Chapter 27: Bring it on Goat Man

A hooded figure stood above him, looming down with eyes shadowed by billowing red fabric. It must have been windy, because their figures trembled, shaking like willow trees in autumn.

He tried to move, finding his arms and legs bound and stretched out on either side, tethered in place by invisible chains. Many of the hooded men stood around him, watching his struggle with unreadable expressions. When he looked upon them, eyes wide with fear, they lowered to the ground.

As if rehearsed, one by one they knelt, hands held towards him in a praising motion. They cried to him, with hopeful smiles, far too wide for their narrow faces. It was a smile he was familiar with, but it did little to calm his nerves.

As they lowered their faces to the dirt and groveled before him, he looked up, staring into the bright light of the moon with round eyes.

The moon was huge, and red as blood.

~

Seungcheol woke up gasping, sitting up and whipping around to check where he was. When he found himself in the familiar setting of his living room, his heart began to settle.

That was… a nightmare, right?

He’d been way too focused on the black magic occult thing, those anxious thoughts had started to leak into his dreams… So annoying.

Seungcheol looked down as he registered the warmth and weight of Woozi against him, finding a smile creep across his face despite all efforts to smother the giddiness in his chest. It was just a one-time thing, so he shouldn’t get too used to feeling so happy.

He pulled out his phone, eyes bulging as he spotted the time. “-what?”

5am. He’d slept from the early evening well into the morning. Had he really been that exhausted? Seungcheol maneuvered Woozi, pulling his arms away from his waist with just a bit of hesitation. If he could stay here with him for the rest of eternity, he would. Unfortunately, school awaited him.

Woozi stirred, blinking towards him with a ‘not quite there’ expression. His voice drawled as he spoke, rubbing at eyes with a fist. “What time is it?”

“Early. You can go back to sleep.” He smiled, brushing back the boy’s bed-head with his fingers.

Eventually, after lulling against his hand for a few nods, Woozi was actually awake. And after realizing where he was and how he got there, he was standing up from the couch with a shocked flush against pale cheeks.

Seungcheol chuckled. “I have some time before school, are you hungry?”

He turned away, frowning. “Well, obviously. Nobody made dinner yesterday.”

Seungcheol hummed standing up and stretching. He was right, though. Did Jeonghan not get home last night?

“I’m gonna take a shower first, then I'll try to whip something up for you.”

Woozi nodded, slinking back to his room while Seungcheol grabbed a towel. His face felt hot at the prospect of Jeonghan seeing the state of them yesterday, so if he stayed overnight at a friend’s house, that was probably for the best. Usually he’d shoot him a text of warning, though…

After a quick shower, and an unfortunate attempt at scrambled eggs, Seungcheol was sat at the table with the demon, who stared down at his creation incredulously.

Seungcheol offered an apologetic grin. “Try it! It can’t be that bad...”

The demon dug his fork into the eggs, scooping them into his mouth. After a few hesitant chews, he looked at Seungcheol. They were kind of burnt, tough, rubbery, and way too salty. But the look on the human’s face had him second-guessing his own words of complaint.

Rather than speaking, he chose instead to stuff his face. At least the toast was okay… Well, it’s pretty hard to mess up toast anyways, right?

After breakfast, Seungcheol left Woozi to clean up, and ran to catch the bus. He felt an odd spike of anxiety as he stared down at his phone. It wasn’t unusual for Jeonghan to stay out, but he always let him know. Although, it was finals week, so he could have just been too busy to remember.

He shoved his anxiety aside and hopped off the bus, walking up to the school with a sigh.

He stopped when he saw Jeonghan, stood a way’s ahead of him talking to a classmate he didn’t recognize. Seungcheol jogged over, clapping him on the shoulder in greeting. “Yo, Jeonghan. Where’d you go last night?”

“Oh, Seungcheol.” He smiled to him, tucking long hair behind his ear. “I got held up with my project, so I just crashed at a classmates house yesterday.”

“Oh, gotcha.” Seungcheol chuckled, eyeing the boy beside him. “Is this your classmate?”

“Yeah, this is Chanyeol. He’s a senior, actually.”

Seungcheol bowed to greet the boy, who grinned at him. He was tall, with brown hair and big, almond shaped eyes. But, most notably, he was good looking… like, really good looking. Seungcheol couldn’t help but feel a little shy as he extended a hand of greeting. “Hi, I’m Jeonghan’s roommate.”

“Seungcheol, right?” he questioned, shaking the boy’s hand in a firm grasp.

He nodded, smiling. “Did Jeonghan tell you about me?”

