“…Demon.”

“Jamkkaman, Yoseob-oppa.”  Areum stood her ground as he made a notion of tugging her hand.  The young prince frowned.  “What’s wrong?” He asked with confusion.  She did not reply, but instead scanned the surrounding crowd.  Hushed whispers followed her gaze, but she ignored them until they rested on her target. 

“Junhyung-sshi,” Areum addressed the demon dozing a few meters away from her.  The blonde roused, his crimson eyes narrowing at the person who dare disturbed his nap.  They then met with Areum’s sympathetic brown ones, and he reluctantly straightened up from his hunched position.  Junhyung took a step forward; however Yoseob stepped in with a hiss.

“Don’t you even think about getting close to her,” The younger demon snapped, his voice dripping with pure hatred.  A dark look came over Junhyung’s face, but before he could lunge forward, Areum came in between the two brothers with her arms wide open. 

“Please, no more bloodshed.” She pleaded fearfully.  Junhyung’s eyes widened for the slightest moment, his hand inches away from ripping her face apart.  Slowly, his fingers retracted and the tattooed arm fell back to his side.  Areum then turned to a seething Yoseob.  “Oppa,” She ordered with the same tone, and he too lowered his fist.  “Why do you protect this bastard, Areum?” Yoseob whispered in a barely controlled voice.  His blood-red orbs revealed so much hurt that she had to look away before answering in a barely heard voice, “Because he saved your life.”

The court was deadly silent. 

“…Mwoh?”

Yoseob was the first to utter a strangled laugh.  It sounded so empty and hallow-like.  “What are you talking about, Areum-ah?  This guy murdered people, demons of our own kind whom he felt no regret over, whether innocent or dead!”  He shouted in anguish, causing each word to rise higher in tone.

“So did you, oppa.” Areum couldn’t help but whisper quietly back.  Yoseob’s eyes flashed dangerously.  He took a step forward.  “What did you say?”  

She didn’t dare look up, but still continued to talk, “I saw the flashback.  The day when that woman died—” No sooner had she spoken those words, Yoseob had gripped her shoulders painfully.  The pain was too difficult to bear, and she cried out. 

“He’s brainwashed you, that despicable lowlife has bewitched you to think that Jieun’s death was not his fault!” Every syllable hurled at her was like another stab in the heart with an invisible knife.  Areum could not tear her gaze away from the raw emotions that tumbled out, or the way his orbs showed rage, yet agony when he mentioned the woman’s name.

“Yoseob!  You must never speak of your older brother like that.”  The Queen’s cold voice thundered over the walls of the throne room.  Her face which showed signs of merriment moments ago, was now replaced with a harsh, commanding look that made even Yoseob’s knees tremble.  Biting back the endless retorts, the young prince complied with his mother’s order and took a step back.  The Queen held out a hand.  “Come, child.” 

Areum didn’t move.  When the Queen continued to look at her, Areum realized that ‘child’ meant her and she hurriedly bowed in apology.  The ruler’s glare softened as the girl curtseyed low at her feet.  “Stand, child.”  The Queen said as she took both Areum’s hands within her own.  She then closed her eyes and concentrated.  After a few minutes, she left go.

“This girl has spoken the truth,” The Queen declared.  In a speed that Areum could barely detect, Yoseob was in front of his mother.  However, she interrupted before he could utter a word.  “Why don’t you see for yourself.  If you really love this girl, you would listen to what she has to day, Yoseob.”

Yoseob hesitated.  “Areum-ah, why are you doing this?” His voice shook as he tried one last time for her to come back to her senses.  She said nothing, and merely copied the Queen’s action earlier of holding out her hand.  When she felt his fingers wrap around hers, Areum closed her eyes and let her mind do the talking.

-////Flashback////-

“This is all your fault!”

No…

“You killed her!”

He did it to save you…

“She understood me!”

She only did it because…

“She was the most important person in my life!”

…She was using you.

-////End Flashback////-

“…How could this be…?” Yoseob’s voice barely reached her ears as he withdrew from Areum.  She opened her eyes.  His skin was deathly pale and left a lingering cold touch on her hands. 

“Oppa…”  Areum tried to reach out for him, but just like he appeared before her, he left without a single sound.   

-////Night////-

Areum sat numbly on the bed, staying in the same position for hours after she was escorted by one of the maids to the guest chambers.  Only a brisk knock on the door did her mind deterred, as she called out, “Come in.”

