---

 

You had to admit, after cleaning them up and shoving them into what clothes would fit them, they had looks that would charm anyone within sight. It was pure hell trying to keep the thirteen of them in public; they would constantly marvel at what they saw and Joshua and Wonwoo would always pause to take notes in the notebooks they stole you gave them. When you cashed in some gold, telling the rest to keep the rest of the money safe, it came out to a whooping five thousand. You nearly fainted on the spot at the large sum of money that came from merely two pieces of gold, a few silver coins (which caused an uproar at the bank for its rarity and historic meaning, or whatever, you could’ve cared less), and a brass coin.

With that, you brought them all to the mall, where you told everyone to stick together, no matter what. It took a bit of yelling and bickering to get everyone to finally listen. In the end, they bought nearly two thousand worth of clothes and necessities: five hundred worth of necessities, and a thousand worth of whatever else they wanted to buy. They insisted you buy new clothes as well, seeing the ones you gave them looked “absolutely miserable,” compared to the clothes in the mall. You tried to convince them that it was just your pajamas, but they refused to listen. In the end, you ended up with new clothes as well. With this, they all changed into their respective clothes (with some help, of course).

Their hairstyles weren’t bad, per say, but it was enough to catch the attention of barbers, who demanded they get new cuts and styles that would fit all their faces. In the end, they blew another several hundred getting cleaned up.

By lunch time, they were catching eyes of many and you still had about a thousand left.

“I don’t know how we’re going to fit everything you guys bought in my apartment…” you sighed, when you all decided to take a break at the nearby benches outside of the mall.

“We can just clean out your house,” Woozi shrugged. “It’s a mess, anyway.”

You grimaced at his words. “Hey, it’s not that bad—”

“Er, yeah, it kind of is.” Dokyeom nervously chuckled.

Groaning, you buried your hands in your head. How did you end up in this mess again?

“Okay, fine, we’ll do it after we visit the shaman,” you nodded, after a thought. It’s been a while since you’ve actually cleaned anything up. In your defense, that was because you were always so busy with work.

“Shaman?” Jeonghan raised an eyebrow, confused. “The thing you mentioned yesterday?”

You nodded, standing up and brushing your pants.

“I know one near here.”

 

---

 

“This… looks a bit scary…” S.Coups muttered when you led them to a large, old wooden house, in the darker parts of town. The8 nodded in agreement, adjusting the bags he had in his hands nervously. Without their swords, they felt, empty… vulnerable.

“I think we should’ve brought our swords…” Vernon muttered, taking a step back when the house creaked ominously.

“No swords, ever, not in public,” you chided him. “Always use words, never violence,” you told them, as if you were speaking to children. They spoke up in disagreement before S.Coups shushed them.

Rolling your eyes, you knocked on the door three times, the wood creaking each and every time. The door swung open and you walked in. The others were in awe at your boldness.

“I don’t know if she’s naïve or idiotic…” Jeonghan huffed when you walked in and began talking to the old lady at the old desk.

“I think she might just be dumb...” Woozi grumbled, watching your carefree figure explain a few things, then turning around to point at the thirteen hovering in the doorway.

“Look, can you guys just come in and take a seat?” you asked, pointing to the small, old looking chairs. There were only three chairs. “Or, like, stand against the wall…” you added, remembering just how many of them there were. Hesitant, they began to shuffle in, uncomfortably taking a seat or standing around near the walls.

“T-This is scary… Isn’t this a witch’s home?” Dino hissed under his breath as you began to talk to the lady again.

“Do witches exist in this time?” Joshua hummed, curiously.

“If they did, this would be their home,” The8 grumbled.

“Hey, S.Coups, Hoshi, Woozi,” your voice interrupted their chat. The three perked up at your voice. “You’re the leaders of whatever units in your little group, right?”

They all nodded.

“Okay, follow me. Everyone else…” you trailed off, looking at their expectant faces. You cracked them a smile, amused by their expressions. “Behave.”

With that, you and the three followed the lady into a room in the back of the house, were the lighting was dimmed and the smell of incense burned your noses. The room was full of items, not even you knew of, and full of smoke, most likely from the incense that was burning in the middle of the room, on a dark wooden table. At the center of the table, there was an elderly woman, cladded in different shades of purple.

“Take a seat,” the woman seated at the table gestured. Hoshi clung onto the sleeve of your shirt, squinting.

“I don’t like this one bit, we should leave—” he frantically whispered in your ear, causing you to flinch.

“Hoshi—”

“He’s right, this looks…” Woozi muttered, looking around the room in distaste. He clicked his tongue when he saw what looked like an animal’s skull on one of the shelves.

“-abnormal,” S.Coups finished, his mouth twisted into a frown.

You rolled your eyes at their dramatics, forcing them to all sit down at the table. You had to admit, you didn’t believe in shamans or anything like that, but everything was so strange and out of this world that you felt like you had to visit one.

“So, um,” you began, taking a seat in between the boys, directly in front of the woman.

“You’re here to inquire about these fine gentlemen from Year X, are you not?” she asked you, looking at her long, painted fingernails.

Your mouth dropped open in surprise.

“What—how did you—”

“You came to me for that reason, yes? The spirits told me.”

Spirits…? That sounds like a load of—

“Bull?” she finished your thought, making your eyes widen.

“Don’t tell me the spirits told you—”

“No, not the spirits, honey. Your face says it all,” she chuckled when you began to panic. You flushed in embarrassment, slowly sinking back in your chair.

“How did you know where we came from?” S.Coups demanded, his eyes sharp and accusing. “A witch? Or perhaps, you were the one who sent us here?”

