When Darkness Calls

by J2508

Summary:

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A new threat, new challenge. Same friendships, same family.

~~~
"No, I refuse to be compared to an inanimate object. That too a door? Seriously?"
"How about a portal?"
~~~

 

OR

It's just me trying to get over them without trying to get over them.

[completed]

~~~

Notes:

This is a not-for-profit fanwork. All characters are the property of their respective copyright holders.

Chapter 1

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Chapter I

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Somewhere in Jungjin City.

~~~

Detective Ga Motak was at the police station, when he got the call.

Do Hana told him not to rush, as it was only a level two. She and Mun were almost at the location.

In normal situations, those two were enough to take down even a level three. Mun was uncannily strong, and Hana came a close second. Put them together and they were pretty much unstoppable. Sometimes, Motak himself gets scared of the two. So he believed Hana's words, and took a slight detour to pick up Joekbong on his way. Ms. Chu was on a date. She was going on a lot of those lately. The others even had a bet going on without her knowledge, on how soon Jangmul will propose. Motak had given them six months.

But the sight that greeted him, as he and Jeokbong arrived at the destination - a tall but thin, half constructed structure, about twenty stories tall, and looked like it might collapse under the wrong wind - was not what he expected.

"Hey!" he yelled at Hana, who was currently hanging upside down, about ten stories up, one foot stuck in what looked like a half torn, half rotten tarpaulin sheet.

"I'm good!" she yelled back. She was using a knife to free her feet, which was not doing much good. Joekbong ran towards her.

Motak saw movement in his peripheral vision, followed by a painful scream. Someone was thrown down, probably from the fourth or fifth floor. He would recognize that high pitched scream in his sleep.

In a flash, he ran to the spot where Mun crashed and bend down checking. So Mun was conscious, but covered in blood. Someone had stuck a knife in his thigh before kicking him off the building.

"You alright?" Motak asked, setting Mun upright on his feet.

"I'll live." Came the reply with a bloody grin. "Not sure about those two though. Now that you are here."

With that, Mun raised both his palms up to the heavens and yanked. Motak felt the familiar pull in the air as two bodies came crashing down from the same floor Mun was thrown down from.

Motak moved like the force of nature that he was and was on top of the two thugs who landed in front of them. Two punches and one uppercut. That's all it took him.

"Well, that was easy." He commented happily, looking down at the thugs lying unconscious on the grass.

"Told you." Mun replied from somewhere on the ground behind him.

Motak glanced over and didn't like what he saw. Bloody and pale, wobbling slightly in the wind, Mun looked like a ghost trying to rise out from its grave in the now red grass. He was bleeding a little too much for Motak's liking.

Another scream pierced the night. Motak turned just in time to see Hana falling down. But she broke her fall with telekinesis right before hitting the ground. The scream however, was actually from Jeokbong, who was trying to fight off two thugs who were on top of him.

Hana landed a flying kick to the thug on top of Jeokbong, who then managed to throw the other one to the ground, with himself on top.

"I'll summon these two then." said Motak, returning his attention back to the thugs.

Turns out, both of them were level two. Evil spirit teaming up was not new to them, particularly the lower ones. But it was annoying when you expect one and get an extra for bonus.

Hana and Jeokbong joined them just as Motak finished summoning the two evil spirits.

"How many inside?" He asked.

"I counted about a dozen when we came in." Hana replied. Like Mun, she too was covered in cuts and bruises. The side of her left eye was already turning a nasty shade of purple. "Three evil spirits - these two and another one inside that we summoned earlier, a level one."

"There were three?" Motak exclaimed. "You said only one!"

"I saw only one!" Hana replied.

"Ok ok, sorry." Motak replied hastily. She was having trouble locating evil spirits lately, one of the many hiccups they were facing after the big bang that basically demolished their hideout seven months ago. "At least we got them all. Let's clean up here and get going."

Since, Ms. Chu wasn't with them, and neither Mun nor Hana looked like they'd make the journey back to their hideout, Motak decided to take them to the nearby hospital. It wasn't too hard to get their story straight with the hospital staff, especially since Motak was an actual cop.

~~~

The official story was that, Mun and Hana were kidnapped and beaten up by some thugs while out on a lazy drive to the outskirts of town. They were able to momentarily break free and call for help (the help being Dt. Ga Motak), which resulted in them not being dead and the thugs caught by police.

"Oh dear, kids these days..." the elderly doctor stitching up the knife wound on Mun's thigh was saying. "These maps in cars and phones don't know anything about the actual dangers. I'm telling you, technology these days is doing more harm than good. You should check which part of the town is safe before heading there, right? Especially if you are traveling with a lady.. tsk tsk.."

Hana bristled from the bed next to him. She was already patched up nice and clean and was glaring at the back of the doctor from under an ice pack. She had initially refused to come in, claiming she'll be fine once they get home to Ms. Chu. To which Motak reminded her that even their resident healer could use a break sometimes. Her powers, like the rest of them, were also faltering recently. A mystery they were all trying to unravel at the moment.

The doctor, his name was Doctor Kim, placed a clean gauze on the wound and sealed it with a bandage. The wound had already begun to heal, now that the bleeding had stopped. Fortunately the old doctor didn't seem to notice. One of the many perks of being a counter was how quickly they healed. Sometimes, like now, since the wound was too deep, they'd need an extra nudge to kick start the process. But within hours, even the scar would be gone. Well, they'd be gone usually. Since the doctor here wasn't an artist and his stitches looked more like an iron fence, there might be some scarring. But they'd heal nonetheless. Probably before the doctor finishes talking, which doesn't seemed like anytime soon.

"...ask your family, ask your friends. You even have a police officer for a father, right?" Dr. Kim paused, staring intently at Mun. Realizing he was expected to give some kind of answer, but lacked any energy to get into the lengthy explanation this topic usually required, he simply nodded. Well, technically, he wasn't lying. His father was a cop. The drugs they injected in him was finally taking effect and he felt his eyes grow heavy.

"Ah!" Dr. Kim smiled warmly, his eyes practically disappearing. "I'm sure he'd know much more less dangerous, far too romantic routes for a drive, right?"

"Of course I do." said Motak, walking into the room with two plastic kits, looking all serious except for his eyes, which twinkled. "But this punk never tells me where is going or what he is doing. I thought the rebellious years would be over once they get the right to vote."

"I take it your father does not approve of your girlfriend?" Dr. Kim stage whispered to Mun.

"No he doesn't." that was Hana, narrowing her eyes at Motak. She was still a bit sour at him for asking why she didn't see the other evil spirits.

"Of course I don't" Motak played along, "Look at what you are doing to my poor boy!"

"What I did?" Hana plonked the ice pack on the bed, and stood up. "I'm not the one who dragged him from his sleep for this trip." That was a lie. It was exactly her who literally dragged him out of bed for this trip.

"And he is not a boy." Hana almost growled, her voice taking on an edge. "He's a grown-up who can decide where the hell he wants to go. Whether it is out of town or out of the country, it's his fricking choice!"

Mun flinched at that. So, Hana wasn't just pissed at Motak. Mun wondered why she was bringing that up now. Maybe something happened during the fight? Or he said something while they drive there? But his brain was too foggy to come up with any answer.

"Yes, I guess it is." Motak sighed, but wasn't backing down. "You won't know it now. But one day you'll see. You'll understand how hard it is to watch your children make these foolish choices. When you have your own children to chase."

"Speaking of which," Dr. Kim interrupted happily. "Ms. Do is looking unnaturally pale and nauseous, I might recommend doing one more test before you leave, a pre-"

"No" Hana cut him off, her eyes flashing.

"I know what you might be thinking." Dr. Kim, still not reading the room, prompted again. "But as a medical practitioner, I have to say this. You two are-" he paused, glancing at Motak, who raised an eyebrow. "-are obviously close. There is no 100% guarantee even wi-"

"It's alright." Mun cut him off, more for the sake of the doctor himself. For someone who had been lecturing him about safety for the past half an hour, the dude apparently had no idea of how close he is to being incinerated by the very girl he just patched up. "We'd like to go home now, if that's ok. Please?"

There is a reason Wigen says it's impossible to refuse him sometimes. Maybe it was one of his lesser counter powers. Whatever it was, the doctor reluctantly agreed, sending off a nurse to get their paperwork, before excusing himself.

As soon as he left the room, Motak burst out laughing.

"It's not that funny." Hana grumbled.

"I agree." piqued Mun.

Motak ignored both of them and placed the plastic kits on Mun's bed. It was their back-up clothes. The new tracksuits did not rip easily, but that doesn't mean they don't end up covered in all kinds on muck. So, they always carry spare clothes in all their vehicles. Right now, both of their clothes were covered blood. Mun's pants had a rip so wide, they didn't even have to tear it again to get the stitches in.

"You two should change." he said pointing to the kit. "I'll go see if Jeokbong's back."

"Back from where?" asked Mun, but Motak had already shut the door behind him.

Hana shrugged and pulled the curtain between them close. Mun hadn't even seen her moving or picking up one of the kits from his bed. He somehow managed to change into clean pants, but it was getting harder and harder to fight off the exhaustion. Halfway through the tee shirt, he collapsed.

"What the-" Hana was by his side, fully dressed in similar black jogger pants and tee shirt, even her hair was tied up neatly. She pulled him up onto the bed. "This is why I didn't let them stick a needle in me. It messes up your head!"

"I thought you were just scared of needles." Mun tried to smile, but ended up grimacing as a searing pain shot through his head.

"What's wrong?" asked Hana, panic lacing her voice. Mun clutched his head in his hands, almost pulling out his hair. Hana tried to pull his hands away, but as soon as her hands made contact with his skin, she yelped in pain and jumped back.

"No!" said Hana, now fully panicking. "Somun-a, look at me, look at me!"

But Mun couldn't look. Because if he looked, he would see. See them.

He had no idea how he knew, but somehow he did. He knew what was waiting for him in the darkness just beyond his consciousness. And he refused. Absolutely refused, to look.

"It's an attack!" Hana exclaimed. Mun didn't have the energy to even try to make sense of her.

But he heard her speaking frantically. Not to him. She must have popped in the earpiece and was probably talking to the other counters. He caught only fragments of her one sided conversation as the pain in his head increased and started to crawl its way down to his chest. His thoughts spiralled. But the word attack kept bouncing inside his skull. Someone was attacking. Was Motak and Jeokbong under attack? Or-

His eyes flew open.

"We need to leave..." He told Hana. "Now!"

Hana nodded once. Then took a deep breath and wrapped her hands across his shoulders. Yes, the pain was there, as soon as she made contact. But she was ready this time. Besides, what she was feeling was a filtered impression of what he was actually feeling. That knowledge alone was enough for her to clutch him closer and book it out of there.

~~~

They made it back to the hideout in record time.

As Mun had predicted, the pain in his head reduced as the distance between him and the hospital increased. Hana was right. It was an attack. Only, it was something they were encountering for the first time.

~~~

Notes:

I got so bored at work, I finally decided to post this from my notes.

First time publishing anything anywhere. So please let me know what you think!

:)

Chapter 2

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Chapter II

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Later that day, at Yung.

~~~

"It is not unheard of." said Wigen, her voice ringing through the nine others that were gathered. "Although very rare, there have been cases in the past where evil spirits can enter your mind, to manipulate, to torture, or to steal."

They were sitting around a pristine white table in Yung, surrounded by pristine white walls. But Mun felt dirty through and through, as evident by his constant wiping the face or scratching the pads of his fingers. He was somewhat fidgety by nature. Today, he was extra so.

The counters had gathered once back at their hideout, soon after the incident at the hospital. Mun wasn't surprised to learn that the reason Jeokbong had disappeared for a while was because he smelled something. But he was surprised to learn that the smell was feeble. Because the remnants of pain that seared through his mind was not allowing him to believe it was a level one. It was too strong to just be a level one.

Jeokbong couldn't pin point from where it was coming from. All he knew was that, there had been an evil spirit in the vicinity of the hospital. He assumed it was a level one since the smell wasn't so strong. Then in the mayhem that followed, abandoned his search.

One thing they all agreed. There was an evil spirit in that hospital, who not only managed to switch the drug they gave to Mun's with something stronger, but also stayed close and attacked him through his mind while he was under the influence.

"But how?" asked Ms. Chu, presently. "How is this even possible? Was it an even higher level demon? Stronger than a complete spirit? Like a level ten or something?"

"No." It was her son that replied. A kind smile was etched into his angelic face as usual, but his eyes were troubled. "We think it was a level two, or three at best. But, an evil spirit who's walked the earth far too long."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hana didn't mean to snap at Su-ho, but it came out that way. She was too annoyed with the relaxed way Yung was handling this to even care for an apology.

"It means it's an old spirit Nuna." U-Sik supplied, his voice calm and level as he was keenly attuned to Hana's mood. "It's been out on earth for years now."

"Yes," said Wigen. "When an evil spirit enters a human, not all of them goes on a killing spree or a path of utter destruction. If it does, we'll catch it. But what if it chooses to stay hidden? And then grows in hiding? Sure, they won't level up as quickly and their strength would not grow. But they will learn. They will adapt and evolve. It is hard enough to catch the ones causing trouble without us going looking for these cunning ones. But they exists. We are not sure of the ways in which they might have evolved."

"Will they also be able to mask their smell as well?" asked Jeokbong.

Wigen nodded.

"So, they could be as strong as a level four, and we have no idea what kind of powers they possess." Jeokbong concluded.

"So all the training we do may or may not be useless when it comes to a fight with them. Great!" Motak grumbled.

"Not useless." Gi-ran reassured, patting Motak on the shoulders. "You'll still have to fight them the old fashioned way. It's just that, since this particular one is obviously attacking the mind, you are going to need to put some special focus in that area."

"What?" Motak groaned. "I barely even understand this topic. What do you mean special focus? What area?"

"The mind, of course!" U-sik quipped. He exchanged a look with Wigen, who nodded her head slightly. Then he continued. "Hana nuna can help. She's been training Somun for some time now."

At that, all heads turned to Do Hana. Who uncharacteristically shrunk into her chair.

"We all know how well that's going." Mun grumbled from the chair next to her.

"You were drugged!" Hana shot back impatiently. "When are you going to get that into that thick skull of yours?"

"Right. All it takes to take out the ace of the team is a stupid needle." Mun replied in the same tone as before, which only irritated Hana even more. "It really is a wonderful prospect."

Hana rounded on him and would have actually hit him, if Motak hadn't pushed her firmly back into her chair. Mun didn't even flinch. Instead he voiced the question they'd all been harboring for a while.

"What if it's all part of some other plan?" he asked, looking straight at Wigen.

Wigen cocked her head to the side. "All?"

"Yes, all." He said. "There were more than one evil spirit and enough thugs to take out both Hana and me. All through the fight, it felt as though they were intentionally trying to wound us, but not kill. And the location? Wasn't it both far enough from outside and close enough to that particular hospital?"

"I felt so too." supplied Motak. "I didn't say anything because I wasn't sure."

"If that is true, then they knew I wasn't part of the team there." Ms. Chu said, her mind making the connection. "Which also means, they are watching us."

Silence greeted that final statement across the table. Until Wigen broke it.

"Somun?" Wigen prompted, her eyes never once leaving his face. "There is something else troubling you, isn't it?"

"It's just that..." he started, then glanced around the table. "We know we've all been having trouble with our powers recently."

"Yes," Motak said, nodding. "Ms. Chu gets burned out real quick sometimes trying to heal even the slightest of injury, while some other times, she can basically raise the dead. Hana can sense evil spirits from across the country one day, then the next - she wouldn't even know if one were to breath down her neck. Mun's telekinesis is all over the place. Sometimes he can't even hold up against a basic physical push, while other times he floats all the utensils in our kitchen up to the ceiling, along with the furniture and whoever is sitting in them, without even realising he's doing it. Jeokbong- well, you've never been consistent to begin with, so-"

"I'm having trouble too!" Jeokbong whined.

Motak ignored him and continued. "Mun's territory is not affected so far. And of course there is me. Still strong. Completely immune." He smirked.

"Immune my foot." Hana smacked his hand.

"But I agree with Mun." said Motak, now serious. "We thought it could be because we are overworking. Which is true but, what if that's not the only reason?"

"You mean something, or someone is.. is.." Jeokbong couldn't even complete the sentence.

"It's possible." Wigen replied. A tiny sliver of crack in her otherwise calm demeanor making its way to the surface. "In fact, we are getting reports from other counters from across the world about similar experiences. We don't exactly know what is causing the issues, or if at all it's related to the recent attack you faced." She rose from her seat. Signalling the end of their discussion. "Until we figure it out, I strongly recommend caution."

~~~

Back at their hideout, Mr. Choi Jangmul was laying out the details of 'caution' they were taking. Which were a lot, and not enough at the same time.

"I've placed the whole warehouse under tight security." said Mr. Choi. "You'll need to pass the biometric scanners just to get into the outer compound. Plus CCTV and motion detectors and things I cannot even name. There will be security detail patrolling the perimeter at all times. This whole area is sealed off." He placed a finger on the blueprint of the warehouse spread across the dining table, indicating the hideout. "Only those in this room currently has access to it. Additionally I've placed two of my most trusted security guards just outside the entrance. Anything suspicious and you'll all get alerts on your phones. I could have done more if I know what exactly it is we are protecting against, but-" he sighed.

"We cannot stay curled up in this place all the time." said Hana. She was sitting at the kitchen island along with Jeokbong, with a heap of dumplings fresh from the pan. "We have to go out. We have to do our job."

"Nobody's going to attack me at the station," said Motak, perched on the edge of the dining table. "Besides, I'm armed and always have company while out on the field. You lot need to be careful. Stick together as much as possible. If you want to split, then do it in groups of two. No one should be alone at any point."

"That sounds a bit too much if you ask me." said Hana.

"I know," Mr. Choi replied. "What I'm saying is, at the moment, this hideout is the safest place for you. So if anything goes wrong, or if you find something even remotely suspicious, we meet back here. We plan and then make a move. But remember, it is only temporary. Until we figure out the threat and come up with a solution." When no one looked convinced, he tried again with a deep sigh. "Honestly, none of this going to do any good unless you decide to prioritize your own lives."

"Tell that to that brat over there." Hana said, angrily pointing her chopsticks at Mun, who was sulking at the other end of the dining table. "If anyone has a death wish here, its him."

"I don't have a death wish." he replied. Now that he had some sleep and some good food in his tummy, he was looking more like a human and less like a corpse.

"Oh please!" Hana scoffed. "You can fool everyone else in here. But not me. I've literally been inside your head. More than once. And it is a very scary place."

"I didn't ask you to get into my head, did I?" Mun shot to his feet. "And don't even get me started on scary. I've seen inside your head too, remember?"

"What?" Hana was on her feet too. "You ungrateful little-"

"Oh come on you two!" Ms. Chu spoke with obvious exasperation, from where she was leaning onto the blueprint. "Enough with the fighting."

They'd been bickering back and forth for a while now, perhaps since around the time Mun came back from overseas. Since it was mostly harmless, the rest of the team simply let them have their way. Besides, they almost always makes up before the sun goes down, and it never affects their work. But ever since they came back from the hospital, it seemed like they were caught in some on going brawl. Sometimes even coming close to throwing punches. The exact reason was still not entirely clear to the others.

"You are saying I should have left you for dead then?" Hana asked, her voice rising. Jeokbong, who was trying to take a dumpling from Hana's plate, took a step back.

"Maybe you should have!" Mun's voice rose equally in response.

"Maybe I will!" She was almost nose to nose with him. Her hands balled into fists at her sides. "Maybe next time I'll just say screw it and leave you to do whatever the heck it is you want. And I know for sure there will be a next time. You are just itching to run headlong into that- that wretched truck!"

No one missed the little hitch in her voice at that last sentence. Mun took a shaky breath. The fight going out of him.

"You really should." his voice was low, barely a whisper, but it still carried in the dead silence their row had left behind. "Because next time, I'm not sure I'd have the strength to stop it."

~~~

 

Notes:

~~~
Aaaaand here's chapter 2!

I've no idea what possessed me to write these, or where I'm getting the courage to post it!

But then again.... "I can do it!"

PS: Please let me know what you think!

:)
~~~

Chapter 3

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Chapter III

~~~

A week had passed without incident.

Well, that is if you don't count the fire that broke out at one of Jangmul's factories three days ago.

Presently though, Motak and Ms. Chu were busy in the kitchen preparing breakfast.

Dust motes danced in the artificial light that shone over the kitchen island as Choi Jangmul slammed the day's newspaper there and sat down heavily.

"Rough day?" Ms. Chu asked in a way of greeting.

"Something like that." Jangmul greeted her back.

"Isn't it a bit early for that?" piqued Motak.

"Rough night then." Jangmul replied. "You'll find out soon enough."

Motak glanced at the headlines in the paper, that had a follow up story on a brutal industrial fire that had broken out. It technically belonged one of Jangmul's many affiliates. There were no lives lost, and Jangmul had assured them that the loss was covered. But still, the chaebol looked unsettled ever since the news broke out.

"How did the investigation go?" he asked, nodding to the paper.

"The official report is clean." Jangmul replied. "But, I had a few of my own men take another look. That's where I'd been last night."

"And?" Motak prompted.

"Well, maybe I'm reading too much into this. Because all the evidence point to the cause of the fire as pure accident. But," Jangmul looked uncertain. "But, when we questioned a few of our staff, I mean really closely questioned them. It seems.. it seems.."

"Oh just spit it out, will you?" Ms. Chu raised a spatula at him.

"Well, it's probably just paranoia. But I think, a couple of the staff has some.. some gaps... in their memory." Jangmul finished, carefully watching the two counters for their reaction.

"Ah, that makes sense." said Motak.

"It does?" asked Jangmul, slightly taken aback by the lack of surprise.

"Well, we are pretty much holed up in this place. So, it's only a matter of time, whoever it is behind us, come after you." said Ms. Chu matter-of-factly.

"But if they truly want to come after me, why didn't they pick one of my bigger factories? Not that I want them to, thank you very much."

"They are toying with us." Came a sleepy voice from the other side of the kitchen, followed by a sleepy girl.

"Hana!" Jangmul smiled at her. "I thought you were out on your morning run!"

"Run where?" Hana yawned, rubbing her eyes. "You are the one who banned us from going out, remember?"

"You make me sound like the villain, Do Hana." said Jangmul. "But I never said you can't go out. Just take someone with you on the run."

"Like who? Sunbae is always busy with something at the station. Ms. Chu and Jeokbong can barely keep up." Hana shrugged.

"What about Somun?" asked Jangmul as a reflex.

"What about him?" Hana peaked up at him. Innocence oozing through her eyelashes. But Jangmul knew better.

"No, I mean-" he stuttered. "I was just about to ask- I believe Somun's still asleep?"

"Nice save." Motak smothered a laugh at the exchange. "Yes, he is. I'll go get them. Or they might sleep through the whole day."

While Motak left to get Mun and Jeokbong, Hana picked up the newspaper.

"It's a thinly veiled threat at best." she commented, eyes trailing the article. "As if they are saying, they can get to us anytime they want. And if they can't, they'll set us on fire." She put the paper down.

Jangmul and Ms. Chu blinked at the easy way she said that. Then seemed to realize who they were talking to.

"At least drop the security detail." Hana pressed. "If anything, you are just putting civilians in danger, at this point."

"She has a point." said Ms. Chu. "This is not something that can be handled with guns."

Jangmul grunted, but seemed to be reconsidering his options. Then he suddenly sat up straight with a broad grin.

"On another note, I just had a very bright idea!" said Jangmul. Ms. Chu could almost see a light bulb floating just above his head. Which wasn't always good. So, naturally, she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Since our dear Hana seems particularly upset about not being able to go out, and blames it on me-" He raised a hand in Hana's direction, as she looked ready to protest. "How about I take you all out for the day? Let's have some fun!"

Now both the women in the room had their eyes narrowed at him.

"Oh, come on!" Jangmul almost whined. Almost. "I promise, we'll keep it.. uh, what do you call it? Low key? Yeah, we'll keep it real low key. Let's just go shopping!"

Hana groaned.

~~~

Mun's room was slightly bigger than the others, being a newer addition. But the door had the same little window that was there for the other rooms. Motak could clearly see the figures sprawled in various states of disarray inside making him laugh out loud.

He knocked on the door a couple of times to no response. Then peered into the room once again. They hadn't even moved an inch.

Jeokbong was lying spread-eagled on the bed. Even though he now had his own room, the same one he shared with Mun before, he pretty much always hangs around in Mun's new room. Even Hana had started to spend more time in here since they installed a complete gaming setup along one wall. Why she liked to smash demons on a screen, when they do the same thing in real life on a daily basis, was beyond Motak's comprehension. Didn't she get tired?

Mun was lying on the floor, face down. His one arm draped over a pillow, the other sprawled in the opposite direction and looked like it was still grasping a can of beer. His face was turned to the side, a duvet wrapped around his limbs in a tangled mess. Then again, the whole room was a mess. Looked like they had a boy's night, once again.

Motak pushed open the door with a bang loud enough to wake the entire neighbourhood. That got their attention.

"Wha-" Mun jumped up. Then bend over clutching his head. "Woah! Head rush!"

Jeokbong sat bold upright and stayed there, but his eyes were closed.

"YA!" Motak yelled. "Twenty minutes! You better be in the kitchen drinking hangover soup by then or else you'll be starving for the rest of the day. And, I'm framing this picture in the hallway!" he smirked, pocketing the phone he just used to click away their pictures.

"Ok, ok. I'm up. No need to yell so much." Mun complained feebly, rubbing his eyes. "My head hurts."

