Dawn had broken the night. Myungsoo and Sungjong went to get some rest after fighting with Yoseob at Woohyun’s place, which was right beside the school, to heal their wounds up.

Sungjong knocked slowly on the wooden door. A long eerie creak along heard along the opening of the door, revealing a sleepy-looking Woohyun. His hair was still really messy. Maybe it could be said that he had a nest as his hair.

"What do you-" Woohyun said as he rubbed his sleepy eyes, “Oh my God, what happened to the both of you?!” He shouted as soon as he saw Sungjong and Myungsoo full of cuts and bruises.

“It’s a pretty long story.” Sungjong rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, “But first, we need your help to heal us. If the school sees us like this, it’s the principal’s office for us.” Sungjong added and put his hands together in a begging way.

Woohyun immediately invited them in and told them to sit on the couch next to the fireplace while he went into his room to get some things.

“So, what happened to you guys?” Woohyun asked as soon as he started waving his hands around the cuts and bruises to heal them.

Sungjong and Myungsoo started to tell the story from A to Z. Woohyun nodded his head as he continued to wave his hands from one cut to another to heal them. Woohyun told them that he had been long searching for this Yoseob guy since he was 19 years old. He had heard and witnessed evidence of the latter’s whereabouts. He had also heard rumors that Yoseob was one aggressive guy when it comes to getting what he wants. Yoseob was also in search for a boy who had seemed to have a dark history with his family.

Sungjong couldn’t help but feel that Yoseob was utterly familiar to him.

After hours of healing and talking non-stop, Myungsoo suddenly got up from his seat and suggested that they could do a contest to cheer the atmosphere up before something serious actually happens. What lightened Sungjong and Woohyun up was that the contest would be a ‘make-a-face’ contest.

There only two choices of faces to do, cute or cool. The ones that made the best impression would get anything he wanted from the other two.

Myungsoo went first and made a really cool, mysterious face which left Sungjong and Woohyun jaw-dropped as they figured that Myungsoo’s impression could really make girls swoon off their feet at the sight of that.

Sungjong was next. His choice was of course cute. He brought his hands to his cheeks, clenched his fist and blew air into his cheeks, making them look round and chubby. He was definitely cute. He tilted his head from left to right. He smiled in triumph as if he had already won the contest.

“That was cute, but I think I can do better.” Woohyun objected as he did a really cute bunny pose. Imagine him wearing bunny ears, and voila, you’ve got yourself a really big but cute bunny. He made sounds like ‘Buing, buing’ to make it look even cuter.

“Hah! You call that cute?” Sungjong suddenly said and tried to make an even cuter face. Soon enough, the two were bickering non-stop among themselves. Myungsoo just sat on the chair, minding his own business and played with Woohyun pet squirrel, Angie.

Suddenly, the broke down and revealed a furious-looking Yoseob.

“Both of you basically haven’t seen cute in your lives!” Yoseob suddenly shouted. “Basically I am the reincarnation of cute itself!” He said in pride and pointed to his face.

Awkward silence filled the air. Was he trying to play with them or does he want to fight them. Yoseob faked a cough and said, “Give me the gem, Sungjong. Give it or die.” Practically he turned back to his aggressive self and immediately attacked Sungjong.

Sungjong, fully healed, dodged his attacks swiftly, while Myungsoo and Woohyun got swept off their feet and were thrown into the air before hitting the hard ground. The sapphire hung around Sungjong’s neck and resulted in an increase in his speed and agility. The fight was dragged on for quite some time.

~¤~

The duel between the two fighters was pretty intense. Myungsoo and Woohyun were standing out of their way for their own safety.

Finally, after a long time of fighting, Sungjong managed to pin Yoseob to the ground. He was breathing heavily in exhaustion.

“You’d better give me back the gems, Yoseob!” Sungjong warned as he pinned his sword at Yoseob’s bare neck. One move and his neck would be sliced. Yoseob covered the gems that were hung around his neck with his hand, reluctant to let go of what he had.

Yoseob tried to figure out what he could do to escape this situation and at the same time obtaining the remaining gems he, or in an understandable way, his brother, wanted so badly. In a flash, an idea sparked in his mind.

“It’ll be a shame if you kill me right now, Sungjong. You would never know the real identities of your parents’ real murderers.” Yoseob said and lifted the corner of his lips to form a devilish smirk. Sungjong couldn’t believe his ears. Did he just hear that this guy say about his parents? He was sure no one knew about this, even Myungsoo.

“I can just imagine the day they were killed. I was a little boy back then. Seeing how that knife pierced deeply into his heart. The way his last breath was just wasted, unable to protect you and raise you like a real father. Oh, his tears were just so pure.” Yoseob started saying the words one by one, piercing Sungjong’s heart with those words and burning his anger up. He could already see Sungjong’s brown orbs turn into fierce eyes full of hatred. Just as he was about to continue, Sungjong strongly gripped onto Yoseob’s collar and looked him in the eye.

“Don’t you dare say anything about my parents!” Sungjong shouted furiously, his voice booming across the house. He pinned Yoseob to the wall and held his sword right on the skin of Yoseob’s neck. Yoseob gave him a smirk and spat in disgust at Sungjong.

“You weren’t even meant to be born into the world. Your birth has caused their burden to pile even more by trying to protect you. You’re just a mere child of the Lee family that my parents disgust and hunted.” Yoseob taunted more.

With that Sungjong’s patience broke. He took his sword and pierced it through Yoseob’s heart. Blood splattered onto his shirt. It all happened so fast. The next thing he knew was that he had just committed his first murder.

Sungjong released his grip on Yoseob and released his sword that was full of blood. Yoseob’s body fell to the ground, lifeless, along with the sword. Sungjong was still in a state of shock. Myungsoo and Woohyun were also surprised at Sungjong’s sudden lost of temper. They were more shocked about the cause of his parents’ death.

Raising his hands in front of him, Sungjong could see all the blood on his shaking palms. He felt as if he could cry. Sungjong wiped off the guilt of killing a person and turned back to what his main goal was; to get the gems and find the enchanted mirror.

 The lime colour of the jade had come to sight as the blood was wiped off. The other gems were also hung on the same string of the necklace.

After making sure the gems were in safe keeping, which were practically around Sungjong’s and Myungsoo’s necks, Sungjong gave Woohyun Yoseob’s lifeless body for him to take care of as Sungjong had still not recovered from the shock.

~¤~

They had arrived at their room just after the Sun had reached the top. They quickly washed all the blood off their clothes and body and lied on their beds. Lucky for them it was Saturday.

Sungjong took off the gems and also took Myungsoo’s gems to count them. It was peculiarly strange to see the gems lighting up. Sungjong looked back and saw something shining from his sling bag. He quickly scampered towards his bag and took a box out of it. It was the box that his father gave him.

Sungjong opened the box and the three mirrors on each side of the box were shining. The holes where the gems were supposed to be were also shining.

Sungjong figured that the gems must be placed into the holes. He took the gems and placed them in their places. Suddenly, the mirrors revealed a picture. 

Sorry to all Yoseob's fans out there!! >.<