Suho was put in quarantine with the other students who had ended up inside the frog’s stomach subspace, just in case they had brought anything back with them. The toxins expert at the campus hospital, who was also an awakened, quickly determined that all they had brought back was a bunch of mud, but they were still under supervision as they recovered from a variety of non-critical wounds.

Jaejin was the first to swing by, the morning after the midterm ended. Suho hadn't seen him since before the exam. He dropped a huge gift basket of fruits onto the nightstand beside his hospital bed and sent him a grin.

“A get-well-soon bribe,” he said. “Damn, you look like a mummy.”

Suho was indeed bandaged up all over, mainly across his arms, where the salamanders had done the most damage. Doctors in this day and age could close and treat flesh wounds like that fairly easily, but they still needed time and support to fully heal.

“I feel better than I look,” he replied, lifting his arms and flexing his fingers.

“You think you’ll be back in class after the weekend?”

The midterm had ended on a Friday so the kids could have the weekend to rest before classes started again. In two days…

“If the headmaster lets me,” Suho answered.

Hyuna had definitely been more than mad at him. She hadn't spoken to him about it yet, probably because he was still recovering, but a lot was going to be coming his way. Jaejin snickered. He’d already heard the tale of what had happened from Soobin. She was a naturally talkative person, and she was telling everyone who would listen.

“Condolences,” he said. “That’s totally your fault though. See you whenever the headmaster lets you out of prison.”

“See you.”

The next to visit was Kitae. He plucked a clementine out of Jaejin’s gift basket and started peeling it.

“Headmaster Hyuna has called us in for disciplinary hearings this afternoon,” he said. “You’re probably going to be on the chopping block tomorrow.”

He was talking about himself, Yuna, and Sunghyun—people who were in better condition, and weren't stuck in the hospital.

“Jihyuk and the students he brought already got their talking-to. They're suspended for a couple days for choosing to help us. We’re probably going to take the brunt of Hyuna’s anger though, because it was all our idea.”

Suho frowned.

“The headmaster wouldn't be unreasonable,” he said.

Kitae passed him a half of the clementine.

“Yeah, but she sees us as a bunch of dumb kids,” he replied. “We need to be taught a lesson, so we don't do this again. So the punishment will probably be pretty harsh.”

“You seem calm about this.”

“What’s done is done.”

Kitae bit a couple wedges off his half. He raised an eyebrow as Suho fidgeted.

“Are you nervous?” he asked.

“Is there anyone who wants to get into trouble?” Suho said. “I don't want to make people worry back home, but I’ve already ended up in this spot twice.”

Kitae sent him a pointed look.

“Well we tried to stop you from jumping back in,” he remarked.

“Yeah. I know this is my own fault. And I’m really sorry for dragging all you guys into it.”

“We joined you knowing that we’d get in trouble, so that’s on us. Though I think Sunghyun is still pissed.”

That was totally reasonable. Suho was building a long list of people in his head he had to properly apologize to. Kitae saw the stressed look on his face and sighed. Maybe it was because Suho had never been to school or hung out with many people his age before, but he always overthought things. He finished his half of the clementine and patted off his hands.

“But you know what you did wrong, right?” he said. “You don't want to do that kind of thing again.”

Suho nodded. That was for sure. But then he thought—that depended on that kind of situation not popping up again. National had always been such a safe campus, and all of a sudden, right when he was here, two monster break-ins had happened in the same semester.

“Suho,” Kitae prodded, “you're not going to do that kind of thing again, right?”

“Definitely not.”

He decided to just agree for now. It was true that if things were normal, he would've chosen to have nothing but the most mundane school life. It wasn't like he sought out danger. It was just…

“You’re overthinking again.”

Kitae took Suho’s wrist and shoved the half of the clementine that he was still holding into his mouth.

“Just eat and get well,” he said. “And when Headmaster Hyuna brings down the hammer on you, tell her all about how remorseful you are.”

“Yes sir.”

