Cherem - Chapter 8
Title: Cherem
Chapter: 8/?
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Fantasy, AU
Characters: Taemin (SHINee), Hyunjoong (SS501), the rest of SHINee, SS501 and other cameos
Pairing(s): Taemin!centric, Minho/Taemin, platonic!Hyunjoong/Taemin
Warning: Rating will go up in later chapters
Summary: When Lee Taemin gets deported down from his comfortable position in the weather division to a strange division known only to most as ‘the Store’, he gets tangled up in the stuff that should stay safely in his daydreams. Three difficult house-spirits, plenty of strange, needy customers, one clumsy but strangely mysterious store-keeper, and one particularly curious customer who seems to keep coming back only when Taemin is around.
It’s all fun, but wishes are desires are dangerous things. And soon, Taemin begins to wonder if he’s biting off more than he can chew…
~*~
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~*~
Running footsteps pounded on wood, then asphalt, then marble, then carpet and then a familiar cherry wood floor that was all too familiar with him now. He didn’t bother knocking, only threw open the door, waving away the smoke that had indicated that the occupant of the room had taken out his pipe.
“Taemin…” there was a sigh as a figure shrouded in the smoke sat up languidly from the bed. “Haven’t you read of something called manners?”
Taemin forgave Hyunjoong for that first faux passé, because the smoke had obstructed the view on both sides, and Hyunjoong couldn’t see the obvious look of panic on Taemin’s face.
He did however, when at length, Taemin didn’t answer, and Hyunjoong sat up to find out what the matter was. Taemin wasn’t too disappointed now, as Hyunjoong waved a little of the smoke away before he paused, lazy eyes sharpening. “What’s wrong?”
“A-a… customer came in.” Taemin panted, still out of breath from running so far and so fast. “He-he’s injured. Badly.”
“Give me a second.” Hyunjoong stood up, and despite the situation, Taemin couldn’t help letting out a squeak, turning around and covering his face, for Hyunjoong wore no clothes beneath the red satin robe he was untying.
Hyunjoong, however, gave no indication of amusement at Taemin’s behaviour as he usually would. The situation called for it - and Taemin quickly sobered up, although he did wonder, in the time it took Hyunjoong to quickly change, why the store-keeper had been lounging in his room nearly nude when he usually didn’t.
“Alright, let’s go.” Taemin started when Hyunjoong brushed past him, walking briskly out into the corridor. The younger was about to start after him, but with a start he realized he had forgotten to give Hyunjoong some crucial information.
“Wait!” Taemin shouted out a Hyunjoong, who paused in his step. “Onew said for you to get some sort of medication! Er… he said to tell you the customer’s name is Hyungjoon, and that you would understand.”
Hyunjoong seemed not to comprehend Taemin’s sentence for a while, then, his eyes clicked with a dim memory. “Oh. OH. Right, right… I’ll be right back.”
Taemin frowned as Hyunjoong bustled back into the room - he seemed unusually dazed and out of sorts. As if to prove it, Hyunjoong, unlike his usual calm and unaffected manner, began to mutter to himself in frustration when what he sought to find couldn’t be found. “Aish… where did I put it… I thought it was here somewhere…”
At length, Hyunjoong looked up, running a hand through his hair, “Taemin, would you mind going back first and helping the others out? Tell them I’ll be there in a minute… Just need to find this…”
Taemin bit his lip and nodded. Part of him wanted to refuse and stay here with Hyunjoong until he could go, for the scene from which he came from wasn’t one he wanted to return to so soon. But he pushed that selfish part aside and began for the door.
“Taemin!”
He turned around, a questioning look on his face, only to find Hyunjoong smiling reassuringly at him, his calm seemingly returning, “It’ll be alright, I promise.”
Taemin let out a breath he hadn’t knew he’d been holding, before he nodded, smiling back. Then he was off, streaking down the corridor like a shot.
An errant thought did come to him, although he didn’t know why. And it was about the way Hyunjoong had been clutching his hip as he walked - as if very careful about it… like it had been hurt…
~*~
But there was no time to bother about inconsequential things like that, because the minute he reentered the drawing room, he was assaulted with the smell of blood and the sense of panic in the room.
“Taemin! Where’s Hyunjoong?” Onew ran past him, clutching towels that were stained red in his hand, and Taemin, in the need to do something - anything - grabbed the pitcher of pink-tinted water and ran along with him. “He’s coming. He’s finding the medicine now.”
“Gah. This is not the time to displace things, Hyunjoong…” Onew muttered under his breath, throwing the towel into the sink and opening the cabinet to fetch out fresh ones. Taemin, realizing he was holding the pitcher, emptied it, and filled it up again. The minute he was done, they were both out and running to the drawing room again.
“Come on, stay with me, Hyungjoon-sshi…” Taemin heard Key’s voice calling out to the man they were trying to save. And Taemin couldn’t help but feel a little nauseous all over again, as the man came into sight, as did the hideous wounds through his stomach and his leg, blood welling through Key’s fingers where he was adding pressure, trying to slow down the flow of blood.
It was in situations like these that Taemin was useless, his brain trying to catch up with the situation but failing. He couldn’t think, only follow what others wanted him to do - pick this up, hold that, wash that, get over here, get out of the way, watch out, fetch this, bring that. Everything on autopilot, not thinking, because thinking would probably result in him losing his cool, and then the contents of his stomach, and no one needed yet another to be taken care of at the moment.
It was his turn to press against the wound, Key taking a break from it, and switching over to running around for hot water bottles and alcohol. He was so close to all the blood now, and he felt like throwing up. His face felt cold and pale, but he hoped it didn’t show, he didn’t want anyone to get preoccupied with just him and his stupidly squeamish stomach and as a result, a man would be dead.
He nearly jumped when a hand landed on his shoulder, and he nearly wept in relief to see it was Hyunjoong who loomed over him now, not Onew or Key or Jonghyun coming over to tell him to do something he wasn’t too comfortable doing.
“It’s okay now.” Hyunjoong was saying, and Taemin wondered how the store-keeper could stop to care about him when there was man in dire straits. “Come, you have to let go so I can take a look.”
Shakily, Taemin lifted his hands away, biting his lip as the wounds were revealed again. It occurred to him that if the man weren’t an angel like them, but was actually human, he would have been dead by now. And it occurred to him also that whoever had wounded this man must have been insanely powerful or clever, because judging from the state of the man’s energy despite his injured state, it was still quite sizeable - much more powerful than Taemin’s at least.
“Ah… Hyungjoon, you always crawl here when you get your ass kicked don’t you?” Hyunjoong was talking to the man, and Taemin nearly gasped at the inconsiderate words. But then, the man’s eyes opened, tired and worn, but still alive nonetheless. “Yeah, I do. No matter where I’ve received help from, I love your marvelous bed-side manner the best.”
Hyunjoong laughed, and Taemin realized then that Hyunjoong didn’t just know this Hyungjoon guy, but they were actually good friends. “Oh really, are you sure you don’t come here because of this?” And Hyunjoong pulled out a tiny golden vial from out of his pocket.
