Both Hoseok and Jungkook decided to put their situation on the back-burner because there were more pressing matters.
"Why would becoming a demon get rid of a demon's curse? If the demon's curse inflicts memory loss, then why would forgetting your entire past as a human help that?"
"It's like how a demon no longer has possession of a soul once their client becomes a demon: all previous notions are null in the face of a shared sin."
Hoseok came to a halt once they stood outside Yoongi's apartment complex. "Then...if Taehyung-ah became a demon and worked under Yoongi-ssi, he would eventually regain all of his memories, right? Both past and present?"
Jungkook stopped at the foot of the stairwell to look back at Hoseok. "That's right."
"Do you think he would give up his current life just to remember a life that's already passed?"
Jungkook craned his neck upward, gaze intent on Yoongi's apartment door just a floor above them. "Lover Boy would know what's best for him, hyung. So," he continued as he lowered his eyes to meet Hoseok's once again, "don't try to waste time speculating on someone else's decision."
Hoseok bristled at Jungkook's dismissive answer, but he settled back down when he realized that the demon was just trying to keep him from getting riled up. At the end of the day, Hoseok had no say in how Taehyung should handle his life.
Hoseok took a deep, steeling breath, and followed Jungkook up those daunting stairs.
Hoseok stayed quiet behind Jungkook as he led them to the door of Yoongi's apartment, as Jungkook tread into the foreign depths of the hushed home.
As they neared the bedrooms, Hoseok could hear the muffled voices of Yoongi and Taehyung talking with one another. Their tones sounded animated and lively—as lively as Yoongi could sound, Hoseok supposed—and Hoseok felt like destiny. Because even if Yoongi had recognized him instantaneously, the demon hadn't been as friendly with Hoseok as he was with Taehyung, and Hoseok wondered if fate was trying to make up for their previous tragic end by allowing them a spontaneous connection with each other.
Jungkook knocked on the door, and the voices instantly muted themselves. There was some shuffling, some muttering, and Yoongi opened the door with a scrutinizing stare.
"It doesn't look like it's good news," Yoongi said after a moment's consideration.
Whatever expression Jungkook wore made Yoongi grow a deep frown.
"Well," Yoongi sighed as he moved out of the doorway, "not that I was expecting anything good in the first place."
Jungkook entered the bedroom wordlessly, and Hoseok followed suit. He felt his earlier tension return to his body when he met Taehyung's imploring eyes. He promptly averted his gaze to the pasty white walls.
Hoseok heard Yoongi shut the door behind him, and he watched from his peripheral as Yoongi shuffled back into his office chair, which had since migrated from the desk to the bedside. Yoongi stared both Hoseok and Jungkook down with a grim look.
Taehyung cleared his throat, effectively cutting through the frigid atmosphere. "Well, Hoseokie? Jungkook-ah? Did you manage to find anything?" he asked, voice polite, but his rigid posture exposed his anxious expectancy.
Jungkook looked over his shoulder toward Hoseok. "Hyung?" he prompted.
Hoseok sucked in another deep gulp of air, setting his nerves alight. Because oxygen always fanned the flames, right?
"We confirmed it was a curse from a demon," Hoseok spoke, eyes glued to the plaster slab above Taehyung's head. "And we..." Hoseok hesitated over his words, impatiently drumming his fingers along his thighs. Because he was keeping valuable information from Taehyung for his own selfish interests. Because he couldn't swallow past the oncoming panic—the revolting taste of bile—that threatened to part his trembling lips.
Because, because, because.
Hoseok jolted when something—warm, gentle, tender—wrapped around his jittery hands. He felt an instantaneous calm wash over him, and he gratefully intertwined his fingers with Jungkook's.
"The curse's cure," he said after swallowing past his earlier, dry-mouthed anxiety, "is to become a demon yourself."
The stunned silence wasn't a surprise to Hoseok, but it didn't stop the wild thrumming of his heartbeat.
