[Lights in a dark place]

"Man, this is so much clearer than what Jacob told me!" Sunny exclaims. "I mean, it's still a gonzo story, but at least I'm plugged into the same magic system now, you know?"

After Jungmo cleans the last remaining utensils, they transition from the kitchen to the living room, where it is distinctly dark. The interior, which had sparkled with bright candy-like colours in the afternoon sunshine, has now been draped in a different, eerier skin, turning it into an eidritch caricature of what it had been. 

That's right, Sunny thinks. Jacob isn't here right now. 

His eyes alight on the chair where Jacob had been sitting earlier, playing the expert. Resting over the top rail is Soeun's leash, its bright shiny buckle gleaming under the light of the moon. But, where is Soeun?

Jungmo's gaze follows Sunny's, anticipating his reaction. "I see that our man of the hour has taken Soeun for a walk. I hope that's all right with you?"

Sunny shrugs. He genuinely couldn't be less worried about Soeun's safety at this point. No matter how many times he looked her up and down before dinner - parting the brown and silver curls repeatedly, and gently running his fingers over her joints - he couldn't find a smidge of evidence that his little girl just survived a catastrophic landing on a bed of sharp stones. Maybe some of these omnipresent magical powers are rubbing off on her, too!

"Cool beans. I hope she can still go potty while he's there!"

He makes himself comfortable on the couch, taking in the novel atmosphere of the house at night. All that he sees is now awash in a placid silence. Not a breath, not a peep of electronic devices - not even the reassuring sound of Soeun's breathing, which had been with him always. 

Even his own mind, he realizes, is uncharacteristically quiet. Maybe, because they have shelter now, no matter how strange the dwelling. Maybe also, because so many strange circumstances in so short a period of time made everything feel airy and immaterial. 

That must be why Jungmo is the way he is, he thinks. 

One by one, as if repeating a routine that he has completed thousands of times, Jungmo moves briskly around the room, turning on an assortment of small novelty lights. These include a silver-and-gold macaw being accosted by two little warriors, an elegant table lamp shaped like the branches of the Korean bellflower, and a crawling bat plushie with two pea-sized glowing eyes. 

"Some of these lights are not much for lighting," he remarks over his shoulder with good humour as he activates each of the instruments by their own unique mechanisms, even at one point stopping to hand crank a comical-looking lemur enjoying a drink from a coconut. 

It is impressive, Sunny thinks, considering that none of these gizmos actually belong to Jungmo - that he is simply a housekeeper in a home that could not activate without Jacob's light. And just as impressive is the fact that Jacob would assemble such a bizarre assortment of lamps purely for Jungmo's comfort while he is away. He supposes that this is just how things are with people who are close. Close, like a real family. 

"You know, I don't really have a family..." he blurts out spontaneously - and immediately regrets it. 

[Family]

What! Sunny screams internally, turning a nuclear shade of red. But why did he say that all of a sudden? What does his family have to do with anything? He's become way too relaxed. 

After a moment, Jungmo turns. 

"What do you mean?"

He casts his head down, mortified. The sound of footsteps approaching. And then, a tall form lowering himself slowly onto the couch next to Sunny. 

Sunny's face burns with shame. Even without looking up, he can feel the concern and confusion emanating from Jungmo. Damn it...he'll never be able to make fun of Jacob's ramblings again! 

"I mean...I guess that's a lie," He stammers. "I do have a family. I have a mom and dad, and brothers. Lots of extended family, too. But at the same time, I kind of...don't?"

Stop it, stop it right now, his brain yells at him. None of this is helping your case. At all. Why oh why are you bringing up some weird delusions you had when you were a little kid?

"I guess I don't know what I'm saying..." he finishes weakly, allowing his voice to dwindle to nothing. 

Jungmo says nothing for a while. Who knows what he could be thinking! The air becomes hard for Sunny to breathe. 

"I need to call my friend," he says abruptly, flying up from the couch. 

[Alone with the sea]

How convenient for Hyuntae to exist! Sunny thinks to himself, as he rushes away from the discomfiting situation entirely of his own making. How terrific, how wonderful that there is a lifeform called Hyuntae in the world, providing a convenient excuse to deter strangers who want to get to know you better!

He doesn't stop at the front door, but pushes himself out and into the blue-black emptiness of night. 

It is cool, but not entirely cold. The sea waves and their attendant scents rush towards him, heavy in the air. Now standing in the solemn emptiness of the darkened porch, with only the ringing windchime to keep him company, he feels his breath at last steadying to a crawl. 

Silently, he breathes an apology to Hyuntae for thinking of him only in a moment of need, and not in the 10 hours prior when he really should have given him some indication of being alive!  

"Sorry, Dude," he whispers to himself. 

[Hyuntae disappears]

But the apology must have come too late, because Hyuntae isn't answering his phone. 

In fact, though it makes no sense at all, it doesn't sound like the number is even registered. After ringing for several moments, the line disconnects, without the option of leaving a voicemail.

But...that's weird, right? After all, Sunny had just called him the other day to arrange to stay over. He had even listened to most of Hyuntae's absurdly long and pedantic voice greeting...the one where he painstakingly enumerates everyone who could have any occasion to contact him, from university administration down to the debt collector, and the various creative ways in which they could dispense with their own issue before he could  discard it himself. "The verbal decision tree from hell", Sunny calls it. And the recitation cracks him up every time! He almost felt sorry when Hyuntae, half-asleep and barely coherent, finally picked up.

Hyuntae would never change that voice message, he thinks to himself. Never. It's too good. 

What could have happened to his eccentric benefactor? He runs through the possibilities in his mind. Was there anything useful from what Hyuntae told him that morning? Any indication that he would be out of contact later in the day?...

"School. You need school, young man."

Is it possible, Sunny wonders, that Hyuntae was directing that statement towards himself? Could he be at the school right now? 

Thinking about it, he never did get a straight answer as to what Hyuntae was doing the night before. He assumed, with great intensity of tunnel vision, that Hyuntae had been the one to collect him and Soeun and to bring them indoors. Now, he knows that's not true. And even if it were, it wouldn't explain why Hyuntae would be so tired the next morning!

Maybe...did he see...

[What's in a name]

"What are you doing out here in the dark?" As if on cue, a tall flint-eyed spectre emerges from the black nothingness beyond the porch, causing Sunny to flinch and nearly swallow his own tongue!

"If you're going to escape, try turning a light on," Jacob drawls, pulling on the saloon door, and as he says so, the porch light fixtures all flicker on at once, flooding Sunny's vision with warm brightness. He sees Soeun squeezing past Jacob and bounding up the wooden steps, happy to be off leash. And out of the corner of his eye, he sees Fassy's enormous form, a big pale yellow disc incongruous with the night - flying in an inverted arc towards them and ascending to the roof. 

"Friendly warning, there's rocks everywhere, you'll probably break an ankle or two."

"Jacob, did you bump into the guy I'm staying with?" Sunny blurts out, apropos of nothing. 

"...What guy? Out here?"

"No! When you broke into the house I was in, did you see the owner? Hwang Hyuntae?"

Jacob's eye twitches. "...Sure didn't. But his name makes him sound like a little bitch. A little bitch with terrible taste in beer." And stalks away. 

Sunny starts, then makes a flabbergasted, uncomprehending face down at Soeun, who can only return his confusion. What the heck was that?