Episode 347: New Year of 217 (2)
My sister kept up her chatter with my lovers, and all the while her eyes kept stealing over to me. Every time they did, I could feel the tangle in them.
Hurt that I wouldn't so much as look her way. Relieved. And under that, anxious, and sad. Something like that?
The day I'd gone to talk her into letting me enter the Phase World alone, and ended up kissing her by accident — I'd been consciously staying out of her way ever since, and this looked like what that had bought me. She'd started seeing me as a man, not as her little brother, so I'd kept my distance. A little over two weeks, though, was never going to put us back to playing brother and sister.
"Maybe I really should build a house and move out. If it's security you're worried about, I could just buy land near the Grand Blue Building and put one up there."
Maybe my indifference — or the performance of it — had put her in a sulk. She lifted the corners of her eyes and threw the talk of moving out like a flare of temper. But as she kept working it through with Franc and Hwayeon, the plan seemed to be taking on a real shape, so I answered without looking at her.
"Don't. When we move, you take the fortieth floor."
"...What?"
"The mansion they're building in Shinchon-dong is supposed to be finished next March, isn't it? We move then, and the fortieth floor empties out. You use that. Don't go planting yourself somewhere odd and giving the security detail something to worry about."
I dropped my voice on purpose for that last part, and my sister's face went a little strange. Angry, and let down. That kind of look.
Franc glanced from me to my sister and back, faintly thrown, then made a fuss of it.
"O-oh, yes! Once we leave, the house will be empty, so Lady Siha ought to use it! You won't have to go out looking for a place, and your work is right next door, so it will be convenient as well. And it is safe, so you can rest easy!"
"Mm..."
After that my sister's words thinned out, noticeably. When Franc and Hwayeon and Yeongeun talked, she only chimed in without seeming to notice she was doing it, gone quiet to that degree.
Should I have just told Hwayeon, and had her pass it on later?
The three of them seemed more than a little bothered by how crestfallen she'd gotten, and kept the talk moving as if to coax her back. Awkward as the air was, time went on until ten seconds remained of the old year.
On the television, the crowd gathered under the lights at Bosingak began to count along with the anchor's lead. Down from ten, a chorus. Miho and Darky stared at the screen with faces that asked what on earth that was supposed to be, so I stroked both their heads.
The instant the count struck one, the Mayor of Seoul — a little gaunt, but with a kindly, ample face — and a monk in Buddhist robes struck the bell of Bosingak together.
A deep dong rolled out, and kept rolling, and a woman announcer's bright voice spilled from the set.
"Why are they ringing the bell?"
Listening to the tolling and the announcer's bright voice, Miho turned to my lovers, curiosity all over her face. Hwayeon answered, calm, while the peal spread on.
"If you want it in the nation's own terms, one stroke of the bell means a thousand. Thirty-three strokes mean the thirty-three heavens. There are eight tiers of heaven in each of the four directions, and at the center is the heaven that commands them all. That one is called Sudarśana. Dangun, the founding ancestor who established this country, is the son of Hwanin, the Heavenly Emperor and lord of Sudarśana. So the bell is rung thirty-three times in the hope that his founding ideals will be widely exalted — Hongik Ingan, to broadly benefit humankind, and Gwangmyeong Ise, to illuminate the world."
I didn't think lore like that was what Miho had been asking after. I had no particular urge to pick it apart, so I stroked the head she'd set on my knee, chin propped there. Her fox ears twitched upright every time my fingers brushed them. I toyed with them a moment, then let go. Once she'd heard Hwayeon through, Miho pricked those ears sharp.
"I don't get it!"
And she dove into my arms.
Darky, who'd gotten there first and was hanging off my chest, got squashed flat. Furious, Darky bit down hard on Miho's chest.
"Ow!"
"A kitty thinks she can go squashing people?! You need a whoopin' before your head'll work right?!"
"You didn't have to bite me over it!"
While the two of them scuffled, everyone else traded New Year's greetings.
"Happy New Year."
"A happy New Year to you all."
"Happy New Year, dears~."
