The school day turned out to be okay that Wednesday morning. No fox attacked her (though Yujin could still feel the glare Mina regularly sent to her direction every time they coincidentally happen to breathe in the same air), no demon bothered her (of course, she and Minghao—or The8—would occasionally give each other a disgusted look), and most importantly, no one tried to eat her (probably due to the fact that the three boys were coincidentally always near her—could they be more obvious?). However, good things never lasted forever. In fact, all the good things ended the moment Yujin found herself riding a black luxury car after school. She sat on the passenger seat between Mingyu and Seokmin. Minghao occupied the shotgun seat while Joshua, another demon, was the one who was driving.

“Are you ready to train?” Seokmin asked Yujin, probably trying to ease the awkward silence.

“Never been ready.” Yujin replied in a sarcastic manner. Must she really remind Seokmin that she always flunk gym class and these demons were barking at the wrong tree, trying to make her train like a pro?

“Come on, it won’t be that bad.” Seokmin comforted Yujin. “Jun is the most patient teacher-slash-trainer that I know. He’s much better than Woozi or The8 when it comes to being patient.”

Yujin did not hold back her snort. “That’s pretty obvious.” She pointed out. She may not be close to Jun or Woozi or Minghao (she did not know if she could call him The8 or just stick to Minghao) but she had seen enough from them to tell that Woozi or Minghao were not the nicest people on Earth or in the Realms. Jun, on the other hand, seemed to be much nicer although she could recall him being a bit distant to her despite acting all friendly during that one time when he sent her home.

“Ren or JR would have made great teachers but Mingyu sent them to protect Alicia. We hope you don’t mind.” Seokmin informed Yujin.

“Why would I mind people who protect my mother?” Yujin asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Can’t you just act all grateful?” Minghao decided that it was a good thing to join the conversation.

“The8, stop being mean towards her.” Joshua gently reminded the guy with anger issues—according to Yujin’s mind. “She’s clearly not used to all of these, we don’t want to drive her away.”

Clearly, Minghao was not pleased about being scolded. He did not even bother to hide his displeased expression yet he did not utter another hurtful or insulting word which Yujin clearly appreciated—she did not want to deal with him when she’s got a bigger problem to face.

“You have to visit the Cavern next week to make the pact with us, to pledge your alliance that’s why we have to let you learn the basics right away. In addition to that, Bora has been having prophetic dreams about you for two nights now, saying that the gods and goddesses would make their moves sooner or later.” Mingyu finally spoke, his voice was as calm as usual.

Yujin did not know what to say so rather than talking, she tried to look outside and noticed that they were approaching a huge mansion. She assumed that it was the demons’ mansion for one reason, it was hidden among the huge trees—something that she could picture coming out of a movie. Heaving out a sigh, she quickly tied her hair in a messy ponytail. She had no idea how she would be training albeit she was sure that it would be anything but painless.

“You don’t have to look like you’re about to face death soon.” Seokmin good-naturedly laughed at Yujin’s barely spoken misery. “Jun would not try to kill you. That demon could not even hurt a fly even if it means saving his own life. He’s very kind so there’s no reason for you to be alert or worried.”

“People used to think that Minghao wouldn’t hurt a fly too.” Yujin bluntly replied. “Will you be staying with us to watch?” She asked, hinting that she would not want to deal with a demon alone which was quite ironic since she was practically telling another demon to come with them. Still, the female had never viewed Seokmin as a threat. In fact, she found the male the least dangerous.

Seokmin shrugged. “I don’t know. Don’t worry though, the rest of us will visit you from time to time.”

“Stop making it seem like Jun would kill you when he saved your once.” Yujin wished that Minghao would shut up for good. Unfortunately, that guy would not do just that and decided to drop his rude comment once again. This time, however, not even Joshua bothered to stop him. The said driver could just shook his head.

“I know, I know, you don’t have to point it out. Geez.” Yujin rolled her eyes.

Just as she said that, Joshua pulled over in front of the familiar mansion. Yujin could only gulp. It was serious. The boys would be forcing her to train.

Absentmindedly, Yujin entered the mansion and just found herself (because all she did was trail behind the demons with Joshua standing behind her just in case she decided to run away—which, by the way, she did not opt to do because it was simply useless) inside the basement where it was pretty spacious. Upon arriving, she was welcomed by Jun who was smiling softly with some sort of wooden weapon in his hands. He looked especially carefree despite wearing his usual black shirt and black jeans.

“Why do you look so tensed? Loosen up.” Jun chuckled at Yujin’s worried expression. “Don’t worry, our pace would be according to your ability. It will be very easy. I’ll even make you choose your weapon.”

Even if he did not mean to do so, Jun’s words frightened Yujin even more. She did not know that weapons were actually involved. “Great, we have to use deadly weapons.” She breathed, making Jun laugh along with the others (by others she actually meant that Minghao was excluded).

“Those weapons would not be deadly, their sole purpose is for you to defend yourself.” Mingyu finally decided to speak up. “Seeing that neither you nor we are aware of your special ability, we decided to not force you to use it. We could have taught you how to punch or kick yet judging from your performance in gym class, we decided against it.”

Yujin simply narrowed her eyes at Mingyu, doubt was written all over her face. Letting out a sigh of defeat instead of being offended due to the devil’s words, she decided to just get it over with. She turned her full attention to Jun who had a reassuring smile on his face. “What are we supposed to do?” She gulped down her fear as she asked.

The female should have known the moment that Jun assured her that it would be very easy, it definitely meant the opposite. The former had practically given up, sitting down on the cold hard ground of the training room that was located at the basement of the mansion. She and Jun were practicing there one-on-one without anyone else bothering them—although Mingyu did visit them from time to time within that two hours of continuous practice. Letting out a groan, Yujin finally let go of her weapon—a round wood cord nunchaku that she did not even choose. Jun ended up choosing it for her because the female basically swore that she would not touch those knives nor would she play with those wooden swords that were definitely too heavy for her; the bow and arrow was rejected by Jun because it would be hard for the female to bring it everywhere—as if the swords were easy to carry.

“You’re doing a great job though.” Jun smiled at Yujin, occupying the space right in front of her. His smile was friendlier than earlier for a reason that Yujin could not really determine. “Just a few more practice and you’ll do great.”

“Yeah? I seem to have ruined my back because of it. I think I got bruises.” Yujin whimpered, hoping that Jun would finally let her off the hook. “I know that you’re doing this because you don’t want me to die during my visit to the realms but trust me, I’ll die due to what you’re making me do.”

Jun laughed, shaking his head while an amuse grin never left his lips. “You’re not as bad as I thought.”

Yujin momentarily paused, not sure on how to take Jun’s compliment. While it seemed like he was talking about Yujin’s fighting ability, something about his tone suggested otherwise—as if something else was up. Yet the female decided to not ask anymore. For the few days of knowing them, she realized that demons were pretty secretive. “Can we stop practicing now?”

“Sure, we can resume tomorrow.” Jun good-naturedly responded. Before the female could start celebrating her freedom, the devil spoke up once again. “I’m sure Mingyu is waiting for you to discuss some things. Also, let’s get your back treated. I think Hoshi is around to help.”

“Nah, whatever magic it is, I wouldn’t want to get my back treated due to it.” The female shrugged as if she were not in pain. “I