Mystery POV:

Soooo... I think it's finally time. Well, I gotta start somewhere. Now seems to be a perfect time somehow.

There is not much to explain. I can't disclose everything, you know. Some things about my realm are sworn to be kept in confidentiality by us residents of the realm.

Let's start with a small flashback. The thing that I'll reveal today contains a hint on my limitation. And that's why I'm choosing to do a flashback rather than narrating the past myself. Narrating the past wouldn't help me flex on my magic skills.

So I'm choosing to do a flashback: the me from the past will be narrating his present and not just me narrating the past. Magic!

Anyway, I'm letting him take over now. The me from the day when Soojin was about to become Daisy.

Here it goes...

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A few hours before that night Soojin went to sleep to wake up as Daisy:

"Where you going, though?"

"You normally don't ask?"

"Today I did. Answer if you want," Soojin says boredly.

"TO MEET EDDY OPPA!" Sooyoung squealed jumping with clasped hands, her mood changing 180. Reminds me just of those ultra energetic anime girls. Can't tolerate them!

Looks like Soojin can't too. She rolls her eyes. "Forget I asked," she says.

"Whatever! Keep watching your Ay-zeez!"

"ATEEZ!"

Sooyoung rolls her eyes and leaves through the front door. Out through the main gate she leaves, skipping past the next door boys along the street, dodging and ignoring their love-sick eyes that are on her. If they have no money to offer her like her sugar daddies do, they have no chance with her. And if it was a genuine quest for her heart than her skin, then they already lost their chance, her heart already belongs to someone else. And he's the one she's so excitedly skipping along to go see.

And that 'he' is the one with whom a part of me belongs. Quite literally. Save being confused, you'll understand what I mean in a while anyway.

When Sooyoung reaches the old antique shop in the corner of the dark, shabby alley, her intended destination, she barges in through the new glass door of it, ringing the small bell on top. The old man behind the counter who was excitedly halfway getting up from his seat with a dutiful customer-cajoling smile only faltered his fake smile just a little, now replacing it with a genuine, wider and jovial smile.

"Ahh, it's you!" he says.

Sooyoung smiles and looks around. "No customers today?"

"Not until now," he quietly says.

"Ahh.." Sooyoung begins. "You must've expected a customer but then I came in, so sorry for disappointing you, grandpa. But cheer up, I brought you some hot hotteok to snack on since you like it. Here," she hands over the small bag in her hand to him. "Eat up and get some energy to work even more hard. Fighting, grandpa!"

The old man laughs. "Aren't you a dear!" he says as he sees Sooyoung rushing to the stairs.

Just as she reaches the base of it, she turns to the old man. "He's up there, right? I've just been assuming he is."

"Of course! Go ahead!" he says and Sooyoung proceeds to climb up the stairs.

She reaches the second floor to find no one in there. She checks all the aisles proudly displaying the antique beauties, behind every tables and counters but to no avail.

"Did grandpa lie to me?" she mutters and shakes her head, dismissing the thought. She then yells. "OPPA! OPPA, WHERE ARE YOU?"

A few seconds in and she hears footsteps from the staircase that leads up to the rooftop from her floor. A pair of legs descend halfway down the stairs until the head is visible to Sooyoung. The pale-skinned thin-framed young man looks at Sooyoung and rolls his eyes to turn back and walk back up and Sooyoung follows him up quietly to the rooftop.

"What are you doing up here?" Sooyoung asks and looks around to see a bunch of old statues and other antique stuff on the floor with cleaning sprays and other supplies. Besides, he was holding a jewellery box and a cleaning cloth himself. She understands and feels slightly embarrassed that she asked, she knows that the guy dislikes meaningless questions or just talks in general.

"So you are cleaning?" she says. The other just goes back to his bean bag and sits, ignoring her.

"I'll help you too," Sooyoung says.

The other glances at her silently, a bored look on his face. Actually, that's just his regular look, I know this much because you can say he's my temporary human host. Kinda. The kid always looks like he's stoned.

"Don't," he says in his husky voice. "It'd be useless if I've to clean it again after you do."

Sooyoung scoffs. "I can do it properly, don't underestimate me like that."

"Sure, and you're not a high school kid."

"Ughh..that again? Why does it bother—"

"Why are you here? You should go back. It's late."

"It's not late, it's 7!"

"It's dark and this locality is not that good, and you know that too."

