A pretty girl, dressed in a beige coat, looked out of her balcony at the beautifully illuminated Seoul. She approached the metal fence that stopped her from falling down the balcony and rested her arms on it, sighing. Her eyes danced from one place to another, following the night stars. A cold breeze made her flinch and running her fingers through her raven locks on her forehead, she headed inside her cozy home.

Kang Seulgi walked to her kitchen to prepare a cup of ramen. She is a well-known witch hunter, but for the wrong reasons. She was not only the worst of them all but also poorly trained and has never actually caught a single witch. It was her third year still being what they would call a rookie, since she hadn’t made her debut yet by catching a witch, on top of that none of her seniors wanted to coach her, just because of the rumors.

“Another year like this, Kang” She told herself as she took out a cup of instant ramen out of the cabinet. Her parents practically begged her to study a real career and major in something, anything. She was stubborn enough to convince them that this was her calling and at the end managed to even get a small apartment from them. It was something small but cozy enough for her to live, located in the heart of Seoul, her apartment was all white with grey ceramic flooring, white couch, white bed, white cabinets, white walls. It was a little bit annoying for Seulgi to see all that white, but never bothered to redecorate anyway, she had no money after all.

She placed her cup on the kitchen island and prepared the water, in the meantime, she contemplated the steam coming out of the metal teapot, what would her life be like if she actually had studied anything else? Would she be rich? Would she be famous, but for good reasons? She shakes her head in disapproval, I just need to concentrate a little bit more, she thought. While pouring water in the cup of ramen, her phone vibrated, she didn’t bother to look at the notification thinking it was her mom so she ignored the message and headed straight to the living room to watch a variety show. After she finished eating, she fell asleep for a while and woke up until 12 am when she checked her phone.

The message was from her boss and read:

Kang Seulgi, meet me tomorrow, I have a very special offer for you and I think this mission will change your life completely.

She bolted off of the couch and jumped happily while cheering for herself, did a celebration dance and ran to her room, not forgetting to turn the TV off. Seulgi opened her closet to reveal her clothes, all different colors and styles. She picked all black, coat, pants, heels, everything, looked for her pink book from the academy that has all the theory on how to hunt a witch and threw her body on the bed while hugging it tightly.

“It’s your chance, Seulgi… show them what you’ve got!” She cheered and finally prepared to sleep. The whole night, the hunter couldn’t stop rolling over and opening her eyes to take a peek of the hour, waiting for it to be day already, just like a little kid in Christmas. Her alarm went on and woke her up at 8 in the morning, she jumped out of the bed and took a speedy shower, had a toast for breakfast and rushed downstairs to catch a cab. After five minutes or so, she finally managed to catch a cab and headed to her boss’ office.

“Good morning Mr. Park” Seulgi greeted her tall and young boss.

“Good morning, Seulgi” Chanyeol greeted her as well. The man was only two years older than her and had already caught five witches in a row making him the best witch hunter in Seoul. He’s tall as hell and seems oddly younger than anyone in the office, making the people mistake him for a dongsaeng.

“Did you sleep well?” He asked, motioning her to sit on one of the leather chairs in front of his desk. Entering his office was like stepping inside of one of those ‘antique’ stores, all filled with strange devices, possessed dolls trapped in their cages Annabelle style, silver crosses, amulets, holy water, anything one could imagine, sitting on his wooden shelf, behind him.

“Honestly… I couldn’t sleep at all, hehe” Seulgi scratched the back of her head as she sat. “I was way too anxious so I kept waking up to check the clock”

“Ah, don’t worry. I know the feeling” Her boss said, approaching to his coffee maker. “Let me make us some coffee” Chanyeol smiled. Unlike Seulgi’s co-workers, he was always kind and carrying towards the girl because he knew the potential she held, he was always there, supervising, making sure she felt comfortable with the work environment and he was the only one who actually put the hunter in action, if it wasn’t for him, Seulgi would’ve never graduated from prep school.

“Here” The boss said, handing the monolided girl her coffee. Seulgi thanked him for the warm gesture and quietly sipped the liquid, waiting for Chanyeol to give her the mission. The tall man reached for one of the wooden desk’s drawers and took out a file, carefully sliding it on the desk to Seulgi’s direction.

