Aphrodite, as the goddess of love and beauty, had the likes of a seductress in her immortal blood. And every once and awhile, a seductress needs someone to seduce right? So Aphrodite ventured out into Seoul, South Korea in her tightest pair of designer jeans and a cropped t-shirt that doesn't leave much to the imagination. The goddess went under the alias Oh Haera. A handsome man who was playing guitar and singing to a crowd of preteen girls had quickly caught her eye, and she decided he was going to be her target.
Aphrodite usually never had a challenge, and it was usually the other way around with the male chasing after her. But the man, Hyunwoo, wasn't too interested in Aphrodite to her surprise. He wasn't the bit of baffled at her beautiful appearance and instead found her more of a nuisance for bothering him. So the chase began, and Aphrodite soon started to gradually win Hyunwoo over. He finally agreed on a date, and then stated, "We'll see where it goes from there."
To put it short, Aphrodite was a fighter. She pestered Hyunwoo every single minute of the day she could, till Hyunwoo could practically memorize and count down to when she'd show up. In a way, Hyunwoo began to become attached to her nagging presence and couldn't really imagine a day without Aphrodite bugging him about one thing or the other. So when Haera showed up an hour or two later than usual that Saturday evening, sirens were blaring in Hyunwoo's head.
He'd fallen in love without even realizing it.
Aphrodite wasn't aware of her success until Hyunwoo cut her usual mindless blabbering session short by asking her on a simple date at a cafe on the other side of downtown Seoul. Aphrodite had never found herself more excited for a date in such a long time, so she made a real effort to please Hyunwoo. After clinging onto to him for so long, Aphrodite had picked up some things. In some terms, she wasn't trying hard, but it was difficult to convince herself not to wear a short skirt or a tight tank top.
It's a shame Aphrodite put all that effort into such a flawless outfit only to be attacked by men who shamelessly tried to take advantage of her body. It was luck or possibly fate that brought Hyunwoo past this alleyway, just in time to save Aphrodite (despite the fact that she didn't need help, but playing weak has its advantages). Hyunwoo brought Aphrodite back to his home after the incident and allowed her to sleep over for the night.
A night, turned into several months, and before he knew it, Hyunwoo was deeply in love with Aphrodite. All his thoughts were hijacked by simply her presence, and soon all he could think about was her. Aphrodite knew soon she was going to have to leave Hyunwoo, but she couldn't simply disappear without a trace without giving her soon to be ex-lover a farewell gift. The farewell gift happened to be a baby boy.
On March Twenty-Third, Aphrodite gave birth to the adorable source of joy she named Kyuhah. She was discharged from the hospital in Seoul the following day and prepared Kyuhah, swaddling him in many blankets and placing him a cute blue wicker basket with his name weaved into the back in Hangul. Then she prepped up herself, deciding to sport one of Hyunwoo's sweaters and a pair of blue jeans and some sandals. She happily walked all the way to her lover's residence, playing with the newborn infant along the way.
Once she arrived at Hyunwoo's house, she requested to come in which he had no problem with. He was a bit disgruntled to see her carrying a giant blue basket that could possibly fit a child, and then even more disgruntled when he realized there was an actual child in the basket. Hyunwoo demanded the meaning of this and that's when Aphrodite took to explaining everything.
"You see Hyunnie," Haera started, placing the basket on the couch before turning to face her irritated lover. "This is our child," she sighed dreamily, placing her hands over her heart. "You are going to take care of him from now on." She glanced at the wicker basket with a sorrowful expression, "I'm terribly sorry I can't be here to watch him grow into a handsome and amazing man, but Olympus is calling, and Zeus won't be happy if I stay here any longer."
Hyunwoo glanced back and forth between her and the basket with a look of confusion that slowly developed into one of panic and doubt. "Babe, are you feeling okay...?" he questioned. "I'm sorry, but I'm not taking care of this child... And what? Who is Zeus? Why is Olympus calling?"
