

 

As soon as she uttered those words, she got up and reached inside her pocket, pulling out a bronze key. The key to my bedroom door.

Desperate, I grabbed her leg, holding onto her as tight as this new healthy body could.

 

“Mother, please ! Forgive me ! Please, I’ll do whatever you ask, but please ! Don’t leave me here !”

 

I pulled on her leg to stop her from leaving. She ignored my cries, my screams of plea, and moved slowly towards my door. The door I focused on every time I was bedridden. The door that separated me from any other place that was not my sickly bed.
This door was a constant reminder my own fragility, my own daunting weakness.

Rage consumed me. I was angry at her for reacting this way, angry at myself for being unable to calm her down. Angry at my father, who was nowhere to be seen, as always.

 

She abruptly turned around and grabbed my throat, choking me. She shook me in the process. Her eyes were simply... Mad.

 

“I am your mother, and you will listen to me ! You’ll do as I say ! You hear me ?!”

“M-mo-”

I tried to pull her hands away, but even my healthy body could not do anything against my mother’s strength.

“SU-JIN !”

 

Fear took control of my marked limbs.

Grabbing the first object I could reach, I used it to hit her in the head. The impact made an awfully full sound. As the hold she had on my throat subsided upon her immediate slumping, the feeling of a warm liquid spread across my lap, where my mother’s head laid.

I took a look at the object in my hand.

 

A lead statuette.

.

.

.

Yeah. They'll never learn the end of the story.

 

“I am… so, so sorry Su-Jin.” Typo scooted closer to the couch and grabbed my hand.

“… The ramyeon got all soggy.” I looked down at the cup.

They let out an exasperated sigh.

“Forget about the ramyeon !”

They jumped in my arms, resting one of their legs between mine as they hugged me tight.

“Oh… You poor soul…”

Yeah, poor soul.

“It’s all in the past now. Don’t worry Ty.” I smiled bitterly as I gave them a pat on the back. It IS all in the past. After all, that was more than a hundred years ago.

They raised an eyebrow.

“Ty ?”

“Your nickname. Don’t you like it ?” I twirled a strand of their hair while giving them a playful grin.

I looked at the clock that was just above their TV.

“We should go to sleep... Unless you want to keep hugging until the sun goes up ?”

Typo let me go instantly. Playing with their nerves will never not be funny.

“I’ll bring you some covers and more pillows.” They hurriedly left the couch to go grab some bedding.

“Alright.”

The scent of their apartment was… calming. No trace of any antiseptic agent, it was quite the opposite actually, nothing was antiseptic about this place.

Shoes were thrown aside mindlessly at the entrance, some clothes were even laying here and there on the living room floor.

Do they get ready while watching TV ?

I chuckled at the thought.

A turquoise piece of clothing caught my eye. It was right next to the couch. I leaned over to see what it was.

Underwear. Cute ones too.

Typo saw me snooping, blushed furiously, and threw some pillows in my face as I laughed out loud, holding my stomach.

.

.

.

 

“Thank you for being here.” They mumbled, poking their head through their bedroom door.

“No problem.”

“’Night, Su-Jin.”

“Good night, Ty.”

 

Notes:

┬┴┬┴┤(･_├┬┴┬┴

Chapter 9: Run Romy Run !

Notes:

Sorry for the late update, I wrote the most juicy part of the whole fic and completely forgot to write the next chapter lol
Hope you don't mind <3

You jumped on your bed, buried your head in your pillows, and punched the mattress repeatedly. In your head were a few words that you repeated like a mantra.

Oh my god.

OH MY GOD.

Su-Jin had held your hand. He leaned in for a kiss. He initiated the first contact. If the kettle hadn’t made any noise… you would’ve probably kissed. You couldn’t believe it.

The Saja Boys had been in your life for less than a month, and here you were, getting overly touchy with one of their members? Your clients to top it all off!

Maybe you needed to get your mind off of what happened in the alley. Maybe you just needed to blow off some steam……… By getting steamy with Su-Jin?!

OH GOD.

You couldn't sleep a wink.

You turned again and again in your sheets, your ears perking up at each little sound Su-Jin’s body made on the couch. Was he thinking about you too? It all seemed so easy for him, maybe he’s a player?
Even if he was, you wouldn't hold it against him. With a face and a voice like that… he has multiple options. Including you, apparently.

You sighed, softly. If Su-Jin wasn’t in your apartment, you would’ve groaned and whined, cursing yourself and this feeble heart of yours for at least thirty minutes at full volume.

You think you would’ve been able to sleep better if he weren’t there. That possible attempted murder on you back in this cold dark alley is absolutely nothing against the pretty face and sultry voice of a man.

You can’t get him out of your mind.

Staring at your ceiling, you were left with nothing but images of Su-Jin’s face. Sitting up did not help either, as his almond blossom drawing was put up on your wall, in front of you. You sighed again.

I better put these feelings to good use…

You grabbed your trusty notebook and scribbled down some new lyrics for Saja’s new song.

Keeping you in check, keeping you obsessed…

You chuckled. Yeah, he keeps you obsessed, all right.

Su-Jin’s smiling face and mocking laugh were playing in your mind like a broken record.

Play me on repeat, endlessly in your head.
Living in your mind now ….. No, this doesn’t work here…

You put this lyric in parentheses.

Lost in my daze, now you can’t look away….. that sounds great. You’ll keep that for later too.

When you went out of your room in the morning, Su-Jin wasn’t there, yet, the door was still locked.

Did he lock-pick your door to close it without any keys?

You shook your head.

You need to stop thinking about him. You’ll go grocery shopping.

After you fed the stray cats, you grabbed a few shopping bags and headed out. During your walk to the convenience store, you passed by the very alley you were chased in. You clutched your bags a little tighter and walked faster.

Soon enough, you arrived at your destination and began your shopping, free of any thoughts regarding Su-Jin, and filled with thoughts of your next meal.

“Hey Typo!”

A familiar figure made its way up to you. You didn’t recognize him right away, but it was Romance, in undercover attire.

He was wearing light colored baggy pants with a plain tank top, a mask and a cap. But most importantly, his hair was… blonde? A really pretty shade of blonde too.

“Romance? Did you bleach your hair?” You stared at him puzzled. “Your hair doesn’t even look damaged at all. You have to give me your hairstylist’s number.”

He flinched.

“Uh… Nah, it’s a wig.”

“You wear wigs?”

“I’m an idol now, dummy.” He whispered as he flicked your forehead, gently.

You giggled. After spending a few weeks with them, you figured that Romance was the most outgoing guy of the bunch. Most people would think it’s Jinu or Abby, but Jinu’s an awkward idiot and Abby’s mean.

You picked some lollipops out of a shelf and kept walking with Romance by your side.

“Did you get any ideas for the song?” You asked, not really finding anything more… nice to talk about.

“Actually, yeah. I wrote it down!” He grinned proudly under his mask.

“Really? Can you show me?” You excitedly turned towards him. Any conversation about songwriting gets you going.

“Tut-tut!” He wiggled his index finger in front of your face. “You’ll have to wait for our weekly meeting.”

“Aw, come on Romance!”

“Nope. Wait for it.” He cut you in line at the cash register and put down two cups of ramyeon… With Mira’s name on it.

“Wait, you’re buying that?” You stared at the name written in bold letters on the cup.

“Yeah. It’s good.” His eyes kept fleeing yours.

“Who’s the second one for?”

“… Abs.”

“Aren’t they your rivals?”

“Yeah but she’s pretty. And the ramyeon’s good...” He crossed his arms and turned his tall body away from yours.

“Suuure…” You laid down your groceries behind his and witnessed the soul reaping of a cashier. You think that girl fell head over heels for Romance in disguise. He blew her a kiss and waited for you at the entrance, his two ramyeon cups packed in a bag with extra goodies, “on the house.”

“You’re a true Don Juan…” You stared at his free goods.

“Don… what?” He followed your gaze and seemed to have understood what you meant. “Whatever, she likes me and I like it.” He winked playfully. That guy’s a menace.

You opened your lollipop bag, handed him a strawberry flavored one, and unwrapped a lemon flavored lolly.

“So, what were you doing here? Simple grocery shopping?”

He sighed and slumped his shoulders.

“I fled from Jinu. That guy’s nuts.” He unwrapped the lollipop and stuck it straight into his mouth.

You widened your eyes.

“Huh? What do you mean? Is he being mean to you guys?”

You would’ve thought that was more Abby’s type…

“Yeah. His dance lessons are pure hell, I’m sore aaall over.” He stretched his arms by putting them really high up. His tank top rolled up and a girl walked right into a pole.

You chuckled, relieved.

“Aren’t you going to fall behind on the choreo if you do that?”

He laughed and gave you a mischievous stare.

“I never fall behind sweetie.”

You giggled.

What a cocky guy.

You unknowingly walked to the park where you first met and sat on a bench, enjoying your lollipops in the process. The bag was now half full.

“Say, Romance-”

“Call me Romy love, it’s way shorter that way.”

“Alright, so, Romy, did you always dream of becoming an idol?”

He choked on his own strawberry flavored saliva and chuckled nervously.

“Uhm… Not really, it was more of an… impulsive decision, I’d say.”

“Really? I thought you out of everybody else would have been a long time fan of this whole idol thing.”

“Why’s that?” He turned to you, curious.

“Well, you’re handsome and you seem to know what you’re doing most of the time. Plus…” You leaned closer to him to whisper playfully “you dance the best out of everyone. Don’t tell them I said that.”

He gasped excitedly and squeezed you dynamically, shaking you from the front to the back.

“Aren’t you the sweetest little human?! Oh how cute of you!”

He acts like a spoiled little girl, but talks like a doting grandma.

“You know what, let me tell you something…” He leaned in and smirked like he just had the most piping hot tea he’d ever sipped.

You leaned in nonetheless, matching his stance.

“Jinu has a thing for an idol here… Don’t tell him I told you.”

“It’s Rumi isn’t it.” You asked deadpan. His smile fell instantly.

“Don’t let me get all riled up like that if you already know what I’m about to tell you!” He whined.

“I didn’t Romy! It’s just so obvious.” You laughed and patted his shoulder to reassure him. To appease him, you indulged a little more into his gossip.

“Do you think it’s getting serious? It’s forbidden for idols to date, you know that right?”

His gaze fell on his plastic bag. He sighed.

“Yeah, I know. But crushes are never serious right? It’s not like it’s going to get serious anyways…”

“You never know! They might even settle a new standard for idols’ love lives.” You playfully nudged him with your elbow.

“It’s not going to get serious. Trust me on that babe.”

He seems strangely down…

After a quick silence, he spoke again.

“Hey love, sorry but… What time is it?”

You showed him the time on your phone. His eyes widened.

“Oops! Gotta go! Thanks for the lollies, take these.”

He handed you some of the free stuff he got from the convenience store and got up.

“See you soon!”

You waved and wished him good luck.

Jinu’s going to get pissed when he sees him.

You watched Romance run in a panicked way, amused.

Oh well, not my business.

Chapter 10: Session Two's Slip Ups

Notes:

Heyyyyy hope you enjoy this chapter as well !

Romance appeared into our practice room, heaving heavily.

 

“Look who decided to show up.” Jinu stood before him, crossing his arms.

Romance snapped his fingers, changing his hair and clothing.

As Romance got scolded by our leader for skipping practice, Abby walked up to them, unbothered. He searched into Romance’s plastic bag, and pulled out a cup of noodles.

Romance started defending himself.

“It’s not my fault guys ! I ran into the songwriter.”

My ears perked up in spite of myself.

“Why are you so tired ?” Abby asked, stuffing the cup into his own bag.

“I had to run away from the songwriter so that I could teleport…”

“Sucks to be you man.” He said, as he leaned onto a nearby wall. Or what was left of it.

He continued. “See, that sort of thing doesn’t happen to me, because I keep my distance.” He furrowed his eyebrows while staring in my direction and back at Romance.

I rolled my eyes and ignored him.

 

We sleep, talk business (AKA : soul reaping) and practice in the demon world, below the hon-moon. We even have fans down here, and we don’t have to hide our true forms. Not that we will when we’ll have everybody’s mind in a choke-hold anyways.

Above us, the hon-moon was growing extremely weak. Multiple red spots, signs of weakness, were showing up on the barrier that was glowing with a perfect irritating blue just a few weeks ago.

“Hey Jinu, I’ll catch up soon, don’t worry.” He put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

Our leader sighed.

“Yeah, I know who you were. I’m just…” He sighed, sitting down on a nearby armchair. “Anxious, I guess.”

Abby came up to him.

“About what ? Everything is going according to plan.”

“For now, yes. But we don’t know what kind of tricks the huntresses have under their sleeves. My whole afterlife depends on this, Abby.”

“Don’t be dramatic Jinu.”

Jinu gave him an icy glare.

“You already had your memories erased Abby. You don’t know how it feels.”

 

We all went silent.

 

It’s true, out of the five of us, Abby was the only one whose memory had been completely wiped by Gwi-Ma. On his first day in the demon world too. We all envied him, but soon enough, we came to the conclusion that if the malicious Gwi-Ma granted him total erasure, it was for a good reason. Furthermore, forgetting everything comes with a price here. He forgot how to feel anything other than… distaste. Along with Jinu, he’s one of Gwi-Ma’s favorites, because they’re extremely malleable in their own ways.

 

“Baby. You’re silent.”

 

Mystery came up from behind me, as always. I’ve stopped flinching a long time ago.

 

“You’re silent too, Mys’. Did you sleep good ?”

“You know I don’t sleep.” A small smiled tugged at his habitual emotionless lips.

“Yeah, I know.” I smiled back.

 

Jinu suddenly turned around, an enlightened expression on his face.

 

“Speaking of how we don’t sleep… Why were you in the human world for so long yesterday ?”

I froze up.

“We all need to give our reports at the same time every night… Yet, you didn’t show up until a few hours past the usual deadline…” He walked closer to me.

“It must’ve slipped my mind… Don’t even worry about it.” I tried to brush him off, but he was not buying it.

“Huh… Then tell me why a fellow demon saw you and our songwriter all pressed up against each other last night ?”

 

Abby’s eyes widened, and disgust spread across his face. Jinu had worded this terribly. Whatever he was imagining, that was not it.

 

Well, if the kettle had been silent, it probably would’ve been it.

 

I got embarrassed at the thought. Flirting is one thing, but getting physical with Typo ?

 

Let’s not think about it. I don’t know if my demon body still has normal bodily functions, and I don’t want to test it out in front of Jinu’s prying eyes.

 

I sighed.

 

“A comrade was feeling extra monarchical and tried to suck their soul out for Gwi-Ma. I found them at the right time, hid them in an alley for convenience reasons, and signaled him to leave. That’s all that happened.”

Romance gasped.

“Oh, the poor darling must’ve been terrified.”

“They were.” I looked away, remembering their desperate hold on my clothes and the sound of their rapid breaths.

“Yeah yeah poor them, but quick question…” Abby walked away from his sturdy wall to join us. “Why do we care ?”

A short silence fell between us.

 

He’s right. Why did I care ?

 

Mystery spoke up.

“It’d be inconvenient if they died.”

“How ? We could just find a new one.” Abby deadpanned.

“We’re short on time.” Mystery pulled out a Huntrix themed calendar out of nowhere with a cute pen marked with the letter Z in silver.

 

We all stared at the calendar, confused.

 

Where does he keep all of this ? When did he get all of this ? No, before that, why does he have that ?

 

Today’s month was dedicated to the huntress with space buns. He circled a date, two weeks away.

 

“The Idol Awards.” He stated.

“Right.” Jinu tapped the date on the calendar. “We need to finish the song soon and practice even more.”

“Does that mean we need to see the songwriter more often ?” Abby practically gagged, we all ignored his question. The answer was obvious.

 

More Typo for me.

I turned my face away from the others and smiled. I was… happy.

 

Since the beginning of this whole ordeal, Jinu worked us to the bone. And today was no exception. We ran for stamina, sang again and again for stability, I even had to articulate with a pen in my mouth for my rapping… Out of the five of us, Jinu took this the most seriously.

He made Romance do everything twice as punishment. Serves him right.
As he ran laps around the perimeter, I couldn’t help but wonder what he talked about with Typo, and soon, my mind circled back to what happened in the alley. Did they sleep okay ? Were they still thinking about our interaction when they woke up ?

I couldn’t possibly ask him out of the blue, so I stayed silent.

Soon enough, we met up with Typo for our weekly meeting and shared our concerns about the Idol Awards.

Their apartment was spotless, not a single piece of clothing could be seen on the floor. I might be childish, but knowing I was the only one who saw Typo’s home in its usual state made me proud.

“That’s no problem, we can meet every two days !” They exclaimed, clapping their hands together.

“Are you sure darling ? You’d have to put up with mister sunshine over here.” Romance pointed his thumb at Abby, who was seated on the couch with his arms crossed. Typo chuckled and put Romance’s hand down.

“Now now, don’t point. It’s not polite.”

“Oh my, I’m sorry babe.”

They giggled with complicity. I watched from afar with Mystery as an uneasy feeling made it’s way into my body. From the couch, Abby was eyeing me up and down.

 

Why am I feeling this way ?

 

We all sat around the coffee table like the first time we came here, and started sharing our ideas. Typo spoke to Romance first, who was seated right next to them.

“Romy, you need to tell me what you wrote down.”

He chuckled.

“Do I have to ?”

Typo grabbed “Romy’s” arm excitedly.

“You told me you would ! Come on !”

We all watched their banter in utter disbelief. When did they get so close ? Why was Romance acting so chummy ? And… Romy ? What is that nickname ?

He pulled out a little notepad and showed the first page to them. Typo read it aloud.

 

“I will love you more when it all burns down, more than power, more than gold, yeah you gave me your heart now I’m here for your soul…”

Romance tapped his fingers on the coffee table.

“Do you like it ? It’s sexy, no ?”

“Sexy as hell, great job !”

They gave him a pat on the back.

 

Sexy… as hell ? Is that what humans say now ?

 

“I had some ideas to show you guys, I came up with these lyrics recently.”

 

They gave their notebook to Jinu and he read the lyrics aloud.

 

“Keeping you in check, keeping you obsessed, play me on repeat endlessly in your head… That’s good.” He nodded his head. “That could be part of the first verse, no ?”

We all agreed.

“It’s missing some other lyrics.” Mystery said as he sipped on his tea cup.

After almost thirty minutes of silence, Abby spoke up.

“Every time it hurts, play another verse, I could be your sanctuary.”

.

.

.

“What ? You don’t like it ? Then you can do this by yourselves-” Abby started to get irritated.

“It’s awesome !” Typo was the first one to react. “It’s really good Abby, thank you.”

Their heartfelt words took him by surprise. He stammered out a simple and embarrassed “No problem” before going back to his usual cold self.

We brought our attention back to our first verse. It was missing something. Typo read the whole thing.

“Keeping you in check, keeping you obsessed
Play me on repeat, endlessly in your head
Anytime it hurts, play another verse
I can be your sanctuary
I will love you more when it all burns down
More than power, more than gold,
Yeah, you gave me your heart, now I'm here for your soul” They spoke it to the rhythm of the “MP3” track we gave them back then.

Romance spoke up.

“I feel like it’s missing something after sanctuary, no ?”

Typo agreed. As everyone shared their ideas, I couldn't stop my eyes from noticing Romance’s closeness with Typo. Their knees were touching, he always looked at them playfully, they cracked jokes…

I felt every single negative emotion under the sun.

Mystery whispered in my ear.

“Your eyes are golden.”

Before I knew it, I blurted out a lyric that spoke to me on a spiritual level.

“Know I’m the only one right now.”

Typo turned to me abruptly.

“That’s it ! Thank you Su-Jin.” Seeing their smile eased my troubled mind and body. The uneasy feeling subsided and my eyes went back to normal instantly.

Everyone’s eyes widened. Even Mystery's.

I’m getting scolded later, that’s for sure.

Abby’s eyes were filled with annoyance. I get him, he told us to keep our distance, and I tell a human my real name. That’s definitely not what I call distance.

 

Today’s session was really productive. We finished the first verse of the song. Jinu was over the moon and started writing down as many ideas as he could as we all chatted mindlessly. Typo got curious.

 

“So, how did you all find each other ?” They asked, as they brought another tray of snacks to the table, all the snacks were peanut-free. I smiled at the sight.

Abby created a perfect lie.

“Our manager brought us together, there’s nothing more to it.” He casually sipped on his jasmine tea, from his Hello Kitty cup.

Actually, it was Jinu’s tiger who brought us together, but I see his point.

He always uses this tiger as a mail service...

“I see, and… Are you guys friends, or coworkers ?”

“Both.” Mystery’s short answer satisfied Typo and they switched to another subject. Animals.

 

Jinu’s eyes lit up.

 

“I have a pet tiger and a pet bird.”

I choked on my chocolate bar and kicked him from under the table.

“Uh- pet cat ! I meant pet cat ! I call him tiger because he’s big.” He chuckled nervously.

“He’s so crazy about his cat that he even made a little hat for him.” Romance giggled, showing the size of the hat by using his fingers.

“No way ! That’s so adorable, can I see a picture ?”

Jinu tensed up.

“Uh.. I don’t have any pictures sadly.”

“Don’t you have a phone ?” Typo pulled out their “phone” as an example.

Abby spoke up to get us out of this mess.

“Our manager is really big on the ‘no-tech’ agenda.”

“That is so weird, but I guess I get it...”

 

We dodged multiple bullets during this whole conversation.
Honestly, I don’t know how Typo didn’t find out. Jinu was obvious, Abby was reserved, Mystery barely spoke, Romance distracted them every time we couldn’t answer, and I… I barely did anything apart from looking at them.

Soon enough, we got up, gathered our things, and headed towards the door.

 

Are we really leaving ? Just like that ?

 

Before stepping out the door, I turned around and grabbed Typo’s sleeve.

 

Why did I do that ?

 

“Hey Ty’… Do you… uhm…” The words weren’t coming out as smoothly as I wanted them to.

“Want to do something tomorrow ? We could watch a movie or-”

“Babe, we need to go.” Abby called out to me, purposely cutting me off.

 

That guy…

 

Typo’s hand swiftly took mine. They barely held it, as if they were scared of us touching. Their sweet voice came out barely audible, like a whisper.

 

“Sure, come by tomorrow...”

 

Their eyes avoided mine as a furious blush crept up their neck. I found that absolutely adorable. I had to hold back my smile in front of the others.

 

“Alright.”

 

YES !

 

As soon as they closed their door, Jinu snapped his fingers, and we were back in the demon world. 

Abby was the first to address the elephant in the room.

"So... Su-Jin. We need to talk, don't you think ?"

Notes:

Are you guys curious about my version of Abby's backstory ? I made it up to be super cruel (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)

Chapter 11: Haunting Past and Runner's High

Notes:

I'm awfully inspired, hope I don't get hit by a car or something.......

You closed the door, locked it, and screamed.

“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT !!!”

Su-Jin had basically asked you out on a date. After what happened yesterday, he still wanted to spend time alone with you. Maybe he even wanted something to happen. You paced your living room, planning all sorts of activities in your head.

He proposed a movie… But you don’t even know what genre he likes! Maybe you could watch a bad movie on purpose and make fun of it together? That would be nice, wouldn’t it?

You didn’t know what to do. You were basically hopeless. But it’s not your fault—you were simply not prepared for this kind of attention.

As a child, no one ever took a liking to you romantically. Boys your age always looked at your girl friends. Back in high school, a friend of yours even said that she simply could not imagine you in a relationship, because you were so avoidant to it. But what she didn’t know is that you had trained yourself to be. You developed some light crushes here and there on boys who simply treated you nicely, but what’s happening with Su-Jin cannot be compared to some non-reciprocated crushes.

You almost kissed, he showed interest.

Su-Jin is… Interested in me.

You’re an adult now, you can’t fall head first for a pretty guy you barely know. He’s an idol. Idols can’t date… But he can have some fun, no?

What am I even thinking?!

You worked for a few hours to keep your mind off of it, but as soon as you stopped, memories of Su-Jin’s warm hand came to mind.

“Ugh… This won’t do.”

You left your desk, grabbed a light jacket and went out to feed your neighborhood cats, hoping to clear your head. Tito, a small gray cat you absolutely adore, made its way toward you.

“Hi little guy… How are you baby ?” you squealed as the cat meowed and rubbed against your calf.

You handed him a few treats, and as soon as you pulled them out, two other cats came. You named them Popo and Rara.

Popo jumped on the kibble you spread out on the ground as Rara simply watched you with her beautiful green eyes. She knew you had wet food on you. That sly kitty…

You sighed as you crouched and pulled out a pack of wet cat food. Rara simply purred as she approached.

Smart cat.

“Typo.” Mystery’s voice came from behind you. You jumped up as the cats fled to hide behind a dumpster.

“M-Mystery ? Why are you here ?”

“Do you like scary movies ?” He stayed completely still as he asked this question.

“I do. Why ?”

“Baby doesn’t like them.”

“Really ? That’s a shame.”

A small silence got between you before Mystery started talking again.

“He likes dramas.”

“Me too.”

“And romance.”

“Oh, that’s good to know. Thanks Mystery.”

The silence came back. This time, you were the one to break it.

“Which genre do you like ?” The cats came back to eat the leftover food on the ground.

Mystery paused for a moment, staring at the ground before answering.

“Thriller.”

You held back a tremendous laughter. This whole situation was so awkward.

“It… It suits you.” you managed to hold yourself back.

He nodded, seemingly proud of himself, and waved his hand goodbye before going away. His steps didn’t make any sound on the paved floor.

Did he just…

In his own way, this scarily tall and silent guy just played the wing-man for his friend’s probable date. Still puzzled by your conversation, you went back home, made dinner, and ate silently.

Knock knock

Weird. You weren’t expecting anybody…

You got up and looked through the peephole. You froze, a bead of sweat rolled from your temple—you barely recognized the man on the other side of the door. Your father, the one who was the most adamant to the idea of throwing you out, had rung your doorbell.

You weighed your options. Did he ring at a random door? Does he know you live here? Do you stay silent? Why did he come? Why did he—

“I know you’re in there. Open the door.”

.

.

.

“Si-U, open the door, please.”

Hearing this name made you flare up.

“Do not call me that.”

The man looked angry and desperate.

“I’m your father, I have every right to call you what I named you.”

“You stopped being my father five years ago. Leave.”

He stopped speaking. Still peeking through the peephole, you watched his every move. He wore a simple t-shirt with shorts. He didn’t seem to be carrying any weapon, but still, you did not open your door.

His face delivered the most shocking news with the blankest expression you had ever seen.

“Si-U, your mother is missing.”

“I told you not to call me that !” you screamed.

You hoped you weren’t disturbing the neighbors with your family drama. Not that they knew who you were, but still.

Wait...

“What ?”

“It’s just as I said. Your mother is missing.”

You felt a pang in your heart. A deep one. You thought you didn’t care about your parents anymore—not after what they had done to you—but a part of you still cared enough to feel hurt. You took a deep breath.

“What do you expect me to do ?”

You sighed and got away from the peephole as the man paused.

“Nothing. I just didn’t want you to learn it through the news.”

You exhaled deeply, flabbergasted by your first dialogue after five years of pure mutual silence.

“Please leave.”

“Si-U, I—”

“LEAVE.”

“I’m proud of who you became.”

He left after saying that. You slid down the door, stunned. Was this the same man you lived with back then? The same cold, unjust man who threw you out in the span of a few hours because you wanted to follow your musical dreams?

You were mad. Mad at him for showing up out of the blue, mad at him for throwing you out, mad at your mother who did nothing but watch him throw your clothes in garbage bags—

Your mother was missing. Could your father have lied to gain your sympathy? Could he have lied to get you to give him money?

You chuckled. Such a thought was laughable. Your father was way richer than you were.

You didn’t know how to feel about it.

You sat on your couch and turned on the TV. As if the world was listening to your conversation, the news-person started talking about missing persons.

“Over the last two weeks, missing persons’ reports have experienced an extreme rise. We ask of you to report any suspicious activity or any information about the people who will now appear on the screen.”

Gruesome…

You blankly stared at the screen as you finished your dinner. As you took a bite of your pajeon, a name and picture caught your eye.

“Cha Gyeong-Hui, 56 years old.”

Your mother’s name and picture were on the news. Your father wasn’t just trying to gain your sympathy.

