Detective Yuki

14. Taegeuk

1. Taegeuk

Namida did not agree with the sudden slaughter. Since his days at his old monastery back in Japan, the monk had been taught to be benevolent and respectful to all living things, so the sight of Senbi using his charm as a master businessman combined with split second betrayal and several bodies on the ground did much to sway the young man into an exchange of words with his master.

 "All tremble at violence; all fear death. Putting oneself in the place of another, one should not kill nor cause another to kill." Namida calmly told Senbi on the empty city street.

 "it was all in the matter of progress, my friend. Trust me, that would have not hurt them much" Senbi replied while he stared at the monstrous Bulgae, causing them to submit to his authority with a hiss and a slight raising of his mask. The mighty hounds were reduced to whimpering mutts under Senbi's power, soon coming to his side as his personal pets.

"Purity or impurity depends on oneself." Namida spoke while raised dust settled on the abandoned roadway.

 "do not use your words to me like that, boy!!!" Senbi growled, Namida in dismay. 

After seeing Namida had understood his mistake, Senbi soothed himself and moved to reconcile.

 "come now, my Namida. A thousand pardons on my behalf. I do only what has to be done. Now, we must head off to the dockyard" Senbi turned his cape and led the way to the coast, followed by a cautious Namida and three snarling flame dogs.

 As they arrived at the large riverside Gyeong-in port, Senbi proceeded onto the vast open shipyard, surrounded by the sounds of welders and cargo holders working and cavorting on a day's work.

The pig iron ships of the yard varied in size from big to small, but one particular vessel caught the attention of Senbi: the only one where there were no people nearby, a medium sized white ship. Its sides were draped in the colors of the Japanese flag, dotted by cannon holes and shining propellers as tall as ten men. Senbi readily boarded the ship, then descended into its depths, revealing several small red monsters with the features of dwarves and demons, breaking up the wood from the motorboats to fuel the ship, and requisitioning the engines for use in the creation of a giant ticking device in the center of the ship. Senbi and Namida stared up at the black draped contraption, hearing the cog work inside and wondering on its true purpose. At the same time, Yuki was sitting next to the window of her glistening hotel room overlooking the burgeoning city below, when Aibo ran up through the room door, desperate to tell some much needed information, the rush in him symbolized by his dirt ridden wears and drops of sweat.

"Yuki, I found something down in town. I was leaving the police station this morning with some supplies, but I will have to go back for them later. Anyway, I saw Senbi's mask outside the station, and it stared at me" he anxiously addressed the others.

 "well then if he is in the city, we are going to need this" Yuki displayed the final screw into her latest invention from her inside pocket.

 "What is that thing?" Aibo watched over the strange looking object, as if a radio melded with a gun and lacquered in a rust brown around yellow radio dials and a trigger. 

"this is my sound machine. Upon observing that the monsters plaguing the empire were sensitive to high sound frequency sounds, I have created this to ward off the beasts so we can find and capture Senbi" she showed off her prize. 

Yuki and Aibo then journeyed into the city to track down the fiend. On the outskirts of town near a rice field, Yuki came across a white eyed man with gray skin speaking in tongues. Initially Aibo elected to shoot the man for fear he could be a monster, but Yuki decided instead to utilize her new sound machine instead of senseless bloodshed.

Tuning the side dials and pulling the trigger, a very loud shockwave bellowed out of the device, shaking the man like a ragdoll until he was pushed to the ground. Yuki ran over to the man, whose eyes were closed and mouth wide open. Aibo came closer to inspect, but Yuki was spooked by a white glow leaving the man's body through his mouth and floating into the air. It turned out the man had been possessed by a ghost, returning to a normal shade of skin and mannerism, his eyes becoming recolorized. Aibo was amazed that the device actually worked along with Yuki, yet the noise of the device also served as an attraction to the Bulgae of Senbi, who were sent out into the city to complete a special mission.

Senbi had locked eyes with Aibo at the police station that day, and upon returning to his ship at the dockyard had alerted Namida that the two hostages they kept in Okinawa had survived the fire at the castle and followed Senbi's clue leading them to Keijo. The masked gentlemen became frustrated on the iron decks of his ship, realizing he had failed to get rid of the only people who could interfere and stop his plans. For this reason, he commanded the Bulgae to venture into Keijo, guided by a stationary memorial implant from Senbi's eye to theirs, giving them their targets with whom to do as they please. 

On their merry way, the dogs spat fire at houses and harassed civilians, attacking those who stood in their way, intentionally starting a wave of disaster across the city as the meddlesome beasts prowled the streets in search of their target. They were given a helping hand by the noise of the sound machine in the suburbs and became increasingly drawn towards the source of the sound, speeding right out into the congested streets that drained away to empty whenever they appeared. On one of these instances, one empty pathway brought the three dogs face to face with Yuki and Aibo