Jiyeon’s eyes darted back and forth between Eunjung, the gun, and Jaehee. She was still shocked about Eunjung’s actions and Jaehee didn’t even seem freighted at all. Is she made of steel? And Eunjung…what are you doing?!

“Eunjung!” Jiyeon shouted.

Eunjung could hear the desperate tone in Jiyeon’s voice but she could not put the gun down. Her instincts were telling her that Jaehee knew something about what had happened the night before and she needed to speak. Eunjung pressed the gun harder into Jaehee’s chest and her index finger moved the trigger just a few millimeters back.

“Eunjung! Please! Put the gun down!” Jiyeon shouted out desperately again.

This time Eunjung darted her eyes to her right where Jiyeon was standing. Jaehee had kept her eyes on the Guardian in front of her and Eunjung’s sudden distraction was enough for her to act. She moved swiftly, just like the strong breeze brushing past them, and locked her left arm around Eunjung’s right arm. Jaehee moved Eunjung’s arm in an upwards motion as if she was going to break it.

Eunjung felt a jolt of pain run up her arm and loosened her grip on the gun just slightly. Jaehee took this opportunity to grab the gun out of Eunjung’s hold with her right hand. Using her strength, she lifted Eunjung slightly off the ground and using her body as leverage, flipped Eunjung onto her back. The Guardian hit the ground hard but recuperated quickly. She swiftly rolled around, reached for the gun on her left thigh and stood up to point at Jaehee.

Jaehee was also pointing the gun she had taken from Eunjung back at the Guardian. Jiyeon gasped once again in shock at the two women in front of her. Please don’t fire it!

Neither woman moved as they pointed the guns at each other. They stared into each others eyes but Jaehee finally let out a sigh and flipped the gun around to where the handle was facing Eunjung. She took a step closer to the shorter woman and held the gun in a way that showed she was handing it back to her. Eunjung looked down at the gun but maintained her position.

“Take it! I wasn’t going to shoot you. I think we should settle this without having weapons drawn.” Jaehee explained.

Eunjung took the gun from Jaehee and settled the second gun down. She then placed both of them back in their holsters and clutched the necklace around her neck. Right before both Jaehee and Jiyeon, she created the illusion of regular clothing.

Jaehee smirked. “An illusion? I see you have powerful mage conjurors on your side. Too bad all of ours turned into warlocks.”

Jiyeon let out a sigh of relief at this moment. She was glad to see that the situation didn’t escalate into something else. Jiyeon was also surprised at Jaehee’s sudden nonchalance over what just happened with her comment. She must be really made of steel.

“I’m not here to talk about mages.” Eunjung replied. Jaehee sighed and nodded.

“You’re right. About the Shadows though…” She moved her right hand to scratch the back of her neck, “I don’t know who they are and I don’t know who’s sending them, but we are investigating. We think that whoever sent the Shadows to attack your Guardians last night is the same person who sent a group of Shadows to kill my sister when she was doing a job in Turkey.”

“We? Who’s we unni?” Jiyeon asked as she stepped up next to Eunjung. Both women darted their eyes towards Jiyeon.

“My friends, sister, my mom, and myself.” Jaehee responded.

Eunjung narrowed her eyes. “So you saw the ones that attacked Hyomin’s group last night?”

“I saw their dead bodies. It was my mother and her bodyguard who helped your Guardian last night. They had nothing on them that would let us identify them or anything that would tell us who sent them. Seunghyun was only able to identify the guy who mom said was their leader.” Jaehee answered.

Eunjung and Jiyeon were too caught up in what Jaehee was telling them that they were surprised to suddenly see the taller woman tense up. Jaehee too failed to sense the aura of light energy behind her because she was too caught up in explaining what she knew.

A very shiny and sharp katana sword was pointing directly at the back of her neck. One step back from her or one jab forward from the wielder would impale the sharp weapon into her neck. Behind her, Hyomin was ready to strike at any second.

Both Eunjung and Jiyeon moved to see who was behind Jaehee. Jiyeon then shouted out the girl’s name when she saw her. “Hyomin!”

