Appa. I had such a strange dream. I was so happy… happier than I ever was in my entire life. There was so much laughter that rang in my ears … my heart was so content. I didn’t want the dream to end.

                But the thing is…

                I don’t even remember what happened.

                I just remember feeling so warm on the inside and wishing that I could’ve felt like this forever. I heard Daesung’s and Seunghyun’s voice in my dream. I even felt some strange tingling on my lips. Isn’t that silly, appa?

                So silly…

                The three were preparing breakfast the next morning (it was Jiyong’s turn to make the food, he was the better cook out of the three) when Daesung had this intriguing thought. It had bothered him all morning, even causing him to frown occasionally as he was cutting the bacon.

                “A penny for your thoughts?” Jiyong asked, cracking an egg in a pan.

                “Ah…” Daesung started, his eyes still staring into space. “There was something that had been bothering me this past morning.”

                “What is it?” Seunghyun asked, setting the table (because that’s basically all that he can do without hurting someone… but then again, he could accidentally stab someone with a spoon.)

                “Jiyong, do you still go to school?” Daesung asked, studying the boy’s concentrated face as he attempts to make a perfect omelet.

                “Mmm… I stopped a while back.” The boy murmured, eyeing the pan with much precision. He poked the omelet to test its perfection.

                “He had to support his father.” Seunghyun said quietly, reaching over Jiyong to retrieve some paper towels. He had been doing that lately, unconsciously creating physical contact in any given opportunity. Daesung always notices.

                “Ah, so he had a legitimate reason to drop out of school, unlike you.” Daesung said loudly, eyeing Seunghyun.

                “Yah, I make plenty of money running nightclubs all around Seoul!” the prince pouted, feeling victimized by his own friend. “I’m a young, successful entrepreneur!”

                “Aish, is that something you should be proud of…?” Daesung mumbled, rolling his eyes.

                “Hey, at least I went to college.”

                “You didn’t even finish a semester.”

                “Yah, math was kicking my .” Seunghyun said, defending himself.

                “ANYWAY. Jiyong.” Daesung said, turning to a chuckling Jiyong. “Have you ever considered… y’know, going back to school?”

                “Oh, absolutely.” The boy said, smiling brightly. He gently placed the omelet onto a clean plate and smiled proudly at himself. “I just didn’t know when. I was going to come back when my dad was fully healed!” he sighed with a dreamy twinkle in his eye. “As soon as I dropped out of school, I wished that I could’ve gone back. School was always so delightful for me.”

                “Aigoo, why can’t YOU be like Jiyong!?” Daesung scolded the beast, bopping him on the forehead with his free hand, the other holding a butcher knife.

                “Argh, even my parents weren’t this annoying!” Seunghyun complained, rubbing his forehead.

                “And that’s why you turned out to be such a rotten kid!”

                Seunghyun gave Daesung the saddest pout anyone could’ve ever given. This pout would’ve melted even the grumpiest of people- except Daesung.

                “Your spells don’t work on me, you evil temptress.” Daesung said dryly, continuing to prepare the bacon. “But anyway… I was thinking… Jiyong… what if I put you and Seunghyun back in school?”

                “WHAT!?” the two chorused, their eyes widened in such disbelief.

                He raised his hands up in the air. “Woah, guys. It was just a suggestion. No need to get al crazy on me.”

                “N-No, I mean… It’s just…” the boy started, trying to find the right words. He sighed and had another twinkle in his eyes. “I-It would mean the world to me.”

                That goddamn twinkle… Daesung and Seunghyun thought, feeling themselves melt in a puddle of mush.

                “Y-Yeah, i-it would mean the world to me too.” Seunghyun stammered, breaking the magical moment for Daesung.

                “You, the bottom 5% of your class, are feeling sentimental about going back to school? Am I dreaming? Please tell me I’m dreaming before I get too excited and find out that my dream has been shot down because of YOU.”

                “Hey. The only thing that’s holding me back is that I’m a beast. I’m scary. I’m not necessarily socially acceptable.”

                “Wait. Hold on. If… I find a way to get you to go to school without causing people to faint whenever they see you, you’ll go to school?”

                “Go for it.” Seunghyun said, slightly smirking. I’m so sure that Dae won’t be able to find a way. How is he going to get me out of the house?

                Daesung and Jiyong looked at each other with such joyful expressions and squealed with happiness. “AHH, I’M GOING BACK TO SCHOOL, DAESUNG!” the boy cried, tears welling up in his eyes.

                “YES, ISN’T THIS WHAT YOU ALWAYS WANTED!?”

                “MY LIFELONG DREAM!”

                Oh boy.

                “Miss Chae Lin, if you keep making trips to my office this often for these types of things, we’re going to have a problem.” The dean said, raising her eyebrows.

                CL was back in the cat-lady’s office, sitting uncomfortably in the firm but old pink chair that looked like someone’s great great grandmother knitted. Out of carpet yarn.

                “I-I apologize.” She said, lowering her eyes down to her fidgeting hands. The atmosphere of this room was so unnerving, so unbearable… she felt like her heart was going to burst if she stayed in that room any longer.

                “You know full well that the word ‘sorry’ will get you almost nowhere in life, don’t you, Miss Chae Lin?” the woman hummed, drumming her fingers on her chestnut desk.

                CL remained silent, still not taking her eyes of off her hands.

                “Well. I’m not one to dilly dally much, so let’s get straight to the point, shall we?” the woman piped up, standing up to close the ajar door. With a click of the door, the woman’s face turned grim, sending chills down Chae Lin’s spine. Her fake cheery personality was long gone, leaving an unnerving, deadly witch behind.

                “You’ve earned a second strike now, Miss Chae Lin. What have you been up to that required you to go to the point where you changed a human’s gender? Hmm?”

                “M-M’am, I was just trying to protect the ones around me-”

                “By harming another human?”

                CL fell silent, defeated.

                “You’re considered to be a dangerous witch, do you know that?” the woman said quietly, her voice icy and poisoned.

                “I-I’m not surprised.”

                “And that tongue of yours is just screaming to be cut off, isn’t it?”

                “N-No, m’am.” 

                “The administration and I have talked about your case.” The woman began, sitting back in her comfortable chair as she pulled out a file with packets and packets of paperwork. “And we have decided that the best thing for you is to give you a punishment for your actions.”

                CL felt clench up. Punishments from the administration were never good. Ever. “M-M’am. I was just trying to protect Seunghyun.”

                “Your creation? The human you’ve altered with in the first place? Yes, I know. But your actions cannot be justified. The administration and I have made a choice already; you don’t have any more say in this.”

                The girl sighed and nodded, trailing her eyes down to her hands once more.

                The woman pulled out a sheet of paper and narrowed her eyes at the fine print. “It says here that you cast a “Beauty and the Beast” spell on Seunghyun, is that correct?”

                “It is indeed.”

                “You’ve set the expiration date to be a year.” The woman said, her eyebrows rising. “That’s six months more than the limit.”

                “I-I was not aware of that.”

                “Well, you are now. Then I suppose that you were not aware that if the expiration date surpassed the limit, the human could become a beast and lose full consciousness of himself?”

                “N-No.”               

                “He will lose all memory, all rational thinking, and could wreak havoc in the human world.”

                This is not good. This is not good at all. Damn it, I never thought about these consequences…

                “That has to be fixed. Immediately.” The woman said, her tone of voice dark. “If fixed, he could remain in his current state if he does not find true love. You are to go back into the human world, set the expiration date to A MONTH, and come back.”

                “A-A MONTH!?”

                “It has been decided, Miss Chae Lin. It has been decided.”