Jiyong sat down, sitting on a rock and combing a hand a through his hair. He motioned for Seunghyun to sit down next to him and looked down at his hands, “The world sometimes just flashes before my eyes. I’ve been living on it for a long time and things are just so different.”

Seunghyun nodded, not sure where Jiyong was going with this, “Different?”

“Yeah different,” he chuckled, “I mean, it changes when I think about it. When I lived, we didn’t have markets, we didn’t have homes that towered toward the sky, it was a very simple life. Fishing rods! I wish we had those, it would have been so much easier, more boring, though,” as Jiyong spoke his hands fidgeted with themselves more and more, he was getting even more nervous, “We use to grow our food ourselves, and we’d all share, everyone knew everyone, we were also happy.”

“Jiyong?”

“And, and,” Jiyong sighed, “You know like you I had a best friend. I want to tell you, losing him was the hardest thing that has ever happened in my life. He uh, he was very dear to me.”

Seunghyun cleared his throat and slowly inched his hand over to Jiyong’s, touching his hand, and enclosing his own around his then bringing Jiyong’s hands to his lap when he received no reaction. Seunghyun kept his eyes forward, looking at the trees as Jiyong spoke. He knew that if he looked in Jiyong’s eyes it would be too intense, “He’s the one, isn’t he? The one you sold your soul for?”

Jiyong hesitated, and nodded his head, “Yes, for my best friend,” he took a deep breath, “We were very close, he was my everything, because I wasn’t worth anything. I had nothing going on with my life, but he, he was smart, and he could write, he could teach as well. I couldn’t do much, except follow him around.”

“Not to be rude, but, what type of writing did you have that long.”

Jiyong let out a short laugh, and he found a stick then started drawing in the dirt, “That’s how we wrote.”

Seunghyun covered his mouth, stifling a small laugh, “That looks like a shoe and a stick figure.”

“Yeah I suppose so, that’s how we did it,” Jiyong erased it with the toe of his shoe and cleared his throat, “It was, great, but you know, a lot of good things end too soon…

“Bae!” Jiyong ran up to his friend and waved him down till he got there, “Bae, how’s it going, did everything go well?”

Youngbae smiled slowly and pat Jiyong on the shoulder, “Everything went well, everything’s going to be okay.”

Jiyong’s wide grin wavered for a second, seeing something in his friend’s eyes that didn’t quite seem like everything is okay, “Oh okay, well, then, what do you have to do then?”

“Heh, I don’t know, have you been studying?”

“Well, you know I checked how the garden it’s growing very well, and they say this season we won’t have to worry about the window if we dry the food for the winter,” Jiyong shuffled his feet and tried to change the subject.

“I guess not then,” Youngbae ruffled his friend’s hair and motioned for him to get inside, “You’ll be able to understand if you don’t study.”

“It’s hard, Bae,” they walked into the small hut and Jiyong took the seeds and started grinding them into a bowl, “I work with my hands better than anything.”

“We all have things that we’re good at, you’re smart Ji, I know it,” Youngbae sat down and rubbed the back of his neck ad sighed heavily, catching Jiyong’s attention and concern.

“Are you okay Bae?”

“I’m fine, just, those kids are very unruly, I don’t know how I can handle them.”

Jiyong smiled fondly and mixed a bowl of berry paste and seeds, “Here, eat this, it should make you feel better,” he handed the bowl to Youngbae and sat next to him as he finished grinding and moved to make a crude bread with what he had. I hear the hunters came home with a good haul, there’s to be a feast tonight, are you going to be up to make it?”

“Yes, of course,”

“Why weren’t you amongst the hunters this time?” Jiyong casually asked, giving Youngbae a quick glance before looking back at what he was working on.

“I just didn’t feel well.”

“Ah I see, well I hope you’re going to be okay, you’ve been tired lately,” he pressed the back of his hand on Youngbae’s forehead and felt to see if it was hot, “You should be all right,” he smiled and stood up, now we should be preparing to bring something for the feast. He grabbed Youngbae’s hands, causing him to put his bowl of berries down and follow him to the middle of the room and prepare.

As the night fell the small village gathered around a fire that was cooking fish and ox meat. There were kids running around and dancing and the elders sat around sharing their wisdom with whoever would listen. Jiyong sat on a log with his legs crossed and watched fondly as Youngbae gathered the children and told them made up stories of ancestors and great warriors of the tribe. Jiyong let a small smile settle on his face as he watched and blew out a saddened breath.

He seemed to be looking on for not, as Youngbae never seemed to meet his eyes like he hoped he would, of course, he had looked at him but it was not what he wanted it to be. Jiyong almost stood up to talk to his friend, when he noticed something that nearly broke his heart and pulling at the strings and tearing him apart.

