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The doors to the King's and Queen's throne room were already wide open for us, but that's only because they can sense our presence.

We ran inside, and immediately bowed down before them.

Our King is Johnny, a Haunting Demon. Haunting Demons are those that are known to haunt people. He's been rumored to have haunted over a million humans to death, and still counting.

He's the more aggressive and somewhat short tempered one, but he still maintains a calm demeanor.

Our Queen is Jaehyun, a Possession Demon. Possession Demons are those that take over the bodies of humans. He's rumored to have possessed a little over a million humans to make them kill themselves, and still counting.

He's the more kind hearted and reserved one, but he always maintains a resting bitch face.

"Explain why you've brought a commoner into our quarters"

Johnny growled, the two of them approaching us in their dashing outfits.

"Johnny... Don't be so brash. I'm sure they have a good reason"

Jaehyun sighed.

"Please forgive us for this. But Jisung is losing his strength and his health is deteriorating, because he still refuses to eat anything. But Yuta here knows someone that can help him"

Johnny and Jaehyun thought to themselves for a while, until Johnny finally spoke up.

"What race is this 'someone' that you know?"

He questioned Yuta.

"He's a demon, your highness. He's a very skilled demon"

"How bad is Jisung's condition?"

Jaehyun worriedly questioned.

"He's not waking up, no matter how hard we try to wake him"

Renjun stated.

"Here's what I propose. Jisung will stay here with us, to ensure his safety. The rest of you will go to find this demon to help Jisung"

"I'll go make room to lay him down"

Johnny huffed, walking out of the room.

"Sorry about him. You all know how he is about sharing our space"

Jaehyun gave a small smile, carefully taking Jisung from Renjun.

"We'll take good care of him. Make sure to protect Yuta during your travels, since he's an inexperienced lower class demon"

We all bowed in understanding.

"Also, Yuta"

"Y-Yes sir?"

Yuta politely stepped forward.

"If you help them succeed in carrying out this mission, I'll ensure that you'll have a place among our Royal Guard"

"T-Thank you very much! I'll do my best!"

He happily bowed, and Jaehyun smiled.

"What are they still doing here?"

Johnny growled, once again entering the room.

"Honey... Have patience"

Jaehyun sighed once again, but then returned his attention to us.

"You're all dismissed. I wish you the best of luck~"

We all bowed and ran out, following Yuta's lead.

-

Everyone has been talking with each other this entire time, but Renjun hasn't said a single word.

Of course, he's not the talkative type sometimes, but this time it's different. He's quiet this time because he's very worried about Jisung's condition.

I can see how anxious he is just by looking at him.

Without the others noticing, I strayed away and went over to the side where he was walking.

"Sir, are you ok?"

"Mhm"

He nodded, not even sparing me a glance.

I know that he's lying, to try and push me away.

"Then why aren't you talking with us?"

He didn't say anything and just tried to walk away, but I gently grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Renjun... Please just talk to me about how you're feeling. It's not good for our team if our trusted leader isn't doing well emotionally..."

He stayed silent for a moment, but soon gave in and got close to me again.

"I'm just...really worried about Jisung. I don't know what changed in him that made him want to stop eating. I don't want him to continue down this path that he's made for himself, and then end up dying..."

He held my hand to keep himself from getting emotional.

"It's not that I care about him more than the rest of you. I just want him to do his best and be the best that he can be, since I believe that he has the worst sin"

"Why do you think he has the worst sin?"

"Sloth is the sin of avoidance of physical or spiritual work. Meaning that naturally, he won't want to do anything, even if he knows that we, as demons, need to kill and eat humans to survive"

"Mmm"

I nodded attentively.

"And because he's the youngest, I wanted to try and help him by making him come to Earth with us, since demons his age are usually lazy and rebellious anyway. But that's only seemed to make his habits worse. It's like he's completely disgusted by human flesh"

I nodded again.

"I tried not to say much to him about it after that, but when he collapsed, I realized that I had messed up. What if he doesn't wake up now..?"

He held my hand tighter, trying not to be so sensitive.

I could feel his pain, and it's only getting worse. Despite him wanting to be the type of leader that doesn't get fazed by anything, he can't help his pent up emotions.

"You really love us, don't you? Especially Jisung?"

"...I do. Without you guys, I'd be left with nothing but rage, and I don't want that..."

I knew it.

He'd never admit it verbally, but I've always known that.

I let go of his hand, and wrapped my arm over his shoulder, bringing him closer to me.

He tensed up a bit, but relaxed after a few seconds.

"He won't die. We'll all make sure of it with Yuta's help. That's a promise that you can count on"

His eyes seemed to water a bit, when he suddenly looked me in the eyes.

"...Thank you Minhyung"

He softly smiled at me.

I kept my arm around him as we kept walking to our destination.

-

Daytime

-

"We're almost there!"

Yuta exclaimed.

That's a relief.

"By the way, how come the sun here is black? I've always wanted to know that"

He asked, curiously staring at it.

"Our sun is completely different from Earth's. That sun has enough power in its UV rays to burn us alive, but ours is kinda like a second moon that the King and Queen created. It's black, since Earth's sun supposedly appears white when you look at it. Our sun can only supply a little sunlight to the Shadow Realm since it's generally always dark here, and it's unable to kill us because of how weak its UV rays are"

Chenle explained.

"That's so cool! And such a great idea to keep us alive!"

Yuta seemed happy with Chenle's explanation.

After a few more minutes, we came up to a huge temple with demon koi fish in a pond below a bridge.

"This is it~"

Yuta cheered.

As soon as he spoke, three demon dogs came running and barking at us, scaring Jaemin.

He's really scared of dogs.

He screamed and jumped into Jeno's arms, making Jeno laugh. But Yuta, on the other hand, looked like he was really happy to see them as they ran around us.

"Xiaojun! Hendery! YangYang! I missed you guys~!"

He pet them, and they all barked and licked him.

"W-Whose dogs are t-those?"

Jaemin stuttered.

"They belong to the exact demon that we're looking for~. Follow us~"

Yuta skipped ahead with the three dogs, and we hesitantly followed.

The four of them led us through the temple, until they stopped in front of an almost empty room, with a demon sitting and gazing at the wilderness outside.

"Sicheng! Long time no see!"

Yuta shouted from the doorway.

The demon must've been drinking something, because the sounds of him choking filled the room. But he managed to level out his breathing.

"Good grief... What have I said about shouting in here Nakamoto...?"

The demon sighed, standing from where he was seated to come to us.

"My bad~"

"Is he the demon that we're looking for?"

Donghyuck questioned, receiving a nod from Yuta.

"This is my friend Sicheng~. He's a Witchcraft Demon~"

Yuta happily introduced him.

His horns weren't like a normal demon's. They were unicorn-like horns on either side of his head.

He was in his Oni form, both of his eyes and horns rainbow colored, along with an atom symbol on his hand, and a sword earring in only one of his ears.

We all bowed respectfully, and he bowed in response.

"So Nakamoto, why have the princes come to visit me again? And where might the prince of Sloth be?"

Again?

What does he mean again? We've never seen him before in our lives.

"That's why we're here. The prince of Sloth is losing his power, because he keeps sleeping and refuses to eat. So, we were wondering if you could somehow disguise human flesh into looking like real human food for them. Otherwise, he might not eat it"

Yuta explained.

Sicheng thought to himself for a moment, and finally nodded.

"I'd love to help. Let's get started"

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