Rays of the bright morning sun shone through the long glass windows of the infirmary, shining onto the wooden floorboards and the beds lined up against the wall. Donghyun groaned at the discomfort of the bright light blinding his eyes squinted, trying to clear his vision. Blinking lazily and annoyed that he had been woken from his slumber, he slowly sat up, ruffling the side of his red messy hair. He yawned and looked around him, wondering why his room suddenly got so big with medical supplies all around. After a few moments the events of yesterday night came rushing back to him. He turned to the bed beside him and saw Minwoo still laying on his stomach despite the sunlight shining down on him. His back was still wrapped in large bandages and he was shifting slightly, whimpering softly. 

The elder pushed himself off the bed and made his way to his dongsaeng's bedside, starting the water spell to numb the pain, at the same time feeling guilty about last night. He hadn't quite gotten over the shock; of both the attack and the story of  Minwoo's past. After some time of water spell treatment, MInwoo's whimpers died down slightly and once again was laying out peacefully on the bed, eyes still closed. Donghyun then sat on the chair beside him, just watching the younger sleep. Many thoughts still ran through his head as he looked at Minwoo. Could he actually be the mentor he needs to be for Minwoo? The confidence of being the best mentor he could be went all down the drain when he witnessed his mentee getting bullied on the first day of school and severely injured from an attack on the second. How could he protect Minwoo if he couldn't even keep him safe for 2 days? Maybe....just maybe he should ask Mr. Kim to change Minwoo's mentor to someone else, as much as he didn't want to leave the poor boy when he needed someone he could trust the most. It was for the best, he thought. He would see Mr. Kim right after his morning classes.

At this point the nurse came out from the side room, carrying a tray of food and the same herbal medicine from last night. A small smile lit up her face as she saw Donghyun awake and sitting beside the freshman. "Good morning dear," she greeted with a certain cheeriness in her voice, walking over and putting the tray down on the bedside table. Donghyun greeted her back and shifted to the side so that the nurse could check up on his dongsaeng. She placed a hand on the sleeping boy's forehead and muttered a spell. A green glowing light appeared and the nurse concentrated for a few seconds before sighing in relief and withdrawing her hand.

"Thank goodness, his wound did not get infected. No fever, but his magic powers are still in quite a weak condition. I recommend he stays here for a little while more. Mind telling me what classes he has for today?"

Donghyun checked a piece of parchment from Minwoo's cape pocket. "Dark Magic, Mystical Creatures, Broomstick flying and Potions" he replied.

The nurse thought for a moment. "Well, I really don't think he should go for the first 2 classes because his magic powers aren't strong enough yet. And broomstick flying is out of the question with that wound, but potions is considerable. I'll see how his condition is like, and will inform you with a note by the end of 3rd period."

The prefect bowed and thanked the nurse, who smiled. "Now hurry along now, I'm sure you still have duties this morning. I'll take care of him, don't worry."

The year 7 student suddenly shot up, glancing at his watch and jumped. He had only half an hour to get ready and eat before he reports for his shift! He got up from his seat and gazed once more at the sleeping boy. Quickly, he thanked the nurse once more and ran to the bathroom to change, throwing on his cape, tie and badge before using teleportation to the main hall for breakfast. Quite a few students were already seated at their respective tables, stuffing themselves with breakfast foods. Donghyun spotted Hyunseong and Jeongmin seated towards the front, chatting over a helping of maple syrup pancakes. They needed to be up early too for duties. He slid into a seat beside Hyunseong.

"Hey hyung! How's Minwoo doing?" Jeongmin asked, concern lacing his voice. Donghyun helped himself with some waffles before replying. "He should be alright. The nurse said his wound didn't get infected, but his magic powers still need healing. He's excused from all classes until 4th period, which for him is potions."

Hyunseong heaved a sigh of relief before chuckling. "So the only professor Minwoo's going to see today is that nuthead Mr. So?" This made the other 2 prefect laugh. "He's gonna be quite freaked out and not daring to try any potion. Seriously, how can this teacher who drinks cola with soy sauce be a potions teacher? He might poison someone." Jeongmin made a face and pretended to be choking, only increasing the other 2's laughter.

