Satanas Chapter 6.1 - Daffodil Bloomed in Sudan

Sunhwa Hakdang was an educational institution established in Joseon by a missionary, and it was now being operated under the management of a religious order and a convent. It was an early afternoon when the falling snow sparkled brighter than the sun, making it seem as if the sky and the earth had been reversed. A pair of black shoes, having crossed a snow-covered path where daffodils and tender spring greens had sprouted, was placed beneath the wooden-floored main hall.

“It’s snowing!”

“You are not allowed to run in the Hakdang!”

Girls, who had lifted their skirts high enough to reveal their small, plump beoseon-clad feet, were running down the hallway. The black cassock, with snow still sitting on its shoulders, stood pressed tightly against the wall to make way. When a nun appeared and scolded them, the small heads, which came up to about one’s solar plexus, let out a shriek.

Regardless, the girls ran down from the main hall. Tadeo stared blankly at the disappearing ends of their skirts and daengi ribbons beyond the doorway.

“Excuse me, but where are you from?”

When the nun asked, he turned his head, taking off his cappello romano.

“I am ‘Tadeo Moon’ from the Jonghyeon Parish. …I have come to deliver news of a death.”

The rims of his eyes, which were so red it seemed as if the skin had been peeled off, grew moist again.

“If I had known it would come to this, I would have treated him better. My sin is great…. The Rosicrucians or whatever, the rosary or whatever. I should have listened to all the strange things he said….”

Inside the small chapel established on the school grounds, Father Stephano stood, holding his dizzy head at the news of Peter’s sudden death. When he trailed off mid-sentence, the sound of him swallowing tears could be heard. The snow falling outside the window did not just illuminate the floating dust, but also his trembling eyelashes and the tears he shed.

“He was so hale and hearty when I saw him just yesterday evening…. His back as he left, saying he wanted to meet an informant, is so vivid in my eyes….”

“An informant… you say?”

Tadeo, who had been sitting absentmindedly, asked. Stephano nodded, wiping away his tears.

“That’s right. He was a good Japanese man. I heard he ran a photo studio.”

“A photo studio is correct. He was a photographer from Japan.”

A deacon who had just brought tea chimed in on the conversation. Tadeo turned his head sharply to look at him.

“After the topknot-cutting decree, it was a huge trend to get a picture taken before cutting one’s hair. Many Japanese people came over to Joseon and opened barbershops and photo studios. It was a trend that had already passed, so it was a bit strange that this person came late to open one. But since he was even offering free photoshoots to celebrate the opening, the place was bustling with people every day.”

“Where is that place?”

“It’s in the alley on the left before you enter the village outside Hyehwamun Gate. I remember it because I was also thinking of stopping by with the Hakdang children.”

As soon as he heard those words, Tadeo shot up from his seat. Without a moment to grab his hat, he set out, and a shout calling him came from behind.

“Hey, Tadeo!”

“Please excuse me for a moment, Father! I know it’s shameless, but please take care of Sabina and Father Peter.”

He ran out of the chapel, passing the girls who were busy throwing snowballs at each other. The moment his black-shoed feet crossed the threshold of the grand gate, a coachman who had been puffing on a tobacco pipe was startled and grabbed the reins. Soon, a carriage belonging to the Jonghyeon Parish was racing over the snowy path toward Hyehwamun Gate.

Because the ground was completely covered in snow, he could not avoid a spot where a stone was jutting out. The wheel lifted up with a clatter, and the carriage shook violently. His seated bottom bounced up and down so noisily that he might have gotten motion sickness, but compared to riding in a carriage driven by Witgeng, this was nothing.

It was around the time they had just passed the solidly frozen reservoir. Tadeo was looking at the scenery outside, where the colors were all jumbled together due to the rapidly speeding carriage. He wet his lips, which seemed to have no time to dry, and scratched hard at the center of his chest. It was not just because of his anxiety.

The area above his solar plexus, which had gone from burning to constantly stinging, felt strange. Finally, when an itchiness as if new flesh were growing in surged up, he could not bear it and unfastened his buttons.

“Hee, hee-eek…!”

A shrill sound came from the coachman’s seat. His head, which had been looking down at his own chest with his collar wide open, snapped up. The running carriage came to a sudden halt, causing his lithe body to pitch forward.

“What is it!”

He quickly grabbed the handle on the door and shouted. Through the gap in his open cassock, the vines on his chest, which had drooped more than usual, and the bright red roses that had bloomed in profusion were visible. The briar bush wrapped around the black cross was still growing. Every time a sprouting thorn pricked a stem, his chest stung.

From the coachman’s seat, the movement of someone jumping down in a hurry could be felt. Tadeo began to fasten his buttons again.

“R-run away! A, a person…! Hwaaaak, I, I saw it! I-it saw us!”

The coachman, who had flung open the door, shouted, terrified. Before Tadeo could even turn his eyes to follow the pointing hand, the man began to flee as if his tail were on fire, unaware that the tobacco pipe stuck in his waistband had popped out and fallen into the snow.

“Hey, Mister!”

