Work Text:
—and everything becomes black.
...
ong seongwu wakes up at the annoying rustling sound of papers. eyelids flutter open, eyes figuring out what is within his peripheral vision. soft blue walls, white pristine curtain and bed in the room, mint-blue colored gown on his body and an iv drip attached to the back of his hand. it only takes him a few good seconds before he realizes where he is and groans softly in desperation. what a nightmare.
“oh, you awake?” a nonchalant voice asks and seongwu figuratively rolls his eyes at the question. he looks to his left and sees a man clad in black⏤sitting cross-legged on a chair beside his bed with a book in hand, looking extremely good with a round rimmed glass hanging on his sharp nose.
seongwu scrunched at his own thought before muttering the question, “you did it on purpose, didn’t you?” and immediately cringes a moment later at how raspy his voice sounds.
thud. the man closes his book and places it on the nightstand. there is a moment of pause as he hand seongwu a glass of water before sending him a quizzical look and mouthing, “what?”
seongwu is exhausted and fuck this man to exhaust him even more. what an annoying creature, “stop pretending, you fucking demon.”
the man flashes him a smile in return while putting the glass away. “you need to eat though,” remarks him, motioning seongwu to a tray trolley at the foot of his bed.
fuck, seongwu curses in his head, because at the moment the man finishes his sentence, his stomach decides to growl in hunger.
keeping his shameless facade intact, seongwu forces himself into a half-sitting position. he is leaning against the headboard while keeping his eyes on the man before him. not even trying to be subtle in staring at how the latter rolls the sleeves of his black fitted-shirt, revealing pale white arms with visible veins. seongwu furrowed at the sight and decides to ask his companion, “how did i end up here?”
the man, who is currently preparing his food, only shoots seongwu a look, amusement visibly dancing in his pair of dark orbs. “you have any idea, Mr. I-Know-My-Own-Limit?”
and there, seongwu got his answer. a couple of images flash in his mind. it was a fine morning. well, he was feeling worn-out but what’s new? it was expected, he is the nation’s beloved actor, after all. being starred in multiple dramas, his manager, yoon jisung, had fussed him about how he should take a day off but being a stone-headed he is, seongwu paid him no mind. he knows his own limit, claimed the actor.
his schedule for the day is a music video, it shouldn’t take too long so he can rest right after he finishes the filming. after taking a few supplements, he started to get the job done. it was when he was in the middle of it that the accident happened. he was wearing a safety kit for the role and was following the director’s command. he was carrying a bunch of bricks and was supposed to climb up the construction building stairs. he was trying to act out the scenario before his consciousness fails him at the very crucial moment. his foot slipped and he fell⏤
“damn, can you stop smiling? god knows how much i despise it.”
“oh, so you believe in god now?” there’s a smirk tugging on the man’s lips and seongwu feel like clawing out that face. trying not to give the man satisfaction in winning over him, seongwu tells himself to focus at the more important matter at hand by throwing the other another question.
“the crew?”
“rest assured, i did what i had to do.”
seongwu nodded. the sentence washes his worry away. for he couldn’t imagine how chaotic would it be if the man didn’t do his job. clearly, there is no way in hell that people would believe an average human being to survive from a fatal accident⏤falling from a three storey building under construction. the idea is just out of the world, makes no sense and obviously wrong on so many levels. out from his thought, seongwu turns his eyes to the man beside him. mentally snorting at how good this man keeping his facade.
the man looks totally human. despite his lame taste in clothing, the man looks normal and blends perfectly with others. but seongwu knows better than that. he knows better than people who more than often to assume the man is just another human being with an exceptionally attractive look. no, seongwu knows better behind the words uttered by those pair slick lips and behind the stares thrown by those captivating eyes. a cynical smile makes its way on the actor’s face. what a lowly being, indeed⏤so cunning, as expected from a fox he muses.
as the man offers him a drink, seongwu couldn’t help it but blurt the question. a question that he tries so hard to keep to himself from the moment he woke up.
“why don’t you leave me at it?”
seongwu expects the man to be surprised by the sudden question. seeing not even once seongwu asked this question even after multiple similar occasions in all these five past years. but there is no surprise in the man’s eyes. his face shows no significant emotion. and when he was putting the tray back to the trolley, he only answers the question with another question in a clipped voice, “and leave you to die?”
with raised eyebrows, seongwu can only shrug his shoulders and voices his confusion, “well, isn’t that your goal? you could just let me die and there, you could finally have your feast.”
the man stands still near the end of the bed, back facing seongwu. a few seconds become a few minutes and seongwu observed how the man he questioned now opt to move the tray trolley near the room’s door.
what a wrong move to do when dealing with a person like seongwu. among all the things seongwu tolerates, ignoring him is not one of them. so with a stern voice, he prods the man with, “answer me. that is an order, hwang minhyun.”
a stinging pain he felt from both of his eyes once he finishes his sentences.
at the command, hwang minhyun—the man—turns around to face seongwu who already grips the sheet of his bed with eyes glowing bright blue. his jaw tightens, eyes looking straight into the former’s eyes daringly. minhyun sneers at the young man, dark eyes gone. with a smug and eyes glowing brightly in gold, he pointed out, “i see that you’re having too much fun with our contract.”
seongwu knits his eyebrows at the response before biting him back, “and i see that you’re having too much fun with pretending you’re a human.” eyes glancing alternately from the figure near the door to the book the man previously read. “worlds of you: poetry and prose, wow. i hope you still remember what you actually are. a being incapable of loving”
minhyun chuckled at that. now he couldn’t restrain himself from grimacing at the sight. in a flash second, minhyun sees that kid in this seongwu. the kid who he had followed for these ten years, that kid who desperately offered his soul in return to successful revenge. revenge for his family who was accused of something they didn’t even do. revenge for his family who was punished out of nothing.
realizing how the younger only squinting further at him, minhyun tries to offer him an answer.
“well, aren’t you the one who asks for me, seongwu-ya?” it’s a lie.
“what the fuck, why would i? i am as ready as i’ll ever be. to die.” that’s true. minhyun didn’t even hear seongwu muttering his name when the accident took place. no, scratch that, seongwu never asks for him in most of his crucial moments. it has been the ninth times seongwu face the death—while he already fulfilled seongwu’s wish five years ago—but never, never in any of those occasions he asks minhyun to rescue him nor minhyun let the death to take seongwu from him. and probably will never in a few years ahead.
“oh? who knows, then consider that because your soul is not ripe enough for me to enjoy.”
there’s so much intriguing things that happen around the mortal, anyway. so minhyun will make sure to enjoy those things at the most. for him, it’s not that letting the mortal dies would bring him fun as much as keeping him alive.