Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

In just about every culture in the world, the concept of a mage can be found in myths, legends, and all forms of entertainment. Sometimes they will have different names, witch, wizard, warlock, spellcaster, shaman, witch doctor, and so on, but they all follow the same idea, a person who can use magic of some sort. Find a book, game, movie, or show on tv that is considered fantasy and one is likely to find a mage character. But that’s it, mages can only be found in the fantasy or myth section. Believed to be fake and part of human’s dreams of doing more than they will ever be capable of. In the modern day, people who claim to have magical abilities like magicians, psychics, oracles are called fakes, just using tricks to fool people into believe they have special power. Everything else is considered a fairytale.

But is this all really true?

Can all these cultures just imagine the same group of people when the spread of cultures was not on the same global stage as it is today?

The truth is, mages have always existed. For centuries, mages were revered, given positions of power, and a mage being born in a family without a known mage lineage was considered a blessing.

Then somewhere in history, the idea of magic being a curse grew and spread and suddenly anyone with magic abilities were considered evil. Witch hunts and other similar events began to happen, killing mages and innocent humans alike. Mages went into hiding, creating their own secluded communities away from the eyes of other humans. Those now unfortunate to be born with magic in non-mage families were often killed though some managed to survive quietly never letting anyone know of their abilities. With magic no longer used in the presence of those without magic, the reality of mages faded into myths and fantasy.

~

“Ah Ryeowook, business seems well today,” a man said, walking into the small bookstore. A couple of people were browsing the shelves straight in from the front door, while another sat at one of the two tables in their café area to the left, and Ryeowook was checking out the last customer at the register at the counter just beyond the café.

“Yeah, it’s pretty good today,” Ryeowook answered when he finished with his customer. “What are you in for today, Jungsu?”

“Well first, what do you have on today’s café menu?”

“First, It’s not a café. Second, I made some sandwiches and Taekwoon and I made some personal sized strawberry cheesecakes,” Ryeowook answered.

“Of course, it’s not.” Jungsu smiled as he agreed, not wanting to make Ryeowook mad. “I’ll take one of the cheesecakes, please. Is Jongwoon or Heechul in right now?”

“Jongwoon is in the basement with Taekwoon and Heechul should be in the loft. You can go on up, if he isn’t there, I’ll find him for you,” Ryeowook said as he rang Jungsu up for the cheesecake.

“Thanks Wookie.” Jungsu left him and headed back to the main area of the bookstore. And the end of the two main rows of shelves, on the back wall between two more shelving units is a set of stairs that lead first to a landing then up to the left to a loft above the café part of the store. In the loft, there were a couple sets of tables and chairs, a desk on the far wall, and a couple more bookshelves, but otherwise the loft was covered in boxes full of books. Heechul sat at the desk, sorting through a group of boxes.

“Hey Heechul.” Heechul looked up and back towards the stairs when he heard Jungsu.

“Hi Jungsu.”

“You busy? I can come back later if you need me to.”

“Oh, no, it’s alright. Just sorting through a shipment that came in this afternoon. Should have a few special orders in here that I need to confirm and call, but I can step away for a bit. I can always make Jongwoon do it,” Heechul said, setting the papers on the desk and standing up.

“Punishment for leaving you to do paperwork while he works with your apprentices,” Jungsu asked as they headed back down.

“They are both Jongwoon’s. So, he should be the one to take care of their training. I’m not apart of any of it.”

“Are you denying Taekwoon and I again,” Ryeowook asked as they walked past him at the register counter.

“He sure is,” Jungsu answered for Heechul. The response earned the two of them some annoyed muttering from Heechul, but they laughed it off.

“We’ll be in here, so knock if you need anything,” Heechul final said to Ryeowook, opening the door just

past Ryeowook’s counter and ushering Jungsu in.

Inside was a whole different shop to the one most people saw. In a room that linked the bookstore to the attached apartment and was most likely used as the storage room for whatever shop occupied the space before them, sat a magic shop. It contained properly sourced potion ingredients, potions, magical items, books, and supplies. They also had a small workstation in case a client needed a specific potion made up on the spot.

“What are you in for this time, Jungsu?”

“A little of the usual. I’m low on my herb supplies. Also, could use a few different books for my sister,” Jungsu said taking out a slip of paper and handing it over to Heechul. Heechul studied the list for a moment before handing the paper back.

“I should have the first two on the list on the shelf over there,” Heechul pointed to one of the bookshelves. “If I have the third it’s in the case a little further down. The last one I don’t have. I can see about getting it though. But you look for those and I’ll get your herbs ready. Just the usual or need something different today?”

“No, the usual is fine. Do you really have everything in here memorized,” Jungsu asked as he began his search for the three books.

“Yes. Can’t run the place if I don’t.”

“Still, it’s rather impressive.”

Heechul just ignored Jungsu's last comment instead focusing on gathering, cutting, and weighing out the herbs so he could package them up. Once finished, Heechul placed a small cube in the corner of each container and sealed the lid on with a small amount of magic. When they were all sealed, Heechul tied them together so Jungsu could carry them easily. Jungsu was still searching the second case for the last book when Heechul turned back towards him.

“Not finding it,” Heechul asked.

“No. I was going back through again in case I looked over it but I’m still not seeing it. I found the other two very quickly,” Jungsu said.

“I might not have it. I wasn't sure. I’ll take a look for it later and if I don’t have it, I’ll find a copy. And I’ll need to look into getting the last book on her list too, so I’ll call you in a couple days and let you know.”

“Thanks, Chul, I’ll tell her, but she should be good with these ones for now.” Jungsu paid for his stuff and let himself out the door, saying goodbye to Ryeowook on his way out. Heechul stayed for a moment longer, cleaning up the counter and putting away the remaining herbs.

Heading back to the bookstore, Heechul was mildly shocked to find Taekwoon ringing out a customer instead of Ryeowook, who was at the café counter.

“When did you and Jongwoon finish?”

“A few minutes ago. I went upstairs to change so came in through the door up there. I saw Jungsu leaving on my way down.”

“Yeah, he was just getting his usual order. Where's Jongwoon?”

“He took the dogs out. Heebum is sitting in the loft now,” Taekwoon explained.

“Okay, send him up to me when he gets back, will you,” Heechul asked. Taekwoon nodded and Ryeowook gave a thumbs up to show he was listening too. With both confirmations, he headed back to the loft to continue sorting through the new shipment, after taking a moment to give his cat, Heebum some attention who had taken a spot in a chair in front of the windows.

Some time later, Heechul could hear the distinct pitter-patter of the dogs walking around on the hardwood floors and not a moment later, he had one of the dogs pacing around his chair and nudging his legs.

“Hello Kkoming,” Heechul greeted, turning in his chair to give Kkoming his full attention, full of plenty of pets and head scratches. “How do you still have this much energy after taking a walk?”

“They both probably slept a lot of the day since they were in the apartment basically by themselves,” Jongwoon said, coming up the stairs. “So, when did the shipment show up?”

“About ten minutes after you and Taekwoon went down for his lesson. Got a couple new titles we were expecting, and we got all the special orders that we were supposed to, even one that’s earlier than was estimated. I have them all separated and marked, just need to call the customers.”

“That’s good. I can call them in a little while then. I assume that isn’t what you wanted to talk to me about though.”

“No. Jungsu stopped in, got his usual, but his sister sent him a list of books to get. We had two of them, I thought we might have had the third, but we have to see if we can hunt down the last.” Heechul sliding a paper, where he rewrote Jungsu's list, over on the desk so Jongwoon could see it.

“We don’t have that one,” Jongwoon asked, pointing to the same book on the list Heechul had questioned earlier.

“I thought we did, but Jungsu couldn’t find it while I was preparing the herbs. I haven’t looked for myself yet.”

“Maybe it got moved. We did have a couple people yesterday who were browsing the books in there, maybe one of them looked at it and put it back in the wrong spot."

“That’s possible. Since otherwise we would need to contact the archives to make a few new copies for us.”

“While I don’t think they do, we should see if the archives has that last one. Though if they don't, you know we will have to have a copy made for them.”

“Can't we just not tell them about that one and see if another shop has it? It's not like we are the only ones in the whole country,” Heechul suggested.

“If you want to go that route first, go ahead. See if Hangeng and Kibum are able to check. When are they due back in town anyways?”

“Next week sometime. Hangeng said they got some interesting items for us. He wouldn’t give me anymore details than that but said Kibum would have them recorded and the data sent to us before they arrived.”

“Did he tell you that in your nightly phone calls? If so, why didn’t you tell me until now?”

“For your information, we didn’t talk last night,” Heechul corrected Jongwoon. “He called me this morning.”

“Wow, you guys went a whole day without actually hearing the other one’s voice,” Jongwoon teased.

“So, what,” Heechul asked, raising his voice some. “I can go plenty long without hearing his voice. We just talk every day because he misses hearing mine. And he should. My voice is great, and he is lucky enough to hear it so often.”

“Sometimes I wish I heard it less,” Jongwoon muttered, turning away from Heechul in hopes that he wouldn’t hear.

“What?”

“I said I’ll text him that. Let him know how you really feel.” Jongwoon turned back raising his own voice.

“Good, he’s been getting a little too chummy lately.”

“I’ll tell him that too,” Jongwoon said, watching as Heechul pulled out his phone. “And don’t be texting him to ignore everything I say.”

“I’m not. I was going to text him about the job. He’s got to earn his keep around here too.”

“He doesn’t live here,” Jongwoon stated.

“Actually, he kind of does,” Ryeowook shouted up from the ground floor. “Just because he has his own place doesn’t mean he doesn’t sleep here more than there. Also, why are you two fighting via Hangeng? You’re shouting loud enough for us to hear you down here.”

Jongwoon and Heechul walked over to the railing and peered over to see Ryeowook standing in the rows of bookshelves staring up at them with Taekwoon standing right behind him.

“You know, it’s kind of funny when they stand like that,” Jongwoon said quietly to Heechul. “Ryeowook is so small yet very outspoken, but Taekwoon is like a head taller than him yet so quiet.”

“Ryeowook looks like he would be the younger between them. It’s like they’re from a cartoon or anime,” Heechul added, the two quietly laughing about their own observations.

“Hey! What are you laughing at,” Ryeowook asked, annoyed.

“Nothing. Nothing at all,” Heechul said.

“It better be nothing. Now stop disturbing the customers.”

“Hey, who made you the boss? We sure didn’t.”

“If you want to be the boss then work instead of arguing.” Ryeowook walked away before Heechul or Jongwoon could retaliate and Taekwoon just shrugged his shoulders and went back to working.

“Ah, that kid. Should have more manners to his bosses and elders.”

“Were we that loud and annoying,” Jongwoon questioned instead. “He only gets like that when he is mad and worked up.”

“Who knows. Some days I think he just has a short fuse,” Heechul said heading back to the desk.

“Anyways. Text Hangeng to look for the book. I’ll go see if the other one is hiding in the shop. Maybe do a little more research online.”

“Sure, sure. Don’t forget to call the customers about the special orders that came in.”

“I won’t.” Heechul rolled his eyes knowing that Jongwoon will indeed forget and so made a list of the customers and their phone numbers and asked Taekwoon to pass it on to Jongwoon a little later.

Later in the evening, Taekwoon and Ryeowook were cleaning up the store and closing out the register for the night. Ryeowook was gathering the remaining snacks from the display onto one tray to take back into the apartment kitchen, when he was startled by a large flash of lightening that almost caused him to drop the tray.

“Was it supposed to storm tonight?” Ryeowook looked back at Taekwoon who was also staring curiously out the window.

“I’m not sure,” he answered just as the thunder sounded.

“It was a clear sky not that long ago I swear,” Ryeowook said. He set the tray of food on top of the display case and went right up to the window, trying to look at the sky past the awning that lined their store.

“There was a sudden rain shower this morning too.”

“That’s weird. But you’re right, there was.”

“It couldn’t have been cause by someone, could it,” Taekwoon asked after walking around the counter to where Ryeowook was so they both could look out the window. Ryeowook looked over at him after his question.

“Like a mage?” Taekwoon nodded. “No. Never. Jongwoon hasn’t explained that to you yet?” Again, Taekwoon just answered with a shake of his head. “I guess it doesn’t matter when you get your powers, everyone always wants to know if we can control the weather. I asked my mom the same question when I was a kid. Our powers are not capable of that, at least not on a large scale. While we can create some weather fields on a small scale, like to water a plant bed, or give it some sunlight when it’s been cloudy for days, we can’t create a full thunderstorm across the whole town. The most a very powerful mage can do is encourage clouds already heavy with rain, to drop sooner, or maybe cover a block of the street in fog. But nothing like this. Mother nature refuses to allow anyone else control. At least that’s what my mom told me. My previous master also said something similar when I asked him a few years later.”

“Ah. There just seems to be something strange about it. But I’m not sure what.”

“I think we just need to check the weather more frequently. It’s really coming down though,” Ryeowook said, looking back out the window to the sheets of rain coming down, already creating massive puddles on both the street and sidewalk. “I really hope no one is stuck out in this. Most of the other shops in the strip close around this time too, don’t they?”

“Yeah. The bar a few doors down stays open.”

“Well I hope most of the workers closing tonight are like us and live in the apartment attached to the shop. Or they can stay until the weather lightens up.”

“Hopefully,” Taekwoon agreed.

“We should get back to work. Are you finished with the register,” Ryeowook asked, turning away from the window completely. Taekwoon nodded again. “Good. Could you take the food back to the kitchen? I’ll gather the other dishes and clean out the display case.”

“Alright. I’ll come back for the dishes in a moment. Is Heebum in the apartment?”

“Yeah. Heechul took him in about an hour ago.”

Once his question was answered, Taekwoon picked up the tray from on top of the display case and headed to the apartment via the magic shop. Ryeowook gathered the remaining dishes and placed them on the counter near the register so that Taekwoon could easily grab them when he returned. Ryeowook also grabbed the cleaners from the cabinets underneath so he could get to cleaning. When Taekwoon took the dishes back to wash them, Ryeowook was left alone to finish the cleaning in the bookstore.

Just when he was nearly finished, he heard the front door open and the sound of the rain increased immensely. Ryeowook began to speak before he even bothered to turn around and see who was coming in.

“I’m sorry, we’re closed for the…” Ryeowook stopped speaking once he got a good look at the person. He was a young man, right around Ryeowook’s age, completely drenched, and looking entirely drained and defeated.

“Please.” The man started to speak, voice rough and faint as he held onto the window frame for support. “I need to find the mage Yesung.”

Chapter Text

“Damn Kyuhyun. You look horrible,” Hyukjae said as Kyuhyun joined them in the hallway outside a couple of their classrooms. Kyuhyun’s hair was a complete mess with sticks and leaves all stuck in it, mud all over his face and clothes. He also had noticeable tears in his clothes and scratches on his hands and even one on his face.

“What happened this time,” Henry asked. Sungmin and Donghae walked over to him to help clean him up while he explained.

“You know that tree-lined ditch between here and the train station, that runs along a street that’s basically an alleyway that’s barely wider than a car,” Kyuhyun asked. Everyone nodded, most already knowing where this was going. “Well someone decided they were going to drive through it today and almost ran me over. Instead I ended up falling into the ditch.”

“Dude, what has been happening the last couple of weeks? Yesterday you locked yourself out of your house for the millionth time, missed your train again, and your backpack strap broke,” Sungmin listed out.

“Don’t forget last week he had his flash drive corrupt and lost his presentation, which the only other copy was on his home computer since his laptop crashed the week before,” Hyukjae added.

“And it always rained when he planned to work on that project at the park, both last week and earlier this week,” Henry said.

“His phone’s screen cracked a couple days ago too, but he can’t afford to get it fixed or replaced. He’s also been splashed by cars going over puddles a lot in the last three weeks. Have we missed anything,” Donghae asked.

“The train thing has been happening for about a month and the time I was super early for it, it broke down. Even though my sister and parents haven’t had any problems, I’ve been stuck taking cold showers for a while now. And I started putting a spare key out just in case I forgot my keys, and I dropped it the other day and had a cat come and steal it before I could pick it up,” Kyuhyun explained.

“This isn’t normal. You need to do something,” Sungmin said.

“I’ve been trying. I carry an extra set of clothes and an umbrella, I’ve left earlier for the train and learned the bus schedule just in case. I’ve put spare keys just about everywhere including giving ones to you guys, and I check the weather more.”

“Have you talked to anyone about it?”

“I’ve talked to you guys, my parents, and the school counselor. I’ve also looked online for help.”

“I think you need to go find someone else,” Hyukjae suggested.

“Like who?”

“Someone in a more supernatural field,” Henry said.

“I’m not going to a psychic; those people are all quacks and a waste of time and money.”

“Not a psychic Kyu. You need to find a mage,” Sungmin said.

“A mage? We don’t live in a video game Min. How is someone who calls themselves a mage any better than a psychic?” Sungmin rolled his eyes at Kyuhyun’s outburst.

“You find a legit mage and they will be able to find out what is effecting you. A psychic is strictly for your mind and future, a mage does more. And honestly, psychics are a type of mage,” Sungmin explained.

“You talk as if they are real people, they are not. Mages are just from fairytales.”

“Fine. Whatever,” Sungmin answered, very annoyed and glanced down at his phone. “Donghae and I have to leave. Our class is starting soon and it’s over in the next building.” Sungmin didn’t bother saying goodbye to anyone, just angrily walked off. Donghae stayed back a second to say goodbye and grab his backpack before catching up to Sungmin.

“What pissed him off,” Kyuhyun asked loud enough for them to still hear.

“Sungmin,” Donghae whined, trying to keep up with Sungmin speed walking pace. “Slow down a little, would you?” Sungmin huffed but stopped and let Donghae catch up to him.

“Sorry.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I know Kyuhyun doesn’t believe in magic, but it still just makes me so mad when he acts like I’m crazy anytime we talk about it. I’m serious, I think he needs to find a master mage to solve whatever is going on.”

“Could we just ask our masters?”

“I don’t think mine would help much. He doesn’t really like dealing with regular humans. And your new master doesn’t seem very capable of helping considering her age.”

“That’s true. She’s a good teacher but she’s not very mobile anymore. She only agreed to take me on as an apprentice because I had already spent years training and I could help take care of her,” Donghae confirmed.

“There should be someone who is able to help.”

“Would it help if we told Kyuhyun what we are? He might be more open to the idea if he has proof that we are real.”

“No. With how he reacts now, I don’t want us to be the one to reveal magic to him. What would he think of us. You haven’t even told Hyukjae yet.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m not sure how to tell him. We only started dating recently.”

“And yet you want us to try and tell Kyuhyun.”

“Good point.”

“In the meantime, we should find a mage who would be able to help him, so when he gets to that point, he has somewhere to go,” Sungmin said. “Now let’s go, we’re going to be late if we don’t hurry.”

~

“Hey, where were you this morning? You don’t have an early class today, right,” Hyukjae asked when Kyuhyun walked into their classroom.

“No. This is my first class of the day. Why?”

“Why weren’t you at Mrs. Choi's test then?”

“What do you mean? Her test is later today when we have her class,” Kyuhyun said.

“She emailed us yesterday morning, said she had to move the test to earlier in the day because she had to leave for a family emergency out of town this morning right afterwards. She asked that anyone who would have a time conflict message her before the new time and she will leave the test for them in the testing center right afterwards. Anyone who didn’t show up and didn’t message her would be marked as missing the test and absent for the day,” Hyukjae explained. Kyuhyun paled as Hyukjae went through everything and began to search through the email on his phone.

“I didn’t get it. I don’t have any emails from her since the one when she had to change our classroom for a day.”

“That’s weird.”

“Why didn’t you tell me yesterday?”

“Because we don’t see each other on or Tuesday schedules and I assumed you saw the email,” Hyukjae pointed out.

“You have your laptop on, can you see who all she emailed? If she completely missed sending me the email I might have a case for getting a makeup test done when she gets back.” Hyukjae agreed, opening the email on his laptop. The two carefully scanned through the large list of names, but near the bottom clearly read Kyuhyun's email address. Kyuhyun then logged into his own email on the laptop, still finding no email in his inbox, deleted, or spam folders.

“You are so screwed.”

“I’m going to email her anyways. Since I never got it, maybe she will show some leniency.”

“I doubt it,” Hyukjae said. “She is always super strict.”

“Well I can't just ignore it. I have to at least try something.”

“Good luck. Let me know if I have to vouch for you or something. Also, I think this gets added to the list of crazy things that are happening to you.”

“Probably,” Kyuhyun said in a defeated voice. He was trying to quickly type out the email on Hyukjae’s laptop before class started.

“I think we are way past all of this being a crazy coincident. We’re at the ‘universe is out to get you personally stage’. I think you need to take up Sungmin’s suggestion from the other day.”

“Not you too,” Kyuhyun groaned out.

“I know it sounds a little crazy but you either have somehow gained the worst luck ever or the universe is literally out to get you. Either way, I don’t think there is a normal answer to it all, so why would there be a normal solution?”

“But a mage? Anyone who thinks they can use magic is just delusional.”

“Are they? Who says there can’t be someone out there who can legitimately use magic? It’s a big world with a lot of unexplained events.”

“I still disagree. Anytime someone has presented some proof of magic, it’s been disproven by many others.”

“Even so, I don’t think you can take that as an absolute that there is no magic.”

“Do you believe magic exists,” Kyuhyun asked.

“I don’t know if it does or not. I have no proof that it does, but I also don’t know every single thing that exists in the world and never will and in the space that I don’t know, it easily could exist.” Kyuhyun was about to speak again when their professor walked in cutting their conversation off.

The following week Kyuhyun was on his way to university and as per usually he just barely missed his train. Without any hesitation, he switched direction and walked down to the bus stop instead. For what ever reason, Kyuhyun never had an issue with the bus, it just came a little later and he would still have to walk a few blocks, but it was always on time and was a much better alternative to walking the whole way. Once on the bus, he sat back and played on his phone for a while. However, when the bus took a turn he was not expecting and heading a different way from usual he looked around slightly panicked. He first double checked the bus number and confirmed he was on the correct one, but that was when he noticed the electronic announcement board. According to the board, the bus would be taking a detour and not making it to a couple of the stops due to construction preventing the bus from traveling its usual route. He quickly pulled up the bus route on his phone and took the amended route into consideration and realized the next stop would be the closest one for him to get off at.

Once off the bus, Kyuhyun took a moment to orient himself and then heading towards the university. He glanced at the time on his phone to make sure the detour didn’t cost him too much time when the first couple of sprinkles started. Looking up at the sky, he noticed dark clouds rolling in. Kyuhyun paused to search his bag for the umbrella he started keeping in there just for this situation but couldn’t find it. Angrily he zipped the bag back up, only for the zipper to split and had to spend a minute convincing it to close properly. By the time he really started moving on his way towards university, the rain had started coming down at a nice steady pace.

Kyuhyun was most of the way to his university, waiting for the light to change to cross a busy intersection. When the light changed he began to cross with the other pedestrians who were caught in the rain, but only a third of the way across he heard people shouting and looked to see a car speeding right towards him and the people immediately around him. Everyone including Kyuhyun quickly moved to get out of the way, but due to the slickness of the road, Kyuhyun fell landing hard on his right shoulder, thankfully out of the way of the car that sped past all of them. He looked around first to make sure no one was hurt and had another gentleman offer him and hand up, checking to make sure he was alright as well. Once out of the street, everyone was checking to make sure no one was injured, and the same gentleman who helped Kyuhyun get up reminded him to go to the hospital at some point to check his arm and shoulder. Kyuhyun agreed, if nothing else but to reassure the man, glad that no one else seemed to be injured in any way and continued to make his way to university.

Thankfully the rest of his journey to university was uneventful, but he arrived soaked completely through and grimacing at the pain in his shoulder. And while his friends had become used to him showing up haggard and beat up, they were still shocked every time it happened.

“What the hell happened this time,” Sungmin asked the moment they saw him and Kyuhyun took the time to give them all the details.

“It’s getting worse, Kyuhyun. You need to do something different,” Henry pointed out after they helped him get cleaned up and changed into his spare clothes.

“He’s right. And are you sure you even want to go to class right now? I think you should get your shoulder checked out pretty quickly,” Hyukjae said.

“I’m fine. We have a decent break after this one. We can go then,” Kyuhyun stated.

“Alright. If you can’t write or type well, you can borrow my notes later to use. Let’s go sit down in the classroom.”

“Thanks, Hyuk.”

“Kyuhyun,” Sungmin started. “Donghae and I looked into it and found a very credible mage nearby. He doesn’t advertise himself at all and most people think he just runs a bookstore. Just give it a try, will you? It has to be better than just letting whatever this is get worse.”

“We can’t force you to go, but we’re worried, and this can’t make it worse,” Donghae added. Kyuhyun looked at both of them skeptically and a little annoyed but took the folded piece of paper that Sungmin was offering him. He immediately opened and read it.

“The Mage Yesung at AB Books?”

“Yes. And it’s real close to here, so you can’t say that it’s too far away,” Sungmin added.

“Fine. If I get super desperate, I’ll look into it.” Sungmin rolled his eyes at Kyuhyun’s answer but at least it was better than an outright no.

The remainder of Kyuhyun day was filled with many more incidents. In his first class with Hyukjae, his chair broke causing him to fall and more so, he tried to brace his fall with his right arm, causing himself more pain. During their longer break, Henry, Kyuhyun, and Hyukjae headed to a local hospital to get Kyuhyun’s arm checked out. While waiting, a child nearby was playing with a ball against the wall behind them, when he missed and hit Kyuhyun in the back of the head. Back on campus, between classes, he had a rollerblader crash into him and the bulb in of his class’s projector exploded when he was sitting directly below it. Thankfully most of the incidents were minor and aside from landing on his already injured arm, non-injury producing. However, by the time of Kyuhyun’s last class which started already late in the evening, he was worn out and ready to just be home.

When Kyuhyun finished his final class, it was already well past dark, but he could still see the storm clouds very quickly rolling in and felt the wind picking up drastically. Battling the wind, he made his way to the train station as quickly as he could, hoping to beat the rain. Just outside the train station, he found the handful of other late train riders leaving the station, and multiple police vehicles parked out front with their lights flashing. A middle-aged woman spotted him worriedly looking at the station and stopped to tell him it was closed due to some incident that caused an outage. She didn’t know what the incident was but was certain that was the main reason for the police being there. Dejectedly, Kyuhyun started for the next station, knowing it would be next to impossible to try and find a running bus stop that was going where he needed between how late it was and the construction that already detoured his earlier bus.

On the way to the next train station, the wind picked up even further and rain started pouring down. Just walking down the street was a struggle. It wasn’t long before the lightning and thunder started up too. Only a few cars were driving down the road and Kyuhyun could not see anyone else walking and as most shops were closed or closing at this point. Paper and some trash occasionally flew past having been picked up by the wind, so Kyuhyun wasn’t very surprised that he sometimes got hit. He was surprised however when a drink can hit his temple. The hit caused him to stumble and he dropped to a knee and held his head. Even though the rain was quickly washing it away, Kyuhyun could still tell with the help of a streetlight, that he was bleeding. He carefully glanced around, trying to see if someplace close was still open that he could duck into and treat his head but to no avail. The street seemed to be completely dark aside from the streetlights. Though in his search for a place, her realized he was very close to the address listed for the shop Sungmin told him to go to. And with his current state and the events of his day, he feels desperate.

With his new destination in mind, Kyuhyun finds a shop awning to give him some mild shelter from the rain so he can grab the paper from Sungmin out and get the actual address and name again. Since it was in his pants’ pocket, the paper was wet but thankfully still readable. And with the address in mind again, he knew he only need to go over one more street and it should be only a block or two further up. He stayed under the awning for another moment, though with the wind, the awning wasn’t giving much relief. Deciding the break was enough, Kyuhyun started off again, making his way slowly to the bookstore. When he was on the correct street, he carefully started looking at all of the store signs for ‘AB Books’ and silently hoped the store would still be open. Just a little further ahead he could see the store’s sign, and more so, he could see lights still on and a person inside. As he got closer, he could see the person was cleaning and that the store did seems closed, but he tried the door anyways. Although fighting the wind, the door was unlocked and opened for Kyuhyun.

“I’m sorry, we’re closed for the…” Kyuhyun heard the man say, back still facing him, but paused when he turned around. Kyuhyun took a moment to decide what he wanted to say.

“Please,” Kyuhyun started, hearing how rough and weak his voice was. “I need to find the Mage Yesung.”

Chapter Text

“Are you alright,” Ryeowook frantically asked. He dropped his cleaning towel and rushed over to Kyuhyun. “How long were you in the storm?”

“Since before it began,” Kyuhyun answered. Ryeowook hand ushered him further inside, going back to close the door which had been stuck open with the wind.

“Please sit down. While we are closed, there is no way I am letting you just walk back out into the storm.” Ryeowook said, pointing towards the bar stools at the counter. Kyuhyun watched as Ryeowook went searching through the cupboards grabbing various things out that Kyuhyun couldn’t quite see. He approached Kyuhyun a moment later with a couple of small hand towels and a cup of hot tea. “Sorry, I don’t have any larger towels in the shop, but they should help a little, and the tea should help too. Just let it steep for a bit. I don’t suppose you have a change of clothes with you?”

“Thank you. I do. But they are probably wet too. They have been in my bag since I got caught in the rain earlier today. How did you make tea so quickly?”

“Fancy coffee machine. Keeps a supply of hot water, so it’s good for making quick tea. Did you say you were caught both times it rained today? I think you need an umbrella.”

