“Urgh… Where am I…?” Henri scanned the surroundings. Trees everywhere. Tao suddenly showed up.

“Oh, she’s awake! Ge ges, she’s awake!” Tao called. The rest of EXO-M and EXO-K came running towards them. Henri looked at them, confused.

“Ge ge’s, where are we?”

 “We’re near a village.” Luhan answered her. Suho bent to her level.

“Henri, don’t be surprised. Leeteuk sent us away from the village for a while; he said we have to train.” Suho explained. Henri nodded in understanding. In fact, she already knew about Leeteuk’s plan and the future about Sooyeon paying them a visit. She stood up and staggered. Tao and Sehun were at her side immediately and they supported her.

“Thanks!” She smiled. Baekhyun, who was at a tree, shook his head.

 The group entered the village and rented a small cottage with six rooms. When the leaders are deciding who will be roommates, Chanyeol stood up.

“I wanna pair with Henri!!” He put his arm on Henri’s shoulder. Henri shrugged it off.

“Ack! No, thanks. I don’t wanna pair with a ert like you!”

“Ouch!” Then all the maknaes stood up.

“Oh boy…” Chen shook his head. Lay just chuckled.

“I should be the one to pair with Henri! She still has a lot to um… teach me!” Sehun cried out. Kai pushed him and pointed to himself.

“Ani, I should be the one!”

“No, Mei mei is more safe with me!” Tao said and hugged Henri.

“Wrong! I should be!” Chanyeol shouted.

“Why don’t we do a Aegyo battle?” The maknaes and Chanyeol started doing their aegyo to Henri. Hen Ri obviously can’t choose between them.

“Uh…”

“Stop bickering! If you all don’t stop, I’ll drop you 500ft from the sky. ” Kris roared. The maknaes and Chanyeol suddenly froze.

“Okaaay, hmm… Baekhyun, will room with Henri.” Suho glanced at Baekhyun. *I guess this’ll help ease that hatred of yours if you get closer to her.*

“No.” Baekhyun firmly said. *Huh, that hurt.* Henri thought.

“This means that I sh-“ Sehun began until Suho cut him off with a glare.

“No, Baekhyun is the most suitable one, and that’s final.”

“I should go with them too.” Lu han also stood up. *No clue what that Baekhyun might do to my Henri…*

“Yep, I agree with Luhan.” Kris suggested.

“That’s settled then!” Suho exclaimed. Chanyeol and the maknaes groaned in defeat.

All of them went to their assigned rooms. Henri started to explore the room with Luhan.

“Ooohh!!” They said in unison. The room was decorated with white flower-patterned wallpaper. A small table was located at the far end of the room, with cushions surrounding it. A projector screen was at the left wall and the bathroom was located at the right corner of the room. Luhan glanced at the two beds.

“So, who gets the beds?” He asked. Henri immediately jumped at a bed.

“Mine!” She cried out. Baekhyun lied at the other bed. He then pulled the covers over him.

“Claimed.” He said before going to sleep.

“Well, Ge ge, you sleep on the floor tonight.” Henri smiled at Luhan. She then imitated Baekhyun and went to sleep. Luhan silently cursed and went outside to get a pillow and a blanket. *I’m older than them! They don’t have the right to treat me that way! Argh! I’m also a germaphobe.*

 

The next day, they all walked around the village looking for any sign of Heechul. They we’re split into 6 groups with members according to their roommates.

“Urgh, why do I have to pair with you two? I wanna pair with Kris Ge ge!!” Henri pouted while walking at a street.

“Shut up! As if I agreed pairing with you.” *If only Baekhyun wasn’t here. Tsk.* Luhan scoffed.

Baekhyun just stared ahead. *Why do I have to pair with her? That Suho hyung…*

They came across a weird store at the corner of the street. The sign of the store says: “Cinderella’s Beauty Products”. The three went inside. The store looked like it wasn’t been cleaned for years because of the dust and cobwebs building at the corners. The store smells like fine powder and rotten eggs.

“What’s with this place?” Henri examined the products.

“An abandoned store?” Luhan asked as he wiped the dust at the counter.

“Wrong. The sign outside says that they’re open for business and the products doesn’t seem expired and all.” Baekhyun analyzed. He touched the Bell at the counter.

As soon as his fingers touched it, a song started playing at the radio beside it. Baekhyun backed away preparing for an attack but was greeted by a beautiful lady in a white collared shirt, accompanied by a guy with a cheeky grin.

“Annyeong haseyo! Welcome to my shop! How may I help you?” The lady greeted.

