Doctor Demon

Bomi and Junho were tense. Junho glanced at the clock and was fidgeting. It had been over a minute and the two brothers still did not emerge from the water. 

"We need to pull them out!" he exclaimed but Bomi shook his head.

"We can't," he said in a butter tone. "If we interrupt the ritual, they might get trapped in the Infinite Room forever. No, they must come out on their own."

As soon as he said those words, the water in the buckets began to form bubbles and Siwan pulled out of it. He was gasping for air, his hair and face all wet. But he rushed over to Hobin who was still inside the water.

"Hobin!" he called. 

To his relief, Hobin also emerged from the bucket. He struggled to breathe, his nostrils blocked by the water so Siwan thumped his back, helping him to cough out the water. Still coughing, he looked around as if to make sure he was back in the real world.

"Where are we?" he demanded. "Is this the real world? Or the mirror one?"

"We're real," Bomi said. "You're out of the mirror world. What did you see there?"

"Let him breathe first!" Siwan snapped at the shaman. He turned to his brother and asked, "Are you alright?"

Hobin was unusually pale and shaken by what he had witnessed. The demon's threat loomed over him and he was now even more determined not to let the demon get its way.

"I'm fine," he said in a hoarse tone. Junho headed out of the room and returned after a few seconds clutching a couple of towels.

"Dry yourselves up," he ordered. "And tell us what happened in that place? What did you see?"

Bomi, however, was testing the water bucket Hobin was submerged in. 

"He saw a demon," he concluded. "You have a demon inside you, Ohm Hobin."

There was a long stretch of silence following his words. Siwan was ash faced while Hobin kept quiet. Only Junho spoke up.

"How can you tell?" he asked.

Bomi pointed at the water. Under the dim light, it was hard to tell but upon closer look, they realized that the color had changed.

"Black," he whispered. "The color turned black."

Everyone was now staring at Hobin who felt uncomfortable by the attention he was getting. 

"It didn't say its name," Hobin revealed. "It only said...it only said that the demons in Hell were once humans."

He went on to explain how the demons were escaping Hell and that the spirits trapped in there eventually became demons as well like Sungki. Hobin deliberately hid the part about him being the Prince of Hell and also about his father's origins. He only said that the demon did not know who his father was.

"What about the name?" Bomi asked. "Did the demon mention his name?"

"No," Hobin replied. "He didn't."

Siwan was frowning a little but the other two men seemed to have bought his explanation. Hobin turned to his brother.

"How did you get us out?" he asked. Siwan pointed at Hobin's forehead. To the latter's surprise, there was a charm on it. The charm was a yellow paper with something written in ancient language. There were also a few drops of blood on it. Hobin looked at Siwan's hand and realized that there was a small cut on one of his fingers.

"Bro…"

"The shaman told me before we started the ritual," Siwan revealed. He glanced at Bomi and added, "He put this charm in my pocket and told me to put a few drops of blood on the paper. He also warned me that the mirrors in that world will try to tempt me. So I'll have to break the temptation and find you. After that, I must put this charm on your head and return us to the real world."

Siwan was still skeptical of Bomi but there was no doubt the man knew what he was doing. He had also seen the demon inside Hobin which only increased his fears. 

But what concerned him the most were the things Hobin was hiding. He knew his brother well and was sure that Hobin was not being truthful. 

"Now that we know the humans in Hell can turn into demons, we'll have to plan accordingly," Bomi said. "Kistris demon...I've never heard of something like this."

"Let's look into more demon lore and see if this thing pops up anywhere," Junho said. "But…"

He looked at Hobin. "Now that we know there's a demon in him, how are we going to exorcise it?"

"We can't without a name," Bomi sighed. "We also don't know if the demon will leave him. After all, they were born together. If we extract the demon out, what if this guy dies?"

"No!" Siwan said sharply. "He's not going through any such thing!"

"Bro-" Hobin began but Siwan silenced him with a look.

"No," Siwan repeated coldly. "If you do such a thing, I'm telling mom and she will stop you. Understand?"

Hobin sighed. There was no way he could go against Siwan when he made that threat. If their mother found out, she would leave everything and turn the world upside down. Hobin was not scared of demons but his mother was a different case when she was angry. Also, he did not want to worry her.

"Fine," he gritted. 

"But if we don't exorcise-" Bomi began but Siwan silenced him with a look as well. The shaman might not be a fraud but he was not going to let this guy do funny stuff on his brother. 

"Let's just keep an eye on the demon," Junho hastily suggested. "That will do, right? Just give the kid some charms to keep the demon contained."

Bomi and Siwan were still glaring at each other but the former relented. "Fine," he said. "I'll give a few charms only."

He prepared some charms and handed them to Hobin who took them. Siwan led Hobin out of the house while Junho stayed back.

"That kid is being a nuisance!" Bomi complained. "If we don't exorcise the demon, we'll not know how to get rid of it completely!"

"He's right in his own way," Junho pointed out. "Siwan doesn't want Hobin to die. We don't know the demon's name. Also, he saw what's inside his brother. He must have been alarmed! Let them deal with it on their own for now. If anything goes wrong, we'll come to you."

Bomi was not so sure. Siwan was hellbent on not taking his help but there was little choice. If Hobin could not go against his brother, then there was nothing he could do.

Outside, Siwan led Hobin to the car and turned towards him.

"What did the demon tell you?" he demanded. Hobin looked straight at his brother, feeling conflicted. He never lied to his brother before and he was unwilling to do so. But there was no choice.

"I already said it!" Hobin claimed. "He only talked about how humans can become demons. And-"

"Look, I might not understand all this demon stuff," Siwan cut across him. "But  know you! You're lying. The demon told you something. What is it?"

"I can't tell."

Siwan was taken aback but sighed. "You don't have to do this on your own," he said.

"I know," Hobin admitted. "But there's something...I can't tell you right now. I will someday. I promise! But not now. I need to figure out some things."

"Fine," Siwan conceded. "But my threat still stands. No exorcism. I won't let you do that."

"Okay!"

Hobin smiled at his brother. If he was not there, Hobin would have died that night. Again.

"Thanks bro," he mumbled. "For being there."

Siwan patted his hair and laughed. "I'll always be there," he promised. "To kick your ass whenever you're doing something stupid!" 

He still treated Hobin as if the latter was a kid but Hobin did not mind. As long as his brother was with him, nothing was going to harm him. 

Not even a damn demon.

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