☆彡 CHAPTER ONE,
meeting familiar faces.
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A pounding spreading throughout her head is the first thing Park Minji felt when waking up. Groaning, she brings her long and skinny fingers to touch it, rubbing soothing circles, a sigh escaping from her lips as the sensation wears off. Some seconds roll by and Minji finally drops her hand, eyes slowly opening up to face another day. The bright lights stung, but she ignored that and instead focused on why there is a plain white ceiling above her. Where could she possibly be that would have this kind of a roof color? Before the woman had fallen asleep, she'd been at home. No where else.
Minji sits up in bed with a groan, body obviously not liking that decision. It felt as though someone had decided to run her over with their car, bones slightly tingling. Brown eyes catch sight of everything positioned in front, confusion seeping in. A hospital? Since when had she been admitted into one? Perhaps she's still dreaming and this will all go away if she just wakes up. That has to be it! A small thought pops inside her mind and before she can think it through properly, she's already on the move.
Pinch! Minji flinched at the tiny pain that spread across her arm. Nothing happened. Maybe it needs to happen again? Just as she moves, another hand interjects, slapping it away. Following the direction said hand came from, her eyes zero in on a handsome man sitting beside the bed, one eyebrow raised in apprehension. Wait. He's familiar. Song Kang? Minji's eyes grew wide, mouth falling open in shock.
"Good. You know who I am. Though, I appear to be at a disadvantage, seeing as you are not the Do Dohee I am used to." Song Kang spat out, not sounding rude, just bored and tired of the conversation that he himself had started.
Do Dohee? As in My Demon? What is going on? All Minji could do was stare at him, letting his words sink in fully to make sure she heard him right.
Song Kang, or Guwon if you're going by the show, scoffed. "Now I am certain you are not her, she would have already been spewing complete and utter nonsense." With a shake of the head, he stands to his full length, looking down at the woman in the bed. "Who are you?"
Mouth closing and opening a few times, still confused, Minji decided just to tell him the truth. If he really is Guwon, he's a demon. He could do anything to her. But she's cut off as the door flies open, heels clicking against the cool floor, rushing over towards her bed. She turned her head to the left and saw another person she recognized.
Da-jeong reached the side of the bed, "Ms. Do. Are you all right?"
"Ye-yes." Minji took a moment to reply and it came out a little pathetic. She gulped, hoping that sounded normal for the woman she apparently swapped bodies with. Or whatever had transpired. "What happened? I don't seem to remember."
The one person she was hoping would go away, replied, "I called her. After the conversation between us, you had somehow seemingly fallen into the fountain which resulted in you hitting the back of your head. I was too late to reach you." He sounded as if that had caused himself some type of conflict within and Minji could probably guess why. He's a demon with powers, so not catching the fallen woman must've been slightly hard on his ego.
"Oh." Minji mumbled. Could that be the reason why she was currently in this body? It doesn't make any sense. Why her? She flipped her, or Doohee's, wrist over and immediately saw the black ink sketched on the pale skin. This is definitely real. Feeling eyes burning deep within the side of her head, Minji slowly looks over at Guwon, whose face displayed impassiveness.
Da-jeong sensed the awkward and weird tension floating in the air. With a cleared throat she excuses herself from the room, not even knowing both people currently inside had not payed attention.
"How can you tell I'm not Dohee? I know you're a demon, yes, but how could you possibly tell that it's me and not Dohee?" Minji decided to get straight to the point, if she's honest, he might help in the long run.
Guwon sat back against the chair that he'd abandoned a while ago. "Your aura. It's different. While Dohee had blue, yours is yellow. Blue is stability or wisdom, it can mean quit a few things. Whilst yellow symbolizes hope, imagination or even happiness. There's something about you that screams different than the real Dohee. And the fact that you're confident in myself being a demon, whereas she refused to."
Minji just nodded softly, letting the long and straight black hair fall into her face. His confession meant she really couldn't lie. "What I'm going to say next may sound ridiculous or even impossible, but I'm not Dohee. My name is Park Minji and in my world, or wherever, yourself and Dohee are just apart of a television show. So, yes, I know about you being a demon and I know what happened between the two of you, how your tattoo got transferred to her. I don't know how I'm here or why, I just want to get home."
