Next day, bright and early which for him meant 10:30 am, Dohyun woke up. He opened his eyes groggily and rolled on his other side, wiping his drool in the process. He did not want to get up, he actually wanted to hide under the covers for the rest of the day.
He stood there for a bit and then figured if he truly woke up he won't be able to fall back asleep anytime soon. He grabbed his phone and checked his news feed and messages and was surprised to see one particular missed phone call. Dohyun stared at the number for a bit and with a heavy sigh he called back. One ring was enough for the other person to answer.
"Finally! Do you know what's today?"
"Dunno, Friday?" He asked and checked. "It's Friday."
"It's Black Friday, to be more exact. You promised you'll come with me to the book sale in Myungdong."
Dohyun's eyes widened as the memories flooded his mind. He has been so busy lately that he forgot.
"Just wait for me in a coffee shop and I'll give you a call when I arrive."
"Better run here then. I'm not waiting the whole day."
"Yes, yes." He mumbled and hung up. "God, women are sure scary..." he started to groan as he went into the bathroom to get ready.
Outside his room, on the window sill stood a raven. He eavesdropped on the conversation and couldn't help get curious.
"I'm here! Happy?" Dohyun asked his friend when they met.
The raven was still on his trail. He tilted his head to the side as he inspected the human girl: she had long black hair, straight, with bangs, she wore round glasses, average style but not bad overall.
The pair was bickering for the whole time and they entered several bookshops. Minjae could easily follow them as a human but to his surprise, there was always a person to call onto him or want to help him. Good looks really didn't help with spying.
"Where have you been lately? You've been ignoring my messages a lot." The girl complained with a pout as she held tightly on a thick contemporary book.
"I'm working on my panels. It's not as easy as you think." He replied as he looked at the titles that interested him.
"Did you have a revelation about the plot and characters?"
"The plot is pretty much the same but I did meet some very interesting people recently...they made me rethink some aspects of the story." He admitted getting Minjae's full attention from afar.
"Interesting people?" She asked with a chuckle. Who knew what she was thinking of...
"Have you ever been to Ethos?" Dohyun suddenly asked, getting Minjae to tense at what he was about to do or say.
"Is that a restaurant?" She asked having no idea what he was speaking of.
"It's a library with antique books. It's near my apartment. You really never heard of it?"
"No, why? Is it so good? I usually prefer more recent books."
Minjae rolled his eyes as he hid his face behind a book that he was supposedly flipping through.
"My story was originally about a Greek hero that got sent into modern day Seoul. It was a man at first but maybe it should be a woman..."
The girl stopped and looked at Dohyun with sparkling eyes.
"Back in the dating business, aren't you?" She asked bemusedly. "You owe me a date, by the way. You let me with a rain check a while ago because you were too disappointed with the female population."
Dohyun didn't say anything, he just moved on and let the girl talk. Minjae didn't like it when people didn't answer with yes or no to such simple questions. Maybe because he has been with Fei for so long, but he liked to be straight forward.
"Excuse me, my friend was wondering if you are by any chance an actor?" A woman asked Minjae, her friend blushing next to her.
Minjae smiled awkwardly and searched for Dohyun but he was out of sight.
"Hikaru, take care of the sales until Minjae arrives. He should be here in an hour at most."
"Where are you going?"
"I need to check what young people nowadays are reading. We need to stay up to date with the trends." She commented, grabbing her keys and putting on her coat.
"That explains a lot..." Hikaru muttered as he leaned against the counter. They’ve been having pretty low sales in the last few months. "We should also have writers come and do those meets and greets. Some publicity would do us good."
"No need. I have you and Minjae. Handsome workers bring women and women bring money. Easy peasy."
"That is not a good marketing plan."
Fei shrugged and hurried out the door with a shudder. November was slowly coming to an end and winter was literally knocking on the door. As a nymph, she was always growing lazy and sleepy during cold weather.
Fei entered one of the most famous bookstores and as she looked around, she saw one familiar face. He was in the fiction section and he seemed to be in his own little world.
"How is he out and about after yesterday?" She asked herself. It seemed like nothing happened, he didn't meet mythological creatures and had to be healed.
For a moment she actually thought she may as well check on him. But a pretty girl went to Dohyun and wrapped an arm around his shoulder, which stopped Fei in her track. Of course, he wasn't a bad looking guy so the possibility of having a girlfriend was high. Fei didn't even consider that since she never really talked to him about anything but mythology.
At that moment, the bookstore changed the music into something very romantic. Fei narrowed her eyes and scoffed at the lyrics.
When orange light sets the evening sky aglow
For some reason I really miss you
When I race around on my old skateboard
For some reason it feels like your breath is blowing
She swiped her finger in the air and the song changed magically. It was another song, a bit more melancholic and sorrowful than the last.
The lyrics of our story’s song
That we listened to one day
Have now become the story of a stranger
Swipe! It was odd how such heart-breaking songs could sound so happy, but she was the type for whom the lyrics mattered and there just wasn’t enough emotional control for her to listen to them with Lee Hyang’s doppelganger in front of her.
