Chapter 105: Finally, Somewhere to Go to

[Translator – Aren]

The makeshift ward set up inside Suwon City Hall.

There, Lee Sejun and I lay side by side on hospital beds while Shin Nain and Hamza looked after us. One fortunate thing was that Lee Sejun had already thoroughly washed and cleaned up.

Unable to feel any sense of touch, I lay on the bed in a strangely weightless state.

All while pondering the philosophical question of what difference there was between a bed and the floor if you couldn’t feel the bed being soft.

Lee Sejun, looking twice as clean as usual and dressed in a hospital gown, ground his teeth furiously at me.

"Jemin-ssi. Can I seriously just punch you once?”

"No."

I’d seen this Heart-branch wizard who reached Heart-branch, Stage 3, kick a car and send it flying like a knuckleball shot. Why the fuck would I willingly let someone like that hit me?

Still, the fact that Heart-branch wizard Lee Sejun had served as my test subject and allowed us to discover the 100% Original performance of Tongue-branch, Stage 2, [Desire Amplification] was a major gain. The Original performance of [Desire Amplification} explodes every physiological desire within a designated target, rendering them helpless.

Just as I began wondering whether the Original performance of Inverted Alteration-type, Tongue-branch, Stage 2 might likewise explode every emotion, Shin Nain spoke.

"It probably doesn’t."

Shin Nain had brought over a folding chair and was slumped against the backrest, lazily turning the pages of his Bible.

"What do you mean?"

"Didn’t that American tycoon with all that heretical knowledge say that the branching point dividing Upright Holy Alteration Battle Arts from Inverted Holy Alteration Battle Arts was the Tongue-branch?”

"You were listening? What brought that on?”

"I merely reclaimed the knowledge and information about Holy Alteration Battle Arts that a heretic stole and interpreted however he pleased, then reinterpreted it according to proper doctrine.”

A miraculous piece of logic. He was merely taking back what had been stolen.

But what mattered right now wasn’t the self-justification going on inside Shin Nain’s head. It was his reasoning.

Shin Nain closed his Bible and tapped the headset hanging around his neck with his index finger.

"If we organize the Holy Alteration Battle Arts we’ve identified so far, each system has its own unique characteristics. There’s a good chance that 100% utilization through the Tongue-branch is a function unique to the Upright Holy Alteration Battle Arts.”

According to Shin Nain’s reasoning, it worked like this.

Each magic system possessed its own inherent properties, which seemed to make their compatibility with one another atrociously poor or else cause them to operate independently. The fact that they were divided into four different types was evidence enough of that.

If we organized the unique characteristics of each magic system, it looked like this:

Dogma-type: No clearly defined stages. Effects apply uniformly regardless of stage. Believed capable of consecration. Upon death, the practitioner becomes a holy relic.

Ritual-type: Forms contracts with transcendent beings and receives spells through those contracts. Upon death, leaves behind a grimoire.

Incantation-type: Uses the practitioner's knowledge, inspiration, and materials to make items.

Alteration-type: Effects are reduced according to stage. Can level up. Upon death, leaves behind remains.

From there, Shin Nain believed Upright and Inverted probably possessed different unique functions of their own.

"Based on what you’ve told us, Jemin.ssi, I suspect the unique function of Upright and Inverted lie in Tongue-branch, Stage 2.”

The argument was fairly convincing, considering Alteration-type magic symbolized humanity’s capacity for acceptance, change, and adaptation.

The Upright Tongue-branch symbolizes memetic change through the inheritance of human culture and knowledge, while the Inverted Tongue-branch symbolizes physical change through predation. The animalistic side of humanity.

What mattered was that the Upright Tongue-branch and Inverted Tongue-branch prioritized different things.

What the Upright Tongue-branch prioritized was change.

As the name [Degradation] suggested, its first priority was processing something into a form humanity could accept.

What the Inverted Tongue-branch prioritized was acceptance.

As you could tell from [Predation], it prioritized eating first and processing afterward.

And if I added the knowledge and experience I had obtained by destroying the remains of the Dubai Sticky Witch…

"So Upright Alteration-type’s unique function is being able to use Original Magic at 100% performance, while Inverted Alteration-type’s unique function is being able to acquire branches of magic you don’t possess by devouring the remains of other wizards.”

Upright made it possible to use Original Magic that humans normally would never have been able to wield.

Inverted made it possible to rapidly raise one’s stage by consuming the remains of wizards from other branches that would otherwise have been useless until you awakened that branch.

It was very easy to understand.

