~

The following week, Kyuhyun’s friends were waiting for him in their usual meeting spot as he is always the last to arrive. Henry was the first to see Kyuhyun coming down the hallway and hummed while tilting his eyed and narrowing his eyes slightly. Hyukjae was standing close enough to hear the hum and looked and Henry then followed his line of vision to Kyuhyun.

“What’s up Henry?”

“Is it just me, or has Kyuhyun shown up without some accident the last couple of days?” All conversation stopped when Henry made that statement and they all looked over at Kyuhyun who was just walking up to them.

“What,” Kyuhyun asked when he noticed everyone staring him down. He also began to examine his clothes and hair for anything out of the ordinary. “Is there something on me?”

“More like there isn't something. He's perkier too,” Sungmin stated, which only continued to confuse Kyuhyun.

“Huh? What am I missing? Was I supposed to bring something today? And what does being perkier have to do with it?” While Kyuhyun was still trying to figure out what his friends were going on about, Donghae got wide eyed and leaned in closer to Kyuhyun.

“Did you go see Yesung?”

“What?” Kyuhyun was through off guard with the question and practically jumped away from Donghae. Thankfully, Donghae just took his outburst as having forgot the name.

“You know. The mage.”

“No,’ Kyuhyun answered with what he hoped was believable offense, while he had Jongwoon’s warning playing in the back of his mind. “I told you I was only going to see this so-called mage if I got super desperate.” He ignored Sungmin’s scoff, just relieved they believed him.

“Then what did you do? We haven’t had to get out our first aid kits or Donghae’s towel in a couple days,” Henry questioned.

“A few different things on the internet. I haven’t stopped looking. It appears something worked, not sure which one though since a couple said they would take a few days for any noticeable results.”

“Anyone give you an answer for why all this is happening to you,” Hyukjae asked.

“Most people just call it bad luck, but we know that’s not real. But most people believe in it to some degree so what else would they call it?”

“So, what exactly all did you try that was less outrageous than seeing a mage?” The other three knew exactly where this was going and stepped to the side. They just hoped it wouldn’t end up with them shouting and causing a scene. Sometimes they wondered how the two could be so close yet always argue about magic.

“Quite a bit Sungmin. Why don’t you just be glad that you don’t have to worry about what state I’m going to show up in every day.”

“Sure, we’re all glad for that. But you could be a little less of an when it comes to mages and magic. Just humor my ideas instead of basically calling me crazy.”

“I don’t think you’re crazy, but why do you get so uptight about it? Can’t I just not believe in it and we let it be at that?”

“Because while you may not believe in it, it’s a major part of my life since it’s who I am.”

“Sungmin?” Donghae had quietly called his name, shocked to hear Sungmin’s statement. Sungmin himself was quite shocked as well once he realized what he said.

“What the hell do you mean by that,” Kyuhyun asked either ignoring or just oblivious to Sungmin and Donghae’s shock.

“Nothing. Just whatever. I have to stop by the computer lab before class.” Sungmin didn’t even bother actually saying goodbye to anyone, he just picked up his backpack from their pile against the wall and stomped off.

Donghae was fidgeting, playing with his sleeve while hesitating on whether to chase after Sungmin now or just talk to him in class. In the end, he decided he needed to go after him. He gave Hyukjae a quick peck on the cheek, grabbed his bag and ran after Sungmin.

“Donghae,” Hyukjae shouted very confused.

“I’ll text you,” Donghae shouted back, not even pausing.

“Alright, what just happened,” Hyukjae asked Kyuhyun.

“I’m not sure.” Kyuhyun couldn’t help but think on what Sungmin had said. Before he met Jongwoon and the others at the shop, he would have just assumed Sungmin was just saying that as someone who believes in magic, but now, he can’t help but think he was saying something else.

~

“Woonie,” Heechul shouted from the loft, practically bouncing over to the railing. When he looked down, Taekwoon, who was restocking the shelves was looking up at him.

“Yes?”

“Sorry, Taekwoon, I meant Jongwoon. I forgot you sometimes get called Woonie too.”

“He’s in the room.” Taekwoon pointed back towards the magic shop.

“Thank you.” Heechul came down the stairs, still with a bounce in his step. “,” he shouted instead, heading straight for the magic shop. Taekwoon had winced at the shouting and looked over at Ryeowook after Heechul was gone.

“He called him Woonie first, so it must be something good,” Ryeowook said, shrugging. Taekwoon took the answer and went back to work, figuring they would find out what’s going on soon enough.

“Did you really just call for me by saying ,” Jongwoon asked as soon as Heechul came into the shop.

