★★★★★ ━━ ❪ @CH_FIFTEEN ❫

at the park...

MOTAK, JUNWON, and MUN were at the park once again.

the two teenagers were seated on the bench and the older counter was behind them.

" there are six counters in the country "

MOTAK began, firmly holding a big stick in his hands.

" you, MRS. CHU, HANA-noona, JUNWONIE, and me. "

MUN says all the counters' names to count, quickly realizing he didn't know about the sixth one.

" and CHOI JANGMUL-ahjussi, he takes care of all of our expenses "

JUNWON adds, knowing what he was thinking about.

" i see...are there counters in other countries as well? "

MUN asks the more experienced counters beside and behind him, MOTAK lightly hits him with the stick in his hand.

" evil spirits are everywhere "

" oh, right "

" our physical abilities are three times as strong as ordinary people's, but it can vary depending on how hard you train, so- "

" i must train hard! "

JUNWON shakes her head at MUN's enthusiastic interferance, smiling at his cuteness.

" there are times when our abilities are increased fivefold "

MOTAK points the stick to the girl, indicating that it's her turn to explain.

" which is when the territory shifts! "

JUNWON swiftly continues for the older counter after picking up his signal.

" territory? "

MUN curiously asks his classmate, who was now standing up.

" when the energies of the divine and human realms merge, waves are created "

JUNWON explains, using her arms to express and demonstrate the waves.

" only we can see our territory. yung's territory. you've seen the waves too! "

at that, MUN lets out a sound of confusion.

" yesterday at the gym, you silly goose "

MOTAK nudges the teenage boy beside him.

" oh! yes! i saw it, like the northern lights! "

MUN recalls, rising up from the bench and walking closer to the girl.

" mhm! that's a territory shift "

" ah...when does that happen? can you make it happen? it'll help us capture evil spirits! "

the boy eagerly says, approaching the short-haired girl at every word he spoke.

" we, unfortunately, can't control it "

" like a sudden rain shower, we never know when or where it'll happen. it happens randomly and disappears "

MOTAK goes in circles around the two high schoolers, randomly waving around the stick in his hand.

" usually, it last a few seconds, but it can last over an hour if you're lucky! "

JUNWON added, receiving a nod from both the older counter and her classmate.

" can evil spirits see it too? "

MUN asks the two counters.

" no, they can't. it's our territory "

MOTAK responds with full confidence, making the eager boy nod at his answer.

" here's something more important. if an evil spirit enters the territory during one of those energy shifts, we can sense it right away! "

" wah...so i can sense evil spirits too? "

" all counters can, up to a few kilometers "

" butttt! when it comes to catching them, that's usually HANA-unnie's job and specialty! she can spot every evil spirit within a radius of a few hundred kilometers! "

JUNWON boasts about the older girl, her comments coming from her heart.

" can you get better with training? "

MOTAK shakes his head at the boy's question.

" we don't even know how to train for it "

" aish... "

" HANA-unnie is very good at it! "

" and she's also very good at reading memories. we can only read a small portion of others' memories, but she can scan years' worth of memories in just a few seconds! "

MOTAK tells the boy, using his stick to express how much memories the other counter could read, gliding it across the teenager's chest.

" she's an extremely sensitive one. that's why she always looks so serious and emotionless. or well, at least that's why i think it is? "

JUNWON says, her tone being a mix of teasing and unsure.

" so HANA-noona is good at catching evil spirits, MRS. CHU can heal others, you are...freakishly strong "

MUN talks out loud, writing on his notebook and making a mental note.

" and JUNWON is...flash? "

the said girl lets out a laugh but still nods, while the oldest counter just shakes his head with a smile.

" what about me? "

" why don't you find out? "

MOTAK steps down from the cement block, just to move to the other one next to it.

" evil spirits are everywhere, but there are a lot of them in jungjin. that's why we're here "

" why in jungjin? "

MUN asks out of curiosity.

" we don't know either MUN, maybe this city is just full of bad guys "

JUNWON puts her elbow on top of the boy's shoulder, leaning her body weight on him.

MUN looks at the girl beside him, the sun shined on her face, making her skin glow and her brown eyes more visible.

" she looks so...beautiful... "

eonni's noodle shop...

all of the counters were gathered at the noodle shop once again.

MOTAK was explaining the different levels of evil spirits to MUN, while HANA and JUNWON occasionally involved themselves in the conversation.

MRS. CHU soon appeared from the curtains, carrying a red folder with her.

" only when we have our territory "

" we might be able to do it if MUN reaches CHEOLJUNG-hyung's level "

" no. not without our territory. i cannot lose another teammate "

MRS. CHU's words caused the room to become quiet.

although MUN didn't know the late counter, but he know that the man's death had impacted all of them a lot, especially JUNWON.

