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.”

Alvin's POV

He didn’t sound like he was bluffing, and a shiver ran down my spine.

The next second, a steel rod was pressed against my knee as if measuring the best place to break it. Around us, the thugs were grinning, eager for the show.

My scalp tingled, and I threw my hands over my head, shouting, “Wait! Don’t—don’t hit me! His name is Jake Pauley!”

“Who?” one of them scoffed.

My voice dropped, defeated. “If you want to know who he is, check today’s news.”

One of the men quickly searched on his phone, then looked up, hesitant. “Miss Winona, Jake Pauley’s just an ordinary college graduate. Only finished school this year.”

At that, everyone relaxed, smirking like it was exactly what they expected.

Winona sneered, emboldened. “You, Mr. Driver, you were acting so tough earlier. And this is the so-called ‘distinguished guest’ you were talking about?”

Her men burst into laughter.

“Ha! Miss Winona’s shoeshine rag is worth more than this guy’s life. Who do you think you’re fooling?”

“Here’s your chance, apologize properly. Get on your knees and lick her shoes clean. If she’s feeling generous, maybe she’ll even let you crawl home in one piece.”

But then, the man with the phone stammered, “Wait. He… he died today... in a fire. He ran back inside to save his coworkers but didn’t make it out. That was what said here in New York Times.”

The group went quiet. First came gasps of disbelief, then forced, uneasy chuckles to cover their nerves.

But Winona didn’t laugh. Instead, she drove the heel of her leather boot into my fingers and ground down hard. “So that’s your little trick? Spinning ghost stories just to mess with me?”

Pain shot through my hand, and I clawed helplessly at her boot. “I’m not lying! He really is a man of honor, far more distinguished than you.”

The truth spiled from me in a rush. Jake had been at the top of his company building when the fire broke out. Yet, he stayed calm as he directed the evacuation. After making it to safety himself, he went back inside to save others. His coworkers survived, but he didn’t as he was choked on smoke before he could escape.

One man saving over a hundred lives was immeasurable merit. A soul like his didn't even have to wait in line for reincarnation.

And tonight, my task was to bring him home.

Here in New York, we practiced Shiva, and during those times, the deceased's soul still lingered. Similarly, Jake couldn’t rest, not while worrying about the grandmother who raised him.

Winona stepped closer, her heels clicking against the pavement until she stood right over me. “So what you’re saying is, you’re here to chauffeur a corpse.”

She burst out laughing, and her lackeys followed, their jeers cutting through the night.

“Why are we even wasting time with a lunatic?”

But then, someone dug out my other driver’s license, the one I used during the day, and handed it to her.

She flipped through it with a smirk tugging at her lips. “Look at this. You seem perfectly normal here. So why do you turn into some ghost-obsessed freak at night?”

A man chimed in, “Don’t buy into his crap, Miss. I’ve seen it before. Some people act normal in daylight, then lose their minds when it gets dark.”

“Yeah. Driving a fake cab, using fake documents, refusing passengers. Who knows what shady business he’s actually in.”

At that moment, I hated myself for not flooring the gas earlier and leaving them choking on exhaust fumes.

But there was no more time. If I didn’t deliver Jake to fulfill his wish, his chance at reincarnation would be ruined, and I would bear the blame.

With that in mind, I slammed my forehead against the ground, desperation tearing through me. “Miss, I’ll apologize. I was wrong. Please, just let me complete my task.”

She crouched down in front of me, her eyes glinting with amusement. “Too late for apologies. But you’re lucky, I’m curious now. Show him to me, and I’ll let you walk away.”

I shook my head violently. Rules were rules: the living cannot meddle with the affairs of the dead.

Being refused, she clicked her tongue and motioned for her men to aim the crowbar at my knees.

But before they could move, a sudden gust of icy wind howled through the night.

Then, a man’s voice whispered from the darkness, low and cold. “You said, you wanted to see me.”