Chapter 9
May 7, 2024 at 11:10 AM
Taehyung waits quietly for the answer to his call. The lack of a good night’s sleep had made him drowsy and yawning, and his lower back felt uncomfortable at times. He visited Linda-Ahyeon with the intention of calling his uncle to find out the location of where his parents had been during their final moments. This will help him review through the cameras what was going on at that moment and how everything got tied up.
“Hello, my child,” his family answered in a happy, soft voice.
“Hey, Uncle,” Taehyung held back the urge to cry into the phone, so as not to scare or make his uncle worry. “How are you?”
“Everything is as usual. You’re the only one missing. Your absence has affected me too much,” he laughs into the phone, and Kim hears him sniffling in between. “You’d better tell me how you’re doing.”
“I’ve got nothing new, either. I’ll be home in a little while.”
“I hope you and your health aren’t in any danger?”
“No, no, all the assignments are pretty easy,” he lies and doesn’t blush, but it’s necessary. “Uncle, do you happen to know where mom and dad’s bodies were found when they were killed?”
“Why are you so interested?” He asked him suspiciously, and Kim could feel him frowning and stroking his stubble.
“There are some inconsistencies, so I’d like to get to the bottom of it.”
“Taehyung, you shouldn’t go in there.”
“Uncle, I’m not four years old, I’m still twenty years older. Don’t you think I deserve to know the truth? If, of course, we take into account the fact that someone hid from me the real reason why my parents died.”
The angel on the other side of the phone is silent, saying nothing, mulling over his words. He would have kept the secret as long as he could, but that’s the way it turned out.
“From what I hear and know, they found them near some club called “Red” or “Paradise”. Something like that. I wasn’t given all the details.”
“I hear you, thank you very much. I’ll tell you all about it later, okay?”
Taehyung says goodbye to his uncle, lastly listening to a little lecture about how it’s still not worth it for his own safety to get involved and not to try anything. He nods, ostensibly agreeing with everything he says, but Kim disobeys and everyone realizes it. Angel hangs up the phone, ends the call and turns to Linda, who is twisting back and forth in her chair, sipping her coffee.
“The best Linda in the world, I thank you for being so kindhearted towards me,” Taehyung pulls in the sweetest voice possible, bowing to her.
“That’s right. Now get out of here, I need a break from you.”
“I’ve only been here for, like, fifteen minutes.”
“Fuck it, get the fuck out of here,” the girl turned away from him, continuing to go about her business.
Kim really leaves, simultaneously calling a taxi to the right place. He did not find any “Red”, but “Paradise” is just right, so he chooses this point, starting to wait for the car, going outside. The light rain calmed down, but only the wind intensified, making Taehyung regret that he did not put on something warmer. But due to the fast work of the taxi, he did not have to wait very long outside, so five minutes later a car was waiting for him.
The drive from place to place wasn’t very long, so Taehyung allowed himself at least a moment to relax and let go of all that had accumulated. The events of that evening still linger in his head, no matter how much Kim tries to calm himself, to talk to himself. He blames himself for being able to share a part of himself and his soul. Generous.
Recognizing a problem is the first step to solving it. Angel admits to himself that, unfortunately, feelings for Jungkook have arisen in him. They may be light, but the important fact is that they generally appeared. Kim immediately dismisses the option that the demon may also like, although just the thought of it already makes a slight smile appear on his frowning face. Let it be the first person who refused him — what an important achievement.
Taehyung didn’t notice how he got to the right club, so with the help of a taxi driver’s click, reminding him of his arrival, he pays him and gets out of the car. The place greets him with a bright neon sign that is constantly lit regardless of the time of day, and people trying to get sober who are sitting at the entrance and breathing fresh air. The desire to get drunk and lose touch with reality is very huge, but he hardly steps over it, choosing something more important.
He steps inside, immediately looking around for staff he can ask questions of. The recent hangout went pretty well, judging by the people lying around on the floor and on the tables, and the cleaners who are probably mopping up the remnants of alcohol and scattered snacks. Taehyung slowly steps over all the dirt so as not to get dirty or get his clothes dirty, and walks over to the bartender, who is wiping glasses.
“I apologize,” he looked up at him and stopped what he was doing, turning his attention to Kim. “Tell me, do you know anything about a shooting that happened here about ten years ago?”
“I’ve been working here about three months at most, and the subject hasn’t come up with me. Try asking someone else.”
Taehyung gives him a strained smile and walks away, leaving him to continue wiping glasses. Kim doesn’t like those “resentful” people who take their frustrations out on others and spoil their mood. Stuff happens in life and at work, but it’s obviously not a reason to get upset and rude to others. Someone next to him tries to move and roll over from side to back, causing Kim disgust with his movements and behavior. He kicks an interfering tin can underfoot, moving on.
“Excuse me, did you happen to hear about a shooting here that happened maybe ten years ago?” Taehyung approaches the cleaning lady, who is wetting a rag in the water, and he can smell that stinky, rotten floor rag.
“My goodness, you’re pale. You should get a tan first,” she examines him from top to bottom, leaning on the mop with one hand. “Not for me. Try the owner of this place. He’s been here since the beginning.”