Haera sat on the sofa and crossed her legs before patting the space next her. "Do you want me to make some tea? This is a very long story," she informed him. In a state of shock, Hyunwoo nodded slowly, inching his way over to her to sit down. Right before his eyes, the goddess summoned two cups of perfectly made tea, just the way he liked it. His eyes widened, his hands were shaking as he accepted the cup of warm tea.
"Let's start with the basic information," she suggested. "My real name is Aphrodite and I am the Greek goddess of love and beauty." Hyunwoo took a small sip of tea and waited for her to continue. "Have you ever heard of Greek myths?" He nodded, he remembered learning them in primary school. "Good. Well, they're not myths. They're real, and I'm part of it. I usually live in Olympus with the rest of the Olympians and the many gods and goddesses that exist, but occasionally I come down to Earth to meet and interact with humans and generally just fall in love.
"I admit, you are the most fun I've ever had in a relationship for awhile now. It's fun being the chaser for once," she giggled. "So, when I become pregnant, I give birth to what is called a demigod. They are half-god and half-mortal. This is what—" she patted Kyuhah's basket softly with her free hand, "—our darling Kyuhah is." Hyunwoo watched her movements, studying her gestures and expressions. He felt relieved after a while, as he could see that Aphrodite really had cherished their relationship.
"Because of an honestly ridiculous law that exists, gods cannot directly interact with their demigod children's lives so we can't take care of them ourselves and we also cannot stay with anyone too long. I wish I could, but I simply can't Hyunwoo, it's against Zeus' law." She placed the cup that was still halfway filled with tea on the coffee table and held his hand with her warm ones.
"That doesn't mean... you can't interfere at all, right?" he mumbled curiously. Her eyes lit up, sparkling like the stars in the late evening sky."
"No, it doesn't. Which means I can send you letters and presents for Kyuhah!" she exclaimed giddily. "On a more serious note, you need to take Kyuhah to a camp in America called Camp Half-Blood for safety. There are many monsters out there that would gladly take a bit out demigods, and I don't want our precious baby to be one of them. Do it whenever you see fit, but I suggest you start saving up now."
"Wait, wait one minute. I never agreed to watch Kyuhah," he pointed out defensively.
"Please Hyunwoo? This was supposed to be my gift, so you could always remember me," she pleaded.
"What do I get out of it beside eighteen years of stressful parenting?"
She bit her lip. "I swear on the River Styx that... when you die I'll convince Zeus to have you reborn as a Lightning Spirit." To seal the deal, a big ol' flash of lightning lit up the sky despite it being a quite sunny day. "That way, you'll be immortal and we can talk."
—From the memory of Han Hyunwoo
In short, Hyunwoo agreed to the circumstances and bid Aphrodite a tearful farewell where he would have to wait the rest of his mortal life to see her again. Hyunwoo picked up a job that paid higher than his current one to support Kyuhah and himself. Since his house has spare rooms, there is no need to purchase a new residence, just supplies and such for Kyuhah's room.
He didn't necessarily dislike Kyuhah, but he wasn't very keen about the child either. The boy reminded Hyunwoo too much of his mother, in his developing looks that seemed to replicate the same beauty Aphrodite had and in her mother's happy-go-lucky personality. He didn't neglect the child, just didn't spend any more time necessary than usual with him. This enabled Kyuhah's childhood to be very bland and with little to no excitement.
Every birthday Kyuhah received a small trinket such as a locket, watch, keychain, etc. from an unknown person that Hyunwoo dubbed as Kyuhah's mother. He made the mistake of asking who she was once, and due to Hyunwoo's terrifying reaction, he never did it again. What the young boy did not know was that every other trinket he received could transform into a piece of weaponry, armor, or something else useful. The actual trinkets were things Kyuhah could possibly identify Aphrodite with, like hearts, a mirror, and heart arrows crossed over each other.
On his tenth birthday, Hyunwoo takes Kyuhah to the beach per Aphrodite's advice through a letter that had come with his ninth birthday present from her. Kyuhah is overjoyed, and Hyunwoo finds himself smiling as he watches his ten-year-old splashing around in the water. He thought a couple times about joining the boy but always concluded no.
