Jaejoong, your mom, Junsu and Amber all go to the hospital. Your mom, because she works there and knows where they keep the blood bags; Jaejoong, because he can teleport them out of there any time; Junsu, because he knows what blood bag he needs to get for Eun; and finally Amber, because she makes them all appear invisible to people at the hospital.

And they need it. Jaejoong and your mom are covered in dirt, while Junsu is smeared with Eun’s blood. There was no time to take showers.

When that is being handled, and Eun is under Chanyeol’s care, some of the others - Kris, Yixing, Luhan and Kyungsoo - take your hostages to the gym. Krystal and Sulli tag along, because together they can probably get information from anyone.

The psychopathic shark-boy got away somehow, in the middle of the commotion. But the chimera guy, the twin werecoyote betas and their alpha, the ghoul and the Djinn are all there.

And the wraith is dead.

The whereabouts of Father and Saburo are still unknown, and what Father told you before disappearing isn’t that comforting. You have time before the next attack, but you don’t know how much.

“Take a shower,” Kai tells you, when you’re still at the Jung’s. “Then we can sit down and think.”

So you do. You take a shower, staring at the blood as it washes off of you. The water below your feet is red and pink. You scrub your skin until it’s raw and almost as red as the blood covering you.

Jessica gives you her clothes. By the time you’re out of the shower, Junsu and the rest come back with some blood bags, and Chanyeol has cleaned Eun a little using a wet cloth. She’s pale and barely breathing, even you know that.

They carry her to Junsu’s bedroom, wrap her in blankets, and then Junsu begins the blood transfer. Since he’s a med student, he has all the necessary instruments. And even if he didn’t, Siwon would have them.

Kris tells you about Father. About the name Saburo used to call him.

“Sung,” he says. “That’s Father’s name.”

Kai’s wounds don’t heal as fast as they should after he fought the werecoyote, which worries you. He has long gashes running down his biceps and forearms, his abdomen and even legs. They aren’t bleeding, because the super healing kicked in, creating scabs inside the wounds, but they still look nasty and serious. He’s wearing fresh clothes, because you always have some in his and your cars just in case he transforms into a wolf and then back to a human.

The rest of the boys look weary. They’re all dirty and splashed with blood or some other fluids that are hard to recognize, and some have clothes in shreds. Daehyun just went to pull out a few t-shirts for them, actually, and now they’re taking turns showering.

Taemin is sitting in the corner. He hasn’t spoken ever since the battle ended, and his face is blank. Kai keeps on trying to talk to him, but Taemin just nods at whatever he’s saying and shuts down, like Kai’s voice doesn’t even reach him.

Heejin is curled on the couch, her head resting on Suho’s shoulder. She and Minjoon came here when they found out the entire pack was here, at the Jungs’, and not at Kai’s, as usual.

“Okay,” Siwon says, done tending to Minjoon’s wound. The boy looks better now, and he can freely move his head and fingers. When Heejin hears that Siwon is done, she stands up from the couch and walks over to him. Minjoon and Tao are both sitting by the table, on the chairs. Heejin hugs both of them.

“Siwon,” you say quietly, approaching him. He looks up at you. “We need to talk.”

“I know,” he replies. “When everyone’s—“

“No, not then. Now.”

“Dal, you need some rest,” Xiumin tells you, appearing next to you. He touches your shoulder. “We should all take showers, get some fresh clothes, sit down and talk.”

“They could come back,” you argue.

“They won’t come back, not for the time being. They’re gathering their forces, and we should do the same. Kris is interrogating the Mabeob members, we’ll see what he finds out. Then we’ll figure out what to do next.”

“Our priority is to keep these guys safe,” Min speaks up, nodding towards Minjoon and Heejin. “We should hide them all somehow.”

Iseul is in the room. She came here with Minjoon and Heejin. Myungsoo came, too, as soon as he found out, and he looks a bit angry.

