04.

Jihoon’s stare was intimidating, especially seated across from Sahyun at the same dining room table and she began to force herself to eat the gray slob from every night as he scrutinized her every feature.

“She’s somewhat healthy.” He commented quietly, quirking a brow as if surprised. “I thought anyone under your care you die simply by living with you.”

Soonyoung groaned from his seat next to her and buried his face in his hands. Sahyun wondered if she should reach out to pat him awkwardly or something since he looked so genuinely frustrated, but the thought of touching him left her stomach in a symphony of butterflies and she didn’t want to risk losing what little she had managed to eat.

“Must everything out of your mouth be an insult, Jihoon? It’s been nearly seventy years and you still treat me like this when all I’ve tried to do is help you out, and to make amends.”

“You’ve destroyed numerous lives that I’ve tried to save, how could I just forgive and forget and be happy-go-lucky like that?”

Sahyun eyes widened when Jihoon spoke, her mind reeling at the words.

Destroyed? What does that mean?

She frowned as she tilted her head to the side to observe him, her mind so confused and all over the place, it wasn’t like she could’ve figured anything out, even if it were easy enough to do. She saw him look at her from the corner of his eye but he didn’t acknowledge her.

“It’s my job. I didn’t ask for this.”

“Except you did, Soonyoung. Just like I asked for this, and you’ve managed to ruin just about everything.”

The black-haired man shook his head furiously at that, irritation building in his already sharp features. “You did choose this life, right along with me, Jihoon. We’re brothers, we started all of this together.”

“Don’t refer to me as your brother.” 

Soonyoung was about to open his mouth to speak again when Seungkwan finally had enough of their bickering and huffed, slamming his hands down on the table dramatically. “Can you save this same old fight for some other time? Soonyoung, if you don’t remember, you called Jihoon here for our little problem.” He waved his hand over at Sahyun almost in a disgusted way, earning a glare from the girl before continuing. “Can we please get on with it so everything can return to normal?”

“Nothing will return to normal at this point, Subordinate.” Jihoon stated, raising a brow at him. “For someone under his wing, you’re awfully rude. If you were under my attention, you wouldn’t be-”

Sahyun let out a sigh, the first sound she had made since Jihoon arrived and everyone paused, turning to her with alertness. She realized quickly that they were mostly just concerned, since none of them seemed to know what the real effects of having a mortal around would be.

When she rolled her eyes and looked away, finding a spot on the wall to stare at to get away from the attention, they all seemed to relax and return to their conversation.

“Seungkwan is right. But, we can discuss this later. For now, I need your help figuring out how to safely get her out of the Middleground.” Soonyoung composed him