Jieun opened her eyes when a leaf hit her face. She groggily opened her eyes, grumbling quietly to herself. She glanced down at a small shrub that magically grew in front of her. The leaves spiraled as the buds bloom, revealing itself to be a rhododendron—a symbol of danger.

She got up, fully awake. The flower returned to its root, disappearing like it had never been there in the first place. She was about to leave until she remembered that she was with three of her students. Biting her bottom lip, she looked at all three's conditions. They were still sleeping, recovering from what had happened last night.

Maybe I should head towards the danger, Jieun thought, looking at the side where the flower was moments ago. She frowned. But I don't know how strong the enemy is or how many there are…

Jungkook slowly woke up and saw Jieun's troubled expression. He was about to get up, but he felt a sharp pain striking his head. He groaned, alerting Jieun. She whirled around, then grimaced when she saw him grab his head.

"Jungkook, how are you feeling?" Jieun asked, kneeling next to him. Her words seemed to have woken up Yuna and Seokmin. The two stirred in their sleep before opening their eyes. 

Seokmin widened his eyes and looked around. "W-Where are we?"

"When did we come outside?" Yuna murmured.

"Can you guys run?" Jieun asked. Yuna nodded, but Seokmin flinched when he tried to move his legs up. Jieun frowned. "Your legs are swollen. Jungkook can hardly stay up. I can't have Yuna carry any of you two."

"What's wrong?" Yuna asked.

"Something's coming, but I don't know what," Jieun explained. She frowned, then stood up. Taking a deep breath, she extended her hand outward and said, "The Keeper of Kreo, summoning: The Chollima."

The same white glow appeared in front of her. In seconds, that white glow took a human form, revealing the familiar man who had saved the trio yesterday. Jungkook could instantly recognize that he was the guy who brought him out of the building. The man with the one-eyed mask swiftly kneeled on one knee and lowered his head.

"Lee Junki the Chollima, Thousand-Feet Horse. Reporting for duty."

Jungkook shuddered. There was something odd about him. Compared to Hanna, he was softer, a lot more quieter. Rather than acting by impulse, he seemed to be more cautious and aware of his surroundings. The longer Jungkook stared at his back, the more he couldn't help but think that he was…

Lonely. Jungkook finished his thoughts and gulped.

"I've been told that danger is approaching us. Can you turn to your animal form and scout the area? Report to me as soon as possible," Jieun instructed. Junki didn't nod. He got up, closed his eyes, and transformed into a majestic black horse with large wings. With upmost grace, he flapped his wings, soaring up to the sky before straightening them like a hawk, soaring through the sky.

"What was that?" Seokmin cried out, his eyes lighting up. "I didn't know they could turn into animals!"

"They have various forms," Jieun said, smiling at him. "They have their human form, but they wear traditional clothings, so it's hard for them to wander around with us because they'll stand out. They have their animal forms, but these forms have traits that show that they aren't exactly the animals we think they are. Like, Hanna transforms into a fox, but she has nine-tails. Junki transforms into a horse, but he has wings. If I want to use their powers for myself, they'll transform into something that I can wear so that I can borrow their powers."

"Like Hanna as a scarf?" Jungkook asked.

"Bingo."

A second later, the horse returned. It circled in the sky for a few moments before swiftly gliding down and landing in front of her. Junki transformed to his human form and kneeled once again.

"That was so fast," Seokmin whispered.

"It seems like there's a girl with strange powers coming towards us," Junki said. "It won't be long until she's here."

Jieun paused and tapped on her lips. "Okay. Is she strong?"

"I can't tell, but she definitely has an unusual ability," Junki explained.

"This is troubling," Jieun said with a sigh.

"Can we ride the horse?" Seokmin asked, still keen about the Kreo's beast form. Junki gave him a deep frown while Jieun gave him an innocent smile.