“I usually do. But it was missing earlier. Didn’t get a chance to get a new one.” Kyuhyun took one of the towels to his hair, trying to dry it a little when he brushed against the cut. He winced and pulled away the towel having forgot about it when he entered the store and saw the blood that had mixed into his hair was now on the towel. “Shit. I'm sorry.”

“What,” Ryeowook asked. Kyuhyun then showed him the towel. “Don’t worry about the towel, what happened to your head,” Ryeowook almost shouted once he noticed how much blood was in Kyuhyun's hair.

“I got hit by something, I think a can, on my way here.”

“Alright, well hopefully the others will be down in a moment,” Ryeowook had calmed himself down again and explained. “I asked my roommate to bring and larger towel and some of his clothes for you to change into, I can dry what your wearing then. And one of our bosses has some medical knowledge, so he can look at your wound better than I can.”

“Wookie? What's wrong?” Ryeowook heard Heechul shout down from the loft. He went out towards the middle of the store, so he could see Heechul coming downstairs with Taekwoon trailing behind him.

“A guy came in from the storm, soaked and injured. Where's Jongwoon?”

“He'll be down in a minute,” Heechul answered meeting Ryeowook in the rows of bookshelves. He gave Ryeowook and reassuring pat on the should as he walked past.

“Can you get all his wet clothes from him after he changes? I have to speak to Jongwoon” Ryeowook said to Taekwoon, keeping his voice a little lower, hoping Kyuhyun doesn’t get suspicious

“Yeah. He's just finishing something in his room.” Ryeowook thanked Taekwoon before heading upstairs himself and into the apartment via the door from the loft. That door lead into a hallway with the stairs leading to the third floor immediately on his right, Taekwoon and his bedroom just past that and their bathroom across the way. He placed in the hallway for a couple minutes until Jongwoon came down the stairs.

“Wookie, what's wrong? Taek said you needed all of us,” Jongwoon said when he saw the pacing Ryeowook.

“There is a guy in the store. He came in from the storm. And he's hurt which is why I needed Heechul,” Ryeowook rapidly said.

“Okay. What else,” Jongwoon carefully asked assuming there was more to it than just that. Ryeowook took a deep breath to calm himself down.

“When he came in, he said he needed to find the mage Yesung.”

“That is interesting. He is a regular human, I’m guessing?”

“From what I can tell. Besides, no one refers to you as Yesung unless they are not a mage themselves.”

“I did.” Both turned to look as Taekwoon walked into the apartment, handful of clothes with him. “I called Jongwoon the mage Yesung when I first showed up here.” Taekwoon talked as he took the clothes over to the dryer in the utility closet just past their bathroom.

“But you were just oozing out magic, so it was obvious you were an undisciplined mage,” Ryeowook said. Taekwoon glared at Ryeowook in response.

“Alright, let’s not go there, we know all young mages not yet trained can't contain their magical signature, we were the same as children. Now, have you said anything to him?”

“Not about that. I just acted like I didn’t notice what he said and instead focused on him being stuck in the rain. What do we do?”

“As Taek said, not everyone who looks for me under the fake name is someone to worry about, we just keep that one out there to filter out the non-mages who may be looking for trouble. Or may be way more into magic than most regular humans are. So, let’s find out what he is about first before we send him off.” Jongwoon headed to the loft and store first, Ryeowook and Taekwoon behind. “So, how is he Chul? Ryeowook said he was injured.”

“He'll be alright, it’s a small cut but it’s on the head so it likes to bleed a lot. But he is all cleaned up now, just keeping a towel on it to wait for the bleeding to stop,” Heechul explain when they walked up. He and Kyuhyun were sitting at the counter again, Kyuhyun holding a small towel to his head, but now wearing Taekwoon's clothes and noticeably dryer than he was when Ryeowook left him.

“That’s good to hear. You must have been relieved to have seen Ryeowook cleaning and the door unlocked, it’s quite the nasty storm out there. I’m Jongwoon by the way and you’ve met Heechul, Taekwoon, and Ryeowook already,” Jongwoon introduced himself and pointed to each of the others just in case they hadn’t actually done so themselves.

“Kyuhyun. I was actually looking for this place. I was beyond relived when the door was open.”

“I’m sorry to say but we are closed. Shut down the register and everything. You can look at the books while you wait out the storm, but you’ll have to come back later to purchase anything.”

“Actually, I wasn’t here for the books,” Kyuhyun admitted.

“Oh? Why else come to a bookstore then? Ryeowook and Taekwoon’s snacks are quite delicious, but I didn’t think anyone was stopping by just for them.”

“I didn’t even know there was a café in here.”

“It’s not a café,” Ryeowook said annoyed from the table he and Taekwoon chose to sit at.

“Wook. People are going to call it a café. Get over it,” Heechul said.

“A fancy coffee and espresso machine, some homemade snacks, and a couple of tables does not make it a café,” Ryeowook argued.

“Anyways,” Jongwoon interrupted before Ryeowook could get any more worked up. “If you’re not here for books, and you didn’t know about our pseudo-café area, then I’m not sure I know what you came for.”

“I’m looking for,” Kyuhyun paused taking a deep breath and sighed. “I’m looking for a mage named Yesung.”

“A mage named Yesung?”

“Yes. My friends told me I could find him hear and that he would solve my problem.”

“And what problem do you have that has you searching for a mage? Based on how you said that, you don’t seem the type to believe in magic or mages,” Jongwoon said.

“I don’t. And it may seem crazy and stupid, but I’ve had what someone would call a bad day, almost every day for the past month.”

“That’s a bold statement,” Heechul said.

“But it’s true. It started out simple, just frequently forgetting my keys or stuff for classes. Then it progressed to no longer being able to take a hot shower no matter when I take it, I can even have a family member take one right before and right after me and neither will have a problem with the temperature.”

“So far, this just seems like basic solvable stuff,” Ryeowook said.

“It should be. But my solutions never worked for various reasons. And things are getting worse now.” Kyuhyun started to go through every single thing they have put on his list and all of the solutions he and his friends or family have tried.

“Well now I can see why your friends suggested you find a mage.” Jongwoon thought for a moment before making his next decision. “Come with me.”

“But Jongwoon,” Ryeowook shouted, quickly standing up as Jongwoon started leading Kyuhyun to the magic shop’s door.

“Don’t worry Ryeowook. We know what we are doing,” Heechul said having known what Jongwoon decision was going to be since Kyuhyun told them he was looking for Yesung. “Let’s just clean up while he works, okay?”

“Fine.” Ryeowook dejectedly began to clean up the mess he and Kyuhyun made when the later came in and finish his regular cleaning.

Kyuhyun was very confused by the commotion behind him but followed Jongwoon through the door anyways. He was quite shocked when he entered to find a room full of strange books, plants, and artifacts he couldn’t even begin to identify. He stood awkwardly in the middle of the room as Jongwoon immediately went to the cupboards. When Jongwoon noticed, he ordered Kyuhyun to take a seat at the table near the back of the room.

“So,” Jongwoon began, not bothering to turn to face Kyuhyun. “It sounds like you got yourself a case of some serious bad luck.”

“Bad luck? Really?”

“Yes. There are many ways to get bad luck, some widely known like breaking a mirror, others not so known.”

“Breaking a mirror really gives you bad luck? I thought that was just some silly superstition.”

“Well it’s considered one now but that doesn’t make it any less accurate, it just means people don’t believe it now,” Jongwoon said walking over to stand directly in front of Kyuhyun.

“But how? Why does that give you bad luck?”

“In the world, there exists both positive and negative energies. They are created by all living things based by actions and emotions and even the environment. Positive energy will stick to anything and remain for a short while and positive energy being somewhere is where the idea of good luck and miracles come from. Negative energy prefers to remain on a living being, though it can attach itself to other objects. When you have an abundance of negative energy is when you get bad luck. On its own, it will dissipate but very slowly, much slower than positive energy does. Reflective surfaces especially mirrors, since they are the most reflective, gather the negative energy off a living being when they pass by. Think of it like the negative energy is attached to you and that shows up in your reflection, but when you leave, the negative energy stays trapped in the reflection effectively removing it from you. When you break a mirror, the stored negative energy that has not been dissipated, attaches itself to the person who released it,” Jongwoon explained. “Now because of this ability, we call items like mirrors, purifiers since they purify the people of negative energy. Crystal glass and flowers can also be considered purifiers.”

“But I haven’t broken any mirrors or other reflective items. At least not when this all started,” Kyuhyun said.

“I said there were more ways. Breaking anything made of crystal can give you bad luck. Giving someone a flower, plant, or bouquet with a poisonous plant or flower, or has a meaning of ill-will, will give someone bad luck. Even just stepping in a garden bed and crushing a plant can do it. And of course, someone could curse you with magic.” Kyuhyun thought for a moment on Jongwoon’s list and paled slightly.

“I tripped and accidently stepped in my mom’s garden a few days before I noticed everything begin to happen. I don’t know if I crushed anything, but it’s possible,” Kyuhyun explained.

“Well, I would guess that you did, unless you want me to go find the official list of everything that can give you bad luck and we go through it,” Jongwoon suggested.

“Uh not unless it matters,” Kyuhyun cautiously said.

“No, not unless you were cursed by someone. And usually when someone gets cursed that’s the first thing they tell me.” Jongwoon walked back to the counter to grab the items he had set out when they first entered the room. He took them over to another table against the back wall that had a number of vials, tubes, mortar and pestle, and a couple of candles.

“So, this is a little late, but I take it you are Yesung?”

“Yes,” Jongwoon responded keeping his back to him. “It’s a pseudonym. Helps us sort out who the mages and the normal humans are.”

“Why?”

“Not all humans who come here searching for me have good intentions or need help. Some are just into magic and want to look at a real magic shop, but many of the items in this room can be dangerous in the hands of humans who do not understand them fully. Then there are others who wish to see our demise. So, when someone comes in looking for me via my pseudonym, we can deny it until we find out it’s safe.”

“I’m considered safe to you?”

“Are you trying to say you’re not,” Jongwoon questioned throwing a look over his shoulder. “Your desperation and disbelief of magic proves you don’t fall into either category. You just need help. You should feel lucky, you’re only the second person to use that name who made it back here.”

“Oh, thank you.”

“I’d tell you to thank your friends too, since by what you told me, this bad luck is getting out of hand, but nothing about me or this shop leaves this building,” Jongwoon warned, his already deep and husky voice managing to get even deeper and almost menacing. Kyuhyun nervously nodded, not wanting to risk what would happen if he pissed off a mage.

“What did you mean by my bad luck is getting out of hand,” Kyuhyun questioned instead.

“While it takes some time, the negative energy should dissipate over time on its own. Most of the time, unless by a curse, the bad luck weakens over time until everything evens back out and all the negative energy has left. There are however, rare cases where the negative energy collects and grows faster than it can dissipate, causing the bad luck to get worse. When that happens, you need extra help from either a burst of positive energy or a mage. And a burst of positive energy is much harder to come by.” Kyuhyun just hummed his understanding, remaining otherwise quiet so Jongwoon could work.

Kyuhyun couldn’t see past him to tell what all was going on, but he could hear the grinding of the mortar and pestle, clanking of vials, and the candle being lit. It took Jongwoon some time to finish whatever he was making, but when he did, he set two small vials on the table next to Kyuhyun.

“This is a potion that will help dispel the negative energy. Take one of those tonight. Then take the other in three days.”

“Why two of them?”

“The effects of the potion wear off in the three days and if there isn’t enough of the negative energy dispelled by then, you will quickly end up right back where you are. So, the second gives you a second boost.”

“Why not make a stronger potion that lasts longer,” Kyuhyun asked.

“Because a stronger potion would have too many negative effects on a person. This is the strongest the potion can be made before it becomes harmful,” Jongwoon sternly explained going back to the almost menacing voice. “Remember, you came to me for help. I am more than well aware of what I am doing. So, when I say this is what you take, this is what you take. Otherwise, you can choose to not take it and hope you don’t get worse.”

“I’ll take the potions,” Kyuhyun quietly answered while looking away, not being able to stand Jongwoon’s piercing glare any longer.

“Good.” Jongwoon instantly lost the glare and tone to his voice when Kyuhyun agreed. “Now for your payment. Just because I closed the bookstore doesn’t mean you get your potion for free.” Kyuhyun nodded and let Jongwoon pull up his bill which was not as bad as Kyuhyun first thought it would be. They were not cheap by any means, but it was definitely affordable.

“Should I take the first one now?”

“Yes. And I can keep the vial. Don’t forget to take the other one in three days too. Also, fair warning, it is not a pleasant potion. We have done what we can for the taste, but it’s still not good.” Without responding Kyuhyun opened one of the vials and drank it in one shot. Once finished, he set the vial back down harshly and began coughing.

“Oh, that is disgusting,” Kyuhyun said between coughs. Jongwoon chuckled lightly, grabbing a glass of water for Kyuhyun.

“I told you. Just imagine, it used to be worse.” Jongwoon handed Kyuhyun the glass and helped keep him sitting upright while he drank it, rubbing comforting circles on his back.

“How could this have been worse?”

“You really don’t want to know,” Jongwoon answered. “Finish the glass, and drink one when you take the other potion. It helps with the coughing and burning sensation in the throat. It won’t last long, I promise.”

“You could have told me about this first you know.”

“Maybe.” Jongwoon smiled down at Kyuhyun, still keeping a hand on his shoulder and rubbing circles on his back with the other. “But it’s hard to gage a person’s reaction to it ahead of time.”

“Warning still would have been nice.” Kyuhyun finished the glass, with only the occasional cough now. Jongwoon took the glass from him when he was finished, setting it on the counter near the sink.

“You alright now?”

“Yeah. Should probably drink more when I get home though.”

“That would be a good idea. Let’s see if the rain has cleared up any.” Jongwoon went to the door just beyond the table Kyuhyun was sitting at instead of the one they entered from. Kyuhyun was confused but stood up and followed, making sure to grab the other vial on his way.

Beyond the doorway was their living room, dining room, and kitchen as mostly one decent sized space. Heechul was sitting on the couch to the right of them watching tv, while Jongwoon walked towards the door that lead out behind the building. Kyuhyun noticed that his backpack was sitting neatly on the table as well.

“How does the radar look, Chul?”

“Most of the really bad stuff is past us, but it’s going to rain all night it seems. It’ll probably stay pretty heavy too,” Heechul answered only quickly glancing over to them.

“Damn, I hate driving in the rain,” Jongwoon quietly said to himself. He turned back to Kyuhyun who was still just awkwardly standing in the middle of the room. “You can sit anywhere you like, and if you want another glass of water, help yourself. Cups are in the upper cupboard to left of the sink. I’m going to go see how much time is left on the dryer.” Jongwoon left Kyuhyun alone with Heechul heading up the stairs behind them next to the door they just entered from.

“If you want to become a statue in our living room, I guess that’s fine. But if it’s a side effect of the potion, that would be a new one for us and I would like you to tell us before you really do become one.” Kyuhyun looked back over at Heechul who was now staring at him with a look of amusement. Finally moving since he entered the apartment, he took a seat in one of the chairs by the couch.

“Are you also a mage,” Kyuhyun finally found the courage to ask.

“Yes. We all are. Surprised?”

“A little. I was told to find Jongwoon, so I assumed he would be the only one.”

“His name is the one out there, but both he and I own the shops. I don’t mind it because that means he gets to deal with all the debatable customers.” Kyuhyun hummed in understand and sat back trying to make himself comfortable. He quietly watched the tv with Heechul until Jongwoon came back downstairs, clothes in hand.

“Get talking to the boys,” Heechul asked Jongwoon.

“Yeah. Ryeowook is still not sure about my decision, but he’ll be alright.”

“It was funny watching him clean the store all angrily. Until he kicked me out that is. I did worry about him breaking the mop though.”

“Did you make fun of him?”

“No, I just looked too amused for his liking and was in the way as he put it.”

“You still probably look to amused by it all,” Jongwoon pointed out.

“Probably.”

“Isn’t about time for your nightly call with Hangeng?”

“We talked this morning, remember?”

“Because that will stop you both.” Jongwoon turned his focus back to Kyuhyun. “Your clothes are dry. There is a bathroom for you to change in through that door, just leave Taekwoon’s clothes in the hamper.” Jongwoon pointed to the door past the living room as he explained.

“Going to take him home now?”

“Yeah. It’s not like I can just send him out in the rain again. Especially not if he is suffering from bad luck.”

“I figured that’s what it was. Between what he told you before you took him back and his face was that of a person who took that potion. Still need to find something to make it bearable.”

“It’s not like everyone isn’t trying. There is just something with it that turns everything that gets mixed in horrible.”

“Well it is a potion for bad luck,” Heechul pointed out.

“Yes, but the potion itself isn’t bad luck. Dumbass.” Jongwoon was about to smack Heechul when Kyuhyun re-emerged from the bathroom in his own clothes. Heechul took the chance to duck away and head towards the stairs.

“Call me if something happens,” Heechul shouted on his way upstairs, laughing the whole time. Kyuhyun confusedly gestured after Heechul but Jongwoon waved him off.

“Don’t mind him. He’s just crazy sometimes. Get your stuff and I’ll take you home,” Jongwoon announced, gathering his own coat and key and waited for Kyuhyun by the door.

“Thanks.”

The drive to Kyuhyun’s was rather uneventful and mostly silent aside from Kyuhyun’s directions and Jongwoon’s reminders. Jongwoon also reminded him that the bad luck would not instantly go away, but when Kyuhyun got home, he couldn’t find himself to care. He was just feeling hopeful that soon all the weird things happening to him would be done and over with.

Chapter Text

~

The following week, Kyuhyun’s friends were waiting for him in their usual meeting spot as he is always the last to arrive. Henry was the first to see Kyuhyun coming down the hallway and hummed while tilting his eyed and narrowing his eyes slightly. Hyukjae was standing close enough to hear the hum and looked and Henry then followed his line of vision to Kyuhyun.

“What’s up Henry?”

“Is it just me, or has Kyuhyun shown up without some accident the last couple of days?” All conversation stopped when Henry made that statement and they all looked over at Kyuhyun who was just walking up to them.

“What,” Kyuhyun asked when he noticed everyone staring him down. He also began to examine his clothes and hair for anything out of the ordinary. “Is there something on me?”

“More like there isn't something. He's perkier too,” Sungmin stated, which only continued to confuse Kyuhyun.

“Huh? What am I missing? Was I supposed to bring something today? And what does being perkier have to do with it?” While Kyuhyun was still trying to figure out what his friends were going on about, Donghae got wide eyed and leaned in closer to Kyuhyun.

“Did you go see Yesung?”

“What?” Kyuhyun was through off guard with the question and practically jumped away from Donghae. Thankfully, Donghae just took his outburst as having forgot the name.

“You know. The mage.”

“No,’ Kyuhyun answered with what he hoped was believable offense, while he had Jongwoon’s warning playing in the back of his mind. “I told you I was only going to see this so-called mage if I got super desperate.” He ignored Sungmin’s scoff, just relieved they believed him.

“Then what did you do? We haven’t had to get out our first aid kits or Donghae’s towel in a couple days,” Henry questioned.

“A few different things on the internet. I haven’t stopped looking. It appears something worked, not sure which one though since a couple said they would take a few days for any noticeable results.”

“Anyone give you an answer for why all this is happening to you,” Hyukjae asked.

“Most people just call it bad luck, but we know that’s not real. But most people believe in it to some degree so what else would they call it?”

“So, what exactly all did you try that was less outrageous than seeing a mage?” The other three knew exactly where this was going and stepped to the side. They just hoped it wouldn’t end up with them shouting and causing a scene. Sometimes they wondered how the two could be so close yet always argue about magic.

“Quite a bit Sungmin. Why don’t you just be glad that you don’t have to worry about what state I’m going to show up in every day.”

“Sure, we’re all glad for that. But you could be a little less of an ass when it comes to mages and magic. Just humor my ideas instead of basically calling me crazy.”

“I don’t think you’re crazy, but why do you get so uptight about it? Can’t I just not believe in it and we let it be at that?”

“Because while you may not believe in it, it’s a major part of my life since it’s who I am.”

“Sungmin?” Donghae had quietly called his name, shocked to hear Sungmin’s statement. Sungmin himself was quite shocked as well once he realized what he said.

“What the hell do you mean by that,” Kyuhyun asked either ignoring or just oblivious to Sungmin and Donghae’s shock.

“Nothing. Just whatever. I have to stop by the computer lab before class.” Sungmin didn’t even bother actually saying goodbye to anyone, he just picked up his backpack from their pile against the wall and stomped off.

Donghae was fidgeting, playing with his sleeve while hesitating on whether to chase after Sungmin now or just talk to him in class. In the end, he decided he needed to go after him. He gave Hyukjae a quick peck on the cheek, grabbed his bag and ran after Sungmin.

“Donghae,” Hyukjae shouted very confused.

“I’ll text you,” Donghae shouted back, not even pausing.

“Alright, what just happened,” Hyukjae asked Kyuhyun.

“I’m not sure.” Kyuhyun couldn’t help but think on what Sungmin had said. Before he met Jongwoon and the others at the shop, he would have just assumed Sungmin was just saying that as someone who believes in magic, but now, he can’t help but think he was saying something else.

~

“Woonie,” Heechul shouted from the loft, practically bouncing over to the railing. When he looked down, Taekwoon, who was restocking the shelves was looking up at him.

“Yes?”

“Sorry, Taekwoon, I meant Jongwoon. I forgot you sometimes get called Woonie too.”

“He’s in the room.” Taekwoon pointed back towards the magic shop.

“Thank you.” Heechul came down the stairs, still with a bounce in his step. “Asshole,” he shouted instead, heading straight for the magic shop. Taekwoon had winced at the shouting and looked over at Ryeowook after Heechul was gone.

“He called him Woonie first, so it must be something good,” Ryeowook said, shrugging. Taekwoon took the answer and went back to work, figuring they would find out what’s going on soon enough.

“Did you really just call for me by saying asshole,” Jongwoon asked as soon as Heechul came into the shop.

“Yes. I called you Woonie first, but Taekwoon responded first. So, I had to use something else.”

“Full name would have worked just as well. Anyways, what do you want?”

“Hangeng and Kibum are coming back tonight or tomorrow morning. It just depends on how long their last stop takes them.”

“Okay,” Jongwoon stretched the word out slightly wondering if that was all the news Heechul had.

“And they got both books for Jungsu. The obscure one they managed to trade for from another shop and they stopped off at the archives for the other.”

“That should make Jungsu happy. Or rather Inyoung, since he was getting them for her.”

“Yeah, and that’s not all. Kibum emailed me the item list. There are some things on here that I think you’ll be very interested in.” Heechul passed his phone over to Jongwoon to look through the email. “And since they were at the archives, they confirmed Taekwoon’s addition, they’re bringing the notice back with them.” Jongwoon stopped his scrolling and looked back up at Heechul again.

“Finally? It’s been what, nine months since we sent them Taekwoon’s information?”

“Yeah, for being some of the most powerful mages, they are really slow. But Taekwoon and his symbol are now registered at the archives. When should we tell him?”

“When Hangeng brings the notice. It’ll feel more official for him and it’s not like we will be waiting long.”

“Good point. Anyway, that’s all I had so, go back to what you were doing.” Heechul was about to leave when he actually looked at what Jongwoon was working on. “Actually, what were you working on?”

“Detection potions. I sold the last one we had made yesterday.”

“Why? I mean, I know we typically keep them premade, but why make them now?”

“I was checking inventory and remembered that we were out and just had a feeling I should make a new batch up before one is needed. Which is actually nice, because now I’m thinking of giving Taekwoon a lesson on it.”

“He ready for that?”

“They’re not the most complicated of spells, Chul. He has already picked up on some harder ones all on his own. And I think the chance to see his own symbol with his magic will help him relax into his magic more. It’s almost been a year since he came to us but there is still a part of him that is uneasy.”

“I’ve noticed.” Heechul sighed. “Sometimes he seems very comfortable and natural with his magic and other times he’s almost scared of it. And I know it’s all that damn bitch’s fault.” Heechul practically snarled the last part, gripping the table he had chosen to lean against to the point that his knuckles were turning pale.

“Heechul,” Jongwoon warned. “I hate her as much as you, but she is human, and we don’t get involved. All that matters is that Taek is safely with us and she can’t touch him.”

“You’re right. But hey, invite Shikie over when you do the detection lesson.” The sudden idea threw Jongwoon for a moment, and he wasn’t even sure at first why Heechul suggested it. It wasn’t long though, that Jongwoon caught up to Heechul’s line of thought and agreed with the idea.

The following morning, Hangeng and Kibum arrived long before the sun was reaching the horizon. They quickly unloaded everything they acquired during the trip, carefully and quietly taking them down to the basement. When everything was unloaded, Kibum returned to his and Hangeng’s apartment, leaving Hangeng behind. Since it was still too early for anyone else to be awake, Hangeng climbed up to the third floor to join Heechul and sleep until a more reasonable hour.

Hangeng was the last to wake up again, even Heechul had let him sleep in later and everyone was already preparing to eat breakfast when he joined the in the kitchen. After a quick greeting to everyone, when Hangeng saw Taekwoon, he remembered what Heechul had texted him and went to his bag he left sitting next to the couch. Inside he had a large gold envelope carefully tucked away in a folder for safe keeping that he now retrieved and handed over to Taekwoon.

“For me,” Taekwoon questioned taking the envelope from Hangeng.

“Yup. You can open it now too,” Hangeng told him taking his seat next to Heechul. Both Heechul and Jongwoon were excitedly waiting for Taekwoon to open it, Ryeowook seemed to be the only other one who didn’t know what was going on. With all eyes on him, Taekwoon slowly broke the seal on the back and slid out the paper inside. He read the contents of the paper silently to himself, Ryeowook leaning over to try and read over his shoulder too. Slowly the nervous and confused expression changed to an excited shock as he began to realize what he was holding.

“Is this really it?”

“Yup. Hangeng told us yesterday, but we wanted you to see the official paper first,” Jongwoon explained.

“But you are official registered in the archives as a mage. So basically, that’s your mage birth certificate you are holding,” Heechul continued. “And you are recognized as an apprentice studying under Jongwoon.”

“Is that my symbol?” Taekwoon laid the paper down and pointed to a small silhouette of a cat in a dark blue on the corner of the page.

“It is. It’s your first time actually seeing it, isn’t it?” Taekwoon nodded at Jongwoon’s question. “With a little more training you will be able to show someone your symbol at will as a sort of identification. I’m sure you have seen a couple customers do it in order to prove they are mages when visiting for the visit time.”

“I have.”

“Also, if you would wish to, you can request for the archives to search if you have any registered mage relatives. Of course, if they weren’t registered, there wouldn’t be a record of them even if they were a mage.”

“I don’t know.”

“It’s entirely up to you and you can do it whenever you may choose to. We just want you to know it’s an option for you,” Heechul added.

“I’ll think about it. I can show this to Shikie, right?”

“Of course, it’s yours. And when you talk to him, see if he can help with one of your lessons,” Jongwoon asked.

“Sure.”

~

“Everything still going good,” Hyukjae asked Kyuhyun a couple days later when he joined him in the classroom.

“Yup. And I think the little things are getting less too.”

“Have you spoken to Sungmin at all?”

“No, I’m pretty sure he is avoiding me. You?”

“Not a word. I think the only one he is talking to is Donghae and he’s not saying anything about it either.” Hyukjae sighed and slumped down on the table, burring his face in his arms.

“What do you think Sungmin meant when he said it’s who he is?” Hyukjae turned his head so he could look at Kyuhyun and did his best to shrug.

“I assume he just meant that his love and belief of magic is just a large part of what makes him, him.”

“But what if he meant it more literally than that?”

“What are you thinking?” Hyukjae had narrowed his eyes, staring at Kyuhyun, but Kyuhyun was no longer looking back at him. Before Kyuhyun could give any sort of answer, their professor walked it and immediately called for attention. Hyukjae sat back up, but kept his eyes on Kyuhyun, hoping to get some sort of answer but it was of no use.

“So, what were you thinking Sungmin meant,” Hyukjae asked again once class was over.

“I don’t know, maybe I’m putting too much thought into it.”

“Just tell me what you thought.” Hyukjae stopped Kyuhyun while they were headed down the stairs. He was still on the landing but Kyuhyun was a couple steps further down. Just as Kyuhyun was turning to face Hyukjae, there was a scream from above them. Hyukjae looked up in time to see a section of the railing falling and pulled Kyuhyun back up to the landing, keeping them out of the way as it landed halfway down the steps. Hyukjae did a quick look around, noticing all the other shocked students, but thankfully it didn’t hit anyone when it landed. Kyuhyun was in a daze just staring at the railing.

“Anyone hurt down there?” Hyukjae heard a girl asking from where the railing fell.

“I think we’re all okay. It didn’t hit anyone. Everyone okay up there,” Hyukjae asked since everyone else seemed to be too shocked to respond.

“We’re okay. My friend is calling campus security right now.”

“I don’t know what the railing did for the structure of the stairs, so maybe everyone should use one of the other ones.” Hyukjae directed that to the handful of students who had been walking down the stairs behind them when the accident happened. Eventually one student came out of their shock and agreed, nudging the students around them to go back up and take another route down.

“Damn, you think I would be used to stuff like this happening by now.”

“This isn’t stuff you get used to. You’re not thinking it’s because of you, are you?”

“No. There’s no way it could be.” While Kyuhyun spoke with confidence, there was a small part of him that doubted his own words.

“Alright, well let’s wait until security comes, just so we can tell them what we saw and make sure no one tries to come up around it, just in case.”

