#trying to convince someone else to join you in those places when they're not 12 degrees of fucked up isnt easy dksmns

[plasticsandwich]

what a beautiful wet world outside (raining). where should i go to scream today

[excelsi-or]

summoned (pt. 12)

In reality, this section is a continuation of the last part, but I didn't want part 11 to be like 4k+, so I split them. Posting the next part alongside this, so not long to wait. :)

pairing: woozi x fem!reader/fem!OC

w.c. 1.8k

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | part 7 | part 8 | part 9 | part 10 | part 11

Hansol gets out of the car, holding his stomach as he stretches. "Mr. Demon, your car is dope and your driving skills are mental."

"Were those good things?" Jihoon asks as the two humans lead the way across the street.

"The highest praise from Hansol, really," Seokmin states. But the angel's focus in on the other human, who is now walking across the street without stopping for traffic. Hansol walks alongside her, unbothered.

"I already exorcised her," Jihoon says.

"That was a few days ago. You then brought her around more demons than she's probably ever exposed herself to." Seokmin shakes his head. He's about to say more, but the wilting flowers in the flower shop next door catch his attention. "I'm going to suggest to the florist that she close shop for the day. Just in case you..."

"What do you think I'm going to do?" Jihoon demands, his hand on the door to the convenience store.

"I don't know, but the less human casualties the better." Seokmin disappears into the flower shop, no doubt wearing his most charming smile. 

"What have you been doing back here, Mrs. Han?" Jihoon can hear her voice from the backroom. Hansol is standing in the doorway. Mrs. Han is nowhere to be seen, though Jihoon can guess where the angel is.

Hansol glances over his shoulder and motions with his head for Jihoon to join him.

Mrs. Han is sat in the desk chair. But Jihoon can't even fully process the scene, because his human is talking. Everything she's saying sounds a little bit more convincing. It's starting to sound like someone—or something—else entirely. Jihoon studies her figure closely, looking for any signs that his human isn't in there.

But as with most things about her, he's terribly unsure. Without knowing for sure if she had a soul in the first place, he isn't sure what's got her acting so different now.

"According to you, someone came to you a few months ago asking about nuclear war? Why you in particular, Mrs. Han?"

"Oh, dear, if I knew that, I would have outed them to Him already! But they were threatening Ara!"

Hansol stiffens next to Jihoon. The demon glances his way but says nothing.

"And I didn't want anything to happen to her!"

She squats down next to Mrs. Han, gazing up at the older woman. Even Jihoon would be near swayed by anything his human asked of him if she looked at him like that. "How were they asking you to do it?"

"I..."

Her hand reaches out for Mrs. Han's, holding them between hers. "We can't keep Ara safe if we don't know what they've asked you to do."

"You're going to try to stop it?" Mrs. Han asks. "Dear, I think it may be too late for that now!"

Jihoon and Hansol both don't know how she's not blown away by Mrs. Han's volume.

"So you do know what they are doing."

"I only know my part in it! And even that I don't understand! But can't you feel it in the air?"

They're practically standing in the black smoke at this point. Hansol keeps clearing his throat.

"Show me and maybe we can figure it out."

Seokmin appears then as the two women fiddle around on the computer.

"Ara's okay?" Jihoon asks.

Seokmin nods, surprised that Jihoon bothered to remember the name. "Yes, she is. I told her to go home. Maybe visit her parents in the countryside." He peers into the room. "What's going on here?"

"Unsure. The human is being weird again," Jihoon states, his voice low. 

Hansol glances between them when Seokmin doesn't defend her immediately. The angel looks concerned.

But whatever she's doing seems to get them results. She waves them over. "Mrs. Han, can you explain what is going on?"

Mrs. Han hesitates, her gaze shifting between the four young-looking beings in her presence. The silence in the room is broken when Hansol coughs. The older woman gives Hansol a once over and seems to feel some sort of pity, because she explains what's happening on the screen. 

Apparently, someone had come to her, threatening Ara if Mrs. Han didn't agree to do this 'simple' thing for them. "They said that it wouldn't be too hard! They said that I would have no direct role in what happened! I was just..." Mrs. Han tries to find the words, "making it easier!"

"Why did you agree to do a demon's bidding, Mrs. Han?" she asks.

"They were definitely not a demon!"

"Not a demon." She looks to the others from her squat on the floor. "Not an angel either, probably."

The older woman huffs. "If it were an angel, I would have gone straight to Him and told Him what sort of ridiculous plans are being conjured up!"

"So, whoever or whatever this entity is asked you to do what exactly?" Jihoon asks. He takes a step into the room to view the screen over Mrs. Han's shoulder. "What is this?"

The older woman shakes her head. "I don't really know! They installed this program on my computer, told me to go on it, and press certain buttons! According to them, the program would do its work!"

"The program would do work all by itself?" She studies the screen. Whatever it's doing is beyond her science degree. She recognizes a few things, but not enough to really parse through what she's reading.

