Kim Jaehyun who'd watched these memories was struck with guilt all over again, it wasn't like he forgot it but it was as if the weight of it had suddenly increased by thousands. The dull pain that was ever present intensified.
"Why are you showing me this?!" Kim Jaehyun yelled, desperation in his voice.
"What's the point of this?! Is this some kind of test?!"
Kim Jaehyun was standing in the college classroom looking towards the desk where Lee Hyunjin would have been sitting.
He found he was in control of his body now and he looked around trying to find the beast that had started all this. "Come on show yourself! What is all this?"
You bear a lot of guilt for someone who's so arrogant,
I see now the reason for your fierce aura
Insolent and pitiful human,
Oh how you loathe yourself
Rejected by your father and your family
And then sending the only person that accepted you as you were and taught you kindness to his grave
You claim to seek forgiveness yet cannot even forgive yourself
Your sorrow is endless
Truly
"And so what?!" Kim Jaehyun's voice wasn't as confident as when he had first entered this room, there was a slight tremor in it and his eyes had already turned bloodshot as he frantically looked around.
A somewhat quiet laugh echoed and Kim Jaehyun's surroundings melted away.
He could see the empty room with the storm clouds gathered above him.
When the laugh faded, he heard the voice speak.
I have made my decision
A bolt of pure burning red flames descended, striking Kim Jaehyun. He cried out in agony as a pillar of flames surrounded his body before he collapsed on the floor.
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"He's waking up.... call Prince Levi!" Han Shinwoo voice was the first he heard.
Kim Jaehyun blinked, his eyes slowly opened and the first face he saw was Park Haejin.
"Jaehyun?" She called to him.
Kim Jaehyun felt dizzy, he brought a hand up to rub his head and thats when he noticed the strange mark on his hand, it looked like some kind of bird... a Phoenix perhaps and it was coloured both red and black.
The feathered tail of the Phoenix drew upwards, winding around his arm in a strange pattern that looked like some sort of indecipherable inscription.
"What's going on?" Kim Jaehyun asked, his voice was hoarse.
He sat up slowly and Park Haejin stepped back. Kim Jaehyun took in his surroundings in an instant and made a deduction.
They were in a room that looked relatively plain, with only a bed, desk and chair, plain old looking curtains hanging over the single window and a wooden door that looked like it break off he punched it once with all his strength.
"Did we leave the castle?" Kim Jaehyun asked, his throat really felt dry and raspy,
Han Shinwoo was the one to answer him, "yes, we left two days ago, you've been asleep since. Prince Levi said we couldn't waste any time and he was certain you'd wake up soon. Also we'll be arriving in Tohunn in a day."
Kim Jaehyun took in this information and numbly nodded his head, his expression looking a bit dazed.
Han Shinwoo seeing this reassuringly said, "Sunbae should get more rest, I'll bring up some food for you later."
(Han Shinwoo's internal monologue: This is it!! This is it! The protagonist has finally woken up! I wonder what kind of power upgrade he got... oh my gosh I can't wait to see it!)
Kim Jaehyun looked around his room for a bit and his eyes landed on Park Haejin.
Somehow seeing her made him feel this inexplicable sense of tiredness.
He'd just been dragged through a whirlwind of not only his most treasured memories but also his worst memories, the last thing he wanted to see right now was someone like Park Haejin who was a part of those memories.
"So, why are you here?" He asked her using a tone of voice that contained no ounce feigned warmth.
Park Haejin stared at him, "we were taking shifts taking care of you and it happens to be my turn."
Kim Jaehyun said nonchalantly, "oh? Are you done avoiding me then? Or did you wait here for me to wake up so you can blame me for everything again in order to clean your conscience?" He sneered.
Park Haejins scowled at him, "why can't you just forget what happened in our realm? I didn't come here to blame you! I came to tell you to let the past go."
Kim Jaehyun sneered, "Forget? Let the past go? As someone who was one of Hyunjin's only and closest friends, you can actually say that? And to me no less?"
Park Haejin shouted in anger, "carry the guilt across a thousand worlds if you want to but I'm not going to! Hyunjin is dead and you can't change that no matter what you do! The things of our former world have already passed and I don't want to remember them!" Park Haejin shouted.
Kim Jaehyun's head was lowered as he got up and took one step towards Park Haejin, "say it again," he mumbled.
Park Haejin felt a familiar sense of dread.
"Say it again," he looked up at her, his angry gaze froze her in place.
Kim Jaehyun's red aura leaked out, filling the whole room. He blocked off the sound so no one outside could hear them.
When Park Haejin didn't speak, Kim Jaehyun snapped, in the span of a second he was right in front of her, he grabbed her by the throat and slammed her against the wall. A slight tremor shook the whole room when he did so.
"Say it again! Say you want to forget Hyunjin! Say it!" Kim Jaehyun's eyes were burning yet he was grinning, suffice to say going through all those memories had left him more unstable than he already was.
Park Haejin was choking... normally she would've been able to react but why did it seem like he'd become much faster? Or was he just always holding back.
"Haejin-Ah, I won't allow you to, I'm the kind of person that would happily drag others down with me, especially if they deserve it just as much as I do." He tightened his grip on her throat, watching her face turn red and she struggled to breathe.