The joking and laughter continued for a little while more before the twins arrived, as always dressed neatly and with the textbooks needed for their classes today. As expected Youngmin came jumping up and down with worry about how Minwoo was, but sighed with relief upon hearing he was alright. Both he and Kwangmin settled down for breakfast just as the 3 prefects needed to leave for duties.

"Oh and Youngmin, the nurse said Minwoo might be well enough to join you for 4th period. I'll inform Dasom before your broom flying class ends and she'll inform you two. If he can come do me a favour and pick him up from the infirmary ok?" Donghyun asked the twins.

"No problem.." The twins said in unision. They knew perfectly well why. They certainly didn't want Minwoo to bump into anyone from Lee Taemin's gang or house on the way to class with injuries. That would be a disaster.

The elder thanked them before walking out of the main hall with Hyunseong and Jeongmin towards the prefects room. As they turned the corner, they saw the bathrooms at the end of the corridor cordoned off, the same bathroom where Minwoo had been attacked last night. A few adults in uniform where standing guard outside, keeping a crowd of onlooking students from entering the scene. 

"Those are the magic police. Mr. Kim called them last night. The school took the attack really seriously. now everyone is advised to be with another person no matter where they go, even the bathrooms, for safety pruposes." Hyunseong whispered. "Me and Jeongmin had to get up extra early this morning to stick notices on the door of everyone in Orion house. Everyone in the school got one actually, and they know of the attack now."

No surpirse from Mr. Kim, Donghyun thought, as he walked past the bathrooms and made his way up the stairs to the 4th floor, opening the door to the prefects' room. Almost everyone on duty was present already, so the 3 quickly slid into their seats just as the headmaster's secretary, Mrs. Jung cleared to get everyone's attention, and the chattering died down at once. 

"Good morning everyone. Now, I'm sure all of you as prefects have known since last night that there was a Hengeyokai attack in the boy's bathroom near the main hall. And worse still, the victim was a freshman." she emphasised on the last word, earning some soft gasps arond the room. "Luckily the boy was saved and is now recovering fine. But because of the severity of this incident the school will put in place new security measures which all students would have to adhere to. You prefects might want to jot this down."

At once notebooks and pens were whipped out. Donghyun sighed softly before, pulling his pen and waiting for Mrs. Jung to continue. He couldn't help but think again that all of this trouble that was happening was because he didn't save Minwoo in time. 

"Firstly, all students are to be accompanied, either by a friend or a teacher when they go to commonly deserted areas, such as the clock towers, bathrooms and garden spaces at night." Sounds of scribbling were heard all around the room. "Secondly, the curfew will still remain at 10 pm, but no student is to go outside into the gardens after sunset. They are only allowed indoors after that. Thirdly, as most of you know, the Hengeyokai game is supposed to commence in about 2 months time. However the headmaster and the professors have discussed, and we have come to the conclusion to postpone the match till 6 months later, if the situation allows. That will of course, give the house teams more time to train. Orion house will still have the trials next month." She glanced at Donghyun, who nodded in understanding.

"Alright! That's all. Please inform the prefects who aren't present now. Mr. Kim will inform the student population of this at dinner tonight. Report to your post." she called, dismissing the meeting with a clap. The prefects mummered as they streamed out of the room to report to their various posts for duty. Jeongmin and Hyunseong waved goodbye to their hyung before heading down  to perform uniform inspection. Donghyun on the other hand had to check the dorms to ensure everyone was down in the main hall and not playing truant from class. As he was making his way to the dorms, he heard someone call his name.

"Donghyun oppa!" He turned around to see his sister Hyorin, broomstick in hand, about to go for broom flying lessons and training. "Are you alright?" she asked, "After yesterday?" The prefect nodded, indicating he was alright. He opened his mouth to reply when he saw a ball flying towards them at top speed. "Duck!" he yelled as he pulled his sister down with him, both siblings missed getting hit by merely a centmetre as the ball whizzed past over their heads.. 

