Chapter 4: Love is you

 

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Byulyi stumbled out the subway exit, squinting at her phone to make sure she was where she was supposed to be. As she did, a message from Wheein came up: “everything . my head hurts. ggomo is ignoring me. whyyyyyy dis unnie”  followed by a long string of various crying emojis. A smile crept up her face briefly. If Wheein had the energy to punch in that many lines of emojis then she was fine. Responding with a message that said as such, Byulyi tucked her phone away and headed down the street. A few steps later, the brief light mood Wheein’s message brought melted away. 

 

Her thoughts drifted back to last night in her bedroom. A cold feeling took hold, biting at the back of her mind, even as she tried to stay focused and find the restaurant she was supposed to be meeting Hyejin at for some long-awaited answers. 

 

After waking up alone and finding the note under her phone, Byulyi could only stare at the carefully folded shirt and shorts Yongsun had borrowed last night, sitting innocently atop the pillow on the other side of her bed - Yongsun’s side. Sunlight from the late morning sky had drifted in through her glass balcony door and highlighted the light brown cat fur that dotted her bed. It had been quiet save for the notifications going off on her phone. Each little ping echoed in her otherwise quiet room, bumping into and bouncing off their quiet night-time confessions that still lingered in the air like a dream. 

 

Yongsun’s note had crinkled in her hand. 

 

“thank you for so much that you’ve given me, Byulyi.”

 

But was it not enough? 

 

Byulyi couldn’t fight off that thought; it crawled and shoved its way to the forefront of her fears, pushing away everything else that crowded in her head. But just as soon as that thought manifested in her mind, it was swept away by the memory of how it felt when for the first time in a long time she’d finally let her fears go and laid her honesty out for the both of them to see. The relief and the warmth that came with it, with Yongsun’s brown eyes, laid her fears to rest and she could see clearly everything she wanted between them.

 

Whatever her doubts, whatever her fears, Byulyi was ready to hold onto that warmth between them for as long as she could. Yongsun came to her last night because she trusted Byulyi and Byulyi wasn’t going to let her anxiety get in the way of returning that trust.

 

So why did Yongsun leave? Why did Yongsun disappear for a week for that matter? She remembered Yongsun’s quiet confession: a curse. She remembered the small cat that scratched at her door, the way that Yongsun’s voice was so small and frightened.

 

Whatever she was scared of, whatever she was too scared to tell Byulyi, it had to do with the curse. Byulyi was going to get to the bottom of it, not for herself, but for Yongsun. Yongsun had been there to listen to her fears and hold her through the vulnerability that followed - Byulyi would do the same for her. Because whatever it was that Yongsun needed: a cameraman to film whatever crazy challenge was popular on the internet; a quick and comfy dinner after a full day of pushing her body to the limits; someone to hold her in the dark, away from the fears she wanted to leave behind; Byulyi was there to give it and she’d gladly done it even before she knew she was enough. And now that Byulyi knew as a fact that she was every bit enough that she needed to be, she was for sure going to be there for Yongsun.

 

She spotted the name of the restaurant that Hyejin had texted her on a sign across the street and when she approached she found the girl in question seated at a table right outside, grilling away to her heart’s content. 

 

Byulyi watched for a moment, trying to decide how to approach this conversation. No more vague half-answers. Hyejin had promised to tell her about the curse and Byulyi wasn’t going to let herself waste another week meandering here and there in a field of worries and moping when she knew Yongsun was somewhere out there running and scared.

 

Tugging her baseball cap down, Byulyi sat across from Hyejin, observing the girl grill two orders of gopchang while a third waited on a plate to the side. The gopchang smoked and sizzled, bringing smoke and the scent of its seasoning towards Byulyi. She coughed a little - it was spicy.

 

“Byulyi-unnie,” Hyejin greeted, finally looking up.

 

“Isn’t gopchang a little heavy this early in the day?” Byulyi wasn’t going to deny it looked good though. Particularly since she skipped breakfast to pace around her bedroom and re-read Yongsun’s note at least three dozen times, trying to figure out what happened and why the words on it sounded so dreadfully final. 

 

Hyejin shoved a piece into and quirked her brow, taking Byulyi in. “Aren’t you a little overdressed today, unnie?”

 

Byulyi tugged a little at the hoodie she had on underneath her usual blazer. It was a little warm - true - but she wasn’t going to give Hyejin the satisfaction of knowing that. “I wear the layers so you don’t have to.”

 

Indeed, Hyejin didn’t seem to believe in the concept of layers: she was wearing a black bralette underneath a pair of denim overall shorts with one buckle undone and hanging to the side. Apparently she’d gotten her nails done. 

 

Noticing Byulyi’s eyes on her bright yellow acrylic claws, Hyejin held up a hand. “I got these this morning. Nice, right?”

 

The way Hyejin held her claws up in front of her golden eyes while she’s chewing a mouthful of innards definitely looked a lot more threatening then she probably intended.

 

“Yeah. Nice. Very sharp.” 

 

If Hyejin noticed the nervous tremor in her voice, she didn’t say anything because she gave a slight grin in response before gesturing at the smoking grill between them with a claw. “Have some, unnie.”

 

“Uh. I’m good, thank you,” Byulyi responded a bit stiffly. 

 

Hyejin shrugged and proceeded to relish the gopchang and side dishes so thoroughly that Byulyi’s empty stomach broke down her stubborn resolve by complaining loudly. 

 

Amused, Hyejin said, “I ordered stew for us too.” 

 

Without a word Byulyi reached for an extra pair of chopsticks and started picking at the food. A little spicier than what she was comfortable with - Yongsun would definitely whine and start reaching for water if she ate this - but she’ll concede defeat. It was good. She avoided Hyejin’s twinkling gold eyes for the next few minutes as she silently filled up on a late breakfast. 

 

After the nice restaurant owner personally delivered their stews with another extra serving on the side - because apparently Hyejin was a house-favored regular here - Hyejin sat back with a satisfied sigh, a claw absentmindedly digging at a piece of stray vegetation caught behind her incisors. 

 

“This place is always good,” Hyejin said, eyes sliding shut, a content cat basking in the sunlight.

 

Byulyi set her chopsticks down quietly. While it was the best damn gopchang she’s had in memory, she was rapidly getting impatient. She didn’t come here for the delicious gopchang. Or the extra sides the owner slid them with a conspiratorial wink. 

 

“Yongsun-unnie called me this morning,” Hyejin said suddenly, eyes still closed.

 

Choking and sputtering on her gulp of water, Byulyi shakily accepted the tissue packet Hyejin calmly slid towards her.

 

“She was with you last night.” Hyejin’s gold eyes pinned Byulyi to her seat. Sitting across from the younger girl, damp tissue crumpled in hand, Byulyi couldn’t get up and walk away even if she wanted to. Hyejin tilted her head to the side, Byulyi could almost imagine a pair of cat ears flicking to and fro. “I was right: Yongsun-unnie trusts you.”

 

her lips, Byulyi tried to meet those gold eyes head on. “Did… did she tell you why-”

“She also told me what happened in the week she disappeared.”

 

Byulyi’s mouth snapped shut. 

