Getting a second chance at life isn't exactly as enchanting as it seems.
Sohee Young, who lived life like the callous person she was, dies. She gets another chance to live life correctly though, and that is by swapping lives with Lina Park, who die...
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"I CAN'T BELIEVE they attacked us in the store," Emma muttered, hand still shaking from the shock. "That like, goes against the fragrance Lush uses you know? They stank! Like worse than the overpowering vanilla stench. It was way too strong and ashy. Like, fireplace ashy."
Coming from returning the remaining batch of body lotion and bath bombs I decided I wouldn't use, we'd encountered the fourth council member fully possessed. The half controlled man who crashed into me wasn't even shocking anymore, but Emma still had a hard time adjusting.
"Thanks for helping us," she told Elizabeth, who, like last time, held the jar of their remains. "But I doubt you'd want to smell their ashes."
Though Emma could somehow stay near the elder holding the pungent odor, I couldn't. Besides, the putrid scent was thick enough to reach me, and I had the urge to throw it out the window.
"Actually," Elizabeth told us. "If we collect their ashes right away, the council figured out a way to turn them into a revived again."
I swallowed and faced forward, away from the jar. Was it just me, or were their smells getting worse the higher the number? "That explains why you've been following us the last week."
"The souleater's gotten stronger, that's for sure," Emma said. "This is what—the fourth attack?"
"Fifth," I corrected. "What happened to the lady then? Because nobody collected her ashes."
"Well, she was disintegrated. So she's part of the Earth now."
"She's dirt?" Emma scrunched her nose. "That's not a fun way to live."
A shudder ran through me as I recalled the red fumes that escaped her. Her soul was completely sucked out of her, and now she became something we stepped on without a second thought. And though I normally wouldn't care, the possibility of it happening to me—or the people around me—heightened the longer we waited for the souleater's next move.
"My condolences," the elder said, voice robotic.
"How'd it go with Andrew?" Emma asked, handing the receipt to me with one hand, the other on the steering wheel.
"How would I know?" Though I didn't care about the money we received back, Emma made it a habit to check if what she ordered aligned with the price. Every. Single. Time.
Paranoid, more than precise in my eyes.
"Seriously?" Her jaw dropped. "Sohee! Don't tell me you backed out. That's such a cowardly thing to do!"
I glared. "Are you calling me a coward?"
"No wonder you avoided him all week! I mean, listen to me! It's been a week! I even told you the game plan, and you backed out."
"It's not like I wanted to!" I protested, raising my voice. "I'm just not good with apologies, what am I supposed to do about that?"
That, and if I had disagreements, there'd usually be a clear cut ending to my relationships. Because all this time, friendships had been more of a mutual business relationship, which meant that I never had to work for it. Having a dysfunctional family added to that, too.
