Chapter 101 - Dirty Hope

Lee Se-jun and I were the first to reach Reality Survival Command's command-and-control room.

Of the officers whose faces and names I'd memorized, only Major General Jeon Min-ho and Captain Kim Ho-un were there. Plenty of American and Korean company-grade officers were frantically exchanging communications and shouting, of course, but things were too urgent for me to remember each one.

At that moment, Major General Jeon Min-ho was issuing Captain Kim Ho-un a string of orders, his eyes bloodshot.

"Captain Kim, bring Aphorism here. Have them stand by nearby so we can put them straight on a helicopter when deployment orders come down. You can bring their supplies separately afterward."

"Loyalty!"

Captain Kim Ho-un snapped off a crisp salute, turned, and immediately met my eyes.

He looked at Se-jun and me, fully dressed down to our rain ponchos, his prominent cheekbones twitching with surprise.

"Wait... It takes ten minutes even by car. You're here already?"

Se-jun and I looked at each other.

Ordinary non-mages would have launched into some boring spiel about their usual workout routines and how they trained themselves.

But for us Supreme Mages, one phrase was enough.

"Magical physique."

"Ha... Magic is so fucking broken. Seriously."

Captain Kim grumbled as he passed us.

He returned less than a minute later.

"Captain Kim, what is it? If you have a situation report, make it quick and brief..."

"They're here, sir."

"What?"

THUD!

As everyone in the command-and-control room watched, a woman set down the people she'd carried in like luggage. The people dumped on the floor like garbage bags were familiar faces.

Hamza, Pastor Park Yo-han, and Shin Na-in.

"Bleurgh, urgh."

"I-I'm never riding that again."

"Though the road of my life... may not be smooth~."

While the three Supreme Mages crawled around together like bugs, Go Ryeo-ha stood tall, planted her hands on her hips, and looked at us reproachfully.

"Junior! Mister Se-jun! How could you leave ahead of us? We're on the same team!"

May 12, 2028, 2:50 a.m.

It had taken all six Supreme Mages exactly four minutes to get dressed and reach Reality Survival Command's command-and-control room.

True to his practical military nature, Major General Jeon Min-ho cut out the tedious, pedantic explanations and stuck to the clearest, simplest points. For the moment, he ignored Hamza, Na-in, and Pastor Park's complaints of motion sickness and dizziness.

"Until now, Command considered this attack something of a preliminary engagement to test our response. However, the enemy... the individual Aphorism has designated [Gangnam Clairvoyant], Unit 55 under his command, and the hostile local survivors believed to belong to the Gangnam group have shown aggression far beyond our assessments."

Unlike Se-jun, who was listening attentively, I was curious what trick Ryeo-ha had used. I nudged the pastor's side with my elbow.

"How did Ryeo-ha carry three men here?"

"Damn it. Baek Je-min, that's what you're curious about right now? I'm dizzy as hell."

"Next time, Lee Se-jun might be carrying you around."

"The invisible hand, what's it called? Hand Stage Three. She grabbed me and Na-in with [Telekinesis] and brought us here bobbing through the air."

Useful information. It also let me draw a quick inference.

I'd been assuming that [Emotional Detachment] was the penalty for either Stage Three or Stage Four hand-branch magic.

And Go Ryeo-ha was a mage who lived with an incomplete mind, having excised her fear.

She didn't use Hand Branch, Stage Four [Material Transformation] all that often. Besides, with magic that consumed blood, the need to bleed was often a penalty in itself.

That made [Emotional Detachment] more likely to be the penalty for Hand Branch, Stage Three [Telekinesis], which I suspected Ryeo-ha maintained almost constantly.

Magic was versatile enough that even trivial details could provide clues and information.

Once again, I marveled at its limitless applications, smiling in satisfaction.

Meanwhile, Major General Jeon's explanation had moved on to the important part.

"This was planned and meticulously executed. We believe the Gangnam Clairvoyant and his forces mounted their offensive in three phases."

The first offensive.

Reconnaissance with cheap drones, followed by monster attacks aimed at soldiers who reacted to the sound and attempted to shoot them down. We'd guessed that they had torn off Amalgams' heads to use, or suspended predatory spines beneath the drones. But there was another monster perfectly suited to this sort of bombing.

"We believe Identified Species No. 3, the degenerative cellular colony, was used to trigger an explosive spread of infection, tied inside plastic bags and suspended beneath the drones. This would allow them to inflict damage even if the drones crashed..."

The degenerative cellular colony.

They'd scooped the monsters we'd named Human slimes into plastic bags, hung them from drones, and sent them flying. Shooting and bursting those bags would cause even more damage.

Electronic warfare equipment had neutralized some of them, but other drones carried predatory spines or severed Amalgam heads, so the soldiers couldn't stop firing at them.

The cordon soldiers were protected by CBRN suits and gas masks, allowing them to avoid immediate infection and fight while decontaminating themselves. But as the Human-slime drone attacks continued, some soldiers finally succumbed to mutation, throwing the lines into confusion.

