MARK WOKE UP AFTER being unconscious for hours. He was welcomed with an insanely painful headache, making him clench on his teeth as a coping mechanism. He was inside an empty dark room, and the only source of light was the dim light coming from the lightbulb above him.

     Mark was about to lift his hand when he realized that he wasn't able to do so. He looked around the room and the situation that he was in finally sinks in. His heart started beating fast and panic started to consume him.

     "Please! Let me out of here!" Mark shouted as he struggled to escape from the chair he was tied up in.

EARLIER TODAY

SATURDAY, 9:40 AM

     Junhyung was sitting on the sofa while watching television, trying his best to occupy his head with anything other than Hyunseung or the demons. 

     "Junhyung!" Seunghyun called out as he entered the living room with the rest of his brothers.

     "What?" Junhyung asked when Seunghyun stood in front of him. Before he could even stand up, Seunghyun punched Junhyung on the face without any warning. He didn't even wait for their leader to fight back because he immediately grabbed him by the collar and pushed him off the sofa, making him stumble to the floor.

     "What the fuck?!" Junhyung shouted as he wiped the blood on the corner of his mouth.

     "Seunghyun, why would you punch our leader like that?!" Lay asked as he went to Junhyung to heal him.

     "He deserved to be punched. Because of "our leader," Mark hasn't been home yet since last night," Seunghyun said as he pointed at Junhyung, who was still sitting on the floor while avoiding the stares of his brothers.

     Seunghyun and the rest of the Arcs looked and waited for Junhyung to answer, but he didn't, and that made him even more furious.

     "What will we tell father, huh?!" Seunghyun angrily asked. When Junhyung still didn't answer, he continued, "That our "leader" sacrificed his brother for the sake of a fucking demon?!"

     Junhyung continued to stay mute. He looked down on his hand and didn't say a word.

     "You fucking idiot!"

     Seunghyun was so angry and irritated to the point where he went towards Junhyung and started punching him again. No one even dared to stop him because they were too scared of Seunghyun more than their leader, Junhyung.

     Before things got nastier, their guardian – Dongmin – finally arrived to put a stop to it. Even though Dongmin looked smaller compared to Seunghyun, he was still strong enough to pull Seunghyun away from Junhyung, who was already bleeding pretty badly.

     "What the fuck is happening here?" Dongmin asked as he looked at the Arcs, but no one answered. Dongmin sighed and looked at Lay, making Lay flinched since he was on the floor, kneeling beside Junhyung.

     "Can you heal Junhyung in his room?" Dongmin asked him, and Lay nodded and helped Junhyung stand. Junhyung didn't struggle anymore as he draped his arm around Lay's shoulder. Then the two of them left the living room.

    "All of you may leave except for Seunghyun" Dongmin stated as he looked at the others.

     The Arcs didn't say anything and just nodded and left the room. When they were gone, Dongmin looked back at Seunghyun with his arms crossed, "Care to explain why I saw you beating up Junhyung on the floor?" He asked, and Seunghyun sighed and sat on the sofa. Dongmin did the same and waited for an answer.

     Seunghyun sighed for the second time and finally answered, "It's about our shitty leader's decision."

     Dongmin raised his right eyebrow, "And that is?"

     "Last night he asked Mark to execute his part of the plan, and until now he hasn't returned home and it's all Junhyung's fault," Seunghyun explained. Dongmin had an expressionless face, making it hard for him to know what he was thinking, "Mark isn't home yet?" Dongmin simply asked him.

     "Yes," Seunghyun answered, and their guardian sighed this time.

     Seunghyun was expecting to get scolded by him, but Dongmin said instead, "You better look for your brother before things go wrong." 

     Seunghyun nodded his head. Then he went upstairs and saw Woohyun and Sungjae at the lounging area with worried expressions on their faces.

     "You two, come with me," Seunghyun commanded.

