Jungkook's fingers absentmindedly traced the cold surface of the silver ring on his left hand. “Does your master have a magician’s mark?” he asked. It would make things easier if he did - all magicians were registered in the magician’s registry, so the only thing he would have to do to figure out who he was, was to have Violet look at it. The registry was considered top secret, but he was sure he could convince Jimin to let him access it, perhaps even without having to resort to lying.

Violet bit her lips, hesitating before admitting, “I don’t know.”

Jungkook nodded. It was a bit disappointing, yes, but not at all unexpected. It was winter and Violet mentioned she had been summoned in a rundown apartment so it had probably been cold - her master would have most likely worn long sleeves, which would conceal the magician’s mark.

He could still have Violet look at the registry though. The only problem was that there was no guarantee she would cooperate, and while Taehyung could tell when someone was lying, he didn’t always notice if someone was hiding something from him. There was a probability of that happening now, but not a big one. So far, Jungkook wasn’t particularly impressed with Violet’s intelligence and he heavily doubted she could actually fool Taehyung. Still, he might as well avoid all potential complications by making sure she had as little chance at being secretive as possible.

“What does he look like?” he asked.

Violet awkwardly shifted her weight from one leg to the other, nervously pulling down her jacket before wrapping her arms around her midsection. “Um… red hair, pretty short,” she said, her eyes darting towards Taehyung before settling back on Jungkook. It took a second or two before he realized that was all she was going to say, and he barely managed to suppress a sigh.

Taehyung didn’t seem too happy with her response either, slightly tilting his head as his lips formed a downright chilling grin. “What a nice description. You were very generous with the details there.” he said, voice dripping with sweetness. Casting a quick glance at him, Jungkook swallowed, mouth dry. He appreciated Taehyung jumping in, but the way he was speaking to Violet radiated so much danger that every instinct in his body screamed at him to run, muscles automatically tensing.

Violet must have felt that even more intensely, since it was actually directed at her. She waved her hands in front of her, eyes wide. “Okay, okay.” she said in an oddly squeaky voice. “Um… the hair was long and red. Like a darker shade of red, um… She was wearing a red coat and gloves. It all looked pretty expensive. Uh… she was pretty attractive I think, older than him…” she motioned towards Jungkook, jumping a little when Taehyung responded to that by narrowing his eyes at her “but probably not by much. She had the same accent as Kangmin.” She closed and took a deep breath through her nose before saying, her voice unusually high, “That’s really all I remember.”

Taehyung wasn’t impressed. “Oh, so it’s a she.” he said in an awfully cheerful voice, which probably sent chills down everyone’s spine – unless perhaps Yoongi’s, but who really knew when it came to him. “You haven’t mentioned that before - not even when Eunjae asked what he looked like.”

Violet looked like she was going to collapse, slightly swaying on her feet, her face ashen. “I…” she started, but Taehyung didn’t let her finish.

“You know…” he said “I don’t mind it that much when people try to deceive me - if they go about it in a smart way. At least it makes things a bit more interesting.” He tilted his head, the way he was looking at her making it abundantly clear that he wasn’t going to say anything pleasant. “When they’re idiots fostering false beliefs about their own intelligence, however…well, that’s when I get a little angry.” He curled his lips upwards, the smile downright chilling. “So, how about we make a deal?” he asked, waiting for Violet to shakily nod before continuing, “You stop hiding things and in exchange I'm not going to set you on fire.” His words were emphasized by dark blue flames that appeared on the tip of his index finger before engulfing his whole hand, so hot Jungkook could feel their warmth despite Taehyung keeping them as far from him as he could.

Violet actually jumped when she saw them, stumbling back until she reached the outer line of the pentagram. “You’re… You’re him, right?” she murmured, alarm clear in her voice, her eyes wide. Jungkook blinked. What? “You’re really him.” she repeated in an almost whisper, her fingers nervously tugging at her sleeves as her eyes darted everywhere but at Taehyung.

