Chapter 39 - Best of the Best

Seoul, a land buried beneath an immense cloud of fog hundreds of meters thick.

Apparently, reconnaissance into the city had proceeded in two broad phases. While countless reconnaissance drones and fighter jets entered Seoul's airspace to gather intelligence and drop bombs, special forces went in as the reconnaissance vanguard.

Their primary objective was to establish footholds through the subway network rather than aboveground, where they would be exposed to shelling and vulnerable to attacks by unidentified species.

Once the special forces had successfully scouted and cleared the way, technicians—volunteers or conscripts—would inspect the infrastructure and check supplies, advancing step by step. Regular soldiers would be deployed to secure and maintain the footholds.

That constituted the first reconnaissance phase.

Civilian Operators—mages cooperative with the military—would be deployed for the follow-up, the second reconnaissance phase. Their mission was to use routes secured by the special forces or military to search the surrounding areas and make contact with survivor groups.

We Supreme Mages were therefore scheduled to enter Seoul by traveling along the subway tracks.

And our initial entry point was none other than Bokjeong Station.

The very subway station near which we'd encountered the teratomas.

"Dismount!"

At the booming shout from the officer riding up front, soldiers poured out of the other trucks. The sight of them unloading searchlights and grunting as they lowered portable generators stirred distant memories. Yeah. Work your asses off.

We Supreme Mages were ready to get out of our truck, too.

The fog was already so dense we could barely see an inch ahead, rolling like waves. When I dove into it, dampness rushed up to meet me.

THUD.

As soon as I landed, I rubbed the condensation off my gas mask lenses. Only after loosening my sling and wiping the moisture off my rifle barrel could I look around.

Assuming there was an 'around' to look at.

Without the armored vehicles' and trucks' headlights, I wouldn't even have known whether any light penetrated the fog. The gray clouds were so dense that even the soldiers wore fluorescent identification bands and felt their way around with their hands.

By then, all the Supreme Mages had dismounted.

"Oh, my miserable lot. Never thought I'd spend my old age being hauled around in the back of a truck without so much as a cushion."

While Pastor Park Yo-han chatted affably, a captain with his name tag removed pushed through the fog toward us. He, too, wore a gas mask and military cap, making his face unrecognizable.

The fog and condensation obscured even his eyes, leaving only his voice to go by. That voice should have been deep and solid, but instead it quavered like a eunuch's.

"A-Aphorism. O-Operators, please head to Bokjeong Station's concourse first. The station commander will fill you in on the details. We'll check conditions aboveground here, then withdraw."

"Yes, sir. Take care."

Some people came voluntarily, but apparently this guy had been dragged here.

Leaving behind the soldiers and officers flailing and groping about like sighted people struck blind, we Supreme Mages approached the stairs leading into Bokjeong Station. Heavy fog flowed down them, but surprisingly, the underground area visible beyond the stairs had thinner fog.

Our eyes naturally turned toward Hamza.

"No problem. We can go."

Lacking combat ability, Hamza had volunteered to carry supplies instead.

Of course, even a former migrant laborer hardened by actual manual work had limits, so his load consisted mostly of food and drink: chocolate, hardtack, and water.

It still had to be heavy, but he showed no sign of strain as he demonstrated his doctrinal magic, [Angel's Intuition].

Only after Hamza gave his verdict did we step forward and head underground.

"Whew..."

The real pack mule was Lee Se-jun. As befitted a heart-branch mage, he'd stuffed two ammunition cans into his rucksack all by himself and showed no sign of fatigue. The load had to weigh at least as much as a sack of rice, yet he was yawning away. Pretty impressive.

That sigh just now was purely because he was scared.

After descending the stairs, we slowly surveyed the station and got a clear picture of its condition. The floor tiles were shattered, the walls cracked, and the ceiling wrecked, but considering the shelling, it was in reasonably good shape.

We carefully stepped over the rubble, heading toward the light.

That was when we discovered a sign of human activity.

Where thick concrete dust should have lain piled up, we saw a single smooth, thick cable.

