by J D Astra
Min-hwan nodded. “I see you understand my meaning. Is there anything else you want to tell me about?” he asked, not in a prying way, but it electrified my nerves. If my leg had any energy, it would’ve bounced.
I shook my head, unable to say the words.
“Alright. Off you go. Cleanse well and sleep in. I will personally excuse you from your exercise classes tomorrow.”
I stood, as did he. “No, sir. That won’t be necessary.”
He laughed from his belly as he led me to the door. “We’ll see about that. Oh, one last thing.”
I turned back to him from the hall. “Yes, sir?”
Min-hwan’s face became stern. “The potions will be handled. Anyone caught using them, or inflicting them on another, will drop fifty ranks. I didn’t want you to think I was unaware.”
My sore gut tightened with guilt. Was he letting me know he was aware of the severity of the situation, despite me withholding information? Or perhaps this was his subtle way of saying butt out of it? Whichever it was, I couldn’t back down now. It seemed Bastion business and my own were fully entangled. I had to resolve my mother’s illness, and that meant I couldn’t stop pursuing the drugs to their source.
I nodded. “Thank you, Grandmaster.”
Chapter 20
LIKE MANY TIMES BEFORE, I had been so wrong. Morning came and I felt as though I’d fallen out of a twenty-meter-tall tree—three hundred times over. I couldn’t even get out of bed for the first hour. I filled Hana in on the details of the day before—my mother’s assessment and the signal—as she worked me over in the halls between classes. She popped my spine and jabbed her thumbs into tender muscles until I was able to walk normally.
Tae-do was nowhere to be seen on campus, so I assumed he was still in the infirmary. There was another disturbance, however: the arrival of the third-year exchanges. I remembered Woong-ji meeting with Akihiro at the end of last semester and how they’d discussed whether or not the exchange would take place this semester. Whatever tension had existed was either minor enough to overcome or the students were here for another purpose.
We watched the students dressed in flowing green and gold robes file into the main pagoda two by two. The boys—nearly men now—all wore their long black hair in a bun on top of their heads, while the women were allowed variety. Some wore long braids down their back, others had pigtails wrapped into careful buns on the sides or tops of their heads, but none of the students wore their hair down. They certainly looked more put together than the Bastion students, who were allowed a great degree of freedom in hair length and style.
The exchange students—twenty in total—passed us wordlessly. They walked with an incredible synchrony and grace that I had not seen achieved at Bastion, and I wondered if it was something our exchange students would pick up.
I made it to lunch without too much difficulty and found my place with Hana, Yuri, Cho, and Il-sung at the center of the room. For a moment, I wondered how I had missed the arrival of the exchange students last year. Then I remembered I’d been in a coma, and after that I’d been far too focused on rebuilding my strength to get through the fights necessary to save Eun-bi. It was no wonder I hadn’t noticed any strangers on campus, especially those who seemingly had no interest in interacting with us.
Min-hwan stood to address the students when everyone took their seat. “What a wonderful day it is that we get to welcome our guests from Jade Fire Academy, from the kingdom across the sea, Kokyu. We’re pleased you’re here and will be working diligently to cross-train you with our students and instructors for the next twelve weeks. Sharing knowledge is the most powerful gift we can give to one another, and we give it freely.”
Min-hwan bowed and the exchange students at the front stood in unison, then bowed all together like a shimmering wave of green. Together, the twenty young men and women said, “We’re excited to be here. We will do our best.”
It all felt very ceremonial. The visitors returned to their seats, and Min-hwan did as well. The meal continued in silence for a few minutes, and slowly the normal din of chatter picked up until the room was full of conversation. Il-sung and Cho were avidly discussing Li Alchemy, and so I turned to Hana.
“We found the location,” I said casually before taking a sip of my tea.
She pulled her cup to her lips and asked quietly, “Midnight excursion?”
Yuri leaned in to listen, but thankfully didn’t blurt what was on her mind.
I shook my head. “I’ve got another idea for this one. After dinner.”
