Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The sun had already set by the time the taxi dropped her off at the apartment building. She mumbled a soft thanks as the driver helped her unload her two bags unto the sidewalk and then bowed deeply as the driver got back into his cab and drove away into the growing darkness.

Early winter in Seoul meant that even without a stiff breeze, the chill would sting at your face and your fingers if you weren’t bundled up well. Hyejin adjusted the face mask against her nose and fished out the flyer tucked away in the pocket of her down jacket.

The address on it was correct, with thick, block, letters advertising a room available for renting pending an interview with the landlord and the other flatmates. She stuffed it back into her jacket and fished out her phone to tell the landlord she was outside.

To their credit, the reply came instantly, around the same time as the intercom by the front door of the building buzzed to life.

“Ahn Hyejin-ssi?” A tinny voice came from the speakers, muffled by static. Hyejin quickly grabbed her bags and jogged over. She pressed at the button that would allow her to talk. “Yes, that’s me.” Hyejin said, hoping her voice was clear enough through the face mask.

“Good.” The voice replied. By now Hyejin could tell that it was female. “Sorry I can’t meet you down there, I’ve kind of got tied up here, but come on up. 10th floor.” There was a slightly deeper voice in the background shouting for something that sounded like a clear plastic bottle. More yelling and then the sound cut out from the intercom entirely. The door hadn’t been buzzed open.

Hyejin waited for a few minutes before debating on whether or not to press the talk button and ask when the intercom crackled. “Sorry.” The female voice said again, sounding sheepish even through the static, there was laughter in the background now, “Buzzing the door open now.”

Once she heard the telltale click of the lock sliding, she pushed at the heavy glass of the door with her back as she dragged her luggage through the entrance. When it swung shut and automatically locked behind her, it trapped all the cold out with it as well.

The elevator ride up was quick, albeit a bit cramped. With her luggage in the elevator with her, there was only room for maybe one more person. One extremely thin person. Still Hyejin bounced on the balls of her feet with excitement. This was her first time living in the city and she was determined to make the best of it. 

When she got off at the 10th floor, it was to the site of a nondescript hallway, linoleum floors, and a smattering of identical doors on either wall. Hyejin fished out the flyer again to check for the room, and began walking. The rattle of her luggage’s wheels against the tiles was a comforting presence in the otherwise silent corridor. She stopped at the door number advertised on the flyer.

1031

She lifted a hand to knock but hesitated when she heard yelling coming from inside. 

“Byul-ah! That’s disgusting, stop waving it around!”

“Congratulate me first!”

“Ah! Unnie, you’re splattering all over the floor.”

Hyejin stared at the door, wondering if perhaps she had the wrong room number after all. She triple-checked the flyer, winced, and finally, knocked.

The yelling on the other side stopped, followed by what sounded like someone scurrying over to the door, and loudly whispering something to whoever else was inside. When it finally opened by a few inches, it was to the sight of a woman in matching puppy pajamas, maybe a centimeter or so taller than Hyejin, with her long hair messily tied up in a bun.

“Ahn Hyejin-ssi?” The woman asked, her lips curling up in a smile that could only be described as beatific. Hyejin nodded. “Great! Come on in, we can do the interview inside, although that’s just a formality at this point.” The woman opened the door all the way and stepped aside to let her in, only then did Hyejin get a full view of the halo floating just a few centimeters above her head, as well as the dazzling pair of white wings behind her.

“Oh.” Hyejin said, as she toed her shoes off at the hyeon gwan, “I uh--”

“Sorry,” the angel laughed sheepishly, fingers gripping consciously at the hem of her top, “I’m usually in pajamas when I’m just at home.”

“I think she’s more worried that you’ll try to exorcise her, Unnie.” A voice called out, a different woman was hopping down the stairs from the second landing, standing beside the angel and wrapping an arm around her waist as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Hyejin’s eyes automatically travelled to the prominent pair of demon horns sitting atop her head.

“Or that you’ll damn her to the torture pits,” the angel replied just as easily, elbowing the demon in the ribs until she pulled away with a chuckle.

“Sorry,” the angel said. “We haven’t even introduced ourselves. I’m Kim Yongsun, my sister and I own this unit, but she’s back in heaven so I’m the landlady. This demonic presence,” she turned to the demon with an exasperated smile, “is Moon Byulyi, and we have another roommate, um, there! Jung Wheein!”

Hyejin craned her neck to see where Yong was pointing to another woman who was sitting cross legged on a three-person sofa that faced a large flat screen TV. The woman peered shyly at them. Hyejin waved.

“My name is Ahn Hyejin,” Hyejin said with a bow before she finally took off her face mask, smiling with fangs in full display, “thank you for welcoming me into your home.”

Moon Byulyi’s eyes widened with interest, drawing close to Yongsun once again, hands automatically holding on to the angel’s arm. “Oh, she’s a vampire!” Byulyi said, her voice more amused than surprised, “you didn’t mention that, Unnie.”

“I’m sure I did,” Yongsun said, “you were just too busy playing games on your phone.” She turned to Hyejin now, ushering her to what was probably a dining area. “We can just do the interview here Hyejin-ssi.”

Hyejin sat down on one end and Yongsun and Byulyi positioned themselves across from her. Over their shoulders, Hyejin could see Wheein had her full attention on them, still not moving from her position on the sofa.

“Like I said, this is just a formality at this point,” Yongsun said, as she plucked the halo off her head and reached a full arm inside before pulling out a clipboard. The halo popped back atop her head as she spoke, “for our records you know?”

Hyejin nodded, clasping both hands in front of her. Byulyi had pulled out her phone and was already absentmindedly scrolling through something.

“How long have you been a vampire?” Yongsun asked.

“Over a hundredd years ago.”

Byulyi smirked, eyes still trained on her phone, “Younger than us again. I told you Unnie, at this point you’ll be running a daycare.” Yongsun ignored her, in favor of jotting the answer into the form.

“Do you have family in Seoul?”

“My main coven is in Jeonju, but I wanted a change in pace so I left. We parted on good terms.”

“Are you looking to get a job here in Seoul?”

Hyejin nodded, “I have an audition tomorrow night at a blues club where they’re looking for a singer.”

Yongsun’s smile was nothing short of motherly as she wrote the answer down, beside her, Byulyi was smiling too.

“Are you opposed to sharing living space with,” at that, Yongsun twirled her pen in a wide circle in the air, gesturing to all of them. Hyejin smiled and shook her head.

“Not at all,” she said.

“Do you have any rituals or habits we need to be made aware of?”

“Uh, just standard vampire things I suppose.” Hyejin said carefully, “Uhm, I’m usually awake all night and sleep through the day, but I also suffer from insomnia a bit so sometimes I’m up in the mornings too. I hope that’s not a problem.”

Yongsun nodded as she wrote. “Last question, how do you plan on, uh, keeping yourself nourished?” Hyejin didn’t miss the nervous glance that darted her way, or how Byulyi’s eyes were still on her phone but her thumb had stopped scrolling. 

Hyejin smiled calmly, “I have a running subscription with a blood bank and I get weekly shipments. I just need to email them with my new address here in Seoul.”

She felt more than heard the collective sigh of relief go around the room. Hyejin smiled to herself, she took an inordinate amount of pleasure at the fact that she could still freak out others with the thought that she drank blood to stay alive. 

“Well,” Yongsun clicked her pen and placed it down on the completed form, looking up at Hyejin with a smile. “That’s all there is so I guess the only thing left to do is to say: Welcome, Hyejin-ssi, to your new apartment!”

Hyejin smiled wide and bowed again, first to Yongsun, and then to Byulyi, who had set her phone aside and was smiling at her too. “Thank you very much, I promise I won't cause any trouble.”

“Well, you can cause a little bit of trouble,” Byulyi said, a mischievous glint passing through her eyes, “This Unnie over here loves to clean up messes,” Byulyi highlighted her statement by pinching Yongsun’s cheeks. The angel gave out a short whine and batted her hand away.

“Only because I live with infants,” Yongsun said with a laugh, tucking the clipboard under her arm and gesturing for Hyejin to follow her. “Come on, we’ll give you a tour.”

“The place isn’t that big so it’ll be a short tour,” Byul added, pocketing her phone as she followed behind. 

The entire apartment itself was decently spacious, and flowed well enough that there was even a short flight of stairs that led to a few rooms upstairs. Even though she was sure that some angelic assistance was applied with how everything managed to fit in a single apartment unit, Hyejin stared at everything with no small amount of awe. 

“The entire ground floor is a common area,” Yongsun explained with a wave of her hand, “When you enter from the door the kitchen is automatically to your right and we just came from the dining area. Anything in the refrigerator is up for grabs unless you put a label on it,” at this Byulyi chuckled, and Hyejin was sure there was an inside joke there somewhere.

“Here is, well--we have a TV!” Yongsun said, leading Hyejin past a single bookshelf that separated the dining area from the sofa where Wheein was sitting. She smiled at her again and was rewarded with a shy wave the flash of what looked to be a fluffy chocolate brown tail. Hyejin’s eyes widened.

“Oh yeah, Wheein is a werewolf.” Byul said as an afterthought, smirking at the other woman on the sofa. Wheein pouted at Byul and it was the single most adorable thing Hyejin had ever seen. 

“Up here are the bedrooms and the bathroom,” Yongsun was already bounding up the staircase, this first room is,” she paused, cleared her throat, and said something so low Hyejin could barely catch it. “Sorry?” Hyejin said.

Even though she was facing away, Hyejin caught how the tips of Yongsun’s ears flushed pink. Behind her, Byulyi was chuckling. Yongsun pivoted so fast, Hyejin almost lost her balance and fell backward into Byulyi. The angel was facing her head-on now, a clear and furious blush high on her cheeks. 

“This first room is mine and Byulyi’s.” Yongsun said, her eyes a bit defiant, as if daring Hyejin to say something about it. Hyejin nodded and smiled, gesturing for Yongsun to continue. If the way the tension in the angel’s shoulders released was a little bit too obvious, Hyejin was polite enough not to comment on that too. She chanced a look behind her, Byulyi caught her eye and winked.

“Next to ours is Wheein’s and way over at the end of the hall over there is the bathroom.’ Yongsun said, gesturing to a closed door at the end. “I wouldn’t go in there right now though, the toilet was clogged before you arrived an--”

“And I fixed it!” Byulyi announced triumphantly, “with patience and a clear plastic bottle! No other demon in the nine circles of hell can do that!”

“Yeah, and no other demon would wave around the bottle after and make a mess in the living room either,” Wheein called down from below. Everyone burst out laughing. Despite herself, Hyejin found herself chuckling too. She barely knew these women but already she felt a sense of belonging with them.

“And this is your room!” Yongsun announced happily, opening the door beside Wheein’s room. With a flick of a switch the room was bathed in light. By all means it was a simple room, a single bed by the wall near the door that faced a moderately sized closet, there was a desk by the window and a few shelves along the wall.

“We can have the curtains replaced with black out curtains, or blinds, or whatever can help you keep the room dark during the day,” Yongsun added, she was saying something else but Hyejin could barely hear her. She walked around the room once, fingers running along the cabinet and the crisp clean sheets on the bed. It took her a moment to realize that Yongsun and Byulyi were staring at her expectantly.

“Are you okay with the room?” Byulyi asked.

Hyejin’s resounding smile showed off all her fangs. “It’s perfect! Thank you so much again!” The last part she said with a deep bow. In front of her, Yongsun and Byulyi bowed as well.

“We’re happy you like it, Hyejin-ssi.” Yongsun said, reaching to close the door and give her some privacy.

“Uhm,” Hyejin called out, feeling self conscious all of a sudden, “You mentioned I was younger than you. Uh, I’m okay with not being addressed so formally. Unnie.” She felt the nervous smile creeping up her lips. From her bedroom door, both Byulyi and Yongsun smiled a little wider in return.

“Okay then Hyejin-ah, we’ll give you time to settle in. If you want a snack, there’s some food in the fridge.” Yongsun said, already pulling the door closed.

“Welcome home!” Byulyi called out just as the door shut behind them.

The last word filled her with so much warmth, if her heart was still beating, she knew it would be hammering excitedly about her ribcage. She sat on the bed and let herself really bask in the feel of it.  “I’m home!”

Chapter Text

When Byul woke up, it felt like just another Tuesday. Yong’s side of the bed was already made, which was no big surprise. Her angel had a weird quirk of sleeping late but waking up with the sun. 

Exiting their bedroom was an uneventful affair too. The apartment was quiet, which meant that Hyejin was still asleep, Yong was out getting groceries, probably, and Wheein was most likely meeting up with that artist collective of hers. Which was why Byul thought nothing about filling up a bowl of cereal and heading to the sofa to watch some TV. As she sat down though, tufts of fur flew up into the air and into her bowl of cereal. “Shit.” Byul grumbled.

She turned to look at the calendar they all kept near the kitchen and confirmed her suspicions when she saw that the day’s date was highlighted up until the next day. “Shit,” she said, even louder. 

Setting her bowl of cereal aside carefully, she stood up and began walking around the apartment eyes darting every which way.

“Wheein-ah,” she called out slowly, making her voice low and comforting. A quick walk around the dining and kitchen area came up empty, Byul even checked under their table to be sure. 

“Wheein-ah, it’s just me.” Byul called out again, walking back towards the sofa and crouching down on all fours to check under the sofa. Sure enough a wide pair of brown eyes stared back at her followed by what was undoubtedly a canine-sounding whine.

“There you are!” Byul couldn’t help the way she smiled. Even though her roommate hated being teased for it, Wheein really was the cutest werewolf Byul had ever seen in all her millennia on Earth. “Come on,” Byul said, voice lilting just a bit as she reached under the sofa and grabbed Wheein by her paws, “you can come out, I promise, no funny costumes this time!”

Wheein huffed and rolled her wolf eyes, which only made Byul laugh. 

“If you come out,” Byul said, “we can watch that new drama you’ve been wanting to start.” The offer was followed by a few seconds of silence, followed by the awkward shuffle of fur, claws, and paws against tiles as Wheein slowly crawled back out from under the sofa.

“There she is!” Byul began scratching at Wheein’s head and under her chin, “Good girl!”

Wheein growled once, baring her fangs before daintily hopping atop the sofa and staring at Byul expectantly.

“Right, right.” Byul laughed, holding both hands up, palms facing outward, “No baby talk and no costumes. Promise!” She stared at her ruined bowl of cereal and sighed, “just let me fix my breakfast and then we’ll watch okay?”

Wheein gave out a bark and what was unmistakably a smile. Byul smiled back before heading back into the kitchen.

Four episodes into the drama, Byul felt Wheein’s head grow into a heavy weight on her lap. She paused the TV to confirm that she now had a lapful of sleeping werewolf and chuckled. So much for trying to do the dishes before Yong came home.

As if on cue, she heard the sound of their door unlocking and the rustle of feathers and supermarket plastic. “I’m home,” Yongsun called out. If Byul craned her neck enough, she could just barely make out the angel struggling to remove her shoes while still juggling three grocery bags.

“Why are you just sitting there?” Yongsun said, annoyed, “help me put these away!”

“I can’t.” Byul said, looking down at Wheein who had burrowed deeper into her lap. Not for the first time did she wonder if Wheein dreamt in color or in black and white. 

“What do you mean you--” there was a pause, Byul looked up just in time to catch Yong’s head whip over to their calendar and then peer over to the sleeping werewolf on the sofa. “Oh,” Yong said softly.

“Sorry!” Byul called out, reaching over to smooth out Wheein’s fur while Yong put away groceries in the background.

“She probably turned sometime during the night, huh?” Yong said from the kitchen. 

“That’s what I’m thinking too. Although the full moon wasn’t until today, maybe early morning?” There was a distracted hum from the kitchen. Byul felt her left leg start to slowly fall asleep. “Did you buy any more of that chocolate drink?” She called out, trying to stretch out the limb without disturbing Wheein.

“Yeahp,” Yong said, “oh, and I passed by the liquor store to buy champagne, so I thought--”

Three things happened in succession then: in her excitement to show Byul the champagne bottle, Yong accidentally pulled the bottle out by the wire, causing it to pop and splatter all over their groceries and kitchen. The loud noise made Yong scream, which made Byul scream. The sound and chaos awoke Wheein who, in a panic, began yelping and running around the apartment, upsetting the shelves and slipping over the spilled champagne.

“Wheein-ah, dont!”

“Calm down!”

A few minutes of wrangling and chasing later, Byul and Yong were seated side by side on the floor of the apartment kitchen, spilled champagne seeping through their clothes. Wheein was held in suspended animation in a pentagram that Byul had hastily drawn with a crayon she found on their bookshelf.

“For the record,” Byul said, gently butting her head against Yong’s in a way that made her horns poke against the angel’s cheek, “that was your fault.”

Yong’s responding glare and shove was more perfunctory than anything else. From the corner of Byul’s eye, she could already see Yong reaching for the halo on top of her head. Without warning, Byul reached out and grabbed Yong’s wrist.

“Byul-ah, what--”

“Last time Unnie did that while I was in the room, I ended up trapped inside that stupid halo for hours.” Byul stood up, pulling the angel along with her until they were eye to eye.

“Right,” Yong said, having the decency to look sorry about the incident. “So how do you propose we clean up?”

Byul looked around surveying the damage. To Yong’s credit, most of the groceries had been put away before the champagne incident. The worst of the carnage was caused by the pack of toilet rolls that Wheein had accidentally ripped open with her claws as she darted past, creating a mushy, champagne-scented mess that had splattered all over their kitchen. The idea of cleaning everything the mortal way made Byul frown.

“Why don’t I go out to buy new toilet rolls while you halo-clean?” Byul said instead.

Yong looked around and nodded. “Okay. Take Wheein with you.” Byul stared guiltily at their friend, still hovering a few feet above the floor before looking back at Yong.

“She hates the leash,” Byul grumbled, snapping her fingers and changing from her champagne-stained sleepwear to a shirt, a pair of jeans, and sneakers. Beside her, Yongsun laughed.

“Only because you make her do dumb, pet stuff.” Yongsun pulled the halo off her head, stretching it wide until it was about the size of a hula hoop and then stepped in feet first, passing it over her body. When it was atop her head again it had shrunk back to its original size, and Yong had gone from wearing a champagne soaked dress and cardigan to a pair of blue and white striped pajamas. 

“Besides,” Yongsun said, in the tone of the tone of someone who had already made up her mind, “Wheein might get trapped in the halo too if I clean with her in the same room.”

Byul waved her hand dismissively, already reaching for the leash they keep on the top of the bookshelf. She approached Wheein carefully, leash held tight in her left hand before she extended a foot and began erasing the pentagram lines on the floor.

Wheein plopped down in a furry heap, looking around a few times before glaring balefully up at Byul. The demon winced, “Sorry, but you were making a mess! I panicked!” Wheein growled once leaning forward to bite Byul’s wrist, placing more force behind it than she normally would have.

“Aish,” Byul wrenched her hand away, rubbing at the reddened skin. “I’ll have you know, you ruined all the toilet paper Yongsun-unnie bought, so you have to come with me to buy new ones.”

Only then did Wheein seem to realize the mess she’d caused. Her wolf eyes widened, staring past Byul to where Yong was still standing in the middle of the mess in the kitchen. The angel shrugged once. “She’s right.”

Wheein let out a low whine, padding over to Yong and butting her head against the angel’s thigh. Yong reached out to scratch at Wheein’s ears, kneeling down and smiling. “It’s okay Wheein-ah. It was my fault too for mishandling the champagne. I’m going to use my halo to clean up though, so you have to go with Byul-ah.”

Wheein looked over her shoulder, eyes zeroing in on the leash in Byul’s hand, She let out another whine. “I made her promise not to do anything humiliating.” Yong said.

Wheein huffed once, in what could only be resignation before walking back over to Byul and sitting up straight.

“It’s just to the store and back,” Byul said, carefully slipping the collar around Wheein’s neck before fastening the leash. “Besides,” Byul added, smirking now, “we still have a drama to finish, right?”

Wheein barked once, happily, before trotting out the door, tugging Byul behind her. 

-

South Korean summers were, in a word, unbearable. This was the thought in Byul’s head as she walked the two blocks it took to get from their apartment building to the nearest grocery. Beside her, Wheein was already steadily panting. 

The moment they had stepped out of the air conditioned lobby of their building into the blaring heat of the street outside, Byul had snapped her fingers to conjure a cap, pressing it down against her head until her horns poked through, and sunglasses. After a moment's thought, she snapped her fingers again so that a red bandana appeared around Wheein’s neck, over the collar. Wheein looked up at her. Byul shrugged, “Makes you look less, wolf-y.”

Aside from the heat, the walk to the supermarket had been unremarkable, up until they reached the entrance, where a newly plastered sign had Byul and Wheein standing dumbfounded outside.

NO PETS INSIDE.

“Huh,” Byul said, looking down at Wheein who was already staring up at her. “That wasn’t there last week. Must be under new management.”

Wheein barked once before walking around in circles, eyes turning big and pleading. Byul pulled out her phone and searched for pet-friendly supermarkets in the area.  The nearest one was three kilometers away. She knelt down until she and Wheein were eye to eye. “I’ll be really fast, I promise.”

Wheein howled reproachfully. Someone exited the grocery behind them and the brief flash of air conditioning that wafted along Byul’s back was divine. She looked once more at Wheein’s sad eyes, sighed, and stood up, “Okay, let’s go to the other one.” 

The walk to the second grocery took a little more than half an hour, halfway through, Byul had to stop to conjure a bowl of water for Wheein that earned a few coos from children and teenagers passing by.

“Aren’t you the popular one?” Byul said, smirking down as Wheein walked beside her. The werewolf gave her a bark that was fully smug. Byul laughed before snapping a photo and sending it to Yong.

When they finally reached the grocery, Byul almost wept in relief. The airconditioning cooled the sweat that had been building up on her forehead and the back of her neck. After they had gotten the toilet rolls, she let Wheein pull her into the ice cream section.

“You want ice cream?” Byul laughed. Wheein barked once, tail wagging incessantly. “Okay, okay. Pick out a flavor.” She unstrapped the leash and watched as Wheein hopped atop the cooler and nudge her nose against the glass. Byul snapped another photo. 

Across the aisle a few elderly grocery patrons began glaring in their direction. Byul chuckled, ushering Wheein off the cooler before bowing slightly. When her head lifted back up, she let her eyes flash to a demonic black, and winked. Beside her, Wheein nudged her head against her thigh.

“Oh come on,” Byul said, opening the freezer and pulling out a tub of blueberry yogurt ice cream, “Let me have my fun. They act like they’ve never seen a demon before.”

They took their time walking back to the apartment, this time Wheein gamely allowing Byul to take her picture along the way. After they had passed the grocery store from earlier, Byul stopped at a smaller store nearby and tied Wheein’s leash to a bike rack. “You gotta trust me, okay? I’ll only be a few minutes.” She took Wheein’s responding bark as a happy one and quickly walked in.

It didn’t take more than a minute to find what she needed and buy it. Still when she exited it was to the sight of a few teenagers kneeling in front of Wheein, snapping photos of her and cooing. When they saw Byul they immediately withdrew their hands, bowing in embarrassment before shuffling away, their giggles piercing through the hot summer afternoon.

Byul shared a look with Wheein before the werewolf’s eyes drifted to the bag in Byul’s hand. When their eyes met again, Wheein’s expression was nothing short of teasing. Byul rolled her eyes. “Shut up. Come on.”

When they finally made it back to the apartment, Hyejin was sitting by herself in the dining area, nursing a steaming bowl of instant noodles and a glass of blood. She lifted her head in acknowledgement as they shuffled inside. “You’re up early.” Byul said as she toed her shoes off.

“Need to practice songs for tonight. What took you guys so long?” Hyejin said around a mouthful of noodles. Byul finally shed her cap and ran her fingers through the hair around her horns. Beside her, Wheein had bounded over happily to sit next to Hyejin, stretching her neck so that the vampire could take off the leash and collar. 

“The grocery near our place stopped allowing pets, we had to walk a little farther.” Byul said with a sigh, putting away the toilet paper in the cupboards and the ice cream in the freezer before placing the final package by the sink. “Where’s Yongsun-unnie?” she asked. 

“Laundry.” Came the reply, followed by the sound of slurped noodles.

Byul sank back into the sofa with a tired sigh, propping her feet up on the coffee table before setting the TV up to play the drama she and Wheein had been watching. “Come on Wheein-ah.” She felt the sofa cushions give way underneath her as Wheein took up the rest of the sofa space, head resting just a few inches away from Byul’s knee.

She pressed play.

---

When Yong came back to the apartment, laundry basket and freshly dried clothes and towels in tow, she was struck with a sense of déjà vu. The TV was on, playing the drama Byul and Wheein had been watching when she’d gotten home earlier that day. When she peered around the bookshelf however, it was to the sight of an awake Wheein, intently watching the TV while Byul napped lightly beside her. 

She caught Wheein’s eye and waved. The werewolf wagged her tail happily in response. 

Hyejin emerged from the upstairs bathroom, toothbrush in her mouth and a towel wrapped around her head, when she saw Yong she pointed toward the sink where a white plastic bag was waiting. “Byulie-unnie bought that for you.”

“Oh?” Yong approached the package and laughed when she realized what it was. She pulled out the new bottle of champagne. She looked over her shoulder to where Wheein was staring at her expectantly.

“I hope Byul-ah didn’t give you a hard time today” Yong said, opening the refrigerator and placing the champagne bottle inside. Wheein barked once.

Yong laughed, fishing her phone out of her pocket and snapping a picture while Byul was still asleep. “Good.”

Chapter Text

The first night Hyejin came to audition for her new job, she had to wait 20 minutes outside in the cold before the business owner remembered that he needed to invite her inside. The owner had been hesitant to hire her, stating, not too bluntly, that he was worried she might scare his human customers away. She had tilted her chin up, then, and held the mic a little tighter as she sang. When the audition had ended, she had been fully ready for him to wave her aside, instead he hired her on the spot.

That had been three months ago; now, as she strolled up to the jazz club, the first thing that greeted her was the club manager, pacing frantically outside the entrance as he tapped furiously on his phone,

“Good evening,” Hyejin greeted, bowing slightly. When manager caught sight of her, he pocketed his phone and walked up with a frantic look in his eye. “Ah, Hyejin-ssi. Excellent timing, I need your opinion on something.”

When they entered the club, Hyejin had to bring a hand up to her face to mask her initial reaction. 

The Blue Cosmos was a jazz cafe and bar. During the day it served artisanal lattes, pastries, and paninis, with fusion jazz streaming from the speakers and various indoor plants and succulents hanging from the ceilings or decorating tables. 

Late in the afternoon, the cafe would close for a few hours. The barista was replaced by a bartender, the sandwiches swapped for easy finger food, fairy lights were strewn about the hanging plants,  and the Blue Cosmos would open in the evening as a club with a live jazz band that played until the early hours of the morning.

That evening however, instead of the usual fairy lights, Hyejin was greeted with the unfortunate sight of paper bat cutouts dangling from the ceiling, and instead of the succulents on the tables, there were now tiny plastic skulls and black candles on every table.

“What do you think?” the club manager asked, he sounded distracted. From the corner of her eye, Hyejin could see him fiddling on his phone again

“It’s March.” She replied instead, for lack of anything else to say. 

“What? Oh. Yes I know, but it’s only for tonight. The club has been rented out by the Seocho Coven, and I wanted to make it seem more hospitable.”

Hyejin wasn’t sure what to say to that. Behind her mask, she grit her teeth. On one hand, she was a bit touched that her boss seemed to be opening up to the idea of other supernatural patrons. On the other, she didn’t know how to break it to him that his design choices were questionable without losing her job.

“I think that,” she said carefully, “if the head of the Seocho coven chose our club for their gathering, it would be best to show them the Blue Cosmos’ unique charm.” She stared at him meaningfully, hoping he got the message.

Dong-Hyun looked from her to the main area of the club and sighed, “It’s a bit much, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Hyejin said, chuckling, “But I think it’s a good effort. Uhm.” She hesitated, before taking a deep breath and going for the plunge, “Maybe we lose the paper bats? Not all of us like using that form.”

“Ah,” Dong-Hyun looked at the decoration before nodding, “Yes that can be arranged. Thank you for letting me know.”

She bowed again, before heading inside for her soundcheck with the band. Right before she took the stage, she took a picture of the shoddy decorations, sent it to their apartment group chat with a bit of context for a laugh and forgot all about it.

When the Seocho coven arrived later in the evening, Hyejin couldn’t help but feel a little intimidated. It hadn’t been that long since she left her own coven back in Jeonju, but the feeling of being a part of one was still strong. The sense of security and community that came with those of her own kind.

During one of the breaks, Hyejin was cooling herself off by the fans nearer the bar when--

“Hello.”

She turned around, coming face to face with a vampire woman with a thinner face and a kind smile. Hyejin bowed awkwardly in response.

“My name is Choi Soo-jung,” the other vampire said. Her fangs flashed briefly in the club’s dim lighting. “I wanted to come over and say how really good your performance was earlier.”

Hyejin bowed again, her smile growing a little wider. “Thank you for saying so. Uhm. I’m Ahn Hyejin.” After a beat, Hyejin adjusted her chair so that she was facing the other vampire properly and motioned for her to sit down too.

Soo-jung smiled again, taking the chair opposite her and folding her hands neatly on the table. “I thought I knew most of the vampires in this part of town, but I’ve never seen you before, are you from a different district’s coven, Hyejin-ssi?”

“Oh, no.” Hyejin ducked her head a bit, “I just moved here a few months ago, from Jeonju.”

“Ah!” The other vampire’s eyes widened infinitesimally, “You parted with your coven?”

Hyejin nodded.

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to pry.” Soo-jung said, lifting both palms up in a placating manner. “I know it’s not uncommon for other vampires to try and live apart, but I’ve been part of the Seocho Coven for centuries, so I can't imagine what it must be like.”

Hyejin ducked her head again, feeling a bit self conscious. “Ah well, it’s probably because I’m still young. I just want to figure things out on my own before I think about pledging to a coven again.”

Soo-jung nodded, her smile was an understanding one and deep down, Hyejin felt relieved. She hadn’t interacted with many vampires since she came to Seoul, and she knew her roommates would never really be able to understand her as a vampire.

“Do you mind my asking how old you are?” Soo-jung asked, she motioned for a waiter with a flutter of her fingers and smoothly ordered them a plate of fries.

“I was turned in 1920, which was my 26th year.” Hyejin replied.

“You are young!” Soo-jung replied, laughing lightly. Their fries had arrived and she pushed the plate toward Hyejin as they talked.

Soo-jung told her about how she was turned during the start of the Joseon Dynasty, before they moved on to other things. Hyejin learned that the Seocho coven was a major stakeholder in some of the country’s best hospitals which was where the coven received their blood supply, and in turn, she told Soo-jung about the vampire-only festivals held in Jeonju. 

Before long, Hyejin’s break was up, and she had to perform again, but Soo-jung had promised to speak with her one last time before the night was up.

A part of her felt lighter during her second set. It was nice, she realized, suddenly, to speak with other vampires again. Like an unknown space she wasn’t aware of being briefly filled. 

When she had finished performing for the night, dawn was about two hours away. On a normal day, Hyejin would leave as soon as she could, just so that she could be home before sunrise. This time, however, she hung back smiling when she saw Soo-jung walk over again.

“Congratulations on a good set!” The older vampire said with a brighter smile and Hyejin bowed again, laughing this time.

“Thank you Unnie,” she replied teasingly.

“Oh, am I your Unnie now?” Soo-jung replied, laughing too. “I suppose that makes us friends, huh?”

Hyejin smiled a bit wider, “I’m certainly glad to have Unnie as a friend.”

Soo-jung nodded, looking behind her for a moment before turning back to Hyejin, “We’ll be leaving soon, but I’ll definitely come back on my own and maybe we can hang out some more?”

Hyejin nodded, already excited at the prospect of it. “I’d like that!”

“And,” at this the older vampire hesitated a bit, glancing away for a moment before turning back, “I know you said you wanted to find your own way, but if you ever want that feeling of being part of a family again, the Seocho coven would welcome you with open arms.”

The invitation gave her pause. She looked past Soo-jung, toward the other vampires in the club, most of whom were chatting jovially with one another, sharing jokes and stories that were probably hundreds if not thousands of years old. 

She looked back and smiled sheepishly, bowing again. “Thank you for the offer, but I think I’ll remain on my own for now.”

Soo-jung smiled, nodding in understanding, “Okay, but the offer stands. It was good to meet you Hyejin-ssi!”

Hyejin waved goodbye before turning to fix her own things. When she was halfway out the door, she burst out laughing. “What are you doing here?”

Wheein was leaning against the side of the club, scrolling absently on her phone, when she saw Hyejin she smiled, fixing the bucket cap on her head. “I thought you would want some company on the walk back home.

“This is certainly new,” Hyejin said, looping her arm through Wheein’s as they walked, “you must really miss me when I’m away at work, huh?” She teased, taking pleasure in the cringe that took up all of Wheein’s face.

“Don’t flatter yourself.” The werewolf replied easily, “Your head won't fit through those tight-fitting crop tops you like so much.” 

They walked in companionable silence for a long while before Wheein sighed. “I don’t know if I’ve told you this, but I was from Jeonju too.”

“Really?” Hyejin didn’t bother hiding her shock, turning to her roommate with wide eyes. 

“Yuhp,” Wheein was staring down at her feet as she walked. Hyejin belatedly realized that she was wearing the sweatshirt and sweatpants she usually wore to bed.

“Did you walk all the way over here in your sleepwear?” She asked.

Wheein shrugged. “Jeonju’s only wolf pack is very discreet, so I’m not that surprised we never met before you moved here.” she said instead. Hyejin nodded, and waited, realizing there was something more that her roommate wanted to say.

“When I first moved to Seoul,” Wheein began, “I was very sad to part with my pack. Unlike vampires, not many of us choose to leave our packs you know.”

“But some do,” Hyejin said, the ‘so why did you?’ went unsaid between them, but she knew Wheein understood. Around them the streets were mostly quiet, and the wind was colder than ever, which made their conversation feel a little more intimate.

“Same as you,” Wheein replied, “I wanted to figure out who I was outside of my pack.”

Hyejin nodded.

“During my first few months here,” Wheein said, her voice growing a bit more wistful, “I was very lonely, and I missed my mother and my pack a lot. When I started making friends with other wolves in Seoul, I was jealous of them in their packs. I missed that feeling of belonging.”

Hyejin felt that empty space again, the one that was filled briefly when she spoke to Soo-jung. 

“When I saw your text message earlier this evening,” Wheein said, “I had a sense that you might be feeling the same way by being around other vampires.”

“Does it go away?” Hyejin asked, beside her she felt more than saw Wheein shrug in response. 

“I think that will always be a part of you.” Wheein spared a glance at her before continuing, “sometimes it will be hard but sometimes it gets better. And I know I don’t regret trying to live my own life.”

“That’s good.” Hyejin replied, smiling at her friend and gripping her arm just a little bit tighter.

“The Unnies helped me a lot, actually,” Wheein said, chuckling at distant memory now. Despite herself, Hyejin found herself chuckling too. “They did?”

“Yes,” Wheein nodded, they were approaching their apartment building. Around them, the night was turning from velvet blue to lavender, and Hyejin felt the familiar fatigue settle into her bones that told her she needed to be asleep. 

“They took really good care of me when I started renting here, and they made me feel less lonely. Now they’re like my family.”

Hyejin smirked, “and you give me flack for making cheesy comments, when here you are waxing poetic about The Unnies.”

Wheein rolled her eyes, shoving lightly at Hyejin as they got off the elevator to their floor and walked towards room 1031. As Wheein fit her key in the lock, Hyejin squeezed at her arm again until the werewolf turned to look up at her.

“Thank you, for picking me up from work, And thank you for talking to me about all of this. I think it’s what I needed to hear.”

Wheein nodded, smiling a dimpled smile. When she opened the door to the apartment, both of them were greeted by the smell of instant noodles and coffee wafting in from the kitchen. Upon entering, the first thing they saw was Yong and Byul, sitting together at the dining table, knees touching as they nursed two separate bowls of noodles. In front of Byul was a steaming mug of coffee.

“Why are you two awake?” Wheein asked as she shrugged off her jacket and hung it on the rack by their door. At the table, Byul’s eyes were still mostly closed, and her voice was still hoarse with sleep when she replied, “We heard you leave and Yong got worried, so she made me wait up with her.”

The angel glared at the demon indignantly, poking at Byul with her elbow, “Dont lie, you were a bit worried too.”

Hyejin shared a look with Wheein and smiled. She sniffed at the air before making her way to the pantry, grabbing two more packets of instant noodles. “We’ll join you, then.”

“You’re always so hungry,” Wheein complained, even though there was a smile on her lips as she took a seat beside Byul. Hyejiin smiled a little wider, pouring hot water into the two bowls before bringing them over to the table. 

Soon, the four of them were slurping noodles in silence. When Hyejin looked up from her bowl, at Wheein, at her two Unnies, she found that she didn’t notice the empty space from earlier at all.

Chapter Text

wheein

When Wheein entered the studio, she wasted no time slipping on her paint splattered converse and overalls and heading over to her area in the studio, surprised to find that there were already paint cans waiting for her there.

Her art collective’s next gallery show was in just a week and she was way behind on her pieces for it. She stared at her open cans of paint for a few moments, grabbing a brush and doing a few test swatches on a scrap piece of paper by her table. She was still thinking about other color combinations in her head when she heard another person enter.

“Good Morning Wheein-ah!”

She looked over her shoulder to smile at the owner of the studio as he entered, dropping his own bags haphazardly by the door before picking up where he left off yesterday with his sculpture. “Good Morning Oh Min!” she called out, turning back to her paint swatches, wondering if she should hunt for some pink in their stocks.

“Did you see the paint I left out for you yesterday?” He asked. Wheein could tell he was smiling even though he was still wearing a face mask. “I thought they would go with the vibe you were describing.”

Wheein nodded, grabbing an empty bucket and mixing some red and orange together before adding half a can of white. “Oh Min-nim always knows what I’m trying to do before I know it myself.”

“Happy to help” Oh Min said, already half to himself as he focused more on bending wire for his sculpture.

They worked in silence like that for the rest of the morning, Eventually more members of their collective arrived, each one disappearing to their own corner of the studio to finish a piece or start a new one. 

Wheein was in the middle of letting some watered down white paint drip down her now peach spattered canvas when she heard footsteps crunch under the plastic covering of her floor.

“It’s coming along nicely!”

“Thank you, Unnie!” Wheein trilled, setting the paintbrush down before reaching out to pull Heyne into a side hug. The other painter giggled, trying to avoid crashing into the open cans of paint that were strewn about Wheein’s space. 

“Every time you hug me,” The older girl said, her tone already teasing, “Youngsoo thinks I’ve betrayed him for a different dog, he growls every time I come home.”

“Cute!” Wheein laughs, picking up a paintbrush to return to her painting, “Youngsoo should know that I’m the only puppy in your life.”

“Does that mean you’ll let me walk you during the next full moon?” Heyne teased.

“Shut up.”

“I’m ordering for pizza lunch, is there anything you want?”

Before she could control it, Wheein felt her tail burst out through the loose trousers of her overalls, past the hidden seam she had created in all her clothes. The traitorous thing wagged happily behind her at the prospect of food. In front of her, Heyne laughed. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

“Pepperoni pizza please. You’re the best Unnie!”

When the pizza arrived, Wheein was painting pink and orange and yellow streaks across her canvas, three different flat brushes held in the spaces between fingers of her left hand while she alternated using them with her right. 

“Come and get it Wheein-ah!”

She placed a final streak of pink along one corner before leaving all her paint brushes on her table and wiping her paint streaked fingers against her overalls before joining her friends by the shared table that everyone just naturally designated as the “food table”. She had just reached the shared table when another one of the other artists approached from behind, trying to reach around Wheein for the stack of tissues. Losing his footing, he accidentally stumbled into the shelf nearest her, sending some of the items on the highest rack toppling down.

The chaos had everyone screaming and moving out of the way. Once the dust had settled, Heyne came crashing into Wheein, checking at her head where a toolbox had just narrowly missed hitting her. "Are you okay?"

Wheein nodded, fully aware that her tail had migrated to between her legs. Giving her true feelings away. The artist that had knocked into the shelf was apologizing profusely while Oh Min had set about putting everything away. "Good thing that toolbox didn't hit Wheein," Oh Min said, returning to his seat earlier and opening up the pizza boxes, "we would have lost our best artist."

That sent the group at ease, starting up a good natured round of teasing.

“You think you’ll finish it today?” Oh Min asked, around a slice of cheese and potato pizza. There was an unopened bottle of Coke by him that Wheein eyed as she reached for her own slice of pepperoni. She turned to look back at her painting before shrugging. “I think so. Maybe I’m more inspired today than I thought.”

“It’s definitely your style,” Baekhyun, a mixed media artist, said from his spot on the floor. All of her friends were staring at the painting now, taking it in. Wheein tried not to feel too self conscious.

“Are you going to give it a title?” Heyne asked, sneakily grabbing Oh Min’s bottle of Coke and passing it to Wheein. 

“Maybe not. I think I want the audience to look at it and get a feel for what it’s about instead of me having to tell them.”

“So what’s it about?”

Wheein looked around at her friends, normal mortals who had accepted her into their lives so openly and smiled. “Love. Different kinds of love.”

Her answer was met with laughter and a lot of good natured teasing. Wheein just laughed along with them.

byul

Usually, when Byul took a job, she tried to avoid projects that involved working under the afternoon sun during summer. She left Hell to avoid the heat, not subject herself to more of it. However, this was a special case, so as much as she hated the stinging dry heat that prickled at her skin, when she got the email for this job, she accepted without a second thought.

It was just after lunch when she arrived at the shoot, the familiar sight of the crew setting up lights and set pieces already making her feel at ease. “Hello everyone,” she bowed as she arrived, met with bows and polite smiles in return. Immediately she was approached by a younger woman, hair tied away from her face in a low ponytail and a metal clipboard tucked under her arm.

“Moon Byulyi-nim?” The woman asked. Byul nodded, taking off her sunglasses and tucking them into her bag.

“I’m Kim Yu Bin, the coordinator for the shoot today. The brand’s marketing director won't be here until later but he sends his regards.”

Byul nodded, opening her mouth to ask a different question when a sudden yelp distracted her. Yu Bin smiled. “Our talent is ready, so once you’re set up, we can begin.”

After thanking her and asking where she could set down her other bags, Byul grabbed her camera for portraits and approached the cordoned off area. Instantly, she was greeted by a cacophony of barks and the soft pattering of paws against cement as six or seven beagles came running over to her. 

Byul laughed, trying to crouch down and scratch behind seven ears at once without accidentally stepping on a paw or sitting on a tail. 

“Sorry!” A man jogged over, wearing a vest that had the logo of a local breeder on the chest. “They’re usually well behaved. You don’t live with a dog of your own, do you?” He stared at her with wide eyes.

Byul smirked, “Something like that.” She had to hold her camera above her head, to prevent a darker beagle from licking at the lens. One of the dogs had its two front paws on her thigh, licking at her neck and sniffing at her clothes. Byul gently pulled away.

The breeder struggled to wrangle all the beagles. Byul gamely pulled out her phone, snapping a few photos to send to Yong. “You’re all so cute!” She cooed, taking a few videos too. 

“You’re very at ease,” the breeder said, finally getting a hold of all his dogs. “You’ve photographed animals before?” Byul shrugged in response, dusting herself off before fiddling with the settings of her camera.

“I mostly do editorials for fashion magazines. Sometimes I do gallery exhibits too. This is a special occasion, I just really love dogs.” The breeder nodded, mostly to himself before scurrying away, dogs in tow. Byul chuckled after him, mortals were a curious race. 

“Everyone,” Yu Bin called out, “We can begin in a few minutes.”

Byul began taking a few test shots, fiddling with the lighting settings and coordinating with the different crew when she felt her phone buzz in her pocket. It was a text from Yong.

I wasn’t aware that we were fighting. Hehe.

Byul chuckled, sending a differently angled shot of the beagles. We aren’t. But I made you smile right?

You’re gross, was Yong’s immediate reply . Byul had to pocket her phone then, to begin the shoot. As she crouched and contorted herself across the hot concrete, getting shot after shot of happy beagles playing with pet toys and wearing pet clothes for a new lifestyle brand, she could see the breeder by nearby, fists clenched at his sides as he watched her interact with his dogs. She shrugged it off.

By the time the shoot finished, the sun was already setting and the brand’s marketing director was thanking her profusely, happy with the photos she’d taken. Byul was packing up when she heard a whine by her knees, looking down to see one of the beagles smiling up at her. The same one that had been licking her neck earlier. “Hello, you,” Byul greeted, crouching and scratching its chin. “Why aren’t you with your siblings?”

Before she could reach down to pet the beagle on the head, it ran off again, this time toward the direction of the street. Byul didn't hesitate giving chase. She was still a few paces away when she realized that the beagle was about to run into uncoming traffic. Without hesitating, Byul ran over, quickly scooping the dog into her arms pivoting back unto the sidewalk just as a car sped past. The force and movement of it sending her flat on her butt. On her lap, the beagle was happily oblivious, licking up at her neck again. "You're not trying to send me back to Hell are you?" She mumbled mostly to the dog, trying to catch her breath.

She heard the breeder come running over again. “Oh my god, I'm so sorry! Is she okay?”

Byul bumped her nose with the dog’s pinching at the softness of its ears before handing the dog back. “She's fine, it was a close call though.” When the breeder had the beagle secured in his arms, she saw that same apprehensive look cross his face. She smirked. “You might as well ask.”

He looked embarrassed to be caught staring, bowing low before her. “Forgive me for being rude. I didn't think that--”

"A demon would save a dog?" Byul finished for him, nonplussed as she brushed herself off.

The breeder nodded, looking away from her, still embarrassed. Byul smiled and began walking back to the tents where she left her camera bags. “You’d be surprised how well animals can judge a being’s character.”

“Yes. Uhm. I think I just learned that today.” When she looked at him, the breeder was smiling back at her hesitantly. Byul bowed once, a quick dip of her head and her shoulders, then turned to go, adjusting her bucket hat around her horns as she checked her phone. There was a message from Yong sent while she was doing the shoot. 

Please buy yogurt. See you at home. 

hyejin

Hyejin was on a break between sets, halfheartedly nursing her full glass of beer when she heard a sudden sob behind her. Out of curiosity, she turned to find a woman sitting alone at one of the club’s sofas, an untouched bottle of soju beside her and her whole face covered in a handkerchief while she cried.

Hyejin turned to the bartender. “Uhm, is she alright?” She whispered, trying not to act too conspicuous. 

Her coworker shrugged in reply, mostly focused on pouring out whiskey into a tray of empty glasses. “She took a call sometime during your last song. I tried to give her some privacy, and she started crying after the call.”

Hyejin turned back to her glass, biting at her lip. She glanced back behind her to the woman, who wasn’t crying as much now but still sniffling into a ruined handkerchief. In front of her, the bartender smirked, “I wouldn’t Hyejin-ssi.”

She hummed. “I suppose if you’ve lived as long as me, you stop caring about things like shyness.” Hyejin said, taking a huge gulp of her beer before standing up.

“5,000 Won says it’s a failed job opportunity,” the bartender said, smirking. Hyejin raised a single eyebrow at him before reaching across the bar to shake his hand “Deal, but if I win, you serve that poor woman another bottle of soju on the house.”

The bartender laughed, shaking her hand before giving her the thumbs up. “You’re on.” Hyejin slinked away, beer glass in hand as she walked over to where the woman was still crying. 

“Excuse me?”

The woman started, staring at her with wide eyes before hastily turning away wiping furiously at her face with her sleeves. “I’m sorry. Please don’t mind me.” Hyejin smiled, moving her beer from one hand to another before motioning toward the empty chair near the woman. “Would it be alright if I sat down?”

The woman still wasn’t looking at her, unmoving although Hyejin could hear her continued sniffling. “You don’t have to worry ma’am, I haven’t harmed another human in over ninety years.”

That seemed to get a reaction out of the woman, turning to Hyejin with even wider eyes. With a simple shrug, Hyejin flashed a quick smile, putting her fangs in full display. “You’re the jazz singer,” the woman said. Hyejin nodded, taking another sip of her beer. 

The woman made another attempt at wiping her face before motioning with her hand, “Please, sit.”

They sat in an awkward silence for a while, Hyejin content to just sipping at her beer and keeping the woman company. It didn’t miss her notice how the woman eyed the glass of beer in her hands every few seconds. Finally, Hyejin chuckled, setting her glass down. “Would you like to ask me?”

The woman gaped at her for a few moments, blushing in embarrassment before finally asking. “I thought vampires only drink blood?”

Hyejin nodded, fingers tracing at the lip of her glass. “We do, but that doesn’t mean we cant enjoy normal food too. Blood is for sustenance, this” she picked up her beer glass, toasting the woman before taking a sip, “is for fun.”

The woman nodded, still quietly staring at her hands before finally nodding and leaning forward, burying her face in her palms. “My boyfriend broke up with me. Over the phone.”

Hyejin nodded, not saying anything. The woman looked up at her and continued, “Tonight is--was our anniversary.” Hyejin winced at that, “I’m sorry.”

The woman scoffed once, finally reaching for her soju bottle and taking a few deep gulps. “I should have known. The signs were there but I just kept clinging on. I smothered him.” She stared at Hyejin, embarrassed again. “I’m sorry, this must seem all very juvenile to you.”