A few more songs and all were the same, which really frustrated her. She noticed that there was a pick up put out in order to draw the clients to buy one. It looked rather nice and the price was good enough. She grabbed a vinyl, paid for it and then went and put it on. Right there, in the bookstore.
"I'm sorry miss but you can't play on this pick up," a worker came and paused it. Fei glanced at her and the worker froze. Something in Fei's eyes was scary. "It's only for the show…"
"Fine. I'll buy the turntable too." Fei said in a monotone voice.
"But-"
"I already paid for the vinyl. OI's fine as long as I try it on, right? Why else did you put it out here?"
Fei had a good point so the worker nodded and left. With a rock'n'roll song playing, and pretty loudly so, Fei smiled in contempt. She even danced a bit, before she spun and came face to face with Dohyun himself.
"Oh, you scared me." Fei said rubbing her chest.
"Sorry. What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to check on the trends. I run a library, remember? I need to know what new books to buy." She replied. "What about you?" Fei asked searching for the girl she had seen before with him.
"My friend forced me to come with her and carry her shopping bags." He said raising his hands. He had two little bags with what Fei figured where books.
"How romantic," she joked although it sounded bitter.
Dohyun frowned and shook his head at how silly it sounded.
"What did you buy?" He asked changing the subject.
Fei glanced at the pick-up and then at the curious foxy eyes of this man.
"A turntable, apparently. Do you want it?"
His eyes widened. He couldn’t believe how her brain came to that conclusion.
"Wh-what? But you bought it!"
"So? I have two more at Ethos and both are a lot more expensive and old than this one. It's alright, take it as an apology for what happened yesterday."
"But it wasn't your fault." He said quickly.
"No. It was Minjae's. But he is under my wing so I have to apologize for him. I'll go pay and tell them to send it to your address."
"Do you even know my address?"
Fei stopped and looked at him.
"Then come and tell it to them. I don't want to keep you away from your date." The way those words came out sounded a lot more childish than she wanted.
"Pff she is not my date. We are just high school friends." He added with a laugh. "I wouldn't have come if I knew she was going to use my body strength. But I'm glad I met you here. I have a lot of questions left." He said with a wide smile.
"I'm sure you do," she said getting out her wallet.
"You really don't need to buy me something so expensive, though." He said again when they got in front of the counter.
"Write your address down and shut up. Besides, I'm not paying for it. The underworld is." She said with a sly smile.
"The underworld?"
"Yes. I'm not paying with my card." Fei said, showing him the black card before using it.
"Do you really not get paid by them?" He asked after Fei paid and gave him the receipt.
"I don't. The money I get from the sales are enough for the library expenses and my workers' payments."
"What about your expenses?" He asked as they moved aside.
"I have been alive for a very, very long time. Do you really think I haven't saved any money? I have several accounts and still have some gold hidden away." She said with a chuckle. His mouth rounded to the point it looked like he was about to sing opera.
"So you are rich." He concluded but she didn't really comment. It was not a question so there was no need to answer.
"Anyway, can I take a look at what your friend bought? Just to make an idea." She said returning to business.
Dohyun nodded and let her take a long, careful look. She hummed and nodded to herself before she stepped back.
"What do you like to read?" He asked seeing how he didn't know much about her.
"History, sometimes fiction. I couldn't follow most of the events that happened after I came to Korea. Although I lost my chance to be there and actively participate, I can still read about wars."
"Why? Didn't you go back home?" He asked with a frown.
"No. Part of my punishment was to live a secluded life on the Jirisan Mountain. I was not allowed to leave the peninsula, still am not."
Dohyun froze, feeling the same guilty feeling as before.
"Why were you punished?" He asked, having heard that mentioned before.
Fei didn't have the time to answer because Dohyun's friend walked to them. Her eyes were set on Fei from the moment she saw them together and she couldn't help stare. Fei was pretty short which was the main reason why she preferred to wear heels everywhere; she had a sense of fashion, after all she did use fabric merchants in order to move from one country to another when she was younger. Besides all that, she had short blonde hair and a cute white hat.
"Well, I'm going to leave you to it then. I still have more research to do." Fei changed the subject and intended to leave but Dohyun grabbed her hand.
"I'll come too." He said, not wanting to finish their discussion yet. He turned to his friend and literally gave her the bags. "I'll be off now!"
Fei stared with wide eyes as he held her hand and dragged her out of the store. Even the girl left inside was taken aback.
Fei couldn't think of anything but the way her little hand fit in his. For a moment she remembered the times Hyang held her hand and she pushed Dohyun away quickly.
"Why do you want to tag along? We're only going to walk through book stores and see what their best sellers are." She said grasping the vinyl with both hands.
"I was needed only for manpower anyway. She can carry her books home. It's more interesting walking with you."
"Where...does this confidence come from?" She asked in bewilderment but Dohyun laughed it off.
"So? Where to now?"
"All over town." She answered leading the way.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
