Chương 49: S.04 Memory of the Clock 09(02)

Scene 03. Yeon-jin, returning with a weariness about her, dropped her body into her office chair as if collapsing onto it. In her office, where voices steeped in revelry came pouring in even through the bitter winter weather, she pulled the ashtray on her desk closer and lit her cigarette. From the tip of the cigarette held between her long fingers, a long smoke rose without disturbance, straight upward.

By the time the white smoke had emptied out from between Yeon-jin's lips, the closed door of the office was opening cautiously. Yeon-jin threw her reproach toward the figure that had stepped in. Yeon-jin: Where on earth have you been. And for several days at that. The figure who had entered with a sheepish look was none other than Seong-hyeon. Wearing thick make-up as was her usual self, Seong-hyeon, watching the air gingerly, holding a sheepish smile, stepped inside. Seong-hyeon: Sis, are you pissed?

Yeon-jin tipped the long-stretched cigarette ash, dropping it onto the ashtray, then shook her head in answer to Seong-hyeon's awkward smile. Yeon-jin: I was busy too. Less than you, by the look of it. Where've you been gone that you took such a long break? You. Seong-hyeon: Sorry. There were circumstances. Yeon-jin: What kind of circumstances would a girl who sells her body have, other than spreading her legs. Did you go on an out-of-town gig? Behind my back?

Seong-hyeon: Aw, come on, Boss-sis, what kind of bullshit is that. Seong-hyeon, having entered with that sheepish air, settled herself onto the sofa. Yeon-jin let out a breath, snuffed out her cigarette, and rose from her seat. Yeon-jin: You're not, by chance, having to head out somewhere again, are you? Seong-hyeon: I'm not. Don't worry. Yeon-jin: Hard to take that on faith. Seong-hyeon, too, slowly raised herself up and followed Yeon-jin's stride out.

Following Yeon-jin into the hallway, Seong-hyeon, having stepped outside the office, hunched her shoulders slightly. Yeon-jin: Cold?? Seong-hyeon: Right? Did they turn the heat off? Aren't you cold, sis?? Yeon-jin: Maybe because I'm tired, I can't tell. Me. After locking the door that had been left open, Yeon-jin moved her step ahead first, motioning for Seong-hyeon to follow. Seong-hyeon, hands in the pockets of her long coat, followed where Yeon-jin's hand pointed. They reached the end of the corridor.

Yeon-jin opened the door of the largest room on the floor. Seeing the figure already inside, Seong-hyeon worked to hide her flustered look. Unaware of any of this, Yeon-jin spoke a plain word of greeting toward the figure within. Yeon-jin: I'll be heading out first today. Nothing happened while I was away, did it? The figure, seated at the vanity quietly touching up her make-up, looked at Yeon-jin and Seong-hyeon through the mirror, holding an unreadable smile, and silently nodded her head. Yeon-jin: I'm off.

I'll leave the rest to you for tonight. Just as Yeon-jin was closing the door to leave, the figure at the vanity asked her — Who's this? The one beside you. Yeon-jin: Ah, you two haven't met yet? Say hello. This is Baek Seong-hyeon. Over there is Kwon Su-jeong. Seong-hyeon's the higher in seniority. So if there's anything you don't know, ask each other as you go. Even if I'm away for a bit. Seong-hyeon, eyes wide with surprise, could only watch through the mirror as Su-jeong, head bowed, returned the slow greeting.

Scene 04_01. It was deep into the night, after the Requiem for the Fallen had ended. Ji-young, who had spent her body and her feeling, and who after a night-long stretch of paperwork had managed only a snatch of sleep, lay listless and tossed and turned without mercy. In the dwelling left to her alone, only the deep hush, the sound of the moon, and the trace of the wind made themselves felt. After a long while of writhing within the silence, Ji-young threw her body up in haste.

She knocked at the phone and tried by every means to turn it on, but the broken phone showed no thought of turning on. Ji-young, dressed in her usual sleepwear-like rag of clothes, stepped out the door as if she could no longer endure this silence and tedium. The December weather drove cold winds in from every side, but Ji-young, twisting her body about on the wooden floor, threw all her strength into dispelling the silence.

