Chương 108: S.05 Time to Fly 06(06)

Scene 04_01. Ji-young, seated together with the Directors, was lining up in the dining hall. Since the workday had ended, everyone was there in comfortable clothes. I-seon, who'd run in unable to bear her hunger, had already begun her meal at a table off in the distance. Belatedly, Hee-jin, Soo-a, and Eun-jae came into the hall and got their trays and spoons in order. It was a time with hardly any line. The staff leaving their seats after finishing their meals passed Ji-young a greeting as they went.

Seeming fairly used to it by now, the staff held their seats and carried on eating without fluster even at Ji-young's appearance. With one hand tucked into the 두루마기(Durumagi_Traditional outer coat) she'd thrown over her workout clothes, Ji-young gripped her tray, spoon, and chopsticks in one hand and stood slouched, waiting in line. Yeon-su spoke up from behind Ji-young. Yeon-su: Um — the Oldest. Ji-young: Hm? Yeon-su: Tomorrow, early morning — might I take a bit of time for a strictly personal errand?

Ji-young: Yeah. Sure. Go ahead. Ah! I'll wire you money, so grab that one game title that just dropped. Yeon-su: Actually, that's — that's exactly why I'm heading out. There's an offline event. Ji-young: Ha. Knew it. Takes an otaku to know an otaku. Yeon-su: Won't you come with me? At Yeon-su's cautious offer, Ji-young twitched the corner of her mouth and spread out a sigh-laced grumble. Ji-young: Hey. You can go out on my orders 'cause you're the Secret Agent, but I can't pull that off, can I?

Weekdays I'd catch flak and I'm too busy. So take lots of photos. Even better if you get me the producer's or a voice actor's autograph. Yeon-su: Understood. Ji-young stepped up to the serving counter and, pushing her tray along, took the same serving as everyone else. Ji-young: What's the meat dish for dinner today? Server 02: Ah, today it's braised saury. Ji-young: Ugh!! Fish!! No other meat dish? Server 01: Do you not like fish. Ji-young: Picking out the bones is a pain. Server 02: Ah, today's is canned.

You can eat it bones and all. Ji-young: Mm. Then. Can you give me one more piece. Sitting at a desk all day lately's left me run-down. The serving-counter staff set two more pieces onto Ji-young's tray. After dipping her head to offer a brief thanks, Ji-young took the dessert dish holding an apple, an apple muffin, and an apple chiffon, set it last on her tray, and left the line. Flopping down at some empty seat, she fixed her roughly let-down hair, then twisted her head this way and that as if stiff.

A rank-and-file staffer seated beside her gave Ji-young a greeting. Ji-young returned it warmly, then drummed teasingly on the presence collapsed facedown at the seat to her other side. Ji-young: Let's eat. Enough with the moping. Across from Ji-young, Yeon-su set down her dish and took a seat. Gyeong-seo, who'd been facedown, sprang up with an abrupt motion. Gyeong-seo: Haa. The Oldest. Ji-young: What. What is it. Gyeong-seo: No, how could I go dipping into even the Oldest's wages.

I'd sooner suck the liver out of a flea than pull a stunt like that. Ji-young: As if there's a flea pulling in that kind of money. You haven't touched a single grain of two months' wages. Gyeong-seo: I'll just take it as "buy your drinks with your own money" and hand the card back to you. Ji-young scooped up rice, took a big bite into her mouth, and went on, chewing. Ji-young: I've got no time to spend it so it just stacks up untouched, penny by penny — so go grab some decent liquor and stock it up.

Let's knock it back together. Belatedly catching on to Ji-young's grand intent, Gyeong-seo shot to her feet and bowed her head deeply. Gyeong-seo: Such a deep intent!! And I!! Was a fool!! Forgive me!! Ji-young: Right. Let's eat. Gyeong-seo: Then!! I!! Will get up first to carry out the Strategist's orders! Gyeong-seo took her empty dish and strode off briskly. Paying it no mind, Ji-young carried on her meal, watching Hee-jin, Soo-a, and Eun-jae approach Gyeong-seo's vacated seat.

