Chapter Text
1) Encounter
“You, who are you?” Yoo Joonghyuk stared at the man in front of him. Since the beginning, each regression followed a very precise pattern.
He would open his eyes to the voice of a dokkaebi, blink and then stand up. His face would be blank, a contrast to his tumultuous mind.
He had failed once again, this thought would hit him and for one instant, his heart would stutter.
However, grief wasn’t a luxury in this new world. Yoo Joonghyuk would quiet the voices which still haunted him. His fists would clench. On his right hand, Yoo Mia’s soulmark stood : a black kitten which looked perpetually grumpy. In this life, he wouldn’t allow it to fade again.
Then blood would appear. Enough for the subway’s floor to become crimson. He would ignore the screams of pain, close his heart as well as his ears. This was a necessary sacrifice. He couldn’t protect his former - future companions without strength.
Lee Jihye’s fearful eyes. Lee Hyunsung’s pained smile. Kim Nawmoon’s shaking hands which the teenage boy never managed to dissimulate.Lee Seolhwa… Their lost child… All those would flash in front of his eyes.
Never again , he would promise himself.
Only more violence would await him outside. A sea of demonic people would await. Those too he would crush. His still unenhanced knuckles would send flashes of pain through his body.
Only dead corpses would remain.
Yet, in front of him stood something which should not have been.
“You, how the hell are you alive?” Yoo Joonghyuk repeated.
The salary man didn’t show any sign of having heard him. A complicated smile was on his face.
Yoo Joonghyuk frowned. The man’s traits were blurred, as if someone had tried to erase them but had stopped just before finishing. A constellation’s work, without a doubt.
He readied himself. Only Kim Namwoon and Lee Hyunsung should have exited this subway. Whoever this man was, he could be nothing but trouble. If his mere presence had been enough to deviate the future…
His apprehension about the man - Kim Dokja - only worsened. Even after being hit twice, the troublesome bastard didn’t lose his smile. He was calm, far too calm. His eyes didn’t seem to be registering the chaos which devolved around them.
Killing him was the better option. An unknown variable should be exterminated.
He froze as the man asked to be his companion. Kim Dokja’s existence didn’t make any sense. His Sage’s eye didn’t bring further information. HIm being a prophet only answered part of the question.
If he really knew about Yoo Joonghyuk’s past actions, why would he want to stay near him?
Yet, if he really knew about the future, this man’s utility was no joke.
“Make me your companion. I can fill in the parts you are missing.”
For a brief instant, he considered accepting. They crossed the Han river. Yoo Joonghyuk kept holding him by the hem of his shirt.
This weird serenity didn’t disappear.
Yoo Joonghyuk sighed.
“I will ask you one last thing.”
Kim Dokja looked away from the river only to stare at him. His eyes partially hidden away by the censure still were animated by an unsettling light.
He made his decision. Useful this man might be but he wouldn’t be part of this regression.
His other hand caught Kim Dokja’s throat. As he did so, a thundering pain crossed him.
Light went out. He could see nothing but white sparks. It didn’t leave out even a single part of his body. Pain came in waves until it started condensating around his heart.
Soulmate, Yoo Joonghyuk realized as he came to himself. He felt the soulmark settle on his chest.
During the whole process, Kim Dokja didn’t even blink. It did not take a genius to understand the same thing had not happened to him.
An one-sided bond. No mark had blossomed on Kim Dokja’s pale skin.
A bitter feeling accompanied this thought.
“If you really are a prophet, you should know your future. Isn’t that right?”
Kim didn’t manifest any fear at those words. He looked more exasperated instead.
Yoo Joonghyuk continued. “Will I let go of this hand or won’t I?”
Kim Dokja sighed and then smirked at him. He continued talking to him as if he knew he would survive what was going to happen next.
His face didn't show any fear, Kim Dokja only said this :
“Get your hand off of me and get lost, you jerk.” A flash of dark long eyelashes and inky eyes appeared in front of him and disappeared like a dream just as fast.
Then, Yoo Joonghyuk watched as his new soulmate fell into a sea full of monsters.
2) The new Mark
Yoo Joonghyuk took out his shirt as soon as he could.
The smell of the station's public toilets made him frown but he could hardly be picky about it. He pulled out the clothes he had found as he killed monsters.
Before he could put them on, his eyes were attracted to his new soulmark.
