As an angel Yong thinks it’s practically in her genetic code not to believe in cosmic signs. Although she does find it amusing when mortals seem to abandon all reason or logic when it comes to things like horoscopes or oracle cards or things like those. Not that she herself hasn’t dabbled over the millennia out of curiosity, but to see the way mortals seem to so willingly put their fate in a higher invisible power was a hilarious notion to say the least, especially since Yong has been around long enough to have come to the comfortable decision that there no such things as fate, just well thought out decisions one makes for oneself.

Which is why, the first time she comes across the flyer, she doesn’t even think of it as a sign from the universe. Just a minor nuisance that some person must have stuck to the windshield of her car while she was buying groceries. She takes the time to load all the bags into the trunk first before making her way back to the windshield to pull out the flyer that had been so unceremoniously tucked under one of the wipers.

It was a flyer advertising the opening of a new tourism office in the neighborhood. It would be fully operational by the later half of the year, but applications for tour guides and staff were being accepted. Yong gave the flyer the cursory onceover it deserved before promptly crumpling it in her hands and stuffing it in the pocket of her coat, already forgotten.

A few days later, Yong was folding laundry when she felt the crinkle of something in the lining of one of her jackets. When she turned out to examine it, she realized it was the same flyer. The paper was crumpled beyond belief and really, Yong was surprised most of the text even survived the washing machine and the dryer. Still she didn’t think twice about tossing it to the nearest bin after she was done with folding the rest of their clothes.

The next day, Wheein came home from the studio covered in paint but also balancing a giant pizza box in her hands. Yong immediately stood up from the sofa to help her roommate.

“What’s all this?” She asked, eyeing the box carefully. She could smell the pizza even while it was closed and traitorously she felt her stomach grumble. 

“Oh Min-nim bought it for us at the studio for lunch but there was too much for us to finish.” Wheein placed the box on their dining table and opened it to show the remains of what looked to have been an incredibly large pizza. There were several slices missing but at least half of the pizza was still in the box, which was impressive to say the least.

Yong raised a playful eyebrow at the werewolf, “So you thought you would offer your roommates some sloppy seconds for dinner?”

A very distinctive canine whine escaped from Wheein’s throat, and her wolf ears popped out of the sides of her head just to droop down. Yong knew this trick, could see it coming a mile away, but she still fell for it every time.

“Well, it’s bad to let food go to waste right?” She said brightly, already digging around their cupboards for a plate to heat the leftover slices in.

“My thoughts exactly!” Wheein said, snickering. So Yong was a bit of a pushover when it came to their younger roommates. She just told herself that was part and parcel of being the oldest one in the apartment. She was still looking around when she heard a soft thump followed by the scattering of papers.

Behind her, Wheein’s bag had fallen from its perch on one of the dining room chairs and had spilled all of her loose leaf drawings and sketches.

“I’ve got it,” Wheein immediately dove for the papers, hastily grabbing them and stuffing them back into her bag without a care. One of the blank sheets had drifted close enough to Yong’s feet that she paused her search to stoop down and pick it up. When she flipped it over though, she realized it wasn’t blank at all, it was the tour guide flyer again.

Yong paused, staring at the flyer in disbelief. She didn’t even realize Wheein had been calling out to her until the werewolf approached and softly touched her wrist. “Unnie?”

She looked up, flyer still in hand, “Where’d this come from?”

Wheein craned her neck a bit to see what Yong was holding, the corners of turning down. “Hmmm I don’t--oh wait! Someone was giving out flyers on the way over here, and I just took one to be polite. Sorry, I’ll throw it now.”

“No I--” Yong couldn’t quite understand why she still held onto the flyer. By all means, she had ignored it enough times before. Still, this was the third time it had turned up, and even an angel had to admit that things like that were strange, if anything.

“Did--did you want to apply to the tourism office?” Wheein asked. Yong looked up, at a loss for words.

The truth was, she never really gave herself the chance to think about things like getting a job. If she thought about it now, the prospect filled her with an unfamiliar feeling in her gut and it felt like her fingers had been electrocuted. At the same time though, her heart fluttered a bit at it too, and that confused her. 

She passed the flyer over to Wheein, going back to hunting for plates, “No, it’s just that this is the third time this flyer has crossed my path. Just odd is all.”

It was quiet for a bit, and from her peripheral, Yong could see Wheein staring at the flyer, really reading what it says this time,

“I think you’d be really good at this, Unnie!”

Yong scoffed, “People go to school for years to learn how to be tour guides Wheein-ah, what makes you think I’m even remotely qualified?”

“Those people haven’t been walking this Earth for over a thousand years, Unnie. I bet you know more about this city than the head of South Korea’s Tourism Department.”

