don't blame me

reflections

"I'm sorry, Noona." He whispered to himself.

He had to break his promise to her.

It broke him, but it was his only choice.

He could settle this quietly in the night without them even noticing.

He felt tears falling down his face as he walked past all of the Counters' bedroom doors.

He sat down to write a note and left it on the dining room table.

Time to go, he thought

He didn't look back.

~~~~~~

15 hours earlier...

Today was looking to be surprisingly light.

The Counters all had their breakfast and were currently training.

Ms. Chu was working on her telekinesis with So Mun, with Chairman Choi supporting them.

Jeok-bong was fighting against both Motak and Hana to improve his reflexes and skills.

After Jeok-bong went down for the hundredth time, Do Hana felt herself tense up slightly.

So Mun gave her a questioning glance.

"I stepped on one." She replied.

"What level?" Motak asked.

"Level three. We need to go quickly." Hana responded while grabbing her hoodie.

The others all rushed after her into two cars.

Hana directed them to a massive field right outside of Jungjin.

When they arrived, So Mun quickly summoned the territory as they looked around.

That's when they found a group of five evil spirits slowly walking towards them.

They had been aware that more and more evil spirits tended to show up than expected, so they weren't taken by surprise.

They all looked at each other and nodded, before preparing to fight.

The fight seemed relatively easy, almost too easy.

All the spirits except one seemed to be level 2, with the other one being a level 3.

The spirits were all summoned quickly except for the level 3.

So Mun had the spirit in a headlock, waiting for him to finally pass out.

What surprised him was a whispered wheeze.

"You will lose. You're already losing. He can't wait to see you soon." The spirit cackles.

Mun tried not to let his words distract him, but the spirit gave him a punch to the nose before losing consciousness.

Mun's nose was slightly bleeding, but he wiped it with his sleeve before summoning the final spirit.

As he got back up, he turned to the other Counters.

"That wasn't a real fight. That was a warning. The spirit said we'd lose, and that Myung-Dae can't wait to meet me again." Mun explained.

"What does that even mean?" Jeok-bong questioned.

"Perhaps he will start making his move soon. You all need to go visit Yung." Chairman Choi exclaimed.

They all agreed to that and walked back to the cars.

Hana stayed at an even pace with Mun, and lightly touched his nose in concern.

"I'm fine, Noona. Just a little nosebleed." Mun said cheekily.