Chương 24: S.04 Memory of the Clock 05(03)

Scene 08_01. FLASHBACK The Real Number (眞數) — A path that came to be walked. Seo-a, as if having noticed someone trying to enter from outside, as if already knowing who it was, with a slightly more hurried gesture, tried to drag the still not-fully-drawn-out body of hers the rest of the way out. Ji-young, covered in blood, came in. Seo-a, through the door that sat beyond her back, felt someone coming in in haste. She felt the presence of Ji-young delivering a composed voice, but Seo-a did not turn to look back.

Ji-young: Stop it. Please. I'm asking you. At the troubled voice of Ji-young who had stepped inside, Seo-a did not answer. With a frantic motion, she helped Seo-a, who had been trying to break free from the mountain of corpses. As though to drag Seo-a outside, propping up both arms, she pulled hard from behind. Once outside, Seo-a, to the very end, did not look at whoever had stood behind her.

Rather, she looked powerlessly at Yeon-hui — seated before her, dying, in 한복(Hanbok_Korean Traditional Dress) — and envied her. Seo-a: This person. Must be glad. That you're always there to help her. Seo-a, in a powerless voice, watched the thin breath of Yeon-hui, tied to the chair. Ji-young: I — I told you I would help you all. I'll help you. It's not too late, even now. Seo-a: It's already too late. I, decided to be too late. Seo-a did not move a fingertip.

Ji-young, who had rushed in to persuade her, did not move to guard herself against Seo-a either. Ji-young, who had been persuading Seo-a from behind her, took a hurried step past Seo-a's side and tended to Yeon-hui, bound to the chair. With a simple motion, she tore away with ease the blood-stained burlap sack that had been covering Yeon-hui's face.

After removing the white cloth set between her lips as well, she severed with the fallen knife the Ritual Taboo Rope bound around the wrists and ankles of the unconscious Yeon-hui. Ji-young carefully lowered the Yeon-hui she had set in the chair down to the floor, and took her into her arms. Yeon-hui was just barely carrying on a thin breath. Between powerlessly parted lips, dried blood had stiffened. Yeon-hui, just barely going on breathing. Ji-young took 잿가루(Jaet-garu_Grey Ash) out of her own pocket.

Carefully cradling Yeon-hui in her arms, she fed the ashen powder into Yeon-hui's full lips, as if pouring it in. After pouring all of the ashen powder she had held in her hand into Yeon-hui's lips, she supported the Yeon-hui whose wounds had begun to settle, to the very end, and laid her down briefly on the floor. Ji-young, with a troubled step, walked over to stand before Seo-a. Seo-a glanced up at Ji-young, who stood tall before her.

Seo-a's gaze, which had been full of unsure eyes, could not properly make out Ji-young's form, like a flickering indoor light. Ji-young, to the very end, did not grow angry. Ji-young gently took hold of both of Seo-a's arms as if cradling them, and moved to encourage Seo-a. Before Ji-young's voice could come out, Seo-a, in a slow voice, spoke to Ji-young. Seo-a: You have to choose. Whether that woman, or me. Ji-young, after hearing Seo-a's words, belatedly checked Seo-a's hand. Seo-a: She'll die soon.

Seo-a lifted the knife that had pierced her own stomach, and showed it to Ji-young. A purple liquid was still coating the knife. In haste she turned her head and checked on Yeon-hui, whom she had laid on the floor. Something of a deep purple color, riding along the veins, began to spread through her whole body along with the pulse that had slowly begun to return. At the Grey Ash, her heart belatedly began to beat properly, and the Yeon-hui lying on the floor rather began to die.

In time with the pulse that had started beating again, the poison began to spread. The skin of Yeon-hui, lying on the floor, was gradually fading darker. Ji-young, her judgment paralyzed, urgently looked at Seo-a, but Seo-a, smiling for the first time, drew her own arms back out of Ji-young's hold. Seo-a: That person, and you. I believe the word that you would help me. Just as you did. I believe it. Seo-a took a slow step, and walked out through the door Ji-young had come through.

Seo-a, to the end, did not leave a word of thanks. It was a short stillness. In the empty space Seo-a had left, only a clammy air remained. It was a damp basement. Only the chilled corpses gone cold, Yeon-hui — whose flesh was beginning to rot as if dying — and Ji-young, who had had no choice but to let Seo-a go. The cruelty that the flickering overhead light intermittently illuminated did not end with blood and flesh.

Holding Yeon-hui in her arms, as if blaming herself, Ji-young was pressing down the anger rushing up from deep within. She bit her own full lip, then with a light sweep shook out her hand as though scattering. The black bracelet on Ji-young's left wrist split finely with a clear sound, scattering fine wires in every direction. She began to help Yeon-hui, whose skin had begun to scorch black as she lay collapsed on the floor.

Though she straightened her tangled hair and drew her clothing properly together, the Yeon-hui held in Ji-young's arms only let out a breath growing ever fainter, and did not seem to have the presence of mind even to push back the poison that was dyeing her skin purple. Picking up the knife handle that had fallen to the floor, she cut away a portion of Yeon-hui's sleeve. It seemed the blade had pierced deeper than she had thought.

