Three days passed. The five were doing well in the village, keeping a low-profile and blending in the village like normal folks. The daily newspaper had brought them news of what was going on in the north: the vampires had conquered the northern area and won the war. The shocking discovery had brought news that the witches were making an alliance with the fairies and pixies in the northern area. So if something happened with the magical winged-creatures, a serious war between the witches and vampires would break out.

"This is great," Naeun said, putting away the paper on the table. "That means we can move again."

"You mean we're heading north?" Myungsoo asked.

"Of course. Besides, it's been too calm in this area. Something will probably cause a ruckus or something," Naeun pointed out. "It's best if we leave as soon as possible."

"Good," Taemin said. "I'm done with staying here. I've killed so many corrupted witches in the past few days we've been here."

Mino bit his bottom lip. "Um, how soon is 'soon as possible'?"

"Like…" Naeun snapped her fingers. "Like this soon as possible."

He gulped. "O-Oh. Okay."

Taemin studied him. "Are you okay?"

"What? Yeah! Why?"

"You seem a bit tense," Taemin casually pointed out. He stared at the scarf. "Where'd you get that?"

"Jieun gave it to me. Why?"

"Did it have some kind of spell or charm on it?" Taemin asked Jieun. Jieun shrugged her shoulders. He scowled. "You should check. If it's a cursed item, that could be dangerous—"

"Objects can be cursed?" Mino asked a bit too loudly. His eyes popped wide open as he reached to touch his neck. "So if there's a situation where you're cursed and the cursed object is near it, does that mean that it's double the curse?"

"Well, it obviously depends on the situation," Myungsoo said. "In rare cases, if the curses are as equally as bad, then they nullify each other. Sometimes, if the curse can overpower another, it conquers and continues its curse. Other times, the curses can joint and then you have mad chaos all over the place."

"The curse's stability matters," Taemin summarized. He raised an eyebrow. "Why are you so interested in curses? You've been asking me stuff about that for the past few days."

Naeun raised her eyebrows. "He has?"

"Yeah. He was asking me how to get rid of a curse, and I told him that I didn't know how," Taemin said.

"Normally don't you just go back to the one who gave you the curse and ask to take off the curse for some other price?" Naeun asked. Mino's ears perked up. "If the curse came with some kind of spell that can be undone, then I'm pretty sure the curse can be lifted."

"I'm a bit confused on the second part," Mino said. "What do you mean about a type of spell that's undone?"

"You know those news about how a princess woke up from a kiss or something, right?" Naeun asked. 

Sounds like a fairytale, Mino and Jieun thought. He nodded his head. 

"Well, it's like that. If the curse told you how to end it or if the curse hints that something can undo it, then the curse should be lifted," she explained. 

"Is it easy to tell if someone has a curse?" Jieun asked curiously.

"Not really. It's usually a mark that indicates a curse," Naeun said. "A mark indicates who gave the person a curse. It's like a signature."

"What if you don't have a mark and you're cursed?"

"You'll probably go through some tough symptoms. Like unbearable pain, bad memories flashing up, seeing illusions, and so on. Again, it differs with each curse."

"But you never want the curse," Myungsoo quickly warned them. "It's super hard to control and it usually comes with a very valuable price. It's a price that can change your faith."

"Like forgetting a precious memory?" Mino asked.

"Yeah," Taemin answered. He slowly nodded his head. "Precisely that."

Mino paled and touched his head. He made a worrisome expression and stared down at the ground.

"Of course, there are other prices. Some of them are like losing an arm or, at worst, losing your life," Taemin added. "Memories would probably fall along the range of losing your life, though."

"E-Excuse me," Mino muttered. The conversation had made feel a bit queasy inside. "I'm going out for a walk…"

He turned and left the room. Jieun and Taemin looked at the door, wondering what was going on with Mino. Naeun let out a small scoff as Myungsoo distracted himself with some sort of object he had bought earlier.