The cable laid so neatly through the wrecked subway station brought memories flooding back. I vividly recalled signalmen in raincoats running off into a stormy night because there'd be hell to pay if a cable broke.

Including the time they rolled me up in a blanket and beat me for teasing them about having it easy.

"We can just follow this. Let's go."

"Hmm. Seoul's not as big a deal as I thought."

Apparently, Lee Se-jun's baseless confidence was surging.

But I felt much the same. Back when we'd seen the teratomas, I'd made a huge fuss about this place being hell, but now it felt like a stroll.

Sure, if we'd been the very first reconnaissance team, I'd have been scared shitless. But reliable special forces had cleared the entire route, and all we had to do was walk to a place already occupied by soldiers. What was there to be scared of?

Shin Na-in was even humming and singing a hymn with gusto.

"There is nothing~ I would trade~ for the Lord Jesus Christ~."

"I don't think singing is a good idea, Na-in."

"Nothing~ in~ this world~."

Pastor Park Yo-han's attempt to stop him was useless.

With his headset on, Shin Na-in was utterly absorbed in singing his hymn while breathing through his gas mask.

By then, it was only natural for the tension weighing down my shoulders to drain away.

There were no monsters in sight, Hamza said it wasn't dangerous, Lee Se-jun was talking nonsense, and Shin Na-in was even singing. What was there to terrify us?

We followed the cable all the way to the stairs leading down to the platform.

Only then did I sense something unsettling in the air.

I adjusted my grip on my rifle and decided to chamber a live round.

We'd brought ten magazines each. Hoard them and they'd go to waste, so I'd use them while I could. Nothing was stupider than risking your life to save ammunition.

CLICK.

As the mechanism engaged, I raised my muzzle and opened my eyes wide.

Alteration-Type Eye, Stage One. Future sight, ten seconds ahead.

The fog inside Bokjeong Station was relatively thin, but perhaps because we were within fog-choked Seoul, the backlash barely hurt. It felt no worse than the fatigue from getting a little too little sleep.

I surveyed my surroundings in that state.

A generator connected to the cable. Searchlights illuminating the stairs and interior. Guns left in some disarray. Crates containing all kinds of supplies. Helmets sitting forlornly on the floor, as though someone had taken them off for a moment...

Naturally, I called for Hamza.

"Hamza."

"No. No. It's really safe."

"What about you, Na-in?"

Since the Hamza radar seemed to be malfunctioning, I called on our monster detector, Shin Na-in. His response wasn't much help, either.

He turned his head this way and that, breathing heavily, then loosened his sling and adjusted his grip on his rifle.

"I can't hear anything."

"Anything?"

"Right. None of the strange noises monsters make, no babies crying that they want to live, none of the inner voices people normally have... Nothing. There are no people or monsters here."

"Stay alert, everyone. We don't know what might be here."

Pastor Park Yo-han raised his muzzle as well, keeping watch on our surroundings.

Caught up in the mood, Lee Se-jun grabbed his rifle and began watching all directions, too. But Bokjeong Station was utterly deserted. All that filled it was a silence suggesting people had been here once, only to disappear long ago.

Ten seconds, thirty seconds, one minute, three minutes...

After five minutes, Lee Se-jun swallowed hard and spoke in a slightly trembling voice.

"... Did everyone go to the bathroom?"

He seemed perfectly aware that he was talking nonsense, so I didn't bother answering.

The pastor was the first to lower his rifle and turn toward us. His eyes behind the gas mask were utterly resolute.

"Let's go up and report to the soldiers aboveground."

Everyone followed Pastor Park Yo-han's suggestion. The difference from earlier was that none of us felt relaxed anymore.

True to his status as our ace, Shin Na-in followed the pastor with his rifle held in a standing firing position. Lee Se-jun tightened his backpack straps and tucked his rifle under his armpit. Hamza examined his fucking enormous revolver from every angle, then slipped his thumb over the safety.

TAP. TAP.

Even though we'd all come in combat boots, I could hear our heels tapping, perhaps because we were climbing the stairs so carefully.

That was the problem.

As we retraced our route up to the surface, only our footsteps echoed. When we finally emerged aboveground, nothing awaited us but an eerie silence.

