Luminous • Jisung

37 • Lights

Taemin glared at him. He only looked away briefly to check on the girl that looked at him warningly. Just a reminder to be cautious. 

"Does it matter?" he questioned eventually and looked up at the man again who seemed to agree. 

"You're right. It doesn't," he replied. "It's worth killing her either way." 

Wasting no time, he tightened his hold, pressing his arm more and more against her throat. Until she vainly gasped for air. 

Hitting and pulling at his arms, she tried to get him to loosen his grip. 

But he wouldn't. 

Eyes wide and panic shooting through his body, Taemin didn't know what to do. He hastily took a step towards them when- 

"Stop," the man ordered. "Or I'll just snap her neck." 

"What the fuck do you want?" Taemin shouted, fists clenched, eyes jumping from Cho-a to the still nameless man. 

He smiled. He seemed satisfied. "Now you are asking the right questions." 

After letting another second pass, he loosened his grip at once. Cho-a inhaled sharply. 

The air stung, burned, hurt as it rushed down her throat into her lungs. Chest tight, she closed her eyes for a second as she got dizzy from her blurry vision. 

Taemin watched in shock, standing still as Cho-a struggled to orientate herself. But even before she regained her composure, the man continued talking. 

"I am just a spectator in all this but even I get curious," he explained. "I am starting to wonder who these people are - humans that can see grim reapers, grim reapers that are part human." 

Though he listened closely to him, Taemin had his eyes on the girl. She held onto the man's arms to support herself rather than to try and push him away. 

Noticing the older one's worried eyes, she smiled at him. It looked reassuring, it felt reassuring. Taemin didn't buy it though. 

"What do you want from them?" 

"The humans as bait to catch the grim reaper," the man replied quickly. "I heard they are quite powerful, so if I can get them on my side..."

Cho-a's eyes widened. Using Jaemin and Jeno as bait? 

"The worst that could happen is that no one will come to their rescue." He stopped, considered what he was going to say. "Well, in any case, they are just humans. They are easy to kill." 

Cho-a froze. Anxious, she held her breath for a second. He seemed so sure. So open to the idea. It scared her. 

"You can't just kill them," Taemin warned.  

"Of course I can," he spat. 

No. 

She closed her eyes as she tried to keep a clear head. As she tried to ignore the guilt she felt for dragging them into this. 

"You have no pride left, do you?" 

The man laughed. "You want to talk about pride? What pride do you have left?" 

"I did nothing wrong," Taemin defended. 

"You killed one of your own," he retorted.

"Yes," Taemin agreed reluctantly. "But I killed a murderer. There's a difference." 

"The difference is that those people are insignificant but the person you killed was a friend!" 

Insignificant.