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"maybe, tony thinks to himself, this is one of those relationships that's built on miracles and fate. maybe it's destined to work for some reason."
☆☆☆
Somehow, Eunbyeol found her O.W.L.s to be as dreadful as she had expected yet far easier than she anticipated. That wasn't to say she had many expectations for her O.W.L.s at all, but most of her information about the exams cane from the few friends she knew who had experienced the exams before. Angelina and Katie had all told her the exams were difficult but not impossible, while Lee and the twins had spun horror stories about failed charms and exploding potions. While the words of the former were far more trustworthy, Eunbyeol couldn't help but put some stock in the idea that it would take a Herculean effort to score well on all of her exams.
Her parents had no experience with the O.W.L.s, or any western education, for that matter. They—to their own distaste and the distaste of most Korean witches and wizards—attended Mahoutokoro, the only internationally regarded wizarding school in Asia. There were dozens of schools of magic dotted around the continent, but Mahoutokoro was the only one that carried a certain weight to its name, a level of prestige that even its harshest critics couldn't deny. It was undoubtedly an excellent institution, with both its academic curriculum and quidditch team held in high esteem internationally. However, despite the diverse student body (students from all over Asia flocked to the little school, with the help of translating charms and devices), the school was surprisingly unaccommodating. Mahoutokoro was located on the little island of Iwo Jima, a location that many—Eunbyeol's parents included—had found particularly distasteful due to its history of bloodshed. Mahoutokoro was unapologetically steeped in Japanese culture and history, which caused many who were personally affected by Japan's ugly brush with imperialism to turn up their noses at a mention of the school, despite having graduated from there.
Eunbyeol recalls her father drunkenly announcing that his daughter would never step foot in Japan (which seemed a little extreme, even for her extremist of a father), much less the Mahoutokoro campus. Her mother's face pinched up whenever she was reminded of her schooldays, as if the sound of the school's name brought a foul stench about her. She had spoken of Mahoutokoro's benchmark tests with a wrinkled nose and a slightly traumatized look on her face, and described days upon days of practical and written and physical tests. Eunbyeol herself thought her parents' distaste towards their alma mater to be a little dramatic (Mahoutokoro's schooling starts at the age of seven, and it seems rather far-fetched to live in a school for ten years and come out despising it) but Hyoeun and Shinhyung Moon had always shared a talent for being dramatic and holding grudges.
