Chapter Text
As was common with many prominent witch families, Minho’s family had once been part of a much larger coven that had at one point been considered quite influential in the local community. Unfortunately Minho had never really known the majority of his immediate or extended family, having been abandoned by them at a young age and having been raised by the coven as a sort of orphan instead. So it came as quite a surprise when he found out many years later at a coven-mediated will reading of all places that not only were most of his immediate family still alive—and otherwise wanting nothing to do with him—but that he would somehow be inheriting a guest house formerly owned by one of his distant relatives once or twice removed. He had never in his wildest dreams expected that he would own property in Seoul, let alone an entire guest house. Originally the prospect while daunting, had seemed like a challenge he was willing to take on. However, he soon learned that this task would be a lot more difficult than he ever could have imagined.
It had been six short months since Minho had relocated himself to one of the northern neighbourhoods of Seoul and had taken over the guest house. The house was located only a short walk from one of the largest supernatural specialty colleges in the country and he figured due to this prime location it would be easy to find boarders as students were always coming and going and looking for budget-friendly places to stay. That was much easier said than done as the guest house remained empty month after month and the bills slowly began to pile up.
The guest house itself had definitely seen better days but it was by no means uninhabitable. It was a fairly small two-storey house squeezed onto an even smaller plot of land at the top of a steep hill deep in the backstreets of Ihwa-dong. From the outside it looked slightly rundown but more so in a quaint way than a horror film way. Most passersby would probably not have even noticed that the guest house was there save for a small sign hung above the front gate, slightly obscured by the leaves of a large ginkgo tree. But for those who did notice, most did not stop to look for long as a dark and foreboding feeling would often creep over anyone who approached the property.
According to the locals, despite nothing nefarious ever knowingly taking place there, the house had garnered itself a less than stellar reputation simply for having an unnaturally bad energy about it and no one who was even remotely familiar with the area wanted to stay there. Minho tried everything in his power to ward off this supposed dark and unnatural energy and to entice people to stay, placing the odd talisman here or there and even going so far as to put up new signs and advertisements stating it was under new management but even after living there for nearly half a year he had never once had a guest that lasted more than a single night and never once experienced for himself the sinister energy that kept driving people away.
As the days continued to fly by and the new fall semester was about to start up, Minho was desperately trying to find boarders. As it turned out, his relatives were not exactly the best at paying their property taxes and there was a large amount overdue causing Minho to now be struggling financially just to make ends meet. If he couldn’t start bringing in any sort of income he would risk losing the property and he knew he would never hear the end of it from both his estranged family members as well as the rest of the coven if he were to fail. So despite setback after setback, he was still determined to succeed... mostly because he had no other choice.
This was Minho’s last chance. He had been desperately canvassing the neighbourhood and nearby campus all afternoon trying to attract any sort of boarder who wouldn’t immediately be scared off.
And then a silver-haired, sparkly-eyed foreigner walked into his life.
“Name’s Minho by the way, I run the guest house on the flyer.” He said, quickly wiping his sweaty palm on his pants before extending his hand towards Felix.
“Felix. And this is my familiar Alfie.” Felix replied with a kind smile, motioning to the fuzzy creature perched his shoulder with a slight tilt of his head. “We just flew in from Australia this morning and I have to admit I was losing hope at actually finding a place that I could afford. I had even started to contemplate sleeping in one of those 24 hour gaming cafes I had seen by the bus stop. You’re honestly a lifesaver Minho!”
Felix took Minho’s hand and gave it a firm yet slightly frantic shake.
“Here, let me take your bag!” Minho offered as he grabbed Felix’s oversized duffle bag out of his hands and began ushering him towards the street. “It’s only about a twenty minute walk from here.”
“Oh, uh, thanks!” Felix replied warmly, relinquishing the bag while slinging his hand-me-down broom over one shoulder as his possum Alfie nervously clung to the other.
