17 ½ YEARS LATER

 

“Where is that boy?” Kijoon complained while looking at his watch, “He’s already half an hour late.”

 

“Appa!” Jaesung called, “Sorry, there was so much traffic on the way here.”

 

“It’s fine, I’m just happy to see my son again. Here, come help me carry the luggages into the car.”

 

After putting everything, Jaesung scanned the airport, looking for someone, “Appa, where’s—OMO!”

 

“OPPAAAA! LONG TIME NO SEE!” the girl squealed in excitement.

 

“Jaemi, calm down! You’re going to suffocate your brother!” Kijoon said laughing at the hilarious scene.

 

Long story short. The night after Jaemi’s eyes and mark were glowing, everything went well again. The ninth tail never appeared, but Jaemi somehow managed to grow like a normal child. The hotel Kijoon worked for in Korea finally contacted him back again after a huge misunderstanding and complication on their end. Within a few months, he was promoted as Vice Chairman. When Jaesung turned 16, Kijoon finally told him the truth about Jaemi and who she really was. A year after, he decided to send Jaesung to Korea a year early so that he could adapt himself to Korea’s environment and lifestyle first. Then a year and a half later when Jaemi was 17 ½ years old, Kijoon and Jaemi began preparing themselves to head back to Korea, again.

 

 

“Where’s appa?” Jaemi asked.

 

“He went out to see an old friend. He’ll be back soon, don’t worry. Come on, I’ll show you your new room,” Jaesung digressed.

 

“Oh my gosh. This room is… BEAUTIFUL! GAAAH, THANK YOU OPPA!” Jaemi cheered blissfully, giving him a huge hug.

 

He chuckled, “You’re welcome. Now go wash up and come downstairs to help me cook dinner.”

 

Jaemi nodded her head and skipped to the washroom.

 

He laughed as he watched her skip away, “She is way too bubbly to be a gumiho,” he whispered to himself.

 

 

Knock knock.

 

No answer.

 

Knock knock.

 

The door cracked open, “Hello? Is anyone here?” Kijoon called before going inside.

 

He looked around and noticed that everything was still in the same place. The books, the chairs, the desk—even the hammock—was still in its same exact position.

 

“Who’s there?” a man asked, pointing the flashlight at Kijoon.

 

He turned around, “It’s been a while... Monk Seon.”

 

“Kijoon? It can’t be… Um Kijoon? Is that really you?” Monk Seon questioned.

 

He nodded.

 

“I had a feeling someone was coming to visit me tonight, but I didn’t expect it to be you. How are you? How’s Jaemi? Is she okay?”

 

“We’re doing great,” Kijoon said, “but I came to ask you something, concerning Jaemi.”

 

“What is it?”

 

“What’s going to happen to her now? Or more importantly, will she still be able to live a normal life?”

 

Monk Seon looked away, unsure of how to answer, “She’s 18 right?”

 

“Well, almost—”

 

“MWOH?! Almost?!” Monk Seon bellowed in complete shock.

 

Kijoon eyes widened, “Y-yes, she’s about 17 ½.”

 

Monk Seon suddenly began to panic and began to rummage through a bunch of books, looking for answers.

 

“Wae? What’s wrong?”

 

“This isn’t good—not good at all. Jaemi won’t be able to control her feelings.”

 

Kijoon looked at him confused, “What are you talking about? What do you mean control her feelings?”

 

“At the age of 18, that’s when a gumiho is able to fully control their emotions and actions. Even if it’s just one day before before their 18th mark, they will still have no control. And since Jaemi isn’t 18 yet, she won’t be able to hold back any of her anger or frustrations.”

 

“Is—Isn’t there a way to prevent this? This must have happened in the past before, right? There has to be a solution.”

 

“There was. Not anymore,” he said before pausing, “The only person who can help her is another gumiho, but the problem is… she is the last living gumiho.”

 

“I—I can take her back to America and—and when she turns 18, I’ll bring her back and—”

 

“It’s too late, it’s already too late. She already stepped foot on the land her mother died on. There isn’t much we can do now, but to watch her carefully in case she harms anyone. Luckily, she is still half human, so it won’t be too bad, I hope.”

 

Speechless, Kijoon just nodded his head in agreement and got up to head out.

 

“When she figures out who she is, bring her to me,” he uttered aloud.

 

Kijoon nodded again and left.

 

 

“APPA! You’re finally home! Jaesung oppa and I just finished making dinner. Hurry, sit down before the food gets cold!” Jaemi said elatedly.

 

“Who did you meet with appa?” she asked, shoving yangnyeom tongdak(seasoned fried chicken) into .

