[Novel] The Mirror [Chapter 8 (Part 2/6)]

Myungwoo is running inside the maze alone. He appeared in the save spot after Eunkyung went back to the real world. He met Minsook briefly, who will be alone in this morning shift. He actually wants to accompany Minsook since he thinks Minjoon will be okay along with Hyunki and Joochan, but Minsook insists he will be okay alone. Now Myungwoo's purpose is to meet Minjoon and friends, but he doesn't know where they are. There is no sign of them. As far as he knows, there is no group that ever meets each other in the maze. He just prayed that he would eventually find them. 

"Joochan hyeong!" Hyunki screamed loudly at the scene before him.

A gigantic green dragon with a weird small wings on its back - which is unuseful and can't help it to fly since its body is bigger and heavier than its wings - and the scales which are as hard as stone, stepping its claw towards defendless Joochan. Minjoon is screaming too, his mind is going crazy thinking about how Joochan can still live under that claw. 

"I'm here!" Joochan's head pops out from between the dragon's claws, "I can't move but... I'm still alive."

"Hyeong! Hold on there!" screamed Minjoon, "Hyunki hyeong, we need to distract this dragon or he will kill Joochan hyeong!"

Minjoon and Hyunki trying to attack the dragon from two different sides. The dragon gets distracted while Joochan is trying to free himself from the dragon's claw even though he feels a lot of pain from his lower body. Suddenly, something passes them so fast and when they realize it, Myungwoo is bravely standing on the dragon's snout and stabs his axe - he intended to stab it on the dragon's head but he missed the timing - on one of its short horns. The horn got cut, there was no blood coming out of it but the dragon screaming furiously. 

"Myungwoo hyeong, I know you will eventually come to us!" shouted Hyunki while trying to slice the dragon's leg.

"I force my way in. Minjoon, try to free Joochan. Hyunki and I will distract this dragon," ordered Myungwoo.

Minjoon quickly stands near the claw with his sword on his right hand while his left hand grabs Joochan's left hand - the only hand that can be raised up under the dragon's claw. 

"No no, it hurts!" screamed Joochan as Minjoon tried to pull him out.

"I think Joochan hyeong is injured," reported Minjoon.

"How on the earth do you guys fight over a dragon?" asked Myungwoo in confusion, "what's the weakness of this creature? Hyunki, you don't have any idea? The scales seem hard and I can't really aim at its eyes."

"Wait hyeong, let me think. It's so hard to think at this moment," complained Hyunki.

Hyunki is jumping around the dragon while trying to think hard. In his brain, the fantasy world dictionary is opening and he tries to find his memory about dragons. 

"Green and can't fly... ah, I know! It must be a Nature Dragon! Air elemental! Minjoon, you are its weakness! And the weakness part is..."

The soft part of a dragon... thought Hyunki.

"Underbelly!" screamed Hyunki.

"Underbelly attack by an air elemental guardian will feel so good, right?" asked Minjoon while smiling widely.

Hyunki is swapping positions with Minjoon. He is holding Joochan's hand.

"When I have a chance, I'll pull you hyeong."

"I'll distract it again," decided Myungwoo.

In a second, Minjoon changed into an alpha wolf then he growled loudly, as a sign that he is ready to have a war with the dragon. Myungwoo jumps forward to the side of the dragon, but at the same time the dragon shakes its tail towards him. Myungwoo was shocked as he almost got hit, but he managed to dodge in time. Minjoon scratches the dragon's neck and it leaves a long scratch mark. The dragon groans angrily then it moves forward to chase Minjoon. At that time, Hyunki pulled Joochan from the dragon's claw.

"I... I can't move my lower body," said Joochan weakly, "but I can heal myself. Prepare me a choco."

Hyunki quickly runs to their backpack and takes the last hot chocolate they have then runs back to protect Joochan. Joochan is placing his palms on his thighs and a white light shining brightly from it. 

"Don't worry, Hyunki, I'll be okay."

