Work Text:
Touch the Tree of Life, they said.
It probably won't work anyway, they said.
Boy, were they wrong.
The split second of blinding white light is a testament to that, flashing brighter than the sun as soon as Seulgi's skin scrapes the bark of the revered Tree.
It wasn't even on purpose, either. Her knack for tripping on thin air made sure of that; an embarrassing trait which led her friends into daring her to touch the Tree in the first place. After all, the legend goes that those deemed fit for divine protection have it bestowed upon them for life, in the form of twelve young men with special powers meant to keep you from harm.
When she had arrived there earlier there was surprisingly little security hanging around, making sneaking into the holy grounds a lot easier than anticipated. Then again, no one ever visits the Tree in this day and age — especially at night. Some say it's haunted by souls that the Tree's guardians couldn't save. Others say that those who touch it at night run the risk of becoming cursed instead. Besides that, no one had touched the Tree for years. No one ever bothered, because the Tree of Life was particularly picky with whom it chose for its blessing.
The first of the three known rules was that you had to be in need of protection in the first place. Sooyoung, being ever honest to a fault, reasoned that Seulgi was enough of a danger to herself without counting other factors that could jeopardise her health.
Secondly, you had to be pure of heart; innocent to the point of naivety. Yerim had made a point of telling a horribly dirty joke that had Seulgi covering her ears, while the younger girl earned a slap to the head by Joohyun's hand.
Lastly, you had to have an appropriate offering to give to the Tree in exchange. Seulgi's just happened to be the chocolate bar she was eating at the time — one that flew out of her hands and onto the offerings table when she tripped.
Hence in that moment all of the criteria had been met, and when the fateful white light hits her and forces her to turn away, Seulgi expects to open her eyes to be greeted with the sight of twelve boys, all as handsome as they were often depicted in pictures and tales of old.
Except there's a very feminine set of groans sounding above her as she registers something digging uncomfortably into her ribs, adding to the feeling of having ninety pounds of what seems like solid muscle suddenly fall on top of you.
Seulgi lets out a cry of pain as the weight shifts, and a sharp elbow jabs into her stomach before the body — a human's body — rolls off of her with a gasp.
"Sorry! Oh my God, I'm so sorry!"
"It's fine," Seulgi tries to say, but all that comes out is something resembling a grunt and a whimper.
A different voice from her right lets out a tinkling chime of laughter. "Barely thirty seconds and you've managed to injure the person we're supposed to be protecting. Well done."
"New record," a third voice adds as Seulgi feels the hood of her jacket being pulled off carefully, before one end of her mask is removed from obscuring her face.
(And even Joohyun had frowned at her choice of clothing, but hey — it was enough of a camouflage outfit as she could afford, and it got her past the security guards.)
"Oh, it's a girl this time," the previously snickering voice remarks, and Seulgi squints her eyes open to see three figures above her, all donning the same flowing, plain white dresses. A few more blinks, and as her eyes readjust from the earlier flash of light she notices the pale blonde hair of the stranger kneeling beside her, lifting a cool hand to her forehead.
"W-What —" The hand moves around to support her back as Seulgi struggles to sit up, and she glances to her left to see a redhead rubbing her side with an apologetic look on her face. "What are you —"
"We're here to protect you," the jovial voice says as the redhead and the blonde move to stand, and Seulgi looks up to meet the grin of a tall brunette with looks too ethereal to be human. The other two strangers are similarly as stunning even in the dim moonlight, and as they both take an arm each to help her up, Seulgi wonders how hard she must have hit her head to be hallucinating right now.
"We're your guardians," the shortest of the trio clarifies — the second sign that Seulgi's probably hit the ground a little too hard.
"I'm Sulli, the awesome one," the tallest says, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "The one who just crushed you is Windy — sorry, Wendy," she smiles unapologetically at the exasperated redhead, before gesturing to the last of the three strangers. "And Colonel Bitchface over here is Krystal." The blonde standing beside her rolls her eyes, but doesn't say anything. "Pleased to make your acquaintance."
Seulgi blinks once, twice, then a few more times just to make sure she isn't just seeing things. Or hearing them. Maybe she should go see a doctor.
"Sorry, but I should really be —"
A loud crack cuts her off before she can finish formulating an excuse, and before she can register anything else she's meeting the ground once more, this time with a different body on top of her.
"…Ow…"
Her groan is muffled slightly by the head of blonde now covering her vision, and it's only when it shifts slightly that she spots the giant branch sitting in the space she was standing in mere seconds ago. The sight makes her gulp and wonder if the 'night cursing' rumours really are true — but then why would she have these supposed guardians appear before her?
The thought stumps her and quiets the panic for a moment, until she registers Krystal moving and lifting herself from atop her body.
