Chapter 117: Baek Jemin, Humanity's Last Hope

[Translator – Aren]

People sometimes imagine ruin as something spectacular.

They think ‘ruin’ means something going off with a bang, like a blockbuster explosion or fireworks. It only starts to feel real when there’s something shocking and impossible to ignore right in front of them. The people living in 2028 were no different.

May 17th, 2028, 7:18 PM.

Looking through the cracked screen of my smartphone at the Korean internet, finally reigned by full-scale censorship, and at foreign websites made that painfully clear.

The people who still didn’t realize the Republic of Korea had collapsed were Koreans themselves, while foreign media, looking at things with the cold eyes of a third party, already considered the Republic of Korea and its people to have lost sovereignty.

Maybe because this was an authorized phone, I had unrestricted access to the foreign internet. I was damn glad I could read reports like these.

While Major Shin Hangi and the officers hurried around preparing the briefing, I’d already taken my seat and was looking through my smartphone. I could feel people glancing at me because everyone else was busy while I sat there alone, but this was simply strategic work distribution.

I was an extremely valuable wizard with one eye already wrecked. Making me waste my strength helping with menial work like that would be a loss to humanity.

I’d covered my left eye with the patch again and was staring at the screen with my blurry right eye held wide open like an old man peering through reading glasses when Lee Sejun and Go Ryeoha, who had been summoned, appeared in the Seongnam City Hall Command Post conference room.

"Jemin-ssi, what are you doing?”

"Hubae-nim, can I look too?”

"Both of you, go away. Sit somewhere else.”

When I was young, I used to wonder why adults would bury their noses in newspapers or smartphones and obsess over every little bit of current affairs even with other people sitting right beside them.

Now I understood.

They just didn’t want to talk to people they disliked, so they used newspapers like camouflage and deliberately buried themselves in irritating political news.

I’d clearly told the Shitblings to fuck off, but they couldn’t contain their curiosity and kept craning their heads up, gathering behind me to peek over my shoulders.

Pretending not to care, I deliberately tried to make myself look like the kind of asshole who made you think, ‘God, this guy is a damn nutjob,’ just from seeing what he read. I decided to show them nothing but the most sensational, horrifying-looking articles I could find.

I flicked my thumb through articles on Korean portal sites that might as well be called an intranet by now, scrolling through them one after another.

[Large-Scale Uprising Centered onUlsan,Busan, and NorthernGyeongsang…Misconception and Truth About ‘Post-Consenters’.]

[Controversy Over the Organizational Structure of the Korean-US Combined Command. Has Democracy Ended?]

[Martial Law Command Suspected of Armed Crackdown on Unauthorized Election of Public Official. Candidate’s Past Criticism of Blockade Operations and Martial Law Command Draws Scrutiny.]

[Why “Combined Command” instead of “Combined Forces Command”? Experts Take a Closer Look at the Command’s Name…]

Just then, Go Ryeoha rested her chin on my shoulder and tapped the screen of my smartphone with her fingertip.

Ah...

I hate this.

I hated the weakness of Baek Jemin, the human, how something this stupid could send a faint shiver through me and bring a warm breeze into one corner of my chest. While my thumb stopped scrolling, Go Ryeoha started scrolling for me instead.

Completely oblivious to the self-loathing tormenting me.

I could feel Lee Sejun’s stare boring into the back of my head, but Go Ryeoha’s question hit me much harder than that.

"Hubae-nim, is there anything aboutGangwon?Chuncheon, maybe?”

"Why Chuncheon?”

"My parents are there. I wanted to go straight to them, but…they said the situation’s too difficult to let anyone go outside the blockade line."

"Hang on. Back up first. It smells."

Go Ryeoha’s eyes widened in shock at that, and hastily backed away.

Then, with a strange expression, she lifted her arm, sniffed at her sleeve, frowned, and whipped her head around to look everywhere.

"...Do I smell?”

"Not you, Master. I meant me.”

"Ah. Aahh… I thought you meant something else. You startled me with that, Hubae-nim. More importantly, Hubae-niiim~. Do you actually care about that?”

