~♤~

The man sighed when the taxi stopped before the old house.

Walking out of the vehicle, his feet made contact with a concrete sidewalk covered in trash, his body shivered in cold. He paid the bill to the taxi driver and the car drove away with a loud screech of tires leaving the man alone in the middle of the shady neighborhood.

Haknyeon looked around. It was silent. Too silent. Some homeless man was sleeping on the bench nearby clenching his fist on the small backpack that was probably all he had, the buildings around were decorated with graffiti and shabby walls did not encourage to enter at all. On the contrary, the old buildings looked like they would collapse under the slightest touch. He stopped his eyes at the apartment block in front of which he was standing and sighed while looking at the broken walls and overgrown fence. But Haknyeon didn't have much of a choice. He was twenty five, last year he graduated college but for the past year his life was monotonous and he decided to change it. 

The decision of moving out was easy.

He was struggling in a big city so he found a job in that small town, a few hours away from his home. This apartment block was old but it was the cheapest there and he wasn't picky so he decided to settle down here. And there he was.

He adjusted the bag on his shoulder and slowly made his way inside the building. The massive wooden door opened with a loud creek that echoed through the empty hallway. The sound made him shudder and made the old building seem even more terrifying than it already was. But despite all of this the man boldly took a few steps forward not minding the eerie atmosphere of the place.

The door closed after him and he was left standing in the middle of the hallway. And the interior left much to be desired. In one word - it was just obscure. There were some weird writings Haknyeon couldn't decipher on the walls, plaster and paint came off in a lot of places. It was ancient, it must have been beautiful in its glory years but now it frightened people with its terrible appearance. The wooden floor creaked under his feet and the old lamp above his head shone so faintly that he could barely see anything. 

Then a faint voice echoed through the corridor.

"Oh, you must be Mr. Ju, I believe. I'm so glad you arrived." 

Haknyeon turned around, coming face to face with an elderly woman. Her wrinkled face showed that the years didn't go easy on her and her gentle black eyes were locked with his. She probably was stunning in the past, breaking hearts left and right but now she was stuck there, in an old building in a small town renting apartments. Haknyeon wondered if she'd chosen that lifestyle herself or if it chose her.

She sent a smile his way that he reciprocated.

"Yes, that's me. You must be Ms. Kang. We talked on the phone the other day. Nice to meet you." He answered, as politely as ever and Ms. Kang seemed pleased with his manners because her smile widened, eyes changing into two crescent moons. 

"The pleasure is all mine. Now let's go see the apartment." She ordered and the man nodded in return. 

They headed towards the staircase. The building had an elevator but, as everything in there, it was old and broken, all rusted. The stars were wooden, just as the floor they were creaking under their steps breaking the peaceful silence in the building. The apartment he rented was located on the fourth floor so they had a quite long way ahead but Ms. Kang, even though old and visibly tired, didn't lose her energy. She was happily talking about the building, its history and people that lived in it and Haknyeon listened to every word with curiosity. 

"It's an old building. I started renting apartments here thirty years ago with my now deceased husband." She started and her face adorned a sad smile. "It was easy at first, this building was just breathtaking and we had lots of inhabitants. But when he passed away and I grew older it became harder and harder to maintain." She sighed and stopped at the first floor to take a breath. Haknyeon let her.

He looked around. The corridor here looked better than the one on the ground floor but it still didn't look good. The walls were also sprayed on but this time the lamps were working fine. Haknyeon furrowed his eyebrows. At the end of the corridor was a young woman. She was smoking a cigarette sitting on the windowsill in the hallway. Her black hair was curly and messy, an emaciated figure wearing a white dress. She looked sad.

"That's Minji." Ms. Kang said and waved at the girl who waved back. Then she went back to smoking and looking out of the window. "She and her husband have lived here since last year. Very nice girl. There's also Sooheon on this floor, a young boy who sells fish on the market. You're similar in age, maybe you'll become friends." She smiled and Haknyeon smiled back.

"Yeah, maybe." He replied and gestured to the stairs as a sign to continue their journey. "Let's go further, please." Ms. Kang obeyed his request and climbed up the stairs. 

They slowly made their way to the last floor. The building wasn't big and there weren't a lot of inhabitants, usually 3 to 5 people per floor. But the higher the fewer there were and Haknyeon was very curious as to why. 

On the second floor lived another older woman alongside her disabled husband. Ms. Kang told Haknyeon their story and he could understand how they ended up in this building. Life wasn't easy on them. There was also Ms. Choi. A lonely woman in her forties addicted to psychoactive substances, a 'poor soul' as Ms. Kang described. Haknyeon then decided that he would rather not visit floors other than his. 

The inhabitants just as the building weren't quite welcoming. 

On the third floor they heard a loud crash. An alcoholic man was screaming at something, probably to himself. He was sick with schizophrenia, his mind was playing games with him, slowly driving him crazy. Haknyeon pitied him. Hearing voices and seeing things would be tiring, being a discard from society and living alone with no family and friends. With no prospects for the future. He knew that it would be hard. Another sad human in that big madhouse.

But they went on.

They reached the fourth floor which was surprisingly the cleanest of them all. In the other floors the garbage was lying around dirtening the ground, some lamps were destroyed as a sign of hooligans playing there a lot.