“Sure.” The two leaned against the back wall, talking quietly to themselves and sometimes to the girls waiting above. There were only a couple of times they had to urge other students to take a different route since it seemed the news of the accident spread quick. Quickly enough that it even reached Donghae who wasn’t even on the same end of campus as them and was frantically calling Hyukjae. While it was already difficult enough to calm down Donghae and ensure that they were fine in the first place, once Donghae found out that it landed so close to them, it was nearly impossible to calm him down again.

“Hae, I promise we weren’t hurt at all. Security is here so we need to talk to them. I’ll see you in a little while.” Hyukjae finally coaxed Donghae into hanging up the phone when security and a couple other university staff members walked up to the base of the stairs.

“The girls upstairs said they were leaning against it and it came loose and fell before they realized.” Kyuhyun was explaining everything to the staff members when Hyukjae got off the phone. “The girls are still upstairs waiting. They found some chairs to block the opening.”

“We didn’t know what damage was done to the stairs, so we didn’t want to let anyone pass,” Hyukjae added.

“Thank you both for doing that while keeping yourselves out of harms way. We just need you to write down your statements and contact information and then you can leave,” one of the security officers said handing them notepads. He had carefully stepped up the stairs while other personnel blocked off the base of the stairs and more went around to speak to the girls. After writing their statements, they handed the pads back and headed back upstairs, stopping briefly to check on the girls in person since previously they had just been shouting at each other.

“I’m going to meet Donghae since I’m sure he is still all wound up. Want to join?”

“Nah. I need to head over to the computer lab before my next class. And I would rather not feel like a third wheel,” Kyuhyun teased, which earned him a shove from Hyukjae.

“Fine, be that way. I’m going to see if I can talk to Sungmin too. See you later.”

~

A few days after the accident, the doubt Kyuhyun was carrying about the accident was still there even though there had been nothing to link it to him. And his bad luck was almost entirely gone, so it had to be a coincidence, or so he tried to tell himself. Walking to school that day is when his thoughts started to change. Before he had made it out of his neighborhood, he was almost hit by a rather large flower pot, clay or ceramic, Kyuhyun wasn’t sure, but it shattered when it landed mere inches from him. Looking up, it was impossible to tell exactly what cause it to fall from the wall, but there were still two more sitting on the ledge above him. Then later at home, when he was getting a drink, he had the glass shatter on him, a shard flying and cutting him on the collarbone in addition to all the cuts on his hands. With no idea as to what cause the glass to shatter, in addition to the other recent incidents, Kyuhyun was feeling paranoid again.

It wasn’t much longer that some of his smaller cases of bad luck came back too, causing him to miss his train for the first time in a few days again. But while those confused Kyuhyun, he could handle them. It was the more aggressive and dangerous incidents that were worrying him. Relaxing during one of his breaks in the park, the tree he was sitting under suddenly had a large branch snap off and fall where he was sitting. If it wasn’t for his paranoia and hearing the cracking from above him, it would have landing right on top of him. Another day, getting out of the way for a couple of people on bikes, Kyuhyun stepped off the curb and right onto a sewer grate that immediately gave way. Thankfully he managed to keep himself leaning forward and prevented himself from falling in, but the sudden drop was excruciatingly painful. And the last incident that cause Kyuhyun to search out Jongwoon again after only two weeks was getting caught in another thunderstorm only a couple blocks away from home and had lightning strike the light post right next to him, shattering the casing and raining glass down on him.

“Jongwoon,” Kyuhyun shouted entering the bookstore the day after the lightning incident.

“Quiet.” Kyuhyun heard the soft but stern voice of Taekwoon say from across the store. He had tried to speak again but realized he couldn’t. “There are other customers. Please keep your voice down.” Taekwoon had walked over to him and dragged him back to the counter. “You can speak again but please keep your voice down.”

“What the hell was that,” Kyuhyun asked, keeping his voice just barely above a whisper.

“I don’t like people shouting.”

“I don’t think that answered…”

“What do you need Jongwoon for,” Taekwoon asked, interrupting Kyuhyun.

“His help last time only worked for a short bit.” Taekwoon stared at him for a moment, silently judging Kyuhyun’s statement before he hummed and nodded slightly.

“He is with another customer, so you have to wait.” Kyuhyun agreed, allowing Taekwoon to get back to work. Kyuhyun laid his head against his arms on the counter, facing the door he went through last time with Jongwoon. He couldn’t stop himself from bouncing his leg or occasionally tapping his fingers on the counter as he waited. When the door finally started to open, Kyuhyun shot up so he was sitting upright again.

“Thank you Hakyeon. Make sure you say hello to Sejun for me and tell him I hope he feels better soon. Heechul can visit if need be as well.” Jongwoon was speaking to the young customer who he was exiting the room with, not yet noticing Kyuhyun.

“I will tell him. Thank you Jongwoon. Besides, it allowed me to see Taekwoon again, since he
disappeared after graduation.” Taekwoon scoffed, refusing to look over at Hakyeon.

“The people who needed to know, knew where I was.”

“I’m hurt Taekwoonie.” Hakyeon put his hands over his head and pretended to be hurt. “Even your mother came and asked me if I knew where you were.” Taekwoon slammed his hands down onto the counter, shocking everyone, finally turning to glare at Hakyeon.

“Then it’s good you didn’t know. I don’t care if you come here, but you better not say a word about it to anyone else.”

“Are you hiding from them? Taekwoonie?”

“Hakyeon, I think you should get going,” Jongwoon calmly said. “It’s a complicated situation and he will be the one to tell you if he wishes. But I don’t think it will happen today and Sejun needs his items.”

“Oh, yeah,” Hakyeon solemnly said, glancing down at the packages he was carrying. “It was good seeing you Taekwoon. I’ll visit again sometime.” Taekwoon relaxed his glare somewhat, only giving a nod as any form of acknowledgement.

“He was a friend from high school I heard,” Jongwoon said to Taekwoon once Hakyeon had left.

“Yeah. He was in my group. Nice but too touchy and clingy and terrible with secrets. And my family knows him well.”

“Ah. Did he know about you before he came in today? Or did you know about him?”

“No.”

“Well I’m sure since now you both know, it’s a secret he’ll be able to keep. So, maybe talk to him sometime.”

“Maybe.” It was as good an answer as Jongwoon was going to get so he changed his focus to Kyuhyun. He had noticed him right away but didn’t bother to acknowledge him until Hakyeon was taken care of.

“Kyuhyun. What brings you back?”

“I need more help,” Kyuhyun quietly said. Jongwoon hummed and gestured for him to follow back into the magic shop.

“What happened now that you need my help again,” Jongwoon asked once they were alone in the magic shop.

“Well, I thought my bad luck was gone. Everything was getting better and it was almost completely gone, but now it feels like the universe is out for me.” Jongwoon raised an eyebrow and Kyuhyun statement and motioned for him to continue. Kyuhyun went into detail about the recent events and accidents and watched as Jongwoon’s face went somber.

“Alright, I need to run a couple tests. It still sounds like bad luck, but not the normal kind, so I need to see what exactly we are dealing with.” Jongwoon grabbed a potion from the cabinet where he keeps all the pre-made potions and handed it to Kyuhyun. He also moved a chair out to an open spot in the shop and told Kyuhyun to take a seat then drink the potion while he prepared a couple other items.

“Should I ask what this one tastes like first? It’s not like the other one, right?”

“No. I can’t say it tastes good, but honestly the last potion you took is one of the absolute worst tasting potions to exist. This one is just weird? It’s like two flavors that could taste alright on their own but don’t work together, but in a it’s weird kind of way and not a gross kind of way.” Kyuhyun studied the potion a little longer, debating Jongwoon’s description. Deciding it was better to get it over with, Kyuhyun quickly downed the potion. Kyuhyun’s face scrunched up and he smacked his lips a few times.

“Your description was odd but accurate. That is just a weird combination of flavors. What is it?”

“It’s a detection potion.” Jongwoon placed a few candles around Kyuhyun and an incense on either side, creating a lot of smoke. “The magic I am about to cast reacts to the potion you just drank and uses the smoke of the candles and incense to give me answers. The potion lasts for about thirty minutes, so that I can cast as many different spells as I need to get as much information as possible.”

“Why so many different spells,” Kyuhyun asked as Jongwoon prepared the first.

“They all ask different questions. Like this first one, is whether what ails you is natural, or manmade.” Before Kyuhyun asked any more, the smoke raised around him and slowly turned to a mix of black, purple, and magenta.

“What does that mean?”

“It’s not natural. What bad luck you have was caused by another person and not by natural means.”

“By who?” Jongwoon was silent again, but obviously was casting the next spell. The smoke changed back to white and almost completely transparent.

“Someone who isn’t a mage.”

“Non-mages can cast magic?”

“There are some spells and rituals that a non-mage can carry out. It is one reason we try to keep our books and items out of their reach. But sometimes something slips through somewhere.” Jongwoon went right into casting a third spell so Kyuhyun just kept his eyes on the smoke and how it was going to change. The color went right back to a deep black, though there were more colors mixed in along with a couple different symbols. It almost looked like a raging storm to Kyuhyun. He glanced back up to Jongwoon, waiting for the explanation, but Jongwoon was silent but completely wide-eyed.

“What?”

“Give me a moment. I need Heechul’s opinion.” Jongwoon quickly left through the door to the apartment, leaving Kyuhyun to just watch as the smoke faded back to its natural state. A couple minutes later, he walked back in with Heechul, both looking serious and grim. Heechul didn’t even bother to greet Kyuhyun, just going right into casting the same spell that Jongwoon had, raising the smoke back to its storm like appearance.

“So,” Jongwoon asked him quietly.

“Yup. It’s exactly what you thought. He’s screwed.”

“Heechul.” Jongwoon kept his voice quiet but almost said the name like a warning.

“What,” Kyuhyun asked looking between the two who seemed to be having a silent conversation.

“Someone put a curse on you,” Heechul finally said casually. “It’s going to kill you.”

Chapter Text

~

“What the hell? What do you mean it’s going to kill me,” Kyuhyun asked completely horrified.

“Heechul,” Jongwoon shouted at the same moment. “You can’t just say things like that.”

“It’s true. We should just get it out of the way instead of skirting around it. This curse will kill him.”

“And that’s it? I’m just doomed to die?”

“Well not exactly.” Heechul went over to the cupboards are started gathering items that Kyuhyun could not see. “Writers like to play with the idea of uncurable curse or the curse that can only be solved with true love. Well that’s all just a load of crap. There is no curse that can not be cured, just mages who don’t know how to do it.”

“The part that will make this more difficult is that it was cast by a non-mage and we know neither who or how. That won’t make it impossible though. We just have to do more tests,” Jongwoon continued to explain softening his voice.

“What kind of tests?”

“First we will continue with the detection potion. Get what information we can from that. Then it’ll be on Heechul. He will take a couple of blood samples and he may use magic directly on you to get some other information. He is a trained medical mage, so that is why he will be doing those tests.” Kyuhyun looked back and could see some of the items on the counter that Heechul had collected, including a needle still in its package, some tubes, a notepad, and some items he couldn’t recognize.

“Is it really necessary?”

“Yes. It’s the only way to get all of the information we need to be able to treat your curse. Is there a specific part that is making you nervous?”

“I have never been good with needles or blood,” Kyuhyun hesitantly admitted.

“Alright. It’s not an uncommon fear. So, let’s focus on what we can do with the detection potion first and then we will deal with the blood tests, okay?” Kyuhyun took one last look back at the needle before taking a deep breath and focusing back on Jongwoon and nodding.

“What information will we get from the detection potion still,” Kyuhyun asked, trying to keep himself distracted from Heechul’s preparations.

“Not much honestly. We will have to piece it together with what Heechul finds to get the whole picture. Just sit back, relax, it’ll only take a couple minutes” Kyuhyun did his best to keep his attention on Jongwoon and the smoke, watching it change each time Jongwoon casted a new spell. Instead of telling Kyuhyun what each color and symbol meant, he wrote it down on the notepad Kyuhyun hadn’t seen Heechul move to the table by Jongwoon. When he finished, he quietly took care to put all the candles and incenses away and set the notepad by Heechul again.

“I’ll be just a couple more minutes, I want everything ready beforehand, so we can get the results pretty quickly,” Heechul said when he noticed Jongwoon finished. “I also texted Hannie and said we would need him in the bookstore when he gets back since Wookie went out for the day.”

“He almost back then?”

“Yeah, said he was only a few minutes out. Good chance he may already be back.”

“Good. I don’t like abandoning Taekwoon to handle everything on his own.”

“I know, but he will be fine. We need to worry about this one right now.” Heechul tilted his head towards Kyuhyun and Jongwoon agreed, noticing that Kyuhyun was nervously bouncing his leg trying not to look back at Heechul’s items.

“Alright Kyuhyun, let’s take a short break to let Heechul finish,” Jongwoon announced getting Kyuhyun’s attention again. Kyuhyun looked up almost startled but nodded, quietly following Jongwoon into the apartment. Kyuhyun took the offered seat at the dinning table and Jongwoon got both of them a glass of water and sat himself across from Kyuhyun. “Which part is upsetting you the most right now,” Jongwoon asked after a moment of Kyuhyun barely sipping at his water.

“Immediately? The idea of having blood drawn.”

“I assume you have had it done before. What did you do for those times?”

“Usually my mother would go with me and keep me focused on just breathing and not looking and the doctors will use a numbing cream, so I don’t feel it as much.”

“When was the last time you had to get it done?”

“A year ago? Maybe two. It’s been a while,” Kyuhyun said.

“Have you ever fainted from getting your blood drawn or while waiting to get it drawn?”

“No. I’ve gotten lightheaded and dizzy and even nauseous, but I’ve never fainted or blacked out.”

“Okay. That’s good. Now, I know it will do little to ease your anxiety but I want to tell you so it can’t add to your anxiety. Heechul is completely trained with a nursing degree from the university in addition to being a mage with a specialty in the healing arts. We will also be sure to numb your arm beforehand to help how much you feel it. And while I am not your mother, I will be with you the whole time, you can keep yourself focused on me, okay?”

“Okay,” Kyuhyun hesitantly agreed.

“I know all of this is out of your comfort zone and outside of the beliefs you have had for so long, but I’m asking you to trust us to help you. You trusted me enough to take the potion the first time, and to come back, so I hope you can continue that trust.”

“I’m not so sure it was trust the first time, but rather desperation. And the potion did seem to work for a while at least.”

“It did. And it possibly gave you some more time. I can’t be certain until all the tests are done, but it did it’s job, but it’s not designed to undo a curse.”

“How do you undo a curse exactly?”

“It depends on the curse. That’s why there are so many tests to do. We need all the information about the curse to know how to battle it. Simple curses caught right away can be quickly dispelled with a couple of spells and maybe a potion. Others take longer and more intensive solutions. We won’t know until we finish the tests though.”

“Can I ask you something else?”

“Sure.”

“Do you know all the mages in the city?” Jongwoon was a little taken back by the question but Kyuhyun wasn’t even looking at him, just sipping on his water again.

“I know many of them but to say I know all would be to grossly underestimate the number of mages actually living in the city. Why?”

“One of my friends, the one who really pushed for me to come here originally said something the other day that made me think he might be one. So, I wondered if you would know him.”

“If your friend is a mage and hasn’t told you yet, that is on them to tell you. Even if I did know your friend, it is not my place to out another mage to a non-mage other than those who live and work here. And considering your disbelief of magic before you came here, I am not surprised he hasn’t told you if he is.”

“I had a feeling you would say something like that.”

“Honestly, I wouldn’t take much offense to him not telling you. Most mages do not reveal themselves to non-mages. If It wasn’t for the fact that you needed magical intervention even before we knew you were cursed, I would have let you leave here that night believing your friend to be wrong and that magic doesn’t exist. The risk is too great to just let any non-mage know who we are.”

“Are non-mages that violent to mages?”

“Some, yes.” Jongwoon sighed. “Unfortunately, too many people cannot handle those that are different from them especially if they can’t understand it. And magic is difficult for non-mages to understand.”

“Yeah,” Kyuhyun agreed, understanding how that applied to more than just the relationship of mages and non-mages.

“Alright, finish your water and then we’ll go back in. Heechul should be just about done with setting up.” Kyuhyun initially agreed and was about to take a drink when he paused and gave both the drink and Jongwoon a suspicious look. “There is nothing in your water,” Jongwoon announced annoyed once he noticed Kyuhyun’s look. “I want you to finish it because it will be easier to find your veins if you are hydrated. Thus, making getting your blood drawn easier and quicker.”

“Oh.” Kyuhyun just sheepishly drank his water after that.

When Kyuhyun was finished, Jongwoon took both of their glasses and set them by the sink and took Kyuhyun back into the shop. Heechul was rearranging the chairs when they walked in so that two of them were facing each other but set off center from each other. He had also changed the chairs to be bar height instead of their usual table height.

“Good I was just about to come get you. Kyuhyun sit here,” Heechul directed him to the chair facing him and Kyuhyun was slightly relived he wouldn’t have to look at anything Heechul set up. Jongwoon went ahead and took a seat in the other chair after adjusting it slightly so he was facing Kyuhyun more. Once he was seated the reality of the situation came crashing back down on Kyuhyun. His started to zone out, no longer hearing anything Heechul or Jongwoon were saying, his heartrate increased, and his breathing quickened. It wasn’t until Jongwoon gentle placed his hand on Kyuhyun cheek and turned Kyuhyun to look at him that Kyuhyun noticed they were calling his name or that he was even crying.

“Kyuhyun.” Jongwoon’s voice was soft and deep, barely above a whisper, but Kyuhyun could hear it now. “Can you hear me again?” Kyuhyun couldn’t not make himself speak or even nod his head but Jongwoon placed his other hand against Kyuhyun’s to Kyuhyun grabbed it and squeezed it. “Good. That’s good.” Jongwoon started rubbing his thumb against Kyuhyun’s hand. “Can you feel that?” Kyuhyun squeezed his hand again. “Alright, I’m going to use it to help you breathe again. First, I need to exhale while I rub it in circles like this and slowly start breathing in when I start tapping okay. I’ll talk you through everything too, so whichever is easier for you to focus on.” Kyuhyun gave one last squeeze after Jongwoon demonstrated the tapping. Jongwoon took that as the sign to start and instructed Kyuhyun to begin exhaling and started rubbing his thumb against his hand again. He kept a silent count of the seconds and then started the tapping once again silently counting while he spoke to Kyuhyun. He slowly took Kyuhyun through breathing in and out a handful of times until he felt Kyuhyun was breathing easier on his own and becoming a little more focused again.

“Alright Kyuhyun. I want your permission to use some magic on you. It’s a calming spell that I will use the hand I have on your cheek to cast. It sends a gentle pulse through your body and calms your nerves and helps to bring back down your heartrate to a normal level.” Kyuhyun managed to nod this time, still not feeling like he would be able to talk. It wasn’t long before he felt the hand on his cheek get a little warm, not hot though, and there was a very gentle pulse that started almost at the base of his head and made its way down all through his legs. It was almost like a shudder, but gentler and almost soothing. As soon as one pulse finished a new one would start and Kyuhyun could feel his whole body calming down and relaxing. Kyuhyun didn’t count how many pulses there were just when Jongwoon stopped them, he almost missed the feeling.

“Alright, his heartbeat is still slightly high, but it is acceptable,” Heechul said to Jongwoon quietly.

“Kyuhyun. Heechul is going to start now. He is going to make your arm very cold to numb the skin,” Jongwoon explained, keeping Kyuhyun’s focus on him. At first it felt like a cool breeze on his arm, but quickly became like someone covered it in ice. His heart started racing slightly again, but Jongwoon quickly grabbed his attention and had him doing the breathing exercise and just talking to him. Kyuhyun didn’t know how long Heechul took to take the samples he needed but suddenly Jongwoon was telling him it was over, and they were done. Relief flooded out of Kyuhyun in the form of tears that Jongwoon effectively wiped away while repeated that he did so well. At some point, while Kyuhyun continued to cry, Jongwoon finally removed the hand from Kyuhyun’s cheek and instead stood up and moved the hand to Kyuhyun’s back, pulling him more into a hug. Kyuhyun’s crying had long since topped but he neither let go of Jongwoon’s hand or pulled out of Jongwoon’s hug. The two stayed like that until Heechul finished going through his tests.

“Good news is, we won’t need to do anymore tests,” Heechul announced getting both of their attention. Kyuhyun slowly pulled himself out of Jongwoon’s hold to look back over at Heechul. “Bad news, it’s not a simple curse.”

“What is it exactly,” Jongwoon asked for Kyuhyun.

“It was originally a simple curse of bad luck, but somewhere between the combination of a non-mage caster, and poor-quality ingredients, it mutated itself. It is continually pulling negative energy onto Kyuhyun to cause bigger and deadlier incidents to happen. The original curse should have only been minor bad luck and faded out after a month, but now it will keep going until it kills him, or we get rid of it.”

“So, how do we get rid of it,” Kyuhyun asked himself this time having mostly recomposed himself.

“We’re going to have to discuss that,” Heechul said more to Jongwoon.

“Is there a problem?”

“No. It’s just going to be difficult, so I need him and I to decide the best method and be on the same page,” Heechul explained while practically staring Jongwoon down.

“We’ll go discuss it downstairs. You can either wait for us in the apartment or the bookstore, Kyuhyun. We’ll find you when we’re ready for you.”

“I’ll wait in the store. Probably a little less awkward than sitting alone in your apartment.” Before heading back, Kyuhyun attempted to fix his hair and clothes hoping he would look a little better than he felt though he was certain his eyes and face were probably red from crying and there was little he could do about that.

When Kyuhyun came back to the store, Taekwoon was checking out a customer and another was sitting at one of the tables, obviously working on school work. He decided he really wasn’t up to finding a book to read so took what was fast becoming his usual seat at the counter.

“You look like shit,” Taekwoon said bluntly having walked around when he finished with his customer. “I take it, it’s not good news.”

“Nope. They’re downstairs discussing what we’re going to do next.”

“Ah. You want to get a coffee while you wait? We have a few different kinds I can make right now on the board.” Taekwoon gestured to a blackboard hanging up on the wall behind him which listed the day’s available snacks and drinks and pricing. Looking over it for a minute, Kyuhyun decided on one to buy.

“Thanks.” Kyuhyun figured he would spend the time waiting browsing on his phone and quickly zoned out. He wasn’t zoned out for long when he started hearing barking behind him and turned around hoping to find the source. The student at the table was obviously curious about the barking too, but neither could see the dogs from where they were. What Kyuhyun did see however, was a guy sheepishly walking straight towards Taekwoon who immediately handed him a drink.

“Why does he get a free drink,” Kyuhyun asked when he noticed the new guy had made no motion to pay for it and Taekwoon didn’t seem to care to charge him.

“Boyfriend privileges,” was all that Taekwoon answered Kyuhyun with.

“I see you brought Ongdeongie with you Wonshik,” Another person stated.

“Hello, Hangeng. I hope that’s alright. I figured he could play with Kkoming and Melo while I was helping you guys.”

“It’s fine with me. Heechul has mentioned you bringing him around before.”

“Your dog’s name is Butt,” Kyuhyun asked, dumbfounded, interrupting the conversation.

“Yeah. It’s cute, isn’t it?”

“No. It’s weird,” Taekwoon answered instead, poking Wonshik’s cheek rather harshly. Wonshik just laughed it off while he faked being hurt. Taekwoon was refusing to fall for it, but Kyuhyun could see him trying to hold back a smile.

“You’re Kyuhyun, aren’t you,” Hangeng asked him, pulling his attention from the couple. “I’m Hangeng, Heechul’s boyfriend. He told me about you. Briefly,” Hangeng added when he saw Kyuhyun’s questioning look.

“Oh. Yeah, I am.”

“You look like you need a bit of a distraction. Why don’t you come up to the loft and give me a hand for a bit. Just need to do some sorting then I can make sure these two work instead of just playing around.” Hangeng raised his voice slightly at the end for Taekwoon and Wonshik to hear. When they looked over, Wonshik’s coffee was back in Taekwoon’s hands because he was pinching both of Taekwoon’s cheek’s while Taekwoon was attempting to move his head, so he could bite one of the hands. Both glanced over when they realized they were being stared at, but Taekwoon took Wonshik’s lack of attention on him to successfully maneuver and bite Wonshik’s hand. Hangeng just sighed not being surprised by their behavior at all.

“I think that’s a sign that I should go help you,” Kyuhyun finally spoke up as they had been silently watching the younger two in disbelief.

“Probably.” Hangeng lead them upstairs, not forgetting to shout another reminder for Wonshik and Taekwoon to work. He paused briefly on the way to introduce Kyuhyun to the three dogs and then to Heebum who was still laying in his favorite sunspot on the loft. Hangeng gave Kyuhyun a run down of what to do and the two quietly went to work. Every so often Kyuhyun would break the silence and ask Hangeng a few personal questions.

“So, what is your regular job?”

“A friend of ours and I are traders. We go around gathering artifacts from archeological sites and other means and either trade them with stores, bring them back here, or give them back to the archives or local villages where they belong,” Hangeng explained keeping his voice low so they wouldn’t be heard downstairs. “Basically, we find things for the shop and make sure we keep mage artifacts and items out of non-mage hands. We’ll also go looking for certain items that some of our customers requested.”

“How do you get artifacts from archeological sites?”

“We have made connections with people and sometimes there are even mages who work on the sites, unknown to their non-mage colleagues that contact us to take the artifacts to the archives.”

“So, what are the archives,” Kyuhyun asked.

“The archives is the center of all mage knowledge. It is run by the most powerful mages in the region and can almost be considered the center of our government, if you can call it one. Any major dispute or large-scale mage crime will be brought to them if local leaders can’t settle it.”

“There’s just one archive?”

“No, the mage world is divided into countries separate from the known countries by non-mages and each country has an archive. The archives stay in touch with each other and share information. They have a database of every mage registered to them and every known written work by a mage. That is also why we take all unknown magical artifacts to them to study and record.”

“Mages are registered?”

“Yes. Though it’s not much different than having a birth certificate. It allows us to connect families and identify mages based on their symbol. Though not all mages are registered. There are many mages who are born to non-mage families and never know of the archives existence.”

“Because they don’t meet another mage or because they don’t live long enough.” Kyuhyun spoke softly remembering what Jongwoon said about non-mages just a little earlier. Hangeng wasn’t sure if that was supposed to be a question or not, but confirmed it nonetheless.

“I wasn’t expecting to find you up here,” Jongwoon announced.

“I borrowed him,” Hangeng said.

“I see we got Wonshik working too. You’re making me feel like I keep us understaffed.”

Hangeng gave a light chuckle. “Never Jongwoon. This store is never busy enough for it to be truly understaffed. Taekwoon needed the company and Kyuhyun needed the distraction, that’s all.”

“Always looking out for everyone, aren’t you,” Jongwoon stated.

“I try at least. You guys ready for him I take it.” Hangeng pointed over to Kyuhyun who just continued working, only looking up again when he realized Hangeng was talking about him.

“Yeah. Basically. Heechul is finishing up the last couple of preparations, so we should get him ready too.”

“Get me ready,” Kyuhyun asked tilting his head to the side and creasing his brow.

“Nothing dramatic. I’ll explain when we get down there. Did you have a coffee?” Jongwoon eyed the cup sitting somewhat abandoned next to Kyuhyun.

“Taekwoon convinced me to get one. It was good. Is that going to be a problem?”

“Nope. Just need to adjust how much of a dose I give you to take the caffeine into consideration. Speaking of which, what flavor of licorice do you like?”

“Licorice? Maybe uh.” Kyuhyun repetitively opened his mouth as if to speak but immediately closing it looking off in a different direction each time.

“Didn’t you have a honey melon flavor you made recently,” Hangeng asked, which piqued Kyuhyun’s interest.

“Honey Melon? That sounds good. What did I need a flavor for?”

“A stamina potion. Between the curse itself, all our testing, and your emotional stress, we’ve put your body through a lot already today and unfortunately, we are not quiet done yet. So, the potion will help ease the strain.” Kyuhyun knew how tired he was, but even with the extra stress since he got to the shop, it hasn’t felt any worse than the last few days dealing with the curse. Feeling tired has been his normal state recently, but he won’t reject the idea of a stamina potion if it makes the rest easier.

“Well it looks like I’m leaving you to work alone again, Hangeng. Sorry.” Kyuhyun said as he stood up.

“Don’t worry about it. Besides, whatever I don’t finish they have to do tomorrow.”

“Nope. We’re sleeping in tomorrow. You can help Wookie in the morning before we get up. Taekwoon gets to sleep in too.” Jongwoon didn’t bother to hide his grin and Kyuhyun wasn’t sure if he and Heechul discussed this while downstairs or if he just decided it right now.

“Yeah, we’ll see how that goes. Except of course for Taekwoon, he can sleep in.”

“Alright Kyu, let’s go down before Heechul wonders where we are,” Jongwoon said, completely ignoring Hangeng.

Instead of going back to the shop like Kyuhyun expected, Jongwoon took them into the apartment and down to the basement. The basement was a large open space, probably the same size as the entire first floor. To the far side, there was an entire wall of packed bookshelves, a few dressers, lockers, and even a couple chests on either side wall. In between there were a series of tables all pushed together to make one giant work space that was covered in books, papers, and similar supplies Kyuhyun saw on the table Jongwoon made his potions on in the magic shop. Along the walls were diagrams, papers, a couple of cork boards and the was a large portable white board covered in symbols Kyuhyun could not understand. To the other side was a small lounge area in the corner near a fireplace. There were also a couple of smaller tables, a fountain, and a number of different plants. Near the stairs was stacked boxes that Kyuhyun could only guess what was inside and a couple of large display cases where he saw all sorts of potions.

