Death's Caress - kyungjeong

Eleven

KyungIl's journey into the land of the dead, also known as the underworld, had been anything but easy. He'd been there plenty of times before, but this time seemed to be the hardest for him. He never thought he would have to travel into this viscous place to retrieve the one person he genuinely cared about.

And sadly, he was blaming himself for the death of YiJeong. He knew that the boy could sometimes slip into trouble at the wrong time, but he never expected it to result in his death. So as KyungIl wandered his way through the countless souls that never seemed to realize why they were there, he prayed silently that he could find YiJeong and bring him back to his body safely.

-

Days went by slowly in the Underworld; seconds ticked by slower than usual and the reaper was frustrated. Never in all his years of existence had he ever struggled to find a soul the way he struggled to find YiJeong's. It was almost as if the boy's soul wasn't there.

He stopped and talked to many prophets and each of them said the same thing to him,"finding his soul will come at a great cost."
As if that could stop KyungIl from searching. He'd never gotten the chance to admit to the boy exactly how he really felt and he'd be damned if he never did.

"YiJeong, where could you possibly be?" KyungIl wondered out loud as he continued his slow journey deeper into the depths of dead souls. "It's almost as if something is hiding you from me."

Meanwhile, YiJeong's soul was trapped in the house of the one and only, Jaeho. Jaeho was what people considered the 'ruler' of the Underworld, he made the decisions about how souls were able to continue on. And whenever he found a soul he liked, he kept them hidden.

His obsession with YiJeong's soul began the moment he sensed it enter the Underworld. He'd captured the poor soul and refused to let YiJeong leave the house. He also made YiJeong watch KyungIl search all over for him as if it wasn't bad enough that he was dead and couldn't reach out. YiJeong hated being near Jaeho. The latter was terrible company and a pain to be around.

YiJeong watched helplessly as KyungIl asked questions aloud as if the younger could respond. "Why can't I just let him know that I'm okay down here," YiJeong asked Jaeho.

"Because then he'll want you back and we can't have that," Jaeho answered snidely. YiJeong turned to face the elder from his spot on the carpeted floor, "at least let me tell him that I love him."

"We absolutely cannot allow that," Jaeho growled out, "if I can't have your affection, no one can."

"You're sick, Jaeho, if you really think that I'll love you after the way you've treated me. You force me to watch KyungIl struggle, you hardly feed me, regardless of if I'm dead or not, and you never spend genuine time being nice to me," YiJeong spit out. "And you think I'll love you?" YiJeong laughed.

Jaeho watched the younger laugh for a while before turning to leave the room he'd locked YiJeong in. Maybe leaving the boy locked in the room alone for some time would teach him to appreciate Jaeho's company. Jaeho believed he was all around amazing, who wouldn't want to spend time with him?

YiJeong sighed as the door to the room that held him captive slammed shut once again. "How am I supposed to get to KyungIl now? He'll never even think to check here."

He'd contemplated escaping before, but if he was going to be completely honest with himself, he wouldn't be able to slip past Jaeho. He probably wouldn't even be able to get through the door that was keeping him locked away.

He'd be stuck in this horrible place forever and the worst part was that he had no idea if anyone besides KyungIl would even realize he was dead.

However, little did YiJeong know, his death had been broadcasted all over the news due to the severity of it. An accident like his hadn't happened in such a long time that the coverage it received was massive. People all across Korea were mourning a boy they'd never even met due to him losing his life in such a tragic way while being so young.

Jaejoong seemed to be taking it the hardest though. He'd known the boy for quite some time and felt as though he'd failed YiJeong.

-

When YiJeong finished sulking, he took time to finally glance around the room he was being held captive in. Everything in the room screamed out 'Underworld' from the black carpeted floor to the black walls and bedding. Nothing in the room held any kind of color and he was surprised Jaeho wasn't forcing him to sit in complete darkness.

Speaking of the devil, Jaeho was opening the door to the room he'd left hours earlier. "Are you going to continue to sit on this floor and sulk or are you going to finally embrace being with me?" Jaeho's harsh voice cut the boy out of his thoughts.

YiJeong stared up at the arrogant ruler of the Underworld before finally realizing he could actually escape if he'd just lead Jaeho to believe he cared. It would take a while, but YiJeong was dead anyway, he had time. He took some time to word his answer properly before responding to Jaeho,"I'll embrace you— if you treat me like you care about me too."

"And what does that entail? How should I treat you?" Jaeho asked quickly. He was easily excitable and YiJeong had triggered that within him from just a few simple words.

"I want you to stop locking me in this god awful room. How can I be happy to be around you when I'm surrounded by nothing but black walls and a hard bed?" YiJeong spoke quietly. "If I am to embrace you, shouldn't I at least be able to walk with you in these halls? Or at least sit with you in the gardens?"

Jaeho thought about it momentarily before answering swiftly, "No. You're going to try to leave me. All of you peasant humans are so alike. You think that you can pretend you care about me and then you'll be gone before I know it."

YiJeong sighed out loud. He was going to have to try harder than any of the humans before him. He wanted to go home to KyungIl.

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this is probably the longest chapter i've written and even so it makes no sense? anyways this book was ranked #1 in kyungjeong which made me happy bc wow this book is written so badly.