Chapter Text
At midnight life seemed to be alive with creatures of all races. Many nocturnal creatures are alive and thriving ranging from causing trouble, going to work, or whatever else fills in the time for them. Hoseok was currently sitting amongst colleagues in a large room holding a meeting discussing the current matters. After finishing messaging Namjoon, he silenced his phone and blocked off his mind link so he could focus.
“ So .. it was brought to my attention that a fellow magical creature named Myung Beomseok was found dead. His body was severely mutilated with his body parts spread out in different areas far from where his head was.” One of the council members, a being with extremely strong magical powers embedded in her being. Robyn has the ability of comic awareness, in which she can detect or sense anything that affects herself or those close to her on a galactic, universal, or interstellar scale. It allows her to detect potential threats, people talking about her, or anything that would affect her in any way. She is so strong that she can sense molecular movements across such distances. That’s why she was appointed the top council member who oversaw everything in a meeting. Even though some opposed that because they didn’t like that just because she had a powerful ability didn’t mean she should be the top dog. They learned to change their minds quickly and keep their thoughts to themself when Robyn got through to them.
She looked over at her fellow council members who sat amongst her at the huge table that sat in the middle of the room. It was freshly painted ( thanks to Robyn ) to the color black to fit the theme of the room they currently resided in. The ceiling above them opened showing the sky and all the clouds that surrounded them. They were surrounded by huge windows embedded in strong magical strings of power from the whole council to protect every ounce of this ship. This ship was created by a friend of Namjoon’s. The friend, Ace, who obsesses with Hoseok actually was the one to make this ship. He has the ability to use his imagination to bring dreams into a physical reality. Making this ship did take alot of energy from him, but it was worth it in the end and Hoseok was very thankful. ( Even though Ace was trying to get a thankful kiss from Hoseok but Namjoon cut that quick ). The ship has the ability to float in the air and stay there, and it sits amongst the clouds beside the city of dragons amongst the clouds.
The table they sat at, under it, the flooring was made of stone that was built into a circle around them with narrow pathways from all four angles of the circle leading out to a different door of the room. Under them surrounding the risen floor where they sat was filled with blood that filled in between each pathway. If a mere human fell into the blood, they would burn to death straight down to the bones. With a magical, if they touched the blood it would be just a tiny burn.
Residing inside the room currently were different species of those who all wield different abilities. One thing about the new council that was built by Hoseok himself. He wanted to make sure it was diverse and actually fair. Hoseok being amongst them representing the Vampires, he leaned his head against his hand dreading this a bit. He truthfully couldn’t stand some of those a part of the council due to the simple fact, some of them like to throw jabs at his mate Namjoon due to how he is a hybrid of two creatures who shouldn’t procreate. But then he remembers for placing them in the council himself. Honestly he could just kill them but it would cause an uproar at the sudden deaths in this generation. Plus he knew that even though he created this table, it didn’t mean alot of them agreed with Hoseok's personal life with his coven, as if it was their life to know.
He found their prejudice stupid but also knew he couldn’t change a mindset that’s deeply ingrained in someone’s head or families for generations. But, it doesn’t mean that it isn’t sad to see how they would let their hate manifest so deep. Especially Park Ma-ri, who is the head of the Medical Council that oversees all the Medical Networks in all of Korea. He didn’t know her all that personally but he knew of her and her track record from back in the day that suddenly banished within thin air giving her a clean slate on the internet. He could feel the stares she was giving him from across the table like he didn’t notice. He could burn this whole place down right now with everyone within it, but how would that be fair when it’s only a few bad apples amongst this group. Hoseok with common sense kept his mouth closed, clenched his jaw and looked around as everyone was having small chatter about different matters.
He rolled his jaw around before sitting forward, “ Did— ”
Everyone had stopped talking immediately, turning to give their undivided attention to Hoseok, “—any of you just listen to what Robyn just said or are all of you deaf?”
