It's already morning and everyone is lining up to get their breakfast. The seven men who were acquainted last night are last in line.

No one is talking as they are in much need of energy except Dongwoo who keeps on talking about random things. But none of them seem to mind though only Myungsoo, Sungyeol and Sungjong have the heart to just nod at everything he says.

Howon feels a tap on his shoulder and his heart races, thinking it’s Woohyun but when he turns he is met by a glaring Sunggyu.
 

So early in the morning and he looks like a grumpy old man.

“What?" Howon questions.

“What do you know about the Incubus?" Sunggyu whispers to him. He doesn't even know why the other is whispering when they can actually and openly talk about it in here.

He decides to humor him and whispers back. “Nothing much. I just learned about them yesterday, well, except those I've learned from class. Why?"
 

Sunggyu leans forward, intending to whisper once again when Woohyun cuts him off.

“Ya, Kim Sunggyu! What are you doing to Howonie this time?"
 

Howonie..
 

Howon’s ears turn red at the nickname given by Woohyun.

“Nothing, Hyun. I was just asking something. Now, now, don't be jealous okay?" Sunggyu goes to Woohyun and wraps his arm around his neck.
 

It surprises Howon to see Woohyun laugh. He even wraps his arms around Sunggyu's torso. Howon turns away from Woohyun’s and Sunggyu's skinship. What irks him more is the reaction from Myungsoo and Sungyeol who have come to see this as normal.

Howon thanks all the gods in heaven when it is his turn to get food. He immediately walks ahead with an excuse to look for a table. When he finds one, he sits down and waits for the others.
 

Breakfast with all seven of them is nothing out of the ordinary. It even looks like they've known each other for a long time because jokes are thrown back and forth. However, when everyone finishes their food, the table becomes silent as well as the whole dining hall. Agents are slowly milling out to follow their respective schedules until only Howon and his teammates are left in the cafeteria.

“So, these incubi...mind telling us about them?" Sunggyu breaks the silence and directs his question to the nephilim and Supreme Lord’s son.

Dongwoo amd Sungjong stare at each other.
 

“Incubi, as you have probably learned in school, are nightmare spirits that feed on human energies. They're mostly found meddling with human's dreams and them. Although, sometimes they attack even while people are awake. They turn reality into dreams.
As a matter of fact, a couple of weeks back, guards from the Central Woods were attacked by this demon. But, it wasn't the demon itself,” Dongwoo starts to explain.

Myungsoo and Sungyeol nod in understanding. Woohyun on the other hand looks thoughtful.

“I think guards from all the branches were attacked the same way. But what do you mean by it wasn't the demon itself?" Sunggyu is confused.

Sungjong is the one who answers this tine. “The Incubus is a strong demon that even its malice can cause such damage. The thing is, in my opinion, the attacks occurring right now are not made by the Incubus himself. It's just his grudge."
 

Although his face displays confusion, Woohyun nods. "So, how do we defeat this demon? The elders said this demon was defeated once. It can't be that difficult to defeat it again, right?"
 

“Only if we have a Dream Guard. But even if we had a Dream Guard, defeating an incubus won’t be easy."

“Okay, hold up. What's a Dream Guard?" Sungyeol raises his arms up to surrender.

Everyone looks around for answers and their eyes somehow land on Howon. So, the latter responds with what he learned from his uncle yesterday. “According to the High Priest, Dream Guards are people who can alternate between dream and reality. That said, they can go to the Incubus' territory which is an advantage compared to us ordinary agents. They are also said to have the highest psychic power. However, the last of them were extinguished during a fight with the Incubus, which I think is the same one we're fighting right now."

Dongwoo supplies more information. “My father told me before that the Incubus was only able to be captured and imprisoned because of the Dream Guard’s sacrifice. He used up all his psychic power when locking the Incubus which in turn made him vanish.”
 

“So you're implying that the reason why this Incubus managed to escape his prison was that the psychic power of that Dream Guard has significantly weakened? Don’t you have excellent researchers in your world? Haven't you found something that could've prevented this demon's escape?"  Sunggyu doesn't care if it looks like he's blaming everything on the demon world's security network, he just wants to know the whys and hows of this incident.

“Excuse me, but are you saying this could've been prevented by the Supreme Lord?" Howon slams his hands on the table. It's one way to annoy him but to accuse his friends of something no one could've known beforehand is a different matter. Dongwoo pulls the hem of Howon’s shirt down just so he'd sit down again. He looks over Dongwoo and notices the lad is wearing one of his smiles again as if trying to coax him to calm down.
 

“Sunggyu, no one could've prevented it. Even the clairvoyance team didn't see it coming. All they knew was darkness was looming ahead. According to them, they only saw something dark,” Dongwoo finishes.

