They had agreed to meet in the foyer. Admittedly, it would have been easier to meet in the dorms, but Jungkook thought it was better to keep the fact he lived in the A dorms a secret. While he didn’t believe Hana would behave any differently towards him, he wasn’t sure she wouldn’t tell anyone else. He might have needed allies, but even he – in all of his inexperience – could tell that a bunch of people trying to use him to climb the social ladder wasn’t a good choice.

A nervous glance at the nearby clock told him he was going to be late, and he hastily picked up his pace. The dance started at 8pm, which meant there were around 20 minutes left. It was the perfect time to leave the dorms given the distance to the ballroom, but, unfortunately, he wasn’t the only one who had figured that out, and he was met by a crowd in front of the elevators. It probably wouldn’t be as bad if the A dorms weren’t on the same floor as the D dorms, which accommodated more than 50% of all students.

Jungkook paused a few meters away from a group of girls standing in a circle, trying to calculate whether he would reach his destination faster if he waited for the elevator or if he took the stairs.

Before he could come to any kind of conclusion, someone called his name. He flinched at the sound, automatically glancing in the direction it came from. Yoongi was standing in front of the door leading to the staircase, wearing the same suit he’d had on when they were meeting Jimin. Jungkook still didn’t know where it had come from, but he supposed magic had probably been involved - he didn’t have enough knowledge about higher demons' powers to be completely sure, though.

Yoongi stepped back and disappeared through the door, and Jungkook reacted to it by letting out a sigh - stairs it was then. He followed after him, finding him waiting on the landing.

“Are you going with someone?” he asked, only now realizing he had no idea whether Yoongi had a partner or not. The only reason he knew he was going to the dance at all was because he had never missed a school-organized event - Jungkook wasn’t sure if he had been going for Namjoon or if he actually enjoyed it, and he didn’t care enough to try to find out. He wasn’t particularly interested in the answer to the current question either, but he knew that if he didn’t say anything, they were going to walk the rest of the way in an uncomfortable silence.

“Yeeun.” replied Yoongi, and Jungkook needed a second to connect the name to Violet. He couldn’t say he was expecting that answer; Violet seemed to be popular and well-liked and Yoongi… was not. It was a bit hard to picture someone like her would be prepared to go with someone like Yoongi, but then again, what did Jungkook actually know about these kinds of things? He didn’t know either of them well enough to be able to say for sure that they had nothing in common.

Jungkook hummed in reply, and they descended to the next floor in silence that was just as uncomfortable as he had predicted. As usual, he seemed to be the only one affected by it, Yoongi looking perfectly comfortable and relaxed. Jungkook ransacked his brain for something to say, but came up empty.

Thankfully, Yoongi took mercy on him. “Namjoon is going to invite you to his table.” he said, shortly pausing before adding; “Say yes.”

Jungkook blinked. Yoongi’s advice, although often indirect, had previously been to avoid Namjoon as much as possible, not to purposely search for his company. There was something disconcerting about the sudden change in opinion, mostly because - at least as long as Jungkook knew him - Yoongi had never changed his mind without a good reason. And what reason could he possibly have to encourage him spending time with Namjoon? Jungkook strongly suspected that not a good one. “Why?” he asked carefully.

“Strength in numbers.” replied Yoongi, his voice completely nonchalant - it clashed with a sudden wave of panic traveling through Jungkook, successfully freezing him on the spot. Yoongi stopped when he noticed he was no longer following him, looking back with an unreadable expression on his face. The random passerby would probably think Jungkook was overreacting, but he didn’t think he was - Yoongi didn’t say things like this without a reason. Something must have been very very wrong.

“What do you know?” asked Jungkook, surprised he managed to say it without a tremble in his voice. Perhaps dealing with Taehyung had its positive effects after all.

Yoongi sighed, although it was obvious he had expected the question. “I went through the student records after the pentagram in the attic.” he said. “I’m not sure if it’s connected, but the numbers don’t add up.”

“What do you mean the numbers don’t add up?” asked Jungkook. Despite not being entirely sure what Yoongi was trying to tell him, he didn’t like the sound of it even a little bit. He concluded it could mean a number of things, but the first thing that came to his mind was an impostor. His brain drew a strange association to an anime he had once seen, the one where there was a dead person in the class and people started dying as a result of it.

“There are fewer people enrolled at the academy than there are people registered to classes.” explained Yoongi, his voice just as calm as before - like he hadn’t just told him there was the possibility of a demon hiding amongst the students. Of course, there was always a chance the inconsistency existed due to human error or a mistake in the program, but Jungkook doubted that was the case. The timing was a bit too convenient.

