Classes were canceled for the entire next week. For any other school, they probably would've been canceled for even longer, but the national academy was well equipped to rebuild damage. Though usually it was caused by students.

Construction robots were working tirelessly on the buildings and streets while the students were on break. There would be no issue having the campus look pristine again in only a week’s time. And much more importantly—

None of the students had died. Luckily, aside from the two A-rank orcs that Suho had seen, and one other A-rank that had gone for the faculty building, the monsters had been relatively easy to run from. For civilians, it might've been a life-threatening situation. For hunting students, they were surprised but mostly unharmed.

That didn't mean everything was fine and dandy. Suho was standing in Moon Hyuna’s office, the air chilly around him as she stared at him from behind her desk.

She smiled, and that somehow made it even colder.

“I heard you disobeyed the evacuation order I sent,” she said.

“I’m sorry, ma’am,” Suho promptly responded. Best to acknowledge your faults and move on as quickly as possible.

“Don’t worry,” she replied, “you’re not in trouble.”

“…Am I not?”

“Well, there must be disciplinary action taken,” she said, “for fairness. But you’re not in trouble.”

She motioned for him to take the seat across from her.

“Sit.”

Suho stiffly sat.

“You took the initiative and led the monster away from the hospital,” she explained. “I admire that. And you might've just saved a lot of lives by doing so. First of all, let me ask you: do you understand how dangerous your actions could have been?”

“Yes.”

Suho nodded. It had been obvious since the moment the orc appeared. They couldn't have dealt with it, not even as a team—not in that state anyway.

“What do you think would’ve happened if no help had shown up?” she asked.

“That… Yuna would've run out of magic power, and we wouldn’t have been able to defend her.”

“Good. You get it.”

She sat back, a little more relaxed now.

“You were lucky that Lucian showed up. If you’re that reckless next time, whenever that is, you may have to pay with your life.”

“…I understand, headmaster.”

That thought made Suho feel a little down. Not because he was being scolded, but because Hyuna was right. They would’ve been done for if Lucian, or another strong instructor, hadn't stepped in.

“Then, you’ll receive the same punishment as Sunghyun,” Hyuna said. “During the break from classes, you will not be allowed out of your dorm building.”

…?

That wasn't that bad. There were dining halls and gyms inside the dorm buildings. And Suho was a homebody anyway.

“Is there anything else?” he asked.

She raised an eyebrow, sending him an amused look.

“Do you want there to be more? Yuna's suspended for an extra week, if you want to do that—”

“No thank you, headmaster.”

She laughed out loud at his straightforward answer.

“Great, then we agree,” she said. “If you break your house arrest there will be further discipline. Understand?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” She nodded, satisfied. “Then, there’s one last thing to take care of before I can let you go.”

She leveled her eyes at Suho.

“Your ranking spar with Jaejin was interrupted,” Hyuna pointed out. “It’ll automatically be canceled unless you two coordinate and set a new date. Are you up for it? Or do you want it to be canceled?”

Suho pursed his lips and thought it over. He didn't think anybody would be in the mood to deal with more fighting, but Jaejin was a bit of a wild card.

“Has Jaejin said anything?” he asked.

“Not to my knowledge.”

“…I’ll get in touch with him.”

“It’s up to you two, so do whatever you wish.”

Hyuna sent him a smile, one a little less chilly this time.

“Then, that’s all I needed you for.”

She clicked a button on her desk, leaning into the microphone.

“Escort Lim Suho back to his dorm, please.”

⊕

Although Suho wasn’t allowed to leave his dorm building, he wasn’t banned from meeting other students. Which is why on the second day of his house arrest, he had a guest at his door.

Jaejin stood there, sending him a shit-eating smile as usual.

“Hey,” he greeted with a wave.

Suho sighed.

“Come in.”

“What, you didn't miss me?”

Jaejin stepped inside and took off his shoes. Suho hadn't particularly wanted him to be here, but he couldn't leave and go to Jaejin’s dorm building.

“Want water or anything?” he asked.

“I’ll take a glass of water.”

He looked around the dorm as Suho filled up a glass for him. It was remarkably clean, aside from the dog hair that was all over the furniture. And it smelled like food even though nothing was currently cooking.

“You have a dog?” he asked.

“I stuck him in my room. Or else he’d have knocked you over already.”

“I’m not that easy to knock over.”

Suho pretended not to hear that. He hadn't met Pit yet.

He set the glass down on the counter as Jaejin took a seat on the other side.

“Thanks.”

For a moment, there was an awkward silence between them, neither wanting to broach the topic first.

“We should reschedule the ranking spar,” Suho finally said, “if you still want to do it.”

Jaejin smirked and leaned forward.

“I don’t know,” he replied. “I’m pretty confident from our last fight that I’m stronger than you. Do I want to prove it again?”

Suho knew he was messing with him, but he still felt his eyebrow tick in annoyance.

“I’m joking,” Jaejin said, chuckling. “I don’t really care anymore. Do you want to do it?”

