To my surprise, the girl did as promised ,and showed me a shortcut to Lord's Mercy. Even better, she'd led me there, past the concrete maze that was Seoul's apartment complex buildings all the way to the Hospital Road.
The whole while we walked she never stumbled, faulted or hesitated. She walked with grace, confidence, and surety of self and balance that I wouldn't have expected from someone without sight… and she was blind, for a moment I'd doubted but the memory of her cloudy silver eyes convinced me otherwise.
I'd long since stopped questioning 'how' when it came to the girl, sometime during our brief journey to Lord's Mercy. She was an enigma, plain and simple.
A chatterbox too.
She was very open with herself I found. She expressed herself openly, and was very flamboyant when she did so, outspoken too and true to her desires, almost to a fault. We were a stark contrast to the each in a way. I was the opposite of all that she was, I think - introspection has never been my strong point.
'Thirteen minutes,' I thought with slight incredulity. That's how long it took us to get from the bridge to the Hospital road.
I'd counted the minutes in my head, double checked on my phone and triple on my wrist-watch.
Thirteen minutes had passed, and a single breath in-between yet, the girl was still talking.
It was almost impressive.
She had a nice voice too I noticed, even if her Hanguk-eo was heavily accented. It was a lilting, melodic, almost bell-like sort of voice that I could have listened to all day if I could.
My continued silence was obviously grating on her, but she didn't let that dissuade her – no, not one bit, she somehow managed to talk enough for the both of us.
I, all the while, kept my silence as she did so, listening to her as she talked about this and that, her focus on the martial arts mostly. The whole time we walked she hadn't stopped trying to guess what style I used, she seemed intent on rambling and throwing guesses at me until I agreed.
If she'd asked, I would've answered.
She was also rather intimate with her affections. If not for her blindness I doubt I would have let her hold onto my arm as she had... something she was very aware of and took advantage of.
"… y'know, if you ever consider taking up the sword – you have the build for Angampora. Long legs, strong core…," she rambled on as she made for a left turn by the end of the road.
After a point, I started tuning her out – thankfully, this was the last stretch of our journey and we had arrived.
[Lord's Mercy Public Hospital] – looming ahead was the hospital's front entrance, with the name written in bold fat English letters and carved into a concrete.
"Don't you have a home to get back to?" I asked her just as we approached the hospital entrance. She was clinging to my arm tightly, chest pressed against my elbow, walking beside me and matching me pace for pace.
"Sure do," she answered with cheer, "I have about…," she paused, face vacant in thought, "about an hour before someone comes to me pick up so…," she finished with a carefree shrug, "I've got time to kill."
Of course, she did. She followed me all the way here on a whim after all.
My phone rang in my pocket. I shrug my hand free from her grasp as I went to reach for it. Opportunistic as she was… fast too, she immediately migrated to my other hand and latched onto the same way she had my right just seconds ago before I could withdraw it from her grasp.
I could only sigh at my failure as I swiped the touchscreen of my phone unlocked, and another down as I opened the app drawer to find no new messages, just the ones I'd already seen earlier today.
Why it rang, I had no idea – must have been the age, it was an old, second-hand model after all.
Messages (2)
11:12 - 황소(Choi Yoo-Jin): Drop by sometime after school
"Now, come on. I'll wait by the concierge while you do your thing… don't want to impose on your visitation and all," she added, dragging me to the entrance.
'You're already imposing,' I wanted to say, but I stayed my tongue – there was no real polite way of asking someone to leave.
12:34 - 황소(Choi Yoo-Jin): gotta ask u something
The moment we reached the entrance doors, she relinquished her hold on me, not quite letting go, not completely - she kept a hand out near my arm as we walked, pulling on it for direction when she couldn't do it herself.
We walked through the front entrance, past its glass doors which opened for us upon approach with a hiss of escaping air - the cool from the inside a stark contrast to the warm outside.
The grey-capped attendant barely raised a brow when I collected a guest pass from her desk, continuing as she always did - book in hand, and phone in the other with feet propped up against the office bin by the edge of her desk comfortably. The position was perhaps a little more scandalous than she'd intended, her… everything was showing – I didn't have the heart nor the words to warn her.
"... what floor are you going to anyway?" she asked, hot on my trail as I made for the elevator, gracefully probing the path in front with her cane.
"Fifth floor."
"That's not too far. You mind taking the stairs," she asked, somewhat urgently.
"We could," I commented, stressing the collective 'we' as I scanned the pass and pushed the elevator call button, "but the elevator is quicker."
"… stairs please," she whined, pleadingly.
"Why?" I asked, curious regarding her reasons for avoiding the elevator - the very thing that was built with accessibility access in mind.
She paused, staring at me with a blank expression, her aviators covering a significant portion of her face so I couldn't see much expression, but I knew she was… well, not staring, just facing in my general direction.
She was trying to make me cave.
It didn't work.
After seconds of uncomfortable staring, she relented and In a show of reluctant acceptance, she sighed, "never mind it, let's just go," she said, gingerly entering the lift, cane first and by the toes.
"... I never asked, but where are w-you going?" she asked.
"Visiting a friend."
"...on the fifth floor," she murmured, running a hand across the metal plate next to the input panel, reading the braille text-plate, "... first is ground and emergency theatre I remember... second is general… third is ni-u-ro-l-blargh," she cringed, there was a wet spot in the way, "… fourth is care and fifth is… on-c-oh!" she stopped mid-way, hand recoiling as she made contact with another wet spot.
"Oncology," I finished.