“An evil sign...an ominous beginning. The yarn of fate starts spinning,” Sungjong reveals making everyone turn to him. “That's what the clairvoyant agent told me. However, when I asked her to elaborate, she said she couldn’t. It's against the law of their craft. It's not good to tell everything the future has in store. That’s the biggest burden their gift will ever give them." 

They are about to continue talking when their in-ear communication devices simultaneously beep with an order for them to be in the high priest's office. They quickly dispose of their trash and go to the office. Sunggyu is the one who knocks and opens the door once they hear the high priest's voice telling them to come in. They line up side by side to face him.
 

Jungyeop has his hands on top of the desk, fingers interlaced. “I’m going to assume you already know each other?" His eyebrow raises as he looks at them one by one and stops at Howon.

“Yes, sir,” Howon replies.

“Okay. Now, sit down. Your mission files are already here."

The room is so silent that you can hear the proverbial pin drop; everyone holding their breaths, just waiting.
 

“Can you all please sit down? I don't want you to get tired while hearing me out. Go on, sit." The high priest ushers the agents to take a seat on the plush leather sofa. When they are all seated, Jungyeop gives each of them a manila folder with the seal of Black Order imbued on the front page and gestures them to open it. “You already know the demon we're fighting against. Based on the data we've gathered from older agents who lived from this demon's attacks two decades ago, this Incubus is a hard opponent even for the seven of you. The Incubus can turn reality into a dream with just a simple touch of his finger and because it is a nightmare spirit, one of its powers is shapeshifting. There were claims of other agents who saw the demon in different forms, thus making us believe that there were a lot of them when in fact, there was only one. What's more, is that the Incubus can have offsprings from their victims. This demon's offspring is called a Dream Baby."

Dream Baby?

All of them let the words roll off their tongue. Faces are marked with total confusion.

“Dream babies are just like the Incubus, but their method is different. They use their long tongues to eat fragments of reality and excretes them through feces as a part of a dream."

“Sir, what happens if an agent is victimized by the Incubus?" Howon’s asks curiously.

Jungyeop eyes widen and his face is hesitant. “That depends. The elders say that if an Incubus chooses an agent with a high psychic Power, dream babies become evolved. They acquire skin and flesh like any other kid. Except they can shift between reality and the dream."

A series of woahs fill the room.
 

“If this is true then...are Dream Guards half-Incubus and half-human?" Myungsoo asks, unable to hide his curiosity.
 

“Well, yes and no. This theory hasn’t been proven yet. The Dream Guards that existed in the whole history of Black Order are from two ordinary agents, no hints of Incubus interference. So I guess a Dream Guard isn't really half-half. Okay, back to the topic at hand.” Jungyeop flips to the second page of the file. “As you can see in here, over the past few days there have been hundreds of husbands who sought the help of marriage counselors for their wives' sudden change of behavior. The Black Order's team of researchers gathered this data and to be frank if I was not the high priest, I would have thought this was out of our league. The hundreds aforementioned are only from one district. And since the researchers did a nationwide study, the actual scope grew exponentially. Therefore, it is a good thing that our researchers made further efforts into categorizing the possible causes of this rift in relationships thus making the numbers significantly lessen. However, these numbers are scattered into three different regions."
Jungyeop stops talking and looks into each of the agents' eyes, prompting them to ask a question.

“So, does that mean we'll be grouped and assigned to different districts?" Sunggyu asks, his right hand raised in the air.
 

“Very good question. As expected from this troop's designated leader." Jungyeop claps once which makes Sunggyu's ears turn red from embarrassment. Howon only spares a glance at him and then returns his attention to the high priest who coughs before resuming his talk.

“Well due to the uncertainty of the demon's location, we will be dividing you into groups to further investigate the whereabouts of the Incubus. Go and observe the couples who are on the list that I'll be giving you later on. If you are certain the demon is in your area, call for backup immediately. I repeat, call for backup immediately. Don't go there all alone. As I've said, it's difficult to defeat the Incubus. But if the seven of you work together, then maybe there's a chance that we will be able to obliterate this demon."

“But sir, what if there is an immediate need for action? Would we still wait for the backup to arrive?" Howon asks his uncle. Jungyeop looks deep in thought, his hands on his chin, probably calculating the risks and rewards.

“Well, yes and no. If it's a matter of life and death of many people, then yes, you may not wait for backup. But if the only life threatened is that of the husband or the wife, then wait. Request for backup and wait."
 

Everyone becomes silent. They don’t understand why there's no need for immediate action if it’s only one life to save. They were taught to value each person's life. Heck, they even swore an oath to protect the ordinary humans first before themselves.

“Sir, we took an oath-"

“To hell with that oath! I can't afford losing even one of you just for a single measly human life." Jungyeop explodes which shocks Howon. This doesn’t sound like his uncle at all. His uncle always reminds hi