Arin woke up to the sound of her phone ringing loudly in her ear. She looked at the screen tiredly and saw the caller ID labelled as a “Private Number.”

“Hello?” she answered.

“Hello, are we speaking to Arin?” asked an unfamiliar adult male voice.

“Yes.”

“This is the local area police station. We received an anonymous report of ual assault, which included your name and number labelled as the victim, and Yoon Jeonghan as the perpetrator. In order to take this case forward, we need the victim to come to the police station and press charges…”

“Uh… no need,” she hesitated. “I don’t want to press charges.”

“You know we can help you, miss. We have security footage of the assault, which is enough evidence against him to…”

“No need!” Arin repeated quickly. “It was not an assault.”

“Are you saying it was a consensual arrangement, miss?”

“Yes,” Arin answered, ashamed and embarrassed that someone else had seen that.

“Alright, miss. Thank you for your time.”

The police hung up, much to Arin’s relief. Why did Woozi do all of this behind her back even though she explicitly asked him not to? He was stubborn and nosey and thought he knew it all, but he didn’t.

Even though she didn’t appreciate this, she couldn’t hate him or curse at him. He meant well and was doing so much for her, namely, taking care of Meemo and lending her his apartment.

She got up off the floor and stretched her sore back. In daylight, she could see the apartment a lot more clearly. It was still a mess, and definitely not as fancy as his apartment with Jeonghan. The ceilings were lower and the wallpaper was a little jaded. Even the furniture was plagued coffee stains and loose threads.

It had two rooms, one bedroom, and another which was locked. She was able to peer into that locked room from a window in the balcony, and she just saw a bunch of computers and papers. It was his office.

This apartment was located in a quiet neighborhood from a less prominent part of town. Woozi was a wealthy person if he was able to rent in Jeonghan’s building, so she found herself curious about why he had such a relatively run-down place to begin with.

She received a text message from Jun shortly after.

Good morning! I hope to see you again today?

Nothing. Arin felt nothing. The potion must have faded, she thought. She only cringed as she remembered the previous day, and how lame and cheesy she was with her professions of love to him. And he even kissed her! She grunted in embarrassment and shame. It was mortifying to think about, and mortifying to think that she was going to have to go through that process of falling in love again.

Jun was just this guy she met a few days ago, who’s connected to this mysterious magical organization that’s doing experiments on her, an organization that’s out to get Hyojung. The memory of Hyojung made her dig her nails in her fingers again.

What was she doing? Was this all a dream?

She looked down and saw the two fingers that Dasinai had healed yesterday. Arin had already begun to tear into them, but they were still a lot prettier than all her other fingers, and evidence that what had happened yesterday was real.

-

She stepped through the big purple door into the reception, and the hold on her voice took effect.

The strange and uncomfortable reception couple were there that morning too. They gave her a glass of water to drink, telling her it was laced with potion from Hoshi, for the octarine.

She drank it.

The potion shook up her head for a moment, and she opened and closed her eyes until all the purple turned into a more pleasant shade of green.

-

She saw Jun again in the Extraction Room with Larali. She came in embarrassed to see him again after everything that had happened the previous day, but that faded away pretty quickly, thanks to Larali.

When Jun saw Arin, he smiled.

“You came!” he said, as if he didn’t expect that she would.

She also smiled and bowed.

“I was a bit worried you wouldn’t show up,” Jun said. “Thank you for coming again, really.”

“Break it up, love birds!” Hoshi beamed, walking in between them.

“Shut up, Hoshi!” Jun mumbled with his cheeks turning pink.

Jun turned to Arin.

“Arin, there aren’t any lingering feelings left for this guy, right?” Hoshi asked. “Your bracelet is not dark anymore, so I’m guessing the potion faded.”

Arin nodded.

“Great!” he exclaimed. “Today, we actually won’t be coupling you and Jun. Sangbin will take his place this time.”

