Chapter 29 - Seoul Theme Park

I, Baek Je-min, had finished my military service and hated the North Korean commie bastards, but I had never actually experienced war firsthand.

I wasn't the only one. The Republic of Korea might still be under an armistice, but more than half a century had passed since full-scale war broke out. Who here would have any real sense of war's horrors or what it felt like to come under fire?

But as we rode north in the rattling bed of a military truck, drawing closer to Seoul, even the air gradually began to change.

Two armored vehicles, one at the head and one at the rear of the convoy, were escorting us—and as if that weren't enough, a helicopter too. I already felt as though all that steel might crush me.

The air was thick and stale, as though someone were carefully stuffing my throat with wet towels. A scorched smell pressed against my face, like the distinctive odor of rubber multiplied hundreds of times. Simply breathing made my throat sting and cry out for water.

When downtown Seongnam finally came fully into view, I found myself licking my dry lips without even realizing it.

Artillery positions had been set up in areas close to the road where the surrounding buildings were relatively low. Soldiers were constantly hauling shells from trucks to the guns. I could also see officers inspecting the positions and signalers busily checking things over their radios.

This position seemed to have stopped shelling. But one battery falling silent hardly meant it was over.

Lee Se-jun grimaced and covered his mouth with his poncho, while Shin Na-in simply put on a gas mask. The middle-aged men and women of the Taegeuk Jesus Advent Eastern Magi Corps traveling with us covered their mouths with their Korean-flag capes to protect themselves from the smell.

Only I, Baek Je-min, was savoring Seongnam's makeover with every sensory organ in my body.

Even I couldn't help muttering when I raised my head and looked north.

"That's brutal..."

North. The direction where Seoul should have been was blanketed in fog.

I wasn't even sure fog was the right word for it. Dense gray clouds filled the space from the ground to high in the sky. Their heavy bulk resembled the cumulonimbus clouds that brought downpours, but they sat so steadfastly over Seoul, unmoved by the wind, that I almost wondered whether they were a solid mass.

Most striking of all was the shelling.

When the guns recoiled and thundered, it was my internal organs, not my ears, that felt it most keenly. My insides trembled faintly from the shaking earth, not the rattling truck.

Then light flashed inside that dense, heavy fog—the enormous, dark gray cloud said to be hundreds of meters thick. Like a blinking yellow traffic light.

Only after the flashes of the bombardment did the sound of shells tearing through the air reach us. Within the fog, Seoul glittered with countless shell impacts, as though a fireworks display were underway.

All to drive away even a handful of fog.

The state of the front grew harsher the farther north we went, toward our destination in the fog. The lingering reek of gunpowder mingled with the smell of all manner of things burning until it stabbed at my eyes and nose.

Hundreds, thousands of spent casings rolled between collapsed concrete buildings and densely laid barbed wire. In that colorless heap of gray, only the trucks moving along the road had any color.

That was when it happened.

KRZZZT... KZZT...

I looked toward the distinctive radio static and saw an infantry squad emerge from the mouth of an alley. Both their equipment and their air of lethal intent were on an entirely different level from the guys I'd seen at Suwon Station.

Every one of them was at MOPP Level 4, fully clad in chemical-protective suits and gas masks. Not a scrap of bare skin showed.

The lead soldier, carrying a flamethrower, stared straight at us. Behind him, I could see soldiers carrying semiautomatic shotguns with hefty magazines rather than standard K2C1 rifles. There were riflemen too, of course, but two flamethrowers and three shotguns in a squad of what looked like eight men was hardly a typical arrangement for our armed forces.

I'd expected them to make every last one a rifleman.

Still, what stood out most was their readiness and killing intent. I could hear the distinctive breathing through their gas masks even at a distance, and their fingers never left their triggers.

They kept their eyes fixed on us as we passed, only resuming their march once we were far away.

Apparently, even that counted as relaxed by frontline standards.

The closer we drew to the fog, the more tense our already silent passengers became.

The truly fucked-up state of the front was starting to hit us right in the eyes, completely unfiltered.

Soldiers armed with flamethrowers and semiautomatic shotguns patrolled, shining lights into every nook and cranny at the mouths of alleys. All we heard were the heavy tread of combat boots and guns brushing against gear. Some groups exchanged a little chatter, but it seldom lasted long.

It wasn't until we came abreast of a park far off the road that we heard any real voices.

"Help! Please, save us!"

"I'm human!"

