Sujeong continued to walk through the buildings of the Academy. After the explosion, she had tried to run away from the scene, but instead got swept away by the crowd. She eventually found herself on the third floor of the main building, which allowed her to get a good view at the chaos below. She could hear more explosions scattered across the Academy, but she knew that none of the bombs belonged to Jangjun anymore.

Her dressed snagged against a piece of broken pillar. She let out a small sigh and took out a knife to rip the dress, cutting it shorter. She stared down at the ripped fabric, then at the floor itself. The entire floor was filled with layers of dust and broken pieces. The glass vases were completely shattered. Parts of the large arched windows were broken, letting the cold and chaotic breeze into the building. She stared out at the moon, which started to hide behind thick gray clouds.

The second she closed her eyes, she could see Seokmin smiling at her back in the ballroom. She lifted her eyelids open and stared at the area with a blank stare.

I wonder if that guy got caught in the explosion, she thought.

"Are you a student? Are you lost?" someone asked her.

Sujeong could recognize that voice. She turned around and saw Seokmin standing right behind her. He had a fork in his hands as a weapon, showing that he was ready to fight. When he took notice of her, he lowered his weapon and beamed.

"Oh, it's you!" he exclaimed.

Sujeong stared at him dully. She tightened her grip around her knife, reminding herself that she was wielding a weapon.

"So you didn't die," she murmured under her breath.

"Are you okay? You must've ran all the way here without thinking," he said. He began to approach her with a smile on his face. "You can drop your weapon now."

Sujeong gave him a dull expression as she started to raise her knife. What a naive and stupid boy. It'll be easy to kill—

Her thoughts were interrupted when he lunged forth and grabbed her thin wrist. She stared at him with slightly wide eyes. Her fingers loosened its grip around the knife. The weapon dropped to the floor, landing on the soft dirty rug. He picked it up and handed the weapon back to her. She slowly took back her knife with a look of confusion. Then, he gave her a goofy and assuring grin.

"Come on. You're not too far from the others. I can guide you to safety."

"But I'm not—"

"Let's go!"

With one gentle tug, he started to lead her down the halls. Her eyes widened and she started to run with him. She could hear the battle cries echoing outside as well as the sound of weapons clashing and bombs bursting, but...

When did those catastrophic sounds started to sound like tinkering bells, like a gentle whisper of giddiness? When did everything look so vivid, so rich in color and in ash? Why was that despite all the chaos, her eyes were stuck to his dazzling warm smile?

Ba-thump.

A deep red blush slowly formed on her cheeks. Now that she was looking at him closely, the boy was pretty cute in her eyes. Her heart continued to palpitate as he led her down the hallways, rushing through rubbles. They stopped momentarily when a large pillar blocked their path. Seokmin started to climb over the pillar and helped Sujeong climb up as well. Before she landed back down on her feet, he went down first and extended his arms towards her.

"I'll catch you," he said with a sense of urgency in his tone. 

Sujeong blushed again. She then jumped off the pillar and Seokmin caught ahold of her waist like he promised. He gently lifted her down to the ground. A sudden awareness of her weight crossed her mind. She let out a small gasp and took a step back.

"I-I'm heavy, right?" she stuttered. Stuttering. Had she stuttered before?

Seokmin smiled. "Nope. Light as a feather. Come on."

He extended his hand towards her once again. 

Ba-thump. Ba-thump. Ba-thump.

She was about to take his hand, but stopped when she saw a change of expression on his face. His eyes glowed and his smile grew incredibly wide. With his other hand, he waved it in the air towards a figure behind her. Sujeong turned around to see the newcomer. Her heart throbbed when she saw another girl rushing up to them with a fan weapon in her hands. 

"Yuna!" Seokmin exclaimed.

Yuna glared and threw three daggers at Sujeong. Sujeong managed to avoid two of the daggers by taking several steps back away from Seokmin. The third punctured her rib. She flinched and hitched her breath, wincing from the pain. 