He wrapped his arms around his body, trying to shield himself against the sudden cold. The demon hiding amongst the students definitely wasn’t the one who had been summoned with the pentagram in the attic - the pentagram had been a standard one and could thus be used only to summon lower or medium demons, and while Jungkook could tell if a lower or a medium demon suddenly decided to join the student body he couldn’t if a higher demon did it. Considering the small number of people who knew how to summon higher demons, all clues firmly pointed to Kangmin.

“Are you sure?” he asked quietly, although he already knew the answer. He doubted Yoongi would say anything at all if he wasn’t.

He couldn’t tell how exactly Kangmin had managed to smuggle a higher demon to the academy, but he wasn’t at all surprised he had succeeded. He had managed to escape out of his prison after all - this was probably a walk in the park compared to that. Jungkook didn’t find it weird that no one had noticed the numbers didn’t add up either – you had to look at the number of people in a certain class and take into account exactly how many classes one student was allowed to take, which differed from year to year. There was no reason he could think of that someone would need to calculate that, so the mistake wouldn’t be found without someone purposefully searching for it.

“I got Taehyung to double check it for me. I’m sure.” answered Yoongi.

Jungkook nodded, before he forced his legs to continue descending the stairs - he was already running late, and really couldn’t afford to waste any more time by aimlessly standing around.

The unlikely cooperation between the demons slightly unsettled him. He had no idea they were civil enough with each other to interact when Jungkook wasn’t there, and he couldn’t help wondering if he should be worried about it. “Why are you telling me that now?” he asked.

“Taehyung told me to.” said Yoongi without a pause. Jungkook almost missed a stair, but, thankfully, managed to regain his balance before he could tumble down the staircase and possibly do exactly what Taehyung had been predicting he would – break his neck.

After he caught his breath and his mind cleared, he no longer understood why Yoongi’s revelation shocked him that much. He might be a bit more trusting – and that was speaking lightly – during his dealings with other students if he didn’t know, but he couldn’t see how that would benefit Taehyung. It would just make Jungkook more likely to get himself into a situation where the Kangmin’s demon could snatch him, and that definitely wouldn’t be good for any of his demons, considering the Orders demanded they protected him. Sharing the information with Jungkook on the other hand, would give Taehyung first row seats to watch him panic - that were weeks of enjoyment guaranteed right there.

Hana was waiting for him in the foyer, not far from the door leading into the ballroom, wearing a simple green dress that reached her ankles. She was nervously staring at the door when Jungkook entered, her expression morphing into relief when her eyes settled on him. He realized she probably thought he stood her up, and couldn’t stop a slight feeling of guilt.

“I’m sorry I’m late." he said as he stopped in front of her, only able to look her in the eyes for a short moment, before having to avert his gaze. He had been anxious about the dance for the past few days, his brain buzzing with worst case scenarios. A part of him had hoped it would get better once it started, but so far it was only getting worse, panic clawing at his chest and his heart beating way too fast. Some of that may have also been the consequence of the conversation on the staircase, though.

“Don’t worry about it.” said Hana, a ghost of a smile on her lips. “Do we…” She motioned towards the big double door leading to the ballroom. The fact they were already opened, told him everything he needed to know about how late he was.

He quickly nodded, taking a step forward before he remembered his manners and offered Hana his arm. Hana took it with a smile that looked a bit more genuine than the previous one, and they joined the crowd of people entering the ballroom.

The big chandeliers on the ceiling were dimmed, most of the light coming from various Christmas lights wrapped around the columns or hanging from the walls. The tables were moved to one side of the room, decorated with candles and greenery. The decoration wasn’t original by any means, but it gave the room a homey feel, which was the intention.

Jungkook noticed Hana was looking around with interest, and he mimicked her, doing his best to make it seem this was the first time he had seen the decoration. It wasn’t, since Namjoon had made him and Seokjin supervise the decorating. He couldn’t take the credit though - he had been mostly keeping to the side, watching Seokjin boss around the workers, and had only occasionally put in his two cents. 

“It’s nice.” said Hana, Jungkook suspected mostly because the silence was starting to get a bit uncomfortable. He nodded in agreement - Seokjin had done a pretty good job.