His calling voice stretched out so far that the narrow alley felt vast. The sound, crashing against the head of a nameless mountain standing tall, was swallowed by a wind almost as fierce as a gale and did not return. The wind was blowing from the same direction the coachman had pointed. Tadeo, who had casually turned his head, could not even open his mouth at the sight visible through the window in the door.

The blood flowing over the pure white background of snow did not feel real. Like red thread across white silk, the snowfield was beautifully stained. His slightly trembling eyes traced the blood back to its source. A woman was lying there. Tadeo covered his mouth as he saw the white jeogori, once as clean as snow, instantly become soaked in red.

“Heueup…!”

Behind her, more than a dozen people stood holding well-sharpened farming tools. It was a time when the sun was still far from setting, yet the sky behind them was a dark, bruised blue. Every one of them was staring at Tadeo with a ghastly glint in their eyes, and one of them pulled the pickaxe embedded in the woman’s back out with a jerk.

“Lord, save me….”

The tremor from his quivering lips reached his chin. The man holding the pickaxe took a step forward. Then, as if by some agreement, they all began to charge forward in a group.

“Tadeo!”

Along with a voice that soared high into the sky, black smoke appeared, parting the clouds. The smoke, which plunged straight to the ground, spread out in all directions as if seeping into the snowfield, perfectly blocking the charging possessed individuals. A wind so harsh it was impossible to open one’s eyes arose. The piled-up snow was sent flying into the air, crumbling coldly against his clear cheeks.

Within the dense, black mirage, the king of all beasts was walking out, his golden mane flying.

“Bell…? Are you Bell?”

As the lion raised its front paws, its spine rose up. Its rippling shoulder blades bulged grotesquely, more than a winding mountain range, and its shrunken ribcage spread wide. The golden mane, fluttering over a solid chest, covered its straightly squared shoulders. Behind it, black wings sprouted.

The beast that had been walking on four legs approached and stood on two. He had the head of a lion, but his eyes were filled with the blue ocean Tadeo knew.

“I told you to call me if anything happened. Did my words go in one ear and….”

“Bell!”

The beast’s voice, which came out in a growl from his throat, was not frightening. There was no hesitation at the muzzle twice the size of his own head, nor at the sharp teeth, nor at the chilling breath he exhaled. Tadeo rose on his heels, just as he did in his dreams, and wrapped his arms around the neck full of luxuriant fur.

“….”

And he kissed his cheek.

“Bell, you have a cut near your eye.”

A long-fingered hand gently caressed the inner corner of the lion’s eye. The sharp inner corner of the eye, set on a sloping nose bridge, had wrinkled fur, making it look just like a tear track. Feeling sorry for it, the moment reddish blood began to well up inside the open flesh, Tadeo brought his tongue to the wound and licked it.

Bell closed his eyes gently and rubbed his blunt nose against the soft cheek. The gentle sensation was being transmitted through every single strand of fur. A thick forearm covered in tawny fur wrapped around the slender waist. With a single flap of his enormous wings, the two of them instantly rose above the clouds.

“I don’t like high places…!”

“Just bear with it for a little while. I’ll set you down somewhere safe.”

“And you?”

Tadeo asked, looking up despite the wind stinging his eyes, but Bell did not answer.

It was a sky that looked as if a storm would pour down at any moment. A few people came out, finding it strange that darkness had arrived without even a sunset glow. His black hair, catching the wind, mingled with the golden mane. Tadeo, who had been trembling from the fear brought on by the absolute height, seemed to have grown accustomed to it at some point, as he spread his hand toward the thatched-roof houses visible from the sky.

“They’re smaller than my hand….”

His murmuring sounded childlike, and Bell let out a low laugh. The wings that had been spread horizontally changed direction. As he tightened his arm around his waist, Tadeo’s eyes widened as he looked at Bell.

“Hold on tighter.”

With those words, the wings that had been soaring high into the sky descended vertically.

The black wings, falling in a parabolic arc, shed feathers, leaving a trail of their trajectory. It looked just like ash, making the falling figures seem like a burnt-out meteor.

His wind-battered face revealed his round forehead. Heup, Tadeo still had not exhaled the breath he had drawn in. It felt like his entire face had been submerged in ice water. When he timidly opened his closed eyes against the wind that cut at his cheeks and earlobes, the houses and mountain ridges that had looked smaller than his hand had grown much larger. The gloomy mountainside seemed ready to swallow him whole.

He finally buried his disheveled, wild black hair into the golden mane. ‘Paaa,’ as he let out his held breath, the exhale, accompanied by a puff of white air, delved deep into the nape of his neck.

“I can’t breathe because of the wind, Bell….”

The blue eyes, which had not flinched even in the storm of the celestial cliff, looked at the small head rubbing against him. Thump, thump, to Bell right now, there was a sound that filled his eardrums more loudly than the wind. The trembling of a heart not felt in his grasp. That meant it was the sound coming from his own left chest.

The vigorously beating heart, without any strong liquor, was fervently warming his chest, which was packed with dry branches. Listening to that sound, Bell used his other hand, the one not holding his body, to cradle his black hair.

