As the first morning light touched the sky, discarded rubbers littered the street. Torn newspapers flew across the roadside like ghosts searching for their paths.
Fast-moving vehicles drove past the Bastion Hospital junction, the wet fog blurring their front windshields.
Inside the Storm mansion in the east, Min-ji stood in the garden, her left arm on her waist and her right scratching her chin.
"Now that that little brat is angry with that bitch—how do I turn her brother’s mind onto ?" she uttered softly. She stared at the slow-moving leaves of the fig tree, her thoughts racing.
Branches cast a green ray on her as sunlight passed through them.
Min-ji’s eyes closed for a second, and when she cracked them open, a strange smile tugged on her face. "I know exactly how to turn the cards," she whispered.
She turned away from the fig tree and walked back inside the mansion. Joy filled her heart, and she began planning her next moves internally.
Min-seo paused and stretched as the entrance door opened. She watched Min-ji enter, close the door, and head toward the stairs.
"Sis, what has co upon you these days?" Min-seo asked, lowering her arm from her waist and placing the white duster on the dining table.
"What do you an by that? I’m ," Min-ji replied with a laugh, then waved. "I will be back; I just need to do one or two things. I promise. I won’t stay there for long this ti."
"Okay, if you say so. Only the gods know what’s in that big head of yours," Min-seo said with a soft laugh. She waved back, then continued the morning cleaning.
In the second-floor hallway, Min-ji paused and glanced back at Min-seo. "She has no idea what I’ll do this ti. Even the gods will be shocked."
She laughed quietly, then moved toward Lily’s door.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
After three knocks, Min-ji stood murmuring, rehearsing her words and actions.
She pushed the door open, entering with a graceful smile on her face.
Lily lay on the bed, legs curled, almost as if she wanted to turn herself into a ball.
"Sleeping like a pig," Min-ji whispered, covering her mouth. ’How does Min-seo wake her?’ she wondered, eyes on the walls.
Morning rays from the window faded as Min-ji crouched by the bed. She gave the girl soft shoulder slaps and waited.
"Mm..." Lily yawned, opening her eyes. She turned, then fell asleep again.
Min-ji’s eyes sharpened, her face reddening. "HOW—" She tried to shout, but paused and cald herself.
"Little Athena," she called. This ti, Lily’s eyes slowly opened.
Lily frowned at Min-ji, but Min-ji’s posture sent a calmness through her.
"Little Athena, it’s ti for your morning al," Min-ji said, head bowed in the sa gesture she’d seen Min-seo use.
Lily swung her legs from the bed and stretched. "Mmm..."
A strange smile played on Min-ji’s lips, but she stayed composed.
As ti passed and breakfast ended, everyone returned to their routines.
Min-seo went to the garden; Min-ji to the back, where scattered rubbers lay on the ground.
Lily laughed wholeheartedly as she chased the butterflies that flew from one portion to the other.
"Be careful, Little Athena," Min-seo called out as Lily tripped. Min-seo laughed, shook her head, and continued cutting off the unmatched branches, making the flowers look terrible.
Leon, on the other hand, remained in the gymnastic room. "It’s been a while since I trained my speed." As the words escaped from him, the mory of him at Alchemania Park flashed into his head.
He rembered part of Mozart’s Requiem in D Minor, Sequence III: Rex Trendae Majestatis. Then smiled.
"I’ve got to train before the remaining two days I have are over," Leon said, nearing the treadmill, then smiled.
The mory of the first ti using the treadmill flashed into his mind as he stepped on it.
He started at 3, then switched to 30. "Good for a start." His arms pumped, breath steady in gasps.
The hum beneath his feet turned into a relentless whine as he increased the speed to 40.
A gust of air slamd against his face as the room began to blur little by little. After five minutes, sweat beaded his forehead, then slid down to his jaw.
Leon’s calves burned as his thighs tightened. Yet he kept going, teeth clenched, and chest rising faster with each passing second.
Air scraped against his lungs the mont he jumped off the machine. He bent slightly, palms against his knees, inhaling as a downed person brought back to life.
"I didn’t feel this way the last ti I trained. I need to keep going. At least an hour or two," Leon muttered, straightening and moving toward the exercise bike.
He relaxed as the first pedal ca smoothly. When he increased resistance, the strain grew.
Each push tightened his thighs, muscles pulling like iron bands.
Heat climbed into his skin the mont his lower abdon tightened.
When he finally stopped, he slowly placed one foot on the ground, then added the other as if he were now trying to rember how to hold his weight.
A faint laugh escaped him as he strained his back to straighten. "Damn... I’m now feeling myself after one month, three weeks, and four days," Leon breathed.
With shaking legs, Leon approached the dumbbells. "This will keep the pain alive and help regain strength."
His biceps swelled as he curled them. Shoulder presses brought a fire-like burn.
By the tenth rep, his fingers trembled. The last felt like forcing open a locked gate with bare hands.
The dumbbells clicked on the ground as Leon dropped them.
"At least I have to end with stretching exercises," Leon said, pulling out one of the black stretch mats and laying it on the ground.
He stretched one leg out, folded it. Then he let the pain take the lead. He did side, shoulder, and back stretches. Each one peeled another layer of stillness from his body.
When he finished, he lay flat on the stretching mat, watching the ceiling, and panting heavily.
Outside Storm mansion, countless vehicles lined up in front. Each one watched the large aircraft circling just above the roof.
A man with grey hair stepped out of his salon car, narrowing his eyes at the aircraft. He pointed at the smoke seeping from its back, signaling to the nearby onlookers with urgency.
Tall trees inside the mansion walls shook. The aircraft’s speeding wind blew them sideways.
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