Ghost Fire

An LLS Production


: ䷆ – Leading

I would've expended all my magic just on the off chance that Hyung wouldn't catch me, but it was too late, I got caught, he wants revenge...

"...and that's how I ended up going on a date tomorrow," I pleaded to Jogae-nuna after I'd managed to find a safe place to project my spirit out. The thing is, a lot of the rituals and magics I'd learned typically revolved around cursing humans, and there were few shamans who'd look positively on the idea of a samiho going out with a human. Added the fact that up to five hundred years of Neo-Confucian persecution, two centuries of Japanese religion and the rise of Christianity, plus the fact that there were few volumes of magic that dealt with anything but prayers, and I was a bit stuck about the Hyung situation.

So I'd projected my spirit once I got home to find Jogae-nuna in the otherworld. Distance and time really meant very little there, which meant that I'd found her once I figured out what I was looking for; the vast pool of her presence within the South China Sea was a dead give-away.

"Now what do I do?"

"You suck!" I complained later when Jogae-nuna showed no sign of abating her laughter. Instead of the designer clothes she usually wore to our pot-lucks, this time she was kitted out in those ancient Chinese silk dresses, the kind that comes with gold and silver thread. Pearls hung in her hair, each of them the size of half my pinky but made up for their lack of size by their numbers.

Jogae-nuna's eyes flashed, like light reflecting off the underside of an abalone shell. Slowly, her laughter ceased. "You think it's-"

She raised her pinky finger.

"Yes."

"Well, there's no way you're going to know outside of visiting his dreams, are you?"

"I don't want to, Jogae-nuna!"

"Well, if you don't want to go out with him then cast a curse. You can assemble a minor cold, right?"

"That's even worse! That Eun Mookyul has a constitution like iron!" I complained. "Jogae-nuna, could you please give me an explosive talisman just in case?"

Jogae-nuna had given me a spiritual pat on the head and sent me back into my body. Looking at her smile when she'd cast the spell to return me, though, she was probably looking forward to details about the... the...

Jogae-nuna, I'd really like that explosive talisman right now...


When someone buys you expensive clothes from Armani, takes out out to a restaurant and hints all the time that they're going to start going out with someone other than their prior lovers, it's obvious what's going to happen. At least, according to whatever TV drama kick Jogae-nuna would get up to. The hallyu wave has good and bad points, after all.

No one treats another for dinner as a demand for compensation. Even if the food is good. You know, I was sure this was Part 2 of the beating, but this is totally different. However, I was very clear on one thing:

I can't kill this guy.

Which means that I can't have sex with him.

I'd heard amongst the bulyeowoo about acceptable targets before. Humans grouped together for security; hence, predatory spirits needed to figure out which people wouldn't be missed and which people wouldn't trigger a manhunt. It's that principle that puts the scope of targets away from royals, yangmin and the chungin back when Korea still had a king. See, when you have a highly stratified society, it's easier to feed off those lower down the pecking order who wouldn't be missed or whose disappearances could be easily explained away.

Except for the mu. Shamans were a pain to deal with, but the humans were stupid enough to kill their own protectors now and then, which meant that they were never much of a threat because they were too busy trying not to get horribly tortured and killed.

You never hear about the smart ones. The ones who have folktales told about them were the stupid ones, the arrogant ones, the ones just seeking attention, and the ones who had very visible divine retribution wrought upon them. Lots of gumiho were smart enough to wander around, case the targets, and practice until they'd refined all nine tails and reached the status of immortals. They'd also been smart enough to transform mostly to female forms, which is more socially acceptable to access yang essence.

Having mixed religions in a country just made things muddier... for humans, that is. In Japan, they say that you pray Shinto, marry Christian, and die Buddhist, and they still have plenty of youkai running around their dinky little island chain.

The real threat to us yokwe and gwishin, therefore, was if we accidentally killed people who had other people to report to the authorities, who would then start a massive hunt. Eun Mookyul was one such person.

I can't kill this guy.

Which means that I can't have sex with him.

Man, this is my life.


My life is getting harder to live.

We're still at the dinner table, and he's telling me I have a baby face.

And it's so irritating that I can't punch him in the face and expect it to hurt, because I've physically weaker than most foxes my age. He has a very punchable face. It has glittering eyes and a high nose bridge and great cheekbones...

What am I saying? I can't do it. His face is too handsome to destroy. Gods, please forgive this fox for even thinking about it.

"Don't you have something to say to me?" The most handsome man I've ever met in my life spoke.

"Ah..." I coughed to clear my throat. I didn't understand why, but Jogae-nuna said that it's to clear blockages. "I sincerely apologise for any undue pain I've caused you as a child. I assure you it was unintentional-"

"I'm not talking about that."

"Then what?"

He twitched. I could see the demonic aura gathering around him, which shouldn't actually be possible...! "You seriously don't remember?"