“200.”

“What?”

“Just count to 200. That’s all you need to do.”

The moment the small shoed foot was placed next to the beast’s foot that had landed on the slope of the village’s back mountain, Bell opened his mouth. Crack, he bit down, crushing his own thumb. Blood spurted from the sharp fang that pierced the skin. The red blood flowed down his thick palm, soaking the tawny fur. The blood that had stained the white jeogori came to Tadeo’s mind, and he squeezed his eyes shut.

“I’ll be back before then. I promise.”

It was closer to a vow than a promise. The fluffy front paw, slowly brought to Tadeo, covered half of his face. Tadeo did not open his closed eyes, and Bell was disappointed that he could not see the clear eyes. Because even if they wavered with an anxious light, the black eyes that held his reflection were the most beautiful sight.

Bell drew a red cross on the sloped forehead that shone white when it caught the sunlight. Only after murmuring something, as if chanting a spell in an unintelligible language, did the blood-stained thumb move away.

“I’ve masked your scent with my blood, so they won’t be able to find you.”

A wind that parted the mountain birds blew. Dry branches rubbed their flesh against each other. The sound of rolling fallen leaves was desolate. The wind blowing from behind Tadeo immediately flooded toward the towering lion. Bell stood as unshakable as a deeply embedded reef. Only his golden mane and feathers revealed the presence of the wind.

The beast’s two legs, bent like the legs of a wooden table, turned around. Bzzt, the sound of crackling fallen leaves echoed through the silent slope. Tadeo, whose fingertips were red from the cold, reached out and grabbed a wing.

“Let’s go together!”

As if to mock his turned steps, the beast turned back and strode closer. A front paw, hiding claws like hooks, gripped his round shoulder. The head of a male lion, worthy of being called the king of all beasts, lunged forward. His bangs, which had settled, were once again tousled by the rising wind. Then, the cross drawn in blood glittered like a ruby.

“Listen carefully, Tadeo. I came here two days ago to meet Botis.”

‘Where have you been?’

‘A night stroll.’

The scent of the golden hair that had appeared, carrying the cold winter wind, was still preserved in the tip of his nose. Thanks to that, the easily recalled memory was from the morning right after they had spent a night at the inn. His own questioning voice had been very sharp, and the voice that answered without hesitation had been as gentle as it was now.

“If I had dealt with it properly back then, nothing bad would have happened to Peter.”

And you would have had no reason to be sad. Bell closed his mouth to swallow the words that had almost escaped.

“What are you trying to say….”

“It’s all my fault.”

With those words, the folded black wings spread wide open.

“So I will end this.”

Broken twigs fell from those wings.

“Bell!”

The enormous wings disappeared in an instant without a trace. Tadeo shouted toward the smoke that had pierced through the dense trees and blossomed into the endlessly open sky in a single breath, but his voice merely lingered like a lone bird on a dry branch.

🦇

“Damn it! The priest bastard’s smell is gone!”

Through the gaping hole in the ceiling, like an ulcer, the corroded red bricks were visible. Through it, jackdaws with ram’s horns continued to fly in. Not content with piercing through the photo studio’s interior and roof, they also landed on the straw piles of the surrounding thatched houses.

When people, feeling something was amiss at the fluttering wings and the sound similar to a crow’s caw, opened their doors and came out, the birds would glare with their red eyes and then instantly peck the people to death. Screams echoed everywhere. Botis’s voice, shouting at the top of his lungs, cut through the chaos. He, who had been controlling puppets with strings attached to his ten fingers, was stamping his feet, unable to overcome his surging anger.

“Then find that bastard Bell-el’s scent! Such cowardly bastards! Utterly useless! I’ll find him. I will…!”

“There’s no need for that, Botis.”

In the place filled only with darkness as the electric lights went out, the eyes of Horus emitted a sharp, fierce glow.

“Because I found you.”

His voice, like the late winter wind where sleet rages, is dreary. Flutter, the hell-birds that had filled the photo studio flapped their wings toward the sky all at once. Toward them, who were escaping through the hole in the ceiling, Bell clenched and unclenched his bleeding hand.

The black birds, gathered in a grotesque mass, shrieked and shattered into pieces. Shredded lumps of flesh and black feathers rained down on Botis’s head like raindrops. The space between his eyebrows, where a large wart grew, smoothed out, and his yellow eyeballs, dotted with black spots, hardened. Botis glanced at his fingertips. Both hands were trembling in fear.

“W-when on earth…? I-I didn’t even feel a presence…!”

When Bell closed and opened his eyes, two lights visible over Botis’s shoulder flickered once. When he opened his eyes again, the ocean-like pupils were glaring at the head positioned near his own temple.

“How can a bastard whose name has even disappeared from the register use his power so freely without any presence being felt?!”

“Well. I don’t see any need for me to take the trouble to answer your question.”

A hand large enough to crush the head by shoving it in slowly crawled out from over the shoulder. The knobby-jointed hand traced his neck with sharp nails. The yellow eyeballs trembled, following the creepy sensation.

