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The first thing that Yoo Joonghyuk registered was the throbbing headache threatening to rupture his skull. He groaned and touched the tender spot towards the back of his head. His fingertips felt small stitches and dried blood. What the hell happened? Did something get the upper hand on him? If so, he was disappointed in himself.
The next thing Yoo Joonghyuk realized was how white the room was. How was there somewhere so clean and sterile in the middle of the apocalypse? Yoo Joonghyuk looked around the small room. Judging from the scent of antiseptic and the rows of pill bottles in the nearby cabinet, he was in a medical clinic. What a foreign sight.
Where was this? Should he investigate?
As Yoo Joonghyuk sat up, something heavy on his lap shifted, slightly startling him.
Huh? Why didn’t he notice someone was sleeping on his lap?
Some guy wearing a long, white trench coat was resting on him. They were rather plain-looking and they had dark circles under their eyes. Who the hell was this? The urge to shove this stranger off of him was growing by the second. Before Yoo Joonghyuk could decide, the man began to stir and yawned.
“Eh? Joonghyuk-ah?” the man sat straighter as he saw Yoo Joonghyuk’s confused expression, “You’re awake, thank goodness. How are—ack!” Before the man could utter another word, Yoo Joonghyuk grabbed the man’s throat.
“Who the hell are you?” Not once in Yoo Joonghyuk’s numerous regressions did he ever come across this man. They were an anomaly.
The man weakly grabbed Yoo Joonghyuk and tried to pry off their hands, but Yoo Joonghyuk just tightened his grip. “Y-Yoo Joonghyuk...ah! S-Stop idiot!”
“How do you know my name?”
The man in white struggled for air, coughed, and just pointed to the hands around his throat. Oh right.
It was at that time, the door of the clinic opened and several people walked in.
The first person to see the situation walked in nonchalantly. “Yo, is he awake—what the hell is going on here?”
The man currently being choked by Yoo Joonghyuk let out a small whimper and the room was deathly silent.
After that was chaos. Someone rushed and quickly separated Yoo Joonghyuk’s hands from the now bruised throat of the stranger.
“Get off of him!”
“Dokja! Are you okay? What a jerk!”
“Did you say something stupid again Kim Dokja?”
“Yoo Joonghyuk, what the fuck?” A woman helped the white coated man stand up while others glared at Yoo Joonghyuk.
The multitude of voices both new and familiar filled the room. Yoo Joonghyuk felt his head painfully pulsate and closed his eyes. The last thing he saw was the man in white gazing at him with concern.
Concern? For him?
The next time Yoo Joonghyuk woke up, his arms were restrained to the side rails of the hospital cot. As he easily broke through the leather straps, someone entered the room.
Yoo Joonghyuk’s eyes softened. “Mia.”
Yoo Mia’s eyes brightened as she waved at her brother. She noticed the broken straps on the hospital bed and sighed. “I knew they wouldn’t last long. But anyways,” Yoo Mia sat down on the hospital bed, “Are you feeling alright?”
“...Define alright.”
His sister snorted and rolled her eyes. “All I heard was that you freaked out the moment you woke up.”
“More importantly, where are we?”
Yoo Mia gave her brother a leveled look. “We’re at the Complex,” she said slowly, “specifically the medical bay.”
“What complex?”
Yoo Mia touched his forehead. Her hand was cool to the touch, “Oppa...what’s the last thing you remember?”
Yoo Joonghyuk furrowed his eyebrows as he tried to think about the last thing he remembered. His head throbbed and he groaned out of pain. “I...was fighting...something.”
“You were slaying tree monsters that popped up nearby,” supplied Yoo Mia, “Do you know who you were with?”
He drew a blank. “...No.”
“...I’m gonna get Lee Seolhwa.”
Before Yoo Mia could hop off the bed, Yoo Joonghyuk grabbed her wrist. Yoo Mia looked back and raised an eyebrow. Yoo Joonghyuk took a deep breath. “Wait Mia. Are...you being held prisoner?”
