Chapter 5. The Curious and the Defeated

The eighth Quadrant was more or less what Seungri had imagined it to be. Beside him Daesung walked with an uncertain gait, turning his contorted face around; most probably looking for danger. It was, though, understandable. The idea of leaving the shelter and go wandering around the streets was Seungri’s and only his. Daesung, despite being right by his side, was only there because of his strange sense of loyalty.

Seungri grabbed Daesung by the shoulders and smiled to him, as comforting as he could.

“Thank you for coming along,” he said and pressed his shoulders amicably.

Daesung blinked a couple of times and a shy smile pulled on his lips, then his eyes looked at the bandaged pair of wings behind Seungri’s back and shrugged. But his eyes kept the same anguished look as before.

Around them, walking on the sidewalk there was a foreign blend of white and black colors. Young demons were running down the street, fluttering their black wings and scurrying under their parent’s legs. Several times the eyes of the youngsters meet theirs and the kids would stop their run and tilt their heads, in a curious yet cute manner. Seungri could swear that sometimes even some of them pulled what could be judged as the start of a coy smile. But he never got to know, for their parents pulled them back and hid them under the protection of their dark wings… every single time. At the end what looked back at Jiyong was a sneer or bared teeth from the angered parent’s faces.

“You should really stop doing that,” pleaded Daesung, glancing at the angered parent sideways and shoving Seungri to keep walking, “You are grabbing their attention. And that’s never a good idea,” he emphasized, nervously.

They walked for a long time even though Seungri felt continuously the sting of pain coming from his damaged wing at his back; but the curiosity of knowing more about the place, of exploring this new unknown territory was more powerful than anything else. The stores at the quadrant were quite bizarre, with the blend of colors and yet that sense of enmity irradiating from every single place he looked at. There were always demons and angels inside every store or restaurant or small café, and still not one or the other seemed to want to acknowledge the other species. A sign at one end of the street caught Seungri’s attention and, determined, he walked quickly to it pulled by the oddness of the store. Behind him, he heard the rushed steps of Daesung trying to catch up with him.

A bell rang when both angels entered the store. Seungri’s eyes grew wide when he looked at the enormous bookshelves stretching from the floor to the ceiling all along the walls of the store. Next to him, Daesung let out a surprised gasp and stared, too, at the appalling quantity of books in front of their eyes.

“Welcome to Gaki library. How can I help you?” an old, monotone voice asked at the back of the store. An old demon came out from behind one of those shelves, dragging his wings over the floor as if he had no longer the strength to keep them upright. The old demon stopped in his tracks once he spotted both angels standing at the entrance of the store and squinted his eyes, looking closely at both of them. “Well, I must say you are not my usual type of customers,” the old demon said and, Seungri wasn’t sure if it was his own imagination or not, he looked with intensity at Seungri. With a shaky hand, the demon grabbed a cane that stood up against the wall and hobbled towards them.

Daesung looked at the old one approaching, then at Seungri and then proceed to step back and hid behind his friend’s bandaged wings. The demon rolled his eyes and exclaimed with a disgruntled voice.

“Young kid,” he laughed, “unless you are scared of the powers of this mighty fine cane in my hand, I don’t know what can you find so scary about this damn old body of mine,” he said, looked down at his crooked legs and then asked, “What do I owe you the visit?”

“You sell antique books,” Seungri murmured, eyes still fixed on the bookshelves around them, “I love antique books,” he said more to himself than anyone else. But as soon as those words came out from his mouth, Seungri reflected on what he had just said and lowered his head and wings, bit his lower lip and waited for the usual reprimand. The silence that came from the old demon was, though, not what he usually got as an answer for his curiosity.

“Well then,” the demon said, amusement evident in his voice, “Go on, take a look,” he encouraged him signaling to the shelves with one of his hands, and then hobbled to the small living room at the center of the store and sat over one of the chairs, “If you have in mind something in specific or need any help I’ll be sitting right here. I don’t have many clients so the store is all yours,” he said and stretched his legs in front of him and sighed, closing his eyes. His dark wings lay resting over the floor.