Once again Jiyeon’s sudden reaction gave Jaehee the opportunity she needed. A sheet of ice suddenly started to cover her body and in one quick turn she took hold of the sword. The sharp edge cut into the ice on her hands but didn’t reach the flesh of her fingers.

Hyomin looked up at Jaehee in shock and muttered, “Death Knight.” She pulled her sword back from Jaehee’s grip and swung the sword at her.

Jaehee dodged the swing but failed to dodge the second swing that Hyomin made. This time the sword caught her left shoulder and part of the sword penetrated the sheet of ice enough to cut Jaehee’s collar bone. Jaehee reached for the cut and her protective sheet of ice disappeared.

Hyomin was preparing to strike her again when she heard Eunjung’s voice. “Hyomin! Stop!”

The warrior turned to face her leader. “Is this what you do huh?! Spend your time making friends with the enemy? Letting her get close to Jiyeon who we’re supposed to protect?” Hyomin turned towards Jaehee once more and swung her sword.

The Shadow dodged this attack and barely managed to dodge the next one. Hyomin was determined to cut her down no matter how many swings it took. Jaehee was bleeding profusely from the cut on her collar bone and she was certain what the warrior had cut a vein. She could dodge her attacks but the bleeding was going to slow her down eventually.

Eunjung gritted her teeth. She didn’t want to step in for Jaehee because that would just prove Hyomin’s point but she also could not stand by and watch. Why do I have the urge to help her? She’s one of them!

Eunjung’s own self battle held her up which caused Jiyeon to run towards Hyomin and Jaehee. She couldn’t stand to see what was happening anymore. Jaehee was her friend and Shadow or not, she was not going to just stand there and watch Hyomin kill an innocent person.

“Hyomin! STOP THIS NOW!” She raised her arms in the air and then brought them down as she yelled at the warrior. A sudden wave of light energy erupted from her and it sent both Hyomin and Jaehee flying. Hyomin flew back towards the parking lot and landed on top of someone’s truck while Jaehee flew back towards the grass field in front of the parking lot.

Jiyeon stood in her spot shocked, her eyes darting back and forth. Eunjung was surprised by Jiyeon’s sudden burst of power. Her powers…they’re awakening so fast.

A groan from Jaehee made both Eunjung and Jiyeon look towards her. Jiyeon took off running towards the taller woman and was surprised to see Jieun running towards them. Eunjung glanced over at Hyomin who was jumping off the dented truck she landed on. She then glanced at Jaehee and noticed that other people were making their way over after probably hearing all the commotion from Jiyeon’s sudden burst.

Eunjung turned back towards Hyomin and ran to where she was at. She grabbed the warrior by the arm and dragged her away from the scene to a different part of the parking lot. Hyomin tried to pry her arm away from Eunjung’s grasp but she couldn’t. Once Eunjung felt that they were far enough away, she pushed Hyomin into a nearby car.

“What the hell was that Hyomin? She was giving me valuable information.” 

“Oh really? She’s a Shadow! We’re supposed to kill them! Not make friends to have informants on the other side. A group of them killed everyone in my group! I almost got killed and you spend your time at school being friends with one!?” Hyomin shouted out and slammed her fist on the side of the car.

“Jaehee is not my friend.” Eunjung replied.

“Well it sure as hell seems like it.” Hyomin snapped back.

“I held a gun up to her in order to get that information out of her. I only put it down because of Jiyeon. Jiyeon is the one who is friends with her. She is the one who trusts her which is why I allow her to be around Jiyeon. I don’t necessarily trust her myself, but she hasn’t shown me any reason to distrust her either.” Eunjung sighed. “Look, Jaehee is very powerful. I know you can tell just by feeling her aura. She held back when I pointed the gun and she held back when you attacked her. She used a spell to protect herself instead of using one that could have hurt you; plus, she told me something that caught my interest.”

Hyomin frowned but agreed with what Eunjung was saying. Even with the cut to her collar bone, as a Death Knight, Jaehee could have fought back and killed her. “What did she say?”

“She said that a group of Shadows attacked her sister as well. As far as we know, Shadows stick together. They’re very protective of their own and history tells us that they have never turned their swords on each other like humans have, so why would Shadows attack their own?” Eunjung explained and Hyomin pondered the thought.