Suho reluctantly chewed on the fruit. It was sweet, but it did little to take his mind off of things, even after Kitae left. He had come here to learn and to make the elders back home happy—that was paramount. But suddenly everything had gotten so complicated.

He thought about Kitae’s question. Would he do something stupid again if an unexpected situation like before popped up? He couldn't speak for how he’d act. And just by the fact that he couldn't make up his mind, he knew he was a lost cause. Because it meant that he was still considering doing the dumb thing, when it shouldn't have crossed his mind at all.

Suho sighed and leaned back. He understood now why Woojin’s criticisms had hit him so hard. It didn't have to do with wanting to help people or not. The elders back in the village had just been too nice, praising him as a kind, generous, charitable person. He’d believed them, because there was nobody around to tell him differently. But in reality…

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Suho was just a kid with some screws loose. He’d do anything if he believed he could, no matter how dangerous it was. Somehow, that realization lifted some of the weight that had been pressing down on his mind. He could live with that.

Suho grabbed his phone from the nightstand, squished under Jaejin’s fruit basket. He scrolled through his messages and opened a chat. It was mostly one-sided, with Suho only sending short replies every once in a while. Technically, this person was also one of his elders, but contacting her first felt a little awkward.

Now was the time. National, twice, had been invaded by monsters sent from elsewhere, and this time they’d been after him in particular. He needed to know as much as possible about what was going on. There were two organizations jointly investigating the matters. One was the school’s administration.

The other was the Bureau.

They’d been the ones to send him here. So it was time for them to answer his questions.

Suho started typing in a message to send to Lee Jihyo.

⊕

In the darkness of one of the Bureau’s many warehouses, the giant frog’s corpse had been brought into storage. These warehouses were usually used for monster butchering and distribution, but this one had been cleared out for the frog only. The temperature was carefully controlled to support preservation of evidence. Security systems were active 24/7, and guards were placed on duty around all the doors. If it got out that National’s impregnable fortress had been breached, it could shake the foundation of the trust people had in not only them, but hunters as a whole. So they were keeping the monster’s body away from prying eyes for as long as possible. The media hadn't even been allowed to get a whiff of the story yet. They were currently just saying that there had been an error in summoning the midterm’s final monster, but that nothing more serious had happened.

All of their preventative measures meant nothing to a fire spirit like Fleur. She softly landed on the roof of the warehouse. Below, she could sense the corpse. It still gave off a very faint fire energy, even dead.

Fleur melted into smoke and descended through a vent. As she emerged into the main room, she materialized on top of one of the corner cameras, light as feather—not even heavy enough to make it move. She flicked her hand, and the glass lenses of every camera in the room burned out, blackening their view. She leapt down to where the frog was.

Thorn and Lohan weren't with her—she didn't need them for this. Ideally, they would have brought the suspects directly to her, but their failure wouldn't stop her. Just the frog’s corpse was enough. She had been built and programmed with only one mission in mind, and there was nobody in any world who could do it better.

She placed her hand on the frog’s face. Vein-like strands of fire spread from her fingertips, encompassing the corpse. And as the net completed, she saw everything the frog had seen. One by one, the scenes passed by in her head. Fleur checked the magic signatures of the five people she was suspicious of.

Shin Yuna, the mage girl. Her ice had come into contact with the frog on several occasions, so Fleur got a good sense of her magic power. Yuna wasn't who they were looking for. She had nothing to do with their world.

Next was Lee Sunghyun. He hadn't had any direct contact with the frog, but it was obvious from the way he fought and the way he wielded his magic power—

Not him.

Next.

Lim Suho. He’d spent quite some time in the monster’s stomach, so his magic signature was deeply imprinted in the frog’s memories. It was a bit strange, like he hung out with monsters a lot, but that didn't matter to Fleur at all. He wasn't the one.

None of the students were related to Cielo—their target. Fleur gritted her teeth. Homunculi didn't normally feel anything, but her creators had given her one emotion when she was made: complete and utter disgust at anything related to Cielo. Even thinking about his name made her blood boil.

