The next time she saw Jun at MRS, he looked angry. With clenched fists and a frown on his face, he confronted Arin.

“I need you to do these sessions without Larali,” he said. “She can’t take it anymore.”

Arin did not want to cause Larali any more pain. Like Jun, she didn’t want the girl to take part in the extraction. It was hardly her choice though, and Jun knew that.

“Hoshi and Dasinai are not letting me into the Extraction Room anymore,” Jun muttered. “They think I’ll ruin the extraction again like the first time. They know I can’t stand to see Larali hurting, so they’re locking me out. That’s why I need your help, Arin. I need you to stop them. Tell them you won’t do it with Larali in the room.”

Arin nodded her head, indicating that she was ready to try that. She then took out her phone and texted him a question that had been on her mind since the day he barged into the Extraction Room when Larali was suffering.

She’s your soulmate, right?

When Jun read the message, he sighed and his face flushed with guilt. “I don’t like saying that. She’s a child. It feels weird and creepy to say that a child is my soulmate. But I love her like a sister. I would die to protect her. You’re right, though. We are connected with the thread.”

Arin nodded. It all made sense to her now. Larali was how Jun found MRS; he followed the thread to her.

“Larali doesn’t know that I’m her soulmate, so please don’t ever tell her, okay?”

Arin nodded.

-

At the Extraction Room, Arin prepared a note for Hoshi on her phone explaining that she didn’t want Larali to be part of the extraction sessions anymore, but before she could show him, he began saying something else.

“Arin, about your friend, Woozi, I would really like to run some tests with him. Obviously, he doesn’t meet some condition in your curse, and I want to know what it is. Maybe it’ll help us find a loophole that doesn’t involve permanently erasing your voice.”

Arin nodded her head, hopeful at the idea that there was something to be discovered, something that would save her from having to make the decision to irreversibly mutilate her body.

“Great, just send me his contact information and I’ll arrange for some time to look into the case,” Hoshi said. “Also…” he added, watching her carefully. “We’ve installed curtains in the Extraction Room so that no one from outside can look inside. We can keep Larali out for today, and Yoonsa can go in later to collect the magic. It will just be you and Jeonghan, full privacy. Would you like that?”

Arin cheeks bit her lower lips and her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. She understood the implication well enough; Hoshi wanted her to be even more intimate.

“Yesterday, it worked, Arin,” Hoshi explained. “There was so much magic, and we would really like more. And I know not having Larali in the room will make it harder, so if you want, we can have her under the bed…”

Arin shook her head. No Larali.

“Okay then,” Hoshi agreed. “Larali will not participate. But without Larali, you know we’ll have to keep Jeonghan chained, right?”

-

Jeonghan was chained to the bed this time. He was laid down on his back with his hands handcuffed to the headboard and his feet to the footboard. He was struggling and yelling curses at everyone.

Arin stood over the bed, feeling tension in her chest as she watched him. This felt so wrong.

Hoshi handed her the toothpick with the potion on it, then drew the curtain and left the room. The curtains surrounded the entire room, so no one from outside could see the inside. It was just her and a chained-up Jeonghan.

She approached Jeonghan carefully. There was a knot in her chest she could not shake.

“This is not it,” he yelled at her. “Get me out of here, now!”

There was sweat on his forehead, and his wrists were bruised from the struggle. Arin wanted to set him free. He could beat her and yell at her; that would be easier than being in the position she was in now, towering above him like some dominatrix while he was chained to a bed.

She took the potion, and used the bed headboard to steady herself. Now totally in love with Jeonghan, it was even harder for her to see him like that.

She approached the chains, tugging at them, trying to set him free, but they were sturdy. Nothing she could do would break them.

“Tell those ing sadists to let me go! If they want me to you, I’ll do it without all this!”

The words made Arin freeze and an uncomfortable chill ran throughout her body. She wrapped her arms around her own chest. She began to tremble. She didn’t want to do this.

She went for the door. After drawing the curtain that covered it, she opened it and found Larali standing outside, waiting expectantly.

“I’m here,” the girl said. She had headphones on, and the sound of music could be heard blasting through them. She came in through the door, closed it, placed keys in Arin’s hands, and walked toward Jeonghan. The closer she went to him, the less he struggled.

Larali then crawled under the bed.

“I’m listening to music. I can’t hear or see you,” Larali yelled. “Please go ahead.”

Arin did not know what to do. She did not want to involve Larali. She promised Jun she wouldn’t. She approached the bed, got on her knees, and tugged at Larali’s arm.

Larali crawled out from under the bed and brought herself up on her knees in front of Arin. She took the headphones off and left them around her neck. Idol music played loudly.

Arin shook her head to say no to Larali.

“But why not? I promise I won’t listen to or see anything. I’m helping you guys.”

Arin continued to shake her head.

“Please let me do this Arin,” Larali nearly begged. “I want to help. Sangbin needs me.”

Arin shook her head again.

“Why not?”

Arin sighed, and took out her phone to give the girl a more substantial answer. I don’t want to hurt you anymore.

“I will not be hurt,” Larali promised. “I will be okay. Don’t worry about me. I want to do this. I need to do this. For Sangbin.”

Jun would kill me if I let you.

“Jun isn’t the boss of me,” Larali replied gravely with a frown on her face. “I can make my own decisions, and I want this, okay?”

Arin was silenced by that. She watched as Larali put on her headphones again and crawled under the bed.

Arin was so torn and confused and overwhelmed by the situation around her. So many people were pulling her in a million different directions, and she didn’t know how to act anymore. Not to mention she was not expected to give her body away when she was not mentally prepared for it. To make it worse, with Larali right there, Arin couldn’t even feel outraged. She just felt empty.

