The prince was impatient; he wanted that goblet as soon as possible. He trusted his friend, yet the slow pace of progress was pushing his patience to its limits. The thought that his entire plan could collapse at any moment was starting to frighten him deeply. And so, for the first time in centuries, the Prince of Hell had risen to the surface world.
＿＿＿
"Mr. Park, please! Please let Jimin join us, let us stay with Jungkook, please, I'm begging you."
The man looked at the two so-called university students kneeling before him, pleading desperately for his permission.
"No, Baekhyun. I understand you want to fulfill your duty as best as you can, but Jimin is my son, and I have to protect him. Besides, whenever you two are together, things don't tend to end well."
He was torn between his son and his duty. He loved his son dearly, but it seemed he had no choice but to refuse. Perhaps convincing Jimin to give up would be enough.
"Dad, please, nothing will happen, we're just taking precautions, and besides, Jungkook is harmless. When I'm with him, nothing will happen to me either, please."
He was practically clinging to his father's waist like a small child willing to do anything to get what he wanted. But his father clearly had no intention of being persuaded so easily. The man sighed deeply, pressing a hand to his forehead as a headache began to throb; this pair was making things even harder for him.
"I trust him enough already—it's you I don't trust, Jimin. I said no."
Jimin had no choice but to play his final card, but his father had cards of his own.
"I'll run away from home."
And so began a battle of stubbornness between the two.
"I'll throw away your hair dyes."
"I'll burn your record collection."
Faced with that threat, the man had no choice but to give in.
"No! No. Fine, you can go, fine. But please, be careful."
Jimin, having gotten his way, bounded into the house like an excited child and went to pack his clothes. While placing a few items into his bag, a shadow in the corner of his room caught his eye. Just as he turned his head, he saw it in the corner of his vision. Though he didn't understand it at that moment, a few seconds later he snapped back to himself and turned his head quickly toward it—yet there was nothing there. Only the sheer curtain swayed, though there was no wind. Normally, he wasn't paranoid; it would make no sense for him to be. But something like this was enough to awaken the sly inner voice in his mind.
With his thoughts beginning to play tricks on him, he quickly grabbed his belongings and returned to his friend and father. He decided not to tell them anything—perhaps it was all in his head. After saying goodbye to his father, they set off. Both had the same thought gnawing at the back of their minds. When Baekhyun finally found the courage to voice it, he turned to Jimin.
"Jimin, do you think we can protect Jungkook? We can protect him from ordinary underworld dwellers, but… what if he comes himself? Could we protect Jungkook from him?"
Jimin gave him a small smile, understanding his concern. After all, Baekhyun had been bound to this duty almost since birth, and Jungkook had become more of a purpose to live for than just a friend.
"Don't worry—when has it ever been seen that he comes to the surface? He'll call his underlings, and in the end, hopefully, give up."
Baekhyun burst into laughter at that.
"Jimin, when has it ever been seen that he gives up? If he wants Jungkook and can't get him, he could come to the surface himself, and we wouldn't be able to do a thing."
Jimin sighed, looking at him. He knew it too. All he could do was hope it wouldn't happen.
"I know, Baek. I know…"
＿＿＿
The two stopped by Baekhyun's house to grab a few things for him before heading toward Jungkook's. As they walked slowly in that direction, they suddenly stopped and looked at each other as if they'd just remembered something critical.
"Jimin, wait a second—Jungkook's alone at home right now."
Realizing this, their hearts began to pound, and Jimin didn't even realize he'd shouted.
"Baekhyun… Run!"
Forgetting everything else, they both sprinted toward Jungkook's house as fast as they could. The house wasn't exactly far, but it wasn't close either. A walk would have taken about half an hour, but running at full speed drained them completely and got them there much sooner. Breathless, they leaned against the door and rang the bell, hearts hammering, breaths caught in their throats like they might choke.
