With a beleaguered sigh, Seokga allows Dr. Jang to guide him through an exploration of his feelings. Feelings are so inconvenient. At times like these, Seokga wishes he didn’t have any. As Dr. Jang sagely suggests that the revulsion he felt at seeing Somi mimicking Hani stemmed from an unconscious attraction to a creature so like his lost love, Seokga abandons all politeness and begins to take great pleasure in causing the therapist unnecessary difficulty—as he used to do in the days before she somehow managed to bond with him. He refutes it emphatically and then, with a thin smile that tells the psychologist he knows precisely what he’s doing, answers each prompt-slash-question with a roundabout reply that can make absolutely no sense to anybody. He speaks in riddles, takes long breaks to slurp (loudly) on his coffee, bothers Dr. Jang about what deity her patron is (one answer she’s repeatedly refused to give him, although he’s sure it’s Hwanin), and goads her when she deflects. He grabs a Kopiko from his pocket and noisily crinkles the wrapper, even pretending that the small coffee candy is too big for him to talk around. But Dr. Jang is an admirable opponent, and Seokga grimaces when he realizes that he’s the one growing tired.

It doesn’t help that Hwanin cried the whole night, or that when he finally did manage to fall asleep, he was awoken by a strange dragging noise in the corridor. Yet when Seokga had slammed open the door, nothing had been there. It’s possible his exhausted mind gifted him some auditory hallucinations.

“Seokga,” Dr. Jang says, setting down her pen—she hasn’t taken many notes throughout the session, he notes with some satisfaction. “I’ve been treating you for long enough that I’ve picked up on your tells. When you deflect, like you’re doing now, it’s to hide a deep anxiety, anger, fear…or all of the above. So.” The old woman leans forward, hands lacing together. “I want to talk about Kisa. We spoke a little about her yesterday, during our emergency session, but I regret that we didn’t have the opportunity to delve deeper—especially considering the events in the greenhouse.” She hesitates. “You are, I assume, still adjusting to having found her—and the stark differences between herself and Hani.”

Seokga bites down hard on his candy. “We went over this yesterday,” he grinds out around the loud crunching.

Dr. Jang leans back in her chair, presumably studying him behind those ridiculous sunglasses. And she does what Seokga hates most—she waits. Silently.