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seonghwa sighed as he walked away from the commissions coordinator of the nearest adventurer's guild. he'd been traveling on foot for months now, stopping at every adventurer's guild he saw, trying to find a commission that interested him— but they were all the same old thing. retrieve some cursed object, check that this abandoned temple isn't dangerous, make sure these monsters aren't harassing people, blah blah blah.
the monsters were always harmless anyway. adventurers weren't supposed to be this bored.
he supposed that to the average person it might seem like an exciting life. the truth of the matter was that it was anything but. he was essentially homeless— just slept at the nearest guild or in a tree, if the rooms at the guild were particularly nasty (which they often were, since apparently it's an adventurer requirement to have deplorable hygiene). most of the time he had to resort to bathing in the nearest river, god damn it!
being an adventurer did have it's perks at some points, though, seonghwa had to admit.
despite his lack of a permanent residencey, he got paid for every commission he completed. he got paid amazingly. plus, he genuinely liked the profession at times. it wasn't so boring at first, doing these mundane jobs for the locals who weren't authorized to take care of it themselves.
maybe things were just slow these days.
in any case, seonghwa was tired of it.
as he walked further away from the guild, he stopped and gave a street vendor a couple of coins for a bag of hard candies. the young man looked at seonghwa, and then at the circular, silver badge on his chest. he technically wasn't required to wear the guild badge on himself, but he liked accessories.
"you're an adventurer?" the vendor asked.
"yes, i am," seonghwa responded with a proud smile, out of habit, "what about it?"
"well, i have a job for you, if you're willing to take it," he said. seonghwa raised an eyebrow at him, curiously.
"you could just take that to the commisions coordinator, you know."
"ugh, i tried! that old lady told me it was ridiculous, so she wouldn't post it," he sighed, slumping forward onto his display of various food items, "will you at least hear me out?"
seonghwa thought for a moment. what would it hurt to just listen to what the young man had to say? "alright, i'll hear you out. what's your name, by the way? i'm seonghwa."
"i'm yunho," the vendor said, smiling widely, "okay so, a couple miles north of here— that's where i live— there's a forest. we call it the lunentos woods, but that's not important cause it's probably not marked on any of your maps."
"why would it not be?" seonghwa asked.
"it's a fucking weird area, that's why," yunho responded, "it looks tiny from the outside, like a decent sized cluster of trees, but once you step inside it's a massive forest. it's pretty clear that it's magical, but that's not the part we're concerned about. what worries us folk who live next to it is that there's a demon living in there."
seonghwa's eyes widened. "a demon? are you sure?"
"yes! they've been coming into our village at night and slaughtering some of our animals," yunho sighed, "it's really bad, and some people are worried that it's gonna escalate, if you know what i mean."
seonghwa knew he was visibly excited, but he didn't care much about his image at this point (because he knew his hair still looked immaculate and that was all that mattered). a magic forest was nothing new, he saw those every other day— but a demon? no wonder the commissions coordinator didn't believe the man, no one had seen a demon for hundreds of years now.
they were somewhat like mythology at this point, though some old or immortal people insisted that demons used to be everywhere. the only proof their had was their own word, though.
"how can you be sure that it was a demon, though?" seonghwa asked intently.
"well, they had big horns and a tail and glowing red eyes," the street vendor said, counting off the details on his fingers, "oh, and wings. like a bat, but not quite."
"that certainly sounds like a demon."
"right! anyway, will you take care of it?" yunho asked, flashing puppy dog eyes at the adventurer, "i don't have much money, but i can give you some candies or fruit in exchange—"
"i'll do it for free," seonghwa said quickly, to the other man's evident surprise, "can you give me directions to your village? i'll be there before nightfall."
"oh, of course!"
after receiving written and illustrated directions from the vendor, seonghwa went to find a blacksmith who could sharpen his sword. if he was going to encounter a demon, he wasn't going to be taking any chances— and he certainly wasn't going to kill anything with his stupidly dull blade.
seonghwa tried not to show it, but he was ecstatic. this is what he'd been looking for for the past couple months. a commision worthy of an experienced adventurer like himself. he kept his natural gentle expression as he looked around for a blacksmith.
he wasn't familiar with this city, so it took him a while to find one. he stopped at a building with a sign on the side reading 'pan's metalworks'. that sounded good enough, seonghwa thought as he swung the door open. it certainly looked like a blacksmith's place, with the smell of fire in the air and furnaces and anvils strewn across the building. a short man, an elf by the looks of his ears, was hammering something onto an anvil as seonghwa walked in.
