"Are you afraid of fire, sister?"  

Long ago, in her younger years, Hong Biyeon had asked her older sister that question.  

Her eldest sister, Hong Erin, often lived surrounded by flames due to frequent episodes of spontaneous combustion. But to Hong Biyeon, those flames were terrifying.  

At the time, her sister had replied,  
"For me, fire is like oxygen. I can’t live without it anymore... you could say it’s a part of me."  

Hong Biyeon couldn’t understand. How could fire be like oxygen when it was eating away at her sister’s life day by …