“Oh right. That too. I’d forgotten I gave it to you.” Hyungjoon winced as Hyunjoong shifted him into his lap, unstopping the vial. Taemin gasped as the sweet smell of the meadows and early morning dew filled the room.
“Right, you did. Are you going to say that you’re surprised I haven’t used it all up? Honestly, Hyungjoon, only you would get this knocked up for me to actually need to use it.” Hyunjoong tipped a drop of the contents into Hyungjoon’s mouth.
“Really? Wow, I feel quite special now. Ow.” Hyungjoon winced as Hyunjoong began to gather the man in his arms, lifting him up to carry.
“Liar. I’m sure it doesn’t hurt too much.” Hyunjoong commented as he nodded at Key, who immediately ran out the door, presumably to prepare a room. “It’s nearly all healed now.”
“Oh… so you’re right.” Hyungjoon murmured, and Taemin, with a shock, realized that the fatal wounds were almost completely healed, scabbing over before his eyes, leaving nothing but faint scars.
Hyunjoong smiled in reply, taking the first step out of the room. “Of course I am. Ah, Taemin.” He paused, looking back at the youngest in the room. “Would you mind preparing three rooms? Somewhere far from where our rooms are. Maybe the south wing. Yes, that would be ideal.”
“O-of course.” Taemin nodded, but couldn’t help but wonder who the rooms were for.
But the other two in the room seemed to know the answer. Onew’s face had grown pale while Jonghyun glowered, casting a worried eye at Onew. “So they’re coming.”
“They always do.” Was Hyunjoong’s reply, and nothing more was said.
At least, not until the doorbell rang again, and Taemin could see both Onew and Jonghyun visibly stiffen in response.
“Taemin, why don’t you go see to those rooms.” Onew’s voice was like an iceberg - only a hint of the danger below. And Taemin quickly nodded, backing out of the door and running down the corridors into the shortest way he had memorized to the east wing. He wondered who was at the door, that all of them be so adverse to their presence, even the quiet, wouldn’t-hurt-a-fly Onew.
He should have realized that it was ‘especially’ - especially the quiet, wouldn’t-hurt-a-fly, mysterious Onew whom Taemin would realize he actually knew nothing about.
~*~
The first glimpse he caught of them was near lunch, helping Key preparing the food - much more elaborate and fancy than Taemin had ever seen Key preparing. He was tempted to ask why, but knew that it would be a stupid question, especially since the cheerful atmosphere around him was but a tense façade - one mistake and it would all shatter apart.
Then it did, without Taemin’s action. There was no warning at all, only the echo of footsteps, then a knock and then the bursting open of a door. “Well, what do we have here?”
Taemin got the glimpse of three resplendently dressed figures of alabaster black. They reminded him of one of those boy bands in the human world, whom human girls would go crazy over. Good-looking, the whole lot of them, but then most angels were. Resplendent, would be a better word to describe - their energies so vibrant and alluring that Taemin almost stepped straight up to them to see if that energy was real - if they were real.
But somehow, Key was standing in front of Taemin, blocking him from doing so. And Onew and Jonghyun had begun to usher them out of the kitchen. Taemin caught words of platitudes, murmurs of the three entering a kitchen seeming inappropriate. Then one of the three replied, a smooth voice, about how it was all fine and it was nonsense, all that about impropriety and Taemin wanted to go closer to hear it better, but Key had wrapped his hand around Taemin’s wrist, pulling him back as he tried to move past the human.
Then, the door closed, and it was as if a spell was released. And snapping out of it, Taemin shuddered, wondering what had come over him.
“It’s their aura - it pulls people weaker than they are in.” Key answered, and patted Taemin on the arm. “It’s okay. I had a hard time resisting as well when I first met them. You get used to it over time, but for this time, we’re going to keep you away from them as much as possible.”
It was coddling again then, but after that uncomfortable experience, Taemin was pretty sure he didn’t mind at all.
~*~
Key, Onew and Jonghyun really knew their business. After that first, brief meeting with the three mysterious visitors, Taemin neither saw hide nor hair of them - and for that, he was thankful. Even if it did mean he was sent on errands to far-end corners at the oddest of times. At first, he didn’t know why the three didn’t just ask him to go and hide. But then, on the fourth or fifth time, just as he was turning the corner, he caught a glimpse of black coat, and then the mutters of pleasantries, and after that, he questioned not the excuses the three cooked up to make him leave.
It was perhaps the fiftieth time he was being sent off that day however, and he was beginning to wonder if either the three were really nosy, or one of them was interested in his being (which wasn’t that far-fetched since Taemin fathomed it must have been a long time since there was new resident in the Store). It was with these thoughts that he traipsed down the corridor to their other guest’s room, which he was sent to with food to feed. Although, these instructions were hissed, after which, they were immediately contradicted that Taemin go bring Hyunjoong his food in a part of the house that even Taemin had never heard before. Obviously, Taemin was no fool, and ignored the latter instruction, quickly taking off before the sound of footsteps even echoed down the corridor. It was quite clear, that no one wanted their three mysterious guests to know about a certain other guest’s presence in the place.
However, just as he was about to open the door, tray balanced on one hand, the door swung open on its own accord. And in surprise, Taemin stumbled backwards and nearly dropped the tray.
“Woah! Careful there!” a strong hand lifted the tray away from Taemin’s hand, balancing it from where it had begun to tip. And Taemin took this opportunity to right his balance, look up at the person he had unfortunately bumped into, and promptly stared.
“Y-you!” Taemin’s jaw dropped open as he recognized the man who was standing in front of him now. The curly brown hair, the twinkle in his eye - it was that strange customer whom Taemin had met the very first day he was here. The only one who hadn’t been spells or illusion of Onew, Key or Jonghyun - Choi Minho.
“Yes… I’m me.” Minho laughed, and Taemin wondered how a laugh could be so joyfully full and deep like that. “And you are that boy who those three house-spirits were playing a prank on.”
“Ah… yes… I’m Taemin.” The weather spirit mentally hit himself, realizing that screaming ‘you’ at someone did not constitute as polite in any social circle he knew of. “S-sorry. I was just surprised. W-what are you doing here?”
“Oh, I’m here to see Hyunjoong. He wasn’t here the other time I came, so I came back.” Minho explained, “Took me a while though. I was a little busy.”
Taemin blinked, and suddenly his mind was set back to when Hyunjoong had entertained a customer called Heechul. “Are you a regular of the Store then?”
“A regular?” Minho seemed amused. “I guess you could call me that.”
“Oh. I see.” Taemin nodded, lifting out his hands for the tray that Minho still held. But Minho shook his head, placing it down on a nearby shelf. “I don’t think you should go in yet. The two of them were talking about something important, which is why I’m outside now. I obviously wasn’t wanted.”
Taemin blinked, before swallowing. “Ah, okay.” That was understandable… but how long should he wait outside before entering though?
“Just a few minutes should do.” Taemin let out a sound of surprise, and he felt his face heating up as Minho smiled at him. Either Taemin somehow seemed to met an unusually high amount of psychics, or (and Taemin hoped this was not the case although it was highly likely that it was) he was actually a person whose thoughts were clearly displayed on his face. “In the meantime, how about I keep you company, so that you won’t get bored.”