He was saved from having to come up with something to say by Namjoon, who awkwardly waved them over to the table in the corner. He was there with another member of the council, - if Jungkook wasn’t mistaken her name was Gyuri - and was wearing an old fashioned but perfectly fitted suit. Jungkook glanced at it with a hint of envy - only Namjoon could wear old clothes and still gave impression he came from money. There was no way anyone would think he was a scholarship student, while the same definitely couldn’t be said for Jungkook - he saw Gyuri pulling at a loose strand of her hair when she saw him, while Namjoon frowned, looking at him like he was trying to solve a puzzle.

Jungkook barely suppressed a sigh, regretting he hadn’t taken the time to get a new suit more and more. There was nothing wrong with being a scholarship student, but people tended to be absolutely awful to them. The school was more or less a lawless place, but the rules of self-preservation still applied, which meant no one was going to cross the line when it came to a student with influential parents. The same couldn’t be said for people who were here on a scholarship, and Jungkook suspected that was the main reason they were trying to keep their status hidden.

“Evening.” said Namjoon awkwardly when Jungkook and Hana reached the table. Gyuri just nodded in greeting, her lips forming a slightly forced smile. Jungkook absentmindedly wondered if Namjoon had told her he was planning to invite him, and concluded the answer was probably no.

“Hello.” said Hana, a question in her voice, while Jungkook followed Gyuri's example and just nodded.

Namjoon opened his mouth, closed it and then opened it again, taking a deep breath. Before he managed to say anything, he was lightly punched on the shoulder by Areum. She was alone, appearing so suddenly Jungkook was half convinced she had somehow learned how to teleport. Fixing the strap on her hot-pink frilly dress, she said; “What Namjoon means to say is; ‘Will you join us on this fine evening?’” Her imitation of Namjoon was spot on, which Namjoon agreed with as well if the sour expression on his face was any indication. “And also; “I apologize for suspecting you of a criminal offense without any evidence whatsoever.”

Namjoon looked like he had just swallowed something bitter, but he nodded anyway before saying with difficulty; “I apologize.” And after catching Areum's eyes; “Please join us.”

Jungkook barely refrained from narrowing his eyes at both of them. Because he was not a complete idiot, he naturally didn’t buy a word that had come out of either of their mouths. There were only two explanations for this odd behavior he could think of; a) Areum actually felt bad and forced Namjoon to apologize, or b) they were trying to get him to lower his defenses. Jungkook was sure it was the latter.

Before he could say anything, Hana asked with a slight frown on her face; “What criminal offense?” Her eyes jumped from one person to another, eventually settling on Areum.

Areum nudged Namjoon in his ribs, to which he responded by casting an annoyed glance in her direction. “This idiot…” she said “has got in his head that Jungkook is the Summoner, and based his belief on circumstantial evidence.” she explained. 

Hana blinked, her frown deepening. “Why?” she asked, now looking at Namjoon.

Namjoon sighed. “It doesn’t matter.” he said, glancing at Jungkook. “What matters is that I was wrong.”

Hana looked like she wanted to say something else, but she ended up swallowing her words when Yoongi and Violet joined them. Violet was wearing her hairpin again, the one she had on when Jungkook met her for the first time. He didn’t know what it was about it, but she seemed oddly familiar every time she was wearing it. He wasn’t sure whether he saw her before or if he only saw the pin before, or both. Or he was imagining it - that was an option as well. Shaking his head, he averted his gaze. It was probably nothing. He hoped, but was unable to completely dismiss it. 

“Well, shall we go dance?” asked Areum, motioning towards the dance floor. The music was getting louder and the floor was slowly filing with couples. It was the typical waltz music, which meant Jungkook was going to skip this turn - he didn’t think he could stop traumatic flashbacks from occurring if he attempted to dance waltz again so soon.

“Do you have a partner?” asked Namjoon skeptically.

“Nope.” said Areum. “I’m going to borrow one of you. Any volunteers?” Her gaze traveled over all of them, before it eventually stopped on Yoongi. She raised her eyebrow. “Yoongi?” she asked.

Yoongi’s face stayed impassive. “I don’t know how to dance.” he said after a few seconds of silence. Jungkook was at least 90% sure he was lying, and Areum seemed to share his opinion - she slightly narrowed her eyes, giving him a searching look.

“You know what” she said “I can’t tell if you’re kidding or not, but hint taken.” In the sign of defeat, she raised her hands in the air, before looking at Jungkook. “Eunjae?”

“I don’t dance waltz.” said Jungkook. “Sorry.”