Hana and Yuri nodded, and we returned to the meal as if nothing had happened. Il-sung couldn’t contain his curiosity anymore and had asked me about what happened with Tae-do. I was honest about all the events—aside from their purpose—and he nodded.
“Sounds like he was on something alright. That kind of power is insane for a second year, no matter if his family owns the most revered dojang in the kingdom. I haven’t seen him around today. Is he expelled?” Il-sung asked with a hint of elation. None of us liked Tae-do—not even his cronies, I assumed—and having him gone would be a blessing for us all.
“No,” I said with disappointment as I sipped my tea.
“And why not? He attacked you outside of a duel,” Hana said.
“Min-hwan and I agreed his punishment would be no dueling, and confinement to the grounds on rest day.” Hana opened her mouth to retort, and I cut her off, saying, “This is what’s best for everyone.”
Cho eyed me from across the table as he realized there was something he wasn’t in on. We wrapped up the meal in relative quiet, Il-sung still going on about how fast I’d run the night before. We cleaned our dishes and parted ways as Cho and I headed to Munje Recycling II and Yuri, Hana, and Il-sung went off to Zo Calm II.
I whispered some of the details about my mother to Cho, then promised to fill him in after dinner. We reached Woong-ji’s classroom when a shimmer of green away from its pack caught my eye. One of the exchange students was ogling the mural on the wall near the main entrance. Then something against the wall shifted, like the echo of a shadow. I focused my vision and called out to Mae.
‘What do you see?’
“There’s someone shrouded in ry,” she replied, her voice loaded with suspicion.
“Coming?” Cho asked as he bumped my shoulder.
The exchange student’s head snapped in my direction, her eyes narrowing on me. I felt the intrusion of her ry wash over me, and I silenced my mind with practiced breathing from meditation. I smiled, waving innocently, and her icy glare morphed into something unimpressed. She turned up her nose and walked away from the wall.
The ghost of a shadow was still there, totally motionless. I felt the urge to go dispel their magic and reveal whatever shady activity had taken place, and it moved me forward. Deep down in the pit of my stomach, the unease of betrayal swam with the words Ko-nah Wong.
“What is it?” Cho asked, his previously playful tone turned serious as he followed me.
The warning gong rang out, but I had to see for myself. The other students scrambled to make their way to class, bumping me in their hurry. Someone slammed their shoulder into mine so hard my gaze was pulled away from the spot on the wall. I looked at the offender, who scowled and moved on.
When I looked back, the shadow was gone.
“I have them,” Mae said as a blinking arrow appeared in my vision. It was pointed straight ahead, moving off to the left. I pursued through the flow of students moving in the opposite direction until I saw the back of Ko-nah’s head, moving away from me.
‘It’s him, isn’t it?’
Mae hummed in agreement, and I gritted my teeth. Why did I have to be right? What was I right about? Being around an exchange student wasn’t grounds for anything suspicious, other than the way he chose to do it. What was he up to?
“We have to go,” Cho said as he tugged on my arm.
I followed him back to class, arriving a few seconds late. Woong-ji raised a brow as we e
ntered, breathless, but allowed us to take our seats without reprimand. We discussed the prime methods for recycling li munje after using it to extract oil, or essence, from plants. The way the plant was changed after this type of extraction would make the li munje more difficult to convert—but my mind was so preoccupied with Ko-nah and the girl in the green robes that I didn’t catch the key difference. Cho could fill me in later.
Ma Design and Repair I was another frustrating session of being told we didn’t know how to do the things our instructor Pa-ne could, and how lucky we were that he was showing us. I could feel the tension in the air between Ko-nah’s desk and mine but kept my eyes forward. I didn’t want to be caught talking in class, for which Pa-ne would assign additional work. Not that it mattered. I could fix all the machina he gave me in my sleep, but having the extra work would distract me from the many priorities screaming for my attention.
When the bell signifying dinner rang, I was first to jump up from my seat. I wasn’t sure if it was the growing discomfort between me and Ko-nah that I was trying to escape, or the groaning in my stomach that made me move so fast. Ko-nah kept up with me all the way to the door.
