Banished Divinity: Learning to be Human

This time, the preparation was different.

Human Sera did not scream. She did not sing. She did not force me to try on seventeen dresses or threaten me with eyeliner tutorials. She just floated near the ceiling, watching me with an expression I couldn't quite read.

"You're not going to help?" I asked, pulling open my closet.

"You don't need help," she said. "Not for him."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

She shrugged. "With Jaehyun, you were dressing for me. For the date I never got to have. But with Minjae..." She paused. "You're dressing for you."

I stared at her.

Then I looked at my closet.

Then I pulled out a purple T-shirt.

It wasn't fancy. It wasn't expensive. It wasn't anything special. But the colour—the colour was exactly the shade of my celestial hair. The hair I had lost. The hair I would never have again.

I held the shirt against my chest and looked at myself in the mirror.

I miss my hair, I thought.

"Yeah," Human Sera said softly. "I know."

I paired the purple shirt—the one with the nine boys' faces, the same ones I saw when I first woke up in this world—with a pair of light blue jeans. Simple. Normal. The kind of outfit a mortal girl might wear to meet a mortal boy for a mortal lunch.

When I looked at myself in the mirror, I didn't see a celestial warrior. I didn't see the Seraphyne who had made demons tremble.

I just saw... Sera.

And for some reason, that didn't feel like a bad thing.

---

I walked to the top of the stairs.

This time, I wasn't wearing heels. I wasn't wearing a dress. I wasn't wearing makeup that made me look like Cruella de Vil.

I was just... Me.

Mum was in the kitchen, pretending to clean. Dad was in the living room, pretending to read the newspaper. Mina was at the coffee table, pretending to sketch but actually watching me from the corner of her eye.

I descended.

No falling. No slipping. No dramatic face-plants into the rug.

Just stairs. Just feet. Just a girl in a purple shirt and jeans.

Dad looked up.

His face went through a journey. Confusion. Recognition. Something that looked like the beginning of tears.

Then he covered his mouth.

"She’s wearing NORMAL CLOTHES!" he wailed. "Mama, SHE'S WEARING NORMAL CLOTHES! WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?!"

"It means she's comfortable, Daniel," Mum said, not looking up from the dish she was wiping for the fourth time.

"COMFORTABLE? COMFORTABLE WITH WHO? THE GATE-RAMMER? THE ONE WHO ALMOST—"

"Nobody almost anything, Daniel. Sit down."

"I CAN'T SIT DOWN! MY DAUGHTER IS WEARING NORMAL CLOTHES FOR A BOY! THIS IS A CRISIS!"

Mum sighed. She put down the dish. She walked over to Dad, took the newspaper from his hands, and folded it neatly.

"Daniel," she said, "look at her."

Dad looked at me.

"Now look at yesterday."

Dad blinked. I could see the gears turning in his head—the slow, mortal gears that had no business trying to understand celestial-level observations.

"She wore a dress yesterday," Mum continued. "Makeup. Heels. The whole production. For Jaehyun."

"Yes," Dad said cautiously.

"Today, she's wearing a T-shirt and jeans. No makeup. Sneakers. For Minjae."

Dad's eyes narrowed. "What's your point?"

Mum smiled—that knowing smile that meant she had figured something out and was about to share it whether anyone wanted to hear it or not.

"My point," she said, "is that this Minjae boy brings out her normal self. The real Sera. Not the Sera who tries to impress. Not the Sera who puts on a show. Just... Sera."

I felt my face heat up. "That's not—I'm not—I am a celestial being. I don't have a 'real self.' I have a celestial self. Which is the same. Always. Because I am constant. Like the stars. Which never change. Except when they explode."

Mum raised an eyebrow. "You're rambling."

"I don't ramble. I articulate passionately."

"You're also blushing."

"I am not blushing. I am experiencing a temporary increase in facial temperature due to—"

Ding.. Dong…

"The doorbell," Mina interrupted, smirking. "It's your boyfriend."

"What is a boyfriend?!"

"Whatever you say, little sister. Whatever you say."