Junhyung stepped in, and she forced her body to slide off of the mattress to greet him, but expressed shock as more people filed in.  “A-Ahnyeonghaseyo,” She bowed deeply.  The tallest one moved in to stop her attempted curtsey.

“Don’t, you’re no less at a position to bow than we are,” He said as he helped her up, “My name is Dongwoon.”  His curious eyes showed no signs of harming her, and her shoulders relaxed in relief. 

“We apologize for the surprising encounter earlier,” Another demon said in his low, but soft voice.  “It must have left you with a bad impression of us.” 

“Stop being such a worrywart, Hyunseung-ah,” The one with the eye-smile scolded, before flashing an easy grin at her, “It’s nice to meet you.  I’m Kikwang, and this self-centered diva is Hyunseung.”  This earned himself a smack on the arm from the said demon.  Areum bit back a giggle.

“I’m Doojoon, and you already know Yoseob, Junhyung, and of course, our maknae Dongwoon,” The demon who before had the surly look, was beaming back at her.  Areum felt slightly bewildered at their unexpected transformation of personalities.

“I know this sudden change may be hard to accept at first, so we’re here to answer anything you may have regarding demons, and of our world,” Dongwoon reassured her as he walked Areum back to her bed.  She sat down slowly.  Much to the boys’ amusement and surprise, she began bombarding question after question as soon as her body touched the mattress.

“How did I get here?  How did the demon world come to exist?  Did you really form from fallen angels?  Do you carry pitchforks?  Do you have horns growing out from your heads?  Why isn’t the sky as red and fiery as the books say they are?  Why is the moon so big in the sky?  Why is the grass blue?  Why—”

“That’s a lot of ‘why’s,” Kikwang chuckled at her questions, even at some of the more ridiculous ones.  “Doojoon-ah, care to explain?”

“Aish, I’m still older than you, why do I have to do it?” Doojoon grumbled in response.  Areum’s eyes widened.  “Doojoon-sshi, how old are you?” She asked.  The demon grinned.  “How old do I look?”

She glanced at his features.  “I’d say about twenty-three,” Areum concluded after viewing his young face.  Doojoon laughed.  “Multiply that number by thirteen and you get my demon age.” 

Areum did a mental calculation.  “Two hundred and ninety-nine?!” She yelped.  The others, minus Junhyung and Hyunseung, laughed at her reaction.  Doojoon high-fived Dongwoon.  “Almost my three hundredth birthday!” He cheered.

Seeing that Areum was still in shock, Kikwang quickly explained that in the demon world, time moved faster for them, and that each human year was more than a decade of this realm.  “Hyunseung’s around 295, and Junhyung’s 280. I’m more or less at 200.  Dongwoon would be the one closest to your age; he’s almost a hundred, even though he looks more like four hundred years old,” He joked.

Dongwoon pouted at his hyung.  “And Yoseob-oppa?” Areum asked, her eyes blazing with excitement.  Kikwang looked up at the ceiling, pondering for a while.  “I don’t know if living on Earth slows down his age, but technically he’s 250 years old.”  He responded with a swipe of his bangs.  Areum then noticed they had unique hair colours. 

“Is it natural?” She pointed to her head, which flowed raven black locks down to her shoulders.  Doojoon patted his sideburns self-consciously.  “I guess we should start from the beginning before she gets more confused,” He looked at his fellow colleagues. 

“For as long as any demon could remember, this realm existed.  We were not created from fallen angels, whatever that means.  And no, we do not have horns on our heads nor carry pitchforks, and as you can see, the sky is black rather than ‘red and fiery’.  Humans are so weird, coming up with crazy ideas like that,” Doojoon grimaced at the thoughts of having red horns protrude out of his head.  Kikwang nudged him to continue.   

“Anyways, we live in a world, however a different dimension, that co-exists amongst the human race, along with other supernaturals such as vampires, werewolves, and the works.  I’m sure you’ve heard of their stories.  Again, untrue and very exaggerated.  Stupid humans.  You cannot see us because we do not reveal ourselves to them, and the fact that we move during the night.  The moon is all we need to navigate throughout the times, and like the sun in your world, the light and power we need to go on with our daily lives.  We sometimes like to pop into the human world just for fun, and our main ways of getting there are either teleportation,” He suddenly appeared next to Areum’s side, startling her, “Or traveling through the well that links between your world’s dimension and ours, like how Yoseob did for you.”

“And the grass…we’re not sure why it’s blue,” Dongwoon shrugged.  Areum let out a laugh, and he grinned sheepishly back.  “I guess I can continue with the explanations.”

“As you have seen, our world is reigned by the soverei