Jumun
Hate You (Jaesueobseo)
Minho fell once again and landed in a cave. His face was flat on the sharp stones, scarring him on the first landing. This showed how battered Minho was at this state. As soon as he got up, commotion was the first thing he saw. There were a bunch of people, tribal people gathered at the cliff of the cave which was blazing hot and smoking. Minho walked over to the commotion but decided not to get closer, for fear that he might see something he shouldn’t.
“ARGGHHH!” screamed a woman clad in all black. She was hung upside down from her feet, her hands tied together. The woman was being dipped in a boiling pit of fire and rocks. Her hair was slowly starting to burn off her head. This made Minho want to run away but he bumped into a couple of Orange Devils.
“Oh no! What is this?!” Minho groaned. The Devils dragged him to the center of the fire cult. The tribal people made way as the Orange Devils came with a man being dragged in their hands. The center of the temple was hot and there were torches on the corners. There was a throne in the middle but it was empty.
“What the hell is this?” the Orange Devils threw him down on the ground. Minho once again had his face in the dirt. When he looked up, he saw a red entity floating above him. The entity wasn’t that clear, all he knew was that it was a cloudy shade of red. Minho sat up and watched as the entity danced around before his eyes. He rubbed his eyes and though he wanted to think that it was an illusion, by this time he was all too familiar with this trick. It was another goddess, that’s for sure. But who?
“Who are you? Are you one of my demonic ex-girlfriends? I think you are!” he called out, having already noticed it. The entity started to take the shape of a woman and as soon as its transformation from smoke to goddess was complete, Minho got a clearer picture of who she was.
Red dress. Red shoes. Red nails. Thick, curly hair.
“Kwon Yuri? What the-”
“Choi Minho!” Yuri descended and set her red diamond-studded heels on the hot grounds of the cave, watching Minho with stern, glinting eyes, evidence of anger.
“Yuri. Yuri, let me explain. I’ve been through so much over the past few hours and I am here to tell you that I have changed! I am a changed man, I tell you!” Yuri turned around and cracked her whip at him. Minho was hit right across the face, giving him a huge scar.
“Save your words for someone who gives a . I know I don’t.” Yuri said angrily. She cracked the whip on the ground, making a noise that was louder than thunder. Minho covered his ears and pressed his face on the ground so as not to hear it.
“Yuri, I don’t care what you think and how you think this is going to be but what I just want to tell you is that I’m sorry for whatever I-” Yuri wasn’t going to have any more of his lies and cracked her whip, causing fire to erupt from it. Minho felt the flames from where he was and cried at her feet, begging for her not to do anything dumb.
“Don’t say anything stupid.” said Yuri. “I just might make you eat your words.” Minho peered at her and looked back down, cowering in fright.
“Now let me tell you something, boy. You ain’t gonna get out of this easy. I’m sure you know that by now considering the fact that you’ve been through all sorts of hell for the past few hours. You should know how life happens here. Now, I want you to listen carefully to your next challenge because it ain’t gonna be easy.”
“H-huh?” Minho asked, peering slowly at her. Yuri cracked her fire whip, giving him a 2nd degree burn on the arm. Minho clasped this arm and rolled around the ground to rub the painful feeling off. Yuri just looked at him with pity and ridicule.
“Back then it was me feeling the pain. It was me rolling around trying to exhaust the hurt. Now it’s your turn. So stand up and be the man you were bragging about.” Yuri challenged him. Minho accepted the challenge, standing up and and staring Yuri in the eyes.
“Wha-” he opened his mouth but something caught his breath. Yuri’s eyes turned piercing red, enough to petrify him.
“I am Kwon Yuri, Goddess of Fire!” Yuri said this and raised her arms, making the crater behind her as well as the torches erupt. The Flame Cult and the Orange Devils bowed down and praised their goddess. She noticed that Minho was just staring at her like she was just a mere statue that people vandalize.
“BOW DOWN TO YOUR DEITY!” she cracked her whip, burning Minho’s cheek. Minho was forced to kneel down and praise Yuri though he really didn’t want to.
“Men. This man has committed a serious crime against me. Infidelity.” the Flame Cult gasped and murmured amongst themselves.
“RISE YOU CRIMINAL!” Yuri cracked her whip once more. Minho seeme to be really afraid of the whip so instead of risking his handsome face again, Minho stood up and faced the angry cult. Yuri asked him to come and stand by his side as she asked the cult what punishment he deserved.
“So what should be done to this man?” asked the goddess. Yuri had her hand on Minho’s left shoulder and her grip was a tight one, tight for someone with her body type. Minho could feel his shoulder burning with the hot touch of Yuri. And by hot touch I mean literally!
