Jihoon wakes with his head throbbing and his chest aching. He rolls to his side, eyeing the glaring clock on his bedside table.

October 19, 2017

03:30am

Jihoon sighs, in three consecutive nights he had the same dream. The black wings, his death, his rebirth, the beautiful creature, the deal, the kiss. The kiss.

Jihoon unconsciously touches his lips. He is claimed. He is claimed by a devil with a kiss. Jihoon's heart beats triple times. If it's just a dream why does the kiss feel so real? How can I vividly feel those luscious lips touching mine? How can I remember the warm wings that enveloped us? How can I still feel the softness and the toughness of those pair of wings against my palm? Why do you feel so true?

Jihoon sits up, staring into the depth of the darkness of his room. The deafening silence ringing so loud inside his brain. He waits. He waits for what? He doesn't know. But he waited and waited until his eyes grow tired and are closing on their own.

The creature materializes just as Jihoon falls asleep. He walks towards Jihoon who had fallen asleep sitting. The creature lays Jihoon and put a thick blanket over the sleeping figure.

The creature knows that Jihoon is unconsciously waiting for him to show up. That's the catch in dealing with a devil. The devil and his or her contracted human follows sets of rules, excluded the ones that are added by the human and the devil themselves upon doing the deal.

The creature stares hard at Jihoon. He ponders as he walks around the bed of the human, how can this small and petite human summon him, the first born of the Hell's King, the next to the throne when his body is this little and fragile? Summoning a devil, regardless if it is a first level is so hard. It requires a hell of physical, mental and emotional strength.

That's why the creature was appalled when his summoning circle suddenly formed underneath his feet. He got ready to be called in a cult's ritual or a serial killer's offering or even a Satanist who is stepping up his or her game by calling him. The First Prince of Hell. But then, when he opened his eyes, he was met by a teenager who was wearing a uniform with light brown golden mahogany hair gaping at him. The creature thought that the teleportation had gone wrong and he was transported in the wrong place.

The creature sits beside Jihoon who is sleeping soundlessly, his chest rising and falling, his hands clutching and unclutching.

The devil had his share of contracted humans, though not that much since he is a pure blooded devil and only a handful can summon him. They were in different forms, different gender, different age, different nationalities but with the same reason of why they are asking for his help or rather why they are asking him to take their souls as a payment for the things they want. Greed, Glutton, Sloth, Envy, Wrath, Pride, riches, money and power are most of the reasons why.

But this kid here is different, he's just curious if devils are real and experimented if he can summon one. The creature is torn between laughing at the absurdity of it all or be angry because, him, the great prince is summoned by an experimenting kid who doesn't know a thing about witchcraft and devils. In other words, him, the next king is made a guinea pig, a laboratory rat by a child and he is bound to follow this kid all through his lifetime until he dies and he can collect the soul that is contracted to be given to him.

The devil fishes the agreement inside his pocket. The devil reads the information about his human. To set the record straight, the myth or belief that devils or demons know everything is not true. They do not know everything. Even the angels from the Heaven do not know everything, they are just being guided by their supreme leader, just like how it is in Hell. There are devils who are doing all the research, to put it on layman's term, and then there are devils like him, the devils who are having contact and contract with the humans.

Lee Jihoon. Busan. 21 years old. A student.

The devil side eyes the sleeping figure beside him, he's still young and he got all the time in his life, why call a devil?

The devil rereads the standard rules and reminders of the deal that he memorized from the bottom of his non-existent black heart.

1. It is the human who had called the devil, needless to say, the devil didn't do anything to trick or tempt the human.

2. The devil could grant or give anything that the human wanted except for eternal youth and eternal life.

3. There are maximum of five requests or wishes that the devil could grant during the course of the human's lifetime.

4. The devil could choose the requests or wishes that he wanted to grant but he could not suggest anything.

5. Once the contract was signed, the human's memory would be wiped starting from the time he/she summoned the devil. The erased memory would just return once the human dies or it is time to collect his/her soul.

6. Once the contract was signed, the human will die, a fast and painless death, and be reborn by the power of the devil. This rebirth means that the human's soul is forever bind to the devil.

7. The deal or agreement could not be passed from one human to another or from one devil to another.

8. The devil at all cost should protect the soul of the human.

9. The devil could not kill the human. The devil will let him/her finish the course of his/her lifetime.

10. The human could not see the devil until it was the collection of his/her soul. The human could not touch and feel the devil either.

11. The human could not fall in love with the devil and vice-versa.

Once this rules are broken, the deal will render its validity and void.

The punishment for the devil and the human that will break these rules and regulations would be the repeated burning of both their souls in Hell. They will suffer and have the most painful kind of torture that no one could rescue them. Once their souls are burnt, it will be revived again and it will undergo the same torture until the end of time.

Once the deal is sealed, the devil's wings will vanish. It will just return once the human dies.

These given rules and regulations are of standard basis. Any change made to this agreement could only be valid if the highest lord or the King of the Hell himself wanted to.

At the end of the document, there two blood droplets, one on the left and the other on the right. That blood droplet acts as the human's and devil's signature. Blood which came from Lee Jihoon and the devil.

Under the written standard rules is the human's hand-written or more likely, finger written statement. The devil traces the blood-written affirmation with his finger. The writings are shaky but legible.

I, Lee Jihoon, is willing to give my life, my soul and my humanity to the devil who I summoned in return of favors which some are stated below:

1. The devil will disguise as a human and will be my friend.

The devil's nose scrunches, will disguise as a human and be the human's friend, huh?

At first the devil didn't accept the wish because the human wanted him to be a human, a warm-blooded human. So he tells him rule #4 and denied the wish. So the human, a cunning and witty human asks him to just disguise as a human instead of being a fully one and be his friend.

Jihoon's eyes open and his hand feeling the vacant part of his bed. It is warm as if something or someone had sat on it for a while. The devil watches as the hand of the human unknowingly landed on his leg. Then Jihoon looks up, and the devil looks back at him.

The devil is sure that Jihoon can feel him or even see him, because there is a glint of recognition in the human's eyes as he stares at him.

Neither of them makes a move or a sound. Neither of them breaks the eye contact. The devil thinks to himself, that this human here is special, so very special.

There are things that shouldn't be happening but are happening. There is something about this human, Lee Jihoon, who can summon the first prince of the hell, who didn't die immediately though being inflicted by pain and wounds, who can touch him, feel him and see him and did not get burn alive by touching his wings.

The devil snaps his fingers, breaking the serene stillness of the room, Jihoon's eyes feel heavier and in a few more seconds he is back to sleeping. The devil removes the hand that is on his leg and put it gently on top of Jihoon's blanket which covers him. The devil stands up, slowly vanishing through the thin air, his body being eaten by the darkness.

What's with you? What's your story Lee Jihoon?