Angel thanks her, listening to her one last time about how he’s pale as death and could use a tan. He agrees of course, simply nodding his head, which brings a smile to the woman’s face. Kim walks past her to the flickering “STAFF ONLY” sign, guessing that’s probably where the man he’s looking for is. Taehyung walks down a long hallway lit by ultraviolet lights, where he sees some kind of dark door with a dim light. He quickens his step and reaches it quickly, stopping and placing a cold palm on his left chest to calm his rapidly beating heart. Kim knocks a couple of times and, hearing a loud and harsh “come in,” enters the office, which smells of incense.
There are lighted candles everywhere, which create a special atmosphere in the place. In the background, jazz is playing in the background with the sound of a rainstorm playing separately. Some incense is being finished off, leaving behind an already annoying scent for Kim. He walks forward and sees a man sitting in a chair, meditating, breathing in and out deeply, whispering something to himself.
“Excuse me,” Kim says in a whisper, moving closer and closer to him.
“Shh,” he hisses at Taehyung, who jumped slightly in surprise, clutching at his heart.
The man slowly raises his palm and points to a vacant chair, clearly suggesting that he sit there. He looks at him with misunderstanding in his eyes and sits down in the chair, surprised.
“Can you feel this silence around you? Can you feel this moment? M-m-m-m-m,” he sits in lotus position and starts whispering something to himself again.
“Y-yes? I can feel it, I guess.”
“What do you want to see me about?”
“I have a question and I need you to help me.”
“You’re in the right place,” the man gets up from his chair and walks slowly toward Taehyung. He puts his palm to his forehead and starts telling something about energy. “I know your question.”
“You do?” The angel was genuinely surprised, raising his eyebrows and raising his eyes up to look at his hand on his forehead.
“Of course. Worrying about some guy. I see you misunderstood each other. Broke up on a bad note.”
“H-how did you know?”
“I am the all-seeing eye. That’s why I’m saying you’re at the right place. And you didn’t sign up for my ritual for nothing. I’ll help you with your request.”
“But I didn’t sign up for rituals or whatever you mean,” the man immediately opens his closed eyes and removes his hand from Taehyung’s forehead, meeting his gaze.
“How did you not sign up? He runs up to the table for his notebook and reads it, raising his eyebrows, wondering at something. “You really didn’t sign up. Then why the fuck did I do it?”
Taehyung raised one eyebrow, reacting to the man’s abrupt personality change. He throws his notes somewhere to the side and sits down at the table with the crazies, throwing up his legs.
“So it turns out that you are not an all-seeing eye? Kim says, trying to hide her giggle in her fist.”
“Are you kidding me? Do you think I look like this motherfucker?”
“Then how did you know about my question?”
“All of you boys have problems with boys and girls. Most of the time, people came to me with the same sullen face as yours. I’ve learned how to figure you out.”
Kim laughs, covering his mouth with her hand and smiling back at the man who has extinguished the candle next to him. He chuckles, wondering how he could pull it all off like that, the incense, the candles, the music, the palm of his hand on his forehead. Later, the man explains that he does it to raise the cash register because he doesn’t always get good revenue from the parties.
“It’s a cool idea, but I really need your help.”
He took a sitting position and listened attentively to Taehyung. He told him a small part of the story, hiding most of the truth, and asked to see the video from that day. The man was very distrustful of his wish and pestered him for another ten minutes with questions and clarifications, but after careful consideration he got up from his seat, where the chair had taken the shape of his butt, and went to some cabinets full of disks, tapes and documentation. After careful browsing, he pulled a dusty cassette tape from that time out of the corner. Taehyung held his breath at this point.
“You’re lucky I didn’t throw away the cassette player, because it was just lying idle.”
The man inserted the tape and waited for the display on the monitor of four different screens that show a certain area where the cameras were able to capture events. Taehyung tries to look at everything at the same time, but he can’t do it. Therefore, he decided to watch one by one in accelerated mode, skipping unnecessary moments and rewinding. The first and second screens turned out to be empty, there is not even a hint of Kim’s parents on them. He became noticeably sad, because if there is nothing to say here, the case is a failure, which means that the death of his parents will remain a secret.
He flips to the middle of the third video until he notices two fast walking silhouettes on the screen, looking around nervously as if afraid of something. Taehyung zooms in on the image, the quality of which has changed and sees hair. Blond hair. Just like Taehyung’s. Mommy. He shifts his gaze to the man with tear-filled eyes and sees a tattoo that starts at the back of his head and runs down his back. The image is blurry and nothing is completely visible, but there’s no way he’d confuse the tattoo on his father’s body.
Kim continues to watch the developments where they come around some corner and hurriedly try to leave. He looks closely, but sees no one and doesn’t understand why his parents are trying so hard to get away from someone. Still, warmth spills over his body when he sees his mom and dad together alive instead of completely pale and breathless. He had a hard time in school when he had no one to write about in his essays about his family because his parents, as his uncle said, had withdrawn in body and soul to rest. He misses and misses his mom’s kiss on the head and his dad’s pat on the back for support. He needs mom’s stern voice, “Why aren’t you eating at school again?” and dad’s interested, “I suggest we take a ride on the ATV in secret from mom.”
