diff --git a/mdast_util_to_markdown/src/state.rs b/mdast_util_to_markdown/src/state.rs
index 56648ac7..91dc4ed9 100644
--- a/mdast_util_to_markdown/src/state.rs
+++ b/mdast_util_to_markdown/src/state.rs
@@ -510,7 +510,7 @@ impl<'a> State<'a> {
             }
             start = *position;
 
-            let char_at_pos = value.chars().nth(*position);
+            let char_at_pos = value[*position..].chars().next();
             match char_at_pos {
                 Some('!'..='/') | Some(':'..='@') | Some('['..='`') | Some('{'..='~') => {
                     if let Some(encode) = &config.encode {
diff --git a/mdast_util_to_markdown/tests/paragraph.rs b/mdast_util_to_markdown/tests/paragraph.rs
index b8801037..7c235b87 100644
--- a/mdast_util_to_markdown/tests/paragraph.rs
+++ b/mdast_util_to_markdown/tests/paragraph.rs
@@ -114,7 +114,20 @@ fn paragraph() {
             position: None
         }))
         .unwrap(),
-        "я&#x44F;я\n",
+        "я\\_я\n",
         "should support escaping around non-ascii"
     );
+
+    assert_eq!(
+        to(&Node::Paragraph(Paragraph {
+            children: vec![Node::Text(Text {
+                value: String::from("테스트 [테스트] → [테스트]"),
+                position: None
+            })],
+            position: None
+        }))
+        .unwrap(),
+        "테스트 \\[테스트] → \\[테스트]\n",
+        "should support escaping of a shortcut reference in non-ascii text"
+    );
 }