"So why did Jieun tell us that we're actually doing the Deviation Ceremony?" Seokmin asked Yuna and Jungkook as they walked to the location of the ceremony. "We never did the Deviation Ceremony because she kept saying that it's a waste of time."

"Something must have happened," Yuna muttered.

"Maybe she needed more time to hide Seungho. Since she's not in contract with him, she can't use his object form or command him to go back, so it's likely that she needed extra time to set up something," Jungkook suggested.

"Wait, but isn't this the perfect time for us to expose her as the Keeper of the Kreo? If the Academy sees her with Seungho, then that just proves that she has the Kreo!" Seokmin exclaimed.

"The problem is that we don't know where the physical object is," Jungkook reminded him. "You said that Yuna and the doctor could've find anything on her except for marks on her body. That means that she might have really eaten the Kreo and if she did, we still need to figure out how to get it out." He looked ahead. "Besides, it's easier for us to just have her by our side as an Instructor so that she doesn't feel the need to run away. If we declare that she's the Keeper of the Kreo without obtaining the Kreo, then she might use Junki to escape."

Seokmin nodded at this reason and continued to follow Jungkook until they arrived at the location.

All three of the Instructor's students were waiting in the room. Yuna closed the door behind them and Jungkook stared at everyone. The girls squealed and gushed when they saw Jungkook and even waved at Seokmin, who smile back. Their smiles faded when Yuna stepped forward and glared at them.

"Well, well, well," Hyunbin said, smirking. "Looks like you lot finally showed up."

"I didn't think I would see you three here," Jungkook responded. "I thought you were assigned a secret mission with your Instructor. Shouldn't you have left by now?"

"This is possible going to be our last Deviation Ceremony," Hyunbin said. He crossed his arm and cocked his head. "There must be a reason why our team was assigned this top secret mission instead of yours... Maybe it's because we're better than you?"

Jungkook glared and took out his sword. He was about to strike him until Yuna forcibly pulled him back. She glared at him and silently gestured him to behave. He gritted his teeth and put away his sword.

"Now, now! Let's not fight," Seokmin exclaimed. "This is our first Deviation Ceremony that we're attending, so just let us know if we need to do anything to prepare for it."

"So why did you guys skip the first two Deviation Ceremony?" Eunwoo asked.

"Our Instructor thought it was stupid."

"And the third one isn't?" Eunwoo raised an eyebrow.

"Uh... I think it's because we're going to be cooperating with another team, so she wanted us to get chummy with them," Seokmin lied. He quickly turned to Kihyun's teammates. "Hi! I don't think we know each other too closely. I'm—"

"We know who you are," said the sole girl of the team. She had an iconic dull silver hair with dark spooky eyes. She lowered her head and curtsied. "My name is Kim Yoohyeon, rank ten. These are my teammates: Kim Yugyeom, rank eleven, and Choi Byungchan, rank twelve."

"Oh wow. On top of us being assigned the top secret mission, you're collaborating with the worst Mythos Hunter team," Hyunbin mocked. He cackled. "Isn't that just sad?"

Jungkook closed his eyes and inhaled through his nose. He was holding himself back from pummeling the proud boy. 

Yuna narrowed her eyes at Hyunbin. "Wow, was that supposed to belittle us? Because if anything, I can tell everyone in this room exactly how you acted when you just saw our Instructor for the first time: 'M-M-M-Monster!'"

She pretended to act scared, earning a small chuckle from Jungkook and a laugh from Seokmin. Hyunbin's ears turned red and he only glared at Yuna. Yuna smirked and exchanged high-fives with Seokmin.

"I was only afraid of your Instructor because I thought she was going to seduce me like she did with Seokmin," Hyunbin fired back.

Seokmin widened his eyes. "I'm not dating Jieun! I swear!"

"Yeah, he's not dating her," Jungkook quickly added. "So stop spreading weird rumors, alright?"

"I think it's amazing," Byungchan said, smiling.