"That's a common side effect." Motak was finding the whole scene very amusing. "Wake him up." he told Mun, before leaving, pointing to the boy dozing in an upright position in the bed.

~~~

A few hours later, they were browsing through one of the biggest outlets of Jangmul retail. It was a busy day, and shoppers kept going in and out.

"Woah! I look so dashing, even I can't believe it's me!" said Jeokbong wearing a brand-new trench coat. The long black coat looked like it was tailored for him. With his hair combed back, he looked actually good, that even Hana nodded her head grudgingly in approval.

"I can totally believe that I look even more dashing." Motak did a little twirl in front of the long mirror in the men's section, in his deep brown leather jacket. The material was a little stiffer than Jeokbong's and styled like a biker's jacket. "But then again, I always look dashing."

"You totally do." Mun laughed.

Ms. Chu had to agree with Jangmul. A bit of fresh air, even if it meant shopping, was doing a lot of good for her team's overall spirit. After all, it was refreshing to see Mun laugh after sulking off for over a week. They were both seated in a sofa near the trial rooms, with bags of clothes they had previously picked out, arranged in a neat row by their feet. Hana was perched on the armrest near Mun's side, with a relaxed arm draped over the back of the sofa behind him. For the untrained eye, they might look perfectly normal. But Ms. Chu didn't miss the way Hana's eyes flickered around them, looking for threats, or how Mun's fingers drummed frantically across his knee. They looked relaxed on the outside, but inside they were coiled tight with so much nervous energy, it felt as though they might combust at the slightest touch.

But that wasn't very surprising. There was a real threat, made surreal since they were yet to put a face to it. But Ms. Chu noticed something else. Ever since they stepped out of the safety of the warehouse, Hana seemed to be glued to Mun's side.

It was the first time they'd gone out together after the incident at the hospital. With Motak and Jeokbong managing to dispatch of the only one level one spirit Hana had sensed during the week.

Mun and Hana weren't fighting anymore. At least not outside the ring. Sparring was a whole different story. If anything, they were being overly polite to each other on the outside. The last fight they had was when Hana mentioned the truck. Jeokbong didn't get the reference at first, so Ms. Chu had to explain it him. About the truck that hit the car that took Mun's parents lives and put him in a coma. About the evil spirit they hunted down years later. She however, didn't mention what she felt about the implications of how Hana had called it out that day. Now, seeing the way Hana was behaving, Ms. Chu felt an eerie unease creep into her stomach.

"You both look extremely handsome in those." said their very own shopping assistant, who introduced herself as Ms. Yu. She was an elegant looking lady in her late forties, with impeccable style. One look at her could convince you to buy whatever she is recommending. "Would you like try those in a different color?"

"No. I like this one on me." said Motak, twisting in front of the mirror to look at his back.

"Can I try one in brown, Ms. Yu?" asked Jeokbong with one hand raised tentatively in the air.

"Of course!" Ms. Yu smiled fondly at him. "I have a brown one here. There is also a tan colored one of the same style. I'll get that by the time you try this one."

"Would you like something to drink in the meantime?" she turned to the occupants of the sofa with a bright smile. When they all shook their heads no, Ms. Yu bowed and left to get the coat.

"Relax Hana." Ms. Chu patted Hana's hands still resting on the backrest. "We are all here, it's safe. You too Somun-a."

"Yeah I know, I know." said Hana, almost too quickly. "I'm just hungry. These two are taking forever to pick something."

"That's because I have better taste that you, and won't compromise for whatever." said Motak, helping Jeokbong with the brown coat. "Unlike someone, who just went and picked whatever is black. Why did you agree to shopping if you didn't want to enjoy the experience?"

"I was hoping whoever is following us will show up once we are out." she said truthfully. "But I guess you bored them off our trail with all that twirling."

"We were bait?" Jeokbong looked incredulous.

"Right little ray of sunshine you are." said Mun, glancing at her.

"Shut up." she told him, flatly.

Ms. Yu came back with the tan colored trench coat as promised and Jeokbong tried all of them multiple times. Enough to make Hana snap at him.

"But I can't pick one." Jeokbong said, genuinely confused. "They all look good on me!"

"Then get all of them." said Jangmul, waltzing over to them. He had previously disappeared into some deep recess of the sprawling shop with the store manager, promising to be back by lunch time. Now that he's back, Hana perked up. It must be lunch time.

"But I don't want all of them. I just want one I can cherish forever!"

"Ugh!" Hana groaned. She seems to be doing that a lot lately.

"Get the brown one." recommended Motak. "It goes well with your eyes. Also, then we can match! Right Ms. Yu?"

Ms. Yu nodded, demurely. Now that the boss is here, she seemed a bit shy. Another fact that didn't go unnoticed by Ms. Chu.

"What do you think? Hana? Somun?" Jeokbong turned to them.

They both responded at the same time.

"Black."

"Get the black one."

Motak sighed. "Can I get mine in black too, Ms. Yu?"

"Of course, I have it right here." She had already brought one while she went to get Jeokbong's coat.

But before Motak could put a hand through the first sleeve, Jeokbong tensed behind him.

Mun, forever attuned to his team, rose to his feet. "Hyung?" he asked.

"Yes." Jeokbong nodded his head vigorously at him, fully aware of Ms. Yu.

"We'll both get the black one, Ms. Yu." Motak told the shopping assistant, handing both his and Jeokbong's pick to her. "Would you mind getting these packed for us?"

"Sure!" She accepted it and then nodded to the other shopping bags. "I'll have them delivered to Mr. Choi's office along with these."

They said their thanks with a combination of nods and bows and was moving behind Jeokbong, before Ms. Yu could blink.

"Is it the same one from the hospital?" asked Hana, following right behind Mun, who was flanked by Motak and Ms. Chu on either side.

"No." Jeokbong called back over his shoulder. "Different and stronger. I think a level two."

"Summon the territory." Hana told Mun.

"But we don't know it's powers yet. What if the territory makes it stronger?" asked Mun.

"Then let's find out." Motak nodded his head at Mun, who simply raised his right hand halfway up, palms down, and bright pillars of colorful light shot out all around them.

"3 O'clock." Hana's update was prompt.

They all turned in the direction and caught the blur of a flannel shirt and a baseball hat. To say they ran, would be an understatement. Mun was almost flying through the maze of clothing racks, with Hana and Motak close at his heels. As expected, the man they were chasing made a beeline to the elevator and slipped in, effectively losing his pursuers.

Without breaking stride, the counters burst into the fire escape stairs.

"It's going to the basement." Jangmul's voice crackled in their ears, over the shared communication channel. "I have all the exists sealed in this building. He's not getting away."

The five counters reached the basement parking lot before the elevator did. But the flannel guy wasn't making it easy.

"Please don't hurt me" The old lady he was holding as a human shield whimpered, as the demon pushed her out of the elevator.

"Let her go." said Mun, his voice calm and cold.

The evil spirit sneered at them. "Well, since you asked so nicely..." he drawled, before pushing the old lady right into Motak's arms.

There was an ordered scramble as he lowered the old lady carefully to the floor while Mun leaped over him after the evil spirit who ran.

"I got her, you go." said Ms. Chu.

Ga Motak didn't have to be told twice. But as soon as he got up, he was hit with an intense wave of nausea. He was smelling something awful and familiar. Cooking gas?

Mixed in with the smell and nausea was a crippling sense of panic. His vision blurred.

"It's not real. I think it's a-" came Hana's broken voice through the earpiece. "a memory. The old lady's memory."

"That must be its power." came Mun's reply, "It can absorb the worst memory of whoever it touches, and throw it back at us."

Motak forced his eyes to open, but his vision was superimposed with the flannel guy locked into a corner by Hana, Mun and Jeokbong, as well as images of a well-lit kitchen, with a pale hand frantically trying to open a window in front of him. No, in front of her. It was the old lady's memory. She must have had a devastating experience somewhere in her life, where she got trapped with a gas leak. But Motak could feel the sense of dread as if it were his own, as it is happening right now. There was a baby's cry ringing in his ears now.

A loud crash echoed through the parking lot, as Hana managed to throw the evil spirit onto the hood of a car, shattering the glass. For a moment Motak's head cleared and he charged.

He pulled him of the car in one swift motion and punched his face in. But the evil spirit simply flashed him a bloody grin. Jeong-yeong's face, pale in the moonlight filled his eyes. Motak faltered.

"Ajusshi, don't lose focus!" Mun yelled, tackling the evil spirit from the side. "He's messing with our heads!"

All of them were having trouble focusing. The pain was too real, too close. Somehow the evil spirit had managed to extract the worst memory in the blink of an eye, and then broadcast it back to all of them in 4K with immersive audio. They were used to all kinds of physical attacks, but not emotional.

Jeokbong had his head clutched in agony as Ms. Chu crawled to his side. Mun was blinking back tears but he had managed to pin the demon to a pillar with telekinesis. Hana was the one who looked the least affected.

"Cut. That. Out!" she yelled, punctuating each word with a punch to the evil spirit's face as Mun held him in place.

But the demon never stopped grinning. All through the fight, he never once tried to fight back. All he did was run, duck or dodge. As if he knew it was impossible to defeat them in a fist fight. His fight was different.

"Ah... How very sweet..." he now spoke in a voice as smooth as velvet.

Hanna froze, looking like a deer caught in the headlights, as the demon regarded her with acute interest in his now mangled face.

"So much pain... so much love... so, so much to lose..." he was almost singing now with glee.

Then the evil spirit let out an unholy scream that made Motak's blood curdle. He barely had time to register Mun's panicked gasp as the scene around them dissolved into complete darkness and the smell of vomit filled his nostrils.

It was as if someone opened the floodgates of all of the world's agony in his head. He felt the helplessness as he watched history repeat itself.

No, not just watch, but feel, as we are no longer simply human...

This is why you should never let anyone get close to you. But no. Oh no.

Lonely... helpless... hopeless...

There was anger... There was yearning...

Above and beneath all, there was utter and complete despair.

Images flashed in front of his eyes. He saw ghosts. Long forgotten faces. But nothing made sense. Time and space condensed into a single drop of dew, threatening to fall at the touch of the weakest breath.

He wanted to curl up into a ball and cry till there was nothing left. He wanted himself to disappear. What even was the point of even trying when everything he touches crumbles? Why did all this power proven useless when it came to the things that truly matter?

He tried. Every day, every minute, he tried... to push himself further... harder... stronger... To prove himself worthy of all the affection, the praise... the love. Only to fail, over and over again.

He wanted it to stop... make everything stop. But he didn't have the energy to even try to stop. He was tired... If only... if only...

A question... 'Who are you?'

A scream.... 'Don't lie!'

Those confusing images suddenly started to make sense. He saw himself. He saw his friends. He saw his family.

It's too much. It was too late anyway. He was tired. It was time...

A blinding white light.

A touch..  A whisper... 'Noona?'

"Noona!"

Motak's eyes flew open. The flannel guy was lying in a heap by the pillar, completely knocked out. A dented out trashcan was slowly rolling away from him, tissues and snack wrappers strewn all over.

"Noona! Open your eyes!" Mun was shaking Hana by the shoulders. She was curled up in a ball on the floor, clutching her hair in fists. "It's ok! It's over."

Mun pulled Hana up from the floor into a sitting position.

"Noona c'mon! Look at me please," he said, taking her face in his palms and forcing her to look at him. "It's alright. We are alright."

It was as if something broke in Do Hana as she began to cry in earnest. Mun pulled her close to his chest.

"I'm sorry." said Mun, voice choking up. Then he looked up at the other three counters, as tears flowed freely from his eyes. "I'm so sorry!"

Ms. Chu recovered first. "I'll summon him."

~~~

 

Notes:

~~~
Wooo! yet another chapter!

Forgive me for the mistakes as English is not my mother tongue...

 

PS: Please let me know what you think!

:)
~~~

Chapter 4

~~~

Chapter IV

~~~

Three days later. The hideout.

~~~

"Argh!"

Hana crashed onto the rope that surrounded the boxing ring with a grunt. The back of her hand came streaked with blood and sweat as she absendly wiped it across her mouth.

"Tired already?" Mun taunted her from the middle of the ring.

He, like her, was also covered in sweat, with purple patches of color blooming lightly over his face. They'd been sparring one-to-one for hours now. Jeokbong, Motak and Ms. Chu either sat or laid down outside the ring, sporting colorful bruises. They each had had their turn in the ring and was not eager to go back, or even comment on the blur of movement that was Hana and Mun inside the ring.

Mun leapt off the floor in one of his famous roundhouse kicks, only for his leg to be trapped firmly in Hana's grip. Who then proceeded to use the said leg as leverage to twist and throw him down. But the moment his back touched the mat, Mun kicked out with his other leg, effectively landing Hana on her butt. The next instance, he was on top of her with a punch to her face. But his fist never made contact, as it was caught, yet again, in Do Hana's powerful hands.

Her face contorted as she pulled in whatever reserve of energy she had to push Mun's fist back, simultaneously using her only leg that was not currently trapped under him to kick him off.

Hana twisted back onto her feet, one arm still touching the mat. Mun was too quick as he kipped up back to his feet and assaulted her in a series of jabs and hooks. Hana managed to block all that, but the fact that she was caught playing defence, while she should be playing offence, annoyed the heck out of her. Finally, with an disgruntled yell, she ducked as he aimed a right hook, pulling his leg back on the way. A move that he himself had taught her.

Then as he turned, she kicked him hard, right in the solar plexus, and watched with satisfaction as Mun flew back into the corner of the ring. He kneeled down there, catching his breath.

"Who's tired now?" asked Hana, completely out of breath.

"Wanna go for another round?" asked Mun, using the ropes for support as he tried to get back to his feet.

"No!" came a voice from one of the benches below the boxing ring as Ms. Chu raised her torso halfway up and regarded the two younger counters with wary eyes. "That's enough you two. You've beat each other pretty good for one day. Now get down."

"But it was just starting to get interesting!" Hana complained.

"We were just warming up!" added Mun.

"Keep this up and I will decide not to heal you after training." declared Ms. Chu.

That effectively shut them both up.

Just as Hana was climbing out of the ring, Choi Jangmul walked into the hideout with a flourish only he can manage.

"Good Morning everyone!" he called out happily.

The others groaned and grunted their greetings back while trying to walk/limp towards the kitchen area.

"Ah!" Jangmul clasped his hands. "It really warms my heart to see you are training so vigorously."

"My heart is also warm, I can feel it through my ribs." remarked Jeokbong clutching his chest where Motak had punched earlier.

"Any update from the hospital?" asked Mun, biting the velcro off his gloves and climbing down.

"Yes, that's why I'm here actually." Jangmul replied, beckoning them to over to the dining table.

Since the fight with the evil spirit, during their shopping spree three days ago, they've started to actively look into any kind of clue that could lead them to their adversaries.

It hadn't been an easy fight. But they still managed to summon the evil spirit, which was something. It meant they were still in the game, even if the rules of the game had changed and nobody had a clue as to what.

The memory the demon threw at them were technically Hana's, but it had happened in Mun's mindscape. Which meant, even if it was Hana who remembered, it was so tightly woven with his own emotions. It was hard to tell where one thought ended and another began.

Besides, it was Hana the demon had touched. Hana, whose specialty was memories. While any counter could read it, she could navigate it. Sometimes as if she was actually there. And that was exactly what it felt like when the demon thrusts them all into Mun's mindscape, through Hana.

The resulting onslaught of emotions came with certain revelations as well. Some of them they'd already known. Some, not so much.

It was Ms. Chu and Motak who had the hardest time adjusting to how close they had actually came to losing Mun. It wasn't lost on any of them how he did it again, trying to defeat the complete spirit that threatened the whole team. When you put that together with how Hana lost her original family, it would make sense why Hana would snap at him, why she said the things she said, or why even now she kept an eye on the their youngest. And as the seniors, Motak and Ms. Chu took it as a failure on their part.

There was also another piece of information that Hana shared that night, after they returned to their hideout. Once she had composed herself long enough to look them look them all in the eye, she told them about what she'd seen briefly in the evil spirits mind. There were two other evil spirits in the demon's memories. An older guy and a woman. According to Hana, they were in some kind of a basement - old with lots of water damage, but well lit and well used.

They assumed it was beneath the same hospital Mun was attacked. But the original police investigation had reached nowhere regarding the hospital's background. And since Motak couldn't interfere too much without attracting attention to himself at the station, he asked Jangmul for help.

"I sent in two of my best men in disguise as you said." said Jangmul presently, "and this is what they found."

He emptied the contents of an envelope onto the table. A set of color photographs tumbled out, depicting the insides of a dilapidated room. Dimly lit, with dirty green walls that could have been once blue.

"This is it." Hana confirmed. "It's what I saw."

"But its abandoned now." said Jangmul. "They couldn't find anything significant. Just some rusted old shelves and gurneys. In fact, they said it didn't seem like anyone's been there in ages. Also, it wasn't a basement. Just a closed off section in the ground floor next to the morgue."

"Another dead end then." Mun remarked.

"I'm sorry kid." Jangmul said. "I wish I had better news."

"It's ok." Mun replied. "I'm getting a feeling that they'll seek me out soon enough."

"Seek us out, you mean." Motak corrected him, firmly.

Ever since the revelation from Hana's memory, they've made it a point to never let anything seem like it was Mun's responsibility alone.

In fact, they tried to normalize everything. That meant sharing all of their burden equally among them, which was going great for everyone except Mun. They no longer trained four to one. They put more focus on individual training where Mun had to sit at the side lines giving them instructions. He was not allowed to train alone, or be anywhere alone. This made him protest a little too much, so that Ms. Chu had to put her foot down and 'ground' him.

But, it was starting to work. Since Mun had more free time, he got back into drawing. He was laughing more often and more freely.

Although there were still times when he would go deep back into himself, staring into space or locked in his room, scribbling. Which worried the others.

"Us." Mun nodded, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "Well, us is not going to be very useful if you lot won't get off your asses and train!"

"I believe it's my class now." said Hana, hooking an arm around Mun's shoulders. "Ready to flex the mind muscle?"

"Technically, it's Gabriel's class." Mun corrected her, lightly stepping out from Hana's arm. "You are just a proxy."

Gabriel was the Parisian counter Mun had introduced to Hana. The only other counter in the world, who knows how to shield your mind. Gabe and Hana hit it off immediately. Now, Mun wouldn't be surprised if Hana declared one day that she was going to spend the rest of her life in Paris with Gabe.

"His team was out on a case last night, so Gabe's probably asleep right now. It's going to be just me, today" Hana declared smug, to the collective groan of the other four counters.

"I'll leave you to it then." Jangmul chuckled.

~~~

That night, it happened again.

Mun was usually extra tired whenever they do one of Hana's classes. While the others where showing improvement, he was on a steady decline on that front.

The techniques were simple enough. 

Step one: Identify the memories you don't want others to mess with. Then visualize a safe space, like a safety deposit box. Stuff your precious things in it, lock it and then bury it.

They were all skeptic when they first heard it. But strangely it worked. One of the reasons it was so easy for the demon to extract their worse memories was because they all had it running forefront in their subconscious - neatly labelled and ready to harvest. But once they try locking it, then even if they subconsciously think about it, what they see first would be the safety deposit box - or a wooden box buried in the mountains, whatever. Overtime, it would become a habit.

Step two: If step one was defence, step two could be considered offence. This too was simple. You wanna hide something, keep thinking about something completely unrelated. It could be something as simple as counting backwards from one thousand. But Gabe says, the more jarring their thoughts are, more chances of throwing whoever is trying to read it, off balance.

Mun had no trouble with step two. He had a really wild imagination and it was just one of his pet peeves coming up with thoughts as wild and jarring as possible, just to rile up Hana while they practised.

What he really had trouble with, was step one. Not that he couldn't understand the technique. It's just that he was yet to come up with a box big enough to hold what he wanted to hold. Just trying to do so always left him feeling drained beyond any physical training could ever do.

That's why he barely registered falling onto his bed, before sleep took him.

 

Mun's dreams were always too realistic, too colourful. Ju-Yeon used to tease that the artist in him was the most active when he was asleep, whenever he told his friends about one of his recent dreams.

It started out like any other dream. He saw the skyline of Jungjin city looming in the horizon as he leapt over buildings. Unlike when he do the same thing in real life, he wasn't chasing an evil spirit in this dream. He was running and jumping purely for the joy of it. Because he could. The fact that he could walk properly now, after years of depending on a cane, was still as exhilarating as the first time he ran, after Ms. Chu healed him. He still felt the same thrill, same gratitude.

He laughed as he leaped over a particularly steep roof, scaring off some pigeons along the way. The roof of the other building was merely an inch below his feet, when he realized something was wrong. Suddenly the skyline vanished and his center of gravity shifted. He was blown sideways, crashing into the wall of the building he just jumped from. No, not a wall. He shot through the mucky membrane, breaking free at the other side. Suddenly he was standing in Wigen's favourite place. The white woods. But it also wasn't the woods. Mun glanced around frantically as black goo began to ooze from the white tree trunks, breaking off branches and overflowing beneath his feet. In a heartbeat, the whole place was covered in darkness. It became a twisted blasphemy of the serene place he had come to love.

Something brushed past his ears. Too fast to follow with his senses. Then the voices began. Something that sounded like a thousand insects scurrying past, or like a low rumble in the forest.

'Finally' it said.

 

Mun shot up from bed with a scream stuck in his throat, colliding right into Hana and almost breaking her nose.

"Ow!" she complained. "What was that for?"

Mun took a shaky breath, trying to make sense of his surroundings. He seemed to be in his room, on his bed. The surface of which seemed to be staying still, not oozing; which was good.

"Are you all right?" Hana asked concerned, bringing her palm up to touch his forehead. But immediately pulled back as Mun seemed to flinch away from her touch.

"Noona-" Mun started, feeling the familiar guilt in his chest, fully expecting a fight just like the hundred other times before, when he had tried to hide this very thing from her. But he had no other choice. 

It was a testament of how much she'd changed in the past three days, that she showed no emotion on her face.

"Come out for breakfast." she dead-paned. "But shower first. You're covered in sweat." With that, she left the room.

~~~

 

Notes:

~~~
Um... Is this getting too cringe?

.
.
.

PS: Please let me know what you think!

:)

Chapter 5

~~~

Chapter V

~~~

It was Jeokbong who sensed an evil spirit earlier that day, or rather, smelled it.

Which meant, they changed into their uniforms and were out on the road before any of them could even say 'porridge'.

Even though it was close and Jeokbong said it was a level one, they all went together, not eager to take any more risks like they used to. All except Motak, who was still at the station. But as it turned out, it really was just a level one. They made quick work of it without even breaking sweat, momentarily reliving their easy days from the past.

"Ice cream?" asked Mun once Hana had cleared the memories of the two poor victims they managed to save.

"Yes!" Jeokbong exclaimed in excitement.

Before they know it, they were falling into an easy banter and laughter as they walked down the familiar path, close to where their noodle shop used to be.

"Ah, I miss those days." said Ms. Chu, lost in thought. "It wasn't always easy, with the queue lining the whole street some days. But it was so... gratifying."

"I miss it too.." said Mun, reminiscing along. "It's where I learned to walk again. And our basement gym.. so many happy memories."

"We could take a quick detour." Hana suggested, pointing. "Its right across the street over there."

"No, we better not." Ms. Chu replied. "For all we know, we could be followed. I don't want to drag attention to that place too."

"Agreed. Let's go get our ice creams." said Mun, before sprinting off. "Last one pays!"

Collective yells and footsteps followed as the other counters took off behind him. Only Jeokbong paused a little bit longer, his gazed caught for a few seconds too long to where Hana had pointed. But then he too turned and followed the others.

~~~

A few minutes later, they were all happily enjoying their ice creams (Jeokbong paid, of course), when a police car pulled over to their side.

"You're having ice cream without me?" Motak frowned as he stepped out of the car, before waving off to his partner.

"I thought you were busy with a new case." Mun asked.

"It was too boring." the detective replied, almost too casually, which made Mun scowl.

"I see."

"Look," said Motak. "I can't have you people have all the excitement all the time."

"Aw.." Hana said, looking up from her almost gone ice cream cone, "It's cute when you act all sweet and caring. By the way, get me another cone while you get yours."

"You alright buddy?" Motak asked Mun as he handed Hana her second cone. Mun was rubbing his temples with his eyes screwed shut.

"I'm fine" he replied, looking up. "It's just a headache."

"Oh, you seem to be getting that a lot lately." Ms. Chu said, leaning over Hana to pat Mun's hair. "Are you sure you're ok?"

"I am." he repeated, with a smile. "Didn't get much sleep last night, that's all."

"Did you have another boy's night with Jeokbong?" Motak asked, feigning anger . "Ya Jeokbong-a, I thought you'd be more responsible than that."

"But I didn't do anything!" Jeokbong hastily answered. "I slept like a log last night, in my own room!"

"It's really not that!" Mun said quickly, as Motak advanced at Jeokbong. "I just had a hard time sleeping. Stress, I think."

"Aigoo!" Ms. Chu said worriedly, "Why do you get so worked up Somun-i? You got all of us right here with you. We'll figure it out. We've come a long way, don't you think?"

Hana scoffed from where she was wedged in between Mun and Ms. Chu, but chose not to comment.

"Ignore her." said Ms. Chu. "I know you trust us. We'll be fine!"

"I know, I know." replied Mun. "I'm glad I have all of you." When he smiled at her, it was the most genuine he'd felt in a long time.

~~~

Later that day, back at the hideout, Hana decided enough was enough.

She found Mun in front of the punching bag. He wasn't wearing boxing gloves, but went at the bag as if it had personally offended him.

"What did that sand bag even do to you?" she asked.

"Hello to you too." Mun didn't pause or even look back as he replied.

"We should talk."

"We are talking."

"You know what I mean." 

"Do I?"

Mun didn't even see what hit him as he went flying off sideways and crashed into the dumbbell rack.

"Ya! What are you two doing?" Ms. Chu yelled from somewhere behind them at the noise. 

"Sorry!" Hana called back. "Somun slipped. We'll put everything right back!"

Mun got up and silently started putting the dumbbells back into place. Hana joined him.

"Sorry." she said, her voice low. "Didn't mean to kick that hard."

"It's ok. I'm used to it anyway." Mun replied.

"But you can't completely blame me for losing my shit. It's partly your fault too."

"Sorry."

"That's not-" Hana took a deep breath. She had to keep her cool. Otherwise, they'll just end up getting into another fight.

"You are doing this on purpose, aren't you?"

Mun didn't reply, but simply looked at her, his face blank.

"You are." Hana confirmed for herself. "You are purposefully picking a fight with me everytime I try to talk to you. Because you are afraid. You are afraid that if we talk, I will figure it out. You know I will."

Once again, Mun didn't reply.

"Are you seriously going to keep up the silent act?"

"Maybe." came the reply.

"Do you want me to kick you again?"

"Maybe not."

"Then talk. Because I'm not leaving this time without an answer and you are not going to fight me off."

"Noona, I.." he trailed off, running a hair through his messy curls, seemingly lost in thought.

"Walk with me." Hana said, once they finished putting the rack back in order.

For once, Mun didn't protest, but followed her out silently. He immediately knew where she was going. It was one of their favourite places in the warehouse. 

Fresh air blasted in their faces as they climbed out through the fire exit, onto the sprawling expanse that was the terrace level of the warehouse. Hana pulled out the blankets from where they'd stashed it the last time they were here and spread it across the cold surface. It was relatively quiet here, nestled beyond the solar panels and only dimly lit by the few scattered lights. Even the consistent drone of the traffic below had lulled into a background hum. One had to know exactly where to look inorder to find this specific spot on the terrace.

They were both silent for a while. Long enough for Mun to settle comfortably into the blanket, feeling almost peaceful for the first time in months.

"I'm sorry for pushing you away." he said finally.

When Hana didn't reply for a long time, Mun turned his head slightly to the right to check if she had fallen asleep. She was staring up at the sky.

"Noona." he said. Not as if he was calling her, or asking for a response. He just let the word hang in the air between them, like the few stars they could see above, battling stubbornly to shine despite the few scattered clouds and light pollution from the city around them.

"Tell me about the nightmares." she said.

"Noona."

"That's what's bothering you, isn't it? And don't you dare dismiss me by saying they are just nightmares. I know they are not. I can feel them too."

Mun suddenly shot up on his elbow, looking fully at the girl beside him. "What do you mean you can feel them?"

Hana didn't have to look at him to register the panic in his voice.

"So it is true." she said, then turned to face him. "Start talking."

"No. Tell me what you meant when you said you can feel them."

"I asked you first."

"Noona I'm not joking."

"Neither am I. You either speak or I'll read your memories with or without your permission."

"This is serious. If you can actually feel them, if- if it's not just me, then-"

"Then what?" Hana snapped. Finally losing her resolve to keep cool.

Mun sat up, upsetting his already messy hair with a careless hand, clearly frustrated.

"Fine, I guess we are doing this my way then." She grumbled.

Mun let out a sudden gasp as he was pulled back down to the blanket by the hood of his jacket. Another huff escaped his lips as Hana rolled on top of him before he could blink.

"Please" He struggled, but Hana simply pressed her knee into his midsection as response. 

"Seriously, get off! It's not funny." Mun tried again, squirming under her.

"Stop. Being. So. fucking stubborn!" Hana bit out the words through clenched teeth.

She felt him grow still beneath her, only his heart kept thundering on. Hana waited for a heartbeat, then two.

"Fine, go ahead. Read my memories" he breathed. 

And she did.

~~~

 

Notes:

~~~
This chapter felt too slow for some reason...

I should probably just stick to fluff.

 

PS: Please let me know what you think!

:)

Chapter 6

Notes:

~~~
Aaaaah! I'm so nervous about posting this chapter! Help!
~~~

~~~

Chapter VI

~~~

It was pretty late at night, but the three counters sitting around the dining table were wide awake.

"This better be good." Jeokbong said as Hana and Mun walked in.

Hana had called them up before coming back from the rooftop, asking for an impromptu team meeting. She didn't say for what, just that it was important.

"If you are going to ask for our blessings, then I have to remind you that we already gave it." said Ms. Chu, as straight faced as she could be. "Almost three years ago."

"But if you are here because you already did the deed," Motak said, copying the same tone as Ms. Chu, "I'm gonna whip out the ppt our department had made for students on safety."

Mun facepalmed.

"I'm glad to know you think so highly of us. Thank you" replied Hana, without missing a beat.

"You are welcome." said Motak happily. "Now if that is all, I'm going back to bed." But he made no attempt to get up.

"One second." said Mun, before dashing off into his room.

He came back with a couple of sketchbooks and handed them out to the others. They were full what could be considered only as scribbles, totally different from Mun's usual clean style. It was dark and full of twists and scratches. More than that, the images itself were disturbing. There were plenty of them. None of the counters present had seen anything like it. But they've heard about it. The sticky kind of darkness that clings to your skin and sucks the life out of your soul. The thousands of cursed spirits crawling out from the depths of it. Mun himself had told them about it, after his little rendezvous to Mr. Ma's mind. After he summoned the evil spirit from the inside, setting a record in Yung's history.

"Hell?" asked Jeokbong, flicking through the pages in horror.

"Dreams." replied Mun. "Nightmares."

"You are dreaming of hell?" asked Motak, confused.

"Something like that." Mun said. Then took a deep breath. "I think it started when I was about halfway through my trip. That's around the same time my headaches started. I thought it was because I was travelling around a lot and the memories were fresh in my mind, but... It was only about a week after I came back, that I started to realize the dreams and the headaches were connected."

He now had full attention of the others. Even Hana, who already knew all this, was focused. Then again, he hadn't used a lot of words when she found out.

"It was only after the incident at the hospital that I-" he continued, "That I started hearing voices."

"Voices?" 

"Yes." Mun wasn't sure who asked the question, but he was on a roll now. "It didn't make any sense at first. I would see some familiar place, like Eonnies Noodles, for example, before it would turn all dark and twisted. Sometimes I could understand what the voices were saying. Broken in places, but there were words in there. The sensations were always same. Strong and.. and sticky. But now- now..."

He gulped, scared of what he was about to say. He glanced at Hana, who nodded and placed a hand on his shoulders. "It's ok, I'm right here."

"Now," he tried again. "I don't have to be asleep to see it. Or feel it."

"They are not dreams." When Motak said those words, there was no room for doubt in his voice. "I knew there was something off. I was wondering when you'd come forward and say what's troubling you."

"You did?" asked Mun.

"I'm a detective, give me some credit."

"But that's not all." said Hana, when she felt Mun was having trouble continuing. She was rubbing little circles with her thumb in between Mun's shoulder blades. But she wasn't sure if it was for his comfort, or her own. "I'm not sure how, maybe it's because Somun's projecting it too loud, or maybe it's because my own powers are growing stronger. But for whatever reason, I can sort of sense, when he his having one of those nightmares, asleep or otherwise."

This was one of the reasons Mun decided to talk to the others as soon as possible. It was one thing for him to be in trouble. But putting his family also in danger, was not something he could handle.

"So that's why you came to my room that day!" he said, suddenly realising. "It wasn't to call me for breakfast."

"Yes." Hana confirmed. Then she turned to Motak. "And I'm afraid you are right seonbae. What if they are not just dreams? What if, there's something else more... more sinister."

"What do you mean?" Jeokbong asked. 

Motak sat up straight in his chair.

"It always starts the same way, ok?" Hana said, cautious. "Like he said, something familiar. More than once, I saw the same things from his coma. We all dead... our old enemies... Sometimes, I see something darker. Like the pictures he drew. And sometimes, I feel this uneasy kind of pull... Down in the pit of my stomach. A kind of yearning, towards that same darkness. As if, the darkness was calling... I could also feel Somun in there, bright and resisting. But I'm only getting a watered-down version of what he is feeling. It must be much stronger for him."

"That's why I was afraid of you reading my mind." said Mun, quieter now. "I was afraid I might... infect you or something."

Motak and Ms. Chu exchanged looks. Worry etched in both their faces, along with confusion.

