Thread by @ShweezyLiz

First time doing a thread like this so,,, joongdok venom au where yjh is an up and coming pro gamer who unexpectedly pairs up with kdj, an alien parasitic species—symbiotes— and thus commence their complicated attempts to live inconspicuously on earth.

Enter 24 year old Yoo Jonghyuk, a young man with a promising talent and exceptional skills in the gaming industry. Yjh has been gaming for as long as he could remember, but he’s only recently entered the e-sports scene (thanks to a certain hsy).

He started out doing streams of your typical competitive multiplayer games, but his exceptional skills (and not to mention his killer good looks) attracted a large following and eventually a dedicated fanbase of his own, even attracting respected e-sport teams wanting to recruit

him to compete in national tournaments. He eventually does join a team, which consisted of lhs, kmw, ljh and uriel. (Too lazy to come up with their team name) They go on local competitions, season invitationals and eventually to national tournaments in which yjh completely

dominates in every single competition. His following grows larger and earns the respect of his allies and opponents alike. Though many doubtful and scrutinuous eyes remain on him as he and his team is still relatively new to the e-sports scene. Yjh is unbothered however...

Because yjh has other priorities to worry about. Having yma, his sister, dropped on him with no further notice, yjh takes it upon himself to find his parents or what remains of them at least. The reason why he gamed competitively was to earn money to hire investigators to

essentially, find out his origins. The extra money doesn’t hurt to have as well.

Yjh gets very involved in the investigation, always looking for updates or even conducting his own little search in his own time as well. So engrossed in his pursuit however, he fails to notice

recent news and public reports of a strange ufo falling into the earth’s atmosphere, and landing somewhere not far off from a certain investigation site yjh pin-pointed for his next survey. Nor does he notice reports of individuals, who lie scattered in certain areas of the city

with bodies mangled and torn beyond recognition.

The next evening, yjh takes a day off from his training—much to the dismay of his team— and heads to the address of an abandoned home which his private investigators state they’ve combed through but came up empty. Something in

yjh’s gut tells him there was more to that site than initially concluded. He brings up his hood, the street lights flicker before his path as the eerie silence of the area settles around his weary feet. He maintains his resolve, unaware of a lingering demon in the shadows.

Yjh finally arrives to the house, an unsettling darkness warps the view before him. He takes cautious steps into the desolate abode, eyes searching for something but what he looks for he does not know. The obscurity of the night unnerves him, but yjh trudges on regardless.

There’s something here he needs to find, something calling out to him. He goes to the upstairs, dust rising every step he takes. He parts into a room, which is peculiarly inhabited only with a singular drawer. He’s drawn to it.

His hand trembles as he reaches to its handle, and as he pulls it back a deafening creak follows. Its age is prominent. But when he opens it, he finds it empty. He sighs and goes to close it until a glint nearly blinds him. There’s something in the drawer.

He looks closer, and finds the bottom of the drawer to be a false bottom. Carefully, he lifts it up and he is greeted by a strange photograph. It’s damaged, the colors have long faded by age but yjh could still make out a faint, contorted figure in its center. What is that??

“AAAGGH,”

a blood curdling scream interrupts his pondering. He immediately pockets the photograph and runs to the source of the scream. Outside, he finds a woman, bruises littered her skin and she dons a mutilated right arm. A black ooze bubbles out of her orifices.

Her screams eventually muffled by that strange liquid foaming out of her mouth. The sight was horrifying. Yjh immediately grabs for his phone to dial 911. He carefully approaches the woman, “Ma’am? What happened to you?!”

She continues to gurgle out the liquid, then falls.

Yjh reaches out to slow her descent to the ground, but she begins to convulse and twitch violently on the dirt path. Yjh curses internally, completely at a loss. He looks around, calling for help.

But then the woman grows silent.

Yjh turns back to the woman, but finds her face completely corrupted by that black ooze. Two horns suddenly erupt from her forehead, two white slits appears before her eyes and a disgustingly wide, toothy grin graces over her mouth. Yjh freezes.

That horrifying face suddenly lunges out towards him, but yjh manages to narrowly dodge it. Unfortunately, his little maneuver caused him to fall flat on his ass. His hands and feet however move to drag him further from the growing black mass before him.

