'Someone's great blessing has sprung from a pain that you may not be able to endure. So, envy not the blessings they have, unless you are willing to take on the curses too.'

- J.S. Wolfe

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Hoseok's POV:

What is this place? No really. But to be specific, when.

My clothes are simple. I look at Jimin seeing his are basically a mirror image of mine. Plain beiges and whites. Blacks and browns decorating me like a modern art canvas - a minimalistic design.

The materal is quite flowy, the robe extremely unpretentious.

I stand next to a stall, fruits and vegetables layed out to the public. Officials and commoners walk along the path, as Jimin too looks confusedly at the streets.

"Jimin, what fictional story could this be, a Historical Drama?" I ask, dusting off the dirt from my chin. "Uh brightside, we understand the language?" Jimin says, an elderly woman approaching us from behind.

"Hello dear, how much have you sold today?" She asks, raising her eyebrows. It makes herself have more wrinkles than my grandmother. "We've sold quite a good amount, half is already gone and it's about... Only past noon," Jimin calculates, looking at the sky.

"Well done sons, keep working hard," She hastily starts walking away into a small house. So we're both commoners of some sort, alright. At least we have a whole bunch of fresh vegetables. Snagging an apple from the cart, I drag Jimin for us to take a break and look around the town, abandoning the stand of fresh produce.

"As an avid viewer and reader of Korean History-" I get cut off by Jimin, as he notices two women in a corner talking. Putting his index finger to my lips, he sneaks up closer and casually leans on a log. I do the same, listening in on the conversation.

"Ah, today's the fourth year anniversary of the curse. All the poor kids here are at least four years old, ah I feel so bad for the men and women who want children," The short one gossips.

The taller one sighs, fiddling with her hands. "I wonder if we'll ever have a family. Ah, isn't one of the witches locked up and getting burned today? Her powers is way too strong for Chongnam. I must say if a witch is genuinely good, with really weak powers they shouldn't be burned. God bless us all," She prays, the corner of her lips going South.

"That vengeful witch should be the one to rot in hell... We haven't had a proper day of sunlight for so long, only glimpses of it. The crops are dying down, it's getting worse." The other one mutters, hands clasped.

"The royals will deal with it, they always do. This is just a bigger issue than we all thought," The girl worries, her lips quivering as the little bit of sunshine we had fades away under the deep clouds. It seems to be looking like a sorrowful day, but from what I've gathered, today might've been one of the best days they've had

I get tugged by Jimin, even though I sort of wanted to hear more of what the girls were saying. Curse? What curse? No sunlight, and no one's able to have kids? I was about to say it gave me Sleeping Beauty vibes but no, no one can have children. If that curse isn't lifted... Eventually no one would be left in Korea, or at least in this story.

"Hoseok, you know how Y/N wrote the version of Little Red Riding Hood," He speaks quickly, trying to make a point. Does he know the story we're in?

"Yeah?" I answer, unsure on what he's trying to get at. "Well, I think I wrote this story. And this isn't an adaption of anything, purely historical fiction I wrote for my Languages class in ninth grade," He explains, as I connect all the dots. I think it's finally starting to make sense.

I remember, I remember how we had to write a fictional story about this dynasty. Thank god I paid enough attention to class.

"Look so, this story, there's a vengeful witch. And that witch, she had a child with a human. But one night, she used her powers and got spotted by a royal. She begged for the Princess to keep silent, using her magic only to create crops to sell on the next day," He starts, telling me about the plot of the story.

Something tells me, this isn't going to be as easy as Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

"Blah blah blah, Princess tells the officials about the witch, and the witch almost gets burned. Almost," He tells the story with his whole heart. He clearly put a lot of effort into that assignment. Wonder if he got a good A+ on that.

"Since they assumed the baby to be a witch too, they cruelly murdered the child. So on the mother's burning, her emotions were so strong it broke her out of the ropes. She cursed the whole place, for everyone to not have kids of their own so then the royal blood line dies down."

It just gets darker and darker, from grey to jet black. Everyone, hire Jimin as a screenwriter and make this a movie already.

"Right now, it's been four years since that day. A young teen woman is locked up. Thing is, she's a witch, a strong witch. No one knows, but she's the lost sister of the vengeful witch, Hyeon. So, she's strong enough to go against her sister."