Seokmin widened his eyes. Yuna climbed over the pillar, flipped in the air, then landed on the ground, protectively standing in front of Seokmin.

Damn. I was careless! Sujeong cried to herself.

"Yuna, watch where you throw your weapon! You hit an Academy student!" Seokmin told her. He was about to rush over to Sujeong's side, but Yuna stuck out her arm.

"Seokmin, she's not one of us. She's under a disguise," Yuna said in a low voice.

Seokmin. His name is Seokmin, Sujeong thought in her head. The pain on her rib almost felt nonexistence as she thought of his name. Seokmin. She wanted to giggle, but giggling made her wounds hurt more.

"You're not an Academy student?" Seokmin said. He sounded a bit hurt to Sujeong's ears, but he was only surprised. Yuna glanced at him, then stared at the fork in his hand.

"Why do you have a fork?" Yuna asked him.

"Well, I needed a weapon," he said.

"And you chose a fork?"

"Hey, it was between a fork or the ladle, and I figured that the fork would be a better weapon," he explained. "Give me my weapons, please?"

Yuna tossed him his double swords. He immediately dropped his fork and grabbed a sword in each hand. He sharpened both blades against each other before taking a fighting stance.

Sujeong felt an urge to run away from the situation. She didn't want to fight him at all.

"I bet she was trying to lure you into bringing her to the other Academy students so that she could kill all of them," Yuna said. She narrowed her eyes. "Good thing I managed to find you."

"How did you know that she was the enemy?" Seokmin asked her.

"I didn't. She didn't look familiar, so I took my chance and I was lucky," Yuna said. "She's not denying it, so she's making things easier for the both of us."

"And that's why I love you," Seokmin said with a chummy grin.

Sujeong felt something pull in her chest. She gulped and stared at Seokmin with longing eyes.

"Stop fooling around, Seokmin," Yuna snapped. She glared at Sujeong. "Tell us your purpose for attacking the Academy! Why are you doing this?"

Sujeong's gaze turned harsh as she looked over at Yuna. "To retrieve a Mythos, of course. Why else would we be here?"

"A Myth…" Yuna let out an involuntary gasp. "Jungkook's at the tower."

"What?" Seokmin asked.

"He went to the tower where they keep the Mythos," Yuna repeated. "He's going to need back-up."

"Yeah, but we need to deal with her fi—"

Seokmin sharply looked over his shoulder and turned his body. He deflected the incoming attack, then watched the figure flip over them. Jangjun swiftly landed next to Sujeong, then broke a nearby window with a boomerang. He pulled out a grappling gun from his suit and shot it outside. 

"Now who's this?" Yuna grumbled.

"Forgive me for not introducing myself properly. My name is Jangjun, and I am here to this lady outside," Jangjun said, sarcastically bowing at her. He extended his hand out to Sujeong. "Let's go?"

She was about to take it, but stopped. Then, she looked over at Seokmin.

"Sujeong," she said. "My name is Sujeong."

Seokmin and Yuna frowned at her while Jangjun only raised an eyebrow. Before anyone else could make another move, Sujeong took his hand and nodded. The two gave Yuna and Seokmin one last glance before they swung out of the building. Both Yuna and Seokmin rushed towards the window to see where they had gone, but they were nowhere to be soon.

"We lost them," Yuna said, glaring at nothing in particular.

"That doesn't matter right now. You said that Jungkook went to the tower?" Seokmin asked her.

"Yeah. We should head over," Yuna said. 

The two were about to go until they heard a group of students crying for help. They gave each other a glance, then let out a small sigh before running to save the students.

* * *

"Ugh!"

The last guard in the tower collapsed on the ground. His eyes rolled back, his mouth foamed, and his skin turned into a sickish gray color. Sunmi took a deep breath and wiped her daggers with a thick anti-poison cloth. 

"That's the last guard," Sunmi reported. She turned to Taeyeon and Yongguk, who were looking around the tower. "Did you guys find the Mythos yet?"

Yongguk shook his head, then turned to Taeyeon. "Any luck over there?" 

