「 episode 20; arc 5.3 」 —umbral axiom//absolute (part ii)— 「 hyejoo xi 」

“You were attacked by someone claiming to be part of a team working for YG...and it was someone Chaewon knew?”

Moonlight funneling in through an open window illuminated the nodding heads of Kahei, Jungeun, and Chaewon. Sooyoung tensed up uncomfortably upon receiving confirmation a second time, and her discomfort skyrocketed as she looked to a bed-ridden Hyejoo once more. “And you’re sure you’re fine?”

“Yeah. Just a little light headed…”

Gathered in a well-sized unit of an ultramodern, state-of-the-art infirmary, the small convention of magi was spread across the room with all eyes on a recovering Hyejoo. Hooked up to an IV and various medical devices, the droning blips of machinery monitoring the young girl’s vitals sounded off at regular intervals. Sitting up right in her bed, Hyejoo fiddled with her black patient’s gown as a nurse dressed in all white held a compact flashlight to her odd eye. 

On one side of the bed, Kahei and Jungeun stood close by, their faces flushed with relief to see their teammate awake and well once more. To the other side of the bed, a quiet Chaewon was seated next to Hyejoo, fingers interlocked as they were meant to be. Not far from Haseul, Sooyoung, and Jiwoo, Sunmi stood near an open window and watched the scene in earnest.

Hyejoo blinked hard as the light pouring into her eye finally came to an end. Setting down the flashlight, the nurse picked up a manila folder and a pen off of a nearby nightstand. Making her way to the back of the room, she briefly jotted something down onto the papers within it before handing it to someone.

“Thanks. Sorry to have bothered you. You can head out now.”

Dismissed by her superior, the nurse bowed before excusing herself past the assembled sorceresses and exiting the room. The seated figure removed from the group began to analyze the contents of the folder, keeping to themselves in their own little world. 

Raising her eyes from Hyejoo, Sooyoung proceeded with an interrogation bred from concern. “Who was this person? Name, class, alignment, weapon?”

“Her name’s Jisoo,” Jungeun answered in a tired tone. Though the night’s events were hours old, the spearwoman’s addled mind had been playing it on loop as if it occurred mere minutes ago. “She’s about our age. Melee healer, clockwise alignment to water. Uses a rapier, extremely quick on her feet.”

“And it was just her? Or did the rest of this ‘team’ show up?”

“There was another magus—”

“—but we didn’t get a clear look at them,” Jungeun cut off Chaewon in a manner equal parts gentle and sharp. A precarious look from Jungeun reminding her of what they had discussed, Chaewon fell silent and simply nodded in response. 

“It was after it was all over,” Jungeun clarified for the group. “We were aiming to bring Jisoo back to question her, but they arrived at the last second to back her up. Blindsided us and blocked us off with a wall of ice. Had a ranged weapon of some sort, a weight attached to a chain or something.”

“So this lone sorceress took one of you down in a four-on-one matchup?” Sooyoung questioned. As opposed to disappointment of any sort towards their capabilities, it was clear by the hardened look in Sooyoung’s eyes that her inquiry was based upon the enemy’s merits. “Just how strong was this girl?”

“Jisoo is a Master sorceress,” Chaewon answered, and it was with trepid anxiety that she continued speaking. “However, in truth, we were on our own. Hyejoo and I had to fend for ourselves.”

“Jungeun and I were aiding Joohyun and her group with something especially urgent,” Kahei divulged, her serene disposition unflinching even under Sooyoung’s now discerning eyes. “It was a sensitive matter that ultimately demanded our assistance. The six of us were preoccupied, so we had Chaewon and Hyejoo stay behind to guard our rear. We caught wind of their struggle and rushed back to them, but—”

“Kahei.”

Sooyoung’s words and tone, controlled though they were, leaked hints of incredulity as she spoke over the older woman. “Are you seriously telling me that you left your Neophyte and Intermediate sorceresses unattended by choice...?”

“ We left them unattended,” Jungeun broke through instantly, shamelessly accepting her half of the blame in defense of Kahei. She commenced an open clash of fire and ice, her gaze challenging Sooyoung and pulling her attention. Kahei allowed Jungeun the stage, appreciation and reverence blossoming as one within her as the spearwoman backed her up with fervor.

“The area was completely safe, Sooyoung. Kahei and I both felt as much,” Jungeun assured. “No corrupted manachasm, no tainted leylines, no fiends. Not for several miles. Sorry if we didn’t expect some lackey of YG’s to show up, as if any of us have ever even run into anyone associated with him before.”

As calm as they appeared, there was an unquestionable dissent slowly rising between Jungeun and Sooyoung. Though she had more to say in regards to Jungeun’s claims, Sooyoung held her tongue.

“So Chaewon and Hyejoo dueled a Master sorceress by themselves,” Sooyoung surmised, her eyes returning to the pair of light and dark. Both of them avoided direct eye contact, and it was through their sullen auras that she knew the full extent of the truth had still not been revealed. “But that’s not all, is it…?”

Hesitation answered Sooyoung. From the lack of response, ice splintered.

With her patience at its edge, the master of ice took a silent breath. Posing a very simple question for the fifth time, she exuded a spirit of commanding frost which ensured she wouldn’t have to ask it a sixth. 

“Will somebody just tell me what actually ing happened?” 

“I wasn’t strong enough.”

Eyes descended upon Hyejoo. Her free hand was balled into a tightly closed fist, exerting a vice grip on her bed sheets. Chaewon regarded her with an especially depressed complexion, finding it agonizing to even hear her say such a thing. Her agony only worsened as Hyejoo repeated herself with despondent eyes. “I just wasn’t strong enough…”

“Hyejoo—”

“I couldn’t protect her. I couldn’t protect Chaewon,” Hyejoo interrupted Sooyoung quietly. Her grip on her bed sheets furthered still, quickly evolving into a stranglehold born of palpable frustration. “Jisoo got the upper hand and separated us.”

