[Novel] The Mirror [Chapter 4 (4/4)]

"Gam Hyunki?"

"Sikyung noona?"

Hyunki and Sikyung point at each other as both of them meet in the main entrance of Alpha School.

"What are you doing here?"

They asked questions at the same time, then they were laughing.

"Actually I don't really know while I'm here. I was just from a launching ceremony that was being held by my company, then I suddenly ran from the event to here. It's like... something controlling my legs and bringing me here."

"I also was driving and suddenly I just arrived here," explained Sikyung, "it's so weird, right?"

"How about we just trust that invisible power and let it lead us?"

"Good suggestion. Let's go and follow it!"

Then suddenly, they start running again.

"I regret my own suggestion noona. Running like this is so tiring."

"You're right! And the school at night is quite scary. I'm glad I'm not running alone!"

"Where are we going?"

The two of them run in full speed towards the High School building.

"We'll climb up the stairs too?" complained Sikyung, she breathed so hard.

"But noona, what is that?"

"What do you mean what is... what is this?"

Suddenly, as the two of them stop in front of the stairs, a stack of arrows in a tube appear on Sikyung's back before she holds a bow. It's a long bow in red and black color. 

"And Hyunki... you also..."

Hyunki goes "wow" as a sword - a big sword with 6 round symbols crafted in the sword's hilt - appears on his hand.

"ARGH IT'S HEAVY!"

The sword falls to the ground with a loud sound before he grabs it with both hands. The floor is cracking where the tip of the sword falls.

"WHAT'S GOING ON WITH US?" asked Sikyung in confusion.

"Whatever is this noona... I think something interesting is about to happen!"

"NO! WE ARE RUNNING AGAIN!"

Running with weapons surely makes them double tired: Sikyung's arrows heavily burdened her back while Hyunki's sword is too heavy so he runs along with the tip of the sword brushing along the floor - and leaves a long scratch.  Luckily they just climb to the second floor before running along the corridor and as they stop in front of the music room's door, they almost out of breath.

"Why are we here?" asked Hyunki in between his hard breath.

But suddenly the door bangs open, then they see someone in a black cloak across the room is using a black chain to tie the wrists of a boy who seems unconscious... 

"Noona, do something!"

"STOP RIGHT THERE!"

Sikyung grabs her arrow and shoots it... the arrow landed on the couch, exactly beside the head of the boy who got tied. The person in the cloak turns its head, but they can't see its face clearly as it's also wearing a black mask around its nose and mouth. That person ran to the nearest window and jumped off, followed by Sikyung's and Hyunki's screams. Hyunki drops his sword - with a loud bang sound - before running to the window.

"At least that person will get their leg broken or..." Hyunki stared at the ground, "but... how is that possible?"

Sikyung joins Hyunki and they see the person running in the darkness. 

"That person... isn't hurt?" asked Sikyung confusedly. 

But their activity got distracted by the sound of someone groaning. The boy who is on the couch is finally awake... and they know him.

"Kim Minseong?" asked Hyunki and Sikyung altogether. 

"What is this... who are you?" asked Minseong while trying to release his wrists.

"Let me help," said Sikyung, quickly sitting on the couch, "it's so tight..."

"Are you two... guardians?" asked Minseong after he realized both of them were holding weapons.

"What is a guardian? Is that our identity?" asked Hyunki back. 

"And who did this to me?" asked Minseong again while still trying to release himself. 

"There was someone in a black cloak, but the person was jumping from the window," explained Sikyung, "without getting injured. Can you believe that?"

"We should catch that person. That person might be an evil guardian or someone from our enemy's side. But I can't fight if I'm still tied."

"The tie is so tight..." groans Hyunki in frustration.

"I think it's the enemy's weapon..."

"How about using this?"

Hyunki brought his sword with both of his hands.

"I... I'm not sure about that... maybe you're gonna cut off my hands too..." Minseong is thinking hard, "but Minjoon hyeong is more trusted. Can someone take my phone? I need to make a call."

Sikyung takes Minseong's phone out of his bag.