When the minutes dragged on for far too long, when Hoseok's palm had managed to drench Jungkook's in sweat, Hoseok finally dared the downward travel from the wall to Taehyung's face.
Taehyung's expression wasn't what Hoseok had expected, and he felt himself blinking dumbly at the intrigued, imploring look directed toward him.
"Wouldn't my—what do you call it? Holy mark? Wouldn't that keep me from becoming a demon?" he asked, and Hoseok was too dumbfounded to supply an answer.
"Jungkook's deal has weakened its effects significantly," Yoongi said because he was the only one who seemed unperturbed by Taehyung's calm demeanor. "Not only are you able to interact with demons in the first place, but you've also somehow been granted access to Hell. You can just consider the mark an actual birthmark at this point."
Taehyung considered Yoongi's explanation as he rubbed his chest. Hoseok watched him with a racing heart because he hadn't expected the manager to weigh his options. Hoseok figured Taehyung would be in the same boat as him and be paralyzed with terror, only to be spurred on to make a desperate decision because a potential danger was quickly closing in on them.
But, well, Taehyung was a lot more level-headed than Hoseok, so it really shouldn't have been so surprising.
"Okay," Taehyung said, startling Hoseok from his thoughts. "I'll do it." He looked toward Yoongi with a warm smile. "Do you think you could do the honors, Mr. I'm in a Seven-Thousand-Year-Old Deal?"
Yoongi returned Taehyung's smile with a grin of his own, bringing his hands up to clasp Taehyung's. "I think I'm starting to realize why I fell in love with you."
"Wait, Yoongi-hyung," Jungkook blurted. Hoseok looked toward him expectantly when he seemed to hesitate under the watchful gaze of his superior, tongue trapped in his cheek. He gave Jungkook's hand a reassuring squeeze, and he didn't miss the flush that rose to the back of Jungkook's neck.
"Yoongi-hyung," Jungkook continued, voice steady and severe. "Do you realize how long you'd have to wait for Taehyung to regain his memories, whether it be past or present? And during that time, you know that he'll just be another lackey under your command, right? Not to mention we don't know what the effects of becoming a demon will do to an ex-angel..."
"Basically, nothing good could possibly come of this, is what you're saying," Yoongi said, a wry grin stiff upon his lips, leaning away from Taehyung's puzzled figure. "But what you're not realizing, Jungkook, is that we have all the time in the world to figure out what to do once Taehyung becomes a demon. There's no deadline for when his memories should be fully recovered, and there certainly shouldn't be a punishment for an ex-angel to become a demon. Lucifer and Satan accept their own kind down here, regardless of background."
"Yes, but," Jungkook pressed, "you had been insisting that consuming even one more soul while you already had possession over one would put you in a risky situation. What made you agree so easily with Taehyung's request?"
Hoseok startled at Jungkook's call-back, and he turned toward Yoongi with mild offense. Yoongi had repeatedly emphasized that he wouldn't be able to participate in their escape, and yet, here he was, readily jumping into the flames for someone he used to be in love with.
Love blinds, Hoseok thought bitterly.
"About that," Yoongi said calmly as he turned his gaze toward Hoseok, instantly setting Hoseok's nerves alight. "You remember that kid I talked to you about, yeah?"
Hoseok startled at the out of place question, but he nodded his head nonetheless. "Yeah, he was the last human to come down here before me. What does that—"
"Seven thousand years ago," Yoongi said, cutting off Hoseok's question, "an eighteen-year-old kid wandered down into the depths of Hell in search of someone: his friend, who had gone missing the previous day.
"This friend of his had become a demon and had lost any and all recollection of his existence. His friend was but a mere shadow, emotionless and ravenous for its first soul.
"Despite the obvious dangers his friend held toward him, a human, this silly, silly boy decided to strike a deal with him in hopes of keeping him close by. It was a simple request with a simple demand: that he would visit his friend once a month. Because if it were any more than that, then his soul would surely be consumed by an unruly demon, after all."
Yoongi's gaze turned wistful, and Hoseok's blood ran cold.
