Chapter Text
The trip was taking longer than Hyunjin originally planned.
He thought it was going to take 4 hours at most to get from his school to his destination—a town named Yellow Wood. But, as Hyunjin sits drenched under a bus-stop shelter, hours after his departure and a few misfortunes, he concludes his plan was completely and utterly ruined.
It all started earlier in the day when Hyunjin departed from school on his broom and began the long journey to the town he was staying in for the next year.
The first hour was nothing short of monotonous; he flew over a small, lone village in the middle of grassland and spotted one large herd of cows collectively eating grass. But as the second hour of his trip approached, so did the afternoon.
His grandmother told him countless times while growing up that he should never fly on an empty stomach because that was a disaster waiting to happen. So, when his stomach began to growl uncontrollably, Hyunjin knew it was a good time to take a break.
A small devil on Hyunjin’s shoulder had tempted him to just eat as he flew through the air, but he dismissed the idea as quickly as it popped into his brain.
Now, do not get it wrong, Hyunjin is a decent broom flyer—if you ignore the process of getting himself to levitate off the ground. The problem lies in the sole fact that he cannot multitask; he learned that the hard way during his time at school. And Hyunjin didn’t want to risk breaking a bone from falling off of his broom before he could even enter the town’s limits.
With that and his grandmother’s nagging on repeat in his mind, Hyunjin eventually landed his broom in a vast grass field—which he prayed was not private property—and sat in an itchy, poky grass field to scarf down the portions he had packed away in his backpack; a sandwich and a bag of strawberries. A decision he would later regret.
After an hour of eating, doodling on a few pages on his sketchpad, and a small nap under the beaming sun, Hyunjin set off into the sky once again.
He hummed along to a song his seatmate in Witchcraft History—Bomin—sang for the entirety of last semester as he zig-zagged through the sky. The wind was picking up, which wasn’t too unusual until he heard an odd noise.
At first, Hyunjin thought the most logical possibility: it was just the wind gaining a bit of speed. Or, possibly, a noise that escaped his mouth by accident—he hadn’t been paying attention, too busy controlling his broom as he subtly fought against the air blowing at him.
But then he heard it again… much closer this time.
The noise sounded eerily similar to something he once heard during his Spirits and Demons elective class. The thought made a chill run down his spine. Hyunjin was by no means prepared to take on anything related to a spirit or demon; he barely passed the class with a 70, and that was with extra credit.
The witch slowly peered behind his back and was met with the sight of something even more horrific than one of the all-powerful demons he studied during a class project.
It was a flock of birds. Flying straight towards him.
And the noise he was constantly hearing? Their evil, ear-splintering caws.
He tried to listen closely to their caws to see if he could translate something. He truly did. But, sadly, that’s all he heard—caws. No inner voices in a language the boy understood.
Like his relationship with many forms of magic, Hyunjin wasn’t the best at communicating with animals—the opposite of one of his school roommates, who could sit and have a conversation with any animal they had pleased. It was at times like this that Hyunjin wished he took up their tutoring offer.
The mass gained speed and headed straight for him as if he was their prey; their high-pitched cawing got louder by the millisecond.
His broom jerked to the side as the flying evil creatures swarmed around him; some even going as far as to try pecking at him and his beloved broom. Hyunjin started yelling, and they started squawking right back at him as if they were trying to mock him—the witch nearly cried in response.
He flailed around for a moment to get the creatures away, then, in desperation, hastily dropped his air height—stomach lurching at the sudden movement—and pushed all the magic he could onto his broom. In an instant, Hyunjin shot out of the flock, almost slipping off of the wood from how fast he started to go.
After he slowed down and take a deep breath, Hyunjin looked back at the birds to see if they had followed him. Thankfully, they had not; but he swore the birds were still watching his every move, even from afar, with their demonic eyes. Hyunjin gripped onto his broom with one hand, gladly flipping the receding flock off with the other. And if the witch had muttered a few not-so-nice things afterward, no one but him had to know.
But just when the witch thought things could not possibly get any worse, they did.
Within minutes, the temperature dropped rapidly and large gray clouds (that had practically appeared out of nowhere) overshadowed the sun. Then, a few moments later, a soft rain began to fall.
Hyunjin was fine with the soft rain. He rather enjoyed the water hitting him; it was refreshing after being hot most of the day. Though, this feeling changed when the clouds grew darker and the rain became stronger.
The witch could hardly see his surroundings as the mixture of rain and wind hit him with full force. Hyunjin knew it wasn’t safe to be flying in such conditions as high as he was, so he lowered himself as close to the ground as possible—hoping to spot some sort of roadside shelter that could protect his already-drenched self.
It took a few minutes of searching through the haziness the raindrops had created, but alas, he had found his savior; which came in the form of a small, metal bus stop shelter.
Though he was drenched from head to toe and everything in between, it was not too bad sitting on the uncomfortable bench. It was better than having nothing at all. Water droplets pattered against the covering, drowning out any the silence Hyunjin would’ve heard otherwise. The sound of rain and thunder was something Hyunjin had always found soothing to the ear. Especially on days when his stress levels blasted into the sky, past the clouds, and through the Earth’s atmosphere. It also gave him a sense of closeness to his late mother.
