jeno speed-walked back towards donghyuck's apartment as soon as he realised, he had forgotten his phone there.
how stupid could he be?
he had to do a report every night to tell if donghyuck had been in danger or not.
if donghyuck came to see a message mentioning about anything related to mythology, he would discover the truth, and jeno would be dead.
he quickly climbed the steps of donghyuck's building and got to donghyuck's door.
one thing scared him a bit though; the door was open.
"donghyuck?" he questioned, passing through the door, cautious about everything.
donghyuck's response came in a loud shriek coming from the kitchen.
jeno hurried there gasping at the sight.
donghyuck was debating under a creature jeno identified immediately.
body of a lion, face of an eagle, and two wings breaking everything around; it could only be a griffon.
jeno reacted quickly, grabbing the creature by its tail and pulling it as hard as he could.
the griffon let go donghyuck, shrieking in pain, and backed away, noticing jeno.
jeno used this distraction to stand in between the frightened donghyuck and the griffon.
"go away." he spat.
the griffon groaned, scratching the floor with one of his lion paws, indicating that he wasn't about to leave.
"go or i'll kill you." jeno warned again.
behind him, donghyuck was glued to the kitchen counter, sat on the floor, and his teary eyes never leaving the scary creature.
the griffon jumped on jeno, determined to get rid of him to go to donghyuck.
jeno had expected it, and as soon as the creature made him fall on the floor, he put his hands on its coat and used his two palms to send him a powerful electric shock, making it fly away and fall on the floor lifelessly.
jeno jumped to his feet, making sure that the griffon was dead before rushing back to donghyuck, who was trembling on the floor.
"donghyuck..." he said, taking the boy in his arms and sitting him on top of the kitchen counter. "are you hurt somewhere?" he asked, checking if the boy had any sever wounds aside from the scratches visible on his face and bare arms.
"w-what was t-that thing?" donghyck spoke, completely frightened. "w-why did it attack me? w-why aren't you scared? and... h-how did you g-get rid of it?"
jeno sighed. "i promise i'll explain everything. but i need to do something before. don't move from here."
jeno ran to the living room, picking his charging phone up, and rushing back to donghyuck.
he dialled a number, and put the phone to his ear.
"hello?" he spoke, letting the voice on the phone ask him the usual question.
"they found him. a griffon attacked him just now."
the man on the other side of the line gasped.
"come quick."
and with that, he hung up.
"w-who was that?" donghyuck asked, voice trembling.
jeno thought a bit before answering. "he's someone from a camp for special people." jeno answered.
"w-why did you t-tell him to come?"
"because he will know what to do."
before donghyuck could nod, one of the windows of his living room opened, sending him into panic mode again.
jeno was quick to turn around and be ready to fight.
"i'm here." a man said, appearing through the door after having climbed over the dead griffon.
"leeteuk. you scared the shit out of us."
"sorry. these mad girls driving the chariot of damnation don't know doors exist. they left me in front of the window."
the man, leeteuk, approached donghyuck.
"hello donghyuck." he said.
donghyuck used jeno as a shield, gripping his shirt tight.
"h-hello."
"let me introduce myself. i am leeteuk, a chief of the half-blood camp. you don't need to be scared of me. i'm harmless."
donghyuck looked at him weirdly.
what was he talking about?
"i didn't tell him yet." jeno said.
"you should have started by that!" leeteuk told. "now he might think i'm weird."
donghyuck listened to their conversation in silence.
"well, then... donghyuck." leeteuk called the boy.
the tanned male looked at him.
"tell me, what do you know about greek mythology?"
donghyuck blinked, focused on the stranger. "n-nothing."
leeteuk rolled his eyes. "oh, come on! you had classes about it! you might remember some things."
"he's pretty bad in that subject." jeno spoke.
"oh." leeteuk nodded. "well... do you remember about greek gods and legends?"
"a bit." donghyuck said.
"the thing you have to understand is that they are not legends. they are real."
donghyuck exchanged a look with jeno to see if the boy reacted to that bullshit, but jeno still had a serious face on.
"r-real?"
"yeah. basically, zeus, poseidon, athena... all those gods do exist." leeteuk told. "and to make it quick, they sometimes leave the mount olympus to come down on earth. and when they find love... well... they can have children." he continued slowly seeing how donghyuck was weirded out by his speech. "do you get me?"
donghyuck shook his head as no, making leeteuk groan.
jeno turned around, facing donghyuck completely.
"donghyuck. you need to listen carefully. everything about this is real."
"h-how can you know that?" he asked voice low.
"because i am the son of zeus." he replied.
donghyuck furrowed his brows.
"y-you told me your father died..."
"i lied to you donghyuck. i'm very sorry. but you weren't supposed to know about the existence of gods. we didn't expect them to find you this soon."
"w-what?" donghyck asked, tears welling in his eyes.
"you are particular donghyuck. you are unique. people are trying to kidnap you." jeno spoke. "i'm here as your protector. i am supposed to make sure nothing dangerous happens to you."
at some point, everything that had happened in his life made sense.
so, that's why jeno was always overprotective over him?
that's why he would shoo people off every time they got too close to donghyuck?
but let's be real, it seemed like a big joke.
"t-this is false. you are lying." donghyuck said.
"the creature that entered your house was a griffon. it was real. do you agree?" jeno asked.
donghyuck nodded.
"then can you explain where you can find creatures with the body of a lion and the head of an eagle outside of mythology?"
donghyuck stayed silent, looking at the dead creature.
"donghyuck. i just killed it, with my bare hands, in front of your eyes. if i'm not scared it's because i'm trained to fight creatures like those."
donghyuck connected the puzzle pieces.
could it be the truth?
"w-why are people after me?"
"because you are a very special child." leeteuk told. "you are very powerful. and some people want to use you."
donghyuck was lost.
how could he be powerful? he knew nothing. he kept crying like a baby.
jeno had said it hours ago. he couldn't survive ten minutes alone...
"leeteuk, i know we still have a lot to explain, but if a griffon was there, it means others can be roaming around. you know how griffons always attack in packs. we need to go." jeno said quickly.
"to go?" donghyuck asked. "i want to stay in my house!"
"it's too dangerous donghyuck. you could be severely harmed."
"w-where will i be safe then?"
"in a place where the descendants of the greek gods all live together. the half-blood camp."