Chương 92: S.05 Time to Fly 04(02)

Scene 01_09. The Black Water that burst from Ji-young's grip drove into Seon-woo's eyes and nose, ears and mouth, and again began to shove out every drop of the Black Water lodged inside her. The more Ji-young raised Black Water out of her own body, the more her skin rotted through in violet-green decay. She could not let this chance slip. Yu-seok let impatience take him, kicked Hye-rim hard, and sent her sprawling.

As Ji-young left her back open to tend to Seon-woo, Yu-seok shaped a black dagger again and hurled it with all his weight. Ji-young's back jerked and burst red blood once more, but the wound where the blade had punched through closed in the same breath. The moment Yu-seok stretched out his arm to drag Ji-young back, his arm split open and severed. So-hui's 적사(Jeok-sa_Red Thread) skein cut Yu-seok's arm clean off, then whipped across his face and pulled him far from Ji-young.

Lee Yeon swung her blade and shredded both of Yu-seok's arms to nothing. The instant Yu-seok scrambled up again to break free, Hee-jin stood in front of him with cold eyes drawn down and black ink gripped in her hand. Lee Yeon raised warped Black Water and rammed it down Yu-seok's throat, then set off a huge detonation. As the Black Water rose, Yu-seok's head was blasted clean off and far away.

Above the grotesque stump of throat and spine where the head should have been, Lee Yeon's blade came down in a long, vertical slash and tore the rest of him apart lengthwise. Scattered black water-light wiped out the last trace of Yu-seok. With the enmity put down, just as the others moved to tend to Ji-young, Ji-young — vomiting blood — pushed them all back. Ji-young: Don't come near!!

The Black Water shaped in Ji-young's hands was holding down the Retribution inside Seon-woo and pushing out every green trace of putrefaction. Ji-young drained the Black Water she had carried, all of it, as if pouring herself empty. Into Seon-woo's thick, agonized arteries, Ji-young's Black Water settled and began to clean Seon-woo's blood, sweeping the rot away. The Retribution stayed to the end, an unbreakable scar she could not lift — she had no way of knowing how it had been driven in.

But the putrefaction came out easily. The instant the last channel of rot was turned aside, the Black Water that had pooled beneath Seon-woo's collapsed back swallowed Seon-woo whole. Ji-young, having lost Seon-woo before consciousness could return to her, paled and whipped around to scan the interior. So-hui and Hee-jin, Lee Yeon and Hye-rim rushed to tend to Ji-young, but Ji-young found her will again, lashed Black Wire down and drove it into the ground, and threw her own body forward in a heartbeat.

To the very end — to the very end — that was her resolve, never to give up. Scene 01_10. Hyang-rim's gaze turned to Gyeong-seo and Yeon-su, both already gone under. Hyang-rim: First. Watch over those two from Headquarters. They are the children who stood beside me and protected Jeong-seon. Keep them close, shield them from the downpour of the River of the Dead, and Seung-yeom — you tend to them to the end and draw the river's poison from them. Seung-yeom: Understood.

Hyang-rim: And we shall protect, to the very end, the Envoy seeking the road to the world of the dead within, and Jeong-seon — Before Hyang-rim's voice could carry on, a great detonation went off, and a column of black water shot up. Scene 01_11. Not a sound of the clamor outside reached them. Seated in a deep, wide basin, Si-yeon kept raising Black Water until it climbed up to her chin. It looked as if it were boiling at a furious pace, but the channel of water was not hot — it ran cold to the bone.

Si-yeon and Jeong-seon, sitting face to face, filled the wide basin with Black Water. The black current already lapped over the lip and threatened to spill, but it seemed a little more time was still needed. Si-yeon's complexion, as she drew up the Black Water, had already gone deathly pale. Her eye makeup ran enough that, with her eyes closed, you could see the smudge. Cold sweat soaked her forehead. Jeong-seon sat across from her, eyes closed, serving as Si-yeon's guide.

As Si-yeon hauled Black Water up from the depths of Jeo-seung, Jeong-seon kept watch that she did not lose the road. Scene 01_12. Si-yeon: Wow, SSibal, my land is fucking huge. A wide stretch of shore, where Black Water rolled in calm swells. The water of that shore held a clear, see-through blackness. Clean, transparent water that let everything through — but Si-yeon's hand, dipped in, was not visible.

