He was born in mystery. No one knew who was his parents. He was just, there. Abandoned and unwanted. A beautiful baby in a basket, floating on the river stream. When he was found, his breathing was as thin as a thread. 

She was in the train, looking out of the window and all the sceneries outside were sliding past her as the train moved in a rather high speed. She was excited but her face showed annoyance. Contradicting. 

“Haeseol-ah, come eat some breakfast.” The little girl in the train turned her tiny body around and finally took her gaze off the window. 

An hour later, they finally arrived at the entrance of the countryside village. It was where she was born and raised up until she was 4. She had been attached to this village but coming back here all the way from the city she lived in, had always been a great hassle. The train journey would take up to 6 hours and they needed to interchange a track halfway. 

She comes back every year, during her yearly summer break. And sometimes, even during her short winter breaks depending on her parents. She loved coming back here. She loved this village. She loved her grandmother’s company. She loved the forest beside the village. She loved the sky, the air, the plants and the wonder of this place. 

It's been three years since she left this village. She missed this place. 

After dropping her luggage in her old room, she had lunch with her mom and her grandma before sending her mother off. As soon as her mother left, Haeseol shouted into the house, “grandma, I'll head over to the forest now. Will be back by dinner time!” Without even waiting for her grandmother to respond to her, she had already run out of the old hanok house. 

Her grandmother knew that Haeseol was always fond of the forest but she only thought the child liked Mother Nature, not knowing there was more to it. 

Haeseol ran excitedly towards the entrance of the forest and she saw a quiet figure on the huge rock outside the entrance. “Baek!!!” She screamed happily as she ran towards the figure. The figure stood up and avoided her swiftly, with his hands tucked in the pockets of his pants, watching the little figure fell and rolled on the floor. 

Haeseol stood up angrily and pointed her finger at the cat mask the figure was wearing, “BYUN BAEKHYUN!!!” The figure quickly apologized, “I'm sorry! Stop running to me! You know I can't….” He sighed. 

Haeseol remembered what happened during the last summer. 

She tripped and fell into the pond while playing in the forest but all the man in mask did was merely screaming her name, not doing anything after jumping into the water allegedly. He thought for a short while and he quickly used whatever there was in the jungle to throw to her and pull her up. “Haeseol-ah, I'm sorry.” 

Recalling what he said years ago, she sulked for a few seconds and settled her rage aside. “Hyunnie, did I grow taller?” She asked cheekily, standing beside the figure. He laughed, “yeah, you grew a lot taller this year.” With his hands still in his pockets, “a stroll in the forest?” He suggested. He knew she loved the forest. 

This was long after they first met. 

It was a tale-told god’s village she stayed in. The forest linking to the village, was legendarily known as a god’s forest. People claimed that they had seen things inside, not knowing whether they were really gods or spirits. When Haeseol first left the village and came back, she accidentally found the way to this forest while taking a stroll. 

Looking at the beautiful entrance, she was amazed and she walked into the forest without even thinking more. Following a trace of Crimson butterflies, she went even deeper into the forest and she eventually lost her way inside. The sky was turning pretty dark and she remembered her promise to be home before dawn. She anxiously looked for the exit but all she managed was walking in circles. She was so helpless she started crying, losing hope. There, she heard a voice, “hey, you, yes, you, hey!” She got up and looked around her and the voice rang again, behind her. “What are you doing here? The sun is setting, you won’t be able to find your way out!” She turned around and saw a figure in mask. 

She blinked her tears off and stood up, a smile crept onto her face as she ran towards the figure, “there’s someone here! I won’t die in this jungle!!” The figure tilted his body sideways and avoided her. Hugging empty air, she lost her balance and fell onto the ground. Tearfully, she looked at him with accusations. The figure stunned for a second, “you can see me?” Haeseol nodded her head and her expression changed due to the question asked. “I’m sorry… I can't touch humans. That's how I could live.” He continued

The 5-year-old girl tilted her head from left to right, looking at him with a pair of curious eyes. “Humans? Are you not a human? Are you a god? A pixie? A fairy? What are you? Can you bring me home, I'm lost!” The figure quickly swayed the awkward question off and grabbed a long branch from the ground. “Hold the other side of the branch, I will show you out of this forest.” Haeseol cheerfully grabbed onto the branch and forgot she did ask him another question that he blatantly and gracefully ignored. 

