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AriaKent

An announcement today, my fellow brethrens!

 

BleekFutar

what is it

 

BleekFutar

What is it?

 

AriaKent

We have ourselves a new member today!

 

Chasenggam

What
 

Chasenggam

That's not an announcement

 

Sweetlove10

Hello! Glad to join here

 

BleekFutar

Hm

 

Chasenggam

Lol

 

BleekFutar

By the way.

 

BleekFutar

Don't you realize that Irene Bae has become more beautiful day after day?

 

Draeyconia

:(

it's a sin to talk about her that way!

 

BleekFutar

what the hell are you talking about

 

BleekFutar

I thought this a protection forum for our majesty, the queen Irene Bae Joohyun!

 

AriaKent

Will you keep your voice down! Let's just let everyone know at this point! Sure! we are her knight, her protector!

 

Chassenggam

Yes

 

Draeyconia

Yes!

 

BleekFutar

Okay, I get it!

by the way do yall want to know what I have found out?

I finally manage to break into Lee's Manor secret files!

 

Chassenggam

Wow 

for real for real?

What the hell show it rn!

 

SweetLove10

lol why not

 

BleekFutar

 

AriaKent

what is this?

 

BleekFutar

it's the only picture I manage to snatch from there!

 

Chassenggam

Let me search that out

 

Sweetlove10

I know

it's a tree of life...

 

AriaKent

source pls

 

Sweetlove10

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_of_life_(Kabbalah)

 

Sweetlove10

those who can find this will have their wish granted

 

BleekFutar

please

be 

more 

specific

about that

 

BleekFutar

idk! I can get nothing else besides this one!

 

 

AriaKent

what

 

Draeyconia

what do 

 

Sweetlove10

the one I found is from Kabbah

you can see there's a Pic of bird and snake holding it together

but from what @BleekFutar sent...

 

AriaKent

... the bird's missing?

what does this have anything to do with our queen majesty?

 

BleekFutar

it is? it must be related. everyone knows how she doesn't look good lately.

 

Chassenggam

we should investigate this further

 

Draeyconia

Let's just start now!

 

[STATIC NOISE]

 

Baechu has joined the chat.

 

AriaKent

??

 

BleekFutar

?? O.O

 

Baechu

Good morning :) 
 

 

Chassenggam

??

Kick him!

 

AriaKent

I've tried! I refreshed so many times!

 

BleekFutar

who the hell are you?

 

Baechu

who are you guys?

 

AriaKent

this is Bae Joohyun's fanclub!

 

Baechu

you mean a bunch of stalkers?

 

BleekFutar 

someone burn this bloke!

 

AriaKent

I can't weed him out!

 

Chassenggam

don't reply here you dimwit!

 

Baechu

let me stay or I will let all your mothers find out that all of you high schoolers are harassing me virtually on daily basis, producing unsolicited pics of me online!

 

Chassenggam

what are you talking about!

 

Baechu

or we can just have your computer crashed to dust? then so be it.

3

2

 

AriaKent

wait!

I can't track this creep!

what do you want??

 

Baechu

:)

now we're talking

give me everything you can find out about the picture you stole from me

 

 

AriaKent

ugh…

 

 

Baechu

while you're at it…

does any of you happen to know

 

on how one can trade souls?

 

--

 

Present day

 

"Byulyi!"

 

The tourists were scattering from all directions, catching their loved ones and fleeing from the place as the white monkey jumped into the burning flames. Within the stampede Moon Byulyi is the only one standing, her purple hair stands out and the only thing Irene can see is her back, focusing her sole attention to the fire. Irene was about to call again before she was pulled to the back.

 

"Agashi, we have to go now!"

 

--

 

In the limousine driven away from the scene, Irene cannot dispel the growing curiosity. With that, agitation. "Miss Moon told us to leave her. There's something she should take care of."

 

what kind of matter can hold that kind of urgency? 

 

Irene has to admit that there's almost nothing clear about their agreement. No one is willing to share what's on their mind. Poor communication on each part. Irene can only guess that this has everything to do with her nature as a wishgranter but…

"Turn back."

the guard in black glasses gave her a look.

"I said, turn back."

 

--

 

With strings of testimonies from the dancers at the scene, they managed to bring up some details.