Ma-ri huffed, “No. We heard her loud and clear”
“Then act like it, Doc. You were invited here to be included in this discussion just for the simple reason a worker of yours is dead under you and your colleagues watch. Along with other matters that are fluttering around and now we need to get to the bottom of everything.” Hoseok spat, but Robyn raised her hand to silence them both.
“Jung, thank you.. but it’s okay. I don’t need anyone to speak for me, I can handle when grown adults' minds seem to wander away from reality.” Robyn spoke, her voice very gentle as she gave a curt nod to Hoseok, who gave one back. Everyone can hear the dark undertone of her response to Hoseok, the get your shit together or I’ll fix it for you in between the lines was loud and clear. She turned to look into the direction of Ma-ri, her white eyes freaking the Doctor out a bit. “Are you ready to continue this conversation or do you need another minute?”
Ma-ri rolling tsked at the attention given to her right now, “I’m ready to continue this.”
“Good, now a worker named Beomseok Myung was reported missing almost two weeks ago, and he was not found in the best of ways. The same day when he was reported missing, a dead body was also reported missing because it had disappeared as well. That body still hasn’t been turned up yet.” Robyn gave a stern look to Ma-ri before looking at everyone else around the room as she continued.
“Another matter is that the rise of cults is alarming, and how they have been moving very boldly. Especially Doyoung, he is a man who has done alot of wrong in his life and finally was caught and I hope he is kept. however, that leaves all these fledglings that were under him. That also leaves fledglings within churches, maybe other cults that are flourishing and I do believe since Doyoung was caught that makes other leaders who feel the need to possibly try and leave Seoul.” Robyn shook his head at the thought of them trying to traffick young fledglings to another part of Korea without being detected.
Alot of them nodded along listening, Hoseok's mind just thought about Jungkook. His mind was rambling around at the thought of how Jungkook and his friend could’ve been those fledglings that could have been trafficked to somewhere else and never be seen again. That made him feel sick but he had to focus on the conversation in front of him.
“Along with that there has been a rise of kidnappings of fledglings that fall within the trafficking of them. Families are banging our door to do something and stop this and to bring their fledglings back home. Which.. we will bring them back home, we will make sure of it.”
“We can’t make a huge promise like that, because when we do find them – we might not be that lucky at the result.” a goblin named Trinket replied, “What if some of them are already dead?”
“Even so, shouldn’t we still bring the body home, no? They do deserve to lay at peace with their family around them.” Robyn replied back, which made Trinket shut his mouth.
Robyn sighed a bit stressed now, “Okay also last thing, the fledglings have been fed apparently this brew which tricks their bodies into thinking it’s blood or something. I’m not exactly sure yet. But, it does have a drug effect on the fledglings. However, we will get into that later. Let’s start with the missing bodies-” Robyn looked at Ma-ri squinting her eyes. “Would you like to walk us through what led up to the bodies being missing?”
“I’d love to hear this..” A dragon on the side sneered lowly but caught a side eye from Robyn, and he quickly mumbled a sorry .
“It started when this particular hospital where Beomseok worked as an inspector alongside Demon Diagnostic Summoners. He worked with this fledgling named Jeon Jungkook–”
“You allowed a hospital to hire a fledgling?” A boisterous voice echoed through the room coming from none other than Arthur, a centaur. He rolled his eyes at even the thought of places allowing fledglings, nestlings or just anyone who was changed and brought back to life as a supernatural being allowed to work when they are learning about themselves. They haven’t even controlled their urges, nor their powers that they gain.
On the other hand, Hoseok felt highly offended for a quick second hearing Arthur, but he quickly diminished his own anger a bit confused at feeling that way but still kept his cool.
Ma-ri sighed, “Arthur. Yes, I did. He is a very talented and smart individual, and I will stand by that.” she says, “During a procedure, It went wrong. The missing body was killed that night due to a high end demon being summoned into the body instead of a low end demon. Kim Namjoon –” Ma-ri's eyes turned to meet Hoseok’s.
“Jung’s mate, was the hybrid that was summoned into the body but with how powerful he is it instantly killed the human on the table.”
Hoseok gritted his teeth, continuing to keep his cool.
