Taehyung felt a familiar pull before the world around him dissolved into nothing. What followed was an unpleasant sensation of falling through the darkness. He was never sure how long it lasted, but it always seemed like an eternity.

Time passed differently in the prison - or not passed at all. Taehyung wasn’t entirely sure which, and neither did he particularly care. Usually, he was just happy to leave - humans were a major pain in the , but they were nothing compared to the bleak existence in the prison. If he had to deal with an arrogant royalty to get out of there, that is exactly what he was going to do.

Besides, he would be lying if he claimed he didn’t enjoy certain parts of it. Humans made so many delicious little mistakes, and Taehyung absolutely loved making the most of them. The magicians were improving with time, true, but if anything – that made conning them even more entertaining.

He couldn’t tell how much time had passed since he had been last called. It could have been a day, or it could have been a century. The only thing he could be certain about was that there was a 99% chance he was being summoned by another king (or queen). He only had two masters who weren’t royalty, and the first one was awarded quite a gruesome death for her troubles. He wasn’t sure about the second.

He opened his eyes, seeing nothing. Did it always take so long? He wasn’t sure – one summoning tended to blend into another over time, and he could barely tell them apart by this point. Besides, it didn’t matter – the time was only an illusion anyway.

It took a while (or at least it seemed so) before the darkness finally lifted and he once again felt a hard floor beneath his feet. His eyes were attacked by light, but they adjusted quickly, and he was soon able to take a good look at his new master.

Or an old one, since the kid in front of him was certainly the person who had summoned him the last time. This time, he somehow managed to seem even more terrified than back then. Taehyung observed how he nervously played with a silver ring on his finger while staring at the floor in concentration. Or rather; at the pentagram, most likely trying to make sure it was drawn correctly. Taehyung barely managed to avoid rolling his eyes.

“Well” he said finally, forcing his lips into a smirk. “What an unpleasant surprise.” Not exactly true, of course. The situation was not entirely unpleasant, though it was certainly a surprise – he did say a few things about how the magician was definitely going to summon him again when they last met, but he hadn’t actually believed it. The kid seemed more than capable of learning from his own mistakes - although he did appear to have surprisingly little sense of self-preservation.

“Did you fail another test?” Taehyung wondered mockingly. The magician averted his gaze from the floor and finally looked at him. Taehyung saw the apprehension in his eyes, and could tell he was mentally preparing to speak.

“Someone stole my laptop.” he said finally, his voice slightly strained. It appeared that he was intending to say something else, but Taehyung spoke before he could even open his mouth; “Wow. And I thought your previous reason for summoning me was trivial.” He took a long look at his nails for no other reason than to be unnecessarily dramatic. “Don’t you think you should take this miniscule problem over to a professor? You know… waste their time instead of mine?”

The magician once again took ages before even attempting to speak. He was clearly an over-thinker, and Taehyung couldn’t decide whether he found that amusing or irritating. Probably a little bit of both.

“They don’t care.” he said finally. “If things get stolen you either get them back on your own or let it go.”

Taehyung slightly narrowed his eyes. “Is this your pride speaking, or an actual policy?” He would be honestly surprised if it was the former instead of the latter. If he learned anything at all from their last encounter, it was that the kid clearly didn’t have much in the pride department.

“An unwritten policy everyone respects.” responded the magician.

“Huh.” Was all Taehyung had to offer as a reply. He wasn’t particularly surprised. He had heard quite a few things about the academy, none of which was exactly pleasant. Letting the students resolve issues by themselves, was probably supposed to teach them they couldn’t rely on anyone else, or something similarly disturbing. Taehyung truly couldn’t care less.

“I’m assuming you want me to get it back without anyone noticing?” wondered Taehyung in an amused tone. It was apparent that the magician was preparing to answer, but Taehyung didn’t intend to wait. “Don’t you think it would be easier if you just got a new one?” he asked. “I heard enough about your academy to know you’re either incredibly rich or on a hefty scholarship. You’re not going to convince me that money is a problem.”

The magician clenched his jaw, which Taehyung took as a clear sign of annoyance. He couldn’t avoid responding with a smirk.

“My finished assignment was on it.” The kid said finally. He managed to preserve the eye contact, even though it obviously made him uncomfortable.

