Several realisations hit me with the force of a dimension-crossing truck.

  I was alive.

  Wen Yong was dead.

  Han Sung-hyuk had killed him with some kind of ghost summon, which meant he was probably a necromancer of some kind –

  Of course he is, that guy that acts like the fucking main character all the –

  Focus, Mik Tsaam.

  And I was not beating the witch allegations any time soon.

  So how the hell were we supposed to defeat this scenario?

  I turned off my brain and ran. The first thing to secure was my immediate safety. As bad as the situation was that Han Sung-hyuk had thrown me into, I wasn’t about to stand around yelling at him until I got shot or had my head hacked off.

  The stand of trees where he stood provided poor cover. The surrounding areas was flat and landscaped as far as the village, and then the plants between the houses were carefully planted in pots or in rows. As soon as I reached the trees, Han Sung-hyuk flicked his hand and a spectral horse burst into being, complete with saddle and harness. He hastily climbed onto it, slipping on the stirrups, and reached out for me.

  I grabbed his hand, and was yanked roughly over the tiny saddle. The saddle horn jabbed into my stomach as the horse bolted away, and the ground blurred before my eyes. If it weren’t for my Endurance stat, I’d be throwing up the remains of my last meal.

  I twisted my head to see where the horse was bolting, but everything was a whirl of brown and green and grey. Han Sung-hyuk’s hands gripped the back of my clothes tightly. I shut my eyes and clung to the horse and saddle.

  Five minutes later and the horse showed no signs of slowing. Was it because this was a ghost horse? I might have a high Endurance stat, but it didn’t stop things from being uncomfortable.

  “Han Sung-hyuk!” I yelled. “Can we stop now, please?”

  He didn’t respond, but I felt his hands tighten even more in my clothes. If he gripped any tighter, he might tear the fabric.

  “Han Sung-hyuk!”

  “Shut up, will you?” he snapped.

  I gripped the saddle more firmly, gritting my teeth. I wanted to scream at him to stop the horse, maybe punch him, but I didn’t dare to. What if he threw me off the horse? He seemed entirely capable of it.

  “Han… Sung-hyuk… Please stop the horse. I think I’m going to throw up.”

  The horse immediately halted.

  Both of us were flung forwards by the inertia. I lost my grip and hit the horse’s neck hard, the fell awkwardly sideways, hitting the ground as cloud of dust from the horse’s sudden stop puffed around me.

  Han Sung-hyuk sat up, rubbing his stomach where it had slammed into the saddle horn, and glared at me. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

  I wanted to scream back at him, but I instead I muttered, “My stomach was getting carved out by that damned saddle.”

  He crossed his arms and scoffed. “I just saved your life, and you complain about this?”

  “About that…” I tried to speak calmly. “That wasn’t the best course of action. How are we supposed to pass the scenario now? Re- Wen Yong – The magistrate is dead now. You –” I thrust my hands into my hair, grabbing it from the roots. “I already have accusations of witchcraft pointed at me. Then a ghost turns up and… You killed him. I mean I know he was going to kill me but…”

  Han Sung-hyuk stared at me as I rambled, a strange expression on his face. But his arms remained crossed as he stayed motionless in the saddle. The spectral horse pawed at the ground, snorting. I shook my hands out, took a deep breath and tried again.

  “Do you know what happens when we die in here? Or do you just…?”

  Not care?

  “What do you mean?”

  Was I imagining it, or did he sound uneasy? “You just killed a player, right? That ghost soldier, and this horse… You’re some kind of summoner-class, I guess? So your summon killed a player.”

  As I was speaking, something seemed to be unravelling behind Han Sung-hyuk’s eyes. He didn’t move, but some kind of emotion was playing out.

  I creased my brows at him. “You did know that was a player, right?”

  “Does it matter?” he muttered.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Are you saying that to me or to yourself?”

  “Yes, I’m an Undead Summoner. Now you know.”

  Of course you are. “The player you killed was Striking Red Crane. Check the Kill Feed if you don’t believe me.”

  He didn’t respond, choosing instead to stare off into the distance. I followed his gaze, but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, just stands of pine trees lining the road.

  “He was also the antagonist for this scenario,” I continued. “How do we pass it now? I’ve been accused of witchcraft, and then a ghoul turns up and kills the person who put me in prison, and I run away. They’ll absolutely think I’m a witch. How are we supposed to neatly tie this story up like fairy tale now?”

  A muscle twitched in his handsome face. “Not my problem.”

  Not your problem? Talking to him made me feel so stupid.

  He looked away. “I saved you, and they didn’t see me. You should be grateful. In any case, I’m not the one who’s in trouble.”

  That didn’t seem fair, somehow. We were stuck in this scenario together, so shouldn’t we help each other?

  Maybe he was right. It was everyone for themselves out here, so I should just be grateful that he had saved me.

  “I’ve helped you enough, don’t you think? Do you want me to hold your hand like you’re a baby?”

  Pathetic, said a familiar voice in my head.

  I curled my hands into fists, nails digging into my palms. Heat was creeping into my cheeks. I was a burden. It wouldn’t have been the first time. I bit my tongue and tried to ignore the feeling of inadequacy, to concentrate on what needed to be done.