“Your mate, Namjoon, is a part of this?” Arthur asked, it sounded as if he was speaking in an accusatory tone. And, Hoseok didn’t like this at all.
“He is a victim.” He looked around the room, “Let me repeat myself so you understand, he is a victim within this because someone summoned him against his will. And, it wasn’t the fledgling’s fault. But with how this situation is going and whoever planned this whole thing is trying to make the fledgling take the fall.” Hoseok’s voice held annoyance, his eyes staring straight towards Arthur, “So speak about them both like you have some sense.” Then his eyes looked towards Ma-ri.
“ Or , we are going to have a problem.”
Ma-ri turned her eyes away quickly, then began to speak again after clearing her throat awkwardly.
“After the human died, the death fell on Jungkook’s shoulder because he administered the procedure so it fell on him and his team even though it isn’t his fault. The rightful punishment was to suspend him from those procedures for six months. But things became weird after that, Beomseok went missing when he went to go visit the human remains in the morgue but when he went there it was gone, and soon a black shadowy force took Beomseok within the morgue. That's all we know.”
A fey – Primrose that was sitting silently had sat forward and decided to speak up, “Where are the human parents?”
“That’s the thing .. The parents went on a trip after he died. We were trying to contact her but she didn’t answer until a few days ago telling us how busy she was and couldn’t answer before. We told her that her son's body was missing and she went into hysterics blaming us and how we lost him and how we need to get him back. Even though that is a typical parent and human reaction, it .. seemed a bit fake. It sounded as if she practiced it.”
“Fake, how so? ” Primrose asked, Hoseok was also wondering.
“Have you ever interacted with a human yourself before? Also I do not ask this with any type of malice.” Ma-ri said.
“Yes, I have.”
“Okay, so with humans they are tricky when it comes to emotions. They all grieve in different ways, they all are happy in different ways, they all are depressed or sad in different ways. It’s not a consistent reaction to whatever the situation is about. Sometimes the reaction does not even match what you would think it should be sometimes. With the human mother–” She glanced around before back down at the table, “it seemed a bit off, a bit fake. Like I’ve heard countless humans suffer in agony, and once again they're not all the same reaction. But with the mom when I explained everything to her, it seemed to lack emotion. Nothing behind her words, and when I mentioned about her son it just sounded as if once again the emotion that she was giving was rehearsed as if she was waiting to show off her talent of crying.” Ma-ri explained, and Hoseok raised a brow.
“That’s a bit scary.” Primrose muttered and she could hear a couple hums agreeing.
“Okay, that’s unfortunate but apparently there is an investigation going on for that right now?” Robyn asked.
“Yes.” Mari-ri said, and Robyn nodded.
“Okay. Besides that, I see Jeon Jungkook is –” Robyn’s eyes widened a bit noticing something, “He was one of Doyoung’s fledglings?”
I’m going to kill him, Hoseok thought in disgust.
Everyone around the table besides Hoseok’s eyes widened.
“I didn’t even know that.” Ma-ri expressed, “I could ask the hospital for clarification.”
Hoseok's eyes cut to Ma-Ri raising a brow silently questioning. Apparently Primrose was mentally thinking the same as him but not as quiet.
“Wait—” Primrose says, which made everyone quiet down listening, “How would you not know that Doyoung is his sire? The council—you all are in charge of the fledglings you give a job too, it’s apart of the Fledgling ACT that was put in place by you all in the first place to know exactly who each fledgling sire is, and to keep up with villages or so for fledglings who work in the medical field?” She says, “Especially if something happens you could be able to contact said sire when something happens?”
Hoseok was glad he wasn’t alone in his thoughts.
Ma-Ri just stared at her, “Do you know how many fledgling are in the system? It’s too many for any of us high power magicals to remember each single one. I didn’t even know that Doyoung was some type of criminal before some days ago, so please! Sorry that I didn’t know one or two of the fledglings in the system was under a criminal.” She retorted as she placed down her pen a little harder than she wanted too.