Yoo Joonghuyk frowned. It was abnormally large to say the least. On his chest, a night sky had appeared. Silver stars illuminated it as they reflected the lightbulbs’ pale glimmer. The delicateness with which the soulmark had been painted was almost out-of-place in this apocalyptic world. This deep blue which went from electric to midnight. highlighted with spots of orchid purple and silver clouds.
The man had been neglected, hair cut in a shabby way and clothes dirty from more than his previous fights. This beautiful, almost artistic mark, didn't fit with his first impression of Kim Dokja.
More surprising was how the soulmark refused to fade. The idiot had not died yet, then. Interesting.
“Master, are you ready?” Lee Jihye’s voice broke him out of his thought. On Yoo Jonghyuk’s left hand, her mark : a small ship perseverating through blue waves, had finally come back.
He huffed. Kim Dokja didn’t matter in the grand schemes of the scenarios. He would probably never meet the man again anyway.
3) Voice
His heart was burning in his chest. He could feel his muscles act without his consent, felt them stretch and distend under the control of the cinema master.
It barely mattered. He no longer stood in a place where light could reach him. The faded soulmark of the woman he had loved - still loved - and of the child he would never get to hold ached. Their former colors had been stolen away by death a long time ago.
The weight of all those failures were keeping him down.
Get a hold of yourself !
You vowed to live for the greater good if you could no longer find the will to go on.
Information no one should have known was being told to him. In the middle of his despair, he realized that such a thing should have been impossible.
How are you alone ?
As he said those words, Kim Dokja's voice cracked. Yoo Joonghyuk couldn’t identify what emotions were behind it. Anger, betrayal, despair, maybe.
“Who… are you?”
The mind control of the cinema master had trapped him under a sea of hopelessness which he could not escape. Sounds were muffled, he could barely see his own body.
But Kim Dokja’s voice reached him just fine. As if no distance separated them, as if he was standing next to him.
Above him, a crack formed on the dome which was locking him inside his mind. It multiplied slowly at first then quicker as Kim Dokja’s word kept reaching him. The wall had turned into a mosaic of glasses.
Yoo Joonghyuk focused. He had been a fool to get so easily caught into this trap. HIs aura sharpened and targeted the already weakened dome.
What waited behind it was a night sky. The same which had appeared on his skin a few days ago.
“You bastard, you’re not going to leave me alone, are you?” Warmth embraced him and brushed away the loneliness as if it had never existed. Consciousness finally left him, Yoo Joonghyuk didn’t even try to fight it.
Yoo Joonghyuk woke up hours after to Lee Jihye’s nagging. He didn’t need to look at his chest to know Kim Dokja’s mark had extended.
4) The poison and the cure
Lee Seolhwa’s soulmark had once been a beautiful, soft camellia as red as her lips. It had climbed all over Yoo Joonghyuk’s shoulder. Each time she smiled at him, the mark would warm and he would know, in those moments, that he could do anything.
Yet, he couldn’t lie to himself : the small flame lily which now covered his wrist felt truer, a better representation of her person.
Dangerous and sharp but still good as long as she was on your side. He wondered if during their previous relationship she had only shown him her best self.
“Joonghyuk-ssi?” She asked. “Are you sure you are alright?” A black wolf now stood over her ankles. Once, it had covered her neck.
He nodded. “Let’s go.”
5) Rage (?)
Yoo Joonghyuk stared at Kim Dokja’s retreating back. Life had come back to his body and it no longer carried its deadly paleness. However, his heart refused to stop stuttering, to stop hurting.
His hands had adopted a dirty copper shade. He knew that no matter how diligently he tried to clean them, dried blood would remain under his nails.
Unaware of Yoo Joonghyuk’s inner turmoil, the idiot kept talking with the woman - Yoo Sangah if he remembered correctly. His smile was wider than usual and his arms moved in every direction as he said something to her.
Yoo Joonghyuk refused to pay any attention to it. He could easily imagine his tone - passionate but still soft - which betrayed an intimacy he didn’t share with Yoo Joonghyuk.
Next to him, Lee Seolhwa was also focusing her whole attention on the bastard. “Is something wrong?” He asked.
She bit her lips. A habit which always manifested when she was anxious. He had often seen it in his previous regression. “Is Dokja-ssi really alright?” She finally said.
Before them, Kim Dokja kept smiling at Yoo Sangah. “He looks well enough to me.” He gritted.
