He was going to die there. At least, that was what he thought.

He had been thrown into that cold, dark room without so much as a blanket or a pillow. He hadn't eaten in hours. He hadn't even seen Minho, or anyone else, since he threw him in there, which was well over twelve hours ago.

No doubt, he would be left to die in there, or at least until he was desperate enough to obey the beast's demands that he bring his sister.

He would rather die.

He was slowly making peace with that, as he lay on the floor with his mother's cloak wrapped around him like a cocoon to keep him warm. If he did die, he'd at least see his mother again. And he would go with the knowledge that he gave his life to protect the people he loved. He couldn't think of a more noble way to go.

As he was in the middle of such thoughts, the heavy door to the dark room opened. Taemin sat up, startled by the loud noise of the rusty hinges. He expected to find the infamous beast coming to devour him. Instead, he found a gentle-faced man standing before him with a smile.

He held up a lantern in the dark room so he could get a look at Taemin. "So it is true..." he said with sigh, "It's a shame."

"Who are you?" Taemin asked as he stood to his feet so he could face his potential enemy more appropriately.

"I'm Jinki, the butler/housekeeper/maid/cook."

Taemin blinked.

"I'm going to assume your name isn't Naeun?"

"No, it's not."

Jinki waited for an awkward second. "Care to tell me what it is? I'd hate to have to call you by a girl's name."

He had half a mind not to comply, but figured there would be no harm in telling him. "It's Taemin."

"Taemin. Much better. It's a pleasure to meet you, Taemin. Come on." Jinki turned and left back through the door, expecting Taemin to simply follow.

He did so cautiously and walked under the glow of the man's lantern while he went about the rest of the basement, looking for something.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"Here, take this," the butler/housekeeper/maid/cook said instead of answering. He handed a Taemin a bucket full of rags, before grabbing a broom and another bucket full of other useful cleaning utensils. "Follow me."

Jinki led him from the basement, back up to the first level and the foyer. He expected to find Minho lingering about somewhere, but he was mysteriously absent. There seemed to be no other life in the house.

"We'll start here. You can start on the banister and just do a once-over on everything."

"I'm sorry?" Taemin asked, confused.

"Dusting. If you're going to be staying here, you might as well be useful. It'll be nice to have some help around here for a change."

"I thought there were no obligations required of me?" he said.

"Well if you wanna spend the night in the basement, you're free to go back. I just thought you might like to get out of there. Sorry if I was wrong..."

Taemin sighed and shook his head, before carrying through with Jinki's orders. He started at the bottom of the stairs and took to dusting the banister, though from what he could tell, it didn't look like it needed dusting at all. He wasn't going to say anything though. He had no desire to go back into that room.

While he dusted, Jinki went about sweeping the floors. Occasionally, he would stop and look Taemin's way with a very pleasant smile on his face.

"Won't Minho get angry that you let me out?" he wondered.

"Nah, he's not even in the house. He won't notice."

"Where is he?"

"Sulking around the garden I suppose."

If Minho wasn't there, then the only person there with him was Jinki - someone who looked like he had no invested interest in Minho's deal whatsoever. Perhaps he could use the situation to his advantage.

The door was only a short distance away from him. He could bolt out of there before Jinki even noticed. Maybe, he could even get his help...

"Jinki..."

He looked to him again, with that same smile.

"My family isn't rich, but we do have some money. If you would help me, I would repay you generously."

The butler/housekeeper/maid/cook's smile dropped. "Help you do what?"

"Escape."

"You want to escape? But you came here willingly."

"Only because that magician was going to kill my father. This was hardly a fair or mutual bargain!"

"I can't help you leave, Minho would kill me!" he said, in a tone that was more dramatic than serious. But with the way he said it, Taemin could tell he didn't even consider the possibility of going against his master. "Besides, we need you here, even if you are a boy."

"Why?"

"Do you know how long it's been since we've had a visitor?"

"How long?"

"It's been..." Jinki faltered, as if he couldn't remember quite right, "Well it's been a while. Your dad was the first in a long time. It's no wonder Minho was reluctant to let him go."

"So he almost killed the only guest he's had in years. That makes a lot of sense."

"He was desperate," Jinki said empathetically, "We all are."

Taemin couldn't helped but be touched by the sincerity in his voice. "Because of his curse?"

"It's not just his curse. It's our curse. It's bad enough he turns into a beast every night, but he can't even leave this place. None of us can."

"Really?"

Jinki nodded. "We can't move passed the gate. No matter how hard we try...we simply can't."

Taemin pondered what he said. It almost didn't seem possible. Then again, he had never had any experience with curses; perhaps it was all very normal where magic was concerned.

"How did this even happen?"

Jinki sighed as he turned his attention back to his sweeping. "Minho insulted the wrong kind of woman, that's what happened. So she cursed him, and we're all doomed to live in this place until someone falls in love with him."

