BA3 - Chapter 20

“Well, are you going to come in?” Dokun asked again when none of us moved.

The warm invitation sent chills across my arms and up to my neck. My heartbeat thudded in my throat and I swallowed back sickness. If he were anywhere near Ena’s level of munje mastery, he could have us all on the ground in seconds, but something told me he was well beyond that.

The other students moved forward with tentative reverence, bowing as they entered. Those who had gone in “oohed” and “aahed” with delight as Hana, Cho, Yuri, and I lingered. We couldn’t act rashly and incite a war—but if we did nothing and walked willingly into Dokun’s trap…

“Are there a few stragglers? Don’t be shy,” Dokun said and the Enjiho behind us urged us forward, corralling us into the room ahead. I circulated zo down through my arms and legs, preparing even in small margin for whatever might happen on the other side.

It was like stepping into the future itself. Light displays around the room revealed technical specifications for machina, shipment information, invoices, and cost analysis. At the center of it all was a floating face of a young man who watched us in eerie silence.

My nerves were electrified at the sight of the tall man at the far end of the room. He wore a black fitted jacket that looked something like what the ancients used to wear, with a white shirt buttoned up to his neck. His medium length hair was slicked back, and silver streaks accented the deep black color. His eyes were a haunting jade green just like my father’s—and mine.

“Welcome,” he said, opening his arms to us. His gaze was locked on me when he spoke. “I’m so grateful you were able to come for a visit.”

It was as if he was talking to a relative he hadn’t seen in years. His familiar tone squeezed my heart in my chest, and suddenly I was homesick. I thought of my father and I relic diving in the ancient’s tomb not far from our home in Namnak, and mother’s oxtail soup, and Eun-bi’s garden.

Zo munje plunged down my spine like icy water and the homesickness dropped away, revealing fear in my tight stomach. Mae had snapped me from my trance, but when I reached out to find her in my mind, she was nowhere to be felt. She was hiding.

“I have so much I want to show you,” Dokun said as he stepped around his desk made of the transparent, yet reflective material same as the elevator. His technology was far beyond any of ours. I knew in my heart if he ever decided to wage war on Busa-nan, we wouldn’t stand a chance.

Which was why we had to prevent it from ever becoming a possibility.

Dokun didn’t spare a glance for any other student in the room, approaching me directly. He smiled, revealing unnaturally white teeth. “Well, are you ready for a tour?”

I kept my mind barrier_TK strong and my racing thoughts away from the danger we were in. There was something about Dokun’s eyes, I couldn’t look away from him. The whole room hung in uncomfortable silence as we stared at one another, Dokun awaiting my reply to a question I no longer remembered.

“Students,” Ena hissed, her head bowed. “Thank TK_Mr. Yamamotto for his hospitality.”

“Thank you, TK_Mr. Yamamotto,” everyone chimed together. Hana squeezed my hand and broke my trance. I missed giving my thanks, sparking a twinkle of amusement in Dokun’s eyes. It was as if he knew everything I was thinking, and everything we had planned. No, I had to get out of my own head. He didn’t know everything, and my barrier was still strong.

Ena cleared her throat and I glanced over. She raised her eyebrows expectantly and nodded toward Dokun.

I bowed deeply, exposing the back of my neck to him. “Thank you for your gracious hospitality.”

“So formal!” Dokun laughed and placed a hand on my shoulder. I tensed under his grasp but controlled the urge to fight or flee. I came up from my bow and Dokun still work a bright smile as he said, “That’s no way for my grandnephew_TK to greet me.”

It was as if the room held its breath, and I could hear the dust particles floating on the air. The whispers broke out. Hana’s body trembled with pent up zo next to me. She was a loaded shot ready to fire.

Dokun had used the Busanian_TK word for grandnephew as if it were a common thing he’d called me all the time. I knew the only way to keep a handle on the situation was to defuse it using the same language.

I cycled a breath for a calming wave of zo and shared a little with Hana, then pasted a familial, friendly smile on my face. “Apologies, great-uncle_TK Dokun. This is our first introduction and I wanted to make a good impression.”

“That you have,” he said. His hand still gripped my shoulder—not hard enough to be a threat, but firm enough to tell me he was in charge. I had no doubt he was on every level, but I had to try.

“Great-uncle_Tk, we’re ready for our tour,” I said, dipping my head in respect.

He nodded. “Very good. Let’s start with the Enjiho, shall we?”

When he released my shoulder, the zo I’d suppressed surged through my body. It took everything I had not to tremble, as all eyes were still lingering on me.

One of our schoolmates approached me. She had long dark hair that melted into crimson at the tips. He name was Jaya, or Raya, I couldn’t remember.

She smiled, whispering, “Why didn’t you tell us you had rich family across the sea! Tae-do wouldn’t have messed with you last year if he’d known.”

“I don’t like to brag,” I said with a single chuckle, trying not to sound as nervous as I felt.

She raised an eyebrow and glanced over my shoulder at Hana. “Well, let me know if you ever want to go to the beach. My family has a great stretch of the TK_place all to ourselves. I’m not sure an Unnamed can promise as much.”

Hana’s grip tightened ever so slightly on my hand, but the zo heat radiating off her intensified two-fold.

“There’s no beach I’d want to be at with you,” I said, snubbing the request. I wanted to make it clear to both Hana and Jaya-Raya-whatever-her-name-was that there was not a single chance here, or beyond the gates of Eodune_TK, that I would spend an intimate moment with her.

“Your loss,” she said with a sly shrug, then followed after the others.

Hana and I took up the end of the train out to the hall. The Enjiho at the door—controlled by Dokun—followed closely behind us.

