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“Kai don’t touch that.”
“Why?”
“That’s an aconitum, you know, wolfsbane?” Soobin carefully stroked the flowers of his ramonda serbica. It was almost time to bring it back from the dead.
“I thought that was illegal.”
“It’s the plant Kai, not the potion. And it’s not illegal, just dangerous.”
“What about this one?”
Soobin glanced up. “That would be gympie gympie.”
“That sounds cute!”
“It’s also known as the suicide plant to muggles since the sting is agonizing and can last for years.”
Kai slowly removed the finger he had stretched out towards the gently vibrating plant. It loved attention, hence its subtle sway towards Kai, but was also terrified of the world and prone to stinging anyone nearby in fear.
“You know what, I’m just going to stand right here in the middle of the room by this stinging nettle because at least I know Nettie likes me and won’t kill me.” Kai shuffled around the plants warily and stood directly next to Nettie crossing his arms over his chest. “I don’t need another trip to the hospital wing already.”
“My babies aren’t dangerous!”
“You literally grow poisons in here.”
Soobin huffed and went back to adding soil to little Diablo. A stenocereus eruca, he had an o-shaped pot that spread around the room for him to wander through slowly. Depended on his mood, sometimes he would hang out for a while in one location and other times he would travel 10 centimeters in a day. Usually he traveled horizontally around 60 centimeters a year, growing from one end and dying from the other to stay roughly 20 centimeters in length. He was in a happy mood today, waiting patiently for Soobin to replace his soil.
“Soobinnnn,” Kai whined. “Can we please go to dinner now?”
Soobin glanced one more time at his section 5 of greenhouse 33. Swaying leaves waved him goodbye and even Mimi, his precocious mimosa pudica opened and closed a leaf.
“Yeah, fine, let’s go.”
“Soobin worrying over his plants again?” Taehyun glanced up from his book as they gracefully flopped onto the Hufflepuff benches across from him.
A Ravenclaw, Taehyun had foregone his house back in first year and the rest of Hufflepuff had just sort of accepted it. A fifth year now, Soobin had gotten used to his cutting glares, knowing the protective spirit that hid under a resting bitch face.
“I just don’t think it’s safe to have stupid potions students allowed into my greenhouse to cut up my poor babies.” Soobin huffed and reached for a roll.
He could feel Kai rolling his eyes next to him and pouted down at his plate. He knew, logically, that most of the plants he grew were for other purposes. Mostly potions, sometimes food, but each plant had a specific purpose, and it wasn’t just to be adorable. Except for the nephrolepis exaltata, that giant fern resided in the planters hanging above head-height even for Soobin and was there to regulate the oxygen in the greenhouse. Most people didn’t even notice them, the poor babies. Soobin always made sure to give them a little extra attention.
“The whole point is so we understand where our ingredients are coming from and how to actually prepare them for a potion instead of just having them handed to us.” Taehyun pointed a piece of chicken at him as he spoke.
He snapped his teeth at it.
“Why, when none of you have any interest in herbology anyway!”
Kai patted him on his back sympathetically, “Hey, at least it’s only the advanced potions classes? Taehyun got permission because he’s a super genius but it’ll only be sixth and seventh years so they should have had all the mandatory herbology training anyway.”
Taehyun shrugged.
Soobin just sighed, “It just hurts to see my babies mutilated by some idiot potions genius, okay?”
“Excuse me?”
“Don’t even Kang Taehyun, you managed to get Nettie upset with you and that girl will throw her nettles at anyone who asks.”
“I seriously thought Kylo was going to bite you.”
“That venus fly trap is a demon!”
“Don’t talk about him like that! He’s just sensitive!”
Three beautiful pink flowers waved delicately from his desk when Soobin walked into his greenhouse. He froze, staring at them. Whoever had placed them there had been deliberate, roots and the stem were still in-tact, and the vase was filled with soil instead of water. They had wanted to make sure the azaleas were still alive to greet Soobin when he walked in.
His eyes flickered to the water-thirsty flowers he kept in the northeast corner of the greenhouse. It hadn’t come from his greenhouse, he only had purple azaleas, so someone had deliberately placed it there. He stared back down at them. No note. No ribbon. Black vase.
It was the prettiest death threat he had ever received.
