Chapter 15

Balancing an entire island on a single point of gravel and rock was not an easy task- one false step, one wrong accidental muscle movement, could level the whole place down. But of course, everyone was well aware of that. As if that wasn't stressing enough, Yuri began feeling the consequences of the intense heat produced by the magma down below, as the flames and molten rock kept sucking the oxygen of the entire treasure chamber. She wasn't the only one suffocating from the lack of oxygen. She wanted to collapse on her knees to rest but knew she couldn't for the sake of not only herself but the other three as well.

"How much time... do you think we got... before we die... of suffocation?" Yuri asked, barely able to breathe.

"Judging by the temperature... and the moisture level..." Tae replied between huge gasps of air, "I'd say... that we have... about 30 mins at most..."

"Well... is there... any sign... of a possible... exit?"

"Knowing King Sejong... I'd say... that he would build... an escape tunnel... just in case something like this... occurred to him..."

"Wait, what do you... mean by saying... 'knowing King Sejong'? You're saying as if... you know him personally..." However, Tae didn't respond and instead, looked all over the room for a possible exit path. Yuri, desperate to escape the heat, tried to look for one as well. So did the other two. Time was something they couldn't afford to waste.

Sweating, Yuri frantically searched for anything that looked like a tunnel, a passage, even a door. Then, across from her face a couple yards away, what she thought was a wall painting only moments ago turned out to be her possible savior: an air ventilation system big enough for one person to crawl through. Soon, everyone else noticed it and getting on it became their first priority. The ventilation system tunnel was separated from the island by no more than 15 feet. According to the timer, they only had 22 minutes left.

"So here's what we're going to do," Tae ordered, breathing heavily, "I'm going to jump onto the tunnel first, since I know that Hyo and Sica don't have a farther jumping range than I do and I'm quite positive that you, Yuri, don't either. When I jump, each one of you follow. We'll go clockwise from our position. Yuri goes after me, then Sica, and finally Hyo. Now, while you're moving watch your step and careful to balance it out!"

On the count of three, all four began moving simultaneously to the right, where Tae's position gave a perfect aim at the tunnel. Suddenly, the island began to vibrate and sway to the sides. Everyone got down onto the floor in surprise. "What the hell was that?!" Then, cracks in the island, which was invisible at first, began to appear, running from the center and going through the entire platform, ready to break open and end the lives of all four at any moment. The earth beneath their feet was rapidly melting and crumbling into hell below.

"All of you guys, try not to panic! Now softly and gently, move to where I'm standing so that I can back up and sprint, in order to balance the platform out."

Everyone followed suit and Tae began to back up to the center carefully, calculating each step he took to determine whether the balance was off or at the point. When he reached his mark, he stopped and gazed at the small opening, never leaving his concentration elsewhere.

"Alright, on the count of three, I'm going to sprint and jump off, and as I'm sprinting, two of you move to the back while one stays in the front! When I jump off, one of you has to come to the middle, preferably Yuri. Now, when I give the okay sign, Yuri, you sprint to the tunnel and everyone else stays where they are. On the count of three: one... two... THREE!"

Immediately, Yuri and Sica ran to the back at the same time that Tae sprinted to the edge of the island and leaped into the air. But just as his feet stepped off the ground, the island gave in and some of the cracks in the ground opened up, causing a huge chunk to break off and surrender to the flames of molten rock. This caught all of them in surprise. Tae flew through the air and his fingers grabbed onto the tunnel's entrance point just in time. Pulling himself up, he thanked his legs for being able to leap so far, but his joyful face turned into horror as he witnessed a quarter of the island disappear. He looked at his watch. Fifteen minutes left.

"Alright, Yuri... you're next," Hyo Joon noted, while filling his heavy lungs with as much air as he could possibly gather. Unsure of whether she would make it or not, Yuri hesitantly stepped onto the center of the stage. Her eyes were focused on Tae and her only exit. Right concentration.

"Yuri... don't fail us! Don't let our girls down! So Nyu Shi Dae forever, right?" Jessica exclaimed.

"One... two... THREE!" At that moment, Yuri pushed off the floor with all her leg strength and sprinted like she has never sprinted before. Hot wind brushed against her face and the roaring flames threatened her every move. Still, her will to live was stronger and she reached to the edge, jumping into the air and extending her arms to grab onto the exit. However, her leap was too short and her gentle fingers missed the mark by a couple centimeters. She didn't fly hard enough. Looks like this is the end of my life, she thought and closed her eyes.

Snatch!