He walked very quietly beside her, showing her the way out. When they were back at the entrance, she dropped the branch and ran forward excitedly, looking at the familiar road she came from. When she wanted to turn back and thank him, he had already disappeared from where he was waving goodbye at her while she wasn't looking. 

She went to the forest again on the second day, but she did not see him anywhere near the forest. She didn't know how to reach to him and hence, she waited for a day outside, trying her luck. 

She went again on the third day, bringing some snacks with her, determined to see him so she could thank him and ask for his name at least. After an hour of waiting outside with no outcome, she went right into the forest again, though she was quite worried about getting lost again. What she worried did come true. She sat down quietly behind a tree this time and she heard a sigh behind her. 

“You really came.” He sat down at the other side of the tree.

“You knew you'd get lost here and you still decided to barge into the forest without even thinking twice?” Standing up happily, she ran towards his side, “I was waiting for you outside the forest but I couldn't see you! So I thought I'd be able to see you if I came into the forest.” The figure mouthed and whispered a silent “I know” under his breath. 

Defeated, he walked in front, “a walk?” He asked, but before she even got to say yes, he had started walking already, “follow me.” 

“What's your name, cattie?” Haeseol asked as she followed closely behind him. He ignored her question, throwing her a question instead, “what about yours?” 

Being a kid, her attention was easily diverted, “I'm Haeseol! I live in the village next door!” The figure spoke under his mask again, “tell me about yourself.” 

It was a warm summer, with a slender masked almost-transparent-light-coral-haired teenage boy in his long white traditional Japanese robe dragging on the floor, walking side by side with a 5 year old girl that has a tiny body but averagely long hair that was neatly braided. That adorable pairing walked casually in the forest, talking endlessly.

When they were done circling the forest, he walked her back to the entrance. He turned around questioningly as Haeseol did not walk past him to leave the forest. “Cattie, thank you. I'll come by again tomorrow.”

Before he could answer, she ran off again. 

She did visit the forest again the day after that and everyday after the day, until she had to leave for her new semester of school. 

The day before she left, she went to the forest again, as usual. The figure had already been waiting for her in front of the entrance, hands in his pocket. 

As soon as he saw her, “there you are.” He, then, turned around and walked into the forest, leading the way. Haeseol was extra quiet today. So quiet that even he noticed it. He walked slightly to the side to avoid a tree trunk and she didn’t even notice the change of direction, walking right into the tree, banging onto it. “Ah!”

“Why are you so disorientated today?” he finally asked, sitting down on the bridge, dipping his feet into the cold chilly water.

“Cattie… I won’t be able to come again tomorrow.” she answered after a few seconds and he swallowed a gulp of saliva unknowingly, stunned for a second. 

Well, no one could really stay here as long as I do. They grow and they leave and they die. Haven’t I been used to it after all these years. He thought. 

“Ah, I’ll finally get some peace then.” he pretended to relief. 

She kept quiet. 

“Will you come again next summer?” He couldn't fight the urge to say it after all. 

She turned and looked at him, “yes. I will. Of course, I will!” 

Seeing her determined face, he laughed, “I haven't told you my name, have I? I'm Baekhyun. Byun Baekhyun.” 

It was a pretty lovely afternoon they had together by the bridge and the stream of river that day. Summer breeze briefed passed them sweetly like the touch of an angel, tickling their skin. 

The masked spirit watched as the 5-year-old skipped away from the jungle, turning around after a few hops, “Bye, Hyunnie! Wait for me!” He nodded at her with a smile, waving. As her tiny torso left his sight, he stared into the direction she left for a minute before he finally turned back and returned to the forest. 

“Baek, don’t get too attached to humans,” a shapeshifting spirit flew by his side, reminding him. 

“I know, Nine, I know,” he said solemnly, “but Nine, I was once a human, too.” 

“You know how dangerous a human is to you. You will be gone forever, if you touch a human,” the spirit Baekhyun called Nine said, breaking her magic, revealing her true self as a nine tailed fox. 

“Nine, I know yo-” Baekhyun was cut off when a wind chime voice came into the scene from far, getting closer as the speed of wind increases, “my dear child, beware… Be careful...”  

“Yeongdeung halmoni, I will.” Baekhyun’s tone changed thoroughly, in respect to the goddess who was so much older than he was, always giving him the care he needed. He knew perfectly that when the Wind Goddess appears, the being that saved him would turn up as well, in no time. 

