It would be lying if he said that the curtains in the carriage blocked his view from the outside. It would be a lie saying that the bumps from the ride was the one giving him a headache. Yoseob knew he couldn't look back, he can't look out to his father who could heard literally crying for him. His heart was already aching to go back to his father. But he knew his leave was necessary especially to fulfill one's promise. He didn't want to make this any harder by looking back.

 

•••

  "You, why aren't you doing anything?"

  "It's hard when you don't have any thumbs," he said, waving his paws. "Unless you want me to tear something, I think I should just stay here."

 

•••

The trip wasn't that comfortable, but thankfully didn't take very long. Yoseob looked out to see them entering the dark forest. The moon shined above, but the trees seem to be closer together, only letting the light peeking in between the branches. He could hear the horses let out a neigh and made a sharp turn, causing him to tumble to the sides.

  The hooded figures that seemed to be with him earlier vanished, as if they were never there. From the window he could see the shadow of the horses pulling the carriage but nothing else, not even a driver or anyone to lead the horses. He shivered at the thought of being in some cursed carriage. His heart beat faster out of fear, as the wind blew goosebumps on his arm. He tugged the cloak closer around him, and prayed that his father was in a better condition now.

 

•••

Doojoon had shut the door, while Gikwang was busy trying to light the old fireplace until he realized he could actually use magic for this. Doojoon quickly got a blanket to wrap it around the old man who had now reduced to sniffling and muttering. The fire was lit and Gikwang had found a kettle he could use. He boiled some water and went to look for cups. Doojoon eyed around the place, noting it had been split into two. He was in the 'house' part of the place and recognized the other and larger part was the book shop.

  "Yoseob..."

  The two men snapped out of their thoughts, before glancing at the older man who was holding on to the blanket, sniffling. Gikwang tried to get him to take the cup and drink some water, but the elder man only turned away, his eyes staring blankly at the blanket.

 

•••

When the carriage had finally come to a stop, Yoseob wondered whether or not he should get out. He froze when he heard some people talking. The shuffling sounds didn't help and neither did the click just before the carriage door opened. There was one of the hooded figures waiting for him. Yoseob couldn't stop the shiver, wondering if it was too late to turn back and run. He could hear some soft thuds and shuffles somewhere which didn't help with his over active imagination.

  "Ahem."

  There was a pause as Yoseob narrowed at the figure, and he could've sworn he heard giggles. Seeing that there was no other choice, he got out of the carriage muttering a thanks.

  He pulled off his hood, and was amazed by the sight before him. The gates were a dusty gold and let out a small creek as they swung open. But the mansion before him was huge, and seemingly scary in the dark. He could see there were lights on through some of the windows. There's a huge mansion in the middle of a dark forest, nothing scary according to all the horror movies he watched.

  He took out his bag, and followed the hooded figure inside. The full moon could finally be seen and the darkness of the forest seemed to fade. The porch was lit so that Yoseob could see where they were going. Up a path surrounded by grass and to a door. A large wooden door that opened by itself. Maybe this place is haunted, he thought.

  "I feel so giddy right now!"

  He almost had a heart attack when he saw the cloaked figure next to him dropped down. The cloak pooled down on the ground, and what should be a person inside was instead fluffy kittens and birds arranged to form the shape of a human body. One by one they jump off each other. As if by order, they all formed a line and went into the house and...chatting with each other?

  Yoseob take a step back frightened and unsure.

  "You scared him, you idiots," a female voice scolded out.

  He looked around, praying it came from a human.

  "Down here, honey."

  He followed the source and looked down to see a freaking talking cat. The next thing he knew, everything went black.

 

•••

  "He's here."

  The larger of the two turned to him suspiciously, "Why do you sound so uncertain? It's him, right? Right?"

  "Oh, oh, yes, it's just..."

  "What? Speak up!"

  "He passed out," Ilhoon spoke up as soon as he entered, ignoring the elder's glare. He might as well spit it out.

  "What?!"

 

•••

  "Are you okay?"

