Chapter 185

  “It is 9 AM, so I guess not. What are you planning for today? Luke already told me what you have been doing for days, and like always, he should be more frank with me. Doing things sooner is a serious advantage, I mean.” She leaned on the table and asked what she had been curious about for a while. “Is that freaking Kaufman so horny for your skin? Library…”

  “S-skin?”

  “You mentioned him twice yesterday. Frankly, I didn't care much about it back then, and I even called him out. I have seen you enough. Now, I think twice over it and find it funny.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I asked about him when I wasn’t ready to face the consequences. Now, I am. I used Anna instead, but she did... something else, and couldn't even remember what. Luke also said that Anna followed my orders to follow you. Which I for sure hadn’t done at all. Bunch of cryptic memories... I am getting a headache.”

  William didn't understand her concern at all.

  Wearing a thin white blouse with a long black skirt, it went well with her black hair and pointed Emblem. It was far from a military uniform, so… she looked kind of weird. Her hair was gliding behind her back and over her shoulders, so everything about her made her almost normal.

  If the norm was still a rather... well, difficult to grasp.

  “No comment?” She said, her left brow rising.

  “I met him yesterday again.”

  “Heard that. Contrary to the first meeting, what did he want? Luke said he had quite nasty ideas in the first.”

  “I mean... I am hungry.”

  Mi-Yung slapped the table and nearly cracked it in half. “Don't dodge.”

  “What's the point with you? Is he that bad?” He argued, stopped when her eyes changed again, and gave up. “Alright. He got me through some shitty test and let me to go to the upper floors, which... is not something he should do, but he think he did. Like I care. I am not angry at the painful test or my Emblem. It already passed my brain, so it is fine, really.” Shaking his head, William walked around the kitchen to find food.

  Mi-Yung grunted in irritation when she was thinking about Kaufman. “He did that. The world be damned. What's the rest then? The plans.”

  “Spend the next six weeks preparing to know shit and not cry before or after the Forced Awakening. The Examination isn't even in my mind since I am already fearing politics. Right? They are all about it.”

  “Oh, you got to know a lot abotu that one too? In Outside, talks about this event is rather unknown.”

  “I feel like it shouldn't be.”

  “I think so too... Anyway, what else? Any training?”

  “Thinking is my training. I will spend time in the library and see it from there.”

  “That is not bad. Broadening your horizons is better to be done now than later when you won't have either, or when you will have far too large issues ahead.”

  “Someone said the same thing.”

  “Kaufman?”

  “Nah.”

  Mi-Yung wondered about this someone but didn't pester him about it.

  “A lot of things depend on the Awakening, correct? My Emblem will crack soon by a foreign force, and I still have no idea what sort of future it has for me. It feels like I am a rider of an unknown car... and the car can crash me anytime.”

  “Or let you go far and beyond your horizon. Learn to fly. Give heavenly strength. Transform. That sort of stuff.”

  William found fresh pastry and began eating. He liked what he heard and wondered what this crimson thing schemed as a strength. Or what he did. He didn’t know. Was it the endless endurance? How could he kill Darks efficiently, or… in a gruesome, nasty way like they deserved?

  “Do you regret having Emblem?” Mi-Yung asked, hiding her true meaning behind a sudden question. Maybe she meant to ask a different question, but William hadn't met with his fate yet.

  “No. I wouldn't be here without it.”

  “Me too. There is nothing to regret. It is a tool like we are. Instead, isn't it exciting to be a person who has been granted this chance? Especially when almost nobody can experience it? It isn't about the Dawn by the way. Every Walker is unique and one of a kind. Each and every one of us abide by our own rules that could change or teach us a lot of things.”

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  She asserted with a fistful punch to the air, followed by a quick slap to her Emblem. It made a pleasant sound, and then a large amount of mist came from it and revolved around her fist.

  “Mist?”

  “Are you curious what I can do?”

  “Not really.”

  “Liar.”

  “Yeah... I am sorry, but I am as normal as an abnormal person can get,” William replied and laughed at himself. “Sorry. I don't think about this much. To me, Emblems are like cursed gifts that Darks had started. Maybe the Dawn is a virus and we are the carriers. It evolved and viciously changed over the years.”

  “Yeah, a total bullshit. Think of a better story next time. I am at Rank 6.”

  “Yeah. I might have more stories. Silly stories, by the way.”

  Mi-Yung could not help but chuckle at such a stereotypical response. It almost felt melodramatic considering the last night.

  Afterward, she got up, stretched her body, and had numerous questions and words to say. She also cleaned up her act and let the Arcana vanish back to her Emblem.

  “I bet Luke hasn't shown you most Districts. Can I have this privilege?”

