Loud noises issuing from the bar woke him up. He wasn’t sure what time of the day it was but he felt groggy. Supporting himself up on the bed with his arm, he looked around for a clock so that he could tell the time. There wasn’t any.

Is Woohyun still down at the bar with Dongwoo?

Finally, he got up. He checked his bag and heaved a sigh of relief when he saw the familiar tome. He had locked the door before going to sleep.

Oh no, maybe Woohyun had tried to get in…

Woohyun would definitely not appreciate being locked out of the room. Maybe he was mad with him. He was climbing down the stairs to the bar when another thought occurred to him. He hadn’t asked Woohyun to keep the Sacred Secrets and the quest they were on a secret. He had no reasons to distrust Dongwoo but these matters were better kept secret because sometimes, some mystic cosmologists, out of rage and jealousy, tried to ruin the quests.

We simply cannot fail this quest.

When he arrived at the bar, he couldn’t recognize it. The old dingy bar had been transformed into a nightclub with disco balls and lights glaring in all directions. There was no sign of the candles that were hanging from the walls and a loud booming music filled the room. The people he had seen earlier reading books or talking to each other were now dancing on the impromptu dance floor, winging their bodies to the music.

He was amazed to see the drastic change in the place and people. His mother had always complained how mystic cosmologists were too serious all the time.

If only she could see this right now…

He tried to maneuver through the people, searching for Woohyun and Dongwoo. It was difficult to pause and look around for familiar faces since he was being pushed and shoved by the people around him.

Where are you Woohyun?

He thought he saw Dongwoo in the distance and was about to make his way towards him when he bumped into someone.

“Sorry,” he muttered but the man was too busy dancing and didn’t even notice. He shrugged and was going to move on when suddenly something caught his eye – Woohyun’s bright orange shirt. He almost ran towards him only to find him dancing very suggestively with another young boy. He was probably younger than them by a few years but he was very pretty. He had very feminine eyelashes and, to Sungyeol’s surprise, bright green eyes. He did a double-take as their eyes met. He wasn’t sure why he felt so uneasy – he told himself that he had been thinking about the green star too much, that was why he was feeling so intrigued by the eyes.

Also there was the fact that this young boy was also a mystic cosmologist. Of course there were many young cosmologists who started on quests early but something about this boy didn’t make it seem like he was on a quest.

It’s probably the smile.

He tried to shrug off the uneasiness. The young boy was smirking suggestively too and Woohyun seemed completely hooked to him.

That idiot. I can’t believe someone managed to seduce Woohyun!

He tapped on Woohyun’s shoulder and when he finally turned back, he found that his eyes were out of focus.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he almost screamed in Woohyun’s ear.

Sungjong had stopped dancing and was now eyeing the pair with mild interest.

“Fishing. What does it look like?” He laughed at his own joke while Sungyeol clicked his tongue impatiently. He knew his friend was trying to impress the boy, but he wasn’t going to let him do that at his expense.

“We have work to do!” Sungyeol gnashed his teeth.

Bringing Woohyun with him now didn’t seem like a very good idea right now.

“What? But I’m dancing with Sungjong now.” Woohyun pointed at the young boy, who came forward with a smile.

“You must be his best friend, Sungyeol? Hello, I’m Sungjong.” He extended a hand towards Sungyeol, who took it uncertainly. His voice was high and seductive, and so were his eyes.

The biggest and iest flirt I’ve ever met.

“If you don’t mind, we have something to do -” He was pulling on Woohyun’s sleeve but his friend looked reluctant to go. He shot him a pleading glare.

“Fine.” Sungyeol huffed as he let go of his sleeve.

“Be careful, I’m going to go talk to Dongwoo. Don’t tell Sungjong anything about our quest or the book,” he whispered furiously in Woohyun’s ear before leaving the two to find Dongwoo.

He found him soon enough, balancing his elbows on the bar table, catching his breath. He looked like he had danced a lot; he was sweating.

“Hello,” Sungyeol said as he slipped into the place beside him.

“Oh hello there!” Dongwoo said brightly. “Where have you been? Your friend was looking for you.”

“Ah yes, I fell asleep actually. But my friend found a replacement so he’s perfectly happy right now.”

He was surprised to find that he sounded so bitter. He hadn’t meant to, it came naturally. His companion laughed.

“Jealous are we?”

He shrugged. He was eager to go into the matter of the green star and extract the information he needed from him. He knew how disastrous quests can turn out – no amount of time was enough.

“I was wondering, I heard about the green star from my grandfather a lot. But I don’t remember now the name of the star. Of course you know?”

He had to lie again but he knew it was necessary. Wise man or not – he couldn’t simply tell him about the Sacred Secrets. Even if Dongwoo was honest, someone could overhear them.

I’m not taking any risks.

“Green star?” Dongwoo frowned. “There are many, which one are you talking about?”

Many? That’s bad…

Sungyeol gulped.

“I thought there green star referred to one particular star.”

“One? No, no. Green stars are basically young stars. Younger than 1 light-year. So there are many.”

His thumping heart fell. He hadn’t expected to run into this situation. There had to be one specific star that he had to capture. Even the Sacred Secrets wouldn’t send believers in a quest of capturing millions of young stars. He was missing something.

“A-are you sure? Is there a special green star?”

Dongwoo frowned harder, as if trying to recall something.

“Special…well there are many special green stars…there’s Aria, and Pikwik and Bree…”

He felt the walls closing in on him. With so many stars to go through, how would he identify the one specific star? And he had only one month. What had seemed like a long time now looked very short.

What do I do…there has to be something I’m missing…

He tried to recall the poem. It had clearly stated green star - and there was nothing else to identify the star.

Wait…the blue moon, the poem said under the blue moon.

“Is there a green star that has some sort of connection with the blue moon?” he asked Dongwoo, who stopped frowning and smiled.

“Yes of course! There’s this star – it’s called Inspirit. She can be seen from the earth only towards the end of the blue moon so by my calculations -”

Sungyeol didn’t have to hear anything else. He had got his information – Inspirit was the star they were looking for. Everything made sense, it could be viewed during blue moon only – it had to be the star they were looking for.

“Do you know how to call that star?”

Dongwoo turned towards him, looking shocked.

“Why would you want to call her?”

“Umm…” He had to invent something wildly. “I promised my grandfather.”

“Oh, well in that case…Inspirit is a notoriously difficult star to summon, so you have to get the help of a caster.”

“A caster?”

Mystic cosmologists worked closely with the last few spell-casters remaining in the world. They mostly lived in secret places where they weren’t disturbed by human beings or over-zealous questers who pestered them continuously. His grandfather had told him that he had at one point known six spell-castors but since communicating with them was very difficult, he had fallen out of contact with them.

Where will I find a caster now?

“Umm, sir? Could you please do me a favor? It is important that I find a caster and summon Inspirit because – you know, it was my grandfather’s dying wish. So please if you know a caster or where they live…”

His voice was pleading and Dongwoo peered into his face curiously. Finally, he leaned in and whispered, “I do know one. But of course I can’t give you the address. I don’t even have it. But I do know he lives in the western forest. You know, just head westward form this place and you’ll come upon the forest. He lives there somewhere…”

Sungyeol repeated his gratitude continuously before leaving the man to dance again. He had to find Woohyun and get ready for tomorrow. They would have to head out to the forest the first thing in the morning. Finding casters was very difficult and he was sure it would take them quite some time.

At least I know which star it is and its connection with the blue moon.