 

Hyejin sighed heavily, “Apparently she kept losing control of the curse after you told her you wanted to break up.”

 

The guilt didn’t have time to settle in Byulyi’s chest before Hyejin continued, “Yongsun-unnie convinced herself the best way to settle the curse was to distract herself with work. So she went all the way to Namsan Park to try and shoot a vlog or something.” 

 

Byulyi’s hands clenched into fists. The two of them liked hiking the trail course around Namsan; they’d done it together many times, stubborn and competitive natures compelling them to outrun the other until the pair of them were slumped and panting side by side, happy, exhausted smiles directed at the other. 

 

“But she couldn’t hold it together - just barely managed to get away from people and changed in some bushes.”

 

Hyejin’s gold eyes pierced straight through Byulyi. Was it blame? Did Hyejin blame Byulyi for the stress Yongsun was under? Did Byulyi blame herself? 

 

Yes.

 

“So she spent most of that week running and hiding and dodging misguided animal shelter workers.” The busy streets of Seoul weren’t always kind to cats; yet being scooped up by some well-intentioned animal shelter wasn’t much better for a cat like Yongsun. What would she say to the shelter workers and volunteers when they find a woman crouched in the kennel of the poor, little lost cat they saved? “And then, instead of contacting me or the Compound, she went to you.” Hyejin finished simply.

 

Despite the calm way Hyejin had relayed the situation, Byulyi’s mind fixated on Hyejin’s last word.

 

‘You.’ It’s your fault Yongsun had to go through that, Byulyi heard, in a voice much like her own, spanning the distance between Hyejin’s gold eyes and herself.

 

While Hyejin inspected her nails, Byulyi tried to process what she just learned. Yongsun had showed up at her apartment, in the dead of night, after having spent a week under the curse. So small and vulnerable, scared and stressed, that cat had made its across the city to her apartment. Because Yongsun trusted her. 

 

Hand tightening into a fist, Byulyi could almost make out the nearly-invisible pale white lines that had made up the scratches on her hand. When she looked up, Hyejin was watching her again. 

 

Unvoiced accusations, real or imagined - it didn’t matter - terrified Byulyi, too reminiscent of her fears of being found lacking. But this wasn’t the time to collapse in on herself. Voice only slightly wavering, Byulyi asked, “Where is Yongsun now? Is she okay?”

 

Arms crossed and elbows resting on the table, Hyejin said after a pause, “She’s probably back at the Compound now.”

 

Hyejin mentioned that earlier. Any place called ‘The Compound’ with scary air quotes in place was decidedly not a place Byulyi wanted Yongsun to be anywhere near but she had to ask, “You said that before. What is ‘the Compound?’” 

 

It’s strange; Hyejin was wearing the same intimidating shade of eyeshadow as she did last night and she looked every bit the alpha predator that she did when she terrified Ggomo into heeling, but at Byulyi’s question, Hyejin seemed to retreat into herself uncomfortably. Just a little bit. Almost a little like the rare moments Yongsun fell quiet when she mentioned her family. 

 

And that scared Byulyi. Not for herself, but for Yongsun and Hyejin. It must have to do with their family - and the curse by extension. What was this place? How was the curse tied to it and how did it scare these two proud, young women?

 

“You asked about the curse, Byulyi-unnie. I’m guessing that’s because Yongsun-unnie didn’t explain everything,” Hyejin said instead. 

 

“Yongsun just mentioned the curse was a thing and that…” Byulyi stumbled a little over the best way to describe the process, but eventually found that the best way was just the simple way, as absurd as it sounded spoken aloud in public, “... you turn into cats when stressed.”

 

Hyejin nodded. “That is the gist of it.” Then she shrugged, making a vague hand gesture. “There’s a few other details, but I’ll tell you those later.” 

 

 She poured herself and Byulyi some more water, water jug held daintily with both hands despite the acrylic nails.

 

“Let me start at the beginning then.

 

A very, very long time ago there was a family that lived in a village close to the gods. Because of their devotion, the family was blessed throughout the year with plentiful harvest and good health. But that family wasn’t the only one favored by the gods; there was a cat the gods loved. For its faithful companionship, the gods gifted that cat a lifespan beyond its peers. For generations the family and the cat lived in harmony, each serving the gods in the way they did.

 

 However, as these fairytales tend to go, one year the gods were not generous in their blessings. Harvest failed and the family was in for a rough winter. Still, they held onto their faith for as long as they could: praying, leaving offerings and sacrifices. They built a grand altar with gifts and promises in the middle of the main house. Everyday, while the family starved and suffered from the harsh winter, they knelt and prayed. Yet, while they suffered, the gods’ favored cat slept comfortable and warm. It even gave birth to a litter of healthy, young kittens. The family resented the cat and their bitterness only grew when the winter dragged on. 

 

One morning, members of the family woke up to their precious altar destroyed: their carefully crafted gifts knocked over and their promises broken. Furious, they blamed the cat. And in their fury, they sacrificed the cat and its litter. With its death, the winter seemed to break early. Sunlight peered through the cold, gray clouds and the family rejoiced. But when the gods returned and saw what had been done to their beloved companion, they were enraged. And rage, they did. From that day on, for their murder of the gods’ favored companion, the family was cursed. For every child born in winter or times of scarcity, that child will be born a cat, to remind the family of their crime against the gods.”

 

Hyejin finished her tale with her eyes shut and when she opened them she was met with Byulyi’s wide-eyed, open-mouthed expression. With no other reaction forthcoming, Hyejin quietly picked up her chopsticks, grabbed a stray piece of gopchang off the grill, dunked it in the spiciest sauce on the table, and plopped it in Byulyi’s open mouth.

 

“Pfffbbbbttttttttt!”

 

Hyejin poured Byulyi some more water while she choked and sputtered and spat the spice bomb out. 

 

It took an embarrassingly long time and several severe pedestrian side-eyes for Byulyi to get the spice in under control, but when she did Hyejin was waiting patiently for her questions.

 

“What the hell... Are you serious?” That was the curse? 

 

“That was the story as I learned it growing up,” Hyejin said with a shrug.

 

“But that...” Even after seeing Yongsun as a cat twice, Byulyi still had trouble wrapping her mind around it. A curse from the gods because of their family’s crime of killing a cat from who knows how long ago? 

 

“I don’t really know if that’s how it happened either and honestly? I don’t really care. The reality of it was what I grew up seeing and living.”

 

Having to experience the physical aspects of the curse probably made it difficult for Hyejin to care about the literary or historical aspects of its origin. Byulyi would’ve likely felt the same if she were in Hyejin’s place. 

 

“Of course, the story doesn’t go into all the little details and what we experience now is a little different.”

 

“How different?”

 

Hyejin hummed in thought. “Well, we’re not born cats. And it’s not just for people born in winter or whatever. As far as I know it’s random. People who are cursed usually know when they hit puberty. When they start getting stressed about entrance exams or bodily changes or their favorite pop star’s scandals, they suddenly find themselves turning into cats.” Hyejin thought about it some more. “Oh, we don’t do sacrifices anymore, beyond meals and snacks and stuff.” 

