Everything seemed quite normal for the next few days after they had returned from their field trip from Japan. Timepiece was pretty quiet except for a few harmless game here and there. Things were feeling oddly peaceful until students began to whisper in a rowdy and disruptive matter at the end of school on one particular day.

Eunbi was still packing her belongings with Yoobin. When she got up, a few girls shoved her by accident, pushing her down. Eunbi grunted and glared, but the group of girls were too absorbed with whatever was outside the window.

"Why are they all so noisy all of the sudden?" Eunbi grumbled.

"Something must have happened," Yoobin said.

"Yeah, well I don't care. They should look around their surroundings," Eunbi complained. 

She looked up and saw Dongmin already leaving the classroom. Eunbi ignored him and stood back up. This time, she avoided another group of girls who were trying to gather around the window. Eunbi gritted her teeth. She was about to confront them until Yoobin reached and grabbed her arm.

"L-Let's go, okay, Eunbi?" Yoobin stuttered.

Eunbi looked at her, then let out a sigh. She nodded and picked up her bag before the two headed out.

Like always, Mingyu and Jungkook were waiting for her outside of her classroom. At this point, Eunbi got used to the two boys tagging along with them.

"I saw Dongmin leave," Mingyu said. "He said he had cram school."

"I figured," Eunbi said with a sigh.

"What are you going to do?" Mingyu asked. "Jungkook said that he's going to skip his tutor today if we end up doing something interesting."

"I'm not in the mood to do anything right now," Eunbi said.

"Eunbi is a little mad. A few girls pushed her when she was trying to get up from her seat," Yoobin said quietly.

"Pft. You're pissed off because of something small like that?" Mingyu asked. He smirked while Eunbi glared.

"I'm sorry that I'm not a saint like you," she replied sarcastically. She walked past him, earning a small chuckle from him.

The four began walking down the stairs and down the hall until they saw Dongmin staring outside the window. He seemed confused, a little bit surprised with whatever he saw. Eunbi casually walked over to him.

"I thought you had tutor?" Eunbi asked.

Dongmin slowly turned his head and pointed. "Eunbi… You should take a look at this."

"What are you—"

Her eyes lit up. She hitched her breath and stared at the group of four standing outside. There was IU, happily waving to students and chatting up with some of them. There was L, standing close to her, earning several attention from the girls for his cool demeanor. Sandeul was standing on the other side of the gate, checking his phone and talking to the leader of the group.

Park Kyung turned from Sandeul then looked up. He locked eyes with Eunbi and flashed his gummy smile.

Mingyu glanced over her shoulders.

"Oh, it's—"

Without waiting for Mingyu to finish his sentence, Eunbi dashed downstairs. A cold gust of wind blew from the absent spot. Mingyu kept eyes glued to the window, knowing clearly where Eunbi was running off to. The boys gave him an awkward glance while Yoobin frantically went down to catch up with Eunbi.

In a matter of seconds, Eunbi was charing towards Park Kyung. She jumped in his arms, catching him off-guard with a hug. Mingyu grimaced when he saw how tightly she wrapped her hands around Park Kyung's waist. Park Kyung smiled at her fondly then looked up. He smiled and waved, locking eyes with Mingyu.

Mingyu glared. Without waiting for another second, he walked down the steps to meet up with the group. Jungkook and Dongmin exchanged looks before they decided to catch up with Mingyu.

As they headed outside and neared the group, the boys could start hearing their conversation:

"So what brings you here?" Eunbi asked.

"We were doing some investigating," Park Kyung said. "Sandeul said that he might've caught a bug and noticed that the signal was strongest here."

"Did you want to step on campus? I can show you where the office is!" Eunbi exclaimed.

"No, we actually did go around. We hung out here for a few minutes in case we could meet you. Are you busy?" Park Kyung asked.

"Not at all!"

"Good. I was thinking that we can grab something to eat?" Park Kyung glanced behind her. "Well, it looks like there's going to be nine of us. That's kind of a crowd."

"Ooh, Kyung is trying to ask Eunbi on a date!" IU teased. She let out a cheerful squeal and slapped Park Kyung's arm playfully. Park Kyung laughed while Eunbi's face turned bright red.

"Why don't you two grab something to eat alone? I doubt Junghwan is hungry, and Jieun and I ate," L said.

"Are you guys sure? I mean, we all haven't seen Eunbi in a while. It'd be better for us to grab something small and talk at, like, a park or something," Park Kyung said.

"Go on ahead! We're fine!" IU exclaimed.

Mingyu frowned. "Wait, I'm hung—"

"Let's go over there!" IU exclaimed, pulling Mingyu back from joining the two. She locked her other arm with Jungkook's, dragging the two boys far away from the two. 

