𝐄𝐗𝐈𝐋𝐄 ♕ 𝐉𝐀𝐍𝐆 𝐖𝐎𝐎𝐊

𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗿𝘁𝘆-𝘀𝗶𝘅

The meeting had been short and to the point. The floor plan was analysed and the one war-mage who had managed to infiltrate Cheonbukwan confirmed that the rooms, routes, and tunnels shown on the map did not exist.

"But then again," he had said, leaning over the table where the map lay undisturbed, "I do not have access to many areas."

Gaeun slept fitfully and accidentally shot fire at Fangs whose only mistake had been to act as an alarm call upon Haneul's behest. The owl rolled left-to-right on the ground, screeching and waking the entire building.

"She killed me," Fangs squawked like a deranged chicken, "She killed me. Oh, spirits! She cooked my wing! Now I will never fly again like that metal-armed hag." His wing was alright. The flames had missed by an inch.

Gaeun simply sat up on her bed and watched Fangs throw a tantrum. Then, her door slowly slid open and Haneul peeked in. It was terrifying to see an angry eye peep into the room through a curtain of dark hair. "Shut the fuck up," Haneul said, enunciating each word, "or I will personally defeather you and dump you in a vat of salt."

He immediately stilled. Once he was sure she had left, he hooted once and sulked. "I have no rights," he said, crossing his legs and shaking off the negative energy, "No rights at all, I tell you. She treats us like animals."

"You are animals."

"One of these days we're all going to unionise and no one will be able to save her from the consequences."

Gaeun stretched and rotated her shoulder until the joints cracked. "You can take it up with Haejung, I'm sure," she told the owl, referring to the Azure Bird anchored to Haneul. At Fangs' confused head twist, she explained, "Your cardinal deity? The bird?"

"Oh." He hooted again and, this time flapped his wings in dejection. "That's why they don't want to unionise."

Once the sun had risen, Gaeun delayed the meeting with Lord Park as much as she could to spend time with her brothers during breakfast. If anyone had any suspicions regarding where and how Gaeun had gotten the floor plans then they had remained silent.

In Songrim, Lord Park requested Master Heo to be present as well. The elder physician had muttered to himself while scrutinising the parchment and confirmed, along with the Magelord, that there indeed were no such rooms in Cheonbukwan as the paper indicated.

"Hidden, then," Lord Park surmised, "The way there is no trace of Songrim's secret chambers, they too must have tailored the doors to hide them in plain sight."

Master Heo stroked his beard and added his thoughts, "Jin Mu could have had them built after Jang Gang left. Remember how quickly he ended up earning the King and Queen's favour? The King may have quietly permitted him to have them built off-record."

"Or he had them built anyway," Gaeun said, "because he knew he would have the support. Perhaps someone else headed the idea."

"That is possible as well."

Master Thao rested her hands on the handle end of her warhammer, using it as support, and said, "We need a way to search the premises. My men cannot investigate without rousing suspicion."

"You have men inside Cheonbukwan?" Lord Park asked, narrowed eyes and mouth upturned in disbelief.

She seemed genuinely taken aback by his reaction, "What, and you don't?"

"Salamander can try to persuade the Crown Prince," Haneul chimed in before they could begin a parallel discussion over breaking the treaty and mutual trust. "He'd have easier access since Jin Mu is his teacher."