The previous Imugi who then turned into a dragon, guarding all the water and streams in this god’s forest came in a gush of wind, “Baek, my son,” caressing the young boy with his claws, “follow your heart.” 

“Mul-yong samchon, you should be telling Baek to stay away from the human child!” Nine exclaimed from beside, disguising herself as a human now. 

The goddess of wind took her human shift as well, floating by their side while the dragon showed defeat and changed into his human form as well. 

“Mul-yong samchon, you still look as young as ever,” Baekhyun laughed teasingly at the turquoise haired man who was a lot taller and bigger in size than him. “Yeongdeung halmoni, I’ve missed you!” He said following after, taking that floating granny into his arms. 

Letting go of the granny, Baekhyun looked up at the placid shades of orange, yellow and red painting the dull blue sky. “But, I really want to feel a human.” He raised his hand up against the setting sun, “I want to know how a warm person felt like,” he paused, “I want to hug someone.” 

Loneliness drastically filled the moment causing everyone to fall into a deep silence until the nine tailed fox broke the awkward silence with her tiny voice, “you can hug Nine. Nine is soft and warm as a fox,” transforming into her true self without a second of hesitation, jumping into Baekhyun’s arms. The latter laughed as he smoothed her white fur quietly, walking in the forest with their company. 

Haeseol, on her way home with her mother who came to pick her up, looked at her mother with her hazel brown orbs, “Mom, does the God’s village really have spirits?” 

“Maybe? When mummy was young, the villagers used to say the forest does have spirits living in it. The folklore says that if one doesn’t leave the forest before dawn, they will get lost in it and never find their way out.” Haeseol nodded her head as she listened to her mom, “did granny bring Haeseol to the forest during the summer?” 

Haeseol shook her head deliberately, “Mom, do you know more about the forest?” 

“Hmm, yeah. I used to hear the neighbourhood kids say they would follow a pair of crimson butterflies into the forest, to join a festival. The uncle next door always said that the crimson butterflies were the disguise of some spirits, trying to lure human children into the forest to join the summer festivals of the spirits at night.” 

Haeseol listened to her mom attentively, remembering how she followed the butterflies into the forest. “Mom, how long more until we reach home?” The little girl decided to hide her little secret. 

During the stroll in the forest, Haeseol laughed a little, recalling her first meeting with him and the conversation with her mother. Baekhyun looked over at her, “why are you laughing so suddenly?” 

Haeseol shook her head lightly, a honey combo smile still plastered on her face, “nothing much, I just remembered how we first met.” Baekhyun scratched her head with the tiny branch that he was holding. “Are you trying to poke me in my head or are you trying to ruffle my hair,” Haeseol asked with her brows raised. 

“Both, heh,” Baekhyun answered. 

“Hyunnie, why do you wear a mask?” she asked as they lay down on a land full of grass and clear sky. 

“I would look too human if I didn’t wear one.” he answered half-heartedly. 

“Can you take it off sometimes?” Haeseol rolled on the grass to lie facing the grass, popping her head up, supported by her tiny palms, waiting for Baekhyun excitedly. 

The latter didn’t answer her. “Baekhyun?” she called, “Baekhyun??” again. 

Baekhyun held the tip of the mask lightly, lifting it up slowly, revealing his sharp jaws, his nose, his cheekbones and finally, his eyes. He smiled, closing his eyes softly, “don’t I look like any other human boys you see on the street?” 

His closed eyes didn’t see the blushing Haeseol who rolled away to avoid being seen. He sat up and looked around him when he didn’t hear any reply from the little 7-year-old. He watched her rolled around on the floor and laughed. 

When she finally calmed down, she panted on the grass for a minute and she got up. She climbed to Baekhyun and stared at the ‘eyes’ of the mask. “It’s okay if I touch the mask, right…” she whispered as she stretched her hand out to grab the nose of the mask, pulling it off his face. 

She didn’t realize how close they were until the mask was removed when she could feel his breaths on her face. 

He was generally fairer than a normal human and his skin looks pretty translucent under the sun, as if he was thin air. His thin lips were tinted with shades of pink, making him looked extra soft despite his generally beautiful and sharp features. She raised her hand slowly and right when she was a centimeter away from touching his skin, she was pushed back by a gush of wind. 

