Chapter Summaries

1. Residents of a seaside Korean village prepare to sacrifice a young woman, Shim Cheong, to
become bride of the Sea God. 16 year-old Mina Song jumps into the sea instead, allowing
Cheong and Mina’s older brother, Joon, to stay together. In this chapter, Mina describes a
tradition of writing wishes onto paper boats and setting them afloat in the hope they will
reach the spirits of the ancestors.

2. As she sinks, Mina recalls her grandmother’s stories of the Spirit Realm. She wakes to find a
ribbon called the Red String of Fate has appeared from a cut on her hand. She follows it to
the palace of the Sea God. To Mina’s surprise the god is a lonely-looking boy. She considers
killing him, but instead sings him a song her grandmother taught her.

3. Mina is interrupted by the entrance of three young men, Kirin, Namgi and Shin. They argue
about humans’ relationship to the gods. Shin cuts the Red String of Fate, capturing Mina’s
soul and voice, which has taken the form of a magpie.

4. Shin tells Mina to go to Lotus House at the end of the month to retrieve her soul. He
explains that he cut the String to protect the Sea God, who can be harmed if the one bound
to him by the string is harmed. He also tells her she will become a spirit after thirty days in
that realm.

5. Outside the palace, Mina meets the spirits of a woman (Mask), a young boy (Dai) and a
baby (Miki). They offer to help her get her soul back from Lotus House.

6. Moving through the Sea God’s city, the group encounters a procession. In its midst is Hyeri,
a girl from Mina’s village, who had also been sacrificed and is now the bride of Shiki, the
death god. Mask reveals that Shin and Shiki had a fight because of love. At Lotus House,
Mina is greeted by Nari, who was Joon’s friend back in the village.

7. Nari explains the conflict between Shin and Shiki, and that the procession is made up of
members and lords of various Houses, gathering to witness that Shin has severed the
Ribbon. Nari disguises Mina as a servant to help her retrieve her soul magpie.

8. On her way to capture her soul, Mina overhears Kirin and one of the Lotus House guards
discussing rumours that Shin’s and the Sea God’s powers are fading. Mina hears figures
moving about and guesses they are thieves.

9. Shin catches Mina in her attempt to get her soul magpie. She warns him of the thieves she
has heard. Mina hides and listens as Shin fights the intruders, who are trying to steal the
magpie. As Mina tries to protect Shin from a crossbow bolt, the magpie’s cage is broken.
Mina’s voice returns and the Red String of Fate now connects her to Shin.

10. A storm begins and Imugi (snake monsters) appear, serving the Goddess of Moon and
Memory. Kirin wants to show Mina to the goddess to prove she is not bound to the Sea
God. Shin claims Mina is his bride, and the goddess can attend their wedding in a month.
Mina realises Namgi is an Imugi. Shin decides to consult the wise mistress of Fox House.
11. Speaking through a priestess, the fox demon declares that the Red String will only break
when Mina or Shin dies, as it connects soul mates. Shin tells Mina he has no soul.

12. They return to Lotus House. Mina recalls her grandmother’s story of how storms began
after the Sea God’s beloved emperor was killed and thrown into the sea, leading to the
annual sacrifice of young women. Mina asks Nari to help her sneak away from Lotus House
to the Sea God’s palace. She refuses but Namgi agrees to escort her.

13. Namgi tells Mina about himself as they walk, and then Mina realises he is not taking her to
the palace. Mask and Dai distract Namgi and help Mina get to the palace.

14. At the palace, Mina comes across the Pond of Paper Boats. She retrieves a boat which
transports her into a memory, in which a young pregnant woman pleads for the life of her
unborn child, reminding Mina of her niece who died shortly after she was born. Shin rouses
Mina and tells her that they must find the Goddess of Women and Children to deliver the
pregnant woman’s unanswered prayer.

15. The goddess insists on being paid in gold to grant the wish. She reads the paper and
dismisses the wish as a mere memory as the people involved are dead. She throws it into a
fire and Mina hurts her hand trying to retrieve it. Shin tries to comfort Mina but they
argue. Mina realises Shin is a god. Kirin heals Mina’s hand.

16. Shin, Namgi and Kirin have left to pursue the men who tried to steal Mina’s soul. Shin has
retrieved the paper boat that the goddess threw into the fire. Mina encounters Mask, Dai
and Miki again. They discuss fate. Shin guesses that the thieves planned to restore Mina’s
soul, to harm the Sea God through his connection to her. He and Mina are growing closer.

17. In the Sea God’s garden, Mina sees a paper boat the she once made, but did not launch.
Mina touches the Sea God and finds herself in his memory. She tells a story about
forgiveness and the Sea God laments that he will never be forgiven. The memory ends and
Shin tells her the Sea God has never shown himself to a bride before.

18. When Shin receives an invitation to Crane House, Mina accompanies him, hoping Lord Yu
has helpful information for her. Shin and Namgi speak to the lord first, leaving Mina with
Kirin. Mina slips away and encounters Lord Yu, who tells her she can choose to form a bond
of fate with the Sea God, if she isn’t already bound to someone else. He attacks Mina, who
fights back with the knife her grandmother had given her.

19. Shin arrives. As they escape, Shin tells Mina the message from Crane House was a trap –
Lord Bom of Tiger House ambushed him, leaving Lord Yu to attack Mina. They come to the
River of Souls, full of the dead. The death god, Shiki, directs them to a bridge. Shin explains
the fight with Shiki over Hyeri’s soul and tells Mina he is a god who has lost his soul. Mina
offers him a carved pebble for a soul. The death god appears on the bridge.

