Hyeon sighed in relief when they left the Master’s office. The whole situation was so intense, difficult to wrap his head around it.

Peering out the windows again, the storm had significantly settled, passing them. 

Nammi fidgeted, wanting to be let down. He placed her on the ground. She speedily hobbled away to go around the corner, going wherever she thought was more important than staying with him.

“Hey, you...!” Hyeon lurched forward to catch her, but Haruma placed a hand on his chest to hold him back.

“She knows where to go.”

His cat disappeared… somewhere. What about the wild servants? Would they be a risk to her safety? Although some employees found her creepy already, he couldn’t say everyone felt the same.

“How do you know that?”

Haruma shrugged and said, “It’s obvious.”

What’s so obvious? Everyone speaks in riddles.

Hyeon felt a tickle slide down his chin. He removed a white glove and wiped it with the back of his hand. There was a smear of blood. Fenrir’s fangs had scraped deeper than he thought. 

“You can borrow this.” Haruma held out a handkerchief he had used as a pocket square. A little red fox was embroidered on the corner. He didn’t seem like the type to carry a towel with a cute design like this.

Hyeon mumbled his thanks and pressed the cloth over the cut. His new trainer then eyed him with a disapproving demeanor.

“Follow me,” he directed. Haruma walked to a small door at the end of the hall. “For now, always follow me unless I say otherwise.”

“Y-yes.”

The brown door was slightly shorter than Hyeon’s height. It was much plainer than Fenrir’s intricate doors. Haruma turned the round handle and outwardly opened it. Inside was a simple walk-in broom closet with cleaning supplies, including an antique bagged vacuum, a mop, rags, and chemicals.

“Go in.” Haruma snapped his fingers. SNAP. A fire ignited in the hanging bowl-like torch above. What the—? Am I able to do that, too?

“You… want me to go in there?”

The fox soul nodded yes and continued to hold the door open. Hesitantly, Hyeon leaned to avoid hitting his forehead against the frame. There wasn’t a lot of space for one person. It was a storage room, after all. As he studied the back wall—SLAM—the door shut loudly behind him. Haruma was in there with him. It was awfully tight in there!

“Strip,” Haruma ordered.

“Excuse me?”

Haruma probably thought he wasn’t the brightest wafer in the box because he always asked to repeat the instructions. But instead of huffing at Hyeon’s constant confusion, he pointed to himself and dramatically pretended to take it off! 

This… was painful to watch. If someone saw this from the outside, they’d easily misunderstand, thinking he was doing a weird teasing dance.

“Okay, okay! I understand.” He removed the jacket and placed it on the shelf. One layer at a time, it was all off. The situation made his ears redden with Haruma watching. When he undid the pants’ belt, the questionable peeping tom stopped him.

“Only the top. Bottoms are fine,” Haruma said, not flustered by his underling’s bare chest. He picked up the white-winged collar shirt and passed it to Hyeon. “This first.”

Without a word, he did as he was told. In order, clothes continued to be given to him—tie, light gray vest, black morning coat, dark-red pocket square made of silk, and white gloves. 

When finished, Haruma examined the effort. He stepped forward and fixed the little things such as the collar’s wings, button replacement, explaining how the white shirt should peek out from under the coat’s sleeve cuffs, and most importantly, how to tie a tie. The last step took a while since Hyeon’s adoptive father never showed him how to do it.

Nodding in approval, they left the storage closet. Hyeon looked around if anyone saw them coming out together. Someone would definitely misinterpret the scene, seeing two guys step out from a private room. Thankfully, no one was there.

Before shutting the door, Haruma snapped his fingers again to extinguish the flames. 

“How do you do that?”

“First, while we are on the clock, address me as sir. The other spirits would think it’s okay to be informal with me, too.”

“Sorry… sir.”

“Second, you can learn how to do it.”

Oh?

SNAP, SNAP. Hyeon tried to copy a few times. Nothing happened.

Haruma didn’t smile, but his amused eyes read, What a fool.

“Mr. Falken, what are you trying to light up?”

He stopped and realized nothing was nearby to set ablaze… except the castle. Que the inner crying. 

How much more embarrassment can I handle?