"Perempuan berambut ungu itu melompat ke dalam kobaran api dan menyelamatkan teman kita sebelum luka bakarnya menjadi lebih parah (the woman with purple hair pulled our friend out of the fire before his wound became graver)."

Irene perked her ears to the interpreter's explanation. 

"Do you know where did she go after that?"

"After the white monkey dancer was taken by the ambulance, she disappeared before we could thank her."

"That's--" Irene pinched the bridge of her nose. "Does anyone at least know the direction?"

The old man asked the dancers who were both nodding and shaking their heads at the same time, conjoining their testimonies until one of them raised his arm to the air. As eyes pointed to him, he changed his trajectory to the tall bushes on the other side of the railings.

 

"She ran to the woods."

 

--

 

"I am tied to your daughter. I cannot grant anymore wishes."

Lee Sooman gave him the look with a faint hint of solemn. He put in the highball glass until it touched the tray.

 

Moon Byulyi forces her steps into the woods, farther and farther. Glowing eyes of monkeys hidden in trees and bushes watching her every move, following her figure every step of the way. Eyes shaking and slight growls can be heard everytime Byulyi challenge a look back. A growl to encounter any threat. The image of the dancer that she pull out of the fire, transported right into the ambulance, the sheer terror in his orbs everytime their eyes fell into contact, it flashed back and seared into the back of her brain.

 

"Then please tie a promise to me." Lee Sooman tilted to the window. "A father's will for her child is always a stronger force to be reckon of."

 

"Even from the one that abandoned his daughter?"

 

Lee Sooman gives a rounded sigh at the jab. For once, he looked nothing like the patriarch of the most renowned corporation or one percent of the society that he is. Byulyi recognizes the feeble gesture and the weight of the mind that has dragged him all along. Sooman reached into the depths of his pocket blazer and fished out a crumpled photograph for Byulyi to scrutinize on.

 

A lady with a small smile that does a bad job in hiding the grace etched in the crevices of her expression. The pastel dress stood out within a blurred color as she looked into the camera without much reservation. What caught Byulyi's attention is the child that sat on her lap. She adorned a smaller smile and gestures that were more subdued compared to her mother's, but the regality is undeniable.

 

"That's Irene's mother."

 

Goes without saying since the resemblance is uncanny. 

 

"You have to find out more about her standing in Irene's heart in order to understand her mind." The patriarch gulped down a big swig of whiskey. 

 

"She'll go somewhere that no one can reach. How does that have anything to do with you?" He bellowed. "What do you possess for her to desire your help so badly?"

 

--

 

What is reality?

 

And how does one tell it apart from mere appearance?

 

"Agashi. It's too dangerous." The guard exclaimed. "We sent the team to scour through the woods. It's not a big forest. We can find her in no time. I'm sure of it."

 

And yet, something tells Irene that this is not her sole intention. "Donghyuk. Does Byulyi said anything about coming back?"

 

"She didn't say much but she said it wouldn't take long for her to finish what should be finished." 

 

Whatever that means. "And she didn't tell you anything else?"

 

Donghyuk gave a negative affirmation. 

 

"I will go into the woods." Irene asserted, not caring about the pallid color in guards face. She knows he didn't deserve it, but Irene couldn't stop thinking about it. 

 

Even when she knows Byulyi is not human.

 

"Then let us come with you." Donghyuk clear his throat, yelled to the other guards near the premise. "At least two of us."

 

Irene couldn't see why not. "Fine, but when I tell you to stay back, you have to do what I say immediately."

 

--

 

The friction of cricket's legs creates loud, reverberating sounds that rung high in the woods. Beneath one of the trees, Byulyi cannot let the image of the dancer's scream out of her mind.

 

Djinn.

 

Is she? After all this time, she cannot get rid of her 'scent', once and for all? She steals a look at her hand, noticing the transparent quality that covers it, scales that stretch and start spreading. Another look at her reflection in a puddle nearby shows the gold curvature lines dancing in her right orb. She lets out a muffled cry and covers her face, her nails dug in and lines of red start to surface. It was the very time another hand pulled her away forcefully, stopping her from hurting herself further.

 

"Why are you doing this?"