You did not cry. But you did not feel happy either. You were in something you liked to call “feely limbo.”

Memories of Su-Jin came to mind. You put these thoughts away.

Let’s not think about the hot guy I'm seeing tomorrow when your mother’s missing poster is on the news. That’s inappropriate.

You turned off the TV and headed to bed with multiple thoughts and feelings taking over your body.

At least, you’ll see Su-Jin tomorrow.

 

You woke up early, way too early for your liking, but your body had decided to ignore your brain’s needs.

You made and ate your breakfast in pure silence. It was still dark out, which meant you barely slept. You looked at the clock above your TV. 5 AM—yup, that checked out.

Still, you went on with your day.

Working as a songwriter means you work mostly from home. It’s convenient, but it can get pretty boring. That’s why you often go out to recharge internally. And after the news that were delivered to you yesterday evening, you needed a whole lot of charging.

You packed a sketchbook with colored pencils in your sling bag and made your way to Namsan Park, still processing every single thing that had happened in your life.

Your mom’s missing, and you have a date later. Your mom’s missing, and you have a date later.

You sat down on the grass and began sketching your surroundings along with the rising sun. The crisp sound of the pencils sliding on the thick pages calmed you down. Multiple runners passed by, enjoying their morning jogs. Couldn’t be you, but you admired their determination.
A guy caught your attention. He wore a really tight shirt and the shortest pair of pink shorts you’d ever seen.

You recognized those abs from somewhere...

You stayed silent and kept on drawing the scenery. You even incorporated that runner at some point. You were too focused on your drawing to even notice someone approaching you.

Terrible survival skills, if I do say so myself.

“Good morning.” Abby sternly greeted you and flopped on the ground right in front of you.

Surprised by his greeting, you answered.

“Hey Abby. Had a good run ?” You gave him the kindest smile you could offer.

That guy’s a dick, but it’s better to stay on neutral terms.

He drank from his water bottle before answering.

“Yeah.”

“Nice, that’s really brave of you. I can’t run for shit.”

“I noticed.”

You started to get offended until he explained further.

“You have weak knees and your posture’s shit.” He tapped his knee as he took another sip.

You looked down at your own knees as you straightened your back.

I mean, they’re as good as normal knees get… Maybe it’s yours that aren’t normal.

“What are you drawing ?” He watched your sketchbook. You just showed it to him.

“Is that… me ?” He pointed to the runner you drew.

“Yeah, I didn’t know it was you but I drew you in there anyways.” You turned the sketchbook back to you. “You like it ?”

“Excuse me ?” A girl came up to you, ignoring you completely and talking to Abby.

“Can I maybe… get your number ?” She put a hand on his shoulder, seductively.

Abby looked uncomfortably annoyed.

“No sorry, stop touching me.”

The girl didn’t move her hand away. Instead, she slid her hand down his bicep.

“Oppa… your arms are awesome, wanna work out together sometime ?”

He looked enraged, and you didn’t want to see him get riled up. He’s angry enough when he’s with you. You stepped in and stabbed her hand gently with the pink pencil you were holding. The girl yelped and snatched her hand away in a millisecond.

“What the hell ?! Are you nuts ?!” She looked back at Abby, probably hoping he’d step in to defend her, but instead, he simply smirked.

“Y-You… You guys are crazy !” She left hurriedly.

You sighed and went back to your drawing.

“Thanks.” He said, still smirking.

You didn’t look up from your sketchbook.

“No problem, that girl was annoying.”

“With a body like mine, I’m bound to get annoyed by clingy girls.”

He laid down in the grass, stretching and showing off his muscles.

You gagged internally.

“What, you want me to call you oppa ?”

His smile dropped.

“Absolutely not.”

You snickered as you both stayed silent in the grass.

He didn’t glare at you at all during this whole interaction. You call that progress.

Notes:

Is it still an XReader if the supposed reader has a made up name ?????? Idek.

Chapter 12: Cut !

Notes:

Before you start reading, know that I wrote this chapter while listening to "Monster" by EXO.

The sun was now up, enchanting your view with the beautiful vibrant green of the surrounding nature. You didn’t check your phone, but you would’ve said the time was now 7AM. You and Abby didn’t talk for at least an hour, which was surprisingly not awkward. He didn’t want to talk, and you didn’t either. You made an unspoken arrangement that worked best for the both of you.

Abby laid next to you with his eyes closed, legs crossed, arms behind his head, flexing his biceps in all of their pumped glory. His shirt rolled up a little, allowing the passerby to gawk at his abs. You won’t lie, you peeked once or twice. Not because his abs made you drool, but because they always seemed… oiled? There’s this weird shimmery coating on them that resembles coconut oil, and that intrigues you. Does he oil them once every morning? Is his skin naturally more oily on his abdominal area? Does he need to reapply his oily mixture after a certain amount of hours? What do his bare abs look like?

Of course, asking these questions would make you seem like a top tier pervert. So you stayed silent and kept these brain-consuming thoughts to yourself.

Abby broke your unspoken arrangement and asked you a question you weren’t expecting.

“So…” He didn’t open his eyes. “You’re going to see Baby later?”

Why is he asking you that?

“Yeah, we’re going to watch a movie.” You answered while putting away your pencils and sketchbook.

He paused for a moment before opening his eyes to stare you dead in yours.

“Idols can’t date.”

Your ears got hot.

“We’re not dating… We’re just going to watch a movie!”

“Alone, in your apartment? Yeah right.” He scoffed as he got up on his feet.

He extended his hand out to… help you up?

You took his hand.

“Maybe we’ll talk about songs too… You never know.”

He raised an eyebrow, with a suspicious look on his face. The kind that says “really now?”

“Maybe we’ll talk about your next song for the Idol Awards! Then our hangout will be work-related… Somehow.”

He sighed, unconvinced, and you made your way out of the park. While walking, you couldn’t help yourself, you sang Soda Pop. Abby looked annoyed, and that’s what made you want to keep singing. As you searched your bag to grab your phone, Abby violently stomped on the ground behind you. You turned around, startled, and looked at the ground he just stomped on.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, just a bug.” He kept walking, so you followed.

.

.

.

“Thanks for walking me home.” You stood in front of your apartment complex.

“It’s alright. Babe told us what happened a few days ago…” Abby looked down at his feet nonchalantly, as if he had nothing better to look at.

“And you took pity on me and walked me home?” You chuckled, feeling playful.

“I don’t do pity, only charity.” He gave you a challenging condescending smirk. You didn’t know what to make of that...

You put your hand on your heart, faking offense.

“See you around.” Abby turned on his heel and left, you waved him goodbye, even though he probably couldn’t see you.

You went home, worked and made lunch for two. You didn’t know when Su-Jin was going to show up at your door, so you made some preparations in advance. The clock ticked softly as you watched the hand move in circles. You became more and more anxious and decided to take a hot shower to calm you down.

It’s just a date Typo… Just a date… A date…

You’re going to have a date.

My mom is missing...

Your mom is missing, yeah.

As the warm water ran down your body, you scrubbed yourself with your favorite body-wash. It exuded a delicious vanilla smell that instantly soothed your mind.

You rinsed this vanilla goodness off and got out of the shower. Slick and refreshed… kinda.

You wrapped yourself in a duck towel, opened your bathroom window to let the steam disperse outside and headed out to your room.

As you passed by the living room, humming happily, you froze instantly. Su-Jin was standing right there, facing you. His face flushed as he gave you an awkward smile.

“Uh… Hi?” He waved.

You did not answer. Instead, you yelped and rushed to your room, holding the towel in place to make sure nothing slipped out.

Su-Jin saw you naked.

Well, not really. He saw you naked, with a towel covering everything you deemed private.

That’s still too much!!!!

After drying off your body as much as you possibly could, patting your hair, and getting dressed, you came out of your room to greet him in the most normal way possible.

Su-Jin was standing near the couch, the furious blush had disappeared to leave some room for his usual playful smirk. You joined him as he sat down.

“Heyyyyy….” You said, your smile was tense and your face was hot.

Seeing your obvious discomfort, he joked.

“Nice towel, love the ducks.”

“STOP!” You threw him a pillow and got back up to go fetch your lunch from the kitchen.

Coming back with two plates of bibimbap, you angrily put them down on the coffee-table and sat back on the couch, TV-remote in hand.

“Let’s forget what just happened alright?”

“I don’t think I want to forget that.” He chuckled. You could tell he was remembering the duck towel. You sighed with your head in your hands and decided to change the subject.

“How you doing?” You gave him the most normal smile you could offer. You saw him hold back his laugh at your obvious attempt to change the subject.

“Great, Jinu still made us sing as if our life depended on it but I’m great.”

You frowned, worried.

“Is your voice okay? Do you want some tea with a spoon of honey?”

He smiled softly.

“No, don’t worry, I’m fine Ty’.”

He stared at his plate.

“You can eat you know, it’s not poisoned.” You joked as you took a bite of your own plate.

“I would eat it anyway.” He took a huge bite. His eyes sparkled as he munched and swallowed.

“It’s really good, you’re a great cook.”

You giggled playfully.

“Thanks!”

You finished your plates as you talked about your morning.

“I saw Abby on his morning run in Namsan Park! Does he usually take this route?”

Su-Jin pondered for a bit.

“Not really, he usually exercises in a more… desert area.”

“Like abandoned places?”

“You could call it that.”

You settled more comfortably on the couch and opened a streaming service.

“You like romance movies?”

“I do, how did you know?”

“I had a hunch, you look like a loverboy…”

If Mystery counts as intuition, then yes. Intuition.

You discussed about what romantic movie you could watch and settled on a bad one on purpose to have a good laugh. The movie was absolutely horrible.

Su-Jin laughed out loud while holding his stomach, you could hardly breathe.

“Why did he think that was a good idea?!” There were tears in your eyes. Su-Jin was in the same state as you.

In this movie, the guy gets closer and closer to his crush, eventually getting on top of her on a bed. He then proceeds to talk about his traumas while holding both of her hands above her head. Totally not the vibe, nor the time.

“He just—” He stopped himself and did the exact same thing the character from the movie did to get a good laugh out of it once again.

As Su-Jin grabbed both of your wrists at the same time, you couldn’t help but feel surprised. Were his hands that big? Or were your wrists just small? As you laughed together in this position, a part of you focused on the length of his fingers, tightly holding your wrists in place.

He imitated the character’s voice while getting closer.

“My grandma died a few years ago… I’m still not over it.”

You played along.

“But Troy… Your grandma would have wanted you to be happy… With me…” You chuckled. A small shiver ran down your spine as you took in the upcoming closeness Su-Jin was going to initiate.

“Lily… I don’t deserve happiness…” He whispered, still in Troy’s voice.

“I could be your happiness Troy. Just take me tonight and I could show you happiness for many nights to come.” You gave him the best bitchy voice you could offer as your arms went limp in his hands.

Batting your eyelashes at him as he got closer, you broke free in one swift motion and Su-Jin fell face first on your clavicle, clearly, he was not expecting that. You opened your legs to let him lay down as his arched back looked uncomfortable to keep.

You both burst out laughing. You felt Su-Jin’s hands grab on your sides as he laughed. His chest rose and fell erratically, as a normal chest does when laughing horizontally. You found it extremely…

Attractive.

The movie continued, but Su-Jin stayed still. He laid there with his head nuzzled in your neck, silently watching the movie. You didn’t dare move, your hands were still above your head. His hands were still on your sides. You sometimes felt his thumb stroke the fabric of your shirt ever so slightly, as if he didn’t want to get caught.

“You smell like vanilla.” His voice came out breathier than usual.

“It’s my body-wash… Are you uncomfortable?” You started to panic. “Are you allergic to vanilla?!”

“No.” He smiled at your obvious concern. His hands went down to your hips to bring you closer to him. “It smells delicious.” He spoke into your neck. You could feel him taking in the smell of your skin, his hot breath made you shiver and you unconsciously tightened your legs around him.

He noticed.

You felt a mischievous grin make its way onto his face.

“Can I get a taste?” He cooed close to your ear, just below your earlobe. His hands didn’t move.

You tried to get out of this situation with a lighthearted joke.

“I think it just tastes like skin…” You chuckled nervously as your hands got sweaty. You brought them down to lay next to you.

“How do you know what skin tastes like?” He asked playfully.

“I don’t know what it tastes like—”

“Then, I’ll tell you.”

He planted a kiss on your neck. A light one at first, then a second in the same place, a longer one this time. He slightly went down for the third one and nibbled gently, cautiously, as if you were the most fragile thing on Earth. You felt every single thing. The only audible sounds were the ongoing movie, which you had completely forgotten about by the way, and the lewd ones his mouth made on your skin. You melted in his kisses as soft breaths escaped your lips.

You felt his hips move slowly, as if he wanted to bury himself deeper in your legs, you could tell he was holding back.

He kept kissing and nibbling. In one swift motion, he swiped his tongue on the places where the kisses were the less recent. Your body betrayed you then.

You whimpered.

I FUCKING WHIMPERED.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME ?

He exhaled sharply, as if all of his restraints had been lifted.

“… Again.” His deep voice rang in your ears.

“W-What?” You were burning hot.

He pushed his hips in you, the motion was assured this time. He wanted you to feel it.

“I said, again.”

His hands gripped your hips as he went back to kissing your neck. This time, he was devouring it, leaving hickeys in every place he could. His hands slipped under your shirt as you moaned recklessly, your voice almost hoarse from the pure amount of pleasure this man gave you with just his mouth and hands on your skin. In the end, you moaned his name.

“Su-Jin…”

He stopped moving as if someone had thrown him a bucket of freezing water and rose from his laying position. He was now on all fours, caging you under him. His eyes were dark, dark with desire, but he was… surprised. You looked down.

He was hard.

The first thing that shocked you was his size. It’s always the innocent ones…

Su-Jin looked as shocked as you.

You nervously extended your hand to try and touch it, but Su-Jin stopped you by grabbing your wrist.

“I’m sorry.” He said, bringing your hand up to his face as he kissed your palm. “I have to go.”

Your mind felt blurry and hazy. So you nodded and watched him get off the couch, grab his shoes and head out.

What… what just happened?

Notes:

This song suits all of the Saja Boys so well tbh

Did you get the pun in the title ?? They were about to make their own movie but CUT !

Chapter 13: Session Three's Self-Restraint

As soon as I closed their door, I teleported back to the demon world. Red in the face, with a huge problem downstairs. Something I never experienced before.

 

Their pleading voice was playing in my head like a broken record, and for the first time ever, I missed Gwi-Ma's belittling whispers.

I never got the chance to get close to anyone when I was still human. And demons are too preoccupied with their miserable lives here to get… physical with one another. So, all in all, this is very new to me.

 

Of course, I’m not completely sheltered, I know how things work and how to make things work, but I just didn’t expect my demon body to be able to feel as passionately as this.

I didn’t even know I could still get an erection since I felt depressed most of the time.

 

Maybe I asked for it, but still…

 

Memories of my hips colliding with theirs resurfaced, I shook my head to get my mind out of the gutter.

 

Was I a jerk for chickening out at the most decisive moment ? Maybe. But I got scared. That’s all.

 

As I sat under one of the many dead trees of the demon world, I caught a whiff of my clothes. They smelled like Typo’s home, with a hint of their vanilla-scented body-wash. I was going mad. Utterly mad.

I groaned as I repeatedly hit the back of my head against the tree.

 

Focus Su-Jin. Focus.

 

I closed my eyes and took deep breaths to calm myself down. I even flexed every muscle in my legs to try and shoo the blood away.

 

The hon-moon. I’m here to destroy the hon-moon.

 

The pressure subsided a little bit, my meditation was working.

 

“How did your date go ?” Mystery appeared before me, and this time, I flinched.

“Mist ! U-uh… It went well !” I brought my knees to my chest in a feeble attempt to hide the situation down there.

“You’re blushing hard. Did you have fun ?” He smiled knowingly.

“Fun ? Of course I had fun.”

“That’s good. Did you watch a nice movie ?”

 

Memories of their caged body under mine with their hands above their head flooded my mind, my fingertips tingled with the feeling of their clean, dewy skin under them.

 

They really looked good under me.

 

The situation came back, stronger than ever.

 

“Yeah, very, very nice movie.” I spoke through clenched teeth.

 

I cursed myself over and over in my head.

 

“Well, I’ll leave you to it.” He eyed my legs as if he could see right through them. “Abby wanted to talk to you.”

“I’ll go see him later.” I was in no mood to face Abby, not with what was happening in my pants.

“He’s coming over right now, you know.” Mystery used the same “Z” silver pen to write something on a notepad. I sighed.

“What are you writing ?”

“Possible lyric ideas for our meeting with the songwriter tomorrow.”

“Right, that makes sense.”

He stopped writing to look up at me.

“Do you have any ideas for your rapping ? You need to go hard for this song.”

Oh I want to go anything but hard right now.

 

“It’s coming along nicely… I’ll show you tomorrow.” I gave him a smile.

“Okay. See ya.”

 

He teleported away in our usual magenta smoke fashion.

 

I exhaled deeply and tried to figure things out.

 

Typo is a nice, caring and hardworking person. Anyone would be attracted to them in some way. Now the question is… Why am I behaving like an animal in rut when I’m next to them ?

Love was out of the question. Demons can’t possibly love humans, especially not when the entire demon species is at war with the huntresses and when mankind is used as fuel for our king’s life force.

Do I just need someone to… make love with ? Do I desire Typo in any way that isn’t sexual ? 

The answer was yes. But I ignored it. I simply couldn’t.

Do I just like them ? Can I even like them given our current situation ?

Defeated by my own brain, I held my head in my hands as I groaned again.

 

I wish I had met them back then.

 

“Babe.” Abby’s voice rang from behind me. He was leaning against the tree I was sitting under.

“What ?” I asked, tiredly. I knew what he was going to say.

“You need to create some distance, or you’ll both get hurt.”

 

Spot on.

 

“I am putting some distance.”

“That boner in your pants tells me otherwise.” He looked at the horizon nonchalantly, as if he knew what was happening to me from the beginning.

I clenched my legs tighter, embarrassed.

 

I felt helpless against Typo’s voice and body. It was like all of their being called out to me constantly. So, yeah. Creating distance was hard.

 

Abby sighed.

 

“Look, Babe.” He turned away from the horizon to get in front of me.

“They’re going to…” He looked away, hesitating for a moment. Something out of character for his usual overly-confident self.

“They’re going to die. You know that, right ?”

I looked down.

“I know. I just don’t want to think about it.”

“Gwi-Ma sees everything through us. He knows about your little fling, and when their soul comes to the demon world, he’ll take malicious pleasure in making you suffer again and again.”

“Why do you care ?”

He didn’t answer.

I don’t think he knows.

 

———

 

 

We all entered Typo’s home the following day. Their house was spotless, as always, and some flowers in the huge flower bouquet we brought the first time we came had just started wilting, even though the flowers were placed in a vase.

I stared at the wilting flowers for a while before heading towards the living room.

Typo barely looked at me as I entered. I felt my chest tighten, just a little.

To make it easier for them and myself, I sat far away from them and only spoke when people spoke to me.

 

“We finished the first verse last time, no ?” Jinu laid down multiple sheets of paper, full of ideas.

“Yeah, so now, we can either focus on the second verse, the rap bit, or the bridge.” Typo got their notebook out, a determined look on their face.

 

They look cute like that.

 

No. Stop.

 

I started scribbling down lyrics for my rap.

 

“Can I show you what I have ?” Mystery asked with his usual tranquil voice, and Typo agreed.

 

He gave them his notepad. It had one of the huntress’ face on it, and Typo pointed it out.

 

“Ooh, Zoey ! I didn’t even know they made notepads for their merch.”

 

He has Huntrix merchandise ?

 

Jinu glared at Mystery discreetly who just scratched his forehead through his bangs.

After reading Mist’s idea out loud, Typo proposed a few tweaks that made the wording smoother. Mystery got praised, he seemed happy.

 

I want to be praised too.

 

“ Don’t let it show, keep it all inside,

The pain and the shame, keep it out of sight.”

 

Romance chimed in.

 

“How about something with obsession ? Like… Your obsession feeds our connection.”

Typo took back where Romance stopped, completing the lyrics as if their minds were working in sync.

“ So right now, give me all your attention !”

“Exactly. Thank you for that, love.” Romance handed them a pocky stick from which they happily took a bite of. From his hand.

 

My gaze settled on their lips as they parted to take another bite of that damn pocky stick.

Jinu spoke up to talk to me.

 

“So, Baby, what about your rap ? Any ideas ?”

I snapped back to reality.

“Uh, yeah, one moment.”

I cleared my throat.

“Shining with my fame, keep on shout my name, I’m your idol. ”

 

I want them to shout my name.

 

 

 

So bad.

 

 

 

So, so bad.

 

 

Typo was looking right at me. I noticed their clothing was covering more skin than usual. Even if it was hot outside, they wore a long-sleeved turtleneck.

And I knew why.

 

I kept going.

“Thank you for the pain, cause it got me going viral. That’s all I could think of.”

Jinu hummed, satisfied.

“I like it. How do you feel about adding two more lyrics and then going back to a singing part ?”

“I’m fine with that.” I shrugged with a small smile.

 

Abby spoke up.

 

“How about… Endless is my fever...”

Typo immediately caught his drift.

“Making you a believer !”

 

They exchanged friendly glances.

 

We all stared at Abby, puzzled. He was the one who talked our ears off about putting distance between us and Typo, and now he was… friendly ? At this rate, Jinu was going to be the one to keep their distance the best.

 

Jinu ended my rapping part.

 

“I was born for you, only your Idol.”

Typo reeled back in their seat, giggling excitedly.

“Oh, this is going to be so good.”

 

Our work session ended at around 4PM.

 

“We still don’t have a chorus.” Romance whined. Typo put a hand on his back and stroked it gently.

I screamed internally, and I’m pretty sure my eye was twitching given the stares I got from Jinu and Abby.

“We have plenty of ideas, we’ll get your chorus in no time, you’ll see.”

“Oh darling, you’re a godsend, you know that right ?”

“Yeahhh I get that often.”

 

Romance hugged Typo goodbye, Jinu gave them a businessman-like handshake, Abby nodded, Mystery waved, and I…

 

I simply stood there as the others left.

 

“You’re not joining them ?” Typo crossed their arms in front of me. Their eyes were full of confusion and… vexation.

 

I wanted to tell them how sorry I was for leaving so suddenly, I wanted to ask if their neck was okay, if it looked bad. I wanted to scream how bad I wanted to hold them and devour them whole.

 

“I… Uh…”

 

But the words didn’t come out. My unease was plain to see.

 

They sighed.

 

“Look, I’m not mad at you for not wanting to go further, so don’t feel bad.”

 

That’s not why I feel bad.

 

“I just feel… Set up. I don’t know how to explain… No, actually I do.”

They took a step towards me, I didn’t back away.

 

“You come into my life with a pretty face, an angelic voice and a flirty attitude, we open up to each other, you make moves on me, and when it’s getting serious, you back up, leaving me all hot and bothered.”

 

Typo took another step and took off their long-sleeved turtleneck, I flinched and put my hands up to my face to stop myself from seeing them topless, but they grabbed my wrists and forced me to look at them. As they exposed themselves in front of me, they also exposed the results of yesterday’s tasting. Multiple love bites were scattered around their neck, descending down to their collarbone to go back up again. The view was breathtaking. I could feel myself getting hotter by the second.

 

There must have been something in their body-wash.

 

“What does this mean to you, Su-Jin ?”

 

That you’re mine.

 

“Typo… you… I like you, a lot.”

 

Their breath hitched as I got closer.

 

“I like you, I really do. But I’m not in any place to get into a relationship right now, of any kind.”

My movements contradicted my words. I cupped their cheek with my hand as they nuzzled against it.

“Because you’re an idol ?”

I paused.

I’m the biggest jerk in the world, right after Gwi-Ma.

“Yes. Because I’m… an idol.”

We stayed still.

.

.

.

“So, what comes next ? Do we just act like all of this never happened ?”

I chuckled, feeling defeated by a ton of things at once, my lust, mostly.

“My brain says yes, but my body says no.”

“Which one do you want to listen to ?”

 

They raised their head up, staring right into my eyes.

 

“I…”

 

knock knock

 

Typo groaned loudly.

 

“Who is it ?”

 

“Mystery…”

 

Typo opened their mouth to answer, but I stopped them. I felt like Mist had more to say.

 

“… Are you decent ?” His meek voice echoed thoughout the floor building.

 

Typo’s face flushed as they hurriedly put their turtleneck back on, backwards.

I chuckled.

 

“Yes. What is it Mist ?”

 

He opened the door enough to peek his head through it. He turned his head to me.

 

“The… uhm… Boss wants to speak with you. It’s urgent, he said.”

 

Boss, as in Gwi-Ma ?

 

“Why didn’t he call me then ?” I looked down at my body to gesture to my invisible patterns. Typo was behind me, so they didn’t see that happening.

 

“He said he didn’t want to interrupt.”

 

My eyes widened as I hurriedly looked back at Typo who tilted their head.

 

“Are you asking me for permission to go talk to your boss ?”

“Not quite.” I scratched the back of my neck.

“I’ll… I’ll see you soon, alright ?” I gave them the best apologetic look I could offer, because it was genuine.

“Yeah, yeah, just go.” They waved me off with the back of their hand and closed the door.

.

.

.

“I interrupted something, didn’t I ?”

“Yes, Mystery. Yes you did.”

 

He snapped his fingers, and in one little second, we were in front of Gwi-Ma's scorching flame.

Chapter 14: Gift

Notes:

heyyy did you guys miss me ?? o(〃＾▽＾〃)o

“Greetings, my King.” I kneeled in front of the demon king’s makeshift throne.

 

“Su-Jin.” His voice was more energetic than before. His flame burned brighter, and was way bigger too. He greeted Mystery as well, but told him to go back to the human world, where the others currently were.

Jinu’s plan was working perfectly.

 

“You wanted to see me ? Have I vexed you in some way ?” With my head down, I acted as the perfect subordinate.

“Quite the opposite.” I raised my head, surprised. The tired, sensitive king who was exasperated with his own growing weakness was not angry.

“This… human you’re seeing, Typo, was it ?” I tensed up.

 

What does he want with them ?

 

“They’re at risk of getting their soul taken, aren’t they ?” His questioning voice sparked nothing but anxiety in what remained of my nervous system.

 

“Yes, my King. Since they’re human, our comrades have tried to suck out their soul.” I answered plainly, trying to hide my emotions to the best of my abilities.

 

“What a shame. You need this human to keep fighting the huntresses, no ?”

 

Where is he going with this ?

 

“Yes, my King.”

 

“Should I… bestow my mark upon them ?”

 

Some demon folks cheered. I didn’t know why.

 

“What would that entail ?”

 

“Protection. Nothing more, nothing less.”

 

I was interested in anything that protected them of course, but knowing it came from the scheming Gwi-Ma did not ease my mind.

 

“How would it work ?”

 

“You need to plant a mark on their skin, invisible to the naked eye. This mark’s fuel is something rather distasteful.”

 

“What is it my King ?”

 

“Love, of any kind.”

 

He stopped to scoff at the stupidity of this so-called mark. Clearly, he never found anyone to use it on.

 

“The more… love… is put into the mark, the more powerful the protection becomes.”

 

“Does the mark just suck out any kind of love surrounding it ?”

 

“If that love is meant for the mark-bearer, then, yes.”

 

I hesitated.

 

“You know I don’t make deals often, Su-Jin. And this, is a pretty good deal.”

“How can I give them the mark ?”

---

 

You felt exhausted. Thinking of Su-Jin’s kisses all night had made you not sleep at all, and now, just when you two were having an honest conversation, someone interrupts and swoops him away.

 

How inconvenient.

 

As soon as the door closed, you crashed on your couch and groaned loudly. This man was driving you wild.
It was still early in the evening, so you decided to take a stroll in your neighborhood. No one knows you and you don’t know them. You barely talk with your neighbors besides the eventual polite greetings when you cross paths, but this doesn’t bother you that much.

As you walked down the street, your eyes fell upon a poster.

 

A missing person poster.

 

Your conversation with your “father” came to mind. Your mother was missing, and your father didn’t seem to care that much. Should you ? Is it bad if you do not want to care ?

Your chest tightened, every happy memory you lived with your family rushed into your mind, as if your own brain wanted to mock you.

 

“Daddy ! Stop !” Your little sister giggles as your father spins her in the air before hugging her as tight as he could.

