Chương 144: S.05 Time to Fly 12(05)_The LAST of S.05

Scene 02_15. To Ji-young, who caught her breath having barely held her body upright, a benevolent and great stone statue passed a smile. It was a train station cast in sunlight. The time had passed well beyond afternoon. There was no telling how long she had held time still. The surroundings were not intact, but fortunately no one was dead. From the statue that moved smoothly, not a bit of stone dust fell. The great statue's face was half gone.

Just as the shattered bronze statue had looked, half the great statue's face too was gone. Leaving only its benevolent smile, it turned its body to leave the place. Countless buildings stood precarious, as if about to crumble. Ji-young raised her voice at the statue's back. Ji-young: Why. Do you leave me behind and go …. The Weeping of Retribution: I came to render punishment. Punishment rendered, no reason remains to linger. Belatedly, thicker blood poured from Ji-young's mouth.

Ji-young had reached her limit, yet without swaying in the slightest, she barely let out a stammering voice. Ji-young: You would … never turn your back … on me …. The giant statue, leaving its turned-away body as it was, cranked only its head the opposite way and glared at Ji-young. The benevolent smile did not fade in the slightest. The Weeping of Retribution: The three fragments have come to dwell. The one who shaped it so looked on. Having confirmed it, that is enough. What was to be shaped, was shaped.

That stray child gave me my answer. The statue smashed through buildings and opened a path onward. Ji-young struggled to barely hold together her dimming consciousness. There was work not yet finished. Straightening her bracelet again, she wiped away with her sleeve-cuff the blood that had ceaselessly leaked from her mouth. She barely set her pained body right. Ji-young laboriously gathered up the black wire strewn on the ground. When the blood began to stop, Ji-young carried on a swaying dance.

All the 괘(Gwae_Divinatory Trigram)s she had shaped sank down. After pinpointing the time to be turned back, she cast black light in reverse order of the Trigrams and turned back as much time as had to be turned. Ji-young plucked the strings of the wire and gnawed away at her own life by her own hand. The far side of time that did not touch life was not as strenuous a matter as she had thought. Keeping her consciousness, she laboriously picked out and revealed part of the buildings and part of the distorted time.

Ji-young's clothes and all the buildings were returning to their original forms. The black light of the Trigrams she formed with difficulty turned back only the time held within objects, then barely came to its end and faded away faintly. All the time she had held still cast its inherent false time. Ji-young sank limply to the ground and let the body she had struggled to hold up topple forward. Time slowly retraced itself.

As the cloudless time turned back and was about to change into a time neither afternoon nor morning, the sound of an engine broke the twisted stillness. A car pulled to a stop right beside the fallen Ji-young. A single leather shoe that stepped out from the car parked at the mouth of the narrow alley moved calm steps, then did not move, as if surveying the surroundings for a moment. The halted leather shoe moved again.

The shoe, headed toward Ji-young fallen right beside the car, pressed down firmly on the head of Ji-young, who had collapsed limply. After nudging the fallen Ji-young's head with the foot, and confirming once more that Ji-young could not move, the leather shoe moved again. With a practiced gesture, it snatched Ji-young's two wrists back and wound the 금줄(Geumjul_Ritual Taboo Rope to suppress power) about them.

It was when, having pulled off the 현사(Hyeon-sa_Black Wire) fastened at Ji-young's wrist and flung it to the ground, it forced Ji-young up to load her into the car. Strategist Song Hee-jin. As a criminal caught in the act of ordering The Oldest's assassination and abduction, here and now, in person, A grief-stricken voice came. The voice that came could carry on no further. It was a reality she did not wish to face. In her head she had been certain it would come, but in her heart it was a reality hard to bear.

At I-seon's wretched voice that called her, she let Ji-young, whom she had meant to drag off, fall back to the ground and conjured a blade from 먹(Meok_Ink). Hee-jin smiled. She lightly thrust the conjured blade into the nape of Ji-young's neck. Hee-jin: Whether you hand Kang Ji-young over to me, or whether I erase the memories and the existence of everyone tangled up in this, The blade conjured from the Ink, held in Hee-jin's hand, dug a little deeper into Ji-young's neck. Hee-jin: Choose.

Even at Hee-jin's cold mockery, the Directors of the three offices and the 별동대(Byeol-dong-dae_Special Task Force) surrounding Hee-jin gripped their 무구(Mu-gu_Ritual instrument)s and faced Hee-jin to the end. The one who wavered most was, of course, I-seon. A taut, cold, and sorrowful standoff carried on. Breaking the small wish of everyone who hoped it would just stop here, I-seon spoke quietly and deeply. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

I-seon: Right now, I really hate Kang Ji-young. It was not hatred. I-seon: If only, back then, young Ji-young hadn't helped you, then you, like this, wouldn't owe Ji-young a debt of — Hee-jin cut off I-seon's words. She neither affirmed nor denied. Hee-jin: Choose. I-seon: Saying you'd repay the debt, Hee-jin thrust the blade a little deeper into the neck of the unconscious Ji-young. The calm threat had, before long, become a great surge. Hee-jin: Choose! I-seon: You'd never have turned your back on us!!

It was stillness. Again, a deeply twisted stillness carried on. It was a stillness that lasted a long while. It was a stillness that passed very swiftly. After the stillness both short and long, I-seon slowly began to lower the 장봉(Jang-bong_long staff) she had aimed between Hee-jin's brows. From the start, the only one who had aimed between Hee-jin's brows was I-seon. Hee-jin, smiling without a word and keeping the blade aimed, forced Ji-young up and loaded her into the waiting car. Hee-jin left no words behind.