The thought popped up again, and Yong had a harder time ignoring it once it had taken root in her mind. The uneasy feeling was still there, but so was the excited beat of her heart, and that usually led to good things if she listened to it well enough. 

Still, still.

Yong sighed, abandoning the hunt for plates altogether. “Even if I did apply, I wouldn’t have the time, I mean--” The rest of her sentence was cut short by the disbelieving and unamused look on Wheein’s face. As if to emphasize her point, Wheein raised a single eyebrow.

The angel laughed, “What’s with that face?”

“Busy? Unnie, really? When was the last time you actually did something that wasn’t groceries or laundry or vacuuming?”

She sniffed, slightly hurt at the werewolf’s tone. “You think it’s easy cleaning up after you three monkeys all the time?”

Wheein’s expression softened and she reached out another hand to Yong’s shoulder this time. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean--”

Yong waved the apology away, suddenly feeling very tired. “Don’t worry about it, I didn’t--I’m not mad Wheein-ah. I just. I don’t think this is something I can find time to do, even if I wanted to.”

“Do you?”

She crossed her arms, “Do I what?”

Wheein had that determined look on her face. The one that once got her to convince both Yong and Byul to ride the roller coaster at Lotte World with her even though both the angel and the demon had hated roller coasters ever since the ride had been invented. 

“Do you want to do this? Apply?”

Yong hesitated. Did she? The uncomfortable squirming she had thought to be unease was back again, but now that she really took a step back, was it really apprehension, or excitement? Ever since she had settled down in Room 1031, it felt as if all she’s done was keep house for the last thirty years, either that or do the random kind act for their neighbors every now and then. If she really thought about it, Yong can’t even remember the last time she decided to buy something for herself that wasn’t useful for the apartment or a gift for someone else. 

“I--I’m not sure.”

The hand on her shoulder was still there and it tightened. “Do you feel a sort of nervous squirmy feeling in your stomach? Like butterflies? Or bunnies hopping around?”

Yong looked up at her in shock and Wheein nodded to herself.

“Unnie that’s a sign! When you first mentioned the flyer that was already sign but this! This is definitely a sign! The universe is telling you to go for it!”

Yong scoffed, barely resisting the urge to roll her eyes, “A sign? You live with an angel and a demon and you still believe in things like signs?”

“Only when it’s painfully obvious that something is a sign!” Wheein insisted, managing to sound both determined and adorable at the same time. “You could at least try.”

She paused, picking up the flyer again. The office was near enough to their apartment and it said they would be accepting applicants until the end of the month. Maybe she could just swing by and--no, no. She shouldn’t let herself get carried away like this.

“Let’s say I even get the job,” Yong began, trying to build up the losing argument in her head again, “Who would be here to make sure the three of you don’t burn the apartment down?”

Wheein’s deadpan look was back. “Give us some credit Unnie. I know Hyejin and I aren’t as old as you and Byulie-unnie but between the two of us we have about three centuries of existence. We’re not about to forget how to do things like turn off the stove just because you’re not here.”

Yong laughed but even to her ears it was starting to sound desperate and nervous. Was she really considering this? “Okay but what if--”

“Look,” Wheein said, pointing towards the positions available in the flyer, “It says they’re looking for someone to be a local tour guide just for Seoul. I’m pretty sure you don’t need some kind of degree for that, and even if you do, what could three years at school teach that you don’t already know? Besides,” and now Wheein’s smile turned teasing, “what tourist wouldn’t want to be shown around Seoul by an actual angel?”

She felt some of the fight leave her so that the only thing left was that jittery excitement again. It would be fun, she thought, to be able to show tourists around the city. Show them the sights and tell them stories of how much the city has grown and changed over the centuries. Yong sighed. “Okay, okay I give up. I’ll apply.”

“Yes!” Wheein hugged her from the side, tail also sprouting forth to wag happily behind her. “When are you going? Do you want me to come with you? I can be like your support and just wave encouragingly from the waiting room.”

Yong hugged the werewolf back, trying to calm down the sudden excited pounding of her heart at this snap decision. She took a deep breath in a frail attempt to get her feelings under control. “Okay, that would be nice.”

Later that night, she couldn’t sleep. She knew she should try and get some rest for the application tomorrow. After all, she didn’t want to show up at the office looking like some kind of zombie with wings. She just couldn’t shake the--

“I can hear you thinking from here.” Byul mumbled, sleepily, making Yong jump. She was sure the demon had been asleep. 

“Go to sleep,” she mumbled, feeling a bit silly at the whole thing. In the dark she felt Byul reach around blindly until their hands were touching. She laced their fingers together. 

“Wh--when did you know you wanted to be a photographer?” She asked, pitching her voice low just in case Byul had already fallen asleep.

