The Edge Of Darkness

Third Strike

Suggested listening: GOT7 - (하드캐리) Hard Carry

Not long after the incident, Hwoarang came home, still pale and tired from the blood loss. He didn't know what he was going to walk into when he walked into his house, but Eun-Jung made sure he knew before he even posed a question.

-Papa! Oh, papa. I hate this Devil. She's horrible, and she hurt papa with blades. She tried to take his eyes, too. She said the meanest things to papa, too. I don't want her, papa.

She was holding Hwoarang's leg tight and crying while talking. It was like she wasn't even breathing between one word and another.

-Hey, hey, gongju, don't worry, papa will help you, okay? You're not alone. Now, let me see how papa is doing, okay?- he knelt in front of Eun-Jung and gave her a kiss on her cheek. -Jin, everything okay? Where are you?

His voice came from upstairs. -Bathroom.

Hwoarang joined him, and when he saw the cuts and bruises, he was horrified. -It was Eun-Jung?

-Devil Eun-Jung. Yes. She has blades on her wings. Very clever. And effective, as you can see.

-Do you need a hand with the bandages?

-No... yes. Thank you.

-Do you really think you can help her tame her devil side? She's just a child.

-For today. In a week, she's going to be a full grown teenager. It's going to be both more difficult and yet easier to work with, if you get what I mean.

Hwoarang sighed. -Yes, I do. I really hope she doesn't take it from me as a teen, or she's going to be a real pain in the neck. The only person I behaved with was Baek. As for the rest... you don't want to see my Korean rap sheet from those years.

-I can imagine. Typical bad boy.

-And you love me for it. But we have Eun-Jung to think about now. I'm worried.

-Me too. But showing it to her... and to it, will only do so much. We stay near her, we show her our love. We make her feel our presence. That's how it stays dormant. And we live happily in the meantime.

-Papa?

-Yes, gongju?

-You're very pale. Are you hurt?

Hwoarang laughed. -No, I'm just very tired. Want to stay in bed with me for a while? We can sleep a bit together and when we wake up...

-...tea!

-Yes, papa is going to make us tea. The best tea. Come, wear your pajama first.

When they were gone, Jin sat on the bathroom stool, looking at them, thinking about what to do next to help their daughter tame her Devil.

//

For a fourteen-year-old girl, Eun-Jung was rather tall. Her build was slender but also muscular, thanks to the condensed years of training in Taekwondo. It resembled the early figure of her father, before he decided to bulk up for the military. Wherever she went, heads turned. Her luscious, long and silky black hair she often braided, and her deep, amber eyes embellished her perfectly heart-shaped visage. She dressed girly one day, like a tomboy the next; she didn't have a fixed style, she dressed by her mood. Her mood. It shifted as sharply and quickly as the East Wind, and her fathers were going mad trying to understand and avoid certain spiked which could cause the Devil to erupt.

-Gongju, are you ready? I need the bathroom here.

-A minute.

-You said that fifteen minutes ago.