"All they told me was that this would go on my computer, that I shouldn't feel too guilty because I wasn't doing anything, and that He would understand since Ara was being threatened! And not just by some sick human!"

"How did you know that? If they were not a demon or an angel, why would you think they could actually do anything to Ara?"

The angel pauses to think over her answer. "It was something about their... aura! I just knew!"

She nods. While the other three don't like that answer, she understands what it means. Sometimes, you just know in your gut. "Okay, well, what exactly did they ask you to do?"

"Once every few weeks, I had to click a little button on the screen!"

They all wait for more, but nothing comes.

Seokmin asks, "That's it?"

Mrs. Han nods.

They all watch the screen. There are different sections to look at, clearly monitoring different things. She has to search up most of the words on the screen.

"Based on these words, they all connect to nuclear power."

Seokmin hums. He points to the bars in the corner. "Then these bars must be temperature and radiation levels."

"Temperature is rising," Jihoon comments.

Hansol looks to Mrs. Han. "Do you know what the person... being... thing looked like? You kept saying "they", but I'm assuming one being."

Mrs. Han describes one being in a human form dressed all in white with white hair to match. They had green eyes. "Not just their irises, but what are normally the whites of people's eyes!"

"Like this?" Jihoon's eyes flick to their cat-eye form.

Mrs. Han tips her head. "I told you they weren't a demon, but it was similar! Eerie!" She shivers. "And permanent!"

"The temperature rising stopped," Hansol says. There is a red zone and the temperature has not quite reached that point yet.

"Mrs. Han," Seokmin draws out her name, "how many times have you done this?"

"I would say... 20 times! Potentially more!"

Seokmin had been doing his own searches. He shows the phone to Jihoon. There are 25 nuclear reactors in the country.

"Would you say closer to 25, Mrs. Han?" Hanosl asks when Seokmin shows him the phone.

"That seems right." Mrs. Han's voice softens, which catches everyone off guard. They'd all been braced for another shout. 

Jihoon's eyes widen. "Did, uh, this entity happen to tell you anything more? Did you ask about their plans?"

The angel doesn't notice how the others are staring at Jihoon in concern. She snaps at him instead. "I was a little too worried about what they would do to Ara!"

"Okay, Mrs. Han." She pats the older angel's hand. "It is alright. We are not accusing you of anything." Her voice is velvety smooth, wrapping around Mrs. Han's human-like emotions and soothing any burns.

Seokmin and Jihoon's eyes widen at the effect her voice has.

"But... did you happen to get any more information from this being?"

Mrs. Han tips her head, leans into her touch, and nods. "Yes, actually! They left the room, as if to answer a phone call! Not that I heard a phone ring! But they said something about it taking time! That they would then meet somewhere when everything was ready!"

"Do you have any idea where that somewhere could be?"

"'The first one' is what I heard!"

Silence falls on the group as they process this information. Seokmin moves to extract Mrs. Han from the human's grasp. "I sent Ara home." He helps the older angel to her feet. "Maybe you should watch over her. Make sure she doesn't come back to the shop. It's not..." He looks around the black billowing smoke around them. He's surprised he's been able to keep from coughing. "Not exactly safe."

"The smoke is really horrid, isn't it?" Mrs. Han sighs, following Seokmin's gaze. They watch Seokmin guide her out of the shop. He soothes any hurt feelings. The last thing they need is Him reigning down the angels if Mrs. Han decides to go to Him with her deeds.

She slips into Mrs. Han's seat and turns to Hansol and Jihoon. "Right, so, what do we do?"

Hansol looks to Jihoon.

"What do nuclear reactors do?" Jihoon asks.

"Create energy."

The demon waves his hand dismissively. "Not what I meant. I meant what can they do for the demons' cause?"

They sit in silence until Seokmin returns.

"What if," she starts, "if it is about bringing about the apocalypse...." She sits back in the seat and tips her head back to look up at the ceiling. Her voice changes, something the others are more familiar with. "They're just trying to pollute the world as much as possible." She'd noticed the temperature tipping up into the red. "A nuclear reactor meltdown would be devastating. Twenty-five of them? I don't know if we'd be able to recover."

"There's war in other countries. Political corruption, pollution, divisiveness," Seokmin agrees. "Whatever they've started, it won't take much more to tip it over. The Horsemen are probably already here."

"They're here?" Hansol demands. "I thought we were talking metaphorically."

"No, they're real," Jihoon hums. "What did Mrs. Han mean when she said 'the first one'?" He studies his human.

And what did Linnaeus mean when he said she may have a bigger role to play?

Seokmin shakes his head when the humans don't answer. "Mrs. Han isn't sure what it means either."

"I don't think we're going to learn much else here." She stands, her hand running over the keyboard. She makes a point of closing the program on the computer and then leads the way out.

part 13