Minji
A fire I never asked for
I watched it all unfold like a cruel play I couldn’t step away from.
Yuna, standing in the pale red light of the demon sky, her hand pressed to the fresh mark on her chest. Her breath hitched.
Her eyes, usually fierce and burning with defiance, shimmered like they were about to overflow.
And Taeyang—cold, furious, terrified—just stared back at her, as if fate had struck him down with a blade he never saw coming.
And still… he said nothing.
My heart twisted. I wanted to reach for her, to grab her hand and pull her away from the wreckage. But I couldn’t move. Because in that exact moment—my own mark burned.
A searing heat, right under my ribs. Like something sacred had been branded into me. I gasped, clutching my side, staggering back as the air itself felt like it had thickened with dread.
He was behind me. I didn’t need to look to know.
“Minji,” Jisoo’s voice cracked like thunder softened by guilt.
I turned. Slowly. The pain in my chest wasn’t just from the mark—it was from the memory of his betrayal. The way he’d held Taeyang back. The way he let them take her. The way I was the reason he claimed to have done it.
“Don’t,” I whispered, voice shaking. “Don’t come closer.”
“I didn’t have a choice,” he said, eyes wild. “They threatened you. I couldn’t risk—”
“No.” My hand flew up. “You didn’t do this for me, Jisoo. You did this for yourself.”
His brows furrowed, wounded.
“I did it to protect—”
“You lied. You held Taeyang down. You did nothing while the demon king’s fire swallowed the only person who’s ever truly seen me. And now you want to, what? Say you did it for me?”
He stepped forward and I slapped him.
The crack of it echoed louder than his betrayal.
He flinched, not from the pain—but from the truth in my touch. I saw it. The same way I saw the flicker of red in his eyes—the demon side he kept buried trembling beneath the guilt.
“You don’t get to decide what sacrifices I’m worth,” I said, voice breaking. “You broke me. You broke her. And now you want to wear the weight of it like some noble martyr? You don’t get that.”
The silence between us was suffocating.
“I thought…” he whispered. “I thought you were my redemption.”
“I was never yours to redeem,” I said, turning away before he could see the tears burning down my cheeks.
“And you were never mine to trust.”