Darkness Reigns

Chapter 1

Poker Lady

 

Things were just beginning to return to normal at Seoul Memorial Hospital. The chaos had died down and the bloody hands had been wiped clean. The once packed corridors of the hospital now barely held a soul, except the occasional nurse milling about doing her rounds.

The seemingly ceaseless cacophony of orders being barked back and forth mingling with the painful hysteria of the victims were now replaced by hollow silence. Routine beeping of machines and ringing phones would occasionally break through the thick sheath of eerie stillness.

Even the usual noisiness of the hospital cafeteria was reduced to low murmurs.

Seo Yoojin looked out of the giant windows that scaled the height of the big room. The windows were dotted with droplets of water; remnants of the rain that drenched Seoul but an hour ago.

Yoojin sat in an empty table next to a window and idly sipped a piping hot cup of tea, her fingers wrapped around and entwined together to soak as much heat as she could from the paper cup. She brought her hands to rest between her chest and her legs that were to drawn up so the feet rested flat on the available space of the seat.

She spared a glance around the room, taking in everything and everyone with disinterest. Human activity was sparse. A couple tables were occupied by doctors, interns and nurses. Visitors were either with their loved ones or in the other cafeteria made especially form them.

People talked in whispers and murmurs, almost afraid of being heard, although everyone knew the subject of discussion.

Yoojin’s eyes flicked to the muted television. The news channel flashed words across the screen with pictures and videos playing on loop.

BREAKING NEWS: VEHICLE PILE UP IN X INTERSECTION. 23 CASUALTIES. VICTIMS TAKEN TO SEOUL MEMORIAL HOSPITAL. FOR MORE INFORMATION, CALL…

Yoojin heaved a sigh and tore her eyes away from the television and the blinked away the horrifying images that were her past few hours.

She went back to staring out the window which offered a breath-taking vista of Seoul bathed in the golden rays of the setting sun. The silence and the beautiful scenery, coupled with the exhaustion of tending to patients for almost an entire day was enough for her lids to start feeling heavy.

She was inches away from falling into a deep slumber when the sounding of metal scraping jolted her awake, almost making her spill her tea. “Aigoo! I can’t feel my bones! Growing old is terrible, I tell you,” Dr. Lee exclaimed as he let himself fall onto the chair placed on the opposite end of the table. He adjusted his white coat and sighed before shooting her a bright grin which she automatically reciprocated.

“Dr. Lee, you’re just 26. I don’t think calling yourself old is exactly justified here,” Yoojin chided at him and watched him freeze and narrow his eyes.

 “Yah, do I need to remind you once again? It’s Jinki-oppa or simple Onew to you!” he reprimanded making her giggle. “How many times does this make? Seriously…” he huffed under his breath.

Yoojin chuckled heartily at the older man and apologised, smile still in place, “It’s just that since we are in a professional environment, we may as well behave as co-workers.”

The doctor gaped at her for a good while, long enough for her to feel a bit conscious of herself before scoffing and rolling his eyes, “Since when did you give a damn about all that? Ooh! Can I have that?” He pointed to the two chicken sandwiches lying untouched in a styrofoam plate on the table between them.

Yoojin nodded and giggled as Onew grabbed one of the sandwiches and wolfed it down. She went back to quietly sipping at her tea only to be slightly disappointed to find that the temperature turned lukewarm. As she quickly gulped it down, she noticed a spot of red on the lapel of his white coat. Whether it was blood or ketchup, she did not know but knowing the good doctor, she figured it to be the latter.

As Jinki ate the second sandwich, slower this time, gazing out the window, Yoojin studied his face. He was quite handsome, however, not in the conventional sense. Creamy skin stretched over his round face. His eyes were thin and ever glinting with happiness accompanied by thin lips that would stretch when he smiled, revealing pearly white bunny teeth.

“What’s is it? Did you finally fall for my handsomeness?” Jinki smirked and wriggled an eyebrow suggestively. In her observation, she hadn’t realized that the doctor had caught her staring at him.

Yoojin scoffed and swallowed the embarrassment of being caught staring and said dismissively, “Please! That would be like committing …” She couldn’t have worded it better. In all honesty, she really did regard Jinki as an older brother and cannot fathom ever breaking such a bond.

Besides, judging by the photo of a man he had tucked in carefully in his wallet, there certainly was someone in the bubbly doctor’s heart. She has seen it, one day, when she found Onew gazing at it with wistfulness and pain. The man in the picture was beautiful with pale skin that glowed even in the picture, feline eyes b with warmth, narrow cheeks and thin, bow shaped lips drawn into a dimpled smile.

Yoojin knew nothing of the man. Onew refused to speak of it and Yoojin heart hurt every time she witnessed the shadow of pain pass over the doctor’s face. However, she decided against pressing further into the matter.

“Yoojin? Yoojin! Yoo, Yoo, Yoo, Jin, Jin, Jin? Hello? Child, if you’ve learnt how to fall asleep with your eyes open, you better let me in on it! Yoojin!”

Yoojin started and let her eyes focus, finding herself gazing at two fingertips aimed right at her eyes, poised to poke them. Beyond, she saw a frowning Onew.

“I’m sorry, what?”

