“I’m going to get fired. Literally, I will perish in fire.”  

There’s an employee evaluation in two Gregorian weeks. By the looks of it, Gowon is screwed, quite frankly. 

“Maybe. But! You know what will get you in the boss’ good graces again?”

Gowon looks over and finds Yeojin staring at her, all bright-eyed and easygoing. She stuffs the report into her lowest drawer. Her grades seem to dip little by little every time she receives them. Alright, she’ll admit it: she’s been at this for a while now and she’s no longer as good as she used to be.

She fails to notice Olivia, her cubicle neighbour, frowning at her hidden stack of disparaging reports.

“That hard- Jung Jinsoul will.”

Gowon groans. “You tell me that every time we get the appraisal reports.”

“Yeah, 'cuz what better redemption arc than solving Mission Impossible? Listen, I believe in you! If anyone could get that rascal on the right path, it’s you,” Yeojin nudges. She seems to manifest the phrase ‘easier said than done’. “Olivia would agree with me. Right?”

Yeojin turns to their co-worker, who stares back at them with a jaded look in her eyes. She always seemed snappier than the rest, but Gowon could tell that was just a front. She seems more tired than usual, though.  

“Yeah, you can,” Olivia replies, shoulder rising in a half-hearted shrug. Gowon purses her lips; she was expecting a more encouraging answer than that.

“Maybe the me of ten orbital periods ago…but the me now has ‘Lamentable’ under Productivity and ‘Lousy’ under Dependability. My performance is crummy,” Gowon mumbles, recalling the bright red words tainting the paper she had just stuffed into her cave of a desk drawer. “I’ve lost my magic touch.”

“It’s ‘cuz of your crummy attitude!” Yeojin exclaims, shaking her head. When Gowon only sinks further into her snazzy leather chair (new model; the office has taken a liking to mortal ergonomics), Yeojin suddenly leaps out of hers and nearly yanks her co-worker out of her seat.

“Say, why don’t you go give Jinsoul a little visit?” she whispers, face lit up with mischief.

Talk about anti-climactic advice. Gowon purses her lips in disappointment, pushing Yeojin away. “I can’t really afford to bend the rules right now.” Direct confrontation with humans is frowned upon around here. "Besides, I'm already taxing my resources from up here."

She's been trying to settle the Jinsoul case remotely for months under the laser eye of her boss, but despite her new strategy, Gowon always finds herself back at square one. 

“It’s only bad if you’re caught. Hey, desperate times call for desperate measures. You’re on the verge of being cast off to Eternal Damnation,” Yeojin reasons with a shrug, and she says it like it’s not serious, but it is, “what have you got to lose?”

“Ughhhhh,” comes Gowon’s guttural cry. Eternal damnation is some serious divine punishment - imprisonment in fire and brimstone, which is to say she will literally cease to exist.

“Come on, up, up,” Yeojin urges, “this is your year, I know it. Have some confidence, put on your best human costume, and go fix this !”

Gowon glances over to Olivia, perhaps in a plea for help, but Olivia just gives her the slightest of nods.

“What should I say? Should I give the ‘future daughter’ angle a shot?”

It’s a classic: ‘I’m your kid from the future and I will disappear if you and parent #2 don’t get together right at this moment'. (Works like a charm, apparently, but mostly with straight couples.)

“That’s Choerry’s thing,” Olivia suddenly interrupts. “Don’t copy her. And don't bother her about it, she's busy with her own cases.”

Gowon narrows her eyes. “Nevermind then. I don’t need a stupid backstory,” she grouses.

Why does Olivia always have to bring up Choerry? Her cubicle’s not even anywhere near theirs. And what’s so special about being the top employee for thirteen straight Gregorian months in a row anyway? There is nothing special about that. Who cares about getting resource priorities on February 14 every year? Gowon can succeed on her own merit! She’ll show Olivia, she will!

“Backstory schmackstory. If you need to make use of silly mortal stories to get the job done, you’re a cop-out!” Yeojin exclaims.

“Says the one who’s never stepped foot on earth,” Olivia grumbles.

“Because I’m so damn good at my job, I don’t need to! I can make mortals fall in love from the comfort of my customized... Herman... Miller... Embody. Ah.” Yeojin reclines in her office chair, putting her hands on the back of her head, lips pulled up in a smirk.

