Eʏᴇ ᴏғ Asᴍᴏᴅᴇᴜs

13. An Unbelievable Saga

Jungkook got up from the edge of the bed and walked over. "I've been ready for a long time, Jimin. You have to trust me," he touched the older's arm. "I won't say anything to anyone. I promised you."

Jimin sighed and turned around, looking into the dark distance. "It's not the first time that I met you," a burden lifted off his chest. "It was in another lifetime for you, but I was there since the beginning and it feels the same every fucking time."

"What do you mean?" Jungkook turned Jimin around by pulling on his arm.

The older cupped Jungkook's cheeks between his cold palms and leaned in, not wanting to leave any space between them. "You are the reason I exist."

Jungkook's brows quivered and his quizzical look caused Jimin to gulp. He felt Jimin entangling his fingers into his before they paced up to the bed.

Jimin ensured he closed the window before sauntering back towards Jungkook. He made the teen comfortable by wrapping him in a blanket before climbing on the bed and pulling the boy close to his body. "It's not your first life. And it will not be your last if... Things don't go as I planned."

"It's... Unbelievable."

"Isn't my existence proof enough that anything can happen, Jungkook?"

"Don't get me wrong," Jungkook quickly put his palm over Jimin's chest. "I don't think you are lying. But it's just too hard to believe."

"See. I told you you aren't ready for this."

"No," Jungkook clutched his fingers over Jimin's skin desperately. "I promise I'll keep an open mind. Please tell me everything."

"I was alone for centuries. There was no purpose for me except to watch over hell. I didn't have a heart. I didn't feel anything. For the kind of work I was doing, I didn't need a heart either. But then after a long, long time, things changed. I started feeling things while seeing them."

"Being in the underworld, I learned every bit about me there ever was and mastered all the possible powers I could. One day, I felt anger."

Jungkook gulped, sensing the anger filtering through Jimin's words.

"I was called the Asmodeus. I was a watcher. Nothing escaped my eye. Yet... I didn't see a purpose when I started feeling. I thought of humans as lowly and insignificant, but I was curious because I had something in common with them. I decided to make a bargain with the Almighty. I wanted to come and watch over the human world. I met them in hell, but I wished to witness live humans. I wanted to see them in the flesh doing the horrible things they were capable of that stamped them with a one-way ticket to my home. I put up a fight, but God had other plans."

"What happened?" Jungkook inquired hastily.

"You happened," Jimin brought Jungkook's palm to his lips and kissed his fingers. "My darling, you happened. There wasn't any human in my realm, but you were born. You started growing up. I realized with time that you were aging like a human that you were. For eighteen years, I watched you walk, talk, eat, and sleep. I watched over you obsessively without saying a single word to you. But then one day you held my hand and demanded me to take you with me to my home."

Jungkook felt jealous of himself — the version of him that was from the past. He shared no memories with the Jungkook Jimin was talking of. But somehow he felt that he shared a consciousness with that person, making it easier to relate with him despite being envious. "He must've been lonely."

Jimin stopped, realizing what Jungkook implied. "He... Wasn't." He said with caution. "Not because he wasn't literally, but he never knew the existence of others like him, so he was fine by himself."

"Then?"

"Then he became my weakness — my whole world. If he asked me to show him how I tortured the dead, I did. If he asked me to bring him to the most beautiful place in the universe, I did. He wanted more and I had a world at my expense. He didn't stop and I never tired."

"Then I made a big mistake. I felt for him too much. I wanted to do more and more and I brought him here, where all the humans were."

"He realized then what he had been missing all the time. He didn't want to return and I couldn't stay even if I wanted to. I had immense power on my command, but I was not a mortal being. Mortal realm didn't agree with me."

"But you are here now."

"You have to consider that it was a long time ago. Things changed since then. I have had time to learn and adapt." Jimin said sadly.

Jungkook knew where the story was going. He didn't want Jimin to feel that hurt again, but he needed to know as much as he was willingly offering.

"He decided to stay here, but he was too dependent on me. He was too naive to be living among the greedy lowlifes. He-" Jimin's voice turned heavy and he cleared his throat.

"I am sorry," Jungkook kissed Jimin's cheek. "I am sorry you lost him."

Jimin gripped Jungkook's waist with one hand. "It was the first time I felt like I didn't want to be immortal. His absence shredded my heart and ripped my soul. I wanted him back, so I trespassed heaven."

"I didn't find him there."

Jungkook didn't believe in hell or heaven. It wasn't something he read about or researched, but he knew deep down that the concept seemed flawed to him.

"I abdicated my position in hell. I became a wanderer with no purpose. I walked on every surface aimlessly. I wanted to end myself. I tried everything, but nothing worked. I came back, every single time."

Jungkook had tears in his eyes. He wasn't sure if he hated the fact more that Jimin felt all that for someone else, or that he had to go through it all.

"But then," Jimin smiled. "You came back. You came back after eighteen years of waiting."