Everyone standing there conveyed no words either. And so Ji-young was simply abducted by Hee-jin. Only the 현사(Hyeon-sa_Black Wire) that Hee-jin had pulled off and flung down tumbled on the ground. Scene 03_01. So-hui sat calmly, having finished all her preparations to leave. After gauging the time that had turned back and the time that had retraced itself, she rose from her seat unburdened. All the miscellaneous writing that had densely filled the floor had vanished, leaving only one great current and direction.

On that paper only a single fork was recorded. So-hui's death and life divided into branching roads, extending to the road where a flower to bloom stood. The fork unfailingly led into one. It was where a flower would bloom. It was a state in which only death and life remained as the fork. Having risen, So-hui confirmed the fork and stepped out the front door impassively. Ji-min was seen rushing in hurriedly. So-hui took Ji-min's two arms as if embracing them. Ji-min: The Seer.

As if she had foreseen and known everything, So-hui did not listen to Ji-min's words to the end. The complexion of the panting Ji-min could not be good. So-hui, in a voice that had calmly set aside formality, persuaded Ji-min. So-hui: Ji-min. At So-hui's careful call, Ji-min caught her breath and answered So-hui, her same-age peer. Ji-min: Yeah …. So-hui: I have a favor to ask. At So-hui's calm request, Ji-min nodded without a moment's hesitation. Ji-min: Sure. I'll do anything for you.

I'll never forget till the day I die that it was you and Si-yeon who saved me, so just say it. What do you need me to do. So-hui, who carried on a somewhat deep deliberation, let out a small sigh and answered Ji-min. So-hui: This time, I'd like you to help me. Scene 03_02. It was before a great gate to the south, not far from So-hui's dwelling. After the original time had been buried, thanks to the sunlight that had risen high as if in falsehood, a warmth past early spring was felt. There was no clamor either.

Though she faced a deeply held hostility, she was certain that none of those showing hostility would dare move rashly. The great wooden gate opened with a sound. Through the gap of the reddish-brown lacquered door, So-hui stepped out, clad in a black 철릭(Cheollik_Traditional coat-dress) and a deep reddish-brown 두루마기(Durumagi_Traditional outer coat).

The 경호부(Gyeong-ho-bu_Guard Corps) personnel who held their positions as if to give not the slightest opening yielded the way for a moment to So-hui, who approached behind them. Letting out a small sigh, So-hui, with a somewhat stiffened expression, asked toward the front. So-hui: Are you all right? It was a question full of apology. Yeon-su, who received the question, nodded with difficulty and instead could not hide her own look of apology toward So-hui. She was barely standing.

Yeon-su, her two hands taken behind her and bound with the 금줄(Geumjul_Ritual Taboo Rope to suppress power), stood held by her own older brother, unable even to tend to the blood smeared on her. Around Yeon-su's slender neck floated the 검은 모래(Geomeun-morae_Black Sand) Yu-seok had spread. It lingered as if adrift, poised at Yeon-su's windpipe. Yu-seok asked flatly. Yu-seok: The seats of the king and the Strategist will be empty.

There was a request to seize even the remaining Strategist's role in full, so what will you do? So-hui: And if I refuse to go? Yu-seok: You will not be able to pull Yeon-hui out. Here, The Black Sand drifting around Yeon-su's neck shaped itself like a single needle and pierced Yeon-su's skin. Yeon-su, already wounded, showed no further sign of pain and only carried on her resentful silence toward Yu-seok and her apologetic gaze toward So-hui. Yu-seok: Because I will do away with The Oldest's Secret Agent.

So-hui lightly held a composed smile. As So-hui, as if no long words were needed, stepped a little further forward, the personnel who meant to guard her pressed forward a little more and tried to shield So-hui. So-hui set everyone's worry at ease. So-hui: It's all right. Through the Guard Corps people who withdrew with difficulty at So-hui's refusal, So-hui moved her 운혜(Unhye_Everyday traditional shoes) a little further and drew close to Yu-seok.

Casting a very small smile, So-hui held out her two slender wrists toward Yu-seok. Yu-seok, standing still, carried on much deliberation. He did not move rashly. So-hui: Long ago, my mother said something. Yu-seok wordlessly gazed for a moment only at So-hui's two slender wrists. So-hui: That the man called Doe Yu-seok is truly clever, sharp, and upright. And so, that he is fearful and has much he dreads.

And that because of it, to be the first to do away with an opponent who had done him no harm, he keeps driving Doe Yu-seok himself. She grieved over it. Yu-seok chewed over So-hui's words. He reckoned So-hui knew everything. He strove to grasp what she knew and what she meant to do. But at So-hui's voice, which conveyed in her stead the will of I-sim, who had already departed, Yu-seok could not but halt the thought he meant to chew over for a while.

Yu-seok, who did not continue his words for a moment, lifted his gaze and looked at So-hui. Yu-seok: What is it you mean to do? So-hui: Enlightenment. Yu-seok: What is it you wish to attain enlightenment on? So-hui: A bond. Yu-seok: Who must attain it? She did not answer that question. At the light smile and silence of So-hui, who still held out her two hands, Yu-seok withdrew for a moment the deliberation he had cast in his tension.

After nodding, he gripped and drew a 금줄(Geumjul_Ritual Taboo Rope to suppress power) from his coat pocket. As Yu-seok gripped the Ritual Taboo Rope, the 주술(Jusul_Sorcery) Yu-seok had cast on Yeon-su faded in an instant. But there was nothing Yeon-su, bound with the Ritual Taboo Rope, could do. Upon So-hui's two slender wrists as well, the Ritual Taboo Rope that Yu-seok held was laid.