𝐂 𝐀 𝐌 𝐁 𝐈 𝐎 𝐍 | ᴀᴛᴇᴇᴢ [𝘴𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘐𝘯𝘤𝘶𝘣𝘶𝘴]

𝐗𝐗𝐗𝐈

"Stop!"

Areum's voice ripped up the silent night, followed by a long shout that made the windows tremble. Her eyes were tightly shut, hands covering her ears as her body was convulsing under Seonghwa's. The latter's eyes were gleaming while observing her suffering like that, proud of his work. Whenever he managed to cause such a strong reaction in Areum, he couldn't help but get comfortable and watch, moved by a wave of sadism and pride. 

The woman was suffocating with her saliva, oxygen was a long-gone memory, and the veins on her neck were about to pop for how she was screaming. No matter her efforts to shoo away from her brain those images, it was as if they were tattooed on her eyelids and, for that, unavoidable to obscure them. 

"Stop playing with my mind!"

Ordered the woman, though it turned out more like an entreaty. Seonghwa had shown those scenes the moment their eyes had linked, a gate on Hell, to Areum. The demon smirked and grasped her arms, pinning them to the ground and putting an end to their movements. Areum continued avoiding his stare, even when he sank his fingers in her cheeks and made her turn her head in his direction. 

"I'm not playing, kitten. What I'm showing you is the reality."

He whispered in her ear, his grip getting painfully tighter around the white skin of her wrists. She was living a nightmare, however, the only difference, and what mattered the most, was that she was wide awake and that everything she was assisting to was actuality. She heeded how Jieun was bleeding from her hips, how Wooyoung was still aching on the ground holding on his ribcage, and how Mr. Kang had plopped on the floor leaving a wake of blood on the wall behind him. Among every form of torture, the ones messing up with your mind were the most dangerous, they were hard to forget and to fight against. 

"No, no!"

Shouted Areum with tears cutting her cheeks. The last scrap of energies left her body, she had no strength left in her arms or legs, no way to protect or to resist Seonghwa. She simply gave up, accepted her fate of being dragged to Hell by a mistake, a stupid game that she was convinced to play, but she wasn't blaming her Hongjoong or Mingi, she was accusing herself of not having stopped all of that earlier, for not having trusted her friend the way she claimed to. If there was someone that deserved to die, that should've been her. No one could alter her mind, touched that point. 

"Yes, kitten. You're watching through the Succubus' eyes, you're seeing what she is seeing. Your friends are leaving you here alone. Your lover had already left you behind. There's only one way you could save them."

Explained Seonghwa, gazing right into her empty and tired eyes. Areum was now interested and was paying attention to everything he was saying, even his breath was important to her. She was willing to deal with anything the demon had to request, even if that meant to exchange her life for her friends. So, she nodded and looked at him like a castaway looked at a ship in the distance. Seonghwa snickered and replied.