“Did one of you give me azaleas?” Soobin burst into the common room, knowing Taehyun and Kai would be there at this hour.
They jumped, blinking up at him as he panted from running at a near dead-sprint all the way from the greenhouse. It had hit him somewhere after repotting the azalea (he couldn’t help himself – the plant was innocent after all) and locking the greenhouse behind him that someone had sent him a death threat. His last hope was that it was a prank from one of his best friends.
“A what?”
“Pink flowers, five to six stamens, technically a flowering shrub, Lamia is a purple version. Occasionally used in potions to help increase potency of pain relief side effects.” He wheezed out.
“Soobin? Are you okay?” Kai slowly held his hands out in front of him, pulling on Soobin’s robes until he sat down on the couch and took deep breaths of air. “Did you run all the way from your greenhouse?”
He nodded slowly, gratefully taking the water bottle from Taehyun and focused on breathing. It was okay. It was going to be okay.
“Okay.” Taehyun waited until he had caught his breath, “What happened exactly?”
“There was an azalea plant in a black vase on my desk when I walked into my greenhouse.” His hands were still shaking slightly. “Was it one of you? Because it’s not funny.”
Kai began stoking his back, “Was there something wrong with the azalea?”
“No! She’s beautiful and precious and is going to be best friends with Lamia but that’s not the point.” Soobin put his head in his hands. Both of his friends were radiating concern, they liked to pull pranks on him, but neither was a good actor. By now one of them would have cracked with an oh my god you should have seen your face!
He took a deep breath, “Someone sent me a death threat.”
“What?” Taehyun exploded to his feet as Kai’s eyes turned to saucers. “Where is it? Show us! I’ll track down the piece of shit and beat their ass!”
Soobin remembered to breathe out again, comforted slightly by Huening Kai’s hand on his back. “When I unlocked my greenhouse there was a pink azalea in a black vase sitting on my desk. No note or anything.”
Taehyun blinked at him, “So where was the death threat?”
“That is the death threat Taehyun.” His mind starting whirling again. Someone sent him a death threat. Someone actually sent him a death threat. “Azaleas are highly toxic, containing andromedotoxins both in the leaves and in the nectar, including the honey, so it’s one of those plants where just every part of it is toxic. There are stories of armies being poisoned with honey from azaleas. It’s like the top symbolism of azaleas. An azalea in a black vase is a death threat.”
Taehyun snapped his fingers, “I remember now. Flower language, right?”
Soobin nodded.
“I think I checked the book back into the library, should we go get it?” Taehyun stood up and began to pack up his study materials.
“I already told you what it means.”
Kai tilted his head to the side, “Are we sure whoever put it there knew flower symbolism?”
Taehyun scoffed, “See I thought that too for a split second but, think about it, everyone knows how much Soobin knows about and loves plants. I know if I was going to give him a flower, I would definitely look up the symbolism before doing such.”
“True.”
Soobin put his head in his hands, “Why me? I don’t talk to people! I don’t skip classes, I avoid confrontation like the plague, I practically live in my greenhouse!”
Taehyun held up a finger, “But, most of us wouldn’t know it off the top of our heads so we’d go to the library to find a book on it. Maybe in our specific library the book lists another meaning, I want to double check before I start a massive man hunt to beat the ass of whoever sent you such a thing.” Taehyun replied calmly, hoisting them both up to their feet and dragging them out of the common room. “To the library!”
“Told you so.”
They stared down at the text in front of them, A living azalea in a plain black vase has long been used as a death threat and remains well-known as such.
“Wow, just because of the color of the vase?” Kai mused, flipping back to the previous page where it described the symbolism of azaleas as feminine beauty.
“The other option seems to be feminine beauty if we overlook the color of the vase and I hate to break it to you, but that you do not have my dear Soobin.” Taehyun replied, staring unblinking at the book and he pat Soobin on the shoulder.
“Someone sent me a death threat.”
“Someone sent you a death threat.”
“Okay, so who has access to your greenhouse?” Kai cut in, “We need an idea of who we’re protecting you from.”
“Beating up.” Taehyun corrected absent-mindedly, “We aren’t sitting back and letting them make the next move. No. They made theirs, now we make ours.”
Soobin groaned, hugging the random dolphin plushie Kai had somehow produced out of thin air, “I don’t want to fight anyone. I just want to be left alone. With my plants. Is that really too much to ask?”