“Seonangsin, don’t hurt her!” Baekhyun shouted from where he was, trying to stop the Goddess of the village. “She’s my child, Baek. I will never hurt her,” she said softly as she placed the little girl on the grass gently. “Be more careful, Baek. We won’t be here for you every time.” 

Haeseol listened to the goddess spoke with her eyes wide opened. Rubbing her eyes, she stared at the goddess who was holding her in her arms. “I’m sorry,” she said guiltily. “Little one, be more careful next time if you don’t want your little Baek to disappear into thin air.” The goddess winked at Haeseol, flying away. 

“Whoa… I finally see a goddess.” Haeseol was dumbfounded as she watched the goddess flew. “WHOA, BAEK, I SAW A SPIRIT!” she exclaimed excitedly to Baekhyun, clapping, running and jumping around on the field. 

Baekhyun looked at her with an eyebrow raised, “uhm, what am I to you all this while?” 

Baekhyun watched as she grew up, year by year. Every summer, he was always by her side. 

“Hyunnie, a boy in my class confessed to me that day.” Haeseol muttered as she was balancing herself on the narrow built up pavement. “What’s confess?” 

She lost her balance and fell off the pavement when she heard that question Baekhyun asked. The latter extended the branch he was holding in his hand towards her so she could get up holding it. “Told you not to climb on those, you always lose balance and fall from it.” 

She pouted and muttered lowly, “it’s all because of you.” 

“Huh?” Baekhyun couldn’t hear her clearly. 

“Nothing,” she said as she climbed back onto the pavement, holding the branch tightly this time. “Don’t let go of it, dummy,” Baekhyun said as he lifted his arm slightly higher so it was parallel to her outstretched hand. 

“What were you saying again just now,” Baekhyun remembered she was talking about a boy in her class. 

Haeseol blushed and told him about it again, explaining what is confess and what that boy did. 

“Time does fly, doesn’t it? You’re so much like a lady now. Not that little brat who would always run to me and fall onto the ground every single time anymore.” Baekhyun said to Haeseol as she played with the nine tailed fox. 

“I have always been a lady,” she sulked, “Nine, right?” 

The nine tailed fox chose to keep quiet as a response to that question she asked, pretending to be asleep under her tender touch. 

Haeseol has come to see more and more spirits and creatures after all these years spending her summer in this magical forest. These spirits would save her and Baekhyun whenever she did stupid things like almost touching Baekhyun or falling from a tree. 

“Baekhyun-ah, do normal people see you guys as well?” Haeseol asked after thinking for a while. 

“Normal people? As in humans?” Baekhyun removed his mask to feel the warmth of sunlight on his face, “generally, no. But some do. Like you.” 

“Sometimes when the deities show themselves, they are visible to humans as well, though,” he continued. “Let’s go to the waterfall. It’s cooler there,” he stood up and held the branch up to the young lady beside him. 

“Summer this year is indeed, a lot hotter than usual.” she said. 

“When summer is extra hot that year, winter would be extra cold too.” Baekhyun said, swinging that tree branch they were holding on both ends. 

“Will you feel cold too?” she tilted her head backwards to see him.

“Sometimes when it’s too cold, even spirits would feel the chills. It doesn’t really matter, though. We get used to the weather very quickly.” Baekhyun shrugged as he finished saying. 

“Let me make you a winter scarf so you won’t feel cold this time!” Haeseol cheered, hopping down from the pavement that had come to an end, picking up the butterfly that was by the side of her feet while Baekhyun stared from the back lovingly. That was her final year of junior high school. 

On the day of Christmas, white puffy snow fell from the sky like cotton candy in her city. Haeseol looked out from the bus that she was in, realizing that her station has arrived. She got up and left the bus before she walked in the same direction as many other students that were wearing the same uniform as she was. Haeseol shivered as a chill ran down her spine due to the freezing weather. Shuddering, she thought of Baekhyun. 

Did he wear the scarf? Is he feeling cold in that thin white robe he wears every time? Is he wearing anything thicker? I wanna see him… 

Merry Christmas, Baekhyun. 

“Haeseol! Merry Christmas!” two guys from the same class as her ran up to her tapping her on the shoulder, wishing. Haeseol got a shock when both of them threw a present each into her arms before they ran off as if they were competing, but were both blushing madly. 

Haeseol laughed and shook her head a little while she hugged the presents and walked into her newly entered high school. 

