“I’ll see you tomorrow?” Seokga asks as he stands, not wanting to push her, or come off as a creepy, obsessed stalker even though—admittedly—that’s how he feels.

Kisa hesitates. “You’re going to contact the CEO, right?”

“Yes.” A twist of guilt. “I will. I swear on Hwanung. I’ll do it right now—” He takes out his phone, and with difficulty (he is exceptionally bad at typing on touch screens) sends the god a quick message.

She stands, too. “Then, um, if you wanted…” Kisa hesitates, averting her eyes to the thread between them. “At night, on Decks 9 and 10, if you look at the river, you can see ineo swimming along the boat. Well,” she amends, “dead ineo. Ineo gwisin. But I like to go up at night, to watch. If you wanted to come with me, I wouldn’t mind.”

Seokga feels his brows raise. Ineo, mermaids, are notoriously rare in the world above, having been hunted by sailors for their scales. It makes sense that there would be an abundance here…But it’s not the prospect of seeing them that has him fighting back a grin. Kisa wants to spend more time with him. “I’d love that,” he says honestly, and when her eyes light up, he nearly falls to his knees.

Deck 10 is the highest point on the ship, an expansive sundeck stacked right above Deck 9’s pools. As he leans over the metal rail with Kisa, a night wind lashes at his face, carrying the bittersweet smell of the Seocheongang River, which flows with a vengeance. The river is currently bordered by dark, massive mountains—the natural lands of the underworld that Yeomra has not yet developed. Strange sounds echo from those mountains, and once in a while, there will be the sound of beating wings far up above. Seokga is not worried. Whatever demons lurk in this realm, they know better than to provoke Yeomra’s wrath, lest their lands be plagued with office buildings and then polluted with the thick yet invisible smog of corporate workers’ miseries.

Kisa’s curls are whipping in the air, and she’s smiling—smiling so widely, and so happily that Seokga’s heart stumbles—as she points to something in the water below. “There!” she cries, and—to Seokga’s pure joy—tugs on his sleeve. Suddenly, the jondaemal doesn’t seem so cold. Not as she nearly hops up and down, loose curls bouncing in excitement. “Do you see her?”

—always wanted—learn—about them—nearly extinct—conservation efforts not nearly—

He doesn’t bother to look at the water. He’s looking at her, at the way she becomes a bundle of excitement when she’s learning something new.

—I hope he—realizes—how wonderful—this is—