Hana leaned in and whispered to me. “Thank you.”

“For what?” I asked, feigning ignorance.

“It’s nice to not have to fight for myself all the time.”

I squeezed her hand. “I’ll always fight for you.”

A zap of ryzo slipped between our palms and the comforting sensation like being wrapped in a warm blanket on a cold night filled me up. But this wasn’t time for getting distracted. I reversed the flow of munje, rejecting her spell and sending back the sensation of calm alertness. I was sure she would understand.

Dokun led us through a wide open space that seemed to be mainly for leisure. There were couches at the center of the room, refreshments at a sink with plumbing and a few machina I didn’t recognize, and some single-human-shaped boxes labeled “Relaxation Zone.”

A few average looking citizens sat on the couches sipping their hot tea, or chilled munje boosters. The bowed at Dokun’s approach, genuine joy in their faces.

“Hi Daichi, how are you today?” Dokun asked as he gave the man a shallow bow in return.

The older man, Daichi, grinned up at Dokun. “I rescued a man from falling in the lake today.”

Dokun placed his hand on the man’s shoulder, just as he’d done to me. “That’s great work. You’ll be Enjiho Operator of the month if you don’t slow down.”

He greeted the other employees by their first names and chatted with them briefly. It was interesting to note that every employee seemed to be older, from parents to great grandparents. If the Enjiho were controlled exclusively with munje, it would make sense that older operators would have better control. Dokun gestured to us—the group of obvious outsiders—and mentioned the tour, snapping me back to the present.

One grandma’s eyes lit up and she grinned. “A tour for students? Can we show them our workstations?”

It was then that I knew something was about to go terribly wrong.

Dokun turned to the tour with a surprised smile. “What do you think? Would you like to see the Enjiho in action?”

The group replied with great exuberance, aside from myself and Hana. Even Shin-soo, Cho, and Yuri seemed to have forgotten the great danger they were in. Woong-ji didn’t look at me, but I could see the tension in her stance. She favored her machina leg when she thought a battle wasn’t far off.

Dokun turned to me. “TK_grandnephew, would you like to see where I pilot from?”

My voice caught in my throat and my eyes flickered between Woong-ji and Sung-ki. This was exactly what we needed, if only Mae was operational. I sought her out, but felt her pushing my presence away. She was definitely working hard to keep herself under control, and keep me out of the way. I hoped she was okay.

“That would be an honor beyond my deserving, TK_great-uncle,” I said, bowing low once more.

“Nonsense. It’s important for heirs to understand their inheritance. Come with me,” he urged with an air of nonchalance.

Dokun stepped through the crowd, his unwavering smile hypnotizing. Hana moved closer, pressing her shoulder to mine.

Dokun nodded to Hana. “You can come, too, of course. I can see how inseparable you are,” he said with a wink aimed at me. I wanted to recoil from what that gesture might mean, but kept myself placid.

“Master, would it be all right for us to separate from the group?” I asked, looking to Woong-ji.

Dokun chortled. “Your master is here too? Come with us,” he said and waved a hand to Woong-ji. Then, his voice turned dark. “I’ll show all three of you my power.”

“This is an unprecedented opportunity,” Woong-ji said with a gracious smile and approached us. “Your hospitality knows no bounds.”

Cho’s eyes were as wide as tea saucers when he realized we were being split up, exactly what we’d said we wouldn’t do. It seemed the wiles of fate had stepped in. If this was part of Woong-ji’s mission, we’d have to be prepared for whatever came next, no matter the consequences.

Sung-ki and Woong-ji agreed to meet back up at the bottom level in half an hour, and then we were off.

Dokun made idle chatter as we walked through the labyrinth of his company. “I founded the company two winters before the reign of Il-suk in Busa-nan, but we didn’t make any real headway until ten years ago—when your father returned to me.”

My jaw hurt as I bit down to keep from saying something too rash. “How did my father’s arrival help?” I asked through clenched teeth.

“Well, we went diving for machina that would make a difference. Something no one had ever seen before, or tamed,” he said half turning as he walked to express with his hands. At the puzzlement on my face, he laughed. “Oh yes, some machina need to be tamed my TK_grandnephew.”

Dokun led us under a metal archway into what couldn’t be described any better than the underbelly of the building. A vertical metal tunnel—at least thirty meters across and so far down I couldn’t see the bottom—stretched out before us.

I approached the railing and looked on in awe as a machina spire that ran through the center operated several different arms. The arms grabbed, or deposited, different machina. There were some Enjiho, some of the smaller, nibble bots that ran information, and some larger things I didn’t recognize. The arms only moved in a certain range of motion, within forty degrees or so, and then I realized why.

With a great whoosh of air, a train machina zipped up between the rotating arms and blasted out through the top of the building. For a moment, I forgot the danger, feeling only wonder. He’d created something no one had ever seen. He’d harvested the power of the ancients.

“Come along, it’s not far,” Dokun said with a jovial chuckle.

Woong-ji’s machina leg clopped against the metal walkway as we moved toward one of the rotating arms. At the end of the arm was a small elevator that just barely fit the four of us. Obviously, it was for transporting bots, or single occupants, but we made it work.

Dokun interfaced with a digital panel, sending a burst of his ma into it. Then he placed his hand against a glass box that sparkled blue, then beeped in the affirmative. The doors to the elevator shut, and we were trapped inside with him, plummeting into the deepest reaches of the building from which there was very little chance of escape.

“I’m sure you’re all feeling very nervous,” Dokun remarked, casually.

Hana was quick to fire back. “Why would we?”

He smirked, the white hairs in his tamed moustache shimmering in the artificial light. “Because, you’re here to kill me.”