Thinking back on my life experience, I could tell why Go Ryeoha had narrowed her eyes and was acting all coy for no reason.

She was teasing me.

I, Baek Jemin.

I may be hopeless when it comes to romance, but I can tell better than anyone when someone is mocking or teasing me.

As a man with perfect social awareness, I decided to draw a firm line.

"Why don’t you just check what’s going on around Chuncheon on your own phone, Master?”

"They wouldn’t authorize mine. They said I’m still under observation. Hubae-nim, can’t you show me the news about Chuncheon?”

"Just borrow Lee Sejun’s phone or something.”

"But Sejun-ssi’s interests are way too narrow, so he doesn’t really like current-affairs stuff like this.”

"Hmm. Current affairs are nothing but pathetic bullshit about whether the country’s collapsed or whatever, so I don’t bother reading them. What does it matter if the country’s collapsed? If it has, then we should be thinking about how to save it!”

I glanced over and saw Lee Sejun clenching both fists, his eyes blazing.

Even though he knew the Republic of Korea had effectively ceased to exist, he was displaying such fierce patriotism that even the soldiers busy organizing for the briefing started glancing our way.

Lee Sejun himself hadn’t noticed any of those stares. He was too busy glaring at me and Go Ryeoha.

"If you keep reading nothing but complaints, eventually your thoughts get poisoned by that negativity. I know from experience. You take that pathetic mindset of ‘It won’t work anyway,’ attach some reasonable-sounding excuse to it, then justify your weakness by digging through all kinds of sensational trash about current affairs and politics. So what if everything’s gone to hell? If all you’re going to do after finding out how it happened is sit there mourning that it happened, then why even look?”

"Huh."

"If something’s broke, just fix it. If everything’s collapsed into ruins, resolve to stand back up. Before saying over and over that something can’t be done, ask yourself whether you’re just making excuses because you’re afraid to fail. That’s how I, Lee Sejun, have lived. It’s not that I hate these articles. I don’t read them because I don’t need to.”

"Sejun-ssi…! That’s so ‘Siblings’ of you!"

"Of course. To challenge something when there’s a possibility. To search for what you can do instead of fearing failure. That is the spirit of the Republic of Korea, and the goal of us Siblings.”

If I hadn’t heard Lee Sejun’s hideous inner thoughts, I would’ve been lamenting that I couldn’t understand how a man with such an upright soldier’s spirit had ever failed the long-term service screening.

"Don’t go around attaching your grotesque obsession to the founding ideals of the Republic of Korea.”

"Jemin-ssi, you should stop treating other people’s aspirations like they’re worthless too.”

-Clap, clap, clap…

At the sudden sound of applause, I turned my head. Major Shin Hangi, who had been drawing various things on the whiteboard with a marker, was clapping. There were even tears spilling out of his eyes, worn down by fear and fatigue.

"I’m moved, Lee Sejun-ssi. It’s because this country still has people like you that we’re able to keep going.”

"No, Major Shin. You were the one who gave me a chance. If you hadn’t approached me back then, when I was depressed after failing the long-term service screening, I wouldn’t be standing this firmly now. The same goes for the other soldiers. Even if they aren’t recognized, everyone deserves respect simply for the fact that they’re doing their best.”

"To think there’d be someone this admirable in a place like Aphorism, where nothing but eccentrics gather…”

Following Major Shin Hangi, who was applauding with tears in his eyes, the other soldiers gradually put down what they were carrying and started clapping too.

From the perspective of the soldiers holding the blockade line, there was apparently nothing more inspiring than the person Lee Sejun appeared to be. Swept up in the military’s uniquely rigid atmosphere and drunk on the high of the moment, they knew nothing of Lee Sejun’s filthy inner thoughts and could only admire him.

"That was amazing. Honestly, it made me reflect on myself.”

"Shit…How did someone like that fail the long-term service screening? No wonder the country collapsed.”

"Staff Sergeant Lee! You’re awesome!”

No. That’s not it.

There were two sides to this same incident. The irony of it drew a sigh from me before I knew it.

Unlike me, who had regained absolute faith in the Korean military’s long-term service screening system, they were applauding because they thought this only proved how rotten the country had been.