“Not at all,” Hyejin said, “What you’re experiencing now is just as valid as what other women have experienced decades before you.”

The woman took another sip of her soju. “Have you ever--?” She trailed off, but the rest of her question was still plain. Hyejin downed the last of her beer, chuckling and nodding. “Yes, many times.”

“Oh my,” the woman mumbled, mostly to herself. They were silent again for a few minutes. On the other side of the club, Hyejin caught sight of the club manager, waving at her before tapping at the watch on his wrist. Hyejin nodded at him before standing up and smiling at the woman. “I have to perform again, but thank you for letting me sit with you.”

As she turned to go, she heard the woman call out, “I know it gets better, but  how do you get to that point?”

Hyejin turned  back, smiling, “One day at a time, I suppose. I think you have to let yourself feel the sadness, so that when you experience love again, it feels brighter and richer.”

The woman smiled at her, nodding and mumbling a soft thanks. Before Hyejin went back on stage, she passed by the bar. “I believe you owe that woman a bottle of soju,” she said. The bartender laughed, already pulling one out from the refrigerator. 

“Nothing gets past you, Hyejin-ssi.”

Much later, when Hyejin was already bundled up and ready to leave, she heard a distinctly feminine throat clear behind her. She turned to find the woman from earlier, giving her a watery smile. "Thank you," the woman said, "Your words really helped me tonight."

Hyejin smiled in return, bowing once before reaching out to shake the woman's hand. "It was nothing, I'm glad I could help."

The woman looked like she was about to say something else when her eyes widened and she immediately pulled at Hyejin's hand, wrenching her out of the way from a busboy halfway through tripping over his shoelaces, a tray of empty glasses shattering at the spot where Hyejin had been standing just moments earlier. They stared at each other in shock before Hyejin managed a breathy chuckle, carefully sidestepping the broken shards of glass. "I think we're even now." She told the woman, who looked back at her and smiled even wider. 

yongsun

Yongsun woke up to the sound of Hyejin coming home from work, the TV was still playing the horror movie marathon she had been watching. Beside her on the sofa, Byul was fast asleep.

“Why are you still awake, Unnie?” Hyejin asked as she hung up her coat. Yongsun paused the TV stretching out her arms and her wings, their living room momentarily glowing bright. 

“Byul and I were watching a horror marathon. We must have fallen asleep halfway through the second one though.”

As if hearing her name, the demon on the sofa groaned softly, turning on her side so one of her arms hung limply off the sofa, still asleep. Yongsun and Hyejin laughed under their breaths. 

“How was work?” Yong asked, walking past the vampire and into the kitchen to pull out the bottle of yogurt Byul had brought home, pouring herself a glass and taking a sip. After a moment’s thought, Yong set down her yogurt and began hunting through the cupboards for the pack of chips she knew Byul hid from her. 

“Unnie, what do you do everyday?”

The question took Yongsun by surprise as she searched for the snack. When she poked her head out from the cupboard, she saw that Hyejin was sitting at their dining table, wiping at her face with a makeup wipe. Yongsun smiled, turning back to searching for the bag of chips.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I have the jazz club. Wheeinie sells and exhibits with her art collective, Byulyi-unnie does her freelance work. What do you do everyday while the rest of us are out?”

Yongsun finally locates the chips, swiping them from the very back before returning with both the snack and the yogurt drink to continue her movie. “Well, someone has to take care of you three,” the angel said, teasingly, starting up her movie again. 

Hyejin laughed softly, shaking her head before making her own way upstairs and to her bedroom. “Good morning Unnie."

“Good morning Hyejin-ah.” Yong called out, eating her snack and finishing her movie alone. When she was done, the angel walked turned off the TV. She hesitated for a moment before turning back to the sofa and kneeling in front of Byul.

“Byul-ah.” She said softly, shaking the demon by the shoulder until Byul groaned again. Eyes squeezing shut tightly before blearily opening to blink up at her. “Come on,” Yong said, pulling at Byul’s arm, “let’s go to bed.”

“How did the movie end?” Byul mumbled, sitting up before letting herself be dragged up the stairs and into their shared bedroom.

“We can watch it again tomorrow,” Yong whispered, steering her demon to the bed before going through the motions of tucking Byul in. She looked down at Byul, making sure she was fast asleep again before sneaking back out of their bedroom. 

In the gray light of early morning, Yongsun walked to the nearest window in their apartment, the one just beside their sofa, waving a hand before the glass to reveal several angelic symbols hovering in the air. She studied them briefly, seeing that a few of were misaligned or warped. She wiped them away and redrew them again, new and correct this time before moving on to the other windows and their front door, fixing and straightening symbols as she went along. 

Once the entire first floor was secured, she moved on to the rooms upstairs, first adjusting the symbols on the bathroom window, before sneaking into Wheein’s room, then Hyejin’s, trying not to wake her roommates.

When she was satisfied, she tiptoed back into her and Byul’s room, fixing the symbols on their window before heaving a sigh of relief and finally letting herself crawl back into bed.

Instinctively, Byul shifted to make space for her, a warm hand automatically coming up to rest on her waist. “Are we safe?” Byul mumbled, the words muffled by her pillow.

“There’s nothing to be worried about.” Yong muttered, finally letting herself drift off to sleep.

When she woke up again, it was to the bright sunshine already filtering in through their window. Byul’s side of the bed was empty, and she could smell breakfast sausages frying from downstairs. She combed at the ruffled feathers of her wings before plucking off her halo, widening it and stepping through, changing from her pajamas to a cotton dress. The clock on their bedside table reading a little past noon.

Once she made it downstairs, she saw the rest of her roommates laughing over brunch. Yongsun smiled, “I guess we all slept in huh?” She said, grabbing her own plate and joining them. 

“Speak for yourself, Unnie.” Hyejin grumbled. Wheein and Byul laughed. “I actually had the weirdest dream,” Hyejin continued, her voice still hoarse from sleep. “I dreamt Yongsun-unnie came into my room and tried to purify my soul.”

Wheein burst out laughing, Byul shared a knowing look with Yong but said nothing. The demon was the only one who knew Yong would meticulously fix the angelic barrier around the apartment whenever she could. Effectively protecting her roommates from harm everyday.

In the here and now, Yong smiled at the other girls around the table, comforted by their smiles and laughter.

Chapter Text

i. the first time

Byul’s first time was with a shaman in what was then the Goryeo kingdom. One minute, she was lounging in Hell with her sisters, the next thing she knew she was face to face with a middle aged woman who was staring expectantly at her with a bowl of pig’s blood sitting between them. Something like dried rice grains floating in the liquid.

“I summoned you, demon,” the shaman intoned, “to strike a deal and save my village in exchange for this blood sacrifice.” Byul gently sniffed at the bowl of blood, doing her best not to flinch when the metallic smell assaulted her nose.

She spent a few moments looking around the small hut, at the candles that covered every available surface, and finally, at the carefully drawn pentagram below her, drawn in chalk and clay with offerings at each point before her brain finally caught on to what was happening.

Her first summoning. 

It was fun, all things considered. She granted the shaman’s village rich crops and healthy livestock and gave the shaman the ability to communicate with spirits from beyond the grave. Not long after, she was summoned again, by a different shaman from a different village and throughout those first few centuries she granted healthy crops, or helped emperors defeat their enemies, once she was even summoned to return a loved one back from the grave. That one turned out horribly, and she preferred not to look back on it.

Back then, the summoning itself didn’t bother her, as a demon she supposed it was an occupational hazard. It would be a lie though, to say that she wasn’t thankful when the proper summoning rituals were lost to time and age through the centuries. 

Still, every now and then, a group of giddy middle schoolers will stumble upon the right steps on the internet. Or a wannabe satanist will come across an old book that actually has the correct words. Now, when it happens Byul hates it.

She prefers not being summoned at all.

ii. while watching TV

Beside Byul, Wheein was on the edge of her seat, a pillow hugged tight to her chest while the TV played the latest episode in a new drama series she stumbled upon the other day. She could feel Wheein’s tail wagging incessantly as it thumped against the side of her arm. In the background, their microwave beeped softly. Wheein poked Byul’s side with her elbow.

“What?” the demon asked, equally transfixed to what was happening on the screen.

“Popcorn.” Wheein said, by way of explanation. She held back a gasp when the two leads passed each other on the street but failed to recognize the other. Damn these time-travelling romances. 

She knew it was a lost cause, but Byul tried anyway, “No way, I was the one who set it up, you should be the one to get it out.” There was a lull in the story on TV, a side plot set in the other timeline, Wheein took this opportunity to look at her and subject Byul to the full force of her pleading brown eyes. Byul resisted for all of five seconds before rolling her eyes and standing up.

Back on the sofa, Wheein laughed in triumph. “Thank you, Unnie!” Byul shook her head as she walked over to their kitchen. While she transferred their popcorn into a large bowl, she felt an odd tugging sensation at her nape, like gravity pulling her towards its center.

She stretched out a non-existent crick in her neck and turned to walk back to the sofa, bowl of popcorn in hand. Before she could take another step, she vanished from the apartment, their bowl of popcorn crashing to the kitchen floor. 

“What was that?” Yongsun’s voice called from upstairs.

Wheein peeked her head around the shelf, took one look at the mess and sighed, she paused the drama and stood up. “Nothing!” She said, heading towards their door and unlocking it first before crouching down to start cleaning the mess in the kitchen, picking up the scattered popcorn kernels and dutifully placing them back in the bowl.

When Byul opened her eyes, it was to the sound of startled screams and the feeling of grass under her legs. She looked around and recognized the skyline that surrounded Seoul’s National Cemetery.

“Y-you aren’t my grandfather!” A male voice said, pointing an accusing finger at her. 

Byul sighed, flopping down on the grass and trying to stamp down her frustration. “You think?” Byul said, her sarcasm coming out as a growl. When she sat back up, she looked around at her summoners. They looked to be a group of college students, most of them boys. 

“I don’t understand!” The male student from earlier said, flashlight pointing down at a piece of paper he was holding. “I followed the instructions perfectly, I even sliced my palm with my grandfather’s old knife!” Beside him, his friends were staring warily at her, some of them pointedly looking at her horns.

Mostly because she was annoyed at being pulled from watching TV, Byul let her eyes flash red, and took some pleasure at hearing all of them gasp in fear. She stood up and dusted herself off before walking over the student, grabbing the piece of paper, and holding it over one of the candles around the pentagram that summoned her, watching it turn to ash. “Don’t believe everything you download off the internet.” Byul said.

“And leave the dead alone!” She called out to the group as she walked away toward the cemetery’s east exit. 

It took almost an hour to hail a cab and get back to their apartment building. By the time she reached the door, finding it thankfully unlocked, she poked her head in and saw Wheein napping lightly in front of the TV, half-eaten bowl of popcorn balancing on her lap while the TV kept playing the drama they were watching. 

She reclaimed her earlier position and rewinded all the way back to the episode she stopped at, grabbing the bowl of popcorn and pressing play while Wheein continued sleeping peacefully beside her. 

iii. while grocery shopping

It was rare that Hyejin had to go out during the day. Thankfully, the myth of vampires bursting into a cloud of dust in the sunlight was completely false, but she would get sick for at least a week after if she stayed out too long. 

Today was one of those rare cases. Byul had caught the vampire eating the last of Wheein’s favorite noodles. When she pointed it out, the vampire stared wide-eyed at her before grabbing her wallet and begging that Byul accompany her to the grocery so she could buy more before Wheein came home.

“Thanks for coming with me, Byulie-unnie.” Hyejin mumbled. Gripping her umbrella tightly as she readjusted her sunglasses. It was a cloudy day, but just the ten minute walk to the nearest grocery was already giving her a headache. 

“You could have just given me money, you know,” Byul said, staring at the vampire with no small amount of concern. “I could have run to the store and bought the noodles myself.”

Hyejin resolutely shook her head  “I made the mistake, Unnie. I have to be the one to fix it.”

Byul sighed but let the subject drop. When they reached the grocery, she had to run inside to find the manager and then drag him back outside to where Hyejin was patiently waiting. A pained furrow on her brow. 

“Please invite my friend inside to enter your store,” Byul said, bowing slightly. Hyejin bowed too, taking great care to make sure her umbrella didn’t smack anyone in the face. The manager raised both eyebrows in surprise before addressing Byul.

“Why didn’t you just do the purchasing for her?”

Byul stared pointedly at Hyejin before shrugging at the manager. He stared at them curiously for a few more seconds before sighing and inviting Hyejin inside.

“That never gets any easier,” Hyejin said as she stowed away her umbrella. Inside the store she seemed less pained, but it was still early in the afternoon, and Byul wanted to get her home as soon as possible.

They were walking along the aisle full of instant noodles when she felt the familiar tugging sensation again. “Oh no.”

“What is it?” Hyejin asked, pulling out the one they needed. When the vampire turned to look beside her, Byul was already gone.

This time, when Byul opened her eyes, she appeared to be in an abandoned hospital, a circle of high school girls still in their uniforms staring at her wide eyed. 

“It worked.” One of them mumbled, looking stunned. Byul sighed, and ran a few fingers through her hair, past her horns. “Shouldn’t you girls be in school?” She asked, already getting up to leave and hoping that Hyejin would make it home alright. 

“No--wait!” A different girl said, holding up an old book, there was a library sticker at the lower base of the spine, “we summoned you! That means you have to do our bidding right?”

Byul snorted, dusting off her jeans and looking around at the dilapidated state of the building they were in. The stench of mildew and dust was heavy in the air, all the walls were discolored and peeling, some graffiti scattered here and there. The floor was covered in a thick layer of dust and various hospital equipment and papers left over from when the facilities were still in use.

“You girls wanted to make a deal with a demon?” She asks incredulously, “in here?” 

“There was a rumor that a demon haunted this hospital, causing one of the doctors to start murdering the patients.” One of the girls said, her tone somber, “And we heard that if you successfully summoned a demon, it would grant you a wish.”

Byul couldn’t help but scoff. 

“If you are the demon of this hospital,” another girl said, defiant now, “we summoned you, so you have to do what we say and grant us our wishes.

“First of all,” Byul said, “if there was a demon in this hospital, you girls should be glad they didn’t appear to do you harm.” She carefully side-stepped the students and their shocked faces, “Secondly, I’m not a genie,” she said, more than a little annoyed, “I don’t grant wishes, I make deals. I’m sure a bunch of high schoolers like you wouldn’t be ready to pay the price needed to strike a deal with me.”

As she walked away, she turned around just enough to stick a forked tongue out at the high schoolers, leaving cries of frustration in her wake.

When she reached the apartment,  Wheein was already home, happily slurping away at a bowl of noodles while Hyejin was getting ready to leave for her job. “Hyejin-ah! I’m sorry, I didn’t--”

“It’s okay, Unnie!” Hyejin said as she chuckled, walking past with a towel wrapped around her hair. “When I got home, Yongsun-unnie explained what must have happened. I’m glad you’re okay.”

“What were you doing out anyway?” Wheein asked over a mouthful of noodles. Byul and Hyejin’s eyes widened at the same time and the demon had to bite her lip to keep from laughing.

“Uhm. Emergency grocery run.” Hyejin said.

“Very important.” Byul added, smiling at Wheein then making a beeline for the stairs before the werewolf could ask again.

iv. while at work

This time around, Byul was thankful that she was at least three-quarters of the way done with the shoot before she was summoned.

One of the country’s bigger fashion magazines had hired her this time, and her subject was a rising girl group. She had just finished two outfit sets of solo, group, and unit photos and was waiting for the girls to get into their last set of outfits and makeup looks for the day when she felt the familiar tugging sensation at the back of her neck again.

Byul sighed, carefully placing her camera on the nearest table before calmly standing up from her seat and walking towards the bathroom.

“Where are you going, Moon Byul-ssi?” The magazine’s editor asked, standing up as well.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can!” She replied, closing the door behind her just as she vanished.

This time she was in a dorm room, staring at a couple of wide-eyed university boys, one of them holding up a knife to a cage that had a small kitten inside.

“Hey!” Byul smacked the knife out of the student’s hand and grabbed the cage, carefully extracting the kitten from inside and letting it burrow deeper into her hoodie. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Please!” The other boy said, prostrating himself in front of her, his forehead pressed firmly to the floor. “You have to help us pass our exams! If we fail, our parents will disown us!”

Byul frowned, before glancing at her watch. Hair and makeup usually took at least an hour or two, plus there were twelve members to that group, she probably had some time. “Okay, but no sacrificing animals and if you summon me again, I’m going to curse your souls to be tormented for all eternity.”

The boys looked at each other for a beat before nodding and turning back to her. “Deal.” They said in unison. Byul rolled her eyes, but stared around the dorm room for a few moments before her eyes landed on the boys’ cellphones on a study desk near the window. “Give me your phones.” She said.

“W-what for?” the boy with the knife asked, reaching over behind him to grab the phones and hand them to her.

“I’m not about to let you kill this kitten.” Byul said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the word. “The phones are your end of the deal.”

“What? B-but--”

“It’s the phones or I’m leaving and you can pass those exams on your own.”

The boys glared at each other, having a murmured argument while Byul played with the kitten on the floor of their dorm. Finally one of them sighed and handed the devices to her. “Fine. But this better work.”

“Oh ye of little faith,” Byul said. She smirked as she pocketed the devices. When she blinked again, her eyes had turned a deep black and the air in the dorm suddenly turned several degrees hotter. A swirling heat and dizziness overcame both students, one of them dropping to his knees as he clutched at his head. When it was done, both students were passed out on the floor, and Byul felt a little drained. 

She shook her head, cradling the kitten in her arms before exiting the dorms and hailing a cab back to the studio. Luckily, the housing center she was summoned to was only a thirty minute cab ride away. When she arrived, the girl group had just finished up with their hair and makeup and were chatting amicably on the set.

“Moon Byul-ssi!” The magazine editor cried, running over to her as she reentered. She glanced curiously at the kitten in Byul’s arms before continuing, “We tried to find you in the bathroom but you--”

“I’m really sorry,” Byul said, bowing once before heading over to the table where she left her camera, “Demon business.”

“Oh. Uhm. Right.” The magazine editor replied, nodding before motioning toward the kitten, “Was the kitten part of the, uh--”

“An unexpected bonus,” Byul said, grabbing her camera and heading to the set. A few of the girl group members perked up as she approached, “I figured we could use it for the shoot, then you can drop it off at the nearest shelter after, or one of the girls can adopt it, if their agency will let them.”

The final shoot turned out better than expected. The kitten added a nice element to the photos, and when the pictures went public, Byul’s photography account was spammed with girl group fans thanking her for taking such good pictures. Amongst the flood of fan love were two comments that thanked her for helping them with their exams. 

Byul smirked down at her new phone before pocketing it. Not a bad day’s work.

v. while sleeping

When they first started sharing a bed, Byul and Yong had learned early on that the best way to sleep was facing each other. Not even for any particularly romantic reason, but because if Yong turned her back to Byul in bed, the demon would get pushed off the mattress by the angel’s impressive wingspan and if Byul did the same, she ran the risk of gouging Yong's eyes out with her horns when she stretched in the morning. 

Face to face was simply the option that caused the least bodily harm. 

Which was why, when Byul felt an odd dropping sensation in her stomach followed by the feeling that she was now lying on a cold floor, she was sure it was because Yong had turned in her sleep and she had gotten shoved off the bed. Again.

“Yong. You did it again.” Byul grumbled, reaching a hand up to find the edge of the bed so she could hoist herself up; only there was none. What there was, however, was a very audible gasp followed by a voice that wasn’t Yong’s, “Oh my god.”

Her whole body woke up immediately then. Byul sat straight up, looking about her wildly and taking in the bedroom that definitely wasn’t hers. She growled and turned to the direction of the voice, coming face to face with a young girl, definitely no older than fifteen.

“I-I didn’t think that would work.” The young girl said, staring at Byul wide-eyed, arms hugging her knees tight. Byul stared at the shoddily drawn pentagram on the bedroom floor as well as the candles strewn about the room. Next to the girl was an open tablet screen to what looked like a cheesily decorated website for the occult. Of course.

Without warning, Byul reached for the tablet, closed the website page and deleted the girl’s search history before tossing the tablet unto the girl’s bed. She would deal with the website in the morning.

“It’s bad to summon demons.” Byul said, standing up and already making her way towards the girl’s bedroom door. She had barely taken two steps when she felt the girl’s hand grip at the hem of her sleep sweatshirt.

“Wait!” The girl said. When Byul turned around, she saw them. She sighed, frustration already fading away entirely as she crouched back down and took the girls arm carefully into her own hands. The girl refused to look her in the eye.

“What’s your name?” Byul asked softly, pulling the girl’s pajama sleeve back down over her forearm, covering the thin scars she saw there.

“Yang Ara.” The girl mumbled pulling her arm away and hugging at her knees again, self conscious. Byul sighed, rubbing at her face and making a feeble attempt to fix her bed head, combing strands of hair away from where they tangled up around her horns during sleep.

“Why did you summon me, Yang Ara-ssi?” Byul said, keeping her voice pitched low and comforting. The girl stared back at her briefly before shrugging, fingers picking at a loose thread on her pajama bottoms. 

“I didn’t think it would work,” Ara said again. They stayed quiet for a few moments before Ara looked up and said, “If you’re a demon, are you here to eat my soul?”

Byul chuckled, adjusting herself so that she was seated in front of Ara. “Human souls aren’t to my taste.” Byul said. She looked around the room some more, noting that it was rather sparse for a teenager’s room, no posters or photos or anything of the sort.  “You’re lonely aren’t you?” Byul asked, hedging at a guess. Ara stared at her wide-eyed before nodding, her eyes brimming with tears.

“Hey, don’t cry.” Byul said, scooting over a bit closer and rubbing at the girl’s arm. They stayed like that for a few minutes, Ara, quietly sobbing into her arms while Byul rubbed at her arm, whispering comforting words.

When Ara had quieted down at last, Byul grabbed at the blanket on her bed and gently dabbed at the tear tracks on her cheeks. “Would you like a friend, Ara-ssi?” Ara nodded.

Byul scuttled closer still, until they were sitting side by side, “I’ll make you a simple deal then,” Byul said, “Don’t try summoning demons again, and I’ll be your friend.”

“How will I contact you?” Ara asked, eyes turning pleading. 

“Give me your phone.” Byul held her hand out, accepting the device and adding herself as a new contact. “I don’t have my phone with me right now, but tomorrow I’ll even add you on KTalk and follow you on Insta. I’ll be the best demon friend ever.”

Ara laughed, taking her phone back and nodding in thanks. Byul chanced a glance at the girl’s covered forearm again before sighing and carefully placing an arm around Ara.

“If ever you get dark thoughts again, don’t hurt yourself okay? Just call me.” Byul whispered, rubbing calming circles on the girl’s arm with her thumb. She felt Ara nod against her side. Byul stayed until she felt Ara’s breathing slow, she checked to make sure the girl was really asleep before gently lifting her up and carrying her over to her bed. She snapped her fingers once to erase the pentagram on the floor, before sneaking out of the room. Trying not to wake Ara or her parents.

Once Byul had successfully sneaked outside the apartment unit Ara lived in, snapping her fingers again to lock the apartment door behind her, she was surprised to find herself inside her own apartment building, just a few floors above her own unit. She chuckled. “Well that’s fortunate.”

When she reached the outside of Room 1031, she paused, realizing the door was probably locked. Byul briefly wondered if she should try knocking, or just sit outside and wait for Hyejin to come home at dawn. When she tried the door, however, she was pleasantly surprised to find that it was unlocked

Byul stepped inside, coming face to face with a sleepy angel napping on the dinner table. Yong’s wing feathers all ruffled and her hair done up in a messy bun.

“Hey” Byul whispered, gently shaking Yong awake, “come on. Let’s go back.” Yong groaned once, acknowledging her before standing up and letting Byul help her back to their room.

“How’d you know?” Byul whispered once the door to their bedroom had been shut behind them.

“Felt you vanish,” Yong mumbled sleepily, already climbing into bed and lying on her side facing Byul. Within seconds they were both asleep again.

+1. while waiting for the train

The shoot she’d been hired to do for a skincare line had been all the way on the other side of Seoul, and by the time it finished, it was already nighttime. Byul considered riding a cab all the way back to her apartment, before remembering that the rush hour prices would be too much to handle. Sighing, she hitched her camera bags up a little higher on her shoulders and began walking towards the nearest train station.

She felt her phone buzz in her pocket. Wheein had texted her a photo to their apartment group chat. It was of their dining room table, covered in various side dishes and the old hot plate they had bought on sale a few years back. A few plates of pork belly and beef strips were in the very center.

Grill night! Came the text following the picture, hurry home Unnie!

Byul felt her stomach grumble in response. The train station was already ahead. She waited until she had descended the steps before shooting off a quick reply:

Don’t eat it all you pigs! 

By the time she reached the platform for the train that would lead her back to her own neighborhood, her shoulders were already sore from carrying her bags. Byul was just about to snap her fingers to make her bags at least feel a little lighter when the station’s PA system crackled to life.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, due to an unforeseen complication, the 7:47 train headed to Janghanpyeong will be delayed for fifteen minutes. We deeply apologize for this inconvenience.”

Byul felt her stomach growl again. She pulled out her phone and sent a string of crying emojis to the group chat.

Train is delayed. Save me some food.

By the time she pocketed her phone, she was just about ready to really snap her fingers this time. The weight of all her cameras already causing an ache in her lower back. That was, until she felt that tugging sensation again. 

“Shit,” Byul mumbled just as she vanished from the station, startling nearby commuters.

When she opened her eyes though, she was back in her own apartment, the sound of Wheein and Hyejin laughing while Yong was smirking in front of her, a piece of chalk in her hand.

“Did you--?” Byul began, staring down at a perfectly drawn pentagram on the floor. Yong tossed the chalk to the sofa before helping Byul with her bags. “You sounded so pathetic on the chat,” The angel teased, setting Byul’s bags aside and leading her toward the dining area.

“Ooh, does this mean Unnie gets to do us a favor now?” Hyejin asked, already setting a few strips of meat on the hot plate.

“It doesn’t work that way!” Byul laughed, accepting a plate from Wheein, “and shouldn’t you be at work?”

The vampire shrugged, “The club is closed for routine inventory checks. I have the night off.”

“Come on,” Wheein cajoled, cutting up strips of meat for Hyejin to cook, “we saved you! You definitely owe us!”

“Fine, fine!” Byul said, palms up, feigning annoyance even though there was a telltale smile pulling up the corners of her lips. “just one favor, but that’s it!”

"Excellent," Yong said, her smirk downright wicked, "You can do the dishes and clean up after we're done."

"Nevermind," Byul said, pretending to turn around, "I'll take my chances with the trains."

The statement was meant with cheers and laughter, she smiled at all of them, settling down into the dining table. She still hated being summoned, and definitely preferred never to be summoned at all. Unless the summoners were her roommates. She supposed she could make an exception for them.

Chapter Text

Wheein woke up on the day of the New Year excited, she had a plan for how she wanted to surprise The Unnies and Hyejin and now she couldn’t wait to get to it. When she sat up, however, her head began spinning and she felt a familiar heaviness in her limbs. 

“Why does the New Year always have to be on a new moon.” She grumbled to herself, scrubbing at her face and trying to fight through the sluggishness all over her body. 

Her mother once explained it to her as: their supernatural strength came from their wolf nature, and the moon called to their wolf nature. So on nights of the new moon, their wolf natures went away with the moon, and they were left at their weakest. As humans.

Still, there were New Year’s festivities to prepare for, and Wheein was determined to get through them, even if she felt like half a migraine away from passing out. 

Her plan was simple enough, first she would treat everyone to lunch and order enough tteokguk and jeon and galbi-jim to cover their tiny dining table downstairs. Then, she would surprise her roommates with the sets of modern hanboks she had pre ordered weeks ago, keeping them hidden under her bed until that day. It was a holiday so she knew Hyejin had the night off. Once it was late enough in the afternoon for Hyejin to be outside without getting sick, they could all go to the New Year street fair by the Han River and play with sparklers and eat until the fireworks that night.

It was fool proof.

When she made her way downstairs to the kitchen, The Unnies were already there, huddled over a boiling pot and arguing between themselves. 

“There’s not enough water.” Byul mumbled, bottle already angled at the pot, but Yong elbowed her away, whining and swatting at the demon with her spoon.

“There is! I’m telling you if we add any more it will taste horrible! Oh Wheein-ah! You’re awake!”

“You’re up late,” Byul remarked, not putting the bottle down but stepping away regardless, eyeing the boiling soup with narrowed eyes. “Come here and tell Yongsun-unnie that this soup is too thick.”

“What are you making?” Wheein asked, already missing her wolf sense of smell. She walked over anyway, dutifully taking a sip at the proffered spoon that Yong held out. Tteokguk. Wheein shrugged, trying not to let her distress show, there were still plenty of other things she could order for lunch. “It tastes fine to me.” 

Yong smiled smugly over at the demon, wiggling her shoulders for emphasis as she stirred. Wheein watched the rice cakes swirling around in the broth as Yong stirred. She would just order jap chae for lunch then. No problem.

“So I was thinking for later-” Wheein began, going for nonchalance as she stirred at the bowl of soup Yong had given her.

“Which reminds me, I’m going to Ikea if you guys want to come along,” Yong said, over a mouthful of rice cake, “I need to get us a new water dispenser after the last one broke down the other day.”

“I can go with you,” Byul said, “We can get lunch after.”

Wheein tried not to let her disappointment show, even though she felt her shoulders slump ever so slightly. “Make sure you get one that actually dispenses hot water this time.” Yong smiles wryly, nodding, but Byul was already staring at her curiously, head tilted. “You okay, Wheein?”

She nodded, “New moon,” she said instead, by way of explanation. It worked out in her favor, the sluggishness of her fully human self masking her overall letdown.

“Do you need us to take care of you?” Yong asked, already clearing their bowls away and gently squeezing Wheein’s shoulder as she passed, “The water dispenser can probably wait.”

“No, no!” Wheein was already feeling embarrassed at herself. She should have just planned New Year’s with her roommates instead of trying to surprise them. “Uhm, Hyejin can look out for me while you’re gone.” Spending New Year’s with Hyejin would work out well too.

“Oh! But didn’t she mention going out to dinner with her friend from the Seocho coven?” Byul said, putting away pots and bowls after Yongsun  washed them. “I can stay with you, Wheein-ah. We know how hard the New Moon is for you!”

More than the embarrassment, Wheein was feeling very frustrated. She shook her head vehemently, ignoring how the motion amplified her sudden lightheadedness. “Please, don’t. It’s fine! I’ll be fine, Unnie, seriously! It’s not like this is my first time being alone during a New Moon.”

The Unnies stared at her for a few beats before looking to each other, having one of those silent conversations that Wheein had grown used to over the years of living together. 

“Okay,” Yong said, dragging out the word into two more syllables. “But call if you need us and we’ll come rushing back.”

Wheein had already stood up, Turning past the bookshelf as she headed toward the stairs, “I’m going to be fine,” she said with an absentminded wave of her hand. When she made it back inside her room, she fell back into a disgruntled heap unto the bed. Before she knew it, she fell back asleep.

She really hated new moons. 

When she woke up again, she was sure the Unnies had left already, and a peek at the clock on her phone told her it was just a little after lunch. She spent a few minutes scrolling through her instagram, the pictures of her other friends enjoying their New Year only souring her mood even further.

Finally, Wheein rolled out of bed again, annoyed at herself. “I’ll just have fun by myself,” she muttered, if a bit petulantly. She crouched at the foot of her bed, pulling out the boxes that had the modern hanboks she’d ordered for herself and her roommates. 

Leaving the other three on her bed, she took hers to the bathroom. After a hot shower she wore the hanbok, smiling at her reflection in the mirror. She wasn’t lying when she told her Unnies that it wouldn’t be her first new moon alone. But it would be her first New Year alone, and now Wheein was determined to make the best of it.

Seoul during the Lunar New Year was lively and exciting. Families and friend groups all in multicolored hanboks were out in the street and even without her wolf-sense of hearing, Wheein could pick up the sound of drums on the wind. She was sure there was some form of dragon dance happening in the temple nearest their apartment.

Their apartment building was a good thirty minute walk away from the Han River, but she had all the time in the world anyway. Wheein had the camera Byul had gifted her for her last birthday and every now and then she would pause to snap a few candid photos of other passers by in their hanboks. She still felt bone-tired, but it was a little more bearable now that she was outside. 

When she finally reached the riverbank, she couldn’t help the little giggle that escaped her lips. The street fair was in full swing,  and there were traditional dancers performing in the wide space while people picnicked to the side. Wheein snapped a photo.

She stopped by a stall selling jeon and found herself a blessedly unoccupied bench. Still snapping photos every chance she got. She had a few good ones in the bunch and she could already picture using them for an exhibit in the future. The thought excited her.

Wheein felt a strange warmth through her. After her few years living in Seoul, and after making friends with other mortals, Wheein had grown to appreciate mortals a bit more. In the here and now, as a mortal temporarily sitting amongst them, she felt a strange sort of connection with these stranges celebrating the new year. The thought had her smiling.

Amidst all the excitement and the noise, she almost missed the sound of her phone ring. When she glanced at the screen, she grinned and turned on her camera for the video call.

“Happy Lunar Year!” Wheein laughed, grinning at the smiling face of one of her best friends from her old pack back in Jeon-ju. Jimin was a grey wolf, and they two had grown up together as puppies back in Jeon-ju. 

“Wheeinie! Happy Lunar Year!” Jimin’s voice was crackly through the static and the phone in her hand was shaky, almost like she was running. Wheein tried to squint to see where her friend was, but it wasn’t anywhere she recognized.

“Why are you running?” Wheein asked, giggling. There was already a slight flush along Jimin’s cheekbones. 

“I’m beginning to ask myself the same question.” Her friend replied, already out of breath. “I don’t know how humans can live like this, they must be exhausted all the time.”

“Tell me about it.” 

“I’m here!” Jimin called out, panting heavily, A flash from the corner of Jimin’s screen caught Wheein’s eye and she gasped. Even though the camera was angled awkwardly, and looking up at Jimin’s chin and up into her nose, Wheein could feel herself tear up. “You ready for your New Year surprise?” Jimin asked.

Wheein nodded, forgetting that Jimin couldn’t hear her. She watched as her friend approached a woman from behind, tapped on her shoulder, then thrusted the phone in her face.

“Jimin-ah what-- Oh!” Her mother’s face took up the whole screen. By that point Wheein could feel her tears trickling a hot trail down her her cheeks. She was smiling though.

“Mom!”

“Hello baby!” Her mom crooned, adjusting the camera angle so that Jimin could squeeze in beside her. Her friend was smiling cheekily, face still flushed from having run all the way to Wheein’s childhood home. “Happy Lunar Year!”

“Happy Lunar New Year Mom,” Wheein hiccuped, desperately wiping at her face with her free hand. She didn’t even care that some of her makeup was probably smudging on the sleeves of her new hanbok.

“Are you well?” Her mom asked, face approaching the screen as if to inspect her, “It’s the New Moon, you shouldn’t be out and about so much.”

Wheein laughed, “I’m fine Mom. The fresh air and the walk did me better than staying in bed all day.” Her mom still looked concerned but there was a warm smile on her face. Beside her, Jimin was making faces and Wheein burst out laughing. 

“We miss you, baby!” Her mother said, “I hope you’re taking care of yourself in Seoul!”

“I am,” Wheein said, voice still a bit thick, but her tears had stopped now. “I think.” She hesitated, trying to find the right words, “I think I belong here.”

Her mother nodded, smiling, “I’m glad.”

“Just make sure you still call every month!” Jimin butt in, her grin cheeky. “And keep your calendar free on Children’s Day! I’m coming over there to meet these crazy roommates of yours I’ve heard so much about.”

Wheein bounced in her seat, if her tail could manifest, she knew that it would be wagging. “As long as you don’t tell them about the time I fell in that river.”

“No promises!” Jimin said. Wheein and her mother laughed.

They spoke for several more minutes, eventually her mother had to leave to attend to other pack matters, so she and Jimin ended up talking. Wheein still on the bench by the Han River while Jimin walked to their old haunts, them reminiscing fun memories from the past.

“Call me when you get on the bus to Seoul,” Wheein said, after telling Jimin she had to end the call, “I’ll pick you up at the station.”

“Okay! Goodbye Wheeinie, we’ll talk again!” Jimin waved and made silly faces at the screen for several more seconds before the call finally ended. Wheein’s phone was hot to the touch but her heart felt light, and she didn’t feel so lonely anymore.

 It was already a little later in the afternoon. She walked back to the stall selling jeon and ordered some for her roommates before beginning the long trek back to their apartment. Home. 

Wheein was absentmindedly wondering how she could subtly gift the other hanboks still in her room to Yong, Byul, and Hyejin when she opened the door to their apartment and was greeted with the sight of her roommates in their hanboks she bought. Byul let off a party popper, and Wheein yelped in surprise, eyes widening. 

“Surprise!” Yong exclaimed, her wings spreading out and knocking into Hyejin, who was busy transferring take out food from their containers into nicer bowls. “Yah, Unnie!” Hyejin swatted one of the wings away, “You’re going to cause an accident!”

“Oh! What’s this?” Wheein said, looking around at their apartment. The dining table was filled with food plus the tteokguk from that morning, there was a bag of party poppers to one corner, and someone’s phone was playing music. 

“I was looking for you in your room,” Hyejin explained, tossing out the last of the food containers, “and I saw the hanboks. They had our names on them and, well.” The vampire shrugged her smile turning playful.

“You picked them well!” Byul said, stretching out her arms and admiring the design. Hers had one black sleeve peeking out from a mostly red robe, with black satin pants.

“When we got home, Hyejin showed us the hanboks,” Yong explained, approaching Wheein to get the bag of jeon from her arm. The angel smiled at her, almost motherly, “You were trying to surprise us this morning, weren’t you? I’m sorry we ruined it. I thought this would make up for it.”

Wheein smiled at her roommates in the hanboks she picked out for them, at the effort they went to for her. That same warm feeling was back, but deeper and more special than before. 

“Just tell me you bought a working water dispenser and we’ll call it square,” Wheein teased.

Yong laughed, nodding and pulling her into the dining area to join the rest of them. After their early dinner, they opened the glass windows that led to the unit’s small balcony, letting in the cool night air. 

“I thought you were meeting up with Soo-jung, for the New Year,” Wheein asked, bumping shoulders with Hyejin as the vampire adjusted the pants of her own hanbok, Hyejin put an arm around her, hugging her close.

“Soo-jung unnie understands,” She said,  in a low voice, “I have many more New Years I can spend with her just as I have countless I can spend with you and the Unnies.”

Wheein ducked her head, trying to hide her smile. She elbowed Hyejin in the side instead, “You’re gross.” she muttered, even though there was a smile on her face and laughter threatening to bubble out from her lips.  Hyejin just hugged her closer.

When the sun set and the first of the fireworks began shooting into the sky, all four of them marveled at the sight together, clapping or setting off party poppers. By the end of it, Wheein was glad that at least her words to her mother earlier rang true.

She belonged here. 

Chapter Text

now

Yong was deep in the middle of following a video tutorial for homemade gopchang when a blast of angelic light from above, miraculously shining through their ceiling, surrounded her.

HELLO YONGSUN , the Metatron said, toneless, emotionless, and filling every cavern of her mind. Yong froze, the sharp footfalls of petrichor at the back of her mouth made her swallow on reflex. She tried not to wince.

“Hello,” she said back, looking up. She felt her wings stretch out just so, feather tips brushing against the floor and the back of their sofa.

YOUR SISTER HAS A MESSAGE FOR YOU.

Yong let out a breath she hadn’t noticed she had been holding. “I’m happy to hear from her. I will accept the message.”

LITTLE YONG, I AM VISITING YOU NEXT WEEK. CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU AND BYULIE AGAIN. MAKE SURE YOU INTRODUCE ME TO YOUR NEW ROOMMATES TOO. I WANT TO EAT THAT SPICY RICE THING YOU FED ME LAST TIME.

Her sister’s message, spoken in the Metatron’s voice almost made Yong laugh. Almost. She bit at the inside of her cheek, hard enough that if she had been a mortal, she probably could have drawn blood. When the voice stopped, Yong waited a few extra seconds, just to be polite, before she replied. “I’m glad to hear it,” she said, respectfully, bowing her head, “I look forward to my sister’s arrival.”

There was a long silence wherein Yong thought that surely, the Metatron must have left the conversation, except that the holy light still surrounded her. Their whole apartment smelled of ozone now, sharp and bitter. “Uhm,” she said, hesitant, “is there anything else?”

PLEASE INFORM YOUR SISTER, THAT THE METATRON IS NOT TO BE USED FOR TRIVIAL MESSAGES. THE METATRON IS FOR THE OFFICIAL MISSIVES OF HEAVEN.

Yongsun blushed, embarrassed, she bowed her head lower. “Yes, of course, I’m sorry. I’ll make sure she sends her messages to me a different way next time.”

GOOD. BLESSINGS BE UPON YOU KIM YONGSUN, ANGEL OF HEAVEN.

“And also with you,” Yong replied. When the celestial light vanished, as quick as flipping off a switch, it felt as if Yong’s mind had suddenly been emptied. Left alone with just her thoughts again. She waited a few more seconds, just to be sure, before collapsing back unto a dining table chair, suddenly exhausted.

When she had recovered from the experience, it was to the sudden realization that Heaven’s light had overcooked the gopchang meat and singed the floor in their kitchen. “Aish,” Yong shoved the dish aside, poking at the underseasoned, overcooked mess before deciding that she would cut her losses and just start again. Good thing Hyejin wasn’t due to wake up for another four hours.

then.

Before the first children of Earth had taken their fledgling steps under the sun, Yongsun was an angel in heaven, freshly born from the holy light. She first opened her eyes to a Principality, gazing down at her (or at least she assumed it was) through a mass of wings and eyes.

“Kim Yongsun, Angel in Heaven.” The Principality said, with an authority that surged through her veins, filling her with a rightness she couldn’t put into words. She was named.

“Hmm,” The Principality looked her over, thinking, “I have just the mentor for you.”

“Mentor?” She asked, following close as they walked through gilded white halls. All around them, the lilting tones of the angelic chorus filled Yongsun’s ears. 

“Yes,” The Principality said, almost perfunctory, “It’s a new system we’re trying out. To keep our angels from falling and becoming Demons of the Dark Prince. It’s been rather successful so far.” Yongsun was in the midst of processing what she’d just heard, when-- “Sort of like a sibling program,” The Principality added, as an afterthought,

That part had Yongsun smiling, “I’m getting a sibling?”. 

“That’s one way to think of it.” The Principality said, finally turning a corner into a hallway that had a group of angels gathered around a slowly spinning orb that was an exact replica of the Earth. Some were praying, others were observing, still others would tap at a spot and vanish. Yong stared in wonder at them all.

She followed the Principality to one angel in particular, who was staring in deep concentration at a spot in South Korea, her brow furrowed in concentration.

“Kim Yonghee, Angel in Heaven,” The Principality said, startling the other angel. She bowed to the Principality once, very low. “Meet your new mentee.”

The Angel--Yonghee-- straightened before turning kind eyes to Yong, mouth instantly curving up into a smile. Yong smiled back. 

now.

“Unnie, don’t you think you overdid it?” Byul asked, staring at the mass of groceries that covered their kitchen counter. Yong only scoffed in response.

“No.”

“There’s probably enough here to make tteokbokki for twenty people.” Byul said, sorting through the groceries, “I don’t see why you can’t just buy premade tteokbokki from the store and then heat it up when Yonghee-unnie arrives.”

“No!” Yong whined, pouting just a little bit, “If my sister is visiting then I have to make it special for her.”

Byul shrugged, “You always get so stressed out whenever your sister visits. Why not just make things easy on yourself for once?”

Yong shook her head, sectioning off the ingredients into little groups with a straightforward single mindedness. “Yonghee-unnie isn’t arriving until next week, I have just enough time and ingredients to practice making tteokbokki until I’m really good at it.”

Byul hummed in response, when Yong turned to look at her, the Demon had a soft smile on her face. “What?” Yong felt a familiar heat creep up her neck and to the back of her ears, suddenly very self conscious.

“Nothing,” Byul replied, already putting away the other piles of ingredients until only one complete set of tteokbokki ingredients was left, “You’re cute when you get all determined like that.”

Yong cringed, “Ah! You’re really gross.” She pushed Byul away for good measure, but the nerves were still there, and when she smiled at Byul, she knew that it was a halfhearted one. 

then .

The first time Yong step foot on Earth, it was with Yonghee. When they materialized unto the plain, they were just on the outskirts of a village. Yong looked around, taking in the feeling of wet earth beneath her bare feet and the strange smells in the air. She looked to her sister, “Where are we?”

“Korea,” Yonghee said, stepping through her halo to change from her angelic robes into Earth clothes. “Well, early Korea I suppose,” the older angel added with a shrug, “I suppose right now they dont call this land Korea just yet, but they will soon enough. It’s in the plans after all.”

Yongsun had just stepped through her own halo, shifting from her robes to a plainer set of clothes. “Why are we here, Unnie?”

Yonghee grinned, excited and mischievous all at once, “Well, little Yong, this is where you will be assigned!” 

She looked around with a gasp, eyes wide. Time passed differently in Heaven, so Yongsun couldn’t say how long she had spent since the first time Yonghee became her sister, training and learning how to be a good angel. They had long argued about when Yongsun could finally be ready to do her own angelic duties, now that the opportunity was presenting itself though, she suddenly felt unprepared.

Yonghee’s smile dimmed a bit, a kind understanding crossing her face. She placed a warm hand on Yongsun’s shoulder, her thumb rubbing affectionate circles against the skin. “Little Yong,” the other angel said, “It’s normal if you don’t feel ready, or if you’re worried that you’ll make a few mistakes, that just means you’re ready to take your angelic duties seriously, and that’s all anyone can ask.”

Her sister’s words provided some semblance of comfort, and Yong nodded. She took a deep breath, trying to quell some of the anxiety in her stomach. “How did you feel when you were given your first assignment, Unnie?” She asked.

The other angel chuckled, taking Yongsun by the arm and leading her toward the village. “Probably as tired as you’re feeling right now. But that’s why I’m here right? To help you.”

now .

The day before Yonghee was due to arrive, Yongsun was more on edge than usual. It didn’t help that the sound of Hyejin and Wheein fighting over the bathroom startled her into almost dropping a stack of plates she was moving from the cupboards to the table. She sighed and shook her head, setting the plates down before poking her head out of the kitchen. “Don’t fight!”

“Unnie, tell Hyejinie that it’s way past her bedtime and she should let other people use the bathroom in the morning.”

Hyejin’s reply was muffled through the bathroom door and it was too early for Yong to try and make sense of any of it. Another slam of a door followed by a frustrated growl told her that Byul was awake.

“Why is everyone so goddamn noisy?”

Yong stared at her fingers, drumming them against the table and silently praying for patience. The arguing had reached a crescendo now with Byul apparently throwing herself into the mix. Yong breathed deeply through her nose for a few seconds before ripping the halo off her head, twirling it once through her fingers, and waving it in the general direction of the upstairs.

The bright light that followed was blinding and flooded their entire apartment. When it faded away, all that was left was silence and Yong, standing in the middle of their dining area with a wolf, a bat, and a snake caught in the circle of her halo, all of them struggling to pull free.

“I said,” Yong started, calmly, eyes blazing white as her wings expanded behind her, “don’t fight.”

The struggling stopped, and she gave it a few more seconds before tapping on the golden circle so it would release her roommates. It took them a  few moments to recover, divine intervention usually did that to other supernatural beings.

The first one to shift back was Byul, who glared up at Yong once before dusting herself off and sheepishly mumbling an apology. The demon made her way back upstairs and into their bedroom. Hyejin and Wheein shifted back at the same time a little after that, with the former giving the angel an even harsher glare.

“What was that for?” Hyejin snapped, disentangling herself from the werewolf and making her way to her own bedroom. When the door slammed behind her, Yongsun sighed, frustration and guilt at war in her heart.

Wheein was still seated on the floor, staring up at her with no small amount of concern. “You okay, Unnie?” She asked softly. Yongsun sighed and shook her head.  

“I should probably apologize,” The angel said, only stopping short when she caught Wheein shaking her head.

“Hyejin understands that tomorrow’s a big day for you Unnie,” Wheein said softly, finally standing up and giving her a gentle smile, “She’s just cranky cause she lacks sleep. Don’t worry about it."

Yong sighed again, sinking into one of the dining room chairs. “I’m sorry anyway, I know I’m on edge, I just can’t help it.” Wheein pulled up a chair beside her, taking one of her hands in hers and squeezing it just so. 

“Do you wanna talk about it?”

She squeezed Wheein’s hand in return, feeling altogether tired and anxious. “I just want things to turn out perfect for tomorrow. My sister she-- and I just--”

Wheein’s smile turned understanding, “You don’t have to prove to Yonghee-unnie that you’re doing a good job here on Earth. Anyone with eyes can see that you are.” Yong shifted, uncomfortable at having her insecurities laid bare.

Wheein stood up, patting her on the shoulder as she walked towards their coffee maker. “There’s no need to be nervous Unnie, tomorrow will go great!”

then .

“Do you like it?” Yonghee had asked, spreading her arms out wide in front of an apartment building. Yongsun stared at it and her sister in confusion. She and Yonghee had been on Earth for a few millennia, and now it was sometime in the eighties. Living amongst mortals in all that time and spreading goodness whenever they could. 

“It’s a building, what about it?” She asked. Yonghee just chuckled, walking forward to wrap an arm around her shoulders.

