Dive Into You

Chapter 7: A Twist In The..."Taeil"

Kyung-hwa studies Ryu-jin, Jeong-yeon, Shin-won, Seung-kwan, Jae-min, Jin-ho and WinWin, leaning on the edge of the kitchen table in the cabin house. "Really? Don't trust dragons? That's how we're going to break the curse?"

"I don't think that's the way," Jeong-yeon mutters to herself.

Ryu-jin slides her hand into Jeong-yeon's. "Look we need a plan to--"

A shrill scream from outside splits through the air. It's almost immediately followed by an irate shout.

"That's not good..." Jin-ho says, his wings fluttering behind him.

WinWin lowers his head and grumbles, "What is that a-hole up to now?"

Kyung-hwa and Shin-won open the door to see Hak-nyeon and Dami hugging each other with horror. Maverick is whinnying with distress and stomping his hooves on the ground. Haechan, Tae-il, Seo-ho and Ravn are nowhere to be seen.

"What's going on?" Ryu-jin questions, pulling Jeong-yeon close to her. "Where's--?"

"Tae-il's been abducted!" Dami screams.

"And Haechan, Seo-ho and Ravn went after him!" Hak-nyeon tacks on.

"Did anyone have Tae-il getting abducted on their Bingo card?" Shin-won chuckles, attempting to break the mood with humor.

Jae-min slowly starts to raise his hand, a sheepish grin on his face. But he is smacked hard by Seung-kwan, who gives him a scolding pout.

WinWin pads out last. "I really liked that guy...he had an electric touch."

"Hang on, I'll see if I can see them!" Jin-ho flies into the air. He looks around, seeing into the trees and then to the beach, where the faint figures of a werewolf, raven and lifeless person are. "I see 'em! They're through the trees on the beach."

Hak-nyeon and Dami soothe Maverick down and get on the horse's back, while Jin-ho, propelled by his fairy-wings, leads the others into the forest. Before long, they reach the edge of the trees.

Haechan is lying in the sand with Seo-ho prodding him with a paw. Ravn is brushing sand off of himself with his wings.

"What...happened...?" Jin-ho asks, landing in the sand. "Are you okay?"

Seo-ho whimpers, but Ravn gruffly remarks, "Peachy, considering we got sang thrown at us by a fire dog!"

Haechan stirs, groaning with pain.

"Except that Haechan-ah, he got a bit hurt," Ravn adds, gesturing to Tae-il and suddenly wincing with pain. "And I think I hyperextended my wing."

Seo-ho whines again.

"Fire dog? What?" Seung-kwan gasps.

"Oh...THAT happened!" WinWin growls, flicking his head and horn in the direction just behind the trio.

They can all see the very faint image on the water of a vessel in the far distance.

"Ah, would this be a twist in the...Tae-il?" Shin-won cracks his joke, earning a firm backhand to the stomach from Jin-ho.

"Stop joking," Jin-ho scolds. "What if it was me in Tae-il's place?"

"They'd return you in minutes," Shin-won says.

Jin-ho gives him a sarcastically, disgusted side-eye.

"Who's heard the legends of the Daltokki, Bulgae, Dokkaebi and Gumiho before?" WinWin exclaims.

"The Tteokbokki, Bulgogi, Deobi and Gummy bear?" Jae-min questions.

"No, the--" WinWin starts to explain.

Haechan sits up. "Oh, I'm a human-well vampire again..." He bares his teeth and scrambles up to his feet, instantly grabbing hold of his throbbing head. "I'll sink my fangs into those four creeps!"

"Haechan-ah, take it easy," Jae-min scolds, putting his hands on his hips.

"Wait, what's in that direction?" Kyung-hwa wonders out loud.

"Udo," Hak-nyeon and Seung-kwan exclaim in unison. "Every Jeju native knows of it and its mysterious beauty."

"I'd also argue it sounds like the ideal location to hold Tae-il hostage. The perfect villain lair for a bastard Dragon and his minions."

"Minions are right," Ravn grumbles.

"I sense we're going to have a storytime first before we trek that way though," Haechan groans with a roll of his eyes. "As if Taeilie wasn't just kidnapped and is in terrible danger right now. The urgency to rescue him is a joke."

"Shut up, Haechan-ah," Jae-min snaps at the maknae for NCT 127. "You know that we have to get a plan too. We can't just show up and demand them to give Tae-il back with no elaborate hero plan."