Eun-jae: Why's Gyeong-seo so wound up like that? Yeon-su: 'Cause she doesn't have to buy her drinks out of her own pocket? Something like that? Soo-a: Ah. That's Gyeong-seo sis at her happiest, then. Yeon-su carefully called to Soo-a seated beside her. Yeon-su: Director of the Inspectorate. Soo-a: Yes. Yeon-su: Tomorrow — I got the okay to head out early in the morning to the offline release event. Is there a title you need, by any chance? Soo-a: Mm.

As for me, naturally, the one that just released — Soo-a checked Ji-young's face. Ji-young, a meaningful smile held wide on her lips, nodded. Ji-young: Everyone's been waiting for it, huh. Knew it. A masterpiece — everyone can spot one. Yeon-su: …. So just how many am I supposed to buy …. As if struck by a meaningful realization, Soo-a nodded along with Eun-jae. Ji-young, breaking off from rapidly emptying her dish, stared hard at Hee-jin's tray across from her. Ji-young: Haa. Hold on. But. Hee-jin: Yes?

Ji-young: What's this? What're you up to? Hee-jin: Yes? Wh — wh-what do you — Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Ji-young: There's nothing on your tray. Hee-jin: Ah, this is. As you saw earlier, the Oldest, I ate quite a lot of han-gwa with — Ji-young: Wow, really. You ate barely a bit of that with me. Hee-jin: The Oldest, I really do need to drop some weight. All that sitting at a desk has given me nothing but a gut. Ji-young: Ahh —! So!! I worked you to the bone!?

Kept you stuck at the desk?! And so you got nothing but a gut!?! Hee-jin: No, that — it's not like that. I-seon, who'd quickly finished her meal, passed behind Hee-jin and chimed in on Ji-young's words. I-seon: It's simply a lack of exercise. Belly fat can be removed only through exercise. At I-seon's words, tossed off in passing, Hee-jin shot her a brief glare. But I-seon, having already set her empty dish and tray on the bussing rack, was far too far away.

Ji-young: Ah, then you'll be running with me every evening. Our Strategist. Scene 04_02. With an incense burner lit, Hee-jin made to unfold a light dance before I-seon, Jeong-in, Soo-a, and Eun-jae. Slowly sweeping the two arms she'd raised calmly, she scattered the black smoke risen from the burner in every direction. Wherever the gestures of Hee-jin — ink held at her fingertips — moved, the smoke dispersed in all directions.

As the night deepened by degrees, the Director-level personnel seated in comfortable dress, along with Gyeong-seo, watched Hee-jin's incense burner and the smoke rising from it, and the ink risen from Hee-jin's white fingertips. The black smoke spread, scattering, toward wherever her gestures pointed. The long-raised gestures and the burner's black smoke filled the surroundings. Eun-jae, watching the entranced Soo-a as if it were a marvel, turned her head back to Hee-jin.

Wrapping up the light dance, Hee-jin lowered her hands calmly and settled all the smoke she'd raised back down. Realizing the brief distortion that had been gathered up along with Hee-jin's gestures, each person burst and gripped their own 유물(Yumul_Relic) in hand, took measures so no distorted memory would remain, and then offered, one by one, their impressions of what they'd seen. Eun-jae: Going by how I'm fine, it seems only the living get affected.

Hee-jin capped the incense burner, snuffing out all the smoke, then waved off the remaining smoke with her hand. I-seon: Mm. It'd definitely be handy for body-arts adepts like me. Aside from time distortion, there are times you need it. Seems useful enough. Gyeong-seo: How's everyone? Anything like a headache, anything like that? Jeong-in shook her head. Hee-jin: It's still the testing stage. I didn't push the depth in myself, either. We can't break the Code, after all.

I only showed how it works, but — is it no good? Soo-a: No. It's not that, but — definitely, how should I say. Mm. It'd be a bit tough to hide even the physical things we break and such, wouldn't it. I-seon: Fair. It can't just affect the living. Not unless it tricks them into thinking the original surroundings were that way all along.