They had knocked so hard that Jungkook hesitated before opening, unsure if he should. When he did, the sight of the two of them collapsing at his feet was unexpected. He bent down to help them up, startled.
"Are you okay? What was the rush, did you get hurt?"
When they finally stood, they smiled to avoid worrying him.
"Don't worry, Jungkook, we're fine—we were racing each other, that's why we ran."
Jungkook believed them and chuckled despite himself; he felt like he was babysitting, even though both were older than him.
"Come in, come on—someone else is joining us."
Certain that Jungkook didn't have that many friends, Baekhyun and Jimin looked at him in surprise. He ignored their expressions, pulling them inside and shutting the door.
"Let's go to the living room, he's there."
They nodded and walked in, but they weren't expecting to see Yoongi there. Jimin's heart lost all its calm at the sight of that face, his heartbeat quickening.
"Yoongi-hyung? Why did you come here, and how did you know the address?"
His voice came out small without meaning to. The emotions coiling around his heart made him feel defenseless.
Yoongi noticed. Seeing the younger man so uncertain in his presence gave him a quiet satisfaction.
"I had a huge fight with my father, and to keep things from escalating, I left home. I won't go back until he's calmed down, maybe a few days. I didn't know anyone else's address, but I overheard you talking when we were walking once—I heard about Jungkook's place, so I came, Jimin."
There was a deep meaning in his eyes that Jimin couldn't refuse, even if he couldn't quite understand it.
"But if it'll bother you, I can leave."
He spoke directly to him, his gaze fixed, almost as if he were making it impossible for Jimin to say no.
"No, no, we're just surprised, that's all—we wouldn't be bothered, as long as Jungkook doesn't mind."
That brief eye contact nearly made Jimin stammer. There was something about Yoongi that drew him in, though even Yoongi couldn't define it. Baekhyun, meanwhile, was silently fuming—how could Jimin accept this so easily, especially now?
An awkward silence stretched for minutes before Jungkook tried to ease the mood.
"You can relax, my dad's not home. Actually, I didn't even know he had a business trip planned—usually he tells me."
Strange… when had this come up? Wouldn't it normally be arranged beforehand? Wouldn't his father have called him by now? His thoughts drifted until a cough snapped him back to reality. Scratching the back of his neck, he smiled sheepishly.
"Sorry, I zoned out… anyway."
He took a deep breath to gather his thoughts before continuing.
"There are three bedrooms in the house, but one is my father's, and I'd rather you not sleep there—he's a bit touchy about that."
His gaze swept over them, catching Jimin's look toward Yoongi, and he decided on the most logical arrangement.
"I can stay with Baekhyun-hyung. Jimin-hyung and Yoongi-hyung, you two can share, if that's not a problem—but you can have your own room if you want."
Baekhyun agreed immediately, but Yoongi and Jimin hesitated. Yoongi was the first to answer.
"If it's not a problem, I'd prefer to stay alone. You don't know me well, and I don't sleep well with someone else in the room."
Jimin's face fell involuntarily, but he nodded. What could he do? Yoongi couldn't possibly know the warmth that wrapped around Jimin's heart—nor might it have any meaning to him, even if he did.
"Then I'll stay with Baekhyun-hyung," Jimin said.
Once they agreed, they each went to drop their things in their rooms. After showing them around, Jungkook returned to the living room to order pizza. While Jimin, Baekhyun, and Yoongi unpacked, each was lost in different thoughts and duties.
Yoongi moved slowly, examining every corner of the room, trying to learn as much as he could in this limited time. Where could the goblet be? He had no idea, but he couldn't leave empty-handed. Disappointing his master would be worse than hellfire itself.
His hands trailed over the walls, searching for something hidden. He opened and closed every cabinet, doing so as quietly and quickly as possible. Was rifling through someone else's house ethical? No. Did demons have a concept of ethics? Absolutely not.