Taehyung raised his eyebrows in sincere surprise, hoping the magician would interpret it as mocked. “And you didn’t make copies?” he voiced what he found the most unbelievable about the whole situation. He had tried to learn as little about his masters as possible, but even with years of practice he couldn’t exactly avoid knowing the most obvious facts, such as – for example – this kid planning every little detail of just about everything.

The magician responded with a tense shrug. “Also gone.” he said.

“Your classmates appear to be thorough.” commented Taehyung, slowly curling his lips into a smirk. No surprise there. He heard enough about the academy to know it was full of genius kids. And given the obvious lack of supervision, theft and other, possibly worse things probably happened on the regular basis.

“You must be on the very bottom intelligence-wise.” added Taehyung, after he concluded that the magician didn’t say anything for too long. He was expecting to be met with more annoyance, but all he got in response was a quiet; “Probably.”

Taehyung raised his left eyebrow, and for a moment or two they just stared at each other. The magician seemed to be even tenser than a minute before. He was pressing his nails against the skin on his palms, and looked about ready to simply turn around and sprint away.

He opened his mouth and then closed it, only to try again a second later. “I don’t know who the thief is.” he said finally. “And I have to submit the assignment in three hours.”

Taehyung narrowed his eyes. “And you expect me to find out who it is and then get your computer back in so little time?” he wondered in a tone that implied what his opinion on that particular plan was. “It would be so much easier if I just burned the school down though, don't you agree? Fire did work perfectly the last time.” He curled his lips into a smirk. He usually wasn’t one to repeat his threats, but he decided to make a little exception for this magician. His previous, very much annoyed reactions to Taehyung suggesting his problems could be solved with fire were, after all, incredibly amusing. Not to mention bringing it up was like pouring salt on the magician’s wound by reminding him what happened the last time he had summoned a demon.

The kid’s response definitely didn’t disappoint – Taehyung saw him press his lips into a thin line. “No fire.” he said firmly. It was obvious that he wanted to say more, but his self-control was – as always (apart from when his life was in imminent danger, of course) – impeccable.

“I finished the assignment at 8:30am, and I noticed the computer was missing around 11.” said the magician. “I haven’t left the room in the meantime, so the thief must be one of the classmates who came into my room.”

“Interesting.” said Taehyung, even though it wasn’t really. A bit unexpected perhaps – only now he realized that he found the sole idea of the magician actually socializing with people hilarious. He certainly couldn’t imagine anyone having enough of patience to wait until he analyzed every single word he was about to say, but of course he had to be behaving differently around humans.

The magician – not unexpectedly – ignored him. “I was working on the group project with Areum until around 10, then Seokjin came looking for her and they left together. Half an hour later Namjoon came to ask me if I was planning to go the dance.” said magician. It was obvious that he was planning to continue, but Taehyung simply couldn’t let such a good opportunity for a jab pass.

 “You were asked to a dance?” he wondered, not even trying to hide the amusement in his voice. “Why do I find that hard to believe?”

The magicians pressed his lips into a thin line, and Taehyung was convinced he could actually hear him grind his teeth. Clearly he had managed to strike a nerve. “Because I wasn’t.” he said finally in a carefully controlled voice. “He is a student council president – he was taking attendance.” he paused before uncertainly adding; “Not that it’s any of your business.”

Taehyung leaned forward in false confidentiality. “But you wanted to be asked to the dance?” he wondered, slightly raising his eyebrow. The reaction he received was even better than he had expected – the magician’s cheeks were suddenly colored in a shade of pink. Taehyung’s lips curled upwards at the sight.

“I need you to distract them while I’ll search their rooms.” The magician swiftly changed the topic of conversation, looking at just about everything but Taehyung. Taehyung spend a few seconds wondering whether he should let him off so easily, before deciding there will be new opportunities.

“Distract them how?” he wondered. He could think of a few possible answers to that question of course, but he had a strong inkling that the magician wouldn’t be particularly impressed with any of them.

“It’s the Founders day.” said the magician. “Family members of students visit to celebrate it every year, so I think that the safest course of action would be to pretend you are one of them. I want you to knock on Seokjin’s door, tell him you are lost and ask him to show you to dorm D. If he locks the door behind him, unlock it. Then return to my room without being seen, and I’ll give you new directions if they are still needed.”