 

“Just an old friend,” Kijoon replied simply.

 

Unsatisfied with the answer, Jaemi began to ask more until Jaesung cut her off, “Tomorrow is going to be your first day of school, are you excited?”

 

She obviously knew something strange was going on, but she just went along with it, “Eh, not really.”

 

There was a sudden silence. She looked up to see Jaesung and her dad both looking at her with a weird expression, “What… Do I have food on my face?”

 

“No, it’s just—I thought you loved meeting new people,” Jaesung said befuddled.

 

“Yeah, I guess…” she said, “I don’t know. Korea just feels... different?” She paused, “Maybe, I’m just too jet lagged,” she said laughing it off, “I’m going to head up first. Still feeling a little woozy from the plane ride,” she fibbed.

 

She headed out of the kitchen and turned around to see her dad talking to Jaesung with a serious expression. She looked at them with a small smile before heading up to her bedroom.

 

Jaemi laid on her bed feeling a little down. She didn’t understand why her dad was keeping secrets from her and only telling Jaesung about it. She continued to think about it a little more until she finally convinced herself it wasn’t important and better that she didn’t know. Jaemi quickly got up to shower before heading back to her bed.

 

 

The next day, Jaesung drove the both of them to school half an hour earlier so that Jaemi could pick up her uniform and schedule. Right when they reached the school, they both went their separate ways before anyone could see them. Though there wasn’t much of a reason to it, Kijoon told them it would be better if no one knew they were siblings. Nonetheless, they both went along with it without asking further questions. After Jaemi got dressed in the ladies’ restroom, she went out to look for her class.

 

“Class 4... nope. Class 4… Where in the world is class 4?” she muttered to herself, “Class 4... Ah! There it is.”

 

Jaemi took a peek inside to find an empty classroom. She carefully went in and sat down in a random seat and began rereading her favorite novel, Unchangeable Fate.

 

“This seat is taken,” a nonchalant voice said ten minutes later.

 

Not wanting to cause any trouble, Jaemi didn’t bother to turn around to see who it was. She simply stood up and walked over to another seat.

 

“Also taken.”

 

A little annoyed, Jaemi let out a soft sigh while rolling her eyes before getting up again to a different seat across the classroom.

 

He coughed, “Taken.”

 

From the tone of his voice, Jaemi knew he was smirking. Irritated, she let out a slightly louder sigh and stood up to face him, “Then tell me, which seat isn’t taken.”

 

“Wow, someone sure has a mouth,” he said slowly walking towards her. He leaned in near her ear, “None,” he simply said before turning back to his seat.

 

More irritated than ever, Jaemi let out a scoff and ran across the class to sit down in his seat as she continued to read her book.

 

“You’re kidding, right?” he scoffed, “Ya, didn’t you hear me? I said this is my seat. Get up.”

 

By then, half the school was already peeking into the class to see all the commotion. Everyone began to whispering to each other asking who the new girl was. Knowing that everyone was watching, Jaemi didn’t dare to budge.

 

 

A guy was walking until he saw a crowd of students surrounding his class, “What’s going on?” he said walking his way to the front. He took a look inside, “Aish… this guy.”

 

“Ya. Are you deaf? I said get up!” he said exasperatedly.

 

“Ya. L.Joe, stop making a scene. Just take my seat,” the guy said pushing him into his seat.

 

“YA! Kai,” L.Joe yelled, “Do you want to die?” he said fake kicking Kai in his seat.

 

Kai laughed, “Yeah, I do. Go ahead. Kill me.”

 

Jaemi sat there smiling to herself, trying to hold in her laughter, but a chuckle accidently came out.

 

“You think this is funny?” L.Joe hollered in frustration, “Aish,” he said, kicking the seat in front of him while ruffling his hair.

 

Kai and Jaemi lightly laughed as he turned to look at her with a smile. She looked back at him and did the same as a way of saying thank you.

 

“Alright, shows over,” the teacher said passing through the huddled-up students, “Everyone head over to your homeroom classes now.”

 

“Good morning everyone. Please take your seats, I have a small announcement to make,” she said heading to the front of the class, “Based on the commotion this morning, I’m sure you all know we have a new student here today. She came all the way from America, so let’s all please welcome her,” the teacher beckoned, “Why don’t you introduce yourself to the class.”

 

Jaemi slowly stood up from her seat and went to the front of the classroom, “Hi, my name is Jamie Gu, but I go by Jaemi here. There isn’t much for me to say, but uh… I look forward to spending the rest of my school year with you all.”

