XIII: Calando
Nocturne Academy
Yoseob watches the scene in front of him and Hin as if they are watching a movie. The scene where little Hin is playing with Joon, who doesn't look different at all with the present Joon, except his hair is longer.
Hin doesn't say a word. She looks at her little self having dinner with a man and a woman, which are her own parents because the little Hin keeps calling them as "Mom" and "Dad". Joon talks with her parents happily, cheering Hin with his jokes.
"Is that really you?" Yoseob whispers to Hin even though he knows that they can't hear his voice nor Hin's. They can even walk pass through his body because they don't exist in the past and they can't change the past either.
"Yes," Hin answers without changing her tone. It feels uncomfortable to look at your little self in front of you, laughing with the one who almost killed you from time to time.
"You know Joon since you're little?" Yoseob asks briefly. There are too much questions running in his head right now and he needs to get the answers from Hin.
"He is my childhood friend," Hin answers, shifting her look from Joon to Yoseob. "But I never knew that he is a vampire. He is the one who introduced me to Nocturne Academy because he knows that I have a passion for music."
The dinner scene quickly changes into a dark place. It's like a dungeon. Some torchs appear from nowhere, showing the stone wall around them and two figures are tied with chains to the stone wall.
Hin steps backwards. She knows what scene this is. Urd has shown her during her first visit to this maze and it is definitely the scene she hates. Hin can't believe Urd wants to show it to Yoseob.
"Urd," Hin mutters calmly under her breathe, trying to keep calm. "I know you can listen to me. Stop this non sense. I've seen it before. I've felt it before."
Before Yoseob can ask her about what she is talking to Urd, the sound of swinging whip catches his attention. The next second they can hear a woman is screaming of pain.
"No! No! Please stop!" Hin appears from the dark, running to approach the tall figure in front of the woman who is tied with the chain. She is older from the little Hin; maybe she is around fifteen years old. "Don't kill them, please. I'll do anything. Please. Don't kill Mom and Dad."
Yoseob gasps in shock. The persons who tied to the stone wall are Hin's parents. He tries to figure out who is the man behind the mask, the one who used the whip to torture her parents.
"Anything?" Joon's voice echoes in the dungeon. He appears behind Hin from the past. "Are you sure you will do anything, Hin?"
Hin clenches her fists. This is a part of her darkest past where she agreed to a negotiation with Joon. The negotiation to help her own parents from being tortured for eternity by the vampires.
"Your father killed my mother, you know. I don't understand why a vampire hunter needs to exist in this world. Why can't your father just let us be?" Joon chuckles with sarcasm. There is a hint of hatred in his words. "Look, I can stay as your childhood friend these years. I guess my mother's curse works well for him since he can't detect me as a vampire."
"Please, don't kill them...," Hin pleads. She is begging for his mercy. "I'll do anything. I promise."
Hin can't take it anymore. She doesn't want to see the continuation where Joon will drink her blood for the first time; her sin as vampire's prey started that night.
Hin takes her pendant and swings it, changing the form into the silver rapier. Yoseob is surprised by her sudden gesture. He can sense that Hin is losing her patience somehow.
As if Urd knows that she has gotten on Hin's nerve, the scene disappears. They are not in the dungeon anymore but they are back to the secretariat of NASCA.
"They're supposed to be here," Eunjung bites her bottom lip nervously, looking around. She looks through Yoseob and Hin and then turns to look at Mir. "Where are they?"
Yoseob understands that they can't see them. They are in the present. While they are actually at the maze, Verdandi sends them to see what is happening in the present time. But Yoseob doesn't understand why Verdandi needs to do this.
Hin knows. She knows the Norns well enough to find their reasons behind everything. She has met them four times and she doesn't understand why the Norns keep getting on her nerve.
Because Hin is interesting, they once said. Hin's past is hidden from everyone except representatives of NASCA themselves and Mr Song as the principal. Hin has dark past and she doesn't think she needs to share it with someone.
"We need to attend the party, you know," Junho waves the invitation letter in front of his face. It is an invitation letter from Mr Song to their group, the one they have read before Hin started to get weaker. "Mr Song will be really mad if we don't accept his invitation."
"Without Hin, Yoseob, and Gikwang?" Eunjung looks disappointed. She wants her team to attend the party altogether. "Can we try to find them first?"
"But there is no one here, Eunjung," Junho sighs. He rubs his head, "I think we must find the other representatives. Maybe they know where Hin is."
While they are leaving the room, Yoseob facepalms himself, remembering that there is a party for them to attend. It is a party held by Mr Song himself before the third test. The party will be held tonight at the academy auditorium.
"Mr Song does this on purpose," Hin speaks out with her extremely calm voice. "Don't worry. He is not going to expel you from not attending the party. I will talk to Mr Song after we get out from this maze."
Yoseob is going to reply Hin, telling her that he doesn't understand why Hin can keep this calm. They are trapped in the maze, shifting from past to present because of the Norns. Is there any possible way they can get out from this maze without any difficulties?