Jungkook hesitantly looked at Taehyung. Violet’s words implied that she and Taehyung had met before, and not in particularly pleasant circumstances. It seemed Jungkook was the only one who didn’t know about it too, Hoseok staring at the floor with a frown on his face as he was clearly avoiding his eyes, while Yoongi calmly turned the page of his book, neither of them looking shocked or curious.

Taehyung’s already unpleasant smile deepened. “Oh? Don’t tell me you've only realized that now?” he said. “I’m disappointed.”

Jungkook awkwardly cleared his throat. “Can we maybe get back to the point?” he asked. He wouldn’t mind hearing more about this, but looking at Violet’s ashen complexion and panic-filled eyes made him suspect she was close to her limit. If he let Taehyung continue, she might actually collapse.

Taehyung’s lips twitched as he finally extinguished the flames, motioning for Jungkook to go ahead. Jungkook nodded before turning back towards Violet. “Did you have contact with Kangmin during your time at the academy?” he asked.

Violet shook her head. “No.” she said, her voice hoarse. She seemed to hesitate for a moment, her eyes jumping towards Taehyung, before she looked back at Jungkook. “But I met Gara in the city once.” she added. Well, that was progress. She was actually volunteering information now, so apparently Taehyung’s method of scaring her almost to the point of fainting worked.

“Do you know who Kangmin’s contact at the academy is?” he asked.

He wasn’t surprised when Violet replied with, “No.”

Jungkook absentmindedly turned the silver ring on his finger. Violet had been pretty proficient at playing a student, despite the fact that she probably hadn’t been summoned for at least a few decades before this. There had been no time to train her either, considering they had taken her to the academy almost immediately. Jungkook doubted she could have figured everything out on her own and so the only logical conclusion was that there must have been someone else at the academy, someone who had helped her to blend in. And if it wasn’t Kangmin’s mysterious contact…

“Did you have contact with anyone who was in any way connected to Kangmin?” he asked.

Violet seemed to hesitate for a moment, and then she nodded, her eyes fixed on the candle in the upper corner of the pentagram. “There’s another student.” she said after a few seconds of silence. “Her name is Kim Minji. I think she’s in her second year?”

“How is she connected to Kangmin?” he asked, thinking it was worth a chance despite doubting she would know anything useful. Her contact with Kim Minji was most likely limited, and Jungkook was pretty sure Minji had been ordered not to share anything she didn’t absolutely have to with Violet. Even so… chances were she wasn’t as smart as Kangmin, and she might have accidentally let something spill.

“I don’t know.” said Violet, nervously biting at her lips as she glanced at Taehyung. Taehyung quirked an eyebrow, and Violet immediately looked away. She’d probably would have taken a few steps back if she could. “They haven’t really told me anything, but I think her job is to shadow Yoongi.” she said in one breath.

Yoongi must have been listening to the conversation after all as he responded to her words by closing his book, laying it down on the table before looking at Jungkook. “I know her.” he said, voice impassive. Jungkook nodded. He was going to have to ask him a few questions about it, but he could do that later. Right now, it was probably better to fully focus on Violet.

Shadowing Yoongi… Jungkook didn’t find it that unusual – as far as Kangmin knew, Yoongi and Hoseok were Jungkook’s only line of defense. It certainly made sense to try to learn more about Yoongi, since he had a life separate from Jungkook. Still, if they'd actually managed to learn anything useful about him, Jungkook would eat his hat. Even he barely knew anything about Yoongi, and he’d known him since he was 7.

“Is she a magician?” he asked, suddenly reminded of the pentagram in the attic. Could Kim Minji be the one behind it, and if yes… what exactly had she needed to summon a demon for? And where was that demon now?

“Yes.” said Violet with no hesitation. Since Taehyung said nothing, Jungkook assumed she was telling the truth.

“That’s all for now.” he decided.