"Sorry," the taller girl murmurs, standing up before helping a blushing Seulgi to her feet for the second time in the space of five minutes.
"That was a little scary," Sulli remarks as she rounds the branch and inspects it carefully. "Came from the Tree of Life itself, too."
"Maybe it was a test?" Wendy asks hesitantly, frowning up at the empty space where the old branch used to lie.
"Maybe," Krystal mumbles, dusting off her dress with a grimace as Sulli walks over and begins patting away the dirt from Seulgi's clothes.
"Well, if you guys could stop with the whole 'covering our ward with our bodies' thing, I think she might still live to see the light of another day." Sulli drawls, winking at her briefly. "Don't you think so, Kang Seulgi?"
She gives her a startled look at that. "How'd you —?" Sulli glances pointedly down at the exposed school shirt beneath her hoodie, the embellished bold of her name printed proudly on her breast pocket. "…Oh."
"Yeah," the brunette giggles, before looping an arm through hers and addressing their other companions. "Hey, what do you say we clear out of here before those dopey security guards start patrolling around inside?"
Wendy nods and Krystal shrugs, and Seulgi doesn't bother trying to figure out how on earth Sulli knew there was anyone other than the four of them here. "Of course," she says eventually, looking away from the blindingly bright smile when Sulli turns to her. "Follow me."
They do so surprisingly quietly, and as Seulgi leads them through the narrow passage she had taken coming in, she can't help but question the 'what if's of whether this 'guardian' thing really is true. For all she knows, this could just be an elaborate prank orchestrated by Sooyoung in order to get back at Seulgi for eating her chicken the other week.
(After all, when Park Sooyoung plans revenge, she works by a motto of "Go big, or go home.")
Eventually they reach one of the lesser known exits by climbing through an old window of the shrine, and as her new companions slow to a stop behind her Seulgi can only hear herself think, “What now?” at the thought of if they really are her guardians.
"I have no idea how this works," she blurts out after a minute, fumbling with the drawstrings of her hoodie as she regards them with a hesitant gaze.
"That's okay, neither do we," Wendy says with an awkward chuckle. "I mean, obviously we have to protect you. But that's as far as the memo goes for us, I'm afraid."
"I guess we're in the same boat then," Seulgi smiles, but frowns again in the next second as she comes back to a puzzling thought. "Well actually…Sorry, but I thought there were supposed to be twelve guys protecting me. No offense."
"None taken," Sulli shrugs, dusting off her dress. "But yeah, they're kinda preoccupied with other stuff right now."
"Sorry we weren't as expected?" Wendy says as more of a question, and Krystal shakes her head.
"The boys are busy, and we were the only other ones available," she explains, a hand coming to rest on her hip as she raises an eyebrow at them. "Also, shouldn't we actually leave the premises before talking about something like this?"
A pointed look is tossed over in the direction of the main entrance at least a dozen yards away, where the security guards' voices can be heard filtering through from inside the main hall.
"Good point," Sulli agrees, releasing Seulgi's arm before wandering over to the mostly vacant street nearby. "Which way, oh holy charge of mine?"
"Just past this road and down a dozen blocks or so," Seulgi points, and begins leading them to cross the street as the pedestrian traffic light turns green.
"Watch out!"
Her arm is jerked back by a warm hand as a dirty white van careens past, mere inches from where she stumbles backwards into a slightly shorter body.
"Close," Wendy mumbles, a hand at her back as she guides Seulgi forward once more. "That's one drunk driver we don't want to be worrying about," she muses, watching Sulli yell colourful insults at the retreating van as Krystal tries in vain to drag her away from some startled onlookers.
"Too close," Seulgi agrees, meaning it in every sense of the word as she blinks down at the shorter girl pressed to her side. "…Thank you."
Wendy glances up at her in surprise, before breaking into a smile that's just as warm as the hand that reaches down to squeeze her own. "Anytime."
It’s silent until the moment is broken by Sulli, who seems to recover quickly from her anger as she comes bouncing between them with an arm over each shoulder.
"So I take it we're staying at yours?" she probes with a winsome smile, and Seulgi grimaces. The thought of having to convince her mother of her new 'blessed' status is really less than appealing right now.
"I…don't think that's possible."
"Sure it is!" Sulli laughs, sounding so certain and carefree that Seulgi doesn't have the heart to argue back. Krystal and Wendy don't seem to doubt the girl anyway, so Seulgi decides to let it lie for now.
In any case, if they really are her guardians then maybe she'll be less likely to die at some untimely age by some weird or embarrassing death. And sure, they're not quite what she expected, but there's still something comforting about the warm hand clasped in her own; the cool presence continually brushing beside her; and the wind-chime laugh that rings bright and clear above the bustle of noise in Seoul.
They're definitely not what she expected, but she's glad she's got them, anyway.