A girl about her age with short black hair that contrasted nicely with her milky white skin greeted Min Soo when she woke up once again, this time in who-knows-what time of the morning. She looked vaguely familiar.

“You’re finally awake — Jimin would be happy to know that,” the stranger said, standing up from her seat and taking out her phone (probably sending a quick message to Jimin with the speed her fingers were moving). “I’m Choi Eun Hee, by the way. I’m the Healer who had been keeping an eye on you. It’s great to finally put a face on Jimin’s Kang Min Soo.”

Min Soo opted to ignore the latter part of her words, scolding her betraying heartbeat mentally. “Um, it’s nice to meet you too,” she said skeptically, still trying to place where she’s seen her.

A memory slowly comes into mind and Min Soo’s eyes comically widen in realization. Wait —

The door suddenly burst open and Jimin, who was looking a bit disheveled and a lot like he just woke up, came inside with bed hair, a lopsided neck of his oversized sweater that exposed too much of his collarbones and a pale, scared face. Upon seeing Min Soo, he paused at the door and let out a huge breath of relief like he was physically lifting off the earth off his shoulders, blood rushing back to his cheeks. Then there was a short pause before he said, “Godingdammit, Eun Hee.”

Eun Hee cackles like a madwoman, scaring Min Soo slightly. “Your face was so funny to watch,” she snorted, holding her stomach.

Jimin grimaced. “For a Healer, you sure like to cause health problems to others,” he said, coming inside the room calmly and closes the door behind him. “You could’ve just simply texted she woke up instead of saying she’s having Virtual Nightmares.”

“It made you come here nonetheless, didn’t it?” Eun Hee said cheekily, folding her arms across her chest.

Jimin slings an arm around the petite girl’s shoulders, ruffling her hair. “You should really show more respect towards your elders,” he said, though there wasn’t almost any apparent tone of seriousness in his voice.

Min Soo simply sat on the bed, watching the entire interaction between the two. She was trying to figure out what their relation was with upon another, and upon seeing Jimin’s arm around her shoulders, it was as if a piece of the puzzle fell into place all by itself.

“The pretty girl!” Min Soo said her thought out loud, eyes wide and hand on .

Good Lord. It’s the pretty girl from orientation. The one Jimin’s probably —

Jimin took off his arm immediately when he saw the look on Min Soo’s face, looking like he was panicking. “Don’t freak out, Min Soo-ya,” he said. “Eun Hee’s, like, a little sister to me, alright? You don’t have to be jealous or anything.”

Min Soo nearly choked on the air she was breathing, and she let out a heavy set of coughing which alarmed the two in front of her. “Jealous?” she scoffed, slightly flustered as she rubbed her hand around as if to soothe it. “Where would you get that idea? Why would I get jealous? Are you implying something, Jimin-ssi?”

(She wouldn’t say out loud about how something inside her chest, like a tension, relaxed with his words. No, she won’t say anything.)

Jimin’s face broke into one of mischievous grins of his. “I don’t know, Min Soo-ya — what do you think?”

“I’m not jealous — what the —”

“Then why are you getting flustered?”

“Shut up, —”

As Jimin cackled and Min Soo’s face resembled a huge red tomato, Eun Hee could only give them a look of exasperation. She sighed and folded her arms across her chest, leaning on one leg while standing. “I’m not going to stay here and watch the two of you flirt,” she suddenly announces, making the two Casted become quiet. “I’m out of here. Take care of yourself, Min Soo. Try not to attract Dark Entities again. Jimin will do a pretty fantastic job of showing you around here.” And then she exits out of the room, sighing, leaving the two Casted inside it.

“Where’s the guy the Dark Entity almost drained last night? Is he fine?” Min Soo asked Jimin after a moment’s silence.

Jimin turns serious, a grim look on his face. “Hyung’s alright. Eun Hee tended to him, too,” he said softly. “But you know how it goes when there’s an incomplete soul separation…”

Virtual Nightmares. Constantly spacing out. Those are the initial short term effects of souls that are not completely taken by Dark Entities. The long-term trauma would stem from their darkest days, and it would feel like it’s coming to haunt them back again.

“You know him?” Min Soo asked.

