Chapter 7 - A Civilian Expert No Longer Out of Work

With morning came unrest, even in this quiet town.

Only after confirming there was no fog did First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi take me elsewhere with the NCOs. On the way, we got stuck in the town's traffic.

As I tried to make a call from the back seat, I stole a look out the window. The scene outside was no longer peaceful.

FWEEEET! FWEET!

Police officers blew their whistles desperately as they ran around alongside reservists and civil defense personnel.

Cars that had ignored even the traffic lights sat tangled in a chaotic jumble on the road. Reservists in fatigues mingled with civil defense personnel in ordinary clothes among makeshift positions built from sandbags and vehicle barriers.

With screams and shouts rising from every direction, it was only natural that some people would try to find any way to survive the chaos.

CRASH!

The instant a few people rushed in to loot a convenience store amid the sound of breaking glass, the police finally ran out of patience.

BANG!

One of the officers, who had been blowing his whistle while grappling with people, fired into the air.

He panted for breath, then pointed his gun at the group that had turned into looters and shouted.

"Hands up! On your knees!"

The reservists and civil defense personnel following behind to assist the police looked startled too. Then, apparently recovering their wits, they shouldered their guns and began aiming at the looters.

The flustered looters grew awkward enough to politely ask to talk things over.

"E-excuse me. There's no need to start shooting..."

"Shut up. Drop everything in your hands and get on the ground!"

The murmuring civilians seemed to realize this wasn't the time to protest about excessive force or anything else. They simply backed away.

The officer who had fired looked around in silence, breathing hard with anger. Then, with help from the reservists and civil defense personnel, he made the looters lie facedown and handcuffed them one by one.

CLICK! CLICK...

The sound carried through the town's strange silence.

That was about when my call connected.

"Dad."

["It's Mom. I picked up for your father. So, I heard something happened over in Gyeonggi Province? Are you really all right?"]

I looked at the people gathering outside the window, murmuring with their faces covered, and answered uneasily. Those groups kept glancing at the police, reservists, and civil defense personnel.

But not everyone was like that yet.

People suspicious of their strange appearance and conspicuous behavior were helping the police and military identify and isolate them, some openly, others less so.

"Hey, you there. Why are you wearing a mask? And why did you bring a bat?"

"Aren't those bastards robbers too?!"

Things were still all right.

For now, people were still trying to maintain order. That lightened my heart a little as I answered.

"Yeah. I'm fine."

["Fine, my foot! All the young people in our neighborhood are wearing uniforms too. Didn't I tell you ages ago to come down here? You quit your job, so why are you still holed up in Gyeonggi Province..."]

"Come on, Mom."

["I know perfectly well what you're like living on your own. You probably haven't washed your kimchi containers or done the dishes properly, just like the last time I visited. You told me not to come, so I didn't, but if I'd known this was going to happen..."]

Her relentless nagging jabbed into my head like thorns through my ear.

But I knew she was only doing it because she was worried. I couldn't bring myself to talk back, so I just nodded and said, "Yes, yes."

Only after a good long scolding did my father finally take the phone.

["Je-min?"]

"Yes."

["How's your duty going?"]

"I'm on a break right now, so I thought I'd call."

["You've got it rough."]

After a brief silence, my father spoke in an even voice.

["You know, a person can't always like the place they live."]

"That's true."

["It's a mess here too, with them taking all the young people away. Military police are patrolling every street. There's nowhere to hide you even if you come, so don't run away. Do your duty properly. Protect your country."]

"Yes..."

I thought the call would end there, but my father stayed on the line, making only faint breathing sounds.

Only then did I notice the slight tremor at the ends of his words.

["What about meals? Do they feed you well?"]

"Yes. I asked for Spam, and they said they'd give me luncheon meat."

["They even give you luncheon meat? They're treating you well. Your mother won't even make that for me these days."]

"That's because she's looking after your health, Dad."

["Quit drinking, quit smoking, don't even grill any meat. What's left to live for?"]

For another ten seconds or so, I heard only his breathing. Then his voice grew thick.

["Don't come. You mustn't come. Stay stubbornly rooted there and protect your country. Even if everyone else runs, stay there like a fool."]

"Dad..."

["That's enough. I'm hanging up. Do your duty properly. Call again when you can."]

CLICK.

I stared down at the screen of my disconnected phone for no reason, feeling an ache I couldn't explain.

Around then, the blocked road cleared and the car started moving again.

Troops had begun enforcing full-scale road controls, crushing people's protests.

Drivers climbed out to complain, and soldiers thrust out their hands to push them back. Vehicle barriers were being set at every road entrance, sandbags hastily piled up.

As I watched blankly, I felt someone looking at me.

First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi was watching me through the mirror with a warm smile.

"You're a good son."

"I'm just doing something I normally wouldn't because of the situation."

Instead of continuing the conversation, he attended to his duties as the officer riding up front.

"Driver, slow down whenever you see soldiers controlling the roads from now on. I just got a message saying they're starting checkpoints throughout Gyeonggi Province."

"Yes, sir."

Listening to their conversation, I carefully ran my hand over the Magic Crash Course booklet in my inner pocket.

Then I raised my phone and checked the group chat and the time.

January 7, 9:18 a.m.

Everyone was losing it.

They were pouring out bizarre rumors, a mixture of all sorts of hearsay and tiny fragments of truth. The biggest problem was that I couldn't simply dismiss them as baseless.

But there was one sentiment they all shared.

["Je-min, you alive???"]

["Whatever you do, stay off night watch. They're talking about replacing it with CCTV where we are, but everyone's freaking out because if the fog rolls in before the nighttime forecast says it will, we're screwed."]

Urgent messages from guys I was close to, the ones I usually hung out with on Discord. Somehow, they'd managed to avoid night watch.

