So i think I'm gonna do this twoshot chapter more and more. Let's just hope this doesn't get until 6 months to be finished. See you next update. Enjoy~

(Let's face it. I really enjoy writing this type of genre.)

9637 words

It was a boring day for Sunggyu.

Not that it is any different than his everyday life. Sunggyu sighs again for the myriad time. The bookstore is a bit slower in nature today, and everything he can see as far as his eyes can take him is the numerous books stacked nicely according to genre and type in the shelves in front of him. There’s no any human in his sight. It’s been 3 hours. He’s been alone for 3 hours.

Sunggyu works at the bookstore, as the shop assistant. He’s the only worker there since the shop isn’t too big. His boss rarely come to the store. He would only be there in every 3 days each week. That means 2 times per week.

Sunggyu has been given task to handle the opening and closing of the bookstore. He has the full trust from the shop owner. Sunggyu is fine with the task. He doesn’t mind it.

Honestly, it's not that Sunggyu hates the job. He likes it. He has loved reading since he was little. Being able to read and live amongst scads of book is like one of his childhood dream came true. So it's not that Sunggyu isn't happy either. He is happy. Truly happy. Landed a job in his favourite field, he thought that he could make it, even if that would mean that he’ll be alone mostly, because that’s what he is. Alone.

But, after months working there, the side effect of working in a non busy environment has started kicking him in his most sensitive area. The lack of a friend, a companion, or any human interaction has been taking a toll in his mental state eventually.

He’s started feeling lonely. And he's started craving for an interaction. Any.

Sunggyu glances over the simple white clock hanged on the wall and sees that it’s almost 6.30PM. He sighs, for the last time, before putting the bookmark in the book, The Hazel Wood, his latest obsession, and packing his stuff. There aren’t much, just the hardcover book, a bottle of water, his wallet, and his thin sweatshirt. He’s stripped off the yellow shirt earlier that day, wearing his underneath plain white shirt throughout the day. He mulls over whether to put it on again or make his journey home in the thin shirt. He shifts his head to the clear window to check on today’s weather and decides to wear the sweatshirt on again after seeing the dark skies. It looks about to be raining in any second.

Sunggyu locks the door after making sure everything else is in complete order. He’s thankful there aren’t much to do since it’s a bookstore he works at, and not a café which would require cleaning and whatnot.

Sunggyu ponders briefly in front of the store, and silently calculates to himself whether he would get drenched in the possibly upcoming rain or would he make it home first. He decides to try on his luck and walk over the pathway. It wouldn’t be a long walk, mostly it takes up around 25 minutes. It’s better to take a bus home, but Sunggyu likes walking as much as he likes reading. At least he’ll get a pretty much view of any other human beings around his way back home. They’re mostly stranger, but he doesn’t mind. Any interaction will do. He’s that desperate.

After walking for about 7 minutes, Sunggyu finally realizes that there isn’t any single soul at the outside world. It seems creepily like the scene from horror movie of haunted town. He walks warily, like there would be monster awaiting for him lurking around the corner and if he’s to make a mistake, they would come and devour him before he could blink.

The bloodcurdling feeling that’s nestling in his stomach doesn’t diminish at the slightest, if any, it manifold horrifyingly. More so when his feet finally landed in front of weirdly dark and rundown looking shop that he didn’t even notice was there before from his walk back and forth to his workplace but today. His stomach plummets, but that’s as much from sudden curiosity that nurturing as it is from the fright. His heart tells him to run, but his feet seem to have a mind on their own. Without even thinking, he pushes on the door and steps inside.

The door creaked, and the swing of it isn’t any smoother than Sunggyu has expected. “H-Hello?” Sunggyu calls, not really sure whether he hopes for a reply or not. There’s no answer. Sunggyu steps forward, one step at a time.

