I have loved the stars too fondly to be afraid of the night
—Sarah Williams
Seokjin felt the strong pull and before he could resist it, he was pushed into the portal that opened to The Bloody Nexus.
He fell on the barren land and the portal closed up. The place was filled with the evil dark energy of the trapped spirits and remains of the dead people. It was a place where people were subjected to punitive suffering and eventually death.
Seokjin screamed as the dark energy started to engulf him. He felt the worst kind of pain throughout his body.
All of his good memories started to fade away and were replaced by the bad ones, playing in a loop. He was starting to forget who he was and was starting to believe that he was a part of the evil that surrounded him and deserved to suffer. His golden core was already filling up with the evil energy, on the verge of destruction.
In that situation, he was in no place to resist what was happening to him. And just when he felt he was about to die piece by piece he felt something inside his clothes.
He took it out without wasting any time. His vision was blurred with the dark energy waves and the strong pain he was experiencing but it felt like a ring so he wore it thinking that he had nothing to lose.
The moment he slipped it into his finger, he felt the missing parts of his memory come back, slowly. After some time, he also recalled that the ring must be the thing that slipped through Mrs. Min's hands. Yoongi had mentioned a ring that his grandfather possessed... a ring that was capable of storing a being's power. Did it have some of Mrs. Min's power of bringing back someone's memory? Was she trying to help him when she approached him the last time?
I hope this reminds you of who you are. He remembered those words. She was trying to help him that time.
Still coughing and trembling due to enervating pain, he sat down and tried to take a look at the ring. Beneath the passing dark energy waves, he saw two bright green flecks on the ring. He didn't know what they meant, he wasn't well acquainted with all of Mrs. Min's powers since she never had to use them, or maybe he never saw her using them.
The ring did help him a bit. Every time he forgot about the good in his life, every time the good in him was being replaced by the darkness, the ring brought all the memories back and reminded him of who he was.
It wasn't enough to make the pain and the damage go away but the good that he was reminded of gave him enough reason to try to survive even with the excruciating pain. He was reminded of how two people tried to save him by risking their lives and he could never let that go in vain.
As long as he remained bedeviled by villainy, and while there remained within him the hint of goodness and astuteness of mental faculty, he fought remembering that there is still some good in the world that is worth fighting for.
He used his powers and struggled hard to control the energy from possessing him completely. It was enough to keep him alive but he suffered the same pain that evil would suffer because there was no way he could ever get rid of the energy that had affected the deepest parts of him and some part of his golden core.
After days of grappling with the evil energies, he had managed to calm them down to a certain extent.
Slowly, the days added up to weeks, and weeks added up to months and eventually —it had been four years since he had survived in The Bloody Nexus.
✧ ✯ ✧ ✯
Bosong
A lot had changed during those four years. Bosong wasn't like before. It had become a second Iwon or even worse.
Two years ago, The King of Bosong had died due to his heart disease and the throne was passed to Namjoon.
All the major changes started taking place since then.
Iwon had become part of Bosong and Namjoon was the same as Iwon's king, but with more intellect, he was even dangerous than Iwon's king.
Namjoon had become evil and didn't believe in having kindness. He thought it was a weakness and would only make him weak and eventually kill him, that people who are sympathetic only try to betray you. There was no place for kindness and sympathy in his heart. He would kill people recklessly and feel safe and relieved.
Since those two years, he had killed a number of people without any hesitation.
When he laughed, it was either a psychotic laugh or a dimpled smile. His dimpled smile was a sign of trouble or death.
He had become famous for breaking things, bones and necks, when angry. One couldn't name a thing he actually cared about except plants, sea creatures, cockroaches, and some other insects. Just being in front of him made people's mouths go dry, bones turn into jelly, and cringe with fear.
And with the power to manipulate others' aura, he was able to impose a threatening aura on others.
✧ ✯ ✧ ✯
Mrs. Min was putting her eight-month-old baby to sleep. Two years ago, she married another man, Kim Joon-ho, because she thought that it would be good for the family.
Yoongi's father had died when he was seven years old.
And now, the untimely demise of Kim Joon-ho due to some unknown health condition had left her alone to take care of the child. It was a bit scary for her, even more, when she had seen good people being killed. She knew how reckless the new king was.
Yoongi had been working as a guard for the castle. Namjoon used to blackmail people who he needed alive to work for him by threatening the lives of their family members. He had done the same to Yoongi. He used to make skilled people work for him and he also thought that somewhere, he and Yoongi had the same feelings for Seokjin. Namjoon knew that Yoongi loved So-Yoon so he could imagine how Yoongi might hate Seokjin and thought it was better to keep Yoongi within his reach.
