The 7 Princes of Hell || ENHYPEN FF

A Strange King

Yang Jungwon's Epilogue

"Come on, Teacher Yang! Tell us all about how you saved the world with your brothers!" A curious student of Jungwon begs to know while shaking their teacher's legs.

Everyone roars in curiosity as they also want to know what truly happened.

"Settle down! Children, have you forgotten that I'm just your teacher and not this hero you claim to see? Actually, you should be thanking our government."

Jungwon reminds them that he's just an 'ordinary' teacher.

"Aww..." They all sounded disappointed.

"Now pack your stuff and remember to do the homework I assigned for everyone!" Jungwon says while leaning on his desk and sips on his coffee.

"I want to grow wings and fly too!"

Jungwon spat out his coffee after hearing one of his students' remarks.

They all looked at him weirdly, suspicious of their teacher on how he reacted like that.

Yang wipes the coffee that was dripping down his lips, "A-anyway... you are dismissed!"

The students formed a line as each student bids their goodbyes while exiting their classroom, "Goodbye, Teacher Yang!"

"Bye bye, Teacher Yang!"

"See you tomorrow!"

A student who appeared to be wary of him suddenly stops across from him.

"Is there a problem?" Jungwon questions as he tenses up with the idea of his student figuring out that he's actually Satan, the Devil himself. He'd definitely lose his job if they find out.

"You're so strange, Teacher Yang."

'Whatever, you're so strange, Yang.'

When he heard that line again, nostalgia exploded in his stomach. The young child in front of Jungwon receives a gentle pat on the head as he smiles, forming dimples that soften his looks.

"I get that a lot, but it's okay to be strange sometimes, ya' know? See you tomorrow."

He says while letting his students go home.

Everywhere and everything is a lingering recollection that induces him to think of Ningning, despite the fact that she is not there.

It was painful for him.

He considered it difficult to commit and trust again after having being deceived more than twice.

-

Three knocks were heard at Minjeong's door, for it to be opened by the same girl with the bob-cut, yet her hair was a bit longer and wavier than before.

"Oh. It's you." And how she perceives Jungwon never changed.

"Hey, can I come in?" Jungwon asks, peeking what is inside Minjeong's apartment. She had to move into her new housemates because the house she previously shared with Ningning was wrecked during the Cosmic War.

She rolled her eyes and let's Jungwon inside.

"It's like your fiftieth visit this year." Minjeong groaned while leading him to the living room.

"I wanted to check up on you." Jungwon says.

Minjeong scoffs at this, "Please, you should check up on yourself. I'm doing fine..." She trailes off while sitting on her couch.

As Jungwon seated himself next to her, Minjeong obviously took displeasure and gestured for him to get away from her. He wiggles farther away from her while continuing to keep a close distance.

"You're obviously not. Ningning is-- was your best friend." Jungwon corrected himself along the way. Minjeong wanted to keep a careless exterior, but deep down, she misses Ningning and her obsession with plants.

It was something she had to live with everyday, she didn't expect herself to come looking for it.

She sighs, allowing herself to weep and vent her grief, "You're right. I'm not. Ning was like a sister to me. I never imagined a day without her..." She pauses to take a deep and shaky breath, "Even though her addiction to plants was a bit annoying at times, I still look for the scent of roses. Her scent."

Minjeong noticed tears were already flowing from her eyes, so she chortled and dabbed them away with the back of her palm, "You shouldn't see me like this."

"I understand what it's like to lose someone who was so close to you that you cherished them as a relative. And I lost two of them..." Jungwon looks away from her, holding in the grudge to show any tears.

"Cry it out, bud. Both of us have been holding back these tears, trying to appear as tough as we can. We can't move on if we haven't cried." Minjeong said while stroking Jungwon's back as comfort.

"You're right. You are surely quite warm for someone as cold as you. They should call you Summer." Jungwon comments which made Minjeong roll her eyes.

"I prefer Winter." She says, earning a nod from Jungwon, admitting that Winter does fit her better.

Moving on doesn't instantly come to an end, it's a process that deals with the person grieving with pain, guilt, and suffering. And as someone as brutal or as they say, 'evil' as the Devil, Jungwon failed to normalize this within himself.

Over and over again, he felt the misery.

From the sinners he tortured.

From Beelzebub.

From Lilith.

It may be tough, but knowing someone who feels the same as he does, he now embraces the emotion he feels, even though it feels strange.

-

Satan, the Prince of Wrath.

"Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame."
- Benjamin Franklin

-

a/n: and jungwon's character arc is one of my favorite things to write ngl