c016

The gumiho is snoring.

And she is snoring very, very, very loudly.

Hani fell asleep an hour ago and has been snoring ever since, each snore rising exponentially in volume as Seokga's wish to throw himself out of the car rises exponentially to match. "Please," he begs. "Please be quiet."

Almost in answer, Hani utters a snore that leaves his eardrums shriveling in protest.

He has been driving for two hours now, following the route to Busan as the barest tinges of morning light begin to brush against the deep, velvet-black sky. Seokga has done his best to ignore the strain in his eyes which grow heavier and heavier with each passing moment, the cramps of hunger twisting his stomach, and the fog of exhaustion clouding his mind. But there's no denying he's completely drained. The coffee and the nap have helped him recover from using his magic earlier, but he's still pushing his limits.

Once they reach Busan, they'll continue on to the Busan-Geoje bridge, which will take another hour. Crossing the bridge itself will take forty minutes. He may have no other choice but to wake Hani and allow her to drive his car. Damn it. He is not pleased at the thought, but he's not pleased at the thought of falling asleep at the wheel, either.

He sighs and sneaks a glance at his…assistant.

She is slumped against the window with her mouth partially open, her usually flawless, wavy mane of hair rumpled and tangled. She cradles her two new daggers in her arms like they're (much more murderous) teddy bears, both tucked away in their respective sheaths. Seokga's eyes linger on those daggers. In the store, for a moment he'd wondered…

Hani's eyes snap open and Seokga hastily jerks his head away. "You were snoring," he says, unsure why his cheeks have heated slightly under her bleary glare. In annoyance, he assures himself. Annoyance. "You were snoring very, very loudly."

"Snoring?" Hani mumbles, sitting up and rolling her shoulders. "I don't snore."

Seokga bites back a laugh of derision. She cannot be serious. "Yes, you do."

"No," she insists, "I don't." Hani cracks her neck once, twice. "How close are we to Busan? I'm hungry."

"Forty-five minutes away."

"Mm." Hani yawns. "We should stop for breakfast once we reach the city. It shouldn't take long." He feels her scrutinizing him and scowls as that heat licks his cheeks again underneath her inspection. "You look tired."

"I am," he admits in a sour mutter.

"Pull over," Hani urges, gesturing to the space at the side of the highway. "Let me take over."

The thought is tempting. But he shakes his head. "No."

"Seokga," Hani says, "if you fall asleep at the wheel and you perish in a car crash, you'll never be reinstated as a god. Especially since when you gods go through your ‘divine reincarnation' you first take the form of—well—baby you. Can an infant stop an eoduksini?" She examines her nails, still watching him out of the corner of her eye. Her gaze feels wry. Calculating. As if even though they've only known each other for a (mercifully) short time, she seems to know exactly what words to choose next. "And, Seokga, if you wind up as an infant version of yourself…Well." Hani grins. "I'm sure Hwanin would pay your babysitter well, and I'm never one to turn down a little extra cash…"

Seething, Seokga pulls over.

Seokga wakes to the smell of hot chocolate.

The rich, chocolatey aroma brimming with sugary cream fills his car as he cracks open his eyes, blinking away the remnants of fatigue that still linger in his vision. His mouth is stale and his eyes feel gummy and swollen with sleep as they search out Hani, who sends him a wry little grin as she sips at a paper cup, from which tendrils of steam swirl. "Good morning," she says, rays of sunlight bathing her face with a pale-yellow aura. Her eyes are molten in the light, a warm, depthless brown tinged with red as they crinkle in the corners, the effect of her smile. She cheerfully waggles her fingers at him.

Seokga realizes that he is still hazily gazing at her and blinks, quickly looking away. "Please," he grumbles, rubbing his eyes and glancing out the window, "tell me that you are not eating in my car." They are parked outside of a Coffee Star, in which a few early risers sip at beverages and nibble on pastries. They've made it to Busan.

"I am not eating in your car," says Hani as she rummages around in a large paper bag and pulls out a breakfast sandwich. "Here. I got this for you. An egg bun with strawberry jam." She tosses him the wax-paper-wrapped food and he just barely manages to catch it. He sniffs it suspiciously.

