「 episode 22; arc 5.0 」 —first respite (a-side)//old friend (part ii)— 「 blackpink i 」

“That is all there is to be said of both Absolution and Olivia. Have you any further questions, Kim Jisoo?”

“No. I believe I understand the concept completely now. Admittedly, however, it frightens me rather thoroughly—the idea of your subconscious claiming your body as its own…”

“As it should. Absolution is not to be taken lightly. You would be wise to ensure that you never forget that.”

“Of course. Ah, one last thing, if I might inquire about it...who might that be? And...what are they wearing…?”

“An associate of mine. Pay them no mind.”

Aside from an exchange between an elderly suit-clad sorcerer seated behind a sleek desk of jet black and the red-haired sorceress standing on the other side of it, there was nary a sound in the dreary looking office space occupied by a group of six.

Featureless walls colored dark gray and absent of any windows surrounded Jisoo and her three allies. They were loosely assembled in front of the desk of a dark-haired man whose slightly wrinkled visage betrayed his true age. He fixed a small series of bangs on his forehead, revealing the full length of an aged diagonal scar which sullied his face. 

YG’s eyes fell upon an ornate watch of silver fastened to his left wrist, seemingly focused on the steady movements of its hands. He held his vision on it for a moment before bringing his attention to Jennie. His mixed hues of faded dark gray and brown regarded her without any particular emotion. “Does that conclude your report, Kim Jennie?”

“Yes, Archmagus Yang,” Jennie replied conclusively. As she continued, her voice began to descend ever so slightly. The grip of her gloved hand on her labrys slung over her shoulder loosened somewhat. “We weren’t able to apprehend any of them, and they made off with a group of five. Presumably, they were the magi you spoke of. My apologies.”

“Apprehend?”

“Do not apologize, Kim Jennie,”  YG spoke over Jisoo’s question, temporarily ignoring the blatant confusion present in the raised brow she addressed him with. “Your mission tonight occurred exactly as it was meant to. History’s replication is proceeding according to plan.”

“So we were supposed to come back with ing nothing, and you’re happy about that?”

A voice slightly further back than the others made itself known in response to YG’s claims. It came from a brown-haired woman seated in a plush chair of black leather, her feet rudely kicked up atop a nearby glass table. She sighed to herself in disbelief as she lazily tossed a copper baseball between her hands in boredom. “Gotta tell you, man—the more I hear out of your mouth, the less sense any of this makes.”

“Making sense of things is not your concern, Manoban Lalisa,” YG stated matter-of-factly, staring Lisa down with an emotionless gaze. “You are meant to do nothing more than follow your instructions and make an attempt to apprehend LOONA’s sorceresses.”

Hearing the word a second time, Jisoo’s befuddlement deepend as her mind replayed the still extremely recent memory of her rapier’s tip poised above a downed Chaewon’s chest.

“Whatever, I guess,” Lisa uncaringly conceded with a roll of her eyes.

“Pardon my interruption, but...what do you mean apprehend?”

A question broke YG’s focus on Lisa. The sorcerer joined the others in looking towards Jisoo, her azure hue positively burning with bewilderment. “We were meant to simply apprehend them…? As in bring them back unharmed?”

“That’s correct,” YG confirmed plainly.

“So then...so then you understand my confusion, yes?”

“Naturally. It is entirely warranted.”

“Mind explaining what this is about?”

The fourth and final of Blackpink’s forces chimed in. A single hand on her hip, Rosé’s twin shades of green and bright cyan couldn’t seem to settle on a target between Jisoo and YG. There was an uncertain sort of worry present on her face, a sentiment that was mirrored in Jennie’s own expression as Rosé continued. “The whole point is to capture them alive and return them here. That’s the goal. What’s there not to understand here?” 

With every second that Jisoo failed to immediately respond, Jennie’s eyes began to narrow further and further. She shifted her focus to YG alongside the others. “What’s going on here, Archmagus Yang?”

Before he could respond, Jisoo clarified the situation by means of a question directed at the man of space-time himself. “If you wished for us to simply apprehend them, then why in the blazes would you instruct me to end their lives...?”

A mixture of reactions broke free. 

From Lisa, a disturbed yet amused chuckle. From Rosé, an addled look over all else. From Jennie, carefully measured fury. Finally, from the sixth individual, a small smirk as they flipped the page of a nondescript black book in their hands, hidden though it was underneath the hood of their oversized black ceremonial robes.

“Archmagus Yang, you specifically told each of us we’d never have to do more harm than necessary to any of them when we started working with you,” Jennie retaliated, her hold on her axe’s shaft tightening once again. “What’s the meaning of this?”

“There is no meaning to be found. Rather, there is no meaning as deep as you might be suggesting,” YG answered calmly. With folded hands atop his desk, he regarded his subordinates with an eerie lack of outward emotion. “When Kim Jisoo joined us, I simply gave her an objective different from the rest of you, and I instructed her to tell no one of it. Henceforth, that will be no more. You will now be on the same page. All of you have a directive to capture LOONA’s sorceresses and bring them to me in safety.”

“This isn’t as cut and dry as you’re trying to make it look,” Jennie countered, visibly unhappy with the answer. “You told us to work together. How are we supposed to do that if you secretly assign someone a conflicting objective? Beyond that, what purpose does it serve to ask us to kill them if you actually want them back here safe and sound?”

“The purpose of such an instruction is the same as everything else I will have you do: to faithfully recreate history.”

For the first time in their meeting thus far, YG displayed life as his countenance darkened somewhat, showcasing a slight hint of anything beyond its normal blankness. A tense silence fell between the four sorceresses in response, allowing him the stage. As YG spoke, the observer in the back proceeded to the next page of their book, nodding along at certain intervals.

