"Not having a happy ending is painful enough, but giving someone unrealistic hope is far worse"

At this phrase, Moonbyul couldn't stand it: shouting into the TV "My God, such a cringe", she took the remote control in her hands and turned off the TV. By tradition, before each concert she watched a TV show inspiring hope for the future, but this one brought her to a nervous tic with a huge number of cute quotes. In her mind, Emma Swan was a real warrior who fought for truth and justice, but after the appearance of these moronic pirates, she could no longer look at the one she praised just a few episodes ago.

"If I had my will, I would change the whole scenario. In general, Regina is an icon, a legend, go yourself with your snotty fairy tales! Giving someone unrealistic hope is far worse!", she teased, walking towards the bedroom. "Your vaunted hope will not sing for me at the concert!"

Her nerves were on edge, she was angry, she didn't know why– everything seemed wrong to her. Maybe it's because of the upcoming meeting with the fans, because of the fear of messing up. Or maybe she didn't like the idea that Emma could be with Killian. But the fact remained that Moonbyul was wildly annoyed. When she reached the bedroom, she fell on the bed and immediately fell asleep. After all, tomorrow should be special.

She will not know that something strange was happening in her living room: a bright glow enveloped the TV, blue sparks fell everywhere, and a slender figure dressed in a black coat appeared in the doorway.

"She will help us"

***

There was a knock on the door. Moonbyul opened her eyes and instantly turned her head to the side. The clock showed six in the evening. Cursing, she started looking for her phone. And then she looked around and was stunned — this is not her bedroom. More precisely, it's not even a bedroom, the girl woke up on the couch in someone else's living room. There was a phone on the table next to it, which, again, didn't belong to her. Fortunately, there were no messages or calls. The first thing she did was grab the phone and dial the Yongsun's already memorized number. But only an automatic voice was heard on the phone, saying that such a number does not exist. The girl got up from the sofa and went to the window.

This is not Seoul. Moonbyul was in a completely strange city, in a strange apartment, with someone else's phone in her hands and in someone else's baggy and old clothes. She had no choice but to go to the door, which someone knocked on again, and open it. She hoped the locals knew Korean.

When she opened the door, she froze. There stood a smiling little boy, definitely not Asian, and said to her in perfect English: "Hi, Mom"

"Mom?", God, is this a dream? Why does she understand English? And this whole situation reminds her of one scene, but she doesn't remember which one. "Kid, are you lost?"

Does she speak English?!

"No, I came to you", the boy pushed her away and went into the apartment. Only now the singer noticed a cupcake with a candle on the kitchen table. "And what did you wish for your birthday?"

"Definitely not you. Now tell me, who are you and what are you doing here?"

"Okay, I'll answer all your questions, but only on one condition. You'll believe me and take me home"

Only this was not enough. At first Byul wanted to grab the boy and take him to the police station and return him to his parents, but something prompted her to agree to all the conditions. She nodded slowly and sat down on the nearest chair.

"I'm Henry, I'm ten years old and I'm your biological son, Emma Swan"

The plot of the TV series watched yesterday burst into the blonde's thoughts. 'I got... into this stupid TV show?' she thought, and at the same moment it all came to her. It's so cool! She will have a chance to get rid of Killian Jones!

"Ok, I believe you"

"Do you believe me?!", the boy did not believe what was happening. He expected that he would persuade his biological mother to go with him, prepared a bunch of arguments, a book and a whole pile of evidence necessary to make her believe. But she just got up, took the car keys and said she was ready to go to Storybrooke with him.

"Yeah. Your mother is Regina Mills. Yes, kid, I know that too, you don't even have to be surprised. To be honest, I'm going there to see her, she's very hot"

Henry didn't want to hear it. He grimaced in disgust and hurried out of the apartment. Despite the fact that he hated Regina, she was still his mother and he couldn't hear words like "hot" in her direction.

***

"Kid, I know everything about this town, you don't even have to bother telling me who the character is. I need to see Regina", Moonbyul said, stopping in front of the door of the white mansion. With one hand awkwardly patting the boy's shoulder, she knocked on the door. Footsteps were heard. The creak of the door opening. Belle squeezed her eyes shut. She's not ready to meet her favorite character. was dry, as if she had woken up after a two-day binge.