But the last floor was empty. Dark green walls almost in a perfect state, the kerosene lamps attached to the walls giving the corridor a golden glow. Few years back it must have been just stunning, the interior designer was a master at his job. It was pretty but aerie at the same time. The floor was creaking with every move but except for that the hallway was silent like a grave. The silence was almost overwhelming. There was no one talking, no one screaming or crying. It was just a loud silence.

"Here's the apartment we've been talking about. Number 403." Ms. Kang said pointing at the door in the middle of the short hallway.

She took out a heavy key from her pocket and put it into the keyhole. When she turned it and opened the door. They opened with a loud creak, they haven't been used in ages it seemed. 

The woman sighed. "I hope you'll like it. Nobody lived there for years but it's tidy and cozy." 

And that piqued the man's interest.

He raised an eyebrow and looked at the woman waiting for her to continue. "Is that so?"

The woman nodded, her forehead wrinkled even more when she furrowed his eyebrows. Her face crossed a shadow of sadness as long hidden memories began to flood in. 

"Yes. There was a tragedy that happened almost twenty years ago." She began. "A young man in his twenties committed suicide inside this apartment. It was a shock for everyone. He was always greeting everybody with a smile and was so nice. He didn't have any financial problems, he was always paying the rent on time. He had friends and family, I knew them because they visited him a lot. But suddenly he decided to kill himself. It was a real tragedy. Nobody wanted to live there after that." 

"But what about the other apartments?" The man asked and the woman sighed once again, it must've been hard for her to talk about. 

"The inhabitants were slowly moving out, the dark clouds were hanging above their heads when they were living on this floor. They just couldn't sleep next to a place where someone lost their life." She said looking around with a sad smile. "Then a few weeks ago the sewer pipe broke and flooded the apartments. All but this one."

Haknyeon looked at the door before him and hummed. "Interesting."

"It is." She agreed. "That's why this is the only apartment available in this building for now. But don't worry, we changed all the furniture, wallpapers and even the floor. There's no sight of that accident there anymore." 

She wanted to reassure him so that he wouldn't turn back and leave after hearing that story. But there was no need. Haknyon was set on living there and there wasn't much that would make him change his mind that quickly.

"Thank you, Ms.Kang. I'll take it from here." He said and bowed at her politely.

"If you need something, I live in apartment number 1. Hope you enjoy your stay." She bowed back and slowly made his way back.

Haknyeon sighed looking straight at the door. The gold number 403 glisted in the dim light, almost mocking him. Then he pressed the door handle hard and went inside the room that was shrouded in great mystery.

~♤~

The room was surprisingly…normal.

Just as Ms. Kang said it was cozy and very tidy. The people that cleaned the room did an excellent job at removing the dark traces of the tragedy that happened here two decades back. If he didn't know the story he would never imagine that someone lost a life in the place he was standing at that moment. The brown floor panels were glistening in the sunrays, clearly newly polished and the wallpaper had a pretty beige color. The small apartment consisted of a living room with a big leather couch and old tv, a small bedroom where the only furnitures were a king-sized bed, a wardrobe and bedside table. The desk for work was located in the living room, just before the window that showed a panorama of the city.

The bathroom was surprisingly big, with a pearly bathtub decorated with gilded ornaments. There was a big mirror on the wall and Haknyeoon looked at it. A beautiful, golden frame and unscratched glass. It must've cost a fortune. 

There was also a small kitchen with no modern equipment but Haknyeon didn't need much. It worked perfectly fine for him.

Overall the apartment appealed to be quite high-cost with these golden ornaments and old furniture but it was also very homey. Ms. Kang didn't lie and after the short tour in his new living place Haknyeon hummed to himself in approval. The man was sure that living there would be very comfortable.

He opened the window to let some fresh air in and sighed looking at the view.

Welcome home.

~♤~

The first night was peaceful. The bed turned out to be very soft, the satin sheets hugged his body in a pleasant way. One of the best sleep he ever had if he was being fully honest. Haknyeon woke up, it was Sunday so he took a long bath and decided to go sightseeing. He wanted to give the shady neighborhood a second chance, maybe it has some secret places that were begging to be discovered.

Nothing unusual happened that day. He came back after a few hours, talked with Ms.Kang on the stairs. She asked if he had plans on living with someone. Family or a girlfriend perhaps but Haknyeon just laughed at her words. He lost contact with his family when he was young and his last boyfriend? Well, it didn't end well. For who? It depended. He was grateful that she cared for him, really. She just said that she would be delighted if she had more inhabitants because she was afraid the man would be lonely all alone on the fourth floor but Haknyeon assured that he wasn't lonely at all. He appreciated the  concern but it wasn't necessary, he was perfectly fine on his own.

Then he went back up to his apartment to cook dinner. Then he read some book he took with himself and after some time he fell asleep.

The next day he got out of bed and dressed up in formal attire. It was early in the morning, he ate breakfast and did his hair more carefully than usual, he gelled the black streaks up, he also put on some makeup to appear more handsome. He was starting work that day. He wasn't excited about it and he wasn't stressed either. He was feeling indifferent to it. Work was work and it just had to be done but he still wanted to look presentable.

After that he fell into routine. Every day was the same, get up, go to work, come back, read and sleep. The hours were long and monotonous and he soon realized that the fresh start wasn't as fresh as he expected. Sure, he appreciated the change, it was still something new in his dull life but it wasn't what he was imagining before. 