Sooyoung blinked. “So you’re saying…”

“I was incapacitated,” Chaewon concluded, “and the purification tether was severed.”

Silence rained down. With steadily dropping faces, Haseul and Jiwoo looked to Jungeun. Haseul spoke first, a nervous hand above the center of her green dress shirt. “Then you mean to say...”

“Yeah. Olivia took over,” Jungeun confirmed the suspicion at the forefront of the couple’s minds. “Like I said before, there was nothing else this could’ve been about.”

Jiwoo produced a question which made Jungeun pause. “What did Olivia do, Jungeun?”

With Jungeun visibly in need of a breath as she collected her thoughts with sunken eyes, Kahei took over for her. “Olivia procured a weapon of her own and engaged in combat with Jisoo. She exhibited strength, speed, and mana production beyond the realm of possibility for Hyejoo.”

“So I was right...”

With eyes lost in thought, Sooyoung’s gaze fell into Hyejoo’s lavender iris. The Master sorceress’ blizzard had calmed down in full, returning to her usual coolheaded snowfall as the pieces of the puzzle clicked into place in her mind. “I know I sounded sure of it back then, but in reality, I wanted nothing more than to be wrong.”

Feeling an unrelenting set of eyes on her, Hyejoo lifted her head. Sooyoung’s vision was still honed in on her, peering at her so intensely that Hyejoo felt like she wasn’t being looked at, but rather through. She was right, for she was not Sooyoung’s target. 

Staring down the subdued consciousness slumbering within her comrade, Sooyoung crossed her arms. “Olivia’s an Absolution, then...or the result of one. But how…?”

“Goodness, finally. Much like a poorly paced movie or TV show, we’ve arrived at the most pressing question probably much later than the viewers were hoping for.”

Towards the back of the room, an exaggerated sigh broke free. With the exception of Sunmi, all eyes focused on the extra visitor who had peacefully kept to themselves until now.

“Things are starting to make sense, but something’s still missing. That something, should we be lucky enough to finally see it come to light, should help everything come together quite nicely.”

From a lofty black couch against the far wall, heels clicked as a woman with dirty blonde hair done up in a bun rose to her feet. She pulled down on the collar of her loose fitting white lab coat with one hand while she held an open folder with the other, approaching the group with a relaxed gait.

“Olivia, Hyejoo’s mysterious little roommate who probably isn’t even paying her half of the rent, is a form of Absolution. Or, alternatively, the result of one, yes. That much is true. It has to be,” the woman agreed, beginning a slow stride to the open window near Chaewon. Leaning against it, she set down the folder on a nearby nightstand and undid her bun of hair. 

“It’s the only logical conclusion we can arrive at now that she’s been properly seen in action. Great, mystery solved. Case closed! Why am I even here? Oh, right. It’s because there’s a problem. Case opened again! So what’s the problem?”

Long locks of dark gold freed, she settled her hues of mixed hazel and vermilion on Hyejoo. Sheathing her hands in the pockets of her lab coat, she displayed a curiously out of place smile as she shrugged. “The problem is that Olivia can’t be an Absolution in any form. It’s just not possible...well, not with the current information on hand, anyway.”

“Hyuna—”

“ Grandmaster Hyuna,” the woman interjected, excusing her interruption of Sunmi with a contradictory smile of hostility towards her. “So forgetful, Archmagus Lee! Should I ask you to refer to me by my previous title instead? Would Second Class Major Arcanist Kim Hyuna, Head Aetherial Scientist and Chief Professor of the International Arcane Arts Research Commission, Eden Division be a bit easier to remember?”

Unfazed by her sarcastic quip, Sunmi returned Hyuna’s smile. “My apologies. Grandmaster Hyuna, what information do you require?

“The information I require, Archmagus Lee, is the missing link which you never shared with me,” Hyuna announced. Stepping off the wall, she took a step closer towards Hyejoo. Her voice fell slightly, her cheery demeanor vanishing with every word she uttered.

“I need to know what really happened to you, Hyejoo. If Olivia is connected to your Absolution, I need to know the final thought that acted as your trigger and what was happening to you at that time,” the Grandmaster revealed, unaware that her words were doing little more than setting ablaze a wide-reaching fire of confusion within Hyejoo.

“Can’t solve this puzzle without those two very important tidbits. Either I get that answer or everyone walks out of this room probably more confused than they were when they showed up,” Hyuna confessed, turning back to Sunmi. “The time for secrecy is over. This is the season finale, Archmagus Lee. Believe me, this isn’t the episode to end on a cliffhanger. You’ll lose a whole lot of viewers. Imagine how mad the producers would be!”

“Grandmaster Hyuna—”

“I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.”

Hyuna blinked.

Interrupted by Hyejoo, Sunmi exhaled silently as Hyuna turned back around. “I’m sorry, sweetie. I just heard something so crazy that I fear I might’ve gone deaf. Could you repeat that?”

“I don’t know what Absolution is,” Hyejoo explained, her small voice loud and clear. “I’ve never heard of it before.”

Hyuna blinked again, this time far more forcefully. 

Directing her eyes towards her previous adherents, she addressed them with the purest form of raw disbelief. “Haseul, Kahei...did no one truly think to explain something as important as Absolution to her? Especially when you knew the potential relevance of it to her situation?”

