Sungyeol climbed down the wall and dropped the metal pieces onto the desk. "Hmph...I'll have to redesign those. Only vertical but not horizontal! Spiders can do both! Walls! Ceilings! Everything! Seriously, there has to be an answer. Now where are those spider legs....Mocha, did you eat this set too?"  Sungyeol glared at the monkey. The monkey looked guilty and turned to face the wall. "Mocha! You promised me you wouldn't eat them again after each of the last five times! What am I going to do with you?"

Woohyun cleared his throat, "Uh Sungyeol. We have to leave very soon so if you could.." Sungyeol turned around and from his expression, had just remembered he had guests in his lab.

"Where are my manners! Please forgive me!" Sungyeol counted them and took out seven of the small cubes arranged in one of the shelves. He threw them around the table and each  cube unfolded into a stool. "Do sit down while I bring you something to drink! You must be tired after that long walk!"

The team sat down gingerly on the stools but the stools were surprisingly stable. Sunggyu was impressed. Woohyun was not exaggerating when he said Sungyeol was a genius. The general started to think of ways to persuade Sungyeol to voluntarily part with all the weapons he had and give them to the team.

The rest of the team were looking at what Sungyeol was doing at another shelf. Sungyeol had opened a large flask with hot water and added some black powder into it. Soon a delicious smell reached the members. "My best discovery to date! I call it cofa! Here try it." He poured the now black liquid through a filter into metal cups and served them to each member.

Sungjong sniffed the concoction and pushed the cup away in disgust. The others slowly took a sip and looked at Sungyeol with surprised delight. Sungyeol grinned when they started taking larger swallows.

"I'll tell you how I discovered this. You know the cottontail cats in the forests around here? Well they are the only ones that eat the Bica tree berries including the seeds. Bica seeds are known to be terribly toxic and have no other known benefit. So of course I was curious how the cats neutralized them. Anyway, I found some cottontail cat faeces with the seeds still intact. Washed the seeds to put them through tests. Obviously, you've just had the amazing end result of adding them to hot water! Brilliant isn't it? In fairness, I can't lay claim to the invention because the cats did it!" Sungyeol beamed happily at everyone.

The team members had a strained expression on their faces as each member slowly put their cup down and pushed it away as far as possible. Myungsoo was the first to speak. "COFA......cottontail f-f-faeces?" "Exactly! Well, not literally but cofa sounded better than cobi!"

Woohyun sensing that his friend was about to receive physical damage spoke up loudly. "Hey, Sungyeol, where's that special thing you said you made for me?"

Sungyeol pulled out a small oblong box from another shelf. He opened it and pulled out a three inch metal rod with a blue mark at one end and red at the other. He handed it to Woohyun. "Woohyun, this is your speciality. Press the red end of the rod once."

When Woohyun pressed it, a thin black metallic rope about five feet long shot out from the blue end. Woohyun was unimpressed.

"Sungyeol, I already have a whip. And it's slim enough to keep in my back pocket when it's folded."

"Press the red end again. And be careful not to touch the rope."

Woohyun pressed the red end and this time the rope glowed with a blue flame. He moved the whip slowly. The tip of the metal rope touched a stool leg. The leg started to blacken and melt into itself. The team looked in awe but Sungjong had a shocked expression on his face. Sungyeol started to speak again, enjoying the reactions of the team.

"Think of it as trapped lightning! You know when lightning strikes a house, it burns? Well something like that. It'd be too complicated to explain now. You press the red end a third time, and the lightning is pulled away from the rope and trapped into the rod again. Press the center and now the whip folds back into the rod. Well do you like it?" Sungyeol turned to Woohyun.

"I love it! Sungyeol, thank you!"

Dongwoo pulled out his guns and showed them to Sungyeol. "Did you make these too? They're unlimited firing guns. When the bullets shoot out, a bright light like the trapped lightning appears at the guns muzzle. The strange thing is, no matter how many times I shoot, there is always one more bullet in the gun barrel. I don't even have to put any bullets in the guns."

"Wow, I haven't seen those in ages! I gave them away to a fair once for the shooting stall. They were meant to last for the usual six shots each. The trapped lightning was just put in as a special effect. Hmm..now I wonder about the last bullet...I'll need to check them out. I'm amazed that it has that effect. These guns were my first successful attempt with trapped lightning!"

"The stall owner's arm was grazed by a bullet from one of the guns because his son thought the bullets had finished and playfully pressed the trigger. The guns scared the stall owner and he gave them up to the police."

Sungyeol looked a little down after hearing that. "I was very young then, just turned thirteen. I only thought of them as a toys. Obviously I hadn't realized what I had made. I hope they help you win the fight against the Empire."

