You were sitting on one of the three stairs of the threshold since almost ten minutes now. Your elbows planted on your knees, you had your chin propped up in your hands while observing the child playing football with Myungsoo, Sungjong, Sungyeol, Ken and Hyuk.  As to Leo and Hongbin, they were sitting right next to you. Each time the West Circle’s members scored, they would clap and cheer them on loudly. It didn’t really surprise you because Hongbin was an enthusiastic person. However, the sight of an almost smiling Leo fascinated you.

Unfortunately, that was the reason why you couldn’t decide yourself to stand up and do what you were supposed to do: revealing the truth to the child. When you had previously opened the door, the scene had literally paralyzed you on the spot, at the same place where you were sitting. All your determination had crashed down at the lovely scene playing under your amazed eyes. The little boy had waved at you with a beaming face. When you had waved back with a little smile, he shot you a happy smile before resuming running excitedly after the ball, what led you to stay glued to your current spot for the previous minutes until now.

“The boy… His family got attacked by hunters, right?”  Leo suddenly asked out of the blue.

“Hm.” You nodded, your eyes still following the child as he clumsily ran toward the goal of the opposite team with the ball in between his feet. “Did he tell you?” you asked the black-haired guy, looking at him this time.

“No, it is Suho’s supposition. And well, there is hardly any other explanations” he answered with a sad tone, obviously sympathetic to the little boy’s situation. You let out a heavy sigh and they both looked at you quizzically.

“What’s wrong?” Hongbin inquired curiously, seeing the torn expression you were displaying.

“I have to tell him” you suddenly stood up, your words unknowingly matching with the response you could have gave him if only you had heard his question.

“Huh? Telling him what?” Hongbin asked with round eyes, interrupting your footsteps. You turned your head to face him.

“That he will be leaving with hunters” you declared with a gloomy voice before resuming walking toward the child.

You didn’t even have to call him because as soon as he saw you walking toward him, he ran to you shouting your name with his cute smile and took a hold of your hand before pulling you by the arm to bring you to the five other Jägers who had stopped playing. They were all looking at you as they had a little idea of what you were about to do.

“Do you want to play with us? It will be fun if you play too. Please, Seyi…” he asked you with hopeful eyes and you couldn’t help but to chuckle at his cuteness.

“How come you know my name and I don’t?” you asked playfully with your other hand on your hip.

“When I woke up, the man with small eyes told it to me. He said I should be careful not to wake you up” he replied with a sheepish smile and his description of Sunggyu made you laugh. “My name is Jinho” he then introduced himself, proud to make you smile.

“It’s a cute name” you stated with a gentle voice.

You crouched down and sat Indian style on the grass in front of him. Without complaining he did the same and you patted his head with a smile.

“Well, Jinho, I’m not really good at football but it sounds fun” you began “But before, I would like to tell you something, okay?”

“Tell me!” he exclaimed happily. “Is it a secret?”

“Hm. It’s a secret” you explained with a tiny smile. You looked up to the five boys behind the child.

“Could you go and get the others?” you asked Myungsoo softly. He immediately nodded and jogged inside the house. A few seconds later, they all walked toward you with tense expressions as they sat down two or three meters away behind the boy who looked at them quizzically.  He turned to you again and tilted his head to the side and bent forward.

“I thought it was a secret…” Confusion was written all over his face. You cleared your throat awkwardly and managed to smile a bit.

“Yeah, this is a secret we all share. And we are going to tell you because it is really important that you know about it if you want to stay with us” you gave him the best justification you could because you wanted to give you time to think of a way to tell him without blurting the facts out insensitively. He needed to know but he was still a child. You needed to tell him in a tactful way. If your mother was here, she would doubtlessly have a solution for your problem. She had always known how to talk to people and this gift of hers would have come in handy right now. But she wasn’t here anymore and you had to do it on your own. You knew you could, but you needed time.

“I really want to stay here with you!” Jinho exclaimed, obviously afraid you would chase him out of here. He crawled up to you and took a hold of your arm with round and worried eyes. “You’re not going to send me away, huh? You’re not going to… to…”

Seeing his panicked state, you slowly cupped his face and looked straight into his eyes. You spoke with the softer voice you could manage. “Jinho, I promise I will never abandon you. I will always be here to protect you…” Suddenly, your lips stretched upwards as you ended your sentence “… like a big sister”. The idea made you happy because you had always wanted to have a little brother or a little sister.

“You’re lying” he said sadly while crossing his arms and pouted.

