chapter ii.

look at the stars, look how they shine for you

 

 

the distinct bubbling seulgi is all too familiar with greets her the next morning, the temperature chilly and leaving her shivering a little in her wake. she shrugs off the blanket as she sits up, eyes squinting at the strange surrounding, sluggishly registering the splashes of unusual colours around her. she then zeroes in to the cauldron and finally recalls where exactly she is.

"joohyun?" seulgi calls, stretching lazily. the city alchemist does not seem to be in the atelier, but the cauldron is actively synthesizing away, so she must be already awake. seulgi folds the blanket neatly, and finds a set of towels ready on the pile of books next to the couch. she takes it and heads to clean herself up, head still turning to find the elusive alchemist all the way to the bathroom.

it is not until seulgi has freshened up that she finds joohyun, hunched over several herbs littered on her work table and intently checking their quality. she senses seulgi's approach and shifts her attention to the tribe woman, smiling warmly. "good morning, did you sleep well?"

"yes, thank you," seulgi replies with sincere gratitude. she looms over the table as well, studying the herbs and forming alchemic formulas in her mind to guess what joohyun is trying to make. "verdant taun, milk thistle, wind flower, magic grass... you're making antidotes?"

"yes," joohyun answers, toying with the leaves of a taun. seulgi's hair is still a little damp from the shower and she smells wonderful - like the sap of water flowers, fresh after a chilling spring drizzle, and it's making her nervous. "if i'm not mistaken many of the monsters in the upland forest are capable of poisoning us, so..."

"you're right, we should be mindful," seulgi notices joohyun's timidness, and decided to comment on it, though her guess is far off from the actual cause of how fidgety joohyun is. "how long has it been since you've gathered materials there?"

seulgi is not entirely wrong, though. joohyun sighs before answering. "i think it's been years. ever since i received my license i've only put out material requests to the hunters organization instead of going on gathering excursions myself."

"how are your expenses?" seulgi knows all too well that some materials could be very expensive to request. sooyoung and a few other capable hunters she is acquainted with are always taking turns to take joohyun's more demanding requests, as the rewards for them are almost always rather hefty. it was not entirely civil at first of course, what with the constant brawls in the bars serving the rowdy crowd of hot-blooded hunters to decide the one winner to accept the requests, but joohyun does not need to know all of that.

joohyun blinks confusedly at this. is seulgi worried with her financial situation or is she just disappointed with joohyun for not pulling her own weight as an alchemist? either way, she needs to provide an answer. "there's no stoppage of customers willing to pay plentiful of gold for my items, so i've actually been doing quite well."

seulgi stays quiet for perhaps the longest minute in joohyun's life, idly fiddling with one of the crisp wind flowers. seulgi finally speaks up once she sets the fresh flower down. "i see. you have been the talk of the town after all. some of my hunters live off of your requests, and my merchants can trade your items for a good sum at other regions. i'm not all that surprised, though. you have quite the reputation."

"i... thank you..." joohyun murmurs, unsure. after not seeing seulgi for so long, dealing with her is difficult enough without the tribe chief spouting words that sound awfully close to compliments.

seulgi does not linger on the topic too long either. "i think i've packed enough antidotes and other common medicines, but it wouldn't hurt to have more in reserve, especially if they're made by you."

joohyun, who is headed to the cauldron to drop a combination of herbs to the mix stops dead in her tracks, looking at seulgi in bafflement.

"i've been told that my medicine's quality is not as good as yours," seulgi grumbles as an explanation, hip rested on the work table and arms crossed, looking quite amused. "while it is a painful jab to my honour as an alchemist, i have no qualms about it. it is the truth."

"...who told you that?"

"sooyoung. only she has the guts to do so, or well… the lack of a gut, really... considering that she always suffers from vomiting as a side effect of my potions."

"...she's wrong."

seulgi's eyebrows scrunch together, confused. "what do you mean?"