“It’s where you’ll be living silly!” Yonghee said, laughing, “We, or I guess, you are now the proud owner of the largest unit on the tenth floor! Now there’s no need to always move around every few years or so. You can be based in Seoul permanently!”

Yongsun was already halfway to the entrance when she paused, turning back to look at her sister. “What do you mean?” An uneasy feeling was settling in her gut.

“Well we’ve never really lived anywhere in the millennia we’ve been here, always just moving around where we’re needed. Now that our duties have been officially lessened, you can have a more permanent home of your own!” 

“But,” Yongsun began, pausing just short of entering the building, “You keep saying ‘you’, don’t you mean we will have a more permanent home to live in?”

Yonghee sighed, arm still slung around Yong’s shoulders. “No I meant you, little Yong. You’ll be staying here.”

She felt unmoored, and more than a little scared. “Where will you be staying?”

“I’ll be going back up to Heaven of course!” This, Yonghee said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. 

“Y-you’re leaving me?” In all their years, they had always been together. Yong tried to picture being on Earth without her sister. The thought left her panicked and frightened. Out of instinct, she gripped Yonghee’s wrist hard, as if she could keep her on Earth by the sheer force of her will alone.

Yonghee moved to stand in front of her, taking both of her hands. “You’re still my angelic sister Yong, but you’ve improved so much over the centuries, you don’t need me guiding you anymore. You can handle this plain on your own.”

“But I-”

“You’ll be great!” Yonghee said, full of warmth. The pride was emanating from her in waves and Yongsun couldn’t help but feel a little undeserving in the face of that confidence. “I have every faith in you, little Yong.” Yonghee continued, “besides, now you can move in with that demon you’ve been dancing around these last few centuries.”

Yongsun spluttered and Yonghee laughed, teasing and accepting at the same time. She felt her ears burn up in embarrassment, thankful that at least Yonghee chose that moment to hug her close. “I’m proud of you, Yongsun, you can be sure I’ll still be looking out for you from Heaven.”

When they pulled away, Yongsun could feel her throat close around her emotions, and there was a traitorous stinging in the back of her eyes that she tried not to think too much about. So instead she nodded at her sister and smiled, letting herself be lead inside her new home.

now .

When her sister finally arrived, Yong had been halfway through preparing the tteokbokki recipe she perfected, so Byul had opened the door. She peered over her shoulder just in time to catch the demon get pulled into a tight hug, 

“Byul-ah!”

“Oh, Unnie!”

There was laughter and Yong could hear Wheein and Hyejin approaching the front door now too, the demon introducing them to her sister. She took a deep breath, turned off the stove and turned around, coming face to face with her Yonghee, arms held open for a hug.

“Hello little Yong,” Yonghee said teasingly, an easy smile and bright laughter in her voice. Yong felt her worries move to the back of her mind, taking the last few steps forward and hugging her sister back. 

Later, when they were all crowded around the apartment’s tiny dining table, she watched her sister take a bite of her tteokbokki and nod happily at her. “This is good! You really made this?”

Yong ducked her head, smiling, beside her, Byul was already chuckling. “You should have seen Yongsun-unnie last week before you got here, every night she would try to perfect that tteokbokki, so every night that’s all we’ve been eating.”

“Unnie’s arrival has saved us,” Wheein added, mockingly serious and to the laughter of everyone present, “We can finally start eating something other than tteokbokki tomorrow.”

“Hey, you said you liked tteokbokki,” Yong said, her voice coming out defensive.

“If I ever eat tteokbokki again, it will be too soon.” Hyejin said, her tone also grave but her eyes sparkling with laughter. Yong rolled her eyes, but she could feel her lips curling traitorously upwards. 

“That sounds like Yongsun alright,” Yonghee agreed, eyes crinkling playfully at her. 

After dinner, with her three roommates setting up their TV for a movie marathon, Yongsun found herself washing the dishes with her sister. As she passed her sister another bowl to rinse off, Yonghee nudged her with one of her wings, “You seem a lot more settled than the last time I visited.”

Yong shrugged, but let herself really believe the words. Since the last time she saw her sister, she and Byul had taken in Wheein, and then a few years after that, Hyejin had moved in. Back when she first realized she would be living on her own for the first time in several millennia, the thought of it scared her. The idea of being alone for all eternity was too frightening to comprehend. 

Now, in the background she could hear her roommates fighting over which movie they would watch first, the sound of it making her happy.

“I guess I am,” Yong replied, nudging her sister back with her own wing, “I’m glad you’re here though.”

Yonghee pressed a quick kiss to the side of her head. “Me too. I’m proud of you, Yongsun.”

Yongsun smiled at her sister and nodded, feeling that familiar sting behind her eyes again. She blinked a few times before turning back to the soap and the dishes. It was only later on, sandwiched between Byul and Yonghee, with Wheein and Hyejin cuddled up on the floor and a horror movie playing on their TV that Yong finally let the last of her anxieties go. 

If her sister was proud of her, then she could be proud of herself too.

Chapter Text

The package arrived early in the day, while Hyejin was asleep. Which meant that in the hours before the vampire woke up, it was subject to the single-minded scrutiny of Hyejin’s roommates.

“Maybe it’s a spare coffin.” Byul offered, spoonful of oatmeal still in her mouth.

“Why would a vampire need a spare coffin?” Yong countered, carefully nudging the giant box with a slippered toe and checking to see if something would rattle inside. It was a large box, almost three feet in height, yet the delivery man didn’t seem out of breath at all when he rang their doorbell to drop it off. “Besides,” Yong added, “It’s too small to be a coffin anyway.”

“Could be one of those self-assembly-type situations.” Wheein said. Earlier, Yong and Byul had tried to get her to sniff at the box to see if she could determine what was inside, but aside from the overwhelming scent of cardboard and packaging styrofoam, she couldn’t discern much else.

“Last time I checked, Ikea doesn’t offer coffins alongside their cabinets,” Yong said, which effectively ended the conversation for the moment. 

A few hours later, Wheein tripped over the package in her scramble to find her sneakers at the hyeon gwan. Byul had to move it to the living room coffee table, so that it would at least stop blocking the door.

“It’s blocking the TV,” Yong said, not even looking up from the book she was reading. “There’s nowhere else to place it,” Byul countered, circling the box again. “It has the Jeonju coven seal.” The demon added.

Yong put her book aside to stand next to Byul, both of them tilting their head at the very obvious seal on one side of the box. “Huh, that wasn’t there earlier.”

“It probably was,” Byul traced the raised edges of the seal with her finger.

“Did we check if it came with a letter?” It was Yong’s turn to circle the package now, crouching low to see if they also missed an attached envelope. Byul shook her head.

“Not that I could see. If there was, it’s probably inside the box.”

The angel pondered the box again before looking up at the closed door that she knew was Hyejin’s room. “It would be bad if we woke her right?”

“It’s rare that she gets a full day’s rest,” the demon agreed, idly picking at the packaging tape. Yongsun slapped her fingers away. “We just have to wait for tonight and ask her to open it before she leaves for work.”

“Right.”

“Shall we order in?”

“Right!”

Later on in the day, it was Wheein who found the letter. Just as she was coming back from helping one of her friends set up their exhibit at a gallery, she noticed a nondescript envelop just outside their door. It had Hyejin’s name on it.

“The mystery continues!” Wheein announced as she entered their apartment. She caught sight of her the Unnies huddled over at the dining table, playing a video game on a tablet.

“Welcome back,” Byul said absently, her shoulders moving along to the tiny avatar she was controlling on the screen. Yong let out small noise, and was equally as engrossed.

“I found a letter for Hyejin outside our door,” Wheein continued toeing her shoes off and hanging up her beanie on the rack, “do you think it might have slipped off the box when the delivery man dropped off the package?”

When she looked up, both Yong and Byul had abandoned the game completely, instead staring at her with no small amount of shock. “There was a letter?” Yong had tried for nonchalance, but her tone ended up more along the lines of manic.

Once Wheen held it up, Yong and Byul were at her side instantly. The corners of the envelope were a bit crumpled, and there was already a small tear in the center from where it must have been ripped off from the box during the delivery. Just inside they could make out a brief note.

“It would be rude of us to read a letter meant for Hyejinie,” Wheein said, one finger just idly slipping past the seam where the envelope had ripped. All three of them glanced at the package again, sometime during the day, Yong had moved it from the living room coffee table to the foot of the stairs so she could watch TV. 

“We could say there wasn’t an envelope to begin with,” Byul hedged, fingers twitching toward the envelope in Wheein’s hand. Yong clicked her tongue, head shaking disapprovingly .

“No, no, no, no. We have to respect our roommate’s privacy!” Yong moved to grab the letter from Wheein’s hand and place it with the box, instead, the motion ended up tearing the envelope in half, the letter inside fluttering lamely to the floor. 

The three of them stared at it for a beat then gave each other a quick look before all three scrambled to pick it up, elbows colliding every which way. In the end, Byul was the fastest. She held it up for all of them to read at the same time. 

Hyejin,

You left him behind. We thought about keeping him around, but at the end of the day, he caused too much conflict within the coven. Besides, we figured you would need him for your new life in Seoul.

There was no signatory, but the Jeonju coven seal marked the bottom of the letter.

“What the heck does that mean?”

“Who’s ‘he’?”

They all turned from the letter, to the box, it’s presence now more ominous than ever. It was at that moment that the door to Hyejin’s room creaked open. There was a wordless scramble to hide the letter, which somehow ended up crumpled into a ball and stuffed into the pocket of Yong’s pajamas.

“Hyejin-ah! You’re awake!” The angel called out, her voice cracking a  bit and pitched up what higher than it normally was. Byul and Wheein fought to keep a straight face. “A package arrived for you!”

“Oh?” The vampire trudged slowly down the stairs, voice still hoarse from sleep, with tendrils of her long hair escaping from the bun she wore to keep her hair out of her face while she slept. Hyejin took one look at the box, eyes widening slightly at the seal of her old coven on it, then craned her neck a bit, as if searching for something. “Did it come with a letter?” Hyejin asked.

“Uhm--”

“Yong read it!” Byul said, grinning mischievously as she reached into Yong’s pocket to pull out the crumpled mess of a letter. Yong stared at the demon in disbelief, before lifting a hand to smack Byul in the shoulder for the betrayal.

“We’re sorry,” Yong began, handing over the letter to Hyejin, “the envelope ripped accidentally and--”

They watched Hyejin read the contents of the letter once, before scoffing and crumpling it up again, this time chucking the paper in the direction of the nearest bin and walking towards the kitchen.

“What’s with that reaction?” Wheein called out, “and aren’t you going to open your package?”

“I already know what it is,” Hyejin called out, the next sound they heard was her opening the freezer for a packet of frozen blood, which she then proceeded to defrost and heat in the microwave.

“Well we don’t!” Byul didn’t even bother hiding the whine in her voice, “Come on, we’ve been curious all day, at least open it!”

Hyejin reemerged from the kitchen with her thermos of blood, she took a long sip before levelling her roommates with an unimpressed look. “It’s just Wilson.”

The confused silence that followed that statement was long. Yong stared at the box again in horror, “Wilson as in-? Is there a--”

Hyejin cut her off, already vehemently shaking her head and the hand that wasn’t holding her thermos. “Don’t be silly,” At long last she walked over to the box, slicing through the packaging tape with one of her long nails. Once it was opened, she reached inside and pulled out the box’s sole content. A few packing peanuts spilling in the process. Yong, Byul, and Wheein stared at the item in disbelief.

“It’s a giant teddy bear.” Byul said.

“Yeah,” Hyejin patted the bear’s soft head for a bit before, setting him to sit up against one of the box's flaps, “I got him for my eightieth birthday a while back.”

“But, the letter said he causes conflict in your coven,” Wheein said. From the box, Wilson slumped forward a bit, causing his head to press forward into the soft bulge of his plush stomach.

“It’s an inside joke in the coven,” Hyejin explained, “People are always trying to borrow him and it somehow ends up--”

“Can I hold him?” Wheein suddenly asked, moving to stand up 

“Wait, I’ve been waiting all day for this box to open, I want to hold him!” Byul was already walking over. 

“Not after you blamed me for reading the letter!” Yong chimed in, grabbing at the hem of Byul’s shirt and pulling her back, “I should get to hold him before you.”

Before Hyejin could take control of the situation, all three of her roommates pounced at the bear, grabbing at it and shrieking in fits of laughter as each person tried to get a hug in before the others. Hyejin watched the chaos with equal amounts of exasperation, shock, and fondness.

“Let me hug it once!”

“Unnie your wings are going to poke my eyes out!”

“Get off you’re so heavy!”

“Ends up like that,” Hyejin mumbled to herself. Amidst the whirlwind of three supernatural beings wrestling each other over a large stuffed animal, she saw Wilson’s plush head wave from side to side. He really was a cute teddy bear. Hyejin sighed in the tone of the long suffering, still there was a wry smile on her face as she walked over to the shelf to grab a decorative gong. She struck it once to test the sound, and then a second time to grab her roommates’ attention. 

“Everyone, honestly!”

Yong, Byul, and Wheein, were lying in a rumpled heap on the floor, laughing and gasping. Wilson had been chucked off to the side in the scuffle. Hyejin walked over and picked him up, pressing her face into the soft down of his plush head. “You can all borrow Wilson one at a time, until then, he’ll be in my room!”

All three roommates were smiling up at her and the bear, and if Hyejin hugged Wilson a bit more possessively after that, she figured she couldn’t be blamed.

He belonged to her first, after all.

Chapter Text

It was an unending source of frustration for Hyejin that she could never get a straight answer from The Unnies whenever she tried to ask about their relationship.

The first time, she hadn’t even really been thinking about it. It was her first week since moving to Seoul and her and Byul were left alone at the apartment. Wheein was out with friends and Yong was out walking their neighbor’s dog as a sort of favor. It was meant to be a passing thing, a way to start conversation.

“Unnie, how did you and Yongsun-unnie meet?”

Byul had looked up from her laptop where she had been sorting through photos from a shoot and gave a single smirk that made her look more devilish than any other demon Hyejin had come across. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” The demon replied, teasing. 

That had been the start of it all.

Since then, she’s tried to be subtle, inserting carefully worded questions into conversations with Byul in the hopes to get the demon to slip up. Every time, Byul’s eyes just flash playfully while she keeps her mouth shut. Or worse, she outright lies.

Once, Hyejin had been flipping through channels randomly on the TV when she passed by a documentary about the infamous Park Chung-hee assassination. Beside her, Byul had chuckled while scrolling through her phone.

“That was a hectic day, Chung-hee was assassinated right when Yong had finally agreed to go out with me.”

Hyejin practically fell off the sofa.

“Really?”

When she looked up, Byul was snickering into her phone. After Yongsun had gotten back from dog walking, Hyejin had complained about what happened. The angel had simply shook her head in disapproval. She was smiling though.

“Don’t believe everything this demon tells you,” the angel had said knowingly, passing by Byul and giving her a quick pinch on the shoulder. Byul had looked up at Yong with a smile. Hyejin had rolled her eyes and scoffed. 

Another time, she had come back home in the wee hours of the morning to a drunk demon, nursing a half-finished bottle of soju alone at the dining table. Wheein had mentioned before that Byul sometimes had moments of ennui and that it was best to let her deal with it on her own. What Hyejin saw however, was an opportunity.

She had approached carefully, checking to make sure Byul was at least, still awake enough to hear her. When she turned to Hyejin with a glassy expression, she put on her best comforting smile.

“Are you alright, Unnie?”

Byul had nodded, once, head tipping dangerously close to the table. Hyejin had to reach out a hand to steady her.

“Would you like to talk about it?” Byul shook her head.

Now or never , Hyejin thought to herself, “Can you tell me how you and Yongsun-unnie met?” She winced, hoping Byul was too drunk to notice how forward she was being. The demon just levelled her with a long stare before bursting into a fit of giggles.

“Angel.” Byul said, between fits of laughter. 

Hyejin tried again, “Yes, Yongsun is an angel. How did you meet her?”

Byul just kept laughing, “Yeba angel,” she said this time, her laughter going soft until she let out a soft snore and was, effectively, asleep. Hyejin sighed out in frustration. Failed again. She debated briefly with herself if she should even make an attempt to move Byul to the sofa when she felt a soft hand on her shoulder. Yongsun was there, with a tired look to her eyes and concern written all over her face.

Hyejin decidedly kept her mouth shut as she helped Yongsun carry Byul back to their bedroom.

Speaking of the angel, Yong wasn’t much help either. When it became clear that the demon was never going to give her a proper answer, Hyejin had tried asking Yong, to even lesser success. She had set an alarm to wake up earlier than usual for her, while the sun was still out. To catch Yong at home while Byul and Wheein were out at work.

“Unnie, how did you end up going out with Byulie-unnie?” She had asked once she found Yong preparing a snack in the kitchen. The angel almost dropped the entire plate of french fries she had just finished making.

Yong had looked at her, wide-eyed and blushing. 

“Well, s-she asked and I agreed.” Yong spluttered, a traitorous blush creeping up her neck as she quickly turned around and made a beeline for the living room, her wings very nearly smacking both Hyejin in the face. 

“Is that it?” Hyejin called after her, frustrated. Yongsun had been too flustered to answer anything else she tried to ask.

When Byul had heard what happened later that evening, she didn’t stop laughing the entire night.

Now, five months since she had first asked, she was no closer to finding any form of closure. Hyejin had woken up after only four hours of sleep, and instead of retreating back to her room, she had gone downstairs instead, only to find that Wheein was on the second day of her full moon transformation and The Unnies had gone out to eat lunch because it was, coincidentally, their anniversary.

“I don’t understand why they don’t just tell me,” she grumbled to Wheein. The wolf only looked up at her sympathetically. She had learned, shortly after the first time she asked, that Wheein knew just about as much as she did. As far as both of them were concerned, Yong and Byul had always just been Yong&Byul , no spaces. 

Wheein shifted until her long snout was pillowed on Hyejin’s lap. She let out a single huff, which Hyejin took to mean, Just give up already .

“I’m not giving up until I get a straight answer,” Hyejin said, determined. On her lap, Wheein gave out a quick grunt , Suit yourself, but leave me out of it. They stayed that way for a while, Hyejin sighed, pondering maybe going back to sleep just like this. For lack of anything better to do, she let her eyes wander. In the months she’d been living here, she never gave much thought to the random items that decorated the apartment. Now that she took the time, she realized there were a few things worth noticing.

“Is that an old Hyŏpyul-sa poster?” Hyejin said out loud, apropos of nothing when the framed item caught her eye. Wheein took her head off Hyejin’s lap, ears perking up. Hyejin stood up to inspect the item hanging just near the staircase. “It’s probably from the Joseon Dynasty,” Hyejin said aloud. The paper had yellowed with age and the painted figures were practically faded, but there was no mistaking the lettering on top that advertised Hyŏpyul-sa.

She looked around the room with new eyes. On the bookshelf that separated the living room from the dining room, were a series of photographs. A black and white photo of an angel with her back turned, only distinguished by her wings, Yongsun’s wings. The messily scrawled date on the corner read 1910. 

There was a photo of Yongsun by a temple, in forties clothing. Yongsun by the Han River, in sixties clothing this time. Hanging above the dining table, there was a framed photo of Byul with her back turned, staring out at the sea in Jeju dated in the eighties. On the refrigerator, there was an old photograph of Byul and Yong together, standing in front of their apartment building, the timestamp on it from the nineties.

There were photos of Yong and Byul from various moments in Korea’s history all over the apartment, and for the first time, it truly dawned on Hyejin just how old The Unnies were. From the sofa, Wheein was staring at her, something like realization in her wide brown wolf eyes, an expression that surely mirrores what Hyejin was realizing as well.

“Is all this--” Before she could finish the question, the door to their apartment opened. Yong and Byul were back.

“You’re so stingy, let me see it before you print it out!” Yong whined, while she shrugged off her cardigan and hung it by the hyeon gwan.

“No way,” the demon laughed, toeing off her own shoes and taking Yong’s bag from her as she went. “It’s going to be a surprise. You’ll have to wait until it’s framed and hanging just like the rest. I’m thinking by the wall near our closet?”

Hyejin and Wheein exchanged a look.

“Oh, Hyejin-ah? You’re up early,” Yong said as she passed on her way to the stairs. 

“Couldn’t sleep,” she mumbled, unsure if Yong even heard her. The angel had already ascended the steps and turned toward the bathroom.

“We brought home some pastries from the cafe!” Byul announced proudly, holding up an artfully tied paper bag, she placed it on the dining table before pulling up the camera that had been hanging from her shoulder, switching it on and clicking through the photos.

Hyejin watched her for a moment. On the sofa, Wheein looked from the demon to the vampire before barking once. Byul reached out an absentminded hand, finding the spot behind Wheein’s ears that she favored as a wolf and giving her a few scratches.

“You take a lot of photos of Yongsun-unnie, huh?” Hyejin finally asked, moving back toward the sofa and sitting down on Wheein’s other side. The corner of Byul’s mouth turned upward, she didn't look up from her camera.

“She’s my favorite muse,” Byul said, simply. No trace of teasing or irony to her words at all.

“I can tell,” Hyejin replied. At that, Byul finally looked up, staring at Hyejin for a long while before looking around the room herself. Hyejin didn’t have to track the movement to know that her Unnie was also looking at the various photographs displayed around the apartment. Photographs of Yong that only Byul could have taken. Or vice versa.

When Byul finally turned to look at her again, her usual teasing smirk was softer now. More warm. “You can, can you? Well it’s not like it’s a secret how much I like taking pictures of her.”

Hyejin nodded, feeling the last of her months-long curiosity finally go to rest.

“Are you spouting some greasy nonsense again?” Yong said, emerging from the bedroom, this time in a baggy striped shirt and a pair of shorts.

Byul laughed, not even denying it. Instead, leaning back against the sofa and crossing her legs in front of her. “It’s still our anniversary. I’m allowed.”

“Gross,” Yong said, but she was smiling. “You guys want fried chicken for dinner? I can order it now so Hyejin can have some before she leaves for work.”

Hyejin smiled, slinging an arm around Wheein and cuddling the wolf close. She could only hope that when she finally experienced love, it would be just like what The Unnies have.

Chapter Text

Wheein was sketching on the living room sofa, every now and then glancing back at the tablet on the coffee table for the reference image she was supposed to be copying. It was an altogether quiet day, until all of a sudden, their living room shook and a glowing red pentagram began drawing itself on the white tiles of their floors.

Normally, she would just call out for their demon roommate and have her deal with it. Unfortunately for Wheein, Byul was out on a job so her next best option was--

“Unnie! Something from hell is trying to take over our living room!”

The resounding slam of a door followed by the whirlwind of wing feathers that was Kim Yongsun, angel of heaven, would have been hilarious if not for the overwhelming stench of sulfur that had begun to permeate the entire apartment.

“What is going on?” Yong asked, staring with growing alarm as the pentagram on their floor glowed a brighter, angrier shade of red. Wheein shrugged, phone already pressed to her ear, “Byulie-unnie isn’t picking up. I think she’s still working.”

“Well this takes pre--”

In her flurry to walk over to Wheein, Yong accidentally stepped on the pentagram, effectively opening a portal to hell. The stench of sulfur was overwhelming now, and to Wheein’s more sensitive wolf nose, it was enough to suffocate. 

When she tried to peer over their coffee table, she caught a glimpse at what was below. Not the flaming inferno that children’s cartoons imagined, but what looked to be an average suburb, with the exception that there were demons everywhere. Before she could get a closer look, however, a flash of something large and hairy burst through the portal, shocking Wheein off the sofa.

Yongsun was yelping in fear, having backed herself into the kitchen wall, her wings coming up to her front out of a defensive instinct. As quickly as it had happened though, the portal was gone, all traces of the pentagram gone from their floor, the only proof it had even existed was the lingering stench of sulfur, and the ominous scurrying in the kitchen from whatever had crossed over from hell into their apartment.

“When Byul comes home I’m going to kill her!” Yong swore, still trembling in fear, but walking over to help Wheein up off the floor.

“Did you manage to see what came through?” Wheein asked, staring hesitantly at the kitchen, where the creature was still causing a ruckus. Yongsun shook her head. 

“No, but it looked huge, and I could have sworn it had fangs.” Yong said, already on the verge of tears. 

Whatever was in their kitchen had stopped making noise, but Yongsun and Wheein were still rooted to the spot. Clutching at each other.

“Okay Wheein, on the count of three, just run over and see what it is.” Yong said. She already had a vice-like grip on Wheein’s arm, not so subtly pushing her toward the kitchen.

“Me?” Wheein stood her ground, trying to wrench away from Yong’s grip, “You’re the angel! If anyone should be facing creatures from hell it’s you!”

“I’m already dating one, besides, if it does have fangs, you’re probably more equipped than me to handle that sort of thing!”

“I’m not some guard dog, Unnie!”

“Why is everyone so noisy?” 

Yongsun and Wheein paused their scuffle at the sound of Hyejin descending the stairs. Her voice still raspy with sleep, clothes and hair equally rumpled looking. “Hyejin!” They called at once, grabbing the vampire and pushing her toward the kitchen.

“Go see what’s in the kitchen!”

“You got this, Hyegi! We’re right behind you!”

Both Yongsun and Wheein took shelter behind the bookshelf as Hyejin stumbled into the kitchen, still blinking the sleep away from eyes when she saw whatever it was that had come out of the portal. Her eyes went wide in shock, then her head tilted in confusion. Finally, and most confusing of all, she let out a sneeze. The vampire looked back at Yongsun and Wheein, clearly annoyed, “Very funny, pick on the roommate with allergies.”

“What do you mean ‘allergies’?” Yongsun called out, finally stepping away from the bookshelf, “what’s over there?”

Hyejin stared at whatever it was some more, finger coming up to scratch at her nose. Both her shoulders lifted in a tired shrug, “Some kind of dog, maybe? I can’t really tell, it’s eating its way through our cleaning supplies.”

That was the final straw for Yongsun, who quickly walked over. Still making sure to situate herself behind Hyejin. It was then that Wheein finally noticed a singed piece of paper on their living room floor where the pentagram had been. She reached over to pick it up, noticing a hastily written message on it.

Unnie, 

They’ve been missing you, please watch them for the day. We’ll open the portal again tonight so they can come home.

When she looked up from the note, the thing in their kitchen began scuffling around again. Yongsun already looking more than a little harried at the mess it was causing in their kitchen. 

“I’m not cleaning this mess up,” Hyejin declared, already turning around and making her way back to her room, letting out another sneeze as she ascended the stairs. 

Curiosity overtaking whatever was left of her fear, Wheein finally walked over to where Yongsun was, coming face to face with the disastrous mess that was now their kitchen. The cabinets below the sink were all open, the cleaning supplies they kept there scattered all over the kitchen floor, some even sporting curious bite marks. 

In the midst of all the mess was a three-headed welsh corgi and what looked to be a fluffy white dog with demon red eyes. “Oh,” Wheein said, taking a few steps closer and reaching an arm out, “It’s a cerberus and a hell hound.”

Before she could control it, Wheein felt her own wolf nature take over, the presence of other supernatural canines calling out to the werewolf in her. She felt her tail emerge through the slit in her jumper, and her wolf ears pop out from past her hair. She sniffed at the corgi cerberus first, waiting until it approached her before carefully reaching out a hand and scratching it under its middle head.

It was at that moment that their front door opened, a panting Byul pausing to catch her breath at the hyeon gwan. “Unnie, I just got a call from my sister, they’re sending something over, I need to be here when they--”

The last of Byul’s words died in her throat when she finally saw the wreck in their kitchen along with the murderous glare Yongsun was giving her. 

“They’re already here are they?” The demon asked, sheepishly, finally stepping foot into the apartment. As if sensing her presence, the hell hound came running over, barking happily and pawing at Byul’s knees. The cerberus followed suit, the right head pausing just long enough to give Wheein’s palm a respectful lick before joining it’s comrade and barking up at their owner, tail wagging happily. 

Wheein felt her own tail wag in response, her inner wolf responding to the joyous energy in the air.

“Oh my gosh look at all of you!” Byul cooed, dropping to her knees to hug her dogs. “You’ve all gotten so big!”

“Byul-ah! Your dogs ruined our kitchen!” Yong yelled out, glaring at the demon as she made her way through the carnage, picking up scattered bottles of bleach and dishwashing liquid as she went along. “And one of the cerberus heads ate a whole sponge! You need to train them better than this!”

“I’m sorry,” Byul laughed, gently pushing away the left cerberus head as it starting poking its snout along her neck, “They’re usually better trained than this. My father keeps them in line. They’re just a bit excited cause it’s a new space.”

“Oh, there’s a note from your sisters in the living room!” Wheein said, crawling over to pet the hell hound this time, letting him get acquainted with her scent, “They said they would be opening the portal again later tonight for the dogs.”

“Ah,” Byul nodded, snapping once so that both the cerberus and the hell hound now had matching harnesses and leashes. “That means we just need to keep them busy until my sisters let them come home. I can--”

“ You will be cleaning up this mess your dogs caused!” Yong said, still irritated, grabbing the leashes from Byul’s hand and nudging at the demon’s behind with her foot, “the dogs can stay on the balcony until you’re done!”

It was Byul’s turn to pout now, “No way Unnie! I haven’t seen my dogs in ages. Besides, if I walk them, you can use your halo,the cleanup will get done faster, and when we return they’ll be too tired to cause more damage.”

The two glared at each other, neither one willing to back down. As if sensing the tension, the hell hound whined softly, butting a fluffy head against Wheein’s arm. She felt her own tail wag in sympathy.

It was Yong who broke first, rolling her eyes and ripping the halo off the top of her head with a frustrated grunt. “Fine! Go already, but you owe me Moon Byulyi!”

“Don’t I always?” Byul asked, standing up to give the angel a teasing peck on the cheek, which only earned her a harsh looking shove. She was halfway out the door when Byul turned around to look at Wheein, head tilting all four of her dogs’s heads mirroring the gesture.

“Are you coming, Wheein-ah?”

“Oh!” Wheein looked at Byul, then at Yong, who already had her halo poised over the mess in the kitchen, “Yeah, gimme a sec, I’ll grab my hat.”

Once outside, in the sunshine, both the cerberus and the hell hound seemed much happier, sniffing at plants and cracks in the street as they passed.

“What are their names?” Wheein asked, watching the middle cerberus head playfully nip at the left one. 

“The hell hound is Janggu,” Byul said, pausing to snap a water bottle and pet bowl into existence for her dogs. She bent down and began pouring, letting Janggu take the first sip. “And this!” Byul declared, tone growing playful as she reached for the cerberus and began rubbing at its belly, “This is my BakWoonGang!”

“BakWoonGang?” Wheein stared at the cerberus corgi, who was clearly enjoying all the attention.

“The right head is Daebak, this middle one is Haengwoon, and the left one is Kongang,” Byul explained, pushing the pet bowl over to the cerberus this time and letting them take individual turns while drinking.

“Yongsun-unnie’s never met them?”

“She knows about them,” Byul said, standing up again once all four dogs had taken their fill, “but they mostly stay in hell, and it’s me who goes down there every now and then for a visit. This is their first time on this plain, I think.”

Janggu walked over to Wheein, pawing at her knees as he barked happily at her. Byul laughed, “I guess he likes you!”

Wheein grinned, her own tail wagging again. “I like you too, Janggu!” She said, voice turning playful again, “Can I try walking them?”

Byul hesitated, staring at Wheein and then at her dogs. Wheein backtracked, “I mean, you don’t have to! I’ll understand if you want to spend the extra time with them since--”

“It’s not that!” Byul said, sheepish now, bending down to adjust the fit of BakWoonGang’s harness. “I’m just wondering if you can handle it.”

Wheein scoffed, rolling her eyes as she grabbed both leashes from Byul’s hand, “Werewolves have supernatural strength too, you know,” she said, “besides there’s technically only two of--”

The rest of the sentence died in her throat as both hell hound and cerberus made a break for it, catching sight of a bird at the end of the street that they seemed intent on chasing. Wheein found herself helpless to do anything but let herself get dragged behind, she called out for Byul but she had the sneaking suspicion that the demon was laughing behind her. 

Still, as she tried in vain to dig her heels into the street to gain control of the situation, she found that she was having fun anyway.

Later that evening, when they were all back in the apartment, Wheein found herself sandwiched between both dogs as they napped on the floor. In the sofa above them, Byul and Yong were arguing over which movie to watch that evening. 

Janggu’s paws were twitching against the tiles, soft barks rocking his tiny body. Wheein wondered if hell hounds dreamt of chasing hell cats. She didn’t even know if the latter was a thing, she had to ask Byul about that one. She was just about to do the very thing when the same red pentagram from that morning began forming on their floor once again. 

“Aw, it’s that time already!” Byul walked over to where Wheein was, dropping individual kisses on each of her dogs’s heads before reaching out to tap the portal open. The stench of sulfur in the air gave Wheein a strong sense of déjà vu.

This time however, Byul poked her head into the portal first, “Next time you send them over, make sure I’m home at least, they almost destroyed our whole kitchen!”

“Oops!” A voice from below said, one of Byul’s sisters probably, “Sorry about that! We’ll call ahead earlier next time!”

With that, Byul scooped up Janggu first, cradling his sleeping body close before passing him into the portal. When it was Daebak, Haengwoon, and Kongang’s turn, Byul grunted with the effort, the muscles in her arms straining at the weight until the cerberus too had safely passed back into hell.

When the portal closed, they were all silent for a moment, Byul staring fondly at the spot where the portal had just been. “How troublesome, I miss them already.” The demon complained, walking back to the sofa and cuddling closer into Yong’s side. The angel rubbed her arm comfortingly.

Wheein looked at the spot where Janggu’s little head had been resting on her lap. “Maybe we should get a house pet then.” She said, half teasing even though a part of her glowed at the idea of it.

“Hyejin’s allergic to pet fur,” Yongsun reminded them, although there was a wistful tone to her voice too. 

“I guess we’ll have to stock up on antihistamines then,” Byul said. The three of them chuckled at the thought. When Yong finally pressed play on the movie, Wheein was still rubbing at the warmth the hell hound had left behind.

Maybe one day , she thought to herself before finally focusing on the movie.

Chapter Text

The Unnies were away on vacation that week so it had just been Hyejin and Wheein the last couple of days. There was a nice sense of kinship and belonging that Hyejin felt around the werewolf, different from her own relationship with the Unnies. Which was why, when Hyejin arrived back home from the Blue Cosmos just a little before dawn, she instantly knew something was wrong. There was a sense of wrongness in the air inside their apartment, and an uneasiness she couldn’t quite place settled deep in her gut.

Despite it being the dead of summer, with an unbearable heatwave outside, even at night, Hyejin felt an unwelcome chill spread down her spine. The apartment was dark and it seemed as if not even the usual night sounds of Seoul could be heard through the windows.

“Wheein?” Hyejin called out, abandoning her bag by the dining table and making her way toward the stairs that lead to the bedrooms.

“Wheein, I’m home.” She paused right outside Wheein’s bedroom, already feeling a little silly. Chances were, Wheein was most probably asleep, and here she was making a racket. Still, the uneasiness persisted. Hyejin took a deep breath then turned the knob.

The first thing that registered for her was a prone shape in the darkness, lying on the floor. The next was that Wheein’s bed was empty.

“Oh my god, Wheein?” Hyejin was on her knees in an instant, slowly reaching out a hand to her roommate. Most of Wheein was covered by a blanket. She had probably fallen from her bed and taken the sheets with her as she did so. When Hyejin placed a hand on what she thought was her friend’s shoulder, however, she felt the coarse fur of Wheein’s wolf pelt beneath her fingers.

On instinct, Hyejin looked around the room for a calendar. When she didn’t find any, she dashed to the window and pressed her face against the glass until she could just make out the waxing half-moon already sinking past the horizon. The sky around it already turning from a velvety blue to lavender and grey. Behind her, she heard Wheein give out a whine, her snout peaking past the sheets that had gotten tangled around her legs.

She wanted to call the Unnies, but she wasn’t sure if they’d be awake at this hour. With no alternative left, Hyejin walked back to where Wheein was, gathering the wolf in her arms and slowly lifting her back unto the bed, leaving the sheets pooled on the floor. After checking twice to make sure that Wheein was indeed breathing, if a bit labored, Hyejin climbed in beside her, pillowing the wolf’s head on her lap, and leaning back against the headboard. 

She didn’t even realize she had fallen asleep until she felt Wheein’s snout sniffing at her neck, paws digging painfully into her lap and her stomach. When  Hyejin opened her eyes, the bright summer sun streamed in merrily through Wheein’s window. The resounding headache was instantaneous. All she wanted to do was crawl into her own room with the blackout curtains and sleep until dusk, but she had a roommate to see to. So instead, Hyejin groaned once, rubbing a hand through her face that still had the previous night’s makeup on it, and sat up a little straighter.

Wheein was up, which was a good sign at least. Her front paws balancing on either of Hyejin’s laps. Her eyes looked worried though, and she whined again, huffing before poking Hyejin’s face with her nose.

“What happened to you?” Hyejin said, voice low and gravelly with sleep. “Are you sick?” Briefly, she wondered if she should feel Wheein’s forehead to see if she had a fever, then remembered that werewolves naturally ran hotter than most beings, so it would be a moot point anyway.

As a response, Wheein hopped down the bed, grabbing the sheets from the floor and flinging them at Hyejin’s head before running to the window and barking.

That was easy enough to understand.

“You’re worried about me?” Hyejin asked, standing up herself and ignoring the wobble in her knees, “Worry about you! Why are you a wolf?”

If wolves had eyebrows, she was pretty sure Wheein would have raised one of hers. Hyejin rolled her eyes, “I mean--I know why you’re a wolf but why now? It’s not the full moon, you shouldn't be fully transformed right?”

Wheein barked once, turned around in a circle, before lying down on the floor, staring up at Hyejin with her big wolf eyes.

“I don’t speak that.” Hyejin replied flatly. The sunlight really was bothering her now. She reached down to usher Wheein out the bedroom. Outside Wheein’s room wasn’t much better, but at least the living room had blinds that could block out most of the light. Hyejin got to work, pulling down blinds one by one until only a muted light remained. She breathed a sigh of relief. Beside her, Wheein barked twice and made her way to the sofa, resting her head on her front paws.

“You must be sick.” Hyejin murmured to herself before clearing her throat and kneeling in front of her roommate, “Wheeinie, I’m just going to change out of my stage clothes and wash off this make-up okay? Will you stay here?”

Wheein huffed out once before leaning forward and licking at Hyejin’s face.

“Gross!”  She pushed Wheein’s snout away from her, as she rubbed at the trail of saliva from  her chin to her nose, “I can do it myself, thanks. You stay here.”

The moment she shut the bathroom door behind her, Hyejin was tempted to curl up inside their bathtub and go to sleep. Instead, she set the tap water to  just a little shy of scalding and began to scrub at her face until the make up was gone and her skin felt raw. Then she changed into a tank top and pajama bottoms, pulled her hair up into a messy bun at the top of her head, and made her way back to the living room.

Wheein was right where she left her, lying on the couch and looking a bit forlorn, but leagues better from the unconscious, wheezing state Hyejin found her in last night.  She ignored the dull ache at the back of her head and the weariness in her limbs in favor of heading to the kitchen under the guise of preparing herself a glass of blood to drink.

She knew she should call the Unnies, Hyejin’s knowledge on werewolf illnesses and how to treat them were close to nothing after all. But even as she had her phone in hand, waiting for the microwave to finish heating up her drink, her thumb hesitated over Byul’s contact number. 

The Unnies had been looking forward to this trip for the past month. In the light of day, now that Wheein didn’t look so sick, she felt a little foolish troubling them. After all, who’s to say Wheein wouldn’t turn back later in the day?

With a sigh, Hyejin pocketed her phone,  poured her blood drink into a thermos, and joined Wheein on the sofa.

The wolf’s ears immediately perked back up once Hyejin situated herself on the sofa. Wheein gave out a whine, nosing at Hyejin’s knee with her snout before gesturing towards the upstairs, where her bedroom was.

“I told you, I’m fine,” Hyejin said, taking a sip and relishing the warm path as the blood traveled from her mouth and down her throat, settling nicely in her gut. She felt a little better already. She looked back down at Wheein, who was looking from her to her thermos. 

Wheein barked twice.

She realized, belatedly, that it was only easy to hang out with Wheein while she was a wolf because either Yong or Byul was there to act as translator. Hyejin sat up, looking her friend dead in the eye.

“I’m not as good as the Unnies at this but I’m going to try to understand okay?” She said, slowly, like talking to a child. Wondering if the gesture was insulting or not. Wheein stood up on the couch, her tail wagging. 

“Okay that’s a good sign. Are you sick, Wheenie?”

Wheein barked once.

“Is that a yes?”

Another bark.

Hyejin sighed, feeling the headache flare up again. “Okay, how about you bark once for yes and twice for no. Bark once if you understand.”

One bark.

Hyejin nodded, feeling a bit more secure in that, at least, they were communicating.

“Are you alright?”

One bark.

“So you’re not sick?”

Two barks.

Hyejin paused, thoroughly confused now. She tried again. “Are you sick?” Wheein’s head tilted to the right, then to the left, before she let out a single bark.

“Okay, so you’re sick, but you feel alright right now?”

One bark.

She felt an unknown weight lift off her shoulders. At least she didn’t have to worry that much about Wheein. She gave her roommate a scratch behind the ears, a gesture that seemed greatly appreciated, while she thought things over.

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

Two barks.

Hyejin deflated a bit at that. She wanted to help Wheein out, even if it wasn’t too serious. 

“Would the Unnies know what’s wrong with you?”

One bark.

“Should I call them?”

Two barks. So, not serious enough to need the Unnies. That was, perhaps, the biggest relief of all. She moved on from scratching to running her long nails down Wheein’s spine. “I’ll call in sick from work today,” Hyejin said out loud, apropos of nothing. Wheein barked twice but she shook her own head in response.

“I want to take care of you!” She insisted, pinching at Wheein’s side. “Besides, without me here later, who’s going to feed you, huh?”

Wheein huffed once, defeated. She let out another whine, this time gesturing towards the clock by the kitchen. It read 11 in the morning. Hyejin sighed, tilting her head back against the sofa and closing her eyes.

“I’m over a hundred years old you know. I’ve gone through days without sleep before.”

Eventually, she found just enough energy to amble off the couch and into the kitchen to prepare brunch, which involved around fifteen minutes of staring at the open refrigerator wondering if Wheein as a wolf ate normal food or if there was raw meat somewhere that she just hadn’t been aware of. 

She thought about Wheein being sick and pulled out her phone instead.

“Can you eat chicken baeksuk in that state?” she called out. There was a single bark reply. She nodded to herself, tapping in the order on her app and choosing the Express Delivery option. Once the food arrived, they ate in companionable silence, with Hyejin only pausing every so often to refill Wheein’s bowl, or help her separate the chicken meat from the bone.

“This isn’t so bad right?” She said, after the plates and the scraps of lunch were cleared. Beside her, Wheein looked just about ready to doze off, and Hyejin couldn’t agree more. She situated herself more comfortably, propping her feet up on the sofa and snuggling into the softness of Wheein’s fur. Hyejin closed her eyes.

She woke up to the sound of Wheein’s cries and immediately sat up.

“Wheein? Wheein what’s wrong?”

Wheein was back on the floor, yelping and occasionally spasming. Her claws were scratching at the floor and her eyes were clenched tight. Hyejin reached out a hand to smooth out the fur on her head and was rewarded with an angry snarl, and Wheein snapping at her with her jaws.

At that point, enough was enough, she reached for her phone and called Byul. It rang a few times before the demon’s face came into view.

“Yo, miss your Unnies already?”

“Unnie!" Hyejin scrambled with the camera, flipping it so that she could show them Wheein, “Something’s wrong with Wheein but I don’t know what it is.”

On the screen, Byul immediately turned serious, face coming close to the camera. “How long has she been like that?”

“Just now, I mean--I don’t--we were napping after lunch and I woke up to her like this.”

Byul’s frown deepened, she looked at someone beside her--Yongsun probably--before turning back to Hyejin. Hyejin could just make out the angel’s face squeezing into the screen. On the ground, Wheein kept yelping in pain. At the risk of losing her fingers, Hyejin began petting helplessly at her hind leg.

She could hear Byul and Yong muttering something back and forth, but between the static of the call and Wheein crying, she couldn’t make out much of it at all.

“What should I do?” Hyejin said, helpless and worried and confused all at once. The headache from before was back, but she barely noticed it. ‘

“How long has she been in this form?” Byul asked.

“Since last night--er, this morning. I came home and found her on the floor of her room that way.” Hyejin said

“Ah!” Yong clapped her hands once, her eyes widening in realization, she clutched at Byul’s arm. “Could it be--? This is the same time last year right?”

Byul blinked for a few beats before she caught up. “Aah!”

At this point, Wheein was still crying, but softer now, her breathing turning heavy like how it had been when Hyejin had found her last night.

“What? What is it? What’s wrong with her?”

“Hyejin-ah,” Yongsun’s face came into full view now, apparently having wrenched the phone away from Byul, “Just take Wheein to her room and let her ride it out. She should be fine by tomorrow night.”

“Make sure you feed her though! Leave food outside her door and knock so she knows it’s there!” Came Byul’s voice.

“What’s going on?” Hyejin was already stuffing her phone in the pockets of her pajamas. She planted her feet firmly on the ground so she had leverage to lift Wheein into her arms and bring her up the stairs.

“Well--” The sound cut out briefly, and Hyejin didn’t know if it was because she had accidentally hung up on her Unnies or because they were hesitating.

“It’s a wolf thing,” Byul said, at length, “But don’t worry! Wheein’s fine! It probably isn’t good for you to be up during the day caring for her like this. You might be the one to end up sick. Yong and I will head home as soon as we can.”

“No it’s fine!” Hyejin insisted, grunting under Wheein’s weight as she slowly trekked up the steps back into Wheein’s room, thankfully, the sunlight wasn’t streaming in through the window anymore, but it was still several degrees brighter than the living room. “I can take care of Wheein, just promise me she’ll be okay here like this.”

“We promise!” Yong and Byul said together.

“She should probably be the one to explain it to you when this boils over but don’t worry. She’ll be alright tomorrow evening!” Yong said. 

By the time, Hyejin had deposited Wheein into her bed and had closed the door behind her, she felt downright fatigued. While it was true that she had gone on days with no sleep before, the last time she really stayed up during the day was back in the forties, when the Jeonju coven had to keep moving around the province due to the war. And even then, she couldn’t remember exerting herself this much. 

“Hyejin-ah?” Byul’s voice now, still coming from her pocket, “Are you alright?”

“Yes,” she gasped out, still panting from the exertion. It felt like her limbs were going to fall off and her headache was a full blown migraine now. She winced as a wave of nausea hit her. When she finally got the phone facing her again, Yong and Byul were staring at her, concern in their eyes.

“Don’t cancel your trip!” Hyejin said, feeling the energy leave her bones, “I can handle it, I swear!”

“Aish, look at you, you’re like an inch from death!” Yongsun said.

Hyejin chuckled, darkly. “I’m past death Unnie,” she said. She took a few moments to catch her breath before adding “If the roles were reversed, Wheein would do the same for me. I want to learn to take care of her because she’s my friend.”

She could sense the hesitancy through her screen. Finally Yong sighed, “Okay, but take some time to rest too, Hyejin! You’ll be no good to Wheein if you collapse in the middle of the apartment because you’re skipping sleep cycles.”

Hyejin nodded, already crawling to her own room. “I’ll tell my job that I’ll take a few days off, It should be fine.”

“Call us if anything else happens!”

“I will,” Hyejin mumbled, already halfway up on her bed.

“Good luck Hyejin!”

Right after she ended the call, Hyejin set an alarm for dinner. And then fell back into unconsciousness. This time, when she woke up again, Wheein was by her bedside, staring at her with concern in her eyes.

“I’m sorry if I worried you,” Hyejin  mumbled, reaching out a hand to scratch at Wheein’s ears just like she had that morning. “But you worried me too, you know.”

Wheein ducked her head, repentant, she let out another soft whine. She angled her head so she could lick at Hyejin’s fingers.

“The Unnies said you would explain things to me, once you’re better. You’ll do that right?”

One bark.

“Good, I’ll hold you to that. In return, please trust me to take care of you as well.”

Another bark. Hyejin smiled and ambled out of bed, “Come on, I’ll get us dinner.”

By the next day, the two of them had perfected a schedule that involved Hyejin waking up at interval alarms to prepare Wheein food, and Wheein staying in her room with the door ajar just in case she needed to relieve herself. 

Later on in the evening, Hyejin felt much better. She could still feel the effects of staying up the day before, but after having slept for most of the day, she felt none too worse for the wear.

At present, she and Wheein were watching a cheesy romance movie on the TV. Every now and then Wheein’s tail would wag, thumping against Hyejin’s waist. She smiled, comforted in the knowledge that they would be okay.

On the morning of the second day, Hyejin woke to the feeling of fingers trailing through her hair. She was back in her room, and although she wasn’t sure, she hazarded a guess that it might be around nine in the morning. She looked up to see Wheein, back in human form, scrolling through her phone, her other hand still running calming lines through Hyejin’s hair. She grunted once, readjusting, Wheein’s hand stilled.

“I’m sorry, did I wake you?”

“Yes, but it’s fine,” Hyejin replied, burrowing deeper into her friend’s side. “I’m glad to see you’re okay.”

“Thanks to you,” Wheein replied, setting her phone down so she could lean against Hyejin’s bedframe, “I owe you an explanation.”

