Taehyun looked him dead in the eye.

“Are you sure?” He asked in a low voice, he still hadn’t blinked.

“Absolutely” Jinwoo was determined and didn’t blink or look away.

Taehyun watched him for a bit more before he finally blinked once and looked away.

“Well, it’s not like Mino’s gonna tell you… or your parents… and I guess I kind of owe you since you got me out of the shrine” He grumbled staring about Seungyoon’s place yet again.

Jinwoo felt himself inching out onto the edge of the table as he eagerly waited for Taehyun to tell him everything.

“You know you were sick right, when you were a child?” Taehyun asked, throwing him a quick glance.

“Yes” Jinwoo’s throat was suddenly very dry.

“OK, but do you know that you should’ve died of that disease?” Taehyun was matter-of-factly as he watched for his reaction out of the corner of his eye.

Jinwoo said nothing, but his icy expression spoke for him.

Taehyun sighed before he continued.

“So, after hearing that you were going to die your parents got pretty desperate to save you…” Taehyun continued carefully.

“So they both sought out other means than Western medicine, and that’s how they decided to pray at the shrine for the shrine god to save you – and that is Mino.” Taehyun paused for a while.

“Wait!” Seungyoon piped up from the kitchen “Mino is a shrine God?!” he came towards them in big strides.

Taehyun was surprised by Seungyoon’s sudden return and looked very flustered.

“Continue” Jinwoo decided to ignore his friend’s intrusion.

 “So, they made a deal and Mino saved you from the disease.” Taehyun seemed a bit off balance after Seungyoon’s interruption.

“A deal? What was the deal?” Jinwoo needed to know, even though he felt kind of numb.

“Pretty standard really, he saved you from the disease and in return…” Taehyun hesitated again.

“Spit it out!” JInwoo grew impatient again.

“Are you really sure you want to know?” Taehyun gave him an uncertain look as if he really didn’t want to say anything after all.

“It’s my life, whatever happened in the past was not out of my desire or consent, of course I want to know what’s going on.” Jinwoo felt his fuse burning, growing shorter and shorter.

Taehyun sighed deeply, lowering his head for a moment as if collecting himself before he looked up at Jinwoo again.

“In return… Mino would collect your life at the age of 40.” Taehyun was looking right over Jinwoo’s head.

“What?!” Jinwoo felt as if his body had been drenched in icy water, he felt like the room was spinning all of a sudden and he felt faint.

“Jinwoo!” Seungyoon called in a mild panic as Jinwoo touched a hand to his head and blinked several times.

Seungyoon reached him and placed a hand on his chest to steady him; Jinwoo grabbed onto his hand.

“Breathe, Jinwoo.” Seungyoon urged him his hand pressing hard against his chest.

“But 40? We’ve just made it past halfway!” Seungyoon argued glaring at Taehyun.

“Those are the contract terms… however… they… might… have changed…?” Taehyun stared at the floor for a while.

“What…?” Jinwoo had his face in his hands, he felt confused and a little scared.

Perhaps Mino was the one he should have been afraid of all along? It certainly felt that way now.

“Changed?” Seungyoon repeated frowning deeply at Taehyun.

“Well… because of your eyes… why would they deteriorate now? As you said you’re not anywhere near 40.” Taehyun seemed apologetic and slightly concerned.

“But what’s your deal up in all of this? I mean… you tried to hurt my friend!” Seungyoon had taken control over the interrogation as Jinwoo felt faint.

Taehyun flinched visibly at Seungyoon’s harsh words.

Since the man didn’t answer Seungyoon felt angry and couldn’t stop his anger from escalating.

In an icy cold voice, his back straight as if someone had glued him to a pole Seungyoon stared Taehyun down as he repeated himself.

“Dr. Nam, what is your role up in all of this? Seeing as you’re hauled up in my house I want to know. Also seeing as you have actually attacked my friend, and I don’t’ like you being here at the very least explain yourself.” Seungyoon was truly pissed; he glared at Taehyun while gently rubbing Jinwoo.

Taehyun seemed to shrink under Seungyoon’s angry gaze and he opened his mouth several times without saying anything.

“I’m sorry… I just get so angry…” Taehyun’s voice was thin and breathless, his eyes fixed on the floor.

 “The contract that your parents made and the necessary item for your contract was…” Taehuyun chocked on his own words.

“Out with it!” Seungyoon demanded, pulling his arm from Jinwoo to cross them at chest height.