Hyorin was still in shock when atrocious laughter rang out from behind them. The Kim siblings turned around and was faced with none other than Kim Kibum from Duncan house, and other boys from the same house standing behind him. He flipped his multi-coloured hair and smirked at the pair. "Turns out the so called best player in Xenos house and Orion house are scared merely from flying balls." he said sarcarstically with a mocking tone. "Oh how are they to win the Hengeyokai game in 2 months time~?"

Hyorin's face grew redder as he continued, she was about to storm up to Kibum, or more commonly known as Key, and beat him up when she was stopped short by her brother's hand on her shoulder. She spun around and opened to protest, but was silenced the moment she got a glare from Donghyun, telling her: Don't lose your temper again. Still frustrated but complient with her brother's request, she stepped aside, letting out a sigh of defeat and anger. The prefect took a couple of steps towards the still smirking Duncan gang.

"That's where you're wrong, Kim Kibum. Due to the attack last night the Hengeyokai games will only commence 6 months later, after the teachers have deemed it safe enough to be played. My team, however, will still hold tryouts next month, meaning we do have time to train, and we do have hope, so I advise you don't get too ahead of yourself."

Gasps from the onlooking students could be heard. They have never heard of the headmaster actually postponing such a major tournament in SMA. Key raised an eyebrow at him. "And where the hell did you get that kind of ridiculous imformation from?" not quite believing Donghyun.

"I'm a prefect. Of course I have reliable sources."

Key hesistated for a moment. Mummers could be heard from the Duncan group behind him. Key then faked an innocent look. "Oh~ Of course, by apologies. I forgot you were the headmaster's pet. The biggest goody-two-shoes in this academy" He didn't even try to hide the sarcasm in his voice.

"YAH! That's enough!" shouted Hyorin. She raised her ring and a bright light started to glow from it. Donghyun, who was shocked, grabbed her by the shoulders and made her lower her fist, causing the light to slowly diminish. 

"Hyorin! We aren't supposedto use magic powers unecessarily remember? Control that temper of yours!" he whispered harshly, trying his best to keep his grip on his furious struggling sister. She was surprisingly strong.

Key simply laughed and turned his back, walking away towards the field outside the arena. He too had broom flying lessons. Everyone hated having broom flying lessons with Duncan house. They were always rough and purposely knocking other's off their broomsticks. This tought already gave Hyorin's day a terrible start. Her anger slowly sudsided still struggling to get out of her brother's grip. The crowd of onlooking students quickly dispersed as the bell for the start of the first period went off.

Donghyun finally let go of his sister, who turned around with almosttears in her eyes. "Why Donghyun oppa?! Why didn't you let me beat Kim Kibum up? He insulted you! You know how much I can't stand people insulting those who are close to me! He totally deserved it!" she half yelled. The prefect, shocked at this outburst, pulled her into a hug.

"I know...but as much as I want to teach him a lesson too we don't want to land ourselves into more trouble do we?" he said gently. He felt his younger sister nod and he smiled sadly. He pulled away after a short while. "Alright, you better hurry on to class. Don't give him another reason to land you into trouble okay? Just focus and train hard for the Hengeyokai game. Hwaiting!~"

"Kamsahamnida oppa! Hwaiting~!" Hyorin yelled as she ran along the corridor, turning around to smile at her brother before turning the corner and vanishing.

Donghyun sighed and quickly carried out his prefect duty which he should have finished by now. He didn't want to be too late for his first class, which was Advanced spells. They were learning how to defend themselves today and he certainly didn't want to miss too much of it. He quickly picked up his textbook and quietly entered the class just as the professor was about to teach trasformations.

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The rest of the day passed by quite uneventfully, except for a pop quiz on Magic History testing what they learnt last year, and which Donghyun flunked quite miserably too. He had not expected a quiz during the first week of school. The teachers were really trying to kill us, he thought. He sighed in boredom as he listened to the history prefessor, Ms. Seo drone on and on about the cold war between the lands of Meridian and Labyrinth. The prefect glanced around and saw that just about everyone was on the verge of falling asleep too. 

