Jieun couldn't see Myungsoo's face since it was a mere shadow, but she could almost see him frown deeply at her. After she had explained to him the entire situation, he remained extremely quiet. His shadow didn't move at all. Although, Jieun wasn't exactly sure if the black fuzzy figure was able to move in the first place. Sure, he could wave or shake his head, but it seemed like his feet were glue to the spaceless floor.

"So you're saying that Taemin is found nowhere, Naeun is hypnotized and now part of the bad side, and Mino is somewhere in the town with no idea what's going on?" Myungsoo asked.

"And you're not here," Jieun said. "Well, you're here, but not exactly out of here, if you know what I mean…"

A sigh escaped his lips. "How did everything become such a mess?"

"I'll go out and find Taemin right now!" she exclaimed.

"How?"

"I'll make a wish—"

"Do you even have the strength to do that right now?" he asked.

Jieun bit her bottom lip. "W-Well, I'd have enough power to get myself out of here. From there, I'll have to do all I can to find Taemin in order to find your body and save Naeun…"

"So what would I do?" he asked.

"Um…" Jieun paused. "I guess you'd just have to wait—"

"Jieun, there's no time to wait! Naeun is in trouble! We need to save her!" Myungsoo cried out.

"Okay, okay! I know you're upset! I do! I know we need to save Naeun, but I need Taemin's help, too!"

"What about Mino? Can't you two go and check if Naeun is doing fine?"

"I can't because I have no idea where she is!" Jieun exclaimed. "All I know is that she's with the Fourth Court!"

"The Fourth Court? You mean the Council of the Forth Court?" Myungsoo seemed to be staring at her. "Jieun, do you have any idea what's going on—"

"I am fully aware," Jieun said quickly, trying to prevent Myungsoo from giving her a lecture. "I—"

She stopped talking when she saw Myungsoo fuzz up a bit. She frowned as he remained oddly quiet.

"Hide," Myungsoo whispered.

"Where?" Jieun asked, pointing out that the whole area was empty and dark.

"He's coming," Myungsoo said in a small voice. Jieun widened her eyes and gasped. "Hide behind me then. Quickly."

She nodded. She made sure to hide behind the shadow so that her skin didn't stick out anywhere. Myungsoo remained silent, but the two were fully aware of the approaching footsteps.

"So won't you tell me where the Wanted One is?" Yoseob asked. Myungsoo remained silent. "Oh, right. You can't see. Here, I will give you your voice back…"

He opened his fingers and blew something toward Myungsoo. Myungsoo froze up, gasped, and choked violently. He would've moved and crawled, but he couldn't blow Jieun's cover. He stood tall, taking in the pain and trying to move as little as he could. Yoseob chuckled.

"You act brave. I like it," he said, his lips. "So now, speak."

"I don't know where she is," Myungsoo croaked out. Jieun widened her eyes in surprise. His voice sounded much huskier and rougher. It was like he was forced to speak against his will.

"Hm…" Yoseob's eyes turned bright purple. Myungsoo stopped breathing. "Speak the truth."

Myungsoo struggled to move. Jieun could sense that he was trying his best not to speak. 

"I…don't…know…!" Myungsoo lied.

Yoseob's eyes stopped turning purple. "Looks like you have a lot of magical resistance. I'm quite impressed." He folded his hands. "However, you're aware that if you continue to stay longer here, then you won't be able to go back to your body, right? Your body won't recognize your shadow and thus reject it. You'd just be a mere puppet for me in the shadows."

"I don't know where she is," Myungsoo said. 

"The more you lie, the more you're stuck in here, too," Yoseob warned him. "I'm being kind, telling you all this, but you still refuse to tell me the truth?" He glanced past Myungsoo's shadow. "Oh, but I did sense something unusual here…"

Jieun stiffened. Please don't see me, please don't see me—

Myungsoo's shoulder suddenly dissolved down in the ground. Jieun widened her eyes and stared at Yoseob, who glared at her with purple eyes.

"Leave," he commanded. Jieun froze, wondering if she was being possessed. However, the blackness disappeared and she found herself in an abandoned house.

What the? Where am I now? she wondered. She stared at Yoseob. How did he do that? Is he able to transport me to somewhere else? She looked around. Is Myungsoo's body around here? No, I don't see anything except this little light. Where am I?

"Ah."

Yoseob smiled wickedly while Jieun held up her guard. She looked around, trying to search for Myungsoo's body. This was the room he was talking about, right? She had specifically wished to be transported to wherever his body was. So where was it?