Somehow, although it was the first time meeting him, his smile felt familiar to him.

The boy looked him up and down with selective eyes. “A bit, but I knew without him telling me. You’re rather infamous around here, you know?”

He felt his chest squeeze nervously, suppressing it with a laugh as he smiled on to the boy. The weird sensation he felt in his presence was probably just anxiety. This guy was just another person who’d heard the rumors about him and believed without question. “Ah, so you’ve heard of me.” He grinned, brushing away the hair from his forehead in a bashful manner.

“It’s hard not to. You’re the talk of the school most of the time.” He laughed, eyeing Seungcheol quizzically. “Although... I haven’t heard much from you recently. I suppose you’ve been too busy with your studies to be the town hero these days, huh?”

“Yeah, I’ve been pretty much buried in my books…” He joked, looking off to the side and watching as students sped up their pace to get to class. He wasn’t really in the mood to deflect compliments so early in the morning, so it was probably better if he just found an excuse to leave.

“Well, I gotta get to class. It was nice meeting you!” He waved as he began to walk off. “See you after class, Hannie.”

“See you.” Jeonghan smiled, turning away and returning his attention to Chanyeol. Strange, Seungcheol didn’t remember them being so close. Although, this was the first time they’d met, so he couldn’t say for sure.

~

He went through class as usual, feeling much better about day-dreaming away after a good night’s sleep. When the bell rung, he checked his phone, feeling that odd feeling in his gut persist.

Jeonghan usually would have texted him after class… Was he working on his project again?

He hopped on the bus without waiting, assuming his roommate must be too frazzled over finals to keep up communication. But, as he stared to the back seats of the bus, he found himself eyeing Jeonghan with a confused quirk of his brows.

“Why didn’t you text me?” he questioned, taking the seat behind him with a frown.

Jeonghan smiled, eyes shifting to the side as he thought. “Oh… I guess I forgot.”

He sighed. “You never forget. Are you feeling sick or something?”

“I’m okay! I think I’ve just been working too hard.”

Seungcheol hummed, sitting and looking around, ensuring nobody around was paying them any mind. He leaned into his roommates’ side, whispering. “Anything out of the ordinary today?”

He stared at Seungcheol, eyebrows raising. “Uh… Nothing. I didn’t notice anything.”

Somehow, Seungcheol couldn’t help but feel something was off. Jeonghan seemed out of it. Had he not slept well yesterday?

When the screen at the front of the bus lit up with the name of their stop, Seungcheol and Jeonghan stood up to get off, walking up to the house in silence. Seungcheol turned the key in the lock, turning back to Jeonghan as he walked through the door. “By the way, what’s for dinner tonight?”

“Oh, uh, what do you want?”

Seungcheol hummed, tossing his book bag down on the couch. “Damn, I don’t know. Why don’t you ask Woozi?”

For a moment, Jeonghan’s eyes had flickered in confusion, as if waiting for Seungcheol to continue despite having nothing more left to say.

He spoke quietly to himself, facing the kitchen with a hum. “Woozi?”

“Yeah?”

Jeonghan turned back, looking upon the demon with a briefly bewildered expression. But quickly, he was smiling, brushing back his hair. “Uh, what do you want for dinner?”

The demon quirked an eyebrow, tail wrapping around his leg in a nervous manner. “How about that noodle stuff you made before? The Jajja… jjajong..”

“Oh! Jjajangmyeon, right?”

He hummed. “Yeah, I think so.”

Jeonghan turned to the kitchen with a smile. “Then just wait a bit while I get it ready.”

~

Jihoon sat on the couch, feigning immense interest in his book as he eyed the kitchen with a scrutinizing gaze. He noticed something wrong instinctively, but he couldn’t know what exactly was wrong through instinct alone. Jeonghan was acting unusual… Though Seungcheol hadn’t seemed to notice yet, Jihoon had seen the expression in his eyes when he first laid eyes on him. It had sent a nervous chill up his spine, and after weeks of being on edge, Jihoon felt himself teetering.

Seungcheol had hidden away in his room to take care of a bit of written homework, leaving him to hide his nose behind a book as Jeonghan fumbled about the kitchen.

He couldn’t be for certain, but… There was something wrong.

When dinner had been cooked, the three of them sat at the table together. Jihoon stared down at his plate of noodles, smothering his suspicion with a neutral gaze. It looked good… The one thing he was confident in was Jeonghan’s cooking. If there was nothing out of the ordinary here, it would be safe to assume that along with everything else, his instincts were also bull.

He scooped up a bit with his chopsticks, chewing down as he stared off to a wall.