Whenever it rained, Hyunjin’s grandmother would tell him how much his mother loved the rain. How she would sit by the window for hours, watching as it fell. How she would fly through their small village on her broom when the rainfall was light.
On the day of his mother’s passing, it had poured the entire day. His grandmother took that as a sign of her daughter’s presence. From that day onward, any time it rained, she told him it was his mom’s way of letting them know she was there.
It was one of the few things that made him feel close to the woman he never got to know…
“Boy, are you getting on or waiting out the storm?”
Hyunjin startles out of his daze, looking up to meet the eye of whoever had spoken to him. Though, instead of just a person, he sees a small bus and an old man impatiently staring at him from the driver’s seat.
“Does your bus stop in Yellow Wood?” He asks, yelling out over the intense rain. The witch watches as the man hung his head low for a moment before looking back up with an exasperated expression on his face. “Yes, now are you getting in?”
The witch nods fervently, feeling around for the zipper of his backpack to take out a few coins. Thankfully, his grandmother had given him some money before leaving. After throwing his bag over a shoulder and gripping onto his broom, Hyunjin rushes out into the rain and up the bus's steps, dropping the coins into the machine. He muttered out an apology to the driver—who waves him off and shuts the bus doors in return.
As he scanned for a seat, the witch noticed the bus was near empty. A few aisles down was a lone woman sleeping against a window; and in the far back, a senior couple stared at him with curious gazes. Hyunjin felt his face grow warm at the attention and swiftly spun away to slide into an open window seat, placing his bag and his broom next to him.
As the bus takes off once more, Hyunjin stares out past the droplets racing down the window into the vast fields that were flooding from the rain. The witch looked down at his wet attire and shook his head in disbelief at what had occurred in the past hours. “At least I’m out of that.” He turned his attention to the broom leaning up against him. Fingers brushed against the wood and danced down to the initials carved into the end of the handle. His mother’s initials. Smiling softly at the engraved letters, he leaned his head against the cold window, letting his eyes slowly flutter shut.
💌
Hyunjin didn’t have any memory of his mother.
She had passed shortly after his birth because of complications with the delivery. And due to his father not being in the picture, his grandmother gained full custody of him immediately.
Since before Hyunjin was even old enough to speak, the elderly woman had constantly brought up how much she wanted to meet the man and, figuratively—or at least to Hyunjin’s knowledge, figuratively—crush his soul for leaving her daughter and grandchild alone.
Hyunjin never thought much of the man; he was not curious to meet him either. Though, the boy called him a jerkface-he-would-kick once at ten years old during one of his grandmother’s rants while she cooked—but that was it. There was no reason in his mind to meet a man that never cared about him or his family.
Growing up in a village of mostly mundane elders was something most witches did not experience; they usually stayed in villages populated by only witches. And since no one his age lived there year round, Hyunjin was raised around people four times older than him.
He received most of his academic education through homeschooling with a retired teacher that lived on the other side of the village; and, when he was old enough, the basic magic education from his grandmother and one of her few witch friends who would occasionally visit.
Hyunjin did not mind it one bit, though. He quite enjoyed being the youngest in town. Especially when he had finally turned eleven and began getting paid to do work that the elder villagers couldn’t take care of themselves. He would clean windows, deliver packages and run errands while zooming through the village on an old bike—his grandmother had banned him from using a witch’s broom because of a flying accident he had just a few weeks after his eleventh birthday.
(On one boring spring afternoon, Hyunjin had gone out to practice flying with the broom that his mother had planned to pass down to him. All was well until the young witch became unfocused on his magic after catching sight of a cute puppy in the field behind his grandmother’s garden.
Let’s just say the boy was rushed back home with a neighbor ten minutes later, wrist fractured—with a curious puppy trailing behind him—and crying uncontrollably to his grandmother about how it was all the stupid cute puppy’s fault that he got hurt.
But it only took him approximately eight minutes to get over his grudge against the dog. Hyunjin saw the small fluff ball staring at him with the sweetest eyes and immediately caved, asking his grandmother if they could keep him.
Sure, he ended up with an injured wrist and a ban from flying unauthorized, but he got to adopt a puppy, whom he named Kkami, and that made Hyunjin happy.)
As Hyunjin grew into his teenage years and was finally unbanned from flying his broom, his grandmother enrolled him in a school for witches; the Academy For Witches In Training—or AFWIT for short.
After arriving at the Academy For Witches In Training, he said goodbye to his grandmother and his now-grown dog—a goodbye that took almost an hour to get through because Hyunjin could not get himself to stop crying. It was the first time he was going to be alone, and it had made him feel uneasy.
After his grandmother and Kkami were gone, they immediately moved the witch into a dorm room with three other boys who became his closest school friends and helped him adjust to being separated from all he knew.