“My darling little Su-A, daddy loves you very much.”;

She laughs again.

All the family was gathered in the garden. Multiple colorful toys were scattered around the glistening grass and you were sitting on the swing, as you usually were when you were little.

Soon enough, your mother approached you, a slice of cake in hand.

“Here you go darling.”

You took the plate with your little hands.

That’s right, today was supposed to be your birthday, but your father came home too late to attend your birthday party. Your friends and their parents already left long ago, and the only remaining traces of a party ever happening were cake crumbs, cake leftovers, and scattered confetti. He didn’t even apologize. Do you have the right to feel upset ? He’s your dad after and “daddy knows best”.

Your mother crouched down to cup your small face with her hand.

“Double digits. You’re a big kid now, all grown-up.” Her eyes showed pride. Were you really grown-up ? You sure didn’t feel like it.

“Mommy, will daddy be here next time ?” Her eyes darkened ever so slightly. Right, it was during your tenth year of life that their marriage had started to go sour.

“Of course he will. If he isn’t, mommy will kick him really hard.”

You giggled.

“Can I kick him too ?”

“Only if he deserves it.” Your mother warned you gently as she ruffled your hair.

Your sister had always been daddy’s little girl, but you, you were mommy’s little treasure. The apple of her eye.

 

At least, that’s what you thought.

 

“Mom ! Do something !” You cried out as your father gathered all your things in multiple trash bags.

She had not uttered a single word since you confessed you didn’t want to pursue your education in that shiny and prestigious college.

He screamed, red in the face as he shoved all of your clothes in one single bag. If he had done that in any other situation, you would’ve applauded him for such a feat.

“Mom !” You fought your dad off of multiple objects. He wanted to break everything he ever provided for you, since you “threw away all of his efforts” to give you a good life.

 

But what about your sister ?

 

She was in her room, probably with her headphones in at full volume. That’s how she always coped with everything happening in the house, and that’s how you wished you could cope too. But someone always bothered you first, leaving her unbothered and capable of ignoring most of the drama.

You always carried everything on your shoulders, you were the one to try and get the adults in the house to make peace with each other. You were the to break them up when things got too handsy. But her ? She never had to do any of that. Being the provider’s favorite kid has its perks.

She probably still lives with your dad, getting her degree in that prestigious college you flunked out of. She’s probably… happy. Happy with him.

 

“Si-U, look at that !” Your sister barged into your room. You did not turn your head away from your homework and simply groaned annoyed.

“Su-A, get out.”

“Wait wait wait ! Just look !” She got closer and forcefully turned your chair around, you spun a few times until you slowed down enough to stop in front of her. She was holding a shirt, a black shirt with some weird shapes on it. Two vertical trapezoids.

“Isn’t that awesome ?! I finally have merch !” You audibly sighed.

“Is that from a band or something ?”

“Not just any band ! The best boy’s band !”

“Yeah yeah, get out.” You got up and pushed her out of your room. You remember thinking something along the lines of…

Stupid idols.

 

Yeah, something like that.

As you sat back down, you heard your sister call out to your dad as she rushed downstairs.

 

When you were thrown out at the ripe age of eighteen, your mother must have been all alone. Two against one in most of the disputes and clashes.

 

Did she ever miss me ?

 

You cursed out loud. If your father had not decided to track you down in Seoul and tell you all of this, you would have been fine by now.

 

Stupid family, stupid men, stupid everything.

 

As you angrily kicked a pebble, a voice called out to you. You recognized it and called the person’s name.

 

“Su-Jin ?”

 

He was dressed the same as he was just a few hours ago, a loose baby blue sweater wrapped around his waist and a white tank top with baggy gray jeans along with some white sneakers. It was a basic outfit, but seeing his well toned arms made you feel butterflies in your stomach. You felt like a Victorian man seeing ankles for the first time.

 

He walked up to you awkwardly.

 

“Hey… What’s up ?”

You tilted your head. What’s up ? Is that all he came up with ?

 

“Nothing much, just looking at the missing person poster.”

 

His eyes widened just a little and his brows furrowed with worry.

 

“Is that someone you know ?”

 

You looked at the poster sadly. True, you didn’t know them, but their friends and family probably felt as bad as you do regarding your missing mother.

 

“No.” He relaxed visibly.

 

You eyed him more cautiously. He seemed to be holding a small box in his right hand.

 

“What’s that ?” You pointed the small velvet box and the corners of his mouth rose up.

“It’s for you,” He hurriedly handed it to you. “Here, open it.” Was he nervous ? He looked nervous.

You opened the small box. Inside was a dainty chain necklace with a small turquoise pendant, your eyes sparkled.

 

“Su-Jin… It’s…”

“Do you like it ?”

“It’s really nice…” You closed the box, afraid a gust of wind would take the jewelry out of your hands. “Why ?”

“What do you mean why ?” He chuckled, confused.

“Why are you giving me this ? It must have been expensive, you shouldn’t have.”

“Because,” He inched closer to you with a playful yet endearing smirk plastered on his face. “you’re important to me.” As he took the velvet box from your hands, he opened it, took the necklace out, put the box away, and positioned himself behind you, his voice dropping to a breathy and low whisper. “And, I want you to know it.”

You let him put the necklace on you, enjoying the closeness of your bodies, the feeling of warmth his hand exuded, close to the nape of your neck. Each time his skin touched yours, you felt small shocks of bliss and, let’s face it, arousal.

You soon heard a click, and his hands backed away.

“Hm. It’s missing something…”

You turned your head, confused.

“What ?”

Without a word, one of Su-Jin’s hand held your hip while the other laid flat on your torso as he planted a kiss underneath the necklace clasp. You flinched, but his hands held you firmly as his lips stayed there. You soon felt the feeling of suction. He was giving you a hickey, again.

“What are you doing ?”

“Adding the final touch.” You felt him smile against your skin.

You sighed, defeated, and stayed silent as he nibbled on your skin. At least, it’ll be less visible this time...Maybe.

His dewy lips left your skin with a soft popping sound.

“There, that’s better.”

He lovingly caressed the bruise he just made with his thumb.

 

You felt hot. Incredibly so. Your situationship gave you a gift and a hickey, that’s enough material to feel hot for a few days.

 

“I have to go… Jinu will get mad if I’m late.” His hand didn’t leave your skin, as if he didn’t want to let you go.

 

You turned around and eyed him cautiously.

 

Su-Jin was so mysterious, he was hiding something you couldn’t wrap your head around, but this supposed secret made him even more attractive in your mind.

 

“I’ll see you in two days then.” You took a step towards him, closing the distance between you two.

“As usual.” He gave you a gentle smile, opening his arms for you to jump in, which you did.

As you both basked in each other’s warmth, you decided to return the favor of the multiple hickeys he gave you. Nuzzling innocently in the nape of his neck, you planted multiple kisses, a cocky chuckle escaped from Su-Jin’s lips.

“I know what you’re doing…” He grabbed your waist, his grip a little firmer this time.

“What am I doing ?” You stopped to ask this question playfully, but went right back to nibble on his neck, earning a small, delighted sigh from him. “Do you like it ?” You asked, licking the marks you had just made.

He paused before answering, as if his mind was too fogged up to answer.

“Yeah… I like it…”

Kissing up and down his neck, you felt the need to go up to his face. Your face heated up. Is a kiss on the lips too much ? Can a small peck work ?

You just wanted to kiss him.

 

And you did.

 

Going up to his jawline, you trailed kisses along the way, finishing this kissing session with a small and childish kiss on his cheek.

 

Why am I so warm ? It’s just a small peck…

 

You left his arms immediately after, not letting him retaliate in any way.

“B-bye then…” You waved and walked back to your apartment as fast as you possibly could.

Why didn’t you run ? Because running after kissing someone on the cheek is the cringiest, most gut-wrenching thing you’ve ever seen, and you weren’t stooping so low, not even in your wildest dreams (or nightmares).

As you walked, you held the pendant around your neck, feeling its much needed coldness on your chest. You looked at the color of the stone, a beautiful turquoise blue sparkled in the evening light. The color of his eyes and hair.

Chapter 15: Drunken Feelings

I did it. I put the mark on their skin.

 

I remembered Gwi-Ma’s instructions.

 

“You only need to focus on transferring demonic energy to the place you come in contact with.”

 

The spot I’d chosen was just below the necklace’s clasp, I discreetly placed it there to avoid any unwanted attention, from anyone. Even the huntresses. I even had to give them a hickey again to really get my demonic energy on there. Or is it Gwi-Ma’s ? I didn’t know or care, I was just happy that Typo was going to be safe from other demons’ soul reaping.

The mark was not special in itself. It took the shape of a simple purple dot. It immediately glimmered in a bright shade of pink after I put it on them, did that mean love was getting… sucked in ?

I had a ton of questions for Gwi-Ma, but sadly, I was in no position to go and ask.

After their little cheeky kiss, I stayed stunned for a while. I mean, sure, we went a little bit overboard on their couch last time, but we didn’t… kiss. I couldn’t help but wonder how bright the mark would shine if me and Typo got even closer. Would it shine enough to be seen from the front ? Could it light up a room ?

Such questions made me blush. I know I shouldn’t, but I desire them in a way that isn’t even human. Well, that kind of makes sense, since I technically died already and am not human anymore.

 

I really shouldn’t feel this way.

 

But I couldn’t stop.

 

---

You woke up the next day, feeling refreshed.
The small velvet box sat open on your bedside table, for every person who enters your room to see. Well, only you, but still.

Last night, as you fell asleep, you caressed the pendant’s smooth surface with your thumb, secretly hoping it was Su-Jin’s hair you were stroking.

You felt weird. Multiple things were happening in your life, all at once. And at the same time, you still felt the warmth of Su-Jin’s lips just below the nape of your neck. This lingering tingle created butterflies in your stomach.

As you prepared for the day in front of your TV, as usual, the doorbell rang. You froze up. Not wanting to chat with your father again, you simply shouted :

“Who is it ?”

The voice of a man you knew well rang from behind the sturdy apartment door, relaxing your tense muscles instantly.

“Sweetheart, it’s me.”

 

Romy ?

 

You put on the remaining clothes you still needed to be presentable and opened the door. In front of you was a casually dressed Romance with a weary look in his eyes. He turned you around as soon as he saw you, and inspected the back of your neck.

“What’s wrong Romy ?”

He exhaled deeply, seemingly dejected.

“Nothing, I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

He soon treadled on a subject that made the ghost of a smile tug at his lips.

“That is one nasty love bite you got there…”

You tried to hide the bruising of your skin with your hands, but the damage had already been done.

Romance sat lavishly on your couch, causing you wonder if you were really the owner of this apartment’s furniture. As he tilted his head playfully, he grabbed a handful of snacks that were on the coffee-table.

Sure, help yourself, no problem.

“Who’s your love bug ?” He asked, playing coy as he took a fistful of popcorn in his mouth.

You tensed up. Did he really not know, or was he trying to make you say it out loud ?

Still shaken from the sudden question, you made your way to your couch and plopped down tiredly.

“I don’t know, you tell me.” You said, resting your arm on the armrest of your comfy couch.

“If it were me, I would already be gobbling you up babe.” He took the remote and started switching channels.

You turned your head towards him, confused.

“You seriously don’t know ?”

He laughed, almost choking on a bit of popcorn.

“Oh honey, I know.”

“Then why-” He cut you off.

“I just wanted to know how you felt before crushing your dreams, you know ?”

His words hit you like a truck.

“I’m… I’m not dreaming about anything !”

“Yeah right. You’re totally not drooling over mister googoogaga over here.” He pushed your forehead with his pointer playfully.

You sighed.

“I… I know I shouldn’t expect anything.” You started, looking down at your hands nervously.

“But ?” He raised an eyebrow, now resting his elbows on his knees as he concentrated only on you. The TV was on some animal documentary channel.

“But I can’t help but find him… endearing ? Somehow.”

Romance stayed silent.

“I know I shouldn’t get close to him, dating is prohibited for idols, you’re probably going to leave for a tour or something… I just like you all a lot, and... I like Su-Jin too.”

Your eyes were getting watery. You vision was blurring as memories of Su-Jin appeared ever so clearly in your head. Romance’s eyes glistened with an emotion you couldn’t pinpoint. Something between shame and… sadness. You tried to change the subject.

“Anyways,” you sniffled. “why are you here ? Ditching practice again ?”

He chuckled and went along with your new subject of discussion.

“Yeah, I’ve always been a great dancer, so I don’t really need practice.”
“That’s pretty cocky if you ask me.” You took a mouthful of popcorn.

“Did I ask you though ?” He eyed you up and down, trying to look threatening.

“Touché.”

You both laughed like children.

Su-Jin’s touch felt… electric against you. Matter of fact, his whole being was like your own personal brand of heroin. As for Romance, he was so open that it was easy to talk to him, laugh with him, and even touch him without feeling weird. Everything felt natural, as if you two were old friends.

Soon enough, Romance eyed your liquor cabinet mischievously.

“Wanna drink ?” His eyes sparkled with new-found attraction. If there was one thing he loved more than social interaction, it was alcohol.

“Now ?!” You eyed the clock about your TV. “It’s hardly midday though…”

“So what ?” He got up excitedly and grabbed your shoulders, getting down to your eye-level to stare at you.

“You, my little human, have huge matters of the heart to resolve. And the sweet scorching taste of alcohol is just what you need.” He winked and walked towards the promised liquor cabinet.

You sighed, staying right on the couch.

“Are you sure about this ? I’ve hardly touched the bottles…”

“Even better ! It’s time to inaugurate this gorgeous collection of- ooh you have cheongju ?” He twirled excitedly with the bottle in his hands. You aren’t sure why, but in your head, you were sure that the bottle was shining in his eyes.

“Yeah, it was a Christmas gift… I have a bunch of other bottles too, look at the back.” You lazily pointed towards the cabinet and Romance scavenged through it like a rabid dog.

“Black… Blackcurrant liqueur ?” He held the bottle out to you, confusion filling his voice.

“Yeah, it’s crazy good.”

“Huh… I never tried that before…”

You shot up and joined him.

“No way ! You absolutely have to try !”

“You have a bunch of other bottles I don’t even know the contents of…”

“What ?” You put a hand on your hip. “What era are you from ? Joseon ?”

He chuckled nervously, a bead of sweat rolling from his temple. As you tried to explain how blackcurrant liqueur tasted, he simply grabbed a bunch of bottles and headed towards the kitchen, a devious smile plastered on his angelic face.

“Let’s start mixing.”

.

.

.

The room was a mess. A pure mess. Multiple pillows were scattered on the floor, an unhealthy amount of chocolate bar wrappings were enthroned on the coffee table, Romance had visited all of your house, bedroom included, and played with your LED lights, switching the colors from pink to blue. The man was entranced.

You don’t know how many bottles were downed on this drinking session, you couldn’t count anymore. Your apartment almost caught on fire. Thrice.
Once when trying to cook toast, twice when Romance tried to light a candle, and thrice when you tried to burn incense. At that moment, Romance had jumped in your arms, tossing the lighter away, claiming lighting incense was not to be done by people like you.
You had wondered what he meant by that, but ultimately, you let it slide and continued downing your bottle of makgeolli as your playlist kept bringing up banger after banger. You never danced that hard, at least, not with someone else. Romance had a hard time dancing at first, but ultimately cut loose and joined you, flapping his arms around like a degenerate. You moved to your bedroom and laid with your back flat on the bed. Romance joined you with another bottle of liquor. You didn’t even bother mixing up a cocktail anymore, you just drank straight from the bottle, passing it around like some drunk college kids at the end of an eventful house party. In the meantime, Romance had settled on the color pink for your lights.

"What's this ?" He held the pendant Su-Jin gave you, gently playing with the turquoise pendant.
"Something Su-Jin gave me..." 

He put the necklace back in its box, sighing.

"I'll have to hit him later..."

You groaned from your bed.

"Dooon't..."

Soon enough, Romance searched your closet and pulled out a refined silk scarf you forgot you owned.

“Well… You’re fancier than I thought, darling…” He slurred ever word, his face red from the alcohol. He was even redder than you during the photoshoot.

“It… It was my mother’s.” You tugged Romance’s pants for him to get closer to you so you could look at the scarf a bit more.

“That woman had taste.” He sat down on the floor next to you, rubbing the soft fabric on his reddened cheek. You chuckled.

“Yeah… She is a refined woman…”
Romance folded the small scarf neatly on the clean ground. As he tried to keep his hands as steady as possible, he kept questioning you.
“Where is this diva now ?” He gave you a playful smirk you had a hard time reciprocating. Tears welled up in your eyes almost instantly.

“She’s been missing for more than a week now…”

Urgency filled his eyes as he tried to hug you, despite the weird positioning. He ended up putting a reassuring arm round your shoulders as he rested his head on the edge of your bed.

“I’m sorry sweetheart… I’m truly sorry.” His deep voice had gotten a little higher, he was trying to soothe you as best as he could.

The faucet was open. Tears flowed down endlessly as you clutched Romance’s arm, all of this bottled up sadness burst out of you as you leaned more and more into Romance’s comforting being.

“I just don’t know what to do ! Should I search for her ? Can I even find her ? It’s been five years since I last saw her and she did me aaaawfully dirty man.” You chugged another bottle of makgeolli before continuing your well-deserved rant.

“I mean, who throws out their kid like that in the middle of winter ?! Talk about parenting.”

Romance put a hand up.

“Wait, she threw you out ?” He was shouting like a drunken fool. Actually, he was one.

As you told your story to Romance, his face grew more and more scrunched, with anger, sadness and even disgust. His usually handsome face turned ugly in the face of raw emotions, and that made you chuckle.

In the end, he climbed onto your bed, stumbling every time he tried to move, and crashed on top of you tiredly in a loud thud. You were hurt, physically and internally, but that didn’t stop you from hugging him as tight as you could.

“You’re going to make me cry, love.”

He was already crying.

“Why are you crying Romy ?” You screamed, in between multiple heavy sobs.

“I don’t know ! You’re crying !” He shouted back in your ear, which made you wince, then laugh, then cry again. He stopped for a moment.

“Want me to tell you my story ?” You nodded gently.

“I was going to anyways. But here I go.”

He positioned himself in a more comfortable position and began the telling. Half of it was slurred and incomprehensible since he was sobbing all the way through. But from what you could understand, you tried to recreate his soliloquy in your head.

“I’ve always been an average kid in smarts, but what made me stand out was my beauty and my wealth. At some point during my teenage years, I got bored of my usual life and tried heading into some other places I never really went into before.”

“You’re telling me you visited ghettos like some sort of art exposition ?” You slurred your words tiredly

“… Yeah. Anyways, I fell in love with a girl who was working in there and tried to make her mine. I was pretty open about my attraction to her, but her boss was against it. I just didn’t want us to stay hidden you know ?”

You hummed, signaling your understanding.

“What did her boss have to do with your love story though ?”

He ignored your question and continued on.

“In the end, the girl got punished for getting involved with me, because one of her other clients was petty she liked me more. He rat us out to her boss, and my parents and she…”

He exhaled softly.

“I never saw her again.”

“What a dick, that petty snitch.”

“Yeah. I beat him up afterwards.”

“That was like… The most horrible love-story I ever heard…” You sobbed again, you weren’t sure why, since he was super evasive with his story. Maybe you cried because he shared something meaningful with you.

“I loved her very much, but I’ve had time to dwell on it… so I got better.” He was still crying though.

You both cried yourselves to sleep in ugly sobs as the soft pink glow the mark exuded blended in perfectly with your bedroom light.

Notes:

TL;DR : You get hammered and have a heart-to-heart with sweet Romy.

Chapter 16: Session Four's Questions

Notes:

Thank you so much for your kind comments ! I read them every day and they really motivate me.
I'm happy you like this silly storyヾ(≧ ▽ ≦)ゝ

Your eyes opened to the soft sound of Romance’s breathing. He was still asleep on top of you, impairing your breathing because of his body-weight. He was pushing on all the wrong places and your body hurt like hell because of it. You mouth felt awfully dry and the headache you suffered from would probably pierce your brain if it could. You tried to feel your phone next to you, where it usually is, but this time, it wasn’t.

Of course… You thought.

Why would your phone be next to you after you got absolutely hammered, drunk enough to even let a guy sleep on top of you ?

Drunk enough to talk family drama with Romance.

You weren’t regretting this little heart-to-heart, in fact, talking about your missing mother to someone lifted a certain weight off your chest, albeit small. You even learned something new. You never expected someone as carefree and joyful as Romance to ever lay a hand on someone, especially for a girl. You would’ve thought people fought for him, not the other way around.

Thinking of a lovesick Romance made you smile.

However, after catching a whiff of yourself, you quickly frowned in disgust. You smelled like sweat and alcohol. A whole lot of sweat, mostly. You went to sleep like this ??? How could you offend your bed-sheets like that…

Romance didn’t smell like anything, which was weird, because you were certain he danced as hard as you last night.

You turned your head to watch the sky through your window. What you saw was a breathtaking blue view, no clouds in sight. The sunlight was bright, too bright, but you felt happy knowing Romance would suffer as much as you when he wakes up. Without your phone, you tried to decipher the time according to the position of the sun. You felt like an adventurer, a horrible one, but still kind of adventurous. You muttered while holding up one hand to count.

“If the sun goes up at around 5… and if it’s already this high up…”

You glanced at the furniture your eyes could see and focused on their shadows.

“Hm. This light kind of looks like 1PM…” You looked up to stare at your ceiling as you did mental calculations.

Suddenly, a head appeared in your field of vision.

“It’s half past two.” Mystery calmly stated, with a soft smile on his lips.

You flinched and screamed, causing Romance to wake up in a hurry and scream as well. He got off of you immediately and backed up to the very far end of your bed. You sat up and turned around.

Upon turning around, you saw Jinu, Abby, Mystery and Su-Jin standing in your room, dumbfounded. Well, Mystery was smiling, but the others were clearly confused. Jinu even looked disappointed. Abby’s face showed anger and confusion, as for Su-Jin…. You couldn’t really tell. His face looked blank but his eye was twitching. You all stared at each other for a bit as the birds chirped outside.

“Good afternoon.” Jinu broke the silence, looking around your room, he seemed impressed.

“H-How did you enter ?” You looked at your open bedroom door, but what you meant was the front door you were sure you locked last night.

“We picked the lock.” Su-Jin pointed towards the door with his thumb nonchalantly.

“What ?!”

“You weren’t opening the door despite the hour, we- the others got scared something might have happened to you, so we tele- lock-picked your door.” Abby explained.

“Huh…” You sat on your bed, shocked. These guys knew how to lock-pick. You would’ve never thought.

Then again, you never expected Romance to fight for a woman.

Maybe you relied on first impressions too much.

You looked around your room, shame filling every inch of your body. Empty bottles were scattered around the floor and multiple clothes were thrown here and there all around the room. Your face got hot as you hurriedly gathered every shameful objects and started cleaning up without a word. The men simply watched, occasionally handing you some garbage bags to throw away all the food packagings you both left on the table yesterday. Romance helped too, but he was too busy leaning on Abby’s broad shoulders for support as he suffered from a tremendous headache.

“Oh Jinu… I’m so sorry I missed practice… I didn’t check the time… Oh, woe is me…”

Oh who is you.

You rolled your eyes at his obvious acting. No one misses something because they got hammered during lunch, that only happens if you don’t want to go in the first place.

You finished throwing everything away, grabbed a change of clothes, and went to the bathroom to clean yourself of yesterday’s fierce dance session.

“Don’t you want to wash up, Romy ?” You asked, poking your head out of your bathroom door.

He looked down at himself.

“No thanks, I’m alright.” You wrinkled your nose, shocked that someone would want to stay in their own filth like that. Then again, when he was on top of you, he didn’t smell like anything, except his cologne.

“Suit yourself. You boys can start getting the work station ready, I’ll be here in ten.” You pointed to the coffee-table, closed the door, and took all your clothes off, ready for a well-deserved shower.

 

---

 

I watched Typo’s tired form slip into the bathroom. My mind raced with many questions, but it seems my teammates asked them faster than me. The sound of running water seemed loud enough for us to talk.

 

“Are you fucking serious right now Romy ?” Abby frantically shook Romance by his shoulders. Jinu stopped him from shaking him any further.

“Abby’s harsh, but he’s right. What were you doing with them ?” Jinu questioned Romance, seriousness exuding from his entire being.

Yeah exactly, and why was he sleeping on top of them ?


“I… I needed to confirm something.” Romance looked right at me.

“And this thing you needed to confirm had to include a hardcore drinking session that caused you to skip practice ?” Jinu crossed his arms, dumbfounded.

“Well uh… hahah…” He simply chuckled, having been caught red-handed.

“Was the alcohol good ?” Mystery asked, as airy as always.

Romance’s eyes lit up.

“Oh you have no idea ! The songwriter had this alcohol called blackcurrant liqueur and it was absolutely-”

 

THWACK

 

Abby hit him in the head. Serves him right.

 

“Ow… that hurt Abs.” He rubbed his head as he winced.

“It was supposed to.” Abby rolled his eyes, seemingly tired of this bullshit.

“Romance,” Jinu spoke in his leader-like fashion. “we’re supposed to avoid spending alone time with that human. We’re here to fulfill our duties.”

We all nodded along as Romance watched us. His gaze left Jinu’s to meet mine, and something lit up in his scheming fox eyes.

“Don’t nod Babe, you know damn well you’re not doing that either. What’s up with these marks I saw on them ?”

My eyes widened.

 

Oh he’s going there ? Bastard.

 

He kept going as a devious smirk spread on his face.

“You know Jinu, little Baby over there, or should I say Su-Jin, has been meeting with the songwriter enough to leave hickeys on their skin.” He eyed me up and down like some kind of wild predator. He continued his shameless snitching, turning his attention back to me.

“What about this gorgeous little pendant-”

I grabbed him by the collar, I wanted to scream insults at him, but given the fact that Typo was showering one room over, I tried to stay as quiet as possible.

“Don’t fucking start.”

His eyes widened slightly before he quickly regained composure.

“Hey calm down, I’m still hangover over here.” He was cockier than usual.

“Min-Jun…” I snarled.

“Wow, you dropped my human name ? Did I go too far ?”

“What are you playing at exactly ?” I gritted my teeth.

I do not get his intentions, at all. And that’s what bothered me the most about him, ever since we met in the demon world.

“I’m not playing any games, I just want you to get that those feelings you’re nurturing aren’t worth the hassle.” I scoffed.

“What feelings ? What makes you think I even care about that damn human ?!” My hands shook slightly. Min-Jun tilted his head, his usual deep-voice changing to a higher pitched one, faking innocence.

“You put a mark on them, didn’t you ?”

Anger boiled inside me, forming a pit in my stomach. My grip loosened from the shock and Romance used this opportunity to swat my hand away. He clicked his tongue as he tried to straighten his collar.

Jinu slowly turned to me.

“You did what ?”

 

The water stopped running. We all scrambled to sit around the coffee-table, trying to act as natural as possible. I shot heinous glances towards Romance, who simply smirked at me.

The bathroom door opened and Typo stepped out, the smell of their vanilla-scented body-wash burst out of the room like it had been waiting to be set free for decades. I relaxed a little, my heinous glare changing to a somewhat aggravated one.

“Okay, are you guys ready to write ?!” Typo spoke loudly, attempting to pump us up and probably pump themselves up.

“Yes !” Jinu, Mystery and Romance responded to their call, I saw Romance’s eyes squint from his headache and laughed internally.

“Let’s get started !”

They sat down in their usual spot, with Romance on their left and Mystery on their right.

Jinu started the session by doing a recap of what we did last time.

“So, we have the first two verses and Baby’s rap."

"We need a chorus now.” Abby stated, a pencil behind his ear.

Why does he have that ?

“Do you guys have any ideas ?” Typo got their notebook out and looked over the lyrics we came up with last time.

“Actually, I had an idea for a little part just before the chorus…” Jinu meekly raised his finger to suggest a pre-chorus. Mystery giggled and leaned over to Typo to speak to them.

“He’s been listening to the instrumental non-stop since you gave us the USB.”

Typo smiled proudly. What was there to be proud of us ? What, or who were they proud of ? I could’ve done the same.

“Go ahead Jinu.” Typo handed him a pencil and he rapidly wrote his idea. After a few seconds, he gave the paper to Typo and they read it aloud.

