Chapter 63 |
"......"
In the meantime, could Yeon-woo have passed through the 14th Floor without coughing up blood even once?
"......"
He could not have.
Following Yeon-woo's blood, the guest saw more blood. He saw screams. He saw corpses. He saw the sordid instruments and records that had treated human beings as less than livestock.
A vampire centuries old could not possibly be ignorant of this place's name. A sham foundation that cults had built in the name of paradise....
"......"
There, he understood.
The absence of arrogance.
The obsession with humanity.
And that... rejection response.
He understood.
"...Oh."
I will win, he thought.
And so a certain vampire reached that conclusion.
***
Hunting and fellowship were not fundamentally different. Both meant keeping the other within one's line of sight and erecting a fence from which they could not escape. What ultimately mattered was information about what kind of being the opponent was.
'How far will he let me in?'
'Where will he draw the line?'
'Where is the line I will be permitted?'
Why did he not refuse entirely? Why did he not cut things off? Why did he invest such effort in serving meals?
"May I have some?"
That was all there was to it.
"......"
"May I have some?"
"Haha...."
Thinking he could win.
"No."
"Oh, I see."
He had done so.
Without any 'special reason,' as always.
Truly, merely....
"......"
Merely.
Because I know you.
***
Standing before the mirror, Yeon-woo adjusted his necktie and swallowed a sigh.
"No guest ever makes things easy."
"Yes."
"I had tried to buy time, but instead I seem to have given him the conviction to hunt. In the end, all that remains is the question of who achieves their objective first."
Having finished putting on his gloves, Yeon-woo adjusted his glasses.
At his age, fighting was juvenile, but he had not the slightest desire to lose.
"Let us move immediately."
"Yes!"
"......"
Fellowship and hunting were startlingly alike.
Keeping the other within one's own territory and building a bond from which they could not escape. What ultimately mattered was an understanding of what kind of person they were.
"All the same...."
Yeon-woo had finished putting on his gloves.
"Nothing but exhausting work."
When the eyes behind his lenses met their own reflection in the mirror, they curved slowly. A reflexive smile. Confirming it, Yeon-woo headed straight for the elevator.
He had read it in the guest's eyes.
'Inferiority.'
Worship and jealousy, and awe.
'So he must want to defeat me.'
He was a person born arrogant. That was why he did not want to live clinging to Yeon-woo's goodwill. If it had been a bomb that could go off at any moment, this was preferable.
"......"
Yeon-woo was weak, and the opponent was strong.
Yeon-woo was complete, and the opponent was broken.
They were both desperate to consume the other. And Yeon-woo, too, was someone who would not lose to anyone when it came to pride.
DING--
"We have arrived."
He did not wish to yield meekly this time, either.
"Shall we?"
"Yes!"
Perhaps one aged in reverse when one drifted from society.
"......"
"...? Hello?"
"Ha, well now."
Yeon-woo dragged a hand down his face and murmured softly.
"If I could just walk down one street that smells of people, I'd have nothing left to wish for...."
He missed society.
***
"Well, well, our Tarot friend, how have you been?"
"......"
PEEP--....
A listless whistle.
"Splendid, then!"
"Director, are you quite certain you interpreted that correctly?"
"Of course. As if I wouldn't know that much."
The number of soup-and-rice bowls she had bought to maintain this connection alone was staggering.
"......"
"This is our Section Chief Yun! Have I introduced her before?"
"You do not appear to be terribly interested in me."
PEEP.
"Isn't that an affirmative?"
"By a stroke of luck, you guessed correctly this time."
The dry, vacant gaze of the man in the fluorescent vest made the Director sheepishly rub her nose.
"Well, I was hoping to get some advice."
PEEEP....
"Section Chief Yun, our Inspector here says he's hungry."
"How on earth do you two communicate, Director?"
Despite the section chief's reaction, the man plodded off. Judging by the direction, it was the soup-and-rice shop they had passed on the way. The one the Director had said to remember because 'he will absolutely come here.'
Section Chief Yun turned to the Director.
"......"
"You lot always see me as a blowhard, don't you?"
"I would have squeezed more out of him."
"His favorite food is soup and rice, so what can you do?"
"Coming all the way out on a metropolitan business trip and eating soup and rice...."
"That place is good, kid."
