Two years ago

"Seonghwa hyung!"

Seonghwa looks back to see his favourite people, San, Yunho and Wooyoung running up to him with big smiles.

"Where are you going? Don't you have class in an hour?" Yunho asks, pointing at the big building behind them.

"Yeah, but I have to quickly go and run an errand, I'll see you guys later"

"Ok but make sure you don't forget to meet us at dusk, we're going to sneak out!" Wooyoung says with a wide grin and Seonghwa rolls his eyes, smiling at how excited they look.

"Alright" he says, leaving them to go to the town.

Seonghwa was the son of a respected noble, some dream to have his life but in reality it was torture. He was the only son, along with an older sister. His father tried so hard to make Seonghwa an exact copy of him but he doesn't want to live that way. He knows his father prefers his sister over him, since he always calls him useless and weak. But since his sister is a girl, he tries and tries to make Seonghwa the boy version of his sister. Eventually he gave up, focusing on his precious daughter instead. It all started when he was born, after his blue hearts were revealed. His father has clovers and his sister has diamonds, they were both two peas in a pod, strong and resilient. Seonghwa just isn't into politics but they blame his hearts for his incompetence.

So, every chance he gets, he goes to the town for some freedom. Of course, Wooyoung San and Yunho are also his escape from reality, them also having the same desires as him. But his life is written out for him, everyone expects him to take over his father which is what makes him want to disappear.

Breathing in the fresh air, he makes his way to the marketplace. It was his and his friends favourite place to go. They weren't often allowed to go so they usually sneak in there but today he has permission since he has to buy something for his mother.

Not even a few steps in he bumps into someone, causing them to tumble onto the floor. "I'm so sorry!" He says, helping them up.

He looks surprised at Seonghwa, who is picking up his things off the floor and handing them to him. No one would expect a blue marked to be picking up things from the floor for an unworthy red marked.

Their eyes meet as Seonghwa hands his things to the other with a soft smile. The stranger is still in shock with how gentle this blue marked is. He was preparing himself to be shouted at for more looking while walking, maybe even being hit. It's not like he's never been 'taught a lesson' by a blue before.

But Seonghwa only apologises for his own clumsiness, making the stranger speechless. "Thank you" he says quietly and runs off.

Seonghwa watches him go, when they first made eye contact he couldn't help but notice the way his heart rate increased. He doesn't pay much attention to it, since he's in a rush and needs to quickly come back home.

In the evening they come back, it was their favourite place to sneak out to. They'd spend their money on useless and random things, always being overcharged since they were 'clueless blue fools' but they didn't mind. They couldn't come often so they always made it worthwhile.

Wooyoung drags Seonghwa to a stall with jewellery, chatting happily about the bracelet he'd been eyeing for a while now. He looks around while Wooyoung tries on pieces with Yunho and San until his eyes catch the person from earlier on in the day.

They make eye contact since Seonghwa is staring at him for so long and when his expression shifts in recognition, his heart skips a beat. Quickly letting the others know he's going to look at another stall, he walks towards the man.

He doesn't know why he's doing this, but something about this man draws Seonghwa to him, he doesn't believe in love at first sight, but this might be close. "Hi" he smiles once he has approached him.

"You're that guy I bumped into today right?" The other says, curious as to how he's meeting him again.

"Yeah, I'm Seonghwa" he holds out a hand, wanting to be acquainted with this person. 

"I'm Hongjoong... but why are you introducing yourself?" Despite his tentative look, Hongjoong smiles at him and the butterflies in Seonghwa's stomach go crazy.

"I don't know but, something about you makes me want to be your friend" he smiles when Hongjoong looks at him in surprise.

"We've known each other for less than a minute, is it because I'm handsome?" The other chuckles.

"Maybe" Seonghwa doesn't know where he got this confidence from but he doesn't mind, it's helping him talk to the other without embarrassing himself.

After their first meeting, Seonghwa kept coming back every week. He learnt that Hongjoong is interested in crystals and has his own stall. During their little meetings, he teaches him about crystals and other types of gems and Seonghwa thinks its magical the way he talks about his passion. It doesn't take long for him to miss Hongjoong every day they don't see each other, to look forward to the days he went to the market.

One day after doing his own research about gems, Seonghwa managed to get his hands on one he thought suited Hongjoong perfectly and gifted it to him happily. Hongjoong kissed him that day.

A year into their relationship both knew they wanted to be with each other for the rest of their lives. Hongjoong didn't mind not bonding and just staying together like this. But Seonghwa, being the sentimental person he is, wanted to be connected to him on a deeper level, have their magic bound together as one.