“Jesus, why are you all so boring?” She turned towards Hana. “I guess it’s you and me then.” She offered her a hand. Hana looked at it, before she glanced at Jungkook, her eyes slightly widened. Jungkook couldn’t say he didn’t feel bad at all, but he didn’t feel nearly bad enough to change his mind.

‘Sorry’ he mouthed, and then; ‘Next one.’ Hana’s face slightly brightened, and she nodded before grabbing Areum’s hand and following her on the dance floor. Jungkook watched them leave. He wasn’t at all looking forward to dancing with Hana - or anyone else for that matter - but he had an unpleasant feeling that was a part of his deal with the demon, and he didn’t want to risk it.

“You don’t dance waltz.” Yoongi deadpanned, and Jungkook sent him a withering look before pressing his lips together, trying to keep his cheeks from heating up at the reminder. He wished Yoongi would have the sense to keep his mouth shut - both to save Jungkook from relieving a traumatic event and to keep Namjoon from being suspicious. Jungkook could see him giving them searching looks from the corner of his eye.

“Do you actually not know how to dance?” asked Violet. Yoongi gave a noncommittal shrug. Violet sighed, though she didn’t seem particularly bothered by his attitude. “Should we get drinks then? I heard they have cocktails.”

“They do.” said Namjoon. “Someone should stay at the table though.” He sent a suspicious look towards the couple in the corner who was clearly eying their table. The ballroom was by no means small, but it still wasn’t big enough to accommodate enough tables for everyone. 

“I’ll wait.” quickly volunteered Jungkook.

“Me too.” said Yoongi, earning a small frown from Violet. It only lasted for a fragment of a second, and then she smiled, nonchalantly shrugging her shoulders.

Jungkook glanced back at Yoongi - his expression as usual didn’t tell him anything, but he nevertheless had a strong feeling the demon wasn’t going to leave his side for the evening. It was a very non-Yoongi like behavior - he hadn’t felt the need to constantly shadow him after they’d discovered the pentagram in the attic or after Jungkook was attacked by a higher demon in the coffee shop. It didn’t make sense he would do so now, just because he had found out there was possibly a higher demon at the academy. There was only one explanation; Yoongi knew something Jungkook didn’t.

“Any requests?” asked Violet. Both Jungkook and Yoongi shook their heads, and Violet gave another shrug before she followed Namjoon to the bar.

“What do you know?” asked Jungkook as soon as their classmates were out of earshot. Yoongi let out a soft sigh, and muttered something that sounded a lot like; ‘no wonder he’s in love with you.’ Jungkook slightly raised his eyebrows, wondering if learning about the possible presence of a higher demon at the academy unknowingly terrified him so much that it gave him auditory hallucinations. “What?” he asked.

Yoongi sighed again. “I’m just surprised by your ability to be both smart and stupid at the same time.” he said, successfully confusing Jungkook even more. Before he could decide how he should go about asking what exactly Yoongi was talking about without confirming the second part of his statement, the demon finally choose to answer the first question; “Taehyung said he thinks the girl that attacked you at the coffee shops was Gara.”

“Gara?” asked Jungkook, wondering if the name should mean something to him. He ran the names from the named-demon list in his head and came out empty. 

“You would know her as X.” said Yoongi.

“Taehyung didn’t have much problems dealing with her, though?” said Jungkook, unable to hide the uncertainty in his voice. The unnamed-demons list was organized by strength - the demons marked with the letter from the end of the alphabet were more powerful than those with the letter from the beginning of it. X was after V, which meant this Gara person should be stronger than Taehyung. Consequently, Jungkook would expect Taeyhung would at least break a sweat after dealing with her, but he had seemed completely unfazed by her attack.

“The list is not the most accurate.” replied Yoongi. “Especially not when it comes to the last seven places - the difference between their power levels is too small for humans to distinguish. They most likely earned their placing strictly by having been the Queen’s council.”

Jungkook frowned - Yoongi’s explanation gave him more questions than answers, for example; why Taehyung hadn’t told him that before, what exactly was the Queen’s council, how powerful was this Gara demon, why didn’t Taehyung come with him instead of Hoseok if he suspected Gara was here?

He messaged his temples. This was bad – firstly because of the obvious fact that the demon after him was powerful, and secondly because she must have recognized Taehyung, so Kangmin probably knew Jungkook had three demons instead of two (there was no way he hadn’t already figured out Jimin had given him one). He still asked, just to make sure he and Yoongi were on the same page; “So she knows about Taehyung?”

Yoongi shook his head. “I don’t think so.” he said.

