THWCS 13

Chapter 13

Yeongwon watched the child pacing anxiously in front of the side door, then opened the inner quarters’ door and stepped out into the yard.

She glanced toward the small annex attached beside the inner quarters, wondering if Sora had heard anything and might come out, but it seemed she had fallen asleep—everything was silent.

As Yeongwon approached the side door, the child who had been fidgeting and glancing around spoke to her in a whisper.

“Unni, why are you here? Hurry and run away!”

“Who are you? Where did you come from?”

“Geom-ga is dangerous. You know that too.”

Yeongwon asked gently, but the child shook her head violently.

Then, as if being chased by something, with fear filling her eyes, she repeated:

“A lot of people died. They’re all dead. So you have to run away, quickly.”

With a face on the verge of tears, the child whispered and rushed out through the side door, as though unable to wait any longer.

The fear in the child’s eyes had not seemed light at all; worried, Yeongwon followed to the doorway and looked down both paths.

For some reason, the urgent voice telling her to run clung to her mind and wouldn’t fade.

“All those ghosts… unni saw them too, right?”

Hearing the child’s voice again, Yeongwon turned toward the sound on her right.

At the end of a winding footpath, the child peeked out from behind a curve, watching her timidly.

“They were all killed by the head of Geom-ga. You can’t let him fool you.”

All those ghosts?

Recalling the horde of spirits she had seen, Yeongwon unconsciously stiffened.

“Hey… do you know something about Geom-ga?”

When she asked, the child shrank his shoulders and looked around warily, then nodded.

“Yeah. But it’s dangerous here. Follow me, unni.”

The child beckoned to her.

Yeongwon lifted her foot and followed before she even had time to think.
For some reason, the thought that she had to follow the child filled her mind completely.

***

Geum(黔) Clan – Yeonggyeong Hall

On the high bed of the men’s quarters, Lee Shin—who had seemed to be asleep—suddenly opened his eyes.

A faint blue glimmer passed through his deep, serene gaze, and his handsome brow furrowed.

The reason was simple:
The bell hanging from his sword hilt was ringing with a ghastly wail.

Lee Shin glared at the sword resting on the table, then covered his ears with both hands and turned his body.

I can’t see it, can’t hear it, can’t see it, can’t hear it!

“Master.”

A sudden cold gust swept through the room. Hearing the voice, Lee Shin finally rose from the bed with an irritated expression and sat on its edge.

When he lifted his gaze, he saw a boy of about seventeen, standing silently with a horn bow strapped to his back.

Rokjeong, dressed in cloth clothing reinforced with leather pieces and with gaiters wrapped around his shins, was handsome and one of the Gui-no of the Ghost Registry—one of the leaders alongside Unjeong.

“What is it?”

Lee Shin muttered, slipping his shoes on.

“It’s an Eoduksini.”

At that word, Lee Shin’s hand paused over the sword.

The Eoduksini was a ghost that appeared as a child, one that read a person’s suspicions and lured them, playing with them until it felt satisfied—then killed them.

“…Figures. I wondered what kind of idiot spirit had the guts to wander into Geom-ga. No fool here got themselves bewitched, right?”

“…There is, sir.”

Lee Shin was stepping out of the quarters with the sword slung over his shoulder when Rokjeong’s answer made him freeze.

“Who in this damned household would be stupid enough to—”

His words cut off as a face flashed in his mind—
that River family girl who had shed her old self like an old skin and transformed entirely.

“…The clerk’s hall girl, Maewon?”

“Yes.”

“…Ah, unbelievable.”

Lee Shin’s voice stretched with utter exasperation.

“We must find her before the Eoduksini kills her.”

At Rokjeong’s urging, Lee Shin stepped into the courtyard without replying.

Following behind him, Rokjeong’s eyes drifted unconsciously to Lee Shin’s left leg.
Then, he lifted his eyes to the bright moon high in the sky.

It would be a full moon in a few days.

“Which direction?”