Taehyun waved a hand in the air, “Sure, sure. Okay so Soobin’s greenhouse. Professor Sprout, obviously, and the greenhouse is shared with Seungmin, Amelia, Minho, and Jose but they all have different sections, each with a lock.” He paused, “And the advanced potions class. We all have access to Soobin’s now because he’s growing most of the poisonous plants that we use.”
“That’s a lot of people.” Kai muttered.
“Wait.” Taehyun snapped his fingers. “Do we know where you can even get a pink azalea plant?” He turned to Soobin, “Do the other sections of your greenhouse have them?”
Soobin shook his head, “Not unless they got them recently. We all have purple and Minho was trying to make black. Professor Sprout has some pink but there’s no way she would be threatening me.”
“Can’t rule anyone out right now.”
“Taehyun I sincerely doubt my favorite professor is sending me death threats.”
“Maybe she wants your plants!”
“She literally has full access to my greenhouse.”
Taehyun deflated slightly, “Okay so we can rule out Professor Sprout.”
Kai shook his head, “That is one person in the entire school we can rule out.” He absent-mindedly began patting Soobin’s head, “We’re walking you to your classes tomorrow.”
“Oh no, no that would be a huge bother don’t worry about me!” Soobin stood up, holding out his hands as Kai dived to save his plushie from hitting the floor.
Madam Pince walked around the corner and stared at them. They froze.
Kai was kneeling on the floor holding his dolphin, Soobin was standing by the table with both his hands in the air, and Taehyun was glowering at the book in front of them, arms crossed over his chest. Madam Pince looked at them. Slowly brought her finger to her lips and then pointed to the door.
“I don’t want to know what you three are doing. But not in my library!”
“Yes, Madam Pince.”
“Sorry Madam Pince!”
“You don’t happen to remember someone other than me taking out this book, do you?”
“OUT!”
“Kai get off.”
“No. I sneaked back into the library and took out a few murder mystery books and read them all last night. It’s clear that any death threat killing nonsense occurs when the main character is off by themselves in the middle of a desolate area where no one can hear your cries for help.”
“Is that why you had so much caffeine this morning?”
“It was for research!”
They walked into the great hall as one person, Kai completely draped across Soobin’s back and glancing around warily the entire time.
“Those two looked at us, could be one of them.”
“Oooh do you know her? She just turned our way. The books say that half the time it’s someone you know. But I guess technically we should know the entirety of the school so that doesn’t help much.”
“What about that one?”
Soobin dumped Kai onto the bench next to Taehyun and sat down on his other side. He nodded at Beomgyu and Yeonjun and reached for the rolls and eggs.
“What’s up with Kai today?” Yeonjun raised his eyebrows, looking between the two of them.
“Soobin got…”
Soobin elbowed Taehyun harshly in the side. “He’s just being particularly clingy today.”
Taehyun turned to look at him, eyebrows drawing in tight in confusion. Soobin responded with puppy dog eyes. Both Beomgyu and Yeonjun were part of the popular crowd, the cool kids. He knew how much of a plant nerd he was, embraced it even, but there was a difference between embracing it himself and admitting to the beautiful Slytherin sitting in front of him that someone scared him so badly by sending him a flower.
Kai grumbled and righted himself on the bench. “I read like eight murder mystery novels last night.”
“Why?” Beomgyu grinned. “Trying to plan the perfect murder?”
“What? No!” Kai shrieked. “Why would you think that?”
“It’s always the cute ones.” Beomgyu mused.
Soobin glanced up at Yeonjun, the senior was smiling at a whining Kai, hair pink today as his eyes danced with the conversation. His eyes flickered over to Soobin.
“Ah well, if that’s the case Soobin must be the murderer.”
“Hey!” Soobin, Kai, and Beomgyu all shouted. Soobin feeling his face flame while both Kai and Beomgyu just pouted.
Taehyun walked him to class early so that he could get back to the dungeons for his own on time. No one spared them a second look.
He didn’t run today. He didn’t scream. But he did walk quietly and quickly to the common room and sit down directly next to Kai before blurting out,
“There’s an angel’s trumpet on my desk in the greenhouse.”
“You went in without us!?” Two pairs of accusing eyes met his in outrage.
“There hadn’t been anything in 3 days! I wanted to see my plants!”
