“We should go to the summoning room.” said Jungkook once he finished his breakfast - or rather; attempted to finish it. The nausea was still too alive in his memory for him to have any appetite at all, and the food tasted like ashes on his tongue. He'd had to put in quite some effort to manage to eat what little he had.

Taehyung glanced at the bowl of cereal on the nightstand, his eyebrow raised. Jungkook expected him to argue, but he – surprisingly – refrained, though the expression on his face was obviously disapproving. After a second or two, he turned around, knocking on the wall that connected Jungkook’s and Hoseok’s bedroom. “I hope you heard that Hoseok.” he said, his lips twitching up.

Hoseok did indeed hear that and the door to the bedroom opened a short moment later, Hoseok carefully stepping inside, a cautious look in his eyes. He was holding the jar in his left hand, keeping it as far away from his body as he could. The wasp inside of it seemed distinctively less angry than the last time Jungkook had seen it. Taehyung raised his hand, and Hoseok threw the jar to him without a moment of hesitation, the look of relief on his face unmistakable.

On the other hand, the wasp clearly didn’t like this turn of events, flying as far away from Taehyung as it could in the small jar, repeatedly hitting its body against the glass in its haste to escape. Taehyung sent a downright chilling smile in its direction, slightly shaking the jar. “I would advise you to behave.” he said, and the wasp immediately stopped its hopeless efforts, landing on the bottom of the jar and pressing itself against the glass. “Much better.” remarked the demon pleasantly.

Jungkook massaged his temples. He was still dressed in the clothes he’d worn to bed the night before, and he was too tired and unmotivated to change, so he drew the line at grabbing a pullover from his closet, pulling it over his head. The summoning room was located in the basement, so it was most likely even colder than the rest of the mansion, and Jungkook would rather not freeze to death.

He grabbed his laptop on the way out of the room, hoping the demon had been telling the truth when he'd assured him that he hadn’t downloaded any viruses. He really didn’t have the energy to deal with that on top of everything else.

“You know…” started the demon in a conversational tone, as he watched Jungkook wipe off the same line of the pentagram for about the seventh time. “… we'll be here for a few more days, so you don’t have to do this today.”

Jungkook bit his tongue. The demon suddenly speaking up after half an hour of dead silence was unexpected enough that he flinched, which of course meant he screwed up the line once again. Gritting his teeth, he wiped it off the floor with the rag, careful not to mess up the other lines, his movements rougher than necessary.

He couldn’t properly concentrate today, his brain too groggy and slow, not to mention the headache that had previously improved was starting to get worse again. His inability to get the pentagram right was making him more and more frustrated, and he was tempted to throw the chalk away and give up on the spot. If this had been a normal case of summoning, he would have done so ages ago, deeming it far too dangerous to continue. But it wasn’t a normal case of summoning - Taehyung was here, and he was more than capable of dealing with Violet in case something went wrong. The worst that could happen was that the pentagram wouldn’t properly cancel the orders.

“It’s easier to focus when you’re quiet.” he muttered absentmindedly, barely holding back a sigh of relief when the next line he’d drawn turned out satisfactory. Good. ¼ of the pentagram was done, ¾ still left to go. Though, if he continued at this pace, he was going to be here for the rest of the day.

“I’ve been quiet for the past half an hour, and it didn’t seem to help with your focus.” pointed out the demon, a hint of amusement creeping into his voice. Jungkook instinctively glanced up. Taehyung was sitting on the table, tapping his fingers on its surface while staring at Jungkook with an uncomfortable intensity in his eyes. Jungkook swallowed, averting his gaze. He shouldn’t have looked at him – he was way too aware of Taehyung’s presence now, and that definitely wasn’t doing good things to his concentration.

“Having to redraw the pentagram a few times is normal.” he said, pressing the tip of the chalk against the floor as he steeled himself to continue. He was really struggling with it today, and the demon was definitely not helping.

He wasn’t even sure why he was still participating in this conversation. Taehyung had a point – unfortunately - and Jungkook could deny it all he wanted but that still wouldn’t change the facts. Jungkook was practically setting himself up for failure here, and the barely visible smile on Taehyung's lips implied that the demon was well aware of it. Jungkook should stop talking while he was still ahead.

“Hm... sure.” agreed the demon. “But not this many times.”

