IF I WERE THE DEVIL ; YANG JUNGWON

CARD XXV: Falling for you.

[ T/W: Mention of extreme and fool behaviour ; blood ] ──────────────

Sometimes Eyun wondered why this girl, who had once been so afraid of every step she took in this huge building, seemed to know this place, this system and these people better than anyone else.

But maybe this was the reason. Because she knew, she was scared.

The two girls didn't even pause at the dark wooden door to catch their breath from running, but ripped open the door marked 'Art Rooms'.

Minhee had a quick look around the empty artistic workroom before running to one of the closed doors. She hastily wrapped her hand around the doorknob, but she was unable to get it to turn.

She looked at the owner of the hand that was holding on to hers, trying to stop her. "You can't enter while the game is running," a girl with a messy bun and a lot of piercings stated, giving her a challenging look which — unexpected to Eyun — left Minhee completely unimpressed.

"Do I look like I fvcking care?" She asked, not bothering to wait for an answer. Minhee tried to get rid of the girl's hold on her. "Move!" The long-haired brunette almost shouted. "You should know better than anyone what happens in there. Do you want to be held responsible for the death of someone else as well?"

"You-" The pierced girl was too stunned to speak, how could this girl dare to talk back to her and order her around? Before she was able to do what she had been assigned to do — stop anyone from disturbing the ongoing game — she was shoved out of the way and reserved for a date with the hard floor.

Minhee used all the strength she could muster to pull the door open. The first thing that caught her eye was the back of this tall, violet-haired boy.

Without giving her head even the slightest chance to calculate what it was supposed to do next, she walked over to Ni-ki and pulled him by the collar. The idea of appearing threatening and getting answers failed as she only managed to pull him down to her eye level thanks to his tree height.

"What did you do to him, vicious demon child?" She gritted through her teeth, seriously considering whether to pretend to be a gangster.

"I may be older than you, 'child'," Ni-ki commented almost mockingly. He looked her up and down in a judgmental manner, completely unaffected by the angry girl.

"You-" Crumpling the neat blue shirt, she tightened her grip on his collar.

Her hand suddenly released the violet-haired boy.

She had found him.

Minhee's eyes had flickered over the demon's shoulder and had finally caught sight of the wanted boy. Forgetting everything, she pushed Ni-ki out of the way, at least as far as she could, and ran to Taehyun.

Just as he had already, she fell to her knees. The boy's breathing was heavy and he had a very tight grip on his arm. His head was hanging low, so that she could only see his silver hair.

"Taehyun-ah," she blurted out in shock. At the same time as he did, she watched as his hand was covered in his own blood as soon as he let go of his arm. Taehyun shook his head in disbelief before his doe eyes met the puma-like eyes of the other, the corner of his lips raised in a sarcastic grin.