It was early morning when Yun Seo's Veil's cold presence woke up Jiwook.

Jiwook sat bolt upright in his bed, to the sight of Yun Seo at the foot of his bed.

"I apologize for waking you," Yun Seo said. "But there is something we must discuss."

Jiwook was not in the mood. He got to bed late - even after Namil had cried himself to sleep, the leader of 1SH0T just...could not rest. He fell asleep at 3am, and it was currently 4:34 if his phone clock was to be believed. "Can we...can we not do this tonight? I'm really...really not equipped to help right now."

Yun Seo frowned, seemingly perplexed at how odd it was to just...be in someone's apartment. The veil was visibly around him - a dim haze - though less prevalent than normal. "Is this about what happened at the building? I won't involve you directly if that is an issue..."

"No...no that was fine. Give me more of a plan next time, but....that was fine..." Jiwook rubbed his eyes tiredly. "What...what do you need?"

Yun Seo did something Jiwook didn't expect and sat on the bed. "What happened?" he asked.

The idol looked up, maybe it was the exhaustion, but his soft eyes brimmed with tears, and he just started...crying. The Listener watched him with wide eyes, the alarm growing with every passing second.

"I...I...I left h-him...alone...f-for a s-second...with him..." he sputtered through sobs, unsure why he was confiding in this man he barely knew. "I...I...I let...I let him...he hit him..."

Yun Seo's eyes went wide - apparently, supernatural beings could experience abject horror. "Who was hurt?"

"N-Namil..." Jiwook cried even more. "T-The choreographer...h...he...he just..."

Yun Seo did something unexpected by Jiwook, and pulled him into a hug. Jiwook lost himself in his tears, crying into the Listener's chest. He hadn't let himself be vulnerable in front of his bandmates, less they worry more about him than about Namil and his black eye.

The Listener spoke softly, and Jiwook could hear his voice resonate differently in his chest. It was...comforting. "You did nothing wrong. I know Namil would tell you the same. Seojin would tell you the same."

Jiwook sniffled, wiping his eyes. He had evidently soaked through Yun Seo's shirt with his tears. "I...I should have known he would do something bad to Namil, though."

"We never expect the people we know to be monsters. Even if they show us some of it, the breadth of their capabilities is unknown until it reveals itself." Yun Seo stood up and began straightening up the covers. "I am going to use my Veil to give you all a more restful sleep. I was going to ask if I could feed, but I will just take care of it at my parents' house."

Jiwook blinked at the mention of parents but chose not to bring it up. "D-Don't you need to talk about something?"

"No. You need this. You all need this. Do you have a schedule tomorrow?"

"Just...practice."

"Very well. Then I will see to it that those practices are cancelled."

"What?!"

Yun Seo looked at Jiwook, his gray eyes raging like storms. "You will never see that man again. None of you will."

Jiwook's eyes went wide. "Don't...don't kill him."

Yun Seo held up his right hand, which held the sigil. For the first time, Jiwook could see it properly - a flower, almost like a cherry blossom, encased in a pentagon. "I swear on my very nature, no physical harm will come to that man. But you will never see that man again."

The idol nodded. Why did he believe Yun Seo so fiercely? Was it the "I swear on my very nature"?

That was a question for tomorrow.

"Okay..." Jiwook said. "Do you need his name?"

"No need. I intend to gather that information, and I will not have you implicated in these actions." Yun Seo took his gloves out and began putting them on. "Just rest."

Jiwook felt the temperature turn cold, and found his eyes closing without input from him. The world became dark, and he fell into a dreamless slumber.

It was the best sleep Jiwook had in ages.

He had slept for another 2 hours, but when his alarm rang, he saw a text from his manager saying "Unexpected situation at work, take the day off." After that, the cold hit him like a truck, and he fell back asleep.

Jiwook woke another 20 hours later, at 2am. He had never slept through an entire day before, but he felt so well rested that he couldn't complain.

He got up and went to the living room. Cheolsu was lying on the couch, fast asleep. This as odd, he knew Cheolsu had gone to sleep in his own room. Did he get up at some point? He tried not to think about it too hard, instead choosing to make himself a cup of coffee and check his email.

There was apparently a companywide announcement: KYLE LEE HAS RESIGNED, EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY.

It worked?! Whatever Yun Seo did worked?! He opened the email, but it was just a standard form letter about "creative differences" being the reason he left.

It was so anticlimactic, and yet, so relieving.

"Nnh...is that...coffee...?" Cheolsu groaned from the blanket he was under.

"You smelled it?" Jiwook asked.

"Yeah..." the younger sat up and stretched. "Mind pouring me a cup?"

Jiwook was never going to say no to his absolutely stunning bandmate, so he poured Cheolsu a cup before pouring himself one. He brought it over to the couch as Cheolsu rubbed his eyes.

"Thank you," Cheolsu said softly. His smile made Jiwook melt.

