[Novel] The Mirror [Chapter 3 (3/3)]

Meanwhile Myungwoo, Daesun and Sungmi - who keep holding Bonhwa the hare in her arm - are still running in the forest. The sky is getting darker, Myungwoo lost track of time, he doesn't know for how long they have been running like this and keep being chased by the angry fairies.

"Look at that green light! I think the leader must be there!"

"Princess, I think we need to do it fast. Daesun will run out of his energy soon!"

"How about our chocolate?"

"Only one bottle left."

Sungmi is frowning as she realized Daesun's attacking shield is getting weaker as he need to cast it once every minute and the range keep narrowing. Sungmi charged forward and they can now finally see what's in front of them: it's a fairy which is slightly bigger than the other fairies they saw, surrounded by a dim green light and some fairies. 

"Fairy leader! Why do you attack the guardians and humans?"

Once Myungwoo heard Sungmi mention "humans" he had an assumption that maybe something bigger is happening in his world too.

"Guardians? They are going to awaken the Darkness Lord. I'm not attacking the humans, I'm attacking guardians."

"What are you talking about? We aren't the evil guardians! It's me, Princess Sungmi. How can I support the evil guardians? You know me well!"

"I can't trust you in this state, Princess."

Then they see the leader's eyes turn red.

"That's why he is talking nonsense, he is being hypnotized. Guardians, we need to attack the other fairies to make them busy. Myungwoo, go straight to the leader and attack him with your ax. You won't kill him but you'll cleanse his mind - you're the only one who can break the spell since you're the omega."

Sungmi puts Bonhwa on the ground.

"Let's open the way for Myungwoo! Guardians attack!"

Bonhwa charged forward by hopping to the group of fairies in his hopping range; Myungwoo was waiting for the right timing.

"Daesun, let's do it! Water and Earth Guardians, combat attack!"

Daesun raises up his bow and Sungmi raises up her morning star; water spray out of the bow and soil out of the morning star then it combines in the air; before it falls to the ground on a big group of fairies and traps them there: it's mud! But it's not only a simple mud as some fairies sink into it while the others get trapped by their feet - the more they move, the more they sink into the mud.

"Myungwoo, the leader!"

Myungwoo just realized his job, he jumped forward to the leader. But the leader is fast, he dodge at the right time from Myungwoo's ax. Myungwoo doesn't give up, he rolls on the ground and jumps again, with the thought that he must end this chaos with his ax. He widens his eyes when he is too late to dodge away from the dust that the leader throws at him. He coughs as he inhales some of the dust and his mind is hazy again.

"Myungwoo, your left!"

Myungwoo can listen to Daesun's voice clearly and he can see the dust being thrown at him again from his left side but instead of dodging, he charges forward to the middle of the dust with his ax rising up...

"How many more will come?" asked Minseong in between his heavy breaths.

Minsook, Kichul and the wolf Minjoon who already changed back to his human form (and fighting cooly with his sword) at first killed all of the fairies in the room, but the fairies who appear from the mirror are a lot too. Kichul and Minseong finally wait together in front of the mirror but some dodge the attack and end up entering the room, being chased and killed by Minsook and Minjoon. But they use a lot of energy, even Minsook's magic seems a bit slow and weak.

"And how long can these humans stay alive?" Minsook looked around him, to the humans whose energy was being absorbed.

"All we can do is keep killing," said Kichul in a flat tone.

Minseong raises his ax with both hands and waits when a group of fairies appear again from the mirror... but even before he could swing his ax, those fairies fall to the ground.

"Wait... what's happening?" asked Minjoon, confused.

Minseong kneeling down and checking on one of the fairy, "it hasn't died yet. It's just... fainting?"

"Do you think something happens in the mirror world?" asked Minsook, still raising his staff towards the mirror, being cautious.

They wait and wait... but no more fairies appear.

"But what should we do with the strings?" asked Kichul, "everybody is getting pale!"

"Only Myungwoo hyeong can cut the line. But how to bring him here? He is far away in Gangneung..." said Minseong, suddenly feeling useless.

"First, I think we need to talk with them. Let me call Bonhwa hyeong, who knows they are already back here," said Minsook while grabbing his phone.

All of the fairies fainted as Myungwoo hit the leader with his ax. The leader himself laying on the ground, fainted. Myungwoo sits on the ground, barely able to feel himself. Daesun also sat tiredly on the ground.

"I think we made it," said Sungmi, "are any of you injured?"

"No, but I'm just so tired," answered Myungwoo.

"But I don't think the task has been finished. Myungwoo, you need to cut a lot of strings. Something happened in Minseong's place too."

"What? Are they okay?" asked Daesun, faster than Myungwoo.

"I didn't feel anything, so I think they should be okay. First, let's get back to the castle to bring more chocolate, I think everyone needs it. I can also join you to check if anyone gets injured."