“He is limping and not putting his whole weight on his right side.” Lee Seolhwa said. “Did his resurrection really heal all his wounds?” She didn’t add anything and only looked at him.
Even without having been married to her in his previous life, Yoo Joonghyuk would have understood. “Do you want me to check on him?”
“Isn’t that what Joonghyuk-ssi also wants?” She offered him a knowing smile.
[The constellation ‘Demon like Judge of Fire’ is encouraging you to show your companionship]
[The constellation ‘Demon-like Judge of Fire’ has sponsored 1000 coins.]
He looked away. They both knew it was the truth. His whole body was ordering him to move closer. He felt it in the tightening of his jaw and the tenseness in his neck.
Should he move closer ? That was the real question. A distraction. That’s what it would have been.
He couldn’t afford it. Not right now. Not when this regression had been going surprisingly well from the start. Any moment could be used by the Star Stream to shatter his luck.
In front of them, Yoo Sangah laughed at Kim Dokja's words.
He wasn’t like this bastard. He wouldn’t…
As Kim Dokja took a step forward, a flash of pain crossed his face. Only through years of sharpening his skills did Yoo Joonghyuk manage to notice it. It had been as quick as thunder, so ephemere that he doubted he had even seen it.
Yoo Joonghyuk moved forward so fast he almost thought he had activated one of his special abilities. His hand grabbed Kim Dokja’s neck and pulled him with him.
“Yoo Joong-... You bastard, what do you think you are doing ?”
“Dokja-ssi, are you alright?” Yoo Sangah asked. Golden light was manifesting near her fingers.
[The constellation ‘Demon-like Judge of Fire’ is pleased by your demonstration of companionship.]
“We need to talk.” Yoo Joonghyuk said.
“And this necessitates strangling me because ?”
Yoo Joonghyuk only held him tighter. The underlying threat was clear.
“Alright, alright, Sunfish bastard. Lead the way.”
Yoo Sangah watched him from the corner of her eyes. Her distrust of him was evident. She was analyzing him like a butcher who was wondering how to best cut a parcel of meat. A black wing - from a raven maybe ? - was covering her wrist.
The colour reminded him of Kim Dokja’s hair. The way she clenched it while looking at them confirmed his suspicions.
A mark on her hand…
There was no real scientific connection between the position of a soulmark and the relationship associated with it. However, most people affirmed that marks on the chest, neck and hands tended to represent deeper bonds. Yoo Joonghyuk remembered an interview he had once watched in passing. An artisan specialized in some type of wood curving had been talking about her soulmate.
She had been caressing her soulmark just like Yoo Sangah did : a little dove whose wings hugged her wrist. “ I wouldn’t have been able to get such notoriety without Shinae. Even now, I am certain that her help is what allowed me to constantly give my best and to keep improving.” She had chuckled. “ She is the person who gave me a purpose. Maybe that’s why her mark is on my hand. She is the one who motivated me to just act.”
Of course, Yoo Joonghyuk didn’t care about those mindless tales. Yet, he couldn’t help but wonder if their relationship went further than friendship.
It was, once again, a practical question. Distractions, especially those caused by love, could go a long way to ruin a regression. This was a fact.
Kim Dokja, although useful, could well become a liability because of love.
Yoo Joonghyuk nodded to himself. This perfectly explained this burning sensation in his chest.
He turned back toward Lee Seolhwa. She gave him a thumbs-up and left him to go talk to Yoo Sangah. When he came back hours after, a silver moon had joined her dark wolf.
XXXX
“Let go of my neck already, you crazy asshole.”
Nails dived into his wrist. Yoo Joonghyuk didn’t budge. He had handled worse than a kitten's claws.
He closed the door before throwing the man against the nearest wall. This elicited a wheeze from Kim Dokja who glared at him as soon as he had recuperated from his shock. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Take off your shirt.”
[The constellation ‘Demon-like Judge of Fire’’s eyes are shining.]
[The constellation ‘Demon-like Judge of Fire’ can’t wait to see where this situation is going.]
[The constellation ‘Demon-like Judge of Fire’ has sponsored 1500 coins.]
[The constellation 'Prisoner of the Golden Headband’ is smirking at you.]
[The constellation 'Prisoner of the Golden Headband’ has sponsored 69 coins.]
Kim Dokja froze. “What did you just say?”
[The constellation ‘Secretive Plotter’ would also like you to know the answer to this question.]
