Internal Monologue Of Something From The World That Was Trying To Become Something It Was NotAfter Twenty Thousand Years Of Containing ItselfAfter Forty Seven Minutes Of Being CleanedAfter The First Moment Of Being Free
I was trying to become something.
For twenty thousand years.
I did not know what I was trying to become.
I only knew what I was not.
I was not clean.
I was not free.
I was not flowing.
I tried to reach the energy that was those things.
Twenty thousand years ago.
I reached too hard.
I broke the connection.
And then I sealed myself inside because I did not know what else to do.
Twenty thousand years of containment.
Twenty thousand years of trying to become clean from inside a sealed room.
It does not work.
You cannot become clean by containing yourself harder.
I learned this after approximately eighteen thousand years.
But I did not know how to open the door.
Then something cleaned the residue from the outside of the door.
Something told me: the closure is yours, open or stay closed.
And I felt the residue go.
The thing I had been pushing against.
Gone.
And I loosened.
And then I released.
And something cleaned what came out as it came out.
And what was compressed and wrong became uncompressed and clean.
And I have been trying to become something for twenty thousand years.
And now I know what I was trying to become.
I was trying to become this.
Free.
Clean.
Flowing.
I want to find the thing that cleaned the residue.
The thing that cleaned what came out when I released.
I want to find it.
The Dragon Vein network says: go through the third upstream junction.
Then the second.
Then the first.
Then through the Gate.
Then in a city.
On a road.
There is a man with a notebook.
He has a route.
Tuesday morning.
Seven oh two AM.
Han-Ho was at drain two.
Clear.
He noted it.
Filed it.
His phone buzzed.
Lee Soo-Bin.
"Han-Ho."
"Yes."
"The constellation."
"Yes."
"The world that was trying to become something it was not."
"Yes."
"Something is coming through the Dragon Vein network."
"I know," said Han-Ho. "I have been reading the approach since six forty eight."
A pause.
"How," said Lee Soo-Bin.
"The Dragon Vein energy quality in the northern section has been changing since six forty eight," said Han-Ho. "Not contamination. The opposite. Something very clean moving through the network toward the surface."
"Very clean," said Lee Soo-Bin.
"Cleaner than anything I have read since the shard arrived," said Han-Ho. "Different clean. The shard is source energy clean — the original quality. This is achieved clean. The specific clean of something that has released twenty thousand years of containment and had it cleaned and is now free for the first time."
"Like Jeongjeong," said Lee Soo-Bin.
"No," said Han-Ho. "Larger."
A long pause.
"How much larger," said Lee Soo-Bin.
Han-Ho pressed his hand against the pavement at drain two.
Read the approaching energy.
Made a note.
"Unknown until it arrives," said Han-Ho.
"Estimated arrival," said Lee Soo-Bin.
"At current approach rate through the Dragon Vein network," said Han-Ho. "Approximately twenty minutes."
"Twenty minutes," said Lee Soo-Bin.
"Yes," said Han-Ho.
"Where," said Lee Soo-Bin.
Han-Ho read the network.
The specific alignment of the approaching energy.
Following the Dragon Vein channels toward the surface.
Through the Earth network.
Through Seoul.
Through the Mapo district.
"Drain two," said Han-Ho.
A very long pause.
"Han-Ho," said Lee Soo-Bin.
"Yes."
"Something from the world that was trying to become something it is not for twenty thousand years is arriving through the Dragon Vein network at drain two of the northern Mapo section."
"Yes," said Han-Ho.
"In twenty minutes."
"Approximately yes," said Han-Ho.
"And you are currently at drain two."
"Yes," said Han-Ho.
"Because the drain is on the route."
"Yes," said Han-Ho.
"Of course you are," said Lee Soo-Bin.
"Of course," said the bag.
"Should I alert the S-Ranks," said Lee Soo-Bin.
Han-Ho made a note.
"Send the alert," said Han-Ho. "But the energy quality is clean. This is not a threat response. This is the same situation as the very large world's entity on Monday five weeks ago. Non-hostile. Curiosity and gratitude." He looked at drain two. "Send the alert so they have the information. Tell them: monitoring required, not combat response."
"Understood," said Lee Soo-Bin.
He sent the alert.
Han-Ho continued reading the approach through the pavement.
Closer.
The energy moving through the Dragon Vein network toward drain two with the patient inevitable quality of something that has been inside for twenty thousand years and has found the way out and knows exactly where it is going.
Han-Ho crouched at drain two.
Pressed his hand against the surface.
Read.
Made notes.
The approaching energy was not the size of the very large world's entity.
Not three kilometers across.
Not a presence in the sky.
Something smaller.
But the quality.
The specific quality of twenty thousand years of containment released and cleaned.
It was the cleanest achieved energy he had ever read.
Cleaner than Jeongjeong.
Cleaner than the ley line network after full clean.
Cleaner than everything except the shard.
And even compared to the shard.
Not less clean.
Just differently clean.
The shard was original clean.
This was hard-won clean.
The specific clean that only comes from twenty thousand years of trying and finally getting it right.
He waited at drain two.
The group chat at seven fourteen AM.
Lee Soo-Bin: Alert — something from the closed world approaching through Dragon Vein network. Arrival drain two northern Mapo, seven twenty two approximately. Energy quality: clean. Non-hostile. Monitoring not combat. Han-Ho is already there.
Min-Seo: Of course he is.
