Chapter Forty-six

Inside Nikjin’s luxurious longhouse, they sat opposite each other but said nothing. While Nikjin was immersed in his thoughts, Erin wondered why his entire community was eerily quiet. She knew that the time was probably somewhere between midnight and 1 a.m. judging by the time she slept and when she woke up, and by the level of darkness outside. It has hard to tell the time accurately in a place that had no clocks or watches.

Still, why were there no sounds of owls hooting in the distance? Or dogs barking somewhere? Or a baby crying? Come to think of it, she didn’t see any children when she came here yesterday. The place was teeming with adults but no children. Where were the kids?

She glanced at Nikjin and saw that he was still deep in thought, staring off into the distance while stroking his beardless chin as the wheels turned behind his eyes. Erin was tired of this creepy quietness. She felt as if she was sitting in a graveyard and that thought bothered her. She needed to bring lif