Felix eyes widened before giving a side eye to Hoseok seeing how he was looking at Ma-Ri and swallowed the questions he wanted to ask and decided to wait till after the meeting to ask him.
“Mm.” She glanced at Hoseok but it was too quick for anyone to catch. “I was just wondering is all.”
Ma-Ri rolled her eyes looking at Hoseok herself but quickly changed the direction she looked due to being caught by Hoseok already staring at her with a glare.
Robyn slowly nodded thinking a bit after that whole conversation, “He is one of the fledglings. On the topic of Doyoung, when reading up on him it seems he has been around and a problem for a long time and went under many names and it seems as if this time he changed himself to look a certain way and go by Doyoung. Realistically, none of us knows his real name due to how much he has changed it. He started a cult possibly for numerous reasons and he was able to lure in families and orphaned fledglings and also kidnapped some of these fledglings to be a part of his cult. He may have committed some murder as well. On the list of fledglings that were there. There is a fledgling named Kunpimook Bhuwakul. He is a fledgling. He is one of the missing fledglings that was listed a long time ago. Two weeks after Kunpimook was taken, he went by a new name called Bambam, and soon his family was found dead and bodies were left not too far away from the Bhuwakul residence.” She read off the paper in front of her.
Trinket raised his hand, and Robyn looked at him. “Yes?”
Trinket placed his green hand towards his mouth touching against his tusks, as he blew out a breath. “I know we haven’t finished the full conversation about Doyoung nor the fledglings but as you all were talking, I was thinking what if with the whole cults and so on. What if it’s like a network…” he says, “that’s like in a partnership with churches, and the black market? Especially when reading the information about him..”
A rough voice butted in, “The churches are just as much victims as those who are involved involuntarily.” a Gumhino, in her human form, arms crossed, her long fiery orange hair, her amber almond shaped eyes staring daggers at the goblin.
“ Rogue .” Hoseok hissed, as he sat forward. “This isn’t about whether we are going to deem a building with four walls a victim or not, it’s the people that are a part of the church that’s involved with these illegal acts who are the problem.”
Rogue eyes squinted towards Hoseok. The atmosphere within the room seemed to intensify making it a bit uncomfortable. “I get that.” she paused, “However, I can tell the evil people who are a part of these heinous crimes are not really a follower of God. No child of God would ever do this.”
“Just because you believe in God in whatever form from whatever religion it may be, doesn’t mean you are automatically a good person nor a saint.” Hoseok intertwined his own hands together trying to keep his temper. Religion was a no-no topic for him, it was something he wasn’t fond of for his own personal reasons. It didn’t mean he disrespected those who follow whatever religious path they take a step in. It's just a trigger for himself and he took a VERY long time to work on that. Now, he can simply just tolerate it.
Rogue was going to speak again but Robyn butted in, “Let’s stop this right here.” She looked at Trinket now wanting to refer to his question, “I have to agree, it does seem like there is some sort of network here. That’s why we have alot of work on our hands as we get down to business to help these fledglings.”
“Why don’t we strip away fledglings being able to work? It would make things easier.” the Dragon, Minsun from earlier speaking up. Hoseok could see some agreement but Primrose was one of the few who shook their head, not agreeing.
“That wouldn’t make sense.” She added.
“How so?” Minsun questioned.
“Why would you give a right to a marginalized group then turn around and take it away? And, even if you did take it away, what would that serve? It didn’t change many fledglings who didn’t work but stayed in the safety of their home still be lured out into the arms of these creeps? It doesn’t make them any safer than them being outside working.”
“It does make a difference!” Minsun stressed, his scales bristled in irritation, his hand slammed down on the table making it shake a bit, “if we keep the fledglings in their home under the protection of their families! Nothing can happen to them... and those families whose fledglings were kidnapped from them weren’t strong enough, obviously ! They weren’t doing their job. So, that’s on them!”
“Are you serious right now?” Hoseok and Trinket both said at the same time, which caused them to glance at one another then back at Minsun who was not budging.
“You’re blaming the fledgling's guardians as if they sat here and held their fledgling out in the open and said take them?” Trinket screeched, “Does that make sense to you?”