“You do,” She said, sleepily. There was silence after, but this time, she wasn’t worried. She knew Wheein would tell her in her own time. “But you don’t have to if it’s a private thing.”

“Not really, just kind of embarrassing.” Wheein mumbled, looking away. 

Hyejin waited, wondering if Wheein would give the explanation before she fell back asleep.

“It’s a mating cycle,” Wheein finally said, saying the words so fast, Hyejin’s sleep addled brain barely caught up to them.

Well. That was the last thing she was expecting. 

If she were any less sleepy, she probably would have burst out laughing, but she wasn’t, so she just made a noise for Wheein to continue.

“It’s a once a year thing. Werewolves go through a mating cycle. Without the scent of other wolves around to temper it, I get waves of discomfort and it sort of feels like my body is running a marathon and a fever at the same time. I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

“You keep apologizing,” Hyejin said.

“Because I was careless!” Wheein insisted, “Before, the Unnies would help me through it. And I knew they had this trip planned but I got too complacent, and I didn’t plan any contingencies.”

“Wheeinie,” Hyejin said, lifting a heavy arm and using it to hug Wheein to her side, “It’s fine. You’re my friend aren’t you? I was happy to help you.”

She couldn’t see it, but Hyejin was pretty sure Wheein was smiling. The hand that had been stroking at her hair returned.

“Now it’s my turn to take care of you, Hyegi.”

Hyejin smiled, adjusting just a bit so her head was pillowed on Wheein’s lap before she fell asleep again. 

Chapter Text

The first time it happened was during one of her nights off.

Every now and then, the Blue Cosmos would spend an evening doing inventory, or get booked by a private company with their own entertainment group in tow. During those evenings, Hyejin got the night off, and while everyone else in Room 1031 was asleep, she usually had the entire downstairs to herself. On the whole, she didn’t really mind. By now, she’s lived in Seoul long enough to have gotten used to  quiet nights by herself.

Still, there were nights when she feels lonely and homesick. Nights like tonight.

It’s a little past 2am when Hyejin plopped down on the sofa and contemplated starting the new season of a Western show she’d been following. Her hand hovered over the remote but she didn't move to pick it up. There’s the familiar hollow feeling in her chest, the one that made Hyejin feel both restless and helpless at the same time. Like a mechanical toy wound up too tight but then left to run on it’s own. 

At times like this, Hyejin found herself missing her past human life. With all her years as a vampire behind her, she can barely recall her human memories now. Grains of sand slipping away from her with each passing year. Sometimes, on lonely nights like this, she tried to remember the years before she was turned. The flashes of memories she can recall are hazy, like reflections on a river. Her as a child, running up a hill. A grandmother running a calming hand up and down her back to help her sleep. How her father carried her on his back after she grazed her knee.

The thought that one day, even these fragments would be forgotten too always made her sad. Before she could help it, a familiar lump lodged itself between the blurry echoes of her past and the bittersweet ache in her heart, closing up her throat and bringing tears to her eyes.

It was at this point that the door to Byul and Yong’s room opened and the angel ambled slowly down the stairs, wings rumpled but still ethereal in the darkness of the apartment.

“What are you doing up?” Hyejin asked, wincing at how thick and watery her own voice sounded. She grabbed one of the throw pillows on the sofa and buried her face into it, letting the rough fabric soak up her tears. Yongsun didn’t make a sound.

Finally, Hyejin felt the sofa give way beside her, and the familiar brush of feathers against her arm was both cool and soothing. Again, she waited for Yong to say something, instead they just sat in companionable silence. Eventually she felt some of her own embarrassment fade just enough for her to lower the pillow. Beside her, Yongsun gave her a small smile before reaching out a hand and placing it on Hyejin’s shoulder.

“How about we go on a drive?”

She stared after the angel in shock, her brain trying to process the words. Finally--

“We have a car?”

It turns out they did have a car, or rather, Byul and Yong shared one, and it was parked in the building’s basement.

“If we have this, why does Byulie-unnie always commute to work?” Hyejin wondered aloud. To which, Yongsun just laughed. 

“If she commutes to jobs, she can hike up her rate by adding a transportation fee, and the magazine editors always feel bad seeing her lug around her cameras so they don’t question it.” Yong said with a laugh. Before they left the apartment, Yong had grabbed one of the jackets hanging at the hyeon gwan and thrown it on over her matching floral pajama set, looking for all the world like she really had just rolled out of bed.

The angel fished out a set of keys from her pocket and tossed them to Hyejin. She caught them out of reflex but stared at them in surprise.

“Oh,” Yong said, looking sheepish. “Do you not know how to drive?”

Hyejin contemplated the keys in her hand. “One of my past coven members taught me once, but I’ve been out of practice.”

“Well,” Yong said, opening the passenger side door and gracefully folding herself and her wings inside the car, “No time like the present right?”

“I don’t have an active license though,” Hyejin said, after she had clambered in herself. It wasn’t lost on her that she was also, essentially in nothing but sleepwear.

Yongsun shrugged, her grin turning mischievous, “I’m sure Byul will bail us out of prison if it comes to that.”

“Unnie!”

The angel’s laugh was infectious, high pitched and squealing, but endearing all the same. “Just kidding. Just try a few laps around the parking lot, and if you’re comfortable, we’ll do once around the apartment building.”

“But--”

“Don’t worry, it’s practically three in the morning! As long you take it nice and slow, we should be able to fly under the radar.”

Hyejin stared at her roommate, unused to this more carefree side of her. Now that she really thought about it, it was rare that she got to spend one on one time with Yongsun. Whenever she had free time that coincided with her roommates, it was usually with Byul or Wheein. If Yongsun was in the picture, it was because all four of them were having breakfast together in their shared dining room, or Byul had dragged the angel out to support Hyejin at the Blue Cosmos. 

“Are you sure you’re an angel?” Hyejin asked, teasingly, reaching over to poke at Yong’s halo. The angel laughed, swatting away at her fingers good naturedly.

“Being an angel isn’t synonymous with being a prude, despite popular belief.” Yongsun replied, easily, “And I have my license with me, so like I said, just take it slow and let’s practice around the parking lot for a few minutes.”

They spent the rest of the evening laughing, with Hyejin carefully driving circles around their building’s mostly empty parking basement. After about forty-five minutes of that, Yong carefully instructed her how to exit the parking basement and drive out into the quiet streets of Seoul. Blessedly enough there really weren’t any cars around save for the odd taxi every now and then. Hyejin managed to drive once around the block before she drove back into the basement, carefully maneuvering into the parking space from earlier.

Beside her, Yong was clapping and cheering. “You did it! You’ll be driving circles around the general public in no time.”

Hyejin laughed, drumming her fingers along the steering wheel as she savored the adrenaline simmering just under her skin. She turned the smile to Yongsun and gave the angel a pat on the shoulder. “Thank you, Unnie.”

Yong’s smile turned understanding now, she leaned back into the car seat, eyes closed. “I know we’re not as close as you and the other two are. I sort of hoped this would make it a bit easier in the future.”

“The future?”

Yong nodded, “The future. If you ever want to talk, you can come to me, okay Hyejin-ah?”

Hyejin ducked her head, a smile turning up her cheeks. “Okay.”

--

The next time around, she wasn’t even all that sad. It was a few months later, and Hyejin was halfway through watching a new tearjerker drama when she heard Yong and Byul’s door open again. 

Yong caught her eye and smiled before retreating back into her room for a few seconds to grab the car keys. 

This time around, Hyejin felt a little more confident to take the streets after only three laps around the basement.

“You’ve improved!” Yong said, the picture of ease and trust in the passenger’s seat, “have you been practicing since last time.”

Hyejin chuckled as she slowly made a right turn into the adjacent block from theirs, “Like riding a bike, right?”

It was still slow movings, and she still tensed behind the wheel anytime another car so much as shared a lane with her, but the excitement of driving wasn’t lost on Hyejin. The feeling of freedom that came with it and the fact that she could let go of her thoughts and just focus on the drive was relaxing in its own way. 

After they had been driving around for a while, Yong carefully instructed her to turn into a different road that lead away from their apartment. 

“Unnie are you sure?”

“It’s just a few minutes away, and we wont pass any busy intersections.” The angel replied, every bit as confident as Hyejin didn’t feel. Their destination, when they reached it, turned out to be an all-night diner, tucked in an alley between a closed laundromat and a dental office. 

“What is this place?” Hyejin asked, craning her neck to see past Yongsun’s wings. The diner was open, with a few patrongs chatting amicably amongst themselves. 

“Byul and I have been eating their food for decades, back when this street used to have a string of diners just like this one. Now this family is the only one left.” Yong said, waving to an old couple behind the counter when they caught sight of them, “The owner now, we used to know him when he was nothing more than a toddler, Now he’s teaching his oldest daughter to take on the business. She handles the kitchen at night when she comes home from University.”

“Come on,” Yong said, her smile kind, “I’ll introduce you.”

As much as the diner looked homey and inviting from the outside, it smelled even better inside.  Like warm jjigae, fried potato cakes, and garlic beef. 

“Yongsun-ssi!” A matronly woman behind the counter greeted, waving happily. “It’s been too long!”

“You didn’t bring your shadow with you,” An older gentleman teased as he set out a bowl of ramyun in front of a tired looking business woman who was also nursing a bottle of soju.

“Asleep I’m afraid,” Yong answered, “but this is my friend Ahn Hyejin! She’s just moved to Seoul this past year. Hyejin, this is Lee Jung-hoon and Lee Hye-mi, and this is the best diner in Seoul.”

“Any friend of our guardian angel’s is welcome here!” Hye-mi said, motioning towards an empty table, “will you be joining us?”

“Not tonight I’m afraid,” Yongsun said, bowing, “But I was hoping we could have some of your delicious tteokbokki to go?”

“Of course!” Hye-mi opened a sliding window behind her and stuck her head in what could only be the kitchen.

“Here, on the house!” Jung-hoon said, offering them a plate of freshly rolled kimbap, “While you wait!”

Yongsun accepted with a bow, and smile brighter than the sun. The angel pushed the plate and a cup of freshly cleaned chopsticks toward Hyejin. 

“It may not taste exactly as how my mother used to make,” Jung-hoon said, setting down a small dish of soy sauce between them, his tone apologetic, “but my daughter is learning.”

“Innovating!” A shrill female voice from the kitchen said. The couple laughed, and Yongsun along with them. Hyejin stayed quiet but she smiled, helping herself to a bite of the kimbap. She felt the familiar ache from before, more acute than she could ever remember. She didn’t trust herself to speak so she chewed in silence, swallowing past the lump in her throat.

“The world changes all the time you know.” Yong said, her expression flashing with something older and wiser than Hyejin could even comprehend. 

“Like this family’s kimbap. Lee Jung-hoon thinks he used to make it just like his mother did, but even his tasted different when he made them in his prime. Now his daughter is making the kimbap her own way, and maybe a decade from now, she wont even remember how her grandma’s kimbap tasted. But the little details aren’t what’s important right? A decade from now, this diner will still be here, and that lasting thing is what matters right?”

When Hyejin looked up at Yongsun, she could feel the sting behind her eyes and the tears forming there. “I just.” She began, her voice already cracking, “I don’t want to forget them.”

Yongsun put an arm around her. Hyejiin took a few shaky breaths to steady herself, furiously wiping away at the tears as discreetly as she could. 

“As long as you’re around, there will always be someone to remember your family. Now that you’re a vampire you’ll be around forever right? So will your family.”

Hyejin gave a watery laugh, blinking away the last of her tears and turning to give Yongsun a tight hug. “Thank you Unnie.”

Yongsun hugged her back, running a hand up and down her spine in the way that she could remember her own grandmother doing years and years ago. “What are angels for, right?”

After they had gotten their tteokbokki, and after Yongsun spent five extra minutes being doted on by Mr. and Mrs. Lee and promising them that she would come back within the week with the rest of her roommates in tow, they were back on the road, with Hyejin behind the wheel and Yongsun reverently inhaling at the plastic bag of tteokbokki.

“You’re really crazy about that stuff, huh?” she asked, turning into the road that would lead to their apartment building. It was still dark out, but she could feel in her bones that dawn wasn’t too far off now. 

“I could eat tteokbokki for a lifetime and still not get tired of it,” Yong replied, all too serious.

When they were finally back at the parking basement, Hyejin leant back and smiled at Yong, suddenly all too grateful to be able to call the angel her friend. 

“So when’s our next driving lesson?” Yong said, her smile teasing but her tone was soft and fond.

“Ah,” Hyejin stretched out her arms once she had climbed out of the car. Her voice echoed in the basement, “I’m not sure if the club is going to be rented out any time soon, but the next inventory date is next month.”

Yongsun nodded, already walking toward the elevator that would lead to their floor, “Great! Maybe next time we practice on an actual highway, yes?”

“On the third lesson?”

“I have every faith in you, Ahn Hyejin.” Yong said, “You’ll get through it.”

Hyejn wasn’t sure if Yong was still talking about driving, or something else entirely. For the moment though, it didn’t matter because Yongsun was right. One day, she would be able to successfully navigate a highway full of cars, and maybe one day her human memories would fade entirely as well. But the feelings she would carry always, and that was what mattered.

She’ll get through it.

Chapter Text

It started, innocently enough, with an email sent to her art collective’s shared email account.

Wheein had been on a self-imposed break, casually flipping through the other artists’ accounts she followed on Instagram when Oh Min suddenly began laughing and cheering in front of his laptop, drawing the attention of the other artists.

She was already aiming her phone in that direction, intent on capturing the hilarity when Oh Min gestured toward her.

“Wheein-ah, you did it! You really did it!” The other collective members were already crowding around Oh Min’s laptop. Some of them cheering, others looking at her and offering their congratulations. 

Wheein put her phone down and walked over. “What is everyone talking about?” She hadn’t even crossed halfway before Heyne was already barrelling into her, squeezing her in a tight hug.

“I will clear my schedule for you Wheein! I’ll be there every single day I promise!”

She looked at her friend, shocked and still more than a little confused. Finally, Oh Min took pity on her because he cleared his throat and began reading from whatever was on his laptop screen.

“One of our curators at  Project Space SARUBIA was deeply impressed by the work of one of your artists, Jung Wheein, at your group’s gallery exhibit last month. Her art and style resonates with the type of art we would love to promote at our gallery, which is why we are extending an invitation for Jung Wheein-ssi to have a solo exhibit at our gallery early in the third quarter.”

Oh Min was reading more but Wheein already couldn’t hear him past her heart jackhammering around her ribcage and the thoughts racing through her mind. Before she could help it, she let out a high pitched squeal and began jumping around. First she returned Heyne’s hug tenfold, before turning to the other artists in their collective, screaming and laughing in excitement with everyone. There were tears in her eyes threatening to brim over but she hardly cared, she was too happy.

This was the first time she’d ever been contacted to do a solo exhibit before, to be able to tell her own story through just her works instead of always working around several other pieces from her fellow artists. Just the planning alone was starting to make her head spin, so much so that she hadn’t even realized her other friends were talking to her until Heyne had snapped her fingers in front of her face. “Wheein!”

“I got so excited I blanked out!” Wheein laughed, walking over to where Oh Min’s laptop was so she could read the email for herself. Heyne repeated herself, “I said, how excited are you for this?”

Wheein hummed, eyes going over the email. It had a number and return email for her to contact should she choose to accept the invitation, also an attached PDF file that had gallery parameters and other required information she would need moving forward. There would be a scheduled briefing between her and the curator at her earliest convenience to discuss the gallery’s existing planned themes and two months before the exhibit she was required to send in photos or scans of the pieces that would be on display for the gallery to use in promoting her exhibit.

It was a lot to take in. Already she didn’t know where to start, so instead she forwarded the email to her personal account. 

“The exhibit is a little over six months away, and I still don't know what their theme would be, but either way, they would probably be expecting all new pieces wouldn’t they?” She asked aloud to the room in general.

Oh Min gathered her up in a warm, one-armed hug, “Nothing our Wheein-ah can’t handle!” She laughed, still caught up in the excitement of it all, and gamely announced that she was treating everyone to lunch, much to the cheers of the rest of her collective.

It is much, much later, back in the quiet of her apartment, with nothing but her own thoughts and a second email from SARUBIA’s curator inviting her over for a meeting the day after tomorrow that the doubts start creeping in. Taking up space in her mind. 

What had she been thinking? How could she possibly fill up an entire gallery space all by herself, and without the rest of her collective? Even if she had six months, she wasn’t sure that she could manage the magnitude of such a project. And who would even go to see her art if she managed to finish everything on time? The doubt went hand in hand with the sour taste of frustration, clinging like bile in her mouth.

Out of sheer reflex, she ended up chucking her phone, halfway across the room. The sudden yelp that followed it however, was unexpected. Wheein sat up just in time to see Byulyi ducking by their hyeon gwan, features schooled into part shock, part glare.

“That’s some welcome you have for me,” the demon said, bending to pick up Wheein’s phone, which, by some miracle, was still in one piece, although the glint of the dining area’s light against the screen reflected a new crack just by the corner. Byul had all her camera bags with her, which meant she must have just come home from a job.

“Sorry,” Wheein mumbled, flopping back down on the sofa and grabbing one of the pillows to cover her face with. For a while, all she could hear was the sound of Byul putting down all her bags, until finally she felt the demon nudge at her legs, an unspoken way of asking her to make room on the couch. Wheein hiked up her knees, waited for the tell-tale feel of the sofa giving way under a new person before placing her feet roughly where she guessed Byul’s lap would be.

The demon just patted at her shins. “You wanna talk about it?”

“SARUBIA invited me to have a solo exhibit at their gallery six months from now,” Wheein said, pillow still over her face, so she wasn’t quite sure how much of that Byul understood. Still, she felt fingers grip a bit tighter at the tops of her feet.

“Wheein! That’s amazing, congratulations!” Byul sounded excited, which only made her feel just a little bit more insecure.

“Thanks.” 

“Oh? Are you not happy about this?”

“This is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” Wheein said in a deadpan, finally moving the pillow to look Byul dead in the eye. The demon returned the stare for a solid three seconds before cracking, breaking out into chuckles.

“I can certainly see that.”

“Unnie,” Wheein let the word drag out for three extra syllables, “what have I gotten myself into? I can’t do this! How am I supposed to fill up an entire gallery with new works by myself in six months? Who would even--aaugh!”

She yelped and jerked her legs away, rubbing at the spot on her calf where Byul had pinched her hard. “Yah! What was that for?”

“You!” The demon said, reproachful, “What’s with the self doubt huh? Didn’t you come all the way to Seoul to pursue art? Don’t back out on it now that it’s so close!”

Wheein gaped at her for a few moments. Whatever she thought Byul would have said, it certainly wasn't that. She stared up at the ceiling for a while, feeling drained and so very tired at all the emotions her body had to process in the span of just a few hours.

“I know you’re right, but it’s just--”

“Look,” Byul cut in, her tone turning gentle and kind, “just because it’s your first solo exhibit doesn’t mean you have to do everything yourself, right? You have your artist friends to lean on and you have us too.”

Wheein sighed, purposefully pushing all the worries to the back of her mind. “Thank you, Unnie.”

Byul smirked, patting at her legs before nudging them to the side so she could reach for her laptop bag. “What are Unnies for, right?”

They sat there for a while, Byul humming to herself every now and then as she selected photos from the shoot to send to the editor while Wheein tried to calm the frayed edges of her nerves. She thought about the empty canvases back at the studio, trying to picture what she could fill them with, what theme she could work around. 

It felt like all her mind could come up with was white noise and static. 

“Augh, I hate my brain,” Wheein said as she sat up, scratching at the back of her neck in frustration. From the corner of her eye, she caught some of the pictures on Byul’s laptop. 

The layouts were lovely and dynamic; that Byul could take a woman, dressed from head to toe in clothes that probably cost more than anything Wheein owned, standing in the middle of the diagonal crosswalk in the Geumcheon District and still take excellent pictures made Wheein more than a little jealous. Even with the press of humanity behind and around her Byul still managed to line everything up for the perfect shot. Ones where it looked like everyone had stopped moving except for the model. Ones where the model was set in hyperfocus while everything around her was a blurry mess of color and movement.

One picture in particular, had Wheein sitting up and inching closer so she could rest her chin on Byul’s shoulder. It was probably taken in between shots, because Wheein could see hands retouching the woman’s makeup and clothes. The reason it piqued her interest though, was that Byul had framed the shot in such a way was that the woman was smiling at someone off-camera, the sunlight coming it at just the right moment to paint her in a burnished glow that rendered even the streets and the passersby around her as nothing but streaks of color and light. Almost like a painting.

“That’s a nice shot,” Wheein said. Beside her, Byul shrugged but her smile was proud. “The model’s husband and daughter arrived from school at that moment. Her expression looked nice so I decided to capture it. Maybe send it to her as a thank you gift for today.” Byul said, already flicking past to more styled shots.

Wheein’s mind was racing anew though, she gripped at Byul’s arm. “Unnie. I’ve got it.”

Byul looked at her, head tilted, “What?”

“Do the exhibit with me!”

Byul closed her laptop turning to face Wheein properly, “What’s gotten into your head now?”

“I’m totally serious!” Wheein insisted, reaching over Byul and opening her laptop, swiping through her trackpad until she reached the candid photo again. “Photos like this, with my paintings!”

“You mean, mixed media? That’s not really your style is it?”

“No I mean, your photos with my paintings! Real life side by side with traditional art, both of them complementing each other. Most of the work would still be coming from me, but your photos would segue into the emotion of what my paintings would tell.”

Wheein could tell Byul was considering it, eyes darting from her own photo to Wheein’s probably manic expression. “When is this exhibit again?”

“Six months from now.”

“And you’ll be needing all new photos from me?”

“Yeah!”

“Is that all?”

“Well,” Wheein widened her eyes, knowing she was exploiting Byul’s weakness for her puppy dog eyes and not caring a single bit. “It would be nice if you came to the meeting with the curator on Thursday, and also accompany me to the studio every now and then to see the progress of my paintings so you can work your photos around them.”

Byul blinked at her for a few beats, “You’re totally serious aren’t you?”

“Totally! Unnie you would be helping me out so much, Please, please, please agree to do this!” Wheein wasn’t above begging.

Beside her, Byul let out a sound that was halfway between laughter and a sigh of resignation. “Only for you, Wheein!”

She let out a squeal, immediately diving to give Byul a hug around her midsection, and if, in her flurry of excitement, her tail sprouted past the seam in her sweatpants wagging incessantly, Wheein was too elated to notice it. 

The meeting with the curator went pretty much as Wheein had expected. In between exhibits, SARUBIA was nothing but blank wall space and winding corridors, each one leading to more rooms and halls. 

The curator seemed all too excited to hear Wheein’s exhibit ideas, and it helped that Byul already had a rising name for herself as a magazine photographer. As it turned out, the gallery’s theme for the third quarter was Art in Humanity, which was so perfect that Wheein slipped Byul a high-five while they followed the curator to SARUBIA’s offices to sign a few contracts.

In the succeeding months, Wheein felt as if her whole world revolved around painting and sleeping. Occasionally, Heyne or Oh Min would pull her out of a five hour painting streak to remind her to eat, or if she took some of the work home with her, one of her roommates would constantly knock on her door, reminding her to hydrate or rest. Once she hit the three month mark she was running on fumes and had nearly taken a sip out of her paintbrush water cup more times than she cared to admit.

“Why did I agree to this again?” Wheein groaned, stretching out the cramp in her hand. It was almost three in the morning and she was still at her collective’s studio. Byul had dropped by a few hours ago with two boxes of pizza and beer and had elected to stay with Wheein until she finished up for the night.

“Because art is your passion, and this exhibit is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” The demon replied, almost mechanically. After the first two hours of watching Wheein paint and asking her about the reasoning behind her last five completed paintings, Byul had relegated herself to one of the reclining chairs in the studio and had spent the next five hours either napping or playing games on her phone.

“You should really go home, Unnie.” Wheein said, for the umpteenth time that evening, tucking a still wet brush behind her ear so that she could dip one of the rollers in paint and create a few streaks across the canvas.

“I waited this long, might as well see it through to the end.”

Wheein sighed. Dropping the roller at her feet and stepping back to take in the painting. It was one of the larger ones she’d made, essentially a centerpiece to the entire exhibit. She hated every inch of it.

“Why can’t the art in my head just appear on the canvas?” She said, half tempted to pull at her hair, “It feels like nothing I’m making is good anymore!”

“That’s just the lack of sleep talking.” Byul said, standing up to walk over and stand with Wheein. The canvas towered over both of them, done in bright splashes of mauve and lavender, white and red splattered here and there. “Besides, I’m taking the photos for this later this month already, and it’s going to look great with your paintings.”

“You have to say that because you’re my friend.” Wheein tossed the paintbrush aside and took off her apron, “I just feel like, It’s still missing that emotion I’m trying to portray, and I don’t know how else to improve on it without making it worse.”

Byul tilted her head the other way, looking at the painting, “The ‘Humanity’ part you mean?” the demon asked, the air quotes were implied. 

“Yes,” Wheein sighed, stooping down to pick up her bag. “Come on, let’s go home. I’ll just sort this out later on.” She was halfway out the door when she realized Byul was still staring at the painting. “Unnie, let’s go before I pass out on this floor!”

The demon was silent throughout the entire cab ride back to their apartment and Wheein couldn’t help but feel more than a little guilty. When they had finally reached Room 1031, Wheein cracked.

“I’m sorry!” She said, her voice loud in the deep night. Byul turned around to look at her, shocked. 

“Why are you apologizing?”

“For dragging you into this with me,” Wheein hung her head, “I thought my ideas were good but the exhibit is three months away and I feel like some kind of fraud that tricked everyone. I just--”

There was a lump in her throat and tears in her eyes, she knew if she said any more it would all come spilling out. Instead, Wheein bit at her bottom lip and just took a few shaky breaths in and out, in and out. Her eyes were still trained to the floor, on the paint splattered on her converse, so she hadn’t realized Byul was approaching until she felt the demon envelop her into a warm hug.

“You’re not a fraud Wheein, and you should know, I never agree to anything unless I really want to do it.” Byul’s tone was soft and gentle as she rubbed calming circles against her back. “What did I tell you, at the start of all this?”

Wheein had her eyes clenched tight, her face pressed against Byul’s shoulder. She shrugged.

“I said, you don’t have to go into this alone. I’m here aren’t I?” Wheein nodded, “Do you think I would spend all this time planning and preparing for a vision I dont believe in? Your ideas are good Wheein-ah, so there’s no need to run yourself rugged over one exhibit. Trust me okay? Just keep doing your best and my photos will pick up the slack. That’s how collaborations work right?”

She had calmed down enough to nod again, although her face still felt hot and puffy from the crying. Wheein let the demon steer her from the shared bathroom to change out of her paint splattered clothes to her bedroom, accepting the glass of water that was thrust in her hands.

“Go to sleep,” Byul said, ruffling up her hair, “Don’t wake up until midday tomorrow so I know you’ve gotten all the rest you need.” 

A few weeks after her brief meltdown, with just a little over two months left until the exhibit, Wheein got a text from Byul. It was short and simple, asking her to block her schedule for the next day and to meet her at the enclosed address. She stepped away from a new, mostly blank canvas and hit the call button.

Byul picked up after the first ring.

“Did you get my text?” Her roommate’s voice sounded tinny on the other end, marred by static.

“Is this for the exhibit? I trust you Unnie, I don’t think you need me there micromanaging you for it.”

“Just come, please! Consider it part of my artistic process!” Byul hung up after that, so Wheein stuffed her phone back into her pocket, trying to get back into the zone of the new painting she was starting.

The next day, she arrived at the address Byul had texted her after dropping by at home for a quick shower. The last thing she wanted was for Byul’s models to see her covered in paint and looking like the very definition of a starving artist. Conveniently enough, the time Byul texted was nighttime, so Wheein managed to finish two more paintings that day. 

When she entered the rented studio space, she was more than a little intimidated. There were light fixtures everywhere, and music blaring so loud through the speakers that it hurt her wolf ears. A few of the studio staff were moving every which way, adjusting cables and bulbs. To one side was a cluster of chairs where a few makeup artists sat waiting, and in the center of it all was Moon Byulyi, reading something off a clipboard while a familiar figure walked over to hand her a bottle of water.

“Oh!” Wheein exclaimed, walking over, “what are you doing here?”

Byul and Hyejin looked up at the sound of her voice. The demon beckoned her over. “Right on time! You can get your makeup done over there, Yong and Hyejin are already done.”

As if on cue, Yongsun emerged from a side door, adjusting a white blouse around her neck and calling out to Byul, “This is the third time I’ve changed so this better be good!”

“Makeup? Why-- Unnie what is this?” 

Byul only smirked, “The final piece for my part of the exhibit. I thought it should feature some of my favorite people in the world.”

“Depends on your definition of ‘people’,” Hyejin remarked wryly, giving Wheein a cheeky grin and gently ushering her to the makeup chairs. 

Wheein still floundered about helplessly, until she saw a large plain white canvas and random cans of paint and brushes on the floor. 

“You’re going to take a photo of us? Painting?” She asked, finally submitting to the finicky hands of a makeup artist as Byul approached. 

“Yeah! I took other photos with strangers, don’t worry, just like to the one you liked months ago. But I think this one will tie-in with that large one you were finishing. It can lead off to the side so that it will be the first thing people see and it can be sort of like a family picture, you know?”

Wheein stared at Byul, at the large empty canvas behind her, and finally at Yong and Hyejin just to the side already eagerly looking at the cans of paint. For the first time in what felt like months, she smiled, “You’re right. I think that’s perfect.”

With the cameras trained at them and going off intermittently, Wheein finally felt the last of her worries about the exhibit fall away beneath the swipes of her brush. Something that came as a bit of a shock since she’d never had her photo professionally taken before. 

Around her, her roommates were laughing, painting smiley faces or smudging handprints on the canvas while they worked. Once Hyejin splattered a paintbrush dipped in yellow at Byul though, all bets were off, and the whole thing descended into a mini paint fight that left them all covered in a multitude of colors but otherwise laughing and happy.

When Byul went to check the photos later on, she gave Wheein a wink and a thumbs up. But the only thing Wheein had eyes for was the paint splattered mess they had created together. The moment Byul came to stand beside her, she knew the demon already knew what she wanted to say, so instead she gave Byul a quick hug, arms squeezing around the demon’s middle. “You’re the best, Unnie!”

Byul laughed, wrapping an arm around her and planting a kiss at the top of her head, “And don’t you forget it!”

On the day of the exhibit, Wheein felt strung out and excited all at once. It was safe to say, the SARUBIA curator was over the moon, grinning from ear to ear as he ushered Wheein to meet with critic after critic, each having nothing but positive things to say. It was all she could do to keep from crying. With every grateful bow she took, the feelings of relief and sheer joy seemed to only multiply inside her. 

Everywhere Wheein turmed, there were members of her collective mingling with strangers and critics. Jimin had messaged the week before, promising to bring the entire pack and Wheein’s mother along with her to see the exhibit within the two week stretch that it would be up.

The months it had taken to get to this moment. Wheein hardly cared that she was running on only two hours of sleep the night before, having stayed up way past Byul did, arranging and rearranging each piece until the flow of it was just right. Photos blending seamlessly into paintings, all of it coming together to tell the story of ordinary people, and the bright colors they bring into the world.

And at the very end of SARUBIA’s winding hallways, the series that earned the highest praise of the evening were photos that showed four supernatural creatures, making a mess and enjoying each other’s company. All leading up to a wide canvas that was a mish mash of paint splashes, hand prints, and happy memories. Any chance she could get away, Wheein walked over there every time, barely containing the smile on her face.

Once the crowd had thinned out, and after the SARUBIA curator had congratulated her for the hundredth time that day, she walked there again, laughing when she saw a demon, an angel, and a vampire, standing in front of the giant canvas and the mess they had made.

Wheein purposely strode over to Byul’s side, hooking their arms together. “Congratulations on your big break,” she teased. Byul laughed pulling her in a little tighter.

“This is seriously so amazing!” Yong said, looking around at the full gallery with all of Wheein’s art and Byul’s pictures, at the patrons and critics still mulling about. “Wheein-ah, you’re amazing!”

“Totally,” Hyejin agreed, smiling at one of the pictures of all four them together, covered in paint and laughing. “Also I want to buy this for the house.”

“By all means,” Wheein said, with a grand wave of her arm, “for every art sold, I get 90% of the profit you know.”

Her roomates broke into laughter and in the glow of their happiness Wheein realized that Byul had been right. She didn’t do any of this alone. 

Chapter Text

It felt like she had only just fallen asleep when Hyejin awoke to a blood curdling scream and the sound of something crashing downstairs. By that point, the vampire didn’t even care that it was probably mid-morning, with sunlight streaming through every window of the apartment, she bolted out of her room, hair in disarray and limbs heavy with sleep but adrenaline coursing through every vein.

When she made it downstairs, she was met with the sight of Wheein cowering by the sofa, tail firmly set between two human legs. The sofa pillows were scattered all over the floor and some of the books and frames on the bookshelf were also toppled over. Over by the kitchen, Byul was holding up a rolled up magazine, brandishing it every which way like a weapon.

“Wheein-ah! Where is it?” Byul was saying. Wheein just sank further into a crouch, grabbing a pillow off the floor and covering her head with it.

Finally, Hyejin had gotten over most of her shock, “What’s going on here?”

“Hyejin-ah, there’s--” Byul didn’t even get a chance to finish her answer, all of a sudden, a flying cockroach zoomed past Hyejin’s line of sight, right above the couch. Byul yelped, futilely swinging her rolled up magazines every which way. Wheein let out another scream, her voice hitching as it morphed into a sob partway.

Hyejin watched blankly for a few moments. The sunlight giving her too much of a headache to feel anything other than mild irritation. Without saying a word, she turned toward the kitchen, opening the cupboard below the sink where the bug spray was kept. From there, she made short work of walking back toward the sofa and spraying the cockroach until it succumbed to a slow, toxic death. 

When it was all over, both Byul and Wheein were staring at her, wide eyed with shock. Hyejin tossed the bug spray over to the demon and headed back up the stairs towards her room.

That’s how it started.

A few days later, it happened again, this time, just as Hyejin was about to leave for work. She was halfway out the door when she heard Yongsun screaming for Byul from the bathroom. This time, when she made it back upstairs, Yongsun was in nothing but a fluffy pink bathrobe, with a vice-like grip on Byul’s shoulders as she pushed the demon closer towards the bathroom door. 

“Kill it! Kill it! Kill it!”

“That’s not very angelic of you,” the demon teased, even as she let herself be used as a demonic shield. 

When Hyejin peered around them it was just in time to see a cockroach scurry out of the bathroom.

Byul immediately jumped out of the way, Yong practically glued to her back and wings akimbo as she let out a yelp. The moment the cockroach scurried near her feet, Hyejin crushed it beneath her slipper, an unpleasant shiver running down her spine as she felt the crunch of its body.

Her Unnies stared at her. Hyejin gingerly lifted up the foot that was wearing the murder weapon and passed it with two fingers to Byul, who took it without a word.

“I’m off to the club now,” Hyejin said waving goodbye and turning to go.

“Good luck at work,” She heard Yongsun say as she hopped down the steps with only one slippered foot. 

By the third time, Hyejin wasn’t even surprised anymore.

She had just woken up around dusk, when Wheein suddenly burst into her room, bug spray in hand. Hyejin didn’t even have to ask, she simply reached her hand out for the bug spray and let Wheein drag her to the werewolf’s room, where sure enough, a cockroach was scurrying just near the closet.

“Do we have an infestation or something?” Hyejin said, after she had dispatched the miserable thing, watching absently as it’s chitinous legs twitched in the final throes of death. 

“Probably.” It was Byul who answered, leaning against the door of Wheein’s room with the werewolf nowhere in sight.

“Can’t you do something about it, Unnie?” Hyejin asked as she stood up. The demon just laughed.

“Cockroaches can survive nuclear fallout, what makes you think any of my demon skills can do anything to them?” Then, Byul’s smirk turned teasing, “Besides, you seem to be a pretty efficient cockroach killer.”

Hyejin responded with a smack to the demon’s arm as she passed by her on the way out of Wheein’s room and toward the bathroom. “With no help from any of you, that’s for sure.”

“Did you kill it?” came Wheein’s voice from downstairs. Hyejin leaned over the railing, so the werewolf could see her, “What kind of wolf is afraid of bugs, huh?” She called back down.

Wheein’s responding glare was adorable and it had Hyejin laughing all the way to the bathroom. The moment she opened the door however, another cockroach scurried past, and she had just enough presence of mind to grab the plunger near the bathroom door and thwack at it before it could get too far. At the end of the hallway, Byul was still smirking knowingly at her. Hyejin dropped the plunger. “That doesn’t count!” She called, shutting the door behind her. 

The fourth--or rather, fifth--time, was on the same night, when she had come home from the club. She opened the door to their apartment and flipped on the light in the kitchen just in time to catch a cockroach scurrying around their sink. She stared at it for a few seconds, deciding whether or not she was too tired to deal with murdering another insect when the cockroach stopped dead in its tracks and turned to face her, almost as if it knew it had been caught in the act.

“Where are you and all your little friends coming from?” She asked it, just to break the silence. The cockroach stared on. 

“Sorry if I’ve killed a few of you recently,” Hyejin continued, her tone almost conversational now. She opened the pantry cabinets in search for a bag of chips. “Nothing personal, you know?”

When she had found what she wanted, she turned back to find the cockroach still there, contemplating her.

“Should I kill you too?” She asked it, popping a chip into her mouth. “Maybe we could have a truce tonight?” Hyejin was just about to turn around and head toward her room, bag of chips in tow when she heard a hiss followed by the unmistakable scritch of the cockroach unleashing its wings and taking flight. It was headed right for her.

“Oh, I don’t think so,” Hyejin said, ducking from its flight path just in time to open the cupboard under the sink and grab the bug spray. She waited for it to turn back around and head back towards her so that she could spray it within an inch of its life, waiting until it flopped pathetically back down to the floor, writhing. The bug spray in her hand was empty. 

She didn’t even say anything as she stepped on it with her slipper.

“Ugh. another house slipper ruined.” She muttered, reaching for another chip as she walked barefoot up the stairs and into her bedroom.

The next day, she set an alarm for early in the afternoon so that she could poke her head out of her room and yell for Yongsun to buy a whole crate of bug spray. All she heard downstairs was Byul’s laughter, but that was as good as confirmation anyway. 

Later that evening, Hyejin sent all her roommates out with strict instructions not to come back until morning. Once she had closed the door behind them, she spent the rest of the evening spraying every possible corner and crevice in the apartment.

When Wheein opened the door to Room 1031 the next day, she immediately recoiled. Her wolf nose protesting against the strong smell of bug spray that still permeated every inch of the apartment. Smack dab in the center of the living room was Hyejin, fast asleep with her hair tied up in a messy bun and empty bottles of bug spray all over.

“Oh my god, is she dead?” Wheein ran in, covering her nose with the inside of her elbow while Byul and Yong trailed after, also plugging their noses. 

“Vampires don’t die,” Byul said at the same time as Yong’s “She probably just tired herself out.”

“You two, get her to her room,” Yong said, already picking up bug spray cans off the floor, “I’ll start airing out the apartment.”

“I guess that solves the infestation,” Byul said, already supporting half of Hyejin’s weight while Wheein took on the rest.

“What would we do without her,” Wheein grunted in agreement, as they climbed the steps.

When Hyejin woke up again, much later than she usually would have, there was a cake set up on a stool by her bed. After she had rubbed the sleep from her eyes enough to fully wake up, she realized that the cake had one word on it.

Thanks

Right on top, there was a cockroach.

By the time Hyejin realized it was a fake plastic cockroach, she had already smacked half the cake away with her hand with a righteous yell.

When they found out, all three of her roommates wouldn’t stop laughing as they helped her clean up the mess in her room, licking their fingers and eating cake with their hands as they went along. 

Chapter Text

The sun was still high in the sky when the taxi dropped her off in front of a tall apartment building, the sunlight that glinted off almost all the windows only doubled the heat that seemed to emanate off of every solid surface in waves. Wheein felt sorry to be leaving the air conditioned confines of her cab.

Even the driver seemed almost hesitant to step out and help her with her luggage, but politeness won out, and Wheein was grateful. By the time all three bags that carried her life’s possessions were carefully situated by the sidewalk, the sweat was already dripping down her lower back and the sides of her face. She adjusted the bucket hat on her head, making sure it covered as much of her face from the sun as possible. Just underneath, she felt the discomfort of her wolf ears pressing down against her scalp and winced.

“Mom was right, I should have moved in the fall,” she muttered to herself, struggling hoisting one duffel bag on each shoulder before carefully nudging her stroller luggage along with her knees. She stopped at the door, despairing at the realization that she had to put down all her bags just to call for the landlady to let her in. 

“Oh excuse me!” 

Wheein started at the voice, turning around just in time to catch a demon, juggling two full bags of groceries standing right behind her. She ducked her head, shuffling none too awkwardly to a corner, bags in tow, while the demon stepped around her. 

“Are you moving here?” the demon asked, polite, carefully setting one of the grocery bags down between her feet before fishing around her pants pocket for a set of keys. Wheein was more or less doing the same, except with her own phone. She looked up and mumbled a hurried yes, struggling to enter her phone’s passcode without disrupting the duffel bags hanging from her shoulders.

“Shit, shit, shit. ”

Wheein looked up just in time to stop a runaway jar of peanut butter from rolling away into the street with the side of her foot. Beside her, she saw that one of the demon’s grocery bags had a tear in the plastic. With much difficulty, Wheein managed to pick up the stray jar, her shoulders screaming in protest at the effort. “Uhm, here.”

The demon, straightened, wiping at the sweat underneath the brim of her cap before snapping a finger. Wheein watched the tear in the grocery bag vanish like it was nothing, she felt her own mouth widen just a bit. She heard the demon chuckle, when she looked up. The demon was smirking at her, hand outstretched and waiting for the peanut butter that Wheein was still holding on to.

“Sorry,” Wheein bowed again, the embarrassment briefly overshadowing the strain in her shoulders.

“Don’t worry about it,” the demon popped the peanut butter back into the plastic bag and held open the apartment building’s door with her whole left side. “Let me thank you for saving my peanut butter by letting you into the building.”

“Ah! Thank you!” Wheein didn’t hesitate to kick her luggage forward, letting it roll with abandon into the building’s foyer as she shuffled forward with her two duffel bags. Behind her, she could hear the demon chuckling. She pressed the button to summon the elevator, while waiting she unlocked her phone properly this time, pulling up the landlady’s message for which floor she needed to go to. From the corner of her eye, she could make out the demon right beside her, waiting for the elevator too.

When the metal doors pinged open it was to one of the narrowest elevators Wheein had ever seen, with just enough room for a couple of people. Given her luggage, she would have to make the trip up alone, which was why Wheein was surprised to see the demon reach out an arm to hold them open for her. She nodded shyly, nudging her luggage forward towards the back corner of the elevator. When she turned around the demon was right there, hand poised over the elevator buttons. “Let me help you,” she said, “what floor?"

“Thank you,” Wheein said again, feeling more embarrassed than ever, “Uhm, 10th floor please.” 

The demon’s hands paused before the number and she choked out a sudden noise that was immediately covered up by a series of throat clearing. “Sorry,” the demon said, still smiling, she pressed the number before stepping out of the elevator, giving Wheein a little mischievous wave of her fingers as the door closed between them.

“Weirdo.” Wheein spent the entire ride up drumming her fingers absently against the strap of her bag. There was no point in denying to herself that she was nervous. Apart from the scant few emails they had exchanged, she had never met this landlady before, and they had mentioned a roommate as well. All her life she had only ever lived with her pack, the same faces and names for as far back as she can remember. Now she was in a new place, all by herself and the prospect of suddenly meeting new people and having to make new friends was making her anxiety skyrocket.

When the doors pinged open again, it was to the site of a nondescript hallway, linoleum floors, and a smattering of identical doors on either wall. She followed the sequence of numbers on the doors until she landed on the one that had been mentioned in the email.

Room 1031.

For the second time that day, Wheein adjusted the bucket cap on her face and straightened out her shirt before knocking.

“Byul-ah? I hope you didn’t forget the blueberries this time,” the voice from inside called out before the door was promptly opened by an angel in sweatpants and a spoon sticking out of her mouth. At the sight of Wheein, the angel flushed in embarrassment and she immediately yanked the spoon and tucked it away behind her.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry I thought--I was--. Uhm. Jung Wheein-ssi? Right?”

“Yes!” Wheein bowed once, both of her duffel bags swaying forward with the movement. “I’m sorry for not calling ahead, I was--uhm.”

“Ah, don’t worry about it,” The angel stepped forward to grab the stroller luggage from her, “Please come in!”

Once Wheein had carefully toed off her open back sneakers, she found herself in a homey, open floor plan apartment. She seemed to be standing in the liminal space between a kitchen and a dining area, which was separated from what looked to be the living room with an open bookshelf that housed a few books as well as picture frames, potted plants, and various knicknacks. When she looked to her side, the angel was smiling tentatively at her.

“Do you like it?”

“Ah,” Wheein ducked her head again, curiosity replaced by shyness, “You have a lovely home,” she said, fingers gripping her duffel bag straps like a lifeline. The angel laughed, her tone friendly, “It might just be your home too, after today.”

The words sparked a thrill of excitement through her, and for the first time that day she felt hopeful about her decision to move to soul. “I hope so too,” Wheein said, smiling brightly.

“Oh, I’m sorry I guess I haven’t formally introduced myself,” the angel bowed, the tips of her wing feathers gently brushing against the kitchen tiles, “I’m Kim Yongsun. My sister bought this apartment, but for all intents and purposes, I’m the landlady.”

“Is your sister, uhm,” Wheein pointed a finger vaguely upwards, suddenly shy.

Yongsun’s smile grew even wider, “In heaven? Yes she’s there. But she likes to visit every now and then so I’m sure you’ll meet her eventually. You can set your bags down by the dining table for now if you’d like. I think I mentioned over email that there would be an interview? Just for formality’s sake.”

Wheein nodded, carefully setting down her luggage on a corner by the dining table and following the angel beyond the bookshelf towards a comfortable looking leather sofa. From here, she could now see the stairs, hidden just beside a rather large television set, which led to a series of rooms upstairs. Wheein found herself staring at the angel in awe, she was a hundred percent sure some form of angelic magic went into how spacious the apartment looked on the inside.

“Please have a seat,” Yongsun plucked the halo off her head and reached inside, her brow scrunching a bit as she searched blindly before she finally pulled out an unassuming folder and a pen. Wheein watched the whole display with even wider eyes. Yongsun chuckled, “am I the first angel you’ve met since you arrived in Seoul?”

“Yes, uhm. Sorry to stare, I’m really not used to all this. I just arrived in Seoul this morning.”

“Nothing to feel sorry for Wheein-ssi, now--”

Yongsun’s question was cut off by the shrill ring of a doorbell. Both Wheein and Yongsun jumped at the sound, and Yongsun’s smile turned sheepish. “I’m sorry thats, ah--” Before she could finish the sentence she was already sweeping back towards the front door.

“I hope you didn’t forget the blueberries!” Yongsun said, there was a deep laugh in response.

“After you texted me about it three different times and encircled the world ‘blueberries’ on our shopping list? How could I possibly?” The voice was deep, teasing, and already very familiar. Wheein didn’t have to crane her neck too far to look past the bookshelf and see the demon from downstairs already moving towards the kitchen, grocery bags in tow. 

“I would have been back earlier,” The demon was saying while she unpacked the groceries, “but there was a little mishap by the door, good thing our new roommate was there or we would have lost the peanut butter.” At this point, the demon looked up, caught her eye and grinned. Wheein felt her embarrassment reach new heights, she wanted to sink further into the sofa.

“Oh, so you’ve met?” Yongsun was already walking back toward Wheein, who wasn’t sure if she should shake her head or nod or apologize. The whole ordeal was starting to feel very surreal and to think it was just her first day in Seoul.

“Uhm at the front door and the elevator,” Wheein spluttered, “I didn’t know that you were---I’m sorry!”

The demon was already shaking her head, “Don’t apologize. Like I said, you saved our peanut butter, we owe you.” Her smile was wide and her tone was easy going, it quelled some of Wheein’s own anxiety. The demon put away the last of the groceries before walking over and offering her hand, “I’m Moon Byulyi.”

She cracked a smile, already feeling a little bit more at ease than she was when she arrived, “Jung Wheein.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask,” Yongsun said, arranging her wings behind her as she got comfortable again, “your hat must be uncomfortable.”

Wheein’s fingers jumped to the brim of her bucket hat, she had almost forgotten she had been wearing it. “I--I wasn’t sure how people would react seeing me travel alone so I thought it would be better this way.”

“You could take it off now if you’d like.”

She could see both Yongsun and Byulyi staring at her patiently, expectantly. Before she could think too much about it, she plucked the hat off, exposing her wolf ears. The relief was instantaneous, but so were Byulyi and Yongsun’s grins.

“Our new roommate is so cute!” Byul cooed, plopping down beside the angel, one hand squeezing Yongsun’s thigh. At least Yongsun had the presence of mind to nudge the demon before turning back to Wheein with a sheepish smile of her own. But the whole exchange made her raise her eyebrows in a way that had her filing away the thought for later. Perhaps when she was closer to both roommates. 

“There are lots of wolf packs in Seoul, and while lone werewolves aren’t that common, no one would look twice if you walked around this way.” Yongsun said, kind and almost motherly. It filled Wheein with a sense of calm, enough for her to leave the bucket cap on the sofa beside her. 

