“It’s definitely bigger than what I expected.”, Junhoe commented as he arrives at the outhouse, throwing his luggage at Chanwoo.

“Umph… This bag’s heavy!”, Chanwoo said. “What’s inside?”

“I advise you not to open it.”, Junhoe calmly replied before entering the outhouse and immediately walking upstairs, Chanwoo silently following him. When Junhoe arrives upstairs, he quietly walks around the soon-to-be-his room, observing all the little details.

“Do you like it? I tidied it up a bit before you came here.”, Chanwoo said, trying to smile while still panting from carrying Junhoe’s baggage.

“Not bad. It’s cozy.”, Junhoe said. He then puts one of his bags on the table. “Go make me a drink.”, he commanded.

“What?”

“Make me a drink. While I’m remaking this room to my liking.”

“Umm… Ok… What do you want?”

“What do you have?”

“Tea. I can add Mandrake root extract if you want.”

“Mandrake root?”, Junhoe side-gazes at Chanwoo for his questionable taste.

“I always get that look! It’s better than you imagined, trust me!”

“Alright, sure. Make me one.”

Contend with Junhoe’s response, Chanwoo goes downstairs to make the said tea.

“Let’s start working.”, Junhoe said to himself as soon as Chanwoo left.

“What the…!?”, Chanwoo asked when he arrives back upstairs, almost dropping the cup of tea he’s holding. He’s surprised at the room’s complete transformation; that is obvious. But what is more surprising is all the books, living books, that casually fly around the room. Chanwoo then brings his attention to Junhoe.

“What… What just happened? I don’t… I don’t even know where to start.”, he complained as he hands the cup of tea to Junhoe.

“This humanoid being is named ‘Chanwoo’. Everyone say hi.”, Junhoe instructed his books. The books then start quickly flipping their pages, right from the front to the back, and then back to the front again.

“My private collection.”, Junhoe commented, taking a small sip from the cup. Hmm, this is better than expected.

“Private collection?”

“You know that my expertise is with bookworms and mimics, right?”

“Mimics?”

“Mimics are… well, Mimics. They mimic stuff.”, Junhoe explained, putting his cup of tea on the table. He then walks to a rack that wasn’t there a few minutes ago; must be his furniture, and takes three books that look extremely similar.

“Here.”, he said as he puts the books on the table. “One of them is a normal book, one is invested with a Bookworm, and one is a Mimic. Can you tell the difference?”, Junhoe asked in such a way that makes him sounds a bit condescending.

Chanwoo approaches the book and takes a quick look on all three, then immediately shaking his head as he has no idea on how to answer Junhoe.

“Well, one easy way is to feed them.”

“Feed? These things eat?”, Chanwoo asked with an obvious surprise in his voice.

“Of course they do.”, Junhoe replied while rolling his eyes. He then moves his hand around; casting a spell, and a lukewarm stream of light starts emerging from his hand. It feels somewhat comforting.

“They eat energy. Magical energy.”, Junhoe explained. Delighted by the meal, one of the books starts flipping its pages, and then stops when it reaches the middle of the book as if trying to expose as much of its body to the light as possible. One of the other books stay still, but you can hear, or rather, feel, some kinds of movement, as if it’s swallowing something, while the last book doesn’t do anything.

“A Bookworm lives in the spine; I recall telling you that. When you feed them, they’ll flip around, trying to expose as much of their spine to the food. A Mimic doesn’t do that unless it’s very hungry; it often just stays still, enjoying its meal. And it should be obvious what a normal book does; nothing.”, Junhoe concisely expounded.

“Do you have to feed them, like, every day?”, Chanwoo asked.

“Of course not; that would be crazy. Twice a week should be enough. Too much and the Bookworms will outgrow their books.”, Junhoe answered as he stops the magical light from his hand. “Hey, are you listening?”, Junhoe asked when he sees Chanwoo starts wandering around the room.

“Yes, I am. It’s just… How can you have so many of these creatures?”

“They won’t be my expertise if I’m not actually experienced with them.”

“Oh, right! I need to give you a tour of the campus.”, Chanwoo said. He then takes a piece of paper from his pocket and gives it to Junhoe, “This is your class schedule. Teaching won’t start until the semester starts, obviously.”

Junhoe takes a quick peek on the schedule, but swiftly puts it down on the table. He then walks to the stair but stops just before it. He gestured with his hand, “Show me the way.”, prompting Chanwoo to take the lead.

“Alright. I’ll show you the barn first.”