Days passed and boredom creeped its way into his life once again. The lack of variety was making him go crazy. He felt like he was stuck in an endless circle where everything was just the same. Even meetings with his new friends from work were dull, repetitive. They just drank and gossiped about others, filthy rumors on their tongues, talking for hours in some shitty bar in the city center. He wasn't a fan of that. The mundane state of his life was a hard pill to swallow. He felt like everything he did was pointless, he turned around his life about 180 degrees but it seemed like it still wasn't enough. Like what he did didn't matter at all. He felt small, unimportant but at the same time he didn't care at all. His mind was in a strange state. It was just a mess. 

That was until something changed.

Little signs started to appear, too small to notice at first sight but they were about to change his life forever.

It all started innocently.

One day he woke up feeling cold. His body shivered when the cold air made contact with his skin and goosebumps appeared on his naked form. Disoriented and rubbing the sleep away from his eyes he looked around. 

The window was open. 

Weird. He was sure he closed it the night before. But without second thoughts he got up and closed it, he probably left it open and just didn't remember. He didn't care about this occurrence that much.

But the next day it was his wardrobe that was left open wide.

On the third day he woke up to an opened cabinet in the kitchen.

On the fourth it was the door to his room that was wide open in the morning.

It was bizarre. Not even one scientific explanation came to Haknyeon's mind as to why things like this happened. At first he thought that maybe it was the hinges that were at fault, maybe they were broken? But he closed his doors with the key so that wasn't the case. Someone was in his apartment at night.

But when he checked the entrance to the apartment and all the windows there was no sign of someone breaking in. None trespassed his household from outside, he was sure of it.

His insides were tingling uncomfortably.

It continued for some days, without a break he had to close the doors or windows because every morning they were opened. But then suddenly, if as someone ordered, the unusual happenings stopped.

But then, he started having dreams instead. 

He never dreamed like this before. The dreams were abnormal, appearing at night and hunting him for hours when he was sleeping. They weren't nightmares but also weren't normal. They were unordinary calm but they were making his skin crawl and sweat forming on his forehead. Sometimes he even woke up at night, heart beating fast but looking around in the darkness his face came to contact with cold air and nothing more.

It was something he never felt before. It made his stomach twist, his mouth to tremble uncomfortably and his breath to fasten.  He recognized the discomforting feeling - it was fear. He was scared. He was scared because something bad was about to happen. 

Another few days passed.

It was in the middle of the summer and the nights were supposed to be warm but the air in his apartment was always ice cold. That was another sign something was wrong. The second one was that he couldn't sleep anymore. The dreams progressed, now they weren't just making Haknyeon feel uneasy. They were full on nightmares at this point in time. In those dreams it was pitch black and he was running away from something but he could never get away. Black hands would always push him down on the ground and his screams for help echoed through the void but all in vain. None ever helped him and his body was torn up to pieces by the beast that laid his sharp claws on his skin. 

Then he would wake up.

He laid awake at night looking at the white ceiling. He saw shapes, moving with the shadows on the wall. They were playing games, dancing through the hallway showing him the most twisted pictures he's ever seen.

He was speechless and he couldn't move. Sleep paralysis, the  doctors called it. The temporary inability to move that occured right after waking up. He was paralyzed, stuck in the dark, laying on his bed, his eyes never leaving the moving forms on the ceiling. At first he thought that those were ordinary shadows. But no, they creeped their way into his room like ghosts. He saw creatures, monsters, they were all looking straight at him. He couldn't breath, there was something heavy on his chest, like someone was sitting on him but he saw no one. 

He was being pushed to the mattress, a heavy feeling in his lungs. He couldn't breathe. Streaks of tears were running down his cheeks but sobs couldn't free themselves from his throat. He couldn't speak, he couldn't catch a breath. Something was squeezing his throat and he couldn't do anything about it.

And then darkness surrounded him and he couldn't feel anything anymore. He lost consciousness.

When he woke up a few hours later he touched his throat, which was hurting incredibly. When he looked in the mirror on the wardrobe next to his bed he saw a red mark where someone's hand touched him at night.

~♤~

"Did someone ever report a paranormal activity in this building?"

The question sliced through the comfortable silence like a sharp knife, destroying the peaceful atmosphere. Ms. Kang's hand stopped in the middle of the air, the cup of tea the woman was holding wavering a little.

"Excuse me?"

Haknyeon was invited by the older lady for a drink one afternoon and he gladly accepted the proposal. They were sitting in her apartment on the ground floor and talking about mundane things. The atmosphere was relaxed, they were talking about what he did at work and how he was feeling about living in the building. No heavy topic in sight but Haknyeon wanted to change it. The woman took a liking to him practically the moment he moved in. The boy was always smiling and well mannered, he was like a wave of fresh air in that rusty place. 

But the question took her off guard.

"No one ever reported anything? It's weird considering the fact that someone killed himself here. Usually these types of places have a history of… unusual occurrences." Haknyeon said while drinking his tea as he didn't just ask such a bold question and Ms. Kang cleared her throat, visibly surprised at the statement. 

"No, never." She said and the glint in her eyes betrayed that she was telling the truth. "No one ever told us about anything and we also didn't notice any weird things. Sure, no one wanted to live on the fourth floor but it was just because of the suicide and not because it is hunted or something." Ms. Kang answered with full honesty.