"I'm not going to say I understand all of this, but..." said Ms. Chu. "I'm just glad you finally felt like sharing the burden with us."

"I didn't really have much choice in that actually." Mun replied, with a sidelong glance at Hana.

Silence stretched as they sat around the table, each of them going through various stages of comprehension.

"You were attacked at the hospital." said Motak, detective mode turned on. "And you started hearing them after that, right?"

Mun nodded. "It could be related."

"Some kind of trigger?" Ms. Chu asked. "Maybe that's how they gained access to his mind."

"But the dreams started before that." Motak replied. "Were you attacked somewhere during the trip?"

"No." Mun shook his head, then paused. "Not that I remember."

"Ok." He stood up and picked up a marker, noting down what they knew on their case board and linking them to the points he'd written there previously, which wasn't much. "So it's possible you could have been attacked during your trip, although highly unlikely. We know for sure the attack at the hospital was deliberate and they are playing mind games. They are trying to break you from the inside."

He wrote Mun's name in red ink and wrote 'target' underneath. Then added 'Who?' and 'Why?'

Mun frowned at it. "You missed 'how?' 

Hana turned to look at him. When she read his memories, he hadn't held anything back. So she knew, that he knew. Or maybe he sensed it. The answer to the first two questions, at least partially. But it was too crazy a thought. 

"We should probably get some sleep." said Hana instead. Maybe they'll discuss the rest later.

"Yeah we should" agreed Ms. Chu. But nobody made any attempt to move. 

"Well this was fun." Mun got up with a sigh and started walking towards where his room was, without looking back. "Let's not do it again. Good night!"

But the others continued to sit there, long after Mun was gone. Even Jeokbong, who loved sleep more than anything, just sat there, staring into the distance.

There was one thing everyone agreed about Ga Motak. Even though he fooled around most of the time, there is a reason even his seniors at the station treated him with respect. He was smart, shrewd. He don't need anyone to spell things out for him. And right now, he had a solid theory. But if he could figure it out this quick, Mun, who had literally months to mull it over, would know too. 

"Just how much is that boy dealing with!"

"Huh?" asked Ms. Chu.

Motak hadn't realised he'd spoken out loud. But he quickly made up his mind as he turned to his long time partner.

"There's something I've been pondering on for a while now." Motak said, trying to put his theory to words. "When Wigen sent Pil-Gwang to hell, he mentioned a door. There is a door to hell, right? We've seen it. According to Philgwang's logic, if something can go in through a door, it can also come out."

"Yes, I remember Somun saying that. But what has that got to do with this?" Jeokbong asked.

"Well, there was an incident that happened before you joined us." Motak continued. "One of our old friends, a counter named Jeong Gu from Singapore- well, he was killed in a fight with an evil spirit. His Yung partner would have perished, but somehow, he was pulled into Mun. It was quite... uncanny."

"Even before that," said Ms. Chu, catching on to what Motak was saying. "There was another time when Mun had lost his counter contract. He wasn't even a counter, but yet, he somehow managed to ascend a human spirit to Yung and also pull Wigen to himself. Wigen later speculated that Mun was like a doorway between the realms. Which would also explain his command over the territory, because in a way, the territory is Yung."

"But that's Yung!" said Jeokbong, looking at one of the drawings. "This is hell!"

"He did manage to pull Wigen from Yung." replied Motak. "That was before he could navigate an evil spirit's mind. They are connected to hell just like we are connected to Yung. He even managed to summon it from the inside. Who knows what else he can do."

"So, if Mun is a door..." Jeokbong said cautiously. "And Pil-Gwang is looking for a door... Put it together with the drawings and the dreams.."

"Even if it doesn't even work that way." said Ms. Chu. "If those demons think it's a possibility, that's enough for them to target him. At worst, they get rid of their worst enemy. It's a win for them either way."

"But it's all theory" Hana spoke suddenly, her voice a couple of octaves higher. "We don't know for sure. Well, we don't know anything when it comes to that annoying little punk, but that's beside the point. But if it's true. If any evil spirit is stupid enough to- to abuse him like that... I swear, I will tear up hell and heaven if I have to."

With that she pushed back her chair and marched off in the direction of their rooms.

"If this is true." Ms. Chu said, staring into the space that was previously occupied by Hana. "We are in much bigger trouble. Bigger than anything we've ever faced before."

"We need to visit Yung." said Jeokbong, finally. The other two nodded.

~~~

The visit to Yung was short. Partly because Wigen was already waiting for them. Partly because Motak nearly lost it when he heard what Yung people had to say and Jeokbong had to physically hold him back.

~~~

 

Notes:

~~~
Now this is me actively trying for a cliffhanger AFTER the reveal! How silly is that!!!!
LOL!

 

PS: Please let me know what you think!

:)

 

PPS: I've been forever hooked onto Mun being compared to a door towards the end of season 1. Then Pil-Gwang had to mention it again by the end of season 2. I mean, it sounded ridiculously silly tbh.
So, naturally, me being me, I started obsessing over it and thought that maybe, just maybe, there's more?????
~~~

Chapter 7

~~~

Chapter VII

~~~

While the others where visiting Yung, Hana went to the only other person still conscious in the hideout.

"I'm asleep" Mun stated from where he was lying in bed, as Hana burst open the door with so much force, it would have broken off its hinges had it not been of industrial standard.

"Sure, and I'm Elsa." she retorted, before bursting out in song with "The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside... Couldn't keep it in, heaven knows I tried... "

"Wait-" she paused just as suddenly as she had started. "I think it fits you better than me. You are Elsa!" and she picked up where she left off. "Don't let them in, don't let them see... Be the good boy you always huff-"

The song was cut off as she got a pillow in the face. Hana used the same pillow to push Mun's feet to the side and sat there on the bed cross legged. 

"I'm not a door" Mun said, eyes still closed.

"You heard us?" asked Hana. "How much?"

"Enough." he shrugged.

"Can't say I'm surprised."

"But I'm not a door. Ok?"

"Well..." she drawled out the word making him sit up in anger.

"No, I refuse to be compared to an inanimate object. That too a door? Seriously?"

"How about a portal?"

Mun gave her a withering look.

Hana simply raised her hands in surrender. But her smile died on her lips as she made eye contact with the boy framed in the dim light from the doorway.

"Somun-a," she said, leaning toward him as much as she would dare. 

She had let go of her inhibitions on physical proximity with all of her teammates by now. Even though it still took effort sometimes with the others, but with Mun, it had been almost too easy. Which is probably why it had started to hurt every time he moved away from her recently. But she wasn't ready to let go of him that easily.

"You can't shut me out like that." she told him. Carefully raising a hand to brush away a stray piece of curl that had fallen into his eye. "Just because we don't know exactly how to help you, doesn't mean we can't. But, you're gonna have to work with us. We can fix this together."

"Yes." Mun replied. Hana took it as a good sign that he didn't move away from her. But his next words made her pause. "I know we can fix this. It's easy really. I've known it for a while."

Mun looked back into her face and smiled. Another memory flashed in Hana's mind. The one she saw from Ms. Chu after their big fight - blast doors closing with Mun on the other side. He was wearing the same sad smile he had right now. Hana couldn't help but feel her heart clench at the way he looked back then - sad... determined... beautiful.

"No" she said, even though she wasn't sure what she was refusing.

Mun was always so full of joy. A bouncing ball of energy that was as contagious as his smile. Even before he became a counter, when he had to depend on a cane to walk, he was full of life. Now, he leaps from buildings, takes down fully grown men with just a thought, and yet somehow, he has never looked so lifeless.

She thought back to when they first tried to recruit Mun. He had refused to become a counter. Saying that he wanted to live. For his grandparents. He wanted to live.

Then, his will to save others won out and he became a counter. Surpassing every known counter in the world in power. But he still wanted to live.

Now here he was, teetering on the edge of life and death. Ready to sacrifice himself as if his own life costs nothing. As if he means nothing.

"No" she repeated, her voice breaking.

Mun cocked his head to the side. "I didn't even tell you what I was gonna do."

"Whatever it is, I'm sure it's stupid. That's all I need to know."

"How can you say it's stupid? Some of my plans have actually proved to be quite brilliant, remember?"

"Not this time. Your face is saying it's stupid."

"But you always say my face says stupid." 

"Exactly."

"I hate you."

She smiled. "I know."

They held each other's gaze, battling the things unsaid, until a soft knock alerted them to the presence of a third person in the room.

"We are all having ice cream in the kitchen." Motak smiled at them. "Care to join us?"

~~~

They had more than just ice cream that night.

They had a hearty dinner - or early breakfast, since it was technically the next day - followed by drinks. Mun was usually cautious when it comes to drinking. But this time he didn't hold back. Hana scolded him for drinking more that Motak, then got into a race with Mun to see who can drink more. Ms. Chu half-heartedly scolded them before taking a bottle of soju to her room.

Motak had more resistance than any of them and he could have stopped them if he wanted to. But, after what he just learned, he didn't have the heart to do so. If they get to sleep for a while forgetting everything, then so be it.

Jeokbong was alternating between singing and crying by the time he left the three young counters in Mun's room. Or, maybe he was just singing, who knew. Hana was shamelessly praising him, sometimes joining him herself. Mun just sat on the floor staring up at the duo on his bed, yawning and clapping, completely out of sync.

A couple of hours later, once he sobered up a bit and the day finally dawned bright and warm, Ga Motak had a little chat with Gi-ran.

~~~

Exactly twenty four hours later, as the sky churned grey with the early warning of a storm, So Mun looked up from a rickety old chair to the big burly man standing in front of him.

He was easily thrice his size, with a shock of red hair and startling green eyes. 

Mun glanced at the chains wound around his limbs and torso, securing him firmly to the chair, which itself was welded in place to the floor. Unnecessary, he thought. It wasn't like he could fight off five of them in the state that he was in. His telekinesis was all but gone and summoning the territory again was just plain stupid, given the situation. He could barely breathe as it is, through the number of broken ribs alone. Not to mention all the blood he had lost, or was still losing. 

Hearing slowly returned to him as one of his ears popped. There was a buzz of noises coming from somewhere above them. Music and laughter followed the smell of cigarettes and alcohol.

Good news; his body had gone into overdrive at the proximity of death, so that he had stopped feeling any pain. Bad news; he was going to die.

"Are you sure we can't talk this out?" he asked the red head.

He didn't say a word in reply, neither did his companions who stood a few feet behind him. But someone moved from the shadows in the corner of the small room they were in. A woman, tall, dark and lithe, her movements calculated and precise, replaced the red head.

"I suppose not" he mused, as the lady cocked a shotgun and aimed it at his forehead.

~~~

 

Notes:

~~~
Oops! Sorry for ghosting for almost a week, but here's another chapter!

I was waiting to sit and edit this properly, but it doesn't look like that will happen anytime soon, so I'm just posting it as it is.

PS: Please let me know what you think!

:)
~~~

Chapter 8

~~~

Chapter VIII

~~~

Sixteen hours ago

~~~

So Mun had only been awake for less than two hours and he was already having a bad day.

He woke up late, hungry and parched, with a killer headache. Then he himself volunteered to heat up some soup for everyone, and successfully managed to spill the entire pot all over the kitchen floor.

That's when Motak got called up by the station.

On one hand, he was relieved. Because it meant he escaped from getting an earful from Motak for ruining their breakfast. On the other hand, he felt bad seeing him leave on an empty stomach.

Ms. Chu shooed him out of the way saying she'll cook porridge for all of them. He obliged, silently cleaned the kitchen while she cooked. Hana and Jeokbong helped him without any complaint and Mun wasn't sure what to think of it.

Once they ate, bathed, rested some more and finally dragged their asses to the gym, Mun's head was throbbing in a staccato rhythm.

He half heartedly exchanged some hooks and jabs with Hana until she kicked him out of the boxing ring in anger, yelling at him to stop falling asleep in the middle of an attack. Not interested in working out, he offered to spot while Ms. Chu was lifting weights. That's when Hana, still holding Jeokbong in a headlock inside the ring, tensed.

"I think I just stepped on one." She said.

"You think?" Jeokbong grunted.

"No I'm sure this time." She said, letting him go and concentrating. It was one of those days when she had to really focus to read the territory.

"Somun-a" she gasped. "It's your old high school."

"What?" Weights crashed onto the floor as Ms. Chu jumped up.

"It's a Sunday, so hopefully it will be empty there." Mun said, as they all hurried out.

"I didn't see any one else," said Hana. "But we better be careful."

They spent almost an hour scouring through the school campus but found nothing. Not even a trace of an evil spirit. Hana randomly kicked a rock on the ground in frustration, which shot forward straight into Mun's face. He raised his hand in reflex to stop the rock, only to realise his telekinesis was on vacation. He caught the rock in him palm instead.

"I'm glad it was a false alarm." He told the rock.

They barely made it back to the hideout, when Hana sensed an evil spirit again. This time though, Jeokbong also joined her. Saying he could smell something faint.

But that one proved to be a false alarm as well. After what felt like ages, driving around in circles trying to follow Jeokbong's nose, Hana stepped on the break.

"I'm hungry" she declared. "I wonder if Eonnie's Noodles is open. We are quite close."

"No let's go somewhere else." said Somun. The others agreed, remembering what Ms. Chu had said last time.

So they went to a different restaurant and Motak joined them almost halfway through.

Mun was starting to feel slightly better as they started their way back to the hideout hours later. They were finally able to laugh at their complete failure of a day where they had spent most of the time driving around the city in circles, as the sky darkened into night.

But their day was far from over. Because Hana sensed another evil spirit again later that night.

~~~

Six hours ago

~~~

"Are you sure this is the place?" asked Mun to no one in particular as he turned a slow circle in the middle of a field under the moonlight. Next to him, Jeokbong knelt in the grass and poked at something in the ground.

"Positive." Hana's voice came loud and clear through his earpiece. She was searching the other end of the field along with Motak.

"Nope, it's just cow dung" Jeokbong declared after careful inspection. "No evil spirit smells in range."

"I can't sense anything either." said Mun. "Maybe they left?"

"Yeah maybe," came Motak's voice. "We should head back. None of our powers are working and I'm getting a bad feeling in my gut."

"That's probably gas." Jeokbong replied, before he and Mun started to tredge their way back up to the side of the field where their car was parked.

"Wait." Hana said suddenly. They were close enough now to hear her voice twice, from her face, as well as through the earpiece. "It's the school. Get in quick!"

"Again? Is it the same spirit trying to mess with us? How did it get there so fast?" Mun kept asking questions, as Motak stepped on the accelerator.

"Not sure if it's the same one." Hana replied still trying to buckle the seatbelt.

In the end, it was a miracle she managed to secure herself just in the nick of time.

They barely registered the impact as the car tipped over, and their world blurred into a chaos of arms and legs. The deafening screech of metal on asphalt filled the air for too long, until finally, thankfully, the car skidded to a halt in the middle of road.

"Everyone alive?" Motak groaned as he hung awkwardly upside down from the driver seat. Hana twisted around and broke free, falling down with a muffled thump.

Mun and Jeokbong had took the brunt of the impact as they both lay in a crumpled mass of limbs, but reassuring voices came from both of them informing the others that they too, were indeed alive.

Motak and Hana got out first, then proceeded to drag the boys out.

"What the heck just happened?" asked Hana, as she checked everyone and then herself, for the extend of damage.

"I'm guessing," Motak pointed at the figure who seemingly just appeared in the middle of the road, about twenty feet away from them. "that's what."

"We are not looking for trouble." announced the unmistakable voice of a girl.

"I bet!" Hana called back. Bruised and bloody, she looked ready for the fight of a lifetime.

The girl seemed to realize this and took a step back. "No really, we mean you no harm. We just need the boy."

"The what now?" asked Motak, limping forward to stand next to Hana.

"The one who can summon the territory." the girl clarified. They couldn't see her face clearly, but she looked about the same age as Hana, maybe younger, clad in all black with the hood of her jacket drawn low over her face. Her voice had a small tremor, but otherwise, she was holding her ground. "Hand him over and we'll let you leave unharmed."

"We?" Hana asked. Although it was obvious the girl wasn't acting alone.

The girl looked like she was about to respond when Jeokbong yelled from behind them. Hana and Motak whirled around to see three figures, similarly dressed in all black, surrounding Mun and Jeokbong. One of them had Jeokbong pinned to the side of their overturned vehicle. The other two were trying to hold Mun down, who was putting up a good fight despite having just been knocked around in an automobile that almost flew down the road.

Just as Hana was about to launch herself at them, the person holding Jeokbong turned and nodded towards the others. Next thing they know, Jeokbong was thrown forward, right into Hana and they both went crashing down.

A flash and a pop.

Motak blinked, turning back to where the girl was standing. As he had expected, she was gone. So were the other three. And they'd took So Mun with them.

~~~

 

Notes:

~~~

Hmm... We are getting there... ;)

PS: Please let me know what you think.

:)

~~~

Chapter 9

~~~

Chapter IX

~~~

Four hours ago

~~~

"They're counters?" Ms. Chu could not believe what she was hearing. "They're counters? What the f-"

"We don't know how word got out!" Su Ho cut her off, his voice pleading like a child who messed up bad, but didn't want to be punished by his mother. In a way, that was exactly what was happening. Because he really did know how word got out. He was partially responsible for it.

"It's my fault," Hana was pacing down the giant white room in Yung, alternating between wringing her hands and pulling at her hair, repeating the same words. "I forced him to talk. He's gonna hate me. It's my fault!"

"For the last time Do Hana! This is not your fault. And he is not going to hate you, because he is physically incapable of doing that. So please, calm the HELL down!"

Hana jolted to a halt. Probably out of the sheer shock of hearing Wigen swear for the first time in like, forever.

"Please come and take a seat" Wigen told her, her voice calmer. "You are making everyone even more worried."

Hana obliged without a word.

Wigen glanced around, noticing that her outburst had shocked not only Hana, but the rest of them as well. She sighed and turned to the only person who seemed to be still having her wits about.

"Start from the beginning and tell us what happened." she told Gi Ran.

"Ok." Gi Ran nodded and sat forward at once. "So, the last time we met, things didn't exactly go as planned. But, with all due respect, I understand why Ga Motak reacted so violently."

Wigen smiled at that. "I know. To be honest, I was fully expecting a punch in the face. The only question was from whom, Motak or Hana."

"Well, to be honest," Hana raised her hand. "I would have actually punched you and I don't even know why. Sorry."

"I would have accepted it happily." Wigen inclined her head at her honesty.

"Right." said Gi Ran, glancing between the oldest and youngest women in the room. "Anyway, as I was saying, since we had to cut everything short pretty quick, there were a lot of things that was left out. So, Ga Motak and I caught up later that night. And as expected, he had a lot of questions, to most of which we had no answers. So, I asked Su Ho to help."

"The Inspector only told us what we have to do." Su ho started talking as Gi Ran glared at him, and found himself stumbling over his own words. "She never gave us a proper reason. I mean I know what we discussed, I understand that. But I couldn't help but feel- I mean... So, then I checked the records but I couldn't find much. I mean I could, but a lot them were redacted and the Yung partners from all those incidents had either ascended or reincarnated because it had all happened so long back. Then I came across one name... A partner who was still... here. But of course we couldn't talk to him directly, because.. well, because even Wigen didn't know what we were doing, so.."

"So I reached out to some of my contacts," said Gi Ran. "And we also used some of Motak's friends. But nothing worked as he wouldn't talk to us anyway. But, I guess somehow, we gave out the wrong impression."

"Well, everyone is already upset because all our powers are going haywire." continued Su Ho. "And then we started asking all these questions about similar incidents from the past and they know we have someone here who can summon the territory.. I mean Somun's got quite popular between counters after his tour. And not all of them, especially the ones he hasn't met personally, are not quite sure what to think of him. So..."

"You are giving me a headache!" Hana complained. "Can someone please talk in full sentences that make sense?"

"Sorry," said Su Ho. "I forgot you weren't there for the first part."

"Trust me, I'm regretting that more by the minute." Hana replied. "I could have just set fire to the whole place then and there and saved us all this trouble."

"Do Hana," said Wigen, knowing she had to do something to get the situation from spiralling out of control. "You know Yung is all about balance, right?"

Hana nodded, rubbing her temples with both hands.

"There is life and there is afterlife." Wigen continued, trying to infuse calm into her voice when she herself felt anything but. "Yung is the middle ground. But it is more than just a place where the dead and the living can meet. Because just like there is light and dark, there is hell and heaven. The balance between these two is crucial to the survival of the world as we know it. Which is why the work that we do here is important. When you put an evil spirit where it belongs, you are helping to maintain that balance. And that balance, in some way, is Yung itself.

But now, for some reason, it seems like we are losing this balance. Evil spirits are getting stronger. We are getting disturbances here in Yung, like small tremors in the ground, or a crack in the conceived visuals. Or, to make things worse, we are seeing fluctuations in all our powers. And this is happening all over the world."

Wigen paused as Jeokbong moved slightly to the left so that he was leaning towards Hana. To block her in case she decided to, well, do what she said she would do.

"Last week, when a Japanese counter summoned an evil spirit," Wigen continued. "her Yung partner failed to banish the spirit to hell, because his energy was also fluctuating. The spirit escaped and both the counter and her partner suffered greatly. Last I heard, they are still recovering from being burnt out.

The higher ups in Yung conducted an investigation on it. The details of which are not fully disclosed and I suspect if they ever will, but they reached the conclusion that it is because the spirits on the other side of the door are amassing and resisting."

"What?" asked Hana. Even Jeokbong seemed to have forgotten what he was doing and instead focused on Wigen, looking puzzled. The last bit was news for him too.

"This has happened before." Wigen replied. "When a spirit is banished to hell, it takes a while for the darkness to consume its essence. The stronger the spirit, the longer it takes to-" she searched for a word that could make sense. "well, it takes a while for them to level down in a way."

"We did banish a complete spirit." said Hana thoughtfully.

"Exactly." said Wigen, slightly relieved to see she was catching on. "The stronger the spirit, the longer their consciousness remains. The complete spirit we summoned was the strongest anyone has seen in ages. Even level fours will stay aware for years, so it only makes sense to assume that Pil Gwang is still trying to escape."

"Wait. You are saying," asked Hana. "that all the issues with our powers, is because of the bastard we already defeated?"

"That's what we believe." said Wigen. "But even if he tries, there is a limit to what he can do from the inside. He can look for other spirits still hanging on to the edge of awareness. Or simply leach off the energy from other feeble spirits. And if he could manage to stay alert long enough to focus this collective energy to the outside world, they might be able to bend the fabric that separates their world from ours. When this happens, we'll feel it as the disturbances I mentioned before."

"But to actually escape," Su Ho continued from were Wigen had left off. "An evil spirit will need help from the outside. Yung spirits usually has some command over the veil that separates us. Or what you'd call as a door, even though it is much more complicated than that. The stronger the spirit, the better they are at controlling it. But the evil spirits cannot interact or manipulate Yung spirits, because we are pretty much polar opposites and repel each other by nature. Humans however, is a whole different story. If the evil spirit is strong enough, they might be able to reach out to them."

"Like through dreams" Hana said, more to herself than the others.

He nodded. "If they could somehow get a counter strong enough to reciprocate the efforts from this side, it is possible to crack the veil completely, to open what could be considered a door long enough for them to escape. But, manipulating counters, especially someone as strong as Somun, is not easy. And there is no way one evil spirit on the other side of the veil is doing this. He has to have help on the inside to put that much pressure on the veil and reach outside. And he must be having help on the outside, other demons working in tandem. From what we know, their plan's been in motion for months now. It took this long because Somun was resisting too hard. "

"Even now," added Wigen, her voice almost a whisper. "I don't even feel his consciousness, but I know he is still holding his ground."

"You still can't sense him?" Jeokbong asked, his face crumpled with concern.

"No," Wigen shook her head. "He was awake as they had him teleported. But as soon as his feet touched solid ground, they got into a fight. Five counters against one is not good odds even on good days. But his powers weren't working and he was already hurt badly from the car crash. He lost consciousness before he could tell me exactly where he was."

"But you are sure they are counters, not evil spirits?" asked Ms. Chu, yet again.

"Yes." Wigen confirmed. "We don't know exactly who all are involved, but from what I gathered, they are not all from the same team. There is one from the Japanese team. A friend of the counter I mentioned before. There is a German counter. Somun said there were five in total. We have no idea who the other three are."

"And their powers?" asked Motak

"Teleportation is the Japanese counter's skill." It was Gi Ran who replied. "From what you explained, one of them could probable turn invisible and maybe hide others too. Other than that, we have no idea."

"But why?" asked Ms. Chu. "Why would they take him like that?"

"Probably the same reason Yung is after him too." said Jeokbong.

"Yung is what?" asked Hana, taken aback.

Jeokbong internally smacked himself. "Ah, well.." he replied carefully, "This is where we - well, where we left off last time. You see, the evil spirit seems to be targeting Somun. That'd explain the dreams, right?"

Hana went rigid at the mention of the dreams. Like she was claiming before, it was she who had brought that to everyone's attention by forcing Mun to talk.

"If it were any other counter" Motak spoke up, "they wouldn't have bothered this much. But it's Somun and given how strong he has gotten, they think it is quite possible that he might be able to actually open the door. That is, if they manage to manipulate him enough."

"That's why I said we need to find the evil spirits helping from the outside." said Gi Ran. "But we also need to understand what happened the last time something like this happened. We need all the details we can find. That's our only hope. And when Suho found out one of the counters who was alive that time is now a Yung spirit, we tried to reach out to him. But I guess that backfired."

She groaned resting her head in her arms. Silence stretched as Motak regarded Wigen in silent contemplation. There was still one more bit of information they needed to share.

"What exactly is the higher ups suggesting?" asked Hana, her face blank. 

"Well," said Wigen, carefully. "Normally when any counter poses a threat, the immediate solution is to relieve them of their counter status and erase their memories. But with Somun, we did that once and we all know how that ended. So, this time.. well, this time they are saying they might need a more... permanent solution."

"Permanent solution." Hana repeated.

"Like what they suggested for Mr. Ma." U-Sik spoke up, when no one else seemed to have the courage to do so. "But we still have time. Wigen talked to them and they agreed to let us try. If we can figure out some other way... " he trailed off seeing the look on his partner's face.

"Huh" said Hana, and then she disappeared from Yung.

~~~

 

Chapter 10

~~~

Chapter X

~~~

Two hours ago

~~~

So Mun knew the effects of being drugged, having been through the ordeal pretty recently.

He knew his limits as he slipped in and out of consciousness while carried over someone's shoulders. His limbs dangled along like a rag doll, with the movement of the person beneath him. Call it intuition, but he knew they were counters the moment he saw the girl appear out of thin air in the middle of the road, way before he had to fight them. Then he had a chance to talk to Wigen, albeit momentarily, and she confirmed it. He couldn't tell her where he was though, because he himself wasn't sure.

He knew summoning the territory will only make his captors stronger; not something he was looking forward to, after the last fight he had with them. But still, he had to try. There was another use of the territory, which could very well be his only ticket out of this mess. Maybe if he pretended to be unconscious while summoning the territory? After all, it was still fairly common for the territory to open up naturally at random places, and he himself wasn't fully sure if he was indeed awake or dreaming.

The counters paused as bright pillars of light erupted all around them.

Mun didn't feel the prod to his face as one of them checked if he was awake. He was fully focused on the face of the one person who might be able to hear him and with any luck, actually locate him. Hoping against hope that her powers would be strong enough to sense him, as he had no idea how far he was from her, he called.

~~~

"Noona?"

Hana gasped like a fish out of water as Mun's voice reverberated through her skull.

She had woken up after a very unsettling visit to Yung and was currently rummaging through the stacks of boxes they have stored upstairs in their hideout. She had just thrown a bunch of tear grenades into a duffel when the territory opened up. It was different from how he would usually talk to her through the territory, one of the annoying talents he'd picked up during his overseas trip. This time though, all the usual gentleness and warmth she'd come to associate with his territory was gone and was replaced with a gut wrenching pull of pain.

"Somun-a!" she called back. But just as quick as she heard him, he was gone. Hana sobbed into the gripping emptiness that followed. Then rigorously wiped the tears and snot out of her face to pull whatever remained of their ammunition into the duffel bag and zipped it close.

But, just as she turned, strong hands gripped the handle of the bag and took it from her and she found herself wrapped in a cocoon of warmth. She hadn't realized how much she was shaking until Ms. Chu pulled her close to her chest. She allowed herself a heartbeat of comfort to pull herself together. 

"Where?" asked Ga Motak, standing behind Ms. Chu, holding onto not one, but two huge duffel bags. Jeokbong was also there, no trace of fear or uncertainty in his face this time. Hana breathed in.

This.

This right here, was her family. 

They didn't have to say it out loud in so many words. There is no need for any discussions or white board markers. They were a family and there is no way in Dante's nine circles of hell, would they let anyone mess with their own.

"South east." Hana replied, he voice stronger. "Some night club. I couldn't see which one exactly, but the territory was small, so I have a fairly good idea of the location."

"I'll get the car." said Jeokbong and immediately turned on his heels.

~~~

At the same time, at some unknown location, a small group of people had gathered below the dancefloor of a small pub, and were talking in low voices.

"But he is just a kid!"

"Boris, we've been through this. We are still not sure if Yuki will make it or not."

"Are you sure that's his fault though?"

Mun was fighting consciousness to pry open a weak link he'd found earlier in the chain binding him while his captors circled through the same conversation they'd been having outside the door, ever since they locked him in this room. He couldn't hear properly as one of ears were completely busted, and the other seemed to be going in and out of hearing.

From the snippets he caught before, the big guy who carried him, Boris, although he looked scary, seemed like he was actually having second thoughts on continuing with their plan and was perhaps the reason Mun was still alive. The one arguing with him was Eiko, whose friend back home had faced some tragedy and was convinced that Mun was the reason for it. 

