Chapter 9

I couldn’t explain how I felt watching BaekHyun lie and fool around with me like I was nothing but a dumb ghost. All I could say was that I hated him to my guts and I was definitely not going to cry over something like this.

Aish! I’ve always hated myself. I can never get myself together to realise that crying doesn’t do anything. So for how many days, I don’t know, I cried. Releasing every ounce of hatred I had for him out, though I still had a torn pricking my heart I was willing to cry it out and forget that selfish guy. So after the crying phase I practically sat myself on my bed, flipping through the pages of my life’s journal for the millionth time, I couldn’t help wonder why my life would start out like this then end with me being an immortal. At the beginning of my life I was a man, tortured because my life wasn’t anything much but a slave. I died as a slave at the age of 39. Although I couldn’t recall back those memories but all I can say was that I died as a useless man. Probably this is the reason why my life would always be useless.

Would becoming immortal mean that my life would be for a use or just the same reason I was given life? Turning the book upside down, I took a look at the last page. Seeing the burn pages I was curious about what would’ve been there if it wasn’t accidentally burnt. Opening to the next page, to my surprise there were more writing from what I had read yesterday. I'm surprised that there would be anymore writing in this book. I guess this book had magical powers that records whatever happens in my life.

I heard as my door opened and SuHo’s head popped out, he was always been checking up on me. Did he really think I can kill myself? I’m immortal now. Even if I was begging someone to kill me I wouldn’t die. “Cheer up HyoMi, being immortal isn’t so bad,” SuHo smiled making his way over to me as he took a seat at the edge of the bed, but seeing my annoyed expression his smiled turned into an uncomfortable smile, “I know you’re angry at Death because he did this to you. Plus you’re angry at me because I didn’t warn you. But I did!”

I wasn’t in any mood to argue or fight with him. At least someone out of the demon brothers have the consideration to talk to me and try to cheer me up. “Hey, stop locking yourself up in here and go talk to Death,” he suggested, I looked over at him as though asking him ‘did you eat something wrong?’ Why would I be the first to talk to him when this entire issue was his fault?!

“Come on, we’re friends. Friends don’t ignore each other,” SuHo frowned at my continuous silence.

“We’re friends?” I finally spoke, I’ve always seen them as my friends, but I would never think that SuHo would reckon me as a friend, food is normal. But not friends.

“Hell yeah buddy, except the fact that I still want to eat you. But since you’re immortal now, I can stop thinking about that,” he smirked at me, still giving off a gaze as though he really did want a taste of me, “So what do you say? Talk to Death?”

“Let’s not go back to that again. I still want at least one friend to talk to,” I sighed letting out another dreary sigh for the millionth time. I didn’t know how long I locked myself in this room. A day? A week? It doesn’t matter anymore because I don’t need to count the days because it’ll be eternal for me.

“SuHo, tell me, why did BaekHyun needed to kill 6 girls?” I haven’t spoken or asked much about the incident, I just sat in my room reading over my life’s journal countless of times. I didn’t even eat or sleep for the entire time, I guess the bunch of coffee kept me awake.

I also haven’t seen BaekHyun after what occurred, probably was best if I didn’t see him ever again. I knew he was suffering as well, not my emotional pain, but the physical one. I’m amazed that my ‘feel-alike’ broken arm healed within less than one day. Man how hard it was to move for that time.

“Well, in order to make someone immortal you need to have that person dead first. Then you have to find their ghost spirit and feed them 24 human souls. 12 evil souls and 12 pure souls, using the most reasonable method, that means demons has to make deals in order to devour the souls. Though angels are harder since they are known as the ‘holy’ things, they need the souls to willingly sacrifice themselves for them. After all of those is done, the person then becomes immortal,” he explained, so that was the reason why BaekHyun killed those girls. He killed so many people just to make me immortal, no wonder he told SuHo to babysit me while he disappeared to somewhere, “After becoming immortal, they are given the same powers as the immortal who turned them. That means the chances of being an angel or demon depends on the immortal. But this usually doesn’t happen much, usually those immortals that fall in love with humans.”

“Then I’ll be Im HyoMi, the Demon of Lust?”

“Sounds pretty good to me, really y,” SuHo laughed, I don't know if he was joking or not, but it was creepy hearing him say that.

“So how do I use my powers?”

“Only BaekHyun can show you, I don’t know how to control his powers, for the obvious reason that I’m not him,” Great I’m still stuck to BaekHyun I guess running away from him is really hard, not only are we linked, I now have his powers. Who am I going to seduce?

