Chapter 188

  “Jeez. Alright. I suppose you don't get the System either, right?”

  “Not really. I read a little bit about it today.” William said, gazing at his hands and wondering why he was feeling the way he did. He wasn't afraid. He wasn't too bad, or that bad.

  “Do you remember anything good at all?”

  “What I said is pretty much it. Not much, I know.”

  “Kaufman got it as well, I suppose?”

  “He… well, he felt something and said something else. That’s my gut feeling. I felt like... not meeting it is wise like not thinking about him poorly. He is Rank 8 Walker for a reason.”

  “Good call.” Mi-Yung took a breath, and a chunk of her Arcana calmed down like her eyes.

  “I doubt he wants trouble with me. He showed me around and got me this card, so is it not an incredible opportunity to learn and walk around his place?” He left that piece of wood on the table and tapped on it with his finger.

  “Yeah, I bet it is hard not to take advantage of it. I suppose you got a free rein over the floors thanks to Heidi as well. She has this peculiar relationship with her father and this card is his alone, so...”

  “Some people didn't like it for sure.” William knew it, but didn't want to lose this card, so he omitted this feeling. Ellie did it even more and pursued him to just accept it. “Interesting things are ahead. I want to go through the upper floors as I can and get ahead with at least... something.”

  “Don't watch things you will regret.”

  “Is that a warning? Kaufman said the same thing.”

  “He is testing your will. I suspect this card is like a trial of his old mind, or a poison and a mark to see what you would do with such an offered opportunity. Maybe he wants to know specifics. This card has no limits, and there are rooms out there that a child shouldn't watch or read. Which is worse? Watching, reading, or feeling. I wonder.”

  “As a future Walker, I question this idea.”

  “As a proper Walker, I don't,” Mi-Yung said simply. “You don’t know what it is like.”

  William didn't know what to say next. Should he promise her not to be stupid or what?

  “What have you learned there? Through Kaufman, yourself, or... your mysterious guide.”

  “A bit of politics, history, Ranks, Emblems, and what sort of things they might suggest for Walkers. I had no clue about a lot of things before, or I lacked the right idea. It isn't even comparable. Outside is living in the shadows and is left like that. Isn’t it weird?”

  “Yeah. One would think it wouldn't be like that, but... if I remember it correctly, you refused all advances or moving away from Outside, so... what does this privilege feel like?”

  “I don't regret it. I waited and looked out for myself and my parents. I felt... it would do something until it never did.”

  “You wasted yourself.”

  William angrily shifted his head and wished to leave. His sheer face definitely described an unwilling and stubborn youth.

  “Alright. Sorry. I want to know you, and since Kaufman showed you the beginner room, I can show you the rest. Of course, a lot of rooms have their needs and intense ideas. I think Darks Sectors are more up to your liking. Many archives about them are interesting thanks to science, resources, and decades of careful or savage battles. I fought a lot of them, you see.”

  “I will keep that in mind.”

  “Kaufman used to be reluctant to share too much as the leader of that library, but Heidi is not. That is the reason I can help you better. That card is not a key. It won't crash your head by itself. I might.”

  “Please... no more crashing.” William said begrudgingly until Mi-Yung chuckled.

  “Right. Heidi or anyone can do the same thing. They did not because they do not know you. They know that card, and they know me. Nothing will stop me from advising you. It is your reward!” Mi-Yung said with a mischievous smile. Rules or common restrictions she knew wouldn't hold her with any sincerity or secrecy.

  “I am fine...thank you,” William mumbled, but she kept speaking.

  “Rank is the core definition and process of the System. It corresponds to your Emblem like a set of rules. It is a word. Noise. It goes to unknown lengths, and not many people understand how they all work together with us. Same as that noise called many things. It is mindless, in a sense.”

  “Madness, you mean?”

  “No.”

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “Kaufman said there is a bit of it in everyone. I kind of agree.”

  “Listen, William. Walkers do a lot more than that, and it is deep and pondering issues. There are not that many Walker scientists, as everyone is kind of a pioneer of their own problems. I call it an inevitable fate that moves us closer or far from power. We always end up fighting and dying in battle. Retirement is just an excuse to find that fitting end to our journey. We are born with both a System and an Emblem, yet each contains very little until Walker reaches adulthood. Isn't it strange?”

  “It is a body problem, I think,” William suggested. “Emblem is the reason, System is the cause, or... how or why, are other suspicious words.”

  “You think right. Everything revolves around them, us, and we want to keep it going, but it sometimes can't go as we want and wish. It is talent, will, and upkeep. Some call it records, sequences of conducted acts and rewards, or simple achievements. Most folks say Emblems choose their owners. That it is just a meandering issue Darks causes. I call it an odd blessing that gave us a chance to fight, and this choice is random, yet parents and Walkers are not. How? Is it a fragmentation or desecration of the will or ego of the emblems?”

  William relaxed and nodded, clearly interested in where this was going. The topic of his parents or sex wasn't in his mind. “What about the System?”