"Cannibalism, one of humanity’s barbaric customs, was never purely done for nutritional reasons. The religious aspect was also extremely significant. Even mana, the thing that constantly appears in fantasy novels, originally referred to a spiritual force believed to dwell within all things. Primitive pagan believers in mana supposedly thought that by eating the flesh of someone they had killed, they could take that person’s mana into themselves.”

"You’re not Shin Nain, are you?”

What surprised me was something else.

Not the part about leveling up by eating people. What shocked me was the fact that Shin Nain had actually researched this kind of non-Christian knowledge. I leaned my head over for a peek and only then realized that what he was holding wasn’t a Bible either.

And here I thought this zealot did nothing but read Scripture all day.

Shin Nain’s face twisted like a demon’s as he clicked his tongue.

"Jemin-ssi. I was merely concerned that the pastor has been exposed to heretical and pagan teachings for far too long. One who stands against evil can never stand alone, and only beneath the Lord’s roof, together, can we oppose it. So I decided to shoulder part of the pastor’s burden myself.”

"Ah~ sure."

Just as I was thinking ‘Here he goes with his bullshit again,’ a plate was placed on my lap.

It held roughly cut pieces of apple, so I turned my head and saw Hamza carefully peeling an apple with a paring knife while tending to us. The problem was that the apple pieces were damp, as though they’d been dunked in water first.

"Bismillah.”

"Why’s the apple all wet?”

"Water is scarce, so I dipped it and took it back out. We don’t have any forks either, so I’ll give you a wet wipe. Clean your hands before you eat.”

Hamza actually handed me a single wet wipe.

Lee Sejun was already busy stuffing the bite-sized apple pieces into his mouth and chewing.

"Apples don’t have any texture when you can’t feel them.”

Tsk.

I picked up the plate, dumped all the apple pieces into my mouth, and started crunching away.

I heard Hanza shout something in horror, but when he saw me using the wet wipe meant for my hands to clean around my mouth and chin instead, he eventually gave up. Shin Nain, however, was looking at me with a strange expression.

"What?”

"Jemin-ssi. You said you used the Original, 100% performance of Eyes-branch, Stage 3, [Cognitive Dissonance], correct?”

"Yeah. That’s why my ribs healed, all the pain disappeared, and I’m lying here like this.”

At the cost of not being able to feel touch.

But Shin Nain looked me up and down in a way that pissed me off, then his expression turned distinctly serious.

"It doesn’t seem to be simple healing.”

"Ah, for fuck’s sake, you’re doing the dramatic pause thing again. Say it. If you don’t, I’ll shoot you.”

Shin Nain knew very well that when I, Baek Jemon, said I’d shoot someone, I really would.

Shin Nain looked at me through half-lidded eyes, grinning slyly.

"Jemin-ssi. Are you consciously making yourself breathe?”

"I’m not falling for a trick like…”

-Flinch.

Only then did I realize something was wrong.

I had thought that healing injuries or nullifying pain was a little too modest for the 100% performance of Eyes-branch, Stage 3, [Cognitive Dissonance].

Still, magic couldn’t always hit the jackpot. If there were god-tier spells, surely there could be one shitty spell mixed in too, so I hadn’t thought much of it…

In that instant I realized it.

A heavy sensation settled into my chest, like two sheets of sticky plastic pressed tightly together and refusing to come apart.

"Ghk, ghk."

"Jemin-ssi?”

"Cough, ghk. Gack.”

Fortunately, the commotion didn't last long.

I had merely forgotten how to breathe for a moment.

"Haaaaah…”

Only after taking several deep breaths did I barely manage to collect myself.

Hamza was looking at me with concern, Lee Sejun had his head tilted skeptically to one side, and finally there was Shin Nain, still grinning at me.

Shin Nain’s lips twitched as he looked at me with a grin that somehow seemed incredibly pleased, contemptuous of my stupidity, and openly mocking all at once.

"Looks like you’ve realized it.”

Normally, I would’ve snapped something back at him, but the truth I had just discovered was so overwhelming that I couldn’t.

I panted, gulped down breath after breath, and then laughter began spilling out in place of my breathing.

Because I had realized just what kind of fragment of omnipotence magic truly was.

Those scraps of non-wizards who only ever imagined spells specialized for killing like Fireball, Chain Lightning, and other stuff like that could never even begin to imagine it.

Is magic just something that kills people spectacularly?

Does that really deserve to be called a miracle?

Guns and nuclear bombs are already far better at killing people.

"Hehehehehe….Hahahahaha!!!”

I shuddered with exhilaration.

