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“No, I wanted to talk to you in private.” Somin stepped into the foyer.

Junu let a smile spread over his lips, and he couldn’t help glancing at the doorway to the library. “Is that so?”

“Get your brain out of the gutter,” Somin said. “I need to ask you a favor.”

“Whatkindof favor?” Junu asked, wiggling his brows.

“Can you be serious for one freaking second?” The frustration in her voice wouldn’t have bothered him, but he heard fear beneath it and sobered.

“Okay, what do you need?”

“I know Jihoon’s going on this trip no matter what,” Somin said.

“Miyoung said no.”

“Yeah, well, whatever conversation they had didn’t work. He told me he’s determined.”

“Then why are you here? Why don’t you try to talk to him directly?”

“Of course I tried,” Somin said. “But he’s so bullheaded—” She cut off with a sigh.

Junu wondered if she realized she was just as hardheaded as her best friend, two peas in a very annoyingly stubborn pod.

“Since he insists on going with you,” Somin said, “I need you to promise you’ll take care of him. I need you to promise it in a way that will make me believe you.”

Junu almost laughed at how she phrased it. Like no matter what, she truly thought he could never make her believe in him. It made him more determined to prove her wrong. This time it was easy to be sincere, because he had every intention of protecting Ahn Jihoon. There was no way he’d lose face by letting a mortal die while with him. And maybe Junu did kind of like Jihoon sometimes. Of course, he couldn’t lethimknow that. They had such a great frenemy thing going on.

“I’ll take care of him,” Junu said. “If I make a promise, I keep it. It’s how I stay in business.”

Somin nodded. “Thank you. And please don’t tell Jihoon that I asked you to look after him. It’ll just annoy him.”

“So what?” Junu asked. “You’re his friend, aren’t you?”

“He won’t like it if he knows I talked to you about him behind his back.”

“Am I really so bad that Jihoon doesn’t want you talking about him to me?” Junu asked.

“It’s not just you,” Somin said. Which meant it was still partially him, and that made Junu’s hackles rise. “Recently, Jihoon has felt like he’s had no control over things.”

“Well, can you blame the guy?” Junu asked. Even he thought that Ahn Jihoon had gone through an avalanche of unfortunate events in the few months Junu had known him. Almost dying. Miyoung secretly putting her own fox bead into him to save his life. Having that same fox bead almost kill him. Losing his halmeoni. And now losing his childhood home. If Junu were one who cared about such things, he’d feel bad for the guy.

“So, if he thought you were asking me this favor behind his back, then he’d feel like you were taking some kind of control away from him? That’s bull,” Junu said. “He’d care if you were hurting because of him.”

“I’m not hurting. I’m just a little worried, but I can get over it on my own.”

“You do this all the time for him, don’t you?” Junu mused. “You bury your own feelings and prioritize him over yourself. That’s not healthy. You need to just be honest with people sometimes. It makes things much easier.”

“You mean how you’resohonest?” Somin asked, raising a brow.

“What was it?” Junu asked, not letting her derail him. “What happened to make you put Jihoon before yourself all the time?”

“What makes you think something happened?”

“I can read people well.”

“It’s none of your business,” Somin said.

Junu also knew when he wasn’t going to get far with a person. And Somin was like a vault locked tight. “Fine, you don’t have to tell me,” he said. “But you know exactly why you give up so much of yourself for him, and maybe it’s time for you to consider whether that’s good for either of you.”