For the past week, they all lived on with unease in their hearts. 

Today, Haneul looked out of her bedroom window while nothing she could possibly do would be enough to calm the rising anxiety. Today felt different than the other days. Today just didn’t feel right. 

The days leading up to today were filled with nightmares that were returning in what seemed like with vengeance. 

Its aim to ruin her.

“Taehyun, let’s go to the Paranormal club today.”

***

Just sitting here, Haneul could feel her skin crawl while no one else seemed to be as distraught as she was. They were on edge but her anxiety was a whole other level and it came in the forms of silence and random fidgeting in her seat. 

“Haneul, it looks like you have been up all night.” Seunghoon leans over to voice his observations. 

Yeah, Jeeun kept her up. 

Every time she closed her eyes, she could only hear her voice. 

“Looks like you guys have been too.” She motioned down at the scattered papers on the table. Papers that were filled with notes – the writing indicated Hanbin being responsible for it. 

“Mino insisted that we be steps ahead of Jeeun and Hanbin insisted on making a note of everything.”

Haneul smiled at Seunghoon’s words. 

“There are two places Jeeun may attack.” Hanbin announces for anyone listening. “Haneul’s home or here.” 

“So, nine of you – “ Junhoe points to the vampires in the room, “will be fighting but what about us? What are the humans to do?”

“Should we leave the army to them?” Jiyong questions and immediately, he could see the frightened expression on Junhoe’s face. “You guys can deal with 20-50 guys, right?”

Exclaiming in disbelief at Jiyong’s words, Junhoe stuttered a response. “Y-you all are taking on one vampire and leaving 20-50 guys to us? You’re not a very fair guy, are you?”

“Jeeun is like an equivalent to 100 guys. Wanna take her instead?” Jiyong retorts jokingly. “20-50 guys should be a breeze in comparison.”

“Let’s take the 20-50 guys.” Hanbin calmly advises before scribbling more notes down. Their choices basically were either ‘bad’ or ‘worse’. So, ‘bad’ it is. 

“There may not be an army.” Haneul ends up saying and it successfully comforts Junhoe for now.

Seungyoon looks over. “How confident are you?”

“75%.” She reveals curtly. 

“It really is hard to prepare for this, isn’t it?” Bom breaks her silence and shares her thoughts. “When it comes to Jeeun.”

“You already sound defeated before it has even begun.” Seungyoon glances in her direction.

“…You guys lost a lot of battles, huh?” Chanwoo blurts. “It just kills the confidence, doesn’t it?”

“You’re the one killing my confidence, kid.” Mino retorts. 

Chanwoo offers a sheepish smile before switching the subject. “So, what are our weapons?”

“On that day, make sure you all are drenched in hawthorns.” Seunghoon says. “Just remember to avoid friendly fire, huh?” In other words, stay away from them while being covered in that stuff. 

“We should just eat it – “ Junhoe freezes and the whole room stares at him. “It’s probably harmless to eat, right?”

“That is the best idea you have ever come up with.” Yunhyeong compliments him blankly.

“You hear that, Jiyong?” Bobby calls out the negative individual. “We just figured out the answer to ‘taste’.” 

“She can still gut ya.” 

“You couldn’t give in this once?” Mino turns to look at him and receives a shrug from Jiyong in response. Turning back, his eyes land on Haneul who was sitting in front of him. It was the same look again. He really does wonder what goes on in her head. 

Haneul sets her head down on the table and shuts her eyes for a moment. The longer she thinks about it, the more she second-guesses herself. Let’s say it pans out just the way she thinks it will.

Jeeun will show up with just Chanhyuk – 

What if she binds more?

But, that would be reckless. She wouldn’t take that risk…would she?

Even if she does, the binding wouldn’t be strong. 

Thankful for the silence in the room, Haneul mentally withdraws to focus on this hold Jeeun has on her. She could feel it. It hasn’t changed. The fragility hasn’t changed. She should be thankful. It was only due to Jeeun’s unstable state and the ongoing orders that it allows Haneul to feel it. 

“Haneul, do you want to go home and rest?” Seungyoon draws her back. 

“I think we should stay here.” She softly responds. 

Turning towards the windows on the office, Mino takes in the orange glow of the setting sun. It should work out the way he wants, right? “Let’s just leave the fight to Jiyong… maybe he’ll make Jeeun so miserable that she’ll just go home.”

“So, who will Jeeun come for?” Taehyun questions. “I just want to be sure.”

Even Haneul didn’t have an answer for that. Jeeun was two kinds of extreme. She would either come to Haneul to end