Taehyun huffed, “Where is it?”
Soobin looked down, “Still sitting on my desk.”
“Alright, let’s go.”
He opened the greenhouse, letting the peace wash over him as he greeted the ferns and the few plants happy to see him again even if he had just been there. Taehyun and Kai beelined straight for the plant. It was a beautiful plant, a lightly glowing orange flower curling downwards around the same black vase as the azalea.
“What is this one? It’s gorgeous.” Kai asked innocently, holding out a hand to the plant.
“Brugmansia, known as an angel’s trumpet. It’s a form of nightshade.”
Kai jerked his hand back.
Soobin sighed, “He’s only poisonous if ingested but, like, this one is really toxic.”
“What does this one mean?” Taehyun asked, trying to see if he could find any signs of another person. There were too many footprints on the floor to tell, one of the potions classes must have been in recently, and he gave up, sitting at the desk instead.
“Vivacity and health. Sometimes danger.”
Kai winced, “Okay so like it’s still alive so maybe they don’t actually want you dead but alive? You know? Vivacity and all?”
“Or it’s a veiled threat.” Taehyun grumbled, staring at the plant. “It is a form of nightshade after all.”
“And its still a black vase.” Soobin murmured, already pulling out a pot and some soil.
“Soobin? What are you doing?”
“Planting him. I was thinking of Astro for his name.”
Taehyun face-palmed.
“What?”
“Nothing Soobin… just… nothing.”
“Is that… a sword on your desk?” Both Kai and Taehyun insisted on going with Soobin to his greenhouse the week following the angel’s trumpet. Taehyun was the first to notice the new addition to his desk.
Soobin frowned slightly, “That’s… well that’s a gladiolus.”
“That’s a sword.”
He hummed, approaching it softly, they were known to spook with new people and could accidentally stab someone, “Yes it’s named after a sword due to its appearance but its only mildly toxic and really they tend to be sweet plants.”
“That’s a threat. That is 200% a threat right there.”
Taehyun stood up, stepping away from the desk. “That’s it. This has gone on long enough. Kai it’s time to pull out the emergency measures.”
Soobin hummed quietly, introducing himself to the beautiful plant as it hesitantly opened a flower for him. He smiled. This one didn’t add up, sure it was a very threatening plant but it sort of reminded him of himself sometimes. A giant on the outside, resting bitch face when he wasn’t careful, but internally he just wanted to live in peace. And what was it about gladiolus that they used to say… it wasn’t a plant to pierce but rather an indication the recipient had pierced their heart? Something like that?
He tilted his head to the side as he carefully repotted the beauty. A gladiolus was supposed to be, well, romantic. He shook his head. Wishful thinking after the azalea had shaken him up so badly. To the average person, it just looked like a sword and a threatening one at that considering their bite when startled. His name was going to be Hercules.
“Soobin we’ve decided to stake out your greenhouse.”
“You what now?”
Kai and Taehyun held mirrored poses, although while Taehyun looked intimidating Kai just sort of looked like a determined puppy.
“It’s been two weeks. We’re staking out your greenhouse until we find this asshole.”
“You have class!”
They were still arguing the next day at breakfast when Beomgyu came over to join them.
“You are not staking out my greenhouse!” Soobin shot out his arm, clasping Kai’s wrist fiercely in his hand, “Kai sit back down and eat breakfast.”
“They threatened you three times! What if this time it escalates?” Taehyun shot back, angrily stabbing the potatoes on his plate.
“Look, they haven’t escalated from the plants yet, don’t you think there’s another step between death threat via plant and killing me?” Soobin tried to reason, keeping a firm grip on Kai as he tried to eat some breakfast. Funny how it went from him absolutely terrified of the threat to the one trying to calm down his apparently murderous best friends.
“Woah. What did I miss?” Beomgyu cut in while Taehyun was focusing on glaring at Soobin.
“Nothing…”
“He’s been receiving death threats!” Taehyun burst out.
Beomgyu froze, “What?”
“It started with an azalea and then a trumpet thing was next and then the one from yesterday looked like a sword!” Kai jumped into the conversation.
Soobin put his head in his hands. He didn’t mind Beomgyu knowing, not really, but whatever Beomgyu knew would eventually make its way to Yeonjun and then Soobin would become that crazy plant boy again. Here he had been hoping the shy smiles and waves in passing and quiet conversations in the great hall were leading somewhere. There goes that pipe dream.