Lovers and maids greeted one another, then turned the greetings on me, so I sat up straight, received them, and gave the courtesy back — a wish that they'd stay healthy, and lovely, for a long, long time.
In front of my sister, Yeongeun could only hide a sly little smile. Franc and Hwayeon looked embarrassed, and awkward about it. And my sister, seated beside me, pushed her lips out in a pout, as if something had thoroughly soured her mood.
I watched Miho and Darky — now that they'd learned what a New Year's greeting was — bow to everyone in turn. Then we ate the tteokguk Sophia and Suhan had simmered, the New Year's rice-cake soup, peeled tangerines and other fruit, and passed the time waiting for the sun.
Even after midnight, nobody slept. Cards, quiet talk, movies and dramas. Miho didn't seem to understand what we were doing, but she liked the part about staying up to play, so she fetched a game console and played. Sometime past four in the morning her eyes grew heavy, and her head started bobbing up and down as if it were dancing.
"Sleepy..."
"If you're sleepy, go in and sleep."
"Don't wanna... I'm gonna watch the sunrise with Master..."
With that she toppled sideways, pillowed her head on my thigh, and mumbled. From what I could catch: I'm not sleeping. I'm not sleepy. I'm not asleep yet. That sort of thing.
Sunrise today was around seven, wasn't it? I brushed the hair back from her temple.
"Then I'll wake you when the sun comes up. Sleep till then."
"Really...?"
"Yeah."
"You have to wake me..."
"I will."
Even half-dreaming, she drew the promise out of me a second time. I gave it, and stroked her head, and she seemed to settle — and soon she was asleep.
Once Miho slept, the living room sank into a pleasant quiet. Darky sat blank, gone soft as pudding, and my lovers spent the time on themselves. A book. The internet. The tending of gear.
I turned last year over in my mind, stroking the sleeping Miho's head, and three hours slipped past before I noticed.
"Shall we head out? Sun ought to be up in a few minutes."
"Let's."
"It's cold outside. Shall we bring warm tea as well? Suhan."
"I shall prepare it, Madam Yeongeun."
With sunrise close, I shook Miho by the shoulder and woke her, and we went up to the helipad to watch the sun come up.
Miho wore a vacant where is this, who am I look. She drank the warm tea and seemed to come back to herself — the bridge of her white nose and her cheeks flushing pink as she smiled a melting, cozy smile.
The whole family stood on the helipad, sipping tea, quietly watching the morning sun rise.
Miho watched with the rest of us as the crimson sun climbed from the ridge of the mountains. Then she stretched her arms overhead and turned a baffled face on us, still caught in the afterglow.
"Hey. Why are we watching the sun come up?"
"It's a rite, yeah. You send off the year that's goin', and you greet the one that's comin'."
"What's the year that's going?"
"...Dunno."
Miho tilted her head, Darky gathered in her arms, and decided it was nice whatever it was. She came scampering over, buried her face in my back, and giggled.
My sister gave a small stretch and yawned, then said goodbye to Yeongeun and waved to the rest of us.
"I'll go sleep now. Staying up all night — I'm a little tired."
"Go and rest."
"Yeah. You rest too."
Yeongeun watched the black mist my sister left behind as she vanished in a Shadow Jump, then turned to Suhan and Sophia.
"You two go in ahead as well."
At that, Suhan and Sophia turned and headed for the house, and Miho followed Hiarid home.
Only my lovers were left on the helipad. We were watching the first sun of the new year when Yeongeun linked her arm through mine.
"When are you leaving, Seoha?"
"Right now."
"R-right now?"
Yeongeun stared at me, thrown. Then her face fell, and she muttered. She looked so genuinely wilted that it nagged at me.
"Yeah. I'm already six days later than I meant to be."
"It's New Year's morning... You're going to leave without even holding me...?"
It wasn't only Yeongeun. Franc and Hwayeon wore the same pleading looks, and I swallowed.
...Hm. Two or three hours late wouldn't matter, would it?
This time the goal is revenge. Mine and Franc's, on the Rogue Imugi. Beat the shit out of that bastard, break him with mental manipulation, and work him into the fucking ground.
