Willow’s own eyes went wide when she saw the quest menu. To her mind, it could only mean one thing.

  “Sunbae?” she asked. “Where’s Seunghyo?”

  Jinyoung barely heard it. A low rumble.

  No, a growl.

  Is that a wolf? He thought.

  A shape bounded out of the control room and slammed its full weight into him. Jinyoung didn’t even have enough time to get his hands up to defend himself before they slammed into the ground, tumbling.

  Whatever it was, it was strong and fast. Hands grabbed at his face as they rolled, but Jinyoung did his best to defend himself. Whatever it was, it was wild and moved like an animal.

  They slid to a stop and Jinyoung had the vaguest sense of the attacker, but it rolled on top of him. Then he had no time for anything but preventing hands from finding their way around his throat.

  “Seunghyo!” Hana screamed.

  Yeah, where the hell has he been? Jinyoung wondered. I could use his help right away now.

  Instinctively, Jinyoung went for his sword and found thin air. Right, he thought. His sword, or the shattered remains of it, were on the ground somewhere. The spear was long since gone leaving him completely unarmed.

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  Then again, maybe not completely unarmed.

  He kicked repeatedly until one of his strikes found home, probably its stomach. For a split second, Jinyoung found an opening and used it to slam a fist into his attacker’s face. Then, another.

  He might not have been a monk or a hand-to-hand class, but Youngho made sure the children under his care knew how to throw a punch. Jinyoung tightened his fist just like he had been taught as a child and straightened out his wrist.

  Tight fist and follow through, he told himself.

  He drew his fist back and hit his attacker over and over again, but whatever it was, it held on for dear life. Hands reached and grabbed at his face, but Jinyoung pushed them away and dealt blow after blow.

  Finally, when his shoulder was sore and he didn’t think he had any more left in him, he felt the weight of his assailant shift off him. Hands reached out at him, but his rescuer pulled them away before summarily throwing them across the room.

  Jinyoung reached out a hand for help. “You took your damned time Seunghyo.”

  Two hands took hold of his and pulled him to his feet, but it wasn’t Seunghyo. It was Willow.

  “I thought Hana said Seunghyo-”

  He didn’t finish.

  At first, he thought that Youngho had regained consciousness. But he saw the old man lying still on the ground, breathing slowly with Hana by his side. The armored stranger was standing at the ready, spear in hand. Even from a distance, he could see her expression was hard set. He’d seen that same look on Hana and Willow’s faces when they fought in battle. And he was sure they’d seen it on his as well.

  She lifted her spear and pointed it directly at her opponent.

  Seunghyo’s mouth barely mouthed, but the low growl that escaped his lips was easy to recognize. And the aggression behind it.