Gowon sighs. “Fine. I’m going down there.”

“We’ll cover for you,” Olivia assures her before catching a glance Yeojin, utterly distracted by the dynamic surface pressure of her seat. “Well, I will,” she quickly murmurs and that, somehow, sounds more reassuring to Gowon than anything Yeojin could ever tell her.

***

The fur around the hood of her coat is the softest thing she’s ever touched in her entire life. And Gowon has lived a very long life.

Twirling in her pink coat, Gowon admires her reflection on the glass window as snow falls in a gentle sprinkle. Vivi – from the design department – ran an illicit side hustle creating corporeal forms for whoever wanted to leave the office and give earth a visit behind the boss’ back. It’s some eternal damnation-worthy , but she claims it's a source of thrill. Drafting sketches of humans is boring, apparently.

Gowon finally gets to bask in the human form made especially for her. Her face? Perfectly symmetrical. Eyes? Like a doe’s in the winter. Hair? So luscious that Rapunzel would be envious. Forehead? Glistening. Her features just come together perfectly and there’s only word to succinctly sum it up: cute.

She looks so goddamn cute. Vivi did an incredible job.

“I look much cuter than you,” she brags to the tall, slender mannequin on the other side of the window wearing an identical coat, twitching her nose at its shiny hairless crown, “and I have hair.” 

And then she her head, eyes narrowing for a moment, before letting out a frustrated groan. “Okay fine, maybe you’re still the better looking one…” she grumbles. 

Before Gowon could go on a sudden barrage of self-deprecating comments (is this a human thing? Gross), her superstar mortal protagonist appears in her peripheral. Gowon immediately runs over to the girl bundled up from head to toe, coming to a halt right in front of Jinsoul as her clean white boots leave skid tracks on the snow.

Jinsoul almost stumbles backwards in surprise.

“Hi!” Gowon greets cheerily.

“Um…hi? Who are you...?”

Her grin is blinding. “I’m the answer to all your troubles.”

Jinsoul can only blink.  

***

Gowon is aware of how it looks: Jinsoul was just minding her own business, out on a nice stroll on a chilly November day, when a total stranger popped up in front of her claiming to solve all her problems. Yes, it's very sketchy. 

But Gowon is also aware of Jinsoul’s predicament: her mind is plagued by a vast array of worries and she might just be desperate enough to believe that maybe this adorable stranger really does have the answer to all her troubles.

(Instead of, you know, dismissing her as a nutcase and running off. Which is what a normal human being would do.

But Jinsoul’s always had a unique flair for diverting expectations.)

So screw the suspicion, Gowon went for it. But even though Jinsoul has willingly sat down at this picnic table, the suspicious look in her eyes tells Gowon something has immediately dawned on her:

“Are you gonna try to scam me?” she asks. “Just so you know, I’m not interested in whatever pyramid scheme you have up your sleeve, nor do I want to attend some pseudo-religious cult ceremony where I have to donate a thousand times my age in won or whatever.”  

Gowon’s perfect human face scrunches up in evident confusion.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she answers, and then she straightens her posture and clears . She's on a time crunch. “I’ll make this quick. I’m going to say three things, tell me which one you believe in the most.”

Jinsoul quirks an eyebrow.

“One, I’m God.” (Jinsoul narrows her eyes.) “Two, I’m your daughter from the future.” (Jinsoul’s eyebrows only furrow deeper.) “Three, I’m Cupid.” 

Solid possibilities. 

But Jinsoul only returns her anticipating look with a glare. “Uh, I’m supposed to pick one of those?” she asks, “because none. What are you talking about?”

Taken aback by her response, Gowon draws a blank. “Huh?” 

(Okay, maybe she slept through the seminars on human interaction when she first entered the company. To be fair, since it’s against policy to directly engage with mortals anyway, Gowon didn’t think the lessons mattered. Why learn how to act like a human being if she’s not even supposed to interact with human beings? Make it make sense!

Gowon also didn’t think she’d ever be desperate enough to be in a position where she had to take on a corporeal form and talk to mortals, but alas…)

She really should’ve chosen an identity beforehand and stuck with it. 

“Alright, technically, it’s all of the above," (but also none of the above), “but if that’s too unbelievable for you, you can just call me Gowon.”

