Chương 133: All God's Will

Warm wind came in when the aircraft door opened. Black cars lined up beneath the stairs. People in black cassocks and liturgical vestments gathered in front of them. Security personnel, Vatican staff, and people with cameras stretched in a long line behind. A thin old man stood at the front. A white stole lay over his black cassock, and a small cross hung at his chest. Deep wrinkles remained on his cheeks and around his mouth. His hands were folded at his waist, but his fingertips still trembled a little.

Kichan stopped on the first step. The old man went still the moment he saw him too. The people between them were the first to look from one to the other. Kichan remembered the narrow antiquarian bookshop in Rome and the glass cover. The white collar inside an old cardigan. A rosary slipping below a wrist. The narrow door that opened when the rear bookcase moved aside. The old man's lips moved first.

"Kichan from Korea." Kichan came down one step.

"Father?" The old man's eyes widened further. A cardinal behind him asked someone beside him quietly,"Do they know each other?" No one could answer. Kichan descended the rest of the stairs. The old man came forward two steps and stopped. While he hesitated between offering a handshake and folding his hands, the rosary slipped below his wrist. Kichan held out his hand first. The old man took it in both of his.

"It really was you."

"I saw the news." The old man's grip tightened a little.

"I received your tea as well."

"I saw that too."

"What I said?"

"Yes. Kichan in Korea." The tips of the old man's ears reddened slightly. Those waiting for an interpreter stood around them without understanding what was happening. Several camera shutters clicked. A Vatican staff member stepped forward.

"Allow me to introduce Father Paul, who is overseeing the hospitality for your visit." Still holding his hand, Kichan looked at the old man.

"You've got a name now." Paul's fingers stopped. Kichan promptly bowed his head a little.

"Congratulations." Paul nodded, looking unsure whether to smile.

"Thank you." Riphiel and Argaon came down from the aircraft and stood on either side of Kichan. Paul's gaze moved to the ears beneath Riphiel's hood and Argaon's red eyes. He bowed deeply to them.

"Welcome." Argaon looked first at the people and vehicles lined up behind Paul rather than at the priest himself. Riphiel asked before they had even left the airport,"Is there food ready at the hotel?" Paul was briefly lost for words. The Vatican staff member beside him answered quickly.

"Yes. We have prepared plenty." Kichan looked at the staff member's face. A face that had no idea yet.

The hotel stood directly across from the Vatican walls. From Kichan's open window, he could see a dome and flags beyond the stone wall. Only security vehicles moved along the road outside. The lobby that would normally have been full of tourists held only Vatican staff and hotel employees. The Vatican had rented the entire building. Blank tags hung on every guest room door. Fresh place settings covered every restaurant table. Yet the only actual guests were Kichan, Riphiel, Argaon, and the Daehan Group president.

Paul spoke at the restaurant entrance.

"You have come a long way. Please rest comfortably for two days." Riphiel looked inside before answering. Bread, cheese, ham, and roasted vegetables lined a long table. Pasta and soup came from the counter farther in. Thick cuts of grilled meat stood in rows beneath silver covers. Argaon lifted the nearest lid. Hot steam rose into his face.

"We can eat all this for two days?" Paul looked at the interpreter as though checking the question. When it was repeated exactly, he nodded.

"I was instructed to ensure there would be no shortage." Kichan began counting the empty tables, then gave up. Three bread baskets emptied at the first meal. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Riphiel discovered that each cheese smelled different and cut small pieces of them in turn. She gathered the ones she liked on the right of her plate. Those with a strong grassy smell she tried again. Argaon stacked plates of grilled meat before him.

He inspected the cut surfaces and fat layers, tried the first piece without sauce, then sampled each sauce in turn from the second onward. Kichan ate only one plate of pasta and some soup. Across from them, Paul chewed one piece of bread for a long time. More often than his own meal, he watched the speed at which their empty plates were refilled. Hotel staff brought fresh plates. Cleared empty ones. Brought more. On the first evening, the kitchen ran short of prepared meat.

Reserve ingredients came down from a banquet hall refrigerator on another floor. On the second morning, the bread-baking schedule moved earlier. Riphiel had finished breakfast and asked about the lunch menu. Argaon brought down even the fruit basket from his room. Eating an apple, he watched the door through which the lunch meat arrived. Instead of the meal plan, Paul held a new sheet. `More bread. ` `More meat. ` `Ramyeon requested. ` Kichan had to interpret the last line.

"The hot noodles they ate on the plane." The hotel kitchen had no ramyeon. Two Vatican staff members went out to nearby shops. By the second evening, empty plates lay in stacks on the long table. The hotel manager adjusted his tie three times while moving between the kitchen and dining room. At first, he had asked whether the food suited their tastes. Now he checked only which side to put the next plate on. Riphiel cut the last steak and took a bite.

"The meat here is tender too." The shoulders of a chef standing at the kitchen door rose a little. Argaon swallowed his own meat.

"Still nothing like that Hanwoo ribeye." The chef's shoulders sank. Riphiel speared a remaining piece.

"The amount of fat embedded in the flesh is different." Kichan drank water. Paul looked at the revised meal plan. Numbers rewritten several times over two days overlapped on a single line.

"Are you feeling rested?" He asked cautiously. Argaon looked at his empty plate.

"I still have room." Paul's hand stopped over the plan. Kichan answered for them.

