There was utter silence as I stood outside the broken down cottage where I was held captive in with Kris by my side.

“Where is this place?” I finally spoke after a good few minutes of looking around myself.

Kris gave me a long look. “The fifth place.”

My eyebrows shot up.

The fifth place? As in, that mysterious place where almighty warriors died trying to go to?

I frowned and glanced around the barren land that had barely any greens growing out of the hard, dust-covered ground.

“Are you sure?” I surveyed my surroundings, “It doesn’t look very…special to me.”

“Well,” Kris shrugged his shoulders, “Maybe that’s because this isn’t the fifth place.”

“But….you just said…” I trailed off before letting out a big sigh. “Don’t worry, I’m too tired to think anymore.”

“Hm.” Kris let out a short grunt before looking sideways at me. “So…”

I cringed slightly as Kris cleared his throat and trailed off, leaving silence between the two of us as we just stood there, staring at the wasted land of the Fifth place.

I had never thought there would come a day where I would feel awkward with an Exo M member.

I didn’t even know if I see him as an enemy anymore.

Maybe I didn’t anymore.

In fact, I didn’t even know whether I see Exo M as my enemy anymore. Not when I had just came back from a whole series of dreams telling me that I had some sort of connection with them.

I didn’t know. I didn’t know if I could still cage them after knowing that they were so much more than just six deadly spirits who deserved to be locked up.

But then again, if I wanted to live, I needed to cage them.

I didn’t want to end up like concubine Taeyoung…if that was what would happen to unknowns who failed their missions.

Scrunching my eyebrows together, my heart began throbbing a little as I mentally scolded myself for thinking too much, momentarily forgetting that Kris was beside me, with that awkward atmosphere still hanging above the two of us.

Letting out a small sigh, I turned to Kris.

“So can I go back to the others now-?”

“-No.” Kris answered me straight away without letting me finish me question.

I stared at Kris with my mouth agape a little, then I closed my mouth and turned my eyes away from him.

Silence engulfed the two of us once again as awkwardness hung over us like a heavy blanket.

“…Why do you want to go back to them?” This time, it was Kris who spoke first.

“Why not?” I frowned. “Why would I stay here with you?”

“Because we love each other?” Kris answered me as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

I sighed. “Kris. I’ll say this one more time. I don’t love you. You don’t love me. We don’t love each other. Okay?”

Kris pressed his lips together. “And you love this Oh Sehun?”

My heart sank at the mention of Sehun’s name. “And maybe I don’t?”

“Good.” Kris let out a satisfied smile, “Because if you do, I’ll kill him.”

My heart sank even further at Kris’ comment.

“Just what exactly is wrong with you?” I turned to Kris, “Why do you overreact so much?”

Kris sent me a sharp glance.

“Soyoung, you have no idea how much I love you. Please don’t jump to conclusions like that.”

“No. You’re overreacting. At least tell me why you love me so much!”

“I DON’T KNOW!” Kris let out a frustrated shout which sent me jolting in surprise. Panting a little, Kris turned his head away from me and stared down at the floor. “I don’t know.”

Sighing, I glanced away from him too.

“I’m going back.” I said as I reached into my pocket and pulled out the compass.

Kris stared at the compass in my hands.

“Where did you get that from?” Kris asked me with a frown.

“You don’t need to know.” I muttered as I took a few steps away from Kris, afraid that he would take it away from me.

Fortunately for me, I had the compass with me all this time so even though Kris refused to let me go, I could still easily go back to the human realms.

Now that I think about it, concubine Taeyoung probably found this compass in my pocket and took me here through the compass.

But as I examined the compass, I saw to my surprise there was no ‘fifth place’ written on it.

*Maybe she didn’t take me here through the compass?* I thought with a slight frown as I moved the arrow to the human realms, but before I could do anything further, a strong wind snatched the compass from my hands and smashed it against the ground.

Fortunately though, the compass remained as good as new as it only made a loud sound upon colliding heavily with the floor.

Kris stared at the compass, shocked that it didn’t break whilst I sighed and picked up the compass again.

“Kris, stop it.” I shot him a glare, strangely not feeling scared of him anymore despite his intimidating appearance.

Maybe I felt safe knowing that he loves me.

I mean, he couldn’t hurt me if he loves me, right?

A very selfish thought, yes, but what could I do? I need to get back to the others as soon as possible and cage Exo M-

…hmm.

Or maybe I would just find them all first then dec