"hello?" seonghwa said, approaching the other tentatively, "sir?"
the elf looked up at him, with soot all over his smiling face. "oh, hello! how can i help you?"
"i just need my sword sharpened," seonghwa responded, unsheathing his blade. it'd been a while since he used it, and the state of the thing was... not ideal. he hoped that it wasn't beyond fixing, because he didn't want to go through the trouble of having a new one made.
"let me see it?" the blacksmith prompted, holding his hand out. seonghwa handed him the sword carefully, and he looked at it only for a second before snapping his fingers and giving the adventurer his sword back— good as new.
seonghwa touched the tip of the blade with his finger, hissing in pain when it cut him. "how—"
"i don't actually know a thing about working with metal," the elf admitted with a shrug, "but i know plenty about magic. just don't go around telling people that, alright? i'm afraid i may lose some of my business."
"oh please, as if adventurers ever stay in this city for more than a day," an annoyed voice said. seonghwa whipped his head around, trying to see who it was that said that— but the only people he saw were himself and the blacksmith.
the other man sighed, reaching down to pick up a raccoon off the floor. "don't be rude, wooyoung, he's a customer."
oh, thank the gods it was just a talking raccoon. seonghwa thought he might've been going insane.
"speaking of which, how much do i owe you?" the adventurer asked, pulling his coin pouch out of his pocket.
"twenty gold coins," the raccoon said proudly, to which he was smacked upside the head, "OW— what the hell was that for, joong?"
seonghwa watched with amusement as the blacksmith argued with the raccoon— wooyoung, was it? part of him wondered what their story was, and regretted that he would probably never find out since he was, in fact, going to be leaving this city soon.
"you little... i'm so sorry, sir, he's always like this. it'll be four silver coins for the sword," the elf sighed, smiling politely as seonghwa dropped the money into his hand, "good luck on your adventures!"
"thank you, i'll probably need it."
✧✦✧
seonghwa explored the city for a bit longer before he decided it was about time for him to head to yunho's village. he wanted to get there before the sun went down— even an experienced adventurer wouldn't be bold enough to wander around at night. he had a new sword, but that was hardly enough to fight off the night creatures that emerged in the wilderness.
so seonghwa left the city around midday, following yunho's instructions to find his home.
it wasn't too difficult to find, although yunho had neglected to mention that there was a river he needed to cross to get there (a river with no bridge in sight, mind you). still, he persisted. even if it meant getting his pants wet.
"oh, seonghwa!" yunho shouted as soon as he saw the adventurer, "i was just telling everyone about you."
"everyone?" seonghwa asked, looking around the village. well, it was less like a village and more like a cluster of houses. and there wasn't a single person in sight.
"i know 'everyone' isn't a lot of people, buy you'll be helping us a lot if you can take care of the demon," yunho said, looking a bit sad as he gestured for seonghwa to follow him, "it's almost evening— have you eaten yet?"
"well, no, but—"
"let my husband and i treat you to a meal, it's the least we can do!"
seonghwa may have been doing this commision for free, but he wasn't the type of person to turn down food. so he followed yunho to what he assumed was the other man's house. it was a tiny, quaint thing like all the other houses— but seonghwa, not even owning a house himself, wouldn't comment on their state of living.
a much shorter man with dark red hair was inside, putting a kettle on the stove as yunho and seonghwa walked in. he looked up with a smile that turned to a look of confusion at the adventurer. "yun, who's this?"
"didn't i literally just tell y— this is the guy from the guild! the one who i said would help with the d— ugh, nevermind," yunho sighed, exasperated, "seonghwa, this is my husband, jongho."
"it's nice to meet you," seonghwa said as he bowed slightly.
"ohh, alright," jongho said, nodding, "thank you for coming all the way out here, seonghwa."
"it's no problem," seonghwa smiled even though getting to this godforsaken village was actually quite a problem. his pants were still soaked from crossing that stupid river that no one had thought to build a bridge over.
he supposed he couldn't complain, though. it seemed like there was only a total of five people living here. maybe none of them had bridge-building skills.
it seemed like the only skills they had were having their animals eaten by a demon.