School lessons were tough—and at one point ended up making a huge stain on the ceiling of his potions classroom after he mixed the wrong ingredients into a small cauldron—but Hyunjin found himself entranced by the variety of classes he took and the things he learned.
Three years of studying at the academy finally led Hyunjin to his fourth year and final school year. But, those in their final year do not attend class at school. Instead, students are assigned to a mundane town, and a host family from said town, to stay in for an entire year; all picked by the school’s administrators.
Decades upon decades ago, the academy’s board of administration decided that this kind of trip would help students put all that they learned in their years at school to the test. They wanted their students to grow to be powerful, independent witches without the guidance of teachers. It was also to help them decide which type of magic suited them best—which magic would call out to students the most in an environment that had little to no magic and no teachers to help.
On a blistering hot summer day, a few weeks before departure day, Hyunjin received his letter from the school. His grandmother rushed home from her herbal shop and busted into his room, startling him and Kkami, who was trying to escape every kiss the witch had tried giving him.
The elderly woman all but threw the envelope at his face and belatedly yelled, “Your letter is here!”
The front of the envelope had his full name written in cursive, along with the address to the herbal shop, where their mail was always sent to. He opened it carefully, and anxiously, while his grandmother and Kkami breathed down his neck with curious eyes.
Dear Hwang Hyunjin,
The school board and I are pleased to tell you that we have selected a magnificent seaside town for your one-year trip: YELLOW WOOD, XX. And, we have picked a fantastic host family to take care of you during your stay: THE BANG FAMILY. They are preparing diligently for your stay and are excited to meet you and get to know you.
You will receive all further information on August 18th for your and your classmates’ departure. I wish you the best of luck during your stay and I look forward to hearing about your stay when you return.
Sincerely, Dean Jeon.
💌
A poke on Hyunjin’s shoulder makes him jump out of his skin, nearly ramming his head into the window his head was leaning against.
“Is this your stop, boy?”
Hyunjin looks up, meeting the bus driver and his questionable stare.
“Um…” The witch peered out the window, eyes widening at the view.
The bus was parked at a rest stop on a small hill that overlooks the town. Once dark clouds were replaced with white puffy ones that created miscellaneous shapes and portraits across the almost unrealistically blue sky. Wet, vast grass fields turned into buildings and streets bustling with life. The dark blue ocean glittered in the sun’s light as boats of all sizes traveled along it.
This is quite a pleasant change, Hyunjin ponders to himself as he stares in astonishment.
The bus driver’s question popped back into his brain, and it’s then that the witch realizes one key thing. He did not know what Yellow Wood looked like. Hyunjin bites the inside of his cheek, skin heating in embarrassment. “Do you happen to know the name of this town?”
The man sighs, causing Hyunjin to shrink in his seat. “This is the town you asked about. Yellow Wood. Now, are you getting off or not?” The witch rises at the mention of the familiar town name, fumbling with his belongings for a second.
“Yes, this is my stop. Thank you!”
He slips past the man—Hyunjin cringes at the awkward feeling of his damp jeans rubbing against his legs—and hurries to the steps. He takes a minor glance behind him and makes eye contact with the senior couple he had seen earlier. The old woman smiles at him as he hopped off the last step onto the sidewalk and—
He loses his balance for a moment and stumbles forward toward the bench in front of him.
To the witch’s relief, no one was around to witness the embarrassing act. Well… aside from those on the bus. But he would never see them again, so it was fine.
What a humiliating first impression that would’ve been, the witch thinks.
He cleared his throat, glancing at his surroundings after the bus made a U-Turn and drove away from him.
The bus stop was practically deserted, minus the old man sitting on a bench on the other side of the street, taking in the view as he munched on what looked like a sandwich. Yellow Wood was not what the witch had been expecting when he first received his school’s letter and tried to picture the seaside town in his mind (a humid, sticky town that smelt of sunscreen and salt from the sea). He could not have been more wrong. Well, aside from the sunscreen and sea; he could smell that from up on the hill.
The quick thought about his school letter reminds him of one thing.
Before departing for their trips, every student was given the address to their designated homes, along with an additional packet on the program for them to read through.
The witch recalls quickly slipping his into his backpack before taking off; so he pulls the bag to his chest and sifts through the slight mess to find the slip of paper with his host family’s address.
His hand moves around the bag, only feeling the wooden container that once held his food; the metal of his canteen filled with water; the school packet, his pencil pouch, and his sketchbook. Hyunjin scrunches his eyebrows. He unzips the front pocket to check if he had dropped the slip in there, but alas, nothing except two hair ties.
“The only place I unzipped my bag was when I was eating…” the witch reflects out loud, trying to recall events from earlier in the day.
And then it hit him.
The field he ate his lunch at.
Oh no.
It must have fallen out during his break time. Which meant the paper was long gone by now. Probably even disintegrated from the downpour of rain he was stuck in.
Of-fucking-course this would happen to him.
“Why has nothing gone right today?” Hyunjin groans while zipping up his bag. Then, as any person would, he takes a moment to dramatically drag a hand down his face. The witch almost kicks the streetlight next to him, but resists the urge—he does not need a foot injury right now.