Heechul was waiting for them in an open area behind the staircase. It was designated by a large area rug that felt well padded when Kyuhyun stepped on it. A large armored statue stood in the corner while Heechul stood in the center where a padded examination table had been set up, which is where Jongwoon told him to take a seat. On the floor around the table was a large drawn symbol that mirrored one of the ones drawn on the white board across the room. Kyuhyun wondered if the information on the board was an explanation of their plan.

“Alright, drink this whole cup and then lay down,” Jongwoon instructed handing him the cup of what Kyuhyun assumed to be the stamina potion.

“That was actually pretty good,” Kyuhyun stated when he handed the now empty cup back to Jongwoon who just smiled back at him. As instructed Kyuhyun resituated himself so he was laying down on the table afterwards. Heechul grabbed a small pillow to cushion his head and helped position him. Once laying down, Kyuhyun noticed the large body length mirror hanging above him.

“We’re about to get started Kyuhyun, so try to relax yourself as much as possible and don’t move too much,” Jongwoon stated. Kyuhyun just nodded in response and took a moment to sift ever so slightly to ensure all his muscles were as comfortable and relaxed as possible without moving from the position Heechul put him in. Looking through the mirror, Kyuhyun could see Heechul standing patiently above his head, waiting for Jongwoon to come back over.

“You good,” Heechul asked once Kyuhyun seemed to finish adjusting.

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Good. Jongwoon and I will be doing two different spells on you at the same time,” Heechul began to explain. “Because you took the bad luck potion only a couple weeks ago, we have to use a different method to help drain all the negative energy the curse has built up. I know you saw the symbol on the ground, that with amplify the spell I am using and help pull all of the energy into the mirror above. As we work, the mirror may begin to look tarnished, that is normal and a sign that the mirror is reaching it’s holding limits. So, just remember that is the negative energy leaving your body and no longer something you will have to deal with.”

“While he is clearing your negative energy, I will be working on the curse itself,” Jongwoon started when Heechul finished. “I’m going to warn you now, this will not be a one and done process. We will have to do this once a week until it is gone. And because of that, that is why Heechul is doing his part. If Heechul doesn’t, then no matter how much of the curse I remove from you, you would still be in pretty much the same state as before you came in today.”

“How many weeks do you think it will take?”

“I’m not sure. I probably won’t be able to tell until the end of the next session. And that is because I’m not sure exactly how much I can remove in one session and in the week between, it will regenerate part of itself. Now, between the spell I am using and a potion I will give you, we will slow that rate of regeneration down, but I won’t know how much until next time. But don’t worry, each week you should be feeling better and less at danger.”

“As more of the curse gets removed and the regeneration is slowed, you will have less negative energy being pulled to you, meaning we can remove even more each time,” Heechul added.

“Now the other thing, this will be painful. With Heechul’s spell, you may feel a tugging sensation across your body. Some say it’s just an uncomfortable feeling, others say it’s a bit painful but not too much. My spell on the other, will be where most of the pain is. I will be sending magic directly into your veins to destroy the curse. You can think of it like a virus in your blood stream. It is magic but physically manifests itself inside your veins and feeds off of you to regenerate and spread itself. You will feel my magic working through and it will be a dull pain all over from the inside. If the pain is sharp and extreme, I need you to tell us right away. That would mean something it wrong.”

“Okay.” Kyuhyun couldn’t hide the hesitation in his voice nor the fidgeting of his hands at his sides. Jongwoon noticed and took the hand closest to his in his own and gave Kyuhyun a reassuring squeeze.

“I don’t mean to frighten you, I just want you to know what is about to happen. We’ll start slow, let you get a feeling for it and make sure there is nothing immediately wrong. Heechul won’t being touching you at all but I will, and I may change positions as we go. Are you ready?”

“As much as I can be.” Kyuhyun took one last deep breath to try and settle his nervous. Looking back up to the mirror, he could see Jongwoon give Heechul a nod and Heechul moved closer. He placed a hand on either side of Kyuhyun’s head, palms facing Kyuhyun, but like Jongwoon said, not touching him. Watching though the mirror still, Kyuhyun could see the symbol on the floor begin to glow and was tempted to turn his head to see if Heechul’s hands were beginning to glow slightly too. He couldn’t tell from the mirror and he couldn’t quite see with his peripheral vision. Kyuhyun didn’t have much longer to dwell on the thought before the feeling hit him.

“Are you alright? How does it feel,” Jongwoon asked when he saw Kyuhyun’s whole body jolt and his breath hitch.

“Strange.”

“More specific Kyu. Does it hurt?”

“No? It feels like I’m being pinched everywhere simultaneously, but not hard enough to hurt.” Satisfied with the answer, Jongwoon just waited. He waited for a full minute or so to ensure that the feeling did not change and Kyuhyun had enough time to get somewhat used to it.

“I’m going to start my part now Kyuhyun. I need you to say if it’s too painful.” Kyuhyun agreed and could feel Jongwoon moving his hands along his arm. Jongwoon seemed to settle with one hand gripping his hand and the other just above his elbow. The way he was leaning over, Kyuhyun couldn’t see anything from the mirror, but quickly felt a tingling sensation from each of Jongwoon’s hands and then the pain started. It wasn’t intense but like Jongwoon said, it was all over.

Kyuhyun felt his body tense at the feeling and his free hand was grasping at the padding of the table trying to find something to grip. He could tell he was shaking, but he was trying not to move too much like he was told. He tried to focus on anything that he could, his breathing, either Jongwoon or Heechul, the symbol, and pretty much anything else he could see through or around the mirror, but it was useless. He couldn’t focus on anything except everything he was feeling, which was exactly what he didn’t want to do.

Kyuhyun’s not sure how long it was before Jongwoon moved to a new position. He had taken the hand on Kyuhyun’s a shifted it up to Kyuhyun’s far collar bone, but left the one at his elbow. In the process, he managed to spare Kyuhyun a concerned look and Kyuhyun did his best to give him a nod that he hoped told Jongwoon he was okay.

By the end of the session, Kyuhyun had felt exhausted. Even after having closed his eyes about halfway through, Kyuhyun could tell when Heechul stopped and took a step back. It was only a moment or two longer before Jongwoon also stopped, taking his hands completely off of Kyuhyun and slightly slumping on the side of the table. Kyuhyun finally opened his eyes to confirm they were finished, looking over a Jongwoon who looked even more exhausted than Kyuhyun felt.

“It’s alright Kyu, we’re done. You can sleep now. We’ll wake you in a bit.” Kyuhyun wanted to argue that Jongwoon needed the sleep more than he did. But he couldn’t help but be lulled to sleep when Jongwoon stood up straight again and started brushing the hair out of Kyuhyun’s face and a couple of times stroking the side of his face.

When Kyuhyun was asleep, Jongwoon let himself slump over again, though this time he didn’t catch himself on the table. Luckily, Heechul was watching him closely and caught him when he started to fall.

“Hey, you alright?”

“Yeah. Just tired. It is not a curse that wants to go down easy, but that’s not unusual for mutant curses. How bout you,” Jongwoon asked in return as Heechul took him over to the couch in the corner.

“I’m fine.” Heechul rolled his eyes because of course Jongwoon was worried about him when Jongwoon is the one who just collapsed. “A little worn out but my spell isn’t the difficult one. You should sleep too.”

“Probably. I don’t want to leave him on the table though. It’s not that comfortable.”

“I’ll get Hangeng and ask him to move him to the couch upstairs. I’ll wake you up in a while.”

“I can take him home when we’re both awake again. Give him my number too so we can set up when we want to do the next session. Need to get him the potions too,” Jongwoon fussed. Heechul just shushed him and convinced him to lay down, taking the blanket they kept down there and draped it over Jongwoon.

“I’ll grab the potions and have them packed to go, just sleep,”

Chapter Text

“What’s that,” Donghae asked. He had gone out to lunch with just Hyukjae and Kyuhyun during their break at school since Henry and Sungmin couldn’t join them. They had just received their food when Kyuhyun pulled out a small vial along with his water bottle.

Kyuhyun hesitated, slowly lifted the vial as if to ask if that was what Donghae was asking after. Donghae nodded, waiting for the answer. “It’s a sort of herbal medicine,” Kyuhyun finally said.

“An herbal medicine?”

“Uh yeah.”

“Why are you taking an herbal medicine,” Hyukjae asked.

“Well, that’s because,” Kyuhyun started, trying to come up with a believable explanation, “of my mom.”

“Your mom?”

“Yeah, you know how she has been on that all-natural kick lately.” While Kyuhyun was distracted trying to explain it to Hyukjae, Donghae leaned across the table and took the vial from him. “Well she was talking to people in a group she joined about me, and one of them suggested this. I have to take it at every meal mixed in water.”

“Why? Doesn’t seem like something you’d try,” Hyukjae continued to ask.

The two were mostly ignoring Donghae as he investigated the vial. First looking at the pale green color that only slightly prevented the liquid from being considered transparent, which was unusual for herbal medicines. Carefully he popped the top off to take a whiff of the scent. There were definitely a number of herbs that went into it, mint being the strongest one he could smell, but there was something else there too that he couldn’t quite determine. Making sure they were still talking and not looking at him, Donghae held up the vial slightly to catch the light better after putting the top back on and tapped the side with his nail twice. The liquid swished around in the bottle from the force of the taps but in the center a small glow appeared showing the silhouette of a green turtle on a white cloud. Seeing what he needed, he quickly closed the vial in his hand to block any light from possibly attracting his friends’ attention. His movement did however catch their attention.

“Sorry, I almost dropped it,” Donghae lied, slowly opening his hand to make sure the light had left it before handing it back to Kyuhyun.

“It’s a good thing you didn’t. I only have the one vial on me.”

“Anyways, enough about your medicine. Are you free tonight? We have that test tomorrow, we could study at my place,” Hyukjae suggested.

“What no Donghae tonight?”

“I’m busy. Besides he really does need to study. I’ve seen the grades on his homework for this section.”

“Ah, so you need me to teach you it again. As usual.”

“No,” Hyukjae huffed feeling quite insulted. “I just may need to borrow your notes to make sure I didn’t miss anything that’s causing me to struggle.”

“Yeah, and then have me go through them with you again and basically teach you the lesson. It’s the only time you ask me to come study with you. Don’t forget I’ve known you since middle school.”

“That doesn’t mean this time won’t be different. You know I missed a class a couple weeks ago. That could be part of the issue.”

“And how does that explain your homework before that day? Donghae’s not the only who’s seen your scores,” Kyuhyun said smugly.

“He has been complaining about this class all semester. Barely leaves me time to complain about my own classes,” Donghae added.

“If you two are just going to keep going like this maybe I should just go now.” Hyukjae slowly stood up and made the motions of grabbing his bag not actually intending on leaving. Donghae leaned across the chairs to grab Hyukjae by the hem of his shirt.

“No. Don’t go,” Donghae whined while laughing. “Please. We’re just giving you a hard time. You know we love you.”

“I don’t know if I’d go as far as saying I love you,” Kyuhyun shrugged making a weighing gesture.

“Well that doesn’t matter. He’ll help you anyways. He always does.”

“That part is true.”

“Fine,” Hyukjae said attempting to sound completely inconvenienced. “But you two are paying for me.”

“Okay,” Donghae hastily agreed while Kyuhyun just sighed.

“You don’t even have your wallet or money on you right now, do you Donghae,” Kyuhyun asked.

“Nope,” Donghae answered with the biggest grin he could muster.

“Of course not. I don’t think I have every seen you have money on you in the time I have known you.”

“I have it. Sometimes. But whenever I have it, I don’t need it. So, I often don’t bother with it.”

“You know, the point is to have it on you always for when you do need it,” Kyuhyun explained getting rather frustrated. “Anyways, I guess I’m paying then. So, What time am I coming over later?”

“After your last class.”

“Alright. I’ll text you after I’m out of class. I’ll need to stop home first since I don’t have my stuff for that class.”

“Works for me.”

~

“Hey, you ready to check out,” Ryeowook asked Donghae when he walked up to the register after the last customer finished.

“Actually, I have an order to pick up.” Donghae sounded uncertain having never been in the store before, but Ryeowook just nodded and smiled at him.

“Okay. What’s the name?”

“Lady Maeng. Or do you need her first name too,” Donghae asked when Ryeowook looked confusedly at him.

“No, I know who Lady Maeng is. Usually it is her daughter who picks up her order. I wasn’t aware someone else was coming this time,” Ryeowook clarified.

“Her daughter is on vacation with her family right now. I’m her student.” Donghae laughed nervously, scratching the back on his head hoping for Ryeowook to stop giving him that skeptical look.

“Well either way, I will need to fetch Jongwoon and see an ID from you.” As Ryeowook mentioned the need for an ID, he casually wiped his hand across his wrist and forearm. Thankfully Donghae didn’t miss it and took a quick look around to make sure no one was looking their way and then mimicked Ryeowook’s movement on his own arm. Once he swiped his hand however, a foggy orange image of a clown fish appeared on his arm just long enough to Ryeowook to see it before he wiped it clear again.

“Is that enough or do you need something else too?”

“That’s enough. I’ll be right back with Jongwoon, he should be just inside,” Ryeowook gestured to the door to the magic shop before excusing himself inside. Donghae just quietly waited, shifting his weight from one leg to the other and slowly walking himself in circles in the process.

“Lee Donghae,” Jongwoon asked while he was turned away from the door. Donghae almost stumbled to quickly turn around and face him.

“Yes.”

“Good. I’m Jongwoon. I’m sorry, Lady Maeng informed me you were coming this time, I just forgot to pass the information along. You can come on inside.” Jongwoon apologized to Ryeowook as well for not telling him and then ushered Donghae into the shop. “I was just finishing preparing the fresh cut herbs for her, so it will only be a couple more moments. The rest of her order is on the table nicely wrapped.”

“Oh, thank you Master Jongwoon.” Donghae went over to examine the two bags full of different style packages, taking a seat while Jongwoon went back to the herbs.

“Just Jongwoon is fine. No need for titles around here.”

“I’ve always been taught it was rude to not include a title when talking to or referring to a mage with their master title.”

“It used to be, and to some of the older mages, that’s probably still true. But here in my shop, it’s not. Being called Master just feels weird to me and I would rather people didn’t use it unless they absolutely had to. And that is the same feeling I know quite a lot of other mages around my age have. Though I don’t believe I’m much older than you. I’m only a few years older than Ryeowook and I would guess you’re his age.”

“I’m twenty-two,” Donghae said even though he wasn’t specifically asked.

“I was right then. Exactly the same as Ryeowook then. I’m just twenty-six myself.” Donghae had been looking through the bags to see what all Lady Maeng had ordered, but his head snapped up and looked towards Jongwoon when he announced his age. “Shocked?”

“How long have you had your master title for?” Jongwoon looked back over his shoulder and laughed quietly to himself at Donghae’s shocked and confused expression.

“For about eight years now.”

“How?”

“I started my apprenticeship at the age of twelve which is on the early end for a lot of mages, and I’m a quick learner. It took me only six years to know everything my master did. But to be fair, all I did during my apprenticeship was study when I wasn’t in lessons. I read every book my master had and practiced all of the spells and potions I physically could. And well if I’m honest, that’s what I still do now. Running this shop allows me access to even more knowledge than I would have from my hometown. I have read and practiced everything from all of the books on these shelves. And that doesn’t include our personally library in our workshop downstairs or my collection up in my room.”

“That’s insane. I’ve been an apprentice for nine years now and Lady Maeng says she believes I still have at least two years more.”

“That sounds the same as Wookie. He still has a year or so on his training before I would submit him as qualified for his master title, but he’s been training for about the same amount of time. Don’t compare your training too much to mine. I know I’m an outlier to the norm in this case. And with the amount of knowledge Lady Maeng has to teach, you should be pleased that she feels she only has about two years of information left to teach you,” Jongwoon comforted, knowing that Donghae would try to compare their training.

“It still feels like a long time.”

“It’ll be shorter than you think. Just go your own rate and you’ll make it. Most mages don’t finish their apprenticeships until they’re about my age anyways.”

“Can I ask you something else?”

“Sure. I’ve finished the last of the herbs too, so you’ll be able to get going when you’re ready.”

“Do you ever take on non-mage clients for the shop?”

“For the bookstore, all the time. For here, only if they have a mage connection that introduces them to me. Why?”

“No reason really. I have a friend who has had some weird things going on for a while now and wasn’t sure if it may be magic in origin. He says he’s getting help for it. But he doesn’t even believe in magic, so I’m not sure what kind of help he’s getting.”

“Well just from that, I’m not sure I could help him. And dragging someone who doesn’t believe in magic to a mage without proof can be difficult and you don’t know how they will react to having magic proven to them, so it can be dangerous too.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I’ll wait and see how things go first. Thank you again for Lady Maeng’s order. I’ll take it straight to her now.”

“Of course. Stop by any time Donghae. And make sure you get those potions to her directly, she should be near the end of her last portion of medication and she should have the next ones in hand right away.”

“I will,” Donghae responded, letting himself out of the shop and leaving Jongwoon behind. Once outside, Donghae called for Lady Maeng’s personal driver to pick him up as she had instructed him to. When he was in the car, he took one of the potions out of the bag and tapped it like he had with Kyuhyun’s potion earlier in the day. The potion created a bright red rose bud this time in the center.

“So, Jongwoon’s not the one who made Kyuhyun’s potion. I wonder who did then,” Donghae whispered to himself, placing the potion back in the bag before they reached their destination.

~

“Hey, what are you doing here,” Jongwoon asked upon seeing Kyuhyun sitting at one of the tables in the bookstore. “I didn’t get my days confused, did I?”

“I just came to work on a research project while I’m on break. Might as well work on it since usually I hang out with Sungmin and Henry during this break but Sungmin still refuses to be around me and Henry is meeting with his group for their project,” Kyuhyun explained, setting out his laptop and a couple books.

“What and the library wasn’t good enough? Or do you just like us that much,” Jongwoon teased taking a seat across from him.

“You must have never been to my university. There is no way I could get a table at this point in the day. So, don’t flatter yourself too much, you’re just the next best option.”

“And what makes me the next best option?”

“You’re reasonably close, have food, and when I was helping Hangeng I noticed some books related to my topic.”

“Those the only reasons?” Jongwoon leaned forward to set his elbows on the table, interlocking his hands and resting his chin on them.

“The only ones that matter today,” Kyuhyun responded, leaning forward as well.

“I see.” Jongwoon sighed, leaning back so he was slouching against the back of the chair, staring purposely in a direction away from Kyuhyun. Kyuhyun couldn’t help but laugh at Jongwoon’s somewhat over dramatic reaction. Hearing Kyuhyun’s laugh, Jongwoon let out a quiet breathy laugh of his own and sat back upright in the chair. “Alright, in all seriousness, how are you feeling since you were last here?”

“Good actually. Obviously not perfect, but it’s been a few days and there hasn’t been any major incidents. I’ve had a couple in the last day that I would say are a rank higher than the little stuff, but that’s it.”

“That’s good to hear. You’ve been taking it with every meal, right?” While Jongwoon had not specified what ‘it’ was, Kyuhyun immediately knew he was talking about the potion.

“Yup. Full glass of water as well exactly like you instructed. Had to come up with an excuse to explain it to my friends, but otherwise no trouble.”

“I know it’s hard to keep it from them, but it’s for everyone’s safety. And pay close attention over the next couple days until your appointment, if it’s starting to get even slightly worse, it has the potential to speed up like it did last time and suddenly be very bad.”

“Yeah, you reminded me when you took me home.” Jongwoon nodded, remembering that he had indeed gone over it with Kyuhyun that night. He started to speak again, but before he could actually say anything, a balled-up rag smacked him in the back of the head. Jongwoon turned around to see Ryeowook staring at him from behind the café counter. Kyuhyun had looked up as well to notice Ryeowook and another boy he didn’t recognize.

“Aren’t you supposed to be working right now,” Ryeowook said sternly.

“Hey, I’m the boss. I can do what I want.”

“That’s a horrible mentality to have and a shitty excuse. Boss.”

“It’s the only excuse I have right now,” Jongwoon admitted. “Though, I am talking with a customer and helping him.”

“Yeah, but it’s Kyuhyun, he barely counts anymore. He hasn’t even bought anything yet.” Kyuhyun snapped his head back and threw his hands up slightly very confused by Ryeowook’s statement.

“He still counts. We only put him to work once. And that was Hangeng, not me. And you weren’t even here that day either.”

“Doesn’t matter. Don’t slack off too much or I’ll have to tell Heechul.”

“Why would he care?”

“You know exactly why he would care,” Ryeowook cryptically said and returned to working with the boy next to him, obviously signaling the end of the conversation.

“I am so confused right now,” Jongwoon said to himself when he turned back towards Kyuhyun.

“Did you hire someone new or have I just never met the other guy there,” Kyuhyun asked.

“Oh no, that’s my brother, Jongjin. He came up for a visit, so I put him to work.”

“You put your brother to work when he’s visiting?”

“He knows I’m going to. Besides he and Wookie have been friends since they were little, so it gives them more time to hang out together. He comes up now to visit Ryeowook as much as he’s here to visit me.”

“I feel like you have this bad habit of putting everyone you know to work.”

“Not everyone,” Jongwoon argued but Kyuhyun just raised his eyebrow.

“Just a large percent of them,” Taekwoon stated, suddenly standing at the side of the table.

“I don’t put my customers to work and I know most of them personally.” Taekwoon just pointed at Kyuhyun. “That wasn’t even me or my decision, so you can’t use him as an example.”

“We’ll see.”

“Is this pick on the boss day and I missed the memo because I am the boss? Don’t answer that. What’s up? I’m sure you came over for something other than to tease me.” Taekwoon nodded.

“I’m heading out for a while.”

“Oh? Where to?” Taekwoon pursed his lips and dropped his head down. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I’m just curious.” Taekwoon shook his head and took a deep breath.

“I’m meeting with Hakyeon,” he finally admitted.

“With Hakyeon? Are you sure you’re ready to? I know I suggested you talk to him, but you don’t have to.”

“I want to.”

“Hakyeon is the one who was leaving when I came in the last time, right,” Kyuhyun asked and both Taekwoon and Jongwoon nodded.

“Do you want company? In case it doesn’t go well,” Jongwoon offered. Taekwoon sighed and laughed slightly to himself.

“You and Heechul are too similar. Though he immediately jumped to get his coat and keys. He’s nursing the bump on his head now.”

“Did you really hit him?”

“He kept insisting. He’ll be fine,” Taekwoon explained. Jongwoon knew it was the best he was going to get so dropped that part of the conversation.

“Are you sure about going alone,” Jongwoon asked instead.

“Wonshik’s coming. We’re meeting at the bus stop.”

“Alright. Call if something happens and we will be right there.”

“I will.” Taekwoon excused himself and said bye to the both of them and to Ryeowook on his way out the door.

“You’re awfully protective of him,” Kyuhyun mentioned.

“He came to us from a bad situation. His past is a perfect example of why you can’t say anything about us. But that’s all I’m going to say about it.”

“Got it.”

“Sorry. I seem to have stolen a lot of the time you could have been working on your paper,” Jongwoon said when he noticed Kyuhyun starting to pack up.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s not due for a couple of weeks still and I already have it started. Though I should make my way back, if I don’t beat Hyukjae to our class, he’s going to confront me with a thousand questions.”

“And the library won’t work as an excuse?” Kyuhyun smiled at the thought.

“He knows better.”

“Of course. He goes to your university.”

“Yeah and he drops Donghae off at the library before going to our class.” Kyuhyun noticed Jongwoon looked slightly shocked at Donghae’s name. “What?”

“Oh nothing. Sorry, you just keep listing more people. Have to keep them all straight.”

“There’s only five of us.”

“Yeah, but this is the first I’m hearing their names, so it feels like more are just being listed than there actually are.”

“I suppose. I’ll see you in a couple days. I’ll text you if something major happens.”

“See you then.” Kyuhyun had gotten up and was about to head for the door when he remembered something else.

“Before I forget. We never discussed my payment last time.”

“Right, we didn’t. I’ll work it out for you, and we’ll discuss it when you come back.” Jongwoon had been so preoccupied with worrying about Kyuhyun, he hadn’t even thought about needing to charge him. And if he were to just let it go, he would never hear the end of it from Heechul.

“Works for me.” Kyuhyun said goodbye again and finally made it to the door this time. “Bye Ryeowook. I’ll stop being a distraction to your boss now.”

“Good. Buy something next time,” Kyuhyun could just barely hear Ryeowook shouting at him before the door closed.

“Yup. It’s exactly as I thought,” Heechul announced when he took the seat Kyuhyun had been sitting in before Jongwoon got up.

“What? Why are you even out here? It’s your day off. Besides, don’t you have a bump on your head to be whining about.”

“Taekwoon told you I take it. Also, Wookie texted me.”

“Why are you texting on the job,” Jongwoon shouted back to Ryeowook.

“We don’t have a rule against it,” Ryeowook defended. “You’d be the worst offender if we did. Followed by Heechul.”

“Rude,” Heechul and Jongwoon said in unison.

“Anyways. I heard you were chatting with Kyuhyun.”

“What about it? He’s our customer and I was checking on him.”

“Mhmm. Sure you were,” Heechul said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Just say whatever you’re trying to say already.”

“You like him. It’s still in the early stages, but you like him.”

“I don’t like him the way you are implying that I do. He’s just a customer and he’s got a lot going on to make me worried for him. That’s all.”

“I’m not the only one who thinks you like him, it’s pretty obvious,” Heechul stated and looked past Jongwoon to Ryeowook and Jongjin.

“You’re totally crushing,” Ryeowook said.

“Yeah, I’ve never seen you this interested in a person before.”

“Really, Jongjin? What do you even know about this?”

“Wookie’s told me everything,” Jongjin said.

“And Taekwoon agrees with us too,” Heechul announced showing Jongwoon his phone with the text conversation with Taekwoon.

“He’s smitten. Wonshik agrees,” Jongwoon read aloud. “Smitten, really? And why would Wonshik have an opinion?”

“Taekwoon tells him everything,” Heechul stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world and Jongwoon just groaned laying his face in his arms on the table.

“It really must be pick on your boss day. I hate all of you. And you’re all wrong.”

“We’ll see.”

Chapter Text

~

“Jongwoon,” Kyuhyun called out, slowly going down the first couple steps to the basement.

“Down here, Kyu. Just setting up.” Upon hearing Jongwoon’s response, Kyuhyun walked the rest of the way down and found Jongwoon working on potions.

“Taekwoon told me I should just come down and find you myself. He also told me to bring you these,” Kyuhyun said showing Jongwoon the sandwiches and drinks in hand. Jongwoon sighed when he saw the food.

“This kid. Thinking I can’t take of myself.” He nodded towards the other tables while he continued working, “You can set them down on the table for now. I just need to finish this last potion.”

“Anything I can help with?”

“This is the last thing I need to do so we’re all set. Then it’s just waiting for Heechul to finish some work.”

Kyuhyun took a seat and just quietly watched as Jongwoon worked. Watching him made Kyuhyun think back to his high school chemistry class labs and a little bit of Doctors in the historical dramas he watched. He still had no idea what everything did, but after watching Jongwoon perform magic on him, Kyuhyun could at least recognize Jongwoon actively using magic while he prepared the potion. When Jongwoon finished and started bottling it up, Kyuhyun realized it was the daily potion he has to take now.

“Did you bring back the cooler,” Jongwoon asked him.

“Yeah. The empty vials too.”

“Alright, can you set the vials to the left of the sink and bring the cooler here?” Kyuhyun did as instructed and held the small cooler open for Jongwoon to reload with the new set of vials. Inside was a mold to perfectly hold the vials safely in place and thanks to a rune Jongwoon had placed inside, there was no need for ice, just a couple hours in the refrigerator would keep everything cool. It even kept the vials cold enough that Kyuhyun could carry an individual one for most of the day and it would barely warm up. Once it was restocked, Kyuhyun took it to the fridge while Jongwoon cleaned everything up.

“I’ll just have to make sure I don’t forget it later.”

“I’m sure we can work something out if we all forget. Not like we are unaware of how to reach each other,” Jongwoon pointed out. “You know you can have the second sandwich and drink,” Jongwoon said when he finished and noticed everything was still just sitting untouched on the table.

“Taekwoon said it was for you. He didn’t say anything about me.”

“Well I’ll say you can have the other. I’m not going to eat two whole sandwiches and I shouldn’t drink two coffees right now.” Jongwoon slid the second sandwich so it was in front of Kyuhyun. As for the coffees, he grabbed both holding them for a moment until there was steam again and then placed one in front of Kyuhyun. “They had been sitting for a bit now. Figured they could use some warming up.”

“Thanks. That’s a pretty convenient ability.”

“It is when I forget that I got myself a drink right before I went to work on something. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve just abandoned a drink due to work.”

“As a university student, trust me I understand.” The two ate quietly for a couple minutes and as they finished, Kyuhyun decided to bring up a question. “I know this might not be my business, but I was curious. How did Taekwoon’s meeting with his friend go?”

“Taekwoon said it went fine. Thankfully I have Wonshik to spill a little more information. They talked, Hakyeon got mad that they both were keeping Taekwoon’s secret from him and everyone else. But it sounds like they came to a mutual understanding in the end.”

“Is Taekwoon okay with Wonshik telling you if he wasn’t saying anything himself?”

