Chương 68: S.04 Memory of the Clock 12(03)_The LAST of S.04

Scene 06. Black death rose, swelling, from the north gate. Owing to the brightly draped Ghost Light, it seemed unable to wedge its way through the gaps of the door, and the current — slightly meeting the great wooden gate — rippled and stirred up small waves. Today, the north gate was holding a deep stillness about itself, with no particular sign. Even the personnel of the Guard Corps, who should have been atop the watchtower, were absent from their posts.

From the black water, countless corpses and 그슨대(Geu-seun-dae_Lurking specters) began to rise. Every infernal thing tied to the black current rose, blank-faced like puppets, and stood vacantly before the great wooden gate. Their numbers could not be reckoned. As the black water that had passed beyond the not-so-wide perimeter of the watch post all faded out, it was sucked into the toes of every standing corpse and every Lurking specter.

Opening eyes filled with black pupils, they slowly turned their heads toward the wooden gate that lay where they were to set out. Although the infernal things, soaked through with black water, had finished preparations to head inside, no presence at all could be felt beyond the north gate. The corpse closest to the gate drew out one more blade, gripped one in each hand, and moved with strangely twisted steps toward the gate.

As if no will at all remained in the eyes that had turned a blackened pallor, it carried on only with twisted, wooden-doll-like steps. It stared up vacantly at the wooden gate, about three stories tall. Driving the blade in its hand into the wooden gate, it climbed the gate as if scaling a rock face. After climbing for a long while in a grotesque posture, it reached the area near the watchtower's railing.

The corpse that had at last lifted its strange foot beyond the watchtower set its twisted step down inside the watchtower. Beyond the Ghost Light that lit every direction, a thick shadow was draped across the watchtower. Slowly turning its blackened-pallor eyes, it surveyed the unmanned watchtower of the north gate. More and more corpses began climbing onto the watchtower. One by one, they set their twisted steps onto the wooden floor of the watchtower. Six or seven corpses had stepped onto the watchtower.

More were climbing up. The six or seven corpses that had come up first moved their heavily twisted steps toward the deep shadow. They could not cross beyond where the light of the Ghost Light — which repels death — reached. The corpses that had sought out the deep shadow began, with grotesque movements, to climb up along the great crossbeam that supported the watchtower. Scene 07_01. It was a fairly large and unfamiliar 한옥(Han-ok_Traditional Korean wooden house).

The great gate of the wide hanok opened, and Yu-seok and So-hui were stepping inside. Beside Yu-seok and So-hui were the staggering, barely-managing steps of Ji-young, and the twisted gait of Yeong-min — who, having held her bound, was forcibly leading her along. So-hui, who had stepped beyond the great gate onto the training ground strewn with fallen leaves, walked behind Yu-seok with a slightly tense expression. The countless deaths watching her as if glaring were felt all around.

In the deep night, So-hui regarded the gleam of corpses baring their teeth from within the hidden shadows as something trifling, and followed Yu-seok. The tension she felt was not because of those corpses. They crossed the courtyard — wider than expected — for a long while. Yu-seok, having stripped his shoes off at the 댓돌(Dat-dol_Stepping stone) set at the edge of the hanok courtyard and stepped up onto the wooden veranda, briefly watched So-hui.

So-hui, as if having no intention of removing her high-heeled shoes, walked past the stepping stone just as she was and set her step onto the veranda. With Yu-seok, watching So-hui — who had stepped onto the veranda still in her rather high shoes — held a faint smile and moved his own remaining steps forward, as if to say keep following. As if paying no mind to Ji-young's gait, which could not climb up, Yeong-min — having surrendered his sense — forcibly shoved Ji-young up onto the veranda.

As So-hui hurriedly tried to approach Ji-young, who had collapsed as if rolling, the blade in Yeong-min's hand was leveled at the collar of Ji-young's clothes. At Yeong-min's deranged motion, treating So-hui as a hostage so she could not reach Ji-young, So-hui — who had moved to help — halted her step. Yu-seok moved his steps again. Glancing at Ji-young as if to check on her, So-hui followed along after Yu-seok's remaining stride. On the veranda and along the corridor, a fairly large number of people were gathered.

Yeon-jin, who had been waiting at the very front for Yu-seok's arrival, bowed her waist toward Yu-seok as he stepped in. He carried his step a little further inside. Yeon-jin — who had been waiting for Yu-seok at the entrance — also moved her steps and followed behind So-hui and Ji-young. In the deep night, after passing for some time through the dim corridor, a small paper-paneled door came into view. From beyond the firmly closed door, the deepest death was being felt. The closed door opened.

