An explosion atop the rooftop of Daehyun's apartment complex went unseen as two beings continued to clash with one another. One after another, abilities were thrown only to be deflected while wings constantly clashed with one another, only to be countered by each other. The two landed on opposite ends of the rooftop as they each gathered their energy into a single ball in front of them.

"Don't hold back, Young Jae!" Sowon exclaimed.

In an instant, they both threw their respective balls of energy at one another. The energy balls collided with one another and combined, which created yet another explosion much larger than the previous one. Before anything had time to settle, Young Jae immediately covered himself with his wings as yet another ball of energy attempted to hit him. He held the ball back for a moment before he forced his wings to spread, sending the ball back to where it had come from.

He had no time to breathe as once more, he was forced to cover himself with his wings yet again as he narrowly defended himself against a dangerously spinning halo. As the halo spun away, he quickly flew forward. With his wings spread out, he attempted to hit Sowon with them, but Sowon had managed to use her own wings to deflect the attack.

Just as Young Jae turned to strike once more, he immediately fell to the ground with a grunt as he felt something strike his back. He attempted to get up, but he suddenly felt his power leave him as he fell back down. Sowon caught her halo and returned it to its rightful place atop her head as she hovered over to Young Jae. She crouched down and smiled as her wings retracted.

"You're not doing bad, Young Jae. Your power is getting stronger, but your senses are still not sharp enough," Sowon said.

She held her hands out as her palms faced Young Jae. A faint, but warm, light fell from her hands and enveloped Young Jae, whom couldn't help but feel his strength return. As he retracted his wings, he pushed himself up to a sitting position before he let out a sigh.

"Do you think it'll be enough though?" Young Jae asked.

Sowon chuckled a bit as she said, "Considering it's been only a few days and you're already this much better, I'd say you wouldn't have to worry too much."

As Sowon lowered her hands, Young Jae looked away, deep in thought. Sowon frowned slightly as she moved a bit to get a better glimpse of Young Jae's face.

"What're you thinking about?" Sowon asked.

Young Jae turned his gaze towards Sowon as he asked, "Do you think that I'll be able to climb the tiers and become a stronger angel?"

Sowon thought for a moment before she said, "I wish you could, Young Jae. I'm sure there could be exceptions, but right now, the only thing you can do is finish your task of shard collecting to atone your sins."

With a nod, Young Jae got to his feet, to which Sowon did the same.

"Come on. Let's go find out where Daehyun went," Sowon said.

___________________________

"Are you sure Mark's not home?" Daehyun asked.

"I'm certain. He works everyday, but if you want, I can go check," Mina said.

"Let's get it done," Euijin said.

With a nod, Mina phased through the door. Daehyun leaned against the wall closest to him, his arms folded, while Euijin continuously kept an eye out. Daehyun glanced up at Euijin, whom had the lower half of his face covered with a scarf while matched with a pair of sunglasses. Not only that, but his hood had been pulled over his head.

"Why're you dressed like that anyway?" Daehyun asked.

"We're breaking and entering! I have to conceal my identity," Euijin said.

Daehyun couldn't help but shake his head as he looked around. No cameras in the hallway, which was surprising in of itself. It probably didn't help them at all that it was daytime, but they couldn't come in while Mark was home at night. It would've been better to just have Sowon do it, but Euijin continued to nag and complain about having an angel break the law, so they had been forced to come here now.

"Mark's mother is home, but she's sleeping right now. It's all clear otherwise," Mina said as she peeked her head though the door.

"Do you think we'll still be able to do it now?" Euijin asked.

"Well, does she ever leave the apartment?" Daehyun asked.

Mina thought for a moment before she shook her head and said, "She doesn't usually leave because she's sickly, but she sleeps heavily, so I think if you stay quiet, it should be fine."

Daehyun sighed as he said, "Well, better now or never."

Euijin grinned from ear to ear as he attempted to turn the doorknob. To his surprise, it wouldn't budge from its locked position. He turned to Mina before he turned to Daehyun.

"It's locked," Euijin said.

"No . Move," Daehyun said.

Euijin quickly moved to the side as Daehyun approached the door. To Euijin's surprise, Daehyun pulled a small leather case out of his coat pocket and opened it up. As Euijin peered over Daehyun's shoulder, Daehyun pulled out the necessary tools from the kit before he crouched down and inserted the tools into the lock. He moved the tools here and there before finally, a click sounded from the lock.

As Daehyun pulled them out and moved on to the next one, Euijin asked, "Why do you have lock picking tools?"

"None of your business," Daehyun said as the lock clicked once more.

