When Jungkook woke up in the morning, he realized that he was still near the riverbed. He looked around, trying to find Jieun, but she was gone. He slowly got up from the ground and walked over back to their campsite. Upon arriving, he noticed that Yuna had started a fire and was cooking a meal. Seokmin was still snoring loudly, too tired to even wake up. He looked around again.

"Jieun isn't here right now," Yuna said as if she had read his mind.

He looked at her. "Where is she?"

"Don't worry. She didn't run away," Yuna told him. "She just went to the market to grab a few ingredients that I requested."

Jungkook nodded. He sat down next to Yuna.

"Anything I can help?" he asked.

"No. We're just waiting on Jieun," she said.

He nodded. He watched the fire for a few minutes until he realized how odd Yuna was acting. He glanced at her a few times before deciding to ask.

"Is there something wrong?" he inquired.

Yuna kept quiet for a few minutes. She pressed her lips until a frown appeared on her forehead. Her brow crinkled as she tried to think of a way to address her worries.

"Jungkook… You still remember the mission, right?" she asked him quietly.

Seokmin snorted. The two looked up at him, wondering if he was awake. The boy stirred in his sleep before snoring away softly. When they figured that he was still asleep, they resumed the conversation.

"Of course I remember the mission," Jungkook said. "Collect the Mythos."

"And?"

"And what?"

"The private mission amongst the three of us."

Jungkook stiffened a little. "Steal the Mythos of Kreo from Jieun."

"Right. So we have to focus on that," Yuna reminded him.

"I know, Yuna. Is that what's worrying you?"

She let out an uneasy sigh. "I don't know. I mean, Seokmin keeps getting distracted and… Well, I noticed that you're getting closer to Jieun…"

"That's only for the Mythos," he insisted. "We all don't believe she ate it, yet we don't see a gem anywhere on her. She must be hiding it somewhere, but we just don't know where. It's best if we get close to her and hope that she'll put her guard down and tell us one day."

"So this is really just for the Mythos, right?" Yuna asked him.

"Of course," he said, but an uneasy feeling swayed in his chest. He ignored it and extended his hand. "Give me the stick. I'll keep the fire going. You need to put the mushroom in the pot, right?"

A small smile appeared on her lips. "Yeah… How'd you know?"

"I've watched you cook several times," he said. "It'd be crazy for me to not know anything about you at this point."

She blushed. She shyly covered with one hand, hoping that he wouldn't notice how red her cheeks became after his comment.

* * *

"Let's see, let's see…" Jieun furrowed her eyebrows, then shot them wide open. She gave the merchant a confident and seductive smirk. Her gaze caused the merchant to stiffen and gulp, anticipating on Jieun's next move. The corner of her lips grew an inch wider. "The answer is twenty-five!"

"Wrong," the merchant said. He revealed the number on the board, which showed only a single digit. He smirked at her while Jieun glared. "It's nine. You lost again. Hand me those mushrooms."

Jieun clicked her tongue as she gave the man the mushrooms that she had collected in the forest. He snickered and thanked her while she grunted and got up.

"Well, thank you for playing with me, sir," Jieun said. "I'll be on my way now."

"My pleasure," the man said.

She started to walk away with empty hands. When she turned at the corner of the street, her white scarf slipped off and transformed. Hanna suddenly popped in front of her. Jieun jolted and stepped back. Hanna furiously glared at her.

"You surprised me," Jieun said lightly.

"He was cheating," she said.

"I know," Jieun told her.

"And you're not going to kill him?"

"Nope."

"You used to let me kill people like him."

"Yes, but that was before we got into the Academy," Jieun reminded her. "Now, return to the Kreo. Someone could have seen you."

"What about your food?" Hanna asked. "Shall I go and hunt something?"

"No, no," Jieun said. "I'll just let them know that I couldn't find anything in the forest." She looked around and noticed people looking. "Actually, walk with me. Don't return. People are starting to look."

"Let them look," she said as the two started walking. Her piercing blue eyes stared down at the crowd. "I'll kill them if they try to stir up a commotion."

"We aren't killing anyone now," Jieun repeated. "Besides, you stand out…" She glanced at the nine tails that poked out of her dress. "…a lot."

Hannah followed Jieun's gaze. Then, she hid her tails beneath her dress to blend herself more with the crowd. Jieun gave her a small smile and continued to walk out of the village.

