Where Pan Mang River Flows

36: Picnic intervention

Mew gave Suka a loud smack on the head, not meaning to, but hitting hard.

"What the hell, Mew!" he shouted, and he wanted to put down his sandwich to give Mew a slap back. But when he saw that the sandwich would fall apart if he put it down, he obediently stayed put. Mew had taken his precautions by running away and walking towards the door that had formed their entrance to the roof of Peoul High. Mew quickly looked behind him when he didn't hear heavy footsteps and calmed down at the sight of all his three friends sitting quietly on the ground with their picnic in the middle, while on the roof of Peoul High, they got a view of the busy city centre.

"Should I call Gyong and Jae Hee?" asked Ilhoon, who doubted that they had enough food for two more people.

"Uhu," muttered Suka, "but tell them to bring their own food."

"Smart." Ilhoon took out his mobile phone to invite them. Mew came running back hurriedly, afraid that Suka would eat the feast without him.

"Is the spirit hunter coming?" he asked, Mew had not yet forgotten the fear he had felt in Ostralia at the sight of Gyong's enchanting arts. Nor could the rest put it behind their backs.

"Are you afraid she's going to accidentally bring an angry soul with her?" laughed Suka.

"Actually, I am."

Mew came back to sit next to Suka, which Suka saw as an opportunity to repay him, and he immediately returned the blow. Mew cringed, but then let it sit, accepting that it wouldn't be smart to repeat his actions. At that moment, the door opened and Gyong came strolling in with a salad in her hands, "Have you started without me yet?"

Ilhoon shook his head with his mouth full of food as a 'no way'.

"Rude," she muttered as she sat down between Suka and Bo Xiang. She put her salad in the middle of the food present and picked up a sandwich with cheese and ham in its place.

"Hey! I told you to bring your own sandwiches!" Ilhoon called out unintelligibly through the food that was getting in the way of the transmission of sound.

"No, you told me to bring food," Gyong replied dryly to his reproach, "I found the salad somewhere along the way. Bon appetit."

Bo Xiang looked angrily from the food to Gyong and again to the food, thinking that he would have to hide a few sandwiches to get ahead of the fast eaters. He was still on his first sandwich, while Suka was on his fourth. The food slowly disappeared before his eyes while he himself played no part in it. Now that Gyong had joined them, the speed had doubled. Bo Xiang held his sandwich with one hand and tried to slide the other to the centre of the group. He grabbed two sandwiches and slowly brought them back and put them behind his back, cautiously looking around the group to make sure no one had seen him. He sighed in relief when his mission was accomplished without error and then turned back to the vacuous conversation.

"You're a purse," Mew said to Ilhoon.

"Okay."

"Gyong, have you ever actually caught any ghosts?" asked Suka curiously. She smiled at his question and winked in response.

"Is that a yes or a no?" whispered Mew in Ilhoon's ear. He shrugged his shoulders.

"And do you sometimes take those ghosts to places? Or do they sometimes follow you?" asked Suka, interested in her hobby, but mostly scared.

"Sometimes they can follow me, yes, but don't worry, I'm experienced."

"And that means...?" asked Ilhoon cautiously. Bo Xiang had finally finished his first sandwich and saw that there were no more in their midst. He grinned at his own wisdom in hiding two and reached back with his hand to grab them, but to his surprise, he felt nothing there. His hand scanned the ground behind him and he turned, panicking, to see what was going on. There was nothing to find. He looked around the group and saw Gyong holding one of the two sandwiches he had hidden. The other she had already eaten.