Just as his eyes were about to slide shut he saw from the corner of his eye an owl flying in soundlessly from the open window at the side. The professor and many of the other students didn't seem to care though. They knew it was how the staff would get messages across to each other or students during class time. It may have been intriguing to a freshman, but this Year 7 class was all too used to it now. The owl circled around the room a few times before descending and landed on Donghyun's table. He raised an eyebrow at the owl staring back him before he lowered his gaze to the piece of paper attached to the owl's clawed foot. He carefully untied the parchment and on it was a scibble message:

Donghyun:

Minwoo's showing good improvement. He should be well enough to join the 4th class. I will allow him to return to sleep in his dorm tonight, but make sure he takes his medication and help him apply the water treatment to numb the wound. Also make sure he walks slowly and don't move around too much, and don't over exert his powers. I trust you'll take good care of him. Anything happens you know where to look for me. Kamsahamnida.

-Nurse Hyeri

Donghyun was relieved that Minwoo was well enough to go for class. This nwes made him feel a lot better and more awake. He grabbed a spare piece of parchment paper and scribbled a note:

Dasom:

Hey! Please inform Youngmin and Kwangmin that they can pick Minwoo up from the infirmary after 3rd period, and take care of him until dinner time. Kamsa!

-Donghyun

He then tied the note similarly to the nurse's note around the owl's foot, and whispered to the owl: "Bring this to Kim Dasom." At once the owl took off, flying out of the window towards the field. Donghyun sat back in his chair and tried to endure the rest of Magic History lesson. His mind drifted to how he was planning to talk to Mr. Kim after his classes. 

It was then he realised he hadn't thought about how he was going to tell Mr. Kim that he wanted to switch Minwoo's mentor to someone else. After all, he was a prefect and it wasn't expected of him to drop responsibilities just like that. Would Mr. Kim decide to take away his tie? And his hopes of becoming the next head prefect be shattered right there on the spot? But then again, if he couldn't even protect his mentee, how  was he supposed to become the leader of the school population? The boy sighed in defeat. His conscience knew better. He had to do it. For Minwoo's safety. Donghyun didn't want to risk his dongsaeng getting injured again because of him. The burden of these thoughts weighed on him throughout the rest of his classes.

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Youngmin and Kwangmin walked quickly up the stairs towards the infirmary, sweaty from their broom flying lesson they just ended. Finally they learned how to play a proper ball game in mid air riding on their brooms. It was fun nonetheless.  Both of them had changed quickly and rushed up as soon as Dasom had told them Minwoo was alright to go for 4th period. Finally, they arrived and pushed open the infirmary door. There they saw Minwoo sitting meekly on the edge of the bed, dressed in his uniform and his cape, potions textbook on his lap. He was listening to the nurse giving instructions on when to take his medcine and how to take care of his wound, before taking the medcine and thanking her politely. It was then he noticed that the twins had come in, and waved shylt at them.

Youngmin practically bounced over and engulfed Minwoo in a hug, but of course still careful not to touch his bandages. "Yah Minwoo! How are you feeling? Okay? You sure you're well enough to come to class?" The younger simply giggled and nodded. Kwangmin, who wasn't as intomate but still caring, came over and patted Minwoo on the shoulder. 

"Don't worry. Potions isn't stressful at all. You'll be fine." Minwoo smiled and nodded again. The nurse, who was looking at the 3 smiled widely, the friendship clearly shown amongst them warmed her heart. 

"Alright, you 3 better get to class. Mr. So your potions teacher doesn't like students to be late! And be careful Minwoo!" she called as the 3 once again thanked her and left the room. The twins made sure to walk a little slower so that Minwoo could cope with their speed. As they made their way down the stairs, Youngmin asked,

"Hey, so what exactly did you do in the infirmary for 3 whole periods? You missed both breakfast and lunch too!"

"I only woke up after breakfast, and by then Donghyun hyung had to leave for duties. Nurse Hyeri didn't want to wake me because she thought I needed the rest. Afterwards I ate my food and medicine, she ran a few tests on my powers and I took a short nap before getting ready." The younger explained.