Curiously, Haseul and Kahei failed to answer, providing no answer to their former supervisor. A grimace from Jiwoo and Chaewon followed. Her gaze reaching Sooyoung next, the woman of ice gave Hyuna the cold shoulder, though she shamelessly displayed an uncomfortable frown laced with bitter regret.

“Every member of LOONA received strict orders from me to not share information regarding it—an order which is still in effect.”

Stepping forward, Sunmi’s common smile was absent as she addressed Hyuna. With an air of unusual seriousness emanating from the Archmagus, Hyuna straightened up, her own expression growing equally solemn. “Any individual not already aware of Absolution is not to be informed of it until absolutely necessary, either by means of witnessing specifically a first stage incident or experiencing one themselves.”

“You mean to tell me that your other Neophytes don’t know yet either? You seriously think that’s a good idea?” Hyuna asked, her words bathed in skepticism. “Yeojin, Yerim, and Hyejoo...you sent all of them out on these potentially life-threatening excursions without first informing them about something like this?”

To Hyuna’s discontent, Sunmi nodded. “That’s correct. Being privy to the existence of Absolution would have no bearing on their safety, positive or negative.”

“How can you possibly know that?”

“Because I simply do, Grandmaster Hyuna. You must take my word for it.”

Sooyoung was the only one in the room to look away from Sunmi.

“You just... know ? And I should just...take your word for it?”

Vexation was dominating Hyuna’s face with speed. Before it could claim its hold on her in full, she rubbed her temples as she caught her breath. “Okay, uh, wow. That is not a proper answer and that topic of conversation is definitely not over, but you and I can continue it in private some other time. For now, the wonderful, horrible world of Absolution.”

Gathering herself anew, Hyuna brought her eyes to Sooyoung and managed a small smile with a clap of her hands. “Alright, Third Class Major Arcanist Ha Sooyoung! Your time to shine! Go on, then.”

Not receiving further instructions, Sooyoung shared in the group’s resulting confusion. “What…?”

“Hm? Don’t feel like it? Think I should ask Kahei?” Hyuna remarked with a laugh. “Bad idea, given our current position on the third floor of, you know...a building. Forgetting about the small earthquake that happens whenever she does it? Not that she can help it. You’re the only other one here who’s accessed the third stage, and with you, we’ll just have to crank the heating up at worst. So, go on, then!”

“Grandmaster Hyuna—”

“Absolution, Sooyoung. Trigger it.”

The Grandmaster sorceress brought a hand to her face, pulling down against the edges of her eyes in a tired manner. Her smile, though still present, was growing weary. “Just easier to explain with a visual aid. I’m the professor, Hyejoo is my student, and you’re my chalkboard. A cool, frozen chalkboard. Admittedly a terrible surface to write on, but at least you come with a spiffy sword, even if it is rather comically oversized...anyway, if you would?”

A wave of cold answered Hyuna’s request. 

It came from Sooyoung’s center, and with it, those close to her instinctively stepped away as she herself backed up from Hyejoo’s bed. From Sooyoung’s breath, a thin line of her mana formed in front of her. Her greatsword flashing into existence as it quickly spread out, Sooyoung kept a calm eye on Hyejoo as she addressed Hyuna.

“I don’t mind, but don’t treat me like I’m some exhibit on display…”

Turning her weapon over, Sooyoung placed her hands over the hilt’s pommel in front of her chest. Her bottom palm resting on it, she set her frozen steel down, digging its tip into the white tiled ground beneath her. The sound of the floor cracking captured Sunmi’s attention, but Sooyoung’s voice resumed before any protest could start.

“...and don’t start complaining about property damage.”

As the temperature in the room began to drop, they quickly coalesced around Sooyoung—three runic circles centered about her frame at her chest, waist, and knees. Considerable in size, Hyejoo stared at them curiously as they began to rotate slowly one after the other in a staggered fashion.

“At its core, Absolution—more commonly known as the act of going Absolute—is two things: a blessing, and a curse,” Hyuna began her lecture. Like any studied professor, she engaged in a relaxed pace around the room, slowly weaving around its inhabitants throughout her explanation. 

“In a way, you can think of Absolution as an enhanced state of being. It provides a fairly monumental increase to your physical capabilities. Strength, speed, mana production...they all skyrocket. You’ll hit much harder, move much faster, jump much higher, and you’ll have more mana than you know what to do with.”

Hyuna’s words rang true with the sight Hyejoo was registering—Sooyoung’s silent breaths were producing an excessive amount of dust as they began to take shape in the form of paths and roads. The swordswoman was becoming surrounded by interconnected highways of her essence which linked her three circles together.

“Jinsol always equated it to some sort of...special power-up you might find in a video game or something,” Hyuna offered as a point of comparison, “and that’s not entirely wrong. It’s just...mostly wrong. Absolution is not merely a ‘special power-up.’ It’s more than that. It’s a physiological and psychological reaction.

“You see, Absolution is, in part, the response of a magus’ body to exceptional levels of adrenaline. You know, the stuff our brain dishes out when we’re under extreme stress or if our lives are in danger? The stuff that lets us either stand our ground or run like hell? Yeah, that stuff. To help us out, it provides a general increase to our physical capabilities. Strength, speed...oh, stop me if you’ve heard this one before.”

“So...it’s just an adrenaline rush?”

“Oh, how I wish it were that simple!” Hyuna answered Hyejoo with a woeful confession and a pout. “If that was all there was to it, this detailed monologue of mine would be over! No such luck, though. There’s much more to it. You see, a pretty interesting thing happens when you’re suffering from either critical levels of stress or the panic induced by your body’s fight-or-flight response. Or, even worse...both.”