However as Minho tried to lift the duffle he found it was impossibly heavy to the extent that he could barely lift it off the ground. He let out a strained grunt as he tried once more, putting his full bodyweight into it before he was finally able to succeed.
“Damn, what have you got in here? A ton of bricks?” Minho said with a laugh as he struggled to sling it over his shoulder, nearly knocking himself off balance in the process.
“Sorry.” Felix replied sheepishly while giving the back of his neck an anxious rub. “I’ve never really left home before so I might have overpacked just a little... Annnnd I might have overdone the charms on it just a little bit to allow my bag to hold more than it normally could.”
“S’all good, I needed a workout anyways.” Minho joked as he began to lead the way. “Follow me and we’ll be home before you know it.”
By the time they had reached the guest house some twenty or thirty minutes later, Minho’s forehead was dripping with sweat and he was panting for breath, wheezing with every step. But he had offered to carry Felix’s bag and he absolutely refused to go back on his word and have that somehow even slightly affect Felix’s decision to stay.
“You really sure you’re okay?” Felix asked as he lightly hovered on his rickety old broom beside Minho, having decided to forego the three-dozen steps leading up to this portion of the street and fly instead.
“I’m—guh—fine!” Minho gasped out, collapsing down onto a large wooden bench outside the front gate to the guest house. “Besides, we’re here!”
Minho weakly motioned to the sign above the gate. Felix gently dismounted his broom and slung it over his shoulder once more as Minho splayed himself on the bench, chest heaving as he wiped the never-ending sweat from his brow with his shirt sleeve. While looking up at the unassuming two-storey dwelling a bit of a chill ran through Felix’s body.
“Hmm that was weird...” He muttered under his breath to himself but otherwise just shook off the feeling as he began to look at the surrounding neighbourhood, taking note of the small convenience store a couple houses down.
“Just give me a minute and then I’ll show you inside.” Minho wheezed as he desperately tried to catch his breath once more.
After five or so minutes had elapsed, Minho finally rolled off the bench and went to pick up Felix’s bag once more, his arm muscles already screaming in agony from the weight. Felix followed him through the front gate and across the miniscule yard to the large front door of the house. Minho fumbled looking for his keys for a minute before ushering Felix inside. Felix hadn’t even taken a step past the threshold when a skinny black cat went skittering away in front of him, immediately disappearing down the dark hall until only the glint from its eyes were still visible.
While the inside of the house was nothing spectacular to the normal person, to Felix it was the biggest house he had ever been in.
“Wow, this is all yours?” He asked in amazement, placing his broom down by the front door as Minho dragged his bag into the living room.
Alfie was quick to hop off Felix’s shoulder and make himself comfortable on the back of the couch, burying himself between the cushions while letting out a couple small grunts.
“You said you were fine with cats, right?” Minho asked again.
“Oh, yeah, cats are fine!” Felix happily replied. “I’m sure Alfie won’t mind as well.”
“Good because I have three. Soonie was the cat you saw when we first opened the door.” Minho explained. “He’s a bit skittish and overdramatic but you’ll get used to him.”
Minho walked over to the living room window where another black cat with slightly longer fur was happily dozing in the warm sunlight, giving a big stretch and a happy chirp as he noticed Minho approach.
“Then this is Doongie, the absolute goodest boy. Yes you are.” Minho said in a baby-like tone as he gave the cat a couple scratches under its chin.
“And then there’s Dori.” Minho paused briefly, looking around for the third cat that was nowhere to be seen. “Oh yeah, that’s right... you probably won’t meet him til I decide to bring him back. Forgot about that. So just the two cats for now.”
Felix gave an absentminded nod as he was still taking in his surroundings.
“Anyways, let me show you to your room.” Minho replied. “It’ll be 150,000 won a month and you’ll be expected to help around the house when needed but I guarantee you won’t find a room for that rate anywhere this side of the Han River.”
Minho quickly made for the stairs and Felix followed close behind. However once he reached the top, Minho stopped in his tracks, anxiously looking between the four rooms.
