In the ward where the ventilator hissed in steady rhythm,
with five pairs of eyes fixed on the unconscious Gyeon Jioh, Hong Haeya said:
“The reason she won’t wake is simple. The Magician King’s unconscious has fallen into Limbo.”
“Limbo? What is that?”
“It’s in Dante’s Divine Comedy. A place where the unredeemed remain forever. Are you saying it actually exists?”
“At this point it’s a bit late to draw lines between myth and reality, Longinus’ bearer.”
Beom, answering Gyeon Riok’s doubt as if it were nothing, looked to Hong Haeya.
“With those eyes of yours, you know it’s not a place one leaves by sheer will. Someone has to go bring her back. Do we have a way?”
It meant entering no one else’s unconscious but Gyeon Jioh’s.
Coma or not, she was the world’s foremost mage. A fortified mental barrier like that wasn’t something you pierced by ordinary means.
“We do. I haven’t been sitting idle for ten-plus days.”
Murmuring, Hong Haeya checked her watch.
“We just need one more person. When they arrive, we start.”
“You…! Hoo—are you ever going to explain this properly?”
Barely…