Geun was still seated at the gunner’s post in the Catalina’s port waist blister. He traced his finger down the pair of handles on the machine gun. Usually wood or synthetic material, on these guns the handles were made of some very dense bone decorated with etchings of flowing scrimshaw work; a spell matrix designed to interact with the shooter. The ornate spade grips were incongruous with the weapon’s boxy steel body, ugly rivets, and long heavy barrel. The gun, a Browning .50 caliber machine gun with Korean manufacturer’s marks, was canted at an odd angle so that it could remain mounted on its pintle with the blister canopy closed. When they needed it, if they needed it, the gunner would have to open the blister to actually fire.
Ai stood near Geun, her hand resting lightly on the gun’s barrel as she prompted him, “Now, recite what Palkin just taught you.
He said, “If the target is using luck manipulation spells such as the basic arrow-deflection charm, then I shall switch the system to Tenome mode with a mental command. I must not panic when the Tenome system temporarily blinds me. I should follow the tactile feedback on my hands so that I am aiming the gun correctly, and I must trust the system when it tells me I have a padlock on the threat.”
Ai smiled brightly at him. “Excellent. That’s the hardest part of Tenome mode. The other guns on this aircraft operate the same way, though the blister guns have the best angles.” She then held up a stick magazine for the submachine guns. It had an ugly yellow radiation trefoil painted on its side. “What about staballoy rounds?”
Guen recited, “Paraignis rounds are highly toxic, and lethally poisonous to nearly everyone with supernatural abilities. The dust from the ammunition is dangerous for anyone to inhale, and after use I must report to either an in-house physician or an approved contracting physician for a check-up and radiological decontamination. Targets hit by staballoy should be captured and brought in for decontamination if possible.”
Ai put the magazine back into its storage pouch. “Now tell me about field decontamination.”
Geun stumbled on that. “Uh.”
Ai did not quite sigh aloud, though she did say, “I see,” and glanced in Palkin’s direction.
She then said, “Field-expedient emergency decontamination kits are available; one is installed on this aircraft. Contaminated or suspected-contaminated clothing and equipment is bagged, and exposed personnel go through a field wash. The runoff must be captured and retained for processing when we get back. You also still have to get the check-up after.”
Palkin had the decency to look sheepish at forgetting to teach Geun any of that. He said, “We will probably not need the staballoy rounds at all for this; they are simply an insurance measure if we happen to need to chase away a бессмертным солдатом.”
“A what?”
Ai started to explain, “It is literally deathless soldier, but-”
Palkin gently intervened, “But I mean beings less dangerous than a dragon which are still dangerous enough that regular bullets will only anger them. It might work against a dragon too, but it certainly would not be an instant kill.”
“Got it. Bessmertym soldatom.”
Palkin winced. “We will get you lessons.”
Whitney called down the corridor, “We’re approaching the last gale gate. This one leads to the Named demiplane the hotel’s in,” and he switched to English. “Twilight Under Infinity.”
Dmitrii was looking at a map on his knee. He said, “Geun, is this correct? The map says it is a bubble world with a radius of 300,000 cubits.”
Geun wasn’t familiar with archaic measurements, and he called down the corridor, “How far is that in something modern?”
Dmitrii didn’t even pause and said, “A cubit’s about a half-meter; call it 150 kilometers.”
Geun said, “Sounds close enough. Boon-Broker once mentioned the catopter house in the center of the realm is over 160 clicks from the sea bottom.”
Whitney yelled over the roar of the engines and the sound of the gale gate spooling into existence, “The what now?”
“The reflecting house, where the light for the interior of the bubble is supplied.”
Dmitrii made a note on his map.
The wind shrieked around the entire airplane as they passed through the gate and the wings creaked as Whitney eased the plane’s nose up, dropping speed and gaining a little altitude. The gate was only a hundred meters or so above the surface of the sea. Hanging in the sky directly overhead was the reflecting house Geun mentioned, a sphere resembling a red disco ball. It sparkled as its mirrors adjusted to sweep pink rays of light over different parts of the ocean. In the distance, where the ocean and islands bowled up into the walls of the sphere, the seas were mottled by the catopter’s rays of light.
Immediately in front of the plane was Boon-Broker’s island, a palm tree paradise under the perpetual sunset.
Dmitrii glanced up from his map and pointed out features. “Whitney the chart says there’s a pier and a place to beach ships on the other side.”
Whitney reached up and placed his hand on the throttle. “Then I’ll bring us around. Start making ready for a sea landing.”
