They entered the library through the main door with Jongdae. The building’s design was very unique — you couldn’t pinpoint when it was built because of all the different styles mixed in. The huge two doors with round edges reminded Jongin of a church, but they had very old Asian engravings. The handles were (probably) European style but had the heads of Asian lion statues on them. 

“I swear these had silver flowers on them,” Jongdae said, tracing the handles with his finger.

Jongin wasn’t sure if he was supposed to be alarmed — this was Jongdae. 

The inside was a bit dark and very silent, as the doors closed behind them, the place engulfed them into complete and utter stillness. Some windows were broken or some were completely gone, but somehow they couldn’t hear anything from the outside. 

There was a long row of tall lamps, leading the way to two staircases that emerged into the first floor’s landing, where Jongin could see a floor-to-ceiling window. To their right were some bookshelves, and to their left, long desks with forgotten chairs. 

Jongin looked down and saw a weird shape, right in the center of the hall, some of it hidden underneath years of dust and ruin. 

“Weird shape. Never saw it before.” From what Jongin could see, it was round with two lines that made an X in the middle, but there was another shorter line from the left side, was it supposed to continue or left there unfinished for a purpose, Jongin didn’t know. He felt a weird urge to sweep the floor to unveil the shape. It felt like it was something he should do.

“They say this shape changes every time you see it.” Jongdae said loudly. Jongin winced as Jongdae’s voice was carried away. “Well, I’m going to start here and look through the catalogs.” He had brought along two bottles of beer, one of which he opened and started drinking.

“Should we go up, or do you think we should stay and check?” Jongin asked Baekhyun, who pondered his question for a moment.

“Let’s go up,” he said. “I think it’s more fun if we just find it accidentally.”

None of the lamps were lit but the place had very good lightning. The moon was shining brightly from the massive window on the landing, but Jongin couldn’t help but think this place was not ordinary. He could have sworn that this place was darker when they entered. It felt like the library was accommodating them. 

The second floor was pretty much empty except for endless bookshelves and more desks. The bookshelves were completely empty. The desks had little round lamps on them but they had no cords.

“Hyung, what are we looking for?” Jongin whispered. “What is this ‘the book’ you guys kept saying?”

“Come, let’s walk,” Baekhyun whispered and led the way to their right. “Jongin, did you read The Complete Tales of Monsters?”

“Yes. It’s one of my favorites. Didn’t, like, every child on earth read that series? I still read it every year. I wish we could get more supernatural and mystery books.”

Baekhyun nodded. “Then you know about the legend? About the lost first book?”

Jongin stopped. “You mean the one the that was first to come out of print and was given to the author? The one that was never found? Even her family didn’t know what she had done with it? Hyung ... are you saying what I think you’re saying? She went here, to our school, didn’t she?”

“Very good,” Baekhyun smiled. “Now you can hear about our own little legend: They say that the author was particularly fond of our school. She was still a student here when her first book was published, and even though she could have easily left school, she stayed for the memories. At least, that’s what they say. This library was her favorite place on campus. She probably wrote most of her books here.”

They came to a narrow hall with four doors. Two on each side.

“Let’s not split,” Jongin said. 

Baekhyun smiled at him. “Wanna hold hands?”

Jongin wasn’t sure what he had just heard. “Hyung?”

“Would you like to hold hands? I understand that I dragged you into this. I’m sorry.”

“I… you didn’t do anything wrong. So — I’d like to.” Jongin cleared his throat and said, with more confidence than he felt, “I wanna hold your hand.”

Baekhyun silently took Jongin’s right hand with his left, and opened the door. The room had one small window but, again, the place was way too bright. As grey and kind of blue as it was, they could see everything quite clearly.

There was a desk with a single chair, facing a shelf with glass doors. 

“It’s all empty,” Baekhyun said. “And this desk doesn’t have a drawer. Let’s check the other rooms.”

But Jongin had noticed something. Something that had glistened under a light and caught Jongin’s eyes, almost as if it winked at him. “Hyung, look at this,” he pointed at the shelf. “Look at the glass, there’s something on it.”

Baekhyun leaned in to look. “Colorless drawing,” he said. “It’s like an imprint. Weird shape. Do you know what it means?”

Jongin shook his head. “That’s one, two, three, four and five triangles. Wait, one of them isn’t a triangle.”

“But if you look at the big picture, it’s part of a square. There’s one on each side,” Baekhyun said. “There’s a smaller version in the middle.”

