Chapter Text
Choi Jong-In rode his horse through the dense woods as he made his way closer to the castle he had seen in the distance. The cold winter air stung his cheeks as he squinted to see the way there through the flurry of snow. His glasses kept fogging up, and he could barely feel his hands holding the reins, but those were the least of his worries.
His sister, Cha Hae-In, had not returned home after she left the house hours before to get some food. He had frantically asked around the village for any sign of her, but they had either not seen her or ignored his questioning, thinking he was overreacting as usual.
“She couldn’t have gone far,” Jong-In reasoned. Then he remembered how she had complained about having nothing to do in the village and wanted to go to the abandoned castle that some villagers said was haunted. She wanted to confirm if the rumors were true and see the supposed “ghosts” there. He had refused to let her go as it was not only far from the village, but the way to get there was dangerous. They had argued about it for a while until Hae-In finally said she wouldn’t go.
It was clear that she changed her mind.
Running out of options, Jong-In took a horse and rode it into the woods that separated the village from the castle. He knew, logically, that Hae-In could look after herself, but he couldn’t shake off the fear of not knowing what kind of situation she could be in. As he drew closer to the castle, he could only hope she was safe.
Meanwhile, Hae-In was dealing with her situation in a way Jong-In could never imagine.
“I bet he’ll be here before nightfall, if not earlier,” Hae-In sighed as she leaned against the bars of her dungeon cell, her hands hanging outside.
“Are you sure you don’t think he’ll be your type?” Hae-In said, looking at the figure standing in the shadows. “My brother’s a good person, though a little overprotective. He’s honest and caring and-”
“Would you please shut up?”
“Would you please let me out?” Hae-In retorted.
“...”
“So, like I was saying-”
Jong-In cautiously opened the door to the castle, only briefly lit by the sunlight coming from the door and a couple of windows. As the door closed behind him, he looked around, sighing as he could feel himself warming up from the cold. He brushed the snow out of his red hair and started thinking of where to start looking for Hae-In. He suddenly heard footsteps getting louder and quickly turned to see a person walking toward him.
The stranger was a man who looked to be about the same age as Jong-In. He had spiky black hair and wore a white long-sleeved shirt and black pants. He looked questioningly at Jong-In.
“Can I help you?”
“Ah,” Jong-In took a second to collect his thoughts. He wasn’t expecting anyone else to be here. “Have you seen a woman with short blonde hair?”
“Oh,” the man sighed. “You must be her brother. She’s been talking about you non-stop-”
“Where is she?” Jong-In demanded.
“She’s fine,” he said quickly, attempting to calm Jong-In down. “More than just fine, really... I’ll take you to her.”
The shorter man began walking down a dimly lit hallway with Jong-In following at a distance. Jong-In frowned a bit as he looked at the state of the castle. It wasn’t completely falling apart, but it would be an exaggeration to say it would be nice to live here. It was unbelievably dreary, with the walls looking pitch black from the lack of torches decorating them. The few candles that had been lit were only enough to barely make out the person walking in front of him and did little to illuminate the path in front of him.
The two walked together quietly, only their footsteps echoing through the corridor before the stranger spoke again.
“My name is Min Byung-Gyu,” the stranger said to break the silence.
“Choi Jong-In,” Jong-In replied shortly.
“It’s nice to meet you. Ah, you might run into another person here. His appearance might be... unsettling, but he’s nice, so there’s no need to be afraid of him.”
Jong-In raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean by that?”
Before Min Byung-Gyu could answer, they heard a shout.
“Jong-In!”
Jong-In’s head snapped up at the sound of Hae-In’s voice. He ran towards her, frantically looking over her as best he could through the bars of the cell.
“Are you alright?! I told you not to run off like that without telling me!” Jong-In scolded.
“Hehe, I’m sorry,” Hae-In smiled sheepishly, scratching her head. “But now that you’re here, I can finally introduce you to who I’ve been telling about you!”
“What are you-,” Jong-In was cut off by Hae-In pointing behind him.
He turned to see someone standing out of the light from the window. Looking more closely, Jong-In saw that the figure was a humanoid beast resembling a tiger. He had white fur and a long mane that shone an even brighter white than his fur, even in the shadows. He stood at least a foot taller than Jong-In. Even while the individual was standing in the dark, Jong-In could see his sharp claws and eyes that seemed to glow a bright yellow.
“...Hae-in,” Jong-In calmly said, turning back to her. “You said this castle was haunted by ghosts. You didn’t say anything about overgrown cats from the circus being here.”
“Jong-In!” Hae-In exclaimed while Min Byung-Gyu choked, and the beast looked highly offended by his statement. “Don’t be rude!”
“What? Should I be thanking him for locking you in a cell instead?”
“She was trespassing,” the beast growled, slowly moving closer to them, his fierce appearance becoming more apparent in the light as he revealed sharp fangs and scowled at them. “If she hadn’t been walking around like she owned the place, she wouldn’t be locked up.”
Hae-In laughed nervously at the accusation, but Jong-In glared at him. He couldn’t care less about who this person was, but Jong-In already hated him for the way he spoke about his sister.
