A tall man stood by the edge of the summoning circle that he drew at the floor of his living room. Years of study and continuous research led him to believe that the only way to protect his life’s achievements is to call upon a demon to take care of his precious belongings. Though he knows that signing a contract with a demon means eternal damnation for one’s soul, he was willing to risk it just for the sake of his life’s work not to end in vain.

 

Examining the circle again, he looked at the book he placed on the coffee table beside his couch since he had to move a lot of his stuff for the circle, before realizing that he was defenseless from whatever was going to appear from that circle.

 

Running into the kitchen, the guy grabbed the biggest kitchen knife he owned before turning only to graze his elbow on the cabinet door that he opened. A string of curses immediately left his lips but he had no time to relax because he wasn’t sure if the circle was enough to pull something out even without the incantations.

 

Yet upon his return, while rubbing his elbow, he sighed when he didn’t see anything emerging out of the circle. Placing his weapon on the floor, he examined his elbow and wondered if he needed a band-aid since it stung and he didn’t want to be hurt while talking to a demon. Yet he still stood back up to get a piece of band aid to place it on his elbow.

 

Picking up the book from the coffee table, he sat down to read the incantation. And as he did, smoke started coming out of the middle of the circle and though he was starting to panic he knows better than anyone that leaving an incantation unfinished will only create a gap between dimensions and it was something he needed to avoid at all costs.

 

So off he went to finish the incantation and lo and behold the smoke filled his living room and the very weapon that he had taken out of his kitchen was suddenly out of his sight. He swears he put it on the floor beside the— Chanyeol gasps when he realized that he must have placed the knife inside the circle and now he was defenseless against whatever was going to come out of that smoke.

 

‘Oh , oh , oh ! Why the heck did I even leave it inside the circle?!’

 

Panic enveloped him as words of worry filled his head. He kept thinking of what to do but just as he was under panic, he saw a figure forming inside the smoke.

 

Pulling a throw pillow from the couch, he started swatting the smoke but to no avail. He wasn’t sure if it was really smoke or something else. Yet the longer he breathed it in, the worse it made him feel. Thus, when he heard a cough slip out of his throat, he was sure that the smoke started to get into a void inside the circle. Whoever was doing that, must mean that he controlled the smoke-like illusion that Chanyeol saw.

 

“Holy …” The words slipped from his mouth as soon as the smoke disappeared. He found himself looking at a human like creature sitting on its legs. Though he could see from the swishing tail behind him and the two horns that protruded on the latter’s head that he was no ordinary human.

 

But what’s more shocking was that the demon was looking at his knife!

 

The panic that Chanyeol felt doubled as nervousness and fear joined in to rattle him. The demon seemed to be concentrated on the knife that he didn’t even realize Chanyeol was sitting there, terrified and all. Chanyeol didn’t want to look away from the demon, unsure if it’ll suddenly kill him if he did look away. But seeing how it’s so concentrated on the knife, he started looking around to check for anything he can use against the demon in case he did something.

 

Just then, he noticed the demon stand on his feet before facing him and yet the first thing that came into mind was how utterly cute the demon looked. Furrowed brows and thick lips matched with its doe eyes. He wondered, ‘Is this really a demon? He looks like an angel…’.

 

 

“͕͗?̶̲͕͕̅͗͗s̶̲͕͕̅͗͗ᥱ̶̲͕͕̅͗͗v̶̲͕͕̅͗͗ι̶̲͕͕̅͗͗ᥒ̶̲͕͕̅͗͗k̶̲͕̅͗ ̶̲͕̅͗r̶̲͕͕̅͗͗ᥙ̶̲͕͕̅͗͗o̶̲͕͕̅͗͗ყ̶̲͕̅͗ ̶̲͕̅͗ᥒ̶̲͕͕̅͗͗ᥱ̶̲͕͕̅͗͗ρ̶̲͕͕̅͗͗r̶̲͕͕̅͗͗ᥲ̶̲͕͕̅͗͗h̶̲͕͕̅͗͗s̶̲͕̅͗ ̶̲͕̅͗ᥙ̶̲͕͕̅͗͗o̶̲͕͕̅͗͗ყ̶̲͕̅͗ ̶̲͕̅͗o̶̲͕͕̅͗͗d̶̲͕̅͗”

 

 

Chanyeol cringed at the detestable sound that came out of the demon’s lips. His hand unconsciously slapped itself on his elf-like ears to stop the static-filled sound to enter. It was dreadful to listen to as if his ears were getting torn apart.

 

His throat was sore, his mouth tasted like death and now his ears were going to fry themselves from the static noise. He thought it was only a matter of time until his eyes were next so he immediately closed them, hoping to spare him of seeing the attack as his last memory.

 

But despite his nervous breakdown and the pounding nervousness inside his chest, time continued to tick and nothing happened to him.

 

“Do you sharpen your knives?”

 

Chanyeol must be dead by now because he just heard a heavenly sound right that second. He furrowed his brows when he tried to understand the question. Does he sharpen his knives? It was odd to hear that question when he just arrived in heaven. Thinking about it, he should be hearing trumpets and choirs, praises of joy for his arrival but it was only that heavenly voice that asked a question.

 

Slowly, but ever so guarded, Chanyeol opened his eyes. He was surprised to see that he was still in his house with the demon looking right at him. He blinked several times, unsure why the creature had its eyes set on him when he heard it part its lips again.

 

“Do you sharpen your knives?”

 

Chanyeol flinched, closing his eyes again and covering his ears tightly but when he heard the question come directly from the demon’s lips. That moment, his eyes fluttered wide open to gape at the demon. What an odd question to ask. Was the demon planning to kill him with the knife and he deems it not sharp enough for slaughtering?

 

But instead of words, Chanyeol shook his head while looking at the demon. He was unsure what was happening and if the demon wanted a sharper knife for murder then he must be planning to do something diabolical.

 

He saw the demon’s hand reached behind him and he gasped in shock, closing his eyes again to spare himself from the slaughter that was about to happen. He knew he was going to feel pain and he would much rather close his eyes to spare him from the visuals of it.

 

Yet, he only heard sounds of whetting. The fact that he didn’t feel any pain was enough proof to know that he wasn’t stabbed nor sliced. Peeking through his eyelids, he was, yet again, surprised to see the demon kneeling on the ground while sharpening the knife on a whetstone.

 

Dread immediately filled him when he realized what the demon was planning. He was sure that it wasn’t sharp enough so he needed to sharpen it to kill him. The panic inside him was hounding him to get up and run away but his body was firmly glued to the ground while staring at the creature. A few more glides in and he saw a small quirk on the demon’s lips, seemingly satisfied with what he had done. He raised the knife close to his face, examining it. He pulled out something from behind him again and Chanyeol couldn’t help but scream internally.

 

’Is that a tree branch?!’

 

The demon passed the knife through the thick branch and Chanyeol’s eyes widened into saucers when he saw the branch break smoothly in half. Meanwhile, the demon gave a contented nod before placing the k