Just as Hoshi said that, Dasinai walked into the room pushing an older man in a wheelchair. The man was frail and skinny, and dragged around an IV drip that was attached to a needle in his arm. It was Sangbin, the cursed man who barfed out all of his food. This was the man that Jun loved like a father, the man Arin was supposedly saving with these extraction sessions.

He looked like a well-loved man. Larali immediately strode forward to hug him, and he visibly relaxed in her embrace. Hoshi, Jun, and other MRS workers crowded around him to ask him how he was feeling.

The man had that soft and accommodating look in his eyes. He was like the warmhearted grandfather Arin never had. Despite his weak condition, he didn’t spare a single effort to smile and acknowledge the people around him.

After the crowd around him asked him about his health and condition, Dasinai introduced him to Arin.

“Sangbin, I would like you to meet Arin, the newest addition to our team.”

The man smiled at her and bowed, then put his hand on his heart. “Thank you, Arin, for helping us, for helping me, even though it must be so scary for you.” The man’s voice was just as tired and frail as he was.

Arin then learned that Sangbin was going to try eating again to improve his condition, so they would make an extraction session out of it. Apparently, he would be the one Arin would fall in love with instead of Jun.

Arin didn’t really know how she felt about that.

“I’m sorry I’m no attractive young man,” Sangbin said with a weak smile. “I hope it won’t be weird or uncomfortable. I apologize in advance about the nastiness, Arin.”

For this to work, Arin had to really divorce the feelings she was going to have in that room from reality. She had to accept that when she took that love potion, she wasn’t herself, and that her love was purely “professional,” a task in the grand project of saving this person’s life.

-

The glass room was arranged a little differently today. The bed was moved into a corner, and instead there was this table with plates of transparent noodles in it, with an empty bucket, and a water basin with towels beside it.

Larali, Sangbin, and Arin were in the glass room when Yoonsa also appeared and stood in the corner. With Larali there, Yoonsa’s presence only bothered Arin for a few seconds.

When the door closed, Arin put the toothpick with the hint of the powder in , and looked at Sangbin.

The potion coursed through her body, shaking through her limbs so hard she had to hold on to the footboard of the bed. When she regained her balance, she opened her eyes to see this man in a whole new light. The stone in her bracelet turned a deep, dark shade of green.

He smiled at her as she peered at him, in love for the second time in two days, with another person.

“I’m sorry, Arin,” he said, and smiled.

Arin found that smile delightful.

Yoonsa rolled Sangbin to the table with the food, and handed him the bucket, which he placed between his legs on the wheelchair. He took a spoon and began to eat the watery-looking food.

Soon, Arin began to understand why he was eating water food; it didn’t smell as bad when it came out of his mouth again. Every bite he swallowed would rise back up out of his mouth and into the bucket. That carried on again, and again, and again, and again. Arin stood there, watching.

She wasn’t disgusted though. She should have been, but he was suddenly a precious person to her, and so nothing about him was disgusting. Every wretch actually made her feel stronger for him, wishing she could take his pain. Then she realized that Larali was already doing that.

Larali was standing there against the glass wall, her arm over her chest and abdomen. She was taking Sangbin’s pain, and also Arin’s pain watching someone she loved suffer.

But there was someone else in the room who was also feeling pain, someone who Arin didn’t think was even capable of feeling anything. It was Yoonsa, the witch. Arin could tell from the look in the woman’s eyes that she loved Sangbin, too.

When the bucket was filled, it was Yoonsa who replaced it with another, patted Sangbin’s back and encouraged him. She carried the heavy bucket of barf to the door and set it to the side. Sangbin continued to eat and discharge from his mouth, like it was a ritual.

This went on until Larali said she couldn’t take it anymore, and, just like last time, Larali left the room. Yoonsa went with her.

All the anxiety and stress came crashing down at once. Arin, afraid of killing him, looked away from him and began to pick at the skin around her fingernails.

This time, she heard Sangbin groan in pain, a pain that had been absent in Larali’s presence. She heard him wretch. She heard him suffer, and she couldn’t look away. She needed to help him.

She turned her head toward him, and even though the dark evil energy felt like it was threatening to kill this man, she had this surge of confidence that she never felt before. She felt stronger than this curse for the first time. She loved Sangbin a lot more than she feared her curse.