“Wait, I missed it.”
The man rewinds for the fourth time, noting that Taehyung is not watching what is happening, but is looking somewhere into space. Kim notices that three people he doesn’t know appeared in front of his parents, who are approaching them, and judging by the way dad protects mom, they were in danger then. They stop abruptly and the father stretches out his palm forward, attacking the people in front of them with a light ball. Angel covers his mouth with his hand, looking at his father’s abilities, realizing that he did not know anything about them before and was not interested in them. Only prophets and prophets have such strong abilities — they are representatives of God with various abilities. Which means… his father is a prophet. This can’t be happening…
The people who lost their balance and flew two meters away from the light strike get up and shake themselves off. Judging by their body movements, their firm, confident steps, they are out of their senses, and in that state they are advancing toward his parents. They move farther away from them, looking around, turning their heads back, but stop themselves when these men simply remain standing still. They abruptly pull out a gun, pull the safety off, and fire twice, aiming first at his dad and then his mom. His parents trying to cover the bleeding with their hand, but nothing comes out, only blood in large quantities spreading over their bodies, staining their clothes and leaving a maroon stain.
Taehyung doesn’t notice the way he’s crying, the tears streaming down his face, the salty drops rolling down his chin and onto the table. Doesn’t notice the pinch in his chest. He doesn’t notice how hard it is to breathe and how the lump in his throat prevents him from taking a breath or a sip. He just looks at his parents falling to their knees, who are in terrible pain, enduring all this. He sees his parents take their last breaths, and then from within they begin to glow with a white-on-white light that blinds everything around them, including the camera. The breathless bodies fall, leaving behind only a pool of blood, which caused one of his parents' killers to laugh. He squats down in front of the dead bodies, throws his head back, and laughs so joyfully and so merrily, judging by his caddy, which so diligently conveys this emotion.
He reviews this passage five times, having managed to infuriate the sitting man, who does not strongly express a desire to re-observe it. Taehyung is trying to explore every detail with his eyes, trying to find some kind of clue, and that’s why he pays attention to every second. He doesn’t want to watch his parents trying to cling to life again. They probably wanted to see their son so much in the last seconds of their lives, but they only saw the footprints of someone else’s shoes waddling towards them.
“What the fuck is that?” Kim catches some moment where a man is sitting there laughing with his head tilted back and zooms in as close as she can. “Oh, no. It can’t be.”
Angel laughs hysterically, hiding his hands in his palms, hiding his smile, and he begins to shake with the onset of hysteria. Anger fills him from top to bottom, overshadowing Kim himself. He’s going to kill that scum. He’ll find it and kill it. Whatever it costs him. His hands clench into fists, showing Kim’s fighting spirit, and jowls begin to play across his face.
Demon. A demon that had taken up residence in the man, taking over his body and mind.
The black eyes of the laughing man made it clear that this man was possessed by a demon. That nasty creature.
“The interesting thing is, this man here is dead. He’s already been autopsied, and here he is alive again. It’s creepy, isn’t it?” The all-seeing eye notifies him, making Kim’s face twist in disgust. “Uh, fuck,” he shouts, seeing Taehyung pull out the tape and throw it to the floor, crushing it with his heel.
Kim pulls out some straight bills from his wallet and throws them on his desk, turning his attention back to the money, which immediately lifted his spirits. He walks out of the office, leaving the man to enjoy the bills, and leaves the place, which has not made the best impression on him. What will people do next to make money and as much as they can? How far will they go? Even the fresh air and the rain that has already intensified does not calm Taehyung, does not relieve the tension, he is still filled with rage and the desire to kill the bastard. Kim, remembering the original plan, freaks out and goes back to the rotten place called “Paradise” to hide in the toilet to fulfill the first point.
After closing the booth behind him, after checking the place once again for the absence of people, he stands and lowers his arms at his sides. He takes several deep breaths in and out to fully concentrate on himself and on his ability to move to the right place. Because there is no desire to teleport to Africa, once you find yourself sitting on some lion. And then he doesn’t want to run away from the evil cat either.
“Come on, Taehyung,” his turbulent emotions and agitation prevent him from concentrating properly on moving. Fury overshadows any attempt to go where he wants to go. At most another ten minutes of miserable attempts pass. “To hell with it.”
He kicks the door of the cabin, which almost broke from the forceful impact, and pushed back, almost smacking Taehyung in the nose, as if it wanted to avenge the merciless kick. Kim realizes that in this state he can’t go anywhere, much less do anything, and it’s a responsible and, one might say, dangerous thing to do. He definitely needs to calm down. This is the first step to a successful ending.
Fresh cool air again, a good rain that has managed to wet Kim’s white sweater, turning him into a shabby cat. His hair from the rain starts to curl after a couple minutes, turning some of Kim’s white strands into slight curls that look cute on him. He walks to the nearest bus stop just to clear his head, clear away intrusive and unnecessary thoughts, calm his raging heart, and regain his confidence. If something were to happen to him, it would only be hard on his uncle, and it would also be hard on his parents to see their son by their side at such a young age. But Taehyung is not afraid to die for his parents and the truth. Just a little bit.