      "Why? Where are we going?" Sungjae asked, and Seunghyun clenched his fist and answered, "We're catching demons."

PRESENT TIME: 11:23 AM

     Mark tried to escape, but he failed numerous times since he was inside an unknown room, tightly bounded to a chair. His wrists were red because of how he's been forcefully pulling his hand, and he was starting to feel hungry too. While he continued to shake his hand off the chains, two figures appeared in front of him, immediately making Mark get cold sweats. 

     One of the unknown figures went closer, and then the other figure followed. As they went towards Mark, the angel's eyes widened from terror because he saw two of the most powerful members of the Demons.

     "S-Sunggyu...J-Jiyong." Was the only thing Mark had said, as the two-named men smirked at him.

     "So what are we going to do with him?" Jiyong asked while staring at Mark. They were acting like Mark couldn't even hear them.

     Sunggyu was about to answer when another man appeared before them. "I'll handle it," Jackson stated as he approached his brothers.

     "There's our Jackson," Sunggyu stated with a smile. Jackson went forward and gently held Mark's face, "I think this will be easy."

     Mark doesn't say anything and pulled himself away from Jackson, making Jackson smirk.

     "Okay, I trust you on this Jackson," said Sunggyu as he placed his hand on Jackson's shoulder. Then Jiyong went in between them and stated, "Just remember, do anything that you gotta do just to get information from him."

     "Anything?" Jackson asked with his right eyebrow raised.

     "Everything," Sunggyu corrected, and the three of them smirked at each other while looking at Mark. 

     Mark flinched when he saw the sons' reaction. The best thing to do for now is to keep quiet, especially when those three are with him.

     "We better go. We have other plans to attend to," Sunggyu stated, and then the two demons walked out of the room. When they were already near the exit, Jiyong looked over his shoulder and said, "Have fun breaking our little angel Jackson," and they left.

     Mark gulped as he looked back at Jackson, "What did he mean by...break?" Mark asked as fear crept on his skin. 

     Jackson moved closer until his face was only inches away from the angel, "You'll have to wait and see."

EARLIER AT 10:12 AM

     Seunghyun, Woohyun and Sungjae, went to Gangnam to search for their lost brother. Or rather, to search for the demons who they suspect has their brother.

     "Are you sure Mark's here?" Sungjae asked Seunghyun while looking around to see if he could catch a glimpse of his missing brother.

     "Honestly, no," Seunghyun answered with no hesitation, surprising the two.

     "Then why the fuck are we here?" Woohyun confusingly asked.

     "It's because this is where we'll have a bigger chance of seeing the Demons. Remember our intell? This is where three of the Demons' live. We're bound to see them soon," Seunghyun answered him.

     "And why are we looking for them? Weren't we looking for Mark?" Sungjae suddenly asked, quickly making Woohyun and Seunghyun look at their brother who was apparently very slow.

     "Jeez, I don't know Sungjae, maybe because they know where our brother is? Or maybe because they're the ones who fucking took him?!" Woohyun said with a sarcastic tone, and Sungjae just laughed it off while scratching the back of his head.

     The three Arcs looked around the area. And after an hour of helpless searching, the angels started losing hope. Not until Sungjae was able to spot a pink-headed man just across the street from where they were walking.

     "There!" Sungjae shouted as he pointed at Jiyong and Sunggyu. Seunghyun didn't waste time and ran towards them; Woohyun and Sungjae right behind him.

     "Hey! Kim Sunggyu!" Seunghyun shouted, stopping right in front of the two demons.

     Sunggyu looked at the men in front of him and raised an eyebrow, "What do you want?" Sunggyu asked with a hint of irritation in his voice.

     "Where's our brother?" Woohyun quickly asked him, making Sunggyu and Jiyong look at each other.

     "Your who?" Jiyong then asked with a confused expression.

