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Drip. Drip. Drip.
Drops of liquid splattered onto the ground, sending a hollow reverberation throughout the room.
Taehyung stepped forth, only for the soles of his boots to sink into a small puddle.
A puddle of blood.
A metallic stench wafted around the room, and if it weren't for what Clarity experienced in the other world, she would have puked on the spot. Deeper into the apartment, the stagnant cries intensified as they approached the living room—it came from behind the counter!
Clarity didn't dare to turn on the light, since there was a chance that the culprit of this situation may still be in the room. She stole a glance at Taehyung, and the latter gestured for her to stay behind as he approached the counter.
With soundless steps, he didn't call out to the person that was behind the counter. Instead, the man swiftly jumped onto the marbled surface.
Without warning, he plunged downwards, wrapping his arm around the figure's neck, muffling the scream that had barely escaped her mouth.
It was a high-pitched, feminine voice. Sweeping his cold gaze over the struggling figure, Taehyung raised his free arm to knock her out, only to be stopped by Clarity.
Taking advantage of her constrained state, Clarity circled around the counter with a roll of tape, sealing the woman's movements as she wrapped it around her wrists and ankles.
The woman, appearing to be in her late teens, laid limp behind the counter, pupils constricted with fear. Trembling, she peeked at the two strangers through her messy bangs, part of which were coated with blood. Her face, stricken with tears, contorted with patches of dried red.
"Lune Kim?" Taehyung's alert gaze fixed onto the girl on the ground.
"It's not her." Clarity shook her head after observing the girl's features.
Her eyes soon widened, however, as she somehow recognized the familiar face. Although she was not acquainted with the girl, she knew her from somewhere.
...The concert day!
If her memories were correct, she was one of the three girls who Clarity had happened to notice while she was sitting by the bench. She remembered them especially well, since she had been in a hyper alerted state after hearing the unknown voice, who she now knew belonged to "Yeontan."
Her eyes narrowed at the girl before her.
She's acquainted with Lune Kim?
Thanks to Taehyung's daunting presence, the girl didn't dare to move. Clarity bent over to level herself with the trembling body.
"What happened here?" she asked.
Her question seemed to incite a rush of desperation as the girl instantly jolted up. If it weren't for the tape restraining her wrists, Clarity thought she would grab right onto her.
"Please get me out of here," she pleaded.
Despite her exasperated state, the girl spoke with a clear mind. It was then Clarity realized that the blood smeared on her face did not belong to her.
"Where did the blood come from?" Clarity asked again.
"I-it wasn't me. I just wanted to mess with her, but she suddenly went insane! She's insane!" The girl stammered, thoughts disrupted as she fell into a state of discombobulation.
Clarity inhaled sharply at her words, then narrowed her eyes. "Where's Lune Kim?"
"No, no! Lune, forgive me. I'm sorry! I won't do it again, I promise. I-I'll leave you alone!"
The girl seemed to subconsciously filter out Clarity's words as she shook uncontrollably on the spot. Her gaze shifted from Clarity to the direction towards the balcony and it instantly filled with fear.
"Help! Help!"
Noticing the girl's worsening mental state, Clarity exchanged a knowing glance with Taehyung, who immediately knocked her out. From how things were looking, the best course of action was to silence the girl so she does not lose control and create a ruckus before the police's arrival.
It was at that moment.
A surge of gust blew into the room, causing Clarity and Taehyung to both direct their gaze towards the balcony. Beyond the swaying curtains was a silhouette, standing solemnly under the dark sky.
Hair flying wildly in the wind, Lune Kim leaned half of her body over the ledge as she glanced at the moon. In her right hand was a notebook, drooling with blood while her left hand pressed onto the edge of the metal railing.
It's Lune Kim, but she seemed normal just hours ago...
What happened in this short span of time?
With many thoughts spiralling in her mind, Clarity took a step forward, and the sound caused Lune Kim to spin around instantly. Upon seeing Clarity, her face first contorted with shock, then sternness after noticing the man behind her.
"...You said you did not know him." Lune stiffened. "You liar."
Clarity didn't bother to argue with her, because she knew the current Lune Kim was not in a proper state of mind. Suspecting that the unconscious girl behind the counter was her friend, or maybe bully, there was no way of knowing if there were more people hidden in the apartment, or if any of them were injured.
Clarity rose her arms, facing her palms in a surrendering gesture as she looked towards Lune Kim with a wary smile.
"I thought we were going to watch the concert together? You're not the one to skip out on this." She purposely raised her voice to direct the girl's attention onto herself. "Anything can be solved with a BTS concert."
As she spoke, Clarity stole a glimpse towards Taehyung. With this single movement, the two immediate reached an unspoken agreement and the man merged with the shadows, disappearing into the background.