Standing by the wall, Lee Shin flicked his sword lightly and asked.
Rokjeong stepped forward silently and leapt left.

Lee Shin followed immediately.

In an instant, the barren courtyard of Yeonggyeong Hall—where not a single blade of grass grew—became empty.

It felt like she had been bewitched.

She remembered following the girl who beckoned for her to come.

At some point, her mind had become foggy and ash-gray, and only the whisper of the young child remained:

“Over here. This way. Come.”

Suddenly regaining her senses, Yeongwon murmured in panic:

“…Where am I…?”

She was standing on the slope of a mountain she didn’t recognize.

The almost-full moon shone brightly enough for her to see her surroundings clearly.

Before her were dozens of cone-shaped stone mounds, and beyond them, a massive ancient tree—half-rotted and broken—loomed.

A chill ran down her nape. Without even considering why she was here, Yeongwon spun around in haste.

And there—standing right in front of her—was the child who had told her to follow.

“You…!”

The child lifted the corners of their mouth into a bright smile.

“Unni!”

Yeongwon took a wary step back.

She knew now that the only reason she had been led to this strange place, in the middle of the night, was because of this child.

“What… are you? Where is this? Why did you—!”

“Play with me! I’m bored! I’m lonely! If you win the game, I’ll tell you everything you want to know!”

The child spoke cheerfully, smiling as innocently as ever.

A strange haze pulled at Yeongwon’s thoughts—she shook her head.

“I know everything. Whatever you ask, I know. So play with me!”

The child stepped closer and spoke again, and Yeongwon felt her head nodding on its own.

But then—her gaze fell to the child’s feet.
Her clouded mind snapped into clarity.

There was no shadow beneath the child.

Yeongwon looked at her own shadow, then at the child’s feet.

Nothing.

Cold crept up her spine. Her hair stood on end.

What was this thing?

“Unni, want to play stone battle?”

“Stone… battle?”

Stone battle was a Full Moon festival game, a mock battlefield where teams hurled stones across wide plains or riversides.

It was considered so violent that the Zhao kingdom had banned it.

Yeongwon only knew of it from books.

“Yeah. First one to die loses.”

“What?”

The moment she asked, the child hurled a stone.

Yeongwon dodged it—but another stone immediately flew and struck her leg.

She bent over, rubbing the spot, but before she could straighten, a slightly larger stone hit her shoulder.

“Ow!”

“Heehee! Unni, you know? Once you die, nothing matters.”

Another stone flew before she could react.

This time it hit her stomach.

She swallowed a cry and looked up—
the child was selecting an even bigger stone from one of the stone cairns, holding it with both hands, smiling innocently.

The child lifted it over their head, preparing to throw. Yeongwon hurried behind another stone mound to hide.

“Why—why are you doing this? What are you? You’re not human, are you?”

“Heehee! Unni, you can’t win if you hide like that.”

A huge stone crashed against the cairn.
Yeongwon flinched, eyes squeezed shut.

Her breath grew ragged. Cold sweat beaded at her temples.

Fear rose from the pit of her stomach, tangling her mind completely.

What should I do?

“Unni, didn’t I tell you? If you die, you lose.”

A voice came from right above her.

Yeongwon jerked her head up.

The child was standing lightly atop the stone mound on one foot, grinning.
In their small hands was a stone the size of the child’s own head.

“Ugh, boring. You’re going to die too fast.”

The child pouted, lifting the stone high.

Yeongwon’s eyes widened.

Any second now, the stone would crash down and crush her skull.

It all happened in a blink.

Just as the stone was about to fall—

A strong arm wrapped around her waist, and her back hit something solid.

The stone the child swung down smashed into the cairn and rolled across the dirt.

Dazed, Yeongwon realized the thing gripping her waist was an arm.

Which meant the solid warmth pressed against her back was the owner of that arm.

As if burned, she twisted to look up.

Under the bright moonlight was the beautiful man who had startled her countless times already.

—It was Geom Lee Shin.

The three syllables he had casually let slip earlier echoed in her mind.