RATTLE-RATTLE-RATTLE...

The running generator was still shaking noisily. The searchlights stood straight, trying to illuminate what lay beyond the fog, and the lights on the parked vehicles weren't even flickering.

Without a word, we Supreme Mages approached the convoy and circled around it.

KNOCK. KNOCK.

Pastor Park Yo-han knocked on a truck door, poked his head through the window, then turned back to us and shook his head.

"No one."

"Shitter. What about past sight?"

"Nothing's different. Even an hour ago."

"Let's search without splitting up."

Everyone silently agreed.

The five of us naturally fell into formation and checked every other truck and armored vehicle. The unloaded supplies remained where they were, the generators worked properly, and the vehicle engines were still running.

Only one thing was missing: the people.

For a moment, I wondered if they'd fled, but looking at the vehicles with their engines running changed my mind. If you were going to run, you'd take a vehicle. How far could you possibly get on foot in this fog?

At the very least, one of them would have driven away.

I tried to look for a radio just in case, but Hamza stopped me in alarm.

"No."

"We can't contact anyone?"

"That's right."

The firmness of Hamza's one-word answer made us all realize it.

Something was tracking communications.

Hamza's magic was frustrating in plenty of ways and wouldn't give us the right answer until we asked, but apparently it could at least keep us from choosing a definite wrong answer. After a brief moment of silence for the pointless deaths of the soldiers and officers, I made my decision.

"Let's go back down. Just take whatever we need."

"Hey, the people might come back..."

Even the pastor trying to stop me had a dark, ashen face.

Still, he wasn't entirely without a point. Shin Na-in looked between me and the pastor, then shrugged.

"Je-min thinks that if none of the supplies are missing, the next reconnaissance team will quickly understand how serious the situation is. We can't carry any more anyway. Let's just go, Pastor."

"Baek Je-min... Your brain works in the strangest places, doesn't it?"

"Tsk."

Baek Je-min, a man soon to turn thirty.

Still a tender-hearted fellow, he was a timid soul who took every little remark like that deeply to heart, ground his teeth, and waited for a chance to exact the tiniest revenge.

But we couldn't easily shake the uneasy atmosphere.

Leaving any question unresolved could get us all killed.

According to Hamza, trying to contact anyone by radio was dangerous.

And the soldiers who should have been both underground and aboveground had vanished without a trace. Our impoverished imaginations could come up with only two possibilities.

An unidentified species or a hostile mage.

Then Shin Na-in had a flash of inspiration.

"Back with the teratomas, people traveling with the convoy suddenly changed locations, too. Couldn't this be something similar?"

"Oh, Na-in."

"It could be another sorcerer's doing, but considering that we faithful warriors of the Lord are unharmed, perhaps it's a monster's trick targeting ordinary soldiers who lack faith. They've been bewitched."

Shin Na-in suspected a creature that attacked the mind.

It sounded plausible enough that I found myself nodding. The others apparently agreed, letting out low exclamations of admiration and even pretending to applaud.

Keeping our voices low and stopping our palms short of touching for fear that clapping would attract monsters—now that was just like us Supreme Mages.

"Problem solved!"

"Man, nice and clear. I like it."

"What a relief. I'm glad it's nothing serious."

"If it's just a monster's doing, well."

At last, we Supreme Mages laid our worries to rest and smiled brightly.

"All right, then. Let's head into Seoul again."

* * *

We Supreme Mages weren't about to turn back just because an unknown attack had wiped out the soldiers.

Down on the platform, we finished a simple meal of hardtack and a few sips of water, then climbed down one by one onto the dark subway tracks, lit only by scattered lamps.

A sudden chill rose up, making Lee Se-jun shiver and complain.

"Seoul's subway goes all the way up to Line Eight? With all this digging, doesn't the ground collapse?"

"That's why it has collapsed."

"Oh."

Shin Na-in's reply shut Lee Se-jun's mouth.

Once everyone, including Hamza, had climbed down, we decided to follow the pastor's plausible theory.

"If there are still survivors, they're probably near places where supplies are easy to obtain. They'll stay underground or in concrete structures that can withstand prolonged shelling and collect supplies nearby."