  “I already have someone for that. I have been here for days already, so I will get used to this city one day at a time.”

  Mi-Yung grunted in secret, not showing that she was quite competitive and curious about what the hell was he talking about. Who was it? Luke? Anna? Kaufman?! She was willing to do oh so much more than the others, she didn't show it outside at all.

  Instead, she welcomed it, felt challenged, and knew where to look.

  Her work be damned. She found him! They did not, so fuck the Assembly and those looking to sting her head.

  Since she didn't know where to start with her karmic ties with William, a force might be necessary. A minor excuse was already established.

  In principle, Mi-Yung was less than ideal with approaching young Walkers like a teacher. It wasn’t as if she couldn’t do that. She had her experiences and strengths to back it up, but in this era, many Walkers served and focused on what they do best.

  She never taught a soul for a reason. Others taught her, done their fine duty, and while her life did have its downs, her mind wasn't keen on them. She outgrew them, got stronger, and bad times were a thing of the past. Many Walkers preferred it that way, while the need for teachers never ended.

  Usually, that fell on the older generations, or retired cases, which, albeit rare, still provided to their society.

  Thinking about younger generations had its wonderful merits, if not crucial needs.

  Many youths around Mi-Yung were kind of different from those in the military, let alone Outside. They were a privileged kind, in a sense. The so-called elites in name alone, thanks to their family connections and whatnot. She used to be one, so she shouldn’t be the one calling it improper. It was just how it goes.

  As a Song, she had a fair share of connections and did what many couldn’t even think about. She was also a decent record breaker, so she had a reputation to back her name. Some youths didn’t, but for the sake of the Federation's pursuit of power and stability, the ruling class was evident and very much in control.

  The idea that Walkers could birth Walkers with regular people was the cause and reason for a lot of things. It was not a certain chance. Walkers might try multiple times until a new Walker was born, and that was just easier done by men having multiple affairs.

  It was kind of unfair, but it was an undeniable truth. Thankfully, there was still a mark of quality with female Walkers having a higher chance of success, but the wait was kind of long. Hence, the societies of people relied on what they could do, and things could get difficult or reliable across the board because of them.

  After all, it was the main reason Walkers needed people. Or, in a sense, hosts and mistresses and act around it.

  The further opposition was that a Walker born between two normal people was also acceptable, if not practically expected. Outside had those cases the most, though a lot of Walkers had known breeding capabilities. It was not publicly acknowledged, yet rumors were common and many people could see what was going on.

  It was happening all the time. For decades, in fact, if not longer.

  They came from common birth, after all, or so many people thought.

  Under Walker's circumstances, it was likely that bloodline bonds and Emblem's aspects to go through. The difference between a father and a mother to a child might be small, beautiful, or not that large. It was kind of hard to point out such facts and put logic there.

  Part of the quality or power was there, or the birth of new Walkers was out of human touch. For it to turn into a precarious business was so like humanity.

  Usually, there were many differences regarded as intense and desirable. In truth, it was a weird talent or luck. From mother to son, or father to daughter, many ideas about Emblems were experimental, and life was resourceful. There were many experiments done over the last century. The more, the better, or so the advancing society promoted.

  Which was why a lot of Walkers fucked around a lot and hoped to increase their numbers. Humanity needed them, so… it was that simple.

  What Mi-Yung was doing with Luke was not against the law, as nothing was ever written, but she won't have any children with him whatsoever.

  It was not a surprise that many Walkers pivoted to personal activities, setting up clans and families, and considered lineage to be important, even if it was essentially a gambit of quality whether a Walker could come out of a try or hundreds of attempts.

  Walkers, as a term, sounded simple. It wasn’t a young, meaningful word, as it had a completely new meaning created a hundred years ago. To walk within the Fogs, which obscured the world, was to walk a new path of humanity.

  This described the generations struggling at the beginning, who were small in numbers. Every single old Walker was a force to reckon with because of it, since the paths weren't established, and proper judgment was grim.

  If they survived for so long as to see the Federation blooming, there was something undoubtedly special about them.

  The better the Walker, the more likely they sought out this linage opportunity, or others did. Inbreeding didn't work that well either, so many links and people and Walkers looked for purity, suitability, and great seeds or potential mothers.

  A lot of Walkers were close to one another because of teamwork and reliability, but recognizing a marriage wasn’t very important. Besides the birth of Walkers, not much care came with common births.

  Still, many prominent families used such normal children as chess pieces to appease other Walkers. And when talents and other things came together, it turned into one tough present for humanity and this society.

  There were a lot of births and stability if a place specified this process or even helped. In the Federation, rewards and work for this processing were always expanding, so the society was prosperous and full of rules. Because if it wasn’t, the brutality would arise.