When the entire pack settles down and it gets quieter for a moment, Iseul speaks up.

“Let me fight with you.”

*

Kris is looking down at the chimera guy. They’ve tied him to a chair with some thick chains, and there’s still a binding spell placed on him. He can’t move at all. He’s healed completely. He has thick, black hair that reach his neck and a scar running down his neck; he’s bulky and huge, and he barely fits on the chair they gave him. If it wasn’t for his glare, he’d look funny, balancing himself on the said chair.

“How many of you are there?” Kris asks him. The guy doesn’t reply.

He doesn’t have to. Krystal is standing behind him, Luhan and Kyungsoo by her side, and she reads every thought that comes to his mind. But he doesn’t know that.

“What’s the name of your leader?” Kris asks. Again, no answer. A few seconds pass by. “How do you force people to do what you want?”

“They want what we want,” comes as an answer this time.

“I doubt that,” Kris grimaces. He looks up at Krystal. The girl looks very focused. “What happens when you join?”

They’ve gone with the same set of questions with the rest of the Mabeob members. The chimera man is the last one.

Once they’re done, they make sure all the bad guys are tied and trapped with magic you provided. Once that’s done, they leave Yixing to keep an eye on them and go outside of the gym to talk.

Everyone – Kris, Luhan, Kyungsoo, Sulli – look at Krystal.

“There’s about fifty of them in total,” Krystal says. “There’s a guy…he looks a bit like a shark? He’s in charge of finding people. They send different men to recruit them, but the one who’s mainly doing that is Saburo. They call their leader Zinn, and he’s close with Saburo, I think. Everyone listens to Saburo because Zinn seems to be attached to him.”

“Have you found out anything about Zinn, then?” Luhan asks.

“No. He never talks to Mabeob members, just to Saburo. But he’s powerful, that much I saw. When recruiting, they have three different methods: sometimes the person agrees because they want to. In other cases they disagree, and Mabeob threatens them with killing their close ones. If they care about the new recruit, Zinn casts a control spell on them, so that they do what Saburo tells them to. That’s the second method. If they don’t care much, they kill the person, and their family, too. That’s what happened to Iseul and her pack. That’s the third possible outcome. There’s also something about an actual…deal. New members of Mabeob all sign some papers.”

“What papers?” Kyungsoo asks, making a face.

“I don’t know, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a deal with the devil,” Krystal grumbles. “I didn’t see anything about future plans concerning us. Saburo was supposed to get Dal, but he failed.”

“And how does Father fit into all of that?” Kris asks. “Have you seen anything about him?”

“Yes,” Krystal nods. “Apparently, he’s been trying to hunt down that Zinn guy since the very beginning.”

*

You make sure that the Mabeob members that are currently in the basement of your gym can’t use their powers. You do that by drawing some of your blood and drawing a Berkano rule using it on each of them. Doing that, with addition of using the right spell, could trap one’s magic inside them for a period of time, making it unable for them to use it. Their own bodies become vessels for their magic, but they had no access to it.

You also place a binding spell on each one of them. Then you place them on some mattresses – used for gymnastics – and give them a strong magical concoction that makes them fall asleep.

You close the basement, sealing it, which is the fourth protection.

“Don’t you think that’s too much?” Chen asks once you’re done doing all of these things. You look down at the members – at the chimera, the werecoyotes, the ghoul…and no. It’s not too much. It’s just the right amount.

You hope that Father will come back soon and take them away, as he always does. As he’s been doing up until now. But at the same time, you know that you shouldn’t depend on him that much.

Then the whole pack gathers at Kai’s loft. Eun is still unconscious, but you moved her here as well; she’s gotten all the blood she needed, and now she’s connected to an IV, and resting on the couch, her head resting on Chanyeol’s lap. The entire pack – including the Jungs, Myungsoo, Seon, Heejin, Minjoon, Siwon, Iseul, and Jaejoong – is here.