“I mean realistically the guardian should share some of the blame.” Now all the eyes turned to the witch who was quiet this whole time but watching everyone speaking.
“They should have taken better care of their loved ones.” She added, Caspian was a Cosmic Witch born in the 1700’s. “They could have done more to make sure those fledglings were protected.”
A woman who sat beside her looked at her with such disdain and disgust, as she scooted her seat away a bit.
“Done more of what exactly? They already do enough each day, not saying there aren’t bad guardians out there but you do realize things happen out of our control or do we need to use a real example for you to understand, Caspian?” a southern twang behind her words as her voice carried out making everyone listen.
“That was in the past, Cèleste! Why do you feel the need to bring that up?” Caspian argued, and Cèleste just gave a curt snort and blinked her eyes innocently.
“Because what’s happening right now, happened exactly the same way in the past. History repeats itself, yet in every lifetime. In every decade, people always make decisions that don't help the problem, but to just make the problem happen again and again and again, aren’t you tired of seeing the same thing happening over and over again?” Cèleste spat, she held her hands together while Caspian just looked over at her.
Her expression softened a bit but you can tell she was still a bit stubborn. “Tsk-“
Cèleste looked towards Robyn, “I do not believe we should strip away a fledgling's right to work. But, I do believe there should be a set work schedule for them because they are still young and basically reborn, and it’s not like how they were before when they were a human or any other species. There’s a bit of restriction with also a bit more freedom. Fledglings should still have rights.” She stated, and looked at everyone.
Robyn could hear everyone say their peace before his eyes landed on Hoseok. “Hoseok, anything you like to say?”
Hoseok glanced up meeting Robyn’s eyes before they looked back down at the table. It seemed as if he was in thought. “I agree with Madam Cèleste. Time has repeated itself over and over again,” he stared off into space, “and all we do is make decisions that continually repeat said actions instead of fixing these problems. For over a long time I’ve seen how this society has crumbled, been built back up, crumbled and been brought back together over and over again. Yet, still the same problems.”
He took a breath, “I don’t see no reason for stripping away a fledgling right to work, however I do believe there should be regulations for them regarding work. I feel Fledglings should not be out without a sire there to be able to control them if something goes wrong. Not saying there aren’t fledglings that do not go outside by themself and be fine but sometimes things go wrong, and that’s a risk we can’t afford to take. Especially with humans, we’ve already signed treaties, made pacts, made laws for peace between different species and the different territories that lay around us. However, what happened right now crosses many boundaries and laws that pisses me off beyond words. It’s one thing to find a way around a law, okay? But to completely go in this direction which breaks the peace we’ve created. Yeah we need to do everything we can to protect the fledglings so no more incidents happen, so with all of that being said, I believe fledglings should be inside as we settle this case with missing fledglings.”
“I agree.” Trinket said, “Jung, you talk with a lot of sympathy that I didn’t realize you had. You would think you’d own a fledgling.”
“People don’t own fledglings, they’re not an item. However if I did have a fledgling, it wouldn’t be any of your business and to add on, I do not need a fledgling to have empathy for them.” He glared at Trinket who immediately deflated and backed off from saying anything else. The room grew quiet, many different energies filled that silence, many different emotions, silent opinions whispered in the air. That’s until a new voice decided to feel the void before anyone even had the chance to say anything.
“Oh? Why does everyone seem so depressed here?”
Hoseok looked up from the others to acknowledge the new person, the deep voice echoing in the room. He internally groaned realizing it was the new recruit into the high council named Felix. He had taken a good while to agree to let him be a part of the council. He seemed very young but that didn’t cloud his judgment. However there was a part of him that was irritated no—maybe bitter towards him due to how at one point,he was trying to buy Namjoon and taunt him about it.
Even though seeing his face disgust him, it isn’t like Felix remembers that day anyway.
Trinket groaned at the sight of Felix, “…Why is he here?”