Yoseob chuckled. "This is almost too perfect! Everything is going so well!"

Damn it, Jieun thought, clenching her teeth. She clasped her hands, ready to pray, but her whole body felt weak. I'm running out of magical juice! Something must've went wrong when Yoseob pulled me out of that dark place. I only have one wish and I need to make it count!

"Why did they tell me to beware of you?" Yoseob cried out, laughing hysterically. "You just make everything so easy! Is it because you can make wishes? It doesn't look like you can make any more wishes. This is pathetic! I can just kill you right here!" He paused. "Well, unfortunately, that's not an option."

Jieun paused. Wait, what?

"I would love to kill you, but they just want me to bring you back alive," Yoseob said, sighing. "Everyone else can die, though."

"Where's my friend?" Jieun managed to ask. She shot Yoseob a glare.

"Your friend?" He decided to . "Which one?"

Jieun gritted her teeth, enraged. "Stop playing around! Tell me where's Myungsoo!"

"Myungsoo? Ah, yes." Yoseob his lips. "I already ate him."

That's a lie, she thought. If his body was eaten, I'd probably be teleported to his stomach or something.

"But really, I don't know why they told me to be afraid of you," Yoseob murmured. "I can literally grab you by the head and you'll be my hostage…"

Jieun gasped. She freaked out and tried to walk away. As she walked backwards, she didn't notice the sigbin waiting for her to trip over it. Yoseob hissed and Jieun screamed, tripping over the sigbin, which disappeared back into the shadows. She fell onto the ground and breathed desperately, watching Yoseob's hand grow bigger as it approached closer to her. She shut her eyes tightly, with random words and helpless cries running through her head.

Please send help! she cried out. She screamed loudly, hoping that someone from outside would hear her.

The next second, she felt something. There was something hot standing in front of her. She could feel the heat almost burning on her skin. At first, she thought it was Taemin since he had powers of flames, but remembered that his flames were cold, not hot. 

But…But just in case… Jieun lifted her eyelids, only to find herself slightly disappointed.

It wasn't Taemin, like she had expected, but it was someone else she knew.

Jieun stared at Mino, who stood in front of her with a calm expression on his face. It was unusual to see Mino so composed. He didn't even look like he feared anything anymore. It was like he had forgotten how to be scared of this world.

"Min…o?" Jieun called him quietly with a hint of unsureness.

Mino glanced behind his shoulder and smirked. "Hello, Jieun."

"M-Mino, your arm," Jieun said, pointing at his arm.

It was incredibly horrifying. His entire right arm had taken shape into some sort of beastly crab claw. The black claw hissed and sizzled as dark and mysterious auras bubbled up and steamed. It had strange colored eyes decorated all over the claw, clearly showing that it was some strange cursed weapon. 

Yoseob, taking notice of the infected weapon, grimaced as he withdrew his shadows. His sigbin cowered in his sleeves, refusing to attack Mino unless it was ordered to do so. Yoseob examined Mino's face, realizing that the black aura had also decorated his face. The cursed mark on his neck glowed while some vine-like shapes stretched over and covered half of his face. The right eye was completely black, while the other eye looked slightly sane.

"This isn't a normal curse," Yoseob muttered.

"Thank you for taking notice," Mino said, giving him a slight bow. His crab claw changed shape into talons. 

"Mino, what happened to you?" Jieun asked.

"I learned, Jieun," Mino said. "I read the books and learned how to control curse marks and the true purpose of this mark."

"Purpose? What? Mino, are you okay?" she asked him desperately.

"I'm not the one to cause the apocalypse, Jieun. I'm just here…" Mino finally made his move. He attacked aggressively, charging his talons at Yoseob, who would dodge his attacks by hiding in the shadows. Mino continued to pound his talons against the floor and the walls, making holes as he attempted to chase the shadows. "…to clean…" His black eye widened as a chilling smirk appeared on his lips. He pointed his gaze to a particular pool of shadow. With his cursed mark heating up, he screamed loudly and threw his talons against the pool of shadow, digging deep into the circle. Then, he pulled back his arm, dragging out the talons and the dying sigbin in his talons. "…up a little bit."

Jieun let out a terrified scream when she watched Mino tear the sigbin into pieces. Blood gushed all over the place and splattered against the floor and wall. Some got onto Jieun's clothes, and she desperately tried to clean herself up by rubbing her handkerchief against the stained clothes. She crawled backwards and stared at Mino, who finally looked at her with his bloody talons.