"Yeah, if you want your whole body and existence to burn up in seconds," Jieun said. Seokmin paled. "Junki has incredible speed. Alone he can travel an incredible distance within seconds. If he has someone ride on him, he speed will degenerate a person's skin and basically burn them up and kill them."

"What if he goes slowly?" Yuna asked.

"That's possible, but it'll be difficult for him to carry four people. He's not very strong. Even yesterday, he had to carry you all one by one."

"In the perfect scenario, you would be able to summon more of us, but you can't," Junki said to Jieun. He eyed at her carefully, reading her expression. She only smiled at him.

"And in the perfect scenario, you would be able to carry us to safety," Jieun said. She paused, then snapped her fingers. "Oh, we can do that." She looked at Junki. "Be my mask."

Junki hesitated. "Last night, Hanna said that she wanted you to use us more as ourselves…"

"I know what she said. This can be a secret between us," Jieun said.

Junki paused. Then, he closed his eyes. His body glowed for a moment, transforming into a mask that covered half of her face. She looked over at Jungkook, Yuna and Seokmin, who stared at her, surprised.

"You three stay here," Jieun said. "If I don't come back in five minutes, start running."

She looked at a specific direction, then started running ahead at an incredible speed. A strong breeze passed by the trio, almost blowing them away. They clung onto the grass and tree until the wind died down. 

There was a moment of silence, then Seokmin groaned.

"I wish I ate the Kreo! It's so cool!" Seokmin exclaimed. He took out a notebook from his back pocket and began to write. 

Yuna frowned. "What are you doing?"

"I'm taking notes, duh. I can't afford to not write about this," he said.

"I wish it was your hand that was injured instead of your leg," she muttered.

The three waited, keeping track of the time and preparing themselves for anything that may happen.

* * *

Taeyeon stopped abruptly when she saw a familiar figure standing not too far from her. She stomped the iron, using the spikes to stop her run. Taeyeon panted a little, clutching the oval communicator in her hands. She glanced at it, trying to see if a message had come through or not.

Nothing.

She looked back at Jieun, who seemed to feel indifferent about the situation. After Taeyeon recomposed herself, she straightened her back and stared straight ahead.

"You are the Keeper of the Kreo, yes?" Taeyeon asked.

"Is that a question that I am obligated to answer?" Jieun replied.

Taeyeon frowned a little. "Where are your students?"

"Resting. They were left with some babysitters who missed their nap time. I had to punish those babysitters," Jieun said. She eyed at Taeyeon. "I'm assuming that those babysitters were from your company?"

"They were people who would do my biddings."

"Kidnapping and selling girls?"

"I see it as a trade of labor," Taeyeon replied monotonously. She glanced down at her communicator.

Jieun took notice. "What are you looking at?"

"I'm waiting for further instructions," Taeyeon said.

"Oh, so you've told your organization about me already, huh?" Jieun clasped her hands. "Well, I have a proposal for you!"

"A proposal?"

"I want you to turn around and pretend that you never met me here," Jieun told her. Taeyeon frowned, a bit confused. "In exchange, I will fight with you properly when we meet next time."

Taeyeon scoffed. "Do you take me as a fool?"

"Not at all. You see, my students are tired and so am I."

"That's more of a reason for me to capture you right now."

"Well, consider that it wouldn't be a fair fight if you were to attack me right now. I believe we want things to be fair when we meet, don't we?" asked Jieun.

"I just want things to be over quickly," Taeyeon said tiredly. "I cannot move on with my life until I have the Mythos in my hands."

"Okay, fine. Why don't we do this instead? In exchange for you sparing us for the day, I will give you an advice about how to capture the Mythos," Jieun suggested. "I think that seems fair, isn't it?"

"Why do you trust that I will keep my end of the deal?" Taeyeon asked.

"You're Kim Taeyeon, aren't you? A former Academy student. You were in ERA 89. I remember you when I was an Academy student. You might be on the other side now, but I know that you have a very loyal personality. A promise is a promise for you, and I know that you cherish promises…" Jieun's eyes turned cold. "…especially after that incident with your friend."