The wolf Minjoon is having a duel with the dragon. The dragon is getting furious and it breathes fire. Myungwoo jumps to avoid the fire and suddenly he has an idea. He should give Minjoon a chance for Minjoon to be under the dragon. Myungwoo jumped again, and this time he landed on the dragon's back. He is holding hard on its big hard scale while with the other hand, he tries to hurt the dragon with the axe. The dragon tries to turn its head around as it can feel slight pain.

"Try to burn me if you want to burn yourself too," said Myungwoo.

"No Myungwoo hyeong, the nature dragon's scales are immune to its own fire breath!" screamed Hyunki in fear.

"Uh-oh..."

And as the dragon is breathing fire towards Myungwoo, the wolf Minjoon slides perfectly under the dragon, then immersing its big sharp fangs towards its underbelly. They can hear the dragon groaning in pain.

"Run before it falls!" screamed Joochan.

Minjoon - he's back to his human form - rolling away from the dragon, just a few seconds before the dragon falls to the ground and creates a local earthquake. Myungwoo falls to the ground beside the dragon.

"No, Myungwoo hyeong!" shouted Hyunki.

They all run towards Myungwoo, who is being burned badly almost all over his body. 

"Is he...?" asked Minjoon as he touch Myungwoo's body before he pull his hand right away, "too hot!"

"No no... no, don't leave us, hyeong..." pleaded Hyunki.

Joochan quickly drinks the hot chocolate then puts his palms on top of Myungwoo's chest.

"Hyeong... please wake up... please... I hope I'm not too late..."

Joochan keeps giving his healing power to Myungwoo. They can see that Myungwoo's body is being healed slowly, starting from his head and slowly until his legs. Myungwoo is opening his eyes too. Joochan sits tiredly on the ground, feeling relieved at the same time.

"I thought I was too late, hyeong..."

"No, you're just in time. I thought I'm going to die," said Myungwoo, "now I have the experience of being burned."

"And by dragon's fire breath. How does it... smell, hyeong? I mean, it's from the dragon's throat and nose..." asked Hyunki who was trying to hold his laugh.

"It smells bad. You won't like it."

"But hyeong, your shirt got burned," said Minjoon.

Myungwoo is looking over his body and pulls away the remaining shirt on his body. He then checked on his legs, the pants are barely there too.

"I won't get back until our mission is finished. I hope I won't make the girls shocked."

"They will feel shock," said Joochan, "to see your half naked body."

Myungwoo is giggling along with the three other men. 

"Now let's continue our journey."

"We have no hot chocolate anymore," said Hyunki sadly.

"Then we just need to be extra careful after this. Let's go and finish things up!"

"Hyeong, do you think the others are okay?" asked Minjoon as they stepped into a newly opened dark alley.

"I met Minsook before. He is the one that I'm worried about because he will be alone. But he insisted on staying alone and sent me here."

"You know what, hyeong? We might not be able to make it without you. I'll be a burnt wolf."

"A new dish... wolf steak?" asked Hyunki.

"Hyeong, don't tell me actually you wish to eat me!"

Hyunki laughed as Minjoon poke his sword lightly to his arm.

"Noooo help me!"

Myungwoo is laughing too. At least, he isn't alone. At least, his friends are okay. At least... he still can protect them and make sure everything will be finished fast. 

Sungmi is avoiding the attack that almost killed her. She is alone for now so she should make sure she is staying safe until the next shift's people come. She thought she would be okay, but fighting a phoenix alone isn't as easy as she thought. In front of her, a giant reddish bird is flying in the middle of the hall. What makes it look reddish is actually fire on its entire body, so if you don't know this is a mythical creature named phoenix, you will think it's a giant bird that got burnt. Sungmi is standing up again while holding her morning star tightly in her hand. Sungmi isn't a princess for nothing, she alone ever wins a fight against dragon and phoenix just by herself. But there is something about her and the situation that isn't the same anymore. How many times had I killed it, thought Sungmi, usually the most time it can resurrect is 9 times... I think I have killed it at least 4 times already. At the time like this, Sungmi is feeling grateful she is fighting this phoenix alone since it isn't an easy opponent even for level 10 guardians or warriors. She needs to quickly eliminate the phoenix.

"More attacks with iron will help," said Sungmi, "come here you big bird."