Hee-jin opened the burner's lid, confirmed everything inside was snuffed out, set the burner down in a corner, and came back to the center of the training ground, continuing to speak. Hee-jin: That was the clue. The Former Oldest told me about it. Long ago, walking along the road, she saw a pedestrian overpass that had vanished, and the Former Oldest said it seemed to have been there just the other day, while Chae-rim said it had disappeared last year.

Building on that — what if we help along a slight injection into everyone around the people involved in an incident? Then couldn't we do our work well enough without touching time at all? That's what the Oldest mentioned, and it became the clue. I-seon: Mm. So the subject of the distorted memory would be the caster who worked the Sorcery. Hee-jin: Right. Gyeong-seo: Ah, but — we still haven't tested the really important part. Ji-young: What, why, what.

What picked up Gyeong-seo's light muttering was the joke-laced, needling tone of Ji-young, who'd barged into the training ground. As Ji-young slid off the coat she wore, Chae-rim, stationed beside her, took it. Every Director who'd been seated chatting cozily rose to their feet. Ji-young waved a hand and waved off the courtesy directed at her. Ji-young: You figured I'd order you to test it and then just go sleep in my room? At the twitch of Ji-young's lips, Gyeong-seo gave a throat-clearing and shook her head.

To Chae-rim, who'd taken her clothes, Ji-young made a slight gesture, signaling for her to put distance between them. Chae-rim, along with Hee-jin and all the Directors, edged their bodies a little further off. The only one left at Ji-young's side was Gyeong-seo, who, on Ji-young's orders, had crafted the smoke inside the incense burner. Ji-young: The Strategist and the Martial Director warned me again and again that you'd get sick if you took the reagent carelessly.

Slowly preparing her dance, Ji-young tossed Gyeong-seo a light reproach. Gyeong-seo, stationed not far in front of Ji-young, twitched her lips and stole a glance at Hee-jin and I-seon. Hee-jin and I-seon looked off elsewhere as if whistling away, dodging Gyeong-seo's twitching lips. Gyeong-seo: The Oldest. This time you can trust me. Besides, this isn't something you eat. Since I'll be the one taking on all the smoke, there's no need to worry.

At the end of Gyeong-seo's words, Ji-young showed the faint smile she'd let settle and nodded. Ji-young's form had taken on the 태평무(Tae-pyeong-mu_Dance of Great Peace). A still, cool wind passed grazing the wide dirt path of the training ground. Ji-young softly closed her eyes. With her arms carefully spread, she gave only her wrists a light shake, and the black bracelet wound at her wrist rang out a clear sound and streamed out in every direction in an instant. Ji-young's dance unfolded in brief.

Spreading the 비정돋음새(Bi-jeong-dodeum-sae_Tiptoe-Rising Step) of the Dance of Great Peace, she drew the whole of the black wire rippling in all directions into her own arm. The sharp blades of black wire sliced one of Ji-young's arms in an instant. Countless light wounds formed on Ji-young's arm, drawing out her red blood. It stung, but it didn't recoil. The dance that followed cinched the black wire flung from the bracelet tighter still.

Ji-young's wounds, which had been closing, kept tearing open and closing again without managing to heal. The red blood quickly faded black. Unfolding the rest of her dance, Ji-young raised a 삼도천(Samdo-cheon_River of the Dead) of a hair-raising degree. As if she'd been waiting, Gyeong-seo struck hard at her own chest with a fist. A sound of something shattering came from within, and white smoke wreathed around Gyeong-seo's body.

The water-current of the River of the Dead Ji-young had raised shoved fiercely at Gyeong-seo's body. Falling back a couple of steps as if staggering, Gyeong-seo — to try and block the River of the Dead shaped from Ji-young's hand first — took on the 앞발태(Ap-bal-tae_Forefoot Stance) of the 거북춤(Geo-buk-chum_Turtle Dance) and, like a turtle churning seawater in an instant, lunged toward Ji-young.