“Okay, so for the interview--” Yongsun began, “don’t worry, it’s mostly just so we have something on file.” Wheein nodded.

“Were you born a werewolf or turned?”

“Born.”

“Your original pack is from Jeonju?”

“Yes.”

“Will you be looking for a new pack in Seoul?”

Something deep in her wolf senses ached at the question, a primal voice at her core that still longed for the sense of belonging with other wolves, but she had a reason for moving to Seoul, and she intended to stick to it. “No, I plan on being on my own for the foreseeable future.”

Byulyi and Yongsun shared a look but said nothing, Yong scribbled something down in her folder before continuing, “Is there anything we need to know about your wolf side? Things we need to keep out of the house or maybe buy more of?”

Wheein paused. She hadn’t been expecting her new roommates to be so open like this, she grinned, “I tend to shed during transformations, you might need a stronger vacuum.”

Byulyi burst out laughing, Yongsun’s smile had grown wider as she wrote something down. “Means of income?”

She tried to mask her wince but it came out as more of a grimace, “Uhm, I’m accepting a few freelance art and graphics commissions on the side while I adjust, but I’m hoping to pursue more traditional art while I’m here, so my income might not be so regular all the time but I promise not to miss out rent!”

Yongsun nodded, “actually rent isn’t so much an--”

“Unnie owns this unit.” Byul cut in, already getting comfortable, “So it’s really just utilities and wifi that you’re splitting with us.”

“Stop butting in,” The angel reprimanded the demon with a smack to the arm, which was only met with laughter. Yongsun looked back at Wheein, sheepish, “Uhm, she’s right though, technically my sister owns the unit, we don’t have to pay the building superintendent rent, and despite this demon trying to convince me otherwise, I don’t actually feel comfortable charging you for something I’m not paying for as well. But we do have monthly bills and such which you’ll be splitting with us if you decide to stay.”

Wheein nodded, trying not to seem so eager. It already seemed too good to be true that a major cost she had been worrying about was already off the table. 

“Well that’s mostly it,” Yongsun closed the folder, plucked off her halo again, and popped it back inside, “Welcome to your new apartment!” The angel clapped and gave a cute little cheer, with Byul laughing beside her. “Is there anything you want to ask us?”

Perhaps it was the general sense of ease she already felt with Yongsun and Byulyi that was to blame, still, the next words out of Wheein’s mouth came and went without her brain so much as giving it a passing wave. “I’ve never known an angel and demon to be together like you two are.”

The blush that crept up Yongsun’s neck and spread across her cheeks was only made more endearing by the shit eating grin that Byulyi gave the angel. Immediately, Wheein started to backtrack, “I’m sorry that wasn’t--that’s none of my business at all, I shouldn’t have--”

“No, no,” Yongsun cleared her throat, “I just wasn’t expecting--um,” she closed her eyes and laughed obviously still embarrassed, “ah wow. Byul-ah?”

The demon’s hand was back on Yongsun’s thigh, but more teasing than anything, “It’s the 21st century,” was all she said, rather vaguely but Wheein took it for the confirmation that it was.”

“Ah so--” Yongsun cleared her throat again, trying to gain control of the situation, “I could give you the tour, but you’ve already seen most of the apartment. Everything down here is free space, you can help yourself to anything in the pantry and let me know too if you like any specific brands, but--”

“Although  you’d probably want to stay clear of Unnie’s homemade greek yogurt,” Byul teased from behind. Yong responded with a glare.  

“The only other thing we should show you is the upstairs. Yongsun stood up, motioning for Wheein to follow with Byul lagging a few steps behind.

“These are mostly the bedrooms, with the bathroom over there at the end of the hall,” Yongsun was saying pointing to one door at the end of a narrow hallway, separated from the rest of the apartment below by a wooden and metal railing. “This first room is mine and Byul’s and you can take this room beside us.”

Yongsun opened a door to a simple looking bedroom, with a bed, a vanity that was attached to a closet, and a desk that had a few shelves situated overhead. What drew Wheein’s attention though, were the outward facing windows that had a nice view of Seoul that she was already half in love with.

“We’ll help you bring your bags up and let you get settled, and then after, we could show you around the neighborhood?” Yong said

“What do you think?” Byulyi asked, Wheein turned to find both angel and demon just at the doorway of the room--her room now-- waiting. She found herself really contemplating her answer.

When she had left Jeonju that morning, it was with no small amount of sadness and fear. The empty space her pack left behind in her heart was still there, and she figured it would still be there for a while. But at that moment, all she felt was a growing sense of excitement at something new that seemed to be on the precipice of becoming something amazing. For the first time since she arrived,Wheein’s smile was back in full force and she could feel her tail spring forth from behind, already wagging excitedly.

“That sounds great!”

Chapter Text

Wheein

Hyejin hated going through her bouts of insomnia, not just because she was left dealing with a horrible migraine the next evening, but also because she’s come to realize that dealing with her roommates on less than a full night’s sleep was not ideal. After tossing and turning for what felt like hours on her bed, she gave up on the prospect of sleep entirely and ambled out of her room and downstairs to the sofa where she could see Wheein furiously drawing something on her sketchpad.

“Can’t sleep again?” The werewolf asked, not looking up from her work. Hyejin only managed a grunt in response before plopping down beside her friend, which, to her great misfortune, unleashed a cloud of wolf fur into the air around them.

“What the--” Hyejin coughed, sitting up and scooting away from Wheein, swatting at the floating tufts and strands of fur in the air, “Wheeinie, what the heck?”

If Wheein’s glare could stake her through the heart, she was pretty sure she would have been a goner right then and there. Luckily enough though, her roommate just sniffs, affronted, and continues sketching furiously. “You don’t have to sit there you know.”

Hyejin ignored the comment in favor of swiping the fur off the couch and unto the floor, “Why are you shedding?”

As if on cue, Wheein’s tail popped out and wagged hard enough to almost smack the vampire in the face. “It’s almost summer, okay? Wolves shed, and tonight is a full moon.” 

“Yeah, but--” Hyejin tried to wrack her brain for any memories of their apartment being covered in fur last summer and came up empty, she decided to switch tactics, “Do the Unnies usually help you with that?”

Wheein sighed, grabbing at her eraser and rubbing out a harsh line on her sketch. Hyejin was afraid the paper might rip under her friend’s aggressive handling. “Yeah, but Byulie-unnie is out of town on an extended shoot and Yongsun-unnie is volunteering at a children’s hospital today and she won't be back until really late.”

“Would you like me to help you with it?”

The scratching noises from Wheein’s sketchbook finally stopped and she looked at Hyejin, eyes going wide, and pleading almost. “You’d do that for me?” It was already hard enough to resist Wheein anything on a normal day, but beneath the full force of her puppy dog eyes, Hyejin was defenseless.

“Of course!”

Wheein abandoned her sketchbook entirely and launched herself into Hyejin’s arms, hugging the vampire tight around the middle. “Hyegi thank you, thank you, thank you!” 

Hyejin laughed, hugging her roommate back while simultaneously trying not to get hit by Wheein’s wagging tail again. Wheein had grown to be one of her greatest friends, and if anyone asked her, Hyejin might even say that their bond transcended friendship, bordering on something closer to true sisterhood. Which was to say, she would do anything for Wheein. Besides, how bad could it be?

--

It was, apparently, really bad.

“You told me this would be easy!” 

It was already later in the evening, they had to wait for Wheein to transform before they could start, and presently, Hyejin was practically shoulder-deep in bath water and canine shampoo. Their apartment’s shared bathroom had a shower area that was situated in a sort of small sitting tub, just small enough for one person to clamber into and crouch in should they choose to submerge themselves. Which was to say, it was the perfect size for Wheein’s wolf form to sit in and smile that wolfish smile at Hyejin as the vampire continually rubbed shampoo and combed at Wheein’s wet fur with a wooden comb.

Right before she had transformed, Wheein had handed Hyejin a basket of soaps and shampoos that were only meant to be used while she was in wolf form. The shampoo, apparently would help the most with the shedding during the summer months. 

“We only have to do this for you during the summer right?” Hyejin asked, massaging the lather into her friend’s spine. Wheein barked once. 

“Good,” Hyejin pulled at the plug at the bottom of the tub listened for the steady gurgle of water going down the drain before she turned on the shower head and began rinsing Wheein off, watching as the sudsy water sluiced and slid down her wet pelt.

When the water finally started running clear and all the bubbles had gone from Wheein’s fur, Hyejin helped carry her friend out of the tub before proceeding to dry her off with a fluffy bath towel and a strategically positioned hair dryer. “This would be easier with two people,” Hyejin muttered, after the third time the hair dryer almost slipped from her hand whilst she juggled it and the towel.

Wheein barked once. By the time her friend was fully dry, fur looking shiny and soft to the touch, the entire front of Hyejin’s house shirt was wet and there was a sizable puddle on the bathroom floor. She stared at Wheein for a beat before sighing and opening the door to let her friend out, “Go on and wait for me downstairs, I’ll clean up here first.”

It was only after Wheein had left that Hyejin peaked back into their shower tub to find the drain completely clogged up with wet wolf fur. She resisted the groan of disgust that was just at the back of her throat, instead sticking her head out of the bathroom and yelling out, “Next time stick to conning the Unnies into giving you a bath!”

Downstairs, Wheein barked once, and if there was a teasing note to her bark, Hyejin couldn’t hear it over the squelch of wet fur in her hands.

----

Yongsun

If she were to give in to her more poetically, greasy tendencies, Byul could tell you that she knew Yong better than anyone, better than any other angel, better even than her own sister. They’ve known each other longer than any human will ever know another human, there were mountains that were younger than their combined history together. They’ve seen each other through the good and the bad and have come out stronger for it. There was nothing Yongsun could do or say that would drive her away at this point.

Still, that didn’t mean being with the angel was all sunshine and butterflies twenty-four seven. There were days when they got on each other’s nerves, or days when their arguments eventually devolved into a pseudo wrestling match in the middle of their bedroom. Or days like today, when Byul woke up to a flurry of feathers all over their bed and a veritably irritable angel in her arms.

She grunted, blinking blearily at the sunlight streaming in through their window. As if on cue, Yong whined in her sleep, both legs suddenly kicking Byul very violently in the shins.

“Yah,” she said, kicking the angel back, “wake up.”

When Yong finally blinked her eyes open, it was a bit hilarious to watch the range of emotions play across her face. From sleepy, to confused, to disgruntled, and then finally, the disappointed resignation that came with realizing her wings had molted in the night.

In all fairness, it wasn’t often or even annual that Yongs wings would molt, just a sign that she had been on Earth for much longer than any one angel had and was due for a quick burst of Heaven’s Light. It also meant that Byul would have to engage in one of her least favorite activities, since meeting the angel.

“Has it been that long since the last time already?” She asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. As she rose from the bed, a flurry of feathers followed in her wake, gently fluttering to the floor. 

“Probably,” Yong stretched out her arms and her wings, which only served to scatter more feathers around their room. A few more feathers escaped from the folds of Yong’s wings and in the light of day, the angel’s wings looked almost frail and tattered, lacking their usual ethereal shine and lustre. Yong herself was also looking a little worse for wear, with dark circles under her eyes despite having a full night’s sleep and a rather pallid color to her skin.

Even at that state though, Byul wasn’t above leaning over and smacking the angel in the arm. 

“You’re making a mess.” She said. Yongsun’s reply was a simple glare, that lacked any real heat in it to be actually threatening. Byul scratched at the area around her horns before sweeping away at some of the feathers on the floor with her foot.

“I’ll leave you to, ah, charge up? Just do--er. Well. I’ll be back.” She said, grabbing some clothes from their shared cabinet and making her way towards the door.

“You’ll help me with the feathers though right?” Yongsun called out behind her. Byul absently waved a hand behind her in agreement. Right before she left the room, she could already see Yong kneeling just by their bed, hands folded, with eyes turning heavenward and just as she closed the door, Byul could smell the petrichor that came with a portal to heaven opening in their bedroom.

From the cracks of their door, Byul could see and feel the white hot heavenly light seep through, and she could feel an integral part of her demonic nature recoil from it. Which was probably a sign that she should get changed and prepare herself for the rest of the morning to come. 

“Unnie, what’s going on?” Wheein called from below.

It felt as if they had been living with Wheein and Hyejin for so long that Byul sometimes forgot their other two roommates hadn’t necessarily experienced everything Byul and Yong had been through together. Particularly, Hyejin and Wheein had never seen Yong like this, and Byul wasn’t sure how the angel felt about that. 

“Nothing,” she called out, making a beeline for the bathroom to hopefully prevent any further questioning. 

In the safety of the bathroom, Byul took a few moments to compose herself, gently slapping at her face to wake herself up all the way before making quick work of washing her face, fixing her hair, and changing out of her pajamas. By the time she was done and presentable, she exited the bathroom to find Wheein standing awkwardly just outside their bedroom.

“Is Yongsun-unnie okay?” the werewolf asked, staring suspiciously at their door. The sharp smell of ozone was thickest by the doorknob and there was no denying it. Byul winced, “Yeah, it’s just an angel thing.”

Wheein nodded slowly, unconvinced. “Do you guys need help?”

Byul looked from the werewolf, to the door, still unsure. If there was one thing Byul knew about Yong, it was that she didn’t like other people seeing her so vulnerable. So she gave Wheein a smile, but gently shook her head. “We’re fine, don’t worry.”

She waited for Wheein to head back downstairs before opening the door and stepping back into the bedroom. The heaven portal had already closed, but the sharp smell still permeated every surface, and right in the middle of it all was Yongsun, looking much better and less sickly, with both wings looking fluffier and healthy again.

“Feeling better?” Byul asked, sidestepping the feathers on the floor littered like tiny, fluffy, white landmines. Yong nodded.

“Could you get a--”

Byul was already way ahead of her, snapping a small pail of warm water and a washcloth into existence right by the foot of their bed. “Let me,” she said, climbing back unto the bed arranging the both of them so that they were back to front, Yong’s wings in full display in front of Byul while the angel sat at the V space between her legs.

In all their time together, Byul had ever only done this part twice before. Back then Yonghee was still on Earth to help Yong with post-treatment. Still, she carefully soaked the wash with the water, wringing out the excess before weaving her fingers through the gaps between feathers in Yong’s wings.

Healing herself with Heaven’s Light usually had an instantaneous effect on Yong’s wings, but it also left a hard, keratinous substance in the places where the new feathers grew out, which tended to get quite itchy if it wasn’t treated right away. Which was what the wash cloth was for.

Byul tried to be as gentle as she could be, nimble fingers feeling along the feathers for hard, scaly bumps before gently wiping them away with warm water. Still, it was a long and arduous process, so they were in for the long haul.

“You don’t have a job schedule today do you?” Yong asked, trying and failing not to let the worry in her voice show. Byul shook her head, before remembering that Yong was facing away from her, “Don’t worry, I’m all yours today.”

“Ugh,” She felt more than saw Yong’s whole body cringe, and Byul smiled shamelessly to herself. “I hate when you say stuff like that,” Yong complained. Byul nudged at the angel’s leg with her foot. “Be nice, I’m grooming here.”

After a few more hours of silent grooming, Yong reached out to pat at Byul’s knee. “Thank you for doing this.” 

Byul leaned forward to place a kiss just at the juncture between Yong’s wings. “Anytime.”

“You know we still have to clean up the feathers on the floor and on the bed right?”

“‘We’?” Byul asked, teasing now, “Those aren’t my feathers. After I finish with this you’re on your own.”

“You better not,” Yong threatened, her voice turning whiny, which only made Byul laugh, and they spent the rest of their morning laughing together. 

Chapter Text

As an angel Yong thinks it’s practically in her genetic code not to believe in cosmic signs. Although she does find it amusing when mortals seem to abandon all reason or logic when it comes to things like horoscopes or oracle cards or things like those. Not that she herself hasn’t dabbled over the millennia out of curiosity, but to see the way mortals seem to so willingly put their fate in a higher invisible power was a hilarious notion to say the least, especially since Yong has been around long enough to have come to the comfortable decision that there no such things as fate, just well thought out decisions one makes for oneself.

Which is why, the first time she comes across the flyer, she doesn’t even think of it as a sign from the universe. Just a minor nuisance that some person must have stuck to the windshield of her car while she was buying groceries. She takes the time to load all the bags into the trunk first before making her way back to the windshield to pull out the flyer that had been so unceremoniously tucked under one of the wipers.

It was a flyer advertising the opening of a new tourism office in the neighborhood. It would be fully operational by the later half of the year, but applications for tour guides and staff were being accepted. Yong gave the flyer the cursory onceover it deserved before promptly crumpling it in her hands and stuffing it in the pocket of her coat, already forgotten.

A few days later, Yong was folding laundry when she felt the crinkle of something in the lining of one of her jackets. When she turned out to examine it, she realized it was the same flyer. The paper was crumpled beyond belief and really, Yong was surprised most of the text even survived the washing machine and the dryer. Still she didn’t think twice about tossing it to the nearest bin after she was done with folding the rest of their clothes.

The next day, Wheein came home from the studio covered in paint but also balancing a giant pizza box in her hands. Yong immediately stood up from the sofa to help her roommate.

“What’s all this?” She asked, eyeing the box carefully. She could smell the pizza even while it was closed and traitorously she felt her stomach grumble. 

“Oh Min-nim bought it for us at the studio for lunch but there was too much for us to finish.” Wheein placed the box on their dining table and opened it to show the remains of what looked to have been an incredibly large pizza. There were several slices missing but at least half of the pizza was still in the box, which was impressive to say the least.

Yong raised a playful eyebrow at the werewolf, “So you thought you would offer your roommates some sloppy seconds for dinner?”

A very distinctive canine whine escaped from Wheein’s throat, and her wolf ears popped out of the sides of her head just to droop down. Yong knew this trick, could see it coming a mile away, but she still fell for it every time.

“Well, it’s bad to let food go to waste right?” She said brightly, already digging around their cupboards for a plate to heat the leftover slices in.

“My thoughts exactly!” Wheein said, snickering. So Yong was a bit of a pushover when it came to their younger roommates. She just told herself that was part and parcel of being the oldest one in the apartment. She was still looking around when she heard a soft thump followed by the scattering of papers.

Behind her, Wheein’s bag had fallen from its perch on one of the dining room chairs and had spilled all of her loose leaf drawings and sketches.

“I’ve got it,” Wheein immediately dove for the papers, hastily grabbing them and stuffing them back into her bag without a care. One of the blank sheets had drifted close enough to Yong’s feet that she paused her search to stoop down and pick it up. When she flipped it over though, she realized it wasn’t blank at all, it was the tour guide flyer again.

Yong paused, staring at the flyer in disbelief. She didn’t even realize Wheein had been calling out to her until the werewolf approached and softly touched her wrist. “Unnie?”

She looked up, flyer still in hand, “Where’d this come from?”

Wheein craned her neck a bit to see what Yong was holding, the corners of her mouth turning down. “Hmmm I don’t--oh wait! Someone was giving out flyers on the way over here, and I just took one to be polite. Sorry, I’ll throw it now.”

“No I--” Yong couldn’t quite understand why she still held onto the flyer. By all means, she had ignored it enough times before. Still, this was the third time it had turned up, and even an angel had to admit that things like that were strange, if anything.

“Did--did you want to apply to the tourism office?” Wheein asked. Yong looked up, at a loss for words.

The truth was, she never really gave herself the chance to think about things like getting a job. If she thought about it now, the prospect filled her with an unfamiliar feeling in her gut and it felt like her fingers had been electrocuted. At the same time though, her heart fluttered a bit at it too, and that confused her. 

She passed the flyer over to Wheein, going back to hunting for plates, “No, it’s just that this is the third time this flyer has crossed my path. Just odd is all.”

It was quiet for a bit, and from her peripheral, Yong could see Wheein staring at the flyer, really reading what it says this time,

“I think you’d be really good at this, Unnie!”

Yong scoffed, “People go to school for years to learn how to be tour guides Wheein-ah, what makes you think I’m even remotely qualified?”

“Those people haven’t been walking this Earth for over a thousand years, Unnie. I bet you know more about this city than the head of South Korea’s Tourism Department.”

The thought popped up again, and Yong had a harder time ignoring it once it had taken root in her mind. The uneasy feeling was still there, but so was the excited beat of her heart, and that usually led to good things if she listened to it well enough. 

Still, still.

Yong sighed, abandoning the hunt for plates altogether. “Even if I did apply, I wouldn’t have the time, I mean--” The rest of her sentence was cut short by the disbelieving and unamused look on Wheein’s face. As if to emphasize her point, Wheein raised a single eyebrow.

The angel laughed, “What’s with that face?”

“Busy? Unnie, really? When was the last time you actually did something that wasn’t groceries or laundry or vacuuming?”

She sniffed, slightly hurt at the werewolf’s tone. “You think it’s easy cleaning up after you three monkeys all the time?”

Wheein’s expression softened and she reached out another hand to Yong’s shoulder this time. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean--”

Yong waved the apology away, suddenly feeling very tired. “Don’t worry about it, I didn’t--I’m not mad Wheein-ah. I just. I don’t think this is something I can find time to do, even if I wanted to.”

“Do you?”

She crossed her arms, “Do I what?”

Wheein had that determined look on her face. The one that once got her to convince both Yong and Byul to ride the roller coaster at Lotte World with her even though both the angel and the demon had hated roller coasters ever since the ride had been invented. 

“Do you want to do this? Apply?”

Yong hesitated. Did she? The uncomfortable squirming she had thought to be unease was back again, but now that she really took a step back, was it really apprehension, or excitement? Ever since she had settled down in Room 1031, it felt as if all she’s done was keep house for the last thirty years, either that or do the random kind act for their neighbors every now and then. If she really thought about it, Yong can’t even remember the last time she decided to buy something for herself that wasn’t useful for the apartment or a gift for someone else. 

“I--I’m not sure.”

The hand on her shoulder was still there and it tightened. “Do you feel a sort of nervous squirmy feeling in your stomach? Like butterflies? Or bunnies hopping around?”

Yong looked up at her in shock and Wheein nodded to herself.

“Unnie that’s a sign! When you first mentioned the flyer that was already sign but this! This is definitely a sign! The universe is telling you to go for it!”

Yong scoffed, barely resisting the urge to roll her eyes, “A sign? You live with an angel and a demon and you still believe in things like signs?”

“Only when it’s painfully obvious that something is a sign!” Wheein insisted, managing to sound both determined and adorable at the same time. “You could at least try.”

She paused, picking up the flyer again. The office was near enough to their apartment and it said they would be accepting applicants until the end of the month. Maybe she could just swing by and--no, no. She shouldn’t let herself get carried away like this.

“Let’s say I even get the job,” Yong began, trying to build up the losing argument in her head again, “Who would be here to make sure the three of you don’t burn the apartment down?”

Wheein’s deadpan look was back. “Give us some credit Unnie. I know Hyejin and I aren’t as old as you and Byulie-unnie but between the two of us we have about three centuries of existence. We’re not about to forget how to do things like turn off the stove just because you’re not here.”

Yong laughed but even to her ears it was starting to sound desperate and nervous. Was she really considering this? “Okay but what if--”

“Look,” Wheein said, pointing towards the positions available in the flyer, “It says they’re looking for someone to be a local tour guide just for Seoul. I’m pretty sure you don’t need some kind of degree for that, and even if you do, what could three years at school teach that you don’t already know? Besides,” and now Wheein’s smile turned teasing, “what tourist wouldn’t want to be shown around Seoul by an actual angel?”

She felt some of the fight leave her so that the only thing left was that jittery excitement again. It would be fun, she thought, to be able to show tourists around the city. Show them the sights and tell them stories of how much the city has grown and changed over the centuries. Yong sighed. “Okay, okay I give up. I’ll apply.”

“Yes!” Wheein hugged her from the side, tail also sprouting forth to wag happily behind her. “When are you going? Do you want me to come with you? I can be like your support and just wave encouragingly from the waiting room.”

Yong hugged the werewolf back, trying to calm down the sudden excited pounding of her heart at this snap decision. She took a deep breath in a frail attempt to get her feelings under control. “Okay, that would be nice.”

Later that night, she couldn’t sleep. She knew she should try and get some rest for the application tomorrow. After all, she didn’t want to show up at the office looking like some kind of zombie with wings. She just couldn’t shake the--

“I can hear you thinking from here.” Byul mumbled, sleepily, making Yong jump. She was sure the demon had been asleep. 

“Go to sleep,” she mumbled, feeling a bit silly at the whole thing. In the dark she felt Byul reach around blindly until their hands were touching. She laced their fingers together. 

“Wh--when did you know you wanted to be a photographer?” She asked, pitching her voice low just in case Byul had already fallen asleep.

Instead, the demon opened her eyes, blinking the sleep out of them before focusing on Yong. “This is about that tourism job right? Wheein told me about it when I got home.”

Yong shrugged. She wasn’t sure what expression was on her face, but it made Byul smile.

“I think it was sometime in the fifties?” The demon said, “I was taking pictures of you by that old music store, do you remember it?”

“They tore that music store down in the sixties. It’s a Starbucks now.”

“Whatever. My point is, I think I remember taking one of you while you were unaware, and digital wasn’t a thing back then so I had to wait until I got back to my own apartment before I could see what it looked like. And it was that anticipation, the idea that I had managed to make something ephemeral permanent, and no matter how it turned out, it would be a little part of history. I realized I wanted to be taking pictures for a long time.”

She was glad it was dark, so Byul wouldn’t have to see her blushing. “Where’s that picture now?”

Byul shrugged, eyes already closed again, “Probably in a box somewhere. It didn’t turn out that great after all.”

Yong shoved at her shoulder, but the demon was snickering. Before long, Yong was laughing too, quiet chuckles that helped ease the building nervousness in her gut.

“Just go for it Yong. You deserve it,” was the last thing Byul said before she had drifted back to sleep. Yong nodded even if Byul couldn’t see her anymore, even if she wasn’t sure she did deserve this. Eventually she drifted off to sleep.

The next day, she was in her most professional-looking outfit standing outside an office called ‘Try it All Tours’, with Wheein practically bouncing beside her. 

Yong stopped just at the glass doors and felt like she was just about ready to throw up. “Wheein-ah. I can’t do this.”

“Of course you can Unnie, just go in and--”

“No, no this was a mistake.” Yong could barely hear her own words over the pounding of her heart. She couldn’t feel her fingers anymore and her wings twitched behind her, as if ready to fly her as far away as possible. “We should go. Let’s go home I don’t think--”

“Wait a minute,” Wheein grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her so that they were facing each other. “Talk to me, Unnie. What’s this really about?”

Yong sighed, “I don’t. I’m--” She tried to find the best words, “All my centuries here, all I’ve ever done is help people. I helped heal them until they discovered modern medicine to heal themselves. I blessed crops and livestock until they developed fertilizers and feeds that would keep their farms healthy without me. The only selfish thing I’ve ever done in my life was choose to be with Byul, and even that took me a long time to come to terms with myself. I just. I don’t know how to---what if---” She waved her arms around helplessly, but Wheein seemed to understand anyway.

The werewolf stepped forward to hug her, “Oh Unnie. You’re not any less of an angel if you decide to do something for yourself for the first time in a thousand years.” The last part was said teasingly but Wheein’s eyes were soft and kind. “Besides, who says you wont be of help doing this? There are plenty of lost tourists out there, and they’re in need of an angel who’s going to show them the beauty of Seoul without going to all the crowded kitschy tourist places. That angel’s going to be you!”

Yong nodded, hugging Wheein back just as tightly. She thought about what Byul had said last night, and about her talk with Wheein yesterday. She thought about all her lifetimes traveling the length and width of this country. She thought about finally crossing that internal wall she had built up and choosing to be with Byul after so many centuries of dancing around each other. It had been worth it. 

Even now as she looked around, she could almost picture a time when everything around them was nothing but forest and farmland. So many things had changed, but she was still here. She still remembered them. 

Maybe--maybe other people would want to know about them too. Just like that she felt the queasy feeling finally leave. Left now with only the butterflies. She pulled away and smiled at Wheein, lifting a hand to playfully mess up her hair. “Thank you Wheein-ah.”

“Good luck Unnie!” Wheein said, giving her a thumbs up with both hands before gently nudging her inside. 

After that, the application and the interview passed by in an almost blur, and if you asked her, Yong couldn’t tell you really how it went or what happened. She remembers being led into an empty conference room, where a kindly woman had beamed at the sight of her and had gone over the application form she had filled out in the lobby. She remembers the woman being kind and asking her questions about what she knew of Seoul and its tourist spots, but she couldn’t remember anything she said in reply.

When it was all over Yong exited the conference room to find Wheein waiting just at the lobby. The werewolf looked up as she approached. “Unnie! How’d it go?”

Yong beamed before pulling the badge, vest, and tour guide kit the woman had given her. “I start basic training next week!”

Wheein’s joyous squeal was so loud that it had the poor receptionist jumping in her seat. Yong grinned sheepishly at her but she couldn’t bring herself to feel too guilty. Her heart was still jackhammering around her ribcage but she also felt as light as air, a previously unknown burden finally gone from her shoulders. 

Later that night, when she showed Byul her badge and vest, the demon’s eyes twinkled with something like pride and Yong relished in the moment right before Byul snatched the flag from her kit and began teasing her with it.

Still worth it. 

Chapter Text

Sometimes Byul wished emotions came with a five-minute warning signal, or at least something that would help her anticipate them before they hit her with all the subtlety of a trainwreck. It had been when one of the things she didn’t particularly like about spending millennia on Earth, eventually the humans and their trivial concerns got to you. Eventually, you started to care , and once you hit that point, the hurt was usually right around the corner.

Usually she can put it behind her. Compartmentalize it away in her mind like so many neat little file drawers filled with dark secrets. Still, not even that can hold the skeletons at bay for long, so once in a while, she goes through the memories. Lets herself feel rotten and crummy and miserable just for one night, so that come morning, she can safely put them away again.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t talk to her roommates about it. During their first few years together, Yong had helped her through most of those periods, but she could see the toll it was taking on her angel too. Eventually--and with much reluctance on Yong’s part--they had agreed that it was best for Byul to work through it on her own. For both their sanity’s sake, and when Wheein had come along, the werewolf seemed to know a bit about the value of being alone. So had been that.

On nights like that, Byul just drank.

Admittedly, it took a lot to get a demon even close to tipsy, and it wasn’t like she had to worry about liver damage or anything like that. But once she’s reached that sweet spot between the nineteenth and twentieth bottle, when Byul teetered on the verge of insensible while still retaining whatever it was she’s eaten that day, that the pain and the sadness become at least a little bearable.

This is where she stayed, usually until morning, or until Yong felt worried enough to help drag her back to their bedroom or into the shower. Depending on what time the angel usually found her.

Now though it wasn’t Yong who found her, it was Hyejin.

Byul distinctly remembered seeing the vampire leave for work earlier that evening, which meant it was close to dawn already when Hyejin padded over to her and carefully started picking up soju and beer bottles off the floor. When she tried to lift her head up, the room spun for a bit, but that pleasant buzz was still there so she didn’t mind it as much.

The unforgiving scrape of a chair against the floor as Hyejin sat down though, was pure torture.

“Yah, have you no mercy.” Byul slurred, just barely managing to string that sentence together. She tried to blink past some of the fog. There were two Hyejins staring at her---wait. That can’t be right. There was only one Hyejin that lived in the house with them.

“Unnie,” The vampire said, her voice sounding far away and echoey against the cottony feeling in her head, “I think you’ve had enough.”

“I will when you both go back to being just one of you.”

There’s an audible sigh, and then Hyejin was up again, bare feet walking over to the kitchen. Byul could hear her rummaging in the cupboards for a bit followed by the sound of the tap running. When the vampire returned, Byul felt a cold glass of water pressed into her hand.

“Why do you do this to yourself, Unnie?”

Byul felt herself tense. She would glare at the vampire if it didn’t cause so much effort so instead she stayed quiet. What she wanted to say was that she doesn’t want to do this to herself every so often. That unlike Yong, she couldn’t just flick on a portal to Hell and have it recharge her demonic spirit. Demons weren’t built like that. That most of the demons she had known centuries ago had already gone back to Hell. That the demons who were on Earth now were newbies, fresh from the pits and willing to still engage in an odd temptation or two when the occasion called for it. That the only reason she was still here was because---because.

But she was too inebriated to say those things out loud and she wouldn’t touch that topic with a ten-foot pole if she were sober either. So instead. Byul sat up and stared at nothing.

Across from her, Hyejin sighed again, then tried a different approach. “How long have you been here?”

Byul looked up at the clock. “About eight hours now, I think.”

“No, I mean. How long have you been on Earth?”

She smirked, flicking away at an invisible piece of dust on the table. “I thought you would have given up on this by now.”

Hyejin scoffed. “I’m over your great love story with Yongsun-unnie. But if that’s the reason for all this, then by all means.” The vampire waved a hand in the space between them.

“Go to your room Ahn Hyejin.” Byul heard herself say, “the sun is rising.” She closed her eyes and tilted her head back, feeling her head spin behind closed eyelids. In the silence that followed, she was sure Hyejin had gone and left her there to wallow by herself. Instead, when she opened her eyes, not only was Hyejin still there, but she could feel some of her buzz slipping away.

Damned demon metabolism.

“What do you want from me?” Byul asked, hating how vulnerable she sounded. She pondered going for the bottle of wine hidden in the cupboard where they kept the microwaveables but ultimately decided that Hyejin wouldn’t let her get that far.

She couldn’t look her roommate in the eye, so she jumped in her skin when she felt Hyejin’s cold hand on top of her own.

“Unnie, I want to help you.  Every now and then I come home to you like this and it hurts to see you this way. I know Wheeinie says to just--”

“You wouldn’t understand, okay?” Byul snapped and she instantly felt guilty about it because when she finally turned to look at Hyejin the vampire had gone from looking concerned to looking on the verge of tears. Great . Just another thing to add to the long list of things to feel guilty about, Byul thinks. 

She shook her head to try and sober up a little bit faster, “Wait--Hyejin-ah I’m sorry I didn’t--”

Hyejin looked away, arms now resolutely crossed around her chest and lip pouted just so. It made her look impossibly young, even with her stage makeup on. It made her look---

Byul sighed. What the hell.

“With you pouting like that. You look like someone I used to know.” Hyejin was still quiet, so she continued, “She was a fisherman’s daughter, but she had really big dreams, and she was stubborn as all hell. I guess now that I look back on it, she was a lot like you in many ways.”

The memory brings a soft smile to her lips, accompanied by that bitter ache that always comes on nights like this. When she looks up again, Hyejin is regarding her carefully.

“Who was she?”

“Hae of Gaegyong. She summoned me on a cherry blossom day, to help her become a concubine in the king’s court.” This part was easy to talk about, the good memories always were.

“Like I said, she was a stubborn young thing.” Byul continued, suddenly too aware of how old she feels. “Some people would say she had delusions of grandeur, but all it was was ambition. She had a lot of that. For her family and herself.”

“So you helped her?” Hyejin asked.

Byul nodded, “I was summoned to do it after all. In those days I wasn’t as, ah, picky with my summoners as I am now.” 

“So what happened to her?”

Byul shrugged. “I gave her what she wanted. Palace life was difficult for her to adjust to at first, so I helped her out those first few years. Taught her how to act like one of them. Talk like one of them. She had a knack for it, in the end.”

She could see Hyejin mulling over something in the way the vampire began biting on her lip. “You can ask.”

“Did you love her?”

It’s easier, she realized, this time around to laugh about it, then again, maybe that’s just the lingering alcohol still in her system. “If I did, I didn’t stay long enough with her to really find out for myself. During those days, I was travelling a lot.”

“When was this?”

She had to think about the answer for a bit. Wade through the alcohol-induced haze in her memories before it came back to her. 

“Around the fourteenth century or so.”

The shock on Hyejin’s face would be comical if their topic wasn’t so serious at the moment. All the same, Byul smiled. Near her hand, the glass of water Hyejin had given her was already sweating a ring unto the plastic covering of their dining table. 

“I-is. Is she why you do this to yourself?” Hyejin asked.

“No.” Byul answered almost too quickly, before she shook her head. “Yes. Well. Not her specifically .”

“But then what--”

“How have your driving lessons been coming along?” Byul had cut in before the vampire could finish asking her question. She could tell that the sudden shift took Hyejin by surprise. Still, the vampire chuckles low under her breath, looking almost sheepish. “Yongsun-unnie told you about that huh?”

“Among other things.”

“It’s been. Well. I guess It’s doing good.” Hyejin stared at her hands, “We haven’t gone in a while, but Yongsun-unnie just has a sense for when I need to---when--”

“When you feel guilty about forgetting?” Byul guessed. Hyejin nodded and this time it’s Byul’s turn to reach across the table to put her hand over the vampire’s.

“You see, we have the opposite problem.” She said. Behind them she could feel the sun already on the rise, the light of it filtering in through the blinds. “I remember everything.”

Byul watched the gravity of that hit Hyejin slowly, the reality of it changing her roommate's expression from awe to a quiet sort of sadness. Because she did remember everything. She remembered Guk Song, the desperate farmer who had summoned her to save his wife’s life just as well as she remembered the determination on Hae’s face when the young girl summoned her behind their family’s hut with a demand that Byul help her gain favor with the king. And between those memories, all the Kings she was summoned to serve. The Generals who summoned her to help give them strength to kill their enemies. The villages that were razed to the ground because she made it so. She remembered it all. And really, there was a reason she started resisting summoner requests after the 19th century, because she could only take so much.

Just before she could see Hyejin’s expression turn to pity, Byul leaned back into her chair, she cleared her throat, making sure the sound was loud in the silence of their apartment at some attempt to dispel the silence. 

“You’re very lucky, Hyejin-ah.” Byul said, “I wish I could forget just like you. Then I wouldn’t have to keep drinking with my own ghosts so often, but the longer I’m on this Earth, the more the human emotions seep in.”

She can already guess what the demon is about to ask next, so she cuts her off again. “Don’t worry. I’m not becoming any less of a demon, or any less immortal. It’s just--I’m just feeling more. That’s all.”

“Would it help if you--” Hyejin’s eyes go wide, and a brief flash of guilt crosses her face at having even thought of what she was about to say. Still, the rest of it goes unspoken between them.

“It probably would.” Byul said, “A century or three back in Hell would help wipe the slate clean I suppose. At least, that’s what the other demons have said. And on nights like tonight, it’s really very tempting.”

“Well. Why don’t you?”

“I’ve left so many of them, couldn’t help them when they needed me. But if I do this, if I really leave, then I might forget them too, and I think that would be worse.”

She trusted that Hyejin, more than anyone, would understand this. She watched as the other girl opened and closed her mouth a few times, about to say something before deciding against it all the same. After a few more minutes of silence, the vampire finally said, “You’re very kind, Unnie.”

That at least, brought a laugh out of Byul. “Not something someone says about a demon.”

Hyejin smiled, “Well you’re not just any demon, Unnie.”

They’re interrupted by the sound of a door opening and closing, followed by soft footsteps on the stairs, and at this point, Byul didn’t even have to turn around to see who it was.

“Byul-ah.”

When she finally turned to look, it was to the sight of Yongsun in the silk, floral robe they had gotten together to match. The white of it, going nicely with her wings. Byul nodded at her before reaching for her glass of water and chugging it all in one go. “Thank you.” She said softly to Hyejin, so that only the vampire could hear, “for listening.”

Hyejin’s responding smile was kind. “Thank you for trusting me.”

Byul stood up slowly and on wobbly knees. The alcohol might be leaving her system but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t go without a fight. Already she could feel the beginnings of what was going to be a spectacularly horrible hangover. 

Already, Yong was beside her with an arm around her waist to help steady her. “Come on,” the angel said, softly, “I’ll make you your favorite when you wake up later.”

She nodded, suddenly too tired to speak and with Yongsun’s help she managed to push away from the dining table and make the slow march all the way up the stairs.

“What happened to Hae of Gaegyong?” Hyejin’s voice suddenly rang out in the stillness. Byul could feel the way it made Yong jump. 

“Hae of…” Yongsun’s voice trailed off as she looked from Byul to Hyejin, her expression going confused before she peered at Byul curiously, “Gaegyong? The concubine?”

Byul turned back to smirk at Hyejin but before she could open her mouth, Yong beat her to it. “I saved her.” The angel said matter-of-factly.

The new look of shock on Hyejin’s face was even more funny than the first, and that has Byul snickering all the way up the stairs. When she was finally tucked into bed, blackout curtains drawn to prevent any sunlight from filtering in, she reached out a hand to tug at Yong’s robe. “I never thanked you for that, did I? For what you did for me back at Gaegyong.”

She can’t quite make out Yong’s expression in the darkness, but she feels warm fingers brush the hair away from her face. “Go to sleep Byul-ah. You’ll feel better when you wake up.”

And she does, because she knows she will. The last thing that registers for her is the sound of Yongsun humming an old lullaby from centuries past. The sound of it helping her drift off to a blessedly dreamless sleep. 

Chapter Text

Like many of their group’s more adventurous escapades, the idea had originally been Byul’s idea.

“We could time it for the next full moon weekend!” she said, eyes wide and full of excitement over dinner. “I bet you’d like to spend a full moon cycle running around open spaces instead of cooped up in the apartment all day, huh?” This last part was aimed at Wheein.

“You make me sound like I’m some kind of trapped wild animal.” The werewolf complained, daintily picking out the oysters in her nabe pot and transferring them to Hyejin’s. “It’s not like my old pack was running amuck in Jeonju every time there was a full moon.”

“So you’re saying you don’t want to run around in wolf form?”

Wheein’s eyes flashed mischievously, “Now I didn’t say that.”

Byul turned to their other two roommates, “What about you guys?”

Hyejin just shrugged in between scoops of rice and stew, “It would be nice to get out of the city I suppose.”

Yongsun sighed the sigh of the long suffering, but she was smiling too. “I guess we’re going camping.”

---

Yongsun eventually took over planning their trip, mostly because she was good at it but also because Byul’s idea of an itinerary was to ‘decide when we get there’. So when the angel pulled up to their apartment building in a massive camping car on the Friday they were supposed to leave, the rest of her roommates were more than a little shocked.

“Woah, it’s giant!” Wheein was already running around the circumference of it, her backpack bouncing every which way.

“So this is your idea of planning?” Byul called from the building entrance, effectively blocking Hyejin from the sun. They had all agreed that the Samnak Ecological Park in Busan was the best place to go so Wheein could have some leg room to run free. But since the drive to Busan took a little over four hours, it was a matter of choosing what time to leave so that their roommate wouldn’t get sick. 

“The office just got a small fleet of these for a glamping promo we’re releasing next season.” Yongsun said, hopping down from the driver’s seat, “They let me borrow one for the weekend and I fitted it with blackout curtains for Hyejin.”

Wheein was practically vibrating with excitement, “I knew that Unnie getting that job at the tourism office would benefit us in the long run!”

“If we leave in an hour,” Yongsun said, “We should arrive in the Busan campgrounds just after dusk.”

Byul nodded appreciatively, “I knew I could count on you, Unnie.”

“Just as I know I can count on you to be the one to drive us there,” Yongsun countered back before tossing the keys to the demon. Byul caught them easily, and already Yong could see the diabolical machinations of her demon’s mind working.

“If you crash this vehicle I’m trapping you in my halo for a whole week,” Yong warned. 

“Oh ye of little faith,” Byul teased, twirling the keys around before walking over to the driver’s side door. 

---

Teasing aside, the drive to Busan was mostly uneventful, finding an RV pitch for their camping car was also easy. However, there was no accounting for their behavior once Byul finally had the camping car parked.

“I wanna see the birds!”

“Wait! The sun! You’ll turn any minute!”

“Hey! We have to set up the camp!”

“Why is everyone so noisy!”

The last one was from Hyejin, who had been asleep on Wheein’s lap throughout the whole drive and was only now waking up. Even from the car’s windows, she could just make out the expanse of greenery and lush grasslands that formed the majority of the campsite. From where she was lying, she could see Yongsun yelling from the car door. When the angel turned to her, she had the ‘my roommates are idiots, but they’re MY idiots’ look that Hyejin has learned to identify over the years.

The vampire grinned, “Did they run off on you?”

“The park has a bird feeding site that Wheein made a mad dash for.” Yong said with a motherly sort of sigh. “Byul ran after her.”

Hyejin sat up, stretching out the cricks in her neck. The sun was mostly below the horizon already, leaving only a pinkish gold light around the surrounding area. It didn’t bother her as much so she stood up and reached to open one of the camping car’s many child safe cupboards. “Shall we set-up?”

Yongsun’s responding smile was bright, “Hyejin-ah,” the angel said, too sincerely, “you’re my new favorite.”

She just laughed. “Don’t let Byulie-unnie hear you say that.”

Between the two of them, they made quick work of the tent where Wheein would sleep, and the slightly larger tent that Byul and Yong would be sharing. Hyejin would sleep in the car because it had the black out curtains. 

“Our home for the next three nights!” Yongsun declared proudly when they were finished. Beside her, Hyejin took a deep breath, savoring the clean, crisp air. It was already dark out, with more stars in the sky than she ever saw back at Seoul. 

“This was a good idea,” She said.

“I’m known for my many good ideas!” Byul called out behind them. When they both turned it was to see the demon with a bundle of clothes tucked into her arm and a newly turned Wheein trotting after her.

“I hope the birds were worth it,” Yong said with a mock sternness. 

Byul chuckled. “Wheeinie got about one minute of uninterrupted bird feeding time.” She turned to give the wolf a fond scratch behind the ears, “Then she traumatized a few kids when she transformed into a wolf before their very eyes.”

“Aish.” Yongsun was laughing more easily though. So it probably wasn’t all that big a deal. 

Hyejin pulled out a collar from behind her, Wheein took one look at it and immediately began whining and backing away. “Don’t you start. We agreed you would wear one in case the grounds have rules about stray dogs."

Wheein blinked once then bolted off towards the clearly marked bike trails. Hyejin took one look at the Unnies, both of whom were laughing. “Don’t look at me,” Byul said, palms up, “I already chased her earlier.”

“I have to start preparing dinner,” Yongsun’s grin was downright cheeky, and Hyejin had just enough time to grunt in exasperation before she chased after their roommate.

---

By dinner time, Wheein was tuckered out, half falling asleep in front of the small campfire that Byul had started with a snap of her fingers. It’s unfair, she thinks, that Hyejin grew stronger and faster as it grew darker, while she tired out like any other wolf after a thirty minute run.

Of course, being a wolf, she couldn’t complain about any of this out loud. But she could think it, which was what she did as she watched her roommates settle down to eat around her. 

“It’s only for the weekend,” Hyejin said patiently after she had secured the collar around Wheein’s neck. In all fairness, it was a nice looking collar. The material was patterned in bright colors and it had an aluminum plate where her name was engraved. She just hated the way it made her feel. 

Some of this must be coming through on her wolf face because Yong stared at her sympathetically. “What if, you promise to wear it during the day when there are park staff around, and then at night you can take it off while exploring with Hyejin?”

She liked the sound of that. She barked once.

“It’s a deal then,” Byul said beside her before reaching out a hand and unclasping the collar around her neck. The relief was instantaneous! She barked happily a few times, to let them know she appreciated it, before butting her head against Hyejin’s thigh and staring pointedly at her plate. 

“I would have thought you’d be too tired to eat,” The vampire teased, but she still set aside a portion of her samgyupsal and placed it down by her feet for her. 

“I forgot how fast vampires could be,” Byul mused, almost to herself but loud enough that Wheein was sure their other roommates could hear.

“What’s your demonic brain thinking now?” Yong asked from across the fire. Wheein just stared at each of them in turn. 

“We’re on vacation, we should get a chance to really let loose!” The demon said, trying for innocence but landing on mischievous instead. “What if we played tag?”

“Unnie, what are you, five?” Hyejin asked, sipping at her thermos of blood they had pre-packed for the trip. 

“I’m being fully serious!”  Byul countered, “just a few rounds to the side of the bike trail after dinner! The humans wont be using it at this time anyway and it can be a free for all! Use any powers you want, but the last untagged being standing is the winner.”

Wheein can feel her tail wagging incessantly behind her. The idea of running, running, running! And in the dark with no collar and her roommates! She barked once. Byul gave a cheer and scratched her just under her chin, “Wheein is in.”

“You aren’t tired from driving?” Yongsun asked warily. Byul’s eyes flashed red very briefly, her smile turning a little sinister.

“Well I’m in.” Hyejin announced, already standing up and clearing the plate she and Wheein had shared. “A run sounds nice.”

“Fine, I’ll clear up then we can all head to the trail together,” Yong said with a clap of her hands, making quick work of gathering their various plates and bowls and heading over to the communal kitchens of the camp site.

Byul, Hyejin, and Wheein shared a few knowing looks before they all three snuck off without her, but not before Wheein watched Byul leave a note on Yongsun’s chair that said: “TAG, YOU’RE IT.”

---

As it turned out, a game of tag between four supernatural beings was anything but fair.

Wheein as a wolf was fast, and she had the advantage using her wolf senses to avoid her roommates if any of them came too close. Then there was Hyejin, who could run yards in a single second and not break a sweat. Yong had wings, which, contrary to popular belief, actually worked. Which meant that Byul had to stay creative.

It had taken Yong about two minutes after they had ditched her at the campsite to fly over to the bike trail, emanating so much heavenly light it was practically blinding. By then, Byul had seen Wheein duck low in the tall grass so that she was hidden from view in the darkness and Hyejin was about five hundred yards in the opposite direction.

