LEE MINHO wasn't having a pleasant day. firstly, business was slow at the shop, and a lack of customers meant a lack of money. secondly, seungmin hadn't shown up for their daily breakfast together, which left minho to wallow in his loneliness by himself. thirdly, even his typically perfect baking wasn't going so well. he had tried to bake a baguette out of dough scraps and the result was a blackened, charred substance which he dared not eat.

something is wrong, he thought to himself, but what?

it was at that moment the door to the bakery burst open. minho, not expecting anyone to show themselves in his shop, was immediately caught off guard. purely out of reflex, he grabbed the nearest item (a bowl the size of his head) and flung it as hard as he could at the intruder. he heard a familiar voice cry, "chan, duck!" and it was then that he got a good look at the person (or people, rather) that had entered the bakery.

"seungmin!" minho chirped in delight, skipping over to his friend as if he hadn't tried to murder him with a bowl just a couple seconds prior. "where were you today? i was— wait, who is that?"

a silver-haired man was calmly crouched on the floor, minho's bowl in his hands. did he catch that? minho thought in awe as the man stood up and stuck out his hand.

"bang chan. it's a pleasure to meet you. i assume you're lee minho?"

minho shook his hand tentatively. "yes, that would be me." he faced seungmin. "is something the matter? what's going on?"

the look on his friends face told him that there was, in fact, a pressing matter to discuss, but before he could say anything, chan jumped in. "i'll make this short and simple for you: your friend's cursed and we need a certain spellbook to cure him. he told us you have kim namjoon's limited edition spellbook, correct?"

minho's jaw dropped as he tried to process all of the information that had been given to him. "y-yes, i do, but... wait, how did this all happen?"

"there's no time to explain," chan stated grimly. "your friend doesn't have much time left. now if you could just give us the book, we'll be on our wa—"

"hold on just a moment!" minho exclaimed. "seungmin, can we talk for a second?" without waiting for a reply, the baker grabbed his friend by the wrist and dragged him to the back room of the bakery, away from a protesting chan, only stopping when he was sure they were out of earshot. "tell me everything. and don't you dare leave out a single bit, kim seungmin."

and seungmin did. he told him about the hideous suit and going to the market and running into chan. he told him about the mysterious vendor who turned out to be changbin and getting the curse placed onto him. he told him about how he was taken to hyunjin's castle, meeting the lively apprentice and the eccentric demon, and finally being sent to retrieve the spellbook. the pair had been best friends for many years now, and they both knew that they could trust each other with anything in the world, no matter what it was. for this reason, seungmin didn't show any signs of hesitation when he spoke to minho, and shared everything with him.

by the end of it, the baker was utterly dumbfounded. how in the world is seungmin so calm about this? he thought and voiced that thought to his friend.

"i'm not quite sure," seungmin shrugged. "i don't think it's completely sunk in yet that i'm headed to my imminent doom."

"no! don't think like that!" minho cried, slapping his friend on the shoulder. "listen here, seungmin: i'm going to do whatever it takes to save you, even if that means fighting hwang hyunjin himself. speaking of fighting, that seo trash bin better be ready for when i get my hands on him—!"

despite the bleak situation, seungmin let out a laugh. minho's antics never failed to amuse him when he was feeling down. "you would get pummeled in half a second, minho."

"that's fine. it would be for a good cause." this made seungmin smile. "now, come on. let me fetch the book and we can go."

seungmin's smile faltered. "wait... 'we'?"

"well, you can't expect me to not go with you. after all, who's going to save you from the horrors of hyunjin's castle or say something when people walk all over you?"

"i can do that mysel—"

"no you cannot," minho quickly cut him off, folding his arms over his chest. "you're going to need my help if you want to make it out of there alive. besides, do you think that i'm just going to put brand new— not to mention extremely rare— spellbook in the hands of strangers?" he shook his head. "absolutely not. so, whether you like it or not, i'm coming with you."

"but—" 

it was too late, for minho had already marched out of the room, yelling, "chan! i'll get the book for you, and then we can leave straightaway for hyunjin's castle."

chan looked at him confusedly. "wait, are you coming with us?"

"that is correct." minho reached under the countertop to where his spellbooks were tucked inside of a cupboard. hidden in plain sight, he always told seungmin when he questioned him about his not-so-secretive hiding place. nobody would ever guess that my most prized possessions were there all along!

behind him, he heard chan say, "does he have any idea what he's getting himself into?"

"you can't stop him when he's made his mind up about something," came the voice of seungmin. "he's quite stubborn. it's best to just let him come along."

chan sighed. "alright. we'll see what hyunjin has to say about this when he gets back from... well, wherever he is." he gestured to the door when minho turned back around, the large leather tome safely tucked in his arms. "let's go, you two. the sooner we return, the sooner jisung can begin working on the cure. plus, seungmin, you must be exhausted right now." he looked outside, and orange rays of light filled the bakery. "it will be getting dark soon. i'll set up a place for you two to sleep once we get back, and everyone can get situated." he sighed, muttering under his breath, "if hyunjin doesn't expand the castle this time, i will seriously knock some sense into him."

seungmin glanced at minho. "are you sure you want to do this? i don't want you to be in danger."

minho smiled reassuringly. "seungmin, we're going to be staying in an infamous wizard's castle with a warlock of darkness, a problematic apprentice, a literal demon, an unseen force, and whatever chan is. how dangerous can it be?"

seungmin chuckled as chan spoke once more. "let's go, kids. we have to go on foot since i can't run while carrying more than one person. also, my muscles ache, so i don't want to carry anyone anyway."

minho frowned. following chan outside, he said, "what do you mean by 'kids'? i'm pretty sure i'm older than you!"

"and just how old are you?" chan asked, a playful tone in his voice.

"twenty-three."

chan hummed. "yes, it seems that i'm older than you by a whole one hundred and one years."

seungmin and minho's jaws dropped to the ground. "you're one hundred and twenty-four?" seungmin exclaimed in disbelief.

chan suddenly doubled over in laughter, much to the baker and tailor's confusion. straightening up, he gasped, "of course not! how strange would that be?" he shook his head, a large grin painting his face. "quite bizarre. unimaginable. nearly impossible. simply ridiculous. there isn't a being alive who's that old." he turned to look at the duo behind him, a mysterious twinkle in his eye. "or is there?" he then turned back around and continued walking, a slight bounce in his step that wasn't there before.

...he's an odd one, minho thought. odd indeed.

❂❂❂

minho had barely any time to marvel at the massive structure before him because as soon as they arrived, chan zipped over to the stone wall and knocked on it harshly. "felix, we're back." when there was no response, chan frowned and tried again. "felix." again they were met with nothing but silence, and chan groaned in frustration. "i swear to the queen— felix, open the door!"

what door? minho thought, and as if on cue, a small portion of the stone wall swung open. chan marched inside, clearly irritated, with seungmin right behind. minho was about to follow when a loud cry was heard.

"what the hell?"