Meanwhile, Jimin and Baekhyun had returned to the living room, sitting down and speaking only through text since Jungkook was there. When Yoongi eventually rejoined them empty-handed, none of them said a word, and none dared to ask why. Perhaps they were afraid to.
The momentary silence was broken by the sound of the doorbell and a phone ringing. The phone was Yoongi's; without speaking in front of them, he stood.
"This is important—I'll be right back."
He hurried to his room, locking the door. Thinking it was the pizza, Jungkook went to answer the door, leaving Baekhyun and Jimin alone in the living room.
When they exchanged glances, they already knew what the other was thinking. Taking advantage of Jungkook and Yoongi's absence, they stepped out into the backyard, ready for yet another small argument.
"Jimin, I feel like wherever we go, Yoongi's following us. Actually… it feels more like he's following Jungkook."
Jimin sighed deeply—his friend was starting again. It was natural to be suspicious, but why did Yoongi bother him so much?
"Why are you so paranoid, Baekhyun? Like I said, if I'd heard anything about Yoongi in the underworld, I would never have let him near Jungkook."
He was saying everything he could to be reassuring, even knowing it wouldn't help.
"I don't know how else to explain it to you, but you're really acting paranoid."
He searched Baekhyun's doubtful gaze, realizing his friend didn't seem to believe him, and Jimin had no idea how to convince him.
Frowning, he locked eyes with him, his irritation growing.
"If Jungkook figures everything out because of this behavior of yours? We already slipped up enough in the cafeteria today—there's no need for more."
What Jimin said seemed right, but something felt very wrong to Baekhyun, and he couldn't understand why. A voice inside kept whispering to him, over and over, that there was a problem. "But isn't it strange? Protecting Jungkook in the garden, coming here, walking with us, and the wounds on his face healing." He needed to see a small hint of doubt in his friend's eyes. "Don't you think it's strange too?"
"He wanted to help Jungkook, and right now, because he needed help, he came to the only place he knew. And if I remind you, we were the ones who invited him to walk with us, Baekhyun." His voice came out louder than he expected, and the young man in front of him was suddenly covered in surprise. The fact that his friend was defending someone so sincerely — someone they had technically just met — made the situation even stranger. "As for the wounds on his face, he could have covered them up, or maybe ice prevented his eye from bruising, the cream on his lip healed it, and his hair covers the wound on his eyebrow, Baekhyun. Would you go around with a completely messed-up face?"
While his friend's sudden outburst hurt Baekhyun's feelings, he must have realized there was no point in prolonging the argument, because before going inside, he chose to end the topic with a humorous remark to soften the mood a little. "Alright, don't worry, I won't say anything about the man you love again."
Jimin took his head into his hands and let out a deep sigh caused by his friend's repeated insinuations. "Baek, you're really getting on my nerves." This reaction cheered him up a little, but they hadn't even realized that someone was watching them from upstairs.
While Yoongi's eyes wandered over the two angels from behind the curtain in his room, he was telling his prince over the phone what was happening. Maybe his eyes were on the two of them, but his mind was on the pink-haired angel. His smile, his anger, his embarrassment, his worry, and his seriousness were slowly captivating Yoongi. While his eyes were lost in him, the voice coming from the other end of the phone helped him return to reality. "Yoongi, Yoongi, I'm talking to you."
That voice, echoing in every corner of hell's depths, froze his body like ice, and he only realized in the middle of the conversation that he had drifted off. "I'm very sorry, my lord, the line is breaking up. Could you repeat that?"
The prince of hell, in a weary tone, repeated his question, fully aware that his friend was lying. Since showing it would be useless, he chose not to dwell on it for now. "Yoongi, I came to see you, but you weren't at home. Where are you?"
"I'm sorry, my lord, forgive me. I had a fight with my father, so I'm staying at a friend's house." In case anyone could overhear, he told the prince the same lie he told others. The prince could guess, and he respected it — after all, the last thing they wanted was for their plans to be accidentally ruined.
