Page 410 of Light Leech

“So you can understand, sir?”

I tried to tame my smile, satisfied that at least one of them did not act like he was the paragon of wisdom that he thought himself to be.

“I–”

She faced the others as she spoke over him. “I was the one who has been following the Journeymen’s presence with Dear Leader Kim’s secondary reps. Had I been on the council, I would have already clarified this. The Dear Leader would have eliminated PetNab from the test if it had not been for me. While RalEsp is crucial for obvious purposes, her Gui was not a true servant of the serpent god. Fortunately, my complaints raised through Don’s mouth at the council brought us what we needed.”

“How is this going to fix the temple anomaly?” a man asked.

“The connection to the–”

“I thought the serpent god was of Arabasian origin?” another asked.

Diama sighed. “Different cultures see deities in different ways. Gods are not bound by our rules and geographical differences, but—“

“Are we sure he will obey you?” another asked.

Diama glared at Don.

He grinned, then shouted. “Shut the zeg up and focus. Are we listening?” He leaned towards Diama and whispered, though even his hushed voice was loud enough to hear. “This is why I’m on the council, you plug?”

She rolled her eyes.

He winked and pulled away.

Diama placed her arms akimbo. “We need to harness the Gui before the next equinox.”

“For the serpent effect?” a younger girl asked.

“Exactly.”

An older man spoke up. “So are we just going to extract it from him like they did with Dokkaebi?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because we can’t control the will of a Gui. Dokkaebi is ours because he always has been.”

“More like we are his,” a girl said.

“Correct. The Journeyman Gui unbound to a human would be a catastrophe.”

An older man raised his hand as he spoke. “Then why not bind him to you or someone else who is already part of this project?”

She stared at me. “Because PetNab has already harnessed the Gui. And disruption to that would result in a disaster.”

“And how do you know this?” a man next to Don asked.

“Because I used to have a Gui.”

“Used to?” a younger girl asked.

Diama nodded. “The late Beacon Deleon convinced our Dear Leader to transfer it to one of his new imps.”

“Who?” I asked.

Some of the people murmured about my autonomy after hearing me talk, but Diama was unfazed.