“Are you a man? Your voice seems like-” Henri unknowingly asked bluntly. The lady frowned.

“Yah! Why you don’t show respect to your elders?! Huh?!” The lady yelled. The three backed away while the other guy calmed the lady down.

“Ah! Mianhe! Mianhe!” Henri hid in Luhan’s back and bowed at the lady several times.

“Next time, show respect to your elders! Aish, kids these days… So, what do you three want? You totally ruined my introduction!”

“Uhm, we are looking for a man named Heechul, sir.” Baekhyun stepped forward.

“Oh, what about me?” The lady grinned.

“Y-you’re Hee Chul-nim?” Both Luhan and Henhi’s eyes widened with surprise.

“What? Never seen a beautiful guy like me? Hehe…” Heechul responded. The other guy coughed loudly. Heechul looked at him and back to the three.

“Oh, and this is my assistant, Hankyung.”

“Nice to meet you.” Hankyung bowed. The three bowed too.

“So, what business do you have with me?” Heechul asked as he led them to the other room. He gestured them to sit on the sofa.

“We are the current guardians of EXO Planet. We are here in behalf of Leeteuk-nim. He said that you and the other SJ members can show us the way to the temples of the first guardians.” Baekhyun started.

“Oh! Leeteuk? How is that ahjusshi doing?”

“He’s well, Heechul-nim. He sends his regards.” Luhan answered. 

Then Hanjyung came in and served them Soju. Heechul was surprised and shouted to Hankyung.

“Yah! Why are you serving these minors Soju??”

“You said that any drink will do and Soju is the only one left in the fridge.” Hankyung said defensively. Heechul rubbed his temples.

“Argh, nevermind. Take these back with you. Anyway, where are we? The temples of the first guardians? Are you kidding me? There are no such things as the ‘temples’ of the first guardians.”

“E-eh? But Leeteuk said-“

“No, aish, he’s getting old, that ahjusshi… Only their Crystals exist.” Heechul stood up and went to a pile of books at the corner. He took out a large dusty book and sat down.

“Well, this book might help you with your search.”

“What is it Heechul-nim?” Henri asked.

“It’s a book about the whereabouts of my comrades.”

“Huh?”

“We put a little bit of our Manus on the book and casted a spell on it so that we can receive updates in our journeys. I don’t if it still works, I mean, I didn’t use it for moons. Anyway, if you don’t want to carry that book, I have a memory stick version here.”

Heechul took out a small chip from his pocket and handed it to Luhan. Luhan pocketed it.

“Oh, one more thing.” Heechul studied Henri up and down.

“You need to see Zhou Mi, your choice of wardrobe is a little… no, so plain.”

Henri just stared at him dumbfounded. Heechul chuckled.

“Well kids, I think it’s time to go. Y’all have a mission to do right? Now, shoo, scram. You’re ruining business!!” Heechul motioned them to leave.

“But, you don’t have any customer-mmfgh” Hankyung covered Henri’s mouth and shook his head.

“Don’t make him mad, trust me. Now go.” Hankyung showed them the door. The three thanked them and left. When they turned around the store was nowhere to be seen. The three went back to the cottage.

“Ge ge! Look at what we found!”

Henri came running towards Kris, followed by Baekhyun and Luhan.

“What is it?” Xiumin asked.

“It’s a map of the location of the other guardians. Heechul gave it to us a while ago.” Luhan said as he approached them.

“Oh, we’ll have to tell the others then.” Kris said.

 

“So, what’s new?” D.O. asked while he distributed kimchi fried rice, which he made earlier, to the others.

“Luhan and his partners met Heechul-nim and he gave them the locations of the other SJ guardians.” Kris summarized.

“So, Luhan, may we see it.”

“Sure!” Luhan took it out and placed it on the center of the table. He then activated the memory stick and a hologram of the whole EXO Planet appeared. Red dots then appeared on the map, indicating the location of the other guardians.

“Hmm… So all we have to do is follow this map.” Lay said.

“Oh, Heechul-nim said that there are actually no temples, but Crystals of the first guardians.” Henri pointed out. The others looked confused.

“But Leeteuk…” Chanyeol began.

“I don’t know too… We’ll just have to find out from the other guardians.” Baekhyun said.

“Okay. But I suggest we rest here at the village for a while before we start looking for the other guardians.” Suho suggested.

“I agree with Suho. We must train and gather enough strength. I heard that the other parts of the planet are dangerous with monsters and other creatures.” Kris nodded in agreement.

