Page 53 of Vicious Spirits

“Miyoung?” Somin rushed to her. “What happened?”

“What?” Miyoung turned, dazed, barely registering Somin frantically dragging her to the high-top chairs around the island.

“You stepped in glass. You’re bleeding everywhere.” Somin grabbed a towel and knelt in front of Miyoung. “What happened?”

“I saw her,” Miyoung murmured.

“Stay here, I’m going to find the first aid kit.”

No, this isn’t happening,Miyoung thought. Because if this was happening, it meant Junu was right about ghosts coming to this world. That her mother really was haunting her. And her mother must have the bead, which was how she’d been able to visit Miyoung this whole time, using her connection to her bead. Was Yena making the tear wider by coming to Miyoung so often in her dreams? How big was it now that Yena was appearing before Miyoung?

Somin rushed back with tweezers, ointment, and bandages. Miyoung barely felt it as Somin pulled the glass shards from her feet while chastising her. She might as well have been speaking in a foreign language; Miyoung was barely listening to her lecture.

“Miyoung!” Somin shouted. “Are you listening to me? What the hell happened here?”

“I... I can’t... I don’t...” And finally the pressure that had been building in Miyoung’s chest broke free and she burst into sobs.

Without a word, Somin wrapped Miyoung in her arms. And Miyoung held on, her whole body shaking.

Junu was right; ghosts shouldn’t linger in this world too long. Miyoung hated admitting it. But she’d been seeing Yena in her dreams for months and she had been ignoring it. No. She was lying to herself. She’d been holding on to it, just like she was somehow holding on to Yena. Her mother had said to set her free, but Miyoung didn’t know how to do that.

When Miyoung’s sobs had quieted to slow hiccupping tears, Somin pulled away. “Tell me what’s happening. Let me help. Please.”

Miyoung started to tell Somin. That her mother was haunting her. That her mother was a ghost and must be the reason that her yeowu guseul was in the ghost realm. But she couldn’t bring herself to say it. Because there was nothing to say. No, because Miyoung knew that if Somin knew about Yena, she’d ask Miyoung to give her up. And Miyoung didn’t know if she could do it.

24

JIHOON TRIED TOask Junu questions about the shaman and what she could mean. But Junu ignored him until he finally fell into a sullen silence. Now all Junu could hear was Jihoon’s labored breaths, but he no longer complained about the hike.

In the woods he could make out shapes moving through the trees. It was so miserably hot today that Junu doubted it was someone out for a leisurely hike. It was more likely a wayward spirit. Though, if they kept to themselves, there was no reason for the ghosts to bother them.

As Junu stepped past a giant pine, he had a sense of déjà vu. He didn’t recognize anything, not the shape of the rocks beside him or anything else along the path. Yet something inside him knew they were close.

“Why are we stopping?” It was the first time Jihoon had spoken in hours, and his voice was breathy.

Junu held a finger to his lips, squinting as he scanned the rock face. Then he saw them, the stacks of rocks. Altars to the sansin. He spun around, searching the trees for the mountain god. If he knew Junu was here, then they were in a lot of trouble. Junu was definitely not a fighter. And he doubted Jihoon, currently bent over and wheezing, would be any help. Then he saw it, the cave opening. He realized the reason things didn’t look familiar was because it had been centuries, and the flora had grown larger thanhe remembered. But he saw a dark shadow in the rocks beneath the looming branches of a tree. It had been a mere sapling the last time Junu had seen it, but now it stretched high into the sky. And now it practically hid the opening to the cave.

“You stay out here,” Junu said.

“No way,” Jihoon said, following him. “I came all this way. I’m not waiting out here as random ghost bait.”

So he had seen the spirits.

“Fine,” Junu said. “Come along. But if you get your soul sucked out, it’s not my fault.”

He made his way into the cave and heard the hesitant shuffle of Jihoon behind him.

“You weren’t serious, right?” Jihoon whispered, nerves clear in his shaky voice.

“About what?” Junu asked. “You’ll have to be specific because I’m so rarely serious about anything.”

“Could my soul really get sucked out?”

Junu chuckled softly. It seemed that despite his bravado, Jihoon’s sense of self-preservation was still healthy. It was a trait Junu could appreciate.

“I mean,” Jihoon continued nervously, “I wouldn’t normally believe that, but since I literally had a gumiho beadinsideof my chest for like three months, I am a bit wary of anything essential leaving or inhabiting me.”

Junu turned to Jihoon and patted him on the cheek. “Don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen to your frail human body.”

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