The shop is as just creepy as he has imagined. There are jars of unidentified items line along in a huge glass case. Some has warning of ‘Do Not Touch’ pasted on them. Not that Sunggyu would try to touch it without the warning present. There are also an assortment of bones lay upon the counter, which Sunggyu tries not to think where its origin from. He just wishes that they aren’t from human, and certainly not moving to catch him or anything.

Sunggyu walks slowly, lazily, scrutinizing the glass case for its substance with fascinate interest. Although the shop screams nothing other than dangerous since he walks in, but the obvious warning could barely stop him from exploring. It’s like there’s present of energy of something that keeps goading him to stay in the shop, walking through the display, inching closer to the back of the shop. Maybe he’ll fine something more interesting back there. Sunggyu thinks.

When he did, he’s undoubtedly shocked, but unable to scream other than deriving a loud gasp out from his lung. It’s like the air is knocked out of it space, constricting Sunggyu from breathing normally. After a few moment, and a few of shaky breaths drew from his chest, he’s calm again. Sunggyu stands closer to the large case. Although it’s not because for its distinctive feature other than the former one he met before that has caught his eyes and his breath away. (This one has more coil flowery art crafted on it while the other were plain looking cases.) It’s rather what's in the inside that creates the turmoil he’s having at the moment.

Inside of the glass case is a man, young man. He appears to have horns on both of his side of head. But not even that sign of monstrosity could withhold the handsome face on display. His face is smoothly pale, like porcelain, paper-like white, his lips are grey and his eyes are glued shut. He is dressed in a sleek high quality black suit. Sunggyu doesn’t know whether this man is alive or not but his curiosity piqued him more than it should ever be. With a trembling hand, he tugs on the glass, it isn’t locked so the curious man tugs on the door harder. The encapsulated case creaks open tardily. Not once has he notice on the fallen note of ‘Do Not Open’ warning on the floor that was originally stuck on the glass.

A sweeping smell combination of lavender and chamomile washes over him when the door is finally ajar. Sunggyu breathes in the sweet smell idly. He has expected for the man, or the creature to open his eyes, but he doesn’t. Sunggyu adhere to his inner voice and slowly, very slowly, his fingertips touch the smooth looking cheeks. Cold. He feels cold. But the skin is soft, akin to silk-like texture. Sunggyu hums, quite liking the soothing feeling he get. Not a moment he wonders why he isn’t scared. He should be. He knows he should, but he just didn’t.

“Who are you?” Sunggyu asks curiously. Half of him knew that the man wouldn’t answer him, yet the other half part of him was hoping that the mysterious man would open his eyes and answer him.

Sunggyu probably should have call police to report what he’s found. Well, he means, the guy certainly looks dead, although he doesn’t look like he’s decaying at all, there’s no unpleasant smell either. He wonders if the guy in front of him is some sort of realistic doll or something akin to that. Because he looks too real to be called synthetic but too supernal to be called human. But for whatever reason there is, he didn’t.

The loud squawking of crows outside the shop released Sunggyu from his reverie. He looks at the darken skies, a lot darker than before and unconscious disappointed sigh unfurls out his mouth. He shifts his gaze at the man in front of him again. The man still looks as serene as the first time Sunggyu found him.

“I’ll be back tomorrow.” Sunggyu whispers, not knowingly making a promise he didn’t intend to. He closes the glass lid again, and reluctantly leaves the shop. He has failed to see the shimmery yellow-ish light glimmering from the inside glass case.

And then the glass door is creaked open…

===

Sunggyu hasn’t manage to get rid of the cold strange man in the glass case from his mind all night.

Not even after he watches his favourite drama series, and read The Hazel Wood into completion, again. In fact, whenever an eerie scene is portrayed in the book, his mind would wander off to his strange encounter that day.

The strange ownerless rundown shop, the strange horned man inside the glass case, the coldness of his face and his sweet smell that Sunggyu doesn’t pay heed to until he stripped off his sweatshirt to take a shower. The man’s sweet smell has left traces of it on the sweatshirt, abundantly, which is weird but Sunggyu doesn’t dwell on the part that much.