L sighed and turned to Yoobin and Dongmin. "Are you two following us?"

Dongmin exchanged glances with Yoobin. Then, the two lowered their heads and nodded, deciding that it would be best to follow Eunbi's previous teammates. They exchanged "goodbyes" and "see you later" with Eunbi before following the crowd. Sandeul subconsciously began to follow L, still occupied with whatever was on his phone.

Park Kyung and Eunbi stood alone for a few minutes. Eunbi could feel her face heat up as she turned completely red from being along with him. She nervously glanced at him from the corner of her eyes.

Park Kyung looked down and smiled. "Well? Shall we go on our little 'date?'"

Eunbi knew that he was joking, but just for today, she decided to take his words a little seriously.

* * *

"They. Are. So. Cute."

"Jieun, stop. You're embarrassing them…"

"What? Look at them? Look here! Say 'cheese!'" IU exclaimed. She took a photo of the four of them on the bench with cute headbands. Then, she looked down at her phone to see the picture she had taken.

Dongmin and Yoobin posed with a polite smile, but they seemed uncomfortable and embarrassed. Mingyu didn't even bother to look at the camera and glared away from the camera, clearly annoyed with how the situation developed. Jungkook was the only one in the photo who posed and smiled quite happily.

"This is perfect! I'll send this to Eunbi when she has time!" IU exclaimed. She swiped away the headbands from their heads and placed it in her bag, which L was carrying. "Do you want a copy of the photo, Myungsoo?"

"No."

"Aww, boo-hoo! That's your lost," she said playfully. She smiled and squatted in front of the four. "Do you guys want the photo?"

"No, thank you," Yoobin said softly, letting out a small laugh. 

IU turned around. "Junghwan, how long are you going to be playing video games?"

"Shut up, I'm almost done," Sandeul muttered.

Dongmin uneasily glanced at him. "What's he doing?"

"Some kind of coding project. He's been working on it with Kyung," IU said. "I have no idea what they're working on and Myungsoo has no idea, either. I can care less, though."

"I see," Dongmin murmured.

"Do you guys know anything about coding?" IU asked. They all shook their heads. "Yeah. I never bothered to understand it."

"So you're saying that you could understand it if you tried?" Jungkook asked.

"Jieun is a lot smarter than you think she is," L commented. 

"I find that hard to believe," Jungkook whispered to Mingyu.

Mingyu ignored him and started to stand up. "I'm leaving to find Eunbi—"

L grabbed his shoulder and forced him to sit back down. Mingyu glowered at him while L stared down with a cold and daunting gaze. Mingyu shuddered.

"Let's talk instead, okay?" IU suggested. "What should we talk about…" She turned around again. "Junghwan, what should we talk about with them?" Sandeul ignored her this time. IU took his silence to make up an answer to her own question. "Oh! Tell us about Eunbi! How is she?"

"Why don't we go and ask her personally?" Mingyu murmured.

IU blinked. "Aw. You're like a little puppy following Eunbi. Are you her boyfriend?"

Mingyu didn't say anything. He continued to hold his frown and avoided making eye contact.

"Are any of you guys dating each other?" IU asked them.

They all shook their heads.

"What about you?" Jungkook asked. "Are you dating… Myungsoo, right?"

IU laughed and L looked away.

"Me? Myungsoo? No, no. Myungsoo and I are just friends."

"I heard that you two are engaged."

"Not exactly. Our parents are really close and they just want us to get married and have their grandchildren. I wouldn't marry him at all," IU said. Jungkook nodded and glanced at L. It was hard to read his expression, especially since he had the black scarf covering half of his face.

Jungkook was about to change the topic, but IU suddenly came closer to him. She stared at him with her large brown eyes, catching him off guard. The two were only a few inches apart from each other. Jungkook felt himself grow small as he found himself staring at his own reflection in her orbs. He turned a little red until L forced IU to pull back. IU stared at L with the corner of her eyes while L stared down at her.

"You're frightening him," L said in a small voice.

IU beamed into a smile. "Whoops! Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!" She grinned at Jungkook. "I just wanted to see if you were a good guy."

"A-A good guy"? Jungkook stuttered. He mentally cursed at himself for stuttering. What did he have to be embarrassed about? It's not like she kissed him or anything.

"We're just a little worried for Eunbi, that's all. I just wanted to see if you're truly her friend or if you're trying to take advantage of her because she's a cute girl," IU said.

"E-Eunbi is a good friend!" Yoobin stammered. "She's a really good friend!"

IU looked at Yoobin for a long time. "Yes, she is, isn't she?" She stared at Yoobin for a long time, causing Yoobin to shift uncomfortably in her spot. "You're a peculiar one, aren't you?"

"E-Excuse me?" Yoobin squeaked.