Your mom is also there, which is very new. She’s not listening to the meeting though.

Well, okay, she is, but she’s mostly just making food.

The only person missing is Siwon. You didn’t even see him leave, and you are angry at both yourself and him because of that.

Krystal tells you all what she found out about Mabeob. Once that’s out of the way, you try to think of a plan.

“Okay,” you say. “First of all, we need to keep you guys safe,” you point at Heejin and Minjoon, mostly. “My mom, too. Though I don’t think they’ll try the same trick the second time.”

“I doubt it,” Jaejoong butts in.

“Second, we need to get Zinn to show up,” you continue, looking around at all the curious faces looking at you.  That name – Zinn – sounds weird on your tongue. The person that has this name has always been called the Spirit. It’s weird to give it a name.

You feel like you’re a teacher in kindergarten. Especially since you’re standing up, and the rest of your friends are scattered around the room, some of them even on the floor. You’re all incredibly tired. You need some sleep.

Lots of sleep.

“And figure out a way to trap him. And then send him back where he came from.” You continue.

“Which is?” Tao asks, frowning.

“The world of the deaaad,” Taemin drawls out.

“Are we sure he’s just a spirit?” Kyungsoo asks, looking around skeptically. “He did an awful lot of evil stuff while being just a ghost.”

“He’s a spirit,” Sulli speaks up. She sounds very confident. “But someone brought him back from the dead using some heavy black magic. He’s just as real as all of us right now.”

“I bet it was Saburo that brought him back,” Minjoon says angrily. He’s been fuming the entire time. Not because he’s mad at any of you, but because he wants to see Saburo’s head on a pike.

“Speaking of Saburo,” Kris butts in, “he knows Father’s real name. And it’s Sung.”

The pack looks around in confusion. Some eyes stop on Jaejoong, but he looks just as dumb as all of them.

“What does that mean?” Tao asks suddenly. You sigh.

“It means that Father knows Saburo, probably,” you explain.

“Hey, do you think Saburo and that Zinn spirit are related?” Suho asks, slightly changing the topic.

“If they are, and Zinn died, it’d make sense for Saburo to bring him back,” Taemin points out.

“True,” Baekhyun nods. “People do a lot of stupid things when they lose someone.”

Amber elbows him at that. Baekhyun flinches, looks at her in surprise, and then realizes Iseul is with you all. He flushes a little. Iseul’s jaw is clenched. You clear your throat, feeling awkward all of a sudden.

“Me, Amber and Chanyeol will do research on resurrection,” you say.

“You should know something about that,” Chen jokes with a smirk. You send him a deadpan look.

“Too soon, dude, too soon,” Kris laughs.

“What? It’s been like two years!” Chen argues. Suho shoves at his head, and Chen tries to shove him back. They start bickering, and the rest of you either smile or roll your eyes at them both.

“Obviously, Zinn is not human,” you point out. “He can’t be fully human, and he won’t be staying here. Bringing people back from the dead, their spirits—it’s not something you can just toy with.”

“You sure about that?” Chen asks with a smirk.

“Shut up or I’ll impale you on a training stick,” Kai growls, his eyes flashing red at Chen, who just laughs like a .

“Seriously though,” Tao giggles.

“Okay, seriously? Shut up,” Amber tells them both. “Don’t irritate doctor Frankenstein and her monster.”

“Jesus, Amber,” Baekhyun says with a snort. Chen bursts out laughing. Kai looks very done, and you throw your arms up, as if asking God why.

“Calm down,” Jaejoong tries. “Let her speak—“

“Shut up, you’re not part of the clique,” Daehyun shoots. Half of the group lets out a ‘oooooh’, the other freezes, their eyes wide. You belong to the second group.

“Shade,” Kyungsoo mutters to himself. Jaejoong looks very hurt. He looks at Kai, but doesn’t get any support from him, so he glances at Taemin. Taemin lets out a ‘hmph’ and turns his head away from his brother. So Jaejoong looks to Junsu. Junsu just shrugs.