“You know about the ReveFestival?” The boss asked, taking his mug full of coffee to his lips.

The hunter shook her head.

“It has something to do with French… if my memory serves me well it’s a festival made to celebrate dreams that can come true or something” Chanyeol poorly explained, looking more confused than confident. “Anyway, we were notified about three Korean girls missing over the past three years”

“Sounds like police territory” She said, furrowing her brows, still not knowing what her part in all of this was.

“Alright, not interested yet?” The man chuckled. “Two police officers were sent to the ‘crime scene’ but none of them returned. France never talked about the issue for some strange reason, despite being an international affair, until Monsieur Jacques, the owner of a farm nearby the festival, complained about missing animals from one day to another, hearing weird noises coming from a house up the hill and even watching four girls all dressed in similar clothing lurk in the night, looking for something” Seulgi nodded, attentively listening to every detail.

“Now you know where I’m going with all of this?” The boss asked. “Monsieur Jacques called yesterday, he wants our help, he thinks they’re witches”

“Wait, you said three Korean girls are missing, but Monsieur Jacques mentioned four girls…” The hunter analyzed, finally opening the file. The first part of the file was dedicated to the very first missing girl, Kim Yerim. By now she would be 20, had short black hair, brown eyes and white skin. Seulgi roamed her eyes on the paper, trying to memorize all the details. Her eyes stopped on the picture of the girl and carefully learned her features and the clothing she was wearing the day she went missing. Hunter Kang turned the page and did the same with the two remaining girls, Park Sooyoung, who by now would be 24, had long black hair, brown eyes and white skin and Son Seungwan who is the same age as Seulgi and basically had the same information than the other girls. By the time she reached the fourth page, there was nothing but some blurry photos of the fourth girl, along with a bunch of speculations of her being the actual witch.

She barely leaves the house; she must be hiding something.

It seems like she’s been living there for a while, yet she seems barely in her 20’s.

She’s been spotted walking around her house, looking for something while holding a flashlight.

We suspect she’s a witch, keeping the other four girls in the house with her, against their will.

Her hair is dark and long, delicate features, alluring eyes and beauty that blinds… beware of her.

After reading the warning, a cold sensation ran down Seulgi’s spine, making her shiver.

“So, what do you think? Interesting, isn’t it?” Chanyeol asked, excited. Everything for him was like an adventure, a chance to be a hero, he was afraid of nothing. On the other hand, hunter Kang was slightly concerned, thinking if this was indeed a good opportunity for her.

“I really think this is interesting but…” The monolided girl tried to put her feelings into words while looking down to her feet, feeling already defeated. “I think it’s better if you send someone like Krystal or Taeyeon to do the job… this is an international affair and I don’t want our job to be exposed if I screw this up-“

“Kang Seulgi” Chanyeol sternly called, cutting her off.

“Yes… s-sir”

“How come you can’t believe in yourself the way I believe in you?” The boss asked, trying to make his subordinate gain some confidence. “Stop thinking so little of yourself, I know you can do it, that’s why I called you” He smiled. “So go prepare your stuff because your flight is in five hours”

The hunter stood in front of her open luggage, still not believing that she was going to France in a matter of hours. She always dreamt of visiting France, not under these circumstances but still, she was exited. Sighing, she threw her body on the bed, staring blankly at her white ceiling. I can’t screw this one up, she thought. She opened her trusty witch hunting book and recited the words as if they were a prayer, trying to ease up her mind and concentrate on the case. She wasn’t nervous or anxious, she just wanted to prove her worth to her parents, to her co-workers.

The monolided girl finished packing and bided her apartment goodbye as she stepped in the cab, “Here I go” She cheered as the car started moving away from her home. Arriving to Incheon airport, she looked for her gate, just an hour before the flight. Seulgi left her small luggage on one of the chairs and walked a few steps to buy a doughnut and a coffee. Autumn mornings were slightly cold and once the sun comes out, the weather changes to a warm sunny hug. The hunter enjoyed this season most than the others because she can wear light coats, pants and boots. She finished her doughnut even before she made it to her chair, leaving her only with her coffee. Five minutes after, the boarding started.