A girl Jiyong had known very was giving Youngbae eyes that he knew very well, but that was not what nearly broke, it was the Youngbae looked back that made his breath catch in his throat and his eyes sting. He swallowed hard, letting his body take over and his mind shut down as his legs brought him over to Youngbae and the girl, “Hi, guys,” his voice came out shaky and he cleared his throat to try and clear out the pain from it.

Youngbae gave Jiyong a wavering smile as he looked up at the girl, his cheeks flushing a vibrant as they stared at each other, “H-hey.’

Jiyong realized it was no use, they were both lost to the world in each other’s eyes, and no matter how many other people thought it was cute, Jiyong couldn’t help but feel like he was losing everything. He knew this was supposed to be a celebration, but he didn’t feel like celebrating anymore and he headed back home feeling like the weight of the world was on his shoulders.

The next day he was awoken to fit of coughing, it wasn’t his own and he looked around to find Youngbae slumped over coughing into his arm trying to stifle the noise, “Bae?” he called, worried that there was something terribly wrong with his friend.

“Ji?” Youngbae looked up and wiped his lips, “Go back to sleep it’s early.”

Jiyong shook his head no and crawled over to where Youngbae was crouched and pulled back Youngbae’s hand that was nestled between his other arm. He gasped at the specks of blood that were littered on his arm tried to calm his beating heart, “Bae, are you all right, how long has this been going on?” his voice was panicked and he gripped Youngbae’s shoulders in horror, “Are you okay.”

“I am fine, it’ll pass,” Youngbae slowly got up and walked around, “See, I can stand perfectly fine, you just go to sleep I will stay up for a little while.”

“Are you sure?” all he got was a nod of the head and was shooed to go to bed. Jiyong reluctantly went over to his bed and fell asleep, but it was not a peaceful sleep as he worried about his friend and what could possibly be wrong with him.

The next time Jiyong was awoken it was to a fit of giggles that he had heard many times, and he almost didn’t dare get up because he knew what he would see if he did so. He popped open one eye and saw Youngbae entertaining company with the girl from the other day. Jiyong pushed himself up, a small groan escaping his lips when he straightened and saw the two sharing berries and laughing quietly.

“Hello?” there was a slight pause before the two started laughing again, some inside joke that Jiyong did not get in the slightest, but he brushed it off anyway, afraid that if he pried he would only get even more agitated.

“Did I wake you again?” Youngbae asked, “We didn’t mean to do so.”

“No, I should be getting up,” Jiyong eyed the girl, she was a sweet thing and bright, someone Jiyong thought a man would be lucky to have, but when it came to Youngbae, he didn’t want anybody to have him.

“Right,” Youngbae smiled, looking truly happy, and unbeknownst to him, that true happiness tore Jiyong apart because Jiyong thought he could never be happier than when they were together, but it seemed as if the girl made him even happier.

“Do you two have plans?” Jiyong tried to be cheery, but he couldn’t tell if he was, or fi they could hear the bitterness in his voice.

“Actually, we do,” oblivious to Jiyong’s demeanor he rattled on about what they were planning to do today and everything in between. It seemed he was really trying to court the girl.

“Uh huh, okay, yeah I’m going to go back to sleep,” Jiyong turned, his face immediately falling into a frown and his eyes welling up, but he swallowed down the tears because he knew that it was only a few feet away from them and second they could see him.

Days went past and the two became inseparable, and Jiyong was starting to get the picture, Youngbae was in love, and he knew they would marry, but that was the least of Jiyong’s concerns because Youngbae was growing weaker, and there was no denying, Youngbae would die before he could marry.

Jiyong pressed a palm on his friend’s shoulder, and in a flash, it was both his arms wrapping around him, because he loved him and he couldn’t let him go, not without letting him know it.

“Ji, what are you?”

He squeezed harder, and let go only after he felt it was enough, “What did the man of medicine say?” his voice was in a whisper, afraid if he spoke and louder, that it would only mean worse for Youngbae.

Youngbae’s eyes were downcast and his shoulders slumped. You could see what had been happening to his body, and you could see that it was taking everything out of him quickly. He could barely stand without breathing heavily, and there were dark shadows under his eyes, as well as his face gaunt because he couldn’t eat properly as nothing would stay down in his stomach long enough for him to digest, “He says it’s the sickness, and that there’s nothing I can do.”

When he heard that, Jiyong dropped to his knees and he covered his mouth stifling a cry, “No!” he couldn’t control all the emotions that were building up inside him, letting the tears stain his cheeks as the news settled in his gut, “You can fight it, I know you can, you’re stronger than me. You’re smarter, you should marry and have children. No Bae, no.”

Youngbae was just tired and he knelt down and enveloped his friend in a tight hug, “I shall have that in the afterlife. I have lived good, and I believe the good place will accept me. Now, can you please help me to bed, I need to lie down.”

