Following a day of mourning spent lounging around and watching depressing kdramas after Seulgi's untimely departure, Seungwan figured that some reorganizing was in order. Seulgi's tastes had practically dominated their apartment for the entirety of the time that they were living together, and her tastes were... unique, to say the least. If the abstract painting of a frowning clown hanging on the wall beside their TV was to be any statement — if Seungwan were to guess what those dashes of primary colors were, that is — it could certainly attest to that fact. But before any redecorating could be done, she would have to start with the large pile of clothes strewn atop her couch. That, and the dirty dishes in the sink, the lonely sock of questionable origins on the TV stand, and the array of mismatched shoes in the rack by the door. Ah, the joys of adulthood.

Better get started then.

Her first order of business was to wash the dishes. She estimated that there were approximately ten dishes of various sizes stacked up in their kitchen sink, along with two matching mugs, and eleven chopsticks. Wait... eleven? Whatever, none of these oddly chosen pieces of tableware would escape the wrath of Seungwan with a scrubber anyway. After tearing up at the trashy suburban mom dish with an image of a bear and squirrel holding hands on it, one that Seulgi bought during a late night run at the dollar store and somehow convinced Seungwan that it represents the two of them ("Friends forever, even in the plate dimension!"), she finished the dreaded dishes. She would have said that she didn't do the worst job, a success in her eyes, but she thought that Seulgi could've done better. Dish duty was always Seulgi's after all... oh look, she's crying again.

After she shot another text consisting of just a sad face to Seulgi, she gathered herself enough to muster the physical strength necessary to grab the TV sock and toss it in the laundry bin. Yet, she still didn't find the power in her to do the laundry just yet, settling for shoving the erratic assortment of clothes into the laundry bin along with their sock leader, dust mites marching unwillingly to their inevitable doom that would come in three days time when Seungwan finally decided to stop moping. In the meantime, however, they would have to settle for a life of darkness in the corner of her closet.

Grabbing her keys off the counter, Seungwan took one look at the mismatched shoes before deciding that she no longer cared, grabbing a random pair of converses and cramming her feet into them. Her left shoe was just slightly too big for her, and looking down at the yellow canvas and the blue pen doodles along the seam, she could safely assume it's Seulgi's. Stifling her stupid sniffles, Seungwan exited her apartment, hoping that a furniture shopping spree would be enough to fill the void of Seulgi's absence.

Driving towards the nearest Ikea, where Swedish meatballs and unintelligible names like Djungelskog would potentially heighten her sense of decor that she now realized she so desperately lacked, Seungwan saw signs giving directions to a local garage sale. Deciding that Ikea was too good, and too expensive for her anyway, she followed the arrows to a bizarre looking house in the middle of the cul de sac. The roof was the most garish shade of pink she had ever seen, and the grandma manning the front yard had the most audacious pink shawl to match. Maybe Seungwan should've just gone to Ikea.

About to pull a U-turn, the grandma spotted Wendy eyeing the goods from her car, getting up from her lawn chair and ambling toward her car all whilst vigorously waving her down.

”Hello young lady, here for the garage sale?”

Not one to say no to nice, albeit eccentric elderly women, Seungwan replied as she exits her car, "Yes, have any good deals?”

”I'd say everything here is a good deal, and maybe we could get a discount for a pretty young lady such as you." Seungwan, unused to compliments for people of her own age let alone old strangers, merely smiled in thanks and proceeded to browse.

Although she had never been to a garage sale before, she couldn't help but think that the collection of items was atypical of the everyday event. Certainly, none of these St. Bernard dog statuettes and tea cups with purple leaping frog designs would serve as improvements to Seungwan's current surroundings. She already had her fair share of odd decor (or as Seulgi would call it, acquired taste), but the point of coming here was to get rid of that junk. The clown painting was the only thing she wished to leave in memory of Seulgi's horrible design sense. Stick to photos, Seulgi.

After spotting a towel with a teddy bear embroidered near the seam, she felt a little guilty over all her internal complaints about her best friend, and Seungwan immediately purchased it. The cute little bear reminded her of her all too cute Seulbear, but she'd never admit that out loud. Thinking that that would be her best find in this witch shop thinly disguised as a yard sale and eager to return home to a bath and a new towel, Seungwan started toward her car.

But she must have whipped around far too fast in her excitement, nearly knocking over an ornate vase which was strangely distinct from the rest of the trinkets. It was a whole foot and a half of porcelain, with gold leaf adorning the details of the engravings, patterns of frolicking bunnies climbing the handles. It looked to be painted in some eighteenth century Rococo style, clearly a piece of some past era, yet somehow in perfect condition. This vessel was far too sophisticated to be found with the likes of the other Anthropologie rejects littering the table. It was beyond the scope of the typical yard sale, beyond the scope of Seungwan's interior design sense, and definitely beyond her budget, yet she found herself curiously drawn to it. 

She'd already made one impulse buy, another one couldn't hurt.