"It seems we both want something the other has. I want that tattoo back from your wrist and you wish to go home, a deed I may be able to help with." Guwon watched hope flash inside her eyes. "All I need is a deal from you, then we can start planning."
Minji scoffed, "No. We aren't making a deal. At least, not a real one. I don't mind us sharing one that's unofficial."
His eyes slanted, challenging the woman in front of him. She stared back just as hard, not backing down. He may be a good looking man that could make her nervous with the snap of his fingers, but she won't back down. "Alright. Fine, let's have an unofficial deal. You stay around me more so I can benefit from the tattoo, while I research how to get you back. Sound good?"
"Yes. Though, I don't see how you'd be able to stick around me that much. With all of the work I'll have to catch up on and the tiny little fact of you possibly looking like my stalker." She smirked at him, already liking this. "The real Dohee asked you to be her bodyguard which doesn't sound like a bad idea considering someone is out to kill her. Or, me now."
Guwon let out a sigh, already disliking all of these ideas she's spewing out. He would've shut her down a while ago, had it not been for the fact that they are already working on a deal. "Sure. Whatever you desire. Shall we shake now? Make it official?"
Minji, or Dohee, lifted her hand to stop him from talking. "One last thing. You do not get to do anything to me without my permission. No throwing me in the water to see if the tattoo will switch, because it won't work. I want you to remember that I know quite a few things that may happen if they don't already change since my being here. I want us to have some kind of trust."
"I don't doubt you. I'm not opposed to anything you just suggested. So, can we shake on it now? I'd like to make it officially, unofficial." Guwon put his large hand towards her smaller one, grabbing it, and bringing it towards himself.
She hurriedly put her pinky out, wiggling it around to let him know what she wants. He furrows his eyebrows, looking at her as if she's grown another head. Minji shakes her head and takes his away instead, fixing his own pinky to stick out. She meets his eyes as they lock together, letting him know to trust this process.
"Locking pinkies is something I've always done back home. I like and trust it better than a handshake. You can't break a pinky promise." She dropped his hand, standing up from the bed. Her legs felt a little wobbly, but within a few seconds, she'd been back to normal.
Guwon had his hands placed on her arms quickly, after the incident with the real Dohee, he didn't want to risk anything. "Are you sure you should be out of bed? Let's lay back down and rest, yes?" He ignored the protests and practically forced her down.
"Now that you mention it, I am kind of tired." A yawn ripped through her mouth and she was too tired to care that a handsome man had just seen the whole thing.
He watched intently as her eyes drooped closed, chest rising and falling. The fact that she got him to agree to the things she wanted made him feel soft, so he vowed to let that be the last time that she does.
.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.
The next morning came fast, light shining brightly down on Minji's skin as she walked into Dohee's apartment. The hospital had discharged her after she promised not to strain her body and mind too hard with any overbearing workload. Minji was honestly glad, not ready to take over a literal company yet. Dohee had been made for this stuff, she's smart and hardworking. Minji feels as though she'll screw everything up before it's time to go home.
Dohee's apartment is quite spacious and super bright. Too many beige looking colors, it's a good thing she won't be here much longer or she'd be changing everything. With a sigh, Minji takes a seat upon the top of the couch and flips the television on, it immediately showing the news. Boring. As she goes to flip it to something better, a woman announces an important thing she'd forgotten about.
"Mr. Cha, the Morse Group head of finance, who was accused of embezzlement, was found dead this afternoon. A passerby found his body in a public restroom near his house around 2 p.m. and made a report." The woman looked to be sympathetic, but who knows with people these days if it was real or not.
Minji let the information sink in, as she realized the plot was finally happening. Sure, Guwon is the start, but the murders officially began here. She doesn't call Dohee's 'grandmother' like in the show, there was no point. The older woman would just disregard anything that was said anyways.
A beep coming from the new telephone shook the annoying thoughts from her brain. 'Guwon' it read. Meet me in the parking garage. It's urgent. Minji rolled her eyes, but got up. Just as I've just gotten comfortable, she huffed, grabbing her bag and stuffing her feet inside the shoes she had on previously. This better be good.
