Chapter One: A Social Ball

    “You know,” Seulgi pointed out. “I find it strange how we never get tired of going to these parties.”

    Below her was another pureblood social ball in full swing. All the pureblood families were present; even the elusive Jung family can be seen socializing with others. She could even spot her junior Chaeyeon with her fraternal twin Jaehyun, standing obediently beside their parents as they become the topic of the conversation. It was unusual for most prominent pureblood families to be present, especially for parties thrown by any of the Kim families. 

    There was a good reason for it, however; tomorrow, the kids will be off to Hogwarts and will only come back home for the Christmas break, so this will be the last social ball the families would be able to attend for a while. At least, the kind of ball where you can bring your children. Seulgi was sure the parents held secret gatherings among themselves—how else would copious amounts of their expensive wine collection at home disappear? For this particular party, though, Seulgi had forced her parents to attend it; it was, after all, held by the family of her best friend, Kim Namjoon.

    The social ball this time was hosted by one of the three Kim families. It was held in their ball room, and although it will never hold a candle to the Lee’s or even the Kang’s, it still held its own. She was just glad there was a balcony she could escape to. This specific balcony was actually one of her favourites, as she’s always frequented Namjoon’s manor ever since they were children.

    Namjoon glanced at Seulgi, who was leaning on the balcony, calmly observing the happenings down below. “I find it strange how you never get tired of analysing people.” The two were in their usual position in social balls; hidden, preferably within a balcony, with Namjoon reading and Seulgi observing people down below.

    She stepped back from the balcony and approached her friend, who was sitting on a plush chair with a book on his hand. “Says the boy who always brings a book to a party,” she peeked at the cover. “Oh, Frankenstein? Again? You know, you should really be careful with that, Joon-ah. Bringing a muggle book to a social ball…”

    “I know, I know,” He shut his book and carefully placed it inside the pocket of his suit. “I appreciate the concern, Seul. You know I do, right?”

    His eloquence, equipped with his voice, is always a pleasant welcome to Seulgi’s ears. “I hope your sudden sentimentality wasn’t because of Dr. Frankenstein.” She coldly replied.

    “I’m always sentimental,” he calmly replied. Seulgi can’t argue with that; it was true, after all. Unlike most boys her age, Namjoon’s maturity is way beyond his years. She preferred that kind of personality, anyway. She thought it suited her cold personality perfectly. Most of all, Namjoon doesn’t play mind games with her, unlike practically everyone else.

    Namjoon offered his arm to her, which she gracefully accepted. “Your mother’s probably already looking for you.” he said as they exited the balcony.

    “I wish you’d stop saying that,” Seulgi nonchalantly replied. “You know that’s not true.”

    He just shrugged his shoulders. “You may think what you wish.” 

    Soon enough, the two reached the ground floor. A few of the parents looked their way, most likely curious as to what the relationship of the two were. As always, though, they would not think too much of the relationship between them; it was well-known within the pureblood families how Seulgi and Namjoon have always been platonic with each other. It may sound like a superficial matter to some, but for pureblood families who always worry about who their children would get engaged to, this was prime information.

    “Would you like a drink?” Namjoon asked her as they moved slowly, gracefully, among the crowd. “Yes, thank you. I’m parched.” She replied eloquently.

    They bowed whenever they came across a parent, and made small talk whenever they bumped into someone their age. This was typical proper pureblood etiquette; it was practically second nature for them to act this way.

    “Wait here,” He said as he left to look for a house elf. Seulgi didn’t mind being left alone for a while; it gave her time to observe the throng of people surrounding her. There were pros and cons to being in the midst of all this; a definite pro would be that she could see everything much closer. A significant con, however, was how it was inevitable for someone to approach her to make small talk. If she could avoid petty conversations for the rest of her life, she would perhaps do just that.

    “Kang Seulgi, is that you?” There it was, the dreaded con: Lee Yoonhee and Woohyun of the most prominent and powerful pureblood family, the Lee household, appeared in front of Seulgi right when she was alone.

    She was cornered. There was no way she could escape the situation without appearing to be rude. Besides, her parents were watching, she had no choice but to entertain them. “Yes, abeonim and eomonim, it’s me. I’m sorry it took so long for me to greet you again.” Seulgi bowed formally. Actually, she’d been actively avoiding any person with the surname Lee for the entire night.

    Yoonhee her hair affectionately. “It really has been too long, hasn’t it, Woohyun? We’ve missed you terribly.” she smiled at Seulgi in a motherly fashion.

