Page 88

“There’s nothing any of us can do,” Junu said finally. “This man will die.”

“Fine.” Miyoung moved to kneel beside Mr. Ahn, whose rasping breaths were echoing through the kitchen. There was a death rattle in his chest, one that Junu was far too familiar with.

“What are you doing?” Junu asked.

“I’ll kill him. This death will be on me. Do you hear me?” Miyoung said to Jihoon. “I killed him. Not you.”

Then she raised her hand to give the killing blow. Junu stopped her before she could swing it down.

“No,” he said. “You can’t do this.”

“Let go!” she shouted. Tears flowed down her cheeks as she tried to break free. “I have to do this.”

“No,” Junu said, kneeling down so he was eye to eye with her. “This is not your responsibility. It’s mine.”

He gave her a gentle push, and as anticipated, she fell back easily. Junu looked at the door leading to Somin. She would never look at him the same after he did this.

Jihoon watched him with unblinking eyes. And Junu saw it, the glint of something more beneath his irises. “Sinhye, if you’re watching, then I hope you’re satisfied with what you’ve done to us both. What you’ve made us both.”

Then Junu wrapped his hands around Mr. Ahn’s throat. His rattling breaths became haggard, choking gasps. His body shook. His hands clenched. His feet kicked. He obviously wanted to fight for a life that he wasn’t yet aware had already been taken from him. And Junu squeezed his eyes shutagainst the burn of tears. He wouldn’t let them fall. He didn’t deserve them.

He held on until he felt Mr. Ahn still. He held on until the only sounds in the room were Miyoung’s sobs. He held on because if he let go, he was sure he’d fall himself.

43

JUNU SAT ALONEon the cold floor.

He was in an abandoned warehouse. A place he’d sometimes come to do shady dealings with undesirables he didn’t want in his home. It was also a place where the city’s homeless would sometimes come to escape inclement weather.

Today, it was empty except a few stained cardboard boxes and smattering of threadbare blankets. Well, empty of anyone living. Ghosts wandered the space. They didn’t seem interested in Junu as they floated through the warehouse. Spirits were often drawn to spaces that held sadness and pain. And death. Junu was sure many had died in this place. That’s why it was as good a place for an unidentified body to be found. A better place than a building that Jihoon and Somin had been seen entering.

He didn’t look at the body beside him, but he didn’t leave either. Junu didn’t feel right leaving him until...

The air shifted. It chilled. Like a supernatural thermostat had been turned down. Junu could see puffs of his breath as the temperature dropped. And he closed his eyes as goose bumps pimpled on his flesh.

“I knew it would be you,” Junu said without looking up.

“Just like old times, huh?” Hyuk asked.

“No,” Junu said, finally glancing up at the jeoseung saja. “Not like old times.”

“This isn’t the first time you’ve taken a life.”

“I know.”

“But this is the first time I’ve seen it affect you like this.”

Junu closed his eyes again, afraid he felt those damn tears again. He couldn’t break now. Not in front of Hyuk.

“I’m not the same person you used to know.”

“I know,” Hyuk said.

As he rose, pinpricks ran along Junu’s legs from kneeling so long. Perhaps he’d been sitting his own form of a vigil over the life he’d taken.

“You can go,” Hyuk said, laying a gentle hand on Junu’s shoulder. “I’ll take care of him now.”

“Will he go to a good place?” Junu asked. He’d never before asked Hyuk where he took his souls. He just knew the reaper took them somewhere beyond here. “What if the tear between the worlds allows him to come back? Can you do something to make sure his soul doesn’t... stay?”