𝘽𝙚𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙘𝙝| Vkook

2

*Kim taehyung's pov*

She smiled a toothless grin and nodded as if she understood, then gestured for jimin and leaned toward him as he translated for her. 

I took a seat at the wooden table, which appeared to have been handmade from planks from an old barn, as jimin started to prepare dinner and yoongi reached into a cupboard and pulled out a bottle.

He poured four glasses, and as he handed one to jimin's grandmother her eyes sparkled in anticipation.

"It is pálinka," yoongi said, "a traditional Hungarian fruit brandy."

He gave a quick salute in his native tongue, welcoming me to their home, and then the four of us drank. I shot the contents of my glass and grimaced as the fiery liquid scorched my throat. The three of them laughed as I coughed uncontrollably.

"You are supposed to sip it!" Yoongi said, as I shook my head, trying to regain my senses as the warmth from the powerful concoction rippled through me.

As he leaned forward to refill my glass, I said, "Do you think you might have ever heard of witch mihal?"

As soon as I said the name, jimin's grandmother glanced up from her brandy and said, "Ce este sta?"

Yoongi told her what I'd said and her face came alive with excitement. She reached across the table to squeeze my hand and started talking rapidly in Romanian. As she spoke, he translated.

"She says that Mihal is a powerful witch, and a terrible source of retribution. She says that if a woman thinks her husband has been unfaithful, she prays to the witch and tells her to come visit him in his sleep.

"Of course, if she is wrong the witch will not come. But if the husband has truly been unfaithful, he will never wake again. Mihal will ride him in his dreams until he is dead." Yoongi frowned a little as he said the last part

I suddenly felt dizzy and wasn't sure if it was from her story or the brandy. I wasn't sure what I'd expected to find, but it certainly wasn't anything like what she was describing. 

"Does she  know anything else, like where she can be found?"

Yoomgi shook his head. "You do not understand. Witch mihal is not real. She is a legend...a fable. The story bunica is telling you is an old wives' tale, designed to keep faithless husbands from straying too far."

Jimin, who'd been listening to the conversation as he chopped carrots and turnips on the sideboard, joined in. "Yes, a fable! Now I remember where I've heard that name."

I listened as he explained that he'd read of Mihal  when he was a young boy, in a book of fairy tales and legends written by Benedek Elek, who apparently was Transylvania's most famous storyteller. But he'd published his book more than a century earlier. The witch he'd written of had to be long dead or more than a century old

"But the gypsy said I'd find her here, right here in Magura. Maybe there's some other witch nearby who has taken her name?"

"There is no one else by that name," yoongi shrugged. "I am afraid this gypsy you speak of has sent you on a fool's errand. Perhaps she read the same book that jimin did and found the name there?"

My shoulders slumped and there was a heavy feeling settling inside me. Had I been a fool to listen to the gypsy's words? Had I raced halfway around the world only to discover I was chasing a phantom from a storybook? I felt like shit. 

Jimin's grandmother noticed my stance and smiled sympathetically. She babbled something to jimin in her language.

"Bunica wants to know why you want to search for a mihal. It's usually housewives who seek her in prayers and beliefs" jimin translated.