Page 17 of Gumiho Kiss (Realm of Eternal Blossoms #1)

The Reaper

H yun Soo barreled forward, adrenaline shooting through his veins.

This was it. The chance he’d been waiting for.

Gwishin wouldn’t escape him a second time, especially not now that a student lay dead who would still be alive if he’d only caught the vigilante sooner.

He’d wavered the past few days, wondering whether Gwishin thought himself some sort of hero to the common people, but now Hyun Soo was certain—for a cold-blooded killer like Gwishin, justice couldn’t come swiftly enough.

He pulled open the library’s latticed door and stepped into a forest of books.

Stacks upon stacks filled the shelves, hitting him with a pungent dose of their earthy scent.

His eyes homed in on a red trail along the floor, so he followed it to a back corner.

Where it stopped, papers lay scattered about the floor, along with a candlestick and writing brush. Signs of a struggle.

But no sign of the perpetrator.

Hyun Soo’s eyebrows drew together. The library had a single door, and no one had left after the victim. Had Gwishin gotten out before the scholar did?

Something about that conclusion didn’t make sense, but nothing about this incident was adding up. Gwishin had never been spotted in broad daylight before, nor had he ever attacked someone on school grounds.

A flash of white drew Hyun Soo’s attention back toward the front of the library. Flowing robes and a gleaming sword?—

Hyun Soo hurtled forward, blade clashing with the intruder’s before he’d even fully registered whom he was fighting.

A bearded ahjussi with a large nose and crazed eyes smiled at him, his manic expression catching Hyun Soo off guard.

His opponent took advantage of Hyun Soo’s distraction and knocked his sword out of his hand.

“How wonderfully lucky.” The man laughed, making his long, unbound hair shake. “I was hoping I wouldn’t have to search for you long.”

Hyun Soo dove for his sword, then jumped back up, holding it between himself and the ahjussi. “You were searching for me? Why? Who are you?”

The ahjussi’s mouth spread impossibly wide, teeth sharpening to fine points. “Oh, you didn’t know? Funny, I thought I heard someone announce me.” His body rose from the floor as though weightless, his white robe swirling around him.

Hyun Soo’s blood ran cold. Someone had announced him. When the victim had called his attacker “Gwishin,” he hadn’t been talking about the vigilante. He’d meant an actual ghost.

The spirit gave him a patronizing nod. “Yeh, you’re seeing it now, aren’t you?” He gestured to his clothes. “I really thought the white hanbok would be enough, but you humans are denser than I expected.”

Hyun Soo knew he should feel insulted right now, but he was still reeling with shock. A ghost? Had Grandmother been right about everything? He couldn’t remember how she’d said one could dispel malignant spirits.

“What do you want?”

The ghost shut his eyes with a frustrated groan. “Must I explain that as well? You, of all humans, should understand why I was drawn here. And why others of my kind will be here soon.”

“Others?” Hyun Soo didn’t like the sound of that.

The ghost waved his hand dismissively. “Not to worry. It won’t come to that if you simply give me what I’m after.”

“But you haven’t told me what that is,” Hyun Soo pointed out.

Like he’d told the vigilante, he never started a fight until he knew his enemy’s weakness.

What was a ghost’s? He racked his brain, conjuring up stories of deceased spirits seeking to set right the unresolved issues of their lives.

“Do you want me to help you get revenge on someone?”

The ghost covered his face, thoroughly exasperated. “Trying to reason with you is a waste of time.” When he removed his hand, his eyes were narrow with malice. “The only thing left to do is take it.”

He flew forward, reaching for Hyun Soo’s torso.

“Stop right there,” came a commanding voice.

The ghost froze, then turned to the newcomer behind him.

Sunlight blazed in from the open doorway, making it impossible to discern the features of the figure standing there, sword raised. Hyun Soo blinked a few times, trying to restore his impaired vision. The voice had been female; familiar, even. Surely it couldn’t belong to?—

“Don’t touch what belongs to me,” the woman declared, “or I will end you.”

The ghost shrieked as he launched an attack, meeting his new adversary’s blade. Blue fire crackled where their swords met, and the woman fell back with a gasp.

Hyun Soo’s spotty eyesight began to clear, revealing what he hadn’t wanted to believe: his rescuer was none other than Lady Lee.

“Get back,” he warned, jumping into the fray as the ghost swung its sword at the woman’s head. Hyun Soo blocked the blow, but upon contact, a searing heat ran up his arm and he nearly lost his weapon a second time.

