Mireuk’s smile is bloody and wet. “Oh, you will, Seokga,” he promises, laughing again. “You’ll think of me every day…You can leave me down here for as long as you want, but I’ll always be with you.” He coughs, blood dribbling down his chin. “Do you want to know why I’ve always hated you?” The Mad God sniggers. “Because we’re the same, Seokga…The very same…You’re no better than me, boy, and time will tell…Oh, yes, time will tell…” As Mireuk begins to laugh once more, Hwanin yanks Seokga roughly back to Okhwang. “You’ll be back, boy!” Mireuk roars as the two brothers vanish. “You’ll be back!”

“It’s over,” Hwanin gasps as their feet hit the tiles of the throne room. “It’s over.”

“Yes,” says Seokga, wiping the blood from his nose and attempting to return Hwanin’s smile.

But even in the heavenly palace, his ears still ring with the sound of his father’s crazed laughter.

And it never fades, not even through the centuries.

It never fades.

Seokga jerks awake with a start, drenched in a cold sweat. It takes him a moment to reorient himself, to remember that the woman lying in his arms is Kisa, his Kisa. Trembling, Seokga buries his face back in her hair, only to jerk away with an angry hiss as his phone rings. He snatches it from the bedside table, furious at whomever has decided to call him at such an ungodly hour and risk waking Kisa—but pauses.

annoying and murderous nephew, the caller ID reads.

Hwanung. Snarling, Seokga disentangles himself from Kisa, and locks himself in the bathroom. Before he can think better of it, he’s answering the call.

“I’m going to find you,” Seokga growls into the phone, “and I am going to disembowel you so very slowly—”

“Uncle…” Hwanung’s voice crackles. “I didn’t do it. I swear. I didn’t kill the captain; I didn’t kill my father. I was framed. Someone—someone framed me.”

“Where, exactly, are you?” Seokga continues, leaning against the door and envisioning how he’ll reap his bloody revenge. It’s most entertaining.

“You’re not listening to me!” Hwanung cries, and his desperation sounds real enough that Seokga pauses. “I didn’t do it!”

“Then why did you run?” Seokga growls. “Only the guilty flee. I should know.”