I don't like the way this is going... "O- Of course. I remember everything." Please let my lie pass for once-

A cigarette died an ignoble death by crushing. "Do you often tell people you'll wait for them?"

"Eh? To friends, I do..."

"Do you even tell them you'll wait until they come back?"

The only one I remember promising that was the flower man, and he's dead. "W- Well, it gives people sort of a warm feeling."

His eyes narrowed, and he gave a scoff. "Well, ain't this a bitch?"

"...?" I tilted my head as he got up.

"If you're done, follow me. We're going up."

"Going up where?"

"Don't try to act naïve. Why else would I buy you dinner and nice clothes? I'm going to sleep with you."

In any other situation it'd be very welcome, because I'll make sure to kill you and scatter your soul across the mountains. Well, in any other case it'd be very welcome, I can probably eat all I like and it'd barely make a dent in Hyung's vitality, and he'll get his entertainment, and it'd harm nothing but my pride.

But pride is paramount among foxes as well... even if I don't see foxes that often.

But while I was weighing all of these factors and wondering if such actions was weighing against my human-ness, Hyung had already grabbed my arm and was dragging me along with strength that only people who aren't human could break.

"Ah, Hyungnim! Wait! As I told you before, I-"

"Don't even think about using Jiho as an excuse," he tossed absently. "Who in their right mind would continue to work for someone who's fucking around with his ex? I'll find out what exactly went on between you two later, but you're first."

"Wait a moment, Hyungnim!" I spoke in alarm. "Jiho had nothing to do with any of this! It was all my-" My brain luckily managed to cut myself off, because if he were to find out that Jiho's been using him purely out of revenge on me, then Jiho would surely be beaten up. Jiho didn't even have my constitution, which, even if it's kinda frail, had the vitality of a samiho.

"Because of what?" Hyung demanded.

"B- Because I'd practically stalked him before," I finished lamely. "Obviously Jiho got tired of it so..."

"Fine," Hyung acknowledged, "If you really cared about Jiho enough to follow him around, then how come you're OK with him fooling around with me?"

Because I'd already cast three curses of constipation at his direction, and any more he's going to sense something. But I can't tell you that!

"I was so dumbfounded by your indifference that I purposely kissed him in front of you once," Hyung continued to describe the exact essence of many office indiscretions. "However, you didn't even bat an eyelid let alone complain. Instead, you chatted with the others as if nothing happened. With that out, how can you stand there and tell me you won't sleep with me because of your feelings for Jiho? Do you honestly expect me to believe that bullshit?"

"No! Hyungnim, you've got it all wrong- what?!" I was cut off as he grabbed my collar.

"I know for a fact that you got around long before Jiho," Hyung hissed into my face. "So stop pissing me off and follow me."

Every single instinct, even the wild ones I'd had to set aside to survive in human society, was screaming at me to get away. "You can have the clothes back! I'll pay you back for the dinner tomorrow as well, satisfied?!"

"Why you little-!"

"No means no, even if you don't think so!" I was really desperate to do this as a human. "I can't possibly do it with you! Must I repeat what I said before?!"

"You're more than happy to sleep around with others, but you won't sleep with me?!" He scoffed as he let go of my collar to grab something in his wallet. "Man, you're one picky whore. Fine, then I'll give you even more of an incentive."

I haven't felt such rage in twenty-three years of human life than when I saw the slim back card twined between two elegant fingers. Not even during the beating of my life. In Taoism, rage fed into hate like how wood fed the strength of a fire. Even the sparks of irritation I'd just brushed aside, but now... I couldn't hear his words over my rage. Yeah, I think...

...just once...

"Ow fuck!" He'd dropped the card. It was smoking, giving off the acrid smell of burnt plastic and metal. The horrible smell snapped me back to my senses

Crap. Shit. Fuck.

I turned tail and ran. Even if I don't look it, even if I'm herbivorous compared to other bulyeowoo, I'm still a samiho. Normal foxes can run at fifty kph at full acceleration. So the fact that Hyung caught up tome could only be attributed to the flying tackle needed to get me down to the floor.

"Why you-!"

"Let go!" I scratched and slapped at him. "I said, let go! Do you even know what 'whore' and 'incentive' mean, Hyungnim?! Or did you forget to learn after so many years where and when to use them?!"

"What did you say?!" He'd shouted, which gave me wiggle room as the two of us got back to our feet.

"Think about what you just said to me!" Yes, please do, ignore your credit card bursting into flames, please.

"Then you shouldn't have pissed me off!"

"What did I do to piss you off?!"

"What the fuck d'you want me to do?!" He roared back, making me wince at the volume. "What, are you a girl? Do I have to wait months just to hold your hand?! It's not like you're going to fucking get pregnant! Why do you always reject me again and again?!"

I was hopelessly dumbfounded. Where do these relentlessly audacious people come from?!