"What's up with him?" Naeun asked, glaring at particularly nothing.

"I-I'll go talk to him," Jieun stuttered. She walked out of the room, trying to find Mino.

The moment she stepped outside of the cramped room, she noticed that Mino wasn't in the building. She went outside, continuing her search. Eventually, she found him standing outside, touching his scarf and cautiously walking around. He seemed scared; his eyes were wide and he was acting extremely cautious.

She walked over to him, and gently tapped on his shoulder. In an instant, Mino whirled around and gave Jieun a quick growl. He stopped when he noticed that it was only Jieun, and that she had came to him alone.

"What's wrong with you?" Jieun asked, putting her hands on her hips. "Everyone is suspecting you."

"I've noticed," Mino mumbled. He used his scarf to muffle up his voice. Jieun quickly jerked the scarf away from his mouth, causing Mino to instinctively grab onto the scarf to cover his neck. Jieun raised an eyebrow.

"Are you sure that you're just 'cold'?" Jieun inquired him.

"I am!" he exclaimed. "It's really cold!"

"Even though you're sweating?"

It was true. The weather outside was extremely hot and humid. It was hot enough for the two to be sweating just by standing in the heat. Beads of sweat decorated the side of his head, proving that Mino was guilty.

"I-It's not sweat. It's water," Mino lied.

"You're hiding something," Jieun said. She narrowed her eyes. "I can tell."

"Oh, so when did you become a human-reading expert?"

"I didn't. It just happens to be that it's really obvious," Jieun stated. "Now, tell me or I'll ask the others to help me figure out what's wrong with you."

Mino widened his eyes. "No, no, no! You can't do that!"

"Then tell me!"

"Fine!" Jieun was surprised that he had given up so easily. Mino looked around, then grabbed Jieun by her arm. "Follow me."

"Where are we going?" Jieun asked, trotting behind him.

"To a place where there's absolutely no one," Mino whispered.

The two began to walk away from the crowd. They were beginning to enter the area where there was nothing but shadows after shadows. Jieun remembered that Taemin had told her not to be around an area without people, but she decided to brush away that one rule for now.

After a few more minutes of walking, Mino stopped in front of two narrow buildings. He gestured Jieun to come between the buildings, and she followed. As the two settled at the narrow space, Mino gently touched his scarf.

"You have to promise," he started, "that you won't tell anyone about this, okay?"

"Got it," Jieun said, nodding her head.

Mino took a deep breath, and slowly unraveled his scarf. Jieun's eyes widened when she saw a black floral design on his neck. It was a cluster of small flowers with large leaves surrounding it. Bolds lines outlined the flower and the leaves, emphasizing the design. If Mino wasn't covering his neck, the mark would've been obvious to see.

"That's not normal," was the only thing Jieun could say.

"It's a curse," Mino muttered. "Remember the time we went to the fortune teller? The person told my fortune, but she gave me this."

"Well, how do we get rid of it?" Jieun asked. "Did something else happen? Are you feeling strange?"

"No, I haven't been feeling anything different." There was a pause. "Well, other than that I've been freaking about this mark."

"How do we get rid of it?" she repeated.

"I don't know!" Mino cried out. He threw his arms up in the air. "I've looked through books—"

"Books?" Jieun gasped. "I thought we weren't going to read anymore!"

"I wasn't planning on reading, but I really need to figure out how to get rid of this. Anyway, nothing I've read mentions about how to cure a curse. It only talks about different types of curse and so on," Mino said.

"So what do we do?" Jieun asked. "Should we ask the others—"

"No!" he snapped. "Of course not! Are you crazy?"

"But they seem to know a lot more about curses than us! We should at least try!" Jieun exclaimed.

"They're already suspicious of me, and I don't want them to think that I have a curse or something," Mino pointed out.

Jieun bit her bottom lip. "We need to figure out something, though." She looked around. "Maybe we should check with those fortune tellers."

"You think they can help?"

"Well, one of them gave it to you. Maybe she can take it back."