“You know I’m the only one who’ll love your sins, feel the way my voice gets underneath your skin… That’s great Jinu ! It really fits the theme.”

Jinu’s eyes widened and he smiled like an idiot before going back to his usual leader persona.

“So… Now we have a pre-chorus !” Typo exclaimed.

“Wait, you’re not changing anything ?” Abby asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, it’s already perfect, so there’s no need to tweak anything !” Typo answered as they passed their notebook to Abby, filled with our song’s progress.

“Before working on the chorus… I was thinking of how there’s something missing in the second verse.” Romance took the notebook from Abby’s hands and played the instrumental, singing along until the part that bothered him.

“See ? It feels empty.” He tapped his pen on the supposed missing lyrics.

“You’re right…” Typo rested their head on one of their hands as they used the table for support. I found that gesture adorable.

“Don’t let it show, keep it all inside.” Mystery sang with his gentle voice a lyric he just came up with. Abby joined in.

“The pain and the shame, keep it out of sight.”

I knew all too well how they came up with that. Gwi-Ma’s way of controlling us is by controlling our memories and the shame that comes from them. We can’t share this pain with others, it’s a burden of our own that we need to carry by ourselves.

“It’s not really demonic though…” Typo twirled their pen in their free hand.

“I think it works.” Jinu caught his member’s drift and went along with Abby and Mystery.

“Well, if you say so. Let’s hear it with the instrumental.”

.

.

.

It worked.

“Now, we can get started on the chorus, sweetie.” Romance leaned against Typo’s arm. His face looked very punchable in that moment. Mystery pinched my arm to stop me from shooting lasers out of my hateful glare. I thanked him with my eyes and he softly smiled.

“I have ideas for that one !” Jinu excitedly showed us his notes.

 

Listen cause I’m preaching to the choir.

 

“Can I get the mic a little higher ?” Typo scribbled next to Jinu’s notes. “It’s fun like that, do you like it ?”

“Yeah, let’s go with that.” Jinu smiled, happy his idea got accepted.

I can be the star you rely on.

 

I proposed a lyric to go before that one.

“Give me your desire. Sounds nice, no ?”

"Wow, straight to the point Babe." Romance mocked me in a way that wouldn't let Typo on our personal problems.

"Someone needs to be straightforward around here." I spat back with a fake smile. 

That's what you get.

Everyone nodded as Romance angrily scribbled down some lyrics in his pink gel pen.

“I had an idea back before our first session.” Typo turned the pages of their notebook to show us a certain page.

 

Lost in my daze now you can’t look away.

 

“Don’t you know I’m here to save you !” Romance shouted out as if he had been enlightened with some kind of divine knowledge. Typo laughed at his antics. I wanted to rip his head off.

“Now we’re running wild.” Mystery showed us his hands, imitating claws as he uttered these words. Jinu laughed as Abby continued where Mystery left off.

“Yeah I’m all you need, i’ma be your Idol.” He leaned back on the couch with his arms behind his head as if he owned the place.

 

“That’s it ! I think we have our chorus guys ! Maybe we could tweak it a little at the end ?” I raised an eyebrow.

“What do you mean ?”

Typo locked eyes with me as they explained their idea.

“Like, when you sing it for the first time during the song, it’s like this,” they pointed to the version we had just written. “but when you sing it for a second time, it’s slightly changed !”

“I like this idea sweetheart.” Romance’s deep voice made me gag. Maybe it was because he sweet-talked the human I liked.

“What should we change it to ?” Jinu grabbed his pen like his life depended on it.

“We don’t need to change everything, right ?” Abby side-eyed Typo.

“Do we need to get rid of the “wild” lyric ?” Mystery seemed dejected.

“We can simply change the two lyrics at the end. We’re keeping your idea Mystery.” Typo pat Mystery’s back reassuringly. His frown turned upside down.

“Let’s change the I’m all you need toYou’re down on your knees.” Abby smirked, still leaning back on the couch.

“Yeah, let’s do that.” Typo agreed, Abby seemed startled.

“Wait really ?” He seemed shocked that Typo would go along with his idea.

“Yeah, since devotion often brings believers to their knees, it’s a nice lyric. Great job… oppa.” Typo uttered this word while giggling.

We turned our head towards Abby, who shuddered with a disgusted expression on his face.

Did they just call him oppa ? Is what we all probably thought.

“Do not call me that.”

Is that an inside joke, or…

 

“Ahem…” Romance scratched his throat. “Maybe we could change the Don’t you know I’m here to save you, to No one is coming to save you ?”

Typo sighed.

“Brilliant.”

 

This song-writing session ended on a good note, for the most part.

I wanted to drill holes in Min-Jun’s head, but at least we got a good chunk of the song done.

As we said our goodbyes, as always, I was the last one to leave Typo’s apartment.

 

“You’re not wearing my gift today.” I eyed their neck, noticing the absence of the pendant I gave them yesterday.

“It’s too precious to be worn everyday…” Typo smiled meekly.

“Is that the only reason ?”

Typo sighed.

“I’m also too shy to be open about you giving me gifts…” They fiddled with the hem of their shirt.

I chuckled.

“Why ? You can flaunt me.” I took a step towards them as they did the same.

“Should I ?” They sounded playfully flirty. Maybe I could get back at them for yesterday.

Without saying another word, I grabbed Typo’s waist and pulled them close to me, close enough for me to plant a kiss on the side of their mouth. Their eyes widened as their face showed obvious embarrassment.

“S-Su-Jin !” Typo’s hands laid flat on my torso as I innocently tilted my head to the side.

“What ? Can’t handle a little peck ?”

“Just go…” I laughed as they pushed me off of them, they were clearly embarrassed, but not mad. I waved with a huge grin on my face.

I won this time.

 

As soon as the door closed, Jinu spun me around and teleported all of us back in the demon world.

 

“We need to talk about that mark.”

Chapter 17: Min-Jun's Love

Notes:

When you watch KDH, do you see movie!Baby as Su-Jin ? Because I do and I can't stop thinking about it lmaoo

I tensed up and tried to feign ignorance.

“What mark ?” I said, crossing my arms.

“Don’t play dumb Babe.” Abby grabbed Jinu’s shoulder to support his claim.

Mystery stayed silent. Maybe it was his way of supporting me, because he knew I was guilty.

I sighed, Romance stood behind them, a smug look on his face.

 

Why would he snitch like that ?

 

“The mark you put on them, do you have any idea what it does ?” Jinu asked, forcing me to look into his serious eyes.

“It sucks up love meant for the mark-bearer and uses it as a shield from demonic attacks. That’s what Gwi-Ma told me-”

“Gwi-Ma ?!” Abby and Jinu screamed, clearly shocked.

Romance winced and squeezed the bridge of his nose with his fingers, he didn’t seem to be expecting Gwi-Ma’s hand in this.

“How could you do that ?!” Jinu shook me by my shoulders, he seemed almost… scared.

“If Gwi-Ma’s involved in this, no good can come out of it.” Romance stated, glaring at me with his fox-like eyes.

“Wait, you didn’t know about Gwi-Ma's involvement ?” I turned my head to look at Romance, confused.

“Of course I didn’t !” He exclaimed, holding out his hands like some kind of robber trying to prove his innocence. “I just thought you had marked the songwriter because of your undying lust for their body or something ! I wanted to tease you !”

“What does the mark look like ?” Mystery asked, holding his chin with one hand.

“A purple dot.” Romance and I answered at the same time, we fiercely looked at each other.

“Purple… Like our patterns ?” Jinu asked, holding out his arm to look at his markings.

“Yeah.” I answered plainly.

“Ugh…” Abby sighed heavily, leaning back against a dead tree while ruffling his hair.

“They’re going to die, for sure.”

Mystery sneaked up behind him.

“Didn’t you say they were going to die anyway ?”

Abby flinched.

“Well, yeah... But… uh… fuck.” He muttered before huffing and turning away from us. He seemed embarrassed.

 

Jinu sat down on the ground and we all followed. Clearly, something was wrong and we needed to fix it, but how ?

All demons are good for is destruction.

 

“Maybe the mark makes them a demon in the end ?”

“No.” Jinu answered immediately. “If Gwi-Ma could reach humans in such a way, he wouldn’t need to gather human souls. Only one demon would be enough to ‘contaminate’ other humans.” He gestured quotation marks with his hands.

“Then… does it kill them slowly ?” Romance’s head perked up, he looked scared.

Jinu sighed and focused his eyes on me. I don’t know what face I was making, but he immediately tried to reassure me.

“Don’t worry Baby, Gwi-Ma knows we need the human. At least, we know he won’t do anything to them until we finish the song.”

Abby scoffed. “Yeah until we finish it.”

“For all we know,” Romance chimed in. “he could kill them right after we put a dot on the last lyric.”

His reassurance failed. I slumped my shoulders with my head in my hands.

“It’s all my fault… I let some dumb emotion sway my better judgment.” I felt ashamed. Terribly so.

I had possibly put their life on the line, all for the sake of their protection. Ironic isn’t it ?

Mystery’s hand rested on my shoulder as he whispered.

“You wanted to do good.”

A long silence made its way between us. Romance was the first to break it with a mocking laugh. Was he mocking himself, or our whole situation ?

“I… care about the songwriter.” He said, resting his arms on his knees to put his head onto.

We stayed silent, but deep down, we knew we felt the same. Romance had just verbalized it sooner.

“Care… As in… romantically ?” Jinu asked, confused.

Right, he didn’t spend as much time with them as Romance did, or myself, for that matter.

“Pshh of course not. I’ve had my fair share of romantic chaos, thank you very much.”

We smiled, knowing what he was referring to.

 

Romance was one of the oldest in our group. He first answered Gwi-Ma’s call when he beat his beloved’s client to death.

Min-Jun was born into a wealthy family around the beginning of the Joseon era. He excelled at everything, especially dancing and sword fighting. He knew his fate was to get married to another noble woman when he came of age, so before that happened, right after his coming-of-age birthday, he used his good looks and wealth to visit one brothel after another.

After visiting so many women in the pleasure district, his reputation grew around these parts, and many women sought him out to use him for his wealth, as he seemed eager to spend every single penny he owned in pleasure houses.

One day, he met a kisaeng named Soonee, and visited her more than any other woman.
He didn’t want to admit it, but he had fallen in love with her. She was witty, funny, and of course, well endowed in every part that mattered to him. He kept spending more and more time with her, blocking her schedule out sometimes so that she could only talk and play with him all day long. Together, they played instruments, danced, and even shared treats here and there. Min-Jun used to say that she had a sadness in her eyes that drew him in relentlessly.
At some point, he even tried to talk to the administration to buy her out and marry her. Of course, the sum was enormous, but that didn’t matter to him. Day after day, he kept trying to persuade the higher ups while spending time with Soonee.

Until another client came and meddled in his affairs.

The man was a government official, clearly higher than Min-Jun in the social hierarchy, and he wouldn’t take no for an answer. They never really knew if he even liked Soonee or not, or if he simply wanted to crush a young man’s dream.

Since the government official knew Min-Jun’s father, he visited him on the pretext of an official visit, told him everything his son had been doing for the past few weeks and how he tried to buy out a kisaeng. After possibly ruining Min-Jun’s life, he left, with a smirk on his wrinkled face. That night, a huge fight broke out, and Min-Jun was thrown out on the street with only his clothes and the money he had left.

The next day, he managed to book Soonee in the afternoon.

I peeked through his belongings one time, and found an old ring made of straw. When he told me where it came from, I was astounded.

“Soonee.” He whispered. “My family name is no longer. I cannot come see you anymore, this is our last meeting.”

“Min-Jun-”

“Leave this place with me. We can be together somewhere, far away from all this !” He gestured to the furniture and city, all around them.

“You know very well I cannot do that, people will find me if I flee.” She had tears brimming her eyes.

“Soonee.”

Min-Jun got down on one knee and took out a ring made of woven straw.

“I don’t have any money anymore, I’m ashamed of even thinking of gifting you this, but know that this ring represents my devotion to you, and only you.”

Her eyes widened as her hands covered her mouth from the shock.

“Min-Jun...”

He held her pale slim hand gently and implored her to leave with him, start anew somewhere better, where they could be together. She slumped to the ground in a soft thud and snaked her arms around him. He held her tight.

“I love you, Soonee.”

The government official was eavesdropping, determined to bring this relationship to an end, he reported everything to the man in charge of the kisaengs in this particular building, who took immediate action.
Min-Jun and Soonee were supposed to meet under a particular tree near the outskirts of the city. She had assured him she would be able to get out of the house, but she wasn’t. Her “boss” locked her inside her room, with guards at every possible exit. She was trapped.

“Tell us where your lover is.” He asked, a strict expression covering his face.

“…”

“If you stay silent, know that you will not go unpunished.”

“…”

“And your loved ones won’t either.”

Soonee’s eyes showed fear.

“I wonder if you remember the sentence for going against the will of the Emperor, who made the rules of our establishment.” He crouched down to her level, the soft amber light exuding from the lit candles reflecting in his dark irises.

“… Execution.”

“For the accused, and their entire family.”

“If I tell you his whereabouts… What will happen to me and my family ?”

“You will be punished according to the rules of the establishment, and your family won’t be harmed in any way.”

“… What will happen to him ?”

“That, I can’t say.”

.

.

.

Soonee told the man about their scheduled meeting near the outskirts of the city. The government official, who started all of this, volunteered to go fetch Min-Jun, alone. The man was confident in his strength.

When a man showed up instead of his beloved, Min-Jun knew something was wrong. When he recognized the man in front of him, illuminated by the pale moonlight, he saw red.

“Where is Soonee.” He snarled, balling his fists up.

“She won’t come to meet you. But you, you need to come with me.” A wicked smile spread on his face.

The men stayed silent until Min-Jun’s anger spoke for him.

“Why would you make us suffer like that ? What is there to gain in other people’s suffering ?”

The old man pondered for a moment before answering.

“It’s fun. Breaking people apart is a very fun thing to do. You should try it.” He snickered in the most disgusting way.

 

That was when he heard him.

 

You couldn’t save your beloved, how useless are you ?

 

I couldn’t protect her…

 

Without your family backing you up, can you really do anything right ?

 

I don’t know.

 

You’re pathetic, even this old man succeeded in bringing you down.

 

That guy…

 

He’s the source of your misery.

 

He is…

 

I can give you the power you need.

 

Power...

 

I’ll save her.

 

Min-Jun’s eyes glowed golden, he couldn’t hold himself back and launched himself on the government official in a desperate blood-curdling scream, tackling him to the ground and beating him up. His firsts started bleeding, but he didn’t care.

At first, the old man fought back, kicking Min-Jun as hard as he could in the stomach, using his knees to hit his private parts, hitting his head with a nearby rock, but nothing he did stopped Min-Jun’s rage.

He bashed his head in the ground beneath them, repeatedly, until his body stopped resisting, until he stopped moving.

The man had died by his hands.

It was later discovered that the government official had plans to overthrow the Emperor’s current regime. With Gwi-Ma’s so-called “help”, Min-Jun was bestowed a high role by the Emperor himself for ridding the empire of a corrupt higher-up. As a gift, he was given the opportunity to chose a wife among many other noblewomen. Yet, Soonee was not present among them.
He took in a wife at random, because he had to, but instead of sharing a bed with her, he went to see Soonee again and again, using his new-found wealth to buy her out and make her live in his house as his mistress.
His wife was miserable, she was sick of being treated like a decoy.

Soon enough, Soonee got pregnant and Min-Jun rejoiced of such wondrous news. When his wife caught wind of Soonee’s pregnancy, she stayed silent, animosity oozing from her very being.

Meanwhile, Min-Jun’s markings started from his fists and slowly crept up his arms to snake around his torso. He didn’t care about them, as he finally had everything he wished for.

His everything, Soonee.

Six months later, his wife stabbed Soonee in the stomach fifteen times in a maddened rage and cut her open, taking out the unborn child and laying it right next to its mother’s body. Immediately after, she hung herself under the garden’s willow tree, using her bloodied hands to tie a tight rope.

On the other side of the city, Min-Jun was weaving a ring made of straw, aiming to give this to Soonee as well as another, expensive ring, for old times’ sake, to own up to the implied promise he made, the night of their supposed elopement.

As he returned home in a hurry, hearing of an accident, he froze upon seeing the frightening scene and smelling the iron in the air. His lover’s body bathed in a pool of blood, and his wife’s hanging figure was visible from where Soonee’s stiffening corpse laid, right next to their unborn child.

He screamed until his vocal cords couldn’t produce any sound. With tears streaming down his face, he took the expensive ring, put it on Soonee’s finger, and kept the straw ring in his pocket.

That was when the markings spread fast, faster than before, consuming Min-Jun’s being and taking him to Gwi-Ma.

Ever since then, Romance cursed himself relentlessly for loving Soonee, because he wasn’t able to protect her by himself back then, and even after his marriage. He kept the straw ring as a memento of his own weakness and shame.

 

“We’ll protect the songwriter.” Abby declared.

Mystery nodded and took out some Huntrix themed candies, placing them in the middle of our little circle.

 

Why does he have that.

 

“Eating eases the mind.” He said, opening the packaging with the black-haired huntress first.

Jinu grabbed the purple bag and munched on a bunch of candies, all at once.

“Let’s eat.” He said, with his mouth full.

I ate silently, listening to my comrades try to change the subject by talking about the choreography for our next song.

 

What a mess...

Notes:

When I'm in a "horribly traumatizing backstory" competition and my opponent is a writer on Ao3 : ε=ε=ε=┏(゜ロ゜;)┛

Chapter 18: The Demon Stalker

Notes:

Thank you for waiting, here is the 18th chapter of the Songwriter's Diaries !
This is probably the longest chapter I've ever written with over 3400 words !
Enjoy !!
(please do, if you don't I'll spiral into a rabbit hole of self-doubt as a writer)

Mystery doesn’t sleep.

It’s not that he doesn’t want to, it’s just that he can’t. It’s become a habit of his to knock himself out just so that he could rest, but it’s not something he particularly enjoys doing. Most of the time, he asks one of his demon comrades to give him one good hit on the head, and they sigh as they bring their arm up to give him a monstrous hit that could kill a human in one blow.

Thankfully, demons regenerate, unless they’re slashed by huntresses.

However, lately… Mystery doesn’t ask to get put to sleep anymore. Instead, he simply roams the demon world until his legs give out, letting his mind wander somewhere else, somewhere that isn’t only made up of miserable heat, but somewhere not completely privy of warmth either.

His mind often wanders to the human world. A world he had not seen for over three-hundred years.
Among the group, Romance is the eldest, Abby is the second oldest, Mystery comes after those two and Jinu as well as Baby take the cake for youngest. Well, Jinu came right after Baby, but you get the jist.

The point is that everyone missed out on more than four hundred years of evolution, and today’s world was just so different from what he remembered in those small glimpses of relentlessly shameful memories he sees.

Before meeting everyone, Mystery was a loner. He didn’t appreciate demons trying to see his face at any given occasion, he didn’t like how other talkative demons urged himto talk, he also hated those fake demons acting all happy-go-lucky when they lived in literal hell. All this mingling felt useless to him then, even during his human life.

What is there to chat about ?

People should mind their business.

That’s all they need to do in order to be happy.

Everyone needs to live their life without bothering anybody.

That was Mystery’s thoughts on the daily.

Down here, no one needed to hide their awful personality. After all, being here in the first place is a clear sign of sinfulness. What Mystery loved the most during his time here was watching. Observing each and every reaction from any demon that crossed paths with him. He enjoyed staring at newly-turned demons arriving in the demon world and swearing they did nothing wrong until they were faced with the facts.

Well, when there were new demons anyway.

He also enjoyed staring at any delusional demon who fought nail and tooth to try and live a normal life in the demon world, even attempting to ignore king Gwi-Ma’s purple light.

Why try so hard to be happy ?

Mystery often pondered on happiness, what it meant, what it entailed, and how people usually get it. Can you claim to be happy when all you do is move through a nauseating swamp with a smile on your face ?

Mystery often wondered if people were happier now. If some people ever fantasized about living in the past like they did for the future, but that question was unbecoming of a demon. Happiness didn’t matter to him anymore.

Until he met her.

He first saw her during Jinu’s prep meeting, right before Jinu presented his idea to Gwi-Ma.
Jinu had spread out a few magazines and posters to show everyone what they looked like, and how they moved according to the testimonies of some demons who got away from their weapons. He even prepared a few notes with everything humans loved about boy bands, or bands in general.

The guy was really into it.

Mystery’s first impression of Jinu was that of a dork.

The black-haired girl was on the front page of a magazine advertising some product called “sunscreen”. A beach was visible in the background, but his focus was not on the water, or even on the sunscreen spread across her face like a mask. It was on her smile.

The woman showed the viewers a toothy grin, the high corners of her mouth caused her eyes to squint, but she still had a certain glint in her eyes that made her stand out even more.
She smiled on almost every picture, no matter the setting, the people she was with, or what she wore. When she was not smiling, she still showed a lot of emotion, as if neutrality was something she abhorred.

Sadness, anger, disgust and adoration faded across her face in one big sensitive blur.

“Mystery, is there a problem ?” Jinu asked, lifting his eyes up from a magazine he was reading.

Mystery shook his head, carefully putting the poster of the girl down with the other pieces of media scattered on the ground.
As he did, his eyes focused on one last thing, her name.

Zoey.

It sounded cheerful and foreign, Mystery thought it suited her particularly well.

“It makes no sense.” Abby sighed. “This girl looks way fiercer than that one !” He pointed to the girl with slanted eyes before pointing at Zoey. “Why is she the rapper ?”

“Read rule four, people love the unexpected. If a person’s cute, hearing them insult someone else causes whiplash.” Romance said, with a smirk on his lips.

“That’s why I’m the rapper.” Baby stated, balancing a pencil on his lips with a disinterested look.

Upon forming the Saja Boys, Jinu had created the perfect persona for each member. He was the leader, Romance was the heartthrob, Mystery was… well… mysterious, Abby was the hunk, and Baby was the “cinnamon roll” of the group.

Mystery thought that pairing human beings with food was weird. He scoffed at such categorizations at first, until he heard other demons talk about how fans are absolutely crazy about the ideals they see in their favorite singers. Such words ran chills down his spine.

I don’t want people to see me as a food… He thought.

“Check this out.” Abby pulled out a small black box with some white markings, indicating buttons. The whole thing seemed to be covered in a case made of a material called “silicone”.

“What is that ?” Romance asked, reaching out to touch the foreign object.

“No touching.” Abby hit Romance’s hand. “It’s called a MP3 player. It plays songs, and this one is full of a music genre called K-POP.” He explained, proudly.

Mystery’s first impression of Abby was that of a prideful fool.

He didn’t see why people, humans and demons alike, were so quick to consider themselves a priority. He wasn’t raised like that.

“And where did you get that ?” Baby asked, side-eyeing Abby from where he was comfortably seated.

“I stole it while I was out on a little stroll. Call it market study.”

“You could’ve been found out !” Jinu freaked out. “That was really careless !”

“Yeah, but I’m here with this little thing in my hands, so I’d say it’s a win for you and for me.”
He turned on the device and used the buttons resembling arrows to chose a song. The little screen was bright in comparison to the underworld’s constant dimmed lighting.

“Which one should I chose ?” Abby made the writings go up and down on the little screen. Multiple songs appeared, at the top of the screen, the writings indicated that more than fifty songs were on this little device.

“EXO ? BTS ? Do we need a name as silly as this ?” Romance gagged at the simplicity of the boy bands’ names.

“I already have a name for us.” Jinu said, marking a pause for dramatic effect. “We’ll be… the Saja Boys.”

“Saja… Like lion ?” Romance asked, clearly disappointed.

“What ? You don’t like it ?” Jinu turned his head towards the demon group. They all seemed kind of dejected, except for Mystery and Abby. Mystery didn’t care much what their group name was.

Lions are strong. He thought.

“It’s nice, but I don’t know if I’m really fit to be compared to a lion, I’m more of an elegant stork.” He whined.

Mystery’s first impression of Romance was that of a heartbroken dunce.

Abby scoffed.

“You’re not a stork, you’re a fox.”

Romance shot a fiery glare at Abby, he seemed offended.

“If I’m a fox, then what are you ?” He asked, irritation seeping through his voice.

“I’m definitely a lion, I mean, look at me.”

He gestured to his body and face like he was some sort of artistic statue.

“Hey Mystery. What animal do you think I am ?” Baby pointed to his face, a curious look visible on it.

Mystery pondered for a moment. After all, him and Baby met hundreds of years ago, he’s had plenty of time to gauge his personality.

“Snake.” He answered plainly.

Most people would be offended by such a comparison. Snakes aren’t really the best animals to be compared to, no matter the time period. But Baby was not most people, his mind worked in ways others couldn’t.

Perhaps it had to do with his sheltered human life.

“Okay. You’re a dog for sure.” Baby categorized Mystery with a sly smirk and went back to twirling a pen between his fingers. Something called “pen tricking”.

Dog…

Mystery didn’t talk much. Even during Jinu’s casting for the Saja Boys, Mystery only sang because the tiger right next to Jinu had presented him a letter and let him pet it.

Mystery liked animals, especially the ones that looked stupid. He thought they looked cute and felt the need to protect them somehow.

Upon hearing him sing, Jinu’s slouched posture and tired eyes faded immediately to make space for a smile and sparkling eyes. He had compared his voice to “liquid crystal”, but Mystery didn’t really care much. He only wanted to pet the tiger some more.

What he hated the most about this so-called "idol training" were the dance practices. He hated feeling his body get hot even though it was technically dead. Furthermore, Mystery was not an athlete. Compared to Abby and Romance, who were clearly taking care of their bodies even in the demon world, Mystery didn’t care enough to do so. Hell, they didn’t even need to eat down there, what was the point of exercising ?

Mystery thought it was their own way of coping with being here.

Perhaps exercising was part of a well-defined routine they had when they were human.
Even Abby, who had his memories erased upon his arrival, might simply be a victim of muscle memory. The mind may forget things, but the body never does.

Mystery often wished he could forget things. He never dwelled on these thoughts too much, after all, he had demons to observe.

Baby was one of those demons.

He fell under the “denial” category. He first said things like “I didn’t do anything !” or “it was only self-defense !”, but quickly accepted his fate. He cried for a long time. Mystery didn’t know how time passed in the demon world. Was it faster ? Slower ? Had he been crying for a few hours or a week straight ?

He found himself quite curious about this new demon, and even asked himself why that was so, after all, he never really cared about other crying demons, why this one ?

Mystery learned from some gossiping demons that the crying boy had killed his mother.

Since demons don’t need sleep, he watched from afar as the boy’s small frame hitched up and down erratically and thought that he seemed too frail to attempt such an act.

Mystery’s first impression of Baby was that of a helpless child.

Their first interaction occurred after another crying session. Upon lifting his head, he had spotted the mysterious demon watching from afar and had hurled insults at him, urging him to leave him alone.

Mystery left, not wanting to upset the boy even more.

He came back soon after, silent as a mouse, to watch him cry again. The boy spotted him and insulted him again. This banter went on for quite a while, until the crying boy stopped crying and simply waited for the demon stalker to leave.

One day, as Mystery watched the calm boy from afar, he heard his voice, his calm voice, for the first time.

“Come here.” He said, his voice weak from all the screaming and crying.

Mystery thought he probably hadn’t talked to anyone since his arrival in the demon world. Hecarefully approached the boy, his steps didn’t make any sound and soon enough, he found himself in front of the boy. His eyes were dull, his lips chapped, and his complexion looked sickly. Even the gray hue demons normally have didn’t match his.

For the first time, Mystery had gotten physically close to someone of his own volition.

The boy stared blankly at the stalker’s bangs, covering half of his face before speaking.

“Why are you watching me ?” He asked, his voice hoarse.

Mystery didn’t answer.

“Do you enjoy seeing me suffer ? Is that it ?” The boy scoffed, turning his head to the side.

Mystery shook his head frantically. He was maybe a stalker, but a sadist ? Absolutely not.

“Then, why ?”

Mystery fidgeted with the garter of his black clothing.

The reason why Mystery was so adamant in watching this poor boy cry for his deceased mother was because he never cried for his.

But that’s not something he was going to admit after less than five minutes of conversation.

“I…” His gentle voice meekly started, “don’t know what else to do.” He said, still fidgeting with his garter.

The boy looked taken aback.