✧✦✧
the three of them ate dinner together, but seonghwa didn't stay for much longer after that— though he did make sure to ask yunho if it would be okay for him to spend the night there. jongho still seemed to be a little cautious of him, but said he was welcome to stay the night anyhow.
"so where's the forest?" seonghwa asked, pulling a fur-lined coat onto his shoulders as he and yunho stepped out of the house. jongho followed shortly after, carrying an oil lantern that gave their surroundings a dull, yellow glow. "what did you call it again— the lunentos woods?"
"yes, it's past that well over there," yunho said, pointing opposite of the direction that seonghwa came from, "it's the middle of summer, but the trees there always appear like it's autumn. you can't miss it."
"would you like us to walk with you over there?" jongho offered.
"you can walk with me as far as you're comfortable," seonghwa said with a gentle smile, "if there truly is a demon in these woods, i can understand why you'd be hesitant."
surprisingly, jongho and yunho followed him past their house and past the well behind it. the three of them only stopped when they saw a winged figure hunched over a small animal, tearing it apart with his teeth. there was no questioning it now, seonghwa knew that was a demon. he looked up at them with a mouth full of fur and intestines, his face dripping with thick blood. their crimson eyes sparkled in the faint light of jongho's lantern, and they blinked slowly at the trio.
he dropped whatever animal it was that he was eating and sprinted towards the woods before seonghwa could process any of it.
"oh my gods," yunho said, breathless, "is that geum?"
jongho raised the lantern slightly to illuminate the corpse of a ginger cat laying in the grass, disemboweled and bloody. he stifled a scream at the sight. "oh no no no, wh— wait, seonghwa, what in the hell are you doing just standing here? aren't you gonna go after him?"
"oh! yes, of course," seonghwa said, unsheathing his sword and making his way towards the cluster of trees that the demon disappeared into. vaguely, as he ran, he could hear yunho mourning the death of the cat and how he 'can't believe that demon killed the mayor'.
somehow, it didn't surprise seonghwa to learn that their mayor had been a cat.
carefully holding his sword out in front of him, the adventurer stepped into the 'forest'. he had a decent amount of experience with magical areas like this, that look completely different on the inside than they do on the outside, so he knew that he could not possibly get lost in here— or he likely wouldn't ever find his way out. he decided he would, for the most part, only try to walk in a straight line so that it would be easier to retrace his steps.
the forest didn't look too different from a regular one on the inside, if you ignored the way it was entirely devoid of noise. the wind rustled through the leaves and branches, but even that was quiet. seonghwa couldn't hear any animals or insects at all. it felt ominous in a way, but he carried on. he'd come all the way out here— there was no chance of him turning back at this point.
besides, what else was there for him to do? travel all the way back to his 'home' city? ... admittedly, he'd been thinking about it a lot. he made sure to write to his friends while he was out traveling, but mingi was a worrier. despite also being an adventurer, the younger was always convinced that seonghwa would find himself in danger of some sort.
hopefully, since he'd been gone for longer than usual, yeosang was keeping mingi at least a little bit sane.
seonghwa knew that mingi was safe in the fairy's hands— hell, mingi would be perfectly safe on his own, he was an adventurer after all— but he couldn't shake the feeling that he should go back to his hometown of sunview and check on them.
he wasn't sure how long he'd been lost in his own thoughts for, but when seonghwa came back to his senses he was quite far into the woods. still, there had been no sign of the demon since he saw them run in here. he turned around and, as expected, he couldn't even see the entrance. this place was like a maze— a cruel and slightly fucked up maze. seonghwa sighed and continued walking, taking about three and a half steps before falling flat on his face.
he groaned as a sharp pain shot through his leg when he tried to stand back up. oh, he was fucked. absolutely, incredibly fucked.
if he had to make a guess, he'd say that he sprained his ankle. oh gods, he hoped he didn't die in here. he didn't want his death certificate to say that he tragically perished because of a sprained ankle! how shameful would that be... seonghwa, the renowned adventurer, defeated by tripping on an exposed tree root.
he sat up, leaning against the trunk of a tree as he tried to examine his leg. as if things couldn't get any worse for him, there was a loud rustling in the tree above him.
well, this was it. he was going to die here in this stupid magic forest.
"what are you doing on the ground?"
seonghwa snapped his head up to find the source of whatever said that— and saw that there was a horned figure with red eyes poking his head out of the tree, his mouth smeared with dry blood. fuck.
