With the other demons gathered in Baëkhyun’s living room, his house was quite crowded and lively. They had been talking about what had happened with Chängho before Kāi remembered something that he had yet to tell Baëkhyun and Minji.

“Baëkhyun,” Kāi said, gaining his attention. All playfulness was gone from his voice, a scowl appearing instead of his usual haughty smirk. “There’s something you should know.”

“What is it?” Baëkhyun asked hesitantly. He knew that whatever it was about, it was bad when even Kāi deemed it serious enough to be an issue. He was a carefree demon who acted recklessly and took risks, not minding the outcome.

“When Läy and I found you in the forest, you were both unconscious,” he started. “And you were not alone. Someone else was lurking nearby, I sensed it. Whoever it was is very good at hiding their presence, but they couldn’t fool me.”

Cold dread pooled in Baëkhyun’s stomach when he realized how quickly this could have gone out of hand. With both of them unconscious, they would have been easy prey to whoever had been out there. It unsettled and infuriated him. He curled his hands into fists, inwardly cursing himself for being weak again. Why did he fail whenever success mattered the most?

“,” he cursed angrily. “I didn’t notice.”

“Of course you didn’t, you were half dead,” Kāi hissed, but received a warning glare from Chanyeøl.

“Kāi,” he snapped. “Shut up.”

“He’s right, Chanyeøl. I was reckless and it could have ended with us both dying,” Baëkhyun replied. “I shouldn’t have used so much of my magic when I fought Chängho, but I wanted to defeat him quickly.” His slumped posture made him look crushed and tired. He pinched the bridge of his nose and heaved a sigh.

“The thing is,” Kāi continued seriously, “I’m sure that it was a creature more sinister than a demon. Their aura was… peculiar.”

“W-What could be more sinister than a demon?” Minji asked under her breath, fear creeping into her heart. She wasn’t even sure if she wanted to know the answer to that.

The attention of everyone in the room rested on Kāi as he exhaled and crossed his arms. “A blood mage,” he said grimly.

“Are you sure about this, Kāi? I didn’t notice anyone,” Yixing cut in. He had a worried crease in his brow and leaned against the wall not far from Kāi.

“I didn’t imagine it, Läy. Someone was there and they didn’t have good intentions for sure,” the green-haired demon persisted.

“If it really was a blood mage, I would assume that they wanted to kill you for their own gain,” Suhø said coolly, curling his lips in distaste. “They must have smelled easy prey.”  

“Yes, and if Läy and I hadn’t interfered, you and Minji would be dead now,” Kāi snapped at Baëkhyun.

Baëkhyun cursed through clenched teeth, tension rising in his body. He completely ignored Minji when she tried to get his attention by resting her hand on his arm. She knew that he hadn’t taken Kāi’s words well. For whatever reason, they seemed to make him very uneasy.

“Baëkhyun?” Minji whispered unsurely. When he finally raised his head to look at her, she saw severe guilt in his eyes and faltered at the intensity of it. Couldn’t Kāi give him a break after what he went through? She found his behavior unbelievable. Even if someone had been watching them, he could have worded it more nicely, but that probably wasn’t something that the demon was capable of…

“Kāi… just leave him be,” she grumbled and unexpectedly hit him with a beam of light magic. He cursed, holding his aching arm as he glowered at her.

“, Minji! Since when are you this aggressive? Is the rubbing off on you?!” he complained, but he also looked mildly impressed since he hadn’t expected her to be able to use magic like this.

“Are you embarrassed because you got caught off guard by a human?” she said sassily and stuck her tongue out at him. “You better behave next time.”

“That’s right, put him in his place,” Chën cackled. Kāi sulked, crossing his arms while glaring daggers at Chën.

“Serves him right,” Minji whispered before she raised her voice, glaring at Kāi. “Leave Baëk alone, he just woke up!” She would make sure that these rowdy demons learned not to mess with her.

“Yeah, yeah. I only wanted to warn you two. Keep your eyes open for possible threats from now on,” Kāi grumbled.

“We will. I doubt that this person followed us here, though. Just… give us a little break, okay?”

Xiůmin chuckled and exchanged a grin with Chanyeøl that said more than a thousand words. “Maybe we should leave them alone for now, what do you think?” Chanyeøl smirked.

“So they can continue where they left off?” Suhø teased and caused Minji’s cheeks to turn bright red.

“That’s what I thought,” Chanyeøl added and watched Minji from twinkling eyes.