The Original, 100% performance of Eyes-branch, Stage 3, [Cognitive Dissonance].

[Cognitive Dissonance] allows life to continue by rejecting the perception that vital processes are not actually taking place. Recovering from an injury by denying the fact that you were injured was merely one tiny facet of it.

You don’t have to breathe.

Because you can deny the fact that you need to breathe in order to remain alive.

Your heart can stop.

Because you can deny the fact that your heart needs to beat in order for you to live.

This was the logic behind returning from death.

By sacrificing one of the senses connected to human perception for a limited period of time, it granted limited immortality!!!!

"Up!"

-Spring!

I immediately sprang out of bed.

Judging by the fact that my sense of touch still hadn’t returned, the effects of [Cognitive Dissonance] hadn’t ended yet. How long would it last? 6 hours? A full day? Dopamine was exploding through my brain so hard that I couldn't even feel mentally tired.

Now that I had seen the true performance of Original Magic, I found myself thinking, who gives a shit whether those Seoul wizards show up or not?

"Before those bastards under the Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes get here, I need volunteers for magic research!”

My life of exploring Original Magic could only continue for exactly 5 more hours after that.

Because I had finally reached the limit of how much pain and sensory deprivation my delicate, fragile mind could endure.

Human will can never overcome pain, and fear can only be driven out by greater fear.

I had learned that truth painfully well as an Alteration-type wizard, so I didn’t push myself.

Instead, I organized the Original Magic effects I discovered with the help of Shin Nain, Lee Sejun, and Hamza. It went like this.

First up was Hands-branch, Stage 1, [Blood of the Right Hand].

We investigated this magic, which forces humanity’s common sense into monsters and inflicts absolute damage on them. After coating the 5.56mm rounds loaded into one of my firearm magazines with Blood of the Right Hand and watching them for about an hour, we figured out what its 100% performance actually was.

"The blood isn’t drying.”

"It looks like it’s staying in the state before it hardens into a scab. Ugh.”

"I suspect it may also have some effect on heretical Cursed Objects. Though rather than completely nullifying them, I imagine it would only suppress their effects slightly.”

The Original performance of Hand-branch, Stage 1, [Blood of the Right Hand] was extended effect duration.

I had no idea how long it could extend things for, but judging by how blood that should have dried stayed moist even as time passed, mosquitos would probably love it. What was clear was that for a spell whose effectiveness weakened as the blood dried, removing effect duration from the equation made it a pretty decent spell, even if it looked a little plain.

The second spell we investigated was Heart-branch, Stage 1 [Endurance Enhancement].

I had considered researching Hand-branch, Stage 1, [Enchant] first, but Heart-branch magic had such a strongly passive nature that I decided to test whether it might be hiding some kind of active effect.

This was where Lee Sejun really shone.

"I’ll check the other branches, so you investigate the Heart-branch, Lee Sejun.”

"Uugh. Me? Watching you use Tongue-branch magic made it look insanely painful.”

"It doesn’t hurt as much as you think.”

As a result, through Lee Sejun’s sacrifice, we were able to determine the effect of Heart-branch magic.

It was exactly as I had suspected.

The Original, 100% performance of Heart-branch, Stage 1, [Endurance Enhancement] was maximizing metabolic efficiency and controlling metabolic speed.

In other words, it allowed one to freely adjust the speed of the human body’s metabolism, burning through hunger faster in exchange for increasing regeneration speed or boosting reflexes, or conversely lowering metabolism to the absolute limit so the body could survive for long periods without food in harsh environments.

However, further research into Heart-branch magic was blocked by Lee Sejun’s whining.

Our Heart-branch magic experiments ground to a halt because Lee Sejung was thrashing around and making a scene with his blood-soaked tongue hanging out.

"Uwaaaaaaaaaaaagh!!! Ah Fuuuggg!!! Uwaaaaah!!!”

"Sejun! Stop being such a baby! It’s only like having your tongue pounded with a meat tenderizer! Hyung has felt what it’s like to have his crushed in an industrial press!”

"Uwaaaaagh~!!!!”

Despite my desperate persuasion, Lee Sejun wasn’t easily convinced.

Hamza finally managed to calm him down by injecting him with painkillers, but Lee Sejun, who had actually possessed himself in his hospital gown, glared at me with blazing eyes like he wanted to kill me.

"I’m never doing that again. If you make me, I’m seriously punching you.”

"Lee Sejun, you bastard. You whine way too damn much.”

I, Baek Jemin, man among men, had merely ended up sobbing, and this bastard was threatening me with murder.

