I spent my afternoon taking care of Jung Min. It’s weird how we changed roles. Not even when he exhausted everything to save Mistress Yuri and me from a worse fate had he been as low as then. With Daesung’s help, we cleared the living room of any furniture or objects and then we sealed the windows with some duct tape. You can’t go wrong with that. Luckily for us, Jung Min stood in the middle of the room and just stared at the walls while mumbling about demons and protecting someone with his life. Unluckily for me, Daesung kept asking about Jung Min’s wings – where did he buy them from, how come they are fixed so good on his back, is it for the Paper Lantern Festival and so on.

The Paper Lantern festival was that evening. And it pretty much started because of Mistress Yuri. Everybody had seen her red light like some bad omen and dedicated the Paper Lantern Festival to the higher spirits. They’ll fill the sky with the same red glow and pray for a better year. Then it hit me – those reapers outside were doing the same. They gathered around the very spot a burst of energy pulled them out of their hideout five centuries ago. It nagged me that maybe they were also waiting for something else to happen and that they knew things what we could never guess. Well, I could because that’s my job and I’m used to that. I mean, it’s not really my job, but I’ve been around reapers so much, their annoying habits are something common to me.

I told Daesung to shut up and just help me around. I sent him after some chains from the same store down the yellow road. He complied, but his usual cheery self disappeared when he returned. I could clearly see one of his eyes staring deeply at me while his other was hidden under the mass of blonde hair. I thanked him and slowly took my stuff. I didn’t think much about it. Mistress Yuri and Jung Min were battling over who to take more of my mind.

I closed the living room’s door behind me, kneeled again in front of Jung Min and gently tied his arms and legs with one side of the chain. I planted the other side inside one of the carrot pots. That way, he’ll be linked to earth and couldn’t do anything rash. I slowly pushed him down and sighed.

“Calm down,” I softly told him as my hands went over his head “Don’t fight it. It’s going to be worse.”

Jung Min finally gave me a sign that he was still there and closed his eyes, then exhaled deeply – I still don’t understand how he does that. All of the functions he’d have as a human seemed to work to a certain degree. And I know that I promised him, but I couldn’t help myself. I let some of that red energy flow through my arm and down my fingertips. I slowly caressed his head and let the energy be inside of him like an infant feeding on its mother’s milk.

Ugh, dizzy.

I took my hand away and let Jung Min calm down on the floor. His wings flapped twice before they also fell silent. I want to believe that he was sleeping, but reapers don’t sleep – they don’t eat, don’t drink, they don’t need to take a shower or use the toilet a whole day because of some rotten food they had for lunch and most importantly, they do not feel the same way we do. They’re mostly perfect puppets maneuvered by an instinct we humans do not have. We’re wild, rebels; we always go against the wind and make things right in our favor. Reapers obey the natural laws and make sure everybody else does too. They lack the vulgar spirit we humans have.

I wonder then, every time Jung Min smiled, laughed and teased me, was it because he truly enjoyed it or because he had to maintain the illusion of not being different from me? Else, how could I trust him? Then again, how could I trust something else if I can’t even trust myself? How could I go back to the same Sooyoung if I don’t have that slight confidence in my power?

Ugh, so dizzy. All that thinking made me hungry.

I stepped back inside the kitchen and searched for the fridge. I always forget if it's on the right or left.

“Sooyoung,” aaand then I froze. Mainly because that’s the first time I heard Daesung actually use my name and not the nickname he had given me out of spite. Or not; I don’t know, too dizzy from that red thing.

“Yes, that is my name.” I turned to him “You’ve finally decided to use it?” My joke didn’t get to the kid as his passive expression never left his face. His arms were wrapped over his chest – he clearly wasn’t in his happy place to begin with.

“I know what happened at the hotel.” Straight to the point? Well, those reapers lost their mojo.

“What happened at the hotel?” But just to be sure, I had to go along.

“Stink man came and you shared a room together, didn’t you?!” he accused me with his finger pointing and I had to make sure I wasn’t hearing things.

“Wait, what?”

Daesung looked hurt as he munched over his lower lip and sniffed his tears.

“Grandma! If I knew you were like that, I wouldn’t have said a thing, I swear!”

“Nothing happened, you !”

---

Jung Min was still sound ‘asleep’ in the living room. Me and Daesung stayed at the table and watched an early evening show about the Golden Eagle. I swear that those people knew nothing – I’m an expert when it comes to Golden Eagles because that’s Jung Min’s bird. Again, I couldn’t get him out of my head.

Daesung loudly ate his cereals near me, stuffing his face with flower shaped sugar. He smiled like an idiot from time to time and had to make sure he wouldn’t spill the milk up his nostrils.

I shook my head.

“I need to cut your hair,” I told him and Daesung swallowed hard as he stared at me.

“Grrrand-maaa,” he stuttered “please don’t!”

Too late!

I was already in the bathroom. I took a pair of scissors and returned with a maniacal smile over my face. Daesung abandoned his bowl of cereal and held the spoon against me. I rolled my eyes. Seriously? I battled stubborn ghosts, rogue reapers and ...okay, I never went against demons. Does he really think a spoon could slow me down?

Daesung threw the spoon and it hit me straight between my eyes. I winced in pain and my back hit the wall. When I regained my composure, Daesung had already dashed towards me, pinned my arms on the wall and gazed into my eyes.

I gasped and then slowly closed my mouth when I noticed the small gap between us.

“It’s for your own good,” I muttered and Daseung pushed his face forward.

“Sooyoung,” I really, really would take grandma any other day! Really Daesung, just call me grandma again! “Do you like stinky man?”

“No,” I replied in heartbeat. “I’ve told you, he’s my boss.”

“So? Does that make any difference?”

Why was I suddenly talking about that with Daesung? There’s nothing between me and the reaper and there never will be.

“Yes, it does. And you don’t understand.”

“Don’t like him,” he suddenly said and I was about to defend myself, when my brain suddenly retraced Mistress Yuri’s schedule from that morning.

“Clothes,” I whispered and Daesung slowly let go of me.

“Clothes?”

“Men’s clothes...” I breathed again and Daesung stepped aside. I put the scissors on the table and closed the T.V.

That’s right. The lookalike bought men’s clothes. For what does she need that for?

Then again, is she really Mistress Yuri?

I watched as the early lanterns soared towards the darkening sky.

Then, out of the blue, Daesung brought me to his chest, tighened me in an embrace and brushed his lips against my ear.

“Please, don’t like him.”

Dun, dun, dun! \^o^/ bonus Mandala poster - Jung Min version.