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If she hadn’t taken her fox form, the impact of his dark spell would have torn her into a thousand pieces. But her gumiho was strong . . . and fast. Even as blood poured from the deep gashes in her side, she ran faster than she ever had—a mere blur to the startled villagers’ eyes—and disappeared into the deep, dark woods.
Even at nighttime, summer in Las Vegas is brutal.
I feel this as a California native…
But both have been instrumental in keeping me hidden—and alive—for over a century.
And you picked… Vegas?
With my magic under lockdown, my life force becomes a colorless trickle until even magical beings can’t differentiate between me and the humans.
Contrary to popular belief, goblins look no different from humans on the outside. It’s the magic they carry inside, such as their affinity for gold and silver, that differentiates them.
I’ve seen more dokkaebis and their Western counterparts in Las Vegas casinos than anywhere else in the country, with Wall Street being a close second.
Makes sense
Never expose the world of gods. Protect the magic. Keep the Amheuk, an ancient force of darkness, at bay.
They think they’re better than the rest of us just because they’re blessed by the gods with near immortality.
As long as your gi originates from the sources created by the Cheon’gwang—Mountains, Sky, Water, or Underworld—you can join the Suhoshin’s ranks, if you’re powerful and talented enough.
In reality, I actually look eighteen because that’s when I stopped aging—the same time I left Korea.
Everyone who knew Mihwa died over a century ago. I killed . . . everyone, including Daeseong.
The world of gods lies like gossamer over the human world—a shimmer in the corner of their eyes.
Fox spirits were once revered as deities in Korea, but that’s ancient history. Nowadays, most Koreans believe in the myth that gumihos are treacherous demons who turn into beautiful women to manipulate and control men to do their bidding.
She was human but not anymore.
The red assassin didn’t leave a single drop of blood.
My mother told me to never ever touch it, much less pick it, because it was one of the deadliest poisons in all the worlds. Doksacho also happens to be the Jaenanpa’s poison of choice.
The red assassin was a corpse raised from the dead by dark magic. Only those in the upper echelons of the Jaenanpa are powerful enough to wield such magic.
Realization dawns on me as I answer. If the Jaenanpa wanted me dead, the assassin would have stabbed my heart, not my shoulder.
No one in the worlds would forgive him for using the talisman. But none of that mattered, because he would become the most powerful being in all the realms.
Koreans don’t like the number four because it’s pronounced “sa”—the same pronunciation as the word for death.
In Korea, humans offer food and liquor to their dead ancestors in an elaborate memorial ceremony called jesa.
Daeseong’s followers had synchronized the blood sacrifice down to the second and performed it at the exact same moment. Five thousand humans, including the newborn, took their final breath as one.”
Oh my god…
“He wanted you. Not your mother,” the Seonangshin cuts me off, growing impatient. “He still seeks a power within you—a gift of the Cheon’gwang.”
“My passive powers aren’t detectable. It’s only when I actively use magic that it leaves a mark. But using my spirit eyes definitely counts as active magic.”
“Five thousand of Daeseong’s followers committed mass suicide to bring him back from the dead. They . . . they even killed a newborn baby.”
“You’re not doing this. You’re not going to blame yourself for any of this,”
A suhoshin is after us.
“You will be his mother. He will know nothing. Not until it is time.”
He is freakishly fast for a human. But he won’t be able to last long in a dead run.
Are we gonna find out he's not fully human??
Not from the near face-plant but from the violence that thundered through me. This is why I must never awaken my fox spirit . . . my inner monster.
In the moonlight, he is even more arrestingly beautiful. He is a seonnam, an angelic being of Sky.
The gi stemming from the four life sources each exude a different light—silver for Sky, green for Mountains, blue for Water, and red for Underworld.
They have the power to restrain their suspects with unbreakable binding.
I gasp, wondering how the hell he broke free from the binding. The suhoshin stumbles back half a step before he catches himself. Something like wonder and fear flits across his face.
I'm still thinking he isn't fully human...
Moon shifting is a form of high magic used to travel from one location to another by moving through the abyss.
“Because we need a ride from the most skeptical human being in the worlds.” I’m feeling generous, so I clarify. “Ford.” “The bartender?” Ethan’s eyes widen.
Stop I love Ford already
Feeling surprisingly uncranky, I grab his hand—I don’t want to risk losing him—and pick up my pace.
Lieeeesssssss
My toes try to curl at the warm, rumbling sound but . . . hells no.
She's down BAAAD
Humans in Korea use salt to ward off bad fortune by pelting it at people who come home from a funeral. In reality, salt merely masks magic traces when you’re in a pinch. Like deodorant for stinky magic.
She isn’t Korean, but the Suhoshin are famous the worlds over. She’ll cooperate with them, more likely than not.
Ford’s niece was abducted a couple of years ago. I hunted down the bastard who took her and got her back before the police finished their coffee and donuts.
Technology, like skepticism, is the antithesis of magic. The vacuum will help disperse my magic better than a towel.
Then he flashes us a smirk that begs to be punched off his face. “So she’ll pay twenty-two thousand dollars? In birthday money?”
“Airplanes eat magic traces for breakfast.”
“To a certain point. The thing is . . .” Oh, fuck it. “The grove is in North Korea.”
His life force is . . . There’s another layer of gi pulsating beneath the quiet tendrils of his life force. I don’t understand. Human gi doesn’t have any discernible color—their gi is as faint as a soft breeze—but I can sense . . . something. A color. Or . . . colors? I can’t make it out. It’s obscured. What is that?
I knew it, he isn't fully human
“I’m being absurd?” He glares at me, mouth gaping. “After the day I’ve had, I wouldn’t be surprised if unicorns are real.”
He's so real for that
The halmeoni chuckles, obviously not believing a word. “What did she say?” Ethan says close to my ear, making my blush deepen. “Nothing.” I stare at my shoes.
Maybe I’m more spooked by the gimbap halmeoni’s warning about old spirits than I want to admit.
I mean, she warned you for a reason
The blue assassin is here. If my magic wasn’t so close to the surface, the dagger would’ve buried itself in my shoulder before I even realized it was coming for me.