After an hour or two, Hyunwoo called Kyuhah over for lunch, but the boy didn't come. From what Hyunwoo could see, he was still playing around the water, when he was really fighting against a telekhine that had wrapped it's flippers around his legs and was trying to drag him under the surface. When Hyunwoo called for a second time and Kyuhah didn't respond, he leaped from his chair and rushed to the water just in time to see Kyuhah's head disappear underwater. Carrying a clock key chain with him, he dived into the water, pressing down on the trinket to transform it into a celestial bronze dagger which he had known about since he had been playing around the trinkets due to Aphrodite's vague word.
Kyuhah kicked the telekhine in the face and aggressively wrestled his son from its grip before stabbing the monster in the head and swimming to the surface. Below the retreating figures is a pile of dust where the telekhine once was. The two return home after an awkward lunch to which Hyunwoo explains they're moving to Daegu while also telling Kyuhah about his real mother and him being a demigod.
A year peacefully passes as Kyuhah gets used to his new school in Daegu and the more calm-like life there compared to bustling Seoul. Hyunwoo has become more attentive towards Kyuhah and has started more of an affection side to his son although not much has changed. Hyunwoo has taken to teaching Kyuhah how to summon his weapons from the trinkets and transform them back into their former selves as well as how to fight with them. However, now his lucky streak ends abruptly with an attack from a Giant Scorpion. This time he is ready, and although he came home with some bruises and cuts, he killed the scorpion effectively.
On the way home, a poster caught his eye, announcing audition times for trainee tryouts at SKY Entertainment. He ripped the poster away from the wall it had been tapped to and dashed the rest of the way home. He begged his father to let him try out for the auditions, and finally, Hyunwoo agrees out of annoyance. Through the months coming up to the audition, Kyuhah is extremely excited.
On the day of the audition, while heading to the SKY building in Daegu he is attacked by a pair of rogue harpies, and he effectively kills them. At the audition, although walking in with an air of timidness, came out with an aura of confidence. It was later known that he had nailed his audition and would be given a trainee spot immediately.
Four years passed of constant admiration and rising attention. Other trainees who had been training longer than he did were always overshadowed by the younger and swam in a vat of jealousy. Although Kyuhah gained more fame attention for his fantastic looks and heavenly singing voice, he also gained more attraction to monsters. Attacks had become more of a monthly thing, which caused Kyuhah to loop the useful trinkets into a bracelet to wear around his right wrist so he could use it whenever he needed it. He also looped the smaller trinkets into another bracelet to wear around his left wrist, more or less for good luck and a reminder that his mother is always watching over and guiding him.
Eventually, Kyuhah meets the other members of the group he's debuting with called Wake Up. The other members consisted of Junior, the leader and rapper, Sync, main rapper, Junior, main dancer and a vocalist, and Ankor, another vocalist and rapper. Kyuhah himself was the main vocalist and the visual of the group. For the most part, they had a decent friendship although Junior and Ankor were quite annoyed with being overshadowed by Kyuhah and receiving fewer lines than him although they could both agree the younger had amazing skills.
It was after a dance rehearsal for their debut song that Kyuhah met Byungcheol, who was sitting by himself as he ate his lunch, staring enviously at all the other trainees chatting with each other. Kyuhah sat next to him and offered to share some of his deserts that his father had packed into his lunch. Byungcheol timidly agreed, and that had been the birth of a long-lasting friendship.
The debut for Wake Up was approaching and their manager had become strangely hyperactive. He even disappeared completely for a day and sent all their instructions to Sync for the day. The one thing none of them knew, was that they were all children of the Greek gods.
So when four different types of monsters showed up at their debut concert, the boys had to get creative with their choreography. The screaming fans below all seemed to think it was part of the act and had no idea they were fighting dangerous monsters. When the weird looking animal dispelled into golden dust at the end, everyone simply concluded it was some type of special effect. The theme of their debut song was tied to adventure and conquering your fears anyway. It was simply seen as a symbolic thing.