“You make a good point.” Hyomin replied and Eunjung nodded.

“I need to know more. She wasn’t finished telling us everything. I understand why you attacked. It’s our duty, but Jaehee is an interesting one. I think you should apologize.” Eunjung said turned around to head back.

Hyomin was flabbergasted. Apologize to the Shadow? No way. No freaking way.

“Are you coming or what?” Eunjung asked as she kept walking.

“Damn it.” Hyomin mumbled under her breath and started walking to catch up to Eunjung.




Jieun made it to Jaehee before Jiyeon and placed her hands on the older woman’s shoulders. She looked down at where Jaehee seemed to be grasping her collarbone and gasped at all the blood covering Jaehee’s hand and her tank top. Jiyeon crouched down to look at Jaehee and placed her hands on the older woman’s legs. Hopefully the jean covering it would prevent Jaehee from feeling like her leg was on fire.

“Oh my God! Jaehee you’re bleeding! What happened?!” Jieun yelled out and reached for the first aid kit she kept in her backpack.

Jiyeon was trying to find the words to explain what happened but she couldn’t exactly say, “Oh Hyomin just came out of nowhere and decided she wanted to kill Jaehee because she’s a big bad villain.” 

She had to lie to Jieun and luckily for her a good one came to mind. “Some guy tried to rob us when we made it to school! He held up a knife at us and Jaehee tried to fight him off and that’s how she got injured.”

Jieun frowned and dabbed some cotton with alcohol. She looked at Jaehee who nodded at her about what Jiyeon had just told her. Jieun started to gently pad the cut on Jaehee’s collar bone. The taller woman groaned loudly at the stinging sensation.

A crowd had now formed around them and the owner of the dented truck was yelling out about how someone messed up his truck. Jieun kept dabbing the cut that was still trickling blood out but not as much as before. She turned back to Jiyeon.

“I heard something that sounded like a gun shot too? Did the guy have a gun?” Jieun asked and Jiyeon nodded.

“Yes, but he wasn’t aiming at us when it went off. Eunjung was trying to stop him from shooting and she chased after him.” I can’t believe I have to lie like this to my best friend!

“What?!” Jieun shouted and pressed the cotton a little harder than she was doing before.

“Ow!” Jaehee cried out.

“I think we should take Jaehee to the school’s clinic. She might need stitches.” Jiyeon suggested and Jieun nodded. Jaehee stood up and Jieun placed her arm around the taller woman’s waist.

“Let me help you get there unni. Jiyeon get my stuff please.” Jieun and Jaehee started walking off towards the school. Jiyeon grabbed Jieun’s things and headed towards them. The crowd began to dissipate and head to their respective classes.





By the time Eunjung and Hyomin made to where Jaehee had landed, all they saw was a crowd of students walking away from the area. Eunjung asked one of the students if he had seen Jaehee and Jiyeon and he told them that he heard something about them going to the school’s clinic. Eunjung thanked him and headed towards the clinic with Hyomin behind her.

When they arrived at the clinic, they saw the receptionist talking to someone on the phone. Eunjung asked her about Jaehee and the receptionist pointed towards the door behind her. They went inside and saw Jiyeon and Jieun standing next to the bed that Jaehee was sitting on. The nurse had a needle with some string attached to it on her hand and was wiping the wound down with her other hand.

Jieun turned look at them. “Did you catch the robber?”

Robber? Eunjung thought and Hyomin caught on quicker than her. “No, he got away.”

“Yeah, I thought I would catch up to him even with Hyomin helping me since she had just made it here but he still managed to get away.” Eunjung added.

“Aigoo! Where was the school security when you needed them?” Jieun pouted and crossed her arms.

“There all done. Please try not to make any erratic movements and don’t try to take the stitches out yourself when you see that you’re healing okay? I’m going to give you some pain pills to take as well. And I think you girls should report what happened. We can’t have criminals running around our school.” The nurse said and handed a few packets of pain pills to Jaehee.

“Thank you and we’re going to go ahead and do that now.” Jaehee replied and everyone else in the room nodded. The nurse gave them a smile. Jaehee got off the bed and bowed.

