He extended his hand out, his other politely gripping the underside of his forearm. The flame came to life, a sliver of smoke starting to float upwards from the incense stick. He pulled back the lighter in his hand, placing it down below the small shrine, underneath the legs of the table. And then, he breathed in deeply before letting it out, his palms coming together in front of him as he knelt and bowed just once.

Just once before standing up and turning to find me staring at him from the doorway of the room. His serene, almost human, expression twisted into one of disdain. “What?” He voiced, as though being watched by me was so bad he had a right to be offended by me just standing here.

Really now. All of a sudden the Tokebi decides to be Mr. Sensitive? Mr. Self-conscious? Mr. Goo Jun Pyo? Don’t decide to turn back into a wide-eyed, spoiled puppy tomorrow morning Jung Daehyun because I won’t fall for it. Neither extra eggs nor pancakes for you tomorrow.

“Just wondering.” I answered back, causing his eyebrow to raise upwards. He was curious about exactly what it was I was wondering. That much was certain based upon the look on his face alone. And, also based on that same look, he seemed to assume I would tell him what it was now. Well, it’s not that easy for you Mr. Attitude.

I simply stared at him, not saying a single word, as I stood with my arms crossed against my chest. He held back his growing frustration much shorter than I thought he would. So then, Mr. Attitude has a short fuse today. “About?” He seethed, his teeth biting down onto his bottom lip.

He’s getting mad, he’s getting mad!

What’s there to be mad about though? I just watched him light an incense stick and bow in front of a shrine. What was there to be mad about when it came to that? It’s not like I was taking a peek into his secret diary or something. Did he even have one?

It would probably just be filled with incantations that reveal the secrets of how he so easily sways others into feeding him. Steak and grilled chicken are most likely depicted in hand drawn form as well. Either way, there’s no such thing as “invasion of privacy” if you’re out in the open doing whatever it is that you don’t want others to see.

I mean, praying at a shrine is probably a personal thing but I was just watching. I didn’t even ask him what it was he was thinking about. He just immediately defended himself as though there was something to defend in the first place.

Daehyun, you are a Tokebi full of mysterious wonders, if I do say so myself.

But, due to your sudden temper tantrum, I’ll let you know what it is that I’m wondering, you big baby, “You like my grandfather, don’t you?”

By like, I meant respect. By like, I meant admire. By like, I very well meant like. Because why else would the Tokebi plus the other four spirits and the demon listen so well to my grandfather? They went out of their way to make things here at the shrine look as good as new. I mean sure, it never looked "new," technically. But, I didn't even need to ask Daehyun to light the incense or help me mop the wooden floors that surrounded the shrine as a whole. He just, well, did it. As though he were somehow used to it. As though he had done it before.

Had he done it before?

That was my real question. "How long have you known my grandfather and why do you know him in the first place?" And it just came out as, "You like him, right?"

Right, Jung Daehyun? I didn't even need to bribe you with food to help. So, you must like him, right?

Of course, the Tokebi wasn’t going to make it easy for me either. His eyebrows furrowed downwards, as though he had no idea where the question came from. He also seemed surprised. Had he never even thought of liking my grandfather as a possibility? Was there another reason as to why he listened to my grandfather so well that had nothing to do with “liking” my grandfather?

“Why?” He questioned, not answering my own question.

“Just wondering.” I said again, teasing him. I suppose that if there’s one thing I learned from this brief encounter with the Tokebi, it’s that he’s a big bag of wonder that doesn’t like to be teased.

I walked out of the room with him tailing behind me, voicing to me a number of questions such as “What do you mean by that?” and “Why are you being difficult?” and “You’re insatiable.”

I’m insatiable? The only thing that’s insatiable here is your stomach. Something I gave a good smack as soon as his statement left his lips. An act that did not escape the eyes of a certain demon.

“Play nice, you two.”  Bang Yongguk mused from his position in front of the shrine. I thought about landing a drop kick to that highly amused face of his but then, upon thinking twice about it, I resigned to not hurting myself by failing such a move. Something I would undoubtedly do. I’m only James Bond with I’m with Oh Sehun. That way, my Bond girl will be there to catch me when I fall. What? It’s supposed to be the other way around? Poppy .

“No,” Himchan interjected from beside him, “don’t play nice! Hate Daehyun to your heart’s content, Sora baby. Kick him. Punch him. Pinch him! Prohibit him from eating breakfast!” He gained a glare and pinch himself from said Tokebi who had in the time it took the Gumiho to spew such nonsensical proclamations, had slipped on his shoes and arrived by his side.

