Ship In A Bottle (A Monkie Kid Reader Insert)

Chapter 23: Koreatown Cravings

It was afternoon.

The Demon Bull King sat on his throne, teal eyes patiently waiting while his henchmen complete the many individual tasks he gave them. It has long been made clear that he wouldn't start his second attempt of claiming domination until all tasks have been completed.

No doubt, the game cannot start without the pieces in place. The demon knew that. Knew better than that. Whispers of blue bring cold with them, the temperature that would indicate one's death. 

The warmth of life, long since fleeted since the breathe of freedom from that Pandora's box. With how long has it been since it was imprisoned, there were definitely pieces that would need correcting. Pieces that have misplaced themselves during its absence.

Standing unusually warily was the bull king's family. The former celestial and their offspring. The mother and son shared a concerned look, recalling the sinking feeling that came from the key. 

How different it was. Your warning, a drowning feeling imprinted through the back of their minds. Giving the idea of a cold, dark sea, an impending doom only the sunken could know.

The prince kept one hand in his pocket, crumpling the note you left from your last encounter as if he was holding onto a piece of a ship. The bull clones that remained bore their teal gaze at them, giving them that familiar, yet different feeling. 

Suffocating. Cold. Claustrophobic. The drowning feeling was now replaced by the icy breath of a cold, barren planet, too distant from its star to harbor any life. A graveyard of any astronaut foolish enough to land there. A foreign feeling for the two who've lived in the glow of magma.

There was one more thing they could do. An instruction left in your note. One they read before the key could even unlock the crypt. Both of them looked at Jin and Yin; the former cheekily grinning while putting on a skull found in the crypt, while the latter was poking a skeleton with a stick.

They can understand why you wanted to meet at the subway station, an ideal place to discuss. Crowd's to deafen your voice, and cover your presence. But why you wanted the mother and son to send them of all people, they couldn't decipher for the life of them. 

But as mistrustful as they are of you, the new association with the color blue being of no help, they couldn't think of a better plan. This isn't the world they want to rule. Not in this current state.

Not in the Demon Bull King's current state.

The young prince gave his mother an anticipating look, waiting for some sort of signal. The fallen goddess furrowed her brows in hesitation, before finally giving him a gaze that told him to proceed with caution.

At first, Red Son did nothing. But then, he began tapping his foot impatiently. His mother took notice of what he was trying to do, and remained still. Mimicking impatience, he paced with a growing growl, before finally facing his father.

"Father, how much longer until we execute our plan?!"

The demon king only looked down on him with an annoyed expression.

"Impatient little offspring. How many times must you disappoint me until you realize your weak attempts at scheming only further prove that the planning should be left to the adults?"

"At the very least, allow me to try!" Red argued back. It felt wrong to shout at his father, the one figure he looked up to despite being completely absent in his life.

...But was that really him who he was talking to?

"It won't take long until this world becomes ours to shape." Iron Fan walked into the conversation. "I say allow him to enjoy his flights of fancy, just one last time before the need to do so becomes irrelevant."