La Manoir: The Magic Chamber

"Wonder no more" Olivia Hye smirked and gave a look at Gowon who nodded in understating. "Move aside, deputy"

Heejin frowned but gave a few steps to her right side, her eyes widened when, after Olivia Hye turned a knob on one of the arms of the throne, the velvety carpet rolled up itself and disappeared under the royal seat. Only then, both girls rose on their feet.

Olivia Hye spun the shiny knife one more time on her hand before she put inside a black leather sheath with a turquoise stone embedded in it, that hung from her belt. When she came closer, Heejin noticed the raven haired's weird attires which seemed to oddly combined with the girl of the blue hair: Olivia Hye was dressed all in black, from her polished boots, tight pants, and silk shirt, to the satin cape wrapped around her shoulders which extended until the fabric reached the floor; while Gowon was wearing a long puffed sleeve dress, also black, but with gleaming turquoise dots and fabric that seemed to sparkle itself.

Olivia Hye stood in the middle of the room, kneeled and pulled on something which Heejin didn’t catch a glimpse of, but her attention was suddenly snatched by the ebony wooden floor which part of it split-up in the middle making a spiral staircase visible. She gazed from the stairs to the pair of girls looking at her amused. She was impressed and terrified, how did they do that? Why? Where do those stairs lead to?

“What you need for your journey is down there…” Gowon pointed at the dark stairways but her eyes never left Heejin’s, “Nonetheless, we’ve taken for granted that whatever you see or hear will remain concealed. We are not wrong, are we?” And even if she wasn’t the one with a knife under her robes, the blue haired didn’t look any less threatening in the deputy’s opinion.

Heejin gulped, goosebumps spreading from the back of her neck to her ankles, and shook her head. “We thought so… Follow us then” Olivia Hye grinned, holding a candelabrum on one of her hands. She then walked to the stairs and leaded their descent. Heejin’s eyes were glued to the steps as she trailed behind the taller girl, since it was shadowy and she could barely see them. 

They arrived at a completely dark room, until Gowon behind her applauded two times and Heejin went blind for a couple seconds. When she reopened her eyes, the whitest light spreaded from the ceiling. What’s that? She couldn’t figure out or else she would have actually become blind. Therefore, she averted her gaze to the rest of the place, it was way different from the one above: every wall was white, the marble floor too; the oddness of it was based on the weird things hanging from those walls, ㅡHeejin would described them as strange black squaresㅡ. She heard a few noises and watch the staircase turn on itself and disappear, hidden by a wall now. She didn’t know what to say except for, “What is this place?”

“Somewhere that only three people know the existence of… Four now” Olivia Hye smirked. Heejin didn’t know what that meant but she did know something, those two had ulterior motives for helping her. However, it was too late to walk away now. Somewhere this hidden that only four people have knowledge of it… Four people: Olivia Hye, Gowon, and now her evidently… Who’s the fourth? Perhaps Yeojin and that’s why she was so scared or that girl Choerry, ㅡthe sheriff’s sister-ishㅡ, she was friend with the dark haired and probably also know Gowon. Why is it so hidden to begin with? That was something that none of the two girls would risk to show her, they were testing waters with a stranger after all.

Heejin walked closer to the table which Gowon and Olivia Hye were already looking at. A map. Not any map, a giant one that covered the whole table. The deputy roamed her eyes through it, it read ‘Town: Valley’ on one of the corners, while the rest displayed a detailed view of the town, there were tags in places she recognized such as ‘Calm River’, ‘Nana Lynn’s Farm’, or ‘Headquarters’; she frowned when she read one of them, ‘Haseul-Kim Lip-Heejin’s Household’ It is not even my house, how do they even know where… But when her fingers brushed through the surface on the spot, she jolted and backed away a bit. That was definitely not papyrus, nor paper, much less any kind of leather.

Gowon couldn’t help it and let out a chuckle, Olivia Hye followed but louder. She looked at them dumbfounded. “It’s a magic map. Isn’t it amazing?” Heejin didn’t miss Gowon shooting a pointed look at the dark haired neither the way her voice seemed to be mocking her. She dismissed it tho and nodded slowly. Magic? Well, ghosts and monsters seemed to be a thing so… why not magic?

What an ignorant fool.

“We have no much time” Olivia Hye pointed at the map. Heejin’s eyebrows raised in amazement as she saw the Mayor’s name suddenly