"I-uhm… I shouldn't be, here should I?" she whispered, less horrified and more unsettled – rightly so I felt, she really shouldn't have followed me.
Was it insensitive of her to have done so? - yes, yes it was, but…, "No, you're fine. The person I'm visiting is very… very sociable. They won't mind," I assured her.
"...If you're sure. I can be very persistent sometimes y'know. Don't always know when to quit, my aunt sometimes says… ends up with me pushing too far, so…," she fidgeted and went quiet, uncharacteristically quiet - uncharacteristic from what little measure I have of her personality that is, "...yeah, I'll try not to get in the way… any more than I already have, that is."
"Why did you follow me anyway?" I asked. She was a being of curiosity, such was her nature - I could say that about her from first glance despite not knowing her truly, thus I wasn't about to begrudge of it but the question was still on my mind.
"... oh, that," she started, sheepishly rubbing the back of her neck with her free hand, "yeah… uh, you had the smell of cleaning alcohol, white powder and rubber on your clothes, so I thought you had a relative that works here you were visiting.".
...huh, that was…, "Fair enough," I acquiesced, leaning my back against the walls of the lift and watched as the above head panel flipped through numbers as we passed floors.
She must have had really good senses if she could smell something from three days past - sure the shirt was the same one I wore then, but I'd since then washed, and press dried it… which should have drowned out most if not all smells, making it just that much harder for her.
~ding~ the lift bell rang as it came to a stop and I paused my observations, disturbed by the noise.
"Oh, thank the ancestor," she moaned as she hastily stepped out, stumbling with ungrace as she fought to stand upright.
"...damn things always give me motion sickness," she grumbled, slapping a hand to her ears. Outside the lift, she collected herself as the effects of vertigo lifted, and stood at attention, stock still with a hand outstretched in offering to me.
A little confused, I raised a brow at the gesture.
Then, a realization set in - it was a show of trust, I thought...it was an assumption at best, but despite my constant, and mostly internal protests of her presence, and let her put a hand around my arm as I led the way.
I was still uncomfortable with the intimacy she seemed eager to milk from me, but I reciprocated all the same. She fell into step beside me with a small smile - the very same one she seems to have perpetually etched on her face, matching me stride for stride in moments.
"...," I greeted the concierge with a nod as we passed her desk by who let us pass without question, though she did raise a suspicious brow our way for a glance before she resumed her work - likely in surprise that I brought a guest with me.
"Don't you need to sign in?" Mikumo asked.
Mikumo?
Japanese was like Hanguk-eo (Korean Language) If I remembered right… though I wasn't sure which one of her names was her first or last. I decided to give her the courtesy of addressing her by name – which one, I wasn't sure, so I opted to use the one she offered… without the added suffix 'chan'. She didn't seem to be leaving any time soon so I might as well start addressing her properly.
"...I do," but I usually didn't need to. I was a frequent enough visitor of the ward that most of the staff recognized me by now.
"... and that's all the answer I'm going to get, isn't it," she said, her voice somewhat resigned with a pout.
"...I come here a lot," I clarified, hoping to mollify her curiosity.
She didn't pry for more after that.
The rather unfortunate implications in my statement turned the mood somber, and an uncomfortable silence fell, an almost palpable sense of something amiss in the air as we walked, hand in arm, down long winding corridors and past theatre rooms, rooms with fancy machinery for scanning, others for automated and assisted surgery, and others for life-support, all leading to the patient rooms.
On the way, we walked past a colorfully decorated play area for children with toys and books littered about.
A Play Area.
This was the Children's area of the Ward.
Slumped tiredly against the wall as though the weight of the world was on his shoulders, was the sole visitor - a wiry-thin boy wearing ripped jeans, blue converse high-boots, a red-flannel jacket with blue-dyed hair that had been cut short and trimmed by the sides, and a green sleeping mask with the design of a coiling serpent tied around his forehead. With him was a little girl, about… maybe, seven to ten years of age, wearing a pink sundress and a flannel cap on her shaven head, furiously tapping the screen of a heavily padded iPad seated in his lap.
Both had the most fascinating eyes, amber with crosses for the boy and icy-blue with orange rings for the girl – they looked remarkably alike for siblings I noticed.
"oppa… oppa, look-" the girl called out to the boy, her brother, with a finger pointed at me and Mikumo, "they're holding hands Mo-Ri…," she said with a gasp, scandalized.
She tittered to herself maniacally, in childish glee before cringing a full-body shudder, "...gross."
"Ah-An," the boy shot her a stern yet fond chiding glare, "You shouldn't point at people okay."
"h~n, sorry oppa," she hummed her apology with a downcast expression, head down and hands shyly bunching up the edges of her dress. The boy, satisfied with her apology and ruffled the girl's capped head with brotherly affection, who then snapped her attention back to the blinking lights of the iPad in hand as though she hadn't just been chastised.
Looking my way, the boy mouthed an apology and gave a resigned shrug with a 'kids, what can you do about it' kind of expression. I acknowledged him with a passing nod and moved on.
The rest of the journey was short, the corridors weren't that long nor difficult to navigate past a point. The time wasn't spent in awkward silence too, thanks to Mikumo filling the silence with chatter, mostly asking personal questions that I either ignored or answered as honestly as I could.
A sign to my right marked my arrival.
33C [Choi Yoo-Jin - Ast-G2] – I read the plaque by the door as I knocked, and beside me Mikumo followed suit behind me and ran a hand over it.
