#gswataru

She hoped the next few chapters of that one elaborated on Gomeunmogolppaemi, a deity she’s never heard about- and Seonghwangeyeogisin, the islands protector? The words have circled around passages she’s read, but hasn’t given her something beyond surface level.

The second book that started to collect a bit of dust was another general history book. It goes through the timeline of the island’s founding, the use of persimmon and asian pears and the mysterious explosion on the island- the rest seems a bit muddy in terms of organization. And she suspects there was a reason for that. Naturally, she’ll keep that one for a little longer. For science.

Now she’d needed information that can support what she’d found; which was easier said than done. At least she had the musky scent of fresh and aged bindings to comfort her as she weaved through the library aisles once again. A few bindings and colors caught her eyes as she skimmed, some she reached for and quickly replaced- mostly because they might’ve had a picture of a persimmon on the cover. As of late, she was fed up with any trace of those.

If she had to read one more thing about that fruit, she’d just have to stab her eyes out.

The low cadence of classical in her ears hummed over that sound of forced silence the library embodied. She should’ve turn it down a few notches, maybe then she would’ve been able to hear the librarian’s cart rolling down the center aisle with enough time to evade it without bumping into the column books that now laid near her feet. After a small swear to herself, the woman scattered to pick up the mess.

At first glance, none of the books caught her attention. A few were out of place, and she looked passed their titles to grab the others. That is when her glare landed on a book that was out of place, but also looked out of date. She was drawn to the wear and tear of the leather, and even more so to the veins that branches across it. There was a lock?

Of course, she can’t seem to get it open but- there was a small victory when she’d noticed she was able to wiggle a page free and a yellow book mark that read, 왕.

Her eyes scanned it, and scanned it. Over and over. What did any of this mean? Sarget- Dr, Mr who? The rest of the names had been blacked out, deeming them unreadable. Not even holding the yellowed sheet to the light helped. Damn it.

Ataru quickly spotted that there was no barcode on this book. Meaning this probably was passed along inside of the library, or someone left this here. That was too bad though, cause she was coming home with this- and she’d much preferred if there was no record of her having it. Quickly she picked all the fallen items up and filed them into their empty spots, in the midst she slid the leather clue into her bag. The letter tucked back into it.

The woman looped around and grabbed a random book before making it to the counter, checking it out like normal. A smile was given to the older lady, and another to one she’d passed shuffled into earlier. As if they’d already recognized her as a regular she nodded at them both, and left.

Adrenaline was beating in her chest- and that’s because now she had real information to work with. Her fingers itched to research it all, so much that by time she left the library doors- her digits were typing words into the naver browser.