“Had Jisoo not fought with an intent to kill, her duel against Park Chaewon and Son Hyejoo would not have occurred in the way it was meant to—the way it was recorded in the original course of history,” YG divulged slowly, his tone heavy. “She would not have raised her blade against an incapacitated Park Chaewon, ready to pierce her heart. That moment was critical, for it was in her witnessing that forthcoming execution that Son Hyejoo lost herself to Olivia.”

“Then you mean to tell me that the awakening of that beast, that...demon that reduced whole buildings to scrap metal...that was your goal?”

YG answered Jisoo’s inquiry with a nod, an act that did nothing to quell the disconcerted trembling of her eyes. “That’s correct. As per the course of history, your actions were the catalyst to Olivia’s reawakening. The resulting battle would not have occurred had you not meant to kill Park Chaewon, and that would have been unacceptable. You and Kim Jungeun were meant to duel Olivia tonight, so you have succeeded in your role.”

At the mention of the spear-wielding woman of fire, Lisa chucked her baseball into her open hand with a degree of force more noticeably measurable than her previous toss.

“Hogwash! Complete, utter hogwash!”

Louder than she intended to be, Jisoo’s voice boomed within the office. The metamorphosis of her troubled anxiety into flat anger was beyond her control. “I could have very well died, Hyun-suk! That thing was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before! How can you sit there and tell me I was meant to do battle with something that far and away from any of our capabilities, let alone not even think to warn me of something like that?!”

“If you had preexisting knowledge of the night’s projected events, you would have deviated from history.”

YG’s words were even heavier than before, as was the grave solemnity he addressed the sorceresses with. Jisoo swallowed hard as he didn’t even so much as flinch against her rage. “There are things that you have a rightful privilege to know and things that you do not. That information fell in the latter category, for it would have caused you to act differently than you were meant to. You would have sidestepped history, deviating from its course entirely.”

Heavier even still his words felt, now speaking in a tone so painfully serious that it managed to bring forth even Lisa’s attention.

“Divergent action in a manner such as that carries consequences far beyond the scope of your comprehension. Above all else, you cannot deviate from history.”

A brief quiet eclipsed the room as the team of four absorbed the words of their superior. After a strained moment, Lisa was the one to break it with a rather incredulous look in her eyes. “Assuming all of this history garbage isn’t complete bull, how the hell are we supposed to stay on track when we don’t even know what’s coming?”

“Do as I say without question and you will not deviate. Truthfully, it is as simple as that.”

Lisa rolled her eyes once again, sighing in displeasure as she caught her baseball one last time. She ran her thumb across its surface, slowly closing her fist as it dissipated into dust between her fingers. “Sure thing, ‘boss’. Whatever you in’ say, man.”

“Archmagus Yang.”

Jennie’s voice rose after Lisa’s. The blonde axewoman was looking deep into YG’s eyes, a steely soberness present on her face. “I was the first of us you recruited for your efforts, and as such, you elected me as the leader of this team. With that in mind, I can’t very well lead a group of people with clashing goals. I would formally request that you find a means of preserving history which doesn’t involve giving us inconsistent orders behind our backs.”

“And I would request that you simply do what I ask of you, Kim Jennie, lest you wish to return home to an annihilated timeline torn asunder with your friends and family nowhere to be found.”

Jennie felt her blood begin to boil.

Threatened by what was at stake, the woman of fire grit her teeth in silence. Rosé and Jisoo felt a similar sense of uncomfortable tension rock their cores as YG continued. “That goes for all of you. Remember the details of our contract. Do as I say without question and you will have a home and family to return to. Don’t, and the corruption will flow within your universes once more, devastating all you hold dear.”

The three Master sorceresses remained quiet, fighting a mental battle against depressing imagery they dared not wish into reality. Their purpose in working with YG was clear as crystal: they wanted nothing more than to secure the livelihood of those close to them back home. It was their ultimate goal beyond all else, thus making the space-time magus’ reminder of their safety all the more important to their best interests.

Considering that, one might have found it rather strange how Lisa was once again detached from the conversation. The warning did little to stir her whatsoever, the electric sorceress clearly unbothered as she idly scratched the back of her neck with a substantial yawn.

Nothing but still silence followed. YG let the air between them sit for a moment before continuing. “If there’s nothing else, then—”

“Just one thing.”

Pastel pink hair shifted as Rosé turned her head to Jisoo. Her cyan odd eye settled against Jisoo’s shade of oceanic cerulean, seemingly curious about something. “Jisoo, when I came to get you at the end of your duel, you said that Chaewon was an old friend of yours?”

“Ah, yes,” Jisoo said with a small nod. “She and I...well, I suppose it would be enough to say that we have a decent amount of history together.”

“And you almost killed her?”

Attention was drawn to a smirking Lisa. Roused by the revelation, she was now leaning forward in her seat, almost laughing in disbelief. “You really nearly up and killed a friend of yours? Holy , man. Talk about some bad blood.”

“Yes, which is why I said old friend,” Jisoo corrected Lisa not-so-politely, her brows furrowing with poorly veiled annoyance. “Chaewon’s abandonment of the family I brought her into was the greatest disrespect I have ever suffered—disrespect equally suffered by my brothers and sisters. No true friend would ever do such a thing. Ergo, Park Chaewon is a traitor. If it meant that my family would be safe from harm, I would have executed her a hundred times over.”

“Family mean that much to you, huh?”

“That is an understatement,” Jisoo assured, putting her values on full display for Lisa and the others. “After being disowned and tossed aside by my own parents like most other conjurers in my world, creating a true family of my own became my mission. I chose my siblings carefully and did everything in my power to provide for them. Knowing that, Chaewon still—”

“ing hell, alright. I get the idea.”