Jiyong nodded his head, but nothing was registering, even when he carried Youngbae to bed and covered his body, he could not accept the cards that had been dealt, and in the night he ran into the woods, feet splintering on the rocks and dry leaves that littered the ground. Jiyong was desperate, and it seemed like the very wind itself was aware that Jiyong would do anything to save his best friend.

He cried out in the night, eyes blurred with tears and hair windswept, but it seemed like no one heard him except for the trees in the forest he found himself in, “Please, if anyone can hear me, save him, save him please,” he pleaded for the gods to spare Youngbae, but all he got in return was silence, dull, penetrating, silence.

When it looked like nothing was going to help him, a whisper of a voice caressed his ears. Jiyong looked up from the ground, unsure when he had collapsed into the fallen leaves and looked up to see a magnificent man clad in skins and furs, maybe a leader of a great tribe, “Who are you?” Jiyong’s voice was hoarse, and he cleared his throat to try and clear it.

“You say you want your friend to be saved?” the man deliberately ignored Jiyong’s question and asked one of his own, “Is this true?”

“Yes, yes of course,” Jiyong’s heart beat frantically, maybe this mysterious man could help him.

“Would you do anything?”

He nodded his head without question, he loved Youngbae more than anything and needed him to be okay.

“You friend will die if you don’t take this deal with me, and I know this because I am the devil, and I will make a deal with you that will save his life.”

Jiyong’s eyes widened, his village had been warned of dealings with the devil. The devil would come at your most vulnerable and promise all the things in the world, but I would come with a hefty price, “I’ll take it,” Jiyong spoke without reason, knowing that the only person he lived for was Youngbae, and if Youngbae was not there, what else could he do?

“You don’t even know the deal.”

“I’ll take it!” Jiyong stood up, his eyes crazed with want, “Anything to save him.”

“Even your soul?”

“Especially my soul,” Jiyong whispered, “If it is to save his if it is to let him a full life, the happily my soul.”

“You are sacrificing yourself for this man without even thinking. No hesitation at all, that is pure,” the devil his lips and rubbed his hands together, “I shall have your soul, and you must know, all deals with the devil send you to hell young one. You must know this.”

“I don’t care, I love him. Just do it already.”

The devil stuck out his hand, “We must shake on it, and the deal shall be done. You will hand over your soul in order for your friend to live. I will receive your soul upon the day you die.”

Jiyong’s eyes lit up, “The day I die,” he shook the man’s hand, and with that he was gone, and Jiyong was left alone in his thoughts.

The walk back Jiyong felt a little lighter, and by the time he got back home it was light outside. He looked inside his home and a bright smile lit his face when he saw Youngbae up and looking brighter than ever, “Bae! You look great.”

“I feel great, I’ve been blessed.”

Jiyong ran over to Youngbae and enveloped him in a tight hug, “I’m so happy you’re okay, I’m so very happy.”

“Me too Ji, me too.”

Jiyong went to say something else, but his chest felt like it was burning and he let out some haggard coughs into his hands, almost stumbling from the sudden pain, but Youngbae held him up, keeping him from colliding with the ground. He looked at his hands with horror and moaned in disbelief, his hands were speckled with red droplets of blood, the blood was so bright it felt like it was blinding him with the deep color, “No, no,” Jiyong needed to sit down from the shock, and also that from the way his chest was now squeezing the breath out of him.

Youngbae lowered Jiyong down onto the bed and Jiyong’s hair. Youngbae’s eyes were wide with fear as he looked at his friend go pale, just as he was only hours before, “Maybe, maybe you’ll get through it like I did.”

“Maybe,” Though Jiyong knew that he would not be so lucky and that when he closed his eyes it would be the last time.

“That day Youngbae was going to die, but I had given up my soul for him to live, ad instead I took his place. I thought I would at least have some time, but it seemed my time was up the second I made that deal. The bastard made sure he would have my soul soon and took me away before I could even say goodbye,” Jiyong’s eyes were solemn and he guessed it was a lot for someone to handle in one sitting.

“You loved him that much?” that’s all Seunghyun could get out, that’s all he could think of, was that Jiyong loved someone so much he would give his soul for them.

Jiyong looked Seunghyun in the eye, “Yes, I loved him that much.”

“You loved him even though you knew he wouldn’t love you in the same way, and you gave up your soul for him, and now you’re here, but why am I here? I-I don’t deserve to be sitting next to you, I don’t deserve to be here. I’m not special, I’m not noble, and I am most definitely not pure,” he gave Jiyong this wide eyed look, “How could you be all this and still be here?”

Jiyong sighed, “You heard me, all deals with the devil, send you to hell. Pure soul, or not.”