“You… You wanted to console me ?”

He didn’t know. But his feelings towards the helpless boy weren’t negative, so he took that as means for affirmation.

Mystery nodded, the boy seemed to think Mystery was stupid, but he invited him to sit next to him.

“What’s your name ?”

Mystery didn’t answer.

“If you don’t answer, I’m going to call you stalker for the rest of eternity.”

Mystery didn’t really care. After all, that’s what he was, a stalker. So, he shrugged, indicating that the name “stalker” didn’t bother him. The boy chuckled.

“You’re so weird.”

The boy paused, pensive.

“My name is Su-Jin.”

Mystery nodded.

Su-Jin.

Mystery sighed internally. That name didn’t suit the boy at all, in fact, it probably jinxed him.

“Why do you cover your eyes ?”

Mystery paused and fiddled with a strand of his bangs.

“Filthy.” He answered meekly.

Su-Jin didn’t pry further and the two stayed silent until one of them felt the need to speak.

This was their interactions on the “daily”, if you can even comprehend what a day is in the demon world.

For the next hundred couple of years, the two stayed together at all times. During that time-frame, Su-Jin’s sickly demon skin got better, as if being in the demon world regenerated him from his past endeavors. Mystery got more talkative, he even argued slightly at times when presented with a hard dilemma that Su-Jin had come up with.

With his habit of observing everything, Mystery got to know Su-Jin like the back of his hand, and Su-Jin got to know Mystery as well. Not as good, as Mystery knew him, but considering how chatty Mystery is on the daily, knowing him even a little bit is a notable achievement.

Mystery found out about Su-Jin’s interest for the songwriter without even asking. He still did to be sure, but all in all, it was already set in stone.

Mystery loved to tease him. He was so sensitive about certain topics, and love was one of them. He didn't need to talk to tease, one simple smirk often did the trick.

One day, in the demon world, upon seeing two demons mingling with each other, Su-Jin groaned and said :

“What they feel isn’t love, it’s boredom.

“You think ?” Mystery asked, looking back at the kissing couple.

“Yeah, obviously. How could you love someone here of all places ?” He gestured all around them to show the underworld. He continued his ranting. “Love is useless. If you ever see me get attached to someone, I want you to hit me.”

“Why ?” Mystery didn’t know anything about love, but he knew Su-Jin didn’t too. He asked himself why a demon who died so young wouldn’t want to experience that.

Su-Jin paused.

“Because you’re strong, and if you hit me, I’ll get a taste of what heartbreak feels like.”

Mystery thought Su-Jin was stupid.

When he met Zoey for the first time in that alley, he didn’t talk to her. He stared, as always.

With his bangs in the way, no one would see him anyway.

She wore her signature space buns with a cute bucket hat. They seemed to be “undercover, and Mystery found that funny.

He took in each and every feature of her bubbly face. She seemed to be drooling over Abby’s abdominal muscles, and that ticked him off just slightly. 

Do women find muscles appealing ?

“Tch… Watch yourself.” Said Jinu, dusting his shoulder in a provocative manner. As they left, Mystery patted his stomach, in search of defined muscles.

“What are you doing ?” Asked Su-Jin, raising a brow.

“Nothing.” Mystery quickly put his hand away to brush his bangs.

“Baby”, smirked. That boy wasn’t dumb, he saw Mystery’s bangs linger a little too long on Zoey’s sunscreen magazine. But it was too early to know for sure.

During their free concert on the plaza, Mystery looked at three things. The betrayed look on the songwriter’s face, Baby, and Zoey’s moving shoulders.

Seeing her enjoy the performance in some way felt nice. The tears of the songwriter didn’t feel as nice though. Perhaps that even after years of willing solitary confinement, he still felt remorse. Jinu, as the good leader he was, lead the group with an iron fist. You almost couldn’t tell the man was shaking in his boots. After all, twenty minutes before the show, he was completely crazy in the underworld.

“From the top !” he said, as the music stopped.

“Again ?!” Romance dropped to the floor.

“We perform in twenty minutes, we’re going to be fine, Jinu.” Abby reassured him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“We need to know these by heart, we can’t afford any mistakes. This needs to be our perfect debut.” He held up a complete re-transcription of the notes on the songwriter’s notebook.

“We already know them perfectly though.” Baby said, proceeding to recite his rapping part with ease.

“Still, a little more practice can’t hurt.” His smile was tense as he tapped on the “stereo” a newer demon gave him, and got into position.

Mystery didn’t really like how music evolved these days. The melody another demon had given them was all over the place...

The day of the signing event, Mystery and the others slept on the sidewalk. Jinu argued that only he could get the chair because he was the supposed “leader”. Romance cursed him out for that. After their grand reveal, they sat with Huntrix and Zoey’s eyes laid on him for the second time.

“I’m not sitting with no Saja Boy-” Her head turned towards Mystery, he tensed up a little.

“Heheh what’s up ?” She said, smiling excitedly.

Mystery didn’t answer, not because he didn’t want to, but because he didn’t know how to.

He couldn’t talk to a human woman like he talked to other demons when he was forced to, and even with them, all he did was insult them.

So he stayed silent.

Baby side-eyed his comrade as he sipped on a water bottle. Compared to his teammates, he didn’t care much for Huntrix. What he wanted was standing across the room.

The hand of a fan got too close to Zoey, and as reflex, Mystery barked. He barked like a dog.

Such behavior wasn’t habitual to him, he remembered Su-Jin’s words.

“You’re a dog for sure.”

Mystery thought Su-Jin had jinxed him.

Here he was, barking for a girl and getting scolded by her.

“No ! Bad Saja Boy !” She said, hitting him with her pen.

Strangely enough, getting scolded like a household pet didn’t bother him. He almost… Enjoyed it ? He couldn’t tell. Enjoyment wasn’t really his thing. All he was able to focus on was the growing heat of his insides, and he hated that. Mystery hated hotness.

Baby watched all this unfurl with the blankest expression he could manage to hold.

Jinu announced for them to leave, as they all got up, Mystery swiftly swiped Zoey’s pen from the table and left.

As they left the venue and waited for the songwriter, Baby looked at his comrade, a dubious expression visible on his rounded face.

“You… barked ?”

Mystery looked at the ground.

He didn’t know why he did that either.

He only knew that he would do it again if he had the chance.

Notes:

Did you enjoy the use of 3rd person ? Let me know !!

Chapter 19: Sick Day

Notes:

Felt inspired... Enjoy <3

You rarely wake up feeling refreshed. Of course, that morning after Su-Jin came by was an exception. Most of the time, you feel neutral or downright awful, but today’s morning was a morning like no other.

Your neck hurt, probably from sleeping in a wrong position, but you felt hot, and not in the good way. Your body was burning.

Maybe you caught a cold…

The burning sensation seemed to radiate from a certain point in your upper back, right above your shoulder blades. You feigned normalcy, tossing and turning in your damp bed-sheets, not wanting to bother with a quick phone call to your doctor.

You hated phone calls, they made your palms sweaty, your knees weak, your arms heavy… The list goes on and on. And honestly ? No one could blame you for it. You usually get put on hold for a shit ton amount of time just for the check-up to be scheduled right after the time your body recovers from the mysterious illness. It’s a hassle.

You groaned and reached for your phone to look at the time. Your eyes widened, realizing you had woken up in the early afternoon. Your eyes shifted from the time to the date, only for your concerns to realize with the abnormally loud sound of a doorbell. Your doorbell.

Shit…

The Saja Boys had come for their songwriting session, and you were in no state to work.

Still, not wanting them to lock-pick your door again, you groggily got on your feet and headed towards your front door, letting your presence known with an exhausted :

“Coming...”

You carefully opened the door and tried to keep a polite expression on your face. One that said : I didn’t wake up moments ago and I absolutely do not feel like I’ve hit rock-bottom.

“Wow.” Abby’s brows lifted, indicating a slight surprise in his usually calm and conceited behavior.

Your fake polite face didn’t work…

You looked at the men in front of you, they all seemed to be excited to work when you opened the door, but seeing the disheveled state of your pajamas, the bed-head on your cranium and the tired look in your eyes made their shoulders drop instantly.

“Honey, you don’t look so good…” Romance stepped forward, extending one hand to touch you, but Su-Jin was faster and got in front of him. He looked alarmed.

“Are you alright ? Are you hurt anywhere ? Any weird feeling ?” He inspected your body over your pajamas, clearly scared of something. You just didn’t know what and honestly, all these questions gave you a headache.

“You’re sweating bullets sweetheart…” Romance worriedly held his chin, eyeing you from head to toe.

“Yeah, you look kind of gross if you ask me.” Abby interjected with a snarky remark that you didn’t even bother to respond to. Instead, Romance reacted for you and whacked Abby in the arm, which made him yelp from surprise.

You thanked him in your head.

“We can reschedule our appointment, that won’t be a problem on our part. Right Mystery ?” Jinu asked, turning towards their silent band member.

Mystery pulled out a Huntrix themed calendar. You looked at it blankly, briefly wondering why he would have merch of their enemies, but then again, he had that notepad before.

He eyed the month we were currently into and softly said :

“Four days.”

What was he talking about ? Oh, right. The Idol Awards, how could you forget ?

Only four days ?

Panic coursed your body, you already felt awful so the added weight of a grueling time-limit sent shivers down your scorching spine.

Between ragged breaths, you managed to talk a little.

“I’m… sorry.”

“It’s okay Ty’, you can’t control that.”

“But the Idol Awards are coming soon and…”

Su-Jin shushed you gently. This time, he didn’t put his finger on your mouth. He knew what it was able to do, and did not want to renew the experience.

“Go to bed already.” Abby sighed.

“N-no, I’ll get the work station ready and-”

Without a word, Abby marched towards you with a determined and also done look on his face, pushing Su-Jin out of the way to lift you up on his shoulder. If you weren’t in such a horrid condition, you would’ve shouted really loud.

Upon lifting you as if you weighed nothing, Abby stopped dead in his tracks, feeling the temperature of your skint through the fabric of your pajamas.

“You’re burning up…” He said, intensely.

You clawed weakly at his small shirt to try and get him to put you down, but all he did was ignore your unspoken complaints and headed straight to your room.

As he motioned to finally put you down, he stopped again after taking a look at your bed-sheets. He huffed and went right back to the living room, where the group had settled, not wanting to keep your front door opened too long. As he walked energetically, he kept muttering things like how you should be sleeping in clean sheets for recovery. You questioned his meticulous ways.

It’s only sweat…

“Here,” He said. “hold them.” He handed you to Jinu like you were some kind of infant.

“What are you doing ?” Jinu took you in his arms despite his questioning, seemingly less strong than Abby.

“I’m going to change the bedding. I’ll be right back.” He muttered.

“I know my way around their room, I’ll help you Abs.” Romance chimed in and followed a reluctant Abby into your bedroom.

“Well, that’s unusual.” Jinu said, strained. He clearly wasn’t strong enough to hold you in a princess carry, and that made you chuckle internally. A faint smile appeared on your lips and you managed to utter six words that lit up Jinu’s face.

“Put me down on the couch.”

He eagerly put you down and stretched out his tense arms.

You looked around your living room. Su-Jin was standing next to the couch, looking at you as if you were plagued with every single deadly illness, Jinu was right next to the coffee-table, still stretching, and Mystery was… Right next to you ?

When did he sit down ?!

He tilted his head, his bangs swaying a little from the motion.

“Are you alright ?”

You nodded faintly as Mystery took a good “look” at you. You couldn’t really tell where he was looking, but you knew he was analyzing you. Soon after, he raised his index finger to point right at the start of the red heat in your body.

“Does it hurt…” He hovered his finger before pressing down. “Here ?” You flinched and moaned in pain as you raised your hands up to touch the precise area.

How did he know ?

The others flinched and the two men who were in your room rushed out.

“What’s happening ?!” Abby practically ran to your side. “Are you hurt somewhere ?!”

Romance followed with a panicked expression.

“Love ? Are you alright ?” He crouched down at your feet and held your hand, massaging it, hoping to ease your pain just a little.

Su-Jin watched in horror. You didn’t expect him to be able to look at you like that. He displayed a look of pure devastation. You pondered between the merging voices of your friends about the cause of such a reaction and–

Wait… friends ?

Friends.

You considered them your friends now.

You looked up at Jinu, who was watching all this unravel from the kitchen. He seemed to be wetting a towel and using other utensils to craft the perfect illness kit. His movements looked rushed, you felt grateful for having so many people care for you at once.

Even if Mystery didn’t show it, the way he knew exactly where you were hurting without you telling him made you feel… understood.

“Thank you guys…” You whispered, tears brimming your eyes. You weren’t sure if those were happy tears or painful tears, but you still let them roll down your cheeks.

You couldn't see well because of your teary eyes, but you saw their faces drain of color as they stared at something behind you. Curious, you turned around and saw nothing. While your head was turned away from them, you heard Jinu drop something in the sink and Romance gasp softly.

“What’s wrong ?” You turned back to them, glancing occasionally at Su-Jin who was now devoid of any positive feelings.

They were starting to scare you.

“What’s wrong ?” You sounded alarmed, you gripped Abby’s shoulder, who was also crouched down right next to Romance. Only then did he seem to snap back to reality.

“Nothing.” He said, sternly. “Let’s get you to bed.”

He got you up in a second and soon enough, you were tucked like a little kid in your clean bed. They also opened the windows to let some fresh air in while you all were in the living room, so the sheets were cold. You liked the feeling.

One by one, the men came into your room, except for one.

“Where’s Su-Jin ?” You asked, noticing his absence.

The men all seemed uncomfortable. Except for Mystery, Mystery was just looking around your room, gazing at Su-Jin’s drawing on your wall. At least, you think he was. You can never really tell.

Jinu spoke up first, bringing a water basin with some towels and a cup of tea.

“He’s not feeling well, seeing you sick made him… fearful.” He settled down on the ground next to you and started tending to you, placing a cold wet towel on your forehead. The cooling sensation brought you relief.

“Did I bring back some bad memories ?” You were worried.

He told you he used to be quite sick. Maybe seeing someone in such a state brings him back to when he was bedridden.

You felt awful for making him feel this way.

Jinu didn’t answer your question. He appeared to be quite shaken like the others, but maintained a cool and confident facade.

“Here, I brought you some tea. Drink it when it cools down.” He smiled gently. He seemed to be used to taking care of others, yet, his eyes showed clear melancholia.

You hummed in agreement and looked at the others.

“We’ll get going now.” Romance said.

“Yeah. Let’s not bother a sick human, they could die for all we know-UGH-” Romance’s elbow met Abby’s ribs.

“You can work on the song here.” You whispered. “I don’t mind.”

Jinu got up.

“We’ll go, and you’ll rest. Okay ?”

“But-”

“No buts.”

You sighed.

“Fine.”

As they left, you grabbed Jinu’s sleeve. He looked back at your sickly form with furrowed brows and pursed lips.

“I’m sorry Jinu, I hope you’ll still be able to work on the song.”

“We will,” He said, determined. “Our career depends on it.”

Your face twisted in guilt. Jinu scrambled to fix whatever he had caused.

“Not that you’re the one responsible for our entire career ! We uh- we- Ugh…”

He took a deep breath.

“We’re idols. We can handle that much. Don’t worry about us, and rest.”

A faint smile tugged at your lips.

What a dork.

“How can I contact you when I get better ?”

He pondered for a moment before Mystery chimed in, causing both of you to flinch. Jinu jumped back like a cat witnessing the existence of a cucumber.

“The bird.”

“R-right. My very standard pet bird.” He said, straightening his posture. “Send us a message through him. He’ll find you.”

You were too tired to question the use of messenger birds in this day and age, so you simply nodded and closed your eyes for some much needed rest.

You had another nightmare, the same kind as before, with a slight change.

The dark silhouettes didn’t move or suck out your soul this time, the blue-eyed creature was the one who did that job, but this time, it wasn’t here. You simply stood still while the dark smokey group stared at you.

You felt strangely at ease, sitting in silence. The unmoving creatures felt unnerving, but at least, they weren’t approaching you as if you were prey.

The nightmare haunted you again, but when you woke up seven hours later, the pain was gone.

A win is a win.

Notes:

Can you tell I was an avid 12-episode-shoujo-anime watcher ?

Chapter 20: Revelation

Notes:

I hit the 40k word count mark on the text document. I wrote a novel in a month.
What the fuck.

“I can’t ! I simply can’t do it anymore !”

“Baby.” Jinu sternly said. “You need to calm down.”

My whole body was shaking, my eyes glowed golden as the patterns on my body lit up. I couldn’t bear to see Typo in such a state, all because of me.

It’s your fault.

No ! I…

You’re the one who put the mark on them…

I only wanted to-

Protect them ?

“UGH !”

I dropped to my knees violently, holding my head like some sort of madman. Mystery rushed to my side to stop me from falling any lower.

“Su-Jin. Breathe.” He whispered, holding me by my shoulders.

“Mystery… I only wanted to protect them ! I didn’t think that…”

Tears welled up in my eyes as I grabbed Mystery’s arm as hard as I could. If he were human, the strength of my grip could’ve snapped his arm in two. He didn’t budge.

What we saw back at Typo’s apartment was horrid. Absolutely horrid.

The mark tripled in size, patterns were visible, striping the purple and irradiating a strong pink light, the same color as Gwi-Ma's flame. It seemed invisible to humans, since Typo didn’t notice it or didn’t even see the light, but it was there. It was getting stronger, and we still didn’t know what it did or what effects it really had.

I was already worried about them getting sick, but it being because of the mark I put on them for their supposed protection… What a sick twist of fate.
Abby told us later that their sheets were damp with sweat, but most importantly, that demonic ashes were there.

It took every single fiber of my being to not go absolutely apeshit in their apartment. The horror they probably saw on my face was actually restraint. I was this close to teleporting to the underworld and insult Gwi-Ma, I was even preparing mentally to fight the fire he exuded.

After a few minutes of crushing Mystery’s forearm, I relaxed a little bit, just enough for Gwi-Ma’s whispering frenzy to subside. I stayed down, crossing my legs to get into a more comfortable position.

“Can I say something that might potentially upset us even more but that is ultimately a real possibility ?” Romance raised his hand meekly.

Jinu sighed.

“Go for it.”

He paused before exploding in a frightened trance.

“Human bodies don’t do well with heat ! Abby told me their body heat was way too high for a human to handle.” He cried out, panicked as he ran to Jinu, shaking him by the shoulders.

“If they don’t get better soon, they’re going to die ! They’re going to die before we finish the song, they’re going to die without ever finding their mother !” Romance sobbed.

Was he always this emotional ? Wait…

I lifted my head to look straight at Romance.

“What was that ?”

He turned his head towards me, confused.

“What was what ?” He sniffled like a crying kid.

“That stuff you said about Typo’s mom ?”

“Oh yeah,” He relaxed, happy to be concentrating on something other than Typo’s demise. “that poor fashionista’s been missing for a fewweeks now, Typo’s trying to live a normal life but this information is really killing them from the inside. I can tell, I mean, they basically sobbed in my arms when we got extra drunk.”

Something clicked in Abby’s mind and he groaned audibly.

“Fucking hell…” He uttered, facepalming himself.

“What ?” Romance’s head went back and forth between me and Abby. “What’s wrong ?”

“It’s us.” Mystery whispered, his grip on my shoulders tightening slightly.

“Their mother’s soul went to Gwi-Ma.” I said, widening my eyes.

“We killed their mother.” Abby scoffed, clearly finding this whole situation troublesome.

A long silence dawned on us. Romance was the first to break it.

“Maybe she went missing for another reason ? Not our soul-reaping !” He tried to be optimistic but failed miserably.

“You said she went missing weeks ago. We came to the human world last month.” Jinu’s head tilted back as he blankly stared at the underworld’s makeshift sky. Many more souls were coming in and their soft blue light illuminated the dark abyss. He sighed before continuing. “It lines up perfectly.” He declared, still looking at the sky with his fist clenched.

I laid down in a loud thump on the ground. Unable to say anything else, I simply chuckled like some sort of lunatic. The others stayed silent as I laughed, they seemed to empathize with what I was going through.

“I…” I started, still laughing. “I can’t approach Typo anymore.”

My comrades tensed up.

“Why ? We need to finish the song.” Jinu crouched next to me, his eyes looked worried.

Romance chimed in.

“Yeah Babe, you need to come with us, as a group.”

“If this is about the mark, we can-” Jinu scrambled to find solutions to a problem I was responsible for. This made me flare up.

“Don’t you get it ?!” I sat up, my fists almost ripping the fabric of my pants. “I… I got too close.”

The others watched me intently.

What do I want to say ?

Do I want to apologize to Abby and say he was right ? That getting close to humans won’t do any good ? Do I want to apologize to Jinu for even thinking of ruining his plan of eternal peace ? Do I want to apologize to Min-Jun for grabbing him by the collar and almost starting a fight with him ?

No.

Those are excuses. Silly pretenses that my brain is making to avoid coming to the realization that caused all of those problems. Dirt sullied my clothing, sweat beaded on my forehead and my eyes were red from crying previously.
But despite my miserable appearance, I had to say these three words out loud.

“I love them.”

This affirmation came out of my mouth like some sort of forbidden dark spell. How could I even pretend to be in love with them when all I do is hurt them without them knowing ? Our relationship hasn’t even officially started yet, and I’m already a terrible lover.
I’ve never been in love before, my mother and father weren’t the perfect representation of love either, all I could see from love was the couples mingling during the festival I barely attended when I was fourteen, and yet, I loved Typo.
I loved their reactions when I teased them, I felt incredibly jealous when they spent time with Romance, I felt protective of them under any circumstance, and most of all, I wanted to touch them. To please them. I wanted them to praise me and only me, I wanted their tears and fears to be shared with me, and I wanted to feel their body against mine, like some sort of animal.

This realization hit me like a truck. And so did Mystery’s fist.

The impact sent me flying, it came so suddenly, I didn’t even have time to block it. Jinu’s mouth gaped open, as if he never saw Mystery hit someone before. Abby gave me a smirk that said “you deserved it”, Romance’s face cringed as he watched me fly back to slam against a tree.

Holding my cheek, I whined.

“What the fuck Mys’ ?!”

Mystery stood in the same spot he punched me from, massaging his fist. Jinu walked up to him nervously, as if he was afraid to be next.

“Why did you hit him ?” He asked.

“He told me to.” He answered, a soft smile visible on his usually blank face.

I sighed heavily, feeling the shape of Mystery’s fingers on my face. Mystery doesn’t do stuff like this for shits and giggles, if he did it, it’s because I really asked him to, somewhere, sometime.

I got up, already feeling the healing effects of Gwi-Ma’s demonic power, and headed back towards the group.

A strong silence made its way between us, the group looked straight at me, taking in the weight of my revelation-

“We knew.” Abby declared.

I flinched.

“Wha-”

“Yeah, it was obvious Babe.” Romance put on his smug grin. “I mean… hickeys ? Could you be any more obvious ?”

“You did seem to care for the songwriter in a way that just wasn’t business or friendship related.” Jinu pondered, holding his chin. “I hope you took them on a date at least-”

Romance giggled at Jinu’s remark, he imitated a girl’s voice.

“Ugh, you’re so old.” He said, in his girl voice.

Jinu flinched and hit the back of Romance’s head.

Something lit up in my head.

“How’s it going with… What’s her name again ? Jumi, Rima ?”

“Rumi.” He sighed.

“Yeah, her. How’s it going ? Found any weaknesses ?”

“I… I don’t know. Apart from her patterns, I haven’t found anything I could use.” He seemed unsure.

“You’re not… feeling bad for her, are you ?” I eyed him up and down, a playfuul smirk forming onto my lips.

“O-Of course not !”

Romance lifted one brow.

“Oh yeah ? You sure look happy after coming back from one of your nightly meetings.”

“Let’s not make this about me alright ? This is about Baby and Typo.” Jinu held both of his hands up as he scooted back.

Me and Romance teased Jinu for quite some time, earning a few glares from Abby in the process. He even groaned at some point.

“Why do you all keep taking a liking to humans ?” He said.

“You like Typo too.” Said Jinu.

Abby tensed up, visibly flustered.

“No I don’t !”

“Oh please, changing their bed-sheets ? Really ?”
“Talk to me when you stop falling for a huntress.” He sneered.

“How dare you!” Jinu and Abby started getting ready to fight.

Thankfully, Mystery’s calming voice was heard and put a clear stop to whatever was going to happen.

“Maybe she could help.”

We all looked at Mystery.

“And maybe she could bring her friends too…” He muttered, shying away from the spotlight.

I pondered for a moment. It was risky, but if this Yumi could find out if the mark is dangerous for Typo in any way, it could save their life. And if she could somehow remove it before the Idol Awards…

“I’ll see what I can do.” Jinu declared.

The group dispersed and went on to do their own thing. Mystery proposed to roam around Seoul in disguises, but I had somewhere I needed to be, someone I needed to see. 

Typo.

All I said about not seeing them anymore, that was bullshit and I knew it. I physically couldn’t stay away from them, even if I wanted to.
Plus, Abby did say that their temperature was abnormally high and that they could die from such a fever, so it doesn’t hurt to check on them.
I waved Mys’ goodbye and teleported straight inside their apartment.
Kind of hasty on my part, if they had seen me pop inside of their home, they would’ve found out that I’m a demon, and that would’ve been terrible. But I did it anyways, because I wanted to see them as fast as I could.

Their apartment was silent, the faint ticking of the clock and humming of the fridge were the only audible sounds. As I silently made my way to their room, I took in every smell, every shape and every color of their home. It was probably one of the last times I would ever be here after all.
My eyes rested on a framed picture. Upon taking a closer look, I saw Typo, laughing with three of what I suppose were their friends. They looked like students.
Typo’s face stood out from the sheer joy on their face. They looked like they had been laughing for quite some time.
The joyous Typo in the picture contrasted gravely with the bedridden Typo I knew.

I made them like this.

I entered their room for the first time. It felt like entering a sanctuary of some sort, a restricted area where only a select few could march on. The curtains were closed, but the afternoon light seeped through their fabric, tainting the room with a peaceful atmosphere. Their bedroom walls were filled of song ideas, pictures, and dried flowers. Some of the flowers from the bouquet we had gotten them were there too.

The shelves were full of something called CD’s and vinyls, books were scattered on every surface, forming multiple piles.

But most importantly, this room smelled like them. The pendant I got them sat on their bedside table, the turquoise stone glinting gently in the light. 

My eyes laid on Typo’s sleeping form. I slowly walked towards the bed and sat on the ground, staring intently at their face.

I never saw them like this before.

Their face was not showing any sort of discomfort, the demonic fever didn’t show itself in their sleep, and that reassured me greatly. They already looked better than before. Their dark eyelashes rested perfectly on the top of their cheeks, their closed lips seemed as soft as a feather pillow and their skin looked…

Tasty.

I violently shook my head. Such thoughts weren’t needed right now.

I put my arms on their bed and rested my head on them, not taking my eyes off of their face for even a second. Their serene breathing filled my ears and soothed me in a way I’ve never experienced before. Soon enough, I fell asleep in the embrace of their calming room.

.

.

.

A gentle hand caressed my hair. I kept my eyes closed and smiled, knowing whose hand that was.

“Did I wake you ?” Their soft voice echoed in my ears in the most delightful way.

“If I say yes, do you stop ?” I opened my eyes to discover a sat up Typo, illuminated by the orange hues of the evening. They tilted their head, smiling at me with gorgeous twinkling eyes.

“You’re such a flirt.” They chuckled, their hand still caressing my hair.

“Only with you.” I got up and sat on their bed, facing them. I looked at them intently, checking for any sign of pain.

“Are you feeling better ?” I put a hand on the cover, right above their thigh. They massaged their neck before speaking.

“Yeah, a lot better.” They said, soft-spoken. “I’m sorry if I scared you, I know you don’t do well with illnesses.” They looked down, guilt taking hold of them. I held their chin to meet their gaze.

“I was not scared of your illness, I was scared for you. I felt helpless and didn’t know what to do.” Pain could be heard in my voice.

God, I really was head-over-heels for them all this time and only figured it out just now. I’m an idiot.

Typo’s hand slithered around mine, which I had just put on their chin, they placed it on their cheek as they leaned into my touch. I might’ve melted right then and there.

“Thank you for worrying about me…” They paused, a small blush creeping up their neck. “and for checking up on me.”