"i..." joohyun drops the herbs she is holding into the cauldron as she could not possibly care less anymore, then marches right into seulgi's personal space, catching the tribe chief off guard. "i don't know if you remember this, but your medicine saved my life once, seulgi."

seulgi inches to the side, putting some space between them as joohyun had gotten extremely close while she continues speaking. "i was nowhere near as skilled as you with alchemy back then, i could barely make a simple snack, and that's what we brought during that picnic of ours, some dry biscuits i managed to synthesise after a few tries..."

keeping her grip on the table tight, seulgi recalls what exactly happened so many years ago. they had been out to stargaze, something they do quite often, but they were caught by a wandering wolf monster, so close to the town and lost from its pack, on their way back.

they were unable to outrun it, and joohyun was hurt before seulgi managed to drive it away with multiple well-aimed, pointy uni fruits.

"i wasn't at all interested in my father's alchemy or any of his work for this town and the mayor, not until you fixed the scratch and bite wounds i suffered with the medicine you synthesised. had you not been there i would have succumbed to those injuries in a matter of an hour," joohyun sighs, retreating away from seulgi. "i decided to learn and master the craft right then and there, because i want to return the favour to you. i wanted to be useful and just as amazing as you, seulgi."

seulgi says nothing, only holding on to the table and to joohyun's furious gaze.

at the lack of a response, joohyun turns away, rushing to tend to the bubbling cauldron instead. still she bears the scars from the attack, never looking to treat them to fade.

to perhaps both of their relief, the drawn silence is put to an abrupt end, as the door to the atelier opens with a sudden, loud ‘bang!’ when it meets the end of the atelier’s walls.

the pair of hunters stride in rather innocently after causing quite the ruckus. not knowing any better of the tense situation, yerim leads inside with a wide beam as sooyoung follows her closely. the young city hunter then raises her hand towards seulgi, pointing at her and grinning cheekily from ear to ear. “see! i told you she would be here. how is it that i know your chief better than you?”

“for the record, we kind of ran all around the town to find her before we got to this atelier.” sooyoung sighs as she does the customary bow to seulgi, right hand placed over her heart, showing her respect. she never really does this anymore, not with how persistent seulgi always is when she requests to be treated just as a fellow tribesmen when they are alone together. they have enjoyed a deeper connection than most leaders and their subjects with their camaraderie, so such formality is long forgotten for both of them, but they are currently in company, so sooyoung has to do it.

seulgi stiffly returns the bow, out of practice and also in shock over the two hunters’ sudden appearance. maybe she should have known better that they would be out looking for her, what with the way she left them at the inn unannounced.

taking a few steps away from the cauldron and heading towards sooyoung, seulgi beckons her closer and turns her towards joohyun when she is near. “joohyun, this here is one of my best hunters, sooyoung. i believe you've never seen her face to face before.”

“yes, you're right,” joohyun replies as she also closes in to them, shaking sooyoung’s hand with a grateful squeeze. “well met, my name is joohyun. thank you for always doing such a great job with my quests.”

“not at all,” sooyoung grins as she releases joohyun's hand. “thanks to you, it's been really exciting just exploring to find your materials and i am able to live comfortably from the reward. it's quite a trade-off.”

“and you got to meet me!” a small voice chirps from behind them, and sooyoung turns with an even wider, though a little exasperated smile to address its owner.

“i wasn't actually doing joohyun's quest that time, you know.”

“semantics.” yerim shrugs.

sooyoung shakes her head as she moves to yerim’s side, pushing the much smaller hunter forward to face seulgi. “anyway, yerim, you should apologise, we both know chief left the inn because you're much too loud in your sleep and she couldn't find hers as a result.”

“um, hello? you're the one with the snore of a boar? you're just as responsible for all this!”

joohyun watches their loud banter rather helplessly. when she turns to see seulgi's reaction, the tribe chief is only staring at the pair of hunters, with an amused, yet still gentle gaze that joohyun has terribly missed, though it becomes steely once she has had quite enough.