Jisoo blinked as Lisa interrupted her, entirely disregarding her brought forth passion with a disinterested sigh. The younger sorceress spoke frankly while examining her nails. “I didn’t ask for your life story, man. I don’t give that much of a about you or your past, much less my own family, so I can’t relate to this bull you’re spewing.”

Dumbfounded by the complete lack of cordiality with which Lisa regarded her with, Jisoo could do naught but gawk in offended surprise. Jennie herself was quick to frown, irritated by the sorceress’ flagrant disrespect. “Lisa—”

“That’s not the important part, anyway. What’s really worth our attention here is that this is another connection between us and them. Ain’t that something?”

Lisa’s smirk was resurrected as she cut Jennie off just as quickly, her eyes now slowly traversing the lineup of her allies. “Jennie’s got Sooyoung and everyone else there from their universe, I’ve got Kim Lip, and now Jisoo’s got Chaewon.”

“Kim Lip?”

“Jungeun,” Lisa addressed Rosé’s question. “Just a nickname for an old friend of my own. Looks like we’ve all got one in LOONA now. Well...not all of us, huh?”

Rosé stiffened up as Lisa’s focus on her sharpened. 

The woman of electricity tilted her head, amused by the reaction of her colleague. “Kinda weird, isn’t it? Why wouldn’t you have connections to someone in their group like the rest of us, Rosé? Especially when you and I are from the same timeline. Their squad’s got four from there, too—Heejin, Hyunjin, Kim Lip, and Jiwoo.”

Rosé remained quiet as Lisa pried her further. The brunette sorceress slowly rose from her seat, dusting off her black blazer before pocketing her hands. “I’ve got plenty of history with Lip, and given how she ferried Jiwoo around everywhere as her retainer, I basically know her, too. That leaves Heejin and Hyunjin. Two close friends, practically sisters, who Lip and Jiwoo met on the road. At least, that’s what Lip told me the last time I saw her. Wanna know what else she told me?”

With a slow stride, Lisa made her way towards Rosé. She was oddly relaxed, clearly trying to taunt the stoic sorceress with a playful tilt of her head. True to her born element, Rosé was still as ice, keeping her hues locked onto Lisa with a calm expression that hinted at nothing in particular.

“Lip told me that the two of them had just left an orphanage—their home. Burned down in a massive fire. The fire department didn’t come to help, of course, since it was a home strictly for magi. Or diviners, if you’re feeling nostalgic for some old terminology,” Lisa offered. “A place run by diviners and occupied by diviners, shunned by all of human society. Just like the cops, hospitals, or any other emergency service, there was no way firefighters would ever spare any diviner their time. So, it burned to the ground. They lost everything.”

Lisa finished with a sigh and shrug both equally small. “Really did to be a diviner back home. Imagine what they went through, seeing one of the few places that would ever shelter our kind go up in flames and having to abandon it, knowing no one would ever come to help. Man...poor Heejin and Hyunjin, huh?” she sympathized in a low whisper, though her pity proved entirely false as her still unceasing smile showed her true lack of compassion.

Bringing her axe down from her shoulder, Jennie settled the top of it squarely on the floor and rested her hands atop the bottom of its shaft in front of her. “Lisa, what are you getting at?”

“Oh, come on, Jennie. I know you’re not that dense.”

Lisa laughed with a shake of her head as she came to a stop in front of Rosé. She looked her up and down for a moment before peering head-on into her eyes. “You know damn well all of us have other reasons for helping the old man here. This isn’t just about our homes or families. We’ve all got some loose ends to square away with ‘old friends’ on that team. That’s why we’re all actually doing this and we all know it. No point in hiding it.” 

Silent though they were, Jennie and Jisoo both felt a heavy depression sink into their chest with Lisa’s claim.

“So, that being said...you still wanna stand there and tell me that you really don’t have anything to do with Heejin or Hyunjin?”

“I don’t.”

Rosé’s immediate response elicited a snicker from Lisa, though it did nothing to dispel her calm. “I don’t know either of them. Everyone in LOONA is a complete stranger to me.”

“Can I tell you something, Rosé? It’s about one of the things I hate most.”

Sudden and abrupt, Lisa posed a seemingly off-topic question as she took another step towards the woman of ice. Her demeanor was shifting towards something vile, creases becoming visible across her forehead as her face slowly twisted in irritation.

“It’s when people hide from me that they have no in’ business hiding,” Lisa stated slowly, her voice hissing as it did when she spoke to Jisoo much the same way on the rooftop. “All this talk about being on the same page means all if you’re gonna hide something that might come around and somehow bite us in the later.”

“Lisa—”

“You’re lying to us, Rose, and that’s a problem. A big ing problem,” Lisa pressed on through Jennie’s attempted interjection, causing the axewoman’s already boiling anger to spike further. From his desk, YG did naught but watch the exchange quietly as he had several times before, as did the cloaked observer while they turned yet another page of their book. Curiously, they were still nodding along to themselves as their finger glided along the page with each of Lisa’s words. “I can’t work with a liar, man.”

Opposite to Jisoo’s reaction on the rooftop, Rosé held her ground against Lisa’s unyielding hostility. Her breathing was at ease as she repeated herself. “I’ve never met anyone in LOONA before. I’m just trying to keep our timeline safe.”

“How can you even claim that she’s lying?” Jisoo brought up, her eyes lost between Lisa and Rosé. “What proof do you have of a supposed connection between her and either of them?”

A smirk far more vicious than the last spawned on Lisa’s face. She opened to finally fire the ammunition she had been waiting to unload—

“Because I lived in the same orphanage as Heejin and Hyunjin.”

—but she was beaten to the punch by the very person she was trying to shoot down.

