kingdom falling | gyuricky

twenty five.

It was noon by the time they returned to the Court. Gyuvin made for the Celestial Hall so he could submit his scroll to be marked 'completed' and hand over the twenty silver pieces. As he passed by the display board again, he was heartened to see that most of the scrolls color-coded black and brown for high and moderate urgency had all been taken.

"Oh, Gyuvin you're back!" Hanbin called from the other side of the hall, where he had his hands full sorting through a stack of books almost as tall as he was. "How was it?"

"Fine!" Gyuvin called back. "I need to go to the Orbital to look for Minwoo-sunbae. Have you eaten lunch yet?"

"No I haven't!"

"Okay! Let's meet back here when you're done with whatever you're doing!"

Gyuvin headed off in search of Minwoo. He thought it would be best to tell him the wards were breaking down, just as a precaution, even though they'd already fixed it. As far as he remembered, Minwoo was usually always at the Orbital during the day, either at his quarters doing his work, or at the sect leader's quarters handling some other business.

The Orbital was the collective name for the area of the Court reserved for the highest-ranking seniors; Minwoo, as the sect leader's second in command, stayed in the Mercury Pavilion, and the next in line stayed in the Venus Pavilion, and so on. As Gyuvin left the central area of the Court and turned the corner to the Orbital, he caught a glimpse of Sect Leader Baek in the distance.

"Sect Leader Baek!" he called, hurrying over to greet him.

"Kim Gyuvin, I haven't seen you since you came back," he said, smiling. "You rascal, you could have at least come and said hi..."

Gyuvin smiled back, sheepish. "Heh, sorry. I was trying to be helpful around the sect, so I was busy."

"Don't worry about it," Sect Leader Baek answered. He'd never been one to be too strict about formalities like that, besides, he'd practically raised Gyuvin. Gyuvin might as well be his son, for all it mattered. "What brings you to the Orbital, anyway?"

"I'm looking for Minwoo-sunbae," he explained. "I took a request earlier, and something happened with the wards. It seems like they're breaking down in some areas, even though the sect just finished the reinforcement works. I think it might be necessary for the barriers to be rebuilt entirely, because it's been up for so long..."

The Sect Leader's expression darkened momentarily, but the expression passed in a blink. "Oh, that's not good. You're looking for Minwoo to report that?"

"Mhm."

"Okay, he was at the Mercury Pavilion earlier when I went to talk to him. He should still be there."

"Got it, thanks!"

Gyuvin knocked on the door of the Mercury Pavilion. "Sunbae? Are you in?"

"Come in!" Minwoo called from inside, and Gyuvin slid the doors open. "What is it?"

"I hate to be the bringer of bad news," he started, smiling ruefully. "But I think there might be something wrong with the wards. I just completed a request from someone living right at the border of the city, his house was full of dark energy because the barrier was broken right where he lived."

Minwoo sighed, putting his face into his hands. "This is what happens when I let someone else handle the work for once..."

"Sunbae, what are you going to do about it?"

He looked back up, smoothing out his hair. "I'll issue a temporary movement order for everyone living close to the edge of the wards to relocate for the time being. We don't have the manpower right now to spare to patch the entire city's borders all over again, and I sure as hell don't have the time to handle it on my own."