The next thing Mino knew, he found himself standing in an awfully familiar area. He looked around, only to realize that he was standing at the exact location where he had gotten his cursed mark. He traced his fingers on the mark before properly covering it with his new scarf. When he looked back, he realized that Jieun and Taemin were nowhere to be found. If it was the less-experienced Mino, he was sure that he would start panicking and go crazy.

However, this wasn't the old Mino anymore. He knew the rules of the new world, and he knew that he had to stay low, especially since there were people who were after him and his other friends. He took a deep breath and lifted his scarf to hide his upper lips.

Let's think about this carefully, Mino thought, starting to walk around. Jieun wished us to go to where Naeun is. If anything, it looks like Naeun is somewhere in this witch village.

He stopped walking. His sharp eyes met the eyes of a black cat with a piece of glass in its mouth. The cat froze instantly, but began to let out a small mew. They stared at each other for a long time, waiting to see who would make the first move.

"It's just a cat," Mino randomly blurted. He turned around and kept walking while holding his guard up.

Minhyuk the cat scowled. He's aware that I'm not just a 'cat.' But I know that he's not the Wanted One. Where is the female? The glass shard isn't showing me anything anymore.

The cat followed behind Mino, hoping that Mino would lead him to the Wanted One. A second later, Minhyuk sensed a chilling wind. Mino, who also felt the same wind, tensed up and whirled around. His tattered black cloak swung to his side as he revealed a large black aura emitting his from his arm, taking a shape of a claw. The darkness began to ooze and bubble, much to anyone's disgust.

W-What is that? Minhyuk wondered, shocked. Before he had the chance to do anything else, the claw scooped him. Minhyuk tried to fight, but when he saw that a wind had slammed against the exact place where Minhyuk was initially standing, he realized that he was being rescued. The cat found himself standing near mino, who glared ahead.

"Who's there?" Mino shouted. When he received no response, he quickly changed his crab claw into talons. Minhyuk stared at the change with shock.

What the hell is that? That's not a curse, but there's an incredible evil power emitting from it. I've never seen anything like it, Minhyuk thought. The cat met eyes with Mino, whose eyes were already pitch-black. Minhyuk froze, unable to move his paws.

Mino gave the cat a cruel grin. The cat only shuddered, but realized that it was trapped in some kind of field that prevented him from moving.

"What a lovely sacrifice," Mino muttered happily.

This isn't normal, Minhyuk realized. I need to figure out how to get out of this situation. I—

He yelped when Mino grabbed his small body and threw him across the road. Minhyuk hissed and slammed his body against a wall before clumsily falling back down on his paws. He quickly changed from his cat form to his human form. Once he changed, he coughed up blood and hissed in pain.

Before he had the chance to realize what was going on, another strong breeze came blowing towards him. He closed his eyes, trying to keep away the dust. However, when he slightly opened his eyes, he noticed someone charging towards him with a tornado sword. He widened his eyes and was about to change back to his cat form until Mino came in and intercepted the attack. The talons clawed around the spiraling sword, gripping it with all its might.

"Found you," Mino muttered. "Long time no see, Naeun."

When Minhyuk saw his eyes, he noticed that only half was black and the other eye was normal. Is he okay? Is he saving me? But he just threw me against the wall. What's going on?

"Please move," Naeun said almost robotically. 

"Why are you after the cat? It's harmless," Mino said.

"This is my Captain's order."

"Captain? You follow someone other than Taemin? Amazing," Mino said jokingly.

"Please move, or else I am left with no choice but to kill you, too," Naeun told him.

"Who's your captain?"

"Captain of the Fourth Court, Yonghwa," Naeun informed him.

"Any idea where Myungsoo is?"

"I do not know who he is."

"I guess you're brainwashed to the point where you don't remember anything," Mino murmured. So how do I break her out of Yonghwa's spell? Taemin didn't really tell me anything about this. Should I let her go? But if I do, I might not be able to see her again. He managed to push her back, resulting in her to step a few feet away from him. I guess I have no choice but to fight her and stall some time until Jieun or Taemin comes around.

"Will you not move?" Naeun asked him.

"I'm sorry…" His eyes became pitch black again. "I intend to use this cat as my prey."

"You intend to use something that has already run away?" Naeun asked, tilting her head. Mino turned, only to realize that the cat was gone. When he turned back, Naeun had disappeared like the wind.

He clenched his jaws as his eyes returned to normal. 

I need to find Jieun and Taemin first. He looked around the area, then sighed. Why were we wished to separate places…?

Jieun found herself walking through the crowded street, trying to figure out where everyone had went. She walked around until she found herself squeezing between two houses, trying to have some person space for herself.

Once she was sure she was alone, she sighed and looked around. Obviously, Taemin and Mino were nowhere to be found. Even though she wished to go to wherever Naeun is, the fellow girl was nowhere to be found. 

What happened to my wish? What screwed it up? she wondered. Where is everyone, too?

"I need to get out of here and find the others," she whispered to herself. She was about to go until she felt something grab her wrist. She yelped and resisted, but stopped when she saw Taemin. She let out a sigh of relief before frowning at him. "Where were you? Where's Mino?"

"I think Mino got lost," Taemin said. "It could be that his curse screwed up your wish."

