Work Text:
At the sight of blood, Yoo Joonghyuk's body tensed. It didn't matter how many times his eyes have witnessed the same thing, the man could never get used it. The putrid smell of the fresh body has slowly started to roam the room, with the blood soaking the carpet.
A deep feeling of remorse spread in his chest, making his voice shake. "Why?"
The stomach of the body was currently opened, letting Yoo Joonghyuk see directly the organs of a past friend. But that was exactly what they were. Something, that previously had a name, who belonged now to the past. It felt too painful to see them as what they were: another human being he couldn't save.
"Don't make that face." The creature over the corpse (not a living being) scoffed. "You knew what you were getting into when you let me live."
Yoo Joonghyuk wondered why this thing was here. Couldn't it had eaten anybody else? Couldn't it had picked someone else to stuck to, like a parasite sucking all life from those around it?
"You're not the victim anymore. Don't put all the blame on me." It sighed, brushing the blood drooling down its chin back into its mouth. "You're so selfish, Joonghyuk-ah."
It walked to him, his feet stepping over the corpse, making a digusting 'quelch' as more blood spilled from its opening. The loud 'crack' from the breaking ribcages made Yoo Joonghyuk's stomach turn upside down. "If you were really as kind as you act like, you would've done something about it a long time ago."
The ex-regressor didn't recognize him. It just wore his body, showed his name and gave his smile. But that thing wasn't him. And yet, it was here.
"I wouldn't have eaten that bug boy if you didn't let me." The Thing stopped in front of him. "I wouldn't have split the other girl in half if you didn't stop the woman in the hallway from attacking the next week either."
"The boy's name was Lee Gilyoung. The girl was Shin Yoosoung. The woman was Jung Heewon," he wanted to say. "They had a name. They loved you deeply. They cried at night when seeing your face still asleep. I did too. And I still do. Because this isn't you that I'm seeing everyday."
If Yoo Joonghyuk was still someone good, he would've said it outloud.
But he wasn't. He never has been.
"You swore you wouldn't—"
"I left your sister alive. That was the deal, right?" It turned around, making a lazy sign with its hands to the corpse. "I'm taking the rest of what belongs to me. You didn't have much of a problem when it came to the others. Was this man important to you?"
Yoo Joonghyuk looked at the corpse with the past name of Lee Hysunung. He couldn't say anything.
It huffed, frustrated. "Well, it's quite difficult for me to know. I don't read mind, Joonghyuk-ah."
Not anymore.
"We provide you with food everyday. You don't need human flesh."
In response, the Thing looked at him with a completely blank stare. It wasn't like his companion. His was dreamy, not quite there, drifting silently to a world no one else could reach. This one was blank.
"You had Kim Dokja in your perfect ending. You had half of the man you so desired to love." It tilted its head with a movement that was too snappy to be human. "But you just had to be greedy. You weren't content with what you managed to keep between your fingers. So you went ahead and sacrificed everything he built."
The door behind Yoo Joonghyuk opened.
It let out a long creak, settling a uncomfortable silence with tension. It didn't look at the source of the sound, its stare going through the ex-regressor.
Han Sooyoung looked at them in silence before speaking. "It's late."
The Thing didn't respond for a long moment, its face completely blank, like a doll, before it morphed into a practiced smile. The smile was too wide to be considered as one. Despite stealing his body, it could never exactly replicate him. "Ah...Sorry for waking you up. Having a boys night can make the weirdest parts of a man come out, you know?"
In the room, there were many things. Half of the occupants didn't have names that belonged to them. Kim Dokja wasn't Kim Dokja and the bleeding corpse wasn't Lee Hyunsung. Despite one moving, both were dead. Both were corpses.
Each day was spent with a pretend. A grand act. Yoo Joonghyuk made breakfast for the occupants, only to throw one dish to the trash when seeing one missed to the call. Lee Jihye would laugh with Lee Hyunsung, Han Sooyoung would argue with Kim Dokja about their book with Yoo Sangah attempting to calm them. When Jung Heewon was still alive, she was teaching martial art to the kids from the neighbors. They went around her, their eyes sparkling with awe as she taught them the simplest bases.
It was difficult to find an excuse to their sudden disappearance.
"Right, I forgot to tell you that Shin Yoosoung went to Japan to visit cousins. She looked to be so excited to meet them, you should've seen her, haha."
"Now now, we don't need to worry about Gong Pildu. The old man left. Oh, you know him: Always complaining about people entering his space. He must've had enough of us."
"Sorry but Lee Gilyoung went to an aboard school. Ah no, he changed his number. Strange. Must've forgotten to give us before leaving."
"Ah...It will be hard to treat injuries without Seolhwa-ssi. Yep, can you believe it? I mean, we all know she was destined for greater medecine. Knowing her, she must've gone to Africa. I heard some scenarios are still ongoing over there, after all."
"Oh no, Jung Heewon finally started to make a school to teach martial arts. Where? Hm, I don't remember where exactly... I think it was in China? Yeah, I don't know why she went that far. What? Lee Hyunsung? Nah, he's fine staying here. They're taking a small break since they're in a long-distance relationship."