“Yes. I called you Woonie first, but Taekwoon responded first. So, I had to use something else.”

“Full name would have worked just as well. Anyways, what do you want?”

“Hangeng and Kibum are coming back tonight or tomorrow morning. It just depends on how long their last stop takes them.”

“Okay,” Jongwoon stretched the word out slightly wondering if that was all the news Heechul had.

“And they got both books for Jungsu. The obscure one they managed to trade for from another shop and they stopped off at the archives for the other.”

“That should make Jungsu happy. Or rather Inyoung, since he was getting them for her.”

“Yeah, and that’s not all. Kibum emailed me the item list. There are some things on here that I think you’ll be very interested in.” Heechul passed his phone over to Jongwoon to look through the email. “And since they were at the archives, they confirmed Taekwoon’s addition, they’re bringing the notice back with them.” Jongwoon stopped his scrolling and looked back up at Heechul again.

“Finally? It’s been what, nine months since we sent them Taekwoon’s information?”

“Yeah, for being some of the most powerful mages, they are really slow. But Taekwoon and his symbol are now registered at the archives. When should we tell him?”

“When Hangeng brings the notice. It’ll feel more official for him and it’s not like we will be waiting long.”

“Good point. Anyway, that’s all I had so, go back to what you were doing.” Heechul was about to leave when he actually looked at what Jongwoon was working on. “Actually, what were you working on?”

“Detection potions. I sold the last one we had made yesterday.”

“Why? I mean, I know we typically keep them premade, but why make them now?”

“I was checking inventory and remembered that we were out and just had a feeling I should make a new batch up before one is needed. Which is actually nice, because now I’m thinking of giving Taekwoon a lesson on it.”

“He ready for that?”

“They’re not the most complicated of spells, Chul. He has already picked up on some harder ones all on his own. And I think the chance to see his own symbol with his magic will help him relax into his magic more. It’s almost been a year since he came to us but there is still a part of him that is uneasy.”

“I’ve noticed.” Heechul sighed. “Sometimes he seems very comfortable and natural with his magic and other times he’s almost scared of it. And I know it’s all that damn ’s fault.” Heechul practically snarled the last part, gripping the table he had chosen to lean against to the point that his knuckles were turning pale.

“Heechul,” Jongwoon warned. “I hate her as much as you, but she is human, and we don’t get involved. All that matters is that Taek is safely with us and she can’t touch him.”

“You’re right. But hey, invite Shikie over when you do the detection lesson.” The sudden idea threw Jongwoon for a moment, and he wasn’t even sure at first why Heechul suggested it. It wasn’t long though, that Jongwoon caught up to Heechul’s line of thought and agreed with the idea.

The following morning, Hangeng and Kibum arrived long before the sun was reaching the horizon. They quickly unloaded everything they acquired during the trip, carefully and quietly taking them down to the basement. When everything was unloaded, Kibum returned to his and Hangeng’s apartment, leaving Hangeng behind. Since it was still too early for anyone else to be awake, Hangeng climbed up to the third floor to join Heechul and sleep until a more reasonable hour.

Hangeng was the last to wake up again, even Heechul had let him sleep in later and everyone was already preparing to eat breakfast when he joined the in the kitchen. After a quick greeting to everyone, when Hangeng saw Taekwoon, he remembered what Heechul had texted him and went to his bag he left sitting next to the couch. Inside he had a large gold envelope carefully tucked away in a folder for safe keeping that he now retrieved and handed over to Taekwoon.

“For me,” Taekwoon questioned taking the envelope from Hangeng.

“Yup. You can open it now too,” Hangeng told him taking his seat next to Heechul. Both Heechul and Jongwoon were excitedly waiting for Taekwoon to open it, Ryeowook seemed to be the only other one who didn’t know what was going on. With all eyes on him, Taekwoon slowly broke the seal on the back and slid out the paper inside. He read the contents of the paper silently to himself, Ryeowook leaning over to try and read over his shoulder too. Slowly the nervous and confused expression changed to an excited shock as he began to realize what he was holding.

“Is this really it?”

“Yup. Hangeng told us yesterday, but we wanted you to see the official paper first,” Jongwoon explained.

“But you are official registered in the archives as a mage. So basically, that’s your mage birth certificate you are holding,” Heechul continued. “And you are recognized as an apprentice studying under Jongwoon.”

“Is that my symbol?” Taekwoon laid the paper down and pointed to a small silhouette of a cat in a dark blue on the corner of the page.