Kyuhah, who had been dueling with a giant scorpion almost twice his size hadn't taken the time to notice that the other monsters weren't attacking him, rather they were attacking the other members. Sync and Junior had killed theirs first and were the first to notice the other members fighting with monsters and concluded the obvious.
After the concert, the boys all confronted each other and revealed their demigod status. Kyuhah told them he was a son of Aphrodite and showed him his bracelets. Sync, who was a son of Hades, showed them his locket which turned into a scythe. Ankor, a son of Apollo, revealed his twin swords that hid in hair clips. And Junior, the son of Harmonia, showed them his bow and quiver of arrows that transformed into a keychain.
They were later met by their manager who revealed themselves to be a music spirit. His real name was Seungsoo, not Kim Yoosung. In those moments, their friendship strengthened into something rivaling unbreakable. Also, due to their first concert's surprise attack from the monsters, they decided to use actual special effects to replica what happened at the first concert to gain more popularity and keep concert themes fluid.
So all in all, besides the monster attack, the debut had been a complete success. In fact, the next morning an article had been published on the concert's originality, the members' excellent skills, and the amazing special effects. There were quite a lot of compliments that went to Kyuhah more than any other member, but the boys had no room to be jealous of their youngest member for they were more concerned with protecting him. In their opinion, they considered Kyuhah the most fragile and also the one who attracts the most monsters, seeing as a gigantic scorpion hunted him down compared to a clumsy harpy, a ditzy Scythian Dracnae, and a
hilariously puny hellhound.
Their debut song Kill Me Now reached #1 on the charts in a matter of hours, and information about them had already been posted on several k-pop websites and even some Korean news outlets. The only other group who would come close to their speed in rising fame would be LV but even they would not be able to beat their skills.
After a couple months of dropping hits and performing at concerts all over Eastern Asia, Wake Up returned to Daegu for a couple of weeks as their comeback was planned. As soon as Kyuhah returned, he began searching for Byungcheol who was in the middle of practice. Towards the end of the practice (Kyuhah had resorted to excitedly watching), a Scythian Dracnae disguised as a random female trainee showed up. The trainee was absolutely beautiful and drew Byungcheol's attention away from Kyuhah for once, which Kyuhah did not particularly like. He tried to lure Byungcheol back over to him, but the younger refused, shocking Kyuhah. Slowly, the elder got more forceful until Byungcheol finally snapped and summoned a wall of fire to cut off the side of the room Kyuhah was in.
That's when the female trainee revealed herself to be a scaly she-demon with two tails. Kyuhah could easily feel the fear radiating off of Byungcheol, and he wanted to keep the younger safe. So from the other side of the wall of fire Byungcheol created, Kyuhah suddenly began to cheer for Byungcheol, bringing him out of his state of paralysis from fear. With Kyuhah's guidance, he was able to lead the Scythian Dracnae into his wall of fire, burning it into golden dust. Byungcheol then collapsed from lack of energy, and the wall collapsed with him.
The practice room had been destroyed and was left a burnt mess. Kyuhah disregarded this and rushed over to the younger, realizing even more just how much the younger meant to him as he dragged him to a staff member so they could call medical services. Kyuhah stayed with the younger all night despite the demands of Seungsoo and the pleas of the rest of his group members. He eventually dozed off around one am, but woke up again three hours later, cursing himself for falling asleep.
When Byungcheol awoke the next day in a hospital bed, he found Kyuhah pacing worriedly beside his bed, whispering things to himself. He simply watched him for awhile before Kyuhah noticed Byungcheol was awake and rushed to his side. Kyuhah fired a series of questions at him, many that happened to be different wordings of "Are you okay?". Byungcheol answered whatever he remembered Kyuhah had asked, then asked questions of his own.
Kyuhah was a bit stunned to hear Byungcheol ask him why he was so possessive and manipulative, getting Byungcheol alone so that he could make no friends. Kyuhah explained that it had never been his intent, he was just jealous of all the other trainees who looked at him with an expression of admiration. It took him forever to choke it out, but he finally told Byungcheol that he liked him. A wave of relief crashed over him when Byungcheol happily replied that he liked him too—something that Seokjin would never discover.
