The only thing Taemin was told was that there was something in the forest that was making travelers lose their way.

Taemin grumbled and rolled his eyes for the hundredth time in that walk alone. It was always best to get as much detail as possible, or else he could end up swinging his sword at people and creatures that had nothing to do with his quest. Somewhere in the Kachi Pass was not much to go on. Plus, travelers losing their way could be attributed to many things. Portals, plants, poisons, general human stupidity, a curse, orcs, wizards, or-

Hallucinations.

Taemin quickly unsheathed his sword as the world around him bubbled and shifted, creating an entirely different scene than what he was in a second ago. A swarm of goblins appeared around him and tried to attack; however, Taemin was a mage. He wouldn’t fall for such a simple trick. He let the goblins attack, all blows falling straight through him without landing. Admittedly, it was a good hallucination. The best could fall for it. But the trick of not being fooled was letting the hallucination play out, and eventually it will begin to falter. If you play with the hallucination, it will only grow stronger.

Taemin performed a quick locating spell, one only an expert would know. The spell was used to locate the one who had cast the hallucination, which was currently beginning to fade. In a few seconds Taemin located the caster, and lunged, sword driving home.

If someone had been there.

Taemin looked around in confusion. The hallucination had dissipated immediately, but there was no one to be seen. Taemin took his sword from out of the ground and looked around, every sense heightened. Something next to him moved impossibly fast, and the world spun around him, making it impossible to see.

What had moved was too fast to be human, or human-like, even with the aid of magic. So a sprite? Maybe. Sprites were notorious for their frequent misuse of magic. And much harder to kill. Taemin closed his eyes and forced himself to focus, despite the obvious confusion spell being used. He felt some movement around him, and realized the sprite was actually going in circles around him. Taemin smirked. That was pretty effective.

Taemin drew his sword again and waited. At the right moment, he swung his sword diagonally down, this time feeling it hit flesh. When he opened his eyes again, the confusion was gone, the world settling back to normal.

But he was even more confused than ever. Looking around, he didn’t see anything that could have possibly caused all that chaos. Taemin sighed and took a few steps back in frustration, surveying where all that had just taken place.

Beyond the spot where he was attacked, and backing into the rocky wall that made the Kachi Pass, was a good-sized, lop-eared, black and white rabbit. It was decidedly adorable, and Taemin smirked, creating a bow and arrow out of thin air and aiming it straight at the creature.

“I may have lost my prey,” Taemin murmured to himself, “but at least I can have a decent dinner.”

The rabbit backed up even more and lowered its head, beginning to shake. Taemin lowered the bow and looked at the helpless animal, and couldn’t help but feel bad for it. Taemin walked up to it and noticed a large gash on its back.

“Where did that come from?” Taemin asked. Realizing the rabbit wouldn’t answer, Taemin pulled a snack from his bag and poured some healing potion over it. He stretched his hand out to the rabbit, who tried to jump away. Taemin easily caught it by the scruff of its neck, and stuffed the food into its mouth, watching happily as the wounds disappeared.

Taemin resituated the rabbit, who was now in his lap, so he could see it better. Taemin smiled happily and lifted it up. “You are the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.” The rabbit squeaked and squirmed, but didn’t make an attempt to escape.

Taemin set it down in his lap and pet it, carefully the soft fur. “You’re so cute. I wonder if you would know anything about the creature that was making all those hallucinations. You probably got caught up in it, poor thing.” Taemin smiled and leaned down, nuzzling into the soft fur. The rabbit was surprisingly clean, for a wild animal. “Something this cute deserves a name… let’s see. Jinki?” The rabbit perked up and looked him in the eyes, Taemin smiled. “Jinki?” The rabbit perked up again, this time putting its paws on Taemin’s chest so that they were nose-to-nose. Taemin laughed. “Jinki it is. Hello Jinki-ah!”

In response the rabbit jumped out of Taemin’s lap, somehow managing to flip over and land on its face. Taemin stared. “Or maybe I should call you Onew instead, you seem to be very clumsy.”

Jinki rubbed his face and began to run off, but Taemin grabbed him again, and set him in his lap. “Wait! Ah, you’re so cute, I want to keep you! That’s okay, right?” The rabbit didn’t move, making Taemin beam. “It’s settled then! I’m taking you home with me!”

