After a few weeks, Professor Seon decided to come back to the old cabin in the woods. It was dark, but he needed to put some stuff back before he returned home. He opened the door to yet a dark empty cabin. He fired the candle and let it sit on the desk to slightly light up the room. Professor Seon spent the next few minutes organizing some books he left behind until someone approached him.

 

“Monk Seon,” the voice called.

 

Professor Seon turned to see who it was. His eyes grew wide open and he dropped all the books he held.

 

“Omo…” he said almost speechless.

 

 

“Oppa, two weeks is really long…” Jaemi complained.

 

“Long time?” Jaesung laughed, “That is extremely short for what you did.”

 

“Oppaaaa, how about giving me a different punishment? Anything but grounding me, it’s so boring at home.”

 

“Okay, how about I’ll take your phone away for a week.”

 

Jaemi looked at him, “Jaesung oppa. I am a teenage girl. A human being. I’m going to need my phone 24/7.”

 

He laughed, “Fine, how about doing all the chores for two week.”

 

“Deal!”

 

“And that means doing the laundry, taking out the trash, doing the dishes, wiping the floors—”

 

“Yes yes, deal oppa! Anything, but staying at home.”

 

Jaemi jumped on the couch and sat there.

 

“Aren’t you going out?” Jaesung asked.

 

“Where would I go?” she asked back.

 

He laughed, “You wanted to be ungrounded, but you’re sitting at home now.”

 

“I’m tired from school!” she cried, “I’m going to take a nap upstairs.”

 

Jaemi went up and jumped on her bed. However, instead of sleeping, she began to think about her dream the day before in the office.

 

“Why did I even dream about L.Joe? Why couldn’t it be Kai? Like why was I even crying? And ‘I’m sorry’?” she asked herself, “Omg, what a dream.”

 

 

It was a pleasant car ride. Jaemi was exhausted and she was finally able to get some rest. The car stopped, yet she was still sound asleep in the car. A figure came close to Jaemi’s face. She felt a warm gentle kiss on her forehead. The figure moved back and the face became more clear. The figure was no other than L.Joe.

 

Jaemi bolted up from her bed, “Not again…” she said.

 

 

It was Tuesday and everyone went to school like usual.

 

Jieun was walking in the halls, but right when she saw Jaesung at the corner with his friends, she panicked and quickly u-turned and walked the other way. Unfortunately, Jaesung’s sharp eyes noticed her and he quickly excused himself from his group of friends.

 

“Jieun,” Jaesung called.

 

She awkwardly turned around, “Oh sunbae!”

 

“What’s wrong? Are you avoiding me?” he asked bluntly.

 

“Avoiding you? No, why would I? I mean nothing’s wrong, so why would I have to avoid you? Well… I’m late to class, got to go!” Jieun said speeding away.

 

“Ji—”

 

She was already across the hall before he could call her back.

 

 

“Hey there,” Kai called.

 

Jaemi chuckled, “Hello.”

 

“Can’t believe you got grounded for two weeks,” he said sadly.

 

“Actually, I’m not grounded anymore. I negotiated with my brother.”

 

“That’s good news, but I’m surprised you never mentioned you had a brother. Anyways, how about I drive you home today?”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yup, I’ll meet you at the gates after class,” he kissed her forehead and left.

 

She stood there blushing as she watched him walk off.

 

“Oooo,” Jieun teased, walking up to Jaemi.

 

Jaemi nudged her, “Oh shush!”

 

They both laughed and walked to lunch. Sitting at their usual spot, they could see Suzy and her group glaring at them.

 

“Okay… is it just me or are they giving us a weird look?” Jieun asked.

 

Jaemi looked up, “Who cares. They haven’t talked to us in weeks; we should be glad. I seriously can’t stand those type of girls.”

 

Jaesung and his friends walked in right after. He looked at Jaemi and Jieun, but Jieun quickly looked away.