---

Minjae stood at the front door, looking surprisingly... normal. He wore a simple grey hoodie and dark jeans. His hair was still that messy tousle. He held a small bouquet of wildflowers—nothing fancy, just something he had probably picked up from a street vendor.

He smiled when he saw me.

It was a real smile. Not the smirk he wore like armour. Not the sarcastic grin he used to deflect. Just... a smile.

Why is that making my heart do the thing? I thought

"Hi," he said.

"Hi," I flatly responded.

We stood there.

It was awkward.

Then Dad appeared in the doorway behind me—literally appeared, like he had teleported from the living room. I didn't even hear him move.

"Minjae," Dad said. His voice was low. Dangerous. The voice of a man who had already planned seventeen different ways to dispose of a body and was currently trying to decide which one was most efficient.

"Mr. Lee," Minjae said, bowing politely. "Thank you for having me."

"I'm not having you. You're standing on the porch. There's a difference." Dad pushed up his glasses and narrowed his eyes at Minjae.

"Daniel," Mum called from inside, "be nice."

"I am being nice. I haven't threatened him yet." Dad called back.

"Dad," I said, "please don't."

"Don't what? Don't protect my daughter from a boy who—"

"Who is still standing right here!" Mina shouted from the living room. "And who I have named 'dick move' for stealing my pure sainthood sister to the abyss or finishing whatever he couldn't finish last night!"

Dad’s face turned red. His eyes blazed. He looked like a hellhound who had just been told that his favourite chew toy was being given away.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" he roared, turning toward Mina.

"I said he's a dick move!^" Mina shouted back, completely unafraid. "and he's trying to finish what he started! you know, the kiss that wasn't a kiss but probably was!"

"I did not try to kiss her.” Minaje replied flatly.

"THAT'S WHAT THEY ALL SAY!" Mina shouted back.

"MINA, GET OVER HERE!" Dad yelled.

"NO! I'M SAFE BEHIND THE COUCH!" Mina yelled back.

Dad lunged toward the living room.

Mum moved faster.

SMACK.

The slipper connected with the back of Dad's head with a sound that echoed through the entire house.

Dad froze. Mina stopped shouting. Even the birds outside seemed to pause.

"Daniel," Mum spoke calmly while holding the slipper like a weapon of mass destruction, "sit down. Not at the door like a dog. On the couch. NOW!"

"But—"

"SIT." Mum pointed at the couch.

Dad sat and placed his hands on his lap like a good little boy.

Mina, from behind the couch, was smart enough to keep her mouth shut.

Mum turned to Minjae, who was standing on the porch with his eyes wide and his mouth slightly open. He looked like a man who had just witnessed a murder and wasn't sure if he was next.

"I'm sorry about my family," Mum said, smiling sweetly. "They're... enthusiastic."

"I... I can see that. Hello, Mrs. Lee. Oh! These flowers are for you." Minjae said, his hands shaking as he passed Mum the flowers he had brought. I was pretty sure this was a gift to convince Mum not to smack him.

"Oh! How nice! Isn't the boy nice, Daniel? He gave me flowers! Such a lovely boy!" Mum spoke while turning around to speak to Dad at the door.

I could hear Dad gulp loudly from where he was sitting while nodding his head.

"Sera, go have fun. Don't do anything I wouldn't do." Mum smiled, and this smile was different. This smile was so wide that her eyes became slits. Observation #200—or was it #300?—Mum smiled, and her eyes went missing. No! They became lines. What does this mean? I need to investigate this seriously.

"What wouldn't you do?" I asked.

Mum's smile widened. Her eye-slits became thinner. "That's for you to find out."

She pushed me out the door and closed it behind me.

I stood on the porch with Minjae.

We looked at each other.

"Well," he said, "that was terrifying."

"That was normal," I said. "You should see breakfast."

Human Sera floated out through the closed door—because ghosts don't believe in boundaries—and waved goodbye.

But she wasn't just waving.

She was placing a finger in her ghostly throat and making gagging noises.

I turned to Minjae. "Let's go."

---

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