"HUH?"

Joohyun had to look around confused because she suddenly found herself in a place where she hadn't been before. She didn't find herself in a confined room or some sort of a basement or even a cave when the last thing that she remembers was being abducted by someone. She found herself in a cute apron inside a busy restaurant pushing a cart of delicious sea foods.

"Ya!" Joohyun flinched when she felt a tap on her shoulder. It was an older guy who was speaking to her in a thick Busan accent but she was surprised she could understand it with ease. "What are you doing? Is there something wrong? It's not the time to space out and think of your regular visitor!"

"Y-Yes?" Confused, Joohyun couldn't say a thing. She didn't even know where to start asking.

The older guy just squinted his eyes. He then made her turn back to her cart and made her push it. "Table 8, stupid sis! It's not the time to mess around. Mum would deduct our pay!"

"A-Alright!" Joohyun had no choice but to look for the said table. She had a part time experience at a restaurant anyway so serving wasn't that hard. She just couldn't understand what's happening and why everything around her looks so... old-fashioned.

It isn't just the interior of the said restaurant, even the fonts used in the menu and the pictures used felt so old to her. The fashion of the eating guests looked pretty old as well as if she travelled way back in time. She looked outside and she was surprised to see how underdeveloped that place was. She even saw people wearing hanbok which is very rare to see at present time.

"What is happening?" She asked herself. She went to look at the window to see her reflection but it was still her. Nothing changed on her face. It's just her hair got a little bit shorter and her clothes really old-fashioned.

She then heard a name being called but for some reason, she responded to that name. It was from the woman in the kitchen. "Table 5, dear!"

"Y-Yes, omma!" Even Joohyun was weirded out. Her body automatically responded. She just heard herself calling the said woman her mother. She then took the order, placed it on her cart and quickly delivered it to table 5. She was about to go back to the counter when the door opened. Her jaw literally dropped when she recognised the new guest.

As if the guest noticed her looking, she turned to Joohyun and her face instantly lit up with a warm smile. Joohyun felt her poor heart fall head over heels with that beauty. 

Wearing a white long-sleeved buttoned shirt topped with a black Callahan vest, Kang Seulgi greeted Joohyun with a slight raising of her hand. Her hair was black and was tied in a low ponytail. It was short, her bangs were even styled to look like she was rocking really short hair. 

Joohyun was so stunned at the beauty that she couldn’t welcome the guest. She could only watch Seulgi go to Table 9 and started scanning the menu.

“Hey! What are you doing!?” The guy, who seemed to be her brother, shook her by the shoulder. “Go ahead and take her order! You’ve been spacing out the whole day because you are waiting for her, right? What are you waiting for now that she’s already here?”

“Y-Yes!” 

Joohyun hesitantly walked towards Seulgi. She couldn’t believe why she was hesitating when it’s only Seulgi that she knows in that weird situation. “S-Seulgi…” She called in a trembling voice. She was so overwhelmed by the visuals of the other girl. 

The gumiho then turned to her with those surprised eyes. She was surprised yet she could feel the longing in those wide eyes that soon turned into inverted crescent moons when Seulgi smiled. 

“You called my name.” Seulgi said; she looked really happy. 

“W-What’s so special in calling your name?” Joohyun asked as she looked around. She knew everything was off but it felt so real to her… it felt so close to her heart. 

“What’s special?” Seulgi then reached for her hand which made her gasp. The brother and the mother were both watching them despite the busyness of the restaurant. 

“You never called me by name… This is the first time…” Seulgi then looked up to her again, flashing her that heart-melting warm smile. “It means a lot to me…”

“Seulgi…”

The gumiho felt the beating of her heart with her other hand after that other call. Looking so lovesick, she tilted her head to the side as she looked up at Joohyun. “I don’t need any food for now… I need you to fall for me quickly. I want us to start spending another lifetime with you…”

“Y-Yes—” Joohyun’s breath hitched when Seulgi rubbed her cheek on her hand. “Hurry up and fall for me.”

‘I think I am already in love with you, stupid! You don’t have to tell me that!’

Not knowing how she would respond to Seulgi, Joohyun looked away but her sight accidentally caught her reflection in the window and her skin started crawling when she saw it smiling at her when she wasn't even smiling at all.

“W-What the—”

“Hurry up and remember.” The reflection suddenly spoke and everything around her started melting. The echoes of that statement went around as everything got engulfed in the darkness. “Hurry up and remember…” It repeated.

“What should I remember!?” Joohyun then turned to Seulgi to ask for help but then she saw the gumiho slowly fading away as if she was a charcoal being eaten by fire. “Seulgi! No, Seulgi!”

Joohyun tried to hug Seulgi but it was too late as the girl turned into ashes before even Joohyun managed to reach her. Panicking, Joohyun stepped backwards and tripped on her own feet making her fall to nothingness.

