Sapfire | ᴛᴀᴇᴊɪɴ ✔

| 27 |

"Hold him!" Namjoon ordered.

The guards held the kneeling Seokjin and Mr. Gon walked back to his seat.

"Now, it's time you pay for your sins," Namjoon smirked and took another shot of his favorite wine.

"Punish him with seventy whips," he ordered.

Seokjin almost trembled with the little strength he had. He knew how harsh a single whip of the wooden piece was.

Meanwhile, Namjoon grinned. Because he knew Seokjin had no strength right now with his golden core removed and those seventy whips would probably kill him or paralyze him for years, the wounds would take years to heal. He would love to see Seokjin powerless and suffer for years rather than killing him.

Seokjin had just closed his eyes and in less than a minute he felt the pain from impact as the wooden piece hit his back.

With just fifteen whips, he was on the ground. The men held him once again, to carry out the punishment.

Namjoon grinned the whole time, occasionally drinking his wine. He was filled with joy seeing Seokjin suffer that bad.

With the little life and consciousness that Seokjin had left in him, he tried to recall all the good times and most of them included Taehyung. He recalled the last time they walked in the rain and how Taehyung smiled. He tried to recall all his words.

He had no idea if he would survive till the punishment was over, at times he even wished that he would die before it finishes but something wasn't letting him give up.

After seventy whips, he was down on the ground, barely breathing, barely able to move or keep his eyes open.

Since the punishment was done, Namjoon ordered everyone to empty the hall and leave Seokjin alone like that. He warned that anyone who helps Seokjin will face the same punishment.

Seokjin, who was now alone on the ground, had lost all his strength to fight back. He lost too much blood and no one came to help him. It felt as if he would die any moment.

He had a flashback of all the good moments of his life since childhood, he smiled thinking of his father and So-Yoon. But the moment Taehyung's memories flashed in his mind, he felt something. He recalled the words Taehyung had told him a few hours ago. He didn't want to give up.

He finally found some strength and almost stood up but fell on the ground again and passed out.

✧ ✯ ✧ ✯

A few hours later, Seokjin opened his eyes and found himself on some grassland. He had no idea how long it had been since he passed out. Squinting his eyes to look a bit further, he realized that he was in Gyeongsu, Bosong's neighboring kingdom. He had no idea if he crawled there or someone dragged him there.

He wished someone found him.

And somehow by limping, stumbling, and crawling, he was few meters away from a house.

Gyeongsu was a poor Kingdom. But it was peaceful for the same reason and also because very few people possessing powers lived there.

An old man walked outside the house as soon as he felt someone at his door. He gasped seeing an injured person and called his wife. They both somehow took him inside the house and helped him sit leaning against the wall.

Seokjin had exhausted all his energy getting there and was about to lose consciousness again. If the evil energy of The Bloody Nexus had been inside him, he would have died the time his golden core was removed.

But Taehyung had taken all the energy he could except the golden core's because he couldn't. And the moment Seokjin's golden core was removed the remaining harmful energy was removed as well.

I was the one who was supposed to protect you but instead, you're the one who saved me, he said as he was about to lose his consciousness once again. There was a slim chance of him surviving those injuries but he didn't want to give up. Now, he had even more reasons to fight back. He knew it might take time as Taehyung said. And he was able to wait and try.

✧ ✯ ✧ ✯

The next morning, Taehyung woke up and realized that he had a fever. He instantly felt like something was missing but had no idea what it was.

He had lost every memory of Seokjin. It was as if Seokjin never existed. All the memories of him being treated badly came back to him as they were. Some of the advice that Seokjin gave him became the things he said to himself.

He felt tears in his eyes and he had no idea why. He had no idea what was happening.

It is probably the fever. I should have listened to myself before getting drenched in the rain. More tears welled up in his eyes as he remembered last night but had no idea why. It felt strange.

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I write anything but no one complains. It's strange. 💀

I don't know if I'll update next week because I might be 'trying' to study.