Chapter Text
Esil watches as Jin-Woo readies himself to leave. She's overtaken by a bittersweet feeling. Though it was short, and she nearly died at the end, this period spent with a single human was possibly the most fun she's had in her entire life.
And it's over now. He’ll move on–back to earth. He's talked about that marvelous place so many times during their journey. And she'll stay in her realm, cursed to never see the green flora he's described or the sky that takes many hues as its own, or even another human.
She always thought negatively of their species. Beings with no magical power to speak of, who let themselves be ruled like cattle to those weaker than themselves. But now, now, she knows strength isn't everything. Pure willpower can be enough.
What she’d give to live–even for just a day–as no one. As a plain person without the status she carries.
But that’s not-
Her drooped ears perk up as she remembers one of the special jewels she had packed with her. She rummages through the bag and pulls out a dainty necklace with a pearlescent pendant attached.
“Sir Jin-Woo!” Esil yells while running over to him. “Before you go. This.”
He tilts his head at the jewelry she placed in his palm.
“You mentioned you had a sister,” she answers. “It's for her.”
He gives a slight smile. “Sorry, I couldn't stay for the after party.”
She shakes her head. “It's fine, I promise. You've given my family so much already.”
And if this works he’ll have given her everything.
Jin-Woo offers his thanks and one last goodbye before disappearing in a cloth of shadow–a knight taking his place.
Esil waits a moment, a shaky exhale finding its way from her mouth. Then turns back and begins the trek home.
“Oppa!” Jin-Ah jumps from the couch and crashes into her brother the moment she hears the door.
Jin-Woo pats her head and she looks up at him. “You smell like ash.” she says.
“We can have fried chicken for dinner if you don't ask any questions.”
“Deal.” she smirks, walking away and flopping back onto her spot at the couch. “Two weeks? I thought you were gone for the afternoon!”
He gives an amused huff, tossing a small necklace at her when he walks past to his room.
“Where’s this from?”
“Aht! No questions.” he reminds her as his door shuts.
Later that night Jin-Ah examines the necklace a little closer. It was gold that had an almost magical shimmer to it. Jin-Woo wouldn't have given her an item like that though, right? Unless maybe it had some sort of protection spell.
Or was it something else?
She fiddles with it a little longer, but nothing happens. She relents with a frustrated grunt and decides to just wear it. It was a pretty piece anyway. Gold wasn't her usual color–not the end of the world though. She thinks as she does the clasp in the mirror.
A small shock pulses through her when she lets go of the necklace and lets it rest on her collarbone. Her eyes widened as the white-ish stone began changing color.
It was a magic necklace!
She slowly brings a hand to the pendent, which was now a similar color to her eyes.
“He-Hello.”
Jin-Ah jumps when she hears a voice. She can’t help but look around, even though she knows exactly where the voice originated from.
She touches the necklace again.
“Can you hear me?” the voice says from inside her head.
Was it a cursed necklace with a spirit trapped inside? Or maybe an alter ego?!
She collapses on her bed and takes a sharp inhale before she finally responds, “...I can hear you.” Then hesitates before adding, “Who are you, though.”
It worked! It actually worked!
Though maybe Esil should've thought harder about how unrealistic her life would be to a ‘plain person’.
“You really expect me to believe you're a demon princess, from the demon realm, who participated in an epic battle to defeat the demon lord Baraon–or whatever his name was?” A scoff came through. “Yeah, right.”
“I could show you.” she responded simply. Because these twin necklaces didn't only serve as a means of communication.
The girl on the other end- Jin-Ah was silent for a moment. “How?”
“-And once we switch it'll be a month in your human days before we can switch back.” Esil finishes explaining how the swap would work.
“So, I'll be you and you'll be me…”
“We can still communicate using the necklaces,” she adds. “In case you're worried about not knowing something.”
“I’ll do it.” Jin-Ah declares.“My brother’s always out doing fun things, coming home with zero explanations. It's high time I experienced that too!”
Esil stands up and walks towards her room length mirror. “Look at yourself in the mirror, Jin-Ah.”
“Yep, yep. We’re doing this. Okay.” Esil hears.
“Just like I said, keep holding the necklace and reach out with your other hand.”
“Doing it!”
The mirror's shade begins to change. Reflecting a deep red behind her. Then her reflection distorts–showing that of another girl. Jin-Ah. Whose eyes sparkle with mysticism.
Esil's palm finally sinks in the mirror-turned-pool. “Walk through, Jin-Ah. At the same time, okay.”
“Holy. Shit.”
Jin-Ah turns back to look at the mirror. It was no longer red and reflecting normally. Showing her, but not really her. Showing the girl from the mirror. Esil. She’s Esil! It was real, she switched bodies–with a demon girl!
She feels another jolt from her necklace and picks it up instinctively. “Esil?”
Her voice is smug,“How’s it feel?” she asks.
“This is crazy! What?! Amazing!” Jin-Ah shouts, touching her pointy ears in the mirror.
“We’ve still got a lot to do. You need to tell me everything about your life so no one gets suspicious.”
Jin-Ah groans. “You’re right. Is this your room I'm in?” She turns to take in her surroundings. “Holy, you live in a mansion?!”
“Focus Jin-Ah.”
“Right. Right. This is the biggest bed I've ever seen though.” she stage-whispers to herself while plopping down on it.