“EH? No, of course not!” Yoo Mia rolled her eyes and gave Joonghyuk a pat on his hand, “We’re home.”
Home?
“You have transient global amnesia,” explained Lee Seolhwa, “Knowing your innate regeneration abilities, you should regain your memories in the matter of days.”
It was unsettling to learn that Yoo Joonghyuk didn’t have all of his memories. This never happened in any of his other regressions. Or perhaps it did and he just forgot.
“You should just rest for now. Let your body heal.” Lee Seolhwa patted his shoulder. “You can even start thinking of how to apologize to everyone.”
“Apologies?” Unlikely.
Lee Seolhwa gave him a pitiful glance, “Do you recall the man you attacked earlier?”
“The man in the white coat?”
“Correct. That’s Kim Dokja. He’s—”
The sound of a chair screeching against linoleum stopped Lee Seolhwa from finishing her sentence.
“No, don’t tell him!”
There was another woman who came with Lee Seolhwa. She was the one who entered the medical room first and yelled at him. She wore a loose hoodie and was enjoying a small lollipop.
Lee Seolhwa gave the woman a confused look. “Shouldn’t we tell him?”
The woman smirked as she gave Joonghyuk a smug look. Yoo Joonghyuk felt his irritation grow as her eyes locked with his. “Nah, it’s funnier this way. I want to enjoy when Mr. Protagonist gets his memories back.”
Seolhwa shook her head, almost exasperated, “What will Kim Dokja say—”
“No worries. I’ll deal with him. I want to watch this thrilling plot development.” The woman on the chair turned to Joonghyuk and gave him an obviously fake smile. “I’m Han Sooyoung. You are absolutely obedient to me and you love working for me.”
What a farce. Joonghyuk glared at her. “I don’t believe you for a moment.” Everything in his being was telling him this.
Han Sooyoung bit down on her lollipop. “Tch, his protagonist senses are still intact.”
After another night in the medical bay, Yoo Joonghyuk was cleared and allowed outside. As he walked through the halls of the Complex, Joonghyuk felt a sense of familiarity when he looked at the scenery. Something inside of him was telling him he was safe. It was strange, yet comforting. After fighting through so many regressions, it was nice to have a place he could feel welcomed.
Yoo Mia walked around the Complex with him and re-introduced him to the other members of the Complex. Joonghyuk remembered most of them, such as Lee Jihye and Lee Hyunsung, but there were some new faces. Everyone gave him wary looks, but he supposed that attacking someone the moment you woke up warrants that.
As Yoo Joonghyuk was guided to the kitchen, he could feel two murderous glares on his back. He looked behind him to see two children frowning disapprovingly at him. Before Yoo Joonghyuk could ask anything, they disappeared behind the corner.
When he asked Yoo Mia about them, Yoo Mia could only giggle. “They’re really protective, that’s all.”
Yoo Joonghyuk raised an eyebrow. “Of you?”
“Ummm, not exactly.” Yoo Mia was also keeping secrets from him.
The final place Yoo Mia took him to was the training grounds. It was a small field filled with rubber training posts and targets.
“I figured you’d want to train since you’ve been sitting in bed for the past few days.”
What a good sister. Yoo Joonghyuk patted Yoo Mia’s head and she let out a happy sound.
“Thank you.”
There was one other person in the training grounds and they were busy repairing a torn training dummy. Yoo Mia’s eyes widened and she pushed her brother towards the man. “Go say hi, you can’t avoid him forever.”
Ah yes, the only person he hasn’t formally greeted. “Oh, the guy I almost choked to death.”
At the sound of Yoo Joonghyuk saying “choked to death” the man’s head shot up and their complexion visibly paled. Yoo Joonghyuk saw the fading handprints on the man’s neck and felt a tinge of remorse.