Once outside the clinic, Jaehee opened one of the packets of pain pills and swallowed both pills. “Thanks girls. I didn’t think it would ever stop bleeding but I do feel a little dizzy now.”

“It’s probably because of the pain and blood loss.” Jieun commented.

“Jiyeon, I think you and Jieun should head to class. You’re late already. We’ll go report what happened.” Eunjung pointed at Jaehee and Hyomin. Jiyeon nodded and motioned for Jieun to follow her to their first class.

As the girls walked away, Eunjung turned to Jaehee. “You didn’t finish telling us what you know.”

Jaehee nodded and motioned for both Guardians to follow her. They made it out to the parking lot where Jaehee took a seat on the hood of her car and Eunjung and Hyomin leaned against Eunjung’s motorcycle. Jaehee looked over at Hyomin who looked back at Jaehee then lowered her gaze.

“It was my mother who saved you last night. And thanks to Seunghyun, we found out the identity of the leader of the group who attacked you. Apparently he trained at our temple a few years ago but he was kicked out for not following the rules. We don’t know what happened to him after that until now. I guess he continued his training elsewhere and joined who ever is trying to kill both you guys and us.” Jaehee explained.

Hyomin looked up at Jaehee again but didn’t reply. Eunjung looked over at her fellow Guardian before looking back at Jaehee. “Why would they target your family?”

“Because…” Jaehee dragged out the word. What would their reaction be to finding out that her family is royalty amongst the Shadows? The two Guardians did not trust her and their reaction could get her killed.

“Because…?” Hyomin questioned. Eunjung could tell that Jaehee was struggling with her answer.

“My family…is the…royal family…” Jaehee finally answered.

The two Guardians were surprised with this information. They looked at each other and then turned their attention to the Shadow in front of them. Jaehee gripped the edges of her car and continued with her response, “I’m Princess Kang Jaehee, current de facto leader of the largest group of Shadows. My father is the King, but he has been missing for two years now. Someone has betrayed us and is attacking us now just like they’re attacking you guys.”

“They attack us because they want to get to Jiyeon, but what I want to know is why you decided to get close to her?” Eunjung asked.

“I did it to figure out who attacked her that day when you saved her. I have no interest in her powers or abilities. In fact, if I had not been there when I saw you run after those Shadows to protect her I would have never even bothered with the fact that your Chosen One has reincarnated. But now that all these events are happening, both your people and mine are tangled up in this web. I would like for us to work together.” Jaehee replied and bowed before both Guardians.

Something about Jaehee’s words tugged at Eunjung’s heart. There was a sincerity to them that she did not expect. The words that she had said to Hyomin earlier resonated in her mind; Jaehee had not given her a reason to distrust her, but now she was giving her something that could possibly allow Eunjung to trust her, honesty.

Hyomin looked over at Eunjung and despite the blank expression on the older girl’s face; Hyomin knew that Eunjung was currently struggling with something. She turned to Jaehee and answered, “You’re a Shadow, therefore; you cannot be trusted. We-”

“We will allow you to prove to us that you’re willing to work with us.” Eunjung cut off Hyomin who quickly turned to frown at Eunjung.

“What?!” Hyomin shouted. “Are you out of your mind?! Eunjung!”

Eunjung didn’t answer and Jaehee smiled at the Guardians words. A wave of relief washed over her after what Eunjung had just said. This was the first step to Eunjung trusting her and she was going to do all she could to get Eunjung to trust her.

“Answer me!” Hyomin yelled. Eunjung turned to look at the warrior and shook her head. Hyomin looked at Eunjung in disbelief and clenched her fists. She could not stay there any longer to deal with both Eunjung and Jaehee, so she headed off to her car and drove away.

The two women watched the warrior drive off and then Jaehee turned to look at Eunjung. “I want you and Jiyeon to meet those who are closest and loyal to me. My friends are celebrating their fifth anniversary this weekend at a club called Ignition. Meet us there around eight on Saturday. I’ll invite Jieun and Gyuri as well.”

Eunjung nodded and started walking away from Jaehee. After a few steps, she turned around, “I will also bring five of my Guardians after I convince them. I’m giving you one chance and I hope you don’t fail me.”