She accommodated herself on her seat, fortunately nobody sat next to her. The hunter put her earbuds on and prepared for a 12-hour long flight. For the rest of the flight she didn’t do much, slept through the most of it and only woke up to eat. Finally, she was woken up by the ‘fasten your seatbelt’ warning before landing. She stretched and yawned looking out of the window to take a peek of France, below the plane, only small lights could be seen as the sun was preparing to set. The plane landed on the Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, there, she just needed to move from Paris to Chartres, after thinking about it for a while, she thought it was better if she rented a car, since she was going to be moving a lot from one place to another.

She stepped outside of the airport for the first time in what felt like forever and inhaled the distinctive air of Paris, France. The chilly weather made her shiver slightly and hid her left hand in her coat’s pocket to protect it from the cold while her right hand pulled her luggage. With the help of a translator app in her phone, she was able to rent a small white Fiat 500. The hunter put her belongings in the small trunk of the car and headed over Chartres. She peacefully drove for one hour on a beautiful highway, filled with nature that was barely visible as the sun almost set completely. After another twenty minutes, she finally reached her destination.

Seulgi parked the Fiat in front of a small hostel located five minutes away from the festival, walked to the reception and asked for a room with a view of the carnival-like festival. After she arranged her luggage, she walked out of the hostel directly to the festival that was already starting.

“I’m starving” She pouted as she held her stomach. Lights and sounds hit her senses, the faint smell of popcorn and candy cotton, carnival themed songs, everything seemed normal. The monolided girl stopped her tracks in front of a hot dog stand and asked for two in her broken French, she munched the food walking down the visible road, made by the footprints of the people who walked here almost every day, enjoying the festival. With time, kids and teenagers flooded the place, riding the rollercoaster, peacefully having a good time in the wheel of fortune, happily waiting for their turn on the carrousel. Man! I wish I was here for vacations… she said to herself as she finished the last bite of her hot dog.

In the distance, an interested lady carefully analyzed every move she made, the hunter felt a gaze falling on her and tried to look for the culprit but nobody was paying attention to her, the monolided girl shook her head thinking she was being paranoid and resumed her ‘investigation’ on the ice cream stand.

“I’ve never seen you here before, is this your first time visiting the ReveFestival?”

Seulgi heard the young lady, her voice was melodic, somehow sweet.

“Yup, first time” Hunter Kang replied, her chocolate ice cream, not bothering to look at the girl.

“Great! May I ask if you would like to come and meet my unnies?”

Unnies? The monolided girl asked herself.

“We’re famous for our Ice cream cakes!”

Seulgi finally turned to see the oddly exited girl. There she was, Kim Yerim. Everything fit into the description; she was probably 20 years old or so, her eyes were brown and her factions were delicate… but why is she here? She’s supposed to be inside… the hunter thought.

“Sure, I love Ice cream and I love cake so, why not?” She played along with Yerim. If she accepts the offer, that means she has a free pass to the house.

Yerim guided Seulgi to the house, they walked up the hill where Monsieur Jacques’ farm was visible, right beside the farm a bricked house sat on the top of the hill, trees covered the facade making it impossible to see the whole building in just one glance. The young girl leaded the hunter to the main entrance, a dark wooden door with stained glass on each sides of the door. The monolided girl stopped her tracks for a second and analyzed the situation. She was about to enter the house full of ‘witches’ and didn’t even bother to bring her book with her, in this case she was defenseless.

“C’mon in” Yerim persuaded as she saw Seulgi hesitate.

“Maybe next time… I remembered I need to unpack first” Hunter Kang tried to excuse herself to run back to the hostel and properly prepare herself but the wooden door carefully opened before her.

“You brought us a guest, Yerimie?”

Both of the girls standing in front of the house looked up to see a young lady smiling sweetly.

Son Seungwan.

“Yeah, Wendy unnie!” Yerim cheered.

Wendy? She must’ve changed her name… Seulgi thought.

“Well then, come in! don’t be shy” Wendy happily said in her perfect English.

The monolided girl didn’t say a word and instead followed Yerim inside the house. The inside of the building was mostly made out of wood, they had little to almost no decorations and a bunch of clocks with different hours on them, there was a set of stairs in front of the entrance, a silver chandelier firmly suspended from the ceiling and a faint smell of cake. To the left was the entrance to the dining room and to the right the entrance to the living room.

