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Chapter 39

I stepped into the workshop, brushing past a surprised Jongho to reach Yeosang’s bench. The bucket was lifted and plopped down with a loud clatter. Startled, the pen in Yeosang's grasp drew an unsightly line across the page.

“Would it be advisable to consider short range archery?” 

“Worth a shot,” Yeosang paused, “pun unintended.” 

He peered at the bucket, his stare lingering on the brown tinted edges of some of the more perfected edges. Jongho peeped round the thin dividing screen, eyes narrowing onto me. 

“The agreement?”

“It was hardly an agreement.” I crossed my arms in petulant distaste at the expression.

The door slammed open which made all of us jump. Nobody expected anything to happen. The call of war was impending but far. San ran in. I searched for any signs of distress in his expression but came back with only bewilderment. 

“Um guys,” San called out, “you might want to check this out.”

There wasn’t really much amiss except for the lack of sound of the wind pelting down on the walls. The orange film settled on the horizon with less opacity, giving the ability to see over the stretch of land the establishment was built on. 

“The storm…stopped?”

“I guess Cromer was to blame for the storm.” Yeosang sighed. 

With the lack of elaboration, all of us turned to him as he retreated into his head to ponder deeply. We waited in silence, letting him stew in his thoughts. 

“No wonder the other captain said to consider long ranged weaponry.” Yeosang muttered. 

He retreated back into the workshop and the rest of us followed like mindless duckling, waiting for the response. Yeosang took out a book and flipped through pages filled with notes whilst uncapping a pen with his mouth. He let the lid fall and started writing. Surprisingly, the lid did not fall off the desk, instead it rolled close to the edge. The Choi brothers peered over Yeosang’s shoulder whilst I attempted to read upside down. 

There are always disturbances in the space-time continuum, it was inevitable due to the superposition of dimensions - particle-wave duality of quantum entities. However, Cromer amplified the disturbances, known as anomalies, rippling across the continuum which had profound effects that manifested as unexplained phenomena and natural disasters. Since the connection of dimensions was destroyed by destroying Cromer, the ripples return to normal levels and said unexplained phenomena would dissipate. 

I read through the text over and over again to make sure I was seeing things correctly. I glanced up at Yeosang multiple times to find his expression bored and unamused whilst San had a face of pure confusion and Jongho’s in slow apprehension. 

“Isn’t the fact that I’m here an anomaly?” I slowly spoke. “Following that, shouldn’t I cease to exist?” 

“There are exceptions. Like the switch. It was consensual, not necessarily on your part explicitly but it balanced things to work out pretty well.” Yeosang theorised. 

“I think it’s fate.” San proposed. “Glad you’re here.” 

I blinked dumbly at the comment. San’s expression morphed into concern and Jongho’s usually indifference shifted into one of mild discomfort. 

“Moving on…” I chuckled awkwardly, giving a pained smile, “battle tactics?” 

“That’s for Mingi to solve.” Yeosang waved it off. “But the archery things, I can manage.”