It's been a while since I uploaded an One-Shot in this xD every time I had started it grew into something too big and became an independent work! This one could stand alone too. But I chose to make you all suffer here instead and push my collection upwards in the Woogyu tag <3 this one is 20 frigging pages long. 20! And since I don't want anyone to die of shock, it's just 10 pages for now and the other 10 tomorrow, but you better comment or I can be evil and keep it hidden :P

Important haha: This is my suuuuuper late birthday update for Sunggyu's birthday and I know no one cares but: I HAVE BEEN ON AFF FOR A YEAR TOO SINCE THE 28TH!!!! :D So happy one year anniversary to myself /otl

Welcome new subbies btw! (And dear HV readers, the epilogue will hopefully be up on the weekend <3)

PS: I have an internship spot yay!

I love you chopsticks <3

I DEDICATE THIS TO THE LOVELY PERSON (@gyulashes) WHO WAS THE ONLY ONE TO REACT TO THIS PROMPT ON TWITTER! (and dubu+chloe who helped me out with my writer's block on this)
 

XVIII. Sacrificial Hamster

Woohyun is a god whose wrath could destroy the Earth with the wave of his hand
and Sunggyu might just be the most unwilling, rudest sacrifice he has ever seen.
(and this might be the most unfitting summary ever)
 

The thing about birthdays is that you never know what will happen. Maybe no one will remember it and then you spend the day all miserable, wondering why no one has thought of you. Or you get surprised by a huge surprise party that your friends organized in secret, resulting in all of you getting drunk and having a terrible headache on the next morning. There are plenty of other scenarios that might happen, but what most people would probably not expect to happen is the following:

Imagine you are a regular commoner living in a peaceful, little village. It doesn’t matter what is the name of the village or where it is, because the world practically has a million of those little villages that all seem to live in their own world. Every place has their own traditions and their own god they believe in, which has often led to wars – ‘wars’ sounds too hard, let’s call it brawls, because it’s basically just a few villagers hitting each other with fists and pitchforks and there rarely are any deaths, anyways – brawls and some discussions over which god is the strongest one in the heavenly realm. But I’m getting further and further away from the whole point of this. So, you measly, uneducated commoner whose birthday is today, please imagine you have just woken up, because someone is knocking against your wooden door in a constant, very annoying fashion. There is more than one person knocking and they are even shouting your name – you get the picture: very annoying indeed.

So, you get out of bed and half-expect a surprise party delegation in front of your door. You are, of course, pleasantly surprised and moved that the whole village seems to feel like they have to congratulate you right away in the early morning. The gesture is nice enough to make you forget the fact that you really frigging hate waking up early. You manage something similar to a smile and open the door.

No one is singing a birthday song. No one’s even holding something like a cake or a present or something else that looks remotely like they are here for a celebration. In fact, everyone looks pretty damn serious and even the sky looks kind of dark and sullen. The village head is right in front of you and he doesn’t look like he is about to give you the best present the world has to offer – because damn you only get 18 once in your life.

“The Great God is very angry.” The head speaks slowly.

It’s certainly not a sentence you have never heard before. The water god that is protecting your village has always been a little fickle. Though that does not explain why the whole village is at your door, early in the morning, on your birthday.

“We need a sacrifice.” He continues as he notices that you are not going to react in any way other than blank stares.

The sentence isn’t that surprising either. You have seen the god pissed plenty of times and usually the villagers offer him some poor girl to soothe his anger. It’s too bad, because they are usually really pretty, but the water god not only has a bad temper, he also is quite picky. You once heard a story of a girl actually getting spit out of the lake again with a little note ‘too ugly’ sticking on her forehead – poor girl indeed. But that doesn’t really explain why everyone is currently at your door.

The village head lets out a sigh, probably disappointed by the lack of reactions from your side – it IS early in the morning after all, what did he expect? “You are the sacrifice this time, Sunggyu.”

Wait, your name is not Sunggyu? It must be your lucky day!
You are not chosen as a sacrifice on your birthday, congratulations.
Now take a deep breath, thank your parents and take a moment to pity this poor Sunggyu dude,
who has just gotten the bad news.

It must to be him.

Sunggyu is unsure how to react. Being told that he’s going to be sacrificed seems more than absurd. He lets out a nervous laugh. “Aah, I get it. It was a joke – a very good one. You almost had me.”

No one is laughing along. “It wasn’t a joke, actually.”