 

Byulyi looked into Irene's eyes. No doubt the heiress has followed her into the woods. 

 

"What did you do to that white monkey dancer?"

 

"Is he safe?"

 

"He is."

 

Byulyi let out a hum without continuing further. Irene crunched her eyebrows in confusion. "What are you doing here?"

 

"I'm being followed."

 

Irene shook her head. "Donghyuk and others must have realized if it's so."

 

"That might be true, if what followed were ordinary bystanders."

 

The heiress took a look right and left, instructing her two guards in silence to look for anyone that might try to follow them, or even better, try to take them into custody. "It should be safe now. Donghyuk will find them for us-"

 

"You don't understand!"

 

Despite the high volume, Irene cannot help but notice the crack in her voice. "That time in the manor, you have realized that I'm not human, aren't you?"

 

Irene bit her lower lip, considering whether this is a piece of information that she can disclose freely. "I had a dream, at that time."

 

This seems to have caught Byulyi's interest. At least now the purple woman is looking right at her. Irene continued her words without tearing attention from Byul's palm that tucked in her pants. "I have to choose which door  I should enter. In one of them, there's you."

 

"I cannot see your face. I can only see your back, and your arm. It's--"

 

"Like this?"

 

Byulyi takes out her palm, showing a row of scales that shines purple-ish under the moonlight. The way it waved, stretched as Byulyi flexed is unreal. Irene becomes increasingly unsure of what is real anymore. With another hand Byulyi dig inside the front of Irene's shirt and fished out the golden button that had been fashioned into a necklace. Irene suppress a breath when she feels fingers grasping one by one to wrap around her neck in a clasp. From the corner of her eye, she recognized the purple patterns convulsing. "I can just rip this away from you and break your neck here and now for being such a liar."

With the growing fear, Irene balled up and touched  a finger onto her own hand. But at the same time her grip loosened. Byulyi pulls the button and presses into the surface. To Irene's surprise, another matter surfaced within a click.

"It's a tiger's eye." Byulyi points out. "The moment you locate me is the moment it activated after a long, deep slumber that my friend has fought so hard for. An infinitesimal amount of freedom."

"Your friend?"

"Who are you, really?" Byulyi tucks her shirt in and daring the woman to look into her right eye. 

"If I tell you who I am, can you tell me who you are as well?''

"That depends on your answer." Byulyi hissed. "I don't think you got the gravity of the situation you find yourself in, princess."

 

--

 

Bae Joohyun.

No one knows that while she is the apple of the eye of the public, she plays a role much more than that. 

"I'm the watcher of Lee Family."

"You what?"

Irene gave a small smile. "What did my father ranted before about continuing the business and everything? He's just scared that it will take me away from the company's duty." Irene slipped a hair behind her ear. "All that successes has nothing to do with it but the fact that we've been dealing with rich people's dirty secrets for the longest time. Every trouble that they encountered, down to the strangest request, we take it." She gazed upon the other woman, playing with the button in her hand. "Our first meeting in the past, just as you were doing your job, I was accompanying my mother doing one as well."

"Does that mean…"

"Yes." Irene put the button inside her shirt, clasping it for safekeep. "My mother was the watcher, the keeper of this family and the others before I take the rein."

A beat of silence was struck with cacophony of crickets colored into the night. But Byul has questions still. After all, she has given a piece of her to the heiress.

"What do you mean, to help you prepare to disappear?"

A smile lifted both corners of the heiress’s lips. 

"One secret traded for another." Irene said with a sly tone. "Your turn. Why do you need this button in the first place?"

Moon Byulyi does not know if telling this to someone else will do her any good. She picked up a twig nearby, broke in to two and started drawing a pattern on the soil. She purposely delayed her drawing with some curves, paying rapt attention to Irene's changing expression in her observation.

And a flash of recognition. 

"Wishgranter is not an accurate definition." Byulyi threw the twig to the side. "I was retrieved and given a home based on my roots." She drew a snake on the left side. "Another kid was taken in. Her name is Kisum." She drew a bird next to the snake. "We were both given tasks to ensure happiness to those who needed it."

"Long story short, Kisum wanted out."

Irene keeps her line of sight to the pattern, her mind concoct and calculate a number of possibilities.

