Chương 129: S.05 Time to Fly 10(02)

Scene 01_03. So-hui and Si-yeon both stole a glance at the dining hall ceiling where Gyeong-seo's vacant gaze lingered, then lowered their heads again and studied Gyeong-seo intently. When her gaze refused to return even as they watched, So-hui and Si-yeon, seated on either side of her, patted Gyeong-seo's shrunken shoulders as if mourning her departed spirit. Si-yeon: Wow, but honestly, I've never seen anyone hate work as much as her. So-hui: Right. I never thought it'd be this — Gyeong-seo:... So it was you, sis.

Gyeong-seo's gaze, fixed on the ceiling, did not return. Still aimed at the ceiling, she let slip a dazed voice, then mechanically lowered her head and mechanically looked at So-hui, seated right beside her. The moment So-hui hurriedly turned her eyes away and tried to flee with her emptied meal tray, Gyeong-seo's arm snatched So-hui's wrist in an instant. Unable even to stand, So-hui had no choice but to hastily lower her voice, feigning loftiness. So-hui: Uh, uh-uh, ahem.! R — right now!!

How dare you — the, the Gui —, the, the Seer's, hm? That — that spoken-for, wrist! Of mine! So-hui, to whom rank and bellowing could hardly be familiar, forced out a stammering voice meant to smooth the situation over, but Gyeong-seo paid her no mind at all. Gyeong-seo: So the one... who advised... to promote me... was you, sis. Right. It was you, sis.... No wonder — my drinking buddy would never have betrayed me. Ji-young: Here! Take this.

To cut off Gyeong-seo's spirit-lost voice, Ji-young pressed a cold bottle against Gyeong-seo's cheek. Gyeong-seo swiftly recovered her lost wits and took the cold bottle Ji-young held out. Bottle of liquor in hand, she looked down at it in silence for a moment. Ji-young: It's a gift from your drinking buddy. On the chilled bottle of liquor was written a familiar hand she had forgotten for a while. Gyeong-seo, holding the bottle carefully, studied it in a daze.

Ji-young plopped herself down onto the empty chair across from Gyeong-seo. -Do not drink too much all at once. - The warm voice of the one who had been the eldest of all rose of its own accord. Gyeong-seo, gripping the bottle tight in both hands, only gazed at it in silence for a long while. Ji-young: I should've given it to you ages ago, but I've been so scattered I clean forgot. Sorry. It's liquor Mom brewed with pear-blossom petals, together with Yeon-hui. Gyeong-seo:... The Oldest....

Ji-young: Tell me when you've finished it. There's more in the Northwest. Though, of course, the other bottles don't have that note. Gyeong-seo: Thank you. Ji-young: Hee-jin sis already went off to prepare. Stash the liquor deep in the home bar, then hurry and go help her. Gyeong-seo nodded without a word and rose from her seat. Watching Gyeong-seo's solemn figure, Ji-young pursed her lips. Gyeong-seo, weighed down by a flood of feeling, bowed deeply to Ji-young in silence and left her seat.

So calmly did Gyeong-seo depart that one could scarcely believe this was the same person who'd thrown such a Jiral fit. Ji-young, So-hui, and Si-yeon all watched Gyeong-seo's retreating back and, in silence, each gathered their own thoughts for a moment. Carried by the dining hall's din, the first to break the silence was Si-yeon's pouting lips. Si-yeon: Mom's home-brew really does the trick, huh. So-hui: Well, she'll still go on hating work, though. Ji-young: Haa....

How am I gonna coax her into working from here on out — just thinking about it makes my head spin. Scene 01_04. Yeon-su: Like this? You're saying do it like this? Jeong-in: Ugh!! Seriously!! Doe Yeon-su!! From inside a great empty room in the assembly hall burst Yeon-su's awkward question and Jeong-in's exasperated scolding. Hee-jin, having shaken the water from her wet hands beyond the door, slid the great 창호지(Changhoji_Traditional paper-paneled door) aside and stepped in.

The instant she entered, a small puff of smoke and a light popping blast reached her ears. Jeong-in's hair stood wild and disheveled. Stolen story; please report. Jeong-in: Ugh!!! I really can't do this, Yeon-su sis!! Yeon-su: Hey!! I've never done any of this, so how am I supposed to help!! Jeong-in: You think I've ever done it either!?