With his tools put away, Daehyun turned the doorknob and pushed the door open. However, his progress was immediately halted as the chain lock kept the door from opening completely. He quietly cursed under his breath as he pulled the door closed.

"I can't open that. Looks like we're going to have to ask Sowon after all," Daehyun said.

"Wait! Mina can open it," Euijin said.

"I can?" Mina asked.

Euijin nodded as he said, "You have the ability to do so! I think. I'm not sure, but it's small enough so you should be able to do it."

"How do I do that?" Mina asked.

"I," Euijin paused for a moment before he said, "I have no idea! You can do it though!"

Daehyun shook his head and sighed as he leaned against the wall once more. Mina, uncertain, slightly nodded as she went back into Mark's apartment. She faced the chain lock and stared hard before she reached up and attempted to pull it open. However, much to her expectations, her hand simply phased through the lock.

"This is gonna be a while," Mina mumbled to herself.

___________________________

"Well? Did you get it done?" Mark asked.

"What do you think?" Seulgi asked with a raised brow.

"I suppose I shouldn't expect any less," Mark said.

Seulgi looked away as she leaned forward with her arm propped up on the table and her chin resting in the palm of her hand. Mark scratched the back of his head as he poked at his food with his fork. Seulgi carefully peeked over at Mark and couldn't help but notice the uncertainty on Mark's face.

"Is that the only reason you called me out to lunch?" Seulgi asked.

Mark perked up as he said, "I can't just ask you to have lunch with me?"

"It would be fine, but you also ordered the most expensive items on the menu plus a bottle of Cabernet," Seulgi said as she glanced over at the bottle of red wine to her left.

"Uh, just think of it as a thank you," Mark said.

Seulgi narrowed her eyes as she took hold of her glass with her free hand and raised it to eye level. She swirled the drink a bit before she sat up and lowered her other arm. She let out a sigh as she nodded slightly.

"Alright. Thank you for the meal," Seulgi said as she took a sip of her wine.

As she set her glass down, she glanced over at Mark, whom just continuously poked at his food. She let out a sigh as she said, "What's wrong with you? You never play with your food like that."

"Huh? Nothing. Just thinking of what I need to get done," Mark said.

"If you're going to bring someone out for lunch, at least do it when you can set work off to the side," Seulgi said as she got up.

Mark immediately tensed up as he said, "Where are you going?"

"I'm just going to the restroom," Seulgi said as she left the table.

With Seulgi gone, Mark let out a heavy sigh as he leaned back in his seat. He stared at his food for a brief moment before the server arrived with their food. He watched as he set down a wooden boat onto the table. With a bed of shaved ice, sashimi of all kinds rested delicately atop of it. At the end of the boat, three sushi rolls sat. Mark gave a brief smile and a nod to the server before the server walked off.

He looked over the food before he nodded in approval. As he took out his chopsticks, he reached over before he stopped himself. He let out a sigh and set his chopsticks back down as he refocused on the food already on his plate.

Meanwhile, Seulgi stood in front of the mirror. Her hands held the sides of the sink as she stared at herself. She turned her head to the right, then to the left before she gave a brief nod.

"Just keep it calm. He's having a hard time. I shouldn't give him an even harder time," Seulgi said quietly.

She quickly washed her hands before she made her way back to the table, where Mark patiently waited and his plate clear of any food. As she took her seat, Mark motioned for the sushi boat.

"Food's here, so eat up," Mark said.

"I saw, but thanks," Seulgi said as she picked up her chopsticks and reached to get some food.

"So, do you still have those kittens?" Mark asked.

"Kittens? You know I don't like animals," Seulgi said.

"Ah, sorry. That must've been... Mina," Mark said as he mumbled the last bit to himself.

Seulgi sighed as she said, "Who?"

"No one. Don't worry about it," Mark said.

___________________________

"I told you we should've just gone to ask Sowon," Daehyun said.

"Mina can handle it! She'll figure it out... eventually," Euijin said as he glanced down the hallway every now and then.

"You do realize we're ed if Mark comes home suddenly, right?" Daehyun said.

"We shouldn't be! I mean, I, uh," Euijin crouched down as he said, "This is terrible! What're we going to do?"

Suddenly, they heard something clang before a faint scraping sound followed after. Daehyun pushed himself away from the wall as Euijin immediately got to his feet. The two of them stared at the door before Mina peeked her head through the door once more with a large smile on her face.

"I got it!" Mina exclaimed.

"Great. Let's hurry then," Daehyun said as he quickly turned the knob and pushed the door open.

