EPISODE 46
VROOM!!! Do-Yoon's black sports car races at 500 km/h.
| ~ | Ren-Bo, wait for us at the Villa entrance. |
Do-Yoon drives, focused on the road, wearing a bulletproof vest.
Kang Chul is in the front passenger seat, on the phone with Ren-Bo.
|
| - | Be ready to teleport us to Sokcho. (hangs up) |
He checks his watch, "02:03am".
Three minutes have passed since the Narrator's ultimatum.
|
| - | Sorry for the 3 victims. |
| - | President Kang, we haven't lost a second! |
|
| (confident, remembers...) |
| - | This is my ULTIMATUM, Kang Chul. Deliver Ren-Bo to me, or I will annihilate one extra PER MINUTE! |
|
| - | I'm waiting for Ren-Bo in the Crossover... FROM ONE MINUTE TO THE NEXT! |
The room's clock displays "02:00am".
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| - | He bought our overreactions and thinks we're paralyzed by indecision. Deaths will be inevitable, but we can minimize that number as much as possible. CAPTAIN, we're advancing our operation to RIGHT NOW!!! |
Kang Chul immediately sprints out of the room.
Captain Ryu is no longer annoyed by Kang Chul's directive tone, on the contrary, admiring!
He feels galvanized and walks resolutely toward the exit.
|
| - | To the Villa, FULL THROTTLE!!! |
VROARR!!! Do-Yoon takes off like a shot.
Kang Chul, Do-Yoon and Ren-Bo are standing around the large table.
They study a map of South Korea.
Ren-Bo points to the city of Sokcho, in the east of the country, opposite Seoul.
| - | It's not called Sokcho where I'm from, but it's the same position. |
|
| - | Could you teleport there in the Crossover? |
|
| - | Yes, I know it. I did a horticulture internship there. |
|
| - | Hyung, you'll take me to the lab with your hot rod. In case of emergency, it's the fastest way to go anywhere. |
|
| - | Ok, President Kang. I'll load the equipment for the operation. |
Do-Yoon's hot rod enters the grounds and--
Wriikk!!, stops dead, two steps from Ren-Bo who was waiting.
Kang Chul and Do-Yoon quickly get out of the car.
Do-Yoon carries a saber, a shotgun and a bag.
Kang Chul wears twenty pistol magazines around his belt.
Kang Chul pulls out his sci-fi pistol and--
shrrrrnnn... fires a yellow laser at the car, which surrounds itself with a halo, and--
SHRINKS!! to the size of a figurine, immediately picked up by Do-Yoon!
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| - | (to Ren-Bo) GO!!! |
SHAF! Ren-Bo disappears with them. Light flash.
On the north road of this seaside town: a sign "You are leaving here".
FSAH! Light flash. They materialize in the Crossover.
Do-Yoon throws the figurine onto the exit road.
SWELL!! The car enlarges to normal size!
Kang Chul and Do-Yoon hurry to get in and--
VROARR!!! Do-Yoon peels out and speeds away from the city.
SHAF! Ren-Bo disappears. Light flash.
The car's powerful headlights light up to 100 meters.
The road winds along the cliffside, a rocky wall on the other side.
The speedometer displays a modest "250 km/h".
|
| - | From now on, we're visible in the manhwa. |
|
| - | (tense) The Narrator or Moon Mi-Ra. Which of the two will try to take us out first...? |
FREEZZZ... Time slows down. The car advances at a snail's pace.
|
| - | The answer to your question. |
A yellow frame from the Narrator forms in the night air:
"There was 'Falling rocks' written on the road signs, though."
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| - | Slow down, give the others time to help us. |
|
| - | If this fails, we'll lose time. I have a chance to get past before!! |
|
| - | Rah! As you wish!!! |
Do-Yoon floors the accelerator. "400 km/h" on the speedometer.
A turtle's speed in slowed time.
ZZZERFFF... Time restarts. VROAR!!! The car leaps forward!
A section of the wall cracks, too far to get past before the fall.
Sblom-Sbrom... A rockslide falls onto the road. They charge into it!!!
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| - | AISH!! (squeezes his eyelids shut in anticipation of the impact) |
A blue light flashes in the night.
The rockslide becomes intangible. They pass right through!!!
|
| - | Phwee... It worked. (looks at the sky, toward the blue light) |
(After Jae-Jung's script, organization of the operation. Same for the other flashbacks here.)
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| - | We need to stay on the coastal road as long as possible. That will be that much time gained to find Cha Yu-Sun's hideout. |
| - | Hyung, the Narrator won't just sit on his hands! |
|
| - | He's incapable of killing us, but he can create an obstacle that will slow us down, forcing us to leave this road. So, we need a systematic and quick way to counter him, by copy-paste. Not requiring adaptation to each situation. |
Kang Chul hands a sheet to Soo-Bong, who reads it. (we don't see)
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| - | (!!, stunned) ... Hyung... You plan to imitate... the Narrator?!! |
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| - | Unlike him, you can affect the main characters. (smiles, confident) That should work on us. |
| - | (reads the paper... disgusted) Ugh! How many times will the readers have to drink this bowl of narrative poison?! |
Kang Chul looks at the sky, a glowing blue frame with writing inside:
"Confused, they had a hallucination."
Soo-Bong lifts his stylus from the tablet displaying:
¤ Do-Yoon's car races toward a rockslide blocking the road.
And the blue frame: "Confused, they had a hallucination."
|
| - | (worried) Will it work? |
The image fades, another replaces it:
¤ Do-Yoon's car races on the clear coastal road.
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| - | (joy) YES!!! |
The image fades, another replaces it:
¤ Cha Yu-Sun endures moral suffering as intense as physical torture.
Soo-Bong is shocked by her distress. He copies the image.
He opens another project: a drawing of a smartphone.
He pastes Cha Yu-Sun's image onto the smartphone screen.
Ting! Notification sound. Kang Chul takes out his smartphone.
"Unknown Sender". No surprise, it was a planned trick.
He opens the message: the image of Cha Yu-Sun, morally tortured to the extreme.
Kang Chul, !!!!, his heart pierced by 1000 daggers.
He puts away his smartphone, focuses on the road, to detect the danger.
In the distance, a construction crane silhouettes on a ridge, outlined by the full moon.
(!!) Kang Chul notices: neither Narrator's frame, nor time slowdown.
|
| - | We can counter the Narrator. But whatever Mi-Ra does could kill us. |
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| - | (!!, worried) Hyung! What have you planned to counter that?!! |
|
| - | Mmh... We can't counter it. |
|
| - | Hyung! Watch out, AHEAD!!! |
Do-Yoon sees coming out of the night:
A huge construction wrecking ball charging toward them!!! (attached to the crane)
Top pilot reflex! Wriikk!! Do-Yoon swerves.
Wooosh... The ball grazes them, but the car is now racing toward the ocean.
Impossible to countersteer!!
Wffff... The car jumps off the cliff...
A 60-meter high fall... and finally--
SPLOOSH!! It plunges violently into the sea, swallowed up.
Ripples, a few bubbles... then the ocean calms... nothing on the surface.
Soo-Bong and Yeon-Joo look at the tablet:
¤ "SPLOOSH!!" The car is swallowed up in the ocean.
Yeon-Joo, terribly stressed, clicks on "Previous image":
¤ The car dodges the construction wrecking ball and jumps off the cliff.
| - | No Narrator's frame. (hateful) It's that bitch Moon Mi-Ra! |
|
| - | (uncertain) Noona, don't worry, maybe-- (!!!) |
SUDDENLY--
Yellow light bursts from the tablet!!!