“And again a line on the left,” Jongin murmured, tracing the shape with his fingerprints. He felt like he should know the meaning. It was the strangest feeling.

“I feel like I saw this before, but I don’t think I did. This place is making me feel weird.” Baekhyun said and squeezed Jongin’s hand.

“But not scary?”

“No, definitely not.”

“Yeah, me too.” Jongin squeezed Baekhyun’s hand back.

One of the doors were locked, and kicking it down really didn’t sit well with them, so they left it. The other two rooms were just as empty as the first but bigger. One of them had another strange shape on the ceiling: four tear drops connected, but with another line on the left side. If the last room had a mysterious shape to offer, they didn’t find it.

After investigating the rooms, Jongin sat down on one of the tables with Baekhyun, sad to let go of his warm hand, and Baekhyun continued with the school’s legend.

“Basically, they think she left the first copy here. Many of the students from her days said that she carried it around with her and there were always some papers stuck between the book. Maybe she was writing notes for the second book, maybe she thought there was some stuff she wanted to change in the first book, who knows? All we know is, the book is missing and it’s turning into the biggest mystery she didn’t write.”

“But why here?” Jongin said. “Why not in one of her houses? Or maybe she gave it to her children and they decided to keep it a secret?”

“Could be. But, doesn’t it make you feel something?” Baekhyun said, looking around the empty tall walls admiringly. “What if it’s true? What if this school was so special to her that she left the book when she graduated? Anyway, that’s the school legend — the book is in our school, in this very library.”

Jongin nodded, thinking. “Who told you this?”

“Ah, Minseok hyung. He graduated too, but I see him every other day. We’re pretty close. He heard it from a sunbae called Changmin. That’s how the story goes around — from a sunbae to their favorite hoobae.”

Jongin slowly smiled. His insides were going through havoc tonight. “Thanks, hyung. But didn’t they search this place? I mean, lots of people are after the first book, right?”

Baekhyun nodded. “Private collectors, museums, actual treasure hunters, her own family… Minseok hyung said the library was searched many times. The book was never found.” Baekhyun chuckled and said, “I didn’t really come here expecting to find it…”

“Then why did you accept Jongdae hyung’s dare? He said we would win if we get the book before him.”

“Why did I accept the dare, knowing that I would lose?” Baekhyun pinned Jongin down with a look. “Why do you think, Jongin?”

“I … for fun?” Jongin said, feeling like burying himself. He knew he was chickening out, but it felt incredibly arrogant or just flat out impossible to say ‘to be with me?’ out loud. 

Baekhyun just hummed and didn’t say anything. He looked amused but a little bit disappointed.

Jongin cleared his throat. “Should we try going through the shelves just in case? Maybe there’s a secret compartment.” He made an attempt to laugh.. “Or maybe even a secret room behind a wall or under the floor, like in her books. She loved secret places.”

Baekhyun hummed again and took Jongin’s hand. He had never realized just how intimate of an act holding hands was.

It felt good to walk through the ancient shelves. All empty and dusty, but there was something warm to it. Maybe it was the youthful energy that once filled the place. Here and there, they tapped and knocked and pulled, but nothing opened.

“So, do you have a favorite?” Baekhyun asked.

Jongin didn’t need to ask what Baekhyun was talking about. “Kai.” he said confidently. “I really liked his power — teleportation. And he was the coolest.” Jongin added. “Always so smooth and powerful. Who’s yours?”

“Why do you assume I have a favorite?”

“Everyone has a favorite Monster. Misunderstood teens, who have awesome superpowers, saving lives and solving the mystery of their existence. Come on, you must have imagined to be at least one of them.”

Baekhyun burst out laughing giddily. “Yeah, I did. Fine, I liked Light. He was so… playful and I wanted to be like him, but — now that I think about it — he was very thoughtful and mature, too.”

“Like you,”

Baekhyun quickly looked at Jongin. “Thanks… I don’t know why that made me feel so good, but it did. Thank you. Did you ever just look at a random big tree and pretended like it was the Tree of Life?”

Jongin noticed Baekhyun changing the topic, but gave in anyway. And was he just hoping (again) but was Baekhyun’s ear looking pretty red?

“I definitely did. The biggest one in our middle school’s yard. Me and Sehun used to sit by the tree — there was a bench and table — and read the series during lunch hour. We loved it so much. When we were younger, we used to have these ‘fights’. Acted like we had superpowers.”

