I believe I have crossed the line that divides sanity and insanity. I don’t mean the kind of insanity that people use to describe being crazy but instead a different definition. Insanity defined as conducting the same act and expecting different results. Why?

Well that would be because this would be the sixth time I’ve had to chase the Gumiho, Kim Himchan, out of the bathroom so that I can take a shower. Only a few minutes of peace, that’s all I ask. Even the demon Bang Yongguk can understand the sacred few minutes of serene sanity every person needs in their life every so often. Let me count the ways in how he’s tried to infiltrate the bathroom so far.

One, he was already there when I walked in.

Two, when I told him to get out, expecting him to actually listen, he simply walked right back inside with me.

Three, he took all of the towels out of the bathroom beforehand, causing me to have to open the door to go get one from the linen closet and when I came back, there he was again.

Four, he used Bang Yongguk to pass on the message that he was going to go through my underwear drawer if I didn’t open the door. I didn’t. I wasn’t going to let him trick me into leaving the bathroom. He can go through them all he wants. 

Five, giving up on going into my underwear drawer because he couldn’t find it, Mr. Demon obviously having so much fun that he didn’t give up such information, he scratched on the door like an annoying cat until I opened the door and had to physically push him into my room so that he’d stop.

Six, he knocked on the door and when I opened it, he asked with a large smile if he could come in.

I was getting to the point where I wondered if I should just go ahead and let him in. Was it worth all the trouble to make him stay out if he was going to keep on stalling me? It had been over half an hour now since I first sought out to take a shower. Let’s think about this for a moment. Let a Gumiho into the bathroom while I shower?

Insert the theme of Jeopardy here for overall effect if you will.

What is hell no?

There’s no way in hell I was letting him in. And that’s how I was able to take a shower in peace, ignoring his attempts from then on to sway me from doing so.

When I opened the bathroom door, I peeked down the hall. Oh, that’s right. I forgot to mention that yes, I did bring Kim Himchan the Gumiho to my home. What else was I supposed to do exactly? Lucky me that my grandmother decided to stay with grandfather every night now, something she told me through a phone call whilst I was debating exactly what to do with Kim Himchan. And I wasn’t sure whether to count it as lucky or unlucky that he was nowhere in sight when I looked down the hall. I decided on lucky as I massaged my wet hair with a small towel, making my way towards my room whose door was open just a crack, a sliver light pouring from inside. When I stepped inside, I have got to admit I was surprised.

There was not a single lewd thing going on. In fact, quite the opposite. The two were sitting on the floor, pieces of paper strewn everywhere. Calligraphy paper, to be exact. Kim Himchan looked up from the piece in his lap and grinned widely at me. I’d say he’s taking this whole “you’re my spirit now and you can’t go far from where I am” much better than Bang Yongguk did at first.

“Did you enjoy the hot shower?” He asked, his smile still on his face. I nodded slowly, refusing to give him words as ammunition with which to use against me in his own twisted, inappropriate way. A way both he and Mr. Demon seemed to share, though Mr. Fox seemed much more prone to turn to.

Mr. Fox?

Not sure I quite like that nickname. Himchan is fine, I suppose. Blondie number 2 or Gumiho can be used interchangeably as well.

“About time you got here. What’s there to wash that it took so long for you to finish?” Mr. Demon didn’t even let his eyes leave the page in front of him as he dipped a calligraphy brush into some ink and focused on the character he was drawing.

“What are you doing?” I ignored his comment as I took a seat on the floor in front of them, moving a few pieces of paper out of the way in the process.

Himchan looked to him, his crossed legs bouncing up and down like a butterfly’s wings, “Are you going to tell me now? You said you’d tell me when she got back.”

Tell him what exactly? His question was directed towards Yongguk but what exactly did he want? I waited, my eyes on him as well because I was curious. I was curious even though I shouldn’t have been. Even though I should have known exactly what Himchan wanted to know from Yongguk. With a few more brushstrokes, he laid down the calligraphy brush in his hand and handed it to Himchan.

The paper read, “Top drawer.”

And it clicked.

The reason Himchan gave up on finding my underwear drawer was because Yongguk bribed him with it’s location if he stopped looking. From the large, gum-showing grin Yongguk was giving me, I knew he knew I had figured him out. Himchan’s jaw dropped at the answer to his question and he looked up at me, not making one move for my dresser in the least.

“Wow,” his eyebrows were raised up in astonishment as spoke that one word before he seemed to think about it more. The more he thought about it, the more his expression changed. What was that look he was giving me now? Pride? “She’s really not a prude.”

“Told you.” Yongguk said right after as though the two had had an in depth conversation about my ability to be a killjoy. I calmed myself, taking deep breathes as I once more asked the question that I had earlier.

“What are you doing?” I asked again, thoroughly tired out by the two of them. They had the ability to the energy right out of me and I don’t mean that in the literally sense. Simply being with them was exhausting.

Yongguk looked up from the paper in front of him, answering as though I were asking the most obvious question he had ever heard, “I’m helping you.”

How was Mr. Demon helping me? He was helping me by helping himself. Apparently, he didn’t appreciate having to sleep out in the hallway the first night he spent at my grandparent’s house. He wanted me to pull out the futons. To be able to sleep comfortably.

Did demons even need to sleep though? I didn’t question it though after he taught me how to write them and ended up pulling out two futons and a set of blankets and pillows last night. “Them” as in what exactly? “Them” as in the talismans that now were pasted onto the floor by my bedside and on the ceiling directly parallel above, creating in itself a barrier. How did this barrier work? Well, since I’m the one who wrote them, only I can get in.

This is the reason that as I opened my eyes, my vision hazy and my hair in my face, I saw something. Or rather, someone. Then again, a spirit is a thing, isn’t it? So “something” is definitely what I saw.

That something being Kim Himchan, the Gumiho, Blondie number 2. Like a five year old at a zoo whose odd urge to the glass tempted him, his face was pressed up against the barrier, squishing his features. I stared at him as my head lay on my pillow, my eyes blinking a few times at the sight of a fox turned pig.

Then, he mumbled something. He mumbled a cheery, “Good morning” as he smiled. A smile that looked quite creepy as he continued to press his face against the barrier. I let my eyes wander to the clock at my bedside and groaned when I read the time. Seven in the morning. It was much too early to deal with him. To deal with all of this.

Talismans. Shrines. Spirits. Demons.

Much too early for any of it. And I ended up falling back asleep, the worst possible thing I could do as my grandmother had come back home that morning and was presently sitting in the living room with a demon.