“Actually, to be honest…” Minho began to say. “You’re basically the only boarder we have right now so you can pick any room you want.”
Felix carefully looked over each bedroom and ended up choosing the one closest to the stairs as it had a large window on one side with a lovely view of the neighbourhood below. Minho was quick to bring Felix’s stuff upstairs before bringing Felix back downstairs to sign the paperwork and have a quick dinner.
“So the place to your liking then?” Minho asked.
“Yeah, seems great!” Felix replied as he looked over the terms of the contract in front of him.
“So like no weird feelings or anything out of place?” Minho continued in a more cautious tone.
“Nope, not that I can think of.” Felix replied once more in a distracted tone, giving a small pout as he did so.
Minho seemed ultimately relieved at Felix’s response and after he had signed the boarding paperwork and paid the deposit upfront in cash Minho called up a nearby restaurant and treated him to the customary moving-in meal of jjajangmyun. Both of them must have been more hungry than either had realized as they devoured the entire meal without a single word, the only sound being a small forlorn meow from Soonie who was still hiding down at the end of the hall.
By the time they were finally finished, the sun was already low on the horizon.
“So I hope you don’t mind me asking but like, what are you?” Minho asked, attempting to make small talk as he was leaving the delivery dishes by the front door.
“Uh, w-what do you mean?” Felix stuttered out, a little thrown off by Minho’s sudden question as he wiped down the table.
“I mean like, what’s your deal?” Minho replied, gesturing up and down at Felix as he walked back into the kitchen. “You mentioned using charms earlier so you have to be something to be enrolled at the specialty college.”
“Oh!” Felix blurted out. “Yeah, I’m a witch!”
“Ah cool, me too!” Minho replied, giving a playful swat at Felix’s shoulder.
“But, uh, I’m part fae as well.” Felix continued, his voice having become barely above a whisper as if he secretly hoped Minho wouldn't hear him.
“Ahh... I guess that would explain the silver hair and sparkly aura about you.” Minho laughed.
“Is it really that noticeable?” Flex muttered, pulling a longer strand of his hair in front of his face. “I’ve been trying my best to blend in but I haven’t really spent much time around humans so I’m not really sure what’s normal.”
“Nah, it suits you. Little eccentric but nothing too weird.” Minho replied. “You have a whole Brave New World vibe about you. I dig it.”
“Thanks... I think?” Felix said with a bit of an unsure laugh.
“Anyways, I’ll leave you to settle in.” Minho said. “Washrooms and my bedroom are on the ground floor at the end of the hall so if you need anything, just let me know and we can go over the rest of the house rules and stuff tomorrow.”
“Alright cool, thanks!”
As Minho disappeared down the hall, Felix went to retrieve Alfie from the couch only to find Doongie curled up beside him.
“Alright buddy, time to head upstairs.” Felix laughed as he slowly lifted the possum up off the couch, cradling him like a baby in his arms.
Felix gave Doongie a small pat on the head before heading upstairs to his bedroom to finish unpacking. After constructing a small makeshift bed for Alfie, Felix reluctantly pulled out his phone, noticing the 238 outstanding notifications. Giving a small sigh he sat down on his bed and began scrolling through them. However he could feel his eyes getting heavier and heavier the longer he scrolled. Putting his phone down, he had only planned to take a short nap but the moment he laid back and his body hit the mattress it was lights out.
***
The sun had long since risen when Felix’s stomach let out a loud rumble and he reluctantly dragged himself out of bed. It took him a minute to get his bearings as he was not used to this change of scenery and he tiredly rubbed his face with a long groan. He shuffled over to the makeshift bed he had set up for Alfie in a tangerine crate and gave him a small pat on the head.
“You stay here, I’m going to go find something to eat okay?” Felix mumbled, pushing his shaggy bed-head hair out of his face.
