absinthe // @gswjuhwan
I can't die? No, no that's not it... Did I die already?
Hangyeol stumbled along the main pathway that cut through Turtle Park, his usual route as the sky grew darker and less people decided to stick around. A chill still ran through his body. Or perhaps it was simply the now cold air, the specks of white dotting the ground and crunching beneath each step. He brought his hands to rub at his eyes, knuckles digging into the corners until the stinging dissipated. He clenched them closed and opened again. Indescript colors dotted his vision.
( The image still rang clear in his mind: a thick layer of slimy substance spread across his skin, fibrous and gooey like the guts of a persimmon. The feeling of sharp nails across his flesh, a sharp pain in his arm, then nothing. No scars or marks left behind. Wiping away blood revealed nothing. )
Dimmed overhead lamps enveloped the lighthouse keeper's erratic behavior in a thin layer of darkness. He wandered to and fro the main island road before ending up here for what seemed like hours, desperate to find someone and test the limits of his transformed body. Desperate to conclude that this was truly real and not the manifestation of too many days in isolation.
A faint smirk echoed across Hangyeol's lips as he approached Eunjong Shrine, pleased to see the candles and fire fueled lamps still illuminating the inside — even more so to find exactly who he was searching for. There were notably far better "targets" of experimentation; ones more prone to violence. However, Juhwan did not seem anything of the type unless provocation led him to it, and it is precisely why Hangyeol chooses him in his fit of compulsion.
"Hey," He spits out the greeting with a vitriolic tone, louder than he typically would. "You fucker." Forced. Hangyeol is not the sort to actively seek out conflict or violence. This is well-known, even for all the suspicion his occupation brought with it. The wind shifts around him all the same.
"I want you to hit me... hard as you can."