Angel is soaked through and through, soaking his shoes and staining the hem of his long pants, which will have to be hand-washed again. He shivers slightly as the wind blows under his clothes, tickling his wet body. Kim hopes he doesn’t go down with a fever of forty and a throat-tearing cough. He hates being sick. Especially when no one’s around and you’re lying there, literally dying.
Kim doesn’t know how much money he’s already invested in a cab instead of getting there on his own feet. Obviously enough, but as he thinks — comfort is more important than anything else. And a ride in a warm cabin with a silent driver and a radio is clearly better instead of a filled bus with no chance to breathe. The twenty-minute car ride was like a breath of sobering fresh air. Taehyung had succeeded in not thinking about anything. And that was an accomplishment first and foremost for himself.
Angel walks into a familiar building, looking around as if he’d never seen it before. As he walks further in, he sees Linda sitting at her desk, watching a movie, so absorbed in it that she didn’t notice Kim’s arrival. She has her foot on her leg and is twisting from side to side in her computer chair, occasionally chuckling at what’s happening on the screen. A fairly young girl was able to go against her father and his words to stand up for herself and her freedom. It was commendable, because he had seen so many people dance to the tune of their parents, trying to prove something to them, to please them, to please them with their accomplishments.
But, after all, this is not their life, so why do they have the right to decide something? Parents give life, create a new person so that he can create a new story based on his mistakes and experience. They insist so much on their child’s happiness, shouting that they will support any choice. But as soon as their child opens up and lets them know about his plans, about his goals, he is met with condemnation, to which, in addition, there is an imposed opinion.
“Can I distract you?” Taehyung clarifies softly so as not to scare the girl who was staring.
“Oh, you’re here.”
“Can I do that?”
“Go ahead,” she pauses the movie to devote her precious time to Kim, “And, wait, you got into a fight with my brother and something happened between you?”
“No, but what is it?”
“Bullshit, I see it. His face is as bleak as he is in general, but still. He walks around all the time, kind of thoughtful, nervous. It doesn’t really look like him.”
“I have no idea.”
“I’d like to kick you in the head for lying. I asked if it had anything to do with you, and he nodded his brainless head. So don’t fool my head,” she stops spinning in her chair, clutching her head because she’s dizzy. “So what did you want?”
Taehyung tells her the whole story about his parents, then about the video, then about the demon who killed them, and then laying out his “I want”. Linda looks at him with a stunned look from life, as if he has just revealed one of the secrets of the universe. She rubs her forehead with her hand, trying to move away from the nonsense that Kim has just posted, looking at her with a satisfied smile. But all the happiness disappeared in a flash when she gave him a good slap on the back of the head, hoping that he and his brains would fall into place or at least they would appear.
“For what?” Taehyung rubs the bruised place, looking at the girl with resentment.
“What were you thinking when you decided that going down to Hell is a wonderful idea that should be implemented immediately?”
Kim doesn’t answer anything, just looking with offended eyes at Linda walking back and forth, who doesn’t know what to do with this blond guy. Hell is a potential place for cruelty, murder and indifference: they would eat his heart there and not blink, and Taehyung was going to go down there and find that demon who took the lives of his loved ones. On the one hand, she understands him: Taehyung’s parents were taken away by some demon who decided that he had the right to do so, and on the other hand, what is the probability that his back will not be opened like a tin can at the first turn?
She whimpers and wants to run away so as not to take on such a wild responsibility.
“Okay, all right. I’ll help you, but only on one condition.”
“What’s that?” Kim became animated, starting to open his arms wide and go for Linda, who from the first second started to threaten him that she would suck all the blood out of him if he touched her. But that didn’t stop him, so in a couple of seconds he was wrapping the girl in his arms.
“Like a tick, really. I won’t tell you the condition.”
Kim smiles contentedly, feeling his mood lift and feeling better automatically. He is one step closer and this is good news. And yet he is not bothered by the tasks that he needs to complete. It’s like everything is working out in his favor.
“Did you bring all the essentials?” She looks him over for anything he might have brought with him, but sees nothing. “What will you use to defend yourself and fight back?”
“Will that be necessary?” clarifies the angel, a little frightened by this prospect. Linda responds by saying that he does not know who will get in his way. Some will attack, and others will squint and point a finger. “I have a knife. That’s enough, I think.”
“Depends on what kind of knife.”
The girl stops answering his questions, customizing something in the computer and performing some actions that can send Taehen to that beautiful place. In general, on his planet, Hell is sent to Hell as a punishment, so that a person, being shut down in those conditions, will realize their mistake and not repeat it again for fear of getting there again. Alastair, who is seen to be an ardent fan of Kim, is the executioner, and tortures the guilty. It doesn’t matter if it’s an angel or the same demon. You don’t hit your own, do you? But he doesn’t care. He truly enjoys his job, listening to the screams and bathing in liters of blood.
“How well do you know Hell and its inhabitants?” Kim leans her hip on the table, watching the face of a girl who is typing enthusiastically on the illuminated screen.