 Onew sighed and leaned back in his chair and crinkled his nose disapprovingly at her. “I was saying that I’m going to go pay a visit to a certain patient of mine. Do you want to join me? I’m sure he wants to see you once before he leaves.”

  A familiar face resurfaced from the depths of her mind and she shot up straight in her chair and nodded vigorously, pretty eyes wide with excitement. Onew grinned at the young woman and stood, extending a hand towards her.

 “Let’s go!” he whispered excitedly when she took his hand and stood next to him. Together they made their way out of the cafeteria and towards the elevator.

---

The elevator stopped and dinged as the metal doors slid back. Yoojin and Jinki stepped out into the empty hallway, chattering about trifling subjects. They walked a few feet in the direction of the reception when the doctor stopped dead on his tracks. Fiddling with her work ID, she didn’t notice the action and bumped into his sturdy back, yelping the process.

“Oppa? What’s-” the words fell dead in as she looked at her companion. She had never seen Onew wear an expression such as the one he was wearing now and, frankly, it scared her. His eyes were drawn into dangerous slits and his eyebrows were furrowed together in a scowl. His nose flared with every breath and his jaw clenched and unclenched from time to time.

He was looking at something in front of them in the direction of the reception. She traced his gaze and when she finally saw it, them, her face mirrored the good doctor’s as anger bubbled inside her chest threatening to explode.

She didn’t know when Onew moved but by the time she got her bearings and managed to swallow her rage, he was already at the reception. She followed, albeit a bit slowly, keeping her eyes on her friend. Jinki offered a tight smile to the receptionist who automatically reciprocated. He said something, probably a greeting.

When Yoojin got within earshot, she heard, “…were asking about a person so-”

“There is no crime in asking about a person, now is there, doctor?” she heard the all too familiar baritone and her heart beat furiously in her chest, fear replacing the anger that occupied her heart previously.

She reached Onew’s side just in time to witness him swat the man’s hand away which must have tried to touch him. She forced herself to meet the man’s face and noticed the slight falter in his smile and his eyes took on an ominous glint.

But all of that vanished when his eyes fell on her and the man grinned wider than before. He was tall. Taller than Jinki. His skin was a healthy creamy colour, his eyes were a chocolate colour, glinting in mild interest as they roamed over her form. Pinks lips were pulled up in a smile that Yoojin found sickening. His hair was a mop of chocolate brown which neatly fell over his forehead just above slim brown eyebrows.

He bid her a hello which she didn’t bother returning. She held her gaze defiantly, despite the fear accumulating inside her. She felt Onew shuffle beside her which brought some comfort to her. Not much but enough to calm her frantically thumping heart just a bit.

“It is when you insist on disturbing the silence of the hospital, Chanyeol. I won’t have you bring your barbaric hooligans coming into my workplace again and get in the way of my patients’ recovery,” Onew seethed in a terrifyingly low voice.

Chanyeol simply chuckled heartily and clapped once before spreading his arms and responded, “Well, lucky me, I don’t have any of my hooligans with me! See?” He did a 360 to show that he wasn’t hiding anyone behind him. Yoojin caught sight of the other man in Chanyeol’s company but before she could see him properly, Chanyeol’s body got in the way. All she did see was a head of golden, blonde hair.

“How many times must we say this, Mr. Park? The-”

“Oh, come on! What’s with the formality? Considering how many times we’ve seen each other, I’d rather you not be so drab and call me by my name. You do know it, don’t you, Yoojin?” the titan of a man cut her off and leaned in close, flashing a smile that would have been charming if Yoojin didn’t know him.

Unfortunately, however, she did know him. And what he was capable of. She knew ow many people died or ended up in this very hospital at the hands of this sick, twisted excuse of a man. She had long since learned to notice the nuances in the words he spoke; his gloating and mocking tone as he asked about his victims and tutting under his breath when they showed signs of recovery. If she knew he was such a monster, she wouldn’t have returned his charming smile when they had met for the first time.

Seeing him so close to her only fanned the fires of rage and disgust inside her. She wanted to punch him just so he would stay away but decided against it. She was just a nurse and Chanyeol was certainly not the kind to just walk away after taking a hit. There would be no way she could defend herself from him.

Yoojin sighed, composing herself and tried once again, “The person you’re looking is not here”

Chanyeol straightened up to his full height and feigned confusion. Jutting his bottom lip out, he his chin and mused, “But why is it that I don’t believe you?”

Yoojin’s composure snapped and she bit at him, “Maybe it’s because you don’t have the brain cells to comprehend what is being told to you,” She regretted the moment those words left .

In an instant the smile on Chanyeol’s face vanished and was replaced with a sneer, brown orbs flashing with fury. Fear gripped Yoojin’s heart and she prayed to the Gods that her face didn’t give away the terror she was feeling on the inside.

Chanyeol stepped closer, looming over her and Onew moved to stand between the two but it didn’t help. He simply towered over the doctor, glowering at her. She clenched her jaw and meet his eyes as best as she could. As afraid as she was of what Chanyeol was capable of, she wasn’t going to cave in to him for that would be the day her life would cease to be.

