At the same time,
Inside the abandoned house in the forest.
Bido, Miryeong, Muryeong, and Jincheong were catching their breath beneath the collapsed roof.
Outside, darkness had fallen, and only the low chirping of insects lay over the forest.
Not everyone was asleep.
They were merely pretending to rest, ears pricked, forcing their bodies to settle.
Then it happened.
Miryeong opened her eyes.
It was as if her breath stopped first,
and the next moment, her gaze fixed on the door.
Bido sensed Miryeong’s presence shift and sprang to his feet.
His hand went to his sword strap by reflex.
His heart gave one heavy thud.
It felt as though the darkness outside the abandoned house had suddenly drawn closer.
Miryeong said in a low voice,
“It’s all right.”
Bido looked at Miryeong.
Wariness still remained on her face, but within it was mixed a trace of certainty.
“It’s Sienna.”
Miryeong added,
“I’ll go out.”
Bido immediately said,
“No. I’ll go with—”
Miryeong gave a short laugh.
It was light, but firm.
“Fine. Let’s go together.”
The two of them carefully stepped outside the abandoned house.
Muryeong and Jincheong remained inside, watching the door in case of anything unexpected.
In the darkness, hurried footsteps drew closer.
After some time had passed, Sienna came running up, gasping for breath.
The edge of her cloak flicked up wet earth, and her shoulders heaved heavily.
As soon as she stopped, she glanced back once to check the forest, and only then stood before the two of them.
Bido swallowed without realizing it.
Urgency was written across Sienna’s face.
Miryeong, her expression hard, asked,
“What happened?”
Sienna caught her breath and said,
“Hoo… I have a few pieces of news.”
As if raising one finger, she chose her words first.
“First, the good news.”
Miryeong’s eyes changed slightly.
At the words “good news,” an expression passed over her face—one that hoped even while refusing to believe.
Seeing that expression, Bido’s hand tightened without him realizing it.
Sienna said,
“At the council… the Silver Moon Corps has been cleared of its false charges.”
Miryeong’s lips loosened by the faintest degree.
An expression of finally passed across her face for a moment, then hardened again at once.
Because she knew this was not a situation where they could hold on to joy for long.
Bido asked cautiously,
“…Really?”
Sienna nodded.
Then, swallowing another breath, she continued with heavier news.
“And as of this moment, the Silver Moon Corps has officially decided to support Arku.”
Miryeong exhaled shortly.
“Officially…”
That one word held great meaning.
It meant not “in hiding,” but “staking their name.”
Sienna continued,
“Arku’s situation is one where war with the Empire could break out at any moment.”
“At the city gate, already… many things happened.”
She started to explain in more detail, then stopped.
“I have to deliver this news to Rangnan at headquarters as well.”
Miryeong asked immediately,
“What about us?”
Sienna looked between Bido and Miryeong as she said,
“You and the others go to Arku first.”
“The gathering point is ‘that place.’”
When Sienna said that, Bido’s eyes wavered for a moment.
Her tone was so decisive that it sounded like some hidden location.
Reading Bido’s gaze, Miryeong added quietly,
“It’s nothing special.”
“It’s a spot we’ve used for a long time.”
Bido asked quietly,
“…Where is it?”
Miryeong made a short gesture with her hand.
“The dry waterway.”
At those words, Bido’s expression eased a little.
Miryeong went on to explain.
“It’s an old drainage channel a little way from the city wall. Water used to flow there once, but it’s dried up now.”
“There are several entrances, so it’s good for going in separately,”
“and the inside connects like a tunnel, so light doesn’t leak out easily.”
“It doesn’t lead inside the wall.”
“The inner section collapsed and was blocked off a long time ago, and now the city has sealed it entirely as a dangerous area.”
“We only use the outer section. It’s good for hiding, gathering, and scattering.”
Miryeong cut off the last part briefly.
“So.”
“I’ll lead the way. You just follow behind me.”
Sienna added one final warning.
“Be careful.”
“The wide-area search of the forest is over, but…”
“Imperial soldiers are still roaming the woods to look for the missing.”
Bido nodded.
His throat was completely dry.
Miryeong said shortly,
“Got it.”
Then, after a beat, Bido asked in a low voice,
“…What about Lord Yun?”
Sienna paused briefly before answering.
“Lord Yun is moving inside the city right now.”
“Until we arrive… he has to hold out.”
Miryeong’s gaze turned toward the city gate in the darkness.
“Then we really can’t be late.”
Bido clenched his hand tightly, then slowly released it.
Now, instead of a place to hide, they had a place to run to.