Rosé’s confession came without hesitation, her voice and posture collected and steadfast. She challenged Lisa’s direct gaze as she brought forth the truth herself, revealing to the others what she had only told Lisa prior. “It was a big orphanage—the only real refuge for diviners both in our city and several miles out. There were a ton of us. More than anyone could ever keep track of. I had my own friends and social circles, but I never interacted with either of those two. If I saw them, I don’t remember them.”

Lisa’s countenance darkened, snarling as she replied. “You can’t seriously think anyone here would buy that for a second, Rosé. Not when the rest of us all know at least one person in their crew. That is too damn convenient of a coincidence.”

“I couldn’t care less if you believed it or not. Regardless of what you think, it’s the truth.”

Her ultimate position on the matter settled, Rosé succeeded in not buckling under Lisa’s antagonistic pressure. The electric sorceress took a slow breath after one last look into Rosé’s eyes, giving the woman a small nod that was a warning more than anything else. “I sure in’ hope it is, Rosé.”

“I believe that will just about bring our meeting here to a close.”

Synchronous with Lisa stepping away from Rosé, YG’s voice came into existence from behind them. The four turned towards him, varying levels of interest and attention paid to him with Jennie giving him complete focus and Lisa fishing out her phone from her pocket not two seconds after he began. “As promised, you will have this weekend to recuperate. Rest and prepare yourselves for your next assignment.”

“Archmagus Yang, may I ask for specific details of the next mission?” Jennie requested courteously, treating the high-ranking sorcerer with a level of respect far beyond the others.

“You will be splitting up into pairs, each visiting a universe at the same time as one of their teams,” YG explained, causing the girls’ eyebrows to perk slightly. “Two of you will engage one of their teams while the other two will engage another. The third will remain unaccounted for.”

“A division of our forces?” Jennie asked. With every word that followed, her face was gradually claimed by a shadow of doubt and uncertainty. “Archmagus Yang, I don’t understand. They operate in teams of four. If we don’t match them in numbers, then we’re at a disadvantage.”

“Teams of four in which only one of them shares the accomplished rank of Master which each of you hold,” YG said quietly, shutting down Jennie’s protest. “If you duel in a manner fitting of the encounter and of their elemental alignments, the collective capabilities of just two of you can handle even their arranged teams. It may be difficult, but I don’t recall telling anyone that any of this would be easy.”

Jennie’s unease with YG’s provided answer was clear through her middling grimace, and it urged her to continue. “Archmagus Yang, I can’t agree with this plan. As the leader of Blackpink, I—”

“Despite what you may think, Kim Jennie, I am not one to repeat myself anymore than each new cycle of history demands of me. However, as you still do not seem to fully comprehend the situation here, I will say it just one more time.”

Jennie froze. 

Darkened eyes which had seen more than she could even begin to comprehend focused in on her. YG’s mixed hues broke past her own, digging straight into the recesses of her soul itself. She was paralyzed as she was threatened again, and it brought her otherwise well-maintained grievances to a near tipping point.

“The only way you’ll ever see your family, friends, and home again is if you do exactly as I say without question and without hesitation. Even should my methods not make sense to you and even should they contradict previous instructions, you will do as I say,” YG instructed once again with stern austerity. “Consider this your final warning, and do not make me tell you as much a third time.”

Jennie remained silent. Battling her own rapidly growing displeasure with suffering what was essentially blackmail, she merely nodded out of the ingrown respect she had been raised with towards those superior to her in rank. Her lack of continued protest paired with the defeated look in her eyes drew Lisa’s attention. The woman of electricity gazed at her in contemplation, surprised to find that further objections never came from .

In search of further information, Rosé’s voice followed after a momentary quiet. “Who’s going with who, then?”

“Kim Jennie and Kim Jisoo will operate as the first sub-unit, while Manoban Lalisa and Park Roséanne will operate as the second,” YG revealed, his own temperament returning to its usual state of nothingness. “Further details, if any, will be provided before you depart. Blackpink, you are dismissed.”

“Oh, thank .”

Lisa couldn’t help but laugh to herself with relief as she heard the unit assignments. The others looked towards her while she made way for the exit with a shake of her head. “Couldn’t imagine what I would’ve done if I ended up being paired with a ass good-for-nothing healer. Not that a liar is much better, but I’ll definitely take it over that. Good luck, Jennie.”

Jisoo didn’t even have the opportunity to fully register the insult before a wave of burning heat blasted past her. 

Aggravated and on a dangerous rise after suffering YG’s threats, Jennie’s vexation was pushed to a degree of intensity she could no longer properly contain after yet another show of candid impudence from Lisa. Almost without thinking, Jennie manifested a vertical cloud of her crimson mana in front of Lisa, inciting her to come to an immediate stop. With a searing barricade of flames blocking off the door, Lisa rolled her eyes with disgusting exaggeration.

“What the is it now, man?” Lisa complained, failing to understand the reason for Jennie’s effect. She turned halfway to look at her team’s leader, mouth open and poised to continue speaking.

She stopped flat, however, when she witnessed the seething, irrepressible indignation that had completely seized the normally calm and collected Jennie.

Jisoo and Rosé took a step back, distancing themselves from the increasing temperature coming from Jennie’s body. Her odd eye was alight with a steady shine of scarlet savagery, her nostrils flared in equal anger as she instructed Lisa in a tone leagues sharper than her usual. “I need to speak with you privately in your quarters. Now.”

A laugh of disbelief escaped Lisa’s lips. She held her sights on Jennie for a moment, as if expecting something further. The growing smirk on her face quickly disappeared as she experienced another blast of heat rush past her, emanating from Jennie’s core more fiercely than the last. Her odd eye still glimmering vibrantly, the woman of fire didn’t ease up. 