"Empty." Taeyeon stopped in front of a fallen guard and kneeled in front of him. She gently placed her thumb over his forehead.

Yongguk sighed in frustration and wandered around the floor in circles. "According to Leo's map, there had to be one here…"

"Maybe he was wrong," Taeyeon suggested. She pressed her thumb against the fallen soldier's forehead. The soldier grunted for a second, then rolled his eyes back. Taeyeon blinked once and slowly got up. "This place is supposed to be a trap. The Mythos are located in one tower."

"Then we should head over there right—" Yongguk stopped when he saw Jangjun rushing in with Sujeong. He frowned and was about to yell at them for coming in, but remained silent when he saw blood seeping through Sujeong's clothes. He grimaced. "What happened?"

"I don't know. She got wounded when I met her after I set off the explosion," Jangjun said, shrugging his shoulders. 

"I'm fine. It doesn't hurt," Sujeong said. "We haven't found the Mythos yet, right? I can hang in there."

"No. We're going to go back," Yongguk said. "You might not feel the pain, but I can see that whoever injured you knew where to strike you." He looked back at Taeyeon and Sunmi. "Let's get out of here. Sunmi, leave some of your poison around the Academy. It'll help us in the long run. I'll send out a flare for Leo and Suzy to retreat and I'll check the second tower. Taeyeon, take Jangjun and Sujeong back. Everyone understand?"

They all nodded and parted their ways, finishing up their mission.

* * *

Leo and Suzy arrived in the depths of the Mythos tower. Suzy kept humming to herself as Leo followed behind her, keeping a watchful eye on her. The two continued to climb down the stairs without saying a word to each other.

"It's strange, isn't it?" Suzy said. "The hospital was clean. We were expecting there to be more casualties, but they all survived." She twirled. "We were going to visit a very-special-someone, too, weren't we?"

Leo stared at her. "If you're thinking about the Keeper of the Kreo, chances are she must've heard the bomb ticking. She was a former Academy student, after all, especially in a time where the training was brutal."

"Yes, but to evacuate several members of the Academy to leave the hospital? That should've taken some time," Suzy murmured.

"...Are you accusing me of betraying THE ARC? Do you think I told her that there was going to be an explosion?"

"Can you blame me for thinking that?"

"I only saw her. That's all. I went around the hospital to scout the area."

"Then how could she have evacuated everyone out of the building before the hospital exploded?"

"Maybe she had her Kreo creatures do it."

"In her current situation? From what I remember, she was in a deep sleep. Do you think she coincidentally woke up in time?"

"Maybe she's lucky."

Suzy snorted. "Lucky? Those aren't the words I expected to hear from you."

"I'm loyal to THE ARC, Suzy."

"Really? Then..." Suzy stopped and Leo stopped next to her. She pointed straight ahead of her. "...grab that for me."

He looked at the room ahead of him. It was still dark, but the candles lit the room enough for them to see the two glimmering Mythos. He could tell that the room was quiet large just by hearing the ambience of the wind. At the center of the chamber, there were two Mythos, each contained in a glass dome. Each Mythos stood on its own individual pillar across the room. There were three additional pillars in the circle, but they were obviously empty.

"That's it?" he asked.

Suzy smiled. "Yes. Grab it for me and I will believe in you."

Leo sighed. He brushed past her, stepping into the room. He could hear Suzy's footsteps nearing him, following his movements. The second Leo arrived in front of the Mythos of the Corolla, he stared at it for a couple of minutes. Then, he lifted up the glass and tossed it to the side, shattering the dome. Suzy lifted her toes and peeked over his shoulders. 

"Beautiful," she whispered.

Leo took out the thick pouch that he had planned to store the Mythos. The minute he tried to reach for the stone, he felt a familiar presence rush towards him. He immediately wielded out his sword and clashed with the old friend. His gaze turned cold as she stared down at Jieun, who was drenched in cold sweat.

"Not... the Corolla," Jieun panted. She heaved and coughed as she tightly held onto her open wound. 