“But do you think it’ll be okay? I wasn’t actually human to begin with. I’m a living ghost, does that affect the process in any way?” If that means I don’t get to turn into an immortal then that means those 24 people BaekHyun killed were for nothing, but it also means I’ll eventually have to live on BaekHyun’s life supply… again.

Why can’t I just stab myself and die? Ending a life isn’t hard when you have the heart to stab, but why is my life so hard to end? That’s right, I have BaekHyun’s immortality connected to mine, he practically heals every wound I inflict on myself.

I watched as SuHo’s scrunched up face told me there was something else missing from the story, “Well, I think you should ask Death. He did his research for this, I just heard it from him that you need to eat human souls or something.”

“I’m not going to eat anyone! Tell him that I don’t want to it!”

“I honestly think you should give it a try, eating human souls aren’t as bad as you think,” What was he thinking?! Right he’s also a demon, but why does he keeps siding with BaekHyun. I know they’re brothers but the way he’s always on BaekHyun’s side really makes me suspicious. Demons are arrogant and self-indulged beings, I wouldn’t think SuHo would be so loyal to BaekHyun if there wasn’t some agreement.

“Why are you always on his side? I thought you’re my friend?”

“I am, but he is also my brother,”

“Did he blackmail you into doing things for him?”

“What?! No! If he blackmailed me I’ll rip his head off myself. I’m just willing to help him that’s all,” SuHo raised an eyebrow at me, so he isn’t as nice to his brother as I thought, “…*sigh… it’s just that when we were young, you could say I was the worst brother. I hated Death to my guts, I would purposely hurt him and bully him. And possibly even try to kill him.”

“Wow, so you’re practically blackmailing yourself then,” I rolled my eyes, why would he bully him and then regret it? But if BaekHyun suffered a lot when he was young maybe that’s why he doesn’t tell a lot about himself, “Why did you bully him? Because he was annoying?”

“Because he’s my step brother. You know my father is the Lord of the Underworld or the ultimate Devil, he has many women hanging or over him. Immortals like to live life thinking that they’re God of their own world,”

“Do you think you’re God too?”

“All the time. We were born with immortality, supernatural powers and raised with families who were power-hungry. All immortals are the same, we have everything but need more than that,” SuHo smirked as he explained this, I’m guessing he’s proud of being born a demon, “This is the reason why those immortals who turns humans into immortals tend to leave them in the end. They have everything, but it’s not enough for them. So that method is rarely used, because of our usual need for more, some people just think it’s a waste of time.”

I nodded understandingly, demons will always be demons. BaekHyun’s main purpose was to just keep his life in a safe place, he’ll just leave me once everything was coming to an end. I don’t understand how any human can fall in love with a demon when they only think about themselves.

“What are you thinking about?” the voice woke me up from my train of thoughts, seeing BaekHyun sitting on my bed instead of SuHo slightly gave me a shock. So the stubborn demon finally comes to check up on me, I didn’t want to say anything to him, ignoring him I picked up my journal and flicked through it as though he wasn’t there.

BaekHyun then grabbed it off me with irritation and threw it aside, “You can’t continue ignoring me. I gave you space to cool down, so it’s now time to start your training.”

“Pfft! You think giving me space to cool down would make me forgive you for what you’ve done to me?! I was practically waiting for at least an apology!”

“Sorry, there. Happy now? Can you just get out of this room?”

“No! And I’m not happy! You can leave if you want because I don’t feel like looking at you,” Just like that I slumped down on the bed and covered the blanket over my head. I know I was being a stubborn child. He should say it properly, then I would’ve listened to him.

I felt as though he reached his hand under the blanket and grabbed for my hand. Yanking me out, I fell onto the hard cold wet floor. Strange? My floor was carpet not cement. Allowing myself to process everything, I found myself in a dark cave or something along the lines of that. That sly bastard! He dragged out here for no reason and now he has disappeared!

Suddenly hearing strange noises, I curiously made my way closer towards the sounds. That was when it hit me, I wasn’t in some cave, I was pulled into some sort of a jail ground. I watched as the men locked within the bars did nothing but silently did their own things. I then turned to one guy, he was approximately in his late 20s, he stared back at me as though he was studying me. He had large eye bags under his eyes, looking as though he hasn’t slept in a long time. I noticed cut wounds on his wrists, repeatedly over one another and a large bruised wound across his neck. Is he trying to kill himself? Looking from those wounds he must’ve spent a long time trying to kill himself. Suddenly, noticing his chest, I watched as the red smoke bubbled and burn within his body. Red smoke? I clearly remember the girl had white smoke? I couldn’t help but stare at this red smoke, although it was just nothing but smoke, it looked somewhat appetizing.