“You. Me. Your quarters,” Jennie commanded with overabundant emphasis. “Now.”

As Lisa’s expression fell further and further into defeated annoyance, Jennie took the downward shift as a cue of her resignation. By her will, her wall of fire vanished as instantly as it has spawned. Her grip on her labrys still tight, Jennie’s luminescent iris dimmed with a steady breath.

Lisa put up no further vocal protest as she opened the door, walking out into the hall with nothing more than an exasperated sigh. Jennie followed her out, stopping at the door to turn around and offer a deep bow towards YG. Standing back up, she gave Rosé and Jisoo a momentary glance and a nod before stepping out.

The two remaining sorceresses found their gazes returning towards the Archmagus in shared silence. He only nodded, and with that, they were on their way out themselves, Rosé leading the way. She held the door open for Jisoo and shut it behind her carefully, the steel of its hinges creaking slightly as it clicked shut.

“Rosè?”

The accused didn’t make it far down the hall before being stopped. She turned around, seeing a rather pensive Jisoo staring her down. “Do you truly have no connection whatsoever to those two?”

“I don’t,” Rosé declared once more. “I’m just trying to make sure my friends back home don’t have to suffer anymore than they already have. Same as what you’re doing for your family.”

Jisoo did not immediately respond.

With her hands folded in front of her waist, the swordswoman regarded Rosé quietly for a moment. She seemed to be evaluating her, searching for any sort of malicious intent within Rosé’s hues and demeanor. By the way she was frowning just ever so slightly, Rosé could only assume that Jisoo wanted to believe her claims. The way she anxiously rubbed her thumb atop the back of her hand with slightly pursed lips, however, made it clear that she was struggling to accept it as truth.

“Alright,” Jisoo eventually conceded, either believing Rosé just enough to give in or simply wanting to break the awkward silence between them. “My apologies for holding you, then. Thank you for your assistance tonight. Please take care of yourself.”

Rosé watched Jisoo turn around and walk off, her vision steady on the swordswoman’s frame as she turned a corner and vanished from sight. Plainly indifferent as to whether Jisoo actually believed her or not, Rosé turned back around and made way for her room.

“Well, I’d say that went about as it usually does.” 

Back in the Archmagus’ sterile, lifeless office, the observer had finally stepped away from the bookshelf in the corner of the room.

YG’s eyes tracked the movements of the individual approaching him. Pulling the hood of his robes down, a lean, tall man with black hair in a neat comb over revealed himself. Stopping in front of the Archmagus’ desk, his mismatched eyes of dark gray and light brown scanned the pages of the book in his hands. 

“Definitely lines up with all previous instances...well, close enough, anyway. Cosmic variance and all that. Still, overall, pretty much the same. Points for consistency,” he admitted, flipping pages to and fro as he reviewed their contents. He made a bit of a sour expression as he nodded to himself. “Though, if I’m being honest, Hyun-suk, the script does start to get a tiny bit stale the twelfth time around.”

“Might I ask why you’re still bothering to chronicle these events?”

The observer frowned as YG chastised his activities. “Surely you have better things to do than to dramatize our collective path along history’s course in the form of some melodramatic novel.”

“Harsh, Hyun-suk. I thought we were friends.”

“You would do well to recognize our partnership as strictly business.”

“Yes, I should have expected no less from you,” the observer gave in. His odd eye flashed for a second, dark gray light surging out as a block of prismatic glass equal to the desk in height blinked into existence from an already coalesced cloud of mana beneath him. Sitting down on it, he crossed his legs and rested his hands atop his knee. “I figured you would have accepted my writings by now, though.”

“They are baseless and unnecessary,” YG countered. Given by the contempt present in his tone, he appeared to have taken offense to the observer’s words. “We have completed eleven full cycles, and aside from minimal cosmic variance beyond our control, I have perfectly orchestrated the faithful recreation of history each time. To chronicle the selfsame history yourself serves no purpose, especially when there has been no variance thus far outside of our expectations.”

To absolutely no reaction from YG, the man sneered. “Goodness, sorry for having a hobby. Also, a bit rude of you to take all the glory, don’t you think? She’s done her part well in every cycle, even including the gruesome bit at the end. Imagine being in her shoes, knowing something like that is coming. The least you could do is give her credit where credit is due.”

“Lee Sunmi’s role in this is the same as both Blackpink’s and LOONA’s,” YG reminded the observer. “She shall receive no honor or praise from me for simply playing the part that history has declared she must play.”

“Fair enough, I suppose,” the observer submitted with a light sigh. Looking down towards himself, he pulled the front of his robes forward, showcasing an all-too-familiar design imprinted upon it of white fangs forming a circle around the silhouette of a howling wolf. “Guess like it’s just my part to play this meeting’s role of silent visitor clad in the priestly robes of a now nonexistent religious organization, then?”

“It was your own decision to wear something so outstandingly distinguishable to this meeting back during the first cycle,” YG scolded his visitor. “You have no one else to blame but yourself for setting up a precedent that you must now uphold during every instance.”

“Hey, I just thought it’d be fun to wear it while returning it,” the visitor explained. He shook his head with a playful smile as he briefly stood up from his seat, slipping out of it and revealing the black and gray suit similar to YG’s which he wore beneath it. Folding it neatly, he set it down on the desk and sat back down. “Figured you’d want it for safekeeping like always, just in case I need to drug Hyejoo during her interrogation yet again for a thirteenth time.”

“Then, as per usual, I assume that will conclude your business here.”

“Always eager to kick me out, huh?” the observer teased. “I’ll be out of your hair in a minute, Hyun-suk. First, let’s talk about you for a second. How’s it going?”

