Page 50 of Vicious Spirits

Miyoung pursed her lips as she thought. “He’s my... umbrella.”

“Umbrella?” Somin asked. Maybe she’d made the assignment too abstract.

“Yeah, it’s like an inside joke to us. There was this umbrella that meant something to us once.”

“Okay, and why is Jihoon this umbrella?”

“Because he’s...” Miyoung trailed off.

“What? He’s round? He’s made of waterproof material?”

Miyoung laughed at that, and her shoulders finally relaxed. “No, he’s my shelter. Even in the strongest of downpours, he keeps me dry and warm. I know that with him I’m safe.”

Somin smiled. “Well, that’s a really sweet way to put it. See? You’re not that bad with expressing your feelings.” Then she sighed. “Makes me want to find my umbrella one day.”

“Oh, you don’t need an umbrella,” Miyoung said with a laugh.

Somin narrowed her eyes. “Okay, I’ll bite; what do I need?”

Miyoung smiled. “You need someone who’ll stand in the rain with you and face the storm.”

22

“ARE WE THEREyet?” Jihoon asked for perhaps the fifteenth time. It was just as annoying now as it was the last fourteen times.

“When we get there,” Junu said through gritted teeth, “I will tell you.”

“How much farther is it?” Jihoon asked, his voice becoming nasally with whining.

Junu finally stopped to stare at his pitiful companion. Jihoon looked like a wilted flower. His shirt clung to him and sweat saturated his hair under the blazing sun.

Junu realized that maybe insisting they hike immediately up the mountainside instead of waiting until the sun wasn’t directly above them had been a callous decision. He wasn’t used to the limitations of a human body.

He searched the area and spotted a shady area under an overhang. “Come on,” he said. “We can take a rest here.”

Jihoon let out a noise halfway between a moan and a wheeze as he followed. “I guess I really shouldn’t have slacked off so much in gym class.”

“Yeah, or you shouldn’t have given up that fox bead.” Junu took out a bottle of water and handed it to Jihoon, who drank it gratefully.

“Oh yeah, you mean the thing that was slowly draining mylife force and giving me seizures? So much fun. Highly recommend, you should definitely try it.”

Junu laughed. “I’ll pass. But I do always wonder, if you’d have known you had it, if you could have harnessed the energy.”

Jihoon eyed Junu. “You’re making that up.”

Junu shrugged. “Maybe. Guess we’ll never know now. Though if I were you, I’d want to know exactly what side effects come from being a glorified safety deposit box for a gumiho bead.”

Jihoon rolled his eyes, but there was a hint of curiosity in them, and perhaps a bit of fear.

Junu wanted to poke at Jihoon again, to see if he could get the boy to believe more tall tales, but he heard the shuffling of approaching footsteps and he turned to face the new person.

It was an ajumma. Her steps slow and labored.

“I see you’ve found a nice spot. Any shade to share?”

“Of course,” Junu said, shoving Jihoon aside to offer her a prime spot in the center of the shade.

“You’re sweet,” she said, patting him on the arm. Her hand froze a second, her fingers tightened a tad on his wrist. Then she smiled as she leaned back and let out a long, grateful breath.

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