Shadow | Huang Renjun

22

Exhausted, Renjun trudges through the shared house in Hell with Eunah's notebook in-hand.
It's full of notes after hours researching, mostly in her handwriting as he got bored and couldn't focus a lot of the time.

He dumps it on the dining table in front of Jisung and Donghyuck, who are debating over which blood type tastes better.
Miyeon is nowhere to be found; likely sleeping or out shopping.

"What did you find?" Donghyuck asks, watching his friend drop onto an empty chair with a huff.

"We went through the whole fucking history section..."

"We?"
Having been dealing with his father for most of this mission, Jisung is unaware of the majority of their progress aside from some light chatter or questions here and there.

"Eunah," Donghyuck answers, opening the notebook to read.

"I thought you hated this Angel?"
Jisung's question is directed at Renjun, as he's the only one to have openly expressed his previous hatred of Eunah.

"She's just annoying now..." Renjun sighs.
"But she's helpful and knowledgeable, so it's beneficial to be civil..."

"I see..."

Raising his brows, Donghyuck snickers. He's found the page with Eunah's portrait on it, and holds it up to Jisung. The Archdemon glances between the portrait and Renjun, who is currently fighting sleep.

"You have a strange definition of civil."

"Huh?"

The book is shown to him, at which point he rolls his eyes and rests his head on folded arms.

"I got bored and she was in front of me. The other doodles are hers; they were there when she gave me the book."

"Oh, so this is her book?"

Clearly, the two are enjoying teasing him. He's too tired to care right now.

"I didn't bring a notebook, so she gave me an empty one. Look– just read the damn notes and leave me alone. I'm tired."

He closes his eyes, soon falling asleep while the two others quietly discuss the notes.

Noticing a change in writing style, Donghyuck comments that Eunah must've written some of this for him.
Jisung frowns, running his tongue along his fangs.

"Don't you think she'll be suspicious by now?"

"Nah."

"Why not? If she's as clever as you claim her to be, she's probably started researching herself to figure out why we need this information."

Donghyuck shakes his head, smiling faintly.
"She's smart, but she also trusts us and often takes things we say at face value, or drops the topic."

"I see."

"I don't like keeping stuff from her, she's a great friend, but things are complicated."

Ever-apathetic, Jisung only briefly raises his brows in mild surprise.
"So you think she's different?"

He shrugs.
"I guess. She's always accepted us for who we are, and I've heard her defend us in front of her Angel friends. Even one of the other Angels is fine with us now, thanks to her."

"That's... promising."

"Yeah, but I dunno how she'd react if she did find out what we're researching and why. She stresses herself out a lot over being a good friend, and I know Jun overheard her talking about feeling bad for hanging out with us when our reputation is already bad.
I'm not sure if she'd be outwardly upset with us, or pretend to smile so we don't think there's anything wrong."

Jisung shakes his head, pressing his lips together for a moment.
"I told you, Angels are empathetic to a fault. This one just seems to be filled with anxiety, too."

"They're not, though," Donghyuck argues.
"At least not all of them. There's some cold-hearted Angels, for sure."

"Oh yeah, that Yijun girl was it?"

He nods, humming. His fingers flick through more notes, scarlet eyes scanning each page for something interesting.

–Three pieces of the Amulet discovered
>Passed through generations and around the world

Rubbing his cheek, he lets out a sigh.
"Great, so they could be anywhere and the fourth is unknown. We already knew this."

–Last known lead involves cryptic message
>Location of message unknown
>Attempted to find clues in other documents

>Possible clue:
**Tomb of a forgotten saviour, where Demons daren't step and Angels refuse to accept**
(will investigate further)

Jisung hums, mildly impressed.
"Not bad. More than you guys did in months."

"Rude."

~~~~

Eunah moved her place of research to the public library she went to with Renjun, finding a lot more there to study.
Sohee has helped her significantly in finding specific books, and even suggesting series for her to read in her free time.

Everything seems to be consistent, though. So far, the only leads she found are the message and clue when researching with Renjun.
It's frustrating.

"Hey, um– how're you getting on?"

Eunah looks up from her notebook to see Mark sitting down opposite. She's currently in the university library; her usual spot on the beanbags.

"Nothing new. This stupid riddle is getting on my nerves."

"Maybe you should take a break," he suggests, gently moving the notebook down.

"Maybe... but what if there's something I'm missing?"

"Then a break might give you a fresh perspective."

She exhales softly, smiling for a moment.
"I guess you're right. Where's Jeno? Is he still in his lecture?"

Mark nods.
"You wanna head to the cafeteria to wait for him?"

Agreeing, Eunah packs her things and gets to her feet. She checks her phone on the way, having got a text from Namgyo that she'll be going shopping after work and wants a list of things Eunah needs.

A small list later, the two arrive in the cafeteria. Eunah automatically starts looking for Miyeon, finding the Nightmare sitting by herself with a smoothie and a half-written psychology thesis.

Unsure, Mark glances between the two women.
He's made up with Eunah, but his gut is telling him that Miyeon is bad news. She already doesn't like him, anyway.

"It'll be fine, she knows we made up," Eunah reassures, having noticed his expression.

"Sure?"

"Yeah, c'mon."

She pulls him towards the table by the arm, sitting beside Miyeon while he sits opposite. The Nightmare looks up, offering a slight smile to Eunah, who frowns.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, just tired," Miyeon sighs, voice croaky and faint as though she'd been crying.

Upon closer inspection, her deep black eyes are blotched with red, as are her pale cheeks.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really, no."

"Okay. If you change your mind, just let me know."