The black water-channel shaped like a 장삼포(Jangsampho_Korean Traditional long ceremonial robe) from Ji-young's arm was caught in Gyeong-seo's hand. Gyeong-seo's form, holding the white smoke, sat as if interwoven with Ji-young's Dance of Great Peace, facing the River of the Dead Ji-young was raising. Everyone only watched the two's dance in silence.

Carefully deflecting Gyeong-seo's hand as if letting it slip past, Ji-young reworked the footwork of the Dance of Great Peace into the 양반사위(Yang-ban-sa-wi_Nobleman's Movement). Just as Ji-young's black River of the Dead made to sweep in around Gyeong-seo as if showing the 터벌림(Teo-beol-lim_Ground-Sweeping Finale) with both arms, Ji-young thrust both arms upright and reined the rising River of the Dead to a standstill in an instant.

The amount of white smoke being shaped from Gyeong-seo's breast was growing thinner and thinner. Driving back the River of the Dead in an instant and even gathering in the black wire that had wound her arm, Ji-young looked with a smile at Gyeong-seo, who'd likewise brought her dance to a halt. Gyeong-seo's breath felt a touch labored, but — unlike usual, and unlike someone who'd taken the River of the Dead over her whole body — she stood there perfectly fine. Ji-young: Works well, huh?

At Ji-young's banter, Gyeong-seo quickly fixed her tense expression and broke into a bashful smile. Folding her two hands neatly, Gyeong-seo answered with a bow as if it were nothing and bent deeply at the waist to Ji-young. The flesh Ji-young had cut had all returned to its original form. Only the cloth of her sleeve, gone to rags, flapped limply. When Ji-young reached out toward Chae-rim, Chae-rim came over and handed Ji-young the coat she'd been holding.

Gyeong-seo: Since the Oldest said she'd treat us to drinks, I simply gave it my all. Ji-young: Good work. Mun Gyeong-seo. The coat thrown on quickly covered Ji-young's tattered sleeve. Ji-young: But — isn't that a bit shorter than I'd thought? Gyeong-seo: Since it's for the trial, I didn't bring much. But as you said, with the present amount — Gyeong-seo rummaged in the inner pocket of her top and drew out an incense burner about the size of a palm. She handed Ji-young the burner, shaped like a flat compact.

Examining for a moment the portable burner Gyeong-seo had handed her, Ji-young heard out the rest of Gyeong-seo's explanation. Gyeong-seo: One simple burner runs about fifteen minutes at most. So given the bulk, I figure the maximum number that can be carried inside the clothes is three — and I mean to recommend dividing their use into roughly fifteen minutes for advance, fifteen for suppression, and fifteen for securing a retreat.

Having heard Gyeong-seo's calm explanation, Ji-young nodded and handed the burner in her hand back to Gyeong-seo. Ji-young: What's the gist of how it works? Gyeong-seo: In the end, living or dead, anything that strays from the natural order is, in the end, Sorcery. The suppressive force in our Sealed Sanctum — the distorted Black Water, that is — loses its effect the moment it leaves its designated place or the one who cast it. The same goes for my own suppressive force, my Relic, the hemp cloth.

The Ritual Taboo Rope I shape from a mold is the two of them combined. I've merged them so they won't physically fade. The smoke the Strategist raised earlier, with the Strategist's Sorcery added in, specializes in hiding our existence within memory when we carry out work in the secular world; and the smoke just now that blocks the Oldest's River of the Dead is— Before going on, Gyeong-seo glanced around for a moment.

Since these were all people who knew Si-yeon's true nature, Gyeong-seo picked the halted words back up. Gyeong-seo: I asked Si-yeon and added Si-yeon's River of the Dead into it. In the end, I designed it so River of the Dead and River of the Dead collide and neutralize each other. The River of the Dead we're made to raise as smoke is rendered powerless by the hemp cloth and the distorted Black Water, but it can stand up to any incoming River of the Dead all the same.