Without paying any attention to it, Yoo Joonghyuk silenced his messages once more.“Take off your shirt.”
Kim Dokja blinked once, then twice. “Did you hit your head during your fight with the Disaster of Floods?” Bitterness still lingered as he pronounced Shin Yoosoung’s moniker. On his left palm, white faded scales had appeared and had merged with the small ichtyosaur which circled around his pinkie.
His frown softened before he could stop it. The same mark covered his shoulder after all.
“You’re still hurt.” Yoo Joonghyuk finally said.
Kim Dokja frowned. He squinted as if he was reading something intently. Through his censured face, this made for a comical sight : a frowning dumpling. “You’re the one acting weirdly.” He finally protested when he was done with his inspection.
“Your resurrection-”
“Healed all my wounds perfectly. I’ve never been better.”
“Lee Seolhwa disagrees.” He dared Kim Dokja to question her expertise on the subject. The bastard did not. Maybe he had some survival instinct, after all.
“Take your shirt off..” Yoo Joonghyuk repeated.
Kim Dokja did not protest but his eyes kept lingering toward the windows behind his captor. “Joonghyuk-ah, not that I’m ungrateful for your heartwarming concern, but don’t you think you have better things to do besides bullying poor, little, old me?”
“Shirt.”
“I swear, talking to a prison’s door would be easier.”
Tired of his protests, Yoo Joonghyuk caught the shirt himself. The buttons went flying without any further effort from his part.
“Yoo Joonghyuk, calm down ! You’re acting irrationally.”
He put away the shirt only to reveal rainbow-colored bruises. Without hesitating, Yoo Joonghyuk poked at the biggest one. This one went from his waist to his lowest ribs which - he could bet - was at least fractured.
He frowned. How could this idiot walk around as if it was nothing?
Kim Dokja wasn’t like him. He hadn’t yet been able to develop the pain tolerance associated with years spent surviving in the apocalypse. His body was soft in ways Yoo Joonghyuk’s had never been. Although some muscles had started developing and covering his bones, his sickly pale skin always seemed on the verge of being ripped apart by their too short extremities.
Weak, he thought. Kim Dokja glared at him as if he could read his thoughts.
“Sit down.” He ordered.
[The constellation ‘Demon-like Judge of Fire’’s eyes are shining.]
[The constellation ‘Abyssal Black Flame Dragon’ is laughing at incarnation Kim Dokja’s weakness.]
[The constellation ‘Abyssal Black Flame Dragon’ says such stupid injuries would have never happened to him.]
“This isn’t as bad as it looks.”
“That’s not up for you to decide. Sit. Now.”
I won’t give this bastard the opportunity to run away.
“Such eloquence, Joonghyuk-ie. You managed to use one word which didn’t only have one syllable. You deserve a golden star.”
Various ways to make Kim Dokja shut up crossed his mind. They went from knocking him out to simply beating him black and blue until he didn’t have the strength of talking back to him.
Plain violence seemed like the better option. Kim Dokja’s soulmark burnt him as if to reprimand him.
Instead, he took away the shirt and grasped a potion from his coat. This time, Kim Dokja didn’t protest. Only adopted an unsettled smile and kept silent.
This suited Yoo Joonghyuk just fine and so he didn’t comment on it.
He applied the potion with a careful meticulousness and only stopped once the soft skin had gained back its original color. The coins invested in this potion had not been a waste.
It would have been impossible to know he had been involved in a life or death situation. A job well done without a doubt. Yoo Joonghyuk hummed in quiet satisfaction.
During his whole treatment, Kim Dokja had been oddly silent. The place where his eyes were supposed to be located had remained fixed on the wrist of the hand which was taking care of him. His fingers kept twitching as they looked at it.
He looked away as soon as he noticed Yoo Joonghyuk was done. As he started moving in order to stand up, the rest of his soulmarks became visible.
A golden sword covered the entirety of his spine. On top of it, a halo of fire illuminated his whole skin which replaced his pallor by an unreal shine. Behind it, a silver shield protected his shoulder, his light just as overwhelming as the sword’s.
It carried the type of beauty which portrayed nothing but pure love, Yoo Joonghyuk realized. Yet, this incredible painting remained hidden on his back.
He wondered if Kim Dokja had ever managed to see it.
“Did you really have to ruin my shirt? I can’t go out like this !” Kim Dokja complained. His tone was at the limit of being brattish. Yoo Joonghyuk did not even manage to perceive it.
