Yeri turned to Irene.

“Look I know this room has room for four but who’s that? We really couldn’t’ve been just the three of us in a room?” She whispered. Irene opened to say something but closed it immediately. How the hell was she supposed to explain this?

Apparently she hadn’t been very quiet because Wendy responded in Irene’s place. “You freaked and summoned a demon. That is Joy, said demon.”

“You’re kidding right?” Yeri asked, eyeing Joy suspiciously. Unfortunately that when she saw the horns sprouting from the girl’s head. “Oh my god,”

“I really must thank you, I haven’t been up here in a very long time. Though if we’re being honest humans have only advanced technologically, not mentally.” Joy smiled and approached the bed Yeri was now sitting up in.

Yeri shrugged. “ I can believe that.” Irene gave her a look. “Anyways, how in the name of hell, no pun intended, did I manage to summon a demon? I can‘t use magic. Oh, and what’s up with these crystals in my skin? It’s hurts.”

“Well, I’m not certain yet how you managed to summon me, but I do have a theory.” Joy said, making Yeri raise her eyebrow. She continued, “As I explained to your friends, it is not entirely true that white auras are related to not having magical aptitude. It’s exceedingly rare, but once or so in a millennium a true white aura is born. Basically, white auras are stronger than metalloid auras by at least a hundredfold.”

Yeri wasn’t sure what to do with this information. OLn the one hand, that meant she wasn't a defect, but she wasn’t so naive as to think it wouldn’t cause her problems, seeing as she had already accidentally summoned a demon. All Yeri could muster was a small “Oh,”

“As for the gem that seems to have bonded with your skin,” Joy spoke again. “It seems there was some sort of reaction.” Against their arguably better judgement, Irene and Wendy had decided to leave out the part about the ring, seeing as Yeri was probably already distressed enough.

“Well anyway, I doubt it’s legal to just summon demons, so what are we going to do about this?” Yeri asked her two friends.

“Since Joy can’t leave for at least six months, we’ll have to hide her for now.” Wendy said thoughtfully.

“Joy is strong though, right? Maybe she could, er, normalize her appearance and just attend the school as a normal student?” Irene suggested.

“That may work. But how will we explain my sudden appearance and attendance without taking the assessment you spoke of?” Joy pointed out.

“Oh that certainly won’t be a problem.” Wendy grinned slyly. “ Don’t underestimate Yeri’s charm.” Joy raised her eyebrows and Yeri groaned. Irene gave her friend an apologetic look.

“Isn’t the bigger problem Yeri’s aura?” Irene frowned.

“THat’s true,” Joy sighed. “If the government discovers the existence of another white aura, who knows what they’ll do. The government and magistrate are incredibly corrupt and power-hungry. While we can’t actually change her aura, we can hide it behind a fake one.”

“Oh you mean changing the visible colour? I overheard my father and some business partners talking about that!” Wendy said excitedly.

Yeri looked interested. “Something like that is possible?”

“Yes. I will have to create a vessel to fuse with your soul. It’ll hurt, but if I don’t, stronger magic users will be able to see through the guise.” Joy explained.

“Well it’s not like I have much of a choice, do I?” Yeri sighed, and the other three girls shook their heads.

With that, Joy cleared a space in the middle of the room and sat on the floor. As they had been instructed, Wendy, Yeri, and Irene were on the other side of the room watching. Slowly, green energy began radiating from Joy, and her hair floated around her even though there was obviously no wind. The green energy circled her and created a magic circle around Joy. As the circle became more and more intricate, black lighting gathered into a ball in front of her. Gradually, the lightning compressed itself, and became an orb of some sort. The light and energy dispersed and the orb dropped into Joy’s hand. Looking satisfied with her craftsmanship, Joy stood and beckoned to Yeri. Yeri walked over and glanced at the black orb.

“Alright. This is going to hurt, but it’ll make it so that no one but us knows that you have a white aura.” Joy said. Yeri gulped.

Suddenly, Joy gripped Yeri’s left shoulder, and shoved the black orb right into her chest. It was pain that didn’t compare to anything she had ever felt. Yeri felt as though she could feel her soul being ripped from her being. Her mind was blank, and she couldn’t even bring herself to scream. It felt like two lifetimes before the pain eased. Unfortunately it didn’t subside, but it wasn’t so bad. Yeri looked like she would pass out again, but she didn’t. Normally, she would’ve been upset that the procedure, if you could call it that, had burned right through her new dress, but she didn’t even have the energy to think about that. Now, in addition to the crystals, the black orb was half-way fused into her chest. Joy nodded, as if she was content with her work.

“She’ll need to rest.” Joy said to Irene and Wendy. They nodded.

Abruptly, a loud bell began to ring. Looking at the clock, The three girls realized it was already 18:00.

“Must be time for supper.” Wendy said.

“What’ll we do about Yeri?” Joy asked, glancing at the girl who was now sleeping once more.

“I suppose we can say she isn’t feeling well after the long journey.” Irene shrugged.

Quickly, Joy changed her appearance to look more normal, adjusting her clothes to something more appropriate as well. With that, the three girls left the room and found their way to the grand staircase. Groups of girls had done the same and were all making their way down the stairs. Since none of the three knew where the dining hall actually was, they decided to just follow the others.

The dining hall was just as huge and just as golden as the great room with the staircase. There were many small round tables, each to seat four to five people. Finding a table, the three girls sat down and observed the others filing into the room. Various groups of girls sat at various different tables. While watching the other girls, the three didn’t notice a girl approach them.

“Um, is it okay if I sit here?” The three girls turned to see who had spoken. A girl with reddish-brown hair was looking at them somewhat shyly.

“Of course!” Irene said, smiling.

“Thank you, I don’t know anyone here and you guys seemed nice enough.” the girl said sitting at their table. “I’m Seulgi by the way, nice to meet you!”