"Please find Minjoon hyeong's name... okay, thank you. Hello, Minjoon hyeong? Are you busy? I need your help badly. Yes, it's okay, you can do teleport. I'm now with... our friends? I'll explain more. Alright, thank you."

"So you're gonna explain something to us?" asked Hyunki.

"Before that... we need to know each other first. I'm Kim Minseong."

"It feels so weird to know each other in this situation, but what can we do?" Sikyung chuckled, "I'm Kang Sikyung."

"And of course we know you, Minseong. I also know your hyeong. You're Kim Myungwoo's brother, right? I'm Gam Hyunki, I'm working in XTREME ARTS too!"

"Oh wow, so hyeong, you must know Bonhwa hyeong too!"

"Oh you call our sajangnim as hyeong?"

"Well, it's a long story..."

"AH YOU STARTLED ME!" screamed Sikyung.

Hyunki dropped his sword with a loud voice to the floor as Minjoon appeared in front of them. Minseong just blinked as he already expected this.

"BANG MINJOON?" shout Sikyung and Hyunki together.

"Oh yeah, that's me, I mean, hi," greet Minjoon with a smile.

"Hyeong, you need to use your sword to release me," asked Minseong.

"Who did this to you?" asked Minjoon as he took his sword out.

"WOW THAT'S COOL! I have a sword too!" said Hyunki excitedly.

"There are too many surprises tonight..." said Sikyung as she blankly stared at Minjoon's sword.

Minseong is standing up backing Minjoon before he raises up his sword.

"Ready, Minseong?" asked Minjoon as he concentrated on the chain.

"Anytime, hyeong."

With only one hit, the tip of Minjoon's sword breaks the chain with a loud crack sound. The chain not only breaks into two but it entirely breaks into a pile of black ash.

"It's so destructive," said Hyunki, still feeling amazed.

"Opposite element," Minjoon said as he kneels down to touch the ash, "someone extraordinary must be trying to kill your physical body."

"That's not good news, hyeong. Should we catch that person?" asked Minseong.

"But I think the person must have already run away so far," sighed Sikyung.

Minjoon is looking at his party: one very talented air guardian with two unidentified guardians. Minseong went to the window and a bat landed on his palm.

Hyunki widened his eyes, "don't say you're communicating with it!"

"He does communicate with it. And may I see your magic stone? Both of you?" asked Minjoon.

"What is magic..." Sikyung even haven't finished talking but a stone made by black and white color appeared on her palm, while the same thing also happened on Hyunki, "oh my gosh..."

"It's weird... maybe you both are the warrior who the princess is talking about. The magic stone is different from the guardian's."

"Hyeong, we can follow this bat. He knows the person in that cloak isn't running far away," suggested Minseong.

"Call Bonhwa hyeong, we need him. Come on, everyone!"

"We are running again?" asked Hyunki, not complaining, but rather feeling excited.

A while later, the four of them ran out from the school building. They follow a small bat which flies low towards the school's wide backyard.

"I thought all of you will give up. But you guys come here instead... Now let me witness how strong you are."

Now they know that it's a girl behind the black cloak. She took out a small mirror and hit it with a black chain (so the chain must belong to her, Minjoon thought, she has an opposite element than me and Minseong) and suddenly the mirror was shining brightly.

"She is summoning something from the mirror. Get ready, everyone. My feeling isn't good," said Minjoon, raising up his sword.

"How to get ready with this heavy sword?" asked Hyunki, not even able to raise up his sword.

In front of them, two creatures appeared from the mirror. It's a big creature - around 3 meter tall, it's not so human alike as its body is bigger than its head, and with their lower teeth showing up, they look three times uglier than anything they ever seen before, they only wearing some kind of cloth as their pants, while holding a big spiked mace. They are groaning with a loud sound.

"Kill them."

"Their eyes turn red! It's hypnotize! Be careful of her ability!" shout Minjoon.

"I'll fight her, hyeong!"

"Minseong, be careful!"

"They are ogre..." said Hyunki blanky, "they are afraid of fire and... they are a bit stupid."

"What? Afraid of what?" asked Minjoon, trying to hit the ogre's arm but it didn't even injure its skin.

