"Minji."

I sighed in annoyance, wrinkling my nose. My body was stiff and a terrible dream had kept me up all night. I wanted nothing more than a few more minutes of sleep.

Sunggyu. What do you want? It's so early...

"Huh? But he's not Sunggyu..." a second deeper voice said.

"Yah, yah. Wake up, Minji. Ppali. We gotta go."

Huh? Reluctantly, I pulled my eyes open, and I was immediately disoriented by what I saw. I expected to see the white ceiling of my bedroom with rays of sunshine coming through the lace drapes and coloring the desk by the window and that goofy bumblebee rug Sunggyu once bought for me as a joke.

Instead, I looked straight into a pair of warm, chocolate-colored eyes, which kind of reminded me of...

"HOYA?!"

I bolted up so quickly that I rammed my forehead against his. We both recoiled, holding our heads in pain. The ridiculousness of it made Namu start snickering from where he sat at the foot of my cot. But I didn't care. I was still trying to process it.

"But?! How?!" I screamed.

Namu collected himself enough to answer. "Invincibility is our third skill."

"What?! Really?"

"Of course not! That's impossible!" Then he broke into a fresh round of deep guffaws.

"Yah, yah, don't make fun of her just because she's new to this world! Kim Sunggyu must have used an advanced, long-term stun gun or something, which really begs the question of why he didn’t want to kill us in the first place, but… NAMU, WILL YOU STOP LAUGHING?!"

"Mian... it's just... too funny!"

Hoya frowned at Namu and Namu kept chuckling without a single care, and suddenly I realized that I was beyond thankful for these two weirdos. They were both sitting close enough that I was able to lift my arms up, shackles clanking, and wrap my arms tight around them.

"Thank you. I was so scared," I said into their shoulders. Hoya stiffened under my embrace, whereas Namu hugged right back.

"Uh…Don't worry, Minji," Hoya finally said, awkwardly patting my back. "We wouldn't leave you to fight this world alone."

"Yeah, Jaemi," Namu chimed in. "Besides. Everything would be so much less fun without you."

I suddenly felt touched and on the verge of tears and I think Hoya could feel it because he awkwardly extracted himself from my arm and then stood, straightening his tunic and clearing his throat. "Well... ahem... we, uh. Yeah. We woke you up because of a of good luck. Yes. That's it...Yeah."

I fondly shook my head, thinking to myself that Hoya was so terribly uncomfortable with emotions. Namu chuckled beside me in agreement.

"So uh... yeah. Let's go."

I frowned. "Go? Go where? Aren't we stuck here?"

“…Not exactly,” Namu said. “There’s… there’s someone here who can get us out.”

At his words, he and Hoya turned in unison to the dimly-lit rear of the long stone cell. I followed their gaze, and my breath caught in my throat.

At first glance, I would never have noticed it. But there, draped with a dirty oversized blanket that camouflaged perfectly with the gray-blue stone wall, was the silhouette of what looked like a pile. As I stared at it, I realized that it must be a person. I could only just make out the toes of an un-socked foot sticking out from beneath the cover.

As I watched, the fabric slowly shifted. The mysterious person raised his head, letting the blanket slide to his shoulders, and I saw the side profile of a boy with messy jet-black hair and milky white skin. Though his clothing was mucked and tattered, I was struck with the unnatural perfection of his face. In the moment, I couldn’t help but wonder if he was an angel.

Then, the boy turned to look at me and a shiver ran down my spine. In the dim lowlight of the cell, I realized that one of his eyes was pure black. The other, a shining, unnatural silver. As I stared, the boy gave a crooked smile, showing off a single dimple. I couldn’t look away from that glinting eye.

“Who…who is that?” I whispered.

Hoya’s eyes flickered to me. “He goes by L. And he says he knows the way out.”

I frowned in skepticism and turned to Namu. He, too, was frowning, staring hard at the figure with an expression that showed complete concentration and… frustration?

“Well? What are you doing? Talk to him!” Hoya hissed, before calling out hello to the stranger and nudging me forward with his elbow. I remembered my manners and bowed quickly in introduction. The figure seemed to study me for a moment, and then dipped his head too in stiff response. I watched from the low of my bow as he trained his eyes on me, the black one eerily steady and the silver one eerily flickering. Then, his blanket shifted to one side as he slowly reached an arm out, and with a long pointed finger, beckoned me toward him.

I frowned and looked to my shackles and then back to him. I shrugged helplessly, but this strange person gave a measured flick of his hand, and then suddenly, I looked at my restraints again and realized that I could literally pull apart the shackles. It was as if they were instantly loosened, the metal rusting and breakable. In disbelief, I pried them open, freeing my hands one at a time. Then, I looked back at the other prisoner. Was this his magic? His skill? With a crooked finger, he summoned me forward once more. I was scared, but also, intrigued.

So I approached, until I was just before him. Then, I knelt down to his level.

He smirked, and I suddenly felt uncomfortable meeting his odd gaze. But I couldn’t look away.

“What is your name?” he asked, his voice quiet and sharp, but also eerily deep.

“Min… Jaemi.”

His silver eye seemed to sparkle at the sound of my name. “Jaemi,” he repeated, rolling the sound about in his mouth. “But that is not your real name, is it?”

