"Here we are."

"Are you sure that this is our destination? There doesn't seem much going on."

The five stared down at the small village. From the top of the hill, they were able to get a good bird's eye view at the village. To their amusement, the village was filled with heavy white ashes and dust rolling in. The homes were torn down or burn black. 

Naeun swiftly pulled out her map and scanned the paper. She looked back up at the village, then folded back her map and shoved it into her pocket. She sighed and pulled out a pair of gloves from her small bag.

"This is the place," Naeun confirmed, nodding her head. "Seems like someone raided the place before we got here."

"That just means that we have to walk deeper into the area, right?" Taemin asked.

"Right." Naeun nodded. "It seems like this place was burnt down recently—"

"Exactly two days ago at 11:43 P.M."

"Of course. You can tell just by interacting with burnt marks." She rotated her neck. "Anyway, I say let's go raid this place a bit more. If you're hungry, eat here. If you find silvers and gold, take them. Any other valuables, bring them."

"I'll go see if there's some kind of electrical circuit that still works. I see street lamps and I intend to use it," Myungsoo said. He walked down the hill, heading to a particular building.

Naeun turned to Mino and Jieun. "You two stay close to Taemin."

Taemin widened his eyes. "Wha—Why do I have to take care of them?"

"You brought them, you take care of them," she reasoned. "Besides, I'm better at finding things when I'm alone. You know that."

Taemin grumbled. "Fine, but I'm not responsible for them being alive or dead."

Jieun and Mino widened their eyes. They noticed that it was Taemin mentally telling them to hurry up and defend for themselves. They could tell that the group was feeling that the two were more of a drag. If those two didn't up their game, then there was a good chance that they might abandon them at the very village they were standing in.

"I'll scout east, you scout west. We'll meet up in the middle," Naeun said. She looked around and saw a silver battle shield nearby. She grabbed ahold of it, gave it a small dust with her hand, then dropped it on the floor for her to slide on. She slid down the hill on the muddy area, disappearing into the east section.

Taemin turned and examined Mino and Jieun. The two stood still, unsure of what to do. As they were being examined, Taemin looked around and made Jieun hold onto his bag.

"You heard what she said," Taemin said. "We're heading towards the left area. Let's go."

He walked down the hill, and the two followed in silence. As they were walking, Taemin decided to open a friendly chat with them. Fortunately for Jieun, Mino did all the talking.

"So is gold and silver some kind of currency around here?" Mino asked.

"In the realm we're heading to, yeah. Witches like using the typical silver and gold," Taemin replied. "For them, it's a sign of valuable."

"How about other places? What kind of currency do they use?"

"Name one, and I'll list it for you," Taemin said.

Mino stared at him with a puzzled look, then glanced at Jieun. He urged Jieun to say something, and while she kept shaking her head, Taemin stopped and went inside a house. The two quickly scurried over, following Taemin inside the house and taking a look around the area.

"How do you know if it's fool's gold or real gold?" Mino asked, changing the subject.

"What's that?" Taemin asked. He raised a plate and tossed it across the room. A loud crack echoed in the air. "What's 'fool's gold'?"

Mino bit his bottom lip. "I-It's nothing. I mean, come on! Aren't all gold the same? Fool's gold? That's ridiculous…"

Nice, Jieun thought, opening the drawers. Good save, Mino!

"Uh-huh. Whatever." Taemin paused then glanced at them. "You two are really weird, though. Very odd."

"But the real quesiton is, what if you're the odd one?" Mino countered.

Taemin blinked his eyes. "I am an odd one. I'm the oddest one in the group. Well, that was before you two came along."

Jieun stopped at a painting of a unicorn with a broken horn. "Do unicorns exist in this world?"

"Unicorns?" Taemin briefly looked up to see what she was talking about. "Oh, that. Yeah, they do, but no one can really see them. You must be very pure to see them."

"They must populate well, then," she murmured.

"Actually, no. Unicorns don't breed very often. That's why some people make it a big deal when they do end up breeding."

"Like pandas!" Mino cried out, swiping some silver coins into his pouch.

"Like a what now?" Taemin asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Pan…Pan…" Jieun's eyes wandered around. "He meant Panotti!"

Taemin gave her a puzzled look. "Pan…otti?"

"You know, those giant-eared men? They usually live in the northern areas where it's very cold," Jieun described. Well, the myth says that they lived in Europe. Let's hope that they at least exist here. If unicorns exist, why not these creatures?

Taemin rubbed his chin and stared at Jieun for a few minutes. Then, he shrugged his shoulders and went out, scavenging for currency. His silent acknowledgement seemed like he didn't know what kind of creatures they were, but he believed that they existed. Mino and Jieun sighed in relief and quickly resumed their tasks.

After jumping from house to house and finding different items, Jieun noticed that the street lamps began to flicker. The three, who were walking in the middle of the streets, stopped and stared at the blinking lights.

"Seems like Myungsoo got the lights working," Mino said.

