Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Earth had many amazing things. Huge cities, enormous skyscrapers, super fast cars, even faster planes, smartphones, smartwatches, smarthouses – you name it, you get it. Okay, it had almost everything. But one thing was for sure: Earth had humanoid beings other than humans.

Many didn’t know this, but the whole society of the world could be divided into two groups – or how teachers taught in some private schools: the Circles. The Second Circle contained all the creatures that every typical human knew of, while the First Circle was all about ‘supernatural’ beings. Shapeshifters, mermaids, vampires, elves and many similar species could be written down in the boundaries of the First Circle.

However, both Circles weren’t separated. They overlapped a bit, creating a space called the Bridge. It represented those, who were somewhat balancing between the two groups: wizards, hybrids et cetera.

This knowledge was so simple, yet excluding the members of the First Circle and the Bridge, only a few knew about it. Many years ago all the communities lived in peace right next to each other, until the differences between the Circles caused a major conflict: blood was spilled, lives lost, bonds broken. Luckily, some powerful sage has put an end to it. With his great power the members of the First Circle have been blessed with an ability to take a fully human form and hide in the shadows, creating a world everyone knows of today.

Beomgyu learned all of that from the other members. At first it was hard to remember everything, but after taking notes and revising them for some time he became a man of culture.

But let’s start with the basics.

TOMORROW X TOGETHER. A very popular k-pop group. They gained many fans, many awards and it was only their fifth year after debuting. People knew of them, knew their songs. The loyal ones knew their dates of birthdays, favorite colors, interests other than music, food preferences, which one liked mint choco ice cream, which one disliked tomatoes, which one had a funky laugh, which one could stretch his skin, which one had the most brain cells, and that wasn’t even half of the trivia. However, specific information was not public at all.

Their species.

Well then, let’s start with the oldest member, Yeonjun. A very big bomb right from the start, because he was a gumiho. The species was rare, rarer than their cousins, kitsune. Less than ten thousand members of the society in Korea represented gumiho, so yes, Yeonjun was unique. He was tough, fast, agile, had sharp senses, could somewhat create and control fire, even hypnotize others very well… except it didn’t work well with glasses and contact lenses, and the rest of the members were quite blind. Also he had a tail. Yes, a tail. Just one. In most stories gumiho had nine and were super powerful, so Beomgyu thought Yeonjun would happen to be at least nine hundred years old (a perfect point to make fun of), but no, the oldest member was for real only nowhere near one century. Eh…

Now the leader, Soobin. Oh boy was he special. Not only was he a genashi and could control the element of air, he also had an elf heritage. In these times elves were kind of rare – more common in Europe, but here, in South Korea, super duper rare. Soobin just hit the jackpot, which made him quick and agile, nearly like Yeonjun… and actually that was all. Um, well, he had an almost good eye for sharpshooting (almost because of the poor eyesight). Being quick and agile was also cool, though it didn’t change the fact that Soobin was bad at sports… But he had elvish ears! That was funky.

Okay, the next member: Taehyun. Oh yeah, he was someone on a whole other level. First of all, he was a wizard, which meant he could do magic. And magic could do anything. In 99% anything, but in the frame of a typical life there were no boundaries. Swoosh and the room was clean, swish and clothes were nicely put in the wardrobe. He knew so many useful spells! He could make objects float, create minor illusions, even teleport (though it needed a lot of energy to use). It’s also worth adding that Taehyun was so good at learning new stuff. He started filming his new show, where he visited different academies and it always took him such a short amount of time to learn all the new things! A genius!

And now the lovely maknae: Hueningkai. A nearly literal angel. Actually he wasn’t one – probably there weren’t even angels, though Taehyun said something about some species called wingsman or flyman (kind of stupid names). Anyway, Kai wasn’t one of them. He was an animal whisperer. He had a special connection with animals: could understand them pretty well; they were feeling safe around him, so he could pet any dog and any cat he met. Kai said making bonds with birds was the easiest for him. Maybe because he was also a shapeshifter and could turn into a crow. However, he didn’t change forms often, mostly because of a fear of heights… A bird shapeshifter… had a fear of heights. Well, but he could still talk to birds and pet any fluffy guy.

And Beomgyu?

And Beomgyu was human. No, not a legendary creature with a human form. Not even a hybrid or wizard. He was a supernormal human that everyone knew of. Okay, there was one thing that made him an exception. He knew about the Circles. That was all. And it’s not like he’s been aware of them since always, no. He found out four years ago, just after the 943 promotions. To be honest, it was quite a story…

Yeonjun, Soobin and Kai were in the living room, unpacking the food that they ordered. The oldest took one of the chicken legs, bit down as fast as he could, frowning, when he tasted the hot meat covered in a crispy coat and spicy sauce.

“Holy, guys, this is so good!” He exclaimed after a bit of chewing.

Sitting on the left Soobin looked at him, smiled with one corner of his lips.

“Well, every fox likes chicken, don’t they?” He joked.

“Hah, hah, very funny, my belly button almost fell off.”

“Oh, in that case we should also order some carrots for Soobin hyung,” said Kai suddenly.

The other two looked at him.

“Carrots?” asked Soobin, raising his brow.

“Because you’re a bunny.”

Silence.

“Aaaaaaah, you mean, like, the emoji thing.”

“Yeah, what else?”

Everyone looked at each other, another session of silence conquered the room. Finally, Yeonjun took a deep breath.

“Told ya we should tell the rest.” He nudged Soobin, and then continued to eat.

“But what if they freak out?” Soobin looked quite concerned.

“Whatever, we shouldn’t have any secrets, am I right? Even though us two found out about it recently.”

Kai looked at both of his older brothers, pretty much confused.

“No, for real, what are you talking about?”

When Yeonjun put his chicken leg down and wiped fingers with a tissue, Kai knew things were about to get serious. He looked around, then again at Yeonjun.

The oldest peeked at Soobin, but only got a discrete signal that he should be the one to take the lead (hah, he, while the actual leader stepped down).

“Okay, Hueka-yah,” Yeonjun paused for a few seconds. “Do you know about, uh, the Circles?”

“You mean the Circles?” asked someone else.