Jinsoul lets out a snicker. “Okay then. Well, nice to meet you, Gowon. I’m Jinsoul.”

“I know,” Gowon interjects with a dismissive wave, “listen, I’d love to chat with you and all – that’s what humans do, right? Small talk or whatever? - but unfortunately, I don’t have much time. And I already know everything about you.”

Jinsoul raises an eyebrow. “You don’t even know me,” she replies with a small chuckle.

Gowon gasps at the insulting accusation. Don’t know her?! She’s known of Jinsoul the entire twenty-two years she’s existed! “For your information, I know your case file like the back of my very dainty hand. Jung Jinsoul, born day thirteen, month six, year ninety-seven of the tenth decade – per the temporal organization of the Gregorian calendar – to parents–”

She comes to an abrupt stop when Jinsoul shoots up from the bench, eyebrows meeting above slow intermittent blinks. From her expression, Gowon can see the gears in her head churn.

“You're not like, a stalker, are you? Because I won't hesitate to call the cops on you.”

Gowon widens her eyes. “What? No!” (In hindsight, maybe she shouldn’t have said all that from the get-go.) “I’m not a stalker, I’m harmless!” (For now.)

“Well, you’re kind of freaking me out.”

“Do you believe in Cupid? I’m just going to say I’m Cupid!” Gowon says hurriedly, spreading her arms out, “it’s me! Cupid!”

Jinsoul’s backing away now. Gowon’s quick to her feet, nearly tripping over the picnic table bench when she lurches.

“How do I explain this in a way you’ll understand? Oh, for Firmament’s sake, I should’ve paid attention to the seminars,” she fusses. On second thought, maybe coming down here without a coherent plan whatsoever was a terrible idea. “I- oh, you have to believe me!”

“Listen, the only reason I haven’t completely run off yet is because you look super innocent and cute,” Jinsoul says, distancing herself some more, “but you're also nuts.”

Stick to a story, stick to a story. “I told you! I’m Cupid incarnate!”

A beat passes. “You just said you were Gowon,” Jinsoul says dumbly.

“I’m Gowon and Cupid!”

“…Okay, I’m going to walk away now. Briskly. Don't follow me.”

The prospect of failing this assignment and consequently rotting in hell surfaces more presently in Gowon’s mind, suddenly hounding her thoughts like a hungry wolf ready to pounce.

“Wait! Just hear me out!” Gowon shouts as she jogs after Jinsoul’s retreating figure. 

“I said don’t follow me! You don’t make any sense!”

“Do I have to?!” Gowon retorts impulsively.

Jinsoul comes to a halt and turns to look at her with an incredulous look. “Uh…yes?!  What kind of world do you come from?”  

Gowon frowns. She doesn’t come from any world. 

“Cupid’s not real,” Jinsoul reiterates. 

“Of course Cupid’s real, I’m right here. In the flesh.”

Goodness, why can’t Jinsoul just take things at face value? Why do humans believe in a flat earth but can’t fathom the possibly real existence of Cupid? Why the incessant need to make sense of everything? Humans are curiously fascinating, yet terribly complex creatures...

Jinsoul can only bark out a laugh. “This is crazy. Look, just fess up, tell me who you are and why you want anything to do with me.”

A sigh falls from Gowon’s lips. Jinsoul's glaring at her apprehensively, an impatient foot tapping like she's ready to flee the moment Gowon says the wrong word. Feeling like she’s been backed into a corner, Yeojin’s irritating voice floods her mind ('desperate times call for desperate measures!'). Desperate times call for breaking every damn rule in the book for the sake of saving your .

Fine, Gowon thinks, but you’re not going to believe me. She heaves in a breath and exhales slowly. 

“I work at The Firmament. We run this universe. I’m in charge of your love life,” Gowon explains plainly. “It’s abysmal, by the way, and so are my performance appraisals. The only way I can save my job now is to fix things with you or else I get cast off to eternal damnation.”

There. Blew her entire cover in five seconds. This better have been worth it!

An excruciating silence falls over them. And then Jinsoul begins to bare the widest of grins for god(s) knows what reason.