At first, Hongjoong was unsure since it meant that Seonghwa's marks would turn red because of him. But after a lot of consoling and convincing that he didn't care at all about what colour his marks are, Hongjoong agreed.

It was the day of his wedding that he had disappeared, looking at his friends in secret with tearful eyes. He knew he'd come back to them so he decided to leave them while they were happy.

The moment their magic bonded his marks dissolved from a deep blue to red. Many passerbys stopped to look at this uncommon occurrence, gasping at the transition. But Seonghwa couldn't be happier.

His new life now consists of him and Hongjoong living peacefully, along with helping Hongjoong out w the stall sometimes, he started to work at a nursery, the children loving his motherly personality. He no longer had to go in his father's footsteps, who probably was glad that he disappeared.

Being a red marked comes with its downsides of course, but with everything considered, he prefers this life over his old one. This one has Hongjoong.

~

Wooyoung hasn't gone to Yeosang's in a week. It may not seem like a long time but with the way he was going every other day, this is an extremely long amount of time.

They kissed. Not just any kiss, they kissed. For a long time.

He didn't even realise that he has pent up feelings for the other until that day. Yes he thought he's attractive but thats where Wooyoung thought it stopped. Now he wants to spend his days kissing Yeosang. Maybe he's just horny, he hasn't dated in years.

He feels guilty for stealing Yeosang's first kiss. It should not have been with him. At least, that's what one part of his brain is telling him. The other part is replaying the way Yeosang held on to him as they kissed, letting out sweet noises. Maybe Yeosang didn't mind that Wooyoung is his first kiss.

"YOU KISSED?!?" San shouts while Yunho's mouth hangs open, too stunned to speak.

"I should have known when you kept going to his house, did you two do anything else!"

"No!" Wooyoung groans, he and his big mouth couldn't help but tell his friends, he did try holding back but he couldn't hold it anymore. This is where he regrets his decision.

"It's a bit random don't you think? I didn't even know you liked Yeosang" Yunho says once the shock leaves his body.

"I don't! I mean, I do? I don't know" he covers his face, now fully registering that he kissed Yeosang.

"Is he a good kisser?" San smirks, pulling Wooyoung's hands away from his face to reveal his embarrassed expression.

"Yeah I guess..." Wooyoung shrugs, he could tell Yeosang's never kissed anyone before but only at the beginning. Once he got the hang of it he was amazing, Wooyoung would let him kiss him senseless.

"I can imagine him being a rough kisser, you know since he's all muscly and has a stone cold heart" San pokes Wooyoung and Yunho smacks his hand away. Wooyoung whines, telling them to stop talking about it.

After what feels like ages, San calms down and finally gives Wooyoung peace. "Alright. We'll stop bullying you- but only because we're in a rush! We're going to see Mingi and Jongho, do you want to come?"

Wooyoung almost declines but he needs something to distract himself from thinking about the other day so he agrees and the three of them make their way to the place they catch themselves going too often.

They know they go too often because Jongho and Mingi start to expect them and have unintentionally memorised when they're free to come.

Mingi and Yunho are always the ones to greet each other first, the pair seeming to have taken a liking to the other. Wooyoung is friendly with them too, but the reds are still a little intimidated by him. San is working on being more comfortable with them.

"Hey guys!" Mingi greets with a smile, getting used to the fact that these people are his new potential friends.

The three of them give the same energy back, something about having lots of friends is exciting. Especially since they have joined forces to carry out a 'mission' to find out who Yeosang really is.

"What brings you guys here?" Jongho asks. Although they come quite often now, they're not close enough to just come for no reason and just hang out, there's always something they need to ask or do.

"We're here on a quest" Wooyoung says, making it sound more exciting than it actually is. It's less of a quest and more of a guessing game with no leads.

Jongho and Mingi glance at each other. "Ah, Yeosang?" Mingi says. "He told us everything, about the crystal and what Wooyoung told him last week".

Wooyoung freezes hearing last week being mentioned again. "He told you everything?" He asks carefully, not liking the way his face is heating up, hoping it's not visible.

"Yeah, about how the crystal contains magic from your ancestors and all that" Jongho replies, confused as to why Wooyoung is asking this when he already knows.

"Nothing else?" San looks at Wooyoung and nudges him about to tease him but the prince pinches his arm before he can do or say anything.

Jongho watches the exchange with a frown. "Why, is there something hyung forgot to tell us?"