It was writhing and twisting around so unnaturally, strange tendrils forming and deforming from its body. Yjh didn’t care to observe further, so he immediately got up and ran. He ran and ran, his feet carrying him as fast as he’s ever gotten.

He eventually finds himself before a lighted streetlamp by a far off street corner. Yjh hunches over, suppressing the urge to vomit as he catches his breath. The night is deathly silent, and it unsettles him so.

Then, he makes out a figure slowly approaching from afar. He waves his hand, calling out towards the stranger.

“Help! There’s someone— there’s something over there, we need to—“

He stops as the figure steps into the light, and he finds the same woman from earlier.

Yjh steps back. ‘What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck?!!?’ He panics.

Then, the woman’s mouth opens an unnatural width and out shoots two black tendrils that immediately grab onto both of his arms. The strength of the tendrils catch him off guard,

He is forcibly pulled closer towards the woman, and no matter how much yjh struggled he is faced with this impending death.

The tendrils suddenly stop pulling, and instead out lunges the black ooze towards his body.

The black goo-like thing latches onto his body through his clothes. Yjh desperately tries to claw it out as much as he could but to no avail, the creature seemed to pierce even through his skin. He could feel every pore in him being cleaved through and yjh screams out.

The pain seemed to go on forever as he falls to his knees. Body curdling and convulsing from the sudden intrusion until finally... The pain stops.

Yjh’s breath evened out, his skin returning to its usual state and everything returns to a deafening silence.

Yjh pats around his chest, hands searching for any remnants of the black creature. But he came up empty handed.

“What the fuck... What the absolute FUCK??” he gasps out. He slowly stands up, hands still trembling but otherwise completely fine.

The woman lays completely still before him. Yjh dares not to look further into her mangled corpse. But the overwhelming events seem to finally take a toll on his conscience, as his eyes suddenly begin to droop close. Is this it? Is he going to die once he closes his eyes?

He couldn’t stop it, the fear weighed heavy on his eyelids and he finally closes his eyes.

But then, he opens them again and finds himself in his room. His duvets feel soft under him, his gaming setup remains on the corner as always and the sunlight tickles his eyelids.

Was that a dream? Was it all just a dream??

Yjh leans back onto his pillow, the most relieving of sighs he’s ever sighed leaves his body. That was the worst nightmare he’s ever had thus far.

“Oppa, are you up? I brought you some snacks,”

Thank god indeed.

Yjh gets up and does his usual routine. Yma is kind enough to make him breakfast, its a little wonky but he appreciates it nonetheless. After cleaning up he sorts through his equipment, takes a quick shower and takes his sister to school. After that he goes home and begins stream

He goes through the usual of streaming his games, then after several hours he ends it to start on other chores. Today is laundry day, so he sorts through his laundry basket to put into the washing machine.

He finds his hoodie completely drenched in sweat. Huh.

Was he playing a particularly stressful round yesterday? But he doesn’t usually sweat this much. He ruffles around until his fingers feel something thin but hard. Definitely not cloth. He picks it up.

Its the photograph from his dream.

He rubs his eyes. Is this a farce? No, its real. Its definitely real. Its the same damaged photo that he found from the abandoned house in his dream. Then, would that mean his nightmare actually happened?

Yjh shakes his head, he has to think rationally about this.

He reasons that he must have been so tired from searching all over the house that he started hallucinating that strange black goo towards the end. Yeah that’s it, the exhaustion must have caught up to him. He has been working particularly hard after all.

And damn, he must have been searching REAL hard, evidence by the loud grumbling of his stomach. He tosses the photograph to the bed and heads to the kitchen. He rummages through the fridge, certainly craving for something. Hmmm, yjh swore he just did the groceries just a day ago.

The rumbling in his stomach continues on, and yjh grits his teeth. Damn, none of the food in the fridge is appealing to him for some reason, so he looks around the counter instead. Through the snack cabinet, cupboards, everything. Everything is unappealing.

He groans as he goes to grab his keys to head out, until his nose picks a scent from somewhere. Now that scent is definitely appealing. He stops, follows the scent outside and into the balcony where he is greeted by a rat caught in the mouse trap he placed a week ago.