" here MUN. he killed CHEOLJUNG "

the elder woman hands him a paper with a drawing of CHEOLJUNG's murderer.

" this is... "

MUN starts, letting out a snort, causing the counters look at each other in confusion.

" is this a composite sketch? "

" yes...? "

" you think...you can catch him with this? "

he turns the paper to show the drawing to the counters, laughing at how badly drawn it was.

" you're laughing? "

MOTAK asks, glaring at the boy, who quickly stops laughing and denies it.

" can i see a different one? "

MRS. CHU throws the folder onto his side of the table.

as MUN flipped through the pages of the folder, his laughter starts growing and growing.

MOTAK sarcastically laughs with him, when the boy notices it, he soon stopped.

" why? is there something wrong with the drawings? they work pretty well in my opinion "

JUNWON questions her classmate, who instead of responding, takes out his art supplies from his bag.

" he's looking down on us, right? "

" he sure doesn't respect us "

" hey, what's the problem? "

" do you know how many spirits we caught using these? "

" they might look a little weird, but they work you know?! "

" JUNWON, don't say it's weird! "

" but it is MRS. CHU! "

all the counters comment, taking a seat on the table MUN was at.

" his face is on the narrow side, right? "

MUN starts sketching, the counters all looked interested in what he was doing.

" well, the chin too. it's more... "

" pan chin? "

" square JUNWON! not pan! "

" he has an oval face, but it looks quite sharp "

" and he has a huge nose "

" his nose wasn't huge "

" fine...he has a high nose bridge "

" the eyes. his eyes are slanted- yes, that's it! "

" he looks like a wolf "

" a big bad wolf that is "

" a what- "

" make the eyebrows thicker "

" he's bald, but he was wearing a hoodie "

" guess he didn't want to show how shiny his bald head was "

" JUNWON! "

" ouch- i'm sorry, i'm just being honest! "

after drawing all the features the counters had gave him and adding a few finishing touches, MUN's sketch was now done.

the drawing was so accurate, JUNWON would've thought it was a portrait of a random person on the streets if she didn't know who it was.

they ━━ specifically, MRS. CHU, MOTAK, and JUNWON ━━ all sighed while looking at the drawing of the man that killed their beloved teammate.

JUNWON hadn't realized how close she was to MUN, so the boy could feel the air from her sigh tickle his right ear.

MUN slowly turned his head to look at the girl, who was still focused on the drawing of the evil spirit.

if his cheeks and ears weren't already red before, they definitely are now.

JUNWON finally noticed the close distance between her and the flustered boy, and moved away from him to not show how flustered she got too.

the two teenagers' hearts were rapidly beating against their chest, both of them taking deep breathes to calm down.

their interaction almost went unnoticed to the counters, but of course, the oh-so-observant, DO HANA just had to notice it.

MRS. CHU tapes the drawing on the wall near the water dispenser, while the other counters look at it with fierce eyes. ( except for MUN, he's too cute to have fierce eyes- )

" we must catch him. let's catch him, so CHEOLJUNG can rest in peace "

JUNWON's heart clenched at MOTAK's words, even though she thought she was getting over it, the scene of him getting stabbed instead of her replayed in her mind.

she glared at the drawing on the wall, her eyes full of anger and resentment, planting the evil spirit's face in her mind.

" i'll catch you, you evil bastard...you'll pay for what you did to him and my teammates... "

" shall we take a photo together? "

MRS. CHU asks the counters, snapping JUNWON out of her trance.

they all nod and give her a smile, then the leader went to get her camera.

when she returned, she gave MUN a background story about her photography studio and how she was able to raise money for SUHO.

JUNWON smiled at the elder woman, the teenager respected how hard she worked to provide for herself and her son.

" here we go...okay, ten seconds "

MRS. CHU informed the counters, quickly positioning herself beside HANA.

JUNWON was in between HANA and MUN, trying to figure out what pose she should do for the picture.

MUN, who noticed her struggle, let out a quiet chuckle, finding her confused pout adorable.

" we won't lose anyone in this photo, i promise you that "

" i promise you that too MRS. CHU, i'll do everything i can to protect everyone in this picture, even if it means sacrificing myself. "

" what the heck? why isn't this- "

" MRS. CHU- i think it's just- "

click!

" okay, let's try that again "

click!

" one more time "

click!

click!

" let's pretend we're besties "

JUNWON instinctively turned her attention to MUN, who was already looking at her.

the teenage boy's eyes slightly widened, his cheeks turning into a light shade of pink when he got caught staring at the girl.

she lets out a small chuckle, causing the curly-haired boy to let out one of his own.

they were too focused on staring at each other to notice that their arms were linked together and that the camera had captured their cute little moment together.

from JAE.

sorry for the late update, this week was the busiest week i had so i didn't have time to work on this TT i might do a double update today or tomorrow as a return for your patience<3 tysm for 15.7K reads! ♡

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