When Kyungsoo sings, the whole world stops to listen.

Humans stop bustling about their busy lives and fall silent; animals scurry towards him, from the most harmless rabbit to the big and dangerous bear; trees bend their branches towards his voice; rocks come alive to dance to his melodies; the gods even pause in their duties and their parties and descend from Olympus, just to hear him sing.

Kyungsoo has always been a joyful person, and it carries through to his songs. Even in the coldest winter, his voice is an invincible summer, immune to the icy winds and warming the hearts of all that could hear him, and even of those who cannot. Happiness radiates from his voice, imprinting itself in his footsteps as he travels the world, and is left in his wake as he moves from one village to the next.

He has never known love, however, until he meets Jongin.

Jongin, whose movements leave Kyungsoo entranced, caught in the spell of his graceful arches and perfect turns.

Jongin, who needs no words, no music, no sound, to kindle that warmth in Kyungsoo’s chest, expanding so much within him that he might explode and let loose the butterflies entrapped within his stomach.

Jongin, who gives Kyungsoo a sense of completion that he never knew he was missing.

Jongin, without whom he cannot live.




After Kyungsoo meets Jongin, they travel everywhere together.

Nowadays, Kyungsoo sings of love and happily-ever-afters, while Jongin dances to it, bringing Kyungsoo’s words to life while Kyungsoo brings to life everything around them. Soon enough, Kyungsoo forgets what it is like to be without Jongin, what his songs were like before Jongin breathed life into them.




One afternoon, Kyungsoo and Jongin are lazing about in a meadow, Kyungsoo’s head on Jongin’s lap as Jongin leans against the only tree in the clearing, both staring up into the sky, staring into each others’ eyes, or staring at nothing at all. Times like these are rare, when Kyungsoo doesn’t feel the need to sing and Jongin doesn’t feel the need to dance, when the two of them can spend the whole day simply enjoying each other’s presence in a comfortable and peaceful silence. Nonetheless, they are moments held close to Kyungsoo’s heart, moments he wouldn’t give up for anything in the world.

As it nears dusk, however, Kyungsoo feels Jongin’s legs twitching underneath his head, itching to move. With a small smile to himself, Kyungsoo gets up and looks into Jongin’s questioning eyes, gives him a light squeeze on his thigh to say Go ahead. Do you want me to sing for you?

No, just watch me, Jongin responds with a shake of his head. He stands up happily, sauntering around Kyungsoo for a bit as he warms up, then picking up his pace as he begins to dance to an inaudible beat. He doesn’t need anyone else’s music, never needed it, not even Kyungsoo’s, and for that Kyungsoo loves him ever the more. When Jongin dances, Kyungsoo is simply his audience, eyes focused on every one of Jongin’s movements.

As Jongin immerses himself in his dance, he gradually moves towards the overgrown grass at the far end of the meadow, eventually disappearing from Kyungsoo’s sight.




Jongin never strays from Kyungsoo’s sight for long (because hyung I’ll never ever let you out of my sight ever), so when Jongin still has not returned by the time the sun has set, Kyungsoo begins to worry. Quickly Kyungsoo rises from his place at the tree, running in the direction Jongin had gone, pushing down the overgrown grass as he calls out Jongin! Jongin! frantically.

Another yell of Jongin! gets stuck in his throat as he sees Jongin lying lifelessly on the ground, face pale and devoid of life. He runs to his side, shaking him for all he’s worth. Jongin’s only fallen asleep, and if he shakes him hard enough, he’ll wake up again.

But Jongin isn’t asleep, the snake bite on Jongin’s ankle declares menacingly at Kyungsoo. He’s dead, and you’ll never see him again.



Kyungsoo loses track of how long he holds Jongin’s lifeless body, tears streaming down his face. The sun is high up in the sky the next day when Kyungsoo finally sets down Jongin’s body, spending the afternoon gathering flowers to put around Jongin before putting a coin under his tongue for safe passage into the underworld.

Then, he sings.