“You know you should-”

“I apologize but you already know from my friend’s insistence that this person is extremely important for us to find. He is one of our own and all we want to do is bring him back home,” a new voice cut in and all eyes turned to the fourth person who had been there the entire time but refused to speak a word. The voice was sweet and honey-like and the words were uttered with a kind of eloquence that indicated proper breeding.

Yoojin’s breath was caught in as the man finally stepped closer to them. Never has she beheld such a person in her life. Calling him beautiful would be a gross understatement. His milky skin could make any woman burn with jealousy. It was smooth and flawless without a single blemish or acne pit. His nose was small and straight, perfectly resting at the centre of his face. His lips were thin and pink and his brown eyes were simply mesmerising.

He was an ethereal force sent to destroy. To rip every ounce of rationality where one’s only salvation would be to behold and to be beheld by those breath-taking dark orbs.

Yoojin found it nearly impossible to tear her eyes away from the man in front of her. Or was it that she didn’t want to?

“And I’m telling you that we don’t have the person you are searching. Your friend has already searched this place a thousand times. If he couldn’t find the one wanted the first few times, what makes you think the result would be any different this time?” Jinki’s words jolted Yoojin out of her reverie. He sounded unusually calm and a bit tired. His patience was clearly wearing thin and Yoojin shivered to think what would happen if he were to be pushed beyond his limits. She certainly didn’t want to find out.

“If you’re telling the truth, then you shouldn’t…”

The conversation drifted away as Yoojin felt a pair of eyes on her. She knew this man was looking at her and she turned to meet his gaze with hers. However, when she did, she found that he wasn’t looking at her but his eyes were settled somewhere below her chin.

This time he no longer looked like the beautiful creature she was so taken by. Her pendant. He was staring at her pendant. She observed with a mixture of confusion, surprise and fear as his previously placid face morphed into something ugly. His brows creased to the centre of forehead, his eyes flashed with what she could only guess as rage, disgust and disbelief. It terrified her, the way his bore into her pendant. He looked like he might lunge at her any moment and tear the pendant from her neck, for such was the hatred that revealed itself on his face.

Onew and Chanyeol were still arguing amongst themselves and by the muffled noises, she figured it was getting heated. But she couldn’t hear any of it. She was frozen, for fear that any slight movement would be the end of her life.

She couldn’t figure out why such a simple trinket would evoke such a reaction from the man in front of her. It was a small golden disk with a hole in the middle through which a thin gold chained was looped and fastened. Lines ran perpendicular from the hole like the rays of the sun.

“We understand, doctor,” the golden haired spoke slowly, the words tumbling out of his perfect pink lips as if he were in a trance and Yoojin stifled a gasp. He tore his eyes away from Yoojin’s pendant and smiled politely at Onew, effectively ignored Chanyeol gaping at him in shock. “Do forgive us for being so stubborn,” he chuckled before letting out a noise of surprise. “Ah, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Baekhyun and we will be taking our leave now. You may be rest assured, you won’t see us again.” 

With that, he flashed a final smile and bowed before he his heel and made his way towards the elevators with bothering to wait or even look back to see if his associate was following or not.

Chanyeol continued to gape at Baekhyun’s back unit he disappeared into the open elevator before cursing under his breath and quickly followed. Jinki and Yoojin watched as he too disappeared into the waiting elevator. The two stayed rooted in their place and didn’t move until the little screen above the button flashed a bright red G.

Yoojin felt a gentle tap on her elbow as Onew soft voice beckoned her to follow him. Yoojin swallowed the lump in and pushed stray strands of hair only to discover that her hands were cold, clammy and quivered.

Letting a shaky sigh escape her lips, she fell in line with the doctor, trying to ignore the sympathy his eyes held as he stared down at her.

She didn’t like them. She really didn’t.

---

After a short walk down an empty hallway, Yoojin and Onew stood in front a beige door with a small window and a name card underneath which read Kim Song Joon. They took some time to compose themselves, taking lungs full of air and letting them out and slapping life into their cheeks. There was no reason to scare the kid when his freedom was so within reach.

When they deemed it good enough, Onew knocked on the door and paused for a second before sliding the door apart. They stepped into a fairly large room where the walls were same beige as the door. The floor was white and tiled. On the opposite wall were large window offering a view of the rain soaked Seoul. Mounted high on an adjacent wall was a small television. On the opposite wall was a hospital bed upon which sat a man, twisting himself into positions that would make professional contortionists gape in awe.

“Yah! What do you think you’re doing?! Must I remind you that you are still injured, you ungrateful brat?!

 The man on the bed started before flashing a sheepish grin before untangling himself. He sat cross legged on the bed and greeted both of them. Yoojin smiled back. He was tall, this one, with bright blonde hair which fell over his forehead in soft bangs. His face was small and narrow but his nose was big and straight. His eyes were sharp and upturned, making him look frightening despite his cheery disposition.

“It was just doing yoga, doctor. Don’t worry, I wasn’t doing anything intense anyway. Besides, my injuries don’t hurt anymore,” Tao beamed cheerfully at the doctor. He was dressed in a black hoodie and blue jeans. Yoojin spotted his red sneakers under the bed. It looked like the smiling angel was ready to leave and claim his much needed freedom. And only Onew and Yoojin knew how much he needed it.

