Chương 93: S.05 Time to Fly 04(03)

Scene 01_14. After taking Ji-young to the basin, Hyang-rim lowered her with care into a great tub filled to the brim with channels of Black Water. Jeong-seon and Si-yeon, eyes still closed, kept raising channels of Black Water inside the huge basin without pause. Hyang-rim: What putrefaction has done is tearing Ji-young's life apart. To be exact — a seed of putrefaction. To draw out a seed that has already burst, the Envoy's power will be needed. The one who reigns over the Envoy's Legion.

Hee-jin gave no answer at all to Hyang-rim's words. For a moment Hyang-rim did not press on. Hee-jin: I, Hee-jin, eyes still on Ji-young, let out a calm, feelingless voice to Hyang-rim as if she were pouring it. Hee-jin: have, the audacity, to understand, the Bishop. Hyang-rim drew a small smile, saying nothing. It was the word she had been waiting to hear. She had heard everything she needed. Hee-jin's voice was no different from its usual self. Cool and feelingless.

A line drawn endlessly through her own straining for composure. Hee-jin did not take her eyes off Ji-young. Ji-young's complexion, sunk in the Black Water, began to settle. Even as Ji-young slowly recovered her color, the green death that had spread coursing through her body subsided for a moment. But it was only buying time. No one knew that better than Hee-jin.

So that Ji-young could fall precisely onto Si-yeon, who held the Envoy in her, Jeong-seon was sitting with her eyes closed, holding the map of Jeo-seung up in her mind. Hyang-rim, late in turning, brought her gaze to Hee-jin's eyes. The light smile she had worn deepened into something deeper still. At Hyang-rim's smile, Hee-jin felt a déjà vu she could not name. It was a smile she had grown used to. She had not thought she would see again the smile she had momentarily forgotten.

Hee-jin, unable to settle the surge of feeling, only locked her jaw and let her eyes rest on Ji-young, who had lost consciousness. Hyang-rim lowered her voice almost into the sound of the water and quietly told Hee-jin the reason for her smile. Hyang-rim: I will be done with it, soon. By this choice. I do not mean to settle the misreading with penance, nor to bury it under guilt. It is, only, my own choice. As I-sim's was. As Ji-young's is.

You, and every other child — you all held to what you call the natural order, throwing your own one life down for it, holding on in agony, breaking apart. I, who feared death — like a coward I dodged the death coming for me, scraping out my own paltry life, and I waited, and I waited, and I waited. Now, soon, it will be over. But in the time gone too far to clear the misreading, talk steeped in feeling took the place of those gaps. I never disliked you all enough to set guilt over you.

Ji-young is the result of that. I-sim was the process. Hyang-rim's regret stretched long. Her wrinkled face brightened a touch. Hyang-rim: As you know — we, always have to choose. Because I have tried so hard to think of it that way. Because I resolved that I would. Hee-jin: I too, with the audacity, to understand, have chosen. At Hee-jin's flat voice, Hyang-rim let out a small breath she held under. Black eyes still in place, she closed them gently and nodded low.

Hyang-rim wiped at black tears, moved her body slowly, and stepped into the basin full of Black Water. The instant Hyang-rim entered, green-rotted blood burst up from Ji-young's mouth. Hyang-rim took firm hold of Ji-young's flailing hand. Ji-young's grip — squeezing Hyang-rim's firm, rough hand hard enough to bruise — surged powerfully. Ji-young's grip crushed Hyang-rim's hand so easily that black blood seeped out. But just as Ji-young had not given up, Hyang-rim too, to the end, kept hold of Ji-young's hand.

And on the far side. Standing at the edge of the basin, Hee-jin gazed at Ji-young without hiding the tangle of her expression. Many feelings could be read on Hee-jin's face. Hyang-rim, soothing the Ji-young who was now seizing in unconsciousness, let her voice carry. Hyang-rim: Ji-young. Can you hear. You must. A scream began to tear from Ji-young's mouth like cloth being torn through. Hyang-rim's hand drew black.

Hyang-rim: You, even if you yourself are broken to pieces, came here to finish, to the end, what you set out to do. But Hyang-rim too — even as her hand bones crumpled into a misshape — did not let go of Ji-young's hand. Hyang-rim: You must endure. For what you have protected, for what you would protect. Vomiting black blood now, Ji-young's limbs twisted in unnatural shapes. Hyang-rim drove her strength in to keep them from twisting any further. Her own face, too, was going pale to the bone. Scene 01_15.