But the darkness falls again. They can't see each other. When the darkness disappears, it's not Hin who is standing in front of him, but it's Gikwang.
"What are you doing here?" Gikwang groans. His fangs are not hidden anymore. He has watched Hin's past as well by himself. He saw the whole scene including when Joon drank her blood for the first time, making a negotiation where Joon is free to drink her blood while he keeps her parents as prisoners in the dungeon.
And the negotiation keeps going on till this moment. The reason why Hin lets Joon to drink her blood. The reason why Hin agrees to be the President of NASCA when Joon was rejected because of his lust of blood.
"I should be the one who asked you the question," Yoseob sighs heavily, wondering where Hin is now. He hopes that Hin is safe no matter where she is. "Where are we?"
Yoseob looks around to find themselves are standing in the middle of the academy auditorium but there is no one except two of them there.
"Yang Yoseob. Lee Gikwang."
Both of them turn to see Hin is standing on the podium. The exact place where she introduced herself as President of NASCA during the opening ceremony. She has the silver rapier in her hand and she gives them cold eyes.
"Hin!" Yoseob smiles, feeling relieved that she is alright. He steps closer to the podium to approach Hin. "Since three of us have gathered, let's find a way to-"
Before he finished his words, the silver rapier has pierced his stomach. Hin stabs Yoseob with the sharp rapier, making him to gasp in pain.
"You know too much, Yang Yoseob," Hin whispers next to his ear. "I can't let NASCA to be threatened by your presence and knowledge. I must protect NASCA. No matter what."
Gikwang jumps in a flash, standing behind Hin. He tosses away the silver rapier to stop Hin from hurting Yoseob. He doesn't like Yoseob but he knows something is wrong about Hin.
Yoseob kneels down, pressing his wound with his hands. The blood keep dripping down endlessly, making Gikwang to control his lust hardly. Even though his blood is not as tempting as Hin's, Gikwang is still a vampire and such amount of blood distracts his attention.
"Lee Gikwang, a pure blood vampire," Hin turns to look at Gikwang. She traces his jawline with her fingers and then put her palm on his chest. "A vampire who doesn't have a heart."
Hin tiptoes and crashes her lips with Gikwang's. She pulls Gikwang closer to her, deepening the kiss between them. Gikwang responds to the kiss for seconds but his sense knocks him back to the reality.
Gikwang pushes Hin away, wiping his lips with the back of his hand, feeling disgusted by the kiss, "You're not real."
Yoseob frowns, trying to look at Hin and Gikwang carefully because his sight start to blur. The pain he is feeling is real. He is going to die slowly if no one help him.
He looks down to check his wound but then he suddenly realizes something; the red mark Hin made on his neck has disappeared. It's not supposed to disappear this quick.
Gikwang chokes Hin, lifting her from the floor with his power. Hin is gasping for air. But within ten seconds, Hin disappears into the thin air, leaving Yoseob without his wound and Gikwang increases his awareness.
"Looks like you two noticed," the real Hin approaches them. She appeared in the middle of the auditorium with her weapon. She returns the weapon into the pendant form, putting it back around her neck. "Skuld is having fun with you two."
"Do you mean what happened is the future?" Yoseob blurts out, feeling uneasy for seconds. He still can feel the illusional pain on his stomach. "You're going to kill me?"
Hin stops her step, looking at Yoseob and Gikwang in turn. Skuld doesn't hesitate to show the future that may happen to them.
Hin is given the glimpse of future where both Yoseob and Gikwang give NASCA representatives a threat. They want herself and Joon to let go of their positions because they have a secret negotiation of blood, an unhealthy relationship that may cause scandal between the students.
Hin realized that the white ribbon she put around her wrist wasn't there. That's the moment she knew that Skuld was having a part of this scene; she experienced it before. That's why she left a mark on Yoseob's neck so he would notice the illusion because he is only an ordinary human, just the way she is.
"The future is not something absolute," Hin speaks out under Yoseob's and Gikwang's stare. "Future is the only thing that can change. I don't have any plan to kill anyone, Yoseob."
Within seconds, they are standing in the middle of the empty field of the maze again. The Norns are giggling, glancing at Hin, Yoseob, and Gikwang with amusement.
"You made it again, Hin," Verdandi smiles with satisfied look. "It's good to know three of you pass without any difficulties. Joon and Jieun passed the Sphinx too, you know."
"We need to return to the academy," Hin looks straight to Verdandi. "You have the power to do that. I'm sure Joon asked Sphinx the same request."
The Norns don't say a word. They glance at each other in silence.
"Your future is falling, Ryu Hin," Verdandi mutters with serious expression. "You need to realize it soon..."
The Norns stand in a line and whisper the spell to return them to the academy building with their power.
"...or else."
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Glossary #13
Calando: falling away or lowering
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