After the demons had left, the house became quieter and Minji used the opportunity to take a closer look at Baëkhyun’s home. She had been curious about this place, thinking she would never get to see it. While he lingered on the sofa and watched her silently, she walked to the large windowpane on the other side of the room.

Laying her palm on the glass, she glanced outside, seeing the rocky landscape of hell for the first time. His house was built on the side of a mountain, so the view from up here was impressive. It overlooked a large plane that appeared deserted safe for a few low-class demons that prowled around. The ground had split open in some places, fire sprouting up towards the pitch-black night sky. It was a sight she couldn’t get used to, but at the same time, it fascinated her and ignited her curiosity. She wished to see it up close and not just from the living room of this house. Not all humans could say that they had visited hell and lived to tell the tale.

Turning back to Baëkhyun, she was met with an entirely different sight than outside. He used his magic to light up the room with a soft golden glow to disperse the prevalent darkness of hell. She smiled at him when she walked up to him, folding her hands.

“Baëkhyun?” she asked and glanced at him with big puppy eyes. He heaved a sigh since he already suspected what she was about to ask. It wasn’t that hard to guess. “Can we go outside?”

He scowled, shaking his head. “Forget it, that’s too dangerous. You shouldn’t even be here in the first place.”

“But your house is safe… and I just want to take a little walk around it,” she pleaded. “I really want to see the place you call home, please!”

She was persistent in her undertaking to change his mind, he had to give her that. Not even his infamous death stare deterred her anymore and that usually made everyone turn tail. He curled his lips in distaste, closing the gap between them with two strides.

“It’s too risky. I can’t just let you walk through hell, especially since you’re still injured,” he said, leaning towards her until their noses were almost touching. His heavy stare still didn’t make her cave in. On the contrary.

“Please, please, please?” she chirped. “Did you know that you’re my favorite demon, Baëkhyun?”

Her sudden confession made him freeze. He straightened up and coughed, a suspicious red hue spreading over his cheeks. “You’re only saying that because you want to go outside,” he mumbled under his breath, avoiding her gaze.

“No, I’m saying it because it’s true! You are the best demon ever,” she continued, inwardly smirking because she could see that she was getting somewhere. He bit his lip and the red spread all the way to his ears.

She giggled at the sight. “Are you blushing?”

“No!” he snapped and sulked.

“I think you are,” she smiled. “Please say yes, Baëk!”

He grumbled something under his breath, but eventually, he gave up. “Fine.”

“Thank you!” she said and hugged him. “You are officially the best demon in hell,” she laughed joyfully.  

“You just never shut up, do you?” he complained surly.

“Oh come on, you were happy I said it! Just admit it, you big bad demon,” she teased, letting go of him to take another good look at his pink cheeks. There was nothing more amusing in this world than an embarrassed and flustered Baëkhyun. She wanted to pinch his cheeks, but then he’d probably explode, so she didn’t.

“We’re leaving now,” she decided and took his hand, glancing at him expectantly.

“Yeah, calm down,” he grumbled, gently holding her hand while he accompanied her to the front door. They left the house and he showed her to a rocky path that wound around the mountain. It was just wide enough that they could walk next to each other. He made use of his magic to illuminate their surroundings to assure she wouldn’t accidentally stumble over something. While Minji was busy looking around in awe, he on the other hand kept an eye on the vicinity to search for possible threats. He didn’t sense any high-class demons nearby, but that didn’t mean they were safe. After what had happened only days ago, he wasn’t too happy about her strolling through hell—the most dangerous place in existence.

Minji stared up at the sky, taking in the endless blackness above her, wondering if it always looked like this. So far, she hadn’t seen any stars, no moon, and no sun. Sometimes, dark clouds obscured it, but they reminded her more of smoke than real clouds. The sight was dreary and she found herself wanting to see the sun as it shone brightly on a warm summer day.

“There is no sun in hell, right?” she asked and glanced at him. “Isn’t it sad to be living like this? Drenched in darkness all the time, with only fire to illuminate the land?”

He stayed quiet for a moment and did not look at her, keeping his eyes fixed on a point far off in the distance. “It doesn’t bother most demons. We are used to this kind of environment. Only very rarely does a demon grow tired of hell,” he replied.

“Oh, I see. Then that means they must want to live on earth like Yixing,” she mused quietly, mulling it over in her head. She asked herself how many demons she had already met in her life, thinking they were human. It could have been more than she had thought since they were good at disguising themselves, especially in front of humans who di