The Mirror

Chapter 5 [3/3]

Minjoon is shaking his head. He suddenly feels so sleepy. Becoming a guard isn't as easy as I think, thought Minjoon, and it's quite boring to do it alone. He chuckles as he thinks that he might be getting attached with Minsook or Hyunki, who are the human version of vitamin C.

"Is it only me, or is the weather getting hotter?"

Minjoon goes to check on the air conditioner. It's not only him who is sweating, but also the bodies of his friends. Then when he turned around, he could see smoke from Myungwoo's kitchen. Minjoon quickly runs to the kitchen, but the entire kitchen tops are on fire.

"BUT SINCE WHEN?"

Minjoon feels it is strange how the fire is spreading so fast. He gets a fire extinguisher but the fire can't be extinguished, it's spreading faster and the fire getting bigger.

"I should teleport the bodies... maybe to my place? Let me do it..."

But before he can get back to the living room, fire blocks him and makes him can't pass it.

"No... my friends..."

"It's a hallucination. You can pass through it, if you think you can win over it."

Minjoon turned around, trying to find who was talking to him. It was a man's voice.

"Who are you?"

"It's me. I'm here to help you."

Someone passed through the fire from the living room to the kitchen. This person is a man who looks friendly... and what makes Minjoon widen his eyes is that the man is holding a long sword. Not only that, he got no wounds at all after passing through the fire.

"Let's talk later. This fire isn't hot for me, which is why I trust this isn't a real fire," said the man, "do you trust me?"

"Does it mean my friends won't be in danger?" asked Minjoon, feeling a bit of hope is here for him.

"Yes. if you trust they will be safe, then they will."

The man put his hand on Minjoon's shoulder and both of them nodded at the same time, then the next second they jumped past the fire in front of them... to the calm living room. There is no fire. Minjoon's friends are all safe. He turned around and saw the kitchen was clean, as if nothing had happened.

"So... it wasn't real?" asked Minjoon.

"It wasn't. And we have guests. Get ready."

The man holding his long sword, all prepared. Minjoon is also holding his sword now. Suddenly the windows break open and a lot of imps fly in - Minjoon doesn't have time to quickly count it but it looks like more than 10. But he isn't alone, he has this... unidentified friend helping him. The man is standing in front of the couches and starts swinging his sword bravely. Minjoon jumps to cut off one of the imp's head as it almost stabs its trident to Joochan's body.

"They're going to attack our friends!" said the man.

"I'll protect Sikyung noona!"

Only Sikyung is staying on the bed, so Minjoon quickly stands in front of the opened bedroom's door to protect the imps from entering the bedroom. Minjoon keeps swinging his sword... more imps come... until when it will be finished?

"It will make us tired! Come here!"

The man jumps closer to Minjoon while stretching his arm towards Minjoon, "grab my hand!"

Confused, Minjoon grabs the man's free hand. Then the man lifted up his sword. Minjoon widened his eyes as he saw a transparent wave going out of the sword to the room in front of them - it was a big wave which swept around the room. But the result makes Minjoon feel more shocked: suddenly everything goes slower - at least the imps which enter the apartment from the windows are moving slower. It feels like someone is just setting a scene from the movie to play two times slower than the usual.