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“I hope I don’t have to kill him.”
At least Wangnan could rest in peace knowing that even if his soulmate was going to kill him, he didn’t want to.
What a comforting thought.
The words had appeared on his wrist when he had entered the tower. It happened to every regular. ‘Climb the Tower! As a bonus we’ll give you a soulmate!’ Bullshit, all of it. But when Wangnan inevitably met this guy, or girl, maybe it would be worth it. Who knew.
The flaw was that it was thoughts, not words. The words were your soulmates first thoughts about you. Coherent anyway. Wangnan had been taught that a person had more than twenty thoughts at once. Of course that didn’t apply to him and his brain full of empty. His soulmate could just be a guy in a test that he would never talk with and all their interaction would just be seeing each other.
Personally he would have preferred “Wow so pretty” or “Who the hell is that?” But at this point, as a broke regular on the twentieth floor who struggled to get points for food, he would take what he could get.
---
Lurker had just paid him a visit. Nia, well he was excited to live life for what it was worth at least.
Sitting alone in his room, staring at his arm. Black ink scrawled in a scratchy script. “I hope I don’t have to kill him.” He read it outloud. “I hope he doesn’t.”
Maybe it was Lurker? Wangnan wanted to bleach the thought out of his mind as soon as he thought of it. There were a lot of people that would consider killing him, he's sure. Every Regular was a target at some point. Maybe unless you were a princess of Jahad, but even they had enemies.
There were stories that people hadn’t died until they found their soulmates. Wangnan wasn’t sure but this might give him the hope he needs to get through this test with his internal organs and skin. It was only a rumor so no promises were made of any sort. But if a rumor was what gave him hope then he was okay with it.
He had already failed once because of the girl from the Yeon family. Damn if he was going to fail again and never meet his soulmate for something as stupid as a diet that took his entire body away from him. Maybe he was the stupid one for borrowing cash. He would get back to you on that.
Wangnan laid back on his futon, staring at the ceiling. He should really just worry about the test right now. Love could wait. For a very long time.
---
“Did he really kill all three of them by himself?”
Bam had had no idea of what a soulmate was until he reached the tower. Rachel had never told him, but that was because the concept was foreign to both of them.
Once he had entered the tower, he hadn’t noticed the writing now permanent on his upper arm. There simply wasn’t any time to look at himself. He didn’t even know something would change after all. After the first test, meeting Mr. Khun and Rak, The crown game, being out of commission for days, waking up and hurrying to the first Wave Controller lesson. Only after all that was he finally able to examine himself.
In loopy handwriting across his forearm. “ Did he really kill all three of them by himself?”
His first thought was that maybe someone had played a prank on him. Writing something on his arm while he was asleep was something he could see someone with mean intentions doing. But a joke about him killing people? He didn’t find it very funny at all.
Maybe Shibisu did it? Or Rak. He took himself to the bathroom and tried to wash it off. It was very hard and even when his arm was bright red and starting to hurt from all the chemicals in the soup and the skin being peeled off. It still stood as dark and unchanging from the beginning.
He felt a bubble of frustration blow up inside of him. This was a very unfunny joke. Bam didn’t kill people, especially three people. This must be something Khun would know about. He could help Bam get it off his arm.
Bam quickly threw his shirt over himself. Thankfully it covered his forearm. He dashed down the hallway where Mr. Khun’s room was. It was fast and it wasn’t long before he was there.
Rapping on his door, he jumped back when the door was thrown open and a disgruntled Khun stood in the doorway.
His face softened when he saw that it was Bam at the door. “Bam? It’s late are you alright?”
He shook his head. “Someone wrote something on my arm and it won’t come off. I need your help to take it off.”
Khun tipped his head in obvious thought. “Bam what are you talking about?” Realization struck him. “Oh, come in. I’ll explain soulmates.”
“Soulmates?” Bam echoed. “What?” He was grabbed by his arm and pulled into the room as Khun shut the door behind him.
He glanced around the room. It was the same as his, the only difference being this one was cleaner, that was probably Khun’s doing.
Khun sat himself down at the chair at the desk, turning it to look at Bam standing alone on the carpet. “You don’t know what soulmates are do you?” He stated.
“No?”
Khun sighed. “When you enter the Tower you get a few words or sentences of what your soulmates first thoughts were when they see you.”