As he sings now, there is no trace of happiness in his voice, no warmth in his melodies.  The sorrow in his songs causes the wind to weep, the flowers to wilt, the animals to burrow into themselves, unable to bear the sorrow his voice carries. The despair in his voice travels beyond the meadow, into the villages nearby, to the gods high above, and soon every being is mourning with him. He sings and sings and sings, not stopping until the next day, when the messenger god flies down to deliver him a message.

With tears in his eyes, the messenger god tells Kyungsoo, “You must be reunited with Jongin, for your despair has brought the whole world to a state of mourning. Go to the underworld. I will guide you to the entrance.” He turns and starts walking without waiting for a response from Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo follows, hope taking flight in his heart that he’ll see his love again.




True to his word, the messenger god leads Kyungsoo to the river Styx, talking with the ferryman before taking flight back to Olympus. Kyungsoo approaches the ferryman, who allows Kyungsoo to board the ferry and proceeds to take him across the river.

Upon arriving on the other side, Kyungsoo once again begins to sing. He sings and sings and sings, sings of his love of Jongin, of losing him, of wanting to see him again. He hears and feels the underworld, and even the world above, mourning with him. As he sings he walks aimlessly through the underworld, calling out for Jongin through his song. He loses track of the time he has spent there, searching and searching but never finding Jongin.

Gradually, he loses hope, until he sights a deity he identifies to be a servant of the underworld, pulling a translucent Jongin towards him. This Jongin, however, is not his Jongin; when he meets eyes with this Jongin, he is merely looked through, as if he is the translucent one instead , and he feels a stab of pain in his heart. Kyungsoo reaches for him, but the deity pulls Jongin behind its back, keeping him out of Kyungsoo’s reach.

“You may take Jongin back into the world of the living, but on one condition: as you leave the underworld, he must follow behind you, and absolutely under no circumstances may you look back at him until you have both stepped foot in the world of the living. Look back before that, and he will vanish, this time forever. Understood?”

Kyungsoo nods and turns around, not sparing a moment as he walks quickly towards the Styx, eager to return to the living with his Jongin. As he walks, he hears no movements behind him, and more than once, he is tempted to turn his head backwards, paranoid that the gods are toying with him, but stops himself before he takes that risk. He gets more and more impatient as he nears the exit of the underworld, curiosity consuming him, his whole body beginning to shake in anxiety.

He gets off the ferry, his heart beating faster than ever, almost bursting out of his chest as runs the last few feet separating him from the world of the living. As he steps into the living world, he doesn’t even stop to catch his breath as he turns around to look at Jongin. But then his heart drops down to his stomach, and dread spreads through his veins as he realizes his mistake.

Jongin has yet to step foot into the living world.

But he continues to turn around, too late to turn back now, if only to get a glimpse of his beloved one last time.

As soon as he meets Jongin’s eyes, before the look of recognition in those eyes can elate Kyungsoo, Jongin begins to disintegrate, each piece of him drifting away before morphing into a butterfly and flying back towards the underworld.

Kyungsoo hears an I’m sorry. Don’t forget that I love you whispered as he watches Jongin disappear from his life once again.




When Kyungsoo sings, the whole world stops to listen.

The flowers wilt, the trees twist their branches in agony, and the animals hide away, unable to bear the sorrow; humans and gods alike shirk their duties to weep and mourn with Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo is a person in constant sadness, and it carries through to his songs. As long as he is singing, the world will be in mourning, sharing Kyungsoo’s eternal yearning for his lost lover.

One morning, unable to endure Kyungsoo’s abysmal grief any further, three men from the nearby village drag him to the river and drown him.




The fields of Elysium look almost like that meadow where Jongin danced for the last time. There’s a tree at the top of the hill, but none of that overgrown grass is to be seen as far as the field stretches.

From where he is standing he can see Jongin, dancing by the tree, absorbed in his own music. And then he turns and sees Kyungsoo. Breaking into that smile meant just for him, Jongin opens his arms wide.