yeah, she said when you find hidden the one that seeks to harm, you’ll call.”
Then, without another word, she turned and skipped into the crowd. Junu stared at the card in his hand.
“Thirty thousand won!”
Junu spun around, pocketing the card as Somin stomped over to him.
“What?” he asked, trying to push the strange conversation out of his mind.
“It costs thirty thousand won for just one photo. They’re thieves!”
Junu chuckled. “I could have told you that.”
“Well, I’m not wasting my money on that. Even if it was the greatest photo of all time.”
“You should have expected those kinds of prices at an amusement park,” Junu said, leading her away from the pirate ship ride. “You know, I could take you so many better places. You said you want to travel. Maybe we could just get out of here, travel the world. Go global like BTS on the hallyu wave.”
That surprised a laugh out of Somin. “You know, for a guy who’s hundreds of years old, you’re pretty obsessed with pop culture.”
Junu shrugged. “Being eternal doesn’t mean I have to be boring.”
“What’s it like?” Somin asked, her expression suddenly somber. “Being immortal.”
“Why? You considering a new lifestyle?”
“Is immortality an option for someone like me?” Somin asked, her eyes drifting to a spectral form in the corner. As if these ghosts were making her ponder her own mortality.
“No.” Her words worried Junu, and he couldn’t quite put his finger on why. “You shouldn’t be immortal. Your mortality is what makes you shine, Somin-ah. Don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise.”
Somin became contemplative. “Do you regret it? Your immortality?”
“There’s no use regretting something you have no control over,” Junu said, a heavy weight settling in his gut. He lifted his shoulders, as if trying to shrug off the troublesome sensation.
“I’m sorry,” Somin said quietly. “How could she do this to you when she once claimed to love you?”
Junu hated the sorrow in her voice. “I used to ask myself that every day. And then I realized, I’m immortal. I don’t need to spend the rest of eternity worrying about things that don’t matter anymore.”
“Of course it matters.” Somin reached for him, but he didn’t want to be comforted right now. He didn’t think he could handle it. “She betrayed you. You loved her. That means something.”
“I thought I loved her,” Junu said, searching her eyes. But what he found wasn’t the pity he thought he’d see. He saw a fire in her, the kind she got when she tried to protect one of her friends. And now it was burning for him. But would it last? He couldn’t be sure. It was like standing at the threshold of a warm room after being out in a blizzard for too long, but being too scared to step inside. “Now I’m starting to think that maybe what I felt then wasn’t real,” he whispered.
“What are you saying?” Somin asked, her eyes boring into his, like they were trying to find all his secrets. It wasn’t the first time someone wanted to figure him out, but it was the first time he was rooting for them to. It was dangerous. She was dangerous.
They stood in this moment, both unwilling to move. Two bodies frozen in place as the sounds and lights of the amusement park still swirled around them. Junu had lived hundreds of years. He’d been with dozens of people. And none of them had made his heart stutter the way Somin could with one look. He wanted to haul her to him, never let her go. But at the same time, he knew that would be wrong. The thing that made Somin shine was how separate she was from his world. Untouched by the darkness he held inside him. If she knew half the things he’d done, she wouldn’t be looking at him with this soft look. So he’d have to accept that, no matter how much he wanted to keep her close to him, he couldn’t. And one day, she’d see him clearly enough to know that he didn’t deserve her. Perhaps that was for the best. For both of them.
A spirit floated by, and Somin jerked back, a gasp escaping her. “Maybe we should get going. I feel like there are more of them now.”
“We could go,” Junu said, but realized he was reluctant to end their time together. “Or we could go somewhere the ghosts aren’t.” His eyes moved to the air balloon ride overhead.