Chapter 115: A Crisis Beyond Imagination

[Translator – Aren]

There are uncomfortable truths in this world.

One of them is the truth about age. The human body already reaches its physical peak in the early 20s and after that, it does nothing but decline. People go to all kinds of lengths to ignore that tragic fact, but deep down, they know it better than anyone.

One day, you can’t handle fried food anymore. Lose a little sleep and your stomach starts feeling bloated. Go up and down some stairs and you’re out of breath in no time, and your reaction speed isn’t what it used to be either. You also become more likely to suffer from all kinds of illnesses.

As an old man past the quarter-century mark, I felt that quite strongly.

But today, watching the doctor flip through my chart in front of my hospital bed made me think differently.

The doctor had pushed his bangs back with a headband and narrowed his eyes as he flipped through the chart. The faintly bloodshot eyes from treating patient after patient, and the sparse stubble growing over marks left by shaving, were particularly memorable.

"Baek Jemin-ssi. Your birthday is January 1st, right?”

"Yes."

"I compared your ID with your resident registration records, and they say you were born on June 17th, 2000.”

"I was reborn with a fresh mindset for the new year of 2028. so starting 2028. January 1st is my birthday.”

The moment he heard that. Shin Nain covered his eyes with his left hand and sighed.

The doctor let out an incredulous chuckle as well, then coughed briefly and got down to business.

"Anyway. That, uh, Localized Invasive Structural Alteration phenomenon of yours. LISA has an extremely beneficial effect on your body. Honestly, when you first came in, we expected you’d take at least a month. Your skin had been scraped up badly, and there also seemed to be impact trauma from the fall. Normally, we’d need to monitor you for quite a while. We’re still seeing some residual nerve damage in your left hand, for one.”

"Then…”

"But after watching you while you were going through rehabilitation, I think we were overly concerned. You call yourself wizards, right? This is my first time treating a wizard, but I can see why the generals would lose their minds over this. Aside from some very minor after effects, there’s nothing seriously wrong overall. Hmm. There is exactly one problem, though.”

-Tap.

The doctor tapped the medical chart with his left hand and raised an eyebrow.

"The vision loss in your right eye is significant. It’s bad enough that you need glasses. You say it’s temporary, but your vision test came back at 1.0 in the left eye and about 0.1 in the right. We’d get more precise when fitting the prescription lenses, but…with a difference this large, it’ll start affecting the vision in your left eye too. You’re dizzy aren’t you?”

A doctor indeed.

He immediately figured out why I was still lying quietly in bed even though the rest of my body had mostly healed. If I whipped my head around too fast, I got dizzy enough to feel motion sick. Truly the mark of one of South Korea’s finest elite talents.

No wonder I kept missing my footing. My depth perception was completely screwed up.

I nodded rapidly and asked how I could fix this.

“Doctor. Is there anything I can do?”

"Wear an eye patch. Since you’re certain it’ll heal, keep it on until it does.”

"Ah..."

I’d expected as much, but still.

Most of my other injuries had nearly healed, yet the price I’d paid for [Cognitive Dissonance] was still only recovering slowly. I’d assumed it was because it was a price paid through magic, and apparently that really was the reason.

It was probably because, when I killed Velcro Corporal, I’d used [Cognitive Dissonance] to dump the aftereffects of using [Cognitive Distortion] at 100% onto it as well.

That taught me one more thing.

The price paid for magic doesn’t recover quickly.

Even with Heart-branch, Stage 2 [Physical Enhancement] speeding up my recovery, the limit was obvious.

The doctor watched my expression for a moment, rummaged through the pocket of his coat, then handed me an eyepatch sealed in a plastic bag.

"Your recovery is incredible, but judging by the scars on your hand, you seem to get cut by blades quite a lot. You’ve had a tetanus shot, right? And when you come back, ask them for some antibiotics. Even if your immune system is strong, if you keep getting wounds like this and raising your risk of infection, it’ll cause serious trouble down the line.”

"Yeah."

"Haah. Let’s try not to see each other too often, Baek Jemin-ssi.”

With that, the doctor turned around and trudged out of the hospital room.

The way he nagged me was on the same level as my mom blowing her gasket after seeing my mock-exam scores. I knew making excuses would only make the lecture last longer, so playing the obedient little yes-man had paid off.

I took the eye patch out of the plastic bag and covered my right eye with it.

It felt strange.

I’d never worn a sleep mask in broad daylight before. Maybe that was why it felt even stranger. Having something like a thin piece of nonwoven fabric resting over my eyelid was…hard to put into words.

I was idly reaching up to touch the eye patch when…

-Creak—.

The door opened, and Pastor Park Yohan came in carrying another pile of stuff.