“EXECUTE HIM!”
“TORTURE HIM!”
“HUMILIATE HIM!”
The cult chanted various punishment methods but Yuri had something better in mind. It was something that was painful and humiliating at the same time. Minho dreaded his punishment.
“I have decided on what punishment to give you.” Yuri spoke up. Minho looked at her with fearful eyes and as she cracked her whip, a loud sound came and they were in a firey circle.
“In order to redeem yourself and go back to your world, you must explore the Cult Cave and find the Three Stones that would complete the Fire Shrine. These Three Stones hold the key to the redemption of any lost soul that lands in our Cave. However, finding these stones won’t be easy. As you know, I am the Goddess of Fire so you’re going to have to go through some really firey challenges and obstacles before you could make it.” It wasn’t Minho’s first time to be asked to find something and by now he already knew what was going to happen. But there was a part of him that still shivered each time a goddess gave him a challenge.
“I will redeem my soul. I will come back to life!” Minho chanted. Yuri cackled at him with the rest of her cult.
“That’s what the other lost souls said. They said they would redeem their lives. Look where they are now!” Yuri pointed at the fire river down below. Minho saw some lost souls drowning and screaming for forgiveness. He sure wouldn’t want his soul to burn. He wasn’t even dead yet!
“Now good luck on your searching. And stay alert. You never know what you’ll run into.”
“Yuri! Wait!” Minho was about to ask for something else but the goddess vanished into thin air, leaving him with the cult members. Minho frantically asked help from the cult members, souls who obviously knew the place better than him.
“Guys! I need your help. I seriously do!” Minho ran around asking them. “Where do I go first?!” The cult remained still and one by one turned their backs on him and vanished. Minho was left alone in a helpless and desperate state. Suddenly, a bottle from above fell. It rolled on the ground towards Minho, stopping at his feet. He quickly bent over and picked it up, opening the bottle and reading the message.
Jump into the River.
Walk through the fields
Climb the mountains
FIND YOUR DESTINY
[song: “Mirotic” by DBSK]
Minho didn’t understand a word of it. It was complete and utter bull to him. Sure the words looked simple but if you’re as disoriented and exhausted and afraid as Minho, you would think that it had some other meaning, something deeper pehaps. He was sick and tired of trying to decihper codes and solve riddles but if he really wanted to save his soul and go back to living like a normal person, he was going to have to do it.
“Jump into the River. Right. That wasn’t hard.” Minho took it literally and pocketed the note. Mustering all his courage, he dove into the River and felt burns all over his body. The River was thick and syrupy and rocky, like molten lava. Minho got to the bottom and underneath, he saw souls swimming, harming each other, wailing, and groaning. The sight scared him, prompting him to swim up and take a breather. When he got up, he realized that his skin was slowly starting to char, meaning he had to work faster if he wanted to live.
“Dammit. Dammit. Goddammit.” he said over and over again as he quickly swam his way through the River, taking all the heat and resisting all the burns just to find the stone.
“What does that stone look like in the first place?” he questioned the goddess. “Huh, Yuri? Tell me!??!”
“A red stone that glows eternally.” said the goddess. Minho thanked her and dove again, hoping that it was somewhere at the bottom of the river. Something got in the way of his searching. While Minho was swimming, fire ghosts began to tug on his feet and stick to him. These fire ghosts weren’t the Orange Devils, rather vengeful souls. Souls that also wanted a shot at redemption.
“Let go of me you son of a ! Let ing go!” he kicked his fit around but these spirits were stubborn! They pressed on him and pushed him to the bottom, hoping that the intense heat would kill him and make him give up but Minho refused to quit! He fought off these souls and continued swimming. The souls chased after him and blocked his way, confusing him and blinding him, making him remain in the fire river longer. Minho stayed determined and dove deeper, taking in all the burns and the pain that it was bringing him.
HOT DAMN! HOT DAMN! HOT DAMN! he chanted over and over in his mind. In the river was a hole that hid many treasures and secrets. He thought that this hole was where the stones were kept. He was right. Well at least one stone. Minho dove for the stone, checking first if there were any obstructions. Seeing that there weren’t any, he made the big dive and the big dig. He found something glowing underneath all this rubbish and pulled it out.
The first red stone! In all its glowing glory!
At last! Minho thought. He now wanted to get out of the river before it burned him to ashes. His skin was already blackening so that meant he had to swim up to save himself. Minho did just that and got to the shore, all burnt and charred like charcoal on a barbeque.
“I MADE IT! I MADE IT!” but he wasn’t done. There ahead of him was a field known as the Flame Field. The grass wasn’t really burning but it was sharp like swords. They said that if you set foot here, fire would rain upon you, burning you and eventually making you fall on the grass. The sharp grass was enough to kill a human being so lying alone could kill you. Chances are you would die of stab wounds, not the fire rain.
