Arcane: INIZIO | CH.9 | NCT DREAM x Reader
Summary: When human deviants granted with the abilities of the legendary Arcana cards find themselves racing against devious forces, they are left to make a choice that might change the fate of the world itself: be the victims of the game, or become the masters of it themselves.
But will this war end with a crowned hero?
Or will it just create another mad villain?
***** Note: This is the second book of Arcane. The happenings in this story is a prequel to the first installment which you can check in my Masterlist.
Pairings: Dream 00’ Line + Mark x Reader
Trigger Warnings/Themes: romance, violence, torture, trauma, poly dynamics, suggestive themes, language, psychological, mystery, sci-fi. The concept of the tarot or Arcana cards will be loosely used throughout the series. This is a work of fiction, and the boys are just my muses.
© neonacity, 2026
*******
“Youngho.”
Johnny didn’t need to turn towards the source of the voice to get a feel of where exactly Jaehyun is. His sharp eyes remained steady on the line of trees fringing the north entrance of the castle as he felt his fellow soldier take station just a few meters away from him. The night had finally started turning to dawn, and while the slightest peek of sunlight breaking the coal sky would have usually made him relax, there was something about the coolness of the air today that made his senses stay in full alert.
He was not the only one, too. He couldn’t see Jaehyun fully, but he knew from the way the other stood that he was the same.
Il Generales. The Generals.
The title is an archaic one, granted only to the strongest of the GrandMasters since the dawn of their time in the mundane world. Not one to be big on honorifics, Johnny would usually just laugh it off whenever the others would tease him about it. He would always say that it is an outdated position that didn’t matter anymore in this time and age. After all, what use do you have of generals, queens, and pawns without war and discord?
That was one side of him. As the first Master to be named in this generation, Johnny knew from the moment his Arcana made itself known that he carries a huge responsibility over the family. The Suh’s are not as influential as the Lee’s or the Na’s, but the respect he’s gained is something he so well deserves, especially being one of the firsts trained and mentored by the Headmaster himself.
“How many?” He asked silently now as he leaned casually against the stone wall behind him. The man stationed in the shadows with him slipped his hands on the pocket of his pants in an equally lax manner.
“Yuta says probably 20 on his end. Mijeong thinks it’s the same with hers.”
“Jungwoo?”
“At the tower. He gave a very interesting update.”
For the first time, Johnny turned to look at the other, his expression mildly curious. Jung Jaehyun, real name Yunoh, looked handsome even under the shade of the darkness, but there was a tick on his jaw that betrayed his usually calm, if not detached demeanor. As the second in line to Johnny, they both were expected to be at the frontlines of whatever it is they were about to face.
“IL Matto and La Morte, they are outside of the castle walls. They went through Jaemin’s end and have broached the forest boundary.”
Johnny looked at him in shock.
“What do you mean—”
“They ran away. Together.”
Before he could say anything, a thundering explosion boomed from the other side of the castle that sent the very ground they were standing on to tremble. Both he and Jaehyun looked at each other, then, without another word, broke into a run.
“Johnny, what’s the plan!”
“The Headmaster. We have to find him.”
“And IL Matto?”
He gritted his teeth before kicking open a door.
“Pray that she is as far away from here as she can. Or else, we’re all fucked.”
*******
“Yuta!”
Mijeong yelled at the top of her lungs just as she ripped the solid metal gates that were blocking her way. Not even a minute after the explosion from the south of the Academy, soldiers in black uniforms stormed her end of the castle and tried to pin her down. The mundanes didn’t hold much against her as she swung and punched at them, but even in the very short fight she had the unsettling feeling that something was terribly wrong with this attack.
First, the enemies didn’t use their guns on her once, which in a way makes sense if their goal was to snatch all Arcana GrandMasters like her. However, they didn’t even try to take her either. Instead, the way they moved made her feel as if they were trying to keep her in one place, distracting her… Away from their real target.
She gasped slightly now as she broke through the other side of the castle just in time to see Yuta land on the balcony from above. The man turned to look at her wildly before all of a sudden grabbing her wrist the moment he reached her. He started tugging her towards the edge of the balcony without another word.
“W-wait—what are you—”
“We need to go.”
“Where?! The castle has been infiltrated. Enemies are everywhere!”
“Forget about them. We need to find the others. The Headmaster. They got him.”
The two of them jumped off the ledge, free-falling together.
*******
Mark was very much convinced that there was someone else who had taken over his body at the moment.