Taemin lifted the rabbit up and cradled it in his arms. As he was about to leave, he looked back at the pass.

“Right, the sprite escaped, didn’t it? Ugh, I don’t even care. I’ll let someone else take care of it.” Taemin set for home, happily chatting with Jinki and feeding him treats all the way back.

Taemin spent the rest of the day trying to train Jinki to do various tricks, but he didn’t want to listen. He was easily distracted by the things around him, and would run up to various items in the house, usually tripping over his own feet or ears on the way. The next morning though, Taemin couldn’t find Jinki anywhere. He looked around, but all he found was a hole at the bottom of his door, one that was about the size of Jinki.

Taemin kneeled down next to the door, eyes downcast.

“Ah… I guess I shouldn’t have tried to keep you like that. I’m sorry...”

Taemin couldn’t explain why, but he was off his game since Jinki left. He couldn’t focus on his quests, and was getting hit a lot more frequently than normal. He burned through more health potions in two weeks than he had in his entire career. Taemin was taking the easiest quests he could, filling up his schedule just to waste time, but nothing was helping.

One day, he was looking for some chef’s “lucky knife” that he lost on the way up the Gulgog Mountain, on the other side of the Kachi Pass. While searching the ground (and feeling like an idiot), he suddenly heard voices ahead of him. Taemin looked up to see some hunters (if you could even call them that- a bunch of teens carrying bows and arrows doesn’t exactly equate to a real hunter who actually has skill) surrounding something. They were taunting it, throwing rocks and firing arrows. Taemin could hear the poor creature squealing in pain. They threw insults (not like it could understand), and were laughing like mad men. Taemin felt disgusted.

Usually he would just walk away, but then he saw the creature.

Jinki.

Taemin drew his sword in anger and surged forward, cutting the next arrow that went flying in half. The “hunters” stepped back in surprise. Taemin shifted his position so he was standing protectively over Jinki, keeping him from further harm. Taemin glared at the teens and growled deep in his throat. The teens backed up even more.

Except one idiot, after taking a moment to “compose” himself, stepped forward again.

“Who do you think you are?” the guy asked. Huffing out his chest like a complete moron. He didn’t know the first thing about looking intimidating, much less fighting.

“Me? Trust me, you don’t want to know who I am.”

The boy laughed. “A clever rouse. You aint , huh? Get out of our way. This piece of meat is worth more than your flimsy little stick.”

Taemin grinned, causing the teens to shift uncomfortably. “Stick? How about you face me and see what this little ‘stick’ can do?”

“Why the do you want to defend a rabbit anyway?”

“Don’t you know the first thing about being a fighter? This rabbit is my companion. And I’ll protect him with my life.”

“Companion? I didn’t see any tag on it.” A chorus of “yeah”s and “that’s right”s came up from the others and Taemin snarled, lying through his teeth.

“Apparently you didn’t look hard enough. Apparently you were too busy torturing some helpless creature for your own amusement.”

Silence. Then, as if boasting, another one chimed in.

“You act like you’re so much better than us. I bet you can’t even fight, loser.”

“Oh? Would you like to test that?”

A few moments of everyone being absolutely still, then suddenly the apparent ‘leader’ lunged forward, swinging his sword like a madman.

Even facing six of them was easier than anything he’d done all week. They really didn’t know how to fight, and probably didn’t even get proper training before setting out. Taemin relaxed and easily subdued them all, but made sure to look flashy so they saw how good he really was. All six of them were on the ground and Taemin stepped in front of Jinki again. He wasn’t even out of breath, but the six of them were panting harder than dogs.

“I can and will kill you if you ever touch my companion again. And if you don’t leave in the next five seconds.”

The leader scrambled to his feet, holding up a shaky sword. Taemin relaxed and glared.

“Five.”

They began to panic.

“Four.”

“Up, up, everyone get up! Come on, let’s go!”

“Three.”

The rest got to their feet and had a brief moment where they couldn’t decide between fighting, and running.

“Two.”

Everyone ran. Taemin grinned victoriously. He turned to Jinki and his smirk turned into a sad smile.

“Hi Jinki.” Jinki backed up. Taemin faltered, frowning a bit. He couldn’t figure out why, but he had to blink back tears. Instead he smiled and kneeled down, pulling some snacks with healing properties out of his bag. Taemin held them out to Jinki, who backed up even more. Taemin looked at the ground.