“Maybe if this castle didn’t look like it hadn’t been cleaned in the last century , maybe it would be believable that someone might actually still live here,” the redhead retorted.
The other looked taken aback by Jong-In’s response before replying. “If you kept a better eye on your sister, she wouldn’t be here.”
“If you learned to lock your door, none of this would have even happened!”
Before the other could respond, Hae-In cut in. “Aaaand I’m very sorry for trespassing! But now that my brother’s here, can I go now?”
“No,” the beast responded. “I don’t need you telling other people about this place and having more people come here, expecting some grand adventure and treating this place like a playground.”
“Then you won’t mind if I continue telling you about how Jong-In found out he needed glasses when he accidentally-,” Hae-In started.
“NO!” the two shouted in unison, making Hae-In pout.
Jong-In sighed, thinking for a moment before speaking.
“Then how about you keep me here instead of Hae-In?” Jong-In ignored Hae-In’s protests and continued talking to the beast, who still looked vexed but intrigued by his suggestion.
“Hae-In will return to our village and promise she won’t tell anyone. I will stay here to make sure she keeps her word,” Jong-In explained. It wasn’t the best solution, but Jong-In didn’t want Hae-In to be here any longer. He knew the village would be safer regardless of whether he was there or not since he didn’t know anything about what was in this castle or what this person could do. There was also no telling how long it would take to convince this person to let both of them go. It might be possible later, but this would have to do for now.
“Does that sound reasonable?” Jong-In asked, looking up at the beast through narrowed eyes.
The other glared at Jong-In before turning to Min Byung-Gyu who was still standing at the entrance. Min Byung-Gyu looked conflicted, but after he nodded, the beast turned to Jong-In again.
“I accept your conditions,” he responded and moved to let Hae-In out. “However, if you make any attempt to escape, I won’t hesitate to kill you.”
Hae-In looked a bit nervous at the threat while Jong-In pretended not to hear it. As soon as the cell door opened, Hae-In ran out and hugged Jong-In tightly.
“You don’t have to do this,” she said. “It’s my fault, so I can stay here. You could stay too if you really wanted to.”
“It’ll be safer back in the village,” he assured her, rubbing her back. “People would start to notice if both of us were gone anyway.”
“I’m sorry,” Hae-In muttered into his shoulder.
“It’s alright. I’ll be fine,” Jong-In said quietly. “Stay in the village, okay? And try to stay away from Hwang Dong-Soo. I don’t want you to get in trouble.”
“I’ll try,” she agreed. “But I can come visit, right?”
“I’d rather you didn’t,” he started, remembering how difficult the road was until he pulled away for Hae-In. He saw her looking at him through teary violet eyes and rephrased his sentence. “But maybe once spring comes since it’ll be easier to get here.”
He gently patted her head as she blinked away her tears and nodded.
“Shouldn’t you ask for permission before going to someone else’s home?” the beast growled, making the two siblings look at him.
Jong-In gave him a dirty look. “Well, it should be fine considering that I’m going to be stuck here for who knows how long, right?
“Yes, it’ll be fine,” Min Byung-Gyu interjected, making the beast glare at him. “I can escort your sister back before it gets too dark out.”
Jong-In looked at Min Byung-Gyu for a bit before agreeing. He didn’t want Hae-In to go with a stranger, but it would be better than her heading back to the village alone.
He watched while Min Byung-Gyu guided Hae-In out of the castle before turning to the beast.
“So I’m just supposed to stay in here?” Jong-In said flatly, gesturing to the now empty dungeon cell.
“Until you can be trusted outside of it,” the other replied. “You’ll be allowed outside of it at night since you won’t be able to escape then.”
Jong-In frowned at that response but went inside the cell and sat on the bed while the beast locked the door.
“Do you at least have some books lying around?” Jong-In questioned, crossing his arms and legs. “I don’t plan on sitting here doing nothing all day. So unless you want to rant about how much I hate everything in this castle, I’d like to be able to do something more productive.”
The beast growled at him before turning to leave. Hopefully to grab some books that Jong-In could read.
Jong-In let out a long sigh, closing his eyes as he rested his head against the wall behind him. He was finally alone to gather his thoughts. While he felt some of his worries go away now that he knew where Hae-In would be, it didn’t stop him from being uneasy. No matter how much he reasoned that she could take care of herself, he hated not knowing what could happen to her later. He couldn’t lose someone else again.
When Jong-In opened his eyes again, he saw the sun had finally set outside the narrow window outside the cell, leaving the cell only faintly lit by a torch at the doorway to the dungeon. He then noticed the shadows outside his cell shifting and growing upwards, forming the shape of a knight even taller than the beast. The knight had black armor and a long red ponytail extending out of his helmet. It had a black cape and eyes that glowed a light blue as it turned to look at Jong-In.
Jong-In stared at the knight before muttering. “I guess this place is haunted after all.”
Min Byung-Gyu rushed back to the dungeons as soon as he got back to the castle after returning Hae-In to the village. She had been quieter on the trip than in the cell, but when they got to her house, she had made him promise that her brother would be safe.
Byung-Gyu was only gone for a few hours, and already he was worried he wouldn’t keep his promise.