 

If Byulyi had been worried about the sacrifice part of the story affecting her in any way, well, at least that was taken care of. But something Hyejin said caught her attention. “You said ‘usually.’ Are there unusual cases?”

 

“Oh, that’s pretty perceptive of you, unnie,” Hyejin said, slightly impressed. “Yongsun-unnie did say you were pretty smart.”

 

Byulyi let that compliment fluff her ego for a quick second when Hyejin continued, “Yes, for the most part, if you’re cursed it tends to show up between 11-14, maybe 15 at the latest. For some - for Yongsun-unnie - it didn’t show up until she was almost 20.” 

 

“That’s….” Byulyi began. If they were going by the average onset of human puberty for the onset of the curse, that was very much outside the norm. But then again, Kim Yongsun operated outside the norm on principle. 

 

“For most in the family, if they had a kid with a curse, it was a simple matter to keep them in the Compound - that’s the main family house. The Compound homeschools them and takes care of them until they get the curse under control. Eventually, they learn to manage it well enough to the point of changing whenever they want, instead of letting it be triggered by stress.” Hyejin stared off somewhere to the side, voice dropping nearly to a soft whisper. “It’s easier to hide the curse when we’re kids.”

 

“But,” Byulyi began, realizing what that meant for Yongsun.

 

Hyejin glanced down, seemingly saddened. “No one else in Yongsun-unnie’s family has the curse so it came as a complete surprise when one day Yongsun-unnie called home from college to tell them what happened.” A pause. “It didn’t go well. A couple of Yongsun-unnie’s friends were there when she changed.”

Byulyi would never understand what it was like to be afflicted with the curse, but if it was anything like how Yongsun had looked, terrified, shaking, and so, so small, in her shower last night then Byulyi wished more than anything that there was something she could do for Yongsun to shield her from that. Puberty and college enough as it was for those not cursed by the gods for something their impulsive ancestors did, but to have to go through both and be hit with some ancient cat curse all in succession? Yongsun had to do that only to find her world turned upside down because of a cat. 

 

How did Yongsun manage all that and still have the drive to chase after her passions? 

 

She always knew Yongsun was amazing, but this revelation was completely awe-inspiring on another level. As sad as the circumstances of the curse were for Yongsun, perhaps because of the extent of those circumstances, Byulyi was proud of her. So, so proud that Yongsun went so far while shouldering the shadow of a curse she was constantly under.

 

For a moment Hyejin let Byulyi ruminate on that before she continued, voice low, “Did Yongsun-unnie tell you what happened to her college friends?”

 

“No, she didn’t like talking about college.” Or her family for the matter. Byulyi had a feeling Hyejin was going to tell her the reason for that. And she had a feeling she wasn’t going to like it.

 

Sitting up straight, hands clasped together, Hyejin said, “Our family can’t let people know about the curse.” Hyejin narrowed her eyes. “How did you feel when you saw Yongsun-unnie change?”

 

Was this a test? Hyejin’s eyes were hard to read. Byulyi answered as honestly as she could, thinking back to that neighborhood park with the ducks. “It was shocking, to say the least.”

 

“Were you scared?”

 

Oh she was scared for sure. Beyond her fear because of her mind’s inability to comprehend what her eyes had witnessed, she was scared for Yongsun, scared that Yongsun was hurt. When she told Hyejin as such, the younger girl’s eyes softened a fraction. 

 

“You’re gentler than most people would be, unnie,” Hyejin said, a small transient smile on her lips. “No, most people would panic; do or say things they shouldn’t and put the family in danger.”

 

Byulyi knew what that meant. In school she learned about mob mentality and the human mind’s tendency to hunt that which they feared and misunderstood.

 

“Our family had to come up with ways to protect themselves. They had to silence witnesses.” Hyejin let that sink in. “But that tends to draw more attention, and bribery can only go so far when there’s too many witnesses, so our family eventually came up with a kind of… hypnosis. We made people forget what they saw.” 

 

At Byulyi’s skeptical look, Hyejin quirked her brow, “Have you ever seen news reports about people turning into cats, unnie?”

 

Alright, Byulyi had to give her that. And then her mind connected the dots. “Is that… is that what happened to Yongsun’s friends?”

 

Nodding, Hyejin drew back, eyes focused on her nails. “The technique isn’t perfect and there’s a bunch of weird side-effects.” She stopped and clenched her fingers into a fist, nails digging deeply into the palm of her hand. For a moment it looked like she was distracted by her own thoughts before she shook herself out of it and continued, “After that happened, Yongsun-unnie’s parents wanted her back at the Compound. They thought it’d be safer for her there until she learned to manage the curse.”

 

It was always rare for Yongsun to bring up her parents. All Byulyi knew was that they weren’t close and growing up they had a lot of expectations for Yongsun. Expectations that translated into creating a strict track for her to follow: which schools to attend, which subjects to focus on, which extracurriculars to invest in. It was why Yongsun’s older sister fled for the freedom of studying abroad as soon as she could, Yongsun had whispered to her one night when she was in the mood to mention her family. 

 

“They want me to grow up. But I never had this freedom when I was younger so now that I do, I have to catch up. I feel like a late-bloomer.” 

 

For someone whose childhood was basically directed for her, being forced back into that controlling atmosphere on the cusp of adulthood and the freedom it offered must’ve been the worst thing that could happen. 

 

Wait. 

 

“Yongsun told me she dropped out of college to model,” Byulyi said slowly. 

 

Hyejin nodded. “She did; it was the first job she found after she left. Yongsun-unnie couldn’t stand to stay at the Compound. And I don’t blame her.” She added quietly.

 

“They let Yongsun leave? Just like that?”

 

“The family wouldn’t let her leave until she made a deal with them.” Hyejin slowly sat back and stood up. “They let Yongsun-unnie leave the compound if she could manage to control the curse enough to live a normal day-to-day life. And she promised to go back the minute she lost control and someone saw.” Hyejin might’ve been shorter than Byulyi, but standing up now she towered over Byulyi, gold eyes almost cold from that distance. “I was sent to watch over Yongsun-unnie. Make sure she’s okay. Make sure that no one knows about the curse.” 

 

Byulyi knew this was coming when Hyejin stood up. Had a feeling way back when Yongsun had pleaded with her to keep the cat thing a secret, even to Wheein, who adored Yongsun and cats equally. That feeling was even more pronounced when a black sedan with tinted windows pulled up to the curb near their table. 

 

“I’m sorry, Byulyi-unnie, but I need you to come with me.”

 

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They’d just left the city behind them after exiting the freeway when they came upon a thin winding road that headed into the hills. Greenery on all sides and little other distinguishing landmarks.

 

The car was silent save for the elderly driver who constantly switched the radio back and forth between two oldies stations, whichever one was receiving the better reception in the mountains. 

 

Hyejin hadn’t said much after they left the gopchang place, opting to stare out the window and Byulyi was too nervous to ask what was going to happen. She kind’ve had an idea anyway; they were likely heading to the Compound - to Yongsun. As for what would happen when she got there though, the nervousness churning in the well of her stomach was unfortunately coming up dry of any solid ideas besides frantic and manic depictions of human sacrifice and dramatic executions. 

