[06] Moyo wa Jua: Heart of the Sun
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06
It took him some seconds to recall that he was not alone. Leaping to his feet and shrinking away from the couch in fear, he stared at Seunghyun with his tail up. The man was calmly seated on the couch. Jiyong smelt no fear whatsoever on him. His wine glass still in his hand, he shook his head at Jiyong with an air of resignation as he surveyed the scene.
“That was a waste.”
He meant the wine spilled on the floor.
“You’re new to this.”
He meant the transformation.
“Come.”
Jiyong found himself obeying, lowering his tail, despite his incomprehension of how Seunghyun could remain so calm faced with a predator as large as himself.
“Sit.”
Jiyong sat where Seunghyun had indicated, tail held close to himself and ears out, every muscle tensed to bolt. His mind was whirring. Getting out of the club was going to be difficult, and even if he left through the back entrance, he would have to get past the security guards. Busy Itaewon was going to be difficult to navigate - there were people everywhere.
“Relax.” A hand came down comfortingly on his head, warm and soothing over his ears.
“Don’t be afraid - I can help you.”
Jiyong’s nostrils flared as he grunted with the pleasing strokes on his head, eyeing Seunghyun with narrowed eyes in case he changed his mind about playing nice.
“If I may…” Seunghyun’s fingers began removing the clothing that had split in places.
Jiyong found himself laying down, rolling to his side and allowing the garments to be peeled back carefully, until he lay on the floor at Seunghyun’s feet in a position of submission.
“Let me see you.”
To his own consternation, Jiyong rolled over onto his feet and stood up, displaying his intricate markings and lean build as he had been commanded.
“Beautiful,” Seunghyun murmured. His eyes had a glow to them, fixed on the cloudlike patterns spread over Jiyong’s back and shoulders.
“Do you know how to change back, GD?”
Jiyong noticed that he had dropped the polite ‘ssi’ that he insisted on using even for Jaejoong, with whom he was more familiar. Unable to reply Seunghyun verbally, he settled on a shake of his head.
“You can’t stay like this. Not here.”
Jiyong felt like retorting, “Don’t you think I fucking know that?” He didn’t know to be glad or mad that he was now incapable of speech, but a snarl seemed to convey the message.
The snarl earned him a cuff on the side of his head, close to his eye.
“Don’t snarl at me, child.” Seunghyun’s voice was frosty.
Jiyong averted his gaze and tucked his tail away.
“I can change you back, but it’s going to hurt.”
Returning his gaze to the extraordinarily cool man, he didn’t know whether to feel more amazed, grateful or fearful at this offer.
Seunghyun placed a hand on Jiyong’s head and closed his eyes in concentration. He could feel something pulsing into his head; it wasn’t physical, but it felt real. A golden energy filled with heat invaded his head, a deep growl reverberating through his head that was at once calming but commanding. In his mind’s eye he saw a majestic lion, rumbling in a low roar that went right through his body. And then he felt it - the pain radiating through his body and forcing him to contort once again. The thought that he didn’t want to change back flashed white-hot through his mind, his body fighting back the command to return to human form. The lion’s growl deepened, silencing the instinct to rebel with another warm surge of energy. Thrashing in pain, he struggled for some minutes before the bright glow of light faded slowly from his consciousness, the growl softening into a calmer purr and then to silence.
Jiyong could feel the carpeted floor against his bare skin. Unlidding his eyes with some effort, he realised that he was lying on the floor, still at Seunghyun’s feet. He was aching all over, but he was human.
Seunghyun had his eyes closed, but his hand was no longer outstretched. A long moment passed before he opened his eyes to look at Jiyong. Was it exertion that Jiyong saw in his face? He couldn’t be sure.
“Your clothes,” Seunghyun waved a hand vaguely toward where he had placed the remnants of his clothes earlier. His voice was huskier, deeper.
It took a fair bit of effort for Jiyong to put them back on. They were ruined, he noted with some dismay. He wasn’t sure how he was going to explain the state of his clothes to Jaejoong - or anyone else for that matter. But that could wait. First he had to figure out what to say to Seunghyun.
“Sit,” ordered Seunghyun, a command that Jiyong obeyed instantly. It annoyed him somewhat, this being told to sit like a dog. Being told to do everything, really. But a part of him knew it wasn’t in his interests to argue.
“You know what you are, don’t you?”
Jiyong shook his head. He must be fucking crazy, that’s what. He hadn’t intended to say that out loud, but he must have, because Seunghyun’s reply was swift and curt.