At one point, Jieun felt a strange presence when she passed through a semi-large crowd. Chills ran down her spine as she felt something odd about the atmosphere. She didn't dare to turn around and only kept walking. Hanna seemed to sense what Jieun was feeling because she kept growling under her breath.

"Hanna," Jieun said. "Return."

Hanna nodded and obeyed. As soon as Jieun made it out of the crowd, Hanna had disappeared as if she had not existed. Jieun continued to walk at a rapid pace, knowing that there was something dangerous lurking in the village now.

"Excuse me."

Jieun stopped. Then, she slowly turned around and found a woman standing behind her. 

"Yes?" Jieun asked.

The woman smiled and handed her a basket. It was full of the mushrooms and other plants that she had found earlier in the forest.

"Please take this back," she said. "I won it from all the merchants."

Jieun blinked. "You did? That was pretty fast."

"I ran over to catch up with you," she said.

Jieun observed her. She wasn't panting, but she was breathing slightly faster than what appeared to be normal. She trusted that the girl did run, but noticed how her chest rose when she breathed.

She's definitely athletic, Jieun thought. She smiled at the woman and placed a hand out in front of her. "No, it's okay. I lost fair and square."

"But he was cheating," the woman said.

"Was he?" Jieun feigned innocence. "Well, I don't think I can prove it…"

"Regardless, take it," she said. "I don't need it."

Jieun paused. Then, she approached the woman with small steps before taking the basket of vegetables and herbs. Jieun smiled at her.

"Thank you," she said.

"Now, if you'll excuse me…" The woman walked away, disappearing into the crowd.

Jieun let out a small sigh of relief. She turned around and began to walk, not realizing that even though the woman had disappeared, she was watching her from afar.

* * *

Jieun finally arrived back at their base. She was about to pop up and scare them, but she noticed the soft expression on Yuna's face as she sliced up the mushrooms and dropped it into the pot. Jungkook continued to maintain the fire and would move his mouth a few times, striking up a casual conversation. She saw how Seokmin was still laying down awfully still. She let out a small sigh and gently approached the two.

"Looks like I went to the marketplace for nothing," Jieun remarked.

Jungkook and Yuna turned.

"I only found a few things nearby," Yuna said. "What did you bring?"

"Lots of vegetables. Um, maybe a few herbs here and there," Jieun said, taking a look in her basket. "I got potatoes…carrots…yeah. Just some basic stuff." She handed the basket to Jungkook who stared at her. "They need to be washed."

"Why don't you go and wash it?" Yuna asked.

"Because I'm cold and I want to stay near the fire," Jieun said. She gestured her chin to the direction of the river. "You two go and wash these, then come back."

Yuna was about to protest but Jungkook remembered how Jieun wasn't in her best condition last night. He grabbed the basket from her, silencing Yuna. 

"Yuna, stay here," Jungkook ordered.

"Go with him, Yuna," Jieun countered.

"Have her stay here. Seokmin is still sleeping."

"So? I can take care of myself," Jieun replied.

"You're not—" Jungkook stopped himself when he saw the cold look in Jieun's eyes. He shuddered a little before she switched back to a warm smile.

"Aw, you're worried about me?" She cooed. She laughed. "Don't worry. If anything happens, I'll let Seokmin know." She turned to Yuna. "Make sure you wash those vegetables. One of the merchants who sold me the potato did not look like he had clean hands."

Jungkook stared. Jieun caught him staring. She let out a small smirk.

"What? Are you thinking of how pretty I am?" she teased.

Something tingled, but Jungkook ignored the feeling.

"No. I was just thinking," he murmured.

She chuckled. "Of course you are. You're always thinking." She poked his forehead, catching him by surprise. "Stop frowning. You'll get wrinkles." She looked at both Yuna and Jungkook. "Okay, go! I want to eat soon."

Yuna and Jungkook both nodded and left to the river bed.

As Jieun took a seat and stared at the flames, she made a small smile and poked the flames.

"Now then," Jieun said, "do you want to wake up now or are you still going to pretend to sleep?"

Seokmin opened his eyes. He blinked and stared at her.

"How did you know that I was faking it?" Seokmin asked. "Jungkook and Yuna never knew if I was faking my sleep."

"Because I'm awesome," Jieun replied with a haughty tone.

Seokmin chuckled and sat up. "Well, I guess it's hard hiding things from you."

"It takes years of experience to observe people on my level," Jieun told him.