“Start at the beginning.” Beomgyu’s voice was serious for once and Kai immediately obliged.
Soobin ate his breakfast, eyes cast downwards on the table. At least Yeonjun wasn’t here right now.
“So, let me get this straight, this all started because of the color of the vase?” Beomgyu had even put down his utensils to listen.
Soobin nodded miserably.
“Oh my god.” Beomgyu’s face was a mix of horror and shock, “I thought azaleas meant taking care of someone though? They’re also a death threat? How does that even make sense!”
Soobin shrugged, “That’s just how it is, you know? Partially tradition, partially characteristics of the plants themselves. Azaleas are highly toxic but they’re also beautiful so it makes sense to have such dual meanings.”
A flash of pink in his periphery and Soobin clamped his mouth shut. He should have known Beomgyu wouldn’t.
“Yeonjun!”
Yeonjun smiled and made his way over to their section, sitting next to Soobin and across from Beomgyu. “Hey guys, good morning!”
“Did you know an azalea in a black vase is a death threat?”
Yeonjun choked on his pumpkin juice and Soobin hurriedly turned to him to pat him on the back. He gasped for air, face turning red as he caught his breath, “What?”
“Mhm.” Beomgyu hummed. “Soobin’s been receiving death threats. First, the actual death threat which is apparently a huge thing of the whole azalea in a black vase and then he received a form of nightshade with a meaning of health and sometimes danger and now it’s a plant that looks like a sword that is also poisonous.”
Wide eyes turned to stare at Soobin, “I thought you liked poisonous plants?”
“It’s not the plants fault!” He immediately blurted out, feeling himself turn bright red as he turned away from the wide-eyed boy sitting to his right, “Hyejin, Astro, and Hercules are beautiful okay? It’s just that people like to assign things to the poor babies that they don’t deserve.”
Yeonjun looked lost.
Beomgyu cleared his throat, “So what exactly are we doing about this?”
“We’re staking out his greenhouse!”
“No, you are not!”
Their bickering resumed until Soobin felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to Yeonjun.
“Come on Soobin, I’ll walk you to class.” Yeonjun shouldered his bag and waited for Soobin to catch up. He turned one last time to his friends.
“I find a single one of you skipped class today and I will set Nettie on you!”
He followed Yeonjun out of the great hall.
“Are you okay?” Yeonjun’s voice was soft, dragging him onto one of the benches near their classrooms.
Soobin turned to face him and shrugged, “Mhm.”
“Soobin.”
He huffed slightly. “I wasn’t in the beginning, okay?” A gentle hand started carding through his hair. Kai always did that, Yeonjun must have picked it up from him. “I feel like an idiot to be frightened by some threat from a plant, you know? But like.”
“It was scary.” Yeonjun prodded him slightly. “Someone had gotten into your safe space and put a death threat plant in it. It makes perfect sense to be afraid Soobin.”
He let out a quiet breath, “Yeah. Exactly.” He let himself lean back to stare upwards, glad it didn’t feel like Yeonjun was judging him. He was embarrassed, mortified really, but it felt nice to talk too, “But then Astro, he’s an angel’s trumpet by the way, usually means like vitality, right? Which doesn’t sound like a threat. And Hercules is actually used in a romantic setting a lot of times! But pair all three together and…” He trailed off.
“It paints a different story.” Yeonjun’s voice was quiet.
“Mhm.”
They sat in silence for a moment.
“Well I can walk you to class today, at least this morning. I noticed Taehyun running through the corridors a couple of times last week.”
Soobin smiled, “Thanks Yeonjun. Yeah, they were all worried and insisted on it. I just hope they don’t actually try to stake out the greenhouse.”
A gentle smile back and a hand offering to help him up. Soobin felt his cheeks heat up, hopefully hidden by the smile he couldn’t stop on his face.
“So Yeonjun took over walking you to class in the mornings.” Kai was skipping next to him as they made their way to the greenhouse.
“Mhm.”
“Mhm?” Kai turned around in front of him, walking backwards steadily, “Is that all you have to say?”