The yellow frame draws itself, then the Narrator's face.
|
| - | I'm disappointed. That lacked panache for the death of main characters. You've lost your two assets, insisting would only cause useless victims. You already have 7 deaths on your conscience, so deliver Ren-Bo to me. |
The tablet goes into sleep mode. The Narrator is gone.
Yeon-Joo is about to explode with anxiety.
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| - | (plaintive) Noona, Hyung Kang had planned for this, it's not-- |
|
| - | Now they're in the manhwa's shadow zone. Impossible to know if they're alive! (remembers...) |
|
| - | A flashback! |
|
| - | You mean that... you won't appear in the manhwa anymore? |
|
| - | Yes, the Narrator exploited this possibility before us. (tells...) |
|
| - | I was able to hide a few Flashbacks, thanks to the manhwa's logic. You couldn't see it, but the situation has evolved. |
A yellow frame mentions: "One hour earlier."
|
| - | (!!) One hour earlier?! |
|
| - | As a last resort, we'll dive into the ocean. |
|
| - | Yes! This type of accident is typical of a suspense scenario. Usually, the narration makes the audience believe you're dead. |
In the car, Do-Yoon and Kang Chul are safe and sound!
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| ~ | As long as we stay underwater, we'll be undetectable in the manhwa. |
Text frame: "10 minutes earlier".
|
| ~ | Then the manhwa will publish a flashback, showing how we survived. |
A periscope deploys from the car's roof... emerges to the surface.
Do-Yoon looks at the periscope screen:
Coast, beaches, cliffs and in the distance, at the top of a cliff... a large Buddhist temple.
Kang Chul takes out his smartphone and looks again:
¤ Cha Yu-Sun, in unbearable moral distress.
He examines the details behind her:
A large prayer hall of a Buddhist temple! He remembers...
|
| - | By that point, we'll already have reached our objective: The Buddhist temple of Haedong Yonggungsa. |
|
| - | Kang Chul, that makes no sense! That temple is in Busan, 100 kilometers from Sokcho!! |
|
| - | In the real world, but not in the crossover. Remember our battle at the temple of Bulguksa. (tells...) |
| - | I love the architecture. Use this setting for the next fight. |
| - | But Seonsaingnim... It's north of Busan, at the other end of the country?! |
|
| - | So what?! Let's just say the temple is to the west, less than a day from the royal city. |
On the page: the temple of Bulguksa.
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| - | Fights in temples? Isn't that blasphemous?! |
|
| - | Who cares!! Only the aesthetics matter! |
|
| - | (amused, ironic) Ok, that's why we fought at Bulguksa... |
POW! POW! POW! POW! Kang Chul shoots at random targets in the temple.
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| - | Wait... according to this book, the temple of Bulguksa is north of Busan?!! |
|
| - | (blasé sigh) I know... But my manhwa takes place around the royal city. Then, I move any location to the closest, so the characters can get there quickly. It's just fiction!! |
|
| - | (points to a multi-story building on the brochure) And put that in the center of the temple, rather than on the edge. |
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| - | I even modify the architecture, to produce a spectacular scene! |
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| - | The temple of Haedong Yonggungsa would have been moved too? Mi-Ra would be there? How do you know where she is in the Crossover?!! |
|
| - | I just know, that's all. (doesn't want to reveal) |
|
| - | ... !! |
|
| (remembers...) |
On the page: the magnificent temple of Haedong Yonggungsa.
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| - | Unfortunately, I've never produced a battle at Haedong Yonggungsa. |
|
| - | You wanted to leave that temple in Busan? |
|
| - | Yes, because of the magnificent mountains. But it's too far. So I would have just placed it higher up, still on the East coast. |
¤ Cha Yu-Sun in her private jet, hand on her forehead.
| - | Where the sea meets the mountains. |
He is overwhelmed: she shows her gold, ivory and ebony wedding ring!
|
| - | Close to Sokcho, the place on the East coast closest to Seoul. That would preserve the temple's legendary saying: "Where the sea meets the mountains". |
|
| - | (nods) ... Yes, it's poetic. |
Kang Chul sad, eyes lowered.
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| : | (raises his eyes, filled with certainty) It's impossible that Mi-Ra betrayed me. The Imagination brought absolute proof of it. (remembers...) |
An interdimensional hurricane roars around them. Reality is shredded!!!
No matter, they lock eyes, determined to push past every limit to win.
|
| ~ | The plot: the factual reason that sent us into the Imagination. |
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| - | (presses against her, eyes to eyes) You really want to kill someone? Then kill me. |
| - | (broken voice) ... Then let's die together. Mh? |
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| - | (!!) ... If that's the only way to finish this manhwa... Do it! |
Her abdomen glows red... Kang Chul, stubborn, doesn't move...
... And too late, he understands she's not bluffing. She's going to do it!!!
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| ~ | The story: the emotional reason, a fight to the death. |
| - | You may kiss the bride. |
Kang Chul embraces Mi-Ra and they begin a passionate kiss.
|
| ~ | Leaving the Imagination required the definitive resolution of the story. |
A very long kiss, eyes closed... Without realizing it, they disappear from the Imagination.
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| ~ | The opposite of a fight to the death: a lifelong reconciliation. Eternal Love, indestructible by the whims of fate. |
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| - | Moon Mi-Ra, do you take Kang Chul as your husband, to love him for better or for worse, until death do you part. |
|
| - | Yes, I do. |
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| - | In the name of the Supreme beyond the Imagination, I now pronounce you Husband and Wife. |
On the altar materialize: Two gold, ivory and ebony wedding rings.
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| ~ | And the symbolic act confirming the resolution, a marriage. |
|
| ~ | Because obviously... |
|
| - | You coming? |
|
| - | (rummages in a closet) One second. I'm looking for a swimsuit. |
|
| - | (suspicious, then pretends to grumble) Since when do you use a swimsuit... |
Kang Chul checks that she doesn't see him and opens the closet.
Under a pile of clothes, he finds the object she hid: A watch!!
He smiles affectionately, "what a little secret-keeper".
He looks secretly: 2700 days on the watch.
|
| ~ | ... we had more than enough time to reconcile before. |
An endless time has passed.
Mi-Ra checks that he doesn't see her and opens the wardrobe.
She takes the watch hidden under the clothes.
Kang Chul sneaks a discreet glance and smiles. He has already checked the watch.
She looks at the time they've spent here: "18,250". (revealed Ep40)
But now, we see the label after the number... "years".
"18,250 years". Too long to display days, the watch has changed its reference unit!
|
| ~ | Enough time to love each other eternally. |
He sees the potential trajectory of their shots as luminous lines.
He moves five times faster than his enemies.
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| ~ | Enough time to develop the hidden superhuman potential in us. |
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| : | (looks at the drawing of Cha Yu-Sun on his smartphone) This despair in her eyes... (sad, tormented) |
She has her hand on her forehead, showing her wedding ring, and terribly sad eyes.
|
| ~ | How much does she suffer, once out of context? |
|
| - | RAaaAAahh !!! (Brank!!) RAaaAAahh !!! (Brank!!) RAaaAAahh !!! (Brank!!) |
Mirror demolished, fist bloody, she collapses.
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| - | (ultimate tearing) RAaaAAAAAHHHHH... (crying fit) Boo hoo hoo hoo... (moans) Ghaa-haa... Boo hoo... (groans) Arrahh... arahh... Boo hoo hoo... |
|
| - | Where the sea meets the mountains. |
|
| ~ | She's hiding her messages, so the Narrator won't understand them. |
|
| : | Blackmail! The Narrator found a secret I don't know. WHO is he threatening, to the point that she pretends to betray me? To the point of giving in to the blackmail, and putting us in danger? |
|
| - | President Kang! (looks at the periscope screen) |
On the screen, at a short distance from the car:
A beach, a rocky hill, and the temple of Haedong Yonggungsa on the plateau.