He looks at all of their faces, but not even one person is wearing a smile. Now that he thinks about it, there are mostly men in the crowd. It seems ridiculous, impossible what they are saying. “I’m not a girl though, at least last time I checked, I wasn’t. You can check again if you want.”

Sunggyu is already threatening to pull down his leather pants, but one of the men quickly stops him. “No, no, we know that.”

The young man lets out a huff and crosses his arms. “Then why are you here? As far as I know the oh so great water god only wants the most beautiful, female s as sacrifices.”

“Well, the thing is…we don’t have any more female s in this village. The girls are either too young or already far beyond the definition of ‘’. The God is angry! We have no other way to save this village – No, to save the planet!”

“I’m still waiting for the explanation why you are at my place. Just get some from another village if it’s so damn important!”

One of the younger men clears his throat. “Oh, come on, Sunggyu, we all know you are still a and as of today you are officially of age – it’s like fate wants you to be the sacrifice! And you are not bad to look at either, so, yeah…”

“Hell no!” Sunggyu shouts out loud. He throws the door closed and puffs his cheeks. “Get another ing person to do this! I’m not going to be a sacrifice for that moody .”

“Sunggyu!” The village head exclaims in shock. “Show respect to the Great Water God! You are going to make him even madder!”

“Well, he will probably drown all of you anyways, when you send him a damn man! I’m a man! You hear me? I’m not one of those pretty air-heads that gladly offer themselves to this great whatsoever brat! I have plans for my future and they don’t include getting thrown into a lake, well, thank you! My answer is no!” He trots over to the small kitchen to grab a cup of water. It’s really too early for ridiculous jokes like these.

The knocking returns. “Sunggyu! Open the door!”

The most ridiculous is probably the fact that they could just get in by themselves – the door does not even have something like a lock and it would definitely just fall down if they used a bit more strength. “Let me think about it – NO. Look for someone else. Just send some girl. He won’t know if it’s a !”

Of course, it’s a tad selfish that he puts his life over that of those girls, but Sunggyu has really no intention of dying at the early age of 18. He still has all of his life ahead of him. He has even worked out a great 5-year-plan that included leaving the village and going to a bigger city, finding a nice woman (He’s not that picky, just maybe auburn, middle-long hair, slightly wavy and when the wind goes through it, it should look like a wild fire; she has moss-green eyes – the left one is slightly smaller than the right one, but that’s okay because it actually looks charming – and full, red lips that taste like apples; her fingers are long and slim, every day picking flowers in the garden or in the fields, using them to make flower arrangements that she can sell at the market; when she smiles the sun pales in comparison and her laughter is enough to make the birds faint in jealousy. Her father used to be a knight at the castle, but he died an honorable death for his king. The mother is still alive, but she never talks about her and later they would find out that she is actually a witch. When she threatens to kill his wife, Sunggyu of course kills her like a true hero. Not really that much to ask for, isn’t it?), moving together into a little house with a red roof and a wide garden. They are going to have seven children and Sunggyu is definitely going to call the first girl Clover and then comes Eunbi, the third one will be a son (Henry)-

“This is our last warning! Do you want all of us to die?” Sunggyu snaps out of his thoughts and he glares at the door. He has no idea what the villagers have been saying, while he was daydreaming about his wife and the seven children they are going to have, but things seem pretty severe by now.

“There is no one else we can send! You are our only hope.” The village head shouts. “He’s going to destroy the village and when he’s done, he will continue with the rest of the world!”

“Don’t be so selfish!”

Sunggyu sits down on the chair and takes a slow sip from his cup. He nods to himself because the water tastes like heaven. Too bad it’s not good enough to die for. They could force him outside and to the lake, but it doesn’t count as a sacrifice if you are not willing to go.

“Just take it as a compliment!”

He raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t move from his spot.

“You are very beautiful! All the girls are jealous of your flawless skin and your pretty hands!”

“They say your hair is softer than a bunny’s fur!”

The compliments continue and Sunggyu uses the time to empty a second glass. He bathes in their comments. Eventually, the shouts die down. “We are giving up.”

“I’m sorry, Sunggyu. We shouldn’t have asked that of you.” The village head says with a sad tone. “We will look for someone else.”

“How about we throw a big feast to celebrate your birthday, as an apology? Please forgive us.”

Sunggyu smiles and walks over to the door again. He opens it with an innocent expression. “Oh, you don’t have to~”

The village head bows slightly and the others follow. “We shouldn’t have bothered you. You’re right. We can just ask a girl from another village.”

