Wendy pants as she runs, dodging arrows left and right. She’s been running for some time now and she wonders how she hasn’t been hit with an arrow yet.

‘She’s a pretty lousy shot’ Wendy thinks, but this is no time to be underestimating anyone. At this point she’s getting tired of running and just wants to figure out exactly what is going on. Turning a corner, Wendy jumps as high up as she can and lands on top of a building.

She doesn’t know what she expected by doing that because Irene just jumps right up. The problem is that Irene jumped even higher than she did.

Wendy scrambles for the next building when Irene starts aiming in the air. She notices those glowing pink arrows can even penetrate through the hardness of the building.

‘‘Irene what’s up with you?!”

Wendy’s had enough. She pauses and turns around, blocking every arrow coming her way with her sword as Irene lands.

“Irene what’s wrong with you?! What’s happening?!” Wendy yells, but she gets no response, just rapid arrows. She notices Irene isn’t blinking. Her eyes have remained open ever since she shot the first arrow.

Something is definitely up; and Irene is definitely not just any human. Wendy knew something was wrong when Irene was the only person who could heal her with a touch, but she didn't know she'd turn out to be this; unless someone's playing a trick on her.

“But how?” Wendy asks herself, but she has no time to wonder because the arrows are flying towards her at an accelerated speed.

And then it stops. The glowing arrows cease and Wendy is slightly relieved. When Irene raises her bow and three arrows appear near her hand, Wendy knows the attack isn’t over. Three simultaneous arrows would be challenging to dodge and block.

Irene aims and Wendy makes a run for it, jumping towards the next building. Wendy runs in zig zags and seemingly flies through the air as arrows crash down beside her every second.

These arrows are deadly indeed.

Irene suddenly pauses again, but Wendy continues to run and jump onto the next building.

Wendy doesn’t know what to do. She doesn’t want to hurt Irene, but she also can’t die here. Those glowing arrows do far more damage than regular arrows. They’re practically elongated bullets that explode during contact.

Irene’s arrows don’t even seem to touch her hand. Instead, it floats in between the separated gaps of her tense fingers. Her hair flows in the breeze as five arrows appear. She draws them back, aims, and releases them all at once.

There’s no way Wendy would be able to avoid this with her back turned away from the arrows.

Wendy screams and collapses as an arrow comes piercing through her right calf and her right arm. Her sword disappears into particles.

She hears the sizzling and burning of her own flesh and bones; the heat of the arrows are burning her up internally.

“Damn!” Wendy yells through clenched teeth as she sits in pain on the roof.

She tries to pull the arrow from her right arm, but she ends up burning her hand doing so. Wendy groans and grunts as Irene summons one more arrow.

Wendy’s breath quivers as she stares at the floor, tears threatening to fall. 

Right when Irene is about to release her arrow, someone whacks her right on the head, causing her to pass out. Her bow and arrows disappear particle by particle into the air.

Wendy doesn’t know what happened. Right now, all she can focus on is the fact that she’s still alive and she’s still very much in pain. The arrows are practically cooking her insides.

“My, my. What a troublesome child this one is,” a voice says nonchalantly. Wendy’s eyes widen at the sound of the familiar voice. She turns and sees Miss Hwang there, carrying a passed out Irene in between her arm.

“M-Miss Hwang!” Wendy yells in relief but she immediately winces due to the pain.

“Oh Seungwan! Did you hesitate because she is your friend?” Miss Hwang asks and laughs mockingly. “That is a weak mindset.”

“This isn’t the time to be making fun of me you know,” Wendy strains as she talks. Miss Hwang puts Irene down beside her and crouches near Wendy.

“These are her arrows?” Miss Hwang asks as she wraps her fingers around the arrow stuck inside Wendy’s arm carefully. “Well I am going to pull the arrows out. Get ready.”

Wendy groans as the arrow is slowly and sloppily pulled out of her arm. Miss Hwang tosses the arrow aside and it disappears. She flicks her hand due to the lingering heat in her hand from the arrow.

