THE ETHEREAL | ↻ nct - bp - mx

one

The Ethereal • Chapter One
'Greetings'

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Chaeyoung closed her eyes in anxiousness, letting out a deep breath.

The rocky road that her father drove on didn't help her nerves at all as it threw her around the backseat left to right.

Her father, Seung-Won only chuckled.
"Ah, the rocky road. This was my favorite to drive down when your uncle Woo-Sung and I would sneak out and take our mentor's car." He reminisced, but quickly shot his eyes to look at her.
"Don't do that though, angel."

Chaeyoung half-smiled, playfully rolling her eyes as she held onto her seat for dear life.
"Of course not."

She enjoyed hearing the many stories of her father at Goemul, as it had given her an idea of what it was like there.
Her father was one of only 'full' monster students.

A well-known and friendly 'monster', Seung-Won was a kind variation of a fallen angel.
Being blessed with a beautiful baby girl who harbored golden hair, he knew he had to send her to Goemul to use her magical abilities for the better.

Chaeyoung had been living among humans for the past seventeen years of her life.
It felt surreal that she was suddenly being thrown into the world of magic and monsters, but she'd be lying if she were to say she wasn't excited.

The whole ordeal was nerve wrecking, but Chaeyoung has never felt like she's belonged anywhere, especially in highschool where the humans are either too mean, or Chaeyoung was either too nice.
Of course, being around 'monsters', they might be even worse than human highschool students, but at least they'd be understanding of Chaeyoung being so nice as she was part angel.

Chaeyoung's mother, Joo Mi was unable to accompany the father-daughter duo as the road to the Institute was only accessible by magical beings, so the whole crying/send-off party was done at home two hours ago.
You'd think Chaeyoung had died with how much her mother was weeping.

Chaeyoung held the locket around her neck close with a small smile in memoir of her mother.

It was a gold pendant in the shape of an oval which held an old photograph of Chaeyoung and her parents.
The locket hung on a small white-gold chain that Chaeyoung rarely took off.
Not only was it ancient gold and was passed down to her from her grandmother, but it was what helped calm Chaeyoung in troubled times.

It was her good-luck charm.

Thankfully, the road had smoothened out. Chaeyoung shivered as she stared out the window, locket clutched tightly in her palm.

When they had first gotten off the highway and entered the dark, unknown woods and onto the bumpy road, Chaeyoung had definitely felt a change of atmosphere.

It was as if they were headed into another world of the unknown.
The summer sunny Gyeonggi-Do highways were suddenly replaced with dark woods and grey skies.

"You see that, princess? Straight ahead." Her father interrupts her thoughts.

Chaeyoung cuts her eyes to the front, and sure enough, what looked like an ancient castle with ivy vines crawling up the walls on every side came into view, and a gasp escapes her lips.