“Ah?” Taemin yelped, before waving his hands frantically in a haphazard manner. “No, you don’t need to! I’m sure you’re a busy person and all… my boredom is just an inconsequential issue and you don’t need to bother about it. Really!”
Taemin was close to beet-root red now as Minho laughed again. “Oh… I’m not busy at all. I’m quite the slacker really, did I really seem like a busy person to you? Anyway, you’re the busy one from what I can tell from the situation - it must be quite disturbing to have both the avatars of good and evil in the same place huh?”
“…What?” Taemin looked at Minho, who seemed surprised that Taemin didn’t know this piece of information.
“Well, the injured sod inside the room there is the avatar of good.” Minho pointed a slim finger at the closed door in front of them before gesturing wildly in a far-off direction. “And the other guy is the avatar of evil, here to try to finish his enemy off after wounding him. You didn’t know?”
Taemin shook his head, although his mind now reeled with the new information. So many things were clear now. The avatars of good and evil were possibly the most well-known and iconic of their kind. Humans had all sorts of different names for them - light and darkness, Angel and Devil, salvation and sin, peace and war. They fought each other almost constantly, their battles of epic proportions, yet even when one was defeated, he never died. And once the injured one recovered, the fight would begin again - a never ending battle for a vain victory.
“But… there were three of them… isn’t the avatar of evil supposed to be just one person?” Taemin asked.
“Well, yes. But both the avatar of good and evil are known to take helpers from time to time - they have the ability to grant even normal humans the same power as them. Although, unlike the avatars themselves, if they’re mortally wounded, then its lights out for them,” Minho explained. “If I remember correctly, Kibum’s the avatar, and the other two, Soohyun and Kevin are minions he’s picked up somewhere or another…”
There was silence for a moment, and Minho paused, staring at Taemin’s blank face. “Uh… Kibum, you know? The guy who looks like he could be Hyungjoon’s twin?”
“No… I don’t.” Taemin shook his head slowly. “I haven’t really seen the avatar of evil yet.”
“Oh?” Minho leaned back against the wall in thought. “Protecting you, huh? Since you’re new. Sounds like Hyunjoong’s style.”
“It does?”
“Yeah.” Minho sighed, looking up, a wry smile on his face. “Been like that since the first day I met him. I’ve worked with many store-keepers before him, but he’s one of the few that I really like.” Then mumbling to himself, “Even if he’s too self-sacrificial for his own good.”
“What was that?” Taemin blinked, wondering if he had heard right, but Minho waved his curiosity away.
“Anyway, we were talking about the avatars right?” Minho continued, “so, yeah, Kibum takes helpers, but I never heard Hyungjoon doing anything of the sort. I think he doesn’t want to drag anyone into such a meaningless fight. But then, he’s very young, so I don’t think he’s felt the urge yet - hasn’t felt the loneliness when keeping such a mantra.”
“Eh? But I thought the avatars were very old. As old as Time I heard.” Taemin blinked, confused.
Minho chuckled. “Well, yes, most people think that, and that in part is true. The avatars are old, but it’s not the people themselves - it’s the position. An avatar can pick someone to replace him or her when they get tired of always fighting.”
“Oh.” Taemin nodded slowly, before smiling at the thought. “That’s good. It’s just sad to think of someone fighting a fruitless fight for eternity.”
“Hmm…” Minho stared at Taemin for a while, indescribable expression on his face before he sighed. “I just think its good sense. After all, apparently, their fight affects directly the happenings of the human world. If someone is avatar for too long, then he or she may get tempted to abuse that power.”
“Ah. Right.” Taemin grinned sheepishly, scratching his head. From the way he spoke, Minho was definitely older than him then, he didn’t have the naïve sort of thinking that seemed to plague Taemin.
“Hah…” Taemin jumped at the sound, before realizing that Minho had covered his face, hiding it from view, his shoulders hunched up and shaking.
“M-minho-sshi? Are you alright?” Taemin was alarmed.
“Ah? Hah…” Minho raised a hand, before pulling his face up, and Taemin was mortified to discover that Minho had been laughing at him. “No, you’re just too cute.”
“Eh?” Taemin yelped, staring at Minho, scandalized, but that did nothing more than make Minho laugh even harder.
“Aish… anyway, I think I had better get going.” Minho sighed, seemingly reluctant to go. “I think they should be about done, and I don’t fancy Hyunjoong interrogating me on what I was doing with you.”
“What?” Taemin gaped at the strange sentence - it made it seem like Hyunjoong didn’t like Minho much. But Minho was a regular, wasn’t he? And it just seemed unlikely that Hyunjoong would let people he didn’t like become his regular.
“Nothing. See ya.” Taemin winced a little when a hand landed on his head, messing up his hair.
He was still staring at the corridor that Minho had disappeared down when the door behind him opened.
“Taemin?”
“Oh, Hyunjoong.” He quickly snapped out of, smiling sheepishly at the bemused store-keeper before turning around him and getting the tray off the shelf. “I brought food for Hyungjoon-sshi… Ack… I think its gone cold already.”
“You were talking with Minho, weren’t you?”
“Huh?” Taemin looked up, startled not by the question, but by the tone in which it was asked. “Yeah… how did you know?”
“Because that sounds exactly like Minho.” Taemin felt an unfamiliar twinge of unease, looking at Hyunjoong’s expression. And he thought about that notion that maybe the two didn’t really get along, and that maybe it wasn’t that far-fetched after all. “…Anyway, Hyungjoon’s sleeping, so I don’t think he’ll be eating any time soon.”
“Oh.” Taemin looked down at the tray in his hands. “What do I do with this then?”
Hyunjoong looked down at Taemin’s earnest face, his expression softening. “We’ll go to the kitchen and ask Key to heat it up or something. Walk with me?”
And there was something about Hyunjoong’s tone that made it impossible for Taemin to refuse.
~*~
“So… all he talked about was the avatars of good and evil then?”
“Yeah.” Taemin confirmed, wondering about the ‘all’ Hyunjoong’s question.
“I see…” Hyunjoong seemed lost in his thoughts for a moment, and Taemin too, kept quiet, not wanting to disrupt Hyunjoong’s quiet. Now that he thought about it, Hyunjoong must be in quite a stressful situation - he was hiding the avatar of good from the avatar of darkness after all.
“What’s on your mind?” and Taemin looked up, hand unconsciously going to his face as he realized his face must have been telling of his thoughts again.
“N-nothing much. I was just thinking… how long has Hyungjoon been the avatar of good?”
“…Shorter than I’ve been the store-keeper.” Hyunjoong sighed, and Taemin looked up in surprise. “In fact, I was the one who instated him into his current role.”
“What?”
“Yes.” Hyunjoong seemed amused by Taemin’s reaction. “He was an old friend from before I became store-keeper you see. Helped me on the journey I was on back then, and I kept in contact with him even after I got this job. Told him to come down whenever he needed help, and one day, he did.”
Hyunjoong seemed lost in memory. And somehow, Taemin could see the past reflected in his faraway eyes. “It was raining that night, I think. I had been store-keeper a year or two, maybe? It was a slow day, and I had already told Key, Onew and Jonghyun to pack up and retire early. I was just about to go to bed myself when there was a frantic knock on the door, and I opened it to find Hyungjoon there, and in carried in his arms, his younger brother, badly injured. They had been doing some mercenary work, Hyungjoon had been careless, and Kibum took a blow that had been meant for him.”
