- Warning -

Ever since Charlotte had come to this tower, she only had one teacher. She only had one teacher who she cherished and loved dearly whose name was Ha Jinsung.

Ha Jinsung was the one who fought for their freedom. He was the one who taught them on how to defend themselves, to make their lives better and gave them a chance to taste the freedom that the FUG wanted to snatch away from them. He loved for his disciples deeply that when he had a chance, he went to look for them.

"Geez, my cute pupil seems to be sleeping whenever I come to see him" Ha Jinsung said before the regulars who were standing and being worried of Bam.

The regulars were surprised to see him there. Charlotte who sat on the bed slowly turned her head around and faced him. She wasn't surprised as she had expected him to come.

"Somehow I think there are some new faces amongst you guys" he added again.

Charlotte stood up, "Teacher, you are here."

"Teacher?" Khun glanced at her when he heard of it.

"What happened here, huh?" Ha Jinsung asked again.

Charlotte, "Then that would be a long story."

Ha Jinsung looked at his female disciple before he said, "You don't seem to be surprised that I am here."

"Because I could feel your charismatic aura from distance, teacher" Charlotte replied with her smile.

"....What a glib tongue you had."

While the two of them were having an ordinary conversation, the regulars had different reactions. Some of them were confused while some were surprised. Altaira was perhaps the only one who wasn't surprised aside from Charlotte as he had expected about this as well.

"Mr. Ha Jinsung?!" Prince looked at the man surprised. "What brings you here?"

"Well, I just dropped by while I come to see someone" he answered as he walked to them. "So what happened here? Is it really a long story?"

The name "Ha Jinsung" did not only surprised Khun. For someone well-known as him, Khun knew who he was. He knew who he was that he was afraid and he was also surprised by his sudden appearance.

"Ha....Ha Jinsung.....?" His blue eyes looked at the middle-aged man. "What brings s....someone in such a high position like you......here?"

"I came to see my pupils" he answered. "You must be that son of Khun....? You resembled your father so much. Viole and Nox told me that you are their friends."

"That's......"

"Don't get nervous, kid" Ha Jinsung said. "I have changed a lot. I no longer kill the ten families....whenever I meet them."

He glanced at Altaira who was standing next to Celeste like the usual. Turned out, there were more than one descendant of the ten families climbing the tower with both of his disciples and unlike Khun, somehow this boy smiled at him friendly as if Ha Jinsung had never killed his relatives before.

Charlotte knew that it must be uncomfortable for Khun to talk with a person like Ha Jinsung so she changed the topic and immediately explained everything to Ha Jinsung.

And after hearing her words, Ha Jinsung looked at the unconscious Bam, "So he ended up collapsing like this.......this is what I have been worrying about. Well....this kind of effect can happen to someone with the thorn.

Hansung that bastard pushed him too hard. And this is what happened because of that. But this is another adversity which he must overcome by himself. What a cruel fate."

Charlotte knew that Bam bear a cruel fate. She wanted to change it. Or maybe she wanted to switch his cruel destiny with someone else so that he would suffer less. She wanted to switch her destiny with Bam sometimes.....but if she did that, what was her difference with Rachel who desired to take Bam's fate and to be the "star"?

The brown haired girl just looked at her brother and said nothing.

"May I have a word with you guys?" Ha Jinsung looked at them.

"Does that include me as well?" Charlotte asked him.

Ha Jinsung pondered about it before he answered, "No."

"Then that gives me a reason to go" Charlotte responded.

"You are always this rebellious" Ha Jinsung said to her in dissatisfaction. "Can't you just listen to me just once?"

Charlotte smiled and held both of her hands together. Her smile was different from usual as it appeared to be courteous and polite. She calmly replied, "If I never listened to you, will I be able to reach this level? I don't think I am not that rebellious."

"Since you have always listened to me, then stay here and let me talk with your friends" Ha Jinsung said again. "I won't kill your friends or something."

At the time, Charlotte wanted to reply that if he killed all her friends there, then there would be no more hostages FUG could use. But she swallowed back her words and said something different instead.

"Of course" Charlotte said. "Like what you said, you have changed a lot."

"Then let me have a talk with them" Ha Jinsung said. As he asked the others to follow him, he walked to the door to go outside to speak with these regulars.

But before he stepped out from the door, Charlotte said something to him.

