Chương 118: S.05 Time to Fly 08(03)

Scene 05. Ji-young checked the text message that had come in on her phone. Letting out a small sigh with the air of someone catching her breath, Ji-young leaned against the SUV she'd driven over, sent off a brief reply, and listlessly slid the phone she'd been holding into her thin coat. After gathering up her long hair, she gazed for a moment at the thick fog settled not far off.

Deeming it a place she could no longer come to, need not come to, hoped not to come to, Ji-young calmly pulled herself from where she leaned and opened the driver's-side door. Scene 06. Yu-seok was twitching the corner of his mouth. Faced with Yu-seok's expression as he held back a sneer, Yeon-jin folded her arms and leaned her back languidly toward the chair she sat in. It seemed to have grown fairly late in the afternoon—beyond the window, the yellowed sunlight smoldered. Yeon-jin: Ah-ni, don't just smirk.

The ecstasy's nice, it's all nice, but I've slept with humans by the truckload, men and women alike — so why is it that only with you do I lose my mind and pass out after? You working some sorcery on me behind my back? Yu-seok: Doubt it'd even work on you. Yeon-jin: What am I that it wouldn't work? At best I'm just a bitch holed up as Master of the Province of the northwest, no relic to my name, swinging a blade and brawling. At Yeon-jin's listless retort, Yu-seok let out a small sigh and nodded as if conceding.

It was an upscale hotel restaurant empty of people. Its quality was a different thing from the scenery Yeon-jin saw every day. It was a very upscale hotel dining room set beneath a quiet mountain ridge. The people coming and going were sparse, and the scenery in view was still. It wasn't terribly far from the city center, but neither was it close enough to hear the city's noise. Turning his back on the outside view he'd been blankly watching, Yu-seok turned his head to look at Yeon-jin again and asked.

Yu-seok: The soreness? Yeon-jin: My thighs? The inner part still feels stiff, but not so bad I couldn't. Why, you gonna do me again? Yu-seok: Just asking. I'm tired too. Yeon-jin: I see. Since it came up, let me ask. Yeon-jin folded her arms, leaned the body she'd reclined back forward, and rested both elbows on the table. With a peculiar smile, Yeon-jin asked Yu-seok. Yeon-jin: Babe, do you love me? At Yeon-jin's question, Yu-seok, eyes still fixed straight on her, held a smile.

Yu-seok: You don't either, so expecting it from just me is a bit much, isn't it? At Yu-seok's blunt yet placid sneer, Yeon-jin twitched the corner of her mouth. Taking it as the answer she'd expected, Yeon-jin nodded and straightened her back again. Yeon-jin: Guess having something I want makes me keep clinging pointlessly. Yu-seok: What is it you want? Wasn't it a position, in the end? Yeon-jin: It was. But now my thinking's a bit different. Yu-seok: How so?

Yeon-jin: The seat right below whoever takes the Next-in-line The Oldest, or some seat like it? Yu-seok: And you don't want to go for that seat itself? Yeon-jin: You stretch your legs only after eyeing where you'll lie down. Lie down just anywhere and it'll bite you. If I don't want my neck flying off, I'd best do as I'm told. And stay on your good side, well enough. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Yu-seok: But I don't want that seat.

Yeon-jin: I know, that's why I'm thinking I'd sit in it instead of you. Right below Song Hee-jin. Yu-seok: She says she'll take the Next-in-line The Oldest seat? Yeon-jin: At the very least she'll trample over it. Can't leave it vacant, right? Or, well, if it frustrates her, she'll make something like it herself. Yu-seok: You've looked fairly far ahead. Whether you're right or not, who knows. Yeon-jin: But, it's a bit strange. Yu-seok: What now. Yeon-jin: Song Hee-jin — she clearly doesn't hate the current Oldest.

It's not like I've only sized up one or two people; just from how she talks I can tell. No, she likes her a lot. I don't even know what kind of liking this is, but she truly follows her, that much is true. So much that her talk of trampling her is genuinely hard to believe. And yet the hostility, that she'll trample the current Oldest with her own hands — that was real too. That's what confuses me most. That's why I'm meeting with you. If push comes to shove, I'll have to attach myself to you, not Song Hee-jin.

It'd be a sorry thing if I got screwed alone after she and The Oldest were secretly in cahoots, right? So I'd like to know too. Yu-seok: What her real intent is? Yeon-jin: So I can figure out whether I can aim for that seat, take it, or whether I'd better stab her in the back and bolt before it's too late. Hee-jin: For that, The one who delivered the answer to Yeon-jin's curiosity wasn't Yu-seok's voice. At the voice that arrived at an eerily precise moment, Yeon-jin started up from her seat in alarm.

