"You're really gonna make your thesis about that?" A red haired boy said with a sigh, feeling desperate.

"At least I'm basing my thesis upon something interesting and not to please an imaginary God." Jungkook was very vocal about atheism recently, and Taehyung was tired of his passive aggressive tone.

"You should thank the Gods  you were born in the twenty first century or you would've been beheaded as soon as these words came out of your mouth." Taehyung was also a history major so he knew how extremist people were back in the days when it came to their faith.

"And that's on the God of Justice." Jimin pointed out from besides Taehyung.

"Sad how it took the God of Justice centuries to come up with secularism." Jungkook hated how people always attributed human inventions to the Gods. Taehyung rolled his eyes.

"Sad how it's taking you a lifetime to find a boyfriend because The Great hasn't blessed you with any sex or love." Taehyung clapped back.

"Aren't the Gods homophobic?" 

"The Supreme is gay and said gay rights for centuries. Haven't you read my paper on that?" Jimin said with determination.

"I'm not reading that." Jungkook laughed in a condescending tone. "Anyway, when my paper is published and I gain clout, you all will be sorry." 

"Who's gonna read a paper called The Mythology of The Dead Gods. They are dead for a reason, because no one cares to worship them." Taehyung said and Jimin nodded in agreement.

"Keep saying that with your shitty *** thesis. Anyway, I'll go to the library now." Jungkook said as he got up from his seat in the cafeteria.

He walked to the other side of campus to the library, wondering if his friends were right. Nowadays, everyone is interested in the main three Gods and if you want to make an interesting paper, it should absolutely be about them.

The Great; the God of sexuality, love and beauty. The Light; the God of knowledge, music, art and protection of youth. The Supreme; the God of Gods, of justice and law.

Jungkook skimmed through the shelves of the library, his fingers tracing countless books talking about the achievements and history of the three Gods. It was weird that nothing talked about dead Gods, but then Jungkook thought about it and found that it was understandable. Talking about a dead God diminishes the popular belief that they are immortal and untouchable.

Although it was common knowledge that Gods are immortal, Jungkook remembers reading about one way how a God could die and would never be replaced. If he was  murdered by the spear of The Dark, the God of dead and underworld. It was more of a folklore than a fact that the general public believed in. Furthermore, according to these resources, most people would blame The God of the dead in ancient times about any disorder happening in the world, claiming that he killed a God. 

Later, these claims were debunked by great emperors to subside the talking mouths, and the unfaithful folks who would sarcastically use these deaths as a way to discredit the Gods. Nowadays, no one talks about it let along believes in it. This realization alone made Jungkook want to dig further, to know about the Gods that humans claimed dead, because he knew it was part of a propaganda, part of conspiracy to shut the voices of the unfaithful people like him.

After a while, Jungkook decided that he won't find anything in the university's library. He needs to find somewhere where controversial topics weren't as taboo as here.  The first place that came to Jungkook's mind was Canada but it was on the other side of the globe, and as Taehyung would put it, he has the curse of the unfaithful so he was broke. 

Later that night at home, he searched for flights to Seoul. Seoul was a big city and he was sure he'd find resources for his thesis. Jungkook realized that flights to Seoul were pretty expensive as well, but not as expensive as the ones going out of the country. So he decided to book a flight, feeling his bank account begging him to not do it.

After a week, Jungkook was out of his home city, strolling in Seoul's streets. He was grateful that he had only a couple mandatory classes to attend, leaving him enough time to work on his thesis. 

The first thing Jungkook visited was the national museum. Ancient paintings of wars, of beautiful women decorated the walls. Grandiose sculptures placed under golden chandeliers which illuminated the immense halls of the museum, and Jungkook was proud that he was able to name every painting and every sculpture there.

As Jungkook was leaving the museum, something caught his eyes. He turned back to see a colorful flyer glued to the wall. It reads : Breaking The Taboo, The Dead Gods by Professor Kim Minjun. Jungkook's eyes widened as he read the title. What a coincidence! He laughed as he remembered Taehyung's words about him being cursed. He's going to be so petty over this.

Jungkook took a picture of the flyer, and scanned his eyes over the photo in his gallery. The lecture is taking place on the day of his departure. Jungkook didn't care about that, he's going to attend it and then grow wings and fly to the airport before the flight takes off.

During the next two days, Jungkook continued his search for resources. He found a few books that vaguely talked about dead Gods and more taboo topics. He hungrily read the books, knowing that he won't be able to do this for a while. His notebooks were full of notes and annotations, and he realized that he has never done this much work in the span of three days before.

To be continued...