"Later I found out that she did that because she can't stand seeing me changing. We've become even less human over time."

Byulyi drew a pattern under it, an emblem that Irene later recognized as a peacock.

"The moment you find me is the moment they will be tracking me. They are on us." Byulyi stands out and scoots closer. "What is your sister's signature?"

Irene remembered. 

"It's… peacock."

"Figures." Byulyi hummed, dismissing the other woman's agitated state. "It's a society that strives on the revolution of human kind and has been serving their ideals over time. They came to a halt when Kisum was gone. Without someone else to fill her place, it's going to be difficult to operate." 

Byulyi took a stand and reached out to touch Irene at her temple. It caused a flash and everything became a blur. It happened in an instant that Irene recoiled to the back, freeing herself from the touch. Byulyi's face remains unchanging.

"What do you see?"

"A peacock."

"What's in its mouth?"

Upon seeing Byulyi's hand she was hit with another realization.

"A snake." She mustered a louder voice. "She devoured a snake in its beak."

"Your sister." Byulyi ripped the hem off her shirt and wrapped it around her palm in a controlled movement. "She's one of them. That's why I asked you to give back that button before they find me." The premonition came true with the scream echoing deep down within every part of the woods, and a silence fall before a figure burst out with a battle cry. Byulyi raised the palm that she had been wrapping beforehand and smash it to his face, knocking him unconscious. "Byulyi!" Irene grabbed Byulyi's shirt as she stood behind her back. "What should we do? Who are they?"

"They will take me." The woman said nonchalantly. "And you have to run."

"But--"

"I'm the one that they're looking for. You're just collateral damage. Now." She turn and reach out a stretched palm. "Give back that button. That thing was never meant to be yours in the first place."

To her annoyance, Irene grasped the necklace even tighter.

"No."

Byulyi's eyes bulged until they almost fell out of her socket,

"I told you that you're the only one that can help me, right?" Irene took the scaled hand and it into her chest. "I'm coming with you."

Byulyi's expression twisted to a frown. "You little--"

Within seconds the figures in the black hood surround them in no time. Almost all of them take out a jade pot and open the lid, in which an aroma of incense starts wafting out. Before Irene had the chance to ask why they would even bother using aromatherapy, the next scene parched in her eyes were off the ground as Byulyi stood on her knees, tied up.

 

--

 

The heiress finds herself awakened to another door. Judging from the all-white surface around her, she must have landed herself in the dream again. She pushed the door by the handle and the ground beneath her open.

 

4th Floor - COMATOSE 

 

She was taken to the land colored in sepia. Everything looked out of place, as if she was transported to another land of time. Her internal questions were answered as she took a walk around and witnessed a huge building consisting of red bricks. The faint emblem of peacock sticks out in the middle. Right in front of the gate, two girls were playing with each other. One of them chased another until she bumped into Irene from the back.

"Oh I'm so sorry!" Irene kneels down and starts brushing off the hair with her fingers, carding the purple strands hidden beneath. "Are you okay?"

The girl, after shaking her head, gives her a toothy smile. "I'm fine!"

"Byul!"

Another girl, this time in brown, shorter hair, shouting from a distance. 

"Are you coming or not?!" She hollered. "It's almost time for ceremony! We don't want to be late!"

"I'm coming!" The girl dusted her shoulder and winked at Irene. "Thank you, pretty unnie!"

 

--

 

Another shot of the scene comes up almost instantly.

 

Now they were taken to a chapel. Between the pews, there are no witnesses as a figure in black hood stands between the same two children that Irene assumed as Byulyi and Kisum. Her countenance was betrayed in a matter of minutes when she had to bear witness to them strapped to the wooden table.

Another hooded man took out a heated steel tong with a stamp that reddened bright. Her mind connected the two with the realization that both girls were facing the desk, baring their back. The pair of tongs bearing different symbols were raised to the air in a solemn position, as if giving an offer to the gods.

"The birth of a bird and a snake, the guardian of The Tree of Life!" The bellowed voice grated in her ears. "Long live the immortality of kingmakers!"

Irene shut both her ears and her eyes as the agonizing cry of pain emerged in the chapel with the hissing of steel burning through flesh.

