The demon sat next to him on the floor, his shoulders pressing against Jungkook’s. He leaned as close as he could before fixing his gaze on the image of the redheaded woman on the screen, his hand resting half on top of Jungkook’s. Jungkook’s traitorous heart immediately sped up, and he took a deep breath, willing himself to stay calm. It was ridiculous how affected he was by Taehyung’s presence each time, and he couldn’t help but wonder if he would ever actually get used to it. Maybe he was cursed to a lifetime of overreacting.

“That’s two siblings out of three.” remarked the demon, slightly tilting his head. Jungkook felt his breath on his neck, and he shivered, ignoring the knowing look Taehyung aimed in his direction in response. “And their job seems to be connected to you.” the demon added. “Things aren’t looking that well for our dear friend Kim Seokjin.”

“They don’t.” agreed Jungkook. If two of the three siblings worked for Kangmin, what were the chances the third one didn’t? Not very high, but he still couldn’t completely dismiss the possibility that Seokjin had nothing to do with all of this. For one, there was an ‘M’ next to every magician's name in the family tree, and there wasn’t one next to Seokjin, which meant he wasn’t a magician. And… would Kangmin actually recruit someone who wasn’t a magician? Based on his classicistic ways, Jungkook had some doubts. “He's not a magician. At least not yet.” he said. “He might be an apprentice.”

“So…” started Taehyung slowly, a barely detectable hint of amusement in his voice informing Jungkook that he probably wasn’t going to like what he was about to say next. “I can use a bit more persuasive techniques to interrogate him?”

Jungkook sighed, turning his head just enough to be able to look at the demon. It turned out to be a mistake, their faces suddenly way too close for comfort. Awkwardly clearing his throat, he quickly fixed his eyes back on the screen, hoping his cheeks weren’t as red as he suspected they were. “No.” he said as firmly as he could. “Not until we know for sure.”

“And when we know for sure?” wondered Taehyung slowly.

Jungkook let out another sigh. “If I promise you can torture him if he’s involved” he started slowly “how can I trust you won’t be biased when interrogating him?”

“Who said anything about torturing?” asked the demon innocently, and that on its own was enough to tell Jungkook that torturing was indeed exactly what Taehyung had in mind. Since Jungkook still couldn’t muster the courage to look directly at the other, he gave the screen a pointed look, hoping Taehyung’s superior senses could pick out his reflection. “I see you have a pretty bad opinion of me.” remarked the demon. He sounded slightly offended, but mostly he was just amused, which made it clear that he wasn’t really insulted.

“No, just…” started Jungkook, stopping himself when he realized he didn’t know what to say. That he didn’t have a bad opinion of Taehyung? “I just think you’re a bit too sadistic.” he muttered after a second or two of awkward silence, his voice barely above a whisper. His cheeks were flushed, and he tried to distract them both from his embarrassment by typing Seokjin’s name into the search bar.

“He is an apprentice.” he said when the site redirected him to Seokjin’s profile page. His picture seemed recent, his hair styled in the same way as it had been at the Christmas dance, and he stared into the camera with a slightly unimpressed look in his eyes. He was still an apprentice, which wasn’t that unusual for someone his age, but must have considering his younger sister was already a full magician and his older sister became one at a relatively young age as well.

“How am I sadistic?” asked the demon next to his ear, amusement clear in his voice.

“Do you want a list?” asked Jungkook dryly.

Taehyung chuckled. “Fair enough.” he said.

At least he was self aware.

They spent the next few minutes looking over Seokjin’s profile in silence, the demon half leaning against Jungkook’s side, his weight strangely comforting. The quiet surprisingly wasn’t as awkward as it normally was, and while Jungkook wasn’t exactly relaxed, still way too aware of the demon’s presence, he didn’t feel quite as jumpy as usual either. To be honest, the silence and the warmth was making him somewhat sleepy. He was exhausted, and he still felt the remnants of the hangover; a dull pain behind his eyes coupled with an unsettled stomach.

“Hm…” said Taehyung at one point, causing Jungkook to jolt out of his half asleep state. He blinked, momentarily confused, before quickly raising his head from where it had been leaning against Taehyung’s, his cheeks heating up. Clearly, he had a talent for making things difficult for himself. “It’s going to be a bit difficult to interrogate him as Yangmi.”

“What?” asked Jungkook, his mind too groggy to wrap around the meaning of the demon’s words.

“Outsiders can’t get inside the academy, and I can’t get out.” explained Taehyung patiently. There was a hint of a smile on his lips, one Jungkook could see with the corner of his eyes but couldn’t figure out the meaning of. Knowing the demon, he was probably just entertained by his embarrassment.

“You can go out.” he muttered.

“Good try, but I’m not leaving you alone at the academy.” replied the demon.

“I have Yoongi and Hoseok.” Jungkook felt the need to point out, although he knew it was no use. Taehyung clearly didn’t think either of them could protect him, and considering the kinds of demons Kangmin seemed to have at his beck and call… he was probably right. About Hoseok at least. Jungkook had never seen Yoongi in action, so he couldn’t objectively judge his capabilities as a bodyguard.