Jaehee grinned at Eunjung’s words. The rest of the day went without much excitement. Jaehee did manage to invite Jieun and Gyuri to the party at the club and both promised to make it. That night, the Guardians around the city were glad to have had a peaceful night and the following day was perhaps the most normal day of the entire week.

That Friday night, Jiyeon managed to convince her parents to allow her to go to the club with the promise that she would not drink and would stick by Eunjung’s side the entire time. Her father was glad to hear that because he knew that the older girl would keep his baby girl safe.

Now it was Saturday evening, and Jiyeon was digging through her closet and dresser for the perfect outfit to wear. It was her first time going to a club and she wanted to make sure that whatever she wore was appropriate for the place, but mostly Jiyeon wanted to impress Eunjung. The outfit had to be modest but yet have a bit of appeal.

Eventually Jiyeon found a sleeveless black dress in the back of her closet that fit the description of what she was looking for. After putting it on, Jiyeon worked on her hair and make up and smiled at herself in the mirror after getting ready. Out in the living room, her parents were waiting for Jiyeon to finish getting ready so that they could approve of what she was wearing.

A gasp escaped from her mother when she saw Jiyeon step out into the living room in the sleeveless black dress and black platform pumps. Her hair was straightened out and the smoky eye shadow and red lipstick gave her a ier edge. Both of her parents got up from the couch and walked over to their daughter.

“Oh honey! You’ve grown up so fast. Look at you!” Her mother clapped excitedly.

“It’s a little too y I think.” Her father commented.

“Nonsense! She looks gorgeous dear. Is Eunjung picking you up soon?” The older woman asked.

Jiyeon was blushing at her parents’ comments. “Yes, I’m sure she’ll be here soon.” She nodded and then her phone went off.

It was a text message from Jieun telling her to meet her downstairs. Jiyeon text her back and asked Jieun to come up to the apartment. Minutes later, Jieun was ringing the doorbell. Jiyeon’s father opened the door and was surprised to see both Jieun and Eunjung behind the door.

Both girls stepped inside the apartment and bowed to Jiyeon’s parents. Jieun was wearing a strapless blue dress with matching blue heels while Eunjung had opted for black skinny jeans tucked into black high tops, a white shirt, and a slim fit black blazer. Jiyeon smiled at the sight of Eunjung and how handsome she looked.

The older girl was taken aback by how y Jiyeon looked in her dress. The pumps helped add a bit more shape to Jiyeon’s legs and the short cut of the dress exposed part of her perfect thighs. The cut of the dress at top exposed just enough cleavage to actually make Eunjung stare at it.

“Jieun you’re looking really beautiful tonight.” Jiyeon’s father complimented his daughter’s friend.

“Thank you Mr. Park.” Jieun smiled at him and turned to Jiyeon, “We should get going.”

“Right. Mom, dad, I’ll see you guys later. Bye!” Jiyeon bowed at her parents and made her way to the door with Eunjung and Jieun following behind.

“Have fun honey! Don’t stay out too late now. Eunjung, take care of my baby girl!” Mr. Park said while waving at them. Eunjung gave him a nod and continued behind Jiyeon.

Once they were outside the building, Jieun abruptly stopped. “I need a ride to the club and I don’t think all three of us fit on your bike unni.”

Eunjung and Jiyeon turned around to look at Jieun. “Hyomin followed me here in her car. I think you should fit if everyone in there makes room for you.”

They walked over to Hyomin’s car, which was parked behind Eunjung’s motorcycle, and Eunjung asked Soyeon, Qri and Boram if they could make room for Jieun. Soyeon and Boram agreed much to Qri’s dismay, and Eunjung introduced Jieun to all five girls in the car. After everyone got settled in their respective vehicles, they headed towards the club.





It was past eight and the club was already thriving with people. The music boomed loudly while the lights flashed all areas of the club and a lot of people had already hit the dance floor. From the VIP area upstairs, Jaehee had the best view of the entire club. Her eyes were mainly focused on the entrance but she couldn’t help but to turn around on occasion and laugh at the silly antics of Jiyong.