Someone grabbed Yuri's wrist to stop her from falling. As she opened her fearful eyes, she witnessed Tae grabbing onto her wrist with one hand and on a vine rope that was hanging off the cliff with another. Tae's brutal strength was no match for gravity as he pulled both himself and Yuri up the rocky walls and onto the ventilation tunnel. When they were safe, Tae and Yuri collapsed on top of each other, Tae on the bottom and Yuri on top. It wasn't long before they realized what was going on until Yuri quickly got off Tae and they both stood there, awkwardly. Both faces quickly turned red.

"Stupid me, I never should have saved you. If you are that weak, you're only going to be a burden to the rest of us. Still, I guess if I didn't save you, Sica would probably kick my @$$, not that I was worried or anything."

Soon, their smiles disappeared when they looked back at the island and saw half of it missing. The marble floor was breaking apart each second. It was just Sica and Hyo left. "Okay," Tae cried out amidst all the roaring and crackling of fire, "you're safe to go Jessica!"

* * *

"Alright Hyo Joon, remember, after I jump off, make sure you jump off at a 20-degree angle or else you might miss the-" Sica was interrupted.

"Sica, listen to me. I've done the math and according to my calculation... only one of us can survive. When one of us jumps off, the rest of the island is going to fall apart; the deep cracks rooted into the marble is evidence that that fate is inevitable."

"Then we'll both jump together and-"

"No that's not possible. The tunnel is only big enough for one of us to land on. And the vine can't support both of us cause after Tae grabbed onto it with Yuri, it lost most of its durability. And lets not forget that plants don't do so well to support heavy weights under intense heat."

"So how're we going to-"

"Sica, don't you get it? There's going to be no more "we"... just you." The island trembled again, and this time, a piece the size of a piano broke off.

"Don't tell me, you're planning to-"

"Yes, Jessica, that's exactly what I'm going to do. I have no life outside of here: my entire family is dead and my only home is the training ground that we used to train together. You, on the other hand, are a member of the nation's representative girl group, with a family of eight other sisters that loves you... loves you more than I did. "

"Hyo, you can't do this to yourself! We can still get out of here togeth-"

"SICA YOU HAVE TO ACCEPT THE TRUTH! Don't worry, I still haven't forgotten about all of our times together. Those memories I am going to keep even after I die..."

Tears flowed down Sica's cheeks like a gentle river through a quiet forest. Hyo Joon came over to her and, raising his hand, wiped those tears from her eyes.

"Don't cry Sica. I'll always be here for you. Besides... they say that death is but another part of life." Then, Hyo reached down his shirt and grabbed an anchor necklace, the one Sica gave to him during their date together a few years ago. "I never forgot about you, even when we separated, even when we began to live our own lives without anyone giving us orders ... and I want you to keep this necklace, something to remember me by."

Hyo Joon handed her the Book of Life and approached her to whisper something in her ear. The surface was becoming thinner.

"When you get out of here, I need you to do me one huge favor... think of it as my last wish," he whispered in her ear, "June 3rd, 2007."

With that, Sica laid her face against his and kissed him passionately. Their soft lips touched together like two roses on a calm spring breeze. Their final kiss ended as soon as they realized they were running out of time. The floor started to become completely unstable. There was just enough floor space for Sica to make the jump. She looked back at him one last time and saluted him. He saluted back in return. Sica's attention turned towards the air ventilation tunnel. In a second, she sprinted and sprung off the floor. Grab! She reached for the vine rope and hung onto it. She turned her head back to look at the island. It had completely toppled off the stalagmite and turned to dust, its cracks too great to handle. There, in the middle, fell Hyo Joon, dropping thirty feet down into the pit of hell... smiling.

* * *

"Sica, I got you!" Yuri cried as she reached her hand down towards Sica. She grabbed onto her hand and Yuri pulled herself up with the help of Tae. When they were safe, they looked back at what was once a treasure chamber full of riches and beauty. Now it was just a dead space, immensely hot for someone to survive. "Just as I predicted," Tae spoke, "Oxygen level in the room is now way below human's tolerable level. Hyo Joon was a brave man, not just here but in all our ten years we've been together. Let's move on."

The three crawled through a tightly enclosed space, barely able to move. Sica was holding the book very tightly, not being able to forget the person she loved for nine years. Moments later, Tae was far in front of them, not too far but just enough to not be able to hear whispering conversation. Both Yuri and Sica noticed it.

"Hey Yuri, I forgot to tell you something back there," Sica whispered to Yuri.

"What?"

"Remember when you came into our dorm to find all of us tied up? Well, it was Hyo who tied us up and, after you were successfully kidnapped, untied us. Also, it was Tae who kidnapped you, but don't blame them. They were undercover so they had to follow Chang's orders. And, as you might have guessed, yes, Hyo and I used to be couples for a long time. After I resigned, though, we realized this wouldn't work and so we separated. I know we aren't supposed to keep secrets with each other, but I hope you can understand."