When Wake Up's comeback finally rolls around, he depressed to discover that he won't be able to see Byungcheol anymore due to their upcoming world tour. He said farewell to Byungcheol, and as a present, he bought the younger a locket to serve as what his bracelets served as for him—a way to remember that he would always be there for him.
Since Wake Up was always trending somewhere, their schedule never seemed to remain dormant for more than a couple weeks. The company was eager to make money off of one of their most successful groups so they always had the boys to work, sometimes overworking them by accident although the boys were putting in extra effort themselves. Throughout a good four years, the members had grown extremely close to each other and even regarded each other like family. To Kyuhah's annoyance, they were all extremely protective over him, but he got over it, enjoying the nice family aura he had never had back in his childhood.
For the concerts in North America, Wake Up was given some days off to explore the place. During their stay in Manhattan, Kyuhah took a cab to a village located in South Hampton, New York near on the coast of Long Island, near Montauk. He had been texting Byungcheol as he floated around the village, generally just being curious and taking pictures of the life in America and sending it to Byungcheol when he spotted a group of teenagers huddled around something. When he got closer, he could tell they were assaulting someone.
As a person with what he liked to consider decent morals, the thought to help immediately kicked in and he put his combat skills to work. Some point during the chaos, the boy they had all once been punching was fighting back alongside Kyuhah, moving in whirs of speed not normal for just any human being. When the rest of the gang had surrendered, dashing away in fear, the boy collapsed out of the loss of energy. Kyuhah, generally concerned for the other, picked the boy up and brought him to a park where he laid him a bench and went to go get a cup of hot chocolate and another cup of coffee for the stranger.
When he returned, he apologized for the randomness of the situation and introduced himself as Kyuhah Han; he didn't tell him about being part of Wake Up for his own safety. He was shocked to get a not so friendly response that involved some colorful language. Regardless of the response, he still offered Seokjin the coffee until the other finally obliged. He offered to walk the boy home, but Seokjin refused and left immediately after that, leaving a curious and disappointed boy behind him.
On the way back to the hotel, Kyuhah was attacked twice by two different monsters and ended up coming back with torn clothes and a broken phone. That was what eventually contributed to the break up of Wake Up. The boys had all decided that it was getting extremely dangerous to perform, not just for them, but it jeopardized their fans safety, and none of them wanted that. On the March 18th of the following year (also Kyuhah's birthday; he received a Starbucks trinket) SKY Entertainment announced on all their social media accounts as well as requiring Wake Up to post it on their accounts as well, that Wake Up would be departing from the K-Pop Industry for health reasons.
Kyuhah decided to move to the United States after that, while Ankor and Sync stayed in Korea. Junior moved to the United States as well, but instead of going to New York where Kyuhah was going, he stayed in Los Angeles. The main reason Kyuhah wanted to stay in New York was to find the boy that he had bumped into months ago during their world tour who had found his way into Kyuhah's thoughts and dreams randomly.
Using the money saved up from his K-Pop career, Kyuhah purchased a mansion estate in Hampton, New York, near where he believed to be had been Seokjin's village. He also takes it upon himself to enroll in an American university simply for the experience. After moving in and completing registration papers and such, he turns his full attention to tracking down Seokjin.
To his surprise, he discovers the boy is attending the same college as him and decides the easiest way to get close to him would be to be around him constantly.
Kyuhah approaches Seokjin, surprisingly the younger who wasn't expecting the other to still be in the United States. He requests that Seokjin move in with him, twisting his words in a casually persuasive way as to get the answer he wanted from the boy. When he finally agreed, Kyuhah happily then asked for his address so that he could have his stuff moved to his residence. When Seokjin asks how large Kyuhah's apartment is, Kyuhah simply laughs and replies, "huge." He also forgot to mention that he lives in a mansion but he found that tiny detail irrelevant.
