Chapter Text
Minjeong is a demon.
But she’s not like the others, she promises. The human world just doesn’t portray her kind nicely because the majority of them can be mischievous. She comes to the surface every now and then so that she can get some fresh air compared to the fumes burning in the underworld (or what humans like to call it, hell.) Though the air pollution now up there can be quite a decent competitor.
Minjeong can terrorise humans and souls if she wanted to. But she doesn’t. And it’s not because she’s nice- the other demons will gladly fill up her role anyways. She’s saving energy by not being in a feud with an angel 24/7, that shit’s tiring! And if she does get caught, she’ll be dragged up and she has to face the wrath of other angels before they push her back down to the underworld! But most of the demons like the thrill of it, that’s why they do it. She thinks that they are either really dumb or masochistic.
Or maybe it’s just because Minjeong hasn’t been a demon for that long yet. She was human just a hundred years ago! Or a few hundred. She doesn’t know the details. She understands that it’s not that nice to be the plaything of a demon, even if they have a guardian angel that can protect them.
Minjeong isn’t able to remember who she was as a human. Something about assimilating into the afterlife or whatever. But she never really felt the need to question anything.
“Minjeong!” Yizhuo, another demon that became one around the same time as Minjeong, surprises her from behind when she is relaxing by the side of a river.
“You scared me! Why are you up here?”
“You’re not the only one that needs some fresh air.” Yizhuo takes the spot next to Minjeong.
“Yah, hide your horns.” Minjeong points to the horns that are barely protruding an inch out on Yizhuo’s head, and Yizhuo waves it off.
“They’re barely there. It’s fine. I don’t have mountain goat horns like you.”
Minjeong rolls her eyes. Even though Yizhuo gets on her nerves sometimes, her presence is comforting. They were both in the same boat when they met, newly fledged demons who don't remember anything about their human lives to know how they ended up being a demon and not an angel instead.
Perhaps that’s another reason why Minjeong chooses not to be aggressive. Maybe her subconsciousness was telling her to have some decency as a demon if she couldn’t when she was alive for whatever reason.
“Is that a mobile phone?” Minjeong asks when she sees Yizhuo pressing her fingers furiously against a flat piece of metal.
“Yeah! I stole it from one of the shops!” Yizhuo answers proudly.
“I don’t know much about it but how do you even bring it down to the underworld without it melting from the heat there?”
“Hey, I may not be as powerful as you are, but I know my fire proof magic at least!”
Yizhuo taps into her gallery and shows a photo to Minjeong.
“See? Even Aeri has one! She sent me this photo.”
Contrary to popular belief, angels and demons can get along just fine. It’s just a matter of choice, personal preferences, whether they want to or not. As long as their relationships do not interfere with the angel’s role in their afterlives. Angels are humanity’s guardians. And Minjeong has learnt to let them do their jobs. The Gods above won’t care that much as long as they report back to them.
And Aeri is one of those angels that shares the same sentiment as Minjeong and Yizhuo. But of course, she doesn’t walk around telling every other angel that she’s friends with demons.
“Wonder what she’s doing right now, haven’t seen her in quite a while.”
“Why don’t we just visit her then? I think she’s in the human world right now too, guiding a human in the same church we went to before.”
They make their way to the church, and see the crowd coming out from the entrance. They look up towards the sky , trying to see if Aeri is hovering above the people. There are several angels as expected, but none of them looks like Aeri.
Suddenly, both of them are pulled behind by a pair of arms, and Aeri’s head stuck out in between the both of them.
“I missed you guys!” Aeri releases them after giving both of them a tight squeeze.
“Hey Aeri, long time no see.” Minjeong greets back, and while Aeri and Yizhuo busies themselves catching up with each other, their conversation blurs out in the background when Minjeong sees a particular white-winged being watching at the sides as the crowd disperses.
Now Minjeong has seen as many angels as the next demon, but this new face she is seeing is truly what you call angelic. There is something so alluring about this angel that pulls Minjeong in. Perhaps it’s how symmetrical her face is, or how her long black hair sits perfectly on her shoulders, or that sickeningly sweet smile that the whole world will stop to stare at.
