Sleep Well, My Little One
In the hotel room, Captain Kid raked a hand back through his hair.
"Hoo. Leave me without work and I start to itch."
Dozens of files crowded the laptop. Let even one of them leak to the public and it could swell into a crisis for the whole world — and yet, working through them, Captain Kid could not feel that any of this was work.
"Indefinite standby. That's a first for me."
Another coffee went down in a long slurp; he had lost count of them. He drew a sharp breath through his teeth and smacked his lips at the sweetened bitterness.
"Tch. Earth still needs me. I shouldn't be sitting here like this."
His leg jittered, a fine relentless tremor — Captain Kid's old affliction, the withdrawal that came of being parted from Captain Earth too long. The superhuman's shaking set the hotel room faintly quaking. Had anyone else been in it, they would have taken it for an earthquake.
"Captain Kid. Could you hold still? I can't sleep."
Roadman, unable to bear it any longer, spoke up.
"Roadman, do you believe it is right that I am here?"
"That again?"
Roadman sighed.
"Wasn't this already settled with Terra? Korea matters more now, and we need someone who can keep the connection intact. Everyone agreed. How many times are you going to drag up something that's already done?"
"I am Captain Kid, Captain Earth's sidekick. If I cannot stand at his side, I am nothing but a useless extra. I am in a position to deal Terra a grievous blow, so would another not be better suited to wait on standby in Korea?"
"It isn't like that, so quit worrying. There's no one better qualified than the two of us."
"...Haah. I should have cut that report down."
Captain Kid clutched his head and let something wretched slip out.
Thank goodness Queen Knight isn't seeing him like this. If she did, she'd call it mental discipline and string him up by the ankles.
That Terra's great stickler for principle was busy was, for Captain Kid, a mercy.
But what on earth is going on at Terra?
Terra's people were always busy. They fought for the balance and peace of the world, so of course they were — and yet this time they seemed busier still. Queen Knight, who picked over every particular from first to last, had been steeped in exhaustion. That alone said everything.
If it's bad enough that Queen Knight is waving reports through, then something is truly wrong... and if that's the case, shouldn't they be calling the two of us back all the harder, now that the operation is over?
On the surface it was all Korea's importance, this and that, but that could not be the truth of it. For that, Roadman and Captain Kid were personnel who could not simply be replaced.
I smell it. The stink of a vicious case. An incident large enough to leave the two of us sitting idle... I can't even begin to guess.
Roadman shot a glance at Captain Kid, who sat hugging a Captain Earth figure tight while tapping at the laptop.
"...Uuuugh."
That's severe. That right there.
He had seen it several times now, and still he could not get used to it. Roadman pressed a hand to his head and gave himself over to the pillow. He had better finish his sleep.
Beep. Beep.
A white room. A white bed. White machines. Outside the sterile chamber painted entirely in white, Queen Knight looked at the figure lying on the bed and asked,
"Is there any sign she will wake again?"
A voice like grinding stone hurried the doctor as he wiped his brow.
"Yes. We've tried this and that on our end, but..."
The doctor bent at the waist as if he had committed high treason.
"...You still do not know why she woke."
"Regrettably..."
At his answer Queen Knight clenched her fist, then let it go. The doctor's neck shrank into his shoulders like a turtle's.
"...Very well. You may go. I will leave on my own, later."
"Understood."
The doctor fled with the look of a man who had survived, and the door shut behind him. Beep. Beep. The steady mechanical tone took the place of the silence.
"...As you said, I have stationed forces at the Mariana Trench and in Britain. In Korea I left the two who needed rest after the Heavenly Punishment incident."
Queen Knight spoke toward the white girl lying there. The girl lay peaceful and still.
"Captain Earth has become the Napoleon of the hero world and has all but brought the war with the villains to an end. Whatever they find so delightful about it, the news cannot praise him enough — another legend being written, they say, until their mouths are worn out. Only Captain Earth could manage such a thing..."
She relayed to the white girl everything that had passed. The white girl gave no answer.
"Ilshikgyo's strength has dwindled a great deal. Most of what came up in the reports was ordinary enough. But as Ilshikgyo drew back, the Vatican's power grew. A shadow that was already deep looks as though it will grow deeper still. The Saintess is keeping it in check, but... well. A girl whose mind is elsewhere will not be able to do it properly."
Queen Knight sighed.
"The disappearances in South America have grown too large to ignore. Places turning into ghost cities overnight have been springing up one after another. Even our own operatives vanished without a sound, so we halted the search."