“I think you can guess what happened next, right?” Hyunjoong turned to a horrified looking Taemin. “Hyungjoon wished for his brother to be okay. I tried the normal methods of healing first, of course, but Kibum was too far gone. And so, the Store, in its wisdom, told me what to do, and I followed the instructions - down to the last word.”
“What was the payment then?” Taemin asked, his voice almost a whisper.
“The very nature of the way the wish was granted outlined in which the payment was to be paid,” was Hyunjoong’s reply. “After all, it was a huge wish, and such wishes are usually paid in installments. The first thing was that Hyungjoon and Kibum would have to fight with each other as the avatars. The second was that Kibum would not know of the true nature of the wish, and even if someone brought it up, it would pass by his ears like it was just empty wind. And the third, most important thing was that Kibum’s nature would be changed, as all people are by the powers of the avatar of evil.”
“Changed?”
“Yes…” Hyunjoong sighed. “Kibum used to be such a warm, friendly and open guy. Now he’s… he’s just…”
“Just what, Hyunjoong-sshi?”
Even if Hyunjoong hadn’t stiffened beside him, Taemin would have known that the situation was dangerous just from the changed atmosphere - the tension that had ignited just from one person’s voice. A voice that was like multitudes of screaming sirens luring Taemin into carnal lust. A voice that was layers of dark desire and unlawful unions. A voice which sent freezing chills up Taemin’s spine.
“Vile…? Or maybe sickening? Or maybe… evil?”
He looked up then, and there stood a single figure of alabaster black - a tall hawkish figure with a startling resemblance to Hyungjoon. Except his face was less kind, more closed, his eyes filled with deceptive political correctness.
“Kibum-sshi.”
The smile was like black absinthe, and Taemin stood, frozen still as the man began to walk up to them. “Oh, hello there. You must be the illusive Taemin-sshi. I caught a glance of you at lunch-time but nothing more. You really keep the new ones busy, eh, Hyunjoong?”
Hyunjoong didn’t answer, but Taemin couldn’t really bring himself to care. He may have been standing still, like the very impersonation of a statue, but inside he was screaming, legs itching to take flight.
“Leave him alone.” Hyunjoong’s voice seemed irritated, the statement seeming like it had been repeated many times. “He’s not a part of this.”
“Heh. You say that even for those other three, but they’re helping you aren’t they? Why else have they been purposely keeping this little one out of the way the whole day?” Taemin’s breath hitched in his throat when Kibum drew near, eyes racking over him in a most terrifying manner. “In fact, why keep him away from me at all? Is it because he knows something, and if I get ‘my claws’, as you would say, on him, he’d spill his guts?”
It was only then that that possibility had occurred to Taemin, and it made more sense. But somehow, it hurt to think that the rest would think him so untrustworthy. He wouldn’t tell this Kibum anything, not with Hyungjoon so badly injured. He really wouldn’t, not even if Kibum pressed him to the wall, his sinful lips attack Taemin’s throat and grinding their hips together and-
“You’re right that I don’t want him near you. But not for that reason.” Taemin nearly gasped when Hyunjoong’s hand dragged him from those dangerous thoughts. Then his eyes widened when he realized the contents of exactly what he had thought. “You tend to have an effect on those who have just met you Kibum, and this kid’s not old enough to deal with your… allure.”
“Hmph.” Kibum smirked, and Taemin nearly slumped with relief when those eyes shifted over to Hyunjoong. “Is that so? Why is he carrying a tray then?”
“For me. He was bringing me lunch, but I was meeting someone else. So it got cold.” Hyunjoong replied, his hand tightening on Taemin’s shoulder, but not painfully. It was in support, and Taemin gladly received it.
“Someone else?”
“Someone I consult with from time to time, in exchange, I grant him small wishes - journey’s mercy, good health, that sort of thing.” Kibum looked at Hyunjoong closely, as if trying to discern a lie; but Hyunjoong’s face remained frightfully pleasant and mild. “You may know him. Choi Minho?”
“Mmm… name doesn’t ring a bell.” Kibum licked his lips, and Taemin had no doubt he’d have one of his minions check to see if Minho really existed.
“It wouldn’t. You’ve become lazy, getting other people to do your dirty work.” Again, Taemin couldn’t fathom how Hyunjoong kept becoming all tactless in the worse possible situations when he was so politically correct every time else.
“Comparing me with my brother again, Hyunjoong? Don’t. The idiot has powers, and he doesn’t want to use them. I call that stupidity, not valor.” The sneer on Kibum’s face distorted his beauteous looks, making him, for once, look the part of evil avatar.
“Now, what do you know about valor, Kibum-sshi? After all, you’re not supposed to have a single drop of that in your body anymore.” Hyunjoong’s statement only made Kibum angrier.
“And whose fault is that?” The poison Kibum’s voice scared Taemin, and he feared for Hyunjoong, who was the main recipient of that venom. “My selfish brother’s, who forced me into this for his selfish wish. And you of course, for granting it. I heard someone praise you before, saying that you were the fairest, most scrupulous store-keeper this place has had in a while. But I guess those scruples are thrown out of the window when it comes to your precious friends right? They’re more important than just a simple bending of the rules.”
“Oh… I assure you, the granting of your brother’s wish was done strictly by the book. Not even the slightest trace of rule-bending.” Hyunjoong’s voice was mild, but in it, Taemin heard the trace of a warning.
Kibum snorted, before the question he had been wanting to ask was shot out of his mouth like a bad taste. “Where is he, Hyunjoong? Where’s my brother? I know you’re hiding him, so don’t lie.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Fine, be that way.” Kibum’s anger seemed to dissipate, and an unnaturally calm smile seemed to settle on his face instead. But Taemin could feel his skin crawling as Kibum began to push past them to continue walking down from where he came. “I’ll find out soon anyway.”
Neither Hyunjoong nor he turned around, but they heard the footsteps become softer as more timed passed, before they disappeared altogether. Only when Hyunjoong turned around to check, his demeanor relaxing, did Taemin relax as well.
Then, glancing towards the way Kibum had left, a thought came to Taemin. “That way… Hyungjoon-sshi…?”
“He’s safe.” Hyunjoong answered shortly, and Taemin could see that the encounter with Kibum had left him unusually irritated. “I placed as many wards and misdirection spells as I could. And Hyungjoon’s nearly better, plus his weapons are just within reach of his bed.”
“Ah. Okay.” Taemin shifted the tray in his hands, his arms aching after holding them so still for so long, and was surprised to hear the sound of plastic rattling. He was shaking.
Hyunjoong noticed as he always did. “Let me take that.” And before Taemin could protest, the tray was lifted from his hands. “I’ll take it down to the kitchen myself. Why don’t you go take a rest? You look like you need it. But stay either in the library or your room, alright?”
Taemin probably should have felt a tad bit irritated at the high number of times he was being told to do things today, but all he felt was relieve as he scrambled back towards the sanctuary of his room.
