Kisa swallows hard, nervous. She’s never shared this with anyone before. Her secret dream, what she would fantasize about as she lay in bed, staring up at her ceiling. “Okhwang’s library,” she whispers, and she knows that it means something now that she’s told him this secret. That something might…change. She supposes she should be terrified, but strangely, she’s not.

Seokga’s brows raise, but there’s no amusement on his fine features as she’d so feared. Bolstered by his lack of disdain, Kisa pushes forward. “The Heavenly Library is—to shamans—something like the Library of Alexandria. Its halls are filled with hidden knowledge, the secrets to…everything. I know that nobody but the gods are ever allowed inside its halls, but that’s never stopped me from wanting it…” Kisa trails off, worrying she’s lost him. But Seokga is studying her with an intent expression, truly listening to her in a way her family, or her acquaintances at NSUMD, never did. She could talk about the Heavenly Library for hours, and if Seokga doesn’t stop her soon, she just might. “I used to dream about it. The books it must have. How beautiful it must be in there…”

“I’ve been in the Heavenly Library,” Seokga says, and Kisa leans forward, itching to know more. “It’s dusty and cold.” The words are spoken with such nonchalance that Kisa nearly falls off her bench. “Quite eerie, actually. The librarians quit some centuries ago, and finding a book in that mess is impossible.”

“Say you’re lying, please,” Kisa manages to choke out.

“Sadly, I’m not.” He smirks.

How can the great library of Okhwang possibly be dusty, cold, and messy? How can the pantheon possibly take such a wonderful thing for granted? “No,” she says. “Absolutely not. I simply won’t believe it.”

“There are bats in the Heavenly Library,” Seokga continues, and she knows he’s goading her, but she falls for it anyway. “Bats and moths…”

“That is sacrilege.” Even worse than the tattered condition of the romance book Somi gave her, which is currently in her spa locker and begging to be read. Kisa balls up her fists. “It should be polished and grand and—and use the Dewey decimal system! Those books are treasures, they’re priceless, they hold the secrets to the universe and everything in between—”

“You’re lovely when you’re angry,” Seokga interrupts, and his surprise shoots down the red thread, as if he hadn’t meant to say that at all. Kisa’s cheeks flush and her heart gives a peculiar little flutter.

If he had found her sooner…Before the red thread, before she died…What could they have been?

“Thank you,” she mumbles, blushing.