"That was why he wanted my sister," Taemin realized, "He wanted her to fall in love with him."

"True love's kiss breaks all curses. So they say..."

No wonder Minho had been so upset at his trickery. At least Taemin felt a little better knowing that he wasn't after Naeun for entirely devious reasons. He was just desperate. Desperation didn't excuse what he had done to his father, but it at least made more sense to him.

"So why are you here? Why were you cursed too?" he asked, as he also continued with his work.

"I'm his faithful servant - one of few people who've been willing to put up with him his entire life. Even before all of this. I had a choice, but I wouldn't leave his side. That's why I'm here."

"Are you the only one, besides the magician?"

As if to answer his question, the door behind him opened and another man walked into the room.

"No, there's one more," Jinki said as he smiled fondly to the newcomer.

It was another young man, around Jinki's age. He was shorter than Taemin, but had muscles that testified to a life of hard work. His condition also testified to it. He looked like he had just spent the entire day working in the soil.

"This is Jonghyun," Jinki introduced him, "Jonghyun, this is Taemin."

The worker walked straight up to him and had that same disappointed look Jinki did upon first seeing him. "Kibum said she was boy," he said to Jinki, as if hoping he would tell him otherwise.

"He's a boy," he confirmed.

Taemin stared Jonghyun down defiantly, as he looked over his long hair and dress. He reached out and pulled at the tear on the front of the garment, just to check if it really was so. His flat chest confirmed it, before Taemin swatted his hand away.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Taemin," he said afterward, though he said it a little bored.

"He's better than nothing," Jinki said optimistically.

"Yeah..." he agreed, "And at least he's cute."

Taemin wasn't amused by his wink.

"Come on, grab a rag and help him dust," the butler/housekeeper/maid/cook ordered.

"Are you serious? I just spent all day slaving in the garden and you want me to help you dust the already clean furniture?"

"Yes, it'll give us all a chance to get to know each other. After all, he'll probably be here for a while."

"Then I'll have time to get to know him later," Jonghyun argued. Jinki would have none of it and tossed him a rag despite his protests.

"Dust."

"Then why isn't Kibum here?" the gardener wanted to know.

"Oh, I'm here," a disgruntled voice said from the top of the stairs. The three of them all looked up to see that the magician was in fact in the foyer. He was flat on his back at the top of the stairs. He looked either depressed or bored out of his mind.

Taemin hadn't noticed him before, so chances were he arrived after they did.

He pulled himself up from his uncomfortable position and made his way slowly down the stairs, staring at Taemin pointedly the entire way down. He stopped just before him.

"Tell me, Taemin, if I put a number spell on your chest and told you you would die in forty-eight hours..."

"I'd rather die than bring you my sister," he answered, knowing what he was implying.

"That's how you got Daevy to bring him here?" Jinki asked.

Kibum nodded, and Jinki and Jonghyun burst out laughing.

"It's not funny!" Taemin snapped at them angrily, "There is nothing funny about putting a timer on someone's chest so they can watch them self die!"

The two of them quieted down, but they didn't look anymore sorry about the matter. "Oh Taemin, he wouldn't have died," Jinki said.

"Kibum is a fraud."

"I'm not a fraud," the magician replied.

Taemin turned to him, not quite sure who to believe. His staring eventually prodded the magician into confessing the truth to him. "Okay, your father wouldn't have died. It was just a timer spell to make him think he was going to die. But I'm not a fraud!"

"You tricked him," Taemin said.

"Hey, you tricked us too!"

"You made him think he was going to die. How could you do that to a person?"

"Desperation," Jinki said, "Kibum is especially eager to get out of here. He's the only one who didn't agree to stick with Minho through it all. He just stayed here a little too long and got into the curse."

Kibum looked more upset the more Jinki talked about it.

"If he really was as powerful as he says he is, he would've broken the curse a long time ago," Jonghyun added.

"I tried!" Kibum said.

"You see? He's a fraud."

Kibum gave him a curt slap to the back of the head, and in the wake of it, left behind a green splotch that quickly spread from his hair all the way down his body. It covered his skin in a green, scaly texture.

"Kibum!" he screamed.

"I'm not a fraud," he reiterated.

"Well you're full of a bunch of really useless skills. Like this one! Turn me back!"

Taemin was trying to picture how his sister would react to such characters. She would probably laugh and find them amusing, after all, she was more gentle-hearted than he was, and probably would have enjoyed their quirky company.

The more time that ticked by, the more Taemin was realizing that place was not what he thought it was. The only person who seemed remotely threatening anymore was Minho, who wasn't even there.

It was a shame they hadn't tried to do things properly. Naeun probably would have liked it there.

A/N: That chapter was extremely fun to write. XD

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