 

Hands starting to twitch, she crossed her arms only to feel something crinkle inside her blazer’s inner pocket. Curious, she pulled out whatever it was: her favorite polaroid of Yongsun, the one she hung up in her office cubicle for inspiration and for, well, because Yongsun was beautiful and Byulyi liked looking at her face. 

 

“Did you take that, unnie?”

 

Hyejin was peering at the photo and Byulyi silently handed it over. For a moment they both observed the peaceful smile Yongsun wore in the picture. 

 

“It looks nice,” Hyejin said, handing it back. She slumped in her seat, claws digging into the flesh of her thigh as she appeared to turn her thoughts over and over again in her mind. “You know, Yongsun-unnie almost never smiled like that at the Compound,” she eventually settled on. Shaking her head, a small smile grew on her lips. “Now, I’m so used to seeing her so happy and weird and energetic.”

 

It wasn’t too hard for Byulyi to imagine the scene Hyejin was picturing in her head either. Yongsun was constantly on the go, chasing after one thing or another, taking up challenge after challenge: chubby bunny challenge, make-up of the day vlog, chubby bunny and make-up of the day at the same time vlog. And Byulyi was there for it every step of the way. All her crazy and amazing feats clearly made Yongsun happy; just seeing the tired, satisfied smile on Yongsun’s lips at the end of her busy days was enough to make Byulyi happy as well. 

 

“Yongsun-unnie didn’t want to report you to the Compound.”

 

Head jerking up at Hyejin’s voice, Byulyi just barely registered the younger girl’s sudden, stiff posture. “What are you saying?” 

 

She looked uncomfortable with her words, yet from the firm press of her lips, Hyejin was set on powering through. “We’re supposed to report to the family after we’ve been exposed.” 

 

Like with Yongsun’s college friends, Byulyi briefly thought, a nervous tick building at her temple, wondering where Hyejin was going with this line of conversation.

 

“Yongsun-unnie didn’t want to; she said she trusted you and I trust her. So I didn’t either. At first.” Hyejin met her head on, as direct a confession as she could manage. “Then when she disappeared without a word, I got worried and…”

 

And that’s why Byulyi was in a car heading into the middle of the mountains, likely directly into the hands of people who would - what had Hyejin said earlier at the gopchang place? - ‘hypnotize’ the memories out of her? The same way that Yongsun and Hyejin’s family had handled Yongsun’s college friends finding out about the curse. 

 

For a moment Byulyi didn’t know what to feel. Anger? Betrayal? Yongsun had trusted Byulyi and had trusted Hyejin not to spill to their family and yet Hyejin had done it anyway. Was that why Hyejin had been so friendly and ready to give her answers? Because she knew that Byulyi was going to forget it all anyway? A messy surge of maybe-anger and maybe-hurt built in her chest. If that had been the case, Byulyi would rather Hyejin not pretend to be so forthcoming in the first place. 

 

With jerky movements, Byulyi tucked the polaroid back into her blazer pocket right as Hyejin took a breath and said, “I had a friend growing up.”

 

Too angry to register the way Hyejin curled in on herself, looking so small and so very, very young, Byulyi only furrowed her brows and bit out, “What? So?” 

 

Undeterred, Hyejin continued, gold eyes dim and withdrawn, not really taking in the scenery the car drove past even as she stared out the window. “We met one summer. Something about her… It’s like we matched perfectly.” 

 

The way nostalgia filled her voice and the way memories seemed to be replaying in those gold eyes had Byulyi biting down on another angry retort on the verge of spilling out her lips. Though upset, she recognized this was a fragile moment of honesty. 

 

“We liked all the same things: the same songs, the same shows, and I could tell she was the kind of best friend we only meet once in our lives. For a few years, it was great.” 

 

Despite how she now felt about Hyejin, Byulyi knew with a sinking heart how this story would end. Her words were low and soft, but a void had opened inside them and Hyejin’s voice was only the sad echo of a friendship that no longer existed. “She found out about the curse. The next time I saw her she didn’t know who I was. Not my name, not our favorite songs, not our favorite movies. It wasn’t just our memories she forgot; she couldn’t look me or anyone in the eye. She didn’t smile. She didn’t… a lot of things anymore.” Then she turned her sad, gold eyes onto Byulyi. Sympathy swam in them. “So I know what it’s like, unnie.” 

 

Taking a moment to make sure that her next words weren’t just incoherent yelling, Byulyi rubbed out her furrowed brows. “I’m sorry that happened to you guys. But was that supposed to justify you going behind Yongsun’s back?” 

 

Hyejin looked uncomfortable and it made Byulyi feel worse. 

 

her lips, Hyejin crossed her arms in front of herself and said, “Maybe? I don’t know. I guess I just wanted to let you know, when you get there and they decide to erase your memories, why it happened.”

 

“And if they do, it wouldn’t really matter to me if it was because of you or not.” 

 

That was the truth of it. None of these revelations, none of these truths would matter if Yongsun’s family decided to erase everything Byulyi remembered about them. She briefly thought about the process, if it would be painful, if Yongsun would be there to watch herself become a stranger to Byulyi. 

 

Another glance at Hyejin showed the younger girl hesitantly watching her. Something swam in those gold eyes. Something familiar. Even through the conflict of thoughts and feelings inside Byulyi’s head, she managed to identify that look. It was one she knew well; she’d seen it reflected in her own eyes more than once. Futility. No choice. 

 

She didn’t know Hyejin. Didn’t know what growing up with the curse for her had been like, what she must’ve been through. Just hearing everything Yongsun had been through was tough and heartbreaking. Hyejin was younger. She might still be going through those troubles.

 

Sighing out her nose, Byulyi said, “But thank you for telling me anyway.”

 

And they said nothing more when the winding road suddenly opened up to reveal a large estate built almost into the hill. The road lead them to a long driveway that ended at a high, metal-gated wall that surrounded the entire property - the Compound.

 

The first thing Byulyi noticed after getting out of the car was the surveillance cameras perched atop the metal gates and along the wall. The second thing was the large, rotund cat with a squashed face waiting at the front of the gates. She could hear Hyejin speaking to the driver behind her and as she waited for them to finish up, Byulyi slowly approached the cat and gave a hesitant bow. “Um, hello.”

 

It blinked up at her with its large wide-set eyes. 

 

“Unnie, that’s just a regular cat,” Hyejin said, just barely managing to hold in a snort.

 

Flushing, Byulyi straightened up quickly. “I can’t be polite to cats?”

 

This time Hyejin did snort. “Sure, unnie, if you want to. There’s plenty more of them inside.” She waved up at one of the cameras and the gates opened shortly. 

 

When the way was clear, Byulyi was hit with the notion that once she walked in, she very well might not walk out the same person. This was the place after all, the place that Yongsun and Hyejin had grown up in and learned of their curse, the place that made Hyejin’s best friend disappear, the place that Yongsun left behind so she could be everything it tried to cage her from. Would she even remember any of this afterwards? Byulyi thought of Yongsun, of their last conversation, of her warmth and her soft whispers in the dark. Stomping down on her fear of what might occur within the next hour or so, she focused only on Yongsun. 

