JKA 56

“…B-because you s-said I could ask… ask anything I was c-curious about.”

“…”

“Are you mad?”

“No.”

“You… are… mad, aren’t you?”

Jiwoon asked as if he were clinging to Zeo, hugging his arm completely. To be honest, Zeo was mad. He also thought, What kind of question is this? Was Jiwoon thinking he was putting on some kind of act right now? That he was forcing himself to eat salmon rice bowls he didn’t even need to eat, and spouting insincere words at night? It was baffling and absurd.

“I’ve never done that kind of thing with any other bastard but you. In the first place, you’re the only living human I’ve ever met…”

He had appeared before humans, but he’d never spent this much time with one—he was about to say something like that, but a sudden, unknown pain washed over him. Zeo’s expression contorted viciously. A pain he had never felt before in his life shot up from his shoulder blade to the top of his head.

“H-hey, w-why all of a sudden…”

“I told you, it’s not ‘hey,’ it’s Lee Zeo.”

The one who had blushed, saying he liked being able to call him by his name, never once called him by it properly. The one who had grated on his nerves with that face—what was he, someone with a brain or without one? Zeo tried to swallow the pain down with that irritation. Of all things, it was the shoulder on the side where he was holding Jiwoon’s hand that hurt. It was the part where his wing had been cut off.

“It’s because you scratched up my shoulder like a kitten. It stings.”

“Wh-what are you talking about.”

“Want me to take off my shirt and show you?”

Zeo changed the subject with a silly joke. At that, he saw Jiwoon’s ears turn bright red again. Seeing that, it felt like the pain subsided a little. I’m a real goner, me. Zeo thought to himself. All the changes happening to his body were frighteningly unfamiliar, but the feeling that he was fine just like this was even greater, so he ignored it all.

“Let’s go.”

Zeo said, pulling Jiwoon toward the escalator. Then, he headed for the surface with quick steps. Once they were outside the ticket gates, the smell of food wafted from a few places in the underground shopping arcade. At the same time, the scent of body odor mixed with it grazed his nose, and his stomach felt unsettled.

He was smelling things. A moment ago, though faint, he had also tasted the food. He felt bloated, and he felt pain. This wasn’t an angel, this was no different from a human. It was clearly a change he had to tell someone about. He had to ask what was happening. Just as Zeo had told the demon attached to Hanbyeol, he could only vaguely and instinctively feel that he didn’t have much time left.

But he didn’t know what would happen if he said this. So he couldn’t say it. Perhaps He already knew. And yet, He hadn’t given him any kind of revelation. All He had given him was a toy-like human identification card made with the name Jiwoon had given him.

“In any case, I don’t like it.”

“Y-yes?”

Zeo spoke words that could easily get him arrested for blasphemy, then tightly gripped the hand of Jiwoon, who was panting as he climbed the stairs. Finally standing at the exit, Zeo pulled Jiwoon along, passing through the alleys between the buildings.

“Wh-where are we going…”

“We have to go home, where else would we go.”

Only after reaching a secluded area did Zeo stop walking. Jiwoon, still holding his hand, bent his upper body over and panted, gasp, gasp. He was far too slow to keep up with Zeo’s pace, who strode ahead on long legs, and at a very high speed at that.

After he had barely caught his breath and lifted his head, Zeo spoke as if he had been waiting.

“Have you ever been on an airplane?”

At the out-of-the-blue question, Jiwoon narrowed his brow. When he slowly shook his head, Zeo let out a small sigh as if to say, “I knew it.”

“Come here.”

The next moment, Jiwoon was pulled by Zeo’s hand and ended up being held in his arms without any strength to resist. As if that wasn’t enough, Zeo lifted Jiwoon’s legs and held him like some kind of princess. Startled by the sensation of his body suddenly lifting, Jiwoon wrapped both hands around his neck, and Zeo whispered in his ear.

“Hold on tight.”

What he saw before him next was a massive wing, unfolding from one of Zeo’s shoulders and pouring out light.

*

His first impression of flying through the sky was simple. He felt like he was going to throw up. It was so high his head spun, and it was chilly beneath his feet. He didn’t dare to even think of looking down, and he was so terrified he couldn’t even scream, his body trembling. He thought Zeo had said something about an airplane, but Jiwoon was certain that even if he had been on one, this fear would not have gone away.

It was a sorry thing to say, but didn’t airplanes have two wings? Zeo, surprisingly, only had one wing. Was it structurally even possible to fly? He couldn’t help but have that thought. The balance was off, so could he fly by flapping just one wing like crazy? Zeo wouldn’t fail at flying and drop him to his death, but Jiwoon just couldn’t understand anything that was happening to him.

He couldn’t even lift his head properly, so he didn’t see whether Zeo flapped his wing to fly or not. The wind just blew like crazy, and he felt like he was going to lose his mind. Then, he felt his body drop downwards as if he were on the Gyro Drop ride, and when he snapped his eyes open, he saw a rather familiar scene. It was the rooftop of Paradise Villa.