Jimin nodded, sitting down at the end of the bed. “His name is Min Yoongi. He’s a third year, majoring in Architecture,” Jimin replied. “Hyung actually helped a lot with my first winter showcase.”

“Ah, I see,” Min Soo mumbled as she nodded her head slowly in understanding.

There was another silence as Jimin looked down and played with the frayed ends of his oversized sweater that — as usual — gave him sweater paws. Meanwhile, Min Soo took the silence as the time to look around the room for the first time in the light of the day. The room is fairly small, with pale yellow walls and a white ceiling. The only window in the room — which gave a fantastic view of blue skies, blue skies and more blue skies — was at the right of the bed, where the seat Jimin probably had occupied last night and the same seat Eun Hee sat earlier is. There was also a mahogany bedside table, where Min Soo’s phone and folded clothes was along with a simple, white table lamp.

“Um, in case you’re wondering about your change of clothes,” Jimin said, sounding slightly awkward and making Min Soo look back at him and then down to herself at the mentioned clothing, “Eun Hee helped you. The clothes belong to another . . . housemate.”

So, he’s got female . . . housemates? She turns to look at Jimin, eyebrows raised, noticing the peculiar use of the word. “You sound a bit unsure, Jimin-ssi.”

Jimin pressed his lips together, not saying anything but only shrugging. Min Soo looked back at the table and reached for her phone, trying to turn it on in the hopes that it didn’t get destroyed from the unplanned underwater trip the Dark Entity took her to. When it didn’t turn on, she sighed and then mentally recited a Repairing Spell. Right then, her phone’s screen showed the brand logo and its familiar tune.

“So . . .” Jimin drawled, watching Min Soo’s phone work good as new, “who helped you with . . . practicing . . . witchcraft?”

“Well. Long story short — life is , my aunt adopted me and I moved to America with her,” Min Soo replied without looking at him, checking her contacts and file folder if anything is lost or corrupted. “She helped me.”

He nodded his head. “And . . . you came back . . . ?”

“I have some unfinished business,” she replied curtly, eyes boring to Jimin now as she stands up. “If we’re done with the twenty questions here, can I change back to my original clothes? I have to get back to my apartment.”

Jimin pursed his lips, standing up too. “You were much nicer earlier this morning,” he grumbled. “You didn’t even say thank you.”

Min Soo gave him a deadpan look, pausing at first and looked at him pouting like a child. She exaggeratingly bowed then, Victorian era style, and said, “I would like to express my deepest gratitude to you, Your —”

“Your Highness!” someone suddenly slams the door open, startling the two inside the room. A statuesque girl with long dyed ginger hair comes inside, all long limbs with her denim shorts and sleeveless Led Zepplin tee. (Is winter already finished or is she just impermeable to the cold? Min Soo thought incredulously.) The girl immediately pauses upon seeing Min Soo who’s in a mid-bow. Min Soo straightens up herself, clearing .

The girl looks back at Jimin. “Your High —”

Min Soo notices Jimin giving the girl a look, which immediately makes the girl pause before beginning again. “Jimin-ssi, Yoongi-ssi is gone. He’s not in his room.”

Jimin and Min Soo’s eyes go wide. “What?” they both say at the same time, then pause to look at each other.

Jimin shakes his head and adds, looking back at the girl, “Is someone looking for him, noona?”

The girl nodded. “Yes. I contacted the nearest trackers in the area, and I also sent Heekyung.”

Min Soo cocked her head in curiosity. Trackers?

Jimin sighs in frustration, running a hand through his hair and the other on his hip as he stands more dependent on the right leg. He turns to Min Soo. “Min Soo-ya, I’ll be helping them look for hyung, alright? Don’t go anywhere,” he told her and then looks at the tall girl and adds, “Noona, make sure she eats lunch. And keep an eye on her.”

“I can look after myself, thanks,” Min Soo calls after Jimin (who rushes out of the room), slightly annoyed. She grimaces at the lack of response and the improper treatment, but drops the look upon seeing Hana staring at her intensely.

“Is something on my face?” Min Soo asked, feeling slightly awkward.

Hana shakes her head. “No. Nothing.” She gestures at the clothes on the bedside table. “I’ll be outside while you change.”

