Chapter Nine: Inferno

“Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.”

                “Stupid demon!” Gayun hissed, “Foolish demon! You yell at me for getting rained on and you get sick? Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!” She admitted his reasoning at the time had been valid but now she was left caring for a being she knew nothing about. She couldn’t tell if his heartbeat was supposed to be that fast or how high a temperature warranted concern on her part.

                “Idiot!” she growled, startling Pumpkin who had been curled up on top of the coffee table. She cursed under her breath before stomping back towards her bedroom. When she neared the door, her loud footsteps slowly became softer and softer until she was practically tiptoeing into her own room. The reason why was tucked under the covers whimpering in his sleep.

                She let out a soft sigh before grabbing her laptop and retreating back into the living room. If there was one thing that Gayun had learned over the years, it was that all questions could be solved with a bit of research. So, she immediately began scouring the inter-webs for information about how to deal with sick demons.

                Unfortunately, most of the search results involved demons causing sickness upon other people, mostly children. She grumbled under her breath about that before switching topics to how to summon another one. She could, perhaps, ask said demon about the one sweating all over her sheets. In particular, she was hoping to summon the hyung Seunghyun constantly spoke of.

                After another hour of researching on the internet and pulling a few books off of her shelves, she finally had an idea of how to summon an upper-level demonic figure. Unfortunately, such a spell required a few ingredients outside of her poorly stocked kitchen.

                She went back into her room and gently laid a hand on the bundle of blankets. “Seunghyun-ssi,” she whispered softly, “I’m going out for an hour or two but I’ll be back soon, okay?”

                “Okay,” was the faint reply. She left the door open so that the four felines could keep their second favorite person company during his time of need. Gayun scribbled down the ingredients on a torn off piece of paper before rushing out the door with mismatching shoes. She returned after just a moment to match her left shoe with its partner before grabbing her bag. She’d have to pay for these things after all.  

                She was not sure if it was a good thing or bad thing that most of the ingredients for the summoning spell could be found at the local grocery store. They were an odd mix to have during one purchase, so she threw in a few groceries she had been meaning to pick up before going over to the botanist a few blocks further down from the supermarket.

                It was there that she crossed off the final ingredient on the list. The botanist raised a rather beautiful looking eyebrow at the purchase but was in no place to refuse a customer. Gayun walked back to the store in record time; faster than the kitten incident a week back.

                She knew better than to summon the demon directly in her apartment, so she cleared off some space in the shop to begin the spell. The door was locked and the blinds were closed before a circle of salt was drawn on the floor around her just in case this Jiyong got annoyed about being forced into the human realm.

                After all of the ingredients had been put together in the proper order and prepared correctly, Gayun began to recite the incantation from her phone. She lit a match and dropped it into the bowl before a plume of black smoke rose up and clouded her vision.

                After blinking and coughing the smoke away, her eyes refocused in front of her to see Pumpkin staring up at her solemnly. Only, Pumpkin’s eyes were a yellow color and the Pumpkin before her had eyes the same color as freshly spilled blood.

                “What the hell were you thinking, human?” the cat demanded in a distinctly male voice, “How dare you summon me without a suitable host!” Gayun wanted to reply in her usual manner to a comment such as that, but she couldn’t quite get over the fact that her new kitten was talking. Albeit, Pumpkin was talking due to being possessed but she was still talking.  

                ”The website didn’t mention that part,” she mumbled sheepishly.

                “You!” he hissed, “Give me one reason why I should not kill you where you stand! Even in this pathetic form, I can still manage that.” There was no way Gayun was ever going to attempt something like this ever again. She had not realized how amiable a demon Seunghyun really was until that moment; he may have forced his way into her store and apartment but at least he had never legitimately threatened her life.

                “It’s Seunghyun,” she said quickly, “He’s sick.”

                “What?” the cat-demon asked, his/her red eyes narrowing.

                “Seunghyun, or Seungri I guess, he’s sick. I don’t know what to do so I thought…” She trailed off, realizing how foolish an idea this really was. She had summoned a demon apparently more powerful than the one whining like a baby upstairs for the express purpose of playing nurse. If she had been in her right mind, she would have just let Seunghyun be but she had gotten panicked. Why had she gotten so panicked?

                “Take me to him,” the possessed kitten said after a moment, his/her tail twitching back and forth. Gayun nodded and, with a touch of fear, stepped out of her salt circle before walking towards the stairs. For a brief second, she was about to offer to carry him/her but decided that it would be better not to make such an offer for fear of offending the demon again.

