Chapter 6 - A Failed Friendship

It was around then that Kang Daniel cautiously approached.

"Mr. Baek. Put down your weapon."

"..."

"If you won't put it down, I'll take it from you. Don't turn around. Stay still."

With remarkable composure, Kang Daniel took hold of my M16's barrel and slowly raised it until the muzzle pointed at the sky. Without a sling, it took him no time to wrest the rifle away.

The squad members who had been watching from a distance quietly approached, grabbed both my arms, and began moving me like a piece of luggage. They would have had every reason to grumble, but apparently they could feel how rigid my body was. They took me by the arms and legs and loaded me into the back of the two-and-a-half-ton truck.

Not long afterward, Kang Daniel climbed aboard and addressed the squad.

"Mr. Baek seems to be in a panic, so I'll go with him. Everyone, stay at the intersection position. As the local reserve unit commander instructed, please direct the civilians back to their homes."

I wanted to turn my head, but my body was too stiff. Instead, I desperately rolled my eyes to look around and caught a glimpse of the squad members solemnly nodding, their faces obscured by the streetlights behind them.

Kang Daniel slapped the seat to signal the driver to head back, and that was how I finally escaped that nightmarish intersection.

RATTLE, RATTLE!

For once, I welcomed the uniquely shitty ride and miserable suspension of a military truck. Normally, my motion sickness was so bad that riding in any vehicle left me limp, but right now I actually missed that nausea.

Every time we jolted over a speed bump, it felt as though my body, frozen in the face of unspeakable terror, jolted and cracked apart too. Like a caveman smashing his way out of a glacier, I finally broke free of the rigidity covering my entire body and drew a deep breath.

"Haaaaah..."

"Mr. Baek!"

Kang Daniel came over and patted my back. With every slap, I choked and expelled the breath that had been rotting inside me.

It wasn't the sour smell of vomit. The rotten-fish stench of indigestion fouled my mouth and brought on another wave of nausea. But I'd already thrown up everything I could, so all that came out was saliva with a revolting fishy smell.

If I treasured everything that came out of my body like gold and jewels, I'd have enshrined my piss and shit too. Unable to stand it, I hawked it up like phlegm and spat.

It belatedly occurred to me that some poor soldiers would have to clean the filthy truck, but I had no time to worry about that crap. What I'd spat out was unmistakably dark red blood.

The small pool of blood gave off a nauseating rotten-fish smell and dried in an instant. Before long, it turned into something like a damp stain and began disappearing. Kang Daniel must have seen the bizarre blood too, because he stopped slapping my back.

"This is..."

Instead, he crossed himself and began muttering frantically.

"Almighty God, I beseech Thee to protect Thy lamb from the clutches of Satan, and let him not lose his way amid tribulation. Thy people kneel in prayer before the temple of Jerusalem in their hearts..."

As he prayed, he subtly edged away and sat somewhere else. His intentions were painfully obvious, but I didn't even have the energy left to call him out.

His muttering turned into a stream of strange, unintelligible words, as though he'd started speaking in the tongues that deeply devout churchgoers supposedly babbled in.

Who was the crazy bastard here?

This time, I discreetly scooted my ass away from Kang Daniel.

Only then did I finally think to take out my phone.

January 7, 1:48 a.m.

Checking the time finally brought back the exhaustion I'd forgotten. I'd spent roughly an hour motionless in a standing firing position. The back of my neck was tingling like crazy, I couldn't curl my index finger as though pulling a trigger, and my shoulder felt stiff, crushed, and creaky.

But I felt no relief whatsoever. If anything, once I gathered my wits, lifted my head, and looked around, all I felt was a mounting sense of foreboding.

No matter how many night owls the Republic of Korea had, at 1:48 a.m. more people would be asleep than awake. Besides, this wasn't Seoul but a provincial town. Normally, there shouldn't have been any lights apart from the streetlights and the occasional car traveling late at night. Yet all along the road past the fields, I could see bright fluorescent lights coming on, room after room, in the apartment complexes beneath the dark mountain ridges.

That was when the phone in my left hand vibrated. Along with it came the urgent, ominous beeping unique to an emergency alert.

BEEEEEP. BEEEEEP.

[Fog has formed in the Uijeongbu, Suwon, and Yongin areas of Gyeonggi Province. Lock all windows and doors, cover them with curtains, and remain indoors until morning.]