It was salty.

No matter how odd Jeonghan had ever been, he didn’t make mistakes when it came to cooking. Jihoon’s eyes flickered to the boy, and then to Seungcheol, who seemed to be stuffing his face without care. Jihoon was confident in his sense of taste, if anything.

But how could he tell Seungcheol without being obvious?

“What’s so urgent?” Seungcheol spoke up, gesturing to Jeonghan, who was typing away at his phone.

Woozi looked to him with a tight expression. Had he noticed?

Jeonghan smiled, putting his phone face-down on the table. “Oh, nothing, I was just messaging a classmate about our project.”

He nodded, chuckling. “Oh, you just don’t usually use your phone when we’re eating.”

Jihoon watched Jeonghan’s expression, briefly wide-eyed before laughing along with Seungcheol, as if nothing had even happened. He went in for a bite of food, lowering his face to his plate and slurping up a string of noodles. Very, very, unlike him.

“Uh, Jeonghan?” He spoke, expression neutral.

Jeonghan chewed behind his hand, swallowing quickly. “Yeah, Woozi?”

“What was that movie you said we should watch the other day? I want to see it.”

Jeonghan opened his mouth, eyes flickering to Seungcheol, who sat ignorant as he choked on a mouthful of noodles.

“Oh… I can’t tonight, I have to get some work done.” He managed, holding a casual expression.

“But, what kind of movie was it? I’ll watch one on my own.”

Their gazes met like static, as it the boy finally understood his intentions.

Seungcheol eyed the two with a confused frown. “Wasn’t that the hei-“

“Shut up, Seungcheol.”

“Wha- Excuse me?” Seungcheol turned to the demon with an offended pout, expression softening as he registered the serious expression on both his housemates faces. He leaned back. “What.. What’s wrong, guys?”

“It’s nothing, Seungcheol.” Jeonghan reassured.

Woozi snapped back, standing up from the table and away from the boy in front of him. “You’re not Jeonghan.”

“What?”

He pulled Seungcheol back by the arm, facing ‘Jeonghan’ with a glare. “It’s not... Hey, who the are you?”

Jeonghan’s expression switched, morphing from his usual kind smile, to a menacing grin. “I’m surprised you noticed, demon.”

Seungcheol looked him up and down, disbelieving. “Huh?... Wait, If you’re not Jeonghan, then where the hell is Jeonghan?”

When the boy smirked at Seungcheol, with an expression which suggested an answer Seungcheol wasn’t looking for, the human moved forward, slamming his hands down on the table and leaning his face in.

“Where’s Jeonghan, you ?!”

‘Jeonghan’ didn’t flinch. “Well, he’s not dead… not yet.”

He glared. “If you don’t tell me where he is in the next minute and a half, you’re dead! Where is he?”

“Seungcheol!” Woozi moved forward, pulling the human away. “If you kill him now, we’ll never know! Just calm down for a second.”

‘Jeonghan’ crossed his legs, leaning back. “How did you figure it out?”

Woozi looked down at him with cold eyes. “Jeonghan’s not such a ty cook.”

The boy chuckled, leaning back in his chair. “Well, this complicates things.”

“Complicates what? Who the are you?” Seungcheol spat.

He smirked. “I’m the guy who was going to kill you in your sleep and make it look like an accident.” He explained, eyes flickering to Woozi with a tinge of annoyance. “But seeing that you come with extra baggage, and since you’ve already noticed, I guess that’s not going to work anymore.”

Woozi crossed his arms. “Let me guess, you’re a friend of that creepy voodoo bastard?”

He smiled. “I don’t know who you’re talking about.”

“Cut the crap, fake Jeonghan.” Seungcheol leaned forward. “We already know you’re one of Kyungsoo’s pals. And if you don’t want to end up how he did, tell us where the real Jeonghan is.”

“Are you admitting your crimes then, Seungcheol?”

He scoffed. “Don’t act like you didn’t know.”

The boy smiled up at him. “We knew he was dead, and we knew you were involved… But its hard to believe that the town ‘hero’ is actually a murderer.”

“It’s not murder, you . You people tried to kill us! It’s called self-defense!”

Woozi sighed. “Seungcheol, calm down.” He looked at fake Jeonghan with a sober expression, taking note of the amused smile playing at the boys’ lips. Was he having fun toying with them like this? “What’s your game, phony? If you’re not going to tell us where Jeonghan is, I’ll have you know we have means of making you talk.”

Seungcheol looked to him in surprise, with an expression that said ‘we do?’ Leaving Woozi to elbow him in the gut for not getting the clue.