Sunggyu glances at the clock on the wall, it’s almost midnight. He bites on his lower lip, pondering, thinking, and then making up his mind. He has to go back to the shop.

Sunggyu decides to put on his thick hoodie on, it’s late. It will be cold outside.

***

And he’s right. The weather is as cold as ice since rain has poured over the earth just a second after he reached his home and has just barely stopped not an hour ago. He shivers lightly, almost cancelling his plan, but then he shakes his head. He couldn’t do that. He has to go and see the pale man, or he wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight.

Sunggyu traces back his way home this afternoon. He knows the way by heart, but his intuition tells him otherwise. Like there will be something happening along his way that would divert him from his destination.

And he’s unmistakably correct.

Sunggyu can’t pinpoint the exact event, but something weird is happening tonight. Just like today’s evening. The air is colder and bolder. Like it’s telling Sunggyu he’s making a wrong decision. Sunggyu shrugs the feeling off and keeps on walking.

He’s arrived at the rundown shop a minute after midnight. Goosebumps shiver through his vein at the sight of the seemingly more eerie shop. He takes a deep breath and walks in.

He struts hastily, almost impatiently crossing the shop. The dim light inside the shop helps nothing but increases the eerie feeling he feels in his stomach. Once he’s in front of the same glass case, fright and turmoil coiling in his stomach at the same time like a storm. His mouth gapes open in shock.

There’s nothing in the glass case! The man inside he saw today was gone!

Something has gone wrong. Was today’s incident his imagination? No, Sunggyu is certain it happened. So where’s the man? Sunggyu is getting restless. But then, he notices a paper at the foot of the glass case in his fidgety state. He bends down to pick it.

Do Not Open.

His skin breaks into another goosebumps, and his heart is pumping blood uncontrollably. His pretend bravery and guts have both gone underneath his feet. Sunggyu gets into the picture immediately. He has made a mistake. A grave mistake! The creep has finally crawling into his skin. Sunggyu’s fight and flight instinct jumped in, and without a doubt, he chooses the latter. Forgetting his taxing craving of seeing the man now that he has known the truth.

Just when he’s about to turn around and flight the place, he feels a hot breath blown on one side of his neck and Sunggyu’s own breath heightens.

“You're back.” A voice says into his ears. Sunggyu’s knees buckles and he tumbles down at the sudden greeting, out of his consciousness instantly.

===

Sunggyu squints at the too bright light coming from the drawn open windows.

It's morning.

Sunggyu sits up groggily, and rubs his eyes off the sleep. For a moment, he closes his eyes, still very sleepy. But then last night memory flicks into his mind and his eyes jerk open hastily. He can feels the exact same panicky feeling reeling in his stomach and quickly scanning his surrounding. He's at home, on the couch in his living room and there's nothing unusual in his short sight.

Was last night a dream?

Sunggyu heeds his eyes downward, scrutinizing his clothes. Last night can't be a dream since he still had the black hoodie and jeans on. He couldn’t possibly go to sleep in these. But last night… That man…

Sunggyu feels shiver runs down his body and he shudders at the fragment of memory. He runs his hands down to his body, then down to his legs. There’s nothing. No sign of he being cut or bitten or wounded or anything. He checks on his neck too on impulse thinking that maybe the creature from last night was a bloodsucker creature, and perhaps he’s been turned into one without him realizing. But there’s no apparent bite wound in touch either. Sunggyu breathes out a relief at the realization that he's alive and seemingly harmless, but the paranoia is still making his stomach hurt.

How did he get home anyway? And that too in one piece with no scratch. Sunggyu honestly thought that he would die last night. He remembers knocked out cold after someone whispered into his ears. The incident is enough to traumatize him for the next 10 years.

He would never, ever go into suspicious place ever again.