“Hoseok is useless and Yoongi is not enough.” said the demon predictably.

Jungkook sighed, tiredly rubbing his eyes. “Do you have another idea?” he asked.

“Yes” said Taehyung “let’s use Namjoon.”

The suggestion was surprising enough that Jungkook momentarily forgot himself, turning his head to look at Taehyung again. The demon calmly met his eyes, his lips twitching up, and Jungkook - reminded of why he had avoided looking at him in the first place – averted his gaze, heat travelling up his neck. “I’m sure he’s going to agree.” he said, awkwardly clearing his throat.

If Taehyung wanted to interrogate Seokjin inside the academy, then he had to borrow the appearance of one of the students. It would be stupid to borrow Jungkook’s, since that would – if Seokjin was actually involved in all of this – make it clear that they knew who Violet’s master was. While there was a possibility that Kangmin already knew that they knew, they couldn’t be sure, and as long as they couldn’t be, they should at least try keeping it a secret.

They needed a third party, but it would be too dangerous to just choose anybody. If Seokjin talked with them later and learned they have no memory of the conversation Taehyung had with him while pretending he was them, then Seokjin would get suspicious. They needed someone who knew at least a little bit of what was going on. Namjoon… Namjoon was probably their best choice, considering he was the only one who knew of Jungkook’s real identity. Getting him involved was still pretty dangerous, but if Taehyung thought he could control him…

“He will if I ask nicely.” said the demon, something sinister creeping into his voice at the last word.

“Okay…” said Jungkook slowly. “I’ll leave that to you then. Just don’t traumatize him too badly.” Taehyung couldn’t physically hurt Namjoon without Jungkook’s specific permission, so there was no danger of that. As for psychological trauma… Jungkook felt guilty about it, but he couldn’t bring himself to care too much about Taehyung scaring Namjoon half to death, not as long as they got what they needed. Unlike Seokjin, Namjoon seemed determined to make things as difficult for Jungkook as possible, and although Jungkook somewhat understood his reasons, he couldn’t ignore everything the other had done so far. It might be petty, but he couldn’t help it.

He sighed, rubbing his eyes. He still had to finish the pentagram and get confirmation from Violet that Aeyong was actually her master. Just thinking about it was making him even more tired than he already was. “Let’s check if Aeyong is actually Violet’s… I mean Yeeun's… L's master.” he said, awkwardly stumbling over his words. His neck heated up in response to his blunder, and he bit his lip, just waiting for Taehyung to start teasing him about calling L Violet again.

“How come even an enemy gets a nickname, and I don’t?” wondered the demon, clearly amused.

Jungkook pressed his lips together. “I’ll call you Tae if you shut up.” he muttered.

The demon made a gesture of locking his mouth and throwing the key away, his lips curled upwards. Jungkook hadn’t really thought his words through, and he was starting to regret them now that it was already too late. If he actually called the demon Tae… he was going to get teased, and if he didn’t… then he was going to be accused of not keeping his word. There was no way to win this one, and he'd dug up his hole all by himself.

He tried to forget about it as he kneeled next to the half finished pentagram, grabbing the chalk and taking a deep breath. He hoped he would be able to finish it now, after a break, and that - unlike before - his brain would actually cooperate this time.

It ended up taking another hour before he finally managed to draw the last line, inspecting the final product and suppressing a sigh of relief when he didn’t find anything amiss. It had been a bit easier to focus than during his first session, but his mind had still been groggy and he’d still been too tired to properly concentrate, so it had taken a while to get it done. The demon had been blissfully quiet the whole time, which hadn’t helped as much as it would have if he'd also refrained from staring. Jungkook could feel his eyes on him the entire time he had been drawing, and had barely managed to hold back from telling him to look at something else instead, too afraid he would have retaliated by staring at Hoseok.

Once Jungkook was done setting everything up, Taehyung grabbed the jar, opening it and smiling down at the obviously terrified wasp. “I do hope you’re planning to behave.” he said pleasantly, and the wasp let out a quiet buzz in response, as if agreeing. The demon put the jar on the table before going to stand next to Jungkook, positioning himself as close to him as he could without actually stepping inside the pentagram.

The wasp took its sweet time flying out of the jar and turning back into her human form, her eyes darting from Taehyung to Hoseok to Jungkook, and then back again. She visibly swallowed, shook her head, then walked into the bigger pentagram.

Jungkook accepted the laptop from Taehyung, careful not to let his hands cross the pentagram's outer lines. It was automatic at this point, drilled into him by years and years of summoning lectures. It wasn’t necessary in this case - Violet wouldn’t get far even if she was stupid enough to actually try to attack him – but habit was habit.

He searched for Aeyong’s picture, turning the screen towards Violet once he had it opened. “Is this your master?” he asked.

Violet leaned forward, her brow creased. She opened , closed it, and then opened it again, before uttering with obvious difficulty; “Yes.” It was a clear sign she was going against her orders, which meant she was most likely telling the truth. He still sent a questioning look to Taehyung, just in case, and the demon nodded. It looked like they truly had found Violet’s master.