“We’ve talked about it before. Basically, if Taekwoon leaves Wonshik with me for any period of time when I’m wondering about something, that means Wonshik is free to give details. Typically, Taek will tell Wonshik ahead of time if there is something that he doesn’t want me to know yet. He’s never been good with talking with people so when he can leave something to Wonshik to explain instead, he does. He’s gotten better with talking to Heechul and I in the last year, so it’s not strictly on Shikie. And we have gotten better at reading Taekwoon too,” Jongwoon explained.

“He definitely was more expressive when I saw him with Wonshik than any other time I’ve seen him.”

“It’s always interesting to see the two of them together. They’re both good kids and I’m glad Taekwoon had Wonshik when he needed him, but that’s getting into stuff we don’t talk about.” Kyuhyun nodded, knowing not to pry any further on that particular subject.

“Are they university students?”

“Wonshik is. Taekwoon decided to take a year off. They only graduated high school last year. So, he has plenty of time to decide what he wants to do. Not like I graduated from college.”

“You didn’t?”

“No. I started as a business major when I moved to the city, but I only made it a couple years into the program as a full-time student then dropped down to part-time for my last year in order to work as much as possible before I stopped in order to open up the shop with Heechul.”

“Was the shop Heechul’s idea,” Kyuhyun questioned.

“No, it was mine. He just thought it sounded interesting. And a little crazy,” Jongwoon admitted laughing a little to himself.

“So, why start the shop?”

“Well, when I first moved up here, I knew nothing about how most mages survived in the cities. You know how I mentioned previously that part of the reason your curse mutated into what It is, was because improper ingredients were used?” Kyuhyun nodded. “Well it’s not that they were the wrong ingredients, it’s that they weren’t sourced properly. Chances are they bought them at a market. But the ingredients, especially the plants, have to be grown certain ways and handle in the right way. And when you live in the city, it’s harder to find that. The only people you can trust to have that are from other mages because we can recognize whether something is properly sourced or not pretty easily. It’s actually something we are taught at a young age and it’s constantly drilled into us.”

“So, even if it was a mage who cursed me, the outcome could have been the same because of the ingredients not being proper?”

“Exactly. And when I first moved here, there were only a couple of small shops that had limited supplies available and didn’t have much going for them. The mages in this city were really in need of a more readily available supply of everything really. So, after being frustrated with not being able to get ingredients without asking my parents to ship me some, I decided that I would do it myself. I didn’t exactly have any other plans and this way I could help my fellow mages and create a little more of a community where we could share our knowledge locally more readily. In a way it was like bringing the closeness of the smaller mage towns like I’m from to the city.”

“And how did Heechul get roped into this?”

“Well, Heechul and I met our first year of University. We had an elective together and the thing about mages is that we instinctively know who the other potential mages in the room are. It didn’t take long for Heechul and I to confirm who the other was and start sticking together a little more until we really hit it off as friends. So then, Heechul had to deal with me complaining about never having enough stuff for my potions or not easily being able to get new books or tools. I don’t know who mentioned it first, but one of us mentioned that it would just be easier if someone with good connections outside of the city made a new shop in town. Didn’t take long for me to realize that we were two mages with connections to a number of mages towns where we could get stuff from, so I threw out the idea of the shop. I became a little obsessed with the idea and started planning it, including how I could make the shop more public while still hiding the mage part of it and I bugged Heechul into helping me with all the little details until it became his project almost as much as mine. Which honestly, it was the right plan for him too. Even though he was in a nursing degree and had to work in hospitals for his degree, he never planned on actually being a nurse someplace. No matter what he was going to use his abilities as a mage to heal and he couldn’t do that at a regular hospital. But he can do that from the shop. Most mages in the city are aware of Heechul being a medical mage and know they can either come here or contact us for healing.”

“I know you said Heechul was a medical mage, but I didn’t realize it was more than just a convenient bonus to the shop when needed.”

“Definitely more than just a convenience. He actively advertises his practice.”

“Yup, if you want potions, you go to Jongwoon, but healing, you come to me. Anything else, well either of us can figure it out,” Heechul stated, walking up behind them. Kyuhyun jumped in his seat having never heard Heechul coming down the stairs, Jongwoon on the other hand seemed to have no reaction to Heechul’s sudden appearance. “You telling him our whole backstory or something?”

“He asked why we started the shop and how you got roped into my crazy idea. Did you eat?”

“Yeah, Wookie threw a sandwich at me about an hour ago.”

“Physically or figuratively?”

“Physically. He just stood at the top of the stairs and nailed me in the back of the head then left muttering about ‘stupid bosses refusing to stop for lunches, but don’t worry they can take care of themselves’,” Heechul imitated Ryeowook, complete with sarcasm. “Thankfully I already had a drink, otherwise I might also be covered in coffee.”

“Taekwoon was apparently nicer with my food and just shoved it at Kyuhyun to bring to me.”

“Apparently they trust neither of us to eat today.”

“To be fair, we were both working on stuff that makes us not think about eating and they know us well enough by now,” Jongwoon rationalized.

“Anyways, you two ready,” Heechul asked gesturing back to the set up for Kyuhyun’s treatment.

“Yup. Kyuhyun just needs to drink the stamina potion. Honestly, I should take one too,” Jongwoon announced, heading over to his potion cabinet. “What flavor do you want today, Kyu?”

“I will never understand why you decided to work on potions all morning when you have Kyuhyun’s session to deal with today. Could’ve saved up your magic a little more.”

“It’s fine. I just figured that the potion would help stave off some of the side effects of the spell,” Jongwoon said looking through his flavors and decide which he wants while Kyuhyun looked over his shoulder at all the labeled bottles since he didn’t know the flavors to begin with. “Besides, I’ve just had the sandwich and coffee today basically. Could use a little bit stronger of a pick-me-up.”

“Seriously? I at least had something to eat this morning, so the sandwich was the second thing I ate.”

“I’m starting to understand why the other two don’t trust you guys to take care of yourselves,” Kyuhyun mentioned. “I’ll take strawberry today.”

“Hey, I only occasionally miss a meal. He’s the one who won’t bother eating if he’s got something he wants to work on. Which is often,” Heechul argued glaring at Jongwoon the entire time.

“Are you alright for today then,” Kyuhyun worriedly asked Jongwoon.

“I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Go sit, I’ll get our potions ready so we can start.” Reluctantly Kyuhyun dropped the subject and took his place on the table. Jongwoon grabbed the strawberry and sour apple bottles and portioned them out, handing Kyuhyun his so they could both drink. In the meantime, Heechul double checked the symbols and mirrors as they were a part of his spell.

“Everyone ready now,” Heechul asked once Kyuhyun had laid down and Jongwoon got into his position. Both nodded. “Good. I’ll start first again, Kyuhyun. If there is any major discomfort, or it just doesn’t fell like it did last time, tell us right away. Jongwoon will say when he is going to start.”

“Understood. I’m ready.” Kyuhyun glanced at Heechul through the mirror as he spoke and then down to Jongwoon who had taken to holding his hand again. Jongwoon gave him a small smile and a squeeze of the hand when he noticed Kyuhyun looking at him and then gave Heechul the sign to start.

Being the second time, it was slightly easier for Kyuhyun since he knew what to expect this time. He found himself able to stay focused off of the pain and tense feeling across his body for a couple moments at a time. Kyuhyun had hoped that he would be less exhausted by the end of the session this time, but unfortunately it was only to a slight degree. Jongwoon on the other hand collapsed almost immediately after he pulled his magic from Kyuhyun and ended the spell.

“Jongwoon,” Kyuhyun called out in a panic, attempting to sit up.

“He’s fine. I put pillows down earlier just for this reason,” Heechul explained. Kyuhyun was confused since he didn’t notice any pillows before they started but when he managed to prop himself up on his elbows enough that he could see over the side of the table he could see three rather large pillows surrounding where Jongwoon had been standing, and Jongwoon currently slumped across one. “I can’t expect to catch him every time. Especially when he gives me no time to. I’ll move him to the couch in a minute. Think you can walk?”

“Maybe?”

“You need to sleep for a little while too, but it’ll be more comfortable on the couch upstairs than the table.”

“Right. I can try. Everything feels stiff.” Kyuhyun had forced himself into a completely upright position, still using one arm to hold most of his weight. When he got himself into a position to try standing, Heechul helped him actually stand up and gave him something to lean against.

“You good?”

“I think so. I’m just feeling very heavy.” Kyuhyun was swaying a bit and still using the table to hold himself upright, so Heechul took one of Kyuhyun’s arms and threw it over his shoulders so he could help hold Kyuhyun’s weight.

“You are very heavy. These are normal side effects between being on the table for so long and from the spells,” Heechul explained as they began to head up the stairs. “You didn’t notice as much last time because you fell asleep right away and had some time for it to lessen.”

“Speaking of, how did I get upstairs last time?”

“Hangeng. I had him carry you.”

“Oh. You ever think of just having a way for both of us to sleep downstairs instead of trying to get one of us upstairs?”

“No. I probably should though.”

“Yeah, cause these stairs are rude after going through that,” Kyuhyun said once they made it up. Thankfully the couch was not that far from the stairs and Heechul helped him to lay down.

“Sorry. You’re being able to walk made it the more logical choice than trying to bring him up. Go to sleep. I’ll wake you both in a couple hours.” Heechul offered Kyuhyun a blanket and although Kyuhyun declined it, he still laid it across the back, so it was in easy reach if Kyuhyun subconsciously changed his mind. Afterwards, he moved Jongwoon from his pillow and to the basement couch and made sure to double check that Jongwoon hadn’t injured himself collapsing or pushed himself too far with the spell. Thankfully, Heechul found nothing wrong with him other than the usual side effects of the spell and could relax and go back to work in the bookstore.

~

“Oh, Donghae. I didn’t know you were coming over today,” Sungmin’s mother said when she answered the door.

“Yeah, I’m just stopping by to talk to Sungmin before I head over to Lady Maeng’s. She pushed back our lesson today.”

“Well he’s up in his room as usual,” she said, pointing up the stairs.

“Thanks.” Donghae excused himself and headed straight for Sungmin’s room, just giving a quick knock before opening the door anyways. Sungmin was laying sprawled across his bed, reading a book which he closed and set down on his dresser when he saw Donghae.

“Donghae? What’s up? Shouldn’t you be at Lady Maeng’s right now,” Sungmin questioned a little shocked to see Donghae suddenly in his room.

“She pushed our lesson back a couple hours. But I needed to talk to you and in person was better,” Donghae said grabbing the chair from Sungmin’s desk and dragging it so he could sit next to the bed.

“What about,” Sungmin asked, finally sitting up.

“Kyuhyun.”

“No,” Sungmin instantly responded his tone turning much darker. “I told you, I don’t have anything to say to him right now if he can’t even humor the idea of magic. Especially since I almost exposed myself.”

“Yeah, Hyukjae may have mentioned that Kyuhyun was thinking about what you said that day and what exactly you meant and how literal. But anyways, that’s not exactly what I’m talking about. Someone is giving him help. He's taking a potion right now.”

“Wait. What do you mean? When did Hyukjae tell you this for one? And two how do you know Kyu is taking a potion?”

“He told me they had their conversation a couple weeks ago but Kyuhyun didn’t say anything more than that so Hyuk really wasn’t sure what he was meaning and couldn’t ask him to clarify since that’s when the railing fell. And don’t worry I told him I didn’t know either. It sucks to lie to him but I’m not ready to tell him yet and I’m not going to expose you.”

“Alright. Fine. And the potion?”

“Well I’m not sure exactly what it's for, but as soon as he pulled it out, I had my suspicions. So, while he was telling Hyukjae about it, I grabbed it and examined it briefly. As soon as I opened it, I could tell it was a potion, it smelled like one and i could feel the subtle hint of magic in it. So of course, while they weren’t looking, I tested it for a symbol and got one. It was a green turtle on a white cloud. I hadn't seen or heard of someone having two colors to their symbol before.”

“Neither have I,” Sungmin admitted and thought on it for a little longer. “You think it may have been two people created the potion? Someone with the turtle sign and another with a cloud sign?”

“I hadn't thought of that. But usually the signs are separated to distinguish them. And I checked Master Jongwoon's the other day and it’s not him.”

“Isn't that Yesung” Donghae nodded. “How did you check his symbol?”

“I had to pick up Lady Maeng's order, so I examined one of her potions from him and his is a red rose.”

“So, if it’s not Master Jongwoon, then who is it? Does he even know that a mage is helping him,” Sungmin questioned.

“I guess it’s possible that he doesn’t know. But that would also mean that he’s lying to us.” The two sat in silence for a short while, both trying to go over the information Donghae had in their heads.

“We should probably start with trying to find out if it’s possible for a mage to have a double symbol or if it’s two mages and that the size of the container effects how separately the symbols are shown,” Sungmin suggested, attempting to formulate a plan. Donghae looked up at Sungmin, wide eyed, grin spreading across his face.

“You mean, you’re going to help?”

Sungmin was thrown off by how excited Donghae got that when he first tried to give an excuse he began to stutter slightly. He stopped to take a breath and huffed, crossing his arms, and looking away from Donghae.

“You’ve just got me curious is all. And I can’t exactly let you do this on your own.” As Sungmin was looking away he didn’t notice Donghae practically launch himself out of his chair at Sungmin to hug him. Sungmin squeaked when Donghae suddenly crashed into him and knocked them both over, somehow managing to not hit the wall behind them.

“I knew you still wanted to help Kyuhyun even if you’re mad at him,” Donghae said, not moving from his new spot of awkwardly laying across Sungmin.

“Get off me,” Sungmin said as he tried to free his hands so he could push Donghae off. “Who said anything about this being for Kyuhyun anyways?”

“I did.” Donghae released Sungmin from his grip and quickly got off of Sungmin and the bed. “See, I knew you still cared. Now, bye.”

“Bye,” Sungmin questioned, slowly sitting himself up now that he was free of Donghae but when he looked, Donghae was already out the door. “What the hell. Donghae!” While Donghae didn’t respond to him, he could hear him laughing downstairs and saying goodbye to his parents. Sungmin sighed and flopped back on his bed, deciding he could complain to Donghae later. “I wonder,” Sungmin started saying quietly to himself, just staring at the ceiling. “Would Kyuhyun even be able to tell us if a mage is helping him?”

~

A/N: Alright, it's been a while again. But please don't worry. I am not in any chance of abandoning this. Just sometimes things just can't work as quickly or efficiently as I would like. Hopefully I will be able to pick up the pace again soon, but only time will tell.
Anyways, I hope you still enjoyed this chapter.
And even more the lovely Kyusung photo Yesung posted from the SS7S concert yesterday.

^^♥

Chapter Text

~

“Hello?” Kyuhyun's sister, Ahra answered the door the following morning to find Jongwoon on their doorstep. “Can I help you?”

“Good morning. I’m a friend of Kyuhyun and have something of his,” Jongwoon announced, tapping the cooler hanging off his shoulder.

“You’re not one of his usual friends,” Ahra accused.

“Ah, well. We've only known each other for about a month now.” Jongwoon awkwardly stood there waiting for Ahra's response as she stared him down.

“Alright. I think I heard him get up a few minutes ago. You can wait in the entry here,” Ahra announced allowing him into the house. Once she made sure he was staying put she went to go get her brother.

Oh, it's you Jongwoon,” Kyuhyun announced when he saw him. “Sorry about Ahra, she's a lawyer and tends to scrutinize everyone she meets.”

“Yeah, sorry to drop in so early, but you forgot this yesterday,” Jongwoon said and passed the cooler over. “Don’t worry about your sister, it’s fine.”

“I shouldn’t have said anything about forgetting this yesterday. Guess I jinxed myself with that.”

“Maybe a little,” Jongwoon teased. “So,” He began again after a moment, fidgeting with his sleeve, “uh, I have a little bit of time before I have to be back to open the shop, want to grab breakfast?”

“Sure. Just give me a few minutes to get ready?”

“Of course. Take your time.”

“I’ll be right back. Ahra is in the kitchen, just through there, if you don’t want to just wait in the foyer by yourself.” Kyuhyun pointed out the kitchen before he made his way back to his room.

“Well, I guess my brother does know you,” Ahra announced when Jongwoon walked into the kitchen.

“Do you have a lot of people showing up pretending to be his friend?” Ahra laughed a little at his question.

“No. But my brother has always had a small social circle, so it’s a little odd. That and he tells me most things and I have never heard of you before. I don’t even know your name.”

“Jongwoon. Kim Jongwoon.”

“Ahra, though I think I heard Kyu tell you that already. So, how old are you?” Ahra sat up straighter, hands interlaced, resting on the table in front of her, looking like she was about to question a client.

“Twenty-six.” Jongwoon decided he would play it the same as her and took a seat across from her, making sure to keep his expression as neutral as possible.

“What do you do?”

“I own a bookstore near the university.”

“For how long?”

“Going on six years now.”

“How’d you meet my brother?”

“He stopped in to my store to escape a thunderstorm one night.”

“And friends, just like that?”

“No. He’s been back multiple times since. We talk.”

“How’d you know where he lived?”

“I’ve dropped him off. Including last night.”

“Why?”

“It was late, and I knew he lived far.”

“Why was he there so late?”

“A project, probably. He uses some of my books for reference.”

“Your store instead of the library?”

“It’s quieter, has food, and not as difficult to find a table to work at.”

“What kind of food?”

“Whatever my two in charge of food decide to make in the morning.”

“Do you have a license to serve food?”

“Of course. Pass all my inspections without issue too.”

“Since when is the kitchen an interrogation room,” Kyuhyun questioned when he joined them. “What are you doing Ahra?”

“Just getting to know your friend since you have never told me about him,” Ahra answered, attempting to seem as innocent as possible.

“I don’t have to tell you everything Ahra. Especially not right away.”

“I’m hurt Kyu. I thought our relationship was closer than that,” Ahra said, pouting.

“Really?” Kyuhyun sighed at his sister’s antics while Jongwoon just watched in amusement. “Besides, he hasn’t even met my other friends, yet.”

“Ooh, so I’m the first to meet him. I can forgive you then.”

“I’m ready to go, if you are,” Kyuhyun said to Jongwoon instead, ignoring Ahra. Jongwoon agreed and they both said their goodbyes to Ahra and headed out.

“So, I was thinking this little café by the store, if that’s good with you.”

“I’m good with anything. Should I ask if you know the owners?”

“If you mean, are they mages who frequent my store, then no. Not that you should be asking that anyways.”

“I know, you can’t expose other mages to me without them telling me themselves or agreeing to it. Though you did kind of out Hakyeon to me.”

“No one ever said whether Hakyeon was a mage or not.”

“I could over hear your conversation and while you may have not said it directly, I could put the pieces together.”

“Who says you have all the pieces for the full picture? Don’t get ahead of yourself. But to answer your original question, yes I know the owners.”

“Of course, you do,” Kyuhyun said, amused and not at all surprised.

“To be fair, they are another pair of guys Heechul and I’s age, who own a small business in the same area as us. How could we not know each other,” Jongwoon explained. “That, and I had a couple classes with one of the them while I was still in school. And not surprisingly, Heechul knew them both at university.” Jongwoon found a place to park just down the street from their final destination and they walked the remainder of the way.

“Hey, Jongwoon. No Heechul or kids today,” the man at the counter greeted as soon as they walked in. “Or at least not your usual kids,” he corrected himself upon seeing Kyuhyun with Jongwoon. “You pick up a new stray?”

“He’s just a friend Youngwoon. And don’t refer to Taek as a stray.”

“But he kind of was one.”

“Even so, no need to call him one. Go help your other customers while we decide.”

“Isn’t Heechul supposed to be the bossy one,” Youngwoon teased but left nonetheless.

“He knows about Taekwoon,” Kyuhyun asked.

“Only that we took him in. Everyone who knows us knows that much. It’s kind of obvious information. As for the details, no one outside us at the shop and Wonshik knows.”

“Oh, I guess that makes sense. It would be hard to miss someone new living with you and working at the shop. So, as you like to come here, what should I get?” Jongwoon instantly leaned over the table and began pointing and various different items on the menu for Kyuhyun. He explained which ones were the café’s most popular and his favorites, though he didn’t limit it to just the breakfast items. Additionally, when Youngwoon was in earshot, he added which were best to get on the days Youngwoon wasn’t working in the kitchen. Thankfully, when Youngwoon did take their order, Kyuhyun had decided on what he wanted, which happened to be the same as what Jongwoon was getting. Jongwoon also ordered something for them to take back to Heechul afterwards.

“So, I forgot to apologize for my sister’s behavior earlier. I didn’t think she would full on interrogate you like that.”

“Don’t worry about. It was kind of fun. It’s been awhile since I’ve been interrogated like that.” Kyuhyun nodded, accepting the fact that Jongwoon was obviously not affected by his sister at all. He stopped though, when he realized what all he said, and just starred at him, slowly blinking.

“You’ve been interrogated before? What did you do?”

“Nothing,” Jongwoon said between laughing. “You know about the alias. It’s exactly why I use it. There have been those who have reported our store to the police under the claim of us being dangerous. Of course, the police never find anything out of the ordinary. And now, they don’t even bother coming to see us for the claims.”

“How?”

“We’ve made friends with one of the officers who seemed to always be the one to check this out and he knows that it’s just a crazy rumor that just never seems to go away.”

“Okay, I wanted to know that too, but I was more wondering about them physically investigating the shop.”

“Kyuhyun, really,” Jongwoon asked, gesturing to himself.

“No, I know that. I was wondering more specifically than just that.”

“They just look around the store and the storage room, occasionally they peak at the house, but it’s not like there is a lot to see there except for the basement since that’s our main entertainment area, so to speak.” Jongwoon emphasized on the storage room and entertainment area, so Kyuhyun could put everything together. And thankfully it seemed like Kyuhyun did as he didn’t any other questions.

“So, you got something for Heechul too,” Kyuhyun asked, when their food was dropped off along with the to-go containers with Heechul’s food.

“It’s a peace offering.”

“Did you make him mad?”

“Not yet, but I will in,” Jongwoon looked at the time on his phone, “about eight minutes when we are not walking in the door.”

“Am I making you open the store late today?”

“Only if Heechul decides that he’s not opening it by himself.”

“Where are Ryeowook and Taekwoon?”

“Wookie went home with my brother last night to visit his family and Taekwoon has something to do later this morning, so we gave him the day off. He is being nice enough to make the snacks before he goes, but that’s as far as his help will be today.”

“Hangeng not able to help today?”

“He and Kibum left on another trip earlier in the week. Just a short one, they will be back next week. But it means Heechul and I are by ourselves today.”

“Will you guys be alright alone?”

“It’s not a big deal. It’s what we did nearly everyday when we started since Ryeowook didn’t join us until after we were open for almost three years. It’s actually during those first years where the joke of me making everyone work at the store came from. Since on busier days or days where I didn’t have Heechul, Hangeng, or Kibum, other friends would volunteer to help out for a while. Once Ryeowook joined us, that slowed down, especially since Heechul was also done with school by that point.”

“Why haven’t you hired anyone else?”

“Originally, because it was too expensive to be paying someone else when we were first starting out. Then, it became the fact that it’s hard to hire someone who has to have one major requirement. Especially when the requirement is impossible to advertise.”

“At this point, don’t you have enough connections to just verbally advertise amongst your customers?”

“Probably,” Jongwoon shrugged. “But at this point it’s now the four of us and we have three others we can call on from time to time. It hasn’t felt necessary recently.” Kyuhyun hummed, understanding what Jongwoon meant and glanced at his phone when it lit up to signal a text message and noticed the time.

“So, how late do we have to be for Heechul to call? Since we are already past those eight minutes.”

“If we’re lucky we have a couple more since he hasn’t messaged me yet either. Hopefully he just hasn’t noticed the time yet. But I also have him on a technicality, so we will be fine as long as we are back in the next twenty.”

“You are so late. You should have been back forever ago. Where were you,” Heechul bombarded them as soon as they opened the back door to the apartment.

“Hey, I said I would be back before the store opens.” Jongwoon looks at the time. “And I still have three minutes. So, I am on time.”

“No, you were supposed to be back a half hour before open to help me open. And why did you bring Kyuhyun with you?”

“Hi. We brought food.” Kyuhyun held up the containers from the café.

“You went to Youngwoon and Shindong’s without me? Everyone is so rude this morning.”

“Chul, it takes like ten minutes to open the store. What are you even complaining about? Tell me you at least got the registers running.”

“Yes,” Heechul said curtly, taking his breakfast to the kitchen.

“Good. I’m going to go unlock the door then,” Jongwoon announced and motioned for Kyuhyun to follow him. “You planning on just hanging out today,” he asked Kyuhyun, when he noticed him setting himself up at one of the tables.

“Yeah, told you the other day, I still have that paper to work on.”

“Oh right. Don’t you have like another week to do it?”

“Week and a half, yeah. But I also know one of my other classes will be assigning us a big project at the end of the week, so I would rather have it out of the way.”

“Damn it Heechul,” Jongwoon suddenly groaned out.

“What?”

“He didn’t fill and start the coffee machine.”

“Should I ask, is opening the store even that difficult,” Kyuhyun asked between laughing at Jongwoon’s pouting face.

“No. He just doesn’t like doing it for whatever reason I have never been able to understand. It takes like ten minutes and most of that is getting the registers to boot up and start the day’s records. Otherwise, it’s mostly just putting the chairs back down after we put them up to mop at the end of the day, getting the coffee machine going, and filling the cases with whatever Wook and Taek made.”

“Sounds easy enough.”

“And it is. But for whatever reason, he never wants to do it.”

“Jongwoon,” Taekwoon softly called out from the doorway to the magic shop. “I’m heading out now. Wonshik’s here.”

“Alright. Any idea when you’ll be home?” Taekwoon thought about it for a moment.

“Sometime in the evening. I’m not a hundred percent sure. I’ll text you and keep you updated when I know.”

“Good. Have fun. Call if you need something.”

“Mhmm. Bye.” Taekwoon waved to Kyuhyun as well when he saw him, before he left again, barely giving Kyuhyun the chance to wave back.

Hey, Kyu.” Jongwoon called out to him a little later in day. There had been a few customers in and out through the morning, and Jongwoon made lunch for everyone, but otherwise it had been quite and Kyuhyun diligently worked on his paper. When he looked up at Jongwoon, he was gesturing him to follow him into the shop.

“What’s up,” Kyuhyun asked once Jongwoon closed the door behind them.

“So, I had been going over all the information of your curse and how your treatment has been going now that we have a couple sessions done.”

“Alright,” Kyuhyun said, urging Jongwoon on, but noticing his serious tone.

“While you may not be seeing the outward effects of the curse between the sessions too much due to Heechul draining out your negative energy, the curse is regenerating at a rather fast rate.”

“As in there was no difference in the week from when we started or…,” Kyuhyun trailed off.

“Not quite. There is some difference. Basically, in the week, the curse regenerated roughly ninety-five percent.”

“Meaning, we only removed about five percent last time,” Kyuhyun filled in.

“Exactly. The good thing is that it didn’t fully regenerate, but it is going to take time to get rid of it.

“How long?”

“Three months? Maybe,” Jongwoon said, shrugging not really sure how accurate his estimate is himself. “The hope is that, each session will remove a larger percentage and it won’t be able to regenerate as fast. I’ll of course let you know how it goes, but that’s what the initial results show. And if we have to, Heechul and I will come up with a different tactic if this one proves to be inefficient.”

“Well, it’s just the first results and it’s still positive. So, I don’t think there is much reason to look at it too badly. You said it yourself, it’s a mutated curse. They behave differently, that’s the nature of it. I wasn’t expecting it to be mostly cleared already. If, it’ll take us three months, then it takes three months.”

“And here I was thinking you would be upset by this news.”

“Well, when Heechul starts you out saying you’re going to die. If it’s left to progress. Makes taking the news of only slight improvement, much easier,” Kyuhyun joked. “Besides, I’m not going to complain about having to see you guys at least once a week for the next three months.

“I suppose we are a perk you are getting out of this,” Jongwoon teased.

“Have you told Heechul your findings yet?”

“Yeah, I told him just before you. He said it is improvement, what more do I want?”

“Then it sounds like we’re all on the same page.”

“I guess we are. Sorry to pull you away from your work when you seemed to be on a roll.”

“Thanks for the update, Jongwoon,” Kyuhyun said, getting up and heading for the door. “I’m glad my friends gave me your information,” he said at the last moment before returning to the bookstore.

~

“So, how did speaking with your master go,” Donghae asked Sungmin when Sungmin showed up at his place a couple days later.

“Not super helpful,” Sungmin complained, plopping down onto the bed next to Donghae.

“What happened?”

“Well I asked him about mages with double symbols as well as if symbols can look like they are one if the container is small enough.”

“And,” Donghae said, encouraging Sungmin to keep talking.

“He said that yes, there are known cases of very powerful and talented mages having double symbols. But he also said, it is possible that on a very small container that two symbols could run together to appear like a double symbol.” Sungmin groaned, grabbing a pillow and hiding under it. “I was hoping he would give me something more definitive than that.” Donghae could just barely hear him from under the pillow.

“I got some similar information at Lady Maeng’s. Though in one of the books I looked through that mentioned double symbols, it said there should be a definite connection linking the symbols to each other. Like an outline or the bleeding of colors or something.”

“Really,” Sungmin asked, throwing the pillow to the side and sitting back up. “So, did it have something like that?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know? How can you not know? You’re the one who saw it between the two of us.”

“It was days ago now; I don’t remember all the little details.”

“That means we are going to have to get ahold of one of his potions.”