“Well, for the most part, maybe I do. There is a small number of residents there.”
“Then, do you know a demon who puts on the bodies of people who have passed away? Roughly speaking, the dead.”
Ahyeon stops typing, raising her eyebrows and craning her neck forward in surprise, turning all her attention to Taehyung, who is looking at her with one raised eyebrow. She leans her elbow on the table, propping her cheek with her hand and is silent, starting to scare the angel even more.
“You’re so fucking lucky,” she hides her face in her hands, wishing abruptly that she could disappear again, never to reappear, never to know Angel again, never to take part in these events. “You have to be very careful with him. He’s tricky.”
Kim holds up her finger and shows a haggard smile to a girl who just wants to laugh hysterically. Her face is still illuminated by the computer screen, which received some kind of notification. Linda became serious and focused again, completely turning her attention to the device. She nervously bites her lips, tearing them until they bleed, and clicks something with the mouse. The girl clasped her hands in a lock and raised them to her lips, which became very similar to a person reading a prayer.
“There is!” she jumped up from her chair and clapped her hands together, delighted at her victory. She slaps Taehyung’s butt, apparently to express her joy, and calls him to follow her, turning to where the chair capsule is. Kim stares at her dumbfounded, rubbing her butt and shaking off any possible dirt from her shoes. “Go ahead and sit down.”
Kim quickly moves his legs and sits down in the chair he found himself in when he arrived on Earth. The angel even caught deja vu for a second. He settles comfortably in his chair and sets himself up for a trip that should be short-lived. Although it is small, but the excitement is great. Taehyung is a little shivery on top of his worries and it all gets mixed up with each other, preventing him from concentrating on the process itself. Linda presses some combination of keys and the doors slowly begin to move together, joining each other, shielding him from everything that is behind the capsule. He heard two knocks, which apparently mean that everything is ready for his great journey, and this made his heart beat with emotion at triple speed. Kim places her palms on her knees, squeezes them slightly, calming herself, whispering something softly. For Mom and Dad. For the sake of the truth.
The girl is blinded by a second-long white burst of light, which turned out to be too bright for her eyes, causing her pain. After a couple of seconds, she adjusts her eyesight and presses something, opening the doors where no one is already there. Taehyung is in Hell right now. Her body begins to tremble slightly and she picks up the phone with trembling hands, the first time not hitting the right keys, trying to dial the right phone number. On the other end, the phone is picked up only the third time, forcing Linda to get nervous and start walking around everywhere, trying to calm the shaking of her whole body.
“Hello?” The demon finally picks up the phone.
“Jungkook, I need help.”
***
Taehyung walks with a slight headache through some streets completely unknown to him. So far, he’s only met with surprised looks, also lustful and slavering. The worst part is that he has no concrete plan of action. Where to go and what to do he doesn’t know. It’s a complete unknown. Continuing to go places is not a good option, so he needs to come up with something urgently. “Hey, beautiful flower, do you want to join us?” some overly tall guy stops next to him, who looks down at him and smiles nastily, immediately causing discomfort. “Are you shy?” “Then you will be embarrassed to go without eggs, which I will cut off and put in a bag for you.” “Wow, what a cutie,” the man moves closer and closer to him with a shambling gait, smiling a drunken smile at all thirty-two, making Taehyung shudder. Angel tries not to fall backwards, wanting to get away from this place as soon as possible. The demon comes closer and closer to him, treading slowly and giving Kim some suspicion and a bad feeling. Taehyung feels something shoving him in the back, but when he turns around, he sees no one and there’s no one around nearby either. Another jolt just below his lower back that helps him take another step towards the demon with no way to get away. “Are you controlling the wind?” Kim bellowed, annoyed by the constant rush of gusts against his back. “It’s my element, yes, I’m just practicing,” he showed him something, urging him to look at his fingers, but Kim didn’t have time because a powerful jolt from the side met his body and he fell, unable to keep his balance. He rubbed his elbows and palms together, immediately feeling the burning sensation on the scabbed areas, joined by his thigh, which met the asphalt painfully, picking up small pebbles. Taehyung hissed in pain and tried to get up even though the wind was hitting him in the area of his shoulder blades, trying to make him meet the floor again. His knees ache from the pressure that comes from trying to resist those gusts. The demon only laughs and enjoys the spectacle he has made for himself to amuse himself on such calm days. The wind continues to attack Kim, hurting him through repeated falls that he is unable to prevent. Angel falls on his back, immediately feeling the pressure on his chest and neck, trapping the air and preventing him from taking a breath. He tries to scramble out, but nothing succeeds because there is too much pressure going on. His air supply is coming to an end, so his face starts to turn red and his veins bulge. Is he really going to die after ten minutes in Hell? He no longer tries to fight back, but just drops his arms at the seams, further feeling the pain and the terrible lack of air. Just seconds and he will say goodbye to his life. Kim has already prepared himself, but it doesn’t happen, because next to him falls a demon that has fallen close to him, who is face down, looking at him with completely empty lifeless eyes, and some kind of knife with unknown hieroglyphics sticking out of his back, which, judging by its appearance, is very well sharpened. Taehyung, completely spitting on him, began to breathe and suck air into his nose, and began to come to his senses. The stranger squatted down in front of him and held out his gloved hand. Kim breathed for another thirty seconds, re-filling his lungs with fresh air, and then gave his hand to the outstretched one. “Will you come with me?”***