With the paper gone, Hyunjin didn't have a clue how to locate his host family's house. There was only one option he had left:
Die.
Just kidding.
He knows he will have to go down to the streets at the bottom of the hill if he wants to search for his host family’s house. But after taking one look at the steep stairs leading down toward town, the witch throws a leg over his broom and mutters a one-word spell that makes his broom come to life.
Actually. That is a lie. It takes a few tries saying the spell and smacking the broomstick before the magic finally gives in. But no one except Hyunjin needs to know those minor details.
The boy brings himself up to a decent height to see a clear view of Yellow Wood. From up in the sky, he is met with one of the most extraordinary sights his eyes had ever looked at.
As he had seen from the bus, ships sail through the shimmering dark blue water; passing underneath a tall, green metal bridge. Horns from said boats ring through the air alongside the calls from seagulls that hover below by the boardwalk. Across the ocean, connected by the bridge, was a mysterious land of forest-covered mountains. Circling the back end of Yellow Wood is its own area of woods; big green trees clustered together. On the far left side, looking over the town from a hill, sits an enormous tower with an overlook wrapping around its top.
This exceeded his expectations by a mile.
The witch draws in a deep breath as he descended toward Yellow Wood. As he gets closer to the busy roads, flying just a bit higher than the buildings, Hyunjin heard the reactions of the townspeople—gasps fill the air, the squeaky voices of children calling out to him. He sneaks a few glances down at those along the sidewalks and snorts at the dumbfounded faces he spots as he passes by.
Turning to the left onto a less busy street—a less dangerous place to land—Hyunjin starts descending to the ground.
The witch hears someone let out an indescribable noise from somewhere nearby. Hyunjin squints his eyes and stares as a man comes into view by the last building on the road, carrying two large boxes in his arms, then stumbles forward. “Son of a bitch!”
Realizing that the packages were slipping out of the man’s arms and towards the ground, the witch threw out a hand, directing a levitation spell onto the packages to stop the fall; silently praying that the spell would work correctly. Thankfully, it worked.
Hyunjin hastily lands himself on the sidewalk near the man and holds the boxes steadily in the air as he does so.
Once his feet touched the ground, Hyunjin lowers the boxes (and takes a quick glimpse to make sure he hadn’t damaged anything) before meeting the gaze of the man whom he helped. The stranger’s dark eyes were wide and sparkling—Hyunjin notes to himself that the person, oddly enough, resembled like a cat—his mouth opened to speak, but nothing escaped.
The silence was becoming awkward, and the witch couldn’t handle it. “I’m sorry if I startled you, I just saw that you were having trou–”
“No, no!” The man forcefully pushes out a word, startling Hyunjin from the sudden burst. He quickly apologizes before continuing, “You didn’t startle me! I’m just amazed by what you did. You’re a witch, right?”
“Yes,” Hyunjin admits bashfully. “I actually just arrived.” The witch contemplates in his head for a moment if he should ask the busy man for directions. But it was either him or another random person; and since the man had already paused to chat, Hyunjin decides to go ahead and ask.
“Do you happen to know—”
“You’re looking for Chan, aren’t you?”
“Uh...” Hyunjin tilts his head to the side, knitting his brows together. Who the hell was Chan? Was that name in his letter? No, he could not recall any first names in his letter, just his host’s family name. “Does this Chan, by chance, have the last name Bang?”
The man nods, lips turning upward into a subtle smile. “That he does! He has been talking non-stop about a witch he’s going to host. It’s nice to finally put a face to the mysterious witch.”
Mysterious witch? Hyunjin chortles. That’s an interesting nickname.
“Oh! I’m Minho, by the way–” The man, Minho, holds out his hand. “I’m a good friend of Chan’s. Also, one of the employees at his café.”
(His host family owned a café? Perhaps he could get free pastries later on. The witch shoves the thought into a folder for later.)
Hyunjin bites his lip to stop a smile from forming at the emphasis Minho put on the friendship part of his introduction. He happily grabbed onto the hand in front of him and shook it slowly, “I’m Hyunjin—Mysterious Witch.”
Minho lets out a guffaw, enjoying Hyunjin mocking what he had said. He takes his hand back and crouches down to pick up one of the boxes the witch saved from a horrible fate. “Speaking of Chan, aren’t you supposed to be at his house? He mentioned you were supposed to be here about… two hours ago.”
Right. The paper he lost with the address to the Bang household. The reason he, fortunately, continued to converse with Minho in the first place.
“Uh—I was coming down to the town to see if someone could give me directions to his home.” Hyunjin slips a hand under his long black hair, scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment. He could feel a warm sensation across his cheeks and on the tip of his nose. “I kind of, accidentally, lost the paper my school gave me with his address on it.”
“Well—” The man hums for a moment, moving his head side to side as he readjusted the box in his arms, “If you help me carry the other box inside the cafe, I could take you up to Chan’s house?”
