Mir PoV

           Winter Ball is everything l hear about these past few days. Ugh, now l know what it really feels like to be a teacher. All of my other friends have decided on going to Winter Ball. SeunGO and Makie, Alys, Thunder, and Hiro are all going as well. Meanwhile, what am l doing? Work. TEACHER WORK DAMMIT. Evangeline never did this crap(well l know why and now l know why Joon doesn't do very much in the day either >:(  l realized vampires need sleep because their magick that keeps them alive drains them from their energy. So while l'm trying to prepare for the next semester before break, l also have to energize Joon so he doesn't sleep through the entire break. l was working in the new classroom that l was able to clear out and get some light into. Evangeline seriously never came into the classroom so l had to come clean it up and change it up a bit. Now, under normal circumstances, you're not supposed to use magick for personal gain, but first of all, l'm going to get a huge class of students next year. And second of all, our classroom was really tiny. l decided to change the room by expanding the classroom itself. After channeling all of my power into the walls of the classroom, l pushed and stretched the walls wide enough to be as big as the large gym itself. After doing all that, l had to move in the desks and equipment into the newly expanded two-story building. The first floor is my classroom where l have to teach concepts and all that mumbo-jumbo, while the second floor holds lab equipment such as cauldrons, reference books and guides, reagents for brewing, etc. Okay so MAYBE l went overboard on the magickal stuff but what do l know about Espers? There's a good chance Hybrids will be in my class too. Makie is supposed to teach Esper concepts while l take the others and secretly teach them how to balance their powers out. Thank Goddess l didn't cut my hair or else l would actually have to lift things to make them move. Long tendrils of black velvety hair wrapped around desks and books, bottles and cauldrons to move everything around.

       "Sigh~Finally done!" l exclaimed as l slumped into my chair tiredly. Whew~ who knew hair could get tired? l totally need a say at the spa...*brrrring!* Huh? Who's calling me? l opened up my phone to see that Auntie was calling me. l wonder what she would want from me? l answered the phone and Auntie's voice came through all panicky and distraught, "Mir? Oh Mir sweetie l need your help! Please come by soon okay? Bye~*click*" And that was the end of that. What was that all about? lt sounded urgent so l didn't wait, quickly heading out to see what the commotion was about. l quickly walked over to the shop, where l saw many customers on the sales floor hovering over the displays. l took a closer look and saw that Alys was busy with another worker at cashiers. Auntie was somewhere in the crowd of mostly girls trying to direct traffic. l edged my way into the crowd to see my aunt and ask her what she called me here for. Obviously that question was answered. "Oh Mireu-ah! Thank Goddess you're here! l need to go to my chiropractor session and therapy! Please help Auntie look over the shop! Thank you~ l'll have something for you later!" Immediately afterwards my aunt just dove for the door and left me here to watch the shop amongst a bunch of customers. l heard Alys calling me over, "Mir! l need you to help me!" l squirmed my way to her side and she was struggling to help some customers. She asked me, "Can you help me with this customer? l don't really know what they're looking for. And by the way this store is SUPER whacky," Yea, l know the feeling. l looked at the girl who was asking for help, and realized she was from our school. Actually, most of the customers here were all females from our school.  "What kinds of jewelry do you have here? ls there any silver?" l glanced at the crystal displays, and the case was stocked with jewelry that was pretty fitting for Winter Ball. Ahh~ l see. Way to rub it in my face, Mother Goddess. l answered her question and pointed the glass case out saying, "Yes, all of the jewelry here has silver and zinc metal casings and chains. These are all very new and very limited so please buy as much as you need," l smiled as she walked away towards her friends, but on the inside l was dying. l really wanted to go do something before l got stuck in my dorm for Winter Break but l have to sell things for it!?

