Chương 82: S.05 Time to Fly 02(03)

Scene 08_01. A loud engine roar filled the gridlocked city road. Unlike the empty lanes on the opposite side, Si-yeon's car could scarcely move forward on the jammed highway. In the passenger seat beside Si-yeon sat, for some reason, Yeon-su. Yeon-su, riding shotgun, kept checking the rearview and side mirrors restlessly, watching the reactions of those in the back. In the back seat sat So-hui, together with Gyeong-seo, who could not pull herself out of her bed-state.

With the sun risen rather high, the light pouring into the car was quite cozy. Yeon-su gave a small clearing of her throat and twisted her waist to ask So-hui, seated directly behind her. Yeon-su: So-hui sis. So-hui pulled out one of the earphones she had been wearing and answered Yeon-su's call with a tilt of her chin. Yeon-su: Um, still — should you not be sitting up front.... So-hui: Your legs are long, so if you sit in the back you would have to ride with your neck and back folded over.

This car drives nice, but for the back seat, only short people like me or Gyeong-seo can ride — and even we barely fit. If you put yourself in the back of a three-door car, you would get knee arthritis. Yeon-su: Um, the thing is. Still. Si-yeon: Hey. So-hui and I know how to amuse ourselves at night, so do not worry, just keep your eyes on the road. If you are sleepy, sleep. SSibal there are so damn many cars. Where the hell is everyone going.

At Si-yeon's grumbling, So-hui pulled out the other earphone too and put it into the cradle, then leaned forward between the driver and passenger seats to look around. So-hui, Si-yeon, Gyeong-seo, and Yeon-su were all dressed in attire quite different from their usual casual wear. Si-yeon and So-hui wore something close to formal suits, while Yeon-su and Gyeong-seo wore work uniforms in modernized Han-bok. So-hui: Ah, that is right. Have you been there before, Yeon-su? 수향동 (Su-hyang-dong_Su-hyang District).

Yeon-su: Yes. While serving Former The Oldest, I have been. So-hui: How was it? Yeon-su: Bishop, that one — she was quite frightening. At Yeon-su's roundabout admiration, So-hui's lips twitched. With a light smile, So-hui nodded and settled herself back into the rear seat. Si-yeon let out a sigh and gripped the steering wheel again. Si-yeon: Ah-ni, was there an accident up ahead, this is not budging at all. It looks like we are almost there too. So-hui pulled her phone from her pocket and briefly checked the time.

Having checked the time before the road, So-hui soothed Si-yeon's bland grousing. So-hui: You will arrive in about twenty minutes. Si-yeon: What, are the jammed cars suddenly going to flip themselves over? It is not moving at all — Si-yeon's words could not continue. A loud explosion sounded not far off and cut Si-yeon's speech short. Si-yeon turned her face away from So-hui and hurriedly looked back at the distant place where the blast had sounded. The sight of black rain falling came into Si-yeon's eyes.

Si-yeon: Doe Yeon-su. Yeon-su: Yes, yes?? Si-yeon: Keep So-hui safe. Si-yeon stepped down abruptly from the driver's seat. Startled, Yeon-su shifted herself and quickly slung her long legs over into the driver's seat. As Yeon-su moved her body into the empty driver's seat to fill the place Si-yeon had left, Gyeong-seo, who had been trying to sleep in the back seat, rubbed her eyes at the loud impact and looked around. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Gyeong-seo: Ah, SSibal, what is it now. Si-yeon: You stay here too. Do not go getting hit by that black whatever-it-is. At Si-yeon's calm and clumsy plea as she stepped forward, So-hui nodded to the still-not-fully-awake Gyeong-seo as if to say it was fine. Si-yeon moved her dress-shoe steps along the gridlocked road, walking forward. Scene 08_02. The heels were not so high, but they were dress shoes chosen to match the light formal suit.

Si-yeon, having judged that with their thick-enough soles it would not be too hard to fling herself about, halted her silent and rather long walk. Though it was the tail-end of winter, Si-yeon wore only a thin trench coat, and the gazes of those in the cars parked around her drifted her way. Even on a gridlocked road, the sight of a woman standing on the highway — and at that, a woman of strikingly beautiful features standing upright in spring-weight clothing — was clearly not a familiar scene.

Si-yeon looked up at the distant 먹구름(Meok-gureum_dark storm cloud). The black cloud that had shaped the once-clear sky into pitch in a heartbeat was lowering itself, scattering black water down like rain. Si-yeon, with a sigh, looked up at the mass of storm cloud advancing toward her, as if she found it pathetic. From the two hands she had thrust into her pockets, she pulled out one and gave it a light shake.

Along with the lightly shaken wrist, black water sprayed like mist and shaped a small Eun-jang-do in Si-yeon's hand. Gripping the palm-sized 은장도(Eun-jang-do_silver ritual dagger), Si-yeon tossed it up and caught it again, juggling it leisurely back and forth with herself. Whistling, even humming a familiar tune, Si-yeon set her step forward again and headed toward the cloud that poured the black rain. She turned toward the black squall pouring down in the distance.