Taehyung slightly narrowed his eyes. If the kid would have summoned him the first time - or proved himself to be exceptionally stupid - Taehyung wouldn’t think anything was amiss. But this particular magician seemed clever – he surely knew it would be easier and much less dangerous if he ordered him to search his classmates’ rooms, find his laptop and bring it back. Of course, it was possible that he just didn’t trust Taehyung would be able to identify the laptop – but it truly didn’t seem in character for someone so organized to not be able to describe a personal item successfully enough for Taehyung to be able to recognize it. No, this was about something else - Taehyung made a mental note to be on the lookout.

“Whatever the master commands.” he responded, accompanying his words with a low bow. He had hoped that the gesture would annoy the magician, but it appeared that they were too close to the final phase of summoning for it to have any effect. The kid was playing with his ring again, and the expression on his face implied that he was in deep thought. Probably analyzing today’s Orders for the umpteenth time.

It took at least two extra minutes before he seemed ready to speak. He straightened his back and took a deep breath, finally making eye contact with Taehyung. “Your first priority is to ensure my safety, which means that you are neither allowed to cause me any physical damage yourself nor allow anyone or anything else to physically hurt me. You are also forbidden to physically hurt a human without my permission.” he recited, pausing to catch his breath before continuing; “You are not allowed to let anyone know you are a demon. You are not allowed to mention or ask about me with pantomime, words and writing. Neither are you allowed to coerce people to talk about me by mentioning something that could remind them of me.”

The magician took another deep breath, observing Taehyung with a cautious expression on his face. He was clearly searching for a sign that he had managed to find a hole in the Orders. Taehyung stayed impassive. For now the Orders seemed quite foolproof, but in the grand scheme of things that didn't really mean anything – he tended to get inspired when actually doing what his masters told him to. He was sure he was going to find a way to at least ruin the kid’s day.

A couple of minutes had passed before the magician finally seemed happy with Taehyung’s reaction – or lack of thereof -, and recited the incantation that let Taehyung out of the pentagram.

As always, Taehyung firstly took an experimental step forward, and – after making sure there were no invisible barriers – carefully walked out of the pentagram and towards the kid. The magician immediately tensed, and Taehyung half-expected he was going to move away. Somehow he managed to stay exactly where he was - which resulted in them standing only a few centimeters apart. Taehyung could hear both the kid’s alleviated heart beat and his shallow breathing. He couldn’t stop his lips from curling upwards as he finally stepped away.

“Well then.” he said. “Where to first?”

Three minutes later, Taehyung was standing in front of the door with a silver number 5 plastered on it and a small inscription; ‘dorms A’ right beneath it. He closed his eyes and leaned a bit closer to the wooden surface, listening for the telltale signs that the room was occupied. After he determined that the noises he heard were a steady beat of someone’s heart and the clicking of a mouse, he slowly raised his hand and knocked.

The person on the other side responded almost immediately – there was a shuffling noise, and the moment later the door opened, reveling Seokjin (that is, if he remembered his name correctly).

Taehyung schooled his expression in one of confusion. “This in not dorm D is it?” he wondered, awkwardly tugging at the hair at the back of his head.

“Uh, no.” answered Seokjin cautiously. He didn’t open the door all the way so Taehyung was only able to see his head and part of the torso, but that was still plenty to determine that the human was strangely tense. Even the look he directed at him could only be described as suspicious. Taehyung briefly wondered whether all students on this school had trust issues.

He swore under his breath, just audibly enough for the human to be able to hear it. “I’m really sorry.” he said, curling his lips in an apologetic smile. “I’m trying to find my sister’s room, but I think my sense of direction has abandoned me.”

Given Seokjin’s cautious posture, Taehyung seriously began to wonder whether he was going to have to change the plan, but to his great relief the human visibly relaxed at his words. “Do you need help?” he asked.

Taehyung forced himself - with great difficulty - to beam at him. “That would be great, thank you.”

Seokjin nodded. “You have to go down this hallway…” he pointed. “…then turn left and go through the first door on the right.”

“Actually…” murmured Taehyung as sheepishly as he could master. “Would you mind showing me? I mean, I asked at least five people for directions in the past half an hour and I still don’t know where the hell I am. And my sister isn’t answering her phone, so...”

The human bit at his lip, looking slightly uncertain. Thankfully, he didn’t need half as long as the magician to make a decision. “Sure.” he said. “No problem.”