“And how would you know?” asked Jungkook, forcing  his hand to move. Unfortunately, the line turned out crooked, so he had to wipe it off again. It felt like he was proving the demon’s point.

The demon seemed to agree, quietly snorting. “I've watched you do it before.” he said. “It took you three times on average to get it right.” He paused for a second or two, probably for the effect, before adding, a generous amount of amusement in his voice. “Currently, you’re at ten.”

“How do you know that?” Just how good was his memory? Then again, he could be making it up. It wasn’t like Jungkook could actually check the truthfulness of his statement, considering he didn’t exactly make a habit of counting how many tries it took to draw a pentagram. He usually had it done a lot quicker though, which was something the demon certainly couldn’t have missed.

“Do you think I made it up?” asked Taehyung, somehow sounding even more amused than before.

“Yes.”

“I didn’t.”

Jungkook looked up again. “So what,” he asked “you were counting how many times I drew the lines?”

“Not exactly” said the demon slowly, his lips curling up. “I just watched you very closely.”

Yup, Jungkook should have stopped having this ridiculous conversation while he'd still been ahead. He averted his gaze, pressing his lips together while trying to ignore the heat on his cheeks and the suddenly rapid beating of his heart. He wasn’t even sure why the demon’s words had such a great impact on him, though it probably had something to do with the way he'd said it, his voice low and somewhat predatory. It didn’t help that he was staring at Jungkook with an intense but otherwise indecipherable look in his eyes either.

“You’re doing this on purpose.” muttered Jungkook, his gaze fixed on the half drawn pentagram. He wasn’t sure if the demon was doing it to get a reaction out of him or to stop him from going over the registry today, though - knowing him - it was probably a little bit of both. Taehyung sure had a lot of dirty tricks up his sleeve.

“Am I?”

Jungkook gritted his teeth. “Please just be quiet and let me finish.” he said.

The demon raised up his hands in defeat. “Sure sure.” he said. Jungkook narrowed his eyes at him, trying to figure out if he was being sincere. The demon responded with an innocent smile, and Jungkook let out a sigh, averting his gaze.

Unfortunately Taehyung didn’t need to talk to be distracting. Jungkook could practically feel his eyes on the back of his head, and it made him uncomfortable enough that staying focused on the task at hand was practically impossible. “And stop staring at me.” he added.

“Fine.” said Taehyung. His voice was a bit too innocent to take at face value though, and it became apparent why a second later. “I’ll stare at Hoseok instead.”

Yeah, that definitely sounded like something that wouldn’t end in a disaster. Jungkook glanced at Hoseok, who had been quietly standing next to the door so far. He looked like a deer caught in headlights, his eyes wide and face pale. The tension between the two could be cut with a knife, and it definitely wasn’t the kind of atmosphere one could stay concentrated in. “Don’t stare at Hoseok either.” he said.

“Then where do you want me to look? The ceiling?”

“You can also close your eyes.”

“Look at you being all demanding.” said Taehyung, amusement clear in his voice. Jungkook felt blood rush to his cheeks again, and he was momentarily struck by a strong urge to throw the chalk at the demon. The only reason he didn’t in the end, was because he knew it would just prompt more teasing, and he honestly wasn’t in the mood.

Wiping his forehead with the back of his hand, he slowly put down the chalk. Maybe he should take a look at the registry first after all. He didn’t need Violet yet – she was here to confirm who her master was, but only after Jungkook already found the most likely candidate. There were clear rules about letting demons access this kind of information, and he didn’t want to break them more than he absolutely had to. They were there to protect the magicians, and Jungkook didn’t plan to endanger them - well, at least not too much.

“Giving up?” asked the demon innocently, watching Jungkook get up from the floor.

Jungkook glared at him. “Taking a break.” he said.

“Touché.”

Jungkook pointedly ignored him, grabbing the laptop off the table before sitting down in the nearest corner, leaning against the wall. The demon joined him after a second or two, positioning himself uncomfortably close to him in his typical fashion. As usual, Jungkook’s heartbeat immediately sped up, and he flushed, grabbing the mouse hard enough his knuckles turned white. He could see the demon’s lips twitch up with the corner of his eyes, which made his cheeks heat up even more. He was going to get nothing done at this point.

