don't blame me

little talks

He woke up to a cool rag pressed to his forehead, a welcome change from the constant heat he felt throughout his body.

He slowly opened his eyes and adjusted to the brightness of his room. He turned to his right to find Do Hana with her face scrunched up with the utmost concentration, as she checked his temperature with her hand.

Do Hana had spent all of last night worrying about So Mun. She had so much pent-up anxiety that Motak had told her to call Chairman Choi and have him take her, Mun, and Ms. Chu back to the hideout.

Motak and Jeok-bong stayed behind to erase the evil spirits' memories and call the police to arrest them. They also made sure to erase the young woman's memories before they left the scene.

The entire car ride back she held So Mun's hand and kept checking his pulse to make sure that he was still alive. At one point, she even noticed a tear rolling down his cheek. She quickly wiped it away with her thumb and watched him sleep.

He normally looked so peaceful when he was sleeping, but right now his eyebrows were scrunched up and he looked as if he was having a nightmare.

Once Motak and Jeok-bong came back, they laid So Mun in his bed before returning to the dining table that Ms. Chu, Hana, and Chairman Choi were sitting at.

Upon the Chairman's noticeable confusion as to the events that occurred while he was away attending to his business, the other Counters explained what happened.

By the end of the story, they all became eerily quiet. They were reimagining the moment where So Mun did the impossible once again and summoned an evil spirit without the mindscape or by touching him.

Hana was the first to make a movement, as she got up from her seat and walked to her room.

"I will find out what happened and what the hell that evil spirit was talking about." she promised with certainty in her tone.

The other Counters could only watch as Do Hana slammed her bedroom door shut.

When she came to check on Mun in the morning, his forehead was hot, so she decided to lay a cool rag on his forehead.

Once he finally woke up, she removed the rag, looked into his eyes, and tried to gauge what he was feeling at the moment.

Instead of his blazing anger from last night's fight, his eyes had softened as he shot her the sweetest grin she had seen from him since before his trip.

"Hi, Noona."

Smack.

"Ow, Noona that hurt! Why would you do that?" So Mun said with a pout on his face from the slap she gave to his shoulder.

"Because you're an idiot! What the hell were you thinking? You overexerted yourself with your new fancy summoning trick and now you have a fever!" Hana said exasperated.

"I'm sorry? You were being choked by that evil spirit, so I had to do something. I couldn't just let you get hurt." Mun said with conviction.

Immediately after his response, he worriedly looked at her neck and saw dark bruises scattered along it. He lifted his hand and touched the dark marks with a gentleness that reminded her of the Mun she met all those years ago.

Instead of the heat, she felt a steady warmth in her chest and butterflies in her stomach.

To distract herself, she gently said, "Thank you for saving me, by the way."

"I will always save you, Noona. No matter what." Mun responded immediately while still running his fingers over her throat. He switched course as his thumb ended up rubbing against her cheek instead, making her cheeks slowly start to heat up.