Broken • Choi Yeonjun

Slap

The new year had come and went, as if it was only a span of an hour but, at the same time, it felt like it had dragged by. 

Now that the holidays were over, work and training was back full force. Which, I was thankful for. My mind was far too busy for its own good. wondering how my family was doing, missing them, missing my dad. It was constantly reminding me of how I would never spend another holiday with them. 

"Fuck!" I yell as I stumble, someone had whacked me in the head with a ball. 

"Pay attention!" Yeonjun snapped. He had actually offered to train me while the others were busy. 

Was he sick? He has been nicer, by that I mean, he hasn't been treating me like I was dog shit stuck to his shoe. 

"I am!" I retorted with a obvious lie. 

He raised a brow, pointing at the ball that had hit me. 

I open my mouth to shoot an insult at him, then snap it shut. I was in the wrong here. I bring the ball back over to me with my 'mind', then toss it to him. I started walking around the room as he watched, waiting to throw it when I was least expecting it. 

My eyebrows scrunch as I feel my toes on my right foot start to burn and itch. I was wondering what the hell I did to make it hurt when the ball was thrown at me. My eyes were wide as I had just caught it, not even a hair away from my nose. 

"That was close." I comment as I let it fall. I drag the tip of my socked foot over the ground, hoping to ease the itch. 

"What are you doing?" Yeonjun's lip curled up as he watched my foot. 

"It just started itching and burning, I think I did something without realizing it." I defend, I was not about to worry what he thought of me, my foot was itchy! 

"Or... you have a foot fungus." He shot at me, catching the ball I threw at him full force, with ease. 

"Oorr, I'm having an allergic reaction from being around you for too long?" I suggest as I start pacing again.

"You plan on training alone? I'd like to see that." He was right, I needed him for the time being. "That's what I thought." He added as he tossed the ball with a smirk. 

Bastard. 

~

By the end of the day, my foot felt like it was really on fire. 

"Stop whining, it can't be that bad." Yeonjun rolled his eyes after I explained to him as to why I had dropped to the ground, holding my foot. 

I shoot him a glare as I pull my sock off, wanting to see what was going on. What I saw, was definitely not what I was expecting. "What the hell?" I question out loud.

Yeonjun loomed over my shoulder, his eyes on my foot as well. I crane my neck, meeting his eyes. 

"What did I do?" I now direct the question towards him. 

He said nothing as he walked around, sitting down in front of me. He leaned his head down, looking closely at my toes, which were pitch black. I touch the tip of my big toe, hissing and pulling away as the contact made pain shoot up my foot. 

"Rerek." Is all he said as he leaned back meeting my gaze.

"He's causing this..?" My eyes fall back down, this didn't look good. "What is 'this'?" I shake my foot, I was starting to freak out. 

"Calm down, and don't wave that around, it stinks." He snapped as he stood up. 

I took a big sniff, I didn't smell anything? 

"I'll set up a time for me to talk to Andromalius, he should know." He stopped at the door looking back at me. "Training is over for the day." 

"Oh." I slid my sock back on and stand, minding how I walked, not wanting to knock my toes on anything, they were really sensitive. I follow him until we make it back into the dorm. I take notice that a few pair of shoes had been added back to the pile since we had left. 

I knew one of them had to be Taehyun, I smelt food. I smile as I make my way to the kitchen, my stomach was begging for food. 

"We have news." Yeonjun said as he followed after me, I had cut him off by the front door. 

"Good or bad?" Taehyun turned to us, leaning his back on the counter as he wiped his hands with a rag. 

"Bad." I reply as I take a peek at what was cooking. Over the holidays I grew even more comfortable around them, I guess my heart was trying to ease the ache it had from losing my family. 

"Bad?" He echoed, his big eyes going from me to Yeonjun who sat at the table. 

"My toes are black, and hurt, a lot." I say with a cringe, how could one explain what was going on without it sounding nasty? 

"What?" His eyes widened as he looked down at my feet, as if he could see something through my socks. 

"You ever heard of anything like it?" Yeonjun asked him, leaning forward and placing his elbows on the table. 

"It sounds like what happens when a sorcerer kills another, taking their power. Their body sometimes rejects the powers..." The way he trailed off didn't seem like it was an easy fix. 

"Is there a way to stop it?" I ask as I back away from the stove. 

He shook his head as he walked over to stir a pot that was starting to boil. "The only way they made it out of that situation alive, they had to release the power, clean their bodies of every trace of it." 

I sigh as I felt my shoulders sag, one thing after the other. Just when I try and feel happy, the world slaps me with something. "I don't think I'm hungry anymore." I say as I turn, ready to shower and dwell on my thoughts. 

Just as I passed the table, a hand caught mine. 

"You're eating." Yeonjun said, then stood up, pushing me down into a chair. "You can't just hide in your room every time something upsets you." 

I look away, I knew he was right but, what else was I to do? If this was like what Taehyun had mentioned, I had to get the demon fragments out of my soul... I would have to die for that to happen.