Kyuhah did everything in his power to make Seokjin like him, and when it says everything, it means everything. He acted especially nice, although he had already been known to be a nice person, offering his help to Seokjin for anything and everything. He had noticed the younger's liking to coffee and woke up early to make some for him every morning, timing exactly to warm it so it would still be hot when the latter came down for breakfast. If the other missed breakfast completely, Kyuhah would greet Seokjin at his first class (which he shared with Kyuhah as well) with a latte from Starbucks, much to the other's annoyance, but took the latte every time despite how irritating Kyuhah's positive mood and demeanor were.
He took to surprising Seokjin in the hallways and had somehow gotten the other's number, so he would send millions of messages asking the other if he'd eaten or if he was hungry or if he was bored. He bought the other lunch and offered to carry his things. Heck, he even stole Seokjin's homework and did it for him! His sudden obsessive spirit had derived from his past experiences with his crush on Byungcheol. He didn't want to repeat his possessive and manipulative ways to get Seokjin's attention, so he did what the considered to be the exact opposite, act nice enough to the point where it's infuriating.
It never really occurred to Kyuhah that Seokjin was also a demigod which was weird considering he pretty much stalks the other on a daily basis. One day, while walking home from afternoon lessons (or more like Kyuhah dragging him home), they were confronted by an empousa. When the empousa tried to use its powers of seduction on him, it barely worked, mainly because of his major infatuation with Seokjin that never allowed him to spare anyone or anything else a thought. The empousa then tried to attack Seokjin which triggered Kyuhah immediately, causing him to transform one of the charms of his bracelet into a celestial bronze sword and slice the empousa in half.
Although Seokjin was relatively unharmed, he still wasted fifteen minutes pestering him to let him check his body for any injuries when they reached the mansion. It took another five-minute walk and a taxi ride to convince Seokjin to let him examine him as long as Kyuhah only examined the areas Seokjin let him examine. Somehow Kyuhah overpowered his urge to completely remove all of Seokjin's clothing and obliged to his rules, reminding himself the best way to get through to the other was to respect his privacy.
It had been another year, and the two were now in their second semester of their second year of college when the accident happened. Riding in a taxi, coming back from a talent show event Kyuhah had been invited to judge, a car collided with the taxi from the side, killing the taxi driver on impact and sending Kyuhah into a bout of uncertain unconsciousness. He was carted off to a hospital in Manhattan where it was hours later when they reported that Kyuhah had a sixty percent chance of death and a twenty percent chance of paralyzation from the waste down.
Almost a solid month passed, with the percentages dropping and then suddenly rising higher than before. The pattern continued until the doctors became uncertain if recovery was even possible. Meanwhile, this news had spread to Junior in Los Angeles who in turn told Sync and Ankor who were in Korea. The son of Apollo, drowning in a plague of worry, took to finding a way to get in touch with his father. It took several nights of forced lucid dreaming to finally get in contact with his father and even then, Ankor didn't have much time to talk. He briefly explained the situation and then begged and pleaded for his father to heal Kyuhah. It was maybe by pure luck or just simple sympathy that Apollo granted his wish.
On the seventh of May, it was reported that Kyuhah had arisen from his coma, completely healthy and most of his wounds healed. All that seemed to be left from the accident were faded scars across his legs, back, and two on his right cheek. When he awoke in the afternoon, he was completely disorientated, lacking the knowledge of what was happening and where he was. At first, it was feared Kyuhah had developed amnesia, because while miracles exist he had been badly injured, but this later cleared up with an extensive explanation.
Strangely enough, Seokjin had been the last thing on his mind that day, so he was a bit shocked to see the younger show up the next day. The aura around the boy had darkened if that was even possible, and in general, Seokjin looked absolutely miserable. Kyuhah didn't say anything as he locked eyes with the other from across the room, not expecting anything besides an awkward hello. The silenced echoed around the room, doing laps as it waited for someone to say something.
"H-Hey," greeted Kyuhah softly, smiling apologetically.
Seokjin's book bag slid off his shoulder and collapsed on the grown. "You idiot!" he exclaimed, his voice caught between tears, relief, and anger. "Why didn't you—"
"My phone broke."