Jungkook planned to spend the rest of the day reading, but he couldn’t really focus. His thoughts returned to Kangmin no matter how hard he tried to push them in other directions, and he had no choice but to give up on reading after a few minutes, putting the book down and absentmindedly staring at the ceiling instead.

What was Kangmin’s plan? Why did he need so many demons? What did he want with Jungkook?

He rubbed his eyes, suspecting that he could think about the questions for hours on end without coming up with a single answer. He didn’t have enough information, and - when he actually thought about it, really thought about it - he didn’t know that much about Kangmin either. Yes, he probably knew him better than anyone else, since his brother had never bothered to put on a mask for him, but it still wasn’t enough. He had no idea what Kangmin’s end goal was or how he was planning to achieve it.

Suppressing a groan, he pushed himself up. He wasn’t really getting anywhere, and thinking about Kangmin was not how he wanted to spend the rest of the evening. Not at all. That bastard had already monopolized too much of his time with that hairpin, and Jungkook needed a break from being aware of his existence.

He patted the bed next to him in search of his phone, scanning the room with his eyes once he realized it wasn’t there. He gave up after a few moments and lay back down, placing his hand over his face to protect his eyes from the ceiling light. “Can you pass me the phone?” he asked, not having to wait long for something to hit the mattress next to him. The demon had turned out to be pretty reliable when it came to missing objects. “Thanks.” he murmured, grabbing his phone without looking at it.

He soon realized that watching YouTube wasn’t going to cut it either, and neither was browsing social media. It wasn’t distracting enough, and his thoughts were still returning to that one person he didn’t want to think about. Jungkook let out a sigh, giving in. Perhaps the only way to stop obsessing about Kangmin and his sinister plans was to get it out of his system?

“Okay.” said the demon suddenly, and Jungkook automatically turned his head towards him. The angle was weird and he had to strain his neck to see him, but the discomfort didn’t motivate him enough to sit up. Taehyung was lounging in one of the armchairs with a thriller he’d probably found in the mansion’s library in his hands. He hadn’t looked up from it as he spoke, so Jungkook wasn’t entirely sure that he was actually talking to him, and not to the book or one of the other two demons in the house. “I wasn’t going to ask, but really… What is up with you?”

Jungkook blinked, still on the fence about who the demon was talking to. He occasionally made comments to his books when something annoyed him, and he sometimes held conversations with Hoseok and Yoongi through the walls. It would be really awkward if that was the case now and Jungkook was the one who answered. It would be even more awkward if that wasn’t the case and Jungkook asked who he was talking to. Staying quiet was clearly the only reasonable choice here.

Taehyung didn’t seem to agree. After a few moments of silence, he let out a slightly exasperated sigh. “Talking to you, Kookie.” he said, finally raising his eyes to meet Jungkooks. He must have guessed - at least to an extent - of what Jungkook was thinking, the corners of his lips twitching in amusement.

Jungkook awkwardly cleared his throat. He didn’t know why, but something about the way the demon was looking at him made his face feel hot, and the fact he’d called him Kookie didn’t exactly help. Averting his gaze, he admitted, “I can’t stop thinking about Kangmin.”

Taehyung hummed. “Not a good person to think about,” he remarked. Jungkook took it as ‘no, obsessing about it isn’t going to get it out of your system’, and he barely suppressed another sigh.

“Definitely not.” he agreed. “So maybe now would be a great time for you to pay back your debt.” The thought had crossed his mind earlier in the day, a little after he was done talking to Violet. With everything that had happened, he'd completely forgotten about the multiple deals he’d made with the demon. Usually, he would have planned extensively before bringing any of them back up, convinced he had to have a way to counter the demon when he undoubtedly started causing trouble. Now though... now he was pretty sure Taehyung wouldn’t try to go back on his word, which meant that kind of preparation was unnecessary.

“Debt?” asked Taehyung, quirking his brow.