“I’m sorry… I guess I shouldn’t have just taken you like that. You hate me now, huh?” Taemin took a deep breath and put the snacks on the ground in front of Jinki. “You should eat those. It’ll heal you.” Taemin stood up, Jinki looking after him with an almost confused expression. Taemin flashed a half-hearted smile and put his hand up to wave good-bye. With that, he turned and walked away, completely forgetting about the chef’s lost knife.

Jinki walked up to the food, uncertain. The man had looked genuinely upset. But Jinki had been alive and around humans for way too long to trust them. Still… he was wounded badly. And the other time that man gave him food, it had healed him. Jinki sniffed the food, recognizing the scent of potion. He took a bite. Even that little bit begun to heal his wounds, so Jinki quickly devoured the rest. He looked after where the man had gone. He felt bad- he really was good, wasn’t he? Jinki stared at the ground. After he thought about it for a moment, he decided to follow the man.

Taemin could barely believe he was in this situation. He was trying to make himself better after the encounter with Jinki. He ordered some new armor from Gyeongshik hyung, took more passion in taking more difficult quests, and tried to change his looks up a bit, getting his hair cut and weapons switched out.

But that still doesn’t explain how he could mess up this badly.

“,” Taemin whispered under his breath. He was backed against a rock wall (this time in Shinui district), facing three giant orcs (which he’s never been very good at killing). He was set out to kill one; but failed to realize this one was the leader. After killing about ten of them, he was too spent and injured to fight back anymore, could barely even lift his sword to defend himself. He tried attacking in some vain attempt to get some shred of an upper-hand, but his sword was knocked easily to the side.

The three orcs laughed, gravelly and disgusting, and said a few things to him (probably jeers) that he couldn’t understand. One of the orcs grabbed Taemin’s throat, easily cutting off his air supply with his large hand.

Fine. Not like I could breathe anyway with your rank smell.

Taemin started performing a spell that would help him escape (he hated fleeing from battle, but it was the last option he had), when suddenly the world began to spin. Taemin dropped to the floor in a heap, looking up in confusion as the orcs, who were just about to kill him, were now walking around wildly, as if a ghost was attacking them. Although it wasn’t directed at him, Taemin could catch glimpses of what was going on.

Hallucinations.

They looked exactly like the same kind that he saw in the mountain pass, all that time ago. Was the sprite trying to help him?

The orcs suddenly picked up their weapons and started attacking each other. From the shreds and pieces that Taemin could see, the hallucination was making it look like the orcs were him. One was killed.

The other two roared in rage at each other and attacked again, successfully cleaving each other in the head at the same time. Both dropped to the ground. They were dead.

Taemin was saved.

Taemin looked around in bewilderment, wondering what the hell had just happened. There was no one there except for him and a rabbit.

Wait… that was Jinki.

Taemin’s eyes grew wide as he stared at the little rabbit, who was staring right back in his eyes.

“Did… did you do that? There’s no way… I’ve never heard of a rabbit having those kinds of powers before.” Taemin was honestly surprised by his own voice, how gravelly and weak it sounded. But he was too shocked at Jinki being there to care.

In response to Taemin’s question, Jinki ran around in inhumanly fast circles in front of Taemin, kicking up a vortex of dirt. The dirt quickly rose up, creating a funnel, and began to shimmer and shift, almost bubble with the magic that was being used in it. Jinki stopped and went up to Taemin, so close that his nose was almost touching Taemin’s leg. Taemin smiled weakly.

“You… you saved my life. Thank you.” Taemin reached into his pocket and pulled some snacks out, but Jinki didn’t take it. Instead he moved Taemin’s hand out of the way and moved away, out of Taemin’s sight. He sighed and rested his head on his knee, feeling exhausted. He was almost asleep when he heard a noise in front of him. He opened his eyes and looked at the source.

Jinki had somehow gotten food (the ones, he noticed, he used to heal Jinki the other times) and had placed it in front of Taemin, looking at him expectantly. Taemin had found that putting healing potion on food was better than drinking it straight from the bottle, so he had gotten in the habit of doing that. Jinki must have smelled the potion on it and somehow got it out of its pouch.

Taemin smiled at Jinki. The food was covered in rabbit saliva, had obvious bite marks in it, and as the ground was nothing but sand, now covered in dirt. But Taemin picked it up and popped it in his mouth anyway, instantly feeling the healing effects. His wounds closed, and his head cleared a bit, but he was still exhausted.

