15 Years Later - September 1st, 2012

On the day of Jeongguk’s 15th birthday, he wakes up with a giant migraine; not sure of what he did the night before that had caused such pain. He hears his phone vibrating on his nightstand where he was charging it. Jeongguk reaches over to grab ahold of his phone, seeing that there is a text message from his best friend Kim Taehyung. He smiles, feeling his heart do a little flip as he opened up the message from his friend. He never thought that he would ever smile for someone before.

[ from: taetae hyung ]

-- Hey! You awake yet? It’s your 15th birthday today!! Happy birthday dork~ I’ll be there to pick you up in 20 so get your ready!

[ to: taetae hyung ]

-- It’s only 6:25 am hyung. Do you think I actually take 20 minutes to get ready? I’ll be ready, dw.

Kim Taehyung was Jeongguk’s best friend since the younger was 5 years old. Taehyung was 2 years older than Jeongguk. They met through their parents; who happens to be great friends with one another. Taehyung’s mother was the one who thought of the idea of their children being best friends.

When Jeongguk first met Taehyung, he wasn’t very fond of the boy. Taehyung was always smiley and cheerful. Constantly clinging onto him with his stupid annoying “Jeongguk-ah”s. Jeongguk was the complete opposite of the elder boy. He walks around with a poker face and rarely shows any type of emotions. Mrs. Jeon grew concern for her son and even took him to a psychologist to get him tested for a personality disorder. The psychologist did many tests on Jeongguk, but all the results comes out normal.

“Maybe, that’s just the way he is.” she had told her.

It was not his personality, Jeongguk thinks. He just hated affection, he hated skinship and most of all… he hated Kim Taehyung and his stupid face.

When Jeongguk started school the following week, all of the children would fear him. He was always dressed in black and rarely look up from his hands. Whenever his peers attempt to approach him, he would send glares their way resulting in them to reverse in their tracks. He wasn't interested in making friends. He rather spend all his time drawing. The kids all called him, “the scary boy”. Jeongguk was fine with the title, in fact, he loved it. He loved that all the kids feared him as he made his way to class. They would steer clear of him whenever he sat at an empty table. The only time Jeongguk ever spoke in class was during group assignments, which he dreads. He hated anything that involved a group of people; people in general. He hated talking and presenting projects in front of class, especially when all eyes are trained on him. When Jeongguk spoke, his voice sends chills down his audience’s backs. Perhaps, even his teachers had feared him. It’s also one of the reasons why he rarely ever uses his voice.

The first time he had ever smiled was at the age of 13, when Taehyung ended up embarrassing himself by falling off his bike trying to park it in front of Jeongguk’s driveway. Their parents had been forcing them to get along and Jeongguk became annoyed with the constant nagging, so he reluctantly agrees just to get them to shut up.

By this point in life, Jeongguk grew accustomed to Taehyung’s constant blabbing and clinginess. The boy just couldn't stop talking half of the time they are together. Jeongguk was actually pretty surprised that someone is willing to put in the effort to try to befriend him (no matter how many times he puts up a cold front and tell the boy to “go away”), while his fellow peers would straight up ignore his existent. Life was better without Jeongguk being that dark presence in their lives. Taehyung was different, however, but in a good way.

Taehyung had come over that day to watch random movies with him; they were mainly horror movies that Jeongguk really enjoys (much to his parents’ disapproval). He didn’t fear the supernatural, rather he thinks the idea of it is interesting. Afterwards, the two would discuss about the corny special effects and makeup. Jeongguk never thought he would ever enjoy the presence of someone he grew up disliking. Better yet, he never thought there would be someone who could relate to him in the way that Taehyung did. Jeongguk ended up smiling more that day than he had been for the past few years. He tells himself that maybe… just maybe… Kim Taehyung isn’t so bad.

Jeongguk throws the covers over him as he scrambles off of bed. He strolls over to the bathroom, too tired to switch on the lights, and washes up. Afterwards, he dresses for school in his usual “emo boy” attire and waits outside for Taehyung to arrive.

During his last year of middle school, Jeongguk went through a metal phase. He enjoys the loud heavy metal music that others dread and understands the emotions puts into the screams. Jeongguk began to grow out his hair, dying it a jet black shade and styles it like the lead singer of his favorite metal band, “Black Veil Brides”. He recalls trying to educate Taehyung about the band while the elder boy just nodded and pretended like he was listening to Jeongguk. But there are also other times when Taehyung shared the same taste of music as Jeongguk.

“This song is lit, Tae! You have to listen to it.” Jeongguk smiles after seeing Taehyung standing by his locker.

Taehyung turns around to meet the gaze of his best friend. “Okay Gukkie, but I think you should listen to this song by Linkin Park. I think you'll love it.”