Taeyeon kept quiet for a few minutes. She looked at Jieun carefully, sensing that she was getting weary of their conversation. At this point, it was a deal-or-no-deal type of situation. She glanced back at her communicator, noticing that she still didn't receive a response. She closed her eyes, then let out a sigh.

"Okay. I will let you off for 24 hours. After that, I can continue my chase." Taeyeon tilted her head. "Does that sound fair?"

Jieun smile pleasantly. "It sounds more than fair."

"So tell me about your little advice."

Jieun cleared . "Tell me about a Mythos and I'll give you advice on it."

Taeyeon raised her eyebrow. "You know where all the Mythos are?"

"Is that question something you want me to answer? If I answer that, you won't be able to get any more advice from me," Jieun said.

Taeyeon thought carefully. She looked at her, trying to see if there was some kind of trick she was hiding in her sleeves. She looked down at her communicator and pressed something. Then, she sighed.

"Like I thought…" Taeyeon started quietly. "…it'll be much easier for me to just take you down now than later."

Jieun stretched her lips. "It's unfortunate that we weren't able to make a deal. Next time, I'll prepare a faster proposal."

From above, a whip of ribbon targeted Jieun. With the mask still on her, Jieun easily dodged the ribbon with the borrowed speed, but noticed that the electric currents would be able to keep up with her. 

This got quite dangerous, Jieun thought as she saw the familiar slender and tall woman standing exactly where she stood seconds ago.

Suzy stretched the wand and the ribbon and tilted her head, grinning at Jieun. "Well, well, well! If it isn't the Keeper of the Kreo! We meet again!"

Jieun narrowed her eyes. "I have a strong distaste for you."

"Our feelings are mutual. That's quite nice," Suzy said. She threw her hand towards her, attempting to strike her. Jieun dashed and jumped against the tree, bouncing off of it and landed on a branch of another tree as the lighting the bark. 

If it's these two, then I definitely need to get the kids out of here, Jieun thought. She looked around, checking to see if anyone else would be coming.

"Are you perhaps looking for Leo?" Suzy asked. Jieun flinched. She glared down at Suzy, who smirked. "You know, he never mentioned you before to us. I kept asking him about you after that day." Her smirk faded and her expression darkened. "To be frank, I was annoyed. I knew that he was mysterious, but to hide that he was engaged? I'm not sure if I could forgive him." She grinned. "Well, no matter. I can if he's more honest with me in the future."

"Stop your love talk and bring her down," Taeyeon ordered impatiently.

"I don't see you doing anything," Suzy said to Taeyeon. Her eyes were still on Jieun. She threw her whip up into the trees, but Jieun jumped out just in time. A little bit of the electricity shocked the bottom of her foot. Jieun flinched and landed on the ground, trying to get rid of the fuzziness from her foot. 

Then, Jieun grinned. She let out a soft giggle before it died with a solemn expression on her face. As she got up from the ground and cleaned her cloak, she gave Suzy and cruel glare.

"Well, you can tell him one thing," Jieun said. A white scarf appeared around her neck, changing her eye from brown to blue. "You can tell him that he was better off dead to begin with."

She turned, then ran away with incredible speed, leaving the two women standing. Suzy blinked, then tried to rush after her until Taeyeon stopped her. 

"Wha—" 

Suzy stopped when Taeyeon showed her the instructions on their communicator: DO NOT PURSUE THE KREO.

She scowled heavily and looked at Taeyeon. She crossed her arms and tapped her long nails against her arm.

"I was surprised that you were in the area," Taeyeon said, scrolling through the messages she received a minute ago. "I didn't expect you to send a message so eagerly that you were on your way."

"It was the Keeper of the Kreo. I'd drop everything I was doing to take the Kreo away from her."

"Because you hate her?"

Her nails dug into her skin. Suzy hugged herself tighter, gritting her teeth.

