As I ran, my mind scrambled for questions to ask Red. I might have max perception, but I could still only rely on the limitations of Gabriel’s Ring.

  What could I say to provoke a useful emotional response from Red? Should I just confront him? Should I just pretend to trust him implicitly?

  I reached the outskirts of the village, mind still reeling, and a pair of children playing knucklebones in the dirt glanced up and began to laugh. Ignoring them, I hurried onwards, but a labourer pulling a cart piled with wood stared at me too, openly looking me up and down, and a woman washing clothing by her front door gave me such a glare of disgust that I realised there was no way I was getting into the administration offices to see Red unless I fought my way in.

  And then what?

  So, I had to change my clothes, but where was my house?

  “Note to devs – add a basic minimap,” I muttered to myself. I changed directions, trying to find a familiar street. In a town I didn’t know, I couldn’t even begin to identify landmarks.

  How much time had passed?

  Second note to devs – provide an effect countdown.

  “Seong-ah! What happened to you?”

  There.

  The old woman I had met earlier, sweeping her front step, was washing barley near the window of her house. I dashed towards her gratefully, checking her name as I went. “Grandma, thank goodness!”

  SERIOUSLY?

  “Oh dear, oh dear. Seong-ah, you’re drenched! What would your elegant mother think, if she saw you?”

  Elegant? “Please help me! I fell when walking and everyone has been looking at me!” I tried to mimic the cutesy voice that Poppy would use sometimes on grouchy old people and although I felt nauseous as I did it, it seemed to work.

  “Come inside, child. I will give you clean clothes. You can’t go home looking like that!”

  I can’t? Would my mother scold me? Was she like Poppy’s… Like the stepmother in the previous scenario?

  The village grandma muttered to herself as she rummaged through a clothes chest. “That’s not suitable for a young girl… nor that… Oh, where did that –”

  “Grandma, it doesn’t matter. I need to get home quickly. So long as I look clean, it’s fine.”

  “And you’ll need to wash too… I have some water…”

  “I can wash at home! I promise I’ll clean these clothes and return them to you.”

  “Well… Here, then.”

  I snatched the clothing from her as quickly as I could without appearing rude, and ducked behind some cloth that hung from the ceiling. I stripped the wet and filthy clothes quickly, hurrying into the clean clothes. I could have screamed in frustration; my fingers fumbled on the unfamiliar ties and several times I wrapped myself wrongly.

  Do I even have any time left? Hurry hurry hurry –

  “Thank you, Grandma!” I shouted as I bolted from the house. “I’ll clean these and return them to you!”

  “Don’t run, Seong-ah!” she called. “Think of your mother’s…”

  Whatever she was saying fell away behind me as I ran. Back up the road towards the government offices, faster, faster…

  I reached the front steps, trying to calm myself. If I could just stroll in there, looking like I belonged…

  “Good afternoon, Seong-ah,” said an official, stepping out through the door. “Why are you just standing there? Are you not going in?”

  “Oh… I, uh… Have you seen…?” I suddenly realised I didn’t know the name of the character that Red was playing.

  “Your mother? She’s in the kisaeng quarters. I don’t believe she has any activities until the Hour of the Monkey.”

  “Oh… Thank you. I’ll be on my way, sir.” I hurried inside, half-expecting he would call me back, demand to know where I was going, but he just continued to stroll down the steps, and I was inside the government buildings.

  I was in a courtyard, specifically, with flowering trees casting petals like confetti into the spring air. Officials and servants were going this way and that, but nowhere could I see Red.

  THINK, Mik Tsaam. He’s replaced the magistrate, right? So he’s likely to be in the main office…

  Which was…

  Where, exactly?

  I regretted not taking any regional history studies or paying more attention to Poppy’s interest in fairytales.

  “Maria? Why are you spinning in a circle?”

  “Red!” There was no time to think, no space for uncertainty. He had just exited a building to my right, and I rushed to his side.

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  “Did… Did you kill Rohan?”

  What the fuck?

  As the question left my mouth, tears were suddenly pouring from my eyes. I was sobbing, uncontrollably, in front of this person who had killed my friend, and there was no stopping it, apparently, even though internally I was screaming at myself to stop stop stop you stupid bitch!

  “Maria, I… I don’t know what to say. I mean… You probably saw the Kill Feed, didn’t you? I had no choice! He… He followed me and… It… It was self-defence. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

  Red’s eyes glistened. He looked away, blinking hard.

  You bastard.

  What would happen if I killed you right now?

  The intensity of my anger shocked me. I’d never felt anything like it before. Harshly scrubbing my eyes, I asked quietly, “What happened?”

  “Let’s… go inside. Somewhere we can talk quietly.”

  The person had killed, perhaps permanently, my friend, but he was right; around us, people were looking in our direction, whispering, frowning. I brushed past him, heading back into the building he had just left.

  This office had a large wooden desk covered in scrolls, and several chairs. He took the one behind the desk and I sank into one facing him.