"Maybe not consciously," a third voice entered the conversation and Mun tensed. Among the five counters it was this woman who gave him the chills. Even the other counters seemed to be holding her in some respect. "But power, if allowed to grow unchecked, will one day destroy the very fabric of our existence. Yuki was just a warning."

Silence followed her statement. Mun continued his ministrations on the single chain link, feeling the cold metal bend between his fingers. It wasn't easy as his hands were shaking and slippery with blood and sweat. He wasn't foolish enough to try and break free of the iron chains with brute force. But, if he could get at least one link open, that'll give him enough leeway to loosen the loops holding him and he might be able to slip out of it.

"We all know it has to be you." Another voice spoke. The last time Mun had heard her speak was when she had asked Hana and Motak to hand him over. The thought gave him pause. He tried summoning the territory again, but he was too weak. Wigen was doing her best to hold back the nightmares from getting its grip on him, but even she was slipping.

"Lessy's right" said Eiko. "I know I can't do it, no matter how much want to. We are not killers."

"Tatiana is not a killer either!" Boris raised his voice, which made him extra-extra scary.

"It's alright honey." The woman in question, Tatiana, made a shushing sound. As if trying to soothe Boris. Mun made a mental on the fact that she called the only person advocating for him 'honey'.

"I know why you'd say that Eiko." said Tatiana, her voice lower than before. Like she'd moved away from the door. "And I know it has to be me. Which is why I want to make sure we are doing the right thing here."

"Look, I don't have anything against the kid." came a fourth voice, which Mun immediately disliked. "But obviously he has command over the territory, the very source of all our power. Now, as the kid is getting stronger, we are losing it. All these fluctuation in our skills, its happening because he is pulling too much from it. Yung's power is not limitless as we thought it is. We need to take him out to restore balance. In that way, we are doing all the other counters in the world a huge favour. If you are still not convinced, just ask yourself why you are still standing, Boris. Why Yung is allowing this."

"But.." Boris did not sound convinced. "He'd be younger than my son, if he were alive." he said finally.

"But he is not alive." said the other guy. "And that boy is not your son. Just a random counter who happened to threaten everyone else we know. So, Tatiana?"

Mun didn't hear the reply or anything else for a while, as his remaining ear stopped working.

~~~

Now.

~~~

It's funny how they say, staring into the face of death will give you a new definition of life. Or how you'll see life flash in front of your eyes in colorful montage. Neither of these things happened to Mun when he stared up into certain death as Tatiana held a gun, point blank at his forehead.

Instead, he felt strangely calm. And aware.

Aware of everything. How the light filtered in through the gaps in the ceiling. How the dust motes danced in a halo around the gun. The steady stance of the person holding it. How the other occupants of the room coiled back or shuddered in anticipation. Of his own steady, even breaths.

 If someone had asked to count every muscle and fibre in his body, he would have done it at that instance. 

He did understand why some people would say that time slowed down towards the end. But now he knew, that it wasn't time, that slowed. It was one's own body going into hyperdrive, as his brain kicked in some stone age level survival tactic, increasing its own processing speed to make it seem like everything else is slow.

Three things happened at once.

The chain link, now open and held freely in Mun's palms, fell with a clang to the floor. Boris yelled out a swear and the unmistakable bang of the gun filled the small space.

Tatiana blinked in disbelief at Mun's still-alive-as-hell face. To be fair, he himself was in somewhat of an awe. 

No, he hadn't done any super heroic action like flinging out of the chair and ninja kicking the gun out of her hands. Sometimes, it's the smallest of actions that makes the biggest of differences. Like right now, all he did was simply slip to the right, out of her range. Well, it helped that he was ridiculously fast, all he needed was a little allowance in the bindings around his torso, thanks to that one simple chain link with that little kink. 

Nobody had seen him move and that made them pause for a split second out of surprise. A split second was all it took for all mayhem to descend.

In one swift motion, he had his arms free and palms closed around the gun, twisting in up. He used his other arm to pull the chains free and his legs shot out to kick Boris in the shin, using his own weight to throw him down on the girl right behind him.

Someone hooked an arm around his neck from behind and he saw stars in his vision, but he didn't loosen his grip on the weapon.

Just then loud crash reverberated from behind them.

~~~

There was only two night clubs in the vicinity, pumping such loud music. They split up, Jangmol, Ms. Chu and Motak covering one, while Jeokbong and Hana came here. Jeokbong was still searching somewhere upstairs. But as soon as Hana saw the door, she knew.

She had no trouble kicking it down.

Hana wasn't sure what she was expecting to see inside, but it definitely wasn't Mun holding a burly, red headed giant of a man at gunpoint, with one arm around his neck, while he himself balanced on a chair that looked like it was held together by rust and hope. His jacket was gone. What remained of his black tee and sweatpants were in shreds. Covered in blood and poised on the chair, he looked like an unholy cross between a ninja and a ballerina. But he grinned when he saw her.

"Found him." Hana spoke into the earpiece, and without waiting for a reply, she pointed her forefinger at her nose, making eye contact with Mun. He nodded and took a deep breath.

Two small steel canisters were thrown to the room emitting a sickly yellow-white gas. Hana leaped over the body of a man lying unconscious on the floor, simultaneously throwing an elbow into a girl who blocked her path. Their vision blurred as gas filled the small room along with sounds of coughing and wheezing. But Hana was good at fighting in the dark. Her punches and kicks founding its mark without fail, the grunts and yelps from her opponents falling like music in her ear. She was in her element. 

But also, she was running out of air. 

That's when she felt a pair of familiar hands reach out to her. She held onto them and ran. They barely made it out of the room and into the dingy corridor when one of the counters caught up with them. Hana turned to see the woman behind her, cross what distance she'd managed to put between them in two long strides. 

"I hate long legs." she mumbled.

Jeokbong threw himself into the women out of nowhere, and tackled her to the floor, yelling "Run!"

Hana lead Mun up a staircase sticky with residues of stuff she didn't even want to think about, and burst into a room full of gyrating bodies and throbbing lights. It was a testament of how wasted the occupants of the club was, that nobody paid her any attention as she half dragged and half carried Mun across the dance floor, almost painting it red with his blood.

They came to a halt just outside the club, as the enemy counters materialized in front of them in various states of damage.

"Teleportation. Nifty little trick you know." called Motak joining them on the other side with Ms. Chu and Jangmul.

"I know." One of the counters, Hana guessed was the same guy who was lying unconscious seconds ago, called back. "The burn out is not so cool though."

His tone was so friendly, it would seem like they were here for a casual visit. Hana gritted her teeth.

"Now, now" spoke the counter who was standing alarmingly close to Hana and Mun, dragging out each word in a voice soft as velvet. "No need to be so feisty sweetheart. I'm sure we can all come to an understanding. After all, we are on the same side here."

Hana instinctively hated him, and pulled Mun closer to her.

"Ezra." said the woman, the one with the long legs, with a hint of warning in her tone.

"Right, sorry." said velvet voice, or Ezra. "My name is Ezra, and I'm a mind reader, like you."

He inclined his head. Hana stared at him.

"This is Tatiana." Ezra continued his introductions. "That's Boris, Eiko and Anneliese."

"Lessy" corrected the girl Hana recognized from the road, Ms. Invisible.

"Look, I understand that you all love him." Ezra continued. "I even get the feeling that he is a good guy. But you have to consider the bigger picture here. We are all counters. What we care more than anything is keeping the people safe from evil spirits."

"Last time I checked," said Ms. Chu. "Our Somun was not an evil spirit."

"He is pulling all the energy from Yung to himself!" cried Eiko, or teleportation guy. "My friend was almost burnt out trying to banish and evil spirit to hell, even her Yung partner is fading now."

"You are Yuki's friend?" asked Motak.

"You know her?" asked Eiko.

"No," Motak replied. "We heard about her. But what's that got to do with Somun?"

"Don't you see it?" asked Eiko, "He can summon the territory, the very source of all our powers. He is pulling all the energy from Yung to himself through the territory causing all of our powers to fade!"

Silence followed this particular announcement, until Motak doubled over in laughter.

"What?" Ezra started, but was soon silenced as Tatiana held one hand up.

"Assuming that's correct." said Jangmul, scratching his beard with the tip of his machine gun, "Then why is Somun's powers also fluctuating?"

"I asked the same question!" exclaimed Boris.

"He probably doesn't even know how to control it yet, that's why!" Ezra snapped back.

"Gi Ran, you got that?" asked Motak, his eyes momentarily flashing blue. 

Then he turned to face the foreign counters yet again. "You'll be hearing from your Yung partners in a while. I'd love to stand and chit chat till then, but our boy looks like crap. So, we better use this time to set that score right. What do you say?"

"Sounds like a good plan." Ms. Chu cracked her neck.

"Are you sure it's worth it?" asked Ezra, turning to Hana. "I mean I get the feeling. I've seen plenty of counters ready to die for their partners. But you are still young. I'm sure you'll find someone better than him."

At that, Hana laughed out loud.

"Oh, Ezra!" she said, pulling Mun gently behind her. "My name is Do Hana, and trust me when I say, I am not planning to die for Somun." She smiled sweetly at him. "But I will, kill for him."

Then, she attacked.

~~~

 

Chapter 11

Notes:

~~~

More like a filler chapter, I guess ;)

~~~

~~~

Chapter XI

~~~

By the time Gi Ran stormed into the Inspector's office and set the facts straight, she was ready to be condemned to hell herself. This, more than anything, gave the other spirits pause. Gi Ran was never one to shift her focus from her own goal of getting reincarnated. This was too much, even for her.

Wigen was getting weaker by the minute, the walls were thinning, they had problems spilling out of their plates without some random counters deciding to take things into their own hands.

"The audacity!" she yelled, not caring where she was, not caring who she was talking to.

"I've sent word." The inspector reassured her from her huge white table. "Their partners are talking to them and they are withdrawing as we speak."

"Withdrawing my ass!" Gi Ran retorted. "They were beat left and right with nowhere to run. Serves them right. They messed with the wrong bunch, ma'am. With all due respect, of course."

"Of course" came the wary reply. "But worry not. It's taken care of. They will not bother your team any more. You may return to them with the good news."

"Thank you" she snapped, and then stormed off, just like she came in.

The inspector took an involuntary sigh of relief at the sight of her retreating back.

~~~

The fight with the foreign counters went easier than they thought.

While Motak, Ms. Chu, Jeokbong, Jangmul, Hana and Mun fought like a well oiled machine, their opponent's attacks were disjoint and uncoordinated at best. Which is to be expected, since they are not coming from the same team. [Except for Boris and Tatiana; Mun wasn't surprised to learn later on that they were actually married.] But, the real reason they lost, more than anything, was that they lacked conviction.

Boris had already given up before the fight had even begun, refusing to hit Mun again. Eiko wasn't kidding about the burn out and he went down like a leaf yet again without Jangmul so much as breaking a sweat. Lessy had technique, but wasn't strong enough to stand a chance against Jeokbong, who had strength as well as finesse, thanks to the countless hours of complete dedication and hard work he'd put in recently. Tatiana did give them some trouble, but nothing Motak and Ms. Chu can't manage.

In the end, it was only Ezra. And Hana took it personally to beat him into a pulp. Motak had to forcefully pry her off of him so that she won't actually kill him. Hana was still furious about that during their ride back to the hideout. 

Ms. Chu was riding with Jangmul in the other car after healing most of their major wounds, especially Mun's. But she herself was exhausted, and they all refused to let her try and heal them all completely, lest she too get burnt out. None of them were bleeding to death anymore, which was good enough.

But they were still covered in minor cuts and bruises and looked exhausted beyond anything.

"I had to." Motak was telling Hana, not taking his eyes off the road. "You were this close to actually killing him."

"He'd have deserved it." Hana snapped from behind him.

"We are not killers, Hana-ssi." said Jeokbong gently from the passenger seat. 

"They are." said Hana. "It's a new world with new rules. We are not going to survive if we stick to the same morales as before."

"It's those morales that makes us who we are. Without them, we are different people." said Motak trying to make her see where he was coming from. Even though he understood her anger, it was a dangerous path she was staring down, and it scared him.

"What if I want us to be different people?" asked Hana, not backing down.

"What's wrong with us now?" Mun stirred from where he was leaning his head against the car window, trying to open his eyes and failing. "We did beat them didn't we?"

Motak saw the exact moment Hana's face changed in the rear view mirror. And when she spoke next, even though she was pretending to snap, her voice was much, much softer.

"Shut up and go back to sleep." Hana pulled Mun by the arm towards herself, placing his head firmly on her shoulder. 

Mun snuggled in and yawned. "I like this us. Don't change."

"It's like she has split personality." said Jeokbong, who'd been watching the whole exchange. "That's an actual disorder, you know?"

"Do you wanna die?" asked Hana, glaring at him. But the fight was long gone from her.

"Nope." Jeokbong turned around.

Motak once again glanced at the mirror, as Hana gently moved the curly bangs out of Mun's eyes. He was reminded of another car ride all those years ago, where they were just two kids riding in the backseat. A lot had changed since then. But then again, in some ways, it was as if nothing had changed.

~~~

Later that night, Mun was getting ready for bed as someone knocked on his door. 

"Noona!" he grinned at her.

"Hey, you alright?" she asked, coming in.

"I'm good." he replied. "Or I will be, once I get some sleep. Just tired.."

"Yeah, that makes sense. You got enough water?" she asked checking his water jug, which was full. "Do you want me to bring some snacks?"

"Snacks?"

"In case you get hungry at night? I'll bring some."

"Noona," he called, stopping her as she started to turn around. "Seriously, I'm fine."

"Ok, it's just that you didn't eat much at dinner. You're sure you won't be needing anything..."

"I'm sure. But.. Since you asked... There is one thing." 

His eyes flashed with mischief as he extended both his arms towards her.

"A hug?" Hana raised her eyebrows. "Really?"

"What? I got one from everyone else. You are the only one who always holds back."

"Wow, that's real mature." she complained, but stepped closer nonetheless.

"Who said I was mature?" he asked honestly as Hana wrapped her arms around him.

She took a shuddering breath as a suppressed sob escaped her.

"Did I hurt you?" he asked, softly into her hair. "When I called, I felt you recoil."

Hana leaned back suddenly to look him in the face. "You broke the connection on purpose?"

"Well I didn't mean t- Ow!"

"Idiot!" Hana smacked him hard against the chest. "Two more seconds and I could have narrowed down the club, you moron! We didn't have to waste time or energy splitting up and searching two different places!"

"Sorry" he replied sheepishly.

Hana once again wrapped her arms around him and hugged tight. "Don't do that again."

"Promise. I won't break the connection without you saying so."

"I mean, don't get kidnapped!"

"Oh"

"No really. Stop getting into trouble all the time, it drives me crazy."

"Sorry... But in my defense, I didn't plan to get kidnapped." he teased. "Next time when someone tries that, I'll be sure to inform them that they'll have to face your wrath."

"I hate you."

"Mmm, I know."

She held onto him a lot longer than what she knew was appropriate. Sure, they've always been close. Close enough to earn constant teasing from their teammates, close enough to even make random strangers mistake them for a couple. But they've never actually crossed that particular line. Even when they had to navigate their own way on different paths of life, following their heart or following what they were told, they made sure to keep each other a constant in their lives. Never too far, but always just out of reach.

"How long are we supposed to stand like this?" asked Mun.

"I don't know. You are the one who asked for it."

"That's right." he mused. "You can let go anytime you want. I'm not stopping you. I'll never hold you back."

Hana got the feeling he wasn't just talking about right now. She knew he loved her, always did. He didn't exactly hide it anyway. But he never asked for anything from her either. It was the purest kind of love she'd ever seen, and that scared her. But now...

"EONNIE'S NOODLES!!!!"

Mun and Hana jumped a foot in the air as Motak's voice boomed through the hideout. But when they turned around, their doorway was empty.

That's when a loud crash sounded from the direction of their common space and they ran out of the room.

"What the heck are you saying?" Ga Motak was yelling at a covering Jeokbong, who was about to fold himself in half, trying to hide behind Jangmul.

"W-why would we lie about something like this?" Jeokbong stuttered in fear as Motak stepped over an upturned chair and advanced towards him.

"I'm not saying you are lying." Motak shouted back. "But when it comes to that nose of yours, it's not having the best of recommendations. Besides, it makes no sense! You saw the pictures Jangmul brought. Hana confirmed it looked exactly the same as what she saw in that evil spirit's memory. Right Hana?" He turned to look at Hana and, never to miss anything, he added, "Also, why are you holding hands?"

"I-" Hana let go of Mun's wrist. "I heard you shouting and thought we were under attack! I panicked!"

"So, your first instinct was to grab Somun and run? Not check on us?"

"Umm... yes?"

"Oh! Well," Motak shrugged. "At least you are honest. But you!" he whirled back to Jeokbong. "Tell them what you just told us."

"I- Ok.." said Jeokbong, still refusing to come out of his hiding place and not making eye contact with anyone. "I felt it the first time we came across the street, when we went to get ice creams. But the smell was too faint, I thought I was imagining it. If only I hadn't doubted my own abilities back then..." He thrust both his fists into his hair, almost pulling his scalp out.

"Hyung," asked Mun. "Are you saying what I think you are saying?"

"I checked this morning, and I'm sure. That's where those demons are hiding." said Jeokbong, straightening at Mun's voice. "It's the same smell I got from the hospital that I got today, when we neared Eonnie's Noodles."

"He is telling the truth." said Jangmul. "I was with him today.  I think what I found at the hospital was a decoy. We know these demons mess with our heads and we fell for it!"

"If that is true..." said Hana, thoughtfully. "All this time, we've been looking for them everywhere else and they were right under our noses?"

"Damn it!" Motak slammed a fist into the kitchen table, making Mun promptly grab the large pot of myeolchi from the middle of the table and move it to the kitchen island.

"I think they are also masking the place in some other way too." said Hana, thoughtfully. "Every time we discuss or even think about going there, it was as if our thoughts were getting purposefully re-routed. Not that it felt that way before, but now that I think about it..."

"That's it." said Ms. Chu. She'd been so silent all this time, they'd almost forgotten she was there. "We are not sitting on this one. Evil spirits or not, it's high time we pay our old noodle shop a visit."

~~~

 

Chapter 12

Notes:

~~~

Well... I'm back, I guess!

~~~

~~~

Chapter XII

~~~

According to what Wigen said, Mun's power over the territory and thereby his connection to Yung, was capable of opening a door to hell. The evil spirits in there somehow knew this and was using other evil spirits on the outside to attack and weaken Mun from within his mind. Thereby opening a pathway for the demons from hell to access and manipulate Mun from his own mindspace. Once they destroy his defences, there would be nothing stopping them from using his full potential for their own good.

For the plan to work, however, two sides of hell needs to combine their efforts. But, demons are not known for collaboration. Pulling something this huge would require some serious leverage. Which is why, such a thing was unheard of till now. Also, there hasn't been a counter in anyone's knowledge who could actually summon the territory. So, there's that.

The counters hiding in Mr. Choi Jangmul's warehouse had been trying so hard to locate the demons working from this side of hell. Because, well, they can't very well march into hell and attack the demons calling the shots there, can they? No matter how much they want to.

They thought they'd hit a dead end when no leads turned up from their investigation into the attacks at the hospital. That's when Jeokbong, bless his nose, dropped the bomb.

Spirits were high as they patiently waited for the noodle shop to open the next morning. Finally, finally - they had a solid lead. Whatever was going on with Mun, the evil spirits hiding in there were responsible. They are the ones who started it and kept weakening him. If that's right, then taking them out would mean there would be no one this side of hell to do the biddings of whoever was orchestrating the whole plan from the other side. This was the moment they were all waiting for and all of them were itching to get their hands on them. But it was also a sensitive matter. The place was full of civilians for one thing. Also, it was their somewhere too close to heart.

~~~

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary when Jeokbong and Ms. Chu arrived at their beloved noodle shop.

The new owners had made some changes to the restaurant. They were now serving lunch as well as dinner, and the menu included more than just noodles. But the homely vibe was still so strong that the nostalgia hit them hard as they walked in. Jeokbong ordered randomly from the day's menu as Ms. Chu chatted away with the owners.

The others were waiting in the car a few distance away, listening to the conversation happening inside. So far, everything seemed strangely ordinary.

"Sometimes it is hard to keep up with the orders pouring in through the door," Motak, Hana and Mun listened, as a male voice was saying happily. "We even pause all the phone in orders."

"Your food is delicious!" came Ms. Chu's reply "No wonder people will want more."

"Oh dear! That's high praise coming from someone like you!" said a female voice, the pride in her voice unmistakable, even though the volume was too low through their earpieces.

"Ask them about the basement." said Motak suddenly.

They heard something fall down with a metallic clang, followed by muffled shuffling noises. Then Jeokbong's voice came through the tiny speakers.

"Are you still facing water leakage in the basement?" he was asking. 

Silence followed, with the generic murmur in the shop setting up a dull background.

"I mean, sorry for asking.." Jeokbong pressed on even though his voice was totally flustered. "It's just that.. that...We fixed it right before leaving, but didn't get a chance to check.."

"Pardon me young sir," replied the same male voice from before. "But I think you got the place confused. We don't have a basement! Right Ms. Chu?"

More silence.

"Yes, yes!" Ms. Chu exclaimed suddenly. "You probably confused it with one of your old places, silly!" 

Her fake laugh couldn't have sounded more fake even if she'd tried. But Jeokbong played along.

"Oh yes, sorry sorry! It was the place I worked before I came here! I got confused! Ha ha!" 

The occupants of the car exchanged looks.

~~~

That night, as the owners locked up the restaurant to go home, they didn't notice the four hooded figures darkening the alleyway they were in, or the small one that crouched over their rooftop. But two pairs of shrewd black eyes regarded them from the shadows, barely concealing their glee.

~~~

The basement was there. 

"Gabe was right." said Hana, squinting at the door to the basement. It was there alright, but one had to actually know what to look for it to actually see it. Otherwise you'll just look past it without registering its presence. Simple mental diversion, which according to Gabe, was something that can only be pulled off by someone capable of illusions. He knew of a counter who could do it, but not an evil spirit.

They had a lengthy discussion with Gabe as soon as they'd returned home after visiting the noodle shop. Going over every possibilities. How they never really got a chance to visit it before even though they'd wanted to or how the new owners were convinced that they never had a basement. He had a lot of theories, but at the end it was obvious, whatever they were up against was one in a million. 

"When in doubt, go back to the basics." he'd told them finally.

And now, here they were.

Jeokbong kicked it open a second before the first punch landed inside. Motak and Ms. Chu had broken the side window and got it before them as planned. They'd already subdued the one evil spirit that was inside by the time he and Hana climbed down the stairs. They knew there was only a level one inside, but that doesn't mean they took their guard down.

"They're moving." came Mun's voice through their shared communication channel. He was their eyes on the roof top and had been watching the two figures quietly watching them back.

"Don't let them see you." Ms. Chu told him, scanning the room around her. 

It was dark outside and the room was lit only by a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling. The gently swaying of the bulb made it hard to focus on anything in the room as light kept bouncing off the surfaces. The place looked like it had been meticulously re-decorated to look like the photos from the hospital Jangmul had brought. Or the place Hana had seen in the mind of the evil spirit who attacked with memories. But it was still too early to trust their senses. 

"Hello." 

All four of them turned in unison towards the voice. A short plump figure stood on the stairs, flanked by a tall slender one.

"May I help you?" asked the newcomer with a smile and Motak did a double take.

"Ah!" Dr. Kim laughed delightedly. "I was wondering when I'd have the pleasure of meeting you again. How's your son doing?"

The most creepy thing about Dr Kim was, that he was not creepy at all. His eyes, his smile lines, everything about him wrapped you in that gentle grandfatherly warmth. It was impossible to think that this person had even an ounce of evil inside him.

"Let me guess," said Hana. "You are the illusionist and that one is the torturer."

"Not exactly torture, you see." said Dr. Kim, if that was even his real name, as he climbed down the steps. "It only hurts if you resist. Otherwise, it's actually quite pleasant."

"Oh screw you!" Jeokbong jumped up a box of who-knows-what, throwing his whole body into a flying kick aimed directly at Dr. Kim's head. But the kick never connected. He landed on his feet at the foot of steps bewildered as Hana whirled around to face Motak.

"Behind you!" she yelled and punched hard at the figure behind him just as Motak ducked. But her hand went straight through Dr. Kim as if he was made of smoke.

"Illusions" Ms. Chu murmured. "We ne-"

Hana never heard what she said next as white hot pain seared through her brain. It was familiar and brain numbingly new at the same time. Familiar because it was the same she'd sensed through Mun, first time in that hospital. It was new because, well, it was the first time she was being hit directly.

She felt hands touching her briefly on her back, then withdraw as if she'd burnt them. This too she understood. She'd done that herself. Tears streamed down her face as she curled down into a ball on the floor, barely registering the commotion going on around her. Then the territory opened up all around her.

"Stick. to. the plan." she spoke to the earpiece through clenched teeth.

"But noona!" came Mun's panicked voice.

"Listen to Hana!" yelled Motak and Ms. Chu in unison, cutting off any protest from him.

The plan was to keep Mun out of the fight, since he was their obvious target. The four of them would go in, lure the two evil spirits and summon them while Mun stood watch, outside. Much like what Jeokbong did while Hana summoned Gelly. Except summoning the territory when needed, his role was just a doorman. But Mun being Mun, he was having trouble staying put, especially when he could hear the screams of agony from inside.

Ms. Chu managed to throw their torturer against a wall with telekinesis giving the rest a momentary reprieve from the pain. But that didn't last long. Motak jumped at him biting off the pain but collided headfirst into a brick wall in the middle of the room. That wasn't there before, obviously. But that didn't stop him from believing it is now. The thing about Dr. Kim's illusions? He didn't just manipulate what they saw, but every other senses as well.

Hana focused on the floor. The pain was less intense than before. Probably because it was being split between the four of them as the evil spirit decided to attack them all simultaneously. That didn't mean it was bearable by any chance, but Hana fought through it. There was something a part of her brain noticed the first time she was attacked and face planted herself on the floor tonight. The major part of her brain was drowning in pain too much to actually register what the smaller part noticed. It still was. But she knew there was something. Something about the floor. She pressed the heels of her palm to her eyes as Motak and Jeokbong was trying to pinpoint Dr. Kim behind her. Ms. Chu was using telekinesis beyond her usual limit at the other evil spirit, and now had a trickle of red below her nose. She blocked them all out. The floor. Black mat. That was it! Her eyes flew open. 

It was a simple knowledge. As she fell to the floor in pain, it somehow blocked out the illusions. Probably because her brain was at full capacity fighting off the pain, it didn't have any senses left to be manipulated. But also, her brain was at full capacity to notice the difference. Only, she did. 

The floor was black. The same dark mat they had used when this place was the gym. Their gym. It wasn't the bluish green tiles of a discarded hospital room. That was an illusion.

"The floor's black!" she yelled, confusing the others.

"What?" asked Motak, out of breath as he dodged what was the hundredth knife thrown at him from completely random directions.

"This whole place!" Hana said, getting back to her feet. "It's an illusion. It's still the gym. You can see it if you know what to look for. Just like the door!"

And once you break through, you can see what's real. You can see him.

Hana smiled, as she finally saw the small hunched figure standing behind the monkey bars, away from all the mayhem. Gotcha!

What followed was pure chaos. All training and technique was thrown out the window as two of their strongest counters were consumed by blind rage and searing pain. Motak and Hana fought Dr. Kim in tandem. Fists and feet flying in the air along with whatever they could find to attack him with. Be it a broken chair, a forgotten dumbbell or in one particular instance, an old door knob that found its way to Motak's hand and then to Dr. Kim's ear.

Without the illusions, Ms. Chu and Jeokbong had better success at finding their mark on the other evil spirit. But halfway through, he realised where the fight was headed and tried to flee. With one last surge of energy he threw everything he had, crippling the two counters attacking him and ran straight to the basement door. 

He only made half way up the stairs before meeting a boot and came tumbling down.

"What part of stay-out-of-it, did you not understand?" asked Ms. Chu, sighing in relief at the total absence of the incomprehensible pain in her head, as the evil spirit was knocked out.

"I thought you guys were done." said Mun nonchalantly, standing halfway down the steps. "I can go back.."

Ms. Chu's response was swallowed up in a scream as Motak threw Dr. Kim's body across the floor. He crashed on the floor right next to the other evil spirit. 

"Ah! my dear boy!" said Dr. Kim, smiling up at Mun through bloodied mouth. A couple of his teeth were missing. "How lovely to see you!"

Mun froze. He'd recognised Dr. Kim a couple of hours ago. When he saw the two figures getting out of the car and making their way to the noodle shop. Even from the rooftop, he could clearly see his pale face. It didn't really surprise him. After all, they knew the evil spirit was at the hospital. Dr. Kim was at the hospital too. But, it was how kind he looked, even with his face completely bloody and mangled, he looked like a kind old grandpa, completely incapable of evil.

"I know, I know." Dr. Kim sighed, as if reading Mun's thoughts. "He is not evil. The host I mean. They don't always have to be. I thought you'd have figured it out yourself after what happened to your friend last time."

Mun blinked. Maybe he actually can read his mind. Dr. Kim regarded Mun with what looked like actual love in his eyes. He gently raised his hand towards him and Mun felt, rather than see, his companions recoil. Jeokbong visibly made a move towards Mun, as if trying to shield him. Mun glanced at his own hands. Black smoke seeped and curled beneath his fingertips, his veins turning dark.

"It's sad really." continued the demon. "How deeply you dedicate yourself to catch demons and yet, you know so little of us. But that's ok. You'll learn everything soon enough. We've already won this war, my dear. And you and I, we'll meet aga-."

His words were cut off as Hana hit his head with a blood soaked dumbbell and he crumpled to the floor for good. Silenced stretched as Mun continued to stare at his bare hands, now pale in the flickering light.