“That’s normal,” Junsu assures him.

Jaejoong wonders what he’s done to deserve this.

“Okay,” you say, pinching the bridge of your nose. The boys (and girls, but mostly boys) fall quiet. A few seconds pass by. You look up, squinting. “Uh, what was I talking about?”

“Resurrection,” Sehun reminds you with an amused smile.

“Right. We’re gonna do research, we’ll try to compare what we read about the resurrected spirits to what we remember from meeting Zinn, and come up with a solution. Yes?”

“Then what?” Krystal asks.

“Then I suppose Saburo will come to us himself. They want to get rid of us anyways. They’ll try again. But this time we’ll be prepared for them. Better than we were last time.”

“Are we gonna have to walk around carrying weird weapons and in our backpacks?” Tao nags.

“Dal can pull it off,” Yixing offers.

“Dal can pull off a teddy bear and look badass, have you seen me?” Tao makes a face and looks at Yixing like he’s lost his mind. “I’m not the one that knocks.”

“I’m lost, was that a book reference or something?” Yunho questions.

“You guys are all over the place today,” Kris comments.

“I can come over to your place tonight,” Chen says, winking at Kris. Kris smirks, tilting his head until all his double chins are visible, and then they both giggle like maniacs.

“Please hold in your gayness,” Daehyun pleads with an exasperated sigh.

“Daehyun forgot he’s gay, everyone,” Taemin calls.

You glance at Kai, raising your eyebrows. Kai looks back at you, looking amused, and you just stare at each other for a few seconds, soft smiles slowly appearing on both of your faces. Then you realize that the room has fallen silent, and when you look back at your pack, you see them all making puppy faces at you. Chen and Luhan even went as far as to lie down, prop their heads over their clenched fists, and now they’re blinking at you with adoration.

“Now kiss,” Jessica says, grinning.

Kai actually turns his head back in embarrassment. That makes everyone laugh out loud, so you roll your eyes and start clapping your hands, once again feeling like a kindergarten teacher.

“Guys, pack meeting, come on,” you say.

They slowly start to settle down, but they’re all deeply amused. That’s good – you needed their sense of humor as well. You can feel yourself breathing easier now, after hearing their laughter.

“I’m gonna have you carry various weapons around,” you say. “Silver, iron, all kinds of daggers. Runic stones. Charms; I’m gonna need some help with those, actually,” you mutter the last part, wondering who you could ask for help. “Hm. And yeah, you’re probably gonna have to do some studying. We don’t know what kind of creatures will attack us, and I can’t tell each one of you what kind of weapons you should use against what monster, so you’ll have to memorize some stuff. Time is not on our side this time.”

A mutual grunt of discontent echoes through the room.

“Father will help,” Jaejoong speaks up then. “He’s been trying to catch Zinn for months. He’s always worked alone, or with me, and he could use your help, just like we could use his.”

“If Dal teams up with Father, it’ll be two mages against two mages,” Luhan points out. “Zinn and Saburo. Our chances are growing.”

“If we decide that we truly trust Father, that is,” Taemin says. You all get quiet. You look at Jaejoong, who seems a little surprised at his brother’s words.

“You can trust him,” he says after a moment of confusion. “He wants Zinn gone just like the rest of us.”

“You sure?” Taemin asks, faking wonder. You feel some tension between them, and you really want it to go away already. “Who is he willing to sacrifice to do that?”

“I’m sure,” Jaejoong says, his voice weirdly low. “Don’t you trust me?”

“Oh, I trust you. I don’t trust Father.”

“Then trust my judgment.”

“Your judgment hasn’t proven that good in the past, has it?”

The tension spreads. Even you know that it was a very low blow. After all, Jaejoong once fell in love with a hunter, and because of that, half of the Kim family was dead today.