“The puppet show is over, Botis.”

The hand, covered in tawny fur, was engulfed in a black conflagration. Bell plunged it deep into Botis’s left chest. As he pushed it in up to the wrist, a burning smell arose and black smoke billowed. The demon’s body, slowly melting from the heart outward, folded limply like an eyelid flipping inside out as its joints and bones melted.

“H-h-hwaaaak! H-hot! It’s hooooot!”

The scream, which seemed about to tear his eardrums, did not cease for a long time. The snout, with its lolling tongue, fell to the floor with a thud. Only then did a sudden silence descend upon the area.

“Just like a guy who’s all talk. Seeing as only your snout is left even in death.”

Bell, who had been looking down indifferently, began to move. His wings, folded in the shape of a harp, swept the floor. His vertebrae protruded from his bent spine. The blood on the hand that picked up the cape coat had stopped.

The wind coming in and out of the hole in the ceiling followed the one who was crossing the chaotic interior. No, what was thought to be wind.

The fallen snout gaped open, and the long tongue shot out from between the crooked fangs like a tentacle. The tongue, which pierced through his left shoulder blade, broke through his chest and curled its tip right in front of Bell’s eyes. Gushing streams of blood splattered erratically on the dark wallpaper. Blood pooled in the blue eyes that reflected the tip of the tongue facing him.

“How does it feel to take a hit, Bell-el! Yes, it’s just as you said! A snake’s head always lives on even if its body is cut off!”

“Keuk….”

“I will devour your bones and flesh! Every last bit! All of it!”

The cackling laughter once again swept through the sky. The sound reached the entrance of the back mountain.

🦇

“…Why aren’t you coming.”

The face that had been buried in his knees as he sat on the ground piled with fallen leaves lifted.

“You said you would.”

As he moved his chapped, red lips, the peeled skin scraped scratchily. His body, chilled by the wind seeping into the quiet mountain, was stiff.

“You said you promised.”

Water welled up in the clear eyes that had been staring only into the void.

“You’re the one who didn’t keep the promise.”

Tadeo shot to his feet. His shoed feet, slipping on the pathless slope, began to run. Around the time he came down the mountain and entered the village entrance, a terrible laughter struck his ears. The faint smell of blood was rising from his throat. His nose, frozen numb by the harsh wind, stung and smarted. The pain in his chest, which had been burning and stinging, disappeared as he ran down the alley flanked by thatched houses.

He had guessed that the pain originating from the mark was related to him, and its sudden disappearance left an even greater sense of foreboding. The priest’s two legs, which had paused their running, stood in the middle of the road. A hand, hastily unfastening buttons, flung open his collar. The thorny bush that had climbed up along his collarbone was no longer growing.

The ripped-out tongue, possessing elasticity, shot up once more. The approaching tentacle was reflected in the dark red pool of blood formed beneath his sleek shoe. The blue eyes, distorted with pain, turned sharply, and an outstretched long arm, not a moment too late, grabbed the slimy tongue.

“Where in the world is that power coming from!”

“Haa, haa…. Keoheuk!”

A watery cough burst out amidst a cry full of regret. The form of the one who had been the king of all beasts was nowhere to be seen. The blood he coughed up soaked his chin and the front of his shirt completely. The luxuriant golden mane had changed into calmly settled hair. The beast’s bent hind legs were also stretched out long and straight.

“I pierced your heart! Your heart!”

“…Hey, Botis.”

“Hmm?”

“From the beginning of time, the wicked… haa… have believed that there is power in words.”

Bell said, yanking the tongue sharply.

“That was the reason God gave language to humans when He created them, and it was also the reason why you bastards, who were mere devils, stole the human language.”

Grabbing the incoming jaw with his other hand, he let out a threat through clenched teeth.

“Until you say my ‘real name’ with that snout of yours.”

“…!”

“You can’t beat me. Ever.”

The tongue, caught in the grip of a hand with bulging veins, began to struggle. It was a movement desperate to stab him somehow.

“I, ‘Bell-ed,’ the king who commands eighty-five legions, command you.”

However, Bell opened his composed lips, which had regained their composure, and ordered articulately.

“Disappear. Botis.”

“Be, Be, Be… Bell-eddd!”

Botis’s final scream swam through the sky and spread throughout the village. The pronunciation, unclear as it was mixed with the wind, sounded like thunder crashing from the heavens. The sky, which had been gloomy as if it would rain at any moment, finally began to reveal the sun.

He walked under the sky from which the darkness was clearing. His body had grown numb even to the draining of his blood. Thick drops of blood fell onto the unmelted snowy path, forming a dotted trail. The snow had stopped at some point, and the wind had also calmed down. The small village, swept through by the birds of hell, smelled of death, like a city struck by the Black Death.

The sunlight that pierced through the dark clouds, like sunbeams filtering through leaves, was dazzling. As the warm light touched the crown of his golden head, a sense of guilt he had never felt before raised its head. The swelling emotion pressed down on him with a heavy weight, causing his head to bow on its own.

