“So, you start dating a random guy?”, the demon asked with a hostile tone while giving Junhoe cold stares.

“I’m not a random guy!”, Junhoe hissed in response, but Chanwoo holds his hand under the table and calms him down.

“Well, yeah…”, Chanwoo replied, accompanied with an awkward laugh.

There is an uncomfortable silence after that.

Long story short, Junhoe decides to pay Chanwoo’s dad a visit; he reckons it is the easiest way to get its approval. So here they are, somewhere in hell (or at least, Junhoe thinks this is hell), sitting at a dining table in front of the demon, with the silence still lingering.

Junhoe finally decides to break the silence. He clears his throat, and starts a conversation, “Umm… Are you not getting along with… you know, Chanwoo’s mom, the Shadow Witch?”.

The demon groans. “I get along with her just alright, ok. As ‘along’ as a demon and a witch can get; what did you expect?”, it answered, still hostile.

Junhoe can only respond with, “Er… Ok…”, and looks down at the table. The demon’s stare is killing him!

The demon suddenly starts speaking to Chanwoo, “You see, I don’t mind you dating. You’re at that age already; I cannot watch over you forever.”.  It then gestures at Junhoe in a rude manner. “But this… What can he offer you?”, the demon asked, a tone of mocking arrogance obvious in its voice.

Chanwoo meets his father’s eyes, “He’s… He’s a bad guy, alright!”.

The demon taps his fingers on the table. “So? I can find others much worse than him.”

“He defeated you back in the museum!”, Chanwoo argued.

“Only because you let him use your knife.”, the demon argued back.

“He ruined someone else’s marriage just to steal me a ring!”

“I know someone that has killed thousands of innocent babies in a single night.”

After the demon said that, Chanwoo can only harshly stare at his father, eyes filled with annoyance and hatred. The demon continues, “He is simply not bad enough for you, Chanwoo. I need you to see that; I only want the worst for you!”.

If he wants the demon’s approval, Junhoe needs to think, and he needs to think quickly. What does a demon want? Something that he can offer but nobody else can’t. Then, an idea strikes him.

“I can give you a cult.”, Junhoe abruptly said.

Hearing that, the demon stops tapping its fingers; it’s working!

“Say that again.”, the demon demanded.

“A cult. Like, a demonic church or forbidden sect. Whatever you want.”, Junhoe explained, while Chanwoo turns and stares at Junhoe wide-eyed. Chanwoo isn’t sure if Junhoe is smart or stupid or both.

The demon is interested. “And how are you going to achieve that?”

“My mafia group is huge. We have people everywhere: America, China, Europe, you name it. And if I tell them to do this and that and build a cult, they will.”

The demon smirks; it is happy. “Very well. I’ll think about it. But first…”, it said before taking an empty cup, slicing its hand and pours its blood into the cup. “Drink my blood.”, the demon commanded.

“Father!”, Chanwoo stood up from his seat, trying to protest. But the demon silences him, “You know me. I won’t compromise on this; take it or leave it.”

“I’ll drink it.”, Junhoe declared.

Chanwoo tries to stop him, “But, Junhoe…!”.

“You heard him. I have to do this; there are no other ways.”, Junhoe explained. In the end, Junhoe takes the cup. “Can’t be that bad, anyway.”, he said before he empties the cup.

“Hmm… Okay, it tastes like blood. But I don’t feel anything weird.”, Junhoe said when he finished, tilting his head in confusion as he expects something else to happen.

“We shall see.”, the demon said. “Now leave!”, it shouted, shooing Junhoe and Chanwoo from the dining room.

Chanwoo then brings Junhoe to his room and let him rest.

“Good job on getting my dad’s approval.”, Chanwoo praised.

Junhoe gives a smug smile. “It’s not that hard. But, why did he tell me to drink his blood? What does it suppose to do?”, he asked.

Chanwoo sighs. “Do you want the nice answer or the candid answer?”

“The true one.”, Junhoe answered.

“He was marking you, and, when you sleep tonight… Well, it’ll try to have with you.”

Junhoe almost chokes on his spit. “What!?”

“It’s not… It’s not human’s ‘’. It’s different; it’s not physical. Demon’s will be like… it’s all in your head. And… it’s hard to explain, but…”

“I’m not having with your father either way, ok!”

“That’s why I don’t want you to drink it!”

Junhoe sighs. “It can’t be helped, can it?”

Chanwoo stares at Junhoe for a while. “There is a way, actually.”, he said.

“Which is?”

“If I also have with you, the demon’s one, not the human’s one; then I can prevent my dad from… harassing you too much.”

“So, it becomes a ? It doesn’t stop him from actually doing it?”

“Well, I’m sorry! My dad is a demon; you cannot judge a demon using human’s moral standard.”

Junhoe sighs. “Ok then, just do your best.”, he said while scratching his head. He continues, “In the meantime…”, he produces the ring, “you can finally wear this!”.

Chanwoo grins. He looks at the ring. “You changed it? It’s not the same ring.”

“Well, I realized the bride’s finger is way smaller than yours.”

“So, we went through all that trouble just to pick a useless ring?”, Chanwoo asked with a smirk as he puts the ring on.

“But that was fun, right?”

Chanwoo looks at Junhoe, then he pulls him and puts him on the bed. “The faster we get it done, the better.”

“Like, right now?”, Junhoe asked in surprise.

Chanwoo nods. “Go to sleep.”, he said. He then pulls Junhoe for a kiss and places his hands on Junhoe’s head.

Soon, Junhoe’s vision is blurred by white rays of light, and everything is fuzzy. He can still sense Chanwoo, although he cannot pinpoint his location. After a while, someone else comes; Chanwoo’s father, he assumes. He can hear him speaks, “Well, well. What do we have here?”.

He can hear Chanwoo’s reply, but it’s muffled, “Yeah! I won’t… if you…”. After this, everything goes black.

Junhoe wakes up again after a while. “Is that it?”, he asked. He turns around to find Chanwoo, only to find Chanwoo lying next to him, panting heavily.

“Yeah, that’s it.”, Chanwoo said between his pants.

“I don’t even feel anything!”, Junhoe said in surprise. “How was I? Was I good?”, he asked.

Chanwoo laughs. “You sure were.”, he said, grazing Junhoe’s cheek. Chanwoo then closes his eyes, trying to get some sleep, but Junhoe lies on top of him.

“Can we now get… you know, human ?”, Junhoe asked with a cute pout.

“I’m tired, Junhoe!”, Chanwoo said, pushing Junhoe away.

“But, please~~”

“No!”, Chanwoo declared.

Junhoe starts sulking; he rolls over to the other side of the bed, as far away from Chanwoo as possible.

Chanwoo sighs and rolls over to hugs Junhoe from the back. “Look. We can have them first thing in the morning. Right now, I just want to sleep.”

“Really?”, Junhoe asked.

Chanwoo can only nod as a reply, as he falls asleep soon after. Junhoe turns around to look at Chanwoo’s sleeping face.

“Good night… I love you.”, he said, kissing Chanwoo before falling asleep himself.