“Did Sehun perhaps like Hun?”

“Yeah, he did. Always said that Hun’s real full name was Sehun. He insists on it even now.”

“Does he now? I must push on that button, then.”

“Please let me know when you do it. I’d love to watch it.”

Without realising, their steps had been slowing and they naturally came to a halt by a round window that seemed to have taken no damage. This one’s shape was leafy.

Jongin and Baekhyun stood, facing each other, still holding hands. Jongin thought they would just turn and go back but Baekhyun didn’t move.

“Jongin,” he whispered, running his thumb through Jongin’s palm before looking at him. His eyes were incredibly soft, but alight. Jongin couldn’t have looked away even if his life depended on it.

“Yes, hyung?” Jongin stepped closer, just a tiny bit, but the difference was huge. Their bodies were almost touching now and Jongin thought Baekhyun must be able to feel the way Jongin’s heart was thundering inside him. 

Baekhyun’s tongue darted out to flick against his lips and then disappeared. Jongin wanted to catch it with his lips. He leaned down a bit and looked at Baekhyun, asking for permission. Baekhyun didn’t move away, but actually leaned up to him. Jongin moved further to kiss Baekhyun because he was going to die if he didn’t, he knew it. He just knew it. His heart, now in his throat, would leap out of his body and shatter.

But then something rustled against his body, caressed his cheeks and ruffled his hair. Someone gasped in delight. 

They both looked to their left and saw a girl standing there, looking at them.

The Minho dude was right, was Jongin’s first thought. The girl did look like she had passed, like she didn’t belong where she stood. Not really, not anymore. Why wasn’t he dying, was his second thought. Jongin was terrified of ghosts and hated scary movies. Even hearing parts of scary stuff left him unable to sleep for a good few nights. So even if the girl meant no harm to him, Jongin knew his heart should have stopped beating the moment he saw her.

Despite all his fears, his heart was okay, even his breathing was normal. He didn’t feel afraid of the girl, who was clearly a ghost. She was good news, Jongin knew that. He felt it in his bones. She was good and Jongin knew her. And where had that thought come from? He had never met the girl before but he felt it — and he just knew that she was no stranger to him.

“Hyung,” he said, mildly surprised at how calm he sounded. “Do you see her too?”

Baekhyun’s answer was a bit shaky. “Yes, I see her. Who are you?” he added to the girl, taking a step towards her.

She smiled and Jongin thought she was crying, even though there were no tears on her glassy face. She opened but then closed it slowly, as if remembering something. Shifting from foot to foot, she looked like a child in trouble.

“We can — can we help you? Do you need anything?” Jongin asked, wanting nothing more than to have her stop looking so sad.

She stood still for a moment and then sat down on her feet, hugging her knees. Her lips were pursed and she seemed to be in a deep thought.

“I know her,” Baekhyun whispered and sniffled. “I mean, I don’t. But I know her .”

Jongin felt his heart go heavy too. It was the strangest feeling. There was a memory, he knew. Like from a dream he only knew he had, but couldn’t remember anything about it.

Before Jongin could answer Baekhyun, the girl jumped up to her feet, looking excited. She turned and took a few steps before stopping and waving at them, gesturing for them to follow her.

They went after her immediately, still holding hands and Jongin felt a mad urge to laugh.

The girl flew over the stairs and took them to the highest floor. She stood waiting by the rail, as Baekhyun and Jongin caught up to her, out of breath. 

She pointed downstairs and they looked down.

Baekhyun gasped sharply. “Oh my… that’s… Jongin —”

Jongin’s entire body went into a shock at what he was seeing. From where they stood, they could see that all the bookshelves and desks were strategically placed, so that if one looked down, there was a maze to be seen. Everything connected into each other and made perfect lines. Right in the middle of it was a hexagon, but with an opening on its left part.

“The maze from the book.” Jongin whispered. His chest went heavy and Jongin didn’t know what he was mourning for. He closed his eyes when Baekhyun gently wiped the tears from his eyes.

“That's the ground floor, the shape you saw.” Baekhyun said. “Do we go down there?” he asked the girl, who nodded eagerly.

She looked at Jongin with pleading eyes, like asking him to not cry. It’s okay , she seemed to say. Everything’s good .

“Are you … are you her?” Jongin said. “Please, are you her?”

The girl looked startled and looked away. Then she nodded.