"Maybe you're not getting it..." I laughed. "YOU DUMB, PRETENTIOUS GANGSTER FUCK! OF ALL PEOPLE, I DESPISE YOU THE MOST! WHAT, DID YOU EXPECT ALL MEN TO BLINDLY FOLLOW YOU? I WOULDN'T HAVE HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH YOU IF IT WEREN'T FOR JIHO! I WOULDN'T SLEEP WITH YOU EVEN IF YOU OFFERED ME TWO MILLION! NOT EVEN IF YOU WERE THE LAST GUY ON EARTH! GOT IT, YOU DESPICABLE SON OF A BITCH?!"

I'm so proud of settling my fights like a human with words. It would've worked better if I didn't also accidentally set Hyung's tie on fire. So I floored it while he was still stunned by the errand boy yelling at him.

"Hey, come back here!"

Hell no! Do I look stupid?! I ran out of the hotel, a really, really long way, dodged a few cars and ducked through a few alleys before I finally caved to the instinct to burrow and hide.


"So I'd boarded a bus that went near my place before I started laughing," I said to my group when we met later that night. I'd deemed it safe because... well, there was no way Hyung was going to find Jogae-nuna's place. "And I'd thought that felt so good, and people like him really need to be taught a lesson. But then... I realised he knew where I lived..."

"Poor Ewon," Mi-Suk gave a fake sniff. "I'll go down to the Yellow Springs to taste your food..."

"Don't bury me just yet!" I exclaimed. "Jogae-nuna, what am I going to do about tomorrow?!"

This time, Jogae-nuna looked very... well, the face she'd drawn on was one of unremarkable prettiness, the usual face I saw her with (though she was a demon strong enough to draw her own faces at will; I was used to recognising her by aura).

This time, it was caked in makeup truly an inch thick, until it could become a mask if baked in a kiln and transforming her into a mature woman. She'd arrived in a classic black Chanel dress with a halter-neck collar, in contrast to the usually smart-casual look. Pearls hung from a truly fearsome woven triple-string bracelet on her left wrist and her ears, and a pink pearl glimmered from an ebony hair-stick in her French bun. The outfit and jewellery were paired with black Louboutins, complete with signature red soles.

"Yes," she agreed. "Humans are fragile. They die in an instant."

She'd crushed the floor under her right heel, punctuating her last sentence. The red at the bottom of the soles looked intimidatingly like blood now, and as I watched her lift her foot, it also left streaks of red on the floor that disappeared with a wave of her hand. What the hell kind of event had she come from...?

"It would be painful to say goodbye again." Jogae-nuna grumbled. "Our lives are too slow to live with humans, and too long to live alone. I arrived from a... meeting... where the other didn't show."

Half the dokkaebi present heaved a sigh of relief.

"To be exact, it was an ambush," she continued. "That bastard only hired human black-ops to kill me, no big deal. I killed them all, found the other guy, and crushed his skull under my heel as payback before tossing him into Lake Superior. That's the last time I ever pay heed to Americans. No class."

"That's so cool, Jogae-unni!" Chae-won sighed. "I haunted the guy who betrayed my friend just by cursing his entire family with smallpox~"

"Uhm..." a gwishin in our military uniform raised his hand. "I'm Yi Ji-U."

"Hi, Ji-U," we'd all said together. Some very patriotic dokkaebi stood up and gave a salute.

He blushed. "I'm a mong-dal-gwishin. This is my first and final session at Yokwe. My greatest regret in this world is not getting married to the person I love before I died. Not that it was possible to marry a guy anyway."

"Oh, that's terrible," I sincerely replied. The otherworld had no concept of gender; a ghost was a ghost, a monster was a monster. Even human politics meant little to the spirit world – the demilitarised zone being a hotbed for gwishin being one example.

"He'd promised me to have only one male lover and one female lover in his life," Ji-U continued. "So, I went to see Min-soo and he was already seeing a woman, Ji-hye. I was going to haunt him until he died, but then I thought. This doesn't mean less for me, but more for Min-soo."

Mi-Suk's girlfriend Yu-jin sniffed. She wasn't alone; half the people present were crying into their gamjaguk.

I have no regrets about dying, but I was so worried about him that I hung around some more to see him settle down."

He sighed, and then stood up. "He'll come to our side soon, and then we'll go to Jiok together. Thank you for the invitation, Jogae-halmeoni-"1

The stiletto heel really stood up to its name, being able to stab the parquet floor through the gwishin's boot.

"Please," Jogae-nuna smiled, her left foot conspicuously bare from where she'd launched her designer footwear as a makeshift projectile, "call me Nuna."

Ji-U was shaking as she strode over and pulled the shoe out. Tears of pain streamed down his face though the wound quickly repaired itself. "Y- Yes, Jogae-nunim!"

Applause rose for Ji-U as he sank back into his chair after having told his touching story. It was nice and all, but what about surviving Eun Mookyul tomorrow?! What if he asks me about the credit card and the tie?!


Critiquez, s'il vous plaît!

1 Halmeoni: grandmother. Nuna is the Korean honorific used by guys to address older girls.