EP.178 The Story of the Past, I am the Teacher and You are the Student
"...You deceived me?!"
"Hahaha. You were robbed blind."
"Die!"
"Uwah! Careful! Knives are dangerous!"
"If you knew knives were scary...! You shouldn't have done that! Ugh! Let go...!"
"Ah. What you should be careful of is Miss Sephier's hand. If you swing it like that, you'll cut your own fingers. Those are important hands that will lead CheonuiMubong in the future."
"I don't need them...! This sort of thing...! I'd rather have no fingers...!"
"Is your resolve to protect CheonuiMubong only that much? Your grandmother is still alive; seeing her granddaughter's fingers severed would break her heart and tear her soul apart."
"...."
"...You will. Absolutely not die a peaceful death."
"I expected as much. But isn't how you live more important than how you die? Even if the world ends tomorrow, I would still drink my cup of black tea right now... Huh. It tastes strange. Did you perhaps put poison in this tea?"
"...Laxative."
"Heh... heh. I fed it to you knowing that."
"Don't lie! Tch, I should have put lethal poison in it...!"
"I'll finish this story after I return from the restroom. Ah, sorry, but please don't attack me while I'm having diarrhea. Even I have no way to resist without getting dirtied... ugh, it's coming."
"Don't say such filthy things, you human trash should get sucked down the drain!"
"...Why do I have to learn how to shoot a gun?"
"You should learn when you have the chance. If not at a time like this, how would someone like me get to use bullets freely and learn marksmanship?"
"So you were the one trying to learn."
"Ah! I was caught!"
"To think you're trying to enjoy luxury with grandmother's money...!"
"Ahem. Wait. Don't get excited. The most important things when shooting are a cool head and a slow heart. Cool your head, aim over there, and pull the trigger to shoot. No, not this way!"
"Die, trash! ...Huh? A flower?"
"Ta-da. It's actually a fake bullet processed to shoot out a flower. Haha, you were surprised... Ah! Ah! Fake ones hurt when they hit too! I told you not to hit me even with a flower!"
"Hey. What is this?"
"Today is an alchemy lesson."
"Alchemy? Lesson? You? To me?"
"Ah, could it be that you're going to teach alchemy to me, the heir of CheonuiMubong? Someone like you? ...Is that what you thought?"
"Exactly. After that, I thought 'Go to hell, idiot'. Guess you didn't know that?"
"Hehe. Then would you like to test it? Whether I have the ability to teach alchemy or not."
"How?"
"Give me any problem. I'll solve them all."
"Just wait."
"...Here."
"Wow. I asked you to give me a problem and you brought a test paper. I haven't solved anything like this since the final evaluation exam at the Intermediate Military Academy."
"I made all the problems myself. Based on what I learned from grandmother."
"It's difficult. Hmm. This is this, and that is that."
"Hmph, grandmother was someone who reached the pinnacle of sewing and alchemy, truly no different from CheonuiMubong itself. She possessed the formidable ability to build clothes by exquisitely adjusting the formation sequence of every single alchemy thread. Thanks to the technology grandmother developed with all her might, the brilliant idea of clothing packets became possible! Whether you can even understand a fragment of that technology..."
"I solved it all."
"Liar! How?!"
"There is nothing I don't know. If the Miss knows it, I know it too."
"Hmph. You definitely just scribbled down wrong answers... Huh, it's correct... How?"
"I told you I know."
"No... way. Then I am... Why am I..."
"Ah, right. Miss Seph."
"...What."
"Come to think of it, I am the teacher and you are the student, but our forms of address are a bit impolite. Now that the hierarchy is settled, shall we organize our titles?"
"...To what."
"Call me Teacher. I will call you Seph. Got it, Seph?"
"Ye... Ugh, T, Tea..."
"Ahem! Your spirit is weak. You have to say, 'Yes, Teacher!'"
"I don't need to!"
"Seph. We have a guest coming today, okay?"
"...The teacher's guest?"
"Our guest, for the both of us."
"Who is it. Ally or enemy?"
"I'll explain later, but could you take off your clothes for now?"
"How far?"
"...How far? That makes me a bit flustered too. Naturally, I mean your outer coat?"
"Ah, r-right... But in this weather?"
"Because it's this weather that I'm asking."
"Alright... ugh, achoo. It's cold."
"Please bear with it a little. I'm sorry."