"Fire! We need fire!"

"That's why I'm here. And we have one more reinforcement."

"I have slept for one hour so I'm ready!"

Minjoon turns his head as he hears familiar voices, "Bonhwa hyeong! Daesun hyeong!"

Bonhwa and Daesun jumping from the darkness, with their weapons ready. 

"Sajangnim!"

"Gam Hyunki? And Sikyung?" shouted Bonhwa, "tell me later, just debrief me about this ogre."

"They are afraid of fire and usually they are stupid."

"Let's confuse them and burn them!"

"Who are you? Are you the one who tied me with that chain?" asked Minseong, his ax is ready in his hands.

The girl in a cloak steps back a bit as she sees Minseong block her way.

"You aren't even on my level, air guardian Kim Minseong."

"Well, let's see!"

Minseong charged towards her while raising up his ax, the girl dodge by rolling to one side but she quickly aimed her chain towards Minseong's leg but Minseong dodge away. 

"Minseong, don't look into her eyes!" Minjoon appears beside Minseong, "we both can catch her."

"Try me, if you can."

She casts a spell with her black chain and they can see a transparent blue bubble around her. They don't feel unfamiliar with it - not far from them, Daesun just casts the same bubble - but it's a red transparent one - to protect Hyunki and Sikyung (yes, he now is able to cast two in one time).

"Red bubble and blue bubble..." Minseong tries to think fast while looking at the look-alike transparent bubble.

"If the red one is an attacking shield..." said Minjoon as he analyzed the two of them with his eyes, "the blue one might be a protecting shield, remember that princess once told us about it? Do you remember that the attacking shield always has an exact time when it will be a bit weak and Daesun hyeong needs to re-casts it again?"

"It's 4 - 2 - 4. But will the protecting shield have the same weakness?"

"It's still worth trying." 

"It will be quite a long fight but I'll duel with her, and hyeong, you can attack her from the opposite side when that minutes come."

Minseong jumped bravely to the girl and the girl charged forward. Minseong uses all his might to defend himself from her chain's attack. One time, Minseong tried to attack her but just like their prediction, this girl is using protecting shield, so Minseong's ax only can hit the bubble without touching the girl. He just needs to keep defending himself as long as he can.

Bonhwa's attack surely give bigger damage than Hyunki's and Sikyung's attack: one stab from Bonhwa's trident hurt the ogre's skin badly - it also looks like as if it's got burned; Daesun's arrow can't hurt the ogre, but he is smart enough to use his telekinetic ability to throw anything to the ogre - and it makes them got very annoyed, and he use his attacking shield to protect the newcomer in their group; Hyunki is adapting quickly: he can jump occasionally and raise up his heavy sword - it can hurt the ogres; Sikyung is a good archer: she got 1 out of 3 shots aimed to the ogres body.

"How about this?" asked Hyunki as he ran to one of the ogre's legs and stabbed his sword on its foot.

The ogre groaned with a loud voice and it stared angrily at Hyunki.

"You are not allowed to hurt my precious staff, you ugly monster!"

Bonhwa jumped high in the air while holding his trident with both of his hands... he aimed towards the angry ogre's throat... and he successfully stabbed it and made the ogre groan loudly before falling to the ground - and making the ground shaking - then it turned into ash.

"We need to do something too," said Daesun to Sikyung.

Sikyung nodded her head. The ogre which was left to see his friend died, fiercely charged towards Sikyung - its cheeks look red.

"I think the ogre likes you," said Bonhwa in awe.

"NO WAY! THAT'S DISGUSTING!"

"They do like females," said Hyunki in awe.

Daesun raised up the biggest tree in his range with both of his hands raising up, then he aimed it to throw it to the ogre - in horizontal position until it hit the ogre's neck. It's so powerful until it makes the ogre fall to the ground, with the tree pinned to the ground around its neck. Sikyung, her attacking shield has gone, runs towards the fallen ogre.

"No, wait!" Daesun screamed as he was still holding the tree with his telekinetic ability, "your shield!"

