The rest of the week goes by pretty quickly. We finally make a successful mold of a weapon and start replicating it. Taehyung and his friends continue to be insufferable. I keep trying to learn non-verbal spells- and fail every time I attempt one.

Something interesting does happen one afternoon, when we are sitting in the Kim library. Tom is reading an account of the most common magical creatures in North America. I’m half-listening, half-not, until I hear the words, “...steal their skin, they’re forced to live on land.”

I look up in shock. “Wait, what did you say about skin?”

“Oh, selkies?” Tom passes me the book he is reading. He is turned to a page with  diagrams of a strange seal-like creature as well as beautiful human figures. “They’re these creatures that take a seal form in the water, but are human on land. Apparently, if you steal the skin of a selkie while they’re on land, they’re forced to marry you.”

“Wait.” Lucy looks at me with wide eyes. “Janet Harvey- this sounds like what you told us she was talking about at Chopons.”

“Exactly.” I cross my arms. “I bet her husband was a selkie.”

“That’s terrible,” Tom says concernedly. “If selkies find their skin, they return to the water, leaving their human families behind. Although they usually have families in the water, too.”

“So- assuming that her husband was a selkie- she forced him into marriage and made him stay on land?” Dev grimaces. “That’s ed up.”

He has a point. Still, I can’t get the image of Janet bawling in Chopons out of my mind.

“Magical creatures are nothing but trouble,” Dev adds, looking straight at me.

I scowl. “I know.”

When the three of them are about to leave, I call, “Dev, hang on.”

He turns. “What?” he snaps.

“Look, I don’t give a what kind of problems you have with Jin. We haven’t done anything on the report, and it’s due in a few weeks. We have to meet to get it done.”

Dev clenches his jaw. “Whatever.”

“Okay.” I sigh. “I don’t know if we can meet here, but I’m sure we could go to Jin’s place-,”

“Hell no. I’m not walking into a sorcerer’s house.”

“Wha- you literally come to this house every day-,”

“We leave before Taehyung comes home,” he retaliates. “You two can come to my house. At least we won’t be in enemy territory.”

“God. Fine. Sunday?”

“Fine.”

Ugh. Hopefully when this project is over, Dev will stop giving me the cold shoulder- although I know he’s getting more and more pissed every day as he sees Jin and I growing closer.

I wake up the next morning to the smell of something I’ve never smelled in this house:

Pancakes.

The clock on my bedside table reads, 5:30 AM- long before anyone in this house wakes up. Convinced it must be some sort of homesick hallucination, I continue sleeping.

And in the next moment, someone has opened my door and is yelling, “Rise and shine!” I groan, pulling my covers over my head, but they are yanked away.

“Get up, sleepyhead!” a tall, slender woman says in a chirpy voice. “I made pancakes!”

“Mrs. Kim?” I mumble.

She beams. “Long time no see, sweetie! Tae told you I’d be home, right?”

“Uhh... no.”

“Oh. Well, I am! I always spend Thanksgiving time here. Oh, speaking of Tae, let me go wake him up!”

She hurries out the room. I hear her call, “Rise and shine!” again, along with a frustrated groan and a “Mom!” I grimace, burying my face in my pillow. Dammit, I need my sleep!

A minute later, Taehyung and I are trudging out of our rooms, still in our sleep clothes: a tank top and boyshorts for me, a simple pair of basketball shorts for him. We determinedly avoid each other’s eyes as we make our way to the stairs. Mrs. Kim smiles as she sees us.

“Alright! Up and at em! Now get downstairs!”

“This is ridiculous,” Taehyung grumbles. “Mom. School starts in 3 hours.”

“Yeah, and you two need to eat nutritious breakfasts before you go!”

Taehyung is in front of me as we walk down the stairs. It must be the extreme fatigue, because I can’t tear my gaze away from his broad shoulders and defined back muscles, and the way he moves when he walks-

Oh my god. I sag over the railing. I need to go back to sleep.

“So where are the pancakes?” Taehyung asks when we arrive downstairs.

“Here!” Mrs. Kim proffers a plate of misshapen black blobs towards me. “Eat up!”

I blankly blink down at the burnt pancakes.

Please don’t make me eat those, Mrs. Kim.

“I’m really not hungry, Mrs. Kim,” I weakly tell her.

“Nonsense! You need sustenance before a long day of learning!”

I glance at Taehyung, silently begging him to say something. Unfortunately, it looks like he has dozed off while standing up.

“It’s okay. Taehyung can eat first.” I say.

His eyes fly open. “No. Jooyeon can eat first.”

