Black Silk ✘ Minsung

Chapter 19

  Hearing that Seungmin agreed to help him made Jisung feel all giddy and happy inside but when Hyunjin told him that he will be leaving soon because of his father's request, his happiness fell. It might have not looked like it, but Jisung started to really like the devil and hoped that they will remain friends, even after this whole mission is over. Their farewell was hard and the younger boy shed a few tears in the process.

  But Minho, Changbin (who stopped by when he heard the news) and Chan did not quite understand the situation. The reason Hyunjin was in this building was his father — he forcefully put him here and never really contacted him again. So why would he contact him all of sudden and plead with him to return back? It just did not sit right with them and before they could confront the devil about it, he's already disappeared.

  Jisung was still sitting in the same place as when Hyunjin came back and told them about the situation and he felt completely worn out and suddenly did not want to be a part of this mission but since Seungmin was nervously standing in the door frame of the room with the number 0325, he decided to pull through this time. After all, Hyunjin had to convince Seungmin to do this and there were also Felix and Jeongin. He needed to do this for them.

  "Are they going with us?" Seungmin asked as he pointed at the other devils and Changbin, who joined them once he found out Seungmin agreed to help them. When Jisung nodded, Seungmin let out a quiet okay and Jisung noticed a bit of sadness in the tone of his voice. He did not want to make the atmosphere even sadder so he came to a decision to not bring this topic up at the moment but he made a mental note to ask the angel about what happened once this is over.

  Seungmin was currently leading them somewhere but no one knew where. They trusted the angel enough for him to lead the way — in the end, he was the one that agreed to help them. Jisung informed Jeongin about this beforehand. He had no idea if this will work out but he hoped and to his luck, everything went smoothly. Apart from Hyunjin's withdrawal, even though he promised to come back soon.

  After a while, Seungmin opened large doors that revealed quite a big room that was covered in spiderwebs and lots of dust. Jisung never noticed this room before and judging by the looks on everyone's faces, none of them did. It looked old and that the last time it was used must have been a very long time ago. The angel looked around and realised the room was empty — no bookshelves that were present in almost every room in this building, no chairs or tables, just nothing. Not even a window. Only four large columns were placed in a circular shape with something engraved on the ground in the spot in between them.

  "What is that?" Changbin asked curiously as he looked at the patterns on the ground. It gave him a weird feeling but he decided to trust the younger boy because he was the headmasters' son after all. Changbin never really got the chance to talk to him but he seemed genuine and Jisung adored him a lot, so he accepted him as a friend, too.

  "A place that used to be used for sacrifices," Seungmin stated nonchalantly as if it was the most normal thing that he encountered every day. Everyone looked stunned that such a place even existed in this building but it kind of made sense.

  "How come you know about this place?" Minho asked, obviously trying to get to know if Seungmin has ever sacrificed something here or if he was ever part of any kind of ritual similar to that one. The angel only shrugged and explained that he used to explore this building a lot a few years ago. And that there are still a few places no one knows about.

  "Let me warn you," Seungmin started as he looked at them but his warning was mainly targeted toward Jisung because it will be his friends they will be meeting. "I know that you have met one of them on your duty already but I still want to warn you that this process might be a bit hurtful. All the emotions and then the procedure where we will unlock your memories again will be hard to handle. Are you ready to undergo this?"

  Jisung nodded.

  "Okay," the angel exhaled as he pulled out something similar to a coin purse. It was small but it still looked relatively heavy. Everyone was curious about what was inside so when Seungmin untied to string that was keeping the purse closed, all of them stepped closer and peeked over his shoulder. It was a white powder and it looked like a lump of powdered sugar or flour.

  "What is that?" Jisung asked as he squatted next to his mentor, straightening his hand, ready to grab the material in the purse before Seungmin slightly slapped his hand away and gave him a scolding gaze.

  "That's salt. And it can be a bit hurtful to us angels, so it will be better for you if you won't touch it."

  Jisung nodded and moved away from the salt while worriedly looking at his mentor, who was also an angel but he still put his whole hand in the inside of the purse and pulled out a handful of salt while hissing quietly. It was definitely hurting him judging by the noises he was making out and the expression on his face. Jisung wanted to help him but was stopped by Changbin who briefly explained to him why it actually is not a good idea to touch the salt, especially for him.

  Seungmin started making a circular shape out of the salt when he heard a chuckle. Everyone looked at Minho, who was looking down at the circle that reminded him of the part of the pentagram. He didn't even realise everyone was looking at him after he chuckled.

  "It for sure is familiar," he said before looking up. It startled him a bit that everyone was focused on him, Chan slightly laughing at his expression. "What? It's not like you guys don't know what I'm talking about,"

  Seungmin rolled his eyes as he continued writing some words and drawing certain patterns with the salt. The scene looked like it came out straight out of a movie or TV series. Once he was done and connected the final grains of salt with the ones he put down first, a light suddenly appeared from the ornament. Within a moment, Seungmin stepped closer to the ring of light (as Jisung began to call it) and began to whisper some words in Greek since that was the language Jisung understood a bit so he was able to recognise it. It was a long spell and if Jisung was to ever learn this, he would probably never be able to. No matter how hard he would try. And just like that, he found yet another reason why he admired his mentor.

  As the angel whispered the last few words, the room shook a bit, catching them all off guard. In less than a second, a blinding light shot out of the ornament. Jisung turned around so his eyes would be protected from the bright light that lit up the whole room. He heard faint curses from the devils as they also turned around but much later than he did, which meant their eyes were probably met with the sudden change of lightning in the room. As the light eventually faded away, the room fell silent. No one had the guts to turn around in case another dose of light would appear but when he heard his friends' voices, he slowly turned around, afraid of the reaction that was about to come.

  "Welcome," Seungmin greeted them while politely bowing. "Welcome to the University of Afterlife. I am Kim Seungmin, the mentor of Han Jisung who was also the one that demanded your visit."

  Jisung turned fully around and tried to suppress his laughter upon hearing Seungmin talk this politely but once his gaze fell on his best friend, the boy he almost even shared a birthday with, his heart sank. Nothing has changed. He was still the blonde guy he knew but he just looked more tired.

  Jisung released the breath he did not know he was holding, as he made eye contact with the blonde boy. "Felix ... "