Arin began to realize that this conflict between Hyojung and MRS had become so severe, it was no longer understood by the conventional standards of right and wrong. Both sides were taking hostages, bargaining with human lives as if they had the right, as if the immorality of abduction and imprisonment inconsequential in the face of their struggle. Hyojung in her struggle to end magic, and MRS in their struggle to restore and nourish it.

It had spiraled out of control, and she was nothing but a pawn to be exploited by both sides.

Arin didn’t know what side to take, who to believe, who to follow. For a while, she had bought into what MRS was doing, but lately she had begun to doubt them too.

The only thing she knew for sure was that Jun was a good person, and she didn’t want him to remain a prisoner.

“Where is he?” Dasinai asked the man.

“The 13-story enchanted building. We tried to break in, but it was no use. It blocks out all mages.”

“Can’t we try to break the enchantment on the building somehow?” Dasinai asked.

Hoshi jumped in: “The structure is too big. We don’t have that kind of power.”

“Then we need to find another hostage, someone else she cares about. What about her father?” Dasinai asked. “Her father’s building isn’t as large, so the enchantment will be much easier for us to break, right?”

“No, I will have no part in that!” the witch Yoonsa chimed in, eying Dasinai with disapproval.

“But…”

“Enough, Das. No more hostages,” Yoonsa said. “Either we give Arin up, or leave Jun with Hyojung. I don’t think she would hurt him.”

The man from the mission cleared his throat, then said, “about that… she threatened to curse him tomorrow if we don’t carry through with the exchange.”

If Arin could speak, she would have said something, if only to unpack all the thoughts running through her head as she process this. It did not sound like Hyojung to make such a threat. Hyojung’s whole purpose, as far as Arin had been told, was to protect the cursed. Hyojung was too kind to doom someone to eternal suffering that will forever wreak havoc on their mental and emotional health. She saw what curses had done to Arin, to Jeonghan, to her own mother.

It was a lie. Either this man was lying, or Hyojung was.

Right? Arin was not sure anymore.

“That woman is evil…” Das managed to say in her shock.

“Let’s just give Arin up,” Yoonsa said with a shrug.

“But Sangbin…” Dasinai looked severely stressed, much different from the cool, level-headed leader that Arin had come to know. She began to pace. Everyone went quiet, letting her decide their next course of action.

She turned to Arin. “Are you on our side, Ar?”

Maybe if she had her tongue intact, Arin would have given the truer, more nuanced answer: she didn’t know which side she was on, but she would cooperate to help Jun, in whatever way that she could. Instead, she just nodded.

-

MRS orchestrated a whole “battle plan” for this “hostage exchange,” a term that, according to Dasinai, was used by Hyojung.

“Hyojung probably believes you are a hostage with us,” Dasinai said. “But you are not a hostage, dear. You are here of your own free will and volition; I don’t think Hyojung understands that, because that’s what you are to her.”

They gave Arin a new phone and a new number and hid that phone under her clothing. They said it was in case Hyojung took away her old phone to prevent her from contacting them.

“We need you, Arin,” Dasinai told her. “We’ll be going through with this exchange for Jun’s sake, but we really hope for you to return to us, as soon as you can. Sangbin will die without the magic of your curse, so please try to escape. We’ll try everything in our power to help you do that from the outside.”

-

When they were alone, Hoshi gave her a little vial with a drop of love potion. She gave him an inquisitive look.

“This is a potential escape plan,” Hoshi explained. “But it’s completely up to you whether you decide to do it or not.” Hoshi looked like he was struggling to say what he really wanted to say, like it were a taboo or something. “The enchantment keeps you trapped in the building, but if the source of the enchantment dies, then the enchantment is lifted, automatically. You won’t be trapped anymore.”

Hoshi peered at her, as if waiting for her to connect the dots herself. She just narrowed her eyes and waited for him to break it down for her.

“If you take the love potion with Hyojung as your target, then say her name, the enchantment will be lifted,” he told her, as if skipping the one very important step in the sequence would make his implication seem less heinous than it was.

Arin would have gasped if her voice had allowed it, but she just stood there mouth agape and eyes wide with horror.

“I know,” Hoshi said when he saw her expression. “I know it’s cruel of me to even suggest that you do that, but honestly, Arin…” He trailed off, teeth gritted and eyebrows furrowed into a tense frown. “I wish you would do it.”

