Jeong Cha Sik- Went Down

Life has never been good for nymphs. Many died for reasons that had nothing to do with nature, but with love for a human or a deity. But Fei never believed love to be the center of her life, it was more towards the periphery. Her life has always focused on war and proving her worth to Ares. Of course, when love did interfere, it had disastrous repercussions.

And yet now, waking up next to the face of her lover made Fei feel a happiness that she never allowed herself to feel. Her eyes softened at his face and she smiled softly. He was still snoring while she dressed up. Her schedule was a bit different now that her immortality was in the hands of Hades. She was free, indeed, she was finally free of her punishment, and finally, life smelled like fresh flowers every day.

Seeing how Dohyun was still sleeping, she grabbed her stuff and went to open the library. Now that Hikaru was punished to work in the underworld, she needed to find someone to replace him and it wasn't exactly easy. She couldn't just ask Pirape to put aside his work in the warehouse just for her selfish needs. But just thinking about how she was finally free and still immortal, she couldn't help but smile. Joy was an emotion that was never so constant in her life. 

When she reached the library, she noticed that the curtains were drawn, which could only mean that nobody has entered it since she closed it. And yet when she touched the doorknob, a feeling in her gut told her that something was very wrong. When she pressed the knob to open the door, she was suddenly blown away with incredible power. 

"Ugh," she groaned as she tried to get on her bottom.

Many people were already approaching the terrible sight with curiosity and worry. Fei felt something in her chest and noted it was a piece of glass. She gritted her teeth as she pulled it out and was surprised by how quickly she healed.

"Hades' power is really something," she muttered before she managed to get on her feet. "My library," she added seeing how the building exploded and all it remained was fire and chaos. 

The ambulance, the police, and the firemen came relatively fast and they made quite a lot of noise. Dohyun was at home, staring at his reflection in the mirror. It was probably right after Fei was given another chance at immortality when he realized that he...wasn't. The thought of dying and ending up becoming just a memory like Lee Hyang was eating him alive. He reasoned with himself all the time, explaining to himself that it was best to live a normal human life but greed was still there, in the back of his mind. Besides, he had a taste of amazing power while holding the world in his hands, even if it almost killed him and yet, Dohyun was in front of the mirror, trying to see if, at any moment, two little crystals will appear inside his eyes. Nothing happened.

Instead, the noise kept getting louder. He couldn't focus at all so he decided he might as well go and check it out. As he was getting closer to Ethos he couldn't help but feel anxious. As the realization hit him when he saw all the cars and crowd of people and reporters across the street, he knew it was bad.

"This is not what I expected," he said as he saw the leftovers from the library. "Holy-Fei! Fei!" He started to scream and search for her. He finally noticed she was in the back of an ambulance with patches all over.

"Don't worry, I'm already healed," she whispered so nobody could overhear. "Don't tell Minjae-"

"Too late for that," the raven said as he approaches the two. "It's all over the news. And even worse, it was felt in the warehouse and the afterlife. Thankfully, they were locked and protected but it's good that nobody was inside."

"Do you think it was done by one of your enemies?"

Minjae chuckled and patted Dohyun with warmth.

"All her enemies are long gone and dead. She has been punished to live on a mountain and she only came down during the Korean war. And even then, they had their eyes on her." Minjae explained remembering those times.

"It must have been done by a human but we'll have the chance to check when they all leave."

Once they gave their statements to the police and everyone left, Fei kept standing there looking at the sight. She sighed heavily because she knew they couldn't use magic to repair everything overnight. It was already all over the news and they didn't have enough power to wipe everyone's memory of it. 

But there was one thing could do and that was to verify the leftover traces in the library. Her power was now a lot stronger than before so it was easier to focus her energy. 

"Wow," Dohyun gasped at the little golden strands that appeared all around Fei. He turned to Minjae who seemed worried about what he was seeing. "What's wrong?"

"There is no trace of anyone human or not in the library in the last 8 hours. Either nobody was here, they planted it during the day with all of us inside, or he...knows how to hide." Minjae explained.

"Or he doesn't have a trace, to begin with," Fei added as she returned to the boys. 

"But that's impossible. Even Hades has some type of trace." Minjae said growing even more worried.

"Gods freshly returned to belief do not. And neither does a being who has been living here since the beginning of time." Fei said, already feeling anxiety rise into her body. The thought of having to meet him was just so annoying.

"You don't think...would he do something like this? But we would have seen him, felt him." Minjae said grabbing her hand. 

"Who are you talking about?" Dohyun asked very confusedly.

"We'll have to pay him a visit..." Fei said, almost choking up at the prospect of her situation. "That will be delighted," she mumbled, hitting whatever she found near her foot.

"Who's she talking about?" Dohyun asked Minjae, who didn't look happier about the issue.

"It is his fault that Fei was punished for so long. A deity of Korean folklore and myth, the trickster himself...Seokga,"