“You’re not. What you are, is a shapeshifter.”
He pronounced the word “shapeshifter” deliberately, looking intently at Jiyong to see if he understood.
“Do you know what a werewolf is, GD?”
Jiyong shook his head slowly.
“You are part human, part animal. A lycanthrope. Like a werewolf. It transforms into a wolf with the full moon each month.”
“But I’m not a wolf.”
“There are other types of lycanthropes - lions, other big cats. You’re not a wolf. You are a clouded leopard. Tell me, when did this first happen?”
“I don’t know. Before I came to Seoul… about a month ago?” Jiyong recalled the confusing events that had led to his running away from Mokpo. The memories were a little hard to call up, and Jiyong found himself having to think harder.
“You were infected. You were not born a lycanthrope, GD. You came into contact with another lycan. Do you know who?”
Again, Jiyong found himself shaking his head. Surely he would have known if he had been in contact with such an entity. It would have been rather hard to miss, he thought wryly.
“Do you have a family unit?”
Jiyong didn’t know how to answer this question. Seunghyun would know if he lied again, but he didn’t want to have to explain the truth, to risk being surrendered to the police and possibly… possibly… he didn't know what he risked.
“I meant a pack, a pride, a group of beings just like you,” Seunghyun interrupted his jumbled train of thought softly. “You can’t go back to your human family like this anymore.”
Jiyong was doing a lot of headshaking tonight, he realised, as he gave his wordless answer once again.
“I thought not. Your kind are uncommon. Clouded leopards. You are the first one I’ve ever seen. It will be difficult to find you a pack. You can’t stay here, GD.”
“But I don’t have anywhere else to go,” Jiyong confessed.
“You don’t understand what I am saying, GD. You’re not an ordinary human anymore. You will change every full moon night. You need to eat food that is different from humans.”
“I was doing fine until tonight.”
“So you’re going to keep on doing this? Pretending to be alright until the full moon? And then what?”
Jiyong had no answer.
“Don’t be stupid, boy. I could smell that you were different, right away. Other people will catch on in other ways.”
“How did you know? What are you?” Jiyong realised only then that Seunghyun couldn’t be any more normal than he was.
“I am like you.”
A shapeshifter, he meant. He had said that he had never seen a clouded leopard before, so he must be something else. Jiyong hazarded a guess, “A wolf?”
It was Seunghyun’s turn to shake his head. “You saw me, just now.”
Jiyong’s mind flitted back to the painful experience that had just taken place. The lion!
Seunghyun nodded silently at the expression of recognition that lit Jiyong’s face. Awe filled Jiyong’s mind - the lion had been regal in carriage, exuding an imperious aura that matched Seunghyun’s bearing. He remembered the feeling of overpowering authority, the golden light…
“We need to eat,” Seunghyun stated, as if they had just discussed the weather.
He had barely spoken when a soft knock at the room door heralded the arrival of a generous spread of food, delivered by a man who was not one of the Club’s wait staff. There was a distinct scent to him, not cologne, something muskier. He had also brought a change of clothes for Jiyong, which had almost certainly been taken from his own wardrobe in the dressing room. Seunghyun did not acknowledge him, merely waited for him to lay out the dishes and retreat with a deep bow. He did not meet Jiyong’s eyes at all. The fare consisted largely of barely cooked meat, a fact which Jiyong decided was most agreeable with him. The aroma of bloody meat proved too great a temptation for Jiyong to spend more time wondering how things had been done. Forgetting the aches and pains temporarily, he fell to eating with fervour, hardly paying any attention to Seunghyun who was eating with much more poise but making comparable progress. He carried on with his vintage wine, obviously enjoying it. He didn’t offer Jiyong anymore.
After the food was gone and the dishes cleared away by the mysterious man, Jiyong sat sleepily watching Seunghyun drain the remainder of the decanter steadily. The man could really drink, he thought. He wondered how much money the vintage bottle had cost. More than he could make in a few months, he bet. As thoughts meandered through his head, he remembered what Seunghyun had said about his age.
“Seunghyun-ssi,” he began tentatively. “Are you really almost as old as the wine?”
There was no reply as Seunghyun emptied what was left in the decanter into one last glass and finished it in a long swig. Then he stood up and pulled his coat closer round him and moved to the door.
“I will be here tomorrow,” he threw back over his shoulder, as if he hadn’t heard Jiyong. The door closed behind him as he left escorted by the man who had brought the food.
Jiyong just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep for a long, long time.
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