"No no," Wooyoung shakes his head, it seems like Yeosang didn't tell his friends about them, he doesn't know if he's relieved or upset, but tries anyway to change the subject since Jongho is looking at him weirdly. "We came to ask you guys some questions".

Mingi nods and they all sit down, looking at Jongho strangely when he sits right next to San, legs touching and all. San also looks at the younger questioningly but just accepts it when he doesn't explain himself, only inquiring about what they wanted to ask them.

"We need to know more about Yeosang, exactly why he's unmarked. Has he told you guys anything about it? Or anything related to it that could help us?" Yunho asks, hoping since they are Yeosang's only friends, that he would have shared things about him.

Unfortunately the pair shake their heads. "We have asked a couple of times but Yeosang always says he genuinely doesn't know. He's told us about his childhood but its nothing that could help us with this."

Wooyoung frowns in defeat. There's nothing they can do if Yeosang himself doesn't know. "Yeosang said he only knew his mother right but she passed, there's no one else we could ask about him?" He refuses to believe that no one knew about their existence, some people must have known, must know their story. There was no way Yeosang's mother took care of her son completely alone without anyone knowing about them.

Jongho shakes his head but suddenly stops, pausing to remember something. "Wait- I do remember hyung saying something about an old lady coming to their house often back when his mother was alive, she had magic and marks. I don't know who she is though, or if she's still around"

The three of them look at Jongho in surprise, then at each other. They finally have something to go off on. "We could ask Yeosang about her! She must know something about them. Jongho you are amazing" Wooyoung cheers, its relieving to have hope again.

Jongho flashes his cute gummy smile as the others praise him for remembering an important detail. He has grown to learn that these people are actually very nice and since Mingi is also fond of them, he would be happy to be their friends, despite their differing marks.

Amongst the cheers, San is the only one who is not saying anything. Jongho faces him and because their siting right next to each other their faces become close when he turns. "Don't you have anything to say to me?" San looks at him in surprise, one for calling him out and two because of their close proximity which makes him nervous. "What's wrong, hyung?"

"Hyung?" San squeaks, his stomach swoons while his blue clovers glow like crazy.

The younger smiles in satisfaction at his reaction. "You don't like it?"

"No! You can call me hyung'' San says, cringing at how he sounds. Jongho pulls at his sleeve and San glances at him for the last time. The younger just winks at him and he stands up. He doesn't know where all this confidence from the other is coming from. He thought they weren't on the best terms but Jongho has seemed to forget all of that and started fresh, which seems to be flirting with him.

"How about we go to Yeosang's house now, all together! Might as well get it done now right? Haha" San walks away quickly, the others have obviously watched his interaction with Jongho and now they watch in amusement as he walks away. Someone in particular finding the exchange amusing.

Wooyoung speedily runs after him, linking his arm. "No way you like Jongho"

The other scoffs, detaching their arms. "I do not."

San's flustered face and bright marks give his feelings away and Wooyoung is all too happy to tease him. "You do! I can tell" he is extremely happy about getting his revenge from earlier. San can get a taste of his own medicine. "Wow I guess you have a type, boys with diamonds!. Remember when you had a crush on Yunho?"

San widens his eyes and hits Wooyoung "I told you not to talk about that! What if he hears?" He says in a hushed but angry voice. Looking around, he sees the others have started to follow him, collectively agreeing to go to Yeosang's house together. He glances at Yunho who is busy chatting with Mingi. "It was only for a few days, why do you still remember this!"

"Because I love torturing you" Wooyoung sings happily.

Pouting, San walks faster, trying to get rid of Wooyoung next to him. A few years ago he had almost got attacked by some butt-hurt dude he rejected but Yunho came quick enough to hex him and teach him a lesson. San blames it on the rush of emotions he had, feeling afraid, shocked then relieved, but he saw Yunho differently just then, he had saved him. Fortunately after a week he gained his senses, shocked at himself for once seeing his best friend as more than that. He didn't even tell anyone but somehow Wooyoung, with scary face analysing abilities, found out and now endlessly teases him for it.

Its only when they finally arrive at Yeosang's house Wooyoung's playful mood disappears. He doesn't know how he should act, will Yeosang act differently? He supposes he should pretend it didn't happen for now, since the others are with him. Also since Yeosang didn't mention it to his friends, it must not have meant anything. His solemn mood dissociates once Jongho knocks on the door, quickly shifting back to nervousness.

Yeosang opens the door straight away and for a second, he gets scared because of how many people there are at his door but once it registers who they are he looks at them in confusion.