Not having a reason to reject Minho—who he now knew as a friend of his host family—and his kind offer, Hyunjin graciously agrees. Minho grins, stepping around the witch to the open glass door a few feet behind him. “You can leave your broom by the door. I promise no one will touch it.”
Hesitantly, Hyunjin follows the suggestion and places his broom against the wall next to the entrance door before grabbing the other box.
“Alright, follow me!”
As Minho led the way, Hyunjin locates a metal bracket protruding from the brick building that held the café. Levanter Café, the wooden sign read in a bold, but decorative, font.
The moment the witch steps foot inside the café, he’s slapped with the overwhelming aroma of coffee and the smell of pastries so sweet that Hyunjin, for a moment, was worried that he would develop cavities from inhaling the air.
“Damn, took you long enough. Where have you been?” A voice calls out from behind the register. Hyunjin glances over and sees a girl with long blonde hair leaning up against the counter, both hands pressed against her cheek as she examined them—mostly Hyunjin—with curiosity. “Changbin has been waiting in the back. Impatiently, if I may add.”
“When is he not impatient though, Yunjin?” Minho rolls his eyes, kicking open the door that had Employees Only painted on it in bold letters. He let the witch walk through the door first, before taking the lead once again to head down the hall.
Hyunjin catches sight of a big corkboard on the wall to his right; polaroid pictures of employees and other colorful decorations were pinned to it to make a collage. Up at the top, cut out bubble letters were stapled to the board to spell out a punny headline: LEVANTEAM. The witch gives a soft smile at the play-on word and scans over the people posing in the polaroids as he shuffled past the wall.
The duo enters what looks to be the breakroom and were greeted by the sight of a man sprawled across an ancient, pink faded couch. He rushes up off the couch and almost falls onto the floor shortly after hearing their entrance.
The stranger’s eyes narrow as he locked his gaze on Minho. “It’s been an over hour. What were you doing?”
Hyunjin was taken aback by the shorter man’s powerful presence. From the fitted black shirt that hugged his body nicely—showcasing his muscled arms—to the black jeans and black boots. And not to mention the piercing on his eyebrow. But Hyunjin also notices of the touch of pink wrapped around the waist of the man’s pants.
The witch would be lying if he claimed he wasn’t a tad intimated—and a bit attracted.
The man continued his attack on Minho with a change in his tone, unbeknownst to the presence of Hyunjin. “Were you flirting with Chan for an hour straight instead of getting the boxes and coming right back here to Binnie like you said you would?”
“Of course not Changbin, why would I flirt with him? And stop referring to yourself in the third person.” Minho tsks, brushing past his coworker to place his box on the couch. Hyunjin could see the older man’s ears turning a darker shade of red by the second. “As a matter of fact, I was a bit busy talking to a new friend.”
“New friend?” The man, Changbin, finally turning his attention to Hyunjin, who gulps at the abrupt conversation shift to him. The man eyes him while crossing his arms over his chest, scanning over every detail he could find on the witch. Minho shuffles back over to the two. “Yes, a new friend—” He nudges the slightly shorter man’s arm. “—Now stop staring at him like that or you’ll scare him. This is the student Chan has been talking about: Hyunjin.”
“Hi. Nice to meet you,” Hyunjin splutters and moves his feet from side to side, hugging the box in his arms. He could feel the heat rising against his cheeks as Changbin raises a brow, amused by the witch’s bashful reaction. He then flashes a welcoming smile and takes the box from Hyunjin with ease. “Nice to meet you, too. But Minho isn’t lying to me, right? Is he holding you hostage? I can—”
The man in question grunts at the teasing being directed toward him. “I need to take him to Chan, so we’ll get going. But I’m sure you two will see each other frequently—” Minho grabs ahold of his new acquaintance by the wrist and drags him away. “See ya later Binnie!”
As they leave to stroll down the hall once more, Hyunjin hears Changbin yelling about needing help to open the boxes; but the witch was pulled back to the front of the store before he could do anything.
Minho leads Hyunjin back outside after bidding farewell to Yunjin. He lets the boy pick up his broom before guiding him around the corner of Levanter Café, where Hyunjin had first seen Minho appear from.
Something he had not prepared for was coming face to face with one of the steepest hills he’s ever seen. Thankfully, there were sidewalks alongside the road leading up to the street—and Hyunjin felt a small sense of relief after seeing the stairs carved into the sidewalk. How Minho had survived the Stairs of Doom with heavy boxes but nearly fell face-first on a flat surface was a mystery to him.
“The hill might look a little intimidating, but you’ll get used to it if you use it enough,” Minho says after noticing the slight fear etched into the boy’s eyes. “Now come, Chan’s house is the first one to the right—so if you ever need anything, we at the cafe are just down here.” The witch feels his stomach flutter at the kind words from Minho, someone whom he had just met. It was nice to hear after the stressful day he’s had so far.
(“I mean this in the nicest way possible, but why does it look like you took a shower in your clothes?”
“I got caught up in a storm on my way here after nearly dying at the hands of birds, was not the greatest experience.”