“that's enough, you two,” seulgi says, deep and authoritative, and the two hunters are silenced immediately, both staring at her in full attention, as if waiting for further instructions. “good. you came at an excellent time. we were talking about provisions and the two of you chaperoning us as bodyguards.”

“yes,” joohyun adds up, not entirely too keen on getting found out on what they were actually talking about prior to the two hunters bursting in. “do the two of you need to resupply your kits? i'll provide them for free this time around.”

“ooh! how kind!” sooyoung gushes, fingers already counting down items she could possibly get. “let's see… i need some antidotes, monster repellents, salves, rations, lockpicks, a new set of climbing rope and--” her ramblings are stopped by a quick smack on the back of her head. “ow!”

seulgi retreats her punishing hand away before resting it on her back again. “be reasonable.”

“well, i was! if you could be as giving to hand me some nice things too once in a while i wouldn't have been so desperate?” sooyoung tries, whining as she rubs her throbbing head.

joohyun giggles happily at the scene. oh, how she have missed this, seulgi acting playfully like how she was as a child so many years ago. she gets the exact same weird look from the other three women at her sudden giggling outburst, but pays them no mind. “i'm sure i can work something out.”

sooyoung throws her hands up in celebration. “yes!”

“hey, that's unfair, i want some gear too!” yerim groans, hands flying to her belts and satchels. “i wonder if i can get some abrasive, leather and oil… i need some to mend my gear.”

seulgi looks yerim over with her sharp eyes, studying intently. “your bow and armour are certainly worn out. i can get them fixed just like new for you before we embark.”

yerim squeaks in surprise. “you can?”

“yes.”

“oh yeah, we don't really need a blacksmith with the chief around. improving and maintaining weapons and armours are her specialty.” sooyoung finishes happily.

“wait, you've never told me about this ability of hers? i know she's an alchemist but she can do that kind of alchemy? imbuing?!”

“stop yelling at me! my chief is a very busy woman! even our tribe's hunters have to wait in a long line to get their equipments sorted out by seulgi…” sooyoung grunts, moving her ears away from yerim.

seulgi clears to stop the two bickering hunters and again, they calm themselves on her order, and joohyun could only be left in awe. seulgi then sighs. “but we might have to drop by my tribe’s village first before we embark? my equipments are all there, i'm afraid…”

joohyun's eyes bulges and she quickly interjects, heading to a corner of the sizeable atelier. “there's no need for that.”

three pairs of eyes follow her hurried movements. joohyun slowly slides the dark canvas covering something important that she has kept for a long, long time. once it is fully revealed, she waits, nervous.

seulgi arrives at her side, close, and joohyun hopes that she will not be mad. it feels a lot like that is all joohyun has seen from seulgi in the years before, and she hopes that will never again be the norm. joohyun listens, focuses on only seulgi when she asks. “you kept them all this while?”

joohyun nods slightly, looking over all the imbuing equipments, the hearth and the forge, anvils, as well as alchemy imbuing tools - everything that she has maintained and kept in a great condition, just waiting for its owner to one day, finally come back and collect what is hers.

“i thought that you might want to come back for them,” joohyun answers, honest and spoken softly, not even looking at seulgi's inquiring eyes for she has yet to muster enough courage to face her, face everything. “my atelier is big and there's more than enough space to store what is yours. i just couldn't find it in me to sell nor throw them out.”

‘i guess i was hoping you would come back’ is left unsaid as joohyun neatly folds away the canvas cloth that is used to cover the equipments.

seulgi fiddles with some of the smithing tools, twirling them freely and testing their weight. somewhat satisfied with the balance, she moves to the anvil, feeling the surface with her palm before striking it thrice with a hammer. sparks fly from the few hits, and then she stops, nodding a little to herself as if she is giving the anvil her approval. “i think i can work with these.”