But she ignored Daesun and jumped towards the ogre: she was standing on the tree that locked the ogre, aiming her arrow.

"Goodbye ugly monster."

Sikyung aims her arrow to the ogre's head... and it hits right on its head. The tip of the arrow sinks right in the middle of the ogre's head and blood flows out of the wound. 

"Not die yet?"

Bonhwa jumps again, stabs his trident on the ogre's head, right beside Sikyung's arrow. The ogre groaned again before it turned into ash.

"Nice to see both of you. Welcome to the pack," said Bonhwa while giving Sikyung and Hyunki hi-five.

"No, Minjoon!"

Everyone almost forgot that Minseong and Minjoon are still in battle with the girl in a cloak and they just realized it when Daesun shouted. Minseong is defending so well against the girl's chain attack, and at the exact time (minute 4, Daesun thought, is the first time for attacking shield to get weakened after it's being cast, they remember that! And that protecting shield also has the same weakness! That's brilliant!), Minjoon attacks from behind her back, but it looks like the girl is aware of the weakness of her own ability, so she turns around at the exact time when Minjoon is attacking and counterattacks him. The sharp tip of her chain (there are two sharp tips on her black chain) hit Minjoon by his thigh. Minjoon is startled by her counterattacks so he has no chance to avoid it. The four people run towards Minjoon who falls to the ground, groaning in pain. 

"Are you okay?" asked Bonhwa as he let Minjoon's head rest on his lap.

Blood flowed out of his wound and he couldn't answer Bonhwa.

"Someone should go tell the princess. Daesun hyeong, can you go?"

"You all can't escape that easily!"

The girl suddenly aim her chain towards Sikyung. Sikyung who looked right into her eyes, got hit by the red transparent light that was casted by the girl earlier. 

"Daesun hyeong, Hyunki, protect Minjoon!"

Daesun casts one big attacking shield to protect himself, Hyunki and Minjoon, as he knows what it means by the red eyes that Sikyung has now - she is being hypnotized by the girl in the cloak. Sikyung jumps a bit far from them and gets ready to aim her arrow to the shield, but Bonhwa jumps at the exact moment to prevent the arrow from hitting the shield. 

"If I go to the princess, the shield will be gone," said Daesun, "but Minjoon... can he hold on a little bit longer?"

"What can I do to help? Can I go to the princess or whoever is that?" asked Hyunki.

"No, you can't. You don't have the linked mirror yet. The best thing you can do is stay here and stay safe. Or you can try it if you have the healing ability."

"I... but I don't know how to do it."

"I'll defend us from the arrow," said Bonhwa, "if the arrow hits the shield, Sikyung will be hurt. Just consider this is my training session. She isn't as fast as me yet."

Bonhwa is right - no matter how fast Sikyung attacks with her arrow, Bonhwa always can counterattacks her. Daesun turns his head around to watch over Minseong who is still dueling with the girl, as he is worried about Minseong more than Bonhwa. He really wishes he could cast more shields, but he has lost a lot of energy already. But this situation will end if Minseong can win over the girl - Sikyung will be free of the hypnotization. Minseong is fighting fiercely - he avoids and counterattacks so fast as he is one of the guardians with the highest speed, just like how the princess describes him. Minseong is waiting for the right moment while counting the time carefully in his brain. No matter how strong this girl is, she will eventually lose her energy if she keeps casting her protecting shield. Now, Minseong ordered himself when he noticed the shield was slightly blinking. He jumped and rolled in the air while raising his ax horizontally towards the girl...

"NICE ONE, MINSEONG!" shouted Daesun and Hyunki.

Minseong really wishes he isn't fighting a girl, but he knows he must do it to protect his friends. His ax cut her on her stomach. He can see her black cloak ripped along the wound he made, and blood drenching out as she falls on the ground.

"Damn it!"

She holds onto her wound with her free hand as she casts another weak protecting shield before fleeing into the darkness. Minseong is about to run after her but Bonhwa holds his arm.

"No, she might ask for reinforcements. It's not the right time. Let's go to meet the princess."

"What... What's happening?" asked Sikyung while holding the side of her head.

