If Jeonghan was the devil now, then Arin loved the devil. He could beat and batter her, but she would still love him. In a way, she was happy to be beaten if it meant that the pain in his eyes would disappear.

He was yelling like a madman as he collapsed on the floor, struggling against whatever it was that possessed him. At one point, the struggle was over, and his neck snapped to stare at Arin with a loog of pure evil, like he would murder her in that instant.

Arin was afraid of him, but at the same time her heart burned to give him relief from the agony that was ailing him.

He lunged toward her, and she didn’t dodge it or try to escape. She let him grab her neck and squeeze it.

There were bright red veins in his eyes. He did not look like Jeonghan at all.

Just as Arin was about to pass out, Jeonghan’s hand went limp and fell to his side. Arin collapsed on the floor, gasping for air. Arin looked up to see what had happened; it was Yoonsa. She had her arms out like she was casting a spell on him.

“Get out of here,” Yoonsa said, her eyes focused on Jeonghan. Whatever it was, it eventually made Jeonghan drop on the floor, as if he were dead.

Arin only assumed the worst.

“What happened?” Hoshi asked as he barged in.

“He almost killed her,” Yoonsa answered him. “I had to do something.”

“What did you do?”

“I cast a sleeping spell on him...”

Arin relaxed, and it looked like Hoshi did too. “How much magic did that take?” Hoshi asked.

“I couldn’t control how much magic I released,” Yoonsa said, looking down in shame. “He was about to kill her, so I had no time to focus!”

“How much magic did you waste?” Hoshi repeated through gritted teeth.

“A little bit more than I got from this session…”

Hoshi sighed in disappointment and ran his hand through his hair, stressed. “We need more magic now.”

“Why are you angry with me?” Yoonsa said. “I’m trying! Jun’s the one who took Larali out and ruined everything!”

Hoshi looked at the bracelet on Arin’s wrist. It was white now, even as she stared at Jeonghan’s limp body.

“Well now that he’s asleep, it’s not working,” Hoshi murmured.

“We’ll have to try again tomorrow,” Yoonsa said. “And keep Jun out!”

Hoshi nodded in agreement.

-

The following day, Hoshi approached Arin, held her hand, and kissed it. He was watching her bracelet the whole time. He noted that the color got darker when he did.

“You’re someone who gets flustered by touch,” Hoshi told her. “And that fluster makes your love swell for an instant, which makes the magic increase.”

Hoshi was right about that. She remembered the time when Jeonghan kissed her in the elevator, or when he hugged her, and how the magic became stronger by those very acts alone.

“We need magic fast, Arin,” Hoshi said. “Do you understand what I mean?”

Arin nodded.

“Kiss him, hug him, sleep with him, whatever, just please, whatever generates more, do it.”

“No!” came the voice of Jun, who had overheard the conversation from outside the door. His fists were clenched as he barged in, eyes fixated on Hoshi.

“God, what are you doing here?” Hoshi asked.

“Not Jeonghan! He’s too much for Larali,” Jun said. “How are you guys okay with torturing her like that?”

Hoshi sighed, looking troubled. “Look, I don’t like this anymore than you do, but Jeonghan has so much magic…”

“Then keep Larali out!”

“If Larali’s out, then Jeonghan will get dangerous.”

“Then tie him up good! I don’t know! You’re the smart one around here,” Jun murmured.

Hoshi sighed. “Would you be willing to be the love interest, Jun?”

“What?”

“Here’s my idea,” Hoshi began. “You and Arin go intimate, however you guys want to do that. Jeonghan, as someone who is in love with Arin, will be there, watching. That way, he won’t be compelled into showing kindness to anyone, which means Larali won’t feel the pain of his kindness.”

Jun remained quiet for a moment, considering it. “It feels wrong to play with hearts like that.”

“Trust me, if someone’s life wasn’t at stake, I would never do it.”

“It’s a good idea, but not me,” Jun muttered under his breath. “The neighbor. Woozi.”

“Who?”

“Arin’s soulmate.”

-

Woozi was with Hoshi when he entered the Extraction Room later that night. Hoshi was explaining the concept of extraction and how it works.

Arin could not lift her head to look at him. It was one thing to have these sessions with people who knew about magic and what was going on, but another thing entirely to do it with a muggle who was just suddenly forced to be her love interest.

When Woozi took a seat on the bed beside Arin in the Extraction Room, Hoshi asked her to lift her head and look at him. “I want to see the color on your bracelet.”

Reluctantly, she lifted her head and looked at him. He looked at her with piqued curiosity, head tilted as he tried to make out what she thought of all this.