The Director followed the traffic police inspector in the fluorescent vest to the restaurant. Having ordered three extra-large boiled-pork-and-rice soups, she ignored Section Chief Yun's "I can't eat all that" and opened her mouth.
"I always feel bad asking questions after buying nothing but soup and rice. Want anything else?"
"A pork cutlet set, please."
Section Chief Yun internally thought, 'called it.' A crisp, clear bass voice.
"The rice here is good."
"Ah."
"The meat is good, too."
Then added.
"The water is also good."
Sanpaku eyes, and a face as expressionless as a machine. Brows and eyes that descended without emotion.
"In such a place, karma shows itself clearly."
"......"
"And the soup and rice is good."
She had almost misunderstood. Section Chief Yun nodded inwardly. He simply liked soup and rice.
As befitting a Korean fast food, the soup and rice arrived promptly, and what the remark about 'good water' meant became clear when a tea kettle arrived alongside the water bottles. The Director added.
"It's not tap, not filtered -- it's separately sourced water."
"What does 'separately sourced' mean?"
"This restaurant receives Sensitivity Bureau support."
"Ah."
The owner appeared to be an artist or a mage.
Even without that, there were civilians connected to the Gaps. Rare, but not nonexistent, and sometimes they formed communities like this.
"Then...."
"Spring water from somewhere in the Jiri Mountains, they said."
"I see."
A shaman... type, then?
'The atmosphere is similar, but I don't see any enshrined deity.'
Section Chief Yun stopped her thoughts there. The other party was an Arcana Member -- nothing good could come from pretending to know. Whether she showed it or not.
Eating quietly, neatly, and slowly, the Inspector made the meal last quite a while.
"Thank you for the meal."
The Inspector began speaking only after consuming five extra-large soups and three pork cutlet sets. Somehow, that was more than she had heard. Normally it was three bowls at most. Section Chief Yun thought to herself.
Having regarded her briefly, the Inspector continued.
"Have you come to weigh?"
"Ahh."
He meant whether she had come again to use the 'Scales.' The Director shook her head.
"No, no. I came to ask about evil spirits."
The Director, who referred to Dokkaebi as evil spirits. Section Chief Yun had already been briefed on the way: 'That person dislikes calling Recognition Species by the name Dokkaebi, so be careful.'
"Our friend's Scales don't detect evil spirits."
"Their sins are not sin-karma."
"Right, exactly."
The Director continued.
"To get to the point... I came to ask whether a new Labyrinth has appeared on the Korean Peninsula, or if some other factor has emerged. Something special enough to draw in that many evil spirits."
The man possessed insight keen enough to treat even his own emotions as subjects of observation. He saw how energy flowed where and how across the entire board.
Simply because he was good at it, accustomed to it, and comfortable with it.
In a word, he was an expert.
"The thing is, I'm not asking you to do anything. I know our Tarot friend's backside is glued to his chair. I just figure after eating this much soup and rice, you could give us a teeny bit of advice as payment."
"I am not a shaman."
"I know, I know. So?"
"I'm not sure."
"Aha."
The Director brightened and nodded.
"Oh, thank you so much, our dear Tarot friend! Let's have a group dinner with the Gangwon Province Bureau sometime."
"I will be taking my leave."
"Look at him, not even pretending to listen to the end. What manners."
The Inspector left the restaurant as he was, and Section Chief Yun, who had been trailing him with her eyes, turned to the Director.
"I don't think I properly understood the situation."
"That fellow doesn't talk much."
"I could tell that just from his face."
"You have to be careful what you ask, and the questions have to be specific."
"So what you're saying, Director...."
"And above all, he accepted payment. In food."
"He said himself he's not a shaman."
"Since when are shamans the only ones who take offerings?"
"Normally...?"
"Just hear me out."
The Director lightly scraped the empty earthenware bowl.
"He received a question, and he received compensation. If he knows something, he gives a clear answer."
She added.
"Because he's 'that kind of person,' validated by the Tarot."
"If the compensation you're referring to is the soup and rice, isn't the order reversed?"
"He already knew what question I was coming to ask, so he took payment first. Eight bowls."
"So that was indeed the price corresponding to the weight of the question? But...."
Section Chief Yun tilted her head.
-- I'm not sure.
"...I believe he said he was not sure."
The Director shrugged.
"It means the odds are fifty-fifty."
"Fifty-fifty."
"A fifty percent chance a new Labyrinth has truly formed, and a fifty percent chance it is some other external factor."
