A black Chevrolet Silverado entered into the Lee family premises and stopped just beside the water fountain. Mrs. Choi gracefully stepped out of it, decked in an all black attire. In front of the house were some of the staffs who worked in the house, while at the top of the stairs which led to the mansion stood Rang and Bari, Hyeol's parents. As Mrs. Choi made her way up, the staffs all bowed, but her face remained straight.
"Good morning Mr. and Mrs. Lee" she greeted after she had gotten to where Lee's parents stood. Bari smiled,
"Loosen up sister, no humans are here. Everyone on this grounds are either lower gumihos or sprites" Bari assured.
"Welcome, Seonangshin, we are honored to have you" Rang greeted with a slight bow. Mrs. Choi's cold demeanor relaxed, even though she didn't wear a smile still.
"I crave some ice tea" Mrs. Choi simply said as she made her way past the couple into their mansion. Bari turned to her husband, a childish smile plastered on her face.
"Let's go in now and get this over with" she said to her husband, before she turned and ordered a maid standing by to get three glasses of ice tea. Rang shrugged and shortly after, the couple walked into their house.
Mrs. Choi took a sip from the straw inserted in her drink before gracefully turning her sister and her husband.
"Sorry I took a little time coming here. I had to give audience to Hyeol's tutor, she wanted to fix a time for their session" Mrs. Choi explained.
"We could talk more on that later, let's tackle the issue at hand" Mrs. Choi stated further.
"I'll get the crystal ball, you two can talk in details" Rang offered, as he made his way out of the living room. Mrs. Choi and Bari turned in unison and gave each other a stare.
"Is it that bad?" Mrs. Choi asked. Bari let out a weak sigh and nodded.
"He's seventeen now, and we would want to know what the future holds for him" Bari answered.
"But at his birth, good things were seen. He is a rare fox, a nine-tailed fox, just like his father" Mrs. Choi persisted.
"I know sister, but he seems not to be manifesting any of the blessings or prophecies given. We just need more clarity this time, and a solution if there is any" Bari insisted. Mrs. Choi let out a sigh,
"Very well, I hope he isn't around" Mrs. Choi asked.
"I mixed him a sleeping elixir, he should be out for about three hours" Bari responded.
"Alright then, I suppose we are good to go" Mrs. Choi agreed. Almost immediately, Rang brought the crystal ball and placed it on the huge ivory table in front of Mrs. Choi. She immediately stood up and shut every door, before casting a spell on the room to soundproof the room.
Gracefully, she sat down and began to mumble some chants. At first slowly, but then the pace became faster and repetitive. Rang and Bari sat there, watching her do what she was doing. This went on for about five minutes, after which Mrs. Choi laid her hand on the crystal ball. A bright light shone through it's semi-transparent glass, and her shut eyes finally opened, only that this time, it was totally white.
"Hyeol's part is one of greatness, but his mischief is far greater than his will, and the dark spirits are using it to their advantage. But one person would set him on the right part, she would guide him into his destiny. But….." Mrs. Choi stopped.
"But what?" Rang asked, his eyes searching Mrs. Choi's face curiously.
"She could be used by the dark side to bring chaos to the spirit realm" Mrs. Choi finished. Her eyes started to return to normal, the crystal ball turned back to it's original color as well.
"I guess that's all there is" Mrs. Choi said. Rang and Bari gave each other a confused stare.
"Your revelation seemed to be incomplete and confusing. How can one bring help and chaos all at once?" Rang asked.
"I don't know, that's what I have seen so far. But all I know is this, whoever this person is and Hyeol as well should be extremely careful, I think someone is trying to sabotage the balance in the spirit world" Mrs. Choi suggested.
"That's why Hyeol needs to get his act together quickly and also be careful. At this point his decisions could determine the balance of spirit world and the mortal world" At this point, Mrs. Choi stood up from her seat,
"I'll be leaving now, I've got boundaries to watch over. Inform Hyeol that his study sessions start by 7am on Monday" she announced. Bari and her husband stood up as well.
"Thanks for coming, we appreciate it" Rang said, bowing slightly to show his appreciation.
"We should hangout sometime sister" Bari said, to which Mrs. Choi smiled.
"Indeed, we should. I'll let you know when" Mrs. Choi responded and almost immediately, she snapped her fingers releasing the room from the spell she had placed on it, before heading for the door and seeing herself out. Rang and Bari watched her disappear, before letting out a sigh in unison.