His eyes zero in on the rat’s head, and he is suddenly compelled to reach out to it. It still twitches here and then, which means its still alive. He removes the rat from the trap, watching it squirm futilely in his hand and yjh goes to open his mouth, and bite its head off—

Yjh stops himself, the rational side of him taking control. His eyes widen and he immediately drops the rat and gets to his feet. He watches the rat squirm before findings its own feet and run off to some hole by the neighbouring house. Yjh slumps on his couch.

‘What the hell is going on?’

Is he sick? He places a hand on his forehead. No, he’s not burning up. He sighs. That’s just not normal of him to do. Yjh’s stomach still grumbles, so he finds his resolve, washes his hands and heads out to the marketplace.

The city is bustling and lively. Yjh parks his car and goes off to the path to his favourite restaurant he knows makes the best dumplings. On his path he encounters a man walking his dog, a golden retriever. He was about to continue on until the dog suddenly snarls at him.

Yjh is immediately taken aback as the dog growls and barks at him with such viciousness it was as if he wronged the dog somehow. The owner immediately apologizes, “Sorry! I don’t know what came over him!”

He struggles to calm the dog, so yjh hurries down his path. Weird.

He finally gets to the shop he’s looking for, Murim Express. He sighs in relief as he goes in, the bells dinging to announce his arrival. He goes to the cashier, and orders his usual. Murim dumplings as always. Yjh goes to the waiting area and looks out the window.

Crowds of people walk by, going on about their day. He eyes each individual that passes by, brows beginning to furrow as he zeroes in on each person. He zeroes in on every detail he could find, from the simple dimple on a woman’s face to that tiny scar on that man’s left arm.

They were all so... Strangely appetizing.

“—Order 41?”

Yjh snaps out of his thoughts, his mind is certainly going places. He grabs the packed dumplings and finally leaves. He grabs a freshly made dumpling and bites into it. It’s as delicious and as delightful as always.

Immediately, the grumbling in his stomach quiets down as he munches away. This should pacify his strange cravings. He finds he downs the dumplings faster than he intended, but he doesn’t mind. He makes his way back to his car ready to get back to work until his eyes stops him.

He stops by the window of an electronics shop where rows of TVs display the current news. He finds he can’t look away as the news reporter draws on.

“Three more bodies have been uncovered just recently, all victims seemingly suffering the same way.”

Yjh watches on in horror as he camera pans to photographs of the three victims. He recognizes one of those photos, it was etched into his nightmare.

Among the victims was the woman he encountered in his dream, her body mutilated just as he remembers it.

(Stopping off here, will continue after I’ve slept ^w^)

Yjh returns to his house, distraught from the sudden revelation. He rushes to the bathroom where he stares at his disheveled appearance. Other than his ruffled hair, everything seems normal, but a visceral feeling settles in his gut. If everything else rings true, then that means

The creature remains inside of him. Somewhere.

He pats himself down once more, looking desperately for— for what? He doesn’t know, but he’s frantic in his search. Desperation turns into frustration eventually as the world around him begins to spin furiously.

His ears are ringing, they’re ringing in an abnormal way. Yjh winces internally. It’s gradually getting louder. What the hell is that sound?

He realizes his neighbour was once again blasting their shitty music in the middle of the goddamn afternoon on their porch. Yjh growls.

He hastily makes his way down to his neighbour’s front door, he’s even more irritable than usual. He curls his fist and nearly smashes the door with the force he’s knocking it. His ears pick up the angry mumbling behind the door, before footsteps makes their way over to him.

An obnoxious little punk opens the door, a brow raised. This further aggravates yjh, but he forces himself to calm down.

“The hell you want?”

“... Can you turn down that stereo?” He tries calmly.

“Tch, whatever.”

Now that fucking ticks him off.

Yjh’s hands spring out and grab the door frames, one single clench and splinters begin to fly everywhere. A menacing growl—louder than humanly possibly— erupts out of him. The teen immediately shrinks, cowering from his imposing form.

“Y-yeah! Sure!! I-I will!!” They rush away.

It’s not until he returns to his living room and the loud music immediately dies down that yjh registers what he’s just done. He’s definitely not himself, and that creature from last night has something to do with it. He slumps down to the floor.

