Archway (and a charming shadow)
REQUESTED: yes || no (@luminoustelle)
PAIRING:Ji Cheong-Sin x named fem!Reader
SUMMARY: You've just finished your shift, and are waiting in an alleyway for a bus because your phone is dead. That's a dangerous situation to be in. Especially with evil spirits around.
WARNINGS: harassment, 2 instances of language
A/N: stay safe my guys, make sure your phone is fully charged when you go out, make sure you have a ride home, or at least are sure that there will be a bus or a train or something, don't go into alleyways to wait, especially not in the night (but try to avoid them anyway)!
ALSO I'M SO SORRY THIS TOOK FOREVER, I HAD SUCH SEVERE WRITER'S BLOCK.
WORD COUNT: 1.6K
. ▒█▒█▒█▒█▒█▒█▒🔘▒█▒█▒█▒█▒█▒█▒ .
Zero could describe a lot of things in your life right now.
Zero energy, zero signal, and now, zero battery on your phone. You tapped the lifeless screen in an attempt to coax a response out of it, but to no avail. Your shift had already been hard, and this was just the cherry on top.
Maybe catching a bus would be a better option than calling a ride.
You stepped away from the building, but as you were about to cross the road, a drop of water splashed down onto your head.
And then another.
And another.
It didn't take long before the drops turned into a frigid downpour, and you, having nothing to cover yourself, were forced to run backwards into a nearby covered alleyway.
Great.
Could things get any worse?
No battery, no energy, and now no way of getting home on foot without getting soaked.
You grumbled internally at your situation. All you could do was wait.
A presence hung in the shadows. 2, if you counted the spirit.
"Easy kill here, Chun-gi." whispered a tiny voice in the man's ear. His eyes locked onto your back, looking you up and down. He brought a hand down to his pocket, and his fingers closed around the handle of a flip knife.
You were none the wiser to the danger approaching behind you, eyes straight ahead on the road, checking for buses, and staying warm.
Then, suddenly, you felt something behind you. Not a person, no. You'd feel less distressed if it was. You turned around sharply.
Nothing.
Your senses must've been tricking you, but something told you they weren't. The feeling persisted as you turned back around, pulling, nagging, urging you that something was there, something was there, something was there, turn around, turn around, turn around turn around TURN AROUND—
"Nice legs, pretty."
Your head would've flown off had you turned around any faster. You stepped back, now facing away from the road.
You looked the man in the eyes, before backing away to the opposite wall, ignoring the comment. You weren't in the mood for this.
"Aw, come on pretty, don't ignore me!" he persisted, stepping over to you again.
"Leave me alone."
"Heh, you're a feisty one. You've got a nice ass too."
"I said, leave me alone, asshole!"
The man's eyes shrunk into malevolent slits, mouth shifting from the leering grin, to something slightly more aggressive.
"Now that's just rude." he snarled, hand creeping to his pocket.
"Rude girls like you need to be taught a lesson."
The next few seconds stretched out like dripping tar. You saw the telltale glint of a knife in his hand, and immediately turned and ran out of the alley towards the road, before being grabbed by your collar and fully thrown backwards into it.
People can't do that? People can't do that!
No fucking way.
You crawled backwards, getting up a safe distance away, frantically searching for another route out of the alley. 3 paths, 3 dead ends.
One outcome.
Wielding your bag like a club, you scanned for any possible escape route. Climbing the wall? Nothing to hold onto. You could jump on a bin and try from there, but the chance you'd fall was too high.
The man stepped closer.
"She's got no escape, and there's no one here! Now slit her pretty little throat."
He flipped the blade out.
You swung your bag around you, once, twice, before lunging forward and smacking him around the head.
Dazed, he fell.
You made a break for it, dropping the bag, but something grabbed your ankle, and you faceplanted into the pavement.
The man got up, didn't bother to wipe himself off, grabbed your collar, yanked you up, and slammed you against the wall. Now unarmed, all you could do was use your arms to block your face.
Nothing you could do. You'd bleed out in a dinky little alleyway, and your body would be found maybe hours later. He would've gotten away by then.
But you didn't give him the satisfaction of a defeated expression.
"Any last words, pretty?"
"Fuck you."
And as if that expletive was a message to the world that death was not on your agenda today, a voice called out.
"Hey!"
You both turned at the same time. A man stood on top of the wall you'd been planning to climb, pale grey skies making his figure a shadow.