Sunggyu saw his moment and started to speak but suddenly a slight figure stood in front of Sungyeol.

"Where is it? There is no way a mere mortal would be able to create power like that!" Sungjong was furious.

"What do you mean? Where is what?" stammered Sungyeol.

"Tenshi! Like me, you fool!" Sungjong threw away his disguise and stood in full glory as a Tenshi. He glowered in white heat. His wings stretched out in full. It felt like the room was straining to contain his power.

"Well, where have you kept it? You used a child, didn't you? No Tenshi would refuse the wishes of a dying child at a shrine!"

"Look, there is no Tenshi here! I never harmed anyone! Ever!" Heavy drops of sweat were pouring down Sungyeol's face. All signs of the former excited inventor had disappeared.

Sungjong looked into Sungyeol's eyes. Sungyeol shook, the gaze of a furious Tenshi was unbearable. He could no longer hide from the burden he carried all these years. Sunggyu and the rest of the men waited in silence, each wondering at the sudden turn of events.

"I...I played a trick on a Tenshi. I was only ten then. There is or was a shrine behind my childhood home in the hills. My family had tended to that shrine for three hundred years. In turn, we were blessed with the presence of a Tenshi every full moon and the next day, our money chest would be filled with gold. Eventhough my parents warned me not to, I would sometimes spy on the Tenshi when he came to the shrine. Sometimes he would practise shooting with his crossbow at the oak tree in front of the shrine. A thought came to my mind then. I had heard that Tenshi would grant whatever it could if a dying child came to its shrine. So..so the next full moon, I hid behind the tree and ran out the moment he shot his crossbow. The arrow struck my stomach. It felt like fire. The Tenshi rushed to heal me. But he was so overcome with guilt because he had almost killed me. He told me he would grant me anything within his power if I would forgive him. And I asked for heavenly fire.."

Sungjong's face was unreadable now.

"He said he could only give me a jar full. He took one of the small drinking jars from the shrine and blew into it. Then he closed it with cloth torn from his own robes. I forgave him and he gave me the jar. The last thing he said was that the debt was now paid but he could never return to the shrine ever again. I..I've been using the heaveny fire in small quantities when I started to make guns and suchlike..and now Woohyun's whip. There are only a few drops left."

Sungjong sighed softly and spoke.

"I know that Tenshi you cheated. He was punished and lost his wings. But the punishment was greater than that for heavenly fire is forbidden to mortals. He is nothing but an old man now but he remembers. He remembers every day that he once was a mighty Tenshi."

Sungyeol's knees gave way and he fell to the floor. The guilt was clear on his ashen face. Woohyun felt his heart rend when he saw the state of his once cheery friend.

"Sungjong, he was only a child then. Sungyeol was always curious even from a young age. Sometimes his desire to know everything about the world overpowered him. But he never meant to be cruel or wicked. He has grown up now. Please, is there anyway he can make amends?" pleaded Woohyun.

The Tenshi's temper had cooled by then. He knew that the mistake of a child could not be held over him for the rest of his life. But he wanted Sungyeol to know the extent of what he had done since he had ignored his conscience and used the heavenly fire.

"When the Empire is overthrown, go back to your childhood home. In the forest near your home, look for a small shed. An old man lives there. Take care of him for the rest of his life as though he were your own father."

"Thank you Tenshi, thank you." sobbed Sungyeol as he stood up. The others heaved a sigh of relief. The room lightened as Sungjong reverted to his disguise as a teenage boy.

General Sunggyu spoke up loudly now. "We have to get back to our mission, team. Sungyeol, we need all the weapons you can provide."

"General, I will provide all that I can. But besides that, you need me. No one knows how to use my inventions, besides that I can build anything you need and I can improve the weapons that you already have. Please let me join your team." Sungyeol's eyes were hopeful. He needed to do this. Defeating the Empire quickly meant that he could make things right faster with the old Tenshi.

Sunggyu hesitated. He didn't want Sungyeol joining for the wrong reason. Besides, he had no one to spare to protect the inventor in a battle.

"Look Sungyeol, I appreciate it but the battle field is no place for you. The men are quick learners. They'll be fine after you train them here."

Sungyeol, Woohyun and Myungsoo started to protest but suddenly the usually quiet Hoya spoke over them. 

"General, you said yourself that we have to leave this town today. We don't have enough time to learn how to use and maintain the weapons."

Sunggyu looked at the team members. All of them nodded in agreement with what Hoya said. He decided to give in this one time and made two decisions.

The first:

"Men, start packing up whatever Sungyeol selects and Sungyeol, we leave at sunset. You'll have to find a home for the monkey."

The second:

"Hoya, Sungyeol is your responsibility. Train him for battle."  Then he turned and walked out of the room.