In a split second Felix was gone then the next second he appeared behind Trinket, “Well my dear old friend!” The blond haired fairy whipped his hand around the goblin’s shoulder with a smirk. “I’m here for the meeting, silly.”
“ The same meeting you are late for .” Arthur mutters to himself that Felix obviously heard but ignored.
“Anyway, what are we talking about guys? Sorry I’m late, I had to take care of my family.” Felix gave a look towards Hoseok when saying that, which had the Vampire who saw the look a bit confused. Honestly a bit unsettled.
“We were discussing the trafficking of fledglings and their rights.” Robyn answered, Felix nodded, taking a seat by Arthur.
“Have we found the culprit behind this?”
“After seeing everything so far alongside evidence, Kim Doyoung is the main culprit, however he has many people that work under him to spread out his agenda everywhere and follow as he says, —“ Hoseok started and turned their eyes to look at him. “There is a possibility that it might be multiple people who are behind this whole thing under him.”
“Great.” Caspian says sarcastically.
“Also, I should have said this earlier.” Hoseok sighs, “We do know his biological name. It’s Cho Askin. He also is not a Vampire; He is a Shapeshifter.”
“Excuse me?” Madam Celeste gasps.
“He was born in the Joseon Era and he once had a twin sister who was sold away.”
“Pretending to be another species while committing a crime like this is a charge.” Robyn adds into the conversation, while tapping her chin.
“More like multiple charges.” Arthur jokes but then straightens his mouth.
“What else do you know, Jung?” Robyn asked. Hoseok squinted his eyes to look at Ma-Ri who was already looking at him with a far away look.
“Many fledglings are dead. My mate who works with souls discovered them and reported it in. a department in the underworld had a part in their disappearances. It’s heartbreaking.” He sighs, “We are running behind and not getting ahead to do something about this matter. To add onto this problem, We must also stop the rise of newborns. There has been an uncomfortable amount of Vampires power hungry biting humans changing them into newborns.”
“If I may speak, what if they are in kahoots with one another?” Felix says, “from how you are explaining this it sounds like that some of the fledglings they are taking could have been human at one point and forcefully taken and changed and are raised within this cult. There could be many factors within this, but that sounds the most logical.”
“If that is the case wouldn’t the councilors speak to us about this matter? Wouldn’t the humans give us some form of alert, an email, something to let us know about this matter?” Rogue questions, plucking her tail carelessly, “Unless, they feel they can handle this situation alone without saying anything.”
“If that was true, they would be breaching our contract that we put in place for these reasons. If something were to happen like for instance the situation we are in now. Especially where it is affecting not only our communities but also the human communities we are to discuss together about this matter and figure something out.” Hoseok said, rubbing a hand through his hair.
“Well, I guess you better get a move on and talk to them Jay-ssi.” Minsun said, in a snarky tone that made the Vampire want to rip his jaw off, “Humans are not patient creatures.”
“You would know about humans being impatient huh?” Hoseok says, taunting the dragon. Minsun once had a human mate whom he accidently killed due to his own irritation. He was speaking with someone important at the time and his mate was there but she was being impatient in his words and trying to get to him and he grew irritated from her callings. After she kept on pestering without a second thought he swung his tail at her to move her away but he didn't realize the strength of his tail and it connected with her body making her slam into a wall making her die on impact.
Minsun's eyes twitched at the implication, “fuck you.” He gritted his teeth, “that's funny coming from you.”
“Primrose.” Hoseok says, ignoring Minsun's comment, the faerie looks at him, “Can you form up an email to send to the human representatives for a meeting?”
Primrose wings shimmered behind her with falling golden dust that disappeared before it hit the ground, “okay.”
Robyn claps her hands, “On that note the meeting is adjourned and we will continue this in two days at the same time.” His eyes looked at Felix, “and please refrain from being late as well.”
Felix made sure to be staring off a different direction avoiding Robyn’s glare. He turned to Hoseok as everyone began to stand up making their way out the exits. “Jay-ssi, may I have a word with you?”
Hoseok blinks looking over at him, “Yeah, I have time before I reach my next meeting. Come with me to my office.”
“Okay.”