Checking his phone screen, the pastor hurried along Line Eight toward Jangji Station, to the north.

"For now, let's follow subway tracks near the outskirts and avoid northern and central Seoul. They say the fog first appeared near Bukhansan, so survivors are more likely to be farther away from there."

"Ooooh."

"Baek Je-min, what's that reaction supposed to mean?"

"It's a beautiful organizational culture where everyone admires everyone else."

Quality still showed through, even when tarnished.

Despite his reputation for loving money and calling the pope the Antichrist, the pastor was showing his intellectual side.

Anyway, with our destination settled, there was no reason to hesitate.

I, Baek Je-min, an eye-branch mage, took point. Shin Na-in, an ear-branch mage, brought up the rear.

The pastor and Hamza, who lacked combat ability, stayed in the center, guarded by Lee Se-jun, our pack mule, grenadier, and rifleman.

"Wow. Listen to that echo."

"That's normal underground."

"Na-in, have you tried yelling 'Yahoo'? Would it echo back?"

"Se-jun, please..."

I'd lifted my rain poncho to switch on my tactical light and was walking along with a long, lazy yawn when Hamza poked me repeatedly in the back.

"What?"

"Danger."

I shot Shin Na-in an irritated look, and as though he'd never been fooling around, he demonstrated his abilities as a dependable detector.

He stopped bickering with Lee Se-jun, paused briefly, and adjusted his grip on his rifle.

"The sound of a chalkboard being scraped. Irregular moans."

"Quit being pretentious and give me names."

"Spines and faces."

CLACK.

Adjusting my grip on my rifle, I opened my eyes wide and looked down the tracks where Hamza pointed.

Then I took off my gas mask, hung it on my arm, and stuck out my tongue.

Bleh.

It probably looked ugly as hell, but it was absolutely necessary to keep blood from dirtying the inside of my mask or my clothes.

Alteration-Type Eye, Stage One. And alteration-type tongue, Stage One.

I racked my brains and put together words that would make the monsters easier to hit.

Target, monster, one minute, route.

The faint fog lying over the tracks swirled up, clinging to the walls and leaving clear marks. Red footprints ran thickly along the walls and ceiling surrounding the tracks, heading toward us.

Just a few days ago, I might have made a fuss. Granted, I could hear Hamza and the pastor saying something.

But the Supreme Mages' alteration-type trio remained utterly calm.

The taste-bud papillae on my tongue split apart.

My tongue cracked open and dribbled bright red blood. Naturally, it stung like hell. Enough to substitute for my left-hand staff.

More than enough pain to prepare Eye, Stage Two.

CLICK-CLACK-CLICK-CLACK...

The sound of bony joints scraping the ceiling struck my ears.

HUFF, HUFF... HUUUFF...

Ragged breaths spewed from mouths crushed beneath the weight of overlapping faces.

The things that had lain in ambush in the darkness, targeting those still alive and intact, were racing toward us. Of the ten million citizens said to have lived in Seoul, more than nine million would probably claim citizenship in that state.

The predatory spines' shadows blotted out the dim ceiling lights. Where the tactical light on my chest shone, mashed-together human faces rolled their clustered eyes toward us.

I had the impression that the monster called an Amalgam was smiling at me.

It hadn't raised the corners of its mouth or anything. Its clustered eyes had merely rolled toward me all at once.

At that moment, a drop of blood formed at the tip of my tongue.

The sensation of it dangling there made the pain feel real, as though my tongue had been sliced into a raw, aching wound.

And my pain lasted longer than ever before...

My eyes stung.

My eyelids tried to drift shut on their own.

Since I tended to blink frequently anyway, the effect didn't last long.

But it lasted long enough for Lee Se-jun to pull a grenade from his webbing belt and remove the pin.

A blast sent fragments and dust flying, and my eyes closed.

A blink.

I pulled my tongue back into my mouth, swallowed the blood, and said,

"You two take the heads!"

Eye, Stage Two's effect was gone, but Stage One's effect remained clear.

I could see it. A reticle helpfully drawn on my retinas showed exactly where to shoot.