“Are you sure it’s him?” Arin heard Hoshi whisper to Jun. She glanced at her bracelet; it was still white.

“They are definitely connected, yes,” Jun replied.

“Alright, if you say so.”

Hoshi then turned to Woozi and explained what was going to happen, much to the muggle’s fascination. “There will be five people in the room, each with a different job,” Hoshi said. “You can ignore everyone in the room, but Arin. She’s your job.”

“What do I have to do?” Woozi asked.

“That’s where it might get awkward,” Hoshi said. “She’ll take a love potion and fall in love with you. Then, we just want you two to be… um... touchy and stuff.”

Woozi narrowed his eyes. “How do you mean?”

“Any way you want,” Hoshi replied with a shrug. “The touchier the merrier, I say.”

Arin felt the rush of heat to her cheeks, and put her head down in embarrassment. This was so awkward on too many levels. It felt like her body and her heart were mere playthings to manipulate and tamper. It was not like she could refuse to do this either, with Sangbin barely hanging by a thread.

“I need to hear this from Arin,” Woozi turned to her. “Are you sure you’re okay with this?”

Arin nodded, feeling slightly sick at the prospect of forced intimacy and artificial love. If this saving Sangbin had all been just a ruse, and Arin had to be put through all that for MRS’s selfish gain, she would hate herself.

-

Arin eyes widened in horror when Jeonghan was wheeled into the Extraction Room chained to a platform like a prisoner being crucified.

It nearly broke her heart to see him like that, bound like some sort of criminal. When he writhed and screamed for them to let him go, Arin felt like she had to rescue him.

Arin stared at Hoshi in horror, who was just ignoring Jeonghan’s yells and looking at his clipboard like a scientist conducting an experiment on a rat.

“What?” Hoshi asked when he saw the way she looked at him. “Is this about Jeonghan? We’re just trying to protect you. You know the devil possesses him if his curse is stretched to the limit. We just don’t want anyone getting hurt. We’ll free him after the session, don’t worry…”

Arin didn’t know what to say. It all felt so wrong and unfair. She remembered how she had assured Jeonghan that MRS would not hurt him, that they were good people. He trusted her and agreed to come with her. She could not help but feel like she had let him down as she watched him be rolled in on a chained board toward her.

When his eyes met hers and he stopped yelling. He was breathing heavily, sweating profusely, and staring into her soul.

It was then that Woozi also entered the room and saw him.

“Jeonghan?” Woozi stopped in tracks to take a closer look at the bound man, who looked far from the well-kept, poised landlord that Woozi was used to.

“What the is he doing here?” Jeonghan yelled.

“It’s a different kind of session today,” Hoshi answered. “You just stand still.”

Jeonghan yelled various curses, and struggled to get out of the chains again. Arin had to look away, because the more she looked, the harder it would be to go through with all of it.

Woozi glanced at Arin with narrowed, questioning eyes, as if seeking her input on this situation. Even he felt that it was wrong.

“I know you’re alarmed by the chains and handcuffs,” Hoshi said to both of them. “Rest assured, this is all just a safety measure. And deep down, he knows it too.”

“ you! I never agreed to this!” Jeonghan yelled as his chains rattled.

“Yes, you did,” Hoshi retorted with a scoff.

“I agreed to take part in this because you promised you would uncurse me. But not even reversing my curse is worth this humiliation! Let me go!”

Hoshi sighed. “We will do what we promised, Jeonghan.”

Hyojung’s words suddenly replayed in her head. Were MRS even collecting the magic to reverse curses? It had been years since MRS were active, and they still didn’t collect enough for Sangbin, how long until they collected enough for Larali or Jeonghan? Were they even working towards it, or was it all just some ruse they told them to get them to cooperate?

She glanced at Yoonsa on the other side of the building with skin as clear as a baby’s, hair as full as a young woman in her prime, decked in shiny jewelry and a flowing purple robe. Youth, beauty and wealth – that witch had it all, and at whose expense? All the people that she cursed? All the people that died because of that curse? Her son and her granddaughter? She was the one who deserved to die, not Jitae or Hyojung.

Arin’s heart hurt again.

Hoshi looked troubled. “I’m sorry,” he said to no one in particular. “But I’ll do what I have to for Sangbin.” He gave Arin the toothpick, then strode out of the Extraction Room, not looking back at the distressed faces he left behind.

Arin felt trapped too. As much as she wanted to stand up for Jeonghan, to tell Hoshi that she was not going through with this until Jeonghan was free, it seemed beyond her at this point.

