Chapter 103: Listen Carefully

[Translator – Aren]

People believed that everyone is equal.

The belief that every life carries the same weight regardless of birth or ability may be the most beautiful fairy tale of all. Maybe people cling to that fantasy even harder precisely because they know the world doesn’t actually work that way.

What was certain was that when war came, the soft skin covering our cold, harsh reality was violently ripped away.

Lives had different weights.

The more important people were put to more valuable use, while those deemed relatively less useful were expended as disposable resources.

That was why we Supreme Archmages had been assigned to Suwon City Hall Command Post instead of being immediately thrown onto the front line.

Ordinary soldiers you could find anywhere would engage the enemy and dig up whatever information they could, while we Supreme Archmages waited somewhere safe, gathering intelligence and figuring out what the enemy could do as we watched for the decisive moment to deploy.

Human lives were incredibly unequal.

I was really glad I’d learned magic.

The moment I returned to the palace that marked the historic beginning of the Supreme Archmages, I was reminded all over again what a triumphant homecoming felt like. As the sound of the helicopter rotors gradually died away, the everyday scenery of Suwon beyond the window was incredibly sweet.

Non-wizards with hollow, frightened eyes carrying boxes, hauling sandbags, and shoveling dirt. Soldiers in CBRN protective suits and gas masks strutting around in orderly ranks while menacingly handling their firearms.

The difference between those who had failed to learn magic, and those who had become wizards was already clearly starting to show.

Naturally.

How could people who turned their backs on the mystery of magic, something that gave 100% return on suffering, expect to enjoy its rewards?

If they couldn’t accept that suffering had become hope for survival, salvation that granted almighty power, then what could anyone do? Before long, their duty would be to cheer endlessly for the Supreme Archmages, rejoice at their presence, and heap praise upon them without restraint.

Of course, that wasn’t true of everyone.

Every now and then, I saw civilians wearing padded jackets or thick vests with blue fluorescent identification bands, walking openly along the roads with rifle slings over their shoulders.

"Baek Jemin, do you see anything?”

"People carrying guns.”

Pastor Park Yohan leaned his head out slightly beside me and clicked his tongue.

"Who on earth are those guys? Why are they walking around armed when they aren’t even in uniform?”

"They’re civilian Operators.”

Shin Nain removed his headset and calmly gazed through the window.

That bastard Shin Nain might pretend to listen to music coming out of his headset, but he never missed a single word from the pastor.

Shin Nain checked that the selector on his K2 was properly set to safe before continuing.

"They were conscripted at first, but it looks like they’ve gradually turned into mercenaries by using Holy Alteration Battle Ars and receiving MPC. The military has designed the economic structure very thoroughly. They want people to envy civilian Operators.”

According to Shin Nain, the MPC economy had become even more carefully structured under the Korean-US Combined Command and Marshal McKinsey.

And according to what Shin Nain, as an Ears-branch wizard, had heard from people’s inner voices, surprisingly few civilians actually resented the civilian Operators.

Maybe things were different in safe cities farther in the rear, but civilians in Gyeonggi, which formed the second blockade line, apparently couldn’t help envying civilian Operators who received at least 20 MPC every time they completed a mission.

Especially when ordinary civilians helping the military earned only around 2 or 3 MPC per day.

On top of that, the Korean-US Combined Command had officially announced that MPC could be exchanged for US dollars and had begun screening people for eligibility, while civilian Operators apparently passed that screening almost automatically.

As a result, some of the forcibly conscripted civilian Operators quickly read the room, formed civilian operational organizations of their own, and began actively cooperating with the military, leading to the emergence of an unofficial name for them.

Civilian Military Service Operators.

The name was a newly coined portmanteau of civilian military service officer and civilian Operator, and it was used with equal parts mockery and envy for those who actively cooperated with and staunchly supported the US military government under the Korean-US Combined Command.