The whole trio raised their heads and looked up at Taehyun, who just walked into the room. They all exchanged a bit of confused looks, but with a hint of something like hope. The doe eyed boy came closer, sat down right next to the maknae. He reached out for the chicken legs, took one and dipped it in sauce.

“Are you guys from The First Circle?” He was way too calm, throwing a question like this one.

The rest dropped their jaws.

“You too?!” shouted Yeonjun, almost jumping.

“Heol, y'all also supernatural?!” Kai opened his eyes wide, covering mouth with a hand.

A hot conversation took place. Everyone said their race, some other funky stuff about magic, all happy and excited. When Taehyun showed his magic, the rest was in awe. This evening was just amazing…

“Wait, what about Beomgyu?” Soobin asked suddenly.

“Well, he should wake up from his nap in a second, we’ll ask him,” Yeonjun shrugged, taking his fourth chicken leg.

“But what if he’s not one of us?”

“Then we still tell him everything,” answered Taehyun.

The others looked at him at the same time.

“I agree.” Kai nodded. “The four of us are from The First Circle or The Bridge; even if Beomgyu hyung doesn’t belong to our species group, he’s still our bandmate and friend. Hiding it from him would be just unfair.”

“What would be unfair?” they heard.

The four turned their heads toward the voice, seeing the one they talked about, standing in the doorframe.

Beomgyu rubbed his eye with a finger, still only half awake from his a bit too long nap. He yawned shortly, blinked twice. Noticing food, he took a few jumpy steps like a happy child to find himself near the table, sat down, crossed his legs and snatched a chicken wing, mumbling under the nose why the others didn’t wake him up when the food arrived. They sure knew he was hungry and fell asleep not only because he was tired, but also to take a break from the grumbling in his stomach.

The members looked at him as if they expected him to do a flip or something. He felt their gazes, so he raised his head a little to see them all.

“What?” he asked, voice still low from sleep.

Imaginary crickets.

Kai nudged Taehyun, Taehyun nudged Soobin, Soobin nudged Yeonjun, Yeonjun tried to give the nudging back, but it didn’t work as planned, so he took the lead yet again.

“Uh, Beomgyu-yah.”

“Yes?”

“Do you know about the circles?”

A moment of waiting.

“The crop circles from aliens?” Beomgyu didn’t stop eating.

He could bet his right biggest toe that the members were pretty disappointed, when they heard his answer. And to be honest, he kind of planned that.

“The magic ones,” saying that, he smiled widely.

Beomgyu didn’t tell them, but he did overhear a bit of their conversation. Well, he couldn’t catch the details, but they were talking about some magic stuff, so hearing the specific question from Yeonjun, Beomgyu decided to play along. Maybe it was some game?

“You know about them!” Kai let out a sigh of relief. He moved closer to the older boy. “What species are you?”

After that question Beomgyu was sure they were doing some kind of a roleplay. Maybe it was connected to their own universe that the company came up with. Hm, in that story he was a healer. But healer wasn’t a species, it was a profession. So then that would make him a…

“Mage.”

“A wizard?” Taehyun tilted his head to the side, eyes bright.

“You’re a wizard, Beomgyu,” added Yeonjun in English, then laughed.

Beomgyu finished his chicken wing, put the bones in the box and after that he said:

“I call myself a mage.”

He was that determined to make up his own lore.

Taehyun nodded, all of a sudden having more energy than earlier. Probably because he was invested in magic himself. Beomgyu could easily guess the other boy chose to be someone who wields magical powers of some sort. Well, to be frank, Taehyun kind of had them already. The things he could do with cards and coins was pretty amazing.

“I see,” replied Taehyun. “So what's your speciality?”

Beomgyu was ready to say 'my face' – he even raised his hand, almost pointing at himself, but the younger member was faster.

“I couldn’t really decide, so I’m learning a bit of everything!”

He did some kind of a gesture and then out of nowhere one of the cups started floating. Beomgyu raised both of his brows, surprised at the very least. The cup was levitating right above Taehyun’s hand – a bottle of coke joined it, the cap removed itself, so coke could be poured into the cup, just like in some movies about wizards.

Okay, now for real: what kind of trick did he use? Beomgyu had no idea. He knew he wasn’t the smartest kid when it came to that stuff, but was pretty sure a floating cup and bottle, which moved by itself were… not… that much possible? Where were the strings? Wait, no, what kind of thin, not visible string would be this tough to not snap while holding that half full, one liter bottle?

“Woah, Taehyun-ah, you’re getting better and better at your magic tricks!”

And that was the moment when the cup and bottle landed on the table.

“What?” Taehyun straightened up, corners of his lips went down by a few millimeters. “Magic tricks?”

The other members immediately noticed the change in the wizard’s attitude. Soobin laid his gaze upon the younger singer, then moved it towards Beomgyu. He bit his lip, unconsciously started to play with his fingers.

Now Beomgyu had even less than no idea how that magic trick happened. He froze for a second, then said:

“Okay, end of the games, how the heck did you do that?” He pointed a finger at the coke bottle.

“Magic, duh,” Yeonjun frowned, but then squinted his eyes. “Wait, Beomgyu-ah, you’re too curious about how Taehyun did all of that. Be honest: what species are you?”

Normally Beomgyu shouldn’t be surprised. After all, wizards, uh, were born with magic. They saw magic on a daily basis. Why would any of them be shocked to see some floating stuff? Even Yeonjun wasn’t moved on this level.

“What?” Beomgyu was confused.

“What species are you?” Yeonjun was determined.

“A mage?”

“No, for real.”

Hearing that, Beomgyu looked at the oldest member. He swallowed saliva, poorly hiding a concerned look on his own face.

“What do you mean ‘for real’?”

“Beomgyu, just answer the question,” now Soobin took the lead. “What species are you?”

“Human,” he answered without hesitation.

A heavy silence fell in the room. Everyone was looking at Beomgyu, who was the only one left out of the topic. Was the game still on? Did the rules change without him noticing? No, there were more important questions, because, like, really, how in all the existing magic shows did Taehyun raise a cup and bottle and pour himself a drink without even touching any of the things? Where did he learn that? YouTube? Some guide? NaverWiki? Did he buy ‘super cool magic gadgets’ from Amazon?