"Hyunjin may have forgiven you, he was always kind-hearted but that's the reason why I was the one to always take revenge for him. On his behalf, I'd never forgive anyone, not you and not myself."
"You're crazy Jaehyun.... no you're obsessed with that past.... it's pathetic," Park Haejin coughed, she circulated her spirit to protect her throat from being crushed but Kim Jaehyun completely overwhelmed her.
Kim Jaehyun's lip twitched and then he just let her go.
Park Haejin collapsed onto the floor and coughed, holding her neck which now had deep red finger markings around it.
"Jaehyun you're insane!"
Kim Jaehyun walked back to his bed and sat down, his expression changed as he smiled, "I'm well aware of what I am, are you only realising that now?" He asked her condescendingly.
"Why? Why continue feeling guilty over something you can't change? Why do you persistently cling to the memory of someone who's already dead?!"
Kim Jaehyun looked at her silently for a while, he's strange gaze made her uncomfortable, "two reasons," he spoke slowly, raising two fingers, "so that I never again make the same mistake."
Park Haejin glared at him with doubt, "and?"
Kim Jaehyun scoffed at her, "because Lee Hyunjin doesn't deserve to be forgotten.... someone like you would never understand."
He folded his arms"Haejin, you've always seen me as some kind of psychopath from the very beginning and perhaps that was due to how we met but you know the truth Haejin. You are far more cruel than I could ever be but it makes you feel better doesn't it? Thinking that I'm the monster and not yourself.
Park Haejin staggered up, still glaring at Kim Jaehyun, she shouted angrily, "you always act like you're better than me, like you were better to Hyunjin than I was but the truth is you were envious! You were jealous of how much Hyunjin's family loved him when compared to your messed up family!"
Kim Jaehyun's smile cracked, "and what about you?! You weren't jealous? Isn't that why you refused him when he asked you for help?! Isn't that why you had your little squad of societal rejects beat him up? Or was that your definition of 'good to him'?"
Park Haejin froze...he knew
"That's right, I know what you did yet somehow I'm the crazy one," Kim Jaehyun laughed, "the only reason I haven't killed you to this day is because I have my own part in his death and experiencing it for myself I think leaving you alive to feel the guilt is the best suffering I could ever allow you. So no, I won't let you forget either."
Park Haejin could tell how serious he was.
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Kim Jaehyun used his spirit to shut the door after Park Haejin stormed out. He sat down on the edge of the bed once more then said, "the nuisance is gone, it's just you and me now, so show yourself."
The Phoenix tattoo on his hand flared bright red, it shone for a few seconds as the voice, not as thunderous as before spoke, "amusing human, you knew I was here?"
Kim Jaehyun arched a brow, "do I look stupid to you? I could feel your presence from the moment I woke up."
"Haha, of course," the beast spoke.
"Does this mean the contract is complete?"
"No, it is only half complete, you have chosen me and I have answered your call, now you must bestow upon me a name. That name will act as the connection that binds us together, it can never be changed and unless you die I can never take another master. With that said, give me a name."
Kim Jaehyun silently took in the beasts words and didn't respond for quite sometime, when he finally spoke he said. "Show yourself first."
The beast in question laughed, "as you wish."
Kim Jaehyun felt his eye twitch, an ominous premonition. He immediately spread out his aura, blanketing the entire room as if protecting it.
The room trembled as the air warped. Kim Jaehyun's tattoo was glowing furiously, it's fiery light blinded him for a moment before receding,
Once it did, he could finally see the creature he'd been speaking with all this time.
A beautiful black stallion stood before him, it's body looked as though it was forged in the depth of blazing lava, skin dark like coal whilst it's tail and mane were made purely of fire and its hooves flowed like burning magma.
Kim Jaehyun was stunned, that explains the sound of beating hooves I'd heard.
The beast looked down at him with its eyes that were npools of fire, "so, do you find my appearance worthy?"
Kim Jaehyun gave a light nod, "you look like you came from hell," he smirked.
The fiery beast laughed, "is that so? The fire in your heart is more hellish than I could ever be," he retorted.
Kim Jaehyun chuckled, "really? Then..... I'll name you Cerberus."
"May I ask why master?" Even though it was a horse, you could tell that it was currently surprised.
"You said my heart is hellish, then because you will be at my side from now on doesn't that make you the dog that guards the gates of hell?"
"Hahaha, it is indeed suitable," the beast bent forward and bowed to Kim Jaehyun, "I accept the name you have bestowed upon me, my new master"
Kim Jaehyun reached out, he touched Cerberus's head lightly, the fiery mane did not burn him, "good."
After a few seconds in which he felt as though something inside him had permanently locked itself in place, Kim Jaehyun withdrew his hand and said, "hide yourself now."
Cerberus rose, his body slowly warped into fire and then drew itself back into Kim Jaehyun's tattoo.
Effectively the next day, Prince Levi gathered them as the would be completing the last leg of there journey to the poison forest.
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Cerberus
The canicus wolves:
Lee Byeol's Wolf
Name: Aris
Park Haejin's Wolf
Name: Bada
Han Shinwoo's Wolf,
Name: Zephyr