VBC 17🔥

Chapter 17

For the first time, Soha realized that the world was filled with so many foods and such a variety of flavors.

The ingredients she had grown up with in the land of the Vermilion Bird all carried overwhelming flavors—sweet, sour, and salty enough to numb the tongue.

“I’m full now.”

Soha patted her stomach as she spoke.

On her back was a bundle wrapped in cloth, given to her by merchants who had noticed her inconvenient hands. Thanks to them, her hands were free, and she could enjoy various foods with ease.

“Me too. I can’t eat another bite.”

“But what about dinner when we get back?”

“We’ll just say we’re too full to eat.”

She had never once thought of refusing food offered with sincerity. Soha resolved instead to walk around more, to help digest everything she’d eaten.

As she looked around, taking a deep breath, something glittering caught her eye.

Laid out on a street stall were ornaments—gold and silver shining brightly. But what caught her gaze most strongly was the jade.

Tiny carvings of animals and flowers hung from red strings.

“What are these used for?”

Perhaps it was the vivid red string that piqued her curiosity, but Soha asked the stall owner about their purpose.

“These are bracelets, young lady.”

“Bracelets… so that’s what the string is for.”

She nodded. The loose knot must be meant to tighten around the wrist once pulled.

The delicacy of the carvings amazed her.

While Soha admired the jade ornaments, Iwhan silently watched her.

He found her sparkling eyes fascinating. She usually seemed uninterested in the world, and yet—pretty things did appeal to her.

Of course they would. She looked good in fine clothes; jade would suit her even more.

To Iwhan, her interest in jade felt perfectly natural. After all, things of the same kind naturally attract.

His deliberation did not last long.

“What’s the prettiest one?”

“Hmm.”

Thrown off by his sudden question, Soha found herself actually thinking about it.

Had he asked what she wanted, she would have immediately shaken her head. But she mistook his question as a simple test of taste.

“What flower is this?”

Soha craned her neck to look at a flower-shaped jade piece.

“It’s a lotus. A fully bloomed lotus.”

“Ah.”

“I see.”

Iwhan’s eyes sharpened.

Though he wasn’t greedy for luxuries, he had absolute confidence in his ability to discern the finest things. He had grown up surrounded only by the highest quality, after all.

He wanted to pick the finest jade and show his best side. Soha tended to treat him like a child; moments like this were his chance to appear reliable.

“This one. I’ll take this one.”

“Oh my, Master Iwhan, are you buying it as a gift?”

The merchant beamed. Iwhan nodded confidently.

“You’ve chosen a cute one.”

The stall owner glanced at Soha’s reaction. Iwhan also turned to look at her.

“Young lady, would you show me your wrist?”

“Ah…”

Before she could react, Iwhan had smoothly taken her hand, wrapping the red string around her wrist.

“The turtle symbolizes longevity and peace.”

The jade carving he chose was of a turtle. As the merchant said, it looked rather cute.

“A phoenix is old-fashioned, and a lotus has no strong taste!”

Soha couldn’t help but laugh at his odd criteria for beauty.

“Seems the young lady likes it too?”

The knot was tied, and the turtle dangled delicately from her slender wrist.

“Longevity… peace…”

Soha remembered wishing, in this life, to live long. Perhaps this was the perfect charm for her new beginning.

“Do you like it?”

She nodded.

The surrounding merchants couldn’t help but smile warmly. The two children looked like they were play-acting at a marriage game—sweet and endearing.

“Thank you.”

For some reason, Soha really did like the turtle. She wanted to keep looking at it, quietly, endlessly.

That night, having completed her errand safely, Soha found it hard to sleep. The lively market still echoed in her mind.

There had been children there too. One who ate fish with her had declared he would inherit the family fish stall when he grew up.

Iwhan had joked then that he would give Hwachungung the finest meat in the future. That image lingered vividly in her mind.

How natural it seemed for the people of Jeoksongyeon to imagine happy futures.

As Soha strolled idly through Unjoru, she found herself at its entrance. What once felt like a boundary she dared not cross no longer weighed on her.

“I feel ghost energy.”

It was the other reason she couldn’t sleep. A familiar aura drifted in the air, prickling her nerves.

The once warm air of Hwachungung now felt chilling. Soha gripped her sleeves tightly.

“You’re fearless, aren’t you.”

Yawning, Dochul appeared at her side as she stepped beyond Unjoru’s gate.

“It’s near the stables.”

He wagged his tail as he sensed the same aura. His small frame stood boldly ahead.

“This isn’t your place to interfere.”

Glancing at her, he warned against rushing forward.

Soha paused in thought.

He wasn’t wrong. There were plenty of retainers and the clan head himself, all far stronger than her. For her to step forward was laughable.

“But there’s no reason to ignore it either.”

In her past life, she might have agreed with Dochul. But now, things were different.

Ever since seeing the warmth of Hwachungung and the people of Jeoksongyeon, she had changed.

Why shouldn’t she follow her heart?

She knew ghosts better than anyone. If one hesitated and delayed, they would vanish without a trace.

“Humans, really…”

Dochul clicked his tongue and strode off first. His small body marched confidently toward the stables, and Soha hurried after him with her short steps.

On the way, Soha spotted freshly sprouted ghost-flowers. It confirmed her suspicion: the being that had made such flowers bloom in Hwachungung was here.

At the dark entrance of the stables, a cold wind brushed her skin.

She gripped the handle of the Hyupundo blade hidden in her sleeve. Though it belonged to the Vermilion Bird clan, she had been entrusted with it, as it bolstered her strength.

“Are you planning to fight a ghost with that?”

Dochul’s eyes glimmered with faint curiosity at her action.

“It’s just for caution, not combat.”

Her firm tone deepened his gaze.

Perhaps it wasn’t a bad time to test this girl. Maybe it hadn’t been mere coincidence in the land of eternal night, when she had reduced him to this form.

Her eyes searching for the ghost held no hesitation—unyielding, relentless.

Any ordinary human would be terrified. Was it courage, recklessness, or… something else?

Squeeeal!

Suddenly, a pig screamed from deep within the stable. The air froze in an instant.

The two of them rushed toward the sound, their small feet pounding against the dirt.

In the far corner of a pen, a pig lay dead. Beside it loomed a black form, tinged with eerie blue light.

The ghost creaked as it turned its head toward them. Its face dripped like melted wax, grotesque and horrifying.

Soha had faced many terrors before, yet the suffocating air and twisted visage sent chills crawling over her skin.

Even for her—so used to such sights—it was the kind of thing one could never truly get used to.