“Beomgyu hyung,” Kai chimed in slowly.

Beomgyu looked at him.

“Uh?”

“Are you human?” The youngest seemed way too serious.

The same went for the other member, who almost swallowed Beomgyu whole with their gazes.

“I…” he hesitated for a second. “I am human.”

Chapter Text

“You guys are WHAT?!” Beomgyu blinked really fast, almost standing up. He measured the members with his gaze, eyes wide open.

Just a few minutes ago he was so sure that his friends were just playing some kind of a role-play game, having fun, anything. He didn’t think that all of that magic stuff was one hundred percent real, legit!

“So there are no strings attached to the bottle?!” he shouted. “No illusion trick?!”

“What strings?” Yeonjun frowned. “Where did you get that idea from?”

“I don’t know, maybe because Taehyunie is good at magic, I mean the show magic, I mean the human magic, I mean the…”

“Okay, we get what kind of magic you mean, hyung,” said Kai.

He gently placed a hand on top of his older friend’s shoulder, this way reassuring him and trying to calm him down. Which worked… Kind of.

Beomgyu was somehow conflicted. Well, it was not normal, living happily and then one day discovering that the world was divided into two, uh, ‘Circles’ and literal magical beings existed, and his best friends belonged to them! Wait, what about the company? The other idols? The fans? The people he passed on the streets? His school friends? His…?

Oh god, everyone could be one of them!

“Beomgyu hyung, are you alright?” asked Taehyun, not hiding that he got a little worried.

Beomgyu turned his head, looked at the former.

“Uh?” He blinked. “Mmm, yeah. I mean, wow, guys, you’re…” He scratched the back of his head. “Uhm, what are you actually? Like, what do you call it? Race? Species?”

“Most of the time species,” answered Soobin.

“Oh, species, right. So what species are you? Taehyun is a mage…”

“Wizard,” Taehyun corrected him.

“Wizard, yeah. And the rest of you? Are you also wizards?”

“No, we’re different species.”

Everyone started to shortly describe their own race. The first one was Taehyun. He showed his magic once again, saying he could cast many useful spells. He moved his hand, some sparkles appeared on top of it, the boy made another graceful gesture and suddenly a few chicken wings started to float above the boxes. Beomgyu watched it all in awe, waved his hand around one of the wings, checking if there were really, for sure, one hundred ten percent no strings pulling them. It was all real.

Then Taehyun snapped his fingers and a book appeared. He called it a grimoire or just a spellbook. He also said that he was writing down all the magic knowledge that he was collecting, but it had no other use. Either way it looked so cool in Beomgyu’s eyes. Having a magic book, writing down the magic knowledge, using it to do magic…

He repeated the word ‘magic’ too many times.

Next one was Yeonjun. He started bragging about him being a representative of a rare species, gumiho…

“WAIT!” yelled Beomgyu, unexpectedly covering his stomach with his arms. “Do you eat livers?!”

“What, no, I don’t!” The oldest raised his fist, ready to land a punch. “Oh right, I also have super strength, so you better behave from now on!”

“Or you will tear out my liver barehanded?”

“Don’t make me wanna do it!”

A golden flame lightened up his eyes, pupils slitted a bit. Beomgyu looked at them, opened his mouth, but not a sound came out from it.

The other members also noticed the quite visible change in Yeonjun’s eyes before they became normal again.

“Hyung, you better not show off your eyes in public.” Soobin’s lips turned into a narrow line, showing a bit of his left dimple.

“Most of the time we wear colored lenses,” Taehyun noticed, “so we should be good.”

“Come on, guys, I can control it.” Yeonjun pouted.

“Yeah, you’re doing a great job.” Soobin patted him on the back.

“If you’re a gumiho,” started Beomgyu, “then do you have any tails?”

That was the moment when the oldest smiled brightly. Saying that of course, how could a gumiho have not a single tail, he stood up, backed up a little and stretched a bit.

“Do y'all wanna see my true form?" He smirked, putting hands on his hips.

“Of course!” the rest answered, very excited.

So Yeonjun showed them his ‘true form’. His eyes turned yellowish once again, pupils slitted, something hopped on his head, while the human ears disappeared under the hair. A long, fluffy tail appeared right behind him, smooth, red fur with white end shining in the light of the room lamp.

“Whaddya think?” He posed almost like on a runaway.

Everyone was clearly impressed: Soobin started clapping, and the rest joined him shortly after.

“Hyung, hyung, can I touch it?” asked Kai, making cute eyes. “Please, Yeonjunie hyung? Can Hueningie touch your tail?”

The members ignored his aegyo.

Taehyun touched his own chin, deeply wondering about something. It caught Yeonjun’s eye, who looked at him and raised one of his brows.

“What’s the matter?”

“You have one tail,” said Taehyun.

“Yeah?”

“I thought you would be older.”

Yeonjun froze.

“What do you mean?” He squinted his eyes.

“Gumiho are cool with nine tail,” Beomgyu chimed in. “You have only one? Lame.”

“You wanted me to be nine hundred years old?” Yeonjun gritted his teeth, then quickly jumped to the younger boy, sharp fangs shining from behind the lips. “I swear if you… if any of you,” he looked at the rest, “makes fun of that, I will eat your livers right on the spot!”

“Oh, we would never, hyung!” Kai waved his hands in defense.

“Woah, so you would eat our livers!” pointed out Beomgyu.

“It’s a figure of speech!” snarled at him Yeonjun.

“Figure of speech, my ass!”

Yeonjun nearly threw himself at Beomgyu, but suddenly froze, seeing the latter’s face. He observed it, fox ears flopped and then disappeared, just like the tail and golden, slitted eyes. His appearance changed back to human after which he took a small step away.

“A… Are you scared of me?” he asked, weirdly timid.

Hearing that question, Beomgyu raised both of his brows. Wait, did Yeonjun really think of that?

“What? No, of course not!”

It was all new for him, right, he still was feeling a little weird, like he was still dreaming or something similar, but no, he was not afraid. Not at all. Why? Simple.

“I was just joking! You’re my hyung. I’m not scared of you at all. Or any of you.” He looked at the others. “We’re all family. I’m not used to it, but I’m sincere when I say that you guys are amazing.”