Rising, Yeon-jin showed courteous deference and bowed deeply at the waist to Hee-jin, who was approaching her and Yu-seok. Yeon-jin: Strategist. How did you come to be here. Legs crossed where he sat, Yu-seok offered a greeting with a gesture of his hand to the approaching Hee-jin, the corner of his mouth refusing to settle. Hee-jin: For that, wouldn't you need to have a talk with me? Master of the Province. Hee-jin too approached with a calm smile and seated herself in the spot beside Yu-seok.

The only one breaking out in cold sweat was Yeon-jin—who, even if it hadn't been slander, had clearly been talking behind her back. Once Hee-jin had seated herself first, she gestured for Yeon-jin to sit with a look that asked why she was still standing. Seating herself timidly, Yeon-jin lowered her body carefully and without a word, wearing a look that wondered what on earth she should say. Yeon-jin: I-it's, I was, c-curious. Honestly. So, while you weren't here, I — forgive the rudeness ….

Yu-seok: I told you I had someone to meet today. You agreed when I said let's go together, then kept on yapping — The dread Yeon-jin felt carried into a wordless sulk aimed at Yu-seok. Seated beside Yu-seok, Hee-jin smiled brightly. Hee-jin: Behind their back, people curse even the king, as a rule. It's fine. I didn't even hear all of it. Yeon-jin: I never cursed you. Truly. Hee-jin: I believe you. It's just a manner of speaking. Yeon-jin: But, what brings you to the northwest region …?

Hee-jin: There's word that my dear husband's been having an affair lately, so I've come to have it out with him. Yu-seok's mouth quirked. It was a courteous, merry joke in true Hee-jin fashion, but for Yeon-jin who heard it, her spine went past chills to feeling frozen outright. Yeon-jin: Th-that's, I, the two of you, that kind of — Hee-jin: It's an empty word. We're nothing of the sort, so ease up. At this rate, it only sharpens your focus, doesn't it.

At Hee-jin's flat smile and voice, Yeon-jin, as if she'd caught some meaning she couldn't read, lifted her head hesitantly and looked at Hee-jin. Yeon-jin: ……? Hee-jin: If you'd keep your sense of self intact, without scrambling your head over such tangled calculations, Around Yeon-jin's flinching body, black flames laden with tremendous heat erupted as if bursting, blowing away everything in the upscale restaurant in a single instant. Hee-jin: Because I can't speak with the Weeping of Immolation directly.

The smoldering black flames burned away everything around. As the startled staff moved to scramble, Yu-seok, still seated at ease, rubbed his fingers together and raised 검은 모래(Geomeun-morae_Black Sand). The risen Black Sand spread quickly, pushing out the consciousness of everyone in their panic. Hee-jin and Yu-seok rose slowly from their seats and bowed lightly at the waist to the black-eyed Yeon-jin seated before them. Hee-jin: The task you must carry out — did you hear it all?

Yeon-jin, with the Weeping of Immolation dwelling in her, nodded as if creaking. Hee-jin: Tomorrow, I'll meet the one who is to become the vessel in person. This coming next weekend, you'll be able to enter. Yeon-jin (The Weeping of Immolation): Why, not today, Hee-jin: I am a human. You must know what the Weeping of Putrefaction went through before — I'm curious why you'd ask even so. Yeon-jin (The Weeping of Immolation): Emotion, a mere, Hee-jin: Then carry it out now.

But, as I said, getting screwed once with the Weeping of Putrefaction is enough for me. There won't be a next time. If you won't follow me, I will become your enemy. If you begrudge giving me even the time to settle that 'paltry emotion' you speak of, then do it yourself. I'll be taking my leave now. Hee-jin, wearing an earnest smile, straightened her back and turned to head back outside, when the seated Yeon-jin spread black flames and blocked the path Hee-jin meant to take.

They were flames closer to clinging than to threat. Hee-jin halted her steps, turned her head, and looked down dismissively at Yeon-jin, who had come to be at her side. Hee-jin: I am trying to help you, even at the cost of turning my back on the ones who shaped my entire life. It's true that emotion is a mere flimsy sheet of paper. It passes and is forgotten, and can't compare to eons upon eons of time. But that flimsy sheet of paper was the reason I resolved to hand you knowledge.

It is by that that you could follow the rules of the world of the living and stand against it. If you don't like it, do it yourself. I won't stop you — I'll face you, and break every last one of you. The Weeping of Immolation that had cast black eyes over Yeon-jin did nothing. It only listened silently to Hee-jin's voice. That alone was answer enough for Hee-jin.

Turning back from her move to leave and seating herself beside Yu-seok again, Hee-jin held a smile as she looked at the Weeping of Immolation and brazenly carried on with the rest of her point. Hee-jin: Taking it that you mean to follow my will, I'll tell you in detail what you must go on to do.