“Taemin,” Kai warns. Taemin looks angry, Jaejoong even angrier. They’re both glaring at each other, and Jaejoong’s eyes actually flash yellow for a short second. “You don’t think that.”

Taemin is still staring at Jaejoong, but his eyes soften.

He looks away, feeling guilty. He realizes that he’s just taking out his own anger and frustration on his brother.

“Sorry,” he mutters. He catches Iseul’s curious gaze on him.

“Okay,” you say, your voice final. “We’re gonna eat, we’re gonna get some sleep, and then we’re going to study and do research. We need to prepare yourself. Jaejoong,” you look at the boy. Jaejoong nods at you. “Do you have any of Father’s—I mean Sung’s. Um. Any of his magic left?”

“To teleport?” Jaejoong asks.

“Yes.”

“How far?”

“Quite far.”

“I can make a few trips still,” Jaejoong tells you, waving his hand at the earrings he has, that actually store Father’s magic he uses to teleport.

“I thought you could teleport,” Xiumin notes.

“I can,” you say, “but not when I want to, apparently. I can’t control it yet. When I did that before, it was…influenced by emotion. I can’t do it right now. I feel too weak.”

“What do you want to teleport for?” Kai asks you, frowning slightly. You send him a smug look.

“I need some help with protective charms, and I know just the girl.”

*

The entire pack is scattered around the loft. Most of them are eating, some are napping after having just eaten. Regaining their strength. Taemin is sitting in the corner with Chanyeol, talking in hushed tones.

“I’m so sorry Chanyeol,” Taemin says, his voice breaking a little. “I didn’t think this through. When I hit that girl, I had no idea what would happen, and it was stupid of me to act so recklessly. I should’ve thought about Eun, about Heejin, everyone. I can protect myself, but I didn’t think about them not being able to protect themselves—“

“Your reaction was what made us win that battle,” Chanyeol interrupts. He places a hand on Taemin’s shoulder. “It was reckless and we could’ve gotten hurt, but we didn’t. Eun could die, but she didn’t, because we have Dal. Because we’re a strong pack. We’re all good. So don’t sweat.”

Taemin’s eyes actually well with tears. “I thought you’re gonna hate me,” he admits dramatically.

“You’re fine,” Chanyeol replies, amused, pulling Taemin into a half hug.

On the other side of the room, Seon is finishing her chicken. Myungsoo joins her by sliding onto a chair next to hers, and he’s holding two cans of coke. He places one of them next to Seon’s hand. Seon sends him a side-way glance, just to see him grinning.

“So,” Myungsoo says. Seon shuts him up before he can even elaborate.

“Not a word,” she hisses, angrily picking up her coke and opening the can in a swift move. Myungsoo looks even more amused at that; he looks at the can, then back at Seon.

“Don’t cut yourself,” he tells her.

“Better pray I don’t cut you,” Seon replies.

“Ouch. That’s brutal. Even for you. Is that the love you feel that makes you so wild?”

She kicks him under the table.

“I know you guys are talking about me and let me just inform you that I can hear every single word!” Yixing calls from the couch. Seon sends Myungsoo a smug look, taking a sip of her drink, and Myungsoo rolls his eyes half-heartedly. Then his face goes all blank, then thoughtful, and the next time he looks at Seon, his eyes are shining.

“We could go on double dates,” he says in awe.

Seon chokes on her coke. “No freaking way,” she says, dribbling all over herself.

“Did I hear that right?” Krystal asks, appearing right next to Myungsoo. “Double dates?!”

She sounds way too excited for Seon’s liking.

“How are you, Miss Park?” Kai asks your mom. She’s been watching Seon and Myungsoo bantering up until Kai walked over to her. She glances at him and sends him a tight smile. She’s in the middle of wiping the dishes after dinner. “Want some help with that?”