"Egg with strawberry jam?" he asks in disdain, even as his stomach rumbles grumpily in hunger. The strawberry egg bun doesn't smell bad, but the concept is enough to have him glaring at the large Coffee Star bag in Hani's lap. "Is there anything actually edible in there?"

Wordlessly, Hani pulls out three more of the same breakfast sandwiches. At his glower of disbelief, she laughs. The sound is as bright and sparkling as the morning sunshine. And like the morning sunshine, it annoys him. "They're for me. But try yours," she urges. "It's good, I swear. I also got you this." There is a cardboard cup carrier resting on the dashboard; Hani grabs the remaining cup and hands it to him.

"Coffee?" Seokga asks hopefully—but he should have known better than to believe Hani has gotten him his favorite beverage. She smiles again.

"Hot chocolate."

"Hot chocolate," Seokga repeats in disbelief, staring down at the breakfast that Hani has arranged for him with an immense amount of wariness. "I want coffee. I need caffeine."

Hani wrinkles her nose. "Coffee is disgusting," she counters. "Hot chocolate is the perfect morning drink—sweet and loaded with chocolate. Whipped cream, too. Plus, chocolate does have some caffeine. And the sugar will give you a boost, too."

Seokga blinks. "You hate coffee." Impossible. Coffee is the only bit of good on this worthless realm. But the gumiho nods and takes a large bite of her own sandwich.

"You should eat," she says around a mouthful. "Once we reach Geoje, I think it's safe to say that we won't have time to snack. Finding Ji-ah will be our priority." She swallows and licks her fingers. "We should head out soon. Ten minutes, maybe less. I'll drive again," she adds, cozying back into his seat—which, he realizes, she has scooched up to the steering wheel and pumped higher.

Frowning, he opens his mouth to protest, but Hani cuts him off. "Eat," she repeats. "I can hear your stomach growling from here."

He doesn't doubt it. His stomach is tight with hunger, desperate for sustenance. Sighing, Seokga raises the sandwich to his mouth and takes a tiny nibble. The egg is fluffy and slightly salty. The strawberry is jam sweet and sticky. The bun is the right amount of soft and chewy. Despite himself, he takes another bite—this one larger, grudgingly admitting that the gumiho is right. The sandwich is delicious. He sips at the hot chocolate and makes a face. Far too sugary for his liking. But, paired with the filling egg bun, it does its job. Seokga feels his energy slowly seeping back.

They eat in silence, Hani working her way through the other two sandwiches with an unbridled hunger, and Seokga slowly, thoughtfully consuming his one, careful to wipe his mouth as needed. When they're finished, Hani sends him a look of triumph and backs the car out of its parking space. "It was good, wasn't it?"

Seokga does not tend to admit that he was wrong. "No," he says frostily, even as he wishes Hani had bought him two more buns.

Hani laughs under her breath, and Seokga almost chuckles ruefully along with her.

Almost.

He stops just in time. Disgusted with himself, he scowls instead and digs out his cellphone. "I'm going to call Shim. Check on Dok-hyun." Despite the early hour, it's only a few seconds before Shim picks up on the other line.

"Seokga," the chief says pleasantly. "Good morning."

"Update on Dok-hyun?"

A sigh crackles from his phone, and he can just imagine Shim shaking his head. "Would it take too much out of you to say ‘good morning' back?"

"Yes."

There's a long silence.

Scowling, Seokga takes a deep breath. "Fine. Good morning. Update on Dok-hyun?"

"That's better," Shim replies dryly. "As for Dok-hyun, he's doing as fine as one can be doing when they're in the precinct holding cell, swarmed by haetae, and not sure what they're doing in there."

"Has he said anything?"

"Well," the chief says, "he's said a few things. One, that he can't believe you would do this to him. He thought you and him were becoming friends."

Seokga rolls his eyes. Hani gives him a questioning glance and reaches for the phone. He jerks back, and she sticks out her tongue at him. There's whipped cream on the tip.

"Two, that after all his family has done for this precinct, he can't believe we would repay him like this. Which I really do have to agree with."

"Is that all?"