  It was dark. Why was it dark? He realized his eyes were shut when he tried to blink. Gently, he opened his eyes and was greeted by the sight of a cat. He rubbed his eyes and noticed there were more lets around. He sat up slowly, and the cat hopped off giving him space. His eyes wondered to the pets around him. There were cats and rabbits, and he could see a few birds perched on the chair nearby watching him. He let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding.

  "There's so many of you," he said, a bit fascinated. "I wonder who feeds you all."

  "We feed ourselves."

  He jumped back in surprise and eyed the white rabbit warily, "Did you just talk?"

  "Are you okay?" The rabbit asked back, concerned.

  "You...can talk," Yoseob said, bewildered and quickly scrambled up.

  "He must've hit his head really hard," a brown cat said.

  "You can talk," his voice trembled. He must be dreaming right now! He must still be in the carriage, asleep. This is all just a dream.

  The black cat that was on him earlier stepped forward, "Yoseob ah, listen to me, this is real."

  "I'm dreaming. This is just a dream," Yoseob muttered to himself over and over again.

  "Yah, you can say it all you want but fooling yourself ain't gonna work."

  He turned to see a sparrow talking right in his ear. Panicked, he waved his hand around, shooing away the bird. Noticing the wooden door, he quickly went to it and tried to open the door. He rattled the door handle, hoping the door would budge.

  A brown rabbit hopped up to him, and said, "The door's lock, Junhyung hyung told us to lock it after you got here. He didn't want to-"

  "Shut up, Sungjae, you're making it worse," one of the other rabbits cut in.

  "Wh-who?" He wanted to ask, he really did. But Yoseob couldn't bring himself to talk to a rabbit. Even less, a rabbit who could talk back.

  "Yoseob, you have to calm down," the black cat said, taking a step closer. "Breathe, calm down."

  "You-you all can talk," he said, pressing himself against the wooden door. "H-how?"

  "It's part of the curse," a bird replied.

  "Just calm down, Yoseob," the cat repeated, shooting a look at the bird.

  "W-what?"

  What came next was something Yoseob didn't prepare himself for. There was a roar coming from somewhere, and a shadow of a large figure, too large for a human being began to appear. Panic rising, he turned back to the door to see the lock was being uncooperative. He ran to the window, hoping that any one of them was unlocked. But all of them were made from glass and there wasn't even a lock to began with.

  "Really now, Junhyung, you shouldn't scare out guest," the black cat chastised.

  From the corner, a large beast appeared. Larger than a human in size, and dark brown fur covering it's body. It's paws hanging on it's sides, the claws hidden in between the fur. Eyes dark and dangerously narrowed at the human pressed against the wall.

  "Really now, you tore another one of your shirts," one of the animals said. Yoseob didn't turn to look who or what, his gaze locked with the beast's.

  "I told you I didn't need to wear any," his voice wasn't as gruff as expected. Instead it was smooth and deep.

  "Well, I'd rather you not walk around ," the voice huffed. "There are girls here too, you know."

  "Does that mean I'm right now?" The brown rabbit, Sungjae, asked his darker fur friend.

  "I came down here cause Ilhoon told me that our guest was unconscious," the beast said, finally breaking the eye contact and turning to the animals. "He seems fine now, and in the middle of escaping. Don't let him go."

  His hair stood up at the last sentence and his heartbeat quickened. His eyes dart around in panic. Yoseob began to wonder if there was even a chance for his escape at all.

  "Don't scare him," the black cat said, rubbing herself against Yoseob's leg, hoping it'll give him some comfort. "Don't worry, Yoseob, he's not as scary as he looks. Actually, none of us are all that scary. Besides, it's part of the promise you see."

  At the mention of the promise, Yoseob suddenly remembered the one his father made. In exchange for letting his father go, he was asked to stay. He can't back out now, Yoseob knew even if it was up to him, he would stay for his father. His back hit the wall as he slid down to the floor. This was part of the promise.

  The black cat climbed onto his lap, glad that he had finally calmed down.

  Junhyung knew there was nothing he could do right now but returned to his room and wait for dinner to be ready. Wait for the bell to ring and to be called down. Wait for Yoseob to finally take in everything. Wait for the next morning. All he could do now was wait like be always does in the music room.