Before So-hui — who had stepped together with Yu-seok into the modest hanok room — Su-jeong was set in place, having for once put on a black 철릭(Cheollik_Traditional coat-dress) and briefly tidying her bobbed hair. Setting down her comb, Su-jeong lifted her body. In the middle of the modest room, Ji-young lay collapsed on the floor, bleeding. So-hui wanted to help Ji-young at once, but did not move rashly.

Su-jeong, glancing back briefly at the standing So-hui, slowly clasped her two hands and bowed her waist firmly. Su-jeong: You've come. The Oldest. Guide. She did not want to receive the greeting from a Su-jeong who held not a single smile upon her lips. One of Su-jeong's eyes had begun to turn entirely jet black. In her two hands clasped courteously, a black current — drawn out like thread — was extended in a long line off to somewhere.

Around both of her eyes, blackened, charred blood vessels were even standing out. Su-jeong slowly lifted her bowed waist. Yeon-jin, who had followed in with Yu-seok, dragged a nearby chair over and seated So-hui first. After binding the seated So-hui's ankles to the legs of the chair, she pulled So-hui's two wrists back with the remaining 금줄(Geum-jul_Ritual Taboo Rope to suppress power) and fixed them together with the chair.

Bound by the Ritual Taboo Rope, So-hui — unable to feel even the slightest sorcery — had her two wrists tied together against the chair's backrest so that she could not move. Ji-young was bleeding so severely that blood was seeping out beyond the hem of her hanbok. The pain registering was only being faintly conveyed. Yeon-jin forcibly lifted Ji-young and, as if forcing her to kneel, pressed her down with full force. Ji-young, with a tense expression, sank down to the floor.

Into Ji-young's back, a single blade Yeon-jin had been holding was driven in. The blade-tip that came piercing through to the front drove deep into the wooden floor of Su-jeong's modest room, fixing Ji-young to the floor. Along the blade, Ji-young's slightly darker blood dripped, drop by drop. Ji-young, having let out a short scream, clenched the hands bound behind her with full force, trying somehow to endure the pain. So-hui, as if she could not bear to look at Ji-young, closed her eyes and turned her head away.

Yeon-jin, having pinned both So-hui and Ji-young in place, rose from her seat and stepped back a pace. Yu-seok drew slightly closer toward the empty space. The interior of the modest room was not so cramped. Su-jeong came forward, toward the front of So-hui, who had been seated in the chair set in the middle of the room. Set in place to face the kneeling Ji-young, Su-jeong slowly lowered her knees and watched, intently, the Ji-young who was straining to endure the pain.

To trip open the closed-off breath of Ji-young, she pulled out the 삼베(Sam-bae_Hemp cloth) wound around her mouth, which had been there to muffle Ji-young's scream. Yu-seok, standing in stillness, watched everyone for a beat without saying anything in particular. Su-jeong: Now that the Guide has also arrived, there was something I wished to ask the Oldest, formally. Ji-young, soaked in blood, was glaring at Su-jeong while barely managing to draw breath.

Su-jeong: Within the territory of Contrition — why did you say to me, that you were sorry. To Su-jeong's composed, vacant question, Ji-young — without even pushing back the pain — shook her head. Ji-young did not answer. Su-jeong, after letting out a small breath, conveyed another question. Su-jeong: Right now — why is it that you have allowed yourself to be dragged here so docilely. Ji-young, as if drawing in her pain-trembling lips, bit them hard. It was a vow that she would not say a single word to the very end.

Su-jeong slowly nodded. A single blackened tendon, traced upon Su-jeong's face, twitched. The fields of vision of the corpses set in place at Headquarters poured into Su-jeong's blackened eyes. At the empty presence of Headquarters, Su-jeong cradled Ji-young's chin with her fingers and asked. The moment her head was tilted up, the flesh moved with it, and Ji-young — as if feeling a horrific pain — scrunched her face fully and was barely catching her breath.

After managing to compose her pain with effort, Ji-young looked steadily at Su-jeong. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Su-jeong: I am, right now, going to wipe out everyone at Headquarters. Just as I have already wiped out my mother and yours, now, I, am going to wipe out everyone. There is nothing, anymore, that I cannot do. So long as you have been dragged here, I will, without exception, wipe out everyone at Headquarters.

I will show everyone, that you can do nothing. Then, you will plead for me to kill you yourself. So, answer. Right now, where are they. All of them. Ji-young, who had drawn a vacant hatred across the face contorted in pain, suddenly let a deflating laugh rise. She could not make a loud sound, but within the face held by Su-jeong's fingers, a smile was filling in. Within the room, only an oppressive stillness drifted. Ji-young's laughter was running down, mixed with blood.