"Which friend is that, Yoongi?" He didn't press the matter and tried to continue the conversation in the way Yoongi felt most comfortable. Sitting on his throne, if he delegated his work to others and put the burden on them, nothing would go well. Cooperation wasn't only for himself, after all.
"Jeon Jungkook, my lord." Even though the name sounded familiar, the prince of hell struggled to remember who he was. It was the kind of familiarity he could swear he had heard somewhere or encountered before.
"I see. Send me your location, Yoongi. I need to be sure you're in safe hands." This strange feeling he had forced him to stay alert no matter what. He had to find out where he knew this boy from. When Yoongi agreed, the prince was about to hang up. Then, suddenly remembering something more important to ask before ending the call, the words spilled from his lips abruptly, preventing Yoongi from ending the conversation.
"Do you have any news for me about the goblet?" When Yoongi realized that he had completely forgotten about it, he began to see that he had been getting distracted by other things. He didn't have any solid information to give and did what a demon could do best — he stalled him with a lie. "For now, there's not much going on, my lord, but it seems like two people might know something." Actually, it wasn't entirely a lie — their behavior made them seem so suspicious that anyone from the outside could easily sense something was going on. The sudden appearance of the Romeo and Juliet skit? Come on, how could they think they could get away with such an obvious trick? Moreover, had Jungkook really fallen for it, or was he pretending like Yoongi?
"Get close to them, earn their trust, Yoongi." When the final order came from the other side of the phone, Yoongi firmly placed in the back of his mind that he needed to focus on his mission a little more and ended the conversation.
When he turned his eyes back to Jimin in the garden, he once again drifted away from reality. Maybe his mission's priority could wait a little longer. A little fun wouldn't hurt anyone. As soon as the two of them went inside, Yoongi's attention was once again distracted, and at the same time, he heard Jungkook's voice.
Jungkook had called out to Baekhyun, and Baekhyun had run inside. Breathless as he reached the door, he wasn't expecting to see his sensei standing there. "Chanyeol sensei? What are you doing here?"
Standing in front of him was the anatomy professor he had listened to with drooling admiration during every class. While looking at the white shirt that fit perfectly on his body, the rolled-up sleeves of the shirt, and the veined arms folded across his chest, Baekhyun's jaw nearly dropped. While all sorts of thoughts crossed his mind, he tried his best to keep his composure, certain that grinning any more would leave a very bad impression. "Baekhyun, you left your phone on your desk." He reached into his back pocket, pulled out a phone, and held it out to him. Baekhyun could have begged for his fingers to disappear between the other man's as he held the phone. "My house is right next door, so when I saw you in the garden, I came to drop it off."
It was as if he was experiencing the true meaning of losing himself in someone's hands. Struggling to gather his words, he reached for the phone. While his body begged for the tiniest touch of their hands, he took it. "Thank you, sensei."
His eyes wandered over Baekhyun, who was completely melting in front of him. His state was obvious—he felt deeply what Baekhyun was feeling. Every drop of the lust wrapping Baekhyun's body was flowing through him as well. He sensed the deepest sinful desires, and this would be one of the most useful things for his plan.
"I won't keep you any longer. Enjoy your evening."
As Baekhyun walked away, Jungkook remained frozen in place, only moving once Baekhyun had closed the door behind him. When he came back to himself, his first move was to head to the bathroom to take care of some 'biological' needs.
A while after Chanyeol left, Yoongi stayed frozen in place. The silence caused the thoughts he had been trying to suppress earlier to echo back in his mind. Jimin's laughter, his gaze, his angelic voice… everything about him was a perfect reflection of Yoongi. Alongside that, Baekhyun's suspicious, watchful eyes kept alerting different corners of his mind, each causing different reactions in his body.
He put his hands into his pants pockets and slightly tilted his head back to the ceiling. Taking a deep breath, as the dim light of the night filtered through the window, the question rang in his mind: How much longer can I stay here? He needed to stay longer, but if he was too visible, sentences that shouldn't be overheard might slip out. He had to remain a shadow. The time hadn't come yet.