I opened my mouth to stop them, but…

As the soldiers applauded, grew emotional, surrounded Lee Sejun, and cheered, I finally realized the weight of the truth.

Was it really right to tell these people, who were already struggling to hold up the blockade line, the hideous truth?

"Hubae-nim?”

"It’s nothing. Never mind…”

Filled with deep sorrow, I quietly decided to show Go Ryeoha the news about her hometown, Chuncheon.

Leaving Lee Sejun behind as he pretended not to care while clearly feeling giddy with all the praise being showered on him.

Go Ryeoha was even looking at Lee Sejun with admiration.

"Hubae-nim, seeing Sejun-ssi get recognized like that…makes me kind of jealous and envious…but I also want things to go well for him.”

"Master, stop with that and just look at the news about Chuncheon.”

"Oh? Is there an article about Chuncheon?”

There was one hell of an article on screen.

[Gangwon Martial Law Forces Dismiss Controversy with Explanation of Blockade Line Redeployment Rumors: ‘Gangwon’s Troops Will Be Used Only to Defend Gangwon’!]

[... As word spreads that troops from Gangwon Province will not be reassigned to the blockade line, voices accusing the authorities of giving Gangwon preferential treatment are growing among the public. Military experts, however, speculate that the focus may be serving as reserves for an early response, as an outbreak of monsters into Gangwon’s mountainous regions could have catastrophic consequences. Meanwhile, residents of Gangwon appear to have regained some trust in the Martial Law Command following this explanation…]

From this, I could get a rough idea of the internal structure of the Korean-US Combined Command.

The Korean-US Combined Command, centered in Pyeongtaek, seemed to have been reorganized with three major commands beneath it.

There were probably plenty of other departments and branches, but if I had to pick the three with the strongest presence, they were these.

The Reality Survival Command, known to civilians as the ‘Quarantine Command.'

It was the Command most directly involved with the current crisis, professionally managing personnel capable of using magic and handling responses to the 66-Society. Since it had the greatest authority within the command structure and stood at the very center of the crisis, its importance seemed extremely high.

Every now and then, people would ask why there was a Quarantine Command when a Blockade Command already existed, or what exactly it even did, but questions concerning the Reality Survival Command seemed to be censored, especially thoroughly. The comments would disappear before even a minute had passed.

Blockade Operations Command.

This was the Command currently responsible for the first and second blockade lines, encompassing forces around the capital and Gyeonggi Province as well as some mobilized reservists gathered from other regions.

The Blockade Operations Command focused on procuring and deploying troops and on responses centered around non-wizard military forces. Since they couldn’t borrow specialist officers or specialist soldiers every single time, they had naturally started hiring civilian Operators, or rather, just working them to the bone.

I saw criticism saying these civilian Operators were basically mercenaries, but there were almost no comments questioning the fact that they used magic. Information about magic still seemed to be under control.

And the last was the Korean Peninsula Martial Law Command.

Literally every province, region, metropolitan city, and town outside the blockade line was under martial law, so the scale had grown too large. Martial Law Commands had been established for each administrative region, and apparently that was causing quite a few problems.

Since they were prioritizing stability and order, conscripting troops and rationing supplies, resentment was already running high, and in the process of suppressing that resentment by force, field commanders had gained enormous discretion…

There were a lot of people saying this was effectively turning them into warlords.

But while I was looking over the command structure, Go Ryeoha teared up with relief after hearing that Chuncheon was safe for now.

"Thank goodness…nothing's wrong there…”

"Aren’t you going to call them?"

"I will. I think they’d be startled if I called from an unknown number, though, so I’ll wait until I get authorized…”

Go Ryeoha wiped her tears with her wrist and acted a little spoiled, making me turn my head away for no reason.

Fuck.

I hate myself.

Why the hell was I born with a dick, only to be this weak against temptation?

Maybe developing Heart-branch magic, the magic that symbolized human life, had strengthened my instinctive side.

Now I understood why wizards in countless works of fiction pursued freedom from desire and emotion.

If you wasted time on every single impure desire like this, there’d be no time left to study magic.

I resolved to press the libido-release switch as much as I wanted whenever I was alone, then desperately dragged the Great Archmage’s rationality back to the surface.