~*~
[Chapter 9]
Chapter: 8/?
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Fantasy, AU
Characters: Taemin (SHINee), Hyunjoong (SS501), the rest of SHINee, SS501 and other cameos
Pairing(s): Taemin!centric, Minho/Taemin, platonic!Hyunjoong/Taemin
Warning: Rating will go up in later chapters
Summary: When Lee Taemin gets deported down from his comfortable position in the weather division to a strange division known only to most as ‘the Store’, he gets tangled up in the stuff that should stay safely in his daydreams. Three difficult house-spirits, plenty of strange, needy customers, one clumsy but strangely mysterious store-keeper, and one particularly curious customer who seems to keep coming back only when Taemin is around.
It’s all fun, but wishes are desires are dangerous things. And soon, Taemin begins to wonder if he’s biting off more than he can chew…
~*~
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~*~
Running footsteps pounded on wood, then asphalt, then marble, then carpet and then a familiar cherry wood floor that was all too familiar with him now. He didn’t bother knocking, only threw open the door, waving away the smoke that had indicated that the occupant of the room had taken out his pipe.
“Taemin…” there was a sigh as a figure shrouded in the smoke sat up languidly from the bed. “Haven’t you read of something called manners?”
Taemin forgave Hyunjoong for that first faux passé, because the smoke had obstructed the view on both sides, and Hyunjoong couldn’t see the obvious look of panic on Taemin’s face.
He did however, when at length, Taemin didn’t answer, and Hyunjoong sat up to find out what the matter was. Taemin wasn’t too disappointed now, as Hyunjoong waved a little of the smoke away before he paused, lazy eyes sharpening. “What’s wrong?”
“A-a… customer came in.” Taemin panted, still out of breath from running so far and so fast. “He-he’s injured. Badly.”
“Give me a second.” Hyunjoong stood up, and despite the situation, Taemin couldn’t help letting out a squeak, turning around and covering his face, for Hyunjoong wore no clothes beneath the red satin robe he was untying.
Hyunjoong, however, gave no indication of amusement at Taemin’s behaviour as he usually would. The situation called for it - and Taemin quickly sobered up, although he did wonder, in the time it took Hyunjoong to quickly change, why the store-keeper had been lounging in his room nearly nude when he usually didn’t.
“Alright, let’s go.” Taemin started when Hyunjoong brushed past him, walking briskly out into the corridor. The younger was about to start after him, but with a start he realized he had forgotten to give Hyunjoong some crucial information.
“Wait!” Taemin shouted out a Hyunjoong, who paused in his step. “Onew said for you to get some sort of medication! Er… he said to tell you the customer’s name is Hyungjoon, and that you would understand.”
Hyunjoong seemed not to comprehend Taemin’s sentence for a while, then, his eyes clicked with a dim memory. “Oh. OH. Right, right… I’ll be right back.”
Taemin frowned as Hyunjoong bustled back into the room - he seemed unusually dazed and out of sorts. As if to prove it, Hyunjoong, unlike his usual calm and unaffected manner, began to mutter to himself in frustration when what he sought to find couldn’t be found. “Aish… where did I put it… I thought it was here somewhere…”
At length, Hyunjoong looked up, running a hand through his hair, “Taemin, would you mind going back first and helping the others out? Tell them I’ll be there in a minute… Just need to find this…”
Taemin bit his lip and nodded. Part of him wanted to refuse and stay here with Hyunjoong until he could go, for the scene from which he came from wasn’t one he wanted to return to so soon. But he pushed that selfish part aside and began for the door.
“Taemin!”
He turned around, a questioning look on his face, only to find Hyunjoong smiling reassuringly at him, his calm seemingly returning, “It’ll be alright, I promise.”
Taemin let out a breath he hadn’t knew he’d been holding, before he nodded, smiling back. Then he was off, streaking down the corridor like a shot.
An errant thought did come to him, although he didn’t know why. And it was about the way Hyunjoong had been clutching his hip as he walked - as if very careful about it… like it had been hurt…
~*~
But there was no time to bother about inconsequential things like that, because the minute he reentered the drawing room, he was assaulted with the smell of blood and the sense of panic in the room.
“Taemin! Where’s Hyunjoong?” Onew ran past him, clutching towels that were stained red in his hand, and Taemin, in the need to do something - anything - grabbed the pitcher of pink-tinted water and ran along with him. “He’s coming. He’s finding the medicine now.”
“Gah. This is not the time to displace things, Hyunjoong…” Onew muttered under his breath, throwing the towel into the sink and opening the cabinet to fetch out fresh ones. Taemin, realizing he was holding the pitcher, emptied it, and filled it up again. The minute he was done, they were both out and running to the drawing room again.
“Come on, stay with me, Hyungjoon-sshi…” Taemin heard Key’s voice calling out to the man they were trying to save. And Taemin couldn’t help but feel a little nauseous all over again, as the man came into sight, as did the hideous wounds through his stomach and his leg, blood welling through Key’s fingers where he was adding pressure, trying to slow down the flow of blood.
It was in situations like these that Taemin was useless, his brain trying to catch up with the situation but failing. He couldn’t think, only follow what others wanted him to do - pick this up, hold that, wash that, get over here, get out of the way, watch out, fetch this, bring that. Everything on autopilot, not thinking, because thinking would probably result in him losing his cool, and then the contents of his stomach, and no one needed yet another to be taken care of at the moment.
It was his turn to press against the wound, Key taking a break from it, and switching over to running around for hot water bottles and alcohol. He was so close to all the blood now, and he felt like throwing up. His face felt cold and pale, but he hoped it didn’t show, he didn’t want anyone to get preoccupied with just him and his stupidly squeamish stomach and as a result, a man would be dead.
He nearly jumped when a hand landed on his shoulder, and he nearly wept in relief to see it was Hyunjoong who loomed over him now, not Onew or Key or Jonghyun coming over to tell him to do something he wasn’t too comfortable doing.
“It’s okay now.” Hyunjoong was saying, and Taemin wondered how the store-keeper could stop to care about him when there was man in dire straits. “Come, you have to let go so I can take a look.”
Shakily, Taemin lifted his hands away, biting his lip as the wounds were revealed again. It occurred to him that if the man weren’t an angel like them, but was actually human, he would have been dead by now. And it occurred to him also that whoever had wounded this man must have been insanely powerful or clever, because judging from the state of the man’s energy despite his injured state, it was still quite sizeable - much more powerful than Taemin’s at least.
“Ah… Hyungjoon, you always crawl here when you get your ass kicked don’t you?” Hyunjoong was talking to the man, and Taemin nearly gasped at the inconsiderate words. But then, the man’s eyes opened, tired and worn, but still alive nonetheless. “Yeah, I do. No matter where I’ve received help from, I love your marvelous bed-side manner the best.”
Hyunjoong laughed, and Taemin realized then that Hyunjoong didn’t just know this Hyungjoon guy, but they were actually good friends. “Oh really, are you sure you don’t come here because of this?” And Hyunjoong pulled out a tiny golden vial from out of his pocket.
“Oh right. That too. I’d forgotten I gave it to you.” Hyungjoon winced as Hyunjoong shifted him into his lap, unstopping the vial. Taemin gasped as the sweet smell of the meadows and early morning dew filled the room.