The man hummed at her answer.

"Why are you asking? Is something troubling you, my dear? Did something weird happen?" She asked, voice laced with concern. 

Haknyeon smiled at her.

"No." He sipped his tea. "Nothing happened, just curious."

~♤~

When he came back to his apartment after the small tea party in Ms. Kang's apartment he headed straight to his bedroom. It was only seven in the evening so he decided that he was gonna relax after a tiring week. Once again the window in his bedroom was open despite him closing it before. He didn't pay it no mind anymore, as time passed he got used to the strange occurrences. Maybe that apartment was haunted, maybe not. But being totally honest, the mystery between those unordinary events was more interesting than scary. Sometimes, when he couldn't sleep because of the dreams, he wondered if it was the ghost of that boy that died here twenty years ago. Was his soul tied to this place and even after all those years it couldn't leave? Or was it something else that was sweeping sleep from Haknyeon's eyelids?  He didn't know but was eager to find out.

He took his pajamas and made his way towards the bathroom. He still saw those shadows on the walls. They weren't gone when he woke up as usual. They were present now, they were showing him reflections of his darker side and he was just slowly going crazy in his brains. An empty room ain't lonely anymore.

He filled the tub with water, then stripped naked looking at the mirror and smiled. It was anything but ordinary, a wonderful unusual and he got used to the shadows, he got friends to play with. 

He trembled when his body made contact with the water. He sighed in content when his tensed muscles slowly started to relax. He didn't realize how tired he was. He closed his eyes. He loved the water. So soothing, pacifying the mess that he was. He could spend hours just laying there, drenched from head to toe. 

He was almost falling into dreamland when he heard it.

A voice, whisper slicing through the quiet of the bathroom.

"Haknyeon.." 

He shot his eyes open and sat down in the tub, some water splashed on the floor. He looked around - nothing.

"Haknyeon.."

He was suddenly panting, his body temperature rising. He looked around but there was no one. Even the shadows disappeared to the cave they crawled out of. Even they abandoned him at that moment.

He was all alone. But was he really?

"Haknyeon.." 

He jumped in shock and a yell of surprise left his mouth. He felt someone's breath on his neck. He looked in the mirror but the space behind him was empty. Yet, he clearly felt someone breathing, a tingling sensation on his skin.

"Is someone here?" He asked, voice just above whisper, trembling a little. He was afraid to move. "Hello?"

He didn't hear a reply. 

The bathroom was empty, he was sitting in the bathtub, water getting colder with every passing minute, droplets running down his neck and naked back. His heart was beating like crazy, he heard it clearly, it was ringing in his ears. He gripped the edge of the tub. He never felt like this before. He was terrified. 

He was sitting naked, at the mercy of the force that was present in the room, yet not visible to the human eye. He was trembling looking around but he couldn't see anything.

He felt a touch on his shoulders. It was cold and strong, making him wince in pain. But before he could make any more sound he was forced under the water. The tremendous force pressing against his body made it impossible for him to free himself from the deadly grip. 

He was screaming under the water, he couldn't breathe. The water was splashing on the floor when he tried to get free but the invisible force was stronger. He had no chance. But he was a fighter, kicking and hitting the air with all the strength he had. But water rushed to his mouth and nose blocking any ability to breathe. His moves became weaker and weaker with every passing second and he felt the will to survive slowly leaving him, until he finally stopped moving, too exhausted.

But when he was about to pass out, something pulled him out and tossed him on the cold tiles like a ragdoll. His naked body made contact with the wet floor, and he whimpered in pain when he hit his knees on the hard surface. His body was shivering, lips blue, he couldn't see anything and he couldn't hear anything.

He almost died.

He spat out the water and started coughing trying to take as many deep breaths as he could in between. All the strength he had left him, he lost the ability to move. He started crying. Salty tears were running down his cheek mixing with the pool of water on the floor. He looked just awful. He was laying like a doll on his stomach and waiting for the invisible force to kill him already. 

But death didn't come.

Instead he felt the same heaviness on his body, like someone just sat on his back. A cold hand was placed on his spine line. Someone was touching him, but Haknyeon couldn't see who. Couldn't see  what was touching him. He was sure it wasn't a human. Maybe a ghost, maybe a demon but it didn't matter at that moment. He was scared for his life, for the first lime in the twenty five years of living he was so terrified. The touch made him shiver even harder, even if it was ice cold it burned. He was half conscious, on the verge of reality and illusion. He couldn't understand what was happening.

The slow touch went lower and lower then it stopped on his lower back, then it went to his hip bones where the invisible fingers curled tightly. Haknyeon's breath hitched and he winced in pain. He didn't know if all this was real or his tired mind was playing sick tricks on him but his body reacted to the touch as if it had a mind of its own. He sighed and closed his eyes. Dazed with all these sensations he had no idea what was going on. 

Did the devil just come to claim his soul for all the sins he committed? Was it his time to finally come down to the abyss of hell to pay a visit to Satan himself? It was the downfall of an awful human being but he still couldn't understand why it was happening in such a way.

"Please.." He whispered. His voice was weak and hoarse but it sounded like a scream to his ears. 

He didn't know what he was asking. For a quick death or maybe something else?

But surprisingly - it worked. The hands loosened their grip on Haknyeon's hips and after few seconds the heavy weight disappeared and the man could finally breathe out in relief.