The motivation had kind of worn off. Even after the stop pill lost its efficacy and Animal Instinct was reinstated, nothing had happened to Suho. The orcs didn't trigger anything. The aftermath didn't trigger anything. He had no more ideas on what the origin of his episodes might be. And with midterms coming up…

It felt like he didn't have any more time to give to Jaejin.

“I don’t mind just letting it get canceled,” Suho replied.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“I was thinking the same.”

That surprised him. Jaejin might’ve been the type to say too much, but he never really lied about his feelings. Suho thought that he wouldn't have been satisfied until a proper spar was done with and the result was acknowledged.

“Were you really telling the truth when you said you didn't remember what you did?” Jaejin asked.

Suho cocked an eyebrow.

“What—the thing that happened with Minchul and the others?”

“Well yes, unless there's some secret other thing you haven't told me about.”

Suho ignored that.

“Yeah,” he answered. “I don't remember what happened. I should've just apologized, but then everything escalated.”

“I guess that part was my fault. I thought you were playing dumb and hiding something.”

Jaejin scoffed.

“Too many people here are like that, and it pisses me off.”

He took a sip of his water and sat back.

“So you just do that?” he asked. “Like, forget things randomly.”

Suho made a face at him, as if wondering why he had to even answer that question. They certainly weren't that close. Jaejin laughed dryly.

“I’ll just make my own assumptions then,” he said.

Suho sighed.

“Do you have something else to discuss aside from the spar?” he asked. In his eyes, Jaejin had no reason to stick around anymore.

“Hm…”

Jaejin leaned on his hand, thinking. He did.

“I guess I should probably make what I think of you clear before I leave,” he said. “Since we won't be talking much again.”

“We’re in the same spearmanship class.”

“Do you plan on talking to me much there?”

Suho glanced away. His silence said enough. Jaejin cracked a smile. Some people just couldn't lie.

“I told you—you probably remember—I don't dislike you,” he said. “It was just, I was picking a fight with the idea of you. A random guy who was that strong without training, it could piss off anybody. Do you blame me for that?”

Suho thought about it. He certainly wasn't happy with what had happened. But he didn't hold negative feelings towards it anymore either.

“I didn't enjoy being picked out like that,” he admitted. “But I don't know if I blame you. It could've been anyone.”

“Right. It wasn't personal.”

Suho narrowed his eyes at Jaejin, who put his hands up.

“Hey—really. I mean it,” he said. “I mean, if it was personal, I would've kept pestering you to fight me again. I think I’ve seen enough of you to be satisfied.”

He put his hands down and wrapped his hand around his glass. The cool surface was strangely calming. Suho watched him stare at the water, quiet. He couldn't have expected the next words to come out of Jaejin’s mouth.

“Suho, do you know how you seem to me?” he said. “You’re kind of—I don't know how else to put this—scary.”

“…Pardon?”

It took a second for Suho to register that. He hadn't even won the spar. Why would someone who had already proven to be a better spearman think that?

“Hold on, let me be clear about this before you jump to conclusions,” Jaejin said. “I’m not scared of you. Honestly, I don't know anyone who is. But something is…”

His brow wrinkled as he tried to find the right way to put it.

“I don’t know. Maybe I’m talking out of my ass like I always do. It’s just—”

He gestured with his hand a bit too fast and knocked some water out of the glass.

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

Suho reached over and wiped the spill up with a dishrag. That gave Jaejin some time to gather his thoughts again.

“You’re a strong guy,” he said. “Everyone knows that. Even without training, you made it here.”

Suho nodded as he hung the dishrag to dry.

“You’ve mentioned that.”

“But, I think, some people are scared of what you might become.”

Their eyes finally met. For once, Jaejin didn't look like he was trying to get a reaction.

“Once you do get the training you lack,” he explained, “what will you turn into? How far will the gap between us be? It feels like Lim Suho might become some kind of unreachable monster.”

“…I don’t like that.”

Suho frowned as he imagined it. He came here to learn and grow stronger, but nowhere in that process did he want to be apart from everyone else.

“I’m not going to become some unreachable thing,” he said. “You’re sitting across from me now. And that will always be possible.”

“But I’m sitting across from the real Lim Suho, in the flesh,” Jaejin argued. “Not everyone does that. For people who don’t, all they’ve got is the idea of Lim Suho. And he’s… pretty scary.”

Suho was silent as he took that in. After living in a tiny village for so long, where everybody knew everybody else and they went to each other’s houses with ease…

The big city politics of relationships was hard for him to wrap his head around. But then he realized—

Ah.

Sunghyun had to deal with this last year.

“You’re trying to warn me,” he said, “about what might happen.”

Jaejin shrugged.

“I’m just airing out everything I’m thinking before I go.”

“Thanks.”

That caught him off guard for a split second. Jaejin smiled.

“Whatever,” he said, getting up. “I’ll see you when I kick your ass again in class.”

“You’re so sure of yourself.”

“Prove me wrong?”

His shit-eating grin had returned. Suho ignored it and grabbed his glass.