At the two's harmless bickering, Hee-jin, waving away the smoke that hung thick in the air, stepped inside and pushed the burlap sacks scattered near the pair aside with her foot, moving deeper in. Hee-jin: Ah, would you two cut it out already. I could hear you all the way outside. Jeong-in: Ah-ni, when are we ever gonna fill all these makeshift censers? No end to it, no matter how much we do. Yeon-su: But do we really need this many? Hee-jin: Argh! My head's a mess. Hey, my hangover hasn't even worn off yet, okay?

Lower your voices! Both of you. Into a brass censer flatter and smaller than a palm, they were dividing two kinds of liquid into what looked like a fuse mechanism. As if the two liquids, once mixed, burst into smoke just as they had now, thick white smoke billowed out into the empty room of the wide assembly hall. At Hee-jin's scolding, Yeon-su and Jeong-in let out small coughs and traded the rest of their unspoken jabs in silence. Jeong-in shot to her feet and flung open the assembly hall's closed window.

Jeong-in: Still, lucky for us, it really doesn't seem to affect us at all. Yeon-su: We're doing this because The Oldest ordered it, but, haa.... My neck and shoulders already feel stiff.... Hee-jin plopped down into her seat, opened an empty censer, and carefully poured the two kinds of liquid in, each apart. Yeon-su: You done shitting out all that booze, sis? Hee-jin: Pretty much. Why? Your stomach hurting too? Yeon-su: Ah-ni, it just seemed like you drank a whole lot yesterday, sis.

Wondered if your stomach was okay, is all. Hee-jin: Thanks to that, here I am stuck doing this instead of attending The Oldest. I am absolutely not eating today. Jeong-in flung all the windows open, came back to her spot, and plopped her bottom down. Hee-jin's focus had nothing whatsoever to do with Hee-jin's chatter. Even as she kept talking, she divided the liquid in with precision and not a tremor, then twisted the opened censer's lid shut. Jeong-in: You're gonna starve all day??

After tucking in a tiny bit of powder that looked like a fuse, she snapped a clasp shut and gave it a light shake. Once Hee-jin had confirmed yet again that the censer wouldn't go off, she indifferently nudged the filled censer aside. Hee-jin: I've gotta eat dinner at least. During the day I could use The Oldest's orders as an excuse to slack off and dodge mealtimes, but even chasing Gyeong-seo down nearly did me in. The way she runs, it left me out of breath.

So fast — at times like this, you really oughta exercise a li — I-seon: Now there's an idea. At I-seon's eerie voice carrying in through the open window, Hee-jin snapped her mouth shut in a hurry. Springing up from her seat, startled to her feet, she mustered every reflex she had to bolt outside. Just as Hee-jin's dash reached the door, I-seon leapt through the window in her 운혜(Unhye_Everyday traditional shoes) and came inside. Hee-jin never made it past the door.

Without even managing to flee, she was caught with ease by I-seon's charge. Hee-jin: Hey!! Let go of me!! You muscle pig!! I-seon: Let's go. Well said. Do some lung-capacity work, lift a few dumbbells. Then the stiffness'll go away. And you'll catch Mun Gyeong-seo easily, too. Hee-jin: Aaagh!! So this is how Mun Gyeong-seo felt!! Hey!! Let go!! I-seon, as if she'd never come in at all, scooped Hee-jin up in both arms and strode out with great steps.

At the two presences that had vanished in an instant, Yeon-su and Jeong-in left the strange silence be for a moment, and wordlessly picked up empty censers to fill with liquid. Jeong-in: You pour it into the wrong slot one more time, just try it. Yeon-su: Hm. Ahem ahem. Jeong-in, holding two droppers — one of black liquid, one of milky-white — concentrated and poured each in separately. As she filled the censer, Jeong-in quietly called to Yeon-su, who was filling her own censer with the same concentration.

Jeong-in: Yeon-su sis, Yeon-su, frowning as if this were a task she could barely manage only with transcendent focus, kept filling the liquid. Jeong-in, assuming she'd been heard though no answer came, didn't stop running her mouth. Jeong-in: Aren't you going to school, sis? Yeon-su, having barely finished filling all the black liquid, answered just as she switched droppers to fill the milky-white. Yeon-su: Well, the professor in my department is one of us, so I'm coasting on a no-attendance B-minus.