“Hungry?” I heard BaekHyun’s voice hovering behind me, “Come on, it’s free. You should give him a taste.”

“You’re sick,” before I could run anywhere, BaekHyun grabbed my arm and pulled me back, forcing me to stare at the guy behind the bars. “He is what you need to survive. Without a first feed, you’ll die,” he explained.

“I would rather die,”

“I’m not going to let my effort be wasted, if you don’t eat him I’ll do it and feed you myself,” after he said that I remembered the time when he forcefully fed me even though I had no idea why he kissed me. I’m not going back there.

“Fine! I’m doing this for the 24 people who you killed! Don’t think I’m doing this means I’ll forgive you,” BaekHyun simply rolled his eyes as I felt him turn me around to face the guy and leaned in closer to my ear, whispering, “You’re the Demon of Lust, do it. Use your powers to make a deal with him.”

“How do I do it?”

“Look him deep in the eye and ask him what he lusts the most. Make him promise to hand over his soul,” this was so frustrating. Although I was complaining non-stop within my mind, I still listened and followed his instructions. Looking into the guy’s eyes, I watched as my eyes were slowly starting to glow red, “What lusts you most?” I didn’t know what was going on, but as I stared into his eyes, I saw images of the guy and girl. From when they first met each other and when she tragically ended up ill because she was traumatized over the lost of her first child, to the time when he avenged his child’s death by killing the person involved in the incident. Everything was reeling out to me as though I’m some kind of grim reaper.

“I want to see my wife and my child,” the guy replied almost instantly, tears were starting to fill his eyes as they were pleading me to help him.

“Are you willing to give up your soul to me if I give you your desire?”

“Anything, I’ll do everything I could to see them again,”

“Then it’s a deal,” I breathed out, this is so pressuring. Turning around to BaekHyun I looked at him worried where in the world I can find this guy’s wife although I know the child’s already dead, “How do we find his wife?”

“Why are you asking me? You know where she is,”

“What?! You don’t know?!” this is shocking, the ‘I-know-it-all’ BaekHyun has no idea where to find the wife.

“Don’t tell me you forgot what you saw when you looked into his eyes?”

When I looked into his eyes? That’s right! I saw his memories, I watched as his memories were allowing me to search for the thing he loves most. “I know where his wife is!” I yelled happily, but then I paused for a moment, “She died. How am I going to bring her back?”

“You’re a demon, finding those from the dead is easy for you. Just eat him and show him his wife,” BaekHyun said, though I honestly think this is deception in a way, “What are you thinking about? Hurry up and eat his soul. Remember to bring his wife into his mind, otherwise his soul would haunt you.”

“Geez, stop nagging like an old grandma,” I sighed once again turning to face the guy, moving in just a bit closer, I began inhaling his soul. It somehow began like an addiction, I kept inhaling, until I suddenly choked and felt as the soul was fighting against me. “Show him his wife! You’re not strong enough to fight against him,” I heard BaekHyun yelled from behind me. Show his wife? How do I do it? Closing my eyes, I imagined his wife standing underneath the oak tree holding onto a small little girl’s hand, bringing memories of how they first met, then I watched as the guy slowly made his way towards her. They embraced each other with tears filling their eyes-

Opening my eyes, I watched as the body fell onto the ground with a warm smile on his lips. I guess he’s been waiting a long time to meet them. Turning around back to BaekHyun he had an impressed expression on his face, then does it means I did a good job? BaekHyun smiled and gave me a pat on my shoulder, “You’ve done well.”

Killing people isn’t my thing, but giving them something they’ve been dying to have could be quite amazing. Somehow I wished that I would get a chance to see my family again, though there’s no demon to eat me because BaekHyun is guarding his life. SuHo was right, eating human souls isn’t that bad, though I’m still wondering which way he meant. “This is the first soul, you need to prepare yourself for more,” BaekHyun reminded as we were now back to my room, teleporting this way isn’t such a bad thing, “I hope you’ll listen more carefully to my instructions though.”

“Mind explaining why I need to listen to you?” strange of me asking when I was the person in the first place deciding to listen to him, although SuHo had explained it, but I wanted a clear explanation from BaekHyun. Maybe if he explains this properly then I’ll forgive him. I heard as BaekHyun let out a sigh in annoyance, it’s just so like him to be annoyed when it comes to explaining things.