And while the Reality Survival Command under the Korean-US Combined Command officially classified all of them just as civilian Operators, it was also actively encouraging this transformation into Civilian Military Service Operators by quietly concentrating benefits on those who cooperated closely with the military.

All while working in close coordination with blockade operations command.

Before I knew it, Shin Nain was staring through the helicopter window at the backs of the civilian Operators walking away.

"The Americans have built the system cleverly and meticulously. Firearms permits, near-automatic approval for dollar exchange, higher MPC payouts, immunity for collateral civilian casualties during operations…They're dangling exactly the kind of bait suited to vulgar people who can’t be moved by faith or duty.”

"When a pack of wolves comes running, you need sheepdogs too. Naturally.”

The pastor responded with a sour expression.

At that, Lee Sejun folded his arms, clicked his tongue, and stuck out his lower lip.

"So you’re only not vulgar if you act purely out of faith and duty? There’s hope and loyalty too.”

Shin Nain’s face immediately twisted into a scowl as he put his headset back on.

The pastor smacked his lips, then turned his attention to Go Ryeoha.

"Ryeoha-ssi, are you okay? You’ve been like this since we left.”

Go Ryeoha sat completely still with her poncho pulled over her head, not even slightly moving.

The pastor tried to comfort her, then eventually sighed and looked back at us.

"What do we do?”

Apparently the pastor had figured out what was going on after hearing that I had deliberately made Go Ryeoha take the red pill.

He didn’t make a huge show of it, but his hesitation was obvious.

The way he spoke to her and treated her had definitely become more careful and cautious.

The euthenasia of about 50 ordinary non-wizards.

Even without knowing the exact scale or circumstances, what she had done was too serious to simply comfort her over, yet the situation had been too desperate to condemn her outright.

But everything in the world had two sides.

As the pastor grew more stiff and hesitant, Shin Nain’s gaze, despite the headset over his ears, softened slightly.

"Let’s give her some time to compose herself, Pastor.”

"Hmm…I’m worried she might go off the rails. You’re both young, Shin Nain. Can’t you look after her a little?”

"I’ll send her before the Lord with my K2. Someone who has fallen for the Devil’s temptation once is bound to fall again, so the only option is to pass judgment before she commits even more sins and lighten the burden she must carry.”

Shin Nain. What a terrifying bastard.

But by then, I didn’t even have the energy left to respond to any of their conversations.

The moment the helicopter door finally opened, I climbed out without hesitation.

And the very first thing I did after getting off the helicopter was vomit.

"Uweeeeegh…”

As I hunched over on the ground retching, someone approached and patted me on the shoulder.

"Jemin-ssi, didn’t you say the helicopter wouldn’t make you dizzy anymore because the world was shaking?”

It was Hamza.

The cool touch of a water bottle against my cheek made me snatch it out of his hand. 

I spent a while pouring water over my face, opening and closing my mouth like a fish.

Only after rinsing my mouth, gargling, and spitting it out did I finally recover enough to speak.

"I’m not nauseous because I’m dizzy. I’m nauseous because it’s horrifying.”

"So it’s not motion sickness, and you’re just throwing up?”

"More bastards besides me are learning magic now.”

It was fucking horrifying.

I hated the reality that civilian Operators—wizards—were multiplying like weeds.

If someone among them turned out better than me and claimed the realm of Great Archmage before I did, I might go insane with resentment and jealousy and try to kill them.

It wasn’t like I had any particular intention of targeting that wizard’s remains, but if jealousy blinded me and I ended up killing them anyway, what could I do?

Might as well collect the remains while I was at it.

The moment Hamza’s expression twisted into something indescribable, Shin Nain approached with his brow furrowed in contempt.

"Jemin-ssi, if you know you’re an asshole, then fix it. Let’s pray together and repent.”

"Are you going to give me Dogma-type magic?”

If he said he’d give me [Redemptive Conviction], I’d start going to church immediately.

But Shin Nain shook his head and pointed at himself.

