Chapter 4
“Hey! Soha, is that you?”
A small slip of dirt gave them away. The merchant heard it.
“Run,” Ihwan said at once.
He grabbed Soha’s wrist and took off. She was almost dragged along as they sprinted.
“Where do you think you’re going? Do you know how much you’re worth!” the merchant shouted, now sure it was Soha and chasing hard.
Reckless, Soha thought.
If she were alone, she would have hidden behind the rock and prayed he passed by. But Ihwan was different.
Watching the back of this boy who ran boldly—so different from when he was looking for his family—Soha thought he was a strange one.
“I’m good at running away, you know. You saw that yourself,” he said.
“Do you really have the breath to joke right now?”
They ducked under low branches and slipped through narrow paths only small bodies could use. The merchant had long legs but struggled to follow.
“Stop right there!”
He hacked at the brush with a knife and kept coming. Soha glanced back to track him and watched the path Ihwan chose.
He was actually good at escaping—he picked routes that favored someone small like him.
But after a while, they skidded to a stop at the edge of a huge ravine.
Blocked.
They couldn’t go forward. Both of them hesitated.
“Looks like the rats have nowhere left to run,” the merchant sneered, having forced his way through.
Soha looked at the knife in his hand, then gently removed Ihwan’s grip from her wrist.
Ihwan tried to grab her again, panicking, but she shook her head.
“This boy has nothing to do with me. I won’t drag him into my trouble,” she told the merchant.
He snorted. “You think I care about that brat?”
“I promised to send him back to his family.”
“What nonsense is that?”
“I’ll go quietly. Just take him to his people first.”
If she couldn’t avoid it, she needed to buy time for another chance. First, settle this.
Ihwan eyed the merchant warily. “Who are you to take her?”
“I’m just a hired hand.”
“You want money? I’ll pay you, so stop doing something so—”
A cold wind shot through the ravine and swept past their backs. At the same moment, Soha pulled Ihwan down, pressing him flat to the ground.
“W-what is it—Aaaah!”
The merchant screamed. Soha lifted her gaze and scanned the area.
A low, wet laugh echoed—familiar and awful. Her ears rang. Her head throbbed.
“W-what is that?” Ihwan raised his head, confused after being forced down.
“A gh—ghost!”
The same evil spirit that had chased Ihwan was back: hair flaring like a lion’s mane, body covered in fur, walking on two legs yet not human at all. Nine feet tall, with empty black eye sockets. Its killing intent was clear.
“Damn!” The merchant, terrified, turned and ran for his life. Money meant nothing if he died.
The ghost didn’t follow him. It turned its head and trudged toward Soha and Ihwan.
Does it have a physical body? Soha watched closely. The dirt and grass under its feet didn’t move—so it still wasn’t solid.
“D-don’t come any closer!” Ihwan cried, scooting back on the ground.
The ghost ignored him—and suddenly sprinted.
For such a huge body, it moved like a hummingbird. In a blink it thrust its face right up to Soha’s.
Its neck stretched long like a giraffe.
You… the hollow voice rasped.
Ihwan froze. Soha stared straight into its face. She was used to threats like this.
You…! Its mouth stretched up toward the cheeks, showing long fangs.
“Run!” Ihwan shouted.
Soha didn’t move. If she provoked it now, it might be worse. Without a real body, it couldn’t truly harm the living—yet.
Another chilling laugh. It felt like it was mocking her thoughts.
Though its eye sockets were empty, Soha could feel its gaze.
The ghost raised a huge clawed hand—bigger than Soha’s face—and pointed one finger upward.
Soha followed the finger to the sky.
The moon…
The fog and clouds over the Polar Night were parting.
Soha immediately pulled the spirit dagger—the tool she’d made Ihwan carry—out of her robe.
Shing.
She slashed the ghost’s arm without hesitation.
A shriek, more beast than human, ripped out of it.
“W-what?” Ihwan gasped.
“Run,” Soha said.
The word he’d kept saying to her—now it came from her mouth. But even as she told him to flee, she set her stance and stood her ground.
“What about you?”
“That thing will soon drink in the moonlight and gain a real body. Then we’ll both die.”
“You want me to leave you here alone?”
“I have this. You’ll die if you don’t run.”
Her words were short now—no time for politeness.
“You’ll slow me down. Go.”
Her voice was cold enough to make him flinch. For a ten-year-old boy, this was too cruel a moment.
“I’m the Phoenix heir—how could I be a burden!”
He felt that if he turned his back now, he would never see this girl again.
“You are being a burden,” she said flatly, eyes locked on the ghost.
“How can I leave you alone with that eye-socket monster!” he yelled.
The ghost, stumbling with one arm missing, lifted its head and lunged at Soha.
“Go!” she shouted.
Had she ever yelled so hard before?
Footsteps pounded away behind her. She felt a flicker of relief. At least he wouldn’t stay to watch the worst.
A delicious smell, the cracked voice whispered by her ear, as if it would swallow small Soha in one bite.
She tightened her grip on the dagger.
In this body, I can’t win.
With short arms and a tiny blade, one hit would fling her aside and kill her. If this was the last chance—
I have to use the spirit tool’s power.
Using it carelessly was dangerous. She didn’t know its limits. There was no promise it wouldn’t hurt the user.
But… there was no other choice.
Better to die by a ghost than be dragged back to the Black Tortoise clan. Better to risk the tool than be torn apart.
Fox! the ghost howled.
Moonlight fell. Its shape grew clearer, changing from a human-like form to a huge four-legged beast.
With heavy thuds it charged. Soha thrust the dagger forward and poured power into it with a motion she knew too well.
The blade trembled and glowed blue.
A twisted cry—half laugh, half wail—burst from the ghost as it closed around her like it would swallow her whole.
“Ugh!”
Soha waited until it was close enough—then struck, driving the dagger into its heart.
The monster froze mid-lunge.
Cre-e-eak. Grind.
Broken, wrong sounds came from within it—like a machine stuck.
Soha wasn’t physically hurt. But a new problem hit at once.
Cold.
A freezing chill ran from her fingertips through her veins.
Her breath turned white.
Pale mist lifted from her skin. Frost formed across her arms. Her already fair skin turned bluish with ice.
So… again…
Was she going to die a cold death again? Why had time turned back, only to lead her to the same ending?
A tiny shard of ice slipped from her eyelashes.
She felt death coming. She lowered her lids so they wouldn’t freeze open.
I’m dying.
Somewhere far away, someone shouted, “Soha!”
Who knew her name? She thought it was a hallucination.
Her mind sank.
And then—strangely—warmth spread across the back of her hand.