The effect containers spinning around Sooyoung began to pick up speed. The temperature in the room dropping slightly further, Hyejoo pulled her sheets closer to her as she began to shiver.

“When you’re stressed out beyond belief, either because you or someone you quite like seeing alive is in danger, your mind will tend to become rather intensely focused,” Hyuna explained. “You’ll zero in on a single thought which reigns supreme over everything else in your head, and you won’t be able to think of anything else. You could say it...becomes absolute.”

A smile spawned on Hyuna’s face as she started giggling, nodding towards Hyejoo. “Get it? Because it’s called Absolution? So it’s...it’s like a...you know what, nevermind,” she quickly forfeited upon the total lack of reaction from her audience. “Even if I explained the joke, my big brain humor is probably too advanced for you kids. Moving on!”

Completely unfazed by the nonexistent reception to her failure of a joke, the Grandmaster continued her lesson. “Where was I? Right, the single thought. These thoughts are usually pretty standard fare. Things you’d expect from trying situations. ‘I need to save her,’ ‘I have to stop him,’ so on and so forth. One thought is most common, though,” Hyuna suggested. Pausing her stride, she offered a curious look to Hyejoo. “Wanna take a guess?”

Hyejoo’s breathing slowed to a crawl.

“Imagine being more stressed than you’ve ever been before in your life, Hyejoo."

She was sinking.

“Imagine being at death’s door, moments away from crossing the boundary between this life and the next.”

Deeper and deeper into the bottomless abyss, she was sinking.

Hyejoo felt it as her memory became swallowed by it—the sensation of a turbulent descent. The recollection of her living nightmare as she fell through the earth itself. It was impossible to forget, just as it was impossible to forget the one thought she couldn’t pry her mind away from during her descent. 

I promised Chaewon that I would protect her...

Chaewon felt Hyejoo’s grip on their interlocked hands tighten slightly.

Knowing she would meet her end, it was the one thought which had consumed her breaking headspace without contest.

“What’s the one thought you figure would be most pressing to you above all else?”

...and I promised you that I would live, so…

“...I don’t want to die, Mother.”

Hyejoo’s eyes were downcast as Hyuna slowly nodded, resuming her patrol of the room while the others remained silent with their focus upon the girl of darkness. “You got it. Well, not the part about Mom usually, but directing that wish for survival towards someone can happen. Mom, Dad, your dog, your imaginary friend, your of an estranged cousin who thinks your career was a waste of time even though he hasn’t contributed nearly as much to society as you have. Yeah, any of those.” 

Though she was following along with the lesson just fine, Hyejoo was quickly coming to understand that Grandmaster Hyuna was, without question, the most eccentric person she had ever met.

“So!”

A sudden noise echoed throughout the room. It was Hyuna, clapping her hands with enough force to stir everyone but Sooyoung and Sunmi. “Absolution, fight-or-flight responses, adrenaline rushes, and levels of stress like you couldn’t believe. How’s it all tied together, then? As I said, that’s all only part of Absolution. So, the question is, what exactly is Absolution?”

Hyuna came to a stop once again, this time closer to Sooyoung. With both of them looking at Hyejoo head on, Hyuna shared in Sooyoung’s solemn countenance as her expression fell. 

The vertically layered effect containers around the swordswoman were now spinning with great haste. Through the same motions as before, Hyejoo witnessed for the first time the same spectacle Yeojin and Yerim had not even an hour prior.

Cyan light gathered around Sooyoung’s greatsword. Her odd eye emitted a burst of light in unison with her weapon, and when it subsided, Hyejoo was staring into a scintillating sea of effulgent sky blue that had devoured Sooyoung’s eye.

The circles around Sooyoung came to a stop, and with a hefty inhale from her, they dissipated into nothing as she took in the abundance of her mana with one swelling breath. 

With Hyejoo’s eyes lost between Sooyoung’s flooded hue and the slight but noticeable alterations to her sword, Hyuna made her point.

“The single thought you have at the peak of your unbridled stress—when your emotions are severely compromised, when you’re seconds from death, when someone you care about is in danger...the single thought that swallows your mind whole during such a crisis is the foundation for an Absolution. With the foundation set, transference of consciousness follows.”

Hyejoo quietly tracked Hyuna as she resumed her walk around the room. Cogs were beginning to turn in her head. “So this transference...that’s what Absolution actually is?”

“Precisely,” Hyuna confirmed. “That specific phenomenon is the definition of Absolution—an automatic, involuntary transference of consciousness which sees your subconscious seizing control of your body. In essence, you swap places with it. As you blackout with your consciousness going under, your subconscious takes charge, and that, Hyejoo...that’s where the problems start. 

“Recall when I said Absolution was a blessing and a curse. If your enhanced physical capabilities are the blessing, then everything that follows is the curse. Or, curses, I should say,” a now thoroughly somber Hyuna said with a candid grimace. “There’s way more bad than good here, and leaving a subconscious you have no influence over in control of your body is just the beginning of it.”

Pocketing her hands, Hyuna paused for a breath as she gathered her thoughts. “Of all the negatives, two stand out. The first is the single thought your mind is stuck on when Absolution occurs. Referred to as a trigger, it becomes the sole motivation your subconscious acts upon. Everything it does will be in tireless pursuit of that thought, desire, or goal. Your subconscious will breathe, eat, and sleep your trigger, and it won’t stop until it either accomplishes it or dies trying.

