Ash stretched endlessly.
In a place without wind or sound, a lone figure stood.
The boldness in his eyes remained unchanged, but his dobok was caked in dirt and blood, and a red stain slowly spread from his side.
Yeon Mujin smiled.
It was the smile Dam Sohye remembered.
“······Mujin?”
“Sorry. I couldn't keep my promise again.”
Yeon Mujin’s voice was faint, as though coming from far away.
“I said I would stay by your side.”
Dam Sohye tried to lift her feet, but they would not move.
“Don’t go.”
Dam Sohye’s voice cracked.
“Mujin, don’t go!”
Yeon Mujin did not raise his hand. He merely wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth once with the back of his dirt-caked hand.
“Please live happily.”
“······No.”
“If you’re happy, my wish is fulfilled all the same.”
“No!!”
Dam Sohye stamped her foot with all her strength, but it felt as though she had stepped into empty air. Only ashen dust scattered from her outstretched fingertips.
“No! Don’t go, Mujin! Please······!”
Yeon Mujin’s silhouette took a step back into the ash.
“Take care, Sohye.”
“Mujin──!”
Another shadow approached from the side, bloody tears streaming down one cheekbone.
“Young lady······.”
The title caught in his throat once.
“······No. Sohye.”
An empty hand drew close, as if to brush Dam Sohye’s cheek.
“You must live.”
“Mu······ Mugyeong?”
A dry sound escaped from Dam Sohye’s throat.
“Mugyeong······.”
Another trail of bloody tears fell.
“You must.”
“Aaaaa······ Aaack──!”
Dam Sohye’s eyelids trembled and opened.
White light flooded in first.
The light source embedded in the ceiling shed a cold, even glow, while interfaces lined one wall, blinking in rows. Precise waveforms flowed steadily above them. The smell of disinfectant stung the inside of her nose.
“Haa··· haa···”
Dam Sohye’s fingertips trembled first.
A thin tube was embedded in the back of her hand, and faint blue patterns flowed along the inside of her arm at regular intervals. A patch placed over her chest quivered faintly.
Her own face reflected in the monitor beside her pillow was unfamiliar.
Her cheekbones protruded, and the skin around her eyes had sunken deeply. Her lips were cracked and colorless; her hair lay strewn limply across the pillow. Faint marks remained where erosion had passed, but the features underneath had not collapsed. Her eyes, the bridge of her nose, and the line of her closed lips were all neat and orderly.
It was the face of one who had awoken after a long illness.
Her head was heavy.
Her memories did not return all at once.
Dust. Crushed wreckage. The tips of her feet being dragged by something. And someone’s shoulder.
The last thing to surface was a single eye shedding bloody tears.
Before her breathing could settle, Dam Sohye’s throat constricted, and only a small breath escaped from the mouth she tried to open.
No words came out.
Only tears fell first.
They trailed down her cheeks, dripped from her chin, and spread beside the tube embedded in the back of her hand. They did not stop, even flowing over the blue patterns tracing her arm.
A small notification blinked on one of the wall interfaces, but Dam Sohye could not read it.
Her lips trembled, unable to form a single character.
---
The lights were dimmed.
The handprints on the zitan-wood desk remained, and a thin layer of dust had settled in each of their indentations. Several terminals were spread across it, their screens aglow. Unresolved reports lined the edges of the displays, and beside the oldest entry, a red mark had frozen, its blinking stopped.
The water in the vase beside the desk had dwindled by half. A leaf or two had fallen from the tips of the branches within, withering on the desk.
The Chief Director had not moved, his forehead pressed against his clasped hands.
Then one terminal vibrated briefly.
His hands fell away.
A subordinate’s voice came through the terminal.
“Chief Director. The Director has awoken.”
The Chief Director glanced at the screen, his eyes creasing.
“······Thirty-two days, then.”
As the Chief Director stood, the hem of his gown brushed the edge of the desk. One of the spread-out terminals slid sideways, but he did not catch it.
The door opened, and the Chief Director did not look back.
His footsteps quickly receded toward the end of the hallway.
