“Leeteuk”, an astonished Siwon beckoned upon seeing him enter Donghae’s apartment. “Aren’t you a bit early for the weekend party.”

Donghae asked Leeteuk to take a seat, Kyuhyun warily judging the uninvited guest, clearly not happy with his appearance.

“It is important to get things sorted”, Leeteuk responded tensely. “I didn’t expect to find you all at one place”.

“Well, it’s not unusual for friends to hang out together”, Kyuhyun replied. “Can’t say the same about uninvited ones”. Siwon glared unapprovingly at Kyuhyun’s hostile reaction, “Ignore him, he is cranky lately.”

Leeteuk seemed to not pay heed to Kyuhyun’s attitude as he was already pulling out books and papers out of his bag and laying them on the table. “I was searching for information, like I said I would do”, he said as he flipped open an old book. Donghae peered from behind, trying to read its contents only to give up upon realizing it’s in Hanja characters.

“Not much could be found because apparently they were destroyed in a fire. However a couple old records that were salvaged, mention about the strange disappearances of people in different years. No body, no trace”, he said as he pointed at a couple of pages. He placed a book on the table, its leather bound cover charred at corners and tapped on it, “But, this book contains an account by an anonymous writer of a ritual that took place at that spot in the forest about hundred years ago”.

“A ritual”, Donghae interrupted. “That place did seemed different from the rest of the forest”, Kyuhyun recalled.

“This book doesn’t mention the names of the people involved or what ritual was actually performed”, Leeteuk continued. “It does however mention that the ritual performed was actually to kill someone.”

“Like a sacrifice”, Siwon asked. “No, it doesn’t say it was a sacrifice. It clearly states ‘kill’.”

He picked up the book and read aloud a sentence, “The one killed here, vowed that he will seek justice and be reborn.”

“That doesn’t make sense. And so what anyway?” Kyuhyun asked puzzled. “What’s that got to do with Donghae hyung?”

Leeteuk shrugged his shoulder, not knowing how to explain his intuition that this is something crucial. “Where did you get this book?” Donghae asked as he took it off Leeteuk’s hands and flipped its pages carefully, its charred leather tainting his fingers with black. “It’s almost empty” he noticed, “except these few pages.”

Leeteuk avoided any eye contact before answering reluctantly, “I picked it off an antique book shop”.

“And you just happened upon a book store that had exactly the book about that place?” Siwon suspiciously asked.

“Coincidence”, Leeteuk replied, “You won’t believe how much that occurs in my line of work. It’s a blessing, actually. Help arriving when you least expect it”.

“We are just supposed to trust this random book”, Kyuhyun put distance between him and Leeteuk. “When we don’t even know who wrote it. For all its worth, it could be fake. And like I said it doesn’t even make sense.”

Donghae observed Leeteuk, “There is something else, right?” he asked. “What is it that was so urgent?”

Leeteuk faced Donghae, seemingly looking apologetic. “This book also mentions a prophecy. On the epoch of an eclipse, the one who undoes the seal of death will relinquish its light to revive the departed for eternity”.

He opened up another book, leather bound, pages being flicked showing glimpses of old legends. “The seal of death are of varying forms, some physical and some incorporeal. There is one, rarely mentioned, an old myth, which refers a red string as the seal of death”, he declared as he opened the page which mentioned the said legend. “It used to hold an amulet”, he continued, momentarily looking up and waving his hand in dismissal, “but nothing is mentioned about it, just the red string. According to this legend, only the fated ones find such a seal of death.”

The implications of what Leeteuk is saying is not lost on any of them. Siwon shook his head, “I’ve heard something totally opposite”.

“Like I said, a very old rare myth”, Leeteuk quickly replied. “And what’s done is done. The pressing issue here actually is the coming blood moon eclipse. It’s in two weeks.”

Donghae staggered back a few steps, despair settling in his heart, leaning against the refrigerator. “What will happen on that day?” he asked dreadfully. “I don’t know”, Leeteuk answered equally looking unsure. “This book doesn’t mention any specifics, and I was unable to find anything else.”

Kyuhyun crossed the room to stand beside Donghae, running soothing circles on his back. “I don’t want to jinx, but these past few weeks nothing has happened. Right hyung?” he asked Donghae. Donghae simply nodded, “Yes nothing out of the ordinary happened”, holding back his paranoia. “I really don’t understand how this is related to hyung? It could be nothing of the sorts that you shared”, Kyuhyun continued.

Leeteuk stood upright, eyes assessing the situation before he spoke, “Actually I also don’t sense that evil spirit’s presence around you. Strange.”

“Is an understatement”, Siwon interjected. “I actually cut that string in the forest”, he recalled, resting his finger on his chin in thought. “Does that mean