Once the door is closed and locked, Min Soo starts changing. Her clothes are newly washed and dry, smelling slightly of cherry blossom fabric conditioner. Whoever washed them must’ve been second-guessing that this is one of her favorite scents (which is true) — unless, of course, Jimin has supplied that information to them.

How did she end up in this place anyway? Was he the one who carried her before she out? But how did he know she was at that place if they went opposite directions after meeting in the library? And was that the dog that stopped the Dark Entity last night? Was it his?

No. Jimin is allergic to animals with fur, so their house was devoid of any kind of pets with fur to prevent triggering the allergy. All she could remember was him owning a goldfish that died when they were in middle school. So, what could have it been?

She shakes her head and looks down at the Casted tattoo on her wrist. It no longer throbbed and hurt. It looked like it was freshly tattooed though, with its ink black color almost shiny against the soft sunlight. It looked a lot like how it did when she was seven. And it’s funny how such a small thing could probably be so dangerous, especially that there are barely any living Casted pairs that reach past the age of twenty.

It's so great having a date of expiration above your head without you knowing what it says.

And what’s this thing with having ‘trackers’? From what she remembers from the books (she has a lot of spare time in her hands back in America, alright? And reading has always been a habit of hers), there are ‘trackers’ in creatures that come in groups. A coven of vampires. A pack of wolves. A community of witches. A family of hunters. Etcetera.

Plus, the Hana girl had called Jimin ‘Your Highness.’ Min Soo doesn’t remember Jimin being a part of the royal family or something; sure, there might have been Parks in the royalty back in the day, but it’s such a common household name in Korea. It’s not like the Park she randomly meets in a public place or something is immediately Jimin’s cousin. His abeoji is the typical, busy, travelling businessman with a family business (sort of like a legacy) to uphold while his eommoni is a stay-at-home mom — and she doesn’t remember any of them being connected to anyone royal.

Unless Jimin’s hiding something from her.

Which is completely fine by me, she thought impassively as she unconsciously stabs her meat with her chopsticks, spacing out. It’s not like learning anything about his family history is going to help me in getting my life become better or something.

She’s now eating alone in the dining area of the house — which is quite large — which has a long, rectangular table and about more than a dozen set of chairs. Whatever kind of living arrangement Jimin has put himself in feels a lot more like a dormitory than a house. The only person accompanying her is Hana and her heavy scrutiny of Min Soo a few chairs away. It’s slightly unnerving and alarming as she tries to ignore the beady black eyes following her every move. The girl is winning at the loyalty award with that, considering she’s taking Jimin’s words (order?) to heart.

“Why do you keep looking at me like that?” Min Soo finally asked.

Hana sighed, closing her eyes as she slouched on her seat and crossed her arms loosely. Opening her eyes again, she replied, “I’m sorry. The fact that I’ve finally met who Jimin-ssi is Casted with . . . it feels kind of weird.”

I should be saying that. “Um, why?”

“You and Jimin are the first pair I’ve witnessed together in one setting,” she responded, sounding a bit wistful. “The first person I knew who was Casted never really got to meet his pair.”

That burned the fire of curiosity inside Min Soo. “Why? Who is he? What happened?”

Hana pressed her lips in a thin line, pausing before answering, “My best friend. He died before he could even know who he was Casted with. The Tree is quite unforgiving with humans.” Hana sighed heavily. “His name is Kim Seokjin. But he preferred Jin.”

Welp. There’s another proof of how disastrous it is to be Casted. Why couldn’t she get that normal, boring life? At least the only thing she would be worrying right now would be their paper. But hold on a second, she thought, pausing once again and cocking her head to the side in wonder and her forehead creasing.

“How come you know so much about . . . this?” Min Soo asked hesitantly, not knowing how to precisely phrase it.

“I have the gift of Sight,” Hana replied casually. “And I happen to also know why you’re back in Korea — and it’s not a good idea.”

What? “And who are you to dictate that?” Min Soo asked, slightly angry.