Larali and Yoonsa entered the Extraction Room. Larali’s presence, as always, drained all of the bad feelings, all of the guilt and uncertainty, and Arin didn’t feel so troubled anymore. Even Jeonghan calmed down when she came in, his hostile eyes going serene, and his body relaxing in its chains.

The door closed. Reluctantly, Arin put the toothpick in and looked straight at Woozi.

The potion coursed through the veins in all her body as it took effect. She held onto the railing of the bed to keep herself from losing balance as her limbs shook from the impact.

When Arin regained her composure, she looked up at Woozi and felt totally and completely in love.

But it was different from how it felt when she took the potion with Sangbin or Jun or Jeonghan. It didn’t feel the same at all. It felt more comfortable, like there was no strain or pressure around that love at all. She just loved him, plain and simple.

Was it because he was my soulmate?

“Did it not work?” Yoonsa spoke up from the other side of the work. Her eyebrows were furrowed as she stared between Woozi and Arin.

It was then that Arin understood what was going on. She glanced at her bracelet; it was still completely white. There was no magic when she looked at him, at least not in the literal sense of the term. She was not compelled to say his name, even though she knew she loved him.

Something was wrong.

Woozi looked alarmed and out of place. His eyes went from Jeonghan to Arin to Larali and Yoonsa, very confused about what was happening around him.

Arin drew closer to Woozi, thinking maybe getting closer would trigger the magic, but nothing. The bracelet was still white.

“Take her hand,” Yoonsa instructed Woozi.

He nodded and reached out to take her hand. Arin instantly felt warm and giddy at his touch the way any in love would be, but there was no magic still. She wished he wouldn’t let go, but he did when Yoonsa said that it was not working.

“This is not doing anything. There’s no magic at all,” she said loud enough for those outside to hear.

The door opened and Hoshi came in.

“Arin, did the potion work? Do you love him,” he asked her.

Arin nodded, cheeks flushed.

Hoshi narrowed his eyes and looked at Woozi, as if he could offer an explanation for why this love rendered no magic. Woozi just looked up at Hoshi with an equally confused look on his face. He certainly had no idea what was going on either.

“Look at Jeonghan,” Hoshi instructed Arin, and she did.

Jeonghan’s chest was heaving with heavy breath as he witnessed the scene unfold before him. He did not look like the unkind jerk - no tense frown on his face, no spiteful glare in his eyes. He was just Jeonghan, a bound victim held against his will as he watched Arin, someone he supposedly loved, admit she was in love with another.

“Yes, there’s some magic now,” Yoonsa said.

Arin glanced at the color on her bracelet and felt her heart sink. It had been flashing white and purple the day before, but now, it was just purple, a dark shade of purple, the kind of purple that could kill.

It was not romantic love - that now belonged to Woozi. But it was a love that burned and strained Arin’s throat nonetheless.

“Are you sure you looked at Woozi after you took the love potion?” Hoshi asked.

Arin nodded.

Hoshi sighed a heavy sigh. “This is unusual,” he murmured, voice laced with frustration. “In any case, the initial plan isn’t going to work. Pretend Jeonghan is the love interest today.” He turned to Woozi. “Thanks for coming, but you can leave now.”

“Um. Okay.” Woozi nodded and headed toward the door. Arin didn’t want him to leave. It was hard to think she had to be apart from him now that she was in love with him. It was hard to think that she had to set her sights on someone else, even if that person was someone she cared about.

When Woozi and Hoshi were out the door, Arin turned to Jeonghan.

In times like this, she was glad she couldn’t speak. She wouldn’t know what to say if she could. All she knew was that he was the new “love interest,” and she had to make that love swell, all while being in love with someone else, and that person now took over her thoughts.

She knew Hoshi was outside waiting for her to be “intimate” with him, but Arin did not know what to do, especially seeing how he was chained to a board. She could not put her arms around him like she wanted. She could not even hold his hand without them being in an awkward position.

Anything she could do was just too intimate. She could kiss him, she could caress him, she could touch him anywhere on the front side of his body, but it was all too romantic and it did not feel right to have romantic intimacy with someone toward whom she had no romantic feelings, while the person she did love just walked out of the room a few seconds ago, and may well be watching her through the glass right now.

She stood in front of him and froze. Because he was raised up on a platform, her head was level with his torso. He was looming way above her, which made any form of intimacy even more awkward.

She reached out her hand to touch his hand, but then retracted it. It felt wrong, like she was violating him who was already bound and chained.

“They told you to touch me, didn’t they?” Jeonghan asked. His voice was still hoarse from the yelling.

Arin nodded.

“Then do it. I know you love the neighbor now, but you don’t have to be in love with someone to touch them.”