His words were met with a snort as the doctor flopped onto the small leather couch beside the door. “Do you believe this guy? Doesn’t hurt anymore, my …” he snorted once more, resting one calf over the knee of the other leg and frowned at the muted television.

Yoojin suppressed a smile and glanced at Tao who was giggling quietly to himself. It was extremely endearing and adorable the pace at which Jinki came to like the boy enough to treat as one of his own. It was only three months ago when they had meet Tao broken and bloody in front of the hospital entrance. The blonde had grabbed onto Onew jeaned legs, begging him to save him or end his life. Without a second’s hesitation, they had chosen the former which brought them here.

Onew did everything in his power to make sure Tao was saved from whatever it was he needed saving from (which later revealed itself to be Chanyeol and Baekhyun). From operating and treating his wounds to creating safe passage for the blonde boy to return to his home in China, Onew had managed to do it all.

He didn’t let Yoojin help, despite her repeated insistence. All she was allowed to do was routinely check up on him and record his recover for later review. It irked her that the doctor would put her in charge of something so menial when she could help out with much more. But when she brought it up to the older, he just asked for her trust, saying something about how dangerous it was. He didn’t offer any more explanation upon Yoojin’s repeated request, and the latter had to relent, albeit reluctantly. It didn’t make sense that he could go about doing just about anything, dangerous or not, but she couldn’t. Did he have something that she didn’t?

“Yoojin, please tell him not to act so recklessly. Maybe he’ll listen to you. He latched onto you like a puppy the moment he first saw you anyway…” Onew grumbled and shot a disapproving glance at the blonde who was no stretching his bandaged arms across the back of his head.

“Hmm… I don’t know. He does look fine and you work miracles anyway,” Yoojin stated matter-of-factly, watching with amusement as Jinki’s eyes bulged in their sockets. He fumbled for words but only ended up letting out a series of snorts.

“Y-Yah! How can a nurse talk so carelessly, huh?!” the doctor accused.

“Oh, I don’t know. Probably from the vitals chart hanging by the bedpost?” She walked over to retrieve the clipboard and handed it over to the other. She turned to Tao and winked at him, chuckling as her gesture. She waited as Jinki read the charts, expression placid but serious, when a thought crossed her mind causing her smile to dwindle.

 “When does he leave?” Yoojin asked, her voice coming out soft, small and meek. Unconsciously, her fingers played with her golden pendant.

Her words turned the room cold, its earlier amiable atmosphere quickly dissipating. Jinki’s earlier casual façade turned grim. Setting the clipboard next to him on the sofa, he sighed before letting a tight lipped smile grace his face.

“As soon as he puts his shoes on.”

---

Yoojin inhaled a lungful of air and letting it out in a loud sigh as she clutched her coat close to her form. She walked down the deserted street listening to the clacking of her shoes on the concrete as it broke through the silence. Occasionally, she heard the distant barks of dogs and the honking of cars but other than that, there wasn’t a soul nearby. The evening rain had turned the temperature down a few notches and the wet streets glinted under the street lamps, making her immediate surroundings look almost dreamlike.

Yoojin sighed once again and slowed her pace, looking up to catch the moon as it appeared and disappeared from behind the clouds. It hadn’t been more than half an hour ago that she waved goodbye to Tao as Jinki took him away to get him safely home. Her heart thumped painfully as she recalled the memory. The blonde man had become something akin to a brother to her, just as Jinki had, and watching him leave was a bit too heart wrenching for her liking. Especially since she considered getting overly familiar with patients unprofessional.

But she’d rather have Tao a country away rather than suffering at the hands of Chanyeol and Baekhyun. One of our own, my … she scoffed out loud and brushed strands of her dark hair out of her face. She scowled at the ground as she walked, thinking about the two men form earlier.

Normally, it was against her very nature to allow anyone to intimidate her. Her unyielding and strong disposition was one of the few things about herself that she was proud of. Giving into fear was not an option for her.

So it irked her immensely to acknowledge that she was indeed afraid of Chanyeol and Baekhyun. But they weren’t human, she knew that much.

Being fearless of everything is more a vice than a virtue, Yoojin. There are some things that are beyond the comprehension of normal folk. Be wary of what you don’t understand. It’s the only smart thing you can do.

Yoojin chewed on her bottom lip before running a hand through her hair. Seeing her apartment building in view, she picked up the pace, the awaiting warmth of her bed supplying energy to her limbs.

---

Yoojin stood facing her bedroom door, a scowl gracing her features. Her feet were planted firmly on the wooden floor poised for action. She glanced around her small apartment once again, trying to find abnormalities. Anything to support or, hopefully, contradict her findings that someone had indeed broken into her home.

Her brows furrowed even deeper as she failed to find anything out of the ordinary. She thought, perhaps, the long hours at the hospital and not so jolly meeting she had had that still shivers down her spine resulted in her feeling so anxious that her mind was beginning to play tricks on her.

However, when her eyes fell on the her bedroom door that was somehow ajar despite the fact that she habitually closed the door behind her when she left for work, she was convinced that there really was an intruder who could be waiting just beyond.