He was laying on the floor for a few minutes, or maybe hours have passed since he gathered up the strength to get up. On a wobbly hands he slowly rise to a half sitting position and looked around the bathroom. 

It was empty. For real this time.

The boy sighed and tried to get up but his legs refused to obey. With no energy left he fell down on the wet floor once again. He sighed. His body was weak and his mind still could comprehend what just occurred.

He just raised his eyes to see a writing on the fogged mirror.

"I'm always here."

~♤~

He woke up a few hours later on the bathroom floor. 

He looked around disoriented. He was still naked and his hair was moist. He cursed under his nose and rubbed his face. He hoped all of that was a dream but the reality was different. He sighed and sat down, finally getting his strength back. He must've fainted from exhaustion. Groaning he slowly got up, his body aching all over and he reached for a towel. He wrapped the fluffy material around his body and looked at the mirror. The fog was gone, so was the writing and Haknyeon wondered if that strange episode even happened. But considering he woke up on the wet floor in the bathroom there was no doubt that the scary event was real.

He rubbed the mirror and walked out of the bathroom. 

The floor creaked under his slow steps. He looked at the clock hanging on the wall, it was over 2AM now which meant he was passed out for over six hours. He cautiously looked around but everything seemed normal, no sight of any paranormal activity. He was scared that the moment he went out of the bathroom he would be once again pressed against the floor and the invisible force would want to end his life. His existence was monotonous and dull but Haknyeon didn't earn death. Not yet, at least.

He sighed and went to the kitchen. He was still holding the towel around him but he grabbed some fruit to eat and water to drink. He was starving, the nap he took after passing out was very rewarding but he still needed to eat. 

When he was done he slowly made his way to his bedroom. He was looking around, afraid that something would jump from around the corner. But at the same time his abdomen was tingling uncomfortably. He decided to ignore that feeling for now. 

When Haknyeon entered his room he took out some new pajamas from the wardrobe because the pair he took out earlier was still in the bathroom, soaking wet. 

The towel made contact with the floor. He put on the clothes and sat down on the bed. It was late, he needed to sleep but he wasn't sleepy at all. He considered reading a book or maybe watching a movie but he still couldn't throw the earlier events out of his head. He was thinking about the cold touch over and over again. He was terrified of it but at the same time his body unconsciously earned it. It was just weird, his mind was a mess.

He shook his head and slowly got up  trying not to think about the events. He would just sleep and forget about everything that happened and that was it. He knew that if he would constantly repeat the event he would just get lost in his thoughts.

But when he was about to get in the bed he felt the cold breath on his skin once again that night.  He shivered in fear.

"Haknyeon." Someone said and the boy turned around but none was there. He was met face to face with an empty wall, no sign of the man that the eerie voice belonged to. His heart started beating faster and he took a deep breath. He was hoping that what was happening was just an illusion created by his mind. But he was wrong. He turned back and screamed in fear when his face made contact with someone's chest. 

"Hi." The man smiled creepily and held his wrists. Haknyeon wanted to run, he started wrestling himself out of the man's grip but in vain. The hands were curled around his wrists tightly, sharp claws digging into his skin painfully. He whimpered in pain.

"Let me go." He growled kicking the man but the stranger didn't budge an inch. "What do you want from me?" 

The man smirked and slowly leaned closer to Haknyeon's face examining him from up close. A faint smell of sulfur reached his nostrils, suffocating him.

Haknyeon looked at the man's face but soon realized that the man wasn't a human at all. Taller than him, bloody red hair and two black holes where his eyes were supposed to be. A naked, pale white chest covered in scars, black wings and pointy horns on his head, he was standing before him like a God. But he was the opposite of a God.

He looked like a taken from a horror movie. A demon, a devil's advocate or maybe the king of hell himself. The human didn't know but he was sure that the monster did not have good intentions at all.

The creature was looking at Haknyeon with a stoic face.

The human's body was frozen, he couldn't move and his shaken heart was about to explode. He was looking at the stranger trying to calm himself down.

"Are you going to kill me?" Haknyeon whispered.

His sudden question finally made the creature come back from his trance. The stranger smirked and raised an eyebrow, looking..amused.

"Why would I do that?"

His voice was deep but not as deep as Haknyeon expected it to be. His eyes turned from the black to dark red ones, now they were staring straight at the human.

"Because you tried to kill me just a few hours ago." Haknyeon replied, voice trembling. He was still caged in the man's grasp and his hands hurted mercilessly. "Maybe you want to finish what you started." 

The creature was silent for a few seconds. He frowned a little as if analyzing Haknyeon's words. 

And then he pulled him even closer. Haknyeon yelped when their noses almost touched. He closed his eyes and bit his lips. But the creature just leaned on his neck and breathed in Haknyeon's scent. The human squeezed his eyes tighter.

The creature breathed out, Haknyeon felt the cold breath on his skin and shivered. He felt the creature's lips moving to his ear.

"I do not intend to kill you." He whispered and smirked when he felt Haknyeon trembling in his arms. "No, I really don't. You piqued my interest, pretty little thing. Never met a human like this ever before."

Haknyeon swallowed the lump in his throat. 

"Like what?" He asked. But wasn't expecting the answer he was given.

"Brave." 