"That there's a rumor about me dating Jieun?" Seokmin frowned in confusion.

"No, that you're close with your Instructor to the point where people are suspecting you two of dating," he said. "We're not close with our Instructor at all."

"Kihyun's a... particularly distant Instructor," Yoohyeon said, trying to find the right words.

"He hates us because we're weak," Yugyeom blurted. The words hurt the two, but they were true. 

"Yeah, honestly, it doesn't seem like you guys got any stronger since the last time we saw you," Seokmin pointed out. He looked at Yoohyeon. "Even at the Evaluation, Yuna mentioned how you hesitated a lot more than you normally would."

Yoohyeon let out a small fake laugh. "Yes, well, when you have Kihyun as an Instructor, it's quite stressful…"

"Kihyun is stressful? You should see P.O," Miyeon said. "He's crazy. Every mission we go with him, he has to blow something up."

"Our Instructor was nice at first, but after retrieving the Sleef, he's been kind of out of it," Jinsol mentioned.

Chaeyeon gave Jungkook a sweet smile. "So how is your Instructor like, Jungkook?"

Jungkook blinked. What was Jieun like? At times she seemed to take risk, but at other times, it seemed like she was acting reckless. Sometimes she seemed quite funny and cheerful, but other times she had a murderous glare that made shivers run down his spine. He had seen so many different personalities from her, he didn't know which one was truly her "face." Hanna crossed his mind for a brief moment, but when he thought about Leo, he thought about how sad and lonely she seemed, especially when she witnessed the enemy kissing Suzy.

It feels like the more I'm getting to know her, the more I don't know her at all, he thought.

Yuna quickly noticed that Jungkook wasn't in the mood to talk. She cleared and crossed her arms.

"Jieun is just an average Instructor," she announced. "You saw her fight with the other Instructors. There's nothing special about her."

"Oh right. Wasn't she the one who also forced herself to be out?" Jiho asked. "Why did she do that?"

Before anyone could answer, the doors opened, revealing the Instructors in their uniforms. Jieun, in particular, had a very proud smile as she stepped into the room. She looked up and smiled.

"My students!" she exclaimed. She opened her arms to hug her students. Yuna frowned and Seokmin held his arms wide open while Jungkook wasn't sure whether to accept her upcoming embrace or not.

However, instead of hugging her students, she passed by the three and went over to Kihyun's students. She threw her hands over Yoohyeon, Yugyeom and Byungchan, who widened their eyes in surprise.

"Um, I know you were sleeping for a long time, but we're your students," Seokmin said awkwardly.

"Not for this mission!" Jieun exclaimed. She grinned. "Kihyun and I have decided to switch students for this mission!"

They all looked at Kihyun. Kihyun sighed.

"She insisted," he said. "I didn't see any harm with it."

"Why?" Jungkook asked a bit too quickly. "Why are we switching Instructors for this mission?"

Jieun held her smile and pointed at her chest as if she was pointing at something near her chest. The three immediately realized that she was probably talking about Seungho's invisible arrow that was aiming for her chest.

"My heart feels like this is the right thing to do," she lied. "After all, everyone in the Academy has told me how Kihyun was supposed to look over you three, so I figured that it would be best for us to do that for this mission."

"So are we walking with Kihyun for the Deviation Ceremony?" Yuna asked.

"No, you'll still be walking with me," she said, "but as soon as we leave the gates, you will be reporting to Kihyun's orders."

"Are you sure that this is a good idea?" Kyungsoo asked her.

"I know what I'm doing." She fixed her hat. "So we just need to walk out and listen to the Head Master's stupid speech before we head out, right?"

"The Head Master's speech is not stupid," Kihyun said sharply. "He is wise and all-knowing."

Jieun faked a laugh. "That's something stupid people would say."

Kihyun narrowed his eyes. "I can't wait to let you babysit my students."