“Now for the other one,” Miss Hwang says and Wendy shuts her eyes tight.

And then the night is interrupted by Wendy’s scream.

 

-

 

Irene wakes up to the bright light invading her eyelids. She sits up and winces at the pain on the top of her head.

“Why is there a bump on my head?” Irene asks herself, finding it odd. She looks beside her and sees that Wendy isn’t there. Then, she senses another presence in her room. Her head turns towards the corner by her door. 

“Miss Hwang?” she asks.

“So you are awake!” Miss Hwang says cheerfully with an apple in hand. She tosses the apple up and catches it in her hand before taking a bite. “How do you feel?”

Irene finds it weird Miss Hwang is in her room, but she disregards it.

“My head kinda hurts,” Irene answers. She tugs her blanket off and gets out of bed. “May I ask what you’re doing in my room? Were you here the whole night?

Miss Hwang raises an eyebrow. “So you’re not aware of the event that took place last night?”

Irene turns towards the woman. “What event?” Irene then gasps. “Did a Wisp attack? Is Seungwan okay?”

“Yes. She is downstairs,” Miss Hwang replies and Irene immediately rushes out the door. Miss Hwang takes this time to think.

Irene doesn’t know of her own attempt to kill Wendy last night. Could something have been possessing her? Miss Hwang curses herself for not trusting her gut feelings when she had first met Irene. There was— and is something odd about her. Miss Hwang thinks about the arrows and how destructive they were; it’s a surprise they didn’t kill Wendy in an instant.

She thinks about how if she were even a second late, Wendy could’ve died right then and there. The woman shudders at the thought of Madam Son finding out that her daughter could’ve died.

 

-

 

Miss Hwang watches Irene’s worried expression from the stairs. Wendy seems confused--as expected.

“What happened to your arm and leg?” Irene asks and tries to comfort Wendy, but Wendy backs away. “Wendy? What’s wrong?”

Wendy doesn’t make eye contact with Irene and winces slightly.

“Just don’t touch me, okay?” Wendy says and Irene’s heart drops.

Wendy’s never been like this towards her. Not even during the worst situations.

Miss Hwang sighs and sits down on the step.

“It’s a shame Seungwan doesn’t have all her powers,” she tells herself.

“Well if you won’t tell me what’s wrong. Then I’m going to school,” Irene says and storms off. She walks up the stairs past Miss Hwang, who snickers.

‘Well this is quite the drama,” she thinks to herself.

Wendy’s shoulders slump as she sits back down on the couch. She slowly covers herself with a small blanket and thinks about last night.

Irene really was trying to kill her. So what happened?

“Hey, kid,” Miss Hwang says and walks closer to Wendy. “Once we find out what caused her to do what she did last night, everything will be fine. Right now, don’t be angry at her.”

Wendys sighs and looks at the bandage around her upper arm. The wounds still sting and burn when she moves. Those arrows are terrifying to say the least.

“Yeah I’m just confused at this point. I sense a faint Wisp aura from Joohyun ever since she attacked me,” Wendy says. “She’s a Wisp?”

Miss Hwang nods her head. “I don't know how. Perhaps your orange eyed friend knows?”

Wendy smiles and looks at the woman. “Hey, thank you for saving me. I would hug you but the contact would hurt.”

Miss Hwang crosses her arms against her chest. “Welcome, but know that I will have to keep a close eye on you until you get all your powers back, understood?”

Wendy nods.

 

-

 

Seulgi pauses and turns around when she senses something; a strange aura. She only sees Irene running towards her, waving her arm.

“Seulgi wait up!” she yells in the distance.

Seulgi squints her eyes at Irene, wondering where the aura is coming from. It dawns upon Seulgi that the aura is in fact coming from Irene, who is getting closer and closer.

Irene finally manages to catch up to Seulgi, whose face is expressionless, but concerned.

“Irene?” Seulgi asks, as if to confirm. Irene stares back with a confused expression.

