Jongdae's a lot smarter than most people think. He's just pretty good at playing dumb; it's one of the many things he can get away with while tricking his aura into one that can be believed even if it's not true from what he really is.

Sometimes, though, Jongdae really wishes the others would have more faith in his abilities to do things. If he wasn't smart, Jongdae wouldn't know exactly what to say to get under Jongin's skin, or cheer Minseok up when he's down on himself. If Jongdae wasn't smart, then how would he have been the first to catch Yifan's worsening state?

Yeah, even before Yifan had told Kyungsoo about it, Jongdae knew. He just pretended not to, because there was a reason Yifan kept things to himself and Jongdae didn't want to seem like he was looking down on their second leader.

He'd like to give credit to his control over lightning; because more than just the flash of light in the sky, it gave him heightened senses of hearing as well as sight. Basically, he can hear a conversation from a mile away; and the one Yifan had with Kyungsoo was one example.

He was relieved to know that the simple act of kissing while transferring memories would be enough to save Yun Seung. The only thing that bothered him about this was the fact that they couldn't know how much longer they can simply transfer memories until something worsened.

The sorceresses were still out there, and so long as Yuna is up and walking again and not rotting away underground, Yun Seung's memories will be zapped away as well as her own life force. No matter how many of the twelve boys kissed her, they'd eventually run out of options. 

Sharing his memories was what brought Yifan into such a bad state in the first place. While the other eleven mages had enough magic to spare that the simple act wouldn't start killing them slowly, this was not the same case for Yifan. Unless they found a way to save Yifan and quickly, their second leader would be doomed to die a slow, painful death; and unless they found and returned Yuna to the grave, Yun Seung would be doomed to the same fate.

But, that's not important. Well, it is, but Jongdae likes to think that finding a way to cheer everyone up is more important than dwelling on the many upsetting things around them. He was glad to find out that Chanyeol agreed with him; but that's probably not a good thing. You should already know this, but Jongdae is troublesome, and Chanyeol is troublesome. Put them together, and you may as well sign your will.

"Are you sure they'll even eat this?" Chanyeol asks, and the two of them are standing around a small firepit that Chanyeol formed, and there are three chickens being roasted above it. 

The dinner they made the last time had been a hit, even though the two of them had basically thrown a bunch of weeds and dead animals together, and the others had only cringed when they found out what they had been fed. Joonmyun had then said that the two of them didn't ever have to cook again, but they're kind of excited for the look on their brothers' faces when they see dinner tonight.

"It smells awesome, so why wouldn't they?" Jongdae asks in return, and he holds his hands out over the flame. It's cold out, and the fire over his skin feels absolutely incredible.

The sound of footsteps alerted the both of them, and when they heard the sound of a twig snapping, Chanyeol had allowed for flames to cover his fists. Jongdae looked at Chanyeol warily for a moment, but then his gaze shifted to whoever was approaching, and it ended up being Yifan himself.

"What are you doing here, Yifan?" Chanyeol's face eased into a calm one, and Yifan watched the flames fade away from his hands before stepping closer. 

"I thought I'd check and see if the two of you need help." Yifan answers with a calm grin and Jongdae immediately realizes that Yifan felt useless.

Joonmyun, Luhan and Minseok were plotting their next course, which was actually looking for Yuna herself to somehow return herself to the ground. Jongdae's hopeful, but he's not stupid. Every single one of them have had a close friendship with Yuna before what had happened, it wasn't in any of their hearts to put her back in the ground. But of course, it was the only way to save Yun Seung, who never did anything to harm them. Jongdae hates having to wonder if one life is worth giving up another for.

"Sure. I'm going to teach you how to roast a chicken." Chanyeol agrees easily, and the look of gratitude Yifan sends him does not go unnoticed. After what happened to him, Chanyeol knows better than anyone else how it feels to be an outsider living in his own skin.

Jongdae watches them for a little while, but eventually, his attention dwindles and he finds himself looking off to the side where Yun Seung is. He'd seen her earlier that day with Kyungsoo, who had surprisingly grown closer to the girl. Jongdae already knew it was because they now shared memories and a stronger bond, and though he's a little jealous, he's a lot more grateful to Kyungsoo for having brought back a smile to Yun Seung's ever radiant face.

His feet move without him even knowing it, and eventually, he finds himself outside of Yun Seung's bunker. Kyungsoo's not here- Jongdae can't feel him inside the bunker, anyway, and it causes for a relieved sigh to escape his lips as he opens the door to the bunker and lets himself in without even knocking. There's no point, since he calls for Yun Seung with his always optimistic voice the second the door is pushed open.

"Chen?" She asks from where she's sitting, the spell book that had bound them sitting in her lap. His chest twists in fear as he sees it for a moment, but when he remembers that it also freed them, he relaxes just enough to pull his gaze to her confused expression.

