Two; Curse {listen}

Kyungsoo was always the last person down in his hattery. Everyone else left early, usually on Kyungsoo's insistance. He would finish his own work then close up, and head to bed to get ready for the next day.

He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, just as he heard the door open. Confused, he turned around, only to find no one there. "Um, hello? I'm sorry we're closed." He furrowed his brows together, looking at the door again. Kyungsoo shrugged and turned back around, jumping when he saw a very, very large woman standing there, flanked by two shadow blobs.

Kyungsoo immediately tensed up, recognizing the blobs from his encounter with the wizard. The very large woman smiled, lips stretching wide and making her sharp nose make her look even more like a bird than she already did. "Why hello there, dear," came the odd woman's voice as she puffed her chest up, causing a strand of perals to strain around her thick neck.

"I-I'm sorry, we're closed," Kyungsoo repeated, clutching onto the side of a table. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave." In the back of his mind, he wondered how the woman got in here. He was positive he locked the doors, so how on earth had she gotten in? More than that, how had she gotten that sausage frame through the narrow doorway?

"You dare ask me to leave?" The woman's eyes bugged out slightly, red lips curling upwards before she relaxed ever so slightly. "This is such a tacky hatshop. And such a tacky boy to match." Her eyes narrowed. "Do you have any idea who I am, boy?"

Kyungsoo had a feeling he was about to find out.

"I'm the Witch of the Waste!" she exclaimed, chest puffing out again, making Kyungsoo wonder how much longer it was going to take before those pearls went flying.

Kyungsoo's hands were shaking now, realizing he probably shouldn't have been rude to the witch famous for cursing people left and right. "Witch or not, we're closed. You need to leave."

The witch's nostrils flared before she smirked. "Alright. If that's how it's going to be." She laughed, and before Kyungsoo knew it, she was flying towards him--literally--like a mass black shadow, passing straight through him. Kyungsoo's eyes closed as his body shuddered, a soft gasp leaving his lips. He found himself on the floor on his knees, shaking. As he turned back to the doorway, he saw the witch there with a grin. "Have fun trying to get rid of that curse, deary," she said before she was gone, shadow blobs in tow.

The hattery was eerily quiet after the witch left, leaving only Kyungsoo and the sound of his own labored breathing. Bracing his hands on the nearest table, he picked himself up, frowning as his joints ached in protest. He felt a little hunched over too, and so terribly tired. Confused, Kyungsoo looked down at himself, only to gasp softly at the sight of his hands. His hands, which were once small and smooth save for the callouses that built up from his work, were wrinkled and shaking ever so slightly. With a feeling of dread settling in his stomach like a stone, Kyungsoo made his way to the mirror sitting on a nearby wall.

What he saw was almost enough to make him pass out from shock.

He was...old, to put it lamely. The skin around his large eyes was slightly saggy with crows feet lining the corners. His skin wasn't as smooth as it usually was, instead slightly loose and pliant against his fingertips. His hair, usually a dark brown bordering on black, was now a silver color, a sign of his age.

Kyungsoo's heart thumped in his chest as he stared at himself, a shaking hand lifting to touch his reflection. That couldn't be him...could it?

"Oh no," he croaked, voice hoarse and slightly cracking with age. "Oh dear." In panic, he began to pace around the best his legs would let him, walking out the back door to feel the fresh air, hoping it would wake him up. He came back inside the hattery and looked at his reflection again, almost squeaking--quite an odd sound coming from a man of his new age--seeing that he was still old.

It must have been the curse the witch placed on him. It had to be.

"Stay calm, Kyungsoo," he mumbled to himself, hands raking through his hair. "You've got to stay calm. Breathe. Breathe." He closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths before opening them again. "Maybe you should go to bed," he mumbled to himself before nodding. "That's right, Kyungsoo. Go to bed. Maybe you'll be back to normal in the morning."

Kyungsoo locked up again and walked to the stairway. Clutching onto the rail, he made his way upstairs, bones and joints occasionally creaking in protest. But Kyungsoo found that even in this old age, he was quite healthy and strong, and though his knees hurt a little by the time he made it to the top, he was perfectly fine.

**   **   **

In the morning, Kyungsoo was dreadfully as old as he had been when he fell asleep. And much to his dismay, he could hear his mother's familiar voice from downstairs, excitedly chatting to the workers about the new hat fashions they had in the neighboring kingdom.

"Isn't it marvelous?" she asked excitedly as she showed off the wide-rimmed hat adorned with either a stuffed bi