“Game, you say?” The boy asked, with a little flicker of interest in his eyes which Woozi took note of internally.

Seungcheol looked between them, feeling anxious.

“Yeah, what do you want? Obviously, you’re not getting out of this by killing Seungcheol. But that can’t be the only thing you came here for.”

He chuckled, raking his eyes over Woozi inquisitively, in such an implicated way that the demon felt a shiver crawling along his spine at the sight. His eyes flickered back up to his, smiling. “You’re clever for a demon, aren’t you?”

He rolled his eyes. “And you’re quite stupid for a human.”

He laughed to himself, leaning on the table with a hand rested against his chin. “You know what, I like you.”

“What?” Seungcheol looked to the boy with shock. Why the hell was everyone doing this to him? Yeah, Woozi was easy on the eyes, which made his aggression easy to overlook, but come on! He didn't need more competition!

“-So,” ‘Jeonghan’ continued, “I’m going to make a deal with you guys.”

Seungcheol crossed his arms, patience thinning. “We’re not-“

The demon beside him placed a hand on Seungcheol’s shoulder to stop him, eyes laid firm on the boy before him. “Name your terms.”

“Woozi!” He looked to the demon with a pleading expression, but Woozi was unyielding, staring down fake Jeonghan with a lour to suggest he was confident enough to take the phony on.

The boy picked up his phone, turning it towards the two of them to display the reason why he’d been texting so maniacally before.

S: Seungcheol has a summoned demon, we might have to change our plans.

C: What should I do with Jeonghan?

S: Nothing yet.

“My friend is with your precious Jeonghan right now. One word from me and he’s-” He made a motion of implication with his hand, dragging his thumb across his neck. “You know.”

Seungcheol stepped forward, stopping as Woozi placed an arm between him and the boy, looking to him with a serious expression, as if trying to reassure him.

Fake Jeonghan continued. “So how about this. Let’s play a game. If you win, I’ll give you Jeonghan and we’ll forget about the whole killing Kyungsoo thing. We can just let bygones be bygones and go our separate ways.”

“And if we lose?” Woozi questioned.

He smirked, with an expression that was so ‘not Jeonghan’ that Seungcheol felt goosebumps crawling along his arms.

“If you lose, you’ll give me the book you took from Kyungsoo.” He looked to Woozi with a cocky expression. “And the demon.”

Seungcheol’s mouth fell open, disbelieving. “What? I’m not betting on their lives on a game, you psycho.”

He snickered. “If you don’t want to play, then I’ll just kill Jeonghan right now.”

As the boy reached for his phone again, Woozi spoke up. “That’s it? Just me and the book?”

“Well, if you lose, I’ll have to ask that Seungcheol stops butting into our business as well. But yes. All I need is the book, you, and a promise of restraint.”

Woozi thought for a moment, considering. “What’s the game?”

“Woozi, are you serious? We can’t trust this guy..”

He huffed, turning to look at Seungcheol, who’s eyes were shaking behind glaring brown eyes. He nearly faltered when he saw just how worried he was beyong the angry stance he put on, but this was for Jeonghan. They couldn’t back down. “We don’t have a choice but to trust him, Seungcheol.”

Seungcheol stared into the demon’s expression, earnest, and firm in a way he found calming, despite every ounce of his being screaming at him to jump over the table and pumble this fake Jeonghan guy until he croaked. But… Woozi was right.

The two of them sat down in front of ‘Jeonghan’ again, looking at him with determined eyes.

“What’s the game?”

He smirked, humming as if thinking up an answer, although it was obvious to them that he already knew exactly what he wanted to play. “Well, since I’m asking for the demon, it’s only fair that he gets a chance to fight for his freedom, yeah?” He eyed Woozi, smirking. “How about we see whose demon is stronger, mine or yours?”

Seungcheol looked back to Woozi, who’s mouth had dropped open at the incentive of his words, then turned back to ‘Jeonghan’, breathing out in annoyance. “Like a demon battle? They’re not Pokémon, you know. What are you going to do? Throw a ball and make a demon ap-”

Just as he was finishing his words, a cloud of black smoke had emerged from the boy’s palms, and as Seungcheol coughed away dust, the cloud had cleared just enough to reveal the creature stood beside ‘Jeonghan’, with a heavy metal collar strapped tight around its throat.

Seungcheol stood up in shock, watching wide-eyed as the demon settled into the seat at the dining table. Way back when he’d summoned Woozi, he’d never expected someone as cute as him to show up from that ominous cloud of black smoke. He’d expected a gnarly, ferocious looking creature, dripping with carnage and ugly.