"Stand down. You're in no condition to fight," he ordered.

"Not. The. Corolla," she repeated.

Suzy glanced at Leo, who glanced back at her. Then, wearing a sneaky smirk, she whipped out her electric ribbon and tried to strike her. Jieun barely managed to avoid Suzy's surprise attack by tumbling around several times before getting back on her feet.

Jieun hitched her breath as her vision swayed. She was clearly in no position to fight, but she knew that she had to defend the Corolla.

"Grab it," Suzy ordered him. 

"Don't you dare!" Jieun screamed. She threw her sword at him like a spear. Leo took a couple of steps back to avoid the hit while Suzy threw her ribbon, wrapping it around the sword's handle and then flinging it down to the ground.

Suzy looked at Leo. "Don't be afraid of getting attacked by her. I got your back—"

"Suzy, watch out!" Leo warned her. He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her back, avoiding Jieun's air kick. Jieun landed on the ground and gasped in pain. She narrowed her eyes and stared at the two.

"Get out of here!" Jieun roared.

Suzy took a step forward. Leo grabbed her wrist.

"Let go," Suzy ordered.

"There's no need to fight her. She's weak," he pointed out. "She can't even call her Kreo creature. There's no need to fight her."

"Then hurry up and take the Mythos," Suzy said tauntingly. He grimaced, but turned around to grab the Mythos of the Sleef. Suzy looked back at Jieun, who stood protectively in front of the Mythos of the Corolla. The pure look of determination in her eyes irked the enemy. "You already have a Mythos. Why don't you share one with us?"

"I don't care what you do with the Mythos of the Sleef," Jieun said. "I'm not letting you anywhere near the Mythos of the Corolla."

Suzy snickered, then looked at her with eyes full of distaste. "You know what's so unfortunate about you and me?"

"What?"

"That I keep wanting everything you want," she said, glancing at her ribbon wand. Suddenly, she gave Jieun a sharp look. "And now I want the Corolla."

Suzy started to throw her weapon towards Jieun. Jieun managed to dodge most of her attacks, but occasionally the ribbon would touch her skin, causing electricity to burn through her skin. She flinched and tried to keep up, but she was clearly in no condition to fight. Not only was it harder to dodge Suzy's attack, but it was even harder to maintain all the Kreo creatures in the Kreo. Even though she badly wanted to let Hanna and Junki come out and fight, she knew that it was better to keep them inside the Kreo so that it wouldn't be easy for the chaotic ones like Minho to escape.

Jieun continued to dodge until she saw an opportunity to strike. The second Suzy's whip hit the ground, Jieun charged ahead and decided to risk herself. She let out a battle cry and kicked Suzy's cheek. Suzy's reflex made her wave the ribbon around in the air, hitting Jieun and electrifying her. Jieun screamed in shock and frizzed up as her body slammed against the ground. Her body twitched and she was in immense pain.

Suzy slowly reached over to touch her cheek. It was sore and it hurt, but the pain was bearable. She stared down at Jieun with a killer's intent. She could feel that the corner of her lips were cut and slightly bleeding. 

"You know what? I changed my mind. I don't want the Corolla anymore," Suzy said. "I want to take something else that's yours." She started to walk over to Jieun with light steps. Jieun grunted and felt her muscles twitch in pain. Suzy extended her hand as if she was reaching for something. "And now, for the Kreo."

Just as she was about to take another step, Leo grabbed ahold of Suzy's wrist. Suzy stared at him, then glanced at the pouch he had in his hand. 

"You got the Sleef?" she said. "Great. I'll get the Kreo—"

Leo glared. "We don't need to Kreo right now."

"Might as well get it with the rest," Suzy said. She took a few steps towards Jieun, but Leo pulled her away.

She twirled in his arms. She opened to protest, but her lips were sealed by a kiss.

Jungkook traveled down the steps and finally arrived at the scene. Upon seeing Jieun on the ground, he instinctively took out his sword to fight the enemy, but furrowed his eyebrows in confusion when he saw Leo kissing Suzy right in front of Jieun.

