An odd, simplistic mark was etched into his skin. The lines looked like something an amateur tattoo artist would draw for a few bucks in a dirty basement. The design itself was unfamiliar to Hyeon. It looked like three weirdly shaped letters that were squished together.

ᛓᛖᚾ

FMT? What is that?

Double-checking if it was actually real, Hyeon grabbed the white bar of soap and rubbed furiously at the mark. After a minute of scrubbing, his skin was completely covered in thick, white bubbles. Taking a big breath, he placed his arm under the running sink water.

It was still there. What was its purpose? Hyeon tried shuffling quickly through his memories within the last 24 hours. It was difficult because his throat felt constricted from wanting to cry. Way too many abnormal things happened and it wasn't easy to process. After all, he thought he was human only the day before.

He saw demons, almost died, got hurt, non-consensually touched twice...

Hyeon felt his face become hot. His heartbeat started to speed up which deafened his hearing. Breathing came in short bursts and felt like he couldn’t get enough oxygen. Everything here wasn't NORMAL!

In the corner of his eye, he saw the contract laying on the counter. Although the entire situation was strange, the next thing he should do is think and read. Simple, right?

After closing his eyes, he told himself that it's okay. Don't freak out. Don't freak out. Just think. Think and read. You were told and experienced a lot. Right. So, after Sani and I walked through the cave, we had to hurry to the mansion. He said to stay close because—

Ah. That's right.

"We're within Festr's land, but you don't have the Lord's insignia. You're like a beacon to whatever is lurking."

Imoogi mentioned something like that, too.

"You already met Master, right? Where's your insignia?"

Hyeon's heart slowed down and his breathing wasn't so shallow. This subpar tattoo had something to do with that wolf guy. There was still so much he didn't know and how to handle this place. Grabbing the contract roughly, Hyeon laid down on the couch. Nammi strolled over and jumped onto his stomach. He waited for her to make some little biscuits before getting comfortable.

Hyeon read over the contract carefully again.

"This contract, dated on the 30th day of May in the year 20xx, is made between Festr Castle and Hyeon Falken of Toronto, Canada. This document constitutes an employment agreement between these two parties and is governed by the laws of New Zealand…"

Again, it seemed fine. It had the basic terms of employment, responsibilities, benefits, compensation, probation...wait.

Where's the termination clause?

There was no mention of providing written notice if he had to. No way could he stay and work under these conditions! Did Sani think it was okay to exclude that? Then again, it was Hyeon's fault for not being careful before signing. He groaned in irritation. But maybe, just maybe, it wasn't missing. Rather, perhaps it wasn't visible.

"Try to look at the contract," advised Sani.

Hyeon didn't know what he was supposed to do. How can he see something with supposed abilities he became aware of only a day ago? The situation literally wasn't fair. Can't he have just one good thing happen in his life that didn't end in the trash? Can't he have one good night of sleep without waking up in terror? And why was his upper back so sore now?

Hyeon was fuming to himself and tried stretching out his spine again. Nammi cried in protest from being disturbed and jumped off his body.

"I'm sorry, kitty," he said quietly. She looked up at him with yellow eyes which almost seemed to show pity. Despite the sleep interruption, her loud purrs rumbled through the quiet room.

Hyeon placed the papers over his face. His memory went back to when he was alone at his adopter's house:

Not long after he was adopted, he asked them for a photo of his deceased parents. Instead of being sympathetic, that man and woman laughed to his face. According to them, there was no way anyone would have a photo of a couple who'd let themselves be 'taken out.' The only evidence Hyeon could find was a library-archived newspaper. It had a small, photo-less article about a couple, Erik and Jiyoung Falken, being found dead in the streets with no leading suspect.

Sometime later, his ‘loving’ family went on a weekend getaway to Niagara Falls with only their 'real kids,' or so they put it. Whenever they'd leave him alone to go out, he took those chances to search through their belongings to find some sort of photo. They had to have one, right? The adoption agency was supposed to give them that information, correct? He wasn’t fruitful so far, but there were a few boxes left that he still had to hunt through. As soon as they left the house, he began rummaging through the attic. Climbing up the ladder into the dusty crawlspace, he opened the two remaining boxes. The first one didn't have squat and the second one didn't seem promising since it was only adoption paperwork. He removed all of the papers.

There.

A small Polaroid sat at the bottom. He carefully picked it up and examined the two people in it. A man with long, brown hair was bent over giving a kiss on the Korean woman's forehead who had black hair with butterfly clips. Their hairstyles and Nirvana t-shirts definitely fit the 90's grunge times. The style made Hyeon giggle because it was so old! The woman was really pretty and smiled big at the camera when receiving his kiss. She seemed to be laying in a hospital bed. In her arms, though, was a newborn baby.

Is that me?

"HEY," a stern, sharp voice bellowed behind Hyeon. He felt his stomach drop. Why were they home? He whipped around and held the picture. His adopted father's head was peeking above the attic door.

"Come down."

Hyeon's legs were shaking as he carefully walked over and climbed down the ladder.

"We come back after ten minutes to get my wallet and you're betraying our trust like this? Is this where you get off?" 

The scary man crudely took the picture from Hyeon's hand and strolled off to the kitchen. Hyeon followed but couldn't speak up about wanting it back. Dad turned on the gas stovetop to the highest setting. The fire sparked and waved sporadically as if wanting what was in his hands.

"In this house, we are your parents. No more asking. No more pictures. Thanks to you, you destroyed this last photo instead of leaving it alone." 

With that, he tossed the Polaroid into the little flames. Very quickly, the picture warped in shape and began charring into nothing. His dad huffed in satisfaction, grabbed the wallet he left behind earlier and went out the door.

Hyeon just watched as the last remnant of the photo burned into smoke. He was overcome with heartache and fell to his knees and hands. He bawled after losing the one thing he had searched for so long.

The memory of the photo was fuzzy now since that happened a long time ago. In resentment at having no one to rely on, he stood up with a defeated shout and threw the papers. Since paper obviously can't fly far, the numerous pages scattered around him. As he observed them fall to the ground, he shifted his gaze to the window. The dark, stormy clouds looked just as ominous as earlier.

Hyeon then noticed two lights in the glass. He walked over to the window to get a better look but didn't see anything physically outside. Giving up, he began to turn around until he noticed his window reflection. The outline of his body could be faintly seen including those two unfamiliar glowing circles. He got closer to the glass when he realized...

Those lights were coming from him!

He raced to the bathroom and fumbled around the wall to find the light switch. Finding it, Hyeon leaned forward to look at his face. Since he had hazel eyes, they can change color slightly depending on his feelings. Because of his dark mood from a cruel memory, his eyes were currently brown.

Staring back at him were two glowing brown eyes. It was like someone placed some of those glowy-glowy bacteria from that famous bioluminescent beach into his irises. He wiped his eyes and checked them again.

Are those really mine? How?

It reminded Hyeon of when he first met Master Fenrir and the other spirits. They all seemed to have a glow in their eyes as well when they felt angry. Was something finally happening to his unknown powers? He returned to the living space and gathered the contract papers. Nammi was laying on the couch watching him struggle to put them in order.

He read the first page again but this time...

It was different.

"This contract, dated on the 30th day of May in the year 20xx, is made between Festr Castle and Hyeon Falken of Toronto, Canada. This document constitutes an employment agreement between these two parties and is governed by the laws of Hell."