The members smiled at him warmly.

“Okay, who’s next?” Beomgyu fixed his position. “Hueka?”

“I thought you would never ask,” replied Hueningkai. He stood up, pulled down the end of his hoodie and struck a pose similar to Yeonjun. “I am an animal whisperer!”

“Whisperer?” Beomgyu tilted his head to the side. “You control animals? That’s kinda totalitarian. Wait, but humans are also animals! So that means you can control me?!”

He covered his ears as if he wanted to protect himself from being controlled, deep inside really enjoying his play.

The maknae smiled, but his face showed him being hurt.

Kai took some time to explain how his species worked. He told the others about the connection with animals, especially birds. Only he couldn’t show a good example, because there was no animal nearby. He fixed his auto presentation by saying he could turn into a bird… which he neither showed since he wasn’t wearing the special magic clothes that he wouldn’t lose after transformation and the members didn’t force him to change.

What was really sad, Hueningkai had a fear of heights, which everyone from the band knew about, but after finding out about his species, it brought another meaning.. If Beomgyu had to be honest, the younger's situation was kind of ironic. As a normal human, Beomgyu would do almost everything to be able to fly…

“So you basically talk to animals,” he summed it up.

“Well, it’s not like having a full on conversation with them, since their vocabulary is not as wide…” Kai started to explain.

“For me it’ll be easier to say you talk to animals.”

“Oh, okay.”

Beomgyu spent some time organizing his thoughts. Then he turned his head to Soobin and asked:

“Soobinie hyung, what about you?”

“Uh, me?” Soobin pointed at himself.

“Yeah.”

“I am a genashi.”

Beomgyu squinted his eyes a little bit.

“Aish what?”

“Genashi, genashi…” Yeongjun rolled his eyes. “Listen carefully.”

“It’s his first time hearing it, let him pass,” Taehyun whispered.

Beomgyu ignored the two, still focused on the leader.

Asked about his powers, Soobin firstly wondered a bit, and then answered. He said that he could control one of the elements, which was air and showcased it by doing a little gesture with his fingers. All of the members felt a weak wind playing with their hair – they opened their mouths in awe. Beomgyu was clearly impressed, especially since it was quite impossible to, uh, bring wind into a closed room in a ‘human’ way.

“I also have some elf heritage,” added Soobin.

“Woah, you’re an elf?” Beomgyu raised his brows. “No wonder you’re so tall! So do you have pointy ears?”

“Yes,” he nodded.

“Can you show them?”

Hearing his question, Soobin blinked a few times.

“Huh?”

“Show your ears! Please?” Beomgyu made sweet eyes.

“O-Okay.”

Soobin showed his true form, which wasn’t so different from his human look except for the longer, pointy ears. It wasn’t as impressive as Yeonjun’s appearance, but it still looked cool in Beomgyu’s eyes. While talking about the ears, Taehyun said that in modern times elves were not common, especially in Asia, so Soobin was special. And the elvish blood also made him fast and agile… yet he was bad at sports.

It all was so… amazing. Yesterday Beomgyu was convinced that gumiho, wizards, elves and other supernatural beings were just a fiction, some effect of someone’s great imagination. To think they were real! And his bandmates belonged to them! It felt so unreal Beomgyu was afraid that any second he would wake up and come back to the old, grey reality.

A thought suddenly crossed his mind.

“Wait.”

Everyone else looked at him, sent him looks that wanted him to elaborate.

“So you’re saying there are many supernatural beings in the world,” he said slowly.

“Yes,” answered Taehyun, nodding.

“Then why don’t people know about you? I mean why is knowledge about you not common? Like, they don’t talk about you guys.” He sat straight. “Why are you hiding?”

The other members exchanged specific looks between themselves. They stayed silent for a few seconds until Taehyun decided to answer the question.

“It’s kind of a law.” He shrugged. “Many years ago there was a conflict between the two circles, until someone decided that we should just hide. I could talk about it more, but I don’t know whether it won’t be too much new information for you.”

“No, no, I kind of get it.” Beomgyu fixed his bangs. “Then… am I really allowed to know all of that? That you're a wizard, gumiho, animal talker and air-elf guy?” He looked at each member.

If it was some common knowledge, then he would be aware of it since… since always. Yet he learned that as an eighteen year old. Did his family know? Probably not. They were pretty much as human as Beomgyu, so they couldn’t know – if they really were aware of the Circles, they would tell their kids about other beings.

Wait, what if it brings consequences? What if some weird looking people come to find Beomgyu, because he possessed knowledge that was prohibited for him? Would his friends also get dragged into that mess? Oh no…

“It doesn’t matter,” said Soobin, getting rid of all of Beomgyu’s concerns. “The world shouldn’t know, that’s correct. But you’re our bandmate, Beomgyu. And a friend. We’re family. So how could you not know about this?”

“Yes, there are actually plenty of humans who know about the Circles,” Taehyun chimed in with a soft smile. “Most of them are family with the people from the First Circle. This case includes you.”

“I see,” Beomgyu nodded. “So no one will come for me, because I know something I shouldn’t?”

“Someone has been watching too many movies,” Yeonjun snorted.

“Oh, right!” Kai clapped suddenly. “There are some movies and dramas that show our world pretty well, so you could watch them, Beomgyu hyung!”

When Beomgyu heard the youngest’s words, he got excited.

“Really? Well, I guess I have homework to do!”

Chapter Text

Ever since that day, Beomgyu’s life wasn’t the same as it used to be.

Well, actually some things didn’t change. Because the members were not ready to check if anyone important from Big Hit belonged to the First Circle, they still pretended like nothing really happened and supernatural beings didn’t exist at all. They were training hard as always, taking part in interviews, recording new episodes of their own show and other stuff. To be honest they were too busy to talk about the Circles with anyone else.

However, things changed in their more private life.

Beomgyu got quickly used to coming back to the dorm and navigating himself through flying objects, making space in the kitchen for self mixing ramyeon, seeing feathers everywhere and hoping that Yeonjun will not burn the house down by showing off his fire tricks. Their home looked like an epicenter of magic, a lobby of some wizarding school. Well, except when the manager was there: the boys tried to tell Jisoo-nim the truth, but every chance would end with ‘maybe next time’.