"Yeah. Come on," Taemin said, "let's explore a bit more."

Jieun kept watching the lights blink. For a minute, she thought that the lights were flickering because something was disturbing the circuit. Soon, she realized that the lights were flashing in a familiar pattern: Morse Code.

"T…A…" Jieun began to mutter the words.

Taemin, who had noticed, stopped walking and looked at her. He glared at her for a minute, wondering what kind of nonsense she was sputtering out. Mino looked up at the lights, and was able to understand that it was Morse Code. 

"…D…I…O…T…" Jieun waited for anything else. When the lights remained lit up, she turned to Taemin. "Myungsoo called you can idiot."

Taemin widened his eyes. "What? How'd you get that from a bunch of flashing lights?"

"It's called Morse Code," Mino said. Then, he muttered, "I wonder if this is just a hobby Myungsoo picked up or if he's older than we think he is…"

"Morse code? Since when this flashing lights make up a code?" Taemin growled. "And here I thought that Myungsoo had been fooling around with us…"

Myungsoo must've been bored when he came to this world, Jieun realized. Having two other people from the same world as him probably made his life a lot more brighter, especially since he can share things with us.

Mino looked away, staring at another house. He briefly widened his eyes, but then softened his expression and looked away. Turning to Taemin, he casually walked up to him and put his arm on his shoulder.

"Hey, Taemin? Do you know if we're leaving tonight?" Mino asked curiously.

Taemin gave him a sharp look. "Of course we're leaving. If we stay here overnight, then some other monster will haunt us."

"Great! So let's stay here overnight!" Mino exclaimed, smiling.

Taemin and Jieun widened their eyes. They were clearly not expecting him to be so enthusiastic about staying back. Jieun ran over to him and grabbed him by the arms.

"Are you crazy?" She hissed at him. "Do you want to die?"

"Of course not," Mino muttered. He focused his attention back at Taemin. "Do you mind if we stay just for tonight? I mean, if we do some detail searching, then it'll take us the entire day. Let's take a small break. Besides…" He brought Jieun closer to him. "This girl over here isn't very good without her sleep."

Jieun shot him a glare. She was trying to figure out what he was doing, but Mino kept putting on that fake smile she despised. Taemin blinked his eyes, staring at the two. He looked up at the sky, sighed, then rubbed his hand behind his neck.

"I'll talk to Naeun about this," he said, indirectly agreeing with Mino's choice. "I'm not making any official statement. Naeun is the one who gets to say the last words."

"Why does Naeun get all the last words?" she asked him.

"Because Naeun is smarter than us and knows a lot more stuff than us," Taemin said. "She's the one who's better at estimating how big our problems get."

"Precisely." The three turned their bodies to the direction of the voice. They saw Naeun walking towards them with Myungsoo tagging along behind her. "I was wondering what took you guys so long."

"How much of the conversation did you hear?" Taemin asked.

"Everything. Now, you want to stay overnight, right?" Naeun asked Mino. He nodded. "Well, we can't."

"Not even a little bit?" Mino inquired. "I'm asking for just this one night."

"Nonsense," she replied. "We're leaving, and that's what I say."

Mino bit his bottom lip. "I will…personally kill the next enemy we see if you let us stay overnight!"

The boys froze and stared at him. Jieun gasped and dropped her jaws. It was official. Mino really wanted to die.

Naeun scoffed. "Really? With what powers?"

"I'll let you guess," Mino responded. "But I give you my word."

Naeun seemed skeptical over Mino's words. She knew that he was lying, and that he had no power. However, the question that she was always good at asking popped up: What if?

"Okay, fine. We can stay overnight, but under the condition that we wake up extra early the next morning. We will skip breakfast," Naeun stated firmly.

Myungsoo quickly shook her shoulder. "Woah, woah, wait. Skip breakfast? Naeun, I can't do that! I get hungry!"

"Shut up, Myungsoo," Naeun snapped. She stomped on his foot, causing him to yelp loudly. "Like I said, we'll stay overnight, skip breakfast tomorrow, and immediately head our way to the next village. Understood?"

"Understood!" Jieun, Mino, and Taemin exclaimed.

"D-Damn it, Naeun!" Myungsoo tried to mutter out. "You can't do this to me…!"

"I said shut up, Myungsoo!" Naeun repeated. She kicked his leg and dragged him away from the group. Taemin quickly followed, trying to break them up.

While it seemed like the two were arguing, Jieun noticed how often Naeun would glance back at them. Mino stepped up besides her and sighed.

"Hunched back, eyes suspicious looking at us, and crowding the boys. Naeun doesn't trust me," Mino recited. He clicked his tongue, disappointment.

Jieun turned her head. "Yeah, even I don't believe you. What's up with you? You don't have any powers to kill anyone!"

"It's for our sake," Mino replied. "I found something good in that house. Meet me back here when everyone's asleep."

"Why can't you just show it to me right now?"

"Because the others are suspecting us. Plus, I just gave them another reason to keep up for a little longer."