Just then, the hem of a black cassock that had turned a corner stopped at the end of a stone wall. Bell’s shoed feet, which had been leaving footprints as they stepped on the snow, also stopped. He slowly lifted his staggering head. There, he saw Tadeo, standing there, unable to contain his shock.

“Bell!”

A voice, laced with a sob, called out his name. The voice sounded so sad that his heart felt a flutter, yet it was pleasant to hear because it held his name.

Tadeo began to run toward Bell. He passes the stone wall topped with broken roof tiles and the thatched houses enclosed by low fences.

Bell blinked his eyes slowly. The boy was running toward him, bathed in the sunlight. As he grew closer, his heart, like a flickering candle, repeatedly swayed and stood upright.

I have lived on this land for thousands of years. There was nothing new.

Except for you.

When he blinked his eyes once more, the blue surface of the water, catching the sunbeams, trembled slightly. And finally, the two arms that opened their embrace pulled Bell in.

“…Because of me, Peter tried to harm you, and because of me, Peter died.”

And yet… you feel like holding me?

Bell swallowed the words he could not bring himself to say along with the blood-mixed saliva. Even though the body he held in his arms was smaller than his, he felt as if his entire body was being held. Bell found that feeling extremely strange. His hands and feet tingled, and he could not move a muscle while being held in the embrace.

“So.”

“….”

“So are you telling me you’re going to leave me now?”

Tadeo shouted as he pushed Bell away. For some reason, his voice held no trace of resentment, which almost made Bell laugh.

“Now of all times?!”

The warmth vanished in an instant. Bell finally realized what that strange feeling was. It was vaster than God’s mercy and warmer than God’s love.

“Looking like this?!”

I have been saved by you.

“I’m asking if you’re going to leave me too, you bad bastard!”

Now Tadeo was sobbing uncontrollably. His cheeks, frozen from the cold, were smeared with hot tears. He furiously pounded his fists on the shoulders of Bell, who stood there blankly without a response.

“…No.”

The lips that seemed like they would never part opened. The punching hands stopped in mid-air. The focus that had vanished in the dead-looking dawn sky returned. Tadeo was reflected in the eyes that were like a deep lake. Bell let his face fall onto the small shoulder.

“I’m begging that I could never do that, even if I die.”

“….”

“I am, to you.”

The lips, which clamped shut again as if they had never opened, felt stuck together as if pressed against cold metal. As soon as he finished speaking, his heart beat rapidly as if being chased. His scabbed lips trembled, and his pierced chest spewed a fishy smell. Tadeo looked at the heavy, sunken crown of golden hair.

Bell was awaiting the judgment that would be passed down upon him.

“Bell.”

A name exhaled with white breath settled in his hollow chest. At the warmth that came from the child’s roundly open mouth, Bell wanted to hide his face. His face, growing pale, could not even face the grown child’s form, and he lowered his own hair.

A hand, curled up like a mimosa, emerged from the long, black cuff. That hand slowly traced its way up his spine.

“You shall no longer be wicked, nor shall you deny the existence of the Lord.”

An unmelted hand firmly fastened the collar of the coat he wore. That was why Bell could not lift his head.

“You shall believe without a doubt in the Lord, who sent His Son to this land and bestowed His love through the death of that Son.”

“…It’s no use even if you say that. I can never return to the celestial realm again.”

“You are my angel, Bell.”

What power do those words hold to make my breath stop every time? The head that had fallen to his shoulder slowly lifted. The black hair that fluttered even in the slightest breeze and the face that had barely shed its boyishness sparkled in the sunlight. His cheeks, which seemed like they would still smell of milk if you buried your nose in them, were curved up into a round shape. Bell stared blankly at that smile.

If Noah, having stepped onto dry land from the ark that withstood the storm, had seen the sunlight, it probably would have been just like this moment.

“The Father is always ready to forgive.”

You are the spring that crossed the mountain alone in the final cold of late winter before the start of spring.

“You are the only angel living among humans here.”

“….”

“Just visiting for a while.”

Tadeo embraced Bell again. He had almost burst into tears the moment he saw the top of his head dropped onto his shoulder. Had he ever bowed his head, except for the time he tied his untied shoelaces? When he squeezed his eyes shut, the tears he thought he had completely swallowed flowed again.

The motionless body felt unsettling, so he held him tighter and then held him tighter again. Bell’s presence, who was with him wherever he went, had become a matter of course at some point. He had become so much a part of him that he had even forgotten the lips that had breathed new life into him; he was his entire world.

Only when he stood alone on the mountainside listening to his own echoing voice did he realize that he was a being who could leave at any time. I was the one who left you first, yet I was afraid that you would leave me. The feeling of being trapped in a narrow-mouthed liquor bottle, unable to get out, disappeared only after I held you in my arms.

You are the footprint I left behind. The devil who followed in my footsteps like a shadow. I had momentarily forgotten the unchanging fact, even if I were to deny your true nature in the name of a priest.

“Bell, you’ve lost too much blood….”

“Because I have a hole in my chest.”