"What do you want." the man said, dropping the knife into his sleeve.
"What are you doing to that lady?" he replied.
"Lady? This is my wife! Isn't that right, honey!"
Obviously you'd protest. And as you were about to, you felt the smooth metal against the back of your neck. One wrong word and you were dead.
And so, letting fear widen your eyes, you nodded, shaking.
"What are you doing! Don't try and steal my kill!"
"I'm not. This host has an annoying sense of morality."
"Leave!"
"I'll try and make him— oh?"
"Oh what?"
"Just got an exciting new proposition. Kill you instead."
"I doubt that. Let go of her."
"Or what?"
He jumped off the wall, landing effortlessly and almost soundlessly.
"Wanna find out?"
"You're dead."
The man, as if he'd heard something, seemed to tremble slightly. The pressure of the knife did not disappear, in fact, quite the opposite, you could feel your skin threatening to give. You gasped.
The man saw your face change, and in a single, fluid, completely unexpected motion, he kicked the man in the jaw. He crumbled like so many bricks. The knife clattered to the ground.
"You're so dead."
He looked at you. Looked at the pouring rain. Looked at your lack of anything waterproof. He reached into his pocket, and pulled out a folding umbrella.
"Here. I'm guessing the reason you were here in the first place was because of the rain."
You were hesitant. He grinned, and shouted,
"Think fast!"
On reflex, you caught the object. You looked back to the man, teeth bared in a friendly smile.
"I'll deal with this guy later." he said, walking up to you.
"I could walk you to the bus stop, if you'd like?"
"Um...if it's no trouble."
"It isn't."
With one last glance at the unconscious man, your saviour got up and the two of you left the alley together. You put the umbrella up between the two of you, sending raindrops flying and running down the sides.
You walked in stunned silence for a few minutes, brain processing what just happened. You'd come so very close to death, one slip of the hand away from bleeding out on your way back from work. And this man, this mysterious silhouette had jumped off a wall and saved you.
"So, um, I just wanted to say thank you."
He looked down at you.
"It's no worries. What's your name?"
"I'm Yeong-nae. What about you?"
He paused briefly.
"Cheong-sin. I like your name."
"Thanks, my mom gave it to me!"
He chuckled. It was an oddly pretty noise. It might have been random, but you felt yourself get a little warmer.
The shelter of the bus stop got closer as you made your way through the rain, chatting and laughing. The sound faded out into a comfortable silence, and you could hear the bus approaching.
"Well, it was nice meeting you!" he grinned, eyes locking briefly on the bus.
"And you! Maybe I'll see you again?"
He smiled.
"Maybe."
The bus rolled up, you waved goodbye, and he began to walk off, before you realised the umbrella was still in your hand.
"Wait! Your umbrella!" you called out, not daring to chase after him, lest you miss the bus. He looked back with a cheeky grin on his face, before jogging off. Friendly curses left your mouth as you folded it back up and got into the bus, sitting down on the first seat you found.
That interaction remained in your mind for quite a while. A strange, charming silhouette named Cheong-sin. Hopefully you would see him again.
As your bus rumbled down the road he made sure it was out of sight before he dashed back down the pavement, heading back towards the alley.
"You didn't have to waste so much time, you know."
"And you don't have to be so picky but you don't hear me complaining."
The brick arch of the alley made itself known, but the man was gone.
"He's still close."
He stepped into the alleyway, footsteps silent like a cat's. The spirit signalled him towards the wall at the opposite end of the alley, and there was a telltale splotch of blood on the umber bricks. Bingo.
With an impressive leap, Cheong-sin leaped straight up onto the wall, and looked down. Oh, what a pitiful sight. He had clearly attempted to climb the bins and escape over the wall, but his head was still scrambled so he'd cut himself on the knife, and fallen into the bushes behind.
"Hello again."
"Go to hell."
"Already done that one."
"Traitor!"
"Relax, you'll just be making me more powerful. Greater good, you know?"
He hopped down into the shrubs, crouching over the man's body as his eyes bled into crimson. There were no screams, barely a struggle as the ash-cloaked blue smoke of a corrupted soul was forced out of his mouth, and into Cheong-sin's, his eyes staining to black, veins twitching at the sudden surge of power.
The body was left in those shrubs as Cheong-sin took a flying leap onto the roof, landing effortlessly. Brushing himself off, he cracked his back before staring into the road, the red top of your bus disappearing into the distance.
Maybe he would see you again.