Sungmi is jumping higher towards the phoenix who attacks forward bravely too. Sungmi managed to land her spiky morning star to its crest before she quickly rolled away. One touch from the phoenix is enough to make her lose 30% of her current health. In front of her eyes, her energy is still 270/300 and her health is still in 300/300. One more time, thought Sungmi. Sungmi is jumping one more time, she knows the phoenix will attack after her too, she dodge to avoid its beak before attacking its neck. The phoenix is screaming loudly before instantly turning into a pile of ash.

"A little bit more," thought Sungmi.

But her focus quickly lost as she saw her energy level lost to 240. Can I keep this energy until the phoenix dies? And what will await me after this hall? Have we found any way out? Sungmi is shaking her head in worry as her energy is replenished so slowly as she is getting ready to fight the resurrected phoenix. Usually my energy will replenish 1 point every minute but why doesn't it replenish even 1 point after 5 minutes? And the fact that my energy is lost a lot even though I don't use any ability... As she is busily thinking, the ash gathers by itself and quickly forms the same phoenix who Sungmi is against. It looks so healthy again as it is just resurrected. 

"I hate this but I have no choice but to fight until the end of my energy," said Sungmi.

"Do you really don't know what makes your energy replenish slowly, Princess?"

Sungmi didn't realize that she isn't alone now. She doesn't know since when she isn't alone in this hall. She quickly takes a look at the forcely opened maze door before she looks at the person who is talking to her.

"Or why is your energy drained a lot even though you didn't do much?"

A girl in black cloak with red long-wavy hair is sitting on a big rock near the corner. Her face is as cold as ice but Sungmi spots a red colored crystal inside her chest.

"A fire guardian. Why are you here?"

It's bad timing how an evil guardian appears here, though Sungmi, she is a level 10 Evil Guardian. And it also means... The Evil Guardians are competing in this maze too. Damn it. We should be quick.

"You really don't know what makes you like that?" asked the girl one more time.

"I'll save my energy by not talking to you. I have phoenix to be killed before I make a deal with you."

"You are dying."

That one sentence makes Sungmi stop her movement to attack the phoenix. 

"How many more warriors or guardians do you wanna awaken? I think before you can accomplish anything, you'll die first."

"I'll make sure I die after I awaken them," said Sungmi as she swung her morning star and it hurt the phoenix' wing.

"Or, you won't have that chance."

The girl is standing at the top of the rock and shoots three arrows at Sungmi: the end of its arrows has fire on it. Sungmi ducked twice: once from the phoenix' claw attack and another one from those three arrows. 

"Don't you need to kill this phoenix to get out of this hall? You better have teamwork with me," said Sungmi as she stood up again.

"Me? Have to do teamwork with you? Why?" asked the girl back, "when I can control this phoenix against you."

It seems like the phoenix just realized about the presence of the girl. It turns its head and is about to attack the girl. But the girl wasn't panicking, she raised up her bow instead. Suddenly the phoenix stops its movement in the sky, as if it has an invisible brake.

"No way, this fire guardian must be able to communicate with an animal..."

"Attack her!"

I don't like this...

"Kim Minseong!"

"Present, saem!"

Everyone turned their head to the source of the voice as Minseong raised up his arm. It's Wednesday morning in the Alpha School in class 2-1. What a rare scene to see a popular Kim Minseong actually attending class after almost a week he was absent. It's actually not easy for him to attend his idol schedule, practice, finish his assignments, jump to mirror world to save the world and he even attended class today. 

"Don't you need to take a rest? You don't look fit," said Mr Kim, his homeroom teacher.

"No, I'm okay saem," said Minseong while smiling.

I'm just a bit tired, I already drink a bottle of hot chocolate, even though it isn't as effective as if it's being made by princess Sungmi, it does help a bit, thought Minseong, there is a hard chemistry material today so I should listen to the teacher's explanation. At least I should understand how to finish the assignment. Tonight I'll go to the mirror world again... let's be fit before that. Maybe I can do the assignment in Bonhwa hyeong's place... oh hey, Kichul hyeong will be there, I might be can ask him if I don't understand my assignment. I heard he is so smart! Minseong smiled while thinking of this idea.

