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Somin shook her head. She wouldn’t let Sinhye’s pretty words distract her. She wouldn’t let herself be confused. “You took a choice away from him. You made him something he never chose to be.”

“And greedy, lustful men made me what I didn’t choose to be,” Sinhye snapped, and the look in her eyes was enough to have Somin shrink back. “Junu was far from the only victim.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Somin asked despite herself.

“When I lived, if women were beautiful, we were both coveted and punished.”

“I don’t need a history lesson,” Somin said. Especially not one that would soften her to the evil thing inside her best friend. She tried to keep her heart hard. Tried to keep it cold.

“Everything that happened to me happened because I was seen as property. A sansin wanted me, but I loved Junu. I turned the mountain god down. I wanted a simple life, a mortal one with the boy I loved. And for that horrible crime.” She paused, let the words sink in. “For that crime, he cursed me. He convinced me that I could gain my mortality only if I ate one hundred livers for one hundred days. Instead it cursed me and all who came after to be immortal monsters.”

“Those who came after you?” Somin asked,like Miyoung?“So that’s it? There’s really no way for a gumiho to become mortal?”

“Oh, there is,” Sinhye said with a grim smile. “Just because I was in that prison didn’t mean that I couldn’t hear the spirits in the Between. And they watched the world of the living. They told me things. Like how some gumiho found they could become human if they refused to feed for one hundred days, three moons. And then at the end they severed their ties with their bead. A painful process, from what I’ve heard; some of them didn’t survive it. Severing yourself from your yeowu guseul is like trying to rip out a part of your own soul. But the ones who lived could be free from the curse of the gumiho. Could be human.”

Somin couldn’t help but think of Miyoung. She hadn’t fed for one hundred days, and they’d all been wondering how she survived. Was it possible for her to become fully human if she just severed her bond with her bead?

“You’re thinking of your friend, aren’t you?” Sinhye said. “Suchan interesting creature. Not quite human, not quite gumiho. She’s sitting in a fragile limbo. Still attached to her lost bead. She’ll be a fun toy after I’m done playing with you.”

“I know that you’ve suffered,” Somin said, carefully choosing her words. “You didn’t deserve it. Maybe we can help you find peace.”

Sinhye was quiet for a moment. She circled the room, as if taking its measure. She let her fingers run along surfaces, creating lines and patterns in the dust. “You really think you can somehow get through to me?” She raised pitying eyes, and the seed of hope in Somin disappeared. “Any humanity in me died a long time ago. After those who coveted and betrayed me locked me away in that prison for centuries.”

Somin almost stepped back at the venom in Sinhye’s voice.

“And now,” Sinhye said, her voice quiet again, “I will repay those who cursed me. Starting with Junu. It’s so hard to decide just how I’m going to make him suffer the most.”

Now Somin did back away. She didn’t like how calm Sinhye sounded. How resolved.

“Should I wait until he’s here to watch? Or perhaps I’ll just let him find your body. It’s really so hard to choose.” Sinhye let out a macabre laugh.

“He’s not coming,” Somin said. “He doesn’t even know where I am.”

“But didn’t your little message get to him?” Sinhye asked.

Now Somin froze, her heart skipping a beat. “What?”

“I assume that’s what you were doing with that halmeoni out front,” Sinhye said calmly. Like she hadn’t caught Somin trying to pull one on her. “I mean, that’s why I let you choose the location. I figured a girl like you wouldn’t be able to resist trying to get amessage to her friends. And now they’ll come for you, but it’ll be too late. Oops!”

“Michin-nyeon!” Somin couldn’t hold back her anger anymore and swung a fist. But she miscalculated. She was so used to Jihoon being slower, she could clock him without any effort. But Sinhye was too fast. And she dodged the punch and swung out with her own fist. Stars exploded behind Somin’s eyes as she went sprawling onto the floor.

“I think I’ve made up my mind,” Sinhye said. “I think I don’t want to wait to snap your pretty little neck.”

Somin scrambled back, crab-walking to get away from Sinhye. But, of course, it was futile. She was nowhere near as fast as the gumiho. So she pushed to her feet. If she was going to die, then she’d go down fighting. She’d just lifted her fists and stepped forward when the kitchen door slammed open and Mr. Ahn stumbled in. Somin considered using the momentary distraction to make a run for it, but Sinhye wrapped her in a choke hold.

“Well, what did I just walk into?” Mr. Ahn asked, his bleary eyes taking in the scene.

“Get out of here or I’ll snap her neck,” Sinhye growled, holding Somin like a human shield.

“Wow, Son, I didn’t know you had it in you. But I don’t care about that brat,” Mr. Ahn said with a low, gravelly chuckle. “I just want the money you’ve been hiding from me.”

“Money?” Sinhye asked with a laugh. “What nonsense are you talking about?”

This enraged Mr. Ahn, who was already sloppy from drink. “I know your halmeoni had money secreted away. Even when we asked her for help, she wouldn’t give it to us. Said it was in acollege fund for you. Well, now that she’s dead, you’ve got to have it. And I raised you, so I’m entitled to at least half.”

“Mr. Ahn, get out of here,” Somin choked out.

“I see now. I see what type of man you are,” Sinhye said, and Somin didn’t like the glee she heard in the words. “I see that there is so much greed in your heart that your soul is black. I wonder what it will taste like.”