"But how to go to Seoul? My body is in Gangneung. Bonhwa's too. Only Daesun is nearby but he can't cut the string."

"I can go to Seoul and luckily, there is someone who has the ability we haven't seen before. But first, let's not waste time and go back to the castle."

The three of them stand up.

"Let's run and jump, just use your energy to go as fast as you can to the castle before restoring it with chocolate."

"But princess... How about Bonhwa?" asked Daesun.

"Bonhwa? Why..."

Bonhwa the hare is still sitting on the ground while looking up at them one by one.

"Bonhwa, you can turn back now, I think it will be faster for you to run and jump in your human form."

But Bonhwa is still staring at them. It's so frustrating when they can't understand Bonhwa now. At this time, Myungwoo missed Minseong more than anything.

"No way, Bonhwa..." Sungmi bent down and held Bonhwa, "you can't... turn back?"

Bonhwa stared back at Sungmi, his ears lowered and his eyes teary.

Minseong keeps staring at the mirror, hoping that Myungwoo will appear from there. But if Myungwoo can't, he just hope anyone will.

"I can't contact Myungwoo hyeong, Bonhwa hyeong and Daesun hyeong," reported Minsook who keeps being busy with his phone.

"I don't think they can last longer..." said Kichul while checking on the humans.

Then suddenly the mirror was shining and Sungmi stepped out of it.

"Princess!" called Minseong and Minsook together.

"Here, grab it," Sungmi threw some bottles to the four of them, "I'm glad Light Guardian is here, Choi Kichul and Air Guardian, Bang Minjoon. I'll explain everything later, but I guess, Kichul and Minjoon did a good job, you guys followed your instinct well."

"They did fight better than me in my first battle," complimented Minsook.

"Good. Now I hope Minjoon remembers how to teleport," said Sungmi, "you need to go to Gangneung and take Myungwoo here to cut off the string."

"Teleport? Moving from one place to another place in a very short amount of time?" asked Minseong.

"Correct. Drink a whole bottle of chocolate, Minjoon, and restore your energy. All of you too."

While the guardians drink their chocolate, Sungmi is walking around and checking if any of them got injured, but they are all only exhausted. 

"Kichul, I'll talk with you later," said Sungmi while exchanging stares with Kichul.

Kichul nodded his head.

"Okay now... Minjoon. I know you haven't tried this and got trained about teleport, but this is your natural ability that you have since you first became a guardian."

Minjoon nodded his head, "I'm listening."

"Now focus... remember Myungwoo's face and focus... then close your eyes, feel his energy... remember only one purpose in your mind: to Kim Myungwoo's place. We only have you now who can do this, Minjoon."

Minjoon is picturing Myungwoo's face in his mind, he concentrates, then he closes his eyes... he is thinking of only one purpose... and he suddenly disappears.

Myungwoo checks on Sikyung's condition and she just looks a bit pale, but she hasn't awakened. He carefully moved Bonhwa's body to the couch.

"I hope Sikyung didn't ask why Bonhwa is here... or Bonhwa better wake up before Sikyung awakened... there will be so much explaining to do if Bonhwa doesn't wake up soon... OH MY GOSH!"

Myungwoo almost cursed when someone suddenly appeared in front of him out of nowhere. 

"Minjoon? What are you doing here? What just happened?"

"Let's go now, hyeong, there are urgent things to do."

"But how can you... okay let's just go first."

Minjoon is holding Myungwoo's arms tight before closing his eyes. Suddenly Myungwoo feels a weird feeling: he feels like he is sinking into a black hole, everything around him is spinning so fast until he can't recognize anything, before, as fast as its start, he can feel his legs again, and his arms which is being grabbed by Minjoon, then he can see everything around him clearly again: he is in a big room. 

"Myungwoo hyeong!" screamed Minseong.

"Tell me later!" said Myungwoo before he took out his ax and started running around to cut the strings.

Myungwoo is the last person who joined the other guardians in the castle. Everyone is now gathering in Sungmi's bedroom. The scent of hot chocolate surrounded the bedroom as Myungwoo entered the bedroom. He can see Sungmi and the guardians standing near the bed where a hare is laying down. There were so many things that happened after he cut the strings of all victims in the building, Sungmi restored the mess while Minjoon teleported Myungwoo back to the XTREME ART's event. Bonhwa still hasn't woken up, so he lays Bonhwa's body back to his room and explains to the others that he is currently in need of a long rest. He then goes to the castle in sleep hour and he is getting worried because Bonhwa still hasn't woken up. He is there on Sungmi's bed, laying down, still in his hare form.

"What happened with Bonhwa?" asked Myungwoo, "why hasn't he transformed back yet?"

"I think it's because he has been in that form for a quite long time... and he can't drink chocolate too in that form. All we can do is wait until his energy is restored a little bit more. Let him rest for now."