"I'll summon him." said Motak staring down at the unmoving body of the old man.

"I'll summon this one then." added Jeokbong bending down towards the other evil spirit.

Back at Yung, Motak and Jeokbong weren't surprised to see a new Yung spirit instead of Wigen, banishing the two evil spirits they'd just summoned. Wigen was still getting weaker. So was Mun.

They didn't mention how their hope of regaining control of the situation, once the demons in question from this side of the veil was defeated, was now neatly shattered, by that wretched demon's last words.

"We've already won this war, my dear!"

~~~

 

Notes:

~~~

Now that I've run out of all of my old drafts, the following chapters can go in any direction.

So....

I guess a Q/A is due.

? What would you, my dear readers, like to see in the next chapters? More story? plot? questions? answers? or.... more Munhana? *demonicwink*

~~~

PS: Please let me know what you think.

:)

~~~

Chapter 13

~~~

Chapter XIII

~~~

"It was a fucking illusion!" Hana yelled. 

Tall shelves loomed on either sides as she stomping her way through the warehouse, only a few feet behind Mun.

"For the last time Hana!" he yelled back. "I know!"

It's not always he calls her by her name, especially without any honorifics. When he does, it usually means he's monumentally upset. Which was his constant state lately.

"Are they fighting again?" asked Jeokbong, jogging up behind them. "I thought they made up!"

"I know." Motak replied. "They are giving me a whiplash with all the back and forth."

"Then why are you acting this way?" asked Hana, not bothering to lower her voice.

"Because!" Mun whirled around with murder in his eyes. "Because illusion or not, it's what's waiting for me. I know it. You know it. And don't you dare deny it or try to tell me it's all gonna be alright. Because we all fucking know it isn't!"

"Oh for fucks sake!" Hana threw her arms above her head. "Nobody is trying to baby you or trying to tell you it's all sunshine and rainbows! We know what the hell is at stake here."

"Do you though?" Mun rounded on her. "Do you really know?"

Hana took a step back.

"Or maybe I should ask the billion dollar question now." Mun continued, coming to a stop right in front of her, the tip of his boots almost touching hers. "When push comes to shove, do you really have it in you to do the right damn thing?"

"Hey!" It was Ms. Chu who interfered. "That's not really your call to make."

She raised her hand as Mun looked ready to interrupt.

"I'm not dismissing your concern." she continued. "You are right. We do have a problem. And we will deal with it just like we deal with any other problem. As a team. Do you understand?"

Hana nodded, but Mun simply stared at her.

"Do you understand?" Ms. Chu repeated, raising her voice.

"Yes ma'am." said Mun. Then turned on his heels and marched off into the hideout.

Hana took a deep shaky breath and followed him. The others exchanged uneasy glances.

"Let's sleep on it for today." suggested Motak. 

"Do you really think sleep is going to make things better?" asked Jeokbong. He might not show it at all times, but deep down he was probably the most worried about Mun.

"No." said Ms. Chu patting him on the back and leading them into the hideout. "But there's no point discussing this on frayed nerves."

~~~

Mun was in the dreamspace again.

He knew it was a dream. He knew he wasn't really knee deep in black goo that seemed to climb onto his skin. He knew the rotten corpses of buildings that surrounded him was not really his city, but a twisted perversion of it. But that didn't stop it from feeling so very real. For with the sensations and sounds and images came the understanding.

He saw his own face reflected in the glass panes of the shop right next to him. A small shop, once loved and cared for, now abandoned and broken down into its skeletal remains. Thin lines appeared in the door, spreading and widening. Through the glass, through his face. 

His face.

He'd been called handsome many a times before, even though he never quite stopped to consider that possibility. As long as he had a face that brought a smile to the people around him, that was enough. But now, that face was not only distorted beyond recognition, it was the face kids would scream and run away from. The kind of face that probably belonged to a halloween party. Sunken cheeks, blue lips, thick dark veins that curled up his neck and into his scalp, and the worse part? Fiery red eyes.

Not real!

He wanted to screw his eyes shut and turn away from the door. But he couldn't. Nothing was in his control anymore. Not even his own body. Fear creeped into his heart and he thought it would burst out of his chest just as the crack in the glass became too much and the pane shattered into a thousand splintered pieces. The shards of it flew in every direction, lodging themselves in whatever was nearby. Including his bare skin.

But the pain was nothing compared to the unrelenting burn.

He could feel the darkness seeping into him. It surrounded all around him, ice cold and brutal. But there, right beneath his skin, were it seeped through his veins, polluting and corrupting his insides, it burned like molten lava.

He wanted to cry. He wanted to tear at his skin and scream his lungs out. But he couldn't. Nothing was under his control anymore and nothing scared him more than that.

He was afraid.

Please!

He was afraid he would never wake up again

Please let it all be a dream!

His vision blurred as the fire reached his throat. Ice cold fingers wrapped around his wrists, pinning him down. He tried to fight it off but the hands that held him down was strong.

Please let them be safe!

This is not how he wanted it to end. He had a lot more to do. A lot more to say.

Please let her be safe!

~~~

Hana was still too wired up from her fight with Mun to properly sleep that night. The leftover adrenaline from their fight at the noodle shop was also not helping things. So, she decided to take it all out on the punching bag.

She barely got a few punches in before she felt it. The same dark pull she feels whenever Mun gets one of his nightmares, but somehow more strong and desperate this time.

She ran like she's never run before and was beside Mun's bed in a blink.

He was whimpering in his sleep, covered in sweat. Hana tried to wake him by calling his name and shaking his shoulders. When that didn't work, she slapped him, hard across the face. But other than the bright bloom of red on his cheeks, it made no difference.

She was considering the merits of emptying his water jug on his head when he suddenly started thrashing around as if possessed. The sheets twisted around him and the array of stationaries on his desk began shaking.

"Ok that's not good." Hana muttered, trying to get a hold of his flailing limbs so that he won't hurt himself.

"Somun-a!" she yelled into his face. "Wake up dammit!"

He was kicking around now with both his arms wrapped around his own neck, choking himself. 

"Stop that! Ya-" she climbed on top of him trying to use her own weight to pin him down and somehow managed to pry his fingers off. Then bit her wrist wrap off of one hand and used that to tie up both his wrists. 

"I swear if you don't stop that I'll-" She was eyeing the bedpost to tie the other end, when she felt him go still beneath her. A collection of multicolored pencils clattered to the floor and rolled off in different directions as the room settled. 

She looked down and was met with a soft pair of eyes that she'd come to adore so much.

"Oh hello there." she said.

He just stared up at her, his expression changing from fear, to confusion, to concern, then back to absolute terror.

"What's wrong?" Hana asked, searching his face and his mind, but all she got was fragments, as his mind worked to pick up the pieces it left behind in whatever godforsaken place he'd just been. "Please, tell me what's wrong!"

In response, he suddenly sat up, almost sending her toppling backwards. But he threw his arms around her, and pulled her back towards him.

"Did I hurt you?" he asked, his voice almost a half sob, into her hair.

The raw fear she had seen in his face was enough to shatter her heart, but now she was also reading bits of his dream. She faked a laugh. "You do realise I had you pinned to your bed and tied up."

"I do." he replied, pulling slightly back and searching her face with unmasked concern, a complete oneighty from the way he lashed out at her just a few hours ago. "But still, did I?"

"Hey, I heard a crash and GAH-" 

They turned to see Jeokbong fumbling in the doorway, with an elbow covering his face.

"I didn't see anything. I didn't" He yelled and was gone, pulling the door shut firmly behind him, cutting off whatever light was flowing in through the doorway and shrouding them in darkness.

Hana blinked.

"We are not going to live that one down, are we?" asked Mun, slowly coming back to his senses.

"Nope." Hana replied and scooted off from the bed, not thinking about the way she had been literally straddling Mun or how he had instinctively pulled her closer when Jeokbong barged in, instead of pushing her away as she would have expected. She definitely wasn't thinking about how well she fitted in his lap when she flipped the lights on.

Mun suddenly gasped as she turned around. "Is that bood?" he asked.

Sure enough, Hana's pale blue t-shirt had splotches of red scattered across the front of it. She narrowed her eyes at them, not remembering getting hurt. Mun was near her now, having freed his hands in 0.2 seconds flat. 

"I did hurt you, didn't I" he said, facing scrunching up as he tried to contain himself. 

"I already told you," she replied, pulling his own t-shirt up to reveal several small cuts across his torso. "You didn't."

"The glass." he said, comprehension dawning.

"The glass." she confirmed.

~~~

 

Chapter 14

~~~

Chapter XIV

~~~

A few days later.

~~~

It rained that morning.

Raindrops trickled down from the pipes in the old building, their pitter-patter echoing off along with their footsteps, as Chu Mae Ok and Ga Motak walked down the empty hallway.

"To be frank, I feel a little queasy going behind the kids' back like this."

"You know what they'd say, especially Hana."

"Yeah... She's so unpredictable these days, it's actually kinda scary."

"Oh c'mon! She's in love! What else do you expect? I bet you were even more unpredictable and stupid when you were in love."

Motak laughed at the quip, but did not deny what she said. "But she's been in love with him for ages, why change now?"

"Well, I mean..." Ms. Chu hummed a bit, looking around her. "That might be true... and we both know that. But, does she?"

Motak laughed again. They might be walking straight into a trap for all they know, even with the promise of support from Yung officials themselves. But something about this place seemed to soothe their senses. The building was surely old but not exactly abandoned. Someone must be in charge of maintaining it, because it was bright and clean despite the many cracks and crevices. Sunlight filtered through the open windows, casting a soft glow upon the slightly mossy, worn out floors. Each rain drop sparkled as it descended, a reminder of the refreshing shower that had just graced the city outside. The air carried a faint scent of petrichor, the earthy fragrance of rain mingling with a faint whiff of incense and memories within the aging structure.

They climbed up the stairs into an open space. The rain had subdued, but the sky was still a bit cloudy, muting the sunlight that reflected of the muddy puddles of water that scattered across the wide floor.

"Hello." greeted the young girl standing up and walking forward from where she was sheltered under what looked like a little shed in the middle of the floor. "Nice you finally meet you properly for a change."

"Same here." replied Ms. Chu. "Where are the others?"

"We thought it would be best if it was just me." Lessy replied.

"Are you seriously telling me it's just you here?" asked Motak, raising one skeptical eyebrow at the girl Hana had dubbed as Ms. Invisible. "That your team is not worried about us being a threat to you?"

"No." Lessy smiled at him.

"Why?"

"Well, for starters, they are not really my team." she replied, gesturing them to sit at the stack of old tyres in the shed. "Also, I can take care of myself pretty well if I have to."

"Ah of course." Ms. Chu smiled, not unkindly.

"What are we doing here Miss?" asked Motak, his face grim, not waiting to cut to the chase.

"I believe your son has already given you a heads up." Lessy said, nodding her head to Ms. Chu.

"He said the Yung spirit he'd been trying to talk to, is actually your partner." Ms. Chu replied. "We don't know anything more than that."

"Ok." Lessy nodded. Sitting there under the cloudy sky, the panes of her face set in a grim line, she looked much older than what they had thought. "He's right. My partner, Bon, is probably the oldest Yung spirit in existence. He's seen a lot, been through a lot. So, let's just say, he's a bit... eccentric. And.. Well, this part is a little hard, and you might actually wanna end me right here right now, but please try to keep an open mind, ok?""

"Ok, go on." Ms. Chu urged as Lessy shifted uncomfortably in her seat like she was nervous. Or, maybe it was just the tyres.

"Bon wanted to see with his own eyes." she said. "Well, technically it was through my eyes, but you get what I mean. He wanted to know what was happening first hand. That's why she asked me to gather up this team and we did what we did."

"What did you say?" asked Motak, his face perfectly blank.

"Wait, you said he wanted to see what was going on." said Ms. Chu, placing her hand on Motak's arm, just in case. "Then why would you gather a team and try to kill Somun?"

"Like I said," Lessy replied, carefully. Motak didn't miss the way her body tensed. "He is a bit eccentric, his thought process doesn't always make sense. But I trust him. It's what kept me alive all these years."

"All these years?" asked Motak. "You are not exactly what you seem to be are you?"

"Whatever do you mean, mister?" she asked, her smile widening.

"You look and behave all young and innocent, but I can see that glint in your eyes." he replied, his eyes sharpening in the way it does whenever he tries to solve a particularly confusing case. "You weren't joking when you said you can take care of yourself. I think you really can. Even now I can see the way you are preparing to block whatever I throw at you." He sat forward, leaning he elbows on his knees. "You called us saying you wanted to talk to us. So, talk."

"Alright" Lessy sighed. "As you wish."

And she did.

~~~

A few hours later, they walked into the hideout and what sounded like the storm outside had moved inside.

"We should really get Ms.Chu."

"And tell her what? That I was attacked by a nightmare?"

"But you were attacked by a nightmare."

"You do realize how that sounds like, right?"

"Do I look like I give a damn about how anything sounds like right now?"

Hana made little air quotes around the word sounds and was trying really hard to make it look like she was angry. But anyone could tell with one look at her that she was anything but. 

Someone had dumped the entire contents of their first aid box onto the kitchen table which Jeokbong was currently messing up even further in frustration searching for who knows what and muttering incoherently under his breath. 

Mun was sitting on one of the chairs, shirtless, with a collection of bandages and gauzes of varying shapes and size scattered all over his torso. There was also a nasty looking cut still open on his back, that was bleeding.

"Someone better explain what the bloody hell is going on here!" 

Mun, Hana and Jeokbong all froze at the unusually loud voice of Ms. Chu and slowly turned, blood draining from their collective faces at the look on her face.

~~~

 

Chapter 15

~~~

Chapter XV

~~~

Ms. Chu was still fuming as she tried to put the first aid supplies back into the box.

"You know that box has slots for things." Mun said gently, testing the waters. "Everything has a place it goes."

"I know." she snapped. 

Mun shut his mouth with a little pop.

Ms. Chu was the kindest, sanest and most level headed counter in the group, but even she had her limits. And right now, she wasn't just angry, she was furious. It was one thing for Mun trying to hide things from her, he's done that before, because for some reason he still thinks ignorance is bliss. But for Hana and Jeokbong to join him, now that was mutiny.

"No it's not!" Hana exclaimed. "We are not trying to go against you!"

Ms. Chu internally smacked herself realizing she just said that out loud.

"For the record, I was about to call you when you both just came in." Jeokbong added, looking like he would cry. Again.

"You didn't look like you were about to call us, bend over the table like that." commented Motak from where he was sitting on one of the tall stools near the kitchen island, well away from Ms. Chu's rage. He was a smart man, he knew when to step back to the bleachers.

"I was looking for my phone!" Jeokbong wailed back.

"It is my fault." said Mun, still sitting in the same chair he was in when they'd come, now freshly healed. "I told Hana not to call you when it happened for the first time. But I had no idea it would happen again. I must have dozed off..."

Ms. Chu whirled around to face him, but the whatever she was about to say, died in her throat, as red bloomed through his t-shirt, in the cut just above his heart. All other cuts were staying put where she healed them, except for this one. It was already the third time she was trying to heal it, everytime the wound would seal shut and the bleeding would stop, but it won't completely heal like the others. And a few mins later, it would open back up.

"It's ok." Mun told her, noticing the same. "It's slowing down, see?"

Technically, that was true. The first time his shirt was soaking wet as soon as he put it on. The second one stayed clean for a few more minutes, and this time, the little bloom of red was really small and spreading at a snail's pace. 

She also understood why he didn't want to call her or the others. They were already upset to find out that summoning the demons in the noodle shop had not solved their problem as hoped. But Mun getting hurt from the nightmare, actually physically getting hurt, that would send them all over the edge. She'd know, she was already there.

"Somun-a, you know you've done plenty of stupid things in your life, but this," she said pointing a finger to his chest, "this takes the cake. And to think you haven't even started your life yet!"

"You are right." said Motak, from behind her. "I take back what I said about feeling useless and stepping down. If we are not here, they will pretty much bring the whole place down."

"I know right?" said Ms. Chu, turning towards him. "We were gone for what, two hours? Three?"

"Barely three." he replied. "I'm not surprised Hana would go along, but Jeokbong-a, I'm so disappointed in you."

Both Jeokbong and Hana replied at the same time.

"I'm sorry"

"Wait, why are you not  surprised?"

They were both standing at the other end of the table from where Mun was sitting. After getting earfulls from Ms. Chu, all they were missing were dunce caps shaped like traffic cones.

"You should be sorry," Motak didn't miss a beat to reply to them both. "And why should I be surprised? Remember when you helped him take a joy ride into Mr. Ma's mind? He was possessed by the most dangerous spirit we'd encountered so far and you didn't even bat an eye. You said he almost got trapped in there, didn't you?"

"That was also all me." said Mun, but Hana simply hung her head as if in agreement.

"Yes yes," Ms. Chu turned toward him, the anger ebbing away from her eyes, "It's always you, that's not the point. The point is how much we have let you get away with it. We know you do it out of a pure heart, but we can't afford to lose you anymore, understand?"

"But, Ms. Chu," said Mun raising his chin to look up into her eyes, "I don't think I can do anything about it this time. I'm out of options."

His voice fades away at the last sentence and Jeokbong sniffles.

Ms. Chu and Ga Motak exchange a glance before Motak comes to stand right next to Ms. Chu.

"What if we say," said Ms. Chu, her voice careful and even, that makes even Hana and Jeokbong to lean closer. "That there might be a way."

"What way?" That was Hana who asked, immediately grasping at the whiff of hope.

"Just keep an open mind, ok?" said Motak with one placating hand raised in opposite directions, one towards Mun and other towards Hana and Jeokbong. "We met with someone today and although we are not completely sure we should trust them, it might be... well, something. Especially considering..." he trailed off, gesturing towards Mun.

He didn't have to elaborate, Mun was in deep trouble with or without help and they were out of options as he had put it earlier.

"Don't tell me." Hana crossed her arms across her chest, "You met with those bastards?"

"No no no, it's not like that" said Motak, taking a step back as literals fumes were rising out of Hana's ears.

"This is exactly why we didn't say anything before." Even Ms. Chu seemed to be leaning back and away from Hana because of the deadly glare she was fixing them with. "But, you are right. We did meet with one of those counters."

"And you were accusing us of not telling you everything?" If Hana actually had a dunce cap on, it would have caught fire by now. "Talk about hypocrisy!"

"Hana-ya!" Ms. Chu almost pleads, "Just hear us out once. It is not pretty but as Motak said, it could be something! We don't want to work with them any more than you do. You are not the only person who loves Mun in this household, you know?"

"Oh is that why you went to the same people who want him dead? Because you love him?" 

Silence falls as they all turn to stare at Jeokbong. They would have continued to argue if it was Hana who snapped like that, but coming from Jeokbong, it was one of the many tiny surprises the day had in stock for them, like the thunder that boomed outside.

~~~

The rain continued to fall relentlessly for the rest of the day.

The five counters gathered in Mun's room this time, as the younger counters agreed to listen to what their seniors had to say. Although it took some more glaring and pleading from Ms. Chu and some loud noises from Motak. 

Hana seemed to cool down a bit since she realized Jeokbong has taken her place for that. That, and the fact that it was Lessy and not Ezra they talked to. She plonked down on her favourite bean bag, the gaming console clutched tight in her hand, but the big screen showed nothing but faint outlines of their own reflection. Jeokbong sat on Mun's bed, looking angry. Mun found this a welcome change from his usual I'm-about-to-cry-and-wipe-snot-on-your-sheets kinda mood. Ms. Chu sat next to him as Mun folded himself down onto the bare floor. He smiled as Motak joined him there. For some reason, he found the whole setup kinda cozy.

Then, Ms. Chu told them the same story Lessy had told them earlier that morning.

~~~

Bon, Lessy's Yung partner, was an ancient spirit. Even he himself was not sure how old, but he was surely old enough to see the signs before anyone else did.

It didn't take him long to track down the boy connected to the slight tremors in the air. All he had to do was follow the dark threads seeping through the very fabric of their existence, of his existence.

He found the boy as he was wandering the streets of Italy. He could tell the kid was not yet aware of the danger he was in. But some deeply ingrained instinct in him was starting to stir, even without his conscious knowledge.

He followed him through the eyes of the girl. She was brilliant, as she would constantly remind him of, and she could have gathered more intel if he would let her talk to the boy. But he asked her to stay out of his sight, and she did. She always did as he asked. He never forced her or made her do anything against her will. He didn't have to. Because they were a team and they understood each other in more than one way. Even though she sometimes didn't get why he would do certain things at certain times, she knew he always had a reason. After all, it was this unwavering trust that had kept her alive all these years.

So, when he asked her to get on a plane and hunt down an ancient talisman from the lost labyrinths, she didn't question him. She found the item, brought it to Germany, and sneaked it as a present from one of the many counters the boy would meet. Another perk of being ancient and powerful; connections and owed favours. They boy was in full on fight or flight mode by then; stuffing himself with too much caffeine and sugar to stay awake, already wary of the tendrils of nightmares that had found its way in. He was smart without even realizing it.

Bon watched him some more, to see if the talisman would help. It didn't.

He felt sorry for the kid. So much potential as a counter, and even more as a human being. But when all was said and done, he found himself with no other choice.

The boy had to die.

~~~

 

Chapter 16

~~~

Chapter XVI

~~~

So Mun had to die.

There was no question to it.

To Bon, it was history repeating itself. He had seen first hand, what terrors the young counter had to face when it happened all those years ago.

~~~

Bon was a counter once. A very long time ago. It was a different life, a different time, but he had lived, he had laughed and he had loved. Life wasn't easy back then, but he still had fun. He was happy. Until one day it all came crashing down.

There's always that special someone in every story. One that's destined to burn bright, to achieve great destinies. Some call them heroes. Bon call them unlucky bastards.

Nobody thought twice when that special someone of this story first came to Bon's team. There were too many evil spirits and not enough counters, so any new counter was simply an asset. But soon, he surpassed any of their expectations. Bon watched in awe as he slashed demons and saved countless lives, all in a day's work. And the, when the fight is done for the day, he's come find Bon. It was still a mystery to Bon, how he still had the energy to have another round of Go, after all that fight. But he always had. And Bon always found himself agreeing to that one last game... then another. 

Their teammates would tease them, calling them forbidden, yet somehow showering them with even more love than anyone could ask for. Bon would smile at the way he would laugh so heartily, as if he had no care in the world. Which sometimes, they both really didn't. 

When they'd finally give in to exhaustion, they'd lie down in the grass, staring up at the night sky. Bon could have sworn there were a lot more stars in the sky than there is right now. There, lying under that stars, they would share stories... jokes... and secrets... And Bon would wonder to himself, what they truly were to each other. Friends...? Brothers....? Lovers.......? 

Or maybe, some relationships doesn't need a label. They were just two people who'd be there for each other, even if no one else would.

Bon don't remember exactly how it all went downhill. He'd shoved those memories into the deep recesses of his mind even he cannot access, including his name. 

But he remembered the misery; the sinking helplessness as he watched it all unfold. As much as they'd promised each other to never leave their sides, in the end, that's exactly what happened. As the nameless counter's powers grow stronger, something stirred from the dark recesses of the world in response. Reaching out with sticky fingers, thirsty for the taste of freedom those powers offered. The world shook with tremors, their powers fading in and out. Then there was the headaches... the screams... the withdrawal.

He remember that he tried to fight with him, fought for him. But the pain only got worse; the terrors manifesting into physical abominations right in front of their eyes, agonizing and destroying everything they'd loved. He and his family knew what had to be done. Yung had laid out clear instructions. But they resisted. Trying to hold on to hope and love as it slipped like sand through their fingers. And that was their biggest mistake. Because, when they finally put an end to it, the poor soul had suffered too much, lost too much. His whole family perished trying to save what was doomed from the beginning.

He didn't wish the same fate for Mun now. Sure, he was doing it for the sake of Yung and the other counters, for the whole world perhaps; but more than any of those, it was for the sake of the Mun himself. Even though Bon only saw him from a distance, he'd already started to like Mun.

Lessy had her strengths, but there was no way she could win in a direct flight with Mun. He was too strong and Lessy only picked fights she was sure to win. That was her one rule in this partnership.

It didn't take Bon and Lessy too long to gather their so called team.

It made sense to reach out to Eiko first. Even though the news about a threat within the counters were spreading, it still wasn't nearly enough for anyone to actually want to kill one of their own. The counters were supposed to be handpicked by Yung for their hearts after all. Only Eiko had a reason close to his heart. And they needed him for his teleporting powers if they were to scour the planet for recruits.

Bon knew neither Eiko nor Lessy could actually kill someone. So they went looking for someone with that specific experience. Rumor has it, that Tatiana was a spy before she fell into a coma. Some say she was a trained assassin, a double agent. Nobody knows the truth, not even her husband, Boris. But she had killed in her past, and still can. It took some convincing and then some more from Eiko for them to join ranks. Ezra was the only one who actually volunteered. But then again, he was new and hot headed, but harmless.

That's when they set out to Jungjin.

Their plan was going as he thought, they caught and subdued Mun. He fought back, a bit stronger than expected, but they could still have handled him. They all knew it would come down to a fight and they were ready. They were doing it.

Then, she came.

If the boy was bright as a star, then the girl was supernova.

He had recognised the power in her the first time he saw her in the middle of the road. He watched her fight for what she believed was right. He saw the fire in her eyes as she introduced herself to Ezra. Do Hana...