It's dawn, the hour of battles.
Do-Yoon's car drives out of the water onto the beach.
A few meters further, a vertical wall.
Above, gently sloping rocks, to climb before reaching the temple.
The car stops. They get out.
Kang Chul holds a geolocation device.
He turns it on, bip-bip-bip... indicating his position.
Then he looks at the sky...
Soo-Bong gives a thumbs-up to Ren-Bo, "Ok, Go!". She was waiting too--
Immediately, SHAF! She disappears. Light flash.
She holds a geolocation device, bip-bip... indicating Kang Chul's position.
FLAP-FLAP! She flies toward his position...
She sees a peninsula in the distance. An idea comes to her!
SHAF! She disappears. Light flash.
FSHA! Light flash. She appears above the peninsula.
bip-bip... She checks the position.
She sees another significant setting in that direction and--
SHAF! FSHA! - SHAF! FSHa! - SHAf! FSha! - SHaf! Fsha! - Shaf! fsha! - shaf! fsha!
Successive teleports. A series of light flashes shrinking toward the horizon...
Armed, equipped, on adrenaline.
Beach, vertical wall, rocky hill, then plateau with temples.
Some buildings are built on the side of a mountain plunging into the sea.
(Aesthetic similar to the real temple, but larger.)
FLAP-FLIP! Ren-Bo lands next to Kang Chul.
No time to say a word. SHAF! She disappears.
SHAF! She disappears with them.
Ren-Bo raises her arm and opens her hand, waiting for something to appear in it...
Soo-Bong's stylus clicks "Copy".
He switches to the manhwa project: Ren-Bo opening her hand.
He selects Ren-Bo's hand and clicks "Paste".
Grzzz... Colored static. A long object materializes in her hand.
A sort of handle. Maybe a broom? We don't see the end of the materialization!
|
| ~ | Scriptwriter Song, your script is moldy. |
|
| - | Ren-Bo doesn't have the power to compete with the Queen of Darkness. |
Kang Chul irritated, Yeon-Joo worried, and Ren-Bo amused.
They surround Jae-Jung, sitting at the computer desk.
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| - | (strict) It's possible, look! |
She Click!! the mouse, and opens this page of "Butterfly Girl":
¤ Ren-Bo (6 years old) handles a majorette baton to perfection, during a contest.
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| - | (disdainful) A majorette routine?!! You couldn't find anything more ridiculous? |
|
| - | (like listening to chalk scraping on a blackboard) Kang Chul, here's what Ren-Bo was doing, while you were SLEEPING. (tells...) |
Underground dojo with tatami mats, free weights, cardio machines, and racks of traditional weapons.
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| - | (to Jae-Jung) y'know, I ain't practiced since I was 6~~. don't 'xpect me winnin' a contest today~~. |
Captain Ryu takes a long 1.5m staff from a rack.
| - | Catch this, miss. (throws her the staff) |
|
| - | WaAah!! (surprised, unable to catch it properly) |
Pof! She falls on her butt, the staff on her knees.
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| - | (sheepish) This thing is almost my height?! (lifts) It's heavy, too! (to Jae-Jung, "she tricked me") This has nothing to do with a majorette baton!! |
|
| - | (calling to order!) Focus. GO!! |
Zoop-zoop-zoop... Ren-Bo twirls it like she used to, but...
ZIP! The staff slips from her. Glides toward... Poc!, Captain Ryu's head.
|
| - | Oops! |
|
| - | (rubs his skull) Do I have a bump?! Did you do that on purpose?!! |
VOosSH-VOosSH-VOosSH... Ren-Bo's staff twirls at a mind-blowing speed.
|
| - | ... !! (stunned) |
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| - | I worried for nothin'! It comes back as quick as ridin' a bike. And this staff is just like a majorette thing. More maneuverable and better balanced! |
|
| - | (hides his anxiety) Ok-Ok... Try a strike now. |
WOosh-ZAash-zVOoff... She wields it around her, making the strike unpredictable.
Captain Ryu, !!!, SBAM!!! A lateral strike rips his staff away, and like an arrow--
DSHOK!!!-dg-dg-dg... His staff plants into the wall, near Jae-Jung's head!!!
|
| - | ...... (trembling, cold sweats, slowly turns her head and sees...) |
Captain Ryu's staff driven into the wall, cracked around the impact.
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| - | (sees Jae-Jung and the staff, dismayed) WheeEEYY ??? (to Captain Ryu) Your thing is dangerous! u'Can't be careful?!! |
|
| - | ..... !!! |
She imitates his moves identically, synchronized.
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| - | (stops) And with that, you know enough, even too much. |
|
| - | (disappointed) Ah? But... Uhhh... for the final practice... Aren't we supposed to do some kind of duel? Like in the movies? |
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| - | ("shit!", scared, "she's irresponsible and dangerous") Hum... It's not-- |
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| - | Of course, Of course!! It's mandatory!! |
Jae-Jung wears a kickboxing helmet, hiding behind a weight training bench!
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| - | (tragic, "my time has come") ... Yes... Of course... Of course... Mandatory... |
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| - | (calling to order!) Focus. GO!! (charges into the battle) |
The unlucky Captain Ryu endures a fight as humiliating and uneven as against Kang Chul.
VOossh-TAK! - Wosh-Wosh-Tak-Tak!! She attacks frenetically, he parries as best he can.
But Ren-Bo's staff springs from everywhere, at a speed beyond thought!
He can't parry everything, Toc! Tak! Toc!, takes hits striking all over his body.
But, !!, he notices she's not putting her full power into it, to spare him. Finally...
|
| - | YAAAAAAAAH !!! (big vertical strike) |
|
| - | !!!!! ("AAAAAH, I'm dying") |
TAK!-TAK!-TAK!-TAK!-TAK!-TAK!-TAK!-TAK!-TAK!... 12 times in a second...
... she twirls her staff like a whirlwind, and brings it down on Captain Ryu's.
Pof! Pof! Pof! Pof! Pof! Pof! Pof! Pof! Pof! 10 severed pieces of staff fall onto the tatami mats.
Captain Ryu, ... !!!, two remaining pieces in his hands, grimaces with relief, "I survived".
|
| - | (downcast, sobs) Agh... Sob... I won all the national competitions... |
|
| - | Oooh... It's so sad. |
|
| - | (cries, broken) 20 years! Agh... Boo hoo... More than 20 years to reach the highest level... Agh... |
|
| - | (comforts him by putting an arm around his shoulder) Don't be so melodramatic... or this will end up as a comedy scene. |
|
| - | Agh... Sob... (looks at Ren-Bo, in the middle of the room) |
ZFRRRR... She tests a weird hovering flight, spinning on herself, like a ball of energy.