Haknyeon looked at the creature in surprise. He was a lot of things but he didn't consider himself as brave. He was just stupid, playing with the paranormal forces. He should've run when he had the chance but instead he stayed in the haunted apartment and now there he was, trapped in the grip of a mystic creature. 

"I'm not brave." He mumbled and gasped when the demon suddenly took his face in his hand and turned to him. 

"I haven't had a playtoy in years." The creature said instead, with dark eyes. Haknyeon's abdomen burned. "And you are not like the others that lived here before. The last one hung himself just after few days." 

Haknyeon had no idea what to say.

"You're not the ghost of the boy that killed himself here twenty years ago?" He asked and the creature laughed at that. The creepy laughter echoed through the empty bedroom.

"Oh my silly little human." He shook his head. "I'm something worse than a mere ghost."

Haknyeon's face was still in the creature's hand. He was forced to look at the scary face that was smiling at him. But it wasn't a nice smile. It was terrifying. A dreadful expression, like a madman. 

"Then what are you?" He whispered. 

"I'm the reason why hell's so hot." The creature answered.

So he was some kind of a demon.

It all made sense now, the horns, the wings and the smell of sulfur around him. He was the perfect example of how demons were described in books. A frightening monster. But between the ghastly looks and teeth resembling fangs he saw a glimpse of handsomeness. A deadly contrast.

And then the creature finally let go of the human. Haknyeon almost fell down when the demon's touch left his wrists. He looked at his skin, it was irritated, red claw marks imprinted. The demon started walking around him like a lion watching his prey. He didn't say anything for a while, just observing the human like he was an exhibit on a display in a museum. Haknyeon felt small, he was still a little scared but now he was also interested. 

The demon said he didn't want to kill him and Haknyeon believed him. Maybe because he was sick and twisted himself, he didn't know but he trusted the demon's words. Not fully, of course, he wasn't so stupid to let his guard down but after all, the night creature had a thousand opportunities to take his life but for some reason he didn't do it. And now alongside fear Haknyeon found himself wanting to know more about the demon. 

"What's your name?" Haknyeon asked and the creature stopped. He looked at Haknyeon with a raised eyebrow. 

"It depends." He answered, ambiguous as always.

"On what?" 

"On what you expect from me, I believe, my little human." The demon answered. "Some call me Asmodeus, some call me Mammon, you can call me whatever you want."

"What is your human name, then?" Haknyeon asked and the demon raised an eyebrow once again. "You probably had one in the past, right?" 

The demon nodded.

"I had."

"Then what was it?"

Silence. The demon was looking at him with interest written on his face, dark orbs piercing through his body.

"It was Changmin." The demon answered after a while and Haknyeon nodded. "But it was a long time ago, I don't go by that name anymore."

Changmin. What an ordinary name for a creature as evil like that. Haknyeon imagined how Changmin was as a human. He probably was a normal guy with a boring job and lots of friends. Yet he did something unforgivable and ended in the depths of hell as a demon. He was even more intrigued by the creature now.

Suddenly the demon pushed him against the wall, claws on his hips. Haknyeon moaned in pain loudly. He looked at the demon with wide eyes, not expecting the sudden attack.

"Wha-"

"You know, I still can't quite figure you out." The man interrupted, looking at him with a weird expression. He was eerily calm when he spoke. "You're terrified but at the same time you're not scared at all. It's.. unordinary. Such a contrast. You know that I can end your pathetic life with one move, yet you're standing here and talking to me like it was something normal. Asking for a human name, ha, what a weird question."

Haknyeon groaned when the demon dug his claws deeper into his skin, tears pulling in his eyes. 

"I was playing with you for weeks, messing with your head, with your sight. But I still can't figure you out." The demon whispered. "You were always trembling in fear when I played with the shadows. After I choked you in that bathtub you were sobbing, begging me to spare your life. You were lying naked on that floor like a pathetic bitch but here you are. Few hours later and you were getting ready to sleep as if nothing happened. What a strange human you are, Ju Haknyeon…"

Haknyeon could only moan in pain. He felt ashamed and degraded by the demon who was now caging him in his arms. His cheeks were red from shame and he felt like crying. The thoughts in his head were too much; he never felt like this. Overwhelmed with contrasting emotions he didn't know how to act anymore.

"Tell me, little human.." The demon started and stroked Haknyeon's cheek with his claw. One wrong move and Haknyeon's smooth skin would be pierced. "Are you not afraid right now?"

"I.." Haknyeon tried to say something but words were caught in his throat. Looking at the demon's face he couldn't focus at all. His mind was a mess. His brain was telling him one thing, to fight and run as far as he possibly could. But his heart was telling him to stay there, in the demon's strong arms for as long as he could. Two extremes in one body, he had no idea what to do.

The creature must've noticed the inside war of his thoughts because he smirked dangerously.

"I know you're scared. There's no denying pretty boy. But there's also something else, am I right?"

"I'm terrified." Haknyeon whispered, pathetically admitting to his feelings. "I'm so fucking terrified of what you can do to me.. I've never felt like this before." He whispered the last part, a single tear going down his cheek. The demon didn't wipe it. 

"But...?" The creature pushed him to continue. He knew that Haknyeon didn't tell him everything. He couldn't read his mind but the demon was powerful enough. He just knew that the human wasn't fully honest. Even with himself.