I didn’t know how to answer. I wanted to look to Hoya for direction. But something about his boy’s eyes was too mesmerizing. As if they were pulling me forward, like a moth to a flame.

“What are you to Kim Sunggyu?”

I flinched. Had he seen Sunggyu enter our cell? Had he watched as we talked? “How… how long have you been here?” I asked nervously.

He blinked slowly and chuckled. “Long enough to know more about you than you may know yourself.”

I swallowed drily, closing my eyes shut for a moment and then reopening them. Suddenly, I felt a weird charge fill the air, but something told me to pay it no mind. I had to focus. Minji, focus, I ordered myself. I had to focus on this boy and his eyes and one was silver and one was black and there was something he had to say. It was cold and we were on stone and his blanket was dirty but his face was immaculate and there was something weird going on but it was okay. Somehow I knew it was okay.

The boy smirked. His dimple flashed. It was silver. I suddenly felt exhausted. Who was he again? What had he said? Focus, Minji. Then he spoke.

Tell me… Minji. What is it that you want?

“Huh? I… I want to go back to where I came from.”

And if you cannot?

“Then… I need to find out who I am in this world. I need to figure out what happened to me.”

So that you can continue living as before?

“No, well… maybe. I don’t know yet. I’m not sure.”

It was cold and I was kneeling on the floor. I had just said something, but somehow, I immediately forgot what I had said while I was thinking about the floor. What were we talking about again? The boy across from me chuckled in disbelief and then closed his eyes and hung his head. He looked disappointed. When he met my gaze again, I flinched. Both of his eyes were unnaturally black, like bottomless wells that I feared I would fall into. A strange mist filled the air around us, but I didn’t find it strange. I could only think about his eyes. And I had to remind myself to breathe.

The only way out of here is through a promise. I will grant you freedom. But in return, you must promise me something, Minji.

I felt lightheaded. Had I had been leaning closer and closer to him? His eyes were suddenly larger, like orbs that were too big for his face. I realized with a pang just how desperately I wanted to leave. His smirk grew and his dimple deepened and this time it was not silver and the air was purple and I wanted nothing, nothing, nothing more than to go home right that instant.

“What…what do I have to do?”

You need to stay away from Kim Sunggyu. You must promise me that you will not seek him out.

I frowned. I was definitely dizzy, but through my haze, I remembered that he asked me to do something. And I was struck with how… easy it seemed. Hell, it was something I was thinking of doing all along. Was there a catch?

“Kim Sunggyu?”

Yes, Minji. He is a liar and a manipulator. Do not trust him. Do not let yourself be fooled by him.

I was nauseous. L hadn’t blinked this entire time. His eyes were a swirling black and I felt like I would drown in them. Maybe I was already drowning. I tried to feel the floor beneath my knees. But somehow, I could not. There was too much to think about.

Do you promise? Minji. You must! You must promise.

The fog around me was so thick. I could hear someone yelling. I couldn’t breathe. What were we talking about?

“I… I don’t know.”

Stay, Minji. Chebal. Stay here.

With me.

Those words rang with familiarity, but I knew I had not heard them before. The entire room was spinning—the only unmoving things were L and his large, deep, bottomless eyes. They willed me to stillness, holding me steady like a punch to the gut while everything else seemed to fall to chaos. I balled my hands into fists, trying with all my effort to think. To wade through the flurry. But even with my fingernails digging into my palms, it was no use. My mouth was dry. Silver and black and not silver and black. Nothing made sense. Except… except…

“Yes. I… I promise.”

Suddenly, I collapsed onto the cold stone ground, panting in an effort to push air into my shriveled lungs. I felt Hoya rush to my side, followed closely by Namu.

“Minji! Are you okay?” Hoya asked.

“Jaemi! What happened?? Breathe!” Namu ordered.

L sat there, just another crumpled part of the stone wall. After a moment, I looked up at him. He looked unusually normal. The same perfect face, with the same crooked smirk and showy dimple. And his eyes had resumed their usual silver and black stare. More than normal, he looked angelic. And content.

I frowned, a chill running down my spine as I wondered why he looked so happy.

Was it something I said?

But all was forgotten when, slowly, L lifted his arm and pointed almost weakly to the front of the cell. The three of us followed his gaze, and gasped.

The door was partly ajar. The darkness of beyond calling out to us like a promise.

I stammered in disbelief. How had it happened? Did a guard come by and, in his carelessness, leave it open like that? Did Hoya and Namu do something while L and I were speaking? Or was this another inexplicable magic? Was it L’s doing?

What exactly had we been talking about??

But in the moment, the ache to escape the cell was too large for us to sit and try to understand what had happened. Namu shot up, bounding towards the door to peer cautiously out. Hoya rose next, smoothing out his tunic. I lay still for a moment, so unable to process what had happened.

“Coast is clear, guys! Let’s go!” Namu shouted in whisper.

"Well… I guess that works. Are you okay, Minji? Are you ready?" Hoya asked, reaching a hand down, a small smile of relief on his face as if we’d hit a of good luck.

I looked up to him, wondering. Then, slowly, I took his hand and let him pull me up.

---

L!