Merlin kept himself busy as he waited, hopefully and impatiently, for Guildmaster Hyeonki’s call. Thankfully, he was able to occupy himself with two other things, pulling his mind away from reminiscing on what had occurred in the Consortium Guild and the absurdity of it all.

  One was taking care of Blue and practicing-ssh-leveling his Intelligence with the mischievous little dragon. While the second was his private investigations on what exactly the drug which had messed up Nikoi’s mind was, and how he could get it off the streets.

  He was currently on that front.

  “I’m going to be honest with you, kid,” said Sunny from the other side of Merlin’s phone. “You should stop.”

  “Do you think if I stake out the club at night, I’ll be able to see something?” asked Merlin as his fingers drummed quickly on the keyboard of his ptop. He was searching through the net trying to dig up any news on Mages—or, more likely, Enkindled—losing their minds like Nikoi had. It was something he had begun to do for a couple of weeks now, and was yet to find any success. But failure had never stopped him before; now wouldn’t be any different.

  Sunny sighed audibly. “You’re not listening to me, are you?”

  “I think I’ll try staking out,” said Merlin. “The net’s pretty useless. At least my VPN’s working; they haven’t traced me yet, so that’s saying something.”

  “Or they just don’t care about a kid that’s way in over his head,” criticized Sunny. “I’m tired of spending my nights warning you to stop endangering yourself. I’m going to ignore your calls now.”

  Merlin clicked his tongue.

  Besides Sunny, he had told no one of what he was doing. Nora would eat him alive for even thinking about it, and the headmaster would obviously not want him sticking his nose in what was supposedly ‘adult’s business’.

  Professor Jung was even out of the question.

  Just before the end of his first term at Prestige Academy, Merlin had noticed that Professor Jung not arriving in time to handle Nikoi herself had been eating into her. There was no way she would let another student of hers endanger himself.

  He also didn’t want to involve Chima and Hakyun. He couldn’t bring himself to, not after considering just how dangerous it could be.

  As for Janeth, things had become awkward between them ever since their date. Whenever they were around each other, their conversations would be composed of mere pleasantries and silence and throat-clearing. They barely said anything to each other—well, Janeth barely said anything; it wasn’t like Merlin had ever been talkative.

  Regardless, he hoped that the whole charade would stop soon. Janeth’s distance from him wasn’t making him like her any less; it was just making him even more frustrated, and he already had enough frustrating situations on his pte.

  All in all, Sunny was the only person Merlin could share his thoughts with. He was rational, smart, and had, well, connections—whoever those were.

  However, that rationality of Sunny’s was biting Merlin in the ass now.

  “Come on, Sunny,” Merlin groaned. “I told you what happened. If you had seen it, you wouldn’t be telling me to stop.”

  Sunny scoffed. “I’m pretty sure I would,” he said. “Look, Merlin, I like you. And I understand you as well. Your friend, technically, became an addict, went beast mode, and almost killed your friends; you saw the ugly side of the world of Mages. I get you, truly. And that is why I haven’t told your sister about what you’re getting yourself involved in. But, let me be honest with you, this is illogical of you. Your whole viginte-esque sense of justice, I mean. If even your headmaster couldn’t get any information on them, apparently, how exactly do you expect to?”

  Merlin clenched his jaw. “I’ll think of a way.”

  “You’ll get yourself killed, you idiot,” Sunny retorted. “You should stop now. That’s why I’ve been engaging your calls, to set you on the right path. But if you insist on going off the rails, I’m gonna let you be. Not like you’re my kid anyway.”

  Sunny was right. He had no obligations to engage him, Merlin realized that. But he couldn’t stop. Whenever he closed his eyes, he kept having the same dream over and over again of Nikoi rampaging. And because of that, he couldn’t help but think…

  “If I stop, then who’s going to help the other possible victims?” Merlin asked. “Stop them from doing what they’ll regret?” Sunny remained silent. “The headmaster hasn’t even said anything about Nikoi, and it's been months. It’s like he just disappeared from the trace of the Earth. I’m worried, Sunny, and I can’t just sit around and go on with my life like nothing happened. What if someone close to me is next? Huh? I’m not sure I’d be able to live with myself.”

  “Get on with your life, Merlin,” Sunny said. “Focus on your studies, train, and become the Mage you always wanted to be. You’re on that path now. I know how much you wanted this. Don’t ruin it.”

  Merlin shifted away from his desk, leaning backwards into his chair as he stared up at his ceiling.

