FIREFLIES

IX

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「　nine ; the cure。 」━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

SATURDAY WAS OFFICIALLY jaemin's least favorite day of the week, as this prevented him from going to school. for the whole day-- and the next day, hwayoung will be alone in that classroom with no one to talk to or anything to do.

jaemin was sprawled over his bed. the notebook in his hand, just finished reading the scenario that happened yesterday, and was simply plotting a way to set hwayoung free.

but that wasn't the only thing that bombarded jaemin's brain. the fireflies, was the one thing bothering jaemin. ever since he met hwayoung, she was covered in fireflies, and she herself wasn't aware of it.

jaemin isn't the only one who sees her, but he is also the one who sees her fireflies. curiosity swallowing him whole, jaemin reaches out for his phone and retrieves it from his nightstand.

he opened google and typed the words; "fireflies on people" on the search bar. within a single click, presented in his screen are articles of people claiming to have fireflies following them.

jaemin didn't know if it had any correlation to what hwayoung had, but it was worth the shot. jaemin red the long article, and to summarize it: it was about a little girl who is being followed by fireflies. wherever she goes the fireflies tagged along and never left her.

jaemin saw some— specifically, one correlation of it to hwayoung's situation. the fireflies kept on following her, even stayed on her and that's it. jaemin lets out a heavy sigh as he starts to regret reading the long article, only to meet such disappointing results.

jaemin scrolled down and at the end of the article, it led to more articles relating to fireflies. most of them didn't have any relation to hwayoung's situation or just simply doesn't stand out; but one article in particular piqued his interest.

a diary of a psychopathic killer.

jaemin was sure it didn't have any correlation with hwayoung's, but he had a slight feeling it did. i mean, why would they put it under "similar articles" if it didn't have any correlation with fireflies?

jaemin tapped on the article and was welcomed with the long article and big words. every sentence jaemin red piqued his interest more. the article was so interesting and alluring, he couldn't stop reading. after reading through half of the article, in the middle of it, it finally had something to do with fireflies.

"the killer admits that he was able to control fireflies and curse them onto his victim. by this curse, their victim will be wiped away from every person who knows them. any memories they had with the victim will be stored at the very back of their brain where they'll have a difficult time to remember them. it won't be erased it'll only be lost in the deep dwells of their minds."

reading this passage alone stunned jaemin to the point his thumb was cramping by how still he was. his heart beating uncontrollably for some reason he himself didn't know why.

jaemin figured that their professor was able to somehow obtain or learn this curse or worse; he was the psychopathic killer. jaemin scoffs at the thought. "no way!" jaemin exclaims as he shakes his head in disbelief before he continues on to read.

"as of the moment, there is no cure on how to remove the said fireflies. the killer admits it himself that he wasn't aware of how to remove them. the fireflies had a curse of binding and would not be easily detached from the victim. remembering the victim was hard enough, let alone seeing them and/or the fireflies."

by the last passage jaemin's heart crumbled into pieces. jaemin had lost hope on removing the fireflies on hwayoung. at least now he knew that the fireflies were a curse, hence why people couldn't remember her; even jaemin.

at the very bottom of the article, jaemin's eyes lit up by the mini passage at the end.

"update; the cure. the killer confessed in his further confinement that the firefly curse had a cure..."

as jaemin reads the whole passage, his smile slowly drops. he knew, hwayoung wouldn't like the cure; but it was the only way.

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