He disappeared into the room, and reappeared a second later with the keys. “Thanks.” replied Taehyung, as he observed how he turned the key three times, and then double checked whether the door was actually locked.

Once the human turned away from the door, Taehyung slightly tilted his head, visualizing the inner mechanism of the lock. He felt a flicker of energy leaving his fingers, and a moment later, heard a quiet click that let him know the room was once again unlocked.

“So, is there any criteria by which they sort you into dorms?” wondered Taehyung once they were walking down the hallway. He had an inkling he knew the answer, but wanted to check whether he was right.

“There is, yeah.” answered Seokjin. “They look at our marks at the end of every school year.”

Apparently, he was quite right. So, the magician was among the academy’s elite - somehow, he didn’t find that particularly hard to believe.

“Oh, so this are smart people dorms.” he commented.

“Well, I wouldn’t necessary say smart - ambitious more likely. Some people have the brains, but aren’t prepared to make sacrifices to succeed, you know?” replied Seokjin.

Yes, that was a very good description of the magician. Prepared to summon a higher demon and possibly get himself killed in the process, purely in order to not fail school.

Seokjin slightly shrugged his shoulders before meeting Taehyung’s eyes. “Have you ever considered applying?” he wondered.

“Me?” responded Taehyung in disbelief. “Oh no. I can’t even find my sister’s room, I would fail miserably.”

They rounded the corner and headed down another hallway. In the distance, Taehyung could see the exit from the dorms A. They were quite small; Taehyung counted around 30 rooms. Considering that the school had around 500 students, being sorted here was quite impressive.

“Or not, you know.” said Seokjin “I’m not surprised you got lost. This building’s layout is confusing - it’s hard to find your way around. Especially when you have to use a different path then usually.” Taehyung could sense the annoyance in his voice, and had a small inkling he knew exactly what he was talking about.

“How come?” he wondered innocently. “Is part of the school in construction or…?”

Seokjin glanced towards him, looking a bit uncertain. “You haven’t heard? I assumed, because the parents were alerted...” he said hesitantly.

“Uh, I don’t actually live at home, and I can’t say our family is particularly tightly-knit either.” responded Taehyung, shrugging his shoulders. He was doing his best to pretend he didn’t notice the change in Seokjin’s behavior.

The human bit his lip, clearly deciding whether to say anything. Taehyung was once again impressed by the speed in which he made up his mind. The magician should definitely take notes. “Well, there was a demon attack.”

Taehyung did his best to seem shocked, while curious at the same time. “A demon attack?” he wondered incredulously.

"Yes, they think it's a lower demon. It burned the office of one of our professors and damaged the ceiling.”

Clearly, all information wasn’t made public. Taehyung was certain they knew someone was with him – the demonic guard would make sure of that. But he was also sure that the only thing they had was a basic description of the magician – National security wouldn’t be stupid enough to show pictures of students to a demon. Especially not the Lerantham academy’s students – in a few years, some of them will be the most powerful people in the country, and only a few of them will ever work in a public eye. The country would be in danger if all it took to figure out their identities was to summon a lower demon and ask him.

If the guard was a human though… Taehyung was suddenly overcome by a very bad feeling. It is possible for someone as analytical as the magician to not be prepared for things to go wrong when it came to summoning a higher demon? Or an even better question – why would he summon a higher demon - who is generally much harder to control - for something as trivial as breaking into an office?

At this point, Taehyung could only think of one possible explanation – the magician somehow knew there was a demonic guard, and he summoned Taehyung, a higher demon, because higher demons are the only demons that can’t be sensed by other demons. He went into the office personally because he knew no one will show the guard his picture, which meant the only thing the National security will have to work with is a basic description and perhaps a bad police sketch.

Taehyung barely managed to suppress the urge to curl his lips into a smirk. He enjoyed playing mind games with his masters, but he enjoyed it even more when they played right back. He decided that he certainly liked this magician.

He glanced towards Seokjin. “Did they find the person who summoned it?” he wondered, just to be certain.

The human shook his head. “No. They searched the whole school and interrogated every single person that was there at the time. They didn’t find anything - which is quite scary if you think about it. It could have been someone I see every day. And we don’t know what they wanted either.”

Taehyung nodded in reply, briefly wondering what Seokjin would think if he knew that the reason someone summoned a demon was to fix a failed test.