“Right, you did. Are you going to say that you’re surprised I haven’t used it all up? Honestly, Hyungjoon, only you would get this knocked up for me to actually need to use it.” Hyunjoong tipped a drop of the contents into Hyungjoon’s mouth.
“Really? Wow, I feel quite special now. Ow.” Hyungjoon winced as Hyunjoong began to gather the man in his arms, lifting him up to carry.
“Liar. I’m sure it doesn’t hurt too much.” Hyunjoong commented as he nodded at Key, who immediately ran out the door, presumably to prepare a room. “It’s nearly all healed now.”
“Oh… so you’re right.” Hyungjoon murmured, and Taemin, with a shock, realized that the fatal wounds were almost completely healed, scabbing over before his eyes, leaving nothing but faint scars.
Hyunjoong smiled in reply, taking the first step out of the room. “Of course I am. Ah, Taemin.” He paused, looking back at the youngest in the room. “Would you mind preparing three rooms? Somewhere far from where our rooms are. Maybe the south wing. Yes, that would be ideal.”
“O-of course.” Taemin nodded, but couldn’t help but wonder who the rooms were for.
But the other two in the room seemed to know the answer. Onew’s face had grown pale while Jonghyun glowered, casting a worried eye at Onew. “So they’re coming.”
“They always do.” Was Hyunjoong’s reply, and nothing more was said.
At least, not until the doorbell rang again, and Taemin could see both Onew and Jonghyun visibly stiffen in response.
“Taemin, why don’t you go see to those rooms.” Onew’s voice was like an iceberg - only a hint of the danger below. And Taemin quickly nodded, backing out of the door and running down the corridors into the shortest way he had memorized to the east wing. He wondered who was at the door, that all of them be so adverse to their presence, even the quiet, wouldn’t-hurt-a-fly Onew.
He should have realized that it was ‘especially’ - especially the quiet, wouldn’t-hurt-a-fly, mysterious Onew whom Taemin would realize he actually knew nothing about.
~*~
The first glimpse he caught of them was near lunch, helping Key preparing the food - much more elaborate and fancy than Taemin had ever seen Key preparing. He was tempted to ask why, but knew that it would be a stupid question, especially since the cheerful atmosphere around him was but a tense façade - one mistake and it would all shatter apart.
Then it did, without Taemin’s action. There was no warning at all, only the echo of footsteps, then a knock and then the bursting open of a door. “Well, what do we have here?”
Taemin got the glimpse of three resplendently dressed figures of alabaster black. They reminded him of one of those boy bands in the human world, whom human girls would go crazy over. Good-looking, the whole lot of them, but then most angels were. Resplendent, would be a better word to describe - their energies so vibrant and alluring that Taemin almost stepped straight up to them to see if that energy was real - if they were real.
But somehow, Key was standing in front of Taemin, blocking him from doing so. And Onew and Jonghyun had begun to usher them out of the kitchen. Taemin caught words of platitudes, murmurs of the three entering a kitchen seeming inappropriate. Then one of the three replied, a smooth voice, about how it was all fine and it was nonsense, all that about impropriety and Taemin wanted to go closer to hear it better, but Key had wrapped his hand around Taemin’s wrist, pulling him back as he tried to move past the human.
Then, the door closed, and it was as if a spell was released. And snapping out of it, Taemin shuddered, wondering what had come over him.
“It’s their aura - it pulls people weaker than they are in.” Key answered, and patted Taemin on the arm. “It’s okay. I had a hard time resisting as well when I first met them. You get used to it over time, but for this time, we’re going to keep you away from them as much as possible.”
It was coddling again then, but after that uncomfortable experience, Taemin was pretty sure he didn’t mind at all.
~*~
Key, Onew and Jonghyun really knew their business. After that first, brief meeting with the three mysterious visitors, Taemin neither saw hide nor hair of them - and for that, he was thankful. Even if it did mean he was sent on errands to far-end corners at the oddest of times. At first, he didn’t know why the three didn’t just ask him to go and hide. But then, on the fourth or fifth time, just as he was turning the corner, he caught a glimpse of black coat, and then the mutters of pleasantries, and after that, he questioned not the excuses the three cooked up to make him leave.
It was perhaps the fiftieth time he was being sent off that day however, and he was beginning to wonder if either the three were really nosy, or one of them was interested in his being (which wasn’t that far-fetched since Taemin fathomed it must have been a long time since there was new resident in the Store). It was with these thoughts that he traipsed down the corridor to their other guest’s room, which he was sent to with food to feed. Although, these instructions were hissed, after which, they were immediately contradicted that Taemin go bring Hyunjoong his food in a part of the house that even Taemin had never heard before. Obviously, Taemin was no fool, and ignored the latter instruction, quickly taking off before the sound of footsteps even echoed down the corridor. It was quite clear, that no one wanted their three mysterious guests to know about a certain other guest’s presence in the place.
However, just as he was about to open the door, tray balanced on one hand, the door swung open on its own accord. And in surprise, Taemin stumbled backwards and nearly dropped the tray.
“Woah! Careful there!” a strong hand lifted the tray away from Taemin’s hand, balancing it from where it had begun to tip. And Taemin took this opportunity to right his balance, look up at the person he had unfortunately bumped into, and promptly stared.
“Y-you!” Taemin’s jaw dropped open as he recognized the man who was standing in front of him now. The curly brown hair, the twinkle in his eye - it was that strange customer whom Taemin had met the very first day he was here. The only one who hadn’t been spells or illusion of Onew, Key or Jonghyun - Choi Minho.
“Yes… I’m me.” Minho laughed, and Taemin wondered how a laugh could be so joyfully full and deep like that. “And you are that boy who those three house-spirits were playing a prank on.”
“Ah… yes… I’m Taemin.” The weather spirit mentally hit himself, realizing that screaming ‘you’ at someone did not constitute as polite in any social circle he knew of. “S-sorry. I was just surprised. W-what are you doing here?”
“Oh, I’m here to see Hyunjoong. He wasn’t here the other time I came, so I came back.” Minho explained, “Took me a while though. I was a little busy.”
Taemin blinked, and suddenly his mind was set back to when Hyunjoong had entertained a customer called Heechul. “Are you a regular of the Store then?”
“A regular?” Minho seemed amused. “I guess you could call me that.”
“Oh. I see.” Taemin nodded, lifting out his hands for the tray that Minho still held. But Minho shook his head, placing it down on a nearby shelf. “I don’t think you should go in yet. The two of them were talking about something important, which is why I’m outside now. I obviously wasn’t wanted.”
Taemin blinked, before swallowing. “Ah, okay.” That was understandable… but how long should he wait outside before entering though?
“Just a few minutes should do.” Taemin let out a sound of surprise, and he felt his face heating up as Minho smiled at him. Either Taemin somehow seemed to met an unusually high amount of psychics, or (and Taemin hoped this was not the case although it was highly likely that it was) he was actually a person whose thoughts were clearly displayed on his face. “In the meantime, how about I keep you company, so that you won’t get bored.”