Hundreds of staff strikes and wing flaps, barely visible in an anarchic blur.
|
| - | (curls up in depression, bursts into tears) Boo hoo hoo... Boo hoo hoo hoo hoo... |
|
| - | Do you know Japanese manga? (pulls out a "Sailor Moon" manga, a girl with a magic wand) |
|
| - | (?!) ... The "Magical Girl" style? |
|
| - | Yes, a girl wielding a magic staff. With her extraordinary personality and fabulous wings, Ren-Bo is typical of a "Magical Girl". The manhwa will accept it easily. |
|
| - | No, "Butterfly Girl" uses no magic! At the extreme, it's a Science-Fantasy manhwa. |
|
| - | Not since the Crossover! The "Queen of Darkness" universe uses magic!! |
|
| - | (realizes) ... Yes... Yes and even better! We could give her a staff with unlimited powers, that-- |
|
| - | No, and you already know it, Oh Yeon-Joo. (tells...) |
|
| - | Too slow!!! We need to take everyone out of the fight at once! |
Yeon-Joo draws a gigantic antenna in the Capital.
|
| - | No!!! NO!!!!! Why??! |
|
| - | THE MANHWA!!! It's too global and incoherent for the narrative logic. |
|
| - | That's exact. We can favor destiny, but not force it. An expedient solution doesn't follow the logic of a story. |
|
| - | (anxious) So we can give Ren-Bo a magic staff, but-- |
|
| - | The manhwa will want to preserve the suspense. No "Deus Ex-Machina" or "Over-The-Top" solution will be accepted. |
|
| - | (forced to admit) Well... I didn't think you'd understand the situation so well, Scriptwriter Song. |
|
| - | (proud) Everything will depend on Ren-Bo: her will and what she manages to do with her new powers. That's what the manhwa will test! |
|
| - | A heroine with a magic staff, of unknown potential... |
|
| (smiles proudly, then..... worried, orange-blue wings) |
In Ren-Bo's hand, a large magic staff finishes materializing. (~1.5m)
Worried, orange-blue wings, she questions Kang Chul with her gaze.
Him, sad smile, "sorry". Her, sad eyes, gathers courage.
The feeling that he's helping her make a difficult decision.
|
| ~ | There is however an obstacle, for which I find no solution. |
They nod "yes" to each other. "Let's do it".
SHAF! She disappears. Light flash.
Bang! Swllll... The soldiers fire grappling gun pistols at the rocks.
Wang Shin runs in the opposite direction, a sniper rifle over his shoulder.
Bang! Swllll... He fires his grappling gun at a promontory overlooking the temple.
Soo-Bong looks at her from afar, worried. He stands up and approaches.
|
| - | Ren-Bo doesn't have a warrior's instinct. She'll be afraid, she'll hesitate, incapable of wounding and even less of killing. |
|
| - | (terrible!) And in the end, she'll be the one who gets killed. |
|
| (guilt, cries...) |
|
| (sighs heavily... knows the solution, can't reveal) |
Soo-Bong arrives, comforts Ren-Bo.
|
| - | There's a way. (tells...) |
| - | He came with Fairy Spark, but he left without her! |
|
| - | Once Ren-Bo and Fairy Spark are separated in two different worlds. |
|
| (tightens his eyelids, didn't want to hear that) |
| - | (hysterical) I want you to die! (throws the last brick) |
|
| - | (!!) Soo-Bong... (appalled) You love her... And you propose that? |
|
| - | Because I saw how she was, in that state. And also... (looks at Ren-Bo, empathy) I know how much she wants to finish all this. |
|
| - | ..... (cries, purple wings) |
|
| - | (outraged) So you're saying the end justifies the means?!! |
|
| - | Is it ethical to deprive her of moral conscience? Karma might look unfavorably on that. |
|
| - | ("since it's like that") Let's just ask Ren-Bo. It's up to her to decide. |
They turn toward Ren-Bo... She searches for her words for a few moments...
|
| - | I... I remember what I felt in that state... no fear, strength multiplied tenfold, unlimited rage and even... the urge to kill... I know it's horrible but... (remembers) |
Ren-Bo is horrified... incapable of enduring the shock and the surprise.
¤ The corpse horribly swollen with reddish abscesses of Mr. Teddy Bear.
|
| - | No matter the means. In memory of my friends, and of all the other people the Narrator has killed... I must stop him and finish the manhwa! |
|
| - | This solution involves a problem. (tells...) |
|
| - | I don't know how long until they are annihilated. Something like... 5 minutes? ... 3 minutes? |
|
| (her scriptwriter's imagination goes into turbo mode) |
|
| - | Ren-Bo will have to enter the manhwa as late as possible. |
|
| - | Not necessarily. |
|
| - | ... ?! |
|
| - | That could even complicate things. (tells...) |
|
| ~ | Ren-Bo and Fairy Spark could be separated a first time. |
Ren-Bo points her staff at shadow killers and--
VROOOFF... A jet of flame comes out of the tip and incinerates them.
|
| ~ | That way Ren-Bo will be able to fight and help you. But above all, to experiment with the staff's powers. That's an imperative! |
|
| - | Otherwise, she won't be ready for her duel, against the Queen of Darkness. |
|
| ~ | She could also use that time to locate the Queen of Darkness. |
Ren-Bo crackles in colored lines and becomes more and more transparent.
|
| ~ | And as soon as she feels the disappearance process becoming risky... |
Almost immediately, the annihilation stops, they become solid.
|
| ~ | ... she returns to the real world. |
|
| - | And Hop! The counter is reset to zero. She can use this cheat-code as many times as she wants. |
Ren-Bo holds her staff, valiant and victorious.
SHAF! She disappears, Light flash.
|
| ~ | As soon as the Queen of Darkness has been defeated, Ren-Bo returns. |
FLUFF! Fairy Spark disappears in a luminous puff.
|
| ~ | From that moment, they no longer need to be separated. |
In the air materializes... "FINAL CHAPTER".
|
| ~ | Ren-Bo alone is now sufficient, to trigger the end of the manhwa. |
With the tip of her staff, Ren-Bo wakes Sin-Moo in his bed.
|
| - | (in Spanish) Adiós, amigo. Que te den por culo. (SUBTITLE : Farewell, friend. Go get ass-fucked.) |
| - | ... ??! |
In the air materializes... "END".
Like a didactic teacher, Ren-Bo points her staff toward the word "END".
(Note: The scene is weird, but that's what Jae-Jung imagines.)
Ren-Bo holds her magic staff, facing Fairy Spark.
Soo-Bong, Yeon-Joo, Yoon-Hee, Jae-Jung and Agent Bae:
They watch the separation, moved...
|
| - | See you soon, my beloved fairy. |
| - | Courage, Ren-Bo. |
SHAF! Ren-Bo disappears. Light flash.
Fairy Spark remains, alone and dejected.
FSHA! Light flash. Ren-Bo appears at twenty meters altitude. Red wings.
She sees the men climbing the cliff, including Kang Chul and Do-Yoon.
CROOOAKKK!!! A thunderous croak bellows in the sky.
Kang Chul, !!!, sees a giant crow dive-bombing Ren-Bo. The size of a airliner!!!
Wang Shin, !!!, aghast, mid-climb, impossible to draw his rifle.
Ren-Bo turns around, !!!, sees the crow open its beak, to swallow her like an earthworm.
POW! POW! POW! POW! Kang Chul fires his pistol, clinging to the wall with the other hand.
He hits but no vital points. The crow flies too fast. Too massive, too many feathers!
FLOP-FLIP! Ren-Bo drops before CLAC! the beak snaps shut.
Clinging to the bird's chest, POF! she drives her staff near the heart and--
GRZzZzZzZT... Electric arcs at the tip. Squeak! Heart attack!
Crooked eye, belly up and claws clenched, the immense carcass falls into the ocean.
SPLOOOOASHHH... The water spray is so high it submerges the men on the wall.
They cling on, grit their teeth. Two fall, but are caught by their ropes.
SFREEZZZ... Time slows down. (??) Ren-Bo is not affected...
... nor Kang Chul, Do-Yoon and Wang Shin, who keep climbing.
A Narrator's frame in the sky: "Friable rock. Climbing forbidden."
SZEERFF! Time restarts. CrrAaCK! The top of the wall cracks.
Captain Ryu, worried. Kang Chul, unfazed, signals him to continue.
Rocks break off the wall and fall on the soldiers!
"AAAaaaah..." They scream, but... the rocks vanish!
Captain Ryu, ?!!, notices the wall is intact again.
Kang Chul sees a blue frame in the sky: "Confused, they had a hallucination."
He notes that Captain Ryu is unable to see it, sorry for his confusion.