"Oh, no. Three is that he is not the eoduksini, that he's never killed anybody in his life, and after we release him, he wants to quit. You lost us the Lee family, Seokga." Shim's voice rarely turns hard when he speaks to Seokga, but it does now. "Lee Dae-song died just four months ago. It's been hard on Dok-hyun, and then you turn around and do this. The Lees have been integral to New Sinsi's haetae since its founding. If you're not right about this, I'm going to be very disappointed in you."

"He's being dramatic," Seokga snaps back. "We're nearly to Geoje, and we'll likely be back within a day or two. If you really want to clear his name, take a trip to the New Sinsi Library and see if there's really a stack of books on eoduksini. In the meantime, tell him he's basically on vacation. Give him something to amuse himself with. A coloring book or some toy cars."

"He's not a child, Detective Seokga—"

Seokga hangs up with a dramatic press of the button and tries to ignore the uncomfortable feeling buzzing around in his chest. It's not guilt. It can't be guilt, because Seokga the Fallen doesn't care about obnoxious humans and their feelings. But still, as he recounts the phone call to Hani, the inane feeling persists.

It's another hour to the bridge. Seokga watches Busan speed by the windows, the looming mountains in the distance passing by in a blur of deep browns and vibrant greens. Sansin, minor mountain gods, watch over Busan. He wonders if they watch Hani and him speed by, what they think of catching a glimpse of the infamous fallen god sitting next to a gumiho currently attempting to keep one hand on the wheel while taking a large gulp of now-cool chocolate.

The bridge finally emerges in the distance, crossing over a wide expanse of navy-blue sea toward rolling mountaintops of stone and forest. Seokga feels Hani glance at him, her gaze one of concern.

"Ji-ah is probably scared out of her mind," Hani murmurs as she urges the car onto the bridge, the tires rolling over the smooth cement road. "She saw the impossible."

Seokga watches the rippling blue waters below. "Once we get her back to New Sinsi, we can erase her memory. I can use my powers, or she can use the procedure available for human witnesses." A shaman could extract Ji-ah's memories of the eoduksini—and everything that followed. Shamans have become integral to New Sinsi for performing procedures like this, and for their skill weaving glamours over places such as the haetae precinct, the weapons shop, and the bridge. This magic allows the peaceful co-existence of creatures and humans. Seokga does not like to contemplate what the city would be like without the glamours.

Humans have a tendency to kill the things they don't understand.

"Should we erase it, though?" Hani frowns as she drives. "She'll need to know to be careful—of the eoduksini, I mean."

"We'll deal with it when the time comes."

"I wonder who she saw," Hani muses a few minutes later. "What form the eoduksini took. If it really is Dok-hyun."

Seokga sighs. "There's no telling until we speak with her." He gazes at the bridge's long expanse up ahead, at the first minuscule island the bridge passes through before continuing on toward the other two, then finally transitioning into an underwater tube leading to Geoje. Somewhere, on that larger island, is Ji-ah—their answer to the questions hounding them, and Seokga's ticket back to Okhwang.

Fifteen minutes of almost amicable silence pass, finally broken by Hani. Her eyes are still on the road ahead as she says, "What do you plan on doing? When you're a god again, I mean."

Seokga pauses, taken slightly aback by the question. There is no teasing cadence to her words, nothing but pure curiosity. "I…" He glances at her. "I wish to return to Okhwang. My home. My palace."

Her eyebrows lift as they exit the underwater tunnel, resurfacing as they pass through the first island, the bridge cutting through rich forestry. "You have a palace?"

He nods, his thoughts drifting toward his hopeful future. A future of power, of living in luxury once again as a god. A small smile plays on his lips as he confides, "Hwanin will have me, he says, on house arrest. I plan on breaking it immediately."

"Somehow, I'm not surprised." Hani snorts. "Any other plans? Another coup, perhaps?"

"In time…" Seokga sighs, a cruel smile twisting his lips. "In another millennia or so, it's very likely."

"Emperor Seokga," she hums. "It does have somewhat of a ring to it."

He cannot prevent his smile from growing. "Oh, I know."

"You know," Hani says, "I should get some sort of reward from Hwanin, too, for helping you with the eoduksini. And the Scarlet Fox. Compensation," she continues, "for dealing with your cranky old ass. Maybe some money. Or"—Hani straightens, turning to him with a grin—"a palace of my very own."