“Hold on…this has got to be some elaborate joke. Are you one of the new freshmen? Did Jungeun set you up to this? Or Jiwoo?” Jinsoul questions, a contemplative finger to her temple, eyebrow raised in amusement. “Because eight out of ten. I think your explanation better fits the ‘God’ identity than the ‘Cupid’ identity, but I like the corporate twist. This kind of creativity reeks of Jiwoo.”

Jinsoul spins around, eyes searching.

“Again, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Gowon exclaims, but Jinsoul’s too busy craning her neck. “What are you looking for?!”

“The camera. This must be one of Jiwoo’s stupid pranks,” Jinsoul answers absent-mindedly. “Jiwoo! Quit it already, you only have five subscribers! And Sooyoung, Jungeun, and I are three of them!”

Gowon ignores her. “You asked for the truth and I gave it to you!”

Jinsoul crosses her arms, amused. “The truth sounds like fiction.”

Pursing her lips, Gowon probes her superior all-knowing idea bank for a way to make this make sense in human terms. She knew Jinsoul wasn’t going to believe her.

Think, Gowon, think! Your existence depends on this!

And then it comes to her like a eureka moment: 

“You have a soulmate.”

Record scratch. Human fables about ‘soulmates’ controlled by ‘the universe’ are a valiantly romantic effort at making biologically and culturally expected social partnerships meaningful. Though not really true, they do prove useful for Gowon’s job. If Jinsoul’s not going to believe the truth anyway, might as well fall back on the silly mortal fairy tales. Screw Yeojin’s ‘cop-out’ argument, Gowon’s desperate!

Jinsoul makes a noise that’s half a scoff, half a laugh. “You’re kidding.”

Gowon subtly rolls her eyes because of course, humans have all these big ideas about soulmates and predestined happy-ever-afters, but they don't actually believe in them. What's the point?!

(Gowon can tell her, ‘well, actually, you have a designated life partner who is theoretically ideal for you, according to our data’, but records show that shattering humans’ carefully constructed world of meanings only results in an unproductive state of existential crisis.

And Gowon has no time to deal with that.)

“You have a soulmate,” Gowon re-iterates, “and that’s the good news.”

Jinsoul lifts an eyebrow. “Fine. If this is one of Jiwoo’s pranks, I’m gonna play along for the content, so this better go viral,” she grumbles, sighing before putting on a false expression of fear. “Oh dear. Tell me, Cupid, what’s the bad news?!”

“The bad news is that it’s not Ha Sooyoung.”

The amusement on Jinsoul’s face disappears quicker than it appeared as all her features fall in unison, wide grin morphing into a frown. The surprise only lasts for a second, though, before Jinsoul forces out an insulted scoff.

“That’s not funny,” she mutters. She and Sooyoung have been going through a rough patch lately, Gowon knows that (very well, actually; it's been her intention this entire time, after all).

“You needed to know,” Gowon tells her solemnly. It’s her best attempt at softening the blow, but truthfully, this really shouldn’t be any cause for alarm. This is just the way things are, the way they’ve dictated it to be. It’s normal. “So, you need to break up with her.”

At her words, Jinsoul tries to laugh it off. She plasters a dumb grin on her face, but Gowon's contrasting seriousness doesn’t do anything to settle her fears and her smile soon dissipates into silence.

“Are you going to say anything?” Gowon asks when the awkward quiet goes on for too long.

“Yeah,” Jinsoul responds flatly, a beat passes, and then finally: “what the ?”

Again, she looks around for any sign of Jiwoo, but no girl pops out from the bushes despite how many times Jinsoul yells out her name.

Gowon intrudes her line of sight. “You have to believe me. If I don’t get you with your soulmate in two weeks, I’m doomed,” she blurts out, hoping Jinsoul catches the alarm in her tone.

The human shakes her head in disbelief. “This is stupid. I don’t even who you are. I don’t know how you know any of this, but it’s none of your business.”

“Actually, it’s quite literally my business, but I digress,” Gowon says off-handedly. “I’m just going to tell you right now, okay? No dramatic pause, no drum roll. Your real soulmate is Jungeun. Your roommate. Your best friend. Kim. Jung. Eun. Do you understand?”

Gowon waits. Jinsoul returns her expectant stare for only a second before breaking out in barking laughter. It’s the mocking type, a guffaw that reduces the receiving end to a shrinking, self-conscious ball of nerves. Luckily, Gowon doesn’t have feelings to hurt.