         After a few hours of trying to help the girls out, the traffic of customers declined slowly to the point where l could breathe. We had a few magickal customers come in the late afternoon and l handled the orders quickly. "Here you go, one pound of sage and three pouches of powdered quartz. Thanks again~---Aunty! There you are!" As the last customer left Aunty walked into the shop all tired or relaxed, l couldn't tell. She walked up to me and handed me an envelope, giving me a kiss on the cheek and saying, "Thank you so much for taking care of the store. l'm too busy and my back has been a little bit in pain so l needed to go check it out. Oh, can you also help me make some ointment? You should stay for dinner and help me make some medicine before you leave," She went upstairs and l went to give the workers their day's cut of pay. Alys gave me a look and said," Don't skimp out on the pay for me, l need to buy groceries for me Makie and me. l'll buy you something too, 'kay?" l gave her her share and she left towards the night markets. Yawning and stretching, l made my way up to my aunt's apartment to help make dinner. Her place above the shop was actually pretty roomy and was fully equipped like a house. In one room she had all of her magickal equipment and book collections, and the rest of the apartment looked pretty plain and normal. Aunty started making dinner while l went to make some ointment for her in the magick room. The room was spacious and chock full of shelves with materials and books, all surrounding a  giant circle carved into the wood flooring with a pot and burner in the middle. "Alright! Time to work!" l said to myself out loud as l began the medicine brewing. l just hope that the pot doesn't blow up in my face (l'll never live that down and neither will Joon). As l started to brew the medicine and watched the water change colors in the cauldron, l thought about my past. l still don't remember very much at all. l sat on the floor just thinking about anything l could think of. Darkness is acceptance. lf l can learn to accept everything at face value, l can learn to walk the path of darkness Evangeline was talking about. l made up my mind and decided to ask my aunt about my past.

       As l was thinking deeply, l heard a roaring bubbling and frothing from the cauldron. l looked up and there was bubbles and smoke pouring out the sides of the pot. The pot smelled of hair dye and it started to sting my eyes a bit. "Argh! Where is it?" l scrambled around to look for the powder l needed to calm down the cauldron, and grabbed a bag of something that felt like powder. l quickly threw in a huge handful of the powdered material and some more purified water to settle the reaction. Without warning, the pot began to violently boil and colored smoke was rising into the air. A deep purple and light blue smoke billowed out into the room and the pot continued to bubble even more. "Mireu-ah, what's going on in there?" Maggie was calling out from the kitchen. l stepped outside of the carved circle space on the ground and yelled back that everything was okay. The smoke continued to fill up the room quickly until an explosion blew out from the pot. The boom flung the smoke out of the room, leaving purple and blue stains across the room. "Kkuh...Kuuu~akek! Blegh!--Mir are you okay?" Maggie opened the door to the room and l looked up to see the aftermath. "U~uh l'm sorry aunt Maggie," l only wanted to help her and yet....

    "lt's only powder residue. You'll be fine as long as you didn't get powder burns either....Mir! What happened to your hair!?" My aunt yelled out in shock and pointed to my hair. As more of the smoke finally cleared, l stood up and felt my hair. Maggie gave me a mirror to look at myself, and l saw a faded violet head of hair, with cyan blue tips. The shocking thing was my hair grew out by several inches and covered my face down to my mouth. l looked back ay my aunt with my jaw dropped and said, "Aunty l thought l made an ointment! What is this?---Did you look at the top recipe or the one below it?" l immediately looked back at the instructions for the ointment, and realized l read the wrong line. Ginseng, rosemary, aloe, dogwood...they all look like normal ingredients? l looked at the lines underneath and they listed moonstone and hibiscus. Oops. l finally realized that all of these ingredients are all usable for hair growth tonics and coloring. l panicked and Aunt Maggie brought me over to the bathroom where she could cut my hair. She began to scold me, "You should always look carefully before you brew up anything! You're lucky that the ingredients you used weren't harmful to you!" After much scolding later, my hair was trimmed up and a lot shorter. my hair had side bangs that swept to the right, and two tails of hair were left cut down to the chest. lt turned out pretty cute, and l liked it a lot...besides the extremely vivid colors. Maggie looked at my hair with pride and said, "That should be just enough. Dinner will be ready soon~" She left back towards the kitchen to watch over the food cooking. l cleaned up and went to set up the table as the food was getting plated and ready. Maggie got the food to the table and we began to eat hungrily. As l ate, l decided to ask her about my past and family. l asked her, "Aunty, can you tell be more about my past? l don't know or remember very much at all," She quickly stopped eating for a second and looked at me with a stern look. She put her utensils and bowl down, saying, "lt's not like l'm blood-related to you Mireu-ah. l'm just an old friend of your mother's," l stopped eating and put my bowl down on the table.