                So, it took a little longer than normal for the two of them to reach the top of the stairs. Once up there, they were met with curious stairs from the other cats as they made their way into the bedroom. Gayun watched as the kitten wriggled his/her before jumping up on top of the bed. She was glad now that it was so close to the ground.

                “Seungri-ah,” the kitten called out before sitting down beside the bundle of blankets.

                “Hyung?” the incubus croaked before sticking his head out of the blanket burrito he had made for himself. His half-lidded, purple eyes glanced around the room, looking for something much larger, before finally settling on the possessed Pumpkin. “Is that you?”

                “Yes, it’s me,” the kitten huffed, “Your idiotic human summoned me improperly so I’m stuck in this body for the time being.”

                Seunghyun’s eyes moved up to the human standing beside the bed, wringing her hands, and currently regretting that choice. His lips shifted up into a smirk, showing off his sharp teeth; more of his demon side had been slipping out since he had gotten sick. In a slightly amused tone, he asked, “You tried to summon Hyung for me?”

                “Well you collapsed earlier and haven’t moved much or eaten,” she stumbled over her words, “And, I mean, it’s not like I can take you to a doctor or something. It’s your fault for getting sick.” She tried to sound angry but it came off more like she was worried and a little bit frightened.

                “You’re cute like that,” he mumbled before pulling the covers back over his head.

                “He really is sick,” the kitten nodded, “I’ll see what I can do. Go wait for me in that tiny box of a living room.”

                “Yes, sir,” she bowed before stepping out. She paced back and forth between the kitchen and living room with all three other cats trailing behind her. She ran a hand through her hair before letting out another sigh.

                “You need to stop this,” she firmly told herself, “You’re acting like a fool and you almost got yourself killed by a demon. Over what? An inconvenience at best and an annoying -hat at worst! You need to check yourself before you, inevitably, wreck yourself.

                “But how could I not do all of that?” she argued back, “He’s really the only friend I have and…and…” She wasn’t sure where she had been going with that last part but she didn’t want to think too deeply about it either. So, she settled for flopping down on the couch where she was kept busy petting the cats.

                After what felt like forever, Pumpkin came padding down the hallway. The red eyes gave away that it was still Jiyong inside of her body. “Well?” Gayun asked anxiously, “What’s wrong with him?”

                “That idiot ate too much,” the kitten sighed, “So he should be fine in about a day or two. Tell him to only eat every other day or I’ll come beat his for you. His sin is lust not gluttony after all.” She smiled and let out a breath that she hadn’t been aware she was holding.

                “So is there anything I can do?”

                “Promise not to summon me without, at least, a human body to possess,” Jiyong grumbled, “Just give him some time and he’ll be fine.”

                “Good.”

                “Now, is that all that you needed or, perhaps, would you like to make a deal?” That kitten’s red eyes glinted at the question; Gayun felt her stomach drop.

                “N-No thank you…sir,” she shook her head, hoping that the demon wouldn’t get pissed at the refusal. She had no idea what a deal was but it definitely did not sound like a good thing. Besides, if she were to start making deals with demons, she would make one with Seunghyun first.

                “Suit yourself,” the kitten sighed before her/his eyes shut. The lights dimmed before the kitten opened her eyes again, revealing the color that they were supposed to be. It seemed like he was gone. She let the normalcy set in for just a moment before reaching out to pet the kitten’s head reassuringly. Pumpkin was definitely getting some extra treats that night.

                Slowly, she walked back to the bedroom for what felt like the thousandth time that day. She stood in the doorway, watching the blanket burrito, and wondering where she was going to sleep that night. She pile of blankets eventually moved and Seunghyun poked his head through.

                “You summoned Hyung for me?” he asked. Gayun half wanted to remind him that he’d already asked her that question and the answer was not going to change. However, now didn’t seem like the time to be snarky.

                “Yeah. You really scared me,” she replied honestly. A clawed hand emerged. She wondered how much more of him had changed. He motioned for her to come over and she complied, stopping beside the bed.

                “You should come lay down with me,” he mumbled, shifting the blankets to make room for her. It would be a two person burrito.

                “I don’t know.” Gayun bit her bottom lip while hesitating.

                “I’m sick,” he grumbled, “You’re supposed to do whatever I say.” He reached out and grabbed her hand before pulling her onto the bed. She could have pulled away if she really wanted to but, instead, she let him wrap his arms around her.

                She laid her head on his chest and closed her eyes. He pulled the blankets over the two of them before resting his chin on top of her head. It only took a few minutes for Seunghyun to fall back asleep but Gayun took almost a full hour before her nerves finally calmed down enough for her to slip into dreamland as well. The cats would just have to wait.