"I don't hate her," Suzy said. "I loathe her." She narrowed her eyes. "I hate that she is the one who could create such an emotion in Leo."

"I didn't see much emotion in him. He seemed to be the same to me," Taeyeon said casually.

"She affects him. I know it. You might not see it, but I do," Suzy sad. She flipped her long luxurious hair then sighed. "Well, no mater for now. Why did Yongguk say to not pursue her? She was right there."

"Probably thought we wouldn't be able to handle it."

"I know I would've."

"You would've killed her."

"And you wouldn't?"

Taeyeon didn't answer. She turned around and headed towards the opposite direction from where Jieun ran. Suzy shook her head and sighed loudly before following Taeyeon to wherever she was heading.

* * *

Just before Jieun arrived to her students, she crashed to the ground and shuddered. Jieun looked at her feet, noticing that it was still feeling the electric currents. She shook her feet and grunted. The mask and the scarf glowed and warped to foot. Junki looked at Jieun's foot for a few seconds while Hanna glared down in anger.

"I can't believe you allowed the Keeper to get hurt like this," Hanna snapped at Junki.

Junki didn't say anything. Instead, he dashed away from where they came, checking to see if they were still following him. He ran back in minutes.

"You look like you'll be fine," Junki said to Jieun. "The two decided to turn around. They won't pursue us for now. It looks like the girl with the ribbon is quite strong. I didn't see her when I was scouting earlier. I'm sorry."

"I-It's fine," Jieun said. She drew her legs together. "How long do you think it's going to be like this?"

"I don't know, but I saw a merchant coming in with a carriage. If he is kind, he may give you a ride."

Jieun nodded. "Fair enough. You can return now."

Junki bowed and disappeared. Hanna remained at her side, frowning.

Jieun tilted her head. "Hanna? I said you can return."

"I should have never let you get caught by the Ministry. Going to the Academy was a mistake," Hanna whispered dishearteningly.

Jieun forced a smile. "It's okay. I'll be fine. Please return now. You'll make me feel anxious."

Hanna nodded. She bowed graciously, glowed, and disappeared like Junki. Jieun took a deep breath. Then, she dragged her foot to her students, who were doing their best to get up and leave. When they saw Jieun, they looked a little bit eased.

"What's going on? Do we have to run?" Seokmin asked.

"No," Jieun said. She threw her hood over her head. "We need to clean ourselves a bit, though."

"Clean ourselves up?" Jungkook repeated, frowning.

"Just give it a couple of minutes."

The three hesitated, but eventually obeyed. They cleaned themselves up, wiping away blood and grime as much as possible. Half an hour later, the four could hear horses clicking towards them. They eventually saw a young man sitting on a carriage with several items in the back, guiding the horses to the city. Jieun quickly rushed towards him. Jungkook looked down, noticing that she was slightly limping.

Did she get hurt? he wondered. He saw no blood from her.

"Pardon me," Jieun said, stopping the merchant. "Will it be possible for you to give me and my students here a ride to the city? The boys were rough-housing and one has a swollen ankle while the other hit his head."

Seokmin and Jungkook stared at Jieun with wide eyes. They couldn't believe what she was saying. She was making them seem like they were dumb little boys who were messing around too aggressively!

The merchant gave her a hesitant expression. "I'm sorry, but these areas are infested with bandits. I can't trust you."

"Then we will swear our protection for you," Jieun said. "The lady here looks weak, but she is skillful with her weapon." 

Yuna gaped at her while Jieun urged her to show the war fan. With a hostile glare, Yuna took out the fan and two small knives from the back of the fan, hitting a nearby tree with upmost precision. The merchant, amused, nodded slowly.

"Well, I don't live in the city. I live just outside of it. If the injuries aren't too bad, I can offer you four to stay at my place. I can't take you to the cities because I don't have plans to go there yet. Is that okay?" 

