kingdom falling | gyuricky

eighteen.

The two of them met Hanbin and Zhanghao on their way to the graveyard; the other pair had two subdued corpses in tow. Not long had passed before the nine of them had rounded up all the corpses and brought them back to the graveyard.

"It seems like there weren't many fierce corpses after all," Yujin observed. They'd brought back twelve total, after checking to make sure the rest of the town was clear.

"It makes sense that there aren't that many," Jiwoong said, nodding. "There's only a certain window of time after death where a corpse can be reanimated into a fierce corpse. After the body has broken down too much, it can't be reanimated anymore. In a small town like this, it makes sense that there were only twelve deaths recent enough for the reanimation rituals to work."

While Jiwoong was talking, Gyuvin had walked silently over to where Seo Jung's grave plot was. Leaning down, he used his hand to brush the dirt away gently. The talisman he'd laid down yesterday shone gold under the dirt, intact and unbroken. He felt Ricky's sleeve brush against his back just then; he'd come over to see what Gyuvin was doing, too. Gyuvin looked up, and a moment of recognition passed between them.

If the seal Gyuvin had done for Seo Jung was unbroken, it meant that not only had he been thorough and competent in his work, the reanimation of fierce corpses could not have had anything to do with whatever they did the previous day. Gyuvin brushed the dirt back into place to let it cover the hole again. He'd only wanted confirmation that something else was at play here, something completely unrelated to him. Confirmation that it hadn't been his fault after all.

"If anything, all signs point to the cultivator having very weak, or only rudimentary levels of demonic cultivation," Taerae said, continuing from a sentence Gyuvin hadn't caught. "The amount of energy imbued into each corpse was low. It's usually indicative of the user having low levels of demonic energy within them to begin with. Whoever did this is likely not a severe threat."

Taerae sounded like he was reciting from a book, and in all likelihood probably was. Though Taerae had clearly chosen to follow Seven Star Manor's cultivation path instead of the scholar path, this kind of knowledge had probably been drilled into them since childhood, though it was more theoretical than the basics every cultivator had to know.

"It's strange that something like this would happen out of the blue in a place like this," Zhanghao piped up. "Isn't Raintree Town so peaceful it doesn't even have a sect presiding over it?"

"Well, it technically has one," Hanbin corrected. "Mushan Temple oversees this town in case anything happens. But historically, it's always been peaceful and pretty quiet. That's why the Coalition chose this place to host the Training Camp. For something of this scale to happen out of the blue just seems fishy."

"Let's hope it was a one-off thing," Gunwook sighed, spinning his scythe absentmindedly in his right hand as he walked. "I don't think these farmers can stand all the stress. Most of them are old."

Hanbin nudged him with his elbow. "What were you and Ricky looking at earlier?"

"I was checking on the grave I sealed yesterday," Gyuvin answered. "You know, the one the seniors sent me down to seal and then accused me of screwing up on."

"Yeah? What did you find?"

"The seal's intact. I didn't screw anything up, hyung. Whatever happened that caused all these fierce corpses to rise, it wasn't because of anything I did."

"The corpse you sealed died just recently, right?"

Gyuvin nodded. "Just a few days before it rose."

"That means your seal protected that corpse from being reanimated into a fierce corpse, even though every other corpse that died recently succumbed," Hanbin said, smiling. "Good job, Gyuvin-ah."

"Oh...I didn't even think about that," Gyuvin answered, brightening up. "I just hoped she was safe. She was just a child."

It was late afternoon by the time they made it back up to the camp grounds. They were called in to report on the status of their assignment, as expected; the rest of them were content to stand back and let Hanbin do most of the reporting, which to his credit he didn't really mind doing anyway. Gyuvin stood with his back straight, emboldened by the confirmation that he had in fact been wrongly accused, waiting for Hanbin to finish reporting so he could lay out the facts and throw it back in the faces of the seniors who'd been so quick to snub him earlier in the day for no good reason.

"And the grave Kim Gyuvin sealed yesterday?" Han Seungho asked, hardly looking up from whatever scripture he was attending to at his desk. "What happened to it?"

"The seal was intact, sunbae-nim. That grave was not affected."

Han Seungho threw Gyuvin a cursory glance, but said nothing more. "Sure. You're all dismissed. Go and rest up before dinner. You don't need to rejoin the afternoon training today."

Gyuvin stepped forward, blazing with indignation. "Sunbae-nim, with all due respect, I didn't do anything wrong when I resealed Seo Jung's grave."

The senior looked up from his desk, a mildly annoyed expression coloring his face. "What? Who's Seo Jung?"

"The corpse girl," Gyuvin continued. "The one you sent me down to seal and then accused me of screwing up. Respectfully, sunbae-nim, you were wrong to say that-"

Gyuvin was startled into momentary silence as Hanbin yanked on the belt of his outer robe, pulling him back to stand behind him. "Sunbae-nim, I apologize. We would like to leave now."

"No, let him speak. What was I wrong to say? Go on, since you're so sure of yourself."

"Sunbae-nim, I apologise for his insolence. I'll make sure to teach him better. Please forgive our mistakes."

Hanbin bowed deeply and dragged Gyuvin out of the room without waiting for the senior to continue talking, partly out of fear that he'd encourage Gyuvin to keep talking and dig himself a deeper grave.

Gyuvin flung Hanbin's hand off his arm the second they turned the corner. "Hyung, why would you do that? You knew I was right!"

"Gyuvin, you can't talk back to the seniors. I know you were right, but you just can't argue with them like that. Not here. I know you're comfortable with Sect Leader Baek and the seniors back at Meteor Court, but you can't do that here. They've made up their minds and they're not going to listen, and the more you argue the more they'll think you're stubborn and rude and disagreeable. Is that what you want?"

"But I wasn't wrong! I had the facts to convince them!"

"They don't care that you weren't wrong," Hanbin said softly, sighing. "They think you were, and that's all that matters to them. You can't change the opinions of everyone you want, no matter how many facts you have."

Gyuvin paced, little fuming steps up and down the corridor. "I could have convinced them if you hadn't dragged me away."

"They heard what I said, and they heard what you said," Hanbin answered calmly, trying his best to reason with Gyuvin. "The seniors aren't stupid, they know you didn't make a mistake. But did you think they were just going to admit that they were wrong in front of you, just like that?"

Gyuvin stopped pacing and glared at Hanbin. "Why not? If people are wrong, they should just admit it."

Hanbin laughed. "Not everyone is as willing as you are, I suppose. Be the bigger person for once, won't you? I know you were right, and most importantly, you know you were right. One day you'll learn that that's all that matters."

Gyuvin sighed and said nothing more, heading away in the direction of the sleeping quarters.

"Gyuvin-ah, don't you want to get some food first? You didn't have any lunch," Hanbin called after him. Gyuvin didn't acknowledge him or turn around, and Hanbin gave up, heading in the direction of the dining hall where the others had gone.