Eunkyung regarded the girl with suspicious eyes. The scent of cookies still drifted from the house and tempted her; But the healthy, natural smell of the garden made her sharper.

“How do you know my name?” She asked.

The girl seemed amused by her question.

“The forest is a small place,” She answered. “Not many humans live here. The trees speak of you often.”

The girl took a few steps toward the house before turning back to Eunkyung. Her eyes were black as the new moon’s sky, but the stars that twinkled within them seemed to hold a warm, mischievous light.

“I’ll explain over tea.” She invited Eunkyung back into the cottage. “The girl between worlds must have a lot of questions.”

Eunkyung quietly followed the girl back into the cottage. A thousand questions demanded to be asked and they collided with each other until Eunkyung couldn’t think of a thing to say. 

But first and foremost, who was the girl and what did she know? What could she tell Eunkyung?

It was her natural curiosity that made her swallow her hesitance and enter the cottage. The girl was back in the kitchen, with a kettle on the stove as she pulled cookies out of the oven to cool. 

“Take a seat at the table Eunkyung,” She smiled welcomingly. “I’ll be with you in just a moment.”

She silently nodded and pulled out a chair to sit at the kitchen table. Not quite sure what to do with herself while the girl was busy preparing them tea, Eunkyung studied the table. It was old and sturdy. There were large gouges in it and intentions from having been cut on. It was lovely and worn in a very homely way.

A moment later, the girl set down a mug of tea and a plate of cookies in front of Eunkyung before sitting across form her. After taking a long sip of her sweet smelling tea, the girl let out a sigh and eyed Eunkyung with interest.

“Hm… Where to start…” She muttered mostly to herself.

“… May I ask your name?” Eunkyung nervously wrapped her hands around her mug, trying to give herself something to do.

The girl’s eyes widened. 

“Did I forget to introduce myself? I’m sorry,” The girl set her mug down and offered a hand to Eunkyung, who gladly took it. “My name is Minji and I am the witch of this forest.”

“Witch…?” Eunkyung froze, her eyes widened. First werewolves, now witches?

Minji nodded and pulled her hand away from Eunkyung’s. “Yes, there are many species that you humans aren’t allowed to know about.”

“Wha-” Eunkyung started speaking but found she had nothing to say and quickly closed again. She looked down at her tea and swirled it slightly, watching the dredges of tea leaves dance at the bottom.

“I think, however,” Minji pushes the untouched plate of cookies toward Eunkyung as an offering. “You deserve to know more about this world. Would you like that Eunkyung?”

Eunkyung wordlessly picked up a chocolate chip cookie and nibbled at it as she nodded. 

“Collectively, there isn’t really a word for what we are.” The witch started, tracing her finger across the warm rim of her mug. “We refer to ourselves as ‘Us’ and you as ‘Humans’. I suppose the best word to describe us would be ‘Humanoids’ We share many physical traits that humans do, but biologically and culturally, we’re completely different.

“There are Centaurs, who are wise but ultimately meet their end because of their brutish nature. Mermaids are cunning and deadly. They love to drag unsuspecting humans to their death in the ocean’s depths. Werewolves are cursed creatures with sad existences they did not deserve. Witches are resourceful and powerful; often times we are the voice of reason in our world. Human’s are inventive but arrogant of their creations and selfish to a fault.”

The half eaten cookie in Eunkyung’s hand was forgotten as Minji spoke. It finally felt like Eunkyung was getting information from someone informed and unbiased. 

“From a historical perspective, Humans and Humanoids have never gotten along. For thousands of years, there were wars and fights over the pettiest of things. It just wasn’t possible for us to get along. This was fine for a while. Humans were just one of many threats that we had to work with to survive. But as time went on, your population grew. At first, we didn’t notice it, but then we were being outnumbered in every battle and we were loosing too many lives.

“So we had to go into hiding. To protect our future, we had to make Humans forget the past until we were all nothing but a fairy tale. And it worked. For the most part, we are able to live in the world without any of us having to worry about Humans coming to find us. But we’ll never be able to come out of hiding.  Within the last 500 years or so, your species population has gotten so large and out of control that there are more humans in Korea alone than there are Humanoids in the whole world.

“To come out of hiding…” Minji paused to think before shaking her head. “That would mean the end of us all. We would be overwhelmed and killed within the day.

“There are still Humans who know of and hunt us.” The witch heaved a heavy sigh. “Werewolf hunters are a classic example of that as well as the largest group of Humanoid hunters in existence.”

“Seriously?” Eunkyung’s eyebrows raised.

“Werewolves have little control over their form and if they aren’t careful, they can easily expose their wolf form to humans. Hunters tend to come from families who have suffered from deaths at the hands of wolves. They seek revenge and want all werewolves dead. But they think all werewolves are evil and think there are no differences between them. It’s silly, I think, because all humanoids are their own person, just like humans. Some have hearts of gold while others have questionable morals.”

Minji and Eunkyung are quite for a moment. The witch took a sip of her soothing tea while the human though deeply about everything she had just learned.

“You know, Eunkyung,” Minji stated as she grabbed a cookie and broke it in half. “I think it’s going to be very interesting what you do from here on out.”

“What do you mean?” She took a bite out of her forgotten cookie half.

“You’ve grown up virtually alone. You don’t have a very big connection to the humans world and are isolated when you have to go into the human town. You grew up in this forest with mostly Humanoids, even if you didn’t know it. And now you’re going to have to choose between worlds.”

“Choose?” Eunkyung furrowed her brow. “What do you mean by that? Choose between what?”

Minji regarded her quietly for a moment before closing her eyes and standing up. She picked up the plate of cookies and moved to put them away in a cookie jar.

“Jungkook was right to warn you about werewolves, you know. They’re very dangerous creatures. When they turn into a wolf on the full moon, they have no control of their wolf instincts. They’ve killed many people. Jungkook may be wrong in thinking that all werewolves are bad, but he knows first hand how dangerous and deadly they can be.”

The hair on the back of Eunkyung neck raised and she shivered slightly. She thought of her wolf, how strong his legs felt when she pet him and how he devoured the meat she would give him in seconds. She didn’t doubt their power as predators.

“However, give a human a gun, and they can kill just as many people.” Minji looked Eunkyung in the eyes, and the human girl felt her all-knowing gaze pierce her soul. “It’s up to you, Eunkyung, if you want to trust any human or humanoid. Just know the ricks that come with it.”

The witch had finished putting away the cookies and tea. She walked over to Eunkyung and placed her hand on her shoulder.

“Let’s get you home. I’ll give you a ride. You’ve been away for long enough.”

“Yes.” Eunkyung quickly stood up and bowed to Minji. “Thank you for the talk and your hospitality.”

Minji smiled. “I like you, Eunkyung. You’re so polite. If you’re ever in the area, please stop by my cottage again.”

Eunkyung smiled shyly at the compliment before the witch ushered her out of the house so she could finally return home.

A/N: *jumps up and down in excitment!!!!!* Guys meet Mega Babe Minji!!! She's going to be showing up a lot more now and also be a very interesting neutral party between the hunters and the wolves as well as Eunkyung biggest supporter!!! I love her so much tbh I love female charcters.

This chapter wasn't nearly as long as i thought it would be? Sorry It's kinda short.

ALSO IN EXCITING NEWS!!! SILVER ROSE IS NOW 40,000 WORDS LONG HOW RAD IS THAT!!!!

I still can't believe I've written something this long! Thank you so much for all ya'll support and kind words!

PS: Silver Rose's one year anniversary is coming up in almost 2 weeks! What would you guys like me to do to celebrate? Would you be interested in a Q/A or something like that?