Chương 56: S.04 Memory of the Clock 10(03)

Scene 06. The sunlight that had cast its day was already tilting loosely into the inside of the cafe. Su-jeong, who had been sitting in some cozy cafe, was nodding her head. It was a cafe set in a high place where one could quietly look down at the headquarters compound visible far off within the basin. Even in the cold weather, the hand of Su-jeong, who had taken a sip of cold coffee, was trembling faintly. Across from such a Su-jeong, Hee-jin sat in casual clothes, a light smile drifting on her face.

Hee-jin: Still, even after being called a neighborhood dog, you're not thrashing about like before. Even at Hee-jin's jab, Su-jeong, who had not easily settled, moved her faintly trembling hand and set the coffee down on the table. Su-jeong: I wanted to thrash. Up until I heard what you just said. As if having taken no small shock, Su-jeong, soothing her trembling hand briefly, gripped a fist lightly.

Su-jeong, who even straightened her back to settle the dread that had rushed in, let out a small sigh and continued her words. Su-jeong: If what's left over is me, then. Yes. Not a bad set of terms. Hee-jin: It's a story for far down the line, but if you believe, that's how it'll be shaped. Su-jeong: Truthfully, I don't believe. None of it. Especially not the elder sister. Hee-jin: There's much that can take your place. Even without you. From now on, the choice isn't yours to make — I make it.

And I've already finished choosing. Su-jeong: A chilling thing to say. Hee-jin: Self-reproach and negation will form the axis. Envy and hatred and lingering attachment can also be shaped, but the largest seed is self-reproach and negation. Su-jeong: You'd already have finished telling them everything? Hee-jin: Of course. Su-jeong steadied her trembling hand and let out a light scornful laugh as she looked at Hee-jin. Su-jeong: When I faced this Kang Ji-yeong, I knew.

Many of the things we've known all this time — it turns out not a single one of them was a story that fit. Of course, not all of it was wrong, but much of it was wrong. If only I'd known that earlier, I keep wondering how things might have gone. Hee-jin: I wouldn't have left it that way. I. It was Hee-jin's chilling voice. It was Hee-jin's resolve, that everything must flow as she wished. Su-jeong, without taking down the smile she had been wearing, asked just as it was. Su-jeong: When did you come to know?

Hee-jin: The moment I chose everything. The moment I resolved to do so. Su-jeong: Through The Weeping of Retribution? Hee-jin nodded. Having seen Hee-jin's answer for herself, Su-jeong turned her gaze through the cafe's full-length glass where a soft light was rolling in. As if it had never happened, the headquarters stood without any trouble at all, in its whole form. Looking at the sunlight that seemed about to darken any moment now, Su-jeong drew a smile across her face.

Many thoughts forced their way into her head. Su-jeong, having briefly looked back on the long stretch of time through which she had passed so much, opened her mouth past the heavy silence. Su-jeong: Even so, conviction does come. Hee-jin: What kind? Su-jeong: That everything I did wasn't, after all, without meaning. Su-jeong shook out her hand and shaped a single blackened mirror. It was a mirror that looked closer to a blade.

The mirror, holding a deep abyss within it, was casting a death even deeper than that of an ordinary mirror. Su-jeong: You waited. Until I had warped. Until I came to know. Until I came to know on my own that I could do nothing. Hee-jin smiled lightly and at length lifted the coffee cup set before her, moistened her dry mouth. Setting the coffee cup down lightly, Hee-jin then asked Su-jeong with a smile drifting on her face. Hee-jin: So, your answer?

Su-jeong turned her gaze, which had been outside, and looked Hee-jin straight on with a smile, and spoke. At the wordless thing Su-jeong passed across, Hee-jin nodded. Having passed on every word she needed to, Su-jeong was about to rise from her seat first. Hee-jin: You and I. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings. Su-jeong sat her body, which had begun to rise, back down on the chair. Hee-jin: We probably still haven't broken free of that day.

Su-jeong: I thought I had broken free, but it seems not. Watching myself throwing this much of a Jiral. But, I didn't think there could be someone who's worse than me. No, how shall I put it.