From the side quarters across the way, the snoring sounds of Hee-jin and I-seon came drifting over. Casting off the fruitless writhing she had kept up for some time, settling on the notion that she should at least do some moonlight calisthenics, she went back into her room. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Ji-young, as if making up her mind, tied her long hair up tight, threw on a thick 두루마기(Durumagi_Traditional outer coat), and stepped outside again. With a somewhat earnest face she looked up at the moon, hung high in its prime, and putting on her sneakers, set out from the wooden floor. Chae-rim: The Oldest. Where are you going. At Chae-rim's small-voiced presence, Ji-young flinched in surprise and glanced at her own shadow. Ji-young: Shh. Ji-young headed toward the great gate.

Worried Hee-jin and I-seon might wake, she opened the gate carefully, and was about to move with no trace at all when the Inner Guard officer who kept watch at the entrance to Ji-young's dwelling, taken aback, made to convey a greeting toward her. Ji-young hastily quieted the Inner Guard officer's mouth and was about to slip away, when the officer drew toward her again and let out a quiet voice. Inner Guard_01: The-, Oldest, where are you going at this hour. If you go alone at this time, we'll be in trouble.

Ji-young: They're dying to kill me, sure, but tonight'll be all right. When the Strategist wakes up, then call me. Wait — there's no phone. Anyway, I'll be at the Martial Hall, so if anyone happens to come looking, just say I threw a fit and forced my way out. Inner Guard_02: It's even more dangerous. The Martial Hall, at this dawn-hour. If there are those who are after The Oldest, they will not let the chance pass. Ji-young: They won't manage tonight. And — Ji-young glanced down at her own shadow.

Chae-rim: Stand down. At Chae-rim's small-voiced presence, the two Inner Guard officers keeping the gate bent at the waist and set themselves back at the gate. Ji-young, having soothed the Inner Guard, continued her soundless step along the broad earth-path. Hands tucked into the pockets of her Traditional outer coat, she walked at a quick clip. Walking the path lit by white Ghost Lights, Ji-young entered the broad Martial Hall.

Receiving in silence the flustered greetings of the Inner Guard officers who kept the entrance, she put a finger to her lips, asking for quiet. Reading Ji-young's wish that they not announce her, the Inner Guard officers stood silently and kept the entrance. The moon hung bright. Ji-young, standing at the center of the Martial Hall lit by Ghost Light, swept the earth aside with her foot as if smoothing it. Hands in her pockets, she pondered, and pondered.

Having smoothed the ground, Ji-young stood fixed in her place. Wait for me a little longer. Since her return, it had been a very busy day, spent without making much of anything of it. In one corner of Ji-young's chest, an apology always lingered. The apology and longing that could not return, that could not be undone — these she resolved to lay aside for a while. But there was one more longing she could not show. A longing where hope always dwelled. She wished only for safety, only that no harm come.

She wished to console the suffering. She believed it must be a pain she could not even know. One day, one day, she would meet it and console it. Meet it and console it. Meet it and whisper. That part of her chest, where she had so resolved, Ji-young slowly stroked. Ji-young: Captain of the Guard Corps. Chae-rim: Yes. Ji-young: Could you draw a little ways off. Chae-rim: Understood. I shall stay near the door. Chae-rim's presence could no longer be felt within the shadow.

Drawing her hands from her pockets, Ji-young slowly raised them toward the moon set high above. The two hands lifted high turned themselves toward the high-hung moon. One hand slowly came down, beginning to announce Ji-young's dance. Her step slowly drew the 등장태(Deung-jang-tae_Entering Formation), and as if someone stood beside her, as if conveying the dance together, she conveyed the 상대무(Sang-dae-mu_Dance of the Facing Partner) and the 상배무(Sang-bae-mu_Dance of Turning Away).

The 평사위(Pyeong-sa-wi_Level-Hand Movement), moving in solitude, brought the 세령산(Se-ryeong-san_Melody of the Small Bell Mountain) to its end. With 염불(Yeom-bul_Invocation Chant) she began to convey the 머리사위(Meori-sa-wi_Head-Crown Movement). Not the drumstick that she did not hold — but the wire that already fluttered around Ji-young, the 현사(Hyeon-sa_Black Wire), drawing itself between her empty fingers as if caught in her hand, began to convey even the 북채잡는사위(Buk-chae-jap-neun-sa-wi_Drumstick-Clasping Movement).