Chapter Text

~

“Hey, Ryeowook. What’s on today’s menu,” Kyuhyun asked instead of a normal greeting. Kyuhyun had already set himself up at one of the tables while Ryeowook finished with a different customer. He had also seen Heechul when he came in and exchanged a brief hello.

“Chocolate filled puff pastries, apple pie, and peanut butter cookies. Or as usual, some sandwiches if you don’t want something sweet,” Ryeowook automatically responded. When he actually looked up and realized it was Kyuhyun talking to him, he instantly changed his tone. “You going to actually buy something today?”

“I was thinking about it,” Kyuhyun said, the change in tone not going unnoticed. Kyuhyun knew that Ryeowook obviously didn’t really like him, but that didn’t mean that Kyuhyun was just going to leave it like that. He’s known Ryeowook for a short while now, even if they haven’t talked to each other much, he knows just how sarcastic and snarky he can be. And Kyuhyun has no issues with giving snark and sarcasm right back. “Though maybe I should ask who made what so I can be sure to buy Taekwoon’s snacks instead,” Kyuhyun teased.

“Well when we work together in the kitchen, it gets a little confusing and you start to forget who worked on what. Especially when we rotate some of the treats, it makes it harder to remember if I made the cookies this time or if I’m remembering last time. So, I’m afraid you will just have to take your chances,” Ryeowook said switching to sounding overly polite.

“Of course, completely understandable. In that case, I’ll go for a slice of the pie and some coffee, please,” Kyuhyun responded, keeping up with Ryeowook’s change of tone.

“Certainly.” Ryeowook prepared Kyuhyun’s order and continued to check him out at the register. “Now, I regret to inform you that due to your earlier comment there is an additional ten cent fee to your order, but because you actually chose to buy something, two somethings even, I am feeling generous enough to give you a bit of a discount on that fee and bring it down to two cents.”

“That is quite generous of you. I’m not sure I would have been able to afford such a hefty fee otherwise.” Ryeowook just rolled his eyes and looked annoyed that Kyuhyun didn’t falter at all during their exchange while he rang him up. Kyuhyun waited until he turned away to quietly laugh to himself especially when he did notice the two-cent charge on his receipt.

Kyuhyun took his snack back to the table he set up for himself and set himself to work. He had already grabbed a couple books off the shelved he knew he would need when he first came in and was very careful to keep them clean and away from his food. The last thing he would want to do his have to pay for a book he only planned to use once, just because he spilled something on it.

Sometime while he was working on his paper one of Jongwoon’s dogs, the white one, Melo, Kyuhyun remembers from Hangeng's introductions, came over looking for some attention. Kyuhyun reached down to pet her but she would constantly move around him. Melo kept bouncing on to her back legs, reaching out with her front paws to Kyuhyun's legs, looking very expectantly at Kyuhyun. Eventually Kyuhyun decide to pick her up and set her on his lap, which was exactly what she was hoping for, as she immediately made herself comfortable. Kyuhyun figured the best thing to do was to just let her stay and occasionally pet her while he worked, which seemed to also satisfy Melo. And not long after, Jongwoon's other dog, Kkoming, laid down next to his foot, Kyuhyun only just barely noticing the weight against his foot.

Completely focus in his work, Kyuhyun had mostly tuned out everything around him. He was only snapped out of his focus when Jongwoon dramatically slumped into the chair across from him looking completely dejected.

“I didn’t want to believe it until I saw it with my own eyes,” Jongwoon mumbled so quietly that Kyuhyun was surprised he still managed to hear it.

“See what,” Kyuhyun questioned, taking a quick look around for anything out of the ordinary, but only saw Ryeowook snickering behind the counter.

“You have both Melo and Kkoming.” Kyuhyun couldn’t help but compare Jongwoon to a child who had their favorite toy taken away. It was a side of him, that Kyuhyun has never seen in their short time of knowing each other and currently it was just confusing him.

“Should I not? Do you not want people to hold either? Melo just came over, so I humored her. She’s not bothering me. And Kkoming just kind of settled there,” Kyuhyun attempted to explain, which was apparently not what Jongwoon wanted to hear.

“Why do they love everyone but me? I take care of them, but they give their love to others.”

“Oh, stop pouting. It’s probably because you like to dress them up and make them stay put so you can take ten thousand pictures of them every day,” Ryeowook interjected, looking both amused and annoyed at Jongwoon. Kyuhyun was paying more attention to Jongwoon that he hadn’t noticed when Ryeowook came to stand at the side of their table.

“But they look so cute dressed up, and it takes multiple shots to get the right one.”

“You dress them up,” Kyuhyun questioned, glancing down at Melo who was completely ignoring the conversation.

“If you’re curious, look up his social media. It may as well be the dogs’ page, but he posts everything about them on there.” Ryeowook pulled out his phone just to show Kyuhyun proof.

While the two were flipping through the pictures, the front door slammed open, making just about everyone in the store jump and turn their attention to the door. Taekwoon was standing there, completely soaked, out of breath, and holding one arm across his chest. He shied and ducked his head down when he realized all the attention focused on him and quickly rushed up to the loft. Both dogs also perked up and immediately followed.

“Didn’t you have Wonshik,” Jongwoon started to ask, but trailed off when he heard the door upstairs close.

“So, any bets to what he’s hiding in his jacket today,” Heechul called down from the loft, moving to lean against the railing so he could at least see Ryeowook and Kyuhyun from above.

“Well it’s obviously something small, so most dogs are out unless it’s a very young puppy,” Ryeowook pointed out.

“Kkoming and Melo followed, so it’s something they would be interested in,” Jongwoon added, no longer looking upset.

“Yeah, he had to make sure they didn’t enter the apartment with him,” Heechul said. “And here comes Wonshikie.” The other three all turned their attention back to the door and sure enough, a just as, if not more so, soaked Wonshik walked in.

“I take it Taekwoon got home already,” Wonshik said when he saw everyone looking at him.

“Yup. We were just discussing it. What took you so long,” Heechul asked.

“He ran, I walked.”

“When did it start raining, it was clear when I came here,” Kyuhyun asked, not sure what the others were talking about with Taekwoon exactly, and a little shocked to see it pouring outside.

“Like twenty minutes ago, or so. We were trying to get back before it hit, but Taekwoon got distracted.”

“So, what did he bring home,” Ryeowook finally asked.

“Cats.”

“Cats? Just how many cats?”

“Two, a mother and a kitten,” Wonshik answered Jongwoon and went on to explain further when he just raised an eyebrow at the statement. “They’re really small so I’m not sure just how old it is, but they were hiding in an alley and the mom looked to be in bad shape.”

“Malnourished or injured,” Heechul asked.

“Probably more malnourished, but I’m not sure. Taekwoon looked at them more than I did.”

“Alright, come up and dry off. I’m going to grab a couple things from the kitchen first and then I’ll be in there,” Heechul instructed, coming downstairs finally. Wonshik nodded and quickly headed upstairs, still making sure the dogs stayed in the store and out of the apartment for the time being.

“I moved the emergency kit to the lower cabinet so it’s with the rest of the pet stuff. I just replaced the electrolyte additive, so everything should be good to use,” Jongwoon said once Heechul reached them. He didn’t bother to stop though, just giving a thumbs up in passing. Ryeowook had also gone to grab a couple towels and the mop to soak up as much water as possible at the entrance while everyone else was still talking.

“Does Taekwoon do this often,” Kyuhyun questioned, finally caught up with their conversation.

“Not too much, but frequently enough that it doesn’t surprise us. He really like animals and can’t help but pick up the ones in need when he sees them. It’s been a while since we’ve had extra animals in the house.”

“What do you do with them?”

“Well if they are injured or sick, we do our best to rehabilitate them. Or we take them to the vet if it seems outside of our abilities. Then we check if they have been chipped or not. If they have, we contact the owners, if not, we post about them on the bulletin board outside to see if there is an owner out there. If they have been with us for a while, then we offer them out for adoption and find them a good home.”

“There’s a board outside?”

“Have you never noticed? It’s on the building just past the first sets of windows before the chairs out there. It’s kind of a community board. People can post things on it, though it’s mostly used by our neighboring businesses to promote events and what not. But now, people know to check there for missing pets in the area on the chance that we found them, though because of that the community will post on their own too.”

“Ah, yeah, we have a couple of those around the university for the students to use. You also know, I never walk in from that direction,” Kyuhyun pointed out.

“I think that just means you are unobservant.”

“Rude and untrue.” Jongwoon just laughed as Kyuhyun stared him down as if it would change Jongwoon’s mind. Instead Jongwoon changed topics.

“So, still working on that same paper?”

“No, I finished that yesterday. I’ll just have to look over it again in a few days to make sure I’m still happy with it and then it’ll get submitted the middle of next week. I actually had it almost complete by the time I left here the other day. One of my other professor’s added a last-minute paper to our schedule this morning, so I’m working on that. It’s a short one, I’ll have it done quick enough. I also have a test coming up tomorrow that I’m planning on studying a little bit for here.”

“Do you usually have a big break like this? Cause that seems like you have a lot planned.”

“I’m missing my middle class today. The professor had some event or something, I don’t remember exactly what it was, but it was planned months ago, so we all knew we would be missing that class this week since the beginning of the semester. I have one more class a little later, so I didn’t feel like heading all the way home and you already know how I feel about the university library,” Kyuhyun explained.

“Yes, I do,” Jongwoon stood up, startling Kyuhyun slightly as he had not been expecting him to get up so suddenly. “Well, I should probably go see what Heechul had been working on and continuing it since he is now otherwise occupied.”

“What? Not going to go check on them?”

“No. Not right now. If I went in there now, I would just be in the way. I’ll leave that to Heechul. Besides, I have a feeling I should be giving the dogs some attention before we start hearing them whine at the door or something.”

“With how quick they were to follow Taekwoon, you’re probably right.”

“Well, you go back to your work. Just shout if you need something, I should mostly just be in the loft.”

“Sure, don’t let me keep you from doing your job,” Kyuhyun gently waved Jongwoon off. “Last thing you want is Ryeowook calling you out on it again.”

“I’m sure I’ll hear about it later. Let me know when you’re leaving if I’m still upstairs.” When Kyuhyun agreed, Jongwoon left him with a smile and a pat on the shoulder.

~

“So, how did the test go,” Henry asked when everyone sat down for some lunch.

“Not bad, I got some extra studying in yesterday since I didn’t have a class,” Kyuhyun responded, while Hyukjae groaned.

“I probably failed.” Hyukjae turned and stared at Kyuhyun, “if you had extra time, why didn’t you help me study?”

“Because while I have extra time this week, you don’t. You do remember that we only share three classes this semester, right?”

“Excuses. Just tell me you want me to fail next time.” Kyuhyun just rolled his eyes, watching Hyukjae slump himself across the table, looking entirely pitiful.

“Oh, stop being so dramatic. You throw a fit after every test claiming that you failed and then turn around and actually get a pretty decent grade on it.”

“If I don’t throw a fit then I will fail the test,” Hyukjae exclaimed as if that explained everything. Though the only person who seemed to agree with him was Donghae, who was trying to console Hyukjae while also texting.

“How,” Henry finally asked.

“Every time I have complained and thrown a fit about a test for this class, I have managed to pass it. So, if complaining means I pass then that automatically means that if I act confident or indifferent about it, I'll fail.”

“That's,” Henry paused still in disbelief, “not how things work.”

Donghae shrugged and hummed an ‘I don't know', “It makes sense to me.”

“Yes, but your dating him, so obviously you two work on the same wavelength,” Kyuhyun added. “Who are you texting anyways?”

“Sungmin,” Donghae replied honestly.

“What’s he doing? He should come join us,” Henry said.

“I don’t think that’ll happen right now. I think he’s working on one of the projects we got assigned the other day. And he knows Kyuhyun is here.” Donghae cringed at his own words as soon as he said them. While he knows it’s not a lie, and knows the others all know the same, he still feels horrible for voicing it aloud.

“It’s okay. I know he still doesn’t want to see me.”

“Sorry,” Donghae apologized, still feeling bad about the situation but Kyuhyun just waved him off and switched the topic.

As their lunch went on, Donghae continued to text Sungmin, though he tried to be a little less obvious about it. While he let the rest of his friend’s think it was just a casual conversation and a bit school related, Donghae was actually asking for ideas. They had previously decided that Donghae would take Kyuhyun’s second vial of ‘medicine’ while they were at lunch together, but it was on Donghae to figure out how. So far, all they knew was they needed to have an excuse to get into Kyuhyun’s bag.

The longer they took, the more stressed about it Donghae became, and Sungmin wasn’t much help since he wasn’t actually there. Donghae chance finally came when Henry wanted to show something to the group that required them to clear some space on the table. Kyuhyun had his now common bottle of water that he added his medicine to, but he also got himself some tea. So, while Donghae wasn’t going to mess with Kyuhyun’s water, he had no worries about doing anything to his tea

In the process of helping move some of the dishes out of Henry’s way, Donghae made sure to grab Kyuhyun’s cup of tea and focus a little magic into it. He made sure not to hold onto it for too long, so no one would be too suspicious. Donghae waited as patiently as possible for Kyuhyun to take his tea again, which while only a minute at most, it felt much long to Donghae who was hoping his plan would work. When Kyuhyun did take his drink, just before he could drink from it, the cup cracked and eventually broke spilling all the hot tea on him.

Everyone at the table jumped in their seats at the sudden breaking of the cup and earned them stares from people at neighboring tables as well. Immediately Henry offered to get stuff to clean up with, while Hyukjae began checking on Kyuhyun and leading him to the restroom. Donghae urged them to hurry and said that he would grab Kyuhyun’s spare clothes and meet them in just a moment. With everyone gone from the table for a moment and an excuse to get into Kyuhyun’s bag, Donghae went searching for the second vial he knew Kyuhyun would be carrying. Thankfully Donghae saw which part of the bag Kyuhyun had grabbed the last vial from, so he knew where to look for the other. Once he had the vial, he took a quick look around to make sure his friends were still gone, before slipping it in his pocket. Quickly he grabbed the clothes and rushed to meet Hyukjae and Kyuhyun.

Later that day, Kyuhyun was packing up after the only class he shared with Henry, when he noticed something wrong. After the incident at the restaurant, his backpack wasn’t as neatly packed as it usually was, so it took a little extra shifting to put his supplies away. In the process, he noticed that he only had one vial of his potion in its usual spot. Suddenly worried, Kyuhyun started pulling everything out of his bag to see if he could find it.

“Where the hell did it go,” Kyuhyun mumbled to himself. “I swear I grabbed two this morning.”

“What’s wrong,” Henry asked, causing Kyuhyun to startle.

“Oh, sorry Henry,” Kyuhyun said, not realizing his friend had stayed with him. “I’m just missing something. Don’t worry about it. You can go ahead and leave without me. You’re done for the anyways, right?”

“Yeah. I am. You sure. I can help you look if you want?”

“No, it’s alright,” Kyuhyun sighed, determining that it was definitely not in his bag. “I’m just going to make a call really quick before my next class starts, no reason for you to stay late.”

“Alright, well if you’re sure, then I’ll head out first. See you tomorrow then.”

Once Henry left, Kyuhyun pulled out his phone to call Jongwoon.

“Hey Kyuhyun, what’s wrong,” Jongwoon asked as soon as he answered. “It’s not like you to call.”

“Sorry. I have a question. What would happen if I missed a dose?”

“Well, you’ll weaken it’s effect mainly. It’s a potion that strengthens the longer and more consistently it’s taken. So, to miss one in the middle would drop the rate it’s working at by quite a bit and that might mean the curse can regenerate at a higher rate again until the potion can get back up to speed. What happened?”

“I was so sure that I packed two vials today, and I used my first at lunch, but I just noticed that I don’t have a second one with me.”

“I take it you don’t have time to run home or have family bring you one?”

“No. Parents always work late, and my sister is gone for the evening. And lunch was my last big break where I would have had time. I wasn’t sure what else to do, so I called you.”

“You’re in a bit of luck. That potion tends to make a couple more than the twenty-seven I give you a week, so I have a couple extra here at the shop.”

“I’m still not sure If I can make that. I barely have enough time to get something quick to eat at the convenience store across from the building my class is in before we start.”

“I can’t leave the shop tonight,” Jongwoon sighed and went silent for a minute. “Tell you what, I can have Taekwoon run it to you, I can spare him for a short while. Just text me when and where to have him meet you. I’ll pass your number to him if that’s okay as well so he can contact you if need be.”

“Yes, that’s fine. Thank you Jongwoon. I’m sorry to trouble you with this, I should have been more careful packing this morning and confirmed I had two on me.”

“I need to go now. I’ll see you later Kyuhyun.”

“Yeah, me too. See you,” Kyuhyun said quickly before Jongwoon hung up on him, feeling much more relieved now that Jongwoon can get him a new vial. Though he was worried that Jongwoon sounded a little annoyed over the phone. Jongwoon had been helping him so much already and he was starting to get close to him on a more personal level too, he really would hate to have Jongwoon mad at him. Especially since he has seen Jongwoon when he has gotten very serious and strict, Kyuhyun really doesn’t want to know how he is actually angry.

~

“Hey Donghae,” Henry shouted down the hallway as soon as he spotted Donghae and Sungmin talking.

“What’s up,” Donghae asked once he reached them, Sungmin greeting him as well.

“Did you take something from Kyuhyun’s bag earlier?”

“What? W-wh-why would you think that,” Donghae stuttered out.

“I saw you pocket something at the restaurant while getting Kyuhyun’s clothes. I didn’t see what but after class just now, Kyuhyun was panicking about something missing.”

“What did you do, Donghae,” Sungmin asked, playing innocently along to Henry’s accusations he though he already knew what Henry was talking about. Donghae had already given him the vial though to take home first, so even if Henry saw exactly what Donghae took, he wouldn’t find it with him anymore if he dared to look.

“Nothing. I don’t remember putting anything in my pocket earlier, I swear.” Donghae scratched the back of his head like he normally does whenever he is nervous. He honestly thought that none of his friends were able to see him in the restaurant, and he’s not sure what excuse he will need if Henry persists.

“Well I definitely saw you put something in there earlier. Seriously, he seemed really worried about it missing. So, if you took it please just give it back. I need to go catch my bus. I’ll see you both later.”

Donghae waited until Henry was completely before he continued his conversation with Sungmin.

“Dude, I thought you said no one noticed anything,” Sungmin said, still in a hushed tone just in case.

“I really thought no one did. I couldn’t see him, so I thought he couldn’t see me either. Either way, he doesn’t know what we took, so it’s not like he can confirm anything.”

“Yeah, but he said Kyuhyun was worried. You think whatever this potion is, it'll be bad if he misses one?” Donghae shrugged.

“We don’t even know what it is or if he even knows. That’s why we got one in the first place.”

Sungmin made the motion to start speaking a few different times but ended up just sighing.

“I’ll see what I an determine with the signature when I get home and let you know,” he eventually said instead of whatever he was debating on saying before.

~

Kyuhyun was pacing in main courtyard waiting for Taekwoon to show up. He had texted him that he was on his way a few minutes before the end of his last class and Kyuhyun was just hoping he would still have enough time to eat afterwards. His previous class was in a building just off of the courtyard however his last class of the day was on the far side of the campus and would take a few minutes to walk to still. He just figured it would be easier for Taekwoon to find him here than it would anywhere closer to his next class.

“Kyuhyun.” He heard Wonshik call his name at the same time as he saw the two a little further down the main path.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you Wonshik. Hi Taekwoon.”

“Yeah, Woonie called me to make sure he found your meeting spot alright. I’m a freshman here so I know my way around the campus more than he does,” Wonshik explained and Taekwoon nodded behind him.

“Here,” Taekwoon said as he handed over the vial. He also passed him one of the bags he was carrying. “Ryeowook and I made food. He was insulted about the idea of you getting convenience store food, but he said you would owe him eight cents and that I wasn’t allowed to leave unless you paid.”

“Why,” Wonshik questioned while Kyuhyun started laughing getting his wallet out and getting out the correct change.

“Don’t worry. I know what it’s for. Tell him thank you.”

“Well I’m still confused, but at least someone knows what’s going on.” Taekwoon shrugged as well, not knowing the reason either but accepted the money to take back.

“Are you usually here this late Wonshik?”

“No. I have a paper due on Friday and my laptop crashed so I’m trying to finish it at the computer lab tonight.”

“Oh, sorry to have interrupted you then.”

“It’s fine. A break is nice and I’m getting dinner and time with Taekwoon out of it, so I think it’s a win-win.”

“Trouble is coming,” Taekwoon announced confusing both of the others until he showed Wonshik his phone while he looked around otherwise.

“Trouble?”

“Two of our friends. They just messaged us and there they are,” Wonshik just managed to say before one of those said friends started shout their names and running towards them. Taekwoon carefully stepped out of the way and let Wonshik take the full impact of their friend’s tackle. Wonshik stumbled but managed to stay upright.

“Jae, could you not try to murder me just cause we haven’t seen each other in a day,” Wonshik asked, trying to pry himself free of the sudden hug he found himself in. ‘Jae’ did let him go, at least a little bit, now just holding him by the shoulders, starring wide eyed and mouth open instead.

“How could you say my love is an attempt at murder?”

“Easily,” the other friend who followed at a much slower pace stated.

“Binnie! Not you too.”

“I see what you meant now,” Kyuhyun quietly said to Taekwoon as the others argued, though it still managed to get everyone else’s attention.

“Who’s that,” Jae asked Wonshik.

“Oh, this is an upperclassman who also happens to be a regular at Taekwoon’s job and one of his boss’s friends. We were dropping something off for him. Kyuhyun, these are our friend Jaehwan and Hongbin,” Wonshik explained, introducing everyone.

“Nice to meet you. I need to be leaving though. Want to make sure I can eat before class starts. Thanks for dropping everything off and thanks again for the food. Tell Ryeowook the same.”

“Sure. See you Saturday,” Taekwoon asked for confirmation.

“Yeah. I’ll be in as usual. See you then,” Kyuhyun confirmed waving to the group one last time and getting enthusiastic goodbyes from the friends he just met as well.

~

“Sungmin,” Donghae shouted as he barged into Sungmin’s bedroom.

“Dude, what the hell? Why are you here so late? I thought we were going to discuss everything tomorrow.”

“Yeah, but something else happened. Look at these,” Donghae said handing a stack of photos over. Sungmin looked through the pictures that were of Kyuhyun talking with a couple of guys he didn’t recognize and eventually two more were in the pictures.

“What’s this? You do realize these photos look pretty stalkerish.”

“Kyuhyun met with them earlier and they handed him the bag he’s carrying and something else that I couldn’t see, but I’m betting it was a potion. I couldn’t tell which, but I’m pretty sure one of those two is a mage. I was getting the feeling from them that I usually get around other mages. And I was just coming out from a guest lecture I was getting extra credit for attending when I saw them. Do you know any of them?”

“I don’t know either of the first two. But him,” Sungmin flipped to one of the later photos and pointed at Jaehwan, “I know. I’m pretty sure that’s Jaehwan. He’s a freshman in the theater group I sometimes help with.”

“I thought you stopped doing theater?”

“Yeah, that’s why I said sometimes help with and not, I’m part of.”

“Well do you think we could talk to him? Get some more info on who the other two are?”

“And how exactly do you want to do that? It would be very creepy to just take one of these pictures up to him to ask who his friends are,” Sungmin pointed out.

“I don’t know, but I’m sure if we find which of them is the mage, they could lead us to who is helping Kyuhyun.”

~

Chapter Text

“So, we do have a problem,” Kyuhyun announced to Jongwoon at his next appointment when they entered the apartment. “I would have called you when I first discovered it the other day, but I wanted to be certain it wasn’t a simple mistake.”

“What?” Instead of answering directly, Kyuhyun opened the cooler and showed off the empty vials. This also caught Heechul’s attention who walked over to look alongside Jongwoon.

“You used all your potions, so,” Heechul questioned.

“I have twenty-one vials as usual, except the fact…”

“That Taekwoon took you an extra one a few days ago,” Jongwoon finished for Kyuhyun almost glaring at the vials. “And you have confirmed it is nowhere else?”

“I have. I checked my whole house, my school supplies, and even went back to the restaurant my friends and I ate at and confirmed with the staff that it wasn’t there.”

“So, someone must have taken it, or you lost it somewhere else without realizing it,” Jongwoon said.

“You haven’t told anyone about it, have you,” Heechul questioned.

“No. I swear. My friends all think they are just herbal medicines from my mother’s health group. I haven’t even mentioned the bookstore to them. And I was alone when Taekwoon and Wonshik dropped off the extra vial. I’m even not talking to one of my friends right now because he still thinks I don’t believe in mages.”

“What about the day you noticed it missing? Anything out of the ordinary happen? Anything that would have given someone the chance to access it,” Jongwoon asked.

“Not really. The only thing I can think of is that I had a cup break at lunch, spilling hot tea all over me. Donghae grabbed my spare clothes from my backpack while I was in the restroom.” Jongwoon’s eyes narrowed slightly at the mention of Donghae, but Kyuhyun didn’t notice. “But my clothes are in a different pocket than the vials.”

“I don’t think there is much we can do about it at the moment, but we will need to be more careful going forward.”

“Keep an eye out on the people around you and see if anyone is acting strange. Don’t be obvious about, just be more aware of your surroundings for anything out of the ordinary,” Heechul added.

“That seems difficult to do without looking paranoid.”

“Are you just generally not an observant person? Do you not pay attention to what goes on around you normally?” Heechul asked him. Kyuhyun was about to defend himself a bit when Jongwoon spoke.

“If he did, he might have had an idea of who cursed him in the first place.”

“Hey. Rude. I am fairly observant thank you. I just feel that being more so would make me seem paranoid to other people. And no, I don’t recall anyone acting out of the ordinary around the time my bad luck started nor was I even thinking of the possibility that someone cursed me to think about that. I refused to even believe magic was real until I met you guys.”

“We know. But usually when people get cursed, they have a feeling of who could have done it, whether it’s correct or not, they have suspects. So, for you to not have anyone you may feel could have had the motive to do it, is a little odd and feels like you don’t pay much attention to the people around you.” Kyuhyun wanted to protest Jongwoon’s claims, but Jongwoon held up a hand silencing him before he had the chance to even open his mouth. “Now of course, I’m not saying this in a you neglect people or are narcissistic kind of way. Just more like you don’t tend to notice more than what is necessary. You know and recognize your classmates and you remember many of their names, and you probably know who is in your classes that you went to high school with, even if they weren’t in your class back then, but beyond that you don’t give them much thought. And that’s fine, that’s how most people are. Obviously, the most observant would notice all the little details, like the exact seat each of your classmates sit in everyday and if someone started using a different backpack than usual, who the students who wait for the neighboring class that starts at the same time as yours are, or for the class that begins after yours.”

“And, I’m just suddenly supposed to do that,” Kyuhyun interrupted starting to feel frustrated with the older two. “If I’m suddenly switching to trying to notice every little thing, that’s where I feel people will see me as paranoid.”

“Not to that degree, no,” Heechul continued for Jongwoon, noticing he was getting frustrated as well. “You don’t need to go searching for every little detail. There is a middle ground. Just take in a little more than you have. Look for trends. Are there classmates you notice who are around you more often than others? Not only in the sense of they are in multiple classes, but when you get together with friends, do you notice some of the same people. Notice your own habits you may not think much of that could factor in. Like do you and your friends always drop your bags in one place before you grab food real quick, or do you set yourself up in the classroom and then leave for a few minutes to talk to people or whatever. These are the things we are asking you to look at as you go about your day.”

“I’ll try. And I’ll let you know if I do notice anything. Though if I do, what then?”

“That will depend on what you find. We will deal with it if or when that happens. It will take you some time and practice to adjust and start to pick up on these things. But enough of this chat, we do need to get started with your treatment,” Jongwoon reminded them and excused himself first to the basement expecting the other two to follow. Heechul though lightly grabbed Kyuhyun’s arm as he moved effectively stopping him.

“Don’t mind him too much. He’s been a little stressed lately and I think this is adding to it a bit. Which that’s not your fault. We’re mages, we spend our whole lives worrying about the wrong people finding out about us and it’s worse when you live in the city. That makes us notice everything down to the littlest detail, Jongwoon is especially good at that. Neither of us are meaning to come on so harshly, so I’m sorry.”

“I’ve noticed that much. And it’s alright, I know neither of you are trying to insult me or put me down with any of this. I really do wish I knew who cursed me, but at the same time, what would I do with that information? Confront them? Tests said they weren’t a mage, so then what? Prove mages are real to them? Seek revenge? How would I treat that person afterwards? Would I forever hold a grudge against them knowing they could have killed me if I didn’t get over my own false beliefs and took my friend’s advice? Even though the original curse was to be mild and short-term bad luck? It’s a lot to think about.”

“It is,” Heechul agreed quite impressed that Kyuhyun had put that much thought into it. “But for now, let’s not focus on that challenge and go do your treatment. Curing you is more important than finding your curser anyways.”

Kyuhyun’s treatment went as normal, however this time, Heechul had worked out turning the couch into a bed ahead of time, so both could sleep off their exhaustion downstairs. And for the first time since their first treatment, Jongwoon was still slightly conscious afterwards and could help Heechul get him to the bed, though he was asleep almost as soon as he laid down. Kyuhyun was in about the same state as he had been the previous treatment and felt slightly awkward sharing the bed with Jongwoon, especially with how tense everything had been upstairs, but he knew this was better and more convenient for all of them and quickly settled himself in knowing he would also be asleep within a minute or two.