Jungkook crossed his arms over his chest, contemplating for a few moments. “What do you know about Kim Seokjin?” he finally asked. It was a long shot, considering they had already asked Violet about the people she had been in contact with at the academy and she'd only named Minji, but Jungkook supposed he had nothing to lose.

“Not much more than you.” said Violet.

“You’re very generous with the details.” said Taehyung. His voice was mostly nonchalant, but there was a hint of danger in it as well, one that Violet certainly detected, all color immediately draining from her face.

“I only met him one time before the Christmas dance, I really don’t know anything.” she said quickly, every muscle in her body obviously tensed.

Taehyung said nothing, so Jungkook assumed she was telling the truth. “Alright, that’s all.” he said.

He received the list of people that had visited the mansion with the king in the evening, and would have got right to it if the demon didn’t pull the phone out of his hands, half throwing it on the nightstand next to his head. “Enough working for today.” he said when Jungkook narrowed his eyes at him, his tone firm, clearly not allowing any protest. It was obvious he wasn’t going to budge, so Jungkook just sighed in defeat, leaning his head back on the pillow.

They were watching a TV show on his laptop, at a proper distance for once. Or… maybe not exactly a proper distance, but Taehyung did leave him some breathing space, which was pretty unusual for him, especially lately. Jungkook suspected he was trying to get him to relax and knew the chances of it weren’t that high when he was too close to him. The problem was just… Jungkook kind of wanted him closer. He tried but essentially failed to gather the courage to close the small distance between them himself, forced to settle with stealing occasional glances at the demon. He was way too tired to focus on what was happening on the screen anyway.

“Maybe you should go to sleep.” suggested Taehyung at one point, and Jungkook didn’t need to think for long before nodding in agreement. Sleep sounded great. What sounded less great was that he still had to change and brush his teeth, preferably even take a shower. He had neither the energy nor the motivation to move.

Taehyung lifted an eyebrow at him. “Well?”

“I’m too tired to move.”

The demon tapped his fingers on the bed, his lips twitching up ever so slightly. “How about this?” he asked. “If you don’t get up in the next two minutes, I’m going to carry you. I’ll even let you choose between a bridal carry and a potato sack.”

“A potato sack?”

“Would you like a demonstration?”

Needless to say, Jungkook got up in less than two minutes.

Taehyung gave him his phone back the next morning, but only after Jungkook already ate his breakfast and got dressed, and even then he had to half beg for it. “You should take the day off.” the demon insisted, giving him an obviously displeased look.

“I will after I look over the list.”

“Yes, I’m sure you will.” said Taehyung, his tone making it clear that he didn’t believe him at all. Which… was fair, actually. Jungkook knew he was bad at making himself get enough rest.

The demon still relented, albeit unwillingly, and a minute later Jungkook was settled on the armchair with his phone in his hands, bringing up the list. It wasn’t that long – there were only 15 people on it, 10 agents, two members of administration, and two advisers. Jungkook’s eyes immediately zeroed on the name Kim Yejun, and he bit his lip, trying to ignore the sudden feeling of foreboding.

“Can you give me my laptop?” he asked the demon, forcing himself to unglue his eyes from the screen. He could have got it himself, but he found that he could only rarely be bothered lately, relying on Taehyung to bring him his things instead. He was surprised that he hadn’t been teased about it yet.

“What is it?” asked the demon, picking his laptop from the bed and carrying it over to him.

“There’s someone with the surname Kim on the list.”

“Really?” Taehyung looked over his shoulder once he handed the laptop over, leaning so close Jungkook could feel his breath against his ear. He swallowed, barely suppressing a shiver, and tried to distract himself from the demon’s presence by searching for Aeyong in the registry. He brought up her family tree, realizing it was exactly like he thought – Kim Yejun was her father. “We'll that’s not good.” said the demon.

Jungkook nodded. Yejun's daughters definitely worked for Kangmin, which meant there was a great possibility he did as well. It was bad news. He was an advisor and thus one of the closest people to the king, so his influence at court… it was big. At this point it was probably safe to assume both that he was the one behind the curse and that Kangmin knew where Jungkook was. It was unlikely he would try to get to him in the mansion, but returning to the academy…. it was going to be dangerous.

He closed the list, opening his contacts instead and typing a quick message to Jimin.

Can you get me a private plane back without anyone knowing?

It was dangerous. Kangmin could learn about it and sneak his people and pilot on the plane. But… it would be even worse to travel with a commercial airplane. Kangmin must have had eyes on them, which meant he wouldn’t find it particularly hard to figure out which plane Jungkook was going to return on. It also wouldn’t be that hard to board his people on it, and if that happened… Well, he could take a whole lot of people as hostages, and not even Taehyung would be able to do much about it. Jungkook wouldn’t be able to live with that. If there had to be victims it was better if it was just him.

Jimin replied almost immediately.

I’ll take care of it