The church smelled of candle smoke and incense, and now, faintly, of fire.
It drifted in through the open doors behind them, carried on the cold dawn wind. Jin could hear the city through those doors. The roar of the flames. The wild clanging of the bells in the watchtowers. Thousands of voices calling out to one another in the streets. But in here, under the high painted ceiling with its scattered stars, it was strangely quiet.
Most of the people who'd been inside were gone. They'd poured out through the side doors when the first boom shook the windows, and the long rows of pews stood mostly empty now. A few dozen still remained, scattered here and there, standing in the aisles in their pale robes, turning to stare at the three people walking slowly up the center of the church. Their faces were uncertain. Confused. For the first time since Jin had come to Suwon, nobody was smiling.
He kept walking anyway.
