29 | THE LEGEND

"What?" I whispered.

Hoseok brought my hand to his chest. I still could only see the outline of him, features shrouded by the darkness of the room.

"If you trust me completely, then I can explain more to you now. Before, I was afraid you'd think I was him."

"I know you're not," I assured, squeezing his hand and relishing the fact that I was able to do so. I was still so near to him, still on his lap. My need for the answers he was about to give lasted what felt like ages, but the meeting of our skin was something my being seemed to crave for an eternity.

"Then I'll tell you what I can. Whatever doesn't involve your memory," he said. "What I am and what you are."

"What I am?" I echoed. After seeing Hoseok's eyes and his lack of control, I'd pieced together that he wasn't quite human, same as The Hood. But for him to claim that I was something inhuman, too? "How could I not know if I was something... different?"

"Look, what I'm going to tell you won't make sense to you. You'll probably need time to process it if you even believe me at all. But just hear me out."

"Wait," I said softly. "Can we turn the light on first?"

He took time to respond. "You'll see me."

"Hoseok, haven't you realized by now?" Tenderly, my fingers went to brush his cheek again. "I've already seen you. The parts that matter."

He let out a wavering sigh, leaning into my hold. Then he whispered, "Okay."

At his acceptance, I turned to reach for the lamp and flicked it on. As the room lightened to a dim orange, my gaze fell on him, and my lips lifted. The same reddish-brown hair, the same golden-honey eyes framed by dark lashes and brows. But all the rest was new. High cheekbones, a nose that dipped into a soft point, a powerful curve to his jaw, and the lips I'd kissed, red and beautifully shaped.

The only thing to dislike was the scar that marred the right side of his face—not because it was ugly, but because it brought him so much pain and confined him for so long. It was just as I'd felt in the dark. four pink and slightly raised claw marks beginning across the bridge of his nose, along his cheek, one meeting the corner of his mouth, and all tapering off at his jaw's edge.

His eyes were tense as they clung to my every reaction and waited for the moment I'd grimace or turn away from him. It was enough to shatter my heart, and I had to wrap my hands around his neck and pull him close.

He shut his eyes. "I don't expect you to—"

My lips pressed to his, kissing him slowly but firmly. As we parted, he looked at me with a flushed and dazed face. Before he could speak again, I held his face with care and began planting light kisses over each of his scars.

"Beautiful," I murmured against his skin.

"I'm not," his voice cracked. I leaned back to meet his gaze, but he turned his head away. Without another word, he took my hips and guided me off of his lap so he could stand. Sitting on the edge of the bed, I watched him walk to the window, his side profile stunning me as the yellow moonlight streamed over him.

"Why are you so convinced that nobody can accept you and want you as you are?"

"Because I can't accept myself."

"Why not?" My whisper hung in the tense space between us.

"What you saw earlier was just the surface, Jangmi. I'm like him." Hoseok leaned his shoulder against the window frame, setting his eyes upon the moonlit campus below. "Do you remember the legend of the Bul-Gae?"

"Bul-Gae? Do you mean that story about eclipses?"

"Yes." Hoseok glanced over at me, but my focus was elsewhere—falling into a rapidly growing memory.

"Jangmi... Have your parents ever told you the story about the Bul-Gae?" a young Hoseok asked as we walked the outskirts of the same park where I'd spent most of my time with Jungkook.

I felt myself frown. "No, what's that?"

He moved to get in front of me and started walking backward to meet my gaze. His bandanna slid lower on his nose, and he quickly pulled it higher.

"Well, the legend is that there was this king who ruled over a kingdom that only knew darkness. After a long time, the king started to hate the darkness and the emptiness it brought. He wanted to bring light into his kingdom, so he sent the fiercest beasts, his fire dogs, the Bul-Gae, to capture the sun and the moon. The Bul-Gae chased the sun first, but the sun was too hot and burned them when they tried to bite it. So they went to capture the moon next, but it was too cold, and their mouths froze when they bit it."

Hoseok paused as we reached the line of trees where the woods began, turning back around. He glanced at me. "In here?"

I nodded. "Yep, just down the hill there. Come on, I'll show you." Grabbing his wrist, I tugged him behind me as we weaved through the trees. "So what happened to the king? He never got the light he wanted?"

"He never gave up. He kept sending his Bul-Gae after both the sun and the moon, but they were never able to bring them back to him. They were stuck in a never-ending cycle."

While I continued to lead him down the hill, I scoffed. "What? Then what's the point of the story? That's the worst ending I've ever heard!"

Hoseok laughed. "Well, it's supposed to be an explanation for eclipses. When the fire dogs are trying to catch the sun, their bite causes a solar eclipse, and a lunar eclipse is when they try to capture the moon."

I hummed in thought but was distracted before I could reply. "Look, we're here!"

As soon as I released Hoseok's wrist, his wide eyes took in the rickety treehouse. "Are you sure this is safe?"

"Of course it's safe," a new voice called out.

The two of us peered up at the tree just as Jungkook opened the hatch and poked his head out. In another second, he hopped down to the ground and then straightened out to send me a look of resentment.

"Why did you bring him here? I thought this was our spot."

Scowling, I said, "Jungkook, he's your brother. Stop acting like you don't want him here. It's mean."

"I don't want him here. You should have asked me first, Jangmi."

"Why should I have to ask you? You're not the boss of me."

"I'm not saying I'm the boss of you. I'm just saying we found this place together, so we should decide together who we show it to."

"Well I'm sorry, but I didn't think it would be a problem to invite your own brother!" I threw my hands up exasperatedly.