 

Byulyi had never really formally met the Yongsun that grew up in her family’s Compound, the one that followed the tracks laid out for her, but she’s seen glimpses of that girl in Yongsun’s vacant stares and pensive silences. If that was the Yongsun she would meet inside, what would she do? What would she say? Byulyi felt for the polaroid inside her pocket. The answer was easy: she’d hold her and hug her tightly until the Yongsun she knew came back and swatted half-heartedly at her for her clinginess. And if that didn’t work then she’d stay and keep holding Yongsun anyway. They can try and take her memories, but Byulyi won’t let them take that away from her - from them. 

 

ฅ/ᐠ｡ᆽ｡ᐟ \ ฅ/ᐠ｡ᆽ｡ᐟ \ ฅ/ᐠ｡ᆽ｡ᐟ \

 

The front yard of the estate spanned almost as widely as the long driveway just outside the walls. Carefully cultured plants and flowers dotted the landscape. The mansion itself was a curious blending of modern Western architecture and traditional styles. Everything from the landscape to the buildings to the very fact the property was built into the damn hill spelled out the sheer wealth of Yongsun’s family - and that wealth had plenty of zeros trailing after it. They probably also owned the surrounding hills. Byulyi gulped; forget hypnosis, this was the type of rich that could probably hire a hitman and wipe proof of her existence off the face of the planet. 

 

As Hyejin said, there were cats. Many, many, cats in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. Every turn they took as they went deeper into the estate brought more cats lounging here and there, some in the trees, others on the roof. Others held in the arms of both curious and suspicious family members - children and young adults and what were presumably their caretakers - poking their heads out of doors and windows. 

 

And the further in they went, the more they stared. Byulyi could feel the eyes peering from all angles, following her movements, judging the way she carried herself. 

 

It was unnerving and just a little creepy. How many of the cats were regular cats and how many of them were relatives? Oh, that thought did nothing to quell the anxiety churning inside. To distract herself from doing something embarrassing like trip or puke from nervousness in front of all these judgemental, staring eyes, she idly thought that Wheein would enjoy this place way more than she did. Byulyi’s lips twitched at the thought of Wheein offering herself as some kind of sacrifice in the middle of a cat cuddle pile. 

 

Byulyi pasted that visual to the forefront of her mind and it worked well in distracting her from the quiet surveillance until Hyejin stopped at another gate. It was older, wooden. Once they crossed the threshold, Byulyi was hit with the clear feeling that the inner gate of the property took them somewhere completely different. This deep inside the estate, the architecture was strictly traditional. The wooden gate opened up into a large courtyard, surrounded on all four sides by raised, polished wooden porches, hanji-wrapped doors, and curved tile-laden rooftops - it was a step back in time.

 

The very first thing that caught her eye was the old, haphazard offering table in the middle of the courtyard. Exposed to the open space and elements, it looked like it had been kicked around a few times and thrown into place. Plaques lined with elegant calligraphy were scattered about along with plates of fresh fruit, snacks, and other offerings. Incense, recently lit by the line of smoke trailing off its ends, sat in the center. 

 

Byulyi thought back to the curse’s origin story. Hyejin might not take much stock in the story, but there was that damn offering table the cat supposedly messed up and was sacrificed for. 

 

Sacrifice. Trying not to think about that, she glanced away.

 

Instead she focused on the main room which sat across from the wooden gate entryway: a large and open tearoom, of which its occupants had just been interrupted from their afternoon tea by Byulyi’s sudden arrival. 

 

A low rectangular table sat in the middle of the ondol floor. Atop it were several pots and cups of tea and some half-eating pastries as well as a bag of cat treats. Seated around the table, all now looking up at the two of them was a curious mix of middle-aged and elderly folk and cats. The one that stood out was a younger woman, no older than her early 30s, that had been in the midst of pouring tea for the others around her. It took Byulyi a moment, but soon she recognized the woman was Yonghee, Yongsun’s older sister. The resemblance was easy to connect in-person: their shared brown eyes, the hints of a babyface and the slope of their nose.

 

“Hyejin-ah, come here; have some snacks.” The elderly woman sitting at the far end of the table said. She had spoken to Hyejin but her eyes were set on Byulyi. Aged, droopy eyelids and deep-set crow’s feet did not hide the keenness and coldness with which she studied Byulyi. Several cats lazed at her feet, the most prominent of them the very same chunky cat with the wide-set eyes and squashed face Byulyi had awkwardly greeted at the estate entrance. It was curled up on the woman’s lap enjoying her soft and steady petting, its loud, rumbling purr breaking the otherwise tense silence in the room. Byulyi didn’t need any announcement or introduction; that was clearly the head of the family. 

 

With one last sympathetic look over her shoulder, Hyejin slipped out of her strapped sandals and sat next to the head of the family. Several of the other folks lost interest in Byulyi, who was wondering if she finally managed to sweat through all her layers in her nervousness. They turned to coddle Hyejin, asking about her day, asking what kind of snacks she wanted. Hyejin was an obvious favorite in the family. 

 

“Great-grandmother,” Yonghee began, eyes still on Byulyi. Maybe she felt bad that everyone else was fine with leaving Byulyi to hang and dry at the entryway. “Shall I bring an extra cup for our… guest?”

 

Byulyi hoped that Yonghee could understand the endless gratitude she was emitting with her eyes. 

 

With a dismissive wave of the hand, Great-grandmother was about to decide Byulyi’s fate when a loud ‘poof!’ interrupted her verdict and one of the cats that had been lazing at the family matriarch’s feet suddenly turned into a blushing teenage boy. 

 

It was kind of hard to tell whether the boy or Byulyi let out the higher-pitched shriek at the sudden transformation. 

 

Without batting an eye, Great-grandmother dropped a bathrobe into the boy’s lap, who gratefully if a bit clumsily threw it on. “Hyunwoo-yah, this is why you need to learn control. Hyejin-ah, try some of these macaroons; Auntie brought them back from her trip to France.” And just when Byulyi was sure that they’d forgotten about her again and that she should get comfortable standing at the entryway, the matriarch addressed Yonghee, “Yonghee-yah, take our guest to wait in the back. I want to finish my tea before dealing with unpleasant business.”

 

 She might as well have said ‘prisoner’ or ‘peasant’ or ‘cur’ or ‘you piece of !’ with that tone, Byulyi thought irritably. That attitude reminded Byulyi too much of some of her clients from work and she can already feel the familiar displeasure rising at the back of . Well, on the bright side, the way she was consistently and rudely being brushed off might serve to piss her off enough for her to forget her anxiety. If they really were going to wipe her memories, might as well give them a piece of her mind. 

 

Just as she opened to do so, Yonghee approached with a subtle shake of the head. Gripping her arm, Byulyi was led quickly out a side door and down a hallway. Yonghee set a brisk pace that had Byulyi’s socks slipping and sliding on the wood flooring. She had half a thought to just let Yonghee pull and slide on the heels of her socks. Before she actually went about setting that plan into motion, Byulyi’s eyes studied the hand that gripped at her armsleeve and followed it to the woman leading them on a march through the house. 