The witch ignores the mildly concerned, yet amused, look Minho throws at him as they walk up the steps.)
By the time they make it up the hill and round the corner, they were already standing in front of the Bang household.
The home was a beautiful blue-gray with white trim and a small porch. The lawn was small but covered with various plants and freshly cut grass. Hyunjin steals a glance down the road as he follows Minho up the three steps to the front door. The houses surrounding his new home were unique and had personalities of their own; varying in colors and sizes. Nothing like the village he’d grown up in—most cottages would have looked identical if it hadn’t been for the decorations adorning the homes and yards.
Minho opens the already unlocked door. After receiving a questionable look from Hyunjin, he clarifies he planned on rushing back after dropping off the boxes, which was why the door remained unlocked. The older man sings aloud into the house, “Channie, I brought a surprise!”
Meanwhile, Hyunjin takes a peek around the house, surprised by the homely feel.
To the right of the door, stairs led up to the second floor. There was a couch in the middle of the room with a coffee table and a single recliner to the left of it. An entertainment center was placed against the farthest wall, decorated with a variety of knick-knacks. In the corner sat a fireplace, displaying an array of—what Hyunjin assumed were—family pictures on its ledge.
The living room opens up to a small dining room, and a kitchen with windows and a patio that provides a proper overlook of the seaside town.
Before he could continue studying the house’s interior, Hyunjin picks up a groan from somewhere inside.
“Minho, don’t tell me you found another cat…” A blonde man wanders out from a hall just below the stairs, holding something in his hands. “I need to hang up this welcome banner before I go see if he’s arrived yet—” His voice trails off the minute he lays his eyes upon the lanky boy next to Minho. Hyunjin smiles sheepishly, waving with his free hand, “Hi.”
“Oh my God!” Chan screeches, dropping the banner he was holding, and hurries over to the witch with a blinding grin. “You’re here! And you look kind of wet… Are you okay? Oh—by the way, your luggage arrived earlier. That’s in your room upstairs. I wasn’t sure if you had gotten lost on the way here or in the town. I was going to—”
“Chan, breathe.” Minho snorts, putting a hand on the other man’s shoulder and giving it a small squeeze. “We ran into each other outside of Levanter and I offered to bring him here since he was a little lost. But he’s all good now. Right, Hyunjin?”
The witch bobs his head fervently. “I’m all good. It’s nice to finally be here.”
“I’m happy you’re finally here, too!” Chan beams. “Here, follow me. I’ll show you your room.”
Chan guides Hyunjin up the stairs to the second floor, which wasn’t big. In fact, it was quite small. The hallway only had enough room for the doors to the rooms and two picture frames. “The room across from you is my cousin’s room. He’s your age, so you guys should get along fine. You two will share the bathroom that’s up here as well.” He paused in front of the door on the left and pushes it open. “This is your room.”
Inside was a twin-sized bed pushed up against the right wall; and a desk that sat next to the bed, right in front of the window. His luggage sits untouched in the middle of the room, waiting to be unpacked. “Sorry for the bareness. Thought you’d want to decorate it yourself.”
“Don’t worry, I love it!” Hyunjin rushes inside the room, placing his broom up against the wall and tossing his backpack on his bed. “And decorating it myself sounds fun. Thank you for that Chan.”
“Oh, it’s nothing. Just want you to feel at home!” The blonde brings a hand up to his reddening ear and rubs it. “Well, I’ll let you get settled in. We’ll be downstairs if you need anything.”
The witch watches Chan walk away, leaving him alone. He draws in a deep breath as his eyes danced around the room. A smile spread across on his face.
His room.
💌
After an hour of unpacking his clothes and taking a much-needed shower, Hyunjin lies on his bed in exhaustion, holding onto a note in his hand.
While Hyunjin had been emptying one of his bags, he discovered a note his grandmother had written for him. She recounted how proud she was of him, and how proud his mother would’ve been. She also mentioned that she would take care of Kkami just as she always does, so he shouldn’t worry about him.
(And if Hyunjin took five minutes to cry his heart out over the meaningful note, then no one else but himself had to know).
It had truly been an eventful and tiring day for the witch. He left his grandmother and Kkami. He left his school and said goodbye to his friends. He traveled and traveled. He met Chan and Minho, and their coworker Changbin. And he officially moved into his new home with his host family.
Hyunjin was now beginning a new chapter in his book of life.
It’s nerve-wracking, to say the least. Starting from scratch in a new town with new people, not knowing anyone but his host family. And that’s just the mundane side of things. For the next year, the witch has to work hard with his powers and grow as a witch. There’s only one issue standing in his way: he doesn’t have the best relationship with most types of magic.
Hyunjin sighs, closing his eyes for a moment to calm his mind and stop himself from the spiraling thoughts he could feel slithering in.
“I’m home!” A voice yells from downstairs; seconds later, the front door slams shut.
The witch perks up in his bed, hastily remembering there was one person he had yet to meet. When he first came up here, Chan had mentioned his cousin. The one who lives across the hall from him.