"What are all of you guys doing here? Together?" Yeosang knows that his friends have been talking a lot with Wooyoung's friends but its still strange to see them together like this.

"We're all here to help you investigate" Mingi says, heading inside before Yeosang can say anything, calling everyone inside while leaving Yeosang stood at the door in surprise.

When he turns around, he sees everyone already sat down while Mingi sets up the fireplace. The sight makes Yeosang feel weird inside, not knowing if he likes it or not.

He doesn't really care about the whole crystal situation anymore but everyone else seems to, and is more than happy to help him which makes him feel a little happy. Happy that people care about him and don't see him differently just because he's unmarked. Jongho pats the seat beside him and Yeosang takes a seat. He glances at Wooyoung, accidentally catching him looking at him but as soon as they make eye contact the prince is looking away, ears turning pink.

After they kissed neither really addressed it, both just thinking of it as a spur of the moment thing and equally confused with their feelings.

Sure, he thinks Wooyoung is good looking but he's never felt any sort of romantic attraction towards him until that day. And now he's confused.

He definitely liked the kiss. He's never done it before but if this is what it's like then he wouldn't mind doing it again.

The question was that if he likes Wooyoung like that. If he wants to kiss Wooyoung again or wouldn't mind kissing anyone. For a spilt second he thought about kissing Mingi or Jongho then gagged. Those two are his favourite people in the world but he'd never ever want to kiss them like he did with Wooyoung.

He thinks about Wooyoung's friends but he can't imagine it either, maybe because they've only met a couple of times. His brain hurt thinking about kissing people. Maybe he does like Wooyoung.

After the kiss, they just carried on with what they were doing, then Wooyoung left and didn't come back. Yeosang was sort of thankful he didn't come back because he wouldn't know what to do or say. So he's relieved now that there are more people to distract him today now that he's back.

Mingi brings him out of his deep thoughts by calling him and waving a hand in front of him. He looks up at him to see everyone looking at him. Right, they're here for a reason today. When he asks what they wanted to know, Jongho speaks up.

"So hyung, we were talking about how we can find out more about you when I remembered you mentioned something about an old woman coming to your house often... who was she?"

For a second, Yeosang's heart beams at the thought of Jongho remembering little details he had mentioned while aimlessly chatting. But now is not the time to be sentimental so he thinks back to his childhood. A random woman came every week and just played with him and also kept his mother company. "I'm sorry guys, I have no idea who she was."

Their faces fall in defeat and Yeosang frowns, feeling useless. He doesn't know anything about himself and he's probably annoying the others because he keeps saying he doesn't know.

"I called her grandmother, though I don't think she was my actual one since my mother never called her mum, she called her Ms. Lee. I don't know what her full name was though, or if she's even alive. She stopped coming once my mother passed away."

Mingi nods, he can tell Yeosang is upset he doesn't know much. "It's okay if you don't know, you were just a child. We just thought maybe she would know what happened to your family."

"She definitely did, her and my mother would talk quietly making sure I couldn't hear" he adds. It would have been great if he knew where she lived, or even if he knew her name. But he knows nothing. "I'm sorry guys". He feels like he's let his only friends down.

Unexpectedly Wooyoung speaks up. "It's okay Yeosang, we can think of other ways"

Yeosang looks at him, the other giving him a warm smile. That and his soft voice makes his heart race. Somehow, it makes him feel like less of a useless friend.

The crystal hanging on his neck glows suddenly, taking them all by surprise. Yeosang touches it, instead of feeling hot like he expected, it feels colder. They all look at each other in confusion, San and Yunho have never seen the crystal do this before so they are equal parts fascinated and concerned.

"It's never glowed like this before" Yeosang says, still touching it. He takes it off to see what would happen but as soon as he places it on the floor it starts to spark and get hot. Before his floor burns he quickly grabs the crystal and puts it on his neck again. Once its on his neck again it stops acting like a flashlight.

"Now we have another thing to solve" Jongho chuckles, trying to lighten the mood.

The stone starts glowing again but this time it heats up, not too much to hurt him but enough for Yeosang to notice the difference. "It's glowing again, last time it felt cold but this time it feels hot."

Wooyoung gasps. "What if its really trying to send you a message?" All of them nod enthusiastically, now that they're desperate for answers they'll try anything, so they spend the next few minutes trying to come up with an explanation for the temperature changes.

