Devil Jungkook

Prelude to the Trial

여주

Me: ".....What?"

I looked up at Taehyung and asked him something out of the blue from the morning.

김태형

Taehyung: "...Bae Joohyun...has disappeared."

여주

Me: "Joohyun said she wasn't coming because she was sick for a while. What did she mean?"

Taehyung looked frustrated and took his phone out of his pocket. He held out something to me and showed me. It was a text message log with Joohyun.

김태형

Taehyung: "Look at the most recent one he sent. It was yesterday."

[Please help me, Taehyung.] It was a text message that felt a bit strange for someone who was sick to send. Could it be...

여주

Me: "Is it really gone?"

When I, surprised, jumped up and asked, Taehyung nodded his head a couple of times.

김태형

Taehyung: "As soon as I received the text yesterday, I went to their house. Both Bae Joo-hyun's parents were there..."

김태형

Taehyung: [I'm in the same class as Bae Joohyun. Is Joohyun at home now?]

여자

Woman: [Bae Joo-hyun?....There's no one like that in my house. Did you come to the wrong house?]

김태형

Taehyung: ".... All I could say was that there was no such person."

여주

Me: "...What is that? It didn't just disappear."

선생님

Teacher: "Are you all here? You didn't even call to say you couldn't come because you were sick. If you come from now on, you'll die."

As morning assembly began, the teacher took attendance and said, "You said Bae Joo-hyun wasn't coming because she was sick yesterday, but she's all here?"

여주

Me: "Teacher...! Bae Joo-hyun... Joo-hyun didn't come because she was sick.."

선생님

Teacher: "Huh? Joohyun? Who is she? Is she from our class?"

여주

me : yes?"

선생님

Teacher: "Bae Joo-hyun?....Why are you looking for a kid in our class who isn't even on the attendance list? Did you have a dream?"

박수영

Suyeong: "Teacher, just ignore it. You must be mentally ill from guilt or something lol"

Sigh. A few kids in the classroom quietly laughed at Park Soo-young's words. They must have been a group of people who hated me for Park Soo-young's baseless words.

민윤기

Yoongi: "Ah... you kids are so noisy, shut up."

My brother, who had been sleeping face down behind me, heard Park Soo-young's words and woke up. He then spoke fiercely in a low voice.

박수영

Swimming: "...What did you say?"

민윤기

Yoongi: "You guys are so noisy. I don't want to make a scene in the morning, so shut up."

Park Soo-young briefly got angry at her brother's sharp remark, but then realized that the teacher was at the podium and just kept her mouth shut.

Joohyun disappeared without a trace, leaving no one to remember her name, Bae Joohyun. It was as if she had never existed in the first place.

***

여주

Me: "Then what happened to Joohyun?"

It was lunchtime, and Taehyung, my brother, and I were eating lunch and heading back to class.

김태형

Taehyung: "I feel like I've been kidnapped by someone just like us."

Memory manipulation and strange characters too...

민윤기

Yoongi: "There are people who manipulate memories every day."

김태형

Taehyung: "....Aha. As expected, hyung is smart."

Grim reaper. Those gods of death, their daily routine is mostly about manipulating memories.

김태형

Taehyung: "Then maybe I should ask Hoseok or Namjoon?"

여주

Me: "Those guys weren't human..? Why aren't there any normal people around me?"

Kim Taehyung, who had been patting my shoulder as I spoke sadly, said as if it was obvious.

김태형

Taehyung: "Of course, since you're a demon, there are only those kinds of people around you. You idiot."

Shut up, it's annoying as it is. I slapped Kim Taehyung's back with a loud slap. I don't know how much it would hurt, but it seemed to be a fatal blow to Kim Taehyung who got hit.

김태형

Taehyung: "Oh seriously, how many times have I told you that your hands are really spicy?? Wow, it really hurts."

여주

Me: "That's why I told you not to do something that would get you hit in the first place. I don't like getting hit either...!"

Phew-

A dull thud echoed through the hallway. I opened my tightly shut eyes to see that Yoongi, who had been behind Kim Taehyung just moments before, was now blocking my path.

민윤기

Yoongi: ".....Fuck."

It hurts so much. Countless shards of sharp glass were stuck in my brother's white-skinned arm.

여주

Me: "Oppa!!! Are you okay?! First, go to the infirmary...!!"

민윤기

Yoongi: "No. Let's deal with those guys first."

박수영

Swimming: "Oh, I'm sorry. My hand slipped."

Park Soo-young, who was walking towards me with a group of girls laughing, seemed to be hated all over again.

김태형

Taehyung: "No matter what, you're going to blow something like this? Are you crazy?"

박수영

Swimming: "I told you, my hand slipped."

민윤기

Yoon-ki: "If it wasn't me but Jeon Yeo-ju, you'd be dead."

And even if this was aimed at Jeon Yeo-ju, you guys would die. The girls flinched a little, as if their conscience was pricked by Yoon-ki's words.

민윤기

Yoongi: "Do you think I can't hit you just because I'm your woman?"

My brother spoke as he removed the glass shards from his arm one by one. Then he lightly tossed the largest piece of glass stuck in his arm toward Park Soo-young.

A shard of glass grazed Park Soo-young's cheek and lodged in the wall. Blood oozed out through the thin cut in Park Soo-young's skin.

민윤기

Yoongi: "You think it's your right to continue being so kind? From now on, if you mess with my little brother, be prepared. I'll kill you."

It was the first time that Yoongi-oppa had acted so threateningly in front of me.

