"I'M LEAVING."

after a sleepless night filled with sights and sounds that shouldn't ever be witnessed, hyunjin's sudden declaration the next morning during breakfast hardly shocked seungmin at all. however, it proved to be the exact opposite for felix, whose fork clattered against his plate.

"what? but you just got back!" he exclaimed. "i thought you said you were staying this time!"

hyunjin shook his head solemnly. "i'm sorry, felix. i'd love to stay longer, but i have to take care of something very important and i cannot put it off any longer."

felix crossed his arms with a huff. "you always say that," seungmin heard him mutter. the redhead frowned. this must happen often.

hyunjin either didn't hear his comment or chose to ignore it. rising from the table, he asked, "where is jisung? i need to let him know that he'll be confined to the fireplace while i'm gone."

seungmin was exhausted so he didn't notice earlier, but now that hyunjin mentioned it, the fire demon was nowhere to be found. chan and jeongin were, as felix put it, "probably cuddling or some nasty shit because of what happened last night"; changbin was up in his room; however, jisung and minho were gone.

as if by magic, jisung bounded down the stairs, minho trailing behind him. "good morning!" he chirped, plopping down at the table next to felix and bouncing in his seat ever so slightly. he seems to be in quite a good mood, seungmin noted.

"it's not a good morning!" felix cried. "hyunjin just said that he's going to leave again!"

jisung's face dropped faster than a fifty-ton boulder rolling off of a cliff. "what? no!" he wailed, slamming his head onto the wooden table and clawing at it in agony. "how could you? how could you?"

next to seungmin, minho rolled his eyes. "quit being so overdramatic. it's not like he's leaving forever." he glanced at hyunjin hesitantly. "right?"

"correct." hyunjin smiled and clasped his hands. "i won't be gone for long. my task should only take about a year to complete, give or take."

seungmin choked on his milk. minho's eyes shot open. jisung looked close to tears. felix slammed his fist down on the table. "this isn't fair!" he shouted. "you're always disappearing and you never tell us why. and when you are home, you're always cooped up in your room doing who-knows-what! it's been forever since we've actually done something fun together, like in the good old days." with every word, his deep voice cracked more and more, and it was a pitiful thing to see. "what happened to you, hyunjin?"

it didn't take a genius to figure out that hyunjin was shocked at felix's sudden outburst. he quickly recovered and cleared his throat, and seungmin could see a hint of softness in his typically sharp green eyes. "you're right. i haven't been fair to you, jisung, chan, or jeongin these past years," he said. "i want to make it up to you. how about we spend the day together before i leave in the evening? just like the good old days."

this seemed to lift felix's spirits as he nodded excitedly. to everyone's surprise, though, jisung slowly shook his head. "you and felix should enjoy some time to yourselves. i'm going to stay home." his gaze flickered to the side where seungmin was, but the tailor had a feeling he wasn't looking at him. "i have something important myself to take care of."

hyunjin arched an eyebrow but shrugged. seungmin absentmindedly wondered if his flowy white shirt was a blouse or a dress shirt. "i guess it's just me and you, felix." he extended his hand, fingertips gently fluttering open. "shall we go now?"

felix grinned. "we shall!" he grabbed hyunjin's hand and practically dragged him to the door where he spun the wheel until it landed on a yellow sliver. he kicked the door open to reveal a sight that made seungmin's jaw drop: it was a beach with sparkling sands and glittering waters that seemed to call out his name. how is that even possible? he thought in disbelief. to his disappointment, the view was only visible for a few short seconds, for felix yanked hyunjin out of the house, the door slamming shut behind them.

minho was the first to break the silence that had fallen upon the three of them. "is that door magic or does this house just move ridiculously fast?"

jisung chuckled. "it's a magic portal. each colour on the wheel is representative of a specific place that the portal can lead to, which is how you can change where you end up. trust me, if the house moved that fast, i'd be on my deathbed. it's not easy being the thing that keeps this house running."

seungmin hummed, finally understanding the mechanics of the door. "so why didn't you end up going with hyunjin and felix? you deserve to have a break before you're stuck working in the fireplace again."

jisung and minho exchanged knowing glances. "well..." the demon began, but minho cut him off.