It doesn’t even take 5 minutes to reach the barn, as the outhouse is right next to it. From the outside, the barn looks like a huge wooden building, but it is enchanted. The interior is actually an extensive outback.

When they’re inside, Chanwoo hands Junhoe a small book. “This is the list of all the beasts here. You’re allowed to use them however you like to assist you in teaching, although I know a proper beastmaster won’t hurt any of them intentionally.”

Junhoe slowly goes over the list. “Manticore, Owlbear, Nightmare… Baku!? That’s rare. I’m impressed. It’s quite a massive list. Do you take care of all of them alone?”

“Well, the previous beastmasters sort of tell me what to do. I just do as I told.”

As they leisurely stroll around the barn, a lady in her mid-forty approaches them. “Hello there, Chanwoo. I believe this handsome lad must be my replacement.”, she said with a thin smile while gesturing to Junhoe.

Chanwoo tries to introduce the lady to Junhoe, “Ah, this is…”.

“Sophia.”, the lady interrupted Chanwoo to introduce herself. “But don’t bother remembering my name; you probably won’t see me ever again.”, she laughed at her own comment.

“And this is Junhoe.”, Chanwoo introduced Junhoe, although Junhoe just side-gazed Chanwoo and then gives a slight puff.

“He is a quiet one, I see…”, the lady commented.

“Anyway, what are you doing here?”, Chanwoo asked.

“Saying goodbye. Hopefully, they won’t miss me.”, the lady answered, referring to the beasts in the barn.

“When will you leave?”

“Tomorrow night. Oh, if you’re not busy at the moment, I would like to give you a few notes on some of the beasts.”

Chanwoo turns to look at Junhoe, “I’m giving a tour to Junhoe right now…”.

“Don’t worry about me. Go and do your job. I’ll just walk by myself for a while.”, Junhoe quickly responded.

“Ok, then.”, Chanwoo said with a smile as he moves to walk beside the lady.

Chanwoo took a surprisingly long amount of time. After all, the lady won’t be seeing him again, so she gave as much information as she could. By the time Chanwoo finished, Junhoe was already deep inside the barn, and Chanwoo needed to spend some fifteen minutes looking for him.

“There you are!”, Chanwoo shouted when he finally found Junhoe. To his surprise, Junhoe is already acting all friendly with a beast. A Hound, to be specific; some sort of dog-angel hybrid.

“You get friendly with them already!? How did you do that? It took me weeks to bond with them.”, Chanwoo remarked.

“Trade secret.”, Junhoe replied simply. “Anyway, it’s already late. Let’s go back first and resume the tour tomorrow.”

“Fine, why not.”

Junhoe quickly says goodbye to the hound and walks toward the exit. The walk back is filled with mostly Chanwoo’s voice, with him pointing out the location of some beasts, and explaining the various charms and enchantments that were cast inside the barn.

When they’re back at the outhouse, Chanwoo is quick to offer to cook for Junhoe, and Junhoe doesn’t see any reason to refuse. He sits there on the small dining table, staring at Chanwoo as he prepares the meal.

“Hey, Chanwoo, can I ask something?”

“Hmm?”

“You’re not a human, are you?”

Chanwoo is slightly startled by the sudden accusation and pauses slightly, but just ever so slightly, that untrained eyes wouldn’t catch his reaction. He then tries to brush it off with an awkward laugh. “That’s funny. What make you think so?”

“You cannot fool me. I know you’re something else. In fact, I think you went to offer the job to me yourself to ensure that the new beastmaster won’t recognize you. There is no reason why someone with a low position like you would be tasked to recruit a new teacher.”

“Now, now. Isn’t that a bit too speculative? Are you saying that I am one of those beasts?”

“Humans are a bit… arrogant. They call other species ‘beasts’. But there are a lot of intelligent ‘beasts’, some of them even smarter than humans.”

“What are you trying to say?”, Chanwoo said as he turns around and stares at Junhoe in the eye, trying to end this conversation. But Junhoe doesn’t back away. “What I’m saying is… You’re one of those intelligent beings. And you must have a good reason not to show your true identity.”

“You can think whatever you want, but it doesn’t make it true.”

“Don’t worry; I won’t be digging your past or anything like that. In fact, I won’t tell anyone.”, Junhoe reassured.

“People won’t trust you even if you tell them.”

Junhoe smirked at Chanwoo’s comment, “You think so? Well, alright. Let’s cut it here. Just focus on the food.”

Author's note: I'm thinking of adding other iKON's members as the students, but I'll see how I go. The focus will still be on Junchan, though.