After lunch, Hwayeon and Yeongeun told me to wait a moment and disappeared somewhere. When they came back, Hwayeon was carrying a strangely shaped bag and an aluminum case.
Yeongeun brought two boxes, each about the size of a palm.
"Take it."
The bag was about the size of my torso, shaped exactly like a computer mouse — or, more precisely, like a stag beetle's shell. Dull black, a texture like chitin, and the face that would rest against my back was contoured as if the thing had been built around a human body.
"What is this?"
"A custom backpack. Made to measure. Calculated for your build and the way you move. Put it on."
The straps weren't the usual parallel pair. They crossed in an X, and there was a belt at the waist, like a hiking pack. I turned, and Hwayeon fastened it on me herself. It clung to my back so cleanly that the comfort was on another level from an ordinary schoolbag or rucksack, and the balance sat perfectly.
So that's why people pay for custom handmade. I could wear this all day and never feel it.
Franc cinched the straps a little tight. I shook myself this way and that, and the pack didn't slosh or sway at all, as if it had become part of me.
"This is incredibly comfortable. No comparison with a regular pack. The material feels artificial and natural at the same time."
"It's made from the carapace of the Grand Turtle you caught. We pared the shell as thin and supple as it would go, then worked in synthetic fiber."
She lifted a hand and tapped the bag lightly with her fingertips. Not a tok, tok. A tung, tung.
"It's a single piece modeled on a hard case, so it absorbs impact, expands to one-point-three times its volume, and has insulation, waterproofing, and heat resistance built in. But if it gets caught in your Wall of Space or a Mana Bullet, it will of course break. Be careful."
"Yeah."
"And."
She had me take the bag off again and slid upward the section that looked like a mouse's left and right buttons. A zipper showed. She opened it and turned the inside toward me — empty, divided into two compartments.
The space looked small for the size of the bag. Or so I thought, until I noticed a separately sealed section underneath. It gleamed silver. Stainless steel, by the look of it.
Yeongeun opened one of the two boxes and held up a hundred yellow capsules.
"These are purification capsules. One of them can purify five liters of water. You drop it where there's water. That's all. They can purify seawater, too, but they won't work on something like muddy water with debris in it, so use water that looks clean to the eye, if you can."
"How long after I drop it?"
"Five minutes is enough."
Five minutes. That's fast.
"So I fill the container in the bottom of the bag?"
"Yes. It holds five liters."
I was turning the pill-like capsules over in my fingers when Yeongeun handed me a box packed with things wrapped like chocolate bars.
"These are high-concentration energy bars. Ten-year shelf life."
She tore the yellow wrapper and showed me something like a stick biscuit in three joined segments. It looked like a calorie bar, about as thick and as long as a grown man's index finger. Three boxes, thirty to a box.
"One segment has every nutrient you need for a meal. Eat it in three portions and you cover a day. In a crisis, a single segment can get you through one, so remember that."
"None of this looks ordinary. It's not even sold at the Ability Users' Association shop... Where'd you get it?"
"The purification capsules and the energy bars both. Prototypes from the Agency for Defense Development."
"Seriously? This was made with tax money, wasn't it? Is it all right to give it to me?"
I looked at Yeongeun, worried this was an abuse of authority. She told me it was fine. Don't worry.
"The Agency for Defense Development does weapons research and development. They draw the outline, and the details go to the defense contractors. This time they tried to widen the scope of the research, and survival essentials were part of that."
"Yeah? Then the cost of that research..."
"That's right. Grand Blue put up the capital. And these are the prototypes from it."
Then I can relax.
I passed one end of the opened bar to Miho, whose fox ears were perked and flicking. She bit in happily — and her face twisted into something strange.
"...It tastes weird..."
I had no idea what flavor could put the face of a fallen nation on her like that. Had they given up taste for nutrition? I ate a segment myself.
"..."
"Kyahaha! Master's face looks weird!"
How was I even supposed to describe it. Take an outrageously sour pickled plum, fold in sweet and salt and heat and that sharp numbing bite, and maybe you'd get this. The texture was sticky and damp, like castella sponge cake fresh from the oven, stuck in the fridge for a minute, and pulled back out...
