"Mr. Soohyun, if you lose, it'd be very difficult for us to take the doll from her."
Kiho spoke from his side into his ear, almost in an inaudible voice so Mija wouldn't hear it. She was staring up at them nonchalantly.
"Have some faith in me, Kiho."
Even after the double reassurance, Kiho was uneasy as he watched the match take place in front of his eyes. Seeing everyone becoming nervous, Lim Soohyun was also starting to feel pressured. He took out his fist, and Mija followed suit. Having their fists out, Lim Soohyun started the match.
"Rock-paper-scissors, shoot!"
Finishing his words, Lim Soohyun threw out paper, and his eyes quickly fell on the little girl's hand in a scissors gesture.
"....."
Everyone was silent, as if they were mourning the chance. Lim Soohyun could feel Kiho's sharp stares boring into him. Appearing calm, he demanded.
"Three rounds. You won the first one."
Mija, who had already won and could totally refuse him, nodded in agreement unexpectedly. In the end, she was just a little kid.
Lim Soohyun won the rest of the two rounds.
Seeing the last rock and scissors, Kiho sighed as if he had been holding his breath all this time. Lim Soohyun was the one with a rock and won fair and square. Mija didn't have any complaints. Looking longingly at her doll, she pushed it towards Lim Soohyun to take it.
"My doll has been sacrificed because of me."
Saying such saddening words with a straight face. Kids these days were a bit scary. Lim Soohyun was about to take the doll off her hands when Kiho beat him to it and snatched the white bear plushie before his eyes. Mija and Lim Soohyun stared at Kiho with the same look in their eyes.
"Kiho-hyung, you stole it."
Mija spoke in her soft and unhurried voice.
*
"Is this your way of protecting me?"
Walking out of the house that wasn't haunted at all, Lim Soohyun asked Kiho as soon as they managed to escape from the couple's insistence on having dinner and then leaving.
"You're attractive."
Kiho muttered with his back to him.
"Hm?"
Lim Soohyun paused his steps.
"To the ghosts."
"Ah..."
He gasped slowly as he grasped the meaning behind Kiho's words.
"That's why the ghost was talking about me with Mija?"
"Possibly."
Lim Soohyun never thought he would be attractive to these things, but as he considered the possibilities...
"Can I marry a woman's spirit, then?"
This time Kiho froze, turning to him with a frowned and strange expression. He had no answer to that question.
"If you're interested in marriage, please marry a living human."
"What's the fun in that?"
Mumbling incoherently, he trailed behind Kiho for no reason, gazing at the plushie hanging from Kiho's arm.
"Should we take this doll back with us to the haunted house? The woman in the basement might like it."
"Yeah, so they can join forces against us."
But it would be more entertaining that way...
Lim Soohyun thought but didn't voice it, knowing Kiho still wouldn't comply.
"Or they can fight among themselves and leave us alone."
He tried convincing Kiho.
"The outcome would be the more powerful one will end up controlling the entity that lost to its power, and we would have a bigger problem on our shoulders."
Receiving a long explanation, he gave up. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and his lighter.
"You should visit your grandparents since we are already here."
"Yes, we are going there right now. I'll leave this with them."
Showing off the plushie, Kiho turned a corner as Lim Soohyun stuck an unlit cigarette between his lips. Stopping before a black gate, Kiho stared at the cigarette in his mouth and took out a key to unlock the gate. All the houses in the village were on the spacious side, and Kiho's was the same. From the outside, he crouched down beside the gate, ready to light his cigarette as soon as Kiho entered.
"You're coming with me, Mr. Soohyun."
"What? Why would I meet your grandparents?"
He muttered, and only then remembered how suspicious Kiho was of him running away. Putting the cigarette back into the pack, he stood up again under Kiho's stare.
"Fine... open the gate now."
Kiho was really not giving him a single chance of running away. Lim Soohyun was already somewhat over this situation. He was close to just blurting out, "Do whatever you want."
"I'm home."
Changing their outside shoes below the tiny, countable steps, Kiho announced, and they walked into the living room, which had a low rectangular table to sit at rather than couches.
"Take a seat and wait for me."
Lim Soohyun obediently folded as Kiho went out to meet his grandparents separately or hide the plushie. As the guest, he needed to mind his manners, so he couldn't outright refute Kiho. Soon an elderly couple came to greet him, and as he had heard from others, no one could refuse a grandmother's cooking. He didn't even get to say a word before he was served an extensive dinner, slowly filling the table in front of his eyes. Kiho brought out the last plate of side dishes and looked over at him.
"Why do you seem so uncomfortable? If you complain about the food, I'm kicking you out."
"No, it's not that. It's a bit... you join me too. I don't want to eat alone."
Hearing him out, Kiho sat next to him. His grandma also got another rice bowl for him and decided to sit in front of them to watch them eat.
"What are you waiting for? You're older."
"Ah, right..."
Waking up from his daze, he picked up his chopsticks and started chomping down the food. It had been too long since he had a home-cooked meal. Kiho's grandma smiled, seeing him eat heartily. Even Kiho was a bit taken aback by his eagerness to devour everything on the table.
"Kiho, is your friend married? He's very energetic. If he's not, he should get married soon while he still has all this stamina."
Kiho's grandma remarked wholesomely. Lim Soohyun, mouth bursting with food, couldn't speak a word (literally). What was everyone's obsession with marriage in this village?