On Soo-Bong's tablet: The soldiers climb the intact wall.
And the blue frame: "Confused, they had a hallucination."
The drawing fades, another replaces it: a tsunami swallows the soldiers.
And the Narrator's yellow frame: "This cape is known for its tidal waves."
Soo-Bong, !!, copies his blue frame over the Narrator's!
The TSUNAMI dissolves from "image" to "real"...
... about to swallow everyone!!! Screams! Panic!
Even Do-Yoon is worried. Kang Chul is weary and blasé.
When the wave hits, it vanishes...
Kang Chul is disappointed by Do-Yoon.
Laconically, he shows him the blue frame in the sky...
"Confused, they had a hallucination.". Do-Yoon, "shit".
Kang Chul is also disappointed by Captain Ryu, panicked, struggling to calm down.
|
| - | Captain Ryu, you and your men knew this protocol nonetheless. |
|
| - | But we never know what's real or illusion! Is this going to last much longer? |
|
| - | The Narrator is not human. He doesn't know fatigue. |
|
| - | .... ?!! ("that's not true?") |
|
| - | But he doesn't waste his energy uselessly. (smiles) And he doesn't like what's repetitive, it bores the readers. |
|
| - | ??! (surprised by...) |
... Ren-Bo behind him, passing her staff in front of his chest.
|
| - | (angry) Hurry up, bunch of idiots!!! |
FLIP-FLAP! Ren-Bo hauls Captain Ryu up to the top of the wall.
A drawing of: Ren-Bo and her staff in the sky, above the beach.
On Mi-Ra's tablet, set on a low table, in a corner of...
... this immense prayer hall, with a dozen columns.
Sitting in the center, Mi-Ra looks from afar at the drawing on the tablet.
She doubts, hesitates... hopes without believing, closes her eyes and concentrates...
|
| : | I can't take it anymore. Even if I get the faintest chance to succeed... Let it end, whatever it costs me. |
She opens her eyes, !!!, surprised to see the unexpected happen.
Luminous inscriptions materialize progressively in the air:
"F.................."
"FIN.............."
"FINAL.........."
Captain Ryu, the soldiers, Kang Chul and Do-Yoon finish the climb.
Kang Chul, !!!, sees the luminous inscriptions materialize in the air:
"FI................."
"FINA............"
"FINAL CHA..."
Soo-Bong relieved, sees this drawing on his tablet:
¤ Kang Chul and the commando at the top of the cliff.
|
| - | (smiles at the others) The Narrator has given up! |
Fairy Spark, Jae-Jung and Su-Ran smile at him, when suddenly--
FZZT! FZZT! FZZT! Soo-Bong, Yoon-Hee, Yeon-Joo and their tablets DISAPPEAR!
|
| - | ??! |
|
| - | ??! |
| - | ??! |
A dilapidated hospital room, old beds, a table and two chairs.
No electricity. Lit from the windows by the moon and the city lights.
(This abandoned hospital corresponds to the Villa in the Crossover.)
KZZT! KZZT! KZZT! They appear with their tablets.
Disoriented, they see materialize rapidly in the room:
"FIN................"
"FINAL CH........."
"FINAL CHAPTER"
|
| - | (stunned) We've been sucked into the Crossover. |
|
| - | Noona!!! Like your father, at the end of W! |
|
| - | Me too, and I'd seen "Final Chapter"... (tries to connect) (?!) I thought it was Kang Chul who... ? (lost) |
|
| - | Where are they? In the Crossover? |
|
| - | (turbo thinking) Ren-Bo wouldn't have summoned them... And the Queen of Darkness would have produced a puff of shadow... OR ELSE... |
|
| (impatient, articulates "or else what?") |
|
| - | THE FINAL CHAPTER HAS BEEN TRIGGERED?!! |
Su-Ran rushes to the computer.
She opens the last episode of "Butterfly Queen in The Dark". "Episode 45".
She scrolls to the last page: Cha Yu-Sun doubting, eyes closed, concentrated.
And at the bottom of the page: "TO BE CONTINUED, IN THE FINAL CHAPTER".
|
| - | (!!) Oh shit... |
|
| - | (confused) It also happened for W... I thought the protagonist had attracted the other key characters... but... (realizes) AN EMPIRICAL RULE?!! |
|
| - | WHICH ONE?!!!! |
|
| - | ("incredible") At the final chapter of a living manhwa... |
|
| ("please, say it quiiiick") |
|
| - | ... the true authors are systematically summoned, by the manhwa itself!!! And it is impossible to leave the manhwa before the end. |
|
| - | !! (points at Fairy Spark) And her? All the mess planned in your script?! "And Hop!, Reset, Cheat-code, as many times as we want"??! |
|
| - | ...... (anxious) |
GZZT... Fairy Spark crackles and becomes partially translucent.
|
| - | ...... !!!!! (in shock) |
Do-Yoon sees "FINAL CHAPTER" in the air.
|
| - | (?!) President Kang! Mi-Ra wasn't supposed to finish, and... (looks at Ren-Bo) |
|
| (looks away, confused, embarrassed) |
|
| - | (tragic) It slipped from her... The separation from the fairy... |
|
| - | You forced me to think about it for days! TOO BAD! LET'S GO FIGHT!!! |
FLAP-FLAP! She flies high, toward the temple buildings.
Kang Chul has time to see, GZZT... her body crackle, become translucent.
|
| : | (terrible) Impossible to exit the manhwa during the final chapter. Even if she manages to defeat the Queen of Darkness in time... She'll be annihilated long before reaching Sin-Moo's, at the other end of Korea! |
Mi-Ra looks at "FINAL CHAPTER" in the air.
The words dissipate, their duty fulfilled.
FREEZZZ... Time slows down.
The Narrator's yellow frame materializes... then his face.
|
| - | What a reckless decision on your part, Moon Mi-Ra. Triggering a final chapter that will have no end... |
|
| - | (ironic smirk) I understood why you dissuaded me to do it. |
|
| - | It was to protect you, Moon Mi-Ra. And also, to spare you from staying in this world forever. |
|
| - | (tortured) For all the difference it makes... |
|
| - | Are you aware of your role, now? |
|
| - | (tears) I will win for sure... I will kill Butterfly Girl. |
|
| - | I look forward to seeing you at work, as the Queen of Darkness. |
Mi-Ra stands up and SWROMPH!, becomes the Queen of Darkness.
Wang Shin, ??!, sees in his scope:
Captain Ryu and the soldiers are almost frozen in time.
|
| - | ... ?! (looks at Captain Ryu motionless) |
|
| - | The Narrator, elsewhere. |
ZEERFFF... Time restarts.
The soldiers finish their movements--
They reach some rocks, aim their machine guns.
Two specialists launch drones toward the temple.
Ren-Bo sees buildings surrounding a courtyard.
Shadow killers everywhere.
FLAP-FLIP! She dives toward the building closest to the rocks.
She brandishes her staff and--
BRASH!!! The door explodes!!! Ren-Bo enters like a rocket.
Zash-zash-zash! The door shrapnel perforates the killers inside.
Ting! Notification. Kang Chul takes out his smartphone.
"Unknown Sender". He opens the message. (We don't see it)
|
| - | ... !!! (terribly overwhelmed) |
(A few seconds earlier.)
Wrmpf-WrMpf-WRMPF... Puffs of shadow implode around the Queen of Darkness.
The air is charged with energy, as if she were increasing her power or making a great effort.
Then she looks ahead... her eyes become sad and...
... cry tears of smoking light on her dark face.
|
| : | Kill me, my love. KILL ME! |
Kang Chul shattered, looks at the message on his smartphone.
A drawing of: the Queen of Darkness crying tears of light.