"Do Mijoo, are you okay?"

Minseong's focus on reading his textbook got distracted by the teacher's voice. He turns his head facing Do Mijoo, a tall girl who is sitting right behind him. She straightened her body to make her lean properly on the chair, but she looks so pale. She tries to stand up slowly.

"S... saem... can I go to the clinic?" Mijoo replied to the teacher, her voice sounds so weak.

"Sure, go. Do you want someone to accompany you?"

"No, it's okay, I can go by myself..."

Mijoo is forcing her legs to walk, but she just reached Minseong's table as she almost collapsed. Minseong, who is the fastest guardian ever (according to Sungmi) catches Mijoo right before she falls. The entire class gasps over this shocking event.

"Saem, let me take her to the clinic," said Minseong.

"Sure, please, Minseong."

"Hey Mijoo, can you stand up?"

Mijoo is opening her eyes weakly as she is leaning against Minseong's arms.

"This won't work out well. Let me piggy back you. Hold me tight."

As Minseong is kneeling on the floor, some male students help Mijoo to climb on his back and make her arms linking around Minseong's neck. Minseong is walking fast, taking her to the clinic. Actually Minseong can leave Mijoo as soon as the nurse checks on her condition, but he feels like waiting for a while more. Mijoo is usually so bubbly and one of the clowns in class, so he feels miserable to see her condition now. The nurse doesn't diagnose something bad happening inside Mijoo's body, she probably just stressed out because exam week is coming closer and she didn't get enough sleep. Moreover, she is a bit too skinny. Minseong is sitting beside the sleeping Mijoo. She keeps frowning and sweating with her eyes closed. 

"Minseong, I need to walk out for a while. If she has awakened, please give her the medicine and force her to sleep more," said the nurse.

"Sure, saem."

Minseong takes a tissue and wipe Mijoo's forehead.

"Get well soon, Mijoo."

"Where am I? Why is this place so foggy?"

Mijoo is looking down on her body, she is still wearing her school uniform.

"Why can't I recall what happened? Did I collapse? Or... am I dead?"

Mijoo is looking around and steps forward slowly, but she doesn't know where to walk or what she will do.

"Mijoo?"

Mijoo is turning her body around, she is sure she recognized that voice.

"Oppa?"

"Mijoo are you there?"

"Chungmoo oppa? Is that you?"

"Yes it's me. Come here, Mijoo."

"Where are you oppa?"

"Here, follow this, I'm here."

Mijoo found a small black colored light behind her.

"Oh that must be the sign Chungmoo oppa sent to me, I'll follow it!"

"Mijoo, wait!"

Mijoo stopped her step. She heard another familiar voice.

"Daejoon oppa?"

She wouldn't mistake another beautiful man's voice - aside from her Chungmoo oppa - it must be her oldest brother, Daejoon.

"Yes yes! Where are you going, Mijoo?"

"Where are you, oppa? I wanna go to Chungmoo oppa. Are you with him too?"

"Chungmoo? Is he here too? But I didn't see him. I'm here."

Mijoo spotted another light, but the color of the light is white and it's quite hard to see it since her surroundings are so foggy. But whenever she tries to focus, she can see it better.

"They are on different sides of this place... Oppa? Oppa can you both just come to me? It's so creepy here... I'm not sure I can go to your place," said Mijoo with a louder voice, "you both are at different places."

"No Mijoo, sadly, we can't go to you," said Chungmoo, his voice sounding sad.

"But how can I go to see the two of you if both of you are not together?"

"Choose, Mijoo," said Daejoon, "you must choose which way is better for you."

"But how can I choose? Two of you are my oppa!"