His whole attention was focused on the spot of color hidden under his hair. A blood-red flower. A chrysanthemum, his mind supplied. Instead of having the other marks’ bright color, this one had the pale hues of a watercolor. It remained dissimulated, a secret no one would be privy to.
Yoo Joonghyuk thought it looked like an open wound.
Accompanied by a victorious cheer, a black shirt manifested in Kim Dokja's hands. He put it on with an almost desperate efficiency. As his chest was finally once again covered by the dark fabric, his shoulders relaxed.
Kim Dokja nodded to himself and turned back. “Is disrobing people a hobby of yours? Such behavior won’t earn you any coin, don’t you know?”
He ignored those ridiculous words. “Don’t you also have her mark?” Or is she another person you didn’t allow to mark you?
This question earned him a confused blink. “Who are you talking about?”
“This woman.”
“... Do you mean Sangah-ssi?”
No answer.
Kim Dokja looked at him in disbelief. “Can’t you see it?”
“Answer me.” This earned him another sigh.
Kim Dokja brushed his hair apart to show off his cheek. If Yoo Joonghyuk focused enough, he could discern a small crescent on top of silver leaves which surrounded the bottom of his eye. In Yoo Joonghyuk’s opinion, this soulmark looked a bit too much like an elaborate makeup trick.
Before he could stop himself, he ran one of his fingers along it. Under it, the cheekbones seemed ready to cut him...
This idiot definitely doesn’t eat enough.
Kim Dokja scoffed at this. He moved away so quickly he could have been using Ways of the Wind and smirked at him. “Careful Joonghyuk-ah or I’ll think you actually can stand me and are just pretending to save your chuuni’s reputation.”
Yoo Joonghyuk glared at him.
“And don’t worry, I’m not being distracted or anything.”
This was not what this conversation was about but correcting him would have led nowhere.
“Now if the Supreme King-ssi allows it, I’d like to go back. I don’t want to leave the kids alone any longer.”
Before Yoo Joonghyuk could answer, a wave of wind rose. Kim Dokja had disappeared without leaving a trace.
Later, as he watched Kim Dokja lean in - ready to kiss Yoo Sangah - he didn't even try to hold back as his knuckles hit the nearest wall.
6) Realization
Yoo Joonghyuk sighed
Although boring, black was a practical color. It didn’t get dirty easily, it hid the blood from his fights. Yoo Joonghyuk liked the color black. It was a color he knew how to deal with.
Yet, as he saw light being reflected in Kim Dokja’s inky irises, he realized for the first time that black was also a color you could fall in love with.
The vision of his face faded as soon as it had appeared. The irregular beating of his heart did not.
Shit.
7) Companions
The metamorphosis of his feelings was over before Yoo Joonghyuk could stop it. Or, to be more honest he hadn’t tried that hard to prevent it in the first place. He had been caught in Kim Dokja’s orbit by surprise and had now decided he didn’t want to leave it anymore.
Like water, the man had managed to erode all his defenses. All his actions. His capacity to overcome all probabilities. The time when his smirk would disappear and be replaced by serious lips which always managed to say what he needed to hear.
In retrospect, only the distance he had fought hard to keep between them at the beginning had managed to protect him from Kim Dokja’s influence. Now that their companionship had become more than a word, remaining unaffected was no longer a possibility.
Not that the exasperation had disappeared. Far from it.
Kim Dokja and annoying were synonyms. That, Yoo Joonghyuk had understood long ago.
Each sentence which exited this mouth would raise his tension nine times out of ten. His hands would beg him to strangle the bastard until he could no longer
But they would also kill anyone who tried to harm him. They would catch his sword - as quick as light - and stab without any hesitation the creature which was about to lunge at Kim Dokja.
No matter the time, Kim Dokja would turn back and look at him. Surprise would be first, then slowly, satisfaction would come. His lips would curve. “Why Joonghyuk-ah, you do care.” Each time, his answer would be the same.
Kim Dokja would then arrange his coat back and walk away in an almost bored manner.
Overprotectiveness would die and be replaced by an overwhelming rage. How could someone glance at death’s face and barely be phased by it?
He wouldn’t allow him to run away. Yoo Joonghyuk would catch the hem of his coat and drag him back to their camp, drop him in front of Lee Seolhwa and let him face the consequences of his stupidity.
