The Next Life (?? ?? ???)

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Shoot," Wendy responded from the driver's seat of her sedan.

"Why don't we just drive to every case?"

Wendy turned to look at me in the passenger seat. The car was stopped behind a few others at a red light.

She shrugged, placing one hand on the wheel. "Walking's good for the environment. And it's not like our locations so far have been that far from home."

"There's the forest reserve, we spent like 40 minutes on the subway."

Wendy giggled sheepishly. "So... don't laugh, but I drove Seulgi's car the other day, and I might have scratched one of the doors while parking."

"And you insisted on driving with me in the car?" I tugged on the seatbelt, mockingly checking its security.

"She told me I should get more practice."

"At the expense of my life?"

"Please, you've survived demons," she dismissed. "What's a car crash or two?"

I crossed my arms, faking a look of appalment. "That's not something you should joke about while driving."

Wendy feigned surprise. "Superstitious now, are we?"

"Wendy, I see ghosts every day."

"Fair enough." The light turned green, and she hit the gas.

It was all jokes, but it did get me thinking.

"How do you think we're gonna die?"

She furrowed her eyebrows, eyes not leaving the road. "Didn't you just say not to talk about it while driving, Mr. Voodoo? Butttt since you asked, I plan to live till I'm 80 and pass on surrounded by loving family and friends."

I let out a chuckle. "And where will I be?"

"You?" She looked away from the road for a moment to eye me in mock contempt. "You'd follow not long after, because what would you do without me?"

"Bold of you to assume I'll last that long," I said, only half-joking. "Some sort of possession or attack's probably gonna do me in at the rate we're going."

"Don't say that," her tone turned serious in an instant. "I told you, you're allowed back out. Especially if it gets too dangerous."

This again. "Wouldn't you guys be in more danger if I wasn't with you? You wouldn't see anything coming until it's too late."

"Right, because we faced off against countless horrors before you showed up."

"That's fair."

Wendy ran her hands down the steering wheel. "For real, though, I'm probably gonna go down to a Rasetsu attack at some point. Especially now that we know there's one out there."

Her fear of Rasetsu had always been something I'd brushed off as a scary story or two told to her back at her orphanage. The memory of the footage of the attack at the gas station still gave me goosebumps, though. Plus, it seemed that Jisoo was, to some extent, concerned by it, which practically confirmed the monster's existence.

"That's why you have me—your personal guardian angel."

My offer received a scoff. "More like guardian demon," she muttered playfully under her breath.

"Excuse me?"

"On the topic of existentialism," she cut in before I could continue, "What do you think your life would be like in another universe?"