Beomgyu's Potion Shop

Chapter 2

Beomgyu sobs into the cauldron, his tears falling in and mixing with the green sludge. It ruins the whole potion, making the mixture a dirty brown.

It's been one month since Yeonjun's rejection. Beomgyu can't get Yeonjun's pitying look out of his head. He's made hundreds of potions in the meantime, but not even the strongest brew can make him feel better.

The progress on the love potion has reached a standstill. No matter, he keeps adjusting the recipe and spends hours trying to get the brew to stabilize.

From a young age, Beomgyu was a potion-making prodigy. There was never a recipe that he couldn't master. He got a bit prideful, until his parents humbled him by showing that there is way more to running a potion shop than the actual brewing.

Beomgyu, in a rush of frustration, throws the whole cauldron into the sink. The two metals clash, ringing out and interrupting the chatter outside. He's added a few more tables and chairs, and now his patrons love to sit and gab while sipping their potions for immunity and relaxation, sometimes even for numbing emotions. His patrons are rich and few. Most Seoulites avoid his shop altogether, calling him the son of a witch.

If only he had someone to love him. It'll take all of the edge off of being called an abomination.

As he trudges back to the counter, he lifts his gaze and finds perhaps the most boyfriend-material customer ever. It's Soobin. Beomgyu has to admit, he's had quite the big crush for a while. Looking at Soobin may not completely heal Beomgyu's rejection, but it can surely patch up some of the wounds.

Beomgyu has to be brave. He straightens his posture, grabbing a potion that's been sitting next to the register for a week or two.

"Soobin!" Beomgyu says, cringing at himself. Is he coming off as too cheery?

Soobin looks up from where he's working on one of Beomgyu's most popular items—a good old happy potion that is paired with a slice of decadent cheesecake. Beomgyu was hesitant to add actual food to his menu, but he cannot be more grateful that he did. He knows that Soobin is quite the sweet tooth.

"How are you, Beomgyu?" Soobin says, wiping off some of the crust off his lips.

Beomgyu can't stop staring. He loses all of his bravado. "Oh. Um—"

"You have something for me?" Soobin asks.

Beomgyu looks down at his palm. The potion is red and mystical, glittering with some edible sparkles that he added to the volatile mixture. It's a potion for companionship. Not quite the love potion that he is forever striving for, but it's something. Having Soobin as a friend, even for a short while, will comfort him and remind him that there is love waiting for him somewhere.

And maybe the companionship will turn to something more? Beomgyu can only hope.

The other patrons fade away, like Beomgyu stuck a funnel over himself and Soobin. He holds out the glass vial. "Take this," Beomgyu says. "It's a companionship potion. All your views on your friendships will be strengthened. It'll make you a better companion."

All of what he said was true, but he leaves out the part about how it'll likely make you a good friend of the potion-giver.

"Oh, I trust you," Soobin says. "Will it also help me make companions out of my teachers? They kind of hate me right now for dozing off in class."

"Yes!" Beomgyu says, a bit too cheerfully.

Because he's worked for years to build up his trust between him and his customers, Soobin takes the vial, pops off the cork, and downs it in one go.

Beomgyu waits for the moment of the tethered bond. He should feel it in his chest, like the pull of a string.

It doesn't come.

Suddenly, Soobin stands up with a flush to his face. He bends over, looking sick and sluggish. "Beomgyu...."

Last night flashes before him. He made the companionship potion before midnight. He was overworked, and exhaustion seemed too weak of a term to describe him. He set it right next to the register.

And then... he worked on another potion. A member of the circus came to him several days before, begging for a quick order. A potion to help him—

Breathe fire.

Soobin opens his mouth. Beomgyu jumps back right before a blast of flame illuminates the potion shop. The flames lick up the sides of the wooden walls, immediately lighting up almost every surface.

"No!" Beomgyu cries.

The patrons scream as they exit the potion shop in a mad rush. Soobin doesn't look sick anymore, but he is obviously shocked. And bitter. He looks at Beomgyu like he meant to harm him.

Beomgyu rushes around the growing flames to the back of the shop, where he keeps his most precious vials. He finds the turquoise potion, popping off the cork and downing it in one go. Turning toward the flames, he holds out his hands and steadies himself as beams of water shoot from his palms.

It takes him ages, or what feels like ages, to put out all the flames. By the time he's finished, half of the potion shop is blackened. Acrid smoke rushes into his sinuses. At least most of his potions have made it out okay.

To escape suffocation, he exits the shop and finds Soobin waiting for him.

Soobin—half concerned, half furious.

"Why did you give me that potion?" Soobin says.

"It was a mistake," Beomgyu says. "I made it when I was tired last night. I mixed up the two."

"Well it was a costly mistake," Soobin says. "I don't want to report you to the police, but giving me a potion like that is a crime."

Beomgyu could cry. He watches Soobin take off toward the winding path of Seoul Forest that will lead him far away from Beomgyu and his shop. His precious, half burnt-down shop. All he wanted was a companion, and because of his costly blunder, he may have just gained the opposite.

Not even a love potion can fix this.