“Yeah?” Irene answers and Seulgi shakes her head.

“It’s nothing. Where’s Wendy?”

Irene frowns at the question, but she replies anyway. “She’s at home, injured.”

Well that certainly alarms Seulgi. “Injured? Aren’t you supposed to heal her?”

Irene’s expression drops even more and she continues to walk. Seulgi follows.

“She wouldn’t even let me touch her. She’s acting weird, but I kind of got mad at her so I left her alone. Maybe she needs some space after that whole ordeal with her parents, but still…,” Irene says. “Miss Hwang was also in my room when I woke up for some reason.”

Seulgi keeps quiet, trying to piece everything together.

She senses a type of aura from Irene that only a Wisp can have, Wendy is injured and doesn’t want even her only healer to touch her, and Miss Hwang makes an early return.

‘Just what the hell is going on?’

“It’s been awhile since we’ve been to school. I wonder how everyone else is doing,” Irene says and Seulgi gives her another weird look.

“You’re not worried about Wendy?” Seulgi asks and Irene seems to ignore her.

“Oh look! There’s Sooyoung and Yerim!” Irene says ecstatically and waves. “Hey guys, long time no see! I’m surprised you guys are still alive.”

Yeri and Joy stand in front of the other two girls. Yeri crosses her arms and looks away.

“Hmph! You guys barely made any plans with us during our shutdown break. Did you guys have fun on your vacation by yourselves?” Yeri asks and Joy nods to agree.

“You guys went mute for like, weeks,” Joy says. Irene and Seulgi look at each other before laughing nervously.

“Yeah...we had lots of fun, but when it’s our official break, we’ll make lots of plans together, alright? We promise,” Irene says, hoping to ease the two. Joy looks around, squinting hard at particularly nothing.

“Hey...where’s that girl? You know, that girl who claimed she was from the past,” Joy asks.

“Oh yeah! Where’d she go?” Yeri says, and then gasps. “Don’t tell me she got kidnapped too?!”

Irene shakes her head slowly. “No...she’s just not feeling well today.”

Seulgi is growing even more concerned. What happened between the two? What could possibly be going on? She watches as the girls carry on and walk ahead. Normally Seulgi would be able to figure this stuff out, but at this point she’s just lost.

 

 

-

 

As much as Irene wants to seem unbothered, she can’t help but wonder about what happened to Wendy. Irene doesn’t know what to do. If a Wisp attacked last night, she didn’t hear anything. She looks at Seulgi, who appears to be doodling rather than listening to the teacher. No one can really focus after the kidnappings.

Seulgi draws a small diagram of what she knows so far; on her paper is a picture of an injured cartoon Wendy, a picture of Irene with a Wisp aura, and Miss Hwang. Seulgi’s brain is like clockwork right now, but she feels uneasy because of Irene, who is in the same room.

“Could she be a Wisp?” Seulgi asks herself quietly, but just loud enough for the teacher to hear her.

“Did you say something, Seulgi?” the teacher asks and Seulgi shakes her head.

“Just mumbling, sir.”

Seulgi sighs when the teacher continues the lesson. She feels like she’s starting to figure out what’s going on but she’s stumped.

 

‘What is this. Irene’s a Wisp?”

 

-

 

Irene is in the middle of falling asleep in class, but she wakes up when the door to the class opens. The class goes completely silent and all the attention is on Wendy as she walks in with a limp. Her bandage on her uncovered calf is obvious and the same goes for the bandage around her upper arm.

The students’ eyes follow her, whispers arise among them at the sight; of course they’re shocked.

“Are you okay? Do you need a nurse?” the teacher asks with concern and Wendy shakes her head.

“Please continue your lesson.”

And Seulgi feels even more uncomfortable when Wendy sits at the seat right next to hers. Seulgi feels that Wendy’s aura is unsteady, indicating that she’s bewildered and scared. Seulgi sighs internally and slumps in her seat.

And here she thought she was going to get a rest from headaches today.