Jieun stared at the two with an intense gaze. Jungkook could feel his body stiffen when he saw her expression. She looked at the two like a dedicated wife who witnessed her husband having an affair.

For a moment, she felt troubled, unsure of how to react to the sudden situation. Her motivation to continue fighting had been thinning out from exhaustion, but the flames of anger and grudge suddenly rekindled in her chest. She gritted her teeth together as her body started to shake in rage.

Leo parted away and Suzy looked at him with a completely red face.

"L-L-Leo," Suzy stammered. 

He kept awfully quiet, then pulled her close and dodged Jieun's attack. Jungkook took a step forward to help, but stopped when Jieun's voice started to echo in the tower. She let out a heavy and drawn-out laugh before glaring at him.

"You dare have the audacity to act lovey-dovey right in front of me?" Jieun cried out. "Oh, I'm definitely going to kill you now!"

"That's getting a bit old now, Jieun," Leo said in a soft voice.

She screamed at him and was about to punch him until she felt her body freeze. Suddenly, she felt her chest grow awfully heavily. She fell on her hands and knees, gasping for air. She closed her eyes and groaned, feeling the Kreo creatures wanting to escape.

I can't push myself any further or else things will end up in chaos, she thought to herself.

"Are you sure we don't want to get the Kreo right now?" Suzy asked.

"I'll get it next time," Leo promised. "For now, we got the Sleef. Let's get the Co—"

An explosion broke the walls of the tower. Dust and dirt flooded into the building. Jungkook quickly looked up and saw Yongguk appear from the debris. 

"You two," Yongguk said in a low heavy voice. "Let's go."

Leo glanced behind him. "But the Mythos—"

"Now," Yongguk ordered.

They gulped and followed his orders, making their escape. Jungkook was about to rush after them, but instead decided to check up on Jieun. He grimaced as he watched her heavily pant in pain while her small hands clutched her chest.

"Jieun, are you okay?" Jungkook asked.

"Ugh… Don't worry," she said. She tried to pick herself up from the ground. Letting out a small grunt, she gave him a weak smile as sweat dripped from her forehead. "I'm not letting the Kreo creatures escape."

"That's not what I was ask…"

Before he could finish his sentence, she closed her eyes and fell in his arms. Jungkook felt himself freeze for a second until he got ahold himself. He gently rested Jieun on the ground, noticing that her breathing became a lot more soft once she became unconscious. 

An hour later, Yuna and Seokmin arrived at the scene. 

"What happened? Is that Jieun?" Seokmin asked.

"What took you two so long?" Jungkook asked impatiently.

"We were helping the other students escape. It took us longer than we had anticipated," Yuna explained. "What happened to the Mythos? Are they safe?"

Jungkook gulped uneasily. "We protected the Corolla. They took the Sleef."

Yuna's and Seokmin's face grew cold.

"The Head Master will not be pleased to hear that," Yuna said in a serious tone.

"Indeed, I am not."

They all turned and quickly bowed, lowering their heads. They could tell that Jaejoong was coming in to observe the room. Neither students dared to lift their head or tried to explain their reasoning for failing to protect the Mythos.

"How disappointing. They took the Sleef," Jaejoong murmured, "but that's better than taking the Corolla." There was a long and uncomfortable pause. "Take Jieun out and get her cured. Go help the others in the meantime."

Jungkook cleared his throat. "Sir, I—"

"Are you going against my orders? I told you exactly what to do, didn't I?"

Jungkook silenced himself. He only nodded and helped Jieun get on Seokmin's back, exiting the room and doing as the Head Master told him to do.

* * *

THE ARC members returned to their hidden base. They dusted off the snow from their body and headed towards the large living room. Sunmi went over to light the fireplace as Jangjun helped Sujeong rest on the couch. Yongguk had his back turned against everyone, then let out a deep disappointed sigh.