After he and the others saw the gaping tear in Rosewood’s protective shield, it was like something came on in him that was entirely separated from the current thoughts spiraling inside of his head. He led the others now in the dark hallways of the Academy, their footsteps thundering against the cobblestone floors. They were about to turn the last corner to the Headmaster’s office when a yell suddenly made them stop. Turning around, he looked on in fear as someone tried to tackle Jisung to the ground. The attacker seemed to have come from nowhere, and the two were currently locked in a tangle of limbs. Before he could take another step to help the boy, a sickly crunch pierced the air. He and the rest stared as the masked person staggered backwards, before finally collapsing with a groan. Red bloomed in the middle of his chest where the silver blade of a dagger protruded.
“Hey! Are you alright?!”
They all looked up to see Mijeong and Yuta running towards them from the other side. The girl barely stopped at the corpse to pull her knife from the body before turning to all of them, wild-eyed.
“Where is she? Did you get her?”
The collective silence made the girl’s face turn white. Yuta, sensing the panic of everyone, looked around before starting to urgently push the group forward. More screaming has started erupting in the distance and he knew they needed to get to the next safest space in the whole Academy.
“Let’s not talk here. We need to go to the Headmaster’s office.”
“But Johnny, Jungwoo, and Jaehyun-hyung—”
“They’re the least we should worry about. Let’s go!”
The group, fortunately, did not encounter any more of the attackers as they sprinted to the office. The moment they closed the door behind them, Mijeong urgently grabbed Mark’s arm to shake him. Yuta, meanwhile, ran straight to the head of the room where a communication panel was. He started flipping over switches before starting to press codes on the telegraph keys there.
“Where is she? Answer me.”
Mark gave her a torn look but managed to answer. “She’s not here. She and Jeno left before the attacks started.”
The girl froze at his answer. Taking a step back, she turned blindly at the room, as if she was considering jumping over the window and making a run after the two. Yuta joined them before she managed another word out.
“I’ve sent code to the others that we’re here.” He turned to the girl then, eyes steady. “It’s better that she’s out of the Academy. If Jeno is with her, she’s safer than the rest of us probably are.”
“These people are not here to hurt us though,” she said as she ran her hand through her hair. Renjun’s gaze snapped to her, alert.
“What do you mean?”
“They were carrying weapons, but they never used it once. And they didn’t bring enough people for a full attack. This is just a distraction. It’s almost like they want to keep us here rather than take us.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Jaemin said.
“It does,” Mark answered again. He pulled something from his pocket and put out something on his palm for all to see. The Headmaster’s bronze ring glinted under the dimmed light of the room like an abandoned relic. “They’re not after us. Just him. They were trying to keep us here in case we came to his rescue.”
At that moment, banging knocks started echoing from the doorway. Haechan, who was closest to it, eyed it carefully. Mijeong and Yuta gave him a nod, their poses taut and ready to attack if needed. He reached out to it, turned the knob open and let the door swing freely inside.
A soot-covered Johnny, Jaehyun, and Jungwoo stumbled inside, looking all a bit out of breath but unhurt. Following behind them, seemingly appearing out of thin air was Ten. Kun and Taeyong were flanking his sides.
“Is everyone alright?” Kun’s voice was urgent as he went straight to the cluster of the youngest of boys. Taeyong didn’t waste time to go over to Johnny and Jaehyun who have both set themselves beside the door.
“Have you taken care of—”
“Yes. Everyone. Dead. There’s about a hundred of them in total. We burned the bodies in the dungeons,” Johnny answered unflinchingly.
“We’re sure nobody is left?”
“We are. I checked all the cams. But Renjun, can you confirm?” Ten asked as he ran straight to the window and looked below. “Shit. The barrier is compromised. We’re not sure if more will come.”
“There’s nobody in the vicinity,” Renjun said as his eyes refocused after doing a mind scan of the surroundings. “I can’t sense anyone.” His last word was barely out, however, before his features seemingly froze again. A mixed look of fear and concern overtook him as he turned quickly to Ten. Everyone’s breath caught at his next announcement.
“Ten-hyung, she and Jeno.”
“They’re back.”
*******
You reeled yourself in as you and Jeno reached out to Ten when he appeared out of thin air the moment you broke through Rosewood’s protected grounds. You knew the moment you went back to the Academy’s protected lands that Renjun would have sensed your consciousness, but you were unprepared for what you came back to as soon as the turrets of Rosewood appeared in your view. A gaping gash in the sheer shield of the Academy rose from the sky down to the grounds, rippling and undulating like a burning bright flesh wound. Ten appearing to teleport you back confirmed your suspicion.