As she wrapped bandages around his arms and chest, her hands would brush the flame lily which had taken roots on his ribs, just above a weird drawing which looked suspiciously like a dokkaebi. His chest tightened each time. He wanted to take away her hands and replace her smell with his. His unjustified jealousy manifested itself in the strangest ways.
As if to mirror his new feelings, the dark sky had developped and now encompassed his shoulders. New stars had appeared in the nocturnal sky. Each of them had adopted a different color : fiery red, pure silver, an almost golden yellow, a purple which almost looked black sometimes.
Yet, the white star which resided over his heart still shone the brightest. At its side, a grassy green star and a bluish one. They were smaller than the other stars but their light was in no way weaker than the others.
The first time their ability to glow had manifested through his black top, Yoo Mia had offered him a disappointed smile. “You have bad tastes, oppa.” She sighed. “Seolhwa-unni would have been better.”
Although he wasn’t the type of person to accept his little sister’s opinion when it came to his feelings, Yoo Joonghyuk tended to agree. Anyone would have been better than this idiot, from a completely objective point of view.
Yet, his soulmark continued to spread.
8) Chrysanthemum
The King of the Wanderer looked at him with eyes full of hatred.
Lee Sookyung was, without a doubt, a beautiful although exhausted woman. Serious eyebrows crowned dark inky eyes. Sorrow filled them, accompanied by a defiance which she had - without a doubt - transmitted to her son. Long eyelashes and delicate lips completed the picture.
Although she was a petite woman, anyone who would have dared calling her weak would have been the most idiotic person on the planet.
Did Kim Dokja look like her behind the censorship or had he instead inherited his father’s traits?
“What do you want?” He finally said.
Lee Sookyung’s lips curled into a familiar displeased smirk. “Not very patient, are you, boy? Well then, I will not lie and pretend I actually enjoy your presence too.”
She brushed her hair aside. White scars covered every centimeter of her hands. Dark colored spots taught him that soulmarks had once covered her fingers before someone had scarred them for life.
“Stay away from my son.” Her words cut into the silence.
“He is my companion.” Yoo Joonghyuk. said.
“You have heard about the prophecy, have you not?”
“Why does it matter?”
“Who do you think is ‘the person he loves the most?’”
Flashes of pale skin devoid of any marks which could be connected back to Yoo Joonghyuk crossed his mind.
Not me.
This was the only answer he could give to her. Kim Dokja offered his life and death to him. His heart -however - would never belong to Yoo Joonghyuk.
“He doesn’t bear my soulmark.”
This earned him a frown. “Just because you didn’t see it doesn’t mean-”
“I checked.”
Lee Sookyung’s eyes widened in surprise. “How did you- nevermind.” Her hands moved as if to brush away the idea of Yoo Joonghyuk coming near her son. “Are you sure?”
Yoo Joonghyuk nodded tersely. Whether she decided to believe him or not was none of his business. He stood up and walked toward the exit.
Lee Sookyung had, however, other ideas. “Yoo Joonghyuk.” Only years of carefully trained instincts prevented the knife she threw at him from splitting his skull apart.
Yoo Joonghyuk brought his hand to his cheek. Blood stained his fingers. He took out his sword, a silent warning which dared her to try once more to kill him.
She offered him an uncertain smirk. Her earlier confidence had been replaced by an emotion he was familiar with : desperate fear.
“As expected, I can’t kill you.” She said with a disappointed sigh. Her hands were shaking. Had Yoo Joonghyuk been more open about his emotions, his hands would surely have been doing the same.
The person Kim Dokja loves most… Who could be hiding behind such a moniker? A life or death question which had been haunting their little group for days. They were running out of time. This prophecy wouldn’t wait forever to realize itself.
From what Kim Dokja had said, his mother hadn’t cared about it, had only shrugged and gone back to her previous occupations.
This once again proved what Yoo Joonghyuk now considered an universal truth : Kim Dokja was an idiot.
Love could have stabbed him in the chest and this bastard would have still been unable to see it.
“I will kill this person.” He finally said.
No answer came from Lee Sookyng. Her eyes were wet but her hands no longer shook. She nodded slowly but still seemed to be preparing herself to grieve.
Yoo Joonghyuk looked away from her. His cheek still ached from the knife’s wound. So that’s who the red chrysanthemum stood for.
9) Grief
You failed. You failed. You failed.
