The next day, Jieun woke up at the sound of nearing footsteps. She reflexively got up and looked around, trying to indicate the source. She noticed that Mino was still sleeping besides her, but Taemin was no where to be found.

Taemin? Where'd he go? she wondered. The bushes rustled. Without knowing what to do, she rushed over and grabbed a large stick, holding it out in front of her. She was clear with the thought that whatever was coming her way, she'd give it a good smack or two and hope it'd run away.

Seconds later, she saw a familiar brown hair poking from the large bush. She lowered her weapon, then sighed when she saw Taemin approached her.

"You gave me a heart attack," she muttered.

"You would think to grab something better than a stick to defend yourself," Taemin muttered, brushing away the leaves from his hair.

"Where did you go?" she asked him.

"To the town."

Her eyes widened. "Are you okay? Did anyone follow you?"

"Relax. I went there in disguise as a traveling doctor who was searching for some fake medecine. No one noticed me. I was able to obtain some valuable information," he told her. He gave her a serious look. "It looks like we're in the parts of the town where beheading people is more of an entertainment than a horrifying punishment. These people go crazy to see someone's head come off."

"Does that mean Naeun and Myungsoo are going to be beheaded?" Jieun asked, turning pale.

"Correct," he said, not honey-coating his words. He noticed Jieun turning slightly green, but continued on. "It was announced that they would get their heads off tonight. However, there's going to be a fancy party before they cut off their heads. It's a party to show that people who have no magic aren't powerless against those who have magic."

Jieun gulped. "So we have to save those two in a limited amount of time, right?"

"Technically, we don't have to save them," Taemin said.

"What are you talking about? Of course we have to save them!" she cried out. "Aren't they your friends?"

"But they're so boring," he muttered under his breath. Fortunately for him, Jieun wasn't able to catch that.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing. We're going to save them," he said, changing the subject. "Hey, I ran out of some water. Mind fetching me some?"

He tossed her his empty water can. She managed to catch it, but she gave him a skeptical look.

"Really? You're going to assign me a job when you always say how I can't handle myself?"

"Hey, if you can't safely get water for me, then I don't know what to expect you to do out there," he pointed out.

Jieun scowled and walked away. As she disappeared behind the bushes, Taemin leaned against a random tree. He glanced at Mino, who was still lying on the ground. Taemin smirked.

"You were listening, right?" Taemin asked him. "It's kind of scary how you know when to pretend. You're really good with reading the situation and going along with it."

Mino opened one eyes and glanced at him. He stared for a long time before gathering the courage to speak.

"Did you mean that?" Mino asked.

"Mean what?"

"Did you mean it when you said that Naeun and Myungsoo are 'boring' and that you don't really want to save them?"

"I never said that I didn't want to save them."

"But you implied it," Mino pointed out. 

Taemin shrugged his shoulders. "I think that you shouldn't irrationally jump to conclusions."

"So are you saying that I'm wrong?"

He shrugged his shoulders again. He smirked at Mino, who only stared at him with disbelief. Then, he walked closer to Mino and bent down at his level.

"I'll let you think whatever you want to think," Taemin muttered to him. Mino raised his eyebrows, unsure of what else to say. Taemin looked up, only to see Jieun approaching them with a filled bottle of water. "Good work, Jieun. Hand that to me."

Jieun tossed him the water bottle. She looked at Mino in surprise.

"Oh, you finally woke up," she said.

"Um, yeah," Mino mumbled. He looked up at her. "Did you eat?"

"No, not yet. Taemin, do you have anything?"

"Of course I do," Taemin said. He tossed them each an apple. "I found these not too far from here. If you want more, you can get it yourself."

"An apple will suffice," Jieun said.

"You couldn't get me two apples?" Mino complained, biting into his.

"You don't even have powers. If you did, I would've gotten you two apples," Taemin told him.

"So what's the plan?" Jieun asked him.

"For what?"

"To save Naeun and Myungsoo."

"Oh, right. That plan." Taemin paused, thinking about her question. Then, he shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. Barge in, get them out as soon as possible, and have you transport us or teleport us or do whatever with us that will get us out of here."

Jieun blinked her eyes. "You know that I'm not too sure of how my powers work, right? We can't act on the spot like this!"

"Can't we just knock out one or two of the guards, disguise as them, and then walk around?" Mino pointed out.

"Sure, if we don't encounter the Emperor, of course." Taemin scratched the back of his head. "The Emperor is someone you don't want to meet. He's the only one that can use magic and the only one who can detect magic."

"Why is magic such a bad thing around this parts of the world?" Jieun asked him.

"Destruction. For them, all magic besides the Emperor's magic is terrible."

"Can't the Emperor use his magic to destroy things, too?"

"Why would he want to destroy something that idolizes him?" Taemin pointed out. Jieun kept quiet and continued to listen. "So the plan is to just barge in as secretly as we can, get the two out, and leave this place. Got it?"

Jieun and Mino exchanged looks of uncertainty. Finally, Jieun took a deep breath.

"Okay, fine. I trust you on this," Jieun said.

"That's good to hear. Mino?" Taemin waited for Mino's response. The boy looked at him in a skeptical manner before slowly nodding his head. "Good. We finished the apple, yes? Put the cores over there."

The two obeyed. They placed their finished apple core on a pile of dirt. Taemin twirled his finger and whipped out a small white flame. He threw the flame towards the core and the three watch the fire feast onto the organic fruits.

"Why'd you have to burn it?" Mino asked him. "You could've left it to become a fertilizer or food for another animal or something."

Taemin slightly tilted his head. "Mm… I don't work like that. Personally, it's easier for me to burn all my traces. I don't want anything tailing me."

"Oh, come on! Who's going to track you by picking up this apple? It could've belonged to anyone!" Mino cried out.