Inhaling slowly and breathing out, she splayed her palm on the wooden door and slowly pushed it open all the way before carefully stepping in. She had picked up the poker stick lying under the antique desk in the short hallway which held, on it, a bowl for her keys, loose change and other small trinkets, and letters, pamphlets and the sort. She held it firmly in her grip, weighing to calculate the amount of strength she had put in her swing if it ever came to that.

Even without the lights out, the room was illuminated just enough for her to see silhouettes of the different things in her room. Again, there was nothing out of place until she laid her eyes on the bathroom door which, too, was ajar. Padding to the wall adjacent to the bedroom door, she the lights. She waited until the room lit up before stalking carefully to the bathroom. If she was going to fight off this intruder, she’d rather not go about it blindly.

It was times like these that she was especially grateful to her foster mother. Her aunt, also her foster parent, was unfortunate to have been burdened with her sister’s newly orphaned child around nineteen years ago but being the human that she was, she saw to it that Yoojin got the necessary things in life, that is, food, shelter and an education. Along with that, as a product of her not being able to accept a stain to her perfectly successful and single life, Yoojin was allowed a generous amount of income and long hours of unsupervised free time.

Her foster mother also made sure Yoojin was thoroughly disillusioned of any kind of idea that the world was a happy and bright place and little orphans like her would always find a place and time to shine in exchange for the loss she had endure at a young age. After the initial shock and the sting of the words, she figured there was only thing she could do. Fight.

Therefore, when she caught movement in the opposite side of the bedroom, she didn’t think twice before sprinting forward and swung the poker stick swift and strong aiming to the side of the head.

“Hey, wait-!”

The blow never reached the target.

Yoojin wheezed and gasped as shock and horror set into her bones. Her eyes were set on the hand holding the poker stick and watched in terrified bewilderment as the stick melted into a black pile of goo and slipped past the spaces between her fingers. Yoojin yanked her hand back as if touched by hot steam and nestled it against her chest as the black shapeless mass hit the ground in a puddle, it gathered itself together. In a matter of seconds, the stick lay on the ground, looking just the way it used to be; black, long and sturdy.

“Listen, I can explain if you just-!”

Again, she didn’t give the man time to finish as she lunged forward, ducking low and swinging her fist in a right hook which, this time around, collided with the man’s jaw, reeling him backwards with a grunt of pain. She straightened up quickly her hands into the shoulders of his blazer coat and kneed him in the solar plexus, knocking the breath out of him.

But she wasn’t done yet. Hooking a leg around his calf, she grabbed the waistband of his trousers, grunted once and twisted, slamming him down on the wooden boards with her on top of him. She wasted no time in straddling his waist and sandwiching his arms between his ribs and her thighs, one palm splayed over his chest whilst the other was balled in a fist and the connecting forearm was jammed against the man’s throat.

She bent low using her weight to keep him down and hissed, “Who are you and what are you doing in my bedroom?”

With laboured breath, she eased herself up just enough to examine the man under her. The first that caught her eye was not the big nose that stood tall yet blunt in the centre of his face, but unblemished creamy skin. The colour and sheen was that of a pearl, making one assume that this man bathed in milk rather than water. Yoojin felt her anger and frustration grow in magnitude over the envious complexion of the intruder.

His jaw was strong, long and definite, providing the oval shape of his face. His lips were pink and plush and extremely alluring in the way that they didn’t jut out disgustingly. Yoojin’s lips twitched into a satisfied smirk at the small patch the blood that blossomed at the corner of his soft lips. His eyes were difficult to notice as his eyelids fluttered, probably from the discomfort to his throat. If not for his fluttering eyelids, his chocolate brown hair would have definitely obscured them from sight.

Narrowing her eyes to slits, she had to admit; her intruder was extremely handsome.

But that didn’t excuse the fact that he was, in fact, an intruder. So, she waited for him to speak and watched patiently, silently taking in his features and actions once again.

The pressure on his throat courtesy to her arm didn’t let up until he croaked, “Throat.” Reluctantly, she removed her forearm, sat up straight and folded her arms across her chest, not realizing the mistake she just made.

His movements were too fast for her to react in time which was a huge blow to her pride as one of the greatest advantages she had was her speed.

His arms s out of her hold and she felt fingers enclose around her wrists. Suddenly, the room spun and her head hit the hard wood floor making her wince and grunt at the pain. Her arms were ripped from in front of her chest and locked in place above her head. She tried to move her legs only to find them, too, locked in place by the brunet man’s legs.

She stayed frozen for a fraction of a second before violently struggling in her compromising position for any desperate attempt to gain some kind of freedom in order to flip this situation just like how she had to be so imprudently flipped, credits to her stupidity. Twisting her body, she looked up at her hands and gaped when she found that a piece of the floorboards had somehow risen from the floor and enveloped her wrists, thereby binding them.

The sound of a loud clap jolted her into immobility. She looked at the intruder above who simply rubbed his palms together and smiled at her. She could make out his eyes now. They were big and warm and brown. They reminded her of lonely winter nights she would spend in the sole company of a steaming cup of hot chocolate.

“Okay!” he declared his an overly excited voice. If the situation were any different, she would have admitted to liking the sound of his voice. It didn’t sound like a whale’s mating call nor did it make him sound like the long lost member of the Bee Gees. But now, all she wanted to do was rip his nose off, shove it down his throat and watch him choke on it.