This. This is what he’d expected.

It was a four-headed atrocity, made up of the heads of unintelligent looking goat creatures, bound together by horns which formed a twisted halo above its figure. Below that, it looked human, but it was jacked and humongous, with leathery, tough skin, and legs made up of fur and hooves. The demon’s heads looked in every which direction, before settling on Seungcheol with six, square-pupilled gazes burrowing into his soul.

“Ba, don’t be rude. Show them your human form.”

At the word of his command, right before Seungcheol’s eyes, the demon’s heads were morphing into one, staring towards Seungcheol with a dead expression. He looked human, aside from his horns and eyes, but the change did nothing to ease the frightened sweat forming at his brow.

“This… Uh..” Seungcheol struggled to find words, looking to Woozi with wide eyes. How the hell was he supposed to fight this monster?

“Ba?” Woozi asked, gulping nervously. Ba? As in… Lord Ba? Or, was he just related?

Fake Jeonghan his fingers along the edge of the demons’ horn, past his hair and across his skin. In this form, he was much less terrifying, but intimidating nonetheless.

“It’s the name I gave him… A nickname. He’s not as cute as you, but he’s a rather reliable pet. And he has a natural knack for violence.” He looked to the two of them with a sinister expression. “Its such a coincidence that we have similar hobbies, Seungcheol.”

“Do not put me in the same boat as you.” He retorted, holding a nervous hand against the back of Woozi’s chair for insurance.

“So, what do you think? Are you willing to play my game?” He extended a hand, not to Seungcheol, but to Woozi, who in his silence had built up his own bout of resolution, despite the shocked expression on his charges face trying to convince him otherwise.

After a breath, he took his hand and gave it a shake. “It's a deal.”

~

They took the conflict to the basement of the house. Seungcheol trailed close behind Woozi as they ascended the steps toward potential devastation. When fake Jeonghan made it to the bottom and stepped into the space of the basement, Seungcheol pulled Woozi around by the shoulder, holding him with a concerned expression, whispering. “Woozi, this is dangerous…”

The demon’s eyes flickered past him, towards Ba, who sat looking brain-dead against the concrete floor. “I know.” He spoke, turning back to Seungcheol and swallowing his nerves.

“You don’t have to do this... I’ll think of something else, okay?”

He shook his head. “No,... I can do this.” He held a hand against his neck, where the collar which bound him once sat, brushing a shaky finger against the skin. When his eyes flickered up, Seungcheol’s expression was desperate, and uncharacteristically frightened despite all attempts to convince him otherwise. He was obviously much more worried about Jeonghan than he was letting on... His chest squeezed painfully. Seungcheol was supposed to be the one to reassure him, smile at him, and step in to whip out some incredible wild card and save the day... So when Jihoon saw him like this, there was a nagging voice in the back of his mind that gave him such immense, unwarranted obligation to return the favor.

He smiled at the human, speaking unshakebly “I… I want to help you, Seungcheol.”

Seungcheol gulped. “But… How are you going to fight that thing?” he brought his voice down, leaning into the demons ear to avoid the others overhearing. “You don’t even know how to control your powers, Wooz…”

He held the human back by pushing a gentle hand against his chest, staring up. “Leave it to me, I have an idea.”

“Tick tock, boys. Jeonghan doesn’t have all day!” He spoke from below, looking up at the two of them with a cocky grin.

Before Seungcheol could probe Woozi for details, he was walking down the steps determinedly, standing face to face with Ma, who's face was unchanging.

“So, what are the rules?” he asked.

Fake Jeonghan took a seat on the sofa, patting the spot beside him and gesturing to Seungcheol to come. Seungcheol walked over with a sour expression, standing beside the couch to keep a worried eye on Woozi.

“The rules are simple.” He started. “First one to yield is the loser.”

Yield? Not die? “What if one of us passes out?” Woozi questioned.

“That counts as yielding. If you can’t keep fighting, the game is over.”

He exchanged a glance with Seungcheol, nodding. Although the human didn’t seem too confident, He had never felt so sure of himself before.

The feeling he felt within him was overwhelming. The power he'd received from eating that boy's soul was overflowing within him, and although he couldn’t manually release the side of himself that had killed him, he had one true and tried method of bringing it out.

Pain. He needed to be in a lot of pain.

“Let’s get this over with.” He spoke, shaking out the tension in his fingers.

Fake Jeonghan looked at him with a knowing expression. Then at the snap of his fingers, they were gone, and Jihoon was left face-to-face with Ba, trapped within a cage of mosaic glass.

"bring it on, goat-man."