Taehyung takes out one of his earbuds to share it with the younger boy who ends up bobbing his head to the song.

“What song is this?”

“It's called ‘Given Up’.” the elder boy smiled.

Jeongguk pushes in his earbuds and plays the song “Given Up” by Linkin Park while jogging downstairs. His mother greets him with breakfast, but he just walk right past her without any acknowledgment. He was always like this. Always quiet and isolated. He never wanted to come out for dinner when his family was downstairs eating together, but instead he waits for them to finish before sneaking out for leftovers. Jeongguk’s mother had tried numerous times to get the boy in on their family dinner. No matter how much she tried, he wouldn’t budge. The family came to the realization that there was nothing much they can do, so they leave his food at the table for him once they were done. It was disheartening to Jeongguk’s mother, having to see her own son not even wanting to be apart of their family dinner. Sometimes, she just thinks that he doesn’t want anything to do with the family and that he would be better off alone. Mrs. Jeon stresses about it every night to her husband. Out of the entire Jeon household, Jeongguk only gotten along with his brother although he rarely speaks to him. Jeongguk loves his brother. Junghyun was the only one who accepted him for the way he is.

“Sometimes, mom can be a bit overbearing. But she’s just worried about you. I think she should just try to understand that this is just the way you are. I understand so don’t worry.” Junghyun had told him one night when an argument broke out between Jeongguk and his mother.

Jeongguk sits out on the bench outside on the patio as he waits for Taehyung to arrive. He looks up at the sky to admire the dark clouds that signifies the presence of rain soon. “It rained on the day I was born too, a coincident that today happens to be my birthday as well.” he whispered softly to no one in particular, eyes trained at the sky. He yanks the earbuds from his ears afterwards and shoving them into his backpack. The first raindrop fell from the clouds and met with his cheek. A honk suddenly roared causing the boy to jump out of his thoughts. Jeongguk’s eyes directs their attention to his best friend sitting in a Honda Accord. “Get in before you get soaking wet!” the boy yelled out.

Jeongguk immediately rushes over to the passenger side, popping the door open and sliding in before closing it shut. “What took you so long?” he mumbled, eyes fixed on the elder boy.

“My dad being a pain in the this morning. No big deal.” Taehyung responded while backing out from the Jeons driveway and driving to school.

The car ride was quiet for the next few minutes before Taehyung took a glance at Jeongguk, his eyebrows furrowing.

“Gukkie.” he started.

Jeongguk turns to the side to look at the elder boy. Taehyung took another glance at Jeongguk before speaking with concern in his voice, “Did you notice your eyes got darker?”

“What?”

Jeongguk pulls down the mirror in front of him and looks at himself closely in the mirror. His eyes, a once dark chocolate shade now suddenly deathly black color. He closes the mirror immediately, fearing for the worst. There are some people who grows older and their eye color changes as well.”

But Jeongguk knew better. Deep within his heart, he knew that the worst was to come. He couldn’t help but fear for the worst. “No. No. It’s not what you think.” he tries to tell himself.

“I’ll be coming over tomorrow to hang out and I won’t be picking you up after school so just take the bus. Okay?” Taehyung beams at Jeongguk. The younger just nodded in response.

Another strange symptom emerges when Jeongguk was in his algebra class. He was suddenly looped into a vision of a student being strangled outside of the school grounds.

“No! Stop!” the boy choked out, barely holding onto his breath.

The man in the mask was merciless and continues to hold the boy still in his arms with his hands around his throat. The boy wheezes out, his lungs dying for oxygen. “Someone! Someone help--” he croaks, but there was no one around to help him.

The boy goes limp after a few minutes. He died of suffocation.

Immediately after the vision ended, a siren came on throughout the school signaling a lockdown. Jeongguk shakes off the vision. “It’s not. It’s not.” he mumbled to himself. His teacher telling everyone to get down underneath the tables while she blocks the entrance of the classroom. The lights were switched off and Jeongguk obeyed his teacher. He felt his blood being pumped hard through his veins. Jeongguk could feel the light flashing before his eyes, he felt like he was dying before a knock on the door cracked him out of his symptom.

“I need to see Jeon Jeongguk.” a dark voice sounded from outside the classroom. Jeongguk could see his teacher making her way towards the door and peeking through the windows, falling back with a loud scream at what she saw. Her eyes were wide and she was clearly frightened by the figure outside the classroom. She looks over at Jeongguk, his eyes read no emotions like usual, and motioning him to meet the person on the other side.

Jeongguk slowly got up from under his table with eyes from his classmates following his every move. He looked outside the classroom door’s window first before opening the door and slamming it shut after. He stood in front of the door, looking up and down the hallways of his school. The lights were shut off due to the lockout with only the emergency lights on.