 

Jaemi looked at her oddly, “Is something wrong?” she asked.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Well, you have been avoiding Jaesung since yesterday. It’s pretty obvious,” she said laughing, “Did something happen between you and my brother?”

 

“No! What would happen between us? Nothing happened.”

 

“Jieun—”

 

“Seriously, nothing happened.”

 

She looked at Jieun, “Okay, if you say so.”

 

 

School ended and like Kai said, he was waiting at the gates for Jaemi.

 

“You ready?” he asked.

 

“Yup!”

 

They walked over to his car, but Jaemi stopped midway, “Woah… is that a Lamborghini?”

 

“Yeah, come on,” he said walking to the car.

 

“Reminds me of L.Joe’s car,” she whispered.

 

“What?”

 

“Oh, nothing!”

 

After a short drive, they reached her house and they both got out of the car.

 

“Thanks for taking me home today.”

 

“You’re welcome,” he said.

 

The two looked at each other and before they knew it, they were both leaning in. Their lips were only 2 centimeters away, but Jaemi moved her head down.

 

“I’m sorry,” she said.

 

Kai moved back and smiled, “It’s okay. I should get going.”

 

She watched him get in his car and drove off. She let out a deep sigh and went inside the house.

 

 

Professor Seon was in his office thinking about what had happened two nights ago.

 

FLASHBACK

 

“Omo…” he said almost speechless, “Jaekyung?”

 

“I heard you’re not a monk anymore.”

 

“Yeah… I’m a professor at a university now,” he hesitated, “Jaekyung, but how? What happened?”

 

She paused for a moment, “I didn’t understand at first either, but then I realized what my skill was.”

 

“Life,” Professor Seon said.

 

Jaekyung nodded, “I gave my daughter life, and I later found out that I gave myself life.”

 

He stood there in awe, “This is unbelievable. So this means you’re still —”

 

“A gumiho,” she said finishing his sentence, “But now, I have more control over the full moon, which is pretty great.”

 

Professor Seon chuckled, “Is it true that you have been visiting her?”

 

“Yeah…” she sighed and paused, “How? I thought she was missing the ninth tail.”

 

“I’m still trying to figure that out myself. All I know is that she is growing and living happily.”

 

“How old is she?”

 

“17, almost 18.”

 

“What’s her skill? Has she figure it out yet?”

 

“Unfortunately, not yet.”

 

“Do you think it’s possible if I—”

 

Professor Seon cut her off, “Yeah.”

 

END of FLASHBACK

 

The door swung open, “Uncle, sorry to interrupt you right now.”

 

“It’s fine. Is there something you need?”

 

“I actually wanted to ask you about someone,” he paused, “Jaemi.”

 

“I’m sorry?”

 

“Jaemi. She’s the gumiho you told me about.”

 

“Why would you think—”

 

“I was with her during the full moon.”

 

Professor Seon sat there speechless.

 

“And, I’m dating her.”

 

He sat up, “Well, now I am in no position to tell you about her. If you want to know, you must ask her yourself. This is about her, and I am just here to help her.”

 

“I understand,” he said walking out.

 

“Are you really dating her?”

 

Kai turned back, “Yes.”

 

“And you are still going to date her, knowing what she is?”

 

“Of course. I like her for her, not what she is.”

 

He gave a slight smile, “That’s good to know.”

 

 

The next day, Professor Seon came to visit Jaemi at her house.

 

“Professor Seon!!!” Jaemi exclaimed, “I missed you!”

 

He laughed, “I did too!”

 

“How was the trip?” she asked taking his coat.

 

“Good. How was the full moon? Did anything happen?”

 

Jaemi turned to look at Jaesung, who was in the kitchen, and gave him a face. He returned the same facial expression.

 

Professor Seon turned to look at her, waiting for an answer.

 

“Nope, nothing,” she said hanging his coat up, “But, I did develop this ugly rash.”

 

“Ah, the moon rash.”

 

“Moon rash?” she repeated.