Zeo slowly set Jiwoon down, and as soon as Jiwoon’s feet touched the floor, he stumbled and then sank to the ground. He had been so startled that he had no strength in his legs at all. His heart was pounding so loudly, thump thump thump thump, that it felt like it would pop out of his mouth.

“Wh-what is this…”

Like someone who had just run a full-out sprint, Jiwoon gasped for breath, about to ask what he was doing. Leaving behind all those means of transportation like buses, subways, and taxis, why did he suddenly pick a person up and fly? But he was so dumbfounded and flabbergasted that he couldn’t even speak properly.

Meanwhile, while Jiwoon was sitting there, unable to even get a proper word out, the pain that had started in Zeo’s shoulder blade had spread to his entire arm, and he was suffering from terrible pain. He had been maintaining a blank expression, trying his best to act like nothing was wrong, but in the end, he couldn’t overcome the pain and clutched his aching shoulder. His expression crumbled in an instant, and Jiwoon’s eyes widened.

Just as Jiwoon had done, Zeo’s knees gave out. He collapsed to his knees with a thud and groaned, his upper body bent over. Surprised by Zeo’s sudden change, Jiwoon reached a hand out to him.

“Wh-what’s wrong? D-does it hurt somewhere?”

As if all the strength had left his hands, the few shopping bags he was holding toppled over with a crash, spilling their contents. Since the items didn’t matter, Jiwoon pushed the shopping bags on the floor away and sat down right in front of Zeo, cupping his cheeks with both hands and pulling them toward him. At that, Zeo slowly raised his head, and his face was a mess, covered in a cold sweat.

Zeo’s face was terribly pale. It wasn’t a complexion that had much color to begin with, but now he looked like he was about to die. Even his lips were drained of color, and Jiwoon didn’t know what to do at the sight of him being unable to even open his eyes properly.

“L-let’s go home first… Mr. Lee Zeo, h-hey, get a hold of yourself!”

Jiwoon tried to wipe away Zeo’s cold sweat with his hands and somehow get him up, but he wasn’t strong enough. In agony, Zeo didn’t even have the strength to hold his head up and let it fall with a thud, resting it on Jiwoon’s shoulder. Jiwoon could feel Zeo’s hot breath distinctly on the nape of his neck.

His body was burning up like a ball of fire. What should I do, should I call 119? Lee Zeo isn’t a human, so if I call 119 and he goes to the hospital, will anything change? Jiwoon was confused. He felt like he needed to somehow support Zeo, go down from the rooftop, and take him to his place, but no matter how hard he tried to lift him, it was beyond his strength.

“C-can you get up? You have to get up… let’s go h-home first and…”

“…Quiet.”

“…What?”

“Shut your mouth for a bit. You’re too loud…”

Zeo barely managed to speak, his voice cracking. The pain that had spread to his arm was now spreading throughout his entire body, and not only did he have no strength, but it hurt so much it felt like he would lose consciousness at any moment. On top of that, a panicked Jiwoon was shouting in his ear, making his head ring.

“I’ll get up soon, so… stop being loud and be still.”

“…”

“Be still… there.”

With those words, Zeo’s body went limp. Jiwoon, hugging Zeo tightly, turned deathly pale and shook him frantically, but he didn’t open his eyes. Fortunately, he could feel him breathing, but Jiwoon was so beyond confused that his vision went white and his body began to tremble.

What is happening? With this unexpected event unfolding before him, his body grew stiff as if it had frozen. Lifting Zeo’s limp body with his own strength was impossible. Zeo had said he would get up soon, but from what Jiwoon could see, that seemed unlikely.

“Y-you’re joking, right? Th-this… is strange. Hey, Mr. Lee Zeo.”

Jiwoon felt the heat rush to his face. The corners of his eyes felt hot, as if tears were about to burst out at any moment. His mind was in a daze, and as he felt Zeo’s faint breath, as if he could die at any moment, a moment from his past flashed through his mind. It was his hyung’s last moments.

No matter how much he retraced his steps, wondering what had happened and where the problem had started, there was nothing that could have caused this. It wasn’t like a truck had suddenly come speeding and hit someone. But now that he had suddenly lost consciousness and collapsed, he didn’t know what to do.

Jiwoon just kept calling Zeo’s name. Come on, wake up. Open your eyes. Jiwoon, who had been on the verge of tears, finally burst out crying. He felt so pathetic, wondering how he could not have the strength to support and carry a single person. In the midst of that, Jiwoon’s mind suddenly cleared, and he hurriedly fumbled through his pockets.

With trembling hands, Jiwoon barely managed to pull out his cell phone and, with tears streaming down his face, called the person who occupied the most space in his call history. Ring, ring. The dial tone sounded, and his heart beat even faster than when he had been flying in the sky.

When he finally heard a familiar voice on the other end of the line, Jiwoon let out the sobs he’d been holding back and shouted.

“H-Hanbyeol, p-please h-help me. Please…”

*

Hanbyeol, who had managed to lay Zeo on the bed, first took the half-dazed Jiwoon outside. He wanted to ask what had happened and how it had come to this, but Jiwoon was only staring at the unconscious Zeo and couldn’t even properly answer the questions Hanbyeol, who was right next to him, was asking.