Angel sits up and hisses over the treatment of the wounds he received thanks to the demon. He told the man-his savior-that he should just wait for the wounds to heal on their own, but the man insisted on removing all the dirt and germs. “So what’s an angel doing in Hell? We haven’t had any winged arrivals lately, so I was surprised to see you here.” “I need to find someone and… to be honest, I have no idea how to do that,” Taehyung scratches the back of his head awkwardly, feeling slightly uncomfortable. “Who do you want to find?” “First, may I know your name?” Kim jerked violently because his palms were stinging. They have some kind of product applied to them that pulls out all the excess dirt. “My name is Hoseok, may I ask yours?” “Taehyung,” he says calmly, making the guy freeze in place and look up at him in shock. Hoseok moves away from him and starts thinking about something, plunging the room into utter silence. “What’s wrong now?” He shakes his head silently and goes into the other room, leaving Taehyung to himself. Kim is actually very grateful to him. He doesn’t know what would have happened to him if he hadn’t been saved by a tall guy in a long black coat, with nice patent shoes and impeccable styling. But he gave the angel hope for the best when he saw his hand outstretched as help. Hoseok seemed like a good-natured man, even though they’d known each other only five minutes, and if he was going to kill him, he’d have done it a long time ago, taking advantage of his position. Hoseok returns to the dimly lit room, followed by an unfamiliar guy holding something that looks like a hijab. He tosses the cloth sloppily onto one of the leather chairs and rests his hip on the light-colored table, which is probably the only bright object in the room. The room itself is done in dark colors from and to except for some parts of the interior. The room is quite large, and despite the fact that there are three people in here, it still feels empty. An unfamiliar guy, who looks twenty-three years old, with silver-colored hair and slightly shorter than Hoseok, comes up to him and stops almost touching his knees. Kim cautiously looks up and meets his gaze with the man opposite. He still stands in silence, and then holds out his hand to him, waiting for an answer, which makes the angel twitch. “Are you being beaten or something? Don’t get so worked up.” “I’m sorry,” Kim cautiously shakes someone else’s cold hand. “I’m Yoongi. This goth Hoseok, I think you already know.” “You’re starting again,” he sulks, tired of hearing constant banter in his direction about his special style. “Don’t pay attention, it’s still hard for him to accept his essence.” “Fool, fuck” is all Yoongi and Taehyung hear before Hoseok goes into another room, saying he needs something there. But Min expresses his hypothesis in the form of the fact that he went to cry. Kim laughs at their dialogues, finding their moments together funny and fascinating. “I’m sorry for asking such a question, I’m very curious. Are you together?” Kim asks, averting his gaze, feeling awkward because he has never asked such a question directly in the forehead. “With Goth? Something like that,” Yoongi sits down in an upholstered chair, crossing his legs and running his fingers through his hair. He pulls out the same cloth from under his ass that he had casually thrown off earlier and throws it at Taehyung. “You’ll have to wear it.” “What? No!” “There are no options here. Since everyone is already aware of your early actions and of our executioner’s plans for you, then you will need to cover yourself somehow,” Kim fiddles with the fabric between her fingers, having absolutely no desire to put it on herself. “If we can hide your hair somehow, then your dead-pale skin is unlikely. Although I have black paint lying around somewhere. That’s when you’ll be completely safe, only your teeth will be visible.” “Ha-ha, very funny,” the angel resented, trying to find some other options because he wasn’t used to covering himself, his hair and so on. But Yoongi doesn’t care, so he gets up from his seat and walks over to Taehyung, snatching the black cloth from him and telling him to turn around in his chair and put his feet up on the armrest. Kim sits still and sulks, waiting for Yoongi to mosh on his head and cover his hair so it will attract less attention. Hoseok arrives just as Yoongi finishes making something that looks like a hijab on his head. He gives a thumbs up and then makes a witty joke, saying that he didn’t know that a princess from the Arab Emirates had decided to stop by. Taehyung is given a mirror where he only observes his face. It looks good on him. The angel gets up from his seat, restraining the desire to give a couple of slaps to these young people or demons or angels. “Attention, stupid question. Aren’t you both demons?” “Hoseok is a demon, but I’m not.” “Is it true? Why are you here?” interest engulfs Taehyung, making him forget that he didn’t like the hijab and the fact that he would need to wear it. |Because of him,” the angel sees how lovingly Yoongi turns his head and looks at the demon, meeting the same look. The tenderness in their smiles is visible to the naked eye, especially when Hoseok pecks him on the cheek and wipes the remnants of saliva from it, as if there is no one in the world except the two of them. Kim tells in detail about everything that happened to him, to his parents and what kind of demon created it all. They listen attentively without interrupting him, noticing some details and feeling disgusted by the devil’s spawn. After finishing listening to the story, Hoseok makes it known that the demon is now quite ill and exhausted, because something terrible