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“There is something in the Between. Something that’s connected to the land of the living, creating a tear.”

“The Between?” Junu asked. He’d spent a lot of time with Hyuk, but even so, he had never fully understood the world of the reaper.

“The Between is where souls stay before they’re able to pass on to the afterlife.”

That did not sound good. “So, like a ghost realm? What could be connecting it to the world of the living?”

“That’s what I’m here to find out. It’s already affecting things. Ghosts are appearing in this world. And my abilities are not working the way they should. Earlier today, I was following one of these ghosts that slipped through and a mortal was able to see me when I should have been cloaked.”

“Ghosts have been able to come to the mortal realm before,” Junu pointed out.

“Yes,temporarily, and in places where the boundaries between the world of the living and the world Between are thin. But if a ghost spends significant time in the mortal world, they could have negative effects on the living.”

“So they have a little fun in the mortal realm, haunt a few people they hold grudges against. Why is that so bad?”

“If they stay too long, they could have undue influence on the psyche of the living. They could cause those in the mortal realm to go slowly mad, with fatal consequences,” Hyuk said. “It would upset the balance of life and death.”

Junu didn’t like the ominous sound of Hyuk’s words, but still, he had no idea what this had to do with him. “Why are you coming to me with this?”

“I don’t know much, but I can tell that the source of the tear is currently coming from near here. It’s like a thread of energy connecting the two worlds.”

A thread of energy near here. One that had ties to someone who might have recently entered the ghost realm. Junu’s heart dropped as his mind went to a certain former gumiho who’drecently lost her mother and her fox bead in a horrific incident. But he kept it to himself and just shrugged. “Sorry, I haven’t seen any thread of energy lately.”

“You forget, I know you better than most. I can tell you know something.”

Hyuk had never played along with Junu’s games. Something he’d never really liked about the reaper.

“I suppose I could offer my services. After all, I’ve been living in Seoul for a few years now and it’s my business to find out information.”

“You should of course tell me anything you hear,” Hyuk said. “But in the meantime, you should be careful. There are things in the Between other than ghosts and restless spirits. Supernatural souls that are trapped.”

Junu’s heart skipped a beat. He sucked in a sharp breath. “She’s trapped by multiple forms of magic. There’s no way for her to get free.”

“If there’s a way into a trap, there’s always a way out. No matter how completely you believe you’ve sealed it.”

“She won’t get free,” Junu insisted. “I was promised.”

“I hope so, for your sake. I’d hate to have someone like that free, knowing they’d come after me the way she’ll most definitely come after you.”

“I’ll handle my own problems,” Junu said. “I don’t need your advice.”

“You didn’t use to think that.”

“Well, times change, as you well know.”

Hyuk nodded, accepting Junu’s rejection in stride. Something that was equal parts admirable and frustrating about the reaper. “I hope you take this as I meant it. For old times’ sake.”

“Sure,” Junu said before turning away. “Do you really think—” he started to say, turning back again, but the reaper was gone. He was talking to no one. Junu ran his hands roughly over his face, like he was trying to rub away the conversation.

He hadn’t seen Hyuk in over a century. But the jeoseung saja had tied his feelings into a complicated knot. He knew that the reaper did not present himself to those in the mortal world lightly. That’s why the jeoseung saja’s warnings worried Junu so much.

Slowly, he started back to the apartment and stopped halfway up the steps as Miyoung descended the stairs carrying a bag of trash. Despite the thousands of concerns winding through his thoughts, he noticed that she looked worn out. Junu didn’t like the pale pallor of her cheeks.

“I can take that,” he said, reaching for the trash bag, but she pulled back.

“Kkeojyeo,” she said through gritted teeth. But the threat was tempered by the fatigue in her voice.

This close, he saw the bags under her eyes that he hadn’t noticed before. She was stuck in some limbo state that he’d never heard of in his centuries of existence. A gumiho who’d lost her fox bead and had gone over a hundred days without feeding on human energy, yet still walked the earth. He wouldn’t have believed it if Miyoung wasn’t standing in front of him. Pale and disheveled, sweat beading her brow, but definitely whole and alive. One thing was for sure: Junu knew that Miyoung wasn’t fully human. She was still tied to the supernatural world.