"And I can't wait until you take care my students and realize that you're just a bad Instructor." She snorted and walked over to her students.

As the Instructors started to speak to their respective groups, Jieun pulled the three aside and started to whisper.

"Okay, I figured out what we're going to do with Seungho," she whispered, "but I'm going to need your help throwing Kihyun off."

"Is that why we're switching Instructors?" Seokmin inquired.

"Partially. Apparently Seungho heard something that Kihyun said and I think he was implying for me to protect Kihyun's students. I don't know, he said something about how Kihyun was going to commit a crime and I'm not sure what he was trying to get me to do, but I think that if I protect Kihyun's students from him before the next full moon, then I get to live." Jieun took a deep breath. "I know that out of that group, Kihyun has the sharpest senses, so if he thinks that someone is following the group, then you need to do your best to convince him otherwise."

"Wait, wait, wait," Yuna said quickly. "How exactly did you deal with Seungho?"

Jieun pressed her lips. "That, uh, is a great question that thankfully has a great answer: He's just going to follow us at a distance."

"What?" Seokmin cried out. He earned the attention of the others in the room. Jieun faked a loud life and slapped Seokmin's chest a couple of times, but stopped when people were growing suspicious.

Jieun closed her eyes for a brief moment then sighed. "Okay, in my defense, there's not much that I can do! Normally I would make them turn into their object form, but I can't do that unless we form a contract. If he was smaller, I would've made him run around in his animal form, but as we all saw, he's freaking huge. I tried disguising him as an Instructor, but he kept saying that it was dishonest and deceitful and refused to do so."

"So where is he now?" Jungkook asked.

"He's around... somewhere. I have Junki keeping an eye out on him, so don't worry."

"So Junki is running around in his human form, too?" Seokmin asked.

"You know that Kihyun is going to notice," Yuna argued.

"That's why," Jieun repeated, "I need you three to distract him and to assure him that his senses are dull and whatnot. I can lead his students astray but I know that Kihyun is going to be a much difficult target." She patted their shoulders. "So be good kids and do as he says, okay? The more you defy and agitate him, the more he's going to notice that things are suspicious."

"It's time," Kyungsoo announced, checking his watch. He looked at Jieun. "You'll lead your team out first. Think you can handle it?"

She snorted. "I've handled so much worse than this. I would be offended if you thought that I wouldn't be able to walk my teammates out to hear a little speech."

She started to walk pass him, but he grabbed her arm. "Be careful. After we step out those gates, I won't be able to help you until I get back from my mission, and I don't know how long that would be."

Jieun's eyes turned cold. "Of course. I got it."

Kyungsoo didn't seem to like her expression. He let her go and she continued to walk forward. Jungkook was about to pass him, but Kyungsoo stopped him by touching his shoulder.

"Watch over her," he requested. Before Jungkook had the chance to respond, Kyungsoo walked away to get his own students in order.

They heard a loud muffled announcement from outside the doors. The doors widened and they could hear members of the Academy cheering for them. Jieun fixed her cap and adjusted her cape before she walked out. The rest of the Mythos Hunters followed her steps, holding a dignified and proper posture.

Moments later, they all stopped in front of Jaejoong, Gain and Yesung. The Instructors were standing at the front row while their students stood behind them. Jaejoong smiled warmly and stared down at all of them. Gain and Yesung, as usual, remained a dulled and blank expression as they barely held their gaze at the Mythos Hunters.

Jungkook's eyes wandered around until he saw two familiar figures standing at a distance, hiding behind some trees that survived the attack. At first, he ignored the figures, but his eyes darted back and slightly widened when he recognized who it was. Seungho and Junki were standing awfully still in their animal forms, watching the Deviation Ceremony take place.

They're not even trying to hide! Jungkook cried out in his head. He looked over at Seokmin and Yuna, who seemed to have noticed Seungho's and Junki's presence. He looked at Jieun and wanted to warn her, but he knew that touching her shoulders or opening his mouth would bring attention to him. Besides, he was already at the center of attention with all the girls ogling him, so there wasn't a way for him to warn Jieun subtly.