“No, you’re older. This is... a respectful gesture.”

He narrows his eyes. “You’re younger. I should take care of you. Eat up.”

I can feel a headache coming on; goddammit, it’s too early for this. Mrs. Kim observes us exasperatedly.

“If you two keep fighting, I’m just going to eat them.” She picks up a pancake with a fork and takes a bite.

And then promptly spits it out onto a napkin.

“Wow, these are really burnt,” she coughs, taking a big gulp of orange juice.

“No kidding,” Taehyung mutters. “You always burn pancakes.”

“What did you say?”

“Nothing! Just... yeah, they’re burnt, Mom.”

“Okay, you kids sit tight while I make some good ones. Alright?”

I suppress my grimace as I nod sleepily. “I’ll be in the living room,” I mumble. I trudge out the kitchen door and promptly collapse onto the nearest sofa. Exhaustion washes over me- soon, I am falling into a comfortable sleep, curling up onto the soft, plush cushions-

Until I find myself promptly tossed onto the ground.

“Whathefu-?” I say groggily- and then freeze when I see Taehyung lying down on the sofa I was sleeping on a second ago. He stares at me between half-lidded eyes, a tired half-smirk on his face.

“You can move,” he says.

Frustration, confusion, and- of course- anger rise up in me.  I glare up at him for several moments and I see something in his eyes change. If I wasn’t so damn exhausted, I’d probably try and yank him off the couch, or at least move to another couch, but , I’m so damn exhausted.

So I simply curl up on my side and pass out on the hardwood floor.

I am somewhere in between consiousness and sleep when I hear someone sigh above me. Suddenly, a firm pair of arms wraps around me and lifts me up and settles me down on a warm, soft surface. My eyes dazedly blink open. Through my sleepiness, I realize that Taehyung has actually put me back on the sofa.

I groggily peer at him. He's sitting in the floor, his back against the coffee table. His gaze is intense, piercing. For a few moments, we both simply look at each other. 

And then Mrs. Kim hurries back into the living room and exclaims, “Get up! They’re ready!” and I practically fling myself off the couch. My eyes briefly meet Taehyung's- both of us hastily look away, our cheeks flushed.

Taehyung and I sit in silence as Mrs. Kim babbles on about her new design projects, her annoying clients, how sorry she is that she’s been gone for so long! I am a little more awake right now, so I am able to recall what Jin said about the scholarship students in this place.

Sorcerers view humans as a lesser species, but scholarship students have been deemed accomplished enough to be of use to them.

I eye Mrs. Kim warily across the table

I’m just here to be used by her.

It sickens me to see how fake she is being. Taehyung is an , yeah, but at least he’s upfront about it. Mrs. Kim, however, deluded me into thinking I could trust her. She was supposed to be my mother’s old best friend, yet she still invited me to stay at her house in Windsong.

Disgusting.

“Ooh, Tae, Hoseok’s birthday party is this Friday, right?” Mrs. Kim suddenly says.

“Mhm.”

“Is he doing a boat party again?”

“Yeah.”

Mrs. Kim laughs, shaking her head. “It always escapes me why that boy insists on having his birthday parties on a boat every year. It’s the middle of November, for crying out loud!”

“I mean, heating obviously isn’t a problem,” Taehyung says pointedly. Mrs. Kim smiles knowingly.

Heating spell?

“Oh, I have a great idea!” she exclaims, clapping her hands together. “You should take Jooyeon!”

I choke on my pancake, coughing violently as Taehyung nearly spits out his water. “What?!” both of us say at the same time. Mrs. Kim looks at us concernedly.

“I said, you should take Joo to the party. It’ll be so fun for her! I bet she’s never been to a boat party- especially not as one as nice as Hoseok’s!”

“That’s really nice, Mrs. Kim, but I’m busy this Friday,” I say quickly. “I have, uh, a lot of studying to do.”

“Yeah, and Hoseok is really strict on RSVP’ing and stuff,” Taehyung says, nodding frantically. “You know how he is. Plus, the boat can only hold so many people. I don’t think there’s enough space-,”

“Don’t be ridiculous! I’ve seen how big his boat is. Take Joo. I can call Hoseok’s mother and ask if it’s okay, if you’d like-,”

“No!” Taehyung yelps. “Mom, cut it out. This is so unnecessary-,”

“Yeah, it’s really fine-,” I say, but Mrs. Kim won’t have any of it.

“Joo, you’re going,” she says. “And let me take you shopping the day before- we can go pick out an outfit! Ooh, I’ve never had a daughter and I’ll finally get to do these things!”

