When Sungyeol woke up in the morning, he felt a change in the atmosphere around him. He had felt a tension in the air earlier which was now gone. Breathing in the light air, he woke Woohyun up. They dressed and went to the living room together, all set to resume their journey.

There they found Myungsoo, sipping a cup of coffee.

After the greetings, Myungsoo said, “So you know where you’re going?”

“Well I know where to start,” Sungyeol replied.

He then told him about his plan to track Inspirit, realizing after he was done that he didn’t have to. Myungsoo just nodded.

“One more thing – I was conflicted about whether I should say this to you but…your grandfather, he miscalculated the blue moon this year.”

Sungyeol and Woohyun both started.

“There’s no blue moon this year?” Sungyeol asked fearfully. His blood ran cold and sweat broke out on his forehead.

This can’t be.

“There is, but it’s not a month away, it’s only 5 days away. When you started on your quest, you had a week.”

They couldn’t speak for some time. When Sungyeol’s legs had shaking badly, he looked at Myungsoo with crazed eyes.

“Where’s Sungjong? We have to go right now!”

“Sungjong left.”

“What?” Woohyun shouted. Sungyeol’s throat was dry.

“He left – he has what he wanted.”

Sungyeol didn’t need to check his bag to know the Sacred Secrets was gone. He fell to the floor and the tears broke free. He couldn’t believe he had failed so dismally on his quest.

I thought I was worthy…

Myungsoo left the two friends alone. Woohyun embraced his friend, patting the back of his head softly. Sungyeol felt that he all his energy had been sapped form his cells. He had never felt so completely defeated.

I failed you, I failed you. I don’t deserve the Sacred Secrets, I couldn’t protect the world.

Finally, when they had calmed down, Myungsoo appeared again.

“I’m so sorry. I wanted to stop Sungjong but – he’s too powerful. And honestly I had no idea he would do this.”

He looked shaken and Sungyeol wondered again how Sungjong could have so much power over such a strong spell-caster.

That evil…

“This is insane – why would Sungjong steal the book?” Woohyun asked.

Sungyeol shook his head at his naivety and explained to him all about spell-casters who worked against the questers to hinder their quests. Myungsoo remained silent throughout the explanation, neither confirming nor denying what he was saying.

So what do we do now?

Myungsoo heaved a deep sigh and rested his chin on his fingertips. He looked defeated and weary. Sungyeol wondered if he had tried to stop Sungjong. He seemed decent enough to do so. Decent, but powerless over Sungjong.

Woohyun voiced the question that was spinning in his mind. But of course Myungsoo knew all their questions but he was not choosing to answer them. Maybe he couldn’t answer them.

“Can’t we find Sungjong?”

Myungsoo’s wry smile was enough answer.

“Close to impossible if he doesn’t want to be found.”

All the joints in Sungyeol’s body seemed to come lose. He felt helpless as a dead weight rested on his heart. He couldn’t see even one step ahead.

“It’s still not over,” Woohyun whispered, massaging Sungyeol’s arm. “Get up Sungyeol, we can still complete the quest. We know what the quest is, we just need to find Inspirit.”

Sungyeol pondered his words. True, if they did find Inspirit and could take the star to the hills at the right time, their quest would be a success. Of course losing the Sacred Secrets was very dishonorable but at least their quest would be completed.

This is the least I can do for now.

He jumped onto his feet. He knew what he had to do – he’d have to track Inspirit. He had the knowledge of the basics and he had the right book that could help him. He was glad that Sungjong hadn’t taken the other books as well – that would have been crippling.

He asked Myungsoo if he could use the living room for reading up some things. He agreed and left the room. Telling Woohyun to shut the door, he sat down on the floor and took out the books from his bag. He found the right one and started reading.

It was difficult to find one chapter with all the information needed for star tracking. There were bits and pieces strewn throughout all the chapters and it was a difficult attention-consuming job to gather all the information. Sungyeol worked diligently while Woohyun lay on the ground on his back and read his grandfather’s notebook.

They didn’t even notice when afternoon came. They only looked up from their reads when Myungsoo knocked on the door and offered them some food. Only then they realized how hungry and thirsty they were.

Gulping down the food and drink, they went back to their books. Sungyeol saw Myungsoo smile at them sadly. He was probably feeling like a captive, unable to help them. He of course knew what would happen if they couldn’t fulfill the quest.

It will be a nightmare.

By dinner time, Sungyeol had all the information he needed. Most of the things he would need to build the star compass were ordinary- he was sure Myungsoo would let him borrow some things. And as for some of the intricate structures, he would have to carve them out of wood. He knew how to do it because when he was younger, he would watch his grandfather make all sorts of things. Sometimes, he would even let him try.

It will be shameful if I fail even this.

After dinner, he started working on his star compass with Woohyun’s help. As he had expected, Myungsoo helped him by providing most of the things and tools he needed. He had gone out one to gather some fine twigs so that he could carve out the sophisticated parts out of them.

As he worked diligently, Woohyun sat beside him, watching him intently. Hours trickled by and finally after midnight, Sungyeol let out a whistle.

“It’s done?” Woohyun asked in wonder.

“The structure yes, we just need some verruca salt to make this work.”

Sungyeol held up the pretty little compass in his hand and smiled when he saw the dazed look in Woohyun’s eyes.

“Wow dude, I didn’t know you were this cool and I’ve known you forever.”

Sungyeol chuckled. He was pleased with himself as well. It wasn’t everyday he made something as sophisticated as the star compass. He was allowed to feel proud of himself.

All done, and now Inspirit is all ours.

“Go to bed Woohyun, I’ll get the salt from Myungsoo. We need to get up very early; we start tracking the first thing in the morning.”