"Worse" doesn't quite do it. That feels short. It would be more accurate to say — someone for whom everything changed since that day, wouldn't it? Hee-jin: That's right. Because everything changed. So I was curious. Su-jeong: About what. Hee-jin: How much, lingering attachment you've held. Scene 07. FLASHBACK Flames shot up toward the headquarters. People moved frantically, struggling with all their might to put out the fire. I-sim's wire snapped through the air. Held in I-sim's arms was a small child.

A girl who looked to be about elementary-school age. There was no time to soothe the child, who, even held in I-sim's arms, was not crying but only staring blankly as if recalling something. From the child's eyes, soundless tears just kept flowing. The 한복(Han-bok_Traditional Korean dress) hem fluttering, I-sim's continuing dance-stroke cut down without exception every murderous intent that lunged at her in clothing different from the Covenant's.

In an alley, crouched down and holding her younger sibling deep against her chest, the young Su-jeong, fearing the flames shooting up on every side, pleaded with The Oldest. Su-jeong: The Oldest. Please. My sister, my sister isn't The Key. At Su-jeong's pleading, I-sim moved her body in a hurry, drew Su-jeong against her, and soothed her in haste. I-sim: Su-jeong, it's all right. I'll protect you, just stay close to me. Got it? Su-jeong, not letting go of her sister to the end, nodded.

As I-sim took Su-jeong's hand and was about to move her steps, an outer wall collapsed with a great crash, and assailants with black-pooled gazes blocked I-sim's way. As their black current of water tore toward I-sim, I-sim had no hands left. I-sim, in haste, bent her body and pulled in everyone within the surging black current — Su-jeong, Su-jeong's sister, and the child she herself was holding. I-sim, having taken a great injury, spat blood from her mouth. But there was no room to rest.

Assailants who tried to take the head of I-sim, who had only barely steadied her staggering body, lunged all at once. I-sim did not let go of the children in her arms. The bodies of the assailants who had lunged at I-sim and the children, all at once, failed to hold their form, and collapsed like a sticky current of water. Hyang-rim: I-sim!! The Bishop rushed in and gathered the blood-flecked I-sim into her arms. In haste, she handed Su-jeong and Su-jeong's sister over into the Bishop's hands.

Hyang-rim: You'll die at this rate!! I-sim: I cannot leave children who know nothing to die anymore. Sis. Please. Take them. Even one. I cannot, right now, protect everyone in this place. Hurry! The Bishop, having heard I-sim's plea, as if having resolved on something, gathered Su-jeong and Su-jeong's sister into her arms and moved her body in haste. The Bishop's robes were different from the Covenant's. If anything, they bore the same form as the ones worn by those who had assaulted the Covenant.

Su-jeong, seeing the Bishop in such form, tried to refuse the Bishop's help. She could not let her sister pass into the Bishop's hands. I-sim, having quickly cleared the spot, holding a child of an age similar to Su-jeong's sister, hurled her body somewhere in haste. To the very end, Su-jeong tried to gather her sister, who was being passed into the Bishop's hands, into her own arms.

The instant Su-jeong tore her sister away from the Bishop's body, from somewhere a sword flew in, and half of the sister's body was hollowly cut away. The Bishop, in haste, raised black water and severed the necks of those who had thrown the sword. The Bishop raised a black current of water over Su-jeong's sister and tried to seal the wound, but Su-jeong's sister, who had already crossed Samdo-cheon, could not in the end take down the form of weeping in terror. Su-jeong looked at the Bishop with a vacant face.

Su-jeong: Why... are you doing this. Su-yeon? The Bishop, with a pained look, left Su-yeon behind, and gathered only Su-jeong into her arms, moving her body in haste. Su-jeong, who only belatedly grasped everything, wailed and struggled to wrench herself free of the Bishop's body. The form of her sister, half of her gone, drew further away, but Su-jeong, to the very end, was thrashing to reach for her sister. Scene 08. FLASHBACK The place I-sim entered next was the quarters where the young Yeon-hui was staying.

I-sim, having taken on a thick coating of blood, came up to Yeon-hui and entered Yeon-hui's room in haste. Held in I-sim's arms was the young Ji-yeong, who in the end had let go of consciousness. The three of them having entered together, I-sim spoke to Yeon-hui. I-sim: Yeon-hui. That thing I said earlier. Do you remember it? Yeon-hui: Yes. Of course. I-sim: Then, this friend whom you protected earlier — could you take care of her all the way to the end? Here, you'll play hide-and-seek. The two of you are It.