“I’m not dictating you, I’m just reminding you one important fact,” Hana said seriously. “You’re a Casted, Min Soo-ssi, and whatever you’re planning will affect both Jimin-ssi and the Tree the most.” She pauses for a bit, and gave Min Soo a knowing look. “In fact, even if you aren’t Casted with Jimin-ssi, he would still be affected by it.”

Min Soo puts down her chopsticks and leans back on her seat, letting out a huge sigh. “And that’s why human attachment isn’t one of my agendas while I’m . . .  doing this,” she explained. “The most I could do is leave the least damage as much as possible.”

And she knows she’s doing a bad job at it.

Hana clenches her jaw, slightly grimacing. “One of you is going to end up dying, you know,” she said offhandedly.

Min Soo scoffed, looking at her reflection in the left broth of her bowl. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

 

~

 

Min Soo wakes up inside her old bedroom at their old house back in Busan, soft sunlight streaming through the roof window. And with just that, she knows she’s dreaming. She sits up her bed, pulling the duvet to the side. She’s wearing the same outfit she wore as when she slept that night — the same clothes she wore when she went to school earlier.

“Hello, Kang Min Soo-ssi,” someone with a deep voice greets out of nowhere, making Min Soo spring out of bed, a loud thud clacking against the heels of her Chelsea boots. She turns to the sound of the voice and finds a man clad in a black trench coat, black jeans and worn out black Chucks standing near the door of her room. He has a weirdly cropped blonde hair, upturned monolid eyes and plump lips. He’s a mix of a soft and hard features.

“Who are you?”

He walks up towards her. “Kim Namjoon. A time traveler and the Tree’s personal messenger. It’s nice to meet you.”

Min Soo blinks. “Oh.” She sits back down on her bed. “Do you have a message for me then?”

“It’s more of a warning, really,” he said, sitting down on the bed also but setting quite a good distance. “The Tree is against you saving your father.”

She frowned. “What?”

“You see, the ritual hasn’t really been done by anyone who’s Casted — and there’s a good reason for it,” he explains. “As you know, we all are connected to the Tree one way or another. Casted pairs are just . . . more in tune with the Tree and could harness its powers more than those who are not. And considering that you’re a Casted witch, the ritual might just mess up with the Tree, weaken it, and throw it off its balance. And you know what might happen when the Tree’s balance is not maintained . . .” Namjoon pauses dramatically and gave her a look before continuing, “we might all cease to exist.”

Min Soo doesn’t know what to say.

“However,” Namjoon clears his throat, “as a time traveler, whatever plans you have didn’t seem to have made a big effect on the Tree. There are just . . . some changes, you might say, instilled by your own partner.”

Partner? “Who? Jimin?”

Namjoon chuckled humorlessly. “Who else?”

Min Soo frowned. “How?”

“You seem to forget, Min Soo-ssi, that the blessing given by the Tree to Casted pairs are given at both sides. Park Jimin isn’t exactly as normal or ordinary as you think he is.” He pauses to think before adding, “If that isn’t already highlighted by the fact that he’s housing with other creatures.” He turns to look at Min Soo. “It just turns out that his blessing is more of a one-time use gift.”

The crease in between her eyebrows got even more prominent. Jimin? What else was he hiding?

“What is it?”

“His gift?”

Min Soo waited in a feeling of unexplained half-dread and half-anticipation.

“Time,” Namjoon answered shortly.

She frowned again. “Time?”

“Time.”

“Why would he have the gift concerning time?”

“I can’t disclose that now, can I?”

Min Soo bit the inside of her cheek, thinking. She let out a sigh and laid back on the duvet of her bed, looking up at the blue skies provided by her roof window. “How many people have you given messages from the Tree, then?”

“In my lifetime? You’re the second one.”

“Who was the first?”

“Kim Seokjin.”

The name rings familiarity within her mind, but she’s not sure where she’s heard the name before. She shakes off the feeling and asks the other thing she’s curious about. “Why is that your words are the opposite of one another? You give me a warning but tell me it’s going to be fine even if I proceed with it?”

Namjoon smirked. “I am both attached and unattached to the Tree. As its messenger, I relay its words that are needed to be brought into much more obvious light through dreams. But as a time traveler, I am unbounded by the reality it holds except for my existence.” He shrugs and then pauses before adding, “You might say I’m one of the few the Tree unfortunately favored the existence of.” He turns to look at Min Soo, resting the side of his face on the palm of his hand with his elbow prepped on his knee. “But enough about me. Is there anything else you’re curious about aside from my identity?”