Bonhwa the hare is sleeping. Myungwoo let out a heavy breath.

"We need to do the adventure quickly. I'm afraid the evil guardians are working even harder now. Look at how they attack both of the worlds today," said Sungmi while sitting on the bed, "luckily we have all of you split in two groups. That's the reason why I awaken more guardians too. I woke up Kichul and Minjoon yesterday and I haven't told anyone about this. They haven't even done any training either. Sorry for this, Myungwoo."

"No princess, don't say sorry. Kichul and Minjoon are so helpful. I can't imagine what would happen to Minseong and Minsook if they weren't there today."

"But are you okay princess? Isn't awaken more guardians using a lot of your energy?" asked Minseong.

"Actually, it is. But like I said, we have no time," answered Sungmi while smiling.

"How many more people will you awaken, princess?" asked Daesun.

"There are four more guardians, but let me consider how many warriors I could awaken too in the future."

"Just don't hurt yourself princess," said Minsook while frowning.

"Don't worry about me. We need to lock the Darkness Lord forever. Anyway, like I said before, when can we start the adventure? Please note that you might really have a little rest time after we start it and we also should go together most of the time or we can split up in two groups when we really need rest. There will be possibilities they attack your world when all of you are here too. We better finish this work as soon as possible."

"That sounds... terrible," said Kichul while letting out a heavy sigh, "but let's do it. With all of our powers, I'm sure we can finish this up quickly."

"Kichul hyeong is right. I'm ready to go anytime, princess," said Minjoon, "I'll do a lot of training too so I can be more helpful."

"You're helpful enough today, Minjoon. Remember all of you can't neglect your daily activities too. You guys can't sleep all the time, right?" Sungmi then chuckles softly, "except for Minjoon who can teleport."

"We are ready to follow your instructions, princess," said Myungwoo.

"Good. Let's start it quickly then..."

"Princess!"

Minseong, whose eyes keep staring at the bed, is the first one who realizes that Bonhwa has already transformed back to his human form. He is still sleeping on the bed. Sungmi is smiling.

"Let him sleep more and we'll wake him up later for chocolate and briefing. He must be confused to see Kichul and Minjoon."

"I agree, princess. And he will whine if we don't explain it in detail to him," said Myungwoo while smiling.

"A little explaining for all of you, Kichul is a light guardian just like Myungwoo, and Minjoon is an air guardian just like Minseong. They also have ability that none of you ever have or seen it before, except one of Minjoon's ability."

"Oh, I know what that is! Minjoon hyeong's ability is animorph just like Bonhwa hyeong! But Minjoon hyeong turns into a wolf!" said Minseong cheerfully.

"That's correct, Minseong. And the other Minjoon's ability is teleport. So he doesn't need to leave his body if he wanna come and go between the two worlds. Of course he can do the same way like you guys but it will be faster and safer to go with his entire body. If one day we get separated in our adventure, Minjoon can teleport us. But the ability to teleport is restricted to teleporting a maximum of three persons at the same time, that's including Minjoon. And it consumes a lot of energy too, so bear that in mind. Minjoon, you need a lot of training so you can transport 2 more people at the same time soon."

"I'm ready to learn, princess," said Minjoon.

"While Kichul has two abilities that are new for everyone. The first one is shadow. This is an ability where Kichul can hide himself by disappearing, but basically he is still there - you just can't see him - but you can touch him. So he also can still make sound when he is in his shadow mode."

"Oh, we saw Kichul hyeong do that!" said Minseong.

"So I can do this," said Kichul.

Myungwoo gasps as Kichul suddenly disappears, but a while later a bottle of chocolate is flying in the air then little by little, the content of the bottle disappears - someone who they can't see is currently drinking it until it's finished - then Kichul appears again while smiling. He looks twice as handsome when he is smiling.

"Right. That is the shadow ability. Then the other ability is mind-reading. So he will be able to listen to everyone's thoughts soon. That ability will also make him can do hypnotize. How clear he can listen to everyone's thoughts or how long he can hypnotize someone, it depends on his training. Only the person with the mind-reading ability can shut their thoughts close so the other people with the same ability can't listen to them and also they can't be hypnotized."

"That's so cool," compliment Minseong, "Kichul hyeong hypnotized some fairies too in the battle."

"So how can we hide our thoughts from Kichul? It somehow will feel embarrassing," asked Daesun.

"Just don't think about anything," suggested Sungmi while laughing, "anyway, everyone needs more training and leveling up your skills and abilities!" 

"I'm excited to do this adventure and the training!" said Minsook, "princess, please let us practice with the fairy as our enemy!" 

Ready or not, Myungwoo thought about the possibility of them starting the adventure together soon, he just wanted to protect everyone by finishing the mission soon. He just hopes no one will get hurt and everything will be normal soon.