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All throughout the Three Kingdoms, the dead rise, blinking underneath the morning sun, stretching as if waking from a deep slumber. Soldiers embrace each other, crying out in triumph as villages are repopulated, families reborn. And the Wyusan Wilderness slowly, steadily, becomes home once more to the Gumiho, released from wrongful death by a new goddess with justice and hope in her heart. In the burrow where Song Iseul last saw her parents, two sleek white, nine-tailed foxes appear, hearts pounding eagerly as they look around for their daughter.

Yet some remain within the underworld, those who hurt and killed, those who abused, those who died naturally. Gwan Doyun, although he travels before the death goddess’ throne and begs for life, is turned coldly away, even as Gwan Yoonji ascends once more to the world above. The new Goddess of Death wipes away a small, sparkling tear, holding the memory of Yoonji’s frightened, yet hesitantly forgiving, smile deep in her heart.

The same goddess silently laughs in Wang Jiwoon’s face as the Dokkaebi makes his plea. Wisely, the Blackbloods do not even bother arguing their case to Jeoseung’s ruler, bitterly seething as the new death goddess lounges on her throne, her Dokkaebi emperor by her side.

The years begin to pass. Slowly, at first, then all at once.

A healer and a Gumiho wed in the Wyusan Wilderness, underneath an autumn sky, surrounded by ones they thought lost forever. The hidden realm of many moons begins to collapse, and Dokkaebi settle in the palace behind the crumbled Beast Wall, a wise once-advisor adamantly refusing to take the throne, instead opting to give it to the people—establishing a new system of rule. The white-haired Supreme Commander lives alone in the forest with regret and grief, even as he is revered as a war hero. His lover slips away from him in the dead of night and does not return, unnerved by the madness lingering in his eyes, the way he clings to her far too tightly, hinging his very existence upon hers, frightful that even the slightest adventure may kill her. She travels instead to Bonseyo, where the new emperor—a black-feathered boy with a heart that longs for love—takes her hand and marvels at how sweet her smile is, how her love feels like life itself.

The blond-haired twins both find joy, the pure, sparkling sort that only comes once in a lifetime. Chara is swept away by an adventurer, riding the seas with her mischievous lover, and Chryse spends her days in a small Bonseyo orchard picking apples and other sweet fruits with a local baker with flour-dusted hands and a smile as wide as the world itself. In Sunpo, the leader of the Talons reclaims his throne, and underneath Yoonho’s just rule, the decrepit cesspool slowly becomes a kingdom once more.

Tousle-haired Ryu Seokjun keeps true to his word, protecting a goddess’ sister from the shadows as she lives with her parents in a cozy Wyusan cottage. He holds his promise close to his chest, where a packet of cigarettes used to be. Sometimes, when he closes his eyes, he sees her: the girl he smoked with on the rooftops, the girl who gave him this second chance.

And, as the years wax by, Shin Eunbi begins to grow up.