Flames | NCT

Chapter 22

How did this happen?

Minjee stood in the middle of the flames, staring. Haechan had extinguished the house on Minjee's right and was continuing his rounds while she would go to the burned down houses, looking for survivors.

Through this, she had found a few. Minjee would send Naeun a magical note, informing the faerie. Naeun would then arrive to take the kitsunes away, bringing back up if needed.

"What are you doing?" Minjee immediately twisted her head to the sound of the voice. She let out a small sigh of relief when she realized who it was.

Renjun stood there, in the middle of the street. His hair was messy and sweat was beading on his forehead, a clear indication that he was exhausted. He was probably tasked with the same thing as her.

"I was just taking a small break." Minjee told him. Renjun shook his head, making his way past her.

"Now isn't the time." Renjun simply said, motioning towards the house she was supposed to be in. Minjee rolled her eyes.

"Alright, mom. I'll be going in now." Minjee said, making sure to shove against Renjun's shoulder as she made her way past him.

Minjee knew that Renjun was definitely offended by the name she had called him, especially after the dark magic feat her mother had pulled. A part of her felt bad but at the same time, Renjun's kindness had ended a bit after she had started dating Haechan.

Chenle had mention something about Renjun being jealous but Minjee didn't buy it. She knew Renjun well enough to know that her presence was enough to make his blood boil. There was a time when she thought that they were past that but after what happened back at the coven, she knew that they weren't.

"Help!"

The sound of the small voice knocked Minjee out of her thoughts. A survivor.

"Hello?" Minjee called out. She picked up her speed as she continued searching in the remains of what seemed to be once a house.

"I'm here!" The voice replied.

"Keep yelling!" Minjee instructed. The voice did as told and Minjee used that to find the survivor.

It was a small boy, splayed across the floor in one of the rooms. A beam had topped over, crushing his legs. There were tears welling in his eyes and it was clear to Minjee that he was in an immense amount of pain.

"Hey, my name is Minjee, Kang Minjee." Minjee said, kneeling beside the boy. She began to come up with a plan to rescue him.

"Your pin." The boy said, pointing to the silver agency pin she wore. Minjee nodded her head.

"That's right, I'm part of H.I.D.D.E.N. Why don't we get you out of here as soon as possible?"

The boy nodded his head. Minjee applied a big of pressure one of his feet sticking out on the other side of the beam. "Can you feel that?"

The boy shook his head. Paralyzed. Yangyang's going to have fun with that.

After ensuring that the boy was in good health, she used her magic to lift the beam.

That's when she heard the sound of a crack.

Minjee immediately looked up, just to see a flaming
beam from the roof getting closer to her.

Crap, Haechan must have missed it.

She instinctively wrapped her arms around the boy in a warm embrace as she waited for the impact to hit.

But it never did.

Minjee slowly opened her eyes to see Renjun standing there, the beam no long in flames as he supported it with his own magic. He bad a concerned look on his face.