A Korean Odyssey One-Shots

A Wish Made in Vain

Hae-ah woke up feeling unusually out of sorts, his head hurt and his muscles ached. After sitting up, he was hit with a small dizzy spell and had to take a few moments to breath and try to get the darkness dancing at the edge of his vision to subside. Once it did, he shakily stood and began getting dressed. He usually would have used something as small as a little headache to try and get out of work, but he knew from experience that all his grandmother would do was give him some medicine and send him on his way, knowing that it wasn't as bad as he dramatised it to be.

He rushed down the stairs, his headache making him take longer than usual to get ready, making him late. The young half demon grabbed some medicine for his headache before quickly teleporting to the hotel in a poof of grey smoke.

"You're late." Devil King's voice rang out the moment he appeared in the breakroom.

"Sorry, I wasn't feeling well this morning and it took me a little longer to get ready." He explained as he bowed in apology.

The older man's expression morphed from annoyance to worry, which confused Hae-ah, he had noticed how Devil King was always a little overly attentive when compared to how he treats other monsters, but this was just a headache. "What's wrong? How bad is it?" The demon asked

Hae-ah shook his head, letting out an awkward laugh. "It was just a headache, I took some medicine at home so I should be fine in a little bit."

The older monster nodded and cleared his throat, trying to pretend he wasn't just overly concerned for the boy. "Okay, make sure to get some breakfast before you start work." He finished before heading out of the room.

"Will do." He called, turning to set his stuff down and grabbing some fruit out of the breakroom fridge.

----

As the day went on, Hae-ah's condition progressively worsened, his headache never went away and what was once a dull ache that was easily ignored, was now an almost sharp pain that resounded with every step he took. He had just finished bringing up a guest's luggage and was headed back down to the first floor when he was hit with yet another dizzy spell, this one strong enough to make him stumble and fall, hitting his head against the luggage cart, knocking him out cold.

Hae-ah slowly woke to someone shaking his shoulder gently, groaning as he became aware again. His illness had only gotten worse while he was out, gaining the addition of feeling both extremely cold and extremely hot at the same time, leaving him shaking, miserable, and sweaty.

"Are you okay young man?" A soft, deep voice asked.

He opened his heavy eyes, trying to focus on the blurry face in front of him and just barely being able to recognize that the person in front of him was a middle aged man. "What happened? Where am I?" He asked softly. He couldn't remember why he was here or what he had been doing, his fever making it hard to string his thoughts together.

"You had passed out in the hall, I found you and brought you to my room. I already called the front desk and they said they are sending someone up, so try not to move so much." The half-deity looked around in confusion, before quickly sitting up when he finally was able to gather his jumbled thoughts and recall what happened. He groaned as another dizzy spell hit. "Woah, watch it kid. Your fever is really high and you hit your head pretty hard when you passed out." The man explained holding him upright as he leaned forward, almost falling off the couch.

Just then, a loud knock sounded at the door. The man guided Hae-ah to lay back before standing and answering it. Devil King rushed into the room, quickly kneeling in front of the ill boy. "What happened?" He asked.