Just as Mino had ordered her to do, Jieun waited throughout the night, making sure that everyone was asleep. She slowly opened her eyes and looked around. The first thing she noticed was that Mino was missing, which meant that he was already waiting for her. She quietly got up from the ground and tip-toed away from the group. When she thought that she was far away from the three, she dashed and sprinted her way to Mino's side.

As expected, Mino was waiting for near the house he had told her to meet. He casually waved his hand up in the air, telling her to come closer. Rubbing her eyes, Jieun approached Mino, who began to enter the house.

"What is it?" Jieun whispered.

"Just follow me," he whispered back. He guided her into the deeper parts of the house. The two stopped at what seemed to be the living room. At the center of the living room was a pile of ashes and brittle paper. 

Then, Mino bent down on his knee and pulled out a sofa cushion. Jieun continued to stare, puzzled, but realized that while all the other cushions were ripped open, this particular one was kept neatly. It was only stained with blood, but Mino seemed to have no problem handling it. 

"Give me your knife," he instructed. She pulled out her pocket knife from her bag and gave it to him. He made a large cut on the cushion and ripped it open. He pulled out a familiar object from the cushion, and the worlds slipped out of Jieun's mind with such enthusiasm.

"It's a book!" she cried out. She bent down next to him and snatched away the books. "Oh, how beautiful! Look at it's cover! The texture is lovely, too!"

"I always thought that it was strange how there were no books at any of the houses. It looks like they were all burned down with the house, but this particular house preserved their books quite well. I managed to take this just before we left, incase Naeun didn't want to stay here any longer," Mino said. He pulled out another book from his bag. "I've actually read it secretly during my spare time around here, and it's great! It talks about everything!"

Jieun opened the purple cover and held her breath as her brown orbs gazed upon the faded letters. She ran her fingers against the soft paper, and slowly flipped it so that the pages wouldn't fall apart. Her eyes sparkled with delight, her nose inhaling the foreign scent she felt that she recognized.

"But it's strange," Mino continued. "If you see it, it's written in our language."

Jieun blinked her eyes. "You're right!"

"So I'm wondering what this world really is," he said. He looked up at the ceiling. "Whoever wrote these came from our world."

"Some of these have bad grammar, too," Jieun pointed out. "So is it safe to assume that these are all handwritten and not proof-read?"

"Probably. By the way, I think there's more upstairs. After you finish that book, make sure you check upstairs. I'm going to go around the houses and bring more books over," Mino said. "You're a fast reader, right?"

"Faster than you, probably," she said, feeling smug. She was too absorbed to notice that Mino had left to bring some more books.

For the remainder of the night, the two spent hours staying up and reading pages after pages, books after books. Their minds were filled with repeated knowledge, and they tried their best to memorize every little bit the books had told them. 

"What the hell happened here?"

Jieun lifted her eyelids and slowly looked up from the floor. The books were scattered all over the floor, and the two had forgotten to clean up. They were so tired at dawn, they decided to get the sleep they could.

She saw Taemin standing in front of them. Utter horror was written all over his face. His eyes were wide, and his hands were shaking. What finally snapped Jieun out of her drowsy state was when Taemin picked up a book and began to burn it. She sat straight up and tried to pull him back.

"Back off!" Jieun shouted. "What are you doing?"

"The real question is, what are you two doing?" Taemin snapped. "Are you two insane?"

"Aren't you insane? These are precious books! Leave it alone—"

"Precious?" he cried out. He glared at them with hostility. "Don't you know that if you build up the ability to read, then you go insane? These books are meant for making people go insane! Enlightenment is insane!"

Jieun stared at him. "Wha—How could you say such a thing? Gaining knowledge is such a beau—"

Mino quickly intercepted their conversation. "Reading? What's that?"

She stared at him with even bigger eyes, unable to believe what she had just heard. Taemin, skeptical, gave him a small frown. 

"Mino, what are you saying?" Jieun hissed.

"Taemin, did you think we were reading?" Mino asked. He let out a laugh. "Dude, who reads? We were just browsing. What, you think we know how to read? We just came to this world." He cautiously looked at Taemin's hand, which was on fire. "Why don't you calm down a bit, okay? I think you're just worked up because we didn't have breakfast."

Taemin opened his mouth, but stopped. He growled, then dropped the book, which was half-burned. Jieun tried to go and save the book, but Mino pulled her back. It took her a while to realize what Mino was trying to do: "not knowing how to read" was just a cover-up.

"I'll keep this from Myungsoo and Naeun. Come on, we were trying to find you," Taemin mumbled. He glanced behind his shoulders, carefully watching the two. It was clear that if the two acted out-of-the-ordinary, they would be kicked out. "Are you guys ready to go?"

"Yep, we're ready," Mino said, pushing Jieun out the door.

"But Mino, the books—" Mino gave her a firm look, telling her not to mention about the text. She only nodded her head and quietly moved forward with Taemin.

She was really glad that she came to this world with Mino. Without him, she knew that she would be dead by now.