***

Jimin stopped drinking the tea placed in front of him.

김예림

Yerim: "If possible, it's best to avoid eating food from the afterlife. Your soul might leave your body."

Thanks to what Yerim said just now, my thirst has completely quenched. No, if that was the case, I shouldn't have brought the tea in the first place.

김예림

Yerim: "By the way, I didn't know you'd come to me first. Is there something you want to ask me?"

박지민

Jimin: "I heard that Lee Jong-seok, the god of death and the messenger of death, has disappeared. I came here to hear an explanation."

I guess it's because our fool is a real fool. As the older brother, I have to take care of him a bit. The 'fool' Jimin is talking about here is undoubtedly Jungkook. At that, Yerim smiled faintly.

김예림

Yerim: "You two seem to get along well. I'm a little jealous."

As you can see, my subordinates are very afraid of me.

Well... I thought of Namjoon and Hoseok, who would immediately start thinking about running away if Yeomra appeared.

김예림

Yerim: "Lee Jong-suk has been a grim reaper since my father's time. He knew my childhood in his own way, so he took special care of me. He especially wanted to break my curse."

박지민

Jimin: "What does curse mean..?"

At Jimin's question, Yerim rolled back her long sleeves with her hands. Her pale, bloodless arms were covered in large, pale bruises, and in some places, the flesh was so rotten that the bones were visible. The pungent smell of a rotting corpse made Jimin frown.

김예림

Yerim: "It's a curse placed on my mother's family by the Creator. It's a curse that all the daughters of that family have suffered from for generations. Right now, only my limbs are rotting away, but soon I will disappear."

Lee Jong-suk knew this and desperately set out to find a solution. Perhaps that's why he disappeared.

김예림

Yerim: "There was a solution in the ancient records he read. It wasn't really a solution, though."

At Yerim's gesture, the servant placed the book on the table and left the room. It was the ancient record she had mentioned.

김예림

Yerim: "There was a rumor going around during the Joseon Dynasty."

Jimin listened to her as he opened the book and read. He slowly read through the many Chinese characters.

김예림

Yerim: "It seems that Lee Jong-seok found a record in the book that the blood of an immortal human is a panacea, and can completely wash away any curse or illness."

Jimin's hands trembled slightly as he turned the pages of the book.

박지민

Jimin: "But isn't that a lie?"

김예림

Yerim: "I must have believed, desperately trying to grasp at even a straw. Even though he seemed calm on the outside, he was actually quite delicate on the inside. That's why I searched for an immortal human, except for you."

That's where the problem arises. Jimin and Yerim's faces hardened as they talked.

***

박지민

Jimin: "...You must be very sad."

Jimin, who was finishing his story and getting ready to leave, said to Yerim.

박지민

Jimin: "I know how painful it is to never see someone you've spent a long time with again."

And I'm doing this to ease that pain even a little. Yerim smiled at Jimin's words.

김예림

Yerim: "I'm jealous of you guys. I regret it later."

Why couldn't I have done better all this time? I feel empty.

박지민

jimin:"........"

김예림

Yerim: "Why do you look at me like that?"

박지민

Jimin: "It feels like time has passed so quickly that I can't believe that little girl has grown up to think like this."

김예림

Yerim: "It's kind of amazing that you haven't aged at all."

Jimin left the room with a smile.

박지민

Jimin: ".... Ah. Speaking of subordinates, wouldn't it be good to treat them nicely when you're around?"

Raising subordinates is secretly quite fun. He left the afterlife after giving them advice that wasn't advice.

After walking for a while, the gloomy road to the afterlife disappeared and I was walking down the human road. Jimin walked down the alley with a blank expression, as if he had never smiled before.

박지민

Jimin: "....Fuck."

The situation was more serious than expected. Lee Jong-suk didn't simply disappear. Instead, he died leaving behind a poison that would harm everyone, including those in the afterlife.

Bae Joo-hyun. I should have noticed the red line drawn on the list. I should have sensed her presence. I should have sensed the impact she would have on us. I was thinking about that for a while—

배주현

Joohyun: "Hello?"

It's been so long since I've seen you. Without even noticing, Jimin vomited blood as his white hand pierced Jimin's abdomen.

박지민

Jimin: "Cough...!! B...Baeju...Hyun..."

As Joohyun's hand slipped out of Jimin's abdomen, red blood flowed out like a fountain. Jimin's legs gave out and he collapsed to the floor.

배주현

Joohyun: "I've met you for the first time in a thousand years, so there are so many things I want to talk about, but you're not in my big picture. I have to die."

Aren't you grateful? You've finally met the death you so desperately wanted. Joohyun smiled at the fallen Jimin, then turned her back on him and walked leisurely away.

배주현

Joohyun: "Poor Lee Jong-suk. To think this is a panacea? If I was wrong, I was so wrong. Thanks to you, he was destroyed."

Joohyun clicked her tongue as she looked down at her arm, which was soaked with blood so much that Jimin's blood was dripping down it.

배주현

Joohyun: "Goodbye, my friend. See you later in the afterlife."

Jimin, his mind in disarray, groped his abdomen with trembling hands. His blood-soaked, swollen belly had a hole in the middle.

Bae Joo-hyun. She wasn't just an immortal human.

Because she was the only one who existed in this world.

Finally, all his movements stopped as he reached for his cell phone.

Author) I am absolutely not an anti-Red Velvet member ㅠㅠ Sometimes I get asked if I am.. This story is fiction!!! I will upload the next part soon. Thank you for watching❤