I stare at her in thinly veiled horror. Why? Why? I’m already subject to this ty town and its ty people, so why is she forcing me to spend even more time with the people I hate? Taehyung looks just as indignant as I feel. This is way too much to deal with at 6 in the morning.

And that’s how I end up on Hoseok’s enormous double-decker yacht, dressed in a loose blue-and-white striped dress and too-high heels (which both had price tags Mrs. Kim didn’t let me look at), ignoring the catty glares I am receiving from the other attendees. I’m sure they’re all wondering what the hell Jooyeon Jung, one of Windsong’s resident losers, is doing here.

Taehyung is seated at the center of the deck with the rest of the lacrosse team, surrounded by every other attendee of the party. All of them are decked out in a combination of Brooks Brothers, Lacoste, and Ralph Lauren. My lip curls. God, everyone from elderly gentlemen who must be Hoseok’s family friends to Sofia and her friends are fawning over him.

At one point, Taehyung and his friends look over across the room at me, where I am sitting at the table furthest away from the main party. My face flushes as Taehyung says something, smirking nastily, and they all laugh.

I'm constantly stunned at how incredibly talented he is at confusing me.

“You look really nice,” a voice beside me says. Jin is sitting next to me, his lips curved up in a friendly smile. He hands me a flute of champagne.

“Thanks,” I grin, relieved. “Mrs. Kim made me get one of those mini-makeovers at the Chanel on Fifth Avenue. Fifth Avenue! If I’d gone into there by myself, they’d have thought I was a shoplifter and called the police on me.”

“Wow. Mrs. Kim must... really like you?”

I shrug uneasily. “I don’t know. It’s hard to judge her, especially since I know the truth now.”

“Yeah. I mean, she might just be trying to be nice. Mrs. Kim’s always been kind of cool.”

“Maybe. I don’t know.”

I sip the champagne in my glass. “Hey. This is pretty good.”

“Have you never had champagne before?”

“I’m sorry I don’t spend my weekends going to fancy banquet dinners.” I snicker. “Or huge ragers where I chug vodka or something.”

“No one chugs vodka,” Jin hotly protests. “Unless it’s a bet. No, my motto is never to drink to get drunk. Drink for pleasure. Don’t force yourself to have ty alcohol just because it’ll get you drunk faster.”

“Wow. You’re really the expert.” I tease- and then jerk backwards when he tries to flick my forehead. “Hey! Get away!”

“Come back here!” Jin laughs, rising from his seat as I scramble away from the table. “You deserve this.”

“Leave me alone, alcoholic. Go drink some more champagne.”

He gives me a fake-annoyed look. “I have to go to the bathroom, but when I get back, I’m going to kill you.”

“Ooh, scary.” I playfully roll my eyes. “I’ll get us some hors d’oeuvres.”

I head to the appetizers table set up on the deck of the boat. There are people everywhere, chatting with each other and laughing about god-knows-what. As I am maneuvering past a table, I accidentally trip over my heels and fall backward, crashing into something hard behind me. A firm arm locks itself over my waist and steadies me.

“I’m so sorry-,” I say, turning around- and then freeze when I see Taehyung sneering down at me. I straighten up and attempt to free myself from his grip; however, he doesn’t let go.

“Careful. You don’t want to mess up the only clothes you have that aren’t from the dollar store,” he says snarkily.

Tired resignation washes over me. How come every time I start to get in a semi-good mood, he has to come ruin it?

"Sorry," I offhandedly mumble.

He an eyebrow, surprise flitting in his eyes for a second. However, it is soon replaced by his signature frostiness.

“Sorry?” He laughs, lowering his face to mine. “That’s a first. But I think you have about a million more to go. Do you want to start?”

I blink up at him, too weary to think of a caustic response to throw back at him. As the moments pass in silence, the venom in his eyes fades. Slowly, he tightens his grip around my waist, pulls me closer to him.

“Why so silent?” he murmurs.

“What are you doing, Taehyung?" I softly ask.

His warm hand trails down my spine, moves to the small of my back.

“What are you talking about? This is how it’s always been,” he says in a quiet voice. 

I pull back, look him in the eyes.

“You can't take a break from treating me like for even a night?" I ask in a low voice.

Suddenly, a shrill voice says, “What are you doing?”

Sofia is standing cross-armed in front of us, glaring suspiciously. Taehyung immediately lets go of me like my body is on fire.

“Hey,” he says, loudly clearing his throat. “Sorry. I was getting more wine.”