“You promised you would help me with the magic sight thing?” said Jungkook, slightly stumbling over the last two words. He wasn’t entirely sure how to call it, but he meant the issue with the presence of lower and medium demons making him sick. He’d made a deal with Taehyung quite some time ago, and the demon had promised he would teach him how to turn it off.

Once, it had been such a major problem in his life that Jungkook would have found not thinking about it until now borderline impossible, if it hadn’t been for everything that had happened with Kangmin. It was hard to care about anything while his brother was out there, planning who knows what.

“And you owe me two answers.” he added, even though he wasn’t planning to collect on that now. He had too many things he wanted to ask, and he still couldn’t settle on only two. He was leaning towards asking about the demonic powers, but he hadn’t fully decided yet. He needed more time to think about it.

“Ah.” said Taehyung as he slowly put down his book. A smile was tugging at the corners of his lips, and Jungkook had to look away from it for reasons he didn’t entirely understand. “I was hoping you forgot about that.”

“Sorry to disappoint.” muttered Jungkook.

Taehyung responded by silently patting the armchair next to him, the message clear. Jungkook obediently pushed himself up and climbed off the bed, feeling Taehyung’s eyes on him as he crossed the room. Once he was close enough, he collapsed into the armchair, pulling his legs up on the seat and leaning closer to the fireplace, enjoying the warmth on his face. The fireplaces weren’t the only source of heating in the house, but the servants kept the temperature low and Jungkook hadn’t got around to asking them to turn it up. Or more accurately; he hadn’t got around to telling one of the demons to do it for him. The servants’ over-formality made him feel awkward and uncomfortable, even more so than other people he didn’t know did, and their behavior reminding him of the court only made it worse. He preferred to avoid them if possible.

The demon slightly tilted his head, tapping the armrest with his index finger. “You just have problems with the presence of lower and medium demons, and nothing else?” he asked.

Jungkook nodded.

“Hm.” The tapping stopped, Taehyung leaning on the armrest with his elbow. His eyes never left Jungkook and the intensity in them made him squirm in his seat. Having no choice but to avert his gaze to preserve his sanity, he tried to make it seem natural by studying one of the paintings on the wall. He wasn’t sure, but he suspected it was probably depicting one of the former princesses, and he stared at her face while he waited for the heat in his cheeks to go down.

“I believe in trial and error.” the demon said.

“So… in other words - you’re just going to torture me until I figure it out by myself?” wondered Jungkook without really thinking it through, slightly raising his eyebrows as his eyes settled back on Taehyung. His face still felt incredibly hot, but maybe, just maybe the demon would attribute it to the closeness of the fireplace? Probably not, but he could hope.

His words weren’t serious, and the demon could tell, his lips curling upwards. For some reason, Taehyung always looked genuinely happy when Jungkook tried to joke with him, and Jungkook’s working theory about this unusual behavior was that he was probably just reading it wrong. Jungkook was determinedly not funny, and Taehyung was unpredictable, so it made the most sense.

“Oh, so here are the trust issues.” said the demon, voice carrying a hint of amusement. “I was wondering where they went.”

Jungkook flashed him a small smile in response, blinking in confusion when Taehyung’s eyes slightly widened. It only lasted for a fragment of a second, and Jungkook shook his head, sure he had imagined it.

“I've never tried to teach a human how not to use the sight before, so I don’t have a foolproof method.” said the demon after a few seconds of silence, which seemed tenser than usual - Jungkook was probably imagining that as well.

Jungkook nodded, finding the demon’s words unsurprising. There probably weren’t many humans with his unique issue. He couldn’t imagine the demon would do this without getting anything in return either, and Jungkook was probably the only one stupid enough to offer his real name.

“So, the theory” started the demon “is that a bigger quantity of magic turns on your sight, and using the sight is what’s making you sick. Probably because the sight is magic in itself, and humans weren’t made to withstand it.” He leaned back, nonchalantly throwing his arms over the armrests. Jungkook absentmindedly wondered how much effort went into controlling his strength, so he didn’t simply break them. “Everything clear?” asked the demon, slightly tilting his head again.