The 3 comtinued their conversation until they reach the 2nd floor classrooms. Just as they were about to enter, a familiar voice from behind them shouted.

"YAH! You again!"

The twins and Minwoo were then face to face with none other than Lee Taemin. Minwoo winced internally. He really did not want to see Taemin again after his first encounter on the first night. Kwangmin stared at the Duncan team member with eyes showing no emotion, but had a certain glare to it. Youngmin on the other hand stepped in front of Minwoo in case Taemin tried something funny. 

"What do you want?" Youngmin hissed, still furious about the incident 2 days ago.

Taemin's frown deepened at his words. "Yah! Show some respect! I'm your hyung just so you know!" He turned his gaze towards Kwangmin. "And you! The other twin . Stop staring at me with that look. You got a problem?" The brunette didn't respond or even flinch, he just kept his cool and kept staring. Minwoo was amazed how he could do that.

"Don't you call him a !" The blonde said angrily, almost shaking with anger. Taemin simply laughed. "Whatever. I didn't come for you 2." He turned his gaze to a trembling Minwoo peeking out from behind Youngmin's shoulder. 

"You! Minwoo right? Did a little research. Turns out you're a no good nothing from a pathetic family and from some crummy village. You wouldn't even be here if not for the scholarship wouldn't you?! And you're so weak you can't even defend yourself against a Level 1 Hengeyokai in the bathroom last night?? Hahahahahahha!" He started laughing. Those words stung like needles and Minwoo lowered his head in shame. Taemin relentlessly continued.

"And what's more, Mr. Kim is actually willing to postpone the Hengeyokai game all because you're too pathetic. Listen, if you're a useless boy don't go around up to teachers and headmaster ok?! The whole school is not gonna stop life because you're too useless! And what's more-"

"Enough!" 

A deep voice rang throughout the empty hallway. A figure stepped out of the shadows. It was none other than Mr. Kim himself. Taemin's eyes widened, and he decided to make a run for it, but not before he gave Minwoo one final glare before dashing off. Once the Duncan team player was gone, the twins and Minwoo turned around to face the headmaster, bowing to greet him.

He nodded in response. "You three, please ignore him. I will deal with him later on. In the meantime, I would like to speak to Minwoo for a minute." He turned to Youngmin and Kwangmin.  "I'm sure you have  a class now. You better hurry on." 

The twins nodded and patted Minwoo on the shoulder before entering the classroom. Mr. Kim then faced Minwoo. "Are you alright?" he asked the freshman gently, placing a hand on his shoulder. Minwoo nodded. "I'm ok, thanks"

The headmaster smiled. "That's good. You did give me quite a scare last night. You were bleeding badly when I got called to the infirmary. For now, I know you've been dealing with a quite a lot of difficulties, both in school and in your personal life." Minwoo once again nodded grimly, thinking back to his beloved Halmeoni who left without even saying goodbye, and how he kept getting demoralised by Taemin. He had to admit, Taemin knew which words and events that hurt him the most.

K. Will reached out a hand and ruffled Minwoo's hair. "If anything like this happens again, please do talk to me. I will be in my office. Donghyun can take you there. I believe you'll need help along the way, especially dealing with the Duncan team." The younger smiled slightly which melted the seemingly strict headmaster's heart. 

"Ne. Kamsahamnida. Mr-" He was cut off by the older shaking his head and raising an eyebrow at him.

"Oh....oh yeah. Kamsahamnida K. Will hyung.." he bowed shyly, earning a smile from the headmaster before being ushered into the potions classroom. Once Minwoo was out of sight, he muttered to himself

"Hyung was always there for you Minwoo..." 

He then returned to his normal stern-like face and continued his rounds around the academy.

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A/N: Annyeong!~ Sorry if this update was delayed! Unfortunately co-author kittynya seems to be uncontactable at the moment and updates may be even slower. So please bear with me! Maybe I'll do one more update before going on hiatus to study for a major exam coming for me at the end of this year. Hope you like it so far. Comments are welcomed of course! Kamsahamnida~

Ppyong!