Only the faint vibration of a terminal remained in the office.
---
Beneath twelve pillars of light, the meeting had already moved to its main agenda.
The remaining items from the first report hovered above the round table.
Investigation Team Casualties.
Use of restricted weaponry without Assembly approval.
Appearance of a noble-class hostile entity.
One auxiliary seat below the formal positions lay dark. It was where the crimson eyes had rested during the previous meeting.
In its place, a channel for the Loen family proxy floated on one side of the round table.
The elder in the upper seat spoke.
“We have confirmed the first report. We will now cross-check the remaining items.”
Lyn Cassiel Loen bowed his head.
“Lyn Cassiel of Loen. I shall answer, dividing between what I witnessed and the facts cross-checked after the event.”
One pillar of light asked first.
“The investigation team’s survivors.”
“Three. Chief Executor Ezekiel Vermillion, Karin, and myself.”
From another seat, someone indicated the dark auxiliary seat.
“The Chief Executor’s seat is dark.”
“He is in recovery. His consciousness has returned, but sustained combat is impossible. He lost one arm, and his magic circuits have sustained heavy damage.”
“His return.”
“I cannot give you a definite answer.”
The question immediately moved to the next item.
“Is it true that restricted weaponry was used?”
“It is true. There was no Assembly approval process.”
“Under whose authority?”
“It was the Chief Executor’s authority by office.”
“The Assembly has never granted such authority.”
“I do not deny it.”
The restricted weaponry item on the round table turned red.
The seat near the upper seat asked again.
“State the reason for the weapon’s use.”
Lyn answered immediately.
“A noble-class entity appeared inside Zone 30.”
“The initial assessment.”
“It was Viscount-rank or higher. The on-site assessment captured just before the restricted weapon’s use.”
“Viscount-rank or higher.”
“That was the assessment at the time.”
“The reassessment.”
“It was conducted immediately after firing.”
“State the result.”
Lyn’s eyes lowered to the items hovering above the round table.
“Count-rank noble.”
The lights of the round table shook all at once.
One pillar near the upper seat could not continue speaking. The pillar across from it also could not settle its outline for a moment.
The Chairman asked slowly.
“Count-rank.”
“It must be considered as such, or higher.”
“Was it cross-checked against the registry of nobles?”
“It was.”
“Matching entries.”
“None.”
A longer silence followed.
A voice fell from another seat.
“Are you saying a Count-rank noble unidentified by the Assembly appeared in Zone 30?”
Lyn did not bow his head.
“That is what has been confirmed thus far.”
A new item rose above the round table.
Unregistered Count-rank.
“How did the Chief Executor’s side escape from that being?”
“At the time of escape, the Chief Executor had already ascended to the Fifth Order. I witnessed it on-site.”
Several pillars of light turned toward the dark auxiliary seat, then turned back.
Lyn did not immediately finish his answer.
“However, to explain the circumstances of our escape, I must first explain the contact with Mudang Corporation.”
The Chairman’s eyes moved to another item above the round table.
Dam Sohye. Mudang Corporation Director of External Strategy.
“Speak.”
Lyn bowed his head briefly.
“The investigation team’s first contact with Director Dam Sohye was on the sealed roadway. At the time, Director Dam Sohye was under attack by a Knight-class entity alongside an unauthorized vehicle procession.”
“Did the investigation team intervene?”
“We did. Our investigation team was on the same roadway, and the Chief Executor suppressed the Knight-class entity. We then recovered Director Dam Sohye and her accompanying personnel to the vehicles.”
“Was it a rescue?”
“At that time, yes. We recovered Director Dam Sohye and her accompanying personnel, and she was moved to the lead vehicle.”
One pillar immediately followed up.
“Is there room for the Mudang side to interpret this differently?”
Lyn did not immediately deny it.
“There is. However, we could not leave Director Dam Sohye on a roadway mixed with refugees, contaminated entities, and a Knight-class entity.”
“Was this conveyed to the Mudang side?”
“It was. Word that Director Dam Sohye was in a Sacred Assembly investigation team vehicle was also relayed.”