Jiyong was currently dancing on top of one of the tables with Kyurhee. There were several random girls and guys that Kyurhee had picked up cheering them on. Downstairs by the bar, Seunghyun was ordering drinks for everyone and not far from him TaeIn was sipping on a strawberry daiquiri and talking to a handsome young man.

Kyurhee jumped off the table and walked over to her sister. “Dude what are you doing? We’re here to party!”

“I’m waiting on some friends.” Jaehee replied and Kyurhee rolled her eyes.

“Psh, I don’t know why you invited them. We’re having a blast without them.” Kyurhee said and looked down at everyone in the first floor. Her eyes then landed on her mother who seemed to be flirting with a young guy and said guy was looking quite uncomfortable.

“No way! Mom is totally flirting with that guy. She thinks she’s a cougar.” Kyurhee started laughing and Jaehee looked down at her mother once more and shook her head.

“I hope that’s not the case.”

“Haha whatever. I just spotted a fine chick down on the dance floor. I’ll see ya later.” Kyurhee playfully slapped her sister’s shoulder and headed down the stairs. Jaehee now shook her head at her sister. 

“Jiyong drinks are here! And so is Hyori.” Seunghyun said as he made it up the steps with a tray of drinks. Behind him, Hyori was looking radiant in her form fitting red dress. Jiyong jumped off the table and ran towards the priestess.

“You are looking super hot girlfriend!” Jiyong said while twirling Hyori who giggled at his compliment.

“You look really cute in yours GD.” Hyori complimented him back. Jiyong grinned and modeled his gold lined military like jacket.

He leaned in closer to Hyori and whispered, “Jaehee is being a total drag tonight. Go seduce her with your iness so she’ll finally do something other than just stand there.”

Hyori looked over at the taller woman. She was going to reply to Jiyong but he had already taken off to go get his drink from his boyfriend. Hyori let out a determined sigh and headed over to Jaehee. “Hi.”

Jaehee looked over at Hyori and smiled. “Hello.”

“What are you doing just standing here? Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves so far.” Hyori asked.

“I’m waiting on some friends.” Jaehee replied. Hyori nodded and stepped closer to the taller woman. She placed her hand on Jaehee’s shoulder and ran it down to her chest.

“Why don’t we go dance? Just one song?” Hyori asked and Jaehee shook her head. “Thanks, but I rather not. You should go though.”

Hyori pulled her hand away in annoyance and turned around to walk away from Jaehee. The taller woman then turned to look down towards the entrance. There was still no sight of Eunjung and the rest of her Guardians and this was starting to make Jaehee a bit impatient. “What if they don’t show up?”

“Why do you keep turning Hyori down?” TaeIn’s sudden appearance and question caught Jaehee off guard. She jumped away from the railing and turned to look at her mother.

“What?” Jaehee asked and her mother smacked the back of her head. “Ow! What the-”

“Are you blind?! Just look at her! I need those genes in my family!” TaeIn scolded her youngest daughter. Jaehee gave her mother a confused look.

The pink haired woman ignored her daughter’s confused look and narrowed her eyes on Kyurhee who was flirting with a girl on the dance floor. “Did Kyurhee just call me a cougar?” TaeIn turned towards the stairs and made her way towards her oldest daughter.

Jaehee was still confused over what just happened and shook her head.





Unlike a lot of the clubs in Seoul that were tucked away in between buildings or in a corner with absolutely no parking, Ignition had it’s own building and plenty of parking for its patrons. It didn’t take Eunjung and Hyomin long to find a spot where to park at. During the ride there, Jieun managed to friend Hwayoung, Soyeon and Boram. Qri had remained silent through the ride and Hyomin was too concentrated on driving and thinking about what might happen tonight.

Eunjung and Jiyeon met the rest of the girls by Hyomin’s car after parking. Eunjung was glad that all the members of the Elite Six had agreed to come along. It didn’t take much to convince Qri and Hwayoung because the mention of a club meant free time to party and that was something they didn’t really get a chance to do. Boram and Soyeon had agreed to come along after Eunjung’s explanation but Hyomin took the most convincing. It took a bit of coaxing from Hwayoung to finally get her to come along.