The teacher opened the door and left. In the room, still unheated and freezing, Sephier shivered from the cold alone. Only one of the two had left, but it felt as if winter had visited the already winter-cold room once again.
Sephier trembled in the room that was slightly too large for one person.
"...More importantly, why am I following the teacher's words..."
The teacher knew surprisingly much. Sephier felt like she was learning while being with him, and that fact hurt her pride.
Even when Sephier, driven by stubbornness, studied much more difficult content and came to him, he answered without hesitation. The only things the teacher didn't know were problems so obscure that even Seph couldn't find related information about them.
Only after a considerable amount of time passed did Sephier acknowledge Hughes as her teacher and engaged in learning seriously. Honestly, she was half-expecting and half-worried about what he had prepared this time.
How long did she shiver in the cold? Soon, a voice was heard from beyond the door.
"You! No matter how you seduce me, I will never cooperate with a Bakia that makes rags!"
"Ah, Mr. Smen. Just take a look."
Bang. The door opened, and an elderly man with a messy beard walked in with a heavy stride. He looked around the room with a displeased face and grumbled.
"Hmph. They call it a studio but it's nothing special! This is a factory, where are the clothes here! The only things in front of my eyes are things with not an ounce of artistry..."
The elderly man wore shabby clothes, but his attire was neat. The old man scowled deeply, then discovered Sephier huddled in a corner, shivering. The old man scoffed.
"Ha! People who make clothes are too stingy to give cloth to a little kid! Are you a servant here? Doesn't your master give you clothes?"
"She is Miss Sephier Bakia."
"...What? The granddaughter of CheonuiMubong?"
Smen's complexion changed.
"Why is the granddaughter of CheonuiMubong not wearing even a coat in this weather...? With clothes everywhere?"
"She is being punished. President Alexei, who is the young miss's godfather, is a strict man, so if there is a disruption in the production of the Aki Avatars, he often gives the young miss a harsh punishment."
"I heard CheonuiMubong was bedridden... No matter how you look at it."
"Ah, of course he doesn't beat her barbarically. He just punishes her by taking away things necessary for life one by one, then returning them. Clothing, food, shelter... It seems today was clothing's turn."
'The teacher told me to take it off...'
Smen couldn't hear the truth Sephier muttered in her heart. Smen trembled with anger to the point where his beard shook, and shouted.
"How... No matter what, isn't she the only heir of CheonuiMubong! How could you let her be in such a state...!"
"Why so surprised? Mr. Smen, you used to make clothes that thin and flimsy too, didn't you? In weather colder than this."
Smen, having his true intentions struck, shouted as if making an excuse.
"Those were for masquerade balls!"
"Does naming them for masquerade balls make similar abuse acceptable?"
Towards Smen, whose wrinkled eyes were trembling, the teacher smiled another ominous smile.
A smile that was now a bit familiar, and therefore even more chilling. While Sephier clamped her mouth shut and turned her head, the teacher whispered into the old man's ear.
"Didn't you say, Mr. Smen? That CheonuiMubong's clothing packets, which cut out only the functional aspects of clothes and sewed them together, are heresies that know nothing of aesthetics."
"That is..."
"But who was it that, in the pursuit of aesthetics, made girls of that age wear thin clothes and dance? Girls who shivered wearing the clothes you made, dancing until their feet blistered to raise their own value. What difference is there between them and the young miss who is being abused under her uncle right now?"
"Abuse, no... I was always, by request."
"Was the dress you made by request one that couldn't even cover half the body? Failing to protect them at all from the cold winter air and the even colder gaze of the world? Sigh. Now I understand the clothing packets. The functions of the clothes that you cut out all went into the clothing packets."
"That's, because the kingdom's culture is like that..."
Bang. The teacher slammed the desk. Smen, who was at least three times older than him, clamped his mouth shut and couldn't move.
"Ridiculous! You, who explore only style while forgetting the meaning of clothes, cannot be said to be making clothes. What you were making was vanity and luxury! Made by robbing the blood and sweat of the people, the precious warmth they need to survive the day! Clothes that kill people, I say!"
'Ah. Another one has fallen.'
Even the old kingdom's tailor, filled with regret and remorse, finally had to concede to the teacher's words.
I don't know whether to call it sweet persuasion or the bitter truth of good medicine, but regardless, Smen completely submitted and bowed his head.
"...What should I help with."
"For now, teach Miss Sephier all your secret techniques. As you do so, you'll probably gain something too."