Finally, after four days, the day of the lecture came around. Jungkook took the bus early in the morning, and he arrived way too early as well. He didn't mind since he had the chance to take a seat at the front line. After an hour or so, the lecture hall started to get lively. People of all ages filled the room, buzzing with excitement which made Jungkook feel better because he's not the only history and mythology nerd here.

When the professor walked into the room, everyone was quiet, only the sound of pens ready to take notes echoed against the walls. The professor started by introducing himself before he began his lecture. The first half of the lecture was about freedom of speech and how students should always seek the truth despite it being controversial, and Jungkook was nodding his head way too hard in agreement.

The second half was the interesting part. He started talking about a few Gods who people claimed dead, such as the Goddess of marriage; family, and childbirth who was rumored to die after giving birth to The Supreme God. He then continued to say that most of the Gods that died had a distinct relation to political or societal issues at the time of their death.

For instance, when childbirth declined drastically, they killed off the Goddess of family and childbirth, blaming her death for that. When the biggest empire on the west fell, they decided that it was because of the death of the God of War.

The professor pointed out that these instances are not much of a coincidence. Would it be that humans like to blame their shortcomings to the evil God of the dead who was weak anyway and couldn't smite them, and attribute their achievements on the Gods that they believed will bless them.

It was a theoretical question, but Jungkook knew that the professor hinted that it wasn't much of a question than a statement and an opinion he believed in.

The last part of the lecture was mainly advice to the audience about the importance of not only memorizing history and mythology by heart, but one must analyze it and draw conclusions that are relevant to the present. He finished his speech by saying that his previous statement is, indeed, the goal of studying history and as history students, it's their duty to do just that.

The professor announced that they will take a break before they start the questions section of the lecture. Jungkook looked at his empty notebook. He was too focused on the lecture, he forgot to write important notes, but it didn't matter cause Jungkook was certain that this lecture may as well live in his memory for the rest of his life.

After fifteen minutes, the professor came back. Many people raised their hands to ask questions. Jungkook had many questions and one wasn't enough. He wrote a few questions and scanned his eyes over them, crossing over questions that didn't seem too interesting. At the end, he was left with one question. After some hesitation, he raised his hand. 

"You. Please stand up for your question." The professor pointed at Jungkook and the assistant walked to him and handed him the microphone.

"If I remember correctly, the first God to be claimed dead was the God of War 600 years ago during the Great War of The West. The winning emperor said that he was murdered by the God of death." Jungkook took a deep breath. "I have two questions if that's possible. If the God of death killed the emperor's rival, why did the emperor turned his people against him, and what proof did anyone have to blame it on said God?"

The room fell silent as if Jungkook said something so offensive. Jungkook knew it was kind of controversial to even talk about the God of death let alone show remorse towards him. The professor stared him, not in the same way the students looked at him, but with growing interest.

"Good questions." The professor smiled in an eerie way. "I don't have the exact answers cause there isn't any documents or books written about this event. So in a way there's no historical evidence to back up any claims against the God of death nor any books documenting the death of any God before the Great War." The professor stopped for a moment, visibly pondering over a thought. "You can meet me back stage after the lecture because I remember you from last year's class."

Jungkook stared in shock because he didn't have this man as a professor at all. He was confused but he won't miss the chance to have a conversation with such a man anyway. The professor answered a few questions before disappearing back stage and Jungkook followed him right away. He clumsily put his notebook and pen inside his backpack and speed-walked to where the professor is.

The professor was sitting behind a white desk, a few little sculptures sat on it, and the walls had paintings of Gods Jungkook has never seen before. The man was looking down at a closed book. Its cover was black with a red spear on the center.

"Hello, sir. Thank you for inviting me here." Jungkook said awkwardly. The professor signaled for him to take a seat.

"It's my pleasure to talk to daring students. Your question was brilliant." The professor smiled kindly. "If you allow me to introduce myself. I'm a professor for Gods Relations and Society. I study the relationship between Gods and how they live and operate." 

Jungkook stared in awe. The professor was smiling at Jungkook's expressions. The former handed Jungkook the black book. Jungkook looked at it questionably.

"It's my book. You can't find it in most libraries and can only buy it online. Not many people know about it, and even the people who know about it spread the rumor that if you read it, you'll be cursed." The professor explained, and Jungkook took the book gratefully.

Jungkook, for the first time, read the title. Dark Religion : Modern Stygianism. 

"Stygianism ?" Jungkook has never heard of this word.

"Stygians is the ancient name for The God of death worshipers."

"What do you mean by modern?" 

"Read the book and you will understand." 

"Why are you giving me this book?" Jungkook was skeptical. Is this some kind of recruitment for a cult following the weakest God? Jungkook had to laugh.

"This is not an invitation to a cult. This book needs to be read by only a few people. You're one of the people who may understand it." The professor still had the same smile.

"Uh..well then, thank you." Jungkook said as he stood up.

