2 // Demon

 

 

Daehyun trudged on in silence with Yumi trailing closely behind him, the two leaving behind nothing but the sounds of their feet crunching into the snow. Yumi was finding it difficult to keep up with his pace due to the thick layers of snow that effectively deterred her movement.

 

"So whereabouts are you from? The north-west or the south-west?"

 

A confused Yumi stared at the demon-slayer's back as he led the way ahead. *And where exactly might the north or south-west even be?*

 

"Are you from the country of KangRang or YuNan?" Daehyun asked more specifically.

 

"I'm... from neither."

 

He stopped and turned to look at her. "And you're not from this land either?"

 

She shook her head.

 

A look of great surprise spread across his face. "So you mean to say that you travelled here from a land beyond the seas of the Three Terrains?!"

 

"U-uh, I don't… know?" she started off a little hesitantly. "I'm from a country called South Korea."

 

"South Korea, she says," he quietly muttered to himself. "I've never heard of a South Korea before."

 

Yumi raised an eyebrow at this. *But aren't you speaking Korean right now?*.

 

"Hang on, things are not making any sense. How is it that you don't seem to know anything about this land, yet you are here right now? And how did you even get here anyway?" Daehyun's intense eyes landed on her weaponry. His suspicions of her were starting to grow. "That bow of yours doesn't look like anything we make in these lands. So what exactly is your purpose for coming here?"

 

Yumi quickly held up her hands to show that she meant him no harm at all. Being interrogated by this guy, a professional demon-slayer, was absolutely nerve-wracking for her. And it was not a good feeling at all.

 

"I-I didn't try getting here. And I don't really know how I got here either. These strange things just kept happening one after another, and then I was into a pool and was transported here somehow."

 

A look of realisation mixed with surprise spread across his face. "That sounds a lot like sorcery. Could it be possible that you actually came here from... another world?"

 

*Another world?*

 

It actually sounded like a rather plausible idea to her, considering everything that has happened so far.

 

Daehyun turned around and continued on his way. "That's enough talk for now. We should keep moving."

 

