Long Journey || ATEEZ

The Demigod Who Could Break Apples With Only His Fists

"Seonghwa-hyung, what's wrong?" San asked as he joined his hyung on the sofa. "You've been looking down lately."

"Huh?" Seonghwa asked, breaking out of his stupor.

"You've been looking really stressed lately," San repeated, concern for his hyung clouding his eyes. "Is it by any chance because of when you ki—" San caught himself, "—because of everything that happened in Taerrya?"

"Mm, a little bit," Seonghwa replied, shrugging. "There's...other things as well.."

"Other things?"

Seonghwa shrugged.

"Dreams. Weird flashbacks I keep getting of my childhood. The memories I associate with them." The ex-assassin shivered.

"Oh," San said. "What are they—Oh, actually, never mind. You don't need to tell me if you feel uncomfortable."

"No, no," Seonghwa replied. "It's fine. I want to talk about this. It's been bugging me for a while."

"Are you sure, hyungnim?" San asked worriedly.

"Of course," Seonghwa said. He paused. "How do I start?" he pondered, almost to himself.

"How about your dreams?" San suggested.

"My dreams?"

"Yeah. What happens in them?"

"Well..." the ex-assassin started hesitantly. "They usually follow similar themes. It always starts out with two dead bodies. They're not always the same people. They always change. It's always somebody I've seen or talked to – sometimes somebody I killed, sometimes somebody I know well – last night it was you and Hongjoong."

San winced in sympathy. Seonghwa grimaced.

"And there's always this man," he continued after a pause. "He's tall – intimidating – but I can't seem to remember his face except for the fact that it absolutely terrifies me. Usually, it's covered by shadow."

San shuffled closer and patted Seonghwa's back.

"What happens next?" San asked, his voice unusually gentle, toned-down and sensitive.

"He dies. By—by I think my hand. And then—and then, always, Yoona shows up, and—" Seonghwa buried his face in his palm and shook his head violently.

"You don't have to continue if you can't, hyungnim," the other demon said.

"It's fine," Seonghwa said, clenching his fists tightly, before releasing them and leaning back. A soft tapping sound lit up the air as his fingers rhythmically rapped against the leather sofa.

"So what else? What about those flashbacks?" San asked.

"Well...There's two people in those. A man and a woman. I think they might be my parents, but I'm not sure. I keep seeing flashes of them discussing something...something about me and 'wiping my memories' or something. I don't know. All I know is that I remember that we're trapped, in this grey room with no exit, and there's blood everywhere."

San noticed the quivering of the older demon's eye.

"Are you okay? You don't look good."

"No, no, I'm fine, I guess..." Seonghwa said, his fingers still tapping. "I'm just thinking..."

"About what?"

"About—about that grey room," Seonghwa said. "I remember it. It's the first thing I remember, actually."

"Oh really?" San forgot his duty to comfort his hyung for a second, and leaned in closer with curiosity.

"Mhm. The first thing I remember, I'm in a grey room – the grey room – and I'm covered in blood. There's two bodies beside me – those two people from my flashbacks – my parents. I don't remember anything else. Then this man walks in – the man from my dreams – and he looks livid, and he's about to attack me and then suddenly there's a light purple flash and he's dead."