Sure, this girl has been to the shadiest of abandoned streets with her sugar daddies, of course, this fairly well-lit surrounding where many shops are scattered around is scary.

"You and your stupid excuses," she says and folds her arms. "And if the place is not that safe, maybe you should escort me back to the road when I'd leave."

"Wait," she continues as if realizing something. "Does this mean you care about me? OH MY GOD! You care about me!"

"Shut it already, you're disturbing my work. Just leave already, kid."

"Oppa, stop being mean. It's not like the other days today. Today, I'm really sad, I'm not here to tease you, just needed someone to talk to."

"You have friends. You have sugar— ugh, that perverted weirdo guys. You have a sister."

"This is about my sister, so she's not an option. And my friends are my age, they are even more immature—even though only you and my unnie like to call me that— than me, I need someone wise. You are kinda wise, I guess."

He doesn't speak anything and Sooyoung assuming his silence as his assent seats herself on the floor next to the guy's knees.

"Nope, back off, kid. Too close," he says.

"Okay, okay, chill!" she moves back, a decent distance now rather than having her face directly in front of his crotch.

"So..." Sooyoung begins. "My sister...I kinda fought with her this afternoon. It's not anything new, though. We keep bickering and fighting often, they're just meaningless sibling fights. Not that the one today was serious serious, well, for her it wasn't. She was just chilling with her chips and her idol programmes when I was leaving, and she talked normally to me. I didn't really like the fight today. More like I didn't like the problem that induced the fight. It's because of her, it's my unnie. She's just so...."

The other looks up from wiping the mass of metal in his hand, expecting more from Sooyoung as she searched for words to continue.

"....She's actually a good sister. She's like a parent since our father passed away. She has the qualities our appa had, she can control the business, she's a natural at it, she was an adult at handling it even before she became one. And she has qualities of my eomma, she's scary and she nags and judges me. I can never tell her I have sugar daddies, she'll kill me. She's only three years older than me, you understand? But it's not a bad thing, she cares about me, I get that. What I can't tolerate is her selflessness. She has got to live for herself!"

The young man makes eye contact with her to imply he's listening.

"Today I came to know that she paid for my school tour," Sooyoung continues. "The tour fee was expensive, but it's my last school tour, she says, I should be spending that time with my school friends before I graduate, she says. And she said she has also secured the money for my college supplies after I graduate, even the college fee in case I don't get a scholarship. Can you believe that?"

"That money she paid, she was supposed to be saving that for her expenses, her university tour, her whatever. And I had to convince her to start saving money for herself last year. She always saves money for rent, insurance and other adult stuff, but never for herself. You know how hard it was for me to convince her to save money for leisure? And what did she do? She dumped it all on me."

"Shouldn't you be happy?" he asks.

"You might think I'm immature but I'm not that much, I'm no brat who isn't grateful. I'm not selfless, I admit, but I'm not too selfish either. I have lived happily thanks to her and now I just want for her to have an interesting life. And about the tour, I would've gone to the tour anyway, I was going to pay for it and tell her and eomma my friends did that for me but she beat me to it."

Sooyoung absentmindedly picks up the 1-foot tall golden monkey statue and keeps it in her lap. Or should I say, keeps me in her lap?

"It's frustrating to see her being so selfless. But it's more frustrating knowing that she doesn't do anything of importance for herself. She lives her life boringly, she doesn't have friends, she doesn't do anything to enhance her looks, doesn't buy anything that is not cheap for herself, doesn't date. She can't date; I once told her to hypothetically imagine dating her idols, she said even that is impossible, I said, 'Okay, what if Park Seonghwa asks you out?' backing up that there was like 0.0000000-something probability that happens, and what did she say, she said she'll refuse Park Seonghwa."

"Interesting..." the other mutters.

"See, even you think it's abnormal enough to be interesting. Here I thought you'll support her 'cause she's a recluse like you too, but even you are moved."

"Who said I'm supporting you?" he replies. " I don't see any problem with her lifestyle, she's just a regular person...with the selflessness added."

"Her selflessness is abnormal too! For a person who doesn't understand the importance of friends and hanging around with them, or going on tours with them, or partying or spending money on expensive stuff or on whimsy or even generally the point of fun, she supports me doing it and makes extra sure that I always do. What does that tell you?"

"You've got a point."

