Taboo (4)
I gathered my imagery power.
Two seconds — a two-second beat that had slipped free of the two seconds that dragged like three. The time it took to draw together the strength I needed.
Two seconds.
As always, I didn't wait for the wave to come crashing in. I carved a horizontal line through the forest and thrust my sword toward the aberration.
The aberration roared, hauled itself upright, and lifted a forepaw high.
Clang—
Forepaw met blade, and the contest of strength began. Glitch and black flame tangled together. White light and black light devoured each other, locked in a taut, even struggle.
And yet I didn't feel like I was going to lose at all. I pushed, a little at a time. It gave, a little at a time. The flames died down by degrees, and the glitch only grew sharper. I could see it plain now — the flow of the Black Imagery.
Strength was draining from the forepaw braced against my sword. That power gathered again at its throat.
Break away first, then open the distance with a roar?
I didn't give it the chance. I poured everything into the hand on the hilt and drove down hard. The forepaw that had been trying to slip off the blade couldn't tear free, and the beast threw its weight back into the leg.
Kraaaagh—
A scream tore at my ears, and one of the aberration's paws split clean in half. Balance gone, the beast collapsed, its will to fight with it, thrashing now only for the chance to run.
They say that if you lose your way and wander, the Jangsanbeom appears and lures you off.
In an instant the sentence spread through my skull, ringing there as if the bone itself were sounding. Not the radio. Not my own muttering, either.
Don't tell me I can read an aberration's narrative setting now...?
"Jaehee! What's wrong!?"
Hana's shout snapped me back at once. The enemy in front of me came first. I lifted the sword to finish it —
A voice so grotesque it couldn't be put into words. Something that was not human, unpleasant and skin-crawling, imitating a human voice. Twisted. Hair-raising.
They say the Jangsanbeom mimics human voices.
They say the Jangsanbeom mimics human voices.
The unidentified line that had first packed my head with questions did the opposite this time. It cleared it. For the single breath in which that voice — every nerve in me refusing it — froze all of us where we stood, the aberration lashed out with its last desperate strike, and it did not hesitate.
Any other time, I would have been badly shaken. But I got my head back fast and knocked the forepaw screaming toward me up and away. The sword that had ridden high came straight back down, and I split the Jangsanbeom in half.
Only when the dark crimson blood reached our feet could we finally breathe.
"Doing nothing sure is comfortable... haha."
Hana's awkward little laugh drifted out from behind me.
"Seoyoon, what do you think? Nice, right?"
"Huh...? Ah, well..."
I didn't even need to turn around. I could see exactly what faces they were making.
"Come on. Just say it's amazing. One word."
Hana, stop. This is embarrassing.
"It... it is pretty amazing..."
"Then why is your face turning red?"
And why are you putting an edge in your voice, Hana.
"What...? Th-that's — I'm not red."
Stop. Stop it!
"Got a little rattled at the end there... Was it mimicking a person's voice?"
I turned my head and spoke before the moment could get any more unbearable.
"Right? I'm telling you, I froze for a second too."
Hana's face, remembering it, crumpled all over again, as if she wanted nothing to do with the memory. Seoyoon, desperate not to let anyone catch how red she was, scurried over to the Jangsanbeom's corpse.
Hah...
Better to sit a minute. The mess at my back had been harder than fighting the thing. I dropped down where I was.
Someone was deliberately hiding the aberrations. That much I'd confirmed. We'd find the jammer nearby soon enough. Head back for today, maybe. Or was it better to wait for the team leader.
The sky was pitch-black. Somewhere along the way the sun had gone all the way down. The children ought to be heading home by now... and the thought that some of them still hadn't made it back put a knot in my chest.
Seoyoon. She called those kids by name, and she had their routines down cold. That, and the filth those dung-flies had been spouting earlier — she was close with them, no question. She was too good to be left rotting in a place like this. I hoped this mess would turn out well for her. That she'd get to go somewhere better.
An evening wind came through and pleasantly cooled the sweat. The weight on my mind eased, a little.
Which means I ought to put my back into it.
"Hey, you two. How about we start looking for that jammer?"
I stood, brushing the dirt from my pants. Seoyoon and Hana were already over by the corpse. But Seoyoon's hands were shaking like mad, and the look on Hana's face beside her was nothing good.
"Those... sons of bitches..."
A curse that didn't suit her at all tore out of Seoyoon's mouth.
What did she see...
I forced the unease down and went to the corpse. Sunk in the pool of dark, sticky crimson were the things I had not wanted to face. A deflated soccer ball. A butterfly-shaped hairpin. Clothes worn down to rags...
Facts I couldn't deny, no matter how I tried, came crashing through my head.
Are we already too late...
Hana and I could endure it, one way or another. But Seoyoon — I looked at her again, and she was barely holding together. Like she might shatter any second. I had to catch her.
"Seoyoon!"
I grabbed her and spoke in a rush.
"Seoyoon!!"
No answer.
"Seoyoon!! Get a hold of yourself!"
I put a little strength into a flick and set it against her forehead.
Thwack—
"...Yes."
Forcing her rage down, Seoyoon dragged the words out.
"We're going back for today. We have to."
If her head burned as hot as her body, she'd ruin everything, and right now Seoyoon could not cool down. She knew that better than anyone. So I had to take her with us.
"Let's head back today, Seoyoon."
Hana came up quietly and took her hand. Seoyoon tipped her face up, and a tear ran down her cheek with no regard at all for the moment. From the lip she had bitten through, bright red blood ran as well.
"Understood..."