An act.
Every day, the members from the Company woke up with one question in mind: who was next? They all had huge cerns under their eyes, most possessing red eyes from crying. When entering their bedroom, you would see their weapons right next to them, their head resting right beside their blades.
"Why is the nightmare not stopping?"
"What was the last time we truly had love for each other?"
"I don't want to die."
"Will it be Yoo Joonghyuk?"
"Will it be Han Sooyoung?"
"Will it be me?"
"Anyone but me."
Maybe if they would've done something earlier, they would be all reunited under the same roof. The apocalypse wouldn't be looked as the good times, but be something they would go to therapy to forget.
Or better: if they would've done nothing. If they continued to live with the 49% Kim Dokja. Atleast the clone had content remaining from the one they knew.
But no. When the group saw the first corpse, their first thought wasn't to call the others.
That would be the correct thing to do. If they were good people, they would've cried at Lee Gilyoung's horrid death. They would've stopped the Thing, who was, back then, very weak. They would've put it down easily, calling the authorities, organized Lee Gilyoung's funeral with tears all over their faces and would've moved on together. As a group.
Because that was what good people would do.
But none of them were anymore.
They did have tears on their faces when stumbling over the small boy's corpse, over which Kim Dokja was devouring its intestines.
"G-Guys....He...Help.."
Who knew how, but the boy was still alive. The teeth of the Thing were weak back then, falling out of its mouth for staying in a coma for years. It stuck to his skin. They could've saved him. He was near dying, but they could've called the police. Or sliced the Thing's head.
But they weren't good people.
"We sacrificed everything by bringing him to life. We need Kim Dokja. I'm...so sorry, Gilyoung."
Lee Gilyoung received a blade straight into his head, stopping his suffering.
The Thing never stopped trying to bite, ignoring its teeths falling out from trying to pull out human flesh. In complete silence, the only sounds filling the room after a moment was the obscene mastication of the Thing. Jung Heewon dropped on her knees, with Lee Jihye vomiting in the corner.
Yoo Joonghyuk saw Shin Yoosoung's eyes. The girl was shaking, terrified. Her gaze never left the scene, frozen in place.
Amongst the chaos, Yoo Joonghyuk crossed eyes with Han Sooyoung. She looked at him with widened eyes.
They shared a quiet agreement, at that moment.
Perhaps they should've atleast locked the Thing inside a cell or attached it with chains. But Kim Dokja said he hated being caged. And the Company was weak to the man's demand.
Lee Seolhwa tried to examine the Thing's body while it was sleeping. She joined Gilyoung inside its stomach by the next few hours.
In horror, the Company kept it all silent. They spent so much effort into keeping Kim Dokja alive. They couldn't kill him. No matter how he looked like.
"For Gilyoung and Seolhwa."
What a selfish excuse.
But that is what they used to justify their actions.
The Thing was weak, back then. It needed help eating, walking and doing basic need. To this day, they had no idea of how it even mamaged to reach Lee Gilyoung's room, who was far from Kim Dokja's. But to be fair, they had many questions who would be never answered. Who would never be asked.
Nobody knew where the Thing came from, what is was or why it wanted human flesh. They never asked. And they never will.
Because then it would mean adress everything else. And they were too cowardly to do so.
Han Sooyoung said nothing. She never did. The cigarette in her mouth spread smoke inside Lee Hyunsung's bedroom, forcing another bad smell on top of the one of the decomposing corpse.
"You can leave, Sooyoung."
She looked at the ex-regressor.
Once more, they understood each others. Their gaze has never been so exhausted.
The urge to disappear from this cursed round was strong. The ex-regressor had no idea if he could still do it in the first place. But when he looked at his sister, at his disciple, at his writer and at the Thing Kim Dokja, he couldn't bring himself.
His love for them was stronger than anything else.
They still had Lee Jihye, Yoo Mia, Yoo Sangah, Han Sooyoung and him, all stuck with Kim Dokja. It smiled at them, like they were of group of friends sharing an inside joke, and they forced themselves to give one back.
They were a story being stretched to its ends.
They weren't strong enough to kill it anymore. They could only advance the lie, swimming inside the pool of blood they've allowed to spill, hoping they wouldn't be the next one.
Hoping they wouldn't be forgotten amongst another covered disappearance by their own companions.
Every day was waking with suffering and silence, molding their words and faces to act like the happy ending Kim Dokja wanted. Every day, they forgot one more thing about themselves for the name of survival.
"Yeah", Han Sooyoung released shakily. "Let's go back to sleep."
The Thing ignored the corpse behind, its playtime finished. Its smile casted a horrible spell on Yoo Joonghyuk. He could still see his friend's eaten body at a few meters away from him.
But the act went on.
The circus would go on again and again. Maybe he still had a few days, years or tomorrow would be his turn. Yoo Joonghyuk had no idea.
He smiled weakly back.
They were horrible people. That much was certain.