"early this morning, jisung came to our room because he discovered something that would help break your curse." seungmin's eyes widened as he remembered the deal he made with the fire demon. with all of the crazy things happening, it completely slipped my mind! "there's a spell in the book that we brought that might just solve your problem. however, we had no idea what any of it meant, so we went to the library to do some research and see if we could figure it out. we would've taken you, but you were out cold, so we figured it would be best to let you sleep."

jisung nodded fervently. "but we couldn't decipher its meaning, so we decided to come down and ask for some help. however..." his lower lip jutted out. "hyunjin and felix are gone, and hyunjin's leaving tonight, so the best options we've got are now gone! how are we supposed to figure out this spell if the only wizards in the house have left?"

a thump echoed from behind them. everyone's heads turned to see changbin enter the sitting room from the stairwell. he froze seeing three pairs of eyes on him. "what?"

"what are you doing here?" minho exclaimed just as jisung cried, "i'm so glad you're here!"

changbin was silent. then he quickly turned back around. "if i had known that you idiots would try to talk to me, i never would've come down here," he muttered, rushing up the stairs and disappearing from sight.

"damn it!" jisung cursed. "he could've helped us decipher the spell! he's the only one left around here that knows magic!"

"i highly doubt he would help us figure out a spell that would break the curse that he put on me himself," seungmin said with a slight sigh. "how is he able to leave his room, anyway? didn't hyunjin put a spell on his door or something?" two shrugs were what he got in response. something here doesn't make sense...

"maybe we don't have to let him know that the spell is for you," minho proposed. "we could tell him that hyunjin gave us a spell to decipher for fun and beg for his help to solve it. we could barter something in return, like one of my cakes or one of seungmin's clothing items."

jisung rubber his chin. "that might actually work," he mused. "how about we go and try it?"

and they did. the three boys knocked on changbin's door, opening it after receiving no response. the warlock was on his bed reading a book and his head snapped up as soon as he heard the creak of his door. "what do you want?" he snapped. "don't you know it's rude to enter if you're not welcome?"

"and don't you know that you're a prisoner?" jisung shot back, silencing the man whose eyes narrowed dangerously. waves of anger practically radiated off of him, and seungmin gulped.

this is bad, thought the tailor. if he's irritated, he's probably not going to agree to help us. he decided to step in and try to diffuse the situation. "we just wanted to talk to you," he said, hoping the fear in his voice didn't show. "we need your help."

he explained their "situation", and surprisingly enough, changbin didn't immediately reject it. he did, however, snort when seungmin was finished. "as much as i love bribery, yours is too poor for me. i want something else in return." his eyes glinted as he spoke which caused a shiver to run down seungmin's spine.

"what do you want?" minho asked, and changbin's lips twitched upwards ever so slightly.

"to go outside. alone."

jisung's brows furrowed. "you know we can't do that," he complained. "we don't have that kind of authori—"

"just one day." changbin was clearly adamant about his demand. "i'm sick and tired of being cooped up in this castle. besides, the day in alberia wasn't enjoyable because of all of the people there. i just want to go to a quiet place for a day. is that too much to ask?"

"yes," jisung muttered, and minho slapped him on the arm.

"what if we allow you to go but only with one person?" the baker proposed. changbin didn't speak for a while and seungmin thought that he didn't hear the question until he gave them a slight dip of his head.

"fine. but just one. and i get to choose where to go and who i'm taking."

grins broke out on the trio's faces. "great!" jisung cheered. "so, about the spell, it's a little— well, a lot— complicated. that's why we need your help."

changbin scoffed. "no spell is too difficult for me," he claimed, obviously confident in his abilities. that is, until minho recited it for him.

"...what the fuck?"