 

~~~

 

 

Daehyun had explained to her that there was a village nearby where he was staying with his good friend and his family. She could tell he was relieved when the first sign of the village finally came into view. After all, he had given her his woollen overcoat and must have been freezing from the cold.

 

Yumi noticed that all the houses, objects, and anything else she saw resembled those from the ancient times of her world. She knew that she could not have been transported back in time, since demons did not exist in her world and these lands were also not recorded in history. She was certain that this place was in an entirely different world altogether.

 

Daehyun hastily led her to one of the finer looking houses in the area and knocked on the front entrance. "It's me, open up."

 

Shortly after, they heard sounds of the door being unlocked from the inside, followed by it swinging open to reveal a young man dressed in a more scholarly, long-robed attire that was white with brown linings. Under his matching headwear was also short, black hair -- nothing like the long, pulled-up style the ancient Korean people used to have. The young man immediately noticed her standing behind Daehyun.

 

"I was wondering what was taking you so long and was going to go look for you, but it seems like you were busy taking care of a damsel in distress." His eyes landed on the bow and arrows protruding from her back. "Or, maybe not."

 

Daehyun impatiently pushed past him. "Talk later. We're coming in first."

 

He quickly disappeared into one of the rooms, leaving Yumi to stand awkwardly by herself in what seemed to be the hallway. The young man shut the door behind them before turning to her and greeting her with a smile.

 

"It's nice to meet you Miss. I'm Yoo Youngjae, a friend of Daehyun's."

 

He bowed politely and she quickly returned it.

 

"I'm Choi Yumi. Thank you for taking me into your home."

 

With the formalities over, Youngjae took her to a room where she could dry off and change into a new set of clothing. On the way there, they passed by many store rooms that gave off a pungent scent of medicinal herbs. Each room was filled with containers and clay pots labelled with names of different medicines. Since they were all written in Chinese characters, there were many that Yumi could not read.

 

She was left in the room with a towel after being told that Youngjae's younger sister would come by and bring her clothes to change into. The room wasn't very big or fancy, but it was tidy and cosy. It made sense to assume that Youngjae's family were doctors, since they seemed to be more well-off than the rest of the village. The other buildings she saw looked more like huts and were all wooden.

 

Yumi sighed. She didn't know how much longer she had to stay in this world, and she didn't know how to get back home either. *Junhong must be worried sick about me.*

 

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door opening. Yumi looked up and saw a girl around her age carrying a set of clothing that was identical to the slim-fitting, long-robed dress she was wearing. It was red with yellow patterns of flowers.

 

This must be Youngjae's sister. She had childlike features and wore her long, black hair in two pigtail braids with her bangs swept to the side.

 

"Nice to meet you Miss Yumi, I'm Yoo AeMi! My older brother asked me to help you change into these."

 

Much to Yumi's embarrassment, AeMi started peeling off her wet clothing and helped her into the dress-robes. As much as she was unaccustomed to having someone help her dress, Yumi would've had trouble putting on clothing this intricate without any assistance. She raised an arm and consequently felt a numbing pain shoot through her shoulder.

 

AeMi looked at her in concern when she yelped in pain. "Does it hurt somewhere?"

 

Yumi nodded and massaged her right shoulder. *It must have been from when the demon pressed my own bow into my shoulder.*

 

From her clothing, AeMi pulled out a roll of red material and placed it on the floor before her. Yumi watched as she unrolled it to reveal an entire set of acupuncture needles of all shapes and sizes, pulling two medium-sized ones from the batch. Before Yumi could even ask her what she was going to do with them, she subtly felt the needles being pressed into her right shoulder.

 

"W-wait, what are you…"

 

She trailed off when she felt the pain starting to subside, until it disappeared altogether.

 

AeMi removed the needles. "Does it feel better now?"

 

Yumi flexed her shoulder and smiled at her gratefully. "Yes, it doesn't hurt anymore! That's amazing! Are you a doctor as well?"

 

"Not at all! I just know how to use acupuncture," she laughed. "It's more suitable to call our family medical researchers, rather than doctors. We specialise in making medicines and treatments for the strange illnesses."

 

"Oh, I see."

 

"Oh! And I almost forgot, my brother said he wanted to talk to you."

 

AeMi stood up and pulled Yumi by the arm. She quickly grabbed onto her archery equipment and brought it with her. She didn't want to leave behind her only way of defending herself, no matter where it was. 

 

The two girls arrived at the living room where Youngjae was already seated on the floor in front of a low table. They sat across from him as he poured them cups of tea. Yumi took a sip from the cup he handed her and recognised it as ginger tea.

 

"So I assume you were out hunting for food and was attacked by a demon, and then Daehyun saved you from it?" Youngjae suddenly asked.

 

"U-uh, well Daehyun did save me from a demon," she answered, "...but---"

 

"She wasn't out hunting."

 

It was Daehyun's voice. Yumi looked behind her to see him standing at the doorway. He had changed into a different set of clothing similar to the one he wore before, but this one was of a dark blue material with black linings. His katana was still at his waist.

 

Just as he was about to continue on with what he was saying, they were interrupted by the sound of loud cries and banging coming from the front entrance of the building. Noticing that something was wrong, Daehyun quickly rushed over to the door with Youngjae and AeMi following suit.

 

Yumi went after them and saw that a small group of distraught villagers were begging Daehyun to save them.

 