Ji-young: Ah, so it's basically like a vaccine made with dead germs. Gyeong-seo: Precisely. Ji-young: That River of the Dead — no problem if I make it mine, right? Gyeong-seo: All River of the Dead is the same. Only the Envoy's Legion under the Envoy is set apart, differing slightly only in color; the River of the Dead the Oldest holds, the one Lee Si-yeon holds, are one and the same, no different — the deepest death no one can encroach upon. After hearing Gyeong-seo's long explanation, Ji-young nodded.

Ji-young took off her coat again and handed it to Chae-rim. Ji-young: I'll pull it out right now. Gyeong-seo looked at Ji-young with feigned-startled eyes. Before anyone had even the moment to stop her, black veins rose around Ji-young's eyes and dyed her eyes black in an instant. Ji-young: I want the living to stop being yanked around any further. By deaths as paltry as those. Scene 04_03. The sound of Ji-young's snoring rang out in all directions.

As if she'd overexerted and wrung out her strength, deep in the night, from Ji-young's quarters only her grotesque, booming snore came bursting out as if pouring. Hee-jin and Chae-rim, come out from Ji-young's quarters, approached everyone who'd been waiting in the yard. Hee-jin: Where's Gyeong-seo? In case Ji-young might wake, Hee-jin, who'd put the question to everyone in a somewhat lowered voice, sloppily crammed on the comfortable sneakers she'd set on the 댓돌(Dat-dol_Stepping stone).

As Hee-jin stepped down from the stepping stone, Chae-rim, beside her, hid her own presence in an instant. Jeong-in: She headed off to her lab without a peep of complaint. I-seon: Wrung out hard enough to leave the Oldest sprawled out like that — she's in no position to grumble. All the Directors and Hee-jin moved off, crossing the yard of Ji-young's quarters. Only after they'd passed beyond the front gate could they raise their voices as usual.

Hee-jin: But why was everyone standing around instead of going to sleep? Jeong-in: I know she thinks of us a great deal, but if she keels over like that the gap would be huge too, so I've been a little worried since yesterday. I mean, I never thought she'd finish the entire planned budget through this year's third quarter. So we kept watch. In case something went wrong, ready to fetch the physician at once. Everyone moved off slowly. Hearing Jeong-in's meaning, Hee-jin nodded slowly.

Suddenly, I-seon, along with a deep deliberation, let a worry slip out. I-seon: We're not actually going to end up facing off against the Oldest at the Rites of the Wager at the Beginning, are we …? I really hate that …. Hee-jin: One thing's for certain. Hee-jin gave a light laugh. Hee-jin: I'll always stand for the Oldest. Just as the role I've taken on. After hearing Hee-jin's firm voice, no one carried on speaking. Jeong-in quickened her steps a bit and stepped to the front of the group.

Jeong-in: I guess I'm still in my growth spurt. I'm hungry. I-seon sis, I'll borrow the training ground's little kitchenette. Jeong-in hooked her arm through Hee-jin's sleeve, snatching her so Hee-jin couldn't escape. Eun-jae and Soo-a followed behind Jeong-in. Caught off guard, Hee-jin was dragged along by Jeong-in's pulling hand, all but hauled as she peeled off her steps. Eun-jae: Making ramyeon? Hee-jin's cooking it? That stuff was good. The bean-ramyeon, or whatever it was.

Hee-jin: Ah-ni, what is this — you've all left it to me??? I-seon: Hey, Yoo Jeong-in. When I said I'd cook it, you threw a Jiral about not eating it — so why are you only badgering Hee-jin?? Jeong-in: Ah! That wasn't the taste. And I-seon sis, your ramyeon goes all bloated and mushy, it's no good. So come on, hurry. Cook it for me. As if she still had something left undone, Hee-jin was being dragged along — but Hee-jin didn't pull back the steps she'd set out on, either.

She glanced back to check Ji-young's quarters, but today she didn't bother to turn around and go back in. The night at the tail end of the boisterous day was tilting away too, like chatter fading into the distance.