"Yeah, yeah. It's frustrating, though. I wish I could observe you just like how you observe me. You seem to hold a lot of secrets," Seokmin said.

The smile on her face tightened. She looked at Seokmin in the eyes. The fire flickered and reflected in her gaze.

"It's not good to have secrets," was the only thing she told him before busying herself with stirring the pot.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked.

"Nothing," she said. "I don't mean anything."

Seokmin kept quiet. "Like I thought, you have a lot of secrets."

"And you don't have to worry about it," Jieun said.

A moment later, Jungkook and Yuna returned with the vegetables and herbs all ready to go into the pot. Yuna took over cooking and poured the soup into four different bowls.

They all ate in silence. Jungkook and Yuna could see that Jieun still felt a little drained from last night. Seokmin tried to brighten up the atmosphere, but it didn't seem like he was able to do much. Jieun kept her gaze away from her students while Jungkook kept a watch out for her, checking to see if she felt dizzy or looked like she was about to collapse. Yuna only stared at him with worry and Seokmin…

Seokmin looked away from Yuna and glanced down at his bowl. A bitter smile appeared on his face as he grimaced a little.

"So what's the plan today?" Seokmin asked Jieun, trying to cheer himself up.

Jieun pursed her lips. "Well, I think we'll travel a little bit further than usual. There's a beautiful forest village that'll take us the entire day to arrive. It's quite humid, but at night, the place is beautifully lit with the lanterns."

"More walking?" Seokmin let out a deep sigh. "I'm really tired of all of this walking."

Jieun giggled. She glanced away and stopped laughing when she saw a particular batch of flower shrubs growing from the ground. Jungkook noticed and followed her gaze.

Rhododendrons, Jungkook thought.

Jieun quickly got up. She turned around and summoned Hanna in her object form. As the white scarf wrapped itself around Jieun's neck, she glared at the distant figure.

"Who's there?" Jieun asked loudly.

The three, seeing how alarmed she was, got up. They pulled out their weapons, ready to fight.

The person didn't move. Rather, she just stood awfully still, keeping her face in the shadow so that they couldn't see her. Jieun narrowed her eyes, then gasped when she saw something flying towards her. She managed to dodge the weapon briefly. Seokmin was about to get hit instead, but Yuna grabbed his shirt and pulled him away. The dagger punctured itself on the tree before dissolving it.

Poison, the four thought in unison.

Jieun clicked her tongue. And this person is good at fighting.

"Run," Jieun ordered them.

"We can fight!" Jungkook insisted.

"I said to run!" Jieun barked. Her eyes glowed blue and fangs started to show.

Jungkook gulped and grunted. He growled under his breath before yelling and Seokmin and Yuna, "Let's go!"

The two looked at each other in confusion before following Jungkook's order. Jieun instantly switched out Hanna for Junki, bringing him out in his object form. As the one-eyed mask slipped on her face, Jieun created a large gust of wind, hoping to control the directions of the flying dagger. When a dagger came heading right towards her, Jieun realized that the weapons were much heavier than they looked.

The enemy is fast, good at fighting at a long distance, and strong, Jieun thought. I don't really have anything to fight against her. Hanna is only good for close-combat and it'll be risky for me to approach this person. Junki will bring me up to speed, but he's terribly weak and won't do much damage to this person.

"Show yourself!" Jieun ordered.

The woman stopped throwing her weapons. She obeyed and stepped out of the shadows. Jieun widened her eyes.

"You're the woman who got my food back from the merchant," Jieun murmured.

"My name is Sunmi," she said. She respectfully bowed at her and looked up. "I am assigned the task to hunt down a Mythos nearby."

Jieun narrowed her eyes. "I'm not giving you the Kreo."

Sunmi brandished two dagger in her hands. "I know, so I'll be taking it." 

She threw the daggers towards her. Jieun clicked her tongue and managed to dodge the weapons. One dagger hit the tree while the other continued to soar in the air. Jieun frowned in confusion until she realized that the dagger was heading towards the three. 

"Junki, after them!" Jieun shouted, throwing away her mask. The mask immediately transformed and Junki, in his animal form, puffed out his wings and dashed towards the direction of the three.

She let out a brief sigh of relief until she heard Sunmi throw several more daggers. Hanna summoned herself and deflected the weapons. Once the weapons dropped to the ground, Hanna growled furiously and glared at Sunmi.

Cold sweat started to form on Jieun's forehead. She could almost feel the other creatures growing restless, anxious to be summoned.