“What’s so funny? This is simply the universe’s verdict,” she states matter-of-factly.

“Of all the bull I’ve ever heard, this one takes the cake. I think it's even worse than bull, it's horse,” Jinsoul exclaims before scouring the area with wild eyes again. “No offence, Jungeun! If you’re out there hiding in the bushes with Jiwoo somewhere!”

Gowon groans, bemused at Jinsoul’s incessant lookout for some camera as the mortal continues to call out for her absent high school friends.

“Why can’t you take this seriously?! We’re talking about your love life! Do you know how critical interpersonal relationships are to a healthy and adequate existence? I’m just trying to look out for you!”

This might just be her most desperate plea yet. Drowning in blaze and inferno appears to become more and more inevitable by the second.

Jinsoul just shakes her head, shooing her off dismissively. “I’m leaving. Goodbye, Cupid. I'm not interested in your parlor tricks, so go shoot your arrows elsewhere.”

She skips off with those parting words and Gowon finds herself rooted to the spot. Going after Jinsoul right now would be futile, and she knows if she stays down here any longer, they’ll be looking for her up there. Today will have to be a failure. 

She sighs, lips pursed. This world’s always been so finicky; the humans here are too defiant for their own good, going about their lives at their own pace. Whose idea was it to give them this much god-granted autonomy? It makes Gowon’s job so much harder than it has to be. The worse part is that they’re the ones who invented these pesky creatures!

“Where on earth did we go wrong?” Gowon laments to herself. She watches the back of Jinsoul’s figure, getting further and further away, like some twisted personification of her bleak future. “I am so doomed.”

***

“HEY! Cupid! What’s up?!”

Yeojin’s booming voice travels all the way from across the floor and no one even gives her a second glance. It escapes Gowon’s mind how she can get away with such rambunctious, unprofessional behaviour…but then again, being one of the best performing employees (and the boss’ favourite, somehow) might actually warrant this.

Gowon wishes she too could shout in the office without getting weird looks from her coworkers or an earful from the boss. Workplace discrimination is real! 

“She’s hopeless, Yeojin, hopeless.”

Hopelessly in love: Jung Jinsoul. Among their personal little office crew, she’s infamous for being notoriously stubborn. Utterly in love with her partner of one and a half years (previously her crush for four), Jinsoul’s preoccupation with her first love-turned-girlfriend has turned what should've been a straightforward pairing assignment into an arduous, resource-exhaustive uphill battle. Gowon's never gone through this much trouble pairing humans until now. Hence the epithet ‘Mission Impossible’.  

“You’re just not trying hard enough,” comes Yeojin’s super wise, super sensible observation. (Seriously, Gowon cannot wrap her head around the fact that Yeojin happens to be one of the best around here.)

Once Yeojin plops down on her customized office chair, Gowon hooks a hand on the armrest and yanks her troublesome co-worker towards her.

“I told her about The Firmament!” Gowon harshly whispers.

Yeojin gasps, mockingly, bringing a hand to . “Oh, you’re such a rebel, Gowon. I bet that worked out for you.”

Gowon rolls her eyes and shoves her away.

“You know we’re bros, right? I’d never throw you under the bus. You can deviate from the protocol as much as you want – in fact, I encourage it. Whatever helps you with Mission Impossible. I respect the hustle,” Yeojin tells her, “but make sure you’re not gone too long. And don’t forget about the evaluation in less than two weeks.”

Gowon groans in utter despair. Two weeks. She has less than two weeks to get Jinsoul to magically dump Sooyoung and fall in love with the correct person?!

“Olivia! Help me!” Gowon implores when she sees her favourite co-worker at her desk. Olivia's been missing from her cubicle far too often lately, but Gowon's been too busy to think about it. 

“No luck with Jinsoul and Jungeun?” Olivia asks, to which Gowon sadly shakes her head. "I'll find a way to help you."

“The last time you tried to help her without getting permission from the boss lady, your Performance scores went down from ‘Barely Satisfactory’ to ‘Disgraceful’,” Yeojin points out - no one asked her to, she just felt like it.

Olivia’s face immediately turns sour (Yeojin has a knack for that).

