Alvin's POV

I was born with an unusual fate, and my life had been anything but ordinary. By day, I drive a taxi for cash. By night, I drive spirits for merit. Two jobs, two worlds, but neither one interfering with the other.

One evening, I was on the outskirts of the city when three people suddenly stepped into the middle of the road, forcing me to stop.

The moment I braked, a woman decked out head-to-toe in luxury brands banged on my window.

Glancing at my backseat, I hesitated, then rolled the window down. “Sorry, this ride’s already taken. You might want to wait for the next cab.”

The woman smirked and slapped a thick stack of bills against my face. “Are you blind, or am I? This car is clearly empty. And you dare refuse me? Do you even know who I am?”

The two people behind her started laughing.

“She’s Winona Mills of the richest family from Washington, D.C.. Her family practically owns ninety percent of this city's real estate. Just laying eyes on her is like hitting the jackpot.”

“You’re just a cabbie. One phone call from her and you’ll never drive in this city again. And yet you dare snub her?”

I forced a polite smile and replied, “I wouldn’t dare. It’s just… really inconvenient right now.”

“Don’t push your luck,” Winona snapped. “I’ve already taken a picture of your license plate. If you don’t open the door before I lose my patience, you’ll regret it.”

The warning in her tone made me sigh. The last thing I wanted was trouble.

“Fine. But you’ll have to share the ride.”

In the rearview mirror, the male ghost in the backseat caught my eye and gave me a subtle nod.

——

“Share the ride?” Winona sneered. “That word doesn’t exist in my dictionary.”

She then tossed another wad of cash at my feet and added, “Name your price. This cab is ours now.”

The ride was already shared, but I swallowed my words, stealing another glance at the ghost’s reflection before keeping quiet.

The three of them piled into the car. But they hadn’t even settled in when the other woman wrinkled her nose.

“What the hell is that smell? Why do you have candles in here?”

My body went stiff. I quickly turned and apologized. “Sorry, those are for the cemetery. All Souls' Day’s coming up, so I bought them earlier.”

She clicked her tongue in disgust. “Gross.”

Without a second thought, she grabbed the candles and tossed them right out the window.

“Hey!” I shouted before I could stop myself.

All three glared at me.

“What are you yelling for? It’s just a couple of tens of bucks’ worth of junk. It was taking up space anyway. We’ll just tip you extra so you can buy more later.”

Cold sweat trickled down my back, and my hands shook on the steering wheel. It wasn’t about the money.

I glanced at the ghost’s reflection in the rearview mirror. His expression had darkened, and the air inside the car dropped several degrees.

Sure enough, not long after, Winona started complaining.

“Hey, turn down the A/C. It’s freezing in here.”

My stomach dropped. I hadn’t even turned it on. But all I could do was mutter something about it probably being broken.

She huffed. “Figures. If the car we originally booked hadn’t gotten into an accident, I’d never be stuck in this piece of junk.”

The man beside her pulled her close, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “Don’t worry, baby. I’ll keep you warm.”

They started giggling, then quickly moved on to getting handsy.

I cleared my throat nervously. “Please keep it down. Don’t disturb the other passenger.”

Especially not the ghost. He was already in a bad mood after she tossed out the candles. If they pushed him any further, I didn’t even want to imagine the consequences.

But of course, they completely misread my words, mistaking my tension for shyness.

As such, Winona deliberately kissed the man loudly, giving me a mocking look.

“You’re just a cab driver. Who do you think you are to tell us what to do?”

The man chimed in, laughing. “Exactly. You couldn’t afford a single shoe of hers even if you drove your whole life. Know your place. Dogs that behave get their bones.”

Then they demanded I take them straight to a downtown hotel.

Calmly, I said, “Miss, I only picked you up because the first passenger agreed to share the ride. So I have to drop him off first.”

Alvin's POV

Winona froze for a moment, clearly not expecting me to stand my ground.