In the end, the amount Sephier had to study increased, but she no longer rebelled needlessly. She studied steadily, believing all of this would be helpful.
The days of learning continued endlessly. Stacking one thing, climbing on top of it, and stacking another. Like that, solidifying her foothold step by step, the time when she gradually climbed onto the shoulders of giants.
Sephier, dressed neatly, waited for the teacher. In front of her, who sat quietly with her hands folded after pouring black tea in advance, the teacher finally arrived, brushing off his coat as he entered the room.
Sephier said lowly to him.
"Teacher. I heard Alexei is expanding the business."
The teacher stored his coat as a packet and said.
"Ah, you heard? Yes, that's right."
"I heard Smen is helping Alexei."
"Yes. Since he's someone who has handled leather accessories before. Having a technician with both skill and experience, President Alexei was incredibly pleased."
With the teacher speaking so nonchalantly in front of her, Sephier clenched her teeth.
How could he betray her with such a nonchalant face?
Sephier, a mixture of anger, disappointment, and sorrow, spoke.
"...Leather cannot be alchemized. Animal skins have a dirty and complex structure. The only way to make a better product is to use the hides of inherently powerful beasts."
"Yes, so it seems. Unless it's fairly high-end leather, it's mostly used for accessories."
"So... if Alexei touches leather, there's nothing I can do. It's outside my domain."
"I suppose so."
Bang. Sephier slammed the desk hard. Alchemy threads, fabric, scissors, and the Aki Avatar diagrams (圖解) rose into the air before fluttering down.
Sephier's voice was also lower than ever. A light with a texture similar to dew appeared in her violet eyes.
"Teacher... were you not on my side?"
"If you think about it, I'm the closest to being on Seph's side."
"Then why did you help Alexei?"
"Because I'm not Alexei's enemy either?"
"If Alexei fills his pockets... I now have no way to deal with it. I'll just become a machine that makes Aki Avatars."
"Well, that could happen."
Such an important matter, yet the casually tossed answer drained Sephier of her strength.
In truth, she had secretly hoped. That his taking Alexei's side was a facade, and she expected him to let Alexei's guard down to betray him at the decisive moment.
But that was not the case. He helped Alexei physically and mentally. Sincerely.
The moment Alexei lined his pockets, Sephier's influence would rapidly shrink. Now, Sephier couldn't stop unless she was prepared to destroy CheonuiMubong itself...
No, she already couldn't stop. CheonuiMubong was Sephier's everything and her dream. It was something she had to protect unconditionally.
"Leave, teacher."
Sephier spoke with a feeling of tearing herself apart. The teacher, who quietly sipped the black tea for a moment, picked up the coat he had taken off and bowed his head.
"If that is your wish, Miss."
There was no poison in the black tea. Though her tears did mix into it.
Sephier cried for the first time that day.
A few weeks later, someone from the Military Nation came looking for Sephier. The man in a uniform with its collar pulled up to his mouth silently handed her a letter.
Department of Public Safety.
A secret department said to make even crying children stop immediately. The Special Operations Department, which oversaw classified operations both inside and outside the Military Nation, with everything from its existence to its investigation details being top secret.
Companies, individuals, or even officers loyal to the Military Nation. The ruthless gardeners of the concrete nation who would cruelly excise and cut away anything if necessary.
Its leader, the Eungwi of the Five Stars, who had shaped this nation since the early days of the Military Nation, sent a letter filled with unbelievable content.
"...Huh?"
[Dear 3rd CheonuiMubong,
Our nation expresses deep regret over the unfortunate circumstances of the two existing CheonuiMubongs. We wish you to know that all citizens of the Military Nation feel a great debt of gratitude for the hard work and dedication of CheonuiMubong.
However, although CheonuiMubong bears the name of a company, its predecessor was a seamstress who reached the pinnacle. That great will handed down from the 1st CheonuiMubong is still continuing through the generations, but recently, some incompetent individuals are trying to tarnish that high will and name...]
It was a letter written with a politeness rarely seen in the Military Nation, but rather, it was chilling, as if a monster had put on human skin.
Sephier read the rest of the letter with trembling hands.
After that, all sorts of mismatched flowery rhetoric was written, but the main point was on the very last line.
[...Therefore. Our nation plans to carry out a subjugation operation against such individuals.]
CheonuiMubong faced a crisis of destruction.