"If you want, you can stay behind," I offered – she didn't need to be here, but she'd follow me and her presence, grating though it was, was a comfort.
She looked to me with an indecipherable expression, hidden behind aviators before nodding to herself resolutely.
"Can't back out now," she said with a strained smile as she neared an open door with sheer white curtains draped over the entrance.
33C [Choi Yoo-Jin - Ast-G2] - I read the plaque by the door as I knocked, Mikumo beside me ran a hand over it and followed suit behind me.
~knock-knock~
"... come in," a trembling, weak voice beckoned from within - it was the voice of someone who'd just woken up from a restful sleep… or in this case, a drug-induced sleep.
"Yo~," I greeted my 'brother' in all but blood and name as I walked in first, my guest trailing reluctantly behind me with a loose grip on my arm.
"... that you Gyu-ha," Yoo-Jin returned with a strained smirk, though slurring his words a bit, "... and guest - sorry, just woke up."
He was laying on his back - pale-faced, gaunt cheeks and eyes sunken, covered in thick beige blankets with one hand outside, rested atop the blanket, that was attached… rather, taped to a clear tube that was pumping fluids into his system.
His half-closed eyes seemed to reflect his exhaustion, the dark circles forming underneath indicative of restless sleep.
Today, like most days, he'd forgone wearing his bandana-headband… the one he gave me after his first round of surgery that used to cover his head to conceal his hair, rather what little of it remained. Just above his right ear, a few centimeters up and a few more back was a bald patch with a freshly healing surgical scar, an ugly jagged thing that formed a misshapen C, red with inflammation and prominent stitches.
"... she followed me here," I said as I made to get a chair by the bedside. I pulled one up for my guest too, who sat down in subdued silence, "hope you don't mind."
"Nah, dude," he slurred and turned to face me, resting on his left, cheek first into the pillow to avoid irritating the scar - it was a monumental effort, but he managed, "glad you're finally making more friends. Eomma was getting worried for you, y' know. She came by a few hours ago while you were in school."
"...you still call her that?" Perhaps I'm a little biased, having been raised by my sister most of my life, but I don't think most teenagers go around calling their mothers 'mummy', not at his age at least.
"I'm a momma's boy at heart," he announced, slowly and with pride.
"?," it was sweet of him, but that's not something you admit to people, not with the pride he just displayed I'm sure. Mikumo agreed with me, she was chortling to herself at his expense.
"So…," he started, "who's the girl? Your girlfriend? Got to say, I didn't take you the dating type… did you bring her here for my blessing? Y'know, I always said I'd be the best man at your weddi-"
I cut him off, "she's not… also, no to that last part."
"I asked him out," Mikumo interrupted, loudly dragging her chair closer to the bedside in scraping advances.
For her part, it looked as though she'd forgotten the awkwardness of the past few minutes, a good thing I suppose since she no longer looked like she was curling in on herself - her confidence returned, and enthusiasm renewed. I guess after listening to our short exchange, she must have felt more at ease… it certainly seemed that way, "He shot me down though. Outright just said 'No' and walked off. Can you believe that?"
Yoo-Jin looked to me then to Mikumo, staring at us both interchangeably with tired yet curious, half-closed eyes until the dam broke and the laughter spilled out in laborious, breathy huffs.
"... ha-ha-ha," he laughed quietly, "she's like your exact opposite."
I gave him a slight smile of my own and cast a glance to the girl beside me who was vibrating in her seat with barely contained nervous energy.
It was good to see him laugh.
Laughing was good, even if it was at my expense - not that I minded. It was a far cry better from what he's usually like on his bad days.
It gladdened me to know that I'd done right by Yoo-Jin when I brought Mikumo along instead of chasing her away. I hadn't been lying when I told her he wouldn't mind her around.
"Don't know how you managed, but you somehow found a girl that can bring you out of your shell," he said, "and you didn't even need my help to do it."
'...help I didn't need nor want', I thought.
"Kushinada Mikumo," she introduced herself to Yoo-Jin, hand outstretched, cutting me off from my thoughts.
"Pleased to meet you Mikumo-ssi. I'd give you a hand if I could lift it but…," he trailed, eyes falling on his trembling hand with the drip attached, "...anyway, introductions - Choi Yoo-Jin, best friend to sleepy eyes over there… Seung Gyu-Ha by the way if he hasn't already introduced himself to you yet," I... actually, hadn't done that, I realized. I hadn't needed to, she insisted on calling Hisui... some kind of Fish in japanese, for reasons that were beyond me.
"No… he hasn't, but he didn't need to. His fans told me all I needed," she replied.
"Fans?"
"Punching Bags more like," she helpfully clarified with cheer.
"...have you been fighting bro?" he asked me with a critical eye, "without me?" and added with mock hurt in his voice.
"No," I answered, technically I hadn't been fighting. It was the truth as I understood it. A fight implies conflict with both sides on equal ground - that, the debacle by the bridge had been anything but.
"It wasn't really much of a fight, to begin with," Mikumo beside me added, chattering excitedly as she somehow managed to give voice to my thoughts, "Hisui-oppa was toying with them…"
"Leave it to the Sleeping-Giant to chat up a girl through fighting… your sister won't be happy when she hears that," Yoo-Jin said slyly, with a raised brow and a grin to match - his voice, though tired, was dripping with implied threat.
The bastard was trying to blackmail me.