“Don’t thank me, I was originally planning on not seeing you again.” I scoffed, averting my gaze.

And it would’ve been better to do what I planned to do, because being the cause if their mother’s disappearance can cause quite a fight. Being the cause of more than twenty million people’s death is not really “boyfriend-material” or whatever they call a suitable match these days.

“W-what ? Why ?” Their eyes widened and their grip on my hand got tighter.

“Can’t you tell ?” I smirked as I tilted my head.

I could tell their brain was racking up every possible reason, and that made me laugh. While their attention was elsewhere, I brought my face closer to theirs.

“Do you need me to spell it out for you ?” I lowered my voice, sliding my hand around their waist.

They seemed to have already caught on, but acted clueless.

“Maybe.” They lowered theirs as they inched closer to me. “But… I’m more of a visual learner you know ?”

“What does that even mean Ty’ ?” I chuckled, not moving an inch. Typo seemed to get impatient.

“Just… Just do it already…”

“Hm ? Do what ?” A coy whisper escaped my lips, I enjoyed toying with them too much.

Their face showed an adorable pout.

I could just eat them up…

This time, I welcomed the lustful thought with open arms.

They sighed.

“Nevermind.”

They started moving away, but I didn’t allow them to and instead of letting them distance themselves, I crashed my lips on theirs in a hungry, almost primal kiss. They leaned into it instantly and put their arms around me, falling back on the bed in a soft thud. Their hands kept tugging at my hair, urging me to continue, to give them what they had been waiting for all this time.

Our mouths met in multiple lewd wet sounds that sent chills of utter pleasure down my spine. I wanted more, I wanted to feel them even more.
Our lips only parted when we needed to breathe, causing us to pant like animals. A small string of saliva connected our parted lips multiple times, I enjoyed it very much.

I want to hear you more.

I took in every single aspect of their attractive appearance, and somehow, the dimmed lighting made them glow even more.

Their lips were slightly red and wet from all the kissing, their eyes shone in the evening light and showed me nothing but desire, their pajamas were practically begging to be taken off and the cover on their legs definitely needed to go.

“You’re… beautiful.” I uttered, completely starstruck as I towered over them.

I've already said this before, but... they really do look good under me.

They got visibly flustered, as if being complimented during such a situation caught them off guard. They held their hand up to their face, pointing at their lips.

“Then, kiss me more.” They smiled cheekily, and I gladly obliged.

I placed soft kisses everywhere, on their forehead, on their temples, on their chin… And finally, I went back to their mouth. To those lips I’ve been aching for so long, those lips I wanted to feel everywhere on my body, the lips of the one I loved.

I wanted to shout that I loved them, I wanted to tell them I’ve been yearning for their touch and their moaning, pleading voice ever since they knocked me down during our first meeting, that I just didn’t realize it then, but I was scared.

Love is a scary feeling. I didn’t dare tell them I loved them when I would be the cause of a carnage in a few days, during the Idol Awards.

So, I stayed silent, keeping my mouth occupied by kissing them relentlessly.

If I can’t tell them, I’ll show them.

Notes:

What will you get next chapter ?
Smut ?
Fluff ?
Angst ?
Grueling sadness ?
All of the above ?
Who knows (≧∇≦)ﾉ

Chapter 21: Lovesick

Notes:

Hey so I may or may not have written this chapter while listening to "Confident" by Justin Bieber so read in public at your own risk.
Also, please tell me if the use of gender-neutral nouns was done well or not, I'm having a really hard time writing gender-neutral sex scenes lol

“Ah… wait…” They broke our kiss sheepishly.

“What’s wrong ?” I cupped their blushing face with my hand, concern filling my voice.

“I’m still a little sick.” They say, looking away from me.

I smiled lovingly as I put my head in the crook of their neck.

“I have a very strong immune system, I’ll be fine.”

“If you get sick, don’t blame me !” They warned me playfully.

I’m already sick.

I ravished their mouth once again, earning soft whimpers and ragged breaths from them that sounded like raw honey.

Their voice resonated with every cell in my body, I craved their touch, and they needed mine.

My hands fumbled with their clothing as I clumsily tried to take their top off. They giggled at my awkwardness and in retaliation, I slid my hands under the fabric, feeling the softness of their hot skin.
They flinched from the coldness of my hands and squirmed gently against my touch as I planted kisses in the crook of their neck. Their hands clinged to my own clothing, and I felt them slither out of the blanket.

I stopped the kisses and simply watched them get out of the covers.

“Ooh,” I cooed. “Are you getting serious ?” I coyly said as I started taking off my jacket.

They didn’t respond, instead, they shot me a hungry glare and pounced on me, violently sliding off my jacket, tossing it aside, and pinning me down to their bed with a sultry groan.
Frankly, they took me by surprise. Then again, they seem to like jumping on people. I should be thankful I’m the one getting jumped on this time.

“I take that as a yes…” I breathed out as I felt their teeth on my skin, the bites they left, the warm wetness of their tongue licking the bruises they created...

It was exhalarating.

I concentrated on every touch, every kiss, every lick, every moan, even the smallest little sigh. Pleasure coursed through my veins and concentrated in one particular spot. I desperately needed them to stroke me. To taste me.

I grinded my hips upwards unconsciously. I wanted to feel them, to feel their clothed thigh against it.
They noticed the motion I was making and smiled, sitting up, using my torso for support. As they straddled me, their hands roamed my body, occasionally gently pinching my nipples through my shirt.

I didn’t know I could feel like that…

“Fuck…” I groaned. Still moving my hips against them, between their spread legs.

“See ?” Their voice was soft-spoken as one of their roaming hands went back to cup my cheek and purse my lips with their thumb. “This is how worked up you got me last time.” They giggled as their hips started grinding in sync with mine.

Their free hand started unbuckling my belt and undoing my trousers, they purposefully grazed the growing bulge in my pants to arouse me ever more. I tilted my head back as they bit their lip, hips still colliding with each other, feeling eachother get even more aroused by the second.

“What if I stop right now ? What happens ?” They asked, a playful look in their eyes as they looked down on me from their straddled position.
I grabbed their hips and pushed them down on me, colliding with them once more.

“Stop, I dare you.” I kept pushing them onto my lap, I knew they felt me against them, I knew they liked feeling me between their legs. Their upper body swayed with each thrust I gave them. As they pushed onto my torso, they moaned out.

“Su-Jin…”

Fuck it.

Lovesick.

That’s what I am.

I gently pushed them off of me in a way that would flop them on their back and took of my trousers, kicking them aside, in the same place as my jacket. Typo watched me with a lustful glint in their eyes. Once I got them off, I took off Typo’s pajama pants and dropped them on the ground. They looked embarrassed.

How cute.

“Spread your legs.” I ordered, resting a hand on their knee while circling my thumb.

“Make me.” They defiantly said.

Little did they know…

I don’t want to play the weak human role anymore.

I forcefully spread their legs with unrivaled ease. They stared in shock as their legs effortlessly spread open as if all their strength meant nothing to me. I stared back, a devious smirk plastered on my lips.

“Huh ? What’d you say ?” I asked, faking innocence.

“… Fuck you…”

“Yeah, I want you to.”

Appreciating this small victory, I licked my lips and slided my hands against their legs, slowly making my way up to their needy heat.

“Look at you… Shivering already ?” I cooed, inching closer and closer to their weak spot.

They suddenly sat up, an alarmed look on their faces.

“Wait ! I.. uhm…”

I looked at them, confused.

“I sweated a lot today… And uh… I didn’t…”

I know what they’re trying to say, but seeing them embarrassed is really fun.

“I didn’t wash up !”

I gently placed my hand on their damp briefs, feeling how worked up I made them down there, and smiled.

“I don’t care, really.”

“You really should care, I’m dirty right now-”

“Do you want my mouth here ?” I pressed down and they liked the feeling, their half-closed eyelids were fluttering, as they sighed in pleasure.

“Well… yeah… But-”

“Then lie back down.” They obeyed and meekly fell backwards on their bed, hiding their face with their hands.

“This is so embarrassing…”

“The only embarrassing thing is going to be your voice when you can’t stop yourself from moaning.”

"You talk too much." They whined as they kept their face behind their hands.

"Because I can back it up."

They stayed silent as I brought my hands to the space between their legs.

I took extra time feeling how different their skin felt there, how thin and supple it felt, how hot it was, and how much pleasure it made them feel. How my tongue slided against their crotch and how relaxed it made them. As they sinked in the mattress, I rubbed my hand on their groin, using my saliva as lube, and watched their eyes roll back with a proud look on my face as their hands slowly showed their gorgeous face.

They moaned each time I sucked and licked, they trembled when I used my hands to torment their dripping wet hole. I slid one finger at first, feeling around, watching them writhe in my grasp, and soon, I put two fingers inside their wet heat, pumping the place they seemed to enjoy repeatedly as they whined from my touch.

“Ugh… A little harder… Please..”

My hand was cramping, but I kept going, earning more disheveled and unrestrained groans from my partner.

They grabbed my forearm as they sat up, meeting my gaze as their face showed extreme pleasure.

“Kiss me..” I obliged, crashing my lips on theirs as I kept playing with their sensitive parts. Their moans mixed with the wet sounds my saliva made against them.

“You like that ?” I asked, already knowing the answer as I felt their hole tighten around my fingers as I pumped in them with all the demonic strength I could use without completely destroying their insides.

They spoke in-between moans as they grinded their crotch on my hand.

“Yes…” They sighed softly.

“You want more ?”

“Mhmh…” They nodded.

Their hand grabbed the pillow under them as they turned their head to push their face onto it.

Fuck…

“Look at me.” I ordered.

They only responded in messy moans and ragged breaths. I reiterated, my voice strong and almost mocking.

“Look at me, baby.”

“Hah…”

They slowly turned their face away from the pillow, still holding it with all their might. Their eyes locked on mine. I could tell they liked the petname.

“Keep going…”

I gladly obliged and kept hitting their sweet spot over and over again, stimulating them inside and outside of their hot and sweaty body.

I felt them twitch.

Their legs shook violently as they released themselves on my hands, making a mess of themselves in the process. Their sensitive spot was throbbing in pleasure as they moaned my name again and again from my continuous touching. Their release didn’t stop my hands from touching them even more, driving them over the edge and playing with their sweet, overstimulated groin.

“Fuck.. Hah…” They whimpered.

“What was that ?” I asked, licking the mess they made on themselves as I welcomed them in my mouth once more, cleaning them up. Their thighs tightened around me.

“Put it in…” They asked, shyly.

“You want it that bad ?”

I eyed my own crotch. My tip was peeking out of my boxers, I was as hard as I could possibly be. They reached their hand out to touch me, but I took it and pinned it next to their head.

“I’m not hearing anything… You want it ?”

They glared at me like I was some sort of villain and meekly spoke, still weak from their climax.

“Please…” They looked away from my prying eyes as I smirked devilishly.

Maybe I am a villain.

“Beg some more, come on.”

“Shit… Please Su-Jin ?” Their fingers played sheepishly with the folds of my shirt.

“Well, since you asked so nicely…” I placed a gentle kiss on their parted lips and took off my shirt.

They lusted over my almost naked body, eyeing my peeking tip as they thought I wasn’t looking.

Fucking adorable.

They took off their own shirt, the only remaining piece of clothing present on their body. I watched them take it off like it was some sort of sacred ritual, taking in every sound their body made against the fabric. And there they were, completely bare under me.

A blush crept up my neck and I felt my ears get hot. I was just realizing what I was about to do to them.

None of the homeschooling I went through prepared me for this.

I kissed them lovingly, nibbling their lips, licking their nipples as I slowly stroked my shaft. They eyed it curiously.

“Want to touch it ?” I whispered. I didn’t ask this to mock them this time.

They stayed silent and approached their hand, running their index finger along my length. I tipped my head backwards and enjoyed their clumsy hands on me.

“Stroke it just like that.” I grabbed their hand and guided it on me, showing them the movement I wanted to feel.

“I promise I’ll put it in after this.” I smirked, looking at their embarrassed, drooling face.

They brought their mouth up to it, kissin it shyly at first, then circling their tongue around it.

Suddenly, they licked their hand, spat on my dick and got to work as if they knew how to please me all along.

I flinched as they took me in their mouth, sucking diligently and playing with my nuts, now slick with their saliva. Sucking me off while stroking me at a steady rhythm.

“Hah… Wha-” I whimpered in their hands as my legs trembled slightly.

Their mouth felt so warm and wet. Their lips pursed in a way that would avoid their teeth grazing my shaft and their hands stroked me in ways I never even imagined.

Is this how humans pleasure themselves nowadays ?

My mind was hazy as I felt my head fill with cotton. Their saliva was getting all over the place, but it felt so damn good that I didn’t even care about the mess.

In fact, I wanted them to make it.

I closed my eyes and grinded my throbbing cock in their hands in an unkempt manner. My moans got lower and lower as I got comfortable with their touch and soon enough, I was moaning their name.

“Ty’… Keep going.” I chuckled lustfully as my hips moved to meet their hands and mouth.

My cock was getting vaccummed, and I loved it.

My eyes rolled back as I let them devour me.

As I got closer and closer to my own release, I snapped back to reality and grabbed their wrist.

“Wait, wait.” I said, trying to find my breath.

Their brows furrowed in confusion.

“Did I do something wrong ? Did I hurt you ?” They let go of my length immediately, checking for any injuries.

“No, no you didn’t, don’t worry.”

“Oh, then-” They put their hand on my inner thigh with a smile on their slick lips and I stopped them right then and there.

I pinned it above their head as they laid back on the mattress.

“I want to come inside you, not from your hands.”

They got flustered and spread their legs to let me access their entrance.

“Be gentle.” They asked shyly. I loved them like that…

I loved them above me, under me, next to me…

“I will.”

Notes:

Oh no no, oh no no, she's confident 🎶

Chapter 22: Rollercoaster

Notes:

OVER A THOUSAND KUDOS ??? THANK YOU SO MUCH. HERE HAVE A SONG : AND SHE LOOOOOOVES THE ATTENTION THAT SHE GETS WHEN SHE MOVES YEAH

Your body felt hot, and it wasn’t because of the fever you suffered from previously.

“Is this okay ?” He asked, positioning himself correctly and pressing his tip against your hole, now slick with a mix of his juices and yours.

You nodded, both embarrassed and excited to be connected with him. You focused on the pressure you felt, how just feeling his tip stretched you out.

He’s way bigger than last time.

Right, the last time he got hard in your presence was during your little movie date. That day, he fled like a coward, with his tail between his legs, literally.
But now, there he was, pleasing you with his skillful hands and gentle voice.

You watched Su-Jin’s expressions with the utmost attention, noticing the slight twitch of his brow when his head pressed against you, his soft sigh as he entered you slowly, very slowly, his hands tightening around your hips…
You had asked him to be gentle, and you could tell he was doing everything in his power to try and do what you asked of him. He worked so hard to please you, and you absolutely loved it.
His hair was all messy from the tugging you had done earlier, his soft features were visible in the evening light as the setting sun lit up the room through your curtains.
The glint in his gorgeous blue eyes showed a hungry man, a man acting far from his idol act, a man who wanted to devour you whole.

You felt a strange pressure, something not even sex toys could replicate. You felt nothing, but also everything. You felt filled yet you knew something was missing. You needed him to move. As he entered you fully, pressing inside the furthest part of you he could reach, he paused, letting a whiny moan escape his pink lips.

“Are you okay ?” You asked, putting one of your hands on one of his on your hips.

He answered while looking down at himself, looking down at his shaft buried deep inside you.

“Yeah… I’m just…” He pulled back slowly just to thrust into you, hard, earning a surprised whine from you. “so needy right now...”

You saw heaven, that man had to be an angel.

He started slowly, making love to you as he kept doing the same pull-out-push-in method. You closed your eyes and felt him put your legs on his shoulders as he got closer to you, gently pounding you. You could tell he was holding back, both his cum and his roughness.

You did suck him off particularly well earlier...

“Am I doing good ?” He asked, locking eyes with you as his hips thrust into you at a steady rhythm. You heard the sound of your bodies clapping against each other, moist and downright wet sounds echoed in your room.

“Mhmh…” You didn’t have the strength to talk, you nodded and kissed him lovingly.

His cock pressed against your sensitive spot repeatedly, he was still gentle, but the more he thrust, the more impatient he became, breaking the tempo to give you a powerful thrust that he made sure you felt thoroughly by staying still inside you, unmoving for a few seconds before going right back to his rhythm.

You lifted your legs off his shoulders and trapped his body with them, forcing him to be even closer to you. He rested his blushing face in the crook of your neck, embracing you as he kept moving inside you. You felt his hot breath on your skin as he sometimes nibbled on it to muffle his moans.
This position felt perfect, you could kiss him, hold him, and feel him deep at the same time.

The only sounds in the room were coming from you both. It felt peaceful. If it weren’t for this deep arousal you felt, you could have fallen asleep.

Su-Jin’s naked body collided with yours in ways you only imagined in your wildest dreams. You caressed, even tugged his hair sometimes as you whined relentlessly. He did the same, tightening his hold on you as you tightened your hold on him.

You felt yourself coming closer and closer to release, but you wanted this to last.

“Harder…” You whispered, your voice catching in your throat.

That word seemed to spark something in him. He let go of your torso and grabbed your legs around him, forcing them open in a spread eagle. His lips tugged in a smirk before he roughly slammed into you, as if you were some kind of fuck-toy.

You loved it.

You broke out in numerous primal moans, feeling him hit your sweet spot again and again with newfound vigor. Just as you thought he was about to cum, he flipped you onto your stomach.

You laid there, stunned as your juices soaked your clean bed-sheets.

“Ass up.” He ordered.

You knew what he was capable of, if you said no, he would have just lifted your ass up anyways. And as much as you would’ve loved him to lift you up, you wanted to obey him.
You arched your back, looking back at him in a playful way.

“Like this ?” You asked as you caught your breath, playfully swaying your ass from left to right as you anchored yourself into your mattress.

“Just like that.” He flashed you a dirty smile before positioning himself correctly.

You didn’t even have time to prepare mentally as he slammed himself into you, he thrust deeper and deeper each time he went in, causing you to grip your pillows. Your mind was fuzzy, your body slick with sweat, and you could barely articulate anything more that a few “more” or “deeper”.

You were a moaning mess. His moaning mess.

And he loved you that way, you knew it.

You felt his testicles slap against you as his movements became more and more erratic. He grabbed your throat from behind, lifting you up, bringing you close to him as he whispered into your ear.

“I felt you twitch. You’re gonna cum again, aren’t you ?” His other hand teased your outer sex,

You could only moan like a little bitch.

“You like it when I fuck you from behind ? Huh ?” He mocked you lustfully, thrusting into you even faster as he asked this petty question.

You only could utter a small and meek affirmation as you held your head down, you went limp in his hands as he held you securely close to him.

“You’re so perfect like that…” He chuckled. “All sweaty and messy for me.”

He turned your head to the side to peck the side of your mouth. As he went back behind you, you felt his teeth dig into your neck.

You lost it completely and moaned out his name.

“Su-Jin !”

You climaxed in his hands, shaking violently as he kept ramming into you, seeking his own release. He soon found it and pulled out of you to cum all over your back as he let out a raspy moan. You felt his cock slide between on your lower back as he thrust with each cumshot, as if even now, he tried to reach you to the fullest of his capacity.

You both stayed still for a moment, breathing with each other, listening to each other’s rapid breathing. You slowly brought your arms up above your head, and fell against your bed, bringing Su-Jin with you.

You laughed as he got off of you, grunting as he lifted his tired body with his lean arms. He plopped next to you, stroking your cheek with his thumb. As you lovingly gazed at each other, you brought yourself closer to him, nuzzling in his chest. As he caressed the top of your head, your eyes widened slightly, as if your brain was slowly processing what had just happened.

We didn’t use protection.

He pulled out. Is that a good thing ?

You didn’t know and simply hoped for thee best. After all, you had spent one hell of an evening and didn’t want to concern yourself with such dreary matters.

“Did you like it ?” He asked, pressing your head against him to stop you from seeing his face.

You laughed.

Is he seriously asking me that ?

“I liked it Su-Jin.”

“Does that mean I’m good ?” He joked, still holding you close.

“I give you three stars…”

Your mind flashed multiple moments where you felt extreme pleasure during this intercourse, but you decided to ignore them to avoid feeding his ego…

He can get pretty cocky.

You felt the soaked sheets under your hips.

“Poor Abby and Romance…”

His hold on you tightened as you lifted your head to try and see his face.

“Why are you talking about them ?” He seemed to be pouting. You found that adorable.

“Well… They’re the ones who changed my sheets, and now they’re all dirty…”

“I wouldn’t call them dirty, just seasoned.”

You snickered and slowly distanced yourself from his embrace.

“Where are you going ?” He asked, a worried look on his face.

Does he think I’m fleeing ?

“I need to wash up, you should too.”

His eyes lit up. You eyed his sweaty body. He seemed to have splattered his stomach with his own semen when he came on your back. The view was breathtaking, you could watch him all day.

“Want to come with ?” You smirked.

He got up immediately, hugging you from behind as you waddled to your bathroom.

You turned on the water and got into the steamy shower, feeling Su-Jin’s body behind yours. You put the shower-head in his face on purpose to blind him with water sometimes. As you opened your vanilla-scented body-wash, Su-Jin’s hold on you tightened.

“That soap is dangerous.”

You giggled, not really getting what he meant by that. Still, you lathered the soap on a glove and started rubbing the sweat and other bodily fluids off of your body. Su-Jin simply watched you intently. As you bent down to scrub your legs, you felt something hard behind you.

“You’re joking.” You mumbled playfully, looking back at the owner of the hardness.

Su-Jin stood there, his length up and ready as he looked right at you.

“I told you it was dangerous.” He smirked, gripping your hips to steady himself and grind against your dripping wet skin.

“You’re an animal…” You let him pleasure himself on your body, still attempting to wash yourself as his hands roamed your soapy figure.

“Round two ?” He whispered in your ear, his voice needy and sweet.

You simply couldn't refuse.

---

You both managed to come out of the bathroom clean and refreshed, somehow. As you worked in the kitchen to whip up a quick meal, Su-Jin worked in your bedroom to change the dirty sheets. He took quite some time.

“You okay in there ?” You shouted out, he responded instantly.

“Yeah, it smells like sex in here.”

You giggled and finished the meal. As Su-Jin came out of your room wearing your clothes, you brought two plates of teriyaki chicken along with some rice to the living room and set them on the dining table. Before sitting down, you turned on the TV to listen to the news as you ate.
Su-Jin joined you on the dining table and quickly dug in.

“This is delicious Ty’.”

“Thanks, you can add salt if you want.” You smiled softly.

You felt a little awkward, eating in front of the same person who fucked your brains out should be simple, but it’s not. You were thankful for the background noise your TV provided, as it didn’t leave you in awkward silence. Many people were talking about the Idol Awards and who they thought would win between the two runner ups, Huntrix and Saja.

The screen showed the pictures and introductions of each member and their fun moments. Zoey was shown scarfing down a huge bowl of popcorn, Mira was shown protecting a fan from a drunk guy at one of their concerts, and Rumi’s awesome singing voice echoed throughout the set.

“They’re going to be really tough rivals, huh ?” You turned towards Su-Jin, who was still munching on a piece of chicken.

“Yeah… We really need to crush it,” He said, swallowing a mouthful of rice. “but we’ve got you, so we’re going to win easily.” He showed me a playful smile before sipping from his glass of water.

As for the Saja Boys, many images showed their performance on the plaza, some even showed fanart from the fan-signing event.

The TV host announced Su-Jin in a joyous manner.

“And for our last Saja boy, we can say he does not play around, in contrary to his stage name ! Baby Saja stole the hearts of many fans during his steamy rap for Soda Pop…”

You snickered, they were right, it was kind of suggestive.
You would know, since you wrote it.

The host continued.

“But it seems his heart belongs to someone else entirely ! At least, that’s what the fans think.” The host wiggled his eyebrows as a video played on the huge screen behind him.

The video showed the interview you all went on, especially the part where Su-Jin handed you multiple chocolate candies, showing the huge #TYBY

“Zoeystery’s lovechild is all grown up already. Well, that’s it for today folks, see you tomorrow for-”

“What do you think ?” Su-Jin asked, a coy smile on his lips.

“What ?”

“Are the fans right ?”

Does he mean…

You stuttered, embarrassed.

“I uh.. I don’t.. I don’t know.”

“I hope what happened today helps you make up your mind then.” He declared, keeping that irresistible smug look.

He’s so good at teasing…

You eyed his clothing. He took one of your oversize sweatpants along with a shirt you wore only at home. The kind of shirt with awful patterns that doesn’t fit quite right. On him, the shirt almost looked fashionable.

You remembered his pile of clothing on your bedroom floor when you both undressed earlier.

“Su-Jin… Aren’t your clothes clean ?” He stopped eating to look at you, a confident glint in his eyes.

“Yeah… But I wanted to try yours.”

You sighed, defeated.

Do whatever you want, I’ll let you anyway.

As you took another bite of your food, Jinu’s words came back to you. Something about a messenger bird ?

You looked out the window and saw a yellow eye staring right at you. You flinched.

“Su-Jin.” You whispered, worried.

“What ?” He leaned on the table, noticing your tense attitude.

“Something’s looking at us…”

Su-Jin’s eyes followed your fearful gaze and landed on the yellow eye behind your window. He sighed, relieved, and got up to open the window.

“Sussie, don’t scare them like that, that’s not nice.”

A magpie with a tiny hat perched itself on Su-Jin’s shoulder immediately after he granted it entry into your home. The bird chirped, it looked unbothered and flew on the table, right in front of your plate, to steal some rice.

“Bad Sussie !” Su-Jin rushed to you to push the magpie named “Sussie” away. He turned to you, apologetic.

“Sorry about that, this bird can be a little rude.”

“Is that Jinu’s pet bird ?” You asked, eyeing the little hat on the bird’s head.

Mystery wasn’t lying…
Jinu really made hats for his pets.

You found that endearing.

“Ty’, meet Sussie. I think you were supposed to send Jinu a message through it as soon as you woke up but…” He smirked seductively. “I think you got carried away.”

You huffed.

“Thanks to who ?” You got up, allowing the magpie to peck your plate a few more times, and headed to your room to fetch a small piece of paper and some ribbon.
Upon entering, you remembered Su-Jin’s remark about the smell of your room.

It really did smell like sex.

You opened your bedroom window, letting the curtains sway in the night breeze.

On the paper, you wrote :

I’m okay now, come tomorrow at the usual time.
Xoxo, Typo.

You went back to the living room to find Sussie perched on Su-Jin’s shoulder as he silently handed it small bites of food that it happily engulfed. You silently took out your phone and snapped a picture of them.

You were definitely showing this to Jinu later.

You approached the two and showed them the paper and ribbon.

“Do I just tie the message on its leg ?”

“Yeah, go for it.”

Su-Jin watched you with a mocking smile on his face as your hands nervously approached the unbothered bird. You fumbled a little, but managed to securely tie your message in the end. You sat down to finish your plate, feeling proud of yourself.

Sussie cooed and flew away. As it left through the window, Su-Jin turned to you.

“You know I could’ve been the one to tell Jinu about your recovery, right ?” He stated.

Oh.

You shrugged to avoid any further mocking.

The atmosphere turned serious as Su-Jin’s blue eyes stared you down.

“Are you really alright ?” He asked, his brows furrowing slightly.

“Yeah, I’m not feverish anymore !” You smiled proudly.

“You don’t feel… different ?”

This is getting weird.

“Uhm… No, not really.” You massaged the back of your neck.

Su-Jin hummed perplexingly.

As you took the empty plates back to the kitchen, Su-Jin went to your room to supposedly change into his own clothes. When you got back to the living room, he was already putting his shoes on. You stood there, baffled.

“You’re leaving ?”

He turned to you as he laced one of his shoes.

“Yeah, Jinu’s going to kill me if I don’t show up.” His soft face showed guilt.

You fidgeted with the hem of your pajamas, a small pang tightening your bleeding heart.

“I… I thought you were staying the night, since you took my clothes and all...”

Is he really leaving ? Just like that ?

You felt sad. That man was the equivalent of a rollercoaster, one minute he gives you pleasure, the other, he gives you pain.

Upon seeing your disappointed face he hopped on one leg to avoid putting his shoe on the floor, almost falling over in the process. As he stood clumsily in front of you, he pulled you into a tight hug.

