Chương 66: S.04 Memory of the Clock 12(01)_The LAST of S.04

Scene 01_01. It was after Ji-young had changed into a slightly more comfortable 한복(Han-bok_Traditional Korean dress). Having stripped off the rigid ceremonial uniform and changed into her work-day garments, she was seated at the head of the table at a Korean traditional restaurant, scratching at her hair with vigor. Raking her fingers through her stuffy hair with the tip of her pinky as if rooting around in it, she also wore a sheepish look on her face.

Seon-woo, Hee-jin, and I-seon were seated across from Ji-young. Perhaps because the warm floor was too hot, Ji-young had stacked two cushions and was sitting on top of them as she received the table. It was the same room at the Korean restaurant where, on a day long ago, Seon-woo, I-sim, and Hee-jin had once shared a meal together. Owing to the cold weather, they had stayed inside rather than dining outdoors, but for Ji-young the temperature was a touch too hot.

Ji-young, fidgeting on her seat, was being served the spread of the Korean restaurant. Ji-young: The Strategist told me. She said you, Master, like this place. Seon-woo: Yes. It's the Korean restaurant I like best in the central district. It's a spot where Headquarters is even within view, not far off. Ji-young: Ah, but. The floor's seriously hot. Goodness. It seemed to be the first time Seon-woo was encountering Ji-young's relaxed manner of speech, and he sat across from her barely holding back his laughter.

Though the appearance was different, the figure of I-sim that Seon-woo had seen as a child flickered briefly across his vision. Ji-young: But, Master, you're really tall too. Seon-woo: Ah, yes. I'm about 175. Ji-young: Wow. It's not easy to meet someone taller than me. I-seon: That's why she went around hitting us every day. Seon-woo, with a sidelong glance, checked I-seon's grumbling. Ji-young: Eh, but she's still your senior, so. Surely she beat you so you'd turn out well. Hee-jin: No. She just hit us.

Hit us when it rained, hit us when the day was clear. Just hit us. While Seon-woo, seated in the middle, kept glancing back and forth on either side to keep them in check, four wide earthenware bowls of duck 백숙(Baek-suk_Whole-bird simmered broth) were finally set in the center. Ji-young: Wow!! Food!! Master, Strategist. Director. Please, dig in. Having urged everyone to eat, Ji-young — without making any big deal of it — heaped a full scoop of rice and shoved it into her mouth in one mouthful.

Seeing Ji-young's farmhand-sized bite, Seon-woo briefly let his surprise show. Seon-woo: Uh, that. Um. You'll choke. The Oldest. Ji-young, chewing, shook her head with full force. With a look that said don't make me talk while I'm eating, she set about emptying her bowl without restraint. But Seon-woo and I-seon were not the type to mind their manners much when it came to food either. The three of them dispatched their food in silence.

Only Hee-jin, carefully spooning rice into her mouth, paid no mind to the ravenous postures of the three and quietly kept eating her measured portion. Ji-young: I, seriously. Because of those uncomfortable clothes I couldn't even eat breakfast, you know? And lunch I spent running my mouth on an empty stomach while cutting down those rotten little shits, and wow. Seriously, I almost dropped dead from hunger. I-seon: Even so, it wrapped up without any major issues. I was a little worried the police might get hurt.

Seon-woo: That's all because the Director's training is lacking. To start fretting about ordinary people getting hurt because you couldn't even block trash like that. You've got a long way to go. Hee-jin: As it turned out, the one who knocked aside the flying blade was The Oldest, not you, Master. Seon-woo: The reason you're both ganging up on me from either side right now — could it perhaps be that you'd like to get hit again, after so long? Ji-young: Just don't hit anyone in front of the dining table, please.

If broth splashes, I'll have to wash this, so no. It was a table set with so much that the legs were nearly buckling, but its bounty was shrinking in an instant. Only the side dishes and rice in front of Hee-jin remained as they were. Scene 01_02. After Ji-young had been inhaling food at full pace, she patted her belly and pulled herself back.

