~Ren~

I froze in my tracks. “V, the connection broke!”

V stopped too, frowning. “What? There’s no way! Focus harder, Ren!”

I tried to feel the link that had been there just moments ago but was left dumbfounded without anything. Something was definitely wrong. “No, V! I can’t feel anything. There’s only emptiness!”

His eyes widened. “Stay here, I’ll go check!” V turned around and sprinted towards the Gisaeng House.

I waited, anxious and scared, wondering what was going on. V and I had been so close to reaching the gates, and now this problem…What if it ruined my plan of leaving? I couldn’t just stand here and not try to help. I went after V, running as fast as I possibly could.

~Sulli~

I regained consciousness, dazed and pained, but awake now. My head whipping around, I realized I was in the city square and it seemed as if the entire city surrounded us, watching in shock. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted the staff members and Krystal, as well as my fellow gisaengs with the Head Gisaeng. She locked gazes with me, her expression terrified. I glanced down at my hands and feet, which were both tied together, and tried to break free from the ropes. Headmaster Leeteuk appeared in front of me, with Shaman Deo by his side.

Headmaster put his sword to my neck. “Tell me, Lee Nan Hyang, did you really think that Shaman Deo would help you in your plan?”

I looked at him directly in the eyes without fear. “She swore an oath to protect us.”

“But she’s already sworn an oath to me to protect the palace at all costs and to serve the ruler of the Spirit World- me. She informed me of your plan. You really didn’t suspect anything, did you?” he shook his head sadly, and then I knew that he took no pleasure in doing this. He was disappointed in me, and he felt betrayed. That was all. “I don’t want to do this. But it’s my duty as ruler to carry out all laws of the Spirit World. You understand, don’t you, Nan Hyang?”

I nodded weakly. There was nothing I could do now. I had failed in helping Ren return to his home. How could I face him after this? It was better to just die here at the hands of Headmaster.

His free hand brushed across my face. “You really don’t remember anything, but I still have all of my memories of us.”

“What do you mean?”

Headmaster Leeteuk leaned in closer and whispered in my ear, “You were mine once. I was yours. It was as simple as that, yet it was beautiful and risky too. It would have been a huge scandal if anyone else found out.”

What was he talking about? I narrowed my eyes. “I don’t know any of this.”

“You became ill and lost all your memories and died. Just like that, you were gone, and I lived on without you, until being hanged to death for all the crimes I committed in your absence. I felt relieved to finally be able to die and not have to live another day in a world where you weren’t there. But after my death I was sent to rule over the Spirit World. And I saw you here again. We were reunited…except it was completely different.” Tears welled up in his eyes. “You were different.”

What the hell?! No way! Can this really be true…? “How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

“Tell me, Lee Nan Hyang, do you really not remember me? Think hard.”

I shut my eyes and did as he said, thinking, trying to remember whatever he was talking about. I couldn’t come up with anything. “My memories- they’ve been gone for too long. It’s impossible for me to remember my human life. Headmaster, I’m sorry.”

Headmaster Leeteuk smiled faintly; it was a sad, broken kind of smile that pulled at me and made me feel sorry for a man like him. I could see V in him. No, what I was even thinking? Maybe I should just die after all. “Just kill me,” I begged. “Kill me, please! I have nothing to live for anymore!”

“Not before you tell me where your accomplices are,” he spat, suddenly switching on an angry side that I’d seen countless times during my years working in his palace staff. “Where are Ren and V? Where are they?”

Instead of telling him, I started chanting the spell Shaman Deo had taught me, as he drove his sword into my side. V came from behind him and hit Headmaster in the head with a huge wooden stick. Headmaster dropped to the ground at my feet, causing a roar of panic and chaos within the crowd. V untied me and picked up the sword, aiming it at Shaman Deo.

“Come with us,” he growled, “or die.”

~Ren~

I caught up with V, Sulli, and Shaman Deo on the path. Shaman Deo was carrying Sulli, and V was walking beside them, holding a sword to the shaman’s throat the entire time.

“What happened?!” I clutched my side, panting.

“The shaman betrayed us!” snarled V, his face a mask of rage. “Do the spell now!”

Shaman Deo and Sulli began chanting the connection spell again. Sulli was badly hurt- blood stained her clothes, red seeping out from what looked like a stab in her right side, and there were gashes on her neck and face. V explained to me that he had taken care of the Headmaster for now, but that we still needed to hurry and finish what we started. I was in disbelief at how Headmaster hurt Sulli, one of his past staff workers and the past love of his human life. I couldn’t take my eyes off the blood on her. She’d been badly injured while trying to protect me.

The connection was linked again- I could feel my soul being pulled towards the red bridge and the gates and the flower field beyond. It awaited me, all my hopes and dreams lingering there just out of my reach.

Sulli was in a deep trance now, her eyes shut and her body going limp in Shaman Deo’s arms. V took Sulli from her and the shaman immediately ran off, heading back to the city square where all the commotion was. The three of us made it to the red bridge; where V set Sulli down on the ground and went on to open the gates. I kneeled by her side, trying to stop the bleeding, but it was too much. She had lost too much already, and the spell had taken a great amount of energy from her body.

Her eyes opened and she gripped my hands. “Ren, you have to go…Time is running out. The spell is wearing away.”

“How can I leave you like this?” I cried.

“On the bright side, I won’t have to live a day without my sun.” She smiled, a mirror of her pain and suffering and love for me. “Go, Ren. I told you, didn’t I? My eternity has finally come to an end. And there is no better way to die than in your arms.”

Tears were falling now. The blood had pooled onto the bridge and stained my hands a vivid red color that made me dizzy. “I don’t want to leave you. It’s so selfish of me.”

“Go without me, Ren. We will meet again someday. Don’t cry. Always smile for me, bright and happy, like the sun you are.”

“The reason my world keeps turning, it’s only because of you, do you know that?”

Sulli nodded. “Yes, I know. I love you.”

“I love you too,” I whispered, as I forced myself to get up and stand on my feet. I couldn’t let her sacrifice be for nothing. I had to be strong now, and leave. “Goodbye, Sulli. I’ll always remember you, my moon.”

“Farewell, Ren. No, farewell, Choi Minki.”

I smiled at the mention of my real name. That’s right, I wasn’t Ren anymore- I was Choi Minki. I turned around, running across the bridge towards V, the sound of my feet slapping against the bridge the only sound in my ears other than my heavy breathing. I reached the gates and he opened them for me.

“Thanks for everything, V. You’ve been a huge help. I couldn’t have gotten out without you.”

He grinned. “Sure thing. Take care and don’t come back here,” he said with a laugh. “Choi Minki, live your life to the fullest. You deserve only the best.”

We did a kind of handshake thing, then I stepped past the towering gates and started walking down the twisting path leading me away from my two friends. “Goodbye!” I called out, still facing the front but raising my hand in a wave.

“Goodbye, my friend!” said V behind me.

I lied down in the flower field, in the same spot that I’d woken up in, and closed my eyes, trying to think peaceful thoughts separate from blood and death and tearful goodbyes. My mind and soul was still connected to Sulli’s, but I felt it slowly fading now. I felt myself slipping away. I let the darkness pull me under one last time.