Stripping for Dummies

Hyeon took a big sigh of relief when they left the Master's office. The whole situation was so intense that it was difficult to wrap his head around it.

Peering out the windows again, the storm significantly settled.

Nammi fidgeted, wanting to be let down. Carefully removing her, he placed her on the ground. She speedily hobbled away to go around the corner.

"Hey...!" Hyeon started to lurch forward and 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 for her safety? Although some employees found her creepy already, he can't say everyone would feel the same.

"How do you know she can navigate around here just fine?"

Haruma hunched and said, "It's obvious."

*What was so obvious about it?*

Hyeon felt a tickle slide down his chin. Quickly, he took off one of the white gloves. When he wiped the area with the back of his hand, there was a smear of blood. Fenrir's fangs must have scraped deeper than he thought. Haruma held out a white handkerchief he was using as a pocket square. It had a little red fox embroidered on the corner. He didn't seem like the type to carry a towel with a cute design.

"You can borrow it."

Hyeon thanked him and held it against the small cut. The white fox then eyed his frame in a disapproving demeanor.

"Follow," he directed. Haruma started walking towards a small door at the end of the hall.

"For now, always follow me unless I say otherwise."

Hyeon nodded in understanding.

The tiny, brown door was slightly shorter than Hyeon's height. It was certainly plainer than Fenrir's 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 some chemicals.

"In," Haruma motioned inside and snapped his right fingers. A fire lit up in the hanging bowl-like torch above. Can Hyeon do that, too?

"Hmm? Actually get in there?"

He nodded yes and continued to hold the door open. Hesitantly, Hyeon dipped his head down to avoid hitting his forehead. There wasn't a lot of space for one person since it was meant for storage. He was still facing the back wall when the door shut loudly behind him. A little startled, Haruma was only an arm's length away due to the limited size.

"Strip."

"I'm sorry?"

Haruma probably thought he wasn't the brightest wafer in the box from always asking him to repeat the instructions. Instead of huffing at Hyeon's constant confusion, he pointed to his own uniform and dramatically pretended to take it off!

If Hyeon couldn't understand the language, he'd appreciate the necessity of this little game of charades. But this...it was painful. If someone was seeing this from the outside with misunderstanding, they'd think the fox was doing a weird, teasing dance.

"Okay, okay, I understand."

He began removing the top uniform layers and placed them on the shelf one at a time. The situation made his ears red since Haruma was watching patiently so close by. When he started undoing the belt that held up his pants, he was stopped by the questionable peeping tom.

"Only the top. Bottoms are fine," Haruma said, not flustered at all by his underling's bare chest.

His trainer picked up the white-winged collar shirt and passed it back to Hyeon.

"This first."

Without a word, he buttoned up the formal undershirt. The layers continued to be given to him in this order afterward: the tie, a light grey vest, a black morning coat, a dark-red pocket square made of silk, and white gloves.

When Hyeon was finished, Haruma examined the effort. He stepped forth and fixed the little things such as the collar's wings, button replacement, how the white shirt should peek out from under the coat's sleeve cuffs, and most importantly, how to tie the freaking black tie. The last step took a while since Hyeon's adopted father never showed him how to do this accurately.

Haruma moved back and nodded in approval. Safety stowing away the bloodied hand towel, Hyeon exited the storeroom and looked around for others. Someone would definitely misinterpret after seeing two guys step out from a private room. Thankfully, no one was present.

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

"How do you do that? Being able to turn on and off the fire, that is."

"First, you must address me as sir when we are working together as trainer and trainee. The other spirits will take it as a sign that informality is okay while on the clock."

"Sorry...sir."

"Second, you can learn how to do it."

*Oh?*

Hyeon tried to snap his fingers a few times. Nothing happened.

Haruma didn't smile, but his eyes had an expression that read, *What a fool.*

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

He stopped and realized there was nothing nearby to set ablaze except for the castle itself. Que the inner crying. All he can imagine is a social media influencer roasting him online for the mistake.

*That's it. I'm officially canceled.*