“Haeseol, stop day dreaming! Time to go to the lab,” a short haired girl pulled her away from the class window, running in the hallway. On the window condensed with fog due to the temperature difference between the two sides of the window, a clear figure of characters could be seen, neatly written, slowly replaced by another layer of fog again after a minute.

“Byun Baek Hyun.”

Far at the other side of the country, a light coral haired boy was half standing against the entrance pole of a forest, staring at the ever so purely white sky as the snow fell on his face, a delicately made scarf wrapping around his neck on top of his white robe. 

Despite being all stuffy, sweaty and hot, she ran towards the forest fully covered. Black turtleneck long sleeves sweater and grey long sweatpants with black gloves, socks and her black Nike shoes. 

Baekhyun swore he got a shock of his life when he saw her so fully covered. For his life, since he ever knew her, she always came either with her sleeveless summer dresses or her tank tops with tights. 

What the heck is up with this girl again, dressing herself up like that. It’s goddamned summer. He thought. 

What was more shocking was then when she took the mask off his face when she was close enough too. Putting the mask on her face, she pulled up her hoodie and pulled him into a bear hug. 

“I asked Mul-yong samchon yesterday when I saw him! He said it’s fine as long as you don’t have any skin contacts with humans. So I thought if I wrapped myself up like this, it’d be fine. Hehe.” Haeseol giggled under the mask that belonged to the boy she was hugging. 

Being the shorter one among the two, Haeseol looked up at the boy through the mask. It wasn’t coincidental at all that he was already looking back at her. He was looking at her ever since she entered his field of sight. It felt funny for Baekhyun to look at the mask he used to wear instead of looking at the face he used to see every time. Ah, this is how I looked like to her every time. He thought. 

 “I missed you.” 

“I missed you.” 

Takes a God to know how they managed to say it together. “I will be graduating by the next summer.” Haeseol said, burying her completely covered head in his chest. 

“I have been thinking a lot about you lately,” she continued as he kept quiet, giving her the freedom to do anything as she wished. “I wanna find a job near this village. I wanna be home near this forest everyday. I wanna come and see you, every, day.” 

The figure who hadn’t moved ever since she bumped into his arms finally shifted his arms to hug her back. He could finally feel a hug, even though he couldn’t feel how warm she was, he was able to hug the person he would die for. 

He pulled her out of his arms, holding her covered wrist in his hand, pulling her closer as he planted a kiss on the mask she was wearing. She didn’t know, of course, that he had kissed her. She couldn’t see it neither could she feel that gentle kiss. 

That was the first time they finally got their hands held after all the years they had known each other. 

“Haeseol-ah, let me tell you about myself, today.” Baekhyun said, as he held the thick winter gloved hand in his. 

He was found in a basket, floating on the river stream. He heard from the spirits that his breathing was as thin as a thread when the Imugi found him. None of them knew who left him in the forest, and how he appeared in the river. But they knew his life would have been in threat if it wasn’t because of Yeongdeung, samshin and seonangsin. 

When they rescued him from the water, he wasn’t even crying anymore. He only woke up again after the three goddesses gave one third of their power each to him. The goddess of wind, Yeongdeung sealed his growth so his vulnerable soul could be sustained as he grows slower than a normal human. The goddess of birth, Samshin halmoni transformed his human body into a spirit form, making him a spirit so he would live under their guardian without being caught by a Jeoseungsaja. However, the side effect of these spells that helped to maintain his body was that the spells would be broken if he had any skin contact with a human, resulting in his disappearance. The goddess who protects the village, Seonangsin cast a ward that made the forest a realm that he could live in. Humans who enter the forest would be trapped in the vision that was created by her in another realm, never finding their way out. 

He got the mask from the Imugi to protect him from being ‘mistaken’ as a human after the spells were cast on him.

As years past, he grew up as it had been fated by the goddesses. He had watched the Imugi turned into a dragon, the baby nine tailed fox grew each and every one of her tail, turning into a full fledged nine tailed fox and after all these years, his appearance was still barely even 18-year-old.

Centuries had past, whenever humans intruded the forest, he would send them off before dawn by guiding them with his voice from another realm. Every time when the mischievous children spirits shapeshifted into crimson butterflies luring humans into the forests, he had made sure the spirits guided those human children out of the forest after the summer festival. That was how the folklore had spread among the villagers. 