  “System is link washing out the previous mess and Madness within us and the Awakening. Before, it is like a huffed mess that whispers and makes no sense. Awakening does a lot of things right, naturally or forcefully. A lot can be done in a significant teen period that humans have. For Emblems to go so crazy after or in this period is clearly an identity of something lacking, or it is genetics.”

  William silently nodded and voiced yet another wonder he hadn't connected very well. “You speak of Awakening a lot. What about this Examination?”

  “Oh, that? It is bound to come at you. If you refused everything, my invitation itself... no, perhaps that ends nothing. I would drag you out of there by myself.”

  William frowned and felt he had made a very good choice riding with Luke. Also, he felt he was very reasonable with Mi-Yung, and it made a lot of sense. It wasn’t familial interest, but it felt as if knowing her helped him tremendously. She was also kind of fun, curious, and very talkative.

  “You don't need to be too nervous. There is no way to change the outcome of the Awakening anymore. No manner of training or lesson will give your Emblem better results. But your mind might appreciate readiness and there are spiritual consequences and mental issues ahead of this topic. So yeah. Good luck.” Mi-Yung reassured him, though she lied about a couple of minor things.

  There was a way to give Rank 0s much more attention than just wasting and waiting for time. It wasn't good or bad. It was an interesting subject that made every Rank 0 encouraging and their Emblems weirder.

  However, this issue wasn't what Mi-Yung had in mind. It was too late for that, or... could it still be right?

  Giving his Emblem further push or Darks might create or give it light. There might be a chance William endured much more than he let out. After all, he hadn’t said it that well and barely recalled his poor young days.

  It was true. William's Emblem had its journey. It ate its fill, in a sense.

  The new start will be tougher. Mi-Yung and many others knew the struggles bound to hearing Mindless Eyes, feeling the System, and handling the Emblem.

  Some youths, even natural ones, often go crazy because of them. Bad upbringing, poor condition, not enough talent, and more reasons were determining such conditions. So in a sense, there was a way to grow and prepare youths for this, and it might change most outcomes.

  However, the core Emblems couldn’t undergo too much change by itself. The growth was more about people, talents, and experience.

  That simple wording made a big difference, providing survivability for new generations. The Darks weren't asking Walkers whether they were ready to fight them. That was the common sense of nature and Darks, who would hunt anything.

  “So... I can learn and be less worried? Nice. Finally, some good news.”

  “It is common sense that you would know if you weren’t such... stubborn piece. Outside is really tough and there is a point about it being like that. People and Walkers, who are living and surviving out there, could be even tougher than some privileged fools. South Korea was like that too, so look at me. I am not alone. There are dozens of Walkers of similar Rank as me from South Korea alone, living and trying to see a more promising future. One day, our descendants might rebuild a new Korea. All thanks to your father, frankly.”

  Mi-Yung was reminiscent of the past, which in turn made her even cooler.

  “I doubt my father was anything or anyone crazy. Was his Rank even bigger than yours?”

  “Yes.”

  “How much?”

  “By... one Rank, but that alone is the difference between sea and clouds! It was also later. Nowadays, I believe I could fight him as he was back them, but that isn’t a fair comparison. Maybe he would beat me up like a kid.”

  “I don't see it. I doubt he helped South Korea alone.”

  Hearing his dubious facts, Mi-Yung quivered her lips and lost her voice, and continued before another one of his sudden factual outbursts would give her mood another shot.

  William didn't have too many memories of his father and didn't believe every word he heard about him. Sure, he took that to heart and felt like his parents were much wilder than he imagined. He thought they were normal and ended up dead Outside, like many others.

  Yet look at it... Not only was one Rank 7, but his mother was someone important in the Academy and both ended up in a freaking exodus. That was bad, was it not? It sounded sinister.

  “Why does so little information go Outside? I thought camps are part of the future. Why keep us in the shadows?”

  “People and Walkers are different.”

  “People are people!”

  “I don't lie to you, William.”

  “And I hate it.” William shifted his chair, almost leaving. Mi-Yung stomped and hit the chair, positioning it so he wouldn't by one swoop of her legs.

  “I am not over...”

  William grunted and felt the wood pressing on his chest.

  “Outside is much more complicated than I am willing to admit. I will describe it later. For now, I want to teach you something much more important. More than your father ever did me!” she declared with enthusiasm and pride.

  “My father trained you?”

  “For a while. It is not so strange after taking me from a wiped-out South Korea. I wasn't alone either. The Federation takes any Walker refugees from destroyed settlements and wars, and that includes normal people. Usually, of course. South Korea was big enough to pivot many places. Federation came, but late. Perhaps it was a good thing for them, yes? Any more and perhaps things would get much worse for everyone. Japan…. too. China? Well, no matter what, Darks are there and hunting and living. Some doing it literally.”

  Sighting at the end, her memories of her former home were as fresh as yesterday. William didn't dwell on her anger for longer than necessary and felt he was unnaturally tensed up for a good while. Was it the chair and table, or just her?

  “Does that mean you knew my father rather well, unlike me?” William mumbled. He couldn't even remember his father's face, so this question was full of curiosity as well as cautious views.

  She caught on to it immediately and wondered how sad it was.