 

“Yeah, they usually only occur to young gumihos. They are like the gumiho’s chicken poxs, but it’s nothing serious. If I had known, I would’ve given you a special lotion to help reduce the painful itch.”

 

Jaemi pouted.

 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

 

“It’s okay. Actually, I wanted to show you this book I got.”

 

She ran upstairs to get the book and brought it down to Professor Seon who was sitting on the couch.

 

“This book was lying around in the library, but what’s weird about the book is this.”

 

She turned the page and pointed at a few images.

 

 

“Don’t I look similar to her?”

(Just in case you didn’t know, she’s pointing at Jiyeon’s face)

 

“You do…” he answered.

 

“At first, I thought maybe I just kind of resembled her, but then I saw this,” Jaemi said turning to the next page.

 

 

“I don’t just resemble her, I look exactly like her. And look,” Jaemi said as she continued to flip through a few more pages of different eras.

 

“This was taken in the early 1920s.”

 

 

She turned to the next few pages, “I think this was either in the late 1930s or early 1940s.”

 

 

“Here’s another solo shot of my twin.”

 

 

“And this is the last image of the group in the 1970s.”

 

 

 

“Wow…” Professor Seon gasped looking through the pictures again.

 

“They call themselves ‘T-ARA’ because they were like the princesses of gumihos. And the girl I look like, her name is Park Jiyeon. These girls have been living for centuries until they were killed off, and the last picture they took as a group was in the 1970s. I haven’t finished looking through the book yet, but so far, I am pretty frightened. Could this be reincarnation?”

 

Professor Seon paused for a moment, “Maybe, but I can’t be sure myself. I’ll look into it and hopefully, I’ll find some answers.”

 

Jaemi nodded, “This gumiho stuff is just getting more and more surreal.”

 

 

“Where are you and Kai going out tomorrow?”

 

“I don’t think we will be going out this week.”

 

“Oh,” Jieun paused, “By the way how long have you guys been dating?”

 

“A couple of months I suppose.”

 

“And you guys aren’t officially boyfriend and girlfriend yet?”

 

Jaemi laughed, “I guess not.”

 

“Shouldn’t he have asked you out by now?”

 

“Well, I’m in no rush. It’s fun dating because once you’re a couple, things get too serious, too fast.”

 

“You are one odd girl.”

 

She giggled, “Well, what about you?”

 

“What about me?”

 

“You should start dating too!”

 

Jieun bursted out into laughter.

 

“What’s so funny?”

 

“What you said,” she answered, “No guy in this world would want to date this.”

 

“Are you kidding me right now. EVERY guy would want to date you. Heck, if I was a guy, I would date you!”

 

Jieun laughed.

 

“How about my brother?”

 

“What?”

 

“You like him, right?”

 

“What? Me? What? Me liking your brother? Jaemi, you’re crazy.”

 

Jaemi giggled at Jieun blushing.

 

 

Jaemi was in her bedroom when she got a text from Professor Seon.

 

I found someone who might be able to help you figure some things out. I’ll send you the address tomorrow after school if you aren't busy.

Professor Seon

 

“I wonder who this person is.”

 

She turned off the lights and went to sleep.

 

 

School ended and she went to the address Professor Seon sent her. The address lead her to a photography art gallery.

 

Jaemi stood outside as she watched photography students walking out with their bags and cameras. Once they dispersed, she walked into the building and browsed around looking at the photos on the wall.

 

 

“Are you Jaemi?” a woman asked from behind.

 

She turned around to a familiar face, “Yes.”

 

The woman stood there almost teared up, “Remarkable.”

 

 

“Do you really have Jiyeon’s diary?” she asked.

 

Jaemi nodded and took out the book.

 

“So, you’re really Hyomin?” Jaemi questioned.

 

She nodded her head.

 

Jaemi turned to one of the images.

 

 

“You look almost the same as you do now. Do gumihos stop aging at a certain age?” Jaemi asked.