"you— you're the demon from before," seonghwa said, "if you're here to kill me, go ahead and do so. my leg is hurt, i'm not going anywhere. just... get it over with."
"why would i kill you?" the demon asked, tilting his head, "that's kind of a weird assumption."
seonghwa's neck was starting to hurt from looking up at the tree, but he strained it even further to make his confused expression visible. "you're not going to?"
the demon fucking rolled his eyes at him before disappearing, and jumped down from the tree just a second later. he landed right in front of seonghwa, allowing the adventurer to see him in all his horrific, demonic glory.
and, actually... he didn't look that intimidating at all. if you looked past the horns, wings, tail, sharp teeth, and all the rest of that— he was quite handsome. his black hair was a bit messy and he had a mischievous smile on his face that seemed vaguely endearing to seonghwa.
he still had blood on his face, though. seonghwa tried to ignore it.
the adventurer squinted up at him. "you are a demon, right?"
"yes, why?"
"nothing. you're just not what i expected. you're really—"
"sexy?"
"i was going to say adorable."
the demon pouted, flicking his tail in annoyance. oh, he was even more adorable now. "i guess i'll take that as a compliment. anyway, what are you doing in here? you won't be able to find your way out, you know."
"i figured," seonghwa sighed, "i came in here looking for you, though. one of the people who lives by here, yunho, asked me to investigate their 'demon problem'."
the other seemed to think about that for a moment before speaking, confused. "am i a problem?"
"wh— yes, you are! you keep killing their animals."
"what's wrong with that?" the demon asked, "animals are for food, aren't they? i get hungry too, you know. and there's no animals in here."
"well... yes, they can be. but they don't belong to you," seonghwa said, a bit apologetic. the demon seemed genuinely lost, as if he didn't know he was doing anything wrong. "you're stealing from them, basically. and they really need you to stop."
"oh, i see!" the demon said, eyes sparkling, "so they yell at me because i'm stealing from them. this whole time, i thought it was because they were scared of me— that's why i only come out of the woods at night. everything makes sense now."
seonghwa had to admit, this was not how he expected this encounter to go.
perhaps it was for the best that he injured his ankle because, otherwise, he would have stabbed the demon without a second thought. then he would have felt guilty because it turned out that the poor guy didn't even understand that theft was bad.
then again, he was a demon.
"what's your name?" seonghwa asked, "i'm park seonghwa, an adventurer from sunview."
the other smiled widely, sharp teeth on full display. "i'm san, a demon from hell."
"it's nice to meet you, san. now would you do me a favor and help me out of this forest?" seonghwa asked, gesturing to his foot, "i really can't get out on my own."
"oh, sure," san said, leaning down to pick the adventurer up off the ground. seonghwa yelped as he was hoisted up into the demon's arms, though he wasn't sure why he was so surprised by it. maybe it was just the pain in his ankle. yes, definitely, it was that.
"you don't really seem like a bad guy, san," seonghwa commented as they walked through the quiet forest, "i'll make sure to tell the villagers that they don't need to be afraid of you. just make sure not to eat their animals anymore, alright?"
"right, yes, because humans think stealing is bad," san nodded. seonghwa chose to ignore the wording of that sentence. he'd take what he could get. "so i should ask them for permission before eating their animals? is that it?"
seonghwa hesitated. "i think you should just stop killing their animals altogether. that's what the problem is that i'm trying to solve."
"hm, alright," the demon said, "but if i'm hungry, then what? are you suggesting i eat the people—"
"no! gods, san, no," seonghwa groaned, "aren't there wild animals around here? you know, ones that don't belong to people?"
san nodded, humming in agreement. "yes, but they're quite hard to catch. that's why i started taking the ones that are fenced in."
seonghwa wanted to tell him that there was a reason those animals were fenced in, but he seemed to understand that now. "you know, i could teach you how to hunt, if you want," he offered.
the demon looked down at seonghwa with wide eyes. "really? you would?"
"of course! if you're comfortable leaving here, you could even come back to my hometown with me and i'll treat you to a nice meal," seonghwa said with a smile. he really couldn't help it, san seemed to have an effect on him.
"maybe it would be nice to get away from here for a while," san said thoughtfully.
they exited the woods soon enough, and seonghwa physically cringed when he saw jongho and yunho waiting for him.