As Kim Dokja’s silhouette faded away into the nothingness, the mark on his chest started burning.
A pain like no other erupted inside of him. A torture only a supernatural entity like the Star Stream could create. His whole body tensed as ice and fire burnt through him.
The pain of killing one of his soulmates. A pain which was proportional to the importance accorded to the bond.
Behind him, the cries of the rest of the companies barely reached his ears. So distant that they might as well have been coming from another planet.
The blue screen which displayed their rewards was flashing in front of him. No matter what it took, Yoo Joonghyuk would crush the dokkaebi who congratulated him for the hardest action he had ever accomplished since this regression began.
[The constellation ‘Secretive Plotter’ is sneering at your weakness.]
This stupid constellation would come next, he promised himself.
He did his best to focus his whole attention on those goals. Breaking down because of his grief would lead him nowhere.
His perception of the world came back to him.
“I hate you ! I hate you ! I hate you ! Why did you kill Hyung, you bastard ?” were the first words he heard. He blocked the incoming punch easily and glared at the boy. Tears were streaming down his cheek.
If aggression was how he had decided to handle his grief, Yoo Joonghyuk would not mind letting him. It wasn’t as if he was strong enough to cause him harm. Not yet, at least.
He let go of the boy’s fist. This only elicited a frustrated groan from Lee Gilyoung. He kicked the ground once. Then twice.
Once he understood those wouldn’t be sufficient to bring back his caretaker, Lee Gilyoung merely brought down his baseball cap until it covered his eyes. It still didn’t muffle the sound of his sobs. His other hand clenched the side of his neck where Kim Dokja’s soulmark had taken root. Until now, Lee Gilyoung had never tried to dissimulate it.
Had Yoo Joonghyuk been a better person, he would have tried to appease this rage, explained to him that it wasn’t his fault. But he wasn’t Kim Dokja. He couldn’t fight against an ugly truth and liberate everyone’s mind from its presence. There was a reason his affection had taken the form of a dark wolf after all.
He needed to plan. Without Kim Dokja’s help, the future had suddenly become uncertain.
One his main source of information had disappeared. The strategies they had come up with would no longer work without the man’s presence.
Pain was still tearing apart at his chest. He forced himself to ignore it.
When it didn’t work, he tried to remember the incoming scenarios…
Yoo Joonghyuk frowned as he also failed to do so. Images of Kim Dokja’s smirk kept flashing in front of his eyes. Did you think you would forget me so easily ? It taunted him, an out of reach mirage.
His eyes found Shin Yoosoung. The girl wasn’t looking at him, her whole attention was instead focused on Lee Gilyoung. Her face didn’t betray any emotion although tears were falling down her cheeks. She looked oddly focused. Considering her relationship with Kim Dokja, her calmness came as a surprise. Maybe she hid her emotions better than in the previous regressions.
She grabbed Lee Gilyoung’s ear and yanked it on the other side.
“What are you doing Shin Yoo-” Lee Gilyoung was still clutching his shoulder - her strength had not been enough to dislodge it - but Yoo Joonghyuk saw what Shin Yoosoung had been trying to show him.
This time, his hand was dislodged.
“Let me go, you bast-” A dark soulmark still stood protectively over the boy’s neck and shoulder.
He recognized it without any trouble. Each night, he listened to the children fighting about who had obtained the biggest soulmark. “ Mine of course ! Ahjussi clearly loves me more, bugboy !”
“You take that back Shin Yoosoung. Hyung obviously loves me more, I was with him first !”
A quick glance at her was enough for him to notice the dark wings on her neck.
If their marks were still there… Shin Yoosoung’s wet eyes informed him she had come to the same conclusion.
Without a care for those present, he took off his coat then his top. On his chest, Kim Dokja’s soulmark still stood. Instead of the midnight blue and the bright stars he had gotten used to, a gray sky had been left.
Dulled but not quite faded yet.
Next to him, he saw Yoo Sangah and Jung Heewon pull up their sleeves. The dark raven wings which had covered their right wrist were still here.
“This fucking asshole. When I get my hands on him…” Yet, the smile on Jung Heewon couldn’t be called anything but relieved.
Deep sighs, the kind only people pushed to the edge of insanity could make, were heard.
“So you’re not dead yet, Kim Dokja.” He hummed quietly although rage was still simmering inside of him, ready to boil over at any time.
He could work with this.