I sighed and rummaged through my bag for his package, an A4 sized manila bag covered in brown tape and postage stamps, with undoubtedly obscene Japanese words printed on the company labels. The logo itself was suspicious-looking enough on its own - I felt dirty just holding it, "... I got weird looks for collecting this for you. Is this something the Nurses are going to scream at me for… again?," I asked, placing the package inside the uppermost drawer by his bedside.
"Not if they don't find out about it," he said muttering a promise under his breath - something about reading it later, exhaustion creeping in his voice, eyelids heavy and a yawn just barely starting to form.
Soon he'd be going to be sleep I noticed, still recovering from surgery.
"... how're you doing man?" I asked, all pleasantries aside.
Beside me, Mikumo fidgeted with nervous energy, mouth open but no words coming out - she wanted to say something, but was holding herself back, no doubt feeling uncomfortable again.
Understandable, this was personal, and the conversation was steering somewhere she couldn't really follow.
I would have reassured her, but I wasn't very used to social situations like these and there wasn't much time left until Yoo-Jin's occasional bouts of lethargy kicked in again.
"Fine… Just fine man. Round two was another success," he spoke slowly, straining to keep his eyes open, "now, just three more to go. It's the tricky ones left now."
A lie.
I felt the corner of my lips lift, a conscious effort, to form a bitter smile.
I didn't call him out on it though. I don't think I wanted to either. He had his reasons and If I really wanted to know the truth I'd just ask the staff, I was listed down as family besides…
"...so," he started, almost innocently - diverting the conversation anywhere else.
Neither of us wanted to address the issue, so I allowed it, "... heard you got part-time Gyu-ha," he said, a question on his lips - an accusation almost.
I schooled my expression and gave him a careful reply.
"... just an after-school thing as a handyman...pays well enough," and It did, surprisingly - most customers were old people from old families with large estates that needed maintenance.
It was strenuous at times but made for a good workout, and not too complicated, except for the mandatory need to apply for a working-with-vulnerability work license. I was mostly required to do things like mowing the lawn, trimming overgrown shrubbery, planting flowers for old ladies, and a little bit of upkeep on old cars for the elderly gentlemen – generally boiling down to just keeping old people company while doing miscellaneous jobs.
And as the age-old adage goes - old families, old money.
They paid and tipped very… very generously. It also looked great on a resume and college applications.
"...I'm saving for that Ford I showed you last week."
Naturally, he didn't believe a word I said.
In my defense, I'm a terrible conversationalist.
The nuances of verbal communication don't come naturally to me I've been told many times by everyone who's ever met me. Consequently, that makes me a terrible liar.
"...cut the shit man," he hissed, not so hotly with how weak his voice was but the heat was present nonetheless, "I know my mom can't afford the hospital bill on her own. This is our family's problem, you got your own life to live so you don't… don't have to… do…" he slurred his last words as he slowly slipped into unconsciousness.
His breaths evened, and he fell silent.
'Three minutes plus awake,' I counted the minutes in my head. It was a good turnout compared to the last time I visited when he kept slipping in and out of consciousness in-between conversation, struggling to form sentences and pronunciation.
The gaps in-between his texts were somewhat worrying, blank episodes no doubt, but not yet a concern.
He was still slurring though, hopefully, I prayed, that was from exhaustion.
Today… today just wasn't one of his good days.
"He's usually chattier than this," I said with a humorless sigh, turning to face Mikumo beside me as I made to stand up.
"... that… that's fine, I really shouldn't have followed you," she said, "I'm s-," she paused, voice trailing, brow twitching and grip tightening on her cane.
She tensed. Muscles coiling and readying as her head snapped to the doorway, glancing that way sharply and with a hiss she spoke, "we have a guest."
I followed her…not so much 'gaze' but… something quite close to it. I didn't have a word for 'facing the same direction' but I did notice the same thing she did.
Indeed, we had a guest in our midst. Have had for a while too I noticed.
Standing by the entrance of the room was an olive-skinned, tall and immaculately dressed red-haired man… woman… being in all black formal wear - straight black pants, white dress shirt, red tie, and a black vest jacket; and neat rimless specs framing their face, nonchalantly resting against the door as they idled themselves with a silver coin in hand.
Whoever this person was had been standing there for a while. They were leaning against the doorframe so casually, comfortably and so easily they must have had time to settle into position. There was no rumple of clothing that might have indicated a rush to settle, nor had there been noise to alert – the curtain draped by the door often made a lot of noise when disturbed.
~fling~ the coin jumped hands to the other and deftly slipped through fingers masterfully before it jumped hands again. There was something about the action that sparked something in me, something almost primal - an unexplainable sense of… fear in the back of my mind.
"Greetings," the man spoke with a courtesy bow, and it was a man I found - it was in the unmistakable way he stood and held himself up - chest out, shoulders square and back relaxed, almost slumped. That, and he had a deep, boyish voice that was so very out of place on his face as it was.
"!," I raised a brow at the man who invited himself in without prompt and returned his respectful bow when he reached the center of the room in return greeting.
"I am Judge Eye - alphabetical I," he introduced himself, "Your recruitment agent from Project G.O.H, here with an invitation for both of you."
"?" Judge - it wasn't his name, I was sure of it. It sounded closer to a title than it did a name… a job description maybe.
"Project G.O.H?" Mikumo asked, rising to stand beside me with her walking cane in hand, no longer using it to probe the ground.
As the more outspoken of us two, I leaned back and let her ask the questions.
"Indeed. The Project is an international combat competition to be held in secret over the course of a month. Both of you have been chosen for a chance to represent your country… congratulations," the man - Judge Eye, said with an unenthusiastic golf-clap.