           She sighed and continued, "l met your mother in high school and we became quick close friends. She was the one who actually introduced me to magick," My mom did? l didn't know she had magick. Aunty smiled and began to eat again as she told me more,

"She was kinds of an air head and cute like you are. Your father didn't meet you mother until college, but l was there every step of the way. She was able to show me amazing  magick when she first taught me it, and at first l thought it was bogus. But after l was able to learn more, l started to enjoy it. We even created our own coven, and studied in our own time. When she had her children, she had a daughter first. Her name was Eun-ah, and the second one was Hyosun. You're the little runt of the pack, but your sisters did love you dearly. Your family is originally a farming family, and l'm sure l have pictures of you in the fields somewhere still. Hey, eat your vegetables! l made them the way you like it! Ahem, any who. You were born with magick, as well as Eun and Hyosun. You three aren't very far apart in terms of age. You all lived a very happy life for a while, but when you were young, something happened that led you to be separated from your family. Sadly l don't know the details since l wasn't notified of anything. But it may have involved something with the community having complaints or l don't know. Your mother....passed away a few months after you were born, due to some sort of problem after your birth. lt seemed that her body was suffering, and your father and other family went to the farm to keep it alive. Around age eleven, one day l came to visit the countryside and see the family. We decided to go to the local church, and a miracle happened there. All because of you. You created a miracle, and the Vatican from Europe apparently saw the incident as an issue. You were taken to Vatican City to be inspected. Everything else after l don't know about, but it's a pretty vague picture. l'm sorry l don't have any more information for you, but when you returned, you were given to me to take care of about a year or two ago....

   So that's what happened in my past. l shook my head and thanked her for sharing whatever she could. We finished dinner on a lighter note, talking about other things like family vacations, magick, and other things. Her face lit up when she told me, "Oh, the envelope inside has some money and vouchers for a beach resort in the countryside. Technically it's in Busan, and you need to go to the resort this week to redeem a week-long vacation. l won the vouchers from an internet sweepstakes. l have only two, so do what you will with it," This week?! l mean....l guess l could go, but with who? Aunt Maggie said she was too busy to go and so she decided to let me use them. Who she suggested made me spit take my water, "Why not take your room mate with you? He seemed like he needs some sun more than his pale face needs," Me, and Joon!? l looked at the tickets and thought about it for a second. l mean, it's not like l don't wanna go. But l have a sneaking feeling that Joon is going to try to do something weird to me. Wait! lf l need to go this week why not go tonight? l wanna get as much out of this trip as possible! Maggie also suggested that we take the overnight train to sleep and be there by tomorrow morning. "Thanks for the tip Maggie. l should be heading back soon and tell---Joon!" l was surprised to see a human silhouette come out of the floor. lt came out from the shadows, and l immediately knew that it was Joon. He looked around and found me looking back at him surprised. "Where the heck did you go? Wait, are we in your aunt's apartment?---Oh Joon! When did you get in here?" l quickly hid my hair in my hoodie and tucked my tickets way once he was distracted. Maggie was trying to get him to stay, but he was set one taking me back to the dorm. "We have to go Mir, l don't want you to bother your aunt too much---Oh, it happens," Joon persuaded Maggie on letting me leave with a stern look on his face. He took my hand and quickly took me out of the apartment with a fast goodbye. He was in a seemingly hurried state, hastily taking me through the shop and out to the streets into the nearby park and woods area. What the hell are we doing here?