Ji-young, cradling the Yeon-hui dying in purple, shook her own wrist one more time, lightly. The black wires split finer still, to the point of no longer being visible. The tips of the wires drove into Yeon-hui's unconscious arms and legs. Feeling the pain belatedly, Yeon-hui, held in Ji-young's arms, flinched.

As if to draw every bit of the poison out by wire, the wires that had burrowed into the skin of Yeon-hui — who had been just barely drawing breath without consciousness — danced through her flesh along the blood vessels, wild and thorough. From the unconscious Yeon-hui's mouth, a dark red blood began to flow out. When Ji-young pulled the wires that had been rummaging through her skin out with force, the purple poison that had been set within the flesh gushed out all at once.

The blue-pale complexion gradually began to settle back. A little further off, from the lower body of someone who had been left sprawled — only flesh remaining — a phone rang. After laying Yeon-hui — who had not yet regained consciousness — down carefully, Ji-young returned the scattering wires to the bracelet. Walking toward the phone, Ji-young turned out the pocket of the person whose lower body alone remained, and pulled out the blood-smeared phone. Yu-seok: Took you long to pick up.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Ji-young: Because every last one is dead. Scene 08_02. FLASHBACK Placing the phone on the floor, she crushed it roughly under the heel of her shoe. When the Yeon-hui who had been unconscious raised her body with effort, Ji-young, who had been standing, moved in haste toward Yeon-hui.

As if she could not stay here long, she stepped a little closer to the Yeon-hui who had come to, but Yeon-hui, as though frightened even of the approaching Ji-young, strained to move her uncomfortable body and tried to keep as far as she could from Ji-young. With a mask pulled on and a hat pulled down low, covered in someone else's blood, Ji-young could well have looked suspicious.

Yeon-hui, who had regained at least a faint consciousness, with a frightened expression still intact, slowly looked at Ji-young — the one who had extended her hand to tend to her. Ji-young did not speak. From beyond her hazy consciousness, the memory of someone's help abruptly came back. It was exactly the same figure as the one whose help she had been receiving from some time ago. After looking at Ji-young, she belatedly drew a sorry look across her face. Yeon-hui: I, I'm sorry.

Ji-young did not make much of Yeon-hui's flustered look. Yeon-hui, who had just barely escaped from the poisoning, closed with a brief greeting and lost consciousness again. It would not do to leave Yeon-hui like this. Ji-young, in haste, scooped Yeon-hui up into her arms and quickly left the place. Scene 09. FLASHBACK Ji-young was sleeping sprawled out on the weekend. Ji-young, who had been sleeping face-down on the sofa in a complete mess, could not quite get up even at the sound of the passcode being punched in.

I-sim, having done a full grocery run and set the heavy bags down at the front entrance, called out to Ji-young, who was snoring while face-down asleep. I-sim: Eldest. Help Mom with the bags. Ji-young raised her body reflexively. Her long hair was splayed out like a snake's coil, but paying it no mind, she padded along barefoot and, eyes half-closed, made her way to the front door and began bringing I-sim's bags inside. I-sim: Aigo, this child — what is that hair doing, looking like that. Ji-young: Awwww.

So sleepy. I only got up because Mom told me to help, I'm going back to sleep. I-sim: Sunday lunch is long past. Wake yourself up properly. And don't be late to work again on Monday. Ji-young: If I'm late, tell them to just fire me. Why do they keep hanging onto me. Me. I-sim: These days, kids your age, I heard getting a job is hard too, so you should be grateful. Get those eyes open. So you can help Mom tidy up the side dishes too.

Ji-young, grumbling all the while, brought all of I-sim's bags inside, and then tied her long, splayed-out hair with the rubber band that had been on her wrist. A loose set of workout clothes fluttered about. Ji-young, in a short-sleeved tee whose neckline had stretched out as far as it could go, without even wiping the sleep from her eyes, began rinsing the vegetables I-sim had been stacking up at the sink.

While brushing dust from the vegetables with cold water, Ji-young wiped her sniffling nose roughly with her forearm. Ji-young: If anyone saw Mom and me talking, they probably wouldn't believe it. I-sim: Believe what? Ji-young: That we're people doing insane things. I-sim: Insane things, what do you mean insane things. We just live with a somewhat unusual line of work as our lot. Ji-young: Not "somewhat." Madam Jeon. How is this "somewhat." I-sim: Don't throw away too much of the lettuce outer leaves.

They're fine if you just wash them well. Besides, we're going to boil the outer ones and eat them anyway. Ji-young and I-sim stood side by side at the sink, tending to vegetables and fruit. The heavy stream of tap water splashed onto Ji-young's face, but she paid it no mind, quietly cleaning everything as instructed. Ji-young: Mom, you saw too — that kid Si-yeon. She really is identical. Like So-hui and the person named Yeon-hui.