And her thought bubble:
|
| : | Kill me, my love. KILL ME! |
Kang Chul cries for a moment, tortured to the extreme...
Then he types a message. (that we don't see)
|
| : | (broken voice) I never would have imagined being the one... who sends this. |
Soo-Bong lifts his stylus, absorbed. On his tablet:
¤ Kang Chul's smartphone, displaying the Queen of Darkness crying tears of light.
Yoon-Hee is at the second tablet, looking sadly at the drawing.
|
| - | I don't understand anything anymore about what she's doing or what she wants. |
|
| - | (enters) No one, it's deserted. This hospital is totally abandoned. |
Yeon-Joo goes to the window and sees suburban buildings. (from the 5th floor)
|
| - | (points at the buildings) Sin-Moo lives in a residence over there. But Ren-Bo is at the other end of the country... (terrible) disappearing. |
|
| - | ...... !!! (wracked with anxiety) |
Vosh-Vosh-Vosh... Ren-Bo twirls her staff, half-translucent.
Tink-Tink-Tink... She produces a barrier deflecting the bullets coming...
POW! POW! POW!... From modern shadow killers' shots.
FLAP! Ren-Bo leaps on them and--
VLASHHH!!! She scatters them all, with a single staff strike.
|
| - | (demented rage) Where is your Queen?! |
She drives her staff into a killer's belly and--
GRZzZzZzZT... Electric torture!
|
| - | Where is THE USURPER?! WHERE IS SHE HIDING?!! |
The Queen of Darkness looks at her smartphone, tragic eyes:
A notification with a SKULL emoticon!!!
She opens the message and reads:
|
| ~ | Because I love you, I will come to kill you. |
|
| - | (bursts into tears) Boo hoo hoo hoo hoo..... |
A river of luminous tears flows on her shadow face.
Through her sepulchral voice, her sobs sound like the moan of a dying stag.
Captain Ryu looks at the drone images on a tablet:
¤ The building attacked by Ren-Bo, door destroyed, by the seaside.
¤ In the center, the courtyard surrounded by buildings, with numerous killers.
|
| - | The courtyard is too risky. Let's progress from the outside. (points) Here, behind this building already invested by Ren-Bo. |
¤ Other buildings, at the back of the Temple.
|
| - | The enemy is hiding in this sector. A drone will flush her out. We'll secure the perimeter so no one interferes during the duel. |
¤ The rocks, the first building and the courtyard filled with killers.
|
| - | It's open ground between the rocks and the building. (points) They're going to pepper us from the courtyard. |
|
| - | (points at a big rock facing the courtyard) So, they're behind that big rock? |
|
| - | Affirmative. |
|
| - | Get into firing position! |
|
| - | Into firing position... Meaning? |
|
| - | Literally! Aim at the rock and get ready to fire... (pulls out his SF pistol) ... when the rock has disappeared. |
|
| - | (!) INTO POSITION!!! Aim at that rock! (kneels, aims with his assault rifle) |
The soldiers deploy into firing positions, assault rifles trained on the rock.
Kang Chul selects the "grilled sausage" icon on his SF pistol.
drrrzzzzz!! He fires a red laser beam.
The rock turns red and DZGRT!! is disintegrated!!
BRRAAT-BRATATATA-BRAAT-BRATATA... The commando opens fire, automatic bursts.
It's a massacre!!! The surprised killers are decimated by a hail of bullets.
Pffff... Pffff... Pffff... Dozens of killers disappear in puffs of shadow.
Wang Shin doesn't fire, strangely.
From above, he nonetheless has a perfect view of the temple.
His scope scans around Kang Chul and Do-Yoon.
Do-Yoon also doesn't fire.
He inspects around Kang Chul with worry.
|
| - | (pulls out his Beretta) Advance, I've got you covered!!! |
|
| - | (?!) ... GO! GO! GO! (leads the charge toward the building) |
"Hut! Hut! Hut!". The commando advances in tactical march, weapons pointed.
Kang Chul closes the rear. He sees new killers coming and--
SLOW MOTION:
He sees the potential trajectory of their shots as luminous lines.
POW! He shoots a killer aiming at a soldier.
Impact! Pffff... the killer disintegrates into shadow smoke.
Another perfect trajectory, POW!, he shoots the killer.
POW! POW! POW! POW! POW! POW! Kang Chul kills a dozen killers.
Only the direct threats to him or the commando.
Captain Ryu arrives behind the building.
He sees killers in the distance and others on the roof of the next building!
He crouches and BRATATATA... machine-guns the killers on the ground.
Tvzz! tak! tok! Impacts around him, coming from the roof.
|
| - | CLEAN THAT UP!! |
Behind him: Pfomb! Pfomb! Pfomb! Three soldiers fire with their rifle grenade launchers.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The building roof explodes, the corpses fly!!!
They progress in intermittent single file:
The last one catches up running, while the others hold position.
BRATATA-RATATA... Regular fire. Do-Yoon joins them, followed by Kang Chul.
|
| - | (to Kang Chul) Thanks... For the covering fire. |
|
| - | I trained you in this. I refuse to see one of your men die. |
|
| - | It's our job at the NIS. Beyond the supernatural conditions, we're fighting the most dangerous terrorist who has ever threatened Korea. |
|
| - | (sees a window of the building, further on) I need to check if Ren-Bo is okay. (goes toward the window) |
Do-Yoon follows him closely, nervous, glancing everywhere.
Wang Shin doesn't fire, despite the killers on the roof.
In his scope, he looks around Kang Chul and Do-Yoon.
All the killers in the room have been decimated by Ren-Bo...
... except two classic shadow killers, swords in hand.
As she walks toward them wielding her staff....
Behind her, further in the room...
... Someone watches her through two slits of a helmet.
(We switch to subjective view of this "someone".)
We walk silently toward Ren-Bo.
But then we see Kang Chul at a window, looking for Ren-Bo.
We look at Kang Chul, then Ren-Bo, we hesitate...
Then we walk toward the window where Kang Chul is and...
We penetrate the wall beside it, like an intangible ghost!!!
Through a window, Kang Chul sees Ren-Bo inside.
She demolishes two killers with staff strikes.
|
| - | (relieved) She's safe. But we have to hurry. |
Do-Yoon, !!!!, then sees what he was watching for, what he dreaded:
The silver shadow killer emerges from the wall, immaterial, behind Kang Chul!!
Do-Yoon rushes, SBOM! shoves Kang Chul to get him away.
He takes his place, just as--
The silver killer drives his fist into Do-Yoon's abdomen!
He skewers him through and through, and--
SmhRlll... Becomes material, crushing his abdomen!!!
|
| - | HX!HH!X!!! (too traumatic to scream) |
BANG!!!!! Distant shot, echo.
Zvraakk!! A bullet pierces the mask and the head of the silver killer.
The smoking barrel of Wang Shin's sniper rifle...
Proud of his shot, Tchik-Tchak! He reloads the bolt.
Kang Chul, on his knees, holds Do-Yoon against him...
... skewered by the dead silver killer.
Kang Chul looks at his friend, afflicted with an immense, deep and solemn sadness.
Do-Yoon is agonizing, tetanized, barely able to breathe.
Fffff... The silver killer evaporates into shadow smoke...
... leaving the abdomen vacant, the flesh exposed, streaming with blood.
The horror adds to the sadness of an inevitable death.
|
| - | Agh... Why... Why, Hyung. (tears!) |
|
| - | It was... the only way... President... Kang. |
|
| - | (broken voice) I'm not your president... I'm your friend. |
|
| - | (in a last breath) Yes... |
His eyes close... It's over.
Kang Chul grimaces and moans with grief......
Captain Ryu glances over, moved.
When he sees the gaping wound, he turns his head away, sorry.