He stared at him, his words stuck in his throat. He didn't realize he was crying until he felt the salt of tears on his cheeks. Kyuhah watched him with an innocent curiosity, his eyes wide and questioning. Seokjin dragged himself to the other's bedside and threaded his fingers through the older boy's.
"I guess... no more taxis?" Kyuhah mumbled.
"Shut up."
"I can do that."
— From the memory of Han Kyuhah
The rest of the school year quickly became extremely stressful for Kyuhah, burdened with the task of catching up if he wanted to pass his second year. His sleep schedule was completely messed up by the week after he'd been discharged from the hospital. He spent every spare moment making up work or taking a short nap in between classes to combat the large sleep loss. He soon became very antisocial and extremely irritable to the point where he refused to talk to anyone, including Seokjin and would curse out whoever tried to disturb him. Smiles were now a rare thing and so was breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Since he didn't have time to cook, he'd simply order takeout, eat half of it and save the rest for the next day. The cycle of this seemed endless.
The end of the school year eventually came around and the increased stress left Kyuhah in shambles of his former self. When the daily monster showed up, his aggression levels towards them had risen tenfold and he barely gave them a chance to attack before he attacked himself. Any traces of his positive attitude were non-existent and he was overall a mess. It didn't help that his assignments had randomly begun to go missing, but it both bothered and relieved him when they showed up again in his book bag, completed. He did not stop to ponder this, however, and kept pushing forward with his unhealthy lifestyle. In between class breaks, while Kyuhah was crossing the campus, the energy loss had finally taken its toll, and he collapsed from exhaustion halfway there and was then carted off to the hospital again for two days.
The first-night Kyuhah actually received a full ten hours of sleep since being discharged came on the last day of the school year. Although he was still bitter and easily annoyed, the sleep had improved his mood drastically. When the realization of the fact that all his assignments were completed and that he was passing through his third year of college fully hit him, he fell back asleep again and didn't wake up again until four pm. Then he got up and sleepily headed downstairs, forgetting to put a shirt on. He was oblivious to Seokjin's wide eyes or well Seokjin in general when he made a bowl of cereal and wandered off to their gigantic television room.
He didn't notice Seokjin slip into the room and sit beside him as he watched cartoons. Hearing Seokjin suddenly starting to talk startled him and he almost dropped the empty cereal bowl. With a red face, Seokjin quietly noted Kyuhah wasn't wearing a shirt and the older facepalmed at his own idiocy before returning to the kitchen and heading upstairs to change.
That weekend, Junior visited from Los Angeles, unknowingly triggering a poisonous jealousy inside of Seokjin as Kyuhah accepted a heartfelt greeting from the former group member. Seokjin tagged along more like a third wheel than anything else for the two weeks Junior stayed there. The thought of stabbing Junior had crossed Seokjin's mind a couple of times, and by the end of the time period, he was very tempted to do it. At a cafe, Kyuhah had excused himself to the bathroom, and Seokjin had used the time while he was gone to indirectly threaten Junior to keep his distance from the boy. Kyuhah remained painfully oblivious to all of this.
After Junior left, Kyuhah met a handsome boy named Cameron at a mini K-Pop convention in New York City. The two quickly became friends and exchanged phone numbers and later that month they had slipped into a cycle of calling each other for hour long conversations every day. It turns out Cameron lived relatively close to them and attended the same university. It took Seokjin a lot of effort not to commit homicide. As the next school year rolled around, Kyuhah and Cameron began hanging out together and Seokjin really wanted to murder Cameron.
Unbeknownst to Kyuhah, he did. In October, Cameron went missing and his body was never found. In December the case closed as undecided as there was no evidence of a murder or a kidnapping. Kyuhah was still a bit unsettled, but with no other distractions, he began drifting back into a pattern of trailing Seokjin again. Seokjin happily accepted the other's attention although he was extremely aware of the horror he had committed. To put it short and wrap up all the complicated emotions, he didn't really care.
