"I-" Mingi a breath, frozen in spot.

"He is not dead, he is not! He's somewhere out there!" he continued to wail in Mingi's face.

"Sir!" Letitia and Abel caught his by his arms. "Please stop this!"

Seconds later more footsteps entered the hallway, Sofia and Mingi's mother rushed towards them. "Kanghoon honey, stop or you'll scare him!" Sofia tried persuading her husband. Finally, Chairman Jeong released Mingi from his grip, on his knees as he was dragged back into the room by the two staff.

"Save him, please, we must save him! My boy, oh my poor boy..."

♦ ♦ ♦

"Quite the catch, your ghost friend," Rocco, the elfman on bartender duty said while he sipped on his drink. With a snap of his fingers, Ara's empty jug gradually filled up with water. During her first visits here a few years ago, everything in Aurora Square amazed her and caught her off guard. From the odd-toned warlocks, benevolent vampire clans, whimsical magicians and of course the magic present without conceal - now it felt like a second home to her. 

Her home would always be where Hongjoong went, and she wouldn't want him to get involved in things he wasn't part of, let alone things he probably couldn't see. 

"Yeah, he is pretty hot," she answered, looking across the room at Jongho who was actually striking up a conversation with Ghost Boy - who seemed to be just as interested in listening. For the first time, she broke into a sad smile. "But..."

"He's just a ghost," Rocco noted, as a matter of fact. "Well looks like none of us have a shot then, but it is quite odd - he looks almost human even," he said as as he continued to admire the two boys from afar. "No, he looks exactly like a human." Rocco corrected himself. 

"Right?" she agreed before the jug was about to fill to the brim. "Hold on to it for a minute for me will you? Need a bathroom break," she slid from her seat at the bar and sprinted for the restroom before Rocco could say anything else.

"You owe me a free pair of shades for this!" she heard him yell, and grinned.

She stayed in the cubicle while browsing her phone, when she overheard the voices outside her stall. They had been talking so loudly, she didn't even feel like she was intruding. 

"They came again? Those odd folk?" she heard the first voice say.

"Think so, this time they went to Choi," the other one replied.

"Shaman Choi? The one with that Halfling grandson?" For a split second Ara hoped they meant that in a good way, and that it was not some slur they called Jongho. There shouldn't have been hostility among the people here, Ara thought, and Jongho usually avoided meddling with any non-human business. Pushing that thought away, Ara continued to listen.

"Mm-hmm, that old man and his young wife. I asked around, turns out they're rich people - head of some company I heard, managing Adamas, you know the one in our city,"

"Goodness! What do they want from Choi?"

"Same thing they came for a few weeks ago with the other shops, the man wanted to communicate with his dead son - says he wants to revive him," That was roughly what Jongho had told them. 

"Did Choi agree then?" 

"Of course not, everyone knows he doesn't get involved in things like this, I can't imagine anyone here would - necromancy isn't normal - even with our standards," the voice fussed. 

"Why haven't I heard of such things, and I keep up with the news?"

"Happened years ago, the boy drowned in an accident. It's bizzare they're coming around now for this, and offering so much money..."

Ara's attention spiked, the mention of money definitely made this more interesting. 

"How much?"

"Big money, Shida, big money," 

"Well why didn't anyone agree to it yet, Lorelei?"

Lorelei hissed, "This is Aurora Square, Shida, not the Grimm Market. Don't tell me you're even tempted to do it!"

"Of course not, that's foolish! I'd lose my place here," Shida answered. And the two people continued talking about other gossip regarding some magician in Houdini's Palace and a vampire. Meanwhile, Ara was typing away on her phone as she waited for them to leave. 

'Adamas Chairman', 'Adamas chairman son drown' were the first few things she tried searching and within a few minutes she could roughly grasp the situation. When she heard the two people leave, Ara left the cubicle with that new piece of information in mind. 

The gears in her head continued to spin rapidly, concocting the plan now that there was the extra puzzle piece. Adamas Group was the big conglomerate company in their city, that part Ara knew, what she didn't know was that the CEO's son had apparently drowned in a swimming accident many years ago - whether he was dead or alive so far the articles she could find didn't mention that part. She'd have to do further research.

