•𝑶𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑹𝑺𝑰𝑫𝑬•【√】

↭CHAPTER 8↭

 

The warm living room is silent, waiting for Namjoon to begin. Apparently this is a story no one has heard, at least completely, because every single set of eyes is glued on him. He shuffles his feet, still wearing his cowboy boots. He gives up on his fidgeting and stands, pacing the room.

"Be detailed, Joonie. None of your vague, mysterious past boo hockey this time," Jin laughs from his chair in the corner, "Or I'll fill in the blanks for you and I won't spare the gory details," He gives a wicked smile.

"Alright. Well," Namjoon crosses his arms, deep in thought, "It was in Illsan City. I was seventeen. I had a group of friends. We were good kids, I suppose. Didn't get into near the amount of trouble some did. We did like to stay out late, though. Mostly we'd just walk around, talkin'. We thought we were tough. Thought that roamin' the streets at night made us some kinda rebels. Really we just liked gettin' outta the trailer park. We all lived there."

He sighs, "So we'd cross the river into Daegu to get away from everythin'. One night we ran into this man. Chris. We thought he was homeless. Thought he was crazy. He chased us, beggin' for help. Half out of his mind. We ran. He followed. We outnumbered him, so we turned 'round and started insultin' him. He got upset. Said we were supposed to help him. Said he needed our help. He called us by our names. Now that just ticked us off. We assumed he'd been followin' us for awhile, eavesdroppin'. Sungchul punched him, and Chris, he just kept on wailin' 'bout how we were meant to help him. Then he started blowin' out the streetlights. The neon bar signs. Even the traffic lights. He got our attention," He pauses mid-step, thinking hard, only to continue his pacing almost immediately.

"We thought he was magic. He explained 'bout the Sight, 'bout ghosts and monsters. He made it sound like one big adventure. None of us had what you'd call stellar home lives, so we fell straight for it. He needed our help, he kept sayin'. This magic man that knew 'bout a whole new kinda world, and he needed us. It was the first time any one of us had felt special. He showed us how to See. How to fight with more than just our fists. Introduced us to spirits. He said he'd seen our faces in his thoughts. He was the first Seer I met."

"I thought only girls were Seers," Taehyung's voice breaks the silence around Namjoon's words.

"No, guys can be Seers too. It is usually women though, now you mention it," Namjoon scratches his chin thoughtfully. Jin clears his throat and raises an eyebrow that clearly states, 'Hey, get back to the story'.

Namjoon sighs, "This particular Seer was unstable. Powerful, yeah, but shithouse rat crazy. After he'd taught us everythin' he could, he told us what he needed us for," There's a hitch in Namjoon's throat that doesn't sound related to his recent strangling, "There were five of us. He said he needed us to help him gather his marbles. Said he'd been tormented by a demon, and needed us to open a portal so he could destroy the thing. So he could keep his grip on reality. We believed him. We thought we were helpin'," The rhythm of his heavy boots against the old wood floor is the only sound.

"So we did the damn thing. We opened a door to the big fiery pit, and out hopped the evil son-bitch," His pacing picks up speed, his hands balled into fists, "But Chris never meant to kill it. Don't think he even knew how. He wanted it loose. Thought it was his buddy. The voice in his head that he'd been talkin' to for years, and he wanted a face to face. We bolted. Most of us, anyway. Jaime got snatched. Possessed. Things got real bad. None of us went near the portal, but we didn't have to. It was clear more demons were comin' through. There were only four of us left, and it took five to do the spell in the first place. We were hopeless. We just stuck to Daegu City and hoped the world wouldn't end. Then Katie came. She was from Busan, and got her Sight when everythin' started goin' to Hell. Said she got 'called'. Took her less than a week to hunt us down. Then we started fightin'. Things started lookin' up. But there were more demons every day, and they were snatchin' people up and possessin' 'em. Katie had a prophesy 'bout closin' the portal. So we went. Luckily it only took three for that spell, 'cause Sangchul decided he didn't want the portal closed. Said if it weren't for the demons none of us woulda ever been worth anythin'. He'd told Chris 'bout our plan. We managed to close the portal, but we were surrounded. There was a huge fight. Expolsions. Smoke was everywhere. Eunae and Lizzie ran. I got separated from Katie. When I found her," He stops pacing, "Y'all know the rest from the tape."