Yeon-hui: Yes. I-sim: Even if the seeker calls, you have to hold your breath all the way to the end. Got it? After hiding Yeon-hui and Ji-yeong beneath Yeon-hui's low bed, I-sim hurried out. Beneath the bed, Yeon-hui drew the body of Ji-yeong, who could not even come to consciousness, even more tightly into her arms. A short while later, a familiar voice came in. Yu-seok: I saw her around here. People in familiar attire stepped in together with Yu-seok. At Yu-seok's words, they began ransacking Yeon-hui's home.

From outside the door, a stately voice came in. The cry of a young infant could also be heard along with it. Seong-yeon: What is going on. The bowed-over people explained the situation to Seong-yeon. Inner Guard 01: We are following the lead of the eldest of the line, who reported that a Key candidate has hidden in this place. Seong-yeon: Hm. Even so, to so rudely barge into where the Executive Secretary's child sleeps. When we are barely managing to contain the Black Doctrine as it is. Inner Guard 02: Apologies.

But, the uprising of the Black Doctrine, in the end, is no different from the movement to find The Key. We are following the order to first eliminate the Key candidates we have secured. Seong-yeon: On whose order. No answer flowed out from the Inner Guard. Seong-yeon: I asked, on whose order.

The Inner Guard, wordlessly, drew a sword, with black-pooled gazes drifting in their eyes, and was about to drive it deep into Seong-yeon's belly, when the black sand condensed in Seong-yeon's hand struck the Inner Guard's body and hurled it outside. Seong-yeon: All — every one of them — possessed. Who, would do this. Yeon-su, gathered into Seong-yeon's arms, was crying with all her might. At the louder weeping, Seong-yeon's body flinched. The one she had hurled out rose and pierced through Seong-yeon's body.

Seong-yeon's hand, having barely escaped a fatal wound, swept through the air again, and with the sword still driven into her belly, she scattered black sand with all her strength. Her dance-stroke was not so threatening. Scattering sand and burying the two people in the outer wall, Seong-yeon staggered, sat down, drew the sword out, and hurriedly scattered grey ash over it. After settling the wound, she checked the newborn Yeon-su, who had stopped crying and was fiddling with her fingers.

Seong-yeon approached Yu-seok, who was standing outside the building. Seong-yeon: Yu-seok. Are you hurt anywhere. The young Yu-seok nodded. Yu-seok: I saw her. For sure. Seong-yeon: Let's go. Yu-seok: Mother. Yeon-hui was with her too. If we just go. Yeon-hui will —— As Seong-yeon was about to take Yu-seok's hand in haste and move her steps to leave the spot, Seong-yeon, who had stopped her steps at Yu-seok's words, urgently scanned Yeon-hui's room.

The black current of water striking the outer wall of Yeon-hui's quarters was reflected slowly in Seong-yeon's gaze. Seong-yeon, in haste, drew Yu-seok's body into her arms, gathered the bodies of Yeon-su and Yu-seok in, and shielded them from the black current of water that came pouring out as if bursting open. Scene 09. FLASHBACK In the middle of the Martial Hall, the sun was rising. The early sunlight of the summer solstice day was rolling in to a dazzling degree.

The young Hee-jin, held in the grasp of the Third Steward, was bleeding and losing consciousness. Wordlessly, I-sim was stepping inside. I-sim: That child, let her go. Outside has all been settled. Every voice that lured the elder sister has also vanished, so I'm asking you. That child, let her go. U-hyeon: I-sim. You really are strong. I-sim: I'm asking you!! Please!! Give Hee-jin back. Please. The sword in the Third Steward's hand drove even deeper into Hee-jin's neck.

The young Hee-jin, who had let go of consciousness, twitched her body. I-sim sent her bracelet flying through the air, severed the blade, lunged with her body, seized Hee-jin's nape, hurled her behind, and shoved the Third Steward to the floor with all her strength. Even while falling, U-hyeon did not let go of the sword to the end. The broken blade in her hand was driving in beside I-sim's heart.

Hee-jin, who had faintly recovered consciousness, watched dimly as I-sim, lifted by people in the robes of the Black Doctrine, was dragged away somewhere. When Hee-jin's consciousness finally slipped away again, the Bishop rushed in, tended to Hee-jin's wound, and then ran off again to chase after I-sim.