The laughter and blood-water flowing endlessly to the floor dripped without end onto the wooden floor of Su-jeong's room. Ji-young, watching Su-jeong intently, conveyed her intent in a low voice while wearing a blood-water-mixed laugh. Ji-young's eyes were turning cruel. Su-jeong, looking at such Ji-young, wore a sneer and lightly brushed her hand. Every window of the firmly closed room burst as if torn open, revealing the countless puppets shaped of corpses that had surrounded them in every direction.

They were nothing but will-less corpse-puppets, holding only hostility toward Ji-young and So-hui. But Ji-young did not soften the cruel cast in her eyes. Wearing a sneer mixed into the mouth she had been holding shut, she barely parted it at last. Behind the parted lips, no laughter at all remained. Si-yeon: Try it. 씨발년아. From within Si-yeon's shadow, a curved blade shot upward and severed every Ritual Taboo Rope that had bound Si-yeon and So-hui in an instant. Scene 07_02.

The corpses prowling above the eaves were leaping, bounding back and forth with strange steps. Stirring up every direction with depth, straining to find even one person, the countless strange movements that had broken into Headquarters could find nothing. Above the eaves where the Ghost Light could not reach — crossing through the desolate darkness, treading upon the roof tiles — the throng of corpses had come to a stop above the eaves of various Headquarters buildings.

Just as they were turning back with strange nodding gestures and were about to head once more for the north gate they had come through, the head of a corpse atop the eaves of Ji-young's quarters fell to the ground with a dull thud. Black wire, cleanly split, whipped through the air, drifting like trailing strands. The firmly closed door of Ji-young's quarters opened with a sound. The 버선(Beoseon_Korean Traditional socks) — white — and the deep navy hanbok hem filled the silence with a hushed sound.

A measured, soft-treading step continued. Ji-young, wearing her ornaments, with no expression at all upon her face, carefully moved her step onto the wooden veranda. As she crossed the wide veranda, the corpse-puppets atop the roof tiles came pouring down at her, but Ji-young did not so much as send a hand their way. Only the black wire, scattered widely around Ji-young, sprinkled the sound of the wind. Puppets that could not even draw close fell heavily onto the courtyard with their limbs torn apart.

Ji-young, not stopping the step she had been walking, lowered her white-stockinged feet onto the stepping stone and slid them deep into her navy 운혜(Unhye_Everyday traditional shoes). It was a tranquility that did not even let out a sigh. There was not the slightest haste in Ji-young's stride. The composed step that had crossed the wide courtyard came to a halt only after reaching the middle of the courtyard.

The black wire that had been circling around Ji-young split, in an instant, into widely scattered strands and was flung in every direction. Riding the wires that had been finely split and scattered upon the wind, a clear voice flowed onward. Ji-young: I, the 56th The Oldest, Kang Ji-young, hereby address every shaman within Headquarters. Scene 07_03. I-seon: Where are you headed. you corpse bitch. I-seon's sneering voice came through chillingly.

From between the roof tiles of every Headquarters building, sharp blades shot upward. To the keen, ice-cold blades that surged up so densely that not a drop could leak through, the flesh of the strange corpses scattered in every direction. Black water gushed forth. The black water flowing down beneath the roof tiles poured down like black rain. The severed corpses, with twisted gestures, were beginning to shape themselves anew into intact forms.

Though the rippling black water draped a horrific sight, I-seon — as if scarcely caring — swung the long staff in his hand and slammed a corpse downward. Ji-young: As the promise I gave. As the vow I made. With a dull strike-sound, the corpse I-seon had been facing fell into the training ground of Headquarters. It fell into the courtyard where the Ghost Light was set. The corpse, touched by the Ghost Light, began to burn with a faint blue cast, but its existence did not fade out.

That said, it was not unscathed either. The new flesh that had been forming would form no longer. Scene 07_04. Ji-young: The unjust grief of every infernal thing that would seek to oppress us — I shall be the first to soothe. The corpses, shaped like puppets, were moving with limp, twisted arms and legs that crawled along like swaying things. The throng of corpses, carrying on their twisted gait, came to an abrupt halt at the wide clearing in front of the great library.

Before them stood Jeong-in, holding two opened fans — one in each hand. With the Ghost Light at her back, Jeong-in moved one hand to lightly cover her mouth with a fan, and conveyed a smile only through the eyes that remained exposed. Jeong-in: You may not pass. None of you. To anywhere. Behind Jeong-in's measured voice, the special task force of the Directorate of Knowledge — which had been waiting all around the wide clearing in front of the library — belatedly began to draw out an icy, keen hostility.

Scene 07_05. Ji-young: The pent-up sorrow of every infernal thing that would seek to persecute us — I shall be the first to console. Soo-a's 주술도(Ju-sul-do_Sorcerer's Blade) was held in her two hands. Soo-a, who was not tall, moved her slow steps and walked into the midst of the throng of corpse-puppets. The puppets that should have blocked Soo-a's slow stride could do nothing but watch her step. Stepping into the middle of the corpse-throng, Soo-a halted her stride and softly closed her eyes.