“Why not,” she says, handing Kai the cloth she’s been using. She changes her position a little, stationing herself next to the sink to continue doing the dishes that keep on piling up; meanwhile, Kai gets to wiping them dry. “I’m fine. A bit stressed, still, but…glad that everyone’s okay.”

“I’m sorry you had to see all this,” Kai says, feeling sincerely bad for putting your mom through all that. “We shouldn’t have ever risked your life.”

“You weren’t the one risking it,” your mom tells him. “I just hope that you kids catch the bad guys.”

There’s something more to her voice, something more to her words. There’s sadness, fear, guilt, uncertainty. She just saw the pack battle some weird, magic creatures; she saw what her daughter is dealing with every day. It looks like she’s regretting not stopping you from doing what you do.

While the majority of the pack is resting or eating, Chanyeol, Amber and Sulli have sat down in front of Kai’s laptop. Amber cracks her knuckles as she opens the browser.

“What should we start with?” she asks. “Any hunches, Sulli?”

Sulli hums under her breath. She leans over Amber’s shoulder, peaking at the laptop screen.

“Izumo,” she whispers all of a sudden. Amber and Chanyeol glance at her.

“Izumo?” Chanyeol asks, making sure he heard that right.

“Yeah, Izumo,” Sulli replies. Amber types it into the browser.

“Okay,” she says. “It’s a city.”

“Look for museums, maybe?” Chanyeol asks, glancing at Sulli again.

Amber does as she’s told. Shimane Museum of Ancient Izumo comes up in her searches.

“The Izumo province is one of the three main backdrops where Japanese mythological legends evolved and most definitely is the birthplace of many legends,” she reads out loud. “Okay. So…are we looking for something resurrection-related that can be found in the Izumo myths?”

“Maybe,” Sulli shrugs. “Do they have an online archive, or something?”

“They might,” Amber says, opening a new tab and typing in some code instead of normal words. Chanyeol takes it as his cue to straighten up.

“I’ll tell Dal when she’s back, and we’ll go to the gym, look for some related books and spells, maybe. We’re most definitely looking for some Japanese rituals, yes?”

“Well, the last time I saw Zinn, he was wearing a Japanese Oni mask,” Sulli points out.

“He was wearing one this time, too,” Chanyeol tells her. “And Saburo is a Japanese name. And he could summon creatures that look like ninjas.”

“So Japanese roots,” Amber sums up. “Wouldn’t be weird if Saburo used Japanese magic to bring back Zinn. For whatever reasons.”

“You know what’s the freaky part, though?” Chanyeol asks. “Father can summon the ninja guys, too.”

“Wait, what?” Amber asks, surprised. She looks up at Yeol. “You guys didn’t tell us that.”

Chanyeol shrugs. “There’s so much going on, we forgot. But yeah. When went down, both Saburo and Father…well, Sung—they both called in some ninjas.”

“He needs a final name,” Sulli says with a sigh.

“I’m voting Gandalf,” Amber says.

“Let’s just call him Sung. It’s better than Father, anyways,” Chanyeol pleads. At the same moment, they feel a soft blow and a slight change of air around them. They all turn around to see Jaejoong, you and a girl they don’t know standing in the middle of the room.

The girl looks around the room, her eyes widening comically and her heartbeat accelerating with every new face she sees.

“There’s so many of you,” she gasps quietly. You crack a smile. Jaejoong takes a few steps away from the girl, and heads for the kitchen, probably in search of food.

“Who’s this?” Min asks curiously.

“Meet Jieun,” you introduce. Jieun – the witch you saved from Mabeob some time ago, and who became your close friend over the months – flushes when she realizes the entire attention is on her. “She’s gonna help me make protective charms for you guys. She’s much better at it than I am.”

“We count on you,” Luhan says to the girl, saluting her. Jieun bows slightly at him, blinking owlishly, which makes Luhan giggle. “Aw, she’s cute.”

To which Jieun goes scarlet.