"...right," Mikumo drawled, giving voice to both hers and my own skepticism.
"...what's the price," she asked, her voice a tad derisive and suspicious. I sympathized, they were well-founded suspicions too.
"Anything you wish for," the man announced, arms spread outwards in grandiose posturing - his expression still flat somehow, "If money is what the heart desires, then you shall have it."
The coin in his right hand disappeared, and he snapped a finger.
I felt the sensation of something… indescribable pass through my spine, a tingling, electrifying feeling like static but more powerful, hair raising yet not shocking.
It was a strange and not entirely unpleasant feeling. It was unsettling still.
In his palms, as though by magic or some otherworldly means appeared… no, materialized… materialized a dirty and worn cloth-bag with a leather-cord tie around it which jingled and jangled noisily with what I can only assume to be coins.
"Ten, twenty," he paused for effect - after that little show, I was wary but enraptured all the same, "perhaps thirty million American Dollars, as easy as that."
"What was that?" I asked, Ignoring his oddly specific offer of riches; which was suspiciously just enough to pay for quality-of-life treatment for Yoo-Jin at a better hospital, as well as to repay his family's accumulated debt, "How did you do that… with the bag?"
He smiled coyly, "Ahhh, that… was but a mere sleight of-."
He was going to dismiss it and I was about to call him out, when suddenly… "Bullshit," someone else beat me to it
Crass but apt.
"I may be blind, but I felt you summon that… however you did it. Y'know, you weigh more than you did a second ago. Your step is just that much heavier."
'How acute are her senses to pick out something like that?' I wondered, truly fascinated by her almost extra-sensory perception.
"You're from the Murim aren't you," Mikumo… rather her voice cut through my musing, interrupting the man's attempt at further dismissal - with a cool, calm and palpable edge to it.
When I followed the voice, I found that she was no longer beside me.
'[Bo-Bup/Step],' I observed, the art of movement, a bastardized yet masterful execution of it too.
I was very openly in awe, gawking in marvel as I beheld the sheer speed she was capable of when I found her standing next to the man, with her cane drawn and pressed against his neck by the metal tip.
My gaze consciously fell to her legs - long and slender, with very well-toned muscles underneath her sheer stockings, strong thighs and firm rear too - not thick from squatting, but well-defined from… I'm guessing short burst sprinting and stretches.
Huh… I hadn't been looking before but she had pronounced calves too.
Those were the legs of a kicker, even though her stance was wrong.
Her footing, on the other hand, was something to admire - standing by her toes on one leg, ready to kick off, and with the other flat against the ground bracing itself for abrupt and startling upper body movement.
It was like looking at a painting in motion.
'Strong,' I thought, in a beautiful sort of way.
"What are you?" she hissed, pressing the cane further against the man's neck, drawing blood from the man with a hiss.
Her words brought me back from my observations and I watched as she interrogated the man.
"Youkai? Fallen?... devil?" she accused, venom dripping in her voice, practically spitting out the word 'devil' as though it was filth in her mouth.
Judge Eye lowered his eyes minutely to the cane, his eyes widening slightly at the sight of blood in surprise.
"No…," he said carefully, pushing the cane away from his neck with a finger. He strained, but not by much as he backpedaled away from Mikumo, putting some distance between them.
"I'll have you know Heiress Kushinada, I'm one-hundred percent human, thank you very much and I'll appreciate it if you didn't try to exorcize me. You interrupted me before I could deliver my sells pitch… now I'll just have to start all over again."
"?," this grown man was sulking.
"As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted," he grumbled, "… should you emerge the victor of the melee, the price is 'One Wish'. Anything you want. Money, land, fame… even good health."
"!"
A hot flash of anger passed through me, so briefly, like a glancing knife-cut against hardened skin. I quelled it and raised a questioning brow instead of giving it a voice or acting on it… to think I'd almost believed him before, but now… now I knew he was just here to mess with me.
I let him speak all the same.
He wasn't the first 'miracle healer' who'd offered their help with Yoo-Jin, and I doubted he would be the last either - predators like him were a dime a dozen in places of strife like hospitals.
"I see you're skeptical. Hmmm, maybe If I showed you 'that' I could convince you…," he stiffened and stopped the back-and-forth with his coin, frowning, though not for long, however, as his eyes then wrinkled with barely concealed mirth having come to some agreement.
He was trying to be coy and failing.
I let him continue regardless.
"Very well… normally, we don't show this to combatants until they've qualified for the national stage, but… I've got a good feeling about you two."
Mikumo stiffened and started to back away from him, shuffling with both feet flat against the ground - Kendo footwork I took note as she carefully back-stepped away from the man to stand beside me.
Judge Eye snapped his fingers with another grandiose gesture, the sound of twin clicks coming out as one to my ears.
I suppressed a bone-deep shudder as the tingling sensation of not-static returned, stronger this time - all empowering, overpowering and overbearing at once.
Wisps of red-black energy trailed - an aura, rising like smoke from his body. A ghostly, haunting figure then materialized behind Judge Eye in a shimmering haze of light, energy and other-worldly means.
The figure took the form of a man with long, rugged and unkempt hair held down by a silken cord of twisted cloth around its forehead, with an equally rugged beard to match that was flecked with the salt-and-pepper of its greying hair. It had gaunt eyes and mottled skin, with a middle-eastern complexion that was leaning more towards the sunburn scale of sun-kissed, wearing bland but striped robes with a broken noose tied around its neck.
In one hand, the figure held the bag of coins and the broken half of a circlet made of dull golden-light in the other.