Taemin laughed a little. “How did you even get that?” Taemin looked down at the pouch he kept the food in and saw the pouch had a hole chewed through it. It was ruined.

“My bag! Ugh, that was an expensive one, too, it was supposed to last for years! It’s ruined now...” He looked at Jinki to glare, but Jinki cowered away and hid his face, looking guilty. Taemin sighed and smiled at Jinki again. “It’s fine. I didn’t like that bag anyway, plus I can always just get it fixed.” Hesitantly Taemin extended his hand to pat Jinki on the head. Jinki nuzzled into Taemin’s hand, looking happy again. Taemin took his hand back.

“Thank you. I guess we’re even now, huh? I suppose I won’t be seeing you again...” Taemin was sad, but he still smiled at Jinki, who looked confused. Tiredly, Taemin stood up and gathered his things, sheathing his sword and stepping onto the road. He turned to Jinki. “Thank you again.” Taemin bowed and turned without looking at Jinki.

He started walking away, but after a little was cut off by Jinki, who ran in front of him. Taemin was confused, but gave Jinki a small smile before walking past him again. Jinki did it again a few more times before Taemin sighed and kneeled down in front of him.

“What is it?”

And Jinki did the most surprising thing yet. He jumped up into Taemin’s lap. Taemin was so stunned he made no move to remove or hold Jinki. After a moment, he blinked and collected his thoughts.

“W-what? Why are you-?”

Jinki nuzzled into Taemin’s stomach and seemed to try to bury himself in Taemin’s clothes. Taemin lifted Jinki up and set him on the ground, and was about to stand up again, but Jinki jumped in his lap again, persistent.

“What is it you want? You can’t… you don’t want to come with me, do you?”

In response, Jinki made a cute little squeaking sound, that sounded like approval.

“You want to stay with me?”

Again Jinki made that sound, and he propped his front paws up on Taemin’s chest, getting close and nuzzling with his cheek. Taemin beamed at Jinki and hugged him tightly, elated.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Taemin laughed. He gently picked up Jinki and hugged him, staying like that for a while before getting up, Jinki in his arms, and continuing to walk down the road. Taemin chatted merrily with Jinki the whole time.

A few days passed before Taemin was back in town in order to pick up his new armor. Jinki was scared in the town, and Taemin was honestly scared for him. Too many people who don’t watch where they’re going, Jinki could end up getting trampled. So instead Taemin carried Jinki on his shoulder, and strode through town, ignoring the strange looks he was being shot.

The two had already grown used to each other. Since Taemin’s small house was only meant to accommodate one person, he didn’t really have another place for Jinki to sleep comfortably, so instead they slept together. Taemin found out that Jinki actually ate meat, unlike most rabbits (probably because he was magic), so they shared meals. Jinki was good at listening to directions, too, so he didn’t really need any training.

Taemin walked through the door of the armory and let out a cheerful, “Hello!”

Something rustled in the back of the store, and out walked Gyeongshik hyung, offering a huge smile when he saw who it was who just walked in.

“Well look at who it is, my favorite customer! How are you Taemin?”

Taemin walked up to the counter and smiled back. “I’ve been good hyung, and you?”

“I’ve been doing great. Sales have been good lately, especially since I got that new material.” Suddenly Gyeongshik stopped talking when he noticed the rabbit resting on Taemin’s shoulder. He stared at it.

“Taemin?”

“Yes?”

“Why is there a rabbit on your shoulder?”

Taemin looked at Jinki, who looked back at him. “He’s my new companion. His name is Jinki.”

“A rabbit for a companion?”

“Yes, why not?”

“Doesn’t seem like he’d be very useful in a fight.”

“He is, he has magic.”

“A rabbit with magic? I’ve never heard anything like that.” Taemin smiled. Gyeongshik sounded amused. He sighed and smiled back at Taemin, shaking his head.

“Leave it to Lee Taemin to find such an odd animal as a companion.” Gyeongshik knelt down, opening a box and going through it, still talking. “Are you training to be a tamer now?”

“No, not really. It was more by chance that I got Jinki.”

“Well even if you don’t want to master that as a skill, you should get some training.”

“Why? I don’t like seeing trainers.”