"The Lord’s miracle is already within you, Jemin-ssi. You possess Holy Alteration battle Arts, and yet you still doubt that the Lord has worked through you?”

"Bullshit~."

I got to my feet and looked around at the Supreme Archmages.

I could feel civilians and soldiers paying an insane amount of attention to us from all the furative glances, but I wasn’t about to make myself look lame by acknowledging it outright. The trick to really basking in attention was pretending not to notice, then occasionally letting it show that you absolutely did.

Shin Nain, Lee Sejun, Pastor Park Yohan, Go Ryeoha, Hamza.

I didn’t have so much as a shred of heroic spirit in me, but looking at this lineup made me realize just how close the Republic of Korea was to the brink. These were the kind of people who could make even an individualist like me feel the danger facing the entire community.

I raised my thumb and pointed over my shoulder toward Suwon City Hall, now being used as a military command post.

"I’m genuinely proud of myself for becoming a Supreme Archmage while dragging around a bunch of useless bastards like these.”

"Jemin-ssi. Why didn’t you say ‘bitches’ as well? Are you discriminating based on gender?”

I deliberately ignored that lunatic Lee Sejun.

At that moment, a familiar face reacted to my pointing finger and strode toward us.

"Aphorism. It’s incredibly rare to catch you at a good time.”

The duck-bill sergeant in sunglasses.

He welcomed us along with several soldiers.

"The Colonel is waiting. Let’s go. You’ll be briefed on the situation in Seongnam.”

Fortunately, the colonel at Suwon City Hall was still alive.

The exhausted-looking, hollow-eyed colonel with mottled, raw skins who had looked after us before and never wore a nametag.

Now that I knew why the officers had been taking off their name tags, he looked different to me somehow.

The Suwon colonel looked around at us with bloodshot eyes and twitched the corners of his mouth, trying to smile. When it didn’t work as well as he’d hoped, he gave up and simply spoke.

"It’s been a while, Aphorism…I’m glad to see you again like this.”

"I’m glad you’re still alive too, Colonel.”

As the pastor nodded, we Supreme Archmages found places one by one and listened to the colonel’s briefing.

But more than the reunion with the colonel, it was the empty seats in the conference room that caught my eye.

Where the civilian Operators of southern Gyeonggi had once gathered, only we Supreme Archmages remained. With a newcomer like Go Ryeoha now among us, the empty seats left by those who had met their end felt even more like distinct shadows.

Father Jeong Yonghwan, Bosal Geulmun, Monk Cheonghwi…

They were different from the N-generation civilian Operators who had been forcibly conscripted.

Well, Monk Cheonghwi could be written off as a spy or traitor.

Even Pastor Park Yohan, who was always looking down on members of other religions, took off his glasses and pretended to clean them.

"Hm. Did my glasses get scratched?”

"You’re going to break them doing that, Pastor.”

"Shin Nain, they’re blurry even when I’m wearing them. I’m cleaning them properly.”

-Squeak, squeak.

Even setting aside Go Ryeoha, who was still slumped over, the atmosphere naturally turned solemn.

The 1st generation civilian Operators had fought horrifying monsters in the face of an unprecedented disaster before any proper system had even been established. Back when their magic and firearms were far more pathetic than what we had now, they had volunteered to step into danger while everything was collapsing.

Whether they did it for a deal or for their convictions, Father Jeong Yonghwan and Bosal Geulmun had at least stood beside us, and they died.

We had known each other for far too short a time to really call it a relationship, but I still felt a sense of longing in their absence. Maybe part of me was wondering what it would have been like if they had stayed with us to the end.

With a heaviness settling in my chest, I quietly leaned toward Hamza beside me and whispered,

"Hamza. Do you think Father Jeong and Bosal Geulmun left behind any holy relics too? Since we’re here, should we ask if they left anything behind?”

"Jemin-ssi, could you please stop saying things that make you sound like human trash?”

Tsk.

Wasn’t that important…?

Meanwhile, the colonel calmly waited until our moods settled before he began operating the projector.