Back when I first met Yeon-hui, I was wondering why on earth So-hui had done her makeup so light that day. At Ji-young's drifting remark, I-sim let out a smile. I-sim: That's why all of you are my daughters. Ji-young: A little, how should I put it. I also felt sorry. The first time, when I got So-hui's call and went out to get the ingredients for the seafood stew, I briefly saw her sleeping face.

But that kid, even while carrying the same self I do in every way, has lived through a far harder time than I have, they say. Were So-hui and Yeon-hui the same way? I-sim: A person's time, no matter how identically the lot is woven, is in the end divided by that person's choices. Even if they are mirrors in appearance, the choices each made built their current paths. Even if only grievous options were set before them, they would have tried to make the better choice within those.

Ji-young: So then, Mom, you don't believe in the path? I-sim: That there is such a thing as a path, I believe. That is why I have been able to live happily with my daughters. But the choices have always been my own. That has not changed, and will not change. Just because So-hui made a choice, not everyone ends up following that path. When the countless forked roads shape each person's choices, So-hui reads those forks and tells you. Ji-young: It'll shift constantly, then.

I-sim: Because there is never just a single road laid out. Forks will always appear, and the choices at the forks will always be made. So-hui sees just beyond the choices at the forks, but even that is not far. Still, she surely saw it. That at the end of all those countless forks, under any circumstance, the world does not overturn. Ji-young: And the Guide who was there before So-hui, she saw it too?

At Ji-young's question, I-sim shook the water from her hands, and with the cleanly rinsed vegetables headed toward the refrigerator. Without answering Ji-young's question, I-sim tidied up the inside of the refrigerator while scolding Ji-young. I-sim: You. Did I not tell you to stop buying convenience-store food. This hamburger. It's from the convenience store, isn't it? Ji-young: Ao! Seriously. Pretend you didn't see that, please. Scene 10.

FLASHBACK She gazed at the Black Water surging forward and smashing everything like a fierce wave. Ji-young, scuffing her sneakers on the ground as she stepped out of the car, slowly extended both hands forward. With clear eyes gently closed, Ji-young's toe tips lightly stirred the dust. Atop the public parking lot rooftop in the far distance where Ji-young stood, a black streak of light briefly gleamed. The dance-figure being shaped at Ji-young's two hands spread the 현사(Hyeon-sa_Black Wire) further.

Rousing the fine wire, she flicked it away with her fingers as though plucking it. In time with Ji-young's slender hand motions, the Black Wire flowed off into the distance. She cut and drove off the black shadows that bloomed — bursting forth with every current of the 삼도천(Samdo-cheon_River of the Dead) pouring in from the distance. Ji-young's dance-figure spread like clear flower petals in full bloom, reaching all the way to the Black Wire fluttering at her will.

Resplendent black spheres of light billowed outward. Ji-young, with her eyes closed, delivered a sorrowful dance-figure, carrying within it the sharp bearing it held. The great blooming black light-spheres began to touch the Black Water path. Against the onrushing Black Death, Ji-young held her ground alone, quietly standing against it. Ji-young's dance-figure roused a still greater force.

When the dance-figure — having reached a trance-like state — had for a long while lit the surroundings in scattered light-spheres, the Black Water path that had been pouring from the gate began to be gradually pushed back. Ji-young's wire drove the water path back all the more fiercely. The countless shadows lunging to target Ji-young tore through Ji-young's skin and faced the Ji-young who stood alone against them.

The shadows' desperate will to cross over into the world of the living strained to trample the Ji-young who sought to block them. Though they tore and clawed at the Ji-young who barred their way, seeking to kill her to the very end, Ji-young paid them no mind. Blood bursting around her eyes, her cheeks, her fingernails — the shadows pressing in hard enough that not one place was left whole — tried to overtake Ji-young. Ji-young did not stop.

The Black Wire, scattering, tore through a portion of the shadows rushing at Ji-young, but the number of shadows driving in from every direction to erase Ji-young was overwhelmingly greater than what the wire could tear. The count of Ji-young's wounds only grew. But the wounds could not linger long. Ji-young already bore the Harbinger. No death or life of any kind could take Ji-young's breath. The lingering residue of pain from every wound taken built up, and in the end made Ji-young falter.

Ji-young, as if strained for breath, began to draw rough breaths, but to the very end the dance did not stop. Around the building, white smoke began to rise. It was a longed-for, far-off scent of grass. Feeling the fragrant smoke, Ji-young, with her eyes closed, felt at ease. Together with the white smoke filling the surroundings, to drive back the black shadows that had been battering her from every direction, she drew back, with a slow motion woven into her dance-figure, a portion of the wire set in the distance.

From some distant Samdo-cheon, after sensing that Si-yeon — wearing a figure identical to her own — had begun to rise against the current that had been bursting and gushing upward, Ji-young's dance-figure shifted in form and atmosphere. The wire drawn into the winding dance-figure shielded the area around Ji-young. The shadows that had been cutting Ji-young to ribbons were severed the moment they rushed near her. After a brief chance to reset her stance, Ji-young quietly drew a foot back.

She watched the shadows pursuing Si-yeon. Using the reset foot as a plant, Ji-young drove out with force the wire coiled in one hand and launched her own body high into the air.