“That final part being especially pertinent, unfortunately,” Hyuna regretfully emphasized. “See, here’s the thing about consciousness: our perception of pain is linked to it. If you don’t see an injury or feel its effects, then everything’s fine, right? Nothing hurts. Realize it’s there, though, and suddenly—ouch. Pain only registers when we’re consciously aware of the damage. Now, pain is a good thing. It lets us know something’s wrong, that we’re in trouble. So, with the part of us that enables that slumbering away peacefully…”

“Our subconscious can’t feel any pain,” Hyejoo surmised, eliciting a nod from Hyuna. “If it doesn’t stop until it accomplishes its goal, and if pain can’t stop it, then…”

“It may very well die trying, and it’ll take you with it. Not that you’d ever know, what with your consciousness taking a nap. If nothing else, at least it’d be the most painless death possible.”

Hyuna let her words hang in the air for a moment. The weight of her statement was absorbed in full, acting as a potent reminder for even those who were already well aware of her ongoing lesson. It was a point which struck Jungeun harder than anyone else, the spearwoman’s eyes falling furthest.

“So that’s our second hugely horribly hazardous point regarding Absolution: pain immunity. Your subconscious could get your arm cut off, and it’d just keep on going,” Hyuna summarized. “All it cares about is the trigger, and it’ll see it done even if it kills itself. Talk about a commitment...so, how could it get any worse?”

Turning to Sooyoung, Hyuna gave the swordswoman the gift of a smile. “Sooyoung, could you hold your breath for me?”

Absent of both enthusiasm and complaint, Sooyoung brought a halt to her breathing. Hyuna kept her focus on her, rhythmically tilting her head side to side at regular intervals. “With her rank of Master and her secondary elements leveled as they are, Sooyoung should be cycling through them at a fair speed. As per her clockwise bias, she’s converted into light...fire...earth...and she’ll be at electricity if she stops now.”

In time with Hyuna’s instructions, Sooyoung exhaled silently through her nose. The Grandmaster’s gaze shot to Hyejoo just in time to see the birth of confusion on the girl’s face as she stared at it. 

A widespread blanket of cyan dust was covering the room. Floating at level with everyone’s waists and Hyejoo’s bed, it was thick enough to conceal their lower bodies. Chaewon shifted her position on her chair next to Hyejoo, sitting on her knees and granting herself some extra height so as to not become almost fully submerged in it.

“What happened to your conversion?” Hyejoo asked Sooyoung slowly, befuddled by the swarm of her senior’s essence. “And why is there such an extreme amount of it? You could practically swim in this stuff...is this really normal for an Absolution?”

“The next curse—manastream lockdown.”

Hyejoo was stuck staring at Hyuna’s invisible lower half as she continued her leisurely pace around the room. Hidden from sight, only the distinct click of her heels were audible. 

“During an Absolution, a magus loses the ability to convert mana,” Hyuna disclosed. “Each stop along the elemental wheel, each tick of conversion, instead functions as a multiplication factor of sorts. All access to secondary elements is essentially traded for the capability to exponentially produce sometimes unfathomable amounts of mana, and that is not explicitly a good thing.”

Hyejoo’s teammates had images of Olivia’s stories-high runic circle resurface in their mind through Hyuna’s lecture. “The benefits provided by elemental coverage in a life or death situation are self-explanatory, so what’s lost there is obvious. The key point here is the excess mana usage. Even outside of this multiplication factor, you naturally produce more mana than you breathe in during Absolution. That, in turn—”

“Mana deprivation,” Hyejoo deduced, easily coming to the conclusion herself. “Produce and use more than you’re taking in and your body can’t keep up. You run the manastream dry and suffer mana deprivation, resulting in fatigue and risking loss of consciousness.”

A surprised smile spread across Hyuna’s face. Fascinated, she raised her eyebrows and nodded. “Color me impressed! Well studied, Hyejoo. Much more so than most Sixth Class Minor Arcanists...or Neophyte magi, whichever term you prefer.

“So, your subconscious has taken over. It’s only got one thing on its mind, an  insatiable urge to accomplish it, a dangerous amount of mana at its disposal to do so, and a complete immunity to pain,” Hyuna brought everything together piece by piece. “It won’t know when to stop, and even if it did, it wouldn’t. Either the single thought comes to fruition, it passes out from mana deprivation, or it kills you. Normally, I’d say one out of three isn’t so bad, but in this case…”

Her voice trailing off, Hyuna sighed. She caught sight of her own feet again as Sooyoung’s dust began to fade into nothing, her point made. “It’s not all bad, though. Suffering through an Absolution and coming out alive gives you something especially useful—the potential to replicate it on command.

“I’m sure you’ve noticed how despite all this talk of subconscious takeover, Sooyoung is, well...decisively conscious,” Hyuna mentioned. As she deliberated on the oddity, Hyejoo’s eyes were drawn to the swordswoman’s submerged eye once again.

“You see, Absolution is divided into tiers. Everything we’ve discussed so far involving an involuntary transference of consciousness has been in relation to a first stage Absolution. Sooyoung, however, is showcasing the manually activated third stage, in which one retains their consciousness. With your sense of self no longer forfeited, you remain in control, effectively allowing you to make use of an on-demand adrenaline rush.”

“Another big use, however, is the forced cleansing of the manastream. When an Absolution is triggered and manastream lockdown occurs, any present corruption is flushed out. Since you’ve already been on a mission, you can see why this would be useful, don’t you?” Hyuna poked Hyejoo’s brain with a question, bringing a look of contemplation to her face.

“Enmity control,” Hyejoo realized, her eyes shifting between Jungeun and Sooyoung. “When you guys tank and pull a fiend’s aggro, you’re absorbing some of their tainted mana...if you lost enmity for any reason and still had too much of their corruption inside you to safely re-establish it, you could go Absolute. It’d be a clean slate.”