"You?!",  too-familiar voice exclaimed. But it didn't belong to Regina. Her voice is so velvety, so low, warm – if it were material, the girl would immediately turn into it and hide from the whole world. But this one was high, sonorous, thin, like crystal. She opened her eyes and saw her.

"What the are you doing here?"

Irene stared intently into her eyes, as if she wanted to burn through them. The beauty ordered the boy to go up to the room and pulled Moonbyul by the collar into the building. The boy didn't understand what was going on, but he ran to his room anyway.

"Irene", the blonde whispered to the girl "What are you doing here?"

The newly minted Regina took her to her office and locked the door. From her look, you can read that the conversation is going to be long.

'You answer me! What am I doing here?"

"How should I know? Do you think it's my fault?"

"And who else watches stupid TV shows before a performance?"

Moonbyul opened and closed in disbelief. She felt like a fish thrown onto dry land. Bae Irene is the last person she wanted to see. From the very beginning, the girls disliked each other. Bae considered her cheeky and disapproved of her friendship with the innocent Kang Seulgi, one of the members of the women's group, of which Irene was the leader. Moonbyul just thought she was a snob. But despite their personal mutual dislike, the groups themselves are friendly to each other: their members walked together, had dinner together, sometimes performed together. During one of Wheein and Irene's walks, Jung confessed to the leader about Moon's habit of watching TV shows before performances.

"Okay, I don't know how you know this, but trust me, this is the first time this has happened, I really don't understand what's going on", Byul ran her hand through her blonde hair. "Listen, I know the whole plot. I think the first thing we should do is find out about our role in this situation. It's not for nothing that you and I are the main characters. Oh!"

Byul took her by the hand and rushed to the exit. Once outside, she went to Regina's car and helped the older one into the passenger seat, and Byul herself got behind the wheel. Why Mercedes? Because the blonde couldn't stand Emma's car. She was used to expensive cars and even being in the "show" she could not exchange her love for a chic life for a stupid yellow junk. Bae was silent. She didn't understand what Moon was doing, but decided to trust her completely – after all, the girl, unlike her, understands what to do. The brunette looked at the mansion and saw Henry in the window on the second floor. He was watching them.

***

They arrived in a few minutes. The town was small, they could walk, but Moonbel couldn't miss the opportunity to take a ride in Regina Mills' real car.

"We're here", Moonbyul said, getting out of the car. She helped Irene out of the car and took her hand. "This is Rumplestiltskin's shop, he knows everything"

"You're so sure of that", Bae grinned.

"Because it's true! Do you know him?", Irene just shook her head. "He knows ing everything"

"You should believe her", they turned at the sound. Behind them stood a gray-haired man in a suit and with a cane in his hand. "My name is Mr. Gold, although the blonde definitely knows me. I knew this would happen sooner or later, but I didn't expect that our beloved Evil Queen and Savior were Asians"

"Wow, how racist, but okay. What are we doing here?", Moonbyul moved closer to Rumplestiltskin. "Is this some kind of dream?"

"Oh, well, you should find out. I'll give you a hint: if you remove the curse from the town and solve the mistake, you will kill two birds with one stone. Otherwise, everyone will see your true faces. You don't want any questions to arise, do you?"

***

"Shut up already, Bae, don't piss me off", Moonbyul shouted, who was fed up with the elder's grumbling.

"Did you just tell me to shut up? It's all because of you! If it wasn't for your craving for stupid TV shows, then we wouldn't be stuck here, we wouldn't be threatened and we wouldn't be together!"

Irene exploded. It was the first time Moon had ever seen a girl scream so loudly - she was usually calm even during very serious situations. The blonde mentally praised herself, because few can boast that they brought cold people to emotions. In Bae's case, it was a whole fountain of rage, anger and sadness.

"Together? Babe, let's not rush it", Byul winked at her. Despite her dislike, she still couldn't help but agree that the leader was very sympathetic to her. The blonde got up from the sofa, approached the older and put her hands on her tense shoulders. "Let's calm down and think about what we're going to do. First, you need to remove the curse with a kiss of True Love. The only option we have is to kiss Henry, because I'm not going to kiss you. Well, unless you want to..." Irene grimaced. She certainly wouldn't want to. "We don't know the boy so well, so I suggest we live together, somehow get to know him and kiss him on the forehead, saying a bunch of vanilla phrases like "Thanks to you, I became a better person" and so on. And about the oversight... After removing the curse, Killian Jones should appear. We'll kill him"

"Kill him?", the girl was in shock. "Do you hear yourself? Damn, I'll do anything, even kiss you, but I won't kill anyone..."