He gave a pause, whether for dramatic effect or just to the blood off the corner of his mouth, she didn’t know and didn’t care. Her patience had flown out of the window the moment he pinned her down. But in her current position, all she could do was glare at him which is what she resolved to do.

“We can do it two ways,” he started, raising a finger to the ceiling and turning his nose up and closing his eyes. “Firstly, I can walk away and leave you like this where there is a good possibility that you might starve to death as a result of failing to free yourself. No one blamed you though, I do great job of using my powers anyway,” he grinned cheekily at her, flashing her his pearly whites. She struggled with newly found vigour fuelled by the burning desire to knocking his teeth out. The man simply sighed and settled his backside on her knees, restricting her movement.

“I thought, by now, you would’ve realised that struggling is useless. You’re just hurting yourself,” he sighed, crinkling his eyebrows in mock concern and shaking his head at her. “Let me finish, will you? My offer stands only until I’m in a good mood because when Ken-Ken frowns, it’s time to say goodbwye!” he “booped” her nose as he spoke in a sickeningly childish voice. Yoojin pulled a disgusted mien but refrained from saying anything and stilled her movements, allowing him to continue.

“Where was I? Oh, right! Secondly, I can free you and we can talk like adults after which I leave and we never see each other again. Which is it going to be?” Ken-Ken, the intruder, sat back and folded his arm and waited. The answer came almost immediately.

“What do you think, ?” Yoojin spat at him bitterly, her chest heaving more out of anger than deprived oxygen.

The man’s eyebrows shot up as his eyes widened and his lips puckered in an ‘o’ in mock surprise. “Oh! Poker lady’s got a potty mouth. But you sure can pack a punch,” he chuckled earning a sneer from her at the nickname. His eyes flickered to her hands and she felt the bond loosen and immediately shot her head up to catch the action. She watched, the previous terror replaced with wonder, as the flap of wood lifted off her wrist and retreated back into the floor. And just like that, the floor went back to looking as normal as it ever was; completely unworthy of letting slip appendages like the tentacles of an octopus.

Yoojin still stared at the patch of floor where the strip of wood had seemingly disappeared into, trying to form a logical explanation to whatever it is that happened, when she left the weight lift off of her hips and looked up.

The handsome intruder was on his feet, dusting his pants and straightening his dress shirt and the black coat he wore over it. Then, he leaned down and offered her his hands.

Bringing her hands to settle over her chest, she scrutinized him, eyes flickered between his face and the pale hand, suspicious of any underhanded trick he might try to pull.

Finally, not trusting him, he left his hand hanging empty and quickly rose to her feet, her eyes never leaving the other. She swept the poker stick and held it beside her body. He dismissed the rudeness easily and simply cocked an eyebrow at her hostility and rolled his eyes.

“Shall we move to the living room?” he asked, his voice light, totally not matching the air of the events that unfolded not a few minutes ago.

“You first,” she pointed towards the open door with the poker stick and waited for him to move. The man simply held his hands up in mock surrender and walked out with her at his heels.

Once out into the living room, Yoojin spoke up, “Tell me wh-” but was cut off at the sound of her refrigerator door opening and dropped in incredulity as she watched the other brazenly reach in, pull out a carton of milk and down it shamelessly.

Something snapped inside Yoojin and screeched, making the man choke on his drink, “WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?! WHO ARE YOU?! YOU BROKE INTO MY HOME, TURNED MY POKER INTO GOO, DID SOME REALLY WEIRD TO MY BEDROOM FLOOR AND NOW YOU’RE STEALING MILK?! RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME, MIND YOU! WHAT- WH-,” she let out a cry of frustration and threw her hands up, incomprehensible to the working of this eccentric man’s mind and stared at him in disbelief.  

The man stared wide eyed at Yoojin’s sudden outburst. Closing the carton carefully, he set it on top of the kitchen counter and pouted, “Well, the little fight we had left me a bit parched and… and it’s just milk! You don’t have to be so stingy…”

She considered stabbing his eye out with the poker stick but she knew she wouldn’t win. Not against whatever weird thing he could do. She didn’t fancy her murder be ruled as being chocked her own lingerie.

She ran her hands over her face and in a deep breath, exhaling it out. After she had calmed down, she sat herself down on one of the stools while the man leaned against the kitchen counter beside the refrigerator. He had shrugged of his coat which hung over his forearm and his hands were tucked into his pant pockets.

She never thought she would have such a handsome man in her kitchen despite being the recipient of numerous compliments on her attractiveness. But considering the circumstances in which they came to meet, she was just going to ignore this one. Any kind of relation with this man would only end in misery, she concluded.

That being said, she still wanted her answers. She was half inclined to think that all that she witnessed was a result of sleep depravity and an over active imagination. However, there was still a part of her that wanted to believe the contrary. That there were beings on this Earth who were able to do things beyond mere mortal reasoning.

She desperately wished that the brunet standing in her kitchen was one of them.

She regarded the man once again as he looked around taking in the interior of her house. She wondered why he was so willing to talk. So, she decided to just ask him. He was going to talk anyway.

“Why are you so ready to talk? Isn’t letting someone know that you have superpowers- of that was you using powers- not exactly a good thing? Isn’t the knowledge of your race meant to be secret never to be revealed to the outside world and that if it did, it might lead to global chaos and mankind might wage war against you?”