"Is there a way she keeps staring at us like that?" Dongmin finally blurted.

L sighed. "Jieun's very perceptive, but she tends to stare at people weirdly like that. Sorry. Don't be concerned."

"It's a little rude, don't you think?" Dongmin said. "I know we're much more naive and younger than you all, but please don't stare at us like we're like dead roaches."

IU's eyes quickly darted to Dongmin. Dongmin immediately paled and shivered. A small smirk appeared on her face but L finally covered her eyes with his hand. IU blinked and turned.

"You're scaring them again," L warned her.

"I was almost done," she complained.

"There's no need for you to do this, especially when we're not in TP," L pointed out.

IU closed her eyes. She took a deep breath then let out a small sigh.

"Yeah. Okay. I'll stop," she said, raising her hand as if she was caught red-handed. "When do you think Kyung is coming back?"

"Soon, probably," L said. He noticed Mingyu shaking one leg in annoyance. "Very soon, hopefully…"

* * *

Eunbi had never felt this nervous since a long, long time ago.

She couldn't believe that she was sitting at a café with Park Kyung, having a meal of coffee and a small sandwich. She had personally recommended this spot knowing fully well that Park Kyung wasn't the type to eat a lot and was probably in a hurry. Eating at the café was a little bit on the pricey side, but it definitely satisfied Park Kyung's stomach.

She quietly sipped her drink. Her eyes wandered around, unsure of whether to make eye contact with him or if she should look down at her food. Park Kyung hadn't said much since the two walked in and got their order. Even though he wasn't talking a lot, he seemed quite relaxed in the situation. When he finally lifted his gaze to look at her, she felt her heart skip a beat.

.

"So how's school?" Park Kyung asked. "It looks like you made a lot of good friends."

"S-School's fine! It's great!" Eunbi stuttered. Her voice was in a higher pitch than usual. She wondered if she was talking cutely or too annoyingly.

"That's good. Any boyfriends?" he teased.

Eunbi scrunched her nose. "No. No, definitely not."

"You sure? I'm pretty sure there's a guy or two who's into you," Park Kyung said.

"What? What makes you say that?" she asked, taking another sip of her drink.

"You're very pretty, Eunbi. Very cute, too," he remarked.

Eunbi coughed and almost choked on her drink. She covered and continued coughing. Her whole face turned completely red as Park Kyung rushed and handed her a napkin to clean herself up. As she remained acting proper and dainty, inside, she was wishing that she was dead.

"C-C-C-Cute?" she stuttered.

"Well, yeah. You're always cute," he pointed out.

Eunbi bit her tongue. "So, like…childish cute."

"Yeah," he said.

Her heart sank a little. "Oh…"

"You grew up a lot, but in my eyes, you're still the same little middle school kid we randomly picked up," Park Kyung said. He added a small chuckle while Eunbi's shoulder sank a little.

"The same, huh?" she whispered.

"Oh, right. Have you heard anything about Yuna?” Park Kyung asked. "If anything, I want to help you find her."

Eunbi's ears perked up. “Yuna… Actually, when I was in Japan, something interesting happened."

"Interesting?" Park Kyung raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"

"I met this girl. Her name is Mina and she's Japanese. Anyway, she helped us go through a Dating Simulation game when we were stuck in Timepiece and didn't understand the language. Apparently she met Yuna.”

"Mina, huh…" Park Kyung remained quiet for a few seconds. "I don't think I recall that name."

"I didn't know who she was, either."

"Are we sure that she met Yuna?”

"I think we can trust her enough," Eunbi said. "She knew about me through Yuna.”

"Really?"

'Yes."

"So Yuna was in Japan, huh…" Park Kyung's words faded. "Do you think she's still in Japan?"

"I'm… I'm not sure. I don't think she has any reason to be. She's still stuck in a Timepiece last time I checked," Eunbi reported. 

Park Kyung nodded. "Thanks, Eunbi. This is really helpful. I'll have the others do whatever we can to find Yuna. She needs to be safe, and you deserve to know if she's safe or not."

Eunbi looked down sadly. "I just hope she's safe. She's been gone for an unusually long period of time. It makes me anxious."

"I get it. That's why you should leave the searching to us," Park Kyung said. 

Eunbi looked up at him with surprise. "What?"

"Get out of the game as soon as possible. I don't want you to be hurt anymore," Park Kyung told her. "You know that Timepiece is dangerous. You should get out of the game as soon as you can and leave everything to us. With our talents, we'll be able to find Yuju much faster than you."

"B-But—"

"I don't want to see you hurt, Eunbi," Park Kyung said. He reached out to touch her hand. She flinched at her spot and turned pink. "You understand, right?"