“That’s all you get to hear.” Soobin replied, sticking his tongue out. It had been, well, it had been really nice. Sure, they had gotten a few weird looks by other students, Yeonjun the popular boy was suddenly hanging out a lot with that shy plant nerd, but it had weirdly made him feel safe. Like every stare wasn’t his potential murderer and instead was just the nosy idiots called his classmates.
Yeonjun had taken to throwing an arm over his shoulders every now and then or grabbing his hand to drag him somewhere or point out some cute animal he saw on the grounds. It felt like they were becoming friends. It felt like Yeonjun wanted to spend time with Soobin. He grinned at Kai who almost backed into a pole but was able to correct himself last minute, he felt happy.
Kai insisted on opening the greenhouse for him, even though they could just look inside the windows since everything was glass anyway. He pushed open the door and made his way to the desk.
There were three.
And there was a note.
I’m Sorry. The outside of the card read.
Kai lunged at it, “It could be a prank! Let me check!”
Soobin let him do what he wanted and stared quietly at the plants. An oleader: very poisonous but the most common meaning was wanting to make peace. A purple hydrangea: produced the poison cyanide but purple hydrangeas specifically meant the desire to understand someone on a deeper level. A daffodil: the bulb was poisonous, but most people wouldn’t know that, most people would know the meaning of asking for forgiveness.
Soobin reached out a hand, watching the plants decide if they liked him or not. The daffodils, those smiley silly children danced around him while the oleander and hydrangea held themselves back before slowly accepting him. He went to grab some pots.
Kai was standing in front of him, “Um. This is for you.” He held up the notecard. In his other hand was a piece of paper, “This one was for Taehyun and me.” He scratched the back of his neck, “You should read that.”
Soobin, stood out in cursive script on the top of the card.
Taehyun and Kai go read the letter I wrote you. Stop reading this one.
Soobin I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t think to flip the page to read about the black vase. I didn’t mean it as a threat. I am so sorry. I had this whole idea of trying to tell you I want to get to know you, eventually ask you out, through flowers since I know how much you love them. I thought I chose some of the plants you didn’t have but would fit your greenhouse and had a nice meaning. I didn’t see the other meanings, I didn’t think of how they could all be viewed together. Can you forgive me my mistake? Maybe consider starting out with the azalea in anything other than a black vase? And, although you are beautiful, I don’t mean it as feminine beauty either (I looked it up in a different book at the library) but rather taking care of someone?
What do you think Soobin?
Choi Y.J.
He looked up from the letter to stare at Kai. Taehyun had magically appeared and was hurriedly skimming whatever their letter said. They both looked up when he moved.
“So that’s interesting, huh?” Kai started out with an awkward laugh.
Soobin nodded slowly.
“Is it…” he tilted his head to the side and pinched his nose, “I’m not going crazy, right? We only have one Choi Y J in our school?”
“You’re not going crazy.”
“Yeonjun likes me?”
Taehyun shrugged, “Evidently. So, what are you going to do?”
“Keep in mind he did scare you out of your mind…”
“Shut up Kai.”
He stared at the daffodils happily twining around the other plants. Silly flowers. He glanced back up, grin splitting his face in half.
“Taehyun, can you get access to his potions station?”
A yellow-haired whirlwind crashed into Soobin as he was waiting outside the great hall before dinner. To his left a purple lilac gently waved in her yellow pot, held out of the line of fire by a levitation spell. Soobin laughed hugging Yeonjun tightly.
“You know, purple lilacs can be used in a number of potions as a soothing agent, not a single part of the plant is poisonous, and you can even eat it.” Soobin drawled quietly.
Yeonjun pulled back, smile stuck on his face. “What’s your point?”
Soobin shrugged, letting his own smile spread, “Declaration of intent without any potential death threats.”
Yeonjun groaned, burying his face back into Soobin’s chest, “But that’s a yes, right? You’ll go out with me?”
“Yes Yeonjun, that’s a yes.”
“So, why an azalea?”
“Beomgyu told me to start like, slow with the meanings! I thought taking care of you was a good one!”
“Sure, sunshine head.”
“I can’t help it, it means I’m happy.”
“I thought your hair was pink?”
“Soobin… did you not know I’m a metamorphmagus? It was only pink around you because I would get embarrassed. Believe it or not I do try to keep it a normal color.”
“It turned magenta when he realized he messed up the plant meanings!”
“Beomgyu!”