"I'll be your bodyguard." He gets quick to the point, words jumbling together. "Dohee has trouble following around wherever she steps foot. She'd mention it before, you know... anyways, I've thought about the situation and even insignificant things deserve protection. Humans even protect insignificant and worthless insects like longhorn beetles."
Minji noticed the bucket dangling beside him and she let out a light scoff, "I know what you're doing, Guwon. You need me to help you make a deal. Why didn't you just ask? I know I may have Dohee's face, but I'm not her. Didn't we already shake on this as well? Were you having doubts? The good thing about you being on a television means I know certain things, as I've said. So, I'm fine with helping, just ask next time, yeah?"
Guwon blinked. In truth, he did not want to be this human's bodyguard. His thoughts betrayed him on whether or not he should keep the deal with her going, but seeing the determination that's ablaze in the woman's brown eyes, made him change his mind. And the fact that his body was literally setting ablaze as they spoke. "Alright. Will you come with me?"
Minji was taken back. Had he actually just asked? Maybe he really will take their deal seriously. "Okay." She nodded, holding her wrist out as she waited for him to take it, which he did, transporting them to another place. Her eyes didn't stray from his until they were atop the largest building ever. Her heart dropped into her stomach, dread feeling her body. Not in a bad way, per-say, more like when you're going on a rollercoaster and down the large part.
"This is the best place to spot humans for a deal." Guwon clarified for her, but something told him she already knew. His eyes searched, ears zoning out to hear better. Suddenly, the top of his finger lit again and he freaked, "Ah! Come on!" He repeated that sentence until he'd found someone. "There. Let's go."
Minji wasn't prepared this time and almost hurled once they were back safely on the ground. Something about moving around this way that her stomach disagreed with. Looking around, she noticed they were in the hospital. Too focused on their surroundings, she didn't spot Guwon grabbing a cup of water until he forced it into her hands. When he looked away, she took a sip, feeling a lot better as it went down her throat.
Guwon, still holding her wrist, dragged them into a young girl's room. He hears the mother praying to God, hoping the almighty would answer them. "I'll grant your wish." His presence is shown then, the mother's head turning in his direction. "I'm a demon, in other words, you just hit the jackpot. If you sign a deal with me, your kid will be healthy for ten years."
"I don't know who you are, but you can't just barge in here—" The mother's tone was distress, but it was cut off when the monitor started beeping. "Yeon-seo! Oh no!" She grabs ahold of her daughter lightly, tears steaming down her face as she watched the little girl trash around in the bed.
Guwon's hand on Minji's wrist tightens slightly, the atmosphere and his current situation obviously sending him into a frenzy. "We're both on short time, so here it is." With that, he snaps his fingers, and the little girl is breathing again, monitor not going wild.
Seeing this in person was a lot different, something about it was satisfying to see. The fact that Guwon has a chance like this to save a little girl felt amazing to actually experience.
"The terms are simple. You're going to hell after ten years." He kept it short, hoping to get this over with so he'd be back to normal again.
The mother didn't look away from his face, "If I do this, can Yeon-seo really live?"
"Make up your mind before I go find another person."
She didn't hesitate with the next words that fell from her lips. "I'll do it. I would go to worse places than hell if it would stop Yeon-seo's suffering."
And with that, the deal was made and Guwon was back to normal as he and Minji walked out of the hospital and outside. "Does the spontaneous combustion speed up the more I use my powers?" He wondered aloud, not caring if the woman behind him heard. His thoughts suddenly went to a different place and he turned, "Do you know any nice cake places? Wait, why am I asking you, you don't know."
"Just look it up on your phone, you do know how to use your fingers don't you?" Minji felt like she channels Dohee when snapping at the man, but it's a pretty easy thing to do.
Guwon shrugged, "Yes. I suppose that works. Shall we?"
Minji shook her head, "No, thank you. I've got the day off, which means I get to rest. You got what was needed, now it's time to go home."
If the show is to go as planned, which it has been so far, that means Madam Ju is to die tomorrow night. With that knowledge in mind, Minji knows she will have to find the woman's body and do everything Dohee must. Except, she won't be emotionally involved. And that will be her advantage in getting her real life back.
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hi guys! i hope you enjoyed! i was originally planning on doing each chapter as one episode but that would've been too long. so, they're probably going to be this length or a little bit longer so there will be more chapters. much love <33