An arm is thrown over his shoulder and they drag him away from his house while laughing. They come together in the middle of the town and in the speed of light chairs and tables are brought. Soon they are filled with all kinds of food and the tavern nearby delivers them two barrels of their finest beer. Sunggyu finally gets to hear a birthday song and the villagers all bring him presents. They eat and drink - the threatening, dark sky over their heads seemingly forgotten. It’s a perfect little birthday party. The only thing missing- oh, not anymore, there is the music. He joins the ladies for a dance after finishing another goblet of beer.
 

Sunggyu is very, very drunk after a few hours. Very drunk and very happy. He doesn’t even notice when it starts to rain and he doesn’t hear the loud thunder in the sky. The young man feels fuzzy and warm inside, unconsciously appreciating the cold raindrops hitting his skin. Hands grab his arms and pull him up from his chair. He hears someone speaking, but Sunggyu can’t catch the words and he can’t really keep his eyes open long enough to identify the person speaking. He figures they want to help him into a house or so – a shelter from the rain. Sunggyu mumbles a ‘thanks’ as he gets dragged away.

His feet can barely keep up with the fast pace. Sunggyu feels like he can smell the forest, which seems kind of weird considering they were still in the village and it’s kind of weird how long they are walking. Isn’t the village head’s house right in the center of the village? They could’ve hidden there. But he shrugs the thought of. The alcohol is probably just playing with his sense of direction and time.

They stop somewhere and Sunggyu feels a bit of relief, but it’s not really any drier. The rain seems even heavier now and his clothes are all drenched. He can hear voices speaking again. It almost sounds like several voices speaking at the same time – similar to a prayer.

“Aren’t we going in? I’m all wet…” He slurs and leans onto the man right of him, because his feet can’t seem to hold him up anymore.

“Why don’t you go first? It’s warm and dry inside. We can’t have our birthday boy getting a cold.” One of the voices says. The hands around is left arm disappear.

Sunggyu hums tiredly and the other man helps him into a standing position again. He gets a soft push and Sunggyu stumbles forward with closed eyes. He really can’t wait to find a bed. Nice and soft and-

Splash

His eyes snap open as his body falls into the water. He opens his mouth to grasp for air, but quickly closes it again because only water gets inside. Sunggyu throws his limbs around, blindly hitting the water in a struggle to get back to the surface. But the lake seems like a wild beast in the storm. He gets thrown around by the current, pulled even deeper no matter how hard he paddles and fights against the numbness stretching through his body. He can see it crystal clear now – he has been tricked. They just got him drunk to make him walk into the lake on his own.

He feels his eyesight weaken again, but suddenly all fear seems to be gone from his mind. Sunggyu feels strangely at peace and although the water must be frigging cold, he is surrounded by a soothing warmth. It feels like someone is embracing him, protecting him from the coldness. The wild waves and the thundering sky seem distant now, instead he feels like he is not moving at all anymore. Sunggyu gives in to the warm embrace and welcomes the blackness.
 

Woohyun steps out of the little pond with the unconscious sacrifice in his arms. His feet touch the white marble, which is pleasantly warm against his skin. He glances down at the figure in his arms. While Woohyun is very much dry, the male in his arms is drenched. The wet strands of hair and his clothes are sticking to his skin, which seems almost as white as the marble to his feet. He looks dead, but he isn’t. Woohyun has pulled him out of the water before he could choke on it, though he has no idea why. His body had reacted on its own, making him jump into the water when he saw the male fighting for his life. He should’ve let him drown and enter this world like everyone else or spit him out again, because Woohyun only accepts female sacrifices that meet his standards, but here he is - with a still alive human in his arms. He wonders why his body has reacted like that, why the slim body in his arms feels so familiar.

“Master Woohyun!”

His gaze shifts and he looks at Chorong, one of his priestesses. They are all standing somewhere along the seemingly endless path of white marble that leads straight to the temple. He can see confusion on most of their faces, probably because Woohyun has never before jumped into the pond like that for anyone. Their clothes were mostly the same as they all wore white robes, but some had colorful designs on them, indicating that they were of a higher status. Chorong was a high priestess, one of the first sacrifices that entered his realm through the pond. Her death was thousands of years ago, but Woohyun still remembered her pale body swimming face down in the water. She is the one he trusts the most and often the one trying to calm him when he is – as she calls it – throwing a tantrum.

She bows her head slightly and