“Jiyong,” he started.
I turned back to face him as the other students poured out the door and made their way to the dining hall. Cho, Yuri, and Hana stopped not far off, waiting. Hana’s ear glowed with purple-green ry, some kind of amplification spell I assumed.
Ko-nah glanced over his shoulder, then grimaced. “Thank you. I won’t discredit your methods anymore. I’ll be on time for meditation, and I’ll do my best not to upset you.”
I sighed. “I’m not upset by your actions—or inactions. I’m disappointed. I’m frustrated you didn’t tell me it was a trap, but I don’t blame you.”
“You have my trust. I won’t betray you like that again,” he said as he put his fist to his chest and knocked it twice, then held it out to me.
I hesitated. I wasn’t sure he understood the connotation of the gesture. If he did, he was giving me a boldfaced lie. I certainly didn’t feel strong trust and friendship for Ko-nah. He wouldn’t be there in my last hour. He wouldn’t stand beside me at the gates of Eoduun and face down the Darkness.
“You don’t trust me,” Ko-nah acknowledged.
“No,” I said flatly, though his trickery last night was not the only reason.
He squared his shoulders and stood up taller than before. “I’ll earn your trust back.”
Hana rolled her eyes behind Ko-nah and took off for the dining hall. I was sure if I told her what I’d seen—what I’d thought I’d seen, since I hadn’t proven that Ko-nah was talking to the exchange student—she’d be apt to string him up from the tallest tree in the glade and leave him overnight.
My guts twisted in worry. I was passing a point of no return. I had to ask him, or I had to keep that secret conversation to myself for investigation. I knew I was bad at lying, and withholding this concern would be plain on my face. Ko-nah would work to earn my trust, but he could never get it if I held this over him.
“What were you doing with the exchange student?” I asked in as even a tone as I could. Nothing accusatory, just curiosity.
Ko-nah grinned. “Isn’t she pretty? She was admiring the mural, and I was admiring her.”
Something about how quickly the smile came to his face gave me a sense of unease, and I grimaced. “I don’t recall. So, she said nothing?”
“Not a word,” he said with a shrug. “I was worried she was going to find me, so thanks for scaring her off. That would’ve been awkward.”
I looked over Ko-nah’s shoulder at Cho, who slowly shook his head.
“His vitals are stable. He doesn’t appear to be lying,” Mae said, and her cartoonish image appeared in my vision for a brief second with a pensive scowl on her face.
“Let’s get some dinner,” I said and nodded my head toward the dining hall. I didn’t know how we were going to ditch Ko-nah after dinner to discuss my plans for identifying the signal, and then part of me wondered if I wasn’t being a hypocrite. I expected complete honesty from him, yet obscured such a large part of my life and my activities from him. Was that not a double standard?
All the thought was making my head hurt, and my body was already hurting enough, so I decided to let it go. For once in my damn school career, I wanted to have a night with my friends where I wasn’t worried about anything.
We stepped into line for dinner, and I could feel the stress tingling behind my eyes. I stopped, closed my eyes, and cycled a deep breath. I manipulated my band for double zo and pushed a wave of calming munje through my body. I did it again and again until my mind was clear.
Everything would be fine.
Chapter 21
SHAKING KO-NAH HAD been more difficult than I thought, and I hadn’t managed it.
I hadn’t managed it for two straight weeks. He was always there. He woke up at the same time as me, followed me between classes, ate next to me, showered too close for comfort, and trained just as often as I did. There was no escaping him it seemed, but the silver lining was that his complaining had dropped to practically nonexistent.
Perhaps it was because he’d seen me overcome Tae-do, who was twice my size and had been on zo enhancing drugs at the time. Maybe the reason for the complaining and dragging his feet was that Ko-nah hadn’t believed my methods could beat Tae-do’s brute force, but seeing them applied had given him hope. His demeanor had shifted from an entitled complainer to a gritty, driven man on a mission.
