The stairs led to a long hallway lit by torches on the wall which they followed for what seemed like an eternity before Candy started hearing music, laughs and clinking of glasses and she and her boyfriend finally reached some sort of cave where they were welcomed by a young man who took Youngbae in his arms.

"You made it, handsome! Welcome back!"

"Hi, Daesung."

The guy looked about the same age as Youngbae, except he had white blond hair and he had a light happy laugh. His whole body underneath his black shirt and jeans was a strange color of pale grayish green and his arms and neck were covered in deep dry wounds. However, as they parted and Daesung's noticed Candy's awkward staring, his pale eyes widened and his lips pursed in an open smile, revealing yellow rotten teeth.

"So there she is. Nice to meet you. I'm Daesung, Youngbae's best friend."

Politely, the young dead extended a hand towards her and, as she took it, the hand detached from Daesung which made Candy step back with a surprise yelp as the hand kept holding on to hers, still shaking it.

"Come on, Dae. Not tonight." Youngbae said with an annoyed tone, snatched the hand off its iron grip and gave it back to his friend who was sneering like a kid proud of his prank.

"Do the others know she's coming tonight? Does Jiyong know?"

"I-- I'm not sure." Youngbae admitted.

At these words, Daesung's eyes twinkled with excitement.

"This is gonna be fun. You made my party so much more interesting, hyung!"

"Are we going in or not?" Youngbae deadpanned, growing impatient.

"Of course. If I may, my lady?"

As he offered his stiff elbow to Candy, she hesitantly glanced at her boyfriend who nodded.

"It's alright. He's not gonna hurt you. He can't do much now, anyway." Youngbae said with a playful smile at his decomposed friend.

"Ouch. I can still bite though, you know!" Daesung replied as he took out a worm off the wound in his head and munched it.

When Candy reluctantly placed her arm on his, she tried to ignore the foul smell of dirt and rotten flesh under his cologne and couldn't help but notice how cold he was under her warm touch, which made the latter sigh in delight.

"It's been so long since the last time I had a human girl-- They're so delicious. Just kidding!" he added and laughed. "Dude, look at her face, it's priceless! By the way, I didn't catch your name?"

"It's Candy."

To these words, Daesung squinted with an enigmatic smile.

"Of course. It suits you. A delicious name for a delicious girl. Well, have fun, you two!" he said and let go of her.

"Wait! I have a-"

But before she could say another word, their host had already disappeared in the crowd. The human girl looked around, transfixed. Even in her wildest parties, she had never seen so much crazy stuff in so little space. Monsters were piled up in the narrow crypt chilling on couches made of torn coffins, nibbling on old bones while giggling and chatting with their owners. Some others were dancing to the strong, catchy chant that came from speakers with no power, sang in a language she didn't know, by voices she couldn't recognize and accompanied by instruments she'd never heard before. At least not played by humans.

"What did you want to ask him?" Youngbae asked, startling his girlfriend at the sound of his voice.

"I—I can't remember." she confessed. "I'll let you know when it comes back to my mind. I think I'll have dozens of questions by the end of the night."

"I can imagine." Youngbae said, smiling softly. "Listen, I have to go talk to someone," he explained and wrapped his arms around her, touching her forehead with his. "but I'll be back very soon and I'll make sure you're still in my field of view. So if there's anything wrong, call me and I'll be there, ok?"

"I will." she replied with the same kind smile. "Just go, I'll be fine."

"I love you." he said and kissed her on the forehead before he left her. Candy smiled at how her vampire boyfriend was more worried for her than she was.

She went to the little buffet at the back of the crypt from which colorful wreaths of smoke were rising and accumulating on the vaulted ceiling. The bittersweet fragrances of the beverages and the dead bats around the tables gave her a clear hint of their drinkability. She also held a gag when she passed by a large bowl of red syrupy liquid with a coppery smell that invisible flames kept lukewarm and simmering. 

"By the way, did you hear that Youngbae brought a human girl to the party?" she heard a feminine voice declare next to her and she instinctively took the ladle to pour some of the disgusting drink in a skull-shaped cup before hiding her face behind it.

The first of the three gossipers was a beautiful creature with fair skin, long raven hair, a dirty white dress and runes carved on the back of her hands. The second was a young woman in rags with long pointy ears, fox eyes and a bunch of nine floating flame-like tails. The last one, the smallest, was a pretty little girl, dressed in a frilly blue dress with cute blond curls, pink round cheeks and empty, cracked eye-sockets from which a cockroach would scurry off from time to time.

