La Vie En Rose ~An IZ*ONE vampire story~

The knight and the rook

After the unveiling exhibition ended, Minju and Chaeyeon waited for Kim Juyoung so they could approach him. Once they saw him, the two began to walk in his direction.

"Excuse me," Minju called out to him, making him turn around. "You're Mr. Kim Juyoung, right?"

"Yes. Who are you?"

"My name is Kim Minju. I'm a fan of your work."

"Really? Well, thank you, but if you're about to ask for an autograph or something, I'm going to have to decline."

"No, sir. I actually wanted to ask about the 'Marigold's smile'."

Once she uttered those words, the man's face turned dark and gloomy.

"What about it?"

"You see, we both happened to see what occurred earlier, and we wish to help you return the painting to its former glory. I've seen the original before and it's a lovely painting!"

"What could you possibly do to fix it?!" The man was on the verge of snapping again. Chaeyeon slightly backed away cautiously.

"Please, hear me out, Mr. Juyoung. If you put your trust in me, I'll do what I can to help restore the true 'Marigold's smile'."

Juyoung sighed, "Sorry... How can I know I can trust you?"

Chaeyeon looked at Minju, whispering to her, "I don't think we're gonna get through to him. Let's give up already."

"Hold on," Minju hissed before continuing. "I suppose I can't convince you otherwise. However, I will ask you one last favor. Come here again tomorrow, so you can see your 'Marigold's smile'."

After a long silence, the man sighed again.

"Very well. But I'm still not so certain..."

"I promise," Minju took hold of his hand, grasping it firmly. "You will see her again."

With those last words, she started to leave, beckoning for Chaeyeon to follow her. She did and the two headed towards the exit.

Meanwhile...

Since the exhibition had ended, the students of Yena and Yuri's class began boarding the bus to get ready and return to school.

Yuri's mind, however, was still on the offer that was given to her by Minju.

"If you're up for helping us, come to the Rose Mansion this afternoon once you're out of school."

Yena was humming a song to herself, when she glanced over at Yuri, who was sitting in the seat next to hers, staring at the window with a deep look on her face.

Yena approached the other seat and sat next to Yuri, not getting her attention as she was so deep in thought.

"Yuri~" Yena poked her cheek, finally catching her attention and making her jump. "What's wrong? You're staring off into space."

"Nothing..." Yuri brushed off her friend's concerns, placing her hand on her cheek.

"Come on~ Tell me what's going on. Who were those girls you were talking to back at the museum?"

Yuri glanced around as the other students boarded the bus, leaning close and whispering to Yena, "They said they were witches, like me."

"For real?" Yena's eyes widened. "Wait, did you make time freeze again?"

"Y-yeah."

"No way~ I had no clue. So, what did they say?"

"They knew something about the 'Marigold's smile' painting and said they could fix it... And they offered me to help them, but I'm not sure..."