“Crystal.” murmured Jungkook.

The demon hummed, still looking at him with that odd intensity in his eyes. Jungkook somehow made himself return his gaze, but he was sure his cheeks were completely red, and his heart was doing something weird in his chest.

The demon probably knew, at least if the amused glint in his eyes mixed with something Jungkook couldn’t decipher was any indication. Thankfully, he seemed to have decided not to mention it, and Jungkook was saved from further embarrassment. “I think we might as well start by making sure you can recognize the sight when you’re using it.” said Taehyung. He hesitated for a moment before he continued; “I’ll try an illusion, and you focus on the difference in feelings before and after.” The words were said as a statement, but both his quirked eyebrow and the questioning look in his eyes made it clear that it was actually a question.

Jungkook nodded. He wasn’t enthusiastic about the preposition, not at all, but if the demon thought this was the best way to solve the problem… well, then it probably was. The thought that Taehyung’s main motivation was to torture him briefly crossed his mind, but he dismissed it without even trying to dissect it further.

The demon tilted his head, but Jungkook stopped him by raising his finger before he could do anything. “I don’t actually see the illusions.” he said, feeling the need to point that out despite suspecting the demon already knew. “So, if you could maybe signal when you start…?”

The demon raised an eyebrow, a hint of amusement in his eyes. “I was going to.” he said, unnecessarily waving his hand through the air as he raised three of his fingers, comically widening his eyes.

Jungkook couldn’t help rolling his eyes at the dramatics, leaning back and taking a deep breath in an - unsuccessful - attempt to relax. His heart hammered in his chest, and his palms were so sweaty he had to wipe them on his trousers. Not knowing the cause for the nervousness was worse than the nervousness itself, and so was the intensity in the demon’s gaze as he removed one finger after another.

Once all three of them were down, Jungkook tried to pay attention to the feelings, but the nausea came too soon, and once it was there he could no longer focus on anything else. He shut his eyes, pressing his hand over them as he curled into himself, his other hand grabbing onto the armrest. The room spun around him, and he shivered, suddenly impossibly cold despite the closeness of the fireplace. He wasn’t sure if he imagined it or this was actually worse than it had ever been with lower and medium demons. Probably, right? If the sight was the same as using magic, didn’t that mean that he would have to use less the higher the quantity of magic? Wouldn’t higher demons use more magic than lower demons?

The whole thing probably didn’t last more than a few seconds, but it felt like ages before the nausea finally subsided and he could take a deep breath without fearing he would be sick all over the floor. Blinking, he raised his head and slowly straightened his back, still feeling a bit lightheaded and dizzy.

“What did you feel?” asked the demon, offering him a glass of water. Jungkook took it without hesitation, taking a small sip, and - once he was sure it wouldn’t make him feel any worse - emptied the whole glass with a few gulps.

“Nausea.” he said.

The demon’s lips twitched. “Beside that?” he asked.

Jungkook shook his head. “I don’t…” he muttered, letting his voice trail off. He hadn’t felt any different before the illusion than after it. Perhaps he wasn’t supposed to. Maybe magic didn’t work the same way for humans than it did for demons, and there was no way for him to actually turn the sight off. He sighed, rubbing his eyes. Even if that was the case… he knew he couldn’t give up until he was sure. As long as there was the smallest possibility he could control it, he was going to do anything in his power to make that happen.

The demon didn’t seem surprised. “It might take a while.” he said. His words probably weren’t meant as a reassurance, but Jungkook still took them as such. If the demon thought it might take a while, then his current failure most likely didn’t mean that it was impossible. “Do you want to try that again, or...?” Taehyung raised an eyebrow.

Jungkook hesitated for a moment before nodding, biting his lower lip. This was probably going to be a long and unpleasant evening.