     Seunghyun looked at the two with an angry expression. He was worried and tired, seeing those two act all innocent wasn't helping him. He walked closer to Jiyong until they were only a few inches away from each other, "Where the fuck are you hiding my brother!" He shouted at him. The idea of what these demons could have already done to his brother angered him even more.

     "We don't know what you're talking about," Jiyong insisted as he pushed Seunghyun off him. Then Sunggyu went in front of Seunghyun and continued, "Why do you think we even have your brother in the first place?"

     "Because he went-" Seunghyun immediately cut Sungjae off and looked at him with a Don't-Tell-Him stare.

     "Because of what?" Sunggyu asked with his right eyebrow raised.

     Seunghyun looked back at the demons and told them, "Nothing."

     Sungjae was surprised. He wanted to say something, but Seunghyun blocked his view from them and continued, "It was nothing."

     Jiyong looked at the three Arcs annoyingly, "A little reminder Choi Seunghyun. Before accusing someone, tell them the fuckin' reason why they're being accused of in the first place. You got that?!" Jiyong stated as he shoved Seunghyun away from them. Then the two Demons walked pass the three Arcs and left them in the middle of the street.

     When they were gone, Sungjae looked back at Seunghyun, "Why did you stop me from telling them? We could have used that information against them."

     "Are you really stupid or are you just pretending that you are?" Woohyun asked, surprising Sungjae on the harsh words.

     "We can't tell them we asked Mark to head to Jackson's house to negotiate with him. That's basically revealing our plans," Seunghyun calmly replied even when he was inches away from screaming at his brother.

    "So, what now?" Woohyun then asked.

    "We'll just have to wait and blame this on our leader. As much as I hate it, we can't blindly accuse the Demons without evidence. If we want to find him, we have to look for evidence first," Seunghyun explained before walking away.

     "This is messed up," said Woohyun, and Sungjae replied with a nod. Then the two Arcs followed their brother back to their home.

     When the Arcs left the scene, Jiyong and Sunggyu turned around and just stared at their backs.

     "Well, that was interesting." Said Jiyong with a smirk on his face.

     Sunggyu crossed his arms and replied, "Indeed it is."

     "So now that the plan is working, what do we do next?" Jiyong asked.

     "Let's just wait for Jackson with the information," Sunggyu answered, and then Jiyong looked back at his brother, "Do you think he can extract information from him?"

     "With Jackson's abilities, I'm pretty sure that he can," Sunggyu confidently answered.

     Jiyong didn't question it anymore since he knew how strong his brother is.

     "Well, we should go. Jackson will be waiting for us," Sunggyu stated, and the two Demons left the streets of Gangnam to visit their captured angel.

PRESENT TIME: 11:23 AM

     "You'll have to wait and see," Jackson told Mark before backing away from him. Mark quickly tried to shake his hands off the chains again, but it was still no use. When Jackson saw how he was struggling, he chuckled and said, "You have to stop tiring yourself."

     Mark didn't reply but he looked back at where Jackson was standing.

     "You're going to need all your strength for what I have prepared for you today," Jackson continued with a smirk on his face. Before Mark could even reply, Jackson went closer to him and placed his hand on Mark's head. 

     Mark didn't know what was happening, but he felt his eyelids getting heavier. When he closed his eyes, he felt his surroundings getting hotter in an instant. Jackson removed his hand from the angel, and the moment that he did, Mark's eyes shot open. His body completely froze when he saw where he was.

     "Welcome to hell," Jackson said with a smirk.

     "H-how did you-"

     "Don't worry Mark, this is just an illusion. Your real self is back in South Korea. Well, physically that is," Jackson explained. Then a table appeared right before his eyes. Jackson didn't say anything and approached it.

     "An illusion?" Mark asked in confusion.

     "Yes. But you have to understand that what I do to you here in this illusion will be felt by your real self back in Korea. So you better ready yourself little angel," Jackson explained. He snapped his fingers, and in an instant, Mark was placed on top of the table, both his hands and feet tied on the sides of it.