San is the one to figure it out. "What if it's trying to take you somewhere? Hot means you're close and cold means you're far"

It's a promising idea so Yeosang tries it out, moving around and it does change depending on where he is. After cheering and praising San, they try to figure out where Yeosang is being led. It's a straightforward concept but it's difficult to carry out, so it takes longer than expected before he's led to one of his kitchen drawers, the one that doesn't open.

"No way... could there be something inside?" Jongho says, peering over him. Yeosang feels a little crowded with five people hovering around him, all trying to see what is going on.

"I always thought this drawer was for decoration since it never opened" Yeosang mutters, it was silly of him to think that, anyone else would think it was suspicious.

Jongho and Yunho have the responsibility to open it since they're strong and with a collective effort, they manage to get it open.

Suddenly the atmosphere is tense, everyone curious but nervous to see what's inside. Yeosang tentatively looks inside, there's only one thing there, a book.

He picks it up with a frown, it's a book about the royal family and their history. Jongho makes a confused sound. "I have that book at home".

"Me too" Yunho says, everyone else saying the same thing. "I think everyone in the kingdom has this book, it's mostly used to teach children history".

Yeosang sighs. "All of this for a book the whole population owns?" He's annoyed and confused as to why his mother had this hidden away from him, he has no memory of her ever reading this to him so why even have it. He opens it, flipping through the pages, there must be something.

When one of the pages words start to shift around, Yeosang almost drops the book. "Magic!" He says, watching in surprise at how the letters disassemble then reassemble to make new ones.

Everyone crowds around him, watching in shock. "My book never did that" San says.

When its finally done, the page reveals an address along with a name at the bottom. Lee Min-Hyo.

They all look at each other. "Ms Lee?" Wooyoung says, knowing everyone is thinking the same thing.

Yeosang turns his head to look at the prince, not knowing he's actually very close to him. When their noses accidentally touch, both simultaneously turn away so quickly that they nearly get whiplash. Everyone notices the way the pairs cheeks display a rosy pink. Yeosang almost forgets what he is about to say, just one look from Wooyoung makes him flustered, even distracting him from the jaw-dropping thing that happened just now. Memories of the other day cloud his mind.

He regains his senses and looks at the book again, gulping nervously. "What do we do?" He asks, knowing they should go where the book is telling him, but he's too much of a coward to confess that he's afraid of what he'll find out.

"I know my way around the village quite well, I can lead the way there- if you want to go" Mingi says, careful with his suggestions because he's not yet sure if Yeosang really wants to do all of this.

Yeosang looks around at everyone, they're all looking at him patiently waiting. He knows all of them want him to give them the go signal. The reason why they're so invested in his life is something Yeosang will never understand. But he's starting to learn that it is something you do when you're friends with someone. You want to know more about them and in all honestly, he wouldn't mind finding out too.

"Okay, I think we should go" he lets out a shaky breath. All of this is suddenly happening so fast, Jongho rubs his back. "Are you sure hyung?" His close friends know too well that he has no interest in his family, so this abrupt change must be hard to process.

"Yeah. We can go now"

"Now? Are you sure you don't want to think about it more, or prepare?" Mingi asks, prepare what? He wouldn't be able to answer but it seemed like the appropriate thing to say.

Yeosang shakes his head, knowing that if he thinks about it more he'll chicken out. He wants to do this for his mother, find out why they were unmarked, who his father was and why he left her all alone, where he is now. He wants to know who else knows about what happened.

~

They all walk in pairs, through the forest to make their way to the village. Mingi leads the way with Yeosang next to him. At first, Yunho had walked with the taller but because San and Jongho were walking together he would be left with Wooyoung.

Mingi secretly wanted to be with Yunho but Yeosang needs him more so he doesn't actually mind. Yeosang is only comfortable with his two close friends and since Jongho is occupied, Mingi is more than happy to be with Yeosang.

The thing that shocks them all though, is Jongho and San walking together. At first, the younger walked towards Mingi but suddenly San approached him.

"Choi Jongho"

The younger looks at San in curiosity, not saying anything when he casually starts walking beside him. Everyone else glances at them for a second in confusion but go back to their own conversations, San and Jongho's acquaintance is too complex to think about right now.

"You..." San starts but trails off, not actually knowing what he was going to say. He wants to know why Jongho is suddenly being nice to him- or at least not picking fights anymore. The thing is, it sounds a bit pathetic to ask, Jongho most likely just wants to be friends since all their friends are civil towards each other now, it didn't make sense for just them two to be on bad terms.

