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The night hung heavy over Seoul as Ten stood at the window, disguised by the dark room around him. Looking down at the parking lot below, he watched the shadowy figure dig through the dormitory dumpster. Snorting in disgust, his attention was drawn to the darker corners of the lot where malevolent shadows pushed and pressed against the light cast by the street lamps. This was a mercy he told himself, such a quick and painless death for someone who deserved less. He watched as a larger one reached a tendril out, inching along the dark crevices that the light was not reaching, then shrinking back as if burned when it got to close. Ten let out a small sigh and reached over to the breaker panel next him, flipping the switch and bathing the parking lot in darkness. As he turned away he barely made out the small cry of surprise from the shadow’s victim as the shadow engulfed them, leaving behind nothing but a pile of clothes and a dry, parchment-like husk that fluttered away in the night breeze.
Sungchan woke to his phone blaring in his ear. Slowly opening one eye to the brightness coming through the hotel room window, he estimated it was late afternoon. Rolling over he was greeted by Shotaro’s back and his gentle snoring, evidently unbothered by the phone ringing. Once Sungchan saw the caller ID he shot up and slid the answer bar.
“Hey. What’s up? I thought your hunting trip was over?” He asked the caller apprehensively, trying to keep his voice at a whisper to not wake his sleeping friend.
“Yeah, well things change, kid. Besides, technically we’re not doing the hunting. Sam and I need you to check something out on your side of the world. Have you been watching the news?”
Sungchan cradled the phone in his neck and rummaged around his bed sheets looking for the tv remote, finding it he clicked through until he found a station playing a cycle of current news headlines. He reached over and shook Shotaro awake while pushing the speakerphone button so he could hear what Dean was saying.
“In a city not known for dangerous crimes, the disappearance of three young women has been raising concern from local law enforcement…” The reporter gave the camera his best look of uneasiness and continued. “The authorities welcome any information you may in regards to their whereabouts.”
“Okay, sounds sus but how do we know it’s a case?” Shotaro spoke up for the first time after waking.
“Sus? Is that like, young people slang for suspicious?” The younger boys could hear laughing in the background.
“You’re old Dean, get over it,” they could identify Sam’s voice over the speakerphone half a world away. Some things never changed, one of which being their mentors giving each other shit whenever possible.
Sam took the phone from Dean as he muttered about not being “that old” and “not too old to save your ass” as he handed it to his younger brother.
“Anyway, we had suspicions it might be of interest when they reported the piles of clothing found. We REALLY suspected when we got an anonymous tip regarding the fact the missing women all knew each other,” Sam began running down the information they had received so far. “All of three of them have been tagged on social media in regards to hanging around outside the dormitory of a well known band. Not a lot of love loss going on right now. Then yesterday one of our informants emailed saying they saw Shades in the area around the building.”
“Shades?” Sungchan asked.
“Yeah, nasty little things but they never just show up. They usually are summoned by something or someone more powerful, a fae.”
“Wait...a fairy? Like Tinkerbell?” Shotaro could barely keep from laughing but knew better even though Sam wasn’t actually there.
“Nothing like Tinkerbell kid. We had suspected old man Lee had a fae in his employment but it’s never acted out, probably because no one’s made it mad. Fairies are happy until they’re not and it sounds like these women may have threatened something dear to it or just generally pissed it off,” Sam took a breath letting the boys digest what they heard.
Shotaro turned off the television and grabbed his journal laying on the nightstand. It contained everything the brothers had taught them since they first met in Osaka years earlier. Flipping through the pages until he came to a blank one, he began jotting down the information they had so far.
“So what do you need us to do?” Sungchan ran his hand through his hair because he had a feeling he knew where this was headed.
“Well kids, you are going to become stars.” The younger hunters could faintly hear Dean singing the chorus of Dynamite in the background.
That is how Sungchan and Shotaro found themselves standing in the stuffy practice room with 17 other boys repeating the same set of eight counts while the large ceiling fans above them did very little to improve the situation. It was sheer luck that the two of them were perfect for this case, both easy on the eyes and extremely photogenic, it had gotten them out of more than one bind or two. Shotaro had found Sungchan while busking on the streets in Osaka so they were also no strangers to performing. So far, none of the boys had really made their spidey sense tingle, if they didn’t know better it would be easy to forget that at least one was not what they seemed.