 

Kim Yonghee. She’d never met the woman before, but Byulyi had seen pictures, walked in on the tailend of a video call between the two sisters. Yongsun had mentioned that Yonghee went to school abroad for undergraduate and graduate, that she was a little strict with a rare lazy side she occasionally indulged through excessive pizza and YouTube binges. Byulyi had no idea what the woman did for a living and Yongsun didn’t seem particularly clear on what it was either, but whatever it was, it had Yonghee traveling out of the country often. Hence them never having met before.

 

“Sorry about earlier. Great-grandmother is always like that to anyone that’s not family.” Yonghee slid another door open and they were soon out in another courtyard. 

 

Byulyi snorted. “I’ve had worse clients.”

 

With a small smile, Yonghee stopped and leaned against the wall. “Is that right? Yongsun told me you worked in advertising.”

 

“Ah.” That flustered her a little. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Yongsun would talk to her sister about her, seeing as how Yonghee seemed to be the only family member Yongsun kept consistent contact with. But more importantly, “Where is Yongsun now? Is she alright?”

 

“Well,” Yonghee sighed as she glanced off into the courtyard. “She’s as alright as she can be.” Yonghee didn’t need to elaborate; Hyejin had told her enough about how the Compound made Yongsun feel. 

 

And that made the need to be there for Yongsun all the stronger. “Can I see her?”

 

This time, Yonghee studied her with narrowed eyes. “Do you know what you’re here for, Byulyi? Do you know what’s going to happen to you?”

 

She did and right now that barely mattered. “Hyejin told me on the way over.”

 

“Oh? She must have a soft-spot for you then.”

 

“How do you figure that?” Byulyi couldn’t hide the incredulity from her face. “She’s the reason I’m here to get hypnotized or whatever.”

 

“It’s what’s expected of us,” Yonghee replied and she has that narrowed, searching look in her eyes that reminded Byulyi of the way the family matriarch had studied her, gauging the weaknesses of prey. Yonghee wasn’t a cat right? Hyejin said no one else in Yongsun’s immediate family had the curse. 

 

Standing so that she faced Yonghee directly, Byulyi asked, “So if Yongsun had asked you not to report to the family that I knew about the curse, would you still do it? Even though you knew it meant Yongsun would be forced to stay here?”

 

Whatever response or expression Yonghee might’ve made, the one Byulyi least expected was one showing her obvious approval.

 

 For a moment neither of them said anything. A kid screeched from somewhere down the hall. The noises of a regular, if cursed, household sounded around them. 

 

“Do you want Yongsun to be happy?” Yonghee asked. 

 

Byulyi replied without hesitation. “More than anything.”

 

Smiling, Yonghee gestured for Byulyi to follow her down the hallway. “I had a good feeling about you, Byulyi.”

 

“Thanks?”

 

With a laugh, a softer more restrained one compared to Yongsun’s, Yonghee stopped and gestured to a sliding door at the end of the hallway. Yongsun.

 

Before Byulyi could take more than a step, Yonghee reached out for her shoulder. “Byulyi, I want Yongsun to be happy too. I can’t help her with the curse, but I will do the best I can to help.” She leaned in, voice low. “Depending on circumstances, not everyone who discovers the curse have their memories erased.”

 

“What?” It was a small, hesitant hope that shyly lit in Byulyi’s heart. She’d spent the entire walk from the Compound’s front gates to this hallway outside Yongsun’s room thinking that she won’t walk out with her memories intact. It’s dangerous to let this hope take root, but if there was a chance that she could still be a part of Yongsun’s life, support her dreams outside this Compound, then Byulyi was more than ready to bet on it.

 

“Our family has other approaches: bribery for one and…” Yonghee squeezed Byulyi’s shoulder and winked. “Marriage.” She left the hallway, chuckling to herself at the burst of embarrassment on Byulyi’s face. 

 

Clearly Yonghee was just messing with her. Byulyi could see where Yongsun got her weird sense of humor from. Even if she were to take those options into serious consideration, Byulyi wasn’t completely naive; whatever alternative the family would offer in place of hypnotizing her would surely come with a list of exceptions and clauses that would make straight up accepting money or m...marriage rather difficult. 

 

Get it together! You’ve come this far! Byulyi clapped at her cheeks, pushed her baseball cap up, and knocked on the door at the end of the hallway before sliding it open, breath held and heart pumping loudly.

 

“Are mom and dad here?” Yongsun asked from where she slumped against the low table, seated at the floor. She had been staring out the window and assumed Yonghee had come to check in on her.

 

For a moment, Byulyi could only stare. An air of despondency hung around Yongsun, weighing down on her shoulders and coloring her skin with pallor. When no response was forthcoming, Byulyi could see Yongsun’s nose twitch, see her curiously taking in the scents in the air before she spun around and stared wide-eyed.

 

“What,” Yongsun asked, voice slowly rising with a burst of emotion, “what are you doing here?”

 

Her tone kicked Byulyi into motion, entirely reminiscent of the way their awkward conversation two weeks ago at the neighborhood park with the duck pond had escalated into a shouting match. Even as she knew this, Byulyi couldn’t help the tone in her response either, “What am I doing here? What am I - … what are you doing here?”

 

Yongsun shot to her feet, hands trembling fists at the sides of her sweatpants. “I have to be here! What-” Loudly groaning, she ran her hands through her dark hair, gripping at the ends and eyes wide in an overwhelmed panic. “I left you that note-”

 

“That note was cryptic as hell, unnie.”

 

“I came here so you wouldn’t have to!”

 

“Hyejin said otherwise.”

 

“Hyejin said…” Yongsun’s hands dropped limply at her sides. “Hyejin said that? But…” 

 

At that sight of Yongsun so deflated, Byulyi reminded herself of her resolve: she was here to support Yongsun. Just as Yongsun was there to hear and accept her fears and insecurities last night, Byulyi was here to alleviate her of some of hers.

 

Gently she slid the door closed and approached the distressed woman before her slowly. “I… I’m sorry.” Apologies never came easy for either of them, but in this moment when Byulyi could offer little else, she found it came without the struggle it usually did. “I didn’t mean to stress you out anymore than you already are.”

 

Yongsun sighed, hands coming up to wrap themselves around her before she decided she didn’t want to look defensive. Awkwardly she stopped the movement midway to instead gesture at a cushion on the floor next to her. “No, don’t apologize. I… Have a seat?”

 

For the next few minutes they sat side-by-side, not quite touching, and observing the scenery of the peaceful courtyard out the window. Occasionally a cat or two would amble in and out of view. The noises and voices of the rest of the household drifted by but they were alone for the most part. 

 

The room was spartan and didn’t look like much more than a half-hearted sitting room: a potted plant here, a painted scroll in the corner, and an old calendar dating four years back. Byulyi wondered what Yongsun’s room at the estate looked like and if she would get a chance to see it before Great-grandmother decided on her fate. 

 

Shifting on her cushion, Byulyi glanced at Yongsun: she had her arms wrapped tightly around her knees, worriedly nibbling at her lips. When she caught Yongsun stealing a peek back at her, Byulyi decided the silence was a waste of time. Taking a breath, trying to draw on that same sense of peace and security and honesty they shared last night in the darkness of her bedroom, Byulyi said, “You kinda left suddenly, unnie. I got worried.”