"With all due respect, that is something even I could say."
"Section Chief Yun, you would be saying 'could be one or the other' while knowing nothing. That's different. The Tarot person says so knowing everything there is to know."
"Aha."
She nodded.
"You mean evidence for both scenarios has been observed."
"That's the gist of it."
Evidence of a new Labyrinth had been observed, but so had evidence of an external factor.
"If even one of the two had not been clearly observed, he would have sided with one."
The absence of something was also evidence at the scene.
"A or B. But it's too strange to be neither, given how bizarre things have been on our peninsula lately."
"Then why not just say so plainly?"
"Do not apply common sense to Tarot folk. They all have their own firm standards. Our Inspector in particular will never say he 'knows' something unless he himself has reached a conclusion."
"Ah, so that's why he said he didn't know...."
Section Chief Yun's murmur was met with a nod from the Director.
"By the way, Section Chief Yun."
The Director gazed at the ceiling, searching her memory.
"The most I ever treated him to was three bowls."
"Yes, even I...."
"That time, I asked about changes in global sin levels."
"Ah, dear."
"Today he took five extra-large soups and three pork cutlet sets?"
Straightening her head, she looked at Section Chief Yun with drooping eyes and nodded.
"From this we can deduce that the Korean Peninsula is truly and utterly fucked."
"Director... please maintain some decorum."
"But you think so too."
"I always maintain decorum."
"Good grief, you cut ties faster than a Dokkaebi."
The emergence of an indigenous Labyrinth on the Korean Peninsula alone was no trifling matter. Unlike Russia or Canada with their vast territories, a single badly placed Labyrinth could reduce the peninsula to scorched earth.
And now evidence of an external factor had been found on top of that? This was madness.
"The bigger problem is that the possibility of those two cooperating has now emerged."
"Ah, this. Ah... aah...."
That was also a valid point.
"Come to think of it, he was given a binary question about a single issue and chose both answers."
"Exactly. Two natural disasters have appeared on the Korean Peninsula, and those two have joined hands."
"To think the Korean Peninsula has come to this. Perhaps I should emigrate to France. With the classical Labyrinths -- the Crow and the Count -- having left Europe, it should be safer there."
"It's still the devil's country of origin, is it not?"
The Director cackled.
"You do remember that Europe has the most religious Dokkaebi of any landmass, Section Chief Yun? Go there and your head pops instantly. Remember, Mr. Lu-[redacted] is still watching."
"I truly despise Dokkaebi."
"Yeah, yeah, I understand that feeling completely... but you know, living in the Gaps, you do see folks who actually like them. Chin up."
"Those insane Gap people."
"There it is. This is why outsiders are too soft-hearted."
She scratched her chin roughly, her brows rising as though annoyed. Her drooping eyes scrunched with exasperation.
"But if a newborn Labyrinth and an external factor have converged, this is not a common case."
"I will look through the records when I return."
"Depending on the case, we may need to go back to the Joseon Dynasty. Who are the Dokkaebi we can contact directly in our country right now, Section Chief Yun?"
"By 'contact,' I assume you mean traditional indigenous Dokkaebi -- there are none. Both have been confirmed as overseas on personal schedules, as of three weeks ago."
"Goodness, three weeks? What's kept them away so long?"
"Well...."
Adjusting her glasses, Section Chief Yun answered.
"One is at a medical device seminar, and the other is overseas for a business meeting."
"You'd think they'd be more laid-back after living that long."
"Comparing real Dokkaebi who have been around since the Joseon Dynasty to humans only makes us look pitiful."
"It's not like we can contact beings who have little interest in human affairs."
Nor did they have the relationship for it.
At best, the Seoul Metropolitan Bureau might be able to put in a call. As with all long-lived spirits, it was a blessing if they even pretended to glance at matters outside their interest.
"Since even the one hill we could lean on has walked overseas, we'll have to prepare on our own. Make sure the Special Team and the Cleanup Squad are well armed."
"I have mentioned before that saying things like that in public makes us look like organized crime."
"You think saying 'the Gaps' instead makes us look wholesome? Not a chance."
"The probability is low, but just in case...."
Section Chief Yun trailed off and pointed past the door. The Director waved her hand.
"Don't go there. Tarot folk are not to be prodded. Do not expect anything resembling help."