"I've taught you enough in one year, Seph. You must make a choice now."
The teacher, who had likely orchestrated all of this, urged Seph to choose.
"Seph. You wanted to possess CheonuiMubong in its entirety. You wanted to cleanly cut out only Alexei and his cronies, who dared to rebel against the 2nd and 3rd CheonuiMubongs despite not knowing their place."
What lay in front of Seph was the list of CheonuiMubong's assets and personnel. Seph held the pen with trembling hands.
This is a death ledger to record those who will die. Seph was now becoming the Yama of CheonuiMubong, deciding their life and death.
"But, is that okay? Isn't Alexei, who has dedicated himself to the company until now, also a part of CheonuiMubong? The relatives who somehow supported the company when its funding was about to be cut off while backing a coup, do they have no qualifications to enter the beautiful CheonuiMubong you envision?"
If Alexei had no ability or resourcefulness, could he have even become the temporary president?
He took on all sorts of miscellaneous tasks under the 2nd CheonuiMubong for a long time. He must have spent most of his youth dedicating himself to CheonuiMubong.
"In a position where he could be replaced at any time if he couldn't make Aki Avatars, Alexei was just desperate to protect his own place. You could call it the struggles of someone not chosen by CheonuiMubong."
When the 2nd CheonuiMubong fell, Alexei took over as acting president instead of the young heir. No one questioned his handling of things.
Because Alexei, who had been through thick and thin, was much more trustworthy than a mere seventeen-year-old child.
"However, while struggling, he ended up kicking even the orphanage children. Dragging them in under the guise of vocational training and making them work. Even if the Military Nation doesn't care much about laborers, they don't neglect kids who should be going to school. From the Military Nation's perspective, children are unscratched lottery tickets. If an old man who can be scratched and thrown away does such things... Sigh."
But Alexei crossed the line, and the Military Nation does not tolerate illicit wealth accumulation. Whether the 'illicit' part or the 'wealth accumulation' part was the bigger issue, there was no reason to leave Alexei alive regardless.
"Alexei's ambition ends here. It can't be helped. I helped him with all my might, but he ended up proving his own lack of ability."
At the lamentation that seemed like looking at a wayward disciple, Sephier shivered for some reason.
"The Military Nation can easily swat away CheonuiMubong, but they can't lose the Aki Avatars. The reason they are approaching the arrogant Alexei and CheonuiMubong so cautiously to the point of being excessive, is to tame the young miss, the only current creator of Aki Avatars."
The Aki Avatar is the human body's foundation.
Arms, legs, chest, hands, stomach, knees, feet, neck.
A conceptual embodiment of the human body that gathers each component to make it appear as a 'human'. Only with this can one create clothing packets that automatically adjust the size by linking with a bio-terminal.
Without the Aki Avatar, the clothing packet would be no different from just neatly folded clothes.
The Military Nation was also moving to cut off all the branches and leave only Sephier.
"Anyway, though it's a bit late, it's now time to listen to the young miss's wish."
Now the teacher looked only at Seph. Despite that clearly being the case, Seph felt an anxiety as if she stood in front of a beast of prey.
"Seph. Seph's wish is to create the CheonuiMubong you desire. But you cannot fix it without breaking it. You cannot rebuild it without tearing it down. The CheonuiMubong that Seph cherishes is not simple."
That was certainly true. The more Seph learned, the wider her视野 became, and the more she came to know. She knew what she had to gain and what she had to face, and she understood Alexei's position and feelings to some extent.
But she never imagined such an ending would come. In fact, no one could have expected it.
Except for the teacher standing right in front of her.
The teacher smiled brightly.
"But since Seph seemed to be hesitating, I broke CheonuiMubong for you."
Alexei, who wanted to make his own company, recklessly expanded the leather business. In the process, he gathered tailors from the Kingdom and brought orphanage children to use as labor.
Public sentiment grew fierce, and the Military Nation drew its sword. The slight reprieve that existed now was solely thanks to the 3rd CheonuiMubong.
If Sephier nodded, the Military Nation would tear apart all of CheonuiMubong except her.
"Now choose what Seph wants. Survive along with Seph, and put the things that will form the next CheonuiMubong into the basket."
With a pure and clear, captivating smile, even as he drove the Military Nation's top holding company to ruin in an instant.
The teacher began the final practical lesson.
"It's time to create the CheonuiMubong you desire."