"Mission failed," Yongguk announced after a moment of silence. "The tower we were in had no Mythos, so we didn't take anything from our side." He looked at Leo. "So I guess your map wasn't as accurate as we thought."

"I got the Sleef right here," Leo said. He tossed Yongguk the small pouch, surprising him.

"And I got a little something for you, too, Leo," Suzy said. She grabbed Leo's coat and forced him around, then punched his face.

Leo tumbled backwards a bit and was caught by Sunmi while Taeyeon stepped aside to avoid holding his fall. Leo rubbed his sore cheek as Suzy stared down at him, shaking off her fist.

"Even though I like you, it doesn't mean you can kiss me wherever and whenever you want," Suzy said. "I love you because you respect me and I respect you. Don't ruin that for me, understand?"

Leo didn't say anything. Yongguk let out a small sigh before he looked into the pouch. The Sleef glimmered. He could tell that it was a real Kreo because the gem itself was pumping softly like a bird's heart. Yongguk glanced up at Leo.

"I'm surprised you managed to get the Sleef," Yongguk said.

"I would've gotten the Corolla if I had the time. I was only a few seconds too late," Leo mumbled. "I miscalculated. Sorry."

"That's fine. One is better than none," Yongguk said. He looked at the Sleef in the light. "It's best if one of us uses it, don't you think, Leo?"

"It's much safer for someone to use it rather than placing it somewhere where someone can steal it like the Academy," Leo agreed.

"Who do you recommend wears it?"

"Up to you," Leo suggested, "but I don't want it." 

He turned away.

"Where are you going?" Yongguk asked.

"To paint," Leo said. "Don't bother me. I did what I was told to do and now I want to paint. My cheek hurts, too, so leave me alone to recover."

He started to leave the living room. The group could hear him climb up the stairs. Suzy whirled around and bowed towards the rest.

"If you'll excuse me, I want to rest as well." She gave everyone an irritated grin. "I'm not in the best mood after what happened earlier, so don't bother me unless you want me to break your neck."

She flipped her hair in the air and skipped away.

Yongguk glanced around the room, checking to see who was left. He first looked at Taeyeon.

"Don't give it to me. The Sleef might ruin my ability," Taeyeon pointed out. She took a step back.

He looked at Sunmi, who shook her head. Yongguk sighed and looked at Sujeong and Jangjun.

His eyes finally rested on the injured girl. "Sujeong. You take it."

"Me?" Sujeong said.

Jangjun protectively extended his arm in front of her. "I'll take it for her—"

"No. I asked Sujeong to take it because her emotions are much more stable than yours," Yongguk said. "Take it. Wear it. Protect it."

Sujeong stared at the red gem in the pouch. Then, with a small nod, she took the gem out of the pouch and tied the necklace around her neck. She blinked and stared down at the red stone in awe.

"I don't feel any different," Sujeong remarked.

"It takes a while for the gem to recognize you as the new Keeper," Yongguk explained. "Approximately ten minutes. Keep wearing it, and things should start taking an effect." He looked at Jangjun. "Look after her. Let us know if something seems wrong."

"But—"

"Do you dare defy my orders?" 

Jangjun backed down. "No, sir. I'll keep an eye on Sujeong."

"Good." He looked at Taeyeon and Sunmi. "You two. I want to discuss something with you."

They nodded and followed him into a different room.

Jangjun sighed and looked at Sujeong, who seemed awfully calm. She continued to stare at the Sleef with emotionless eyes.

"Doesn't it hurt?" he asked, pointing to her wound.

"Yeah," she said.

"You don't look like you're hurt."

"It's not so bad."

"Normal people would be crying in pain. They got you pretty good," he remarked.

Sujeong's mind went towards Seokmin. Her cheeks began to color—something that Jangjun had never seen before.

"Yeah," she mumbled, "they did."

Has it been ten minutes yet? Is the Sleef starting to take effect? But it's only been a minute, he thought to himself. An uneasy feeling started to creep up in his chest, but he didn't dare to point out the unfamiliar shy expression she had on her face.