The tune for a storm | Minsung

Jisung was upside-down in a tree.

Below him, a cursed hound the size of a carriage prowled, claws leaving deep gouges in the earth. Its teeth glowed an awful sickly green-and it did not look happy.

Somewhere to his left, Changbin was shouting about "sticking to the plan," and to his right, Felix looking a bit worried at Jisung.

The plan, Jisung reminded himself grimly, had been simple:

Distract the hound, bind its legs with spell-thread, and call it a day.
A textbook capture.

Except the spell-thread had snapped the second it touched the creature's fur-some kind of magic immunity, probably-and now they were improvising. Poorly.

"Don't look at me!" Jisung yelled, adjusting his knees around the branch. "You two said, 'quick job, easy coin.' This
feels like entrapment."

The hound lunged at the tree trunk, snarling.

Jisung dropped like a stone.
Mid-fall, he twisted, let his palm slap hard against the beast's forehead-and shoved a burst of raw pixie magic through its skull.

It wasn't clean. It wasn't elegant. But it worked.

The creature collapsed with a thunderous crash, twitching violently, then fell still.

Jisung landed with a grunt, brushing off the dirt from his pants. Felix clapped like he'd just watched the best theater performance of his life. Changbin, stared at Jisung like he was seconds away from strangling him.

"...You did that on purpose, right?" Changbin demanded.

Jisung flashed a crooked grin. "Define purpose. And plus the spell thread snapped. What would i have don-"

Before either could escalate it, a mechanical crow fluttered down from the clouds, clanking as it landed on a nearby stone.

It dropped a scroll, black ribbon tied tight, the Fresh Start Guild's seal glowing faintly against the wax.
Jisung groaned, already feeling the headache brewing behind his eyes.

"We just clocked out."

He tore open the scroll and scanned it.
Midway through reading the scroll his breath hitched.

Assignment Reallocation: Han Jisung.

Partner Assigned: Lee Minho.

The world around him stayed noisy-Felix teasing Changbin, the rustle of the wounded hound breathing faintly-but Jisung barely heard it.

Lee Minho.

He'd only seen Minho once before-tall, pale, and sharp-edged like something carved out of winter itself. A demon. Ruthless. Unshakable.
Even thinking about him now sent a weird shiver down Jisung's spine.

Not hatred. Not yet.
Just pure, solid fear.

Jisung stuffed the scroll into his jacket and muttered under his breath.

"Just my luck."

___________________________________________

Chagbin left as he has located fellow werebeasts.

The walk back to town should've been easy.

But somewhere between the broken field and the first line of trees, Jisung's brain turned against him.
He clutched the scroll tighter in his jacket pocket, words flashing over and over behind his eyes:

Assignment Reallocation. Partner: Lee Minho.

Minho, who didn't blink when slicing through enemies. Minho, whose magic was strong enough to warp the ground.

"I can't do this," Jisung muttered, stumbling a little on a root.

Felix walked beside him, still half-laughing about the cursed hound incident. He only noticed when Jisung nearly tripped a second time.

"Hey. You good?" Felix asked, poking him lightly in the side.

"No, I'm not good!" Jisung snapped, voice higher than he meant. "I'm gonna die, Lix. I'm going to mess up the mission with Minho. I'm gonna breathe wrong, and he's gonna kill me just for being annoying." He waved his arms wildly, spinning in a frustrated circle. "What do I even say?! 'Hi, I'm the screw-up the Guild stuck you with, please don't vaporize me'? 'Nice weather for a murder'?"

Felix hovered closer, hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay, breathe."

"I am breathing-too much! Not enough! I'm gonna hyperventilate."

Felix caught him by the shoulders, steadying him. His hands were warm, grounding.

"Jisung."

A beat.

"You're gonna be fine."

Jisung stared at him, wide-eyed and shaking. His heart felt too big for his chest.

Felix smiled gently. "Seriously. You're smarter than you think. And tougher. Minho's not gonna kill you."

"Probably," he added after a second's pause.

Jisung let out a strangled laugh, scrubbing at his face. "Very comforting, Lix."

"You'll win him over," Felix said firmly. "You always do. With everyone."
The words lodged somewhere deep in Jisung's chest-unexpected and heavy and a little painful.

They reached the edge of town as the sun slipped lower, throwing long shadows over the cobbled streets. The familiar noise of the market stalls and passing carts pressed in around them.
Felix gave him a final shove toward the "Sunlight" street. "Go sleep. Big day tomorrow."

Jisung didn't argue. He was too tired to.
As he walked down the street, the scroll crinkled in his pocket, a sharp
reminder.

Minho.

Tomorrow.

Mission.

He wasn't ready.

801 words