 

“No, we do age, but a year in a human’s life is like 10 years for us,” she said giggling, “This image was sometime in the early 1920s; we were about 16 years old then. It’s 2015 now, so I’m currently 25 and a half years old. Five more years and I’ll be 26.”

 

“Wow. If you don’t mind me asking, what year were you born in?”

 

“1759.”

 

“So that means you’re—”

 

“256 years old,” Hyomin said finishing her sentence.

 

Jaemi’s eye grew big, “How come it doesn’t seem like I age like that?”

 

“It’s probably because you’re half human,” she answered, “Gumiho’s may be ‘powerful’, but the way human’s age overpowers us.”

 

She nodded, “I know this is a little personal, but what happened to the other girls from T-ARA?”

 

(Storytime!)

Hyomin closed her eyes and sighed, “It was the 1920s,” she began, “The world knew about gumihos, but no one has ever encountered one. The girls and I, we were curious about the real world, the world outside the forests. So we decided to explore. We started to love how their society worked so much that we took the risk and enrolled in school. Everything was going fine until the 1970s, when things started to get suspicious. We tried to be careful by changing schools and not going to bars and clubs when we got older, but word got around and our faces were too familiar. Villagers started to talk and soon they found out what we were. We promised each other to stay hidden for the next few decades until the village calmed down, but our newest member, Hwayoung, didn’t want to do so. She didn’t want to be trapped in the forest, so she went against our word and left. We tried stopping her, but at the end, we couldn’t. Later that night we heard a gunshot. We couldn’t let the other T-ARA members get hurt, so we waited until morning. We were all scared. No one slept that night because we were all worried for her. The sun came up and we all went looking for her again, and we did find her. But, just her body. The gunshot we heard last night was for her. We all mourned and promised to stay together till the end. Even though we didn’t step foot back into the village, the village stepped foot into our home. They began to hunt the rest of us. We endangered every gumiho in our forest. One by one, gumihos began to die. Luckily, a few were able to escape. The rest of T-ARA had a hiding place for us to be safe; we were princesses after all, so everyone tried their best to protect us. But, as weeks went by, our protection got less safe as the deaths of gumihos increased. Gumihos were dying for us and because of us. And as princesses, it was our duty to protect our forest and our people. Boram, Qri, Soyeon, and Eunjung didn’t make it. With only Jiyeon and me left, we had to escape. Unfortunately, during our escape Jiyeon got shot. I tried my best to carry her out. Even though the seven of us were extremely close, I was closest to Jiyeon. She was my best friend and I couldn’t leave her behind. We eventually escaped and I tried to help her reduce the pain any way I could. I went out one day and ran into a familiar girl, Jiyeon’s older sister. I told her what had happened and we both went back to where I left Jiyeon. I later found out that her sister’s skill was life and though I wasn’t sure she could heal Jiyeon completely, it was better to try than nothing. By the time we got to Jiyeon, the two sisters were finally able to meet each other again after centuries. She began to use her skill, but we were too late. Jiyeon was gone. Her sister and I soon parted ways. I fled to Europe and studied photography for a few years when I heard the hunting was starting again. Halfway through my studies, I found out Jiyeon’s sister had passed away giving birth to a child. I was shocked, but there was nothing I could do. After awhile, I came back to Korea and have been living here ever since as a photographer.”

 

“That’s tragic, I’m so sorry,” Jaemi said tearing up.

 

Hyomin wiped her tears, “You remind me so much of Jiyeon.”

 

Jaemi smiled, “Jiyeon’s sister. Did you know her name?”

 

Hyomin nodded, “Jaekyung. Gu Jaekyung.”

 

“That name sounds so familiar,” Jaemi pondered.

“She’s your mother.”

 

---

I apologize for the super late update! I am currently in the middle of my college mid-terms, so I haven't had the chance to write often, but I did eventually finish writing this chapter. Luckily, I made this chapter really long, so I hope that makes up for it! I am currently writing the next chapter and hopefully I will finish it soon after mid-terms pass. Anyways, enjoy this long chapter as it is filled with images!