While the flower sleeps, time flies and flies, and once it strokes the flower, The flower shall answer. And I shall call, and call upon the answering flower, The flower that has answered, and time, and the butterfly shall come together as one, answering each other's wing-beats and passing the petals between them. A part of Ji-young's 고무(Go-mu_Drum Dance) movement, conveyed as far as 도드리(Do-deu-ri_Returning-Rhythm Passage), conveyed the 원무(Won-mu_Circle Dance).

As the Circle Dance called forth the 협무(Hyeop-mu_Paired Accompanying Dance), the Black Wire bloomed in scattered profusion, like the strands of a White-sleeved cloth unraveled. Black Wire cutting through the cold wind fluttered chaotic in every direction. Conveying the 무진무퇴(Mu-jin-mu-toe_No-Advance-No-Retreat) alone in solitude, she longed for the Paired Accompanying Dance. She wished it might be together.

When the time comes, The butterfly shall open its eyes, the flower shall call the butterfly, I was your flower, and you were my butterfly, My petals had borne time within them, And your butterfly shall come to face the flower. She was not lonely. She resolved that they would be together. She believed firmly that they would be together.

Soothing a loneliness that would not be long, she carried on the 가창(Ga-chang_Sung Verse), entering even into the 자진타령(Ja-jin-ta-ryeong_Quick-Paced Rhythm), and on Ji-young's brow sweat began to bead. The Quick-Paced Rhythm she carried alone wheeled around the Martial Hall in fullness, like the wing-beat of a butterfly announcing its season. The butterfly conveys its wing-beat, The petals pass on time, And we shall no longer remain in solitude.

Breath shall pass between one and the other, and as the hardened earth thaws, spring shall be called forth. As the new year lifts heavy mud from beneath, my time, bearing the long winter within it, shall continue on in radiance. Black Wire fluttered, scattering in chaos. It was wheeling somewhere deep within her chest. She had waited, and waited again, for the time when it must rise. As you came to me and became my butterfly, I shall draw near to you and become your flower.

Ji-young's grief, longing, and apology gathered together as if seeping into the Black Wire and the hand-gestures she had let scatter downward. After collecting the deep breath that had continued for a moment, Ji-young slowly raised her body and looked upon the moon. The Inner Guard officers, who had silently watched Ji-young's dance entranced, met her eyes. Ji-young, with a bashful wave of her hand, quietly drew back the Inner Guard officers' attention. Scene 04_02.

Ji-young was unburdened in her feeling, having loosened the front-fold of her Traditional outer coat to cool the body that had spent its sweat, when from her dwelling not far off raised voices came drifting toward her. Sensing trouble, Ji-young hurried over at speed. I-seon, with his anger lifted to the very crown of his head, was throwing shouts at the two Inner Guard officers keeping the entrance to Ji-young's dwelling, sparing nothing of his fury.

Seeing Ji-young, who had come running, only then did I-seon swallow his anger and bend at the waist in haste. He stepped a little closer, to be sure of Ji-young's safety. Ji-young: Aigoo, didn't you tell him?! I told you to say I threw the fit. A crestfallen Inner Guard officer murmured wordlessly. Inner Guard_01: I'm sorry. We could not, in the end. Make a thing into nothing. The young Inner Guard officer, with eyes welling, let his voice slip into silence. I-seon: What did you do well that you cry like that!!

What is this!! Ji-young: Martial Director. Ji-young calmed I-seon with a slightly lowered voice. I-seon: I'm sorry. Ji-young: I, I couldn't sleep at all, and out of half-witted thinking, I committed this thing. I'm sorry. I-seon: Th-, that. The Oldest — there is no fault here for which she ought to apologize … Ji-young: I gave the order, and asked them to keep it under their tongue, so I wish for it to be acknowledged that the two of them are without fault. I-seon: Tha … hm.

If The Oldest speaks even so far, then it is rather I who should be sorry. Ji-young: So then. Pulling at I-seon's arm, Ji-young hurried into the great gate. Soothing the Inner Guard with a glance, Ji-young, no sooner than she had stepped inside, closed the gate behind them. Ji-young: When the inauguration ceremony ends later in the day, let's go straight out and get a phone, yeah?! I'm a slave to dopamine, I absolutely have to have one!! Come on!!!