  “Do you know the reason I want so badly to become a Mage?” he started. “It’s because I want to be able to protect people, to help those in need. And you’re telling me to stop?”

  “And will you be able to protect anyone if you get yourself killed?” Sunny asked. “From all you’ve told me, these people are dangerous.”

  “I know.”

  “Do you?” Sunny cut in. “Because if you did, you would have closed that ptop of yours a long time ago.”

  “I do. I just think I have more to lose than gain by turning a blind eye,” Merlin argued, his heart pounding intensely now. He was getting a bit too frustrated at himself—at everything. “It’s fine if you don’t want to help me, I’ll do it myself. And you can tell Nora, if you want. It’s not like she can stop me anyway.”

  “Darn stubborn brat,” Sunny clicked his tongue. “What exactly is your pn, anyway? Let me hear it.”

  Merlin debated the point of saying anything more, but decided to engage regardless. After all, it would eat him from inside out if he had no one to talk to.

  He sat upright.

  “The whole reason why no action has been taken against the club is due to the ck of evidence, right?” Merlin began. “Well, it’s simple really. I’ll find the evidence that’s needed, and then the Consortium can finally take action.”

  “You think I didn’t know that?” Sunny sounded disappointed. “My question was for how exactly you intended to find the evidence that even Police-Mages couldn’t?”

  A bitter taste ced Merlin’s tongue.

  “That’s why I asked you if staking the club will produce a good result,” he said sheepishly.

  “So you don’t have a viable pn?” Sunny hammered the nail in.

  “I do.”

  “And that is?”

  “The club itself,” Merlin expined. “If I can get in, I’ll be able to find something out.”

  “How?”

  Merlin hesitated to say this, but he forced it out. “I’m a Deficient Mage,” he said. “I’m thinking about acting like I’m there to buy one, just like Nikoi did. Of course, I’m not pnning on using it. I’m simply going to catch them in a trap.

  Sunny was silent for a few seconds.

  “What the hell are you thinking?” he roared, Merlin flinched. “Who do you think you are, Batman? What’s going to happen when your pn fails? Punch your way out of the club?”

  “I’ll be fine,” argued Merlin. “I understand your point of view, I really do, but I cannot just go on with my life, Sunny. I need to do something. I need to make sure none of those I love get hurt in the future. Can’t you see things from my lenses?”

  Sunny sighed deeply. “You know what? Fine.”

  “Fine?” Merlin cocked his head, an incredulous look on his face.

  “Yeah,” Sunny continued. “I can see now that there’s nothing I can say to talk you out of this madness. But there’s no way I’m going to let you walk straight to your death.”

  Merlin blinked, unsure where the conversation was headed.

  “What are you talking about?” he asked.

  “I’ll get the evidence for you,” Sunny said. “In return, I want you to stay the hell away from that club. Do you understand me?”

  Merlin drew a sharp breath. Sunny was not a Mage, or ever really cared for the world of magic. How would he go about getting the evidence? And, worse, what if he got in trouble? There was no way he would be able to fend for himself as a normal human.

  A lot of questions sprung up in Merlin’s mind, each one crashing against the walls of his skull, sending his head into disarray. But one stood out amongst the multitude…

  “How?” he asked.

  “I have my ways,” said Sunny. “I’ll keep in touch with you and tell you all about what I find. What I want you to do is return to the Academy next week as your csses resume, and stay in the Academy. If you sneak out, I’ll have nothing to do with you anymore. Again, do you understand me?”

  Merlin swallowed dryly. He wanted to argue, ask that he be involved more than through just a few phone calls. But when Sunny said things like that to him, he couldn’t help but feel lightheaded. Sunny was dependable and could take care of himself, surely. Merlin nodded. Maybe he could really transfer some of the load he was bearing on his shoulders to someone else and focus on something else.

  Merlin turned slightly to his side where Blue was lying on a small pillow pouch Merlin had made for the dragon as his bed.

  “All right,” he said. “But if you’re ever in trouble, don’t hesitate to run.”

  Sunny snorted. “Who’s the adult here?”

  “I turn eighteen soon, so, technically, I’m one foot into adulthood,” Merlin answered with a roll of his eyes.

  Sunny chuckled. “Enjoy your youth, Merlin. Don’t be burdened by responsibilities that aren’t yours to bear. You’re a kid. Act like one.”

  Merlin closed his eyes and sighed. “I understand.”