"Well, we need to find Mino," Jieun said. "I'll just wish him—"

"Don't," Taemin said quickly. "If he didn't get here with us, it could mean that his curse is acting up. The worst thing that can happen is if you make a wish while he's heavily influenced under the curse."

"O-Oh." Jieun lowered her hands. "Okay. So what?"

"He can't be too far," Taemin murmured.

"We should stick together and find him—"

"Not a good idea," Taemin interrupted quickly. "I saw that this village is now infested with the Council soldiers. It seems like they've appointed a new Captain for this area. Security is strict."

"So what should we do?"

"Use your powers for defensive measures only. Don't be offensive."

"And you? Your powers are basically for offense."

Taemin smirked, causing her heart to skip a beat. "Easy. I'll just create a distraction until you find Mino or Naeun."

Jieun widened her eyes. "Are you nuts?"

"What? It's fun," he said casually. He messed up her hair a bit before running away. Jieun tried to call for him, but when he realized that he wouldn't listen to her, she was left with no choice but to make her escape.

Right as she turned around, she yelped when she felt something grab her ankle. Shuttering, she whirled around and was about to attack until a strange woman suppressing her giggles looked at her with a wide smile.

Jieun hitched her breath. Let's not say anything. If I can shake her off and run, it should be fine—

"You're here," Bora whispered, her eyes shimmering in awe. She giggled and smiled, leaving Jieun tense and pale. Bora giggled even louder. "You're beautiful!"

That was all it took for Jieun to scream out of self-defense, garnering attention as a huge white flame erupted towards the sky from a different part of the village.

Yonghwa was strumming his guitar, resting on the tree branch with a large but thin smile on his lips. His eyes were closed and he continued to flick his fingers against the string, moving back and forth on the handle of the guitar.

A portal opened from a nearby tree. A large beastly figure with a double-sided half-moon axe appeared from the portal with Taehyung swinging from his hand. Yonghwa stopped playing his music and opened his eyes, getting up to greet the new Captain of the Third Court.

"Hello, Taecyeon," Yonghwa said. "How are you today?"

"I found this guy jumping around dimensions," Taecyeon reported, throwing Taehyung in front of them. Taehyung stumbled a little, but managed to float in air by creating a thin floatable platform below him.

"What? How could you accuse me of such a thing?" Taehyung asked innocently.

"Oh, dear. That's not a good sign," Yonghwa said, chuckling.

"What are you all up to?" Taecyeon asked, crossing his arms. "I might be new, but I can smell disaster when it's nearby."

"Nothing! We're just watching the Captain of the Seventh Court," Yonghwa said.

"Why are you guys so keen on spying on her?" Taecyeon inquired. "Did she do something wrong?"

"Not really," Yonghwa said while Taehyung continued to smile. "But things are about to get interesting."

"It's not just that," a delicate voice said out of nowhere. The three boys looked up and saw a slender girl staring down at the village, standing on a branch nearby. "It's also a test for her."

"Captain of the First Court, Yoona," Taecyeon said, shocked. He kneeled the best he could on the branch. "I am Taecyeon, the new Captain of the Third Court. It is an honor to be part of the—"

"Hush," Yoona said, glancing at him. "I don't need any fancy introductions from you."

"This is new," Yonghwa said, strumming his guitar. "I didn't know that you would be here. You and the Captain of the Second Court are so difficult to get in touch with. I'm surprised that you even came here."

"I'm here on behalf of the Council Leader," Yoona explained. "I am to judge Bora. In the case she fails her task, I am in charge of taking over the mission and grab the opportunity to arrest the Wanted One."

"Right. Of course. The Council Leader would send an angel to do his biddings," Yonghwa muttered. "Well, at least he sticks to one thing."

"Stick to one thing?" Taecyeon repeated.

"A lot of people are just…bitter about the creation of the Seventh Court," Yoona said hesitantly.

"Exactly. There were always just six of us, but the Council Leader decided to randomly add one more Court," Taehyung said, rolling his eyes. "It doesn't even make sense, especially since she's a witch."

"Don't be so upset, Taehyung. If you haven't noticed, without Bora, you would be standing in her position," Yoona said.

"So? I would do an excellent job."

"Do you realize that three Captains all failed to capture the Wanted One?" Yoona asked. Everyone tensed up as her voice became cold and distant. "The Wanted One, who possesses the power of the Galaxial Wish, has been missing for several months. We can assume that she had gone through training, and that her powers have been growing. Now that she has suddenly reappeared, we don't know how powerful she is anymore."

"And that's where Bora comes along," another voice said. Everyone turned and saw an elf dressed in thick black clothes.

Yonghwa raised an eyebrow. "Captain of the Second Court, Jiyong. You came, too?"

"I suggested for him to come," Yoseob said, appearing from Yonghwa's shadow.

Yonghwa shuddered. "Did you really have to do that? You know that I hate it when people do that."

"Looks like all six of us are here," Taehyung said, amused.

"Bora doesn't know it, and it's important that she doesn't know her true purpose until she reaches her end," Jiyong said.

"What do you mean?" asked Yonghwa.

"Do you not get it?" Jiyong asked. "Taking on the Wanted One without knowing what she's capable of is like a suicidal mission."

"Can you calculate the chances of surviving such a thing?" asked Yoona.

Jiyong's expression brightened a little as he confidently stated the percentage of survival: "Zero."