And if things worked out as she planned, the so-called money mentioned might just be hers. After all, she was by no means tied to Aurora Square.

"What took you so long?" Jongho asked when she slid back into her seat, Ghost Boy looked expectantly at her as well. "Rocco even brought the jug over to our table 'cause you were taking forever!" he nagged as he poured them more drinks. 

"Bad stomach ache," she replied. "Must have been something in the broth, I must make a complaint to the manager later," 

Jongho snorted, "Or it could be indigestion since you didn't bother to chew..." and Ghost Boy laughed at their banter.

Exactly as how he remembered, Mingi navigated his way through the Jeong Manor. 

A quick turn to the left, another to the right, everything seemed so much more miniscule to him now. It could have possibly been due to his height. Clear as daylight, the memory played back in his mind. The music room was where it happened, at the fireplace exposing a hidden tunnel beneath the place where the firewood should have been. 

Looking around cautiously, Mingi pushed open the music room doors that were fortunately left unlocked. He found the switch and the lights, and found the room much more abandoned than he thought. Coats of dust covered the grand piano, the velvet curtains faded from its elegant red to dull, why didn't Sofia Jeong tell any of the staff to clean this place?

Quickly, he walked over to the fireplace, now actually stacked with wood that definitely could no longer be used. Mingi pushed them aside, eager to find the entrance he had dropped into many years ago - and found nothing.

Dejected and confused, Mingi stared at the dismantled pile of wood. I'm not crazy, he knew in his gut. There must have been something else, something more to this. M-magic, that was all that was possible. It had to be. He was about to leave the room, close the doors from behind him when he heard voices further down the hallway. 

"Sir, please calm down," the voice, Mingi could identify as a girl's. There was light coming from behind one of the doors, carefully he stood next to it, peeking through the gap. 

It was Letitia and Abel, struggling to control Chairman Jeong who was fidgeting from their grip. "You know how upset Missus Sofia will be seeing you like this, now please drink the medicine she prepared," Abel coaxed, but the Chairman refused. 

With a wild reflex, he broke free from their grip and slammed open the door of the dressing room, startling Mingi. He much less expected Chairman Jeong to grab him by the collars of his shirt, forcing him to look at the older man's manic eyes. "Listen to me, my son is alive! I know it, I feel it. He must come back!" he said with emotion. 

"I-" Mingi a breath, frozen in spot. 

"He is not dead, he is not! He's somewhere out there!" he continued to wail in Mingi's face.

"Sir!" Letitia and Abel caught his by his arms. "Please stop this!"

Seconds later more footsteps entered the hallway, Sofia and Mingi's mother rushed towards them. "Kanghoon  honey, stop or you'll scare him!" Sofia tried persuading her husband. Finally, Chairman Jeong released Mingi from his grip, on his knees as he was dragged back into the room by the two staff. 

"Save him, please, we must save him! My boy, oh my poor boy..." he continued to cry aloud until his words were muffled behind the door. When the corridor turned quiet again, Sofia Jeong suddenly burst into sobs. Chairlady Song wrapped her arms around her for comfort.

"I've tried to stay strong," she sobbed. "But it's draining us all so much, Yejin! None of Kanghoon's doctors could explain his behaviour, nor does he take his medication unless I beg him. I feel hopeless, oh to show you two such embarassment when we are hosting for dinner...oh dear..."

"Now Fia, it's alright," Chairlady Song consoled her and shot a look at Mingi. When Mingi didn't quite get it, she mouthed out the words. You go back first, her lips read. Hastily, Mingi nodded and left them alone. He was guided outside by another butler, into the car where their driver had been awaiting. 

"Back to the hotel sir?" the driver asked. 

I haven't even had dinner yet...

"No," Mingi settled on that answer. "Take me somewhere else."

"I came back more than an hour ago," Yejin Song raised an eyebrow at her son as he emerged through the door of their penthouse suite. His hair disheveled, velvet tux draped on his arm, and as he approached sheepishly, there was the undeniable scent of liquor. "Where have you been? Have you been drinking?"