Si-yeon let out a small breath and pulled her two hands from the clear, black water. Jeong-seon, who had been beside her, was gone without a trace, but Si-yeon did not look for Jeong-seon. Si-yeon stood up slowly, and beneath her Unhye stretched fine, fine black sand without end. Si-yeon moved her deep navy Unhye a little and kept on with a slow step.

Toward the place her quiet step pointed, the blackened cloud split open and spread, and something tens of meters tall came falling, as if collapsing, and lodged itself into the black sand-shore. The hair ornament and ear cuffs sat still awkward, awkward upon her. Si-yeon ran a hand over the three-black-butterfly 곰방대(Gom-bang-dae_Slender Pipe Ornament) at her chignon as if settling it, and walked silently on toward the thing lodged in the sand-shore.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. As she drew closer it sharpened into shape. Up on the black sand-shore, presences born like writhing things began to move, slow. In hideous numbers, forms tinted in deep green and tracing Ji-young's likeness rose up. Si-yeon, having met the nearest presence that barred her step, paused her slow walk. She lifted her head and looked again at the thing that had lodged itself in.

A grotesquely warped, twisted stone effigy stood there. From its hideous mouth a sticky, foul black-green liquid kept flowing. A heavy iron chain hung around the half-eaten stone neck of the effigy like a necklace. Bound to that iron chain, Ji-young — already gone to unconsciousness — hung helpless. Ji-young, dangling from the rotted effigy's neck, was not bound to it by limb or torso. Her whole body had been bored through. Si-yeon let out a great sigh.

The presence right in front of Si-yeon mocked her, mimicking Ji-young's face and voice in a warped, twisted way. Seed of Putrefaction_01: Our youngest. Came to help your sis, didn't you. Right? Another seed registered just behind Si-yeon. The seed behind her too, and the countless seeds in front of her, were wearing Ji-young's rotted face and laughing at Si-yeon. Watching the seeds wearing Ji-young's likeness in their grotesque, twisted way, Si-yeon closed her eyes quietly.

At that Si-yeon, Ji-young pulled a pained expression. Si-yeon's voice came flat. Si-yeon: Our sis. Let her go. Seed of Putrefaction_03: I'm right here, how am I supposed to let go. Si-yeon: My real sis. Behind you. Let her go. Seed of Putrefaction_05: Why? Can't I just be your real sis? Eyes still closed, Si-yeon let the corners of her mouth twitch up. Seed of Putrefaction_02: Don't our words mean anything to you, our youngest?

Seed of Putrefaction_04: As long as we stay in the world of the dead — whatever you may be, whatever you may have taken in — I can eat that living thing whenever I want. Look. Open your eyes. The flesh of the dangling Ji-young was being chewed into harder and harder by the iron chain. There was nothing the unconscious Ji-young could do. Having her life chewed off was all of it. Si-yeon did not look at Ji-young to the end.

She let the mockery hang on her lips, breathed out a sigh, and faced the gibes of the seeds ringing her. She opened her closed eyes, slow. Si-yeon: Do you even know — where this is. Si-yeon's two eyes had drawn black. The seeds that saw Si-yeon's eyes, with the pitch-deep abyss drawn over them, felt a sudden chill and only then took a real look around. Si-yeon: You know what? Everything was Si-yeon's. Everything belonged to the Envoy lodged within Si-yeon. You. Look kind of stupid.

The clouds, the seawater, the sand-shore, the wind, the air thick with terror — all of it belonged to the Envoy who walked alongside Si-yeon. As if only now grasping where they had fallen, where they had burst the seeds of putrefaction, every last one of the seeds in Ji-young's likeness fell into a screaming chaos and moved fast to bolt the place. There was no intention at all to leave any of those seeds alone. Si-yeon stood there with black eyes drawn and did nothing.

She did nothing, and yet everything that had been rotted burst apart. From the sand-shore daggers shot up; the terror-thick air tore through the seeds' flesh; the torn flesh scattered on the wind. In the rain pouring from the clouds, everything that had been rotted was swept away and swallowed into the black sea. As if nothing had ever been there, every last seed she had burst left not a single trace, leaving only one great effigy standing alone in lonely isolation. Si-yeon walked on, a mocking smile in place.