Oh... It's probably Y/N, isn't it? Please no. I don't make out myself to be a person capable of saving someone from a prison cell.

"Us, the two low lives decide to save her since we both believe theres something wrong with the system. So, when the guards are taking her to be burned, we kick them down and take her."

But, luckily I took a few karate classes back when I was younger. Not that it would help a lot. Aha...

"There's a potion we'd have to make, consisting of special herbs from the mountain, blood of a royal and the hair of Hyeon. Mix it up, blah blah, pour that liquid on the land and say the spell and the curse can be lifted. Unfortunately, no knows where she is. But she lives in the mountain, so we spot her."

Sounds easy. Very easy.

Yeah not so easy.

"Other things happen, and we gather several other witches as they battle against Hyeon. Hyeon gets weak, then they surround her with salt and some symbols, take a lock of her hair and make the potion. The kingdoms curse is lifted, and witches and humans stand side by side in the end," He finishes, taking a breath. Must be very tired from talking.

I'll pretend I remember every detail though. "I presume Y/N is either Hyeon or the locked up witch," I say, not so sure if my karate abilities will fail her or not. "She's probably the locked up witch meaning," He pauses, looking up at a tower where a flame is lit.

"The flame is lit, signalling the burning of a witch.

We have to get to the palace and get there now."

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Y/N's POV:

Time travel? Why am I in a cell of some historical drama? And why was I called both a wench and a witch in ten seconds?

"You'll burn soon you wench, have fun dying as a witch," The crusty bearded guard said, walking out of the suffocating room. My claustrophobia is not having fun right now.

"So I'm a witch now. I better be a good one I suppose," I mutter to myself, my traditional attire getting quite dirty from the grungy floor.

Witches. Something I normally only see in those medieval fantasy shows. I quite enjoy them, and I wonder if there's any truth to them. Probably is, everything comes from something, whether it's false or a fact.

In the corner of the room was a single lantern, one of the only light sources in this whole place. There was a slit in-between the walls, where I was able to peer in on the outside but other than that, it was fairly dark.

The harsh skin cutting stones weren't the most comfortable thing to sit on, but in all honesty I've gotten used to it. It was like sitting on blunt knives. Especially when I've been waking up on hard grounds all this long.

But soon enough, four guards of some sort enter the room, unlocking the cell and pulling me out. "Where are you taking me-"

"You're going to burn, witch. It's your time," One of them says in a deep voice, chaining up my arms and stuffing my mouth with a dirty white cloth. "But-"

No one seems to even care to listen, as I'm brought out into the daylight. Walking, I almost trip over as they lazily bring me closer to where I assume I'll get burned. Am I meant to use my powers?

I try and wriggle around under their touch, but one of them snickers. "Haven't you learnt you woman? These chains assure no witches like you break free. Not without being freed by a human with a normal lock."

Nice to know. At least I can maybe uh, bribe someone to free me?

At that thought, some midget swiftly kicks one of the guards in the face, the other ones getting distracted making them easy targets. Basically, these guards are in dire need of a replacement. Like hello? They're dealing with a stunning witch here.

Wait is that Jimin? Ah, no wonder I saw a short person kick the guy.

"Well nice to see you again. I'm no longer Min Y/N though, I'm Witch Y/N now apparently," I re-introduce, bowing just to act my part. "Yeah I know."

He what now? Figured out the story that quick? Must I say he's getting smarter-

"Y/N. I wrote the story."

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Oh.

No wonder he knew what story this is. He wrote it after all, but the story is quite frightening. It's going to be Elsa all over again. I'm going to be a strong witch who doesn't even know how to use her powers. How's that meant to work?

Hoseok starts to speak, eyes filled with curiosity. "What are we meant to do first?"

Jimin answers, looking at some tower. "Well we should probably run a little more faraway, give Y/N a scarf to cover her face and lay low. She needs to tap into her powers and find the other witches. Most of them are hiding in the woods, some under invisibility spells. Only another witch would be able to see them..." He stops, looking at me.

I'll guess I'll act as their set of eyes for the time being. But for now, I think we should get away from them.