He doesn’t want to get yma hurt because of him. So he calls hsy, having to swallow his pride to ask her to pick yma up from school. Then he dials lsw’s number.

A couple rings later, “Hello? Yjh?”

“I need a checkup. Something’s wrong with me.”

Lsw is immediately alarmed with yjh’s tone. Yjh is one of the healthiest patients she’s known, never once did she ever encounter him unwell in her entire career as a physician. She nods.

“Come to the emergency room at the hospital, I’ll get to you as soon as possible.”

Yjh drives to the hospital, a foreign sense of anxiety looming over him. He’s never felt such a thing before, this feeling doesn’t sit right with him. When he enters the ER he tells the nurse his name and he is immediately sent to lsw’s office.

Lsw does the routine checkup on yjh, checking his reflexes, eyesight and everything else physical. She does a blood pressure test, spirometry and even checks for any signs of a stroke. There’s nothing physically wrong with him or any impairment on him.

The tests come back completely fine, actually they’re even better than usual. Lsw is completely dumbfounded by the results, but yjh’s insistence and anxiousness tells her otherwise. This might be the problem of the mind.

“I’d like to do an MRI test, if that’s alright”

“Yes,”

Lsw has yjh stripped of any metal on him, and he dons a patient’s gown and is later sent to the MRI. While her assistant readies the scan, she turns on the mic.

“Alright yjh this should be quick and painless. Just stay relaxed and lay as still as possible okay?”

“Yeah...”

Her assistant gives her the go. She nods and turns to yjh, “We’re starting the scan now,”

Yjh lays as lax as he can, but the moment the scan begins a searing pain immediately rendered through him. It felt as if every molecule in his body was being cleaved in half over and over.

The excruciating agony rips a bloodcurdling scream out of him and he begins to violently convulse from the oncoming pain. Lsw immediately stops the scan and rushes to yjh’s side to check him over. He’s sweating profusely, but he’s fine otherwise.

This is deeply alarming...

No patient has ever reacted the same way as yjh did under the scan. The MRI was designed to be as un-invasive as possible, so yjh’s reaction unsettles her greatly. She cancels all scan related tests and has yjh sit down and drink a glass of water.

Her assistant informs her that they manage to recover some images from yjh’s MRI scan, although they may take time to compose since he was under for a minuscule amount of time. Lsw notes she’ll have to consult a psychologist or a neurologist for yjh. She tells yjh this.

Yjh is unnerved by lsw’s findings. Lsw’s tests shows that there has been no sign of a parasitic invasion or disturbance in his body. Has this thing invaded his brain? This seems to be the most plausible explanation. Yjh asks lsw to consult a parasitologist as well.

Lsw is confused by this request, but ultimately agrees.

Yjh has to gather more information about this thing inside him. He doesn’t know what it plans to do or what’s its goal inside him. His mind however, flashes to the photograph in his bedroom. That’s right, he remembers...

That photograph, it was a bit faded but he knew what was on it. It had that same creature in the photo. He has to go back.

He asks lsw if he’s free to go. Lsw is a bit skeptical, but because he is not physically impaired yjh is free to go. But she tells him to call her whenever

He agrees, grabs his things, goes to his car and immediately heads off home. Yma should be with hsy so the house should be empty. That photograph has got something to do with that creature. He must have been in the hospital for some time, as the city lights illuminate the sky.

The drive is quiet, that is until the fuel indicator begins flashing in front of him. He frowns, he usually stays on top of things like this. He takes a detour to get to the nearest gas station. He stops his car next to a gas pump and hastily begins to refuel his car

But then his stomach growls, one that is much louder than before. He curses, “not now,” but the hunger in him seems to be far more viscous than earlier. He nearly doubles over from the hunger, until he eyes the convenience store just a walk away.

He grumbles as he trudges towards the store, pushing through the entrance and practically rushing to the food aisle. The cashier eyes him warily, but he finds that he doesn’t give a shit at the moment. He grabs a basket and practically shoves the first snacks he finds.

Yjh realizes he’s hoarding particularly sweet, shitty chocolate bars, beef jerkies and a dog food can?? He’s even more horrified at the fact that he even found these snacks appealing when initially he dreaded these things. He continues shovelling the food until—

“Get out, right now.”