“I’m not sure I should allow you to see the registry.” he said, while waiting for it to open. Taehyung was a demon, and while Jungkook knew he wouldn’t use the information in a way that would hurt him, he was still – which was something Jungkook kept forgetting lately - dangerous and borderline sadistic. He would most likely never get the chance, but if he did, there was no doubt he would use the information against other magicians with absolutely no regret.

“Are you sure that’s the reason?” asked the demon.

“It’s part of the reason.” muttered Jungkook, slightly lowering his head in a – most likely futile – attempt to hide his very much red face from Taehyung. The other part of the reason was that he needed to get the demon further away from him if he wanted to get anything done at all. He already found it incredibly hard to focus, and the demon’s closeness was making it much much worse.

“A part of the reason.” repeated the demon, a small smile playing on his lips. Instead of moving away, he moved even closer, his shoulders pressing firmly against Jungkook’s. “What’s the other part?” he asked innocently.

Jungkook took a deep breath, giving the demon the nastiest look he could manage, although most of its effect was probably lost due to the flush on his cheeks. Thankfully Taehyung finally deemed him tortured enough, raising his hands up in a sign of defeat before moving to the other side of the room. Jungkook tiredly massaged his temples, wondering if he should just leave everything at this point and go back to sleep. His motivation to get things done mysteriously evaporated, and now he was just exhausted.

Still… if he gave up now, wouldn’t that just give the demon a reason to believe he could stop him from doing things he didn’t want him to do in the future if he bothered him enough? Not to mention he would probably never hear the end of it. No… he couldn’t give up now, he at least had to get something done for the sake of peace and quiet.

His reluctance reappeared when he took a look at the number of the magicians in the registry. 298 005. Seriously. This was going to take days to get through, especially at his current tempo. He'd known there were a lot of magicians, but he'd clearly been naïve as to their number.

“What is it?” asked Taehyung from the other side of the room.

Jungkook sighed. “This is going to take a while.”

“You could let me have a look.”

He could. Demons were incredibly fast, so Taehyung would be done with the registry a lot faster than Jungkook. Still… he shouldn’t put the magicians in danger just because he was tired and too proud to call it quits. “No.” he muttered. “I got it.”

He sighed, tiredly massaging his temples. Violet wasn’t sure if her master was actually a magician, but Jungkook suspected she probably was. She couldn’t have summoned a higher demon without at least some prior knowledge on summoning, not to mention Violet had said her accent was the same as Jungkook’s, which meant she was most likely a noble as well. So… she was probably in the registry, but it was going to be fairly hard to find her.

It was better to try Kim Minji first, considering he actually had a name in her case, so she should be much easier to find. He typed her name into the search bar, and - since there was thankfully just one Kim Minji - immediately landed on her profile page. This should be who they were searching for, but he was still going to get Yoongi to confirm it for him later, just in case.

“I found Kim Minji.” he informed the demon, hesitating for a moment before adding; “You can come look.” Two heads were better than one, and he could still send the demon away later and reexamine the page by himself if he got too distracting.

Taehyung’s lips slightly curled up, and he slowly got up from the floor. “Was there a point in sending me away at all?” he asked.

“There was.” said Jungkook. “You didn’t see the name page.” And he got a few minutes of peace that he desperately needed, so it was definitely worth it.

The demon sat down next to him, once again way too close for comfort. It would be fine if he stopped with just that though, but he didn’t, putting his arm around Jungkook’s shoulders and pulling him closer. Jungkook didn’t even have the time to properly react before his head was carefully pushed down to rest on the demon’s shoulder, Taehyung’s fingers gently carding through his hair.

He automatically tensed. “Um.” he said intelligibly, trying to keep calm. It was impossible, his heart beating wildly in his chest, while his breathing came a little too fast. He had work to do, and there was absolutely no way he could do it in this position. It wasn’t like he could actually move a muscle though, the demon firmly keeping him down.

“You look exhausted.” said Taehyung, his voice a bit too innocent for comfort. “You should rest a little. Does your head still hurt?” He gently patted Jungkook’s head before reaching towards where Jungkook’s hand was, carefully pulling it away from the mouse. And really, Jungkook would have glared at him at this point if he could actually move. Because he couldn’t, he had to settle with staring daggers at the screen of his laptop, hoping Taehyung could see his reflection.

