WHITE

"What?!"

"I-I'm so sorry!" Rell cries, her cheeks flushed with shame. "I was just looking at it, and then suddenly this man—"

"Who!" Morning shouts, her silver eyes panicked. I've only seen her panic once before, and I bite my lip harshly when I realize just how important that was to her.

"He had red hair! And everything else he was wearing black— he started running towards the direction of the forests...." She tears up again, her eyes flickering at Morning's stormy expression. "I'm sorry."

"I'm going to find that damn bastard." She hisses, and I quickly turn to Rell when she rushes off, curses flowing out of her lips like water.

"I'm going to go help her find the person who stole her necklace, okay? Stay right here."

And then I start pumping my legs, following Morning's dark, fast figure. She's heading for the forest, and I try to even my breathing as I run as fast as I can go. I couldn't lose her back.

My lungs are about to explode when we reach the outskirts, where there's barely any people. And then I hear Morning shout, and look up to see a person dressed all black.

He looks up in surprise, and I can clearly see the color of his hair.

Red.

"Stop right there, dammit!" She calls, voice still vicious even if mine's all scratchy and broken from running so much. "I'm going to run a knife through your damn face!"

By the time he gets to his feet, Morning is on him. There's practically nobody here— and I'm worried that she'll actually kill him.

"Where is it." She's growling when I finally get to them, breathing in rapid gasps of breath. Shaking, he throws the necklace chain towards her.

"Just take it! I don't care!"

""F***** b***." She curses one more time, her face furious as the man runs off. I fall back to the ground with a deep sigh, still catching my breath. "I swear if I wasn't already so damn tired I'd rip his hand from his arm."

I laugh weakly, my eyes blinking. I wasn't sure if she was actually joking or not— I never could be.

But then a shrill scream comes from the direction that the man had run to, and both of our eyes flash towards his way. Morning instantly pulls me up to my feet while I'm still too frozen to even act.

"Run!"

It's a massive winter boar. My eyes go wide in terror when it crashes straight at the man, and then Morning tugs me harshly.

"Forest!" I gasp, never running as fast as I'm doing right now. It's coming for us now, and I've honestly never been more terrified than this in my life. "There's trees there! It can't run through trees, right?!"

"I don't know." She says, and I swallow as I follow her steps. I can't even feel my exhaustion now— too busy pumping my legs. "Get behind!"

I suck in a fast breath when she pulls on my arm, and I stumble back behind a tree. My face is completely drained with fear when it crashes into the tree trunk next to the one she'd pulled me behind, where I'd been a second ago.

And for a dizzying second, I actually meet eyes with it.

"Come on! It's stuck." She says, glaring at the boar's horns. But it's already halfway free, and we rush deeper into the forest where the trees are growing more thickly together.

"Unnie! Don't you have immunity?"

"That's only for Blessings— holy s***!"

"What? What?!" I exclaim, my eyes flickering back frantically between us and the way we'd come. I couldn't see the boar anywhere, but that doesn't mean it couldn't just suddenly crash out of the trees and kill me off the bat.

"Never mind." She sighs, finally stopping. My legs give out in relief, and I sit on the dirt breathing violently. "I think we're good."

"I didn't— didn't even know there— were boars in Winter!" I say, blood roaring in my ears. My head feels light from the adrenaline rush, and I look around one last time just to make sure we're completely safe.

"It's a winter one."

"We outran a boar!" I shout now, my voice shaky with excitement. "I can't wait to tell V! And I have to rub it in Jungkook's face too— he teased me so much when we raced last time and I still couldn't win when he was blind—"

Then I pause, looking up at Morning uncertainly.

"Unnie...."

"Where are we again?"

_______________________

JUNGKOOK

"They ran to the forests?" V hyung repeats, his eyes shadowed. His tone is terrifying again, and Rell nods with guilt written plain on her face. "Morning and White?"

"It's not your fault." Noticing Rell about to break down in tears, Jimin hyung gets to his knees and hugs the little girl to his chest. He lifts her in his arms, looking at their directions.

"They'll be fine. We just need to get to them."

"I can teleport— to the forest, you said?" I check with Rell, my Blessing already flickering in my hands. "Hyung, they'll be okay."

"What if that man was a Blessed?" Jin hyung cries out, running panicked fingers in his dark violet locks. "Even if Morning has immunity—"

"We're wasting time." V cuts off, his voice flat and emotionless. But the deep red wisps of his Blessing comes
off the outline of his body, clearly agitated.

I feel tired when I teleport all
of them to the edge of the forest. Even if the distance was not that much, teleporting so much people at a time wasn't easy.

"Are you okay?" Jimin hyung asks me, still holding Rell. I'm about to nod when Jin hyung gasps loudly. He points at a dark figure among the grass, crumpled unconscious.

Dead?

I almost have a heart attack.

"It's not them." V hyung says, his features stone as he wraps his fingers around the figure's collar and lifts him up by the neck. "Rell, is this the person?"

She nods, then her face twists into a wince. Jimin quickly slaps at V hyung's arm, wrapping a pale hand around her eyes.

"You're so insensitive sometimes." He scolds, and I swallow when I look over and see the man closer. His front is stained completely with red, matching the color of his dyed hair. "Did you forget she was here?"

"Sorry." He quickly drops the body, but the dull noise of the corpse hitting the ground doesn't make anything better. Jimin hyung glares at him, rubbing a hand over her back comfortingly.

"Check if the necklace is on him." I pipe up, but V hyung shakes his head.

"It isn't. That means that White and Morning got to him."

"Morning didn't have a weapon. And neither did White." Jin hyung stresses, pointing a finger at the man's bloody front. "And that's clearly a weapon wound. A really big one."

I chew on my lip.

"Maybe there's footsteps." Jimin suggests, putting Rell down on the grass and wandering off with his gaze pinned to the ground. "Who knows, maybe there's really something."

"Where are they?" Jin hyung says impatiently, his head turned to the direction of the forest. "It's like, damn, they just disappeared into thin air."

"Maybe they're in the forest." I mumble, scuffing the ground with a heavy sigh. "But—"

"Jimin hyung!"

Then my eyes snap up as V shouts, his face terrified. I instantly follow his gaze, and the blood drains from my skin when I realize.

Winter boar.

And it's running straight at Jimin hyung.