It was a semicircular encirclement for annihilation. A military formation intended to wipe out civilians completely.

People stained with soot and dust, looking as though they'd endured every imaginable hardship, held both hands up and pleaded through streaming tears. They appeared to be refugees from Seoul who had miraculously escaped the monsters overrunning the city and the incessant shelling.

Among them was a little girl hugging her parent's leg. Naturally, a sensitive soul like me felt a lump in my throat.

But our valiant troops had surrounded these dozens of citizens with their guns trained on them. They kept their distance, aiming not just drum-fed semiautomatic shotguns but flamethrowers too. The atmosphere was so murderous that, for a moment, I wondered whether I should stop them.

Then Shin Na-in, who had come up beside me without my noticing, whispered through his huffing breaths.

"You see that little girl?"

"Yeah. What about her?"

"She's a monster."

TICK-TICK-TICK-TICK-TICK...

A flamethrower ignited with a sound like a lighter's flint being struck. The moment its flames reached the girl clinging to her parent's leg and set her ablaze, she let out an inhuman shriek, changed shape, and rubbed her cheek against her mother's face.

Not understanding what was happening, the mother hugged her daughter. Then she realized her head was melting even before the flames could burn it, and she screamed. But even the mother's groans and screams were no longer her own.

With the girl's little body dangling from her, the mother grabbed it and tried to slam it away to shake her off, but the fire spread to her before she could.

Finally, as the girl's eyes and her mother's overlapped and fused into compound eyes, a scream erupted from their merging mouths.

"Kaaaaaagh!"

"Fire! Fire! Kill them all! Shoot their legs and torsos! Don't let them out of the burn zone!"

BANG! BA-BANG, BANG!

Some were real people. Others were monsters that revealed their true nature once the flames spread to them. But none posed any threat to the troops, who were already in position.

There seemed to be a few predatory spines among them too. Here and there, a person's neck twisted a full 360 degrees and snapped, and a monster burst out with a pop.

With a curtain of fire already established, though, they quickly got shot to shit or burned to death.

The convoy kept moving, however slowly, so I couldn't watch to the end.

I did see the incessant gunfire gradually subside, and the soldiers slowly lower their weapons to look at the burning heap of corpses. But concealed beneath their thick chemical-protective suits, gear, and gas masks, their eyes were impossible to read.

Once we passed the infantry, I saw tanks and machine-gun positions farther ahead, their barrels pointed toward the fog. At the sight of a scene straight out of a World War I film, I accidentally inhaled a little gray dust.

"Keh, keh."

Unable to stand it, I opened my canteen and took a few swallows of water. Meanwhile, the truck stopped. I thought we'd finally arrived, but the officer riding up front poked his head out the window.

"They expect a small engagement. We'll wait thirty minutes before moving on."

The trenches and tanks faced a killing zone of concrete rubble and shell craters. Soon, a loud siren sounded. Soldiers who had removed their gas masks to catch their breath immediately put them back on and headed to their positions.

As shouted acknowledgments close to screams rang out everywhere, the soldiers in chemical-protective suits carried more grenade launchers, flamethrowers, and shotguns than rifles. They all took positions near the machine gunners to cover them. I soon learned why.

Pale human silhouettes appeared in the fog.

But as they drew closer, it became clear that they were anything but normal. One head with hundreds of arms and legs. Enormous Amalgams emerged, rolling the compound eyes of their melted faces. The instant they left the fog, they began splitting apart, cramming their faces into individual bodies like melted ice cream.

A couple of tanks fired their shells.

One enormous Amalgam took a high-explosive shell and was pulverized on the spot. The Amalgams that had split off advanced without fear.

The soldiers with grenade launchers opened fire first, signaling the start with a succession of hollow thumps.

BRRATATATAT...

Even from a distance, I could hear the gunfire clearly. Whether mounted in emplacements or on tanks, the machine guns couldn't rest until their barrels glowed hot. The two tanks fired alternately, scattering thick clouds of gun smoke, while the infantry's firepower, grenades included, concentrated on stopping the incoming Amalgams.

In the face of that firepower, the huge Amalgams split apart and scattered again and again.

Instead of charging in with their massive bulk, they chose mobility and division to break through the killing zone, seemingly forcing the defenders to spread their fire. That was when the flamethrowers spat flames amid scream-like battle cries to stop the approaching Amalgams.

The shrieks of burning monsters mingled with the screams humans let out to crush down their fear.