Instead, the demon opened her eyes, blinking the sleep out of them before focusing on Yong. “This is about that tourism job right? Wheein told me about it when I got home.”

Yong shrugged. She wasn’t sure what expression was on her face, but it made Byul smile.

“I think it was sometime in the fifties?” The demon said, “I was taking pictures of you by that old music store, do you remember it?”

“They tore that music store down in the sixties. It’s a Starbucks now.”

“Whatever. My point is, I think I remember taking one of you while you were unaware, and digital wasn’t a thing back then so I had to wait until I got back to my own apartment before I could see what it looked like. And it was that anticipation, the idea that I had managed to make something ephemeral permanent, and no matter how it turned out, it would be a little part of history. I realized I wanted to be taking pictures for a long time.”

She was glad it was dark, so Byul wouldn’t have to see her blushing. “Where’s that picture now?”

Byul shrugged, eyes already closed again, “Probably in a box somewhere. It didn’t turn out that great after all.”

Yong shoved at her shoulder, but the demon was snickering. Before long, Yong was laughing too, quiet chuckles that helped ease the building nervousness in her gut.

“Just go for it Yong. You deserve it,” was the last thing Byul said before she had drifted back to sleep. Yong nodded even if Byul couldn’t see her anymore, even if she wasn’t sure she did deserve this. Eventually she drifted off to sleep.

The next day, she was in her most professional-looking outfit standing outside an office called ‘Try it All Tours’, with Wheein practically bouncing beside her. 

Yong stopped just at the glass doors and felt like she was just about ready to throw up. “Wheein-ah. I can’t do this.”

“Of course you can Unnie, just go in and--”

“No, no this was a mistake.” Yong could barely hear her own words over the pounding of her heart. She couldn’t feel her fingers anymore and her wings twitched behind her, as if ready to fly her as far away as possible. “We should go. Let’s go home I don’t think--”

“Wait a minute,” Wheein grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her so that they were facing each other. “Talk to me, Unnie. What’s this really about?”

Yong sighed, “I don’t. I’m--” She tried to find the best words, “All my centuries here, all I’ve ever done is help people. I helped heal them until they discovered modern medicine to heal themselves. I blessed crops and livestock until they developed fertilizers and feeds that would keep their farms healthy without me. The only selfish thing I’ve ever done in my life was choose to be with Byul, and even that took me a long time to come to terms with myself. I just. I don’t know how to---what if---” She waved her arms around helplessly, but Wheein seemed to understand anyway.

The werewolf stepped forward to hug her, “Oh Unnie. You’re not any less of an angel if you decide to do something for yourself for the first time in a thousand years.” The last part was said teasingly but Wheein’s eyes were soft and kind. “Besides, who says you wont be of help doing this? There are plenty of lost tourists out there, and they’re in need of an angel who’s going to show them the beauty of Seoul without going to all the crowded kitschy tourist places. That angel’s going to be you!”

Yong nodded, hugging Wheein back just as tightly. She thought about what Byul had said last night, and about her talk with Wheein yesterday. She thought about all her lifetimes traveling the length and width of this country. She thought about finally crossing that internal wall she had built up and choosing to be with Byul after so many centuries of dancing around each other. It had been worth it. 

Even now as she looked around, she could almost picture a time when everything around them was nothing but forest and farmland. So many things had changed, but she was still here. She still remembered them. 

Maybe--maybe other people would want to know about them too. Just like that she felt the queasy feeling finally leave. Left now with only the butterflies. She pulled away and smiled at Wheein, lifting a hand to playfully mess up her hair. “Thank you Wheein-ah.”

“Good luck Unnie!” Wheein said, giving her a thumbs up with both hands before gently nudging her inside. 

After that, the application and the interview passed by in an almost blur, and if you asked her, Yong couldn’t tell you really how it went or what happened. She remembers being led into an empty conference room, where a kindly woman had beamed at the sight of her and had gone over the application form she had filled out in the lobby. She remembers the woman being kind and asking her questions about what she knew of Seoul and its tourist spots, but she couldn’t remember anything she said in reply.

When it was all over Yong exited the conference room to find Wheein waiting just at the lobby. The werewolf looked up as she approached. “Unnie! How’d it go?”

Yong beamed before pulling the badge, vest, and tour guide kit the woman had given her. “I start basic training next week!”

Wheein’s joyous squeal was so loud that it had the poor receptionist jumping in her seat. Yong grinned sheepishly at her but she couldn’t bring herself to feel too guilty. Her heart was still jackhammering around her ribcage but she also felt as light as air, a previously unknown burden finally gone from her shoulders. 

Later that night, when she showed Byul her badge and vest, the demon’s eyes twinkled with something like pride and Yong relished in the moment right before Byul snatched the flag from her kit and began teasing her with it.

Still worth it.