After Miryeong left,
Bido waited with Raen.
She hoped it was nothing serious.
But Miryeong did not return easily.
At first, she thought she would be back soon.
Raen kept tapping Bido on the arm,
bringing up random topics,
and even suddenly grabbed her hand, saying they should play.
Thanks to that, Bido laughed now and then.
There were moments when the tension eased.
Even so, the unease was not so easily covered over.
Whenever her laughter faded,
Bido’s hand went to her necklace before she knew it.
And sitting in her chair,
she kept moving only the tips of her feet.
The noise of the dining hall sounded louder than usual.
The clatter of bowls,
the sound of laughter bursting out and dying away.
Even when Raen waved her hand,
Bido’s answer came a beat late.
‘It’s probably nothing.’
She repeated those words to herself over and over.
How much time had passed?
Amid the sounds of the dining hall, familiar footsteps reached her ears.
It was Miryeong.
She walked over slowly.
Each time Miryeong’s toes brushed the floor,
Bido focused on that sound.
It was not her usual rhythm.
Slow, heavy.
With each step came the words, “Something has happened.”
Her shoulders looked a little weighed down.
Miryeong’s expression was stiff.
She looked at Raen first,
then soon turned her eyes to Bido.
And she let out one long sigh.
In that sigh,
there seemed to be things left unsaid.
—
A quiet silence lingered inside the meeting room.
Yun was pressing a small scrap of paper flat with her fingertips.
The paper was densely covered in symbols that did not even look like sentences,
and traces of erasure were mixed in between them.
Each time Yun unfolded the paper, it made a faint rustling sound.
Before the smell of ink,
the rough texture of the erased spots caught the eye.
Marks as though someone had hurriedly scraped them away with their fingernails.
Rangnan nodded, yet tapped the tabletop once with his fingertip.
The air in the meeting room sank lower.
Yun spoke in a low voice.
“I’m certain.”
“This is a document that leaked from the Shadow side.”
Rangnan nodded.
“It’s only a fragment… but it’s enough.”
Yun straightened the paper again,
reading only the necessary parts.
“The Arku Council.”
“Mercenaries.”
“…And the Silver Moon Corps.”
Yun’s voice paused for a moment.
“It’s an impersonation.”
“The Empire is trying to make the Silver Moon Corps into the culprits behind the council bombing.”
Rangnan’s gaze sank once.
“They’ll create a pretext.”
“And come in under that pretext.”
Yun added carefully,
“There isn’t much time.”
“The council session date is mentioned. There’s no exact date, but… it’s definitely close.”
Rangnan thought for a moment, then said,
“We have to stop it.”
Yun nodded.
“Stopping it won’t be enough.”
“We need evidence too.”
Rangnan’s reply was short.
“I know.”
He tapped the paper with his fingertip.
“The Empire will try not to leave any traces either.”
Yun said quietly,
“That’s why it’s even more dangerous.”
“There’s a high chance our person on the Shadow side… won’t be able to hold out much longer.”
At those words, Rangnan closed his eyes briefly.
Then, opening them,
he spoke as if making a decision.
“We prepare.”
“Quietly.”
“Do not tell the others yet.”
Yun exhaled softly.
“Understood.”
Rangnan added one final sentence.
“And Aslo.”
“Find Miryeong and the mercenary, and stop them.”
—
To Miryeong, who had been sighing,
Raen spoke first.
“Lady Miryeong! Where did you go?”
Miryeong started to smile, then stopped,
forcing only the corners of her mouth upward.
“Ah… well.”
“They say there’s something I have to do.”
Raen tilted her head.
“What kind of thing?”
Miryeong waved her hand dismissively.
“It’s nothing.”
“It’s just annoying, that’s all.”
The corners of Miryeong’s mouth rose and fell.
A face that had tried to smile and stopped
was easier to see through.
Bido saw Miryeong’s throat move once.
She felt it.
That Miryeong was not good at lying.
That her sigh had been long.
That her steps had been slow.
And that the words “It’s nothing”
had come out faster than usual.
Bido’s hand went toward her necklace, then stopped.
Raen tugged on Miryeong’s arm and said,
“Then can’t we go look at the records again?”
Miryeong was about to answer, then paused for a moment.
And then,
she forced a smile again.
“Later.”
“Today… you two play by yourselves.”
Bido said nothing.
Instead, she quietly looked in the direction Miryeong had disappeared.
‘You said it was nothing.’
‘Then why did you start talking so fast?’
Bido’s ears pricked up before she realized it.
—
Low voices passed back and forth inside Muryeong’s room.
“You know, Muryeong.”
“We just need to hit the couriers.”
Muryeong answered briefly.
“Yeah.”