“There were many humans who had come and go in my very long life,” Baekhyun said, pausing a little, “but you were the only one who stayed in my life after all these years.” 

“You have lived too long, Baek.” Haeseol said, “thank god you lived long enough for me to meet you.” 

He stopped walking to look at her. “Haeseol,” he said, tugging her wrist again, “thank you for barging into the forest.” 

“The summer festival is tomorrow. Would you wanna come with me?” Baekhyun removed the mask from her face. 

“Tomorrow?” Haeseol asked. 

“Yeah. I wanted to invite you to the summer festival long ago… But I thought you were too young to sneak out at night. I think it’s about time. Could you sneak out tonight?” Baekhyun explained eagerly.  

“I didn’t even plan to reject you, dummy.” Haeseol laughed heartily at his nervous explanation. 

Baekhyun fake laughed a bit as he tried to shake the awkwardness off. Haeseol noticed how shy the once human spirit actually was and she started smiling her way, changing a topic on his behalf. 

“I have grown from a 5-year-old shorty to a 17-year-old teenage girl while you haven’t changed a bit. Are you even going to age,” she sighed, “one day,” she paused, “one day, I will be older than you.” 

Baekhyun didn’t speak right after her. He gave it a few minutes of thoughts before he answered her, “by appearance, yes you will. By age, you never will. Nevertheless,” he stopped to look for the best way to put his sentence. 

“Nevertheless, I could see all the deaths in the world but if I were to watch you leave this world, you’d be the only one I’d spend the rest of my whole life remembering,” he took a long breath, before he gave himself the time to regret, he blurted it out, “as long as you don’t leave, I will forever be bound by this forest. I will be here for you anytime. Until death do us apart.” 

Haeseol was a little taken aback by his sincere coated words that weight so much. She blinked through her tears, realizing she was actually moved to the extend where tears filled her eyes. She didn’t plan to say anything more to ruin the atmosphere. Quietly smiling, dazzled, she tightened the grip on his hand through the winter glove she wore. 
 
Sending her back at the entrance as dawn came, he kissed her once more on the mask before he removed it from her face. 

“See you tomorrow.” 

“Baekhyun, are you into the human?” Nine appeared beside him, questioning. He smiled gracefully without answering the question and the nine tail fox continued talking, “you shouldn’t like a human, Baekhyun. It’s dangerous! You ca-” she was easily cut off with a glare from the once human spirit which then made himself invisible, hiding among the trees. 

“I don’t mind vanishing into thin air, if it means I could feel her, for once…” the echo of his voice hovered around the forest where Nine was standing. 

“See you at 8 tonight! You can come in your hanbok if you want to, everyone will be dressing up for the night.” Baekhyun shouted towards Haeseol after she left for a distance. The latter turned around shouting ‘okay’ as she ran back home excitedly. 

“My son, be extra careful today, don’t go too near to the human girl during the festival. Use this cloth to tie her to you if you’re afraid you would lose her in the crowd. Be back at where we found you before the festival ends.” Yeongdeung halmoni gave Baekhyun a long piece of cloth, reminding him for the third time. 

However, she wasn’t the only who went to him that day. Right after Haeseol left, he would say, all of the elder gods that he knew, came to him with the same reminder, again and again. He could even foresee there’d another 27 more times he would hear the same thing for the rest of the day until the festival finished. He didn’t know why were they all so extra cautious about it that day instead of any other days. 

“Ah, even Dokkaebi samchon is here today,” he greeted the goblin respectfully before he received some ‘money’ from him. Thanking him, he heard the same reminder again, as expected. Just how far did Nine spread the words, man. And why does everyone keep reminding me to be back before the firework show. Hmm. I'll be back as soon as it ends and after I send Haeseol off. He thought. 

When it was almost 8, he walked towards the entrance as if there was wind on his feet. 

As soon as he saw Haeseol, he was bedazzled. Toning down on his feet, he slowed down on his pace. She was dressed in her hanbok of a white jeogori and light pink chima, the otgoerum was of a slightly darker shade pink than the chima that flowed down her feet. Her hair was simply braided with a coral pink bow at the end of the knot. 

She was stunning. 

To think about it, standing together, they looked coincidentally matching. Her white matched pink coloured hanbok and his pink hair with white robe… It was surprisingly a very satisfying thought. 

Baekhyun blinked a few times before his senses got back into him, even in her hanbok, she was still as bubbly as ever, playing with the rocks that were on the floor. 