Sunggyu takes notice of the time, it’s almost time for him to open the bookstore. The store should be open on 10AM every weekdays, and on 11AM on weekends. Right now, he has around 2 hours to shower and get ready and do his usual routine. Which involved showering and eating breakfast made of whatever left in the pathetic excuse he’s called fridge. Probably reading while eating too. What book should I read today? He ponders while brushing his teeth. He thinks it’s best to avoid horror novels for the time being. He’s traumatized.

Sunggyu knows he’s pretending like yesterday event didn’t happen and that he didn’t just almost get killed by the monster in the closet. (Ha!) And lying to himself isn't healthy. But yeah! Pretending not to care is easier than calling sick today. Taking a break would mean that he’ll be dwelling on the said matter all day. And just the idea of him thinking the thing doesn’t sit well with him. Plus, it’s not like there is another staff available that could cover his shift. He’s the only employee remember?

(Sometimes he hates the fact that he’s the only sole worker. That means no sick day, or emergency day off. Yeah, totally ticked him off sometimes.)

Sunggyu grunts, just to satisfy whatever frustrated feeling he’s nurtured inside. He feels like he’s not even properly waking up yet. Every tick of second he’s spent waking up seems like continuous lucid dream, which he knows it’s not. It just felt unreal. Not even when he has finished showering under the cold water. He uses cold water to snap himself out of the reverie, but even that doesn’t work.

Sunggyu absentmindedly walks to his room and somehow managed to open his wardrobe, mulling over his choice of outfit for today. He snorts internally. Choices. Not that he possesses any type of style other than oversized hoodie, but everyday, he would still linger in front of his wardrobe like he has big choice to make. Really, he just had to only pick what colour he would wear. Maybe he can just make an official list of ‘what colour go with what day.’ Red for Monday, blue for Tuesday, and black for the rest of the days?

He chuckles at his own inside joke, but then stop when he notices how sad that was to laugh at his own joke. That too when he’s alone.

Alone.

Sunggyu frowns at himself at the thought. He runs his hand through the soft fabrics in his closet, pondering and making up another argument in his mind on why he shouldn’t wear black again today. Because today would be hot. And you had wear black 2 days ago. It’s not the time yet. Another voice in his head replies, yeah but black is always the answer to everything. Sunggyu likes that reasoning better than the first one. That’s when his hand falls on another type of fabric other than his cotton hoodie. The fabric feels cold, heavy and sleek on his hand. That feels like nothing he ever had.

Sunggyu pulls the other clothes aside to take a better look on the said cloth. A suit? He didn’t know he ever own a suit before? He runs his hand on the surface. This doesn’t look like a cheap one either. Whose suit is this? Sunggyu grabs the suit off the hook with the hanger still attached to it. He lifts it high. This looks familiar. Almost as if he’s seen it yesterday. Sunggyu gasps and incidentally drops the cloth when it dawns on him. This is what the man in the glass case wear!

But the cloth has never make it down when another pair of hands scoop it up before it meets the floor.

“Careful please. This suit is expensive.”

Sunggyu yells loudly in shock with the sudden appearance of the guy next to him when he hasn’t seen anyone in the room when he enter.

“Can you stop yelling please? You’re hurting my ears.” The man says, flinching lightly and covering one of his ear with his free hand.

“W-Who are you? How did you get in?”

“My name is Nam Woohyun. And I enter this house through the front door.”

Sunggyu eyes widen, “Please don’t eat me. I’m unhealthy and I taste bland,” he shrieks, after realizing that he’s the same man from the glass case which may or may not be a monster who’s about to eat him. He certainly looks hungry.

The man frowns at the word and he looks at Sunggyu from up to bottom and then back up and he has the audacity to tilt his head and his brows up at Sunggyu.

“You look fine to me.” The man says, his bottom lip quickly.

Sunggyu’s mouth quivers at the answer, and he’s out of wit to reason back.

Sunggyu must’ve been looking too shock to function at the man previous word because the man later adds, “I want to thank you for saving me.”