Seon-woo and I-seon, too, as if unable to eat another bite, felt an intense fullness and slid themselves slightly back, while Hee-jin was still calmly eating, methodical and steady, working through the food piled before her. Even amid the three eating like farmhands, Hee-jin kept her composed motions to the very end. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Seon-woo: But — The Oldest, you really do eat a great deal as well. Ji-young: Ah, me.

Maybe because the Harbinger's inside, I tend to put away nearly two servings every time. Seon-woo: Then the Harbinger, too, shares your meals with — I-seon: Oh. That's actually news to me as well. Hee-jin: Because that couldn't possibly be the case. Seon-woo and I-seon, having taken Ji-young's bait, glared wordlessly at Hee-jin under her quiet rebuke. Seon-woo: Hm. Anyway. The Oldest.

At Seon-woo's slightly more serious voice, Ji-young drew back the arm she had stretched out as if to lie down and straightened her back upright again. Ji-young: Yes. Seon-woo: I have completed my preparations, but — are you truly certain that such a thing will come to pass. Ji-young: Yes. There's no doubt. Of course, the proper thing would be for me to handle it directly, but I'd already been certain that up to that point would be his portion. Seon-woo: You trust that bastard. Ji-young: Well, how should I put this.

It isn't that I trust him as being on my side, but I trust him as an enemy. Seon-woo: Hm. Ji-young: Because he's a definite enemy. That's also part of why I'm not hastily disposing of him. Seon-woo: You may, at the worst, end up surrounded by enemies. Ji-young: Those enemies will end up coalescing into a single point, eventually. If anything, being able to aim at just one point — there's nothing more convenient than that.

Even looking at things now, when would I ever finish if I had to chase each and every region one by one. If you give them an opening, just the fact that they coalesce to seize that opening is, in truth, of great help to me. Seon-woo: Complicated. Ji-young: In any case, Master. Seon-woo: Yes. Ji-young: Once this crisis is settled, may I ask that, with the East Province taking the lead, personnel be dispatched to each native soil for inspection and for restoring order.

The South Province, the Southeast Province, and our Headquarters as well will not spare any support. Seon-woo: Of course. I will prepare for it. Ji-young: And, Strategist. As if perfectly timed, having just finished her food, Hee-jin calmly drank some water and then answered Ji-young's call. Hee-jin: Yes. The Oldest. Ji-young: My younger sisters, since this is the first time they will be revealed to everyone, please see to it that they can take their positions immediately. I'll leave the arrangements to you.

Hee-jin: Yes. We're wrapping things up now. It will be finished within today, so do not worry. Ji-young: Ah, then, shall we slowly — The moment Ji-young rose first, Seon-woo, Hee-jin, and I-seon stood up after her. Ji-young: Shall we get ready? Scene 02. The Bishop, holding the receiver of an old-fashioned telephone that retained its bygone form, was letting out a small sigh and nodding her head. The smile drawn upon her lips carried less unease or fear and rather more a sense of pride.

Listening to the voice in silence to its end, Hyang-rim conveyed an answer in her gravelly yet warm tone. Hyang-rim: I understand, so don't you worry. Always take care. Always. After hearing the answer the voice from the other side of the receiver gave, the Bishop was the first to set the heavy receiver down. Lee Yeon and Jeong-seon, who had been seated together in the Bishop's chamber watching her call, looked as if they were waiting for the Bishop's voice.

Holding the smile on her lips, the Bishop turned her head and looked back and forth between the two. Bishop: Seventh Steward. Lee Yeon: Yes. Bishop. Bishop: Go to the Sealed Sanctum within our main hall and fill the empty tank. The First Steward will enter it with me, after the tank is full. Lee Yeon: Understood. Hearing the Bishop's instruction, Lee Yeon was the first to rise from her seat. Hyang-rim and Jeong-seon, left in the wide room facing each other, were exchanging smiles.

