And yet…

A village that had no need for a shrine?

There was something strangely unsettling about that.

“Ah, we’ve arrived.”

However, there was neither the time nor the opportunity to question him further.

The ferry dock was in sight.

Fortunately, they hadn’t encountered any villagers on the way.

No one had stared at her.

No one had treated her with suspicion.

“Thank you, Lord Muhyeon. You don’t need to walk me any further.”

Hayeon gently urged him to turn back.

She didn’t want anyone to resent him just for being seen with her.

“I’ll never forget the kindness you’ve shown me.”

‘That’s right.’

‘When I find Yugang and Yuha again…’

‘I’ll tell them to grow up treating others with kindness.’

‘And I’ll tell them about Lord Muhyeon.’

She silently made herself that promise.

“All right. Be careful.”

Muhyeon gave her a small wave before turning away.

Only after he had become a tiny figure in the distance did Hayeon turn toward the ferry dock.

***

Four people were already waiting there.

Trying to appear composed, Hayeon walked toward them.

Before long, hushed whispers reached her ears.

“Hey… isn’t that the woman who came down from Mount Wolmu?”

‘So word about the outsider has already spread.’

She had expected as much after encountering the patrol officers on her first day.

Among the men standing beside the ferryman, she recognized a familiar face.

It was the patrol officer who had stuttered when he spoke to her on her first day.

Today, however, he wasn’t wearing his patrol uniform.

Instead, he was dressed in a worn, patched jacket.

Neither the ferryman nor the former patrol officer said a word.

The other two men standing with them began talking loudly among themselves instead.

“That’s her, all right! Though she doesn’t quite look the way we heard.”

“She probably stole those clothes! I’d bet that bundle she’s carrying is stuffed full of stolen goods!”

The two men clicked their tongues and glared openly at Hayeon.

The words rose all the way to the tip of her tongue.

‘These aren’t stolen clothes. Lord Muhyeon, who lives in the tiled manor, lent them to me. The food in this bundle was given to me by him as well.’

But she swallowed them.

If she defended herself, Lord Muhyeon might become the target of the villagers’ resentment as well.

“I’m leaving this village by ferry, so you needn’t concern yourselves with me.”

Putting on as dignified a front as she could, Hayeon sharply turned her head away.

Then she looked toward the ferryman.

“Are you the ferryman? I’ll pay the fare, so if you could please—”

She never finished.

Someone seized her by the hair.

“You little b*tch!”

“Ahhh!”

Caught completely off guard by the sudden violence, Hayeon grabbed the hand tangled in her hair, desperately trying to pry it away.

It wouldn’t budge.

“You think we’d take you with us? Why should we risk bringing disaster down on ourselves for the sake of the likes of you?”

“L-Let go! Let go of me! Let go… ahhh!”

“D*mn b*tch! Let’s just throw her into the river!”

The two men became even more vicious.

Still holding her by the hair, they spun her around repeatedly.

The world lurched wildly before her eyes.

Then it steadied.

Only to spin once more.

A heavy kick slammed into her slender abdomen with a sickening thud.

Nausea surged up her throat, and she doubled over, retching helplessly.

Yet neither man showed the slightest sign of stopping.

Her vision swam.

Every inch of her body throbbed with pain.

She had expected the villagers to treat her with hostility.

But never like this.

Then another realization struck her.

They might actually throw her into the river.

‘They’re really going to throw me into the water…’

The ferryman and the former patrol officer merely stood there, watching.

Neither of them lifted a finger to help.

It was violence without mercy.

‘Why…?’

‘Why are they doing this to me?’

The question she could never voice escaped instead as a scream.

“So? You still want to board the ferry? You still think you’re leaving this village?”

The man kept demanding the same answer.

It was obvious.

He intended to force her to say that she would give up and stay.

“I-I have to go. Please… let me board the ferry!”

She couldn’t back down.

She had to find her nieces and nephews.

“You stubborn little—!”

Grinding his teeth, the enraged man raised his hand.

Hayeon squeezed her eyes shut and instinctively lowered her head.

At that moment…

The one who finally put an end to the chaos…

Was the ferryman.

“That’s enough.”

The two men beating Hayeon finally stopped.

The one with his hand still raised hesitated, his fingers twitching uncertainly.

“But still…”

“That’s enough. Didn’t she say she wants to board the ferry?”

A frustrated grunt followed.

The ferryman lowered his voice as if soothing him.

“We all have our own jobs to do.”

For some reason…

The ferryman looked to be in an unusually good mood.

‘Well… from his point of view, he’s getting paid.’

But then…

‘Why didn’t he stop them from the beginning?’

Hayeon collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath.

She failed to notice the faint, unsettling smile on the Ferryman’s face because of this.

Nor did she notice the regretful expressions of the men who had been beating her only moments earlier.

All she felt was gratitude towards the Ferryman for stepping in.

“So… you’re still planning to cross by ferry?”

The ferryman helped Hayeon to her feet.

She nodded, struggling to steady her breathing.

The fear was still clinging tightly to her heart.

But she had to endure it.

If only she could reach the next village…

And if that wasn’t safe, then the one after that.

Things would surely get better eventually.

For now…

That fragile hope was all she had.

“Very well. I’ll take you across. Your fare, if you please.”

“Here… Thank you. Thank you so much.”

Though her hands trembled uncontrollably, Hayeon carefully took out the copper coins she had guarded so closely and offered them to him.

The ferryman accepted them with a broad grin before stepping aboard the boat.

But then…

Something struck her as odd.

The two men who had assaulted her didn’t board the ferry.

Only Hayeon…

The ferryman…

And the patrol officer who had remained silent beside him climbed aboard.

The patrol officer’s eyes rolled slowly within their sockets.

The sight made her uneasy, and she deliberately looked away.

“What about those two…?”

“They probably don’t feel comfortable sharing a boat with a young lady. I’ll take them across later, so don’t concern yourself.”

The explanation sounded plausible enough.

Still…

Hayeon had no desire to share a boat with the men who had just beaten her.

And so…

The small ferry set off with only three people on board, the ferryman, the patrol officer, and Hayeon.

For a while, the crossing was uneventful.

The two men remained unusually quiet.

At least…

That is, until the ferry reached the middle of the river.

Then they exchanged a glance.

A slow smile spread across both their faces.

The patrol officer suddenly sprang to his feet.

Hayeon felt a chill run down her spine.

She shrank back instinctively.

But there was nowhere to go.

The ferry was already in the middle of the river.

The two men began to close in on her.

“W-What are you—”

Before she could even protest…

Someone seized her by the hair.

“Ahhh!”

The grip was incomparably stronger than the one that had yanked her hair on shore.

It felt as though her scalp were being torn away…

As though her neck would be ripped from her body.

“L-Let… let go…!”

Her scream had barely begun—

When they shoved her straight into the freezing river.

“Ah!”

The icy winter water clung to her with a ferocity that seemed determined to strip the flesh from her bones.

A bone-deep cold engulfed her in an instant.

Hayeon desperately clung to the side of the ferry and screamed.

“Gasp! P-Please… save me! Please… save… cough!“

At the pitiful sight…

The patrol officer burst into wild laughter.

His tiny pupils darted frantically within the whites of his eyes.

“Hehehe! Die! Die! Hehehe!”

He viciously stomped on Hayeon’s fingers as they clung to the boat.

Each time he planted his foot, he twisted it as though trying to grind her bones to dust.

“Hehe! I’m working! I’m working! W-Work! Work!”

He continued stamping on her fingers with enough force to break them.

His voice rang out…