A/N: Sorry for the slilghtly longer wait. Nothing special, really, I merely realized I'd been updating way too frequent and I just feel like being mean lol.

He who learns but does not think is lost.                                                                                                                                      

He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.

-Confucius

The card number sixteen, The Tower. Myungsoo finally decided to venture into the nearby town soon as it kept bothering him so much he could barely get a rest for a couple of nights. Unfortunately, he could find no traces in any form of his beloved little hunter. Well, at least, until he heard a gossiping flock of women and teenage girls.

“...that sissy, odd bird?”

“Yeah, could you believe it? He is a warlock!”

“And we trusted and kept him in our midst all these time,”

“How could the church make such a grave mistake to appoint him as a hunter?”

“Mommy, I heard he was such a difficult one to handle. Will daddy be alright?”

“Daddy’s fine, honey. The well-known security in the prison is all thanks to him, you know,”

“Gosh, just how long will they keep him alive, though?”

“Yeah. He should be burned soon lest other warlocks--”

Myungsoo could not bring himself to hear more details. He ran immediately towards the castle in the middle of town. He was soon greeted by a couple of guards, all of whom were made unconscious instantly through his magic-imbued commands.

He took long steps and were half-sprinting, trying to locate where in the castle could the prison be. More guards were coming his way. None could lay a finger on him. Each and every of the knights slumped down, sleeping soundly with just one magic word. “Sleep,”

Usually, he would try to leave no trace at all and add an extra instruction of ‘forget that you ever met me when you wake up’ to erase their memories of him. But at the time, he simply could not be bothered by such a trivial detail. He needed to find the hunter. He desperately had to find him.

That was when he remembered Woohyun’s words. The Tower. There were a few high-raised scouting posts. But obviously they would not keep someone suspected of witchcraft there. Myungsoo glanced around him, finding one proudly tall tower. With his sharp eyes, he could make out what seemed like vertical iron bars at the window. Bingo.

The seer was right, the cards were being unusually...direct. But Myungsoo paid that little mind. He had no time to spare for such a minor thing when Sungjong was to be executed when the sun rose. He had to get Sungjong out before the dawn.

That was not an easy task. There were actually so many guards Myungsoo had encountered. And it had consumed a significant amount of energy from him to put all of them into deep sleep. At that rate, he knew he may not be able to survive even if he managed to rescue the poor boy. Hold on, Kim Myungsoo, just a little bit more, he told himself.

He climbed what seemed like endless flights of stairs. He felt like he was so close to giving up on hope when he noticed there was no more steps ahead of him, only a barred spacious room.

“Sungjong,” he shouted, frantically trying to shake the rusty, stern bars. “Sungjong, answer me. Tell me you are here!”

 He heard no voice at first. Everything was also dark there. Then he heard a muffled whimper of the voice he had wished so desperately to hear there. “...Kim...M-Myungsoo.”

“Hold on,” The bar was persistently magic-resistant. He tried destroying it with explosive spells, he tried knocking it with magical fists and he tried unlocking the door with different forms of magic he knew. None worked. He soon realized, however, that if he could not do anything to the bars, then he had to do something to himself. Praying to a random god he had never believed, L recalled one particular spell that may just do the trick. “Oh Lord, Please,”

That was a lucky guess. Dematerializing himself into air particles, he successfully passed through the bars. As soon as his particles formed his original physical being, Myungsoo quickly untied the smaller youth. He looked very tired but, thankfully, in one piece and unhurt.

“Let’s go, Lee Sungjong,” Myungsoo caressed two soft and soiled cheeks, extremely glad to see his favorite hunter, or rather ex-hunter now, in one piece and alive.

That was when they heard noisy, hurried footsteps approaching.

“What now?”

Some armored men reached the top of the tower. Totally incapable of magic, they easily unlocked the door and carefully approached the two. Myungsoo cast countless fireballs, engulfing the whole scene in flames. Still, one overconfident soldier managed to rush through the roaring flames, pointing a sharp spear at Myungsoo. Oh, so how this was how it would end. Or so L thought.

Somehow the epic spearman failed. He got his leg viciously bitten by a...small, brown terrier. Wait. Since when there was a dog there? Initially puzzled, Myungsoo did not took long to notice the other lad’s absence. That could not be. Could Sungjong have learned transfiguration that fast?

“Oh looks like I made it just in time. Oi, L,” a strangely familiar voice called, dragging him back to reality. “Are you just going to stand there waiting for the whole tower to collapse and make a poetic legend about a wizard who died in a fire with his beloved ‘lil puppy?”

“Hoya?”

The older magician nodded. Myungsoo just recalled the fact that his hyung was a teleporter – a warlock capable of long-distance teleportation. That was also a reason why Lee Howon abandoned a typical warlock life and lived as a greengrocer in a big, crowded town.

Myungsoo grabbed Sungjong, in his puppy state, held him close to his chest and took Hoya by the hand. Before he could realize they were dispelling, the three of them were already in Hoya’s fruits and vegetable shop, which was affectionately named ‘Paradise’ by Hogod. For a split second, before losing consciousness, L noticed the awkward irony of being magically teleported from a tower, set ablaze and crumbling, to the Paradise.

A/N: To ashertua, lol I see no point in uploading my previous fics. As I have mentioned, this is my first kpop fic. And I think it's just inappropriate to upload anything non-k/j/c-pop-related, especially when it's called asianfanfics. Btw, not counting any author note in all calculations, 700-800 words is my usual range of one complete chapter. Two chapters in this fic are below 600 words but the last few had all been over 1000 words right? So I think my fic should have just the right length overall. I appreciate your interest in my writing though.

Thanks to everyone else, without exceptions, who had read and/or commented. I really don't how to reply to compliments and requests to update ^^; And I don't like spoiling a story by answering plot-related questions. But thanks anyway especially for the nice and curious comments.