Jongin and Baekhyun jolted out of their seats when Mark flung open the door of Naesae while supporting a bloodied Chinsun who could barely walk in his arms. Baekhyun immediately urged Mark to let Chinsun lie down on the bench and rushed to get a wet towel to clean the blood while Jongin hovered over Chinsun’s body. Seeing how heavily Chinsun’s was heaving and struggling to breathe, Jongin felt as though his lungs had forgotten how to intake oxygen.

“What happened?” Jongin stated in a low voice.

Although his tone was even, there was clear menace and anger bubbling underneath the surface waiting to lash out.

“The spirit that scratched Baekhyun…” Mark started, hesitation in his voice. “It attacked us.”

Baekhyun stumbled backwards, almost dropping the towel and first aid box he was holding. Had he heard correctly?

“And what on earth were you doing?” Jongin snarled at Mark, grabbing the latter by his collar and throwing him against a bookshelf. “Why is she in such a state?”

Mark looked away from Jongin, unable to defend himself. Jongin’s grip tightened, his knuckles turning completely white. Baekhyun squatted by Chinsun’s side, gingerly wiping the dried blood from her jaws as she shifted back and forth between consciousness and unconsciousness. Noticing how laboured Chinsun’s breathing was Baekhyun bit his lips in worry. Opening the first aid box, he mentally groaned when he realised they were out of bandages.

“I’m going out to buy bandages.” Baekhyun stood up.

Although he did not want to leave Chinsun’s side, he also did not want to be stuck with either Jongin or Mark in that moment. Jongin inhaled sharply, finally releasing Mark who coughed softly after being freed.

“I’ll call over Aunt Kwon,” Jongin grumbled.

Although it was obvious that Jongin was seething with anger, there was also a gnawing sense of guilt inside of him that was impossible to ignore. He kept kicking himself as he thought; what if he had stopped Mark from taking Chinsun out? What if he had followed? What if he had captured that spirit the night it scratched Baekhyun?

“He just needs to calm down a bit…” Baekhyun tried to comfort Mark though he doubted his words had much use.

Scratching his ear awkwardly, Baekhyun hurried out of Naesae, completely oblivious to the dark shadow that was lingering on top of the bookshop’s sign, rattling its skeletal fingers while waiting for its prey to appear.

Rushing down the streets in hurried steps, Baekhyun had barely turned the corner when a sudden force hit him in the back, causing him to double over in pain and crash against the pole of the streetlight next to him. Gasping to catch his breath, Baekhyun barely had to time to register that it was the very evil spirit that had caused him as he was already being knocked over, sprawled out on the ground and paralysed as the evil spirit pushed his mouth open with its fingers that resembled claws.

“Not this time you bastard!” Mark’s yell ripped through the air.

Throwing a handful of chrysanthemum petals that he had grabbed just in case earlier at the abandoned temple, Mark then took out a crucifix necklace to bind the evil spirit. It seemed as though the spirit had not yet fully recovered from Chinsun’s attack because its movements were much slower. However, in one smooth motion, it managed to slip out of the crucifix and aimed straight for Mark’s eyes while taking the form of a spear. Fortunately Baekhyun rolled over and grabbed Mark’s ankle, destabilising his stance and causing Marks’ centre of gravity to shift so that the spirit missed its target. When Mark snapped around to follow the spirit however it was already no where in sight.

“That was a close one,” Baekhyun coughed, slowly regaining control of his limbs. “Good thing you showed up.”

“Good thing it was getting too suffocating to be around Jongin so I decided to you,” Mark exhaled, offering a hand to help Baekhyun stand up. “Clearly it’s not safe for you to be out by yourself.”

Baekhyun and Mark hurried to the nearest pharmacy and returned to Naesae while throwing constant weary glances around them. Upon their return, they saw that both Heechul and Boa were present and engaged in a hushed conversation while Chinsun was nowhere in sight.

“Jongin brought Chinsun over to Jongdae’s to have her wounds taken care of properly,” Boa stated without glancing back.

Baekhyun immediately rushed over though Mark stayed behind. Noticing that, Heechul raised his eyebrows in confusion but seeing Mark’s serious expression, Heechul motioned for the m