—
Before they knew it, time was heading toward deep night.
After Bido and the others reached the dry waterway and caught their breath,
Miryeong went alone to scout toward the city gate.
The border between the forest and the city was quieter than expected.
So quiet that even the sound of wind brushing the leaves seemed loud.
Several soldiers stood in shifts before the city gate.
Faces soaked in exhaustion.
Their armor was disordered, and the tips of their spears drooped close to the ground.
But their eyes, at least, were forced open.
The city and the Imperial camp were both silent.
Lights were kept to a minimum, and there were no shouts.
In the place left behind after the madness of day and the breakthrough of night—
there remained only a brief catching of breath.
The very fact that the situation seemed calm felt like a silence preparing for the next explosion.
Only the smell of dried blood spoke in their stead of what had happened here.
Miryeong did not go any closer.
After sweeping her gaze over the area once more, she lowered herself and returned.
Bido was the first to greet her.
Worry was plain on his face.
He seemed about to speak, but held it back, only his lips moving faintly.
Muryeong asked in a low voice,
“The situation?”
Miryeong shrugged.
“It’s quiet for now.”
She narrowed her eyes for a moment, as if recalling the city gate.
“Those knight bastards… at least on the surface, they’re honest.”
“While prattling about honor, they won’t sneak in at night and stab you.”
“They know that if they do something like that, they’ll bring themselves down.”
Jincheong added quietly,
“Then they’ll come again. From the front.”
Miryeong nodded.
“Yeah. That’s why it’s even more dangerous.”
“Being honest means they’ll gather their strength and smash us head-on.”
Bido swallowed softly.
Miryeong glanced at Bido and said,
“Don’t worry. We’re not too late.”
Those words were meant for Bido,
and also for herself.
—
The night grew deeper and deeper.
The moon, bright as it neared fullness, slowly tilted, and the shadows of the forest lengthened.
As if matching that tilt, the members began arriving at the waterway one by one.
Movements on a large scale were easy to discover.
The Silver Moon Corps knew that better than anyone.
So they did not form groups.
Two at a time, three at a time.
Or alone.
Each scattered along a different route,
entering the forest at different times, from different directions.
Brief nods and hand gestures.
Low voices.
Their joy at reunion leaked out not as sound, but only as breath.
Miryeong checked the arriving faces one by one.
They all wore the same expression.
An expression of overcoming exhaustion.
And the resolve that said they would see this through.
Around the time the moon began to set—
Rangnan arrived.
He quietly stopped his dirt-stained feet,
and looked over the faces of the gathered members one by one, carefully and clearly.
Whether everyone who had set out had arrived.
Who was missing.
Who was injured.
Who was forcing themselves to hold their breath.
When his check was finished, Rangnan said in a low voice,
“Good. You all did well, despite the urgent movement.”
His voice was small, but firm.
It felt as if the scattered breaths aligned once with those words.
“Some of you may have heard already.”
Rangnan continued.
“We… will officially provide our full support to Arku.”
Someone swallowed very softly.
It was because of the weight carried by the word “official.”
The battlefield where they had fought in hiding had now become a battlefield where they fought under their own name.
Dawn was drawing near.
Rangnan did not drag things out any longer.
“What we must do today is not greatly different from what we have done until now.”
He spread his palm and said quietly,
“We will continue to harass them until they are exhausted.”
His gaze swept among the members.
“However, do not overdo it.”
“Until tonight.”
When that sentence fell, the expressions of several members changed subtly.
They were the ones who understood what he meant.
Rangnan added,
“The night that comes today… is the night of the full moon.”
Strength entered the end of his words.
“That is when.”
“We will drive that Imperial army… completely out of Arku.”
Resolve spread.
No one cheered.
Instead, their breaths deepened.
The night of the full moon—
Most of the people here knew the power of that time.
And they also knew that power came with a price.
But within that resolve, Bido alone grew faintly uneasy.
“Full moon.”
Every time he heard that word,
he remembered Mendel’s back, the wound torn deep into it.
The smell of blood, crumbling breaths,
that night.
Bido unconsciously gripped his necklace, then slowly released his hand.
At that moment, someone’s footsteps quietly approached.
It was Miryeong.
And beside her was Mendel.
Seeing Bido’s face, Miryeong said without even a short smile,
“Don’t worry.”
The words were not gentle.
Instead, they were certain.
“This time… I won’t let that happen.”
Mendel nodded as well.
Her voice was quiet, but strangely, it had the power to set Bido at ease.
“Yes, Lord Bido.”
She caught her breath once and said,
“It’s different from back then.”
“This time… we’re fighting prepared.”