“I don’t want to leave either. If I could, I would stay here for a whole week.” He soothed you, rubbing his thumb on your upper back, where you felt the most pain during your fever. You hugged him back.

“If only you weren’t so busy…” You grumbled in his jacket. He chuckled.

“I know baby, I know.” He whispered in your ear.

“You’re calling me baby now ?”

“What ? You liked it.” You felt him smile against your ear, and felt yourself get hotter by the second.

You pushed him off of you, feeling bashful.

“Ugh, just go.” You groaned.

Su-Jin laughed as he hoped back to your front door to put on his other shoe.

“See you soon.” He smiled your way, showing you a sweet, loving smile you were certain you couldn’t get tired of.

“See ya.” You awkwardly waved from where you stood, and watched your door close.

As you let silence fall onto your apartment, you plopped yourself on the couch and went through every single thing that happened today.

I got sick, the Saja Bo- my friends took care of me, Su-Jin came back to watch over me and we–

You grabbed the first pillow you could find and hugged it as tight as you possibly could while kicking your feet, squealing like a high school girl.

“OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD !!”

Notes:

SHOWING OOOOOFF TO HER HOOOMEGIRLS HYPNOTIZING ALL THE DUDES OH AND SHE KNOWS
No but seriously thank you all so much, this means the world to me (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)

Chapter 23: Congratulations ?

As Su-Jin left his demon comrades in the underworld, Jinu prepared for his usual nightly meeting with Rumi. The Saja Boys quickly regrouped to discuss the matter at hand.

“Do you really think she could know something about this ?” Romance asked, still anxious.

“I don’t know, but it’s worth a try.” Jinu shrugged and looked at Abby.

“What are you looking at me for ?” He asked, defensively.

Right, Abby is still Abby, no matter how close he gets to the songwriter.

“Did…” Jinu hesitated. “Did Gwi-Ma give you any orders that he didn’t tell me about ?”

Abby and Jinu stared each other down. They were both Gwi-Ma’s favorite puppets, and they both disliked it.

“No.” Abby responded, sternly. “He’s been quiet since we got to know the songwriter.”

Jinu hummed curiously as Abby visibly tensed up, as if he was embarrassed about something.

“What’s on your mind Abs ?” Romance asked, inching closer to his pink-haired comrade.

“I just… I’m just hoping for the best, that’s all.”

“For what ?” Romance smirked. “Or for who ?”

Abby’s ears reddened. He always hated showing affection. When he did, it was always through his actions : little touches here and there, shoulder grabs… That man wasn’t really fond of expressing what he felt, especially if it meant admitting to have taken a liking to somebody.

He pushed Romance away, not in his usual angry demeanor. This time, he seemed bashful. Abby changed the subject.

“About the ashes on their bed… What could it mean ?”

They had already discussed the purpose of the mark together and concluded there was no possible way for it to turn someone into a demon, but, why would demonic ashes be there ?

“Baby talked about infusing demonic energy in the mark when applying it. Maybe it’s just residue ?” Romance theorized, holding his chin in his hand.

“There’s also this weird ‘love’ thing.” Abby muttered.

“Yeah, it exuded such a strong pink light when we… took care of them…” Jinu pondered.

“We fed the mark.” Mystery gently stated.

“Does that mean…” Romance turned to his angry pink-haired comrade, a playful grin on his lips.

“Don’t.” He glared heinously at Romance, who immediately wiped his grin off his face.

“Speaking of love,” Jinu started. “Where did our loverboy go ?”

Baby had admitted to loving the human songwriter to his “colleagues”, and disappeared soon after.

“Hm, I wonder where.” Abby asked sarcastically. The answer was obvious.

“Should we spy on them ?” Romance proposed excitedly. “I mean, it’s only natural… We’d simply be watching out for his human identity and check if Typo’s alright…”

Mystery seemed up to it, spying on people was his specialty after all. Abby looked reluctant but ultimately caved in to his curiosity.

“Come on guys,” Jinu reprimanded his bandmates. “don’t you value their privacy ?”

“I know you’re curious too.” Romance smirked devilishly as Jinu stammered.

“W-well, I am, but–”

“Then just come with us ! One little peek, that’s all we’ll do !”

“We can eavesdrop from their front door.” Mystery declared, as if he had already analyzed the soundproofing of the songwriter’s apartment.

In fact, he probably did…

“I really need to meet up with Rumi, I’m going to be late.” Jinu said.

The guy had already planned an escape route to Romance’s plan. Romy pouted, clearly disappointed in Jinu, but let it slide.

“So, it’s just us three ?” He said, looking at Mystery and Abby.

The two nodded, an intense expression on their faces.

Spying on people was fun, way funnier than they had anticipated.

.

.

.

“Do you hear anything ?” Romance whispered as Abby’s ear was glued to the front door.

“If you stopped talking, maybe I would !” Abby whispered back, shouting silently.

Mystery listened calmly, looking for any compromising sound.

“Wait, I hear something.” Abby said, excitedly. “It sounds like… clapping ?”

“MOVE !” Romance shoved Abby off the door to take his place and listen in. “And pull out the popcorn.” He ordered.

The men had prepared some spying snacks to not get too bored during their mission. Abby reluctantly pulled out a bowl of popcorn out of thin air and handed it to Romance. Mystery took a mouthful and kept listening.

“It’s quite faint but… I think they’re fucking.” Romance giggled like a little girl, enjoying this spying mission.

Powerful moans echoed all the way to the front door, unrestrained whining that undoubtedly meant something… lascivious, was unraveling in the bedroom.

“Oh Lord Jesus.” Abby stood behind the two, stunned. He didn’t need to stick his ear next to the door to hear the result of weeks of self-restraint on Su-Jin’s part.

“This is crazy.” Romance’s eyes widened as a huge smile spread across his lips. Mystery took another mouthful of popcorn and kept listening.

Abby slowly dropped to his knees, baffled. If he had pearls, he would’ve clutched them. A blush spread on his face as his face showed pure confusion.

“How can they be so… loud ? Isn’t Baby a virgin ?” He asked, appalled.

“Maybe the songwriter’s faking it.” Romance snickered, excited to mock his colleague.

“He studied a lot.” Mystery stated between two mouthfuls of popcorn.

The two pink-haired men turned to the silent demon.

“You’re telling me he watched porn ?” Abby smirked, still flabbergasted.

During all the studying the Saja Boys did on the contemporary human world and how humans loved boy bands, Abby stole an unlocked laptop which was displaying one particular “site”. He discovered heaven and hell that day, at the same damn time.
He particularly remembers curiously opening multiple “tabs” to study each and every category, he was diligent. Romance watched as well, poking fun at today’s vision of intercourse.

“Books.” Mystery whispered.

Romance snapped his fingers and the trio went right back to the demon world, where Romance burst out laughing immediately after.

“When ?!” The man held his stomach as he rolled around.

“When he was alive.” Mystery stated.

“HE STUDIED !” Romance screamed out like he was repeating the punchline of an extremely good joke.

Mystery nodded, a smile visible on his usually emotionless face. Even he found the situation funny.

“He fucking studied !” Romance kept laughing and flailing on the ground as tears brimmed his eyes.

Abby, who was still on his knees, held his head as he tried to avoid seeing visions of the songwriter’s intercourse. He definitely didn’t want to see that. To keep his mind off of it, he talked to Romance.

“Don’t mock him too much, of course you didn’t need to study beforehand, you were a manwhore.”

Romance stopped laughing to hit Abby. As they both fought on the ground, Mystery sighed, watching from afar, as usual.

He thought about congratulating his friend on the loss of his virginity, but decided to stay silent and avoid an awkward conversation on how he knew he just had sex.

“As if you could remember your sex life ! I’m sure you died a virgin !” Romance taunted as he punched his buffed counterpart in the face.

“With a body like mine ? Please !” Abby smirked and gave Romance a sharp kick in the stomach, sending him flying.

This banter went on for quite some time, enough for Baby to come back.

As he appeared in their usual meeting spot, he followed the voices of his bandmates and stumbled on a grueling scene.

Abby and Romance, covered in dirt and bruises, grabbing each other’s hair as they screamed insults at each other. The regeneration process kept starting over and over again, making their patterns shine a gorgeous shade of pink. The turquoise-haired man turned to his friend, Mystery, who admired the scenery nonchalantly.

“Do I want to ask ?” He said, putting his hands on his hips, a done expression on his face.

Mystery shook his head no.

---

The black-haired demon waited for Rumi patiently. He had grown accustomed to these little late-night rendez-vous and looked forward to them, just a little. His pets always led her to him, and he found comfort in hearing her footsteps as she arrived. A jarring difference from their first little “date” where she tried to kill him on the spot and snuck up on him with admirable stealth.

Jinu was no stranger to her long, tightly tied braid. He always wondered what her hair looked like when it was down and unkempt. He found himself imagining her waking up beside him multiple times as her gorgeous violet hair glistened in the morning light. He studied her face every night when they met, her calm brown eyes would probably look very different when ailed with morning fatigue. He wondered how the woman who was supposed to be his enemy could look so beautiful in and out of his mind. She would probably yawn as she stretched before turning to him with a gentle smile.

Or maybe she would hit him first thing in the morning for surprising her, who knows.

Such thoughts made him nervous. He was not supposed to feel like that and he knew it. In a way, him and Su-Jin weren’t so different. In fact, he felt like the two of them had gotten closer since this whole boy-band gig started.

Probably because of this whole “we shouldn’t be doing this” past-time.

After some time, he finally spotted the blue glow of his pet tiger Derpy as well as the bored stare of Sussie, and his gaze softened ever so slightly. There she was, in her nightly gray hoodie and pajama pants. She didn’t wear the teddy bears and choo-choo trains one in front of him anymore, he found that funny.

“Hey.” She said amicably.

Jinu waved and smiled.

“You… uh… You needed to ask something ?” Rumi’s face softened as she held up Jinu’s handwritten card.

I have a question. Let’s meet.

“Right… uhm…” Jinu tried to find the right words to tackle this subject without sounding like a mole. How do you ask : “what do you learn about demons during your demon hunter training ?” without sounding like a really bad spy ?
He shoot his shot.

“What do you learn about demons during your hunter training ?”

Rumi’s brows furrowed as she pursed her lips, she was confused and Jinu knew she would be.

“Why–“

So he continued speaking, hoping to clear up any misunderstanding.

“My friend, Baby, has taken a liking to a human.”

Rumi’s eyes widened as she inched closer to Jinu. No doubt, this situation reminded her of her own origins.

“And… Well, he wanted to protect them from… Demon attacks, you know.” Jinu spoke with his hands nervously. He didn’t really like where he was going with this explanation but oh well…

“So, he accepted an offer from Gwi-Ma and–“

“WHAT ?” Rumi grabbed Jinu’s shoulders as her face showed deep concern.

“I know, we all reacted like that…” He said, wincing from the absurdity of the situation.

“Who is the human ?!” She asked, alarmed.

“Typo, Soda Pop’s songwriter.”

Rumi let go of Jinu’s shoulders and took a step back, assessing the situation at hand.

“What did Gwi-Ma offer ?” She asked, keeping her eyes closed as she held the bridge of her nose.

“He offered to plant some sort of mark on the human, one that could use affection as a shield from demonic attacks.” Jinu leaned back against a nearby wall as he looked up to remember the mark’s appearance.

“It’s purple like our patterns, and it glows pink when it’s being filled. It grew too. Baby said it was the size of a small dot, but when I saw it…” He paused, holding his head down.

Rumi understood what Jinu was hinting at and seemed to be racking the very depth of her brain to try and remember something that matched Jinu’s description.

“I was hoping you could help me figure this out. We don’t know what it does and Typo’s probably in danger.” He said, reaching out to her and holding her sleeve.

“How is this songwriter’s situation different from the hundreds of people you put in danger everyday ?” She asked, a mournful look in her eyes as she clenched her jaw.

Jinu felt a pang in his heart, or what remained of it. Rumi’s right. How are they different ? The only thing they did was to give quite the first impression when they bumped into him back at the park, and a second impression all the more surprising when they got into a fight in the bath house with his bandmates. He used the only reason he could think of.

“He loves them.” Jinu declared, a resolute expression plastered on his perfect idol face.

Rumi’s features softened. Surely, if Baby was capable of loving a human, like his father supposedly loved her mother, that meant not all demons were bad. That meant there was a way of salvation. Something Jinu could benefit from.

“I… I’ll see if I find something.” She said softly. Jinu’s lips stretched to a smile. “But no promises, I never heard of a mark like that…”

Jinu inched closer to the huntress and held her hand with as little strength as possible, as if she could burn him. She looked at their touching fingers, and stared at their patterns. How could they be so similar yet… So different ?
His patterns seemed to start from his left hand, as they were darker and fuller on that side to progressively get thinner and lighter when spreading to his right hand. She wondered if there was a reason for such an appearance, but didn’t question it.

“Thank you, Rumi. Really.” Jinu whispered as he gazed into her hopeful eyes.

He knew she thought he was a “good” demon. A “misunderstood” man. He knew how great he made her feel from the way she talked to him, from the way she treated his pets, from how she didn’t refuse his touch. He knows what it’s like to feel trapped in your own misery, and he used her to get out of his. That’s what the deal with Gwi-Ma was.

Then… why did he feel so… conflicted ?

Did this feeling emerge from the scenarios he makes in his head ? The ones about Rumi’s bed-hair in the morning ?

The woman interrupted his self-reflection.

“I need to go, Jinu. I’ll see you soon.” She declared, a worried look in her eyes. This whole mark thing clearly got to her, shortening the length of their rendez-vous.

Jinu snapped back to reality, and let go of her hand in a hurry.

“O-Of course. See ya..”

Ugh… I’m such an idiot.

Maybe he was.

Notes:

heyyy how's it goooiing...

Chapter 24: Session Five's Toast

Notes:

Sorry for not having a proper uploading schedule, as most of you probably know, I'm completely raw-dogging this story and going with the flow lmaoo

You couldn't sleep at all last night. Your thoughts kept circling back to a certain someone, someone who made you see stars with your eyes closed. After all, how could you think about anything else when he was JUST here ?

You woke up in your clean bed-sheets, the ones he changed. You went to the bathroom, the one he went wild in after smelling your body-wash. You brushed your teeth, but your gaze fell onto the dirty laundry basket, where your soiled sheets were in, the ones he made you soil.
Everything reminded you of Su-Jin. Even your mood was up because of him.

You sighed blissfully and made your way to the living room, keeping thoughts of Su-Jin at bay as you watched the news. They were about the Idol Awards and the missing persons, again. It’s like they only had these two subjects to talk about. Or maybe you only happened to watch the news when these topics were discussed. An odd twist of fate, maybe.

As you unlocked your phone to message different clients, your eyes landed on the multiple posts that fans were doing, shipping Saja and Huntrix together.

Maybe the rivalry caused by the Idol Awards is making their brains go wild.

You laughed at the thought.

After checking your socials, you opened your gallery to find a breakfast recipe you had screenshotted a few days ago. As soon as the app opened, Su-Jin turquoise hair came into view. You lingered on Sussie, Jinu’s pet bird. Your blurry camera gave it multiple eyes. You smiled, finding the effect really trippy and got to work in the kitchen.

You ate silently at the dinner table, occasionally feeling Su-Jin’s lingering presence.

Suddenly, an illumination occurred in your tired and depraved brain.

Does he… love me ?

You smiled like an idiot, grinning from ear to ear and giggling all by yourself in front off your breakfast plate. Any sane person would’ve found you weird.

You thought about Su-Jin’s hypothetical love for you some more, not because you were happy about it of course, but because you needed to theorize on the ins and outs of an eventual relationship with an idol. At least, that’s what you told yourself as you grinned again, taking a bite out of your food.

Clearly, something was going on. I mean, faking ignorance could have worked if you hadn’t done what you did together yesterday.

You kicked your feet at the thought of Su-Jin having sex with you before slapping yourself back to reality.

Focus.

So, Su-Jin said a deep relationship wasn’t right for him to have because he is an idol. That much, you could accept. But, why would he flirt with you endlessly ? Why give in to temptation and indulge in carnal pleasures when he knew he wouldn’t want to deepen the connection further ? He did say something yesterday, about how what you had done together would prove the fans right or wrong. The reporter had said something just before that, about his heart belonging to you.

That had to mean something.

But this week was probably not the best time to talk about it. After all, the Idol Awards were happening the day after tomorrow. You decided to wait for a more appropriate time and headed out to feed your neighborhood cats. They soon flocked to you in multiple high-pitched meows as you spread kibble on the floor.

“I know… I’ve been neglecting you haven’t I ?” You bent down and reached for Popo to scratch his head.

You’ve been neglecting other parts of you as well, not just the cats. You still didn’t know how to feel about your missing mother, and that fact weighed heavily on your mind.
Rara seemed to have understood your inner conflict and came out of her hiding spot to rub against your calf.

“What’s wrong my love ? That’s not something you usually do.” You crouched down to pet her more, she purred against your leg.

You pulled out some wet cat food and she looked at you expectantly

“That’s what you wanted, isn’t it ?” You say mischievously as you hold up the little pack in the air, out of her reach. She seems unimpressed.

“Wow, you bully cats ?” Abby’s voice suddenly pops up from behind you. The cats don’t move, as if they knew he was there all along.

You get up and turn around to see a well groomed Abby, the usual. He’s wearing a yellow beanie with a tiny white shirt that let his abs peek out and some baggy blue jeans. He also seems to be wearing silver jewelry, something you’ve never seen him wear before. You greet him with a smile, but he seems as unimpressed as Rara.

“Hi Abs, what’s up ?” You ask, looking up at him. You notice he’s carrying a plastic bag.

“I… Uhm…” Abby hesitates. If you didn’t know him better than that, you would think he was embarrassed. “Humans are weak and I just thought you might need some things… For your illness of whatever.” He mutters and hands you the bag rapidly, as if being seen holding a plastic bag would destroy his image.

You’re a human too Abs.

“Oh !” You open the bag to see multiple medicine boxes. There’s one for migraines, for bellyaches, digestion, fever… “That’s real thoughtful of you Abby, thank you.” You give him the warmest smile you can deliver and close the bag before putting it around your wrist. Abby just stands there, like he forgot how to move like a normal human being.

“Did… Did you see Baby yesterday ?” He asks, his voice cracking just a bit.

Is he uncomfortable ?

“Yeah, he came back to check on me after you guys left.” You answer plainly, trying to hide your joy as best as you can.

“So... You feel better now, right ?” He kept asking questions with this bashful tone, something you weren’t used to seeing. No, it’s not bashful… it feels more like he’s beating around the bush.

Where is his usual cocky attitude ?

You didn’t mind the change, but this felt weird.

“I do feel better, look, I’m outside.” You declare, gesturing to the neighborhood around you with a smile.

He clears his throat before answering you.

“That’s good then.” He says with a small smile.

He just stands there, finger-tapping his thighs as his arms stay relaxed next to his body.

.

.

.

“Abby, I’m sorry but, did you need something ?”

Your question seems to catch him off guard. He widens his eyes as he takes a step back.

“No uh- I just wanted to give this to you and leave. So, uh, that’s what I’ll do… Yeah.”

He straightens his back and strides towards a nearby alley like some kind of robot. Before he’s completely out of sight, you shout.

“See you in the afternoon !”

He responds with a slight wave from that same alley. You chuckle.

These guys are weird.

---

The Saja Boys were coming over soon, you felt antsy and couldn’t stop moving. You had turned the same flower pot more than five times to fix its appearance and you kept bringing more and more snacks to the table as if you hosted a buffet.;

Thinking of Su-Jin, you had applied a few sprays of vanilla-scented perfume, since he liked the smell so much… You weren’t expecting anything out of this of course… Nothing at all...

Your doorbell rang and you eagerly opened it. The first face you saw was Jinu’s, of course.

“Hello Typo.” He said warmly as he grabbed your shoulder. Usually, he just shakes your hand.

Huh… That’s new.

Romance followed behind him and pulled you in a tight hug.

“Oh dear… I’ve been worried sick about you ! Are you really feeling okay sugar ?” He asked, holding your face between his hands.

“I’m okay Romy, really.” You smiled and tried your best to talk despite your cheeks being squished.

Abby stood still behind Romance.

“Hey Abs, what’s up ?” You ask, tilting your head to the side.

“Nothing, nothing at all.” He responded, focusing his gaze on something else and marching into your apartment like a task-driven robot.

Huh…

Mystery nodded while saying a simple and friendly “Hello.” and Su-Jin… Well…

He wasn’t there.

You looked back at his friends, confused. They sat down in their usual spot, waiting for you.

“Hey guys, where’s Su-Jin ?” You asked, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

“He’s running late, he had to do something.” Jinu replied a knowing grin on his face.

As you sat down between Mystery and Romance, Mystery scooted closer to you to whisper in your ear.

“Jinu forced him to dance until his legs gave out. He’s resting.”

You tensed up, thinking of Su-Jin’s words as he left last night.

“Jinu’s going to kill me if I don’t show up.”

Oh, poor him… He showed up and still got punished...

You resumed where you left off last time.

“So, now we need a bridge.” Romy declared, proud to have kept track of what you did last time.

You chuckled.

“That’s right, any ideas ?”

The room fell silent. You sighed and put your ideas out there as you took out your notebook.

“How about something like : Living in your mind now ?”

Jinu’s face lit up.

“Too late cause you’re mine now.”

“Ooh, really demonic, I like it.” You smiled as Jinu laughed awkwardly. Abby glared at him.

Romance took a bite out of his usual pocky snack and offered you some. You took him up on the offer and took a bite. Though, you could’ve sworn his gaze fell on the back of your neck.

“Maybe we could highlight the salvation this supposed demon offers ?” Abby proposed, with his arms crossed.

“Hm, so something like : I will make you free when you are a part of me ?”

“Let’s replace you are with you’re all.” Romance said with a smile.

You listened to the instrumental again, placing the lyrics where they were supposed to go and singing them to the men. They watched you intently.

“It’s really good.” Jinu said excitedly. “You have a nice voice.” Ha added.

Mystery nodded as he stuffed his mouth with chips.

You averted your gaze from his, shyly.

“Thanks Jinu, not as good as you though.”

Your front door burst open, a tired Su-Jin fell on the ground, face first into the wooden floor. You ran up to him worriedly as his bandmates watched from the table, still munching on the snacks you prepared.

“Su-Jin ! Are you alright ?!” You closed the door before getting down to his level and helping him up.

This wasn’t how you imagined seeing him first thing after having sex. You had imagined him ringing the doorbell and letting himself in with an adorable sly smile that would’ve made you swoon even more, but oh well. He had obviously worked himself to the bone to make up for the practice time he missed. His shirt was on backwards.

“Am I late ?” He asked, using your body to support himself as he got up.

“Yeah, a little.” Abby answered from the couch, still crossing his arms.

“Shit.” He turned to you, apologetic. “I’m sorry Ty’… I slept in.” He whined.

You flinched from the sudden change in his voice.

Get your mind out of the gutter…

“No, it’s fine don’t worry.” You reassure him by caressing his shoulder. “You can sleep more if you want, I can give you my bed and–”

“He’s fine, it’s not like some extra practice could kill him anyway.” Jinu exclaimed, looking at Su-Jin’s tired form with unapologetic eyes.

God… Just what happened when he came home ?

You put your arm around Su-Jin’s waist to guide him to the table. He took the opportunity and rested his head on your shoulder as he walked.

“Nice perfume.” He whispered in your ear seductively, giving you a playful grin as he made his way to the table.

Babe ?

You felt giddy again…

You sat back down, a small blush creeping up your neck. You quickly diverted your attention to something else, like Abby’s constant distant look. He seemed to be staring blankly at your bedroom door.

“Abby ? Is everything okay ?”

“Huh ?” He turned to you. “Yeah, why ?”

“I don’t know… You seem kind of out of it…”

“I’m fine. I’m just… distracted, I guess.” He muttered, his ears getting a little red.

Romance snickered before changing the subject.

“How about changing : Let me be the star you rely on to Watch me set your world on fire in the last chorus ?”

“Sure, that sounds great. Let’s try it all from the top.” Jinu gestured to you to start the instrumental from the beginning, which you did.

You watched them sing their parts, and hearing them harmonize when needed in awe. You felt like you had your own private little concert.

The lyrics sounded perfect.

But your motto was to always wait it out before finishing a piece for real.

“Come back tomorrow, and if you don’t want to change anything in the song, we’ll celebrate !”

“And if we want to change something ?” Su-Jin leaned closer to the table, a sly smirk on his lips.

“Well then, we’ll change things up, and then celebrate.” You gave him a coy smile as you got up and brought more refreshments to the living room. You felt their eyes on you for some reason.

---

We all collectively eyed their back in search of any big purple mark, but nothing was there. Not even demonic ashes. As they headed towards the kitchen, we immediately shared our opinions, concerns and questions.

“What did the huntress say ?” Abby asked, leaning towards Jinu expectantly.

“She said she’d never heard of anything like Typo’s case before…”

“Fuck.” Romance sighed as he held his head in his hands.

“Gwi-Ma did say he had never used it before, that may be why.” I responded, still feeling anxious.

“Kinda funny if you ask me.” Romance exclaimed.

“What is ?” I asked as Mystery lifted his head up from the chips bowl.

“The fact that Gwi-Ma never liked anyone enough to protect them. Kind of sad, too.”

Jinu’s wistful gaze landed on me.

“Let’s hope for the best.” He said.

Him ? Talking about hope ?

I don’t know what that Yumi girl did, but she may be changing him for the better.

Typo steps were heard and we all acted as normal as possible, they came back with two bottles, orange juice and apple juice. We all helped ourselves and filled our glasses to the brim to raise a toast.

“To your second song !” They said, raising their glass with an excited smile on their face.

It felt weird to see them today, to see them in normal clothing, saying normal things, talking normally without moaning my name or blushing profusely. My mind was still filled with memories of them, all putty in my hands.

“To our second song !” We all cheered before chugging our juice glasses.

“Darling, don’t you have alcohol ?” Romance asked as he hugged Typo from the side while shooting me a malicious look.

What is he playing at ?

I raised an eyebrow, silently sipping my apple juice.

“We drank most of it when you slept over Romy, and you know it.” Ty’ sighed as they patted Romance’s shoulder sympathetically.

“Can’t we buy some more ?” He whined, moving back and forth to sway Typo from one side to another.

“Blackcurrant liqueur.” Muttered Mystery between two bites of appetizers.

“See ? Even Mystery wants to try some !” Romance’s eyes twinkled with envy.

Typo sighed before getting up, a defeated look on their face.

“Fine, but someone needs to come with me to carry the bags.”

Of course, I raised my hand, but Romance and Mystery did the same.

“Me ! Pick me !” Exclaimed Romance, raising his hand as high as he could.

Mystery stayed silent, his hand was barely raised, definitely not as high as mine or Romance’s, but still.

Why would he, of all people, want to go grocery shopping ?

“Hm… You’re making this hard for me…” Said Typo, chuckling as they put their hand on their hip.

Of course, they have every right to pick someone else other than me, the guy who almost confessed his love to them. I’m not the type of guy to feel jealous over a thing as small as a grocery shopping partner… They can go with whomever they want and like…

Pick me, please.

“Su-Jin.”

My whole body relaxed as I let down my arm. I didn't realize I held it so high up...

“Coming.” I answered to them calling my name with a smile.

Romance puffed and Mystery held his head down.

I win.

"Fix your shirt first, Babe." Abby called out to me from the couch, a small smile on his lips.

Typo giggled, and I reluctantly did what Abby asked me to.

As I took off my shirt to turn my shirt upside down and put it back on the right way, I felt Mystery’s veiled gaze on me.

“Why did you want to go ?” I asked, knowing he would get that this question was for him.

“I wanted to see Blackcurrant liqueur first.” He answered meekly, a small pout on his lips.

I smiled at his childish way of thinking.

That’s right, even if Mystery’s this tall silent guy, his mind and way of acting are pretty straightforward. Maybe that’s why he barked for this Huntrix girl back at the fan-event.

I still remember how Ty’ looked that day. They seemed conflicted between enjoying our company and hating us with every fiber of their being. It was funny to see.

“Let’s go, Su-Jin.” Typo warmly called my name once more.

I followed them out the door, grabbing their hand as soon as the door closed. They tightened their hand around mine immediately.

This is nice.

