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One blow would do it, he found himself yearning. One well placed blow.
A blow to the head.
---
"Where's the American who looks like us?" Hui-Seong said as a greeting as he took a seat at their familiar table.
The middle seat. Always.
A rare constant in a life full of fickle frivolities.
"He'll be late," Dong Mae answered as he poured a glass for Hui-Seong. How odd. "After all, he just left."
Hui Seong frowned.
"I don't remember when I left the hotel today. I expect Hina to remember. She remembers everything about everyone."
A rare gentle smile bloomed on Dong Mae's face.
"She left before you. To visit her mother. I don't think she knows about you leaving yet. But I don't think she'll be happy to see you."
"But she'll be happy to see you?" Hui-Seong wondered. He could never be quite sure about the relationship between these two.
To his surprise, Dong Mae burst out laughing.
"I expect her to stab me if she sees me here."
Hui-Seong took a sip of his drink. His favourite whiskey? Why was Dong Mae drinking this? How could Dong Mae afford this?
How many glasses had Hui-Seong gulped down already?
"Stay with me then. I'll protect you," he said. Had his brain not been stuffed with cotton he would have never gathered the courage to say the words. But it was. So he did.
Dong Mae's gentle smile focused on him now. The sole subject of its warmth. Curious and curiouser.
"I have nowhere else to be, young master. Don't you see what this means?" he gestured towards the dingy bar that Hui Seong loved. "We're in this for the long haul."
It shouldn't have made sense to Hui Seong. He should have replied with a What do you mean? or at least How long?
But he knew. The cotton in his head was making a great deal of sense all of a sudden. He wanted to feel like this all the time.
Drunk. Valiant. Wanted.
A sudden pain clouded over Dong Mae's eyes.
"But it's not over yet."
Hui Seong nodded. "A blow to the head. That's all I need."
Dong Mae was pitying him, Hui Seong knew.
He was used to pity. Pity meant affection. He would accept affection, in whichever form it came to him. After all, it was only for the time being.
"The long haul" held the promises of much, much more than Hui Seong had ever had the opportunity to covet.
"A blow to the head won't end it, Hui Seong," Dong Mae's voice cut through his happy haze. "You'll still have some time left."
"Seconds?"
"Minutes. More than a couple."
"Ah," Hui Seong nodded. This made sense too. "It seems that I'll be done in by Time after all."
Thunder.
No. That was just the second's hand of the cursed golden clock reaching its destination.
Thunder again. One step closer to the end.
"All those times when you promised to run your sword through me... Don't you think this is the most opportune time to do it?"
Dong Mae reached out to grasp his hand.
"You should have come to my rescue a second time. I would have gladly run my sword through you."
Hui Seong laughed. It felt good to laugh here. His lip wasn't split in two halves.
"Why wouldn't you just save me instead?"
Dong Mae's smile finally broadened into the more familiar grin.
"Because you don't need saving, First Son of Kim."
"Damn right," Hui Seong said before gulping down the final shot of his favourite whiskey.
He raised his eyes towards Dong Mae.
"Come with me."
Dong Mae held his gaze.
"I thought you weren't going to be as cruel as the woman."
"It's in my blood to be cruel to you, Gu Dong Mae. And it is in your blood to suffer. Come with me."
A whole thunderstorm passed before Dong Mae nodded in defeat.
---
The chair swivelled and then hit the ground, hard.
Hui Seong could see two pairs of feet. Blood stained boots. Wooden slippers.
The wooden slippers seemed much more real for some reason.
"How much longer?"
The one wearing the wooden slippers kneeled down.
"Can you see?"
"Yes."
"Can you hear?"
"Does hearing you count?"
The baton came down somewhere over his hips. He couldn't tell his lower body parts apart anymore.
"Another three minutes," Dong Mae answered.
Hui Seong could hear thunder rumbling in the distance.
"It's a sunny day, is it not, dear Dong Mae?"
"It is," Dong Mae answered, lit up in the glow of a thousand suns.
"I love sunshine," Hui Seong sighed. "It makes beautiful things even more worth loving."
This time it was his shoulder. This one he did feel. Keenly.
"What shall we do when I leave?" Hui Seong wondered desperately to focus on anything but the pain. "Let's visit Eugene's mountain. We own all the plains. But the King owns all the mountains. And Eugene does too now, I guess." A sudden thought struck him. "Dong Mae, will they bury me in the mountains or the plains?"
Dong Mae huffed out a laugh.
"They'll throw you into the sea."
"The sea?" Hui Seong considered it for a bit, "Well, the sea is beautiful too. Will I see you there?"
"You're seeing me now."
Hui Seong sighed.
"How long?"
Dong Mae's eyes were fixed on something above him.
Hui Seong felt the wind ripped apart by the swing of the baton before he felt the baton itself.
Dong Mae stood up and extended his hand towards Hui Seong.
"Come."
The thousand suns exploded.
His sight held nothing but Dong Mae. He felt nothing but his touch.
"Do you drink coffee?" Hui Seong asked finally. The surroundings were coming into focus again.
The Glory Hotel. The warm yellow glow of the lights inside. He could see the shimmer of the chandeliers through the windows. Heavy velvet curtains which swung easily in the wind here.
Dong Mae's grasp on his hand tightened as he stepped closer to Hui Seong.
"I would prefer actual torture over that, young master," he whispered into Hui Seong's hair. "Room?"
A sharp intake of breath.
At what point in eternity will the thrill of this fade? Hui Seong found himself wondering
"304. Don't follow me. I keep my windows open."