“Did the Jaso-wi approach after this?”
“It did. It was an approach to receive and escort Director Dam Sohye.”
Another item rose above the round table.
All Jaso-wi personnel unreturned.
“Does this include Jaso-wi Commander Hyeon Yangjin?”
“It does.”
“Survivors?”
“None confirmed.”
“May we consider this a total annihilation ruling?”
“The post-factum cross-check indicates so.”
The item on the round table turned red.
Jaso-wi total annihilation ruling.
“Then let me ask again.”
The pillar near the upper seat continued.
“Is this related to the Chief Executor side’s survival?”
“It is.”
“Are you saying the Jaso-wi bought time?”
Lyn did not immediately confirm this.
“I will not report it as such. However, the sequence I witnessed is clear.”
He paused briefly.
“Only after the Jaso-wi engaged the Count-rank did an opening arise for us to escape.”
The seat that had asked did not press further.
The Chairman opened an external channel.
“We will cross-check the matter of Director Dam Sohye.”
“Dam Sohye, Mudang Corporation Director of External Strategy, was rescued.”
“Her current status.”
“She has been transferred to the Mudang side.”
“Additional reports.”
“None.”
The external channel offered no further response.
Immediately, a voice fell from another pillar of light.
“What of the Mudang protest?”
A new item rose above the round table.
Mudang Corporation official protest.
“It has been received.”
“Its demands.”
“The grounds for Director Dam Sohye’s detention, the reason for the investigation team’s channel severance, and an explanation regarding the Jaso-wi total annihilation ruling.”
“The response.”
“It has been deferred.”
The light above the round table dimmed once.
Lyn did not add anything further.
The Chairman’s fingertips touched the center of the round table.
“This meeting today was arranged to confirm the first report on the Zone 30 incident and to settle the question of responsibility.”
Red items remained above the round table.
Unregistered Count-rank.
Jaso-wi total annihilation ruling.
Rescue of Director Dam Sohye.
Official protest from the Mudang side.
Use of restricted weaponry without Assembly approval.
“The reported matters cannot be concluded with mere internal Assembly discipline.”
The twelve lights turned toward the upper seat.
“An unregistered Count-rank noble has appeared in Zone 30.”
He stopped speaking.
“Mudang Corporation has already demanded an explanation.”
The old man’s fingertips left the round table.
“The results of this meeting will be reported in the Chairman’s name.”
The round table was silent.
“Follow-up procedures will be arranged after the report.”
Before the pillars of light could extinguish, Lyn raised his head again.
“Chairman. I would like to raise a separate agenda item.”
Several lights that had been fading stopped.
The Chairman looked at Lyn.
“Speak.”
Lyn left only four items above the round table.
Core loss.
Report on unclassified prior-grade entity in Zone 30.
White Aberration.
Abnormal reading.
“This entity has until now been treated as an unclassified prior-grade entity. Its classification range is too broad to be suitable for tracking.”
“Your basis.”
“The point where the core response ceased overlaps with the Zone 30 report. The descriptions of a White Aberration, a non-human form, are also repeated. The remaining reading is interpreted as being of the same lineage as well.”
“Its grade.”
“It cannot be confirmed. Its relation to the Count-rank noble has also not been verified.”
A new designation field opened.
Lyn looked at that blank space.
“It must be separated as an independent entity.”
“The designated name.”
“Baekrin.”
One pillar of light repeated it.
“Baekrin.”
“A White Aberration-type entity. The first independently identified target in Zone 30.”
The Chairman asked.
“Are you saying you wish to list it as a formal investigation target?”
“I am.”
“The investigation’s purview.”
“Baekrin. An independent investigation regarding the core loss and the unclassified prior-grade entity in Zone 30.”
The Chairman looked over the entire round table.
The upper seat’s light bound the items into one.
Core loss.
Report on unclassified prior-grade entity in Zone 30.
White Aberration.
Abnormal reading.
Beneath them, a new name was engraved.
Baekrin.
The Chairman spoke last.
“Approved.”