“The blood… the blood keeps coming out….”

“Yes.”

The flowing blood was so hot that it even melted the snowy ground they stood on. The mouth he had opened while staring blankly at the soaked ground began to tremble. The calm reply finally tore at his heart and made him burst into tears.

“W-what do I do. What do I do, Bell…?”

His hands, busy trying to staunch the hole in his chest, trembled as if having a seizure. The hands, a knuckle smaller than Bell’s, were soaked crimson in less than a minute. He did not even notice that the nauseating, fishy smell had transferred to his sleeves, which were also drenched. At the hands frantically pressing against his chest, Bell’s bloodless lips turned up slightly.

He liked how the spattering blood stained his clear cheeks. The clear eyes darting about in a panic, having lost all reason, the face in a state of shock, not knowing what to do, the Roman collar being dyed with his blood, everything made him feel better. That alone was enough for him.

“The blood won’t stop, Bell…. What should I do, how can you get better…?”

“…A method you won’t like.”

Bell said as he brought a hand to the face that was crying like a child and wiped away the tears. In that moment, he praised himself for saving the words, ‘you are enough as you are now.’ A strange chill, reminiscent of a shuddering thrill, warmed his cooling body. His blood vessels throbbed at every point where a pulse could be taken. But Bell did not rush.

Leaving room for him to approach on his own is sometimes the most surefire method.

“I can do anything as long as you get better.”

And the boy speaks as if he had always known the answer he wanted.

“So tell me, Bell.”

The sound of horse hooves, which had been heard from a distance, had come much closer. The soldiers with muskets, responding to the people’s knocking at the government office, must be right in front of them. It was the perfect time. With that loud noise of them rushing forward, kicking up snow, his whisper would be engraved even more clearly in his ear.

His flying golden hair stuck to his blood-splattered cheek. As expected, the Jinwidae soldiers in uniform appeared far down the alley. Amid that chaos, Bell whispered lowly into Tadeo’s ear.

🦇

Bell was sitting with his legs stretched out in the empty bathtub. He had not even taken off his cape coat and blood-soaked clothes. His shoed feet, propped up on the head of the tub that was too short to contain his outstretched legs, tapped a couple of times. He was supporting his temple with his fist at an angle, staring at Tadeo, who stood by the door, without blinking.

He did not want to miss for a second the sight of his back as he unfastened his buttons. His head, which had followed his hands down, lifted, and the cervical vertebrae that had protruded as the hair on his nape parted, disappeared smoothly. Gulp, the sound of swallowing saliva was heard. In the strange tension, the hand that was pulling back the open collar over his shoulder paused for a moment.

The face that glanced back was flushed red in the bathroom, which was filled with a chilly air as not even the hot water had been turned on. However, the hem of the cassock left his hand without hesitation. It slid down his body and fell with a thud at his feet.

The body line, barely revealed by a single fascia tied around the waist, displays its true value when not a single thread is worn. The forearms pressed against his slender sides and the pelvis that spreads out, but not too widely, only upon reaching the waist, had been tightly wrapped in that black piece of cloth until now.

“Isn’t it strange? Thorns have grown.”

As his folded-in shoulder blades protruded, Bell swallowed the saliva that had collected so much it made the underside of his tongue tingle. The body that was slowly turning around glanced once at the mirror before standing to face Bell completely. Tadeo said, rubbing the rose bush that had grown up to his collarbones.

“It’s because I released my power.”

Bell replied, holding out his hand.

When the Jinwidae had arrived, Bell had completely hidden his form like a ghost. He had not disappeared. He had only made himself invisible. He could not hide the footprints left side-by-side next to Tadeo as he walked on the snowy path, but no one noticed.

Sontag, the owner of the inn, who saw the dripping blood, did not frown once. She just waved her hand at Tadeo’s repeated apologies and wore a worried expression. To her face, which asked various questions about what had happened, Tadeo, his mind racing, answered carelessly. He was worried he would be found out that the blood staining the floor was not dripping from his own clothes.

That soon remained as guilt. He was ashamed of his own attitude of being annoyed by someone’s concern. ‘Don’t be nervous.’ That was what Bell had whispered to him, who could not keep his hands still, his eyes darting all over the place.

‘You’re making me more nervous, Bell.’

Instead of the words he could not bring himself to say, only his shoulders, which had risen, stiffened, and Sontag had gestured with a flutter of her hand for him to go up and rest quickly.

“After a human with the mark and a demon perform the master-servant ritual, that human becomes the demon’s bride.”

“Master-servant ritual?”

Hot water poured into the bathtub, where blood had pooled redly. Tadeo asked back, his eyes wide, as he clasped Bell’s hand.

“Sex. What you and I are about to do.”

“Heut…!”

Watching the body settle between his parted thighs, Bell could not hold back and bit his nape. A faint moan escaped from his tilted head as his waistline hollowed and twisted.

“And what we’ve already done once.”