"I like the part with the kiss, but his death is necessary. My dear Regina, if we don't do this, something terrible will happen! Emma's going to date him, and we don't want that, do we?"

"Why are you so against their relationship?"

"My gay heart can't stand this circus" Moonbyul whispered desperately. Irene just rolled her eyes. She knew that her unloved rapper was a top lesbian and every girl eventually fell in love with her. Therefore, she is against their friendship with Seulgi, who is already showing signs of falling in love.

Suddenly the door to the office opened. It was Henry. The boy looked at them and, closing the door behind him, said:
"You're not my moms. Where are they?"

A terrible panic, like hot metal, flooded the girls' souls.

"What makes you think that?"

"They have never seen each other, and you have been together for several hours and communicate as if you have known each other for a long time"

The heroines were torn into two parts. On the one hand, they can't give themselves away, but on the other, they could get a very good ally. The girls looked at each other, each thinking the same thing. Isn't there a third option? Where do they enlist support and not give themselves away?

And at this time, the great and terrible Irene Bae, known for her beauty and coldness, made the biggest mistake of her life.

"Darling, you know... Emma and I have been dating for a long time, so we want to break the curse and get her parents' blessing"

Moonbyul drew only one conclusion from the words of the older girl: Irene Bae, the leader of one of the most popular groups in Korea, was one of the dumbest people in the world. But there were still advantages — now she is "dating" the woman of her dreams, even if she she had no brains.

"A blessing?", Byul said in surprise. "Honey, aren't we in too much of a hurry?"

The leader understood: once she had started a mess, then she should sort it out. But despite what Moonbyul thinks of her, Irene is actually quite smart. Therefore, this stupid blonde will be sorting out the mess with her, whether she wants it or not. She slowly, like a lioness who saw her victim, approached the youngest, took her by the collar of a white loose shirt and pulled her so that their lips almost touched each other. Moon swallowed and took a shuddering breath.

"I don't think so, baby. We need to do everything to break this curse, even if it's the last thing I do, my love", Irene released the rapper. Her quiet and at the same time promising imminent death voice penetrated into the depths of Byul's subconscious, forcing her to cringe with fear and excitement.

'Okay, I understand you, just calm down' from the eyes of the younger one, you could guess what she was thinking.

"Then it will be easy. You just need to kiss! The kiss of true love!"

"Whoa, kid, stop!", Moonbyul met Bae's stern gaze. "I–I mean, we will definitely kiss, yes", she drawled uncertainly "but we need time. You see, I'm not quite ready to meet my parents yet..."

"Oh, what a poor thing", Irene said with mock sadness, sticking out her lower lip. Henry didn't seem to notice it. He felt sorry for his biological mother. "Just look at the time!" Bae was hoping to get the boy out to start thinking about the next action plan. "Go to bed, now"

Henry couldn't do anything against mom's piercing and cold gaze. Stamping his foot in anger, he went to his room. The girls breathed a sigh of relief: no matter how terrible it may sound, but the boy will not be very useful. And Byul didn't like him too much. He was selfish and boring.

"We'll continue tomorrow, I want to sleep", Moon yawned not very convincingly. "I'll take one of the rooms"

"Wait, why did I kick our son out? So you can turn around and go to bed? Show some respect"

"This brat can't be my son", after these words, Irene in a sharp breath. She didn't expect to hear this from the youngest. "Okay, I'm sorry, but I'm sure that after you watch this show, you'll understand me"

"First of all, I'm not going to watch it, I don't want to go through this hell again. Secondly, Moon Byul Yi, he's a kid! How dare you say that about him?"

"Well, I'm sorry, I blurted out without thinking", Byul raised her hands in surrender. She didn't want to anger the older one, and sleep was already overpowering her. "You should get some sleep, too. Tomorrow we will definitely come up with something"

Irene had no choice but to agree with this obnoxious blonde.

***

The morning was unusual.

Byul, opening her eyes, met a bright light coming from the windows. The room she was staying in was strange and strikingly snow-white. It seemed that it had been empty for many years - the bed was damn cold, almost transparent cobwebs could be seen in the corners of the room, the furniture, which the room was definitely not filled with, was covered with dust. Her clothes scattered on the floor "spoiled" the whole look, adding a certain coziness to the prevailing picture.

