When the four had returned back to the house that day, Yoonji grew obviously frustrated when she saw their wounds and became strict with nursing them back to health. It took a few days, but they were all much better by the time Sunwoo was ready to travel to the city. He offered them a ride over to the city, but Jieun had refused the offer and told him that they would be taking a different path to the city.

"You're welcome back here any time," Yoonji said a bit reluctantly.

"We will take that into consideration," Jieun replied.

As soon as all four were ready to depart, they pulled over their hoods and began walking away, heading to the city.

A few hours of walking, Jieun stopped her tracks. Her students stopped right behind her, curious of her odd behavior. Then, Jungkook sensed a presence. He looked around, trying to find out what was watching them. Yuna caught onto the situation quickly while Seokmin still stared, confused.

Then, Jieun swiftly grabbed a throwing knife from Yuna's belt and threw it in the shadows of the forest. Once the group heard the knife hit the bark of a tree, they dashed to the direction of the sound. Jieun let out a sigh when she saw a familiar figure sitting before her.

"Instructor Kyungsoo, what are you doing sneaking around like that?" Jieun asked.

Do Kyungsoo seemed a bit peeved that he was caught. He pulled out the throwing knife that had pierced through his coat and locked him to the tree. He examined the knife, recognized that it was Yuna's, and handed it back to Yuna.

"I was exploring the area with my students," Kyungsoo said. He got up from the ground and dusted himself. "I didn't know you were so skilled. I've underestimated you."

"Clearly," Jieun murmured. She extended her hand. "Yuna, can I get three more knives?" 

Yuna hesitated, but she handed three of her weapons. While Jieun kept her eyes on Kyungsoo, she threw the three knives are certain directions in the air.

Minutes later, three more people wearing the same Academy cloak fell from the trees, yelping as they hit the ground in pain. They rubbed their sore bottom and got up, dusting themselves and glaring rudely at Jieun. Their gaze shifted into pure admiration when they saw Jungkook, Seokmin and Yuna standing behind Jieun.

"Introduce yourselves," Jieun ordered. "I'm one of the newer Instructor, so I'm not familiar with everyone."

Kyungsoo huffed. He looked at the three students behind him, who seemed very keen on keeping silent. 

"Your name and ranking," he told them. He waved his hand to Jieun. "Go."

"Cha Eunwoo from ERA 97, rank 6." The young man with sharp charismatic features glanced up before lowering his head again.

"Jung Jinsol from ERA 97, rank 5." The woman with blond hair and chic look continued to lower her head.

"Kwon Hyunbin from ERA 97, rank 4." His deep voice rumbled and appealed to all ears.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Jieun said, smiling. "Do you want our group to introduce themselves?"

"There's no need for that. We all know you have rank 3, 2 and 1," Kyungsoo said, looking at Seokmin, Yuna, and then at Jungkook respectively. "Raise your heads." His command allowed his students to relax.

"So what were you doing? Spying on me?" Jieun asked 

"We were watching if you were fooling around," Kyungsoo said calmly. "Have you found any news about the Mythos?"

"No, but we were just about the head to the city to find more information," Jieun said.

"Don't go there. There's nothing over there. We checked."

"Then we'll check again."

Kyungsoo glared. "Are you disregarding my advice?"

"You may have overlooked something," Jieun said with a straight smile. "I'll double check for you."

Kyungsoo seemed peeved. "Are you calling me careless?"

"No, not exactly. Maybe unlucky?" Jieun said. 

Kyungsoo took out his sword and tried to swing at her, but she easy moved her head and avoided the attack. Jungkook, Yuna and Seokmin became defensive, wielding out their weapons and frowning at Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo scowled at the top three students. "What are you doing?"

"Anyone who hurts our teacher is a threat to us," Jungkook declared. "I'd advise you to lower your weapons and step back."

"We understand that you're an Academy Instructor, but if you decide to strike and hurt our teacher, I'm afraid that you'd be doing the Academy a disfavor," Yuna added.

Kyungsoo grimaced. Even though he wanted to tell them that they were wrong, they all had a point. He hid his weapon behind his cape. Jieun straightened her posture and cleared . She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Relax, everyone. We're all friends here," Jieun said. She looked at Kyungsoo. "Kyungsoo and I know each other before I was kicked out of the Academy. No need to be hostile towards him."