The plane jerked a little as Whitney reduced power and shed speed. Geun leaned forward to look out the blister. This was the first time he’d had an opportunity to see the island from the air. It was a kidney-shaped mote of land, with a sharp crest of granite that the familiar hotel itself was carved into. The rooms had no balconies and the windows didn’t open, but they offered pretty views of the beach and the long pier extending from it. There were a few buildings scattered around the hotel proper: utility buildings for the pier, a beachside bar, a latrine, and a shower for bathers to wash off the sand and sea spray. Geun rarely used any of it, and Yeon was forbidden from doing so when he wasn’t around to watch her. While Boon-Broker guaranteed the safety of his guests on the pier and inside the hotel itself, the bar and swimmer’s beach were operated by another goblin.
As the wingtip floats dropped into landing position Whitney touched the plane down into the flat sea near the pier. He kept the Catalina away from the buoys that marked the swimming area. The few people using the beach watched curiously. A single sloop was moored to the pier, and Whitney kept well away from it too; he extended the landing gear as the plane approached the part of the beach reserved for small boats, and without further ado rolled up on the sand.
A summer goblin, with golden skin, long pointy ears, and goat eyes, scurried up to dicker with Whitney over a beaching fee. Palkin ignored the attendant. He jumped down from the Catalina in a tremendous spray of beach sand and strode purposefully toward the hotel. Ai and Geun followed.
As soon as they entered the front lobby of the Hidden Hotel Boon-Broker slapped his little desk bell and a handful of paper lamps lit up. A few of them had faces, and the biggest one had a proper mouth, with a lolling tongue hanging like a banner. The biggest one turned to watch the entrance.
Boon-Broker said, “You tarried overlong! You have an insistent visitor, and I see you have guests with you. Why did you not return before renting a woman?”
Geun said in exasperation, “I’m not renting her, she’s not my type-”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Boon-Broker interrupted, “A distruth; no, a blatant lie!”
Ai, to her credit, played up the teen girl disguise and blushed a bright pink.
Geun re-phrased it. “She’s not intended for me, she’s for Yeon’s benefit.”
Boon-Broker clicked his nails against the counter. “Is that so? She wished to rent a girl?”
Ai covered her face with both hands.
Geun ignored her hammy acting and gestured down the hallway toward his room, where Yeon was. “No, Yeon’s a kid, do you understand that concept? Kids need to have interactions with peers.”
The autumn goblin’s nostrils flared as he exhaled hard, put out by being on the wrong side of a misunderstanding. He then turned to look up at Palkin and rasped, “And what of this guest? Have you taken to renting men?”
Palkin plopped one of his over-large hands on his forehead and was shaking his head, as if to say, ‘This was not the sort of shit I expected to catch on the way in.’
Geun kept his anger at a simmer and retorted to Boon-Broker, “You’re being an insulting ass, you know that?”
The goblin paused at that. He visibly collected himself and asked, “Why is he here?”
“He’s here for Yeon as well; he’s an accomplished instructor and a genuine expert in his field.”
Boon-Broker narrowed his filmy grey eyes and demanded, “Offer an explanation for the delay.”
Geun folded his arms. “I figured I could bring them here before there was a problem, and unless I am mistaken I still have some time left.”
Boon-Broker fixed Geun with a stare. “An hour remains before dawn over Pyongyang. Attend to your guests: unexpected visitor foremost, lest I exercise the eviction clause simply to be rid of her.”
“Who is this visitor?”
“Predator turned pirate: a seducer and thief.”
“Oh, her. She-”
Just then the door to the smoking lounge opened and a pale woman clad in nothing but one of the house’s blue velvet smoking jackets stepped through. She called out in Korean, “Dae-won! Oh Dae-won, I’ve been waiting for you. You should have left instructions so the front desk would expect me. The help here is just horrible; can you believe that horrid little goblin didn’t even have a spare change of women’s clothes to lend out? And he wanted me to wait at the bar! Like some common floozie!”
Boon-Broker replied in Japanese, “Like the night crawling robber you are; no sazae oni shall molest my patrons tonight.”
Palkin ventured to ask, “Who is she Geun?”
“Ah, the shellfish woman I mentioned to you before; I know her by the moniker Dasima.”
Dasima’s expression lit up when she turned her attention to Palkin, and she said in Japanese, “Oh my goodness, you’re built big for a human aren’t you? What do they call you, handsome?”
Boon-Broker interrupted when he bared his little obsidian teeth and angrily said to Palkin, “Sincere advice: shun the thief.” He then turned to Geun and instructed, “Dismiss your associate. Seduction of your expert is unacceptable. No testicles shall be stolen in my establishment!”
Dasima finally acknowledged Boon-Broker and said, “I don’t tell you how to run your petty little hotel. I’ve never once steered anyone away from it either, even if they’d be better off anywhere else.”
Boon-Broker’s teeth were bared in a furious grin, and his skin was turning an angry shade of red. Before the situation could deteriorate further Geun made a snap decision. He said, “She’s got actual business with me.”
