Black Silk ✘ Minsung

Chapter 2

  Jisung nodded, a weird feeling settling in his stomach. He wasn't sure if he wanted to end up that way, since he has heard the worst things about the devils even from Kim Seungmin himself. There would be zero subjects that could change the way he's going to end up after the examination is over anyways. Another question suddenly popped up in his head.

  "Is there something I should be aware of? You can tell me if there is something the angels are trying to keep away from the 'newbies', right?" he blurted out, immediately regretting being this straightforward but he had no other option. Seungmin would never tell him the things he should not know but the devil, on the other hand, could tell him anything without caring any less about consequences. Seeing Hyunjin's expression, he quickly added; "You don't have a good relationship with one another anyways, you hate each other."

  Hyunjin smirked before answering. "We don't hate each other but we also don't really love each other. We just co-exist. But to answer your question, there are a lot of things you won't be aware of on the examination but that's what makes it perfect! There will be lots of situations you just cannot be prepared for — just like in the human world."

  Jisung nodded, feeling defeated that he was not able to get this type of information out of him. He was ready to excuse himself, pick up all of his books and leave but in a spare of one second, Hyunjin appeared next to him, holding his forearm very tightly. Jisung hissed and flinched upon feeling that touch. Hyunjin's skin on his own felt like a thousand needles pricking his skin or as if someone poured gasoline on his hand and then set it on fire. Jisung wanted to scream, to let everyone know about the pain that was currently burning (literally) through his whole arm. Silent cries of pain escaped his mouth as the devil pulled him closer and whispered into his ear;

  "The best way to pass the exam is to do the one thing I am not capable of doing — especially when they ask about your previous human life and memories. Have fun finding out what that one thing is."

☙

  Later that day, Jisung found himself trying to find a certain angel, hoping he will be able to answer the question that's been on his mind since his little encounter with Hyunjin this morning.

  Jisung knew that their room won't be the place he is going to find the latter but he looked there first anyways. The room was dark — curtains closed, the cold marble floor making him shiver, white walls that made the room seem not quite alive, which was also true. Both of them were anything but alive. The only thing that caught his attention was Changbin's jacket folded on his bed which meant that the older boy was in the room not so long ago.

  Closing the door as quietly as possible, he wondered where his roommate might have gone. He was aware that he was most likely hanging out with the devils again but there was no way Jisung is going to search for him on the other side of the facility where the devils' rooms were located. That's way too risky for someone who hasn't passed the stress test (as he likes to call it) yet. He can't and doesn't even want to imagine what would happen if someone caught him wandering around the halls that have Latin words engraved in its walls, large columns with various ornaments on them and the large red carpet he only saw in the even larger books that were placed on the shelves of their enormous library.

  Those words were quickly erased from his mind as he found himself quietly stepping on the large red carpet, heading down the wide hallway while trying not to engage in any form of eye contact with others. His eyes were focused on the doors only, trying to find one particular number he heard Changbin mention before. He wasn't sure if the number was the room number or if it was related to something else but Jisung was currently way too anxious to even think about what the number meant, so he was lowkey hoping his intuition was right.

  0318, 0319, 0320, ... almost there, Jisung thought as his heart began to abruptly beat against his ribcage, making him wonder if it's even possible. He was receiving weird glances, some of them made his insides twist and want to hide somewhere where no one could find him and other of them were almost ... seductive. That sent shivers down his spine as he tried to keep his eyes glued on the doors.

  He could hear loud noises coming from the end of the hallway. With his finger, he counted if that is the number of the door he was looking for and lucky for him, it was. Quickly dragging his feet towards the door, he raised his fist and as he was about to knock on the thick piece of wood that had the four numbers engraved in it just like they were engraved in his mind since the moment he's heard them for the very first time, the door opened. That action startled him a little bit, kind of accepting the embarrassment he will have to face since he was about to knock on the wrong door but when he looked up, he was met with a face he recognised very well since it was one of the devils Changbin hangs out a lot with. He awkwardly smiled, pulling his hand that was hanging in the air since he was about to knock on the now opened door closer to his body.

  "Hi, is Changbin here?" he blurted out, eyes looking almost everywhere but at the devil in front of him. A mysterious aura surrounded him once again, just like it usually did whenever he spoke to one of the so-called apprentices of satan himself.

  The devil chuckled. "He left to get something in the library," Jisung's eyes widened and he almost let out a defeated sigh but the boy in front of him continued before Jisung even had the chance to turn around and leave, "He should return in a few minutes though. Want to come inside and wait for him?"

  Without even thinking twice about the invitation, Jisung nodded and stepped inside the room, his eyes scanning every single wall and detail in it. It looked less empty than the angels' rooms. Not only the colour scheme, Jisung expected the room to be very dark but they had posters on their walls, fuzzy carpet in front of a massive sofa. It almost looked like a normal teenager's room in college. But the thing that startled him the most were the devils that were seated on the floor in the middle of the room, all of them eyeing him suspiciously, making Jisung gulp. When he heard a loud click echoing the room, he turned his head to the left and saw that Chan — the devil that invited him in, closing the door. Will I die? Again? The boy questioned as he saw Chan smirking and going to sit on the floor in the middle of the room as well.

  Jisung could almost feel the blood pumping in his veins because of how quiet it has gotten in the room since the moment he's knocked on the door and came inside — but he doubts there's any blood left in his veins. But that was before a loud voice interrupted this thrilling silence, accompanied by the loud crack of the door opening. "What the hell is another angel doing in my fucking room?"

  And Jisung knew he was doomed.