“You’re all so dead!” Yongsun announced into the open field, already laughing. She plucked her halo off the top of her head and reached in all the way up to her elbow.

In the distance, Hyejin shrieked.

“Tag!” Yong squealed into her halo before popping it back on and flying off. 

Byul laughed, she opened a portal beneath her feet and hopped in, landing by a row of trees. She climbed one and watched as a fast moving object approached. Hyejin. In the sky, Yongsun was laughing and staying just out of reach of the vampire so Byul watched her roommate turn her head every which way before eventually running off to where Wheein had been hiding. 

It went like that for a few rounds. Hyejin tagged Wheein, who gave chase across the field until she could eventually tag her back. By then, the vampire had grown smart enough to sneakily climb a tree near where Yongsun had been floating, scaring her and tagging her at the same time.

And every time a roommate got tagged, Byul opened a new portal and hopped into a new location. Near enough that she could still watch and laugh at her roommates, but far away enough and just upwind so that none of them would find her and Wheein wouldn’t be able to sniff her out.

Yongsun was it again and Byul could tell she was looking for her. She watched the angel reach into her halo at the same time that a rip in the ether opened up just by Byul’s right horn. She ducked low into the ground, avoiding the angel’s arm as she scurried to the side, opened a portal and rolled in--

Right where Wheein was waiting. Byul stared at the wolf wide-eyed. “Don’t you dare,” she hissed.

She didn’t think it was possible for a wolf to look mischievous, but Wheein managed it so well before giving a howl. Suddenly Hyejin was there too, hair all blown about from the wind and laughing, “You’re the only one left Unnie.”

Byul laughed, giving up the quiet act, “and it’s going to stay that way!” She snapped once so that a sack appeared around Hyejin’s head, giving her just enough time to run off with Wheein close on her heels and the vampire already not too far behind.

It was freeing, she realized, being able to just be themselves like this. She hadn’t realized how much every supernatural being had given up since trying to acclimate with the humans. Here in the dark night, with nothing but open spaces and the quiet of nature, they could really be just themselves. An angel, a vampire, a demon, and a werewolf. Playing together. 

Opening portals was tiresome work, and she could only do it so many times before it took its toll. So by the time she heard the flap of wings behind her, Byul knew there was nowhere to hide now. She felt Yongsun’s halo slip easily around her shoulders, wide at first, like a hula hoop, before it shrank in size until it was completely tight around her arms. She stopped running then. Byul watched Yongsun descend from above, all laughter and bright smiles before the angel approached and gave her a quick peck on the nose.

“Tag Byul-ah!”

She smirked. “You got me.”

---

On the morning before they were set to drive back to Seoul, at just a few minutes before dawn, all four of them were perched atop their camping car, looking out into the distance. The velvet blue night was already giving way to streaks of lavender and pink in the horizon.

“We should do this more often,” Yong said, as she scratched at the fur along Wheein's spine. The werewolf barked once, once the sun rose she would turn back into a woman. 

“Definitely,” Byul agreed on Yong’s other side. Their fingers were laced between them and on the demon’s other side, Hyejin had her head against Byul’s shoulder, already nodding off.

Together, the four of them basked in their shared warmth and the small family they had found in each other.

Chapter Text

Yongsun and Byulyi

The first time Wheein had seen the Unnies fight, she worried that they would break up right after. Of course, back then it had only been a month since she moved in. Still, nothing could have prepared her for the sight of an angel and a demon wrestling around their kitchen. Screaming and throwing punches and kicking and pulling at each other’s hair. 

A lone cereal box eventually became a poor casualty of the fight, bits of cardboard and cereal scattered all over the kitchen floor. Wheein had to pull them apart. It was only later that she found out they had fought because Byul had apparently forgotten to take out the trash again and Yong had gotten fed up. 

The apartment had been deathly quiet that day. When she had gone to the studio, Wheein had been worried that she would come home to find out that one of the Unnies had left. Instead, the next morning, Byul was back to teasing Yong and the angel was laughing like nothing had happened.

That was when Wheein learned that both Unnies had tempers that ran hot but fizzled out just as easily too. She tried asking Byul about it once. The demon just shrugged.

“We’ve known each other too long to hold grudges,” She says as if it’s the most matter of fact thing. 

Eventually, Wheein got used to the occasional spats. Sometimes Yong wouldn’t be in the mood for some of Byul’s more cheeky comments and she would snap a retort that was a little harsher than normal. There were days when the two would argue over the littlest thing and Byul would end up ignoring Yong for a few hours before eventually cuddling up with her on the sofa like it was the most natural thing to do. 

“It’s nice isn’t it?” Wheein said offhandedly to Hyejin after the vampire had witnessed her first Unnie Fight. Yong had hit Byul earlier in the afternoon for spraying water in her face while they both had been doing dishes. That had devolved into a mini fight that almost ended in a few dishes breaking if not for Byul’s fast reflexes. 

Now the two were watching a horror movie together and Yong had Byul’s hand in a death grip while the demon laughed as a woman was being murdered on the screen. 

“Sounds exhausting if you ask me,” Hyejin muttered, but she was smiling regardless. 

“You can’t expect them to be lovey dovey all the time,” Wheein countered, “It’s kind of comforting to know that even if they disagree a lot, they still choose to be with each other.”

Hyejin hummed beside her. It had taken Wheein a good long while to get used to it, but now that she was, seeing the Unnies go through their ebbs and flows was comforting. It was good to have constants in life. The sun rose, rain was wet, blood was warm, and the Unnies would be together no matter what.

Yongsun and Hyejin

It’s probably an oldest and a youngest thing, Byul thought to herself as she watched Yong and Hyejin argue over the vampire’s hair clogging up the shower drain again. It wasn’t even one of those fights where someone was in the wrong. Just standard roommate spats. Still, the demon had to admit, sometimes Yong was a bit harsher with the vampire than she was with the rest.

“All I’m saying is, why can’t you remember something this simple?” Yongsun said, her voice taking on that borderline condescending tone that meant her patience was running thin. “We don’t even have this problem with Wheein, and she sheds during the summer!”

“I’m sorry, okay!” Meanwhile, Hyejin had that petulant tone to her voice, the one she got whenever she felt her freedom was being oppressed. “It’s not that I mean to forget. Sometimes when I get home, I have to rush my bath and get to my room before the sun rises! The last thing I’m thinking of is the shower drain.”

“All I’m asking for is a bit of presence of mind Hyejin-ah. You’re not the only one living here and using this bathroom!”

“Unnie, do you hate me?” The vampire asked suddenly, and that had both Byul and Yong’s eyes going wide. 

Byul watched Yong’s mouth move wordlessly for a few beats. By that time, Hyejin had already pushed past her to clear out the clogged hair in the shower drain with a tissue and thrown it in the bin. The vampire glared but there was a sad frown to her lips, she turned to leave and Byul had the distinct pleasure of watching Yong’s expression shift from annoyed to tired to guilty all in the span of a few seconds.

“I don’t hate her!” Yong said to Byul, desperately. The demon just nodded. “But I’m not everyone’s personal maid, and I have a job that I go to everyday now too. Is it too much to ask that my roommates be better at picking up after themselves while I'm out?”

“Not at all,” Byul agreed, and Yong did have a point, but she followed it up with “Hyegi’s the youngest, and before she lived with us she lived in a coven. You know how luxe those older vampire clans can be. she probably had someone taking care of her all the time. You need to give her some time to get used to living away from all that.” 

Yong sighed, nodding. “You’re right.”

Later that night, before Hyejin left for her job, Yong had grilled gopchang waiting at the dining table. Byul watched silently from behind the bookshelf as Hyejin contemplated the spread before sitting down quietly and helping herself. Yong sat down opposite her and began digging in too. They were both smiling after the meal and before Hyejin left the apartment she waved to Yongsun brightly.

Byul watched the whole exchange and grinned to herself.

Byulyi and Wheein

Hyejin had never seen Wheein and Byul fight before, and she was of the mind that it would never happen. After all, who could possibly stand up to Wheein’s puppy eyes and fight her? It felt like an impossibility. It wasn’t until much later that Yongsun pointed out that Byul and Wheein actually did have fights. Their fights were silent and went under the radar.

Because while Byul ran hot, Wheein’s temper was freezing cold, and when she was really angry, the werewolf could pretend that you didn’t exist for days at a time. Which was what was happening that very moment.

Hyejin wasn’t quite sure when it started or who had been at fault, she only realized she was in the thick of it when Wheein had pointedly asked Yongsun to pass the bean sprouts at dinner even though the side dish was directly in front of Byul’s plate. Yongsun sighed but did so anyway. Meanwhile, Byul looked like a kicked puppy. 

Dinner had been exceedingly awkward after that, and when Yong began clearing away the plates, Hyejin immediately jumped at the opportunity to help out. 

“What happened?” She mouthed. Even though Wheein was very clearly watching TV, Hyejin knew her werewolf ears would still be able to hear a pin drop in the upstairs bathroom.

Yong turned on the faucet in the kitchen sink and began washing up as noisily as she could. “Byulie made a pretty thoughtless comment about one of Wheein’s paintings. Wheenie didn’t take it so well. That was three days ago now.” 

“Well did Byulie-unnie apologize?” Hyejin asked. Yong sighed again, “Yes but Wheein’s still a little hurt. Best to let her cool off for now. Byul will apologize again before the week is up.”

A few nights later, Hyejin came out of her room just in time to see Byul and Wheein talking by the sofa. The werewolf was staring at her hands which were pressed into fists on her lap. Byul was leaning forward but every line of her body was tense.

“It was a thoughtless comment” Hyejin could hear the demon say, “I wasn’t thinking at all. I know I can’t take back what I said, but I’m really, really sorry about it Wheein-ah.”

Things were silent for a bit, but eventually, Wheein sighed and nodded. “I understand, Unnie. I forgive you.”

Byul practically sagged forward with how much she sighed in relief. “Can I hug you?”

This time, it was Wheein’s turn to sigh, but already Hyejin could tell that it’s done jokingly. As if hugging Byul would be such a hardship. “If you must,” the werewolf teased.

Byul laughed but immediately sat beside Wheein and wrapped her in a tight, one armed hug, pressing a quick kiss to the side of her head. From her vantage point above, Hyejin chuckled once before making for the bathroom to get ready for work.  

Wheein and Hyejin

Ever since Hyejin moved in, Yongsun watched her friendship with Wheein blossom into something precious and beautiful. So it hurt her twice as much whenever she watched them fight. It never happened often, but when it did, Yong always tried to give them the courtesy of privacy.

Today though that just wasn’t an option. Try it All Tours was closed today because of the storm which meant that all four of them were effectively stuck at home together until further notice. Which probably wasn’t the best time for Hyejin to confront Wheein about not showing up at the Blue Cosmos after the werewolf had promised to be there the night before.

“You promised, so where were you?”

“Aish, why are you making this such a big deal?”

“Because I saved a table for you and everything and you didn’t even text me to say you couldn’t make it. You just ghosted me!”

Wheein had her arms crossed in front of her, and she was glaring a hole into their coffee table. Hyejin was standing on the other side of the table, arms also crossed but with her hands clenched into fists at the sides of her sweater. Yongsun glanced at Byul, the demon was staring resolutely at her phone, scrolling rapidly through photo after photo on instagram. Yong knew better though, Byul was listening in just as keenly as she was.

“I didn’t mean to!” Wheein’s was going quiet which was a bad sign because that usually meant the werewolf was fighting back tears. “I was finishing something.”

“So you ditched me for work?” Hyejin was starting to sound hurt now too. Beside Yong, Byul’s thumb had stopped scrolling through Instagram entirely. “Did you or did you not promise me that you would show up?”

“I did!” Wheein said. “I’m sorry Hyegi, don’t be mad!”

“I want an explanation first!”

Wheein sighed before digging under the sofa for one of her larger sketch pads. She opened it to reveal a fully drawn picture of Hyejin singing. She must have used charcoal and pastels because all the color and shadows seemed to meld so seamlessly into each other. Yong stared at it in amazement. Byul had already given up the charade of looking at her phone.

“I was working on this. I was supposed to give it to you when I got to the club, but I lost track of time, and when I realized it, It was probably too late and I felt weird about going. I’m sorry.” When Wheein looked up from the drawing, the full strength of her puppy dog eyes were focused on Hyejin and Yong already knew the vampire wouldn’t be able to resist. But then--

“Come on, forgive me please!” Wheein added, in a baby voice. It was so sudden that it shocked everyone into laughter. Especially Hyejin.

“Augh, fine. I can’t stay mad at you Wheeinie!” 

Wheein jumped up from the couch to wrap the vampire in a hug, jumping up and down while she cheered. Yong and Byul just laughed at the whole exchange, the tension in the living room finally dissipating. 

“Well, I think after that, everyone deserves hot chocolate.” Yong announced to the room at large, which was met with cheers all around. 

“Put some peppermint candy in mine, Unnie!” Wheein pleaded, already plopping back down on the sofa and digging around the cushions for the remote.

“Mint chocolate? Gross,” Byul said. 

“Can I skip and have hot blood instead?”, Hyejin.

Yongsun laughed and made her way to the kitchen. While it was dark and depressing outside, she was glad that inside it was warm and she was surrounded by the bright glow of her roommates. Not a bad way to spend a rainy afternoon.

Chapter Text

“Unnie, is this what hell feels like?” Wheein said, lying stomach down on the floor in the middle of their living room. Byul could only grunt in reply.

A particularly nasty heatwave was passing through Seoul that summer, with temperatures so oppressive that the evening news has been reporting people passing out or collapsing in the middle of the street for the past week. Then, as if the universe just wanted to sprinkle a little bit more misery into everyone’s summer, the South Korean government announced rolling blackouts for the next few weeks. 

Which at present, the entire city of Seoul was under at that very moment. 

“We have air conditioning in Hell,” the demon said.

“Climate change sucks.” Wheein replied.

“So do blackouts,” Byul agreed.

The power had died out somewhere in the middle of the night, while most of them had been asleep. Byul had woken up drenched in sweat and it took everything she had not to push Yong off their bed just so that she wouldn’t have to feel the angel’s residual body heat. Now it was already a little past noon and there was still no sign of it returning.

“Do something, Unnie, please.” Wheein said, the words a little muffled since she had her cheek pressed against the floor tiles too. 

Even using her demonic powers felt like too much energy to exert, but still, Byul half-heartedly snapped her fingers so that an ice-cold glass of water materialized just to the left of Wheein’s head. 

“I meant about the electricity,” Wheein grumbled, but she gamely pressed the glass against the side of her face anyway, relishing in the dewy condensation before downing the contents of the glass in a few gulps.

“I’m too overheated to use up that much power,” Byul said, which was partly true. It wasn’t that the heat was particularly troublesome for her, really. As a demon, she was practically born of sulfur and ash from the deepest pits of Hell. But it was the principle of the thing. When in Rome and all that. While on Earth, suffer as the humans do. 

It was at that moment that Hyejin’s door opened, the vampire stumbling out with a curtain of her long black hair protecting her face from the worst of the sunlight.

“Go back to sleep,” Byul said, not even lifting her head from the sofa.

“Unnie, it’s the middle of the day in the hottest summer in recorded history, and my room is outfitted with black out curtains.” Hyejin deadpanned, “I’d rather take my chances out here than bake to death in there.”

The vampire took the extra effort to push the coffee table a little closer to Byul before plopping down on the floor beside Wheein. “This sucks.”

None of them had moved by the time Yong returned with groceries. “The supermarket had air conditioning so I almost didn’t want to leave,” she said as she opened the door and toed off her shoes. She paused, taking in the sight of all her roommates in various states of the doldrums. “Are you guys okay?”

“Do we look okay?” Wheein barked from the floor, lifting her head up to pout at the angel. “I hope you brought ice cream Unnie,” 

“I did,” Yong said, pulling out four individually wrapped popsicles and one giant tub of ice cream, from one of her bags, “let’s just hope the freezer starts working again soon so that it can keep until dinner.”

“Screw dinner,” Byul was already on her feet and walking toward Yong, “I’m taking mine now,” she swiped a popsicle from the table and made quick work of ripping off the plastic and popping it into her mouth. Wheein and Hyejin weren’t far behind.

“What are you doing up?” Yong said as she handed the vampire her frozen treat before taking the giant tub to the freezer to hopefully preserve it in what residual chill was left. 

“She got tired of hotboxing,” Wheein said with a snicker, gamely dodging the playful swipe Hyejin took at her.

With popsicles in hand, the mood in the apartment was already improving. Perhaps the day wasn’t going to be ruined after all. Yongsun smiled to herself, popping open the freezer to---

“Shit!!”

The angel jumped back at the gush of blood that streamed from the top level of their freezer, dropping the tub of ice cream in her hands and scrambling back as far as she could before crashing into Byul’s waiting arms.

“What happened?”

“Gross!!”

“My blood!”

Hyejin pushed her way past the others to the refrigerator, hands carefully handling bag after bag of thawed blood from their now tepid freezer until coming across one bag that was leaking quite profusely. When she pulled it out to show the other girls, more blood splattered along the walls and their counters.

"What are you doing? Don't wave it around!!" Wheein yelled, lifting her arms so that the carnage wouldn't reach her popsicle. The same couldn't be said of her shirt though, which now had blood splatter along the sides.

Already, their kitchen has started to look like a scene from a slasher film.

“Damn, everything’s thawed,” Hyejin said, bemoaning the wasted bag in her hands before tossing it to the sink. "If the electricity doesn't turn back soon I'm going to lose this whole batch.

"Just call the blood bank and ask for a refund," Byul said, trying in vain to rinse off the blood that had splattered on her shorts. The demon contemplated snapping it away as a quick fix, then decided it was too much trouble for a ratty pair that she only wore at home anyway.

The four of them stared at the gory mess that was now their kitchen. Hyejin had the worst of it, blood all over her hands and her clothes, the sight of it in stark contrast with the fact that she still had a mango popsicle in her mouth. Then, unfazed at all, the vampire unceremoniously wiped her hands on the sides of her shirt and hip checked the fridge closed. “So, ice cream?”

“What?” Yongsun said, finally getting over the worst of the shock. “You want to just leave our kitchen looking like a crime scene while we eat ice cream?” There was also a bit of blood splattered on Yong’s dress and on her feet, as well as streaks of it on the floor from when she’d backed away from the fridge in fright. Hyejin, Byul, and Wheein shared a look before all three simultaneously nodded and headed toward the living room.

“Yeahp,”

“Grab some spoons, Yong-unnie. The power isn’t going to come back any time soon.”

“But--I don’t--” Yong stared helplessly at their kitchen fingers itching to clear the mess away.

“Leave it, we can clean it later!” Byul said, picking up the tub of ice cream off the floor and grabbing spoons from one of their kitchen drawers. 

“Aish,” Yong laughed despite herself, walking over to join her roommates. When in Rome, indeed. She took the spoon Wheein handed her and plopped down on the floor with the rest of them. All four supernatural beings surrounded the tub of ice cream like it was some kind of holy grail. There was blood on the sides and the lid, but the cold of the ice cream had already dried it to a tacky, sticky brown. Blessedly, when they opened the tub, the contents were blood-free

“Good choice on the cookie dough,” Wheein said, in between polishing off her own popsicle and digging into some ice cream.

“We’ve probably ruined all our appetites for dinner.” Yong said, she scooped some of the ice cream onto her popsicle and took a bite. Her face at the jarring combination of watermelon and cookie dough made Byul laugh. 

“You know,” Hyejin said, tossing her popsicle stick to the side, “If someone walked in on us right now, it would be quite the sight.”

The four of them paused to look around. Bloody kitchen, blood stained clothes, and an angel, a demon, a vampire, and a werewolf sharing a tub of ice cream. It was like something out of a surrealist nightmare. The silence lasted for just a beat before everyone broke into hysterical laughter. “We look like serial killers,” Byul laughed, tears already forming in the corner of her eyes. 

“So,” Yong began, after the laughter had died down, “Who’s going to clean up the kitchen?” They four shared a look before-- “ROCK PAPER SCISSORS!”

Between their laughter, the ice cream, and the cries of four supernatural creatures playing the world’s loudest game of rock, paper, scissors, the summer heat wave was already barely noticeable.

Chapter Text

Byulyi

When Byulyi entered the studio, equipment in tow, she was surprised to find it mostly bare. Usually by this time, there would be crew and staff setting up lights or preparing racks and racks of clothes. Instead there was just an editorial team with their laptops huddled around a table, a number of colored light fixtures all already plugged in. There wasn’t even a makeup chair set up. One of them turned as she entered and smiled, waving her over.

“Byulyi-ssi!”

She quickly tried to remember what the name of this editorial assistant was from the emails. It was either Jee or Jia, and the difference was driving her insane. Luckily, the assistant saved her from the trouble of embarrassing herself.

“I’m Kyung Jia, I’ve been the one emailing you about this shoot.”

Byul grinned, shaking the mortal’s hand. “I look forward to working with you today.” She hesitated, then decided to ask anyway, “Am I early?”

Jia laughed, shaking her head, “Oh no, but I see why you would think that. Were you able to look over the peg photos we had sent over?”

Byul had. It was mostly exposed concrete with highly edited lighting effects, which she had assumed would be added in post, but looking at all the colored light bulbs and cellophane covered righlights, that probably wasn’t going to happen. Instead she said, “I did, but I was expecting a bit more,” she trailed off, waving her hand ineffectually at the empty space. Jia laughed again,

“I understand. Our editor prefers naturally taken shots with minimal editing, though, and all the clothes will be provided by our model so there wasn’t really a need to hire extra staff for this.”

Byul shrugged. Nothing else much to say to that. As she was setting up tripods and her backup cameras, she heard someone else come in, which had the whole editorial team flocking toward them. Probably the model. When she turned though, she felt her eyebrows raise in surprise.

It was another demon.

She was tall and statuesque in the way that models usually were, and there was a mischievous glint to her eyes as she chatted with the other editors. Her horns were blood red, growing just past her sleek black hair. When she turned to look at Byul, her smile brightened. 

It wasn’t that there was a severe lack of demons in this plain. Although most of the ones that Byul had known back in the earlier days had all returned to Hell. It's just that many of the demons that did still stay on Earth ended up as businessmen or capitalists. After all, it was easier to stoke humanity’s greed and selfishness from behind the desk of a major corporation than it ever was in the trenches. Not many decided to turn to modelling though, which would explain Byul’s surprise.

“Byulyi-ssi this is Lee Dahee, she’s our model for today.”

Dahee practically glided over, she had a good foot over Byul, but her eyes were kind and her smile was sincere when she said, “Byulyi-ssi, I’ve been looking forward to this all month. I’m very much a fan of your work.”

Byul smiled, flattered. “Thank you. I’m all set up so just let me know when you’re ready?”

Dahee grinned and snapped her fingers once. Instantly her outfit changed from a shirt and jeans to a flowy, blood red gown. Her makeup had changed too, now more intense and sharp, whereas earlier it had been clean and simple.

Well. That explained any lingering questions Byul had about the lack of staff today. 

“Hmm,” the editor said, already coming up beside Byul and tilting his head to study the look. “Can we try with the blue and orange lights?” he called out. Jia pressed a remote and the orange and blue bulbs snapped on. He looked to Byul, “What do you think?”

Byul fiddled with the settings on her handheld camera and snapped a test shot, she studied it before showing the editor. “Can you change the eyeshadow? Less intensity on the lids, and maybe a sharper arch to your brows instead.”

Dahee nodded and snapped her fingers again. The change was instantaneous. Byul took another shot and showed the editor. He beamed.

“Okay, we can start.”

It shouldn’t surprise her how easy the shoot was. WIthout having to wait for hair, makeup, or wardrobe changes, it was probably the smoothest shoot Byul had ever been to. Of course, it helped that Dahee was probably the most gorgeous demon she’d ever seen. She didn’t think the other demon even had bad angles.

Half-way through, Byul called for a break. As she was looking over some of the photos, Dahee sidled up beside her to look over her shoulder.

“They’re really good.”

“Probably because the model is so pretty,” she replied easily. Dahee laughed and Byul grinned.

“I envy you, you know,” Dahee said. “I’ve been bouncing back and forth between Earth and Hell for several millennia now. Every time I come back, I’ve tried new ways to find my place with them. It’s never usually worked out for me.”

“Why not?” Byul couldn’t imagine things not going the way Dahee wanted them to.

The other demon just shrugged. “Back then it was easier, I suppose. But now, I’m not much for the whole corporation thing, and other demons on Earth seem to be fine with just mulling about causing mayhem and, I don’t know, that isn’t really what I want to spend my time doing. I just keep looking for that thing that will click.”

Byul understood. “Like a purpose, you mean?”

Dahee’s answering smile was stunning. “Yes exactly! Which is why when I saw your photos a few years back, it really inspired me. It’s what made me try out modelling.”

“I’m glad.” Byul said, “I hope this works out for you.”

Dahee smiled again, “Me too.”

The second half of the shoot went even better and smoother than the first. By the time they finished, it was a whole two hours earlier than Byul even anticipated. 

“You know I just realized,” Byul said to Dahee after she finished packing away her cameras. The editorial team was still packing up their own gear. Dahee had already snapped her outfit back to what it was when she’d arrived. 

“Yeah?”

“I’ve only been on Earth for more than one millennium, yet you’ve been back and forth for several.”

Dahee giggled, “And?”

“Should I call you Unnie?” Byul asked, already teasing but part of her meant it. Dahee was fun to be around. True enough, the other demon laughed and nodded. “Sure, I’d like that.”

“Hopefully we’ll get to work together again soon,” Byul said 

“Actually,” Dahee said, “If you wanted, we could go somewhere now since the shoot ended early.”

Byul checked her watch. She did want to. The last demon friend she’d had went back to Hell in the 1700s. 

“Maybe next time,” She said, instead. 

“Okay,” Dahee waved goodbye as she began walking, “I’ll look forward to it Byulie!”

---

Yongsun

“Yongsun-ssi, would you mind taking on this group?” Yong looked up from the tour plan she was assembling for next month. Her co-worker Choo-hee, was a single mother with twin boys that she constantly complains about, but Yongsun sees the amount of pictures she keeps of them on her desk. “One of the boys got picked on at school and his brother started a fight on his behalf and it’s a whole mess and I just--”

Yongsun was already waving her away, “Don’t even worry about it! I’ll handle this group and close up!” 

Choo-hee bowed low, gratitude coming off of her in waves, before she grabbed her bag and high-tailed it out the door.

Yongsun sighed and stretched her arms until the tension in her shoulders popped. Then she tucked away her autumn tour plans, shucked on her vest, grabbed her flaglet and headset and made it to the holding area where the four pm tour was waiting.

She’d been working at Try it All Tours for a whole year now, so she pretty much had a feel for the kinds of tourists their agency usually attracts by now. Normally there would be the American families with parents who liked the idea of more bespoke tours that didn’t go through the usual kitschy side of Seoul. Sometimes there were backpackers in groups of four or five who wanted a feel for the city without having to meld with the average tourist; those were usually European. Then on some days there were just entire clans of Southeast Asians, who probably found out about their agency because their hotel was in the neighborhood anyway and who always seemed to consist of mostly female tourists with the odd smattering of patient husbands whose sole role was to carry their wives purses. 

Today it was mostly the same, except for one anomaly. 

When Yongsun opened the door to Holding Room #6, it was to the sight of a sizeable family of American werewolves, two women in hijab and--

“Oh,” She’s never been the best at hiding her surprise, especially not when faced with the bright halo and wings of a fellow angel, sitting calmly in her tour group.

“Well,” The werewolf mother said in English, grinning cheekily between Yong and the other angel, “Looks like this tour is doubly blessed.”

Try it All Tour’s four PM tour is advertised as a photography walking tour meant to last two hours. It starts with a leisurely stroll through the Ihwa Mural Village, then a hike along the portion of the Seoul City Wall, before culminating in a sunset picnic at Naksan Park. On a normal day, Yongsun could do this tour with her eyes closed. Today though, she thinks she could be forgiven for being more than a little distracted.

It’s not even that angels are rare in this part of the city, in fact there was an angel that worked as the Head Nurse in the Children’s hospital Yongsun still volunteered at. But, the angels that were still in the city have been on Earth for millenia, much like Yong, so she couldn’t imagine one needing to take a tour like this.

She voiced that out herself while the tourists were taking pictures in front of the murals at Ihwa. The other angel--Park Sodam--as she had introduced herself, smiled.

“It’s not my first time on Earth,” Sodam clarified, “I was here before, during the Mongol sieges, but I returned to Heaven to rejoin the host shortly after so I haven’t been back since then.” She punctuated the statement with an appreciative look around the village. “A lot has certainly changed.”

Yong grinned. “It sure has.”

As much as she wanted to talk to Sodam more, there was still a tour to conduct, and Yongsun was nothing if not a professional. Luckily enough, this group was more or less easy to handle, and the American werewolves, bless their souls, didn’t seem bothered at all by the distance they had to travel on foot. Every now and then, Yong would mention bits of history about their destinations that the tourists seemed to love.

At the Naksan Park picnic, Yongsun was gamely taking a picture of the American werewolf children as they chased each other on the grass, their little tails wagging to and fro, when Sodam sat beside her and bumped their shoulders together. She smiled at her fellow angel. “Did you enjoy your tour?” She was teasing of course, but part of her was genuinely curious, the part that, she was surprised to realize, really wanted to make sure Sodam had a good time.

Thankfully, Sodam nodded. “You know, I returned to Heaven after the second Mongol siege because the suffering was too much for me back then. It was easier to watch and grant blessings from above than to be with the mortals as they suffered.”

Yongsun was quiet but she nodded back. She understood that pain a little too well.

“Which is why,” Sodam said, “seeing a fellow angel like this,” she gestured to Yong, “so at ease with them, and the way you know so much about how the land has changed. How you’ve clearly changed with it. I’m kind of jealous. Makes me wish I had toughened it out before, then I could be more like you are now.” 

Yong blushed under the weight of the compliment. “Oh it’s--I mean.” She cleared her throat and returned the smile. “At least you’re here now right? Who knows what changes you can witness in the next hundred years.”

Sodam nodded. “I’m looking forward to it already.”

At the end of the tour, the agency’s shuttle brought them all back to the Try it All Tours office, and like the dutiful guide, Yong stood at the shuttle exit to wave them off. At the very end of the line was Sodam.

“Have a good tour?” Yong asked teasingly. Sodam laughed. 

“I’ll leave five stars on your company website, Yongsun-ssi” the other angel says, with a wink. As she turned to go, Yong reached out to tap her shoulder.

“I’m planning a historical tour of the temples around Seoul in the autumn. If you’d like, I could save you a slot?”

Sodam’s smile was beatific. “Yes! I’d like that a lot.”

Yong grinned back, this was nice, being friends with another angel. She hadn’t realized she’d missed it until that very moment. “Great! I’ll have the agency set it up!”

“Thanks Yongsun-ah!” 

Yong watched her leave and sighed a happy sigh. She never thought she’d be glad to have Choo-hee’s twins cause trouble at their school. At least it led to meeting Sodam. After she did her final checks of the shuttle, she exited and made her way back into the now empty agency office to drop off her papers and close up.

Outside, Byul was waiting. 

“Oh,” She smiled at the sight of the demon, it was practically second nature by now. “What are you doing here?”

Byul smirked, automatically lacing their fingers together and tugging her towards where Yong had parked the car that morning. “My shoot ended early, thought I’d surprise you by driving you home.”

“But I had the car,” Yong laughed. Byul just shrugged as if it were inconsequential. “I was already in the neighborhood,” the demon said.

Once they were already in the car, Byul said, “By the way, I saw an angel exit your agency while I was waiting. Did you make a new friend today?”

Yong grinned. “I think I did.”

Byul smiled back, already putting the car in gear, “That’s good. I did too.”

Chapter Text

Wheein

It wasn’t weird, per se, running into other werewolves in Seoul. At least, this was Wheein’s general consensus in the years since she’s left her pack. What made it weird, however, was when other werewolves stared at her, almost as if sensing the fact that she was without a pack. Never mind that it was true. The feeling of it still left her a little off-center. Which was why Wheein usually avoided the more wolf-targeted clothing outlets.

Still there were some things that were unavoidable. Like needing new jeans and knowing that the only brand that could pull-off comfortable jeans for werewolf tails was wolf-owned and run. 

Wheein took a deep breath right outside one of Full Moon Walk’s more larger outlets. In all other aspects it looked just like any other clothing outlet. But already, her inner wolf was keening to be let in, everything about the store was designed to be appealing to werewolves. To her. And Wheein was nothing if not a simple pup. So as much as it made her uncomfortable, there was just no way around it. She just had to get in, get some jeans, and leave.

Inside, the store smelled woodsy and earthy. Without helping it, Wheein could feel her tail burst through the seam in her cargo pants, already wagging furiously. There were also other wolves around, some of them chitchatting, others just casually browsing. Based on their scents, all of them were part of packs all over Seoul and it made Wheein feel very self conscious.

She was so focused on getting to the section in the back where the jeans were that she accidentally collided full on with another werewolf.

“Oh my god,” Wheein jumped almost an entire meter backwards, bowing low and face flushed in embarrassment. “I’m so sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going and--”

“Please, it’s not a problem.” A male voice said.

She looked up to see five male werewolves staring curiously at her, the one she must have bumped into was holding a few sweatshirts and jackets in his arms. 

Wheein bowed again, still more than a little shamefaced, “Please excuse me,” she said, already sidestepping the group and trying to get to where the jeans were. This was just not her day.

“Uhm, Miss?”

She turned behind to see one of them holding up her wallet. She must have dropped it during the collision. Wheein couldn’t keep back her own groan of frustration. “I’m really sorry,” she said, accepting her wallet and stuffing it back into the pocket of her hoodie. 

“It’s no trouble,” one of the werewolves said, with an easy smile, “if Dongmyeong wasn’t blocking the way it probably wouldn’t have happened anyway.”

The werewolf Wheein bumped into--Dongmyeong, apparently-- rolled his eyes good naturedly, and shoved at the taller one. “Please ignore Yonghoon-hyung. He thinks he’s funny.”

Another of the wolves laughed and the one called Yonghoon clutched at his chest in mock pain, “You don’t think I’m funny, Hyungu?”

“Actually,” Dongmyeong said, already ushering Wheein away from the rest of his pack, “Please excuse all my friends. Have a good day!”

Wheein smiled, already headed off towards the jeans section. It was only while she was mulling over two options that she realized none of the wolf boys had looked at her or treated her differently. The interaction stayed with her for the rest of her stay in the store.

Outside, newly purchased pair of jeans with the perfect seam for her tail in hand, Wheein had barely turned the corner when she caught sight of the same group of werewolves, this time exiting the convenience store. The one called Yonghoon took one look at her and grinned.

“Oh, Noona!” The rest of them were already smiling too, as if they were all old friends. “Did you get something you liked?”

She nodded, holding up the bag, “Every wolf worth their fur knows that the Full Moon Walk has the best jeans.”

The boys nodded in agreement, “As long as we can also agree that only Pack Pride makes the best bucket hats with ear seams.” Dongmyeong added, his smile bright and friendly and aimed at Wheein and her own Pack Pride bucket hat that she had been wearing that day.

The words came out before she could stop them. “Why are you boys so nice to me?”

They paused, all five of them tilting their heads in the same direction and at the same angle. One of Hyungu’s wolf ears flopped adorably to the side as well. For the third time that day, Wheein felt herself flush with embarrassment. Way to stick your foot in your mouth, she thought. 

“Why wouldn’t we be nice?” Dongmyeong asked, a little slowly, his smile dimmed just a bit. 

Wheein kept her gaze firmly on her shoes, where there was a spot of paint on her sneakers but she couldn’t quite remember when it had gotten there. She replied, “Because. I don’t have a pack? I’m sure you could smell it on me, just like how I know that all of you are in the same one.”

There was silence. Wheein kept waiting for hurried goodbyes or odd exclamations of awkwardness that never came. When she finally looked up she could see the wolf boys still smiling, but kinder this time. 

“Uh you know,” Dongmyeong said, a little embarrassed himself, “Yonghoon-hyung was part of a different pack before he left too. He was alone for a long time before he met us.”

Yonghoon chuckled, “He’s right.”

“We were friends with him a long time before he decided, on his own, to join our pack.” Dongmyeong continued.

“And we haven’t been able to get rid of him since,” Hyungu added with a laugh.

“Aw Pingu,” Yonghoon added, reaching over to pinch Hyungu’s cheeks, “I knew you cared.”

They were all laughing now, and Wheein with them. She couldn’t remember the last time she really interacted with a large group of werewolves outside of her old pack members. The feeling was nice. 

“It’s cool that you’re living on your own, Noona,” one of them said, a darker haired wolf whose name Wheein hadn’t heard yet. 

She grinned. “You boys are pretty cool too.” She said, before dipping her head in a bow. “I guess I never got to introduce myself. I’m Jung Wheein.”

Dongmyeong’s smile grew wide and friendly again. “I guess you must have picked up some of our names by now but uh. I’m Son Dongmyeong and that’s--”

“Kang Hyungu,”

“Lee Gi Wook”

“Jin Yonghoon”

“Ju Harin”

Wheein smiled at all of them and they all smiled back. No trace of disgust or sympathy or any of those awkward things she would get from other wolves that realized she was packless. That probably explained what she did next.

“You guys wanna get into the coolest nightclub in town?”

---

Hyejin

Hyejin checked her phone again, just to make sure she was reading the text from Wheein correctly. 

Bringing some friends with me tonight! Break a leg, Hyegi!

She hummed to herself. It wasn’t that Wheein never brought friends to The Blue Cosmos before. One night Hyejin even performed in front of Wheein’s entire art collective. But that was the thing. Wheein usually texted which group of friends she was bringing over whenever she came to watch. It was always ‘ I brought the Unnies along,’ or ‘My collective is watching tonight’ or ‘Don’t embarrass me in front of my old packmates’. Hyejin can’t quite remember any of Wheein’s texts being this cryptic before.

She tried to rack her brain if her roommate had mentioned any other friends that Hyejin hasn’t met before. She was still thinking about it when the club manager gently tapped her on the shoulder. Behind him was another gentleman standing a respectable distance away.

“Hyejin-ah,” he began, “you remember that Byungwoo-ssi retired last month, correct?”

Hyejin nodded. The Blue Cosmos’ pianist was already well into his seventies when Hyejin became the regular night singer, but he was still sharp as a whip and could play any song at the drop of the hat. On nights when customers were few, Hyejin would delight in commiserating with him about the good old days. So when he announced last month that he’d be retiring to become a piano teacher, all the club staff had pooled together to throw him a retirement party. 

“We finally have a replacement,” the club manager continued. “This is Park Jae-Wook, he’s--”

“Happy to meet you.” The other gentlemen bowed respectfully, before coming forward to shake Hyejin’s hand, when he smiled Hyejin could see his fangs in full view.

“The pleasure’s all mine,” She bowed in return, making sure to show off her own set.

“Call me Woogie,” The other vampire said, “It’s my stage name. I look forward to performing with you.”

“Likewise,” Hyejin said. She lasted about two seconds before the chuckle bubbled out from her lips. “You really have a stage name?”  

Woogie ducked his head, but he was laughing anyway. “Yeah uh, it’s easier recall since my career tends to last longer than your average pianist. There have been a lot of Park Jae-Wooks over the decades, you know.”

That made sense. “I never thought of it like that.” There was still an hour before the night customers arrived. Hyejin gestured to the raised platform. “Soundcheck?”

Woogie nodded, gamely taking a seat at the upright to the left of the stage and trilling a few simple chords just to see if it was in tune. 

The soundcheck went smoothly. While the bar slowly filled up with customers Hyejin walked over to the piano.

“Will your coven be supporting you during your first day on the job?”

Woogie smiled then shook his head. “Nope,”

“Oh, well--”

“Don’t have a coven.” He said with a shrug. Oh. 

Hyejin took a step back, embarrassed. “I’m sorry.” she said, suddenly finding a stain on the piano’s woodgrain very interesting. She had never met another vampire in Seoul without a coven. She knew there were others around the country but aside from Soo-jung she didn’t have many other vampire friends. 

“Don’t worry about it,” Woogie waved a hand, still smiling. “Haven’t been part of one in over a century now. It doesn’t even bother me.”

“I don’t have one either,” Hyejin said. There were a dozen things she wanted to ask. She just didn’t know where to start. Woogie’s smile turned understanding.

“For how long?”

“About two years now.”

He nodded, and something in his eyes turned a little sad. Hyejin could see the age in them, the wisdom Woogie earned from years of living without a coven. And despite being over a hundred years old, she suddenly felt very young.

“It’s probably hard now,” He said, none too kindly, “But it’ll get easier, and if it makes you feel any better, I never regretted leaving my Coven to pursue my own thing.” He patted her on the shoulder, “And from the looks of you, Hyejin-ah, I don’t think you will either.”

She smiled, suddenly very grateful. “Thanks Oppa. I appreciate that.” 

They were cut off by the manager waving at them from the side, signalling to start the show. 

“Show time?” Woogie asked. Hyejin gave him a thumbs up and walked back to the mic stand. 

It was surprisingly easy, performing with Woogie at the keys. Although Hyejin could probably attribute that to his centuries perfecting the piano. Still they were a well matched duo, any adlibs she made he was ready to support. Any song he started with, she knew to sing.

Sometime in the night she caught sight of Wheein at one of the center tables, she was with a group of werewolf boys and they all seemed to be having a good time. Now that was a story she needed to hear once they got back home. She threw a wink their way and smiled at Wheein’s responding laughter. 

At the end of the set Hyejin caught Wheein’s wave that signaled her roommate would wait for her outside. She nodded and turned back to Woogie, who was packing up his own bag.

“Great set, Oppa,” She called out, “Glad to have you on the team.” Woogie waved back with an easy grin. 

“Thanks for taking care of me,” He replied, “See you tomorrow night?”

Hyejin nodded. “See you!”

Outside, she just caught the tail-end of Wheein waving goodbye to the group of werewolves she was with.

“Not ditching me for a pack are you?” Hyejin teased, looping their arms together as they made the slow trek home. Wheein just laughed.

“No, but it’s nice to meet new friends every now and then.”

“I totally agree.”

Chapter Text

Wheein had only been to a museum once with the Unnies, and it was, to say the least, an interesting experience. 

It was a little after she had just moved to Seoul, in an effort to be warm and welcoming Byul and Yong had taken it upon themselves to show her around, capping off the day with a visit to the National Museum of Korea. That had been a mistake, (Or not a mistake, depending on who you asked). 

As it turned out, despite both of them having lived through the majority of Korea’s entire history, Byul and Yong still had differing memories on how things actually panned out. Which led to the whole visit being just the two of them arguing over labels on historic pottery or trying to one up each other on who had befriended or interacted with more famous people. They had caused such a ruckus that the museum security had to politely escort them out. It had become the most hilarious experience of her life and suffice to say, Wheein had gotten quite the history lesson.

So when she heard about the new exhibit, she naturally got excited. 

It was hard to miss the advertisements for it. There was even an entire segment dedicated to it on the local news. How the National Museum of Korea was opening a new wing dedicated to never before seen historical artifacts found between the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries.  The museum’s PR and marketing team had apparently gone all out, and just the day before the opening, Wheein finally caved.

“You guys wanna check out the new exhibit?” She asked at dinner. In response, all three of her roommates looked at her like she had grown a second head.

“The one at the National Museum?” Yong clarified around a mouthful of fried mackerel and kimchi. Wheein nodded.

“We already took you to the National Museum,” Byul added.

“Yes but--” Wheein looked to Hyejin for help. The vampire just shrugged. “It’s a new exhibit, which means it wasn’t there when we went three years ago. Besides, it could be fun. When was the last time the four of us really did something together?”

“We went on that camping trip last month.”

“We had that movie marathon just the other day.”

“We’re having dinner together right now,” That last one was from Hyejin, and Wheein had to glare at the vampire because this was the opposite of helping.

“Okay,” Wheein said, trying for a different approach, “When was the last time the four of us did something cultural together?”

Her question was met with silence, and gave herself an internal high five for that one. 

“In the middle of the day?” Hyejin whined, “that’s no fun for me.”

“We’ll pick a really cloudy day. It’s been raining the last few weeks anyway, we’ll just pick one where it isn’t pouring too hard but it’s still cloudy enough for you.” She realized she was probably pushing this too hard, but the longer she thought about going to a museum with the Unnies again, the more Wheein wanted to go. 

Hyejin nodded, already placated. Yong stared at her curiously, “You really want us to go to this?”

If her responding nod came too fast and bordered on desperate, Wheein was past the point of caring. 

Yong and Byul shared a look, and eventually the demon shrugged. “Okay Wheein-ah,” Yong said, “you make the arrangements, and we’ll go.”

--

As her luck would have it, the next week was a consistent streak of sunny days with very minimal rain showers that had Wheein glaring up at the sky any time she stepped foot out of the apartment. Luckily, the exhibit would be up for the next two months, so she was in no real rush, but as the sunny days grew more consistent, Wheein grew a bit more worried.

She took to keeping tabs on a weather app, just to check when the next heavy rainstorm would be. Finally, finally, her luck paid off and she had to double check both her app and actual meteorology websites to confirm that, yes, the next week would see Seoul under a constant stream of rain, and cloud cover. Perfect.

“I got us passes for this Thursday!” Wheein announced the next evening, and as if to underline her statement, a low rumble of thunder was heard from the outside.

“That’s not ominous at all,” Hyejin said in an undertone, but she was still smiling when she reached out a hand for the passes Wheein had printed out. “Why are you so hyped about this anyway?”

Wheein chanced a glance at the kitchen, where the Unnies were preparing popcorn for all four of them to share. “Just you wait Hyegi. It’s going to be the best day of your life.”

The vampire seemed unconvinced, but eventually Hyejin grinned. “If you say so.”

--

The museum was blessedly not as full as it would be on a normal day, and Wheein thanked the ever present threat of rain for that. Plus, most of Seoul’s population would have already been during the sunnier days so today, as all four of them entered through the glass doors, it was to the sight of just a dozen or so tourists and the occasional school group. 

“So where is this new exhibit?” Byul said, shrugging off her hood to put her horns on full display. It had started raining just as they had gotten off the train. 

“Wheein checked the museum map she was given at the entrance. “Third floor, but let’s just go through everything again. It has been a while you know.”

The demon shrugged, already pulling Yong by the hand, “Let’s see if they fixed any of the labels this time around.”

Wheein poked Hyejin’s side, “This is where the fun begins.”

The Unnies did not disappoint, barely two minutes in and the two were already picking a fight in front of an old tapestry of the tenth King of Goryeo. 

“He wasn’t so bad,” Byul said, already waving a hand dismissively, “There were far worse than Jeongjong.”

“Of course you would have known him personally,” Yong scoffs, “He was awful. He cared more about his armies than his people.”

“Give him some slack, his mother was a beast. Not many historians know that so of course it wouldn’t say so here.”

The sight of scandalized Museum historians and tour guides was already too much for Wheein to handle. She had to clamp a hand to her mouth to keep herself from cackling out loud. Beside her, Hyejin wasn’t even bothering. The vampire was outright laughing.

“You sly dog,” Hyejin said, in between giggles. Wheein slipped her a high five as they followed Yong and Byul throughout most of the first few exhibits. To their credit, the Unnies did know what they were talking about. It’s just that it’s hard to take them seriously when most of Yong’s comments about Korea in the early 900s are about how bland smoked meat was and how any time Byul sees a portrait of a royal, she immediately has a salacious story to match.

By the time they finally reach the third floor with the new exhibit, Yong had picked a small fight with an elementary school teacher for overromanticizing the first Japanese invasion and Byul had traumatized a group of tourists with a detailed description of exactly how Queen Gongye spent time with her handmaidens when her husband was off with his ministers. 

Wheein and Hyejin loved every second of it, so much so that when they finally entered the new exhibit, it was to their pleasant surprise that it was actually interesting.

The new exhibit was labelled ‘Citizen Stories’ and seemed to feature recovered letters, records, old toys, and paraphernalia that belonged to the common people during the earlier centuries. Despite her ulterior motives for having come to the museum, Wheein did find herself drawn to one or two pieces in the exhibit, such as scraps of fabric that had traces of a child’s doodles on it. 

“Glad we came?” Byul said, just to her right. 

Wheein smiled, “I always try to encourage the cultural growth of my roommates,” She replied, her voice lilting in the tone of the falsely innocent.

“Sure,” Byul agreed, playing along, “and watching me and Yong make a scene of exactly how old we are is just an added bonus, huh?”

Wheein didn’t bother hiding her laughter. “You knew?”

“I’m old, Wheein-ah, not blind.” Byul said pinching at her arm playfully, “You and Hyejin aren’t exactly subtle when you duck behind potter displays to hide how funny you think it is when I tell Yong that the 12th century vase she thinks was used for the Queen’s flowers in Goryeo was actually used for the Queen’s vomit during her later pregnancies.”

Wheein laughed again. That particular argument had been an echo of their first one from before, but it had been funny to hear it again. 

“I’m sorry for using you, Unnie,” She said, sincerely at least. “But you have to admit, you two are entertaining together. You could probably start a history podcast or something.”

Byul laughed but shook her head anyway. “People only think they want to know the truth about history, but if it came right down to it, if they really knew the things Unnie and I knew, they wouldn’t be able to bear it.” She winked at Wheein, “Trust me, the history books are better off this way.”

The words have her a little stunned but Wheein tried to take it all in stride. She forgot, sometimes, how much The Unnies really hid under the surface. How much they actually remembered , even in over her own century of life, there were things she had forgotten. Things that slipped through the cracks.