Your face fell at his words and you softly flicked him on the forehead. He let out a surprised sound and rubbed that same spot.

“I never lie!” you pouted childishly which made you gain several discreet chuckles from the Jianhuren and the Jägers.

“You promise?” Jinho said in all seriousness, holding out his pinkie. You looked at it and without hesitating any further, intertwined your own with his.

“Cross my heart and hope to die” you said, imitating his previous tone. He beamed at you once again and before you could react, he already had his arms wrapped around your neck. You didn’t really have experience with children so at the beginning you just stayed still, a bit taken aback. Once you proceeded what was happening, you let out a small laugh and hugged him back. You then pulled away and made him sit on your lap so that he could face everyone.

“But Jinho, you have to promise me something too…” you finally declared.

“Anything!” he answered faithfully.

“No matter what I’m going to say now, I want you to remember that we will never ever harm you and that you don’t have to be afraid of us.” You saw how his eyes mirrored confusion again and he furrowed his brows in worry.

“I know. Why are you saying that?” he asked awkwardly.

“Just promise me.” This time it was your time to hold out your pinkie to him. He looked at it and then at you. He shrugged innocently and sealed the promise. You looked at everyone in front of you and seeing their encouraging eyes, you took a deep breathe before speaking again.

“You wanted to know about my story, right?” he nodded eagerly at your words since he didn’t have the chance to hear it the previous night. “Still a week ago, I thought I was human. Do you see those 7 people here?” he nodded calmly as you pointed at the North Circle’s boys who were also listening carefully to your words. “They are humans. But they are like my family. I was raised by my human parents and behaved like one during 18 years until now. Like you, I… I lost them. It has almost been a year now.” You felt a squeeze on your left hand and looked down to see him smiling at you with comforting eyes. You smiled back and ran your free hand through his smooth hair affectionately “I had a hard time, but I’m okay now. Thanks to all of them.” You paused for a bit, giving him time to proceed the informations “Then, a week ago, these 12 people here” you pointed at the Jianhuren who waved at the boy, who nodded quickly after “they came to me and make me realized I was… like them, and like you. Now, we all make a very big family and you’re part of it too. Also, these persons” you pointed at the West Circle’s members “They are friends… and… and we all have something in common.”

Seeing your hesitation, he began to grow impatient. He turned and looked up to meet your sheepish eyes. He gently pulled one strand of your long hair.

“What is it?”

“Demons” you blurted out, shutting your eyes close. He stood up and faced you awkwardly.

“I-I don’t understand” his eyes narrowed in slight distrust as he eyed carefully the numerous older boys behind him, as if to suddenly realize he was at a huge disadvantage.

“Wicked demons and Runaways… our mission is to… take care of them” you explained hesitantly, ending your sentence with an uncertain tone.

“What are you?” he asked, stepping back a bit. His eyes became piercing and despite his age, you couldn’t help but to feel very small under his stare. From the corner of your eyes, you saw a movement behind the boy but you didn’t really pay attention to it.

“We are…”

“Hunters” he suddenly whispered, interrupting your words. His eyes grew wide and he frankly stepped back this time. But a ringed hand on his shoulders stopped him. Suho came to reassure him but unfortunately it didn’t have the expected effect. The Jianhuren didn’t even have time to utter a word that the boy gasped heavily at the view of the other’s hand. Your lips parted to calm him down; however, before any sound could escape your mouth, the child suddenly disappeared. Your round eyes scanned the spot where he had just been. He was nowhere to be found but you could still feel his small aura.

“W-what happens? Where is he?” you urged Suho to answer your frenzied questions as your eyes wandered all around your spot, hoping to meet the petite figure.

“Looks like we’ve just discovered his ability…” Luhan muttered. When he saw everyone wearing confused looks, he precised: “Since we can still feel his aura, he didn’t teleport like Kai. So I think he just made himself invisible. He isn’t far away, but I can’t localize him. His thoughts right now are too blurred and messy.” He scrunched his nose to punctuate his words, as if he wanted to give an idea of his actual headache.

“I may have an idea of where he might be” you said thoughtfully while turning where the entrance of the forest you had fled the previous day. Without waiting for permission, you scurried in this direction. Jimin didn’t think twice and just ran in the same direction to catch up to you.

“Myungsoo accompany them.” Sunggyu ordered the younger Jäger who nodded and followed quickly after.

“Kai, Chanyeol, Luhan, same thing.” Suho spoke up while simultaneously staring at them. “With