"That's perfect," Jieun said, smiling. She helped the three get up on their feet and hitch a ride with the merchant, heading towards his little home.

* * *

At the merchant's house, a woman came out with her hands on her hips as she saw the merchant approaching their home. At first, she seemed furious, but when she saw the terrible condition of the young men, her anger seemingly disappeared and she went ahead to cure them in another room.

After settling in, the merchant sat in the kitchen with Jieun and Yuna. The young woman gave them a cup of tea and some snacks to eat.

"I just realized that we never gave you our names," Jieun said. "My name is Jieun. I am an Instructor at the Academy."

"I could tell by your uniform," the man said, nodding. "The only reason I was hesitating was because your clothes were quite…bloody."

Jieun bashfully smiled. "Yes, well, I'm sorry about that. We were ambushed by a group of bandits and I made a clumsy mistake. The boys ended up wrestling afterwards and they got more injured from there."

Yuna stared at Jieun. The Instructor only looked ahead at the man, feigning a smile.

"My name is Cha Sunwoo. This is my younger sister, Yoonji," Sunwoo said. 

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Jieun said. "This is one of my three students, Yuna. The other two are Jungkook and Seokmin."

"So you're all from the Academy, huh?" Sunwoo looked at them with admiration.

"You look like you enjoy seeing people from the Academy," Jieun noted.

"I respect those who came out from the Academy. For the sake of our world, they're doing a lot to protect us. I get frustrated with people who show their disrespect to you," Sunwoo said.

"It happens. We just go on with our lives," Jieun said cooly. She glanced at Yoonji, who continued to cautiously look at them. "You say that there's a lot of bandits around here? I would be worried to leave a young girl like your sister alone."

"The bandits usually stay within the forest. It's easier to ambush people in the dark and when things are crowded. Normally they don't go here, but if they do, I already taught my sister the proper procedure to evade them," Sunwoo explained.

"She seemed quite angry when we first came here," Jieun said.

"My brother always brings people who fake injuries. I can clearly see that they're pretending, but my brother insists on bringing them anyway. They come in and steal what we have and take off." Yoonji sighed. "Forgive me for my attitude. I'm just looking out for my brother, that's all."

"Don't worry. We are good people," Jieun assured her. "Do you mind if I step outside? You have a beautiful plot of land and I'd like to explore a bit."

"By all means!" Sunwoo exclaimed. "Would you like some company?"

Jieun forced a smile. "No thank you. Please look after the boys. Yuna, stay with Jungkook and Seokmin. Let me know how they're doing when I get back from my walk."

Yuna slowly nodded her head, unsure of what her teacher was thinking. Jieun excused herself and carefully walked outside, making sure to cover her body with her cloak. When she was out of the house, Yoonji scowled and crossed her arms.

"She's not all that she seems," Yoonji remarked.

"Now, don't be rude to our guests," Sunwoo scolded her.

"It's true. It's a woman's intuition. She has a lot that she's hiding," Yoonji said. She glanced at Yuna. "You get that feeling, too, right?" Yuna only shrugged her shoulders. "You're very quiet, aren't you?"

"Yoonji," Sunwoo said sharply.

"What? You're giving them hospitality and you're not getting anything out of it," Yoonji argued. "Do you think we can keep paying for these people to eat our food? We're not the richest bunch in this world—"

Clank!

The two siblings looked up and Yuna, who stood with a pouch of coins on the table. Yuna coldly looked at Yoonji.

"Is this enough?" Yuna asked.

Sunwoo became flustered. "No! Keep your money! We can do without it—"

"Take it. We have plenty more," Yuna replied. "The Academy gives us money and they give us more than we can spend." She looked away. "I'll be with my peers. Please do not bother us."

She didn't bother to see Sunwoo or Yoonji nod. Instead, Yuna walked back to Jungkook and Seokmin, who were perfectly patched up. They looked much better than they did hours ago when they had woken up in the morning. Yuna let out a small sigh of relief and smiled as she took a seat on Jungkook's bed.