Arin couldn’t lift her head to look him in the eye. Arin felt so humiliated and ashamed. Her love, something that was supposed to be intimate and personal, was being paraded around for everyone to know and to watch. She was in a glass room with people looking at her, expecting her to be “intimate” with someone they knew she didn’t love.

He must feel the same way. Everyone heard him when he professed his love for her yesterday. These feelings which were vulnerable and deeply personal were now a spectacle they could exploit.

“If you believe in their mission, then do it. Touch me,” Jeonghan said.

The fact he was telling her to touch him made it feel all the more strange to do it. She shook her head and receded, sitting on the bed and looking down at the floor.

“You’re not used to touching people, are you?” he asked. “I get it. Both our curses have affected our ability to make human connections, so both of us never had an outlet for any physical relationships. But hey, at least you had Hyojung and your cat to cuddle. I had no one. Actually, you’re the only one I ever kissed,” he confessed.

Arin recalled how in the years she lived in his building, he rarely left. He had no visitors, no friends, no girlfriends, not even one-night stands. Before she knew he was cursed, she had thought he was anti-social or aual or something.

She understood how he felt. but, she was lonely for a lot less time than Jeonghan. Jeonghan was cursed the moment he was born, but Arin was cursed at 18. Before then, she had her fair share of boyfriends and lovers, including Minghao.

“There’s so much more I want to say, but I won’t,” Jeonghan said. “Because last time I took liberty with my words, I tortured a girl,” he glanced at Larali, “and almost choked you. All that I want to say will have to wait until I’m uncursed. For now, I’ll be mean and nasty to you like I always am. Or better yet, I’ll say nothing to you at all.”

“We want you to say it all,” Yoonsa suddenly spoke up from where she stood in the corner. Arin had almost forgotten that she was listening to every word. “When you say these… umm… nice… things, the magic from your curse is released.”

“All the more reason not to say it, then,” Jeonghan said as he glared at her.

Yoonsa sighed, then turned to Arin. “Please touch him. The magic isn’t coming nearly fast enough.”

Arin decided to power her way through the awkwardness. She approached him again and touched his hand, and ran her hand up and down his arms robotically. All throughout, she was not looking him in the eye. Somehow, eye contact would make it that much more intimate.

But intimacy was the point. “Look at him,” Yoonsa pressed.

Arin lifted her head and looked at him. Naturally, she slowed down, and the rub turned into a caress. Soon Arin could feel goosebumps on his arm. She wondered if he was cold.

“This is so awkward,” he murmured.

It was awkward, and so Arin was thankful when Yoonsa intervened and told Arin to stop because it wasn’t doing anything.

She stepped back and sat back down on the bed in front of him. She didn’t know how she was going to get through the rest of the session. Usually, she was in love with the person in the session, so despite the awkwardness, Arin never wanted it to end. But this time, the effects of the potion were wasted.

After a couple of minutes of awkward silence, Hoshi entered the room with keys in his hands. He headed toward Jeonghan, and without a word, he undid the various locks that bound him. Jeonghan was happy to be free of them, stretching out every limb after it was released.

Hoshi did not give an explanation, but he didn’t need to, because as soon as Hoshi was out the door, Arin felt Jeonghan’s longing eyes on her. Arin was almost afraid to look up to see them.

He took a seat on the bed beside Arin, and slowly reached for her hand.

She lifted her head in that moment, and he spared no second to take her chin and kiss her gently.

Larali’s cry of pain startled both of them out the trance and led them both to pull away from each other.

“Carry on!” Yoonsa said. “Don’t worry about Larali.”

“I’m fine,” Larali said in a strained voice that was obviously not fine.

Jeonghan looked troubled. After a moment’s hesitation, he leaned in to kiss Arin again, but this time, he tried to be more aggressive, more hungry, more selfish. Arin felt his tongue in and his hands on her waist.

Arin understood what he was trying to do, he was trying to be unkind so that his curse didn’t hurt him, therefore hurt Larali.

Then Jeonghan suddenly stopped kissing her. His body shook and spasmed for a few seconds, the way her own body did when she took the potion.

He took the potion.

Miniscule remnants of the potion must have been in her saliva, and when he kissed her like that, he must have consumed some.

He stared at her, but the look in his eyes didn’t change. He didn’t seem to have noticed that something about her was different or unusual. He didn’t even seem to notice that he was under the effect of something.

At that moment, Arin knew for sure: he was honest when he said he loved her. He loved her, with or without the potion.

So as he hungrily indulged in her lips again, Arin, for the first time, indulged him back, wrapping her arm around his neck and pulling him closer.