  “I don’t know what to say, Maria. After we all split up, I kept heading in the direction I’d picked. Someone came up behind me. When I looked back, it was your friend, but…” Red gnawed his thumb. “He attacked me. I don’t know why, I… I tried to ask him but he didn’t say anything. In the end, I could only fight back.”

  “Why didn’t you say anything to me before?”

  “Why do you think?” Red groaned and clutched his head. “I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”

  If I didn’t have Gabriel’s Ring, I would absolutely have believed he was suffering. Perhaps he was telling the truth that Rohan had attacked him, but the fact remained that Rohan’s death, or perhaps my reaction to it, had made him incredibly happy.

  Which made me, in turn, incredibly angry.

  “It’s…” I gritted my teeth. No, it was better to use a bit of truth and twist it slightly. “I want to say ‘it’s okay’, but I can’t, Red.”

  “No, I… I get it. If I were you… I get it.”

  “We’re stuck with each other,” I continued quietly. “Han Sung-hyuk will likely be gone for some time, trying to pass the official’s examinations, before he can return. We’ll have to work together during that time.”

  “Yeah…” Red sniffed roughly, he voice becoming business-like. “So… I found out a couple of things.”

  “Go on.”

  “Well first off, do you know what a kisaeng is?”

  “From what Han Sung-hyuk said, some kind of, well, sex worker.”

  “That’s not strictly true. At least, not in this time period. Kisaeng were indentured servants, but they also were highly trained and respected for their entertainment skills.”

  I frowned. “So why did Han Sung-hyuk avoid the point when I asked him if they were prostitutes?”

  “No idea.” Red shrugged. “Your mother is a kisaeng attached to the government offices here. She’s one of the most popular, so it would make sense that the daughter of a popular kisaeng would also become something of a target.”

  “Do you know her name?”

  “Wolmae. Seong Wolmae.”

  I sighed. “Do we really have to sit around drinking tea, waiting for Han Sung-hyuk to show up and sweep me off my feet?”

  “Don’t like sitting still, huh?” Red chuckled weakly. “Maybe you could think of this as a break. It’s nice here. After all that’s happened so far, it could be good to just… rest.”

  Rest? While Tommy and Jesse and the rest of my friends were still out there, struggling for their lives? While I was sat opposite the person who killed Rohan? While we had no idea how we had gotten into this mess in the first place, and no knowledge of how we could escape?

  If we could escape?

  I shivered. “No, I’m going to look around. There might be other things to see, and this is the first time I’m getting an opportunity to really look.”

  “I forgot, you’re 100% Maria, aren’t you?” Red smiled. Why was he looking at me so gently? “Not satisfied unless you’ve turned over every rock. Well, there’s no harm in that either. Just come and talk to me everyday, okay? It’ll get lonely quick, dealing with NPCs all the time. Deal?”

  “… Deal.”

  He led me back to the door of the office. “The kisaeng quarters are in that direction. Seong Wolmae should be there for the next half hour, if I’ve got the times right.” His expression was almost wistful. “You will come and see me tomorrow, right?”

  “Sure, Red. You stick close to the magistrate and… uh… stay safe.”

  “You too.”

  I could feel his eyes on me all the way down the path to the kisaeng quarters, even when he was finally out of sight.

  My hands were cold and shaking. I slapped them together.

  “Come on, Mik Tsaam. Focus. Focus.”

  “Chunhyang-ie, where’ve you been?”

  The woman who called out to me was delicate, doll-like, with brows perpetually creased into an appealing moue. She clasped my hands as she examined my clothing. “What are you wearing, my daughter?”

  So this was Wolmae. I could see why she would be popular; she was helplessly charming, with a kind of pathos that Poppy aspired to have when aiming for her next boyfriend.

  “Oh, mother, I… Well it’s embarrassing, but I fell into a rice paddy earlier and had to run to Grandma to help me. She was so kind, giving me some clothing.”

  “I see… I see… Chunhyang-ie, you’re getting too old to be frolicking about in the fields. Soon you will become a kisaeng, you know? If you keep skipping your lessons, you’ll be less skilled and then where will we be?” She squeezed my hands again, limply. “We have a good life because of my skills, you know? We may be kisaeng, but we’re treated well here. I want you to live well after I’m gone.”

  “That’s… Yes, I understand.” Dammit, did that mean I wouldn’t be able to move freely? That I would have to stay inside and learn to dance like a monkey in a cage?

  “Unless you have another plan?” Wolmae tilted her head, dark dreamy eyes blinking innocently. “Jin-ah said you were with the new magistrate twice today… Why are you smiling like that, Chunhyang-ie? You’re scaring me.”

  “Sorry, mother. I… I think it’s important to have back-up plans, don’t you think?”

  “Yes, that’s very good.” Wolmae nodded. “Now come and wash, and eat your dinner. I have to leave soon, so let’s hurry and I can scrub your back for you.”

  I followed her into the kisaeng quarters, my whole body alive with fierce excitement. Of course Red was the magistrate. He must have known I would find out, so why did he lie to me?

  So someone wanted to play mind games, did they?

  “Come on, Chunhyang-ie.”

  “Coming, mother.”

  I’ll get you, Red. I find some way to make you regret.