"It's too late." Lune casted her eyes down with a bitter laugh. "Everything is too late. I thought that no matter what those people did to me, I could endure it all."
"It's not too la—"
"It is!" She cried. "After meeting BTS, after the car crash, I thought things would change. I thought I would finally be lucky!"
Lune Kim gritted her teeth as she took in the chaos around her. Surrounded by ripped papers, scattered furnitures, and broken BTS albums lying on the ground, she pointed towards the counter, towards the unconscious girl that had cowered in fear after witnessing her bloodied state.
"She wanted to take everything away from me. You want to take everything away! All of you!" With tears flowing from the corner of her eyes, she threw her arm out in exasperation.
As she did that, Clarity noticed an enormous gash on Lune's arm, and bright red flowed out from the protruding flesh.
"Let's talk this out, okay?" Clarity inhaled slowly. "You're injured."
Lune Kim looked at her in confusion, then she glanced at her own arm.
"This?" Her eyes curled with a smile.
Without waiting her response, Lune grabbed a glass shard on the ground and dug into a smooth section where the skin was still intact. Ignoring Clarity's gasp, she dragged the shard through her skin, watching as flesh splurged from the widening gap.
More blood trickled down, falling onto the notebook in her hand.
Despite the horrendous sight, Lune Kim did not flinch. Instead, she raised her arm and let the crimson flow onto a blank page of the notebook, tainting patterns onto the page of white.
After soaking countless pages of the notebook with blood, she ripped off the last blank page and tossed the rest of the notebook aside. Sliding on the ground, the notebook landed face up near Clarity's peripheral vision. She didn't pick up the notebook in fear of agitating the girl, and instead discreetly fixed her gaze onto the open pages.
A gust of wind brushed between them, causing the pages of the notebook to flip continuously in a fluttering motion.
Clarity's pupils shrunk after seeing its content. She clearly recalled that some pages had been empty when Lune Kim held on to it moments ago, but now, completely soaked with the girl's blood, countless words formed sentences, then paragraphs. The next thing she knew, pages of content were surfacing by themselves.
What's more, the contents were from no other than To Be His Possession.
Her breath hitched in her throat as Clarity immediately realized what this meant:
This notebook was the physical vessel that connected the two worlds.
Logically speaking, transmigration was forbidden as each world had its own set of governing rules and regulations. Each person belonged in their respective worlds, and there was a barrier that could not be crossed.
However, what would happen if someone forcibly fused themselves into another world?
There was blood all around them. Splattered on the walls, smeared into the floor, covering patches of furniture—all this blood belonged to Lune Kim. It was a miracle that she was still alive, let alone conscious.
Clarity's face darkened as she was hit with a realization.
Why did all previous attempts to stop the transmigration cycle end in failure?
If Lune Kim's actions right now were part of the steps for the ritual, then even if she were to succeed, her life would be endangered. It was extremely likely that the transmigrator's true body would die in this world. The expense of the ritual was the practitioner's life?
Rituals were practices that broke the limitation between worlds. The Lune Kim in the other world, occupying Bang Si-Hyuk's body, wanted to repeat the ritual in order to transmigrated back to her original world. However, Clarity now knew that it wouldn't be possible—the reason was simple:
In her old world, Lune Kim would already be dead.
At the same time, this realization led to another conclusion.
If it was the ritual practitioner's death that marked the failure of stopping the loop, then the same would apply to the current situation. If Lune Kim died now, her soul would successfully transmigrate and the cycle would inevitably continue.
She could not let Lune Kim die no matter what.
As if detecting her shifting intentions, Lune spun around and tilted towards the balcony railing. In her left hand was the last page of the notebook, which was still blank in its contents.
"Stop! You'll really die!" Clarity subconsciously reached forward, only to freeze as Lune Kim pressed her back against the railing, threatening to jump.
At her exasperated yell, the latter smiled faintly.
"I know."
Howling wind surrounded the two of them as Lune Kim spoke with an abnormal calmness.
To activate the ritual effects, the user needed to fill every single page with their blood. As for the last page, it would only be fully filled when the user bleeds through in a life-and-death situation. Only then would they successfully transmigrate. For Lune Kim, that wasn't a problem.
Nothing could stop her resolve to transmigrate, to escape this living hell.
"Stop!" Clarity reached forward, only to freeze as Lune Kim pressed her back against the balcony railing, threatening to jump.
"The ritual was originally planned for tomorrow, but it wouldn't make too big of a difference at this point." She clenched her fist and the blood streamed faster down her arm. "With this, I can finally escape from this world, and be reborn."
Lips curling into a desperate smile, Lune toppled over the balcony.
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next chapter: friday :)
lori ✿