“It is. It’s your first time actually seeing it, isn’t it?” Taekwoon nodded at Jongwoon’s question. “With a little more training you will be able to show someone your symbol at will as a sort of identification. I’m sure you have seen a couple customers do it in order to prove they are mages when visiting for the visit time.”

“I have.”

“Also, if you would wish to, you can request for the archives to search if you have any registered mage relatives.  Of course, if they weren’t registered, there wouldn’t be a record of them even if they were a mage.”

“I don’t know.”

“It’s entirely up to you and you can do it whenever you may choose to. We just want you to know it’s an option for you,” Heechul added.

“I’ll think about it. I can show this to Shikie, right?”

“Of course, it’s yours. And when you talk to him, see if he can help with one of your lessons,” Jongwoon asked.

“Sure.”

~

“Everything still going good,” Hyukjae asked Kyuhyun a couple days later when he joined him in the classroom.

“Yup. And I think the little things are getting less too.”

“Have you spoken to Sungmin at all?”

“No, I’m pretty sure he is avoiding me. You?”

“Not a word. I think the only one he is talking to is Donghae and he’s not saying anything about it either.” Hyukjae sighed and slumped down on the table, burring his face in his arms.

“What do you think Sungmin meant when he said it’s who he is?” Hyukjae turned his head so he could look at Kyuhyun and did his best to shrug.

“I assume he just meant that his love and belief of magic is just a large part of what makes him, him.”

“But what if he meant it more literally than that?”

“What are you thinking?” Hyukjae had narrowed his eyes, staring at Kyuhyun, but Kyuhyun was no longer looking back at him. Before Kyuhyun could give any sort of answer, their professor walked it and immediately called for attention. Hyukjae sat back up, but kept his eyes on Kyuhyun, hoping to get some sort of answer but it was of no use.

“So, what were you thinking Sungmin meant,” Hyukjae asked again once class was over.

“I don’t know, maybe I’m putting too much thought into it.”

“Just tell me what you thought.” Hyukjae stopped Kyuhyun while they were headed down the stairs. He was still on the landing but Kyuhyun was a couple steps further down. Just as Kyuhyun was turning to face Hyukjae, there was a scream from above them. Hyukjae looked up in time to see a section of the railing falling and pulled Kyuhyun back up to the landing, keeping them out of the way as it landed halfway down the steps. Hyukjae did a quick look around, noticing all the other shocked students, but thankfully it didn’t hit anyone when it landed. Kyuhyun was in a daze just staring at the railing.

“Anyone hurt down there?” Hyukjae heard a girl asking from where the railing fell.

“I think we’re all okay. It didn’t hit anyone. Everyone okay up there,” Hyukjae asked since everyone else seemed to be too shocked to respond.

“We’re okay. My friend is calling campus security right now.”

“I don’t know what the railing did for the structure of the stairs, so maybe everyone should use one of the other ones.” Hyukjae directed that to the handful of students who had been walking down the stairs behind them when the accident happened. Eventually one student came out of their shock and agreed, nudging the students around them to go back up and take another route down.

“Damn, you think I would be used to stuff like this happening by now.”

“This isn’t stuff you get used to. You’re not thinking it’s because of you, are you?”

“No. There’s no way it could be.” While Kyuhyun spoke with confidence, there was a small part of him that doubted his own words.

“Alright, well let’s wait until security comes, just so we can tell them what we saw and make sure no one tries to come up around it, just in case.”

“Sure.” The two leaned against the back wall, talking quietly to themselves and sometimes to the girls waiting above. There were only a couple of times they had to urge other students to take a different route since it seemed the news of the accident spread quick. Quickly enough that it even reached Donghae who wasn’t even on the same end of campus as them and was frantically calling Hyukjae. While it was already difficult enough to calm down Donghae and ensure that they were fine in the first place, once Donghae found out that it landed so close to them, it was nearly impossible to calm him down again.

“Hae, I promise we weren’t hurt at all. Security is here so we need to talk to them. I’ll see you in a little while.” Hyukjae finally coaxed Donghae into hanging up the phone when security and a couple other university staff members walked up to the base of the stairs.

“The girls upstairs said they were leaning against it and it came loose and fell before they realized.” Kyuhyun was explaining everything to the staff members when Hyukjae got off the phone. “The girls are still upstairs waiting. They found some chairs to block the opening.”

“We didn’t know what damage was done to the stairs, so we didn’t want to let anyone pass,” Hyukjae added.

