UNUM (YOONMIN•ON-GOING)

Chapter 26

"Where is he?" Yoongi asks while checking on a couple of scrolls from his unfinished work from yesterday. There had been some that was left unread due to his worrying for Jin's health.

"Jimin-nim? He was seen earlier by some guards from the south wing of the palace checking on the first person who got sick. Asked them a few questions and left without word. He asks them what they remembered doing before they got sick, what they ate, and if they saw something that is beyond normal."

The king's brows furrowed at what he had heard, curious as to why Jimin went to other parts of the palace without his permission and did all that he had done. What if he catches their sickness? Yoongi shouldn't be thinking things like this however he cannot help not to. It's not like he cares for the witch, no. Jimin is a witch. He cannot show kindness, care, or mercy towards them except for Taehyung but just today might be an exemption.

"And Taehyung?"

"He hasn't come out yet since earlier after visiting Jin. I heard Jungkook is also with him. Helping him find the cure. Should I fetch the prince and bring him here?"

Yoongi shook his head, "No. Let Jungkook help Taehyung. He needs to bond with Leuko's only witch, for the future of our kingdom or we no longer be able to keep up with Erebos's greed for power if Taehyung decides to leave us."

"But how about Jimin-nim?"

"What about him? He made it clear to us already he is not a witch."

"But..?" The soldier in front of him wants to say something but Yoongi dismisses him when the man decides not to continue anymore what he wants to say. Afraid the King might misinterpret what he wants to say.

Days passed and the sickness that was only around the palace people, spread out, affecting the townspeople. Taehyung, who was in his room with Jungkook helping him again, couldn't help but put his palm on his face. He had been searching for a way to cure the first people who got sick along with the healers and scholars who still have not been affected yet by the sickness going around Leukos. Everyone thinks it is not caused by a spell but Jimin, who saw it with his own eyes, and his friends outside the palace know it was.

Jimin has to hurry learning all the basics and what spell was thrown to them by one of the witches from Erebos, how to banish it, and how to return it twice or three times more, to teach the witch who cast the spell a lesson and to avenge the innocent people who got sick because of it.

He heaves a deep sigh and almost falls from his seat when he realizes he has not eaten yet since last night. He was supposed to, when he sneaked out yet again of the palace to have dinner with his friends however as soon as he learned Minhyun fell sick and some of their neighbors, he could not help but run back to the palace and continue studying about spells.

Other people might wonder what takes a bookkeeper this long enough to help the people around him but Jimin wants to make sure that the steps he will do will work at one try as he cannot afford to cause more hope if he tries then fails, especially when some of the palace people, specifically the King, still think he is a witch regardless on how many times he had tried to clear his label on him, wants to make sure that he will be able to do his job perfectly not because he is indeed a witch.

"Tae," Jungkook calls, caressing the witch's back, trying to calm him down.

"Hmm?" he turns to face him with watery eyes, "I'm a failure of a witch."

The prince was surprised by what he had heard. He thinks the opposite. Taehyung is the most hardworking and selfless witch he knows. Not that he had already seen a lot of witches in his lifetime but still, as bias he be, Taehyung had no right in his opinion to down himself.