Hoshi and Woozi shared a look, their hands reaching to their side, probably out of instinct, for what they wished were there: their swords.

“Settle down boys,” the woman waved, sighing. “I, for one, did not send you here. It was merely a ripple in the time, for the worse or for the better. Looks like you fellas were at the wrong place, at the wrong time,” she casually said, as if it was something normal. She then looked at you.

“Though, something tells me it’s not that simple this time…”

You watched her incredulously.

“Wait, sorry, not simple?” you blinked, finding this situation even more bizarre than last night’s. “They travel through time! How is that simple in the first place?” you asked, truly confused. S.Coups nodded in agreement.

“That’s true.”

The woman hummed in thought, crossing her legs. “You’re right. It does only happen once or twice in a hundred of years.”

?!

“But, usually, they are sent back within the night,” the woman tapped her chin in thought. She then clapped her hands, getting Hoshi, who was sinking into his chair, to sit up straight. “I don’t suppose you fellas had a mission before landing here, do you?”

“Mission?” Woozi muttered. His eyes then lit up and he snapped his fingers in realization. “We were sent out to find out who kidnapped the Queen,”

“But we got stuck in a storm, then when we came to our senses, we ended up here,” Hoshi exclaimed, his voice loud. “Then—”

“As I’ve said, wrong place, wrong time,” the woman nodded, cutting Hoshi off. “You guys probably died and that’s why, you’re not able to go back.”

“D-died?!” S.Coups shouted, slamming his hands onto the table loudly. You winced, deciding not to join their conversation, as you knew nothing about what they were talking about.

“We need to return to the King—” Woozi exclaimed, his eyes narrowing on the woman.

“Don’t look at me, I can’t send you back,” the woman huffed. She then looked at you. “If they were sent to you, that means you’re the key to sending them back.”

“M-me?” you pointed to yourself, dumbfounded.

“Oh, yes, but you don’t need saving, nothing dangerous of the sort,” the woman let out a loud laugh. “You just need to return to the King, and they must help you do that, if they want to return.”

“Return to the King?”

“You mean, we have to play matchmaker?” Woozi furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “The Phantom Unit of the King is degraded to this?”

“Not degraded, no,” the woman sniffed.

“Wait a second, return to the King?” you repeated, disturbed. “I’m not getting with some random dude who’s supposedly the King in this time! I can barely keep my life together right now!”

“You never know, he could be the love of your life?” Hoshi piped in. You shot him a glare, making him shrink back sheepishly.

“How will returning her to the supposed King help us return?” S.Coups asked, ignoring you.

“Hey, wait a second--”

“Well,” the woman drawled, “she just needs to marry him!”

“M-marry?!” you stood up, confused. “I’m only in my early 20s!”

“And I’m in my late 40s, it’s never too late or too early!” the woman smiled cheerfully. You groaned, slumping back into your chair.

“I’m not marrying anyone unless I truly love them,” you grumbled, shooting the four of them a look. “Listen guys, just because you ended up in my house doesn’t mean I am obliged to get married to some stranger and help you!”

“Lord, someone bring Jeonghan in here,” S.Coups sighed, tired of your resistance. Hoshi nodded, happily shooting out of his seat to fetch his friend. In a matter of seconds, Jeonghan entered the room, his eyebrows quirked in curiosity. Woozi gave him a quick rundown of what was happening before he looked over at you, his eyes curious.

“She’s the Queen?” was the first thing he asked.

“Yes, apparently,” you replied bitterly. He smiled, giving you an expression you couldn’t quite place.

“She’s pretty, like a Queen should be, but her manners, on the other hand…” he sighed, giving you both a compliment and an insult.

“Hey!”

“Jeonghan, quit teasing her and convince her to help us,” S.Coups sighed. The woman watched on, her smile growing bigger as she observed Jeonghan.

“Well, if the lady doesn’t want to marry someone she doesn’t want to, who could blame her, really?” Jeonghan shrugged. He then leaned over towards you, looking at you up and down. Embarrassed at his intense scrutiny, you averted your gaze somewhere else. “But, (y/n),” he muttered, tapping his chin in thought, “if he’s the King, he could be wealthy—imagine the life you could live?”

“I’m not a gold digger, Jeonghan,” you huffed, annoyed.

“Just give us a chance to find the King and help us out, will you?” he sighed, straightening and putting his hands on his hips. “When we find the King, whether you marry him or not will be entirely up to you. Just give us a chance.”

He gave you a smile, making your stomach churn with uncertainty.

“That or we could always stir up some trouble and drag you into it—it’s no problem, really,” he added, grinning deviously. You snarled at him.

“Does anyone else hear this!? He’s threatening me!” you spun over to the shaman. She looked at you, blinking innocently.

“Hear what?” she asked. You groaned in frustration, looking over again at Jeonghan.

“Fine, you no-good--!” you grumbled shooting out of your chair and leaving the room. Jeonghan grinned, hot on your tail.

“No-good, what, (y/n)?”

“Shut up!”

Left in the room was the three leaders, who watched the two leave and bicker.

“What a mess…” Woozi sighed.

“At least Jeonghan-hyung was witty enough to convince her to help,” Hoshi shrugged.

The woman chuckled, her eyes twinkling. “Consider this a warning—but, that man,” she looked at the door that was left ajar, “will cause a problem in your plan to return.”

The three looked at the woman in confusion. She only smiled in amusement, clapping her hands together and standing up.

“Now then, I hope you enjoyed your session with me. That’ll be five hundred dollars, please pay on your way out!”

 

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