He slowly came to his senses. As he opened his eyes, he noticed a white wooden ceiling above. Taehyung felt a soft mattress beneath and realized that the room he was in was pleasantly warm. What had happened? Where was he? What did he remember?

He recalled wandering in the forest with Taeil and how he had beaten Doyoung. But why did he react so aggressively? Taehyung thought that it did not suit him at all. He covered his eyes with his right arm, realized that it had become very cold and sighed. He glanced at his Bujeok and noticed the red spot that glowed a little brighter than usual.

“Xiah…?”, he whispered and finally remembered the blond stranger.

Taehyung sat up with a jerk and felt a burning pain in the back of his head and neck area. He reached out carefully for the wound and noticed that it was cleaned and still a little damp beneath the thin bandage. Immediately he threw searching looks around. What happened? Where was his best friend? Where was this place?

“Ah, already awake?”, he heard a stranger’s voice.

The voice was unknown to him. Taehyung turned around and looked in the direction where the voice came from. Nobody was there. Did he imagine things? Did he hear voices in his head now? Had they failed their assignment? How stupid would that be. Taehyung definitely did not want to have failed. Doyoung should not be right about their failure. No way.

Suddenly someone gently touched his shoulder, softly held his chin, and turned his face to his right.

“Everything is alright, V”, the blond boy whispered to him and smiled briefly.

Taehyung slapped his hand and backed away instantly, he wanted to get up, but the stranger quickly raised his right hand towards Taehyung and made him stop moving. He had a glass of water in his other hand.

“Why- Why can’t I move?”, Taehyung worried and stared in the silver eyes of the blond boy, “Where am I? Where is Taeil?”

The blond boy walked up and down in the room and glimpsed at Taehyung now and then. He no longer smiled but looked expressionless, then approached the boy and sat next to him.

“Do not worry, I am on not your enemy. I am on your side. If there are any sides…”, he replied finally and lowered his hand.

Taehyung could move again, but he stayed seated on the bed. He needed to know where Taeil was before he would attack this stranger.

“Who…?”, Taehyung wanted to know but was interrupted mid question.

“Who am I? I am Jimin.”, the blonde cut his words and smiled to him, “Your friend is doing fine. He is coming soon.”

He could save his smile because Taehyung did not trust him a bit. He only looked at him suspiciously and asked Jimin whether he had hit him on the back of the head. Instead of answering him, Jimin offered the glass of water and told him to drink of it. Taehyung knocked the glass out of his hand and angrily yelled at him.

“As if! I certainly will not drink anything that you offer!”, he stated, finally got up and managed to stand straight even though he felt dizzy.

He took some steps towards the window, so he could escape fast if needed. Jimin only sighed and pouted disappointed. His eyes were fixed on Taehyung. He made a gentle hand gesture in the direction of the broken glass without looking away of Taehyung. The shards collected in the air and came back together again. The glass filled itself again with the liquid and flew back into the hand of the blond boy, as if he rewound time. Taehyung had never seen anything like this before. He had watched a lot of street mages doing their tricks when he was a child, but it was all fake. What Jimin did was real.

“Do you alter time of objects and the living?”, Taehyung asked him all amazed and took a stable position, ready to fight, “Do you have the Bujeok of ‘time’?”

Jimin again did not answer but also got up from the bed and approached Taehyung. He tilted his head and pouted again.

“First, you should recover. Now drink!”, he commanded with a serious expression and offered him the glass once again.

Taehyung looked at him insecurely, glanced at the glass, took it, and drank the liquid in one gulp. He threw the glass against the bare wall and broke it a second time. Shards flew in all directions again.

Hot! The liquid was boiling hot and burned Taehyung’s throat. Jimin took a quick look at the broken shards and laughed.

“You just want me to reverse it once again…”, he stated and added amused, “You should have taken your time with the hot liquid. You have probably never drunk it before, right? It helps you healing faster.”

His cute eye-smile made him appear like the brightest star on the sky. Jimin was very handsome. His silver eyes did not reveal his emotions but with this iconic eye-smile he seemed unimaginable cute and vulnerable at the same time. If Jimin were not a boy, the other would fall in love with him just because of this. Did it matter if he was a boy? Taehyung shook his head to get rid of these thoughts. He was not interested in the same in a romantic way. Jimin noticed the stare and smirked at the sight of Taehyung’s reaction about him. He raised his hand and made the shards turn back into the unbroken glass.

Taehyung cooled his throat with his palms and glared at the blond boy. The pain became less hurtful.

“Good, the dizziness will be over soon.”, Jimin said with a soft voice and lifted the glass to make it reflect the light and gleam, “Like I said, I am not your enemy. Right now, you are in your new place in Daejeon. In your room to be exact.”

Taehyung nodded in surprise and carefully analyzed the room. He waited for the blond boy to continue.

“I led you here, actually only Taeil. We carried you here.”, Jimin admitted and put down the glass, “Right now Taeil is viewing the place.”

Taehyung caressed his wound and cooled it with his palm. Jimin watched him for a while and pouted.

“I did not mean to hurt you…”, he added and apologized, before he finally informed Taehyung about everything, “You were set up. Your king, Shim Changmin, is a fighter of the Black Army. I believe that also a few guards and fighters from Gongju are members of the enemy.”

Taehyung raised a brow and skeptically looked at Jimin. He did not like the king either but accusing him like this is treason.

“What if you are one of them too?”, Taehyung curiously asked, “Maybe you are a spy? Maybe you are trying to confuse us?”

Jimin shrugged emotionless and bit his lower lip before he countered.

“Not at all. I am not a member of the Black Army. I could never be!”, he said and waved his hands in mid-air, “Yes, I am a spy, but I work for nobody.”

Taehyung looked at him indignantly and furiously gritted his teeth.

“I am a spy, therefore I also know your names, origins, as well as skills and tribe affiliations.”, Jimin admitted and snipped with his fingers, “I also know everything about your recent assignment.”

Taehyung frowned at him and did not believe a single word. For sure not. He no longer felt dizzy and was now ready to fight. He lifted both fists and was about to strike, when Jimin raised his hand again and froze him midway. Taehyung’s eyes reflected nothing but anger.

“I do not want to fight you.”, Jimin added, stuck out his tongue and fondled through his fluffy blond hair, “You and your friend must succeed your assignment. You have to find the Red Rose, before the members of the Black Army do.”

He then lowered his hand and made the other one stum