 

--

 

3rd Floor - STUPOROUS

 

Moon Byulyi cannot say that she's surprised to find herself in the land of sepia that they somehow always shoved her into. 

Another short walk and there's a glasshouse in front of her, near to the building she was familiar with. Now she's at Lee Manor. Judging from the presence of foreign things and old interiors, she was taken back to the past. It's just how they always operate things. 

The sound of the door clicked and in front of her is the woman with the same countenance that Lee Soo Man showed in that photograph. Her steps light, as light as her outerwear, and in her hand she grasps a child. A girl she recognized in an instant. The mini size of that heiress.

"Irene."

"Yes, mother?"

"There's a lot of things I want to do."

"Of course." Irene nodded. They have this same conversation over and over. But Irene never gets tired of it. As long as she gets to play with her mom. Mothers, in a sense, are the center of their daughter's world, as they were of their mother's.

"But I will not be able to do that with you."

"No." The timid exterior breaks out as Irene adopts a firm tone to the same conversation that repeated over and over. "You will be able to do it, mother. You deserve to have everything."

Her mother went soft and caressed her daughter's cheeks, demure and sweet.

"Maybe." She reiterated. "But not in this lifetime. Can you do me a favour, dear?" 

Although huffing and displeased, Irene will never hear a word her mother said.

"Can you live handsomely, for my part as well?"

Amidst the light of hesitation in her face, Irene nodded.

 

--

 

This is their modus operandi. Bringing people into the land of hallucinations within dreams, probing for information and leaving people half-mad to get their minds tampered with too much in the process. It's what breaks Kisum in the first place and what almost drove her to the same sunken place at first.

A Peninsula of Flaming Clouds. It's a society that strives on the balance of the world and giving people what they want at an equivalent price. Byulyi has no idea why these people switched her place with Irene and let her see the heiress' memories. In the meantime, Irene must have been witnessing hers as well.

She has to bear witness to every part of Irene's life: the funeral of her mother, Lee Soo-man treated her less than she deserved, the family strayed apart, Irene taking her mother's rein as the watcher of the Lee family, ensuring the family's strength for all this time. It is all consistent with what Irene disclosed to her so far.

"You have been getting what any woman in the world could ever possibly get. What else do you want to have, Irene-shi?" The presenter asked on TV from one of the shows she's in. 

Irene played with the microphone near the collar before whispering into it.

"The world is a clockwork universe."

The audience looked at each other and started whispering.

"I merely wish to put a halt to it and undo what has to be done."

Sensing the awkwardness in the air, the presenter quickly dissipated the strange atmosphere with a strained laugh. "W-well! Turning back time has always been an interesting concept to us! What do you want to change if given the chance, Irene-shi?"

Irene gave a smile while looking the other way.

"I will trade my soul to someone else, maybe?"

In the corner, Byulyi loses her countenance as forms a scowl.

 

--

 

2nd Floor - OBTUNDED

 

The scene of their first meeting rolled out in front of her and Irene was put into the stage of nostalgia. 

Byulyi was not who she is today: she exuded confidence, a little smooth and sly, but always charming and attentive in listening to what she had to say at that time. Irene cannot blame herself for falling just a little bit at that time! The next scene unfolding before her is what triggered the entire sequence of events. Byulyi made her exit swiftly and without her knowing, just like how she always remembered it. Is she uncovering her memories right now, or is it Byulyi's? Are they peeking into each other's past? Byulyi did say something before they were knocked unconscious. She fully known that they were being taken hostage at the time, and this is an attempt to probe into their shared information.

Still, being reminded that Byulyi was seeing all her memories at the same time brings forth the blush on her cheeks. But that will not take her mind away from the original goal.

 

--

 

"No one is saving us, Byulyi-ah. No one is granting our wish."

ed with the sight of death one after another, watching Byulyi losing her only friend makes Irene want to run to her and engulf her in a hug. Not that she can do it right now. No one should tamper with anyone's memories. It was before the ground cracked and swallowed her whole, transporting her to another dimension that she cannot make head and tails of.

 

--

 

BOCCA DELLA VERITA

 

Irene finds herself stepping up the winding stairs. The atmosphere and air around her was bleak, and she imagined a scenario of her being taken away to an endless flight of stairs to Hell.