Bell said, meeting his eyes. Tadeo had to feel the heat that made his stomach churn and rushed all the way to the tips of his ears. The guesthouse in Weihaiwei, where the night sea was perfectly reflected in the sky visible through the window, came to mind. The bittersweet floral scent attached to the memory seems to be blooming in the bathroom again. The circuit of memories that followed one after another was worn out by the feeling of being chewed up, bones and all.

“…Don’t talk about that.”

“You don’t like it?”

“Yes, I don’t like it.”

The beetle-like eyes, which had always avoided the quiet, persistent gaze, met his squarely. Tadeo opened the lips he had been biting as he looked straight ahead.

“Apologize, hurry.”

“Demons don’t normally say things like that.”

Droplets of water formed on his eyelashes and flowed down. They looked like tears, and Bell soon regretted what he had said.

“I want to erase that memory and make today the first time. It hurt that much.”

“….”

“And promise. That you won’t hurt me.”

Bell was confused. It was not because of his determined attitude. Emotions he had never felt before, soaked in the pouring water, clung to his whole body. What humans call regret and guilt were things that made one unable to help but look back on one’s own past. As he began to understand the meaning of things he had dismissed as trivial and bothersome, Bell became momentarily dazed.

“I’m sorry.”

The voice, settling like softly piling snow, silenced even the sound of the pouring stream of water. It was different from his expectation that he would be stubborn with his pride until the end. As the voice that rumbled low in the bathroom faded, the sound of the water, which had grown distant, came close again. Tadeo felt like he was in the rain, and Bell did not stop whispering once more.

“I’m sorry, Tadeo.”

The sound of water droplets splashing on his shoulder becomes the sound of a keyboard being tapped with his fingertips and settles in his ear.

“…I understand.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Stop now, stop talking…! It tickles!”

“I’m sorry. I can tell you as many times as you want.”

As soon as those words ended, wet lips approached. The stream of water falling from the faucet on the wall hit their bodies and splashed in droplets. Every time a droplet splashed, his curved eyelashes trembled. Bell supported Tadeo’s head and wrapped an arm around his waist, lifting his body. The naked form, now away from the stream of water, had the bathtub behind its back.

Tadeo raised both hands and gathered the clumped strands of golden hair together. The hand, which gathered every last stray hair and swept it over his back, took off the soaking wet cape coat.

🦇

The hand gripping the bathtub was deathly white. The veins that protruded on the back of the hand due to the thin skin looked comical, as if showing off, rather than looking strong. It was a boast of its fully grown maturity. It was understandable, as it was compared to the bulging veins on the back of Bell’s large hand next to it.

Bell had Tadeo suck on the fingers he had been sucking on. The fingers that went in and out of his mouth countless times moved as if to loosen the tension below. He handled him preciously, and after rubbing his tongue, he spread the dripping saliva on his red lips.

Whenever his head was about to droop lower than his hips in a dog-like position, he would grip the chin that fit in one palm. In that state, he pushed only his index finger into his mouth. The inflexible lips could not suck properly. Even though they were agape, Bell did not rush him.

“You have to wet my hand enough so it doesn’t hurt, Tadeo.”

As if those words were some kind of spell, Tadeo grabbed Bell’s hand with both of his. He closed his eyes like a child and put the middle and index fingers in his mouth at once, sucking on them.

“This feels, strange…. Really… strange….”

“Where, how is it strange?”

Hmm, the breath that naturally came out before he opened his mouth reached his ear, and Tadeo flinched his nape.

“I don’t know… I don’t know…. Ah-euh….”

Bell had been touching only his buttocks for nearly an hour. To be precise, it was the hole smaller than the epitaph located between his buttocks. He would spread the plump flesh to look, and when it puckered, he would bring the tip of his tongue to it. He pressed down on the back that was startled by the nose bridge burying deep into the valley, and it had been an hour since he had put his fingers in. Tadeo made a crying sound.

“Ah… Bell, that’s enough now….”

“No, Tadeo.”

“But you getting better is the priority….”

At those words, Bell looked at him with a blank expression.

“I’m fine…. You’re the priority, Bell….”

When there was no response, Tadeo spoke while looking back. His face, resting limply on the back of his hand gripping the tub, exhaled intermittently trembling breaths.

“…Can you sit on top of me?”

Bell said, wiping his eyes.

“…Yes.”

And Tadeo, with his face dropped onto the back of his hand, nodded his head slightly.

“If I consume the priest’s essence like this, eut, haa….”

“Ah!”

The two hands gripping his shoulders trembled. The size, which could not be grasped with one hand, was difficult to insert even after spending time relaxing the rear. From the pressure that felt like wearing a small ring, Bell completely squeezed one eye shut. Bell, who was chewing on his lower lip and exhaling short breaths, looked at Tadeo. He was on top of him, clenching his teeth and struggling.

“Ah, heuk, eung… i-if you consume…?”

When Bell did not continue, Tadeo slightly opened his eyes. The eyes, which had smoothed out their frown at some point, held a dim sky without a single cloud. The composed eyes, unlike his own, began to penetrate him persistently as usual.

His vision, wavering like a heat haze rising from the boiling ground, becomes even dizzier. Tadeo exhaled through his red-ripe lips, then bit his lip again and lowered his hips.