“Bingo!” Hyuna sounded off, giving Hyejoo a short series of claps. “It’s a good tool to use in an emergency like that. Still, it carries the same stipulations as the first stage. You’re turning yourself into a ticking time bomb of unavoidable mana deprivation with only your born element on hand. Worst case, you’re looking at the resulting strain and fatigue requiring days of recovery, not to mention the burden of triggering it in the first place. In short, it’s not an instant win button. Far from it, honestly.

“Aside from that, there’s not much more to it,” Hyuna said with a small shrug. “I suppose there’s the point of weapon evolution, but that’s a trickier case by case basis. Some magi see their weapons upgraded during an Absolution. Others see an entirely new weapon manifest, which tends to be more useful as they can call upon them freely afterwards. New toys are pretty fun, right?

Remembering something, Hyuna brought it forward with a vague complexion composed of mixed emotions. “Ah, there is also the case of Absolution potentially altering your born element and directional bias. Though it’s exceedingly rare with very few recorded cases, a first stage incident can potentially see a magus’ natural alignment completely change. Highly unlikely, but a good thing to keep in mind.”

As Hyuna’s speech came to a stop, Hyejoo felt something out of place. “Uh...you said there were tiers, right? What about the one in the middle?”

“Hm? What do you mean?”

“The second stage…? If there’s a first and a third, what about the second?”

“Oh! Wow, I forgot to talk about that, didn’t I? Must’ve slipped my mind,” Hyuna mused, pouting as she realized it. “As the only purpose it serves is to unlock the third stage, there’s honestly not much to be said about it. Suffice it to say, the second stage is the awkward middle child in the family, literally and figuratively speaking.”

Jungeun sighed to herself as Hyuna continued. She let her eyes wander the room aimlessly with her arms crossed in annoyance, a motion Sooyoung watched carefully. 

“A second stage Absolution isn’t anything more than the previous, barring its activation,” Hyuna began, her enthusiasm steadily dropping with every word. “After experiencing the first stage, it becomes possible to manually induce the second. It requires some serious meditative focus starting out, though. You’ll also still be going under for a nap, so you better trust your subconscious.

“Now, repeated activations of the second stage will eventually bring out the third. With control over your trigger, you just make it a simple thought. ‘Take a step forward,’ ‘raise my hands,’ or something else quick and easy that your subconscious can’t possibly screw up,” Hyuna said, her interest now thoroughly waned. “There’s no telling when the third stage will finally kick in. Just takes time, perseverance, a lot of painkillers, and some luck. Sadly, it has no real use in battle…”

Curiously, Hyuna’s attention settled on Jungeun. Tilting her head, she tapped her chin as the two women of fire addressed each other with matched hues of vermilion.

“...not unless something so unacceptable would happen that even potential suicide couldn’t stop you from trying to prevent it, I guess.”

Her attention grasped by her longtime guardian’s rising state of visible tension, Jiwoo began to take notice of Jungeun’s off-center disposition herself. Hyuna shook her head with a disappointed sigh as Jungeun failed to acknowledge the statement. “Alright, sure. Don’t tell them about it. Unnecessary, is it? So let’s just keep more secrets. Seems to be a way of life here, so why not? Moving on, then.”

Sarcastic thought it was, Hyuna’s overt comment filled Haseul, Sooyoung, and Jiwoo with uncertain discomfiture. They weren’t allowed a chance to process it for long before she continued, the Grandmaster’s focus returning to Hyejoo as she approached her. “Okay! I’m finally done. Talk about an infodump, huh? Hope our viewers didn’t fall asleep in the middle of it. Anyway, your turn now. Out with it, sweetie.”

Hyejoo blinked. “What…?”

“Lesson’s over. Congrats! Your primer on Absolution is done,” Hyuna stated matter-of-factly. “Now that you know about it, you can tell me what your trigger was. If I’m gonna make any sense of your other self, I need to know what final thought took hold of your mind.”

“I already told you what it was.”

Hyuna fell silent as Hyejoo answered without hesitation. The girl of darkness was peacefully composed, as if she had just gained some level of understanding she was missing herself. 

“There’s only ever been one time in my life where I’ve gone through something that fits what you described—danger, stress, and all. The thought that I ended up focusing on during that time...I already told you what it was.”

Rumination eclipsed Hyuna’s hues. “Then it was…”

“I don’t want to die, Mother.”

Hyuna grimaced in dissatisfaction as Hyejoo repeated herself. “No, that couldn’t have been it. A trigger that basic wouldn’t create a recurring personality. That simply doesn’t explain Olivia, nor does it explain her apparent connection to your corruption. There must have been more to it. I need to know exactly what happened to you.”

Momentarily, Hyejoo’s gaze shifted to the Archmagus standing behind Hyuna. Given a silent nod by Sunmi, Hyejoo shared with Hyuna the fact that had been kept from her.

“I was thrown into a corrupted manachasm.”

All semblance of thought in Hyuna’s mind crashed at once.

“I was falling, and I knew I was gonna die, and that’s...that’s the last thing I remember thinking,” Hyejoo revealed to the Grandmaster. Hyuna remained silent, taking in the sight of Hyejoo keeping herself steady through mediated breaths and the feelings of safety granted to her through Chaewon placing her free hand atop their interlocked fingers. “Everything else is like I told you when we first talked, which was everything I told them.”

Quietude.

Through Hyuna’s lack of response, it enveloped the room in full. The Grandmaster appeared to be going through several revelations in her head at once as her mind resumed, no single emotion to be clearly read from her face aside from flabbergasted surprise. She restarted a slow pace around the room, staying speechless as she absorbed the information.