“Oh yeah…it’s okay, I can do this myself,” Gowon concedes with a small frown. She hates being the cause of any poor score on Olivia’s report.

Olivia notices her disheartened mood, but just when she's about to say something, Yeojin interjects. “Have you tried guilt-tripping Jinsoul?”

“That’s low,” Olivia mutters.

Yeojin sits up. “Hold up, did you just say ‘that’s low’?” she gawks, taken aback. “Uh, hello? We’re all-knowing gods. Morals don’t apply to us, we invented them. Literally, the ethical concepts department is two floors above us. And those folks are some of the most boring killjoys at The Firmament.”

Olivia narrows her eyes. “You know, if we have to be like Yeojin to get a raise around here, maybe the netherworld doesn’t sound so bad after all.” 

“Do I have a choice?” Gowon asks, slumped over her desk.

"I thought you've been trying out a different approach with Jinsoul." 

"You mean the super secret strategy she refuses to tell us about?" Yeojin chirps. "I'm starting to doubt it existed in the first place." 

"It does exist! It's just- ugh, my methods are classified," Gowon huffs and alright, she hasn't told them about it because she's embarrassed it might end up being a catastrophic failure. "It just hasn't been as...effective as I expected. Jinsoul is so frustrating,” (and Sooyoung is surprisingly resilient...), "I'm really left to my own devices here." 

She glances over at Olivia for some advice, any advice - or even none at all, just a reassuring look would do. Olivia was always good at assuaging her worries.

Her co-worker only looks back at her with radiating sympathy. “Don't give up. Do whatever you feel like you need to,” she advises before a hesitant pause. "When I find something that'll help, I'll tell you, I promise."    

Gowon sighs. She appreciates Olivia's generosity, but she can't keep putting the others on the line for this. She better do something and she better do it quick.

(In spite of all the power they have, it seems the passing of time is the one thing that’s out of their hands. It’s got a mind of its own.)

***

“Nope,” is the first thing that comes out of Jinsoul’s mouth when Gowon sees her. She promptly spins on her heels and dips into an open elevator.

Luckily for Gowon, and unluckily for Jinsoul, the innocent-looking Cupid incarnate manages to slip a hand between the closing doors. Jinsoul whines, crossing her arms when Gowon enters.

“Not you again, Cupid,” she greets monotonously in lieu of a hello.

“So you do believe me?”

“No,” Jinsoul replies, “I don’t. You’re just a crazy person.”

“I don’t know what else I can do to make you believe that Kim Jungeun is supposed to be the one you should be with. You have a soulmate-”

“Quit it with this soulmate stuff already. What I have is a girlfriend and a roommate.”

“And what I’m saying is that your girlfriend is not your soulmate, your roommate is.” It's really not rocket science!

Jinsoul camouflages her hurt with a strained scoff. “I don’t care.”

"You don't c-? Ugh!" That’s when Gowon punches the emergency stop button. They jerk forward as the elevator comes to an abrupt halt.

Jinsoul shoots her a wild look. “What did you just do?!”

With a snap of her fingers, a manila folder materializes and drops into Gowon’s open hand. “I’m not allowed to tell you any of this, and you're probably better off not knowing, but you've brought this upon yourself.”

“Holy . Wait, did that folder just appear out of thin air?!” Jinsoul exclaims in awe. Gowon ignores her as she her finger and mindlessly begins flipping through the folder.  

“You see, up there, we spend countless orbital periods scrutinizing every aspect of your personalities, your strengths and weaknesses, every intimate detail,” Gowon explains, “surveying every waking minute of your lives since birth, dissecting every action, and analyzing every interaction you have. We do all this backbreaking work–" (figure of speech, obviously; they have no spines) “-just to match every single one of you to your quintessential, or at least as close as we can get to it, partner.”

Here’s the thing: humans are fundamentally unpredictable, but actually pretty darn predictable in practice. They’re also extremely malleable, like Play-Doh, readily molding to the form presented to them and assuming whatever behaviour is dictated by greater powers.

Thus, it’s fairly easy to get them to fall in love – if the timing is right and the situation has been thoughtfully crafted. Besides, there’s a universal fact ingrained into all of their minds, no matter how much they may try to deny it: they are born alone and they die alone, but they are not made to live alone. It takes two to tango, in every meaning of that idiom. 