Is she even sure she is 17? He thought to himself, despising her while he was actually smiling unconsciously. 

“Ah,” she cried out as she accidentally kicked a big rock, hurting herself. That cry got Baekhyun to rush to her concernedly, “did you hurt your feet?” 

“H-hello,” she was embarrassed. “Did you hurt your feet?” he repeated. 

“N-no. I’m fine,” she quickly looked away, “let’s… let’s go.”

She rarely wore her traditional clothes out. He was probably the first man other than her father who had seen her in these. 

“Wait!” Baekhyun shouted from behind. 

“Hmm?” Haeseol turned around. 

“Take this. Tie it on your wrist,” she did as told and she looked at the other end of the cloth. Instantly, she understood the reason of it. “I don’t want you to be lost in the sea of spirits,” he said. “Feels like we’re actually holding hands,” she replied. 

Walking among all the crowd, she was leading the way. Baekhyun doesn’t really bother who was walking in front. He had been attending this annual festival for more than a couple hundred times but it was the first for her. She would of course, be excited. 

Breezing past all human forms of spirits, she exclaimed, “I’ve never imagined myself roaming through a crowd of spirits like that. They do look very much like humans!!” Baekhyun laughed, “of course they do. This is to imitate how humans celebrate festivals after all.” 

“Do you think there would be humans here?” Haeseol asked as she was trying to catch some fishes at a stall. “Everything here is so much like what we do out there,” she said without turning back. 

“Who knows? One or two of those spirits would invite some children in here sometimes. Remember, the crimson butterflies,” he shrugged. 

They stopped by a performance on the ground. Being a city kid, it wasn't a common thing for Haeseol to be able to see ritual dances as such. Witnessing the glory of the culture she had missed out all her life, a few bratty children ran in between her and Baekhyun dragging the cloth connecting them. The cloth pulled short, almost causing the pair to knock onto each other. Avoiding each other, they silently cursed the kids while sending appreciative prayers to the god.

Given the money he got from the goblin, he bought her a mask that was the same as his and a wishing lantern other than all the food they saw. Wearing the same masks, they sauntered out of the crowd to watch the fireworks from somewhere close by. 

“Have you enjoyed yourself, Haeseol?” Baekhyun uttered as he lay on the wooden plank, looking right into one of the stars. “I loved starry nights like this. You don't know how much I had wished for this.”

Haeseol turned her head to the side, reaching out her hand to him slowly, but eventually decided to take it back as she looked back at the sky full of stars. “When I was back in town, it was times like this when your face will pop out in my head,” she chuckled shyly, thanking whoever it was that she was wearing a mask so he wouldn't see her blush. “I wished upon the stars every night, for I will be able to be with you as long as I could ever be.”

“Sometimes, I wished I was a being like you, too, if I was a spirit like you, I'd be able to touch you, to see you more often, to be with you forever.” Haeseol sighed, expressing anything at all that came into her mind. 

She was so deep in her thoughts, so freely talking, she didn't even notice how quiet Baekhyun had appeared to be that moment. 

His vision blurred. He couldn't hear her clearly. His fingers were vanishing very slowly. Hiding his hand by his side, suddenly, he remembered vaguely that Samshin halmoni had once told him that the spells maintaining his body would be weakened every half a millennium he lived and he would need both the goddess who sealed his life and growth to replenish the drained power in order for him to continue living. He never really bothered about it as he always felt like he had lived long enough and he doesn’t really mind just vanishing into thin air. 

He didn’t really bother remembering how long he had lived, too. 

How many years has it been...? Was that… The reason why? He thought. Ambivalent to how he had thought previously, he was actually feeling scared that moment he realized he would just vanish into thin air anytime then. He could feel his racing heart. He wasn't ready to leave her yet. 

With a loud or maybe silent thump in his head, he shot his eyes open. That voluminous contracting pain in his heart came out of nowhere. Holding onto his left chest, he started panting heavily, trying his best to keep the noise he made as low as possible. Silently sending prayers to the gods, he summoned the nine tailed fox to put her to sleep and send her back home. 

Haeseol was just quietly staring at the sky and when she was about to ask why hadn’t Baekhyun talked since they came, she turned around to look at where he lay only to see a shadow before she lost her all senses at once.