“It required a deer be sacrificed and its eyes were required to heal yours.” Taehyun said loudly in frustration.

The other two just stared at him, Taehyun sighed deeply, it was almost a relief to speak his mind.

“Wait, are you saying that Jinwoo has a deer’s eyes?” Seungyoon’s voice was breathless.

“Not exactly, since it was the eyes specifically that were needed so I guess they were affected…” His voice trailed off as he made direct eye contact with Jinwoo.

Jinwoo blinked; he’d been told several times while growing up both as a compliment and as a taunt that his eyes and features gave him the look of a deer.

Taehyun took a deep breath “When I learned of the sacrifice I couldn’t contain my anger and sought you out to make right what had been done… to kill an innocent deer… that is just so…” He looked away and his voice died.

“Mino saved you and I was taken before the Assembly of Gods; Mino was kind, so I was sentenced to serve human’s in some form to learn to appreciate you, and vowed to never hurt another human being… so I became a doctor.” Taehyun frowned a little and looked down at the floor, his hands were moving nervously and he kept rubbing them together.

“Look, I don’t want to hurt you anymore. What has been done, has been done, there’s no reason anymore to try and change the past or avenge measures taken by desperate parents.” Taehyun sighed and threw a quick glance at Jinwoo who was staring straight at him.

“Jesus….” Seungyoon wheezed and took a few unsteady steps backwards holding his hand to his forehead in disbelief.

“Jinwoo, I don’t know what’s happening with your eyes, but I’m sure Mino does.” Taehyun looked away again.

Jinwoo took a deep breath then scoffed darkly “Mino won’t tell me anything.”

“I know. He’s been using his powers to erase your memories.” Taehyun grumbled.

“Seriously?” Seungyoon exclaimed loudly.

“Why?” He added suddenly fixing his eyes on Taehyun.

“Well… I suppose you can understand that you’re not supposed to know about Gods and spirits and such… so after I kept revealing it to you…” Taehyun looked at Jinwoo “It had to be dealt with… however, tampering with someone’s memories and such like that too often can cause irreversible damage, so it’s not something you can do time and time again.”

“Wait, Mino kept blabbering about something like that, irreversible damage or whatever, this is what he was going on about?” Jinwoo looked at Seungyoon for a moment then back to Taehyun.

“Probably.” Taehyun replied.

“So how do I get them back?” Jinwoo fixed his eyes on Taehyun to see if he could desipher every nuance in his body language.

Taehyun flinched slightly.

“What?” He didn’t seem to have caught what Jinwoo had just said.

“How do I get my memories back?” Jinwoo simplified his question, directly stating his wish.

“It’s not that simple. If your memories have truly been erased then I’m afraid there isn’t much that can be done…” Taehyun seemed apologetic enough.

“Is there anything you can do?” Seungyoon asked with an exasperated feeling to his voice.

Taehyun grimaced.

“Come here” He said to Jinwoo and gestured for him to come sit down next to him.

Seungyoon placed a hand on Jinwoo’s shoulder.

“Relax, would you?” Jinwoo gave his friend a sideways glance.

The thing was that it was a pretty funny sight; Seungyoon was draped in an apron the landlady had given him, it was yellow with different coloured flowers on it and he was holding a now somewhat dirty spoon in his hand.

Jinwoo got to his feet and sat down next to Taehyun who turned to face him.

“I’m just going to get a… feel of you.” He said and suddenly seemed very doctor like as he raised his hands up to trace Jinwoo’s body.

Taehyun closed his eyes as his hands travelled up his body; fingers widespread and the man seemed to be mumbling to himself.

His hands moved over Jinwoo’s chest and up to his head where he circled around it like a lady with a crystal ball would.

Suddenly he opened his eyes and stared at Jinwoo.

“It seems, your memories aren’t erased but blocked…” His voice trailed off as he couldn’t understand why this would be the case.

“So… what does that mean?” Seungyoon piped up, he’d been holding the spoon as if he was ready to attack at any time.

“I don’t know…” Taehyun said breathlessly as he lowered his hands without breaking eye contact with Jinwoo.

“Can you do something about that then?” Jinwoo asked, his voice was strained and his eyes were pleading with Taehyun.

Taehyun stared at him while he let his hands fall down completely.

TADA! How's that for yah?! I mean, come on it's chapter 16, I said I needed to get this done before August 1st. But I was surprised that only one person got close to the truth of what Mino was... but anyways... it's not 100% accurate mythology... I was inspired and thus made my own twist on it ^_^ I hope ya'll like it.