He stared at her, hoping that he would somehow telepathically warn her about the creatures. Then, he glanced down and noticed that her fingers were forming a small "OK" sign. She continued to flex her fingers, pretending that she was just nervously exercising them while her eyes stared straight ahead at the Instructor. His heart eased a little, but he kind of wished that she would have turned to tell him or at least whispered to him.

His eyes softened as he looked at her back figure. Since when did her hair grow to her shoulders? He wondered why she didn't cut her hair. Maybe she was growing it out? It seemed like she trimmed a little, or maybe the nurse trimmed her hair when she was asleep. 

"Jungkook, what are you doing?" Yuna whispered to him.

He stopped himself when he noticed that he was about to reach out to touch Jieun's hair. Blushing furiously, he quickly jerked back his hand and placed it behind his back. 

"I-I saw a bug," he lied. "It's gone now."

Yuna narrowed her eyes. "You know, recently—"

"Welcome to the Deviation Ceremony!" Jaejoong announced. "I thank each and every one of you for contributing to our great cause. Without you, it would have been impossible to achieve our goals…"

As Jungkook looked up to meet Jaejoong's eyes, he felt his words sink in his mind. He listened to every single word of his speech, feeling like it was drawing him away from his own thoughts. As usual, he thought Jaejoong's words held truth, that the Head Ministry was right for sending him on a dangerous mission like this one.

"And don't forget," Jaejoong continued, finishing his speech. He looked down at all the Mythos Hunters with a glint in his eyes, "about your mission."

Jungkook gulped. He knew what his mission was: to find where Jieun is keeping the Kreo. It was like Jaejoong was reminding him why he was assigned with Yuna and Seokmin to Jieun. Jungkook only made a small nod along with the rest as the gates opened for them to leave. 

"And with that, I bid you all goodbye," Jaejoong said. 

The Instructors turned to lead the students out of the Academy.

"He's quite pale, isn't he?" Jieun whispered. Jungkook furrowed his eyebrows, unsure of who she was talking about. He looked back at the Kreo creatures, who were gone from their hiding place.

As soon as they walked out, the gates closed behind them. They were welcomed by four carriages.

Kyungsoo turned around. "I guess this is officially a goodbye. Good luck on your missions and stay alive. My team, let's go!"

P.O grinned. "Don't die! Bye!"

The two teams left in a blink of an eye.

Jieun turned and looked at Kihyun. "Ready to switch teams?"

"Good luck with mine." Kihyun snorted.

"I'm sure they're better than what I had to deal with," she said, walking over to her new teammates. "Let's go! We have lots to talk about!"

She climbed in one carriage and gestured Kihyun's students to climb in. They exchanged an awkward look before they did as she said. Kihyun walked into the second carriage and the three followed. 

The moment they closed the door on the carriage, they heard a loud thud! on top of the carriages. Kihyun narrowed his eyes and got up.

"What was that—"

"S-Sit back down!" Yuna shouted as Jungkook forced him to sit down. 

"But there's something—"

"I-I get sick if you move the carriage around, so stay down!" Seokmin quickly added.

Kihyun frowned. "You? Really?"

"Motion sickness," he said. "It's a real thing."

Kihyun narrowed his eyes. "I'm just going to stick my head out and—"

He stopped when Jieun's face popped through their window. She beamed and panted slightly, showing signs that she had ran out of her carriage to visit theirs.

"Hey! Sorry. Did I bang on the carriage too loudly?" Jieun asked. "I was just telling you guys that we're going to be departing."

"Well, you should've warned us! You know that Seokmin has motion sickness," Yuna lied.

"Oh, right! Sorry, Seokmin!" Jieun turned to Kihyun. "Kihyun, would you be a dear and watch over Seokmin? Keep your eye on him and just make sure that he feels better."