“great!” joohyun beams, finally tasting some sense of fulfillment from all of the time she spent to work on maintaining the specialised equipments. she goes from knowing next to nothing of the unfamiliar components to being able to clean them and keeping everything in excellent condition with her eyes closed.

a hand reaches over, and again, joohyun is left wondering, thrown to a realm in which she is deprived of every logic, as seulgi pats her gently on her upper arm, squeezing the exposed skin a little. joohyun looks up from the lingering hand to seulgi’s face in shock, finally meeting her eyes, and that is when seulgi lets go, uttering a simple but materially heartfelt “thank you.”

joohyun is then left speechless, and seulgi somewhat understands, so she retreats away, heading to sooyoung instead and giving her a long list of items for her to purchase from the town’s merchants. after the third item is verbally named, joohyun is no longer listening and is lost in her own thoughts, rooted to the same spot until yerim takes a pity on her and joins joohyun by her side, giving her enough distance but also meaning to snap her back to life.

“you alright there?” yerim calls, tapping her foot in a calming rhythm just to drown out the sound of whines coming from sooyoung, complaining loudly as seulgi finally finishes listing all of the supplies that she needs for her imbuing work and their provisions.

joohyun blinks at the young hunter, out of her usual mind still. “yeah, um… i think so. it’s hard to say.”

“that’s quite alright, but we do need you to be at your best mind.” yerim quips with a smirk, acutely aware of the heavy atmosphere that wafts around the atelier since her entry. 

obviously yerim knows next to nothing of what exactly ill the two older women, so she makes a mental note to ask sooyoung about it when they are buying supplies together, alone and away from the two alchemists. however, that is only if sooyoung thinks it is fair for her to know as well. they are going to travel together for an indefinite time, after all. yerim thinks she has a right to know, even if it is just the surface of much deeper things. “you know sooyoung and i are very impulsive at times, so we really need you to keep us on the right track.”

“at times?” joohyun laughs a little, and yerim cannot say just how relieved she is to hear that bit of chuckle. it is certainly a good place to start off. “do you mean all the time, perhaps?”

“nah, i have to tell you, we do have some good days,” yerim bites back just as hot, huffing out a breath proudly. “shame you never really get to see my genius. i am smarter than most!”

again, the alchemist laughs, a hearty and melodious tone that rids the uncertain aura that previously hugs all of joohyun. “i certainly hope i am not included in that grouping of ‘most’, yerim. may i be able to witness your quick senses in our journey, then.”

sooyoung pipes in with a well timed retort, holding a parchment that looks like it was scribbled in a hurry as she joins the two. “i sure hope you will, lady alchemist. i myself have never been graced with such a miracle.”

“oh, shut your foul mouth and let us get to the shops already! work is work.” yerim rants as she drags sooyoung out of the atelier the same way she drags the taller hunter inside earlier, leaving the two alchemists by themselves. 

though shortly seulgi also approaches joohyun, excusing herself after a while bit of lingering around the forge. “i’ll be back, i just ought to get some steel bars i stashed at the inn. the blacksmith had some new shipments coming in when i visited the market last evening, and i got a bunch of good quality ones intended for my own stock of materials... but this is a good time as any to use them. i thought i could melt a few and improve our arsenals.”

“sounds good,” joohyun nods, a bit collected thanks to yerim’s quirky way of charming her earlier. “i feel like we need to be properly prepared for any kinds of... hazards and obstacles in that facility. just about anything could happen in there.”

“you're most definitely right, we know nothing about that place,” seulgi easily agrees, draping her coat over her left shoulder and heading out when it is pinned in place, following the pair of hunters. “i’ll see you, joohyun.”

there is no intent to make joohyun nervous again in those four simple words, but combined together, it means so much more than joohyun could possibly try to explain, so how could joohyun even help herself when seulgi says something like that? 

still, she cannot afford to leave seulgi hanging. “see you.”

 

•••

 

the pair of hunters is welcomed back in the atelier by blinding lights and different types of smell, a strange mixture of woody and sweet odour. they gingerly step into the atelier, which looks nothing quite like when they had left for their errand.

