“So you guys...” Seungri snickered as he pointed fingers “...you know, howled in the night? Explored the tunnel?” We stared. “I mean, Sooyoung let the fat old donkey out and then you...”

Jung Min punched him so hard, Seungri’s face met dirt. The reaper pressed his foot on top of Seungri’s back and made sure he wouldn’t get up too soon. Slightly bending down and leaning his elbow against his knee, Jung Min waited for us to get back to our business. Changmin on the other hand was having a blast, giggling at the strange creature that morphed into a snowy owl. The bird escaped from under Jung Min’s foot and landed on a branch, glaring at us with its deep yellow eyes. They turned green for a split second before Seungri morphed back in his human form and hung from the branch, lacking our amused expressions.

“Okay, enough playing around,” Yuri’s voice made us shudder as she pulled Changmin away from my leg. “What’s going on?”

“We don’t know,” I shrugged and pointed at the sky “but we need to collect around one hundred souls before they realize what’s going on.”

Daesung gazed at Seungri, then at Jung Min. We did the same before the red-eyed reaper returned us a confused look.

“What?”

“Well, you guys are reapers...” I started and he somehow knew where that was going because he covered my mouth and mumbled something.

“I can’t guide one hundred souls to the Other World, I can only slay them.” He removed his hand and before I’d argue, I thought harder about it and understood the situation. Jung Min wasn’t built to treat souls tenderly... unless they were tender meat and he had to cut the crap out of them if he wanted to make a living.

We had to come up with a solution as fast as possible. Time wasn’t on our side.

“What about Death? Can’t he collect them?” Daesung suggested with half-a-mouth, making us redirect our hatred towards him instead of Seungri. He sighed.

“Mommy?” Changmin softly spoke as he stretched his little arms from Yuri’s hug. I came closer to the bundle of love, grabbed his fingers and smiled.

“Mommy needs to help people now...”

“But...” why does he have to stare at me with those doe-eyes? “...mommy promised to read Min from the book!”

“What bo---” oh... that book. I had been reading Changmin a fairytale once a week. It was my attempt to give him a wild imagination that could one day be put to good use. Also, he was just a child and the morals installed in those stories were exactly what he needed.

And then it hit me.

Fairy...tales. Fairy.

“Mommy?” I leaned over, pecked Changmin’s cheek and ruffled his hair.

“Go with Yuri, I’ll be right back.” Yuri didn’t wait until we’d say our goodbyes. She hurried to the house. It was upsetting to hear Changmin crying ‘mommy’ over and over again like a spoiled brat, but it couldn’t be helped. Yuri would have to use some of her special herbs to put the poor kid to sleep until we’d clean the mess. “I found a way.”

Seungri hopped from the branch back near us and straightened his back. Jung Min was ready to slap the back of his head again if he’d dare make another lame joke. Instead, his grave tone startled us.

“I’ll help... with whoever else I can find.”

“Great!” I grinned and winked at him “Because we’ll be asking fairies for help.”

“What?” He gaped at me.

“Fairies.” I repeated “We’re going to put fairies to do the work.”

“They’re too proud,” Jung Min objected, ready to shake the living thing out of me for thinking of such a stupid plan. “It will never work!”

“But...” Daesung went between us and made sure nobody else would end up strangled. “...we can try, right? I mean, we’re all fighting for a common cause, it could work.”

“We’re doomed.” Seungri sniffed defeated.

Jung Min smacked him.

---

Fairies found you, not the other way around. No matter how hard you tried, there were zero chances for you to spot a fairy without it letting you do that. It was annoying and helpful at the same time. Because when you didn’t want them around, you would never see them as they weren’t interested in you. But when you do want to meet them, they’ll do everything possible to be avoided. And that’s how Jung Min and Seungri ended up searching from the sky for any fairy energy signature present in the mountains. They were better at doing that than me and Daesung.

I was constantly worried of what might happen if one charred Carrier suddenly dropped on them. I couldn’t stop pacing in the snow. Daesung already commented twice on how all the snow angels were ruined because of my stressful walk, but I couldn’t care less.

There had to be some fairies in the mountains. It was our only chance.

“Found something,” Jung Min’s voice disturbed my thoughts. I watched the golden eagle soar the sky until it turned around and headed west. I signaled Daesung to follow me and we raced through the forest, following the eagle. Fortunately, there was a path, so we didn’t have to lose our way around or hit too many trees in the process. We were fine protectors of nature, that’s for sure. “Down there, at the waterfall,” I searched around after the eagle. I found it pointing its neck to a still pond filled by a small waterfall.  At first, I saw nothing strange. Unusual ripples in the waterfall made me believe something was hiding behind the curtain of water.

The eagle left the branch and morphed in mid-air. Jung Min landed on one knee and held his palm firmly on the ground, bloody orbs examining the area.

“Are you sure there’s something here stink-face?” Daesung mumbled as his hands plunged deep in his pockets. Jung Min ignored him and got up. He nodded and came closer to the pond. His feet never touched its surface as he headed to the waterfall. He punched it and when his hand came back from under the water, a terrified looking girl was within his grasp. Jung Min grabbed both her shoulders and pushed her forward. He applied too much force as the girl ended up on her tummy in front of us. Daesung rushed to her side and helped her stand back up. “That’s not how you act with a lady!” he scolded the reaper.

“Urm, Daesung...” the girl clung to him. A mischievous smile spread from corner to corner, but it was so fast, I wasn’t sure about it until Jung Min confirmed it in my head. “Maybe you should let her go...”

“But it’s just a girl!” he whined again. I wanted to slap him, but I instinctively got closer to Jung Min in case she'd attack us.

“It’s a sprite and if you don’t let her go, I’ll cut your arms.”

Smooth move feathery , do you really think that can scare Daesung? He probably had no idea what a sprite was in the first place.  

“Eh?”

White energy surrounded my arm before I showed her the finger.

“Let go of him, we just need to talk.”

“There’s nothing to talk,” she wrapped her arms around Daesung and grinned. I don’t know how strong her magic was, but Daesung already had a stupid gaze and it meant we had to take extra precautions.

“Look, we need to collect one hundred souls that were supposed to go peacefully to the Other World. If we don’t do that, then you guys are in danger too.”

She snarled at us. “LIAR!”

I smacked my forehead while Jung Min rolled his eyes.

“I told you they are impossible.”

I wanted to rip every single hair off my head, but it just grew back, so that would be such a waste. How could I lie about something so obvious?

Goddamn fairies!