He was resentful of him. I’m having such a hard time… why do you have that look on your face?

“What happens if you consume it…!”

“My body, euk, recovers.”

The passage, which had stopped at the thickest part of the circumference, was excruciatingly painful.

“Hoo… every time a demon releases its power, a thorny bush grows, ha, don’t tense up.”

“I’m not tensing up…. It hurts, it hurts me, Bell….”

Tadeo whined, but he focused all his concentration on relaxing his muscles. One hand was on Bell’s shoulder, and the other hand was holding his own buttocks apart. Heated, excited breaths are continuously exhaled, warming the roof of his mouth. In Bell’s eyes, that face was drawn as nothing but ecstatic.

The fair skin was flushed in places like a well-ripened fruit. And it was just as moist. A hazy light spread across his sublime and neat features, more so than any angel draped in pure white wings. His blinking eyelids sometimes wavered precariously, and at other times, they were alluringly colored and disheveled.

“We’re not even halfway in yet, Tadeo.”

Bell, who had been gently caressing the protruding elbow bone with the tip of his middle finger, trailed his hand down the waist, which was as sleek as his neckline. The moderately slender body had a faint flush of color at every prominent joint.

As Tadeo lowered his hips, Bell slowly lowered his gaze to match. He passed the endlessly bobbing Adam’s apple and reached the chest engraved with the emblem. Soon, his gaze lingered on the nipple that was standing up taut.

“Ah, eugh, I’m going crazy, really….”

“Should we stop?”

Bell said things he did not mean as he took the watery, crimson nipple into his mouth.

“Heu, eu-euh… Aaht!”

Tadeo, who had been groaning and shaking his head, bucked his hips once. The tip of his member, hitting the inner wall, must have poked a sensitive spot, as his shoulders trembled. Bell did not care. He continued to make sucking sounds with his teeth that gnawed at the bump and his tongue that gently enveloped it.

“Y-you put it in, eut, I can’t, I can’t put it in….”

Tadeo finally buried his face in his palms and begged. Bell, who had been only lightly licking with the sharp tip of his tongue, slightly raised his gaze. The hand covering his face roughly swipes down and clenches into a fist. Four bones protruded from the back of the clenched fist, and a tear-stained eye peeked out from above it.

The tongue that had been licking the nipple smoothly swept over his own upper lip. The mouth, which had formed a smirk as the tongue moved from one corner of his lips to the other, slowly opens. Bell grabbed his pelvis and powerfully thrust his hips up.

“W-warn me before you…! Aaaah!”

His startled body reflexively pushed Bell away. His shins, planted on the bottom of the tub, stood up, and his widely opened buttocks rose out of the water. As his waist swayed greatly, water droplets that had rolled down his hips were sprinkled around. Due to his arched back, the tailbone, which remained only as a vestigial trace, was even more deeply indented.

The space between the buttocks, which was not visible unless held apart, showed tender skin like a cave where sunlight streamed in. Below it, the rippling water shimmered. Bell, with a look of satisfaction on his lips, gently patted the fleeing buttocks. Then, the splashing sound mixed with the water disturbed the surface.

“W-without even, heut, w-warning me… if you just put it in, heuk, what am I supposed to do….”

Tadeo’s voice was crying. He dropped his forehead onto the back of his hand gripping his shoulder and kept muttering, ‘damn it.’ Bell intended to wait politely until the trembling of his neat nape stopped. Bell, who had been staring at the white tiles with a consistently expressionless face, glanced at the buttocks that were not sinking beneath the surface.

“Don’t run away.”

Bell’s kindness went only that far. The hand that had been kneading the wet buttocks like dough made from soft rice gripped his thigh and pelvis and pressed down firmly. Tadeo, like a harpooned fish, could neither do this nor that and flailed his arms.

“Euh-eung…!”

Every time he inhaled and exhaled, the muscles of the inner wall also tightened and relaxed repeatedly. As if it were a test of his patience, Bell had to suppress the urge to thrust up hard. That place, which tightened without elasticity, was, like its owner, inflexible and without discretion.

The exhausted body let its arms hang loose and breathed out softly. His cheek rested on his shoulder, and his blinking black eyes were directed at the hole in his chest, faintly visible through the water-soaked shirt. Around the time the warm water cooled to match his body temperature, the twitching below found some leeway.

“Touch here, Tadeo.”

“Where… Eut.”

The hand that had been caressing his shoulder went down and deliberately touched the swollen nipple with a raised fingertip. Tadeo flinched his upper body but bit his lip as if nothing had happened. The pale hand with bulging veins roamed over the bare skin, tickling. He groped the side, which had been held with his armpit pressed tight, leaving no gap. He also gave a quick pass over the navel, which was beautifully shaped after the umbilical cord had fallen off cleanly. The hand, reaching the lower abdomen where an intermittent tremor was felt, pressed down gently.

“Heek, d-don’t press…! It’s, it’s strange!”

“My thing is protruding. In my shape. Right here.”