“whoah.” yerim gasps, and sooyoung thinks that says enough of what they are looking at.

not a lot of individuals are ever permitted to watch alchemists at work, and those that do, are considered lucky, extremely lucky. the art of alchemy was, and still is, an arduous labour that is kept confidential, yet highly sought after. the exclusivity of the alchemic knowledge is controlled strictly by the great commission of alchemy, a governmental organization that controls everything alchemy from simple to complex artifacts, runes, weapons, equipments and to monitor and certify each individual alchemist who has proven themselves worthy of a license. 

alchemy is further protected by ensuring that its secret art and knowledge can only be passed by a certified alchemist to their gifted children or apprentices, and even then the apprentices are put through scholarly examinations and excruciating physical tests that would assess their worth. 

as such, any books with a sort of alchemy information in them can fetch an unbelievable amount in any black market out there.

however, seulgi is one unique exception to this. the previous chief, her father, had no knowledge of alchemy. but he was the chief who coadjute with the previous rosenview’s mayor, seungwan’s father, and said mayor works closely with the town’s only alchemist, joohyun’s father.

it is not quite far off to say that seulgi is raised just like an alchemist’s daughter. joohyun’s father even bought seulgi all of the beginner equipments she would need for imbuing. 

even so, as seulgi has never attended formal alchemist training at the central city, her skills level could not be considered as a master quite yet. in alchemy, there are branches of knowledge that some alchemists are considered masters with, and they are the ones whom likely possess great wisdom, develop their very own style of alchemy and have written hundreds of both published and unpublished alchemy recipe scrolls.

sooyoung remembers when some folks from the commission came looking for a then much younger seulgi, to investigate her knowledge of alchemy and credibility. they were close to imprison her for practicing alchemy without a proper grant from the commission, but joohyun’s father spun some tales and made the commissioner believe that seulgi was indeed his apprentice.

at first, they found it hard to believe, for seulgi uses smithing alchemy she learned solely from reading the books in the atelier’s library instead of actually picking up medicinal apothecary alchemy like joohyun and him.

so the commissioner puts seulgi to test.

and she excelled so well in it that the great commission of alchemy never bothered to come and check in on her again.

seulgi was impressive then, and at this moment, she still is quite a sight.

sooyoung thinks joohyun could agree to that easily.

the apothecary alchemist is once again, rooted to a single spot, the floor her feet are on is glowing with an alchemy glyph, sourced from the bubbling cauldron, red in colour for a short moment, then it changes to a dim orchid pink before disappearing completely in a flicker. still, joohyun pays little to no attention to her own synthesis, as she is, currently, far too engrossed witnessing another kind of alchemy, one that should have been familiar, but is now unfortunately alien to her.

at the forge, an even brighter, rounder, alchemy glyph is only just dissolving, a dark vermillion hue gone just as quickly as it had appeared, then it is replaced with another glyph, now triangle in shape and burnt persian in its shades. the glyph moves, vibrating as it performs a clockwise rotation around the forge, and the sound of bubbling is even more distinct in the scorching hot fire than in joohyun’s cauldron. once the triangle glyph clicks into place, seulgi uses a smithing tong to fish the synthesised metal out, depositing it in the slack tub to immediately smother it with water to cool it, before the metal is eventually placed on the anvil to be hammered into shape.

seulgi stands, raising her arm up and high before bringing it down in a flourish swing, striking the metal with her hammer dead in the center of the anvil. in an alchemic reaction, the solid metal liquefy, and freely flows into the awaiting metal trough, which collects the finished synthesis product, and where another golden yellow alchemic rune appears.

yerim yelps when seulgi suddenly turns towards her once the rune vanishes, eyes sharp as if she is glaring, though she is actually just focusing on the young hunter. the tribal chief then beckons yerim over, and wordlessly motions for the hunter to hand over her weapon.

just being this close to the forge is making yerim sweat bullets, and she could not quite think how taxing it is to actually be the one working with the fire. seulgi is only in her work shirt and rugged pants now, as she had already rid of her coat and trinkets much earlier. her arms, though they are always shown by her sleeveless tunic, they are usually relaxed. now, however, seulgi is working and sweating - her arms toned and deft in her hammering, but subtle and gracious as she plans what looks like a quiver and arrows on a large parchment.