There had to be another reason Go Ryeoha wasn’t contacting them.

The fact that she seemed to have taken the red pill but reacted so mildly was suspicious in itself. Maybe the red pill wasn’t something like the euthanasia incident after all.

Actually, the fact that euthanizing non-wizards had broken her mentally in the first place was suspicious.

A normal person like me would’ve shed a few tears of admiration at their own decisiveness and mercy, thinking they’d made the great decision to put the non-wizards down humanely before they could turn into monsters.

Go Ryeoha’s reaction was clearly wrong.

While the conference room was turning into a sea of tears, Major Shin Hangi, having finally gotten all those emotions out of his system, tapped the still-unfinished drawing on the whiteboard and spoke.

"First, since the higher-ups have approved the operation, I’ll explain it quickly. Sejun-ssi and Ryeoha-ssi, please take your seats and listen as well.”

Who could’ve guessed that Lieutenant Shin Hangi, who I’d thought would spend his career handling supplies in the rear, would end up as the major in charge of Seongnam City Hall’s Command Post?

Major Shin Hangi seemed to be suffering a bit of post-emotional clarity himself, spacing out every now and then, but somehow managed to finish the explanation.

The outline of the operation was as follows.

Tomorrow, in the hours before the sunrise at dawn, when the fog was most likely to rise, 5 reconnaissance drones would head out in separate directions. They’d abandon any attempt to recover them and fly them until their batteries gave out, drawing the enemy’s attention while I, the Supreme Archmage, and the Shitblings moved in.

The objective was to determine the fog depth in northern Seongnam aboveMoran Station, where the military had currently withdrawn from, how the enemy was operating there, and how far south the monsters had advanced.

Major Shin Hangi gestured for the NCOs listening nearby to leave, then turned back to us and spoke cautiously.

"They say air support will be covering you, but everyone’s being careful. I’m involved with this too, so I was warned about Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes’ Stage 4 magic. I’m sure you’ve heard the same warning. Even so, there are two reasons this operation was approved.”

Major Shin Hangi looked directly at us, or, more precisely, at me and Go Ryeoha, before continuing.

"The US generals have very high expectations for you, Baek Jemin-ssi, and for our own Stage 4 wizard, Go Ryeoha-ssi. The two of you need to show them 100% of what you can do, without holding anything back, even under circumstances like these… Depending on what you show them, the way they treat the Korean Armed Forces, and the remaining 40 million people, could change. It would be good if you could show them what you can do too, Sejun-ssi.”

"Hmm."

My gaze subtly shifted toward Go Ryeoha.

She blinked, then cautiously asked,

"Could they authorize a smartphone for me and let me contact my family and relatives too?”

"There’s a good chance they’ll consider it favorably. If you…demonstrate something befitting a Stage 4 and show that you’re willing to cooperate, Ryeoha-ssi.”

Only after hearing the significance behind Major Shin Hangi’s words did I understand.

The military still didn’t trust Go Ryeoha.

And when I caught Major Shin Hangi glancing my way, I understood why I’d been deployed here in such a hurry.

A hidden trump card to send into that testing ground in case the worst happened.

The strongest wizard outside the blockade line, capable of dealing with Go Ryeoha if she defected or suffered a mental breakdown.

What they desperately needed was this awesome Great Archmage who was holding off humanity’s extinction.

Aah. Can’t be helped, huh?

Hiding the twitching corners of my mouth, I realized just how beautiful the operation I’d proposed truly was.

Go Ryeoha.

If she really did keep cooperating, then we would gain a joker capable of standing against Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes’ Stage.

We’d have a way to resist that absurd magic called Causal Arrangement.

If she defected or snapped and went completely off the rails, then regrettably, as a fellow former Supreme Archmage, I’d have no choice but to kill her with tears in my eyes to preserve her honor. Of course, I’d be sobbing as I reluctantly collected and absorbed her remains afterward.

"So when is the operation?”

Lee Sejun asked like the soldier he was, and Major Shin Hangi cleared his throat before answering.

"May 18th, 2028, 4:15 AM. Everyone, please get ready.”