"You were friends with someone like her?" Jinsol asked. She was genuinely surprised, but her neutral expression made it seem like she was purposely trying to tick Jieun off. 

"Unfortunately," he murmured.

"Aw, you don't mean that," Jieun said in a playful manner.

Kyungsoo stared at her. "Anyway, stop fooling around."

"I'm not."

"And don't go to the city."

"I'm going to go to the city."

Kyungsoo gave her a tense expression. "Lee Jieun, I swear—"

"Maybe you should come with us then," Jieun suggested. "We can have a drink and catch up."

"Jieun, I can't. We're seriously—"

"Oh, come on! We're not in the Academy right now. We're not under strict surveillance or anything," Jieun said. She grabbed Kyungsoo's cloak and pulled it towards the direction of the city. "Let's go!"

Kyungsoo's students looked at Jieun and Kyungsoo, a bit surprised with their close relationship. Yuna and Seokmin glanced at Jungkook, who didn't say a word.

"Let's do as she says for now," Jungkook said. The two nodded and began to follow. Kyungsoo's students looked at Jungkook's group before they decided to do the same.

* * *

"…and then he threw up in front of the entire class and that was hilarious!" Jieun laughed loudly, slamming the table with one hand while barely able to contain the alcohol in the glass with the other. Kyungsoo felt his cheeks redden as he quietly sipped his beer from his mug. He glared at Jieun, who continued to holler in laughter across from him.

"You're drunk and you haven't drank that much," was the only insult Kyungsoo could muster out.

"Ah? Me? Drunk?" Jieun didn't look drunk, but her behavior clearly showed that she was tipsy. She grinned goofily at Kyungsoo. "Maybe I'm a little drunk."

"You left the Academy before we were legally able to drink, so I never saw you drink. I didn't think you would have low alcohol tolerance," Kyungsoo said. He glanced at Jungkook, Yuna, and Seokmin, who sat next to Jieun in order. "Did you three know?"

"We could never imagine our Instructor getting drunk like this in front of us," Jungkook said, drinking his cup of water. Especially when she knows that we're after her Mythos.

"You've grown careless, Jieun," Kyungsoo said. 

"Nah, I just grew up faster than you," Jieun slurred. 

"…Couldn't be helped. You were kicked out for a reason. If you really wanted to survive, you would've had to do some growing up," Kyungsoo said.

Jieun giggled. Then, she leaned in her seat and rested her cheek on her hand. She looked at her glass of alcohol with sad eyes.

"You know, Kyungsoo. I didn't tell anyone this, but… I saw him."

"Who?" Kyungsoo asked, sipping his beer for a long time.

Jieun looked at him. "Taekwoon."

Jungkook saw Kyungsoo jolt in his seat. Kyungsoo looked at Jieun with serious eyes.

"In your dreams?"

Jieun shook her head. "In reality."

"That's impossible. He's dead."

"He was real," Jieun whispered. "He has a girlfriend, you know? She's super pretty. Super strong." Jieun giggled. "No, she is strong. Super strong."

"You're drunk," Kyungsoo declared. 

"I wish I was," she murmured. She began to feel drowsy. "Kyungsoo… He hates me."

"Everyone does."

"True…"

"You let him die. He was a favorite amongst the Academy."

"He's alive." Jieun mustered up a smile. "Very alive."

"You're drunk," Kyungsoo repeated. "He's dead."

Jieun giggled, hiccuped, then looked at Jungkook. She smiled and reached out to touch Jungkook's hair. Then, she stopped herself after making brief eye contact with her student. She gave him a soft look.

"Jungkook…" A mischievous grin appeared on her face. She shot up from her seat and began to ruffle Jungkook's hair with both her hands, causing him to squirm and try to get out of her tight embrace. "Aw! My students are so cute!"

Yuna and Jinsol gave her a wide stare. They gave her a hostile look for being so handsy with the most popular student in the Academy.

"She must have gone crazy," Yuna said under her breath.

"You are all precious!" Jieun cried out. She got out of her spot and walked over to Yuna and Seokmin. She wrapped her arms around their shoulder and brought them to a hug. "I love you all!"

"Oh my god," Yuna muttered, embarrassed.

"We love you, too!" Seokmin said happily, enjoying the hug.

Jieun began to sob before she looked at Kyungsoo. "Do you see this Kyungsoo? These are my precious students!"