happened in Hell a few years ago, which weakened him and almost bedridden him. The demon Taehyung needs spends time with his grandchildren, trying to communicate closely with them, because no one knows what will happen tomorrow. They know the address where he currently lives and is living out his days. Hoseok and Yoongi decided to help Kim with this case, since they have already intervened and are taking at least the slightest part in this mess. Angel nods silently, deciding that he will thank them later. Now he is torn apart by the uncertainty that this is a good idea and plan. His self-confidence was undermined by the presence of grandchildren, who, judging by Hoseok’s story, love their grandfather very much and are happy to come to him. Leave these children without a loved one? They will experience all the pain that the angel felt after the death of his parents, although these little ones are not to blame for the fact that their grandfather is a creature. Why should Taehyung worry about rightness and justice if he didn’t even spare them on that ill-fated day? They leave Hoseok and Yoongi’s house, looking around for demons who might be out of their minds. Hell, in addition to being a place for punishment, is also a home for someone. It practically does not differ from its planet or Earth in its appearance, only if the sky is constantly dark, where the clouds are located so that there is not a single glimmer. The atmosphere is oppressive and depressing, sometimes also frightening. There is no one on the streets, only a wild wind running back and forth and spoiling their hairstyle. Yoongi holds Hoseok’s arm, resisting the gusts that rock them back and forth. Would he and Jungkook be able to hold on like that, as if they felt their salvation in each other? Kim flinches at the fact that she allows herself to think about it. This is not the time to think about it now. At least not when someone else’s blood will soon be on his hands. Taehyung pretended that he hadn’t just thought about how he was doing there. The wind seemed to be playing with them all along the way and trying to involve them in some kind of game, constantly pushing them in the sides or in the back, or ruffling the hairstyle of the Cabin boy, who was so diligently styling him. He swears at Hoseok for refusing to take them by car, despite the fact that it takes about twenty minutes to walk. “Why did we buy a car then?” Yoongi was indignant, suffering from a long journey accompanied by not the best weather conditions. Kim walks a little behind the two and watches their exchange with a smile, which turned into a long kiss and a slap on the ass from Hoseok. Still, they look so harmonious. One day, Taehyung will find his harmony. They stop in front of some nondescript house, which, according to the demon, is the property of the one Kim is looking for. They exhale together, surprised at their simultaneous actions, and go to the door to enter it uninvited. But as soon as Yoongi felt a surge of strength and was ready to start this business, Taehyung tells him that he can handle it himself and thanks him for the help they gave him. “Are you kidding me?” the angel is outraged, disapproving of this development, because he expected something completely different. Kim blows them a kiss, into which he has put all the best of himself, and leaves, leaving a disgruntled Yoongi and a laughing Hoseok outside, ordering them to wait for him outside. A small house greets him with warmth and the smell of fresh pastries, which freely walks through all the rooms. Everything is calm around and there is nothing extreme, and this briefly gave Taehyung a feeling of comfort, as if he was now at his grandmother’s cottage, which, unfortunately, is no longer there. She used to make them sugar buns, which they ate with warm milk for two cheeks. And these are some of the most wonderful memories. After examining the first floor, he goes up to the second, not finding a single soul. Doubts began to form in his head that Yoongi and Hoseok were fake, who so easily fooled Taehyung’s gullible nature and brought him here to hand him over to the executioner, who longs to dismember him. Kim pushes away unnecessary thoughts, trying not to set himself up against the two of them in advance, and walks down a long corridor. Padding past some rooms and looking into them, he still finds no one, and this slightly worries him. Kim walks on until he comes to the last room, in which faint voices are heard, which initially seemed to Taehyung to be a game of consciousness. The door to the room is slightly ajar, giving him a gap for minimal viewing. He, trying to be as quiet as possible, comes close to the door and begins to observe what is happening: two little boys are lying one on each side of their grandfather, who is reading them some kind of fairy tale, and they ask again, listening to the gentle voice of a loved one. Kim looks at the demon and sees the same face as then in the video, only a little older. His breath caught in his throat as he imagined the reaction of the children to the news of the death of their grandfather, who just a couple of minutes ago was reading something to them in a book. Taehyung exhales and opens the doors, catching the frightened looks of all three. “Grandpa, who is this? “What is it?” the older boy asks, pointing at the angel with his finger. “Go downstairs and take a walk, okay?” The children nod uncertainly and, bypassing Kim as far as possible, leave, closing the doors behind them. Taehyung, trying not to show his excitement and surging fear, walks slowly towards the demon, who got out of bed, holding onto the bedside table next to him. Kim stopped and reached into the area of his back pocket, where he has a prepared knife hanging on a belt loop, with which he can send him far away from here in a second. “I knew you’d come sometime. I even drew a pentagram against the angels, look up,” Kim looks up and sees a drawing that looks like the one that overpowered the demon. “No angel will pass through this pentagram, but you did. You are far from an ordinary angel.” “It doesn’t matter now. You know why I’m