“Saving you? W-What are you talking about?”

Woohyun stares at him expectantly. “Yesterday, you found a shop. Didn’t you?”

Sunggyu nods. “Yeah I did.”

“I was trapped in the shop for years. And you saved me.”

“I-I don’t understand. What did I do?”

“Yesterday, when you found the shop and entered it, you have weakened the first layer of the bind off. Normally, mere human wouldn’t be able to see the shop. But yesterday, the magic must have been worn off. I bet it was full moon?”

“Yeah-h.” Sunggyu says. He remembers watching it on the news the day before.

“Every full moon, the shop would show itself to the eyes of mere human. But no one has dare to enter it. There are few, but they'd ran away as soon as they'd seen me. You must be the first who's dare to enter it, and even dared to open the glass closet which had entrapping me all of these years.” (Which also can be translated as, ‘Sunggyu is dumb enough to get himself into this.’) “That's the second layer of the bind. A touch from human.”

“H-How are you aware of that? Weren't you sleeping?”

“I was sleeping. But I was also awake.”

“Huh?”

“The magic bound me from moving. But I was awake. For all the years I've been trapped, I hadn't been sleeping.”

“Who trapped you there? And why did they do that?”

“The Council. They were afraid of me.”

“Why?”

“Because I'm a crossover of vampire and lycan.”

“A what?” Sunggyu sputters in shock.

Woohyun doesn’t react to Sunggyu's shocked reply. “I'm a crossover of vampire and lycan. They were afraid that I would take over both clan one day – because I'm powerful enough.”

Sunggyu heard it just fine, like the first time. He just couldn’t believe his ears. “Y-You wouldn’t eat me or something alike right?”

“Yes. You have been a great help. Thank you again for saving me. For that I will not eat you to pay you for your good deed.”

Sunggyu doesn’t know whether he should be relieved or not. After all, this mysterious creature, who’s named Woohyun, has just admitted that he’s a crossover of vampire and lycan. Whatever that means.

“But I am hungry now. Can you give me food? There’s nothing in your fridge. I’ve looked.” The guy, Woohyun, says. Looking at Sunggyu with carnivorous stare.

Sunggyu flinches. The first thought that came to his mind is to run away from the room, away from Woohyun. But if Woohyun is the one whom brought him home, then he can certainly find Sunggyu again. Hell, he probably has superpower strength. But wait, did he just said fridge?

“How did you know what a fridge is?” Sunggyu asks, dumbfounded.

Woohyun snorts. “Of course I know what a fridge is. I also know TV, computer, and taxi, which by the way what we used to get here last night. I paid the cab with the money in your wallet.” He says smugly.

“What the- are you like, the man from this century?” Sunggyu baffles. He has expected that maybe Woohyun is from 19th century or something, maybe older.

“Well no. I'm not.” (Aha!) “But I've lived long enough to know all that stuff. It just happened that I was sleeping for three decades, until you released me yesterday.”

“So uh, that's a good thing right? Like you promise you won't eat me for helping you? Right?”

Woohyun his bottom lip again and his eyes raking up and down at Sunggyu. “As I said before, I'm not going to eat you. But I'm really really hungry now. I've been sleeping for 30 years alright? So–”

Sunggyu’s breath heightens, and he open his mouth before Woohyun could finish talking. “Uh, right– food! Let me get dress first, then we can go eat. How's that sound to you?” He says. Sunggyu talks in a way that it looks too urgent, and he isn’t sure whether it’s fitting to throw in some nervous laugh. Probably not.

“I'd love that.” Woohyun says, then he takes out the hanger from his suit, and straightening the crinkle on the material. He then straightens the cloth out and put an arm in the armhole.

“Uh, you can't … possibly would want to wear that out right?”

Woohyun stops his action and looks at Sunggyu menacingly. He puts his in air arms down after a while. “Then, what are you suggesting me to wear?”

“A more casual cloth other than a full suit?” Sunggyu say