Page 116 of Vicious Spirits

Junu turned to Somin and pulled out the knife she’d nestled in her waistband. “Aim for the heart like on the other dokkaebi. It’s the easiest way.”

“Easiest?” Somin choked out. “Nothing about this is easy. I can’t do this.”

When she took the knife, he placed his hands over hers like they were praying together. “I wish it didn’t have to be you. But there’s no one else.”

Tears fell silently down her cheeks. But her face was defiant, like she would burn down the whole world to get what she wanted. It was a look that first drew him to her. It was the look that had caused him to fall in love.

“Jihoon needs you,” he said. Somin took a deep breath, then nodded.

Junu held out his hands to Sinhye.

“Do it,” he said to Somin.

“I can’t,” she whispered.

“You have to.”

Sinhye’s hands tightened around Junu’s. Her eyes rolled back, and her body convulsed. Her whole form stiffened as she shook.

“Do it,” Junu said as he caught Sinhye’s thrashing body in his arms. “Somin, do it.”

He heard her sob behind him. He felt the tip of the blade between his shoulder blades. He closed his eyes. He held tight to Sinhye.

The blade pierced his skin. He bit his lip to hold in a scream.

Go faster, he thought.End it before I beg you to stop. He wanted to be noble. To have a brave ending. He’d lived a messy, cowardly life. He’d lived a selfish life. And he knew he would never be able to erase the centuries of shame. But at least he could commit one act of bravery. One selfless thing as a final punctuation to his shameful life. And at least he could die knowing that he wasn’t completely beyond the bounds of redemption. That there was still a part of him that could love and be loved.

His whole body shuddered, his teeth chattering so violently that he thought he would bite off his own tongue.

As he felt the blade dig deeper into his flesh, he tried to let go. He could almost feel his soul becoming untethered. He could practically feel himself coming apart. And he welcomed it. He held on tight to Sinhye, now unconscious. And when he thought the pain would consume him in a fire of agony, a cold hand came over his. It felt like ice. It felt like death.

He finally screamed out as the sting of the blade lanced down his back, and his eyes flew open.

Kneeling beside him was Yena. Her form so solid that he could be convinced that she’d come back to life. But her hands,holding his and Sinhye’s, were too frozen to belong to someone who was living.

He realized that everything felt cold. The air around him, which hung still and heavy. The world felt like a haze around them; the colors of the mountain were leached and lifeless. He still held on to Sinhye’s hands, except now she sat before him in the form he remembered. A beautiful girl, long ebony hair, light porcelain skin. She blinked in confusion as she held up her hand to glance at her slender fingers. They still sat on the mountain, except it was as if there was a spotlight on them, only three meters in circumference, and beyond the light lay a dark expanse. Where it led, Junu didn’t know.

“Somin! Miyoung!” Junu called, his voice sounding garbled, like he was underwater.

“I don’t think they’re here,” Sinhye said, her voice equally warped.

“Where is here?”

“You’re in the Between.” Hyuk stepped out of the darkness, shadows dancing around him. In this strange washed-out world, he looked almost vibrant in his full black ensemble. But instead of the suit he’d been wearing of late, he now had on the traditional black hanbok that had been common in Joseon times and a black gat atop his head, the kind of tall hat that Junu had once also worn over a hundred years ago. Its wide brim shaded Hyuk’s eyes, but they seemed to glow as he watched Junu and Sinhye.

“So you’ve come to sacrifice your soul to deliver Sinhye to the underworld,” Hyuk said, and he sounded morose. Like he mourned.

“I have.” The voice that spoke was neither Junu’s nor Sinhye’s. It was Yena’s. Her face serene, her eyes clear. She did not look likethe rabid gwishin that had appeared on the mountain but like she once had, calm and beautiful, even in death.

“What are you doing?” Junu gasped out. It was hard to breathe in this place. But it also seemed like he didn’t need to. Spirits didn’t need air.

“I’m giving my daughter what she needs.”

“I don’t understand,” Junu said.

Yena didn’t reply. Instead, she held out her hand to Sinhye, who looked at Junu with confusion before accepting Yena’s offered palm. The two stood together, and Hyuk approached.

“Wait, what’s happening?” Junu asked. “I thought I had to die for Sinhye to leave Jihoon’s body.”

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