After wordlessly sealing the kumiho in a book through the already familiar motions that were ingrained in their bodies, Jongin and Chinsun stared helplessly as Baekhyun hovered over the unconscious Jongdae. To say that they were shocked would be an understatement. After all, they had just witnessed their dear and beloved Jongdae trying to eat a kumiho and almost killing them in the process.

In the end, they had to abandon Jongin’s motorcycle by the church since he was in no condition to ride it. As the one with the least injuries, Baekhyun then took charge of organising the trip back to Naesae. After calling for a taxi, he pulled out a bottle of water from his bag to clean up the blood from Jongdae and Jongin’s as best as he could. Meanwhile Chinsun somehow came back to her senses and searched through her backpack, pulling out a first aid kit.

“You came prepared,” Baekhyun commented in an attempt to make light chatter.

Chinsun simply responded with a tired smile that did not reach her eyes while Jongin painfully lifted his shirt so that Chinsun could tightly bandage his torso to hold the broken ribs in place. Once Jongin’s chest and waist was covered in white, Chinsun took out a pen and started writing on the bandages with scriptures and charms that Baekhyun could not read but could safely assume that served to facilitate and hasten the healing process. That would explain how both Chinsun and Jongin seemed to recover from strenuous exorcism and spirit encounters so swiftly. But then Baekhyun recalled the numerous scars that were peppered across Jongin’s body and was certain that Chinsun had her fair share of scars as well. Baekhyun started questioning just how much longer their bodies could handle all these injuries before utterly collapsing. Despite their supernatural powers and skills, Chinsun and Jongin were only human.

・・・

They were back in the basement of Naesae and Baekhyun saw unfold in front of him the familiar scene of Jongin crouched on the floor drawing a large spell circle while Chinsun lit up incense; only this time, sitting tied to a chair in the middle of the circle was Jongdae.

Maybe it was the exhaustion from earlier finally settling in his body or maybe he still could not get used to the intense and harsh scent of the incense, but the longer Baekhyun stared at Jongdae’s unconscious state the more nauseous he felt. Giving Chinsun a tentative glance though, Baekhyun was reassured that he was not the only one feeling uncomfortable with the situation.

Chinsun was restless and worried, biting her thumb while shaking her head. However, there was no longer locks of velvet black hair flowing down past her shoulders and tingling her waist whenever she moved her head. Instead, it had been replaced by clumsily chopped strands that clung to her cheekbones and jaws, holding no proper form or shape.

“How come the exorcism last time didn't work?” Baekhyun dared to ask once he saw Jongin complete the circle.

Chinsun and Jongin glanced at each other, entering yet another one of their silence exchanges. In the past Baekhyun would have silently waited for them to be done, however this time he did not have that patience. No. He was done being treated like an outsider that only received specific filtered information and it was about time he was accepted into their world because he was more than willing to face the danger — or rather he did not have any other choice.

“Stop with this eye conversation,” Baekhyun stated with more harshness in his voice than he intended to. “Let me be part of the conversation. Please. Jongdae's my friend as well and like I’ve said before, whether I want to or not I'm part of this. I deserve to know everything, so stop selectively telling me stuff. I can handle it I swear.”

By the time Baekhyun finished speaking he was panting softly, a turmoil of conflicting emotions swimming inside of him: embarrassment at himself for throwing such a tantrum, satisfaction for finally venting his frustrations, fear that he would be completely shut out as a consequence of his outburst.

An ambiguous smile stretched out on Chinsun’s face as she raised her hand to flip her hair over her shoulder out of habit only to realise that there was nothing there. Clenching her fists, Chinsun leaned against the wall behind her and gathered her thoughts.

“It’s not that we don't think you can handle it,” Chinsun spoke carefully. “It’s that we ourselves are not certain of the answers and don't want to cause misguided notions. I suppose Jongin and I have been so used to dealing with everything ourselves — we have our pattern and rhythm — but we aren't trying to keep you out of this. I mean, if we really were I could have pulled a Jongin and spiked your drinks so that you couldn’t join us at the cemetery.”

Chinsun said the last sentence with forced jest in her voice, as if trying to lighten up the mood. Even Jongin ignored Chinsun's jab at his actions and quirked his lips in an awkward smirk in an attempt to let Baekhyun feel welcomed. Blinking slowly, Baekhyun held a blank expression until something snapped in him and a loud snort escaped from his mouth. His shoulders were shaking from uncontrollable laughter.

“I think he's lost it,” Jongin stated flatly, the previous smirk completely erased from his face.