Something has gone terribly wrong.
You almost tripped on your feet when the three of you landed on physical space again right at your father’s office. Without wasting another breath, and barely looking at anyone else, you went straight to the first person who was closest to the idea of stability in your head.
“Kun! Papa, where’s my father? I felt something. I can’t feel him—”
Your words died on you at the look in his face. He tried to reach out to you to hold you by your arms, but you have already stumbled back a little. A different set of arms caught you before you crumpled to the floor. You felt numb.
“Oh god… Oh god. They got him. They took him.”
You heard Taeyong’s voice somewhere behind you. He was saying something, but none of his words made sense as a painful buzz started filling your head. The dull throb that you felt somewhere deep inside of you earlier when your bond with your father first broke was worse now—as if there was a gaping hole punched straight through your chest—now that you were back in the Academy where the center of his power sits. As your vision started to blur around the edges, you felt a gentle hand on the back of your head. Jaemin’s words wove in and out of your fading consciousness as other voices started filtering through in the background. Some were loud, and the others soft, like a radio whose volume dial was being turned up and down.
“Love, you need to calm down.”
An unexplainable force had started to crush against your temples. Blindly, your fingers reached to tug at your hair from its roots. A crawling, electric feeling like that of liquid fire shot through your whole body and you were gripped by the desperate need to peel your skin off of your bones. It was like your mind was being swallowed by something primal and ancient. What was left of your consciousness gave you a jarring jolt of realization before you went down under.
IL Matto’s powers were overtaking you.
“Jaemin, you—something. She’s losing—”
“....Haechan, no—!”
“Jaehyun, hold them back—”
“Jeno, she’s pulling me under, too,”
“Hold on. Jaemin. Fight it—”
“Noona. Please.”
“Listen to me, you don’t want this. You don’t want to hurt them.”
A shrill, ear-piercing sound shot through your consciousness like a bolt of lighting. Like camera lens that suddenly refocused, your vision sharpened once more. The only evidence of your earlier turmoil were your gasping breaths which tore your lungs even now as if you have ran for miles. Yet even that was temporary, because the moment your brain finally caught up with the scene laid out in front of you, your chest stilled once more.
Rising in the middle of the room was a black shadowy shield that moved like the thinnest of veils. It ran from ceiling to floor and shimmered with an obsidian glow that, from the looks of it alone, could never exist in the mundane world. You knew from the first look where it came from, but it was the slight numbing feeling that licked the edges of your consciousness now that confirmed it. Jeno had summoned nether forces which were now pushing back against your own arcana to reel you back to control.
But that was not the sole purpose of it. Because on the other side of it were the rest of your friends, shielded from you. The dark glimmer of the protective barrier unfortunately was not enough to cover the states they were in and your heart dropped to your stomach at what you saw.
Johnny, Jaehyun, Ten and Yuta were closest to the barrier, all looking pained even in the defensive way they stood. They looked unscathed, but there was a look on their faces as if they had just come out of a spell. Behind them, just beyond your vision, Jisung was curled up on the floor. Small glimmers of light spots hovered over him and disappeared one by one as you looked on. Beside him was Chenle who was in the middle of picking himself up with a wince. The window behind him was shattered and the floor beneath where he was standing now was ruined, the wooden planks splintered and torn from the ground.
Numbly, your gaze moved to the far end of the cluster. Mark was the first one who caught your attention, his back on you as he doubled over someone who was still out of your line of sight. Jungwoo was beside him, bent over the same person. He looked pale, but you could see his lips moving as if he was talking to whoever they were trying to revive. When he shifted a little, your heart stopped. Haechan was sitting on the floor, his back pressed against the wall. He was not unconscious, but you could tell from the shuttered look in his wide eyes that he was not there as well. He seemed to be watching something inside of his head that only he can see—this time, a prisoner to his own illusions that he used to master.
“Taeyong! Kun! They need help!” Mijeong’s voice made you turn your head blindly to the other side. She and Ten were trying to hold up a half conscious Renjun. You watched as both men she called came running over to her side.
At that moment, the deathly veil disappeared by dissolving into wisps of smoke. Slowly and dreadfully, you finally turned to your side of the room where you were once separated from the others.
Jeno was by your side, standing so still except for the heavy heaving of his chest. Sweat dotted his forehead and he looked on the verge of sinking to his knees as well. Instead, he turned and bent over someone slumped on the seat beside him, his hand trying to lift the boy’s head. A terrified, pained sob escaped you as your eyes focused. Jaemin was unconscious in front of you, blood dripping from his nose.