“Come with me.” the figure besides him spoke, leading Jeongguk down the hallway.

Jeongguk follows the dark figure while taking his time to inspect who this person was. He could see the dark aura oozing from the strange person. The figure was shorter than Jeongguk, dressed in all black and wearing a cloak to hide their appearance. “I can feel your eyes on me, Jeon Jeongguk.”

This was clearly a man.

“Who are you and how do you know my name?” Jeongguk spoke calmly. The man’s footsteps faltered at the question. He slowly turned around and faced the young boy. Jeongguk’s eyes widened at the realization of the identity of the man. His eyes glowed through the mask that was concealing his face. Jeongguk was never nervous before, but at this very moment his heart began to race.

“Y-you’re a grim.” he mumbled, voice almost inaudible.

“That’s right.” the man responded, his hand reaching up to pull the mask from his face revealing a handsome young man underneath. “You must be wondering why I’m here.”

Many thoughts races through the young boy’s mind. A grim appearing before you could only mean one thing. He was fated to die soon. Jeongguk had never once thought about the possibility that his life could end so soon. As much as he hated the world, he still lived for certain things. His parents had educated him about the Grims when he turned 10 years of age, but it was only the simple stuff in which they sugarcoated. He learned the dark, sinful things from his classmates and Taehyung.

“The Grims..? Nobody really bothers talking about them. They’re scary people. I heard that they can grant you life or sentence you to death. The people who sees the Grims never survives. I don’t know much about them. All I know is that if they suddenly appear before you, you’ll die.” an upperclassman had warned Jeongguk when the boy curiously asked around about the Grims.

“We don't really know much about the Grims or how they… exist. They are just a part of life.” his father had told him when he'd asked.

Jeongguk stares at the man in front of him for a good minute or so before asking the first question that ran through his mind, “Am I going to die soon?”

The man stays quiet for what seems like an eternity, he lets out a sigh then speaks. “No, Jeongguk. Do you know what day it is?”

“September 1st, 2012.” Jeongguk answered, confused by what point the man was trying to make.

“Have you been experiencing any strange symptoms since you’ve awoken this morning?” the man continued.

Jeongguk purses his lips as he thinks back, remembering the unusual change of his eye color. “My eyes. They’re no longer brown… and I had a weird dream. I don’t know.” He could feel his veins pulsing on his arm. Jeongguk clasped his palm over it with his eyes scrunching close.

“That was not a dream, Jeongguk.” the man reaches over to remove the young boy’s hand off his pulsing veins. “That was a vision and a sign.”

The man places two fingers on Jeongguk’s veins to calm the harsh pulsing. “This is also a sign that death is near.” A light glow emitted from the man’s fingers and the boy could feel his heart’s hard beating steadying down. “What--” Jeongguk mumbled, unsure of what was happening.

“You are awakening, and I am sent here to guide you through it.” the man said, pulling his hand away after the veins had settled.

“I- I don't understand this.” Jeongguk blinks, fear creeping into his chest. He was confused. He was not educated much about the Grims and he certainly did not know what the man meant about “signs and symptoms”. There was a moment of silence. He stares up into the eyes of the Grim standing in front of him with sweat building up in the palms of his hands.

“You're nervous.” the man stated simply, clutching onto the hands of the boy. His hand was cold, causing Jeongguk to shiver at the touch. The man releases his hold on the younger boy’s hand afterwards realizing how shaken up he looked. “I will explain everything to you later, but right now I need you to follow me.”

The man puts back on his mask then turned his back towards Jeongguk and began making his way down the dark hallway. Jeongguk trails behind the man, his thoughts running wild at the fact that a Grim was in his presence. The emergency light above them started to blink aggressively when the man walks past it. His dark aura continuing releasing from out his body. The man opens the door to the front of the school grounds. Jeongguk almost tripped seeing a blonde boy about his age laying lifeless of the ground. His steps faltered at the sight as he backs up subconsciously, eyes widened in shock. “That- that is the boy I saw.” he mumbled.

The cloaked man turns around to face the younger boy before pulling him closer using an unknown force. Jeongguk felt his body being pulled towards the deceased boy. “What do you see?” the man asked.

Jeongguk’s eyes glowed brightly, his body moving on it's own as he stepped forward to the lifeless body. He can see blood making its way out of the boy’s mouth. There was something odd about the blood. It was not that red color that humans are use to seeing. Jeongguk was quiet for a moment before speaking.“Black blood.” he finally says. Just as he reaches forward to touch the deceased boy, a yellow glow shines from his hand and the body begins to disintegrate. It was not until the body of the lifeless boy completely disappears before Jeongguk realizes what was happening. He falls back, catching himself with the palms of his hands.

“Each human’s blood is di