cheolsoo/seventeen • keep it under wraps / Eng ver.

2. Dilemma

It is getting dark throughout the entire dorm. All of the students remain in their rooms and the most of them have already slept. Joshua, along with other team members, keep an eye on the hallway as the watcher on duty.

A group of students arrives at 1 a.m. to take a shift. While others say good night and depart, Joshua turns his head and walks in a different direction. Nobody notices, which is both fortunate and convenient for him.

Joshua walks step by step, bringing out his wand and charms on the wall to his left. As he touches the bricks, they soften and seem like cotton. Joshua puts his foot within the wall and goes into it after making sure no one is nearby. He quickly vanishes, and the wall immediately returns to normal.

A massive new hallway appears in front of his sight. Snow is falling from above, yet there is no roof visible; all that can be seen is dense, thundering smoke. Dust has coated everything. There are no other colors save black and white. As his footsteps echo down the dark hall, the temperature drops quickly. At the far end, there are two doors that have the same color, material, and design. Hanging from the doors are the "left" and "right" signs. Joshua, without a doubt, moves to the left.

The door took him into a room that seemed somewhat similar to a library.

Joshua spots a group of students seated near the fireplace. They were very quiet before he arrived. MingHao is the first to notice Joshua approaching and instantly stands up to greet him. When he looks at Joshua, the boy's eyes show a hint of desperation.

As the president of this secret club, Joshua learns to read their eyes and facial expressions before taking on any responsibility. The benefit he gains from it now is seeing that not only MingHao, but everyone in this room, seems depressed.

"This isn't good," he thinks.

However, Joshua tries to control his tone of voice and asks:

"Did something happen while I was on my shift?"

Jeong Han comes forward and speaks for everyone, both hands in his jeans pocket:

"Soo Ah has just left."

"Really? What exactly did she say?"

Nothing positive. I suppose.

Jeong Han lets out a sigh.

"She's leaving. Drop out of school and move to another realm with her family."

Joshua is almost certain that this is a joke. He definitely wants to. Nevertheless, he can see that this is not a falsehood by looking at everyone's face. He is the only one who is taken aback because everyone else in the room has already been through it. He was late for his farewell to Soo Ah.

"Where can they go? I mean, there isn't much room for them in the world, especially for a foreign bloodline. Only Soo Ah is capable of using magic in her family."

"We tried to convince her, but she was so certain," Ji Hoon adds.

Joshua sighs and looks around the room, realizing that some people were not showing up for their meeting today. Jeong Han addresses Joshua immediately, knowing what he is thinking:

"They said they wanted to quit."

Joshua feels disturbed by how people abandon everything to flee and find a place to hide. What frustrates him the most is when their secret society begins to fall apart and people leave due to their dread of The Duke. Every week, they used to gather in this secret room to practice or discuss new magic spells. Their connection was solid. Guess it's not as strong as he pictured. At this point, he has to face reality.