You stumbled back in horror before dashing out of the room without a word.
*******
IL Matto. The Fool. The trump card of the Arcana system. The beginning and the end. While other Grandmasters of the aether forces consider their appointment as vessels an honor since time immemorial, those who were chosen by The Fool were regarded to be unfortunate souls branded with a curse. Often, their stories end the same:
Driven to death by their own madness, or hunted down by the other Grandmasters themselves.
You could not blame the bloody path that your predecessors were thrown into. As you stood now under the shower, the scalding water leaving burning streaks down your bare skin, you wishfully thought someone—anyone would come swooping down on you like a death angel to finally grant you that mercy of being freed from your curse.
“Arcana holders like us have our limits but what you can do is beyond the usual boundaries that no generation of Masters have ever seen. You can turn a flame into an explosion, or make it destroy itself as if it never existed at all. You will meet many other flames in your life, some of which will want to have and use you, or destroy you."
Your father’s words from many years ago echoed in your head like a death bell. Your fate is one of the few solid things that you thought you were sure of in your life. One day, IL Matto’s powers will consume you from inside out and you will be driven to death by your self-induced madness. But never—not even once—have you ever considered the other side of that constant guillotine hanging over your head.
You almost killed all of them. Your own friends and the only people close enough to you to consider family. You've hurt them by triggering their own abilities into levels they were physically incapable of handling, and you don't have any other excuse to give for it other than your own lack of self-control and weakness.
You stepped out of the bath now, your footprints leaving dark marks on the floor. You have locked yourself up away from everyone after what happened in your father’s office, but you knew you couldn’t stay here forever. As you stared at yourself in your fogged up mirror, you saw, reflected back to you the same emotion that you saw in your friends’ eyes yesterday.
Fear.
You swallowed and pulled on your shirt before it consumed you.
*******
The walk to your father’s office felt oddly too quick. Maybe it’s because of the gnawing, foreboding feeling in your chest, but the sound of your footsteps seemed to thunder against your ears as they echoed down the halls. The truth is that you have no idea about what you will do once you get there, but instinct was telling you that you need to be there now.
You were about to reach out to the brass knob in front of you when your fingers suddenly froze mid-air. Voices were coming from the inside, muffled, but tensed still in their intonation. You grabbed the door and tore it open the next second.
“...best for Rosewood and its management.”
Your eyes locked first with Mark who was standing in the middle of the room. His back was slightly on you as he addressed someone and there was a look of surprise and dread that gripped his features the moment he saw your face. Quickly, your gaze swept to the others. Jaemin, Jeno, Jisung, Chenle, Renjun, and Haechan were standing nearest to him with their own stony looks, but it was the older ones—Johnny, Jaehyun, Yuta, Mijeong, and Jungwoo who brought half of the weight of the tension in the room with their icy expressions. Taeyong was with them, as calm as ever, the exact opposite of Kun who looked straight up angry. The expression almost looked foreign in his usually peaceful features. Ten, you saw, was beside him, slightly holding him back.
“You came just in time, My Lady. We were just about to fetch you.”
You wheeled immediately towards the owner of the voice. The moment you saw him, seated on your father’s table at the head of the room, everyone’s reactions made sense.
Junho Lee.
“What are you doing here?” Your voice, though scratchy from its lack of use since yesterday, came levelled as you stepped beside Mark. You felt his gaze slip quickly at you before fully-facing his father again.
The man leaned back against the seat and wove his fingers together with calm. The gesture made you tick but you bit back your emotions by gritting your teeth.
“We have been informed that the Headmaster is currently indisposed after an attack on the Academy last night. I am very sorry to hear the news and want to assure you that my men have already been alerted to start looking for him.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
Junho levelled you a look that was equal parts calculating and careful.
“The Academy and the Arcana family will need someone to lead it temporarily in his absence. As the Headmaster’s closest confidante and long-standing benefactor of Rosewood, I am here to take on that role.”
White hot rage surged to your veins. You already knew his answer, but it didn’t stop you from wanting to jump over the distance separating you from the man now and hurting him in any way you can. The fucking traitor. Did he sell your own father to the enemy so he could do this?
“Father. I don’t think this is a good ide—”
“I will appreciate your silence right now, Minhyung,” Junho cut Mark off before he could even finish. “Next to the Headmaster, there is nobody else who can take over his post. It only makes sense that our family is next in line for this. Unless there is anyone in this room who can vouch to counter that?”