“Just rest Kyuhyun,” Heechul said when he noticed Kyuhyun trying to make sure he didn’t invade Jongwoon’s space on the bed. “I’m heading back upstairs but I will check on you guys as usual. If you wake up and need something, just call for me.” Heechul tapped Kyuhyun’s phone that they had set on the table near him beforehand, they had exchanged numbers now as well, so Kyuhyun could contact Heechul instead if need be.

“Thanks, Heechul.”

When Heechul went down to check on them about an hour later, he was surprised to see Jongwoon awake and sitting on the edge of the bed. He could still see the exhaustion all over Jongwoon’s face even though he was looking over at Kyuhyun. Heechul quickly went over to him, placing a hand on the side of his neck, pulsing a light bit of magic to check over him and see what may have woken him up. They had long ago agreed that Heechul could use magic to examine Jongwoon whenever he deemed it necessary without needing to specifically get permission, so Jongwoon barely reacted when he felt Heechul’s hand and magic on him.

“What’s wrong, why are you awake? You should still be sleeping for at least another two hours,” Heechul asked quietly when his examination didn’t find anything wrong.

“It’s fine Chul. I just simply woke up.”

“Well you should go back to sleep your energy is still very low and I didn’t even need magic to confirm that one.”

“I’m alright for now and I could use the chance to talk to you. But let’s head upstairs so we don’t wake Kyuhyun,” Jongwoon decide already attempting to stand. Heechul quickly braced him before he fell and tried to sit him back down on the bed but Jongwoon wasn’t having any of it.

“Come on, we can talk later. Just sleep for now.”

“No. Help me upstairs, I want to talk this out sooner rather than later.” Heechul relented knowing there was no point in trying to argue with him now and carefully helped him walk upstairs.

Once in the living room, Heechul deposited Jongwoon onto the couch, refusing to take him any further. Before Jongwoon could start whatever conversation, he wanted to have, Heechul walked over to the kitchen and filled a glass of water. He also pulled out a small potion from the fridge and mixed it into the glass and brought it back to Jongwoon. It wouldn’t do much right-away, but it was a potion they kept on hand that would help restore magical energy quicker than just sleeping alone would.

“Now what’s wrong?”

“You know you don’t need to fuss like this. I’ll go back to sleep soon.”

“I don’t care, if you are going to insist on staying awake right now, then I’m going to at least give you something to help. Now start talking, I do want you back to sleep as soon as possible.” Jongwoon rolled his eyes at Heechul, who decide to just stand over him. Jongwoon attempted to make some space on the couch for him, but Heechul glared at him every time he started to move towards a sitting position.

“It’s about Kyuhyun’s missing potion. I think I might know who took it,” Jongwoon finally said after realizing Heechul wasn’t going to budge. “Also, sit down somewhere, will you?”

“What? How?” Heechul finally sat down on one of the chairs, pulling it in closer to the couch.

“Do you remember Lady Maeng sent her student to pick up her order the other day?” Heechul nodded. “Well his name was Donghae, just like Kyuhyun’s friend who was in his bag the day the potion went missing.”

“Could it just be a coincidence of someone having the same name?”

“Possibly but between conversations with Kyuhyun and the conversation I had with Donghae that day, make me think otherwise. Donghae mentioned having a friend who didn’t believe in magic but may have a magical ailment and wondered if I took non-mage clients. Kyuhyun said he was recommended here by his friends. It lines up too much for me to ignore.” Heechul hummed in agreement.

“So, what would Donghae want with the potion?”

“Well he knows someone is helping Kyuhyun. My first guess would be, he is trying to find us. Why? I’m not completely sure.”

“Should we confront him?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Really,” Heechul dramatically sighed. “You had me help you up here, because you had to have this conversation right now instead of just sleeping like you should and you don’t even know what you want to do about it?” He stood up to start pacing, running his hands through his hair a few times.

“Will you quit it with the over-dramatics. And give me a break will you, I’m not exactly in the best thinking condition at the moment.”

“Fine,” Heechul said, sitting back down completely composed again. “What have been your thoughts so far about Donghae then?”

“I’m not entirely sure what we would say to him if we confronted him. I’m also not sure how I would do it without either admitting to him that Kyuhyun’s our client or potentially exposing him to Kyuhyun. Obviously, we can’t tell Kyuhyun anyways.”

“Then we just wait? I feel like we’re doing that for a lot of things with Kyu.”

“For the moment, maybe that’s best until you have either more information or a plan. I wish we had someone who could keep an eye on him and just confirm that it’s the same Donghae to start with.”

“That would be convenient but even I don’t know what Donghae looks like and we don’t directly know any mages who go to Kyuhyun’s university. And while we do know that Wonshik goes there, it would still be inappropriate to even imply that Donghae is a mage to him and ask him to investigate. And there is no way we would risk asking Taekwoon.”

“Right. And Ryeowook has seen him but that would be too risky since he could accidently expose both to each other and he doesn’t know the campus either.”

“I could put out some feelers to clients and see if there is anyone who has someone who goes there that we could show a picture of Kyuhyun to and see if they can get some discreet pictures of the people around him,” Heechul suggested.

“Seems too risky. Especially since we just told Kyuhyun he needs to be more observant to the people around him. If we also ask someone to stalk and take pictures, he could notice, and it would set of false red flags.”

“Good point.” Heechul waited a moment to see if Jongwoon would start talking again. “Anything else?”

“No. That’s all I needed to say for now and all the thinking we can do on it at the moment.”

“Good. Now go back to sleep,” Heechul ordered. Jongwoon gave him a mock salute but rolled over into a more comfortable position and was back asleep in only a few moments.

~

“Good job Jaehwan. You can take a break for now, we’re going to move onto the next scene,” the theatre instructor announced. Jaehwan thanked her as he walked off stage to where the other cast members and supporting crew who weren’t currently needed were relaxing and practicing their parts.

“I see you ended up getting the part,” Sungmin said when Jaehwan joined everyone. Sungmin had been chatting with some of the other students he had worked with over the last couple years while he was waiting for Jaehwan’s next break.

“I did, thank you. I think joining some of your extra lessons helped. Are you helping out today?” Jaehwan asked, excited to see his upperclassmen.

“No, I can’t stay for long today. I might be able to start coming around more again in a couple weeks, but we will see. But I actually came to speak with you really quick.”

“With me?” Jaehwan pointed at himself and titled his head slightly. While he had worked with the older a few times, it had been some time since Sungmin joined the theater crew and he couldn’t think of a reason Sungmin would have to speak with him.

“Yes. I know it’s a little out of the blue, but could we speak outside for a moment?” Not seeing a reason to turn him down, Jaehwan agreed and followed Sungmin out to a quiet part of the hallway. “I am going to apologize upfront. This was not my idea and I understand how unusual and creepy this seems. So, I’m sorry.”

“What? What’s creepy?” Jaehwan was going to ask more questions but Sungmin stopped him and pulled out some photos from his bag and handed them to Jaehwan. Jaehwan flipped through the pictures that showed him with his friends from the other night speaking with Kyuhyun and a couple photos that must have been before he arrived. “What are these? Why do you have pictures of my friends?” Jaehwan was getting annoyed and angry the more he looked through the photos.

“A friend of mine took them when he was leaving a guest lecture. I have already called him out on these being very strange and stalkerish looking when he first showed them to me. But I recognized you in the pictures, so I agreed to talk to you.”

“About what?” Jaehwan was surprised himself at just how angry his tone was.

“This person,” Sungmin pointed to Kyuhyun in the photo that was on top, “is a close friend of ours, Kyuhyun. He’s been acting strange lately and we’re worried about some things he is obviously hiding from us. We know he’s lying about some stuff and we just want to get to the bottom of it, so when our friend noticed him with people we didn’t know, he took some pictures.”

“You know everyone your friend talks to?”

“Of course not. I wouldn’t expect to know that. I just want to know if I can talk to these two and find out what exactly went on that night before you joined up with them.”

“My friends don’t do anything weird or wrong.”

“I’m not saying they do. I just want to rule some things out. And this is the first place I have to look right now.”

“Why should I trust you? I don’t know you outside of the theater and everyone there is an actor, lying is something we are all good at.”

“I can at least prove that Kyuhyun and I are friends to start with.” Sungmin pulled out his phone and opened his gallery, while Kyuhyun wasn’t the most photogenic of his friends, Sungmin still had multiple pictures of them together along with their other friends. “And that one there is Donghae. He is the one who took the photos, he always has his camera on him, as you can see,” Sungmin said as he flipped through the gallery.

“Alright, so you’re not lying about that. But why inspect my friends?”

“Because they are the first place we can. We haven’t been able to get many leads on what’s really going on with him beyond catching him in a couple of lies. It was just by coincidence that Donghae saw you guys. He saw your friend give Kyuhyun two things, but we don’t know what. For all we know everything in these photos are unrelated, but we have to be able to rule it out. All I’m asking is to just be able to talk to them, maybe they know something I don’t about what Kyuhyun’s been doing,” Sungmin was trying not to plead but still hoped he was getting his feelings across to Jaehwan.

“So, why are there creepy stalker photos of us?” Both were startled at the sudden additional voice over Jaehwan’s shoulder which caused Jaehwan to jump slightly and bump into the person behind him.

“Hongbin, what are you doing here,” he asked once he realized who it was.

“Coming to see you. I checked the theater first and they said you came out here, I called your name, but you ignored me. So, anyways, the pictures.”

“I’m looking for your friends to ask what went on that night before you joined them,” Sungmin explained recognizing Hongbin from the photos.

“Well that’s not suspicious at all.”

“I was just explaining it all to Jaehwan before you showed up. Kyuhyun is my friend, he’s acting strange and lying, so we’re trying to check out anything that seems out of his norm,” Sungmin said quickly, hoping the brief explanation would be enough.

“You ever think that maybe he’s lying and hiding things from you for a reason and that maybe you shouldn’t stalk your own friend? If he’s not going to tell you, maybe it’s better something you left alone.”

“I’ve known Kyuhyun since we both started university, we’re close friends even though we fight sometimes. He’s hid stuff from us before for various reasons, but this time it’s different. Part of this started as something we were all helping him deal with and now suddenly, he’s changed and not talking to us about it and lying. That’s why we’re worried and going about it this way. I’m not going to give any more details than that because that’s his business and I owe him that much.” Sungmin paused and took a deep breath to calm himself down. The last thing he needed was to shout at them or give them any more reasons to not help him. “Please, I know you are trying to protect your friends, but I’m trying to do the same for mine. All I’m asking is for the chance to talk to them.”

Hongbin and Sungmin stared each other down, almost as if attempting to read the other’s mind, until Jaehwan broke it up by pulling Hongbin to the side. Sungmin let them go as Jaehwan gave him a look to let them speak privately. He knows being vague isn’t helping his case but Sungmin has no idea if they are aware that one of their friends is a mage in the first place, he’s not even sure which one it is himself. If they refuse to help him then he and Donghae will just have to find another way to find the mage. He just hopes it doesn’t come to that. Their university campus is fairly large, and some mages are better at hiding themselves, that makes searching based only on a picture would be extremely difficult.

“Kim Wonshik,” Hongbin sternly says when they walk back over breaking Sungmin out of his thoughts. “He’s one of the two in those pictures and you can usually find him in the library between his classes. We’re not telling you anything more than that. I’m also letting him know that you are looking for him.”

“Thank you.”

“I don’t know what you think you will find out, but you better be nice to him and give him more of an explanation than you gave us,” Jaehwan added.

“I will try. And while I hope to figure out what’s going on with Kyuhyun soon, I do hope your friends aren’t negatively involved either.” Sungmin didn’t allow them the chance to say anything more, and just left, not bothering to go back through the theater either. He sent Donghae a quick text letting him know the update.

“What’s up guys,” Wonshik asks when he walks into the theater later that same afternoon to meet with Hongbin and Jaehwan. “You said we needed to talk in person and not via text, so what’s going on.”

“One of my seniors in the theater came to speak with me today,” Jaehwan started.

“And?”

“He had some pictures of us all from last week that his friend took. From when Taekwoon was here and you introduced us to that Kyuhyun guy.”

“Pictures?”

“Yeah, from before we met up with you two as well. Like good quality ones too. And apparently the photographer saw Taekwoon giving Kyuhyun things,” Hongbin added.

“What did he want?” Wonshik had started the conversation a little confused but now it was obvious he was getting angry.

“To find the two of you.”

“He says he’s a friend of Kyuhyun and even showed me a bunch of pictures of them together and pointed out who took the photos,” Jaehwan quickly added before Hongbin’s simple statement could make things worse. It seemed to help as Wonshik put up his hand to prevent anyone from talking for a moment and calmed himself down just a little.

“If he is Kyuhyun’s friend, why is he looking for us?”

“He wouldn’t go into detail but swore it was for Kyuhyun’s own good. Said he’s been lying to them and acting different and the only thing out of the ordinary they’ve been able to catch so far was our meeting with him. And he even said that the one who took the picture saw you guys by coincidence.”

“Told us that he wanted to know what you gave Kyuhyun and supposedly just make sure it was a perfectly innocent meeting and unrelated to whatever is going on with him. Frankly I don’t trust him.”

“Do you think he’s working for Taekwoon’s mother,” Wonshik asked Hongbin, finally getting the question they all knew was coming out.

“I don’t know,” Hongbin answered honestly. “Jae says he’s been helpful in theater and has never mentioned anything before that would give any worry.”

“He’s never really asked about friends or anything outside of theater before. And when he showed me the pictures, he didn’t know anyone’s name except for mine. Said that was the whole reason he was talking to me instead of the photographer. I don’t think he knows anything about Taekwoon.”

“Have you met with Kyuhyun before,” Hongbin asked.

“That night was the first time I met him outside of Taekwoon’s job.”

“Which means if they got hired by Taekwoon’s family then his family has already had someone watching you here waiting for Taekwoon to show and when you both met with Kyuhyun, then they would have had to follow the Kyuhyun route to look as disconnected from them as possible. But they had less than a week to see who knows Kyuhyun and convince them to take on the job.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time she had someone stalk me to try and find Taekwoon.”

“She’s had someone stalk us too until they realized we really don’t know where Taekwoon is. Which sucks. But this would be a new angle for her and there was at least a part of my senior that was telling the truth about Kyuhyun. We’re actors, we lie for a living, but sometimes that means we can also see when we’re not. It did feel like he was lying when he was talking about wanted to ‘rule you guys out’ but not when he was saying he was worried about Kyuhyun.”

“I’m sorry. I know you want to be able to see Taekwoon more, but this was his decision. He’s waiting until she can’t have any legal pressure on him because we’re only eighteen. We also recently had Hakyeon find out, so we’re hoping she long since gave up on him being any use. But I’ll talk about that later,” Wonshik added, noticing his friends shocked and almost betrayed looks. He could tell they had a thousand questions to go on about that. “Hongbin already said he doesn’t trust him, what do you think?”

“I’m not sure I trust him fully, but I at least think he is worried about Kyuhyun and that Kyuhyun is his focus. It’s why I talked Hongbin into giving him your info.”

“You gave him my info?” Wonshik just stared blankly at both his friends, trying to comprehend what they just said.

“Relax. We gave him the minimal. That’s all I would allow. Your name and that you frequent the library. He doesn’t even know what you look like other than you’re one of the people in his pictures. If he is working for Taekwoon’s mother, then getting to you means nothing. And if he’s not, then hopefully you can just answer his questions enough that he never has to learn Taekwoon’s name and we don’t deal with him again.”

“Fine. You make a point. What’s his name?”

“Lee Sungmin. I asked for you to meet us here because he’s in a couple of the cast photos we have in here so you know what he looks like too,” Jaehwan explained and pulled out a couple different photos of past theater productions and pointed out Sungmin in each of them.

Chapter Text

“Sungmin, you’re out of class now, right?” Donghae asked, hastily whispering into his phone.

“Yes, I’m out of class, I wouldn’t have answered my phone otherwise. Why are you whispering?”

“Come to the library, second floor. Hurry.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m pretty sure that Wonshik guy is here.”

“So? Just go talk to him Donghae.”

“I don’t know what to say.” Donghae was starting to whine at this point. “You talked to the others. What if I mess up and say something that contradicts what you told them?”

“Hae, this was your idea in the first place, and I told you what I said to them anyways.”

“But I need you. I can’t do this alone. You know I’m terrible at talking to people I don’t know. Please Minnie.” Donghae could hear Sungmin’s annoyed sigh loud and clear and knew he was going to give in.

“Where exactly are you?”

“Second floor, at the back worktables that look out to the courtyard.”

“Fine. I’ll be there in just a couple minutes,” Sungmin announced immediately hanging up. He knows he agreed to help even though he didn’t exactly like this plan, but now Donghae has him doing most of the work, which he doesn’t appreciate. At least Donghae will be with him this time, and if they are lucky, they might have some answers.

“Jaehwan and Hongbin told me you would be looking for me,” Wonshik said as soon as Sungmin and Donghae walked up to the table he was working at. As soon as Sungmin arrived, he didn’t bother stopping to talk to Donghae, just got his attention and went straight to Wonshik.

“They told me they would. So, as you might know, I’m Sungmin and this is my friend Donghae,” Sungmin introduced them, Donghae squeaking out a quick hello. “I’m also sure they told you why we wanted to talk to you.”

“It seemed like you were rather vague to them, but I got that it’s something to do with Kyuhyun and my meeting up with him not too long ago. Heard there were pictures as well of that meeting.”

“I’m sorry. That’s my fault,” Donghae admitted. “I was shocked to see you guys with him and took the pictures since I had my camera. I wanted to show them to him in case he knew any of you to know what was going on.” While Donghae explained himself, Sungmin pulled out the pictures and handed them to Wonshik.

“If you’re worried, the only ones who have seen them are us and your friends. We’re not trying to do anything beyond find out what is going on with Kyuhyun.”

“Well, I don’t know much about Kyuhyun. I’ve only met him twice. Both being rather brief and that being one of those times,” Wonshik pointed to the pictures that were now laid out across the table.

“How do you know him at all? Classes? Through someone else?” Donghae asked.

“He’s friends with my boyfriend’s boss, I guess. That’s how I met him at least. Don’t know much more than that.”

“So, why were you giving him stuff that night then,” Sungmin followed up with.

“I wasn’t giving him anything if you want to get into technicalities. I was the guide that night.” Sungmin narrowed his eyes at Wonshik who seemed to pay it no mind. “My boyfriend on the other hand was dropping off food. That’s what was in the bag. His coworker made it and insisted we take it to him.”

“What about what he gave him before the bag? There was something small he passed to him, but I couldn’t see what it was, and I didn’t get a picture.”

“Oh, that. I think it was a flash drive. It was the whole reason we were there in the first place. My boyfriend said Kyuhyun called his boss a little earlier that day quite frantic because he lost it or something and hoped he just left it at the shop. Turned out he did, and the boss sent my boyfriend to deliver it since he needed it for his class but didn’t have the time to travel to the shop and back. And because I had the time and my boyfriend is unfamiliar with the campus, I acted as guide.”

“I see.” Sungmin had a feeling that Wonshik wasn’t telling the truth however, there wasn’t anything obvious that Sungmin could call him out on. His story worked out, the vial they took from Kyuhyun would be only a little bigger than the average flash drive and both are easy enough to be concealed in a fist if you’re not close.

“Has your boyfriend mentioned Kyuhyun being around?”

“A couple times. Not too often though. Like I said, he seems to be friends with the boss, and we don’t really know the boss’s private life.”

“I suppose you wouldn’t.” Donghae agreed. “It would be weird to know much about your boss’s personal life especially if they don’t share it with you first.”

“Well, that’s all the info I have and all the time I can spare. I think if you want to know anything else, you’re going to have to talk to Kyuhyun about who else he hangs out with.” Wonshik quickly packed up all his supplies making a show of keeping the pictures as well. They probably have copies somewhere else, but he was going to keep these just in case. Just as he was leaving, he paused right behind them. “Also, as a word of advice, no matter how good your intentions, don’t take pictures of people like that.”

“He was way too prepared for that,” Sungmin pointed out after Wonshik left, finally letting himself relax and slump back in the chair.

“And he’s not one of us,” Donghae added, keeping his words vague in case anyone overheard them. There were still students sitting at the tables around them and while it wasn’t entirely likely they were listening too closely, they still didn’t want to risk it. “Which means his boyfriend is.”

“I have a feeling that’s not a secret being kept from him. I mean he gave us no information in the slightest. I’m not even sure his usb story was correct but I have no way of disproving him. Unfortunately, I think this was a dead end.”

“Agreed. We got no names and no more leads. He didn’t even hint at where the boyfriend works to narrow it down.”

“I think the only thing we got is that Kyuhyun is going somewhere else between classes now too and that’s really nothing to go on.”

“Want me to ask Hyukie if he knows?”

“No, that will just make Hyukjae ask too many questions and we’re trying not to get them involved.” Donghae let himself slump across the table and muffle a groan. Sungmin feeling much the same just patted him on the back. “Come on, we got class soon too. We’ll figure out something later.”

~

“Hey, Wonshik. This is an unusual day to see you,” Ryeowook greeted entered the bookstore later that same day.

“Yeah, uh, are Jongwoon and Taekwoon busy?” Wonshik was already checking around the bookstore and trying to peak up into the loft when he asked. Instead, he saw Heechul coming to the loft's railing.

“They're in the middle of a lesson right now.”

“Is it one I can interrupt?” Heechul stared down at Wonshik trying to get a read on what he was thinking. It was really unusual for Wonshik to want to disrupt Taekwoon when he was training. Rather than answering, Heechul headed down and pulled Wonshik into the shop where they could talk more freely.

“Alright, what's going on? You are trying to act like you’re calm but you seem spooked,” Heechul asked once they were alone.

“Not spooked but I'm worried. I think I may have handled it, but I want to talk to them about it just in case. And there is part of me that needs to physically see that Taekwoon is fine.”

“I’m sure I’ll hear what’s going on later. Just knock on the wall at the top of the stairs, Jongwoon will let you know when you can go down,” Heechul explained letting Wonshik into the apartment.

Wonshik heads over to the basement stairs and hesitates for a moment, wondering if he should invite Heechul into the conversation right away. He knows Jongwoon will tell him anyways and he’s okay with Heechul knowing, but Jongwoon is technically Taekwoon’s teacher and the one who took him in, so Wonshik just defaults everything to Jongwoon first. Besides, if he asked Heechul to come, there would be no one to help Ryeowook with the store and he didn’t want to do that to him. So, having made his decision he knocked on the side of the wall just above the banister.

“Yes,” Wonshik heard Jongwoon’s voice carry up the stairs.

“Hey, it’s me, can I come down?”

“Wonshik? Yeah, come down.” With Jongwoon’s confirmation, Wonshik headed down the stairs, Taekwoon ready to greet him at the bottom step, clearly surprised to see him.

“Hey, what’s wrong,” Taekwoon asked, taking Wonshik’s hand. Instead of responding, Wonshik took his free hand and cupped Taekwoon’s cheek. He let out a small sigh of relief, feeling himself relax a little and then hugged Taekwoon. “What happened? Was it my mom again?”

“I don’t know.”

“I’m sorry. I keep putting you through this. It’s not fair to you,” Taekwoon whispered into Wonshik’s shoulder.

“Don’t be sorry. This was my choice, remember. And now we can talk to Jongwoon about it too.” Wonshik shifted his attention to Jongwoon who had taken a step back and given the two their space. “Right? I’m sorry about disrupting the lesson.”

“It’s fine Wonshik, let’s hear what happened.” Jongwoon gestured for them to move to the table and take a seat.

“So, I had some visitors at school today,” Wonshik started, Taekwoon still holding onto his hand. “They had talked to our friends Jaehwan and Hongbin first the other day, who carefully led them to me. One of them had taken photos of Taekwoon and I the night we took the potion to Kyuhyun.” Wonshik took out the photos he had taken from Sungmin and Donghae earlier and shared them with Jongwoon. He told Jongwoon everything Sungmin had told their friends in addition to the conversation he had with the both of them. Jongwoon made sure Wonshik was quite thorough with his retelling and getting every piece of information he could.

“I can ease your worry a little,” Jongwoon stated once Wonshik had finished everything. “I am fairly certain that Donghae and Sungmin are honestly only interested in Kyuhyun and not Taekwoon.”

“Then why ask about Taekwoon?”

“I can only assume to get to me. Kyuhyun has mentioned them a few times before and I believe they are the ones who had referred him to me. Though since coming here he has of course been lying and hiding that fact from them.”

“Is there any possibility that it still has something to do with my mother,” Taekwoon asked.

“I can’t say that there is no chance of that, but I find it unlikely. We will of course keep our guard up, but Wonshik here has done a thorough job of not giving them any information. If they are somehow also working for your mother, he has given them a dead end currently.”

“Is there anything else I should do? Should I make sure I don’t interact with Kyuhyun or take a different route here again.”

“Do you interact with Kyuhyun at school often,” Jongwoon asked to which Wonshik shook his head. “Then you shouldn’t need to change anything. And as for your route here, that’s probably fine too. If they think to try and follow you here, then we will take care of it. Though as they are students themselves and it already took them some time just to find you once in the library with help, I doubt they will bother with that.” Wonshik nodded in his understanding though still feeling a bit apprehensive about the whole thing.

“Should we tell Kyuhyun, just so he can keep the story I gave straight with his friends?”

“No,” Jongwoon said bluntly shocking Wonshik.

“But,” Wonshik started but was cut off by Jongwoon.

“You trust me, right?”

“I mean, yes.”

“Then trust me on this. Heechul and I have already been curious about at least Donghae and the more I find out the more confident I am in my suspicions. I know you two don’t know a lot about what is going on and unfortunately for right now, I have to keep it that way. Kyuhyun is still my client and the details of what is going on must remain private. I have not told Kyuhyun about Taekwoon and so I will not tell you about Kyuhyun.”

“Understood.” Jongwoon looked at the solemn pair, knowing he did not fully ease their worries. He could tell Wonshik was calmer than he was when he first came in, but there was still a level of tenseness in his posture. He wishes he could have erased it completely but there was little more he could do without exposing his suspicions of Donghae and Sungmin being mages or of Kyuhyun’s full story.

What Jongwoon could offer however, was a distraction. Taekwoon still needed to have his lessons for the day as they were only about halfway into it when Wonshik interrupted. While his current plan wouldn’t help much, it wasn’t too much effort to switch to a different one and he had a few in mind that Wonshik could easily join in. Taekwoon always enjoyed showing off to Wonshik and his magic seemed to flourish in Wonshik’s presence. Jongwoon had many lessons in mind for Wonshik to join in on and with Wonshik already here, it was the perfect time to use one.

“So, we do still have a lesson to do,” Jongwoon announced interrupting the pair’s quiet conversation. Wonshik began to look a little guilty and moved to grab his things.

“I’m sorry, I should probably get out of the way then.”

“If you have no where you need to be Wonshik, I am more than happy for you to be a part of today’s lesson. It’s no problem to switch up what we were doing earlier.”

“Oh, I don’t want to mess up anything more than I already have, and you were already in the middle of one.”

“Shikie, he said it’s no problem. Do you have to go back?” Taekwoon asked while Jongwoon got up to start setting up for his alternative lesson and to send Heechul a quick message. Unless Wonshik had something scheduled, there was no way he was saying no to Taekwoon.

“No. It’s just the study group and I can tell them I can’t make it this time. If you want me to stay that is, it is your lesson.”

“I want you to. Jongwoon said you could so I want you to. But studying is important too.”

“How about this, I help you with your lesson and then afterwards you help me with my studying?” Taekwoon easily agreed to the plan and Jongwoon couldn’t be happier. The last thing he would want is for the two to be worrying about the day’s events alone, it’s better to keep them together with something that will allow them to ease the tension and worry they are both carrying. He knows it will still be lingering in the back of their minds until he can confirm Sungmin and Donghae have no affiliation with Taekwoon’s family, but for now, this is what he can do.

“Are the kids gone,” Heechul asked heading downstairs a little later.

“Yeah, they went up to the bedroom to help Wonshik study.”

“How’s he doing? All he would tell me is that he was worried about something, but he was very shaken up.”

“It was mostly just post-adrenaline,” Heechul raised his eyebrows at the statement. “Don’t give me that look, I don’t have the nursing degree between us. You know what I’m trying to say. It’s that come down after suppressing your emotions for tough situations. He’s really good at it but the aftereffects are strong. He’ll get better as time goes on though I hate the fact it’s something he has needed to get good at.”

“So, someone was looking for Taekwoon then.”

“In a way. It’s Donghae and Sungmin again. We have quite a lot to discuss, but we shouldn’t leave Ryeowook alone in the store for too long.”

“He’s fine, Hangeng and Kibum are here. I also let them know something was up and we might need to be away for a bit.” That was good enough for Jongwoon and Heechul started helping clean up while Jongwoon began explaining what Wonshik told him.

~

“Didn’t expect to see you here,” Jongwoon said as he walked up to Kyuhyun’s table. Kyuhyun was glancing at the café’s menu while slowly taking his laptop and notebooks out. He looked up when Jongwoon spoke, surprised to see him.

“Oh, hey. You getting food for everyone or just yourself?” Kyuhyun asked.

“It’s just me. I got kicked out. Mind if I sit with you?” Kyuhyun shook his head and gestured to the seat across from him.

“What do you mean you got kicked out? By whom?”

“Heechul. Said I had to spend at least a couple hours minimum out of the house and eat something.” Kyuhyun narrowed his eyes and raised an eyebrow. Jongwoon saw the look, laughed quietly, and continued to explain. “I’ve been working on a project for a couple days now, pretty aggressively and without many breaks. I feel so close to figuring it out, but I’ve had a lot of failures so Heechul decided I needed a break and since I won’t give myself one, he forced one on me.”

