Thread by @chuncao0803

#joongdok - fantasy AU

"Yoo Joonghyuk. Do you have any last words?"

A noble who he couldn't remember his name spoke in a mocking tone. Even if he did have any last words, they wouldn't allow him to finish his sentence because that's how nobles were - selfish, egotistical, and

arrogant. In their minds, a commoner let alone a criminal like him would never deserve their attention.

Yjh didn't answer, but he raised his head to look straight into the eyes of the other noble. He could feel the man flinch at his gaze, sweat starting to pour down his ball-

like body.

"You! Kill him."

The noble tried to avoid his gaze as he shouted at the executioner who had been standing by yjh's side. Upon hearing his order, the man wordlessly lifted the axe, his expression as blank as the white on a person's funeral clothes.

Yjh closed his

eyes. He prepared himself for what was about to come, which had happened countless times before. It was weird how calm he was in the face of death, with a lone thought running through his empty mind.

[Finally, it's time for me to die.] He mused, hoping that this would be the

last time he could have such thought. But reality wouldn't be itself if it wasn't cruel to his joke of a fate, choosing to make everything go against his wish.

"Clang."

A crisp sound resonated throughout the quiet room, indicating the fate of the poor axe in the executioner's

hand. Yjh didn't need to move to know what kind of face the other man was making. After all, it wasn't the first time something like this happened.

"M-Monster!"

The noble was the first to make a noise, his trembling voice soon followed the broken axe.

Ah, it seemed like he

didn't get to die today as well.

-

"Oho, I heard you break an axe today, Joonghyuk-ah."

An unknown voice entered his ears as yjh made his way to the cell. The man was sitting on a chair outside of the bars, a notebook and a pen placed on a table in front of him. He sat in

the opposite direction of light, making it difficult for yjh to make out his face. However, from the look of his clothes, it was easy to guess that the stranger worked for the Order of Knights.

[Why haven't you died?] was the man's real thought.

Yjh ignored the man, choosing to

sit down on the hard dirty floor. He frowned as he saw a cockroach running across the cell, a frequent sight that he had been seeing ever since he was arrested and confined here.

"That axe is a precious artifact, the executioner must be crying his eyes now ahaha."

The stranger

crackled while trying to test his reactions. Upon seeing that his expression still hadn't changed once, the man sighed, opening his notebook and picking up the pen. Then, he started to talk.

"Yoo Joonghyuk. 28 years old. Alias: The Punisher. An assassin under Star Stream.

Arrested for committing numerous crimes against nobles and the royal family."

The other paused as he saw yjh's list of crimes. The normal reaction would be one of fear because no one was capable of imagining that a single person could single-handedly finish off that many people.

But to his surprise, the other person only let out a laugh before continuing as if nothing happened.

"Originally an orphanage who was adopted by the Dokkaebi King, and was later trained to become a member of the Star Stream. Joined the organization at the age of 16, been

successful at every single mission before being arrested by the royal guards three months ago. Received an order of execution, yet still alive and kicking here."

The stranger closed his notebook as he finished his monologue. In a span of five minutes, he pretty much managed to

summarize yjh's nearly 30 years of suffering, which was a considerable feat in itself. Normally, people would have been trembling the moment they saw the list of his crimes, unable to say anything out of fear.

"Joonghyuk-ah, do you know that you are very famous among the

executioners?"

The man continued with his ramble as he heard no response from yjh.

"Hanging, decapitation, asphyxia. Nothing worked. It was as if the God of Death refused to meet you."

For some reason, the other's voice sounded... delighted. There must be something wrong

with his ears considering how much time he had spent underground.

"I have to say your will to live is quite strong, Joonghyuk-ah."

For the first time ever since he entered the cell, yjh raised his head, his face changed to one of frowning. Were he to be a more expressive

person, he would have laughed at the stranger's attempt at a joke.

"I don't want to live."

He gritted, thinking about the countless times he had tried to make a one-way trip to the Underworld.

"Then what do you want?"

Yjh could hear the other shift his position as the

sound of sword clinking resonated throughout the empty prison floor. The floor had been reserved exclusively for him as they deemed him too dangerous to be in contact with the other prisoners. It's not like he even had the will to talk to other humans, let alone those pests.

"Death."

The thing that others feared was something that yjh had been wishing for a long time. It was laughable how the gods decided to let a monster like him live while those who were innocent had little time to comprehend their short lives.

"Is that so? You never fail to

amaze me, Joonghyuk-ah."