"The foolish boy never returned after that, and so the demon, with every intent to consume the boy's soul, was sent out into the world. No matter how long or how hard this mindless demon searched, he never managed to find the boy.
"It wasn't until much, much later, when the demon had settled seamlessly into human society and made a name for himself in the Underworld, when he found out that that boy was his friend; when he realized that his friend had been whisked away to Heaven, and had returned to the surface born anew.
"Of course, you already know from experience that a demon's memory can return with exposure to its past. So, the demon gained a single memory because all he could afford was a one-time glance.
"He cherished that memory. The memory was so old that it was already faded and worn when he received it. And, after pulling some strings and breaking more than a few protocols, the demon decided he would leave his presence the only way he knew how: with music. Because—what do you know—he remembered that he terribly, desperately loved music."
Yoongi turned toward Taehyung with stars in his eyes. "And I believe that was the best decision he could have possibly made."
The drive, Hoseok immediately realized.
"Where's the mark, then?" Taehyung asked as he gazed into Yoongi's molten eyes.
Yoongi's palm pressed flush to Taehyung's chest. "God tried to mask it over because He knew that just leaving it exposed would put you at a greater risk." Yoongi turned toward Jungkook with a grin. "But, I don't think He predicted my subordinate leading you right back to me."
Nobody reacted for a long moment, silently absorbing the story, the details fed to them.
Taehyung reacted first, as always: "Claim what's yours, then, Yoongi."
Hoseok stiffened, prepared to warn Taehyung against making such a reckless decision, but...
Who was he to deny such an obvious love?
Yoongi's eyes turned dark, irises a deep, rich crimson, and his lips parted to chant in that horrifically offensive demonic language. Hoseok's ears rang with such intensity he feared they would bleed, but he couldn't tear his attention away from the sight before him.
Yoongi's palm, spread wide and imposing upon Taehyung's chest, transpassed the thin material of his office shirt before seemingly melding into his skin.
His forearm was buried deep within Taehyung's breast when Hoseok's hearing gave out, and suddenly everything played out like a silent film: Taehyung's neck snapped back without prompting, his jaw slack and agape, and a long, wispy cloud of light emerged from his gaping chasm; the silver-shaded cloud obediently landed in Yoongi's awaiting palm, angelic and dribbling midnight liquid onto the carpeted floor below; Yoongi leaned his head back, mouth opened wide, and he guided the cloud to his lips before swallowing it whole.
Hoseok jolted when he felt the familiar heat of Jungkook's hands encase his ears and flinched when his hearing cracked back into existence.
"Is that all that's needed to become a demon?" Hoseok asked as he gazed at Taehyung's limp form cautiously.
"Pretty much," Yoongi said. "The chanting is a traditional spell meant to rid a person of their humanity, and the consumption of the client's contaminated soul by a demon basically makes them a mindless puppet until they consume some souls of their own."
"I remember being scared shitless during my ritual," Jungkook sighed. "Yoongi-hyung just snatched me out of the dance studio one day and suddenly told me I had broken the deal even though I hadn't done anything."
"Ah, I see you've finally regained your memories. I underestimated your stubbornness; I didn't think it would take you over a month to remember."
"Well, it's not like you told me who my client was—"
"Yes, but that would ruin the surprise, and, boy, I sure was when he wandered down here—"
"Uh," Hoseok interrupted, gaze not once wavering from Taehyung's limp form during Yoongi's and Jungkook's bickering. "Is he...supposed to be unconscious for that long?"
Yoongi followed Hoseok's gaze and grew a frown. "No," he said as he kneeled down against the bedside. He carded his hand through Taehyung's hair with a warm smile and spoke softly, "Wake up, Taehyung. There's a new life waiting for you."
And Hoseok was anxiously awaiting for those large, empty sockets to blink open and greet him with that unmistakable glaze of unfamiliarity; he was waiting for his human body to disintegrate—or something along those lines—and turn into a void of shadow.
Except, none of the above happened.
Because the dead could do no such thing.
A/N - sorry, taegi nation.