Hyang-rim turned her head and briefly looked beyond the paper-paneled door, at the cold wind blowing outside. Hyang-rim: I never thought every road would connect this way. To Hyang-rim's solitary murmur — heavy with the loosening of long-held grief — Jeong-seon could not bring out a reply. Hyang-rim's grief, woven across long stretches of time, was an abyss that Jeong-seon, having only just crossed twenty, could not easily comprehend.

After conveying the murmur that held many meanings within it, Hyang-rim turned her head once more and held out her hand. Jeong-seon, who had been seated across from her, drew a little closer and took Hyang-rim's wrinkled hand. Hyang-rim: Find her well, and please — make sure they meet, without fail. Jeong-seon: Don't worry. Feels like I could find my way around there with my eyes closed by now. At Jeong-seon's childlike bravado, Hyang-rim's lips twitched at the corners. Scene 03.

She had thought it would not be much different. Bo-ram, eyes opened wide, lay on the cold floor with a vacant gaze, looking upward. A sky stretched out, with not even a ceiling above her. How long it had been since she had seen a sky this clear, she could not even remember. The place she had lived in had not had bad air either. There had simply been no proper chance to look at the sky. There had simply been no thought to look at all.

It had just been there, and she had believed as a matter of course that it was there, and had been certain only that it would always be there. As she looked at the sky where the daybreak had settled in, a horrific moment passed by, brushing against her. She could not properly remember what had happened, but one thing was clear. Bo-ram: I had clearly, died. After the murmur she let slip out, Bo-ram turned her head slowly with disbelieving eyes and looked to the side.

Across the courtyard, shaped of corpses, black water rippled. The face of Bo-ram, lying on the cold floor, was also submerged in black water about a fingertip's depth high. Bo-ram's long hair drifted, floating and bobbing. Turning her head once more, she looked at the sky that had been laid out before her. The daybreak seemed to be fading away just as quickly. She had to rise, but the courage to rise would not come. Bo-ram slowly closed her eyes. What did you do to us!! Someone's shout rang out.

The shout could not carry on. Ending with a sign of being shattered apart, the shout became, as it were, the black water itself, and the black water that filled the courtyard seemed to rise just a little higher. The black currents around Bo-ram, who lay there, stirred up gentle ripples, swaying. Only then did Bo-ram, eyes still closed, slowly begin to lift her body. Strangely, the black water did not stain her clothes.

As if oil were being washed away, the black water peeled off, leaving the clothes she wore intact. Only then did she open her eyes again and briefly survey her surroundings, which had clearly been daylight before. One by one, people were rising. It was unbelievable, but she thought it was too late to turn it back. Quietly turning her head, she looked at the dais. Upon the dais — where she had expected no one would be — sat a stranger.

Su-jeong, meeting Bo-ram's eyes, lifted her body without even letting a smile rise. It was a gesture laden with a slow, weary tedium. It was the boundless idleness of someone who had carried out all of these things countless times before. They were chilling eyes, holding deep death within them. Working her lips that would not quite part, Bo-ram conveyed a voice — barely scraped together — to Su-jeong. Bo-ram: What is it. that you want. Su-jeong looked down at Bo-ram with a gaze that held no emotion at all.

She seemed to have heard Bo-ram's voice, but Su-jeong gave no answer and began to let black water trickle from her hand. The black water flowing out calmly began, little by little, to swell. Around the people who had haltingly begun to rise, more water filled in, and shapes of something — strangely formed — started to come into view. Bo-ram, with startled eyes, slowly looked around again and then back at Su-jeong. Su-jeong gave no reply at all.

From the black water — submerging Bo-ram's feet just enough to ripple — a single thin stream of water shot up, pierced through Bo-ram's clothes, and drove deep into her skin. There was no reason to be startled, no time to be startled. With a vacant gaze, Bo-ram briefly looked down at the area of her thigh and then turned her eyes back to Su-jeong. Only then did Su-jeong convey a small voice. Su-jeong: I need puppets that simply follow my will. Not pitiful little vermin like you.