"Amalgams—officially designated head-fusion mimic beasts—detected the cordon's collapse and began moving south in groups. Hostile practitioners of localized penetrative alteration activity were deployed alongside them. Our forces had already dispersed nerve agents, and continued responding with chemical munitions, bombing, missiles, and artillery, eliminating a considerable number. However, we believe these were not their main fighting force..."

The second offensive.

Responding to the commotion, monsters began moving south.

At the same time, Seoul mages attacked nearby stretches of the cordon, trying to break through.

Naturally, Seoul mages who were still mere foot soldiers despite learning magic, and monsters that were nothing but lumps of flesh, didn't actually break through modern firepower.

Most inhaled the gas and went straight to the next world. The remainder were caught in the regrouped cordon soldiers' curtain of fire and riddled with holes.

But the enemy wasn't entirely stupid either.

"... We believe the Gangnam Clairvoyant and his main forces revealed themselves as monster-carrying drones poured down continuously on artillery positions exposed during the defense against the second offensive."

The third offensive.

Monster drones swarmed the exposed artillery positions. Amid the disorientation, the true main force—the Gangnam group's advanced mages, along with Unit 55, the Society of 66's private army—finally appeared on the front.

They had drawn magic script on their outerwear to disable observers using thermal imaging, long-range observation, night vision, and the like.

Equipment such as motion sensors, heartbeat detectors, and radar, which relied on sound or didn't require anyone to look at a direct image, at least allowed the troops to detect the infiltration. But the process exposed a fatal weakness.

And the Gangnam Clairvoyant didn't miss that opportunity.

"The Gangnam Clairvoyant is currently demanding that the soldiers left in Seongnam defect. He is ordering them to uncover their faces, reveal their names, and surrender to Unit 55. Naturally, once their faces and names are exposed, we cannot prevent the Gangnam Clairvoyant from killing them remotely with curses."

Morale.

Soldiers already ordered to fight to the death had almost no way to survive.

Only then did I realize the true purpose of this offensive.

The Gangnam Clairvoyant wasn't trying to break through by force.

He intended to absorb their troops and turn the guns of Seongnam's army back on its own side without ever exposing himself.

And apparently that wasn't all.

"Lord."

Pastor Park Yo-han, who had been listening quietly, pushed his glasses up onto his head and covered his mouth.

"I wondered why the military was full of such young kids. General Jeon. You knew there was someone who could kill people once he learned their faces and names, didn't you?"

"We didn't know who it was. Our suspicions solidified during the previous communications in Seongnam, and now we are certain."

So that was why every military officer had been going around without a name tag.

Why, even allowing for us being civilians, we'd met so few general officers in important settings. Why people whose ranks were objectively too low for the authority involved had been exercising actual command...!

"Article 87 of the Criminal Act. Insurrection."

TAP.

Major General Jeon Min-ho planted a hand on the table and spoke.

"The directive is to immediately shoot on sight anyone suspected to be the Gangnam Clairvoyant, who is accused of murdering sixty-one general officers and field commanders maintaining the cordon, stealing weapons, and inciting soldiers, and who is defying emergency martial law and attempting to breach the cordon."

* * *

Our Supreme Mages' quarters were moved from our private barracks to a spot beside the helipad.

It was an atrocious environment. Helicopter rotors battered our eardrums whenever we tried to sleep, and the downwash battered our ponchos whenever we stepped outside. But no one dared complain.

The sirens had stopped, but the commotion in camp hadn't died down.

Whenever helicopters landed or took off, countless supplies, groaning soldiers, and technicians rushing in to perform maintenance tangled together in a chaotic bustle. We Supreme Mages were somewhat dazed as we neatly organized the drinks, light snacks, sleeping bags, blankets, and ammunition cans Captain Kim Ho-un brought us.

Even Ryeo-ha, who was always beaming, flicked her fingers against an ammunition-can lid as if anxious.

"The man from Gangnam really was unusual. In how much he hated people outside Seoul."

"Is there anything else you know?"

Even Se-jun, who was carrying ammunition cans, had cast aside his usual jealousy and inferiority complex to question her.

The human trash Lee Se-jun, who was always ranting and raving about gender-swapping, had vanished. Only Captain Korea remained, burning with the conviction to save his country and repay its loyalty. He set the ammunition cans down with crisply disciplined posture and gave Ryeo-ha a solemn look.

"Ryeo-ha, I can't fully understand the hatred you feel for people outside as someone who was left behind in Seoul."

"Mister Soldier...?"

"But I think I can understand the resentment. I feel it too—the anger you can't help feeling when everyone turns their backs on you, the resentment toward the chosen ones. I hate and envy pretty women. So much it drives me crazy."

This fucking bastard.

All the emotion he'd stirred in me collapsed in an instant.

But Se-jun wasn't finished.

"Even so, I don't resent protecting those people too. Because the mere fact that the life I dream of exists somewhere in this world comforts me. I can keep living on the fragile hope that someday, I might live that life as well.

"I resent those who enjoy my dream without paying any price, but I have hope because I know that dream can come true without a price."

Hope.

When that word came out of Se-jun's mouth, every Supreme Mage grew solemn.