Maybe... just maybe.. There was a chance after all.

~~~

The storm had died down outside as Ms. Chu stopped talking. She was sure she didn't do justice to Bon's story, but she hoped they understood what Lessy had suggested in the end. Even she herself wasn't sure she understood.

"What?" she asked, taken aback by the silence that greeted her. "What?"

"That was interesting." Jeokbong said trying to shake himself awake.

"Interesting?" asked Motak. "That's it?"

"Well," said Mun, "I understood why they tried to kidnap me. And I appreciate the offer of mercy killing, but-"

"That's not-" interrupted Ms. Chu, "What about the rest of it? What about how they think Hana can help?"

"By risking her life" said Mun, his voice hard but level. "I'm not saying it's a bad idea. It's only the worst idea in the history of worst ideas."

"But if he thinks it could work-" said Hana, but Mun cut her off immediately.

"No" said Mun. "It's dangerous. You have no idea how-"

Motak placed a gentle hand on his shoulders and Mun realized he was visible shaking. For the first time, the careful mask he carried in front of them crumbled, as fear took him over. 

"It's ok." said Motak. "We know you are afraid, and that's ok. But we will be right here besides you."

Mun didn't say anything, but instead just focused on breathing again.

"They way I see it," Motak said, turning to face the others. "Although it is worth a try, it's really up to Hana to decide."

"I'm in" said Hana before Motak could even complete.

"Knew you'd say that." said Motak with a sideways glance at her, "But Somun's right. The dangers are very real and we cannot risk either of your lives. So, if we are doing this, we have to do it together."

"What?" Mun's head snapped up.

"And if that doesn't work, we fall back and go back to plan A." Motak continued.

"We have a plan A?" asked Mun, even more confused.

"Somun-a" replied Motak kindly. "You're better than this. You keep talking and fighting with Hana as if the only solution to this is your death, when it's clearly not. There is a much simpler, healthier way."

"What other way?" asked Mun, "You heard Wigen and the others. When that first day I told you about the nightmares, I know you went to Yung. I know what they told you. And they are right. The evil spirits in hell already has their hooks in me too deep, and they will continue to try to use me to escape hell, as long as I'm alive. Once they succeed, which they are very close to, there'll be no point in doing what any counter in the world is doing, because the demons would just keep coming back as soon as you catch them. If it were anyone else, they would have already revoked their counter status. But I don't even have a contract to begin with. Even if I somehow give up being a counter, there is always that possibility I might get it back. Yung won't allow it."

"Yung won't allow half of the things we have done." said Ms. Chu. "But when's that ever stopped us? In this case, we might have some help from up there as well."

"Well, we are not naming names and saying Yung is on your side." Motak added suddenly, shooting both eyebrows up to the ceiling. "They are most definitely not."

"Yes, yes." agreed Ms.Chu. "You are right. And we are most definitely agreeing to what they said about killing you."

"But then again..." said Jeokbong, his voice barely audible. "You are the only counter in the whole world who actually has a choice of having a life outside of all this. The rest of us? Our choice is between being a counter, or a vegetable. But not you. There's always been a very obvious solution to this from the very beginning, even I could see it.

"He's right." said Motak. "Sure, we've all been trying to figure out something different, because we'd love to have you around. And you wouldn't be around if you... well... let's say- hypothetically- if you decided to give up being a counter and go for a new job. Like... oh, I don't know... maybe to look after a private, off the grid, remote, getaway luxury island resort... We wouldn't even know if you were dead or alive. But yeah, I guess it'd be the same if you were actually dead as well."

Mun's mouth was hanging open as Motak moved his arm to wrap it around Mun's shoulders, pulling him close.

"Jangmul's already made all the arrangements." Motak whispered in his ear, then continued in a normal voice, "Don't worry about your grandparents. Once you die, we'll take care of them. Halmeoni already loves Jeokbong more than you anyway."

"Now that is just mean." Mun replied, more out of instinct, but Motak smiled in response anyway, giving his shoulders a gentle squeeze.

"I'm starting to understand why forced exile was considered an alternative to death as a punishment throughout history." Mun added after a while. "I'd rather die than-"

"Than what?" asked Hana, her voice rising. "Than knowing we are somehow breathing easier? Than saving us from a lifetime of living in guilt? Call me selfish, but I don't care. Because- because..." Because if you die... I die.

She couldn't finish the sentence out loud. But Mun's eyes snapped up to meet her's, at the exact moment the thought crossed her mind.

"Well," Mun cleared his throat all too sudden, making Hana let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. "That's all well and good. But, -hypothetically- let's say I pull that off. Yung can still track me with or without you. Through the territory."

"Ha!" Jeokbong shot to his feet. "Knew you'd say this. You brought the perfect solution to that problem yourself. C'mon."

He gestured everyone to follow him as he brisk walked to his own room. It was the same room he previously shared with Mun, but the bunk bed was gone, and instead of Mun's craft table, there stood a tall wooden shelf. The shelf was now neatly arranged with transparent boxes of different sizes; each one carefully labelled.

"What's this?" asked Mun.

"It's all the weird stuff you brought from overseas." Jeokbong replied, sorting through the labels methodically. "What is that you call them? Souvenirs? Curios?"

"I don't remember bringing this many." commented Mun, not surprised at the fact that he didn't even notice his team mates engaging in side projects like this. Old Mun would have noticed; but now, he had too much on his own plate - or in his head - to notice anything else.

"That's what I said." said Hana, coming up behind him.

"It's just the boxes making them seem like a lot." replied Jeokbong, pulling a small box from one of the top shelves. "Remember the day you came back from the trip? Hana scolded me for messing up everything, so I'd been sorting through them. You were right, some of these are actually quite interesting and... special."

Jeokbong opened the box and pulled out a long thin golden chain with a blue pendant. There was nothing particularly special about. The chain was long and the pendant relatively small, shining like blue quartz.

"I remember this one." said Mun. "It was a gift from one of the counters I met in Germany. He didn't say it had any special powers."

"Well, it isn't as impressive as those white birch tree staffs you used to create a barrier." replied Jeokbong, "Although I'd have loved to have seen them up close..."

"We think it's a new power he's developing." said Motak, seeing the look on Mun's face. "Jeokbong can somehow sense if an object actually has any energy."

"Psychometry?" asked Mun.

"Probably." replied Motak. "But he's definitely not able read memories from them."

"Yet." amended Jeokbong. "I can't read them yet. But I'm practicing. Surely, smelling demons can't be the only thing I'm good at."

"Hyung, you are good at a lot of other stuff."

"I am? Like what?"

"Like... um.. fighting, telekinesis..."

"It's ok lil bro," Jeokbong laughed at his discomfort. "I know where I stand in the food chain and that's perfectly fine. I'm getting better at fighting, I think, but still nowhere nearly as good as you or Hana. I'm passable at telekinesis. That too because you spend so many sleepless nights training me. But yeah, I do have other skills I suppose. Like music, I'm definitely getting better at music."

"And you are definitely going off-topic." remarked Hana. She was running a finger over the labels on the boxes at her eye level.

"Right, sorry." Jeokbong cleared his throat. "So, some of these objects are actually special. As you can see, I've used different colored marker for the labels. Black ones are ordinary, just your everyday souvenirs like that eiffel tower keychain right there. But the ones marked in blue have this kind of... a vibration to it. The good kind. Like this chain."

"I tried to add a sticky note to those." said Mun as Jeokbong put the chain around Mun's neck. "To identify those that I was told had actual magic."

"It's not exactly magic." said Hana, with a slight roll of her eyes. "Also, we found out the hard way your little sticky notes weren't exactly accurate."

"Hana-ssi was helping me to figure out the actual use for many of these." said Jeokbong. "But it's not easy. This one we found out quite accidentally. Summon the territory Somun-a"

"What?" asked Mun. "Right now?"

"Yes," replied Jeokbong. "Only if you are up to it."

Summoning the territory was the only thing that Mun felt like he still had some control over, so he did as he was told. But this time, along with the bright pillars of light that lit up the room, the pendant hanging just below his ribcage also started glowing. It wasn't too bright or fancy, but Mun still recognized the blue light. He'd seen their eyes shining with the same light too many times to count.

"It will light up like that if you are close to a territory." said Hana. "Makes it easy if someone where to avoid it to stay under the radar."

"Oh" was all Mun could say. They were serious about this and had apparently thought it through. But Mun's heart still sank at the thought of leaving them all behind.

"What about the red ones?" asked Ms. Chu suddenly. She and Motak had known about the little project Hana and Jeokbong had going on, but was not actively involved in it.

"Ah those," said Jeokbong, scratching the back of his neck. "Well, they give me the creeps to be honest."

"The creeps?" asked Ms. Chu, immediately putting a small box with what looked like a tiny brooch shaped like a lotus flower back on the shelf. It had a red label.

"I don't know how to explain this," replied Jeokbong. "You see... the ones labeled in blue has a good feel to it. But the ones marked in red, it's the opposite kind of energy I get. Not quite like an evil spirit, and they may not be necessarily bad themselves, but it makes me uncomfortable."

"Like voodoo?" asked Ms. Chu.

"I don't know," replied Jeokbong. "Sometimes I wake up suddenly from sleep in the middle of the night and I feel like those things are staring at me. I was actually about to ask you if I can move those to your room Hana-ssi. You can't sense it anyway. Besides, you are sleeping in Mun's room most nights lately, so it wouldn't be a problem, right?"

Mun almost dropped the lotus brooch box he'd picked up to check for negative vibes.

"I- what?" Hana stuttered. "Who said I was- No, you can't move it to my room." 

"Just take it upstairs to storage, hyung." Mun said, "Isn't it time for dinner by the way?"

"It is time for dinner." replied Ms. Chu, then turned to Hana, "But Hana my dear, do tell me if you are not using your room. I was trying to figure out a place for Jangmul to stay over."

"He owns the whole warehouse!" Hana exclaimed, her voice going up a couple of octaves. "Why would he need my room? And I am using my room!"

"Oh, so you two are not-" started Motak.

"No!" 

Motak couldn't even complete the question as both Hana and Mun cut him over.

"But I thought Hana could sense the nightmares, and was helping you snap out of it." said Motak looking at Mun with what could only be called as a sly smile. Mun narrowed his eyes at him.

"It sure didn't look like that's what was happening." said Jeokbong, then did a full body shudder, adding, "Ah my eyes! I can still see it!"

"That was one time!" said Hana, rounding on him. "And I told you I was trying to wake him!"

"So you've only been to his room just once?" asked Motak

"Well, no." Hana replied, taken aback. "I check on him almost every night, but that's because I'm.. What?"

The last question was directed to Mun as he was doing a stop-talking-before-you-dig-your-own-grave gesture at her from behind Motak. 

"Nothing." Mun replied with a sigh. He knew it was a lost battle trying to explain, when they were clearly trying to tease them to the weekend. Hana just didn't seem to get it.

"Almost every night, huh?" said Ms. Chu. "I'll tell Jangmul to hold on planning for a new room."

"But that's not-" Hana tried again.

"Come on then," said Ms. Chu, ignoring her. "Help me with dinner. We also need to talk to Yung before planning for Plan B."

"I still don't think Plan B is a good idea." said Mun as Ms. Chu shepherded them all towards the dining area.

~~~

 

Chapter 17

Notes:

:(
Ok ok...
So so sorry for dropping off of the face of the earth for so long and not updating this...
Please don't kill me?
Pretty please... _/\_

 

~~~

Chapter XVII

~~~

Hana was thrilled. 

There, that was the truth.

Even though she knew this was not something to be thrilled.

She's always been protective of Mun. From the moment she found him in that alley next to his old school, covering under the feet of his classmates, helpless. She wanted to wrap him up in a blanket and shield him from the evils of this world. But of course, in reality, he ended up saving her ass more times than she could count.

Then came the nightmares. She wanted to find a way to put an end to his misery. And even though she wouldn't even admit it to herself, she wanted it to be her who saves him. She knew it was selfish of her, she knew thoughts like this made her... what?

Well, as long as he got to sleep without screaming or waking up covered in blood, she didn't care being a little selfish. And so, it was indeed, thrilling. 

But there was one small problem. She couldn't do it on her own. The only person who can help her, would even let her near him.

She had been yearning for something like this, ever since she got that first taste of pain as she hauled Mun from the hospital months ago. She could still remember his clipped words, the little bloom of blood on his lips from where he had bit into, to fight the pain. The protective instinct in her had roared in fury at her helplessness. 

She thought it would get better when they finally defeated the evil spirits that had originally attacked him. But their victory was short lived. Too short in fact, it didn't even last a day.

Then she saw the blood on him after she woke him up from a nightmare. Goddamn nightmares!

"Noona?" Mun asked from behind her.

"Wha-?" Hana whipped around, startled.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." Mun smiled gently. "I thought you said something. Something about nightmares?"

"No, I was just-" Hana stuttered, caught off-guard by his sudden appearance. Did she say that aloud?  "Just doing the dishes. I thought you were on a case with Motak sunbae." 

"I was. Then he got a call from another detective for some consultation, so he dumped me here." Mun shrugged, picking an apple from the fruit bowl on the kitchen island and sitting down on one of the tall stools. "Where are the others?"

"Ms. Chu took Jeokbong for grocery shopping." Hana turned her back to him and continued her assault on the dishes. She didn't want to do it. She should be out there training her skills on the mindspace, or on a call with Gabe brainstorming ideas and possibilities. But dishes needs to be washed, laundry needs to be folded and stew needs to be... well, stewed.

"You're upset." Mun spoke from behind.

"I'm not upset." she replied without even looking back.

"Your shoulders are definitely upset." Mun declared happily. "Want a massage? I can do a mean shoulder massage, ahjussi always says it takes away all the stress. He keeps coming back for seconds." 

Hana turned her head to glare at him. He simply took a big bite of the apple and chewed, his face the epitome of innocence.

"I don't know when," she spoke slowly, enunciating every word so that it will get into his thick head. "but one of these days, all that teasing is going to get you killed, kid."

"Teasing?" Mun asked, eyes going wide. "Me? Lady, I'd never-"

Hana turned around in a flash and smacked him hard with the dish drying towel. Then smacked him again, and again, until Mun's hands shot out and grabed the towel from her.

"Fine, fine!" he complained, hopping around to join her near the sink. "I'll help. Jeez, if you wanted me to dry them for you, just ask."

Hana stood still for a few long seconds, unsure of what to do with the single most infuriating person in her life.

"Stop staring, noona!" Mun said, calmly drying the dishes she'd washed, the teasing back in his voice. "Or I might get the wrong idea."

Hana still didn't move. Finally Mun sighed and turned, facing her fully in the light. 

"No." said Mun, the small lopsided smile never leaving his face. "The answer is still no, noona."

Ah, this was good. Hana was looking for a way to drop that particular topic into the conversation. Now, that he'd brought it up himself...

"Why?" she jumped at the opening he gave her. "Don't you trust me? Don't you have any faith in my strength?"

"I know you are strong." Mun replied. "You are stronger than me. But what you are asking me to do is way bigger than either of us."

"Oh please!" Hana huffed, grabbing a dirty bowl and scrubbing it hard. "It was a small miracle Lessy came to us with Bon. Sure, I was hesitant at first, but I knew there was scope. Don't ask me how, but I knew they could help the moment I heard him talk. And I was right."

Mun didn't say anything, just picked up the next bowl she washed and wiped it dry. This wasn't the first time they were having this discussion. As soon as Ms. Chu and Motak told them about their talk with Lessy, they visited Yung. 

There they met Lessy again. Bon never appeared to them. But he talked to them. It was eery at first, because he talked the way some level two spirits would talk, using Lessy's mouth, in two voices. Another bit of evidence that Bon was no ordinary spirit.

Then Lessy took Hana's hand and showed her. Memories... visions... she wasn't even sure which was which, but she learned a lot that day. More than anything, she learned about her own powers.

"This could really work." Hana tried again, presently. "I have been walking the mindspace ever since I became a counter. Even though I didn't really knew the extent of it, I had always known I wasn't just reading memories. In fact, it was you who proved it. Remember when we visited your memory? You vanished into thin air right in front of me. Why do you think that happened? If we were in a mere memory, why did you come back bleeding?"

Mun looked at her, the smile was still there. Hana hated it. Because his smile never really reached his eyes anymore.

"It was because of me!" said Hana, for what felt like the hundredth time. "I took us too deep into your mindspace that I almost breached into the demon's mind. And then you being you, took it one step further and breached into his reality. You do realise the possibilities of what we did there, don't you? And that was an accident, imagine if we had full control of it."

"Noona, you know you are scaring me." Mun whispered. 

"Maybe that's my plan." Hana whispered back, leaning forward, as if she was confiding in some big secret. "To scare you into submission."

There was a little crease that seemed to be permanently etched in between his brows, that deepened as he gazed into her with obvious worry. Hana pressed a thumb over it, trying to smooth it out.

"Ah!" Mun winced. "Ah, you got soap in my eyes!" 

"Oops!" Hana had momentarily forgotten about the dishes, "Sorry!"

"Sorry?" Mun pushed her out of the way and started splashing his face with water. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?" he accused, splashing water onto her as well.

"Why would I do something like that?" Hana jumped back.

"Oh you'd totally do something like that." Mun attacked her with water again, laughing. "Talk about spiteful spirits."

"What?" Hana screeched with laughter and ducked around, pulling Mun away from the faucet.

He resisted, playfully, but still strong enough to make her tighten her grip on his arms as she pushed him onto the counter. 

"Cut it out!" she yelled into his face, still grinning. "Or I swear I'll cut you up and make kimchi. Heck I'll even get Jangmul to market it."

"Mmm..." Mun mused, screwing up his face as if deep in thought. "Brand new Somun flavoured kimchi, I wonder what I'd taste like."

Hana suddenly had nothing to say to that, as her mind got caught on those last few words. Like sometimes when your fingertips gets caught on a loose thread in you favourite knit sweater, you can't pull at it, no matter how much your fingers itch, for the fear of unraveling the whole thing.

"Noona?" he called her, his voice soft as butter.

"I told you not to bite your lips all the time. It's almost always cracked." Hana brushed her finger tip against the tiny crust of blood near the edge of his lips.

"Noona" he said again, a faint whisp of warning mixed with something else, sneaking into his tone.

"What?" she asked, looking up to meet his eyes.

"Stop looking at me like that." he said, this time as a clear warning.

"Like what?" asked Hana, confused, as her mind worked in ways completely new to her.

"Like you are trying to decide whether to kill me," he replied, earnestly, "or kiss me."

Hana froze. Because he was too right. She hated feeling out of control, but there was nothing she could do about it.

She was unravelling. 

"Noona," Mun prompted, placing both his palms on her shoulders. "Breathe."

"Huh?" Hana blinked, then took a shaky breath. She had no idea when she'd stopped breathing. No wonder she felt light headed. Brain needs oxygen to function. Right, that's why she was feeling a bit out of it. It's because of oxygen, not because of the person in front of her. Of course not. 

"Hey, you alright?" Mun asked, lightly cupping her face in one hand.

Hana shivered as his cool fingers made contact with her skin that felt like it was on fire.

"Wow, if only I could take a picture of your face right now and frame it." Mun said softly. "It's so red I could almost blackmail you with it and have peace of mind forever." He smirked.

Hana pushed him so hard against his chest, that he fell backward, clattering random pots and pans drying on the counter top.

"I am going to kill you for real. It's decided. You evil little... " Hana huffed, picking up a mop to clean up the water and soap suds that now covered the kitchen floor. 

Mun laughed shamelessly and turned to wash the remaining dishes in the sink.

"Wait, are there more plates in here than five minutes ago?" he asked after a while, "It's like the dirty dishes are growing in the sink whenever we turn around." he joked.

Hana didn't respond to that, or to any of his other attempts to have a light conversation. 

Once their chores were done - Mun tagged along helping with laundry and dinner, so it went a lot quicker - then, she pulled him to the side, looked straight into his eyes and said, no ordered, "You are going to let me into your nightmare. I am going to find a way to navigate the edges of your dreams and find the thread the demons have put in there. We are going to find that damn door and close it for good. And if I have to break into hell itself to do that, then so be it!"

Chapter 18

~~~

Chapter XVIII

~~~

Hana didn't dare close her eyes.

She watched and listened, every single sense tingling with hyper awareness. Thick mist swirled around her, briefly solidifying into abstract shapes, then dissolving again in a heavy gust of wind. Hana tried to grasp at the fleeting shapes in the dark mist. But there were so many and nothing seemed to hold its shape for more than a few seconds. Through the shifting mist, she caught glimpses of the landscape that surrounded her. A dark flat surface stretched for miles in all direction, and once, towards the back of where they were standing, she thought she saw what could be tree lines.

Mun was right besides her, watching her closely, just like the last few times he'd done. They were in his nightmare.

First time Mun had let her into his nightmares, she had felt like her whole body was overtook by pure paralysing fear. She couldn't even move a finger. Mun had took one hard look at her and the next thing she knew, she was back in her body out in the living world and dry heaving her insides out within a span of seconds.

She thought Mun wouldn't let her try again after that. But, he gave in after a few days of glares and whinings. It broke her heart a little to realize he didn't even have to be asleep to have the nightmare anymore. It was like a running commentary at the back of his mind, all he needed to do was close his eyes and let her hold his hand and she'd find herself in a world so bizzare, it scared her to bits.

She lasted a little more the second time they tried. Long enough to take in her surroundings. But once again, fear took her over and she let him wake her up. What truly unnerved her was the fact that she couldn't tell what she was afraid of. There was no rhyme or reason to her emotions or thoughts. 

After the third futile attempt, Hana called Lessy and asked to talk with Bon. Surprisingly, he said he will try to guide her through her mind next the time they tried.

This was the fourth try. And she still hadn't made it past what she'd come to call as the flat lands. A long expanse of flat surface, that was neither solid nor liquid. Sometimes calm and quite, sometimes caught in the midst of a tempest, like right now.

Focus on your powers... Bon's voice reverberated in her skull, faint and distance, as though he was talking to her from under water. But Hana thought that the fact that he could still reach her, even at the end of their existence, was astonishing. None of the other Yung spirits could reach them, for they were far too close to hell that the living.

"Are you sure we are at the right place?" she asked Mun, who stood watch next to her as usual.

"I'm sorry?" asked Mun.

"I mean," she scratched her head. "There's nothing here... Are you sure you are not doing something to... to calm it down?"

"As if," replied Mun. "If I could do that, we wouldn't be in this mess right now."

"Then why is there nothing here? What - " She didn't get to finish the question as the mist itself cut into her like a dark fist and sending her flying. No, not mist. There were shapes in it.

But Mun was there, quicker than ever, blocking her fall. Before she could register what was happening, he had set her on her feet and was already moving away into a frenzy of motion. The fight started too fast, too strong. One moment she was standing still surrounded by nothing but dark mist and the next, there were solid bodies coming out of nowhere, slamming into her, throwing her over, screams of her own filling her ears.

"What the actual-" her voice was cut off as she was pushed back by at least three humanoid shapes. She tried to hold them at arm's length with telekinesis.

"Well you asked!" Mun complained from somewhere behind her and she whirled around.

"What is this?" she screamed. "Where are these things even coming from?"

"The ground!" Mun yelled from right next to her and she watched in horror as he twisted the wings off from a creature that looked vaguely like a bird, but incomprehensibly large. "They are coming from the ground!"

The fleeting shapes she notices before, that she was trying too hard to make to see and make sense of, were suddenly all up in her face. And she childishly wished she could unsee it for once. But there were too many. Shapes formed out of muck, hideously contorted, some bipedal, some not, and those glowing red eyes.

The good news? They were easy to kill. One strong kick and they'd explode into muck. The bad news? Well... they didn't stay dead.

"There's too many!" yelled Mun kicking a nasty looking bipedaled thing from Hana's back. "We cannot hold them off long."

"What now?" asked Hana as he wrestled alongside Mun to keep a bunch of the shapeless demons in one place using telekinesis. Not killing, just holding them in a heap of writing limbs.

"Run." said Mun spitting black goo from his mouth, making the singular word sound like a gurgle. "Now!"

She didn't have to be told twice.

The space around them changed rapidly as they dashed forward, and Hana felt like she was running blind. But for whatever reason, their attackers doesn't seem interested to pursue them.

"Where are we going?" Hana panted as she kept up the pace right next to Mun. "If we get lost here-"

"I know!" Mun replied, his breath coming up in short gasps. It was different than fighting in the real world. Even a small movement seemed to cost them twice as much energy in here than out there. Which was a problem yes, but not as big a problem as getting lost in here. Which she was sure they already were. "I told you this was a bad idea."

That little outburst from Mun was enough to remind her of what she was actually doing here. "Right," Hana gave herself a shake. "Follow me."

"Follow you where?" asked Mun, following her still.

Hana didn't reply. She just bolted forward in what she thought was the right direction. Was there even something like a direction here? For all she knew, she could be running in place or going straight up to the sky. The thought made her look up and she cursed herself, tripping and slowing into a walk.

"Just admit it." said Mun, from behind her.

"Admit what?" she asked, turning.

"You know what." Mun replied, coming to a stop right in front of her. "Just say the word and I'll wake us up."

"You can wake us up?" Hana asked, suddenly dumbfounded.

"How do you think - " Mun replied, then paused suddenly looking at her sharply. "How long have we been here?"

"I don't know, " Hana shook her head, trying to clear the cobwebs from her mind. This whole place was fogging down her brain so much, she kept forgetting what they were doing here. "Right. Couple of hours maybe?" she grabbed a fist full of her own hair to keep her head from drifting off course. Then smacked herself for thinking that was gonna help. "But, it's fine. The goal here is not for you to wake us up. You already know how to do that. We are here so that I can learn how to use my powers."

Mun nodded, in a go-on kind of gesture.

"Ok." Hana looked around and found herself surrounded by trees. "Gabe always say... when we are not sure of something, we should always go back to basics. So, what do we know?"

"We know we are in my head." Mun replied.

"Wrong." said Hana and Mun smiled. The same lopsided smile that she love so much. Her heart lurched as emotioned churned in her head once again. Thunder boomed in the distance.

"Careful" Mun warned, as shadows flitted through the trees, getting closer and closer with every growing emotion. Wait, trees?

"When did we get here?" she asked looking around, "Where is here?"

Mun blinked several times and looked around as if he too was only realizing their surroundings have changed. 

That was one of the major challenges she was facing right now. The longer they spend here, the more confusing it got, they started to forget things, going back to basic instincts. And this place or whatever was in here, fed on their emotions.

Gabe had told her not to fight her feelings, when she told him about it, because that would only make it grow stronger. Acknowledge the feelings, let it was over you, then pick your next move.

She did as he told her and it seemed to work. She was still scared shitless. But that was just one of the many thing that occupied her mind now.

"Ok, ok.. we can do this. All I need to do is focus. The trees. No the path... Acknowledge, let go." she mumbled under her breath, which Mun ignored as he'd been listening to her rant for what felt like half his lifetime. Then again, time felt different in here.

"Ok, what am I feeling now?" she asked herself.

"Scared?" asked Mun, being completely unhelpful.

"Yes, but I'm always scared. What else?"

"Mad? Sad?" he asked.

"Mad? Sure, I'm with you aren't I?" Hana peaked at him through one eye. "But sad? Why would I be sad? Besides, emotions doesn't always have to be negative, it just have to be strong enough to distract me."

"Noona, I have no idea what you are talking about."

"You don't have to know anything, just humor me."

"Ok, fine." Mun scratched his head, looking around frantically. "Happy, are you happy then?"

"Why on earth would I be happy?" Hana stomped her foot, then swore as her feet sank upto her ankle into the dark ground. "We are not even on earth anymore."

"Ok you are definitely angry right now." Mun said, backing into her side as he stared hard into the distance. Thunder boomed again.

"Is it just me or was that a lot closer?" Hana asked, carefully prying her feet free.

"Oh it was definitely closer, but that's not what I'm worried about right now." Mun replied, eyes still locked at something Hana couldn't see yet.

Her goal, for now, was to find a safe path for them to come back home. Mun was right in some way, they were technically in his head. But it wasn't just his mindspace. It wasn't even the shared mindspace that they've experienced before. That had belonged to just the two of them.

This place was where the dark powers from beyond had sweeped in, trying to open a path into Mun's mind. Mun, Hana, the evil spirits reach from hell, they were all entangled here. But the space itself has existed before. It's always been here, nestles somewhere beyond their collective consciousness. It could be accessed by anyone, anytime, as long as they knew how to read the non-existent map. It was were the realms could merge if someone strong enough willed it.

Hana had been navigating the thin line wedged between here and her own mindspace ever since she became a counter, without ever realising the full potential or danger, of exactly what she was doing. That was why, when she read memories, she could actually break through the surface and emerge in the space beyond the thoughts. Mun could do that too. They were simply too young to realise it the first time he got hurt by Ji Cheong-Sin in a memory.

But now they were here. Willingly. And she felt her resolve slipping, along with her very existence.

For right here, was the edge of reality as they knew it. Where conscious thoughts ended and opened up into a possibility so unknown, it could be anything, anytime, anywhere.

It was where light and dark made no difference.

It was where time made no sense.

According to Bon, Hana was that map reader. Mun was the one who could shape and bend it the way he wants, opening doorways, or closing them. The problem was, neither of them knew how to do that. Moreover, the place had a nasty way of twisting your thoughts, making you believe something's real when it is not. And once you believe it, it becomes real.

As far as mind games go, this was the most twisted she'd ever seen.

"We are not that deep enough, yet" Mun told her, looking around at the shifting scenery. "I feel like I can still control it to some extent. We should leave before that changes."

"Let me try to get a feel first." asked Hana. " After all, this is by far the deepest we've been. Just a few more seconds."

"You said that the last few times, and each time I ended up dragging you for miles in the muck and waking up with a killer headache."

He was right. There are places and times where he has full control and then there are places and times where he doesn't. If Hana try too hard, she would barely have the strength to even a move a finger and Mun will have to literally drag her out. But Hana knew she was getting better, she just knew. Mun saw it too. He wouldn't have let her stay here for too long otherwise.

"Come on! Give me a chance, this is hell for crying out loud!"

"No it's not." Mun shook his head. "Not even close."

Hana wanted to argue, because it sure looked like hell, felt like hell and she could sense actual demons roaming around just out of her periphery. But the look in Mun's eyes told her he'd seen worse.

So, Hana shut her mouth and tried to focus. She was sure she could navigate the space by now. If she could just focus, it was just like reading a memory. But, just like the last six times, her thoughts seemed to slip away from her. So did her emotions, which didn't help her already hyper aware senses.

Something graced past her in a blur and Hana gasped. But whatever it was, as soon as it came, it was gone. She turned around, rapidly scanning her surroundings in a circle.

"Please tell me you didn't hear that." Mun said, his grip like vice around her wrist.

"I heard it." replied Hana. "I think-" she paused, then whipped around to grab Mun by the collar. "Oh fuck no. Tell me you didn't already knew it."

"I think we should settle this outside." said Mun.

The shadows swirled around them in a whirlwind or a thousand storms. Their breathes came out in think huffs of steam as the temperature dropped and dropped. Their teeth chattered. But despite the obvious cold, Hana felt like her blood was on fire.

Mun swore aloud before grabbing her by the waist and pulling close.

Next thing she know, she was gasping for air as they both were thrust out of the hot bath by some unseen force, straight into the waiting arms of Na Jeok Bong.

~~~

Notes:

~~~
It's not what I planned.
I might come back and edit it later...
For the time being, I'm just going with the flow...
~~~

Chapter 19

~~~

Chapter XIX

~~~

"How long were we under?" asked Mun, after gulping down one whole bottle of water.

"'Bout 32 seconds." replied Jeokbong.

"What?" asked Hana, "Are you sure your stopwatch is not slow?"

"No," Jeokbong checked the stopwatch hanging from a long chain around his neck. "Maybe by couple of milliseconds..."

"I was thinking more like a couple of days." replied Hana, lying down one the cold hard floor next to the brand new indoor hot spring.

That was a gift from Jangmul, when he heard from Lessy that submerging in water can protect their physical bodies from harm while they visited the dreamspace. It actually worked, otherwise the attack from the formless figured Hana and Mun had had this time would have left some major bruises. For the time being, they were just exhausted and sick to the stomach.

The room they were in was actually beautiful. Jangmul went all out and had it designed like the hot baths in one of those exotic resorts, complete with real plants and smooth stones artfully placed around the pool. The hot pool itself was small and shallow, so that they won't accidentally drown themselves, or each other, which was a real possibility according to Motak since it was Mun and Hana. 

"That was close." said Mun, after a while. Like Hana, he too was lying on the floor. 

"Speaking of close," Hana spoke without opening her eyes. "You are lucky I'm so out of it right now. I came that close to killing you."

"Here we go again." mumbled Mun, making Jeokbong hesitate as he tried to check Mun's temperature. It was common for them to develop a fever after an intense mental training, as Hana had called it.

"Do you want me to give you some privacy?" asked Jeokbong, already knowing the answer.

"No, please stay." said Mun. "She might really kill me this time."

"Yeah, no kidding." said Hana, but made no sign of getting up, ever.

"What did you do this time?" Jeokbong asked Mun.

When Mun didn't reply, Hana groaned and hoisted herself up on one elbow. She was only a few feet away from the other two. "What did he do? Oh he did what he always does. Secrets. Nasty little secrets." She then clutched her forehead and fell back into corpse pose.

"Of course." Jeokbong nodded and dragged the medkit over to Hana.

"Are you saying you really didn't see it coming?" Mun asked getting up slowly and making his way towards the carefully folded pile of dry towels and clothes they'd kept nearby.

"Not all our brains work the same way, junior detective." Hana replied. "Besides, we heard from Yung that it was Hwang Pil-kwang who could be orchestrating this whole thing and we believed it! Who'd have guessed Ji Cheong-Sin would have stayed awake all this time?"

"What?" that was Jeokbong, showing the well deserved shock at the news the other two were not having.

"Awake and waiting." confirmed  Mun, in a voice so low, that the other two would have missed if not for their counter senses.

"Waiting?" Hana hoisted herself up on an elbow again. Something in his tone made her want to see his face.

"That's what he told me." replied Mun, not making eye contact. "The first time I heard his voice, he said he was waiting and finally we met."

"Why didn't you tell us then?" asked Jeokbong, still processing.

"I don't know, I just - " Mun shrugged, then continued with a half hearted laugh, "Not that it makes much of a difference, anyway. Whoever opened it, we just need to close the door."

Jeokbong sighed. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense." He got up handing Hana a small pill. "Take that now, you are burning up." Then he gestured to both of them, walking towards the door. "Come out once you change, Ms. Chu is making noodles." One last sideways look at Mun, and he was gone.

"You heard him." Mun threw a dry towel at Hana, which she caught in one hand. "Go change."

Hana got up and walked towards Mun, he'd pulled off his soaking t-shirt and was rummaging through the pile of clothes. There was an angry red scar on his chest, just above the heart, that caught the light as he moved. Hana's own heart clenched.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Hana repeated the same question Jeokbong had asked. "How many times do we have to tell you that you can tell us anything you know? You have to let us in. Let me in."

Mun stared at her. Hana felt a lump form in her throat. 

Mun was acting all tough and strong, and he was, as a counter. But that didn't stop him from being a normal twenty something human being, with normal human emotions. She'd seen him crumble. Then she'd seen him wipe his tears and get back up, and smile. For the sake of others. She wish he would stop holding everything back and care for himself, at least once in his life.

"You were scared." Hana spoke for him, when it seemed like he couldn't.

"I still am." he agreed.

They've fought a lot of demons, stronger, faster, scarier. But, when it came to Mun, there was one in particular that haunted him even before the nightmares. The one who killed his parents, the one who destroyed his life. And now, he was back.