"You must not remember anything, Sikyung, you just got hypnotized."

"I hope I'm not that weak..."

"No way..."

That is the first sentence that comes out of Myungwoo's mouth as the ship anchored on the shores. The land, which is covered with snow, looks as if it's in chaos. They can see smoke rising from afar, the trees around them also got cut off in a weird way. 

"There is something happening here. We must rush to the castle," said Sungmi, her morning star ready in her hand.

But suddenly, Bonhwa appeared from the bag.

"Princess, Minjoon is wounded."

"WHAT? WHAT'S HAPPENED TO HIM?" shouted Minsook.

"Take him here, use this mirror to take him here, he might be too weak to do teleportation. I'll link him to this mirror. And ask everyone to come here for a short briefing."

"We have 2 more people joining us. How can we take them here without Minjoon's teleport ability?" asked Bonhwa.

"I'll prepare two new mirrors too for them, I already expected them before. Tell them to go from the nearest mirror with the rest. Be careful with Minjoon."

Myungwoo is walking around anxiously. He is worried about Minjoon and also worried to see the condition around him. Finally Bonhwa appeared again from the bag, followed by Minseong, Daesun and two more newcomers who made Myungwoo shocked: Hyunki and Sikyung; before Minjoon appeared while laying down.

"Minjoon!" Kichul quickly ran to check on him.

"Wow, what place is this?" asked Hyunki.

"What's happening with all of you?" asked Myungwoo.

Sungmi quickly checks on Minjoon's wound, "I can't completely heal him in a short time. It's a fatal wound by the opposite element. He will need to rest several days after this. Can someone accompany him?"

"He can stay in my place. I can take care of him," said Kichul.

"Now, we need a debrief," said Bonhwa while looking at Myungwoo.

Hyunki told the story from when he is running to the school and meet Sikyung, then both of them changed - into warrior, Sungmi said while she is healing Minjoon's wound - and they saw the girl in cloak tied Minseong and about to kill him, then they chase the girl, then the ogres appear, Minseong and Minjoon's battle with the girl until she flee. Kichul is helping Minjoon to drink chocolate while all of them are being forced by Sungmi to drink chocolate too. 

"You also need one, princess," said Bonhwa as he gave Sungmi a bottle.

Sungmi looks extremely pale after healed Minjoon. The scar is completely closed as if there was no wound before, but the skin looks reddish.

"Let's do some short debrief before all of us rest. We all need rest, a complete rest," said Sungmi, "that girl in the cloak must be one of the evil guardians. From Hyunki's story, I predict that she knows Minseong's identity so she tries to kill Minseong while he is vulnerable - in his sleep. So from now on, I think you guys can't sleep separately and we also need some people to guide those vulnerable bodies."

"All people sleep in one place with two people becoming guards?" suggested Minseong.

"That could be a good option. Minseong, I can't skip this moment to compliment you. You can endure in such a long battle without being injured and you even can counterattack her. I'm so proud of you, our youngest guardian."

Myungwoo smiled while patting Minseong's shoulder, "you did well. Thank you for staying healthy, Minseong."

"Someone should debrief Hyunki and Sikyung in your world before you all go to sleep."

"I can do it. Let's go to my place tonight," asked Myungwoo.

"And as you can see... this place isn't the same as the country I went to three years ago... something bad must have happened here. We need to rush to the castle, but we need to be recharged first, in case we need to do more battle tomorrow. We will start tomorrow evening. So before that, let's choose the people who will come here or to become the guards in your world."

Myungwoo look at his friends: Bonhwa - he can see the fire in his eyes - he must be angry with this situation; Minseong, Daesun and Minsook who looks tired; the calm Kichul who stay near Minjoon; the injured Minjoon; the curious Hyunki and Sikyung; and the tired princess Sungmi. What will happen with them in the future? And even though there are so many uncertainties, there are still three things that are certain: princess Sungmi is still with them so they should be okay, he will protect everyone with all his might and Sikyung is here. He doesn't know if he feels happy or not with her presence. On one hand, he will see her often from now on but it also means her safety will be at risk too.