Mage 01 had awoken from his battle against Sunny in a state of confusion. He would never have believed that there would be another like him within the same lifetime. He was supposed to be the one and the only telepath. The one that would shape the new generation and mould telepaths with his own hands, but not only was there another, but her mind was equally as powerful. Worst of all, she stated that she had never even considered using magic before. Mage 01 had spent his entire life, learning under the wing of Elder Cosmic, preparing himself for when an artifact finally lent him power. That day never came and his mind was forced to create his own magic. To think that another had stumbled on this power accidentally was infuriating to him. It seemed as if the flow of life simply loved to destroy whatever Mage 01 had deemed sacred. First, he wanted nothing more than to be an outstanding mage by Elder Cosmic’s side. Then he became that, but through his own, unique means, only to find out that he wasn’t unique at all and that there was one other just like him. Life was relentless and wanted nothing more than to continuously spit into Mage 01’s face whenever he had believed he had achieved something truly special. Well, enough was enough. He wasn’t going to ignore this insulting way of life any longer, he will become the leader of the next generation, even if it meant betraying Elder Cosmic. Once the genie has finally been awakened, he would get his own wish granted by sacrificing a loyal follower. He only had a few weeks left, but given his ability to mind control someone, it wouldn’t be as difficult to have a loyal follower do his bidding.

So far, Elder Cosmic and Mage 01 had managed to recruit Suzy, Hyeri, Irene, Seulgi, and Wendy. The latter three were quite popular during the time Taeyeon was still in school, but the one thing the three girls all had in common was their extreme love for Taeyeon. When they had found out that Taeyeon had left New York, the immediately blamed Tiffany for her rash actions. Mage 01 amplified these emotions, forcing Irene, Seulgi, and Wendy to fall under their control as long as Taeyeon was mentioned. It was safe to say that either of the three would become his loyal servant if he mentioned the name Taeyeon to them. Out of all of them though, Mage 01 had a particular interest with Irene, she seemed like a very sweet and innocent girl on the outside, but on the inside, she had tremendous willpower. When she believed in something, she wouldn’t easily back down, which was the perfect trait for Mage 01 to manipulate. Irene was the one who would become his ultimate servant and all in the name of Taeyeon. “Irene! Come here right now!” Mage 01 demanded. An emotionless Irene entered through the door. Mage 01’s brainwashing was indeed very powerful. “Let me ask you something, what do you desire most in this world?” Mage 01 questioned.

“Taeyeon.” She said bluntly.

“And what if I told you I could bring her to you?” Mage 01 suggested.

“I would do anything for Taeyeon,” Irene said once again with the same blunt tone.

“Well, if you swear your life to me, I promise to bring Taeyeon to you. How about it?” He asked, holding his hand out to solidify their agreement.

“I swear my life to you, in the name of Taeyeon.”

“Perfect. It’s only a matter of time now until the end of days and new doors will swing wide open.” Mage 01 smiled.

*Back at Yoona and Seohyun’s apartment*

Seohyun had been feeling drowsy for days. She couldn’t stay awake for more than a couple of hours at most. It was understandable though, her mind had been in constant battle with Mage 01 for a number of weeks now. Unable to tell anyone what was going on because Mage 01 had threatened to hurt anyone who had found out about her strange behaviour. Knowing that he was powerful enough to breach into her mind, she didn’t want to risk anyone else’s consciousness. She believed herself to be the weakest member of the team, so losing her wouldn’t be as big of a consequence. Of course when Yoona had heard this reasoning, she was outraged. She couldn’t believe nor understand why Seohyun didn’t ask for help considering that her life was in danger. “Seo! Why didn’t you tell me? I’m your sister. I wouldn’t have let some creep kill me, you know that.” Yoona shouted.

“I didn’t want you getting in. You’re a greater reliability than me because of your superspeed Yoona. If you got mind controlled, imagine how much damage you would’ve caused?” Seohyun tried her best to reason with her sister, but Yoona was just too angry.

“That’s not the point Seo, you didn’t believe in us. You didn’t believe that we could save you so you tried to handle it all on your own and look where it got you!” Yoona continued to yell.

“Yah!! That’s enough! Yoong you need to leave. Your sister has been through a lot, she needs time to let her mind rest and screaming at her isn’t helping anyone.” Sunny snapped. Yoona didn’t utter a word, she simply ran off into the night. Sunny turned over to Seohyun and could see that Yoona’s words truly cut deep into her heart. “Hey, don’t cry. Yoona was just really worried about you and I think she still is.” Sunny tried her best to comfort Seohyun, but it wasn’t working very well.