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When people were being generous, they said that Sui Khan had an imaginary friend. When they weren’t, they said he was haunted. Sui Khan was pretty sure it was a haunting.
He never saw the ghost when he was awake, but nearly all of his dreams involved the ghost. The ghost’s name was Lee Soo Hyuk, and nobody had ever heard a name like that.
Sui Khan was a sickly kid and caught colds like the other kids caught fireflies. The dreams were stronger when he was sick, and he could remember more of them. He was sure the ghost was trying to possess him and that was why he got sick so often.
He knew Lee Soo Hyuk was dead. The dream Sui Khan had most often was of his death. He had made a chart, tracking the dreams out of morbid curiosity. They were so vivid when he slept, and blurred near instantly when he woke up, but he had the death dream so often he remembered everything.
Other dreams were of Lee Soo Hyuk in life: fighting monsters, laughing with friends, or even just going to school like an ordinary kid. The dream locations were all fantastical and strange. Lee Soo Hyuk fought with a sword and could slice anything. When Sui Khan wasn’t sick, he practiced with a wooden sword every free moment. If he was going to get possessed by a ghost, he wanted the cool abilities.
He hated the death dream though. He used to wake up screaming every time he had it, until Mother had Enough and Put a Stop to It. He still woke up in a cold sweat and would frantically pat down his body, telling himself it was a dream and he still had all his limbs, he wasn’t bleeding out, his family and friends were still alive.
Lee Soo Hyuk had been so anxious to make sure his dongsaeng Kim Rok Soo lived. Sui Khan hated Kim Rok Soo. Why was that guy so special that Lee Soo Hyuk died for him? Why did Lee Soo Hyuk have to haunt him? Go haunt Kim Rok Soo!
Other dreams seemed to be after Lee Soo Hyuk’s death. He’d go on adventures with his (other) (dead) dongsaeng. They were pretty cool, but there was always a sadness between them. Sui Khan would wake up in tears, missing Kim Rok Soo like a piece of his soul. Sui Khan hated the guy even more after those dreams.
When Sui Khan was eleven, the dreams changed. Now, Lee Soo Hyuk would worry about two guys! Kim Rok Soo and – and someone else. Sui Khan never remembered any names besides Lee Soo Hyuk or Kim Rok Soo after waking, not even the (other) (dead) dongsaeng.
His waking life changed too. He trained more and the village got word of Lord White Star more often. His grand plan was in motion now and Sui Khan had to be ready to join his forces as soon as possible.
When he was twelve, the news of Lord White Star got worse. Someone was interfering with the grand plan! Tension filled the village and Mother was angry all the time. Even Dad couldn’t consistently be on her good side. Sui Khan, who had been a disappointment ever since his first words were “Kim Rok Soo”, spent a lot of time outside training, building flight stamina, or foraging. The instructors were pretty good about giving him the longest trails or back-to-back missions and he was at home so infrequently Mother gave his bed to his next oldest sister and he had to share with the baby.
The only good thing was that the death dream had stopped. All of his ghost dreams were happier, even the ones with the (other) (dead) dongsaeng. Or maybe Sui Khan was so exhausted he didn’t dream.
When Sui Khan was thirteen, they got word of who was disrupting the grand plan. A human from the Roan kingdom, Cale Henituse. Sui Khan hated him too, matching the loyal outrage of the entire village. Why was one man, not a lord or a mage or a swordsmaster or anything, getting in the way of Lord White Star? How was he getting in the way of Lord White Star?!
When word of the Lord White Star’s death reached the village, the shock was so great that Sui Khan had his first berserk transformation, as did half the kids his age. He later learned that there were so many berserk transformations, the village chief had to get reinforcements.
The whole thing was a blur, and Lee Soo Hyuk woke from his transformation with aches and bruises everywhere. Damn, what kind of truck hit him? His whole body ached and even his wings felt ragged.
His what.