“Spare me your vapid pleasantries,” YG remarked with disinterest. “I know you’re only here to inquire about the solution to true eternity, of which there are no developments of any sort to share.”

The observer frowned again, this time more exaggerated with a dropping of his shoulders. “Really...? Nothing? Hyun-suk, do you have any idea how long it’s been since I last checked in with you about it?”

“Of course I do,” YG spoke frankly, unamused by his guest’s disapproval. “I have told you countless times now just how long it would take to find the solution. It is entirely possible that yet many more cycles will be required before we can realize it.”

“I like to think myself a patient man, Hyun-suk, but this might be pushing it,” the observer grimaced with an unhappy sigh. “Eleven full cycles and not an ounce of real progress...at this rate, I might have to step in and bring my own team into the fray soon enough. Maybe it’ll spice things up enough for you to get some ideas.”

“You will do no such thing.”

Strangely, the observer smiled lightheartedly as YG tensed up, his folded hands tightening.

“Know your place and do not interfere,” the Archmagus directed, his ancient scar scrunching along with the rest of his face. “Much like a mere question being asked before it was meant to be asked or wearing something noticeably different for an occasion, even the most seemingly insignificant action you might think to take could potentially result in history being thrown completely off course. Do not be so foolish as to incite the variance we are both seeking to avoid.”

“Hm. Quite.”

With a disappointed sigh, the observer stood up from his seat, the glass block collapsing in on itself and blinking out of existence not a second later. His odd eye flashed once again, his murky mana coming into being behind him. He gave YG a nod as an ovular portal took shape, its rim emitting an aura of the same dark gray and its insides pitch black.

“If you’ve nothing to share, then I’ll be on my way,” he announced, turning to face his shadowy void of an effect. “I’ll check in with you again after Sunmi, uh...well, you know.”

Expecting no response, the observer approached his portal at a relaxed pace. He stopped in his tracks in front of the portal, however, as YG suddenly called to him.

“Jaden Jeong.”

The smile on his face unseen by the Archmagus behind him, Jaden remained still as YG addressed him further to formally conclude their meeting, 

“For the sake of the future that you and I both wish to see become reality—the future all twelve of them entrusted us with—I would suggest you take my words to heart,” the Archmagus stressed. “Like every prior instance, you and your team are unnecessary. Do not interfere.”

Silently, Jaden chuckled to himself under his breath as he stepped into his portal, vanishing along with it in front of YG’s eyes.

So long as it all plays out as it’s supposed to, Hyun-suk. You’ve managed eleven cycles so far, so what’re the chances that this one ends up any different?

「 ⮞⮞⮞ ★ ⮜⮜⮜ 」

“You grounding me or something? Gonna take away my phone and TV?”

Stepping into the studio apartment-sized living space, Jennie ignored Lisa’s taunting sarcasm as she shut the door behind her.

Walking into her private abode, Lisa jumped onto a mattress against the far wall, laying on her side with her head propped up by a single hand. A noiseless breath saw a small sphere of her golden mana manifest, taking the shape of her copper baseball with a flash of subdued light. Jennie approached her calmly, stopping a few steps ahead of her bed as Lisa idly tossed the ball up and down with her free hand.

Lisa’s eyebrow slowly cocked upwards as Jennie proceeded to do nothing but stare hard at her, glowering with harsh disapproval. She brought her axe down and rested her hands atop its bottom, peering at Lisa until the electric sorceress felt compelled to speak with an annoyed motion of her hands. “You got something to say?”

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

Lisa’s eyes began to wander as her team leader scolded her, though her lack of interest in paying much attention didn’t deter Jennie’s efforts. “Is it really so difficult for you to act with at least some modicum of decency? Rosé and Jisoo are our allies, Lisa. How does anyone benefit from you antagonizing them like that?”

“Allies? Give me a ing break, man.”

Jennie sighed in frustration as Lisa rolled over onto her back. Bringing her arms up, she rested her head in her hands and stared at the ceiling with a detached look about her. “Just like I said in the old man’s office, we all know why we’re really here. We’re not some buddy-buddy friend squad. We’re selfishly thinking of our own goals, waiting for the moment where we run into our old friends for some answers. That’s all this is. That’s all it’s ever been.

“Far as I’m concerned, we aren’t friends, and we sure as hell aren’t allies. At best, we’re colleagues, and honestly, even that’s kind of pushing it,” Lisa declared. “The only reason I’m even here is to find out why Jungeun ditched my , just like why you’re only here to find out why Sooyoung ditched yours.”

At the mention of a frozen swordswoman, Jennie sighed to herself. She hurriedly dismissed the image of her summoned to her mind, focusing on the topic at hand. “So we’re nothing more than colleagues. Fine. Regardless, the least you could give even your colleagues is an ounce of respect.”

“Respect is earned, Jennie. Not that I expect you to understand something like that, considering where you’re from. I guess you’re just used to the cushy Eden lifestyle of people kissing your just because you rank higher than them.”

“Excuse me?”

“Likewise, you up to those above you without even thinking about it, even if they don’t deserve it,” Lisa pressed on, now attempting to make an example of her own direct commander. “You think that crusty old man deserves the respect and courtesy you show him, especially when he dangles the safety of everything you care about over your head? How the hell did you not rip into him more back there?”

“It’s not that simple, Lisa,” Jennie stressed. “YG...he’s—”

Lisa’s voice burst forward with a laugh, a wide smile of deep incredulity coming forth as she interrupted Jennie once more. “And now you’re about to ing defend him! This is unreal! Are you that brainwashed to just kneel down to people above you on the food chain? For ’s sake, Jennie, you—”

“God damn it, Lisa, we don’t have a choice!”

Lisa blinked.