“I know you don’t, but you need to know what you’re doing. There may be some vital information about keeping companions that you’ll never know unless you see a trainer.” Gyeongshik stood up and faced Taemin, holding something. “It could be the difference between life and death, for you and your rabbit.”

“Jinki.”

“Whatever.”

Taemin groaned. “Fine, I’ll see a trainer.”

“Good. Now,” Gyeongshik held up what was in his hands and presented it to Taemin. “What do you think?”

“It’s amazing! That’s the coolest outfit I’ve seen.” Taemin reached out and grabbed it, feeling the material. “Isn’t it a bit light though?”

“What, aren’t up for a challenge?”

Taemin grinned. Gyeongshik knew him too well.

“Besides,” Gyeongshik continued. “What it lacks in armor, it makes up for in magic. The armor is infused with protection charms. You have better protection against poison and curses than you would with any other armor.”

“It’s perfect. How much?”

Gyeongshik thought about that for a moment. “Free.” Taemin waited. “If you’re willing to do something for me.”

“Anything. What is it?”

“There’s a creature—  I think a human, but I’m not sure — who has been attacking fighters on the road, stealing their armor.”

“Their armor? Why?”

“I don’t know. It’s not the first time I’ve heard of this. But that’s not why I want you to go.”

Taemin was confused. “Then why?”

“I was attacked myself when I crossed paths with him. He stole all my armor, and almost killed me.”

Taemin couldn’t help the gasp that escaped his mouth. Gyeongshik usually didn’t go out, but he was an excellent fighter, and would never let someone steal from him. Gyeongshik put his hands up.

“Never mind the armor. That’s not what’s important. The man also stole one of my bags, and I had some personal belongings in it, that I desperately need back. Do you think you can get them back for me?”

“Yes. Where is this?”

“The Moonlight Pass. Close to the river.”

“Anything I need to know about this thief?”

“For one, he only attacks at sunset. He’s strong, but I’m certain you’ve already guessed that. The thing is, there’s something off about this guy. Not to mention the fact he blocked my sword with a piece of leather-”

“He what?” Gyeongshik’s sword was famous. Everyone knew the weapon, even (or especially) if they didn’t know the one that wielded it. It could cut through anything, no matter how strong.

“That wasn’t even the weirdest part. This guy… how do I explain this? He didn’t seem to be all there.”

“Okay, what is that supposed to mean?”

“It was almost like a mirage. I couldn’t really see him.”

Taemin looked at Jinki. “Like hallucinatory magic?”

“No, not quite. This was different. I think he was a man, but the truth is I never actually saw who had attacked me. He was blurred out, like he didn’t want anyone to see what he really looked like. That’s how he snuck up on me so easily. I didn’t know anyone was there until he had already stolen from me.”

Taemin was beginning to feel a bit nervous. He didn’t think it was anything he couldn’t handle, but anyone that’s able to best Gyeongshik… that was definitely something that could make anyone hesitate. Nonetheless, Taemin smiled. “I’ll be on my guard then. Thank you hyung. I’ll be back as soon as possible.” The two bowed to each other, and Taemin headed out.

Once outside, it didn’t take long to get to the road that led to the Moonlight Pass, but actually getting there would take some time. Taemin figured by the time he got there it would already be sunset, so he and Jinki wouldn’t have much time to rest before being attacked. Taemin carried Jinki in his arms and talked about everything and nothing all at once. After a while, though, Jinki gave Taemin a strange look, and Taemin tilted his head.

“What’s wrong?”

Nothing. He was a rabbit, after all.

“Are you wondering why I’m talking so much?”

Jinki shook his head.

“Hmm... Are you wondering why I travel alone?”

Jinki propped himself up on Taemin’s chest, which Taemin took as a yes. Taemin tried to smile, but he couldn’t help how sad he got. Jinki looked confused, so Taemin patted his head.

“Ah, it’s nothing to worry about.”

Taemin looked in the direction of the sun to see it was almost sunset. The sky was already beginning to be tinged with orange. Taemin sighed.

“I used to be with others. A whole bunch of them in fact. My brother-” Taemin’s voice cracked, so he cleared his throat and took a deep breath, then continued. “My brother, Taesun, he was a trainer. He could do everything. He prided himself in his motto, which was “it’s best to learn a bit everything and not master any of it, than to master one thing and not be prepared for an unfamiliar situation.” So, he taught his trainees a bit of everything. Especially me, since we were related. And we only had each other, after all. Both our parents were killed when I was young.”