"Yep, that's perfect right," Mino whispered. "I'm just here to clean up the mess. This is my purpose." Mino leaned closer to Jieun, who shuddered. "What is yours?"

Oh god, Jieun thought, noticing that the talons were approaching her. I'm going to die. Oh god, I'm going to die. She closed her eyes. Please, please have Taemin come here! I wish Taemin would come and save me! Please, make Taemin come here!

Gold shimmers fell from her clutched hands. A nice subtle breeze came into the room, followed by a bright flash of light. Jieun hitched her breath and opened her eyes once the blinding light disappeared. Her eyes widened in relief when she saw Taemin standing in front of her with his knees on the ground while his hand grabbed onto Mino's wrist.

Mino scowled. "You…"

"You're too early to be doing your part," Taemin mumbled. He narrowed his eyes. "Go to sleep, won't you?"

"Isn't this what I was created for?" Mino asked. He laughed. "Are you scared that you can't take me anymore?"

"No, I'm not scared at all." Taemin frowned. "And I have no idea what you're talking about."

"And why not?" Mino chuckled. "You shouldn't play pretend, Taemin."

"Because there's Jieun who can take you down," Taemin said. Jieun slightly blushed. "Also, I can take you down, too.  I'm not going to let you do things your way."

With that, Taemin caught Mino on fire. The white flames slowly swallowed up the talons, eating the eyes and burning them until it reached the depth of his arms. Mino cried out in pain and cringed his back while he tried to shake off the flame. Taemin sighed and looked at the flames.

"Make sure you eat him just enough to purify him for now," Taemin ordered. The flames grew bigger in response, then shrunk to swallow Mino up.

Mino continued to scream in agony. He rolled on the ground, extending his arm out so that the rest of his body wouldn't catch on fire. However, the fire only covered up the marked-side of the face along with his arm.

As Mino burned, Taemin turned around to battle with Yoseob. However, by the time he turned, Yoseob had already escaped from the scene. Taemin clicked his tongue, disappointed, while he looked back at the white flames. Mino cried out in agony and squirmed on the ground while clutching his cursed mark. He glanced at Jieun, who stared at him with wide eyes.

He knows now, Jieun thought. He knows that Mino is cursed. Will he kick us out from the group? Will he tell everyone? If he told Naeun, then surely she'll try to use everything she has to kick us out.

However, Taemin looked away. He stared at Mino for a long time before glancing at Jieun.

"Did you read any books?" he asked him. She shook her head. "Promise?"

"I-I swear," Jieun murmured. Taemin studied her expression. Then, he turned and walked away, attempting to leave the room. "W-Wait!" He stopped his tracks. The wood under them squeaked. He slowly turned around and looked at her. "A-Are you leaving us? Are we being abandoned?"

Taemin paused, pressing his lips. "For now, I'll keep you with me."

"W-What about Mino? I-I can't just go with you without Mino," Jieun said. She looked over her shoulders and stared at Mino, who was starting to quiet down. His body trembled as if he was awfully cold, and the look he had in his eyes were concerning.

"I'll keep things a secret for now," Taemin said. "Make sure you just cover up that mark."

"O-Okay," Jieun stuttered. She crawled over to Mino's side and checked his mark, noticing that it was glowing faintly. Still, he seemed stable enough to not go berserk with his curse. She looked back at Taemin, who continued to make his exit. "W-Where are you going?"

"Out," Taemin said. "You and Mino stay together. Stay here, okay?"

"But we need to rescue Mino and Naeun!"

"Not now," Taemin murmured. "I'm going to go check out Artem, see if it's safe. If it's okay, then we can stay here for the night."

"But what about Mino and Naeun?"

"We don't have to worry about them," Taemin said. He quickly added, "for now." 

"Shouldn't we rescue them as soon as possible?"

"Who's going to take care of Mino?" he pointed out. "It's better for us to rest up and then charge ahead."

"But…" Jieun couldn't argue with him anymore. He was right. With their current situation, it was easy for them to face defeat. She bitterly looked away, feeling absolutely helpless. Taemin nodded his head, taking her disappointed frown as a sign of stepping down. He left the room, checking to see if the area was clear from any of the Council members.

Jieun looked over at Mino, who started to struggle with breathing. The white flames were nearly gone now. Mino looked at Jieun with pain etched into his eyes.

"Am I…gonna…die?" Mino croaked out.

Jieun made a small smile. "No. You're not going to die, Mino."

She looked out at the exit. Naeun, Mino. Hang in there.