You don’t mess with the Tokebi’s breakfast, I suppose.

Something I will be doing tomorrow morning.

The reaction should be quite hysterical.

“Stay up here now, okay?” Jongup inquired from behind the arguing that ensued. He was having his own private conversation with the phoenix who had greeted us at the bottom of the hill we now stood now before, you know, I passed out. The bird seemed to understand his words as it bobbed its head. Though it may have just been coincidence. “If something like this happens again, just come get me. You’ll be able to tell where I am, right?” There the bird went again, nodding its head up and down.

I shrugged as I leaned down, slipping on my own shoes after closing the door of the shrine. There, by my side on the raised wooden surface, was a statue. A small, wooden statue of a bird. A kkotu. That’s what the phoenix was. As Jongup said, it acts as a marker to wandering spirits. If a spirit finds the phoenix, it can pass on peacefully. How? Well, I’m not exactly a spirit so I’m not sure how the experience feels. I’m not interested in finding out anytime soon either. Anyway, back to the phoenix. It came out of this here kkotu.

Kkotu are Korean funerary figures that protect, serve and care for the deceased in the immediate afterlife. Figures of dragons and phoenixes, in particular, are commonly used as symbols of freedom and regeneration.

Thank you, Wikipedia.

You explain things so much better than a bumbling Gumiho or a slothful demon ever could.

While they are usually used in funeral processions, my grandfather set up the phoenix kkotu here at the shrine. The reason? Well, the first question would be, what kind of shrine is this in the first place that would prompt such a placement? An answer I couldn’t exactly give at the current point in time.

Jongup apparently caught me staring at him as I trudged over to them, a rather excited smile lighting up his face, “Miss Sora, would you like to try holding him before we go?” He extended his hand towards me. The phoenix was perched there as if it owned the place. And as though it truly did, as though it was protecting its territory, it flapped its wings wildly in rejection of the idea Jongup just uttered.

And judging from that look in its eyes, it hated me.

It loathed me, in fact.

The bird had a crush on the Haechi.

“Miss Sora will handle you gently, I’m sure.” Jongup spoke to the bird as he threw me another one of those big smiles of his.

And out of pure jealously, it stormed off, flying somewhere into the forest. Thus leaving Jongup to wonder what in the spirit world was wrong. “Just give him some time to cool off.” I gave his shoulder a friendly pat, “Then maybe try some couples’ counseling?”

It seemed as though everyone but Jongup understood the joke I was making as there was laughter all around except for the absence of sound being produced by Jongup’s throat. “Should we get going then? It;s almost dinner time.” Youngjae spoke up and at the mere mention of the word “dinner,” the Tokebi took off down that led away from the shrine the path first. The best friend always knows exactly what words to say to get the other to get moving.

 And as we walked down the path, the topic of the conversation was actually much more serious than I would have thought to be possible. It started with the Xiezhi named Zelo who, despite his tone being neutral, sounded a slight bit worried, “They’ll come again, won’t they?”

Yongguk, like a real loving father would, soothingly placed his hand on the young spirit’s shoulder. “It’s nothing we can’t handle. Should the guy who did that to the shrine come back and try to do it again, he’ll have hell to deal with.”

Quite literally, he’d have the devil’s spawn to deal with, wouldn’t he?  

Jongup shook his head, seeming to disagree with Mr. Demon’s statement, “That is what I am most concerned about though.” He turned his head then, his eyes trained on me, “We can handle the situation, but can Miss Sora do the same?” He spoke of me in the third person, as though I wasn’t even there. It wasn’t out of malice though. Nothing Jongup did was out of malice. Heck, he was the nicest person, err, Haechi I knew. Even birds love him, as displayed earlier.

Youngjae kept up with the third person talk, which in turn made me get just a smidge bit agitated, “As her, what humans would call, “sixth sense” grows stronger and as she continues to interact with our world, the ability of other spirits and demons besides ourselves to effect and influence her will grow stronger as well.”

Daehyun continued it, bending to this newest third person trend, this newest annoying fad, “It’s not like she can do anything about it. The old man was like that too at first.”

Then there went Zelo, jumping onto the bandwagon, “But with the way things are escalating so quickly, will she have time to get used to it?”

But the last straw was when the Gumiho piped in, attempting to jump on board as well. Have you ever watched a basketball game? One guy goes to do a lay up and the other comes up at the last second and blocks it like it was nothing. Like that GEICO commercial with Dikembe Mutombo.