"I hope so," Mino said with a small grumble.

The two began to walk a bit further into the dark town. When they arrived, they boldly stepped into the room and noticed that the same woman with the red cloak was at the receptionist desk. They walked over to her, but she suddenly raised her palm.

"Please wait," the woman said. "Mother will come and—"

"Oh, enough!" Jieun cried out. She pointed at Mino's neck. "One of your kinds gave this guy a curse mark. We'll pay you as much as you want, so get rid of it!"

The woman refused to look up. "Please wait. Mother will come and come to fetch you."

Jieun turned red in anger. She was about to protest more until Mino grabbed her arm and pulled her to the side. He told her to behave for a few more minutes, and she did as she was told in a grudge-like manner.

"Fine, we'll wait for 'Mother,' but tell her that two people will see her at the same time!" Jieun declared. The woman didn't respond and only scribbled something on her clip board.

After sometime, the woman finally looked up. She glanced around and frowned, as if she was smelling something displeasing to her nose. She stared at the only guests in the room.

"Something is different," the woman said softly. "Do you have something on you?"

"Yeah," Mino said bitterly. He removed the scarf and showed the woman his curse mark, much to her horror. "One of your workers or whatever gave me this."

"Impossible!" she cried out. "We are merely fortune tellers, not witch—" She held her breath. "Oh, that is what has happened."

She reached over and pressed a red button. The button blinked for a few seconds, then stopped and glowed. 

"Please, hurry and follow me," the woman said. When she left the table, Jieun and Mino were surprised that she had no legs. She was floating in midair, gliding to a particular room behind the curtains. The two glanced at each other, then followed.

They stopped in front of a red door, and Jieun immediately recognized the room. It was the same room she had went into to meet 'Mother' and the same room she got her fortune told. The woman didn't knock. Instead, she gently pushed the door open and stepped aside to let the other two go inside. Once they stepped inside, the door closed behind them and the woman led them into the deeper parts of the room.

"Welcome," a drowsy voice said. "I recognize one soul, but I do not recognize the other…"

Mino frowned while Jieun leaned closer to his ears: "She's blind. She has some kind of sixth sense."

"Mother, this is the one who has been taken to the wrong room," the woman said softly. "This man over here has been a victim. Mother, he has a curse."

"I know, dear," the old woman croaked out. "I know it very well, dear."

"Yeah, well, I want you to get rid of it."

"I can't."

Mino and Jieun exchanged strange gazes. Then, they looked back at the blind fortune teller.

"Why not?" Jieun asked.

"Curses can only be removed by the one who gives the curse," the woman said. She began to extend her hand. "May I?"

Mino subconsciously gave her his hand. She used her other hand to trace the lines on the palm of his hand. After a moment, she dropped his hand and tapped her lips.

"How troubling," the woman mumbled.

"What? What is it?" Mino asked, frowning.

"The witch who gave you that curse has died," she revealed.

"What?" Mino and Jieun shouted in unison.

"Who?" Mino quickly added.

"I can't say," the woman mumbled. "She has died in a very bright, white light… White flames…"

White flames.

Mino and Jieun looked at each other and gulped. Only one person came into their mind when she slipped out those two words: Taemin.

"Can you tell me what this curse is, though?" he asked.

"I can't tell. It has not been activated yet," she told him. "It is sleeping. It will wake soon. When it does, do not fear it. If you fear it, it will kill the ones you love."

He gulped. Then, he looked at Jieun with a worried expression.

"What do I do?" he asked her.

Jieun pressed her lips. Then, she made sure that the cursed mark was well hidden with the scarf.

"Let's keep this a secret," Jieun said quietly. "We don't know your powers yet, so you might be safe."

"What if they find out?" Mino asked, referring to the group.

Jieun stared at him, her gaze boring into his eyes. "I won't let that happen."

"What makes you so confident?"

"Nothing," she answered honestly, "but you've helped me this far, so I plan to help you…"