     Thanks to Jackson, Mark is aware that all this is an illusion, so there shouldn't be a problem. But everything just felt too real. Since he was surrounded by fire, his body felt like it was inches away from burning. It was so real that even his real body was sweating all over.

    On the other hand, Jackson wasn't sweating at all. This is the power of an illusion. Mark's physically in Korea, but he's mentally in hell. He's awake, but his eyes see the current setting, which is hell. Objects could also appear in thin air too, and if Jackson cuts Mark's arm in the illusion, Mark will feel the pain, but in reality, his arms are still intact. Another reminder is that no one else could see the illusion except for Mark and Jackson. 

     The plan is to give Mark as much pain as Jackson wants without even touching him. That's why no other demon could possibly do this task except for him.

     "What the fuck's going on?!" Mark asked as he tried to escape from the leather straps attached to his hands and feet.

     Jackson looked down on Mark's face and said, "I told you, Mark, stop wasting your energy on useless actions." 

     "W-what are you...going to do to me?" Mark asked, his heart beating faster and faster by the second.

     "Nothing really, but only if you tell me what I need to hear," Jackson said while knives appeared in both of his hands. 

     "You know..." Jackson sat down at the edge of the table where Mark was strapped on, and then he looked back at him and continued, "I never thought your leader would take the bait."

     Mark didn't say anything, but he looked at Jackson with a confused expression. He still didn't understand what he was trying to say, so Jackson generously explained it for him, "You know why your leader forced you to do this plan of yours?" Jackson asked, but Mark still didn't answer because he didn't know why Junhyung asked him to do his part of the plan either.

     "Well, that's because he saw an illusion," Jackson revealed.

     "A-an illusion?" Mark finally asked.

     "Yup. An illusion that I was making out with Hyunseung," Jackson explained as he stood up, and Mark was too shocked that he didn't even know what to say.

     "How can our leader be affected by that?" Mark thought.

     "You might be thinking why he acted like that," Jackson said to Mark, almost like he was reading his mind, "Its because your leader is blindly in love with our lustful brother."

     Mark stared at Jackson for a second before sinking that information in. He wanted to laugh it off but he just couldn't. It was like a part of him somehow already knew about it even without Junhyung's approval. 

     "How could he? We are forbidden to fall in love, especially to a demon," Mark tried to say, but it was more like he was telling that to himself. Now he was just looking for an excuse.

      While Mark was thinking about what Jackson had told him, Jackson gripped on the knife that he was holding and stabbed Mark's feet on the table without any warning.

     "AHHH!!! YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Mark shouted, and Jackson once again did the same thing to his hands, piercing his palm with a knife so it could get stuck to the table that he was in.

     "FUCK!!" Mark shouted again as he felt the pain scourging through his veins.

     "That will make you stay still," Jackson said with a chuckle. He moved closer to Mark and touched his forehead, massaging it so Mark could at least relax, "The position looks familiar, isn't it? Well, it's because I'm reincarnating the moment your so-called god was crucified because of the sins people have committed. The same people he protected with all his life. Isn't it unfair? People do good but in the end, they're still the bad guys. Well, that's why demons do evil because people never think that people that do bad would actually be the good guys in the end."

     Mark didn't say anything but looked away. His body felt numb at this point. Everything ached that his brain just lost sight of what to feel anymore.

     "Now, why did you steal JS's ring?" Jackson finally asked him.

     Mark didn't reply but glared at Jackson instead, making Jackson smirk. He liked how Mark still fought back, considering his situation.

     "I'm expecting a reply, Mark. Don't leave me hanging," Jackson stated while he was cleaning the blood-covered knife with a dirty cloth.

     "Fuck you!" Mark shouted at Jackson instead.

     "Wrong answer Mark," Jackson stated as he threw the cloth away. And without any hesitation, he stabbed Mark on his thigh this time.

     "AHHH!!!" Mark shouted at the top of his lungs. It was so loud he thought his vocal chord would break.

