𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐔𝐍𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐒𝐒 ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳ 𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐚 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐰𝐧

⇛ 𝐂𝐇. 𝟏𝟖

"it's been a day since then... the assassins stopped coming." yun mentioned.

"hiyou is still in hiding." kija said.

"we're stumped. the assassins were stubborn and wouldn't spill hiyou's location either." jae-ha added.

"if i had known they were hiyou's assassins, i would've tried to get information out of them before killing them." kaho sighed, crossing her arms behind her head.

"you killed some of them?!" kija asked.

"yeah. they attacked me when we got separated." she told him, her mind going back to those pirates.

"i'm sorry we left you alone. you could've been injured. your wound didn't open did it?" kija felt guilty for leaving a girl all by herself at night.

"no, my wound is fine and there were some pirates around so i wasn't alone." she assured him, accidentally adding in the part about the pirates. she didn't want to bring it up.

"pirates you say?" jae-ha jumped into the conversation, interested. he was a pirate after all.

"yeah, some locals. don't know who they are." she lied, wanting to change the subject.

"yona, how are you feeling?" yun asked.

"fine."

"not." hak argued. "there's no way you got better after straining yourself."

"then let's stay in an inn tonight." yun suggested.

"alright..."

✧

"eh?! you're full?"

"i apologise. with the guests who just checked in now, it's full." the inn owner told them.

"but this inn is so cheep." kaho said.

"and small." yun finished.

"it's fine. let's go." yona said.

a voice coming from one of the rooms in the inn caught kaho's attention. the voice sounded familiar.

"guys—" the others had already left. she scoffed and turned to the inn owner. "hey, do you have a bathroom?"

"yeah. down there." he replied, pointing in the direction.

"thanks." kaho went down the corridor and over to the room she had heard voices coming from. she heard whispering as she placed her ear against the door and listened in. then it hit her.

that familiar voice...

"it can't be." she whispered. "soo-won."

the voices went silent and footsteps approached the door. quickly, she ran off back to the entrance and left the inn, leaving the owner confused.

kaho spent at least an hour searching for her group and at last found them in the same place where they had set up a fire. she stood by a tree near kija and yun listening to their conversation. 

"yun, have you seen kaho?"

"what?! is she missing again? i'll go look for her." yun got up from the floor.

"no. i know she'll find us again. she always does." kija smiled.

"it's strange though..."

"what is?"

"we never notice she's missing until ages later. it's like her presence is hardly noticed when she's with us... what does this mean?" yun said.

listening from behind the tree, she frowned. what does this mean?