"You're completely drunk," Kyungsoo muttered, shaking his head.

Jieun laughed out loud one last time before she abruptly stopped. Then, her eyes rolled backwards and she fell to the ground. Her students turned and stared down at her body, noticing that she had fallen asleep. Kyungsoo and his students got up from their seats a little to check if she was okay, but returned to their spot as soon as they realized that she was sleeping.

Jungkook sighed. He kneeled and grabbed her body before placing it back on the seat. He rested her head uncomfortably on the table, leaving her arms hanging and her body crooked.

"This is so embarrassing," Yuna murmured. She started fixing Jungkook's hair. "I can't believe she did this to you!" She noticed Jinsol staring at her with burning jealously. Yuna only smirked at her before looked back at Jungkook. "Okay, your hair is good."

"Thanks," Jungkook said simply. He looked back at Kyungsoo, who was finishing his drink. "Can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead," Kyungsoo said. "I'm not drunk like her."

"Who is 'Taekwoon?'" Jungkook asked.

Kyungsoo kept awfully quiet. "He… was a student at the Academy."

"Then what's his relationship to Jieun?" Jungkook inquired.

Kyungsoo paused. "He was Jieun's fiancé."

"Fiancé?" Yuna and Seokmin repeated.

"Back then at the Academy, people were assigned marriage candidates to produce children with the best genes to become Mythos Hunters. The Academy doesn't do that anymore because they realized that if the students opposed, then it can become a physical blood battle," Kyungsoo explained. "Taekwoon and Jieun were a special case. They were assigned to be married when they were just kids." Kyungsoo eyes at Jieun, who began to snore softly. "They were the best duo. Taekwoon was quiet and shy, but he was a genius. Jieun was loud and ambitious, but she excelled in survival. Jieun got along with everyone while Taekwoon struggled to make friends. They were perfect for each other." 

"And then what happened?" Jungkook asked.

Kyungsoo looked down at his drink. "Taekwoon died."

Jungkook's eyes hardened. "How?"

"I don't know the details. All I know is that Jieun went to visit his room and found him dead. The Ministry did their investigation and the Academy released a statement that they would kick Jieun out of the Academy."

"That sounds harsh," Seokmin said quietly.

"Everyone believes that Jieun probably murdered Taekwoon," Kyungsoo explained. "Either way, the Academy took Taekwoon's death as a bad omen and banished Jieun from the Academy."

"Do you believe that she murdered him?" Seokmin asked.

"No. I think something else happened," Kyungsoo said, "but I don't think too much about it. The results came out and that's that."

"It sounds complicated," Jungkook noted.

"It is, but don't think about it," Kyungsoo said. "If you have anything to learn, it's how to fight, and Jieun's a good example. She might be like this, but when she's actually in battle, she'll come out you with only what she needs to show to get rid of you. She never attacks with all that she's got."

"So she hides her potential," Yuna said.

"Pretty much. I wouldn't be surprised if she has a ton of secrets. Even when she was being tried, she didn't say a word," Kyungsoo explained. He finished his beer and got up. "Let's go to an inn. I'll help you carry her to her room."

They were just about to pay and leave until they heard a group of people whispering:

"I can't believe it!"

"It's true! I saw it with my very own eyes!"

"That's a lie!"

"I'm not! If you convert to this new religion, they will reward you with a new life! You want a new body? Want your cat to come back to life? There's so many potential!"

"I don't believe you!"

"Believe—" The voices stopped. "I think I'm being watched."

This person caught on fast, Jungkook thought.

"We should leave," Kyungsoo advised quietly. "Here." He pushed Jieun's limp body to Jungkook. "Take her to the inn."

"What about you?" Jungkook asked.

"I'm going to follow that person," Kyungsoo said. "I'm taking my team members with me."

"It sounds like they were talking about the Mythos of Luos," Seokmin said.

"Probably is. Maybe it's some weird religion. I'll check it out."

"Stay safe," Jungkook advised him.

"Don't follow after us. Stick with Jieun. We'll return by morning."

Jungkook nodded. The two groups went their separate ways for the night, Jieun's team resting at a nearby inn while Kyungsoo's team went ahead and tried to spy on the suspicious conversation.

But the next morning, neither Kyungsoo nor did any of his students were found in the town.