She looked to the only source of light which was her reflection, the girl in the mirror looked so sad and desperate.

“Hurry up before it’s too late.”

JOOHYUN’s eyes slowly opened. She still felt a little dizzy that she didn’t really bother about the cold water spilled on her. There was a voice ringing inside her head but it soon disappeared and she couldn’t even remember what it was saying. She could only remember that she had to hurry up.

“Hey, you got knocked out for quite some time. Is my smell really that bad?”

Joohyun then heard sniffings. Her eyes were still trying to adjust to her surroundings when it landed on a familiar girl.

Right. This girl is her real final memory before she passed out.

“It was a dream…?” She murmured to herself as her head dropped down again. She was tied to a pillar and she couldn’t move her arms at all. She can move her legs but she’s been sitting for too long that they felt numb.

“You got kidnapped and you’re worried about what you dreamed?” The girl who kidnapped her scoffed. “You’re an interesting human.”

Joohyun looked around and found herself in some sort of an abandoned warehouse. She then felt like she found herself in a cliche scenario where the heroine gets kidnapped and got taken into an abandoned place.

“Who are you and what did you do to me?” Joohyun asked, her voice was so weak. She’s still bothered by the dream that she couldn’t remember at all.

A wide, mischievous smile curved up the face of the said girl. She then sat in front of Joohyun in a lotus position. “Who I am isn’t important. For the record, I haven’t done anything to you. I just brought you here to lure that old gumiho.”

“Seulgi?” 

Joohyun was taken aback at how the girl reacted to her saying Seulgi’s name. The girl’s eyes were almost bulging out of their sockets. “Wow, you call her so casually~ That’s new.”

“New?” Joohyun groaned, the cold water on her skin started to grow colder because of the winter breeze. Her body was already shaking.

The mysterious girl in front of her looked at her with that sarcastically worried face. “I wonder what’s taking her so long.” She even consulted her watch and then shook her head after. “This is not so her, I guess her age has already caught up to her? She can just travel at her super speed…”

The girl even made sobbing noises to tease Joohyun. “I guess you’re not that valuable to her.”

Joohyun had to look up despite the pain being brought by the cold. “What did you say?”

“You’re not valuable to her.” The girl repeated so casually. “You’re not important to her, that's why she’s not here yet.”

It was the mysterious girl’s turn to be taken aback when Joohyun scoffed. “I am just her pet. She can throw me out anytime.”

“Are you saying something?” The girl then pushed Joohyun through her forehead so that she would look straight at her. She was just pushing the hostage with one finger but Joohyun felt the intensity of her strength. She stared at Joohyun with those round orbs as if she would like to swallow the human in one sitting. “Is there anything funny about you not being important?”

“W-What are you…?”

Blood started flowing down from the wound caused by the sharp claws of the mysterious girl. The sight of the blood drew another smile on the face of the girl. She even her lips, bringing chills to Joohyun’s spine. 

“I am a kappa.” The girl finally answered after enjoying the look of pain in Joohyun’s face. She then moved backwards and started her finger that still has Joohyun’s blood on it. The girl literally giggled at the taste of the blood. “I am not talking about the clothing brand. I am talking about the river menace.”

Joohyun’s eyes narrowed. “Are you talking about that Japanese monster? But aren’t you Korean!?”

The said kappa started laughing uncontrollably. “What the hell!? Are you a comedian or something!? HAHAHAHA! For the record, not only humans migrate~ We, the creatures you all classify as monsters, also have a mind of our own. This world isn’t just yours.”

A kappa is one of the most popular creatures from the Japanese folktale. They are known for being mischievous river and lake monsters. They are basically humanoid turtles. They carry their shells in their back and are often depicted having the turtle beak. But modern kappas abandoned the beaks in their transformations though they kept the bad body odour that they use in hunting.

The girl then tried to compose herself as she stood up. “Just because our stories got more popular in Japan doesn’t mean we don’t exist in different parts of the world. The improvement of transports made us enjoy travelling as well just like a certain old gumiho. We can disguise ourselves in human form, why not enjoy the things that humans can enjoy? Well, I am a little impressed that you know about kappas.”

“I had a phase… A fixation about monsters when I was young…”

Joohyun recalled the days when she was so into reading about different folk tales because of that one fateful encounter with a gumiho when she was young. She wanted to know more about beautiful, nine-tailed, human foxes that she even studied about other monsters.

Joohyun then pulled her legs closer to her because of the harsh cold. “What does a kappa like you want from Seulgi anyway?”

“I am just giving her a proper welcome.” The girl giggled as she fixed her cap. “It’s been a long time since she last stepped to Busan. I believe she’s on another search but I am just confused about the fact that she already has a human companion in your form.”