     "Now tell me!" Jackson shouted back.

     Mark gritted his teeth and endured the pain. He knew that Jackson wasn't planning on stopping if he doesn't get the answer that he needed, so Mark took a deep breath and finally answered, "W-Without your rings...you are weak. Your demon b-blood...will take over. And y-your sense of reason...will be gone."

     Jackson looked down at Mark and nodded his head. He was satisfied with the answer so he didn't do anything this time.

     "Okay then, next question." Jackson got on the table as well. Mark was in between him as Jackson sat on top of his stomach, making him wince. He looked down at Mark's face and asked, "What's the outcome of all your plans?"

     "I-I... don't k-know," Mark tried to answer since he was having a hard time breathing.

     "That's not the answer I want to hear Mark," Jackson stated. He gripped on his knife and stabbed him on the shoulder this time. Mark's eyes widened even more as he felt the blood splatter on his face, "AHHH!!! FUCK!!!" he shouted louder this time. He knew that he was about to faint if Jackson stabbed him for one more time.

     "Tell me why or we'll be doing this until midnight," Jackson threatened as he pushed the knife deeper into his shoulder blades.

     Mark was clenching his fist, and saliva was already oozing out his mouth, "A-Ah! F-fine...I'll tell you! J-Just please...stop," Mark said, catching his breath because he thought he'd die if he wouldn't be able to catch it.

     Jackson lets go of the knife but leaves it pierced on Mark's shoulder. He stared at Mark with his right eyebrow raised, waiting for him to answer his question.

     "O-once we're done...w-with our plans we...we will take it as an opportunity..." 

     "What are you talking about? What opportunity?" Jackson asked, but Mark doesn't answer again, only making Jackson sigh in frustration. He slowly took the knife from Mark's shoulder and looked back at his face.

     "I asked you a question, Mark. What did you mean by what you said?" Jackson asked further before stabbing him on his other shoulder.

      Mark shouted at the top of his lungs. All he wanted now was to faint, but Jackson's illusion wasn't letting him.

     "Answer me!" Jackson shouted, but Mark stayed quiet and just whimpered as the pain crept in his entire body.

     "Fine, if you don't want to talk..." Jackson paused and looked down on Mark with a mischievous grin, then eight small knives appeared in his hands, "I'll just have to torture you until you tell me the answer that I want to hear."

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     .

     "Are you going to tell me now?" Jackson asked, his hands were covered in Mark's blood.

     "Never," Mark weakly replied. He was already bleeding too much that his blood was already dripping off the table. And his face was pale. If this wasn't an illusion, Mark would have been dead a long time ago.

     "You're making it too difficult for me," Jackson stated, and the knives in his hand disappeared. Mark didn't know what he'd do next, but to his surprise, a chainsaw appeared in Jackson's hand.

     "I'll saw you up until all that's left is your head," Jackson declared. But before he could turn that thing on, Mark finally broke down.

     "Wait! Please! I can't anymore!" Mark shouted, and Jackson threw the chainsaw away and approached the angel with a smile.

     "F-fine, I'll tell you! E-enough already..." Mark begged, tears now pouring out of his eyes.

     "About time, I was running out of ideas on what to do with you," Jackson told him, his smile turning evil as he got closer.

     Mark looked at Jackson and told him, "Once t-the plan is finished and...we have killed you...w-we'll be killing your f-fathers."

     "What?" Jackson asked in confusion.

     "T-to finish...what our fathers...had started," Mark continued.

     Jackson was about to ask another question, but because of the shock he received from what he heard from Mark, he slightly released his illusion, causing Mark to faint.

     "Damn, I never thought that this was their planning," Jackson said to himself as he finally released his illusion, putting him and Mark back to the real world. He looked back at the unconscious Mark sitting on the chair and thought, "Looks like pain is done. we'll be proceeding with pleasure this time. Hope you're ready...my little angel."

- END -