Hoshi stuck his head through the door. “You’re good, Arin. Just have fun, okay?” He pulled the curtain and closed the door.

“Unlock me, Arin,” Jeonghan’s calm and soothing voice shook her out of her thoughts.

She stood up and sat at the bedside next to him. She used the keys Larali had given her to unlock the chains that held Jeonghan down. She started with his legs, then went for his arms. It took longer than it should have, but her trembling hands made her miss the small keyhole too many times.

When he was finally free, the first thing he did was rub his bruised wrist. He didn’t say a word to her. Just sat there on the bed, eyes on the floor.

Arin also stood silently, waiting for him to make a move that he never made. She wished he would say something, anything, to indicate some form of consent to what MRS wanted them to do. One look, just one glance would be enough, but he just sat there withdrawn within himself.

If Arin could speak, she would have coaxed it out of him with her words. She would have told him that she loved him, and that she was ready for this, but she couldn’t.

She really did love him, but she didn’t dare to touch him if he was being held against his will like this.

“This is not right,” he finally murmured. “What they’re making you do. You’re shaking; you’re scared; and you’re under the influence of a fancy drug they call a potion. It’s no different than spiking a drink, and if I let you do this, then I’ll be taking advantage. Not to mention the little girl under the bed. We’re not going to do this.”

His words made her feel whole and real again. It helped her feel more in control of her body, and she could restore the connection to it she hadn’t even realized she lost.

But she also couldn’t ignore what was at stake. Sangbin needed to be uncursed and they were depending on her to help do that. She didn’t want to let anyone down, especially not Larali who was enduring so much under the bed.

Arin shuffled closer to Jeonghan. The least she could do was hold his hand, so she reached and took his hand with her gloved one. He wrapped his fingers around her hand for a moment, then let go and shook his head.

“W…what are you doing, Missy?” he stammered, swiftly moving his hand away from her. “I don’t want your grubby hands anywhere near me.”

It sounded just like the Jeonghan she knew, the hateful one that degraded her and made her feel like trash. The only difference was that now he could help it. Now, with Larali absorbing his pain from under the bed, he didn’t have to be a cold-hearted condescending jerk. He was choosing to be that person now.

Even the expression on his face was different. He didn’t frown or glare at her; he didn’t even look at her.

Arin wondered what was going through his head. Did he really want to push her away? Was he really disgusted by her now? Yesterday, he didn’t seem to feel that way at all.

Whatever it was, Arin knew her advances were not welcome. She got off the bed and sat against the curtained glass wall.

A few minutes passed, and Larali climbed out from under the bed, probably sensing there was something wrong and seeing Arin sitting on the floor from where she was.

“What are you guys doing?” she asked as she stood up and looked between them.

“Tell your little scientist magician friends out there they can forget it,” Jeonghan replied.

“But...” Larali’s eyes were wide and curious. “Why? You love each other, don’t you?”

Jeonghan scoffed. “Me loving her? Never.”

Larali narrowed her eyes, then crossed her arms. “I see what you’re doing here, Jeonghan. You think by being nasty, you’re saving me the pain, but all you’re doing is transferring the pain to her. And I feel that too.”

Jeonghan grunted in response..

“Just be honest with her. It’s your chance to be honest. Don’t worry about me.”

Jeonghan lowered his head and shook it. “I’d rather say nothing at all.”

“Well I don’t want that. The more pain I’m in, the more magic we get, and the more magic we get, the closer we are to saving Sangbin. I know you don’t care about him, but I do, and I’m willing to take it, okay? You’re not losing anything by cooperating! You don’t even hurt! I’m the one who has to bear it, not you!” she was crying at this point. Her fists were clenched and her voice was getting higher and higher.

Jeonghan looked taken aback by Larali’s confrontation, but he stayed quiet.

“Tell her the truth!” Larali yelled. “Tell her the truth, now!”

Jeonghan shook his head.

“Tell her you love her!”

“I don’t.”

“Liar!”

“I am not a liar. That is the truth. I do not love her, and I never did. Yes, I cared about her to some degree after she worked for me for four years, but that’s it. I told her I loved her once only to get her to kill me. I also thought I loved her yesterday and the day before that, but only because you all drugged me with the love potion to make me think that I did. But I don’t. I only ever loved one person, and Arin killed her.”

Arin felt the pang for a moment, like a sharp pierce to her heart dealing the most debilitating force over her body. However, it was gone as soon as it came, transferred to Larali.

Larali’s lower lip quivered.

“Stop,” she said. “You’re hurting her.”

“She has to know the truth,” Jeonghan replied. “She has to know I resent her for deciding to kill Hyojung, and she has to know what Hyojung meant to me. Hyojung was the only one in the world who cared about me. Everyone else hoped I would drop dead, including Arin. Arin killed her, and left me alone and desperate…”

Larali dropped to the floor, tears streaming down her face.

Arin felt nothing. She wanted to feel something, though. She wished Larali would leave so she could be struck with the pain that she deserved.

“Why did you kill her, Arin?” Jeonghan asked as he looked at her. It was a genuine question. “She took care of me for five years, and took care of you for three. She protected us from ourselves and loved us even though we were monsters. She did everything for us, and you repaid her by killing her.”

Those words should have driven a full on panic attack, but with Larali there, she felt nothing but uncomfortable emptiness. Larali on the other hand, was now clutching her chest and crying.

Arin took Larali’s hand and pulled her to the door. She wanted the girl out. She wanted to be the one to suffer that harrowing pain. She was the one who deserved it after all.