"We've rested well." The Vatican bells rang outside. Paul listened to the last chime, then folded the paper.

"I will escort you to the Vatican tomorrow morning."

The stairs beneath the Vatican ended at the second basement level. Beyond the stone steps running along the wall were a small chapel and two locked doors. No path continued below. Paul came forward with the black key box. His hands trembled more than when he carried meal plans around the hotel for two days. He opened the three locks in turn. Keys of different shapes and lengths lay on black cloth inside. The first key opened an iron door beside the chapel. The second went into a small lock inside the door.

When he turned the third, a low sound came from one side of the stone wall. The wall slid inward. Cold air rose from the stairs below. Riphiel raised the ears she had tucked inside her hood. Argaon, still human in appearance, sniffed the air beyond the wall. Kichan looked down through the opening.

"We go through here?" Even after removing the key, Paul could not take his hand from the door.

"Yes." The newly revealed stairs were narrow. Old writing was carved into both walls. Some had been scratched away; some was covered with black cloth. A thin layer of dust lay on every step. Each footfall of the Vatican employee descending ahead left a fresh print over the old ones. The pope came down slowly behind them. Cardinals and security personnel followed at a distance. No one spoke loudly. Only the small clink of keys and the scrape of dust beneath shoes remained on the stairs.

At the end of the third basement level was a round chamber. The ceiling was low. Six stone pillars stood against the walls. In the center lay a circular section of floor darker than the surrounding stone. Worn letters and pieces of metal were set around its rim. The Vatican staff did not approach the black circle. Only Kichan, Riphiel, and Argaon stood before it. The pope came forward. He bowed first to Riphiel and Argaon. Finally, he faced Kichan and raised both hands.

"May your path open before you, and may you not lose your way home." The brief blessing ended. Paul stood directly behind the pope, his rosary gripped tightly. Even after feeding and lodging the three visitors for two days and bringing them here, his face remained tense. The metal around the black circle began glowing faintly, one piece at a time. The Vatican staff all withdrew half a step. Just as Kichan was about to move onto the circle, the air on one side of the room brightened.

The light hung apart from the wall. A human-sized figure gradually appeared above the stone floor. A strand of light brown hair fell in front of one ear. Near the top of a cream-colored wing, one feather stuck out sideways. Gaia. Kichan looked up.

"Not coming in person this time?" The corners of Gaia's mouth lifted briefly.

"I will wait in my own sector." Her gaze passed over Kichan, Riphiel, and Argaon in turn.

"Be careful." She folded her hands at her waist.

"I hope all goes well." Her image faded with those words. The Vatican officials could not look away from where she had vanished. Even the employee who had been near the black circle took another step back. The person inspecting the metal around its rim withdrew his gloved hands and set his tools on the floor. Someone spoke quietly.

"Do not touch anything else." The others nodded at once. The black circle glowed brighter. The air above it split. As the letters in the floor brightened, the inside of the circle lost its depth. Dark light filled the place where stone should have been. The metal pieces around the rim rang low. The portal opened. Kichan stepped onto the circle first. Riphiel stood to his left. One hand remained near her sword hilt; the other reached a little toward him. Argaon stood to his right.

He looked down into the portal with red eyes, then lowered his body. As the three took their places, the light around the black circle joined all at once. The Vatican staff moved farther back. Only Paul remained close. He held neither the schedule nor the meal plan he had carried constantly for two days. He had already passed the third basement level's key box to the priest beside him. The pope laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Well done." At those words, Paul's shoulders dropped. His stiff fingers loosened a little from the rosary. The portal's resonance grew louder. Paul tried to step back. But his legs, suddenly weak, did not follow at once. The foot meant to move backward caught the hem of his cassock. His body tilted to one side. The priest beside him reached out. Trying to catch that hand, Paul stepped the opposite way. His foot landed inside the black circle.

"Father?" Kichan turned. Paul was already falling forward. Riphiel caught his arm. She stopped the fall, but the only place she could pull him was onto the portal. Both his feet came inside the circle.

"Wait--" Someone shouted from behind. Light rose around the rim. The pope's hand hung in empty air. Clutching Riphiel's arm, Paul met Kichan's eyes. The deep wrinkles below his startled eyes stood out more sharply. Kichan asked,"Why did you get on?"

"I don't know either." The black circle closed. Kichan, Riphiel, Argaon, and Paul vanished together. Only the empty black circle remained on the third basement level. The lights around its edge went out one by one. Even after the last metal piece darkened, no one could speak. The priest who had tried to catch Paul stood frozen with his arm extended. The man holding the key box clutched it to his chest and stared at the circle. One cardinal opened his mouth, then closed it.

Another looked between the shut portal and the pope's empty hand.

"Father Paul..." Someone began. No one could finish. The hospitality coordinator had brought the three guests to the third basement level. Then disappeared with them. It had not been in the schedule or the entry list. No luggage had been prepared for Paul to take. Only his rosary had vanished with him from the edge of the circle. The Vatican officials' faces stiffened one by one. The pope looked down at the empty circle for a moment. Then lowered his hand.

"All God's will." Everyone looked at him. He offered no further explanation. The shoulders of the man holding the key box lowered first. The priest with his arm extended slowly withdrew it. A cardinal let out a long breath and crossed himself. Someone picked up the tools left on the floor. Someone else closed the open key box. Only the entry list bearing Paul's name remained on the table before the black circle.