“You make it sound like it was all awful,” Wheein said, reproachfully.

Byul hummed, nodding her head, “Okay, I’ll give you that. It wasn’t all awful.” This she said with a vague little raise of her eyebrows, before she stalked off to another part of the exhibit.

What must it be like to be an angel, or a demon, and be able to remember everything? The concept made her head hurt to think about. So instead Wheein smiled and walked off to a display of recovered journals where Yong was standing.

She meant to startle Yong, the angel had always been easy to scare. But as she approached, Wheein realized that Yong looked a little stunned. She was hyper focused on one diary in particular, right in the very middle of the display, yellowed with age and propped open on a pedestal with printed boards surrounding it to highlight the translations of passages found in the journal. 

The angel had one hand pressed gently against the glass, her eyes wide as she stared at the artifact. Wheein tried to read over her shoulder. Yong’s wings blocked most of the view and the writing was in the old script, before Hangul, so she couldn’t exactly make out all of the characters. “Unnie?” She called out softly.

Yong jumped, staring at her wide-eyed as if caught in the act of something. 

“What’s that?” Wheein asked, motioning toward the journal.

Yong turned back to it and her expression went soft. She stepped aside just enough so that Wheein could read the museum’s accompanied label for the diary.

Diary of a Citizen

Dated: 1200s-1300s

Her eyes naturally drifted to some of the translated passages highlighted in the supplementary material. She was about to ask Yong what she’s meant to be looking for when Wheein finally saw it. She looked to Yong then over to Byul, who was shaking her head at a series of artistically rendered dioramas of the village layouts in the 13th century, then back to Yong again. 

The angel smiled.

“Is this--?” Wheein could barely form the words. It once again dawned on her that angels and demons had long memories. Looking at Yong now, she had no doubt that the angel could probably tell her the exact events that lead to this diary’s creation. That was probably a story for another time though. Right now, Yong looped their arms together and turned back to face the display.

“I wasn’t the nicest angel back then. Or at least, not to demons at least, definitely not to her.”

Wheein could only nod, still entranced by the highlighted text in the display that translated one of the passages as saying:

“Thinking about Yongsun takes up a lot of my days. Takes time away from doing my actual work. How bothersome. Still, it would be a lie to say that speaking to her does not make life on this Earth a little brighter. I long for the distant future. When she will finally deem me worthy of her friendship.”

Finally, Wheein said, “She was greasy even then, huh?”

Yong burst out laughing. “She really was!”

Chapter Text

“Yongsun-ah, your eleven-o’clock tour group is ready!” 

Yong looked up from the schedules she had been pouring over and nodded. As a personal rule she always tried to avoid the morning tour schedules, if she could, if only because it was hard leaving the apartment too early in the morning. Old habits die hard and Yong’s conscience wouldn’t let her leave without at least making sure that her roommates were fed for the day.

Still some things couldn’t be helped. Luckily, Wheein had announced that she would be leaving early to finish a few pieces at the studio for the next group exhibit with her collective and Byul had been away overnight for a shoot at Jeju and wasn’t due back until that afternoon. So all Yong had to do was check in on Hyejin to make sure the vampire was still sleeping before she left the apartment that morning.

All in all, a smooth morning.

That should have been the first warning sign.

The fact that her boss told her this tour group was particularly excited for her to be their guide should have been the second, but at the time, Yong had been too flattered at the notion of it to notice. Which was probably why it took her longer than it should have to notice.

The moment she opened the door to the conference room, she was met by a familiar sight, enough that she let her eyes glaze over the particularly large group as she introduced herself and began the brief orientation process for the tour. 

It wasn’t until she heard a poorly concealed snicker at the back that her brain finally caught up with what her eyes were seeing.

Sitting at the back row, not even bothering to hide their shit-eating grins, were her roommates.

Her face must have had quite the expression because Wheein had to double over and clamp both hands over her mouth to keep from laughing. Byul, the demonic menace that she was, winked at her. Meanwhile Hyejin, decked out in a hoodie and shades and looking like the world’s worst undercover spy, waved.

She was going to kill them.

The entire exchange took only a few seconds, but enough for Yong to realize that the silence had gone on for too long and there were actual tourists waiting for her to finish up the orientation so they could begin.

“Uhm.” She stammered, looking back at the tour map she had been using for the orientation. As an angel, she has a pretty good grasp of every language, but it was hard to switch back to English so quickly after being derailed like that.  “After lunch we will be visiting Changdeokgung Palace, going through the grand pavilions and taking a tour through the grounds where you will see Geumcheongyo Bridge. Then the bus will take us to two very famous markets in Seoul, Insadong and Namdaemun Market, where you can marvel at galleries and teahouses and do some shopping as well.

“The bus brings us all back to this agency afterwards at around 7PM. Any questions?”

Wheein raised her hand, and Yong had to pray for patience and the ability to keep the smile plastered on her face, “Yes ma’am, you have a question?”

“Yes,” Wheein had pitched her voice one octave lower and her English was heavily accented. Beside her, Byul and Hyejin were struggling to stay upright. “Is it true that you will be able to sneak us into the hidden passage at Gyeongbokgung where Kings were said to sneak in their mistresses from neighboring Kingdoms?”

Byul’s eyes flashed mischievously and Yong had to restrain the urge to roll her eyes. Of course she would put Wheein and Hyejin up to this. “Unfortunately we’ll only be sticking to the common routes today. If there are no more questions, Bus Number 9 is waiting outside!”

She opened the door and waited just outside, directing all the other actual tourists towards the exit with a smile. The moment her roommates came up though, she stopped them with a flash of her wing.

“What are you three doing?”

“Taking a tour,” Byul said innocently, as if it were something they had discussed previously at the dinner table. Over rice and fish. Instead of the cruel and unusual prank that her roommates had apparently planned behind her back. Behind her, Wheein and Hyejin were openly laughing now. 

“Seriously,” Yong scrubbed a hand on her face, “What would it take for you all to leave? Especially you, Hyejin-ah it’s the middle of the day! You’re going to get sick.”

“Insomnia,” Hyejin said, as if that was an apt excuse. Yong levelled her with a glare. “Seriously Unnie. We’ll be in a bus most of the time for me to take quick naps in between and the other places we’re going to all have roofs.” The vampire said, already waving the concern away with  her hand, “Besides, there was no way I was going to let them do this without me.” This last part she said with an equally teasing glint in her eyes. Yong groaned.

“You,” she said, jabbing her finger in Byul’s chest, “When we get home you’re in big trouble!”

Byul just laughed, but she darted forward quick enough to press a quick kiss to Yong’s cheek. Something she felt no remorse about shoving the demon in the face for.

“You three better behave,” she warned, before folding her wings back behind her and letting them pass. “Get on the bus.”

--

To their credit, Byul, Wheein, and Hyejin were mostly on their best behavior. 

While she had been guiding the group through some of the pavilions at Gyeongbokgung, Byul had very loudly commented which rooms in the Palace had been used by the Kings to summon demons or broker hidden treaties with the ancient vampire and werewolf clans. At one of the larger surviving tapestries that depicted some of the older royal families, Hyejin raised her hand to ask why King Jeongjo opted not to include his real firstborn son, who had been turned into a vampire on his seventeenth birthday and was still alive today, in the tapestry. Wheein, bless her soul, had nothing to contribute to the scandalous history lesson, but she did laugh loud and heartily anytime Byul or Hyejin opened their mouths.

Still, Yong had expected worse. If anything, the asides from her roommates seemed to excite the tour group. So she let it slide enough that by the time the group sat down to eat lunch at a restaurant, Yong had no qualms about sitting at the table with her roommates.

“Enjoying the tour?” She asked snidely, snatching the kimchi from Byul’s side of the table and dumping it all on her plate just to be a little petty. The demon pouted but let it slide, already motioning to a waitress for a refill.

“Best idea yet!” Wheein said, over a mouthful of ramyun.

“What about you?” Yong turned to Hyejin, who was already piling her plate with fried chicken. I can have the bus take you back to the apartment while the tour stops at the next palace. 

The vampire just shook her head, “Don’t you worry about me, Unnie. Vampire insomnia sucks, but if I had missed out on this I would have been even more miserable.”

“You’re doing great,” Byul this time, around a mouthful of kimchi. “Just pretend we’re not even there.”

Yong didn’t bother holding back the scoff. “As if that’s even possible with the three of you acting like idiots.”

“Your idiots!” Wheein corrected with a jaunty little wink that had them all laughing.

The Changdeokgung tour was a little better, if only because once they were inside, Byul caught Yong’s eye and gave her a little wink before whisking Wheein and Hyejin away to go on their own private little tour. But, when she still had no sight of the three of them by the time the group reached the bridge, she felt the tendrils of paranoia worming at the back of her mind. 

“I’ll let you all take your pictures and explore the gardens by yourselves for thirty minutes!” Yong announced to her tour group, “Please meet me by the main gates when we entered at three-thirty sharp!” 

The moment she assured to herself that her tour group would cause no mischief (they were mostly American today, with one French couple), she hightailed it back into the palace turned into the corner where she’d last seen her roommates go. While the palace was built around the late fourteenth century, majority of it had been reconstructed or restored over time. Yong was pretty sure none of the original wooden structures were authentic at least, and many of the walls had been fortified with 20th century architectural techniques, which meant that the majority of the hidden passages and tunnels would have been long gone by now. Still, there were those that would have remained, if one knew where to look.

When she reached a dead end she nicked the halo off her head and held it up to her face, peering through it like a large looking glass. When she finally caught sight of her roommates through her halo, they were all lying down on the floor, heads close together in a triangle, behind what should be a wooden panel.

The hidden door was easy enough to open, but the passage was dark and dusty and smelt of age centuries old dust and mildew. Clearly a part of the palace that had been overlooked during the reconstruction. The antechamber that Byul, Wheein, and Hyejin were in was small, a little cramped for three individuals, and definitely not enough room for four.

“I thought I told you three to behave!” She hissed. The room was mostly dark but there was light filtering in from somewhere. The lack of space made it hard for Yong to look up.

“Come here,” Byul said, scooting over so that there was space enough for Yong to lie down.

“We should get back, the group--”

“They’ll be fine!” The demon insisted, reaching out a hand for her, “Come on, just for a minute.”

She looked behind her, then back at her roommates. Hyejin was undoubtedly asleep, Wheein was staring up at something high above them, while Byul’s eyes were trained on her, hand still outstretched. Yong sighed, defeated.

“Just one minute.” She conceded.

She crawled over and lay down, taking great care to tuck her wings behind her, until her entire right arm and shoulder were pressed up against Byul’s left side. From this angle, she could see what they were all staring at.

Despite it’s minimal floor space, the antechamber had a decently high, domed ceiling, probably seven feet from the ground. At the center of it, was a hanging fixture where a single candle was lit, most of the ceiling was painted a dark color, and in the dim light Yong couldn’t say if it was black or blue, she could see a few cracks and chips where the paint must have peeled off over the centuries but that wasn’t what mattered. Scattered around the ceiling were shards and bits of mirror, embedded into the cement, all of it catching the light from the single candle so that the ceiling looked like it was covered with golden stars.

“Oh,” Yong whispered, afraid to raise her voice in case it would shatter the beauty of the sight above them.

“The royal children used to hide here from their tutors, or their parents,” Byul whispered back, reaching out in the dark so she could lace their fingers together. “When they started restoration, I was worried it would have been destroyed, luckily it’s far from the pavillions that suffered major damages during the wars.”

“In all this time, no one knew this was here,” Yong wondered aloud.

“I knew,” Byul said, reaching out in the dark to lace their fingers together. “And now we all know.”

Yong smiled.

--

At the marketplaces, her roommates were loud and chaotic once more. By that point Yong was more fond and exasperated than she was annoyed. Still, she felt a little bad for the surrounding vendors and who had to suffer the wrath of an excitable werewolf, her encouraging vampire best friend, and the demon who couldn’t say no to buying them anything they wanted.

By the time they reached Namdaemun, they finally seemed to lose enough steam for Yong to be able to wrangle all of them into a teahouse.

“Did you have to buy them so many pastries?” She asked Byul, staring wildly at the dozens of bags full of cookies and cakes and other sweets that Hyejin and Wheein had wanted back in Insadong. The demon shrugged, reaching into one of the bags to pull out three sticks of tanghulu.

“Not all of it is for them,” she said, with a sheepish up and down of her shoulders.

“We got this for you, Unnie!” Wheein said, more than a little proud as she pulled out a palm-sized box from one of the plastic bags and slid it toward Yong’s side of the table. 

“What’s this?”

“Just something to thank you for putting up with us today,” Hyejin said, having the temerity to at least sound a little contrite. Yong opened the box to reveal a prettily decorated strawberry tart, with whipped cream and crystallized fruit all atop layers of flaky, buttery pastry. 

“You guys,” she said, marvelling at how delicate it looked. “Thank you,” she ducked her head into a little bow, before finally letting a smirk curl up the corners of her mouth, “But the next time you three try to hijack one of my tours, I’m banning you from the agency for life.”

“Come on, admit it!” Byul said, nudging side, “you liked having us around today.”

Yong made a big show of cringing and everyone burst into laughter. Byul was right, though. As much as she had griped and despaired about it at the start, she was secretly glad to have spent the day with them like this. Ever since she had taken up the job at the agency, she never saw them as much. Of course there were still weekends, or the odd day off when everyone found themselves at the apartment with nowhere to go. But this, this was nice, all of them together, this little family of hers that she wouldn’t trade the world for.

--

In her car, on the drive home, Hyejin and Wheein were animatedly going over all their purchases. From the passenger’s seat Byul gave her a sleepy smile as she leaned her head against the cool glass of the window and Yong felt something fond and warm deep in her core. 

It had been a great day after all.  

Chapter Text

“Why would she choose him though, he’s manipulative and he gaslights her all the time!”

“As opposed to the guy that forced himself on her when she clearly wasn’t interested?”

“At least he cared enough to stay, unlike Mr. Moody over here, who runs away from the problem instead of working it out with her!

“Aish, you two shut up!”

The last statement was from Yong, who had to sit up and pause the movie just to glare at Wheein and Hyejin, who  were currently sitting on opposite ends of the living room. Between them, and right next to Yong, Byul was laughing around a mouthful of potato chips.

“Why’d you stop them?” The demon said, trying to wrench the remote from Yong’s hand, “It was just getting to the good part!”

Yong threw a hard glare Byul’s way. “We’re supposed to be watching a movie!”

Wheein settled back into her seat, she wasn’t angry per se but she did think Hyejin was wrong. She’s not one to judge or condemn a person for their opinions, especially not a roommate and one of her best friends. But in this case, she was absolutely, one hundred percent, sure that Hyejin was wrong. She would take it to her grave.

“You know I’m surprised,” Byul said, thoughtfully, popping another chip into her mouth before passing the bowl to Yong. “I would have thought that Hyegi would be rooting for the moody vampire and Wheein-ah would be panting after the shirtless werewolf.”

“Not as surprised as I am that these two have never watched one of the most popular supernatural teen romance movies of the last decade.” Yong muttered back, accepting the bowl and settling back down on the couch. 

“This is why covens don’t encourage us to watch movies that have plotlines centered around our own kind. They always end up over romanticising what it means to be a vampire.” Hyejin said, pointing an accusatory finger at the screen, where the movie was paused on a scene where the lead girl was stopping a fight between the vampire and the werewolf who were both desperately in love with her. Played by actual vampire and werewolf actors so. Plus one for inclusivity.

“Aside from the fact that this vampire would make a horrible boyfriend if he was a normal human,” Hyejin continued, “He also has no redeeming qualities aside from the fact that he apparently spent his immortality going to college several times and learning piano. Where’s the personality?”

“He obviously cares more!” Wheein said again. “Besides, you guys are lucky. Hollywood always typecasts vampires as the cultured ones, meanwhile werewolves are always labeled as the hot-blooded impulsive ones. And like I said, he forced himself on her. Totally a non-redeeming quality!”

Hyejin scoffs, but there’s a smile on her face. “At least the werewolf is definitely hotter than the vampire.”

They’re silent. It was a running joke of sorts in the franchise after the second movie. They were on the fourth one now. Byul was staring resolutely at the potato chip bowl, lips clamped tightly together. Yong had her face in her hands but her shoulders were already shaking. Wheein had to physically fight to keep her face straight.

A beat, and then they all broke.

Yong’s high-pitched squeals as she doubled over in laughter was equally matched in volume by Byul’s full-bellied chuckles and Wheein’s all-consuming laugh. Hyejin was already tearing up from how much she was laughing.

“This movie really sucks, huh?” Wheein said, between laughs.

“If you ask me, you guys have the better end of the stick.” Yong said, she leant back and took a few deep breaths once her laughter had passed.  “Every time they try to make a movie about angels we’re always depicted as pretentious, holier-than-thou types.”

“That’s only cause the actual angels on Earth dont actually go about becoming actors,” Byul replied breezily. “Now demons--”

“Yeah, yeah we get it.” Hyejin waved her hand dismissively. “Demons love getting into show business. We know.”

“I’m pretty sure the majority of actors from America are demons.” Wheein said thoughtfully, she turned back to the screen and frowned distastefully. “Except these two. Obviously.”

“There are many vampire and werewolf actors and actresses all over the world.” Yong reasoned, “Especially vampires. The hours just work for them.” She turned to Byul now, “Acting just isn’t a very angelic career choice.”

“Can we get back to the movie now?” Hyejin whined.

A collective sigh rose up around the room. 

“Come on, we’re already on the fourth one!”

“That just means we have to endure one more after.” Wheein pouted, “I don’t know how much more of this I can take.”

Without warning, Yong picked up the remote and pressed play again, all of them falling into silence as the movie picked back up. They all lasted about thirty more minutes until the movie reached it’s obvious climactic point. Then Yong picked up the remote and paused the movie again without prompting. All of them were staring at the screen, more than a little shell-shocked. 

“I’m--” Wheein began, staring curiously at Hyejin. “Pretty sure that doesn’t happen in nature.”

“No. It doesn’t!” Hyejin had a throw pillow over her face, her voice tinted in obvious disgust. “This movie is anti-vampire propaganda and I now refuse to watch a single second.”

Byul was laughing again, the demon’s entire upper half was practically on Yong’s lap.

“You said this was based on a book?” Wheein said, “didn’t the author even bother interviewing actual vampires and werewolves before she started writing?”

“The most that happens if a vampire sleeps with a human is we slip up a little and take a drink from them. Not--” Hyejin peered past the pillow she was hiding behind and grunted in disgust again, “Whatever this is!”

“Next time, I’m vetoing the movie!” Yong said, tapping the remote once to exit the movie screen, and then again to return to the Netflix home page.

“We’re not even going to finish it?” Byul asked. Her smile was mischievous though and she had that twinkle in her eyes that she usually got when she was joking. 

“We just watched a woman get ‘impregnated’ by a vampire when everyone with half a brain cell knows that isn’t physically possible.” Yong said, already flipping through other movie choices. “Aha, what about this one?”

“Three part teenage slasher film?” Byul read from the movie’s synopsis. 

“Anything’s got to be better than what we just watched,” Hyejin said, “play the movie.”

Suffice to say, the slasher trilogy had a better love story.

Chapter Text

It didn’t take long after Wheein moved in for her to discover that Byul was a bit of a gambler by nature, it also didn’t take long after that discovery for her to exploit it anyway she could. 

“Unnie, I bet you my share of the ice cream that Yong-unnie thinks I’m cuter than you,” She had said once, early on into their friendship. Across from her, Byul’s eyes flashed with the challenge, and she reached her hand out.

“You’re on.”

The moment Yong strolled out from the bathroom, hair wrapped up in a towel turban and wings still dripping water on the floor, Wheein pounced.

“Yong-unnie! Who’s cuter, me or Byulie-unnie?”

“Wheein.” Yong answered in a deadpan, not even looking in their direction, just opening the door to her and Byul’s room and closing it behind her to get dressed. Sweet, sweet victory.

“Traitor!” Byul called out to the angel. She was smiling though, and Wheein got to enjoy twice as much ice cream that week. 

From there the bets progressed slowly but steadily. It was easy to goad  the demon into betting on things that Wheein knew would be easy wins for her. Things like which one of them could run up the stairs to their floor faster while Wheein was in wolf form or waiting to see whether Yongsun would ask if they wanted tteokbokki for the third time that week. One time, Wheein even managed to persuade Byul into betting which of them could get more strangers at the grocery to blush with just a look.

It was a close thing. Byul almost won but Wheein managed to turn it around by the skin of her teeth and the careful combination of wearing her baseball cap backwards and using her puppy dog eyes. The poor girl stocking shelves never stood a chance.

Suffice to say, it was a fun way for the two of them to bond. Majority of the time, Wheein won. Sometimes Byul did, and when Hyejin came along that just added a whole new layer to their little bets.

“I bet you ten thousand won that Hyejin mixes her blood into a smoothie instead of drinking it straight,” Wheein had muttered under her breath. She was on the sofa, sketching out an idea for an exhibit. Byul was right beside her, watching TV. Hyejin had woken up mid- afternoon and was currently rummaging through their kitchen for something to eat.

“Deal,” Byul had muttered back, not looking away from the TV. A corner of her mouth was quirking up into a grin though.

They didn’t even bother looking towards the kitchen, both demon and werewolf just listening intently as their vampire roommate had moved slowly about the kitchen, grabbing bowls and utensils and clanging about with the pots and pans. Eventually they had heard the telltale sounds of the freezer opening. Wheein had stilled, straining to make sure her wolf ears could pick up every sound.

“This is probably a good moment to mention--”  Byul had said, so low that only Wheein could hear her. She hadn’t let her finish though, holding up a hand the moment they both heard Hyejin pouring a slush of frozen blood into a cup.

However, instead of the telltale whir of a blender, what they had heard was microwave opening and closing, followed  by the unmistakable whir of it heating up Hyejin’s daily blood intake.

Wheein had glared at her. Byul’s smile back then could only be described as nothing short of demonic. 

“Unnie broke the blender last night, and she left today to get it repaired.” 

She had slammed a pillow into Byul’s face before handing over the money. 

Through the years they ended up having small running bets, things just became second nature to them after living so long together as roommates and friends. If Hyejin hung her coat on the third rung of their coat rack instead of the fourth, Wheein owed Byul a hundred won. If Yong invited them to watch a horror movie on a Friday, Byul had to do Wheein’s laundry the next day.

Which was why when Wheein woke up that morning and saw Byul on the sofa, with a bowl of cereal on her lap and her head pillowed on Yongsun’s shoulder, she decided it was time to kick things up a notch. 

“Good morning!” She called out as she hopped down the stairs, she could feel her tail wagging from the seam in the shorts she wore to bed. 

“Morning!” The Unnies called out in unison, waving at her from the sofa. 

She had to time it well, because, and Wheein knew this without the shadow of a doubt, if Yongsun knew nothing, it would make everything twice as funny. “Do we have anything other than cereal for breakfast?” She asked.

“There’s some bread and breakfast sausage in the freezer if you’re up for something more continental.” Byul said through a mouthful of milk and cereal.

“Do you guys want any?” Wheein counted three seconds, hoping the angel would take the bait.

“Me!” Yongsun said, there was a beat and then, “Actually, I’ll make it, you can sit down, Wheeinie.”

She gave herself a mental high-five as she sat down, purposefully choosing the solo armchair beside the couch. It didn’t escape her notice how Byul’s knee pressed against the spot on the couch where the angel had been. She wondered if that was an unconscious tick. She peered over at the kitchen to make sure that Yongsun was still cooking before grabbing her opportunity.

“Unnie,” she said, pitching her voice just a little bit lower, “wanna make a bet?”

Byul grinned. “What did you have in mind?”

“I will cook your breakfast for a month if you manage not to engage in any physical contact with Yongsun-unnie. For a month.”

The Byul’s eyes flashed with something like irritation made Wheein all the more confident. 

“Define lack of physical contact.” The demon said.

“No touching, hugging, hand holding, tickling, or anything that involves your skin coming into contact with hers.”

“We sleep in the same bed.”

“Not my problem.”

Byul eyed her warily. Wheein could see the cogs in the demon’s brain thinking it over. She peered back at the kitchen. Yongsun was already scooping a batch of sausages onto a breakfast plate. The toaster had four slices of bread in it. 

“What else do I get?” Byul asked, already leaning back into the sofa, her arms crossed around her torso. Her empty bowl of cereal was balanced on the triangle of space her legs made as she crossed her legs in front of her. Already, subconsciously turning herself into a ball. 

“What?”

“You’re asking me not to touch my girlfriend for a month. I need to get more out of it than just free breakfast if I win.”

She frowned, but conceded. In for a penny, in for a pound. Besides, Wheein had no intention of losing this one. “If you win, on my next full moon, I’ll let you dress me up and take me for a walk along the Han.”

The demon’s grin turned sharklike. “And if you win?”

“You make me breakfast for a month AND I get to dress you up in something skimpy and girly and take you for a photowalk along the Han.”

Byul’s glare came at the same time that Yongsun announced the sausages and toast were ready. Wheein held her ground.

“Any other terms?” The demon asked.

“If Yongsun-unnie finds out, whoever accidentally tells her is the loser.”

“Deal.” The demon said, reaching a hand out to shake Wheein’s just as the angel came back into the living room, a plate of sausages and toast balanced on each hand. When Yongsun reclaimed her spot at the sofa, Byul scooted away a few inches so that their knees wouldn’t touch like it had been before the bet had been made. The angel didn’t notice, already preoccupied with the sausages and toast.

Wheein didn’t bother hiding her grin. It was going to be a fun month. 

The first days were funny. Wheein tried to take as much of her art home with her if only to watch Byul slip up and reach out to brush Yong’s hair behind her ear, only to catch Wheein’s eye, glare, and then clench her hand into a fist and return it to her side. 

After the first week, Hyejin had caught on.

“I want in,” The vampire said, blunt and outright between the three of them while Yong was in the bathroom.

Byul and Wheein exchanged a look. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” The demon said, smoothly and without missing a beat.

“You can cut the crap,” The vampire waved her chopsticks dangerously close to Byul’s eyes. “Wheein gave me all the details. I want a cut.”

Wheein snorted into her stew. “Meaning?”

“Meaning I also want free breakfast and to come along and take pictures of my own at the Han River if Byul-unnie loses.”

Byul gave her a hard stare, but her smirk posed a challenge. “But if I win you have to prepare my dinner for a month AND I get to request the first song you sing at the club everyday for a week.”

Hyejin shrugged, “Fine.”

It was at that moment that Yong returned from the bathroom, wiping clean hands on a paper towel and taking her normal seat at the table beside Byul. “What are you guys talking about?”

“Hyejin-ah’s setlist,”  Byul said automatically, turning back to her soup.

Yong hummed, looking between her roommates before turning back to her food. “Byul-ah, pass me the bean sprouts.”

On a normal day, everyone knew that Byul would have scooped the sprouts onto Yong’s plate herself and Yong would have to touch the demon’s wrist to tell her when to stop. Hyejin and Wheein resolutely did not look up from their stews.

Byul carefully slid the side dish over, stopping just short of Yongsun’s plate and continued eating. 

The next day, Wheein caught the tail end of Yong asking Byul to get something off the high shelf in the kitchen just as she was coming home from the studio. The demon was perched on a stool, and unconsciously, Yong was reaching out a hand to steady her. 

Wheein whipped her phone out in case she needed photographic evidence.

Instead, Byul quickly swiped the extra tupperwares from the shelf and unceremoniously dropped it right in front of Yong’s face, prompting the angel to reach out both hands to catch the item.

Byul looked over her shoulder at Wheein and smirked.

The next three weeks were a series of near misses and almosts. With the month about to end in a few days, Wheein was starting to panic. She had even resorted to having Hyejin check up on the Unnies in their bedroom every time she came home from the club just to be sure that Byul wasn’t cheating behind closed doors.

“She has a pillow between them and Byulie-unnie’s scooted back so much I feel like she’s about to fall off the bed,” Hyejin grumbled to her one afternoon while Byul was out on a shoot and Yong was at work.

On the day before the month was up, Wheein was at her wits end. She was already planning how to stage an accident that involved Yong or Byul accidentally bumping into each other when she came across Yong crying in the kitchen.

“Unnie! What’s wrong?”

Immediately, Yong turned around, hiding herself from view and wiping frantically at the tears in her eyes. “It’s nothing.” Her voice cracked. “Uhm. Byul is eating out tonight and Hyejin will be at the club. Do you want to order in for the two of us?”

“Unnie,” Wheein approached, placing a hand on Yong’s shoulder. “You can talk to me.”

“I think--” Yong’s voice broke again. “I think Byul might be breaking up with me.”

Wheein wasn’t sure whether to break out into laughter or to feel guilty. 

“What--I mean. I’m sure it’s--”

“She’s practically ignoring me, Wheein.” The angel continued. “She won't even look at me or touch me anymore.”

Okay. Guilt it was.

“Uh. Unnie. You should--” She scrambled for a way to make this work in her favor. “I bet if you tried to hug her, things would turn out okay.”

Yong shook her head. “She hit her head last week. When I tried to reach for her she dodged out of the way so fast she almost fell. She doesn’t want me anymore.”

From where she stood, Wheein could just hear the soft pat of teardrops hitting the kitchen sink. She sighed, and hoped that Byul would be okay with sunny side-up eggs, toast, and some form of fried meat for a month, because that was the extent of her cooking skills when it came to breakfast.

“Actually, Unnie.” Wheein began, “We, uh, made a bet and--”

“What?”

She took a deep breath, and spoke louder, “We made a bet that if she didn’t touch you for a month, Hyejin and I would cook her meals.”

“Would you cook mine too?”

Wheein stepped away. “What?”

“I seem to recall--” A voice came from behind them. When Wheein turned around, it was just in time to catch Byul strolling back into the apartment. She hadn’t heard the door unlock, which meant it must have been ajar all this time. “That if anyone told Yong what the bet was, they’d lose.”

She felt her mouth drop open. When she turned back to look at Yong, the angel was smiling sheepishly at her. A bottle of eyedrops concealed in her palm.

“You--” She pointed an accusatory finger at both Yong and Byul. “You planned this?!”

“Actually,” Yong said, “I woke up to Hyejin sneaking into our bedroom last week, and then a few days after that I heard her telling you that Byul was keeping up her end of the bet.” The angel crossed her arms in front of her chest, her wings spreading out behind her, “I drew my own conclusions after that.”

Wheein stared at Yong guiltily, barely managing a sheepish grin. “But what about--” she turned to Byul.

“She texted me and told me to come home early and wait outside the door until I heard the signal.” At that, Byul turned her smile to Yong, “That was the signal, right?”

Yong shrugged, her smile was smug though. Wheein couldn’t help her outright groan of frustration though. “You know, you didn’t have to go through all this.” She told Yong, if a bit reproachfully. “The month is ending tomorrow. Byulie-unnie would have won either way.”

“Aw, you missed me that much?” Byul walked over and placed a kiss just at Yong’s shoulder. 

“Don’t be gross,” The angel said with a fond roll of her eyes. She didn’t pull away when Byul wrapped an arm around her shoulders though. “Besides,” she said to Wheein. “I wanted free breakfast and dinner too.”

She sighed. “Fried egg and bacon sound okay for tomorrow?”

Yong and Byul wore matching grins as they nodded.

"Oh, Wheeinie?" 

She turned to look back. Byul's grin was now pure evil and she had what looked like a tiny vest and a funny looking--oh.

"Can't wait to see you in these!" Byul taunted, waving the dog clothes in her hands around. 

She scowled, and made sure the Unnies could hear the very canine growl she let out over their shared laughter. 

Chapter Text

It starts like this:

Byul corners Hyejin just at the foot of the stairs one evening, suddenly emerging from her shared bedroom with Yong right after Hyejin comes home from the bar.

“Unnie!” The vampire says, more than a little surprised, “What are you doing up this early?”

“Not important,” Byul takes her by the shoulders and looks her head on, eyes serious. Hyejin realizes, belatedly, that Byul must have waited up all night just for her to come home so they could have this conversation in relative privacy. “I need you to promise me something, Hyejin-ah.”

She grows more alarmed by the second, “What’s going--”

“Just don’t ask. Please.”

She hesitates, because really, she’s never seen Byul like this and something about it scares her a bit, but she sees the flash of fear in Byul’s eyes and lets her loyalty to her friend win out. “Okay, I promise.”

Byul’s shoulders sag with relief a bit. The fear is still in her eyes though. Without meaning to, Hyejin can feel her fists clench.

“In the next few days I’m--” The demon hesitates, searching for the right words, “I might--” Byul takes a deep breath through her nose, her fingers gripping tight on Hyejin’s shoulders, “I might not act like myself or I might.” Another pause. “If I seem cruel, just--I need you to snap me out of it okay?”

“Unnie, are you--”

“Promise me okay!”

She nods quickly, the motion of it jarring against the adrenaline coursing through her. 

“And no matter what,” Byul adds, her voice lowering to a threat, “ don’t tell the others that  we had this conversation. Especially not Yong.”

Before Hyejin can reply to that, Byul’s already entering her bedroom and closing the door behind her. She stares after the demon for a bit, replaying the whole conversation in her mind. The encounter leaves her feeling restless, and for the rest of that morning, Hyejin doesn’t even try falling asleep.

----

At first, she’s not sure what to look out for, Byul’s warning and request had been clear, but at the same time, so very, very, vague. When she finally decides to give up the pretense and join the rest of her roommates downstairs, Hyejin feels on edge, like she’s walking on eggshells and waiting for a freight train to crash through their living room at the same time.

Byul is going about her day acting perfectly normal, like their strange little pre-dawn encounter didn’t happen. It even reaches a point where Hyejin starts to wonder if she had made the whole thing up in her mind. Some strange fever dream that felt all too real. 

Then, while Byul and Wheein were doing the dishes together after lunch, Byul smashes a plate at Wheein’s feet.

“Unnie! What the hell!”

Hyejin is off the sofa in an instant taking quick steps towards Byul, who’s staring at her hands as if she couldn’t quite believe what had just happened.

“The plate must have slipped,” Byul mumbles, almost to herself. Hyejin is already kneeling on the ground, picking up some of the larger fragments while checking to make sure no shards had embedded themselves on Wheein’s feet. Luckily, the werewolf is unscathed.

She’s furious though. 

“Like hell it slipped!” Wheein yells, glaring at the demon “I saw you smash that on the ground as clear as day! What the f--”

“Wheein-ah step away from the sink!” Hyejin barks out loud and sharp to cut through the tirade. “Be careful you don’t step on any of the shards.” She adds in a much softer tone, because Wheein is glaring at her now too.

“Not until Unnie tells me why she--”

“I’m sorry!” Byul is staring resolutely at the sink, her hands are gripping the edges of it so tightly that Hyejin can see her knuckles turn white even through the dish soap bubbles. “It slipped, I swear Wheein! I’m sorry.”

There’s a tense few seconds of silence while Wheein breathes through her anger, but eventually the werewolf huffs the word fine and carefully sidesteps the remaining plate fragments. Hyejin finishes clearing out the last of the shards, when she stands up, Byul is still staring resolutely at the sink.

“Unnie,”

“I’m fine!” The demon says, but Hyejin isn’t sure if she says it as a reply or to herself.

It becomes progressively worse from there. 

The next day Byul suddenly yells at Yongsun for coming home late, and there’s a tense few seconds where the angel looks hurt and everything is deathly silent before Hyejin tries for an awkward chuckle and a weak joke about Byul being possessive that no one really buys. 

An hour later, Hyejin is passing the demon on the way out to work and she catches the moment where it looks like Byul might slap her across the face. Luckily Wheein and Yong are upstairs when it happens. It takes a beat, but Byul snaps out of it again and takes several steps back, mumbling a series of apologies as she goes. 

The day after, Hyejin wakes up in the early afternoon to Byul at the kitchen sink once more. When she comes up behind the demon it’s to see the fresh batch of kimchi that Yong had made the other day all dumped in the sink. She hears Byul sniff and does her the courtesy of pretending not to notice the demon furiously wiping away the tears of frustration streaming down her face. Instead, she orders fresh kimchi online to replace the batch they just lost and makes quick work of cleaning up the mess before Yong comes home.

“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong now?”

“I’m fine,” Byul says again, and it’s all Hyejin can do to stop herself from her own outburst. The last thing they need right now is for her to get angry too.

“Look,” she says, going for a different approach, “I’m still holding true to the promise I made when I said I would cover for you, but at some point I think I deserve an explanation. Especially after all this trouble I’m going through for you.”

Byul stays silent.

Hyejin sighs, “At least tell me you won't be like this forever.”

“No!” Byul finally looks at her, desperate and pleading almost. “Just. Just a few more days I think, and then it’ll be over.”

“Unnie--”

“I’ll tell you then,” Byul promises, “I’ll tell everyone then. I just need to stick it out a little bit more and then it’ll be over.”

“But why can’t--”

“Hyejin-ah!” Byul whines. She sounds pained and Hyejin’s heart goes out to her. So she nods again. After all, it’s just like Byul said. Just a few more days. 

----

Hyejin is asleep, blissfully so, when she wakes up to the sound of the Unnies fighting. There is the smell of something sharp and bitter with Byul and Yong’s raised voices coming from downstairs. 

“I just want to understand why!”

“There’s nothing to talk about Yong! I told you it’s fine!”

She’s awake in an instant, scrambling out the cocoon of sheets and pillows she encases herself in every morning. Byul must have slipped up in front of the others, which can’t be good. The next thing she hears is something crashing downstairs and the bitter smell grows stronger and she’s already out of bed and running out of her room.

The living room looks like a page out of an artist’s depiction of the end times.

The Unnies were a study in contrasts. Yong is floating a foot or so in the air, eyes glowing pure white and wings spread out in all their majesty, casting bright white light in almost every corner of the living room, both her hands clenched into fists at her sides. Across from her, the air around Byul seems warped somehow, thinner, like a mirage, the demon’s eyes are pure red and there are scorch marks around her feet, almost like the very ground she’s stepping on is on the verge of bursting into flames.

Wheein is cowering by the dining table in her full wolf form. It’s not even close to the full moon, which means her own wolf senses could sense the danger. 

“It’s not fine, Byul!” Yong says, there’s a hollowness to her voice too. Hyejin realizes it’s because the angel is channeling all her angelic energy into her words. Making them drive her point even more. “You’re acting just like--”

Yong doesn’t finish the sentence but she may as well have, ‘just like a demon’ echoing loud in everyone’s minds. 

Byul’s glare hardens. The bitter smell is practically suffocating now, something acrid and sharp that makes Hyejin want to cover her nose. From the dining table, Wheein whines.

“Ashamed to be with me after all, Yongsun-ssi?”

The honorific takes everyone by surprise. Yongsun drops to the floor and something in her expression falls. “That’s not--Of course not! I just wish--”

“Wish I weren’t a demon?” 

“No! Stop twisting my words around, this isn’t about that!”

“It sure seems like it.” Byul says, her words cold as they slice through the air. She snaps her fingers once and everything snaps back to normal. The strange warp in the air is gone. The smell is gone. The scorch marks on the floor are gone. 

Byul is gone too. 

to be continued

Chapter Text

The silence that Byul leaves in her wake is deafening. Her sudden absence feels like a black hole in their living room, sucking the joy and the life out of all of them. 

She hadn’t meant to shift into her wolf form, normally, Yong and Byul’s fighting wouldn’t even wake her up from a nap, but this fight had been different. Wheein had sensed the threat in the air as the fight turned cutting and loud, then Byul’s eyes had flashed black, a pentagram of flames at her feet, and Yong had begun hovering a few feet in the air bathed in holy light, and by that point Wheein couldn’t have stopped the shift if she wanted to.

She knew there had been something wrong with the demon all week, she just never thought it was something this bad. The notion of it sends a primal fear through her wolf brain, telling her to run, run, run. But her human half roots all four of her paws in the ground at the sound of Yongsun suddenly breaking down into tears.

Yongsun beckons for Wheein by the dining table and the werewolf approaches carefully, butting her snout against Yong’s thigh with a soft whine. “I’m sorry you two had to see that.” The angel says to the room in general. If there’s a tremble and hitch to her voice. From the second floor landing, Hyejin offers her the courtesy of pretending not to notice. 

When the vampire finally joins them in the living room, Wheein shoots her a suspicious stare. There had been something off with the vampire too, and even while she had been hiding underneath the dining room table, it didn’t really escape Wheein’s notice that Hyejin looked the least shocked out of all of them at the recent turn of events. Like she had been expecting it.

Like she knew there was something wrong. 

She growls once, low and menacing in her throat. She probably won’t be able to shift back for the rest of the day, but she knows Hyejin will understand. Yongsun misses the whole exchange, her whole face is cradled into her palms now, and the soft hitch and gasps of her sobs echo louder than the shouting match Byul and Yong had.

Hyejin locks eyes with Wheein. Not now, her eyes say, I’ll tell you later. Wheein presses her left flank closer to Yong but her eyes are also on Hyejin. 

Fine, Wheein thinks, but after you tell me, we’re fixing this.

“She’ll be back,” Yongsun says after the crying finally stops. She rubs fondly at the fur between Wheein’s ears and tries in vain to smile for Hyejin. “You’ll see.” she says, gently extracting herself from them and moving to sit on the living room sofa, knees hugged to her chest.

“She wouldn’t leave me like that,” Yong’s voice grows softer, like she’s saying the words more for herself than for Wheein’s sake. The angel curls deeper into herself then and Wheein feels both her ears droop down, her tail going limp between her legs. It breaks her heart to see the angel this way.

Wheein and Hyejin spend the next few hours with Yong, the three of them taking solace in each other while also watching the door, waiting to see if the demon will come back.

Byul doesn’t return, and despite their best efforts to get the angel to eat or rest anywhere else, Yong doesn’t leave the living room sofa. Finally, Hyejin stands up to retreat to her own room and Wheein doesn’t intend to wait for an invitation, she follows the vampire upstairs. Once the door to Hyejin’s room closes behind them, Wheein rounds on the vampire and gives her a hard stare.

“I know, I know,” Hyejin says, already headed to her bed and lying down with a sigh, her whole arm coming up to cover her face. “I should have told someone about what was going on with Byulie-unnie, but she made me promise not to!”

Wheein growls.

“Of course I trust you!” Hyejin argues back. In the years that they’ve been roommates, the vampire has gotten to be the most adept at deciphering Wheein in wolf form. It certainly comes in handy for situations like this.

“But I trusted Unnie too,” the vampire says, “I trusted her when she said it would be fine and that it’d be over in a few days.”

Wheein huffs a short sigh, and walks over to nudge at Hyejin’s knee with her snout. 

“It started a few days ago,” her friend says, “she cornered me when I got home from work and told me to cover for her in case she acted--” they shared a look, “--off. Actually I think the word she used was ‘cruel’. I tried to ask her to explain but she wouldn’t. So really, I know about as much as you do at this point!”

“Wouldn’t or couldn’t?”

They both turned with a start. Hyejin sat up immediately, the motion of it sending some of her pillows toppling to the floor. Yong was by the door, eyes wide and both hands gripping at the frame.

“Unnie--”

“What did Byul say?”

“I don’t--we thought you were--”

“Hyejin-ah please!” the angel looked desperate, “You have to tell me what she said!”

Wheein looked from the angel to the vampire then decided to add in her two cents, she starts barking, loud and insistent, until Hyejin smacks her face with a pillow.

“Shut up! I’m trying to remember!”

There was silence for a few moments, the vampire’s brows furrowed in concentration before finally--

“I came home, Byulie-unnie was by the stars, and she asked me to promise her something. When I asked her what it was, she kind of evaded the question, just made me promise to snap her out of it if she starts acting mean. Cruel.”

Yong crosses the room in two strides, kneeling in front of Hyejin’s bed. “Did she say why?”

“No, I told you she wouldn’t tell me, and anytime I asked she--”

“Looked like she was in pain?” Yong finishes for her.

Wheein catches the moment Hyejin’s eyes go a bit wide. “I--yeah, I guess.”

Wheein doesn’t think it would be possible for Yong to turn any paler than she already is, but the angel proves her wrong. The angel also almost trips over her in her mad scramble to get up off the floor and exit the room.

“I know what’s wrong!” Yong yells, in her wake.

Wheein and Hyejin stare at each other dumbly for a few seconds before they’re both running after the angel.

“What is it?” The vampire calls out, but Yong ignores her in favor of grabbing a bag and her car keys from her bedroom. 

“I’ll explain later, we have to find her first!” Yong says, “I know how to fix it!”

“No, you tell us now!” Hyejin says instead, grabbing a bucket hat, her sunglasses, and an umbrella from her own room, “I’m tired of being kept in the dark!”

Wheein barks several times, loudly to voice her own agreement. 

“Wheein says you can tell us on the way, but we’re coming with you.”

“It’s daytime!” Yong argues.

“I don’t care!” The vampire says, “She’s our roommate too.” This one she says firmly, with a hand on Wheein’s head. Wheein stares up at the angel and barks her agreement. She widens her eyes slightly too, because even in situations like this, she knew Yong wouldn’t be able to resist--

“Always with the puppy dog eyes,” Yong grumbles, already resigned. “Fine, let’s go.”

Once they’re all in the car, driving out in search of the demon, Yong tells them, and even though her voice rang clear as day, Wheein still couldn’t believe her ears. Neither could Hyejin, it seems.

“What do you mean cursed ?”

Yong makes a sharp left turn and starts driving away from the city. “There’s a curse that only affects demons. The more powerful ones prevent them from telling other people they’ve been cursed so that they won’t be able to ask for help.”

Wheein barks.

“But she told me,” Hyejin says.

“She didn’t really though, did she?” Yong counters, “she told you she would be acting weird, but she didn’t tell you why or how it had happened. I think anytime she tried, the curse made her feel pain.”

It did make sense, the pieces of Yong’s explanation fitting in to the strange behavior their roommate had been displaying the last few days. Wheein thinks back to the start of the week, when she had been washing dishes with Byul and the demon had suddenly smashed a plate at her feet. Without the anger clouding her vision now, she remembers seeing how horrified Byul had looked after the fact. How the demon had turned to grip the sink, almost like she was trying to stop herself from doing anything else.

“Ok, but who would curse Byulie-unnie?”

Yong’s face turns grim, “I don’t know. She’ll have to tell us once the curse is lifted.”

They’re quiet for a long time. Buildings and streets zooming past as Yong just very nearly toes the speed limit in her mad dash to get out of Seoul, it’s only when they start seeing signs for the airport the Wheein starts barking.

Hyejin gets the hint. “Where are we going?”

“There’s a cove in Muuido that Byul used to go to in the eighteen hundreds. She took me there once.”

“Why would she go there?”

“Because she’s probably scared and alone.” Yong says, her voice turning sad as she does, “And if she’s going to try and break the curse by herself, it needs to be remote enough that there won't be anyone hurt by the blowback.”

“She said she would be fine in a few days,” Hyejin mumbles, probably not enough for Yong to hear, but Wheein’s wolf ears pick up the guilt there as loud as anything. She understands some of that too. The regret the vampire must be feeling, for blindly trusting their friend instead of just telling on her and trying to get her the help that she really needed. From the back seat, Wheein hooks her chin on Hyejin’s shoulder. The vampire reaches behind her to scratch at her ears.

“This isn’t your fault,” Yong says, once they finally make it to the freeway. “Byul didn’t want to worry you, and I have a feeling she’s been trying to find her own way to deal with the curse. This was just the drastic Plan B that I forced her into.” It’s Yong’s turn to sound ashamed, and Hyejin doesn’t miss a beat, reaching across the gear shift to place a comforting hand on the angel’s shoulder.

“It isn’t your fault either, Unnie.”

The drive takes close to three hours, halfway between Bucheon and Incheon, Wheein had fallen asleep, but she wakes up now to the feeling of Hyejin tossing a shirt and pants on top of her.

“You shifted back in your sleep,” The vampire says by way of explanation.

She looks down at herself and immediately drops to the floor of the car. “You couldn’t have woken me sooner?” Wheein gripes, immediately struggling her way into the clothes. Yong and Byul had taken to keeping some spares for her in the car for emergencies. 

“We had to pull over on the side of the road to get the clothes out of the emergency bag!” The vampire says instead.

“Whatever,” Wheein grumbles, struggling with the pants, “Are we almost there?”

“We’re crossing the bridge now,” Yong says.

Even at this time of the year, with the rain they’ve been having the past week, there are still quite a few tourists in Muuido, most of them probably natives, trying to spend some time away from the city. With the sea below them, Wheein can’t resist opening the car window to let in the cool, salty sea air. A part of her wishes she was still a wolf for this part at least. It would have been fun to stick her head out of the window.

She’s watching the island grow larger before them when a question pops into her head.

“You said Byulie-unnie went here to avoid blowback?” 

“Yeah?”

“What’ll happen if Hyejin and I are there?”

Yong looks at her from the rearview mirror, “I tried to get both of you to stay behind.”

There’s fear there, and a hint of an apology too, but Wheein just nods. Hyejin had been right earlier, Byul was their roommate too. No matter what happened, they would be there for her, because they knew that the demon would do the same for them if the roles were reversed. As if reading her mind, Hyejin reaches a hand behind her, Wheein takes it and grips it tight.

They drive along the coast for another hour, stopping at the end of an overlook that leads to the shore. Yong parks the car and immediately hops out, “It’s on foot from here, but if you two wanted to stay--”

“We’re coming.” Wheein says, and there’s a finality in her voice that the angel doesn’t question. She nods and smiles, before turning toward the steps that lead down to the sand. 

