Page 42 of Gumiho Kiss (Realm of Eternal Blossoms #1)

The Monster

A t first, Hyun Soo didn’t understand what he was looking at, but then bewilderment gave way to clarity. That wasn’t just any bead. That was a fox bead. A gumiho’s bead. But that meant?—

He lurched backward, everything he’d thought he’d known collapsing in the blink of an eye. Lee Chin Sun, the woman he’d fought his dearest friend for, was . . . was . . .

Chin Sun’s expression withered at his retreat, but she didn’t speak, didn’t move, just waited. Watching with those honey-brown eyes that sent his blood racing even as the hairs on his arms stood on end.

He swallowed thickly, trying to wrap his head around it. He’d seen a gumiho earlier and written it off as the hallucination of a dying man. But it had been her?

Hyun Soo couldn’t believe it. He knew Chin Sun. Loved her. Didn’t he?

“The gumiho who attacked Dol Sam—that was . . . ?” He trailed off, the rest of his question dying in his throat.

She grimaced, understanding what he couldn’t bring himself to say.

He waited for her to deny it, to tell him he was mistaken. The Chin Sun he knew would never lie to him about this. After everything he’d lost, she was the one person he could count on, the one person he could trust.

But the word that left her lovely lips drained the life out of him in a single breath.

“Me.” Her voice was small, weak, like a defenseless creature fearing for its life.

Hyun Soo recoiled, shaking all over. He felt like the ground had been ripped out from under him, and he was just left to fall endlessly. He shut his eyes and pressed the heels of his hands to his forehead, trying to stop the wave of dizziness.

Small fingers brushed the back of his hand. “Hyun Soo?”

In a motion so fast it was almost a blur, he pulled a knife out of his pocket and pressed it to the monster’s throat.

* * *

Chin Sun froze, the steel like a brand against her skin.

She looked up into Hyun Soo’s eyes, drinking in all the fear, betrayal, and distrust leaking from his gaze.

She’d known this would happen once he learned the truth about her, yet she’d dreamed of something different, something better.

Her voice came out in a broken whisper. “You would kill the woman you love?”

Hyun Soo’s eyes widened, going from her to the knife, then down to the ground. His hand trembled against her collarbone, his chest heaving with anguish.

Finally, he lowered the blade and dragged his gaze back to hers, eyes wet with tears. “Are you the woman I love,” he choked, “or are you a monster?”

Chin Sun’s heart rent in two. “Can I not be both?”

A whimper escaped Hyun Soo’s lips, and he closed his eyes like he was on the verge of falling apart. He took a shaky breath, steadying himself.

When he reopened his eyes, they were guarded, wary. The eyes of a man regarding his enemy. The dagger was still clenched in his hand, ready to be used at the first sign of danger. “No, you can’t,” he said coldly. “Now, explain what you did to me, gumiho.”

“I used my bead to heal you.”

“But I thought fox beads only—” He broke off, nostrils flaring. “Are you lying to me again?”

Chin Sun flinched, hating that he needed to ask that. “No, I’m telling the truth. Fox beads can give life and take it away. If I hadn’t given it to you, Dol Sam’s sword would have killed you.”

He seemed to accept her words, expression turning pensive. “But this isn’t the first time I’ve had your fox bead, is it? That day in the clearing . . .”

He didn’t have to finish for her to know what he was referring to. The memory of their first kiss brushed over her like a winter wind, chilling and bitter. What had once been something she cherished was now achingly hollow, the echoes of a love dying away.

When Hyun Soo’s face darkened, she could tell he was thinking the same.

Chin Sun took a deep breath, forcing herself to push through the pain. “Yeh, that was when I retrieved my bead from you the first time. You’d swallowed it on accident the night you nearly killed me and the goblin tried to steal it.”

He nodded with a kind of sad resignation, as if he’d known this already but hated to hear her say it aloud. “Then . . . is that why you did all this?”

“Did all what?”

He let out a dry laugh bordering on a sob. “All this . . .” He motioned between the two of them with the dagger. “Getting close to me, acting like you cared, was it just a ploy to get back your bead?”

Chin Sun’s mouth fell open. “What? No. No .” Her voice cracked with despair. “Well, maybe in the beginning,” she admitted, “but after you saved me from the fire, I realized how much you meant to me. I love you, more than I could have ever imagined. Please, Hyun Soo . . .”

She reached toward his cheek, but he leaned away, raising his knife. “Don’t touch me! After everything you did, how could you say you love me? You don’t. You’re not capable of it.”

His words sliced her open more than that dagger ever could.

They were painfully familiar, drawing her back into a past she longed to forget.

“Don’t touch me! Do you still not understand?

I’m not your aunt. You’re not even human.

And now I’m going to die and your horrible face will be the last thing I see. ”

“Put down your weapon,” called a new voice.

Hyun Soo and Chin Sun whirled around. A few paces away, nearly invisible in the darkness, stood a solitary figure dressed in black. He held a hwando in his right hand, which was pointed at Hyun Soo.

“The grim reaper,” Chin Sun breathed. He’d returned. But why?

The newcomer stepped forward, gaze fixed on Hyun Soo. “I said, ‘Put down your weapon.’” His eyes narrowed, making his austere face even more frightening. “I don’t like repeating myself.”

Hyun Soo lowered his dagger and moved in front of Chin Sun. “Who are you?”

“My name is Eun Mook.” The reaper’s voice was cool yet rippled with unmistakable firmness. “And you’re both under arrest.”

Terror seized Chin Sun’s entire being, locking her in place. “Both of us? For what? We didn’t?—”

A beastly growl tore from Hyun Soo’s throat, and he surged forward with impossible speed, hwando aimed for Eun Mook’s heart.

“Hyun Soo, don’t?—”

Her plea died on her lips as the grim reaper reached into his robe and drew out a handful of shimmering red dust. He blew it toward Hyun Soo, who stopped cold as a red cloud struck his face. The bodyguard crashed to his knees with a gasp, then fell limply onto his side.

Unconscious or?—

No, that had to be it. After all they’d just gone through, Chin Sun refused to consider the alternative. He would be fine once he woke up.

If she got him out of here.

Driven by a desperation emanating from deep within her, she sprang forward. She didn’t know how she would overcome Death himself, but she had no choice. Not with Hyun Soo’s life on the line.

Eun Mook’s sword met hers with a great crack, snapping her hwando in two. She barely had time to register it, though, for the reaper was already reaching back into his hanbok. By the time she thought to duck, scarlet dust was already entering her nostrils, turning her world on its end.

Hyun Soo’s still form was the last thing she saw before everything turned to darkness.