If they got some time and energy, they were sitting together in the main room and telling Beomgyu all the stuff about the Circles. Beomgyu even bought a new notebook to write down notes – he wanted to remember everything, especially the parts that were connected to the other members. He tried to organize everything, which wasn’t so easy, because their friends happened to not have an inner teacher… except for Taehyun, but he was just too smart.

And that was their new life.

They got an even newer life when they finally told manager Jisoo about them being supernatural.

Well… They told him in the end.

“Yeonjun will be the villain!”

“What? Why me?”

That day the boys had a lot of free time, so they decided to have some fun. And since they started off by talking about the Circles, they came up with a great idea – a roleplay game. Rules were simple: just imagine stuff and put some magic into it.

Yeonjun and Soobin were chosen to be the villains. They weren’t so happy about it at first, but Hueningkai was too pure to play the bad guy, everyone agreed on Beomgyu being the protagonist and Taehyun was the main character’s support. So hence the oldest members became villains.

The game was really fun even though they played in the dorm. The wizard was casting many cool looking spells to make a good immersion. He even put some special effects on Beomgyu, so the older boy could feel like he also was able to do magic.

“Die, you wrenched monster!” exclaimed the protagonist, raising a long wooden chopstick covered in an illusion of a shining sword.

“Watch your end, optimistic fool!” Yeonjun laughed like a maniac.

He twitched his triangular ear, wagged the tail, then jumped from the sofa, a small flame glowing in his hand. Beomgyu bravely parried the attack with his sword, but took a few steps back.

“Oh, Great Sage of the Northern River, I think I’ll be needing your assistance!” He turned his head toward Taehyun.

The wizard, however, couldn’t help him, because he was occupied by a fight with the prince of dark elves, Soobin. He waved his staff – a glowing, half transparent shield appeared, protecting him from the gust of wind created by the elf.

“I will send my familiar to you!” shouted Taehyun.

A black crow departed from his shoulder and flew straight to Beomgyu. Yeonjun saw this as a chance and tried to attack it. The bird dodged the hand and shortly, but loudly cawed in fear.

“What is going on?” they all heard suddenly.

The band froze as if someone cursed them into stone. They turned their heads, saw manager Jisoo standing in the corridor of the dorm. The crow landed on the floor and changed back into Hueningkai. Everyone fell silent.

They were doomed. Perfect. Beomgyu himself was overwhelmed for some time, when he learned about the Circles, but Jisoo-nim would be a harder case. After all he was, well, older and probably not so interested in magic stuff, so he would be at least surprised.

“Uh, Jisoo-nim, we can explain…” started Yeonjun, ears close to his head.

“You’re from the First Circle?” asked the manager.

“Wait, you too?!” Kai chimed in, raising his brows.

And then they found out that their manager represented the genashi species, just like Soobin, but he had earth powers. No wonder he was so strong! Huff, luck was on their side, because if Jisoo was a normal human, he would be very shocked, even more than Beomgyu!

“So you’re all supernatural?” Jisoo was looking at each member after he had sat them on the sofa like some children ready to be grounded by the parent.

“Except for me,” said Beomgyu slowly, raising his hand a bit.

“I see.”

After telling the manager their species, the members still got an earful about using their magic recklessly. Jisoo said that if someone saw them like that, it would cause a problem (at least curtains covered the windows). But it all ended on a good note – a few days later they talked to Bang PD and then everything changed.

One of the most important things: the boys finally got to know how the TXT Universe personas had so much in common with them. Bang Si Hyuk told them that the person who came up with some of the ideas was a seer. He had found out that a few weeks before telling them and wanted to investigate the case… but he simply forgot. Too much work, one would guess.

Sadly, the mysterious person wasn’t a Big Hit employee anymore and the contact was lost. Bang PD wanted to get in touch with them, because their ideas were pretty accurate, even the ones that didn’t make it to the final story. Kind of sad not everything got accepted. Someone else decided to turn Yeonjun’s persona into a warrior with antlers, Beomgyu’s into some druid and Kai’s into an angel-like being. Too bad Beomgyu wasn’t a druid in real life.

But that’s how the whole TXT in the Big Hit Circles thing started.

Two years have passed since the conversation with the PD. Everyone who worked with TXT on a daily basis – stylists, teachers, staff of their own programs et cetera – were either part of the First Circle (or the Bridge) or just knew about it. The boys could freely talk and do things related to that, so the atmosphere was pretty nice. Even Beomgyu felt at peace.

Most of the time.

The band brothers did their best, so the human boy wouldn’t feel left out. They shared their knowledge, teached him everything, Taehyun sometimes would put spells on him, so the older one would pretend to also be supernatural. It was fun, for real.

However, sometimes Beomgyu couldn’t help but think about how he was only human. The rest had something special: one casted spells, one controlled the wind, one talked to animals and one was a legendary beast. Beomgyu was human. Just a boring, typical human.

The members often showed off their tricks. With the protocole team and some executives knowing about the Circles, they could reveal themselves. Beomgyu had already shown everything.

He tried really hard not to disappear in the light. He was fighting with all his might so he would do the intros of the songs or get some special frames in MVs. Even though the Circles were hidden from the world and at the end of the day others showed only their human side, Beomgyu was feeling like he shouldn’t belong there.

One time he decided to seek some advice.

“Wow, your apartment is really big, hyungnim!”

Beomgyu looked around, then towards standing nearby Namjoon. The taller man smiled warmly, dimples decorating his face.

BTS. Everyone knew of them. The biggest group in the world, the most popular one at this moment – many people were saying that. Well, no one could hide the fact that they pretty much paved the way and thanks to them South Korea got so much interest. And guess what? BTS consisted of members belonging to the Circle-Circle (Beomgyu this way called everyone, who either was supernatural or knew about the supernatural)! Pretty amazing, right? Some of them were even really prestigious – Jin sunbaenim was a part of a well known in the First Circle family of wizards! He was so powerful and all… at least that’s what Taehyun said. The boy explained that he already knew about Jin’s roots, but didn’t really ask, because he was too intimidated. V sunbaenim was also a wizard, but his specialty was ritualism and shamanism. TXT found out that later.

