Enchanted | Choi Yeonjun

ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴀʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ?

[Y/N's Point Of View, 19 Years Old, In The Morning]

As you do every morning, you opened the front door. This time, something on your porch caught your eye. It's a dead rat infested with maggots.

There's about 30 on it, digging into its skin and intestines. Guts are practically spilling out of its half-eaten body. For the little maggots, the big old rat is a feast.

You already know who put the rat there, you also know why he did it. Charm looked at the rat and the maggots and backed away from them both slowly. "Don't worry Charm" you told her "This is him trying to scare us, but it isn't working."

A playful chuckle erupted from the near distance, shortly followed by an "Oh, really?"

You glanced over at the boy sitting cross-legged on the outskirts of the fence, looking at you with the smile of someone who has just finished laughing.

"Yeah, I'm not scared of you. At least, not anymore." You told him.

The boy laughed a little again and asked you a question "Okay then, if you're so brave why don't you sit with me?"

You hesitated a little, but for the sake of not seeming like a coward you sat on the grass in your garden parallel to him. The fence is still separating the two of you, so you're safe for the most part. 

You couldn't help but stare at the blank space where his eye should be as you sat in front of him, wondering what happened to it. From close up, it's not entirely dark; you can see a crimson background that must be the socket of his eye.

"Don't stare!" He raised his voice, adding "It's rude." After he caught you looking at his eye he covered it up with his hand like he did in the woods.

"Sorry..." You mumbled. This is your first time being so close to him, so you don't really know how to act or what to say. "So um... Do you have a name?"

"No" He said sternly, in which you accidentally replied to with a somewhat disappointed sounding "Oh..."

He giggled again. What's with all the laughing? "I'm just kidding. I wanted to see how you would react if I said no. I do have a name, and it's Yeonjun. I don't have a surname though, not anymore."

That last part made you curious. What does he mean by 'not anymore'?

It's probably better to ask rather than holding the thought, right? "What do you mean by that?"

"My family disowned me because I'm not good enough for them. That's what I mean." For a second you were about to apologise for asking, until he added "And fun fact; it was partly your fault."

"Me!?" You yelled, flabbergasted "I didn't even know your family existed. What did I have to do with it? Wait a minute- Is that why you won't leave me alone? Because you think I got you kicked out of your family?"

"Nah, that's not it. If I were actually bothered by that I would've killed you already, I've had plenty of chances. I pester you because I find it funny, seeing your reactions and all. I'm not trying to hurt you or anything. Actually, you should yourself lucky."

"Why...?"

"Because I'm keeping you safe from the other things that lurk these woods while bothering you simultaneously. It's a win for you and me. You get to live, and I get something fun to do."

You nodded in uncertainty, having just found out this information. Up until now you never would've guessed that he was 'protecting you'. "And what exactly are you protecting me from? Your family?"

Yeonjun shook his head "I'm protecting you from everything but them. They don't come to this part of the woods, we call it the 'daylight zone'. I'm protecting you from that" He pointed to a bird in a tree, then a raccoon on the ground "and that", and then a moth going by up above the two of you "and that. I'm protecting you from all of them."

You tried to hold in your laugh for as long as you could, but it was no use. It practically erupted out of you like a volcano. "You're telling me that you're protecting me from little critters not even half my size?"

"Ha, ha, ha, you think you're so funny, don't you?" He clapped sarcastically for you. "They aren't what you think they are, genius. Animals can sense that these woods are dangerous, they wouldn't even bother coming in here. The 'little critters' you see all around you aren't what you think they are, they're malevolent beings."

"I'm sorry but there's no fucking way that there's coincidentally thousands of evil creatures disguised as animals just frolicking around my house. Do you know how crazy that sounds?"

Yeonjun sighed "You do realise that you're saying it's crazy as you're talking to one of them, right? Y/N, why do you think the birds travel solitary? Why do you think that nocturnal animals are out during the day and day animals are out at night? Why do you think it is that there's always abnormal mutated animals that want to be around you?"

"I-"

Snap!

You and Yeonjun both turned to face the sound that came from directly behind him. It's the hare again.

Yeonjun made eye contact with it for a moment and began to quietly get up to chase it. Before he could even fully turn around the hare was off, and shortly after so was he.

The hare keeps trying to get him away from you. Maybe you should try and hear the hare's side of the story. If it isn't really a hare, that is.

What if you're going crazy and this whole thing is just a hallucination?

You know what? That doesn't even seem far fetched after what you just heard from 'Yeonjun'.