Mrs. Min sighed in relief thinking about that because Yoongi working as a guard for The King was a bit of relief for her since he was safe that way. Namjoon would think before killing people who were of some use to him.
Within a few minutes, her baby had slept and she smiled, admiring him. The moment didn't last long as Yoongi suddenly rushed to the room. She looked back at him, he looked very anxious.
"I need to talk to you," he whispered.
She nodded and walked out of the room after making sure her baby was asleep.
"What happened?"
"The ring- The King had been wanting the ring since he heard about it. He wants to use it for his own benefit. I just heard them talking about it a week ago. But now, they're serious about finding it. It wouldn't take them much longer to find out who possessed that ring. You're not safe mother. If they know you helped-", Yoongi gulped in fear.
"Calm down Yoongi. It'll be ok," she tried to assure him but deep inside she was as scared as him.
"I can't. This is not ok, mother. Once he finds out about you, he'll call you to the hall. And, you know that it is impossible to lie to him, he has people. He'll know the truth and he'll- you need to run away from here, mother. I will be safe and I can take care of myself but you and brother-" Yoongi was in a panic.
"You know I can't run, right? He has people everywhere," her voice cracked thinking about her small baby.
"Then what can we do? I couldn't do anything other than informing you about it in advance. What do we do now?" Yoongi was teary-eyed.
The more Mrs. Min thought about it, the more it scared her. She knew how much Namjoon hated Seokjin. Once he knows that she helped Seokjin, he would try his best to make her suffer. But her life wasn't the thing she was more concerned about, it was her eight-month-old son. She knew Namjoon had a thing to torture one's family. Maybe Yoongi would be saved from his wrath but her other son couldn't.
Fear and pain pulsed through her even conceiving something close to what happened to Seokjin happen to her son. Namjoon would go to any lengths to make sure that both of them suffer.
But she couldn't let that happen. She had to think of a way.
After a lot of thought, she inferred that her son was not safe in this world, he was not safe in Euphoria.
A fleeting smile appeared on her tear-stained face and she took Yoongi's hand in hers, "There is no way to save me but I think I've found a way to save your small brother."
"What?"
"I'll keep him away from this world. I'll send him to the mortal world. It is better than this cruel world, he would be safe there," she said.
"But mother-"
"No, this is the only way. It's the only thing we could do"
"But what about you?" His voice quavered.
"You know what's going to happen to me. The same thing that happens to everyone, probably worse. But before that, I need to ensure that your small brother is safe. So, I hope you respect my decision because this thing cannot be delayed," she said. Yoongi looked numb.
"It is good that not a lot of people know about your small brother. If you want him to be safe then I hope you won't mention anything about him to anyone... that you have a younger brother", her heart felt heavy with every word.
Yoongi was just looking at his feet. He was on the verge of tears and left with a small nod.
Mrs. Min had no way to console him.
For the rest of the day, she tried to spend all her time with her baby but it was never enough. She wanted to be there for him and watch him grow but her fate had other plans.
Even though she tried to be happy for a short while, it felt like one of her darkest nights and the gloomiest of times. Yet, she tried to be firm with her decision because if she got weak for a moment, she would be putting her son's life at risk.
So the next day she opened a portal to the mortal world, one of her powers no one knew about. After a lot of searches and getting some idea about the mortal world, she found a house where a single man resided.
She put Taehyung and a letter inside the house and left before the man arrived.
The only reason she was able to leave him was the knowledge of the fact that no matter what her kid faces in the mortal world, it could never be worse than what Namjoon would do to him. Watching him rule for all those years, she already had an idea of what he would do to them just because she helped Seokjin.
She hoped that the man would keep her son safe. If not just for the sake of kindness then maybe for the thing she wrote in the letter. She knew that people in the mortal world would do anything for money and good luck. So she had added a letter next to her baby.
"I won't be alive to take care of my son, Kim Taehyung. I'm putting a lot of trust in you, you seem like a kind person. Please take care of him. He'll bring you a lot of good luck and fortune!"
She had felt severe guilt and shame writing that but nothing was in her control. She had to do everything that she could.
When she told Yoongi about it, he didn't say a thing, he was acting numb and unresponsive since their last conversation. It wasn't a surprise to her... it was how Yoongi acted when he was extremely heartbroken and helpless. He didn't even visit his house to take one last look at his small brother.
How was he supposed to deal with all the loss? At first, it was only So-Yoon and Seokjin; but now, he was about to lose everyone he had.
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What is Namjoon going to do to Mrs. Min? 💀