Tae-do’s demeanor had shifted, too. He frequently threatened me with his goons, but never followed through. He knew I had a good chance of beating them, and wasting his moves on me—as Mae had put it from old chess terminology—wasn’t on his agenda. I didn’t know what his agenda included, but he was going to get back at me, somehow. I could see it in the way he glared from across the room in every class. He hated me down to the very core.
Finally, after careful planning and quiet note passing with the others, I confronted Ko-nah about some privacy after our morning meditation. I called him over to me away from the group, and he came without question.
“What is it?” he asked with a shiver. It was cold this morning, though I hadn’t noticed.
“You—eh, do you—understand Hana’s and my relationship?” I asked awkwardly, feeling the heat in my cheeks.
“She’s your girlfriend,” he replied, then his eyes went wide as he asked, “You don’t think I’m trying anything, do you?”
I put my hand up to stop him. “No. It’s not that. I appreciate how dedicated you’ve been to your improvement, and it shows. You’ve risen to the high two-hundreds in two weeks of applying yourself. I hope this doesn’t sound condescending, but I’m proud of you.”
Ko-nah’s eyes narrowed. “But?”
“But... I need some time with just Hana.”
“Why didn’t you say so sooner?”
I sighed with relief. “I didn’t want you to feel like I was telling you to go away.”
He frowned. “That’s what you’re doing, isn’t it? But it’s fine. I get it. I’ll see you tomorrow for morning meditation.” He knocked his knuckles against his heart and then held his fist out for me. I mimicked the gesture without hesitation this time, though I still felt sick in the pit of my stomach.
“See ya later.” Ko-nah waved to the others as he walked toward the main pagoda. Yuri waved exuberantly in return. My shoulders fell away from my ears, and I grimaced as I turned back to the group. I wished I could trust him, but something still didn’t feel right.
I slipped my hand into Hana’s and kept a smile on my face as I said, “We’re going to spend some time at the Rabbit. You guys know what I need you to do.”
Cho and Yuri nodded in unison. “We’re on it,” Yuri said with a glimmer of determination.
“Do you think this will work?” Cho asked.
“What if you lose connection or get him stuck or get caught?” Hana blurted all her worries at once.
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I squeezed her hand reassuringly. “We’ll practice and find my range. If he gets stuck, I’ll have him rip off whatever necessary to get out. If I’m caught, at least it’s Tuko and not us.”
Hana’s nose wrinkled up in distaste, but she didn’t say anything. With what little conversation we’d been able to have about the excursion, I’d made it clear that I wanted to take Woong-ji’s warning from last year seriously. There were people out there who would abduct young Bastions, and I didn’t want any of us being among them. Walking right into the den of a drug dealer sounded like the fastest way to find ourselves in the kind of situation we wanted to avoid.
When we were all in agreement, though it took some convincing on Hana’s part, we split up for our tasks. Cho and Yuri would be carving a small, Tuko sized hole in the wall somewhere deep in the glade so it would be easy to obscure. They’d keep a block wedged at the street-side so passersby wouldn’t notice the opening.
The only part of my plan I was worried about was the distance. It was over four kilometers from the signal source to the school, which wasn’t far on foot, but with Tuko’s legs being only a dozen or so centimeters long, it made a difference. I’d have to pace my munje use, but worse, I didn’t know if I could maintain control that far out.
We’d have to find somewhere safe to test it, and if I couldn’t make it, we’d have to devise some way to improve my range. Hana would get impatient. She wouldn’t want to wait however long it took me to improve to get to the bottom of this.
I didn’t want to wait, either... It was my mother’s life on the line, and every second we wasted was another moment lost when we could have been finding the cure. But risking Hana, Cho, or Yuri’s lives in exchange was not an option. We would have to make this Tuko solution work.
We ate a quick breakfast, and I slid a few extra portions into my bento for us to enjoy at the Rabbit. Hana slipped her arm through mine and pulled me close as we walked, sharing her heat with me. It was still cool, though the sun had risen above the tips of the tallest skyscrapers.