“Ah?” Taemin yelped, before waving his hands frantically in a haphazard manner. “No, you don’t need to! I’m sure you’re a busy person and all… my boredom is just an inconsequential issue and you don’t need to bother about it. Really!”
Taemin was close to beet-root red now as Minho laughed again. “Oh… I’m not busy at all. I’m quite the slacker really, did I really seem like a busy person to you? Anyway, you’re the busy one from what I can tell from the situation - it must be quite disturbing to have both the avatars of good and evil in the same place huh?”
“…What?” Taemin looked at Minho, who seemed surprised that Taemin didn’t know this piece of information.
“Well, the injured sod inside the room there is the avatar of good.” Minho pointed a slim finger at the closed door in front of them before gesturing wildly in a far-off direction. “And the other guy is the avatar of evil, here to try to finish his enemy off after wounding him. You didn’t know?”
Taemin shook his head, although his mind now reeled with the new information. So many things were clear now. The avatars of good and evil were possibly the most well-known and iconic of their kind. Humans had all sorts of different names for them - light and darkness, Angel and Devil, salvation and sin, peace and war. They fought each other almost constantly, their battles of epic proportions, yet even when one was defeated, he never died. And once the injured one recovered, the fight would begin again - a never ending battle for a vain victory.
“But… there were three of them… isn’t the avatar of evil supposed to be just one person?” Taemin asked.
“Well, yes. But both the avatar of good and evil are known to take helpers from time to time - they have the ability to grant even normal humans the same power as them. Although, unlike the avatars themselves, if they’re mortally wounded, then its lights out for them,” Minho explained. “If I remember correctly, Kibum’s the avatar, and the other two, Soohyun and Kevin are minions he’s picked up somewhere or another…”
There was silence for a moment, and Minho paused, staring at Taemin’s blank face. “Uh… Kibum, you know? The guy who looks like he could be Hyungjoon’s twin?”
“No… I don’t.” Taemin shook his head slowly. “I haven’t really seen the avatar of evil yet.”
“Oh?” Minho leaned back against the wall in thought. “Protecting you, huh? Since you’re new. Sounds like Hyunjoong’s style.”
“It does?”
“Yeah.” Minho sighed, looking up, a wry smile on his face. “Been like that since the first day I met him. I’ve worked with many store-keepers before him, but he’s one of the few that I really like.” Then mumbling to himself, “Even if he’s too self-sacrificial for his own good.”
“What was that?” Taemin blinked, wondering if he had heard right, but Minho waved his curiosity away.
“Anyway, we were talking about the avatars right?” Minho continued, “so, yeah, Kibum takes helpers, but I never heard Hyungjoon doing anything of the sort. I think he doesn’t want to drag anyone into such a meaningless fight. But then, he’s very young, so I don’t think he’s felt the urge yet - hasn’t felt the loneliness when keeping such a mantra.”
“Eh? But I thought the avatars were very old. As old as Time I heard.” Taemin blinked, confused.
Minho chuckled. “Well, yes, most people think that, and that in part is true. The avatars are old, but it’s not the people themselves - it’s the position. An avatar can pick someone to replace him or her when they get tired of always fighting.”
“Oh.” Taemin nodded slowly, before smiling at the thought. “That’s good. It’s just sad to think of someone fighting a fruitless fight for eternity.”
“Hmm…” Minho stared at Taemin for a while, indescribable expression on his face before he sighed. “I just think its good sense. After all, apparently, their fight affects directly the happenings of the human world. If someone is avatar for too long, then he or she may get tempted to abuse that power.”
“Ah. Right.” Taemin grinned sheepishly, scratching his head. From the way he spoke, Minho was definitely older than him then, he didn’t have the naïve sort of thinking that seemed to plague Taemin.
“Hah…” Taemin jumped at the sound, before realizing that Minho had covered his face, hiding it from view, his shoulders hunched up and shaking.
“M-minho-sshi? Are you alright?” Taemin was alarmed.
“Ah? Hah…” Minho raised a hand, before pulling his face up, and Taemin was mortified to discover that Minho had been laughing at him. “No, you’re just too cute.”
“Eh?” Taemin yelped, staring at Minho, scandalized, but that did nothing more than make Minho laugh even harder.
“Aish… anyway, I think I had better get going.” Minho sighed, seemingly reluctant to go. “I think they should be about done, and I don’t fancy Hyunjoong interrogating me on what I was doing with you.”
“What?” Taemin gaped at the strange sentence - it made it seem like Hyunjoong didn’t like Minho much. But Minho was a regular, wasn’t he? And it just seemed unlikely that Hyunjoong would let people he didn’t like become his regular.
“Nothing. See ya.” Taemin winced a little when a hand landed on his head, messing up his hair.
He was still staring at the corridor that Minho had disappeared down when the door behind him opened.
“Taemin?”
“Oh, Hyunjoong.” He quickly snapped out of, smiling sheepishly at the bemused store-keeper before turning around him and getting the tray off the shelf. “I brought food for Hyungjoon-sshi… Ack… I think its gone cold already.”
“You were talking with Minho, weren’t you?”
“Huh?” Taemin looked up, startled not by the question, but by the tone in which it was asked. “Yeah… how did you know?”
“Because that sounds exactly like Minho.” Taemin felt an unfamiliar twinge of unease, looking at Hyunjoong’s expression. And he thought about that notion that maybe the two didn’t really get along, and that maybe it wasn’t that far-fetched after all. “…Anyway, Hyungjoon’s sleeping, so I don’t think he’ll be eating any time soon.”
“Oh.” Taemin looked down at the tray in his hands. “What do I do with this then?”
Hyunjoong looked down at Taemin’s earnest face, his expression softening. “We’ll go to the kitchen and ask Key to heat it up or something. Walk with me?”
And there was something about Hyunjoong’s tone that made it impossible for Taemin to refuse.
~*~
“So… all he talked about was the avatars of good and evil then?”
“Yeah.” Taemin confirmed, wondering about the ‘all’ Hyunjoong’s question.
“I see…” Hyunjoong seemed lost in his thoughts for a moment, and Taemin too, kept quiet, not wanting to disrupt Hyunjoong’s quiet. Now that he thought about it, Hyunjoong must be in quite a stressful situation - he was hiding the avatar of good from the avatar of darkness after all.
“What’s on your mind?” and Taemin looked up, hand unconsciously going to his face as he realized his face must have been telling of his thoughts again.
“N-nothing much. I was just thinking… how long has Hyungjoon been the avatar of good?”
“…Shorter than I’ve been the store-keeper.” Hyunjoong sighed, and Taemin looked up in surprise. “In fact, I was the one who instated him into his current role.”
“What?”
“Yes.” Hyunjoong seemed amused by Taemin’s reaction. “He was an old friend from before I became store-keeper you see. Helped me on the journey I was on back then, and I kept in contact with him even after I got this job. Told him to come down whenever he needed help, and one day, he did.”
Hyunjoong seemed lost in memory. And somehow, Taemin could see the past reflected in his faraway eyes. “It was raining that night, I think. I had been store-keeper a year or two, maybe? It was a slow day, and I had already told Key, Onew and Jonghyun to pack up and retire early. I was just about to go to bed myself when there was a frantic knock on the door, and I opened it to find Hyungjoon there, and in carried in his arms, his younger brother, badly injured. They had been doing some mercenary work, Hyungjoon had been careless, and Kibum took a blow that had been meant for him.”
