“What the fuck, Seokga?” the CEO finally snaps. “I literally can’t believe this. First you text me about whatever you did in the greenhouse, and now”—he points one pale finger to Hwanin, who squirms happily in Kisa’s arms—“you’ve managed to get our holy, heavenly emperor turned back into a baby on my ten-deck, state-of-the-art ship.” He pulls out a sleek black Samsung. “Yeah, I’m sure the pantheon will love to hear about your colossal fuckup. How long do you think it will take your nephew to hurl you back down to Iseung? My bet’s on five minutes—”

Somi is picking up the baby clothes, tilting the tiny garments left and right. “These are cute,” she tells Kisa, ignoring the quarreling gods. But Kisa cannot tear her attention away.

In a flash, Seokga has tossed aside the baby clothes, launched forward, and wrestled the phone out of Yeomra’s hand. He slams it to the ground, crushes it under his foot. In a voice that reminds Kisa of a wolf’s snarl, he says, “If you were going to call them, you would have already. Why are you here, cadaver? Let me guess. Word gets out about this, and it’s bad for business. Your investors, the rest of the pantheon, will pull out. Nobody wants to associate with the realm that the emperor was killed in.”

Somi is trying to fit a tiny gray hat with cat ears onto Hwanin’s head. Kisa suppresses a shudder—cats have always made her sneeze uncontrollably. “Aww, look at his ickle wickle smile,” she croons as Kisa turns back to continue watching the two gods with growing wariness. The trickster god versus the death god. It’s riveting, but she doesn’t like how Yeomra’s eyes are glowing like coals.

“Who killed him?” Seokga demands in a low voice. “You know it wasn’t me. If you’ve seen that Hwanin is now”—Kisa meets his eyes as he looks over his shoulder, nodding toward the giggling baby—“very small, surely you saw who killed him. Hmm?” Shivers roll down Kisa’s spine. The trickster, she’s noticed, speaks to everyone but her in a tone cold enough to grow icicles. “Or is it another case of, ‘I don’t know’? Like how you somehow completely fucking missed an eoduksini slipping into a jeoseung saja skin thirty-three years ago?”