”Hey, what happened to you?” Seulgi whispers and Wendy shakes her head a s response.

”I’ll tell you later,” Wendy whispers back and looks at the teacher. Seulgi picks up her pencil and starts doodling. There’s sure bound to be some surprises for her after school.

Irene isn’t mad at Wendy. She’s concerned for the latter. Irene has no idea what’s going on; something tells her Wisps and a “normal human being” shouldn’t mix.

But at this point, can Irene really be considered a human being? All Irene knows is, she has to confront Wendy no matter what.

 

-

 

Gym class is surprising. Irene finds a new strength in her body she never knew she had as she runs the four laps around the track, tying with Seulgi for first place.

Wendy is sitting on the grass, watching from a distance as Irene’s other friends cheer her on for finishing first with Seulgi, who is also shocked.

“Joohyun, you been working out or something? All that running around with me and Wendy finally paid off?” Seulgi jokes and feigns ignorance. Irene laughs and gently hits Seulgi on the arm.

 

“Maybe.” 

-

 

Seulgi grabs Wendy by the shoulders as Irene changes in the locker room.

“Okay, tell me what’s happening because I can only figure a small part of it out,” Seulgi says, her orange eyes glowing with fierce curiosity.

Wendy looks around and inches closer to Seulgi.

“Irene attacked me last night. Her eyes were glowing with pink and her pupils were shaped into unusual slits. She shot at me with arrows, but not just any arrows that humans normally use. These arrows were large, scathing, glowing, and nearly burnt all my insides. They even penetrated through concrete and bricks,” Wendy explains and Seulgi stands there, attempting to make sense of what Wendy just said.

“So, that Wisp aura I sense from Irene, that’s not just me hallucinating?” Seulgi asks and Wendy nods solemnly.

“I still don’t understand. Why’d she attack you? Aren’t you like, her favorite person or something? After me, of course,” Seulgi asks and Wendy sighs.

“I don’t know. Miss Hwang is trying to figure this out at the moment. Irene doesn’t seem to know what she did last night,” Wendy says and Seulgi thinks.

“You think someone from a different universe might be pretending to be her? What if our Irene is in trouble?” Wendy says with wide eyes.

Seulgi shakes her head slowly.

“That may be a possibility, but what if she was possessed? It’s crazy what powerful Wisps can do, you know.”

“That doesn’t explain how Irene is suddenly a Wisp, promiscuous woman. Plus, wouldn’t this explain how she’s the only one who can heal me? Excluding that one time you healed me, I think all my healing powers drained after that,” Wendy says and Seulgi raises her arms in defeat.

 

“Fine, let’s find out if this Irene is an imposter or not.”

 

-

 

Irene feels small and confused in her seat as Wendy and Seulgi scrutinize her. They’re both squinting and looking her up and down, like elementary school bullies.

“Um...what the hell are you guys doing?” Irene asks with slight annoyance. “Class is about to start again.”

Wendy takes a step back and points her index finger at Irene.

“You, what did you do to the real Joohyun?” Wendy asks loudly.

Seulgi crosses her arms and nods in agreement.

“Yeah, what’d you do with her?”

Irene looks around, seeing that Wendy and Seulgi’s antics are gathering attention.

“Quiet down guys! Whatever you two are up to, I’m sure can be discussed later at my house,” Irene semi-whispers.

Things have been crazy lately. Irene feels like she’s going to go crazy from all this confusion. Isn’t this whole Wisp business enough?

 

-

 

Irene stares down the two, even though it should be the other way around. She crosses her arms against her chest in intimidation, glaring at the two girls who are sitting down on the couch, hands on their laps.

“Okay, spill. What’s going on with you two? Especially you, Wendy.” Irene points at Wendy’s injured arm and then her calf.

 

“Who did that.”

 

Wendy hesitates and she looks off to the side. “You.”

Irene’s eyebrows furrow up in confusion. “Me? What about me?”

Wendy looks at Irene. “You did this to me, Joohyun.”

The air in the room suddenly becom