“Grandmaster Hyuna—”

“Yes, you can cancel your Absolution, but don’t say another word,” Hyuna sharply snapped at Sooyoung. Her tone was uncharacteristically ruthless as she presented a raised index finger to her. “I’m thinking. Everyone in this room knows that nobody talks when I’m thinking.”

Her desires read, Sooyoung sighed with an irritated shake of her head. 

The temperature coming from her every breath and from her frame returned to normal as her odd eye and weapon reverted to their bases. A sharp discomfort ran through Sooyoung’s body—it was the sudden spread of fatigue coupled with widespread aches and pains which she fully expected after triggering an Absolution, especially a consecutive one so soon after her previous.

“A corrupted manachasm...to fall into one, surrounded by that much tainted mana and breathing it in the whole way down…”

The group was offered only samples of Hyuna’s working theories as she thought aloud to herself while pacing about the room. Between the ading silence around them and her mutterings, each click of her heels was loud and clear.

“But the implications of it...if that were true, then it’d mean…”

Through the tension of the ongoing mystery, Kahei found Haseul looking at her with a strangely placed smile. Mouthing something to her, Haseul brought a mirrored grin to her sister’s face alongside warm memories of their past apprenticeship under the focused scientist circling the area.

Just like old times.

“Alright. It’s making some degree of sense now. Gonna have to ask you something first, though.”

Back in full force, Hyuna’s voice commanded attention as she looked to Hyejoo. “This detail—you being tossed into a poisoned manapool—you already told them this, didn’t you?”

Hyejoo’s chest tightened with anxiety.

“You must’ve. I mean...no one else reacted,” Hyuna assumed with an indisputable observation. “Someone tells you they were thrown into a bottomless pit, you’re going to react. Unless, of course, it’s not the first time you’re hearing it. So, you told them when they rescued you. They bring you back, you tell Sunmi. Sunmi brings you to me...and you don’t tell me? Weird. Very weird.”

Folding her hands over her waist, Hyuna tilted her head with a pensive stare into Hyejoo’s aversive eyes. “Why would you not tell me something like that? Had I known that, I could have figured this out ages ago. Though, in reality, I shouldn’t even be stressing you with this question. The person I should be asking is someone who’s probably going to answer with something like—”

“I instructed Hyejoo not to tell you about this detail.”

“Yep. There it is,” Hyuna followed up Sunmi’s voice in defeat. Aside from Hyejoo and Sooyoung, looks of due bewilderment were set upon the Archmagus by the group. Posing another question that she was predicting an answer to, Hyuna spoke up. “Okay. Why keep this from me?”

“I would be happy to share that information when the time is right,” Sunmi answered with the tiniest smile possible. Her ominous vagueness doing little more than spreading unrest, Hyuna’s fingers returned to her temples. “Until then, I only ask that you take my word for it when I say that it was for a good reason.”

Feeling attention of a different nature upon her, Sunmi shifted her view to Sooyoung. Unamused, the swordswoman rolled her eyes before looking away.

“Why are all of you like this?” Hyuna whined. “You, Archmagus Taeyeon, Archmagus Boa...why does every single magus aligned to space-time only ever speak in rhymes and riddles? Is it that difficult to just give someone a straight answer for once, especially in regards to a sensitive topic like this? How exhausting…”

Recollecting herself, Hyuna returned her sights to Hyejoo. “Okay, whatever. Cryptic promises aside, it’s time to bring this overly drawn out meeting to its biggest overdue point. I believe I’ve got a pretty good idea of what’s going on. Since we’ve never seen anything like this before, it’s an opinion, but it’s my opinion, so it’s the best thing we’ve got by a long shot. Listen up.”

Getting up close and personal, Hyuna approached Hyejoo’s bed and seated herself on its side close to Chaewon. Placing a hand atop Hyejoo’s covered knee, the Grandmaster spoke with still serenity born from long-awaited comprehension.

“I think you did, in fact, experience a first stage Absolution while you were falling, Hyejoo. However, a trigger as simple and basic as yours wouldn’t result in something like Olivia, nor would it keep her coming back. Things start to line up, however, when you consider what happens when you breathe in someone else’s mana.”

“Breathe in someone else’s mana...?” Hyejoo mirrored, finding the notion especially puzzling. “Why would anyone do that?”

“They wouldn’t, as they shouldn’t. Not on purpose, anyway,” Hyuna answered. “Aside from some health concerns, weird stuff happens when you breathe in another person’s mana. Weird stuff that I know for a fact you’ve probably already experienced. You didn’t share it with anyone, though. Not that I blame you. Might’ve been worried you’d sound crazy, I’m sure.”

Hyejoo felt uneasy as Hyuna leaned in closer to her. The Grandmaster exhaled silently, birthing a minuscule pocket of her crimson dust in front of Hyejoo. With an expectant look in her eyes, Hyuna nodded. “It’s going to hurt a little bit, but an amount this small won’t cost any lasting damage. More importantly, it’ll answer some questions I’m sure you’ve had for a while now.”

Rife with hesitation, Hyejoo looked around the room. With the exception of Sunmi, steadily rising expressions marking sudden epiphanies were beginning to spread around the group. Haseul and Kahei in specific had their hues shimmer with contained scientific excitement, though Haseul couldn’t hold herself back for long. “How did I not even consider this…? It’s—”

“No spoilers, Haseul,” Hyuna interjected the eager researcher, eyes still locked on Hyejoo. “Go on, Hyejoo. Breathe it in.”

Doing her best to dispel her consternation, Hyejoo steeled herself as she leaned in towards Hyuna’s mana. With a steady inhale through her nostrils, she took in the Grandmaster’s dust and experienced it all over again.

Jo Haseul, Wong Kahei...Fourth Class Median Arcanists. Sisters, huh?