Alfie merely gave a low grumble in response and buried himself back under the blankets stuffed in the crate.
Letting out a somewhat exaggerated yawn, Felix headed out of the room in the same clothes he had been wearing the day before. He shuffled downstairs and slowly made his way to the shared kitchen. The house seemed eerily quiet as he passed through the living room. He saw Doongie perched on the arm of the couch. Giving him a quick scratch under the chin as he passed by, the cat replied with a happy little trill.
As he entered the kitchen he was quickly thrown off by a young man with long blonde hair sitting cross-legged not at , but on top of the kitchen table aggressively fiddling with a Nintendo Switch. Felix thought this person’s behaviour a little odd but then again he hadn’t been around humans for all that long and found everything they did odd so he merely dismissed it as having to be something normal for people to do.
“Oh, sorry.” Felix mumbled out. “Are you one of the other boarders here? I thought Minho had said the place was empty but I might have misheard him.”
The person merely lifted their eyes to meet Felix’s for a brief moment, letting out a perturbed tch as they did so before going back to his game.
“Not one for talking, got it.” Felix muttered as he made his way over to the fridge that was absolutely covered in take out and delivery flyers and oddly enough what appeared to be demon talismans.
As soon as Felix laid a hand on the fridge's door handle the young man’s head shot up and his attention became entirely focused on what Felix was doing. As Felix went to open the door the young man moved so fast it almost seemed like he had teleported and before Felix knew it, the young man was sitting perched on top of the fridge, glaring down at him. Felix was quickly becoming more and more unsettled by this strange individual and took a couple steps back and away from the fridge as he gave a nervous gulp.
“Hey, you getting something to eat?” The young man asked in a somewhat desperate sounding tone.
“Uh, yeah? Minho said to just help myself so...” Felix replied as he cautiously opened the fridge.
“Mind grabbing me a little something too?” They continued, eyes wide in excitement.
"Sure, I—"
Before Felix could even finish his answer, the frantic sound of heavy footsteps came from down the hall as Minho appeared in the doorway to the kitchen looking completely disheveled, eyes burning wild, and chest heaving from the sudden sprint.
“Hyunjin!” He yelled. “You have your own food! Stop trying to steal from the fridge!”
The young man quickly cowered away, pressing himself against the back wall atop the fridge.
“Fuck off Minho!” He hissed out. “I don’t like the nasty brown triangles! I want real food! I want steak! I want an Americano!”
“You can’t have an Americano!” Minho shouted back.
Felix stood there, utterly perplexed by the heated conversation that was going on around him, eyes nervously flitting between Minho and the person who he assumed must be Hyunjin still sitting atop the fridge while hurling expletives back at Minho.
“And how many times have I told you not to climb on the appliances like that!” Minho continued, reaching for a small spray bottle on the nearby counter. “Don’t make me use this!”
“Try me.” Hyunjin replied in a snotty tone.
In a flash Hyunjin had reached into the open fridge, grabbed a package of pork belly and had flung himself off the appliance, making a mad dash for the living room as soon as his bare feet hit the floor. Time seemed to slow as Felix tried to process what was happening. Minho launched himself after Hyunjin and within three steps had managed to tackle him to the floor, aggressively pinning him onto his back while sitting square on his chest as half the pork belly slid across the floor.
“Ugh! Get off me!” Hyunjin cried as Minho ripped the package with the remaining pork belly out of his hands, tossing it behind him.
“You have been absolutely insufferable lately!" Minho growled, aiming the spray bottle directly at Hyunjin’s face.
A single drop of water fell from the nozzle and landed on Hyunjin’s cheek creating a light sizzling sound upon contact. It was only then that Felix noticed Hyunjin’s eyes had turned a bright red colour and he even appeared to have fangs.
“Holy water? Really?” Hyunjin huffed in an offended tone with a roll of his eyes. “Do it. You wouldn’t dare.”
