{[JOONGDOK/ORV]} Perpetual Madness

Part 2, Chapter 3

Kim Dokja sighed, rolling his shoulders as he walked to his room. Although the massage had been cut short, it had helped- so he didn't quite have an excuse to complain too much. 

Apparently, he just wasn't allowed a break.

He hadn't minded hearing Yoo Joonghyuk's thoughts at first- he had, after all, heard similar words before- but after a while, they were beginning to get to him.

'Is this some kind of joke?' he wondered, now in bed as his wings formed a protective shell around his form, which had begun to shiver, 'are those words truly his?'

It could be a scenario; one he wasn't aware of. Perhaps a lasting effect of madness? He couldn't help but doubt that they had been unfiltered.

Kim Dokja stared blankly into the small, dark gem which had embedded itself upon his hand- come to think of it, that wouldn't be the first time something had messed with his head.

The stone had appeared about a week after his fears were thrown into the open. It resembled one of the ones which had forged those hallucinations, and although it would hum with energy from time to time, he was yet to see what it really did. There was a possibility, which he now considered, that it had simply been in play all along.

It was just giving him false hope.

To even think that Yoo Joonghyuk could look at him with the same eyes he had with Lee Seolhwa would be nothing short of an insult to the woman's beauty. A skinny, malnourished ex-salary man turned demon had no right to compete for anything of value. He knew that, and yet- knowing it was impossible still hurt.

He knew he was a weak man. It wasn't exactly a secret. His unlucky smiles and empty promises had never meant to become a curse- he didn't mean to hurt anybody, but the one time he could let himself be selfish would be on deaths door, hoping that the others would miss him… it was horrible, but true.

He wanted to be missed. Wanted to know he withheld some value.

Even now, as the midnight black surrounding him began to tremble and drip with blood, he silently wondered if he held some shred of a tragic beauty. 

Crimson fell onto his knuckles, the colour thick as it beaded and slid through the faint grooves of each scar littering his arms. A river of blood began to form, an icy pain threading through his wings like an arctic wind, and he couldn't manage the energy to wonder what was happening. The room was morphing, stretching and squishing and bleeding , like him, only with a thicker, darker matter.

[The fourth wall is ??¿?]

 

His head started to hurt,

 

[The fourth wall is ¿?¿?]

[The fourth wall is ?¿??]

[The fourth wall is ???¿]

Kim Dokja cursed, feathers flaring as the blood began to clot and boil as though it were burning shut. His vision fluttered, and just as the room began to revert, a notification flickered to life in front of him,

"

You've got to be kidding me."

. . . 

Scenario: ???
Category: ???
Difficulty: ???
Clear Condition: En dųre
Time limit: ???
Reward: ???
Penalty for failure: ???
 

. . .

"Something's still wrong."

The company was quieter than usual, the following day. Worried eyes followed Kim Dokja as he walked through the kitchen, hands shaking as he prepared some leftover rice.

His ever-present wings were folded, neat and tight, while his skin was deathly pale. He even flinched once Yoo Joonghyuk approached.

"Did I startle him last night?"

He placed a hand firmly onto his companion's shoulder, only to remove it when the action did no more than rile Kim Dokja's feathers. They shivered, reflecting in the watery surface of his eyes as he backed up, stuttering a weak apology,

"I- I'm sorry, Joonghyuk-ah, but I.. just need a moment.."

Yoo Joonghyuk paused, surprised by the lack of an insult as the trembling figure turned to retreat, an echo of his previously confident self.

Even Han Sooyoung seemed disturbed by the sudden change, wordlessly denying the force she was now using to hold the lemon candy dangling from her lips,

"...so," her eyes flickered to their leader, checking that he was now out of earshot, "...What the fuck happened?"

. . . 

 

A rather impromptu meeting had been thrown not long after. 

The adults were huddled in a semi-circle of sorts, mumbling quietly as to avoid disturbing the kids sleeping opposite to their gathering. 

"So. Something is clearly wrong,"  

Jung Heewon nodded in agreement, 

"and we need to get to the bottom of this. Like. Now. Any ideas?"

Avoiding a sudden look from the regressor, Lee Hyunsung was the first to speak up, "Well, I do know that Dokja-ssi has had pretty sore shoulders lately?"

"Not good enough"

A few ideas were tossed back and forth, mumbles and hisses trading like coins in a bet, (Maybe he hadn't been sleeling? Accidentally ingested a piece of tomato? Nightmares? Plotting another untimely demise?) until Lee Hyunsung once again piped up,  "could it… be related to that?"

Everyone froze. 

"What?'

He shifted uncomfortably from his pace at the end of the circle,  "y'know.." he raised a first, weakly knocking it against his head to imitate a form of impact,  "that."

The faint crystal-like imprint on his hand glittered; a giveaway sign that someone had passed the 'madness' scenario, faint as it's outline was.

"Oh…'  everything seemed to click in Yoo Joonghyuk's mind, '...that."