The answer to which individual came hours later when they were half delirious from lack of sleep, hunger, and borderline dehydration. The door to the practice room opened and four boys walked in, one of which Shotaro and Sungchan had not yet met. In the space between breaths time slowed down, to the point that Shotaro could see the light reflecting off the dust motes as they sat suspended in the sunlight coming through the windows. Everyone around them appeared to be frozen in that moment, Yuta mid laugh, Haechan clinging onto Taeil, even three of the members that had walked in were as still as statues. The only movement came from the slight, dark haired boy that looked in their direction. Sungchan shot Shotaro a sideways glance, reminding him to not move even though the hidden tattoos they bore made them immune to the fae’s glamour. He didn’t walk but more glided across the floor towards where they stood.
“Oh these are new, very pretty,” Ten approached Shotaro and inhaled deeply. “And human, interesting.” Moving to face him, Shotaro saw Ten’s eyes flash from brown to emerald green before morphing back into brown. “Hmm, and this one...so tall...good choice Mr Lee.” Ten had moved on to where Sungchan stood and was giving him the same once over.
Sungchan’s lungs burned from the effort of not breathing. “Please don’t touch Taro, please don’t touch Taro.” He repeated over and over in his mind as if just thinking it would keep Ten from reaching out. Shotaro was not only a demon hunter but also a Null. If this boy..fae..whatever..made contact with him, he would be frozen where he stood and at that point no amount of good looks would save their butts. Sungchan blinked and Ten was suddenly standing next to the members he had entered with. Without warning the world restarted, Shotaro fell to the floor next to him and gave a barely perceivable nod.
“Guess we found our guy,” he murmured as he let out the breath he had been holding.
That night the boys slipped silently out the back door of the dorm and into the parking lot. As they crossed the street into the park that ran along the Han River, Sungchan scrolled through the contacts of their phone, and quickly dialed the brothers. After some waiting, Sam finally picked up.
“Hey kids, long time no talk. How’s the pop star life treating you? Love the teaser photos of you, Dean is ready to fight people for your photocards.”
“Haha...very funny. We found our guy. Froze time and everything. Almost touched Taro, that would have been a nightmare.” Sungchan shuddered when he thought of how close they were to blowing their cover.
“That would have made this a lot more messy that’s for sure. So, now that you know who he is, you have two options: use a banishment spell to send it back to its realm, or you can try to get it to stop taking out these sasaengs.” Sam stumbled over the Korean word used to describe the stalkerish fans that followed the group.
“We’ve heard some of the members talking about them. One of the younger ones named Mark seemed to have had a really bad one but they said she hasn’t been outside lately. Maybe she was one of the victims?” Shotaro thought back to earlier that day when he was eating lunch. “Ten, the one we identified, seems to be very close and protective of him. They are in another group together, here at the company.”
Sungchan could feel they were on to something. “Sam, you said that fae are ‘happy until they’re not’ and they only act out when angry or threatens something close to them. What if it’s not something but someone?” He looked over at Shotaro.
“Mark.” They both said at the same time.
Dean sent them the details they needed to banish the fairy if it came down to that. Both boys secretly hoped it wouldn’t, they had grown close to some of the members and knew it would be devastating to them if Ten just disappeared. The better course of action would be to talk him down and get it to enter a pact to do no more harm to humans. As they walked back across the parking lot to the dorm Shotaro looked up just in time to see a boy on the upper floor of the dorm touch a window and send a pattern of frost rippling across the surface, then just as quickly a taller boy touched the frost and it melted, water running down in rivlets.
He elbowed Sungchan and jerked his chin in the direction of the commotion. “At least we don’t have to investigate that group.”
The next night, after practice had ended, Shotaro called up to the 10th floor that Mark lived on with a few other members. They had decided to pay a visit and try to confirm the closeness of his and Ten’s relationship. Once they knew for certain that the threat towards Mark was what was making it act out, they would have leverage in making a deal.
What they didn’t anticipate was Ten answering the door to the dorm when they arrived.
“Hey new boys…” Ten leaned against the door frame, his gaze moving up and down their bodies. “Mark said you were coming by and I can’t pass up a chance at getting to know our newest members.” He laughed and moved aside so they could pass into the dorm.
“Ten hyung, are they here?” Mark came out of the kitchen with a plate of snacks, a bottle of soju, and a pack of Uno cards. “Hey guys, I didn’t know what you wanted to do so I figured we could play some games, hang out, whatever?” Mark looked at Ten nervously.
“Oh Mark, it’s fine.” He turned to the other boys, “Right?” Sungchan could feel the question pressing on the front of his mind, willing him to agree. It felt like when your hand falls asleep and gets all tingly but it was his head that felt that way. He could feel a whisper of “say yes” being repeated over and over as Ten stared him down quietly.
Shotaro cleared his throat and spoke up. “Yeah that’s fine. We just wanted to get to know you better. Check out the 10th floor, see if the rumors were true. Now we get the bonus of meeting Ten.” Sungchan breathed deeply as he felt the coldness leave his mind and the influence disappear. He was starting to really not like fairies.