If the air was already tense earlier, then it was almost deadly now. As the most influential and longest-standing family in the network, Junho asking this question was both a challenge and an insult to the other masters present. Jaemin’s eyes flashed in anger from where he stood while Mijeong looked almost ready to strike. Mark was shocked, before a look of shame made him look away, his hands turning into fists by his sides.
Nobody answered. Junho looked on at everyone with the satisfied look of a vulture who had successfully sunk its claws on a carcass.
“There is one actually. What gives you the idea of being the one next in line, when I am here?”
Your words, from the way it unfroze everyone, were obviously the last thing anyone expected. All eyes swiveled to where you stood and the elder Lee, despite his initial surprise, tried to hide it behind a tight smile.
“What do you mean?”
You stepped forward, jaw set. Claiming the position your blood has destined for you was the least of your plans when you woke up this morning, but this… this is the obvious path that you must take for now.
“I am my father’s direct heir,” you said now, voice steady, almost smooth. An almost unnatural calm had taken over you and you saw a flicker of something cross the man’s face as he noticed. You stopped directly in front of the table where he is sitting now and stared him down icily.
“And I hold the powers of IL Matto, the third of the Triads. If there is anyone who should be taking leadership over the family… It’s me.”
At that moment, Junho’s face crumpled in disbelief and anger for a flash of a moment before he tried to reel in his emotions again. The mood in the room had entirely shifted by now and everyone looked on in the scene with a different air.
“Your father had signed a deal with me giving me co-ownership of the Academy.”
“Yes. When I was a child. I have long since become of age now.”
He looked like someone who was suddenly served with a platter of consequences he was too late to recognize. It almost gave you a sick, twisted glee seeing him mentally crumble in front of you. He may be cunning and smart, but he will never be a match to your father—and you.
At that moment, you felt someone step closer to you. You looked up to see Kun with a thick brown envelope on his hand. He gave you a look full of meaning before he offered it.
“The Headmaster left this for you.”
You took it and undid the string holding it together. You already have an idea of what its contents might be, but your heart still leapt with relief when you pulled out the first bundle of files there. You quickly scanned over the printed words before reading them out loud to the rest.
“In the event of my absence, death, or any situation that renders me incapable of fulfilling my duties as owner and Headmaster of Rosewood Academy, the right of inheritance will go directly to my only living daughter. With it, all the responsibilities and accompanying duties.”
You put the documents down and calmly placed them on the table.
"His will and testament. If we are talking about legalities here, this should answer it."
Junho had gone completely still, his face emotionless as he kept his eyes on them.
Just then, someone else stepped to your other side. You felt Mark’s fingers weave through yours as he looked at his own father.
“Our family’s role will remain important in the Family, father,” he said. Ever so slightly, you felt his hand give you a gentle squeeze. You gave him the slightest of nods without looking at him.
“As her fiance, I will now help in overseeing everything, to the best of my abilities.”
If the rest of the people in the room were shocked, it was only momentary and hidden well. No words were needed for everyone to realize the decision behind it. Mark just saved your neck from being in the direct line of fire of his father now that things have unfolded. Unless he also decides to betray his own son, you are safe—for now.
Junho’s interest, at the very least, was caught by this. He looked up at Mark, then at you, with an unreadable look on his face.
“You have decided on this?” He asked as he stared you down. You met his withering look with your own.
“Yes.”
The silence that followed was thick and suffocating. The man kept his eyes on you, but you didn’t back down, meeting him unblinkingly. It was like staring down a beast who wanted to tear you to pieces.
Finally, he looked away and stood up from your father’s seat. The moment that he did, you saw Johnny and Jaehyun move from their side of the room to flank you from a distance in your peripheral vision. Mijeong was less obvious in her actions as she stepped up to almost cover you from him. Junho, however, only smiled. He wasn’t stupid and got the message loud and clear.
A new leader of the family has been set, and its members are there to stand by it.
He turned to walk away with not so much as a look back. Just before he passed you though, he said something that made you stiffen.
“I cannot wait to see what you have in store for us, IL Matto.”
CHAPTER 10
*******
A/N: Hi. This is Sammy. It's been four years since I started working on Arcane. In the span of years since I started this story up to now, I have had numerous times when I considered putting down this blog. I have only decided to slowly get back to writing again here when the news about Mark came out.
I am not expecting much because I think majority of those who once loved and followed this story have long since left Tumblr now but I decided to pick it up again, for the sake of hoping to close this with a proper ending. Mark will continue to be part of this story and other ones I have where he is also a character. Thank you.
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