The duck-bill sergeant stood beside him. It looked like he had taken over Captain Kim Hoowon's and Lieutenant Shin Hangi’s roles since they had been assigned elsewhere.

"I don’t want to interrupt your reminiscing, but there’s a great deal I need to tell you, so I must ask for your understanding.”

Then the colonel displayed a Powerpoint presentation on the projector and began explaining the situation in Seongnam in detail.

He pointed out the area under the influence of Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes and their forces, the 55 Unit, and the active combat zones one after the other.

"The hostile local survivor designated as Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes by Korean-US Combined Command and the Reality Survival Command is currently moving rapidly south while occupying the closed stations of Subway Line 8 one by one. Their offensive has unfolded in 3 waves…”

It was the same explanation of the 3-wave offensive we had heard from Command.

Since I already knew it, I decided to just review it mentally. There wasn't anything particularly new. Plastic bags filled with Human Slime used as bombs, monster hordes being drawn in, and calls for soldiers to defect all working together.

That was when Lee Sejun raised his hand and asked.

"Colonel. Why do you think they’re securing the subway stations? Didn’t you already destroy the Line 8 tracks to seal them off?”

"Yes. Infiltration through the tracks is impossible. However, Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes and their forces appear to be using the sealed stations as strongholds. Temporary trenches where they can shelter from artillery. One noteworthy point is that despite repeated chemical strikes and the devastation of the surrounding area, the survival rate of Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes and their forces is abnormally high. More precisely, we have barely been able to neutralize them at all.”

"Are their CBRN defenses really that good?”

"We can’t be certain. The reason I can only answer that way is because their troop deployment and command-and-control are exceptionally effective. Based on previous experience, we believe there’s a high probability that our military communications are being intercepted."

According to the Suwon colonel and Lee Sejun, the situation was this.

Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes.

We had no idea how, but they could somehow predict with uncanny accuracy where artillery was going to land. They never went anywhere near areas where chemical shells were being dropped or gas was being repeatedly dispersed, and to neutralize the military’s detection equipment, they almost never sent their forces outside the fog.

Instead, they were actively exploiting their advantage by spreading monster infections among the units holding the blockade line, making it easier for the fog to spread along with them.

Even among the troops on the ground, who had been unsure whether the fog came first or the monsters did, people were starting to say that maybe the monsters came first after all.

But if they had done nothing but act cautiously and secretly, the blockade line never would have collapsed.

The Suwon colonel operated the projector and brought up AI-generated composites based on descriptions Madam Yongsan Station had provided.

"These are practitioners of Localized Invasive Structural Alteration phenomena who are currently being held in check by sinners and special forces, but who still pose a substantial threat to the blockade line.”

A figure wearing sunglasses and a KN95 mask, with a yellow-painted bandage wrapped around their helmet. Yellow-Bandage Straggler.

A gas-mask wearer with the name tags of soldiers they had killed plastered all over the Velcro panels meant for their own name tag. Velcro Corporal.

Between their ridiculous appearance and the fact that they were deserters or remnants of routed units, the Supreme Archmages’ reactions were overwhelmingly indifferent. They just didn’t look all that impressive.

"We’re seriously in danger of getting breached by guys like that?”

Pastor Park Yohan put his glasses back on and let out a disbelieving laugh.

Shin Nain and Lee Sejun frowned as well, while Hamza looked slightly pale as he glanced toward Go Ryeoha. Apparently she noticed his gaze. Still hanging her head low, Go Ryeoha’s shoulders moved faintly as she spoke.

"...Gangnam-ahjussi’s people are strong. You can’t make the mistake of thinking of them as soldiers. They’re an organization of wizards.”

"Even if you say not to underestimate them, just look at them.”

The pastor added that in disbelief, but this time the Suwon colonel sided with Go Ryeoha.

"Despite the ridiculous nicknames Command has assigned them and their appearances, they are significant threats. These are recordings of their voices transmitted over military communications equipment near the combat zone in northern Seongnam. Listen.”