"Of course, I do." She then looks at me in her lap—well, the idol form of me, my soul never resides in my idol— and smiles. "He is so cute, look at that smile."

Cute? Excuse me! I have heard humans calling my idol foolish-looking, because of the foolish smile, but cute? Whatever. It's alright, I guess, it's just my idol. But if you'll ever call my bodily form 'cute', just know that I'll be very, very offended.

"You should keep it down, it's valuable."

Heck yes, I am.

"Uh uh uh, nope, I'm not scratching it or anything. Besides, it's metal, not glass, have some faith in me." Sooyoung begins to stroke her fingers lightly along the side of my idol. "You know, my sis.. If I had to wish something for her sake, you know what I'd wish...."

I immediately rush over to the kid's side to look at the watch he's wearing. It reads 7:27. It's time. Fate's posse had informed me of this beforehand, that 7:27 would be favourable for me for my first active part of the plan. I anticipated this when Sooyoung was leaving her house, she was bound to come where I was today.

"....I wish she gets money so that she can spend on anything she wants, I want her to be rich. I wish she gets comfortable in her looks, I wish she turns the best, the most beautiful version of herself. I wish she finds herself love, I wish for her to have a lover. That one's a little far-fetched. With billions of guys on this planet, the only few who'll have a little chance with her is her k-pop idols, hope she marries one someday." Sooyoung chuckles finishing her wish and the other boy widens his eye just a little as he sees a glint running through the side of my idolized form.

Done!

He turns back to check if there was a light source nearby but finds none. He turns back to me with a scrutinizing gaze.

"Sooyoung, keep that statue down, now!" he says.

She does as he told him but slips in a low "Why?"

"Huh?"

"That was an aggressive way to tell me to keep it down," she complains.

"Oh..sorry."

"It's okay, it was aggressive but I liked it 'cause you giving orders is hot."

"What?" he widens his eyes. "How many times do I have to tell you this? Stop pursuing me already. We are a whole ten years apart, kid!"

"But—"

"No buts. Go home! Now!"

"What?"

"If you like taking orders from me so much, do it now. Go home now because I'm saying so."

"FINE!" Sooyoung angrily gets up and leaves.

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Snap! Snap!

I'm back. The flashback's over now, so focus on me. I decided it was a good time to stop the old me from narrating, what happens to Sooyoung after is... irrelevant. Isn't that how the gen z kids say nowadays?

Anyway.

I'm not entitled to explain everything from the flashback....yet.

For the time being, I'll tell you this that I promised to disclose today. And if you guessed it right, then yes, I'm revealing my identity today.

So...

Pleased to introduce myself to all, I am The Wise Monkey of the Nine Wise Solitaires of the /sɛrkʌ/ realm(the equivalent of 'heaven' in human's eyes, but only kind of, the human perception is different from how it actually is).

I'm the youngest of the Nine Wise Solitaires; It goes in the order: The Wise Turtle, The Wise Swan, The Wise Bear, The Wise Eagle, The Wise Panther, The Wise Dolphin, The Wise Rat, The Wise Horse and then me. I work for Fate. All nine of us were created by our mistress, Mother Clairvoyant, the oldest witch in /sɛrkʌ/. The Wise Dolphin, The Wise Eagle and I were gifted by her to Fate, and the rest 6 were given 3 each to each of Fate's siblings, Genesis and Nemesis.

The 9 of us have a personality that resembles our animals. I, for example, am designed to be playful and teasing, and being the youngest makes me feel always young at heart even when I'm 5 millenniums old. In short, I'm no boomer like the rest, I'm hip.

And yeah, to be clear, I still look like a human, all beings in /sɛrkʌ/ look like humans. We are not borrowing humans' looks, humans are borrowing ours. When we Solitaires come to earth, we don't have our physical body, we only have our souls accompanied by our idols. We don't and can't reside in our idols, but it is a testimony of our existence, however. We don't physically feel any pain when someone hurts the idol, although we know what is happening with it, our idols have eyes and we can see through them, so we got 2 pairs of eyes. But if you destroy it, we'll feel immense pain, but it'll not last long because we'll die the next instant the idol is physically destroyed. But don't worry, no human can ever destroy the statues of us and it can't also be destroyed outside of our realm.

So that's pretty much it. I am The Wise Monkey. That's all you get today. I'm sure you're curious to know more.

Are you?

Well...

Why don't you follow along then?