The way that in the world of the living, when you sink your hand into seawater, your hand stays visible while the sea keeps its blue. Even at Si-yeon's grumbling Jeong-seon could not bring herself to laugh. Sat on the clean black shore, Si-yeon settled almost prone with both hands sunk into the water, and threw a glance at Jeong-seon beside her. Si-yeon turned her gaze back to the sea without a word, then spoke politely to Jeong-seon, who had crouched right next to her.

Si-yeon: If you still have anything left — any unfinished feeling — say it. I'll go right now and cut every last one of them down. At Si-yeon's voice, Jeong-seon only kept looking out at the shore, shaking her head. Jeong-seon: If sis goes now, Ji-young sis might really die. You have to open the river road to here — that way, when Ji-young sis loses consciousness, she'll fall down to this place, and that's how you'll be able to save her. And, This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road.

If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Jeong-seon straightened her back a little and smiled lightly. Jeong-seon: It wasn't enough, but it was happy. The eyes that traced back over Jeong-seon's memory no longer welled up. Jeong-seon: Mom told me — if I hadn't helped my sisters, if the Envoy hadn't taken root in sis's body, Mom would have died long ago. That she's held on this far only because my sisters are really, properly tough.

But — even though my sisters are tough as anything, there are things they can't stop. Things they shouldn't stop, even. What that thing is, I honestly wanted to play dumb about, you know? But once I-sim aunt had already taken her leave, I could see it. And still, watching my sisters fight on like absolute lunatics, I thought — okay, I'd better live like that too. Mom — Mom wants me to live the way my sisters do, that's what I realized.

Si-yeon: But here you are, gazing off into the distance like a girl who's lost everything. Looks goddamn comfortable. I'm over here pumping till I'm gonna drop dead. At a barb that sounded right out of Si-yeon's mouth, Jeong-seon pushed her lower lip out. Jeong-seon: Ah, SSibal. Can I get a break or what? It was tough for me getting this far too, you know?? Si-yeon: How much left. At Si-yeon's question Jeong-seon closed her eyes for a moment. A small ripple ran along Jeong-seon's slim, long throat like a print.

After it passed by, Jeong-seon opened her eyes slowly and answered. Jeong-seon: About five minutes? Si-yeon nodded. Si-yeon: They said once this is done I'll be wrung out and won't be able to do a damn thing for a while. Jeong-seon: In the world of the living, sure. But once sis comes over here, sis will be fine. This place — like sis said earlier, this place is sis's land. Si-yeon: But isn't Ji-young sis even stronger than me? Is there something sis can't beat? Or is it something else?

Jeong-seon: Ji-young sis is trying not to pull on the Harbinger as long as she can. At least for now. Si-yeon: But why. Scene 01_13. The risen black column of water broke up and threw the pouring Black Water down in every direction. Standing in the spot where the Black Water had drenched everything was Seon-woo, eyes drawn faded-black. Hyang-rim, without a word, lifted a hand and quietly drew the watchful Stewards back. Hyang-rim let out a small breath and turned to Seon-woo, who had given up her own self.

Both of them wore black eyes, and neither flinched. Stepping carefully forward, Hyang-rim resettled the damp lapel of her 철릭(Cheollik_Traditional coat-dress), heavy with the black shower. Hyang-rim: Can you hear me. At Hyang-rim's careful question, Seon-woo could give no answer. Hyang-rim: You will not hear, but you will feel it. It has been a long time. Long ago, when you were small — the trace of Retribution lodged in you that I failed to draw out, all of it, was my fault. You have suffered greatly. I am sorry.

At Hyang-rim's small lament and apology, Seon-woo, standing rooted, twitched her head with effort. There was no way for her to know what it meant, but Seon-woo seemed to be carrying on a struggle of her own within, trying to recover her lost mind. Hyang-rim: But, Hyang-rim spread both hands wide and reset her stance to draw one passage of the 향당무(Hyang-dang-mu_Local-Temple Ritual Dance). Hyang-rim: I will not let a single step, nor a single soul, pass into this place.

Matching Hyang-rim's stance, every Steward of The Black Doctrine ranged behind her took their own stance. Hyang-rim, having taken the 헌화무(Heon-hwa-mu_Flower-Offering Dance) — one passage of the Local-Temple Ritual Dance — closed her eyes gently. Seon-woo did nothing, only stepped forward on the stiff legs she had been standing on and came at Hyang-rim. The moment Seon-woo's foot pressed the ground in front of her, Hyang-rim's Unhye shot in and shoved at Seon-woo's chest. Black rain came pouring from every side.