"Oh, so now everything makes sense...."

"And there's one more thing..." Sica continued, "And this has been bothering me for such a long time. Major General Tae's face now looks exactly the same as when I first met him-- almost eleven years ago. No wrinkles, no dark spots, not even a speck of a sign that shows evidence of aging. I know it's impossible to believe, but you have to believe me. I asked him one time about his face and he told me it was loads of plastic surgery and for me not to worry about it anymore. But I doubt it's plastic surgery, cause I know what faces with plastic surgery looks like and they do not look as natural as Tae's face looks. Just telling you, Yuri, that you should be careful around him... something about him just doesn't seem right."

Later, all three survivors met together at the end of the passageway. Tae kicked open the vent and dropped down to the floor, along with the other two. The room they were in now was a large stone room. Samjokgos lined up the walls here as well. However, unlike the other rooms that they took, this one was completely different.

The room was filled with countless number of rotten human skeletons and decaying human corpses.

Yuri went to the corner of the room to throw up. The human corpses all were wearing robes belonging to Korea's Joseon Dynasty*, specifically the Royal Court. There was one corpse that didn't fit the picture, though. The body was that of a 19th century Anglo-Saxon man, possibly German or Austrian. However, all the decaying corpses had one thing in common: their chests were cut open and their heart removed.

"Who would do this?" Sica wondered in horror.

Then, they all noticed a spot on the wall that was stained with blood. They rushed over to the place and looked to see a solid bowl made of jade built into the wall itself. There was inscription written below the bowl. It read: 'Surrender your heart and the world will be yours'.

"Surrender your heart.... no wonder all these corpses have their chests cut open. There was always one person who would cut open their partner's chest, and removed the heart. I'm guessing you have to insert the heart into the bowl and this wall will open up." Yuri realized.

Just then, Tae snatched the Book of Life from Sica. Before Sica was able to complain, he grabbed into his jacket and pulled out his pistol and aimed at Yuri and Sica.

"What are you-"

Tae Kyun gave a great laugh. "Finally, I have the Book of Life, the treasure that was rightfully mine until that King Sejong took it away from me out of his own greed! Now I can finally remake the drink that kept me alive and well for nearly six hundred years!"

Chapter 16

Light from the torch fire on top of the samjokgo statues gleamed off the stainless steel pistol that was in Tae Kyun's hand.

"Six hundred years I?ve been awaiting to reunite with my treasure... Sica, Yuri, trust me, I wanted all of us to go out safely with the book in my hands, but I'm afraid that isn't the case. I had no idea King Sejong would go to this measure just to keep the book all to himself. I'm afraid you will have to sacrifice your life for us... or Yuri." Tae still had his gun pointed at them, ready to pull the trigger.

"You sick f**k!" Jessica ran and tried to land a hard sidekick at Tae, but he dodged it as if it were nothing. Then switching to her other foot, she spun around to land a roundhouse kick but he dodged it as well. When she leaped into the air to kick his face, Tae grabbed her leg and swung it around, letting go and throwing Sica across the room. She crashed into a pile of corpses, her leg broken by the impact.

"Your ten years of experience is no match for mine... now-- say your final words."

Sica lied there in the middle of the room, helpless. "These are my final words, General Kim Tae Kyun... or should I say-- Jang Yeong Sil*" She then shot her vengeful eyes towards his. "I HOPE YOU GO TO HELL!!!!"

Bang!

"YURI, NO!!!"

Yuri threw herself in front of Jessica just as the lead bullet fired out of the muzzle and sped through the air. It tore through Yuri's side, blood gushing out rapidly. She screamed in pain as she hit the ground. Shocked, Jessica crawled over to where she was and placed her hands on Yul's hip to apply pressure so as to slow the bleeding.

"Stupid Yuri," Sica whispered while trying to smile to soften the mood, "You didn't have to do that... I would have gladly sacrificed myself for you to be able to live the rest out the rest of your lives with the others..."

"Sica..." Yuri took deep breaths each time she tried to speak, "I would... never have been able... to live on... knowing that the only reason... I'm alive... is because of you..." After she finished talking, Yul closed her eyes and flashed a thumbs up sign. A tear ran down Sica's face and fell on top of Yuri's hand. She faced Tae to make a move to attack him, but stopped when her eyes met his once again. Tae was on his knees, gun on the floor, and crying, crying out of sadness and, at the same time, happiness.

* * *

"Witch! Witch! Shoot him! Kill him!"