BTS were properly introduced to the boys shortly after the important meeting with Bang PD in which he shared about the Big Hit Circles. TXT were amazed at how different the members of the biggest k-pop group were, yet they created a perfect team. Thanks to them the boys learned a lot about making a good bond while representing different species. Especially Beomgyu since the leader of BTS happened to be the only human, just like him.

Beomgyu liked the idea of talking with Namjoon about their special ‘position’ in their groups. Well, to be honest, at first he pretended to be tough and told everyone, including himself that he was perfectly fine with his situation… but as one could tell he reached his limit.

“Coffee, tea or something else?” offered Namjoon, inviting the young boy to the main room.

“Um, coffee, please,” replied Beomgyu.

“Milk? Sugar? Any other specific wishes? I have a new coffee machine.”

“A plain coffee is enough.”

Plain just like myself, he thought bitterly.

He waited patiently, until Namjoon told him to sit down. Beomgyu took a spot on the sofa, legs together, and thanked for the mug that the older one offered him.

“You wanted to talk about being the only human on the team, right?” asked Namjoon, sitting next to the boy.

“Yes”, Beomgyu nodded shyly.

“Do you feel overwhelmed?”

“No, not at all! I mean, it took some time to get used to all of that, but it’s been three years, so now it just feels normal to see magic, shapeshifting and other stuff.”

“Yeah, at some point it’s funny how humans can get used to everything, including weird supernatural things happening around.”

Namjoon smiled warmly, then took a sip out of his mug.

Beomgyu looked at him, waited for a few seconds, organizing his thoughts.

“How long have you known all of that?”

Hearing that question, the latter rested his chin on fingers for a bit.

“Hm, since I was a trainee.”

“Wow, so it’s been so long!”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “I was lucky enough to find out about the Circles pretty early. The members weren’t so good at hiding, at least the youngest trio, who just liked to mess around.”

“I see.”

Wow, it’s been more than ten years then! Beomgyu could say that the leader of BTS knew about the Circles pretty much since forever. At this point Namjoon was a true veteran! Soobin met him a few times, even got invited to his home, mostly to talk about the leader stuff, but he said that RM had really wide knowledge about the Circles – for a human.

Knowing so much about the supernatural, yet not being one of them. Beomgyu couldn’t imagine how he would feel if he was in Namjoon’s shoes. Well, he himself would be a bit sad. Even now he was and still didn’t know that much.

“Have…” he hesitated for a second, “have you ever thought that… it’s a shame you’re not one of them?”

Namjoon looked at him, raised an eyebrow.

“You mean, if I ever were jealous of them?”

“Maybe?” Beomgyu shrugged.

Seeing his face, Namjoon snorted.

“Well, at first I wanted to be like them, I won’t lie. But they showed me that being a human is something I should be happy about. It’s true that I can’t change forms or even cast spells, but I also have my own qualities that are appreciated in the group. Plus I’m the leader after all.”

Beomgyu lowered his head, looked at his own, not very visible reflection in the coffee. He couldn’t help but think that he, in fact, was not the leader. He was just a member. A middle child – the object of some popular memes about neglect.

Namjoon measured the boy with his sight, fixed his position a bit. As if he was able to read minds, he slowly said:

“I think you just need to look at it all from a different point of view. Being the only human doesn’t mean you’re useless. You debuted as a member of the group that’s doing so well people call them ‘the next BTS’.”

When Beomgyu heard those words, he straightened up a little bit and looked at the man, opening his eyes wider.

“Oh, stop it, hyungnim, there is nothing to compare, BTS is way, way above us.”

“No, I see potential in you guys,” replied the former. “Even in you, Beomgyu. It’s just you, who hasn't seen it yet.”

It was just him, who hasn’t seen it yet?

Maybe… Maybe that was true? Maybe Beomgyu really was overthinking? Maybe three years wasn’t long enough for him? Well, compared to eighteen years of not being aware of the Circles three years seemed very short. It was possible that he still needed some more time to fully get used to it and appreciate his own self. It wasn’t like he could stop being only human and suddenly manifest some supernatural characteristics. Being sad and jealous won’t change anything.

Wait, jealous? How could he be jealous? He should be proud that he had such great friends, who could talk to animals, change forms and cast spells! Yes, that was the right attitude!

He took a really deep breath, after which he sipped his coffee. Seeing a positive change, Namjoon smiled softly, then placed his hand on the boy’s shoulder, saying:

“I’m sure the rest of the group loves you regardless of who you really are.”

Beomgyu shifted his eyes to the man’s face and also smiled.

“Thank you, hyungnim. I think thanks to you my mind got clearer.”

Chapter Text

Namjoon sure was helpful. Thanks to his reassuring words Beomgyu could breathe more peacefully. The man was right, even though Beomgyu was only human, he had his own qualities and members still loved him regardless of his species. Yes, he wasn’t falling behind.

At least that’s what he believed.

Time passed, TXT spent many, many hours practicing, taking part in award shows, interviews and other events. Their schedule was even more packed when Bang PD announced that they would start a new course focused on their magic and supernatural skills. All of them would have private lessons… except Beomgyu, simply because he was only human.

At first he was happy that he dodged this whole thing. After doing many things he really appreciated some time in the dorm, playing games, watching dramas or just relaxing to music. He joked that his life was better than the rest of the members’, especially enjoying making Yeonjun jealous.

But the fun didn’t last long. In fact, he quickly dropped the happy thought. Being alone in the dorm, knowing that other members had to train hard, was not satisfying. He didn’t want to show it, but he was… Actually, he didn’t really know how to describe his feelings. When the boys were coming home looking tired, he couldn’t share their burden, and when they were all happy because of the progress they’ve been making, Beomgyu felt so… useless.

No, he had to get rid of this attitude. That’s not how it was supposed to be. He should be proud of who he was. Yes, he was a proud human of TOMORROW X TOGETHER!

His hopes were strong.

However, reality hit hard.