The sheer scale was so overwhelming that I wondered whether I ought to use magic myself, even at the cost of its backlash. Around then, fighter jets appeared overhead with a deafening roar.

The aerial bombardment soon began.

Monsters were erased by the blast pressure, and shelling aimed at Seoul's outskirts resumed. A shell landed where eight enormous Amalgams had clustered, sending up white smoke. The Amalgams caught fire and unleashed ghostly howls that seemed to shake my heart.

AAAAAAAGH!!!

"Almighty Lord God, protect us in our tribulations..."

The sharp-featured middle-aged man who seemed to lead the Taegeuk Jesus Advent Eastern Magi Corps clasped his hands and began to pray.

Our alteration-type trio wasn't much different.

Lee Se-jun muttered with his ears plugged, while Shin Na-in pulled up his poncho's hood and bowed his head.

I, Baek Je-min, speak the truth as a real man who tells no lies. I leaked a drop or two of piss.

I felt Shin Na-in edge away slightly, but I didn't care. Hearing that ghostly howl and leaking only a drop or two was an achievement to be proud of.

For the troops on the front line, however, this seemed to be routine. They flinched briefly, then resumed their counterattack.

It was a clash of overwhelming violence.

The military pulverized monsters with the firepower that humanity's accumulated intellect and civilization boasted. The monsters fashioned ever more hideous, bizarre forms to profane humanity's sanctity and human nature, charging in without fear.

Some of the flamethrower operators ran out of fuel and could no longer hold the monsters back. Amalgams seized them and dragged them away as they struggled.

I couldn't hear the groans and terrified screams trapped beneath their gas masks, but I could clearly see their legs flailing, even from that distance.

Guns were aimed at the soldiers being dragged away too.

The instant one position was overrun, grenades rained down on it. Monsters fell under a hail of bullets, and beneath them, several soldiers bled, twitched, and died. Shelling directed into the fog began soon afterward. Flashes flared, and smoke mingled with the fog bank.

Everyone aboard the truck was too overwhelmed to make any real conversation.

Before long, the battle ended in the military's victory.

We learned the outcome from the cold report over the front-seat officer's radio.

["... Engagement duration: four minutes. Pack of head-fusion mimic beasts successfully eliminated. Six casualties. Will resume communications once security checks are complete and the area is secure."]

"Copy."

February 29, 2028. 11:24 a.m.

That was the time I saw when I absently switched on my cracked-screen phone.

The officer poked his head out the window again and looked back at us, then gave a bitter smile and slapped the door a few times.

We had arrived at the first cordon, near Seoul.

"Let's get this done fast and get back fast."

And now we were heading into Seoul's outskirts.

* * *

Our route into the city took us north along Seongnam-daero.

We were to regroup near Bokjeong Station, then, if there was fog there, have the candidates read the Magic Crash Course booklet to awaken their magic before returning. Seongnam-daero and the area around Bokjeong Station were close to points currently controlled by the military, and there were relatively few buildings suitable for ambushes, making entry easier.

Apparently, the military had originally intended to blow up Seongnam-daero to block the route south. But once it became an accepted fact that fog was necessary to learn magic script, they left it intact because they needed a way in.

Yet the farther north we went, the closer we drew to the fog, the more chilling my sense of foreboding became.

Do not venture into the fog. Do not step into a place overrun with monsters boasting every imaginable bizarre form of life. When the moment comes that even regret is impossible, you will realize your tears are no longer your own.

I wasn't the only one feeling that unease and chilling premonition.

All three of us alteration-types expressed the same sentiment.

"This is no joke. Je-min, Na-in. Was coming to Seoul really the right call?"

"You said you were going to save the country."

"Ugh... Fuck. Right. A real man like Lee Se-jun can't leave a debt unpaid. I can't, but...!"

When I called him out on his reluctance, he mimed tearing out his hair as though he were in agony.

"Honestly, don't you think I've paid it all back with everything I've contributed so far?"

"Se-jun, quit the bullshit and come with us."

"The church's doors are always open to you too, Se-jun."

Lee Se-jun grumbled and fiddled with his gun. He was clearly trying to judge when he'd be allowed to load live ammunition.

Meanwhile, the middle-aged leader of the Taegeuk Cape Brigade was busy praying together with his members. Carrying no guns, armed only with things like walking sticks and mop handles, they looked more like mages than we did.

Meanwhile, the convoy pushed into the fog.