The ritual instruments held in her two hands met, ringing out with a clear metallic chime. Soo-a, with her eyes softly closed, prepared a wordless dance posture. Just as the puppets that had bared their hostility moved to lunge at Soo-a, blue Ghost Light burst around Soo-a and shredded the puppets to pieces, root and all. Eun-jae: Kim-seobang, my Soo-a is off-limits. Scene 07_06. Ji-young: None of those who have chosen to follow me may, without my permission, be harmed, Hee-jin moved her slow steps.

Each time the violet 운혜(Unhye_Everyday traditional shoes) trod the ground, the black water that had seeped from the already-fallen corpses stirred up small ripples. Hee-jin, having let the ink-shaped blades fade, briefly halted the steps that had carried her out of the office building. Where she turned her head to look back, only countless sprawled corpses lay strewn about. Hee-jin: The Oldest's special task force, listen. A clear, ringing voice quietly carried on. So-eun, hidden in the shadows, answered.

So-eun: Yes. Hee-jin: Right now, the infernal creatures who have turned to the side of the world of the dead are about to come bearing down. Hurry and rejoin The Oldest. After Hee-jin's measured instruction, So-eun's voice did not carry on. Ji-young: None of those who have chosen to follow me may, without my permission, die before me. Scene 07_07. Yu-seok, holding a smile, quietly withdrew from his place together with Yeon-jin.

Si-yeon's hatred, with no expression remaining upon her face, met Su-jeong's bewilderment over the blood that had been flowing through Si-yeon's body. The blade that had been driven in to fix Si-yeon was, as if dissolved in 삼도천(Samdo-cheon_River of the Dead), now limp and snapped, falling powerlessly to the ground. Si-yeon, without a word, thrust her hand into the inside of her collar and tore out a plastic pack. Inside the pack she had ripped open without hesitation, blood meant for transfusion was contained.

So-hui, with every restraint released, set her back to back with Si-yeon. Chae-rim, gripping a blade shaped of forged iron as if winding it about her hand, kept watch in every direction to protect Si-yeon and So-hui. After also peeling away the cumbersome tape, Si-yeon conveyed a slightly composed voice. Si-yeon: I was telling you. I'm gonna kill you. At Si-yeon's composed warning, Su-jeong let go of her bewilderment. With only an odd smile drawn upon her lips, she let her two eyes turn black. Su-jeong: What now?

As you well know, I, like you, have already dropped dead. Su-jeong shook her hand and shaped a black mirror. Holding the blade-like, lengthened mirror in one hand and lightly waving the other, she pulled in, all at once, the puppets that had densely surrounded them on every side. The moment the corpse-puppets — moved by Su-jeong's gesture — lunged at Si-yeon, So-hui, and Chae-rim, the roof tiles above the eaves burst as if torn off and crashed down.

검은 모래(Geomeun-morae_Black Sand) scattered in every direction and pushed back, all together, the corpse-puppets that had been pressing in. As if having been waiting atop the eaves, Yeon-su and Gyeong-seo dropped down. The Hemp cloth fluttered and, in an instant, severed the necks of the corpse-puppets. Gyeong-seo: If you're gonna drop dead, you should at least drop dead alone — quietly. Su-jeong, sneering with a laugh, lightly stamped one foot.

The black water rising up like a torrent burst out from between Si-yeon and So-hui and split apart, in full, every party that had been facing off in the middle. Scene 07_08. Ji-young: This is, my final request, in this first crisis. Corpse-puppets, fully laden with black blood vessels, came pouring in like a torrent. In the middle of the wide veranda of Ji-young's quarters, only Ji-young stood alone.

The black shadows rising up jet-black, the black currents, the infernal creatures of the world of the dead and the corpse-puppets, with grotesque gestures, rushed at Ji-young in an instant. The continuing noise registered as nothing at all. Even the sound of the fiercely blowing wind could not be heard. As deep as the deep night, it was a deep and quiet stillness. Even the sound of the moonlight, brimming full, could not be heard. Only Ji-young's clear, ringing voice could be heard.

Ji-young: Let no one, be harmed, nor die. I will, never, permit your wounds, Around Ji-young's two eyes, blood vessels carrying black water were drawn, and her once-clear eyes were filled, in an instant, with black water. Ji-young: I will, never, permit your deaths. As Ji-young's hand was clenched with full force, every wire that had spread out from her wrist whipped through, fine and cold, like flickering black starlight. It was a beautiful sound.

Beyond the black wire, the clear sound of a black 요령(Yo-ryeong_Ritual Handbell) rang out resoundingly.