“You’re…”

“You’re not at a stable stage. Your transition isn’t complete yet. You need to make 12 deals with 12 human souls who have souls filled with of the strongest emotions of love. They are the red souls you need to devour, but I have to warn you that they can be pretty tough to handle since they are much stronger than other souls. Usually demons stay away from these love-sick souls, because they’ll end up killing themselves trying to devour these souls. It’s more of the angel’s jobs to handle these tough love bugs,”

I can hear him speaking to me as though we’ve just used telepathy, it was strange but quite amazing. No, wait. BaekHyun didn’t say it from his mouth instead he telepath it to me. That damn bastard he’s playing with words. But I don’t understand why he just can’t say it out, are there some things that can’t be said aloud? Who would be concerned of this type of stuff?

“They say that there is nothing deeper than human love. Because humans are the weakest, but they have the strongest hearts. Demons don’t even have hearts, metaphorically speaking. Whereas angels just have everything, so they just sit there playing their god role like they’re on the top of the world.”

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“The problem that you are trying to solve is also my issue, you've broken the rules and I'm here just doing my duty in trying to fix that imbalance you've created,” Kai explained although he sounded at bit annoyed.

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Killing people isn’t my thing, but giving them something they’ve been dying to have could be quite amazing. Somehow I wished that I would get a chance to see my family again, though there’s no demon to eat me because BaekHyun is guarding his life.

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“Usually demons stay away from these love-sick souls, because they’ll end up killing themselves trying to devour these souls. It’s more of the angel’s jobs to handle these tough love bugs,”

Angels? Me and BaekHyun? That only means that I’m one of those souls that BaekHyun were talking about, plus SuHo told me that human’s hearts are the strongest, adding everything up. The red soul is almost invincible to kill. How would that work though? I’m only supposed to be involved with angels, except BaekHyun was attached to me and had tried turning me into a demon. But it doesn’t really mean that my soul is not editable, BaekHyun once tried to kill me.

“Hey BaekHyun, about those red souls, how do they kill a demon?” I asked looking at him suspiciously, I can tell that he realised something. Probably understanding what I had just recognized some kind of loophole in this hidden secrets. BaekHyun remained quiet for a moment.

“Well…” he started but then paused wondering if he would accidentally tell me something important I wasn’t suppose to know. But being a demon was an advantage for me, because I knew what he wants to say before he can change his mind.

“Well, the red souls tend to haunt the mind of demons, because majority of their thoughts are filled with death and suicide. They have much stronger emotions and hearts than demons, so the demons are being controlled by these souls as it consumes the demon’s inactive heart and drives them into suicide. Usually when we devour pure souls or evil-hearted souls, it has no affect because those people value their lives. Demons were born with the advantage to live forever, but they were raised to hold onto that determination of living,”

“Since the demon’s heart is weaker than the red souls, it’s really easy for them to take control,” BaekHyun spoke, knowing for sure he had foolishly slipped his tongue for that slight second. So it means that when BaekHyun tried eating me before and wasn’t able to, the real reason wasn’t because he stopped himself, but he couldn’t because my red soul was starting to consume him.

“How do angels deal with these souls?”

“The main role of angels is to fix imbalance of life,” somehow that voice doesn’t sound like BaekHyun and I can definitely remember BaekHyun still haven’t opened his mouth. Turning around I found Kai standing behind me with that friendly smile of his, “Unlike the demons’ desire for eternity, angels truly don’t care about life or death. Since a red soul’s heart is occupied only with death, angels just simply fix that imbalance, giving them an equal thought in order for them to happily reincarnate without causing trouble for other humans and souls such as revenge or last requests.”

“What the hell are you doing here, Vigor?”

“You’ve broken tons of rules and punishment is inevitable. Do you really think you can hide everything from me? Do you think I cannot predict what’s going to happen?! I’m the freakin’ Angel of Time, don’t think you can hide everything under my nose?!” Kai exploded, I guess he wasn’t in the mood to hold his anger any longer. Did it really cause that much trouble turning me into a demon?

“Im HyoMi cannot be a demon!” Kai yelled looking over at me, his eyes were still warm as he looked at me, but I could sense the frustration in his expression, “You have to stop, HyoMi. You being a demon is only going to cause BaekHyun to be-”

BaekHyun immediately covered his hand over Kai’s mouth as his red eyes were coming out, it has been awhile since I saw them, but right now my mind was wondering what Kai was going to say. Kai is the Angel of Time? I think I’ve heard that somewhere before.

“BaekHyun is going to be what?” I asked curiously.