-Click.

Inside the thoroughly soundproofed conference room, the PowerPoint display on the screen switched to an audio file.

Static crackled for a moment, and then the Supreme Archmages heard a voice faintly laughing between ragged breaths.

[Aah, lissen, lissen. You hear me?]

Even to me, Baek Jemin, the English catastrophe who scored 400 on the TOEIC, the pronunciation was awful.

Calling it Konglish would’ve been too generous. This was on the level of Hanglish.¹

But the owner of the voice seemed completely enamored with himself, because he continued talking without the slightest hesitation.

[Cutting the cable won’t work. Turning the dial won’t work either. Don’t waste your time, just listen first. We won’t attack while you’re listening. We’ll even hold off the monsters for you. Just listen, okay? We’re all human here, gotta have some compassion for each other, right? So? You’re listening, yeah?]

-Tap, tap, tap.

The sound of someone tapping a microphone came through.

After drawing everyone’s attention, the speaker let out a strange little ‘heheheh’ laugh and continued.

[Alright, alright, lemme introduce myself first. I’m your sunbae. What I mean is, I was a soldier who got conscripted without knowing shit and deployed inside Seoul after being told we were just going in to suppress some riots. Feel that bond forming already? I got deployed to Seoul on December 15th, I think? That makes me way more senior than you poor bastards grinding away on the blockade line right now.]

It was a frivolous laugh.

A cheerful tone.

The awful English pronunciation mixed with the chatterbox delivery to create an almost comical atmosphere.

[I think I know what you're thinking right now. You think I’m gonna start screaming about why you abandoned me in Seoul, right? You think I wanna smash the blockade line and fuck over all 40 million people because I’m getting revenge for being left behind? Nah, nah. As a soldier, I get why I got that mission. We all know how it is. When you're dealing with these fucking monsters, you can’t half-ass it trying to save people here and there. You gotta kill them all. So then why am I trying to break the blockade line? Hehehe.]

You’ve probably met at least one person like him.

The kind of loudmouth chatterbox you find just about anywhere. That was what the owner of the voice sounded like.

Until he added just one more sentence.

[It’s because of the people who said we had to save them.]

ShinNain’s eyebrow twitched.

Hamza’s expression instantly twisted into a deep frown too, and then he squeezed his eyes shut and started shaking his head hard from side to side.

[The people calling me a butcher and a murderer said this. Even if the Republic of Korea had to collapse, you should’ve at least tried to save the citizens of Seoul. The military exists to protect the people, so what the hell were you doing? Even if all 50 million Koreans ended up turning into monsters, you should’ve at least tried to save them. What kind of fucking military are you? The moment you gave up on saving them, you became murderers. You know what I thought when I heard that?]

-Prickle—

It felt like someone was poking the inside of my head with thorns.

At the same time, the speaker’s voice grew sharper, boring into me like an awl.

[Ah. I’m not even a fucking person to these people. They don’t give a shit whether I get eaten by a monster or not. I’m just supposed to save them. Soldiers aren’t people to them. If one dies, it’s just one soldier dead. Not even one person. One head, tick. Two heads, three heads, tick, tick, tick. That’s all we amount to. And it just clicked. Click, click, click…]

I realized it instinctively.

Magic.

Something powerful being transmitted through sound and words.

I grimaced hard, squeezed my eyes shut, and lowered my head against the pain that felt like an awl repeatedly stabbing into my skull. Even putting an axe through my own head wouldn’t make this stop.

The cold, revolting sensation rummaging through my mind was bad enough that I seriously considered using Eyes-branch, Stage 3, [Cognitive Dissonance].

[Guys, you aren’t people to them. They don’t know, they don’t fucking care, they just want you to go save their families. Those people don’t even know what kinds of monsters are out there. They just hate you. Aren't you holding the line because you don’t want to die either? Aren't you there because you have people you want to protect too? Doesn’t that piss you off?]