"But I'm excited." The human whispered. He tried to turn his head to the right but the demon's strong grip on his cheek didn't allow him to do that. He was forced to look at the creature and tell him all his secrets without hiding anything. Haknyeon bit his lips to prevent tears from falling. He didn't want to admit what was on his mind. It would mean that he lost. But he just needed to let it all out, he knew there's no point in hiding something from the demon. The creature had an advantage over him and Haknyeon knew that one wrong move could cost him his life. So he swallowed down his pride and continued:

"I'm excited because I don't know what your next move is. I'm excited because it's the first time I'm at someone's mercy and it feels so, so good to feel those emotions. I don't know what you want from me and it makes me curious, just giddy  inside to see when you're gonna snap. I feel pain when you push me and hit me. I'm.. I'm aroused when you touch me like I'm just a toy for you. Like I don't matter at all. And I.." He stopped to take a breath. He was full on sobbing right now. He was overwhelmed and the demon was smirking at him with that evil glint in his eyes.

He wanted Haknyeon to confess all the sinful thoughts he had.

"I just want to feel more.." Haknyeon whispered, looking down in shame. He felt stripped of all he had even though he was fully clad. He was trembling. "Pain, pleasure, sadness and happiness. I want to feel everything."

"Good boy." The demon said, brushing Haknyeon's black bangs aways from his eyes. "Very, very good boy."

"Please." Haknyeon moaned through the tears. He wasn't thinking straight anymore. He stopped doing that a long time ago. Now he just wanted to feel more. It was such a long time since he felt this many emotions. He was ready to risk it all, to risk his life. He didn't want this, he needed this. He needed to feel. "Please make me feel something.."

Something came into him, he moved like he was possessed and couldn't control his body. His hands slowly made their way up toward the demon's stomach. Feeling the hard muscles under his fingertips he moaned. But the demon appeared to be unbothered. He was just standing still, holding Hakyneon's face in his hand and watching how the last drops of sanity left the human's body. He was amused, proud that he made the human lose his mind.

Haknyeon was stripped from all his walls. He was fighting for weeks but finally his thoughts left the prison they were closed in, now he was desperate to just feel. The human started moving his hands up and down the demon's torso and the demon smirked but didn't move.

"Please.." Haknyeon begged. "I'll be good. You can kill me afterwards. I don't care. Just please.. let me feel something." 

The demon licked his lips. 

"Didn't I tell you I don't want to kill you just yet?" He said and Haknyeon nodded. "I don't want to repeat myself, little human."

"'I'm sorry but please.. touch me, fuck me, hit me. Kill me slowly." He whined. "Do whatever you want just please, make it hurt." 

And it was enough to set the demon off. He was watching the human for weeks. He wanted to scare him, torture him and play with him. Haknyeon was different. The demon knew that from the moment the man trespassed the household. He was brave, he was strong and stoic. He was alone but he wasn't lonely. The creature didn't want to kill him, oh no. He had plans for the human, he wanted to break him. He wanted to make him insane, to go crazy. He desired him badly. But Haknyeon was stronger than the demon imagined. The mind games weren't enough to scare him, the physical torture also was fruitless. 

But now it was a totally different case. 

It was the first time the demon came in contact with Haknyeon in that state. Desperate, begging to be touched. The demon saw Haknyeon naked a lot. He liked watching him change clothes, he loved seeing him bathe. He was imagining how he would touch him, where he would bite him if he had him. And now he could fulfill all his imaginations.

Haknyeon moaned when Changmin ripped his clothes off and pushed him harder against the wall. 

The kiss was hard and painful. The demon wasn't going easy on him, just biting and adding tongue and Haknyeon's head was spinning; it was nothing he had ever felt before. Another new emotion to add to his collection. He moaned when the demon forced his legs open and pressed his cold body against Haknyeon's hot one. The human was burning, his mind was getting hazy and vision blurred. 

There was nothing gentle when it came to sex with Changmin. There were no soft touches, no sweet words, no foreplay. The demon grabbed his dick tugging it hard and Haknyeon's body trembled in pleasure. It was painful but in a damn good way.

"Oh my-" He moaned loudly when the demon bit his neck. Pleasure mixed with pain. It was so agonizing that his vision darkened and it started ringing in his ear. 

"You're like a bitch in heat." The demon murmured into his skin. "Already leaking." Haknyeon's feet lost contact with the floor when the demon picked him up by the thighs without any problems. He manhandled Haknyeon as if he was a ragdoll. It made the human even more aroused. 

The demon sat on the edge of the bed positioning Haknyeon on his thighs. The human looked at the demon, he was smirking as always, an evil expression on his face. Hakyeon's heart was beating like crazy when he looked at the black eyes. The sight was dreadful. The demon forced his legs to open even wider and without any warning bottomed inside the human in one motion. He breathed out in content while Haknyeon's lips were open and a loud scream of pain left his throat. 

There was no foreplay, no lube, nothing. The demon wanted to take his body raw and Haknyeon was willing to sell his soul to feel him even for a moment. And when he did he couldn't breathe. The stretch was hurtful, he felt like it was going to rip him apart. No man could ever make him feel like this. Only the devil's servant was able to do this. 

"So tight and so beautiful." The demon murmured, licking Haknyeon's neck. "My pretty little boy toy for my use only."

"Please." The human moaned weakly. "Please move." 