“Okay. Here goes.” Minho knew what to do here. He had seen this before, or so he thought. Minho had to search the pointed grass and bear with the fire rain in order to find that 2nd stone. Minho did just that. He got on his charred knees and began to crawl carefully. No matter how careful he was, the grass pricked and pricked him til he was bruised.
“What the hell is this you created?!?!” he complained loudly, insulting the goddess’ works. Yuri heard this and commanded a great rain of fire to come upon him.
“How dare you question my genius?!” she cracked her whip and with that, loud thunder and lightning came and rain in the form of fire balls came pouring down on Minho. Minho screamed and cowered but prodded on. He crawled through the grass that was pricking him and making him bleed while bearing with the fire rain that was burning him once again. The burns were too much that he just couldn’t take it anymore.
“COME ON YOU ROCK!!! SHOW YOURSELF!!!” he called for it. Miraculously enough, there was some glowing at the far end of the field. Minho saw this from where he was and quickly made his way through. The grass was sharper now and the rfire rain got heavier, making it harder for him. Now, it wasn’t just bruises or cuts. Minho’s skin was literally being ripped off by the grass and his burns were being burnt and injured even more!
“! THE PAIN! OH ! MAKE THE PAIN STOP!” Minho cried as he journeyed through the field. Finally, he got to where he needed to get and found the 2nd red stone in the middle of the field.
“HELLO!” he cheered. His skin was all peeled off and his burns were slowly coming off but pain was no matter for him! He got the 2nd stone and now needed to get only one more stone.
“Very well done.” Yuri said as she lifted him from the grassy field and stopped the rain. She saw much Minho had suffered. Sure, the goddess felt a slight pinch of pity but it wasn’t enough to convince her that he had enough. To her, he still needed to be punished. Even more severely now.
“For your last adventure, go to the Inferno Mountain. On top of that Mountain is the 3rd and final stone. Once you get that stone, position them before the shrine at the mountain’s foot.” Yuri advised. “And we shall see if you shall be redeemed.” Minho nodded quickly and dashed to Mount Inferno.
Mount Inferno was one hell of a mountain. It was a huge mountain that was very tall and hard to climb. It was named Inferno because it was always on fire. Minho saw the blazing mountain from where he was and lost all hope in a flash. He wasn’t sure if ehc oudl climb that massive landform of fire and sufferring but he had to try. After all, he had nothing to lose but his redemption.
The journey to the Mountain wasn’t a long one. It was quite near the field and could be reached by a short jog. Minho jogged his way and once he was at the foot, he felt intimidated and questioned his ability to get to the top.
“I can do this. I can ing do this!” Minho cheered himself on. With nothing but the courage and determination of one who really wanted out of here, he made his first move.
“AW !” Minho howled. The fires were burning his hands off. They weren’t just flames, they were flames with acid so his hands got skinned! Yuri’s cackles got louder and louder, closer and closer. Minho was distracted, and was just about to let go of the cliff but instead of doing this, he made the biggest mistake in his life.
He let go of the two precious red rocks, dropping them on the ground and shattering them into a million pieces. Yuri saw this from her throne and her eyes got bigger. Minho clung on to the fire mountain but the ground began to shake. This signaled the coming of the Goddess Yuri.
“Woah. What’s happening?!” he asked. Yuri floated before him and using her powers, picked him up and dropped him to the ground. Minho landed on his back. Hard.
“YOU ARE A DISGRACE! A DISGUSTING DISGRACE!” Yuri bellowed. “YOU HAVE BROKEN THE THREE PRECIOUS RED STONES!”
“That place was hot and-” Yuri said no more and just threw fire balls at him with her hands. Minho tried to avoid it but he was too weak and injured and burnt badly.Yuri did this, fire ball after fire ball after fire ball until Minho fell on the floor and collapsed.
“Yuri! Please. Have mercy!” Yuri used her powers to pick him up and together, they disappeared.
When Minho woke up, he was before the cult. The cult members were gathered around the huge cave cauldron where the lava was. Minho hung upside down from his feet and his hands were tied. He heard the cult chanting a prayer to Yuri. Their goddess Yuri was above them, sitting on her throne with two Orange Devils.
“Drop the man!” she ordered. Unlike the first soul being persecuted, Minho wasn’t dipped into the lava. He was burnt enough! What the cult members did was just cut the rope and let him fall into the lava pit, burning him and sealing his fate in Hell.
“Hell hath no fury than that of a scorned woman.” were the words of Yuri.
Kwon Yuri. Goddess of Fire.
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