    “I hope both you and Taeyong wake up to your senses and get back together. You’re the only one I approve among the others, after all.” Woohyun said sternly, his stoic face ever more apparent as he said those words.

    This was precisely why she wanted to avoid the crowd tonight, because she knew there was a high chance she would bump into her ex-boyfriend’s parents. She didn’t really feel like remembering something as unpleasant as her breakup with him, or any semblance of him at all, for that matter.

    She wasn’t sure what the best response to that statement was. Was she to smile? Laugh it off? Agree? “I’m honoured you think of me so highly, abeonim,” she bowed again.

    “Hush,” Yoonhee nudged her husband. “You’re giving the poor thing a hard time. It’s okay, we’ll give you both some time to think things through. In fact, Taeyong is over there—you should go greet him.” she gestured at a corner within the room, dubbed by Seulgi and Namjoon as the ‘superficial circle’. What else could it be other than that, though? With expensive couches surrounding each other, it’s an obvious invitation to flaunt oneself to others. It’s usually where the youth, such as her, hang out and meet with others her age.

    “Of course, eomonim,” she bowed once more. “In behalf of Namjoon, I hope you have a wonderful time in his residence.”

    Yoonhee squeezed her hand gently. “Ever so polite, this one.”

    “Not many respect the old tradition, Seulgi,” Woohyun warned. “We need to preserve what we treasure, do we not?”

    “Of course, abeonim. Our blood is one of the strongest, after all.” These are words she’s already memorized in her head. None of them hold any meaning to her, but it always pleases the adults to hear their traditional ways being spoken by the next generation like her. It was one of the lessons her mother never forgot to teach her.

    “We await your return, my child,” Woohyun pressed his hand on her shoulder. She bowed once more, and, finally, the Lee’s went off to most likely continue circling the room, gathering their admirers and social climbers with them.

    Seulgi let out a small sigh as soon as they left. “I heard everything. You did great, Seul.” Namjoon approached her with their drinks in hand. He handed one over to her, which she took gratefully.

    “That should be enough to please my parents for tonight.” She murmured as she took a sip of the champagne. 

    Namjoon offered his arm once more, and led the way. “I’m afraid you may have spoken too soon.” he replied in a hush tone. When she realised where they were headed to, she wholeheartedly agreed. 

    “Oh, Merlin,” Seulgi sighed. She had forgotten she promised to head over to that dreaded circle.

    “It’ll be fine,” Namjoon comforted her. “Some of our friends are there as well.”

    She patted their connected arms affectionately. “I’m sure you mean well, Joon-ah, but I believe the cons heavily outweigh the pros in this matter.”

    Namjoon could only roll his eyes at her. Soon enough, they reached the area where the circle diverged into two smaller circles. It was clear where the two would go to: the circle where the Lee, Kim, Jung, Chittaphon-Pranpriya, and Kang households were seated in. For better or worse, Seulgi grew up with these people, and within the pureblood community, you had no choice but to closely associate with your other fellow purebloods. 

    The other circle composed of the Park, Zhang-Zhou, Jeon, and other lesser pureblood families such as the Bae, Lim, Min, and Byun households. There was a clear hierarchy here; but even within that there was still a structure to be followed. 

    The Lee household ruled over them all: they are seen as the oldest and most powerful pureblood who pioneered the wizarding society. The Jung and Kang households are second to that, with the Jungs being considered the richest among all families. The Kangs are known to be the scholars out of the three, with the most vast library found within their very own home, and rare, crucial secrets of the wizarding world carefully passed down to each generation. The Chittaphon-Pranpriya household originated from Bangkok, and currently the family holds the most power over the entire Asian continent. The Kim household was the most common out of the three; even just within their circle there were already fourteen of them. However, the Kims are usually warring within each other, always battling for whoever’s the more dominant Kim household. Personally, Seulgi believed it was Namjoon’s family that held more sovereignty than the other two, but that could just be her own biased opinion.

    And so she found herself in front of her childhood ‘friends’; Kim Taehyung with his siblings Minseok, Sejeong, and Yeri, Kim Jongin with his siblings Junmyeon, Jongdae, Chungha, and Jennie, Namjoon’s siblings Seokjin, Jisoo, Doyeon, and Sohye, Jung Krystal and Hoseok with their siblings Chaeyeon and Jaehyun, Chittaphon-Pranpriya Ten with his sibling Lisa, and lastly, in the midst of them all, Lee Taeyong with his siblings Mark and Haechan. 

    The cliques were apparent: her own brother, Minhyuk, was in there as well, though he and the other eighth and seventh years, Seokjin, Minseok, Junmyeon, and Jongdae