“it won’t be done right now,” seulgi says as she draws an alchemy glyph on the plans, before placing yerim’s quiver and arrows on it. she wipes a bit of her sweat with the back of her hand before using it to point to a corner that looks like it was just cleaned recently. “place the items i ordered over there, then come back in an hour or so. sooyoung, you should leave your blades too.”

the hunters scramble to follow the order. seulgi spares a quick look at joohyun as the pair of hunters busied themselves, and the other alchemist suddenly starts vigorously stirring her cauldron, just to synthesis enough smoke so she could hide her reddened face. seulgi does not see why joohyun bothers doing that of course, as yerim and sooyoung are already at attention again. seulgi tosses the two of them a silver coin each. “i suppose you can go kill some time.”

“we were planning on going back to the inn. news in town travels the fastest there. we have to investigate it a bit... i’m afraid things won’t be that calm around here if other hunters found that facility before we could seal it,” sooyoung twirls the coin along her knuckles as she thinks, her other arm wound around yerim’s shoulders. the young hunter does not look like she minds being used as a leaning post much. “we’ll just listen in. i promise we won’t cause trouble.”

“i trust you. i worry too if word got out, i think we might have to make haste to the facility... we couldn’t dwell here any longer if that happens.”

“yeah, so we’re going to go make sure that the facility is safe. that we are safe,” yerim adds, placing significant weight on her words. “some folks around here go crazy over bits and crumbs of gold, who knows what sort of monsters that kind of place could attract.”

“monsters?” joohyun pipes in, worried, no longer stirring the cauldron rapidly. “do you mean like… wild beasts?”

“oh no, not at all,” the younger hunter chuckles heartily, as if she is surprised someone could be so naive to ask such a question. “humans could be terrible monsters, much more than any animals out there, believe me.”

“afraid she’s right,” sooyoung shrugs when joohyun looks at her, searching for an answer. “the world out there is unkind, lady alchemist.”

“in know that, i do leave my atelier.” joohyun tries, hotly, a bit upset that she is suddenly getting treated like a young, inexperienced child.

“but not the town, right?” the younger hunter chirps. “it’s getting rougher these days in the wilderness. once this region started prospering from all your of hard work… sure, no one is starving, but this place has become much less peaceful. i believe even the mayor had to appoint some hunters to be night guards to patrol the town. there’s no such thing like that a few years ago.”

“things have changed, joohyun.” seulgi concludes as she goes back to sit near the forge.

and they leave it at that.

 

•••

 

“i’m finished with my synthesis.” joohyun says as she nears the forge where seulgi is still actively synthesising away, now strengthening sooyoung’s steel blade.

seulgi looks up from her work, then gives joohyun a quick nod. “good, that’s good… but, well, i’m not done quite yet. i still have to work on sooyoung’s weapon.”

“of course,” joohyun drags a stool from her work table, settling it near to the forge, right behind seulgi, and the other alchemist gives her a raised eyebrow, a nonverbal question that joohyun may or may not want to answer. she ignores it for now, heading to the bathroom to fetch a towel and then return. under seulgi’s watchful eyes, joohyun sits down on the stool, spreads the towel and nears the chief’s sweaty behind. “may i?”

“yes,” seulgi croaks, surprised by joohyun’s sudden tenderness. she sets her hammer aside first, and then feels the fluffy contact from the soft towel on the back of her neck. “thank you, this is very kind of you.”

joohyun smiles, a small, exasperated one. “you could have just asked for a towel.”