“Thank you both for doing that while keeping yourselves out of harms way. We just need you to write down your statements and contact information and then you can leave,” one of the security officers said handing them notepads. He had carefully stepped up the stairs while other personnel blocked off the base of the stairs and more went around to speak to the girls. After writing their statements, they handed the pads back and headed back upstairs, stopping briefly to check on the girls in person since previously they had just been shouting at each other.

“I’m going to meet Donghae since I’m sure he is still all wound up. Want to join?”

“Nah. I need to head over to the computer lab before my next class. And I would rather not feel like a third wheel,” Kyuhyun teased, which earned him a shove from Hyukjae.

“Fine, be that way. I’m going to see if I can talk to Sungmin too. See you later.”

~

A few days after the accident, the doubt Kyuhyun was carrying about the accident was still there even though there had been nothing to link it to him. And his bad luck was almost entirely gone, so it had to be a coincidence, or so he tried to tell himself. Walking to school that day is when his thoughts started to change. Before he had made it out of his neighborhood, he was almost hit by a rather large flower pot, clay or ceramic, Kyuhyun wasn’t sure, but it shattered when it landed mere inches from him. Looking up, it was impossible to tell exactly what cause it to fall from the wall, but there were still two more sitting on the ledge above him. Then later at home, when he was getting a drink, he had the glass shatter on him, a shard flying and cutting him on the collarbone in addition to all the cuts on his hands. With no idea as to what cause the glass to shatter, in addition to the other recent incidents, Kyuhyun was feeling paranoid again.

It wasn’t much longer that some of his smaller cases of bad luck came back too, causing him to miss his train for the first time in a few days again. But while those confused Kyuhyun, he could handle them. It was the more aggressive and dangerous incidents that were worrying him. Relaxing during one of his breaks in the park, the tree he was sitting under suddenly had a large branch snap off and fall where he was sitting. If it wasn’t for his paranoia and hearing the cracking from above him, it would have landing right on top of him. Another day, getting out of the way for a couple of people on bikes, Kyuhyun stepped off the curb and right onto a sewer grate that immediately gave way. Thankfully he managed to keep himself leaning forward and prevented himself from falling in, but the sudden drop was excruciatingly painful.  And the last incident that cause Kyuhyun to search out Jongwoon again after only two weeks was getting caught in another thunderstorm only a couple blocks away from home and had lightning strike the light post right next to him, shattering the casing and raining glass down on him.

“Jongwoon,” Kyuhyun shouted entering the bookstore the day after the lightning incident.

“Quiet.” Kyuhyun heard the soft but stern voice of Taekwoon say from across the store. He had tried to speak again but realized he couldn’t. “There are other customers. Please keep your voice down.” Taekwoon had walked over to him and dragged him back to the counter. “You can speak again but please keep your voice down.”

“What the hell was that,” Kyuhyun asked, keeping his voice just barely above a whisper.

“I don’t like people shouting.”

“I don’t think that answered…”

“What do you need Jongwoon for,” Taekwoon asked, interrupting Kyuhyun.

“His help last time only worked for a short bit.” Taekwoon stared at him for a moment, silently judging Kyuhyun’s statement before he hummed and nodded slightly.

“He is with another customer, so you have to wait.” Kyuhyun agreed, allowing Taekwoon to get back to work. Kyuhyun laid his head against his arms on the counter, facing the door he went through last time with Jongwoon. He couldn’t stop himself from bouncing his leg or occasionally tapping his fingers on the counter as he waited. When the door finally started to open, Kyuhyun shot up so he was sitting upright again.

“Thank you Hakyeon. Make sure you say hello to Sejun for me and tell him I hope he feels better soon. Heechul can visit if need be as well.” Jongwoon was speaking to the young customer who he was exiting the room with, not yet noticing Kyuhyun.

“I will tell him. Thank you Jongwoon. Besides, it allowed me to see Taekwoon again, since he
disappeared after graduation.” Taekwoon scoffed, refusing to look over at Hakyeon.

“The people who needed to know, knew where I was.”

“I’m hurt Taekwoonie.” Hakyeon put his hands over his head and pretended to be hurt. “Even your mother came and asked me if I knew where you were.” Taekwoon slammed his hands down onto the counter, shocking everyone, finally turning to glare at Hakyeon.

“Then it’s good you didn’t know. I don’t care if you come here, but you better not say a word about it to anyone else.”

“Are you hiding from them? Taekwoonie?”

“Hakyeon, I think you should get going,” Jongwoon calmly said. “It’s a complicated situation and he will be the one to tell you if he wishes. But I don’t think it will happen today and Sejun needs his items.”

