he had to. Every extra minute spent there meant more time for the god of the mountain to find out he’d come back and punish him for it.
But the long hike and the disappointment of the day soon caught up with both Jihoon and Junu. After dinner, Junu was faced with a dilemma. Try to drive through the night or find a place to sleep. Jihoon didn’t have a license, and Junu would never have let him drive the Porsche anyway. So, as the sun set, he decided they better get a room at a small inn at the edge of the town close to the mountain. Junu had lain awake most of the night listening to Jihoon toss and turn.
Now they drove with the sun rising behind them, carrying the weight of failure with them. If his bangmangi wasn’t in that cave, Junu had no clue where to start searching for it. Who had the power to take the staff? Another dokkaebi?
They were stuck in standstill traffic, strange for this highway, and it made Junu anxious. He tapped his fingers against the steering wheel as he craned his neck to see if he could spot the source of the traffic jam.
Jihoon’s phone buzzed, and he silenced it. But when it buzzed again, Junu got a quick glance of Somin’s name before Jihoon hit the ignore button.
“If you don’t answer, it will just make her angrier.”
“I think I know how to handle my best friend, thanks,” Jihoon said irritably.
“Fine,” Junu said with a shrug. But Somin’s voice echoed in his memory, I need you to promise you’ll take care of him. I need you to promise it in a way that will make me believe you.
“She worries about you a lot,” Junu said conversationally.
“Who?” Jihoon asked, still busy on his phone.
“Somin. She worries so much about you that she ignores her own needs to make you happy.”
Jihoon looked up at that, his expression twisted in disbelief. “That’s ridiculous. Somin can take care of herself.”
“Of course she can,” Junu agreed. “That’s why the perfect person to hurt her is herself. And she is constantly ignoring what she wants to make sure you get what you want.”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about.” Jihoon glared back down at his phone. “Somin and I want the same things. Why would she have to give up anything for me?”
“Really? She wanted you to come with me on this trip?” Junu asked.
Jihoon’s expression became pinched.
“She was really worried yesterday, but she knew that this is what you wanted. So she let you come with me even though it upset her.”
“How could you know what Somin was like yesterday? When did you see her?”
Dammit. Centuries of a pristine record of keeping his promises, and he slipped up this one time because he’d let himself become too involved. This is why you don’t mix business with personal. Or have nothing that’s personal at all, much cleaner that way.
Junu sighed. “Just remember that your choices affect other people before you go riding off into danger. And I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell Somin about this conversation. If it gets out that I had loose lips, then my business could suffer.”
“Sure, whatever.”
Jihoon let out a yawn, and Junu realized for the first time how exhausted Jihoon looked. Maybe Junu had been wrong to assume Jihoon wasn’t worrying. It seemed he hadn’t gotten any sleep either.
“You doing okay?” Junu asked.
“I’m fine, I just didn’t sleep well last night. I had the weirdest dreams, but I can’t remember them now,” Jihoon muttered as if talking to himself.
They finally reached the end of the traffic jam. It was a car accident that had closed two lanes. Police were talking to both drivers and neither looked very happy. One was animatedly gesturing toward the road, and the officers were staring at him like he was spouting nonsense. But Junu saw what had caused the accident. A ghostly woman stood in the middle of the lanes, her hair hanging in her face, dripping wet. A mul gwishin. And it seemed only one of the drivers could see her. Had probably swerved to avoid her.
“It’s getting worse,” Jihoon said. “The tear between the worlds.”
“We need to get home,” Junu said, stepping on the gas now that they were clear of the bottleneck.
27
SOMIN DISCOVERED THAT, though Junu’s kitchen had all the state-of-the-art cooking tools one would desire, it had no food. When she asked Miyoung, she was informed that Junu liked owning shiny things