And here it is! Thanks for the reviews: Mustang's Inferno and marie david! :) I appreciate them a lot, and they keep me going in writing. :D
Kim Shin's labored breathing fills the frozen moment; he stares at the clock, certain it has stopped working, but the Grim Reaper doesn't move. Eun Tak's eyes halt mid-blink, and no doctors move outside.
"This is the first time you have ever prayed. You must indeed be desperate."
Kim Shin whips around and finds an athletic young doctor with sweeping hair and poignant eyes. The doctor sets down his clipboard and approaches; the echoes of butterfly wings sweep the silence.
"Even with your powers you wouldn't be able to save the Goblin's Bride. She is immune to your abilities, you recall."
"You!" Kim Shin stands. "What are you doing here?!"
"You prayed me here, Dokkaebi," Sin answers. He glances at Eun Tak. "I have stopped time because your request will have lasting consequences, and you need to know them if you want her to live. You are also, I'm sure, curious as to what happened to your powers."
Kim Shin's eyes darken. He wishes a storm would stir outside and the world could know how bitterness roiled inside of him, how he had all the power in the world until this god decreed it otherwise, this god that made him a Dokkaebi in the first place. "What will you do? Do you give me this hope only to have it snatched away?"
"Patience, Kim Shin."
"You took my powers! I know you did!" He rushes to grab Sin's collar, but the god sidesteps him. He moves to the head of Eun Tak's bed.
"And I will restore them if you listen."
Kim Shin turns, stoic. He can't help but be interested now.
"You were given this bride as a token of escape, as a part of your curse: only when you grew to love her could she remove the sword. But you were meant to rest in peace, not live as a Dokkaebi with no ability to move on. But you continued to help those around you, and so I allowed you to stay. But when she came back, I knew your powers would only focus on pleasing her. Thus I took them from you, and I took her powers from her as well: if you did not notice, she can no longer summon you. If you die, she cannot bring you back."
"But I cannot die, as you said."
"Not unless I decree it so."
Kim Shin quiets. "So I must continue to better the lives of those around me, and I will have my powers back."
"No." Sin's eyebrows narrow. "You will not focus anywhere but her so long as you have money and abilities sufficient. You have become a failure as a god, and I now see it would be foolish to let you continue this way."
"Why would you make Eun Tak suffer? She did nothing."
"Her destiny is not only for you. Her focus has turned to only you as well, and I had to put an end to it. I will have her born on the other side of the country if she dies, and you will never find her. Your punishment for your selfishness will to be alone once again."
Kim Shin's pride swells, but he cuts it off and falls to one knee. He knows he has been beaten; he cannot control life and death now. "Please let me save her. I do not know what you want, but I love her. Do not take her from me."
"I will allow you to save her. Not only that, I will grant her immortality," Sin says. "On a single condition."
He gives Kim Shin a moment to consider, and then the Dokkaebi nods.
"Fate is the question I have asked you, and you have presented an insufficient answer: you are here to serve, not to be focused on what can benefit you alone. She is here to do the same. It is not that either of you live, but that the two of you are together. This is where the conflict lies. You asked if you could go to her with the rain, with the first snow; I will let you see her on the day of the first snow, and I will let you speak to her and let her hear your voice on days of rain. But you must become a god. Your time as a Dokkaebi is finished—there is no more Goblin's Bride, either. Become a true god; join us in the heavenly realm, and she will live forever, able to see you once a year."
Kim Shin pales, staring at his dying bride. He can't imagine being forced to watch her from a distance, only able to hold her in memories and feel her presence drift alone in this world.
"And if I do not become a god?"
"You are trapped forever, Kim Shin," Sin warns. "You have no way to die, and you have nothing to live for. You will create limbo for yourself, surrounded by mortals. Eun Tak will never be a part of your life again, and she may move on to marry another in one of her future lifetimes."
Kim Shin inhales sharply.
"Make your decision quickly." Sin points at the clock, and the hands strain to shift. "You have two seconds when I depart. Should you choose to become a god, the power to save her life and maintain it will be in your hands. You will become the god of miracles and wealth, serving those that require it."
Before Kim Shin can protest, the ticking of the second hand screams in his ear. He doesn't even consider the logic of his decision; he immediately stretches out his hand to Eun Tak, concern for her life overpowering every other emotion within him, and powers he has never known flood his bloodstream. His skin burns with energy, erasing the scar on his chest and all the agony of the deaths he has witnessed from his time as a Dokkaebi. An agonized cry rips from his mouth—he buckles against her bed.