"Awful, right?"
"Honestly? Yeah. A bit."
Yeongeun smiled a bitter little smile at the honest review.
Watching Hwayeon pack the energy bars — not calorie bars — neatly into the bag, I asked,
"That's three months of food. Nine, if I ration it. Do I really need to take that much?"
"You never know what might happen. Better to be ready for the what-if."
"Right. When it comes to attack and defense, Seoha's the strongest in the universe, but in every other respect... right?"
"Well... yes..."
Franc nodded, awkward, agreeing that it really was so, while Yeongeun looked to her for confirmation.
Every other respect — what?!
The two of them, who'd been acting in a way that nagged at me, packed a few changes of underwear and, just in case, a first-aid kit. I tried to pull out all the medicine I didn't need. Yeongeun insisted so hard I had no choice but to put it back.
"What if a time comes when you can't use your recovery ability? A first-aid kit is medicine for being prepared at all times. You have to take it!"
"All right."
It'll probably just be dead weight. But if taking it lets them rest easy...
"We decided nutrition and drinking water mattered most, so we prepared those on purpose. For a place to rest, spread a Wall of Space and you can camp anytime, anywhere. Even if the food runs out, Franc has picked up a great deal of survival knowledge, so provisioning shouldn't be a problem in most cases. What's left is armor to protect you day to day."
With that, Hwayeon opened the silver case she'd brought with the bag and drew out a suit. Take the kind motorcycle riders wear, sharpen the lines, add guards, and make the whole thing look like it means it — you'd get something like this.
"This is made from the Grand Turtle's carapace as well. Try it on."
I'd been planning to just go in the Forspeed Leather Armor.
I'd thought about bringing special gear when I went after the Imugi, but Darky would be along, so I'd meant to just go. Seems Hwayeon won't feel easy unless she sends me with at least this.
With her help I got the suit on. More comfortable than I'd expected, and nothing about it caught at my movement. If anything, it was easier to move in, and lighter, than the Forspeed Leather Armor.
"This is something else."
I put force into my fist and thumped my own chest, testing. I barely felt the impact.
"Well?"
"More comfortable than the Forspeed Leather Armor. Nothing snags when I move."
"Doesn't it? It's made to order. We gave Crafters Maestro Korea your measurements and the way you move, and the materials, and had them make it. In that, you'll hold up under a fair number of attacks from a Peak-Rank aberrant."
I startled at that, delivered with a confident little shrug. My measurements? When had anyone measured me?
"You've never measured me."
"How long have we lived with you? You think we wouldn't know?"
...Fair enough. I know my lovers' bodies better than I know my own.
Which is why the Christmas presents were underwear.
At the left of the suit's waist was a special magnetic clip, made to link with the scabbard of the Cheonchongungeom so the sword could be set on and taken off. I seated the blade there, slung the custom pack on my back, and showed them. The unease eased from my lovers' faces.
"Anxiety letting up a little?"
"Heh."
"Hmph~ If it were up to me, I'd have a full plate of mithril-adamantium alloy made for you, but I'm letting you off, all right? So when you get to the Phase World, listen to Franc, and be careful. Promise?"
Hwayeon offered nothing but that vague laugh. Yeongeun, though, seemed to feel the worry rising all over again at my words. She caught my hand tight and pressed the plea home.
"I know, I know. Darky, come here."
"Yessir!"
I caught Darky, who'd come scampering, and set the slime on my shoulder. A little shifting, and Darky settled into the gap between my neck and the pack. I held Franc's hand tight and waved to Hwayeon, whose eyes were filling with worry again, and to Yeongeun, who still paced as if she couldn't settle.
"I'll be back, then. Look after things here."
"Master, please take care of yourself."
"Fighting, Master~!"
=I pray you remain safe and well, Lord of Heaven.=
"Come back safe, Master~!"
And so, seen off by my family, on the first of January, Year 216 — eight months after I had fled the Rogue Imugi — I set out with Franc on the road of revenge.
Wash your neck and wait, you Imugi bastard. I'm coming!