A deep —or was it a high-pitched— bellowing noise echoes in his head. Yjh darts his head around. There’s no one else here. That voice sounded so deeply embedded into his head however that it was almost as if it was his own conscience talking to him.

Whatever it is though, he doesn’t actually heed the voice’s order until a couple minutes later when the bell rings several times. Several people seem to enter the store, his ears picks up 4 distinct footsteps stomping obnoxiously around the store. He pauses.

“The money,”

He hears someone order out, and the faint sheathing of a blade. Shit, he had to get in the middle of a robbery. Yjh is still hidden behind the aisles, so he crouches and slowly creeps further into a neighboring corner. Yjh brings up his hood go hide himself.

“Stop moving that way,” The same unsettling voice echoes in his head once again. This time yjh actually listens, and the voice seems to take initiative once again. “Into the freezer aisle,”

He dashes into the frozen section, just narrowly missing the sweeping gaze of the men.

He tries to still his breathing. He’s deeply precarious of the foreign voice in his head that he knows is not his own, and that it is able to perceive things beyond his senses and even through his own blind spots. Just what the hell is this thing?

The voice continues to give him instructions, where one of the henchmen currently are and where to hide into next. It’s strangely helpful, but yjh remains extremely wary.

“Please! T-there’s nothing left!”

“Bullshit! I know there’s more in there!”

Yjh stops as one of the robbers suddenly grabs the cashier’s collar, and despite the poor teen’s pleading, he’s met with a powerful blow to his jaw and his head smashes against the counter. Yjh freezes,

He can see blood pouring out of the teen’s mouth as he struggles to move.

Yjh’s eyes zeroes in on the blood on the counter and on the teen’s head. That impact against his skin sounded strangely... delectable. The sickening crack from earlier only seemed to fuel his appetite, and he’s never once seen blood look so completely savory and enticing.

“Hey! You!” Yjh stops in his track and something particularly sharp presses against his back. He slowly turns his head, but is forced to look forward by a shove to the back of his head. “Trying to sneak away huh? Too bad for you,” he could hear the menace drip from behind him.

His heart beats wildly in his ribcage, as something akin to anticipation bubbles up within him. What the hell is wrong with him?

“One wrong move and I’ll slice your throat buddy,”

“He is threatening you,” the bellowing voice echoes in yjh’s head again. Yjh thinks—OBVIOUSLY??

But in his head he feels a rising pressure beginning to form, it presses against his skin. Wait, it’s an emotion. But it’s not of his own doing. It’s heated and dripping with wrath.

And as he feels the blade press further into his neck, the voice bellows out, dripping in venom.

“I will devour him,”

Yjh feels something shoot out from his spine, and the man behind him shrieks but is suddenly silenced. Yjh slowly looks behind him and sees the masked man dangling in the air, being strangled by a black tendril that seems to stretch out from his back.

Yjh gawks at the scene before him, the black tendrils entwining itself tighter around the poor man’s neck, immediately inhibiting all blood flow to his head. The man twitches and convulses weakly from its assault.

Yjh hears a cry, then the sound of blade entering... Goo?

Yjh finds his left arm raised, a black mass completely engulfing it and the knife embedded deep into the mass, unable to move whatsoever. The other henchmen looks at him, terror evident in his face even behind the mask.

Without his control, yjh’s arm suddenly flings upward with brute force, and the man who had his knife deep in the black clot was chucked into the ceiling. His arm then curls back down, and the man was launched from the ceiling and back onto the floor, a sickening crack resounding

“What the fuck?!” Yjh steps back in horror, blood pooling around the man’s head. He feels the man dangling behind him struggling uselessly, the life slowly pulling out of him.

“The fuck is going on?!” The leader, it seems, finally pokes out.

Seeing his men down, the man immediately brings out a gun from his coat pocket and aims it directly at yjh’s head. “Oh shit,”

But the second the gun fired, something shoots out of yjh’s back once again, and he is pulled into the ground. The bullet whizzes above him.

He hears glass shattering behind him, and when he turns to look he sees the window pane gone from its hinges. Shards of glass scatter the floor. Yjh doesn’t have time to gawk however, as he is suddenly pulled up by force once again. He turns to the man who fired the gun.