As usual, the pastor looked around the hospital room first, but the moment our eyes met, he asked me a question.

"Baek Jemin, what’s with you? Why are you wearing an eye patch?”

"They said the vision in one of my eyes dropped way too much, so I should wear one.”

"Well, you did use magic outside the fog after all. If that’s all, you held up pretty well. What about Nain?”

"They said there’s a slight possibility of bacterial infection, so they’ve given me oral antibiotics. They also said they’ll give me probiotic supplements for my gut flora.”

"Looks like the hospital’s really taking good care of you. It’s all the Lord’s grace. Shin Nain, if it’s hard to manage on your own, want me to help you to the bathroom? Just say the word.”

"I can manage going to the bathroom using these crutches at least.”

I felt a little neglected by the difference in how the pastor treated Shin Nain and me.

There was a serious lack of praise for this Great Archmage who had played a decisive role in defeating Yellow-Bandage Straggler and Velcro Corporal, and had single-handedly taken down soldiers from the 55-Unit.

Of course, intellectually, I understood that our Supreme Archmages had extremely high expectations of me, Baek Jemin, a man among men.

How could I not know that underneath it all was the assumption, that This Great Archmage Baek Jemin could obviously handle all of this.

Still, I couldn’t complain.

That boundless trust and expectation that I’d pull my weight even if I lost an eye held a strange magic that set a man’s passion ablaze.

That was when the pastor handed Shin Nain a smartphone.

There was nothing particularly impressive about the design. It was just a decent low-end budget smartphone.

"Here. Nain, take this. It’s authorized.”

“Pastor, knowing that their wicked sorcery can make smartphones ring, how could I possibly…”

"Shin Nain. What? Are you not going to use a smartphone even when you’re at camp or in the barracks? We can’t make announcements for every little thing. Even if you only use it while you’re in camp, just take it.”

"If that’s what you mean……”

While Shin Nain reluctantly fiddled with the smartphone and configured it, the pastor came over to me too.

I thought he was going to give me a new phone as well, but the screen was cracked all over. Anyone could tell it was my smartphone.

"Here. Baek Jemin, you take yours too.”

"What’s this?”

"What do you think, you little punk? It’s the phone you threw away on the road.”

"No, I know. You should just give me a new one.”

"Hey. The soldiers stationed at City Hall found your phone while searching the road and brought it all the way back here. And you think brand-new smartphones are just lying around in times like these? I’m even hearing rumors that they’re tearing apart existing phones to reuse the semiconductors. Just use it!”

-Smack, smack...

I’d thought I might finally get to replace my smartphone for free. I smacked my lips in disappointment as I took it. Since I had it back anyway, I decided to look on the bright side. Yeah. If I suddenly called people from a new phone with a new number, none of my old contacts would ever pick up.

Since I already got the phone, I decided to check the date first.

May 17th, 2028, 10:11 AM.

Missed calls… None.

Well, with South Korea falling apart, how many people had the luxury of making phone calls anyway? Since I had my phone back, I decided to unblock a certain number I knew by heart and dialed it. Not having to worry about getting charged for phone service anymore meant I could make international calls without a care which was one small upside.

For quite a while, the speaker played music of larks chirping and a stream flowing.

Then came a click, followed by a familiar voice.

[Jemin? Is that you?]

"Mom."

[First, you listen here. You—what kind of son only calls when he feels like it?]

Apparently my mother, who had settled in a Korean refugee settlement in the United States, had a lot built up inside of her.

She went on for quite a while, so I quietly listened. I knew one of the surest ways to comfort my mother was to simply hear her out. After throwing in the occasional responses here and there, I finally got my turn.

"Mom. Your son’s trying to accomplish something here. Can’t you cheer me on?”

[Y-you…You’re still talking about being some Great Archmage at your age. How am I supposed to cheer for that?!]

"Mom, it’s no nonsense. I’m someone the entire Republic of Korea is rooting for, counting on, and needs now.”

[...Do you know something? What is it? Tell me. Is magic actually real? Everyone’s already going crazy over this.]

My mother finally took the bait.

Things like shamans, spirit divination, evil spirits, curses and all that mystical stuff is especially popular among people from her generation. And since most of the magic that actually existed wasn’t the kind of familiar thing like a Fireball spell but was much more occult in nature, it was perfect for piquing my mother’s curiosity.

"Haah…This is classified, but Mom. Is there a proper pastor where you are? Doesn’t matter what religion really, just someone who’s a genuine hardcore religious fanatic.”

[Actually, your father’s been complaining ever since he met the new person next door. Says the man talks about Jesus all day long, and every time he sees your dad, he pesters him to come to church with him. He keeps telling me that he can’t stand it.]