"I'll just offer incense later tonight" Bari remarked, her voice quite weak. Her husband looked at her, he could see distress written all over her face. He picked her hand up, and squeezed it tightly in he's.
"We'll offer them together, I won't let you do it alone" he said, his voice as soothing as a brook. Bari smiled and feel into his arms,
"Thank you" she muttered as she squeezed him passionately.
The weekend ran faster than Bora had expected, she muttered those thoughts as she walked towards the school. She turned her wrist to check the time,
"6:30am, I got here on time" she muttered to herself triumphantly as she matched to the school gate. She sat on block beside the flowers found around the gate and waited. She sat there till other students and staffs started coming to school. Bora scanned their faces, looking for any sign or sight of Hyeol. She kept checking her wristwatch and still waiting till it was about 8:40am. She saw a black car pull up in front of the school, and within a minute, Hyeol stepped down from the car. Bora's blood boiled as she watched him walk majestically towards the gate, while the car sped off. Just as he got to the gate, Bora rushed to him, blocking him from entering.
"Excuse me miss, I want to get through" Hyeol said, as he attempted to shove Bora, but she didn't budge.
"I believe you are the one who was supposed to be tutored this morning by 7am. But instead, you kept me waiting for more than an hour and now, we'll soon have classes" Bora complained.
"Hey, that has nothing to do with me. I didn't meet you for any tutoring whatsoever so I'm not answerable to you" Hyeol responded and once again, tried to shove Bora out of his way.
"But....."
"What's going on here?" A voice asked, interrupting Bora. She and Hyeol turned, and to her greatest dismay, it was Hana and her friends.
"Why are you bothering our new student Bora? I guess you are begging him to date you or something" Hana suggested as her friends giggled nonstop. Hana turned to Hyeol, wearing her sweetest expression.
"I'm so sorry you had to be embarrassed like this, this girl is a known lunatic. I apologize on her behalf" Hana said. Hyeol took a long stare at her and smirked.
"This will be fun" he thought to himself, while his gaze was still fixed in Hana.
"It's fine, apology accepted. You seem like a very chill girl, let's hangout sometime" he suggested, a charming smile spread across his thin lips. Hana gasped, her cheeks flushed already.
"Sure, anytime you want" she said, as she tried to maintain her composure. Hyeol smirked and in a split second, shoved Bora out of his way and walked into the school. Hana and her friends now surrounded Bora, their eyes laser focused on her.
"You are just one pathetic poor thing" Hana stated, and the rest of the girls began to laugh.
"Make sure you had over our homework in class" Hana warned, as she and her friends walked through the gate, there laughter echoing as they walked into the school. Bora was left there, distraught and confused, tears tried to roll down her cheeks, but she blinked hard, after which she took a deep breath and walked right through the gate. Unknown to her, Mrs. Choi stood about a mile away in her car, watching everything that had played out.
The classroom was rowdy, with people chattering loudly, while some others buried their faces in a book. Bora couldn't focus, she kept glaring at Hyeol from where she sat. He was on his phone, while the girls kept drooling and muttering about how handsome he is. Bora thought long and hard about what to do, after all, she never signed up to tutor anyone. Out of impulse, she stood up and headed over to where Hyeol seated and promptly tapped his shoulder. Hyeol turned to the sight of a smallish but bright eyed brunette glaring viciously at him. Bora bent closer while Hyeol stared at her in surprise.
"Now listen, I know you are new here and probably you think it's wise to belittle me for whatever reason. But I want to make one thing clear, I didn't choose to tutor you, not at all. I made a lot of sacrifices to be here early so I could carry out my duty, so please if you don't want this, go tell the principal to call it off, thank you" Bora boldly ranted and turned to go back to her seat. Hyeol couldn't imagine that anyone could challenge him that way, except his parents, but that was secondary, he watched her go back to her seat and he began to reminisce on what he had just seen. Behind her beautiful hazel eyes, he could see tiredness. She wasn't lying when she said she had sacrificed a lot to make it in time for their session and she really carried a lot of baggage he wouldn't seem to know. Almost immediately, his phone beeped. He picked it up and it was a message from Mrs. Choi,
"Come by the office during recess. We really need to talk" the message read. Hyeol let out a sigh, before he could respond, a teacher walked into the classroom, causing him to drop his phone into his backpack. While the class was trying to settle down for the class to commence, Hyeol turned once again to catch a glimpse of Bora. She seemed to be writing something on the notebook in front of her.
"Why do you carry so much weight?" he muttered to himself, before he turned to the front to focus on class.