Taemin paused, lost for a moment in the memories. Jinki nuzzled his nose against Taemin’s cheek, who smiled and kissed Jinki’s head, then cleared his throat.

“I used to have a lot of friends. We never went anywhere without each other. But… one day the king called my brother to gather his trainees and go on a quest. But the quest was a trap, and well… I was the only one that survived.”

Everything was silent, save for the wind blowing through the trees. Taemin felt his throat burn a bit, but he wasn’t going to cry. He stared at the ground until the sensation dulled a bit, then looked at Jinki.

Taemin has heard a lot about how animals can’t feel, how they aren’t capable of human emotions. But Taemin was certain Jinki was capable of emotion, because when he looked into the small creature’s eyes, he saw understanding. Taemin felt like laughing and crying at that all at once, but instead he smiled and hugged Jinki tighter, grateful to have him with him.

The two kept walking like that, in a complete, but comfortable silence.

By the time the two reached the Moonlight Pass, it was almost nightfall. Taemin could understand why a thief would attack at this time, if he knew what he was doing his opponent would barely stand a chance. Taemin put Jinki on the ground and pulled out his sword. He could feel that something was off. There was a shift in the wind, and a distinct sense of magic hanging in the air. Taemin looked around, concentrating, but saw nothing.

It wasn’t until he felt something pull at his backpack that he realized he wasn’t alone.

Taemin reacted quickly and swung his sword around, feeling it strike something. The one attacking him jumped back, and the two were able to face each other properly. Well, kind of. Gyeongshik was right, the man looked a bit blurred, as if he wasn’t quite there. Taemin recognized it as a type of distortion magic, but it was far more advanced than anything he had seen before.

Taemin took a step back and was getting ready to attack, but the man was quicker, and Taemin barely had time to switch positions in order to block the attack. Taemin growled and pushed back as hard as he could, then slashed with his sword (with some magic added to the attack), sending the assailant flying backwards.

As the man was getting back on his feet, Taemin motioned toward the man. “Jinki, go!”

Jinki understood what Taemin wanted and ran to the man, running in circles around him to cause confusion and prevent him from attacking again. Taemin took the confusion as an opportunity to attack, slashing through the storm of magic that Jinki had kicked up, and driving home a pretty solid hit.

Before Taemin could see who he had struck, the man swept behind him and again tugged at his backpack. Taemin tried to sweep behind and strike him again, but this time the man brought out a piece of leather and blocked Taemin’s sword. So what Gyeongshik said about him was true… It was time to change tactics.

Taemin used his sword to jump back as far as he could, sending the man stumbling back as well. Jinki was by his side again in a flash, and again Taemin shouted at Jinki. “Jinki, distract him!”

Jinki did so with a hallucination, making the man turn the other way. Taemin knew it wouldn’t last (if he was this good with one type of magic, certainly he would know how to handle this simple trick), so he acted quickly, bringing his sword down on the man’s back.

Nothing much happened though, whatever armor the man was wearing was too strong to easily cut through. It did, however, shatter the thief’s mirage, so Taemin could see what he really looked like.

Jinki squealed and ran behind Taemin, who was staring in surprise at the troll in front of him. Trolls were nasty brutes, who killed for pleasure, but Taemin had never known one to use magic, or to even steal. They would take whatever they could from the opponents they defeated (even disturbing things like their skin and teeth), but Taemin had never heard of one stealing off of someone who was still alive, and much less let them live.

Taemin shook off his confusion and charged again. Even if he didn’t know what a troll did for a living, at least he knew how to kill one. Sword clashed against leather again, and Taemin laid his eyes on a giant bag that was strapped to the monster’s back. No wonder he couldn’t hit anything. That must be where the troll was storing all the stolen armor.

Taemin maneuvered around to the troll’s back and slashed the bag’s handles, then cut off the armor the troll was wearing  (thanks to Gyeongshik, Taemin knew how to do that. All armor had weak points). Using the new advantage, Taemin quickly ran his sword through the troll’s neck and sliced, cutting his head off.

Taemin slumped to the ground and took a deep breath. Jinki ran over to him and sniffed the body cautiously. Taemin smiled and patted Jinki’s head.