“Follow me” Wendy said but now in Korean as she could appreciate Seulgi’s features once she was inside the house. She guided the hunter to the dining room and made her sit on one of the chairs. Seulgi was left alone for five minutes, a time she spent studying the place she was in. The wooden walls were also full of clocks, there were two or three paintings of women only, mostly from the Victorian era, the cabinet in front of the table contained different silverware, so they aren’t werewolves, she thought, discarding the obvious.

“I heard you love Ice cream and cake too” A voice interrupted her inspection, making her jump in fear. “Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you” The woman chuckled. Seulgi quickly made eye contact with the young lady, beautiful brown eyes, small pretty nose, tempting pink lips… she was an angel. She had the most sophisticated features she’s ever seen in a woman. Small hands held the cake in front of her, black pants and a white shirt showed off her figure. Her blonde hair fell perfectly down her back, without being able to take her eyes off the young lady, hunter Kang opened .

“Pater noster, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur Nomen Tuum, adveniat Regnum Tuum…” She recited the Lord’s Prayer in Latin, bolted off of the chair and took a silver crucifix pointing it to the woman, who was obviously a witch. There was no other explanation of her being so perfect, of her being so beautiful, of her making Seulgi feel weirdly attracted to her and blush in this way.

“Fiat voluntas Tua, sicut in caelo, et in terra-“ She continued, walking closer to the witch.

“Quit it, Seulgi. The Lord’s Prayer won’t stop me, dear” The beauty cut her off, but the monolided girl refused to listen to her.

“Ave María, gratia plena, Dominus tecum, benedicta tu in muliéribus-“

“Hail Mary? I’m not a demon” The witch complained, rolling her eyes.

“Get away, witch!” Hunter Kang cried, taking a bottle of holy water out of her coat’s pocket, wetting the woman as the liquid hit her right on the face.

“Now you just made me angry” The witch murmured. “Sit!” She commanded and a supernatural force pulled Seulgi to her chair.

“Who the hell are you?” The hunter complained, rubbing the back of her head as it previously hit the chair.

“I’m Irene, I’ll be taking care of you” The beauty said, smiling warmly. She placed the Ice cream cake in front of Seulgi and sat next to her, as if she was waiting for something to happen.

“I’m not eating that” The monolided girl refused, pushing the cake away from her.

“Why?” Irene asked, disappointed. “It’s really tasty” She insisted.

“You’re a witch, you can’t fool me” Seulgi said, crossing her arms and looking away from the woman.

“Fine, we’ll do it my way” The witch said, stomped the hunter’s left foot making her scream in pain and shoved a piece of cake in .

“Jesus! You didn’t have to do… huh” Seulgi rambled, furrowing her brows. “It is really tasty” She praised, mouth still filled with cake.

“I told you” Irene grinned, satisfied.

“But… I don’t feel… so good…” Hunter Kang complained, the room started spinning around, her vision was blurry and eyes were about to close as if she was sleepy.

“Seulgi…?”

“Seulgi”

“Seulgi!”

She heard Wendy calling her name in echoes and started to gain consciousness again. She opened her eyes and almost had a heart attack when she saw the bright sun, a clear blue sky and learned that she was laying on the ground. She quickly sat up and frenetically looked around, trying to recognize anything but it was futile, she didn’t recognize a damn thing. All she could see was small mountains, a large highway, cacti and a gas station not so far away. She checked her hands for injuries, patted her body and freaked out when she noticed her hair was blonde now, her clothes were different and so were the other girls’.

“Where am I?” She asked, putting her right hand on her forehead.

“It really doesn’t matter” Another girl said. The hunter followed the voice and found Park Sooyoung looking down at her. Park Sooyoung, the only girl that was missing.

Sooyoung offered the monolided girl a hand and she helped her get on her feet. “We only do what she wants us to do” She whispered only for Seulgi to be able to hear.

“Joy” Irene sternly called her.

“Yes, Unnie?”

“Don’t scare our guest” The beauty adverted and Joy nodded, walking away from them. “Let’s meet the girls” She suggested and held hunter Kang’s hand as she wasn’t moving a muscle. They entered the small store of the gas station and sat on the counter. The whole place looked like it was from the 50’s, like a normal café where you would come and enjoy a milkshake.