The Geu-seun-dae and 그슨새(Geu-seun-sae_Straw-Bird Spectre) that came to disrupt Hyang-rim were met by the Stewards ranged at the rear, who stepped in and kept Hyang-rim's dance from breaking. Hyang-rim, now drawing the heavy, weighted form of the 꽃향발무(Kkot-hyang-bal-mu_Flower-Footwork Dance), shoved at Seon-woo's hard body. Seon-woo's head was already past reason.

With movements that held neither 무(武)(Mu_The martial form) nor 무(舞)(Mu_The dancing form) — only flailing hands — she lashed out at Hyang-rim, who blocked her path. Seon-woo was no match at all for Hyang-rim. Seon-woo's stiff body did nothing but earn bruise after bruise, toyed with by Hyang-rim's heavy, finely composed forms. The Flower-Offering Dance caught Seon-woo's leg, and Hyang-rim, swinging her hand around her own tilting axis, slammed the stiff Seon-woo to the ground.

Seon-woo, who had rolled in the black rainwater across the dirt, tried to push herself up on stiff hands. Within Seon-woo, something seemed to bar Seon-woo's own will to move — every gesture came stiff and awkward. Paying that inner obstruction no mind, Seon-woo finally rose, two eyes shedding black tears, dropping them onto the ground. A single sharply shaped droplet, the instant it splashed up, was shaped into a needle.

The needle-shaped channel of water shot upward and called up a vast Eo-duk-si-ni above Seon-woo and Hyang-rim's heads. Not one. Three Eo-duk-si-ni shaped bodies larger than any decent house and took form above Hyang-rim. The moment Hyang-rim lifted her head briefly, Seon-woo's lurching steps and dull fist came at her. A single strand of Black Wire wrapped around Seon-woo's wrist and turned her course. Pulled like one being dragged away, Ji-young — bleeding violet-green rot without pause — flung herself at Seon-woo.

Ji-young wrapped Seon-woo up in her arms, the two of them rolled to the ground together, and Ji-young scattered Black Wire upward again. Before the Eo-duk-si-ni could finish taking shape, Black Wire steeped in Ji-young's blood shredded all three of them in a heartbeat. Even the blood vessels in Ji-young's face now ran with rotted Black Water. Ji-young did not let go of Seon-woo to the end. The black tears Seon-woo shed fell to the ground and raised lapping droplets.

The risen droplets, as before, turned to daggers and drove instantly into Ji-young's flank. Ji-young, keeping Seon-woo on the ground to the very end, set her thumbs over Seon-woo's eyes and burst Black Water up again. Watching Ji-young — torn to pieces and still refusing to let go — Hyang-rim let out a small sigh. The Black Water Ji-young drove out burst and broke Seon-woo's seizures forward. Whatever struggle was raging in Seon-woo's depths — the moment Seon-woo could seize the upper hand within, it would be done.

Ji-young's channel of water swelled in a heartbeat and turned aside every drop of the Black Water that had filled the area. Seon-woo's body, thrashing in seizure, went slack. Ji-young, mounted on top, seemed to register that Seon-woo had passed out, and only then did she burst violet-green blood from her mouth and collapse onto Seon-woo. Only then did So-hui and Hee-jin, Lee Yeon and Hye-rim — arriving at last — gasp for breath and keep watch on the dead that still remained.

Hyang-rim came toward Ji-young with steps a touch quickened. Beneath the black shower, Hyang-rim gave her order to Ju-rim. Hyang-rim: Stewards, hear me. Ju-rim: Yes. Hyang-rim: I will go inside with her. You — not one soul, no one at all, are you to let inside the Sealed Sanctum. Ju-rim: Understood. Hyang-rim shouldered Ji-young and turned toward the firmly shut Sealed Sanctum. Hee-jin followed close at Hyang-rim's heels. The Black Water curtain that Ju-rim had quickly unfurled took shape like a screen.

Hyang-rim passed Ju-rim's 평고무(Pyeong-go-mu_Level-Drum Dance) and, as if she had no time, moved fast to step inside. Hee-jin too tried to follow the Bishop in. Hyang-rim paused her step and looked at Hee-jin, shaking her head. Hyang-rim: Inside will be hard on you. Hee-jin: I will go with her, to the very end. With a small sigh, Hyang-rim shouldered Ji-young properly and stepped into the firmly shut Sealed Sanctum. Hee-jin too, following Hyang-rim's steps, went in.

Now that Ji-young had drawn out the Retribution that had lodged in Seon-woo for a moment, she was certain no new ones could be freshly shaped — but the count still left looked easily to be hundreds. The black shower, too, was still pouring down without slack.