“Stop stressing her,” Sehun says, standing up from the couch and walking over to you and Jieun, hoping the girl will get less tense when she sees a familiar face. Jieun’s eyes widen at his sight – she looks a bit like a scared, but relieved puppy. “Hey Ji,” Sehun greets. “Thanks for coming.”

“S-sure,” she stutters, looking away and furiously playing with her own fingers.

“You hungry?” someone asks her. She glances to the side to see a guy with ridiculously big eyes looking at her patiently. “Dal’s mom made some food. And we have cookies our friend Heejin made.”

Jieun can only do as much as to shake her head. Kyungsoo is about to say something more to her, but he suddenly goes very still. Actually, everyone in the room goes still.

“Eun,” Sehun says. Like on a cue, the entire room moves. Chair scrape the floor. There’s some actual crashes, Jieun hears a dog bark (there’s a dog here?!), and even you just go ahead and run past her, leaving her in a whoosh of wind.

The entire pack gathers around the couch. Jieun doesn’t know who’s on it, but she guesses it’s some important. Jaejoong stands on her right, holding a plate and eating a fried chicken leg.

“It’s Eun,” he explains. “She got hurt in the fight. She’s just woke up.”

“Oh.”

She hears someone breathe out with relief. An older man stands on her left. He’s the one that sighed.

Jaejoong looks over at him, levers him with a glance. “You okay Junsu?”

“What?” Junsu asks, whipping his head at him. “Oh, yeah, yeah. Just relieved.”

Jessica throws an arm over his shoulder, pats his chest. “You did a good job, big brother,” she praises.

“As expected from a Jung,” Daehyun points out, stealing a chicken leg off of Jaejoong’s plate. Jaejoong lets out an angry hum, sending him a glare. “Whoa there, dude. That’s some serious Kai vibes I’m getting here.”

Meanwhile, Eun opens her eyes to, like, a dozen heads. No, more. And she’s very confused, until she remembers what happened. She immediately puts her hand over where got slashed, and her eyes widen with relief and surprise.

“Eun!” Chanyeol screams, practically throwing himself at her.

“Eun!” Taemin sobs.

“Me!” Eun rasps out, looking around to see everyone freaking out, or crying, or just staring at her like total psychos. “Did I come back from the dead? Am I Jesus now?”

“You and Kai both,” Chen comments.

“I’m really sorry, Eun,” Taemin speaks up. “I didn’t—“

“Shut up,” Eun says. Everyone goes quiet and a bit shocked. “I know what you’re going to say. It wasn’t your fault. You did what you thought was best at that moment, and it might’ve been the thing that saved us all.”

Taemin’s bottom lip actually wobbles. You aww at that, and his back. Eun smiles at the two of you.

“It’s good to see you awake,” Kai offers. Eun smiles even wider, her teeth showing.

“Thanks,” she says, looking at each one of her friends. “I had quite the scare.”

“Quite?” Chanyeol asks, outraged. “You’re gonna need therapy!”

Eun snorts. “I’m not mental yet,” she reminds him. “I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?” you ask.

“If I’m not, I will be,” she assures. “I guess I have to get used to such a life.”

“Once we get rid of Mabeob? Never again,” Chanyeol says, and it sounds like a promise. He takes her hand into his own and squeezes. “We’re gonna bring them down.”

“I know you will,” Eun says, a soft, trusting smile on her lips. “I hope that during the time I was asleep you got some done?”

You all get quiet. You look away, Kai starts to scratch his head awkwardly, Chanyeol lets out a loud, long ‘uhh’. Eun squints at each one of you.

“Well? What are you doing staring down at my poor, battered body?” she asks. “Chop, chop! Mabeob isn’t gonna bring itself down.”

“Mabeob isn’t gonna bring itself down, everyone,” Kris repeats, clapping once.

“Chop, chop, she said,” Baekhyun parrots.

You breathe out in relief. You look at Kai, who returns you glance, and you feel yourself smiling sincerely.