Visibility was maybe five hundred meters? Even when we reached a small bridge, the fog wasn't as thick as I'd expected.

But as we approached our destination near Bokjeong Station, heavy fog swept over us, cold enough to make me feel an instantaneous chill.

The officer no longer stuck his head out the window.

"Visibility in the fog is under a hundred meters. Everyone, you may load live ammunition and prepare for combat."

Our one consolation was the sound of helicopters in the distance. A slight turn of my head also brought the bright lights mounted on the armored vehicle into view, shining on us.

Our alteration-type trio loaded live ammunition without a word. Hoping I might pick up one more ability, I opened my Magic Crash Course booklet too. The magic scripts drawn inside should belong to the eye, ear, and heart branches.

It would be so nice to get even one...

"Urgh..."

"Je-min, do you think there might be some kind of requirement?"

As the truck came to a stop, Lee Se-jun approached and thumped my shoulder a few times.

"A requirement?"

"Like an unlock requirement. With game characters, sometimes putting points into one skill tree locks the others. To unlock them, you have to spend real money or make a new character. I was wondering whether this alteration-type magic might have unlock requirements too."

That sounded pretty plausible.

We got out of the truck and took our positions, following the swaying lights. The officer who had ridden up front had removed his name tag, so all I could tell was that he was a captain. He had a narrow face and upturned eyes.

"We will now distribute booklets for awakening localized penetrative alteration activity. If you experience vomiting, nausea, or dizziness, close your eyes immediately and take deep breaths. If you find a script you can look at without discomfort, report what you've learned and understood. The sooner you report, the sooner you can return to safety!"

Soldiers stood guard nearby, heavily protected in chemical-protective suits and gas masks like the troops at the front.

For roughly ten soldiers carrying rifles, there were at least eight carrying shotguns, either semiautomatics or ones loaded a shell at a time. Under their stern gazes, all sorts of people were brought out to open their booklets in the fog.

There was a prisoner with a shaggy beard and handcuffs, a monk dressed in robes, a middle-aged woman with tightly permed hair, and a young man with a fairly youthful face who looked about college age.

Our alteration-type trio decided to open our Magic Crash Course booklets and see whether we could learn magic from other branches too.

At present, only we Supreme Mages knew the hand-branch script in southern Gyeonggi, so this was a chance to see whether the others could learn it.

I'd prefer to be the only exceptional one, but if we were going to fuck up those monster bastards, sharing knowledge was unavoidable.

For better or worse, the area soon filled with the sound of retching.

"Bleeuuurgh..."

I was no exception.

The heart branch. It seemed like utter trash if it was the only branch you knew, but for me, with the eye and hand branches already learned, it was certain to provide incredible synergy.

And yet, fuck, I couldn't learn it.

Apparently I wasn't the only one who felt cheated. Everyone kept a grip on their Magic Crash Course booklets even as they gagged, tears streaming down their faces, and emptied their stomachs.

Then I saw the captain frown deeply.

"Do we need to go farther in...?"

"Farther in?"

I asked while wiping the gastric fluid from my mouth with the back of my hand.

I had an intuition that he knew something. At my question, he knitted his brows, looked around at our alteration-type trio and the Taegeuk Cape Brigade, then beckoned us over with his index and middle fingers.

"Not everyone. Just your representatives, please."

The middle-aged leader of the Taegeuk Cape Brigade and I, Baek Je-min, the only Supreme Mage to have learned two branches, approached. The captain spoke cautiously.

"They're actively analyzing magic script over in Pyeongtaek, and a hypothesis has emerged. The thicker the fog, the higher the success rate for learning magic script may be. However, as you should know from your briefing, there are accounts of two unidentified species appearing in fog thick enough to reduce visibility to fifty meters or less."

The sharp-featured middle-aged man rubbed the temple of his glasses and shrugged.

"The Lord's sacred revelation lies within tribulation. Don't worry. I didn't come here to watch young people die. In the name of the Lord God, I, Min Hyeong-jun, will serve as the shepherd who leads you."

"Thank you for your enthusiasm. What about you, Mr. Baek Je-min of Aphorism?"

I instinctively turned my head to check our surroundings.

The fog was still thick. People were coughing and retching. Lee Se-jun trembled with his gun clutched in his hands, while Shin Na-in wore a pleased smile and bobbed his shoulders like a DJ.

Every one of those lives was precious.

There was only one conclusion.

"Let's go right now."

If thicker fog meant a higher chance of learning magic, then that was our survival rate!