“By the way, what about the rent?”  Chen asked the leaders.

“Oh… about that… We’ll look for jobs here at the village then.”

“Aw, but I don’t wanna work!” Kai, Sehun and Henri complained.

“Me too! I wanna uhm, train!” Chanyeol raised his hand.

“Same here.” Baekhyun said.

“Argh, okay, okay. Me, Suho, Xiumin, and Luhan will work. You kids will stay and train.” Kris face-palmed himself. 

“Wait, Kris, why me?! I wanna stay and train too!!” Luhan cried. *Actually, I want to stay with Henri* 

 

“Aww… I’m bored. I should’ve gone with Kris Ge ge to work…” Henri sulked as she lay at a meadow. It’s been 3 months since they decided to stay at the village. Xiu Min and Su Ho worked as cashiers and Kris and Luhan as waiters at a nearby restaurant. Due to their looks and charisma, the restaurant is a hit for young ladies in the village.

“Oh, Mei mei! There you are!” Tao smiled gleefully as he ran towards Henri. He sat down next to her.

“Oh, Tao Ge ge. How’s training?”

“Great! I already mastered my Time Control skills!! I extended my radius to 25 ft!!”

“Cool.”

“How about you? Did you manage to control your darkne-” Tao stopped.

Henri hesitated and bit her lip. She thought of her Darkness Potencia and the one time she lost control of it. *I have to suppress it before it causes more damage.*

“Heh, nevermind mei mei, you don’t have to answer that. Let’s just relax.” *I completely forgot about her Darkness Potencia. I made Mei mei upset…*

“It’s okay. Let’s just go back to the inn. I’m getting hungry.” Henri stood up. Tao followed and the both of them went to the inn.

“Oh, you’re back! Here, I have some snacks.” D.O. greeted them. He was the cooking umma.

“Uhm, Ge ge, where are the others?” Tao looked around.

“They are all in the dining room. Chen and Lay are chilling at the village library.”

“Okay, I’ll go to them then. Mei mei?” Henri shook her head ans smiled. “Okay. See you later then!” Tao patted Henri’s head.

“Sure, Ge ge.” Henri smiled assuring. After Tao left satisfied, Henri proceeded at the dining room. Chanyeol, Sehun and Kai are discussing something while Baekhyun is silently eating.

“Hen Ri! Just in time!” The three glared at Henri when they saw her coming. “Uhm, what?” Henri blinked.

“Y U not call us Oppa? You call Kris hyung, Xiumin hyung, Luhan hyung, Lay and Chen hyung, ‘Ge ge’ and Suho and D.O. hyung: ‘Oppa’. Y not us, we’re older than you!” The three cried. Baekhyun just remained silent.

“True, you’re a lot older than me, but you sure don’t act like one. So no ‘Chanyeol oppa this’ or ‘Sehun oppa that’.”

“No! We can’t accept it!” *sigh* Okay, I’ll call you all ‘Hyungs’ then.”

“No! ‘Oppa’!”

“Argh, no, that’s waaayyy too girly.”

“But you’re a girl.”

“I don’t wanna act like one.”

“Please~” The three started doing aegyo. Henri backed away from them.

*Must. Resist. Aegyo. Ah, nevermind Chanyeol, his deep voice ruins everything.*

“No! Can it or I’ll never call you anything! Ever!”

The three backed away and nodded in defeat.

Baekhyun smirked a bit. “This means I won the bet, Yeollie.”

Henri stared curiously at Baekhyun. Baekhyun just looked at Henri blankly.

“What?” Baekhyun snapped. Henri was surprised with the sudden rudeness.

“Nothing.”

Baekhyun turned his attention back to his food. Chanyeol leaned over Henri.

“Don’t worry about him. He always has some problems.” Chanyeol and the others snickered. Baekhyun just ignored them and finished eating.

“Oy, where are you going?” Chanyeol asked when Baekhyun stood up. Baekhyun didn’t respond and went outside.

 

“Uhm… Chanyeol hyung, does Baekhyun hyung hate me?” Henri asked.

Sehun, Kai, Chanyeol choked on their food. Henri waited their reply.

“W-why did you asked that, Henri-ah?” Kai smiled nervously at Henri.

“Well, he always acts cold whenever I’m around.”

“That’s Baekhyun, don’t worry about him. He’ll eventually warm up to you soon.” Chanyeol grinned.

“Thanks.” 

 

Baekhyun originally intended to train but ended up resting under a tree. *Aish, am I too rude? Her expression after I- Argh, Baekhyun! Stop it!*