Arin shook her head and returned the potion to him. It was outrageous and downright barbaric. She was not going to fall in love with Hyojung then say her name, then watch her die before her very eyes. She was not going in with the intention of murdering someone, least of all not Hyojung, someone who, until less than a week ago, had been Arin’s one and only friend in the world.

“Listen to me,” Hoshi said, “this woman is going to kill us. She’s going to kill me, Das, and everyone else with magic in their blood, including herself. She’s already planning it, Arin. When she collects enough magic, she’ll do it. I’m asking you to help us prevent that…”

Arin shook her head. She would not even think of it. Not even consider it for a second. Even if it were for the “greater good,” Arin would rather sit back and do nothing.

Hoshi didn’t hand the vial back to her. He just slipped it in her pocket again, and walked away.

Arin could have taken it out of her pocket and put it on his desk, thereby making her stance loud and clear. For some reason though, she didn’t. The vial remained in her pocket.

-

It was snowing outside, and Arin was very underdressed. Had she known she would be waiting out in the cold for so long, she would have brought another layer. Instead, she was stuck in her worn out hoodie, with her arms wrapped around her body, waiting for the hostage exchange to happen.

Arin was standing in front of Jeonghan’s building. She was not happy to see the front gate of that place again. She felt sick in her stomach, actually as all the years of ignorance and isolation came back as parasitic memories eating into her soul.

When Jun finally appeared at the gate, Hyojung was not with him. Instead, it was that woman with short hair, the one that MRS had originally taken hostage. She had Jun blindfolded with his arms tied behind him, holding a rope from behind him like it was a leash.

Arin was walking freely, no ropes or leashes. Arin wondered if she should take this setup as an indicator of who the bad guys were.

MRS had only tied a cloth around , as per her own request, because she was afraid of coming face-to-face with Jun outside of MRS walls, saying his name, and dooming him.

The exchange was fairly simple. Jun stood at the doorway, and as soon as Arin went into the all-too-familiar lobby, the woman let go of the rope and took off Jun’s blindfold.

“I’m sorry, Arin,” was all that Jun had the chance to say before the woman shut the front gate on his face.

The building felt the same as it had always been: suffocating, like there was pressure all over her body, trapping her, reminding her she was stuck in this golden prison forever.

“It that we had to meet like this,” the young woman said to Arin with a weak smile. “I would properly introduce myself, but I was told not to give you my name.”

Arin didn’t say anything.

“I’m Hyojung’s good friend,” the woman said. “I’ve heard so much about you, Arin. Hyojung talks about you all the time.”

Arin may have really liked this girl if the circumstances were different. Right now, she could shake from her head the image of this woman holding Jun with a leash. She also could not help but feel like this woman was her own captor.

“Do you want me to…” the woman pointed at the cloth that was still tied around . “I can help you take it off if you want…”

Arin used her own arms to untie the cloth on her own, partly to make a statement. She didn’t want to make that woman feel like she had any power over her.

“Okay, great. I’ll just leave you for now, then. We can meet on the roof, in your home. Hyojung is on her way here, I’ll be waiting for her here in the lobby. I would come up with you, but Hyojung asked me not to talk to you for too long; I think she afraid of your curse. Anyways, you can go up and wash up and do what you need to. I’ll meet you up there as soon as she’s here.”

“She’s coming?” Arin spoke to her for the first time.

“Yes. She’s on her way.”

“I take it that I’m not allowed to leave the building?” Arin asked, just to verify that she really was a prisoner.

The young woman smiled sadly, “Hyojung wants to speak to you, so I believe you have to stay here for now.”

That confirmed it; she was a prisoner.

“Oh and… before you leave…” the young woman said reluctantly. “I was asked to take away your phone, too.”

She was definitely a prisoner.

After handing over her phone to the stranger, Arin went up the stairs, trying to think up an escape plan that did not involve killing anyone. She needed to get out, least of all to be free of this cage. She needed to escape because she knew Sangbin’s clock was ticking, and if he was to have a chance of survival, she had to get back to MRS.

For that to happen, she needed to get Hyojung to lift the enchantment.

Her first instinct was to go somewhere where Hyojung wouldn’t find her. It was a big building with many places to hide. She headed for Woozi’s apartment, hoping this would be the last time she would ever seek his help.

But as she turned a corner on the staircase of the seventh floor, she came face-to-face with Jeonghan.

A/N: Happy New Year everyone! Here's to the year I complete this story and maybe begin another one?