here,” Taehyung twirls the knife in his hands, causing the demon to fear inside, trying to show that these words did not interest him. “Did you come to avenge your parents? Go ahead. If it makes you feel better, then go ahead,” he comes closer to the angel and looks straight into his eyes, in no way hiding the fact that he is afraid. “But, unfortunately, killing me will not bring them back to life.” Kim, feeling the rage that instantly filled him, tightly gripped the handle of the knife. The demon is straining with every second, slowly trying to come to terms with his fate. The angel tries to ignore in his eyes the hope of life, the hope of another outcome. He feels a lump rise in his throat, and tears fill his eyes, later rolling slowly down his cheeks. Taehyung swings with one hand and aims, trying to remove the trembling all over his body that prevents him from finishing what he started. “Grandpa, and here the date of the cereal is bad. What to do?” one of the boys ran into the room, making a noise with a box. Kim does not know which of the boys came running, he just purses his lips and begins to cry silently shaking, and hides the knife from the child’s eyes. “Take the money in the shelf for new ones and go to the store with your brother.” " Good!” he, delighted with the new cereal, began to jump around the room and laugh loudly, filling the room with his laughter. “I’m off.” “Louis, stop. You know that Grandpa loves you very much, right?” “Just like we love you.” The boy runs away and calls his brother, who was sitting quietly on the steps and waiting for him to go to his grandfather. Taehyung, all in tears, pulls out the knife again and swings, trembling like an aspen leaf. He opens his eyes and sees the demon, who wipes away the tears that have risen, and sniffs, trying to keep everything in himself. Kim turns her head to the other side, having no desire to look at the pitiful demon, and freezes, sobbing. “Mom, Dad, wake up! Stop lying there,” Taehyung cries hysterically, clutching at the weakened hands of his parents. “Well, why are you lying down? And who’s going to take me to school? Mom, Dad!” But no one answers him, the pale parents continue to lie motionless, not reacting in any way to Kim’s attempts to wake them up. Everyone around them continues to cry quietly, looking at the unfolding picture in front of them. Taehyung runs from mom to dad, telling them something and waiting for at least some kind of answer, but nothing works. “Mom, I won’t eat sweets anymore without your permission, okay? Dad, you promised to take me on a boat ride!” His uncle grabs his hand, trying to pull the resisting little angel towards him, but he only falls to the floor and starts laughing hysterically, changing it with tears. “Why my mom and dad?” Taehyung shouts, tearing off his voice and continuing to cry silently, huddled into a ball. “I don’t know, honey, I don’t know,” his uncle answers him, squatting down in front of him, and covers his knee with a warm palm. Kim swings and plants the knife in his shoulder, not in his neck, where he originally planned. The demon holds back the pain and the scream, which he tries to hide behind his clenched jaw and fists. The knife entered the shoulder tightly, bringing terrible pain, causing the demon to fall to the floor. He rolls back and forth, looking for anyway to ease the pain, but it won’t stop. Taehyung watches as he scratches the floor, driving splinters under his nails, watching how painfully they dig into the meat under the nail plate. His shoulder brings a real test, giving him a disgusting feeling. The demon asks for his help, begs him to get a weapon before the hieroglyphs on his knife begin to glow, meaning that they will burn out his insides or cause any other hellish pain. Taehyung grabs the knife and twists it, making the demon no longer hide its pain, but scream at the way it’s being cut from the inside out. He hesitates, and then abruptly pulls the knife from his shoulder, giving him freedom from torture. “Only because of your boys. So, for the rest of your life, kiss their feet and make sure they never need anything.” Kim turns around and walks away, leaving the man bleeding. Maybe it would be right to cut off his head, kill him, as he did with his parents. But the affectionate “grandpa” sobered him every time. He would not be able to sleep later, harboring the thought of what would happen if they saw the decapitated grandfather. “I’m sorry…” Angel gets hysterical, feeling so unnecessary and guilty in front of his parents. A real weakling. Shame on you, Kim Taehyung. He stumbles on the stairs because of the blurry image, almost colliding with the floor, trying to get out. He screams, roars as hard as he can. The pain is tearing him apart from the inside, does not want to live. Fuck this Earth, fuck him to exist in this dimension. He hates his essence. Angel beats his fists on his chest, gasping from surging emotions and from hysteria, which is in full swing. He scratches his chest, not feeling any pain at all, as if he is going crazy. Taehyung falls out into the street, trying to hold onto everything that comes to hand so as not to fall off here and now. Through the fog in his vision, he sees not two silhouettes, but three, who are running towards him shouting something. But he doesn’t hear anything. He just lets go of his hands, absolutely not feeling his body, losing his balance due to the lack of sensitivity of what he is standing on. If it’s Yoongi and Hoseok, then who’s the third one? “Taehyung, hey! Hey! — Jungkook, being shocked and pale, catches the unconscious Taehyung, whose body weakened immediately after it fell into Jeon’s hands. — Shh, shh, I’m here. Nearby… Kim does not react in any way to the demon’s attempts to bring him to his senses, so he takes the angel in his arms, putting his head closer to his chest, hiding him from everything and, stammering, asks Hoseok and Yoongi, who themselves were scared no less than him, to run faster and prepare everything necessary. He tightens his grip on it and lightly leans his lips against the top of his head. “Everything will be fine, you’ll be fine.”