“ah, you know me,” seulgi sighs as joohyun starts rubbing her head with the towel, gently massaging her scalp as she does so. “i didn’t want to trouble you. i’ve already used one of your towels to shower earlier.”

“nonsense. if i let you sweat like this i’ll still end up having to clean the floor later. that sounds like a bigger trouble… and you’re welcome to take another shower later, too. don’t think that you’re inconveniencing me or anything, alright?”

seulgi could not help but let out an embarrassed chuckle. “i apologise, i fear i never really got around my problem of sweating too much.”

“it’s not a problem. it just… well, it tells me that you never stopped working so hard.”

suddenly feeling a bit exhausted, seulgi allows a small sigh to leave her. it is almost inaudible, but joohyun could still feel it, being so close to the tribe woman. “it is important that i do.”

“i know,” joohyun pauses for a short while, just resting the towel and her hands on seulgi’s shoulders. “keep this on you. i think i’m going to go take a walk.”

“wait, joohyun.” before joohyun could leave the atelier, however, seulgi quickly holds onto her wrist, though she is careful enough not to twist it and hurt her.

joohyun turns to face seulgi, shock evident on her face. “what is it?” 

“i know i’ve said this before, but… thank you.”

gulping, joohyun thinks she has to ask. “what for?”

“everything, i suppose... i don't know how else to put it.”

joohyun places her free hand on seulgi's hand over her wrist, squeezing it a little. “why so suddenly…?”

“i just thought…” seulgi looks up to meet joohyun’s eyes, and joohyun notices then that seulgi’s eyes appear to be slightly red, teary but not letting them go. “i just thought you should know.”

joohyun lowers her body down slowly, kneeling down on the warm floor. now she is the one holding on to both of seulgi's hands. “is there anything you're not telling me?”

“...what?”

“i may not know what is going on exactly, but i know that look,” joohyun continues, now looking down to seulgi's arms and tracing the fresh calluses. “back then… you were just like this. you're tired, and scared, and i don't know why.”

seulgi stays quiet because she knows joohyun is right. 

“why can't you tell me?” joohyun begs, desperate. 

yet seulgi could not give her an answer.

 

•••

 

=to be continued=

 

 

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penrith
Hi I know it's been literal years but just... Just take it.

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Oct_13_wen_03 36 streak #1
hoping u come back 🥺🤍
Infamoux
#2
i love the story and everything, but how are you?
kshaks
#3
Chapter 4: o.o
cupcaketree123 #4
Chapter 4: Omg and update after so long!! I just re-read the whole story again bc it has been so long. But i couldn‘t be happier. I love the story line, the characters, the humour and the softness. And honestly, i have never read anything like this. I have no idea about alchemy or tribes or whatever but this story is just soooo good, it‘s pulling me in so hard. Now the cliffhanger tho, what the heck?! I have so many questions. Like what is her dad doing there? And what happened to seulrene? What is seulgi trying to hide so bad. And most importantly, seulgi‘s embarrassing story of biting her tongue xD Anyways, thank you for not abandoning this story authornim. I appreciate it a lot :)
akosizig #5
Chapter 4: finally had the time to binge this and im feeling so many things aaaaa first at how the author still remembered this fic and updated even though its been years (bless their heart) and second on how the story flows so naturally with how wonderful the worldbuilding around the story went and how everything melded together. i hope to find resolution for the cliffhanger, but will wait with respect even if it takes years for an update again ((:
Pulpeiro23 #6
Chapter 4: Omg I didn't expect this chapter at all! But I'm happy you uploaded again. I also hope you are doing well, these years have been quite chaotic.
chocochipc00kie
#7
Chapter 4: I had to double check when you said you haven't updated on years 🤣 welcome back!!! Thanks for the update!!!
potato_chips8
#8
Chapter 4: OMG!! The cliffhanger
neuneu24
#9
Chapter 4: Welcome back!!!!!!!!
That cliffhanger tho !