In her brain, the faces of her two oppa appear: the oldest one, he is 8 years older than her, Do Daejoon, a heartwarming person, he can sing and act well, so he has become an actor ever since his young age; the second one, Do Chungmoo is older by her for 6 years, he also gifted with a beautiful voice. Even though his job as bartender doesn't involve his singing skill, he sometimes sings for fun on the cafe's stage or online. Actually the three of them are gifted with beautiful voices so sometimes Mijoo joins them to sing online... covering songs or singing to Daejoon's or Chungmoo's written songs. And their eye-smiles, even though Mijoo has the same one, she still thinks her oppas are the most beautiful ones. She looked at the light again on her left and right side...  which one should she choose? Which one should she follow? Both of them are so precious to her... Then suddenly, she can hear steps walking closer to her. The steps sound light but so fast... it's running towards her from in front of her. She is panicking, looking at her left and right again. She should choose and save her life... It's now or never!

"That's startled me!"

Minseong jumps from his seat beside the sleeping Mijoo, when suddenly Mijoo is sitting - still with her eyes closed - holding a lance with both of her hands and thrust it forward. Her long lance has a red tassel in between the stick and the sharp iron part; the sharp iron part consists of five sharp ends: one in the front, another four on the sides - just like two crescent moon sticks on a square shaped iron. She is frowning with her eyes closed, but she keeps thrusting her lance.

"I don't know what is happening, this might be dangerous for us, but... I should do something, and I hope it works."

Minseong goes to lock the clinic's door before laying on another empty bed right beside Mijoo's. He doesn't know how to help Mijoo, but he somehow hopes that he will meet Mijoo... somewhere in the unknown mirror world. I hope it's you who awakened Mijoo, princess, thought Minseong before his soul touched the mirror that was hanging on the clinic's wall, and allowed me to save her.

"Oppa, what is this?"

As Mijoo ran towards the white light - towards Daejoon's voice - she didn't see Daejoon, but a lance fell to her arms. There is no Daejoon waiting for her and his voice is also not answering her. Instead, when Mijoo turns around, she finally meet with what was chasing her until she almost lost her breath - it's a tall red man - if you can call it men - it has two goat horns on top of his head, a pair of small bat-like-wings and a sharp arrow shape tail. Mijoo doesn't need anyone to tell her that she just met a Demon. He doesn't look friendly of course, plus he's holding a trident.

"Who are you?" asked Mijoo, her voice trembling.

"So this is the way that the princess awakened more people, she manipulated their dreams. But she isn't the only one dream manipulator. Now we have discovered her secret."

"What do you want from me?"

The devil is laughing - not a pleasant laugh.

"You asked me what I want? It's your death. In less than 10 seconds, I guess, because you are so weak."

"NOOOO!"

Mijoo thought she would really die. She just thrust her lance forward while shutting her eyes. But nothing happened. Instead, she feels the presence of another person. She bravely opened her eyes and she recognized the side profile of the person in front of him: Kim Minseong.

"When I'm here, no one from our pack has died," said Minseong, his deep voice sounding intimidating, "but our enemy, all will be eliminated."

Minseong is currently holding his axe to ward off the devil's trident.

"Does the princess awaken you, Mijoo? Let's talk after we both are safe."

"But how to be safe?"

"Let's kill this creature with light training with me."

Mijoo tries to get involved in the battle as well as she can - she thrust her lance quite many times - some of her thrust wounded the devil - but her damage can't compare to Minseong's. The rest of the time, Mijoo just stares at how skillful Minseong is with his axe - this one devil seems nothing to him. Actually she feels guilty of how Minseong is protecting her and reminds her not to day-dream, but she just feels amazed by Minseong. Now a lot of questions appear in her mind - when the devil is eliminated and only a pile of ash left. Minseong is sweating, but aside from that, he is fine. 

"Are you okay?" asked Minseong as he was checking on Mijoo.

"I... guess?" said Mijoo, she looked confused.

"Did you hurt somewhere?" asked Minseong once again, this time sounding worried.

"No no, you come at the right time. If you're late, I might be dead. Can you explain to me what's happening here?"

"It might be a long story. Let's get out of here first. You need to have medicine and eat properly, then I'll tell you this long story," said Minseong, "actually I'm pretty hungry too."

"But how do I get out of here?"

When Minseong started to wonder, a big mirror appeared not far from them.

Minseong smiled, "thank you princess. Let's go through that mirror."

Completely confused, Mijoo is following Minseong obediently.