Si-yeon (Envoy): Did I, ever say you were to hold a will of your own? Even at the Envoy's mocking question, the effigy — tens of times Si-yeon's size — could give no answer, nothing at all. It only kept letting that thick, foul liquid drain from beyond its split flesh. The viscous trail of putrefaction touched the tip of Si-yeon's deep navy Unhye. The rotted effigy feared, by instinct, Si-yeon and the Envoy lodged within her, and held her in awe. That was why it could carry no word, no meaning.

Putrefaction: But — through the kalpas of time, having met what had once lived, we, regret — The effigy of putrefaction could not finish carrying its meaning. The Black Water that burst from Si-yeon's foot blew both its knees out below mercilessly. It could not even prop up its huge bulk. All it could do was list and crash to the ground. Si-yeon (Envoy): Did I, ever, say — that you were, to hold, a will, of your own? A question colder still.

Beneath the dread of Si-yeon's slow step toward the effigy slumped half-fallen, putrefaction could not even carry the meaning it had been trying to carry. The stone-carved effigy shook its head, slow. With every shake, crumbs of stone fell to the ground. The fallen crumbs could not even hold their shape, sinking into the black sand, smoking as if they were burning, and gone in an instant. Putrefaction: But, the Envoy too, The hulking hand of putrefaction shot, fast, scattering stone dust.

It seized Ji-young, who hung at its neck. If only the Ji-young who held the Harbinger inside her could be erased, then no matter what else, the victory would in the end go to putrefaction. Putrefaction: If the Harbinger were to be gone, there would be no meaning — Putrefaction's head burst apart. Putrefaction's grip burst apart. Everything rotted burst apart. A presence smaller even than the effigy of putrefaction's eyeball was scattering Black Wire and flinging her body.

The dance, fluttering like a butterfly, came to a brief halt only after it had alighted softly on the burst head of putrefaction. Ji-young, two eyes drawn black, set both feet on the head of putrefaction as it began to burn down, and let a flat voice carry to Si-yeon, whose two eyes were drawn black. Ji-young (Harbinger): Dead-world is mine. What I have shaped is Dead-world. In my Dead-world — what is it you imagine you can do.

Even the great wreckage of the head that had been blown apart in one stroke burst to dust beneath Ji-young's feet, and could not leave a trace. Each time the rags of Ji-young's robe fluttered, fragments of the stone effigy scattered in every direction. Putrefaction, unable to leave even its own trace, was broken apart pitifully in the Envoy's territory. The dance Ji-young had unfurled wound down slow.

With one eye returned to her own self, Ji-young settled the breath that had run a little ragged, and faced Si-yeon, two eyes still drawn black. Ji-young: Thank you, for your help. Si-yeon (Envoy): When my child's words aren't being heard, she just screams them louder. Tell her to cut that out. Hearing the Envoy's grumble, carried on Si-yeon's voice, Ji-young nodded calmly. Si-yeon (Envoy): From here on, even more, they will not defy that child's voice. All of those I have shaped.

Ji-young: That was the design of my Strategist, to keep the Envoy's Legion from working their schemes in the world of the dead. Si-yeon (Envoy): Following the voice of the world of the living, hunting you in the world of the living, moving you as the world of the living wished. Ji-young: They said putrefaction must be cleaned up first, so the rest will follow my Strategist. Si-yeon (Envoy): An enemy, yet kept close — you know why. Ji-young: Yes.

As if the answer were enough, the Envoy that had taken Si-yeon's body let its presence subside. Only after she saw Si-yeon's eyes return clear did Ji-young let out a great breath and drop, strengthless, to her knees. Si-yeon rushed in and caught the falling Ji-young in her arms. Ji-young: Yah, SSibal, it's only been what, a hot minute since the rough stuff started, what the fucking jiral is all this.

After hearing Ji-young's cursing, Si-yeon drew a smile that was the same as Ji-young's, and answered in a voice that was the same as Ji-young's. Si-yeon: But it's not over yet, right? That's why sis was just dragging her feet, not even calling the parasite inside her, almost dropped dead. Ji-young: Hah... For now, let's go. Have to go and finish the rest. Ji-young pulled herself together as if folding her body up and finally stood. Si-yeon stood up slowly too and stared at Ji-young.

For a very short moment, a deep silence ran between them. Si-yeon: But, how do we get out of here? I don't know the way out.