“I doubt you’d answer anything about the future,” Min Soo mused, to which Namjoon chuckled at, “so, none.”

Min Soo continues to stare at the peaceful blue sky outside her window, wondering if Busan feels the same as she remembers. Some kind of pain of nostalgia hits her chest when she notices rows of Naruto on her shelf near the window as she looks to the side. There’s a short moment of silence.

“Well then, I have one for you,” Namjoon said, making Min Soo look at him in wonder with both eyebrows raised and forehead creased. “How are you so convinced that this is merely a dream in the first place?”

Something inside her constricts slightly, somewhere inside her chest. There’s an almost unnoticeable pang of pain, but Min Soo knows better. “Because I always kept the shutters close of my roof window during the morning.”

Namjoon looks up at the window mentioned, the sky a perfect shade of blue with no clouds. He squints his eyes a bit at the brightness. “Figures.”

Min Soo closed her eyes, letting out a huge breath.

When she opened her eyes again, she is greeted by the pale white ceiling and the gloomy atmosphere brought by the shutters and white curtains of her apartment’s bedroom. A bit disgruntled and drowsy, she reaches for her phone under her pillow to look at the time. 7:47AM. She’s also received two text messages from Jimin.

eun hee’s twin found hyung. he’s with us.
22:35PM, Friday

and as much as i don’t want to get on your bad side, what you’re planning isn’t a good idea.
22:54PM, Friday

Min Soo frowned at the last one, a bit confused to what he’s referring. She then remembers the conversation she had with Hana and lets out a colorful strong of curses as she places her phone back down, rolling and wrapping herself with her duvet. Of course, the woman would tell Jimin everything. And now she’s gotten a special visit from the Tree’s messenger, it’s going to add up even more in the list of people who should really keep their business with themselves.

A bit disgruntled, Min Soo replies to Jimin.

pls keep your intentions out of my business. thx
7:51AM, Saturday

She puts her phone then on her night stand and pushes herself out of bed, going straight to the bathroom. No matter how much she’s grateful that Jimin took the time to send numerous excuse letters to her professors, university matters and personal matters are two completely different things. What was the point of staying away from anyone when he’s so convinced in having himself put in her life? He owes her nothing, and Min Soo has learned not to put so much faith on people anymore.

And what happened back there was just a momentary showing of vulnerability, something that she regrets so much because she displaced her faith again. She woke up from a dream of a bad past and with the feeling that she’s been stripped bare and left with nothing, she grasped on the first tangible thing she could reach — which was Jimin at that time.

(She doesn’t want to admit that what she thought at that time is all true, though; the warmth and the familiarity.)

(She should probably start contacting some of her classmates to ask what she’s missed.)

 

~

 

She’s managed to get her mural and the first draft of their paper checked. Everything is going well with her education but not so much on the search for finding a good host body for her father. She could conclude, though, that the Dark Entity that had attacked her and Yoongi was her mother. Dark Entities cannot take the image of another, but only of their past life.

“Shouldn’t you drop this already, Min Soo?” her aunt Veronica asked, face scrunched in concerned. “From the looks of it all, you’re already quite preoccupied with your studies.”

She’s currently Skyping her aunt, the one who adopted her when everything went a continuous downwards spiral after her mom became a full Dark Entity. Veronica is her father’s cousin who lives in New York. Min Soo had only known about her back then from her father’s old stories when their family would visit hers when they were kids. She was closest relative her father had, and probably also one of the strongest witches in their family.

“And miss the opportunity to have appa again?” Min Soo snorted.

Her aunt grimaced at the unattractive noise. “I knew it was a bad idea to let you borrow all those books,” she said, shaking her head. “You haven’t even found a host body yet — and do you even know where to look for your mother?”

“She’s not my mother anymore, Auntie,” Min Soo said curtly before adding, “And besides, I’m not going to wait for her — she’s going to have to be the one to come to me, which has already happened.”

The badly lit face of her aunt frowned from the laptop screen. “What?”

“S