"You're welcome," Jiwook said, smiling back. "Thank you...for talking to the manager for me. I...I couldn't help, and you stepped in."

"You sat with Nam-i until he fell asleep. You were there for him." Cheolsu touched Jiwook's hand, sending Jiwook's heart into a frenzy. "So, I was here for you, Ji-ah."

Jiwook tried to keep a cool head, but he knew he was blushing. "...thank you, Cheolsu. Thank you."

Cheolsu removed his hand to hold his mug more steadily. The absence of his hand was agonizing for Jiwook, but he tried to act more level-headed about it.

"Did you...not sleep well?" Jiwook asked. Had the Veil not worked on Cheolsu?

"No, I slept fine...sorta." Cheolsu sipped his coffee. "I had sleep paralysis. Didn't want to be in my room anymore."

Oh. Cheolsu had mentioned having night terrors when he was younger, as well as occasional bouts of sleep paralysis. "What happened? Do you want to talk about it?" Jiwook asked, growing in concern.

"It was...odd. It felt familiar, but not. Someone was standing at the foot of my bed. And it was cold..." Cheolsu shivered at the thought so hard that his coffee almost spilled, and he had to steady his hand again. "It was unnerving. I couldn't see their face, but I could feel their presence in my...in my bones."

Jiwook blinked. Cheolsu had seen Yun Seo through the veil? More importantly, why was Yun Seo staring at Cheolsu in the middle of the night? Yun Seo was weird but not...stare-at-strangers-in-the-middle-of-the-night-like-Edward-Cullen weird. He'd have to ask him later why the hell he did that. "That...that sounds awful, I'm sorry."

"It's fine...sleep paralysis demons can't actually hurt you, anyway." Cheolsu drank a longer sip of his coffee. Absently, Jiwook realized the color of the coffee matched Cheolsu's hair and eyes.

"Yeah true..." ...unless they are actual demons, Jiwook thought to himself. "Have you seen a specialist about the sleep paralysis?"

"A few. Tried a couple of medications, nothing worked. I'm sure the medications work for other people, but...I guess my brain chemistry doesn't work with them."

Namil emerged from his bedroom, yawning. His eye looked...shockingly better. The cut was barely a mark, and the swelling was completely gone. There was only the faintest bit of discoloration around him. "Oh...hi, hyung. And hyung." He smiled at them.

"Namil, you look much better!" Jiwook said, a bit of excitement seeping into his voice.

Namil stretched his arms. "Yeah...I feel like I went on a month-long vacation. The bruise doesn't even hurt anymore."

Okay, maybe Yun Seo was just trying to find Namil's room to fix his face, Jiwook reasoned. "Well, I'm glad you're in better spirits today."

"As am I," Cheolsu smiled and got up to go pour Namil a coffee. "I guess we're all up at the crack of dawn, so...let's make this fun for us. Any good dramas we could watch?"

"OOH! Are we in the mood for something happy or spooky?"

"What are you in the mood for, Nam-i?"

Eventually, Juntae and Minwoo woke up and joined them for a couple of episodes of Hotel del Luna. They got as far as the ghost in Room 13 before their manager texted them to get back to work. Apparently, a replacement choreographer was found on short notice, so their schedule was going to continue as normal with a new choreographer, who evidently had some creative experience and was going to work with the art director for the comeback.

"I hope it's a female choreographer," Juntae said in the car ride to work. "They're always way nicer to us."

"And it can't possibly be because you are a compulsive flirt," Minwoo retorted.

The two began catfighting like only bros could. Jiwook tried not to get a migraine as he drove. Cheolsu and Namil both had the right idea, putting headphones on, but he had to have his wits about him since he was behind the wheel.

When they finally pulled up, their manager Baek Kwanghee greeted them. He was a short, stocky man, but had a charming air about him.

"Well, as I'm sure you're aware, we can finally call Kyle Lee an asshole without worry of repercussions," Mr. Baek said. "Well, someone has been placed with us and has been personally vetted by the CEO to both handle choreo and work with the creative team. So, we can all count ourselves lucky that we don't have to put up with Kyle anymore."

"In fairness, his judgement did lead him to hire Kyle in the first place," Jiwook stated.

"Well, I have met this choreographer as of this morning. Very polite and very capable. I have a feeling you are all going to take to him very quickly."

"Ugh, him?!" Juntae said, groaning.

"Don't be a misandrist," Cheolsu said.

"A what?"

"It's someone who hates men," Jiwook explained.

Mr. Baek laughed. "Well, even so, I think you'll find him very charming. Let's head up?"

Jiwook stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the choreographer inside the practice room. If his shoulder length hair and gray eyes didn't give it away, he didn't even bother to come up with a fake name.

"It's a pleasure to meet all of you, my name is Yun Seo." The Listener was leaning against the mirrored wall of the dance studio, in sweatpants and a sweatshirt, like he was...just a regular person. "Shall we get started with some warm-ups?"