The man gawked at her in surprise before his lips trembled and twitched into a smile and he broke out in hearty laughter. Yoojin, suddenly feeling conscious of her question, frowned as she watched the man cover his mouth with his hands and his shoulders shaking.

“Wh-What?”

“N-Nothing. It’s just that I like your imagination. It’s… It’s really adorable!” he managed to say between bouts of laughter. Yoojin felt her cheeks heat up at the unexpected compliment but disguised it by glaring at the male viciously.

She opened to ask if he was ever going to stop laughing and answer her question when raps were heard on the door, violent enough to make it rattle on its hinges. The sudden noise cutting through the relative silence inside started Yoojin into shutting .

Slowly, she rose from the stool and moved towards the door to answer it when the banging resumed once again, louder and more violent than the last. She frowned at the door. Something didn’t seem right.

“I don’t suppose you get visitors at this time of night?” the brunet’s voice was unusually calm. Yoojin spared a glanced at him and saw that even though there was a lightness to his façade, his eyes told a different story.

She could muffled voice arguing on the other side but it was too incoherent for her to pick up on anything. “Ma’am?” a voice from the other side made her tense up. From the corner of her eyes, she saw the male’s face flash in shock and he straightened up, dropping his coat on the floor. “If you’re inside, please make it known.”

Yoojin looked to the intruder who met her eyes for a few seconds before nodding. In any other situation she wouldn’t be looking for his help but she was smart enough to not let her pride get in the way of her safety. She took another step towards the door, now standing by her couch with her trusty poker stick in one hand.

Clearing in order to make sure it doesn’t tremble, she spoke, her voice ringing loud and clear, much to her relief, “Who am I addressing and what reason do you have to be banging on people’s doors in the dead of the night?”

There was silence for good minute and Yoojin turned to look the male who somehow made it beside her without her noticing. He was staring at the door with a grim expression, his features turning stony making him look like a sculpture.

Finally, the voice replied, “There seems to be a dangerous individual lurking in the neighbourhood. We just wanted to make sure if you’re okay.”

Yoojin wanted to scoff. In an instant, she knew that whatever the voice said was utter bull. Cocking her hip and placing her hand on it, she asked, “And who is this ‘we’, if I may ask?”

Again, Yoojin was answered with silence. She couldn’t help the dread forming in the pit of her belly. Something seemed terribly wrong and the brunet beside didn’t help her feel any better. He was far too preoccupied burning holes into the door with his eyes to notice Yoojin’s inquisitive looks.

“Do you know them?” she whispered to him, her eyes, too, glued to the door now.

“They’re the reason I’m here.”

“That doesn’t really clear thi-”

“We would like to sweep through your house. This very dangerous individual may just be hiding somewhere in there,” Yoojin’s eyes widened at the words and her heart hammered against her ribs and her hands turned clammy. Something in the tone of their voice made Yoojin conclude that she was indeed in deep . Her suspicions were confirmed when she heard a curse leave the brunet’s plush, pink lips.

Just as she turned to the man, the front door rattled on its hinges, as if a great weight was thrown against it. There was a moment of silence as they watched the door. It rattled again followed by a quiet curse.

Suddenly, the door burst open and two men in dark suits stepped in. They contrasted each other. Where one guy was tall, the other was short. Where the tall one was also burly, the other one was lanky. The smaller one seemed to be the younger between the two, as evident of the wrinkles on the other’s forehead.

“So you were here, you-”

Yoojin charged, only to be pushed back by a force which ended in her landing on her just in front of the two suited. “What’s with you and fighting, woman?!” he heard the intruder grumble. She saw a blur and a large hand lunged at her. Before she could react, the floor moved, shifting her form backwards in a jerk, like when someone pulled a rug from under you.

So that’s how he did it…

The large man’s hand slammed onto the floor just before her spread thighs. His head snapped up and gaped at her in surprise, wondering how he she had moved away so fast.

Taking advantage of the situation, Yoojin stabbed him with the poker stick. She put all her energy into driving it into the skin, completely unperturbed by the spray of blood that coated her hand, and she only pulled back when she felt the end of the stick scrape the wood underneath his hand.

She pulled back swiftly, ignoring the squelching noise it made and proceeded to the sole of her foot into the man’s face, basking in the satisfying ‘crunch’, indicative of a broken nose.

The man reeled back and clutched his bloody hand to his equally bloody nose and let out a screech of pain and fury as he flailed in the small hallway.

“You !”

She didn’t waste time and responded by striking the smaller man’s wrist with the side of the poker stick as his hand made a move to grab her hair. Quickly, she leaned back and kicked him in the crotch. She trying not to grimace in disgust as she rolled onto her knees and jabbed her fist at his throat.

She clicked her tongue when she failed to crush his windpipe but it seemed to leave him disoriented. She saw the other getting up, his face twisted and red in pain and rage. She was ready for him, crouching down with her knees planted on the floor and heels digging into her back side.

Despite, being ready to fight the two men, she wasn’t confident of her victory. She was against two men taller and bulkier than her. And if they were anything like the male she had just fought with, then she was at a serious disadvantage. She had to start thinking of strategies that would lead her to a miraculous victory or at least open up a way for her escape.

