Chapter 10

– The sacrifice this time is handsome. Handsome. Very, very. What a face. What a face.

So even in a goblin’s eyes, or in mine, there’s no difference.

A tall, strikingly handsome face must look the same even to creatures.

– Mr. Kim lost. His face isn’t good enough. Not good enough. Hisa looks at faces. She looks a lot.

“Mirang, please… don’t tell Mr. Kim.”

If a whole group of goblins came swarming here and started arguing, the forest would turn noisy, and Hong Yeom-rang, who was sensitive to presence, might notice. Worse, with Mr. Kim’s personality, he might pick a fight with Hong Yeom-rang over some ridiculous bet he was bound to lose.

Goblins didn’t know moderation.

Mirang nodded, but goblins loved to brag, so there was no way the secret would last long.

She had to avoid running into Hong Yeom-rang, retrieve the sachet, and secretly pull more of his hair. The more Hisa thought about it, the darker her future seemed, and she kept sighing.

The rain stopped, and the sky cleared bright.

In contrast, Hong Yeom-rang’s mood was anything but clear. He had already circled the same part of the mountain dozens of times. It wasn’t just a feeling. The forest really was hiding Hisa. No matter where he went, he ended up back at the cave. Even when he waited two more days and followed the servant who came up with supplies, the servant vanished like smoke, and he found himself back at the cave entrance.

Just in case, he had even gone up to the cave above where the ritual was supposed to take place, the one his father said he would send someone to. But there was no sign of anyone there.

Only the sacrifice was allowed to enter this place. Had the previous sacrifices simply never dared to leave, so they never noticed this. Hong Yeom-rang licked the inside of his cheek and fell into thought.

“So that’s how it is.”

From atop a tree, Hisa had been watching him for the past two days as he wandered in circles trying to leave. The real reason he couldn’t escape the forest was the goblins. And more specifically, because Mirang had taken a strong liking to him, the forest kept deceiving him.

Still, she couldn’t just let him go down the mountain.

If Hong Yeom-rang returned to the village after only a few days, every misfortune that followed would be blamed on him.

There was no such thing as a life without misfortune. Even if someone in the family fell ill, or crops didn’t grow well, it would all be blamed on the sacrifice. That tiny doubt would spread like wildfire and eventually take root in everyone’s heart.

Hisa’s eyes drooped.

She only needed a hundred days each year to take in human yang energy. And when she sent them back, she gave them the riches they needed. She couldn’t stop famine, disasters, or disease. People simply believed what they wanted. They believed the village stayed peaceful because they offered sacrifices. Hisa had survived by feeding off that belief.

After standing at the cave entrance lost in thought for a moment, Hong Yeom-rang finally went back inside.

He didn’t come out for a long time, as if he had given up. Hisa stayed in the tree for quite a while even after he entered, then swallowed dryly.

“Did he finally give up…”

Should she go in now. He must be asleep. After running around like that, anyone would be exhausted enough to fall asleep. But Hong Yeom-rang didn’t seem like an ordinary person. It had already been too long since she last fed, and her hunger twisted her stomach as she curled up.

No wonder she was called a monster.

Unable to eat when she needed to, Hisa felt deeply miserable and sniffled.

Just a little longer.

“Why did he have to do that there.”

Why that of all things. He could have just shouted and gotten angry. Why did he have to grab himself and make things so complicated for her. Hisa was afraid to face him again, not knowing what he might do next. But she also didn’t have the confidence to secretly steal his hair little by little for a hundred days without getting caught.

Even though he had entered the cave during the day, Hisa only moved when night had fully fallen.

Like she was being pushed toward her death, she was more careful than ever, moving quietly, suppressing every trace of her presence as she slipped into the cave.

“So you finally crawled back in.”

Just like the first day, the lamp lit up the cave.

The man she thought would be asleep from exhaustion sat cross-legged in front of the lamp, staring straight at the entrance. Hisa’s lips parted on their own when she saw him.

“I-isn’t it said your body, hair, and skin come from your parents.”

“Oh, so a monster even knows the Classic of Filial Piety.”

He had been waiting to see when she would show up. And she only came crawling in at night. Hong Yeom-rang greeted her with a smile.

But it wasn’t a pleasant smile.

His hair was cut short just below his ears, and he looked at her with narrowed eyes.

The hem of the overcoat she dragged around had already lost its color and was in tatters. She had barely managed to close the front, yet her cleavage was still almost fully visible.

He hadn’t been able to leave the forest, nor had he seen even a trace of Hisa. That gave him more than enough time to think.

“Hey monster, what are you going to do now that your food’s running out.”

Hong Yeom-rang lifted a bundle of his own hair and waved it lightly.

A sly smile curled at his lips, like a hunter tempting an animal with bait.

Hisa was genuinely shocked. The shaman had warned her about his temper, but she had never imagined he would cut off his own hair just because she pulled some of it out.

“Come closer. If you want to eat.”

He waved the hair tied with a silk ribbon.

Hisa swallowed.

She needed yang energy. Without being fully alive or dead, she needed it to survive. If she filled those hundred days each year, she could endure the rest. The sun always shone above a person’s head, and yang energy flowed from the head through the body. The essence of that energy was in the hair.

The first thing Hisa did was look for his sword.

It was always within his reach, but today it lay farther away than usual.

“Maybe I should just burn it.”

He held the hair over the lamp.

“No!”

She swallowed hard. His hair was fine, and filled with rich yang energy. Her tongue already knew its taste, and saliva pooled in her mouth. As if bewitched, she stepped closer to him, no longer hiding her presence. Her overcoat dragged across the ground as she walked.

“Sit. If you’re going to eat, be respectful. You expect me to look up at you.”

Thud.

Instead of the mat, she dropped to her knees hard on the stone. Hong Yeom-rang’s brow twitched.

A distance just out of reach if he stretched his hand.

Watching her keep exactly that distance, ready to flee at any moment, he scoffed.

Deliberately, he twisted the cut hair around his fingers. Hisa’s eyes were filled with hunger as she stared at the smooth strands. She watched only his fingers, just as he had once watched hers.

Something in him twisted unpleasantly.

He didn’t like how she knelt just as he told her to and looked only at the hair.

It almost made him wonder if she had only looked at his face because the hair was attached to it.

Right now, Hisa had no interest in his face at all.

“How much should I give you.”

“A little is enough. Just a little.”

Hisa answered quickly. The spot where his hair had been torn out throbbed again. Remembering how she had yanked it out and disappeared made his irritation rise once more.

“Come closer. Come take as much as you need.”

“Just throw me a little. I’ll take it.”

This little…

Hong Yeom-rang’s eyes sharpened.

Even under that blade-like gaze, Hisa smiled softly, as if declaring she wouldn’t fall for his tricks. Hong Yeom-rang, who had never learned patience even though his teacher said it was a virtue a warrior needed, realized for the first time that what he was doing now was exactly that.

Restraint.

The restraint of not grabbing her by the nape right away and forcing her down in front of him.