"The witch escaped. For all we know, she's among us," Someone in the crowd mutters, worrying as for a short moment, we make eye contact.

Pushing through, getting faraway from the suffocating village, their hands entangled like a ball of wool. I finally breath, the warm air now cool, filling my lungs.

"If you see a house or something, tell us. Oh, and we might fall into one of their traps, since it's rare for anyone to go east into the forest," Jimin informs casually, like a walk in the park.

"Why is it rare to go in the East?" Hoseok asks, as I too am curious. "It's rumoured that the witch lives in the mountain in the east, and most who travel there never come back. Some thinks there's cannibals, but in the story it's because of the witches. Hence why we may fall in their traps."

Something tells me today's going to be a very long day. Even longer than the Great Wall of China, and that wall stretches for miles.

Hiking upwards, going off path deeper into the woods. It's quiet, eerily silent, the only sounds I am able to hear is the whirling of the wind, spiralling in my eardrums. I hear a ringing, some sort of high frequency noise echo in the forest. "Do you guys hear that?"

Jimin shrugs, "Hear what?"

"The ringing."

"I don't hear it," Hoseok admits, scanning the area for the source of the peculiar sound. But nothing, nothing indicates what it could be.

Or maybe not.

Swoosh

Crack

We fall into a hole, something we were warned to stay away from. It's about three metres deep, not too bad considering we all thought it was going to be deeper.

We all groan in pain, as I roll off them carefully. "Are you guys okay?" I ask, as Jimin replies, "If you were any heavier, I might've died."

"Oh please, don't be dramatic." I roll my eyes, standing up and jumping to see if I can take a peak. But I'm not tall enough, as my shoulders slump down, looking at them still entangled with eachother. "I hope you plan to get up some time soon," I mutter, pulling Hoseok up onto his feet.

"I think we should try to get out, maybe Hoseok can be like, no offence but a stepping stool and-"

A laugh comes from above us.

"Oh we'll get you out alright, just until you explain how you've survived this far," Some woman cuts in, as we all look up to see four very different women. "Are you... Witches?" I ask, forgetting to put a filter on my mouth.

They looked at eachother's faces, nodding in agreement. "Of course we're witches darling, what else would we be? Pitiful humans like you?" She cackles, laughing tremendously loud.

"For your information, I'm a witch too," I defend, a stern look appearing on my face. That same mocking laugh comes from her. "Is that so, well then, if you are, you would've been able to use your powers to get out and save your little friends there," The same woman talks, seeming as though she's the leader of this coven.

"If you help us out, we'll explain," Jimin intrudes in the conversation, glancing at me for a second. A grin grows on the witches, "So the small one speaks? Well then, we'll help you up. And if we don't approve of your explanations?"

"Then you can do whatever you want with us."

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Jimin's POV:

We still fell in their traps, great. We were bound to have to look for them though, I guess it was a sooner or later situation. A part of me though, wish it happened a little later.

"Pst, Jimin, is this meant to happen?" Y/N asks, whispering in my ear. I nod, as she gets tugged by one of the witches. "No talking," The petite one orders, but looking like the scariest one out of the lot.

They take us to their home, a fairly large cabin. Except I couldn't see it at first, only when they opened up the door. It was a perfect place to be for a witch, secluded and safe. The only complications would be if anyone decides to walk this path, hitting their face on the building.

Inside is cozy, the logs and mulch creating good insulation. I couldn't suppress from asking how they made it, as one of them bitterly replies with, "Magic."

I guess it was obvious. It's been so long, that I've forgotten all the little details. These witches has become quite sour after the curse, as humans hated them even more.

For a time, humans, witches and all in-between lived along eachother. But that changed many years ago, when humankind used witches and entrapped them for their powers, creating a war between them.

The harmony was crushed forever, whenever a witch was spotted doing magic they were burned at the stake. Why did I have to write such a tragic story for a ninth grade assignment?

But before I get lost in my own head, one of the women pushes me onto a chair, tying us all up and shutting the door tight. As tight as when I squeeze my eyes when I'm going to sleep.

"So, which one of you guys are going to explain how you made it this deep, and why you claim you have a reason to be here? No one dares to venture this far into the Eastern Forest?" The leader-like one asks, with doe eyes. Although threatening and older than the others, mid thirties, she's quite a beautiful woman.