Lee Soo Hyuk stared down at his hands, smaller and skinnier than they should be. The callouses weren’t as established as he remembered. He groaned and rubbed his forehead. What had the God of Death done now?
Grabbing some of his hair, he inspected it. Long and white? Not a wig, not dyed. Lee Soo Hyuk had short, black hair, but Sui Khan had white hair, like his Mother.
Sui Khan!
Yes, he was Sui Khan now. He is Sui Khan. This was his next life, and Sui Khan had just remembered everything Lee Soo Hyuk did.
Owww. Lee Soo—Sui Khan had a pounding headache now, drowning out the rest of his body. No wonder you were supposed to forget your past lives. Reconciling two sets of memories was harder than he thought it would be. Is this what Kim Rok Soo felt like when he over did Record?
Kim Rok Soo!
Lee—Sui Khan felt joy and anger wrestling inside him. It evened out into a huge swamp of embarrassment that made him look around for a hole to crawl into. How could he have hated his dongsaeng? He had smiled when he died because Kim Rok Soo was safe!
Sui Khan buried his face in his hands and screamed until he was out of breath. Surely there were no more revelations that rocked his entire world in Lee Soo Hyuk’s memories.
Please! He begged any gods that might listen to a beast person.
A hand patted his shoulder and Sui Khan looked up to see Rahida, his favorite instructor.
“Sui Khan, you must be alright if you can scream that long,” she tried to wink at him, her smile trembling. “I need you up and on your feet now. Word’s come from the chief. We need to destroy any evidence of the White Star before anything else happens. Cale Henituse has dragons on his side; someone could come investigate at any moment.”
Clearly, the gods hated him.
Sui Khan screamed into his fist again, remembering that Cale Henituse was Kim Rok Soo. That he (Lee Soo Hyuk) had cheered for him whenever the God of Death had told them about his adventures. That he and Choi Jung Soo (his friend, his dongsaeng, not dead, not alive) had thrown a whole damn party when they learned that Kim—Cale had saved the little dragon. Had watched as Cale unraveled all of Lord White Star the White Radish’s plans!
Sui Khan searched Lee Soo Hyuk’s memories for anything else that would ruin his day.
He pondered over Choi Han being Choi Jung Soo’s uncle, then decided that Choi Jung Soo would handle that himself.
“Right,” Sui Khan told Rahida, “I think I’m ready to help. Where should I start?”
-
Sui Khan circled the burnt manor house from high in the air. He had finally tracked down Cale Henituse. Now he just had to talk to the man. He totally wasn’t chickening out on reuniting with his beloved dongsaeng! He was just waiting for the right moment, when Cale was alone. Alone-ish.
He spotted Cale through a window and swooped down to land. Choi Han tried to slice him in half, but that was easy to dodge. Cale himself was just staring at him.
“Rok Soo, no. Cale. It’s been a while.” He was calm, he was cool, he was collected. He had been a team leader through the apocalypse. He was not terrified that his dongsaeng would reject him. “It’s been so long, but you didn’t come. So I just decided to come myself. Is that not okay?”
“…Mm.” Cale groaned before looking down at him. (Him! Since when was Kim Rok Soo taller than him!) “Team leader?”
“Yes, it’s me.”
“Are you making sure to eat?”
“…Huh?”
The dragon piped up. “He looks feeble! Are you not eating properly?”
“…Huh?”
Choi Han continued the questioning. “Does the God of Death make you work without feeding you? Or were there a lot of difficulties in your life after your reincarnation? Why did you live such a hard life instead of coming to find us sooner?”
“…Ha! I’m not sure whether this is exactly as I expected or completely unexpected, but… I can feel it now that I’m seeing you guys like this.” Sui Khan held out his hand to Cale, ignoring the immature impulse to cling to him and cry on his shoulder. “You’re good people.”
“It’s been a while, team leader.” Cale said, shaking his hand.
Maybe Sui Khan would hug and cry later. He was just thirteen now. He could blame it on the hormones.