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“My list changes every day, every hour, every minute. The souls I must reap are no longer set.”

“You’re a jeoseung saja,” Somin said, taking a step back. She’d never met a reaper before. Never knew she could while still living. She was just getting used to the idea of there being gumiho and dokkaebi. She wasn’t ready to meet a servant of King Yeomra. “What do you want from me?”

“Tell him to hurry. Tell him that his time is running out.” And the boy disappeared into a haze of vapors like heat waves fading into the sun.

She didn’t know how, but Somin knew that the reaper spoke of Junu. She took off down the street, leaving her groceries behind as she ran.

ooo

Somin ran so fast she was gasping for breath when she rounded the corner toward Junu’s apartment. Relief and anxiety raced through her, braiding together as she spotted Junu and Jihoon approaching the front door.

“Junu!” she called. He turned in time for her to barrel into him.

“I see you missed me desperately.” Junu’s voice rumbled in Somin’s ear.

She pulled away and cleared her throat as she tried to findsomething sharp and clever to say. But she was still wheezing for breath and her hair was plastered to her face with sweat. It wasn’t the most dignified look. So she turned to Jihoon instead.

“Are you okay?”

He was watching her curiously, like he was trying to figure out how to react to what he’d just seen. Somin blushed under his stare. She knew Jihoon would probably give her an earful later. But right now, he just nodded.

“We’re fine. It was a very quick trip.” His eyes slid to Junu meaningfully.

“You sure?” Somin asked. Her best friend had dark bags under his eyes. He looked like he hadn’t slept since he left.

“I’m fine,” Jihoon insisted. “Let’s go inside. I’m melting out here.” He turned to open the front door, and as soon as it beeped, Miyoung came rushing toward them.

“Thank the gods you’re back,” Miyoung said, wrapping Jihoon into a hug.

“So...” Jihoon hesitated. “You’re not mad?”

“Of course I’m mad. You did the exact opposite of what I asked you to do. What happened to ‘people don’t like martyrs’?”

Jihoon hunched his shoulders like he used to when Halmeoni scolded him. “I wasn’t going off to die. We were just trying to get Junu’s staff.”

“Did you get it?” Miyoung asked, turning to Junu.

He shifted, his eyes not quite meeting anyone else’s, and Somin knew the answer before he replied. “It wasn’t there.”

“Wasn’t there?” Miyoung asked. “Then where is it?”

“That’s a great question,” Jihoon said.

“What are we going to do?” Somin asked.

“I don’t know,” Junu admitted.

“Well, we have to do something,” Somin insisted. “I just saw... it was horrible. And this jeoseung saja said—”

“Wait, what jeoseung saja?” Junu’s voice was sharp.

“I don’t know. Just this boy, he appeared like from nowhere. He said you had to hurry.”

Junu and Miyoung shared a pointed look.

“What is it?” she asked.

“So the reapers really are here,” Miyoung said.