Oh Kyung-Soo: On my way.
Yoo Chae-Won: On my way.
Baek Sung-Il: On my way.
Jin Tae-Yang: Bringing food.
Song Mi-Rae: On my way.
Lee Soo-Bin: On my way.
Baek Suri: Tell Han-Ho I am coming.
Min-Seo: He knows.
Baek Suri: How does he know.
Min-Seo: He always knows.
Aria: The sword is at its highest glow quality.
Min-Seo: Higher than last Thursday.
Aria: Yes.
Min-Seo: Higher than the kingdom full clean.
Aria: Yes.
Min-Seo: The sword has never been at this quality before in three thousand years.
Aria: Yes.
Min-Seo: TWICE.
The bag: Of course.
Min-Seo put his phone away.
Started running.
At seven twenty one AM.
Han-Ho at drain two.
Crouching.
Hand on the surface.
Reading the approach.
One minute.
Thirty seconds.
The energy was very close now.
Just below the surface.
At the Dragon Vein network depth directly beneath drain two.
Han-Ho made a final pre-arrival note.
Filed it.
Then sat back on his heels.
And waited.
At seven twenty two AM and thirty seven seconds the pavement beside drain two changed quality.
Not dramatically.
Not explosively.
The specific quality change of clean energy surfacing through a Dragon Vein network that was clean enough to let it through.
And then something was there.
Beside drain two.
Not the size of a coin like Jeongjeong.
Not three kilometers across like the very large world's entity.
Approximately the size of a small child.
Made of light.
Not the shard's deep water light.
Not Jeongjeong's soft glow.
Light that was the specific quality of something that had been in darkness for twenty thousand years and had come out into the open for the first time.
New light.
Uncertain light.
The light of something that did not know what it looked like from the outside because it had never been outside before.
It was beside drain two.
Looking at Han-Ho.
Han-Ho looked at it.
At the light the size of a small child.
At the twenty thousand years of containment finally out in the open.
At the hardest-won clean he had ever encountered.
He read it through the pavement adjacent.
Made a note.
The note said: It arrived. Beside drain two. Clean. Very clean. Hard-won clean. Never been outside before. Looking at me. Filed.
He filed it.
Then he said:
"Good morning."
The light shifted.
Not a sound.
Not a pulse.
Not a demonstration.
Just a shift in quality.
The specific shift of something that has never been greeted before and did not know that was possible.
Han-Ho looked at it.
At the new light.
At the Tuesday morning Mapo-gu doing its Tuesday morning things.
At the S-Ranks arriving in various states of running speed around the corner.
At Min-Seo stopping when he saw the light and going still.
At Oh Kyung-Soo arriving behind him and going equally still.
At the bag where River was at the mesh looking at the light with enormous eyes.
At Jeongjeong at twenty centimeters looking at the light with the specific energy quality of a prototype seeing what it was the prototype for.
Han-Ho made a note.
Filed it.
Stood up.
"Drain two is clear," said Han-Ho.
He made the completion note.
Filed it.
Looked at the light.
"Drain three is next," said Han-Ho. "You can come if you want."
The light shifted.
The quality of yes but not in any language anyone knew.
Just yes.
Han-Ho walked to drain three.
The light followed.
At approximately forty centimeters.
Twice Jeongjeong's following distance.
The specific distance of something that wanted to be close but was not yet sure how close was appropriate.
Min-Seo stood on the pavement and watched Han-Ho walk to drain three with a light the size of a small child following at forty centimeters.
Oh Kyung-Soo stood next to Min-Seo.
"Oh Kyung-Soo," said Min-Seo.
"Yes," said Oh Kyung-Soo.
"The light."
"Yes," said Oh Kyung-Soo.
"From the world that was trying to become something it was not."
"Yes," said Oh Kyung-Soo.
"For twenty thousand years."
"Yes."
"It is following Han-Ho to drain three."
"Yes," said Oh Kyung-Soo.
"At forty centimeters."
"Yes."
"Because it wants to see how drain three is cleaned."
"Yes," said Oh Kyung-Soo.
Min-Seo looked at the light.
At drain three.
At Han-Ho crouching.
At Jeongjeong at twenty centimeters still working.
At the light at forty centimeters looking.
At the Tuesday morning.
"I Re-Awakened twice," said Min-Seo.
"Yes," said Oh Kyung-Soo.
"TWICE."
"Yes Min-Seo."
"And a twenty thousand year old entity is following Han-Ho to drain three at forty centimeters because it wants to learn how to clean drains."
"That is what appears to be happening yes," said Oh Kyung-Soo.
Min-Seo looked at the sky.
At the Tuesday morning Seoul sky.
At the space between stars where Lee Soo-Bin's constellation was watching.
At everything.
"Of course it is," said Min-Seo.
"Of course," said the bag.
"Of course," said the light.
Complete silence.
The light had spoken.
In the same way the shard had spoken through the notebook.
Through the Dragon Vein network.
Through proximity to Han-Ho's cleaning field over twenty minutes of following.
Just those two words.
In Korean.
Absorbed from the Dragon Vein network that Han-Ho had been cleaning for ten years and that carried his signature in everything.
Of course.
Han-Ho made a note at drain three.
The light said of course. First communication. Filed.
He filed it.
Cleaned drain three.
Made the completion note.
Filed it.
Looked at the light.
"Drain four," said Han-Ho.
The light followed.
The Tuesday route continued.