There aren’t that many tourists on this side of the island, and Wheein considers them lucky in that regard. The sand beneath her feet feels cakey and coarse, which tells her that it must have rained the evening before. The gentle sigh of the water lapping at the shore is out of sync with how fast her heart is beating in her chest.

It’s when they’re nearing the edge of the beach that Wheein hears it, and Yong must hear it too because the angel starts sprinting the rest of the way. A low keening cry that couldn’t be anything other than Byul. Hyejin’s hand is still in hers and Wheein grips it tightly as they run, trying not to think about what state their roommate might be in when they find her.

Right where the sand ends, there’s a dense overgrowth of foliage that cascades down into the water, just barely concealing a cliff edge that must act as the final barrier between the shore and the cove Yong had mentioned.

The angel doesn’t hesitate, wading into the water until it reaches up to her stomach, walking against the pull of the waves as she turns to enter the cove. Wheein and Hyejin are close behind her. At the mouth of the cove, they see her.

The demon is soaked to the bone, the clothes she had been wearing that morning completely drenched and covered in sand and stuck to her skin. That’s not the most pressing sight though. It’s that Byul is hunched in on herself, another pentagram beneath her, the harsh stench of sulphur contrasting against the briny scent of the sea. The walls of the cove are blackened with burn marks and there’s smoke and steam rising from where the flames Byul is conjuring gets doused by another wave. 

From afar, it almost looks like the demon is praying, but she lets out another cry and Wheein watches in horror as a pillar of fire rises around her for a few moments. When it dies down again the demon is panting and pale, but she starts bracing herself to try again.

“Byul!” 

The demon finally realizes they’re there, eyes growing wide as Yong starts walking toward her, but she seems to remember herself just enough to pull a hand out to stop them. “Don’t! Yong you can’t!”

“I know what’s wrong with you! I can help you!”

“Unnie,” Hyejin this time, “Let us help you! You don’t have to deal with this by yourself!”

There’s the flicker of hesitation in Byul’s eyes, but it’s wiped away with the tide, “You’ll get hurt if you do!”

That seems to set off Yong’s determination because the angel starts wading toward the demon again. “You can’t hurt me, Moon Byulyi.” She says, her voice loud and commanding, and for a moment, Wheein thinks she gets a glimpse of what Yong must be like as a warrior for heaven, powerful and beautiful and brave. 

“We promised we’d be there for each other,” Yong says, and Wheein doesn’t think she’s imagining the tears streaming down the angel’s face, hidden by the spray of the sea. “I’m here,” the angel says, and it’s both a declaration and an order. She isn’t going anywhere and neither would they.

Byul finally cracks, head bowed in shame, she lets in a few shaky breaths. She’s crying too. Then, finally, she nods. 

Yong doesn’t waste any time, leaning down into the water, and ignoring how the waves push and pull at her as she gathers Byul into her arms.

“If it gets to be too much,” Yong says, this time directed toward Wheein and Hyejin, “take cover behind the rock.”

They nod, but Wheein feels the moment when both of them plant their feet even more firmly in the sand. They watch as Yong maneuvers Byul until the demon is seated between her legs, her back to Yong’s chest. The angel wraps one arm around Byul’s waist and the other she places on Byul’s forehead, inviting her to tilt her head against her shoulder. The tips of Byul’s horns just barely graze against Yong’s wingfeathers. 

Wheein sees Yong whisper an apology into Byul’s ear, the demon just nods and takes a deep breath, lacing their fingers together. Then it begins. 

The sudden glow of heavenly light is bright and warm at first, but then it becomes blinding and intense all too soon, and Wheein and Hyejin both shield their eyes against it. Byul starts crying out in pain again, and Wheein feels the vampire grip her hand tighter. 

If she squints her eyes and tries to peer past the protection of her fingers, Wheein thinks she can make out the silhouette of the Unnies. The light grows white hot, and eventually Hyejin pulls her away behind the rock, it feels like the finer hairs on her arms and skin have been singed off.

Byul’s cries suddenly stop, and the moment the light vanishes, Wheein and Hyejin round the corner into the cove again. The Unnies are lying down in the water, both passed out by the looks of it. 

The both of them wade over to help, Wheein grabs Yong by the arms and takes great care to try and lift her under her wings so that the feathers aren’t weighed down too much by the water. From the corner of her eye she can see Hyejin try to maneuver around Byul’s horns, as the vampire struggles to hook an arm around the demon. It takes a while, and some graceless maneuvering, but eventually she and Hyejin manage to get both the Unnies safely to shore.

When Byul comes to, the first thing she does is crawl over to Yong’s side. “Yong,” she whispers, hoarse from all the screaming earlier. “Yong!” She says a little louder, her voice already growing panicked. Wheein sits up too, suddenly feeling cold. She had carried the angel through the water, but in her rush she didn’t really check to see if she was okay. If she was breathing.

Byul shakes her again, and when that does nothing, Wheein has to brace herself against the tears she can feel stinging her eyes.

Suddenly, Byul lifts a hand and smacks it across the angel’s face.

“Ow!” Yong’s eyes clench tight and when she opens them she’s glaring, “That’s how you thank me for saving you?”

Byul just laughs, her entire figure sagging in relief. She ignores Yong’s indignant squawks in favor of collapsing on top of her and wrapping her in a one armed hug. 

Wheein catches Hyejin’s eyes and the vampire looks just as relieved as she feels. With an unspoken agreement, they crawl over and join the hug, all four of them laughing and crying together.

--

On the car ride home, Byul tells them everything.

“Why would a higher demon curse you?” Yong asks, chancing a quick glance at Byul in the passenger’s seat.

“One of his daughters is trying to become an actress up here. I took her headshot photos as a favor. She must have failed her audition though because next I knew, her father snuck up behind me last week and cursed me.”

“Unbelievable,” Hyejin mutters, still running a towel through her long hair. It had taken a while for Byul and Yong to recover from the entire ordeal, but when they had, all Yong had to do was step through her halo and come out fully dry and in a fresh set of clothes. Byul snapped her finger to do the same, but with Wheein and Hyejin still wet from the sea, the best that the demon could do was snap some towels and new clothes into existence for them.

“You know he should have cursed the casting director, or the production agency, or his daughter’s acting coach,” Wheein finds herself adding, angry on behalf of her roommate.

They’re quiet for beat, all four of them finally letting the day’s events wash over them. It’s Byul who breaks the silence again. “Thank you,” she says, gently at first, but with more resolve as she reaches out to hold Yong’s hand over the gear shift before turning to look at both Wheein and Hyejin in the back seat. “Thank you for coming for me.”

Wheein smiles, reaching forward to place her hand over Byul’s and Yong’s. Hyejin does the same.

“It’s what we do,” she says, simply and matter-of-factly. 

Eventually they pull away, and the rest of the drive is silent. All of them reveling in the glow of their bond that was, as it turns out, stronger than any curse. 

Chapter Text

There was a whirr of a five-year-old MacBook working harder than it ever had in its humble, PDF-viewing life, before Yong’s screen flickered on with four windows of bluish-white light.

“Unniiiiieee,” sang the one containing Wheein.

“Wheeiniiiee,” she mimicked.

Wheein pushed closer to the camera, enough for one of her wolf ears to flop cutely to the side. “How are you, Unnie? Do you miss me terribly?” The pixels composing her eyes squinted.

“Not since the last time you asked me that,” said Yong, though not without warmth, “which was yesterday, when you spent thirty minutes texting me cat memes and a series of links to videos about cats harmonizing with pop songs.”

“That was comedy gold!,” Wheein mourned. “I wanted to make you smile while you’re away on that extended tour trip in Jeju.”

Yong batted a playful hand. “Don’t worry, it worked!”

On the leftmost window, Hyejin’s brows furrowed and her lips moved, and then a crackle of static “- me now?”

“Were you talking this whole time, Hyejin-ah?” said Wheein.

In Byul’s window, which was underneath Hyejin’s, the demon was busy lifting and looking under blankets and pillows in the bedroom behind her. Very clearly her and Yong’s bedroom back in Room 1031. “Be with you guys in a sec. Can’t find my phone.” Her mic faintly caught a lost, lonely ringtone, begging to be recovered.

Yong frowned, all her attention suddenly on the ransacked state of their shared bedroom. “You better tidy that up before I come home this weekend.”

Byul looked sheepish but her tone was teasing, “Yes, dear.”

“How could you lose your phone?” Wheein asked; there were faint sounds of laughter and chatting in the background coming from her. “Isn’t that thing perpetually glued to your palm or something?”

“Yong and I were video calling last night before bed,” Byul lifted the entire mattress off the bed frame and scanned the empty space in front of her, “I fell asleep without putting my phone on the bedside table, and now it’s missing.”

Hyejin frowned, before her video vanished entirely and all that was left in its place was a picture of the vampire onstage at the Blue Cosmos. “Hello,” it said, a little megaphone icon pulsing in the lower right of it. “Byulie-unnie, I hear your phone.”

“Hyejin-ah,” said Yong, “you turned your camera off.”

“I did?” she said. There was silence for a few beats before Hyejin started muttering under her breath, near enough to the laptop microphone that they could still hear her, “I hate technology.”

“Just click on the camera icon again!"

“Found it,” announced a shrunken Byul, crouching in the far corner of their bedroom, “it was by the closet,” the demon said to herself at first, before announcing it louder for the rest of her roommates “It was by the closet!”

Yong glanced at Wheein’s screen - she was now occupied with a sketchbook that was just beside her laptop, though she seemed to absently smile while she listened to all the online ruckus. Finally the werewolf looked up and squinted at her screen, presumably seeing something Yong couldn’t, finally she said, “Byulie-unnie what happened to the old photo in your bedroom?”

Yong refocused on Byul’s screen. Finally she saw it, the photo that hung beside their shared closet of the two of them from their ten year anniversary was missing, in its place was an old picture of them from before they were together. In the sixties probably. She could remember her sister taking that particular picture. 

“Switched it out,” the demon said, haphazardly tossing the disturbed pillows back on the bed without so much as a single attempt to dust them off after having picked them up off of the floor. Yong’s fingers twitched, and she made a mental note to change out their beddings the moment she got back to the apartment. “Since Yong left me here by myself, I found some other photos of ours from years before. I’m testing out which ones work best.” The demon said.

“Ooooh,” said Hyejin’s profile photo, “send them to our group chat, I wanna see some old photos of you and Yong-unnie.”

“No way,” Byul quipped, finally sitting down in front of her laptop, her eyes taking in each of their screens in turn. “Hyejin-ah turn your camera on!”

An exasperated grunt came from the vampire’s corner. “I’m not used to this okay! Just tell me what to click!”

“I told you, the camera icon!” Yong piped in, “It’s on the lower left of your screen.” There was a beat, but then instead of her camera turning on, the vampire’s rectangle announced that she was raising her hand.

“That’s the ‘Raise Your Hand’ function,” said Wheein, fully abandoning her sketchbook now, “The camera settings are to the far left.”

Yong nodded in agreement. “I can’t believe I’ve been on Earth for over a millennia before technology came about and even I’m better at you than this."

“Uh, yeah, no,” Byul’s screen seemed to be lagging, so even though Yong could hear the demon’s voice, the pixels that made up her face didn’t move, “The first time I got you a smart phone it took you a month to learn how to use it.” Finally, her video started moving in time with her words. “You’re only slightly better than Hyejin because we’ve been video-calling ever since you went on that extended tour guide assignment.”

“I learned eventually,” Yong frowned, “at least my camera is on!”

“Just barely,” Byul conceded, her voice teasing again, “You still won’t buy a tablet even though that laptop of yours is practically asthmatic”

Finally, Hyejin’s camera turned back on, “Yes! There we go!”

“I don’t see why I have to buy something new if my current device is working just fine,” Yong said seriously, this argument with Byul was an old one, “Capitalism is a demonic invention and just because I’m dating you doesn’t mean I have to buy into everything demons do.”

“‘Buy in’. Haha.” Wheein said. There were trees swaying in the breeze where she was, Yong smiled at the sight, “Byulie-unnie has a point though, last time I borrowed your laptop it took twenty minutes just to turn on.”

“It knows who its owner is,” Yong said, not even trying to hide how defensive her tone had gotten, “Anyway, how’s the artist’s retreat Wheein? Getting lots of inspiration in Jirisan?”

“Can’t complain,” said Wheein. “It’s nice being away from the city, but I wish you guys were here too.”

“Hyejin-ssi,” a muffled, distant voice somewhere said; Yong looked to Hyejin’s rectangle in confusion. The vampire was staring at something--or someone--behind her laptop, “The boss wants to know if you’ll be okay here by yourself while the rest of the team go out sight-seeing?”

Hyejin straightened up, her whole face disappearing from view until all they could see of her was the rumpled sight of the oversized, striped shirt she usually wore to bed. “Yeah, it’s fine. The show won’t be ‘til later right?” Whoever was with the vampire must have nodded because there were no other voices heard, just the sound of a door closing. The vampire rearranged herself until her face was in view again, the hotel bed she must have situated herself on, shifting under her weight.

“I take it the bar-singer-exchange-program in Daegu is going well?” Byul’s pixels said, her voice out of sync again with her video.

"That's not what it's called and you know it," The vampire said before shrugging. “The change in audience is refreshing, but I miss the Blue Cosmos crowd.”

“And I’m sure they miss you,” Wheein nodded solemnly, “their vampire crooner. The bar patrons will be frothing at the mouth by the time you return.”

Hyejin rolled her eyes at the tease before reaching for something off screen, “You say that like you don’t miss me too.” She brandished her thermos in front of her screen and Yong could just barely hear the blood sloshing around inside. “Admit it Wheein-ah, you miss me more than you miss the Unnies.”

In her frame, Wheein shrugged. “I miss you all an equal amount.”

Byul smirked. “Aww, look at our kids Yong, going through their first bout of separation anxiety.”

“They grow up so fast,” Yong agreed, pleasantly.

Her MacBook hummed with effort. As much as she hated to admit it, she did think it was high time that she bought a new one. She just wasn’t looking forward to the look on her demon’s face if she came home from the trip with a new device in tow. She sent a silent prayer to heaven in the hopes that the decrepit thing would at least survive this call, then she would buy a new one the moment she was back in Seoul.

“Stop lying,” said Hyejin, threateningly pointing a finger at her screen. “Last night you sent me a bunch of puppy emojis and a sad face.”

Wheein blinked lazily. “Ah, you’re such a bother.” The corners of her lips were turning up though. “I sent all of you different things, that doesn’t mean I miss one of you more than the rest.”

Byul was holding up her phone to her own webcam. Her screen whited out for a bit, adjusting to the new source of light, before refocusing again and revealing the pixelated sight of the demon’s phone, turned to a cooking channel. “Wheeinie sent me microwave mug videos and 5-minute photo hack tutorials.”

“I know what’s in Wheein’s heart,” Hyejin said dramatically, “just admit you miss me a little bit more.”

Yong smiled, taking in the sight of her roommates playfully arguing like this. It was strange for them to all be separated in different cities, not having seen each other in the last few days. Luckily, Wheein would be headed home the next day and Hyejin just a few hours after her, which meant that Byul wouldn’t be so alone in the apartment before Yong managed to make her own way home from her trip that weekend.  

Until then, they would just have to make do with this.

The call’s audio distorted with everyone talking at once. “Wheein misses me more,” said Hyejin, while Byul shouted “All she sent you were emojis! I got actual videos!” and Wheein said, “You guys are reading way too much into it!” Yong let them carry on for a bit, content with just watching the chaos. 

Eventually the discussion veered away from Wheein and into an in-depth analysis of the difference between a photo meme and a funny viral video. Byul and Wheein were taking turns trying to explain it to an increasingly confused Hyejin

“Look,” Wheein said, gently as anything, holding up her own phone to the screen. “Photo memes are things like this, they’re kinda templated and people use them to relate to like. Real world scenarios.”

Hyejin blinked in confusion. “So how come when you send me funny videos” she said, “the comments all say something like ‘this is memey’. Doesn’t that make it a meme?” 

“Not really,” said Byul, “there’s more nuance to it than that.”

“Although, people can take screenshots from viral videos and turn those into memes!” Wheein added, which was probably the wrong thing to say, because now Hyejin looked more lost than ever.

Yong couldn’t help herself. She started laughing

“This conversation” she wheezed, between peals of laughter, “is so stupid.”

It didn’t take long for all four of them to devolve into full blown laughter. Byul and Wheein were still trying to explain amidst their chuckles but Hyejin was already shaking her head, a hand on her mouth and the other on the screen as she tried to get them to stop talking.

When they finally calmed down, Byul cleared her throat once, checking to make sure everyone was behaved before speaking. “Okay!” the demon clapped in an officious manner, “Now that that’s done we can commence with the agenda.”

Yong settled into the sofa in her hotel, resting her laptop on the coffee table in front of her.

“Who chose it this time?” asked Wheein.

“I did,” said Byul, “Don’t worry, it’s PG.” Not that that was a worry. Yong’s weekly horror-movie marathons in the past were enough to desensitize her roommates to the genre.

A series of busy clicks. “Everyone comfy?” asked Hyejin.

A chorus of yeahs and uh-huhs. Yong stretched and locked her hands behind her head, grinning at all of her friends in the rectangles of their life away from her that she was able to glimpse. They all shrank to a corner of the screen as a final, giant window appeared, and the opening credits of a movie began to roll.

Chapter Text

Wheein couldn’t fall asleep. The worst part was she didn’t even know what to blame it on. She never usually has trouble falling asleep and the coffee she drank that morning should be long out of her system by now. Still, here she is, wide awake and staring into the empty darkness of her room. All around her, the house was quiet. There was no sound from the Unnies’ room and tonight wasn’t even one of Hyejin’s nights off so there was no one for her to hang out with if she went downstairs.

Thinking about the vampire, she briefly contemplated getting dressed and maybe trying to catch the last few songs over at the Blue Cosmos, but eventually thought better of it. She wasn’t really in the mood to be around other people. 

With sleep becoming an obvious moot point she heaved a sigh and rolled out of bed, opening the door and quietly making her way downstairs. 

The apartment was dark, the only light filtering in were the flickering city lights from the outside, casting everything in a pale blue-grey sheen. The living room table still had Byul’s work laptop and camera on it. The demon had been sorting through photos from the last couple of shoots earlier that evening. 

By the kitchen, there was a tub of Greek yogurt sitting out that probably hadn’t fit in their refrigerator anymore. Yongsun had spent most of the evening whipping up a fresh batch of the stuff. It had been too late when she realized she had made too much.

Along their bookshelf, aside from the bits and bobs of knick-knacks and framed photos that made up the Unnies’ shared history together, there were also little clay sculptures and framed paintings and sketches done on paper that Wheein had created. Little bits of her art that she felt proud enough to display around their home.

From where she was standing just by their TV, Wheein could see the tell-tale empty space in their coat rack. A sign that the vampire was still out for work and wouldn’t be back until the sun rose. 

Wheein smiled, admiring the little signs of life all around. Bits and clues that probably wouldn’t mean anything to anyone else, but to her and her roommates, it was a sign of the steady life they had built with each other these last few years. If she thought about the girl she was before she moved out to Seoul, before she entered Room 1031, before she met the angel, the demon, and the vampire, she could barely recognize herself. 

She realized, with a warm sort of comfort, that she wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. 

That was when the door to their apartment creaked open.

Wheein stood still, watching Hyejin go through the motions of shrugging off her coat and toeing off her shoes. When the vampire finally turned, Wheein could track the way her whole body jumped at the sight of her standing in the middle of the living room.

“You trying to scare me or something?” Hyejin teased, the vampire finished hanging up her coat, filling the empty space on their coat rack.

“I couldn’t sleep,” Wheein said, “You’re back early.”

“The bar is being rented out tomorrow morning for an engagement party.” The vampire explained, wandering from the hyeon gwan to the kitchen and opening the refrigerator, “The crew that’s going to set up is arriving at dawn, so we had to clear out before they arrived. Would you know if there’s any of the spam left over from last week?”

“I don’t think so,” Wheein walked over to the kitchen and peered over the vampire’s shoulder at the open refrigerator. She could see the crammed mess of tubs and tupperwares that made up Yongsun’s Greek yogurt supply, there was probably enough to last for at least three months.

There was an assortment of containers that Wheein recognized, some of them containing leftover rice or noodles or broths. She was pretty sure there was even some month-old pizza forgotten at the back. No spam though.

“What did you have in mind?”

“Wanted to make spam and kimchi rice.” Hyejin mumbled. The vampire opened the freezer and reached in for a packet of bacon, “This will have to do. Wanna join me?”

It would be a lie to say that this wasn’t a completely favorable turn of events for her. She didn’t say anything though, just reached in for the huge glass pyrex rectangle that housed their batch of kimchi. “Extra bacon on mine.”

Hyejin accepted the container with a smirk.

They got to work quietly, in a companionable silence that felt as natural to Wheein as breathing. Their rice cooker still had left over rice from that evening, so while Hyejin set to work frying bacon, Wheein heated a pan with oil and began to stir fry the rice and kimchi together.

“You don’t think the Unnies would wake up to this do you?” She said, just a little under her breath to not break the quiet stillness that still permeated every corner of their home. 

“Byulyi-unnie-unnie might,” Hyejin added two more slices of bacon, the sizzle of it echoing loud. “I feel like she could smell kimchi rice a mile away.”

“Good thing she’s a deep sleeper then,” Wheein said, “cause I’m pretty sure there’s only enough here for two.”

Hyejin bumped her hip against Wheein’s. Another simple gesture that the two of them had slowly established through the years. Usually no words were needed and Wheein was glad for it. 

When the food was done, the fried rice dished out into bowls with strips of bacon balanced on top, Wheein took her share and was about to walk into the living room when Hyejin grabbed her by the arm and steered her toward the door instead.

“What are you doing?” She hissed, following along anyway.

The vampire shrugged, “There’s a better place where we can eat these.”

Wheein struggled to change into some outdoor shoes while balancing the bowl of rice in her hand, grumbling all the while.

“Ahn Hyejin if I drop a piece of bacon I swear to--”

“Just be quiet and make sure you have house keys with you,” The vampire said, opening the door and stepping out into the hallway. Wheein grabbed the spare set of house keys from where they were hanging and followed suit, the door closing and automatically locking behind them.

The apartment building was old, at least thirty years old by what Wheein could tell, but it was in excellent condition. The carpeted that lined the hallway had just gotten changed and according to the Unnies, every decade or so the walls would get a fresh coat of paint to keep it looking bright and new. 

“Where are we going?” She asked again. Outside, the streets were still dark save for the haunting glow of street lamps and well lit billboards. 

“You’ve lived here longer than me, I’m surprised you don’t know.” Hyejin shot back. They turned a corner and walked all the way to the end. To the well-marked door that said ‘FIRE EXIT’.

“Shouldn’t that door be--” the words died on Wheein’s throat as Hyejin nudged the exit open with nothing more than the toe of her shoe.

“It should be,” Hyejin said, picking up on the missing part of the sentence, “but I think the automated lock for this one broke a long time ago and the superintendent hasn’t discovered it yet.”

Past the door, Hyejin took her wrist and lead her up, up, up about four flights until they reached another door marked ‘ROOFTOP’.

“You’re telling me this one isn’t locked too?” Wheein said, disbelievingly.

Hyejin turned to her and winked, a devilish smile curling up the corners of her lips. She pushed it open and pointed out the strip of duct tape that was strategically placed over the bolt.

“Did you do that?”

“No,” the vampire said, “but I’m eternally grateful for whoever did, cause now we get to hang out here.”

It wasn’t a very picturesque rooftop, just concrete with a giant vent off to one corner and a line of four industrial generators that hummed low and consistently off to the opposite side. The whole thing was surrounded by a thick ledge that probably reached just a little above Wheein’s chest.

Even the view wasn’t too special, theirs wasn’t the tallest building after all, but it still offered a pretty decent view of the city, of the lights that stretched far past what Wheein’s wolf eyes could see. Below there were still people milling about. Businessmen and telco workers only just finishing a long night shift. Stray cats ducking in and out of alley ways. Vampire couples walking hand in hand from a date. 

At this time of night, with dawn still a while away but the city feeling so alive anyway, Seoul felt like another world entirely. A liminal space shared by vampires and insomniacs and, just for tonight, Wheein too.

“Thanks for the meal,” Hyejin mumbled beside her. Wheein parrotted it back to her, staring at the bowl of kimchi rice and bacon that was still warm in her hand. 

The two of them settled back against the ledge and began eating. 

They were quiet for a while, nothing but the scrape of chopsticks against bowls or the occasional crunch of bacon. 

It was Hyejin who broke the silence. “Insomnia, huh?”

Wheein hummed, swallowing her final bite of rice before setting the bowl down beside her. “I’m hoping this isn’t going to be a recurring thing. I just couldn’t sleep.”

“Well I’m glad you’re here anyway,” Hyejin said, her voice turning low and raspy, the way it did when the vampire got tired, “being up here isn’t half as fun when it’s just me.”

“How often are you up here?”

“Not too often.” Hyejin set down her own bowl, dusting her hands off before scooting closer so she could rest her head on Wheein’s shoulder. “Found this place last year, but I only come up when--”

There was a beat of silence before the vampire switched gears, instead she continued with, “Sometimes I imagine what would have happened if I hadn’t moved to Seoul,” Hyejin said, apropos of nothing. “If I had stayed with my coven, I mean.”

It was similar to her own thoughts from earlier. Wheein thought about the empty space at the coat rack earlier, the one that they all knew to be Hyejin’s space for her jackets and scarves. She tried to picture it perpetually empty, or with someone else’s jackets and scarves hanging from it. She found she didn’t want to even continue that line of thinking.

“I was thinking the same thing,” she replied instead, “except about me.”

“Kind of daunting isn’t it? How much we’ve changed from before.” Hyejin said. “If we both hadn’t met, I would still be a sheltered coven girl and you would still be with your pack. Never would have met the Unnies, or become friends.”

Wheein hummed.

“But at least we’re here.” Hyejin straightened up, moving to lean back against the ledge instead, but this time she slung an arm over Wheein’s shoulders. “I’m glad I’m here with you, Wheelie,” she said again. 

Wheein smiled. She felt it too after all, this strange pull to the city she had come to think of as her home. To the life she had found for herself, and the people she had chosen to share it with her. Being up here with her best friend no less, she felt a sense of gratitude for past-Wheein, for making the choices that lead her here, at the same time she was excited for her future self too, for what else there was in store.

She reached up a hand to playfully tug at Hyejin’s fingers, “I’m glad I’m here with you too, Hyegi.”

They stayed up at the rooftop for another hour, just until the night sky started shifting from a deep blue black to gray. By then Wheein could finally feel the heavy pull of sleep at the back of her mind. Beside her, Hyejin’s eyes were drooping low too.

“Come on,” she said, “time to go back.”

The descent to their floor took faster, especially now that they didn’t have to worry about balancing food in their hands. When they re-entered Room 1031, it was still deathly quiet, the Unnies were still asleep. Byul’s laptop was still in the living room and Yong’s greek yogurt was still on the kitchen counter. Wheein’s art still dotted their shelves and Hyejin’s coat was still hanging from her spot on the rack.

Wordlessly, they deposited their bowls at the sink and padded up the stairs. 

Just before they entered their own rooms though, Wheein reached out to grasp Hyejin’s wrist.

“Thank you for taking me there.”

The vampire smiled, turning so that she could squeeze Wheein’s hand back, “anytime.”

Chapter Text

Yongsun can’t count the number of times she’s taken care of Wheein during a full moon cycle. It was practically second nature to her now. She knew what the werewolf needed without even having to be asked, and that was a point of pride for her. So when Wheein had one day begged to be taken outside on the same day that Yong had an afternoon tour planned, the angel wasn’t exactly opposed to the idea of bringing her along.

As it was, the tour agency wasn’t against their guides or guests bringing pets along if they were behaved, Yong had just never had to both look after a roommate and a group of tourists at the same time.

“I’d take her if I could, but the hotel we’re shooting at doesn’t allow pets,” Byul said at dinner the night before. Beside her, Wheein was already a wolf, staring balefully at both Unnies. Hyejin had already left for the bar.

“Well what about--” Yong began but Wheein was already barking and pawing at the table in disagreement. 

“I don’t think she likes your idea,” Byul said around a mouthful of meat. She was smirking, but Yong knew what they’re all thinking. As much as it would be easier to ask Hyejin to take Wheein out so she could stretch her wolf legs, it was the middle of summer, and the chances of the vampire passing out from the sun and the heat were too great to risk.

“Okay, I’ll take you,” Yong said, she reached out to brush the fur along the side of Wheein’s snout. “It’ll be fun! You can help me take the tourists around the temples!”

It was fun at first. 

There were no other werewolf families on tour for obvious reasons, but there was a European family with two boys who seemed to never want to leave Wheein’s side, and while Yong talked history and culture with the parents, Wheein managed to keep the kids entertained, shuffling them from sight to sight and chasing them around the expansive grounds of one of Seoul’s grandest temples.

“I’m starting to think you should come along for tours more often,” Yong teased as the bus drove them to their last destination, “You’re good with kids.”

Wheein barked out a laugh, or at least, it sounded like a laugh to Yong’s ears, and that was good enough. 

At the last temple, pets were, unfortunately, not allowed past the main gate, and that included werewolves currently in their wolf state.  When it became clear that the parents weren’t willing to leave their children waiting with Wheein outside, Yong turned to look apologetically at her roommate.

“Will you be okay?” Yong asked, walking with Wheein to a waiting spot just by the main entrance. Because she hated it with a passion, Wheein wasn’t wearing a collar or a leash, just a patterned lavender bandana that Byul had tied around her neck before leaving for her photoshoot that morning. 

Wheein barked once.

“I’ll make it quick okay?” 

Another bark.

“Promise! I’ll be back before you know it!”

The bark that followed was more exasperated than anything, which eased some of Yong’s nerves as she waved goodbye and trotted back inside where the tour group was waiting.

All in all, it was a smooth tour, with just as many photo stops and bathroom breaks as any other. When it was over, Yong walked the group to the bus and told the driver to pick her and Wheein up around the corner. Then she walked out the main gates herself, bottle of water in hand for her roommate. When she reached the spot where she left the werewolf, Wheein wasn’t there.

Yong froze where she stood, and tried to backtrack, wondering if she had missed a turn or had passed her roommate entirely. Except after having gone in and out of the main gate several times, she was sure that this was the spot which meant Wheein should be here. But she wasn't. Yong began feeling a horrible weight settle in her gut.

The angel took a deep breath to calm herself. Wheein was smart. Wheein was capable. Maybe she had taken a walk around the block and had simply lost track of time? She tried not to let the worst of the fears creep up on her yet. Instead, she took the self same spot she left the werewolf in and started waiting. Every now and then Yong would cast her gaze up and down the street, half expecting a familiar brown pelt with a lavender bandana to turn the corner and come bounding towards her.

By the time the tour bus had parked in front of her, Wheein still wasn’t back.

She stared at the bus a little helplessly. Inside, the tour group was also waiting expectantly, and Yong felt the pressures of being a professional and a good roommate battling in her head. Eventually, the one that mattered the most won out.

She poked her head in the tour bus. “Thank you everyone for choosing Try It All Tours today! Unfortunately this is where I leave you. The Bus will bring you back to the agency where you may deposit the headsets if you have chosen to rent them out. Have an excellent day and we hope to see you again soon!”

After a few more instructions to the driver, she exited the bus again and watched it drive away. From the back. The two boys who had spent most of the day with Wheein were staring forlornly at her, at the space where Wheein was supposed to be.

When it was out of sight, Yong spun around and began walking along the street, calling out to the werewolf. The longer it went on, the more her fear began to grow. 

Normally, on a full moon cycle, packs would stay indoors or within their compounds out of the public eye, it wasn’t exactly a necessary practice, but one that was steeped in history, out of necessity and survival. Long gone were the days when the tensions between Humans and Supernatural creatures ran high. But to those that were there, that remembered it wasn't a matter to take lightly.

 It was one of the first kings of the Goryeo dynasty that had thought he could gain full control of the region by arranging werewolf hunts and vampire raids across the land. If she thought hard enough, Yong could still remember those days. She and her sister had helped quite a few werewolf packs hide out in the mountains back then.

It had also been one of the earlier kings of the Joseon Dynasty that had put an end to all that savagery, and when the treatises with the other races was inked and signed with blood, metaphorically and literally, it felt like the entire country had breathed a sigh of relief. Yong could still remember the joy and wonder of walking around and seeing werewolves and vampires alike, walking the streets of the capital amongst humans and angels and demons. 

And even though it had been centuries since the last werewolf hunt, and even though any lingering anti-supernatural being sentiment died away with the last of Korea’s great dynasties, those memories were now all Yong could think about.

Her fingers twitched at the purse on her side, and she wondered if she should give Byul a call. After she had circled the entire block with still no sign of her roommate, she was ready to give in to the panic.

“Excuse me?”

She turned, almost smacking a few passers-by with her wings in the process. The person that had called her attention had been one of the guards by the main gate. He stared at her, hesitantly, eyes darting from her halo to her wings before retreating back to her face.

“Were you, um,” he stammered, “are you looking for your dog?”

“Yes!” She very nearly grabbed the poor man by the shoulders, it was a near thing, “She's my friend, have you seen her?”

“Oh,” the man looked nervous, “Earlier, there were men who showed some interest in a dog that was waiting by the gate. If I had known she was a werewolf I would have intervened. They tried to take her.”

It felt like someone doused her with a bucket of ice water.

“She got away though,” the guard added, hastily, “She ran that way,” he pointed down the road, past where Yong had been searching. 

Yong could feel her wings stretch behind her. It was unconscious on her part.

“I’m sorry,” the guard implored, he looked honestly gutted by it and Yong felt a little bad for him. “I saw you talking to her earlier but I didn’t--I hadn’t--there was no collar and usually wolf packs stay inside--”

Yong placed a hand on his shoulder, both a benediction and an absolution. “It’s okay." She said, putting as much truth into the words as she could manage. "She wasn’t your responsibility to begin with.”

Yong took a step back and let her wings stretch out in full before catapulting herself to the air, flying in the direction he had pointed.

With the advent and boom of better forms of transportation, it was rare that she ever needed to use or resort to her wings, but now, it was an emergency. She whipped the halo from her head and whispered Wheein’s name into it. 

It was always difficult resorting to this when Wheein was in wolf her wolf form, if only because seeing the world through Wheein's eyes meant that all the colors were off and the view was closer to the ground so it was harder for Yong to find her. As she flew she tried to make sense of what she was seeing, Wheein was definitely by a roadside, there were people walking everywhere so she couldn’t quite make out any familiar street signs or landmarks, but that wasn’t the concerning part. It was that Wheein was running and even through the heightened sounds of the city around her, Yong could hear distinctly male voices taunting her as she ran.

“ There she is!”

“Block her off”

Yong was still flying above head, staying just above the buildings, eyes fixed on the image in her halo when she watched Wheein turn a corner into a dead end alley. 

The alley that was near her tour agency. 

“Smart girl,” Yong said, already flying off in that direction. She didn’t bother beating herself up for not getting on the bus, but she was thankful that Wheein knew to run there. Plus, it was no secret that flying was still the fastest form of transportation, especially if you were an angel. She was already near the street of her agency when she heard them, the voices that had been chasing Wheein. 

When she turned, it was just in time to see three men, all in their thirties or so, blocking the exit to the alley where Wheein was backed into a corner, fangs bared and growling. Her hackles all the way up. One of them had her bandana clutched in his meaty fist.

“Don’t make this harder for anyone now,” one of them said. He took a step forward, hand outstretched. Wheein took a snap at him. 

“Wolf girls without a pack need to know their place,” another said, by that point, Yong was already livid. 

She alighted just in front of Wheein, wings spread out to block her friend from view. All three men took a few steps back, one of them dropped her bandana to the ground.

“I thought scum like you were extinct.” She said, putting as much righteous, heavenly fury as she could into her voice. She could tell by the frightened looks on their faces that she must be quite the sight. Her eyes were probably glowing a bright white too.

“Leave.” Yong said, and the light around her shone several degrees brighter, more blinding. The men didn’t need to be told twice, already hightailing it around the corner and out of sight. She waited a while, making sure they were really gone and the threat along with them before she turned around and immediately took Wheein into her arms.

“I’m sorry, oh my god Wheein I’m so sorry!” She cried out into Wheein’s fur where she could still feel the werewolf shaking, the last dregs of adrenaline pumping through her body. “Are you okay?”

She pulled away just enough to assess her friend for any injuries, but aside from the wild look in her eyes and the flyaway state of her fur, she seemed none too worse for the wear. 

“Next time, Hyejin takes you for a walk,” Yong said, thickly, not caring that her voice cracked a bit at the end. All that mattered was that Wheein was safe.

Wheein barked once. Grateful, happy, and all manner of other things all at once. 

Later that night, with the day’s events behind them, they found themselves back at the dinner table with Byul, with Hyejin already gone for the evening. Right back at the start.

“So how was your day?” Byul asked, completely unaware.

Yong and Wheein traded glances, “Exciting.” Yong said at length.

From where she was seated, Wheein barked out happily. It sounded like laughter to Yong’s ears. 

Chapter Text

When Hyejin came down the stairs that morning, she took one look at the packages on their living room table, all neatly arranged in a row, with labels for each of her housemates, and immediately scrunched her face into a frown.

“Absolutely not !” She called out to the apartment at large, not caring who heard her. Wheein poked her head out from where she had apparently been cooking lunch. The werewolf pouted.

“What do you mean?”

The vampire held up the package with her name on it and shook it with no small amount of disgust. Even the noisy crinkle of plastic sounded horrible to her ears.  “This is cultural appropriation!” She said, as if that explained everything. In a way it did.

Still, Wheein’s pout persisted. “It’s funny!”

Finally the commotion was enough to bring out both Unnies from their bedroom. Yong’s wings were a little rumpled, Byul had several strands of hair messily hanging about her horns. Hyejin tried not to focus on what that might mean

“What are you two yelling about?” Byul called out, her tone bordering on scolding. Yong was already descending the stairs.

“Wheein-ah is trying to embarrass us!” Hyejin said, gesturing once more to the packages on the table. Adult-sized, generic Halloween costumes. A vampire costume, a werewolf costume, an angel costume, and a demon costume.

Byul took one look at the spread and burst out laughing. “I’m in!”

“Yes!” Wheein finally emerged from the kitchen, a bowl of instant ramyun balanced in one hand, a smoothie in the other. “I knew you wouldn’t let me down, Unnie!” Byul reached over the table so she and Wheein could bump elbows together. 

Yong was examining the angel costume. “This looks uncomfortable.” She said, wearily eyeing the fake wings made of thick cardboard and glitter that one was meant to wear strapped on to their shoulders like a backpack. The demon ripped it from her hands and tossed it aside, focusing instead on what would apparently be a very oversized gown once Yong wore it. “Not like you need that when you’ve got the real thing,” Byul said, before turning to her own packaged demon costume. “Now this,” she said, picking up a plastic, demonic pitchfork and proceeding to hold it just near Yong’s face, “I like.”

“Get that out of my face,” the angel warned, trying to untangle the mess of wires and celophane that was supposed to be a fake halo.

“It’s not in your face, it’s in my hand,” Byul teased.

“Get what’s in your hand out of my face,” Yong batted the demon away with the misshapen fake halo.

All the while, Hyejin watched with growing disbelief and dread. “You guys aren’t actually serious?” She asked, still not making any attempts at opening the cheap, fake vampire costume. It came with a reversible red and black cape, a fake leather and plastic body suit that matched Byul’s, as well as plastic fake vampire teeth that she knew would never have a chance of fitting over her actual fangs.

All of her roommates turned to look up at her, matching looks of confusion on their faces. 

“Why wouldn’t we be?” Byul asked, already holding up her own fire engine red, pleather costume. It came with a detachable pronged tail that looked more like something one would use to unclog a sink than an actual demon tail. Do demons even have tails? Byul doesn’t have a tail. Hyejin’s frown deepens.

“Because it’s degrading and--and appropriative and everything looks like it was glued together by a four year old!”

Yong shrugged, picking up the discarded wings again and getting glitter all over her hands in the process. “We’re just doing this for us,” the angel said, “and besides,” this last part she says with a mischievous little grin at Wheein and Byul, “it’s not really cultural appropriation if we wear it, right?”

“That’s not the point--” Hyejin said. She could already sense that she was about to lose this particular argument, still, she wouldn’t go down without a fight.

“Cooome on!” Wheein was using that telltale whine that she saved when she really wanted something to go her way. The fake fur collar that came with her werewolf costume was already elegantly draped over her shoulders and she was trying her level best to maneuver the fake wolf ears headband on her head without actually covering her real wolf ears. “Just this once? We’re all staying at home anyway!”

“I’ll cook you jjapaghetti just the way you like!” Yong said, already trying to sweeten the pot, “we still have some truffle oil left over!”

“And you can pick the first movie for our horror marathon!” Byul added, already pulling up the line up on their group’s shared Netflix account. 

Hyejin stared at all of them, the eagerness on their faces and the fact that they were already partly wearing bits and bobs of their costumes. She sighed, defeated, and picked up the mess of plastic and fake leather that was meant to represent what humans thought vampires dressed up as.

Byul, Yong, and Wheein let out a cheer.

--

When she came downstairs again, already in costume, she could smell the distinct aroma of truffle oil from the kitchen and could hear Byul and Wheein helping each other into their respective costumes.

“Why do werewolf costumes always include some kind of lumberjack aesthetic,” Byul wondered aloud, fastening the fake wolf tail right beside Wheein’s real tail. 

“Apparently majority of America’s werewolf population is located in the midwest.” Wheein said, conversationally, like she was commenting on the State of South Korea’s politics. As if the collection of those words put together answered the ridiculousness of her question.

Byul looked up and caught Hyejin’s eye, her grin turned teasing. “Looking good!” 

She did her level best to keep the grimace off her face, which wasn’t helped a bit when Wheen pointed a polaroid camera to her face and snapped a quick photo.

“Hey--!” She lunged forward, making a grab for the camera, “You said this was only for us!”

“I did!” Wheein danced gracefully just out of her reach, fanning the polaroid all the while. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to keep memories of us in costumes like this!”

“I swear Jung Wheein if anyone sees those photos--”

“Lunch!” Yong swept in like a literal angel, a large bowl of truffle jjajangmyeon in hand. The effect was only slightly ruined by the fake halo that she had to maneuver so that it wouldn’t bump against her actual halo, as well as the fake wings that she’d ended up wearing anyway, strapped on to her wing joints so that they sat comfortably atop the real thing. The angel turned to her and smiled. “Just like I promised.”

Hyejin accepted the bowl with a grateful smile of her own. 

Once they were all comfortably positioned in the living room, decked out in their ridiculous costumes with pizza, and in Hyejin’s case--a large bowl of truffle jjajangmyeon, Byul handed her the remote. 

“The honor is all yours, Goth Vampiress.” Byul teased, those were the words on the packaging of her fake vampire costume.

She smirked, reaching over and already flicking through the horror movie selections. “Thanks, Demon Woman.”

Yong burst out laughing, half-eaten pizza still in her mouth. Wheein cringed hard, nudging her with her foot. “Someone tell this Guardian Angel to swallow before she starts laughing.”

“Only if Ruff and Tumble Werewolf scoots further away,” Byul said, trying to put some space between her and Wheein’s fur collar that kept brushing against the side of the demon’s face. 

Once the movie’s opening credits began, they all settled into a comfortable silence. One that Hyejin found herself smiling at. She still hated the costume. She hated everything it stood for, and she especially hated that it was starting to itch just behind her knees no matter what she did. But looking around at her roommates, at the way they fell so easily in with one another after years of familiarization, at the collection of polaroids Wheein had taken of all of them before their pizza arrived. She couldn’t deny the warm, contentment that settled deep within her core.

It almost made up for having to wear the ridiculous vampire costume. Almost. 

Chapter Text

It was two am at Room 1031, the leftovers had been thrown, the kitchen cleaned, and the dining table was wiped down until it was practically a reflective surface.  Normally, Yong would have cleaned up the kitchen right after dinner, as she was won’t to do, but they had been watching a series together before eating and had only paused to grab food, too engrossed to carry on for another day. Before she knew it, the show was done, her roommates were asleep and she still had an entire kitchen to clean. 

She turned off the kitchen lights and made her way to the living room only to find Byul, awake on the sofa, munching on a sandwich and smiling at something on her phone. Her hair tied up in a messy low ponytail, with a few strands still slung about her devil horns. Probably scrolling through her Instagram feed again like a demon possessed. Yong frowned.

“What’re you still doing up?” She called out, all of a sudden annoyed at the realization that Byul could have helped her clean the kitchen but instead the demon was sitting pretty in their living room, eating a sandwich.

Byul shrugged, “Got hungry.”

“So you ate a sandwich while I was cleaning our entire kitchen?” Yong pouted, crossing her arms over her chest. She hated sounding petulant, but it was late, she was tired, and yes, she could have used her halo to clean up the kitchen and it would have taken her five minutes, but there was something about the mortal way of cleaning that soothed her too. The routine of it had her feeling a deep sense of accomplishment that went  hand in hand with the pleasant weariness in her muscles.

She was annoyed, she realized, because Byul didn’t even seem apologetic about it, and at this time of night, something about it just rubbed her the wrong way.

“I’m not your housemaid you know,” Yong said, just a little bit acerbically. Her wing feathers ruffled with the tension of how quickly her grip on her temper was slipping through her fingers. She didn’t want to fight, but she felt the sharp barbs in her mouth and the boil in her blood.

Byul shrugged, “When I woke up, you were doing the dishes, and Wheein was about to fall off the couch. I carried her upstairs, got her washed and then dressed for bed. Tucked her in, then I washed up and thought about going to sleep, but the bed feels weird knowing you’re just downstairs.”

There  was something a little entrancing about Byul when she spoke like this. Her voice was softer  and huskier because she was trying to keep her volume low. She wasn’t staring at anything but her expression was soft and tired. Yong kept quiet and listened on.

“So I went down to help you,” Byul continued,  “but by the time I got down the stairs, you were wiping the sink and you were humming, and you had that cute little expression on your face that you get when you’re really focused on something.” Byul was smiling, probably not even realizing she was doing so. 

The expression was what made the last of Yong’s irritation fade away.

“Felt like such a shame to burst your bubble like that.” Byul shrugged, “So I thought, I’ll just wait for you instead.” Her smile turns a little playful, “Then I got hungry so I snapped a sandwich into existence for myself, and I was just about to take a second bite when you walked in, ready to pick a fight with me.” 

The mischievous glint in Byul/’s eyes was plain.

“I wasn’t– you,” Yong stammered, affronted and a little embarrassed at being called out on it. “You still could have helped me though!” She said instead.

“I’m sorry, Unnie,” Byul coos, still playful but there’s a ring of sincerity there too. “Can I make it up to you? Do you want half of my sandwich? I could finish this all, but you know me, just a few bites in and I’m already full. You could have the rest...”

Yong looked down to see what Byul had been snacking on. Grilled cheese. Yong rolled her eyes, “What are you? Twelve? Besides we have about,” she glanced at the wall clock, “three hours before Hyejinnie comes home and then I have an early tour to get to, and you have that shoot in Itaewon that starts early.”

Byul shrugged again, “you sure? For a sandwich conjured up with demon magicks, it’s not that bad..”

“I’m not hungry,” Yong said, walking past Byul only to have her stomach suddenly grumble quite loudly, the sound practically echoing in the empty living room. Behind her she could hear Byul choke on a bite of her sandwich as she tried to hide a snicker. Serves you right , Yong thought, fully embarrassed but too proud to do anything about it now.

She sighed, defeated and betrayed by her own body, and walked back, plopping down beside and grabbing the half of the sandwich from her hand. “I’m doing this because I want to.” She said.

Beside her, Byul was still failing to keep in a laugh, the jerk. Misto rolled her eyes before taking a quick bite out of the grilled cheese.

There were many things that Yong enjoyed about her life. Things she came to discover or love during her long years on Earth. Grilled cheese sandwiches never ranked particularly high in those lists. In fact, she was pretty sure the snack never even made it into her top one hundred before tonight. Which is why she was starting to doubt whether the culinary masterpiece in her hand was even really a grilled cheese.

No grilled cheese sandwich had any business being so delicious. Yong wasn’t quite sure about what logistics went into how demon magicks conjured things up from thin air, but the sandwich in her hands had evenly spread unsalted butter on both sides of each bread slice so that it wouldn’t distract from the saltiness of the aged cheddar, the nuttiness of the parmesan, and the richness of the mozzarella. Maybe she was just hungry, or maybe it was a testament to how eerily good demon magicks was at leading mortals into temptation, but in that moment, Yong wanted to cry or maybe begin a new religion based on immature children’s snacks, because the grilled cheese tasted like the best thing she had ever eaten in her long life.

“Well?” Byul asked, done laughing and looking at her expectantly.

Yong snapped back to reality, with just enough presence of mind to compose herself and say, “It’s fine.”

Byul’s grin was cheeky and smug, clearly seeing through her ruse. Still, the demon was merciful enough not to call her out on it. Instead she leaned close and pressed a quick kiss to her cheek. “Good. Let’s go to bed?”

Yong nodded, taking another bite and resisting the urge to moan at how good it was. She was kind of sad that there was only a single bite left. Placated, she smiled and accepted Byul’s hand as the demon led her upstairs to their bedroom.

She made a mental note for herself to have Byul conjure this up for her tomorrow before she left for her tour.