"Kim Shin?" she whispers.
He glances up, sweat trickling down his forehead. Color returns to her face, and her brilliant features twist with concern. "Kim Shin, what's wrong?"
The Grim Reaper's eyes widen, and he stares at the former Dokkaebi. "She is alive," the Grim Reaper whispers.
Sin steps out from the shadows. "Kim Shin is coming with me, Eun Tak. His fate is to help the living; I'm afraid he cannot be with you any longer."
Eun Tak's eyes widen. "No!"
"I will come with the first snow," Kim Shin promises, but his voice even sounds weak to him. "It will not be as though I am dead, I promise; I will be there. I will hold you, I will talk to you."
Eun Tak leaps from her bed, and her IV collapses to the floor. She grabs him hard, her fists bunched in the back of his shirt. Her heartbeat wildly bangs against his own. "You can't leave me again! You can't go! Let me die if you must!"
"We would be parted either way." Kim Shin braces her shoulders and pulls her away from him. Out of the corner of his eye, he watches the Grim Reaper depart. Sin politely turns his back, focused on the hospital outside. No doctors come in, but the clock is ticking on as normal now.
He traces Eun Tak's hair from her face. Blood rushes to her eyes, and tears pool above her lashes; they do not fall yet. She is pained, but not weak. "I will miss you. I will always love you, but this is the only way to let our desires be a part of fate. Be strong, my Goblin's Bride." He feels the sting of tears as well; his fall faster than hers. She immediately brushes them away.
Her arms lock around his neck; her face buries in his shoulder, shuffling and digging for a way out of this. "Please, no. I can't live without you. He can't make me forget you again."
"You won't forget me," Kim Shin assures.
Sin steps right up to them, and Kim Shin almost anticipates him to bend down and push them apart. "Come, Kim Shin. It is time."
Eun Tak desperately gropes for his sleeve, but Sin does not step way. She finally relaxes, giving up, and timidly brushes her mouth against Kim Shin's. He takes the opportunity: this is the last time he will kiss her until the first snow, whenever it will be: he was not made god of the weather.
Pleasure and anguish blend a storm in his mind as he holds her closer, letting this be their last contact. He releases her at last; he feels she is too weak for him to let go, but Sin gives him a solemn look. They cannot stay.
He stands and turns away. He can't even look back at her, afraid he will change his mind and regret what he cannot alter. Sin follows him out the door; as he feared, he hears the rustle of her sheets and her feet hitting the floor, but a dozen doctors rush in to see the miracle that has just taken place in a patient at the brink of death. Her protests ring softly in the air, unable to penetrate the exclamations surrounding her.
Doctor Kang rushes past Kim Shin with Sunny, Lee Hyuk, and Woo Bin close behind. They do not give him a second glance.
"Gods are not always visible," Sin says. "And I cannot let them see you. They will remember a story other than this one; those two will consider you dead, but Eun Tak will not."
"How could you do this to her?" Kim Shin snaps back. He halts, but Sin keeps walking. "She is now without a husband, a home, a family, a purpose."
"She still works at the job she has always dreamed of," Sin says, unrepentant. "She has your home to live in, a rather lavish one. She will look after Woo Bin, perhaps become a great leader of your company. And you will still see her often enough; as an immortal, once a year should be rather frequent for you."
Kim Shin bites his tongue and follows. Sin leads him to the door of the hospital.
"Meet me in heaven, Kim Shin," Sin orders. A white butterfly appears behind the handsome doctor, then floats out the door. The doctor blinks the influence of Sin away, staring Kim Shin up and down.
"Can I help you, sir?"
Kim Shin shakes his head, then pauses: he can see not only this man's life at the present, but he senses every reincarnation, where this man has come from and where he is heading: this man barely made it as a doctor. He is not as smart as the education system requires; his wife of two incarnations out of three died six months before, and he has three children to look after. Kim Shin's mind floods as he watches all the little details in a matter of seconds.
"But I can help you," Kim Shin says. He glances behind him, wishing Eun Tak could be here, but he will always be a strong Dokkaebi that faces his fate head-on—even Sin can't take away his identity. He offers a hand. "Come; you could use a sandwich."