"You brought a talisman or something?" The younger one asks, her skin pale and smooth like milk, about the same age as me and Y/N, or even younger. I shake my head. Looking at Y/N, we talk with our eyes to figure out who'll explain.

What am I meant to say? Oh, you guys are nothing but fiction and this is a historical assignment? I guess it'd be better to act like the character instead, wouldn't it?

"I believe witches, most witches are good," I start, examining their faces like a math equation in the middle of a test. "Alright, nice to know but stop stating the obvious darling, you are friends with someone who's apparently one. You're just keeping up with your story here so far."

I sigh, and continue. "Hana here, is a witch, but she doesn't know how to use her powers properly. She only found out recently, as if her powers has been suppressed. She was about to be burned until we saved her."

The eldest woman paces around the room, eyes looking down as her lips stay in a straight line. "She must've been part of a coven where all the others got burned. What's the woman's last name?"

"Mo-"

"Hush dear, let the girl speak. Don't want to make it seem like you made this story on the spot, do we?" She smirks, studying every move and sound I make as if I was an article on the internet. "My name is... Moon Hana."

Ah, thank god she guessed correctly! I look to my left as Hoseok just states at us, keeping quiet as his hand lays in his lap.

"I think I know how to break the curse," I assert, closing my eyes for a moment as I didn't want to see their faces. "All of us witches know the spell, but it's too dangerous. Plus, why would we help the humans? At least that despicable family would die down," The eldest, I recall her name to be Yejun snickers as she too finally sits down, resting her legs.

"Do you all want to stay here? In hiding, away from everyone? I assume you all survive with the crops in the back and the occasional boar and snake you hunt, but no one can live like that," I voice out, knowing it's all true. I wrote their characters after all.

I stand up without consent, making a point. I look at the youngest, "You, don't you want to experience love? Don't you want to just run in the sunlight, as if nothing else in the world mattered?" The girl looks down silently, tugging at her sleeve.

"How about you two, you're twenty-five at most. When was the last time you shared a kiss with someone, or had a job and feeling that thrill of adventure as a young adult?" I continue, trying to convince them that they need to at least try to fight.

"I may be a mere human, but it doesnt mean my thoughts aren't valid. I assume this counter spell would be difficult but-"

"But what? We could die," Yejun cuts in, afraid of her cousins and herself dying. "Look me in the eyes and tell me you're actually living. Because you know deep down, you're doing nothing but holding onto a thin branch, surviving."

She looks away, eyes lighting up as she gazes at the fireplace momentarily. "Even if we found all the ingredients, we're not strong enough. Me and the other witches here, we aren't as strong as Hyeon. If the curse is lifted, it wouldn't last long until Hyeon finds a way to do it again."

"Then find a way to kill her. Weaken her, anything. Plus, if we take a day or longer to train her, Hana, you could be strong enough. Look, she's the long lost sister of Hyeon," I spit out, Y/N's character isn't exactly meant to know right now. I'll make an excuse.

"She uh, had this dream which was more of a flashback. But that's not so important and can be explained later. If Hyeon was strong enough to cast that spell, Hana, as her sister would have the same ability. And with all of you together, it would be stronger!" I exclaim, Yejun thinking deeply.

She massages her temples, as she looks at her other cousins who seem onboard on the plan.

"So, what do you say? Will you be willing to help break the curse and train Hana?"

Yejun brings up her arm, gesturing for us to shake hands.

"So, Moon Hana, let's show me what you've got."

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Word Count

➪ 3551 Words ☕︎

A/N: I know this chapter has been a little rushed, but this was written all the way in about October last year. Six months after I can now see the flaws in it, but the concept and idea is there so I hope you still found it enjoyable!

Jimin wrote this story. The tales complicated. I'd like to thank a friend for making this little sub story with me.

As I'm editing the rest of the chapters of this story, it makes me want to rewrite it all again! Pacing and dialogue was definitely a big issue for me, and I can't wait to improve on that with anything else I will write. Please bare with me oml. I can't wait till I get to write again though, it's been a busy February and March for me </3

ily guys ❤️

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