Chương 142: S.05 Time to Fly 12(03)_The LAST of S.05

Scene 02_05. It was a bow Ji-young offered with her waist bent deep. Ji-young did not release her prostrate posture on the ground. The great stone statue, looking silently down at Ji-young, left the debris falling from its cracked surface be. From the statue's fragments that fell in all directions, blazing 독각귀(Dok-gak-gwi_One-legged Specter)s and 그슨대(Geu-seun-dae_Shadow Fiend)s were conjured without number. Scene 02_06.

Toward the living, trapped and helplessly frozen within the time Ji-young had halted, the conjured 독각귀(Dok-gak-gwi_One-legged Specter)s and 그슨대(Geu-seun-dae_Shadow Fiend)s charged without restraint. As they moved to covet the breath of life held within the frozen time, a 장봉(Jang-bong_long staff) flew in and burst a One-legged Specter's head. I-seon: The Martial Hall Special Task Force! We surrender not a single breath to them!! The numbers were absurdly insufficient. But the foe was no ordinary underworld thing.

They were demons of the world of the dead that craved existence and even bore identity. They were not beings that could be held back at a level below the Special Task Force. Knowing this they had brought only the Special Task Force, yet the numbers to be faced were far too many. Far too many, and still they swelled without cease, more numberless yet. Scene 02_07. Eun-jae, gripping blue 인불(In-bul_Ghost Light) in one hand, swung the 도깨비방망이(Dokkaebi-bang-mang-i_Goblin's Club) in her other hand without pause.

A 독각귀(Dok-gak-gwi_One-legged Specter), its head crushed with a dull sound, bared its teeth as if thrashing and lunged at Eun-jae. Eun-jae jammed the blue Ghost Light into the One-legged Specter's mouth and set off the flame. Beyond the One-legged Specter that left not even a fragment, thousands of One-legged Specters just beginning to take shape drooled and rolled their single eyes this way and that, glaring at the frozen life. Scene 02_08.

One member of the 감사원(Gam-sa-won_The Inspectorate) 별동대(Byeol-dong-dae_Special Task Force), pierced by the countless single horns of the 독각귀(Dok-gak-gwi_One-legged Specter)s, sprayed blood and collapsed. When Soo-a clashed the ritual knives in both her hands and spread the sound, the One-legged Specters all around struggled to cover their ears with one hand. The heads that shuddered at the sound burst all at once and spilled debris in all directions.

Soo-a hurried over and quickly fed 잿가루(Jaet-garu_Grey Ash) to the fallen member of the Special Task Force. Terrible pain rushed in, but the pierced wound soon began to subside. Soo-a, who had propped up the fallen one, looked up briefly at the black rainwater. There was no sign of it ending. Scene 02_09. All the black clouds conjured thicker overhead swelled as if bloating, then contracted all at once.

After a silence close to stillness, the contracted black clouds formed into a small point and then spat out, as if bursting, a great swarm of 어둑시니(Eo-duk-si-ni_Dusk Fiend)s. Si-yeon and Jeong-in, beneath the clouds, rather held a sneer. Si-yeon: Right? Jeong-in: Yes! Si-yeon gripped her blade as if hiding it behind her and shut her eyes tight, then opened them. Black veins filled Si-yeon's once-clear eyes brimful with black water. Black tears that could not be held slid down Si-yeon's cheeks.

Si-yeon raised her free hand, the one not holding the blade, toward a house-sized 어둑시니(Eo-duk-si-ni_Dusk Fiend) that was about to fly in over the watchtower. Si-yeon: I'm sick of it, so get lost. Would you. Over the black water that had rippled as if devouring all around and filled the floor, a black waterway that burst out all at once, centered on Si-yeon, overflowed. Scene 02_10. Ji-young did not hurry.

Still in her prostrate bow, she waited for the mouth of the 화마(Hwa-ma_The Weeping of Immolation), which loomed vast before her, to open. At the end of Ji-young's wait, the statue's benevolent mouth opened cruelly. The Weeping of Immolation: Dost thou know what it is I seek? The underworld things that had seized an entire district whole thrashed in all directions to take life. Three squads of the 별동대(Byeol-dong-dae_Special Task Force) held them back, if only with difficulty.

Along every narrow and wide junction, the corpses of 독각귀(Dok-gak-gwi_One-legged Specter)s and 그슨대(Geu-seun-dae_Shadow Fiend)s lay in rows, and over them overflowed black blood that had not yet settled. Over that, black death conjured from the black rainwater swelled in an instant, to deliver a greater death to all who stood against such death. It was something no ordinary person had ever undergone or heard of. A strange scent of wood filled the wet rain dankly.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Ji-young: It is me. The Weeping of Immolation: The Key. Ji-young: That is what I am. The Weeping of Immolation: How is it that thou art alive? Ji-young: Because it is the rightful due of the living. The Weeping of Immolation: Dost thou wish all to die, and thou alone to live? Ji-young: I will kill no one, and I will leave no one to die. The Weeping of Immolation: To exist is to be unable to exist. Ji-young: To shatter is to carry on.

At Ji-young's resolute courtesy, the Weeping of Immolation bent its body a little more and shifted its posture as if crouching down. With each movement it dropped stone dust to the ground and conjured underworld things in ever more countless numbers. The conjured underworld things did not yet turn toward Ji-young. The Weeping of Immolation cast a vast, benevolent, and calm smile. The Weeping of Immolation: I shall gather thee up, and carry on. Only then did Ji-young slowly raise her bowed head.