Yjh couldn't see the other's face, but he could tell that the man was smiling judging from his tone. Was it normal for someone to laugh when a person mentioned their wish to die? He knew he wasn't in the position to judge but the assassin couldn't help

but feel that the stranger was one hell of a weirdo.

-

"The name is Kim Dokja. Nice to meet you, Joonghyuk-ah."

Kdj extended his hand towards yjh, but he quickly retreated it back after remembering the assassin was in no condition to accept a handshake. After all, he had

just stepped out of a cauldron full of hot oils.

After they failed to behead him yesterday, the nobles decided to boil him to death with oils. The method was known to be extremely painful due to its lengthy process, so those fools had expected it to finally be successful.

Even he was somewhat hopeful when he heard them bragging about the oils, saying that no one had ever made it out alive with how hot it was. He should have known to never trust the words of a noble.

Just like yesterday, yjh couldn't take a good look at the other's face. All he

knew was that kdj was a knight, a high-ranking one even. After all, the man wore the white uniform reserved exclusively for the royal knights - the same bunch who arrested him three months ago.

"Joonghyuk-ah, I would like you to answer some of my-"

"Scram."

Yjh spat, not letting the other finish his sentence. He didn't have time for those little chit-chats, even when he knew full well that they would torture him until he finally spitted out some information.

The assassin waited for words of insult to be sent in his direction,

something that the other knights always resorted to whenever they were angry at him. He was more than familiar with those words, so they no longer had any effects on him. Yet the moment kdj opened his mouth, yjh felt a shiver running down his spine.

"Hmm hmm, I was just

going to ask how your wife had been doing, but seemed like I got concerned over nothing."

The knight's tone of voice was light, one that people would use when they were exchanging words about their mundane life.

"You-"

"If you are going to ask how I know your wife then you

need to answer my questions first, Joonghyuk-ah."

It had been a long time since he had been taken this aback. The fact that he had a wife was a secret to the world, save for a few higher-ups in the Star Stream. How did a knight in the royal guards manage to get hold of that

information?

"Speak."

He spoke, trying his best to feign uninterested.

"Great! Let's get to work, shall we?"

Just like yesterday, kdj pulled a notebook and a pen out of his bag before placing them on the table. Then, he started to bombard the assassin with a myriad of

questions.

"Why do you start to work for the Star Stream?"

"Money."

And he didn't have a choice. Back then, the 16-year-old him was too intimidated by the Dokkaebi King that he couldn't refuse his orders. Time flew and before he knew it, his hands were tainted by so much

blood that it was impossible to head back.

"Why do you think you were arrested?"

"They set me up."

"They?"

"The Dokkaebi King and the Star Stream. They want to get rid of me."

The knight paused for a while upon hearing his order. After some moments, he decided to

continue with the questioning session.

"Why do the Dokkaebi King and the Star Stream want to get rid of you? Aren't you one of their important members?"

That's right. Almost everyone who knew the Star Stream would have heard of his name. After all, he single-handedly carried

the organization from when it was just a nameless group until even the nobles were terrified just at the mention of their name.

"I want to quit."

"Why do you even want to quit then?"

Yjh didn't know how to reply to the other's question. Even he wasn't clear about the answer

himself. It took him a while to come up with a decent answer that didn’t reveal much information.

"I got bored of killing people."

The Punisher, who was well-known to be cold-blooded, no longer wanted to kill? Others might laugh at his answer, saying that it was nothing but a

lie while in reality, he really had no intention of taking more lives with his own hands.

"Ok then, the last question for today. Do you still have any desire to die?"

Kdj asked as he closed his notebook and put his things inside the bag. It seemed like the annoying man

finally decided to leave yjh alone.

"I do."

The assassin didn't need to think to come up with the answer. After all, that was the only thing he had been thinking ever since the day the number of his victims reached two digits.

"I see."

The knight only let out a small hum

as he left. The moment he turned his back toward yjh, he couldn't help but wonder why did it feel so familiar to him.

-

That night, for the first time in a while, yjh dreamt about /that person/.

The dream was fragmented, consisting mostly of his memories in the past with the

other person. Eating lunch together, viewing the flowers in the garden, and watching the stars in the sky.

Those moments were mundane, yet they were weirdly addicting to him. No drugs in the Underworld were comparable to the sensations of these small memories. The two of them

didn't say a word to each other, but both of them knew what kind of feelings were inside the other person's heart. It had been a long time since he last felt such raw and genuine emotions.

It was peaceful, so peaceful that yjh nearly forgot he was in the middle of living hell.