“Wow, your granddad made this? He must have had a lot of patience.”

“Yeah,” Sungyeol replied absent-mindedly.

He had spread out the roll of parchment on the floor of his bedroom and had asked Woohyun to help him find the date of the blue moon this year.

Even though the calendars were neat, the handwriting was very small and squeezed in close together so it was quite an ordeal finding what they were looking for. Both the boys were now on their hands and knees, looking through the dates and notes, trying to find what they were looking for.

“Didn’t you say that the blue moon happens every 2 years? Then there might be no blue moon this year.”

Sungyeol only hummed. He was sure there would be a blue moon this year because the Sacred Secrets was impeccable.

There’s got to be a blue moon this year.

He was proved right shortly when Woohyun shouted, telling him he had found the date. He crawled over to him and reread the note and the date, lest they were making a mistake.

But there was no mistake – the symbol of the blue moon glared at them on a date exactly a month from today.

At least we have a month.

“Wow, we have the date. Now all we need is the star. Which I frankly don’t see how we’re getting without the spaceship.”

Woohyun got up to his feet, slapping his hands on his pant to get rid of the dust. Sungyeol copied him.

Even though they had a month, Sungyeol was certain that they should hurry up. These quests were notorious for being very difficult and time-consuming. And considering what was at stake, he knew he had to fulfill the quest in the right time.

“We have to leave today, our time is short.”

“We have a month!” Woohyun protested.

Sungyeol gave him a serious look.

“Yeah but this quests take an awful lot of time to be completed. I read a few accounts – things just don’t go in your way.”

Woohyun didn’t look very convinced but he nodded all the same. Sungyeol asked him to go home and pack.

“And do whatever you have to do, we leave tonight.”

Instead of making a move to get out of the room, Woohyun walked to Sungyeol’s bed and fell into the comforter.

“Hey, did you change your mind about going?”

Woohyun only shrugged and closed his eyes. Sungyeol started to feel angry.

Why did he say he’ll go in the first place?

“Chicken!” he shouted at his friend and started to pack his duffel bag.

He tried to pack it lightly, but some of the books he had taken from the library for reference were very heavy. The Sacred Secrets itself was very bulky and when he was done packing the books, it didn’t leave much room for his clothes and personal items.

It was true that he was feeling sad about Woohyun chickening out, although he couldn’t blame him. The quest did sound crazy – finding a star. But he had expected a bit more loyalty from his best friend, especially since he had so readily agreed to accompany him in the first place.

But I shouldn’t be so hard on him; he has a younger sister he adores.

He looked at the time. It was 6 pm and his parents were supposed to be back by 9 pm. He didn’t find Daeyeol anywhere in the house so he surmised that he had gone over to a friend’s place. He didn’t mind – it gave him more space.

He was going through his mind, considering if he had packed all the necessities when suddenly, Woohyun dropped beside him on the sofa. He had a packed haversack beside him.

“When did you -”

“You idiot, I came with this in the morning. I have already said my goodbye to Jihyun and left a letter for my parents.”

“Woohyun I -”

He shook his head sadly.

“Did you really think I’ll bail out on you?”

Sungyeol didn’t let him say anything else. Instead he engulfed him in a hug and didn’t let go until it was quite some time. Finally when they broke away from each other, Sungyeol whispered, “Thank you.”

“Shut up smarty pants. Now tell me where we are going to catch the elusive star.”

He had been thinking about it.

There were ways mystic cosmologists could capture stars. Stars were mysterious creatures, and very highly deceptive. They could take many forms and if you were lucky, the star you wanted to capture would be roaming the earth. Even if they were not on earth, they could be called down but it was a tricky process.

But their main obstacle was, as he saw it, recognizing the star they had to capture. The green star didn’t ring any bells and Sungyeol was sure that green wasn’t the name, rather the color of the star. That was hopeful because there were not many colored stars and since whenever the stars changed forms they retained one feature of their former selves, in the case of colored stars, the color, it would be easy to identify the green star.

Yet, Sungyeol knew that they had to know the name of the star because the chances of that particular star roaming the earth at this moment were very less. And in order to call that star, he would have to know its proper name.

He needed information about the green star, and luckily, he knew the right place where he could find help.

“I know where to start,” he told Woohyun.

When his friend looked skeptical, he explained that the place they were going to was sort of the mystic cosmologists’ headquarters. Many cosmologists frequented the place and all the people there were experts in the Sacred Secret quests.

“They’ll be able to help. We need to find the name of the star in order to call it from the sky.”

Woohyun gawked at him for a minute before shrugging.

“I guess I should get used to this…weirdness.”

Sungyeol laughed. But his friend was right. He had to get used to all of this because their quest was bound to be very weird. They would experience a lot of unnatural phenomena, unnatural to human of course. But mystic cosmologists were enlightened beings and they had learned not to question the mysteries and miracles of the Universe.

When he picked up his bag, he could feel the Sacred Secrets though the leather. The book was talking to him, almost whispering to him, urging him to fulfill his quest. He had known about this – it was the duty of the book to egg him on and sometimes, if he could hear it properly, the book would be whispering directions to him.

I’m not alone, I have the Sacred Secrets to guide me.

“This is it, Woohyun,” he told his friend, who nodded grimly. He had left a letter for his parents too, explaining that he was off to fulfill his grandfather’s wish. They probably wouldn’t understand but he couldn’t care less. His mind, body and energy were fully set on finding the green star and finishing his quest.