Seokga clicks his tongue in contempt. "You'll get nothing, fox."

"Except the pleasure of your company, of course," she replies with another sparkling laugh.

He frowns, not sure whether he is being mocked or complimented. Her laughter doubles, and he finally allows a small chuckle to escape his lips. She is…almost funny.

The revelation annoys him more than it pleases him.

As if surprised he laughed, Hani twists to him with wide eyes. Seokga immediately recomposes his face into its standard scowl. "What?"

Her eyes still dance. "Nothing."

Seokga rolls his eyes.

The next half hour is passed in pleasant, comfortable silence. When the bridge begins to transition back into the underwater tunnel, Seokga notes that Hani has gone slightly pale, and her fingers are tight around the steering wheel.

"What is it?" he asks—not in concern, he tells himself. Just curiosity.

"I don't like water," she says between clenched teeth. "Especially going under it."

The deep yellow light of the tunnel bathes the car in its glow, and Seokga watches as a bead of sweat trickles down Hani's forehead.

"Can you swim?" he asks, and she cuts him a venomous glance.

"None of your business."

Seokga smirks. "So you can't."

"I can," she fires back, "if—" Hani cuts herself off, snapping her mouth closed.

He leans toward her in interest. "What?"

"Don't laugh," she warns. "Because if you laugh, I will send in some very unfortunate tips to Godly Gossip."

"I won't laugh," Seokga replies, already planning on cackling and calling her bluff. Sending in those tips would give him legitimate grounds to fire her, and he has gotten the distinct impression that she's suctioned herself to this case like a leech.

"I can swim," she says, staring straight ahead at the barely visible end of the tunnel, "if I'm in my fox form. But I never learned how to swim in my human form. Satisfied?" Hani sends him a brief glower before turning back to the road.

Seokga waits one moment, one singular moment, before snickering himself hoarse with laughter.

Hani makes a strangled noise in the back of her throat. "You said you wouldn't laugh."

"And I don't ever keep my word. Relax," he says in response to her sneer. "It's not as if this tunnel is going to cave in. We certainly won't be crushed by the water and die."

"Not helping," she rasps. "Not helping at all, you buzzard."

Seokga just smirks.

When they finally emerge from the tunnel, Hani reaches over and drives her fist into his shoulder. He winces, pain flaring as her knuckles bash against his skin. "Was that," he grits out, "entirely necessary?"

"No," she replies sweetly. "No, it wasn't."

The pair is broodingly silent as the Jaguar struggles to climb the winding hills of Geoje, the tires crunching on the gravel road. The ocean surrounds the lush island in a glittering blue, green, and aquamarine halo receding farther and farther away as the car climbs higher and higher. Large, looming palm trees stretch their limbs up to the sky, their fronds scraping against the periwinkle expanse and sugar floss clouds. There are no buildings in sight, just pure, unadulterated nature save for the fishing ports hundreds of feet below them.

As they move deeper into Geoje, the first markers of civilization begin to appear. Street signs, neighborhoods and small towns, convenience stores and gas stops. Perhaps thirty minutes later, Okpo emerges all at once. Although it still surrounds them, the forest has receded, instead replaced by imposing towers, bustling sidewalks, honking cars, and rows of restaurants that fill the air with the delicious smells of grilled beef, spicy noodles, fried fish, and the unmistakably rich smell of budae jjigae. Seokga's stomach tightens in hunger once again, but he ignores it. They are here to retrieve Choi Ji-ah, not to explore the bustling city located in the heart of Geoje.

"Maengjongjuk Forest," he says to Hani. "It's going to be past Okpo, on the outskirts."

"Just tell me where and when to turn," she retorts sourly, clearly not yet over his laughing fit. For perhaps a split second, Seokga contemplates apologizing before stubbornly deciding against it. He has not once apologized for any of his actions, and he certainly will not start now.

Yet he finds that he much prefers the bright-eyed, laughing Hani who slurps at hot chocolate and smiles as brightly as the shining sun to the scowling Hani who not-so-subtly sneaks a vulgar gesture in his direction as he tells her to turn left.