"Uwegh…”

Someone finally couldn’t take it anymore and vomited.

My eyes were squeezed shut so I couldn’t tell who it was, but at least it wasn’t Hamza beside me, which was a relief.

[I’m not saying all 50 million of us should literally die. I’m saying we should all get fucked together so maybe people can finally relate to each other. Huh? Aren't we all one people? Does it make any fucking sense that in the same country, some people get eaten by monsters, some get ordered into certain death because someone else demands to be rescued, and some get called murderers for killing monsters? You think people are gonna take care of your family after you die? When the people back there gang up on your family and call them the family of blockade-line murderers, you really think your family’s gonna survive after losing you?!]

My head was spinning.

I could confidently say that, aside from motion sickness, I had almost never suffered vertigo in my life, but the voice playing now was different.

Something supernatural was kneading at my emotions instead of my reason, trying to steer the directions of my thoughts.

This was beyond gaslighting.

For a moment I wondered if it was Inverted Tongue-branch, Stage 2, [Emotion Overload], but my emotions weren’t suddenly exploding out of control.

This was far more vicious and insidious.

As that loudmouth chatterbox kept talking, the demon of doubt began whispering inside me: ‘Wait, does he have a point? Is that actually true?’

[Join us. Tuday. You guys are blessed. If you see a helmet wrapped in a yellow bandage on the battlefield, drop your gun, take off your gas mask, remove your hat, kneel down, and raise both hands. The power to keep you and your families alive. Bonds. An organization far more practical and flexible than some fucking military. We have all of that. Anyone who touches your family, our leader will deal with them. Trust us and follow us. Our leader’s a hell of a lot more trustworthy than the people who abandoned you in Seongnam. Smart guys, quick guys, guys who want to live, guys with someone they need to protect. I’ll give you a little break, so think it over. Come fuck shit up with us. Tok!]

-Click.

The recording cut off with a tutting sound.

The instant the playback stopped, the unpleasant sensation like an awl drilling holes through my head disappeared too.

The voices of the Supreme Archmage's floundering in confusion rang out around the room.

"Uugh, my stomach. I don’t think I’d feel this bad even if I downed an entire bottle of whiskey.”

Lee Sejun was the first to groan as he rubbed his arms, Shin Nain pulled a wet wipe from inside his clothes and wiped around his mouth, Hamza lowered his head while breathing heavily, and Go Ryeoha was curled into herself like she was trying to roll her body into a ball, rocking faintly back and forth.

The pastor, meanwhile, merely stroked the cover of his Bible and clicked his tongue.

"That one’s gone too far. If he wants to repent, he’ll have to do it at the gates of Heaven.”

At that moment the Suwon colonel and the duck-bill sergeant pulled earplugs from their ears.

I’d been wondering why those two looked perfectly fine. Apparently they’d plugged their ears.

No wonder I hadn’t heard either the Suwon colonel or the duck-bill sergeant among all the voices making a fuss.

Seemingly noticing the irritation in my stare, the duck-bill sergeant fiddled with the arm of his sunglasses.

"We’ve already listened to it once. Cut us some slack.”

"Haah~."

Fine, fuck it.

A non-wizard would probably go insane if they kept listening to something like that.

I decided to show some magnanimity as a wizard and let it slide.

"As you can see, this… Yellow-Bandage Straggler appears to be serving as an effective recruiter under the Gangnam group, encouraging soldiers to defect. We still don’t exactly know what kind of magic he is using, though.

"Inverted Alteration-type, Ears-branch."

Everyone’s gaze shifted to one side.

Shin Nain.

After vomiting once, Shin Nain spoke with a deathly pale face reminiscent of a tuberculosis patient, carefully folded the wet wipe, tidied it up, and placed it into his pocket.

"Hypnosis, suggestion, cognitive breakdown.”  

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¹한영 Hanyong → Korean-English. This one is written in pure Korean, while Konglish is written in English.