He listens to the muffled voices, staring out into the hall from his opened door as if that would help him hear the conversation more clearly—it did not. One voice, in particular, grew louder and footsteps began nearing Hyunjin as they stomped up the stairs. Hyunjin throws himself off of the bed, dropping his grandmother’s note onto the desk, and rushes over to the closet to pretend to put the last of his clothing away.
A knock on his door startles him out of his skin.
Peeking over at the opened door, Hyunjin sees another blonde boy. He was wearing an oversized graphic shirt and baggy pants; freckles dotted across his cheeks like paint splatters and put on an apprehensive smile. The witch gulps.
“Uh, hi! I’m—um, Felix. Chan’s cousin.”
“Yeah, he mentioned I was going to be your neighbor up here,” Hyunjin titters. “I’m Hyunjin, by the way!”
“So I’ve heard. Minho and Chan mentioned your name the second I walked through the door,” Felix grins. His infectious smile makes Hyunjin smile, too. “Can I come in?” The witch welcomes the boy in, backing away from his closet to sit on the bed.
The blonde saunters into the room, taking an immediate interest in the broom propped up in the corner. “How do these things get off the ground? Does the broom have magic, or do you give magic to the broom?”
The witch raises his eyebrows at the question, not expecting the loaded questions. Though, he wasn’t exactly prepared for anything mundane people were going to say to him during his stay.
“Sorry for pressing you with questions, that’s probably annoying—” Felix must have noticed the shock on the witch’s face and took it the wrong way. His smile dropped slightly. “I’ve just always wanted to know since the books I’ve read mention nothing about it.”
“It’s okay, don’t apologize. I don’t mind the questions,” Hyunjin tries to calm the blonde boy in front of him with a reassuring smile. “It’s all on me and my magic. The broom has no power itself. That’s why it won’t work if you try using it.”
He stares as Felix studies the broom a little closer—if he notices the initials carved into the wood, then he doesn’t mention it. Instead, he props himself up against the wall next to the broom and jokingly huffs, “Damn, and here I was hoping to fly it myself.”
The witch cackles; eyes widening when he realizes what he had done and quickly covered his mouth. Felix looked proud of himself for getting that reaction.
While growing up his village, Hyunjin had heard Felix’s joke plenty of times. From elders wishing they were young enough to fly on it to young children asking if he could take them on a ride on his broom. Though, no matter how cute the kids’ puppy eyes were, Hyunjin couldn’t take anyone on a ride, since he had still been a kid himself.
Well—that was the excuse Hyunjin always used.
But it was common knowledge among the villagers that the real reason Hyunjin wouldn’t do it was simply because he had not the best broom flyer. Therefore, his response to the blonde surprises even himself.
“I can take you flying sometime. If you want.”
That was not what Hyunjin planned on saying. He still had a bit of trouble getting himself off the ground sometimes. Why did he think he could take someone else on a ride? Stupid mouth making suggestions he knew damn well he couldn’t follow through with. He knew he needed to admit the truth before this came to embarrassingly bite him in the ass.
But then Felix freezes for a second, not expecting the offer. His eyes widen and twinkle as if he had just won the lottery. “Really?”
Damnit, Hyunjin curses himself. How is he supposed to take it back now that the boy is staring at him like that? Licking his lips, Hyunjin contemplates how to let him down in the nicest way possible.
“Sure! Maybe later on though—I might need to practice more before we do that.”
“Sounds good to me.” Felix shines the same bright, blinding smile once more. Hyunjin could feel himself already smiling again. God. How were these cousins’ smiles so infectious?
They stared at each other for a few moments, smiles slowly dropping as an awkward silence began to fill in the air. Neither knew what to talk about next. But Chan graciously saved them from any attempt.
“Boys, come down! Dinner is ready!”
“Shall we?” Felix asks with a teasing smile.
“Yes, we shall.”
💌
His first dinner with his host family was more enjoyable than the awkward scenarios he had conjured up in his head over the summer.
Minho, who decided to stick around for a few hours, whipped up jjajangmyeon for the four of them to eat at the small dining table in the kitchen. The taste exceeded all the food Hyunjin had ever consumed—minus his grandmother’s cooking, of course. Nothing beats Grandma Hwang’s food.
“So Hyunjin,” Minho speaks up after swallowing the food in his mouth, “I know you’re here for school, but what exactly do you have to do? Chan mentioned little to me.”
“Oh,” Hyunjin pauses for a moment to take a sip of his water. “Well, we’re sent away to practice magic on our own. They say it’s supposed to be the gateway to discovering which magic suits us best. That’s the main purpose. But it’s also developed into a way for witches to get to experience a world outside of what most grew up around.
Some of have gotten mundane jobs, and others use their powers to start-up businesses. My older friend, Jiwon, used her fortune-telling abilities to start up a business in the town they sent her to. It just depends on the witch.”
“Using your magic to start an entire business as a teenager?” Felix’s mouth falls in shock, almost dropping his chopsticks along with his jaw. He slumps in his seat and pouts. “I wish I had magic. Life seems like it would be so much easier and fun.”