Shotaro should have known things would go sideways when the third bottle of soju came out and he was losing fantastically bad to the others. Drinking while on a job was usually a bad idea but in the interests of playing the part they signed up for, both began to find themselves feeling a little warm and fuzzy. Everything happened so quickly that Shotaro had no time to react. One minute he was placing the Draw 4 card down on the pile and the next Ten had grabbed his hand.
“Shit…” Shotaro looked up at Ten’s frozen gaze, his eyes flashing a dangerous green as he realized he couldn’t move.
“Well, this is going to suck. We got 15 seconds...move.” Sungchan jumped up and away from the table, pulling Mark with him.
“What is going on? Why is Ten like that? Why is his eyes that color? Dude..”
“Mark I need you to like, stop talking and whatever happens in the next few seconds, just stay over here out of the way. We don’t want to hurt him.”
“DON’T WANT TO HURT HIM?! What is going on?”
“Ten seconds Chan…” Shotaro had gotten his hand out of Ten’s grip and was rummaging through the kitchen looking for something. “Mark do you have sugar? Or salt?” Mark could hear items being pulled out of the cupboards and casted to the side.
“Dude don’t break any of Yuta hyung’s stuff, he will kill all of us. There is sugar on the top shelf.”
Shotaro located the bag and [5 seconds] jumped over the counter, landing by the table [3 seconds], he dumped a big pile of the crystals in front of Ten just as time ran out.
“What...the...fuck..?” Ten began and then his eyes were drawn to the sugar in front of him. He could see the fae struggling against his inner need to count every single grain before him. It was one of the tips the brother’s had given them, no matter how powerful the fairy, it wouldn’t be able to resist the urge to count. “Really?” He slowly began to move the sugar grain by grain, while at the same time pinning the boys down with a murderous stare. “When I get done with this I am going to quite literally kill you.”
Sungchan pulled up a chair across from the extremely angry fairy. “How about we make a deal instead?”
“What are you talking about? I have no need to make a deal with you and whatever he is.” Ten shifted his eyes towards Shotaro with a look of both rage and curiosity.
“Oh I think you do...Taro?” Sungchan looked down and motioned with his head towards his friend.
Shotaro pulled the notebook out of his back pocket and began to recite the banishment spell Dean had given them. The effect was immediate. Ten began pounding his fists on the table in obvious pain and rage as he realized what was happening.
“STOP! Stop hurting him!” Mark yanked the notebook out of Shotaro’s hands and tossed it across the room, causing the spell to be interrupted. “What is going on? Ten?” Concern was written across his face and Ten couldn’t look at the tears that were threatening to fall from his eyes, he silently went back to pushing the grains of sugar across the table.
“Do you want to tell him or should we?” Sungchan demanded the fairy’s attention.
“I really don’t know what you're talking about.” Ten spit through gritted teeth.
“The sasaengs. The ones that are now missing.” Shotaro had retrieved his notebook and stood next to Sungchan. “The ones you called the Shades for.” A momentary look of guilt flashed across Ten’s face, not for what he did, but for the fact he now knew he was caught.
“You’re fucking hunters. Son of a bitch. So what now? You banish me?” He looked at Mark with concern and if Shotaro read it right, sadness.
“Ten what did you do? What are they talking about? Is this why those people aren’t in front of the dorm anymore?”
“Mark, I did it to protect you. They were terrorizing you and I couldn’t stand by anymore. I should have known those Winchester’s would have sniffed it out eventually but I had to take my chance. I needed you to be safe. Please remember that I was only protecting you.” The fae began crying. He gingerly touched his cheek as the drops fell into the sugar in front of him making it form sticky bunches on the table. “What? Why am I leaking water from my face?”
“It’s called tears Ten.” Mark had moved across the table to kneel next to the fae and wipe the tears from his face. “It happens when people are sad.”
“You’re not scared of me? I’m a monster.”
Mark cupped Ten’s cheeks. “Never, you are one of my best hyungs. Remember, Kai can teleport and Baekhyun can throw light. Nothing surprises me around here anymore.” He looked at the hunters standing nearby. “Please don’t banish him. Please. I know he did something wrong, can you just bind him so he can’t use magic? Anything. Just please don’t take him away.”
“Ten? Will you submit to binding? It will essentially make you a human. You won’t even be able to shift to the fairy realm anymore.”
Ten broke his gaze from Mark and looked up at Sungchan. “Yeah.” He sniffed and took one final swipe at the tears, drying his cheeks. “If it means I can stay here? I’ll do anything. This is my family now.”