“I found him” Seungri announced. “He’s staying in an abandoned building Westside from town”

 

“Good” Jiyong nodded.

 

“If this turns out bad, both of you are dead” Bom darkly said.

 

“Bom, I’m-.” Dara started.

 

“I’m not doing this for you” she grimaced. “I’m doing this for Youngbae”

 

“Did you call Jaejoong already?” Jiyong asked.

 

“Yes” Dara nodded. “Are you sure you want him to watch over me? Can’t you just stay with me and let Jae go with them?”

 

“I don’t like this, either Dara” he said.

 

“And I’m not going anywhere without Jiyong” Bom butted in.

 

Jiyong turned to Dara. “I’ll be back”

 

“You should be” she said making him chuckle. He then leaned down to kiss her.

 

“Time’s running” Bom interrupted.

 

“See you in a few” Jiyong whispered huskily.

 

“I love you” she said,.

 

“Let’s go already” Bom impatiently said.

 

The moment Bom, Seungri and Jiyong left, that’s when she noticed CL slumped in the sofa. She went to her and dropped herself beside the girl.

 

“Why didn’t you go with them?” Dara asked.

 

“Jiyong told me to stay” she answered.

 

“Oh” Dara mumbled.

 

“He just wants to make sure you and Jaejoong won’t do anything behind his back, actually”

 

“I won’t do that!” Dara defiantly came up.

 

“I know that” CL grimaced, “I was just joking”

 

Dara sighed. “Do you think they’d be fine?”

 

“I can’t tell” the other shrugged. “Let’s just hope Bom’s presence would do something. But that’s exactly the problem with being involved with a shadow, isn’t it?  There won’t be a day that they won’t be in danger”

 

“Is that. . . . is that why you’re being cold to Seungri?”

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

Dara sighed again and just let it go. “I can’t believe Youngbae. . . . “ Dara trailed.

 

“Feels the same” she said.

 

“Why do you think he’s playing this game?”

 

“I’m not well-informed about masked shadows but based on what Bom found out, they take pleasure in watching ordinary people’s lives in a mess. They enjoy seeing pain and suffering. . .”

 

“But why me?”

 

“You could have been randomly chosen” CL shrugged. “Or maybe you’re simply a shadow magnet”

 

“A shadow magnet?” Dara repeated.

 

“That’s what the other shadows here call you. You’re quite popular with them, you know”

 

“Why?”

 

“For some reasons” she said. “Being involved with Jiyong’s one. Your body’s endurance and sensitivity to shadows come next. And for obvious reason, you’re beautiful and all shadows are men”

 

“What does the second reason mean?”

 

“Basically, you should be exhibiting signs of being cursed or what Jiyong calls shadow’s infection but as you can see, you’re quite normal, except maybe for your inborn brain damage”

 

Dara grimaced but curiosity made her ask CL again. “What signs are you talking about?”

 

“Using inappropriate acts on a normal human alters the victim’s body. You might show signs of being sick, sings of insanity, sings of nearing death, there’s excessive hair loss, paleness, blindness, body pain, nose bleeding, skin blotches, etc. it goes on and on until the person eventually die”

 

“That’s awful”

 

“Tell me about it” she scoffed. “You should be grateful because among the new generation of shadows, two of the strongest are on your side. And speaking of, your ex-boyfriend’s here already”

 

Dara looked up and saw Jaejoong heading towards them. She greeted him awkwardly, which was responded by the guy with so much worry and concern that he ended up hugging her, making CL clear .

 

She pushed Jaejoong gently away and gave him a tight smile. “Thanks for coming” she said.

 

“Anytime” he answered.

 

o=o=o

 

Youngbae immediately went into a defensive stance as he started hearing footsteps and commotions towards his direction. He straightened up a little as he recognized who his visitors were. A smirk automatically curved his lips.

 

“This is a surprise” he smiled. “Are you all here to take me down?”

 

“if I may, I’d like to do that” Jiyong hissed.

 

“Then why don’t you do it?” Youngbae challenged. “You always do what you want, don’t you? So what’s stopping you now?”

 

“I did” Bom joined in.

 

“You?” Youngbae mocked. “Since when did you have control over him?”

 

“Why are you doing this?” Bom asked.

 

“Didn’t you want Dara dead so you could get Jiyong back?”

 

“No!” Bom strongly denied. “I didn’t want that! Yes, I hated her before but I never wanted to see her dead!”

 

“Lie!” Youngbae gritted.

 

Youngbae was suddenly pushed against the wall as Jiyong went to grip his neck. But Youngbae only laughed at this. With much forced, Jiyong was sent flying backwards.

 

“Jiyong, don’t!” Bom stopped him as he was about to attack Youngbae again.

 

“ him!” Jiyong hissed, ignoring Bom’s plea. He went running back to Youngbae but the latter suddenly turned into a crow. Seeing this, Jiyong turned himself into one too, and started chasing Youngbae as the latter flew away.

 

“Seungri, do something!” Bom bellowed.

 

“I’m on it” Seungri answered as he jumped into the air. He went in between his two friends but it was no help. The two only flew higher and started attacking each other again.

 

Beak to beak, claws to claws.

 

Jiyong focused on crippling Youngbae’s wings while the latter was trying to lash at his eyes. Jiyong gave a screech as Youngbae’s beak closed around his neck. He tried to shove the other off, but he didn’t budge.