Before Hyunjin could get out another word, Minho had shoved the nozzle directly between his teeth and had pulled the trigger, blasting a spray of holy water straight down Hyunjin’s throat. Hyunjin let out a wail in agony and immediately began to thrash wildly, eventually managing to buck Minho off of him. He continued coughing and sputtering as he crawled away from Minho, making his hasty retreat. When he reached the far wall of the living room he leaned up against it, clutching his throat while making pained wheezing sounds, his eyes burning red with rage.
“What the fuck Minho! I can’t believe you actually did that!” He rasped out. “I could have died! ”
“It was only 5% holy water, suck it up you baby.” Minho scoffed, getting back to his feet and replacing the bottle on the counter before going to pick up the scrap pork belly off the floor. “Besides, we both know that if you had died I would have just brought you back anyways.”
“You’re the fucking worst!” Hyunjin hissed as he curled up into a ball in the corner.
Felix was still standing in front of the open fridge, cold air leaking out around him with his mouth slightly agape from not knowing exactly what he had just witnessed.
“Uh, Minho?” Felix stuttered out. “What was… what just—who is that?!”
“Oh him?” Minho replied nonchalantly, wiping down the floor where the meat had left a greasy trail. “Don’t mind Hyunjin, he just likes to cause problems on purpose.”
“Is he a, uh, boarder here?” Felix continued, the nervousness in his voice becoming quite apparent.
“Oh, no, no!” Minho laughed. “He’s one of my cat familiars, Soonie to be exact. You met him yesterday, remember? Unfortunately he just doesn’t like staying in his cat form.”
Minho shot Hyunjin a warning glare in the living room as Hyunjin snottily stuck his tongue out in response.
“Wait, so is he a cat… or is he a human…?” Felix asked.
“Technically he’s a demon, as is common with most familiars.” Minho replied casually as he gently moved Felix aside to replace the stolen meat and finally close the fridge door.
“I’ve been a cat for probably like hundreds of years. I’m bored .” Hyunjin whined loudly from the other room. “Why would I want to keep being a cat when being a human is more fun?”
“Anyways, don’t pay attention to him when he’s like this. Also don’t let him into the fridge or he’ll clear out the entire thing and leave us starving.” Minho continued.
Hyunjin let out a low, angry growl from his place on the floor as Minho pointed to one of the talismans that helped ward off demons affixed to the door of the fridge, buried under the dozens of take out flyers.
Felix couldn’t believe what he was seeing, couldn’t believe that this cat was actually a human, or a demon, or both, but did that mean the other cat was the same? Minho had said there was a third cat who was missing, were they also a demon? He had said they were gone but that he would bring them back… but he also said he would bring Soonie—Hyunjin back if he had been killed by that holy water stunt minutes earlier. Felix quickly began to connect the dots as a look of horror spread across his face.
“Random question b-but…” Felix asked, taking a nervous gulp as he did so, “and this might seem a little weird but, uh, what exactly did you mean by ‘bring him back’ earlier? A-are you a healer?”
“I guess you could call me a really late healer?" Minho replied with a bit of a nervous laugh. "But my specialty is actually necromancy.”
Felix’s mind immediately went into overdrive. Necromancy. Magic that involves communication with the dead. Extremely powerful forbidden magic. Forbidden magic that allows the user to raise the dead should they wish.
Another chill ran through Felix’s body.
Suddenly everything about why the guest house couldn’t attract guests now seemed to make perfect sense.
“So. How about I cook us up some breakfast. How was your sleep last night?” Minho said cheerfully, quickly changing the subject as he began rummaging through the kitchen cupboards for cooking utensils.
“Fine!” Felix squeaked out.
“That’s good to hear. You’re actually the first person to make it through the night.” Minho laughed. “I’m sort of really glad you’re sticking around.”
“Ha ha ha... yeah.” Felix replied in a fake tone as beads of sweat began forming across his brow.
He had no idea what he had just gotten himself into but it would be rude to just leave… wouldn’t it?