Sinhye was quiet for a moment. She circled the room, as if taking its measure. She let her fingers run along surfaces, creating lines and patterns in the dust. “You really think you can somehow get through to me?” She raised pitying eyes, and the seed of hope in Somin disappeared. “Any humanity in me died a long time ago. After those who coveted and betrayed me locked me away in that prison for centuries.”
Somin almost stepped back at the venom in Sinhye’s voice.
“And now,” Sinhye said, her voice quiet again, “I will repay those who cursed me. Starting with Junu. It’s so hard to decide just how I’m going to make him suffer the most.”
Now Somin did back away. She didn’t like how calm Sinhye sounded. How resolved.
“Should I wait until he’s here to watch? Or perhaps I’ll just let him find your body. It’s really so hard to choose.” Sinhye let out a macabre laugh.
“He’s not coming,” Somin said. “He doesn’t even know where I am.”
“But didn’t your little message get to him?” Sinhye asked.
Now Somin froze, her heart skipping a beat. “What?”
“I assume that’s what you were doing with that halmeoni out front,” Sinhye said calmly. Like she hadn’t caught Somin trying to pull one on her. “I mean, that’s why I let you choose the location. I figured a girl like you wouldn’t be able to resist trying to get a message to her friends. And now they’ll come for you, but it’ll be too late. Oops!”
“Michin-nyeon!” Somin couldn’t hold back her anger anymore and swung a fist. But she miscalculated. She was so used to Jihoon being slower, she could clock him without any effort. But Sinhye was too fast. And she dodged the punch and swung out with her own fist. Stars exploded behind Somin’s eyes as she went sprawling onto the floor.
“I think I’ve made up my mind,” Sinhye said. “I think I don’t want to wait to snap your pretty little neck.”
Somin scrambled back, crab-walking to get away from Sinhye. But, of course, it was futile. She was nowhere near as fast as the gumiho. So she pushed to her feet. If she was going to die, then she’d go down fighting. She’d just lifted her fists and stepped forward when the kitchen door slammed open and Mr. Ahn stumbled in. Somin considered using the momentary distraction to make a run for it, but Sinhye wrapped her in a choke hold.
“Well, what did I just walk into?” Mr. Ahn asked, his bleary eyes taking in the scene.
“Get out of here or I’ll snap her neck,” Sinhye growled, holding Somin like a human shield.
“Wow, Son, I didn’t know you had it in you. But I don’t care about that brat,” Mr. Ahn said with a low, gravelly chuckle. “I just want the money you’ve been hiding from me.”
“Money?” Sinhye asked with a laugh. “What nonsense are you talking about?”
This enraged Mr. Ahn, who was already sloppy from drink. “I know your halmeoni had money secreted away. Even when we asked her for help, she wouldn’t give it to us. Said it was in a college fund for you. Well, now that she’s dead, you’ve got to have it. And I raised you, so I’m entitled to at least half.”
“Mr. Ahn, get out of here,” Somin choked out.
“I see now. I see what type of man you are,” Sinhye said, and Somin didn’t like the glee she heard in the words. “I see that there is so much greed in your heart that your soul is black. I wonder what it will taste like.”
Sinhye flung Somin aside. The momentum threw her into a metal column holding up one of the industrial shelves. Her head slammed against it with a thud that echoed through her ears. The sound reverberated. Her vision blurred. The world spun and twisted into three rotating layers as she fell. The last thing she saw was Sinhye lunging at Mr. Ahn.
KING JINJI FELL in love with Lady Dohwa and asked her to be with him, but she refused, as she was already married. Even if she didn’t love her husband, she was loyal. So King Jinji was forced to live without the woman he loved until his untimely death. But as a spirit, he returned and found that Lady Dohwa’s husband had died as well. She accepted him into her bed, and King Jinji stayed with her for seven days before leaving again.