“Ah, the antique vase,” the old lady said, approaching Seungwan, “I think you'll find many more uses for it than you would initially believe.”

”Yes, I'm sure I can use it for flowers, or water, or...”

”You're thinking too simply. Buy it and find out that your wildest dreams will come true.”

Though that was the weirdest sales pitch she had ever encountered, second only to the sales pitch Seulgi gave her concerning the bear squirrel china plate, Seungwan bought the vase anyway. Her wallet was severely thinned from the impact of a missing two hundred dollars, but if this piece were truly as valuable as her untrained eye could estimate, it would've been well worth the expense (at least, that was how Seungwan chose to rationalize this poor decision). Shoving her towel into the mouth of the vase to more easily carry it to her car, she opened the passenger door and secured it with a seatbelt. That would have to do.

Back at her apartment, Seungwan set the vase down on the cabinet in the entrance. She couldn't justify why Seulgi chose to put it there, but found it awfully convenient at times when she felt like her arms could not withstand any more carrying. It used to be full of all of Seulgi's camera equipment, convenient for when she had to grab her materials and go, but was now empty. Seungwan thought this was a good a place as any to throw her new eighteenth century vase. Pulling out the teddy bear towel, only slightly perplexed as to how it all fit in, she sneezed as a plume of dust erupted.

Damn, this centuries old vase had centuries of dust in it. To hell with using the new towel then, it must be covered in the ashes of Marie Antoinette.

Since she would have to clean both eventually, Seungwan knocked out two birds with one stone by starting to wipe down the vase with the Seultowel but... it started... shaking? 

...Why would a vase shake like that?

Seungwan reached to hold it down, but not before it shook so vigorously that it rattled itself off the table, thankfully resilient enough to not crack. As it rolled along the floor, it emitted a pink cloud of smoke, throwing glitter and a pungent lavender scent — in all directions. She didn't have enough emotional capacity to comprehend what witchcraft was occurring, with the only thought on her mind being what a mess it would be to clean this all up later, and what a tragedy it was to have ruined all of her plans for using that new bath bomb Seulgi gave her last week.

As soon as the smoke dissipated, and as soon as Seungwan stopped wanting to break down, the most beautiful girl she had ever seen stood in the middle of her living room. If she wasn't convinced that the vase was magical before, she was sure about it now. Any girl other than Seulgi being present in her apartment was a very rare occurrence that only magic could bring about.

In stark contrast to the stunning visual effects display that she had just presented, the appearance of the girl was a tad bit underwhelming. With no prior experience with the supernatural, Seungwan did not have many expectations for the appearance of a magical girl, but if she had any, she didn't think this girl surpassed them. Her basic knowledge of the story of Aladdin told her that this girl must be some sort of genie, but Seungwan was left bewildered. Where was the opulent genie uniform, if they even had one? Where were the gold bangles and the sheer sleeves? Also, shouldn't she be like a century old?

The girl in front of her, although with beauty far beyond that of any human she knew, was frankly, much more regular than the musician would have assumed. Standing in a simple white cardigan and jeans, black hair hanging loosely down her back, Seungwan started questioning if she hallucinated the whole display and this stranger didn't just walk in through the front door like a normal, nonmagical individual. The only thing out of the ordinary about her appearance was a silver bracelet tightly wrapped around her left wrist, with intricate engravings of what looked to be a foreign, ancient script. After looking her up and down, Seungwan's eyes rested on the genie's face, realizing that she... wait, was she glaring at her?

"You don't look very surprised to see a genie appear in front of you," She said, tone biting with sarcasm.

Seungwan sputtered, "Oh, no, I'm definitely very very surprised, in more ways than one. I just don't know what to make of this whole situation. There's far too much stuff going on in my life, I have to clean up all this dust, do the laundry, contact my managers, and now a genie is here and I am really really stressed and I—"

She was stopped by the sensation of a finger pressed on her lips. 

"I'll have you know, pretty young lady, that you have completely uprooted my life too!" the genie said, exasperated. "You would think that after finding such an ornate, antique, and valuable vase, you wouldn't simply shove a towel down it, barely fasten a seatbelt to keep it secure, and nearly knock it over upon first finding it! That might just be a pretty table centerpiece to you, but that is a house to me! All of your shenanigans have completely rearranged my furniture and sent me in the worst thirty minute ride of my life spent dodging a swinging towel and trying to desperately right my sliding furniture!" 

Seungwan barely caught all of those complaints. "Pretty? Did you just call me pretty?"

The genie huffed. "Clearly," she drawled out, the dissatisfaction prominent in her tone, "You were much more surprised than you let on because you are not processing a single thing I am saying right now. To think a century of life could've prepared me for this. I think I'm not yet ready to serve such a reckless master. Let's hope that your brain starts catching up soon enough, because I have many rules to cover."

Seungwan could only muster a weak nod in affirmation.