It was a small room, with two beds and enough room on the floor for maybe two others to sleep. Yuna figured that she would be sleeping on the ground with Jieun while the boys would rest on the beds. 

"How are you feeling?" Yuna asked.

"Better," Jungkook admitted. "Where's Jieun?"

"She's taking a walk outside," Yuna said.

"Honestly, I came out of the Academy thinking that we would do amazing, but look at us!" Seokmin exclaimed. "We're getting beaten up left and right! What was all our training for?"

"We're doing the best we can," Yuna argued.

"No, he's right," Jungkook said. He looked down at his hands shamefully. "You got caught and Seokmin and I failed to fight back. In the end, we really had to rely on Jieun, even though we're supposed to fight her and obtain the Mythos from her. With the way we are right now, how are we going to get something like the Mythos? If we were able to beat those guys, then maybe we would have the chance to get the Mythos."

"But she ate the Mythos, remember?" Seokmin pointed out.

"It could be a bluff," Jungkook said.

"It could be a good bluff, too. Maybe she was saying this to get us to sharpen our skills and focus on other things," Seokmin murmured.

"She's not on our side! She's the enemy," Yuna snapped.

"At this point, we don't really know what she is." Jungkook sighed. "Honestly, I'm not sure what to do…"

"You do whatever you think is right," Yuna told him. "Seokmin and I will follow you as long as we feel that you made the best judgement."

"Still, we should still get on her good side. You know, so that she doesn't have to worry about us getting the Mythos from her," Seokmin suggested. 

"And how do you propose we do that?"

"Oh, I'm already on her good side," Seokmin said. He pointed at the two with his fingers. "You two? You guys have a lot of work to do."

As much as they didn't want to admit it, Seokmin was right. Jieun was very fond of him compared to the two. It was clear that she would lower her guard if Seokmin was around, but tense up when Jungkook or Yuna was with her. 

"Okay, then what would you do?" Jungkook asked, clearly annoyed that Seokmin was right.

"You should go and thank her for saving your butts," Seokmin said.

Yuna scowled. "No way. I'm not doing that. She didn't have to save me. I could've saved myself."

"Says the girl who was playing damsel in distress," Seokmin retorted.

"I messed up, okay? I wasn't playing damsel in distress."

"You said she was taking a walk, right?" Jungkook asked. Yuna nodded. "I'll go find her."

"In your condition?" Yuna cried out.

"I'm a lot better than Seokmin. I heal quickly," he assured her. "Stay here and look after Seokmin. It'll be better for me to go alone."

Yuna sulked but nodded. She watched Jungkook slowly rise from the bed and start walking out. 

Jungkook made sure to avoid Sunwoo and Yoonji. He didn't want to get caught by them and have them insist on him returning to the bed. He stepped outside, noticing that it had become dark. He didn't realize that time had passed by so quickly. It still felt like minutes had passed since he woke up in the forest with a headache.

As he wandered around, he saw Jieun sitting down, resting her back against a large tree. A gentle breeze swooped her hair, caressing it softly before letting it fall. She stared at the dark forest, watching it as if she was on guard duty. As he crept closer, he noticed that she had her leg sprawled out, bared up to her knee. Parts of the foot was severely burned. Her foot would twitch sometimes, causing her to flinch and sweat. She tried to control her breathing and only waited for her foot to return to normal.

"You're hurt," Jungkook said.

She snapped out of her private thoughts and turned her body. She widened her eyes.

"Why are you up? Shouldn't you be resting?" Jieun asked.

"I heal quickly," he replied. He stood next to her and looked down at her foot. "How did this happen?"

"I was clumsy," Jieun said laughing. She tossed the bottom portion of her cloak over the foot. "Nothing to see here."

"Why didn't you ask Yoonji to do something about it?" Jungkook asked.

Jieun blinked, then made a solemn smile. "This isn't something she can easily cure, but don't worry. It'll get better after a few days."