She gave him a thumbs up and walked back to her carriage. Kihyun crossed his arms and sighed.

The carriage started to move. The entire ride was filled with silence. Seokmin pretended that he couldn't speak much do to motion sickness, but he was keeping an eye out for any sight of the Kreo creatures out the window. Yuna kept glancing at Jungkook, watching him to see if there was anything she should do, but Jungkook only stared out the window. Kihyun continued to cross his legs and calmly placed his hands over his knees, remaining awfully still despite the carriage moving around so much.

They traveled in silence for about two weeks. While it was quiet, no one really felt awkward to the point where they felt like they had to start a conversation. When they received news that they would arrive at the rumored village in a few hours, Kihyun finally decided to speak up:

"Your Instructor is very…strange," Kihyun mentioned. "Have you noticed that about her?"

"Strange? Why?" Jungkook asked him. He wondered why Kihyun started talking. He had never uttered a word since they had left and it didn't seem likely that he would talk about Jieun. He had expected the Instructor to give him and his friends a mission, not a question.

"Have you seen her fight?" he asked them.

"We have. A lot of times. Why?" Yuna inquired.

"Has she spoken about her past?" 

"Not…really," Yuna said.

Jungkook frowned. Why is he interrogating us? Does he not trust us?

"Her personality is striking," Kihyun told them.

Seokmin stared. "Instructor Kihyun, do you like Jieun?"

Jungkook felt his stomach flip.

"No, that's not it. I'm trying to say that your Instructor has a very particular style," he said. "I fought with her once. You all saw the Instructors at the recent evaluations right? When I was fighting her, I realized that our fighting style is quite similar."

"Was it?" Seokmin asked, furrowing his eyebrows. "You fight more with stealth and she fights more…carelessly."

"That's not what I meant." He looked at them with serious eyes. "Tell me, has your Instructor revealed that she had killed someone?"

The three didn't say a word.

"You're saying that you think she killed someone after fighting with her once?" Seokmin asked.

"Correct." He gave them a nonchalant look. "She fights like me: for survival and for any cost."

* * *

Jieun bursted into laughter as she listened to Byunchan's stories back when he was a mere student growing up in the Academy. She wiped away a tear that managed to slip out and held onto her stomach with one arm.

"I can't believe… I can't believe you did that!" She wheezed and laughed.

"Right? We were all being little kids back then," Byungchan said nostalgically. "Well, it ended as soon as someone tried to throw a tomato at Jungkook. Of course, Jungkook managed to catch the tomato and crushed it with his hands. I mean, it's not hard to crush a tomato, but with his level of prestige and the overflowing confidence, he just made it seem like everyone else should stop the food fight and actually train."

"Aw, boo! How lame," Jieun whined. 

Yoohyeon, Yugyeom and Byungchan chuckled. Unlike the other group, Jieun had gotten quite friendly with her new temporary students. They were clearly thrilled to have her as their Instructor over Kihyun. They shared several stories with her, especially about their team and about the past. As always, she enjoyed listening to their tales, especially if Jungkook, Yuna and Seokmin were mentioned.

After all their laughters died down, Yoohyeon pressed her lips and looked at Jieun carefully.

"Instructor Jieun, I have a question that I'd like to ask."

"Ask away," she said.

"Can you tell us how life was at the Academy when you were a student?" she asked. Jieun held her smile, but it no longer felt like she was actually smiling about the matter. "I know that it's a very sensitive subject, but it's just something that we're curious about. We heard a little bit about the past from Instructor Kyungsoo, but he wasn't in the old system for long. He said that you would have more details about it, but we just never had the chance to talk to you."

Jieun kept silent. She looked at everyone, who were curious about the past. Then, she held up three fingers.

"Okay, but I'll only tell you three things. Give me three questions—one from each of you—and I will answer about the past," Jieun said.

They looked at each other eagerly before trying to come up with a question.

"Okay, I have one," Yugyeom said. "How was the training system like?"