Yeah, well before Kim Himchan could even finish his sentence, I bent my knees behind him and delivered a quick hit to the back of his legs, causing him to almost go toppling over had it not been for the fact that we had already reached the end of the path leading up to the shrine. He thus had the help of the flat, concrete sidewalk to keep him steady.

He stared wide-eyed, almost doe like, almost, at me as he straightened himself back up, to which in reply I merely wagged my finger in disapproval.

“What exactly should I watch out for then?" I finished the rest of his sentence that started off with “Well, what exactly should she—?” and ended with a gasp of surprise.

We came to a stop at a crosswalk then as cars rushed by. My grandparent’s house was only a good five-minute walk from this point, so I was in no rush. However, the boy across the street, almost my age, looked a bit antsy. He was shifting from one leg to the other as he fiddled with the headphones around his neck.

“What should you watch out for?” Himchan questioned as he pursed his lips, already getting over the fact that I had just hit him for the umpteenth time today. You have to appreciate his tenacity. 

Thankfully, the red symbol of a hand across the street changed then to the walking green man, allowing me to ignore the lewd comment I could just see forming in Mr. Demon’s head. Why else would he be smiling in that smug fashion by my side? I took a step forward, about to descend from the sidewalk onto the road.

However, suddenly, I was roughly pulled back by my forearm. I shot a glare towards the perpetrator of said tug to find his eyes trained not on me but forward, towards where I was just headed.

"That, for example." Mr. Demon shook his head, a large, particularly more mischievous than usual, smile on his face. I followed his gaze, figuring I’d find the answer to the question of what in the world was he doing if I did. When I looked back across the street, no green man reflected on the sign across from me.

No, instead there was the red hand I had seen change moments before as cars continued to rush by. So then, the crosswalk light had not changed at all. All I saw instead across the street was that same boy with headphones hanging from his neck. And as I looked closer, I saw through him.

He was transparent.

And the most obvious deduction settled within my mind.

He was a spirit.

He was a spirit who had tricked my eyes into seeing something that wasn’t there for a single second. A single second in which could have resulted in my face impacting onto a car’s windshield.

And now the boy had pivoted on his heel, looking as though he meant to flee. Not for long, however, as a rather confident sounding Gumiho took a single step forward. He pushed past Youngjae, a victorious smirk on his face as he did so, and took his place by my right side. "I'll take care of that." He voiced before clearing his throat, as though that would impact in any way his ability to do what it is that he did next.

He lifted his fingers and with a single, over dramatic, egotistical, narcissistic and might I add showy, snap of his fingers and hitch of his lips into a Cheshire like grin, a small, condensed flame went dancing from his palm to his finger before it went flinging across the gap that separated us from the spirit.

It was foxfire. A wisp of foxfire. Why-oh-why does Kim Himchan have to be the one with the irresistible tail and even more stunning power? It's unfair. It's beyond unfair. It’s just another thing I’ll have to ask him to give me permission to see and touch later on.

Next thing I knew, the spirit yelped as the flame at his heel and he was sent falling forward, right into traffic. And as it attempted to stand, it was hit. It was hit by a crazy taxi going 80 in a 45 zone and spirited away, no pun intended, by said yellow bringer of death.

And before I could even ask the question, Youngjae answered me from his new position behind me, "He won't die from that. But, he's definitely going to be feeling it in the morning."

"In the morning? Pretty sure he's feeling it right now." Daehyun commented, sounding as though he sympathized with said spirit.

"Are you unharmed, Miss Sora?" Jongup questioned from behind me, his voice coated in so much selfless care that I still wasn't used to. I'm not saying I didn't like it though. Not at all.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

All thanks to big, bad Mr. Demon, right?

As I turned to my "savior," I found him and his "son," the Xiezhi named Zelo, doing something rather curious. Both of them had their right hands held up, as though waving hello, but there was a space between their middle and ring fingers.

"Live long and prosper." Yongguk quoted as he stared on into the distance, his words bidding farewell, for hopefully the first and last time, to the young looking spirit boy with the headphones.

And I asked the first question that popped into my head, my tone one reserved for a conversation held over breakfast, not after almost experiencing quite the number of broken bones had I walked out onto the street moments ago. "You know Star Trek?"

He turned to me, that crooked, toothy grin resurfacing with renewed vigor, "I know many things."

I'm getting used to this crude, insinuating sense of humor of his. I’m getting used to this smile of his. I’m seemingly unfazed by a near death experience in light of that same smile.

Is that a good thing? Or a bad thing?

A/N: Have you seen that GEICO commercial? Click here to watch it. I personally find the blasé-ness of it quite funny.