"Werewolves," Taemin answered. When Mino stared at him with scrunched eyebrows. "There might be a no-magic policy, but that doesn't mean that magical creatures don't exist." Taemin looked at Jieun. "I want you to stay close to Mino because you have powers." He turned to Mino. "Stay near Jieun and make sure she doesn't screw up."

Jieun scowled. "I love all that faith you have on me."

"Really? I wasn't trying to sound like that at all," Taemin wittingly replied. He smirked when he saw Jieun pout at him. "But seriously, stay close to Mino, okay?"

He started to lead them out of the forest. Before Jieun could take another step to follow him, Mino grabbed her by the shoulders. He gently pulled her back and leaned close into her ears.

"If you end up being near Taemin and no one else is around, trust only yourself. Okay?" he advised.

"Did something happen?" Jieun asked him, frowning.

"Kind of," Mino said. "But promise me this?"

"What if I'm desperate—"

"Only. Trust. Yourself."

Jieun stared at Mino for a long time before nodding her head. He gave her a small nod and began to walk in front of her, following Taemin's tracks. She looked at his back, then started her way towards the two boys to start on their rescue mission.

"Oh. My. Gosh."

Naeun gave Myungsoo a disappointed look as Myungsoo was busy scrapping his plastic spoon against the stone wall. He stopped in the middle of his process and looked at Naeun, who continued to give him a judgemental look.

"What?" he asked innocently.

"You can't be serious. You can't be serious about this," she said.

"About what?"

"About that," she said, pointing at the spoon. "Where would you get the bright idea that a plastic spoon can get you out of this prison?"

"I don't see you trying to find a way out."

"You think that's a way out?"

"At least I'm trying! Do you have any better plans than this?"

"Yes, and that's waiting for Taemin to rescue me."

Myungsoo scowled, then returned to carving the wall. "Whether he's here or not, his name is always mentioned…"

"Myungsoo, please stop. You're just going to get us in trouble. You haven't made a dent yet," Naeun said in a tired manner.

"They won't even bother to touch me. Even though my power is weakened, I can still give them a static shock." He stopped carving and grinned at her. "Everybody hates it when they get shocked just from a single touch."

Naeun groaned and bumped her head against the wall. "Taemin, please get us out of here now!"

"Honestly, they're probably going to save us when we're going to get our head chopped off," Myungsoo said. "I mean, let's think about this logically: Would Taemin, who knows that this place is a magic-free zone and that the Emperor can detect magic, come into the Emperor's territory and step into the empire itself? That's suicide, I tell you."

Naeun only nodded her head. She sighed and slumped down at her spot, looking at her cuffed wrists. She glanced out from the prison bars, waiting for the soldiers to open the door and lead them outside.

Yeah, Myungsoo's right, she thought. Taemin will probably wait until we go out, and then he'll come and save m—

Her thoughts were cut short. Her head felt like it was vibrating, but she didn't have the chance to clutch her head and cry out in pain. Her eyes turned pitch black. She stopped breathing for a moment and froze on the spot. The vibrations got louder and more intense. She was completely paralyzed; both her mind and body had suddenly stopped. A floral mark similar to Mino's cursed mark appeared on her forehead. It gave off a dim glow, pulsing its dull light at a pace of a clock ticking.

The mark quickly disappeared. Her eyes returned to normal, along with her breathing and thoughts. The vibrations stopped, and her thoughts followed the event.

—e and then take me away, she finished. Naeun paused for a minute. Wait… Did something happen to me?

She started feeling woozy. Her head felt heavy and so did her entire body. She glanced over at Myungsoo, who was still paying attention to the wall.

"U-Um, Myungsoo?" she called. 

He looked at her. "Yeah?"

"Did I, um, blank out or something?" she asked him.

"Did you?"

"I-I don't know…?" Naeun rubbed her head. "It just feels like it's my fault?"

Myungsoo rolled his eyes. "Why do you feel like everything's your fault these days? You did nothing wrong, right?"

"I-I-I'm not sure," she stuttered, confused with herself. "It's just my fault…?"

"It's not your fault that we're in this mess, okay?" he stated firmly.

It's my fault, she thought. She wasn't exactly sure why she was thinking that, but she just felt like it was her fault. It's my fault, it's my fault, it's my fault…?

"…They're five stories below from where we are. That's where they keep all the prisoners," Mino reported.

Taemin and Jieun stopped their tracks and stared at him. "What?"

"If we go inside the territory, then we would be four stories away."

"And how do you know all of this?" Taemin asked him quizzically.

Mino shrugged his shoulders. "Just a lucky guess."

"It's a freaky one," Taemin mumbled.

"Just go along with it, okay? I'm really lucky with finding people." He looked at Jieun. "That's also a reason why I'm in this situation with you. You're so lucky that I found you falling into the well. It's too bad that I fell in with you."

Jieun dropped her jaws while Mino walked passed the two. Taemin glanced at her, then back at Mino.

"I'm getting the feeling that you two normally didn't get along," he said.

"It's… a long story," she muttered. She started to follow Mino, who suddenly started looking pale. She began to notice that he was touching his scarf, specifically where the mark was. She crept closer to him and examined his terrified face. "Mino, are you okay?"

"I'm… okay," Mino said.

"You don't look fine. Does the mark hurt?" she asked him.

"N-No, it's what the mark showed me that kind of freaked me out," Mino said.

It didn't take long for Jieun to catch onto what he was saying. "The mark showed you where Naeun and Myungsoo are?"

"Something like that," Mino muttered. He quickly covered his mouth with his scarf. "Let's just go, okay?"

He walked even faster, trying to avoid continuing the conversation. Jieun frowned, but stopped when she realized that Taemin had been watching the two from behind. She quickly flashed him a small smile before looking at her front.