Her voice was drying out. A desert needed water. The white girl did not open her eyes.
"The United States... they are up to something shady, but I could not learn what. The president is involved, so I could not touch it rashly. I suspect we will need Captain Earth back before we can do anything."
Queen Knight said no more. Neither did the white girl.
"...Since you collapsed, not a single thing has gone right. Is this the price of leaning too hard on a child?"
Queen Knight squeezed her eyes shut. Speaking of it brought the memory back — the girl collapsing beneath a face of terror and shock, of awe and relief, and the countless confusions that had begun that day.
"I wanted even a single day of rest, but I could not rest. I thought that if this chaos passed, you might wake."
She recalled what had happened a few days before. For a short while, not even five minutes, the girl had woken and recited her words at tremendous speed. Queen Knight remembered those words clearly.
He has come. He has come to Korea. He fought the myth-ender.
Forever is waking. The Five Materials are about to be revealed to the world.
The deepest place in the sea is under threat. Britain is in danger. Russia is in danger.
Black wings are spreading. The eclipse is coming. A sun rises in the east.
The police have forsaken justice. Hurry — respond... Give him even the slightest help...!
"...What is it you saw?"
Queen Knight's eyes grew troubled.
"You have said things I could not understand before, but this time I truly do not know. Even though it seemed you spoke as directly as you could, I really cannot tell."
The white girl. The prophecy of the world's only Prophet. Queen Knight could not make sense of it at all.
"...Who is this he you spoke of at the last? Are you certain he is in Korea? And if he is, is he someone who can help us?"
She laid a hand on the glass. As if she were stroking the girl's hair, the hand swayed slowly from side to side.
"...Come to think of it, it was strange."
Queen Knight's eyes flashed open.
"The day you collapsed was the same day Seoul was attacked. And behind that attack was a place called the Dan Clan."
She pressed her forehead to the glass wall.
"Is he there? Is that why you collapsed?"
She demanded an answer from one who had none. Even a vast desert has its oasis. A desert without an oasis is nothing but a land of death.
"...I am sorry. I grew too agitated."
Queen Knight took a step back.
"For now I have taken every measure I can, so that when you wake there will be nothing amiss. I will do my best to see that you need not be involved any further."
She looked at the white girl one last time, and wore a bright smile she had never shown to anyone.
Queen Knight went outside. Beep. Beep. The quiet tone of the machine took her place.
Breakfast at the Dan family's table was an awkward affair. There was only the clink of dishes and the sound of chewing. Any warmth between them, any liveliness, had gone.
"...Thank you for the meal."
Dan Chuyeon forced the rice down and rose from his seat.
"Chuyeon. Do you have something to do today?"
Mi Soryeong asked lightly as she cleared the table.
"...I'm meeting Wangrang."
"Outside? Won't that be dangerous?"
"It's not dangerous. I'm only going out to hang around for a day. What could happen?"
With nothing more than a brief goodbye, Dan Chuyeon hurried out. Mi Soryeong struck her chest, stifled.
"It's dangerous. We don't know when we might be attacked..."
"I'll follow him quietly. Don't you worry."
Dan Miryu soothed her as he dressed.
"You have your own work. Will you be all right?"
"Work can wait. Right now Chuyeon matters more."
He kissed Mi Soryeong on the forehead and opened the door.
"I'll be back. Stay with the master."
"All right."
Mi Soryeong saw the two of them off and was left alone in the house.
"...It's only been a day, and already it feels like years of this."
Meaning to ease her worn body and mind in San-gun's fur — and to call a close friend while she was at it — she dialed. The line rang, and rang again.
Thud.
"Ah— ugh."
Mi Soryeong planted her face in the floor, filmed with dust from going uncleaned.
"Wh-what...?"
Dan Miryong's foot came down on her smartphone.
"We'll talk somewhere else."
"You—!"
The voice alone made her feel as if her throat were being torn out. Was it really Dan Miryong? He slung her carelessly over one shoulder and stepped outside. Wings spread from his back, and Dan Miryong shot up into the sky and vanished.
"Terrible at kidnapping. Didn't that bastard teach him what kind of power is sitting here?"
"Save the nonsense and chase him. We can't let what happened last time happen again."
"Miss Hong Yumin, let's go."
Hong Yumin closed the door that had been left forlornly open, then turned her head.
"Yes. We go."
Several figures kicked off the ground in the direction Dan Miryong had gone.