Fleur moved on. In the frog’s memory, Hyuna arrived. She had fought the monster plenty, so her magic signature was clear as day. There was no evidence of Cielo’s signature in her magic either. But Fleur knew this campus had something to do with him—it was the only place in the world that she’d found traces of him.

That meant only one thing. There was still a single suspect on campus, out of all the faculty and students and support staff, that she hadn't been able to discount.

Lucian de Loren knew something.

The net of fire that had spread over the frog flared with power as Fleur’s emotions became more volatile. She was finally on the trail of the traitor who had nearly lead to the collapse of one of the kingdoms. Cielo, the Rebel of Alfheim, one of the most dangerous and cunning mages that there had ever been in all the kingdoms…

He had gone to Earth 20 years ago to escape persecution from their home world’s armies. And now the coward that had been in hiding for so long was about to be in her hands.

The corpse in front of her had already been charred black by the time Fleur removed her hand. She hadn't meant to leave such obvious evidence that somebody had been here, but it couldn't be helped. That was just how much she hated—or had been built to hate—Cielo.

Fleur forced herself back to her usual calm. This was good. They were on the right track. Now, she had work to do.

“All for the good of Múspell.”

She said it under her breath like a prayer. In an instant, she dissolved back into smoke and left through the vents. But the cameras hadn't been the only things watching the corpse. Perched on one of the walls was a firebug—no, it had been altered. Instead of the usual red hue, this one was a metallic blue, and it had no fire energy left in it. Not even Suho would be able to tell it apart from a regular insect.

It crawled under the crack beneath the back door and buzzed away—through the forest, the suburbs, and into the city. Until it finally reached one of the faculty apartments on National’s campus.

The bug landed on Lucian de Loren’s finger. He smiled softly as he saw it.

“There you are,” he said.

He patted it gently on the head. As he did, its memories returned to him.

“…I see.”

It buzzed into a tank filled with other altered firebugs, which he had been kidnapping and reprogramming with his magic ever since they started following him around.

“So the hunt for the traitor has started in earnest,” he said. “That means they're preparing to start the real invasion of Earth.”

He frowned. He knew about Múspell. He knew about what was laying in wait on the other side of the gates. The other world’s forces kept encroaching more and more. The fact that they’d been so bold lately was not a good sign. Most people on Earth had no idea what was coming, and they probably wouldn't believe him even if he told them. But he couldn't just sit by and let the attacks continue.

“Cielo…”

He hadn't heard that name in a while. Cielo was somebody who might as well have died the moment he came to Earth to hide. There hadn't been a trace of activity from him in over 20 years. But maybe now was the time to wake him up again. After all, there was one thing that both Lucian and the fire spirits from Múspell knew.

There were more traitors hiding on Earth than just Cielo.

The kingdoms on the other side of the gates wanted to hunt them down and eliminate all anomalies before they started their real invasion. Which meant Lucian needed to do the opposite: he needed to find every traitor and bring them all together. The enemy of an enemy is a friend—and these traitors would make powerful friends. Only the strongest mages were able to force open gates on purpose and flee to Earth.

“Problem is they’ll be coming after me,” he muttered, removing his glasses and running a hand down his face.

It’d be hard to do anything while people like Fleur were watching him. She had been right with her diagnosis, after all. He did know Cielo, not that he could tell her where he was.

Lucian sighed. His eyes drifted to a shadow in the corner of his room, black and inconspicuous. The only good news was that he wasn't alone. He almost couldn't believe his luck when he found a certain creature snooping around his room, keeping an eye on him. Fleur hadn't been the first to realize he was a little strange.

“You,” he called, “I know you’re listening. Múspell is here, and they're coming after people like us. What do you think? Should we work together?”

It looked like he’d gone crazy and was now talking to an empty corner. For a moment, there was only silence. And then the shadow began to move. Like ooze, it rose up and grew solid legs, fur, a snout…

Pit appeared from the darkness, watching him with beady black eyes.

Lucian smiled.

“Don't you think we’d make a good team, hound?”