Even as the predatory spines twisted and darted about, the reticle adjusted in real time to show where I needed to fire to hit their heads.

My aim was far ahead of the monsters' movements.

At that moment, the predatory spines all turned toward me.

With the rifle shouldered, I aimed my muzzle at the reticle and pulled the trigger without hesitation.

RAT-TAT-TAT! BANG!

I wasn't the only one firing.

Lee Se-jun and Shin Na-in pulled their triggers, too, shouting something or other.

Acrid gunsmoke rose, and shell casings repeatedly struck the rails and bounced away. The spine monsters' heads burst, and lumps of bone dropped in showers like poisoned flies.

Then the monsters with mixed-together heads—the Amalgams—began their desperate resistance.

"Mommy, Mommy!"

"Just have to get out of here. Just get out..."

I sensed Lee Se-jun's hands trembling as he fired away. One set of gunshots died down.

Shin Na-in's shouting, on the other hand, grew louder.

"Amen, amen! Lord, I send these abominations to You! Cast them into hellfire!!!"

TING, TI-TING...

Shell casings kept tumbling down until I heard clicking.

Shin Na-in continued pulling the trigger, but his gun no longer fired.

He'd emptied an entire magazine. The Amalgams seized the opportunity and charged, letting out moans that sounded almost like laughter.

I was just bracing myself, wondering how hard I'd have to bite my tongue this time.

BANG, BA-BANG!

Another set of gunshots echoed through the underground passage.

Shin Na-in exhaled sharply and calmly changed magazines. The one firing was Lee Se-jun, who had moved out beside me before I knew it.

Holding his rifle utterly steady, without a trace of recoil, Lee Se-jun was carefully stitching holes through the Amalgams' heads, one shot at a time.

He shot one leg to knock a monster down, then shot the knee of the one trying to climb over it, toppling that one too. Again and again, he obstructed them, then finished them with headshots.

Since I had plenty of time, I changed magazines as well.

CLICK.

"Je-min, the spines?"

"Got them all."

Lee Se-jun's gunfire stopped.

Still swallowing blood, I checked the future this time without the assistance of tongue magic. Shin Na-in apparently activated his ear-branch magic as well.

The two of us advanced companionably with our rifles, aiming at the heads of the monsters still alive.

Disgusting bodily fluids leaked out with every pull of the trigger.

The nightmare monsters twitched and died, unable to do a thing.

When we'd finished them all off and returned to the formation, Lee Se-jun was blowing at his heated muzzle to disperse the gunsmoke.

"Se-jun, did you stop firing on purpose?"

"Huh? Oh, yes. If we all reload at once, they'll rush us, won't they?"

So he'd hesitated not because he'd heard the monsters' screams, but because he was thinking about reload timing. That was a remarkable leap forward.

Smiling in satisfaction at Lee Se-jun's progress, I considered our expenditure.

"There must've been about forty spines and Amalgams altogether. If we finished them with one magazine each, that's good value, right?"

"If we put your right-hand blood on the bullets later, couldn't we do it with half a magazine, Je-min?"

"Hey. My right hand's off-limits."

Shin Na-in, you bastard with no business ethics. How dare you make such an unreasonable demand of my lover?

We were chatting quietly like that when it happened.

Pastor Park Yo-han and Hamza were staring wide-eyed between us and the pile of monster corpses.

"Y-you guys... What are you?"

"Woooow."

At their reactions, the three of us looked at one another and blinked.

Lee Se-jun fiddled with his hood, looking sheepish.

"Is it because we used too many bullets...?"

Shin Na-in adjusted his rifle sling and chuckled.

"Pastor, shouldn't a proper believer hate Satan's demons rather than fear them?"

Finally, I put my gas mask back on and said,

"Besides, we can't get around Seoul if we freak out over every trash mob."

Deliberately drinking less water so I wouldn't piss myself had paid off.

Because now, at this very moment, I could act cool.

Only then did something resembling hope brighten the pastor's face.

"Mr. Anderson didn't come for nothing after all. You really are Supreme Mages, huh?"

"He's not actually coming all the way to Seoul, is he?"