He walked over to greet him. The other man awkwardly stared at him, clearly uncomfortable under Yoo Joonghyuk’s stern gaze.
Yoo Joonghyuk broke the silence with a cough. “Hello. You never got those treated?”
The man deflected the question and scratched the back of his neck nonchalantly. “J-Joonghyuk-ah...what a pleasant surprise...”
“You are...Kim Dokja?”
“Yeah,” Kim Dokja said as he stitched the dummy back together, “that’s me. Do you...remember anything?”
“Not completely.”
Kim Dokja’s shoulders slumped and he replaced the dummy on a rack. “Figures. I must say that it was a shock to re-enact our first meeting. Didn’t even see it coming.”
There was one word that Yoo Joonghyuk latched onto. “Re-enact?”
Kim Dokja just smiled at him as he walked away from the training grounds. “You’ll remember soon.”
Yoo Joonghyuk didn’t see Kim Dokja for the rest of the day. He felt the other man was purposely trying to avoid him. It was later proven true when everyone was eating dinner. The moment Yoo Joonghyuk entered the dining room, Kim Dokja choked on his food and excused himself from the room. He never came back to finish the rest of the meal.
When asked, Han Sooyoung shook her head at the matter, “He’s hopeless,” she said as she passed the salt to Lee Jihye, “He’ll come around eventually. If not, I’ll make him.”
When night fell, he didn’t need to ask anyone where his room was. He unconsciously walked to the end of the hallway and entered the room. The room was sparse and there were no decorations.
Hoping to find any mementos, Yoo Joonghyuk looked through the drawers and the cabinets. There were barely any clothes in the closet, let alone anything that could be a memento. Where was all of his stuff?
He sat on the mattress and noticed that there was a layer of dust. Did Yoo Joonghyuk really live here?
As he laid on the bed, Yoo Joonghyuk felt as if something was missing. He felt cold.
Everything felt wrong.
After staring at the blank ceiling for a few hours, Yoo Joonghyuk forced himself to fall asleep. He dreamed of a man in a white coat, but his face was too blurry to make out.
The next morning, Yoo Joonghyuk decided to catch up on his messages from the Star Stream.
There were a lot of messages, mostly well-wishes on recovery and some messages hoping he died. The usual banter among Constellations was nothing significant to Yoo Joonghyuk.
What really caught his eye were the most recent messages.
[Constellation, ‘Demon-Like Judge of Fire’, is saddened over your actions.]
[Constellation, ‘Father of the Rich Night’, is disappointed that you hurt the Heir of the Underworld.]
[Constellation, ‘Queen of the Darkest Spring’, hopes that you make up with the Heir of the Underworld as soon as possible.]
Messages from Uriel were normal since they loved watching him, but since when did Hades and Persephone involve themselves in Yoo Joonghyuk's affairs? This was another anomaly that wasn’t present in previous regressions.
Also, who was the Heir of the Underworld?
There was a timid knock on Yoo Joonghyuk's door. When he opened the door, Kim Dokja was standing nervously, hands in the pockets of his trench coat. Han Sooyoung was behind him, her trademark lollipop in her hand.
“Go on idiot, we don’t have all day.” Han Sooyoung nudged Kim Dokja forward. Kim Dokja was about to protest, but he turned to face Joonghyuk. For some reason, he seemed embarrassed.
“Would you like to join us on this Hidden Scenario?” A Hidden Scenario window popped up and Yoo Joonghyuk read over the information. A simple monster hunt for a Grade 3 Manticore. “I-I know you’re still recovering...so you don’t have to come if you don’t want to…” Kim Dokja looked down at his feet shyly.
“I’ll go.”
Kim Dokja’s eyes lit up, “Really?”
“Yes. I broke all of the training dummies the other day.”
“I just fixed those you know,” Kim Dokja groaned. “Anyways, we’re meeting up in front of the Complex in an hour, so see you then.” Kim Dokja waved and ran down the hallway.