“Get out of my dorm if you’re done,” he said.

He dumped the water in the sink.

“Hey, I was gonna finish that.”

“Out.”

Jaejin snickered, amused. Even as he was getting kicked out, Suho seemed harmless.

He pushed the question of what exactly Minchul and the others had seen to the back of his mind. He couldn't forget about it, but…

Maybe he didn't want to be the one to dredge that version of Suho back up.

“Fine, I’m going,” he said, heading for the door. “Don’t pick any more fights.”

“I think you’re getting the two of us confused.”

Jaejin totally wasn't listening as he slipped his shoes back on and opened the door.

He turned back and waved with that same annoying grin.

“Bye!”

He didn't even give Suho time to respond as he stepped outside and slammed the door shut behind him.

Suho frowned and went back to washing the glass in his sink.

⊕

In an abandoned warehouse, not far from Seoul but looking like it was a world away, Lohan was standing in front of someone whose aura made his skin crawl.

A mask covered her eyes, and her hair was a shock of bright red like his was. But her skin was pale and grey, and she spoke with a robotic tone.

“Have you finished collecting the data?” she asked.*

“Yes, Commander Fleur,” Lohan responded.

Fleur. A tracker sent by their king, for the mission of finding where the traitors from their side could’ve run to. All mages had distinct magic signatures, and she could discern them from each other. She was the one who’d managed to track at least one traitor down to South Korea, and then to their national academy.

Now they just needed to figure out who it was.

“Hand it over to me,” she demanded.

Lohan took out a glass jar. It was filled with inactive firebugs. While the campus was dealing with the orcs, they had been watching. The orcs had been dropped on the school for the sole purpose of making as many people as possible expose their magic to fight back.

Fleur uncorked the jar. Instantly, it was filled with fire as the bugs were incinerated by her magic.

She took a deep breath, absorbing the data stored in their memories.

Beside her was Thorn, a tall man with a scimitar strapped to his belt. He had flaming red hair and ash black eyes, which scrutinized Fleur carefully.

All of them were fire spirits, sent on a reconnaissance mission to find the people who had betrayed their side. But Fleur was a homunculus, built specifically for the task of tracking them down.

It left a bad taste in his mouth to work under someone who was literally a living tool.

“Is that all?” she asked. “It appears I’m missing some information.”

Lohan pursed his lips. She was perceptive as always.

“A couple of the firebugs didn't make it back, so I couldn't collect their data,” he replied.

“Bring them to me.”

“I’m unable to. The connection has been lost, so they're either destroyed or lost on the campus—”

“I did not mean the firebugs.”

She cast the bottle aside. It shattered across the floor, sending ash everywhere.

“I mean the people they were after,” she said, “I want them brought here.

“That—could you mean…”

“The traitor is among them.”

In the memories of the firebugs, she’d double checked everybody they had followed. None matched the magic signature that she was tracking. It had to be someone they had missed.

“How many people are we talking?” Thorn asked, looking to Lohan.

“There’s… five, I believe.”

“The operations team can’t capture that many,” he said. “Not without the humans noticing.”

“You will have to find a way to do it,” Fleur replied, obstinate. “This mission is more important than your shortcomings.”

Thorn took the jab in stride. Homunculi were like that.

“Fine, but I’ll need time. Don’t expect this to happen instantly.”

“Do what you must for the mission.”

She raised her hand and gathered magic power.

“Call for me when you have the people.”

In a blink, she turned into a column of flame and disappeared.

Lohan exchanged a look with Thorn.

“Continue your surveillance,” Thorn commanded. “If any of those people who evaded your bugs continue to do so, then contact me. I’ll find a way to send them to Fleur.”

“Yes, sir.”

Thorn sighed and quickly disappeared too. Lohan was left alone in the warehouse with his racing thoughts.

Being able to narrow down the traitor candidates to just five was a great step forward for them. But the people whose bugs hadn't returned…

The list was strange.

Professor Lucian de Loren. It made sense that his bug had been detected and eliminated. He was a high-level magic teacher.

Headmaster Moon Hyuna. Hers had also stopped responding. She was the type to be careful about being watched, so that made sense.

These two should've been the most suspicious. But Lohan felt stranger about the rest of the candidates.

Shin Yuna. She also was a strong but young mage. Perhaps she had sensed something was following her and gotten rid of it. But could a teenager who was still learning magic really do that…?

At least there was some level of logic that could be used for her. The next names got into the territory of confusion.

Lee Sunghyun. He was the top student of the second years, but he showed no interest or prowess in magic. He should never have noticed a tiny bug following him. But more often than not, his had disappeared.

And then there was—

Lim Suho.

…?

The new kid that just smacked stuff to death?

The traitor they were looking for was well-versed in magic. If any of the kids were associated with him, then they should’ve been good mages too. By all appearances, Suho had nothing to do with magic.

So how come every bug Lohan sent to him ended up disconnecting?

He ran a hand over his face and heaved a huge sigh.

Even though there were only five candidates left, narrowing it down might not be as easy as he thought.