But something feels off.
Minjeong doesn’t know why.
Minjeong passes by the church again.
There is something odd in the air today around here. Her demon senses are tingling the moment she arrives at the surface. And it is close to midnight, when other beings start to lurk around the human world.
They usually aren’t a huge deal, but there was just something that smells very foul today.
It smells like death.
Minjeong isn’t one to tangle herself with the strings of fate. She does not intend to interfere with whatever that is destined to happen to someone today. She wants to know just what is responsible with the stench lingering in the air today.
The streets are empty, as most humans would have been asleep by now. She follows the smell, and it gets worse and worse as she approaches the river that she likes to come by.
There is someone else walking by the river, and the moonlight reflecting on the woman gives her a ghostly glow, sending shivers down Minjeong.
She is the same angel that caught Minjeong’s attention the other day.
She is so entranced by her that she fails to notice a dark long shadow under the waters.
There is a huge splash, and a huge snake creature as tall as five storeys with jet black scales reveals itself, letting out a menacing hiss.
Minjeong has never seen anything like it before. The angel stands before it, and Minjeong observes, wondering what kind of weapon the divine being will use against the sudden threat.
In the blink of an eye, the snake swipes its head towards her, and is met with no resistance. The angel lands with a thud after flying several metres, coughing out blood as she tries to steady herself.
Blood. It is a sign that she was once human too.
Minjeong wants to step in, but what does a demon have to do with an angel’s business?
The snake is far from done, as it slithers towards the angel, and pries open its jaw showing its terrifyingly sharp fangs.
Snap
The sound makes Minjeong flinch, and she sees the angel’s white robe soaked in blood. Only her head and feet are poking out from the snake’s bite, her eyes slowly drooping. And the stench from earlier gets even stronger and it makes Minjeong’s head spin.
Minjeong doesn’t think. With her right hand collating heat energy, she bolts toward them and heaves a fireball straight into the snake’s eye. The snake lets out an ear-piercing cry, and the angel is freed. Minjeong shakes off her disguise, her horns out in the open as she spreads out her black wings and propels herself into the air. She crashes into her and wraps her wings around both of them as they plummet right back on to the ground, with Minjeong taking most of the impact.
Minjeong composes herself as quickly as she can, and positions the injured woman securely in her arms before taking off again, ignoring how every inch of her is still screaming in pain. The safest place will be to take her back up to the heavens and Minjeong doesn’t know how long she could last, because that snake definitely did not do some normal damage to the angel. Angels can heal themselves easily from mortal attacks, but this particular one is still bleeding out badly, and Minjeong’s cloak is drenched.
“Oh my god. Oh my fucking god. Hang in there.”
Minjeong feels her heart hammering through her entire body, and no she doesn’t normally have a pulse, she’s dead after all. But she realises her heart starts pounding whenever she gets very nervous. And she thinks that she’s going to faint from how hard the muscle is moving right now.
She isn’t sure if that damn snake is capable of ending an angel permanently but she isn’t planning to find that out now.
They fly as high up as demons can possibly go, and settle down on the lowest level of heaven. The angel has her eyes closed, and it’s not like Minjeong can check if she’s breathing. They don’t breathe in the first place. Minjeong tries her best to heal Jimin as much as she can, but she knows she’s inept in healing others. A demon doesn’t usually need to when they do more of the opposite.
“I…never asked to be saved.”
Minjeong hears her first words, and on one side, she’s relieved that she healed enough to be able to utter a word, but on the other, what the fuck does that even mean?
Before Minjeong can retort, she sees a silhouette of another angel coming towards them. She pulls the other up and staggers towards them.
“Woah, what is a demon doing here- Jimin?! What did you do to her?”
The newcomer quickly brings Jimin to her side, and Minjeong scoffs at the accusation.
“Look out for your peers, especially this one.” She says, and throws a final look at Jimin before diving head first into the clouds below.
As Jimin is being brought back to the higher levels, the other angel is ranting about how full of the demon was of herself.
“That brat, who does she think she is? Who is she to tell us what to do? Jimin, what did she do to you?”
Jimin smiles.
“She didn’t let me be.”