“I think you can guess what happened next, right?” Hyunjoong turned to a horrified looking Taemin. “Hyungjoon wished for his brother to be okay. I tried the normal methods of healing first, of course, but Kibum was too far gone. And so, the Store, in its wisdom, told me what to do, and I followed the instructions - down to the last word.”
“What was the payment then?” Taemin asked, his voice almost a whisper.
“The very nature of the way the wish was granted outlined in which the payment was to be paid,” was Hyunjoong’s reply. “After all, it was a huge wish, and such wishes are usually paid in installments. The first thing was that Hyungjoon and Kibum would have to fight with each other as the avatars. The second was that Kibum would not know of the true nature of the wish, and even if someone brought it up, it would pass by his ears like it was just empty wind. And the third, most important thing was that Kibum’s nature would be changed, as all people are by the powers of the avatar of evil.”
“Changed?”
“Yes…” Hyunjoong sighed. “Kibum used to be such a warm, friendly and open guy. Now he’s… he’s just…”
“Just what, Hyunjoong-sshi?”
Even if Hyunjoong hadn’t stiffened beside him, Taemin would have known that the situation was dangerous just from the changed atmosphere - the tension that had ignited just from one person’s voice. A voice that was like multitudes of screaming sirens luring Taemin into carnal lust. A voice that was layers of dark desire and unlawful unions. A voice which sent freezing chills up Taemin’s spine.
“Vile…? Or maybe sickening? Or maybe… evil?”
He looked up then, and there stood a single figure of alabaster black - a tall hawkish figure with a startling resemblance to Hyungjoon. Except his face was less kind, more closed, his eyes filled with deceptive political correctness.
“Kibum-sshi.”
The smile was like black absinthe, and Taemin stood, frozen still as the man began to walk up to them. “Oh, hello there. You must be the illusive Taemin-sshi. I caught a glance of you at lunch-time but nothing more. You really keep the new ones busy, eh, Hyunjoong?”
Hyunjoong didn’t answer, but Taemin couldn’t really bring himself to care. He may have been standing still, like the very impersonation of a statue, but inside he was screaming, legs itching to take flight.
“Leave him alone.” Hyunjoong’s voice seemed irritated, the statement seeming like it had been repeated many times. “He’s not a part of this.”
“Heh. You say that even for those other three, but they’re helping you aren’t they? Why else have they been purposely keeping this little one out of the way the whole day?” Taemin’s breath hitched in his throat when Kibum drew near, eyes racking over him in a most terrifying manner. “In fact, why keep him away from me at all? Is it because he knows something, and if I get ‘my claws’, as you would say, on him, he’d spill his guts?”
It was only then that that possibility had occurred to Taemin, and it made more sense. But somehow, it hurt to think that the rest would think him so untrustworthy. He wouldn’t tell this Kibum anything, not with Hyungjoon so badly injured. He really wouldn’t, not even if Kibum pressed him to the wall, his sinful lips attack Taemin’s throat and grinding their hips together and-
“You’re right that I don’t want him near you. But not for that reason.” Taemin nearly gasped when Hyunjoong’s hand dragged him from those dangerous thoughts. Then his eyes widened when he realized the contents of exactly what he had thought. “You tend to have an effect on those who have just met you Kibum, and this kid’s not old enough to deal with your… allure.”
“Hmph.” Kibum smirked, and Taemin nearly slumped with relief when those eyes shifted over to Hyunjoong. “Is that so? Why is he carrying a tray then?”
“For me. He was bringing me lunch, but I was meeting someone else. So it got cold.” Hyunjoong replied, his hand tightening on Taemin’s shoulder, but not painfully. It was in support, and Taemin gladly received it.
“Someone else?”
“Someone I consult with from time to time, in exchange, I grant him small wishes - journey’s mercy, good health, that sort of thing.” Kibum looked at Hyunjoong closely, as if trying to discern a lie; but Hyunjoong’s face remained frightfully pleasant and mild. “You may know him. Choi Minho?”
“Mmm… name doesn’t ring a bell.” Kibum licked his lips, and Taemin had no doubt he’d have one of his minions check to see if Minho really existed.
“It wouldn’t. You’ve become lazy, getting other people to do your dirty work.” Again, Taemin couldn’t fathom how Hyunjoong kept becoming all tactless in the worse possible situations when he was so politically correct every time else.
“Comparing me with my brother again, Hyunjoong? Don’t. The idiot has powers, and he doesn’t want to use them. I call that stupidity, not valor.” The sneer on Kibum’s face distorted his beauteous looks, making him, for once, look the part of evil avatar.
“Now, what do you know about valor, Kibum-sshi? After all, you’re not supposed to have a single drop of that in your body anymore.” Hyunjoong’s statement only made Kibum angrier.
“And whose fault is that?” The poison Kibum’s voice scared Taemin, and he feared for Hyunjoong, who was the main recipient of that venom. “My selfish brother’s, who forced me into this for his selfish wish. And you of course, for granting it. I heard someone praise you before, saying that you were the fairest, most scrupulous store-keeper this place has had in a while. But I guess those scruples are thrown out of the window when it comes to your precious friends right? They’re more important than just a simple bending of the rules.”
“Oh… I assure you, the granting of your brother’s wish was done strictly by the book. Not even the slightest trace of rule-bending.” Hyunjoong’s voice was mild, but in it, Taemin heard the trace of a warning.
Kibum snorted, before the question he had been wanting to ask was shot out of his mouth like a bad taste. “Where is he, Hyunjoong? Where’s my brother? I know you’re hiding him, so don’t lie.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Fine, be that way.” Kibum’s anger seemed to dissipate, and an unnaturally calm smile seemed to settle on his face instead. But Taemin could feel his skin crawling as Kibum began to push past them to continue walking down from where he came. “I’ll find out soon anyway.”
Neither Hyunjoong nor he turned around, but they heard the footsteps become softer as more timed passed, before they disappeared altogether. Only when Hyunjoong turned around to check, his demeanor relaxing, did Taemin relax as well.
Then, glancing towards the way Kibum had left, a thought came to Taemin. “That way… Hyungjoon-sshi…?”
“He’s safe.” Hyunjoong answered shortly, and Taemin could see that the encounter with Kibum had left him unusually irritated. “I placed as many wards and misdirection spells as I could. And Hyungjoon’s nearly better, plus his weapons are just within reach of his bed.”
“Ah. Okay.” Taemin shifted the tray in his hands, his arms aching after holding them so still for so long, and was surprised to hear the sound of plastic rattling. He was shaking.
Hyunjoong noticed as he always did. “Let me take that.” And before Taemin could protest, the tray was lifted from his hands. “I’ll take it down to the kitchen myself. Why don’t you go take a rest? You look like you need it. But stay either in the library or your room, alright?”
Taemin probably should have felt a tad bit irritated at the high number of times he was being told to do things today, but all he felt was relieve as he scrambled back towards the sanctuary of his room.
~*~
[Chapter 9]