 

Yongsun spoke, her voice soft, but low and tired. It reminded Byulyi of when they would wake up together in the mornings and Yongsun’s voice was nearly hoarse enough to match her own normal speaking voice. “I decided last night I wasn’t going to run from the curse anymore.” She paused, eyes boring a hole into the shrubbery in the courtyard. “I... there is more to the curse than what I said last night. If you were even awake enough to remember it,” she finished with a mumble. 

 

With a gentle nudge against her shoulder, Byulyi replied, “C’mon, you know I’m a light sleeper.” 

 

They shared a small smile. 

 

Then Byulyi quickly sobered up. “Hyejin filled me in on the rest earlier today.” Her face wrinkled into a frown. “She also told me she ‘reported’ us. ”

 

She thought back to the story Hyejin had told her about the curse’s supposed origin and the repercussions this family still suffered to this day. The secrecy and the lengths their family were willing to go to maintain it.

 

“Please don’t blame Hyejin.”

 

Byulyi hadn’t realized her hands had tightened into shaking fists when Yongsun spoke up. She had her chin resting atop her knees and she gazed at Byulyi so solemnly and so sadly that even the resentment she quickly grew towards Hyejin for being in this situation felt quietly shamed. But this new Byulyi, the Byulyi that was going to try to be more honest to her own feelings, still pouted. “If she hadn’t said anything to your family, to your Great-grandmother, you wouldn’t be here.”

 

Yongsun’s eyes softened. “Maybe not. But Hyejin has a lot of pressure placed on her.”

 

When Byulyi didn’t reply and only frowned vaguely at the space in front of her, Yongsun reached for her hand, the hand that two weeks ago she had accidentally scratched in a flurry of panicked emotions. She smoothed her thumb over the back of Byulyi’s hand, over the barely visible, faint white lines that remained. “The curse hit me a bit later than the others, but Hyejin had it earlier. She was barely ten when she changed for the first time.”

 

Byulyi watched as Yongsun’s thumb went round and round in gentle circles, her voice drawing out a sense of calmness and comfort that they shared when it was just the two of them and a quiet moment.

 

“And when she controlled her curse in a few months, the family heads all started treating her like some kind of ‘chosen one.’ Great-grandmother wanted to keep her here at the Compound as an example for the others. To show them who they should be like. For someone so young, that was a lot of pressure.” Yongsun tugged Byulyi into looking at her, gentle brown eyes willing her to understand.

 

The sympathy that had already taken root in Byulyi for Hyejin’s situation blossomed and she felt bad for her resentment. Keeping her eyes on their clasped hands, Byulyi mumbled, “Hyejin told me about her friend. The one that found out. And what happened to her.”

 

Byulyi remembered the loss in Hyejin’s gold eyes and how young she looked when she relayed the story of her past. 

 

“You know she was talking about Wheein, right?”

 

She remembered thinking how someone Hyejin’s age should not have to bear the pain of that kind of loss and- Wait. What? 

 

“What?!” 

 

If anything Yongsun looked more surprised at Byulyi’s interjection then the fact that she just served the swerve of the century. “Yeah? I thought you said Hyejin told you the rest?”

 

“She didn’t tell me that!” 

 

Now Yongsun looked a little embarrassed. “Oh.” 

 

Byulyi had known Wheein for years now; they’d met at cram school, eventually going on to attend the same university and apply for the same company. The shy, withdrawn Wheein who couldn’t even look people in the eye and was constantly teased for coming from a poor family has come a long way since. 

 

So Yongsun was extra adamant about Wheein not finding out - she didn’t want the younger girl to have to go through it again.  

 

“Wait. So you knew Wheein even before I introduced you guys?” Was that why the two of them got along so quickly? And when was Yongsun going to let her in on that particular plot twist? 

 

Seeing Byulyi’s distraught expression, Yongsun said, “I was surprised too!” She knocked against Byulyi’s shoulder. “I didn’t know Wheein from… before, but Hyejin told me about it not long after it happened.” After a beat, Yongsun continued, “At first I wasn’t sure they were the same person, but whenever Hyejin came over to check up on me, she always asked how Wheein was doing.” 

 

With a heavy sigh, Byulyi pushed her baseball cap off and tried to pull up memories of last night’s drink-and-talk session, of the way Hyejin had been so careful with guiding a drunk Wheein back to her apartment. She found that whatever resentment that might’ve remained at Hyejin’s decision to report them washed away as she remembered how Hyejin had looked so fondly at Wheein, had been so curious about her apartment, wondering what kind of life her friend lived after losing her memories of them. 

 

“She did say Wheein was the kind of best friend you only meet once in a lifetime,” Byulyi mumbled. 

 

 “I should’ve told you that too, shouldn’t I?” Yongsun said quietly. 

 

Now that the surprise had worn off and her heart had a chance to settle, Byulyi thought about it and decided, no. It wouldn’t have been Yongsun’s place to tell her something so personal for Hyejin. Besides this revelation was small beans compared to Yongsun’s cat thing and the feelings surrounding that. 

 

“Hyejin told me the hypnosis took a toll on Wheein. Then Yonghee-unnie told me that to make up for the side-effects-”

 

“It wasn’t just our memories she forgot; she couldn’t look me or anyone in the eye. She didn’t smile. She didn’t… a lot of things anymore.”

 

“-the family arranged for Wheein to win a scholarship to pay for university.”

 

‘Bribery,’ Yonghee had told Byulyi. 

 

Wheein and Hyejin were just kids; they shouldn’t have had to go through that. Why hadn’t the family just bribed Wheein into never saying a thing about it? Surely as an independent adult, Byulyi was more of a threat than some shy middle school kid who saw something she maybe shouldn’t have? Then again, kids could be unpredictable and fearless in a way an adult shackled by bills and work and responsibilities rarely were.  

 

Everytime Byulyi found out something new pertaining to Yongsun and her family and the curse, it left her feeling like she really didn’t know anything about the reality around her. Slumping back against the low table in the room, Byulyi held tight to Yongsun’s hand.

 

“That’s why I left,” Yongsun whispered.

 

Byulyi felt the grip she had on Yongsun’s hand returned. 

 

“I thought if I willingly came back, Great-grandmother would leave you alone.”

 

Immediately Byulyi’s heart broke for Yongsun, bursting open with love and compassion. Yongsun thought the less Byulyi knew about the curse, the more likely her family would let her be. Yongsun had planned on taking the burden of this revelation all by herself, shut up in this house that made her so, so miserable. She had been willing to do it for Byulyi - for them. 

 

“I got too comfortable, too used to you being there,” Yongsun continued, voice wavering. “I ignored everything that could go wrong; everything about this stupid curse. After what happened in college… after all that,” Yongsun sobbed, glistening brown eyes turned to Byulyi and the reflection of herself that Byulyi saw in those brown eyes had drawn Yongsun into a tight embrace so that’s what she did. “I didn’t want to lose all the progress I made. I got so far from the person I used to be. I was doing everything I could only dream about as a kid!” 