Han Sooyoung trailed behind Kim Dokja at a slower pace. “Finally,” she groaned out, “you were standing there for like five minutes.”
Kim Dokja’s face instantly turned bright red. “S-Shut up!”
For some reason, Yoo Joonghyuk's heart sped a bit faster after hearing Kim Dokja’s embarrassed stutter.
The Hidden Scenario ended up not being so simple.
The information screen didn’t tell them that there was going to be more than one of these damned beasts.
Kim Dokja laughed it off while the rest of the group readied themselves for a long fight.
As everyone summoned their Fables, Yoo Joonghyuk watched as a set of horns and wings bloomed from Kim Dokja. He flew into the sky and started attacking manticores towards the back of the group, while supporting those close to him. As Kim Dokja flew through the sky, Yoo Joonghyuk looked at the others fighting off the manticores. Why was no one questioning this?
Yoo Joonghyuk realized that this must be something else he forgot. A bitter feeling welled up in his chest. He didn’t belong here.
He then decided that he would just separate from the group.
Which leads us to Yoo Joonghyuk's current predicament.
Yoo Joonghyuk adjusted the grip on his [Dark Heavenly Demon Blade] as he deflected another strike from the manticore’s claws. He was currently dealing with three manticores by himself. He somehow attracted all of their attention and managed to lead them away from the rest of his teammates.
Teammates?
Yoo Joonghyuk shook his head. This wasn’t the time to contemplate word choices.
The manticore in front of him was preparing to breath fire while another one was spraying acid. Yoo Joonghyuk dodged the acid and jumped up to stab his sword in the neck of the manticore that was about to breath fire. He used the momentum of his sword to angle the head so that the manticore’s fire was released at the other one.
Yoo Joonghyuk pulled his sword out of the manticore’s head and exhaled. That takes care of that. He stretched his sword arm and wiped off the excess sweat building up on his forehead.
“Yoo Joonghyuk! Finally found you!”
Yoo Joonghyuk looked up to see Kim Dokja hovering above him. Kim Dokja’s wings flapped idly as he looked down at Yoo Joonghyuk.
“Kim Dokja.”
“You’re kind of far from everyone else.” Kim Dokja said as he looked over the clearing, “Have you wrapped up everything here? Everyone else is done.”
Yoo Joonghyuk nodded. He wanted to return to the Complex as soon as possible so he could clean the monster blood off of his sword.
Kim Dokja landed next to him, making his wings and horns disappear. He looked over Yoo Joonghyuk and seemed relieved.
“Glad you’re okay.” Kim Dokja said, “Ready to head home?”
“Mmhmm.”
“So um, can I ask you a question?”
“You just did.”
Kim Dokja groaned and gave Yoo Joonghyuk a flat stare. The frown on Kim Dokja’s face almost made Yoo Joonghyuk laugh. “You never change, damned sunfish bastard.”
The familiarity was welcome. “Just ask already.”
Kim Dokja huffed and crossed his arms. Yoo Joonghyuk could see Kim Dokja’s fingers tightly gripping the sleeves of the white trench coat. The smaller man took a deep breath.
“Are you mad—”
Something flashed through Kim Dokja’s eyes.
“Joonghyuk move out of the way!” Kim Dokja pushed Yoo Joonghyuk out of the way just in time to avoid the swipe of a manticore’s claws.
Yoo Joonghyuk quickly recovered and jumped to attack the manticore from the side. The monster roared, giving Yoo Joonghyuk the opening he needed. He thrusted his sword into the mouth of the manticore and slashed through the top. Blood spurted out of the exit wound as the manticore’s body slumped to the ground.
Yoo Joonghyuk cursed to himself. He forgot there were three manticores.
Kim Dokja was laying on the ground, clutching his stomach in a fetal position. His once pristine, white trench coat was now dyed in a rusty shade of red.
Something inside of Yoo Joonghyuk was screaming at him. His head was painfully throbbing as he kneeled down next to Kim Dokja.