~~~

 

 

Notes:

~~~
Now this I planned.
I wanted to bring my favourite villain back in some way, I just had no idea how..
I still don't know where it will go from here, but hey, at least I got his name in :P
~~~

Chapter 20

~~~

Chapter XX

~~~

The next few weeks were a blur.

In someway, life continued as usual. They did doorstep delivery for the noodles Ms. Chu made everyday, then they fought evil spirits that tried to hurt the people of Jungjin city every night. 

Then, in their spare time, they continued their training. 

Jeokbong trained hard in the ring, his telekinesis improved, so did his phsychometry. He was now able to track the whereabouts of evil spirits by visiting the places Hana saw through the territory, long after they were gone from there. Which was a relief, since naturally flowing territory was becoming rarer these days.

Other than the depleting territory in Jungjin, the problems other counters form all over the world were facing with their powers, seemed to be diminishing in intensity. There were less cases of fluctuating powers, even lesser cases of burn outs.

Mun still had nightmares, but he wasn't getting physically hurt anymore. There were times when he would clutch the ropes around the boxing ring, bracing against the pounding pain in his head. Then there were times he would reel back from his own reflection in the mirror, as if he saw a ghost. The others noticed these, and more. But bringing it up didn't seem to be helping anyone anymore. So, they started looking into other options.

Yung didn't mentioned the ultimatum they'd given to Mun again. From the outside, it seemed like their troubles were slowly fading. Like the whole thing was contained, if not gone.

Hana still tried to navigate the dreamscape. But they never made it past the tree line and everytime they came back feeling more exhausted than ever.

Ms. Chu kept complaining how gaunt Mun was getting and tried feeding him all kinds of meat. He laughed and played it off saying it's because Motak was working them too hard. Which was partially true, but Motak took most of his efforts on Jeokbong and let Mun be, except for forcing him out on daily runs or for food deliveries, claiming Vitamin D!

Mun loved those little excursions. It was the only time he laughed and talked freely. So, obviously Hana made it a point to go with him.

It was during one of those trips, that it happened.

Moon came out early that day. Even though it was still light out - still afternoon if you want to get technical about it - there was crisp breeze that cut through their clothes as Jeokbong, Hana and Mun walked down the familiar path after making their last delivery for the day.

"I'm so hungry." Hana complained, rubbing her stomach. 

"Wasn't there a corn dog stand down this street?" asked Jeokbong. "Shall we get some?"

Mun didn't reply, making Hana elbow him. "Ya! Where are you?"

"Sorry," he apologized, pulling his jacket tight around him. "Corn dogs? Sure, lets get some."

"What's the matter with you?" Hana narrowed her eyes at him. "I mean, other than the usuals?"

"Nothing..." he replied, "Let's just get home quick once we eat, ok?"

"Why?" asked Hana. "It's pretty out here today. Look at the moon, it's so huge!" She caught Mun by his chin and tipped his face up, forcing him to look at the aforementioned moon.

"Mmm, it's pretty." he agreed.

"Then why can't we just stay out and enjoy? This world has more things than evil spirits and noodle soups." 

"Fine." Mun sighed at that. Then looped one arm through her's and the other through Jeokbong's and pulled them both towards their food.

They ate in companionable silence. Hana savouring the flavours of her food, Jeokbong enjoying the shift of colors as the sun made its way towards in the horizon, while Mun, sat there lost in thought.

"Are you really not gonna eat that?" asked Hana after a while. 

She and Jeokbong each had breathed in at least half a dozen corn dogs, while Mun had only taken one small bite off his second. He wordlessly extended the one still in his hand and Hana snatched it, taking a huge bite off. Mun laughed softly at that.

 "Want some more?" he asked.

"Na, I'm good." she replied, contently patting her belly. "Maybe ice cream?"

Mun laughed again, then winced.

"What's wrong?" asked Jeokbong. "And don't tell me it's nothing." Even though he couldn't sense it like Hana, Jeokbong was way too attuned to him by now to at least tell how bad something is.

"I.." Mun closed his eyes, tight. "I really think we should head back."

"For what?" Hana asked. "So that you can shut yourself in your room for the next two days?"

Mun stood, hauling the other two up by one arm each and started walking. Hana bristled. 

This was happening more frequently now. Mun would be fine all day and then suddenly he'd disappeared into his room, only to reemerge after hours. Everyone noticed it, but no one said anything. It was obvious to their counter family that even though things seemed mellow on the outside, Mun was getting worse and worse by every passing day. Motak even offered to go to the dreamspace with Hana one day, even though he had no idea what he could do there. He just couldn't stand the way Mun was fading right before his eyes. No one could. But they didn't show it. They knew Mun hated seeing them sad on his behalf.

Hana didn't knew exactly what happened during those hours when he goes into hiding. But she knew it had something to do with the thick tendrils of dark smoke that seemed to be getting closer each time she visited the dreamspace.

Everyone conceived that place differently. Like Yung, what you see and hear is unique to your own. It was only when Hana tagged along with Mun into his dreams, she caught glimpses of his perceived reality. But even then, the darkness in there had a different hold on him than her. 

"I've told you," Mun was saying, "I don't want you to see me like that."

"Like what?" asked Hana

"Out of control. Like the pathetic mess that I truly am." replied Mun, walking briskly into the sunset, with the other two right behind.

"Oh please, you were literally a crying baby when I first met you." said Hana.

"That was different." Mun's reply was clipped.

"No it really isn't." Hana pushed hard on her heels and pulled him into a stop. "Look, I don't care if you are going through some stage of self discovery - battling inner demons and whatnots, or even if you are running headlong into oblivion. As long as I get to see it."

"What?" asked Mun, confused.

"Just tell me what's wrong!" Hana yelled, spooking some birds that were pecking by the street.

"Please," Mun staggered back, clenching a fist in his curls. "I'm begging you."

"Somun-a" Jeokbong took a step towards him, but Mun took two backwards, mumbling something incoherent. Hana's heart began to race, something really bad was happening to him.

"Please," Mun repeated, "Stay away... just, give me a minute."

"No." Hana walked towards him again, determined. "Whatever it is, we'll deal with it together."

"No, no no no..." he kept mumbling under his breath, ignoring her. "Not this quick.. it can't be..."

Hana found herself close enough to touch him. 

"Hey, hey..." she slowly extended a tentative hand towards his shoulders, but her fingertips barely made contact when he screamed.

"STAY AWAY!"

Hana froze, not because of the sudden outburst, or the way he sounded, his voice ragged and torn around the edges. She froze because of his eyes. Those fiery red eyes.

Mun ran and Jeokbong took off behind him. 

In the short two seconds it took Hana to regain her bearings, both Mun and Jeokbong were nowhere to be found.

~~~

Chapter 21

Notes:

Happy Leap Day!

~~~

Chapter XXI

~~~

"What do you mean you lost him?" Ms. Chu sounded exasperated through Hana's earpiece.

"I followed him till the bridge," came Jeokbong's voice, "Then, I don't know.. I don't know all the back alleys and shortcuts in this city, and there are plenty of them."

"Somun knows," that was Motak. "He knows every nook and cranny in this town, it'd be hard to track him down if he truly wants to hide."

Hana mentally kicked herself for freezing like that. Why didn't she keep her senses? Was she spooked? Even Jeokbong didn't seem bothered. All he cared was finding him, even if Mun didn't want him to. Why couldn't she be more like Jeokbong? Hana blanched at the unexpected turn of her thoughts; never in her wildest dreams would she have thought that she'd want to be like Jeokbong in anything.

She and Jeokbong had scoured both sides of the bridge where he'd disappeared, with no luck. Knowing how fast Mun was, he could be anywhere in the city by now. It was Jeokbong who called Ms. Chu and Motak once they realized they were truly screwed. They'd decided to split up, which is how Hana found herself going crazy all alone, along some lonely backstreet in a neighbourhood she barely knew.

She actually kicked a stray can of beer that dared to roll across her path in the fading light.

"What was that?" someone asked through the earpiece.

"Nothing." Hana replied.

"Hana relax," said Motak's voice. "We'll find him. It's not the first time anyway."

"I should have been more careful." said Hana. "No, I should have ripped that fucking parasite from out of his head the first time I heard him!"

"Hana..." that was Ms.Chu trying to calm her down, sensing where this was going.

"It's just like Bon said." Hana continued. "It's what happened to his friend. How the hell didn't I see this before!"

"Hana, none of us did." said Ms.Chu. "He made sure that we never found out how much he was suffering. Did you know he made Jangmul install a failsafe on his room? Not for his safety, but so that we can turn that room into a prison when something like this happened. He was prepared to either run away or lock himself in."

"Ok, that's enough both of you." came Jeokbong's voice. "We need to find him. That's first priority. We'll think about what to do next after that, ok?"

"Woah! look at you being all mature and sensible!" commented Motak. "It truly is the end of times."

Hana sensed a hint of pride in Motak's teasing voice, and she agreed. Jeokbong was holding it together way better than any of them. And it was necessary, because the others were reeling.

"Hana-ssi" Jeokbong continued. "You have better scope than any of us in finding him. You sure you checked all his usual hauntings?"

"Yes, I did." she replied.

"Well then," said Motak. "Let's keep looking. Update if you find anything."

A chorus of yes's and ok's followed and Hana found herself wandering again.

The sun was now a fiery orb of crimson and gold, the air imbued with a sense of serenity, a tranquil hush that enveloped the landscape like a comforting embrace, in sharp contrast with what Hana was feeling inside. In the east, the moon was a luminous pearl against the twilight sky, illuminating the earth with a soft, silver radiance. Wisps of clouds drifted lazily across the sky, their edges tinged with the very last remnants of daylight as they mingled with the celestial glow.

The day had no business of being so beautiful and Hana swore.

"Where the fuck are you?!" she asked into the night.

"Who?" Came a disembodied voice from somewhere behind her and Hana whirled, almost losing her balance.

It was Mun. Standing timidly with both hands in his pockets. Clouds parted in the sky, making their shadows dance. Hana wanted to yell at him, to beat some sense into him and make him promise not to disappear like that. She knew she should at least alert the others that she'd found him.

But she did neither of these. Instead she felt inexplicably drawn to him.

"I'm sorry." he whispered.

"I know." Hana said. "You should be."

"Then you should also know that I can't come back."

Hana blinked. "What?"

She felt like she was caught in the dreamscape again. Instead of dark and dread, it was beauty and passion that surrounded her. It meddled with her senses just the same. She heard his words, she knew what he meant. But she also heard what he wasn't saying.

All through a person's life, full of mundane chores and existential questions, there comes a moment of absolute clarity. That single moment, when the sun kissed the horizon and the moon hung suspended in the twilight sky, when time comes to a stand still.

It was a moment of quiet beauty, a fleeting tableau that captured the magic of the transition between day and night. And as darkness finally descended, the world would be bathed in the soft, silvery glow of the moon, a beacon of hope and wonder against the vast canvas of the night.

This was that moment for her. The tipping point.

Mun was afraid he'd hurt her. That the darkness in him would consume him and destroy everything he loves. But Hana knew, with every fibre of her being, that he was so very wrong.

"Do you really think you can leave?" she asked him, cocking her head to the side. "Then what are you doing here?"

Mun didn't reply. He was paler than usual, but right now, as the sun sank lower, his face shone in shades of amber and rose, transforming the familiar features into something enchanting, mysterious.

It didn't matter what he was saying, she knew she could never let him go. She knew he could never leave her either, no matter how much he wanted. Him standing there, finding her in the middle of nowhere was proof enough.

"It was getting too dark." Mun said after a while, "I thought I'd send you home. No need to waste your energy on me. You have better things to do."

"Like what?" Hana moved towards him, as expected, he moved away.

"I don't know." he replied, beginning to get flustered under her gaze. "Like ice cream?"

Hana could see his brain was short wiring and she smiled. Good.

"Hmm, you've got a point." she mused. "Ice cream is better than you."

"Then go get some." he said. "I'll check-in now and then. It's not like-"

Mun was thrown off balance as he stepped on a stray beer can just then, but he caught hold of the crumbling wall next to him. By the time he steadied himself and looked up, he was met with a pair of dark brown eyes right in front of him. Hana was too close now, with one hand pressed into the hard concrete of the wall behind him. He hadn't even seen her move.

"Can't even walk properly." she narrowed her eyes at him, muttering to herself under her breath. "And thinks he's some kind of superhero."

"When-"

His words were cut off as Hana slammed her lips onto his.

It was everything she'd ever wanted, and then some. It was the point of no return, the invisible line they'd drawn over the years, and she crossed it happily, almost skipping over it in joy.

Her fingers curled into his hair, pulling him closer, and closer. His lips moved against her, and she gasped. He was kissing her back!

The realization set fire to the pit of her stomach, which spread to her chest, to her limbs, to the tip of her fingers. She felt herself tremble, her knees going weak. Then his hands were wrapping around her waist, pulling her into him, keeping her steady. Hana clutched the fabric of his shirt with one hand, the other pulled at his curls. She knew she had precious few seconds left before they'd have to come up for air, but she wasn't ready to let go, not yet. Instead, she deepened the kiss, lightly nipping his lower lip, making him gasp so that she could sneak her tongue in. They kissed with a fire neither of them even knew they possessed. Few more seconds and then, inevitably, reluctantly, they broke the kiss.

"Still wanna leave?" asked Hana, breathless. Her forehead pressed against his as she stood there gasping for air. A soft glean of sweat glistened over her hot skin.

"Was that your plan?" asked Mun as he pressed a cool finger tip across her cheeks.

"Maybe..." she replied.

"You little minx!" he chuckled.

She'd no idea who started the kiss the second time. By the time she realized what was happening, her body was melting into a puddle and Mun was picking her up. She kissed him hard as her feet left the ground, with not just her lips, but with her entire body, with her soul. She opened up her mind to him. She wanted him to see her. To know what he meant to her, what he was doing to her.

It was Mun who broke the kiss. His eyes wide as finally, he saw what she was trying to tell her. Hana looked down and found her own desires reflected in the inky black depths of his eyes. It did nothing good to her already flaring emotions. Hana had no idea why she'd held herself back all this time, from something that intense, something that good!

It felt silly to imagine that he was ever afraid of hurting her. That was another thing Hana was certain of. That this person in front of her, the one who'd laughed with her, fought with her, been with her for what seemed like a saga of lifetimes, would never, ever in a billion years would do anything to hurt her.

"We should probably head back." he said, slowly setting her back down on her feet. "You are burning up."

"I'm fine. It's just - " Hana caught herself as she realized what she was about to say, then blushed deep scarlet.

Mun laughed. "Wow! I'm never getting used to that!"

She hit him in the arm, making him laugh louder, his voice echoing into the night.

"By the way," he asked, once they were both settled. "weren't you supposed to tell the others that you found me?"

"Oh, right!" Hana smacked her forehead, before pressing the button on her earpiece and shouting. "Found him!"

"Aaah! my ear!" complained Jeokbong along with various surprised noises from the others.

"Where?"

"Tell me where, I'll head right over."

Hana waved her hand in front of her in a no-don't-do-it gesture before realising the others can't see her.

"We are fine." said Hana, trying to keep her brain on track. "Why don't you guys head back to the hideout and we'll meet you there? Oh, and Jeokbong-a, can you please pick up something to eat on your way back? I'm seriously hungry."

"What happened to the corn dogs you ate?" asked Jeokbong.

"That was hours ago, and I- I burned it off. Ok bye!" Hana blushed again at the last bit, making Mun bite his lips to keep himself from laughing again. Hana wanted to hit him again. Also why was she more affected than him? It was not fair!

She was prepared to say something clever to keep him on his toes as she put the earpiece away and turned to face him. But whatever she was about to say died on it's way as he asked something that stopped her in her tracks.

"Are we going to tell them?" asked Mun.

He didn't have to clarify what he meant by that.

"I know." replied Hana. "Trust me I know. The timing's a bit off. We have stuff to do and, places to be, so it'd be better to not tell them about us right away..."

"Hmm" Mun nodded in agreement.

"But...." Hana dragged the word out, making him frown.

"But what?"

"But I'm not sure if it'll be easy..."

"Why?" asked Mun, suspiciously.

"Well," she started walking, with a little bounce in her steps. "I mean they've always been suspicious of us, and with good reason too. And now... now that I know exactly what you tastes like," she turned and winked at him. "I'm not sure I'll be able to keep my hands off of you."

It was Mun's turn to blush, and boy, was it a sight!

Hana laughed and ran into the night, screaming "It's a beautiful night!!!"

It took Mun a couple of heart beats to recover and then he too, took off after her.

"Hey! Wait for me!"

~~~

 

Notes:

~~~

You know, I agonized for hours over that one particular scene. Hours!
And I thought writing fight scenes were hard...

Truly, I bow to the wonderful peeps who write these things like there's no tomorrow!

~~~

Chapter 22

~~~

Chapter XXII

~~~

Mun got earfuls from every single one of his counter family, as soon as he came back.

He took it all, nodding and apologizing. After all, they were right. They too had sacrificed too much for him to act stubborn like that. Why he couldn't see it before, was a mystery.

Or perhaps, he started to see things in a different perspective when Hana opened up her mind to him, making him see himself the way she saw him. Mun felt like his heart would burst with the love he felt for his family, for her.

Hana kept her word. They didn't really come out and said anything to the others about them, but they still knew. The shift in their dynamics was way too obvious for anyone to not know.

Oh, and she kept her word on the other thing too. She wouldn't keep her hands off of him, or feet, like right now.

They were having dinner, sitting around the table in one of their favourite restaurants. Hana's feet kept crawling up his ankles.

"Why does it always have to be me who comes up with the brilliant ideas?" asked Motak.

"Because you were born brilliant?" replied Mun, smiling. Motak nodded vigorously at him.

"Let's drink to that!" said Ms. Chu raising her glass.

The others conceded, leading to a chorus of cheers to Motak, who took it in style.

He was talking about their recent success in navigating the dreamscape. Hana could never make it past the tree lines before, then out on a whim, she asked Motak to join her. He was only more that happy to oblige. It took some effort to convince Mun, but they did it. The important thing was, it worked. She made it across the scary forest, even though Motak ended up being sick for the rest of the day. And they learned a valuable lesson; there was strength in numbers.

Hana was spending the recent days planning and plotting with Gabe, Lessy, and in essence, Bon. Turns out, Bon was a treasure trove of knowledge. Jeokbong even made some breakthrough discoveries with the souvenirs in their collection.

The pendant around Mun's neck was actually one of the reasons he was not getting hurt so frequently from his dreams. Like water was supposed to protect their physical bodies, the pendant's aura did the same thing.

The shrine where Motak and Ms. Chu talked to Lessy was another such example. Like tokens, certains places on earth encased itself in immutable energy, sometimes positive, sometimes negative. The shrine was full of that positive energy, Jeokbong sighed deeply as soon as he set foot in there the first time. It used to be a place of worship long time back, then as the first group of counters emerged, they used it as place to rest after the troubles of the day. That's how Bon found out about it. The building itself was reconstructed multiple times, taking on different facades. As a temple, as a guest house for traveling monks, as a school, then lastly as a place to hold obituaries. Then at some point the building was forgotten and started to fade. But the aura remained.

"Bon thinks we should try it at the shrine." said Hana, adding a plateful of meat she'd cut up onto the grill. "But it could take all of us to see this through."

"Then let's do this!" exclaimed Jangmul, slightly tipsy. "I can make the arrangements at the shrine. I've already bought it. Finished the paper work yesterday. Just tell me what you need and you got it!"

"How about we discuss this when we are a little sober?" asked Ms. Chu, the pink flush in her cheeks proving the sensibility of her point.

"We don't need much," Mun replied anyway. "But we'll need you. When the rest of us are under, you are the one who should keep watch."

Jangmul gave him a huge thumbs up, grinning ear to ear.

Hana's toes caressed the exposed skin just beneath the hem of Mun's jeans, and he shot her a sharp look. She stuck out her tongue at him.

"Get a room you two!" Jeokbong shouted suddenly making everyone else jump. He'd been lying face down on the table for a few minutes now, and they thought he'd passed out. But he presently pointed a wobbly finger at Hana and Mun, before face planting himself once again on the table.

Motak burst out laughing, followed by the rest of them.

And that's how, our beloved counters hatched the plan to close the doors of hell, beat their long time enemy one last time, and if time permits - save the world!

 

~~~

 

Seven days later, Jangmul found himself standing watch in front of an old but charming building, where his family of counters were passed out half suspended in a shallow, hastily constructed pool of sparkling blue water.

He regarded the scene warily.

Mun sat cross legged against the opposite wall, eyes closed, the water reaching till his chest. Then there were Hana, Ms. Chu, Motak and Jeokbong at each corner of the pool, each holding a thin long staff. It was similar to what they'd used to create a barrier years ago. It was so long back, it felt like another lifetime to Jangmul. These staffs weren't from Yung, but carefully crafted by Lessy under the clear instructions of Bon. They were made of the wood of a single fig tree, then carefully burnt and treated black. It was supposed to create a shield that contained the collective energies of the current occupants of the room.

Bon promised they'd need all the help they can get in order to make it out alive. Because this time, Hana was planning to take them much deeper into the mindspace. Beyond the dark forest, along the shores of the fiery sea that lay on the other side, across the deep vale and over the mountains that never ceased to throw icy boulders.

It was now or never. They were not going to get any more ready than this.

 

~~~

 

"Aaargh!"

Hana whipped her head around to see Jeokbong on the ground, frantically wiping his hands on his shirt.

She'd no idea how long they'd been in the dreamscape. Maybe hours, or perhaps mere seconds.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry" Jeokbong said in a quieter voice. "I thought I saw a cow, but- but then it's eyes glowed."

"I noticed it too." said Motak, helping him up. "Not the cow, but the shapes. They look familiar, until you look into their eyes."

"Wait, you recognised something?" asked Hana, wondering why all she saw were random shapes.

"Yes..." said Motak, then shrugged. "I mean, I think I saw someone I know, but.."

"It's like it wants us to know them, does that make sense?" asked Ms. Chu, her voice unsure.

"I think it's confused." replied Hana. Then added, as the others looked at her actually confused. "The nightmare is trying to pick memories from us, that's how it usually goes for Somun. It was different with me, but since there is more than one of us, it could be confused." She shrugged.

"I have a feeling it won't last long." said Ms. Chu, nodding.

"Where's Somun?" asked Jeokbong.

Hana didn't reply immediately. She'd been into Mun's mind too many times already and knew that he wasn't always easy to locate. Sometimes, he'd be right beside her as soon as she arrive, other times it takes a while to coax him out of hiding. He has a habit of getting lost in his own head, and this was a much more complex place than just his mind.

Have - found him? We can't reach- Bon's voice was getting distorted.

Hana was expecting that, this wasn't the first time she was doing this and knew it took a lot of effort for Bon to keep in touch with them here, no matter how strong he is.

"We'll find him." reassured Hana to her team, then added softly to Bon, Don't over exertize yourself, we'll need you later.

The mist swirled harder, thicker, the shapes coming and going in its wake with a new found fury. She could hear whispers over the wind, incoherent words that made no sense. Hana reached within her, to the space where she could always sense Mun, with or without the territory. It had always been there, even though she was too scared to admit it. When Lessy looked her in the eye and spoke in that eery dual voice that never failed to throw her off, she was sure Bon saw it too. "You could call him back..." he had said.

The moment she starter to even consider the possibility of a thread, a connection existing outside of the norms, she knew they were right.

"I'm sure he's somewhere close by." she said closing her eyes against the wind that was getting stronger. "But I can't say which way."

Every time she would turn in one direction, she'd feel a pull from the opposite. It's like he was nowhere and everywhere all at once. Like-

"There's someone else here!" she said suddenly, eyes wide open.

"Watch out!" someone yelled, just as Hana was knocked over by a force so strong and so fast, she felt like her soul was getting ripped out of her body.

She crashed face first into the dark slimy ground and was suddenly surrounded by unhinged commotion. Disfigured shapes loomed around her, some fast, some slow, all hell bent on attacking her and her teammates.

"It's starting." Hana's insides revolted as she accidentally swallowed some of the muck that got into her mouth. She wanted to claim that she was used to this fight by now. There was a pattern she recognised. But sadly, every time she found herself surrounded by indiscernible shapes, her mind betrayed her and her knees started to tremble.

"What's starting?" yelled Ms. Chu.

Hana had no idea how to answer that. Instead she focused on what needs to be done. She'd had this fight before and knew from experience that it was not something that can be won with force, or anything if she was being honest with herself. All she knew was that it was part of the pattern, like the flat lands and the tree lines, it was some they had to get over. It was inevitable, a requirement, like the pre-requisite training she do in her many games before stepping out into the arena. Without the shapes and shadows, she won't make it to the tree line, no matter how quick or how fast she ran. It was a level she had to get through.

"How do we kill them?" screamed Jeokbong, writhing under the sinking weight of a beast three times his size.

"We can't" Hana replied, truthfully. "They are already dead. I mean they're alive but, - dead."

"Should I be concerned that-" he coughed after punching through the bones of the beast and getting a dirt bath. "-that actually made sense to me?"

A small smile cracked her lips as she threw two hunch backed human shaped figures off of her. "Look, you see that trees there? Just where the sky is a bit more redder, you can see trees if you squint really hard!"

"Yeah I see them!"

Hana wasn't sure who said that. Their voices were getting distorted in the increasing turbulence of the place.

"That's where we have to go." Hana replied. "So, when you see an opening, run."

And they did.

Motak doubled over as they reached the dark forest. Hana did a quick head count to see of they'd all made in. Motak, Ms. Chu and Jeokbong were accounted for. Mun was nowhere to be found. But she could sense him close.

She looked around her. The trees seemed denser today. The air was heavy with the scent of decay, a sickly perfume that clung to the shadows like a malevolent presence. Twisted branches reached out like gnarled fingers, their jagged silhouettes casting eerie shapes upon the ground below. Every rustle of leaves, every creak of a branch, seemed to echo through the stillness like a sinister whisper. Strange, unearthly sounds emanated from the darkness; whispers that slithered through the trees, the mournful wails of unseen thoughts, the hollow laughter of long forgotten dreams. Shadows danced along the forest floor, their movements erratic and unsettling, as if animated by some unseen force.

What was truly unsettling about the trees was a sense of being watched by unseen eyes. Her teammates fidgeted around her, having glimpsed fleeting figures among the trees—shadowy apparitions that vanished as quickly as they appeared, leaving behind only a sense of dread in their wake. The darkness that lurked here seemed to defy any and every natural order they'd known.

"Don't get too close to the shadows." Hana murmured and walked forward, the others close on her heels.

She could see the red glow getting brighter in front of her as they got closer to the other side of the trees. With each step, the darkness pressed hard around them, the whispers grew louder, their words unintelligible yet filled with a sense of foreboding. Hana took heed in the fact that she was not alone. The energies from her fellow counters acted as a beacon of light fending off the dripping darkness. They came close, but never touching.

She felt the familiar tug inside her chest as they finally made it through to the other side without any incidents. But unlike the shapes from the flatland, the shadows from the forest seemed to be following them still.

She heard Ms. Chu gasp as she took in the place. Hana had heard about it. Mun described it once after a very unsettling nightmare. It was his favourite place, a calm beautiful shore. But the nightmare stole it from him and twisted it. He had almost broke into a sob as he explained.

Now she was staring at the other version of that place. It wasn't calm or smooth. They were standing near a jagged coastline, where towering cliffs loom ominously over a turbulent sea. Waves, like tongues of fire, crashed violently against the rocky shore, sending plumes of scalding spray into the air. The waters below churned and roiled, their depths illuminated by an eerie red glow that seeped from the very heart of the earth.

The sky above was a twisted canvas of swirling clouds, their dark forms tinged with crimson hues that mirror the fiery ocean below. Lightning crackled across it, casting jagged bolts of electric blue against the backdrop of the stormy sky. Thunder rumbled ominously, a relentless drumbeat that echoed through the desolate landscape.

Amidst the chaos, monstrous shapes rose from the depths, their forms obscured by the boiling waters. Leviathans of nightmare and shadow, they thrashed and writhed in the fiery ocean, their primal roars reverberating through the air like the cries of demons unleashed.