“Well that was a surprise, wasn’t it? I was expecting a normal thief. Maybe he was a rogue, or a fugitive. Ah well. Let’s see what’s in this bag. Hopefully Gyeongshik hyung’s armor will still be here.”

Taemin opened the giant bag (with Jinki looking in, too, having jumped on Taemin’s shoulder), and looked inside.

“Woah. This is insane. Look at all this armor! This stuff’s pretty high quality, too. I guess even trolls have taste, huh?” Taemin laughed, Jinki seeming to not get the joke. Taemin stood up and gathered the edges of the bag in his hand, and tried to pick it up. He managed to lift it up about two inches off the ground before having to drop it.

“. This thing is heavy! How the hell am I going to carry this all the way back to town?” Taemin looked at Jinki as if he had an answer, which of course, he didn’t. Taemin sighed and sat down again, resting against the bag. Jinki immediately jumped in his lap. Taemin smiled down at Jinki and kissed his head.

“It’s late. Let’s rest here for tonight and take the bag back in the morning. Do you want something to eat?” At that Jinki got excited and ran around in circles. Taemin laughed and took some food from his bag, then groaned. “This is the last of my food. I guess we’ll have to go shopping tomorrow, huh?” Taemin took out half of his remaining food and gave it to Jinki. “I guess we’ll just have to skip breakfast tomorrow. Ah well, I’ve gone longer without food.” Taemin quickly stuffed his food in his mouth and set to carving some symbols in the ground with the tip of his sword, in order to create a barrier around them so they can sleep in peace. When Jinki was done eating, he joined Taemin, and hopped around the lines he was making, fascinated by the strange symbols he was carving into the dirt.

The next morning the two headed back towards town, Taemin lugging the bag to the best of his ability down the dirt road. He had to stop often, and received quite a few strange looks from people using the same road. He ignored them though, and trudged on, Jinki easily running circles around Taemin while he rolled his eyes and kept walking.

At around sunset that day, Taemin finally made it back to the shop. When he burst through the doors, everyone in the shop (including Gyeongshik) stared. Taemin dragged the bag as close to the counter as he could before dropping it heavily down on the floor. Gyeongshik raised an eyebrow at Taemin and slowly moved from behind the counter.

“What-”

“That troll,” Taemin gasped, taking a second to catch his breath, “was a piece of ing . I hope that armor of yours is worth it.”

“First of all, don’t curse around me. You’ll get a right hook in the jaw for language like that. And second, the hell do you mean troll?”

“It was a troll, not a man. I was surprised too. He was using pretty high level magic. I’ve never seen a troll use magic before, or steal the way he was. But no matter, he’s dead, and I brought you all this spare armor and material.”

Gyeongshik beamed. “I could use this. This material is high quality. But are my belongings in here?”

“I don’t know. Let’s check.”

The two dug through the bag until Gyeongshik said, “Ah!” and pulled out some armor and a couple of pouches.

“Here it is.” Gyeongshik opened the bag, Taemin and Jinki looking on curiously. Gyeongshik happily (and a bit sadly) pulled out some photos from the pouch. “My family. These are the only photos I have of my wife and daughter. If I lost them, I don’t know what I’d do.”

“Do you ever see your family?”

“My wife died a year or so ago, but my daughter is living healthily with her own husband. He’s a very kind young man, they live far away, but visit as often as they can. Perhaps the two of you can meet sometime?”

Taemin chuckled. “Not likely. But I’m glad you have everything back.”

Gyeongshik chuckled too. “Plus a little extra. But I did make you a promise, didn’t I?” Gyeongshik moved behind the counter and pulled out Taemin’s new outfit. “Here you are, free of charge. In exchange for what you did for me.”

Taemin smiled. “Any time, hyung. Free of charge.” Both of them laughed. Gyeongshik handed Taemin his clothes and armor, and Taemin looked at it, delighted.

”Can I try it on now?”

“Go ahead, you can change in the back.”

Taemin smiled down at Jinki. “Let’s go see how it looks!” Taemin rushed to the back, carefully setting Jinki on the floor before quickly stripping and throwing off his clothes and getting into the new ones. Taemin looked at himself in the mirror.