BRANG!!! An explosion resounds at the end of the building.
|
| - | (?!) Ren-Bo? ("emergency!", snaps out of his affliction) |
Kang Chul sprints to the end of the building, turns the corner.
He sees Ren-Bo in a passage leading to the courtyard, between two buildings.
Tink-Tink-Tink... She deflects shots coming from the courtyard with her staff.
Rubble on the ground, a hole in the building.
She got out by smashing through the wall!
She is translucent, outlined in black, except for her red wings.
|
| - | (notices Kang Chul, deflects the shots without looking) No more time. I'll find her myself. |
|
| - | (holds out his hand) Ok, let's go together. (remembers...) |
Kang Chul and Ren-Bo talk, secretly isolated in a garden.
|
| - | Song Jae-Jung's script is bad. Even for you, it carries risks. |
|
| - | (plaintive) What to do then? I don't want to-- |
|
| - | Do you really want to kill? Ok, you'll be able to by being separated from Fairy Spark. But how will you live with it, once you're yourself again? |
|
| - | (shakes her head no, grimaces with grief) It'll be horrible. (purple wings) |
|
| - | There's a way to avoid it. |
|
| - | ... ?? (hope, green wings) |
|
| - | We follow the plan, up to a certain point only. You'll have to defeat the Queen of Darkness... but without killing her! |
|
| - | (dejected) Just that won't be easy. And then what happens? |
|
| - | The Queen of Darkness can have an objective. A typical goal of villain stories: a redemption arc. |
|
| - | ("impossible") Why would she want that? She betrayed you, helps the Narrator, and almost killed us all! |
|
| - | Because I've known her for millennia. |
|
| - | (?!) Millennia... (bug) ... Thousands of YEARS?!!! |
|
| - | (nods yes) We stayed 18 millennia in the Imagination. Any betrayal is impossible, but I don't know her current dilemma. |
|
| (mouth agape......... "incredible") |
|
| - | Clemency is natural to your character. I'll make sure she repents after her defeat. When you forgive her, both your objectives will be validated. |
|
| - | Can you really convince her of that?! |
|
| - | Yes. And don't face her alone. Take me with you. That way, I can reason with her in advance. |
|
| - | (seems perfect but...) And if she refuses? (orange wings) |
|
| - | If someone has to kill her, it will be me and no one else. |
|
| - | (long sigh of relief) Hafffffff... (green wings) |
|
| - | (hand held out) Take me with you. |
|
| - | ... I'm going alone. |
|
| - | !!!!!! |
FLAP-FLAP! She flies off, leaving--
Tzak! tviz! tok! Kang Chul under fire from the courtyard shooters.
(!!) He dives for cover, into the hole in the building...
... does a roll, gets up at once, distressed.
The worst crashes down on him, like a guillotine.
Kang Chul is mad with rage, despair, powerlessness... and betrayal!
He sees the last hope of saving the woman he loves fly away:
Ren-Bo in the sky.
He draws his pistol, and not giving a damn about the danger, he goes out!
Kang Chul sprints, dodges dozens of shots like a ghost.
POW! POW! POW! POW! POW! POW! He fires in every direction.
SLOW MOTION:
Pure madness. He runs in the open.
Enemies in front, behind, everywhere.
His super-vision shows him in the trajectory of dozens of luminous lines.
Bullets and arrows graze him from all sides.
He has to dodge, shoot, turn around, reload, shoot again.
He has to regularly scan the sky, to follow Ren-Bo.
POW! POW! POW! POW! POW! Kang Chul fires frenetically.
Enemies fall by the dozens, by the hundreds!
He is a war machine blurred by super-speed.
Reckless, he risks death at every instant to save his beloved wife!
FLAP-FLAP! Ren-Bo sees the whole temple from the sky.
At the back, a building larger than the others. Nothing suspicious.
But Ren-Bo's butterfly sixth sense awakens.
In her eyes, that building exhales a halo of shadow.
FLOP-FLIP! She dives onto it!!
The Queen of Darkness waits, standing near a temple wall, when--
KRASHHH!!! The roof EXPLODES in the center of the hall.
Ren-Bo falls like a missile, and--
SBAM!! Plants her staff in the ground and lands in an aesthetic pose.
One knee down, head lowered, mysteriously threatening.
GrRzZz... She crackles, outlined by black lines, largely translucent.
|
| - | So, here we are, finally face to face, weak and fearful Butterfly Girl. |
|
| - | (raises her head slightly, killer's gaze) No time to talk, bitch! |
KA-FOOMMM!!! She leaps, propelled by her wings at full power.
|
| - | !!! (surprised by the aggressiveness) |
VOSHH!! Ren-Bo brings down her staff--
The Queen of Darkness dodges in a flash.
Krang! The staff hits the ground.
Ren-Bo, unbalanced, blinded by a cloud of shadow hair.
The Queen of Darkness strikes--
vBAAAM!!! Overpowered punch to the belly.
|
| - | XHHXHX!!!! (empty pupil, breath cut) |
Woosh! The shockwave propels Ren-Bo to the ceiling.
Krak! She hits the roof, bounces and--
SPLAF!! crashes to the ground!!
The Queen of Darkness looks at her suffering.
Ren-Bo, in shock, impossible to get up.
|
| - | You've never really suffered, have you? |
Wfomm... Wfomm... Two puffs of shadow.
A mystical-design sword materializes in each hand.
Ssss... Levitation. The Queen of Darkness glides toward Ren-Bo.
FLIP-FLIP-FLIP! Ren-Bo's purple wings beat.
An autonomous reflex! Inert Ren-Bo is extracted by a chaotic flight.
At the other end of the hall, she catches her breath. Green wings, temporarily.
|
| - | fff... fff... I haven't only suffered. fff... I overcame that suffering without cheating. |
|
| - | You're lying, otherwise you wouldn't be in that state. |
Ren-Bo looks at her hands, !!!, horrified.
She's nothing more than a translucent manhwa drawing.
She looks at her blue wing, !!!, half-transparent.
It's her last minute of existence.
Fairy Spark looks at us with despair.
Totally transparent, except for two wing tips.
The view widens, and in reality...
... she contemplates her own extinction, in a mirror held by Su-Ran.
|
| - | How long do you think... you can hold on, Fairy Spark? |
|
| (shakes no at Jae-Jung, "not the kind of question to ask") |
|
| - | (tears) Thirty seconds? ... But I still have one last hope. |
|
| - | (afflicted) Oooh... Ren-Bo. She has to succeed! |
|
| (tense..... closes her eyes like "there's no hope") |
Ren-Bo, tragic and determined.
Her approaching end galvanizes her. Orange wings... red!
VOosSH-VOosSH-VOosSH, She twirls her staff at full speed and CHARGES!
Contact!!! Too fast to see clearly:
Ren-Bo machine-guns the Queen of Darkness with strikes.
Klang-Klang-Kling-Klang-Kling-Klang-Klang... Parried by the two swords.
The swords fly everywhere at once, an impassable wall!!
VRROosSH--SKLANG!! Overpowered staff strike blocked by crossed swords!!
They are petrified for an instant, their faces a few centimeters apart.
|
| - | I have millennia of experience. |
|
| - | Then sign up for a prostitutes' contest! |
VLANG!!! Powerful sword strike, parried at the last second by the staff!
|
| - | !!! |
VLANG-VRAMM-VRLANG!!! Sword strikes, faster and more powerful.
Ren-Bo, !!!, panic-stricken, struggles to parry, shaken by each blow.
The Queen of Darkness takes the upper hand, forces her to retreat. Smoking luminous eyes.
VRANG-BLANG-VRLANG-BLANG-VRASH-KLANG!!!