"He's not my brother," Jungkook muttered.

Worried that his comment might hurt Hoseok, I turned my head to see if he was okay, only to discover that he was already walking back up the hill.

"Hoseok, wait! Don't go!" I called after him, but he didn't look back.

A faint gasp slipped from my mouth when I reunited with the present. Hoseok was watching carefully as our eyes met.

"You just remembered something."

I tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. "Yeah. We were heading to the treehouse and you told me about the legend."

My mind was racing through every detail of the story and every clue I'd collected during my brief time on campus. The fire that harmed Jimin and raged in my nightmares, the claws that dug into my arm, the beastly growling and snarling, Hoseok's quick reflexes and heightened senses, and the sketches of an eclipse and a wolf with orange eyes. Each was a strand that, once followed, wove a web too twisted for me to accept.

"It's not possible."

"You've seen it. You've experienced it."

With a shake of my head, I laughed. "No. A story about the origin of eclipses has nothing to do with some creep messing with my mind and obsessing over me."

Hoseok came closer, stepping back into the lamp's glow. "It has everything to do with that. Look, I don't know how much truth the legend holds. The part about a king, a kingdom, the eclipses. But I do know that I've been this— this monster for as long as I can remember. I knew others weren't like me, but as soon as I found that story, it just clicked and I knew that's what I was. Fire ignited at my fingertips, if I got too emotional, I'd grow claws and fangs and I'd..."

His hesitation brought the vague image of The Hood morphing into some sort of beast. Was every part of what I'd seen in the nightmares consistent with reality? Was Hoseok truly the same thing as him?

"Even if you are... I still don't see how that connects to the nightmares and everything he's been doing to me."

"That's why I said I had to tell you what we are," he said softly, coming to sit on the bed again. "I don't know how else to say it, but you're essentially the sun from that story."

I blinked. "Excuse me?"

Hoseok leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees, rubbing a hand across his face. "I read something through my research that added onto the legend, but it's much lesser-known. It said the sun was weakened over time from the Bul-Gae always coming back to try to capture it. While the moon could freeze them, the sun had to use more of its power to burn them because they were already so accustomed to their own fire. To try to distribute its power and prevent the darkness from stealing it, the sun gifted some of its light to human vessels. The book called them Descendents, and you're one of them."

"Don't you think I would know that about myself if it were true?"

"Not necessarily. It's meant to stay dormant to remain hidden from Bul-Gae. That is why he's obsessed with you. He craves your light, and he's been trying to weaken you enough to draw it out. You burned me when we touched because that power was trying to defend you from me. I think the only reason it stopped is that you finally trust me enough to feel safe."

I fell quiet as the information wrapped itself around me and seeped into my bones. All he'd explained was so far-fetched yet it lined up with what had been happening, and I felt in the deepest part of me that it was the truth.

My chuckle caused him to look at me. "Is that why you call me Sunshine?"

His lips drew into a small smile, and my heart flipped at the sight. I'd wondered without end what his smile might look like, imagined how it would be, but everything paled in comparison to the real thing. I hadn't the slightest idea of what I was truly missing before.

"Really clever, right?" Mild amusement continued to play at his mouth and reached his eyes, too.

"Oh, yes. Very," I replied.

"So you believe it?"

"I guess I do. There's still plenty that doesn't make sense to me, though."

"Like what?"

"Well, why can he manipulate my dreams? You never mentioned the Bul-Gae being able to do that."

"Just because the legend doesn't describe every ability doesn't mean we don't have them."

"And why haven't you come into my dreams?" I knew the answer, but I wanted to hear his own explanation.

He turned to me so that I could see his entire face again, which set in a frown. "I don't want to be like him. And I couldn't even if I wanted to, anyway."

"What do you mean?" I asked quietly.

Hoseok bit his lip and shook his head. "I've been trying for so long to fight against what I am. To not give in to the darkness, so to speak. But the longer I go denying that part of me, the weaker it becomes. Most of my abilities aren't half as strong as they used to be."

"Hoseok..." I gently reached out to caress his face again, careful to touch only the side without the scars. "Does it hurt you? Are you weakening yourself, too, from doing this?"

He nodded as his eyes fluttered closed under my touch. "But I'm fine. It's worth it to deny that hideous part of me."

"With or without that part of you, you deserve to be loved. You deserve to be wanted," I whispered as my forehead came to rest on his. "I want you."

He leaned back just enough to meet my gaze, and my chest ached upon seeing the tear that slid over his cheek. My thumb wiped the droplet away, and my other hand came to rest on the other side of his face. I feathered my thumb over the scars and felt my own tears well.

"Did he do this?" I whispered as venom coated my tongue. "Did he hurt you?"

Hoseok's bottom lip trembled. "No."

"Then..."

"I did this to myself, Jangmi."

• • •

A/N: Finally, some long-awaited answers! The myth of the Bul-Gae is an actual Korean legend! I took a few liberties with the story to mold it for the purposes of this book, but I kept it as true to the original legend as possible. And yes, this has been figured out since day one!

So tell me what you think of everything so far. Those of you who guess werewolf were on the track, but I hope you feel satisfied that it's a bit more unique than that.

Also, if any of you are artistic and would like to draw/edit Hoseok with his scars, that would be amazing. I adore the fanarts you guys make! Speaking of, here's the latest one!

Credit: @/luchiartz on instagram! Thanks again for sharing your wonderful talent. These turned out so beautiful.

Hoping now that I'm adjusting to class again, I'll be able to update on time. Thank you for waiting and thank you for returning! I appreciate the support so very much.

Your happy-to-be-back author,

Kat 💜