In this dark realm, where the boundaries between worlds blurred and nightmares took form, the fiery red ocean was a harbinger of doom—a symbol of the chaos and destruction that reigned supreme in the realm of the unknown. And as the storm raged on, Hana braced herself against the onslaught, knowing that she was nothing but a small and insignificant soul in the face of such overwhelming power.

Then she noticed something else.

On the shore, a lone figure stood silhouetted against the apocalyptic backdrop, his gaze fixed upon the roiling sea with a mixture of awe and terror.

She could tell something was wrong as she walked closer. Then again, everything was wrong all at once in this place.

"Hey" she said softly.

Mun slowly turned her head towards her. Hana felt relieved to see his eyes were black, not red. Then felt guilty for expecting them to be red in the first place.

"It's ok" said Mun, as if reading her mind. "I was also expecting me to turn by now. In fact, that's why I tried to keep my distance."

Hana felt the confusion from her teammates clouding her own thoughts. Their surroundings began to flicker, growing dark and blue, then red again.

"I could have gone in first," Mun was saying, "But I couldn't resist seeing you all once more."

"Gone where?" asked Motak, concerned.

Mun pointed into the sea.

"That's where it is." he said, "The door."

"It's underwater?" Jeokbong asked, incredulous.

"What water?" Mun cocked his head to the side with a smile at his older brother.

Hana turned to look at the sea once again. He was right. There was no water.

"Shadows" she whispered.

Mun inclined his head, agreeing.

There was no water. What looked like water was actually fiery red mist, thick and slimy. From a distance it was only giving the illusion of water.

"So, we are going in there?" asked Ms. Chu.

"No" Mun shook his head. "Only me."

There was a common commotion at that, which was immediately shut down as the shadows that had followed them from the trees danced around them in newfound fury.

"You can't be serious." said Motak. "We are here for a reason, to help you."

"You already are." replied Mun, calmly. "But this is not something you can do, even if you try."

"He's right." said Hana, reluctantly, hating the very sound of her voice for saying this, but she had been stuck in a mental wrestling match with Bon and had just lost. "Bon confirmed it. This is as far as we can go. Beyond that is a different realm altogether. Our consciousness cannot break the surface, we'll drown."

"But Mun won't?" asked Ms. Chu, her face contorting with concern.

"No." replied Mun. "Because as much as I want to deny it, I am more close to hell than any of you. That fire is already in my veins."

He raised his forearms for them to see. Shadows seemed to curl beneath his fingertips and his veins seemed to pulse with what looked like molten lava, they could see it through his skin.

"Somun-a" Ms. Chu almost whimpered.

"Don't" said Mun, pulling his hands back. "I have to go in there, while you lot keep busy with him."

They all turned in the general direction where Mun had pointed with his chin. Sure enough, the dark shapes from the forest were binding together into what seemed like a humanoid shape, only the size of a truck.

"Normally," Mun continued, "I'd have insisted I stayed for a chit-chat with our old friend there. But, now I have more pressing matters. Would you mind entertaining him?"

"Sure," replied Jeokbong, his confident tone not matching his face or shivering shoulders. "Anything for my lil' bro."

"Thanks hyung," Mun smiled, "I knew I could count on you."

He nodded at Ms. Chu and Motak, wordlessly acknowledging everything that had to be said and allowing himself to be swept up in an embrace by his seniors.

Then he turned to Hana and winked. "Back in a flash."

All chaos erupted the next second and Mun was nowhere to be seen.

~~~

 

Chapter 23

~~~

Chapter XXIII

~~~

 

Jeokbong screamed as darkness descended upon him in a scalding hot mess. His surroundings were freezing, every breath he took felt like agony as his nostrils were practically frozen and he inhaled tiny shards of ice. At the same time, every time his skin made contact with a part of the demon, it felt like a second degree burn.

Then there were the sounds. Like a thousand insects crawling in his ears, a piercing scream that curdled his blood, a whisper that seemed to stick to his skin.

But, what really threw him off was the sights. Compared to that, the other problems seemed like minor inconveniences. Except for the demon. That was a little more than an inconvenience. 

They were huddled together on the rocky shoulder, with the scalding breeze form the sea and the ever shifting sand beneath his feet. But also, they weren't. For as much as he could feel the slick sand creeping over his boots, he was also sure he was standing on something solid, like broken tiles, definitely man-made. He wanted to focus on the growing swirling mass in front of him, but his attention was getting snagged by broken snobs coming from the corner of the room he was standing. A room with the sea and the wind, a room expecting pain.

The last time he came close to experiencing something like this was when they were fighting with an evil spirit who drowned them in someone else's memories. He remembered trying to run for his life, trying to escape a room rapidly being filled with cooking gas, and -

"Behind you!" yelled Motak.

Jeokbong turned just in time to block a fist the size of a boulder with his arm. The shape shattered, only to be reformed again. A red welt formed in his skin where it made contact with the creature. And they were only just getting started.

He watched in horror, as the looming shape of darkness above him reared back its head and  lunged forward, its grotesque form twisted and contorted, its eyes glowing dark red with malevolent fury. He flew forward to meet its charge but never made contact. He felt himself crash onto furniture that was broken beyond recongnition. The pain in his skull momentary putting him out of commision. There was some more yelling as he tried to clear the sand from his eyes, got up and forced the shore back into focus. 

"Just stay the fuck where you are!" yelled Hana.

For a minute Jeokbong thought she was yelling at him, before realising she was pointing at the demon. He could see her mounting frustration in the way her hair was starting to stand up on its ends. 

The more they tried to attack, the quicker their surroundings went out of focus. 

One minute they were staring up at their worst nightmare, the next, they were submerged in helpless acceptance.

One minute it was a roiling shore, the next, it was a floor covered in blood.

Jeokbong's head throbbed as his senses went back and froth between a demonic assault and the sad remnants of a log forgotten life.

They never saw any faces they recognized as the scenery betrayed them over and over again.

They didn't call out loud whose memories it was they were going through. They didn't have to. It was an unspoken truth, too twisted, too sad. Acknowledging them would make them question the foundation of everything they were working for.

It was always a place that reeked of death.

A playground with a broken swing...

A broken toy on the floor... the way it felt as his tiny already calloused fingers tried to carasse it. To make sense of the allure in it that other kids saw, when he himself couldn't.

The harsh blows... even harsher words that lay broken on the floors of the orphanage along with the broken furniture.

A home that lay in rubbles that had once promised a loving future...

The terror in the eyes of his victims as he watched the life fade out of them with indifference...

Gunshot reverberating over the empty metal shells that covered a junkyard...

What was I doing again...?

Jeokbong gave himself a vigourous shake and looked around in a full 360.

Motak and Hana was ducking around and cutting through its legs with their bare hands, unbothered by the angry red burns that covered them. Ms. Chu leaped high and kicked it in the head, taking out an eye. That seemed to disorient it for a little bit. But then, other shapes leapt from it's shadow, countless evil spirits that seemed to be tethered to the hideousness that controlled them. There were too many, and they were too quick. Unlike the shapes they fought at the flatlands, these things weren't easy to kill, and they could seriously hurt them back.

Jeokbong thought his throat would go raw from all the screaming he was doing. They needed weapons; for the first time in his life, he was beginning to feel nostalgic about Mr. Choi's machine guns. 

He swirled around, reacting to a scream that he never thought he'd heard in this lifetime. Hana was pinned under a rotten foot of darkness, gnarled roots wrapped around her entire body, crushing and sucking the life out of her. Without thinking, Jeokbong charged forward, drawing a gleaming silver blade from the sheath at his side and slashing through the roots.

"Where the heck did that come from?" yelled Motak as he pulled Hana lose.

"I have no idea!" Jeokbong yelled back, even more bewildered than Motak. But he didn't get time to ponder as the demons lashed out at him in fury, the dark solidifying into claws that dripped a scalding liquid. He didn't hesitate.

The blade sliced through the air with deadly precision, leaving trails of ethereal light in its wake, it was like a bit of territory they carried within them had solidified. The part of Yung that made them counters. The clash of steel against claw echoed through the mist as the thin blade found its mark again and again.

Jeokbong's heart pounded in his chest as he dodged and parried the demon's relentless onslaught. He knew he could not afford to falter, for every time they did, the demon would turn and head towards the sea, to pursue the one person who could cut him off forever.

With a roar of defiance, the demon unleashed a barrage of dark energy, sending crackling tendrils of black flame hurtling towards the counters. Ms. Chu gritted their teeth, channeling her own inner strength to erect a shimmering barrier of light that deflected the demonic assault.

Jeokbong grinned at her.

Seizing the opportunity they got as Ms. Chu blocked the demon's attacks with her clever shield, Motak launched a counterattack, his boot finding mark in the demon's other eye. The demon howled in agony as Jeokbong's blade pierced its twisted flesh, dark blood oozing from the wound. With a guttural growl, it summoned forth a tempest of swirling shadows, engulfing the counters in a suffocating embrace. They fought against the darkness, their resolve unwavering as they called upon the ancient magic of their ancestors, of all the spirits that imparted them with strength. It was their sacred duty to destroy forces like this.

Light crackled from the counters. Jeokbong watched in awe as Motak's bare hands gleamed in a light so bright, he felt the same reassurance they felt when they entered a territory. Then he noticed his own palms glowing. His chest filled with pride as Hana planted her feet firmly in the shifting ground.

"This is for Somun." she told the demon.

With a final surge of strength, the counters broke free from the demon's grasp, Jeokbong's blade blazing with righteous fury. With a single, decisive strike, he drove the silver blade deep into the heart of the demon. Motak placed his glowing hand on the hole filled with black goo that used to be the it's chest, banishing it back to the depths from whence it came with one last guttural scream.

As the demon's twisted form dissolved into wisps of smoke and ash, the shore fell silent once more. The counters stood disoriented, their breath ragged and their body weary. But it was their spirits that had taken the worse hit ever. 

"Somun asked me once," said Motak, after a while. "that who exactly are we saving. I told him what I've told myself. But now..."

"It was messing with us." Ms. Chu replied. "He took his own life. Even his memories are broken and faded." The weight of guilt lacing her words stood out in stark contrast with the gentle sea shore they now found themselves in. 

"But-" Jeokbong tried to ask, but could not find it him to voice his question. Maybe monsters are made by humans. Maybe it was the parent who abused their own blood, or the human that went on a power trip and twisted the innocence in front of him to something sinister. Maybe they were the true monsters...

"Where is he?" Hana murmured with a sigh, casting a longing look towards the now calm sea.

~~~

 

Chapter 24

~~~

Chapter XXIV

~~~

 

Mun leapt from cliff to cliff like a mountain goat, landing lightly on his feet and never losing balance. He had lost count of how many ledges he'd held on to, or how deep he was getting. But he was very aware of how light he was feeling. It was getting to a point where he was sure he would just float if let go of the cliff side he was scaling down.

On a whim, he decided to test his theory.

He was standing on a little protrusion in the side of the steep mountain. How there was a mountain under what looked like the sea, was anybody's guess. Mun couldn't see much above or below other than a faint reddish hue that seemed to cover everything. But he could sense he was getting closer. It was almost easy, all he was doing was giving into the pull, the call of the darkness he'd been fighting off for months.

"Idiot" he muttered under his breath, then pushed lightly on the cliff wall with his fingertips. Sure enough, his felt himself drifting. He was moving away from the ledge and into the red night, the mist clinging to his body like a second skin, it's faint glow lighting his way. It was exhilarating, the feel of weightlessness as he slowly descended through nothing but air, gently floating.

The landscape remained the same. He scooped down once or twice to touch the brown grass he found growing at odd places, half expecting his fingers to pass right through them. They didn't. The grass felt just as dry and brittle as if caught in a perpetual summer heat. After a while, he started noticing something else.

Mun had imagined a door, like the one he's used to see every time they summoned an evil spirit. Or maybe a dark version of it. Instead he was met with a long-ass crack in the face of the cliff, stretching so wide it seemed to disappeared in both directions into the red mist.

"You came!" exclaimed a delightful voice.

Mun almost lost his balance and fell from where he was hanging in mid-air with nothing but willpower as he recognised the voice.

"Dr. Kim?" he asked.

"Well, not exactly," the demon smiled, his face ever so smooth and unfathomably kind. "But I guess you can call me that since that's how we've acquainted."

The demon was standing just outside of the jagged crack, wearing the same clothes he was wearing the first time they met, including the spotless white lab coat. It was unsettling to see him casually standing in front of something so unearthly, looking like he was just another ordinary man.

The more Mun looked, the more he could make out the details. He had been drifting away from the face of the cliff in his descend, so that at first, the crack looked thin, like a pulsing red vein of magma. But then he willed himself closer, something made him wanted to get a closer look, to see what was actually on the other side.

But then he noticed a thin length of chain that shone faintly, starting from the tips of Dr. Kim's slacks and lengthening into the burning void that was beyond the opening. He paused.

"You can't attack me." Mun said, as if stating the obvious.

"Of course not." Dr. Kim looked mildly amused at the suggestion. "Why would we? When you are here to free us, to save us!"

Mun cocked his head to the side, regarding him. The demon might look ordinary, but his voice was poison laced in honey. His face might be kind, his eyes were practically bursting out of its sockets in excitement.

"Imagine the things we'll do once you cut us free." The demon continued. "We'll take over the worlds! And you my beloved child, will be the strongest of all! In many ways, you already are. Can't you feel it already?"

Truth was, Mun could feel it. Every inch he got closer to the pulsating fire, he could feel the same fire in his veins responding, growing. It wasn't the reassuring comfort he got from the territory, but something stronger, infinite. He felt like it would drown him if he pulled on it too strong. No, he knew it will drown him, burn him from the inside out.

On one side, he wanted to pull that power and blow the pretentious being in front of him into his base molecules.

On the other side, he wanted to give in to that power calling his name from the other side.

Either way, he knew there was no going back.

Then why not stay a bit more and test just how much dark fire he could pull in?

Without even realising it, Mun drifted close to the doors of hell. Crimson lightning crackled beyond the vertical crack as it grew wider.

"Yes... yes!" said Dr. Kim, his form flickering and glowing red, his voice morphing into a low rasp. "That's it my boy!"

Mun could see the dark red mist converging beyond the opening, it's tendrils beckoning to him. He could see the flames licking his fingertips as he got even closer, his skin beginning to melt in the unbearable heat. Yet, he couldn't pull back. He got glimpses of the world beyond.

Yes, there was a world.

A world with bottomless vales of undying fire... Rivers of acid, poison and tears... Caves that trapped hopeless souls forever... Turbulent seas that surged with raw power...

Yes, there was a world.

A world that was barren, desolate. Dead.

"Yes... yes..." chanted other voices directly into Mun's head, as distorted figures formed in the fire. Bile rose into his throat as he recognized some of the voices, out of pure hatred. Black dots began to dance in front of his eyes as the fire consumed him. He wanted to stop, yet he couldn't.

The chain holding Dr. Kim began to melt. "Yes, yes" he yelped in delight. "More, more!"

"More?" asked Mun, his voice barely audible. But the demon nodded his head vigorously and the other shapes moved closer. Mun could taste their hunger in his mouth.

With a silent sorry to his parents, his friends and his dear family, he gave in completely to the dark power that now flowed freely from the hellscape into his soul. Pulling it all in as he felt himself simultaneously being ripped apart and sewn together in an endless loop.

He felt the demons avert their gazes from him as unchecked power surged through his veins, engulfing his body in bright red flames, turning his eyes into its undying embers.

"Ok" Mun replied, "I'll give you more."

With a low growl that seeped out from his chest, Mun spread his arms wider, as if ready to embrace the dark souls

"Wait-" Dr. Kim blanched, sensing the sudden shift in the air.

Mun floated even closer, almost touching the edges of the crack in the chasm.

"Why?" asked Dr. Kim.

Mun turned his fiery gaze to the tiny dark shaped that now cowered in front of him. "It's nothing personal Dr. Kim, just doing my job."

Then he smiled and did what he did best. Pulling on the last ounce of his life force to summon what had become a part of him. The only power he held on to even when the evil spirits drained him.

He summoned the territory, right at the doorsteps of hell.

 

~~~

 

Notes:

~~~

Since there is only one more chapter left, I thought I'll post it together.

:)

~~~

Chapter 25

~~~

Chapter XXV

~~~

 

Mun found himself floating through darkness.

Not the nightmarish darkness that he had gotten used to, but more empty kind of darkness.

Darkness, as in the absence of everything. No sounds, no sensations. He was just floating.

Like a speck of dust lost in the void between worlds.

It was calm, he felt himself losing consciousness. And he welcomed it. Because for the first time in eternity, his mind felt like it belonged to him, and him only. It was a pleasant feeling.

So he closed his eyes. There was nothing to see anyway.

Eons passed, and he found himself awake again.

This time he looked around, almost blaming blank canvas around him for disturbing his peaceful slumber.

Was it too much to ask for a little nap?

He was sure he'd been through quite a bit of misfortune and actually deserved a good rest.

Yeah.. he'd been through quite a lot.

What had he been through again?

Mun turned a slow circle, thinking. But nothing came to his memories, he was simply at peace, content.

Would be better to go back to-

"Somun-a!"

He turned at the sound of his name. He couldn't place the owner of that voice, but he knew he should have.

He listened and waited, but there was no other sound. And that made him sad.

Then he began to wonder why he was getting sad. He was just taking a nap. There is no need to feel bad about taking a nap, right?

But the tightness in his chest told him otherwise. The more he wondered about it, the more the pain grew.

Tears began to fall from his eyes.

But he had no idea what he did wrong, or how to correct it. He wanted to.

He couldn't let them cry for him, he couldn't let her-

Mun gasped.

There, far away in the nothingness, was a pinprick of light. A tiny star.

He swam towards it and watched in awe as the light grew brighter, swallowing the darkness around him.

 

~~~

 

"He should be fine after a couple of hours of sleep" said a female voice. "We will be able to discharge him by evening. Make sure he takes the pills as prescribed, ok?"

"Yes, Thank you doctor." replied Ms. Chu.

She was standing in a brightly lit hospital hallway along with Jeokbong. The doctor they were talking to give them a gentle smile and turned, walking down the hallway. Motak and Hana came in just in time to give her a bow as she entered the next room.

"Stay hydrated!" called the doctor just before closing the door.

"Yes ma'am" Hana replied dryly as she walked right past and came to a stop in front of Ms. Chu.

"Are you ok?" asked Ms.Chu.

"Yes, I'm fine." replied Hana, with a very slight tone annoyance.

"The doctor is right," Ms. Chu continued, "You should hydrate. And eat. Let's all go and have a big meal tonight, ok? My treat."

"Awesome!" exclaimed Jeokbong. "Can we go the new seafood place near the shopping mall? I've been wanting to go there forever!"

"Ya, how can you be wanting to go there forever," asked Hana. "if it only opened last week?"

"Exactly!" replied Jeokbong, "A week! It's been a week already and we haven't even tried their best selling soup!"

Hana muttered under her breath whatever she thought was inappropriate for the elders to hear and pushed open the door to Mun's hospital room.

"Language!" scolded Motak, following her in.

"I'm not liking this." said Hana, finally giving into her irritation." Not liking this at all."

"What?" asked Motak.

"It was fine when Somun first came and you two began to give him special attention." Hana plopped onto the chair beside Mun. "I mean, of course I didn't like it, but it was fine... Then this guy came in and it was still fine. We are a team after all. But now?"

"Now what?" prompted Ms.Chu.

"Now it's Somun part two!" Hana whisper yelled, not wanting to wake Mun yet. "You never scold Jeokbong anymore now that he is good at everything. But me? Whatever I do, you always have something to say, right?"

"Oh dear!" chuckled Motak, embracing Hana in a sideways hug. "When did Obnoxious-Do became such a softy?"

"Hana-ya!" Ms. Chu also came in for a hug. "We scold you because we love you! And Jeokbong doesn't even hold a candle to you when it comes to how strong you are. You know that right?"

"Way to boost a guy's ego!" said Jeokbong with a mock pout as he too joined in the hug.

"Woah! A group hug?" came a new voice. "That's very touching and all, but I'm so hungry I could die the next second."

"Somun-i!" Ms. Chu squeaked in delight and turned to hug Mun with the rest of them almost falling over each other to hug, squeeze or ruffle Mun's hair.

There were too much noise a nurse had to come in to shush them.

"I don't want to wait till evening," complained Mun, "I'm hungry!"

"You can eat here." replied Motak, "We can get you anything you want to eat."

"That's not the same." Mun pleaded, unleashing the full power of his puppy dog eyes. "I want to go out and get some fresh air and have a good time with people I love. Please, can we leave now?"

"Well, I'll call Jangmul." said Ms.Chu, giving in. "He's settling Hana's bills, maybe he can do them both together."

"You ok?" Mun mouthed to Hana, and she nodded back.

They hadn't got a chance to talk properly after Hana went into his mind and called him back once again. He promised himself not to put her through that again. Later, when it is just the two of them, he would make that promise again. To her. And he would keep it.

Mun remembered only bits and pieces, but he could still feel how much he wanted to stay lost in that empty space. He had died in a way. Given up completely as he did the unthinkable and purposefully summoning the territory back then. He wasn't even sure it would work. But since the nightmares took his memories and things dear to him and twisted them, he wanted to do the same to them. He took what they offered and did the exact opposite of what they expected.

Somehow it worked. But the cost was huge. The darkness consumed him and he was lost. But deep inside, he still preserved that slight shimmer of hope that she might find him.

Find him she did.

Her face was the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes. Her face was red with concentration, the thick stream of blood from her nose covering her lips and chin and trickling down her throat. Yet, when he said her name, she had smiled. Bright as the sun.

Then she had passed out.

Mun thanked his stars that neither of them burned out. It was pure luck that his gamble worked, even though the others didn't agree.

Wigen had visited him in sleep and told him what he wanted to hear. The doors were closed. When Mun summoned the territory, it opened a channel for the Yung spirits to enter. That crack in the wall stood no chance in front of the combined powers of Yung spirits. Then they panicked as Mun disappeared right in front of their eyes after closing the doors. Until Bon asked Hana to call him back.

Mun looked at Hana in the bright light of the hospital room. "Do I also look this bad?" asked Mun, pointing an index finger at Hana, who narrowed her eyes at him.

"No." replied Motak. "You look worse. Both of you lost a lot of blood. I don't know what the saline drip they gave you two is doing to help. You need serious sustenance after an ordeal like that. I change my mind. Let's go get some actual food."

"But, Jangmul is still talking to the doctor!" Ms. Chu protested half-heartedly.

"Then tell him to come to the seafood restaurant once he's done talking." said Jeokbong, thrusting a fresh set of clothes for Mun to change into.

~~~

An hour later, Jangmul joined them as they enjoyed an array of dishes, spread over a low table. There was a low buzz in Mun's head from all the food and happiness. He was giddy and light. Things were back to normal. Sure there were still evil spirits and ever monstrous humans causing havoc in the lives of innocent people around them. It wasn't possible to save every one of them. But they would try. To save at least one innocent soul at a time.

It may not make a difference in the giant scheme of things, but it will surely make a difference in the life of that one person.

And that was enough.

~~~

 

Notes:

~~~

That's it guys!

Well, there is an epilogue I wrote sometime back. I'm not even sure it fits anymore.
But I'll post that anyway.

~~~

Chapter 26

~~~

Epilogue

~~~

 

He would wish the nightmares would leave him alone for a change, but they wouldn't. Not at first.

Every night he would drift off to sleep, only to find himself back in the dripping quite. Sometimes, there would be sensations, odd scents or the whisper of a long forgotten song, but the black was ever present.

Although he now knew, his dreams were no different than that of an ordinary person; fleeting and harmless, his heart would still leap and bound in fear. Scared of what had once been.

Then, as the night threatens to steal him away to the land of the monsters, he would find himself wrapped in other sensations. A gentle hand would move the messy curls away from his tightly shut eyes, cool fingers wiping the sweat from his feverish forehead.

He would whisper her name, floating towards the brightness of her voice murmuring sweet nothings in his ear.

Another kind of fear would grip his heart, but he would embrace it back, welcoming it with every single cell in his body. Afraid that, if he waver, even for a second, she would dissolve into a puff of smoke.

I would never leave you... She'd tell him, and he'd believe her, as he's always done.

Eventually, his eyes would find hers, and her lips would find his.

Together, they would chase away the darkness, inside and out.

They'd hunt. They'd fight. They'd save a million lives, and hope they would never stop... but they will.

For all lives must come to an end.

One day, years later, as the sun would rise bright and high in the horizon, they'd breathe in one last time.

Some would say they were the brightest of spirits Yung had ever seen. Some would claim they recognized them, some would not...

But all would smile as the bright lights chase each other down...

Some would say it was a single spirit, not two. Some would say it was two spirits, connected by bright tendrils of light...

Some would say it wasn't tendrils of light that connected them, but a mere thread...

Some would say, the thread was red...

Then years later, or perhaps, a few heartbeats later, a bubbly boy with an easy smile would crash into a feisty girl with sharp eyes in another life. She'd shove him down, then help him back up. He'd say thanks, and pull on her pigtails.

They'd bicker and fight. They'd grow and love a love so fierce, the world in here, the world out there and the in between, would all sing their stories. But they would never know...

They'd be blissfully unaware of the bright colourful pillars of light that would erupt all around them, as they kiss into the night...

For some lives are connected beyond time and space...

And will find each other over and over again...

Across worlds... Across realms...

 

~~~

 

Notes:

~~~

You know what?

I'll just post one more 'bonus' chapter because I just love you guys!

~~~

Chapter 27

Notes:

~~~

This is not part of the story, but just a snippet I edited out. I didn't want to delete it forever, so just saving it here...

~~~

 

~~~

The day Mun returned from his trip

~~~

 

They made it back home in record time that night.

After all, it's not every night they get to attend a wedding party, fight a whole horde of lower demons, and get their ace back.

The team bombarded Mun with questions about the trip, even though they already knew most of the stuff from their billion calls and messages while he was away. The excitement around the kitchen table only grew when Mun brought out the presents he had for the team.

"Ah! Why did you have to get me this?" groaned Jangmul from the table. "Why not clothes or jewellery like the others?"

"But you have lots of them!" Mun protested, still laughing.

He had brought Jangmul a bottle of scotch whiskey, that was actually a gift from one of the counters he met in Scotland. It was straight from his collection of the rarest liquors.

"I want to open it so bad." said Jangmul, gazing lovingly at the bottle.

"Then do it!"

"But I also want to frame it and then lock it in my bedroom locker."

"Why don't you marry the bottle and call it a day then?" That was Ms. Chu, sounding slightly annoyed, looking up from the mirror. She was wrapped in an exquisite silk scarf, that made her look ethereal like a Yung spirit.

Jangmul immediately put the bottle back in its box and kept it aside.

Jeokbong and Hana were going through the rest of the gifts Mun had bought, and there were many, exclaiming whenever they found something they can keep.

Ordinary items like souvenirs, items of clothing, perfumes and jewellery were mixed up with other not-so-ordinary items like rune stones, tiny jade sculptures etc., that were gifted to him by counters from around the world. Some of which actually carried real power. Hana, realizing this, was scolding Jeokbong for messing up the careful packaging.

Mun watched this with a smile so wide, his cheeks started to hurt. But he didn't mind. After a long while, he was with this his beloved people. He felt at peace. And sleepy. Very, very sleepy.

"Stop it Jeokbong!" Hana was borderline yelling. "I told you not to mix everything up! You know what? I think we should wrap up everything and go to sleep."

"Sleep? But I just go here!" Mun protested.

"Yes. After a long ass flight." Hana snapped back. "No offense, but you look dead on your feet. Go to bed."

"Fine." He pouted. "But why aren't you trying on that necklace? Did you not like it?"

"I loved it." Hana smiled at him. "I just thought I'll save it for a special occasion."

"Special occasion like what?" Mun asked, stifling a yawn. "A level four evil spirit?"

"No, I just-" her response was cut off as Mun snatched the necklace dangling from her fingers and leaned over. Hana barely had time to react before Mun clasped it around her neck.

"Mmm. Pretty." said Mun, holding her at arm’s length by both shoulders.

Hana blinked.

"Wait a sec." Mun frowned, suddenly turning to look down onto the table. "Wasn't there an earring in this box?"

"Yeah" Hana replied, blinking again. "It was right here... Jeokbong!"

Jeokbong jumped a foot in the air, dropping the earrings in question. "They are cufflinks!"

"Seriously?" Hana yelled. "I told you not to mess everything up!"

"No they are!" Jeokbong whined, picking it up from the floor. "Look, they are small, shiny and comes in pairs!"

Motak facepalmed from behind him.

Hana lunged at him and would've done some damage if Mun hadn't jumped in between them.

"These are earrings Jeokbong" said Motak, plucking it up from his hands. "Cufflinks are there in that box on table."

"There are many boxes." Jeokbong mumbled.

Hana growled at that.

"You know what, we should probably all go to bed." Motak suggested, handing the tiny studs to Mun. "We can clean up everything tomorrow when our heads are clear, ok?"

"She's right. You are about to keel over." agreed Ms. Chu. "Besides, you haven't seen your new room yet!"

"I have seen it a hundred times already." Mun said, but allowed Ms. Chu to push him towards his room.

"Seeing it in person is not the same as seeing in video call." Said Ms. Chu, her voice fading as they moved away from the rest of them.

~~~

He didn't see it in person that night, but rather the next day, when he woke up to the smell of the famous eonnie's noodles.

 

~~~

Notes:

~~~

 

Thank you for all the love you've given my first ever attempt at writing something.

It was mind-boggling to see people were still reading this even when I was not posting anything. It's making me wanna write more!

I know this is nowhere near good, and there are gaping holes and confusions still open. But I still loved how it turned out. More than that, I loved how fun it was to write this!

 

Once again, Thank you from the bottom of my heart for sticking with me till here!

Saranghae....!!!!

 

~~~~