Death's Caress - kyungjeong

Twelve

Jaeho had left the room some time ago and YiJeong was still thinking of ways to escape. He would have to try harder to convince Jaeho that he actually cared and wanted to stay; only then would he be able to be free.

Each time Jaeho came to visit him, he was nice and caring in hopes that it would finally begin to wear the obsessive ruler down. And sure enough it did begin to work.

However, Jaeho was still so scared of YiJeong possibly leaving him, that when he did finally allow the boy to leave the room, he was chained to someone at all times. Jaeho would have some guard of his keeping the boy supervised; even if he was with Jaeho.

With all the time that was passing and all of the progress being made, YiJeong still felt like he'd been there for so long. He knew that time had to be passing differently in this underworld, but he wasn't sure just how differently.

-

While he was trying to figure that out, Jaejoong was mourning the fifth month of not having his friend around. YiJeong was like a younger brother to him and he still felt at fault for not being able to save the younger boy. He was reminded constantly that it wasn't his fault, but how could he believe that when he should've been there? Why wasn't he there to push YiJeong out of the way?

He couldn't even bring himself to go to school today because the pain was still so heavy on his heart. It was weighing on him like a ton of bricks and he didn't know what to do to stop the hurt consuming him completely.

But Jaejoong wasn't the only one hurting. KyungIl still hadn't made any progress in getting closer to finding YiJeong. He'd been wondering around in the underworld asking anyone he could find if they'd seen the boy. Prophets were of no help at this point. Of course, no one had. It was like YiJeong was under the radar, somewhere never to be found. But that didn't stop the reaper, he would do whatever it took to find YiJeong. Even if that meant never being able to return to the real world with him.

He just wanted YiJeong to be safe. He wanted to send him back to his body and allow him to live out the life he was supposed to. If he didn't find him soon, his body would eventually parish and then YiJeong would be stuck forever. It had already been quite some time in the human world since the accident and a human could only be away from their body for so long.

So as days started passing like seconds in the underworld, KyungIl kept pushing on in hopes of finding a clue to lead him to the person he desperately wanted to save. Time had felt like it was moving so slowly before and now it was moving too quickly.

-

YiJeong was closer and closer to being able to free himself. Every night, he called out to KyungIl in hopes that the reaper would hear him and come save him. In the meantime, however, he was still sucking up to Jaeho with the intentions of escaping and never returning. Day by day, he was weaning his way into the rulers heart and taking steps closer to not being followed around every second.

While he was deep in his thoughts of imagining freedom once again, Jaeho had entered the room. "What's got you so deep in thought Jeong?" Jaeho asked once he realized the boy didn't glance up or greet him. YiJeong finally snapped out of it and turned to answer the ruler,"I was thinking about what I wanted to eat later," he responded. And though he was lying, he knew Jaeho would believe him.

Very rarely was he ever allowed to decide what he wanted to eat, but earlier that day Jaeho had told him he was able to choose. Since YiJeong was still partially connected to the human world due to his body not being put to rest properly, he needed sustenance in the form of food. "We really need to find your body soon and bury it. I'm sure you get tired of eating the stuff you humans call food. You'll be able to feast like a real spirit soon." Was Jaeho's reply.

YiJeong didn't want to find his body and bury it. That was his only chance of escaping this hell hole, but instead of arguing he nodded his head and turned to face the wall. He really hoped that if he had to stay here for much longer that he'd be moved to a room with a window at least. This may be the underworld, a place that's supposed to be dark and scary, but he knew that it could be beautiful at night.

While it may be dark in the underworld all of the time, you knew exactly when it was what they called 'night time' because stars would make themselves especially present. He'd been able to see them once before when Jaeho had taken him to his room. And while that entire night wasn't something he wanted to think about or even acknowledge, being able to see the stars was the only thing he'd actually enjoyed about being there.

KyungIl really needed to find him and quickly. He missed the reaper and wanted to go home.

——

Hello my loves. I know I said that I would update when I finished this semester but I was feeling pretty sad and wanted to write and let some of this sadness out. I apologize for the chapter being short and all over the place but I've been in a really rough spot so I hope it satisfies you nonetheless. Depending on how things go, I may be able to get another chapter out before the end of April or beginning of May. I wouldn't count on it though. If there's anything any of you would like to see happen in this story before I reach the climax and wrap it up, please shoot me a message. Thank you for reading.