Jungkook’ frown deepened. “How is that possible?” According to the information he did have, it shouldn’t be – Gara definitely saw Taehyung. The only way she wouldn’t have recognized him was if that wasn’t his real appearance. Jungkook didn’t know why the thought bothered him so much, but it did.

“We didn’t always look like this.” said Yoongi. Something flashed in his eyes, but it passed so quickly Jungkook couldn’t clearly identify it. It looked a lot like anger though, which was very very uncharacteristic for Yoongi. “It was a part of the punishment. We didn’t think a human deserved our queen, so she made us look like them. She stripped away everything that made us demons.”

This was definitely anger, and it was the first time he had seen it from Yoongi. It was weirdly unsettling, but it thankfully went as quickly as it came, Yoongi’s face regaining its expressionless.

Jungkook tried to organize his thoughts. He realized that what Yoongi said made an awful lot of sense – it explained why higher demons looked so different from lower and medium ones. There was so little human characteristics in them that they looked as a whole other species in comparison to the higher demons.

Something was still bothering him though. “And she wouldn’t recognize him by his power?” he asked.

Yoongi let out a soft sigh. “She is not Taehyung.” he said. “There’s a reason he was an adviser and she was muscle.”

Jungkook had no idea what exactly Yoongi meant by ‘muscle’, but before he could ask for clarification, the waltz had ended and they were rejoined by Hana and Areum.

Areum collapsed on the chair next to Yoongi, while Hana slowly sat down next to Jungkook. She sent him a small smile, and Jungkook forced himself to return it. His thoughts weren’t really there, his mind still cataloging everything he had just learned. He was relieved by Yoongi’s conviction that Gara didn’t know about Taehyung. It meant Kangmin probably only knew about two demons and Jungkook hopefully didn’t lose the much needed element of surprise.

“Where are Yeeun and Namjoon?” Areum wondered, glancing around.

“Drinks.” replied Yoongi.

“Huh.” said Areum. “I better go join them before they bring back something disgusting.” Despite her statement, she made no efforts whatsoever to get up. “Did anyone see Seokjin?” she wondered after a few seconds of silence.

“Was he supposed to join us?” asked Hana.

Areum nodded, a slight frown finding its way on her face. “It’s weird. He’s never been late before.”

“Maybe it’s his partner’s fault?” proposed Hana.

“Maybe his partner couldn’t get in the building.” grumbled Areum. Once she noticed the confused expressions of everyone at the table, save from Yoongi who looked just as unbothered as usual, she explained; “He regularly attends a bunch of classes in the city, right? Apparently, he met someone at a cooking class and impulsively invited her to the dance.”

Jungkook wasn’t entirely sure why she sounded so displeased about it. Extending an invitation to the outsiders wasn’t unusual - according to Namjoon normally only around 70% of the school-organized events’ guests were actually studying at the academy.

Yoongi seemed to know where the problem was, though. “Instead of inviting you?” he wondered in his typical monotone. Areum’s face went through a series of expressions, finally settling on a self-depreciating smile.

“Did anyone ever tell you your perceptiveness is downright scary?” she asked. “But yes. We were supposed to go together. We had everything planned and all, and then this girl - Yangmi or something - appeared out of nowhere.”

“Are you talking about  Seokjin’s partner?” asked Namjoon. He and Violet had finally returned from drink duty, each carrying a try full of drinks. Yoongi didn’t even wait for them to be placed on the table, before he grabbed two shots of something transparent and downed them - Jungkook had to wonder if demons could get drunk, and caught himself wishing that the answer was no.

“Yep.” answered Areum, pulling a weirdly purple looking cocktail towards her and taking a sip. Jungkook grabbed the glass closest to him, suspiciously sniffing its contents. It was dark brown, and he had absolutely no idea what was in it, but he still took a sip. It was stronger than he expected, but not at all bad.

“What about my partner?”

At the unexpected sound of Seokjin’s voice, everyone turned around, Areum with a slightly guilty expression on her face. Seokjin was standing behind Namjoon, dressed impeccably, his mysterious partner on his left. Jungkook almost choked on his drink when he saw her. She was relatively good looking, wearing a long silver dress and a welcoming expression on her face, but that wasn’t the reason - her expression had shifted to something really familiar for a fragment of second when Jungkook caught her eye, before turning back to careful cheerfulness. Jungkook would probably dismiss it as paranoia if Yoongi didn’t react by burying his face in his hand. Jungkook let out a sigh, downing the rest of his drink, ignoring the burn in his throat. He was clearly going to need alcohol to survive this evening.