"Three demons have appeared and are attacking the village!" a middle-aged man wailed. "And the demons are able to control water!"

 

"What?!" Daehyun yelled. "Three level-3 demons at once? Youngjae!"

 

"Got it!" his friend replied. He quickly pulled a sword from its holster on the wall and left the house running with Daehyun.

 

AeMi looked at Yumi with a serious expression. "Stay here Yumi." She sent her a reassuring smile before going after the two.

 

Yumi's hands clutched onto her bow in frustration. The screams of the villagers outside were only getting louder and more desperate, and the whole idea of 'staying here' was eating at her conscience. The lives of hundreds of villagers outside were in danger while she was cowardly hiding behind these doors. With years of archery practice under her belt, she actually had the skill to make a difference in battle. She couldn't just stand around and do nothing. She had to help.

 

Swinging her bow around to grip it in her left hand, Yumi hurried towards the direction the other three went. Terrified villagers were running away from the danger with their children in tow. It wasn't long before she came across the first demon, who was in pursuit of a mother and her child.

 

The demon was a disfigured hound like the one she had just encountered earlier that night in the forest. Remembering how Daehyun had managed to kill it instantly by piercing a sword through its head, Yumi pulled back an arrow and aimed for a clear head shot.

 

She released the arrow and watched as it sliced through the air and pierced the demon straight through the head, leaving it to disintegrate into nothing. The mother and child quickly bowed and thanked her profusely before leaving to join up with the other villagers.

 

Yumi retrieved the used arrow from the ground before she continued on her way. She only had so many with her, so she didn't want to be wasting any.

 

*If it was this easy to kill them, then shouldn't Daehyun have easily taken care of them already?*

 

The middle-aged villager said that the three demons could control water, but the one that Yumi had just killed could not. This could only mean that there were more than three demons attacking the village.

 

By the time Yumi had reached the other three, she had already killed another four disfigured hounds. Daehyun, Youngjae and AeMi were all battling one of the water-wielding demons each. Though also disfigured in appearance, these demons were completely different to the low-grade ones -- they were each the size of two bears and were capable of manipulating water to attack.

 

Daehyun mainly fought with his katana, which was able to create lightning to counter the demons' water attacks, but he also used talismans to inflict damage onto the demons. The scholarly Youngjae fought with a sword that turned black when he channeled energy from it to directly attack his enemies. And despite AeMi's sweet looks, she was also formidable in battle, as the acupuncture needles she threw were capable of transforming into daggers.

 

If it was a one-on-one battle, the three would've easily destroyed the water-wielding demons. But they also had to deal with the small fry at the same time. Yumi may not have been able to take on any of those huge demons, but the disfigured hounds were no match for her now that she knew how to kill them. Quickly crouching behind a small cart for shelter, Yumi took down the low-grades from there. The three in battle looked behind them to see that she was helping them.

 

Daehyun smirked. "Remind me to thank her later," he called out to the other two.

 

"Will do!" they replied simultaneously.

 

Yumi continued on with her assault until she finished off the demons with the last of her arrows. Just as she was preparing to run out to retrieve a few of them, she felt a sudden chill run down her spine. Yumi slowly glanced up towards the water-wielding demons and, to her horror, saw that all three of them were glaring at her with their blood-red eyes.

 

It wasn't long before the demons decided to abandon their respective battles to go after her instead.

 

Panic went through her body. Now that it had come to this, Yumi had no other choice but to run. She didn't dare look back and continued running as fast as her legs could go. *Why are they coming after me, though?!*

 

"Yumi!"

 

It was AeMi's voice.

 

"Keep running!"

 

Youngjae.

 

"Duck, Yumi! Duck!"

 

*Daehyun? What does he mean by---*

 

"Ah!"

 

Yumi let out a cry as she fell forward onto the snow after being whipped in the back by the demon's water. "O-oww…"

 

"Get up, Yumi! Hurry!"

 

Daehyun wouldn't make it in time. She had to get away by herself.

 

Yumi turned around to see that the demons were already standing right in front of her. She fearfully stared into their blood-thirsty eyes as they were getting ready to attack her.

 

"YUMI!!!"

 

*No… No… Please, no!* she pleaded in her head. Yumi squeezed her eyes shut and turned her head to the side. She held out her hands in front of her and screamed.

 

"NO!!!"

 

 

Silence fell upon them, as they heard the echoing sound of Yumi's scream throughout the entire village. It rung inside her very own ears.

 

Feeling nothing happen to her, Yumi slowly opened her eyes.

 

She turned her head to where the demons were and was greeted by the magnificent sight of an ice sculpture that had the three demons frozen within it, immobilizing their movement. Yumi gaped at the grand structure that towered over her.

 

*H-how… But how?*

 

"Yumi-ah…"

 

She glanced past the ice to see AeMi looking just as surprised as she was.

 

"…how is it… possible?"

 

Youngjae was beside her, looking as if he had no answers to anything for the first time in his life.

 

"You….

 

 

… demon."

 

Yumi's blood ran cold on hearing that last word.

 

That voice… it was...

 

Her eyes sought for those familiar intense eyes that showed concern for her when she was first attacked by a demon.

 

She found them and locked eyes with them -- but there was no concern. And there was no care. Not even familiarity.

 

His eyes were filled with an unrecognisable hostility that reflected his disdain towards her.

 

 

*Dae… hyun?*

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

This chapter turned out longer than expected. 

 

Welcome new subscribers and thank you for reading :)

 

--- Mistlea