If the love of their life appears in front of them, they just know…right?

At least that’s what Gowon's always believed. And she’s supposed to be all-knowing.

She holds up the manila folder, shaking it to emphasize. “This is your case file; your life in a couple of pages. I’ve worked day and night compiling and studying this so you should trust me when I say that the file most compatible with yours,” Gowon pauses to take a breath (for dramatic effect, obviously; they lack real functioning lungs), “is Kim Jungeun. You’re perfect for each other.”

Gowon proceeds to explain how she got to that conclusion – from all the memories Jinsoul and Jungeun have shared together since they were children, the hobbies that encompass both of their interests, all the way to the consistencies in their opinions and the harmony of their routines.

“…and don’t you get it? The reason why you two make such excellent roommates is because you are meant to live together for the rest of your lives!”

Now if that wasn't the greatest freakin’ pitch I've ever given...

Rendered to stunned silence, utter disbelief at Gowon’s words, Jinsoul can only stand there and gawk at her.

Gowon sighs. “Listen, I know it seems like I just dropped a nuclear bomb on you, but this shouldn’t be anything new. This is something you’ve always known, somewhere in the deep crevices of your thoughts–“

“–No, no, it's not. How the hell do you know any of that?!"

“Oh my goodness. I told you, I’m Cupid. Or God. Divine intervention, fate personified, Aphrodite – whatever makes the most sense to you, they’d all be correct in some…human way,” Gowon answers, waving her hand around. “What we do up there is simply beyond your understanding. The mortal brain is capable of many things, but it has its limits and grasping The Firmament is one of them. Just think of it in abstract terms.”

Jinsoul backs herself into a corner, grabbing onto the railings to support herself. “. Am I losing my grip on reality? This has to be a dream,” she groans. Closing her eyes, she pinches the bridge of her nose to tame the oncoming headache. “Do you know how insane this sounds?”

“Okay, relax, it’s really not so complicated if you just think of me as Cupid,” (that’s what humans do, right? Make up fairy tales and fictional characters, religions and gods, to make sense of the world?) “and then you'll understand that my existence literally revolves around matchmaking. Do you believe me now?”

After a few seconds that feel more like an eternity, Jinsoul lets out a heavy sigh with a face contorted in discomfort. “Fine. Fine! I believe you," she breathes out, "I mean, not like I have a choice. Cupid is real, I guess! Cupid is ing real!"

She lets out an incredulous, maniacal laugh. Of course, Jinsoul just simply ran out of logical explanations, but Gowon ignores her disbelief, smiling at the mortal’s forced surrender.  

“There you go! So, you’ll toss aside Ha Sooyoung and get with Kim Jungeun?” she asks enthusiastically.  

Laughter tapering, Jinsoul picks herself up from the crumpled, shriveled-brain mess she was just moments prior, straightening her back as she finally returns Cupid's bright-eyed gaze. “No.”

Gowon’s smile falls. “What? What do you mean ‘no’? Did you listen to a word I said?”

“I did. I took it all in,” Jinsoul answers, far too calm for someone who's just been told that her life is controlled by incorporeal office workers, “and I still don't care.”

Now it's Gowon's turn to be astonished. “Huh?!” is all she can manage to utter, but Jinsoul shoves past her to punch randomly at the buttons in hopes that the elevator starts moving again. She almost forgot they were basically trapped in a claustrophobia chamber suspended in mid air.

“I’m not dumping my girlfriend just because you - whatever you are - told me to. Screw the universe and its stupid judgements.”

Gowon brings a devastated hand to her face. That's when Yeojin’s voice comes ringing inside her head again: ‘have you tried guilt-tripping her?’

She clears . “Fine. I really didn’t want to say this, but you’ve left me with no choice,” she says to the back of Jinsoul’s head. “Do you have any idea of what your actions, or lack thereof, are doing? You are wrecking a system that has existed since your earliest ancestors. You are tampering with cosmic forces. By staying with Sooyoung, you are depriving not just her, but two others of their fated partners-”

Jinsoul stops messing with the buttons, but keeps her back on Gowon. “Who is it?"

"You- who is what?"

She hesitates a little before speaking. "Sooyoung's soulmate."

"Uh," Gowon shuffles on her feet, “that’s…confidential.”