Jongho looks at him, keeping eye contact. San thinks his eyes are a really pretty round shape. His eyes trail to his soft features, his nose, lips. Everything softer than his sharp features. He likes how-

"Hyung"

San snaps out of his daze, looking at Jongho who has a subtle smirk. "You're staring".

San just mouths 'oh' and quickly looks away. He didn't know he had been looking at him for that long. He still stands his ground and walks with him, refusing to be embarrassed.

Even though they walk in silence Jongho has a small smile the whole time. San doesn't know if he's mocking him or being genuine but he didn't think of it too much since he has a pretty smile.

Thoughts like this have clouded his mind recently and San isn't sure how he feels about it. Obviously, Jongho's attitude towards him has changed too which is maybe why San is suddenly confused about whether he hates or likes Jongho.

San isn't difficult to pursue, he catches feelings easily. Especially if that person is his type. Jongho fits the looks section of his type, the younger is definitely attractive. Though personality-wise, they've had a rough start. Still, Jongho is starting to be more civil towards San which makes him worry that he's going to start liking him.

As if the universe can hear San's internal battle and wanted to torment him even more, the worst thing that could happen, just happened.

Mingi had been chatting to Yunho about his interest in enchantment making and decided to demonstrate one of the spells he's working on. He was more focused on impressing the other and became nervous about not messing up. With a swift chant, a bright spark flew and hit the tree closest to San.

San yelps, not reacting fast enough as the huge branch above him snaps off and falls. He covers his head, waiting for the impact but nothing happens. Slowly looking up, he sees Jongho in front of him, having caught the massive branch and is now struggling to push it away.

Yunho rushes over to help the younger, the two of them managing to roll it away. They turn to San with concerned faces.

"Are you okay?" Jongho says with a frown. Yunho says something too but San is only looking at the younger.

Jongho has a small scratch on his forehead, he probably got hit by the branch there. San just nods, more concerned for him.

He's about to ask him if he's alright but Mingi and Yeosang get there before him.

"Are you ok? I'm so sorry!" Mingi grabs his face, inspecting it while Yeosang also looks at him in worry.

San watches as Mingi heals Jongho's cut with a spell, embracing him and apologising profusely, kissing where the wound was a second ago. Something in his heart stirs. His body is reacting strangely knowing that Jongho had saved him from being hurt, even getting hurt in the process. He knows it was probably a reflex, him catching something that was falling so someone doesn't get hurt, but something in San's brain likes to think he did it to keep him safe.

He doesn't even get to thank him as Yeosang is pulling him away, the pair now walking together. Wooyoung approaches San with a smirk. "That was hot wasn't it?"

"Shut up" San responds quietly and Wooyoung knows he agrees so he keeps quiet for now.

After walking for a few minutes they've soon enough arrived at the end of the forest, the village in clear sight.

"Wait" Wooyoung says, before they enter. "It would be a risk for us to all go searching the village with our marks wouldn't it?"

Everyone looks at each other, their trip is supposed to be quick and unnoticed. People would definitely talk and cause a scene if they saw all the possible marks (and non-marks) walking in a group.

"How about we all cover our faces?" Jongho suggests. It wasn't uncommon to hide your mark behind a scarf, to prevent being discriminated against by the shape of your mark.

Mingi shakes his head. "That would be even more suspicious, we'd look like a gang of criminals"

There aren't many options, it would be impossible for them to just go out like this without being unnoticed. Fortunately, there is one potential solution but that has major risks too.

"I could make us all have red marks- well, I can try. I'm not the best at the spell and it won't last very long" Wooyoung suggests. Only purples have the ability to change a mark's colour, the spell being too risky for everyone to be able to do.

San and Yunho glance at each other, it takes them a few moments to muster up the courage to agree with the plan. It's the only option they have now.

Wooyoung steps in front of them, also nervous about the spell. He lifts his hand towards San's face and whispers the practised enchantment, everyone else watching in amazement. After doing Yunho's and himself's too, they all look at each other.

It's extremely disorienting to look at, even for Yeosang. Such spells don't work on him so he has to just cover his face with a cloth tied as a mask.

Jongho looks at San, the artificial red marks glowing dimly. He smiles to himself, satisfied seeing that once stuck up blue San bearing red marks now. He figures this is just a glimpse of the end result once he tricks San to fall in love with him and gets him to permanently change his mark.

He's woken up from his thoughts when Yeosang calls him, everyone else has started walking already.

"You okay? Did you hit your head too hard" Yeosang pats his back.

"No, I'm okay" Jongho smiles innocently and gestures for them to start walking too.