“It’s not as easy as it seems.” The witch shrugs. “A lot of practice and hard work go into using magic. It’s why we have to go to school for it.”
“My apologies if Felix if he says anything out of line,” Chan subtly kicks his cousin underneath the table. Not subtle enough, though—Hyunjin notices the freckled boy’s grimace out of the corner of his eye. “Yellow Wood hasn’t had witches come to town in decades; so most of us only know what’s been written in books or through stories older generations have shared.”
That piques Hyunjin’s interest. “Really? No witches have come here in decades? Is there a reason why?”
“Yeah, not for any troublesome reason, though. I’ve heard that it’s because our town is so far from where most witches live, so none bother to come all the way here—”
“Which means you’ve got a lot to prove to the town!” Minho cuts in, a teasing smile plastered on his face to show that he just was messing around; but it still creates a lump in the witch’s throat. A sudden train of thoughts entered his mind.
He was the first witch in decades to step into this seaside town. Did people have expectations for him? What did people even think about him being in town?
“Look at what you’ve done…” Chan groans, smacking the man to his left in the arm when he noticed the witch was spiraling into deep thought. It was only the first day, and they were already overwhelming the poor boy. “Hyunjin, I promise you no one is expecting you to do anything. Of course, a lot will probably be curious—that’s kind of predictable from people who’ve never seen a witch, or witness magic, in person. But no one is expecting you to use your powers everywhere. Right, Minho?”
“Right. Yeah, I’m sorry for sending you into a spiral.”
“No, you said nothing wrong. I just overthink quite a bit.” Hyunjin lets out a chuckle to ease the tension. He brings a hand up to his cheek when he felt them start to heat up from embarrassment. Chan tenderly tells the witch to not apologize and pairs it with a just-as-friendly smile that makes Hyunjin feel oddly better.
After that, the rest of the dinner continues smoothly.
At some point, Felix complains about how annoying Jisung and Seungmin—who Hyunjin assumed were his friends—had been acting since the start of the school year. Minho cackles at the boy’s misery and finds the situation all too amusing.
“They’re still in that honeymoon phase, even though they’ve been dating for well over a year!”
“They acted like that well before they started dating, Lix.”
“And now it’s even worse because they are dating!”
That did nothing but make Minho let out a guffaw.
Chan buts into the conversation, eventually, telling his cousin to bring over the two boys—and another boy named Jeongin—to meet Hyunjin during the upcoming weekend. The witch could tell the man was trying his best to help Hyunjin meet more people his age, which he was grateful for.
After dinner, Chan sends both of the teenagers upstairs to get ready for bed while he cleaned up the downstairs with Minho. Hyunjin tries to stay to help, but both men refused to let him even look in the direction of the dirty plates. Sighing in defeat as he walked up the stairs, the witch spots his new blonde neighbor on the floor in his bedroom, looking through what he assumed was schoolwork. Hyunjin shivers at the sight of the papers, grateful he wasn’t attending actual classes anymore, and walks into his room.
By the time Hyunjin’s fully prepared for bed, Minho already said his goodbyes and left for the night, complaining about how he hadn’t seen his poor babies—his cats—all day. Eventually, Chan hurries upstairs to wish his cousin and Hyunjin a good night’s sleep before heading to bed himself.
The witch felt exhaustion taking over him once again as he laid in his bed, moonlight shining through the blinds of his windows. The quietness of the home and the soft wind blowing through the air reminded him of his grandmother’s cottage back home. Peaceful. Calm. Hyunjin sighs at the thought, mind drifting off to dreamland.
Knock, knock.
He opens one eye and looks towards the door, watching it slowly creak open.
“Hyunjin?” A voice whispers.
“Yes?”
The door widened a bit more, and there appears Felix, hair sticking up in all directions like he had already been in bed for a while. “I forgot to tell you earlier that I’m excited to have you around. I’ll try my best to help you out while you’re here, whether it be with, you know, witchy or regular human stuff.”
Stunned, Hyunjin stays quiet for a moment. The amount of help these people were willing to give was overwhelming. In a good way, of course. But the blonde takes the silence the witch was giving him in another way, “Oh, sorry, if I disturbed your sleep, I’ll go now!”
“No, wait! Sorry, I was just in thought for a second,” Hyunjin pushes himself up onto his arms to look at the boy better. “Thank you. Seriously. I’m excited to be here too. And I’ll take you up on that offer to help me out.” The two smile at each other.
As opposed to earlier, the awkward silence is no longer lingering in the air.
It was quite nice.
“Well, I better get to bed… School tomorrow. Goodnight!”
“Right, right. Goodnight Felix.”
Following the witch’s farewell, the freckled boy gives him a small wave before closing the door softly. After he listens to the faint sound of Felix’s door shutting, Hyunjin drops himself back onto the bed, sinking into the warm blanket and lazily smiling up at the ceiling.
I think I’m going to like it here; the witch declares to himself, before finally drifting into a much-needed deep sleep.