“Oh, yeah,” Hakyeon solemnly said, glancing down at the packages he was carrying. “It was good seeing you Taekwoon. I’ll visit again sometime.” Taekwoon relaxed his glare somewhat, only giving a nod as any form of acknowledgement.

“He was a friend from high school I heard,” Jongwoon said to Taekwoon once Hakyeon had left.

“Yeah. He was in my group. Nice but too touchy and clingy and terrible with secrets. And my family knows him well.”

“Ah. Did he know about you before he came in today? Or did you know about him?”

“No.”

“Well I’m sure since now you both know, it’s a secret he’ll be able to keep. So, maybe talk to him sometime.”

“Maybe.” It was as good an answer as Jongwoon was going to get so he changed his focus to Kyuhyun. He had noticed him right away but didn’t bother to acknowledge him until Hakyeon was taken care of.

“Kyuhyun. What brings you back?”

“I need more help,” Kyuhyun quietly said. Jongwoon hummed and gestured for him to follow back into the magic shop.

“What happened now that you need my help again,” Jongwoon asked once they were alone in the magic shop.

“Well, I thought my bad luck was gone. Everything was getting better and it was almost completely gone, but now it feels like the universe is out for me.” Jongwoon raised an eyebrow and Kyuhyun statement and motioned for him to continue. Kyuhyun went into detail about the recent events and accidents and watched as Jongwoon’s face went somber.

“Alright, I need to run a couple tests. It still sounds like bad luck, but not the normal kind, so I need to see what exactly we are dealing with.” Jongwoon grabbed a potion from the cabinet where he keeps all the pre-made potions and handed it to Kyuhyun. He also moved a chair out to an open spot in the shop and told Kyuhyun to take a seat then drink the potion while he prepared a couple other items.

“Should I ask what this one tastes like first? It’s not like the other one, right?”

“No. I can’t say it tastes good, but honestly the last potion you took is one of the absolute worst tasting potions to exist. This one is just weird? It’s like two flavors that could taste alright on their own but don’t work together, but in a it’s weird kind of way and not a gross kind of way.” Kyuhyun studied the potion a little longer, debating Jongwoon’s description. Deciding it was better to get it over with, Kyuhyun quickly downed the potion. Kyuhyun’s face scrunched up and he smacked his lips a few times.

“Your description was odd but accurate. That is just a weird combination of flavors. What is it?”

“It’s a detection potion.” Jongwoon placed a few candles around Kyuhyun and an incense on either side, creating a lot of smoke. “The magic I am about to cast reacts to the potion you just drank and uses the smoke of the candles and incense to give me answers. The potion lasts for about thirty minutes, so that I can cast as many different spells as I need to get as much information as possible.”

“Why so many different spells,” Kyuhyun asked as Jongwoon prepared the first.

“They all ask different questions. Like this first one, is whether what ails you is natural, or manmade.” Before Kyuhyun asked any more, the smoke raised around him and slowly turned to a mix of black, purple, and magenta.

“What does that mean?”

“It’s not natural. What bad luck you have was caused by another person and not by natural means.”

“By who?” Jongwoon was silent again, but obviously was casting the next spell. The smoke changed back to white and almost completely transparent.

“Someone who isn’t a mage.”

“Non-mages can cast magic?”

“There are some spells and rituals that a non-mage can carry out. It is one reason we try to keep our books and items out of their reach. But sometimes something slips through somewhere.” Jongwoon went right into casting a third spell so Kyuhyun just kept his eyes on the smoke and how it was going to change. The color went right back to a deep black, though there were more colors mixed in along with a couple different symbols. It almost looked like a raging storm to Kyuhyun. He glanced back up to Jongwoon, waiting for the explanation, but Jongwoon was silent but completely wide-eyed.

“What?”

“Give me a moment. I need Heechul’s opinion.” Jongwoon quickly left through the door to the apartment, leaving Kyuhyun to just watch as the smoke faded back to its natural state. A couple minutes later, he walked back in with Heechul, both looking serious and grim. Heechul didn’t even bother to greet Kyuhyun, just going right into casting the same spell that Jongwoon had, raising the smoke back to its storm like appearance.

“So,” Jongwoon asked him quietly.

“Yup. It’s exactly what you thought. He’s screwed.”

“Heechul.” Jongwoon kept his voice quiet but almost said the name like a warning.

“What,” Kyuhyun asked looking between the two who seemed to be having a silent conversation.

“Someone put a curse on you,” Heechul finally said casually. “It’s going to kill you.”

A/N: Sorry this one took so long. The first half of the chapter was just not agreeing to being written and I rewrote the first part a couple different times, but I'm happy with it now.