trouble - evnne

20

To be honest, Jeonghyeon was having fun in this dungeon. It was a breeze compared to the intensity and danger of regular dungeons, so it was nice to be able to walk about slowly. Sure, it startled him a little when he turned around and realised he was alone but he figured, what's the worst that could happen?

Well, he could get stuck in this random labyrinth dungeon forever and die alone.

But other than that, he was having a good time.

"I should probably be looking for them," Jeonghyeon mused to himself out loud.

"Do you have to?"

Jeonghyeon nearly dropped to the floor in shock when he heard his voice speak back clearly to him, rather than an echo. As he tried to regain his composure, the voice, his voice, added. "You don't have to look for them, you know."

As his heart rate fell back to a normal pace, Jeonghyeon realised that while he was slightly crouched, his reflection remained stiffly upright.

"Hah, real funny," Jeonghyeon managed back curtly as he stood quickly, "What are you on?"

His reflection strolled lazily, slipping from mirror to mirror, "Don't you feel like you're being held back?"

"By Evnne?" Jeonghyeon responded carefully, turning to observe his reflection's swift movements.

"Obviously."

"Why would I?"

"You've been thinking about it, haven't you? Going solo."

Jeonghyeon fell silent, studying his reflection with a bemused expression on his face, "Do you do this to all of them? Digging up their inner desires and asking them about it?"

The reflection was considering his reply so Jeonghyeon continued, "I mean, let's be real. That thought's a guilty pleasure, but I'd never survive by myself as a solo hunter, you know?"

His reflection tilted his head, studying him, "You'd be one of the highest-ranking solo hunters out there."

"You're trying to trick me, right?" Jeonghyeon actually managed to laugh through this ridiculous exchange, "Trying to make me choose whatever you're pretending to offer instead of letting me focus on getting the hell out. Hey, maybe I'll consider in a couple years but right now, Evnne is exactly where I need to be. Nice meeting you though!"

And to bid his reflection farewell, Jeonghyeon summoned a bolt from above to strike directly at the mirror, disintegrating the image of his startled reflection.

-

Jihoo was having a similarly relaxing experience, for the most part, that is. Having escaped from the hospital right after he woke, he was itching to stretch his legs and get moving again. So it didn't scare him too much when they got separated in the dungeon, they had been split apart in enough dungeon raids for him to feel more at ease about it.

But it did give him the fright of his life when he heard a voice come out of nowhere in the silent labyrinth.

"Having fun?

What he saw in the mirror was the splitting image of him a couple years ago, a little bit shorter, ugly braces lining his teeth and ridiculously meek, slouching in an effort to make his uniform-clad body seem smaller.

In force of habit, Jihoo replied brightly, "Yeah, sure."

His reflection chewed on his lip, turning a question over in his mind before he coughed it out, "Are you happy?"

That question was so absurd he nearly burst out laughing, but still he coolly answered, "Of course."

Fidgeting awkwardly, his younger self continued, "Hm. Remember Seobin's seventeenth birthday?"

Jihoo felt his broad grin melt off.

"Seobin's last birthday. The one you missed. You know. Because the dungeon you sealed too late was above his home."

A cold shiver ran down Jihoo's spine, and he shuddered involuntarily.

"Seobin did urge you not to become a hunter."

Jihoo's mouth went dry before he croaked out, "Only...only because we were still in high school."

"Hm. But you started training by the age of eleven."

"I...Keita recruited me. He chose me because-"

"Don't you resent Keita? He stole your childhood. Recruiting you at such a young age. You missed out on so much. Isn't that infuriating?"

"No, that's not true. That's not true!" Jihoo screamed, finally snapping. Firing electricity straight to the mirror in an attempt to wipe that smug, condescending look on his face, only for the bolts to ricochet against the closely placed mirrors, and by reflex, Jihoo ducked to avoid the electricity, forgetting he could not be harmed by it.

Hearing the distressed cry of the youngest echo in the maze caught the attention of Hanbin, who was duly frustrated by the labyrinth and decided tearing down the walls of mirrors may be a more efficient way out. After a deafening crack of electricity, crushed glass rained down all around them, tinkling like wind chimes. "Do you see him?" Hanbin asked as Yunseo absently plucked a shard of mirror from Hanbin's tousled hair.

"There!" Seungeon gasped, pointing in the direction of a surprisingly hardy portion of the maze, where they could spot a small, familiar crouched down on the ground, encased in a tight square of glass.

"Break the mirrors, now," Hanbin all but ordered as the three raced towards their youngest. In a split second, the mirrors confining Jihoo were removed, fluttering down in finely ground powder.

"Was it caging us too?" Seungeon wondered out loud, but the other two didn't muster a response.

"Jihoo!"

Jihoo's face was wet and flushed with hot tears as his gaze flew up to them.

"You okay?" Hanbin asked as he wrapped himself around Jihoo, whose body shuddered with a sob. "I...I really miss Seobin."

Seungeon, with sympathetic eyes, dropped down to drape himself over the duo, while Yunseo looked around in an attempt to search for the others.

Fast footsteps could be heard approaching, with Keita, Junghyun and Jeonghyeon appearing by their side, breathless but overwhelmed with relief.

"Everyone okay?" Keita immediately asked as he did a check on everyone and was content to discover everyone was in good condition, save for Jihoo still sniffling with tears.

"How did you find us?" Seungeon marvelled as he stood to face the other three.

Junghyun blinked, then took a quick look around, where almost every mirror in the vicinity had disintegrated or at least cracked beyond repair. "We'd have to be blind and deaf to not," He joked. The team chortled, before Keita scanned the area and decided, "There are only a few structures still up. Let's check them out and see if they're an exit."

"Sure thing, captain."