[Borrowed Power: ********]
"This is Charyeok," he said, thumb gesturing to the specter floating beside him.
"It is prayer given form. A communique with otherworldly denizens. The act of borrowing and bargaining strength from gods, demons and spirits alike."
The avatar stared blankly ahead with lifeless eyes, stalwart and unmoving in the air behind him. The dead look in its eye were unsettling in how familiar they looked. Reflected in those pools of grey was sheer and absolute despair.
I shuddered and looked away, casting my gaze anywhere but in its eyes.
"Those few in the know call it Borrowed Power."
"W-what is it?" Mikumo asked, pulling against my sleeve, "There's something there, but not... just a void in the space above him."
What was it, she asked. If I know that myself I'd probably have an easy answer. I racked my brain, trying to find the best way to explain what I was seeing.
This was magic or something like it… Borrowed Power in English, or Charyeok, whatever - the distinction was meaningless. It was Supernatural and Otherworldly, that's all that mattered.
To answer her I could have waxed poetic about the haunting figure of betrayal and regret I was looking at, the floating half-materialized avatar of cowardice and suicidal ideation standing vigil behind the man, or maybe, I could've explained what I was looking as bluntly as possible, I was good at that… really, either way would have conveyed a sense of meaning, but no… my mind was elsewhere, something he'd said moments ago, something that I'd dismissed in a bout of skepticism.
"... land, fame and good health...?" I recalled.
"... indeed. Astrocytoma was it," with his half-closed eyes he glanced at the chart that was pinned to the wall beside Yoo-Jin's bed, "third grade. Nasty stuff... especially in your friend's case there."
"~various anomalous growths close to the language center, and another pair pushing against the motor center ~," he recited the professional summary of Yoo-Jin's condition - so casually and callously, "Risky surgery with a phenomenally low chance of survival… and even then, they are guaranteed to return."
"!-!-!," the hand wrapped around my arm was the only thing between my feet and his face turning into a fine red mist painting the wall behind him.
"Don't!" Mikumo warned with a hissed whisper, "... he's dangerous."
I withdrew my tensing legs, mindful of the hand still around my arm - it was a calming presence.
"You would wish for your friend's good health, no… a simple enough request, if unambitious, but definitely within the Project's reach," he said dismissively, and I all the while looked to him with narrowed eyes, "All you need is to win, defeat all who stand before you and you can have your friend in perfect condition with nothing more than a well-worded wish."
I closed my eyes and breathed out a sharp sigh as I mulled over his words, considering his offer to participate in this… blood-sport for the chance of winning a magic cure.
"I see you're interested," he smiled.
A magic cure that I was just now starting to realize might exist.
"The rules are simple. All Combat Arts are allowed, thus, so are weapons, sharp or blunted - from knives, spears, guns, even fighter jets are allowed if you can appropriate one and somehow fit it inside an arena," he added, "...but don't worry for your life. Survival is almost guaranteed by means I'm not yet at liberty to reveal to you, but I assure you, you won't have to worry about dying."
It was tempting. The potential and inherent danger was the only thing that was holding me back from jumping at the chance - something he assured wouldn't be an issue, but I was hard to trust him on nothing but his word.
"Can I get some time to think about it?"
"Of course," he answered, reaching a hand into the breast pocket of his vest-suit and pulled out a black card, "When you've made your decision, just show up at the venue on the card."
He flicked his wrist in a jerky motion, ~snap-snap~ and threw the card at me with expert grace. Slowly, as paper wont to do, it glided straight into my waiting hand, another followed it, "… another, for your lady friend," it was in Braille – how considerate of him.
"..." I didn't bid him a farewell, instead, I watched as he turned his back to leave.
A thought occurred to me, and I called out in a low voice, "...wait."
The man stopped in place, swiveled and turned back around to face me as he answered, "Yes?"
"That power of yours…," I started.
"-borrowed power," he clarified, cutting me off.
"It can be taught, right?" I asked.
"It can," he replied, his tone noncommittal, anticipating and something else too… coy?
"Will there be competitors who'll use it?"
"I suspect a great many either already do or will, once they learn it," he answered.
I inhaled a sharp breath and felt something in the pit of my belly drop.
Uncertainty crept in.
"Can you teach me then?" I asked.
If I was considering this, really truly considering fighting in this… bloodsport then I needed every advantage I could get and this was it.
He smiled thinly, showing his teeth as he cracked a grin… a genuine one, not the fake showman's veneer he'd worn throughout our brief conversation and he spoke, voice lilted with amusement and an unmasked anticipation, "If you're anything like the Heiress, you won't be needing it for a while, if ever... but if you're adamant and still want to learn…," he trailed, "then… before the start of the second round – should you qualify of course, and I have no doubt you will, go to the administration office and ask for Judas, your lesson will begin then."
Judas - I committed the name to memory and nodded my acceptance. An odd but significant name, one that brought to mind that haunted specter he summoned for some reason, but I couldn't pinpoint the reason why.
"Will that be all," he asked.
"...," nothing else needed to said so I kept my quiet.
He took my silence as his cue to leave and made off with a farewell.
"Then I shall make my leave," he said as he pushed the curtain out of the way, exiting the room, "I believe my next appointment is in the children's ward."
He left, and silence prevailed once more for the third time today.
I was still processing the events that just transpired, trying to rationalize the things I'd seen and learned but nothing really stuck. There was a whole other world beyond this one, of magic and martial arts apparently.
