Chapter Text
Regression was full of pain for Yu Junghyeok. Especially this time around. He watched that stupid man risk his life for him, watched his body turn horrid, growing in size and sprouting wings of black, beautiful feathers. He watched as Dokja Kim sprouted black veins across his body, fully turning himself into a demon king. He hated every single moment of it. When he stabbed Dokja straight through the chest with his sword that he had made for him.
He had stabbed the love of his life, and thought he would come back like always. He held him close, trying to memorize everything about Kim Dokja, the smell of his hair, the feeling of his body pressed against him, the blood pouring out of that gaping hole in his chest as the warmth of his body faded away. And as his body was whisked away, he tried to grab for him, hoping to at least have the chance to bring him back. He heard everyone else screaming for Dokja, too, and he wondered if he was the one screaming instead.
The days after Dokja's passing was heavy with burden. A small funeral once they got back to Seoul, a poorly made coffin with flowers on top like they always done it when Dokja died. Yu Junghyeok was only hiding away somewhere, watching from afar. He couldn't bear to see anyone, not after everything that happened, and so he decided to carry on, a thorn stuck in his chest of the waking memory of Kim Dokja.
A few weeks passed. A scenario was cleared. Yu Junghyeok went into the demon realm with Uriel, but there was no sight of Kim Dokja at all. More weeks passed, more scenarios cleared, but still no word from Dokja Kim. More and more weeks passed, and Yu Junghyeok lost track of everything. At night when he would try to sleep, he was plagued with the sight of Kim Dokja, his eyes, his hair, the way his clothing looked better on him.
Finally, he lost hope. Kim Dokja was not coming back, not for him, or anyone else. He went into a blind rage at this fact, and slaughtered everyone. The children went silently, then the adults. He felt no remorse, nor did he care why he did it. Maybe it was because he didn't want the other to live in this loop when he reset, or perhaps it was the early onset of being a crazed maniac obsessed with killing. We'll never truly know.
That night, he did take his own life, just the way he took Kim Dokja's life. Now, the only thing to do was regress.
He felt his consciousness being ripped out of his cold body, feeling the weight of pressure around him, then something went terribly wrong. Hands, he felt hands on him. Cold, slender, and delicate hands he knew oh so well. The breathy laughter of a dead man. Yu Junghyeok shouldn't have opened his eyes, but he did. A face he recognized, but had turned into a horrid monster instead.
It was Kim Dokja. But not in the way he remembered. His face, devoid of any human flesh, and instead a voided pit with his eyes gleaming, a crack for a mouth appearing. Junghyeok shivered. He was normally so stoic, even in the face of danger, but he couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit of fear when he heard Dokja's distorted voice in his ear.
"Our story will never be over now, isn't that right, Yu Junghyeok?"