“Uh huh.” Sofia narrows her eyes at me. “What are you doing here? Shoo.”

She twiddles her fingers in a run off motion. Without sparing another glance at Taehyung, I hurry back to the main room. My heart is beating rapidly in my chest; what was that?

“Where are the hors d’oeuvres?” Jin asks when I return empty-handed.

“Uh, couldn’t find them,” I say, avoiding his eyes.

The party goes on. I determinedly avoid looking at Taehyung and his groupies out on the deck- I don’t want to hear his voice or see him or even think about him. Everything else is crappy enough without trying to decipher the intentions behind his actions.

“No.” I slap my cheeks. “Stop it. Stop.”

“Are you serious?” Jin asks incredulously. “Why wouldn’t you want extra cheese on your pasta? It’s the biggest blessing in the world! The last time I went to Olive Garden, I didn’t tell the guy to stop grating cheese over my food for a solid minute!”

I blink. “O-Oh. Yeah. Cheese on pasta. Yeah.”

“You’re so out of it.”

The sound of a fork clinging against a glass fills the air.

“May I have your attention, please?” Hoseok calls. “Everyone, please make your way to the deck.”

“He’s gonna give a speech!” Evan roars. Hoseok chuckles as his friends enthusiastically chant, “Speech! Speech! Speech! Speech!”

“Well, I guess we better go,” Jin says, standing up. I reluctantly follow him out the door.

The moon hangs high in the sky. Despite the chilly weather- the temperature’s hanging near the low 40s- the air surrounding the boat is pleasantly toasty. Lake Rye is turbulent tonight; choppy waves crash against the side of the yacht as we make our way through the waters. Chills run down my spine; it is so dark you cannot see anything past the surface of the lake.

“Thank you all so much for coming tonight,” Hoseok says to the crowd. “I can’t believe I’m finally legal. Hey, Mom, could I maybe try some alcohol?”

I roll my eyes as the crowd chuckles knowingly. Everyone in attendance is fully aware of the copious amounts of alcohol he consumes. A tall woman who I assume is Mrs. Jung bats a hand at him.

“I’d like to thank my parents, of course, for throwing this party for me. I’d also like to thank my friends for helping me get everything together- Evan, Namjoon, Jin, Taehyung...,”

I zone out as he speaks, staring off into the distance. Suddenly, I spot something floating in the water next to the railing I am standing next to. Is that... a rowboat?

“I guess my childhood is officially over, which is weird to think about. Most of you here have watched me grow up. It’s been a wild ride. I’m excited to see what the next year will bring.”

I take a small step towards the railing, squinting harder. A flash of blonde glows in the moonlight.

Holy . My eyes widen.

That’s Janet Harvey.

Whoa. Whoa. What is she doing out on the water this late?

As she draws closer and closer to our yacht, I can see the desperate, frazzled look on her face. Her eyes wildly dart around the water, as if she is searching for something.

Oh, . What if she’s searching for a selkie? Wait. My mind is running a million miles an hour. Her husband left her. Her husband must’ve been a selkie. She’s looking for her husband.

“Here’s to another year!” Hoseok says, raising his glass, just as Janet screeches, “Where are you?!”

Everyone’s heads whip around to look down at her. People gasp, transfixed, as she shoots up, causing her rowboat to wobble precariously.

“I know you’re there!” she screams. “Come out! I know you’re there! You can’t just leave me!”

“,” Jin breathes, staring at her with wide eyes.

“Come here!” she shrieks.

And in the next moment, Janet has launched herself over the edge of her rowboat and disappeared under the inky black depths of the water.

Panic rises in my throat, grips at every pore of my skin. No one is moving- everyone is simply gaping down at the water. Before I can even pause to think about what I am doing, I kick off my heels, clamber over the railing, and dive into the water after her.

“Joo, no!” I hear Jin roar above me, but the next moment the icy cold water washes over me and I am sinking deep, deep down into the depths of the lake.

A/N: OK LITERALLY S/O TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO CORRECTLY IDENTIFIED SELKIES YALL ARE ING GENIUSES!!! OMG!!! i wonder whatll happen with this in the future.... ~~~ ! ! ! ! ! 

im sitting in my airbnb rn being a total ing potato i should probably be going out right now exploring seoul but im lowkey pooped and i dont wanna move lol. also i'm so sorry to all the ppl whose comments i haven't replied to ive been pretty busy sightseeing but ill try and catch up today hehehe

also yall there is thisi bomb place called kimbap heaven and holy it ing rocks one huge roll of kimbap is like $3 and its so much food i love korea