The villagers of Seoul gathered around him with stones while some of the Hwarang Archers* from the royal palace approached him. He had one chance to escape but he didn't have enough time. General Chang, the head of the Joseon military of Seoul at the time, approached the young man with a sword in his hand.

"So... you're Jang Yeong Sil, right?"

The man nodded.

"Rumor has it that you have been living for more than 200 years, from the Goryeo period and even through King Sejong's era. Heck, you even rose from the bottom of the social class to almost as high as the King himself for your great inventions. Now people like you can become pretty powerful when given the right terms..." Then General Chang placed the blade of his sword on Yeong Sil's throat and his mouth came very close to his ear.

"Personally, I think you're a great guy," he whispered, "But I hate the thought of competition, you know what I mean?" With that, he got up and walked away. "Archers, stand your position. Now... fire at will!"

In a split second, the arrows covered the sky and created an arch as it rained down on Jang Yeong Sil who was trembling in fear of death. Suddenly, one woman ran past the group of villagers, into the line of fire, and used her body as a shield to cover him. The arrows hit everywhere in the surrounding area of the target, except for the target itself. Instead, the woman was pierced, her blood dripping down from her mouth and onto Yeong Sil's face.

"Who are you? Why'd you rid your life to save me?"

"You might not know me--- but I know you. Escape while the archers are getting ready to fire again." Then the mysterious woman, with all her strength, raised her hand...

... and gave her a thumbs up.

"What's your name?" Yeong Sil asked her as he was getting up to make his escape.

"Kwon... Yoon... Jae..." After that, her heart stopped beating and she dropped to the ground motionless.

* * *

Remembering as if it happened yesterday, Tae Kyun returned to the present, the 21st century. Slowly, he approached both injured girls and ran his hand through Kwon Yuri's hair, who was still unconscious. Her thumb kept pointing at the sky.

"Yuri... Kwon Yuri, I had no idea you were related to Kwon Yoon Jae who saved me from death four hundred years ago. I have a life's debt to repay to her and even though you aren't her, I guess you as her descendant can count." Immediately, he opened the Book of Life and began reading it. After a couple of seconds, he grabbed a water bottle from his bag and began adding various mixtures into it. When it was time, he opened Yuri's shirt and began pouring the liquid on the injury. Smoke rose from the scar and the speed of Yul's body's regeneration process grew a thousand fold. In a matter of minutes, her body was completely healed. Her eyes began to open slightly.

"What's going on?" she spoke faintly.

"Kwon Yuri, I am indebted to you, your family, and I am finally going to fulfill my debt today. When I'm gone, use my heart to escape, just as your great-great-great grandmother gave her heart to let me escape."

With that he grabbed his gun from the floor, armed it, and pointed it at his head. "Some say immortality is a blessing, but I like to think of it as a curse. I've lived too long to see this world suffer even greater than ever before, and my ancient eyes can't take it anymore. Agent Sica, it was great to work with you for such a lasting time. Kwon Yuri, I have finally found you, the descendant of Kwon Yoon Jae. Now I know who she is..." Jang Yeong Sil, who had changed his name to Tae Kyun during the late 19th century to hid his true identity, stood straight and saluted both girls. Jessica saluted him in return, smiling in respect for her beloved leader, and so did Yuri who was still lying on the floor. Yeong Sil closed his eyes and prepared to pull the trigger.

"Oh one last thing. Yuri, the item you stole from the treasure room before it was destroyed, you made a great choice in taking it. Page 47 will teach you how to use it. Hmmm... three o' clock pm the day before yesterday should be the wisest choice. And lastly, it was installed behind the boiler in your apartment." Yeong took out a piece of paper and a pen from his pocket and began scribbling down notes. Then he folded up the paper and gave it to Yuri. "If you do make the wise decision, hand the driver this piece of paper. He'll know what to do with it." Yeong took a few steps back and raised his gun to his head.

"Kwon Yoon Jae, I'm going home... my beautiful wife."

Bang!

The great inventor Jang Yeong Sil shot himself and collapsed. His head exploded into many shards and blood splashed everywhere. Both girls covered their eyes and screamed in shock. In a split second, everything turned quiet.

"Yuri, what item was Tae talking about? Who's Kwon Yoon Jae?"

"I'll tell you later, but right now, you have to help me remove his heart. We can't let his death be in vain." Yuri stood up perfectly, without any trouble as if she was never injured, and pulled out a dagger that was stuck on one of the corpses. Later, she, with the help of Sica, cut open Tae's chest to reveal his warm, still-faintly-beating heart. Their hands and arms were soaked in blood. With the bloody dagger, she cut the veins and arteries that connected the heart to the rest of the body. She placed her hands inside and removed the organ that was long believed throughout human history to be the origin of everything going on inside the human mind, from emotions to logical thinking to religion.