Lady Lee scooted backward just as Hyun Soo dropped to the ground and rolled to the side. The ghost’s sword tip hit the dirt, and the fiend pulled back with a frustrated hiss.

“Stay still,” the spirit shouted.

When Hyun Soo sprang to his feet, Lady Lee was beside him, brandishing a dagger. “Are you all right, Mr. Park?”

“What are you still doing here? I told you to get to safety.”

The ghost advanced, aiming for Hyun Soo. The two exchanged blows, shuffling across the school courtyard, and all the while, Lady Lee looked on.

Why wasn’t she leaving?

Hyun Soo blocked a strike near his chest, then spun around and pierced his opponent’s exposed back, the blade digging into the flesh between his shoulder blades.

“Agh!” The ghost fell to his knees.

Hyun Soo drew back, the sword coming away covered with silver blood.

The ghost lifted off the ground, his body whirling until they faced each other again. “You’ll pay for that.” The sword in his hand vanished, only for blue flames to appear in its place. He lifted his palm, then sent a burst of fire at Hyun Soo’s face.

Hyun Soo leaned back as it flew past him, but a second fireball struck him in the leg. He collapsed to the ground, groaning as pain shot through his body.

The spirit hovered over him, victory gleaming in his dark eyes. “Now, for my prize.”

Lady Lee leaped into view, plunging her dagger into the ghost’s side.

The spirit wheezed, then threw her off with a burst of fire. She landed hard on her back with a loud grunt. “You just don’t know when to give up, do you?” The ghost raised both hands, summoning a whirlwind of blue fire.

Hyun Soo staggered to his feet, then threw himself over Lady Lee just before the world exploded.

* * *

Warmth encompassed Chin Sun’s body, along with an unknown scent that reminded her of four-footed walks in the forest. Memories passed through her mind like prancing deer, flowing from one to the next.

She hadn’t realized how much she missed those times, when she could shed her human skin and all its expectations, free to wander and hunt among the trees.

Those times would come again, if she could just figure out how to get her fox bead back from Mr. Park.

Mr. Park! Chin Sun opened her eyes, only to discover a body lying on top of her. Heat flooded her cheeks as she realized the source of the warmth surrounding her was none other than her bodyguard, who’d gone completely limp. Pain ricocheted through her torso. Had she reopened her wound?

She craned her neck back, gaze landing on the figure floating just above them, hand outstretched. Chin Sun rolled Mr. Park off her and grabbed his sword, which was lying a few inches away in the dirt. She lifted it just as the goblin’s hand came forward, his fingers colliding with the cool metal.

Liquid silver dripped from the fresh cuts in his forefinger and thumb, landing on Chin Sun’s cheek. The goblin howled in pain, cradling his injured hand to his chest. He peered at her in disbelief. “How did you . . .? That blast should have taken you out.”

Chin Sun rose on shaky legs. Fighting took a lot more energy without her gumiho powers, but she was holding her own better than she’d expected. Maybe she could keep going long enough for the police to arrive.

“I’m not as helpless as you think, goblin.”

The monster’s eyes widened, then he let out a dry laugh. “I suppose it was silly of me to think a gumiho wouldn’t see through my disguise.”

It had been a clever trick, posing as a ghost. Chin Sun had nearly been fooled, were it not for the signature blue flames emanating from his body. No wonder that student had come out of the library crying “Gwishin.”

“I don’t appreciate you confusing the humans.

Now, tell me what your purpose is for coming here.

Is it just to spread havoc?” She raised her sword to remind him it was in his best interest to answer her.

Unlike her last goblin encounter, she wasn’t so incapacitated that she couldn’t fight back.

And this goblin didn’t seem nearly as dangerous as the one from before.

“You think you can scare me because you drew blood?” He shook his head, the humor in his expression shifting to outrage. He clapped his hands together, and when they parted, a stream of blue fire stretched between his palms. “See if you can handle this without your little human shield to save you.”

“That’s enough,” bellowed an agitated voice.

Gumiho and goblin turned in sync to a handsome young man at the edge of the courtyard.

He stood as still as death, clad in black hanbok and a wide-brimmed hat.

When combined with his pale complexion, steely eyes, and lack of fear in the face of the supernatural, this newcomer’s identity was almost certain.

“A grim reaper?” Chin Sun stammered.