“Stay still. Do not move,” she froze immediately as the words drifted into her ears, clear and commanding. Something whizzed past her head- several somethings, actually- eliciting a gasp of surprise from her.

She didn’t move until she heard a loud thud produced by something that was big enough to send a small tremor through the wood. When she did, her breath caught in her lungs and horror etched itself across her face.

The bigger of the two men was lying in her small hallway, immobile, eyes open and lips slightly parted. His chest showed no sign of movement. Blood gushed freely from his wounds and pooled onto the floor, glistening in the dim lights.

Sprouting from his forehead was a copper coin, shining and covered in specks of blood. A card, plain and void of any writing or images, was half buried into his thick neck from where blood oozed and flowed, creating crimson bubbles in the process.

Yoojin stayed rooted in her place. Despite injuring the man enough to draw blood, she never intended on having a corpse in her home. The sight made her want to gag and throw up. Or was it the extent of the brunet’s powers?

Her eyes caught movement as she watched uselessly as the smaller man sat up, panting and sweating. Similar looking coins had pierced the palm of his hand and his shoulder. Something told her that the coins missed their desired target.

The man was too busy pulling the coins out to notice the intruder trudge towards them. She stiffened as the man clicked his tongue, clearly not happy that his adversary managed to live. He came at a stop just before the man and waited for him to do anything. The other tensed and looked up, fear etching his features and tears spilling out of his eyes and falling down his face.

He sputtered, shooting saliva onto himself; a poor yet desperate attempt at pleading for mercy. The brunet simply sighed, like a disappointed parent would a child, and whispered softly enough to make the hair to stand up at the base of Yoojin’s neck.

“You shouldn’t have come into our turf.” Yoojin couldn’t make out his face but she didn’t know if she wanted to witness it.

The intruder lifted his foot and descended it down on the other’s knee, effectively dislocating it, judging by the crack and the choked cry. The smaller man scrambled back until he was backed up against his deceased comrade’s body.

And just as it couldn’t get any worse, Yoojin gaped in horror as handsome intruder placed his palm flat on the floor, eyes never leaving the terrified man who continued to mutter pleas and apologies, like he were praying to a vicious warrior god.

At first, nothing happened. Then, the floor rippled. Once. Twice. Thrice until the wood around the intruder’s hand swished outwards like waves beating against the beach.

Yoojin was too preoccupied watched in wonder at what the handsome man’s hand created that she didn’t realize the objective of it all until she heard a panicked scream emanate from the other man. Her head snapped in the direction of the scream and saw that the man was scrambling away from something, climbing over his partner’s body in order to get away from it.

She followed his gaze and it finally dawned on her what he was so terrified of.

 It was the floor itself.

The two bodies were sinking into the floor like it were quicksand. Slowly but surely, the ground was swallowing them into it, inch by painful inch until, the bigger man’s body completely disappeared into the floor, along with all the blood. The space where his body once lay was now spotless, almost like he was never there, dead and bleeding.

The other, in his desperation, scrambled over to the intruder, hands flailing and eyes bloodshot and b with fear. “Please! I don’t want to die! I did wrong! F-Forgive me, please! I’ll do anything! I’ll tell you everything! Just-Just let me live, okay?”

However, his pleas were met with the sole of the intruder’s shoe being firmly planted against the former’s forehead, pushing him into the floor. The man tried to shake his foot away only to realize that his hands were already under the surface and he couldn’t get them out.

If it hadn’t been so earlier, terror had certainly seized Yoojin’s heart now. She didn’t know one could be capable of feeling so much fear. Her heart pattered against her chest and her form quivered. She gasped and wheezed breaths of air, as if the supply of oxygen wasn’t enough no matter how much she inhaled. She wanted to run away. Lock herself in her bedroom and scrunch her eyes shut until this nightmare ceased to exist.

Try as she might, she couldn’t get herself to move. In the end, she sat there completely aghast as she watched the man sink further and further deeper into his death. His wrists disappeared just as she spotted the bruise that blossomed, thanks to her and her poker stick. Then his forearms, followed by his biceps. His pleas turned into wails and screeches when only his shoulder and head were above.

Still the intruder kept his foot on the other’s pale face.

Soon, even the screams died out as the man’s face descended under the rippling floor boards until the brunet’s shoes made contact with it and the ripples stopped. The floor was back to being hard and wooden again.

Silence rang through the apartment and Yoojin wanted to clam her hands over her ears and cry. She couldn’t stop the tear that rolled down her face when she heard the clack of shoes as the man walked over to her and sat beside her.

“Do you still want to know?” there was something odd in his voice but Yoojin was too scared to think of it. All she wanted to get as far away from this man- this monster- as possible.

When he didn’t get an answer, he heaved a sigh, walked over to where he had left his coat, and made for the door when he shrugged himself into it. Yoojin squeezed her eyes shut as the man walked over the space in the hallway under which the two dead men lay. He walked over the now normal and sturdy floorboards like it was nothing. Like all that had happened just a minute ago was merely a figment of her imagination.

Just before he disappeared beyond the threshold, he stopped and she heard him say, “Sorry about the door.”