At the very top, she encountered a marble sculpture of a mask. It stands with a stark resemblance to the sculpture of the 'mouth of truth' she ever visited in Santa Maria in Rome.

Put your hand inside.

Irene is almost sure that Byulyi is experiencing the same thing as well. As long as they keep their heads leveled and looking for clues, there must be some way they can escape from this fever dream.

What is your name?

Irene has a feeling that the mouth is not asking about her current name.

"Name?"

Names, words, all are defined by the idea it creates in your head. Humans' existence is out of definition. They were never created with morality in mind. Now, why do you sought the help of The Snake?

Images of Byulyi's scaled hand emerged from nowhere.

"She's the guardian of The Tree of Life and," Her voice muffled until it was silent. "She holds a key to afterlife inside her."

Bae Joohyun. Your wish is to replace your soul with your mother's inside you. Your wish is to for your soul to 'disappear' and let your mother take your place.

The tears welled up and her body is shaking at the possibility of being bared of her soul.

"There are a lot of universes, and they said God chose the best one, but He didn't choose the one with my mother in it." She turn to a snarl and defiant. "Her life ended just like that after giving everything she had to my father and the family. If she can live my life, then so be it!"

The Mouth of Truth grows ginormous and twisted in smoke as it is about to swallow Irene's hand.

Then it shall be done within the right price. Surrender your soul now!

A jolt of lightning traveled through her body before a fist smashed through the sculpture and grasped it to pieces. The same hand that took hers and pulled her forward.

"Byulyi!"

"So it takes the mouth of truth to finally get it out of your system." the woman sneered. "Come!"

 

--

 

Through another winding stairs they arrived at the Rim of the river. Irene can't believe her eyes upon seeing who's standing at the other part of the river.

"Mother…"

But she can't move. She looked at Byulyi in panic.

"I can only navigate through the afterlife."

"But you said you would grant any wishes!"

"But she didn't want your wish to be granted."

Madam Lee stands across and there's nothing else Irene wants more than to hug her and apologize for everything.

"My darling…" Her mother sported the same smile she has always remembered. "My pure, radiant daughter. You've grown up splendidly. But I'm satisfied with the life that I had."

"You're not." Irene choked in her own tears. "You overworked yourself and fell into an incurable sickness. I couldn't do anything for you at that time. The least that I can do is to return the favor."

"Irene." She sighed. "Mother's love is boundless and never meant to be compromised." 

"Mom…"

"You have made my life so worthwhile. One soul is enough in my lifetime. Now it's time to live yours. That woman…"

Within a flick of her fingers, she conjured an image of Byulyi crouched inside the cocoon. "She has experienced so many unspeakable things in her lifetime. If you can become her anchor as she is to you, there's nothing to worry about."

Irene taunted her brows. "Mom!"

"Now…"

Her mother flicked another ground beneath them.

"Wake up!"

 

--

 

Irene was the one who gained consciousness first. Her heart starts racing as she finds herself in the warehouse and she kicks the other woman beside her, whispering for her to wake up. Moon Byulyi finally pulls herself out of the long dream and kicks the jade pot from the hooded man's palm, crushing his hand with her scaly one.

"Let's get out of here!"

 

--

 

Recovering under the bus stop, they were disheveled early in the morning near the rice paddle. Irene has to ask this question.

"Are they the one that's been chasing you?"

"A Peninsula of Flaming Clouds." She exclaimed the name of the organization. "After years of mentoring under them, I managed to escape and stay low. There's no doubt that they will keep pursuing us, so." Byulyi reached out a hand. "The button. Give it back. I have to destroy it."

"No."

"What?!" Byulyi cursed. "You have your wish… granted!"

"Not necessarily. Besides, I have a new wish."

"That's not how it goes!" Byulyi grumbled.

"Oh shush."

Irene stands at the ball of her feet and plants a kiss on Byulyi's cheek.

"You will stay beside me and help me with everything. That's my wish!"

 

--

the ending is abrupt, but I'd rather leave it with a good feeling than just start to spiral down.

I leave the end to open interpretation because there's a possibility of the sequel focusing on their adventure together.

See you when I see you!

 

Sharine