Page 51

Kang

Rui is gone, disappearing like a feather on the wind. That is what Kang attempts to explain to Dalnim and Haemosu, but it is somewhat difficult to explain when he is muzzled like a dog.

Scowling, the sun god strides over to Kang from across the throne room and reaches behind Kang’s head to break the muzzle. The metal pieces fall to the floor, and Kang slowly rubs his jaw, meeting Haemosu’s furious gaze.

“Where is your emperor?” he demands. “Where has he gone?”

“I cannot find him,” Kang explains as calmly as he is capable of, clutching his staff tightly. “Wherever he is, he isn’t in this palace.” Has his emperor run? Kang would not put it past Rui. “Your missive was too clear in its purpose,” Kang adds quietly, looking to Dalnim, who is rubbing her temples in frustration. “He knew what you planned to do. With all due respect, it’s as he has told you before: Rui refuses to kill Shin Lina. He will not put her in danger. I could have told you he would not willingly sacrifice himself.”

“Damnation,” curses Haemosu, beginning to pace. “Any idea of where he’s gone?”

“No,” Kang admits, a bitter taste on his tongue. “Only that he will likely have positioned himself where you cannot reach him.”

The sun god bares his teeth…

It is at that moment that a corridor of shadow emerges in the throne room, and a panicked foot soldier tumbles out, eyes wide with fear. Kang recognizes her as one of the remaining Dokkaebi stationed in Sanyeongto to retrieve victims.

He does not recognize the creature that tumbles out with her. A…winged boy, who looks exceptionally pleased with himself as he shoots past the gods and Dokkaebi toward the doors in a burst of speed and disappears, leaving the doors swinging.

“Right,” Haemosu says after a long silence. “What the fuck ?”

Dalnim is staring at the soldier. “Explain yourself,” she demands, silver eyes blazing.

“I had no choice,” pants the female Dokkaebi. “He grabbed me, took me up into the sky, and then h-he dropped me…I opened my portal, and h-he followed me here, grabbed me…”

Kang’s eyes widen, and he exchanges alarmed glances with the gods.

But by then, it is too late.