The months passed much more peacefully and less dramatic compared to the year before. The monsters still wouldn't give it a break, but Kyuhah was doing fairly well in school and Seokjin was no longer resisting him. The days passed by like a hazy blur of just peaceful nothing. It didn't even occur to him that it was now March 22th, a day from his birthday.
The pair were at Starbucks per Seokjin's request, and despite Kyuhah's dislike for really any type of coffee, he grumpily tried a latte for the younger. He refused to tell Seokjin he liked it though. It caught Kyuhah by surprise when the other suddenly requested to tell him something, he agreed in genuine interest.
He hated himself for not giving Seokjin a proper response to his sudden confession. Instead, he idiotically grabbed Seokjin's latte and tossed it at his face before pretending to receive a phone call and disappearing outside, hoping the other wouldn't notice his red face. He took a couple of minutes to calm himself down and return his breathing to normal when he noticed a cyclops that looked way too big for the car it was attempting to sit in.
He put away his phone and transformed one of the charms on his bracelet into a pair of bow and arrows. He slung the quiver over his back and then began to climb the building to get a high vantage point to shoot the monster from. The cyclops had noticed him by the time he had got to the top and had begun to come towards him, crushing the car in the process. He nocked an arrow in his bow and shot the cyclops in its eye, blinding it.
Finally, Seokjin had come out of his state of shock and ran outside to look for the older when he found a cyclops in the parking lot, waving its giant arms as it wailed about its eye. Together, Seokjin and Kyuhah fought off the cyclopes and once the monster collapsed into a pile of golden dust, Seokjin suddenly broke down in front of the other.
Kyuhah listened to the other silently, fiddling with his bracelets and extremely uncomfortable. Seokjin explained why he killed Cameron and his fears of losing Kyuhah to him. Out of anger, Kyuhah slashed at him with his sword continuously—yelling at him for taking Cameron's life, for not telling Kyuhah earlier about his feelings and the horrendous crime he committed—until he accidentally hit the other, clipping him in the shoulder. When he realized what he did, his eyes widened immediately and he stepped away from Seokjin. He ran off in disgust with himself as well as very conflicted despite Seokjin's pleas for him to come back.
A few days later, Byungcheol surprises the both of them and shows up in the middle of South Hampton looking for them. Kyuhah found him first and directed him to his house. Byungcheol excitedly greeted the both of them and gave them some new info they weren't aware of. He then told them about going to Camp Half-Blood and Kyuhah sheepishly suggested going with him.
To put it short, the car ride to Camp was very awkward and tense. At one point, Cheol threatened Kyuhah and Seokjin to talk to each other because they refused to exchange even a single word. Once they crossed the border of camp, they were all claimed by their respective godparents and were directed to their cabins. Kyuhah didn't even spare a glance towards Seokjin.
The following week was just as tense as the car ride. Kyuhah focused on avoiding Seokjin and getting used to Camp. On the other hand, he swore Seokjin was stalking him or some other belief since he could find the other literally anywhere near him. Byungcheol seemed to have announced himself as the one that would renew the broken remains of their friendship... or whatever it was. Kyuhah was still too angry to even consider forgiving Seokjin but he did admit to himself it was strange not having the other by his side constantly.
Byungcheol, getting tired of Kyuhah's stubborn attitude resorted to threatening to date Seokjin and crush Kyuhah's chances of ever having him. The thought dejected Kyuhah, but he didn't do anything until he witnessed Byungcheol and Seokjin kiss right in front of him. At first, he was stunned, his mind completely blank until he started thinking of ways to make Byungcheol's life absolutely miserable.
It was an entertaining day for any campers that witnessed Kyuhah momentarily chase Byungcheol down with his sword.
When Kyuhah got tired of that and Byungcheol was a considerably satisfying distance away from Seokjin, he asked the question that ends their (strange) tale of romance:
"I think we can both confirm we have mental issues so let's just date already, okay?"
"Well, it won't hurt to . . . like try again, would it?"
"No. On one condition. You don't kill anyone without me being involved."
"Here comes the birth of my partner in crime."
"I love you, weirdo."
— The Present
It has been another week since this incident, and the two are peacefully in love (for now).