"You’d have a hard time finding anyone to fit in with over there anyway. Apparently, even back home, most people who go to church don’t do it because they genuinely believe. They go because they need people to be around. When times are tough, I think going to church is fine if it means having people beside you to lean on.”

[Oh my. You never went anywhere near a church except when they gave out Choco Pies during your military service. What’s gotten into you? Is this related somehow?]

"This is the only thing your son can tell you…and I’m only giving you the heads-up because you’re my mom. Other people’s sons don't even know this much. Talk Dad into going to church, chat with people there, and show off a little. Got it? Who could’ve known something like this would happen in Korea? Just go to church for now. If you can’t believe, then at least stick right next to someone who does.”

[Forget telling me to go to church. If my one and only son would just call properly, your mom and dad could stop worrying about everything~. Hm? Why do you keep blocking us?]

"A man’s word is worth its weight in gold. Until the day all 8 billion people recognize me as a Great Archmage! To devote myself to the path, I must tearfully cast aside even my worldly ties!”

[Our son is really insane.]

-Click.

That was enough of a check-in with my parents. I’d even advised them to stay close to some hardcore fanatic who had a good chance of awakening [Redemptive Conviction] in case something happened, so I felt a little more at ease.

I blocked my parents’ number again and was just about to tuck the smartphone into my clothes when I noticed the fanatic zealot duo staring at me with strange expressions.

"What?"

"Baek Jemin. Even a human butcher like you really is someone’s son after all.”

"You don’t seem like the Jemin-ssi I know. You’re more filial than I expected when it comes to your parents.”

That fanatic zealot duo.

What the hell did those two think I am?

"Oh, right. Baek Jemin, they recovered your rifle too, but the barrel and receiver are damaged, so it needs maintenance. They said it won’t be ready right away. For now, use one of the spare K2s.”

"What the hell are you talking about?”

The pastor, me, Shin Nain.

The three of us looked from one person to another.

It was a misunderstanding born from none of us properly understanding one another.

Apparently Shin Nain, the Ears-branch wizard, was the only one who had noticed the ominous truth hanging over this hospital room, seeing that he started to snicker.

"Jemin-ssi. Why are you pretending you don’t know when you already do?”

"Shut up."

But reality was cruel.

True to the Command that had decided to kill 10 million citizens of Seoul, the military demanded a brutal sacrifice from me.

"Reality Survival Command made the decision. Baek Jemin, you’re switching out with Hamza and taking over the defense of Seongnam City Hall. The others need to remain in reserve. Right?”

*t*t*

May 17th, 2028, 1:14 PM.

Right after lunch, I climbed into a 2.5-ton truck and headed toward Seongnam City Hall. I couldn’t shake the unsettled feeling inside me, so I found myself looking around as we went. Quite a few soldiers were riding with me as well for their shift change.

Southern Seongnam had relatively few traces of battle.

The area west of the river had been devastated except for the roads, but most of the infrastructure east of the river, where the military hospital was located, was still intact.

The artillery positions I’d seen near Bokjeong Station a few months ago had apparently been relocated out of concern that their positions would be exposed, leaving only shell marks behind. Near the riverside, I saw soldiers hand-washing mountains of laundry.

I kept my eyes peeled in case some monster jumped out like they did from the Han River, but nothing seemed wrong. Just in case, I even checked with Eyes-branch, Stage 1, [10-Second Future Sight], but everything was completely calm.

For all the monsters they’d slaughtered, apparently nobody had thought of dumping the corpses into the river and contaminating the water. Or maybe they had held out because of the direction the river flowed. I’d never been to Seongnam before, so I had no idea.

One thing that stood out was the soldiers sitting down along the roadside everywhere.

They were wearing strange VR-goggle lenses and fiddling with controllers. From the way they were rapidly working the sticks on the gamepads, I could tell they were drone operators.

No wonder they were currently the number 1 contributors to maintaining the blockade line.

Thanks to guys like them, the drones were still busy even now.

Several drones flew over the 2.5-ton truck I was riding in with a loud Vwwwooooom—.

They were sweeping every corner and alley of the city with thermal cameras and the like, prepared to immediately kill anyone they found who hadn’t been reported.

After riding along for quite a while, swaying like wilted bean sprouts, and passing armored vehicles, tanks, self-propelled artillery, and towed guns again and again, the broad Seongnam City Hall finally came into view.

Until then, the soldiers riding in the back of the truck hadn’t exchanged a single word.

These infantrymen were armed with gas masks and CBRN protective suits, shotguns, flamethrowers, and rifles. Maybe just breathing was exhausting enough, because they kept fiddling with their chin straps. I could feel them sneaking glances at me with my gas mask off, but apparently none of them had the nerve to take theirs off.