External thoughts began to occupy her mind.

Well, I don’t get many who come to me for an apprenticeship...

Memories that weren’t her own. Feelings that weren’t her own. Regrets that weren’t her own.

...and those that do, I usually turn down. But you two...hm.

With the outside presence attempting to claim her headspace as their own, minor anguish was beginning to take hold over Hyejoo. Though the sensation was all too similar, there was a clear difference this time. Unlike before, it wasn’t a tangled mess of voices assaulting her mental privacy.

Dunno why, but I’ve got a good feeling about you two. Might work.

It was a single voice, a single presence. Easy to distinguish, she was able to hear it clearly. Its invasion didn’t last long—it was only a few more moments before it began to fade, and with it, so too did the light headache that accompanied it. 

Alright. Welcome to the International Arcane Arts Research Commission.

Only one rule when you work under me. Real simple, I promise.

The exterior incursion reached a conclusion with one last thought. Hyejoo took a slow breath as it came and went, reclaiming the peace and quiet of her mind.

Don’t talk when I’m thinking.

“So? Did peeking into my little world remind you of anything?” Hyuna asked upon the return of Hyejoo’s state of calm. “I wonder what kind of memory it was...I almost want to ask, but let’s keep it a secret. More fun that way.”

“I don’t...I don’t understand,” Hyejoo replied slowly, visibly confused and mentally displaced. “All the voices I heard in my head while I was falling, all of their emotions...are you saying they came from the mana I was breathing in?”

“That’s right. When you breathe in someone’s mana, you’ll experience their thoughts, their feelings, their memories...it’s pretty surreal stuff, honestly,” Hyuna divulged, “but I couldn’t tell you exactly why it happens. Not yet, at least. It’s the topic of a lot of ongoing study. The most popular theory is that mana is, in some form, consciousness itself. Could be possible since part of the manastream encompasses the brain, but we’re still working on that one.

“Regardless, when you consider what manachasms and leylines actually are, even more things begin to click,” Hyuna shared, standing up from the bed as she resumed.  “See, the mana you find in them isn’t all naturally occurring. Our mana’s mixed in with it. Anyone who’s ever even so much as breathed near one has, inadvertently, become part of it. From there, given how leylines travel across universes and cross with each other between realities, getting mixed up in manachasms before going back out again...who knows where their thoughts will end up?”

Hyejoo processed the information quietly for a moment. “If that’s the case, then...leylines and manachasms are just endless pools of stray consciousnesses from across the multiverse, aren’t they?”

“If the aforementioned theory is to be believed, yes,” Hyuna tentatively agreed. “We’ll have to assume it’s correct for now and use it as the basis for our hypothesis. Not only is it the cleanest answer we have for your situation, it also leads to all of this making a scary amount of sense.

“So what we know is that you were forced to invite a storm of rogue consciousnesses into your head. All the while, stressed and facing impending death, your mind focused on a single thought,” Hyuna broke her thoughts down. “With your status as a magus, it culminated in an Absolution, which put your consciousness under and brought your subconscious forth.”

The Grandmaster showed a smile as she paused. Looking to Haseul, she gestured towards her with a wave of her hand. “Alright, Haseul. If you’d like the honors, it’s time for spoilers. Let’s see if you’ve reached the same conclusion.”

“Huh? Ah, um...understood, Grandmaster Hyuna,” Haseul briefly stammered before giving Hyuna a slight bow. With erudite eyes on Hyejoo, she stepped forward. Her words were concise and clear as she spoke anew, presented with a masterful level of formal clarity that made the weight behind them easily apparent.

“Hyejoo, I believe we had things backwards,” Haseul started calmly. “Up until now, we were working under the presumption that Olivia was the byproduct of your trauma, the result of some possible form of dissociative identity disorder stemming from your near death experience. However, it wasn’t that your personality had been split in two. I don’t believe Olivia originates from any part of you. It’s more accurate to say that…hm...”

Haseul paused, nodding to herself as she ran through the idea in her mind for a third time. “Yes, I’m sure of it. Though this is a preliminary assumption based solely upon the still incomplete theory that mana is a form of consciousness, it simply makes far more sense than anything we’ve considered thus far. That being said…”

Through the conclusion of Haseul’s hypothesis, Hyuna was equipped with a smile. Contrary to the Grandmaster’s satisfaction gained through newly discovered understanding, Hyejoo struggled to believe what she was hearing.

“Hyejoo, amongst all of the fragments of consciousness you unknowingly hosted during your descent, Olivia was the most accounted for when your trigger activated,” Haseul explained. “At the exact moment of the transference of consciousness, you and Olivia were equally present. You went under and your subconscious came forward, but Olivia remained.”

Hyejoo was now the only one in the room with discernible confusion marking her face.

The girl of darkness shook her head slowly. A disgustingly uncomfortable creeping sensation was crawling up her spine. “I’m sorry, but I don’t understand. What exactly are you saying…?”

“What I’m saying, Hyejoo, is that your original subconscious no longer exists,” Haseul clarified. “I believe it was...overwritten, so to speak, supplanted by Olivia’s presence during the transfer. Alternatively, it could be that your subconscious assimilated her as part of itself, giving her control of it. Regardless of the specifics, Olivia is not a split personality of any sort. Rather...”

Slow and measured though Haseul’s answer was, each and every syllable still managed to gradually intensify Hyejoo’s growing discomfort. An unprecedented reality was being set into place, and the girl of darkness wasn’t entirely sure how to process it.

“...Olivia is an entirely independent consciousness driven by a compulsive need for survival as per your Absolution’s trigger, and she has assumed the role of your subconscious. That is to say...Olivia is your subconscious.”