20. The death god tells them the River of Souls is becoming too full; trouble in the human
realm is beginning to affect the Spirit Realm. As the group nears the Sea God’s palace, they
see a large Imugi sea snake is leading an attack.
21. Namgi takes his Imugi form to join the fight. Mina is attacked by a Tiger House assassin, but
Mask and Dai give her a weapon and help her to fight. Dai is badly wounded as he protects
baby Miki. The Goddess of Moon and Memory fends off the snake and demands to be
given Mina. Dai shields Mina from her and they escape.

22. Kirin treats Dai. Mina learns that Dai is actually Miki’s great-grandfather, and that he left
Heaven to retrieve her from the River of Souls. That night, Mina comforts Shin after he has
had a nightmare. She tries to tell him that one of them can form a new bond of fate but he
interrupts, telling her he has a fever. She stays beside him.

23. The next day, a strange storm is brewing. When Mina asks to see the Sea God again, Kirin is
upset that she seems to have decided to bond with the Sea God. At the palace, Mina finds
Shin with the Sea God. This time she tells him Joon’s favourite story. Mina finds herself
confronting the Goddess of Moon and Memory, who has Mina’s paper boat wish and one
belonging to Shim Cheong, who suddenly appears.

24. Shim Cheong tells Mina she was sacrificed after storms continued to batter the village.
Mina sees that the River of Souls is even more full. She once again touches the Sea God to
access his memories. She finds herself on a cliff over the sea, where the Sea God is badly
wounded. Leaving the memory she comforts the Sea God and tells him he is loved.

25. At Lotus House, Mina reads Shim Cheong’s wish – for her father to live a long, happy life.
Mina and friends discuss how to calm the storm. Shin insists Mina and the Sea God cannot
love each other. Mina flees and is injured by an assassin.

26. Mina looks down on her wounded body from above and sees that the Red String is gone.
She overhears Dai say the storms have stopped and Shin reveal that he has killed her
attacker. He states that he would die if Mina died, regardless of the String. Mina returns to
her body to find that Shin is gone.

27. Shim Cheong tells Mina she admires her grandmother and Mina herself. Cheong passes on
a gift from Hyeri, a beautiful dress. Mina is to wear it to a celebration of the storms ending,
which everyone is attributing to her.

28. Mina and Shin discuss whether Cheong can return to the human realm, and Shin tells Mina
he has visited Spirit House to consult her ancestors. He also tells her he was angered by
Joon’s favourite story, in which the maiden was happy to return home, as he doesn’t want
to lose her. Nevertheless, he asks Mina to tie her life to his, so she can remain a human and
hope to go home. The Imugi arrive.

29. The Goddess of Moon and Memory, demands that Mina hand over her paper wish. The
goddess believes it is a wish to be the Sea God’s bride. Mina finds herself in the memory,
which is not about the Sea God, but her baby niece who died. Namgi is wounded in battle.
Mina and Kirin take his body to the river and reunite his body and soul. Mina is surrounded
by snakes but they are scared off by the appearance of a huge dragon, the soul of The Sea
God. He asks Mina to be his bride and she accepts.

30. Mina tells the Sea God the story of Shim Cheong and her loyalty to her father. When she
finishes, Mina sees a Red String attaching her to the Sea God.
31. On the morning of Mina’s 30th day in the Spirit Realm, she visits Cheong and Hyeri at Star
House. They wonder why the Sea God is still unhappy. Shin keeps his promise to
accompany Mina to Spirit House, where she sees various items belonging to her family,
including a cradle carved for the niece who died. Mina’s ancestors arrive.

32. Mina realises Mask is in fact her great-great grandmother, Dai her grandfather, and Miki
the lost niece. They tell her Cheong may return home if the Sea God’s beloved wishes on
his dragon’s pearl. Shin realises the process of Mina becoming a spirit is beginning. He and
his friends rush her to the Sea God. Mina touches the god’s hand and the String disappears.
Mina tells him she does not love him. She has decided to take her grandmother’s advice to
“let fate chase [her]” as she is in love with Shin.

33. Mina visits the Goddess of Moon and Memory and asks to see the 100 year-old memory of
how the Sea God lost hope. She sees a man who looks like the Sea God, but who is really
the emperor, fatally shot in battle. Shin appears, along with a dragon. Shin is the real Sea
God, and he grants the dying emperor his final wish, which is to live.

34. Mina understands that Shin, the true Sea God, gave his soul dragon to the emperor to
save his life. Mina loves Shin and believes she is indeed the Sea God’s bride. Mina urges
the Goddess of Moon and Memory to take responsibility for women and children. Mina
returns to the palace, where everyone has remembered Shin’s true identity. Mina decides
to wish on the dragon’s pearl to restore Shin and the emperor to their rightful places. As
this may also restore Mina to the human realm, Shin asks her to meet him in one year.

35. Mina wakes in her village, surrounded by her family. The villagers receive news that the
lost emperor has miraculously returned without having aged. A baby girl is born to Mina’s
eldest brother and his wife. A year later, Mina goes to the shore to meet Shin, who doesn’t
come. Mina thinks he has forgotten her. Eventually the villagers hear the emperor plans to
visit. He pays the Song family a surprise visit in which he tells Mina he has dreamed of her
and proposes marriage. Mina asks to take the night to think about it.

36. On the next day, the festival of the Sea God, the Goddess of Moon and Memory visits
Mina and tells her that Shin had come to see her, feeling miserable. The goddess felt
compassion for him and restored his memory. Mina and her family rush to the cliffs to
greet the emperor. A dragon appears, followed by the Sea God. Mina tells the emperor
she cannot marry him and reassures him that he no longer needs her. Mina says goodbye
to her family, thanks Shim Cheong, and then leaves to join Shin in the Spirit Realm.