Boon-Broker’s teeth clicked as he ground his jaws. His skin faded back to its usual sickly grey. He said, “Then do not let her out of your sight; escort her to the front door when you are done wasting your time,” and he turned to Palkin and added, “Recommendation: do not sleep with her.”
Palkin stuffed his huge mitts in his jacket’s pockets. “I assure you, mister hotel manager, that I am going to keep it professional.”
Geun cleared his throat and said, “I’m going to show them to my room now, so that they can meet Yeon, and that I may settle up with Dasima.”
Mollified, Boon-Broker clicked his nails against the countertop and scowled at the oni woman. As Geun led the party away the goblin said, “Borrow a chōchin-obake for the benefit of your invited guests.”
Geun agreed, “That’s a good idea,” and snapped his fingers. The biggest of the paper lamps, the one with the tongue, floated away from the wall and hovered near Palkin’s shoulder. It cast a dim flickering light down the hallway. Palkin smiled wanly at the chōchin-obake as it leered with huge staring eyes.
When they arrived at a stairwell, and out of earshot of Boon-Broker, Palkin commented, “No lights, but he did put an ice maker in.”
Geun, mindful of the two interlopers, asked, “Is that unusual?”
Palkin said, “I don’t know, it is strange that he would put electricity in and not get electric lights too.”
Ai chimed in. “It is a propane ice maker, see the tank?”
Palkin squinted at it in the low light. “I did not. That makes sense. No electricity then.”
Dasima made a show of examining the ice machine, squinting at it and rubbing her chin thoughtfully. “It’s not enchanted?”
Palkin said, “Not even a little. Look, it’s got an American company’s logo there.”
“How curious! I’ve heard of such things but never seen one up close before.”
Geun snapped his fingers for emphasis. “We need to get to my room.”
Dasima agreed readily, “Of course.”
They went up a stairwell carved into the native rock, and then down a hall to a door that was secured by a key word Geun held in his mind while he turned the doorknob; then the motley crew were filing into the sitting area of his little rented apartment. Seated at a desk, working her way through an algebra problem, was Yeon. She glanced up from her homework and took in the group. Her eyes widened in surprise at Dasima’s half-dressed state, Palkin’s looming bulk, and Ai’s affected teenage disinterest. Her gaze lingered on Geun with an unspoken question as she stood to greet the guests.
“Welcome back,” she said instead of asking anything.
Dasima waved off the floating lantern with an, “Uh, yeah, thank you; head back down to the lobby now.”
Then Geun shut the door and said, “Cousin, I’ve brought another professor, and his daughter, and I have business with this lady too.”
“I remember her from the boat.” Which meant she remembered the entire debacle around that meeting, too.
“Yes, indeed.” Geun didn’t have a lot to fill the awkward pauses with today.
“Hello again, young lady,” Dasima said.
Yeon wasn’t sure if they were all pretending Dasima’s nudity was normal and blurted out, “Can I get you a bathrobe miss?”
Dasima said, “Finally, someone who knows how to be polite. Yes, please, if you would be so kind I would greatly appreciate it.“
Geun gestured, and Palkin and Ai took seats by the window. Geun remained standing near Dasima while she waited for the offered garment: a deep blue velour bathrobe that came with the rented room. As soon as it was in Dasima’s hands she stripped out of her smoking jacket and stood naked as a jay.
Geun said, “Maybe you’d like to change in the bathroom?”
“Why? I’m sure it’s nothing anyone here would be disturbed by.” Dasima made a show of examining the velour, cooing over it as Palkin and Ai politely ignored her and Geun let his expression sour with impatience.
Finally the sazae oni decided she’d been enticing enough and slipped into the robe. She turned to Geun and said, “Now, I believe we have business to attend to? Your promise to me. I intend to see you keep it.”
“Yeah, about that, could I maybe offer an alternate deal?”
Her eyes narrowed. “I agreed to have you do a job for me, Geun, not to have you negotiate a different deal later.”
Geun gestured at Palkin and said, “It’s just that I have secured some resources through my associate, the professor here, and I thought you might like a more traditional payment instead.”
Dasima seated herself and looked at Palkin and Ai again and said, “You wish to negotiate in front of them?”
Geun didn’t know exactly what Palkin could guarantee; the timing was inconvenient and he could not think of a graceful way to confer privately with him. He’d been hoping for Dasima to leave the room. Palkin shrugged.
Ai said, “I don’t mind leaving to Yeon’s room, if you want?”
Dasima asked, “And what about the porter here? You let him follow us inside but he isn’t one of Boon-Broker’s hired hands.”
There was a clatter as Gennady dropped the trunk and drew his pistol. Dasima threw her smoking jacket at him, trying to tangle his gun hand up. Geun grabbed Yeon and threw himself to the floor atop her, to cover her from stray bullets. Ai’s hand went to where she usually had a gun, and then she remembered she was undercover and unarmed.
Palkin bellowed, “Stop, hold it!”