Straightening even her waist as she sat, Ji-young lifted her head further and looked straight up at the statue that mocked her benevolently. Ji-young: If you can do it, then do it. I will do nothing, here and now. Ji-young was smiling. The Weeping of Immolation's face cast its twisted benevolence a little deeper. The Weeping of Immolation: Wilt thou not even struggle? Ji-young: No. The Weeping of Immolation, keeping its benevolent smile, twisted its head as if it creaked.

It passed its deeply cast question to Ji-young with a benevolent tilt of the head. Ji-young smiled brightly. Ji-young: Because you, now, will be nothing at all. Scene 02_11. Yu-seok, having bound Yeon-su with the 금줄(Geumjul_Ritual Taboo Rope to suppress power), roughly threw her into the back seat of the jeep he had come in. Turning back again, he glanced at the place from which he had dragged Yeon-su.

As if the last of the strength of one who had reached out a hand to live somehow had come to its end, the trembling fingertips stopped. Seeing that, Yu-seok quietly held a great sneer at the corner of his mouth. Scene 02_12. Punishment, I shall render. It was a great reverberation. Every one of the 본청(Bon-cheong_Headquarters) personnel across the area, who had not wavered in the slightest at any terror, halted every motion of fending off death and hurriedly turned toward where the reverberation came from.

In its eight arms were held all manner of instruments of execution. Ghastly instruments of slaughter, conjured from 검은 물(Geomeun-mul_Black Water). A stone statue holding a smile more benevolent than any other statue surged up, gushing out as if bursting, spilling black water. It was not only the Headquarters personnel who halted.

Every underworld thing that had been resisting also silently beheld that force and, unable to covet life any longer, froze all its craving in an instant and trembled, crushed under a deep terror. A stone statue even larger than the statue in which the Weeping of Immolation had incarnated was conjured, tearing through the black water. After trampling the Weeping of Immolation to the ground underfoot, it jammed all eight instruments of execution in at once and burst the statue. The Weeping of Retribution: Only I.

May gather life with mine own hand. Only I may carry out the sentence. Only I, The Weeping of Immolation's words could not even leak out. It was being shattered and hacked to pieces, ghastly beyond measure. The black waterway the Weeping of Retribution had led in swallowed the area in a flash and swept up every underworld thing the Weeping of Immolation had conjured. The Weeping of Retribution: The living, the living Key, I may gather.

The Weeping of Retribution, having hacked the whole incarnated statue of the Weeping of Immolation to pieces and left not even dust, seized the Weeping of Immolation's tattered head and opened its benevolent lips wide, as if tearing them. Still wearing the Weeping of Immolation's benevolent smile, its stiffened and faded head wedged in between the Weeping of Retribution's torn-open mouth. A great whistling boom rang as if bursting. It was the sound of the statue's head being smashed.

The Weeping of Retribution, crunching and devouring the stone, lowered its head with a very gentle motion, black water dribbling from the corner of its mouth. It looked down benevolently at Ji-young, who had been looking straight up at it. Only now, with a somewhat stiffened expression, Ji-young offered her bow again. Ji-young: I pay my respects to you, Envoy's Legion of the Weeping of Retribution. Ji-young withdrew the bow she had calmly offered and carefully rose to her feet.

As if the poisoning she had carried for days had all but consumed her whole body, even standing was not easy on her limping thigh. But her stiffened expression had turned calm. Looking straight up at the Weeping of Retribution as it smiled benevolently, Ji-young too held a soft smile. The Weeping of Retribution, gazing at Ji-young's smile, lowered its greater body further. It sent a soft, gentle voice so that Ji-young could hear. The Weeping of Retribution: I shall gather breath with mine own hand. Only I can.

It is I alone who doth it. Only I, who laid the curse upon thee all, may carry the curse onward. Ji-young: I will exist to stop it. I will remain to sever your chains. The Weeping of Retribution: It is thy disgrace, lower than the lowliest creature. It is the curse of victory that I did deliver. If thou hast taken in the victor, then accept thy death. That is thy role.

Ji-young: You may have cursed because you were defeated unjustly, but I, and we, coveted neither that paltry, paltry seat of the victor, nor the worthless seat of the loser who could not win even a paltry victory. I ask that you not lay upon the living a curse born of your petty, trifling wager. I do not exist in order to die. Though it be a life that inevitably holds death within it, my mother bade me live even one moment more fiercely and happily, and she guarded my life. I live bearing a debt.

Until I repay it, I will never die. Your ravings gathered up my mother's people. They left a debt upon my mother and departed. They stole my mother's love and life. I have taken on that entire debt. Never will I, Ji-young's calm and composed fury paused for a moment. Many thoughts followed. Her head grew tangled to the point of bursting with the things she wished to say. In the black rainwater that no longer fell, clear tears leaked from Ji-young's eyes.

Ji-young, who poured everything into the tears she shed and let them flow away, calmed her tangled heart in an instant. Ji-young: I will not be defeated by you. I will send away no one who cares for me from my side, and I will guard my life to the very end, and Ji-young's demure resolve, holding a smile, carried on courteously and brightly. Ji-young: I will shatter this entire curse, without fail. The Weeping of Retribution's mouth opened deeper at the corners, revealing a gentleness that was almost ghastly.

To Ji-young, who stood upright, the Weeping of Retribution opened its mouth wide and slowly cast its black maw down. Ji-young did not evade it, and let the Weeping of Retribution's mouth swallow her body. The Weeping of Retribution's great mouth swallowed Ji-young whole.