She stood up to the curse, and went toward Sangbin with a clean towel, fed him the last bit of food on his plate, and helped him clean up. When he was done, he looked so tired and weak, and Arin pushed his wheelchair toward the bed, helping him up to lay down there.

It was hard, but she endured it, because she wanted him to stop suffering. His name was stuck in which made it hard for her to breathe, but she didn’t care.

She powered through it until he was on the bed, resting, breathing heavily.

“Thank you, Arin,” he said weakly. “And I’m sorry for making you watch that.”

She remembered that all of these sessions were part of the project to uncurse him, and suddenly, she didn’t even mind the pain. Let the curse block . Let it consume her with anxiety. Let it bleed her fingers dry. For him, she was willing to sit through anything.

She reached for his hand and held it. He smiled weakly, and continued to thank her as he drifted into sleep.

Arin continued to sit there and watch him. He stayed there, before her very eyes, but her curse never won. The name never came out of .

-

It was Hoshi who put the session to an end after about six hours, telling her that it was enough for today, and that he wanted her for something else.

It was hard to break away from Sangbin, who was still resting in that bed when she retreated. Being in love with him, she wanted to stay there with him for as long as she could, until he woke up again and she could make sure he was okay.

“You did a fantastic job!” Hoshi told her with enthusiasm. “We got so much magic out of this session. Yoonsa says she’ll be able to perform a reversal within two weeks at this pace! To put this in perspective, we’ve been collecting for five years! Honestly, Arin, you’re an angel for putting up with this.”

She smiled weakly, happy to hear that Sangbin would be cured of this malady very soon, and determined to do this everyday, just for him.

“What was different this time?” Hoshi asked her. “Yesterday, you couldn’t take it, but today, you powered through. What changed?”

She had to write the answer on her phone.

I don’t know. But I just wanted to work harder for him, so I felt stronger and more confident, and beat my own anxiety for the first time.

It made her happy to think about this. She was happy to know that she overcame a feeling that crippled her and ruined her life. She felt like she was wrestling with her curse and finally winning. She was proud.

She was happy.

Arin turned her head to see if Larali was around.

Larali was nowhere in sight, which made her even happier, because it meant magic had nothing to do with the happiness she was feeling.

-

Hoshi took her to his office and told her that he wanted her to meet someone, then brought her a middle-aged woman. She was wearing sunglasses and held a cane that helped her navigate. It was clear to Arin that this woman was blind.

He then called over someone who was passing by, someone who also wore sunglasses.

“Arin, this is Jiho. Jiho, this is Arin,” Hoshi introduced.

“Pleased to meet you!” the woman said in a bubbly, bright voice.

“Arin can’t speak,” Hoshi told Jiho. “I just wanted her to meet you.”

Hoshi then turned to Arin and further explained: “Jiho is cursed… well, she used to be, at least. Her curse was to see the worst of people. It was an irreversible curse that made her suffer immensely, so she decided to gouge her eyes out, and never ‘see’ again. Technically, she still is cursed, but the curse can no longer work, because she can’t see at all.”

“Best decision I ever made,” the blind woman said. “I can finally live again.”

Arin immediately understood why Hoshi wanted her to meet this woman. She was an example of someone who wrestled with an irreversible curse, and won.

Why had Arin never thought to gouge her own eyes out? Her curse also wouldn’t work if she couldn’t see after all. Then she realized: it also wouldn’t work if she didn’t talk. Just like now.

It may be hard to give up her vision, but her voice was definitely a fair trade to make for a life where she didn’t have to worry about killing people for merely knowing their names. A life where she was finally free to love.

She didn’t even have to think about it. She wanted to give up her voice, and not just within these ocatrine walls. She wanted to give up her voice permanently, everywhere, and finally defeat her curse once and for all.

A/N: I didn’t have much time to edit this so sorry for typos and incoherent sentences. The last 2 chapters may have been a bit boring but they’re important to set up context for what will happen next :D