Stories claimed these frightening figures, whose name literally meant “afterworld messenger,” were tasked with guiding the departed to Jeoseung, the land of spirits.

Seeing a grim reaper was an omen of imminent death, and if you were foolish enough to look one in the eye, that death would most certainly be your own.

The goblin gasped and then raced off toward the school gate.

The grim reaper sighed and shook his head. He disappeared in a puff of black smoke, then re-formed directly in front of the goblin. “Did you really think you could get away? Since when has your kind escaped mine?”

The goblin dissolved into pathetic sobs, pleading that he hadn’t done anything wrong, that all of this was simply a misunderstanding.

Chin Sun watched the interaction as if it were some children’s tale being performed and she was only a simple bystander, safe and far removed from the dangerous characters standing before her.

Being a gumiho may have made her wonder if there were other magical creatures in the world, but in her heart of hearts, she hadn’t truly believed it.

Even the goblin attack in the woods had been something she’d almost written off as a dream, an anomaly she would never encounter again.

But seeing this new goblin groveling at a grim reaper’s feet made her realize just how naive she’d been. A whole other world existed, one where beings like herself lived and fought and loved and died. A place with rules and history and, by the looks of it, a social hierarchy.

Questions burst in Chin Sun’s mind. Where did gumiho fit into the social order? What was life like for them? How many different creatures were out there?

The grim reaper wrinkled his nose at the goblin, then turned his hand palm up. A red rope materialized, and he wrapped it around the sobbing goblin’s wrists. “Save your excuses for the trial.”

He tapped the goblin’s shoulder, sending his captive off in a plume of smoke.

Chin Sun waited for him to vanish, too, but instead he walked over to her and bowed.

“I apologize for the inconvenience, agasshi.”

“I-it’s no problem.” She bowed in response, doing her best not to look him in the eye.

Maybe the superstitions about direct eye contact with a grim reaper were wrong, or maybe they didn’t apply to gumiho, but she wasn’t going to risk it.

Especially not after seeing how easily he’d dispatched the goblin.

When he didn’t leave, she hesitantly asked, “Was there something else you needed?”

Had she broken some law she didn’t know about? Was he going to take her next?

“Per regulations, I have to ask: how much more lifeforce do you intend to collect before you retrieve your bead?”

Chin Sun’s mouth fell open. “You mean”—she glanced at her bodyguard and back at the reaper, completely forgetting not to make eye contact—“you can sense my fox bead?”

“Do you think I’m a novice?” The reaper scoffed. “I’ve been in this position for four years now. I know a beaded human when I see one.”

“A beaded human . . .” she echoed. Not because she was confused—the term was completely self-explanatory—but because it drove home the feelings of ignorance brought on by the grim reaper’s arrival. It seemed he knew more about her kind than she did.

“Nauri, may I ask you something?” When he didn’t say anything, she continued, “That goblin—he was after my bead. What would he have done if he’d gotten hold of it?”

“He was?” His brow furrowed. “Hmm, perhaps he intended to sell it to another gumiho in need of one. They go for quite a high price on the black market. But stealing a gumiho’s bead is a serious offense.

I’ll make sure that gets added to his list of crimes when he stands trial.

If he pleads innocent, I may need to call on you to testify. ”

Chin Sun paled. “Me, testify?”

“I doubt you’ll need to. If he’s smart, he’ll admit to everything in the hopes of reducing his sentence.”

She nodded woodenly. “That’s a relief. But if I do get called in, where?—”

The reaper held up his hand. “I answered your question, but you’ve yet to answer mine. How much longer are you going to wait before you collect your bead?”

Mr. Park was beginning to stir. Chin Sun needed to finish this conversation quickly. “Oh, not much longer. I promise.”

The reaper hummed. “I hope so, for your sake. The goblins have been unruly of late, making more and more problems in the human realm. Best keep your bead close. And remember, the punishment for needless killing of humans is execution or imprisonment. So it would be wise to retrieve the bead in the next eighteen days. Otherwise”—his voice rippled with cruelty—“you’ll be the one getting dragged off to Jeoseung. ”

Eighteen days? That was all the time she had left?

The reaper must have noticed the surprise in her eyes, for his brow wrinkled in suspicion. Chin Sun dropped her gaze to his black boots. “You don’t need to worry. I’ll be sure to retrieve it in time.”

“We shall see. I’ll be back to check very soon,” the reaper whispered, then vanished like the apparition he was.