 

Seungri saw what was happening so he went to help Jiyong by attacking Youngbae. He buried his claws on the bird’s shoulders and pulled Youngbae off Jiyong. With a furious screech, Youngbae flapped his wings hard and turned to face Seungri. He flexed his claws and went to lash Seungri’s eyes. The latter was able to dodge only, he wasn’t able to totally avoid it resulting to an injury starting from his brow across his upper cheek.

 

Jiyong, who just recovered and regained his altitude, resumed his fight with Youngbae. He suddenly flew back as he noticed something. Youngbae’s eyes were still black. He was waiting for it to turn red but they just remained black. He found that odd because shouldn’t Youngbae be in a fighting mode, right now? And shouldn’t his eyes be all red already? Unless of course. . . .

 

He searched for Seungri when Youngbae suddenly dived, heading towards Bom’s direction. He gave a loud screech to call Seungri’s attention before diving down himself to chase Youngbae. But the other already had a head start against him. He gave out a desperate screech as Youngbae neared Bom, who seemed to be frozen on her spot. Youngbae was just a few inches away from her when Seungri was able to intercede. Both of birds lost altitude but Youngbae was quick enough to regain it but he wasn’t quick enough to see Jiyong transform into his human form. Being back to himself, Jiyong caught Youngbae by the neck and threw the bird against the wall, knocking the poor thing out. And right before his eyes, Youngbae went back to his human form, too.

 

“He’s not the masked shadow” Jiyong panted.

 

“W-what do you mean?”

 

“I’ve been waiting for his eyes to turn red but it remained black” Jiyong said. “And his speed. . . ! I should have noticed it earlier on. Youngbae’s speed wasn’t even close to the red-eyed crow’s speed”

 

He was too preoccupied with what Youngbae did to Dara that he just jumped into conclusions.

 

“But why did he attack Dara? Or you? Or-?”

 

“I think he’s not himself” he said.

 

“He’s under a spell?!” Bom breathed.

 

“I think so”

 

Seungri whistled at this. “Will he be back to normal after this?”

 

“I can’t tell” Jiyong shook his head. “Well, there’s only one way to find out”

 

“What way?” Seungri asked, who kept one eye closed because of the wound he acquired.

 

“Wake him up”

 

“But why me?”

 

“Coward” Jiyong growled.

 

“I’m not a coward!” Seungri defensively said. “I’m merely asking! I’m gonna wake him up now. Wait. How am I going to wake him up?”

 

 

Later. . .

 

“He’s stirring awake” Bom said, alerting Jiyong and Seungri. They watched as Youngbae blinked his eyes open. The guy groaned as he pushed himself up in a standing position. He smirked right away upon seeing the three of them in front of him.

 

“He’s not yet back to himself” Seungri groaned.

 

Thinking of the same thing, Jiyong immediately went into an active stance when Bom suddenly walked past by him. “Bom!” he called but the girl continued making her way to Youngbae. Jiyong straightened up and was about to go pull Bom away from Youngbae when the girl did something that stopped him in his tracks.

 

She slapped Youngbae. “WAKE UP!” she shouted.

 

If Jiyong and Seungri were taken aback with what happened, the next thing she did totally blew them off. She kissed him. Seungri’s jaw dropped as he stared at Bom and Youngbae while Jiyong managed to chuckle and shook his head.

 

“Is this really how it’s supposed to end?” Seungri asked blankly then whistled as he finally recovered from the shock. He turned to Jiyong. “Do you think CL would do that too if I was in Youngbae’s position?”

 

“I thought you already gave up on that idea?” Jiyong asked with raised brows.

 

“I already did give up” Seungri defensively said. “I was just thinking. . . of the. . . . possibilities. . . .” he added in a mumble.

 

Meanwhile, Youngbae suddenly pushed Bom away, frowning. “What’s going on?” he asked. “What. . . .? Where. . . .?  Were you just kissing me?”

 

Bom blushed then looked away, making Seungri and Jiyong laughed out loud. But seeing Bom’s look, they stopped. Seungri then launched to telling him what happened and what he did.

 

“Jiyong, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that to Dara. I-.”

 

“You owe me an apology, too” Seungri butted in. “Look at what you did to my face. It’s going to scar, I tell you”

 

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t myself. I can only remember glimpses but not everything. The last I fully remember was being in the forest. I was flying around, thinking of. . . . Bom then I started hearing whispers. . . and then nothing”

 

“Whispers?” Jiyong asked sharply. “What kind of whispers?”

 

“Well, I. . . .” Youngbae blushed.

 

“But why would a shadow put a spell on Youngbae? And as far as I know, shadows can’t-.” Seungri wondered.

 

“Distraction” Jiyong slowly said, his heart beating hard against his chest.

 

“Huh? Distraction?” Seungri echoed. “Are you saying that this is just a distraction? By whom? By the masked shadow?” he laughed.

 

“It’s possible” Bom whispered. “That means. . . . .”

 

“Oh !” Jiyong gritted. “Dara!” he then took off.

 

“What’s wrong with him?” Seungri asked. “Dara’s safe. She’s with Jaejoong, right? Unless of course Jaejoong’s the masked shadow but that’s impossible, right? I mean, he loves Dara and he’s not the type who would. . . .” he trailed as he saw the look on Bom and Youngbae’s faces. And then, horror filled his system. “Chaerin!” he gasped upon remembering that CL was left behind with Dara and Jaejoong.