Notes:

They're totally getting wasted next chapter.

Chapter 25: Never have I ever...

Notes:

Your comments cracked me up lmaoo I'm not dead guys.
I've actually been babysitting my nieces since the last upload, so I've written this chapter little by little.
Thank you for waiting, I hope you enjoy it <3

You walked hand-in-hand towards the grocery store. A comfortable silence had settled between the two of you, but you didn’t mind. The fact that Su-Jin had reached for your hand first meant that he still considered you, that he didn’t dump you after spending the night with you.

Your love hypothesis stands a chance.

You entered the convenience store in search of nice bottles, something that would automatically spark joy in a drunkard’s eyes like Romance. Su-Jin closely followed behind you, still clinging onto your hand as he looked around the different aisles you stepped into.

“Say, Su-Jin…”

He hummed as he turned his attention back to you.

“Can you handle your alcohol ?” You asked, holding up a bottle of soju with a playful smile.

His eyes twinkled,

“Not really, no.” He grabbed another bottle and handed it to you. “Can you ?”

You chuckled as you took the bottles and stuffed them into your shopping bag.

“I don’t really know, I don’t remember how fast I got drunk with Romance…”

His eye twitched and he turned around, acting as if he was watching the different bottles present on the shelves.

“Ah, right… You got drunk and slept in the same bed as that guy.” His faked indifference didn’t fool you one bit. You giggled as you put your arms around him from the behind.

“Are you jealous ?”

He clicked his tongue before answering.

“Me ? Jealous of Romance ? No way.” He leaned back into your warm embrace.

You put your cheek against his back and just stayed there for a while, without talking.

“Ty’ ? Are you alright ?” His hand caressed your forearm as he turned his head to the side to try and see you.

It took every bit of restraint in you to not say that you loved him. That you wanted to stay like this with him forever, that you wanted to get to know him even more.
Maybe that’s why he hasn’t asked you to be his partner yet, because you don’t know him better.
After all, you don’t know his favorite color, his favorite food, his favorite smell–

Wait no, that’s vanilla.

You let go of him with a simple “I’m fine” before going back to choosing different alcohols.

Still, there’s tons and tons of things you don’t know about this guy, which is normal, after all, you only met him last month and…

Last month ?!

Things went fast between the two of you… That has to be why he hasn’t asked you to be his partner yet.

You decided to give him two more months. If he didn’t profess his undying love for you before that, you would give up on him and start anew. Maybe even call back your sorry excuse of a father and ask him for some good marriage prospects.

Nah… I won’t go that far.

You shook your head as you grabbed a brand new bottle of blackcurrant liqueur. You smiled thinking of Mystery’s face when he would take a sip for the first time. Actually, you couldn’t really visualize it well, since he hides one half of his face.

As you made your way to the cashier, you decided to probe your situationship about his friends.

“Why does Mystery hide his eyes like that ?” You asked, putting down the bottles on the rolling mat.

Su-Jin followed your lead and put some bottles down while answering your question.

“He doesn’t like his face.”

That was a plain response…

You chuckled.

“Well, Zoey seems to love it.”

Su-Jin laughed and put down the articles on the mat.

“Yeah… He doesn’t say it but I think he took a liking to that girl.”

Your eyes widened as you whipped your body in Su-Jin’s direction.

“Right ?! The merch is a dead giveaway !” You laughed and put down another set of bottles.

“Mystery's pretty cute when he wants to be.”

Su-Jin pouted.

“I don’t think he wants to be cute, he’s just aloof.”

“You know, on our first date, he helped me pick a movie genre.” You said bashfully as the store clerk kept his eyes on the articles sliding before him. He seemed interested in the discussion you were having…

“What ?”

“Yeah, he just appeared out of nowhere and started telling me about your tastes in media.” You chuckled, remembering Mystery’s stoic face as he said Su-Jin’s favorite genre was romantic comedy.

“In a way, it’s kind of thanks to him that we’re where we are now.” You smiled wistfully.

Su-Jin stayed silent as you payed for the many alcohol bottles. He bagged them up quietly and followed you outside. As you reached for his hand once again, he pulled it back. You turned around, a confused expression flashing on your face.

“Is something wrong ?” You asked, trying to get Su-Jin to meet your probing eyes.

His usual confident and carefree demeanor showed something else entirely. He seemed conflicted. You reached for his hand again, he didn’t pull away this time and gently tightened his hold on you.

“I’m sorry.” He uttered, avoiding your eyes with all his might. “I went too far.”

You blinked, even more confused than before.

“Huh ? What do you mean ?” You smiled, confused, your voice cracking a little.

“I’m scared that I’ll end up hurting you. I don’t want that but I’ve already gone too far.” His face was somber as he held his head down.

The lit streets cast an overhead shadow on your faces, the dramatic lighting enhanced the seriousness of this whole situation.

Your voice caught in your throat.

“You’re doing it again.”

The man flinched.

“Wha–” You cut him off.

“You’re backing out, again.”

You clenched your fists to try and stop your voice from trembling.

“Ty’, it’s not like that.” He desperately murmured.

Your voice firm, you tightened your grip on Su-Jin’s hand, afraid he’d run away.

“Then, what is it like ?”

Su-Jin stayed silent. You sighed, putting down the plastic bag with a clinking sound from the bottles.

“I… I feel something for you, you know that, right ?” You said, meekly.

“I know. But I’m...”

“But you’re an idol ? Is that it ?”

Su-Jin stayed quiet, clamping his lips together in thin tight line. As if he was holding himself back from saying something unfathomable.

Tears welled up in your eyes as you swat your hand away from his in one swift motion, Su-Jin’s eyes widened slightly as he felt your hand leave his.

“Y-you… You have no right to say that now !” You clutched your heart as your throat tighten. “You’re the one who… who…”

Before you could even finish speaking, Su-Jin pulled you into a tight hug, deliberately placing your head in the crook of his neck. His arms wrapped firmly around your waist and upper back. He was stroking your trembling body with a gentleness you didn’t even get to feel until now.

You slumped into his hold, in spite of yourself, and clutched him tightly, afraid he’d disappear right then and there.

“You’re the worst.” You sniffled into his shirt.

“I know… I know…” He soothed you like a baby, occasionally kissing the top of your head.

“You have no right to do me like that after what we did.” You gently hit him in the back, still minding his health in spite of everything he did.

“I’m sorry Ty’, I really am.”

Dickhead…

You cursed him again and again in your head while you hugged him tight.

You silently hugged each other in the quiet street, occasionally feeling some eyes on you from nearby passersby. You stayed like that, unmoving, until a familiar voice rang out.

“Babe ?”

Abby’s tall figure appeared under the white street lamp’s light.

Su-Jin let go of you reluctantly, your eyes were red, you could feel it. And even if you didn’t, Su-Jin’s concerned face and Abby’s raised eyebrows would be a dead giveaway.
Abby eyed you up and down before settling his gaze on the full plastic bag on the ground.

“Are those our promised bottles ?”

Su-Jin nodded.

“Great, Romance is getting impatient, Mystery too.”

An uncomfortable silence settled between the three of you, occasionally broken by your meek sniffles.

“You guys go on ahead,” Su-Jin said. “I’ll join you later.”

Abby didn’t question his colleague and grabbed the plastic, turning to you, he raised an eyebrow.

“Come on, don’t make me stall here.”

You didn’t move, you didn’t feel like it.

Abby glanced at Su-Jin before sighing.

“You bought alcohol, let’s go.”

He suddenly grabbed you wrist and forcefully led you to your apartment. Over time, as your sniffles diminished, his hold loosened, getting more comparable to a slight tug than anything else.

Breaking the silence, you cursed Su-Jin out, rubbing the tears out of your eyes.

“He’s a jerk.”

“We all have our own shortcomings.” Abby muttered, keeping a fast pace.

In the stairs, Abby sometimes stole glances your way, probably to make sure you were still following and not curled up in a ball of raw sadness. Once you arrived in front of your apartment door, he turned to you, his expression stoic.

“You look like shit.” He smirked, his voice echoing slightly on your apartment floor.

“Fuck you.” You muttered with a hoarse voice.

Abby chuckled as he brought his free large hand to your shoulder. He seemed hesitant to comfort you, and you could understand why.

Abby was the only guy of the group who strangely didn’t feel like the type to open up. You knew that under his confident and cocky front was a caring man. You saw it happen, yet, he seemed reluctant to treat others with care, as if that would go against his very being.

He clumsily circled his thumb on your shoulder.

“Baby has…” He gulped uncomfortably. “He has matters to take care of. And as idols, we–”

You cut him off, a sharp disdain seething out of you.

“You can’t date.”

Abby stayed silent as he studied your features. Your tear-stained cheeks, your red eyes, your wet eyelashes… To him, they all seemed so… foreign. He had never seen you break down that way. And he knew you would look even worse later on.

He sighed softly and brought you closer to the door, his expression unreadable as he bent down to your level.

“We have alcohol, get wasted or something.”

You sighed.

Is this his way of telling me to cheer up ?

“I will.”

You quickly composed yourself, bringing a cold bottle to your face to cool yourself down and perhaps soothe the redness away. Abby watched you silently, his hand on the handle, waiting for you to give him the okay.

You nodded, and he opened the door.

Damn it all.

“Who wants alcohol ?!” You shouted excitedly.

Romance and Mystery spun around and rushed to you.

“Meeeee !” Romance grabbed the plastic bag and got the blackcurrant liqueur out instantly. Mystery watched him intently.

“Look at this Mystery…” Romance held out the bottle like it was a national treasure.

“I’m looking.”

“Pure heaven… In one single bottle…” He sighed as he presented the drink in a sultry voice.

“Don’t fuck the bottle Romance.” Abby grunted and brought the bottles to the kitchen.

Jinu joined the group, looking around.

“Where’s Baby ?”

You fell silent, marking a long pause. Abby answered in your place.

“He had something to do before joining us, said he wanted to take a walk or something.”

Romance scanned your face meticulously, his brows furrowing before grabbing you by the arm.

“Let’s get wasted !”

“In moderation.” Jinu declared.

Romance clicked his tongue.

“Ignore him…”

You all went to the kitchen and prepared cocktails together, talking and laughing. Romance did most of the talking while Mystery practically bounced with anticipation as you poured him a cocktail containing the promised blackcurrant liqueur.

You chuckled and handed him his glass with a smile.

“Here, Mystery.”

He cautiously grabbed the glass.

“If you don’t like it, Romy will finish it.”

“Damn right I will !” Romance shouted as he chugged a bottle of soju. You winced at the sight, so did Jinu. You two exchanged knowing looks.

He’s going to regret that… So bad…

Mystery’s mouth curled in a smile as he took the first sip.

“Guess he won’t have to.” Jinu chuckled.

You laughed and drank from your own glass, enjoying the sweet blend of juice and alcohol. Jinu eyed a bottle of makgeolli with keen interest.

“Take it, Jinu.” You said, sliding the bottle towards him.

“Yeah Jinu, let loose for once.” Abby absentmindedly drank from his own bottle of soju, his gaze wandering to the living room. He wobbled towards the couch and flopped down on it in a grunt.

Romance’s eyes followed Abby’s drunken movements and he followed him, jumping around happily.

“Drinking game !”

You all followed Romance and gathered around the coffee-table.

“Oh ! Let’s play never-have-I-ever !”

Romance’s flushed face contorted in confusion. You caught the other’s puzzlement and started explaining.

“I’ll go first to give you an example.”

You set down your glass.

“Never have I ever drank water.” You took a sip.

Jinu and Mystery understood instantly, the two pink idiots however…

Jinu explained the rules, occasionally looking back at you for confirmation. Seeing you nod your head brought a proud glint in his eyes. Romance’s eyes twinkled as he understood the rules.

“This is going to be so fun…”

You happily prepared your prompts in your head. This was your chance to get to know them all better.

The front door opened gently and you all turned around to see a glum Su-Jin. His eyes locked onto yours before going to the kitchen to grab a drink. He soon joined the group around the coffee-table, sitting down at the other end.
The group feigned ignorance at the thick tension between the two of you as you slowly sipped your drink.

Abby spoke up.

“Never have I ever… hit somebody.”

Su-Jin perked up.

“Wait what ?”

Abby sighed and explained the rules, Su-Jin nodded.

Everyone drank, except Mystery.

“No way,” Romance giggled, “how ?”

Mystery shrugged.

“I’m not a violent person.”

You turned to Abby.

“Who did you hit ?”

A cocky smirk appeared on his face.

“Romance.”

“And I hit him back.” He snarled in response.

“And you Jinu ?” You turned to him, expectantly. He shifted in his seat.

“Well… You know…”

You hummed playfully, waiting to hear more.

Romance’s slurred voice rang in your ears.

“Never have I ever… had a crush !”

“Hey ! I wanted to hear Jinu’s anecdote !”

He turned to you with a mischievous grin.

“Too bad.”

Su-Jin took a big sip of his bottle, Mystery followed along with Romance. You sipped your drink with your eyes fixated on Su-Jin. He stared at you too.

“You’re not drinking Jinu ?” Abby called out to him.

“I don’t really–”

Romance cut him off with a solemn expression.

“Drink. Even Mystery’s more in tune with his feelings…”

Mystery stayed silent, fidgeting with a pen in his pocket.

You giggled.

“It’s Rumi, isn’t it ?”

Jinu tensed up instantly and fumbled with his glass, almost knocking it over.

“What ? No way. She’s not even my type, I mean–”

“How ? She’s everyone’s type.” You laughed at his obvious flustered state.

He sighed and muttered under his breath, a slight pink tint covering his cheeks.

“Ugh, that’s exactly what she said.”

You froze as you leaned forward.

“You met her one on one ?!”

Romance and Mystery smiled knowingly while Abby rolled his eyes. Su-Jin’s expression remained unreadable. You turned to them, surprised.

“Were you guys aware of this ?!”

“Eh, kind of.” Abby shrugged dismissively.

You leaned back, speechless.

“He’s been anything but subtle.” Romance giggled.

The game continued with moments of laughter.

“Never have I ever… fell down a flight of stairs.” Abby’s eyes locked on Mystery who drank quietly.

You drank too. Your head was starting to feel fuzzy, you felt comfortably warm.

“When ?” Romance slurred the only word in his sentence, the man was drunk as hell. Perhaps you were too.

“I…” Mystery hiccuped, the visible part of is face was flushed from the alcohol. “I fell a lot when I was a kid. I had really long hair…”

“Why didn’t your parents cut it ?” You asked, tilting your head.

He paused, his expression more unreadable than usual.

“My mother didn’t like my eyes.”

You felt emotional, more than usual. The alcohol was really messing with you. You whined and reached over to Mystery, bringing him into a tight hug.

“I wish you comfortable walks.” You sobbed in his hair as he stayed still, occasionally patting your arm.

As you did that, Romy took a hold of your phone and opened the camera, snapping pictures of the whole group.

“When did you fall down a flight of stairs ?” Jinu asked you with a curious gaze.

You let go of Mystery, a huge grin on your face.

“I didn’t go down alone.”

Jinu chuckled as Su-Jin’s eyebrow rose slightly.

“What’s that supposed to mean ?”

You swirled your half-empty glass with a nostalgic expression.

“Some kids tried to rip my notebook to shreds in elementary. I crashed out and launched on them, making them tumble down the stairs along with me.” You laughed heartily at the memory.
The guys looked concerned, except Abby, he was smirking.

“The funny thing is, I didn’t get hurt at all ! They got sent to the hospital though.” You sighed, content with your storytelling and chugged the remaining cocktail in your glass. You groaned and started getting up before Mystery grabbed your shoulder, forcing you to sit back down. You wanted to scold him, but he filled your glass with a dubious mix of liquids, his lips forming a dorky smile. You laughed and kept sipping away, game or not.

Romance’s head perked up.

“Never have I ever…” He looked around the group, expectantly.

“Had sex !”

Romance took a huge sip and Abby’s hands hovered around his glass. You shot Su-Jin an angry glare before chugging the whole glass down. Su-Jin chuckled as he brought his bottle to his lips.

“Jinu.” Romance called out. “You’re a virgin ?”

Jinu’s faced flushed from something other than the alcohol.

“So what ?” He said defensively.

Romance laughed.

“Mystery’s virginity doesn’t surprise me, but you ?”

Mystery pouted.

You joined in.

“Yeah, with a face like that ?” You smirked knowingly.

“I just didn’t find anyone. And you all know better than anyone that it’s hard given our… situation.”

Romance hummed joyfully, you turned towards Abby, still hesitant.

“And you Abs ?”

He didn’t question the nickname.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know ?” You tilted your head. “Do you not know if foreplay counts as sex or…”

Jinu chimed in.

“Before becoming an idol, Abby had an accident and lost his memory…”

Abby fidgeted with his glass, eyeing the sloshing liquid in it.

A short gasp escaped your lips.

“Really ?”

His silence confirmed it.

“I... I’m sorry Abby…” You looked at the cluttered table with a mix of guilt and surprise. You really never know what a person’s going though unless they voice it out.

“I don’t want your pity.” He sat straighter than before. “Besides, with a body and a face like mine, I’m sure I got plenty of action.”

His cocky smirk was back, but his eyes missed the glint that went along with it. You joked to lighten the mood.

“With that attitude of yours ? Yeah right.”

He scoffed.

“You’re not better either.”

“Oh really ? Just you wait you–”

You reached out to him to try and hit his legs, but he avoided your hands with ease as a chuckle escaped his lips. A genuine one.

.

.

.

You all sat silently in front of the TV, munching on some chips, when Mystery allowed you to.

You were squished on the couch between Abby and Su-Jin, Mystery stayed on the ground as Romance’s head rested on Abby’s shoulder. Jinu somehow managed to get the armchair to himself and was already nodding off with elegant poise, his arms and legs were crossed as he closed his eyes.

Romance’s soft breathing created a cozy atmosphere in the dimmed living room. The only light was the TV’s bright screen.

“Hey Mist,” Su-Jin whispered. “Can I have some ?” He pointed to the full bowl of chips.

Mystery shook his head no, getting a scowl from Su-Jin.

“Can I have some ?” You meekly asked, shooting your shot. Mystery handed you the bowl, his eyes fixated on the screen.

Su-Jin sighed and Abby chuckled, keeping his arms crossed as you leaned more towards him.

The alcohol had dulled the pain, but your anger towards Su-Jin was still there. You didn’t want to talk to him at all.

“Say Abby…” You asked softly. He hummed, signaling you to ask your question.

“Do you oil your abs ?”

Su-Jin snickered and looked away. Abby eyes briefly landed on you before going back to the TV screen.

“I’m not answering that.”

You smiled.

“Why ?”

Su-Jin answered in his place, stifling a laugh.

“He lathers himself in nourishing body oil.”

You turned to Su-Jin, to talk to him but stopped yourself, closing your mouth in a weird silence. You turned back to Abby, a playful smirk on your face.

“No way.”

Abby’s ears reddened slightly.

“I said I’m not answering.”

“He did for you.” You pointed your thumb towards Su-Jin without looking at him. He noticed your avoidance and furrowed his brows at Abby. You ignored his obvious jealousy and looked down at Mystery.

“Mystery ? Does he ?”

A soft snore was your answer.

You chuckled and got back into a comfortable position. Abby spoke in a grouchy mutter as he concentrated on the movie.

“It’s nourishing.”

About an hour passed in comfortable silence. Soon enough, you heard Abby’s breathing stabilize as he drifted off to sleep. You glanced at Su-Jin, who had his eyes closed. You got up as quietly and sneakily as you could and went to your room to get each person a blanket.
On the way there, you checked the time. It was now well past 2AM, but you weren’t feeling that tired at all.
When you got back to the living room, you gently placed a pink blanket on both Abby and Romance, a green plaid blanket on Mystery, and a purple throw blanket on Jinu. You moved methodically, occasionally stumbling as you tried to put them on without waking them up.

As you turned around to tuck Su-Jin in, you saw him with his eyes open, staring right at you. You flinched, holding your heart, which made him smile.

“You scared me.” You said, in a hushed whisper.

He stared at the blanket in your hands.

“Can we talk ?” He stood up, towering slightly over you.

You looked at his serious expression, unsure of what to do. He had already hurt you twice, why would you give him another chance ?
His eyes were pleading. You looked at his hair, disheveled from Romance’s ruffling. He had clearly sobered up. You sighed.

“Fine.”

You cursed yourself in your head for giving in so easily, but faced with such a handsome pleading face, your resistance was reduced to ashes in mere milliseconds. His eyes filled with hope as you turned around, clutching the blue blanket in your hands.

You both walked to your bedroom and closed the door slowly. You dreaded this conversation, but you had already agreed to it, so…

Good luck.

Notes:

I know I said they'd get drunk and barely showed any of it, but hey, can you blame me for wanting these characters to have deep meaningful connections ?

XOXO (○｀ 3′○)

Chapter 26: Talk it out

Notes:

Sorry for the late update, university's calling and I've been having terrible writer's block.

You felt Su-Jin’s piercing gaze on you as you closed the door, his nervousness was palpable, and the tension between you two was filled with unresolved feelings. You slowly turned around, pushing your back against the door.

Before you could even ask what he wanted, Su-Jin’s mouth opened, letting his deep voice come out in a soft-spoken whisper.

He glanced at the ground, then back at you.

“I’m a jerk, I know that.”

His figure was lined with pale moonlight’s blue hue as he stood with his back turned to the window. You gazed at the sight, feeling a lingering sadness in your heart.

“I know I can’t make up my mind about…” He scratched his head. “about us.”

You listened to him intently, staying still against the door.

“But I want you to know that I’m serious when I say that…” He stopped himself. “That I…”

He cursed under his breath as he looked down.

“I… care about you, deeply so.”

You felt a little let down, but brushed the feeling aside to focus on his words. A silence settled between the two of you, occasionally broken by the swaying sound of nearby tree leaves and branches.

“Su-Jin.” You softly called out to him, his name in your mouth made his brows furrow with an indescribable emotion. His gaze lingered on your lips, listening intently to each syllable you uttered.

“I just don’t get you.” Your voice was pleading.

He got closer, holding out his hand to hold your fingers. You let him do it, watching his expression as he waited for you to continue.

“You send me so many mixed signals. One day you flirt with me, the other you get all distant.”

Su-Jin sighed, understanding your inner turmoil.

---

I understand that things went really fast between us. It surprises me too." Typo sighed as they fiddled with their hands. "But toying with me isn't right, Su-Jin."

I tensed up and looked at them with pleading eyes.

"I'm not toying with you, I swear."

I paused, admiring their gorgeous appearance, illuminated by the cold glow of the moon. I sighed in a mix of sadness and adoration.

They scoffed in disbelief.

"You called me baby, multiple times !"

I cringed at myself and stared at the ground.

"I'm just an idiot, a really big one."

They paused before smiling in what seemed to be against their will, their eyes showed me what they thought of me.

An idiot, a huge jerk.

"Su-Jin." They said softly.

I tensed up at the mention of my name.

"I like you. I really do, but I want to know how you feel about me before even trying to mend whatever we have going on."

Their words hit me like a truck.

Of course, I was happy they were even considering taking me back, but I was also mortified at the thought of not being able to commit because of my purpose and my... nature.

Shit.
Should I confess right now ?

I stopped myself.

Is it even love I'm feeling and not some twisted infatuation that has to do with the fact that they're human... Something I will never be again ?

Was I simply in love and afraid of that feeling, so much that I wanted to run away completely ?

My mind went blank, I felt sick for not knowing something as simple as that.

This "love" I felt, I didn't even know if it was for them, or for something I longed for ever since I killed my mother.

Belonging.

Typo belonged to the human world, they had a job, friends, they were diligent in everything they did. While Gwi-Ma possessed me, I didn't feel like I belonged to him in any way. Being unable to say or do anything that would go against him out of fear for the annihilation he could impose upon me does not fit my idea of belonging.

"I... I like you too."

A pink light appeared and pulsed behind Typo, casting an eerie glow in the room. Something only I could see.

Stupid love mark.

Typo's eyes gleamed with hope as they took a few steps towards me, our bodies were now almost pressed against each other.

I felt this visceral need to hold them, to feel their skin, to take in their scent, to…

To own them.

But I knew they wouldn't like me having these thoughts. Typo's a human being with needs and feelings, and most importantly, a strong desire for independence.

The mark shone even brighter. I felt sick to my stomach.

I pushed this feeling down and spoke with a shaky voice.

"I like you so much it hurts."

It really did.

Typo's eyes were brimming with tears as they jumped in my arms in a quiet sob. I immediately wrapped my arms around them, holding them as tight as I possibly could without crushing them. My arms were shaking.

I buried my face in their hair as I spoke their name in a needy whisper. They answered by tightening their hold on me. I felt a wave relief wash over me as I felt their hands on my back. We stood there, entangled in a desperate hold for god knows how long.

As we both let each other go, their eyes locked on mine. They looked helpless. I felt the thin string of my remaining restraint snap at that exact moment.

I looked at their parted lips, their eyes were glazed with a fond daze.

We seemed to understand each other and started grabbing each other in a lustful frenzy. My lips crashed on theirs as they tugged my hair in a muffled whine. We both fell on the bed and kept going until one of us stopped to catch their breath.

Once the kiss was broken, I contemplated going all the way, eyeing the way their top rode up or their flushed face. The sound of Romance's snore stopped me and seemed to startle the both of us, suddenly making us aware that we weren't, in fact, alone in this bubble of miscommunicated affection.

Instead, I nuzzled into the crook of their neck, sighing in content.

"You feel so, so nice."

I said, placing a firm hand on their waist.

Typo chuckled before stroking my hair. I shivered at the feeling of their fingers grazing my scalp.

"I missed you, you know.

I looked up at them.

"I wasn't gone for long, Ty." I smirked, feeling playful instead of miserable.

"I missed this affection between us, didn't you ?"

My heart tightened and I kissed their neck.

"I did..." I uttered in a breathy whisper. "so bad."
Typo turned to face and embrace me as they laid down, caging my head between their loving arms.

I soon drifted off to sleep in the arms of the one I wanted to call mine.
.

.

.
The next morning came by too fast for my liking. The morning rays caressed Typo's features and heated up their body. I nuzzled closer to them in a content sigh.

They stirred awake soon after, their eyelids fluttering in the most endearing way.

"Morning..." They said, still sleepy.

I sighed deeply and draped my leg over theirs, a clingy and pathetic gesture, really.

I eyed the small velvety box on their nightstand, where the necklace I gifted them laid, untouched. Typo groggily got up, swaying a little from fatigue.

We did talk until pretty late last night…

I instantly stood up to support them.

“Easy now… Don’t hurt yourself.” I warned gently, my hand holding their waist.

They sank into me, and I had a feeling this wasn’t just because of their fatigue. I smirked as I tightened my hold.

“What do you think you’re doing ?” I asked, looking down at their tired expression. A small pout appeared on their lips.

“What ? Can’t I use you ?” They cooed as they pressed against me some more.

I chuckled and embraced them fully, my voice stammering a little.

“You.. you can use me all you want.”

God… They make me nervous.

In more than 400 years as a demon, I barely got nervous. But just one month in the human world made me feel incomprehensible emotions, ones I had never felt before.

Their lips curled in an enchanting smile.

“You stuttered… Do I make you nervous ?” Typo whispered, getting on their tippy-toes to talk in my ear with a breathy whisper.

I felt myself get hot, and I unconsciously lowered my hands to their hips.

“So what if you do ?” I smiled as I got more confident, seeing how their blushing face didn’t match their cocky and confident demeanor. “What are you going to do about it ?”

Their body tensed against mine as they quickly got away with a deep blush on their face.

I smirked.

“You’re all bark, no bite.”

“Shut up…”

They turned around to exit the room, but I grabbed their wrist and brought them closer to me to kiss their forehead. A small and tender gesture that felt right and spoke volumes. They sighed.

“What’s wrong ?” I asked, tilting their chin up.

“I feel this weird, ominous feeling in my gut. It’s uncomfortable.” They embraced me, pressing their cheek against my chest.

Ominous…

Sounds about right.

I too felt this growing unease in my body, especially considering my position.

But…

They can’t know. Not yet.

Will there be a more appropriate time to reveal my true self to them, and watch their face contort in disgust ?

No, probably not.

Do I want them to see me as a monster ?

No, no I don’t.

Notes:

Let me know if you want more ! Since it's summer break, I've got a lottt of time on my hands lol <33