  But what was I supposed to do? I hadn’t received any announcement that my tasks had been changed, or could be changed.

  Hadn’t I ‘maintained my faithfulness’? Why hadn’t I passed the scenario, then?

  Unless there was some other hidden requirement…

  “Then how are you going to pass this scenario?” I asked quietly. “It seems like the story has gone completely off the rails. Originally, y- the hero comes back and punishes Wen… the antagonist, and saves the heroine.”

  “Isn’t that what I did?”

  I shook my head, feeling my hands shaking. “The way you did it… wasn’t really very ‘fairy tale-like’, right? Like, think about it, imagine a tale where the hero hides behind a tree, kills the bad guy in a way that makes the heroine look like a witch, and then runs away? That kind of story usually ends with everyone dying, right? It feels like the elements of a tragedy!”

  That had to be it. M?rchen was a fairy tale game. The story so far had not reached the tidy ending of a fairy tale. If the antagonist had died in such an unsatisfactory way, without his misdeeds being exposed to the world, the obvious conclusion would be for the hero and heroine to be hunted down and tragically killed. People loved stories with star-crossed lovers.

  I thought I heard Han Sung-hyuk scoff again.

  “You… don’t agree?” My voice was very small.

  “I already saved you. You want me to do everything? It’s your turn to think.”

  “This isn’t about taking turns. We need to survive,” I reasoned. My heart was beating far too quickly, fluttering higher and higher in my chest. I stared fixedly at Han Sung-hyuk and –

  “What’s… with your clothing?”

  I had finally realised that he was not wearing traditional Korean clothes. Instead, he was clad in a well-fitted black outfit, complete with leather buckles around his legs and chest that… well, didn’t really seem to be doing anything except looking cool.

  “You haven’t seen items before?” he sneered.

  Oh. Of course. Duh. When I put on Camael’s Cloak, it was visible to other players, although apparently not to the NPCs. Han Sung-hyuk had somehow gotten hold of a full outfit.

  I hazarded to ask, “What does it do? Stat boosts?”

  Once again, he didn’t answer.

  I sighed, feeling stupid and tired. “Will you at least tell me what your tasks are?”

  Still no response.

  “Han Sung-hyuk?”

  He twitched. “What?”

  Something in his voice had me suddenly wondering. He was a handsome, aloof, arrogant man, but in the end, wasn’t he human?

  “Are… you okay?”

  “I’m thinking. What do you want?”

  Or maybe he was fine. “I said, what were your tasks?”

  “… Pass the official’s exam. Uncover the magistrate’s corruption.”

  “Have you… um… completed task one?”

  “There’s another six months before the exam is held, how could I have done it?” he snapped. “I get this message from some official saying you’re about to get executed and the magistrate is corrupt, so I ran over here as soon as I could.”

  “I’m sorry, I was just wondering… Did you… tell your father, I mean, the old magistrate? About what was happening?”

  He looked at me like I was stupid. “Now why would I need to do that?”

  I shrank back a little under that electric glare. “I… So he could investigate? He’s a senior official, isn’t he?”

  Han Sung-hyuk slid off the horse and clicked his fingers. The horse shook out its mane and vanished, wisps of smoke dissipating from the spot where it had stood.

  I expected him to say something more, but he stretched his neck to either side, yawned, and leaned against the nearest tree, a low pine.

  And then he closed his eyes.

  Did you just… go to sleep?

  I racked my brains. “The easiest thing to do right now would be to at least finish your first task. It’s unlikely that anyone in the administrative offices saw you clearly, so you should be able to get back to Hanyang and no-one would know.”

  He opened one eye, a neon spark. “So you can think.”

  I ignored his sarcasm. “I… suppose it’s unlikely if you’re a summoner, but do you have some kind of disguise skill? Maybe an item?”

  “No.”

  I guess I should just shut up now then. Maybe find a corner to die in.

  He stretched, levered himself off the tree, and considered me with those unnaturally blue eyes.

  “What?”

  “Are you coming with me?”

  What else could I do? The idea of running around the countryside alone, dodging soldiers who would probably execute me on the spot, didn’t sound appealing. Honestly, I felt relieved to hear him say it. It seemed he didn’t hate me as much as I thought. “That would be nice.”

  With a grunt, Han Sung-hyuk turned away from me and began sauntering away down the road.

  “Where… You’re not summoning the horse?”

  “He’s tired.”

  I squinted at his back as I followed. Do you just mean your summon skill is on cooldown? Why do you have to say it like that?

  Suddenly, a thought occurred to me. What if I was considered to have not ‘maintained my faithfulness’ because I had dropped the umbrella?

  If that was the case, how was I supposed to find it? I could no longer remember which paddy I had fallen in. Would the game even tell me if one of my tasks was no longer achievable? Would I just automatically fail the scenario?

  I felt light-headed. My steps faltered. I thought about going back and combing the paddies.

  How long would that take?

  What else can I do?

  “Encyclopaedia.”

  The book appeared in my hands, the cool leather cover warm under my fingers. I hadn’t realised how cold they were.

  [You only have one rope left, Maria. Hold onto it tight. Let’s hope it’s not rotten.]