Doctor Demon

The boat suddenly rocked a little and Baekha nearly lost her balance. 

"Woah!" she screamed and nearly fell overboard but Minyoon caught her wrist and pulled her. She fell on his chest and he instantly hugged her.

"Are you okay?" he asked in panic. "You nearly fell!"

Baekha was blushing a little at the proximity. She was afraid that he would look too closely at her and realize that she was a girl so she pulled back.

"I'm fine!" she exclaimed, flabbergasted. "I'm okay…"

"And cut!" the director shouted. Both of them were startled and for a moment, had forgotten that they were in the middle of a shoot.

Minyoon rowed the boat back to shore and they got out of it. As soon as they anchored, Magrod silently jumped off the boat and returned to Miyoo's side who was stiff in fear. She was about to cry, scared of the demon which appeared a few moments ago on the boat. 

"Oi, don't cry!" Magrod hissed. "That thing is gone."

But to his embarrassment, Miyoo broke into a loud fit of tears which made Minyoon rush towards her.

"What happened?" he asked in worry. "Did you see something bad again?"

"She probably got scared when Baek nearly fell into the water," the director said. Minyoon tried hard to hush up his sister but she was crying hard. 

"Baek is alright!" he consoled her. "He's fine! Look, he's not hurt at all!"

Baekha, who was standing a few feet away, was worried that the girl was going to expose her secret. 

Oh crap! She cursed. Don't say anything!

"Beaky!" Miyoo cried. "Beaky!"

"Miyoo, it was all fake!" Minyoon told her but it was in vain. Magrod sighed and whispered into Miyoo's ear.

"I'll tell you where your grandpa keeps his stash of pennies if you just shut up!" he hissed. To Minyoon's surprise, Miyoo stopped crying and was quiet again. Her mind was distracted by her grandpa's penny collection. 

"You're a weird kid," Minyoon sighed. He picked her up and took her back to his trailer. Magrod, on the other hand, was now interested in Baekha as well. The demon was sucking out her spirit energy and she did not even know it. But this sort of phenomenon was only possible when the demon was somehow directly related to the person they were sucking out energy from. The human would be unaware of it and they would gradually become weak before dying a slow death.

Judging from this girl's state, the demon still did not suck out a lot of energy, Magrod thought. But it's only a matter of time. How is she related to the demon? 

He was now in deep thought. There was only one way to find out but taking the kid with him was a risk. She was too young and even impressionable. The demon might harm the child and even though Magrod was a demon himself, he had some rules to follow as well. 

"I'll keep an eye on this girl as well," he decided. "But first, I'll have to search this area for more demons."

He snapped his fingers and disappeared in thin air.

…

Hobin was sweaty and gasping. He was in his bed, tossing and turning around as if he was uneasy. Colorful images were flashing in and out of his head and he was seeing the shape of a large creature with three heads, bowing down to him. But he could not make out the face of the creature. It was saying something to him, looking very worried but Hobin could not hear anything. 

A static sound echoed in his ears as the creature spoke. He was trying to hear it but why? Why was it not audible? Who was that creature? Why was he bowing?

"...find...kill...Hand…"

He heard these words spoken by someone but who was it? Who else was there?

Suddenly, the creature swished its long tail and vanished, leaving Hobin into a blank abyss.

"UGH!" 

Hobin exclaimed and opened his eyes, gasping for breath. It took him a few moments to realize that he was in his bedroom, sleeping. He was having a strange dream again but it was all hazy. All he remembered was a strange, three headed creature.

"What the hell?" he muttered and sat up. Are these demons related to the other guy? He wondered. Junho had informed him that they were going to do a sort of ritual next week to dive into whatever it was living inside him. Was it a demon? Or something else? 

Hobin was no longer sleepy so he got out of bed and put on a jacket. It was his habit; whenever he was not sleepy, he would go to a convenient store and eat chocolates. 

Should I take Tinkerbell with me? He wondered. Why not?

Feeling a little better, he went on to knock on Jina's door. He had to knock quite a few times before she finally opened the door, looking very grouchy. Her hair was tied into a messy braid and her eyes were filled with sleep. And she was annoyed to see her boyfriend look like a celebrity model in the middle of the night while she was a slob.

"What is it?" she gritted. 

"Let's go out!" Hobin smirked. Jina glared at him and was about to close the door but he held out his hand and shamelessly stepped into her flat.

"It's 2 am in the morning!" she groaned. "I'm sleepy and unlike some people, I like to sleep early and wake up early!"

"Aren't you happy to see your boyfriend?" he asked, pretending to be hurt. "I thought I'd hang out with my cute and tiny girlfriend but you're being so mean!"

"I'd prefer to meet you when I look pretty and don't smell like a skunk!" she snapped. "And why is it that you look as if you were just on the runway?"

"What do I say?" he grinned as he lay on her bed and leaned against the headrest. "I was born sexy!"

He winked at her flirtatiously but Jina was very wary.

"What's going on?" she asked, sitting next to him. "Why are you really here?"

"I couldn't sleep," he sighed. "I was just having weird dreams."

He told her about the strange creature he saw in his dreams and also about the ones he had seen before. Jina was frowning as she listened to his tale. As soon as he was done speaking, she lightly slapped his arm.

"Why didn't you tell me this before?" she demanded. "Don't hide important stuff from us!"

"I wasn't sure what these were," Hobin mumbled. "Sometimes these dreams seem random but other times they show some kinda meaning...I don't know. It's all hazy. Once, I saw I was in a dark tower, chained to the walls. Other times, I was some kind of monster, about to kill. And now this three headed creature. I don't know what these are."

He took a deep breath and asked what was bothering him for a long time.

"Am I...am I a demon?" he whispered.

Jina was looking at him with a gaze mixed with worry and sadness. Siwan's words were coming back to her and she knew that whatever Hobin was, it was not normal. Hobin reached for his neck and took out a star shaped necklace to show it to her. Jina took the strange locket in her hand to examine it.

"What's this?" she frowned.

"This is the only thing my birth mother left me," he revealed. "She told my mom not to let me take it off. It was as if she knew that something was going to happen to me and put this around my neck to protect me."

Jina studied the pendant. The star was encased in a pentagon but there was something else. 

"There's writing on it!" she gasped. Hobin nodded.

"It's not visible by all," he revealed. "Only I can read it. I asked my mom and brother what the writing was about but they couldn't even see it."

Jina leaned in closer to read the phrase.

"I seek a truth you see not," she read out loud. "What does that mean?"

"I don't know," Hobin said. "I've tried my best to find out but no matter how I see it, the phrase makes no sense. See the truth you see not...what does it even mean?"

Jina bit her lip and positioned herself to lay next to him. Automatically, Hobin's arm wrapped around hers and they settled into a comfortable silence.

"What if I am a demon?" he finally asked her. "Will everyone hate me? Will you hate me as well?"

Jina hugged him tight and replied, "I don't think about all that. I've met so many spirits in my life and they were much better than most human beings. I don't know much about demons but who knows? Maybe there's good and bad amongst them as well. And even if you are a demon, so what? We'll make sure that you don't do anything you'll regret. I'll make sure that you'll not do anything wrong."

Hobin chuckled in amusement. It was ironic that the ability he asked for to protect this woman was also deadly to her. What if he hurt her someday?

"Can I stay here tonight?" he whispered. "I just...I just want to stay with you for a while."

Jina was quiet for a while but slowly nodded.

"Okay," she sleepily mumbled, hugging him tightly. "Sleep well."

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