The Cold Curse | MarkHyuck

Chapter 38:

"Now, shut up and stay silent. I don't want you to scream out Haechan's name out there."

Jisung warns, giving Mark a kiss on his forehead before walking out of the basement. Mark just wanted to feel safe again, this whole abuse made him feel like he has no hope in getting out of the basement. Mark realizes that it's been a day and Haechan must've noticed that he hasn't come home.

This gave Mark a little bit of hope.

Jisung comes out and walks into the halls of the palace, ready to meet Haechan once again. Meanwhile, Haechan was full of so much anger and was currently fighting off knights with completely shattering their armory by freezing them. Haechan notices Jisung coming out of the halls, meeting him by the gates.

Again, Haechan was full of so much anger.

"You monster, where is he?!"

Haechan hits Jisung with his balled fist as Jisung falls on the ground, bleeding from the punch Haechan gave him. Haechan sits above Jisung, trapping him in between his legs as he hits him over and over again. Haechan could be very unforgiving when it comes to hurting the person he loves the most.

"I-I don't have h-him."

Jisung stutters, lying straight into Haechan's face. This caused Haechan to riot even more, his hand forming an ice cover full of icicles around. Haechan was ready to bruise the hell out of Jisung, making Jisung bleed more and more.

Of course, Jisung was a coward as he didn't even try to protect himself with his much stronger abilities than Haechan.

He was afraid that he'll lose his title as the king of the kingdom.

"Don't lie to me! YOU LITERALLY HAVE MARK! WHERE IS HE?! WHERE ARE YOU HIDING HIM?!"
"Who is... M-Mark?"

Jisung lies again, gaining a few painful punches from Haechan's balled fists with small icicles wrapped around them. Haechan didn't want to believe that Mark wasn't there since he KNOWS that Jisung wants to kill him.

"You don't... have him?"

Haechan asks, confused with how he's dealing with the situation. Jisung squints at him, pretending that he's this "innocent" king who has done nothing wrong to anyone.

Jisung stands up, his wounds not healing immediately because he doesn't have fast healing abilities like Haechan.

"N-No... I don't even k-know who Mark is... W-Who is he?-"
"I'm not trusting you at all, alright? If I find Mark around in your little playhouse you call a "palace", I'm going to make you experience how an icy hell feels like."
"Bold of you to assume I haven't felt hell."

Jisung says as Haechan turns to look at him, giving him a punch once again.

"What the hell?!-"
"That's a threat."

Haechan responds as he walks his way into the halls of the palace, desperately trying to find where Mark was. Of course, Jisung watched every move Haechan made since he didn't want Haechan to find out that he owns a very bloody basement. Meanwhile, Mark cries silently in the basement as his vision started getting more blurry than it already was.

Mark's wrists and shoulders hurt from the chains that were holding them up. He swings his chains away, making loud unsettling noises as he hopes that Haechan will notice them. Mark couldn't even yell out for help clearly as his mouth was already gagged with a spare towel that was literally just lying around and that he's too weak to even cry out for help.

He helplessly swings the chains in a more aggressive way, not even sure if Haechan would hear them.

As Haechan walked into the "living room" of the palace, he had a feeling that this wouldn't be a very "Jisung" thing to do. Haechan walked around, looking at the very odd paintings. He noticed that some of the paintings had blood stains... which was a very "Jisung" thing.

He, later, figured out that Jisung has an obsession with blood as he looked around, seeing more blood stains.

Then, Haechan realized that Mark must've been in the dungeon, asking himself why the hell would he search in an open area where sunlight could pass through.

"See? No 'Mark' in here-"
"Shut it, Jisung. I haven't searched the dungeon yet."

Haechan says, about to walk his way into the basement as Jisung grabs his arm. Small thorns suddenly started creeping out of the small cracks around the palace. Jisung tried to stop Haechan from making his way in there.

"There's no basement in here. Therefore, Mark isn't here."

Jisung tried to convince him but the tone of his voice sounded so threatening that it made Haechan scoff at him.

"... You know... It's funny how you sounded so sure that Mark is someone you already knew. Get your hand off."

Haechan threatened as he started noticing that there were thorns growing around the room. At that moment, he knew Jisung hid Mark in the basement. Thorns started to wrap around Haechan's arm, hurting him as it made him bleed.

Haechan was hurt by it but it doesn't stop him from thinking quickly.

"Does it hurt, Haechan?"
"It does... but y-you don't know that q-quick thinking is better than being s-stronger."

Haechan stutters as he freezes the thorns around his arm, shattering them. Haechan manages to slap Jisung with the back of his palm as he runs to where he guessed the dungeon's entrance could be. Jisung fell on the floor as he didn't know why he's suddenly feeling weak.

Jisung didn't know that Renjun's golden aura made him weaker whenever he used it for the wrong reasons.

Haechan ran, trying to find where the small door to the dungeon was. It felt like he was losing time to find Mark as the rush of adrenaline in him was getting worse. He ran down the halls, pausing from what he's doing to hear several loud sounds of clashing metal pieces echoing in the halls.

Haechan looked around to find where it was coming from as he lifted up the carpet he's been stepping on, seeing a door ON THE FLOOR. Haechan opens the door, seeing a staircase leading to where the clashing sounds must've come from.

Haechan walks down the staircase as his only source of light were the multiple candles placed on the floor. Haechan sees a door as he pressed his ear against it, hearing several servants talking to each other. He realizes that they were guarding the place as he counts to three silently before kicking the door open.

The servants saw him and they... cried?

Haechan wondered why the servants would cry instead of holding him as hostage.

"... Why are you-"
"The prince! The true prince!"

One of them cried as Haechan formed a sincere smile, knowing that he still has worth. The servants made way for him as he saw a chained door, asking himself if Mark was indeed in there. Haechan freezes the chains, shattering and unlocking the door all by himself.

He enters the room, seeing Mark gagged with a towel and chained to a wall. He notices that Mark had several bruises and wounds on his skin. Haechan was terrified, tears streaming down his face as he immediately freezes the chains and cuffs that held Mark into place.

Mark was too weak to even stand up and that made Haechan cry harder. Haechan untied the towel from Mark's mouth as he looked at him, seeing pure relief in Mark's eyes.

"Haechan-"
"I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry. I was too late, Mark."
"... It's alright, Haechan. I'm going to be fine-"

Mark didn't get to even finish his sentence because of the pain he felt all over his body. Haechan felt so guilty for not figuring this out earlier, thinking that he wasted his time trying to find Mark outside. Haechan helps Mark stand up, walking with him as he didn't want Mark to feel even more pain.

What Jisung did to Mark hurt Haechan so much that he couldn't even look at Mark without tears falling down his cheeks.