He could see the man’s fingers trembling before the trigger. He hears a menacing growl rumbling in his head, and yjh’s arm shoots out once again. This time he sees a black tendril shoot out from his forearms and claw into the skin of the man before him.

Yjh watches as the tendril begins to form and reform, as if rebuilding itself into something far more massive. He gawks as a sudden movement from the black mass grips and turns the man’s arm to an inhumane degree. The sound of bones cracking continuously rings in his ears.

The agonizing scream he lets out echoes throughout the store, and yjh finds himself... Smiling? He watches the man’s face contort and writhe from the ongoing assault, before it morphs into pure terror as a shadow begins to loom over his pathetic face.

Yjh realizes he’s slowly being lifted, seen by the looming shadow growing over his victim. Something slick and warm encompasses his entire face, but yet his vision remains completely impaired—actually it seems more enhanced than usual.

That same warmth envelops his entire body, from his torso, to legs and to every remaining extremity of his body until he’s completely covered by it. He looks on to the man’s cowering form he holds in his enlarged hand. Then that same bellowing voice moved from his own lips.

“You look absolutely appetizing like this,”

Before the poor man he sees a hulking black mass figured vaguely in a humanoid form. Two horns emerge from its forehead, unnatural milky white eyes stretch out outlandishly and its face splits open to reveal hundreds of rows of teeth.

A horrifyingly disgusting appendage shoots out from its mouth, and practically licks across the man’s face. Then it pulls back, and he watches its ghastly grin split its face even further.

“You are quite the catch,” Was the last thing he heard before the creature lunges out.

Yjh watches as blood splatters out all around him. He could feel every squirm, every turn and every crunch of flesh in his mouth. He feels eyes pop out under his molars, then something unnervingly smooth hitting his tongue. His throat gulps it down greedily.

He finds it disturbingly satisfying.

He then drops the man’s beheaded corpse, turning to the other two remaining men and disposing of them the same perturbing way. The hunger he felt earlier began to soothe itself every bite he takes. It’s addicting but horrendous.

Then he hears a mangled scream before several more gunshots ring out. He turns around and sees what looks to be more of the robber’s gang outside, shooting at him with their petulant guns and other firearms. He grumbles excitedly, before lashing out several more tendrils.

Each appendage grabs onto the lackeys, and with inhuman precision he tosses and bangs them at each other’s bodies, watching in glee as blood parades the air before him. His heavy steps echo through even the alleyway as he approaches his next live snack.

He steps out into the red limelight, grabs each writhing body and unhinges his jaw to an unsettling degree and goes to bite into each head until—

He hears the sound of sirens wavering from the distance. And suddenly yjh pulls himself back into reality.

He looks back into the store and sees the teen from earlier shaking with a phone in his hand.

Yjh has to get out of here, he realizes. Compelling himself into control of his own limbs, he forces himself to drop the men and rush off into the night.

The sirens blare from the distance, yet he leaps and bounds with abnormal strength from alley to alley, building to building and finally jumps into the nearest body of water, submerging and hiding himself from all possible eyes.

Swimming with great speed, he is suddenly expunged from the water and into a lone floating hill in the middle of the lake.

Its only then when he’s out of the water that yjh realizes the terror and brutality he’s committed.

“I just... I-I just bit that guy’s head off, I just— what the fuck,” he heaves in and out, gripping and clawing at his chest. He just killed someone, no— he just cannibalized someone. Just what the hell kind of parasite did he have in his head.

Then, as if it heard his bumbling, a black mass slowly emerges from his shoulder and forming eerily into a deformed head in front him. Yjh watches those same two horns, white eyes and sharp teeth form before him but in a much smaller scale. The creature smiles at him.

An unknown feeling grips inside of him.

“What—“ no, he senses that’s not the right answer he should ask. Yjh narrows his eyes at the creature, and composes himself to the best of his ability.

“Who the hell are you?”

“I am your companion... Your life and death companion.”

(And that ends the exposition uwu)

((W8 OMG I think I didn’t word this proprly!! Just wanted to let yall know I’m not DONE DONE with this thread I was just trying to say I finally completed the intro to this AU and finally just set up the premise of it so far 😭😭))