“There is a strong aura coming from this place.” Hyomin commented when Eunjung and Jiyeon approached them. Jieun turned around to look at Hyomin and raised an eyebrow. Jiyeon didn’t want Jieun to hear anything else that her Guardians could mention about the Shadows, so she grabbed Jieun’s hand and pulled her to the side.

“Hey do you have a comb in that purse? I think I need to fix my hair.” Jiyeon looked at her best friend expectantly and Jieun nodded.

“Yeah, but I think your hair looks fine.” Jieun replied.

“I just need to comb it. Come on, Eunjung has good mirrors on her bike.” Jiyeon grabbed Jieun’s hand and pulled her off towards Eunjung’s motorcycle. The Guardians watched the two girls walk away and thanked Jiyeon for her quick thinking.

“There will be quite a number of Shadows inside the club. Not only is it one of the best clubs in Seoul, it is also predominantly a Shadow club. Most of the patrons are insignificant. Their aura is very weak but it’s enough to let us know they are a Shadow. I think the aura we’re feeling must from the one’s we’re supposed to meet.” Boram informed them.

“Seems like you’ve done your research unni.” Hwayoung commented.

“I just thought it would be good to be informed about what we might be dealing with.” Boram replied.

“Very well, let’s just head inside.” Eunjung said and everyone followed her as she walked over to Jiyeon and Jieun. The eight of them made their way to the entrance and waited a few minutes in line. When they approached the bouncer, he eyed them suspiciously but Eunjung mentioned that they were here with Jaehee, he let them in.

“Whoa! This place is awesome!” Jieun shouted out over the loud music as she looked around the club. The rest of the girls were impressed as well with the size and atmosphere of the club. Despite being humans, no one was really bothering to stare at them or say anything. Everyone was going about their business, drinking, dancing, and having fun.





Jaehee had practically jumped off the floor and taken off running down the stairs when she spotted Jieun and Jiyeon along with the Guardians. She wasn’t sure how long they had been inside because of the distraction caused by her mother slapping Kyurhee upside her head and the rogue yelling out what seemed to be along the lines of “You’re ruining my game mom!”

“Hey guys! Over here!” Jaehee shouted and waved at the group of humans. Jieun was the first one to turn and face Jaehee so she took off running towards the Shadow and gave her a tight hug.

“Unni! We made it. I really like the place.” Jieun grinned brightly as she separated herself from the taller woman.

The next hug Jaehee received was from Jiyeon much to the surprise of the Guardians. “Wow, Jieun and Jiyeon! Those dresses should be illegal. You two are looking really y tonight.” Jaehee commented.

The two girls giggled at Jaehee’s comment and blushed slightly. “Unni! I’m straight.” Jieun said.

“I’m not hitting on you.” Jaehee replied and both of them laughed.

“Jaehee.” Eunjung said and got the taller woman’s attention.

Jaehee shook Eunjung’s hand and turned to look at the five Guardians standing behind her. “It’s good to see you Eunjung and your friends as well.”

“Let me introduce you.” Eunjung replied and turned to look at her Guardians, “You’ve met Hyomin already, and next to her is Hwayoung-”

“Hyomin’s girlfriend.” Hwayoung winked and saluted Jaehee. Hyomin on the other hand gave Hwayoung an annoyed look.

Eunjung ignored the maknae’s comment and continued, “This is Boram, Qri, and-”

“Soyeon.” Soyeon interrupted Eunjung as she stepped up and offered Jaehee her hand. Jaehee smiled at her and shook it.

“It’s nice to meet you all. I’m Kang Jaehee. Please follow me upstairs to the VIP area. I’ll introduce you to my friends.” Jaehee motioned towards the stairs directly behind her. As they made their way towards the stairs, Jaehee texted her sister and mother to join her in the VIP area.

In the VIP area, Jiyong told all the people hanging out with them to please leave when he saw Jaehee making her way upstairs with the humans behind her. Once the people left, Jaehee wasted no time in introducing Seunghyun and Jiyong to Jieun, Jiyeon and the Guardians. Kyurhee and TaeIn arrived after that and Jaehee introduce them as well.