“So, you’re the missing girls” Seulgi finally spoke, looking at a counter filled with glass bottles.

“We’re not missing, we chose to join Irene unnie” Yerim said.

“How did this happen?” The hunter asked, not wanting to look at any of the girls.

“It’s true, I’m a witch” Irene said, catching Seulgi’s attention. “The ReveFestival isn’t real… it’s only real for them who want it to be” She explained, confusing the hunter in the process.

“But I ate a hot dog, that can’t be faked” The monolided girl complained, turning to look at Irene.

“And it wasn’t. You came here looking for the festival so it happened, you were hungry so you ate, you were different and so were you chosen” The witch tried to explain once again, but Seulgi was clearly still not getting it.

“Reve means dream in French, this festival is a dream, it only exists for the people who want it to be real so even if I tell you this is all a dream, it would be pretty real for you since you’re the one who wants it to be real… tell me why you’re here” Irene softly said, trying to snap the hunter out of her shock.

“I’m a witch hunter, I’m here to stop you and free these girls”

“So, you want to catch a witch so bad that you’ve convinced yourself that this is indeed happening, that I’m a witch” The beauty tried to confuse Seulgi, testing her abilities.

“I know what you’re doing and I’m not falling for it, undo the spell!” Hunter Kang ordered, standing from the counter and pointing a finger directly to a calm Irene.

“I can’t, dear. You were chosen”

“I’m not going to become a witch just to please you and be your slave like these poor girls! I told you, I’m here to free them!”

“I never said you were chosen to be a witch” Irene clarified, leaving the hunter speechless and stopped her from overreacting.

“Once a year the festival is opened to the public, we search for noble, kind and pure souls…” Joy tried to explain but failed to finish her sentence.

“How do you think I manage to be this young and pretty” Irene bragged while smirking.

“You disgust me” The monolided girl derogatorily said.

“And you’re certainly cute… I don’t know if I’m going to be able to kill you” The beauty joked. “Wendy, start. Yeri, prepare the milkshake”

“What milkshake? What do you mean-“ Seulgi panicked but Wendy cut her off.

“My name was Son Seungwan before I first attended the ReveFestival two years ago, I came all the way from Canada to Chartres just to experience the festival and that’s when Irene unnie found me, she saw my potential and asked me to stay, so I did. I’m a witch now” Wendy told her story and looked at Joy.

“My name was-“

“I know!” The hunter shouted. “I read your files, stop this madness! Take us out of here or I swear I will use spells against you too” Seulgi threatened Irene but the witch kind of liked the insolence the girl was presenting, it was challenging, something the other girls never did.

“Is it done, Yeri?” The beauty asked, completely ignoring the threats. The younger nodded. “Seulgi, give this to the girl you like the least” She said, sliding the milkshake on the counter to hunter Kang’s direction.

“Why?” The hunter asked, not trusting Irene one bit.

“Do it, you can choose me too, if you want to”

Seulgi thought about it for a second, it was more than obvious that the milkshake was either poison or a death potion. But she couldn’t even choose Irene. She wasn’t going to choose one of the girls because she was here to save them… yet she couldn’t take the opportunity to kill the actual witch, the one who started it all. It was that smile of hers… those killer eyes of her… that soft and alluring voice of her… something’s wrong with me, the hunter thought. She must’ve done something else… casted another spell on me…

“No” She said, pushing the milkshake out of the counter, making it hit the floor, spoiling the potion.

“Did she just…?” Yeri asked.

The four ‘witches’ stood in front of a sleeping Seulgi, back in Chartres, inside their house.

“She’s so weird… she doesn’t even know us, doesn’t even know you and the things you’re capable of… yet she rejected your offer… it was her chance to kill you and ‘free’ us” Wendy said, furrowing her brows.

“It wasn’t even a game, I really gave Yeri the right potion, it was really going to kill me” Irene said under her breath, trying to break down Seulgi’s character.

“Did you cast another spell on her…? You know that would be cheating” Joy spoke, she knew exactly how dirty Irene could be when playing games just to win or get away with something.

“I haven’t”

“Then I guess you’re keeping her, aren’t you unnie?”