To be continued...

"Uh..well then, thank you." Jungkook said as he stood up.

"It's my pleasure." Jungkook heard the professor say as he left the room.

Jungkook looked at his watch. Fuck. He had an hour to go back to the hotel to get his suitcase and catch his flight. 

He barely made it to the airport in time, but thankfully he caught his flight and arrived back to Busan safely. As soon as Jungkook arrived home, he went to his room, closed the door and opened the book.

After an hour, Jungkook closed the book not registering that he was holding his breath until he let out a long breath. Jungkook laid back on his bed, staring at the ceiling for a few minutes before he bolted up from his bed. He rummaged through his closet until he found a piece of white fabric at the very back. He then went to the kitchen, filled a bowl with water and grabbed a candle.

Afterwards, he ran to the living room, removed everything from the coffee table, then he put the piece of fabric down and aligned the bowl of water and candle next to each other. He lit up the candle while kneeling across the big window of the living room.

Jungkook knelt down, intertwined his fingers together and rested them on top of his chin. He closed his eyes after he took a deep breath.

Oh, my God

I'm not praying for my own sins

Oh, my God

I'm praying for the dead sins

Merciful, you are-

Jungkook stopped mid prayer, shook his head and then began again.

Hello, dear God, I tried to follow what the book said, but it didn't seem sincere. I know I've never prayed before because I know that even if I pray nothing I want will ever come true. I've already lost everything I love, so what's the point of praying.

Jungkook felt his cheeks getting wet.

To be honest, I'm not even sure if I believe in you or not. But for my mother I'm willing to try this stupid faith thing. In the book it said that people originally prayed to you for dead loved ones, for you to take care of them in the afterlife, in hell. They prayed for the dead who sinned so much while alive.

Jungkook was now aware that he is crying.

I know that my mother was a sinner, so I ask you not spare her because after all everything has consequences, but I ask you to have some mercy on her. I don't know if that's possible, but can I atone for her sins?

Jungkook felt a shiver travel from the base of his spine to his scalp. Suddenly, his mother's voice echoed inside the room. Jungkook didn't dare open his eyes afraid that his mother's voice would disappear. He could hear her say the words she's always said while she was alive : I'm okay Jungkookie, if you are, I am.

She always would say these words while she caresses his hair, and Jungkook knew he was hallucinating but he swears that he could feel her hands lovingly caressing his cheeks and wiping his tears away.

"Thank you." Jungkook whispered to someone, to something he didn't know.

_

Next thing Jungkook knew was the loud alarm almost breaking his eardrums. He clumsily turned it off. Lazily, he wore his clothes and took the bus to university. As soon as he arrived, he was met by the loud chatter of students.

"Jungkook!" Jimin's voice came from behind Jungkook. "Where did you disappear to these past few days?"

"I went to Seoul for my thesis." 

"Oh, you are really taking this seriously!" Jimin was sarcastic. "Did you find anything interesting?"

"Not really." Jungkook lied as they both walked towards their classes. "I have a question. Who would you say is more faithful, you or Taehyung?" He asked after Jimin nodded.

"I would say Taehyung. He pries twice a day while I pray once a week." 

"I see." Jungkook pondered. "Also, do you believe in the Death Curse?"

"I will have to pray five times today in order to not be cursed." Jimin said ominously. "For over 600 years, anyone who tries to write anything about the Great War suddenly dies in a fire with what he wrote, so it's safe to say that it's true."

"Do you also believe that it is a sin to do such a thing?"

"Yes. Whoever tries to side with the God of death is a sinner." Jimin said with a frown.

Later that day, Jungkook found Taehyung in the cafeteria. He didn't waste time before he started questioning him.

"So when you pray, what do you feel?" Taehyung looked at him, suspicious.

"Nothing in particular. Just that I've done my duty towards the Gods."  

"Don't you feel like you're connected to the God you're praying to or like very emotional?"

"I'm a believer not delusional." Taehyung eyed Jungkook. "I mean all the stories of seeing Gods or whatever are just fiction."

"Ok."  

Maybe I was delusional.

_

The night was dark, the moon hidden behind grey clouds as if it was about to rain. The mist covered even the light poles making the streets barely visible. But although the earth was calm and quiet, the heavens were under chaos.

"Your highness, what happened?" A tall man with a long white robe said respectfully as he knelt before a throne. The man in the throne stood up and slowly walked towards the kneeling one.

"Namjoon, no need to kneel every time and also just call me Hoseok. I've been saying this for centuries." Hoseok said, a blinding smile shining upon his face. Namjoon stood up. "Did you feel it too?"

"A new strong energy came out of earth as if a God was birthed." Namjoon was furrowing his eyebrows

To be continued...