But you, that's a different story. Jeong-in: Even if it's a university our Covenant runs, the physics department's a separate matter. That's why I'm wondering whether I should file for a leave of absence. Yeon-su: They won't let you settle it with assignments? Jeong-in: That's the problem. Yeon-su began calmly pouring in the next batch of liquid. Jeong-in: My supervising professor likes me, so he'd let me, but if I did, I'd end up dragged all the way into grad school.... Yeon-su: Ah. That's, a bit much.

Jeong-in: Haa.... Beside the two's voices, gone calm in no time, a heavy burlap sack came tumbling down. It was the liquid concentrate Gyeong-seo had brought, plopping down with a great griping sigh as she slumped to the floor. The two, who hadn't even known Gyeong-seo had come, looked at her with feigned surprise. Gyeong-seo's face was steeped in a sigh heavy enough to cave in the earth, yet she had the air of someone who'd come, at last, to do her job. Yeon-su and Jeong-in twitched the corners of their lips.

Gyeong-seo: What is it, why. What. Jeong-in: Ah, now I can comfortably speak formally to you at work. Gyeong-seo sis. Gyeong-seo: Ha! You lot, I will not forget that you avoided my eyes to the bitter end — not until the day I drop dead. Jeong-in: Aw, but you're still a rank below director level, so you're not scary yet. Gyeong-seo: Just you wait. Yoo Jeong-in. Gyeong-seo rummaged through the burlap sack she'd brought and pulled out a bottle holding a bundle of black liquid.

Yeon-su: Is this all, The Oldest's blood?? At the bottles of black liquid filling the burlap sack to the brim, Yeon-su clicked her tongue in astonishment, and Gyeong-seo gave a careless nod. Gyeong-seo: Well, calling it blood isn't quite right, but it's not wrong either. Either way, it flowed from a wound The Oldest cut into herself. With practiced motions Gyeong-seo poured the liquid into an empty censer.

With no need for a dropper, she opened the empty bottle and let the liquid trickle, and it filled the censer with perfect tidiness. Filling it deftly without spilling a single drop, Gyeong-seo belatedly noticed the two who, watching her, stared blankly at the droppers in their own hands. Gyeong-seo: What are you doing. Can't you see me getting hauled in and worked like a slave? Slacking off? Wanna drop dead? Both of you?? Yeon-su: Were you crying, sis?? What's with your voice?

At Yeon-su's out-of-nowhere question, Gyeong-seo didn't bother to answer and silently went back to filling the liquid. Yeon-su, as if she knew both the weight of Gyeong-seo's silence and its answer, pursed her lips and nodded. Jeong-in: Would someone who'd been crying go around threatening people with 'drop dead'? Gyeong-seo: Ha! SSibural, hey! Just hurry up and fill them!! We've gotta finish them all by the end of today! The censers filled with liquid multiplied in an instant.

The pile beside Yeon-su and Jeong-in was sizable enough, but the count of censers piling beside Gyeong-seo grew far faster. The closed door flew open and Eun-jae and Soo-a came in. Eun-jae: Shift change! At Eun-jae's easygoing shout, the three — who'd been focused enough to redden their eyes — turned their faces to welcome Eun-jae and Soo-a. The moment Gyeong-seo, not missing her chance, made the fastest break to bolt from her seat, Soo-a swiftly blocked her path and beamed. Soo-a: Sanctum Warden.

And where do you think you're going? Gyeong-seo: Sh — she said shift change.... Leaving Gyeong-seo behind, Yeon-su and Jeong-in patted her shoulders and quickly slipped away. Gyeong-seo again fidgeted her 버선(Beoseon_Korean Traditional socks)-clad feet to chase after the two, but Soo-a blocked her path once more and clasped both of Gyeong-seo's hands tight. Soo-a: The Director of the Inspectorate is working, and you'd run off? That stings. You don't even have any Sealed Sanctum duties.

There'd have to be someone detained for you to have Sanctum work to do. So, come on. Soo-a let go of Gyeong-seo's hand and, all but snatching her arm, fondly linked it through her own. Soo-a: Let's, sit back down.