It was a simple outfit; not too flashy, which Taemin appreciated. Black leather boots that went almost all the way up to his knee, black pants, a loose white shirt, form-fitting body armor (looked almost like a leather corset, to be honest), and standard leather pieces to cover his shoulder and arms. The armor was black leather, but had subtle hints of red and gold embroidery. It was pretty beautiful standing alone, but the whole outfit looked great together. Taemin turned to Jinki and spread his arms.

“What do you think?”

Jinki squeaked and spun in a circle in response. Taemin smiled.

“I like it too.”

Gyeongshik popped his head in. “Well? What do you think?”

“Come in and you tell me.”

Gyeongshik walked over and smiled. “Perfect. Just like I thought it would be.”

“Sometimes it’s a little scary how well you know me, hyung” Taemin teased. “Are you sure you aren’t a mind-reader or something?”

Gyeongshik laughed at that. “Sometimes I wish I was. Sales would skyrocket if I knew exactly what each customer wanted.”

Taemin looked at his reflection again, lost in thought, but then Gyeongshik brought him back with a sudden “Hey!”

Taemin turned. “What is it?”

Gyeongshik held up what looked to Taemin like a black scrap of material. “You forgot to put this on.”

“What is that?”

“A cape. Haven’t you ever worn one before?”

“No. How am I supposed to wear a cape when I have my backpack? I’m a Traveler, I don’t take breaks every day like some fighters do.”

Gyeongshik looked at Taemin in surprise, then shook his head, muttering under his breath, “Really now, how long has it been since you’ve been in town?” Before he could respond, Gyeongshik swept past Taemin and dug through a box that was full of material scraps. He pulled out what looked like a standard four-set — four pouches that were bound together by a belt, that rested right above your hips. It was great for some extra storage, Taemin himself had one (although he should get it replaced, Jinki had chewed through one of the pouches, the other was destroyed by the troll). Taemin looked at Gyeongshik in confusion.

“You really don’t know what this is, do you?”

“Assuming it’s unique since you’re bringing it up, I guess not.”

Gyeongshik sighed and walked back to Taemin, holding the four-set up for display. “Hot off the market. They have this complicated spell cast on them that makes the space inside expand. Looks small, smaller than the ones you currently have, but actually holds more than your backpack does. Makes things a lot easier, eh?”

Taemin grinned, taking the set in his hands and turning it over. He always had a weak spot for magical items, but this was insane. He didn’t even know such a spell existed, no wonder something like this was only coming up now.

“How much can it hold?”

“About forty in each pack, no matter the size.”

“Forty? That’s crazy! My backpack only holds sixty items.”

“That’s the point of the spell.”

“Wait, wait. Items get heavy, even with magic. Will I have to, like, take this off and put it down when I fight?”

“No need, you can go and get a spell cast on it to make it light. It’ll feel like it’s empty. I myself had that done for about $100.”

Taemin snapped his head up in shock, staring in the direction of the sack full of armor he had just dragged in. “I know that spell! Why didn’t I think of that, that’s an easy spell.”

“You know that spell? Well why the hell didn’t you do it for me? I wasted $100 and could have had you do it for me for free this whole time!”

“Well, you should’ve thought to ask, you know I know magic. Ugh, why didn’t I think of using that, it’s such an easy spell! I didn’t have to break my back lugging in that thing...”

“I wasted my money for no reason. Jeez.”

Both sighed. Gyeongshik started walking away, but Taemin stopped him.

“Wait! You forgot your magic pouch thing.”

“Keep it, it’s yours.”

“W-what?”

“I got a new one because I changed my armor, and it didn’t match anymore. But it seems my old one matches your outfit perfectly. Keep it.”

“For free?”

“You went above and beyond what I expected from that troll. Take anything you want for all I care.”

Taemin smiled and hugged him. “Thank you, hyung. Really, I’m happy to do anything for you.”

Gyeongshik smiled too and hugged back, after a moment pulling away. “Why don’t you try on the full outfit now?”

Taemin nodded and strapped on the set, Gyeongshik helping him with the cape. Once again he looked in his reflection and instantly wondered why he had never worn a cape before.

“I know how you like keeping your identity hidden. It’ll be a little easier now, don’t you think?”

Taemin giggled and twirled around. “This is great. Thank you!”

“Alright, you’re all set, get out of here kid. I’ll see you.”

“See you! Come on Jinki!”

“Don’t forget to see that trainer!” Gyeongshik shouted as Taemin left. Taemin waved over his shoulder to show that he heard, and ran out, Jinki in tow.