Refresh (Stray Kids Hwang Hyunjin)

Thirty-seven

At about the same time the next day, Alex sat on the river back with her feet in the water. The water was a lot cooler that day but then again the sun was much hotter. Alex almost dove right into the water again but decided against it.

"Back again I see," Seungmin spoke, scaring Alex all over again.

"I said you shouldn't do that!" She complained.

"I'm sorry I just had to," he laughed at her. "How did things go down with Jinyoung?"

"At first, not well. Later on Jackson and Amber helped me out... Jackson and Amber are other witches but they aren't from here."

"Yeah, I know Jackson. Not so much Amber though."

"Apparently she was the one who made us go back in time. Anyway, they said that he should stay out of my business and let me find 'him' myself. I have no idea who 'him' is."

"My guess is that he is on the royal family. I just have a feeling. I know it's not me but I don't know who it is. I almost brought one of my friends, Hyunjin, with me today but he was busy. While the King is in a coma, he has to take his place. You probably recognise the name."

Alex nodded, not thinking too much about how Hyunjin was the name that she could never figure out.

"So what do you even do in the palace?"

"We mainly practice all day but right now we are still picking ourselves up from the change in time so I'm not that busy as of now. Good thing King Naymoor isn't around anymore right?"

Alex's smile dropped.

"I mean not exactly... He's still on the loose. Just that he isn't taking any action as of now."

"What? How do you know this?"

"I am currently living in the same place as three witches. How could I not know that?"

"Well... You need to tell Hyunjin about it then. He needs to know."

"I... I couldn't. It's not my place to speak."

"Alright then. The witches need to tell him. We're on your side after all."

"Look, I'm not sure about this."

"Where do you guys stay? We need to find them."

Seungmin was now putting his socks and shoes back on. Alex kept her legs in the water as she worried about Jinyoung.

"Jinyoung's already not that impressed with me. I can't drag him into this. He would kill him he finds out I did as much as tell someone about it. Let alone a prince!"

"I won't show my face. I'll wait outside while you tell him."

"Seungmin, I can't-"

"Before we went back in time, the whole royal family was locked up. Everything you see over here was gone. The trees were burnt down, the grass was grey or not even there at all. The river was drained out. The sky was grey and you couldn't even see the sun. Jinyoung and Hyunjin were stoned to the brink of death every other Saturday and Wonderland faced an eternal winter. That was when King Naymoor was incharge. Do you want it to happen again?"

Alex groaned.

"Fine. But Jinyoung's not going to be happy."

***

"No," the witch said simply.

"Come on, they need to know," Alex argued.

"No. We can sort this out on our own."

"Three witches verses a Spirit? You're kidding yourselves!"

"Humans verses a Spirit? You're hilarious! Listen, you're an Earthling. You don't know what we're messing with."

"I know that the more people, the easier it is to win."

"She's not wrong," Amber shrugged.

"Humans won't be able to hurt a Spirit. They'd all just end up dying," Jackson commented.

"We have witches in the palace," Seungmin told them as he entered the hut. Alex cursed under her breath.

"You told him?" Jinyoung didn't look the slightest bit impressed.

"I forced it out of her. She had no other choice," the Prince lied.

"How many witches does the palace have?" Amber asked.

"You're not considering it, are you?" Jackson furrowed his eyebrows at her.

"I come from a place full of Spirits. Don't question me."

"About twenty, if not more," Seungmin revealed.

"Perfect. Tell the royal family we'll meet with them soon. For supper, possibly?" Amber discussed.

"I'll let the cooks know," the Eighth Prince smiled.

"Are you serious about this?" Jackson asked Amber.

"Come on guys, trust me on this. I know what I'm doing. We need all the help we can get."

With that, Seungmin ran back to the palace to tell them about the news.

Jinyoung rested his head in his hands and sighed.

Jackson turned to Amber.

"I appreciate the fact that you really want to help but I think you forgot one thing: Hyunjin is part of the royal family."

Amber shrugged again.

"The sooner we get those two together. The sooner we get to live our lives normally again."