 

“Very well. My name is Teacher Ahn and welcome to Class 4, Ms. Gu. If you ever feel lost in understanding anything, please feel free to—”

 

“I—I actually understand Korean,” Jaemi said cutting her off, making everyone giggle.

 

Embarrassed, she quickly apologized, “Before we start, does anyone want to volunteer to show Jaemi around the school?”

 

All the guys in the class threw their hands up except for L.Joe and Kai.

 

“L.Joe,” Teacher Ahn called, “With your love for the school, especially with that seat over there,” she beckoned, “Why don’t you show Jaemi around.”

 

“Mwoh?” “What?” L.Joe and Jaemi said in unison.

 

“Is there a problem?” she said blatantly.

 

A little scared, Jaemi shook her head and went back to her seat.

 

Twenty minutes passed and the bell finally rang. While everyone was getting out, Jaemi was still putting her things in her backpack.

 

“Wow, you’re really lucky,” L.Joe uttered as he got up, “Getting to spend all day with me. That’s every girls’ dream.”

 

Jaemi rolled her eyes and walked away, but she could see him smirking from the corner of her eye. What a cocky, arrogant jerk, she thought.

 

 

So far, Jaemi was quite satisfied with her schedule. She found out that some of the students had the exact same schedule as her, which she didn’t mind at all, except for the fact that one of them happened to be L.Joe, and his friend Kai.

 

Half the day passed and it was finally lunchtime.

 

Jaemi was starving, but after seeing the long line, she didn’t feel hungry anymore. Instead, she decided to take a nap since she was still slightly jet lagged. Before she got to the table, someone was calling her from afar. Jaemi turned around to encounter her brother, Jaesung.

 

“Hi Jason,” Jaemi echoed.

 

“You’re not going to have lunch?” he asked, “Do you want me to buy you something?”

 

“No, it’s okay. I just want to take a quick nap. I’m still not used to the new sleeping pattern yet. But you should go before anyone sees us,” Jaemi whispered, making sure no one heard.

 

He chuckled, “Alright, text me if you need anything.”

 

Jaesung left as soon as Jaemi gave him an ‘okay’ sign.

 

She placed her head down on the table and slowly closed her eyes until she heard loud bickerings across the table. She looked up to see a group of girls bullying a student, “Really? Bullying? This is 2017 people,” she said to herself. Tired, she decided to ignore them and go back to her little slumber.

 

 

“Aww, why isn’t it Miss Little Jieun. Was your mommy too busy to make you food again?” Suzy teased, “Your mom owns a dry cleaning store right? I have an idea,” Suzy said looking down at her shoes, “Why don’t you clean my shoes and as a reward, I’ll give you a grain of rice,” she said in a mocking tone, “That seems fair, right girls? Oh and while you’re at it, why don’t you also clean our— ”

 

Plop!

 

“OH MY GOSH!” Suzy gasped in shock, “YAAAA, WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!”

 

“Oh… my bad. Let me clean that up,” Jaemi said as she picked up a cup of water from one of the girl’s tray and poured it down Suzy’s head.

 

“Oops, mian...” Jaemi said sarcastically as she turned away, but quickly turned back around, “Actually... I’m reeeeally not sorry. Because of you, I couldn’t get any sleep. So here’s a tip if you don’t want watery potatoes down your head again,” she said leaning in closer to Suzy, “Don’t bother this girl, or anyone else again, arasso? Next time, it will be more than just mashed potatoes.”

 

“What did you say to me?” Suzy uttered.

 

“YA, how dare you talk to Suzy like that. Do you know who she is?” a girl behind Suzy spoke up.

 

“No. I don’t care who she is, nor do I care what she is. But let me ask you something ‘Suzy’,” Jaemi said turning back towards Suzy, “Why do you have an American name if you can’t even understand what I just said?” she said laughing under her breath, “How cute.”

 

“YA! I understood what you—”

 

“I think it’s better if you let it go,” one of the girls said, “Everyone is watching.”

 

Jaemi looked up to see half the school watching them. She quickly pulled Jieun by the arm and walked away.

 

“YA, what are you going to do about this,” Suzy hollered, stomping her feet down.

 

Jaemi turned to face her, “There’s a huge puddle in front of the school. You can go ahead and clean yourself there,” she said giving Suzy a fake smile before walking back to her table with Jieun.

 

The girl placed her hand on Suzy’s shoulder as she watched them walk away. Suzy threw a glare at her and she quickly took her hand off her shoulder. “Don’t you dare cut me off again,” she threatened.

 

Everyone started to laugh and whisper to each other about how cool and brave Jaemi was. But there was one person who was especially interested in the whole scene.

 

Kai.