“Show me the wound.” commanded Yoo Joonghyuk. Kim Dokja gritted his teeth as he revealed the bloody claw marks decorating his chest. Yoo Joonghyuk took his coat off and pressed it against the wound. “Compress the wound. We need to meet up with the others.”
“I’ll be fine,” hissed Kim Dokja, “it’s just a scratch.”
“Your coat isn’t supposed to be red.”
“It’s just a little bit of blood!”
“For someone that’s injured, you sure are talking a lot.”
Kim Dokja let out a frustrated sound. “I said I’m fine, it’ll heal naturally.”
Yoo Joonghyuk ignored him and picked Kim Dokja up. Kim Dokja let out a vehement protest as he squirmed in Yoo Joonghyuk's arms. “Let me down! I can walk by myself.”
“Let’s go.”
“Put me down!”
“Just shut up.”
Yoo Joonghyuk walked at a brisk pace as he searched for the rest of the team. The longer they walked, the quieter Kim Dokja became. Yoo Joonghyuk took a quick glance downward to see that Kim Dokja was hugging the coat to his chest and his breaths were becoming more labored.
He better not die again.
Again?
Yoo Joonghyuk's head felt as if it was about to explode. When he finally reunited with the others, he handed Kim Dokja to Lee Hyunsung before collapsing on the spot.
The first thing that Kim Dokja realized was that he was in a very uncomfortable bed in the medical bay. He could feel bandages wrapped around his chest and the numbness of painkillers pumping through his veins.
Ugh, this is the worst.
Kim Dokja sat up and winced as he agitated his wound. His cell phone wasn’t in his pocket. It was probably in his trench coat. Shit, hopefully someone took out his phone before it got washed. Maybe he should go and look for it...
The next thing he knew, a strong hand gently pushed Kim Dokja back down onto the bed.
“Rest.”
It was none other than Yoo Joonghyuk.
“Yoo Joonghyuk?” Kim Dokja tried sitting up again, only to be manhandled back, “What are you doing here?”
Yoo Joonghyuk was sitting on a small folding chair, his back straight and relaxed. He flicked Kim Dokja’s forehead with his index finger.
“Ow! I’m an injured patient!” Kim Dokja rubbed at the sore spot on his forehead.
Yoo Joonghyuk pretended to not hear that. “You talk as if I’m not supposed to be here.”
“Well, I don’t really see a reason.”
The thoughtful stare that Yoo Joonghyuk directed at Kim Dokja was almost warm. “I’m making sure you’re not dying again.” Joonghyuk said slowly.
“You didn’t have to sit there the entire time. It’s not like you...well you know…”
Kim Dokja was trying to avoid this confrontation for a while. Han Sooyoung teased the hell out of him for the first few days, but then she just called him hopeless. How was he supposed to face Yoo Joonghyuk without his memories?
“Speak up Demon King of Salvation. I can’t hear you.”
“I said—Wait a minute. What did you call me?”
Yoo Joonghyuk huffed and Kim Dokja felt his face redden. The gears in Kim Dokja’s brain turned and he let out a small gasp.
“How long have you had your memories back you bastard?”
“Since you got mauled by that manticore,” said Yoo Joonghyuk, pointing at the gauze around Kim Dokja’s chest.
Kim Dokja’s mind whirred as he tried to catch up. “O-Oh.”
“‘Oh ’ indeed,” Yoo Joonghyuk almost looked amused, “Just how long were you going to play dumb about our relationship with amnesiac me?”
“‘Play dumb ?’ I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Yoo Joonghyuk took one of Kim Dokja’s hands and locked their fingers together. “You barely even spoke to me. How cruel.”
Kim Dokja felt the tips of his ears burning. The bastard really did remember everything. Kim Dokja covered his face with his other arm to prevent the other from seeing his slowly reddening face.
“To be fair, you strangled me the moment you woke up.”