Shaking his shoulder to shrug off those thoughts, he started descending the stairs with heavy steps. The sound of his footsteps echoed quietly, but somewhere inside him, the uneasy feeling of having to blend into the crowd was pounding. How natural was this? How strange? Even Yoongi didn't always know the answer.
When he reached the bottom, he saw them. Jungkook was back at the ringing door, picking up pizza boxes, while Jimin sat on a chair in the kitchen. Without breaking the momentary silence, Yoongi sat down on the chair next to Jimin, lowering his gaze to the floor. As if nothing had happened, as if no turmoil stirred inside him.
Nothing in Yoongi's world was as calm as it seemed.
When Yoongi quietly sat down beside him, Jimin felt that familiar heartbeat stir again inside. From the outside, he looked calm—his fingers on his phone, shoulders relaxed, face soft but expressionless. Yet inside, being this close to Yoongi's body both warned him to run away and irresistibly pulled him closer.
For a moment, he turned his head and looked at Yoongi. His eyes were downcast, calm as always, even too calm. Jimin was used to Yoongi's silence. That silence was sometimes a wall, sometimes a call. But tonight… tonight there was something else within that silence. A burning weight. A kind of heat that burned without touching the skin.
His heartbeat quickened slightly. He thought even his own breath sounded too loud for a moment. Trying not to show it, he steadied his breathing and clutched his phone tightly to distract himself.
Still, the trembling squeeze between his fingers holding the phone whispered the things his body couldn't suppress.
Since when did it get this complicated? he thought. His closeness with Yoongi once meant nothing. But now, Yoongi's glance lasting only a few seconds, the slightest touch, echoed through his entire body.
Part of him felt he should stay away. Yet Yoongi's silence pulled him in more. Jimin didn't know what lay behind that wall, but he was overtaken by a very dangerous feeling that wrapped around his body. He was curious about it. Maybe that was the very source of his fear.
While his eyes roamed over him, Yoongi slightly turned his head and looked back at Jimin. For those few seconds of eye contact, Jimin's throat dried up. He looked away, but the intensity of that gaze stayed on his skin. Somewhere inside, uncontrollably, he begged, Please look a little longer.
Despite this, from the outside, he only looked calmly seated—as if nothing had happened. Just like Yoongi.
The strange atmosphere of the room shattered all of a sudden when Jungkook returned inside. He sighed as he set the boxes on the kitchen table. "I totally forgot how hungry we were. I hope Baekhyun comes quickly too."
When he sat beside them, Jimin straightened up a bit and reached for the boxes. "Whether he comes or not, I'm starting." His words slipped out half-jokingly, and he glanced at Yoongi, who was looking down, lost in thought, as if far away despite being here in body.
Noticing this, Jungkook called out to Yoongi while opening a pizza box. "Hyung, pepperoni or mushroom? Or are you just going to watch?"
At his name, Yoongi lifted his head slightly, a faint smile touching the corners of his lips. "Watching can be satisfying enough sometimes," he said, but the meaning behind his words was much deeper and hazier.
Hearing this, Jimin held Yoongi's gaze for a moment before turning his eyes down to silently take a slice and bite into it.
"Why did Baekhyun take so long in the bathroom?" Yoongi asked, reaching for a slice and placing one in front of Jimin.
"Maybe he was getting ready… or trying to pull himself together," Jimin replied, mouth still half-full.
That sentence brought a brief moment of silence. The three of them thought the same thing at once. It was pointless to talk about it—they all had some idea of what was happening behind that bathroom door.
Jungkook wondered what Baekhyun had felt during his encounter with Chanyeol at the door. He knew his friend well, but this felt different. He hadn't seen him like this before. It was much more than just being impressed.
The sound of the toilet flushing behind the door broke the silence. Jungkook looked up and smiled slightly at the figure returning.