Excitement beamed in Seungri’s eyes and with a dreamy smile he threw himself to the closest shelves; eyes darting everywhere trying to read all titles all at once. Daesung, on the other hand, kept staring at the old demon with something akin to suspicion before following his friend with evident less excitement.

“What are you looking for?” he whispered to Seungri’s ear, still darting distrustful glances to where the old demon was resting.

“To be honest, I don’t know,” Seungri answered, one finger caressing a worn-out book spine and shrugged, smiling. “I suppose…” he started but then gulped and remained silent. He was thankful his wings were so bandaged and motionless Daesung was not able to read his emotions at that instant.

But Daesung noticed his indecision for he raised an eyebrow and nagged him, “You suppose what?”

Seungri didn’t answer instantly but keep touching the books, entranced. “My grandfather,” he finally said and stopped moving his fingers and glanced at where the demon was and then, almost in a whisper, he continued talking, “… he believed in The Medley. He was a historian and he had books that no one was supposed to have or read. He died when I was born but I managed to find some of his books down in our basement at home. But the good ones, I believe…” Seungri shook his head and lowered his eyes to the floor, “… they were missing. I never had the courage to ask my mom or my dad for them. For what I know they probably burned them.”

The library stood in an eerie silence for a while. Daesung assessing the information he had just heard. Seungri stood in silence remembering the times he had spent reading those books inside the darkness of his own basement.

“You know you are too curious for your own good, right?” Daesung sighed, eyebrows pulled together, “So what exactly do you think those books were about?”

“I have no real idea… I guess the history? Maybe they were about those times when demons and angels first met. How they came to separate and despise each other… There are not enough books that talk about those things, and about demons,” he added finally, “You know they keep their own history pretty undisclosed. We angels know glimpses about their past.”

“Hmm,” Daesung nodded and after a second smiled in complicity, “Well, I’ll see if I find something,” he said and moved to the following shelve without much further discussion. Seungri looked at his friend’s back and wondered what exactly was in Daesung’s mind at that instant and why had he accepted so easily.

After more than four hours reading the first pages of dusty books and blowing dust from book covers, Seungri placed a mountain of books on the store counter with a loud thud. At his side, Daesung placed another similar mountain with a proud grin on his face. It seemed both angels had found enough readings to keep themselves occupied for the rest of their stay at that quadrant.

The old demon as if awakened by the sounds, opened his eyes and looked at both young angels and then at the books on the counter and smiled.

“Found anything?” he asked, standing up and grabbed his cane to walk to where both angels were. Once at the other side of the counter, he counted the books, read the titles and hummed in agreement, “Good titles,” he nodded.

Seungri bit his lip, “How much would it be?”

The old demon let out a soft laugh and shook his head, “Much more than what you and your friend have in both your pockets,” he said. But instead of sneering in disdain, his eyes were looking at both of them with warmth. But Seungri didn’t notice that last part for he let his shoulders slump defeated.

“But…” the demon added and it was all Seungri needed to lift his head and look at the old man with hope, “if you promise to take care of them and bring them back in the same conditions, I can lend them to you,” the old man suggested.

To that Daesung’s lips pressed flat, he crossed his arms and with squinted eyebrows evaluated the demon’s face. “Why?” he asked with a gruff voice.

With a sudden swing of his cane, the old demon smacked Daesung side; who let out a yelp and bulged his eyes out incredulous, first towards the cane and then to the old demon’s face.

“Young kid, you are too distrustful! Have I done something to make you think I am nothing but an old excited demon?” the old demon almost growled and swung his cane once again, but Daesung was faster and shuffled back two steps avoiding the hit.

The old demon gave a crisp nod and looked at Seungri.

“You understand that this is the first time young people step inside this library. I am just extremely pleased right now,” he explained and bend down to take two card boxes from under the counter and an old battered notebook.

He wrote the titles of the books one by one and placed them inside the boxes with carefulness. Once all the box were placed inside, he read the list of titles once again, fro