'Thank you, Tae Kyun' Yuri whispered under her breath.

Taking the fragile heart in her hands, she carefully stepped over to the jade bowl and placed it down inside. The bowl then disappeared into the wall, followed by an earthquake as the whole room shook. Immediately, Yuri and Jessica heard gears turning and felt the wall move to the side. It was a wonderful sound, the sound of freedom. As the wall opened wider, both girls were bathed in a radiant light that made them cover their eyes, eyes that were used to the darkness and artificial light from open fire. What happened next blew them all away.

For the first time in hours, they felt a gust of fresh air and heard birds chirping in the distance.

As they lowered their hands that were covering their eyes, both girls realized that the exit led them into a coastline east of Jeju Island. The roaring of the waves greeted them happily and they were glad to get their feet out of the hard stone floor and onto soft sand. The evergreen plants and the rocky cliffs made it look as if they were inside a masterpiece painting.

Rendition of the coast that Sica and Yuri were led into from the exit of the chamber.

Sica grabbed the Book of Life from the floor and, together, walked out of the God-forsaken labyrinth. Just as their feet left the cold stone floor, the wall began to close. The girls turned around and took a final look at Tae Kyun's lifeless body, who had sacrificed his life for the lives of the two. Soon, the wall closed shut and the cliff turned back to the way it was.

"So what was the item that Tae was talking about?"

Yuri reached down into her pocket and took out a golden pocket watch. The watch was engraved with a samjokgo, a dragon, and a phoenix. When Yuri opened it, the clock didn't resemble any regular pocket watch. Instead of numbers, the face was filled with incomprehensible inscriptions. On top of that, there were four dials on the clock, each representing different figures. But most surprisingly, after all these years, the watch was still ticking without any type of energy source visible.

"What the hell?" Sica remarked.

"This is the only thing I took from that room, nothing else, so Tae must've meant this. I just took it cause it looked really nice; I don't know what it does or anything. Tae said page 47, right? Can you turn to that page, Sica?"

"Yuri, come look at this." Sica brought the book to Yul and opened it. She realized what Sica was talking about. Although the book was written in a pre-historic language, it was filled with various notes written pen in every page. However, the notes weren't written in Korean, but rather,-- in English. Yul flipped through the pages and came to the end where there was a note to the general audience written in English. It read:

To those reading this dreaded book, I bring you grave news.

This book is cursed and any man coming across this book will meet a terrible fate. This curse is evident throughout millenias of human history, including the destruction of the long-fabled Atlantis, the fall of the Egyptian and Roman civilization, and the mysterious wreck of the Great Library of Alexandria to name a few. If you are reading this note, then please take this book and burn it as soon as possible. That is the only method of stopping the dreaded curse. I warn you not when you read of the words that tell tales only man of true courage would be able to tell. Rid the world of this book for the greater good.

Signed,

Nikolai Tesla*

"Who in the world's Nikolai Tesla?" Sica asked.

"Oh, so everything makes sense now!" Yuri continued, "Remember the bag of sand we found in the treasure room with the strange symbol? That was the Tesla symbol, belonging to Nikolai Tesla that served as his signature seal. Also, remember the strange German corpse we found in the chamber back there? That was the body of Bristel von Oland, a 19th century German researcher/scientist that mysteriously vanished in 1877. Witnesses say he was last seen with Tesla on a ship leaving for the Oriental, also known as Asia. I guess now we know the fate of that German scientist."

"Oh I see... so what now?"

"Well, Tae said to turn to page 47, so let's start from there."

They turned to the correct page and began reading the notes, which were a direct translation of the indecipherable language and included some opinions of Tesla himself. When Yuri finished, she didn't know whether to feel excited or horrified.

"Yuri, what's wrong?"

"Holy mother of Christ... all this time, I had no clue.... Sica, I think I just picked up a time machine."

"A... WHAT?!"

"Yeah I know, I can't believe it either. Well considering that the book is correct and accurate to every bit of detail, let's see what it does. Okay so according to the book, I turn the winding-wheel counterclockwise... then I move this dial this way... what time did Tae say would be the wisest choice? Oh yeah, 3 pm! So I turn this dial that way... and I push the key wind in... and done!" Suddenly, the pocket watch glowed brightly and Yuri and Sica were surrounded by an electrical aura. Their faces displayed horror and confusion.

Soon, the aura engulfed both girls and they vanished into thin air, leaving no trace of any human presence behind.

TBC