Posts on the forums weren't much different.

Most had titles along the lines of "Hey, you fucking bastards," followed by frantic accounts of hearing chilling screams before dawn, their legs shaking so badly they couldn't even bring themselves to look out the window. What the hell had happened? Wasn't Seoul already finished?

But not everyone was just freaking out.

Rumors were circulating that the government was taking certain people aside to establish a new unit or organization.

Knowing what it really was, I couldn't help feeling my lips go bone-dry.

"Fuck..."

When I couldn't hold back the curse muttered under my breath, I felt First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi glance at me through the rearview mirror.

But that was only natural, given that I knew what this new government organization or unit really was.

I could still vividly remember what I'd read in the administrative documents he'd handed me, and what I'd seen when I signed the contract.

* * *

Localized penetrative alteration activity, the term official documents used for magic, was abbreviated to LISA.

And the name of the newly established organization was the "Civilian Advisory Group for Localized Penetrative Alteration Activity."

In other words, the government intended to gather magic users into an entirely independent organization to confront this unprecedented crisis.

At first glance, it sounded like we'd play a role similar to hunters who awakened mana or a system in hunter fiction, but the reality was somewhat different.

Hunters were, if you thought about it... right. They were closer to freelance contractors. Their earnings varied wildly depending on their abilities, so they were always hoping for some miraculous opportunity or a chance to grow stronger.

Then what was I, Baek Je-min, now officially a "Civilian Operator of Localized Penetrative Alteration Activity"?

I was no longer a reservist. I was a civilian under contract with the military. The moment I signed, I became a civilian expert, freed from military discipline and absolute obedience to superiors in exchange for an obligation to fulfill the military's stipulated conditions.

But my eligibility as a reservist hadn't disappeared. I still retained it, meaning the military could mobilize me at short notice if the situation became urgent.

What this fucking bullshit meant was that if Baek Je-min croaked, the statistics wouldn't record a soldier killed in action. They'd record a civilian who went missing amid unavoidable chaos.

In return, I could receive supplies from the military, including firearms, ammunition, and basic combat rations. As a civilian, I also had autonomous, independent authority unless I was under emergency mobilization.

So long as I fulfilled the required obligations.

1. Share information on magic with the military.

2. Respect the military chain of command and obey the on-site commander's orders.

3. Participate in reconnaissance at least once within the designated period.

There was a reason First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi was sitting up front with that fucking grin on his face.

But I hadn't signed because I was moved by the grand ideal of a soldier's duty and devotion to the nation. I had reasons of my own.

1. What were they going to do if I didn't share? The one magic I'd figured out was already an immense power.

2. Having faced a monster myself, I knew an on-site commander who couldn't use magic was hopeless.

3. This was actually a benefit. I could explore beyond the fog with people I could trust relatively well, rather than going alone.

They'd imposed those clauses as safeguards, but the conditions were riddled with holes I could see after surviving just one encounter.

That convinced me.

The military still didn't know everything about this threat.

The South Korean troops and field commanders who must have been stranded in Seoul had probably pleaded with their superiors through tears of blood, begging them to do things this way. That seemed to be how the rules of engagement had come about, but the military was still underestimating the threat to some extent.

And magic, too.

Surely, people who'd figured out magic like I had hadn't told them everything. Maybe that was why they were trying to look friendly under the guise of making a deal, rather than interrogating me about every last detail.

I quietly opened the Magic Crash Course booklet and examined the first page, the part I'd named seven-corner. The magic that had aligned itself in the fog had reverted to a crooked character.

Now I understood why the interpretations differed.

Some had seen restoration, some frustration, some an incision, some a spearpoint, some a forest... and I had seen footsteps.

It was damn symbolic and damn twisted, but in practice, it was close to a remarkably intuitive sort of ideogram. The triangle represented humanity's inferior vision, and the square represented what humans wanted to see.

What this magic let you see was time.

Those who saw the past through it called it restoration. Those who saw it while interacting with objects around them called it an incision or a spearpoint. Those who saw the future called it a forest or frustration.

But there was an essential condition for truly understanding this magic.

"..."

Fog.

Ironically, only inside that goddamn fog could the magic reveal its true form and help someone grasp it.

The magic hidden in that crooked, scribble-like symbol aligned its lines and revealed itself only when the fog corrupted the sunlight and the laws of this world. When the fog receded, the magic hid itself in the scribble again.

That was why I'd acquired the ridiculously long official title of Civilian Operator of Localized Penetrative Alteration Activity.

* * *

The temporary headquarters at Suwon City Hall was already swarming with all kinds of people.

With road controls in place starting at Suwon Station, a varied assortment of people stepped out of cars and headed toward city hall under military protection that felt more like surveillance.

There was a Catholic priest in clerical clothing, a pastor mumbling with a Bible in his hands, and a Buddhist monk in robes. There were shamans holding talismans, and even people who looked Middle Eastern.

Among them were people in fatigues like me, looking around uneasily.

That was when First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi came over and patted my shoulder.

"Don't feel too intimidated, Mr. Baek."

"No. I'm just surprised by all this."

"There's nothing surprising about it. We've brought in everyone who can perform localized penetrative alteration activity, or who we think might be able to. The aim is to weed out whoever needs weeding out, then build a body of knowledge by having the remaining people share their conjectures with one another, along with the information the military has gathered. Reconnaissance will come later, so don't worry about that."

He returned to the vehicle and handed the driver a pack of cigarettes with a grin.

"Park the car and have a smoke while you wait."

"Thank you, sir!"

Giving the stiffly saluting driver a genial smile, First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi came back over to me.

"Let's go, Mr. Baek. Once it's confirmed, I'll address you as Operator."