"I-I can help…"

"You have another team with you. You can't just leave them for us," he said. He smiled. "Don't worry too much about us, okay? We know how to stay safe." He got up from his seat. "We should head back. I'm sure your friends are dying to see you again. If anything, I think it's safe for us to assume that Jieun's freaking them out, right?"

He extended his hand for her to grab. Eunbi glanced at the table. Park Kyung was already done eating and drinking while Eunbi still had a full cup. Feeling rushed, she grabbed Park Kyung's hand and rushed out the door, heading to meet with the rest of her friends.

* * *

"They should be around… Oh! There they are!"

Park Kyung pointed at the group of high school students surrounded by three college students. From afar, it looked like IU, L and Sandeul were intimidating the four. Eunbi almost laughed at the situation, but composed herself in front of Park Kyung.

"Hey!" Park Kyung shouted. He caught their attention. Mingyu looked at the two with wide eyes before looking away. Eunbi tilted her head a little, wondering why Mingyu was so bitter.

"You two took forever!" IU whined, trotting over to them. 

Park Kyung laughed. "Sorry. The place Eunbi recommended was pretty good. We should all go someday."

"We should be on our way," Sandeul said. "We wasted a lot of time because of you." He looked around suspiciously, then back at his phone. "Kyung."

Park Kyung nodded. Eunbi frowned and tried to look at what Sandeul and Park Kyung had seen. Instead, Park Kyung caught her attention with another smile.

"Well, we're going to start going now," Park Kyung told her.

"A-Already? But we can—"

"Sorry, Eunbi. We're a little busy," Sandeul said. He turned back to Park Kyung. "Kyung."

"Okay, okay," Park Kyung said. "L! Come on! We're leaving."

L nodded quietly. He adjusted the scarf to cover more of his face. IU slipped on her hood with a smile while Sandeul started walking away from the standing group and walked back to the bench.

"What's going on, Kyung?" Eunbi whispered.

"Don't worry about it," he said.

"I'm not a kid anymore," she insisted. "You can tell me!"

Park Kyung only chuckled and patted her head. Her heart fluttered, but deep inside, she knew that this wasn't the time to be happy about the close skinship.

"Aw, she's so cute!" IU cooed.

"J-Jieun!" Eunbi stuttered, turning red.

Meanwhile, Jungkook stared at IU and watched her happily chat with Park Kyung and Eunbi. He didn't know that he had been staring at her for quite some time. L stepped next to him.

"Not her," L said.

Jungkook snapped out of his thoughts. "H-Huh?"

L finally looked down at him. "Not. Her."

The poor boy stared at him with a confused expression. L decided not to clarify himself and walked to IU.

"Let's go, Jieun," L said.

"Okay!" IU said happily. She turned and waved at the rest. She locked eyes with Jungkook and smiled. "Bye!"

Jungkook awkwardly raised his hand halfway to wave "goodbye," but she had already turned and followed L, who was walking ahead. Jungkook gently dropped his hand to the side and watched IU disappear at the corner of the street with L.

Mingyu glared at Park Kyung from the distant. "I want to punch him…"

He heard a snort. Mingyu looked up and turned around, noticing that Sandeul was covering his mouth with one hand while the other hand frantically typed across the screen. Sandeul finally broke his gaze away from his phone and stared at Mingyu.

"You have the right mindset," Sandeul said, "but you're still pretty dumb, aren't you?"

"What do you mean?" Mingyu asked.

"I'm saying that you shouldn't mess around with Park Kyung. He'll pulverize you in a heartbeat," Sandeul said. "He looks skinny and weak, but he's definitely a lot smarter than you."

Mingyu snarled. "Yeah? I doubt he can do anything to me."

"That's the first step to losing to Park Kyung," Sandeul said. He got up from his seat when his phone started beeping. He looked up. "Park Kyung, we got to go!"

Park Kyung nodded. He gave Eunbi a quick hug, causing her to hold her breath.

"Bye, Eunbi. Keep in touch with me about Yuna, okay?" he said. Eunbi quickly nodded as Park Kyung and Sandeul started to run off in the same direction where IU and L left just minutes ago.

Eunbi finally reunited with her group. They all noticed how red she was getting, but they were all smart enough to not say anything.

"I wonder what's going on with those four," Dongmin said.

"I-I'm not sure," Eunbi stammered, still trying to calm herself. "But it's okay. They'll be safe. They've done this before."

"They seem…dangerous," Mingyu muttered.

Eunbi glared at him. "They're not. They're my friends and a group that I respect. I'd appreciate it if you don't talk about them like that next time. They're all really good people. You're just not willing to know about them."

Mingyu didn't say anything. He didn't want to know more about them. He didn't want to know how good of a person they were. If he did, he wouldn't be able to hate them like now.