The shower was just what he needed.  The hot water helped to melt away his physical and, to an extent, his mental tension.  Plus, he did his best thinking in the bathroom anyway.

Still, Seunghyun struggled to wash his hair and face, reluctant to drop his guard and close his eyes for too long a period.  A genie, he thought, a magic genie.  Did he believe it yet?  Did it even matter?  Unless he had completely devolved into a state of constant hallucination sometime over night, the man flying about his apartment was real, and he had to deal with it.

Seunghyun was an academic, a man who worked in logic and reason, and dedicated his life to the pursuit of knowledge.  As a child he had imagined himself as an archaeologist in the field, exploring ancient forgotten tombs with only a flashlight and a shovel to aid him.  In his pretend play, there was always a great discovery at the end, the scientific revelation of the century.  But he had grown up and found he had neither the stamina nor courage for such heroic work, and there were few extraordinary finds in the dusty halls of his museum.  Or so he thought.

A genie!

The warm steam rising to the ceiling seemed to carry with it his outlook on the matter, as optimism overtook reluctance. Perhaps the ghostly being was right, perhaps this was his big chance.  His golden opportunity.  A revolutionary find that could define his career, maybe change the world!

He ripped back the shower curtain with a veracity that matched the height of his terror earlier, taking his robe from the hook on the wall and swinging it on with one determined motion.  I am a researcher, he told himself, and there is research to be done!

There was a sense of purpose in his quickened steps as he strode through the bedroom and into the living room.  The genie was there, floating near the ceiling, a circle of open textbooks from Seunghyun’s study bobbing in the air around him.  It seemed the genie had a thirst for knowledge as well.

He looked up from his reading and the books snapped closed at once, spinning clockwise to gather themselves in a stack in front of him.  They wafted downwards to rest on an end table, while the genie sunk to the floor as well.  “I hope you managed to wash away that unpleasant attitude while you were in there,” he said.

“I did actually, thank you.”  Seunghyun fluffed his dark hair with a towel.  “You know you’re kind of a smart- for a ‘humble servant.’”

The genie chuckled in what seemed to Seunghyun to be actual amusement, but he was still wary.  “I’ve served a great many masters, and they were all different in their treatment of me.  Most have been quite authoritative; power goes to a man’s head quite easily.  Best to just flatter their egos and get the job over with.”

“Well, I’m not really the authoritative type, so don’t worry about that.  It doesn’t seem right to order someone around just because you can.”

The genie was still smiling.  “My last master thought much the same way.  Thankfully that seems to be an upward trend.  Though that was… What year did you say this was? 2012?  That was the first time I’d been out after you adopted the new calendar from the West.  Nineteen oh… Two?  Four? Oh well, who’s keeping track anyway.”

Seunghyun listened silently in wonder.  What a fool he’d been to react so unwilling to this opportunity!  Magic and wishes aside, what a wealth of historical knowledge a thousand year old being must possess.

“Fantastic.  Just fantastic!”  He practically danced back into his bedroom to get dressed.  “Ignore anything I said before.  You’re welcome to stay here as long as you like!  We’ll have to set some ground rules when I get back; I still don’t know about all this wish stuff...”

Peeking around the doorway, the genie furrowed his brow.  “I’m afraid it’s impossible for me to stay as long as I like.  Or as long as you would like, I suppose is more accurate.”

Seunghyun was buttoning a blue pinstripe shirt.  “What do you mean?”

“The spell begins at first light on the first day of the new year,” he explained, “and it ends at sunset just before the first full moon.”

Seunghyun paused two buttons from the collar.  “What is that, like… a couple months?”

The genie’s eyes narrowed judgmentally.  “It’s two weeks, give or take a day.”

His master shook his head.  “Oh right, right.  Well, whatever, I’ll just wish for more time or something.”

“I’m afraid it isn’t that simple.  There are rules to this; we should go over them.”

Seunghyun was busy selecting ties off his closet door.  “Alright, shoot.”

While Seunghyun took his time getting ready, the genie detailed the restrictions on his powers.  They weren’t written in stone, he explained, and he hadn’t been instructed by anyone.  “I don’t know who forged this magic when creating what I am, but I do wish they’d stuck around long enough to clarify some things…”

After two weeks, he would return to the urn.  In twelve years, he may be called again, should anyone be in possession of the urn at that time.  Sometimes cycles went by for a generation or more without his seeing the light of day, he said.  But he was always unaware of its passing: his time in the urn wasn’t unlike sleep for mortal men.  So no, he didn’t get bored, as Seunghyun assumed he might.