Mingi cleared his throat, "Maybe just a smidge? Dont worry, I was driven back here,"

"That's not really what I was worried about," that was obvious, since she was swirling her own glas of red wine - matching Mingi's own dark red hair, it still hadn't faded from the last photoshoot he had a week or so ago. "I just didn't think you were the party animal type, first day here and you wander off to the pubs. How scandalous!" but the last sentence was more of a tease rather than a scolding. 

Mingi grinned crookedly, "I was only there for a while, talked to people, you know,"

Yejin widened her eyes in curiosity, "Really? Well I hoped you made friends, I heard Arcadia and Lancaster's sons go there often." 

Mingi was aware those two were other retail and fashion companies, of course his mom would jump to that conclusion. It was better off that way nonetheless. "Hmm, I may have forged a connection or two."

But certainly not the type of connection his mother would expect, the piece of scribbled paper was snug in his pocket - more specifically the most valuable piece of information he didn't expect to obtain. He had entered the club that had caught his attention, the illumanting sign that read 'Devil's Acre' in neon lettering. Inside was like any other night club he had been to in Europe, glittering mirrorballs, rhythmic music and the atmosphere of contained choas of people enjoying themselves. 

He had been sitting at the bar, ordered a simple martini while he enjoyed his solitude and music. "A handsome young man all alone by himself in a club?" when a girl abruptly sat next to him, much to his surprise. "Here to pour out your misery after a break-up?"

Slowly more things started to surprise him, even in the dim lighting the girl clearly looked different. A violet tint to her skin, swirling ink-black marks on her bare arms, and her bright yellow eyes of a cat. People dressed all sorts of ways in places like this. Mingi cleared his throat, "Maybe, maybe not. Who knows?"

The girl laughed, a bit too wildly. "My my, such a tease you are. Fine, keep your secrets then," she said before taking another drink from the counter. "Doesn't matter, it is my sole purpose to flirt with beautiful people here and you sir, are most certainly beautiful, for my standards." She winked at him.

"Really?" Mingi was curious. "Does asking questions count as flirting to you?"

The girl clapped, "Depends, so ask away!" and she giggled, leaning even more closer to Mingi. 

"Um...where did you get your makeup done? It's definitely realistic, those cat eyes of yours,"

"Why this?" she twirled around, her corkscrew curls almost hitting Mingi in the face. She giggled some more, "No, no makeup at all! But I'll tell you a secret!" she exclaimed.

She was definitely drunk, Mingi thought, but he was also intrigued. Then he nodded, "I'll all ears." 

The girl squealed some more and leaned in to whisper in his ear, "I'm actually...A FAIRY."

The answer caught Mingi off guard, and he should have brushed it off as a drunk answer, that the girl was anything but sober. Instead he wanted to play along and see if she meant it. "Oh really? Well I don't really believe in stuff like that. Tell me more, prove it."

The girl was no fool either, at least she wasn't going to give it all away. "Mmm," she nodded sluggishly, clearly high. "Only if you give me a kiss."

And so it costed his a kiss on the cheek, and a few moments later the odd-coloured girl had told him what he needed to know. About things too complicated to be drunken dreams, things far too detailed to be made up. 

"Mingi?" his mom repeated. "What were you thinking about?"

"O-oh, nothing," Mingi returned back to the present. "So how is Mrs Sofia?" He wanted to change the topic. 

His mom sighed, "I tried what I could, poor lady...After what had happened to Yunho, things were never quite the same with Chairman Jeong. It was the grief, I can't imagine losing your only son like that. So I hope you can see blaming them for what happened is not healing them at all." She regarded Mingi intently, he knew what she meant. 

Him insisting Yunho's accident was somehow linked to Sofia was wrong.

"But mom, we never got to see Yunho after that. You don't remember even attending his funeral."

"People grieve in different ways, honey, if they wanted to grieve in private then that is what they deserve without question."

But Yunho isn't dead, I know it.