▬ Chapter 18: Illusion ▬

Once school ended, Minji changed her uniform to a more suitable outfit for a party. After her encounter with the guide who made sudden changes to her uniform – to a more revealing one at that – she wanted to dress out of her own volition.

When she asked Dongwoo earlier in the day whether he wanted to be her partner for the night, he, unfortunately, had to refuse because according to Sunggyu, new clients are not allowed to enter their world until they reached the one month mark. Again, it was another missed rule by Woohyun.

As she finally got out of the building, she was faced with a group of men who surrounded her by the entrance.

“Wow, you changed just for us? I’m honored,” the first guy whistled.

Minji looked at them with disgust. “Excuse me? You’re blocking my way. Please move.”

The second guy stepped up, “No can do. It’s against our orders.”

“Orders from who?”

“From me,” a voice replied as the group of men dispersed to reveal the culprit.

The voice came from none other than Hoya. However, Minji sensed that something was wrong with him. The way his eyes became sharper as he looked at her dead in the eyes frightened her. The air around him was also thicker and she felt that the manner in which his body moved was different from normal. On instinct, Minji moved back as Hoya moved forward.

“W-Who are you?”

“Ah, you already forgot about me?” Hoya smirked as he placed his hands in his pockets. “I’m a schoolmate of yours. We recently met, Nam Minji.”

One block away from the school, Woohyun smiled as he took a quick whiff of the flowers that he just bought. He may not be the to the celebration party but genies do have the role of teleporting their clients to their world. Even with just that, he was glad to do the honors.

Once he rounded the corner, he saw the Superior lean against the school gate. His arms were crossed and his head was looking down while his eyes were closed.

“What are you doing here?”

Sungyeol opened his eyes to see Woohyun standing on his left. His eyes shifted to the bouquet that he was holding then a smile crept up his lips as he mumbled that this genie never changes.

“I have things to take care of,” was his only reply.

Confused about the sudden secrecy, Woohyun just went past him. “Well then, I’m meeting Minji here so–”

Before he could enter, he was pulled back by Sungyeol, “Don’t.”

“What?” Woohyun managed to look to the direction of the building’s entrance and saw Minji being surrounded by men. As he squinted, a familiar man stood at the center. “Wait, that’s Hoya! She’s in danger!”

Sungyeol winced as he pulled Woohyun’s wrist tighter towards the opposite way he wanted to go. “I said don’t. You’ll only give in to what they want and make things harder for me.”

“But–”

Clenching his other fist as tight as he could, Sungyeol shut his eyes tight.

“That’s not Hoya. That’s Niel.”

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“Mind explaining why you told me to stop? He was right there in front of me and now Minji’s in danger!”

“I can understand your frustration so settle down.” Sungyeol slid down the wall to take a break. “I didn’t want this to happen either.”

Since the Superior himself used his powers to make their appearance different, Minji and Hoya were able to slip through without noticing them. Woohyun noticed that she was desperately holding on to her necklace with a worried expression yet it was no use. Because Woohyun is already twenty feet near her, nothing changes.

“I didn’t think that Niel would go this far. That Minsoo... he didn’t tell me he’s a Carrier. Tsk. No wonder he was having fun with all this.”

“Hey, answer me. And what’s a Carrier?”

“I asked you to stop for the sole reason that Niel has become a Carrier. This is what we call the people in our world who have gone rogue. One of the abilities of being a Carrier is being able to manipulate their clients to the point of using their bodies.”

“W-Wait, so that means…”

“Niel is using Hoya’s body. He can still use his powers as a Dark Magician but unlike how we can’t really hurt humans, he now can.”

Woohyun grew furious, “Then what are we still doing here? What about back up?”

“Only the Superiors and that old hag can stop a Carrier from running rampant. As I’ve said before, you’ll only make things harder for me if you int