Bam frowned. That couldn’t be right. “But what’s a soulmate?” Maybe Khun was wrong.
“Your soulmate is. . . Your other half.” Khun explained. “The person you’re meant to be with forever.”
“Like how I am with Rachel?” Bam guessed, He couldn’t see his future without her.
Khun shook his head. “No. It’s more than that. You meet them in the Tower. You knew Rachel beforehand.”
“So I’ll find them in the Tower?” The words ‘Kill’ now felt branded on his skin. “Can I take the words off?” He asked gingerly.
“What do your words say? Nothing bad is it?” Khun questioned. “It’s on your arm right?” He tugged on Bam’s sleeve, pulling him closer to Khun.
“No!” Bam yelped. “Nothing bad. I’m just. Shocked I guess. It’s weird.”
Khun let him go, staring at him with an eyebrow raised. “Alright?” It was clear he didn’t believe him but knowing Khun, he would let it drop.
Bam tried to divert the conversation. “W-what does yours say? You have one right?”
Khun simply shrugged, rolling up his sleeve to show Bam the sentence printed on his wrist. “ A Khun kid? Interesting. ”
“As you can see. I will have an easy time tracking down my soulmate. Seeing that that is the first thought anyone has when they see me.” Khun sighed. “There’s a chance I’ll never meet them.”
“Oh no!” Bam gasped. “I'm sorry! I’m sure you’ll meet them Mr. Khun.”
The other boy didn’t seem bothered. “It doesn’t really matter to me anyway. You can live without your soulmate. It’s just an added bonus anyway.”
The conversation carried on for an hour, moving from soulmates to the Tower, to the people they had met today. Talking with Mr. Khun was fun and distracting. Bam didn’t think of his marking for a lot that night.
Only once he was alone in his room, taking off his shirt to put on his pajamas did he remember what he was branded as.
Right there he swore that even if it meant never meeting his other half, Bam would never kill another person.
---
Jue Viole Grace avoided killing people in groups of three.
It went around as a rumor that it was a game he played. Maybe the slayer candidate did it to show he could pick and choose who lived and who died.
Another rumor swirled around that he did it to fulfill a contract with a demon for unlimited power. That was Hwaryuns personal favorite at least. Viole wasn’t so sure she didn’t start the rumor herself.
No. He didn’t do it for any of those reasons. They were all dumb anyway. Only a high ranker, a guide, and the second floor administrator knew the real reason why.
Viole avoided killing three people exactly, just to avoid the possibility of meeting his soulmate. He knew that one day, he would eventually meet them if he didn’t die first, but FUG had no intention of letting that happen.
Having a soulmate meant having another person be used to extort him. Another life on the line if he failed or didn’t bow his head and lick the boots of every FUG executive he ever met.
Jinsung promised that he himself would never hold his soulmate against him, saying that “Soulmates shouldn’t die for their other half.” Viole never asked him about his mark. He assumed that it harbored bad feelings.
But Hansung was a bastard that would step on a puppy’s neck if it meant his irregular staying in line. Sometimes he would ask that Viole kill three specific people and Viole would make sure that a fourth person would end up dead.
He hated himself for it. How many times he had to count before killing someone. What happened to promising to himself that he would never be a killer even if it meant never meeting his soulmate? Well that promise was shattered when the lives of his friends were threatened.
He didn’t deserve someone to love him anyway. And he was okay with that.
---
There were four people in the room including him. The objective was to be the only person to get through the door. He could do that easily. Just kill two and maim one.
He did just that. Two of the big men dropped as soon as they readied to attack him. The last one, a regular with small red winds on his back and a snarl on his face, was left breathing and very much alive.
He was safe now. Viole was content to let the doors open and find the next person to finish the test.
A rustle was heard behind him. Before he could process it, a hand had grabbed his own and yanked him towards the ground. The maimed man was going to kill him. He was going to run Viole through if he didn’t-
Before he could stop, Viole had run the man through with a bang. Blood poured through the would, soaking his shoes as the man dropped.
Fuck. That was three people. A small feeling of panic welled inside of him. Of course this didn’t guarantee that he was going to meet his soulmate but-
The doors opened to see the next person. Viole turned to catch a glimpse of the blond that stood there, a bomb in his hand. His face pale with shock and something resembling disgust?
“I hope I don’t have to kill him.” Viole thought to himself glumly.