Only then was I able to ask Kang Daniel, who was still muttering in tongues, a question.

"Did you come because of the fog?"

I'd assumed they'd come because it was time to change watch, but thinking about it, there was no reason for the entire squad to show up with a searchlight just for that. I must have been too shocked to think straight.

Even after hearing me, Kang Daniel continued mumbling and rocking for a while. Then he suddenly opened his eyes wide, looked my way, and nodded.

"Yes, yes, Mr. Baek. The people standing watch at the community center have gone missing too."

"..."

Could you really call that going missing? I pressed my lips together without realizing it.

"For now, the local reserve unit commander has ordered us to bring in everyone who was outside when the fog appeared. Um, so..."

Kang Daniel was a very by-the-book kind of guy. Other people either shortened their rifle slings all the way and simply carried their weapons, or loosened the straps completely and let them hang. He had his sling properly adjusted and his right arm wrapped around his rifle, ready to shoulder it or fire from the hip at any moment.

That would have been great, if only he weren't looking at me so meaningfully and continuing to put distance between us.

"..."

A subtle tension and silence settled between us.

CLUNK.

It was around then that the two-and-a-half-ton truck stopped. Things were just as unsettled outside the community center. Fluorescent lights had come on everywhere, and reservists like us held their rifles while sweeping the surroundings with flashlights.

BANG, BANG.

The civil servant in his twenties sitting in the driver's seat, dressed in fatigues, poked his head out the window and looked back at us.

"Get out. Everyone's on edge, so don't provoke them."

* * *

The moment I got out, four military police officers surrounded me. They raised their palms to stop Kang Daniel and spoke firmly.

"We'll take over from here."

"Yes, yes."

With a look of relief, Kang Daniel hurriedly backed away.

Without a word, the military police began walking with me encircled, and I naturally followed them.

That was when I met the eyes of the local reserve unit commander, who was already directing the other reservists outside the community center. But he quietly turned his head and pretended not to notice me. Instead, he kept switching between the reservists on his radio, issuing urgent orders.

"Turn on the searchlights and check every corner of the alley entrances. Do not leave your positions under any circumstances. Report immediately if fog appears. Strictly obey the rules of engagement!"

The military police led me inside the community center, toward a place of eerie stillness amid all the noise and bustle. They said the local reserve unit commander had summoned me, but in reality it was First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi.

When I finally entered the counseling room he had taken over, he and two NCOs wearing sunglasses were waiting there.

"Mr. Baek, please have a seat."

Shin Han-gi forced a businesslike smile and showed me to my seat. Without anyone saying a word, the NCOs naturally headed out of the room.

Seated across from each other again, we remained silent for a while. I was certain he knew more, so I finally broke the silence with something sharp. All sorts of insults were bubbling up inside me—fucking convert, insect of a bastard—but I barely managed to remain polite.

"Lieutenant."

"Yes, I'm listening."

"How the fuck are we supposed to stop that shit?"

I'd lived twenty-eight years. That was the age when your talents and career began taking shape, when you could start guessing what your retirement would look like. When the days ahead grew clearer than your possibilities. Older people might not think much of it, but even in my humble way, I'd accumulated experience over those years.

I'd enjoyed all kinds of media and thought I knew every kind of bizarre thing out there. But what I'd witnessed today, barely thirteen hours after the mobilization order was declared, was worse than every gruesome image I'd seen in my twenty-eight years combined.

"You knew, didn't you?"

"..."

"Fuck, you hid it because we'd run if we knew."

"Hah..."

Shin Han-gi made no excuses. Instead, he rubbed his eyelids with his right hand and kept sighing deeply. After taking a long while to compose himself, he looked at me with slightly bloodshot eyes.

"The military is in chaos too. The new fog appeared in isolated spots, independent of the fog in Seoul. They checked the weather maps, and apparently they aren't connected."

"That means..."

"The worst-case scenario has become reality, Mr. Baek. It can appear anywhere there's fog. We have no idea whether this phenomenon is confined to the Korean Peninsula, or whether it will spread to other foggy regions, other countries, other continents. But it is clearly spreading. Today... confirmed that."

Suddenly, I thought of my parents. They were spending a modest retirement in Daejeon. Since they were far from Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, I'd vaguely assumed they'd be all right.

"You think scaring me like this will make me go along with it?"

"Fine. Try deserting."

Shin Han-gi's gaze sharpened.

