Shamans Kim

Chapter 19: Useless human

Jungkook could hardly believe it: he was finally climbing again the stairs of the Path of Souls! 

He had dreamed of this moment so much that he felt an uncontrolled flow of adrenaline rising within him. After warning the Ho of his project, he didn't go to school and he had returned to the mountain.

He had followed the same path as the other times and stopped at the first fork, where he had been lost by Jimin the first time. All the other times, the trail had only led him deeper into the mountain where he had gotten lost.

But this time it was different. This time he knew he couldn't lose his way. He was a shaman, a magical being, and he felt deep within himself the path of souls calling to him. He had taken the path on the left at the first intersection and he had seen with ineffable happiness the orange glow of frozen twilight appear before his eyes.

Then at the bend of a row of trees, the stele indicating the entrance to the path of souls appeared to him. He was now on the stairs and this time he didn't have to climb thousands of steps before seeing the series of three purifying portals indicating the entrance to the Twilight Sanctuary appear.

It was only possible if you were invited, Jungkook knew that. This meant that the fact of having been invited once had definitely guaranteed him the right to enter the sanctuary. He was happy to discover that. 

At the top of the stairs, behind the last portal, the red portal that protected the sanctuary from demons, Jungkook saw a tall and familiar figure that was backlit and seemed to be haloed by the setting orange sun. Even though the light prevented him from seeing clearly, Jungkook immediately recognized the silhouette and the hahoe mask who hid his face.

At the sight of him, Jungkook suddenly forgot how nostalgically he had thought of him for weeks and painted the most arrogant smile on his face. Then, he hurried to join him, hoping to shock him with his presence.

"I bet you didn't imagine you'd see me again one day before my death, did you?"

Faced with the lack of response from the other, he added, proud of himself:

"You probably thought I was still an incapable human, but now I'm a shaman! I am a magical being and I can come here whenever I want and without your help or authorization! And when I learn how to use runes, I'll kick your ass for humiliating me the first time and threatening to feed me to some dark soul!"

Satisfied with himself, Jungkook waited for the other's scathing remark, but it didn't come. Worse, Jungkook, who wanted more than anything to see the expression under his mask, had to face the same frozen expression, like he's talking to a wall.

"Have you gone deaf since last time?" he grew impatient. "I'm talking to you, moron!"

The other remaining motionless and mute, Jungkook decided to do something he had tried to do many times in his dreams: he threw himself at him, expecting the other to try to stop him and cut him into pieces with his sword, which he did not do, and without any precaution, he tore off Seokjin's angry mask with all his might from his face, cutting with a sharp blow the knot from behind his head.

Quivering with impatience, Jungkook quickly pulled the mask away from Seokjin's face and... froze.

"No, that's not possible..." he murmured, disappointed.

In front of him, Taehyung's coldly beautiful face looked back at him. Jungkook refused to believe that Seokjin had the same face as Taehyung, even if they were twins, he refused to accept it: his Seokjin couldn't have the same face as anyone else, it was impossible!

His Seokjin?! But what was he thinking?! Jungkook realized in horror what he had just thought and shook his head to correct himself.

"Seokjin is dead."

These three words resonated in his mind and reverberated like an endless echo. Jungkook took a few minutes to realize their meaning, then his eyes widened as their meaning reached his consciousness.

He focused again on the person in front of him. It was Taehyung's face and after getting used to the brightness of the sun around the figure, he realized it was a red hambeok and not blue. Taehyung's hanbeok. So it wasn't Seokjin but his twin, how could he have been mistaken?

"You came too late. Jin allowed himself to be overwhelmed by his souls of light and lost his life, all out of arrogance. He is dead," Taehyung repeated, his voice cold as a guillotine blade.

And this time, Jungkook felt like that statement had actually taken his life. He felt a cold invade him, quickly followed by extreme emptiness. Seokjin was... dead?

"No, you're lying..." he whispered to Taehyung. "Let me pass, I want to go see him. I'll give him his mask back and tell him you said he was dead. I'm sure he'll want to kill for this lie!"

Taehyung and Seokjin hated each other and out of spite, Taehyung said he was dead, but it was a lie to force Jungkook to turn back and prevent him from going to see Seokjin, that's all.

"Even in his last moments, he wore his mask of anger," Taehyung said, forcibly grabbing the hahoe mask Jungkook still held. And he placed it on his own face again. Maybe to look sad without appearing weak? "This wasn't always the case, but it's the only face you knew of Jin and it's the one you will remember in your memory."

"No, it's not the one I want to remember, I want to see his real face... at least once..." Jungkook he moaned, desperate.

"You can't," the master of the Shadow Pavilion replied sharply. "To think that you came here to strut in front of us, you are pathetic! Here you are, a shaman, what next? You failed to help Jin and in his eyes, you remained a useless human until the end."

"IT'S NOT TRUE!" Jungkook yelled at Taehyung with anger. "I am a shaman, I awakened my magic to come back here, to see him again, he cannot be dead!"