"Hisui-oppa," Mikumo almost-quite voice broke through the silence that permeated the room like a blade, spoken low with a sense of reluctance and curiosity - more the latter than the former, to her regret I felt.
"If you don't mind me asking…," she looked away, "what's uh… whats wrong with Yoo-Jin-ssi?"
All the tension that had been building up in me disappeared as I turned to face her, regarding her and evaluating what I knew of her.
I had something I wanted to ask.
"Question for a Question," I parlayed.
The neutral tone of my voice did nothing to mask the nature of what I wanted - something she picked upon as she winced and sighed with resignation to herself, seemingly accepting my offer.
"I know what you're going to ask, I was going to try and keep it to myself for as long as I could have but after that man…," shaking her head she paused, "there's no use hiding it," she said, "you don't have to say anything you're uncomfortable with. I'll tell you everything I know later - there's no need for an exchange."
I was glad to hear that, and the sentiment was appreciated but there was no need.
Before I would have clammed up and kept silent when asked, it'd happened many times before even - Yoo-Jin's condition wasn't something I was comfortable talking about, mostly because of the underlying inevitability there always had been.
I told myself otherwise but I knew - I was simply trying not to think about it.
This was a step in a different direction from that, a step towards healing - figuratively and literally.
I sighed, walking towards the entrance, gently pulling Mikumo along who had once again taken my arm by the elbow and retreated her cane to her other hand as she followed me close beside.
That - her arm in mine, had become normal far too quickly I observed.
"Astrocytoma," I said, choosing to confide in her.
"Bless You?" she replied, unsure - clearly confused by the word. I don't blame her, I had the same reaction too when I first heard it.
"You heard h-Judge Eye talk about it?"
"... oh, right yeah - sorry. It was uh… various growths in some centers and motors," she said, trailing, "or something…"
"Close - it's… tumors growing in various places of the brain," – then again, aren't they all, I thought bitterly. I was simplifying it, of course, the real cause was something so complex, so anomalous and so far beyond mine or anyone's breadth of knowledge, the cause was pretty much unexplainable.
The Head-Doctor in charge of Yoo-Jin's treatment was considering writing a research paper with permission from his mother.
"Some are growing near the bit responsible for language and others near the bit responsible for motion," I added.
"Oh… that sounds bad."
Bad was one way of looking at it, but it wouldn't have done it justice - it didn't even begin to describe the severity.
"The surgery itself isn't difficult. Not as much as it would have been a few years back," thanks to the wonders of modern medicine and national healthcare, "Yoo-Jin is the problem."
"... how so," she hesitantly asked.
"No one knows why, but for some reason, no matter how much of the growths they remove they just come back," the current standing theory was some form of rampant-cancerous healing being the cause of the growths and the regrowth. The last time, it was something straight out of a sci-fi superhero movie with the medical staff's rambling about 'healing-factors'.
"..."
"He's going to die no matter what the doctors do. No medicine can save him, not even a cure for Cancer, if such a thing existed could do it," these were the Doctor's words, not mine and as much as it hurt to admit, it was the truth, "not if it just keeps coming back."
"I've accepted that," I said, straining to say the lie that I'd forced myself to believe, "or I had until… this," I added.
"..."
"My question to you then is…," I paused and considered my words, she obviously knew something about magic and the other-world - I was probably grasping at straws, but this was perhaps my last hope to save my friend, someone I considered a brother in all but blood.
"Can magic heal Yoo-Jin," I asked, and I didn't feel the slightest bit silly for saying that with a straight face.
She didn't hesitate and answered with a sort of honesty that I could appreciate.
"No," her reply was short, succinct, and addressed the heart of the matter with a very heat to it that gave me pause.
I hadn't let my hopes up. I'd kept my expectations low just in case this was her answer to avoid disappointment, and yet… it hit me all the same.
"And…," she started, elaborating further before I could wallow, "... you should never rely on it either. The cost to use it is never worth it, not if you have to give up your humanity in exchange."
… to give up one's humanity, the concept was novel to even think about.
Suspension of disbelief was slow to set in but when I adjusted myself to a proper mindset - one that accepted this new reality of magic and martial arts, the thought honestly sickened me.
"... devils," I said - I remember her mentioning them in accusation earlier.
"Right in one. They have a system that might," she stressed the theoretical, "... might be able to help your friend, by turning him or you into one of them in exchange for his health as a favor."
That didn't sound too bad.
If I was willing to participate in a blood sport for someone, then surely thi…
"If you're thinking that it's not too bad, then you're wrong - others before you thought so too, and their stories live on as cautionary tales," she interrupted my musing harshly, bringing to mind a certain classic English literature reading that I'd heard of in passing but never really got around to reading it, Faust and Mephistopheles in particular.
"To become a devil is to become a cursed existence. You give up more than just your race - you sacrifice your identity for power, your morals in place of sin, yourself for prestige and Individuality for servitude to whichever King you serve," she paraphrased, reciting… something.
She looked to me pleadingly, a desperate warning on her face. A warning that I chose to heed the more I listened to her speak. 'Losing agency in exchange for servitude,' of all the possible wrongs listed in particular stuck with me.
"They are universally reviled by every faction for very good reason, and those who reincarnate or consort with them are usually hunted down and slaughtered by the Vatican and the Church."
Her rant summarised - to become one these… devils was a fate worse than death.
That was good to know. I noted that as something to avoid later in the future. It was something I didn't want for myself nor Yoo-Jin even if it were my last option.
"So… the melee is a sham then?" I asked, having just come to the conclusion.