“You could’ve fought me off, but you didn’t.”
Kim Dokja’s hand gripped Yoo Joonghyuk's even tighter. “Unlike you, I don’t hurt injured people.”
Yoo Joonghyuk let out a snort. “What’s the real reason?”
Yoo Joonghyuk patiently waited for Kim Dokja’s response. He knew his lover sometimes had a hard time articulating his words, especially when it came to his own feelings.
“I was scared that you were mad at me.”
“For what?”
Kim Dokja bolted up, “You should remember what!” Yoo Joonghyuk shoved his partner down to the bed for the third time. “Stop that! I’m trying to prove a point.”
“Not at the cost of re-opening your wounds.”
Kim Dokja grumbled against the cot while Yoo Joonghyuk closed his eyes to think about Kim Dokja’s words.
“I’m not particularly mad at you for anything,” Yoo Joonghyuk said contemplatively, “Well, I suppose I’m annoyed that you pushed me out of the way to get mauled at by a manticore. You must have a death wish or something.”
“...You sure?”
“Mm.”
“...I definitely thought you would have some choice words for me when you got your memories back.”
Yoo Joonghyuk raised a fine eyebrow, “What did you think I was going to say?”
“Never mind,” Kim Dokja said, averting his eyes, “I’m glad you have your memories back.”
“...Scoot over.”
“Huh?”
Yoo Joonghyuk carefully lifted Kim Dokja and moved him to the far side of the hospital cot and laid beside him. It was a bit snug and Yoo Joonghyuk was probably going to fall off if he wasn’t careful.
Kim Dokja tried shoving him off. “What the hell, this bed is already super tiny. You’re enormous, get off.”
“No.”
A comforting arm rested on Kim Dokja’s waist, and Kim Dokja stopped resisting.
“If Lee Seolhwa yells at us later—”
“I missed you.”
Kim Dokja hid his face. “You can’t just say stuff like that out of the blue!”
“It’s true.”
“You didn’t even remember me back then.”
“Something always felt missing.”
Kim Dokja’s heart did a weird flip when he heard that.
“My clothes are in your room.”
“Get out.”
The Next Day
“Joonghyuk-ah~ Can you get the boxes from the third shelf?” Kim Dokja pointed to the cabinet above the sink.
Yoo Joonghyuk easily reached up and retrieved the requested boxes. Kim Dokja gave him a small kiss on the cheek as thanks.
“Thank you~”
To the side, Han Sooyoung made some fake gagging noises. Yoo Sangah quietly laughed next to her.
“Oi, you got a problem,” Kim Dokja said towards the girls, “I’m injured, I can’t stretch.”
“Don’t you have wings?” Han Sooyoung retorted, “Just fly up and grab your stupid snacks.”
“I have Joonghyuk-ah here to do it for me.”
Yoo Joonghyuk just nodded. “It’s not a bother.”
“See! He’s happy to do it.”
Yoo Joonghyuk gave Kim Dokja a weak glare. “Don’t push it.”
Later, while Yoo Joonghyuk was fetching other stuff, Han Sooyoung pulled Kim Dokja to the side.
“So was he mad or what?” Han Sooyoung whispered, “I have a bet with—”
“You made bets?!”
“Duh. So what ended up happening? Tell me all of the juicy details.”
“He wasn’t mad.”
Han Sooyoung stared blankly at Kim Dokja’s face before saying, “You didn’t tell him.”
“It never came up!”
“So he never once asked how he got amnesia?”
Kim Dokja wrestled himself out of Han Sooyoung’s iron grip. “He says he remembers and that he’s not mad. End of story.”
Before Han Sooyoung could interrogate further, Kim Dokja escaped into a nearby hallway. Damn.
“Just wait until Yoo Joonghyuk learns that the only reason he got amnesia was because he took a hit from a tree monster for Kim Dokja.”
Who knew they were both self-sacrificial idiots? They were made for each other.