“Sounds about right.” Kyuhyun snorted a laugh. “If he didn’t Ryeowook probably would have started throwing food at you.” Jongwoon couldn’t help but let out another small laugh at that.

“He did threaten, but Heechul apparently put Taekwoon on duty for making sure I ate once he noticed I was starting to zone in too far.”

Before they could continue the conversation, they were interrupted by the waiter. Thankfully, both had already decided and it was easy enough for both to order.

“So, what were your plans for today? I see you’ve got more homework out. Didn’t feel like stopping by the bookstore?” Jongwoon asked once the waiter left.

“I hadn’t decided on that yet. I came here first because I wanted something a little more filling than the light food and snacks at the store. I have some shopping to do in the area as well. And I’m just waiting to hear if I’m going to have my late class today. My middle classes scheduled this week off in prep for our big presentation next week so we would have extra time to work on it. The professor will also be there if anyone has last minute questions, but otherwise we don’t have to go in. But my late class is up for debate today. The professor emailed us yesterday saying they were having a family emergency and would let us know today if we had class or not. So, if we don’t, then I can head home earlier than I usually get to.”

“I see. I’m surprised you’re not taking the extra time with your friends. It seems like most of your free time is spent with them.”

“A lot of it is. We’re lucky we have so much time this year. Last year, there was rarely a chance for all of us to see each other with any regularity. Even with most of us getting ready to graduate and still having heavy workloads, we’ve made sure to keep the free time for each other.”

“But not today, huh.”

“Nope. But that was to be expected. Donghae claimed Hyukjae for when he’s not in class himself. Henry is cramming for an exam at the end of the week. And Sungmin and I are still not talking.”

“Are you at least working on this big presentation you have then?”

“Already did. Well kind of. I had it finished last week and brought it to my professor before coming here to look over. I have my list of pointers and will apply them when I get home tonight. Even if I didn’t change anything, I would have a pretty good grade, so I’m not worried.” Jongwoon laughed a little when Kyuhyun showed him the very detailed written notes of improvements to be made to his presentation.

“You are a lot more efficient at your classwork than I ever was.”

“Parents really got on me when I was a kid for one, so I’ve always been a top student. And then, a couple classes my first year really forced me to get it in gear for university.”

“Yeah, I had that. When I first came to the city and started university, it was so different to the rest of my schooling, that I really had to make some changes to just stay afloat initially. It’s a good thing I like to read and study.”

“Until you decided on your master plan with Heechul that was,” Kyuhyun teased.

“One, that didn’t stop how much I like to read and study. Remember, I was just kicked out of my house for doing too much of that. Two, you don’t need a business degree to run a business successfully. And three, I didn’t really have any real plans before deciding on this. Besides, I got Heechul as my best friend, and Wookie and Taekwoonie out of it,” Jongwoon happily pointed out.

“Fair points.”

“So, what about you?”

“What about me?” Kyuhyun asked, very confused to what Jongwoon was asking. Jongwoon had to wait a moment before he could explain as their food arrived.

“Sorry, there was a slightly better segue in my head. What I was trying to ask was about your friends. You know how Heechul and I met and everyone else with the store, but I only know bits and pieces about your friends. Like I obviously know their names and how you and Sungmin are fighting but beyond that, not much.”

“Oh. I suppose I have just mentioned them as if you actually know who they are,” Kyuhyun laughed to himself, a little embarrassed at the realization. “But sure, I can tell you about them. What do you want to know?”

“I’m not fishing for specific information, just tell me about them, how you met and all that.”

“Half of them I met my first year in Uni, but Hyukjae and I go back much further. Hyukjae and I have been friends since we were kids, stuck together all through school and still now. We had other friends growing up too, but they were all more casual friends. We had a group we hung out with in high school all the time but even then, I think we were kind of on the outside of that group.”

“So, your current group of friends is your first real group that’s not just you and Hyukjae?”

“Right, mostly. We added Henry our last year of high school. He moved here from overseas and got pulled into the group, but he stuck with Hyukjae and I a little more than the others. So, he made us a group of three rather than just two. And then Donghae and Sungmin came when we got to University. Hyukjae met Donghae in a class and then Donghae introduced us to Sungmin once he was regularly hanging out with us. The two of them met when Donghae moved here in high school. And since then, the five of us have been inseparable, except for the fight Sungmin and I had.”

“Have you tried talking to him?” Kyuhyun shook his head.

“No. I don’t think he’s ready to yet and I’m not sure how to try all things considering. I can’t tell him I’ve changed my stance on things without having to explain why. The others all talk to him still, mostly Donghae, so I get updates on how he’s doing. And Hyuk said Donghae has tried to talk him into meeting with me.” Kyuhyun went silent after that, just slowly moving some of the remaining food around on his plate.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to bring the mood down by bringing it up,” Jongwoon apologized, he really hadn’t meant to make Kyuhyun upset. Kyuhyun looked back up at and shook his head.

“No, don’t worry about it. It’s kind of always on the back of my mind, you didn’t do anything wrong.”

“You sure?” Kyuhyun nodded. “Okay, I’ll take your word for it. So anyways, show me some pictures or something. You have to have some with your friends, don’t you?”

“Me? No. I barely have pictures. I’m not real big into taking pictures especially of myself. Donghae is the one who takes all the pictures. He even has a real high-quality camera he spent forever saving up for that he takes almost everywhere. He does share a lot of his pictures though, let me see if I can pull them up.” Kyuhyun grabbed out his phone and pulled up Donghae’s social media to get to all his pictures. He started showing them to Jongwoon, making sure to point out which friend was who. Conveniently for Jongwoon, Donghae took plenty of selfies and he could confirm that it is the same Donghae he met. Jongwoon was honestly interested in Kyuhyun and his friends, but he also couldn’t give up the opportunity to check.

“He and Hyukjae take a lot of pictures together.”

“Yeah,” Kyuhyun laughed to himself. “Hyukjae jokes it’s the one negative of dating him. Constant selfies. But we know Hyuk doesn’t actually care.”

“Those two are dating?”

“Started last year. The rest of us had to endure months of them flirting with each other, completely unaware the other was also flirting with them. Sungmin and I each had to deal with our best friend complaining about how they though the other wouldn’t like them back. We were both ready to just lock them in a closet or something.”

“I got lucky, Kibum has told me about what he had to deal with when Heechul and Hangeng were pining after each other. He lived with the both of them, so he was really stuck in the middle of it.”

“Oh, that had to be so much worse.”

“All I know, is that Heebum was part of the tipping point.”

“As in his cat?” Kyuhyun questioned, wide eyed and confused. Jongwoon laughed at both Kyuhyun’s expression and the memory of Kibum telling him.

“Yeah, Hangeng wasn’t home when Heechul got Heebum so he named his cat after Kibum and himself. Hangeng got home later that day and was upset that he wasn’t included, so Heebum’s full name is actually Han Heebum. I don’t remember all the details, but Kibum said that got them to eventually talk and reveal feelings not too long afterwards.”

“That just sounds so ridiculous but also something that would happen with Heechul.”

“Exactly.” The two finished eating while sharing a few other stories about their friends.

“So, how much longer are you kicked out for,” Kyuhyun asked afterwards.

“Some time still if I’m being realistic.”

“Well, want to go shopping with me? Unless you had something else planned.”

“No, no other plans. Shopping sounds good to me, but did I stop you from getting work done again?” Jongwoon gestured to Kyuhyun’s laptop he barely touched since getting it out.

“It’s fine. I told you I was just getting a head start on some stuff. If we go to the shop afterwards, I’ll work on it there, otherwise, I’ll work on it at home tonight.”

“Well then, I’m good to go whenever you are.” Kyuhyun agreed and immediately packed up his stuff.

~

“Lady Maeng, I’m here and I brought my friend,” Donghae announced once he let himself into the small house, Sungmin trailing behind. Sungmin took a moment to look around the house when they first entered. From the entrance, it looked like a normal house, just slightly cluttered, but when Donghae led him further in, it changed. The kitchen, dining, and living room they passed all seemed well kept, clean, and relatively normal, which Sungmin assumes is on purpose for the sake of guests. Because through a door off of the kitchen, everything changed. Where the front rooms where light with creams and beiges, the back were much richer and deeper earth tones that Sungmin is used to seeing in many mage’s homes including his own grandparents. The rooms are much more cluttered, though Sungmin would have a hard time calling it unorganized, and there was plenty of room to move around and reach everything.

Donghae led them to the rear of the house into a study. At the back of the room were large windows that looked out to a private garden but let in a lot of light. One side of the room was lined in bookshelves that extended up the full height of the room and were completely covered in books, many Sungmin recognized at a quick glance from his own family’s collection and his master’s but many more he didn’t. The other side was lined with shelves and cabinets where just about anything you might need as a mage is neatly stored. In the center of the room are a couple of large desks and behind them in front of the window is an old-fashioned cauldron. It’s exactly how Sungmin would imagine a Mage’s study of Lady Maeng’s age and caliber would be.

“You know you needn’t shout when you enter. I know when you arrive.” Sungmin finally noticed Lady Maeng herself situated at one of desks.

“I know, but I like doing it. Feels better to announce myself. Anyways, Lady Maeng, this is Sungmin, my friend and Master Sunwoo’s apprentice. Sungmin, my Master, Lady Maeng,” Donghae introduced.

“It’s an honor to meet someone as respectable as yourself, Ma’am,” Sungmin said giving a stiff bow. “I hope you don’t mind me intruding today.”

“It’s quite alright. I’m just glad to see someone has some manners around here,” She said side-eyeing Donghae. “Donghae said the two of you were working on something together and needed some guidance.”

“Yes Ma’am. We’ve hit a bit of a dead end on our own.” Sungmin was quite nervous to ask for help from Lady Maeng as she was quite intimidating to most. But with some encouragement from Donghae, Sungmin showed her their notes and the two began to fill her in on their situation with Kyuhyun.

“Did you bring the potion with you,” she asked after their story.

“We did,” Sungmin said pulling out the small vial. “We’ve tried to determine what the potion is for, but we’ve never seen anything like it.”

“And we’ve had a hard time figuring out if it is made by one person or two. This is the same potion I was asking you about double symbols for,” Donghae added. Lady Maeng took the vial from Sungmin and ordered Donghae to fetch a bowl and some other supplies for her.

Lady Maeng started by pouring the potion into the small bowl. On a large tray, she poured a small amount of water, just enough to cover the bottom, and placed the bowl in the center. She first covered the small bowl with a lid and then put a larger clear dome over that that covered most of the tray. Next, she poured a small vial of a different potion into the water and took a lit candle, taking the flame to the water. The potion she added allowed the water to react with the fire, creating a low layer of fire atop the water and causing the dome to fill with smoke.

“When dealing with potions, the mage’s mark will only appear as large as the volume of potion. Thus, to really look at the symbol we must magnify it. The lid on the bowl protects the potion but also reacts with the smoke to create a sort of projector within the dome.” Lady Maeng followed her explanation up by laying a hand on the dome. The potion within the bowl in the center started to glow slightly, and shortly after the symbol Sungmin and Donghae have only seen a miniature version of, was displayed nice and large within the fog.

“So, it is a double symbol?” Donghae questioned. “If it were two people, the symbols would have split, right?”

“Correct. The other way you can tell is that the colors bleed together and there is white around the green in the turtle and green outlining the white of the cloud.”

“Do you know who’s it is?” Sungmin asked this time.

“As a matter of fact, I do. It is very rare for mages to have a double symbol like this and they tend to be some of the most powerful mages out there. Donghae has in fact met the owner of this symbol.”

“I have?” Donghae furrowed his eyebrows and cocked his head slightly to the side, trying to think of who Lady Maeng might be referring to.

“Yes, just a few weeks ago, I asked you to pick up my order from him. Have you forgotten Jongwoon that quickly?”

“But I checked Master Jongwoon’s symbol with one of your medicine vials. His was a red rose.”

“Ah, you checked the wrong potion then.” Both Donghae and Sungmin stared blankly at her. “My medicine is not created by Jongwoon, but instead by his business partner Heechul. Jongwoon may be one of the most brilliant minds at creating potions, however, Heechul is a healer by trade and nature.”

“We looked up Master Jongwoon’s shop, but I don’t remember seeing anyone else,” Sungmin mentioned.

“You were looking for your friend, thus you were mostly looking through the channels that were visible for non-mages as well, that’s why you also found his pseudonym. Had you looked closer at the mage only channels you would have heard of Heechul as well. Both are mages skilled beyond their years, so it was a good idea to send your friend to them. Jongwoon even has two apprentices he takes care of with Heechul’s help.”

“So then, what is the potion for? What is our friend taking?” Donghae asked.

“That will be harder to determine.”

“Why?” The two looked at each other and then at Lady Maeng in disbelief.

“Don’t give me those looks. You’ve already tried it yourself to no luck and that’s not just a lack of experience. I told you, Jongwoon has a special skill for making potions. If he is helping your friend, then the potion is created specifically for your friend. I could look at it and dissect the ingredients and probably come up with a couple different options for what it is for. But it’s unlikely that even I would be able to confirm its exact purpose. I have four books in here written by Jongwoon of potions he has created or improved as well as how he goes about creating potions based on the induvial.”

“So, if we want to know, then,” Donghae trailed off.

“You will have to ask your friend or Jongwoon and Jongwoon won’t tell you,” Lady Maeng finished. “He is very serious about the confidentiality of his clients.”

“But we already know Kyuhyun won’t tell us since he already lied to us about it,” Sungmin mumbled, looking down. “He probably couldn’t.”

“No. I imagine that Jongwoon has kept him quiet. Your friend is not a mage, as far as he knows, the only mages he knows are those from the shop. Jongwoon wouldn’t just lightly put his apprentices at risk of exposure, thus he knows your friend won’t say anything and it seems he is right to do so. The only reason you two know is because you are mages.”

“Then what should we do?” Donghae asked.

“Should? Well, there isn’t specifically anything you should do. Honestly, if you’re just worried about a mage messing with your friend, then you needn’t be. If Jongwoon is giving him a potion, it’s because he needs it. And he is perfectly safe in Jongwoon’s hands. But if that isn’t enough for you, then your only course of action is to tell him about yourselves first. Only then will you maybe be able to speak to him about what he’s dealing with. So, you have to weigh the decision between keeping your secret or revealing theirs.”

Chapter Text

~

After the discussion with Lady Maeng, Donghae and Sungmin decided to give themselves a couple days on their own to think. They figured they wouldn’t influence each other’s thoughts initially and then they can discuss it together. That’s how they found themselves in Sungmin’s bedroom a few days later.

“So,” Donghae started, “what are you thinking?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure.” Sungmin sighed flopping back onto his bed. “We know Kyuhyun did eventually listen to us and went to Master Jongwoon. And that since he doesn’t know we are mages he couldn’t tell us. From what Lady Maeng told us and from your impression of Master Jongwoon, Kyuhyun is in good hands. But we don’t know what’s wrong with him and he’s stopped talking to us, well you, about it.”

“But we know he’s okay, or rather will be. Either way it’s obvious he’s been getting better. Does that mean we should stop and leave it be?”

“Maybe,” Sungmin said not sounding very convinced. The two went silent, hoping that that would be the end of it and that they had made their decision. But after few minutes, Donghae stood up and started pacing the small room.

“So, why doesn’t it feel like the right answer?” Donghae groaned out, obviously very frustrated. “I can’t say that exposing ourselves seems like the right answer either, but it feels like I won’t be satisfied just leaving it here. I think it would just be something that quietly constantly nags at me.”

“What part?” Donghae paused his pacing to stare blankly at Sungmin who had now sat up to look more directly at Donghae. “What part is going to nag at you? Not knowing what’s wrong with Kyuhyun? Knowing Kyuhyun knows about mages and magic but not about us? Not knowing what happened to Kyuhyun in the first place that gave him a magic born ailment?”

“I don’t know. All of it? None of it? It wouldn’t stress me out so much if I knew. But even us just making our decision has me second guessing everything because it doesn’t feel right.”

“So, you want to tell him then?”

“No,” Donghae groaned out and proceeded to faceplant onto Sungmin’s bed, narrowly avoiding Sungmin himself.

“Why not? And I mean beyond the twenty some years of warnings and horror stories from literally every mage older than us that we know reminding us to not tell our secrets to non-mages.”

“Because I never thought I would be telling Kyuhyun. Or at the very least, certainly not first,” Donghae said just barely turning his face enough to be heard clearly enough.

Sungmin hummed a short, confused tone and looked down at Donghae. When Donghae didn’t say anything, Sungmin started poking him. It took a minute, but Donghae sighed and rolled over onto his back.

“For a while now, I’ve assumed one day I would be telling Hyukjae. But even with that, I didn’t think it would be for some time still. Like a couple years maybe.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I mean we’re dating. It’s not fair to forever hide this from him. But I was going to wait. Right now, we’ve always been together since we met and even more so since we started dating. It’s really easy for any relationship to do well and feel like forever in those cases. At least compared to relationships where you rarely get to see or talk to each other, and that’s for both friendships and romantic relationships. Hyuk and I haven’t been in a position where we’re too busy to see each other for more than a couple days and even then, we’re constantly texting. So, part of me fears when we graduate things will change and maybe not for the better. But I also want to work to make sure our relationship stays strong and I’m sure he does too. I fear for the worst but work for the best.”

“So, when did you want to tell Hyukjae?”

“My thoughts were, we would graduate, enter our careers and our adult lives. For the first while we will both still be living at home but eventually one of us will move out or maybe even both of us separately. Then after some time we would move in together and once we were secure and comfortable living with each other, then I would tell him. I just feel like we have to get through these hurdles to know our relationship is as long lasting as we can make forever be.”

“Do you think it would be a disservice to your relationship to tell Kyuhyun before Hyukjae?”

“A little bit. It feels unfair.”

“Though before all of this, they were equal, neither knowing of the real existence of mages and magic. But now, they’re not. And I think that changes some things.”

“Yeah, Kyuhyun knows, Hyuk doesn’t but Kyuhyun is a good friend while Hyukjae is my boyfriend. So, which factor weighs more?”

“That’s up to you. What do you want to do now since you’ve seemed to talk yourself out of our initial decision?”

“I don’t know. Talk to Jongwoon?” Donghae suggested. Sungmin furrowed his brows and gave a slight jerk of his head.

“Why?” Donghae shrugged. “Didn’t we already agree that that would be pointless?”

“I think I just want to try. Maybe he’ll take pity on us or something. Or maybe just give us some advice.”

“Or yell at us.”

“That too.”

“Alright.” Sungmin sighed. “If that’s what you want to do, we can give it a try. But we will have to go sometime while Kyuhyun is in class.”

“Why?”

“Remember, Wonshik said that his boyfriend mentioned Kyuhyun hanging around a few times. And Hyukjae has mentioned Kyuhyun heading off somewhere else during breaks when the group isn’t getting together. So, I would rather not risk the chance of bumping into Kyuhyun there. That would require immediate explanation we’re not sure if we are ready to give.”

“We know Wednesdays are his late day, we can make that work, and I can double check with him that their schedule is back to normal this week just to be sure.”

“Okay. We can do Wednesday.”

~

Wednesday couldn’t come fast enough for either of them. Just waiting gave them too much time to stress about it. It also wasn’t surprising when they hesitated just outside the store, silently trying to convince the other to go in first. It was only when someone else was leaving and held the door open for them that they finally made their way inside.

Instead of Ryeowook manning the register like the last time Donghae was here, it was the boy from his pictures. Sungmin recognized him as well and it did nothing to ease either of their nerves. But either way, Sungmin proceed to approach him.

“Excuse us.” Sungmin called out, getting Taekwoon to look up at him. “We were looking for Jongwoon.” Taekwoon didn’t move but Sungmin could see his eyes dart between him and Donghae a few times.

“Wait here.” Taekwoon didn’t give them a chance to say anything when he just walked away, past them and up to the loft. Sungmin and Donghae stood in silence, only occasionally sparing each other a glance now and then.

“Ah, so it’s you.” They heard Jongwoon speak from behind them, barely noticing Taekwoon take his spot back behind the counter. “Come in here.” There was no room for argument, so the two followed him into the shop. He took them to the table near the back of the room and gestured for them to sit down. “So, Donghae what brings you in today? And with a friend. Sungmin, I presume.”

They hadn’t considered the idea of Jongwoon already being on to them, and now Donghae and Sungmin were wondering just how much he knew. Sungmin had instinctually nodded when Jongwoon addressed him, but elbowed Donghae afterwards.

“Uh, we,” Donghae started hesitating and looking between his hands and Jongwoon. Jongwoon on the other hand was sitting nicely in front of him, expectingly with a smile that only made Donghae more nervous. Donghae cleared his throat and tried again. “We wanted to ask you a couple questions.”

“Oh, what might that be?”

“We were at Lady Maeng’s the other day discussing potions, and you were brought up.”

“I thought you were Lady Maeng’s only apprentice.” Jongwoon interrupted and looked over to Sungmin.

“He is. I study under Master Sunwoo. I was just joining for the lesson that day. I was curious about a few things that were relevant to his lesson, so Lady Maeng allowed me to join.”

“And now you are both here.”

“Lady Maeng mentioned that you were the best with potions, even pointed out that she has a couple books that you have written on potions,” Donghae continued to explain. “We were talking about how you create potions specific to the person you’re helping so each one is unique.” Sungmin was nodding along, long having figured out Donghae’s plan.

“Yeah, and we wanted to know just how you managed to make those. What goes into creating a potion like that? Since Donghae mentioned having met you before, we thought we might be able to ask,” Sungmin added.

“You came to ask me how I make potions? I’m sure Lady Maeng and Master Sunwoo can explain that well enough.”

“Not just regular potion making, but the custom ones. Where you don’t use a common recipe but instead make one specific for a client and their situation from scratch. Like how do you learn to do that?” Sungmin asked, explaining further.

“It’s not that different really. Same with medicine. You learn the different materials you have to work with, as many as you possibly can, what they do in each form. And by that, I mean, a plant’s leaves can have certain effects while the stem or roots have different ones. Furthermore, cut, boiled, mashed, fired, and whole are all states which your material can be in, and each can change the properties and effects. This is of course basic knowledge for potion making. As is then knowing how different materials act when put together because many will change their effects completely sometimes even neutralizing them.”

“Right, we’ve learned that”, Donghae confirmed. “That’s basic chemistry. Also knowing your material’s source is important especially plants because different growing conditions effect the potency and reaction. Adding in the magic component is unique to mages abilities and gives a better control over the potion’s final outcome. Stabilizes it.” Jongwoon hummed, pleased with additional comments.

“Very right. And all mages must know these to make any potion, whether they’re following a recipe or not. Creating a customized potion for someone is studying the problem you are trying to solve and taking all your knowledge of existing potions and materials and creating the right combination to target the problem.”

“Don’t all potions do that though?” Sungmin asked.

“Yes. But on a much broader scale.”

“How so?”

“There are many potions that are a one size fits all. They target a problem that is relatively the same for everyone who has it and thus can be treated the same way with minimal change needed. But when I make a custom one, I am targeting something more precise than that. Think of it as the difference between a potion for magic restoration versus one for a curse. Magic depletion is the same for all of us, restoring it is the same as well. But a curse is much more specific, and you need to know both the curse and the person being affected by it and how. Yes, there are many potions out there to help remove curses, but they very quickly get more complicated.”

“Do you treat many people with curses?” Donghae asked.

“Some. It’s not common but it’s not a rare occasion either.”

“Are you treating anyone for a curse currently?” Jongwoon narrowed his eyes and his whole demeanor went serious again after having relaxed slightly with the potion conversation.

“Even anonymously, I would not reveal anything about my clients and certainly not what any of them come to me for.”
There was no room left for debate. Donghae and Sungmin knew they could go no further with their current plan. Glancing at each other, it was a silent debate to back out now or switch tactics. Sungmin was ready to back out and nudge his head slightly towards the door, hoping Donghae would get the hint. He seemed to understand but shook his head. Instead, he grabbed out the vial of Kyuhyun’s potion. After speaking with Lady Maeng, she kept the potion itself, but Donghae took the vial back.

“I believe this was one of your vials though,” Donghae stated, handing the vial back to Jongwoon. Donghae had hoped to throw Jongwoon off with it but was not surprised that he hadn’t. Sungmin just sighed and slumped down in his chair.

“Yes, and I am fully aware you stole it from my client. Do you understand the trouble you caused with that? Both the taking of it, and everything you have done since? Do I even wish to know what you have done with its contents?” Jongwoon questioned them.

“We didn’t do anything with it. Not really. We were just trying to dissect it and determine its use. Currently it’s at Lady Maeng’s,” Sungmin explained. “She’s the one who told us the mark was yours.”

“You needed to have Lady Maeng tell you the maker’s symbol on the potion was for the mage you yourself sent your friend to?”

“When I first saw Kyuhyun taking the potion, I briefly looked at it and saw the mark, but when I met you, I falsely assumed that you made Lady Maeng’s medicine. So, when the marks didn’t match, I got worried. Then I dragged Sungmin into helping me. We weren’t trying to cause any trouble.”

“But you did, intentional or not.” Donghae and Sungmin shrunk further into their seats. “Taking the potion almost risked Kyuhyun’s treatment. And while you thought you were being sneaky with your questioning, your running around with my apprentice’s pictures has now brought his safety into question and you further into suspicion.”

“The only ones who saw those pictures were those who already knew him. I swear. It was just the three who were there that night. I saw him giving Kyuhyun what I assume was the potion and could tell either he or Wonshik was mage. But I couldn’t pinpoint which of them it was, so I took the pictures to ask Sungmin.” Jongwoon side-eyed Sungmin and waved off his nodding.

“Just so we are clear, I need you to confirm that you know nothing of my apprentice and are no risk to him and when you leave here today, you will speak to no one of his location.”

“We don’t and we will keep it that way. We promise,” Sungmin spoke for the both of them. Donghae nodding along.

“Good. I assume I don’t need to go over what will happen should you go back on that. And I expect you to apologize to him as well. As for Kyuhyun, at this point, regardless of your reasons for your actions, you owe him an explanation as well.”

“But,” Donghae started to argue but Jongwoon immediately stopped him.

“He’s smarter than you give him credit for, and you are not as sly as you think. It’s too late for you to back out now. Keeping it from him longer won’t help either of you. Tell him and tell him soon. Then of course you can finally get all the answers you were looking for.”

Jongwoon didn’t let them linger much longer before sending them back out into the bookstore. Of course, not without a final reminder to speak with Taekwoon. They stood just outside the door, watching as Taekwoon finished checking out a customer and sending them on their way. Taekwoon didn’t notice them right away, so they had the chance to make sure there weren’t any other customers in hearing range of them before they approached.

“Sorry to bother you,” Sungmin starts with, “Taekwoon?” Taekwoon looked up and glanced between the two again.

“Did you need something?”

“Yeah,” Sungmin hesitates. “Jongwoon said we should speak with you and apologize.”

“For?”

Sungmin elbowed Donghae.

“Right. Uh, Wonshik may have told you already,”

“Donghae and Sungmin then?” Taekwoon interrupted. Both nodded.

“Jongwoon told us that our asking for you caused some panic. He didn’t explain why, just that it brought your safety into question.”

“We honestly don’t know anything, and we are sorry for the worry and panic we put you and Wonshik through. While we tried to be discreet for our own sake, it obviously only created more suspicion and trouble,” Sungmin added.

“You didn’t want Kyuhyun to know what you are.”

“No,” Donghae admitted. “Or anyone else for that matter. We didn’t know if any of your friends knew, so we couldn’t tell them either.”

“Only Wonshik knows. The rest will come later. When it’s safe.”

“You’re planning on telling them? You’re not worried?” Sungmin asked, wide eyed.

“I know the bad side of people finding out, very well. But I also know the good of it. Both are why I’m here.”

“That’s why Wonshik wouldn’t even say your name. You’re hiding from whomever it was who took it badly,” Sungmin pieced together.

“Yes.”

“And you still want to tell others?” Donghae asked.

“They are not the same. Neither is Kyuhyun.”

“Kyuhyun always swore against it, argued with me, and said it was all fake. He was so addiment to the point that we would fight, and it felt like a personal attack. You can see our hesitation.”

“He has proof now. The only hard part will be admitting everything else.” Taekwoon moved back around to the café’s counter, as a customer came up. Sungmin and Donghae lingered for another moment but ultimately decided it was time for them to leave. Taekwoon however, wasn’t quite finished with them. “Wait a moment.” They were halfway to the door when he stopped them. They watched as he finished his customer and came up to them. “When you talk to Kyuhyun, don’t mention me. Or to anyone else.”

“Even though he already knows you’re here?” Donghae asked.

“Anyone can hear.”

“Right, we’ll be careful and keep your secret. If we see Wonshik we will apologize to him as well, discreetly, otherwise, please let him know.” Taekwoon nodded, satisfied enough with Sungmin’s words.

“You may leave then.” That was all Taekwoon said before walking away and that was enough for Donghae and Sungmin to take their leave.

Once Donghae and Sungmin had left, Jongwoon came out of the shop, obviously having listened to their conversation with Taekwoon.

“I’m surprised you told them that much.”

“They needed it.”

“I suppose. Are you worried about them?” Taekwoon shook his head.

“They know enough, they will stay quiet.”

“We can talk to Kyuhyun too once we know they’ve told him and make sure they do. He’s proven to be trustworthy.”