THWCS 15

Chapter 15 .

“I have not the slightest intention of staying here quietly, breathing softly until I can leave. If that were my plan, I never would have come in the first place.”

The gentle, soft look in her eyes sharpened upward, bristling with irritation.

“You’re telling me that if I want to survive on Jejado, I shouldn’t wander around carelessly, shouldn’t follow anyone just because they offer me sweets? That I should avoid troublesome things? Then shouldn’t you at least tell me what I’m dealing with?”

Ishin looked down at Youngwon—who had all her fur standing on end—with an expression that found her almost amusing.

“Tell me what that child was, exactly, and what I need to watch out for. Only then can I know where to sit, where to lie down, and what to avoid.”

Youngwon straightened her back and lifted her chin, staring firmly at Ishin, who still showed no reaction to her anger.

“If you had the sense to choose where to sit, lie, and avoid, you wouldn’t have come to Jejado in the first place. If you had ears at all, you would have heard the countless rumors about this island circulating through the land.”

“You don’t even consider that I might not be in a position to choose my place?”

“Then stay here. If you don’t mind dying someday without anyone ever knowing.”

Youngwon clenched her teeth.

Though he spoke with a slight curl of the red lips—as if half laughing, half not—Ishin’s eyes held a cold indifference that chilled her to the bone.

It was far colder than someone who had just saved her life should be.

The icy air coming from him made her shrink slightly, but she stubbornly refused to back down.

“No. I have to live. I want to live.”

“Then leave.”

“No. I can’t leave.”

“Then you’ll die.”

“I’ll live. That’s why you need to tell me what I must be careful of if I’m to stay here.”

“Why should I?”

“You’re my fiancé, are you not?”

“Ha Youngwon.”

Their circling conversation went around like a waterwheel until Ishin finally called her name, heavy and firm.

Though she had been overheated with anger, hearing her name from his mouth sent a shiver through her ears.

“Say that again. Who is whose fiancé? Are you planning to stay here and hold a wedding with me?”

He stepped toward her, lowering his voice in a chilling manner.

Youngwon fought the urge to step back and instead looked up at him as he grew closer.

The long, narrow tail of his eyes made him look bewitching even when he wasn’t smiling.

But Youngwon knew it was only appearance.

There was not a hint of warmth in Ishin’s smile.

Because of that, his words and actions were all the more threatening.

“…What was that child earlier? What is the Geom (黔) family?”

Youngwon chose, this time, not to provoke him further, but to retreat half a step.

“If I tell you, can you handle it?”

“Handle it? There is nothing left in this world that I cannot handle.”

For a brief moment, scenes of her family’s fall, the deaths of her parents, and everything else she had endured flashed through her mind like a lantern-slide.

Just recalling them tightened her chest, and sorrow surged like a rising tide, numbing her heart.

Her eyes reddened instantly, but she forced down her emotion as she replied. Ishin narrowed his eyes.

At that moment—

“Ishin, it’s done. We need to go.”

A sudden voice made both Youngwon and Ishin turn.

There stood a scholar in a white robe and a curved gat on his head.

Like the other ghosts, his face lacked any sign of life, yet his features were refined enough not to fall short even when compared to Ishin’s.

When he met her eyes, he gave a neat nod and a small smile; Youngwon found herself returning the gesture unconsciously.

During that moment, Ishin turned away from her.

Before she had time to say a word, he lightly kicked off the ground, stepped on the wall, and vanished.

Like the wind.

Had he moved this fast when he had slung her over his shoulder?

Youngwon had seen many martial artists who guarded the Ha (河) household, but none moved like Ishin.

How can a person move like that?

As she stared blankly at the black shadow shooting away, a voice broke the silence.

“Oduksini.”

Youngwon turned toward the sound. The scholar in white was looking at her.

“Were… were you speaking to me?”

“Didn’t you argue with Ishin just now to hear what that child was?”

“I… I can… talk to you…?”

Youngwon was stunned that the being she had assumed to be a ghost spoke to her no differently than a living person.

The scholar smiled neatly at her and snapped open the fan in his hand.

And in the blink of an eye, he vanished.

Did I just… talk to a ghost?

Youngwon shivered as her body hair rose.

But, thinking again, none of them had harmed her.

A line from a book she once read flickered in her memory—a ghost is merely the lingering soul of the dead.

“Oduk… sini…?”

She murmured the word the scholar had mentioned, recalling where she had seen it.

It was in Eou-ya-dam, a collection of tales about strange creatures.

In that book, an Oduksini was described as a meager yokai made of darkness itself, disappearing if not given attention.

But if the child she saw tonight truly was an Oduksini, why was it so different from what was written?

—I’ll tell you the rules! This is Seokjeon-nori! If you lose, you die!

The child had laughed brightly, as if inviting her into a simple game.

But the way he threw a stone the size of his head at her made it seem like he would have laughed even if she had died.

If not for Ishin, she would have died long before now.

His manner was rough, but every warning he had given—don’t roam at night, don’t follow others thoughtlessly—had been for her sake.

After standing blankly for a long moment, Youngwon quietly returned to the inner quarters.

She sat on her bedding, replaying the events of the night over and over until dawn began to lighten the sky.

Oduksini, Ishin’s presence, the ghosts that appeared when the bell attached to the sword rang…

If her guess was right, Ishin had the ability to control ghosts.

Ghosts.

Youngwon pursed her lips.

The horrific final moments of her parents and the members of the Ha household were burned into her heart like a brand, tormenting her constantly.

If she too possessed the mysterious ability to command ghosts…

Then uncovering the truth behind the Ha family’s downfall—and taking revenge—would be far easier.

If only I had such power.

If only I could obtain it.

Youngwon tightened her hands on her knees.

How much time had passed?

“Good heavens! My lady! You didn’t sleep?”

Sorae entered, opening the door to the inner quarters, and shrieked when she saw Youngwon sitting stiffly on the bed.

“Sorae, do you… believe in monsters and spirits?”

“Monsters and spirits? What are you— Heavens!”

Answering her while stepping closer, Sorae suddenly let out a sharp scream.

She rushed forward, fussing as she inspected Youngwon from head to toe.

“What happened to your clothes? Look at this dirt! Where did all this come from? And your hair is a mess—oh goodness! There’s dirt on your face too!”

Only then did Youngwon look down at herself.

Her white quilted clothes were smudged with dirt in several places, and her palms were dusty as well.

She didn’t need to see her hair or face to know how disastrous they must look.

“What happened during the night?”

“That… I’ll tell you later. Let’s wash first.”

With Sorae’s help, Youngwon cleaned her hands and face.

Then, as she changed into a spare set of clothes provided by the Geom family, her hands froze over the pocket of her undergarment.

The parchment marking Jejado’s location was gone.

“My lady, what’s wrong?”

“The parchment is gone.”

“…But we’ve already arrived. Isn’t it fine?”

Sorae looked puzzled, but Youngwon’s brows drooped.

“Father left me only that parchment and his jade pendant.”

Sorae of course understood the meaning.

The downfall of their family had occurred suddenly; the only keepsakes Youngwon had from her parents were that parchment and the jade token.

Regardless of usefulness, they were precious mementos.

“Do you remember where you might have lost it?”

She had definitely had it before following the child Oduksini the previous night.

So it must have been after that.

Youngwon turned her gaze toward the window.

Unlike the pitch-black night, the sky was now clear.