Inside of the apartment, Euijin quickly closed and locked the door behind them as Daehyun examined the surroundings. The furniture appeared modern in design, but rarely used, almost brand new. In fact, it was almost as if someone had just moved in with brand new furniture since there was no mess to be found.

"Is Mark a neat freak or something?" Daehyun asked.

"No...? Yes, yes he is," Mina said.

"Well, I guess this'll make things easier. Does he have an office?" Daehyun asked.

"He does. Follow me, but um, make sure not to leave any noise. It'd be bad if Mark's mother ended up waking up," Mina said as she floated towards the hallway.

Daehyun sighed as he took his shoes off and carried it with him. Euijin, confused, imitated Daehyun's actions as he quickly scurried after him.

As they entered Mark's office, Daehyun made his way over to Mark's desk. With nothing on top, he safely tucked his shoes underneath one arm as he used his free hand to pull open drawers and rummage through them. Euijin, on the other hand, decided to look through the bookshelves that lined either side of the walls.

"Why does he have so many books?" Euijin asked.

"Is it strange? He just likes reading," Mina said.

Euijin simply shrugged as he continued to search through the book titles.

Time ticked on and yet, nothing appeared to be of use to them. Daehyun let out an annoyed sigh as he shut the last drawer. Mina frowned the second she saw the defeated look on Daehyun's face.

"No luck?" Mina asked.

"No," Daehyun said as he paused for a moment before he asked, "Does he have a laptop?"

"He does, but he keeps it with him at all times," Mina said.

Daehyun nodded as he said, "Okay. Then I'll have to have Sowon stalk Mark and use his laptop. He's bound to step away from it at one point, right?"

"I guess that's true, but," Mina stopped as the sound of a door opening could be heard.

"Oh ," Daehyun quietly said as he moved over to Euijin and continued in hushed tones, "We need to get out of here."

"How do we do that?" Euijin asked.

Daehyun turned and said, "The window."

Euijin was about to say something, but he decided against it as Daehyun had already made his way over to the window. With a simple unlock and lift of the window, he slid it open. He quickly slipped his shoes on before he peeked his head out of the building. Even with the ledge, there was no way they could get down safely without getting noticed. He shook his head and pulled his head back in before he turned back to Euijin and Mina.

"There's no safe way down. The only way out is the front door," Daehyun said.

"How the hell are we supposed to get out through the front door?" Euijin asked.

Daehyun took a moment to think before his eyes landed on Mina and said, "A distraction."

"What kind of distraction?" Euijin asked.

"Well, Mina just learned how to move objects," Daehyun said.

"Wait. You want me to cause a distraction?" Mina asked.

"Yeah. Just haunt the out of Mark and make him run out of his apartment. Then, when the coast is clear, me and Euijin make a run for it and head out through the stairwell," Daehyun said.

"Why the stairwell?" Euijin asked.

"It depends on where Mark goes, now get going Mina! We can't stay hidden forever," Daehyun said.

"Okay. Leave it to me," Mina said as she made her way out of the room.

However, as soon as she entered the hallway, a woman passed by her and made her way to the bedroom. She knocked, but when no response came, the woman turned and made her way back to the living room.

As Mina followed the woman to the living room, she came to a stop as she stared at the person on the couch. When she had been filled with determination, confusion quickly took its place. She made her way around before she stared at the person's face.

"Nayeon? What're you doing here?" Mina asked.

Her words fell on deaf ears as Nayeon looked around, bored. She puffed out her cheeks as her eyes traced along the bare walls. She pulled her phone out from her purse and glanced at the time before she let out a sigh and sat back in her seat. Only a few seconds had passed before she smiled and got up to her feet. She quickly made her way over to the kitchen before she rummaged through the cabinets. As she did that, Mina thought for a moment before her eyes quickly landed on the bottle of soap by the sink. She focused as hard as she could as she attempted to move the soap while Nayeon remained busy.

Luckily and to her surprise, the bottle quickly flew across the room and landed on the couch in the living room. Nayeon set the pot on the stove and the ingredients she needed on the counter. As she rolled up her sleeves and reached for the sink, she paused, confused. With a shrug, she made her way out of the kitchen and down the hallway before she turned into the bathroom.

Mina quickly flew into the office as she said, "Hurry! They're in the bathroom, so get out now!"

"Now or never," Daehyun said as he pulled Euijin towards the door.

As Daehyun and Euijin quickly, yet quietly, made their way out of the apartment, the two were about to open the door when the sound of keys could be heard just outside. Daehyun silently cursed as he pulled open the closet door by the entrance and pushed Euijin inside. He quickly went inside and closed the door behind him just as the front door opened.