Prologue
The calm current of the Han River, flowing westward, was stained by the red sunset and shone with a thick, syrupy golden light.
A middle-aged man stood at the window of his office and looked down at the water rolling past.
The man wore a navy pinstripe suit that fit his body perfectly, and his hair, sprouting streaks of premature gray, was neatly combed straight back.
The place where the middle-aged man stood was the 102nd floor of the Shinseong Group headquarters, located on the Han River waterfront in Mapo District.
Behind his back, a man who appeared to be a subordinate waited respectfully.
The subordinate, whose horn-rimmed glasses gave his face its defining accent, wore a deep navy suit paired with a narrow navy tie, and on his left lapel he wore the badge of the Shinseong Group.
Whether the subordinate was waiting or not, the middle-aged man showed no sign of opening his mouth.
For a while, silence hung over the office.
The subordinate in the horn-rimmed glasses swallowed soundlessly. The sheer pressure radiating from the middle-aged man before him made him shrink.
It was around the time some ten minutes had passed. The middle-aged man, who had gazed down at the Han River in silence with his hands clasped behind his back, slowly turned around.
"Head of the Strategy Division, you called for me?"
Only then did the subordinate in the horn-rimmed glasses let out a sigh of relief, bending forward about twenty degrees while keeping his head and back in a single straight line, observing proper courtesy.
The middle-aged man indicated the desk with the tip of his chin.
『Shinseong Group Head of the Strategy Division, Lee Myeong-u』
The crystal nameplate resting on the deep chestnut hardwood desk had the above characters engraved into it. And beside the nameplate, a single sheet of fine hanji was visible.
It was a sheet of hanji folded neatly twice.
The subordinate in the horn-rimmed glasses approached carefully and took the hanji in his hand.
Only then did the middle-aged man, Lee Myeong-u, finally part his lips.
"Head of Human Resources."
"Please speak."
"The date written there is the Day of Silence selected by the shamaness."
Shamaness.
Day of Silence.
The man in the horn-rimmed glasses, the Head of Human Resources, reacted to those two words.
Lee Myeong-u watched with a sharp gaze, not missing the slightest change in the other man's expression, and then continued.
"And not an ordinary Day of Silence, either. It is a Day of the Marsh, the sort that may not come around even once in a hundred years, so everything that occurs during that period will not be caught by any kind of search or divination."
"Head of the Division, then......"
"That's right. I intend to bring the child here in time for the Day of Silence."
"Ah! At last."
At Lee Myeong-u's words, the Head of Human Resources felt his pupils tremble. He then unfolded the hanji at once and committed the date written there to his brain.
April 28, 2055
In the center of the hanji, the above characters were written in a round, looping hand.
'Today is April 13, 2055......'
The Head of Human Resources calculated inwardly.
There were only a mere fifteen days left until the Day of Silence chosen by the group's shamaness.
'If I am to escort the young master here on schedule, I will have to hurry. It works out well that the group's personnel recruitment is underway on the surface right now. I should move the plan along in step with it.'
The Head of Human Resources was, as everyone in the group acknowledged, part of Lee Myeong-u's faction.
Therefore, for the Head of Human Resources to survive within the Shinseong Group, Lee Myeong-u had to prosper first.
The Head of Human Resources spread his thumb and middle finger wide, gripped the frame of his glasses from both sides, pushed them up, and then answered decisively.
"Understood. I will carry it out without a hitch."
Lee Myeong-u added in his low, deep voice.
"Naturally, there must not be any hitch. The shamaness hinted that a stretch of Days of Great Calamity continues both before and after the Day of Silence. So bring the child here in time for the 28th."
'Days of Great Calamity!'
At the ominous words, the muscles of the Head of Human Resources' face stiffened.
"......I will bear it in mind, Head of the Division."
The Head of Human Resources bowed his head crisply to express his resolve.
Only then did Lee Myeong-u withdraw his piercing gaze, slowly turning his body to look at the sunset spread out beyond the window.
The Head of Human Resources offered one more bow of the head toward the back of the Strategy Division Head's skull, and then withdrew from the office without making a sound with his feet.
Midnight that night.
The Head of Human Resources of the Shinseong Group, the ruler of Mid-Land Seoul, and one of his team members rode a Tube down to Earth.