"With a mobilization order in effect, do you think the airports and ports are operating normally? This country's airports and ports have been under restrictions or undergoing closure procedures for quite some time now. Everyone who could leave has left. The only people still here are those who have no choice but to live or die with the country. U.S. Forces Korea reduced its personnel under the pretext of redeployment a month ago. It's already over."

"You fucking..."

"Think about it, Mr. Baek. Do you think the neighboring countries would welcome refugees right now? The Jap bastards, the Chink bastards, even those pigs up north are strengthening their border and coastal security while all chipping in supplies to keep us from collapsing. Even that North Korean commie pig is sending their obsolete guns and ammunition down the west coast to sell to civilians, saying the South Korean bastards had better stay alive. Over in Incheon, the military is even turning a blind eye to the formation of vigilante groups and cooperating with civilians."

"So we're all supposed to die together? Is that it? That fucking thing... will shooting it even kill it?"

If this had been anything remotely manageable, I really would have said, fine, let's give it a shot. Even if it was a shitshow. If they were zombies, I'd have wrapped myself in layers of clothing to keep from getting bitten and at least fired my gun. Even zombies that supposedly wouldn't die died when you blew their heads off.

But what the hell was I supposed to do against a monster when I wasn't even sure bullets would work? If I hadn't figured out magic, it would have eaten me right there!

At that moment, Shin Han-gi's expression changed. He began watching me with a peculiar look, as though he'd already figured it out.

"Mr. Baek. Do you know what it takes to survive an encounter with that thing?"

"..."

"A squad of at least eight men firing simultaneously to create a curtain of fire and drive it off. Or..."

He didn't need to finish for me to guess the rest. When I kept my mouth firmly shut, he supplied both sides of the conversation himself.

"...magic."

That was when he took out a bag he'd kept beneath the desk. He opened it to reveal stacks of documents, handed me a pen, and spoke.

"Mr. Baek. Let's make a deal."

"A deal? What kind of deal do you make with a conscripted reservist? You're just going to order me to do it anyway."

At my surly reply, Shin Han-gi gave a small chuckle.

"These clauses state that, if you agree to cooperate with military operations and the chain of command, you will be authorized to use localized penetrative alteration activity—magic—and receive priority for rations, meals, and distribution of available supplies, as well as independent operational authority."

I wondered whether I'd heard him wrong. But it was another part that truly made me doubt my ears.

"And under the evacuation plan currently being implemented by the government, your family will be guaranteed priority evacuation or relocation overseas."

"..."

I blinked slowly. Then I hunched forward and glared at him.

"Why should I trust the military?"

"Mr. Baek, isn't the fact that the military doesn't operate strictly by the rules precisely why you have this opportunity?"

TAP, TAP, TAP, TAP...

Without realizing it, I was tapping the desk with my index finger. I chewed the inside of my lip while part of my mind ran the calculations.

Trust the military? I wasn't such a patriot that I'd obediently trust the government after things had come to this. To put it bluntly, anyone could throw empty promises at some poor bastard who was going to get run ragged on the front lines until he died.

Authorization to use magic? Fucking hell, what made those bastards who couldn't even use it think they had any right to talk so high and mighty?

Going through them one by one, most of the clauses were practically poison pills with very little actual benefit. But a few things did deserve a closer look.

"..."

First: access to guns and ammunition. In the Republic of Korea, where there was no gun market, it was the easiest way to acquire essential supplies I'd otherwise have to smuggle in or pay a fortune for.

Second: the military had acquired magic over the past two months, like the Magic Crash Course booklet. There was a chance that magic or related knowledge they couldn't use or understand was just lying around.

Third, and finally: information about the areas near the Restricted-Access Zones—hard to trust, but better than nothing. And the opportunity to make friendly contact, outside combat, with other people who had grasped magic like I had.

I stared at Shin Han-gi so hard my eyes might have gone bloodshot.

"Fine. Let's give it a shot."

"Oh?"

"I'm doing this because I trust you to evacuate my parents."

"Haha, of course. On behalf of the military, thank you for your spirit as a proud son of Korea and your selfless dedication."

A handshake born of filial devotion and patriotism passed between us. I clasped Shin Han-gi's powerful hand and somehow managed a smile.

"Then, for starters, you can at least give me some Spam, right?"

"We'll give you luncheon meat."

Luncheon meat instead of Spam, huh. I had no lingering attachment to the bastards who'd rejected my final offer of an alliance.