“None of this helps with what we have on our hands. Fucking hell - ” Gloria put down the last piece of paper and sighed. When she checked her own coffee mug, it was already empty.
“Yeah, but it’s still worth it. We can reorganize it more later.” Sue scratched her head as she kept writing on her notepad: “I mean - there’s a lot of records and entries about their workplace being creepy. But - we still have nothing that can help us. We still need to find out where that Blood Rainbow came from. And where the bad omen comes from. And - who the survivors are - ”
“I - we’re running out of time.” Gyuu Park sipped his tea, sitting the corner of the booth, sighed: “I’m afraid we need to think about our last resort - we need to think about going into the Old Ruins - ”
“It’s still too risky.” Sue shook her head: “I’ll tell you what, I looked into the tricks on detecting fluctuation of Qiyun and omens, so I think we can try to track the fluctuations for a period of time. I can try to mark the differences everyday - there’s got to be some pattern with all of this.”
“Good idea. Good idea.” Gloria nodded and tried to stand up, but her legs seemed to be slightly shaking, probably since she was also somewhat overworked and overstressed these few days and the last three cups of extra strong coffee was beginning to take its toll.
“Yes - but - ” Gyuu Park rubbed his face: “I am afraid something is about to happen soon. And we need a breakthrough, we need to find something that could help us answer our questions. Right now all we have is more and more side evidence that we are facing something unnatural and out of the ordinary… But - we need progress!”
Gloria frowned lightly, she could tell that Gyuu Park was somehow getting very impatient, so she tried to console him a little: “Yes, but - we are beginning to piece things together…”
“I - I need some air. Sorry.” Gyuu Park stood up, stretched a little then stormed out of the coffee shop.
Gloria and Sue watched as Gyuu Park walked to the side of the street, took out a pack of cigarettes and started smoking while leaning on a light post nearby.
“Should we - should we go talk to him?” Sue Asked.
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“Let him be for a while. He’s like that when he’s stressed. We just need to wait here and give him some time.” Gloria shook her head: “It’s okay. ”
“Okay. Okay.” Sue nodded and sighed: “I can sorta understand why he’s stressed though - he’s a clergyman after all. He’s supposed to help handle things like this. And - I was thinking we could ask the other temples for help. But - ”
“Yeah, I was also thinking about it. Only three of us here, we’re bound to be stretched thin. ” Gloria shook her head: “I wonder if we could visit Kshiti Temple again. But - I am worried about how they would react when they learned that we have been working on and looking into things having to do with Qiyun and karma - ”
Sue sighed, then shook her head, chuckling: “I can understand your reservation - they are indeed pretty uptight.”
“Especially the elders. Sifu Kuo, for example, he’s already quite an accomplished watcher, but he’s still very intimidated by Elder Mu.” Gloria chuckled as well: “But - you know, she did give me a lot of inspiration. And she WAS the one that told me about the 15 year cycle. So -”
“So we CAN go ask her. But - I’d imagine unless we have something solid, we cannot go to anyone. I mean, we’ve already taken enough risk going to Chef Tang for help and trading this kind of intelligence with him. ” Sue sighed.
“Hey, but it’s worth it. ” Gloria chuckled and held Sue’s hand: “It was a terrible situation, and I’m glad we went and took the risk.”
“Hey, sorry, my apologies.” Gyuu Park came back, smelling like smoke, still weary but seemed to have calmed down: “I - I just needed the fresh air.”
“Yeah no problem.” Sue nodded and smiled: “I think we may need to head back and take a break anyway - it’s a long day, and time is getting late, we shouldn’t be wandering in the wild like this.”
Gyuu Park sighed, then after a short moment of silence, he looked up at Gloria and Sue in the eyes: “Yeah before that, I’d like to reiterate this - and I am really certain that this is the right choice: you should start to look into the old ruins. And start making preparations. This is simply because, like I said, we are running out of time. And I don’t think anyone else would be able to help us now, not even the elders. Things - things are not good.”
“... okay. ” Gloria felt slightly disturbed by how solemn Gyuu Park’s tone was: “What - where do you think we should start? What kind of preparation do you suggest?”
“I - the first thing I could think of would be, prepare some incense sticks, a traditional wooden compass.” Gyuu Park rubbed his temples, and the frown on his forehead did not go away: “And maybe be prepared to be lost for a few days. But - I don’t really know. I just have this unshakeable feeling that we won’t be able to find out anything anytime soon without seeking wisdom from the ruins and the lady in white.”
“Lady in white…” Sue looked to Gloria, concerned: “I - I’ll see if I can find anything about her. How soon do we need to be ready?”
“I’ll need to ask around, and maybe do a divi - something to find out.” Gyuu Park scratched his hair, then sunk into his seat: “But yeah - that’s all I’m trying to say right now. Let’s get back. And take a break - good work. We should be ready to ask the right questions soon.”
When Gloria and Sue got back to their apartments, the atmosphere was still strange while stressful.
“I’m sorry. ” Gloria sighed and looked at Sue: “I don’t know what happened. But he was, like I told you, very - very burned out and anxious. ”
“You need to talk to him.” Sue nodded and gave Gloria a gentle side hug: “I’m worried about him. And you. If he’s worried about something, he should at least tell you. We’re in this together now, and if there’s anything worrisome, he should feel free to share it with you - or, someone.”
“Yes, sure, of course. I’ll check in on him soon.” Gloria sighed.