"Brother is a persistent person. If he wants to get something, then he will find a way to get it."

Ha Jinsung glanced to her.

The others might not know what she meant by her words, but Ha Jinsung seemed to have the idea. But he said nothing and just walked out and closed the door.

Without removing the smile from her face, Charlotte looked at Bam who was still not conscious. She just simply sat down on the bed and fixed the blanket on him. She pulled the blanket until it properly covered her brother.

Outside, Ha Jinsung talked with the regulars. He apologized for them for not being able to control the situation and made them involved with FUG's affairs.

".....You don't need to apologize for anything..." Khun said while lowering his head. He just can't bring himself to look at the person before him. "Bam and Charlotte were able to leave FUG because of you. And this incident also happened because we lack in abilities."

He turned his head away and asked, "A- anyway, you don't know about Hoaqin either?"

"I don't know any slayer candidate with that name but if it's about the guy on the train..... there's one guy that come across my mind" Ha Jinsung answered. "Although this is only my guess, but the one they are trying to awake may be a dangerous guy. If he's the one I'm thinking of, then things are going to get messy."

"So....does that mean that you can't tell us in detail about that Hoaqin guy?"

"Well...that's right....He is one of the secrets in FUG. It's not like the problem will be solved if you guys get involved....and I'm not sure if my guess will be right. Things are looking bad for you guys along with the condition of Viole. I advise all of you to slow down. Don't worry about the train and just go up the tower. We'll send some people from our side to take care of the train."

≪ ◦ ❖ ◦ ≫

Charlotte who sat on the bed while waiting for Bam to wake up let out a sigh.

"It seems like that the walls aren't thick enough" she said and looked at Noah whose face had darkened. "Is this what they mean by 'walls have ears'?"

"Charlotte" Noah looked at her and looked angry. He wasn't happy with Ha Jinsung's words that asked them to forget about the train. "You aren't going to listen to that old man right? Right?!"

"Rest assured" Charlotte answered. "It will only be the matter of time before we get on the train."

A moment after Charlotte answered it like that, she noticed that Bam seemed to be moving. She smiled as the brown haired boy opened his eyes.

"Brother, you are awake!"

Bam was indeed awake. And by the time that he was awake, he heard his teacher's voice asking the others to forget about their wish to get on the train and he was confused. Charlotte had to explain it for him again before he understood the situation and he immediately stood up to look for the others.

"Give up the train."

He heard his teacher said those words and then opened the door. In front of the crowd who was looking at him, he said, "I can't do that teacher."

Khun was surprised, "Bam! You shouldn't be up already.....!"

"I will....go after the train" Bam said to his teacher. "And I'll get on the train....to bring everything back like how it used to be. 'With my own power'."

"Not this time" Ha Jinsung disagreed.

"It won't matter if you stop me! I will--"

"I'm sorry but this matter is not the matter of your will" Ha Jinsung said. "It's the matter of your ability. If the guy who FUG is trying to awake is him, then he isn't someone who you could handle."

".....Pardon?"

"Don't you understand? Should I repeat myself?" Ha Jinsung asked. "If it's the guy who I think he is...with your current state, you have no chance at all against that Hoaqin. So give up chasing the train.

Even with me saying this, if you still insist to go to the train, I will let you go if you could beat me. But never before that."

Seeing how Ha Jinsung even challenged his beloved disciple, Charlotte was sure that anyone there could tell about how serious Ha Jinsung was. The train must be dangerous enough until he said those words.

She couldn't help but to ask, "Then teacher....how dangerous is he? How dangerous is the guy on your mind?"

Ha Jinsung looked at his female disciple and then answered, "........a monster."

"A monster?" Charlotte echoed.

If he was a monster, then if Bam defeated him with his power, wouldn't that make his beloved disciple a greater monster to be aware of?

"Don't try anything stupid, Nox" Ha Jinsung said. He always felt uneasy around this girl since she was so bold and daring. She didn't seem like she cared about her life at all. "That train isn't a place for you guys."

Charlotte made an eye closed smile and replied, "Alright. Then I will go back and get some rest first."

Ha Jinsung, "................you actually listened to my words?"

"I'm an obedient disciple" Charlotte answered which was obviously a lie. "I certainly won't argue with my teacher."

Now that Ha Jinsung heard these words, he felt even more uneasy. He was sure that this brat would do the opposite of what he said.