"I don't think a whiny bitch like you can tell me what to do." The demon laughed while digging his claws in Haknyeon's ass. But he obeyed, leaving the human no time to adjust. It was fast, raw, Haknyeon felt everything. The demon was big, his dick filling Haknyeon so deep. He looked at his tummy and moaned when he saw it moving. The demon gave him a tummy bulge and was pounding into his ass so hard that Haknyeon could feel the tip of his dick hitting a certain spot. 

He was crying, a whiny mess. His arms were around the demon, clinging onto his neck, his nails leaving red marks. He was panting, spasms of pleasure going through his body every second.

The night creature was biting his neck and chest, leaving hickeys that would stay on his body for days after that and Haknyeon couldn't wait to admire them in the mirror. "Such a naughty boy. I should give you a lesson."

"I'm sorry." The human mumbled and yelled when the demon suddenly smacked his asscheek. The smack was so loud it echoed through the room and Haknyeon's lips wobbled. It hurted so bad, but he wanted more. The demon hit him once again, then again and again untill Haknyeon couldn't feel his ass anymore. 

"Stop, It hurts! Please." He whined when the demon dug his claws so deep that he started bleeding. 

The creature just laughed.

"Oh my pretty little human, so indecisive." He shook his head in disapproval. "I'm just granting your wish." The demon murmured without sounding guilty. He wasn't. He enjoyed seeing the pretty human in agony. Haknyeon looked the prettiest like this. Eyes closed, lips parted and working his ass on the demon's dick.

Haknyeon was panting, salty tears running down his cheeks and chest. The demon started biting him on the neck and Haknyeon started moaning even louder. He was sure the whole building must've heard him but he didnt care. It just felt so good to be treated like that. Like he was worthless. 

He didn't know that he could feel even more turned on, until the demon started choking him. Now except for unimaginable arousal, he also felt scared. And that mix was deadly. He couldn't breath, his vision got blurry. He was taking short breaths but it was hard. In the middle of that he could make up Changmin's smirking face. And just when he was on the verge of passing out the touch left his neck and he started inhaling so hard he almost choked.

"Look at you, pretty boy. Look at you." The demon whispered into his ear and turned his head to the right.

Haknyeon looked in the mirror on the wardrobe and moaned at the sight. The demon's teeth, sharp as freezers, pierced his delicate skin, streaks of blood slowly running down his back. It mixed with the blood from the wound on his ass, coloring his bedsheets in dark red color. He was sobbing, bouncing on the demon's dick like a trained whore covered in blood and bite marks.

The whole picture looked so sinful, so immoral he couldn't recognize himself anymore. He was a mess. His abdomen started twisting and legs started to tremble.

It didn't take him long to achieve the limit of the night.

He came with a scream, loud and sultry spilling on the demon's abdomen. White liquid dirtied their bodies, he didn't have any strength left. 

But the demon didn't stop. 

"Already done? Too sad, i'm not." As on cue he got up and tossed Haknyeon on the bed, flat on his back. The boy whimpered, the wounds on his ass and neck hurt mercilessly but he couldn't even say anything when the demon's lips were once again on his. He tasted his own blood on the creature's tongue. The metallic taste made him shiver. The demon broke the kiss and once again wrapped his fingers around the human's neck and forced himself between his legs. He started pounding with all the strength he had. He fastened his moves, the room was filled with Haknyeon's moans of pain and pleasure and the filthy slapping of their skin. 

The demon didn't care that Haknyeon couldn't move anymore. He was treating him like a toy, just as he promised. He was hurting Haknyeon in the best way possible. It felt like ages until the demon spilled into the boy and Haknyeon could feel how the demon's seed filled him to the brim. 

He was on the verge of passing out, he was hurting all over his body. The demon hovered over him, hands on both sides of his head.

"Did it hurt enough, little human?" He smirked.

Haknyeon nodded.

"Yeah." He answered. He couldn't recognize his voice. It was weak and hoarse from the screaming. "It hurt so good. Thank you."

They fell silent but the demon didn't move. Haknyeon felt the come leaking out of him, he was sure that there was also blood, the creature took him rough after all but he didn't care. He was too tired to even turn on his side.

The demon was looking at him with an unreadable expression on his face. 

"I was haunting you for weeks, tried to scare you. I tried to drown you in your own bathroom. I just fucked you raw, made you bleed, choked you so hard you almost passed out and you're thanking me." He said after a while. It wasn't a question, just an observation. And Haknyeon didn't know what he was feeling. For the first time in a while his head was filled with all sorts of emotions and he didn't know how to handle it. But he knew one thing for sure - there was none else in the world that could make him feel like this.

Only the servant from hell could fulfill Haknyeon's needs.

The demon brushed his claw on Haknyeon's cheek, pressing it lightly. One drop of blood flowed down but the demon brushed it off his cheek and licked it looking the human in the eyes.

"What are you hiding, Ju Haknyeon?"

The human pulled the demon by the neck. He kissed his lips tasting his own blood. Then looking the night creature in the eyes, he asked:

"Ever heard of Anhedonia?"

~♤~

Anhedonia- the inability to feel positive and negative emotions, pleasure, as well as a loss of interest and a lack of motivation. It is a state in which life is devoid of color, taste, and smell, and the feeling of joy occurs very rarely or never.

~♤~