The temperature in her room had just shot up by a noticeable amount. Roused by her emotions, the axewoman’s mana had manifested beyond her own control. Turning her sight towards her, Lisa watched the small pockets of her crimson dust shoot down towards the head of her axe on the floor. The runes inscribed upon the center of the double-headed silver steel glowed as they absorbed it. In reaction, the temperature in the area gradually subsided, Jennie’s axe growing hotter through its consumption of the heat around them.

“You know damn well what happens if we step out of line,” Jennie reminded her ally turned colleague, a solemn urgency taking over her voice after its previous unintentional boom.

Lisa sighed as she looked away from Jennie. “You’re not going to guilt trip me about my timeline. You know I don’t give a about it or anyone in it.”

“That’s not what I’m referring to,” Jennie stated calmly. “This isn’t just about our timelines. Don’t forget what Archmagus Yang is really trying to do here.” 

Lisa’s gaze inadvertently drifted away again, now focused on the aluminum ceiling fan above her. She tracked a singular blade of its four, following its spinning rotation as Jennie spoke. “There’s more at stake than we can even fathom. If we don’t do as he says, he can’t accomplish his goal. If that happens, there’s only one way all of this ends, and nobody is better off for it.”

“His real goal, huh? The solution to true eternity...whatever the that’s supposed to mean.”

Lisa scoffed as she mirrored the Archmagus’ oft repeated phrase. “Between that nonsense and him ‘replicating history’, I don’t know what’s more bull. What a joke. Anyway, even if he isn’t lying and this really is somehow the twelfth time we’ve been around the block, that doesn’t change anything.”

Jennie held her tongue as Lisa shifted. Going upright, she sat at the edge of her bed, leaning forwards with her eyes locked onto Jennie. Making her case, the electric sorceress made her stance on the matter so clear that it couldn’t be misconstrued or misunderstood.

“Rosé and Jisoo haven’t earned my respect,” she explained plainly. “One of them is lying to our faces, and the other one’s a ing trainwreck of a magus who couldn’t even handle a two-on-one against a Neophyte and Intermediate of all combinations. If Rosé decides to tell us the truth and why she had to lie about it, and if Jisoo gets her into gear and starts pulling her weight, then maybe I’ll have some respect to give.”

“Then regardless of whether or you respect them or not, why are you so intent on being little more than a bully?” Jennie inquired. “What purpose does it serve to be so crude and harsh in the first place? Do you bully everyone you don’t respect?”

“ing hell, Jennie, what sort of two-bit high schooler do you take me for? Of course I don’t. I’m only on their asses like this because we need them to change, and this is the only way we’re gonna see results.”

Jennie fell silent as Lisa chuckled to herself, a strangely placed smirk now sitting on her face. “What, you think being nice will help them get their act straight? Think praising Jisoo despite her failures will see her get any more proficient at dueling? Think not taking issue with Rosé’s secretiveness will have her eventually come clean on her own? Do you seriously think any of that?”

“No, Lisa, I don’t,” Jennie admitted. Unable to hide the small frown which accompanied her confession, the woman of fire’s eyes fell as she reflected on it. “You’re right to want to take action against such things. However, you lack tact. You can’t openly oppress and terrorize someone to forcefully mold them into the person you think they should be.”

“Sure I can. Worked for Jungeun. Why wouldn’t it work here, too?”

With scrutinous eyes, Jennie watched Lisa’s grin widen as she appeared to relish in nostalgia. “Jisoo’s only alive right now because of how strong Jungeun is, because of what Jungeun is capable of...and that wasn’t always the case. The Jungeun that saved Jisoo isn’t the same girl I met all those years ago. She’s an entirely different person now. That person—the Jungeun with LOONA right now—only exists because of me, because of what I did to her.”

Lisa’s hues returned to Jennie after her reminisce. She offered her superior a small shrug. “You can call it oppression or bullying. I call it tough love. Doesn’t matter what you call it, though. In the end, it’s gonna do what we need it to do. It’ll make Rosé fess up, and it’ll turn Jisoo into a healer that might actually be able to do her damn job.”

“And if I don’t agree with these methods of yours?”

A playful tilt of Lisa’s head came about in response to Jennie’s question. She leaned back in her bed, her trademark smirk being given new life. “What if I’m not keen on simply allowing you to antagonize the people we’ll be working with for the foreseeable future? What then, Lisa?”

“If you wanna know what I think about that, Jennie...”

Jennie’s brows furrowed as Lisa gave her answer while laughing to herself. She brought herself back onto her bed proper, laying down and grabbing hold of her copper baseball which she idly tossed and caught above her.

“...then feel free to around and find out.”

Jennie didn’t respond, and Lisa didn’t continue.

A brief moment which could have been mistaken for eons passed the two of them by in still quietude. Jennie’s gaze was entirely locked on the far too casually contumacious Lisa. Her role as leader drove her mind to seek some sort of solution to the now clearly potential issue of loyalty and control presented before her. She wanted nothing more than to settle it then and there before it could continue to fester and evolve into something much worse.

To Jennie’s dismay, however, there was no such immediate solution in reach. Much like with YG minutes ago and much like with Sooyoung three years prior, Jennie was once again into a problematic situation without an answer—an answer she felt she was obliged to produce given her position, and the lack of which would leave her unsettled until she found it.

Ultimately, it was the sound of Jennie raising her axe from the floor to her shoulder that broke the silence. Her footsteps followed, and the opening creak of Lisa’s door came next. Yet, it’s expected closing did not come next, instead replaced by thoughtful counsel from a woman who was approaching her limits of suffering rebellious insubordination.

“I would advise you to think twice before openly challenging the person in charge of you to a duel, Lisa...especially when that person is me.”