Calm down, Jieun, she told herself. She looked at Sunmi, who seemed to notice that she was growing weak.

"You're not as strong as they made you seem to be," Sunmi remarked. She walked closer to Jieun, who took a step back. 

"I was never strong to begin with," Jieun admitted. She let out an uneasy laugh. "Well, I'm not in my top form today, either. Why don't you go easy on me?"

"I just want the Kreo," Sunmi told her. "I don't intend to hurt you."

Jieun decided to stay quiet. Hanna continued to growl at Sunmi, threatening her with her nine tails standing high and straight. Sunmi looked at Hanna curiously, then looked back at Jieun. She noticed a small smirk appearing on her lips.

From above, a gush of wind appeared out of nowhere. Sunmi closed her eyes for a brief moment, covering her eyes from the dust. As she peeled them open, she saw Junki return back. His wings slowed down and Jieun quickly got on top of him. Hanna returned and disappeared into a ball of light as Jieun and Junki escaped the scene. Sunmi tried to her dagger towards them, but she stopped midway when she realized that they were already gone.

Sunmi let out a small sigh and stared at the sky for a few seconds before she picked up her weapons and continued to walk.

* * *

Jungkook, Yuna and Seokmin were safe and were waiting for Jieun next to a large tree. When Junki had sped towards them, they thought that something was wrong until a dagger was flying towards them. Jungkook thought that Junki was going to deflect it, but when he realized that Junki only caught up with them and didn't bother to take out his sword, Jungkook barely managed to hit to poisonous dagger to the side. Before Jungkook had the chance to vent at Junki, he was gone.

"What the hell was that about?" Jungkook grumbled. "Was he trying to help us or not?"

"He didn't look like he cared," Seokmin remarked, "but he came to us, so maybe he came to warn us?" 

The winged horse made his appearance with Jieun riding on his back. Once Junki landed, Jieun got off and made him disappear. She walked over to the three with a smile on her face until she saw their scorns.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"What did you tell Jun—"

"Nothing," Jungkook said, interrupting Yuna. She stared at him with wide eyes, but Jungkook only looked at her to stay silent. "What happened to the other girl?"

"Sunmi? She's after the Kreo," Jieun said. "She's probably following us, so we should start running."

Jieun brushed past them. She started a light jog, but stopped when she realized that none of her students were following her. She turned around and waited.

"For how long?" Jungkook finally asked.

"How long what?" she asked, tilting her head.

"How long do we have to keep running?" he inquired. "You never let us fight. Why is that?"

Jieun let out a light laugh. "Well, you don't stand a chance against her—"

"Then who do we stand a chance against?" Jungkook asked. "Why do you keep making us run away from the enemy when we're supposed to confront them?" He frowned. "Is it because it's easier to battle someone when you just have to take care of yourself? If that's it, then you don't think we're reliable. You don't trust us to fight and to defend ourselves." He narrowed his eyes. "Or perhaps you are afraid of us getting hurt and that you're unable to do anything?"

Jieun didn't say anything. She stopped smiling and laughing and only stared at him with deep, hollow eyes. 

"Junki came by when Sunmi's dagger was heading towards us. He didn't deflect it. I had to do it," Jungkook revealed. "I'm capable of defending myself."

Jieun's eyes slightly widened as if she was surprised to hear that Junki did not help. She seemed troubled, but she didn't dare to say anything else. 

"We need to go," was the only thing Jieun could say in response. She turned around and started walking.

Jungkook gritted his teeth. He was about to argue again until Seokmin pulled him back. He muttered out a low grunt, but didn't follow her yet.

Jieun turned around when she noticed that they still weren't following her. She glared at the three.

"Didn't I say that we need to go? The enemy is following us!" Jieun repeated.

"Then why don't we fight them so that they can stop following us?" Jungkook argued.

Jieun seethed her teeth. "You can barely win against me. What makes you think that you'll win against her?"

"If all four of us fight together, that means that we'll be stronger."

"Wrong. That means more distraction." Jieun took out her staff and whirled it until it stopped right next to Jungkook's neck. "Listen to me while I'm being nice. I can leave you to deal with her if I really want to."

Jungkook didn't flinch. He just glared down at her short figure.

"You're a coward," he spat out. He walked past her and stormed away. Jieun gave him a cruel look before she softened her expression at Seokmin and Yuna.

"What are we going to do with that poor boy?" she muttered to them as she followed him reluctantly.