Eun Jun rubbed his neck, his heart still hammering against his ribs from the encounter earlier. "I don't know why I grabbed it," he admitted, his voice sounding hollow in the quiet room. "Something in me was just... telling me to take it. I don't know what it was, but is that really the part of the sword you've been looking for?"
Daki didn't answer immediately. Her eyes, sharp and predatory, stared deep into the shard. A slow, dark smirk pulled at the corner of her lips. Without a word, she raised a hand, tracing a circle in the air. A shimmering, translucent barrier slammed down around the table, sealing the object inside.
"What is that?" Eun Jun asked, leaning in.
"Want to know?" Daki whispered, her eyes never leaving the metal. "Come on. Touch it."
Eun Jun didn't hesitate. He reached out, his fingers passing through the shimmering veil. The moment his skin grazed the fragment, a violent surge of white-hot electricity tore through his arm. He was thrown backward, his boots skidding against the floor as his teeth rattled in his skull.
"Honesty," Daki said, her voice dripping with cool indifference, "you should have died from that."
"Why didn't you warn me?!" Eun Jun gasped, clutching his numb hand to his chest. He glared at her, but she remained unmoved. "And aren't you going to ask where I got it from? Or who I had to go through?"
"I don't care," she replied flatly. She was still smirking at the piece, looking at it as if it were the most precious..and dangerous..thing in existence.
Eun Jun paced the kitchen, the adrenaline finally turning into a cold dread. "The guy I took it from... he was huge. Honestly, Daki, I might be in serious trouble now. People like that don't just let things go."
"I don't care," she repeated, her tone bored.
"Why do you keep saying that?" Eun Jun snapped, his frustration boiling over. "I'm telling you, I might not even make it home tomorrow if they find me."
Daki finally looked up, her gaze icy. "Why would you say that? I'm not done using you yet."
Eun Jun let out a bitter, dry laugh. "Haa... I should have known. That's all I am to you, right? A tool."
"So don't worry," Daki said, turning back to the table. "As long as I'm still on this ugly earth, nothing will happen to you. I protect my property."
Eun Jun looked away, muttering under his breath, "As if hell is any prettier. I bet it's uglier than my own shit."
Daki's head snapped toward him, her eyes narrowing. "What did you say?"
Eun Jun jumped, quickly waving his hands in defense. "I…I mean! Hell must be beautiful! Majestic, really!"
"Yes, it is," Daki said, a rare trace of genuine longing in her voice. "I can't wait to get back."
"Then why won't you tell me why you're even here?" Eun Jun asked, seizing the moment. "Why are you on Earth if you hate it so much?"
"You don't deserve to know," she countered.
"Why not?"
"Because," she said, looking him up and down with a sneer, "you are ugly."
"I'm ugly?!" Eun Jun yelled, his face flushing red. "You're ugly too! And why do you keep staring at that thing like it's your long-lost lover? I'm the one you owe for getting that! Why can't I know just a little bit about you after what I went through?"
Daki didn't blink. She just turned back to the sword fragment, the barrier humming with a low, ominous power. "Knowing me is a death sentence, Eun Jun. Be glad you're only 'ugly' and alive.