Hamza stared listlessly at the ground. Na-in gently closed his eyes and slipped off his headset, resting it around his neck. The pastor clasped his hands, interlaced his fingers, and prayed. Ryeo-ha's wide eyes trembled.

What an unglamorous word, in the face of a truth everyone knew but refused to look at.

Our world was falling apart.

Humanity was divided. Everyone was doing their best within their own roles, but there was no sign that we could shake off the end drawing closer by the moment.

Amid that reality, the man harboring the most sordid, filthy wish spoke.

"I hope you'll find that kind of hope too, Go Ryeo-ha."

Silence lingered for a moment.

For a while, Ryeo-ha kept seeming as though she wouldn't speak, then twitching her lips.

Then tears streamed silently down her face.

Unable to hide the redness spreading around her eyes, she wiped and wiped the tears pouring out with her wrist.

I didn't know whether Ryeo-ha had taken the red pill, or whether she still believed the Konkuk University survivors were alive.

But one thing was certain: though she hadn't shown it, she had bitterly resented the people outside Seoul.

She kept wiping the tears streaming down without a sob. When she could no longer wipe them all away, she turned toward us.

For the first time, the eyes of the mage who had excised her fear held genuine emotion instead of a false smile.

Sorrow, anger, resentment...

The secret those emotions had kept hidden came spilling out.

"Three branches."

At that instant, Na-in's eyes flashed open and he raised his head.

"Upright Alteration-Type Eye, Stage One. Ear, Stage Four. Tongue, Stage Three."

Unresolved, pent-up feelings mingled with the secrets spilling out.

In a strange display, Ryeo-ha shed torrents of tears without sobbing, continuously wiping them with her already soaked wrist and forearm.

"The man from Gangnam is an ear mage."

"Wait..."

Why was someone called the Clairvoyant an ear mage? Just as I wondered that, a realization flashed through my mind.

The true power of Eye, Stage One was [Cognitive Expansion].

The distorted square inside the triangle symbolized bringing something into human vision that normally couldn't be seen.

I'd forgotten that for a long time.

Eye, Stage One's original capability—the original magic at one hundred percent—let a person see everything humans couldn't see, all at once.

Indeed, when I'd used tongue magic to cast Eye, Stage One without limiting its scope, it had demonstrated terrifying side effects and a fragment of omnipotent power.

Magic that let you see the past, present, future, and things you normally couldn't see.

That was Eye, Stage One's original capability.

The other spells were the same.

Every spell used without the aid of tongue magic was a version with its original capabilities degraded to an extreme degree according to the mage's talent and aptitude. Those talents and aptitudes merely determined which aspect was emphasized.

Then...

Had the Clairvoyant's Eye, Stage One developed toward seeing far away because he wanted to see the people he wished to kill from a distance?

It happened then.

"Ryeo-ha."

Pastor Park Yo-han looked at her with firm eyes that still held a trace of compassion.

"That was wicked. It was shameful, too."

"Hic, h-hic."

"But if you've felt ashamed, that's enough. You've set foot on the path of repentance."

Na-in's expression soured horribly, but with Ryeo-ha crying so hard and the pastor comforting her, he couldn't bring himself to speak.

Hamza and Se-jun wore conflicted expressions as they watched Ryeo-ha begin to sob.

Once again, we felt just how deeply the people of Seoul hated and resented those outside the cordon.

But that was enough melodrama.

"Let's go. Hamza, Lee Se-jun, Shin Na-in."

"Je-min. What about Ryeo-ha?"

"The pastor's filming his tearjerker. We should go tell Command."

Hamza narrowed his eyes and asked,

"Je-min. You're a T, aren't you?"

"I am a testosterone-type guy."

Knowing that the Gangnam Clairvoyant was an ear mage would help correct the assumptions his epithet made it so easy to fall into.

The pastor was comforting her and serving as her emotional dumping ground. The four of us didn't need to stay stuck here. Besides, if we went together to tell the military, they might share the information they'd gathered so far.

I slung my gun over my shoulder and started walking, and the Supreme Mages naturally fell into formation.

We didn't even need words anymore.

They'd learned that standing in front of me meant death, so they fell in behind me with perfect ease. Feeling pleased, I strode confidently toward Command.

Or I would have, if a vehicle carrying Captain Kim Ho-un and Corporal Son Ga-in hadn't approached from the other direction.

We stopped short and waited for Captain Kim to pull over and lower the window.

"What's going on?"

May 12, 2028, 5:47 a.m.

The sun was beginning to rise, brightening the world.

From beyond the car door, Captain Kim Ho-un, riding in the front passenger seat, pointed his thumb toward the back. His face was deathly pale.

"We've received communications from Yongsan Station. A middle-aged woman leading a group of survivors. We need Aphorism to verify her identity."

"Madam Yongsan Station? Why all of a sudden?"

I voiced the question on everyone's mind.

And once again, we discovered that the world had changed.

"She's proposed negotiations in exchange for sharing information on the Gangnam Clairvoyant and his forces."

Our world was now facing an overflowing flood of dopamine.