Hyomin kept her eyes on TaeIn when she saw the Priestess. Jaehee had not lied about it being her mother who had saved Hyomin. TaeIn noticed the warrior and gave her a wink. Jiyong was excited to meet everyone and so he jumped up on the table he had been dancing on.

“Everyone!” He tapped a glass to get their attention. “I’m buying drinks for everyone. I want to make a toast. I’ll be right back.” Jiyong then jumped off the table and took Seunghyun with him to get drinks.

The moment got a bit awkward after that. Everyone just stood there waiting for about a minute before Jiyong and Seunghyun made it back up the stairs. They passed out the shot glasses for everyone and then both Seunghyun and Jiyong stood on the table.

Jiyeon looked down at the shot glass on her hand. “I’m not supposed to drink…” she mumbled out.

Jaehee tapped her shoulder. “I don’t drink either.” She took the shot glass from Jiyeon’s hand and emptied the contents on the floor. Inside her jacket, she had a small almost flat metal vial filled with water. “I always carry water around whenever Jiyong decides to get me a shot.”

Jiyeon smiled at the older woman as she took the newly refilled shot glass from Jaehee and thanked her. Jiyong tapped his shot glass to gain everyone’s attention once more.

“Okay, now for my toast! I want to toast first to Seunghyun and I. We’ve spent five years as a couple and I couldn’t be more grateful for having such a wonderful man as my boyfriend. I love you baby! And second, I toast to friendship. For the ones I’ve had all my life and for new ones that might start tonight. Cheers!” He raised his glass and everyone followed. The Guardians didn’t want to be disrespectful so they raised theirs too.

“Cheers!” Everyone else shouted at the same time and took the shot. 

Jiyong clapped excitedly. “Let’s party everyone!”





Nobleman Park Jinyoung was currently standing on the roof of the building where the men he had sent three days ago attacked the Guardians. He was looking at the pile of ash that remained from the burned bodies. Unbeknown to Hyomin, TaeIn and Sangchu, one of the Shadows that had been in the group managed to survive. He had suffered a few broken bones after falling off the side of the building no thanks to the Holy Priest that had knocked him over.

He had hoped to rejoin the fight, but the pain of broken bones made it hard for him to make his way up the building once more. The rogue had stayed in the porch he landed on and listened to the shrieks of his comrades succumbing to the psychic scream of the High Priestess. He had watched as the priestess and her driver had taken four bodies with them and also seen another group of Guardians arrive at the scene.

Once everyone had left, he called the Nobleman and Jinyoung had sent someone to help out the surviving rogue. The rogue had informed the Nobleman of everything he knew; what he had heard and seen. This in turn caused the Nobleman to remain in Seoul for a few more days. Jinyoung had at first decided not meet with Jaehee, but after the events he wanted to meet her and hopefully Kyurhee would be there when he did.

If the Nobleman was going to eventually capture the Princesses, he needed to break them in some way. Kyurhee was the easier of the two. Instilling fear in her would be easy because it only took his presence, certain words and looks. Jaehee on the other hand was going to be the toughest because he did not know of any weakness other than her family. But the fact that Lord Kwangsoo had basically kidnapped their father by tricking them and leaving them to worry about him had not affected her greatly, then he did not know what else to use against her.

Jinyoung crouched down to grab some of the ashes and rubbed them in his hand. The phone in his pocket suddenly went off alerting him that he had received a text message. He threw the ashes back onto the pile and stood up to reach for the phone.

“Princess Jaehee is a clever one. Not only has she gathered and seem to have friended the strongest members of the Guardians, but standing next to her at the moment is the Chosen One herself. I would have not believed it if I had not seen it with my own eyes.”

Jinyoung growled after reading the text message. He squeezed the phone in his hand so tightly that it broke in half and the glass on it shattered into pieces.

“Is something wrong my Lord?” His driver asked and the Nobleman turned to face him. In his hand a purple ball of energy was forming and getting bigger by the second. Jinyoung extended his arms and the ball of energy expanded into a portal opening.

“Return to the hotel. I need to go meet with Lord Kwangsoo in person.” The Nobleman ordered his driver. The driver saluted and then bowed and took off. Jinyoung turned towards the portal and stepped through it.