He gave up after a minute, directing his attention back to the registry and doing his best to focus. Kim Minji was 23 years old and had become a magician at 21, which was a pretty impressive achievement. She was a member of the Kim family, and according to her family tree, she belonged to the main branch. Her mother was the current head, and her older sister Kim Ayeong had already been named a successor. She had an older brother as well, and his name was…

Jungkook blinked, momentarily convinced he misread the name in his exhaustion. But no… he didn’t. What were the chances? “Would you look at that.” said Taehyung, tapping the brother’s name on the screen. “It’s our old friend Kim Seokjin.”

“Don’t ruin my computer.” muttered Jungkook, tiredly rubbing his eyes. “Do you think he’s involved as well?”

The demon hummed, looking at the ceiling while he thought about it. His fingers were still slowly carding through Jungkook’s hair, and Jungkook was a bit afraid to admit to himself just how much he enjoyed it. He bit his lip, fighting back the urge to further lean into the touch. “Hard to say.” replied Taehyung after a few seconds of silence. The involvement of the whole family is possible, but it’s far more likely Kim Minji is acting alone.”

Jungkook nodded. That was exactly what he thought as well. Kangmin was unlikely to recruit a whole family, considering one member being discovered would essentially lead to the whole family’s downfall. It was more likely that he picked allies that had little connection to each other. Still… they would have to be extra careful around Seokjin from now on, just in case. “I can try finding out more about it.” said the demon.

Jungkook slightly narrowed his eyes. It would be dangerous to give him an okay right away, since Taehyung’s methods of doing things were a bit… vicious. He usually suggested burning someone or something to ashes, so Jungkook had a right to be skeptical. “How?”

There was a beat of silence. “Search his room first.” said the demon. “Then turn into Yangmi and question him a little.”

“Question him how?” asked Jungkook.

“You know the orders are preventing me from harming anyone without your permission.”

Jungkook narrowed his eyes. The indirect answer to his question made him even more suspicious. “We both know you can terrify someone to death without using physical violence.” he pointed out.

“Can I?” asked the demon innocently, more or less confirming that his plan did indeed involve giving Seokjin a lifelong trauma.

Jungkook groaned. “We don’t even know if he’s actually involved.” he said. “Can we wait before inducing psychological trauma on someone?”

“Fine, fine.” said the demon. “I’ll question him nicely.”

“Alright.” muttered Jungkook, strongly hoping that their definition of ‘nicely' was the same - or at least similar – though he had his doubts. He was too tired to argue further though.

He sighed. “I have to find Violet’s master.” he said, an obvious hint that the demon should remove himself. Though, to be completely honest, he didn’t particularly want him to at this point. He was still a bit nervous and tense when they were this close, but… it was oddly pleasant and comforting at the same time.

Taehyung seemed unwilling as well, but he did what Jungkook asked him to anyway, carefully removing his arm from around Jungkook’s shoulders. Then he patiently waited until Jungkook sat upright before getting up.

It took a while for Jungkook to successfully focus back on the registry after that, but he did eventually manage it.

It was obvious that Violet’s master was going to be hard to find. Thankfully there were filters for easier search, so he could at least decrease the number of the magicians he had to look through a little. If he remembered correctly, Violet said her master was older than him but not by lot. It was hard to properly gauge a person’s age by their looks alone. Still… she probably wasn’t younger than 20 or older than 30. Implementing that put the number of magicians down to 29 000, which was a great relief.

Next… Violet claimed her master’s accent was the same as Jungkook’s, which most likely meant nobility. That further put the numbers down to 18 127, and if he excluded all men, he was at 8763, which was at least manageable. The problem was that Violet’s physical description of her master was lacking. Telling him she had red hair didn’t particularly help, considering that meant she colored it and could have changed it at any time. Then again, the profile picture had to be changed at least once a year, so there was still hope, and he should probably try to see if there were any redheaded women before he enlisted Violet’s help.

Searching through the profiles took ages, but he did find three women with red hair. He skimmed over their profiles, not really expecting to find anything that would point to which one (if any) of them was Violet’s master. To his surprise, he did find something when he got to the third one. For one, her name was Kim Ayeong. And… her family tree informed him that she had a younger sister named Kim Minji and a younger brother named Kim Seokjin.

“I think” he started “it might be the whole family after all.”