Her expression darkened instantly as she spat, “Don’t mistake my patience for weakness. Say one more word, and I’ll have you kicked out of this city. I’ll make sure this piece of junk you call a car ends up in a scrap heap.”

Regret burned in my chest. If I’d known she’d be this much trouble, I never should’ve stopped.

Just then, the man beside her suddenly grabbed her hand, his eyes darting nervously around the empty air.

“Did you guys… hear that? Someone was laughing.”

Winona yanked her hand back, her face flickering with unease before she forced out a sigh. “Fine. You can drop off your first passenger, but we’re taking the route I pick.”

I knew the road she meant. It was a detour, but as long as I could complete this trip on time, I was willing to cooperate.

See, at night, I didn't normally drive for the living. My work was with the dead, ferrying souls to the last place they wanted to visit before moving on. If I could fulfill their wish, their resentment would fade, and they could reincarnate in peace. But if I failed within the set time, they would turn into vengeful spirits.

I knew which side of that bargain mattered more.

Soon enough, the car filled with cigarette smoke, burning my eyes and throat. Winona even pressed her cigarette out directly on the leather seat, filling the cabin with the acrid stench of scorched upholstery.

My chest tightened with anger. This car might look ordinary, but every part of it was blessed by a famous priest.

“What the hell are you doing? You damaged my car! You can't afford to pay for it!”

But my words only made them burst into loud, mocking laughter.

“Pathetic. One push of the pedal in my Lamborghini could pay for your rust bucket’s repairs for a whole year. The cheapest car in my family’s garage could buy a hundred of yours.”

Their laughter ended with Brooke Mills, the man, kicking the back of my seat hard enough to rattle my teeth.

“Stay in your lane, pauper. When we throw you money, just shut up and take it.”

Despite their disrespect, I bit down my tongue and said nothing, silently praying I could deliver the ghost to his destination before things got worse.

But the moment I turned onto Winona’s chosen road, trouble arrived. Out of nowhere, more than ten black cars appeared in my rearview, speeding up to box me in.

This wasn’t good.

I slammed on the gas and swerved to dodge them. “Miss, what’s going on?”

In the mirror, I only saw her grin, offering no explanation.

Within minutes, I was forced to a stop at the side of the road.

A group of burly men climbed out of the cars and came toward me. One of them leaned down, signaling with his hand for me to step out.

My whole body trembled, but I forced a weak smile. “Easy there, dude. Let’s talk this out.”

The next second, my door was ripped open. A pair of rough hands dragged me out and threw me onto the ground.

Winona strolled over, arms folded, and nudged my chin up with the toe of her stiletto.

“What’s wrong? Weren’t you pretty bold just now? Why so quiet all of a sudden?”

Pain shot through my scalp, and my mouth was filled with the taste of dirt.

One of her thugs handed her my ID. She read it aloud with a mocking lilt.

“Alvin Morton, a Senior Underworld Transport Officer. What the hell is this supposed to be?” She sneered, waving it in my face. “Fake documents to pick up passengers? That’s illegal, isn’t it? If I call the cops, how long do you think I can have you locked up?”

Her family had real power. That much was obvious. But she and I lived in entirely different worlds.

Laughter roared around me as her men went to work on my car. With crowbars, they smashed every window, glass raining down like ice shards. Others popped the hood, grinning wickedly as they ripped it apart.

I tried to stop them, but what chance did I have? The moment I stood up, two men twisted my arms behind my back and threw me down again.

“You’ll pay for this!” I growled, my eyes burning red as I clenched my jaw so hard I thought it might crack. For a fleeting second, I wanted nothing more than to sink my teeth into her.

“Pay?” Winona smirked. “Name your price. To me, it’s nothing but numbers,” she continued, spreading her hands in a careless gesture.

The man beside her also sneered. “This car’s not worth much anyway. Keep our lady entertained tonight, and maybe tomorrow she’ll toss you a BMW to play with.”

Alvin's POV

If driving a BMW could take me across the realms of the living and the dead, I’d gladly eat my hat.