"Ah, right. You weren't here. I go by Jongdae now." He explains, and he watches Yun Seung's expression cross into perplexity for just a moment before her lips widen into that breathtaking smile of hers.

"It's a beautiful name, Ch- Jongdae." And her face reddens because of her slip up, but he ignores it because at least she's trying, and at least she doesn't hate him after everything that's happened to them.

He takes a seat next to her on her bed and they're both silent for a few minutes, but when he glances at her through the corner of his eyes, he learns that her gaze is on him, and he falters as his grin shifts into a smug grin.

"Am I so handsome that you need to stare?"

They both burst into laughter, and Jongdae's glad nothing's changed between them. He can still joke around with her and be as dorky as he wants, and she'd never reject him for that. She'd accepted him the way he was since they first met.

"What are you doing, anyway?" Jongdae asks, glancing down at the book in her hands.

Yun Seung sighs as she drops her head, her fingers flipping through the many pages of the spellbook. He doesn't think she's going to answer, so he readies himself to just laugh it off and pretend he didn't mean anything by asking, but then her lips move and her words have him stare at her in absolute shock,

"I was looking for a way to save Kris, but this book... I - I already went through it twice but I can't find a spell to help him and I don't even know what I'm supposed to look for, and what if something happens to him? I don't want to lose him, and I know none of you want to lose him, and -"

He cuts her off by pulling her into his chest. He chuckles softly as he holds her because despite everything, Yun Seung still thinks of them more than she thinks of herself. He doesn't even know who had told her about Yifan's condition, but he's both grateful and worried to know she's doing everything she can to try and save Yifan, who she still calls Kris.

"We can find one together." He answers her certainly, and he even pulls back as he says it, his hands resting against her shoulders and squeezing just to give her comfort. The answering smile she gives him is worth all the times he's felt useless in their group of mages.

"I've asked the BAP warlocks, and they said that any kind of reviving magic would be found in here." Yun Seung explains, and Jongdae nods silently. It explains why she'd be using her ancestors' spellbook, after all.

"Well, let's see what we have!" He says in determination, and she holds out the book to him. They sit there and search for hours for anything they can use. A lot of the magic spells in the book are forbidden and even the ones that aren't forbidden are hard to get ingredients for without alerting the others.

"But if we tell Jongin, we can have him teleport to find the ingredients." Yun Seung had told him, with her eyebrows crossed in confusion.

"I know why you want to tell him, but right now, until we have a solid way to save Yifan, I don't want to give any of the others fale hope." She frowns as she takes in his statement, but otherwise nods. He's glad she understands, even though he knows her desire to help Yifan might be greater than anyone else's, including Yifan himself.

It didn't help that some of the pages in the spellbook were torn out, either. They were in various parts of the spellbook, but any one of these spells could have the answers to saving Yifan and both he and Yun Seung are staring at the book like it's betrayed them in some way.

"Maybe the spell's not even in this book." Jongdae sighs in frustration, slamming the book shut, but Yun Seung quickly pulls it from his arms and holds it to her chest like she wants to protect it from him and his violent ways.

"Himchan says this is the universe's most completed spellbook." She explains, and Jongdae can't help the suspicion that forms in his heart. For a spellbook like this to have knowledge of spells from other planets? How could Yun Seung's ancestors find so much magic? Just how terrifying were the sorceresses they were dealing with?

"But how are we going to find the spells it's missing?" Jongdae grunts out, flopping back onto her bed. She places the book somewhere before she promptly flops herself beside him, and he glances at her for a moment before his gaze fixates on the ceiling.

Yun Seung is silent again for a few moments, and Jongdae wonders if she's fallen asleep, but he's quiet as he thinks of what they can do to look up the spells they could possibly use to save his second leader. There was no way of knowing how long ago the pages of the spellbook were torn out, just like there's no way of knowing what kind of spell they'd need.

"Yuna. Do you think she'd know?" He almost misses what she's saying because of his own thoughts, but the reminder of the name Yuna is all he needs to be brought back to reality.

"She was only a human, Yun Seung." Jongdae says dismissively. And like all humans, her knowledge would have died when she died.

...

Except, Yuna was brought back to life.

"No, Yun Seung. We can't trust her to help us. What could she know? How could we even get into contact with her?"

"She gave me something before she let me go." Yun Seung says quietly, and he watches as she pulls a crystal pendant off of her neck in shock. How didn't they notice it before with the amount of magic that was radiating off of it?

"I don't know, Yun Seung. She's betrayed us once before." He's definitive as he says it, but he can feel the bit of hesitation that fills his voice. There's a part of him that wants to believe that going to ask Yuna for help would be a smart thing, but he knows the others won't agree to it.

"We have to try something, Jongdae, and I can't think of anything else."

But Jongdae's a lot smarter than people think, and right now, he needs to think of something else.