We sat her down, gave her time to settle, and sorted through the personal effects. There was a jammer in the beast's gut along with them, though the device's presence was faint.
A jammer inside an aberration. So they weren't merely hiding the things — they were controlling them? Maybe even making them, past the point of control? It felt like a wave I had no way to weather was already breaking over me.
The reason I'd been assigned to the White Night Team. No — could it be tied to the reason I had this power at all?
"Seoyoon!!"
Just then Hana's urgent shout came from off to the side.
"Seoyoon!! Where are you going!!"
Seoyoon was running, keying her radio as she went. One look at her face and I knew she wasn't selling us out.
Which meant —
"Don't follow me!!"
A single line, swallowed by grief and fury, ripped out of her raw. She meant to go alone. To the kidnappers' hideout.
Damn it. I'd let my guard down. I'd thought she had calmed, at least a little. Of course she hadn't. She meant to die. That was someone walking off to die — worn through by guilt, by her own powerlessness.
"Seoyoon!! Come back. Please!!"
Hana's cry scattered into nothing.
I used to think I had talent, too.... There was a time like that.
I graduated the Training Institute at Grade 8 and was assigned to my first team. Field Support Team 3. That's where I met my mentor, my idol — Team Leader Park Hyejin. She was so incredible that I worked myself raw trying to resemble her even a little, trying to reach her. And then one day I opened my eyes, and I was a Grade 7 deputy team leader. Unnie was probably in the middle of breaking past the Grade 6 wall herself. Most likely.
How many years did we spend together — after the seasons had turned a few times, the time came to send Unnie off. Unnie was Grade 5. I was Grade 6. I inherited the team leader's seat, and Unnie left for somewhere else. We'd promised. To meet again, higher up.
Even just seeing her off, the mood had been so good. This harmonious team she had built. I thought I'd guard it, tend it, work hard, and one day leave with Grade 5 pinned to my chest. My talent ended right there. No growth, no progress, only stagnation, while my heart grew more and more frantic. At some point all I was doing was envying the juniors under me. I couldn't hold out against my own inferiority. It swallowed me. The thought that the stability Unnie had built would shatter because of me terrified me.
Leaving was the right call. Leaving the team was right. I tried to do well even after I left.... Even posted to a cesspit of a place, I braced myself — start with me, do better — and I worked....
Why am I always this pathetic mess. Failed again....
I'm jealous. Han Jaehee. Seo Hana. I'm so jealous of the two of you I could lose my mind. Jealous, and on top of that resenting you — I disgust myself. Falling into the gutter was entirely my own fault, and I'm still like this. Couldn't even protect the children.... Just steeped in inferiority.... And somewhere along the line, all I ever did was lose....
My legs were shaking. Had something run my leg through...? It hurt.
"Say that again, you bitch. What? Jeon Taeho, that son of a bitch?"
"Spit out the lab coordinates? You'll kill me?"
"I swear, this fucker and that fucker — every last one of them thinks they can spit on me."
Disgusting bastard... and even a thing like that was Grade 5....
"Look at you, eyes open. You thought I'd kill you pretty?"
"I got dragged out of bed because of you, you fucking bitch."
"Team Leader, Grade 5 really is something else. Hehe — mind giving me a turn, too?"
Looking at those vile faces, the revulsion climbed up my throat.
"This punk hasn't even done anything... Fine. Go play with her."
"Don't wreck her too bad. His Highness the bastard says he's using her as a test subject."
"Thank you!"
Dying at their hands would be a bitter shame. But I hadn't come here planning to die alone.
"Hey, you fucking bitch. You treated me like trash 'cause I'm Grade 7, didn't you?"
Kim Myeonghwan, you don't matter. I only have to hold out until Jeon Taeho gets close.
"Bitches like you! Have to! Be beaten like this!"
Thud. Thud.
The kicks came without mercy.
Endure.
"Hah... hah..."
"Myeonghwan. Guy doing the hitting gets tired first?"
"I'm not tired, it's just— hah..."
"Move."
"Huh? I'm still—"
"Get lost, I said. Let me have some fun."
He's coming. I knew he would.
"Ah... then, together...?"
"You fucker, I said piss off! Playing lookout is annoying enough."
"I like that face, Cha Seoyoon. Keep it just like that."
Filthy bastard. My incompetence, my failure — they couldn't be forgiven like this, but... everyone has a hidden card or two.
Let's die together.
I'm sorry, kids.
BOOM!!
The wall blew apart all at once, kicking a storm of dust in every direction. Through the cloud, two familiar silhouettes showed, faint.
"Get that filthy arm off her!!"
"Seoyoon! Don't you think this is way too far!!"
It was blurry. Hard to see. Seo Hana...? And behind her —
"Get away from my teammate, Jeon Taeho."
Kang!
An achromatic sword-aura knocked Jeon Taeho off me. This was —
Han Jaehee? Why did you come.... Why!! If I just died alone — if only I —
Thwack!!
Another forehead flick... it hurt.
"Starting to see why the team leader flicks people so much."
"Cha Seoyoon, you brat. You trust us that little?"
Why were the tears coming, like a fool....
"Still. Looks like part of you was waiting."
"Well? We showed up pretty nicely, didn't we?"
Why did that idiotically grinning face make me so glad to see it....
"Librarian Jaehee, you don't resemble him one bit! I'm telling the team leader every—"
"Since when do you get to decide to die alone?"
"Looks like you need a scolding. Ready for it? Grade 6 Twin-Tails."
Grade 6 Twin-Tails.... I used to hate hearing that so much. And now I was just laughing.
"Good. You're smiling, so I'll take that as a yes?"