 

It wasn’t easy, what Yongsun did. Particularly so without the support of her family, one that had tried to mold itself as her only rapport with the way they directed her childhood. But Yongsun had done it, had built a space all for herself. And she’d let Byulyi into that space, let that space comfort her and be something for the both of them. 

 

“I didn’t want to lose you. You made me feel so safe and so comfortable, like I didn’t have the curse weighing down on me.” Yongsun’s arms tightened around Byulyi’s shoulders. “I know I’m too weak to control the curse - I know it, but I wanted to be with you!”

 

Yongsun’s words struck Byulyi with pinpoint accuracy and it was more than her already aching heart could bear. Drawing back, she gently held Yongsun’s face between her hands and waited until those tearful brown eyes were on her. “Kim Yongsun, you’re not weak. You’re the bravest, most passionate person I know. You’re so amazing!” When Yongsun made to protest, Byulyi shook her head. “Yongsun, you got so far, did so much, all by yourself despite the curse. Don’t you see?” She pleaded, tears of her own gathering and slipping. “You’re the best.”

 

And with Yongsun crying and trembling between her hands, Byulyi did something that didn’t really make any sense: she lifted Yongsun’s face gently up towards hers and with as much sincerity as she could muster at the moment, she scrunched up her eyes tightly for a few seconds before opening them expectantly.

 

When Yongsun just returned a glassy-eyed gaze punctuated with sniffles, Byulyi desperately repeated the gesture until Yongsun wiped at her nose with her jacket sleeve and asked, “Byulyi, what the hell are you doing?”

 

Flustered, Byulyi repeated the desperate blinking a few more times before giving up. “You did that for me last night and I thought…” At the sudden shriek of laughter that burst from Yongsun, Byulyi reddened and stammered, “I was trying to make you feel better, okay??”

 

“Seriously, Byul-ah,” Yongsun gasped, rubbing away at the tears of laughter on her face before clasping Byulyi’s face in between her hands. “You drive me crazy,” she said fondly and drew Byulyi in. 

 

ฅ/ᐠ｡ᆽ｡ᐟ \ ฅ/ᐠ｡ᆽ｡ᐟ \ ฅ/ᐠ｡ᆽ｡ᐟ \

 

“So what now?” Byulyi asked, playing with Yongsun’s fingers. Their backs facing the courtyard, they rested against the windowsill, slumped against each other.

 

Thankfully no one had walked in on them during their emotional reconciliation - that would’ve been awkward - but the fact that nobody had been sent to grab her yet was ironically making her nervous. 

 

Resting against her shoulder, Yongsun hummed in thought. “Well, Great-grandmother will want to talk to you, try to intimidate you.”

 

“Oh, she doesn’t need to try.”

 

Swatting gently at Byulyi’s arm, Yongsun continued after a beat, “She’ll talk to you about the curse and what it means for the family.” 

 

All the important parts Hyejin had already filled her in on. 

 

“I think she might try to bribe you into forgetting what you saw. The family has enough money to set you up for life; you wouldn’t have to keep working at that company.” Yongsun was peering at her with a tentative gaze and the Byulyi from two weeks ago would’ve been insulted from Yongsun even thinking that Byulyi could be bought, insulted enough to snap back with something passive aggressive and mildly hurtful. But she knew this was Yongsun trying, in her own way, to protect Byulyi. 

 

“There’s gotta be a ‘but’ in that offer,” Byulyi said instead.

 

“Well,” Yongsun hesitated. “I imagine you’ll have to cut off all contact with me.” 

 

In other words, it won’t be much different from having her memories erased, only with this offer Byulyi would have to live with all the possibilities that could’ve been still in her head. 

 

“Unnie, do you want me to take the offer if it happens?”

 

“Wha- No! I didn’t mean… I mean, if you wanted-”

 

“I want to be with you, Yongsun,” Byulyi said simply.

 

When Yongsun flushed and glanced away, Byulyi grinned. It was the truth, but teasing Yongsun into wordlessness was always a bonus. As she watched Yongsun turn and hide her embarrassment, Byulyi thought back to the events two weeks ago in that park that brought them to where they were now. She thought back to how Yongsun’s brown eyes had shimmered with tears at the words she had rashly blurted out. Physically she didn’t feel like much has changed since that park. Yongsun was still a strong, passionate, dream-chaser and part-time cat. And she was still just Byulyi. 

 

Maybe not the same Byulyi that was afraid of change. 

 

“Yong,” she called gently, hiding a grin when Yongsun’s eyes darted this way and that in a last ditch effort to hide her blush. Tugging at their joined hands, she said, “I love you and I want to be with you. If it takes marrying you to keep your family from brainwashing me or paying me off, I’ll do it.”

 

For a moment, eyes wide in shock, there was a tentative few seconds where both Yongsun and Byulyi held their breaths in anticipation of Yongsun changing. Byulyi could see it on Yongsun’s face: the way her eyes darted wildly like she was already searching for the nearest escape route as a cat. But then, one breath… two breaths… And still it was just the two of them, just Yongsun and Byulyi. 

 

As Yongsun studied her trembling human hands in amazement, Byulyi tugged it up and pressed it to her lips. “Whatever your family decides, I’m not letting go.” 

 

“Are you serious? You can’t be… no…” Yongsun tore her gaze away from their joined hands and stammered even as the edges of her lips tugged into a familiar grin. “Marriage? M-my family doesn’t do divorces, you know… are you-”

 

Playfully rolling her eyes, Byulyi said, “As if you’d let me leave without editing all five million videos in your vlog backlog.Who else can get your best angles?” 

 

Even as Yongsun devolved into flustered shrieking and blindly swatting at her arm, Byulyi laughed and Yongsun eventually joined her, collapsing against her side in warm giggles. 

 

Yongsun’s curse, Byulyi’s fears, the world they lived in; maybe all those things were still just as complicated as before. Maybe there were no simple solutions. But they were here now, the little rare bits of honesty they’d spare finally circling around them enough to make a picture they both could see, could accept. 

 

Yongsun being a cat; their opposite personalities and approaches to life; the difficulties they’ll have to navigate to handle both in their relationship. 

 

Gently, Yongsun tugged her into standing, matching, unbridled smiles directed at each other. 

 

When the door slid open to Yonghee’s knowing look and Hyejin’s tentatively optimistic smile, Byulyi knew that Yongsun and her were going to handle it just fine. 

 

Byulyi is dating a cat and maybe that was too general, too mild a statement to contain everything that had happened and been said in the past two weeks, everything they’d gone through and learned of each other in their relationship, but between them, sometimes it really was that simple. 

 

ฅ/ᐠ｡ᆽ｡ᐟ \ ฅ/ᐠ｡ᆽ｡ᐟ \ ฅ/ᐠ｡ᆽ｡ᐟ \

 

Thanks again for all the comments, subscriptions, and upvotes! This is my first real, lengthy project in years and I’m glad you guys enjoyed it. The feedback really encouraged me to put more effort into my writing than otherwise. I also want to apologize for the delay in this chapter; I thought I would have it out sooner and when I finally do, it’s like 10k words haha. There’s a short epilogue left and if people are interested, I can include some notes or ideas that didn’t make it into the story? Thanks again for reading, hopefully I’ll be back soon with another project :D