"I didn't say that," was her reply, "It sounds like the real deal, actually. I just wanted to stress to you the dangers of relying on magic. You asked in ignorance and as is my duty, I informed you, one who is new to the Murim, its dangers."
Right… Murim as she kept calling it - that was another question I wanted answering, but I would wait until she elaborated further on what she meant by it.
"That creep didn't say anything about magic when he spoke," she started, "he said, if I remember correctly, 'anything you 'wish' for."
"Wish," I too recalled his words.
"Yeah… Wishes are different from Magic. They're miracles," she said simply, with a shrug, "Think uh… the impossible made possible and you get a wish - Lead to Gold, Walk on Water, stop a natural disaster like a flood or a supercell - that kinda thing."
"Most magic isn't powerful enough to heal something like what you just described, if anything, I'm sure they'll make your friend's condition even worse, but a wish… those can definitely fix your friend at no cost other than your participation in this tournament as 'remuneration'."
"!," that was all the confirmation and assurance I needed. My mind was already made.
"You're going to participate, aren't you?" she asked.
I nodded my agreement and she stiffened beside me, hand tight around my arm as she stopped to a halt, which consequently meant that I did too. She was still holding onto me and hadn't yet let go of my sleeve.
"Then so am I," she announced resolutely, turning to me with an unreadable expression on her face, it seemed to exude worry, but with her aviators in the way, it was impossible to discern.
I agreed easily with a shrug and continued my trek back to the elevator.
Of course she was going.
There was never doubt in my mind about that.
If the prize for the melee was a wish, then I already knew what she was going to wish for… rather, a supposition of what I would have wished for in her place.
I wasn't worried for her given what I thought her capable of. My faith in her found root from an offhand account of her potential. It was a gut feeling, a sort of intuition that ebbed my worries for her away.
'She's strong,' I thought, looking at her with a sideways glance as we walked.
Nor was I worried for myself should I inevitably face her in the melee - I was confident in my ability and training, but I didn't voice my thoughts.
"I wonder if we can form a team," she mused out loud, head facing forward with closed eyes behind her aviators as she fell into pace beside me, her hand finding purchase on the sleeves of my arm by the bicep, "I want to help you."
huh… that was unexpected. "Don't you want the wish for yourself?" I asked, stunned, thoroughly confused and taken aback by her declaration.
I would've thought…
"Nah," she grinned, "I was born blind y'know. If I wished for sight right now, I wouldn't even know what to do with it and probably never will - I'm way past the age to learn something so fundamental like seeing from scratch. Besides…" she paused for effect, pulled down her aviators and winked at me, "I already found what I would have wished for - a handsome, strong and sensitive man willing to fight for family and friends, perfect husband material if I do say so myself. It's exactly what I would have wished for?"
The slight smile I cracked was decidedly more self-conscious than my usual care-free responses to such propositions, rare as they were in recent times, and came with a healthy red to my cheeks that undoubtedly spread to the tips of my ears.
That was one way to break the ice I had to concede.
Her hold on my arm tightened ever so slightly as she drew herself nearer. It was more intimate than I was usually comfortable with from strangers, but I accepted it, just this once I told myself.
"So… when and where is it?" she asked, just as we reached the elevator again.
"?" a question unsaid was marked on my face, and in my body language for her benefit.
"The Tournament dummy," she said, elaborating as she entered the elevator once again. There was no hesitation the second time, she stepped in with a surety of self and a tighter grip on my hand too as I punched in the floor number.
I took the playful, nudging blow to my side that followed with barely a flinch, as I reached into the inner pocket of my school blazer and pulled out the black cards I'd received.
On the back of the card, was a fancy calligraphy 'I' and the symbol of an eye superimposed on top, written and drawn on black parchment board in what looked to be gold and silver ink. There were two numbers written underneath, the first - a mobile-phone number, and the second - a local landline.
The front of the card had what I was looking for, a venue, time and date.
"This coming Saturday," I told her, reading the card and handing her the other, "Local preliminaries, hosted at venue… Pyeonja-High, Gym 4, at 1300."
Pyeonja-High, a specialist school for girls that closed down eight years ago… it was two train rides away from home, so I was probably going to have to wake up early that day and run to the Metro and catch the eleven-o'clock.
"Great," Mikumo beside me exclaimed, stepping out of the elevator with rushed gusto. I wasn't sure if she was just excited to be outside the lift, she'd been moaning about disorientation while inside earlier, or if it was about what I just said.
Her smile faltered, and she looked to the front entrance where a woman in grey, belted pleated-pants and a white dress shirt was standing by the concierge. She was stock-still, almost motionless and without expression on her face, if not for the almost-glimmer of emotion that very briefly flashed on her face upon Mikumo's approach I would have thought her a doll.
"My ride's here so…," she started, pointing her cane to the woman who stood vigil by the entrance, silent and solemn in waiting, "I'll meet you there Hisui-oppa," she all but announced and promptly left with a slight bounce in her step and a kiss blown my way.
A thought occurred to me as I watched her leave beside her… escort.
I never did get to ask her about the Murim, and she never got an answer out of me either regarding her question.
"Damn," I swore as I too made to leave for home. I had a tournament to prepare for.
Introduced Charyeok earlier than I'd have liked, but there needed to be an established supernatural element before the merger with DxD really kicks off later on.
Translation
황소(hwangso) - Bull (nickname)
Pyeonja - Horseshoe
Eomma - honorific for mother, english equivalent of saying 'mommy'
Charyeok - Borrowing power from Gods