But of course, there was no way to explain that to them. All I could do was shake my head. “Miss, I don’t want your money. Some things can’t be solved with cash.”

Winona arched a brow and waved for her thugs to keep smashing my car.

But the sound of glass shattering never came. Instead, one of the men froze, staring at my cab like he’d seen a ghost.

“Miss, there’s no battery in this car. How the hell is it even running?”

As soon as he said it, a cold wind swept through the night, sharp and biting.

The men who had been so full of swagger suddenly hesitated, their eyes darting nervously.

“Boss, the All Souls' Day’s coming up, doesn’t this feel a little… off?”

“Yeah, maybe we picked the wrong fight tonight. What if we stirred up something we shouldn’t have?”

But Winona scoffed, refusing to believe a word. She barked an order for them to check my car again, and my phone too.

Sure enough, there really was no battery in the engine and no ride history on the phone.

“Tch. He’s just a scammer. And you all are acting like children,” she sneered, then pulled out my driver’s license and tossing it to one of the men. “Run it. See what kind of dirt we can dig up.”

It didn’t take long before they came back with results.

“He used to stay in a mental hospital. Even set fires during one of his episodes.”

I clenched my fists. That was no “episode.” It was an exorcism. Without fire, the ritual couldn’t have been completed.

Another man added, “He also broke into a massacre site once and even got into a fight with the cops there too.”

I shut my eyes. That time, I had been retrieving an entire slaughtered family. The youngest boy refused to leave until I found his marble for him. That was why I did that.

The more they spoke, the more disgust twisted Winona’s face.

“No wonder the second I got in, I felt something off all over this car. Turns out the driver’s a lunatic.”

I was beyond words. If they hadn’t forced themselves into my cab, I would’ve already finished tonight’s task.

In the glow of her phone, Winona’s face looked distorted, almost grotesque.

“I knew it. He’s just a crazy pretending to be some big shot. And to think he dared to refuse me a ride.”

I shook my head hard. “Miss, I really don’t want to provoke you. But it’s already too late. I have to get my passenger to his destination on time. If I don’t, the consequences will be unimaginable.”

“Consequences?” She laughed coldly. “In here, I do whatever I want. So tell me, what’s out there that I can’t handle?”

She clicked her tongue and added, “As for you, Mister Alvin, I’m curious. This so-called ‘passenger’ you keep talking about, is he also a lunatic like you, a mental patient with fake documents trying to work again?”

At her signal, two men grabbed me, ignoring my struggle, and pinned my arms tight.

“If you take us to meet this ‘distinguished guest’ of yours,” she said with mock sympathy, “maybe I’ll be generous enough to buy you a brand-new car. How about it?”

Her words made my gut twist. If she actually saw him, it would already be too late.

Among the dead, it was common knowledge that under normal conditions, only vengeful spirits could reveal themselves. And who in their right mind would want to come face-to-face with one of those?

I clenched my teeth. “No. That passenger is of great importance. Not someone you can just meet.”

For a second, there was only silence. Then, as if on cue, everyone burst into loud, exaggerated laughter.

“Hear that? The Mills practically owns this city, and this idiot thinks anyone could be more important than Miss Winona?”

“Her family could wipe out your entire bloodline with one project. And you’re talking about some ‘distinguished guest’?”

“Pathetic. Doesn’t even know who he’s messing with.”

I could hardly breathe from the frustration. Maybe I didn’t know who I’d provoked, but they were about to find out the hard way who they were provoking.

Didn’t any of them notice how the air had been getting colder and colder since this all started?

While their laughter echoed around me, I tried to break free and scrambled toward my cab.

I barely made it a few steps before someone caught up. A heavy slap cracked across my face, swelling it instantly. Tears quickly sprang to my eyes from the sheer pain.

“Talk!” one of them barked. “Who exactly are you supposed to be dropping off? If I find out you’re just playing us, I’ll snap your legs in half.”