Jieun laughed. "Oh, it was brutal. I've seen some of the other students practice, and it's nothing compared to what I had to go through. We didn't even have warm showers either. We'd wake up, eat, train, then eat lunch, train some more, eat dinner, train, and then sleep for a couple of hours before waking up again to repeat the entire process. Training was tough, though. If you couldn't keep up, you would be severely punished. Competition was worse because people would literally beat each other up so that it would hinder their evaluation scores. You had to survive in the Academy while training to survive outside of it."

"So did you kill anyone?" he asked.

"I said one question per person," she said.

"Right…"

"Then I'll ask that," Yoohyeon said. "Did you kill anyone?"

"I didn't kill anyone in the Academy. I could've, but I didn't. Besides, I was ranked first in the physical exams. No one dared to sabotage me," she said. She turned to Byungchan. "Well, sir, it looks like you have the last question."

"Ask her about her past training methods" Yugyeom told him.

"Ooh! Ask her about how she maintained the top!" Yoohyeon suggested.

"No, I got something better," Byungchan said. "We've all heard the story of why you were kicked out of the Academy. They said that you were engaged and that your lover was found dead." Jieun stiffened. "You said that you didn't kill anyone in the Academy. Then who killed your lover?"

Jieun remained awfully silent. The words were in , but they refused to come out. Her mind went completely blank as she reminisced the memory of finding a young Leo laying down in bed, completely blue and his body—somehow—stiffly relaxed. She could literally see the cracks etched in the cup that he had dropped after consuming the poisonous tea. She could remember slowly approaching him, calling his name, shaking him and hoping that he would wake up from his eternal deep sleep before the members of the Academy barged in and dragged her away.

"I thought he killed himself because of me," she said in a cold tone. "Turns out, he was alive after all."

It took a few seconds for the three to process what she had just said.

"Wait, so your lover is alive?" Yugyeom asked. "Doesn't that mean you were wrongly accused and kicked out for no reason?"

"Doesn't this mean that you can get back with your lover?" Yoohyeon asked. She gasped. "It sounds quite romantic, if you ask me. You know, you thought he was dead and he thought he lost you, but then you two reunited and then…"

"Romantic?" Jieun scoffed. "Right. Romantic."

Yoohyeon instantly sealed her lips. "I-I apologize."

"…We should take a break," Jieun said. "Actually, I'll just walk back to the inn. You guys go on."

She pulled her hand out the window and waved for the carriage to stop. The vehicles stopped moving and she stepped outside. Everyone else started to climb out of the carriage while she headed into the forest.

"Why did we stop?" Kihyun asked. "I thought we were going to go for another hour."

"I…I think I made her mad," Yoohyeon said.

Kihyun glared at her. "Mad? Of course you did."

"What did you say?" Seokmin asked.

"We were talking about her past—"

"She talked to you guys about her past?" Jungkook asked.

"Y-Yes, and we were talking about the person she was engaged to when she was an Academy student," Yoohyeon continued.

"I asked her who killed her lover and it seems like he killed himself," Byungchan said. "But it turns out that he's alive! It just seems like she doesn't have any fond memories of him…"

They must've been talking about Leo, Jungkook realized.

"She said that we should just head over to the inn first," Yugyeom said. "I think that's a good idea. I'm tired."

"Agreed," Kihyun said. "If Jieun wants to tire herself more here, then let her. We'll head to the inn first."

"I'll go after her," Seokmin said. "I know how to cheer her up—"

"Wait, I'll go," Jungkook said. "You two head towards the inn with Kihyun."

"But you always say the wrong stuff—"

"You guys go ahead," he said, walking into the forest.

Seokmin looked at Yuna who only shrugged her shoulders. She entered the vehicle again and so did the others, leaving the two behind.

* * *

Jungkook wandered around the forest, but it didn't take long for him to find Jieun. He was about to call her, but she seemed like she was having an argument. He crept closer to hear the conversation while remaining hidden.