"My apologies. He seemed more approachable than I expected, given that a few bowls of soup and rice yielded advice. I must have been thinking too lightly."
"What is this, treating a person like a Dokkaebi? Granted there are similarities, but it's not simply a matter of them being eccentric or hard to get along with."
"I see."
"I told you."
His expression turned sour.
"Tarot folk all have their own firm standards."
"Yes, so you said."
"Cross those and there will be consequences."
"So he is a shaman after all?"
"What god would a Tarot person enshrine? The god couldn't handle it."
They were abilities of a similar vein, but practically a different field altogether.
"You know the Tarot depicts a single human life across its cards."
"Enough to pass the Sensitivity Bureau exam, yes."
"Right. Starting from number zero, 'The Fool,' and concluding at number twenty-one, 'The World.' And an Arcana Member is the person on this planet who best fits each card."
"I've always been curious -- has there actually been a person called 'The Fool'?"
"You think so? It's a metaphor, surely. Archetypes of human experience."
In a word,
"It is destiny."
Not impossible to escape, but exceedingly difficult. The person in question might think nothing of it, but the people around them especially.
"I don't know the details myself. Whether genuine destiny exists, or something called causality, or whether those damned relics called the 'Major Arcana' did something... or perhaps it's all the result of a meticulous formula by the artists who first created those relics."
"......"
"But what small fry like us need to know is simple. Remember that everyone who tried to pry an Arcana Member from that framework and use them as they pleased came to a bad end. Five years ago, the card-holder with an overtly ominous framework -- like that devil -- came to an especially bad one."
That devil meant number fifteen, 'The Devil.'
"And since the members were chosen in the first place because they most closely match their corresponding card, they have absolutely no desire to leave that framework themselves. Do you follow?"
"It seems you are advising that they are beings of a dangerous caliber, that contact should be avoided where possible, and that if one must make use of them, one should first understand the card-holder's rules."
"Exactly."
She looked at Section Chief Yun.
"You've seen over the past year or so -- I placed you as section chief because I coveted your administrative skills. And you've more than pulled your weight. I appreciated having you take on administrative duties in lieu of fieldwork, helping as much as two people...."
These Gap-born people were something else when it came to rough edges.
In this manner, artists who came from the outside to join the Sensitivity Bureau were promoted quickly relative to their experience and tenure. In the Gaps, that was what being an artist made possible.
"If your heart is soft, at least keep your mind sharp."
"...It was soft, then...."
"You understand what I mean?"
Precious artist personnel with talent were promoted quickly, but given a proportionally long adjustment period. Due to the nature of the Gaps, fieldwork could easily break and ruin that 'righteous will.'
"You're smart, so you get it. Just remember that things can't stay as they are. Section Chief Yun, you would do well to better understand how the Gaps operate."
"I do not wish to change my convictions."
"Then cross every other line. I'm telling you to tear down everything except the pillar that holds you up. Because an outsider artist joining a regional Gap Sensitivity Bureau at this point means you need to make that possible."
"I will study harder."
"We're all here because we have our reasons, and we die proportionally fast."
She rolled her eyes sideways.
"Section Chief Hong was not the type to go out like that, but he got his head popped just for making one report to his superior."
Those pitiful Envoy bastards, grinning as they went. This was why people with convictions were so much harder to deal with than the wishy-washy ones. They died on their own terms, satisfied.
"In the end, all that's left are petty old curmudgeons like me."
"That is not true."
"Don't die too fast. I'm lonely, you rascals."
Section Chief Yun did not look like someone who would last long, either. Throw her into the field and she would last three years at best. People who had convictions more important than their lives went that quickly.
"......"
"No answer, you rotten bastards...."
Perhaps because it was a Sensitivity Bureau-supported restaurant, none of the surrounding patrons noticed anything odd about their conversation. The only sounds were the murmur of conversation and the clink of tableware throughout the restaurant.
After a brief silence, the Director looked at Section Chief Yun.
"Let's be good to each other while we're both alive."
"Yes, Director."
"If there's something you want to do, be that much more careful in everything. Whatever it may be."
"Understood."
"Right. Anyway, if the word 'don't know' came out of that Inspector's mouth...."
The Director tilted her head.
"I suppose the rice is almost done?"
Whatever it was, he was waiting for the 'right time.'
TL Note -
Section Chief Yun's gender was not specified when the character first appeared. This chapter confirms Yun is female.
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