While they were doing the photoshoot for the Freefall album, some staff member came up with an idea – taking some additional photos of the boys’ true forms. It started with someone realizing that Yeonjun’s ginger hair would fit the gumiho look. Everyone agreed on that; the pictures wouldn’t be published, but would make a great memory. Plus the First Circle news shared the government vision about supernatural beings becoming visible. It was just a thought, but who knows, maybe one day everyone will freely walk with tails, wings and other stuff.

TXT finished the Reality photoshoot – stylists dried their hair, fixed makeup and changed outfits a bit. Around ten minutes later the band was ready for the additional photoshoot.

First was Yeonjun. He quickly changed forms, made a cool pose, narrowed eyes a little. He gave a cunning, foxy look; after the first batch of photos the staff agreed that he would fit so perfectly the popular drama called Tale of the Nine Tailed. Yeonjun laughed at that comment, saying he really liked this series – so much he could turn a blind eye to some unreal things it showed about gumiho.

Next was Soobin. Surrounded by self created fancy gusts of wind, he posed like a young elvish prince. And he looked like one even with the not so princey clothes. Someone said the long ears fit him so well. Well, that was obvious. Every elf was good looking, even the not pure blood ones.

Taehyun was third. And oh boy was his photoshoot amazing. With all the magical effects he looked like no one could stand a chance against him in a magic duel. He summoned his grimoire and set it floating right next to him, pages turning by themselves. Seeing all the magic, Soobin said that Harry Potter could never do something like that. It sure was a huge compliment knowing how much of a fan the elf was.

Hueningkai’s turn was right after Taehyun. His photoshoot was a bit harder, because there were no animals nearby to summon, but the wizard came to the rescue by creating some mirages. The youngest slowly walked the setup, surrounded by fluffy and featherly friends. Everyone could agree that even in an aisle with rebellious graffiti, with all the leathers and chains Kai looked so pure.

Beomgyu was last. He knew very well why: the staff didn’t know what to do with him. To be honest he himself didn’t know what he should do. No pointy ears, no magic, no fluffy tail. Nothing. If he was to pose as always, then what was the point of doing all of that? Or maybe after some thinking staff will just let him go? Either option was… sad.

“I can create some effects, just like with Hueka,” said Taehyun suddenly.

“Kang Taehyun to the rescue!” sang Yeonjun happily.

Everyone agreed on that idea. Beomgyu looked at the wizard, smiled shyly. He was so glad that he had a friend like Taehyun. With his help the photoshoot would look really good.

And it did. Beomgyu struck a few cool poses while Taehyun created magical effects. The human boy stopped to look human and appeared in the photos as someone who could control all kinds of magic. Levitating orbs, little stars, whirls and twirls – his photoshoot was the most colorful of them all.

He was gazing at the taken photos in the computer’s monitor, happy and smiley, but then the corners of his lips went down a bit.

He did look magical.

But that wasn’t his true self.

The work ended, boys changed clothes and were free to go. They happily got into the van, waited patiently for the driver. Beomgyu stretched a bit, yawning loudly.

“Ugh, so tired!” he exclaimed. “Don’t mind me getting some sleep time!”

“The road is long, so let’s all get some rest,” said Soobin, fixing his position.

The whole band decided to rest. Beomgyu turned his head to the window, started looking at the world on the other side. He took a deep breath.

Taehyun’s training sessions were the shortest. Well, no surprise, because he was so good at casting spells that the coach could not teach him anything new. The wizard was just polishing his skills, so he was always the first one to finish. The next was Kai, because he was only practicing in his bird form. Soobin and Yeonjun were coming home last, most of the time together.

Beomgyu was just sitting in the dorm, because Big Hit decided so. They yet again didn’t know what to do with him and just gave up. At least he didn’t get more dance practices. He loved dancing, but not to that extent.

However, this day, after the rest went to their training, Beomgyu also left the dorm shortly after. He arrived at his studio, thinking he should at least this time do something productive. He sat on the chair, turned on the computer. After some time he grabbed his guitar and started playing, looking for some inspiration. Then he went back to the computer.

Suddenly his phone started buzzing. Beomgyu looked at the screen, saw Taehyun calling. He answered immediately.

“Hyung, where are you?” asked the wizard.

“I’m in the studio,” replied Beomgyu, holding the phone closer to his ear. “Why?”

“Oh, I just came back from training and didn’t see you at the dorm.”

“Ah, I just got some ideas for music. Gotta write them down since my brain’s inspired, you know.”

He looked at the computer’s monitor, which showed only the empty Naver search bar.

“I know,” said Taehyun. “Work well, then. I only called, because I did some grocery shopping and thought you could help me with preparing the dinner.”

Hearing his words, Beomgyu suddenly sat straight.

“Oh, since you need help, I’ll come back home.”

“No, no, no, hyung, I can manage by myself! And if I’m correct, Yeonjunie hyung should be back in some time.”

“Well, I can’t be the bad older brother now, Taehyun-ah!”

Beomgyu could hear a short sigh from the other side.

Finally Taehyun gave up. He said he would wait for Beomgyu. The other boy smiled even though the former couldn’t see it. Shortly after the call ended.

Beomgyu almost immediately started packing up his stuff. He turned off the computer, put on his jacket. Very ready to leave he was about to open the door, but his hand froze just above the doorknob. No, he shouldn’t be so fast, it would look weird. Taehyun then would certainly know that Beomgyu might have lied with the ‘brain inspiration’.

So he waited a bit, scrolling through some social media app.

Only around five minutes passed before he got another call, this time from Yeonjun. The gumiho said that he just finished his training and heard about Beomgyu being in the studio, so he thought they should come back home together. The human boy agreed without any hesitation. Not only because they were friends, but also he sniffed something. Yeah, Yeonjun probably got worried. Well then, Beomgyu will reassure him that everything is fine.

Even if it wasn’t.

Sun had hidden under the horizon way before the two boys left the office. The air was a bit cold, luckily it was still September, so the weather was manageable. The idols got a lift from a staff member, but decided to get off a bit earlier, because they wanted to take a walk.

Yeonjun made sure that most of his hair was under the beanie and then looked at Beomgyu.

“So,” he started, “you good?”

“Eh?” Beomgyu raised an eyebrow. “Yeah? What do you mean?”

