Starry Night

nineteen

We've been walking for several hours now, and we've only just made it past the valley below our cave. My back and legs hurt, despite the ibuprofen Jungkook gave me at breakfast. He had it laid out for me on a bear canister when I woke up, along with one of the blue coffee cups. I'm not sure how he got out of the tent without me knowing. All I know is that every time I woke during the night, his arm was still wrapped around me. And then sometime around dawn, I was vaguely aware of being a lot colder. By the time I fully emerged from sleep, he'd already started a fire and was readying everything for our breakfast, last night's roller-coaster emotions exchanged for the promise of hot coffee and a new day.

Not a bad day to wake up. Except that my body feels as if I've been hit by a truck that's backed over me several times out fo spite.

Hiking hurts.

It hurts even more when we crest over a steep hill. But it doesn't matter, because I'm eager to see where we're going. Jungkook made another map. He drew it inside his journal this morning and recalculated our route while I tried not to stare at the lip bit he's doing as he concentrated, because it gives me inappropriate feelings about him. After taking that wrong turn yesterday inside the cave, he said we're going to stick to a more established trail that I'll like better: It's marked on the official Queen's Forest map and leads to not only a ranger station but something scenic along the way - only, he insists on that scenic thing being a surprise.

He knows I hate surprises but talks me into accepting it. I tell myself that I'm relenting because of what he revealed last night.

We are at a crossroads where two trails diverge. A signpost tells us that the larger path in front of us is Emperor Trail. And through a break in the trees, we are now staring at white-capped mountains that glitter in the bright sun.

"Oh, wow," I awe.

"Right?" Jungkook says. "The brown peak on the left is Mount Coco and the gray jagged one on the right is Zeus Mountain. So many climbers die up there."

it doesn't look deadly. In fact, it looks beautiful. Majestic. Yes, I definitely see why people say that about mountains. I stretch out my arms and fill my lungs with clean air. Something stings. I slap my arm.

"Oh, we're entering mosquito territory," Jungkook says, turning around and pointing at his pack. "Dig around in the second pocket. There's a small bottle of insect repellent."

I unzip the pocket and slip my fingers inside, finding the bottle in question. We take turns anointing ourselves in citronella-scented oil that makes my eyes water. Once we're slathered up and mosquito-proof, we set out on the trail that cuts through a cedar grove. It doesn't take long for two things to happen: 1) we see other hikers ahead of us, and 2) we see them walking up a towering set of granite stairs that's been carved into the mountain.

"What is that?" I say.

"Emperor's Staircase," Jungkook says, waggling his brows. He's wearing slouchy, black knit cap, and the ends of his hair stick out from beneath it. I wish I had a hat to cover up the disaster that is my mass of frizzy hair. Nature is unforgiving.

"We're going up those rock stairs?" I ask.

"Not just rock stairs, Suzy. It's nature's noble staircase," he said in a grand voice. "More than eighteen hundreds. Three men died building them, and nearly every year since then, someone's died on these stairs. Fifteen in the last decade. This is the currently the deadliest trail in all the South Korea national parks."

"What?" I say, alarmed.

He smiles. "Don't worry. The people who die are generally just idiots who fall over the side trying to do stupid things. You'll understand why when we get farther up. If Bogum were here, I'd give him a fifty-fifty chance of surviving, because he wouldn't be able to resist the call of death. Which almost makes me wish he were still with us."