“There’s no time. We need to move right away.”
“Did you hear the location?”
Miryeong nodded.
“We should be able to get a rough grasp of their route.”
“And the smell of explosives… I can find that quickly.”
As if she was already thinking of packing,
Miryeong tightened her belt.
“Let’s just pack some food and head out right away.”
Muryeong nodded.
Just then—
short footsteps stopped outside the door.
Raen’s breathing was heard first.
And in the next moment, the door flew open.
It was Bido.
“Lady Miryeong.”
Bido’s voice trembled slightly.
“What on earth is going on?”
Standing beside her, Raen lowered her tail and watched their faces.
Bido was looking at the luggage in the room,
and at Muryeong’s ready posture.
The belt,
the tightly tied leather pouch,
the small bag that seemed to have been packed in a hurry.
‘This feels ominous.’
For some reason, that thought rose first.
Bido opened her mouth.
“Something… serious is happening, isn’t it?”
Miryeong looked at Bido for a moment without saying anything.
Her expression said she did not know what to say.
And soon, she opened her mouth.
“It’s nothing you need to worry about.”
“Go play with Raen.”
Bido’s face hardened.
“No!”
For the first time,
there was strength in Bido’s voice.
“Tell me properly.”
“If it’s really nothing, then there’s no reason you can’t say it!”
Startled, Raen looked back and forth between the two of them.
Miryeong stared at Bido for a long while,
then tried to lift the corners of her mouth.
But that smile was awkward somehow.
“…You.”
“So you do know how to get angry.”
Miryeong walked over to Bido
and roughly ruffled her hair.
Her touch was rough,
but unexpectedly careful.
“You fool.”
“It’s the kind of thing I’ve always done. You know that.”
Bido gritted her teeth.
“I….”
Bido’s words broke off, then continued again.
“I want to… protect things now too.”
“Together.”
When Bido said those words,
her own voice sounded unfamiliar to her.
Even though fear was mixed in,
the end was strangely firm.
Miryeong’s hand stopped.
The rough touch, for the first time, became not “careful” but “hesitant.”
Bido did not miss that opening,
staring at her without blinking.
As if she had not heard Bido’s words,
Miryeong tapped Bido on the shoulder once more and turned away.
“Let’s go, Muryeong.”
“We need to hurry.”
Muryeong silently followed Miryeong.
The moment Miryeong crossed the threshold,
Bido looked at her back and bit down hard.
The words caught in her throat.
She wanted to hold her back.
She wanted to follow her.
And yet her feet would not move.
—
Bido ran.
To Rangnan’s room.
As she ran down the corridor, the necklace kept striking her chest.
Click.
Click.
The short metallic sounds mixed with her breathing.
Bido urged herself on in time with that sound.
Don’t stop.
If I stop,
I’ll be pushed back to the side that knows nothing again.
He was not there.
Next was the meeting room.
Each time she passed through the corridors, the members looked at Bido in surprise.
Someone started to speak, then stopped,
and someone simply stepped aside.
In front of the meeting room door, Bido did not stop.
The door flew open.
The gazes inside turned at once.
It was Yun and Rangnan.
Yun spoke first.
“Lady Bido…?”
Bido asked, panting for breath,
“What is going on, exactly?”
“Why won’t Lady Miryeong tell me anything?”
Rangnan listened quietly for a moment,
then spoke in a low voice.
“Bido.”
“This is… not something you should carry right now.”
Bido gritted her teeth.
And then,
she drew in a breath as if swallowing it down.
“I’m….”
Her voice trembled slightly.
“I’m part of the Silver Moon Corps too.”
Bido unconsciously gripped her necklace.
The crescent moon pressed coldly into her palm.
As if gaining strength from that coldness, Bido continued.
“Just like my mother.”
“I’m part of the Silver Moon Corps too.”
“I’ll do it too.”
“Together.”
Raen, standing behind the door, looked at Bido with an anxious face.
Her tail hung limp.
Rangnan let out a long sigh.
He was lost in thought for a moment,
but at last, he opened his mouth.
“Fine.”
“Sit down for now.”
Watching Bido take a seat, Rangnan said quietly,
“The Arku Council is in danger.”
Yun added briefly,
“And they’re trying to pin that crime… on the Silver Moon Corps.”
Bido stopped breathing, still gripping her necklace.
The lamp in the meeting room flickered once.
There came the sound of Yun unfolding the paper again,
and the smell of ink lodged at the tip of her nose.
Unable to let go of the crescent moon hanging at her neck, Bido counted the sound of her heart beating.
The more their gazes gathered on her, the colder the sweat in her palm became.
Raen outside the door seemed to be holding her breath as well.
Bido thought,
‘This time… I won’t hide.’