Magic Island | [A TXTzy Story]

Chapter 15: The Stranger

"Hey Chaeryeong, I just wanted to go for a swim and you know how to swim so maybe you can... no, that's too wordy."

Taehyun stands in front of her door and just knocks with no preparation. Chaeryeong's sister opens the door and glances at him with curious eyes. Taehyun smiles softly, "Hey, I was wondering if Chaeryeong was home." Chaeyeon replies, "She's not. She has a class which ends in about an hour." Taehyun stutters, "W-what? Really?" Chaeyeon nods and says, "Why? Did you need something? I can just go to her room and get it." He replies, "O-oh... no, I just needed to ask her something." Chaeyeon chuckles, "Oh that's fine too, I'll pass the message."

Taehyun runs his nape as he says, "I'll just talk to her later. It's no rush." Chaeyeon asks, "Do you want to come inside?" He blushes, "N-no, I shouldn't really intrude." Chaeyeon smiles, "I insist, come on." She drags them in their dorm as the two sit down underwater. Chaeyeon asks, "So what do you like about my sister?"

Taehyun replies, "Well, she's really caring and funny— Wait, do you mean romantically?" Chaeyeon asks, "Do you like her romantically?"

"Unnie!? What are you two talking about?"

The two turn to see Chaeryeong early from her class. Chaeyeon teases, "Just chatting with my brother-in-law." Chaeryeong blushes as she says, "Get out." Taehyun looks at her confused, "Me?" Chaeyeon smiles, "No, she meant me. Well, good luck with whatever you two have going on in here."

Chaeryeong pouts as her older sister leaves the room. She asks, "What are you doing here?" Taehyun replies, "I wanted to ask if you wanted to go for a swim, together?" She looks at him surprised, "Scared to swim alone?" He replies, "No, I wanted to spend time with you and the only thing I know we have in common is that we both like swimming." She blushes slightly but keeps her strong facade up, "I think we have more in common than that." Taehyun smiles, "Then we should go for a swim and find out what those things are."

Chaeryeong looks at him in disbelief. He suddenly got confident and was more straightforward. She nods her head, "Let me put my things in my room then we can go."

...

"Dammit, I need a persona flower..."

Yuna's eyes flutter awake hearing an unfamiliar voice speaking next to her. Her eyes dart to the roof of the cave as a stalactite above her drips water onto the bridge of nose. She glances to the right to see a man with a piece of chalk in his hand. He turns to see Yuna's eyes as he says, "Stay down, fairy. I'll be with you in a minute, I just need to find a persona flower." Yuna says, "I have one."

The guy looks at her confused as she says, "It's in my-- ough!" Yuna eyes dart to her leg and notices it's been amputated. Her eyes grow teary as the guy says, "Relax, I cut your leg off. I saw you being surrounded by wolves and took you in here. But your leg was in terrible shape so I just cut it off." Yuna's tears start to fall as the guy chuckles, "Stop crying, give me the flower." She throws her book at him and it lands on his feet as he opens it and looks for the flower. He finally sees it as he pulls it out of the book and starts drawing something on the ground. He places the flower in the middle of the pentagram as he walks towards Yuna. The guy asks, "Do you trust me?" Yuna looks at him confused, still taken aback at her amputated leg.

The guy rolls his eyes and says, "Nevermind, don't worry. I'll help you just stay still." Yuna scoffs as she was in no position to move as the guy draws a massive pentagram around her. He places it palm on the thigh of her amputated leg and starts to chant a spell. The pentagrams started to glow as the flower she gave him disintegrated into dust. Yuna's eyes darted to her leg as she noticed it started to regrow itself. Yuna's tears slowly disappear as the guy chuckles and backs away from her.

Yuna stutters, "W-what did you do?" The guy rakes his hair back and says, "Alchemy." She asks, "W-what? I didn't know you could do that." He smiles, "The Law of equivalent exchange. One cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. I would usually need someone else's leg or something equivalent to it but you found the persona flower, which is extremely rare and has ton of life essence within it."

Yuna asks, "W-who are you?" The guy smiles, "I'm Jeon Jungkook."

"Teach me."

Jungkook chuckles, "You're awfully demanding for someone who's life and leg was just saved." Yuna stutters, "O-oh, sorry. Thank you! I'm Shin Yuna! Do you want anything? I can bring you to the school town and treat you to-" Jungkook says, "No, it's alright. I don't mind doing a good deed every now and then. But, I do have a favor to ask."

Yuna nods and smiles, "Anything." He says, "Don't tell anyone about me. I'm on a secret mission from the dean warlock of the island and I can't let anyone know I'm here. You're an exception because I chose to save you." Yuna nods and says, "Of course! I'll do anything." Jungkook chuckles and says, "So you can go home now." Yuna stutters, "I-is it still dark out?"

Jungkook says, "You're fine. There's nothing in this forest that could hurt you except for those wolves and I dealt with them already." Yuna asks, "You sure?" He says, "I just saved your leg, do you still not trust me?" She blushes, "Sorry..." Jungkook adds, "Oh and if you were serious about learning alchemy then come back here with no one following you and bring me some snacks. I'll think about it depending on the snacks." Yuna nods, "Okay! Thank you Mr. Jeon!"