"seonghwa, what the hell?" jongho gasped, "are you alright?"
"yes, yes, i'm fine," seonghwa nodded quickly, "i just tripped and hurt my ankle, it's nothing to worry about. now please don't freak out, and let me introduce you to san." he gestured to the demon, who waved politely at the couple.
jongho looked both angry and skeptical, while yunho's mouth just dropped open in surprise. yeah, seonghwa should have prepared a better explanation while he was being carried out of the forest.
"san, do you have anything to say to them?" seonghwa prompted as the demon helped him to stand.
"no?"
seonghwa groaned. "i think you owe them an apology."
"oh, yeah," san nodded, turning towards the others, "i'm very sorry for eating your animals without your permission. seonghwa is going to let me travel with him so it definitely won't happen again."
"this is... not what i was expecting from you, seonghwa," yunho said with a nervous laugh, "but i'll take it! thank you— san, was it?"
san nodded as he helped seonghwa walk forward. jongho came up to them to support seonghwa as well, since he was limping pretty terribly. "i'll get you something for your ankle," the red-head offered as they walked towards the couple's house.
✧✦✧
jongho and yunho seemed vaguely uncomfortable with san sitting in their kitchen, but they didn't comment on it. jongho quickly fashioned a makeshift brace for seonghwa's ankle and made him a mug of tea before the couple retreated to their bedroom.
"you can still stay here for the night, seonghwa," yunho said before the two of them went to bed, "i hope you don't mind sleeping on the couch!"
"that's perfectly fine," seonghwa smiled politely.
after that, it was just him and san, alone in the kitchen. san seemed to be examining the stovetop, paying seonghwa no attention. the adventurer sipped on his herbal tea slowly. the silence was killing him.
"so do you really want to travel with me?" he asked, setting the mug down on the table, "it's going to take a while to get back to sunview. i'd been traveling for months before i ended up here."
"oh, yes! you're the nicest human i've met, and i want to spend more time with you," san said matter-of-factly, and seonghwa wondered how many humans he'd even met, "you know i came up to this realm in the first place because i was so tired of hanging out with mean people. demons are fucking mean, you know."
"yes, i've heard," seonghwa laughed.
gods, a demon had no right to be so endearing. after a couple months traveling with him, seonghwa was bound to get attached... but that was a problem for future seonghwa. present seonghwa just wanted to spend more time with the intriguing demon.
"anyway, if we want to leave by tomorrow morning, i should probably get some sleep," seonghwa said, standing up on one foot, "good night, san."
"wait!" the demon said as he turned towards seonghwa, "can i sleep with you?"
seonghwa felt his face redden. "you... demons need sleep?"
"no," san said simply, "but i don't really want to leave your side. pleaseee, seonghwa?"
seonghwa raised an eyebrow. was he a demon or a puppy? no, not a puppy, he thought, definitely more like a cat. san's tail swung back and forth, as if solidifying seonghwa's cat conclusion.
"okay, fine," the adventurer sighed, "but don't wake me up, alright?"
"oh, don't worry, i won't."
the couch was almost too small for the both of them, but they managed to fit— it helped that san clung to seonghwa like a second skin. were all demons so cuddly, or was this one an exception?
that night, seonghwa slept better than he had in months.
✧✦✧
"thank you so much for your hospitality," seonghwa said with a bow as he prepared to leave with san. jongho and yunho gave the two of them some food for the road, which the demon carried with a big smile. "i hope you all can go back to your regular lives now."
"we'll manage," yunho said with a dismissive wave, "you guys should probably get going, though. you have a long way to walk."
seonghwa nodded understandingly as he and san headed back in the direction that the adventurer came from. he was still limping, but at least he had someone to lean on. it was odd, he usually never traveled with anyone— but san didn't feel out of place. seonghwa realized that it might be nice to have someone to talk to while on these long, tedious journeys.
"ugh, this river again," seonghwa said as they reached the bridgeless river, "are you okay with getting your feet wet?"
san looked at the body of water thoughtfully. "i think i'll just fly over it, if that's okay."
wait.
"those wings aren't just decorative?" seonghwa asked with a small gasp, pointing to the wings on the demon's back, "you can actually fly?"
"yes? i can carry you across, if you want."
seonghwa decided, as san scooped him up into his arms with relative ease, that he would never be adventuring alone again.