"Good, so I suppose that wasn't the most excellent introduction, but it's not every day that I find a new master, so here we go," she said, before positioning herself into a polite bow, a much more subservient and obedient contrast to her initial outburst. She began reciting, "I am Irene, a genie, and your eternal servant so long as you may have me. Your every wish is my command." 

Seungwan just stood in awe. An eternal servant... she didn't think she had enough money to compensate this genie for that long. Noticing her lack of a reply, Irene continued, "Well, that is the introduction we are all commanded to say," taking on a more mocking tone, she imitated, "Good customer service is at the forefront of Genie Incorporated's policies!"

"Genie Incorporated? So, you're like a corporate employee genie or something?"

"You could say that... The whole genie operation is a little more complicated than you humans think these days. For one, I'm not even a full genie. There hardly exists a single pureborn these days, as a result of so many genies in our lineage falling in love with their human masters and diluting our magic. Nothing wrong with that, of course. I myself have a human father and a genie mother. At this point, I would say that I'm only about a quarter genie, but that is, apparently, high enough of a percentage to grant me all-services-paid access to a very long life full of fulfilling wishes." She pauses, "Normally I wouldn't talk this much, but it seems like there is a lot for you to understand and not nearly enough brain cells in that head of yours to comprehend it."

Seungwan recoiled slightly, sighing sadly, "I have brain cells..."

"Sure you do. Have enough to ask any questions?"

Choosing to ignore the obvious sarcasm, Seungwan found that she does have enough brain cells to ask something. "So on the whole wish thing, how does it work? Do I only get three total, like in Aladdin, and are there restrictions on the things I can wish for because I certainly have a lot of wishes. You know what maybe I could start wishing for my laundry to be done or I could wish for —"

Seungwan is interrupted by Irene's interjection, "I'm going to stop you right there. The whole three wishes thing only really applied to the ancient genies who had enough power to grant any wish possibly conceived, and thus found it necessary to limit the power of their masters. Now, we have more restrictions on what we can grant by proxy of our reduced magical capabilities. That being said, there is a plus side. The bonus is that because we end up granting smaller wishes, you get a lot more of them. Three per day to be exact."

"Wow, and if I live a long time, that must be like..." Seungwan started trying to multiply days and wishes in her head, quickly giving up once she reaches her third zero, "...a lot!"

Rolling her eyes, Irene replied, "Glad to see you have some semblance of functioning neurons. You're probably interested in hearing what the restrictions are before you start wishing for things that I can't grant. Listen closely, because I will not repeat myself. There are five rules.

First, you cannot wish for more wishes. That shouldn't be a problem, as you already have more than enough.

Second, you cannot wish to make someone fall in love with you. We're genies, not cupids.

Third, you cannot wish for eternal life. Us genies aren't even immortal.

Fourth, as more of a magical restriction, if you wish for material things, they cannot exceed the value of one thousand dollars per day.

Fifth, you cannot wish for someone's death. We are not your personal glorified hitman. Got everything?"

Seungwan pinched herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming. "Ow! Uh, yes, yes, I think I got everything."

Irene just exhaled, "Now to settle things on my end. To officially become my master, you must kiss this bracelet and seal our contract." She raised her left arm with the unfamiliar engravings that Seungwan marveled at earlier.

She stuttered, "K-kiss? Why would I have to do that?"

"Some stupid ancient rule. Don't worry about it," Irene smirked, "It's not like you're going to make out with my wrist." She presents Seungwan with her hand.

"And if I didn't?"

"Just kiss the stupid bracelet."

She couldn't devise a way to escape this situation and wanted to avoid possibly incurring the wrath of a genie who was already quite mad with her, so she gently took Irene's wrist and leaned down, pressing her lips to the cold silver.

The engravings glowed blue, lines of the script filling up with what seemed to be a renewed magical power.

Irene quickly retracted her hand from Seungwan's grasp, averting her eyes. "It is sealed. I am at your service."

“So what now?” Seungwan questioned, unsure of where to even start with this whole ordeal.

“First things first, I need a new place to stay. The towel tornado that whipped through my old abode...” Irene glanced at the vase on the floor, “... did not leave the place in livable conditions.”

“I have a spare room,” Seungwan offered. “Seulgi, er, my best friend, just moved out. Her room is free now, but you might want to do something about the decor. I don’t think she would be mad about what you choose to do with the place since she won’t be staying here anymore.” She starts down the hallway, giving Irene a brief tour of the place. "To the right is your bathroom, to the left is where you'll be staying, and the door down the hall leads to my bedroom. Make yourself at home. For now..." Seungwan turns away, heading toward her own door, "I just need a nap."

She rushed into her room, flopping herself onto her bed and shutting her eyes, exhausted from the day's events. She didn't have time to even think about the repercussions of letting this powerful supernatural being stay in her home, but she figures that if she were ever to be murdered in her sleep, century-old genie would be an interesting way to go. With thoughts of what she should wish for on her mind, she falls asleep.