With no other choice, I started researching another branch.

Ears-branch magic.

This time, Shin Nain took the role of test subject.

For one thing, we were considered to be at the same stage, and I was also curious about what Shin Nain was really thinking deep down.

"Shin Nain. I’ll uncover what kind of devious thoughts you’re hiding."

"Jemin-ssi, a righteous man has nothing to hide."

"I’m checking because I’m hoping the real you isn’t a zealot.”

And that was how I discovered the true 100% performance of Ears-branch, Stage 1, [Mind Reading].

The Original, 100% performance of Ears-branch, Stage 1, [Mind Reading] was the ability to perceive what thoughts a person had held in the past, held in the present, and would hold in the future.

But I didn’t bother digging through Shin Nain’s past.

Instead, I only checked whether Shin Nain would still be a zealot in the future.

From some future whose exact point in time was difficult to determine, Shin Nain’s thoughts seeped into me like salmon swimming upstream against a river.

'This shall end before my faith is broken. Lord, I thank You. Today, I go into battle carrying the hope of martyrdom.’

What the actual fuck.

I clicked my tongue and deactivated [Mind Reading].

Shin Nain looked at me with a proud expression, the corners of his mouth twitching confidently.

"Well? What did you hear?”

"I’ve got a lot on my mind. Don’t talk to me.”

If Shin Nain weren’t such a zealot, he was close to being the complete package as a social butterfly. The instant he stopped being one, he looked like he’d become ridiculously popular.

But leaving him as a zealot was also pretty damn awful.

In the end, after thinking it over, I decided he should stay a fanatic zealot.

It was the perfectly reasonable conclusion that keeping a zealot around was better than having a popular guy next to me.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t continue exploring Original Magic after that.

Like I said earlier, the pain was slowly starting to creep back in.

The duration of [Cognitive Dissonance] was running out.

The instant I realized that, I brushed off everyone calling after me and reaching for me, returned to the medical ward, and threw myself onto the bed.

-Flop!

"Jemin-ssi, what are you doing?”

"I think I’m about to be in pain.”

As the soft sensation of the mattress and pillow gradually returned around me, I gave the Supreme Archmages a wink.

"I’m going to scream for a while."

That day, I greeted the morning sun after spending the entire night restrained, thrashing around while tears, snot, and drool streamed down my face.

*t*t*

May 13th, 2028, 6:34 AM.

The Suwon colonel and the duckbill sergeant frowned the moment they greeted us in the conference room.

"I heard they even had to restrain you. Are you really alright?”

"Yep. I’m full of energy.”

"If you say so."

The colonel tilted his head at my spirited answer but let it go.

There were other matters that were more important to both us Surpeme Archmages and the colonel and sergeant. Just in case, I wondered whether Go Ryeoha had finally gotten her head back on straight, but no.

She was hunched over with her face covered, leaning on Pastor Park for support.

I clicked my tongue inwardly and decided to focus on the briefing.

After all, there was a reason we had even put aside our Original magic research to gather in the conference room.

"Based on the military’s wiretapping and reconnaissance, we have finally pinpointed the location of the Yellow-Bandage Straggler.”

-Whiiiirrr—.

The old projector gave off a mechanical hum as it cast a map onto the screen.

Unable to hide his haggard complexion, the Suwon colonel pointed to a spot with his fingertip.

"Near an elementary school byNamhansanseong Entrance Station. It appears he’s using stolen communications equipment there to carry out his propaganda broadcast.”

"Can’t you just shell the palace? Why do you specifically need us to go?”

Lee Sejun offered an entirely reasonable conclusion.

I’d jump in immediately because I wanted the remains of the wizards, but the military was already dropping chemical shells, pounding areas with artillery, sending in drones, and so on. If they just flattened the place like they’d been doing, surely even the Yellow-Bandage Straggler would eventually die no matter how impressive he was.

But the answer we got was completely unexpected.

"We are."

"Excuse me?"

"......"

"We are shelling it. He’s surviving.”

Lee Sejun asked again like an idiot, while Hamza’s lips worked silently and all the color drained from his face.

After checking our reactions, the Suwon colonel took the folders the duck bill sergeant had brought over and handed one to each of us. I accepted mine almost automatically, but halfway through looking over the documents, my eyes widened.

I should have realized it back when Shin Nian said the power of Inverted Ears-branch magic was likely hypnosis, suggestion, and cognitive breakdown.