"…ike I said, if you really don't think that I'm fit to be the Keeper of the Kreo, then why don't you just kill me already?"

Jungkook felt his whole body freeze when he heard those words from Jieun's mouth. She glared furiously at Seungho, who stood in front of her with no intention to move from his position. While Seungho was in his human form, Junki remained in his animal form.

"I am giving you an opportunity to prove to me that you are worthy of such power," Seungho reminded her. "Do not think that this is being done for you. I am doing this to help me make a better judgement."

"So you're threatening my life to help you decide whether or not you want to kill me?" she yelled.

"You are upset. Talking about this man makes you upset."

"Leo? Yeah. I hate talking about him. He's the one who made me this way!"

"You are irrational. Full of violence. Like I thought, you do not deserve the Kreo," Seungho said. 

"Then why did you give me the chance to prove that I can?" she whispered. She seethed her teeth in anger. 

"Because I have to give you a fair trial or witness you commit a crime."

"So you want to see me kill someone? Consider it done."

"I want to see if you can make a righteous call," Seungho said. He frowned. "You are a difficult human to deal with. My Kreo creator was not like this."

Jieun groaned. She turned around and noticed Jungkook standing in the distance. He jolted at his spot and slowly appeared from his hiding spot.

"Why are you here?" she asked him.

"I... Well, I followed you," he said. "The others already left. I thought that I could talk to you and maybe cheer you up."

"Really? You? I thought Seokmin was going to come because he's a lot better at being empathetic than you," she said, not meaning to offend him.

"Well, I just came to check up on you." He almost glared at Seungho as he extended his arm in front of her. "It looks like you're bothering her. Why do you keep provoking her?"

Seungho raised an eyebrow. Jieun stared at him, then let out a small giggle. A sudden wave of embarrassment rushed through his head as he felt his face turn red. He wasn't sure why he was feeling embarrassed, but he didn't understand why it seemed like Jieun was laughing at him.

"Aw, how cute," she said, patting his head. He flinched, but he didn't move away. "You're like a little knight coming to my rescue."

"S-Stop," he stuttered, brushing away her hand.

"Sorry. It's just cute, that's all," she told him. She looked at Seungho. "We will finish our conversation at another time. Continue hiding." She extended her hand. "The Keeper of the Kreo, summoning: The Gumiho."

Hanna appeared behind Jieun and bowed. "Kang Hanna the Gumiho, Nine-Tailed Fox, reporting for duty."

"I'm going to take Junki and he's going to get me and Jungkook to the inn," she said. "I'll need you to keep an eye on Seungho. We're heading towards our destination. It's just a straight road from here, so there shouldn't be any trouble finding it. In the case you do have a hard time, feel free to return to the Kreo."

"I shall obey your orders," Hanna said respectfully. She narrowed her eyes at Seungho, who only frowned at her.

"Junki! Let's go," Jieun said. She climbed on the horse and gestured Jungkook to get on. He hesitated for a minute, remembering how his skin burned when he rode on the winged horse. Realizing that he seemed hesitant, she smiled. "Don't worry. He'll go slow enough so that your skin won't burn."

After a moment of thinking, Jungkook finally nodded and got on the horse. She then commanded Junki to start flying. He galloped on the ground for a few minutes before spreading his wings, taking off into the dark sky.

As soon as the three were gone, Hanna turned around and saw Seungho walking at a different direction. She growled.

"Where are you going?" she asked him.

"I am going to explore around this area." Seungho made a stern expression. "I have a sense that something is not right here and I want to explore the situation."

Hanna stared at him. "You are to report to the Keeper of the Kreo, not to wander around."

"Incorrect," he said. "You are to report to the Keeper of the Kreo." He smirked. "I do not."

He walked in one direction, placing his hands behind his back as if he was an old man taking a stroll. Hanna growled, then transformed into her animal form as she followed him carefully.