"Finally coming back."
"I hope it stayed warm, otherwise it's your fault, Jungkook." Baekhyun smiled shyly as he looked at them.
When he sat down with them, they laughed and joked as they continued eating. Meanwhile, as Yoongi reached for the pizza in front of him, the only thought crossing his mind was the fact that everyone around this table was full of secrets and desires. And when those secrets slowly began to surface, he knew very well that nothing would remain so simple.
When the meal was finished and only a few crumbs remained on the plates, a quiet contentment filled the room. Laughter gradually gave way to yawns, and eyes grew glazed. While Jungkook gathered the empty boxes, he glanced at the clock.
"It's almost midnight," he said in surprise.
Baekhyun leaned back in his chair, holding his stomach with a sigh. "I shouldn't have eaten this much..." He had eaten at least one of everything on the table and really felt stuffed.
Before Yoongi got up, he briefly lifted his head and looked at the others. There was a mix of tiredness and relief on their faces. The peace brought by the night and the meal seemed to have softened the strange tension between them, at least for a little while.
Jimin pulled his chair back and stood up, yawning as well.
"Goodnight to me and you all, I'm going to bed." After one last look at Yoongi—trying not to show that he was running from his feelings—he hurried to the room the three of them shared without looking back.
Even though Yoongi remained expressionless to Jimin's departure, a faint smile involuntarily appeared on his lips—something neither Jungkook nor Baekhyun noticed.
With Jimin gone, they slowly stood up as well and retreated to their rooms, exchanging a few lazy steps and whispered goodnights. Silence crept back into the house, leaving only the night breeze slipping through the curtains.
＿＿＿
Just as they thought the night was over, the house was immersed in silence, and hours had passed. Moonlight filtered through the curtains, covering the rooms with a silver veil. Everything seemed to end with the peace of an ordinary night.
But that peace shattered suddenly a few hours later.
Baekhyun first tossed restlessly in bed. On the edge of a deep sleep, a vague sound struck his ears. As he woke, he tried to make sense of what was happening. Jungkook, whose sleep was disturbed by the same sound, slowly sat up with a furrowed brow.
"Did you hear that?" he whispered to Baekhyun.
Baekhyun rubbed his eyes; they were still sleepy. He nodded to confirm, words barely escaping his lips under the influence of sleep.
"A sound... like... moaning?"
When another sound came, they both quietly got up, thinking the same thing. Stepping into the corridor, the house was dimly lit; the silence was almost deafening. But what they heard was real. Intermittent, muffled moans, as if someone was trying to hold them back. A hoarse whisper mixed with breaths. From that whisper, a word, a name was heard:
"...Yoongi..."
Baekhyun froze, eyes wide. Jungkook held his breath. When they met eyes, the expressions on both their faces were the same—mixed shock, shy unease… an involuntary awakening curiosity.
"Was that Jimin?" Baekhyun whispered, almost embarrassed to say it. "And… was he in Yoongi's room?" Jungkook's voice cracked. They hadn't seen Jimin when they woke up. Actually, they hadn't even looked—but now they understood.
They didn't need an answer. The sounds were too clear. The door was closed, but the echoes inside bounced off the walls and reached their ears. For a while, they stayed frozen in place. Neither could enter nor fully retreat.
In the end, silence prevailed. They quietly returned to their rooms.
Pretending they heard nothing, as if nothing had happened, was at least the easiest solution for the moment.
When Baekhyun lay down, he stared at the ceiling. Jungkook turned his back and wrapped himself tightly in his blanket. Trying not to think about what they heard, both surrendered their bodies to a 'peaceful' sleep.
After both had fallen asleep for a while, the true guest they should have seen appeared silently from behind the curtain.
With quiet, slow steps, he approached Jungkook, gently pushed aside the hair falling over his eyes, and whispered into his ear. Those poisonous words slipped one by one from his lips.
"Jeon... Jungkook... we will meet again..."