Lisa’s silent scoff under her breath was overshadowed by the sound of her door slamming shut.

The steps of Jennie’s boots echoed down the bland dark gray hallway without life. Her expression was thoroughly blemished with poorly veiled fragile anxiety, discomforted by how she would have to continue answering to a man who didn’t deserve her long ingrained habitual shows of courtesy and now a woman whom she feared would sooner or later step out of line.

Try as she might to calm herself, Lisa’s words took swift dominion over Jennie’s mind. She bit her lip in frustration as she remembered the memory they brought back to mind. 

The only reason I’m even here is to find out why Jungeun ditched my ….

A memory which pained her more than any other. A memory of a night three years past, in which a complete stranger by the name of Lee Sunmi somehow managed to take away from her the people she was closest to—

...just like why you’re only here to find out why Sooyoung ditched yours.

—including the only person she had ever truly considered her equal.

Underneath the black leather of her single glove, Jennie’s knuckles had turned a ghostly white as she tightened her grip on her labrys to a degree far beyond her usual.

Just beyond one of the secluded doors Jennie walked past, an accused liar sat on the edge of her own gray bed in her depressingly insipid quarters void of much decoration or color. Though she could easily hear Jennie’s footsteps in the hall outside, her focus on nothing in particular was unbroken.

In ruminative silence, Rosé processed the day’s events in the peace and quiet of her own mind. Their expedition into the world seized by the fanatical cult known as Red Velvet had not gone quite as expected, what with the reveal of the demon which had apparently claimed Hyejoo’s subconscious as her own. However, though there was much to deliberate on, the woman of ice felt her thoughts drifting astray.

Her head turned downwards, Rosé was focused on something in her hands—it was her weapon, a small scythe with a slightly curved blade nearing two feet in length and a one foot hilt which she held with one hand. The leather of the shaft was accented with cyan, the same shade of which colored the edges of the blade’s steel. Runic symbols along the metal of the blade became gently illuminated in response to Rose’s focus on them.

In her other hand, Rosé held a bundled up chain which was connected to the bottom of her scythe’s grip. The full length of it well over ten feet long, it was looped around her hand a few times over. At the opposite end of the chain, a hefty diamond-shaped weight was attached, its surface cold to touch with a thin layer of frost upon it that never seemed to melt. Rosé ran her thumb across its surface pensively, finding a fresh memory stuck in her head.

A spearwoman born of fire staring her dead in the eyes, bearing a look of vague familiarity which evolved into a sudden epiphany just before a blockade of ice flashed into existence between them.

There was no question about it. Jungeun knew.

Further still did Rosé’s exhausted mind ebb and flow, now becoming fixated on a much more recent standoff.

You’re lying to us, Rose, and that’s a problem. 

A tired breath slid out of Rosé’s pursed lips as she closed her eyes for a moment. She felt her kusarigama gradually turn to dust within her hands, the weapon returning to the nothing from whence it came. Opening her eyes again, she watched her mana reform itself in her palms—the dust reshaped into a moderately curved line, and Lisa’s words continued their journey across Rosé’s headspace as she watched it take form.

You still wanna stand there and tell me that you really don’t have anything to do with Heejin or Hyunjin?

Feeling it fully materialize in her hands, Rosé’s eyes fell as she took in the physicality of it. She ran her fingers across the hilt, feeling its interwoven composition of black leather and cyan fabric. She peered at the eight glass vials which were embedded halfway inside of it—filled with pre-coalesced mana, the one closest to her thumb rose as she twisted back on the hilt. A forward twist set it back down. Lost in thought, Rosé absentmindedly shifted the position of the vials along the hilt with more forward twists, her vision lost to the sight of the weapon.

You can’t seriously think anyone here would buy that for a second, Rosé.

Her fingers travelled to the scabbard, decorated in a fashion much the same as the hilt. A familiar, almost comforting sound of scraping steel rang in her ears as she slowly unsheathed the sword halfway. A bright cyan wavelike ridge greeted her, running across the length of the blade with a long series of runes answering to her focus. She held her sight upon her steel for a moment longer, Lisa’s attempted reign of terror finally coming to a close in her mind.

I can’t work with a liar, man.

Another subdued screech of sliding steel sounded off as Rosé sheathed her katana. In silence, she watched it turn to dust, her eyes trained on her empty palms as she closed one into a tight fist. Without words, she eased herself backwards onto her bed, her head hitting her pillow with a soft thud. Another sigh escaped her, this one heavier than the last.

Reaching into her pocket, Rosé procured her phone from its depths. Turning on its display and pressing her thumb against its fingerprint scanner to unlock it, her home screen came up. Oddly, she didn’t proceed to access any applications or messages of any sort, instead simply staring at the wallpaper which adorned the screen.

It was an image of two girls, both not much younger than herself. One had wavy black hair down to her shoulders and was posing with a katana much the same as her own, her golden odd eye almost as vivid as her beaming grin. The other, with neatly straightened locks of equal ebony, arms dressed in geometric tattoos, and an altered iris of amber on display, smiled just as brightly with a hand on her hip.

Contrary to what one might have expected from a reminiscent gaze towards a fun, silly photo of old friends, Rosé couldn’t help the feeling of a sinking darkness taking her over as she took in the sight of it.

I don’t care if what he says is true.

Turning the display off, Rosé pocketed her phone and turned over in her bed. 

I don’t care if his failure really means the end of everything as we know it.

Closing her eyes, she quelled the troubling apprehension brewing in her head with a reminder to herself of her vow.

I don’t care what I have to do or how I have to do it.

From the onset of her work with YG, it was an oath that she had made to herself in secret—

I’ll get us back home.

—a promise that would ultimately supersede everything else.

I swear it.