“Well, lately you’ve been looking rather pensive,” Yeonjun shrugged. “I’m not the only one who noticed,” he added, seeing the younger’s confused look.

Of course they all have noticed, Beomgyu knew it. They all worked together, spent free time together, lived together, did almost everything together. Even if Beomgyu was pretty good at hiding stuff from the rest of the company and family, there was no chance that the members wouldn’t notice anything. Sooner or later the whole band was aware.

Yet he still was trying to hide his feelings. He just didn’t want to bother them with his ordinary thoughts. It was no big deal.

He remained silent, which gave the older an opportunity to continue:

“Even when we are filming TODO, you look lost in thoughts.”

“I’m just thinking about you guys,” finally said Beomgyu. “We have such a hectic schedule and on top of that you have some special Fi-Ci training. I feel bad that I just do nothing while you pour buckets of sweat.”

Yeonjun narrowed his eyes a little, took a few seconds to think.

“I mean, it is a little hard,” he admitted, “but sometimes when I look at you, I feel like you have it harder than us.”

“What are you talking about? I’m vacationing next to you!” he joked, smiling a little.

The gumiho however was not in the mood for laughing. Instead he leaned a bit towards Beomgyu, looking at him as if he wanted to shoot a hole in the other’s head with just a gaze. Though Yeonjun’s eyes were still dark, up close one could see that pupils went slit for a moment.

Beomgyu slowed down, fixed his bangs with a finger. Crap, of course nothing could go past gumiho’s sharp senses. Beomgyu for real could fool anyone from the company but not the members.

Yeonjun pouted his lips.

“Is it about not enough contribution to the new album?” he raised a brow.

“No.” Beomgyu looked somewhere else.

“Is it about being the only human in the group?”

“Of course not.”

“Then it’s about both of these things.”

“What?” Beomgyu stopped walking. “Wait, if you think I’m jealous, then you got the wrong idea! For real, it’s not like that! When I’m around you guys, I forget about me being a human! It’s just…”

“Hyung, we don’t think you’re jealous.”

Hearing some other, well known voice, the two boys turned their heads just to see Taehyun taking out trash. Beomgyu didn’t even notice when they got so close to the dorm.

The wizard threw a bag to the container and walked towards the two other boys.

“Soobinie hyung heard from Namjoon hyungnim that you visited him some time ago.”

Beomgyu couldn’t help but frown a little bit.

“Word sure does travel fast.”

Taehyun answered by shrugging.

“We didn’t mention it, because you were doing fine. But now…”

He gazed at the human with a worried look on his face. Those big, boba eyes appeared so sad, almost like a sad cat. Beomgyu looked elsewhere, not being able to confront the younger boy. Did the serious talk time finally arrive? He wasn’t ready for it.

“For real, Beomgyu-yah, you have to stop keeping things from us!” nagged Yeonjun. “We’ll know everything sooner or later.”

“True,” Taehyun nodded. “We’re all friends. We’re family. So if there’s something bothering you, please talk to us. We can come up with a solution together.”

“Yeah, we don’t have ‘together’ in the band’s name for nothing!”

Beomgyu bit his lip, started playing with his fingers. He was looking down, at own shoes, then at the others’ shoes. Finally, he took a deep breath.

“It’s something trivial…” he started.

“Nothing is trivial, when it comes to you.” Taehyun crossed arms.

A few seconds of silence passed, the boys were patiently waiting for Beomgyu’s answer, not bothered by cold, darkness or anything else.

“I…” Beomgyu hesitated for a moment. “I’m just afraid of falling behind. The photoshoot, the practices… The whole Big Hit Circles… I sometimes feel like I shouldn’t belong here.”

He said it. He did it. And it felt weird. He didn’t know if he was supposed to be nervous… or relieved. He wanted to tell someone about it for so long. And he finally did it.

Yeonjun and Taehyun exchanged looks, then their eyes landed on Beomgyu at the same time. They immediately started patting him on the back, Yeonjun even wrapped an arm around his neck.

“Beomgyu hyung, you’re more than just a human.” Taehyun patted him yet again on the back. “You’re a member of Tomorrow X Together. You’re our family. If you feel left out, then we will do our best to make you feel like one of us.”

“He’s right,” Yeonjun chimed in with a warm smile, stroking Beomgyu’s hair. “You can’t fall behind, when you’re our bandmate! You don’t have any powers, but who cares? We don’t, that’s for sure! We only care about our Beomgyu who’s super talented, can do many things, has a great personality and knows how to lift up the atmosphere!”

Beomgyu blinked, trying to hide tears that started to grow in eyes. Yeonjun’s and Taehyun’s words were so warm – they were exactly what he needed. A confirmation that he wasn’t useless and had his own strengths. Supportive friends that would do anything for him. Well, he had those.

Seeing Beomgyu more at peace, Yeonjun’s smile grew wider. He friendly bumped his arm with a fist, saying:

“Actually, you should be happy that you don’t have to do those training sessions. I find them pointless. It’s not like we’re gonna use our powers on stage anytime soon, so I don’t see why we should practice.”

To be honest, it was kind of true. The beings of the First Circle were hiding their true identities, so having magic lessons looked like a waste of time. Well, having good control of one's abilities was always good, but why should they learn complicated spells and stuff when they couldn’t even show off later?

“Maybe the rumors are true and the whole Circles thing for real will be revealed to the public?” Taehyun shared his thoughts.

“Certainly not in, like, a few months.” Yeonjun shrugged. “If I was to make a bet, I’d say it will take them at least two years. It’s too big of a deal.”

“You’re right.”

“I think it’s just Big Hit who wants us to be good at everything,” Beomgyu chimed in.

Taehyun looked at the rest with a certain emotion.

“Well, I heard about the plan regarding our album after Freefall, so let's make sure we get enough rest.”

Hearing that, Yeonjun rolled his eyes, letting out a long groan. If he was in his true form, the tail would flop and fox ears would lie against the head.

“Oh, don’t even get me started! Ugh, and on top of that the end of year is near…”

“We will overcome it all, guys. I know we can do it!” Taehyun tried to raise the mood.

Beomgyu was thinking for a few seconds, but then nodded quite enthusiastically.

“Right, we can do it!”