Circus of Longing

The questions of life and death...

Bong's tent was made of snow yet there was a darkness inside. Geometric patterns were etched on the snow walls. His dewan, his carpet everything was made of ice patterns. The tent was full of books, and surprisingly these were the only things in his room that were not made of ice.

Bong lied down on the dewan and began to count the instruction cycles running inside his body.

"You are heating up at an alarming rate," Tae Ri touched his forehead.

Brushing away her hand, Bong said, "How many times do I have to tell you that I don't like anyone else to enter my room or touch me?"

"Bong!"

"The life-cycle of this prototype is ending in one month, Tae Ri,"Bong said, exasperated with his eyes closed, "And my soul has not enough strength left to embody another android."

"But if you can't find Sung Jong in this one month and destroy her soul, you'll never be able to move on to afterlife. You'll be obliviated and you'll neither reincarnate or gain Nirvana," Tae Ri was aghast.

"I thought you were Sung Jong's friend," Bong said with an amused expression.

"I'm sorry for that day, Eun Jeok," Tae Ri looked at the ground, "I was just a gullible shaman who got deceived by Sung Jong and you've punished me for it by killing me and holding me as a captive in this circus for six hundred years."

"Your sorry means nothing to me, Tae Ri,"Bong said in a low voice, "Now get out of here." Tae Ri suddenly found herself out in the open.

To be honest, Bong knew he should be pleased with what he had accomplished. He had helped souls pass on to their afterlife by programming their consciousness in Androids in the form of inanimate objects, vegetables, plants, apps, executable programs, script codes when the souls grew too weak and they were in the danger of being obliviated. Giving them a form gave them time to atone for their sins or settle old scores to finally let go and pass on to afterlife. But Bong knew his existence as a ghost and humanoid meant nothing if he couldn't destroy Sung Jong. It was his punishment given by Ma Go (Goddess of Afterlife) for the sin he committed that night as Eun Jeok. It was his revenge for what Sung Jong did to Eun Jeok. He had to make Da Som fall in love with him and then kill her. Only the scent of the death of a Gumiho's female descendant can lure a Gumiho to him and trap her. And Da Som was Sung Jong's first female descendant.

It was Da Som's third morning in the circus and Bong was teaching her the etiquettes of talking with and listening to the dead. She should not use too much perfume because spirits hated strong scents. He told her tips to calm down angry spirits.

"Da Som!"

Da Som was overjoyed to hear her name. She could never not recognise her crush's voice. She turned back. He looked too cute in white T-shirt and blue jeans with a baseball cap.

"Your father was so worried. Your phone was out of reach..."

"But how did you reach here?"

"Chang Suk?" Bong finally managed to speak.

"Chang Suk? No, I'm Choi Min Ho," the visitor said chirpily,"And you're?"

"I'm Kim Eun, I mean, I'm Kim Bong," Bong said and left Da Som and Min Ho talking with each other.

Who are you shipping with Da Som? Bong or Min Ho?