"At present, it appears the Yellow-Bandage Straggler’s Ears-branch magic can influence monsters and guide their behavior to some extent. Because of this, a rumor has spread among frontline soldiers that the harder we attack the Yellow-Bandage Straggler, the fiercer the monster hordes become. And it’s not merely speculation. We’ve confirmed that surges in monster attacks coincide remarkably closely with the timing of Korean Army artillery strikes. It appears the Yellow-Bandage Straggler is using magic to complete the propaganda narrative that, in exchange for a ceasefire, his side is the one holding the monsters back…and the frontline soldiers are, in fact, becoming increasingly shaken by it.”

"If it’s just the Straggler, the special forces could..."

"He isn’t alone.”

The Suwon colonel operated the presentation and brought up the next target.

Though calling them a single target would’ve been misleading, considering how many there were.

"We believe the wizard designated as Velcro Corporal is protecting the Yellow-Bandage Straggler. Each wizard is esteemed to command 7 or 8 soldiers from the 55 Unit, and every last one of those soldiers is an Alteration-type wizard at Stage 1. Ordinary conscripts will have difficulty breaking through them. More importantly, we believe some of them possess Inverted Alteration-type Tongue-branch, Stage 1.”

"Inverted Tongue-branch? Why?”

"That comes from testimony by frontline soldiers who witnessed the execution of prisoners. The method appears similar to what Cranial Fusion-Type Mimetic Organisms do, which makes Inverted Tongue-branch magic the most likely explanation.”

That was when Pastor Park Yohan spoke.

"Information theft.”

The pastor, who had been comforting Go Ryeoha, clicked his tongue and visibly shuddered at the sheer viciousness of it.

"They’re operating this far more systematically than I expected. I don’t know whether they can literally devour the heads of corpses too, but the moment a prisoner is captured, if they refuse to defect, all the knowledge and experience they possess, along with information about the blockade line, ends up in enemy hands. The Inverted Tongue-branch wizards devour the Korean soldier prisoners, the Ears-branch wizards listen to every thought that gets extracted and share it, then report it up the chain of command…”

Silence hung over the room for a while.

Everyone probably had plenty to think about.

The Suwon colonel clasped his hands behind his back and looked over us with a grim expression.

"This will be an exceptionally brutal and dangerous operation, so we'll only accept volunteers. The objective is to kill the Yellow-Bandage Straggler and Velcro Corporal. Even with friendly support, we expect chaotic close-quarters encounters, making this an extremely harsh operational environment, and…”

-Snap.

Before the colonel even finished speaking, one person raised his hand.

Me, Baek Jemin.

"...And since combat with monsters is also expected…”

-Snap, snap.

Two people raised their hands.

Shin Nain and Pastor Park Yohan glanced at each other, recited a prayer together, then raised their hands high with solemn expressions.

"...The danger you’ll have to endure may be overwhelming.”

-Snap.

Someone slowly but clearly and decisively raised his hand.

Lee Sejun.

The man who had said he would repay his debt with loyalty to his country despite his fear raised his hand without a word, and Hamza, who had been watching him nervously from the side, started trembling and timidly raised his own hand as well.

At that, Lee Sejun grabbed Hamza’s arm and thrust it straight up.

"Agh!”

"Hamza-ssi. If you’ve decided to do it, then you might as well do it looking cool and without hesitation.”

-Sway...

The last was Go Ryeoha.

Still slumped over, she only managed to weakly lift her palm. She muttered something too, but she was too far away for me to hear it.

Still, she said she was going, so I’ll let it slide.

Seeing this, the duckbill sergeant pursed his protruding lips and let out a grudging sound of admiration.

"I heard all the 1st generation civilian Operators were volunteers, but you really are different. You’re true patriots.”

"......"

I could feel the Suwon colonel hesitate, but I’ll let that slide too.

Instead, he simply said,

"Good luck. Ordinary luck won’t be enough.”

A strange mixture of tension and excitement surged through me.

Behind the fear of marching toward death, a pounding exhilaration was rising.

-Scrrrrrape!

Chairs slid back, and we all gathered up our gear.

Having finished preparing to leave in no time at all, we headed out to cram ourselves back into that ridiculously cramped helicopter.

In the peculiar silence, I watched the helicopter rotors slowly begin to turn and thought.

Luck?

No.

What I needed was resolve.

The resolve to willingly challenge magic.

The determination to reach omnipotence no matter what price I had to pay. That was what would please magic.

This time, I would absolutely be chosen.

If I challenged magic and reached my limit, I would smash my own head into the ground without hesitation and crush myself to death.

I had only one regret.

That I hadn’t been in Seoul on the day the fog rolled in!