THWCS 14

Chapter 14.

Feeling Yeongwon’s gaze on him, I-shin glanced at her, then released the hand he had wrapped around her slender waist and looked forward again.

“Huh? What’s this? More people? Then me too!”

Still dazed from the unexpected appearance of the man, Yeongwon turned toward the child’s excited voice.

At some point, between the dozens of stone cairns, children of similar height began appearing one by one as if out of thin air.

And every one of them was wearing the exact same smile—like metal cast from the same mold.

The grotesque sight made a chill crawl up Yeongwon’s spine.

“Kekeke! I’ll tell you the rules! This is a stone-throwing game. If you lose, you die!”

The children positioned all around them each picked up a stone from the nearest cairn and seemed ready to throw them wildly at her and I-shin.

It looked impossible to dodge the stones that would come flying no matter where they tried to escape.

Every direction she looked—front, back, left, right—she saw children.

Yeongwon, face tense, glanced up at I-shin standing beside her and blinked in confusion.

His expression was unbelievably relaxed.

If anything, he looked slightly annoyed.

Just what kind of nerve is that?

Does he not see the stones ready to fly at them?

Just as the anxious Yeongwon was about to speak to him—

I-shin’s left hand, which had been hanging loosely at his side, suddenly moved.

Yeongwon’s eyebrows rose.

What he held was a black hwandō (curved saber) about two cheok long.

I-shin gave the sheathed sword a small shake.

The black tassel tied around the hilt swayed.

A clear, faint chime rang outward—and then something unbelievable happened.

People suddenly appeared. Whether they had fallen from the sky or risen from the earth, she could not tell; they simply appeared before her.

They stood protectively between the children and the two of them, as if shielding them. Yet Yeongwon felt an unexplainable wrongness.

Familiar—yet not.

With a faint frown, Yeongwon soon realized why.

The newcomers gave off no sign of life.

Bluish faces, an eerie stillness heavy enough to suffocate, and cold, frightening eyes.

“These people…”

They’re ghosts!

Yeongwon stared at I-shin.

She remembered the horde of ghosts from the fog when they first met.

“Heeeh, that’s mean~! So mean! Adults are so bad! You won’t even let us play properly!”

“You heard him. He wants to play.”

At the child’s angry shout, I-shin spoke toward the ghosts.

As if that were the signal, the stones in the children’s hands were hurled violently in every direction.

Sightless stones came flying toward Yeongwon and I-shin as well.

A few small stones struck her back, waist, and shins. Feeling the sting, Yeongwon grabbed the sleeve of I-shin’s black martial robes, thinking they had to escape this place first.

There was no time to think about what kind of monstrous situation this even was.

But Yeongwon couldn’t take even two steps.

I-shin didn’t budge at all despite her pulling.

“We have to run! Over there—!”

I-shin turned his gaze to her and then at the sleeve she was holding.

During that moment, a fairly large stone struck her shoulder blade. She swallowed the scream that nearly escaped.

“Master, this is no time to just— kyaah!”

Her growing desperation made her tug his sleeve harder—

And suddenly her vision spun. Then she saw a broad, solid-looking back and a violet-colored belt.

Her stomach was pressed against a sturdy shoulder blade, and her knees were pinned by strong arms.

I-shin had slung her over his shoulder like a sack.

“W-what are you doing?! Put me—!”

Yeongwon struggled, flustered by treatment she had never experienced even when she lived as a beggar.

But she had no choice but to stop struggling soon after.

A sensation of floating overtook her—and then she really did soar upward.

No—more accurately, it was I-shin who soared.

Clinging to his shoulder, Yeongwon stared down at the ground rushing past beneath them and froze in shock.

Afraid she might fall even for a moment, she desperately clutched any part of his black robe her hands could reach.

The noise of the chaotic stone-throwing game quickly faded behind them.

As the blood rushed to her head, dizziness overwhelmed her, and she squeezed her eyes shut.

Then suddenly she felt her body drop downward, and she gasped, eyes flying open.

Lifting her head, she saw the dirt ground—and the long legs standing firmly on it.

“Let go of my clothes.”

A cold voice reached Yeongwon’s half-dazed ears.

Clothes?

Yeongwon, still frozen and unable to grasp his meaning, stayed still.

Then the pressure holding her calves loosened—and she fell straight to the ground.

“Ugh…!”

Landing hard on her backside, the pain shot through her so sharply she couldn’t even scream.

“Hey.”

The casual voice right in front of her made Yeongwon lift her head.

I-shin’s profile was an arm’s length away.

And he was sitting with his body slightly turned, looking at her with an irritated gaze.

“My clothes. I said my clothes.”

At the repeated words, Yeongwon’s gaze moved to his garment.

Then she understood what he meant.

Her hands were gripping the hem of his lower back like a lifeline.

Flushed with embarrassment—mortified that she had grabbed a grown man’s body so carelessly—Yeongwon hurried to let go.

But she had been so terrified and desperate that her fingers had stiffened; they didn’t release easily.

“What are you doing?”

I-shin frowned as she fumbled in panic.

“My hands… they’re stiff. Just a moment—ah, okay. I’ll let go. I’ll let go.”

Perhaps her distress reached her fingertips, because—

As soon as her right hand loosened, she quickly pulled her left hand free as well.

While she absentmindedly massaged her stiff knuckles, I-shin brushed off his clothes and stood.

Yeongwon raised her head to look at him.

But he didn’t even spare her a glance; he simply turned away as if ready to leave.

Yeongwon hurriedly scrambled to her feet and followed him.

Glancing around quickly, she realized they had returned to the guest courtyard where she was staying.

“L-Lord! Master!”

Relieved that she hadn’t been abandoned somewhere strange, Yeongwon called after him.

But I-shin did not look back.

Remembering how displeased he had always seemed with her, Yeongwon found herself moving without thinking, stepping in front of him to block his path.

“What now?”

“Thank you.”

Pressing down the storm of questions swirling in her mind, Yeongwon decided to express gratitude first.

There’s an order to everything.

“I almost died. Thank you for saving me.”

“You do realize you almost died?”

Before she could straighten her back, his words dropped on her like a weight.

“If you want to stay alive in Jejado, don’t wander around at night. Even if someone offers you sweet candy, don’t follow them thoughtlessly and cause a nuisance. Just stay quiet, breathe, and leave.”

The sharp words, spoken without the slightest courtesy, drenched Yeongwon like a bucket of cold water.

Even the gratitude she’d held for him began to shrink.

Feeling like she’d been slapped, Yeongwon looked up at I-shin.

But he had nothing more he wanted to say; he tried to move past her as if dismissing her entirely.

Stunned, Yeongwon clenched her fists.

Just stay quiet, breathe, and leave?

The hardships she endured from leaving Hanseong all the way to Jejado choked her throat.

And that wasn’t all.

She had been blindsided by a sudden engagement, feared her original plans would fall apart, and then learned that the man she mistook for a death god was actually the head of the Geom (黔) clan.

On top of that, his cold, hostile attitude toward her—

The frustration and unfairness that had been piling up finally boiled over, rousing her bull-headed stubbornness.

“I don’t intend to.”

Yeongwon blocked his path once again.