It was forbidden to wish for more time or for more wishes; nearly every master before had tried and it had never once worked, no matter how many different ways the wish was phrased and presented.  Three was the absolute limit, and if the third wish was made before the full moon, the genie was forced to return to the urn early.  “So please, try to space them out a bit.”  Also, once time was up, any remaining wishes were lost.  Though the genie had only seen that happen once.  “More often than not, a master either rushes through his wishes or sees his throat slit in his sleep.  Men go mad at the thought of my power; I advise you to be cautious.”

“And if someone does steal the urn?”

“Then the wishes are theirs.  I once went through five masters in one go around.  A bloody mess that was, and I’d rather not repeat it. So stay sharp.”

Seunghyun was tying his shoes when they finally got to the actual rules of wishing.  “I don’t toy with life and death.  No murders, no resurrections.”  Seunghyun winced at the thought of either.

Travelling to the past was a no go, though he had never tried the future.  Love spells were allowed, but the genie doubted they ever ended well.  And more often than not, any wish that involved revealing magic to the public was forbidden as well.

“A man once wished to turn the sand and rocks of the East Sea shore to gold and jewels,” the genie gave in example.  “Whatever otherworldly force controls my powers didn’t see fit to grant that one.  I suppose they thought it would be quite a shock to the fishermen.”

Seunghyun stream of questions seemed never ending, and the genie enjoyed his vast breadth of experience being so appreciated.  Two hours flew by, and as it neared four, Seunghyun was forced to cut short the genie’s recollection of his adventures in the 17^th century.

“You can keep reading while I’m gone if you like.”  He checked his keys and adjusted his sweatervest.  “Do you uh… are you hungry or anything?”

“I don’t hunger,” the genie answered.  “Nor do I taste, so I fear there’s little point in eating.”

More leftovers for me, Seunghyun thought, and headed to the door.  Reaching for the knob, a thought struck him.

“You said you didn't have a name.”

The genie nodded.  “Have you chosen one for me?”

“No, I thought I might let you pick.”

A mischevious grin that Seunghyun had seen too many times that day played on his lips.  “The popularity of names changes with every new decade.  I haven’t a clue what would be appropriate for this day and age.  You must choose for me.”

Seunghyun shrugged.  “I guess I’ll think of something.”  Ideas were already coming to mind, names that harkened to magic and power, spirits and dragons.  “I wont be gone long.  Please don’t…” and he wondered what to even say.  Don’t burn the place down?  Don’t rob him blind?  “Try to keep the place the way I left it, okay?” he finished, and left the apartment.  It seemed a strangely informal request, but he supposed he’d learn over the next two weeks what to expect, and what to fear, from his guest.

“Two weeks…” he lamented under his breath in the hall.  It was hardly enough time for a proper scientific assessment of this genie and his unlikely bottle, of this entire phenomenon.  Despite the being’s warnings of traitorous friends and murderers in the night, he resolved that he had to tell someone he could trust.  Dr. Yang had kept the secrets of the urn from him, but who else could he turn to?  He had work the next day.  Maybe he would take the genie back to where he came from and discuss the matter with the curator.  Or perhaps it was best the urn stayed put for the time being.  Seunghyun chewed the inside of his cheek, aware of the first tendrils of paranoia creeping into his brain.

But he was knocking on 7C’s door, and listening as Mrs. Gong called for her daughter to answer it.  She opened the door in a yellow and purple hanbok, smiling.

“It’s Seunghyun, Mom!” she yelled over her shoulder.  “And you were right, he did bring a friend!”

He froze, noticing for the first time the tell-tale chill in the air behind him.  I thought I told him to…

“A pleasure to meet you!” the genie’s voice seemed smug beneath his affable tone.  “You must be Minji.”

How can he know that?!  Seunghyun managed to turn his paralyzed frame to face him, horrified that he may find the genie floating off the ground in those gaudy black and gold robes.  What he found wasn’t a pale and lavish ghost before him, but a convincingly alive young man in a strangely familiar blue plaid suit, blond hair quaffed and styled like he had just left the salon.  Seunghyun wondered if his hand would move through this version of the genie like an oar through water as well but dared not try in front of Minji.

“I am,” the girl replied to his greeting.  “And you are?”

“Well, Seunghyun has taken to calling me his ge—“

“Yong!” Seunghyun found his voice at last, though it broke with a squeak.  “This is Jiyong.”

“Cool, come on in.”  Minji waved them inside and left to find her mother in the kitchen. 

The genie extended his arm with a slight bow, ushering Seunghyun in before him.  “Well played, master.  Clever, and may I say quite appropriate?”  That same plotting smile cut across his face, his black eyes shining with satisfaction.

Seunghyun was fuming.  “I told you to stay behind, Jiyong,” he hissed through clenched teeth.

Jiyong strode into the apartment with silent steps that left no impression on the thick carpet.  “But you did not wish me to, did you?”