The silence around was broken by kid's screams and laughter. Byul remembered where she was and sighed heavily. The hope that this was a dream was slowly but surely disappearing. The bathroom was no different in alienation from the bedroom. A snow–white shower stall, a snow-white sink, snow-white cold tiles - the girl is already cutting her eyes from the huge amount of white in this mansion, which, by the way, was also white.

A few minutes later, the not-real Emma Swan, not bothering to change her pajamas into something more casual, came downstairs. Her stomach rumbled relentlessly, demanding food and coffee. As she approached the kitchen, she heard the soft voice of Irene, who was joking with Henry.

"Emma?" Byul shuddered in surprise. In front of her stood Bae, dressed in a silk robe, who anxiously looked her up and down. "Are you okay? You're kind of quiet today"

The younger one didn't know how to react to her words. Yesterday Irene was ready to kill her, and today she's worried about her? "It's okay, I'm just hungry"

"Mom made pancakes! She also said that we will order pizza today!",  Henry was overjoyed. His mom was different from the version of herself she was two days ago. He thought that the reason lay in Regina's love for his biological mother, which was absolutely not true. If this child knew that he was also one of the characters, but not a fairy tale, but just a TV show.

"I'm wondering what it smells like. I hope your pancakes are as delicious as you are."

After a moment, Moon realized the meaning of what was said. Red as a crab, Irene hit her hard on the back of the head, making the boy laugh even harder. After that, she forced the younger one to sit at the table and put a plate of breakfast in front of her.

"Shut up and eat, you idiot"

It's definitely an unusually good morning.

***

A black Mercedes drove slowly through the streets of Storybrooke. The girls decided to take Henry to school together to discuss the plan on the way back. But there were zero ideas.

"Just tell me what's going on in the story", Irene kept saying. She didn't like how Moonbyul, instead of helping, just mocked her.

"I can't think when I'm hungry"

"You've already eaten more than me and Henry together!"

Emma's disadvantage was that she loved to eat. Being in "her body", Moonbyul couldn't stop: there were not enough pancakes with maple syrup, so she tried to make an omelet, but almost burned down the kitchen, so Irene took care of it; but there was also not enough omelet, so the girl had no choice but to pick a few apples from that huge tree, which has been featured in the show a bunch of times. And yes, she tried that apple cider. In the morning. It was delicious, but now Bae thinks she's an alcoholic.

Moonbyul didn't think about Irene's words and turned towards the cafe. She needed to eat! A few moments later, they went into Grandma's.

"Just looking at you makes me sick", Joohyun whispered furiously.

Moon rolled her eyes, but said nothing. There's nothing more important than food right now. And she should try everything that was said in the show. Sitting down at a table, Ruby Lucas brought them the menu.

"Who I see. Our mayor Regina Mills and her mysterious stranger. Rumor has it that you're Henry's biological mother"

Rumor?

"What the hell are the rumors? Who is spreading them?", Irene was furious. Not only is this waitress flirting with Byul in front of her, but they also like to gossip in this town. About her! Well, not really about her, but it was unpleasant. "And stop staring at each other, you look disgusting"

"Well, Henry told Mary Margaret, and she told me. We're best friends, we tell each other everything. Well, I may have told my grandmother. And she told Grumpy, and he—"

"That's enough. Who is Mary Margaret?"

And suddenly a thought struck Moonbyul. How does the destruction of the curse begin? That's right, with the reunion of Prince Charming and Snow White. And how to reunite them? They need to find this Mary first and get her to go to that hospital.

"Damn", Moonbyul said.

Irene turned to the girl who was looking at her with her eyes wide open. "Damn it. Ruby, could you give us a minute? And tell me your phone number."

"Are you stupid? Ruby, if you give her your number, no one will find you alive."

"Is that a threat, Miss Mills?", Lucas asked cautiously, not wanting to anger the mayor once again. But when she noticed the deadly cold gaze directed at her, she decided to get out of there as soon as possible.

"In short, Mary Margaret is Snow White. She needs to be reunited with Prince Charming, who is now in a coma in the hospital. Well, you still need to get rid of his ex-wife, but it's easy. She's kind of messing with a teacher at Henry's school"

'What the is this rapper watching?' Irene thought before continuing to listen to Moonbyul.