As he neared the cell Choi Jong-In would be in, he heard voices. Byung-Gyu walked faster, thinking another argument between the two was happening, until he could hear them more clearly and noticed they sounded too calm to be fighting with one another. One of the voices also didn’t sound familiar.
He rounded the corner to see Choi Jong-In conversing with one of the shadows in the castle. Byung-Gyu didn’t know where they came from, but they had appeared at the same time as when his best friend was cursed and turned into a beast. He wasn’t at the castle when all of that happened, so he nearly had a heart attack when he saw one of the monsters for the first time.
The shadows only appeared from sunset to sunrise, so they were helpful in making sure no one disturbed them when they were asleep. However, both of them had been uncomfortable interacting with the shadows, especially when they referred to his friend as their “lord” and had unconventional appearances.
However, Choi Jong-In seemed to be friendly with this shadow. At least, friendlier than he was earlier with both Byung-Gyu and his friend.
“So Igris, this place actually does have a library?” Choi Jong-In asked, looking at the shadow knight as he sat on the bed inside the cell.
“It does. You should be allowed to visit it now if you want,” Igris replied.
“I would if someone didn’t ditch me after locking me in here,” Choi Jong-In scowled.
“Ah, I’m sorry,” Byung-Gyu said, making his presence known to the two. He removed a set of keys from his pocket and unlocked the door to the cell. “Hyung’s not used to being around other people, so he might have forgotten to let you out after sunset.”
As Byung-Gyu opened the door, Choi Jong-In gave him a questioning look before stepping out.
“Is that how you refer to that walking furball?” Choi Jong-In asked, making Byung-Gyu choke for the second time today.
“Please don’t call him names like that, especially to his face,” Byung-Gyu said, clearing his throat. “His name is Baek Yoon-Ho.”
“I’ll call him whatever I like,” Choi Jong-In responded callously. “I trust my sister made it back safely?”
Byung-Gyu was starting to miss Cha Hae-in. At least she was kind, even when she talked a lot especially about Choi Jong-In and how she was trying to find a boyfriend for him of all things.
Meanwhile, he only met her brother recently but judging by how he spoke to him and Yoon-Ho, he didn’t seem like an easy person to be around. Why Choi Jong-In was courteous to Igris than he was to him was something Byung-Gyu didn’t know, considering he met Igris after him.
“Yes, I took her to the village myself,” Byung-Gyu replied after taking a moment to keep himself from saying something rude.
“Good,” the redhead turned to the knight. “Do you mind showing me the way to the library?”
“Not at all,” Igris replied.
“Ah, before you go,” Byung-Gyu said, making them stop. “Do you want to eat dinner first? It’s getting late.”
“Will the sourpuss be there?” Choi Jong-In questioned.
Byung-Gyu refrained from commenting on the name but nodded.
“Then I’ll eat after he’s gone,” he responded, turning to walk down the hallway with Igris.
Byung-Gyu sighed and rubbed his head as he followed them until they parted ways as Choi Jong-In made his way up the stairs to the library with Igris.
As Byung-Gyu walked to the kitchen, he began wondering how the redhead would react to the other shadows. Igris was likely the one that looked the most normal out of them while the others were more...unique. Byung-Gyu hoped Choi Jong-In wouldn’t react violently for everyone’s sake.
Looking into the kitchen, he saw Yoon-Ho preparing dinner. He remembered how awkward it had been for Yoon-Ho when he first transformed into a beast, but he gradually got used to his new form after some practice and often did what he could for himself.
Yoon-Ho looked up when he saw Byung-Gyu enter.
“How did it go?” Yoon-Ho asked as Byung-Gyu started to help him.
“Fine. Cha Hae-in’s back home,” Byung-Gyu began. “She was a bit upset, but that’s expected. Choi Jong-In, on the other hand...”
“Is an absolute pain to deal with,” Yoon-Ho snarled.
Byung-Gyu should deny that statement but had to agree with him.
“He’s probably not used to being here yet,” Byung-Gyu said instead. “He’s in a completely different place with a bunch of strangers. Just give him some time and space. I know he might be rude, but please try to be civil with him. Cha Hae-In had me promise to keep him safe.”
“At least she’s considerate,” Yoon-Ho mumbled.
“Hyung,” Byung-gyu warned.
“Fine,” Yoon-Ho relented. “But if he says anything insulting again, I can’t promise I’ll just sit there and do nothing.”
“I understand.”
“So, when is the jerk coming to eat?” Yoon-Ho asked.
“Oh,” Byung-gyu replied. “He was really interested in seeing the library, so one of the shadows took him there. He’ll probably eat later.”
Yoon-Ho looked at him incredulously.
“He actually talked to them?”
“Yeah, surprising, isn’t it,” Byung-Gyu chuckled.
“He’s not afraid of anything, is he,” Yoon-Ho murmured. “I didn’t want to see him anyway, so that’s good. I can’t stand listening to his voice.”
As Yoon-Ho went to get plates and bowls, Byung-Gyu sighed. He hoped Choi Jong-In and Yoon-Ho would get along soon, or he would have a lot of headaches in the future.