"A few days?"

"Yeah."

"We don't have a 'few days.' We need to get better as soon as possible and head out," Jungkook said. "Ideally, that would be tomorrow."

Jieun laughed. "Honestly, what you three need is more training. The Academy became quite soft, hasn't it? When I was an Academy student, our training was brutal. People were afraid of dying in there." She glanced at him, giving her a cold look. Jungkook shuddered when she made a mischievous smile. "But you're not afraid of dying, aren't you? Or at least, you don't know what it's like to be afraid of dying."

Jungkook slightly paled. Here she was, sitting down next to him. He was looking down at her, but the more he stared down, the more he felt drawn to her unsympathetic brown orbs. He quickly looked away and crossed his arms, trying to remain his cool.

"I'm the number one student in ERA 97," he stated proudly. "I was trained to fight to find the Mythos, even if that means risking my life for it."

"Risking your life and dying for it is different," Jieun said. "When you risk something, you're still hoping that you'll live. When you're dying for something, you're going to do all you can, even if that means death." She smirked and giggled before closing her eyes. "Well, you wouldn't understand until you're in that kind of position. Don't worry. You'll learn about it soon." She looked at him. "So what brings you outside? Fresh air?"

"…I came to say thank you for saving us," Jungkook admitted. "If you didn't appear, we would have been in trouble."

"You should thank Hanna."

"I doubt that she came to save us on her own. Instead of attacking the men, she stalled time until you arrived," Jungkook pointed out.

Jieun didn't say anything else. "Is that all?"

Jungkook opened his mouth, but wasn't sure what to say. He pressed his lips, thinking about something to keep the conversation going.

"The horse…"

"Junki?" Jieun asked. "He's a Chollima."

"Yeah. That." Jungkook frowned. "I thought the Keeper of Kreo could only make and control one Kreo creature."

Jieun laughed. "That's pretty much false. Yes, the Keeper of the Kreo can only make one creature, but control? The Keeper of Kreo cannot control these creatures. They move on their own. As soon as they're summoned, they have free will."

"So they can escape?" Jungkook asked.

"If they wish," Jieun said. She closed her eyes. "But they are not humans, so the more they are outside of the Kreo, the more anxious they will feel."

"So the Keeper of the Kreo can basically torture a Kreo creatures by summoning it and not recalling it."

"No. That wouldn't work because the Kreo creature would kill the Keeper of the Kreo," Jieun explained. "If there is no Keeper, all the creatures are re-summoned back into the Kreo and wait for the next Keeper of the Kreo." She smiled. "But the first Kreo creature you create is most likely to befriend you because you are a reflection of it."

"So does that mean you didn't create Junki and that you aren't controlling him? That he's just doing as you say because you ask for him to do it?" Jungkook inquired.

"I didn't create him. According to Junki, the Keeper of the Kreo before me created me. He told me that he would only follow me because the previous Keeper of the Kreo asked him to look over the next Keeper." Jieun giggled again. "He would never let me know who the previous Keeper was. He just tells me that he does not have very fond memories of him, so I don't bring it up."

Jungkook paused. Once again, he wasn't sure what to say.

"You know what? Rest for today. Rest for tomorrow. On the third day, I'll give you three a bit of training," Jieun told him. "We can't move around until my foot heals and it's going to take a while."

"Training?" Jungkook scoffed. "In your condition?"

"There's a lot that you can learn from me, even if I'm like this," Jieun said. "Go rest."

"Aren't you coming in?" Jungkook asked.

"I'm on guard duty," Jieun said. "I promised protection, didn't I?"

"Yeah, but that was only up to…" He didn't bother to finish. He sighed, knowing that there would be no point to talk to her. He shrugged his shoulders and walked away, heading back to rest and heal.

Author's Note: CLICK HERE to be directed to the Mythos character chart! Beware of spoilers! Link is also in the Foreword of this story.