From the black water that had begun to pool thickly on the ground, foul Jeo-seung things began to take countless shape. Si-yeon did not tense. Si-yeon, having stopped her juggling, gripped the handle of the Eun-jang-do as if righting a blade, and when she flung her hand out to the side, the palm-sized Eun-jang-do blade rose sharp and tall, bearing a long thin blade about the length of Si-yeon's leg. Half stained with the black water, the other half held a clear silver light.

It was an Eun-jang-do without ornament, its handle worn smooth by long handling. With the blade, Si-yeon lightly cut the side of the suit skirt that had fallen to about above her knee, opening it for easier movement. Then she drew her other hand too from her coat pocket and carefully took the blade in both hands. Si-yeon slowly bent her long-legged knees and gathered her stance. Taking the posture of 교방검무(Gyo-bang-geom-mu_Royal Court Sword Dance), Si-yeon closed her eyes and set her bothered expression behind her.

She faced, without a word, the countless Jeo-seung things rushing in like beasts, trampling cars beneath them. Beyond her closed eyes nothing was visible, but because nothing was visible, the death of the netherworld could be felt all the more easily, eerily so. A single straw from a 그슨대(Geu-seun-dae_straw-bodied phantom) that had drawn right up to Si-yeon's face burst as though torn away. Si-yeon's blade danced in time with the reaction-force from her stepped foot and the sweep of her dance.

Through the narrow gaps between the car bodies, Si-yeon's blade severed the heads and necks and bodies of the Geu-seun-dae and the 취생(Chwi-saeng_drunken-tongued specter), spilling debris upward in a leaping pattern. Si-yeon did not even open her closed eyes. In the sloshing risen black water, she carried her dance forward and offered her silent rite. She did no more than send them back where they ought to be.

Severing the countless tumbling straws of the Geu-seun-dae and the wicked tongues of the Chwi-saeng, Si-yeon drew breath that did not rise to fill her, and headed for the dead center of the black squall. The dance was straight, and sharp, and sorrowful. Reproaching, severing, consoling, sending back. No other thought arose. She did only the dance she had practiced and the consolation she had been taught to give. Fierce and chilling and cruel, yet it carried deep sincerity and consolation, and an unavoidable sorrow.

The Jeo-seung things, fading, burst their own bodies and sank back as if returning to black water. Si-yeon briefly drew her continuing dance to a pause. With a small breath outward, Si-yeon's eyes, at last, opened slowly. Standing on the road where the black rain pounded fiercest, she lifted her gaze. One of Si-yeon's eyes was stained black. Looking upward, Si-yeon, for the first time, murmured in a small voice.

They were words and phrases she had never used, but she did not push back against the clumsy consolation that had begun to rise within her head. Si-yeon: Why have you come. I came because I was called. Si-yeon: Who sent you here. One who weeps as he rots. Si-yeon: Go back. Even if we wished to go, we cannot. We are afraid — so send us back, thou. Having lifted her face upward, Si-yeon, as if she had exchanged enough of the conversation she had to exchange, lowered her gaze.

With the deepest breath, she took the blade she had gripped and hid it behind her in her other hand. Setting her hostility behind her, Si-yeon raised the empty hand slightly forward, and once more closed her eyes. The falling rain burst as though shattered in an instant and sank down over the road. The black water swelled in a heartbeat and submerged the parked cars to about half their height in a moment.

Si-yeon, with her eyes still closed, gently spread her hand as if gesturing, and felt the deep death within the poured black water. You — you are the same as me, are you not. You — you are not the same as me, are you. The reasons by which death had come to them poured in countless. Beyond reckoning. I wanted to live more. You too must have wanted to live more. As if to console all the reasons of death that filled her head, Si-yeon felt every voice that came to her, whole.

I shall hear your voices, I shall become your mouth. She held within her the black current that had filled the ground. The wrongs you carry, that drew you here even in death — I shall hold them deep within me. So fiercely did the black water rush into Si-yeon's grip that she trembled slightly, almost flinching. But Si-yeon did not let go. The bitter grief you carry, that dragged you here even in death — I shall speak for you. Bearing every black current within her, she steadied the footing that had wavered.

Her closed eyes furrowed for a moment, but she did not stop. I shall become your heart and your mouth, I shall give voice to your wronged cries. In a heartbeat, the black current she had taken in could no longer be felt. Having felt down to the last drop, Si-yeon belatedly straightened her body that had not been wet in the slightest. She gave her hand a light shake to see if any current remained, but on her shaken hand, on the ground, in the sky — no trace was left.

Those who looked at such a Si-yeon with fear were, rather, the living people who had been in the cars. Si-yeon, suddenly self-conscious, scratched the back of her head and lightly gestured. At Si-yeon's hand-signal to move aside, the cars around her hurriedly started their engines again and tried to shift themselves. Si-yeon looked around at the slightly widened space, then took up the blade again and held it softly in her long, fine hand.

As Si-yeon began the 터벌림(Teo-beol-lim_ground-sweeping finale), the air around her began to slow. Each time the long blade brushed across the asphalt, a black 괘(Gwae_divinatory trigram) was drawn upon the ground. After she had wrought all eight black trigrams, Si-yeon lightly drove the blade into the center.