Arcus // ATEEZ ✔

12: unearthing the scattered clues

"I think we have a problem."

"Doesn't take a genius to find out that we're currently facing not one, but multiple problems, Jongho." San taps a finger on the edge of the shelf, his sharp nails making rhythmic sounds that's starting to make Yeosang irritated.

"Are you... sure your journal is somewhere in here?" Seonghwa turns to his sister, face full of regret for agreeing to join in the quest. "Not only do we have to find where the Arcus is, but we have to find where your journal is?"

"What made you think it's a good idea to hide it among a mountain of books?" Wooyoung frowns.

"Technically it's not a mountain since everything is arranged neatly," Mingi adds.

"Why thank you, Mingi," Wooyoung fake-cheers. "I totally meant that."

"Probably there's something embarrassing in there," Yeosang suggests. "Like having a secret crush on one of us."

"Well, um, if all of you decide to be assholes then I think I'm having second thoughts of bringing all of you along," she says with mild irritation. "Stop thinking that I have a crush on every single one of you."

"You never know," San shrugs. "Three of us are your exes and one is your fiancé. What are the chances that you have a crush on the rest?"

"That's enough," she says. "Whoever I was before doesn't count for the moment because I don't remember anything. Come back at me once I regain all of my memories. For now, stop being butts and help me. Maybe once I remember who I really am I won't hesitate to kick your butts."

Seonghwa snorts.

"You too, big brother."

He gets silenced as the rest snicker.

"Where can we start?" Yunho asks, always being the peacemaker out of them. Although he does not want to remember that he and the princess used to be together, he's seriously looking to help the princess.

"How do you even reach the top of the shelves? The shelves are literally touching the ceiling and I see no ladders," Hongjoong laments.

"Because our family doesn't need one, duh," Seonghwa tuts. He has changed to a more neutral view of Hongjoong, but it still doesn't mean that he'll be all the way kind to him; just enough to make sure he doesn't kill him out of rage. "Did you forget? We fly."

"Ugh, show-off," Yeosang groans. "I guess we'll work it this way, those who don't have the ability to be an asshole like Seonghwa, search the lower shelves. Those who can fly and be assholes, take the upper shelves. Would be faster that way."

"Are you saying we're assholes?" Jongho shapes his hand into a fist, pretending that he's about to punch Yeosang in the face. "Just because we can fly?"

Yeosang ignores him before going over to trace his eyes along the lower shelves, unsure of what kind of book he's looking for. Something padlocked, something bound with leather, something with loose pages?

Apparently there is no clue in which they could confirm, because even the closest to her don't know what kind of book she uses to write in, if there is even one. The only person who can point to the fact that the journal is probably hidden in this very library is the person the princess suspected the most - her own lady-in-waiting. She has no choice but to trust her for this part, as she knows no better in where the journal could have been. For what the journal looks like - as the Arcus - no one knows except for Narae.

They are left to search for a needle in a haystack, but they have no idea on how the needle looks like.

San and Jongho waste no time to claim a row of their own shelves as their majestic wings extend to cover almost one whole row each, looking splendid against the rustic background of the library. Hongjoong lifts himself up too, but he decides to go lower, craning his neck to find something out of the ordinary among the different types of books. Seonghwa, who has spent most of his life in the library, keeps on thinking about how he barely had any clue that his only sister hid her journal in here. Wooyoung follows Seonghwa closely, scanning his eyes from end to end, sighing every now and then when a row is finished yet the book is still nowhere in sight.