Even after we finally reached the City Hall parking lot and began getting off one after the other under the lead soldier’s direction, they remained completely silent.

-Clunk.

When I finally climbed down from the truck, I spotted a very familiar and friendly face.

"Hamza."

"Jemin-ssi.”

Hamza, one of the Supreme Archmages.

His grimy curly hair was fully exposed, and he had a thick, bulging backpack on his back. He was wearing a strange expression, the kind that was hard to pin down in a single word.

"How are Lee Sejun and Master?”

"Hmm. They haven’t been fighting that much.”

As expected of Hamza. He understood me instantly.

He knew exactly what I was worried about.

As Hamza climbed aboard the truck I had just gotten off, he flashed me a toothy grin and gave me a firm thumbs-up.

"Jemin-ssi. Fighting.”

"...?"

"Inshallah. Allah isa’iduk¹."

Unable to hide my unease, I headed inside Seongnam City Hall for now.

The regular infantry squad that came along with me to change shifts had already disappeared under their lead soldier’s command. As I, a first-rate civilian Operator, casually strolled alone among the soldiers, silent gazes bore into me from every direction.

Normally, I would’ve given Shin Nain, the Ears-branch wizard, a quick word and had him tell me what they were thinking…

Can’t be helped.

I rolled my tongue around inside my mouth.

My Ears-branch, Stage 1 was so weak that if I wanted to do what Shin Nain did, I had to use Tongue-branch magic too. My tongue had finally recovered from the mouth ulcers, and it would probably split open again, but the sweet payoff would make it worth it.

Ears-branch, Stage 1, [Mind Reading], 100%.

Listen to other people’s thoughts!

At first, nothing changed.

My eardrums felt muffled like I’d climbed a high mountain, and my sense of balance grew distant. I didn’t even feel dizzy, and yet I found myself staggering anyway.

Then, at some point, every vibration in the world turned into whispers so faint I could barely make them out.

-Whisperwhisperwhisper...

The pronunciation was too mangled to grasp the meaning, the breathing too scattered to read the emotions, yet the murmuring went on just enough to grate on my thoughts if I tried to ignore it.

I had no idea how long that tuning process lasted.

Only after a few seconds did the sounds I wanted finally reach me.

'Enemy total: 21. They say that includes ordinary people, but 14 of them were wizards. And apparently 3 people took them all down. Even with considerable support, they’re irreplaceable. Supposedly they’re even better at killing monsters. Does that mean the enemy was just that dangerous…?’

'That guy with the eye patch is our best wizard right now. Guess the stories about him ripping out eyes and hearts and all that shit were true? He showed up wearing an eye patch…Fuck. If he notices me, am I going to get dragged off somewhere? Better keep my distance.’

'Please win. I seriously want to stop standing guard four times a day in 2-hour shifts..'

Hmhm.

To think their awe toward the Great Archmage Baek Jemin ran this deep. Still, it was a little disappointing that the full details of my exploits apparently hadn’t spread yet. If Command had decided they couldn’t reveal too much about me while the fighting and standoff were still ongoing, I could understand.

I released the magic with a pleased expression and kept walking, unable to stop my shoulders from going up with pride, when…

"Ryeoh-ssi, bright and hopeful! If there are survivors left, they’ll want us to greet them with smiles!”

"Sejun-ssi…You’re right! That’s why I always tried to smile!”

"I believe not everyone in Seoul has been consumed by hatred. If we can save them. then we should!”

"I think so too!!!”

Something felt wrong.

I quietly lowered my stance and even put on the gas mask I’d been carrying.

Keeping myself out of sight, I crept behind cover and closed the distance. Then I saw Lee Sejun and Go Ryeoha in a small open area, fired up as they traded punches with each other.

-Bang!

A sharp crack as the air was punched aside sounded out.

Watching the two of them naturally match each other’s rhythm with their clumsy punches sent a surge of dread through me.

"Ryeoha-ssi, let’s go together!"

"Hahaha, yes! We’ll support each other’s dreams!”

If you could watch Go Ryeoha and Lee Sejun laughing together like that and not feel something was off, if you couldn’t sense the danger, then you might as well rip out your brain and live without it.

Right now, I was seized by such a powerful sense of crisis that it felt like the blood vessels in my brain were drying up.

"We are!”

"Siblings!”

My incredible intuition immediately realized what that damn ‘Siblings’ was building up for.

Hamza, you son of a bitch.

My hands and feet started trembling.

"Oh? Jemin-ssi!”

"Jemin-ssi?”

The moment the two of them turned around, I unleashed every curse I knew inside my head.

Lee Sejun, you damn bastard...

Was that a set-up to become ‘Sisters’?!

_________________________________________________________________________

¹May Allah help you

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