"I know! I was so shocked when I learned that he still didn't turn her. Like, dude, she's right there, grow some!"

"It's okay, though. It's not like we're going to see them together at every party from now on. Unless he decides to finally turn her. Ugh-- Maybe they aren't really together? Maybe he brought her as a gift for Jiyong? You know, like some kind of friendship milestone?"

"Do you think that means we'll feast on her tonight?"

"I don't know. Maybe we will if she keeps listening." the demon said and they all turned their heads, their pupils turning into slits as soon as they laid their eyes on her.

"It's rude to stare, human."

At the sound of the sudden deep voice right behind her – and probably the stare his owner gave them – the three creatures gave her a last glare and walked away.

"Come on, girls. For once, Top decided to speak to someone tonight. And it has to be her, of course. Ugh--"

Candy's savior was a tall, slender figure dressed in an elegant, old-fashioned suit with a black cape, white gloves and a rose in his chest pocket. His face, with a chin as sharp as a knife, piercing black eyes and stern thin lips, was half hidden by a carved black mask. When Candy turned around to face him, she spun a little too fast, bumped into him and spilled some of her bitter drink on her white shirt underneath her jacket which made her swear under her breath. At the sight, though her interlocutor's eyes glowed for a second, he calmly handed her a tissue and, as she thanked him, he invited her to move to the couch for a quieter conversation.

"So it's that obvious I'm a human, huh?" she said with a smirk when they sat down and she tried to wipe the stain.

"Of course. They all sensed your presence as soon as you stepped in. As for me, I can sense your fear from miles away."

"I'm not afraid."

"Aren't you?" Top asked and kept staring at her as he slightly lifted his mask to take a sip of his own drink, revealing white bare bone underneath it. "Are you having fun, then?"

"I mean-- ok, fine. I am a little scared." she admitted with a grunt."But nobody said you couldn't have fun without a sense of danger. Actually, it's even better this way. It's like a little rush of adrenaline. It feels good."

"I see. So this is all just a game for you."

"It's more than that." Candy said with an enigmatic smile. "More like-- a need. Deep in my heart, I know I had to be there tonight. Otherwise I would've regretted it until the end of time."

When the strange man suddenly moved his face closer to her, although she kept smiling, Candy felt her confidence back down a little. He planted his eyes on hers as if he could read deep in her soul and whispered.

"Let's hope you won't regret these words by the end of the night. I know Jiyong has the same in mind right now."

Suddenly, at the sound of that name, Candy remembered the question she tried to ask Youngbae and his friend when they came in:

"Who's Jiyong?"

That made Top move back to his first position, which made her stifle a sigh of relief. Unlike Daesung, he didn't smell bad – in fact, he had no smell at all- but his cold, uncanny aura was somehow the air out of her lungs.

"Everybody knows Jiyong, even humans. Though I can't tell for how long he left their world. From what is said, even as a human, he was a monster. A real monster."

"What did he do?" the girl asked, frowning at the curious emphasis.

"No-one knows." the dead man said, staring at his reflection in his drink as if he could read Jiyong's story in it. "He changes his story all the time. Sometimes he burnt his school to the ground with all his classmates in it, some other times he robbed old couples and sliced their throats for fun-- what monsters know for sure is that he's been in jail all his teenage life almost from the cradle and that he came to find your boyfriend one day, wounded and chased by the cops, begged him to transform him and that's it. He's been the king of all our reunions ever since. But even among us, he is feared like the devil."

"Good wordplay."

"I'm serious. The things he does to you when he's mad at you— he knows all monsters' weaknesses. And he uses them well. Trust me, you don't want to know half of it."

"So he knows yours as well."

This time, when Top turned his good eye at her again, she thought she almost saw a smirk on his face.

"He knows I won't play his games. But he knows I won't stop him either. Que sera, sera. Whatever happens, good or bad, I will always be there. I'm just here to clean up and bring everyone down there."

With these words, he took one of his gloves off, took his rose out of his chest pocket -which instantly withered in his skeleton palm- crushed its dry petals in his fist and poured the dust in his cup before drinking it in one gulp. Then, in his pocket, another flower bloomed.

"We have all eternity to spend in there. It can be boring sometimes. I understand why some of us try to have fun with the ones who still have a beating heart."