Doddering along his way, Baekhyun staggered to his feet, fighting the urge to just fall on his knees and close his eyes. He was walking… tumbling, solely based on his familiarity towards the forest as his vision was greyed and doubled. Clutching hard on his weakening heart, he finally made it to the riverbank where he was found, already barely even breathing. All the gods and goddesses he knew were there anxiously waiting for him. As soon as he appeared, all of them went rushing to him, shouting his name. However, before anyone even caught his wavering body, before he could even say a thing, he had already lost all senses and consciousness.

Since that night as Haeseol was unknowingly sent back home, she hadn't seen Baekhyun. She had waited for him in front of the forest everyday, like they usually did for all these years but he never turned up. Not even until the day she returned to the city she truly belonged, with a piece of her heart missing and lost. 

She didn’t even get to say goodbye to him that night. 

“Please stay with us, Baekhyun-ah.” Yeongdeung halmoni pleaded while she concentrated on casting power into the unconscious body. 

The summer festival had already ended, well, not like it ended very much properly. The festival had always been an annual ‘big deal’ for the forest of gods. But the same celebration, performance and literally the festival had never changed a bit all these years. Something new and different to the spirits in the forest was mainly this human baby who was turned into a spirit, growing up in the forest. 

500 years ago, they heard his soft and incontinuous weak cry by the river, right before the firework show. He, then, became a part of them where none of them had ever thought of his departure. As he fell unconscious this day, it was exactly 500 years ago. Not a second more. The moment his eyes closed, the forest and the village had fallen into an eerie silence where no spirits were guarding either of them. 

Even the youngest baby spirits in the forest were all circling around the two goddesses and the boy, watching quietly. Sealing their power off with a hand mudra, the two goddesses took a few steps away from the boy, observing his condition while Seonangshin was casting a larger ward around the forest, preventing any further disturbance. 

“His heart started beating again.” Mul-yong, the dragon who was in his human form took Baekhyun’s hand in his, placing two of his fingers on the latter’s wrist, “but it’s very weak.” 

“His body had always been sustained by our power. His body would deteriorate as soon as it runs out of our power. He didn’t manage to come back on time.” Samshin halmoni explained solemnly, “not sure if I should say he was lucky enough to still be able to breathe as he came back just in time to stay alive but asleep.” 

No one was there to answer the goddess. 

“I’ll bring him to the lake,” breaking the silence, the dragon announced, disappearing with the boy in his arms. 

The three goddesses stared at each other deliberately, knowing exactly what he meant and why he did so. Following after his trace, the three left consecutively, dismissing the crowd without a word. 

The Imugi turned into a dragon while practicing asceticism in the lake. It was also home to the dragon. Given its sanctity after the transformation of the Imugi, it became the most sacred place in this forest, also, one of the best spots to heal a person. It was well known for its divinity but none had the courage to step into the territory of the dragon unless with his permission. Other than the tiny human baby he saved by the river, no one had ever stepped across the lake. Not even the three oldest goddesses. 

“If he needed some time to heal, let him be in my lake.” Mul-yong said without looking back. 

“We’ll just stay for a bit to observe his condition,” Yeongdeung halmoni answered strictly while the village protector cast a smaller ward around the lake, “I’m just here to cast a ward so my son could rest properly,” shrugging. 

“He’ll be fine, Mul-yong.” Samshin stated simply, not sure whether if she was trying to comfort the dragon. 

After what seemed like a century, the dragon set Baekhyun’s body on a wooden plank in the middle of the lake. His soft voice, clearly heard by the goddesses even though they were nowhere close to him. “I promised her that I would keep him safe by my side before she left with Jeoseungsaja.” 

“You have done a great job for 5 centuries, Mul-yong.” Yeongdeung halmoni sighed. “She wouldn’t even remember him now.” 

“She doesn’t, but I do. She might not remember him but it's a fact that they met again.” 

The village protector gasped in shock after listening to the dragon’s words, “are you saying the human girl is… her?” The other two goddesses turned around judgmentally, “Seonang, do you seriously not know?” 

“What?” Seonangshin defended, “I only watched her grow. I wasn’t in charge of her identity and her death and birth!” The two goddesses facepalmed and decided to ignore her. 

“Mul-yong, give him a little time. He took a bit of time when we first saved him as well. A place like your lake is the best place to heal. You know it best.” Yeongdeung halmoni said across the lake. 

“Yeongdeung, he died in this lake once.”