Ten times per second, a potential fatal blow. Ren-Bo, ... !!!!
FLAP!!! Ren-Bo jumps 3 meters and--
ZFRRR... Ultra-fast rotations on herself.
KrRrRr... Like a sphere humming with electric arcs.
|
| - | ..... !!! (squints, struggles to see her) |
Ren-Bo falls like lightning, bringing down her electrified staff and--
VRRAMMM-GrKrKraKrrr!!! Breaks an arm, discharging the lightning into it!!!
|
| - | AAAARHH !! (drops a sword) |
SLASHHH!! Horizontal strike from the other sword!!
FLIP! Ren-Bo backs up, too late!
Zatch!! Belly slashed across. BLOOD!
|
| - | ... !!! (shocked, but immediately sees--) |
The Queen of Darkness's belly glows red.
SPROTCH!! The shadow arm bursts out! It lunges at Ren-Bo!
FLIP-FLIP-FLIP! She flees flying, pursued by the shadow hand.
The Queen of Darkness wields the shadow arm at the speed of thought.
BUT... against a girl whose thoughts are as fast as butterfly wings!!
The shadow hand closes on Ren-Bo.
FLIP! Sudden turn. CLAP! The hand catches only empty air.
FLAP-FLIP! Ren-Bo feints and slaloms between the columns.
The shadow arm wraps around the columns...
... seems infinitely elastic, but isn't.
When the shadow hand can advance no further--
Ren-Bo charges at the Queen of Darkness!!!
She recalls the shadow arm, but too slowly, so--
ZOSHHH!!! She throws her sword at Ren-Bo!
|
| - | !!! |
SHAF! Light flash. Ren-Bo tries to teleport by reflex.
Impossible! Ren-Bo, !!, realizes her mistake too late.
FLIP! A wingbeat saves her from the worst, but--
ZRATCH!! The sword pierces her thigh through and through! Spray of blood!
(Reminder: Ren-Bo teleports by changing worlds, impossible in the "Final Chapter".)
FLIP! FLIP! Forced to fly, with the sword skewered through.
She checks her thigh. Worse than the wound, she's immaterial!
Supernatural dusts stir, detach, evaporate.
|
| - | ... !!!! (terrified) |
She sees that the Queen of Darkness has reeled in her shadow arm.
But no choice, Ren-Bo must face her head-on, AND FAST!!
|
| - | (sees her disintegrating) I told you I wouldn't let you finish so miserably. |
FWOMmm! The shadow arm lunges, fingers outstretched like daggers.
VRAM! Ren-Bo blocks the shadow hand, but the fingers pass on all sides.
She dodges the upper ones. zitch! A finger frays her face, and--
Tshak!! A finger pierces a wing!!
|
| - | (suffers) AARAAHHH !!! |
The pain triggers an instinctive reaction--
Voshh! Staff whirl.
The strike goes through a shadow finger and LUMINOUS FLASH!.
|
| - | ... ?! (looks at the ground...) |
A shadow finger has been severed!!!
Then it disintegrates into shadow smoke on the ground...
|
| - | ... !!!! (can't believe it) |
(Reminder: the shadow arm is supposed to be intangible if cut. Ep25.)
|
| - | ...... (realizes) |
The Queen of Darkness reels in the shadow arm like a whip.
She strikes again!!!
Ren-Bo, !!, points her staff at the shadow hand and--
FLASH! of light at the tip!!
The shadow arm undulates in every direction, and like a frightened snake...
... it retracts by itself into the Queen of Darkness's abdomen!
|
| - | ..... !!! (looks at her belly, helpless) |
|
| - | Your sham must stop!!! |
krVOosSH-krVOosSH-krVOosSH, Twirling staff, charged with electricity.
FLAP!!! Ren-Bo ATTACKS!!!
The Queen of Darkness, ... !!!, frozen by the speed.
BAM! SBOM! SBAM!... Avalanche of shocks on the body and face.
With each staff strike, sprays of shadow blood.
The Queen of Darkness gets beaten!!
Ren-Bo twirls the staff one last time.
SBROM!! She brings it down on the head. At once--
GrzKKgrzKkKK... A myriad of electric arcs.
The Queen of Darkness convulsively spasms, her brain fried by lightning.
She collapses and without a puff of shadow... she becomes Mi-Ra again!!!
|
| - | ..... (regains consciousness and sees...) |
Ren-Bo brandishes the staff like a spear, above Mi-Ra's abdomen.
Her wings annihilate, soon her entire body.
|
| - | (enters just then) NOOOOO!!!! |
|
| - | .... (waits one final instant, for their goodbyes) |
Kang Chul, mad with uncertainty, panic, despair...
... seeing Ren-Bo disappear... and Mi-Ra about to be killed.
|
| - | (trembles wildly) Agh... Ren-Bo... You must.... You... |
|
| - | My love... (tragic, looks at Kang Chul) |
A gaze like no one will ever see in their life, except Kang Chul...
For it's a gaze charged with her love for him, a love of several millennia...
And it's also the last gaze he will share, with the woman he has loved that same eternity.
|
| - | (tears) Farewell, my love... |
|
| - | ...... !!!! (ultimate devastation, heart crushed) |
|
| - | DIE!!!!! |
VKA-ZAAMMM!!!! Ren-Bo drives the staff into Mi-Ra's abdomen.
At the moment of impact--
***FLLAAASHHHHH*** An explosion of white light engulfs the hall!
Coming from the prayer hall--
***FLLAAASHHHHH*** The devastating light explosion engulfs the entire temple.
Coming from the temple as epicenter--
***FLLAAASHHHHH*** A dome of light swells in the country.
It engulfs everything at a terrifying speed, ten times that of a nuclear explosion!!!
(Yeon-Joo is absent.)
Soo-Bong cries in despair looking at his tablet:
¤ Ren-Bo entirely transparent, a sword skewered through her thigh.
The drawing is rapidly replaced by another, then another, then another.
The manhwa is catching up!
Soo-Bong waves his stylus in vain above.
It's too fast for him to help.
It flickers frenetically until the end of the fight, and--
WHITE SCREEN!
Yoon-Hee stares at her screen (also white), dismayed.
|
| - | Oppa, my screen is stuck on white!! |
|
| - | ..... (frozen by surprise and grief) |
|
| (annoyed by his inaction) |
She stands up to see Soo-Bong's tablet.
Passing by the window, ?!, her gaze is drawn.
She sees a white glow on the horizon, !!, then a luminous tsunami.
A split-second later--
***FLLAAASHHHHH*** They are engulfed in the white light explosion.
Jae-Jung and Su-Ran look horrified...
... Fairy Spark transparent, disintegrating into supernatural particles.
|
| - | (tears) Ren-Bo... I'm coming to you... |
Fffff..... The fairy is annihilated......
|
| - | (cries) Boo hoo hoo... They have ceased to exist. |
|
| - | (sad) Does that mean Ren-Bo too? |
|
| - | (broken voice) Yes, it was inevitable. |
|
| - | What do you mean, inevitable?! That wasn't in your script, THAT!! |
|
| - | There are only three possibilities... |
|
| - | Spit it out and fast, I have no more patience. |
|
| - | Either Ren-Bo didn't conclude in time, and the separation from the fairy killed her. Or the Queen of Darkness killed Ren-Bo. Or... or... (cracks) Boo hoo hoo hoo... |
|
| (sighs, accepts this time of mourning....) |
|
| - | (guilty) ... Or Ren-Bo killed the Queen of Darkness. But since killing is contrary to her character, then... |
|
| - | (!!) Oh hell... Damn shabby scriptwriter! Always hiding essential information... |
|
| - | Ren-Bo was doomed from the start... The story had to end with a sacrifice. (cries hard) Boo hoo hoo... |