That’s when Jinsoul finally looks over her shoulder, shooting Gowon an infuriated glare. “Are you kidding me? You just told me the apparent secret to the goddamn universe, which is that life is actually The ing Matrix, and you can’t even tell me this?” 

Okay, valid point. (Gowon’s favourite mortal movie, too. That and The Truman Show.)

“I can’t tell you,” Gowon replies slowly, choosing her words carefully, “because as far as I know, we haven’t matched her with anyone. Yet.”

Sooyoung’s file is another perplexing case, likely due to her unexpected attachment to Jinsoul. Despite their troubles, their bond is almost unnaturally durable. But Gowon has half a mind to look into it, unaware of who amongst her co-workers is even in charge of Sooyoung. Her only concern is Jung Jinsoul. 

The small smile Jinsoul lets on at the news is instinctive and perhaps a revelation of her very human selfishness, but Gowon can't really blame her. It’s the supposed love of her life, after all.

“Then me and her staying together isn't so big of a wrench in the system, is it?” Jinsoul tries to reason.

“I said yet! We will, we always do, but we’re still working on her case,” Gowon replies in her best attempt at sounding convincing. “The point is, by refusing to let her go, both Jungeun and Sooyoung's real soulmate are going to be forever alone out there. And it’ll be because of you. It’s selfish. Do you even care for Kim Jungeun?”

“Of course I care about her!” Jinsoul utters defensively, "but you’re the selfish one! Resorting to manipulation and guilt-tripping me to save yourself from ‘eternal damnation’ or whatever–“

Holy Firmament, is she brushing off eternal damnation like Yeojin-? “And?! My existence is literally on the line!”

But Jinsoul refuses to come around.

Gowon turns on her therapist voice. “I know this is the most distant you two have felt with each other. I've been watching for weeks, months. Your interactions are superficially intimate and you rarely spend meaningful time together. When are you going to realize that it’s time to give it up? At this point, you’re just torturing each other.”

Jinsoul’s mouth opens and closes, slowly, as if every time she tries to say something, the words get stuck at . She shuts her eyes. 

“We're not…stop it. Shut up. You don't know anything about us. We love each other and you will not guilt me into believing otherwise,” she mutters without a falter to her words, "every couple goes through problems. We're working through it, she wants us as much as I do. I don’t have to listen to you.”

Gowon wants to smash her head through the elevator wall. It appears this stubborn attitude will not only lead to Gowon’s demise, but maybe Jinsoul’s too. 

(Her unshakeable persistence and the glaring fact that Sooyoung has not yet walked away from her all point to the consideration that perhaps, Sooyoung does love Jinsoul as much as the blonde loves her - Gowon can compute this much.

But that revelation doesn't help her case in any way. She’s facing literal perdition here, the abode of the damned! She can’t let some silly humans be the end of her! They must be broken apart!)

“You don’t understand!” Gowon wails, “if I don’t get the job done, it’s not just gonna feel like my world will end, my world will literally come to an end. You can keep living your life in ignorance of the havoc you’ve caused to the system, but I will cease to exist! ‘Eternal damnation’ might just be some words to you, I get it, it’s too complex for your little human brain to comprehend, but to me–“

Jinsoul abruptly cuts her off with a harsh jab of her finger to her chest. Gowon gasps. 

“And I get this might be far too complex for your little nonhuman brain to comprehend, but losing Sooyoung is a hell of a lot like eternal damnation to me. And I am not losing this battle to you.”

Pardon? Comparing a breakup to everlasting punishment? Gowon gapes at her. She doesn’t know if she should burst into tears or laughter. Maybe both. 

“Now you’re just being dramatic.”

At her words, there’s a change in Jinsoul’s eyes, almost like a strike of a match, as her jaw stiffens. Gowon belatedly registers the weight of what she just said and opens to take it back. But just when she thought Jinsoul was going to jab a fist to her nose, the blonde holds back from the very human impulse to cause harm when provoked. 

(Oh, Jung Jinsoul and her knack for going against everything in the Human Handbook.)

The elevator suddenly dings and the doors finally slide open.

“You don’t understand,” Jinsoul mutters, echoing Gowon’s words, “how could you? You’re not even human.”

And then she takes her leave, leaving Gowon struck silent for the first time in her eons of existence.