The Mirror

Chapter 6 [3/4]

Joochan is walking alone inside a dark forest named Morindare Grove. On his hand, he grabs a lantern which contains an eternal fire made by Bonhwa. He isn't scared of how dark the forest is, but Sungmi reminded him about the creature living inside the forest: minotaurs - is a monster of half human and half bull, their weapon is a spike and they are living by eating human flesh - sounds so bad for Joochan, Sungmi said they usually lived in the labyrinth but this forest is one of their habitats too; and a dark druid - is simply a magician, but as they are the dark one, they usually captured human as the sacrifice for the demon - Joochan also has no good feelings towards it. He looks up to the firefly - Prince Bialaer sent Joochan a firefly as his guide, this firefly will show the way to the nearest injured creature, but it won't show Joochan if there is an enemy nearby. Joochan just needs to be extra careful while walking. There are only nine creatures I should save, and after I save them, I'll accomplish the mission, Joochan thought, I'll be okay. He follows the firefly as it brings Joochan deeper into the forest, but to more open space. There, he found an injured chimera. His heart is pounding fast as he walks closer to the chimera which lay on the ground. Its legs are bleeding. He walks closer carefully, he knows chimera isn't a friendly creature. The chimera's eyes are focusing on Joochan's. Joochan tries to keep eye contact with the chimera.

"It's okay... it's okay, I'm not here to hurt you... trust me... I'm here to help you... to heal you..."

Joochan is whispering while he steps closer to the creature. The chimera blinks once and lays its head to the ground again. Joochan thinks it might be a good sign, so he bravely steps closer without making a sound. Joochan kneels on the ground, praying hard that the chimera won't go berserk in sudden, his right hand reaches for the chimera's legs... Joochan is holding his breath... then his palm touches the chimera's legs. The chimera is still laying its head to the ground even after Joochan touches it. Joochan shut his eyes and let his energy flow through his palms to the wound. After a while, when he opened his eyes, the wound disappeared. The chimera raises its head and groans softly to Joochan.

"Is that a thank you?" he smiled.

"OH MY GOD, JOOCHAN HYEONG SUCCEED!"

Minsook is screaming and everyone's focus is back to the crystal ball in the middle of the ground. Prince Bialaer made a crystal ball to supervise Joochan's condition. There were nine red shining dots flying inside the crystal ball, but just now, one dot just turned into white color, which means Joochan had healed one creature.

"At least the crystal ball doesn't turn into black color," said Kichul while finally sitting facing the crystal ball again.

Kichul and Bonhwa keep walking around anxiously ever since Joochan left them while Minsook never takes his eyes off the crystal ball. Myungwoo is sitting side by side with Sungmi, sometimes his eyes looking at the crystal ball, sometimes to the things around him, busily thinking hard while praying Joochan will get back to them unscratched. Kichul is right, as long as the crystal ball doesn't turn into black color, which means Joochan encountered an enemy, everything sounds okay for Myungwoo.

"I trust that he will do well," said Bonhwa while nodding his head.

"You were the one who worried the most, hyeong."

"Don't you too, Kichul?"

Myungwoo chuckles. At least, he isn't alone now. Joochan is alone... but he will be okay, right?

But Daesun doesn't fall hard to the ground. He falls lightly to the ground as his body moves in slow motion.

"Daesun hyeong!"

He can see Do Daejoon is running from the distance, he raises up his sword and a transparent wave whip around. Daesun is standing up, still in slow motion - his waist is still hurt and bleeding, making him feel really weird, while Daejoon is running full speed until he stands up beside Daesun. Then the waves disappear. Daesun is staring at his hands as he can move at normal speed again. Eunkyung is screaming as she runs towards the two men.