Luminous • Jisung

37 • Lights

He seemed so endlessly disinterested.

"He is smart, strong, witty," the man continued. "Better than that impulsive, incompetent, arrogant kid. Who wants to be ruled by someone like him? There are so many more who would fit the job better."

It was after these compliments, after the rude words towards Jisung; it was then that Taemin let his head fall back, exhaling softly.

Much to Cho-a's surprise, Taemin couldn't be any more annoyed and disgusted by what that man just said. He wasn't happy because of the compliments. He didn't want to get praised.

Instead, he stared up at the sky with his eyes half-closed. And then he laughed. Chuckled against the lips of his closed mouth, its edges pulled up faintly.

"Your idiotic friends walk through the city and kill dozens of dozens of innocent people." Taemin let his head drop. "For what? We wouldn't know because you don't have the guts nor the brain to explain what your problem is."

His eyes turned dark and his gaze turned terrifyingly hostile as he glared at the man. He took a step towards him when Cho-a reached out, grabbing the hem of Taemin's sleeve.

She pulled a little at it. He stopped.

Taemin stood there, still and tall in front of the other man who looked back at him, a hunch of terror in his eyes but he couldn't quite get rid of his amusement and daring attitude.

"You dare call him incompetent when you know nothing about what he does. You dare call him incompetent when you can't even make your point clear," Taemin uttered. "Jisung deserves to be where he is right now."

The man clenched his jaw. Now he was the one to get closer. He pushed a finger against Taemin's chest, straightened his back, tried to match the other's level of intimidation.

"He deserves nothing," the man said. "He inherited a thrown he isn't fit for, don't you think he should just step down? Or do we need to kill him first?" 

On an impulse, Taemin took a step towards the man, closing the gap between them. The other one took a big step back, his arrogance turned into terror. 

Cho-a pulled at Taemin's sleeve yet again. Clenching his jaw, he hesitated. He ignored her for a second. 

And then he relaxed, took a tiny step back, which made Cho-a smile. 

They didn't need to get into an unnecessary fight when they didn't know what else could happen here. When they didn't know who exactly he was. 

Satisfied with Taemin's reaction, she let go of his sleeve. The man before them turned from terrified to curious as his eyes landed on Cho-a. 

He looked at her intently. "I've never seen you before," he said and smirked. "Are you important to him?" 

He eyed Taemin shortly, then looked back at the girl. She raised a brow at the way he eyed her yet her discomfort wasn't enough to get her to react in time. 

Before she knew it he stood next to her, arm slung around her neck. He pulled her back. 

The second it took Taemin to realize where he was, wasn't enough to get her away from him first. 

Cho-a groaned in discomfort and pain. When she tried to push him away from her, he ended up tightening his hold around her neck. 

The man grinned at the way she was struggling against him. She had trouble breathing.
"She isn't very strong," he stated, looked at Taemin. "Not a grim reaper then."

"Very honourable of you," Taemin pushed out angrily, "to harm a human." 

The man shrugged, looked at the older one innocently. "She got herself involved," he defended. "Why are you so tense? Is she a friend of yours or... is she a friend of Jisung?"