Chapter 138: Nation-Level Wizard

[Translator – Aren]

People sometimes get the most ridiculous ideas into their heads.

Especially when it came to achievements someone had accomplished entirely on their own, with no one else’s help, people tended to look at them with suspicion first. Rather than accept that one person might simply be that capable, they assumed there had to be some kind of other factor involved.

The American generals—especially Lieutenant General Royce, the dark-skinned man with the shaved head and kindly eyes—were particularly bad about that.

Just like he'd pressured Go Ryeoha a moment ago, it looked like he intended to pressure me this time. His pal was obvious. He was trying to catch me off guard, shake me up psychologically, then dig out what I was hiding.

But I, Baek Jemin, was as tenacious and stubborn as a plantain weed.

I’d lived a harsh life on a whole different level from some college girl who’d spent her days coasting along without a care in the world.

I was a man of iron will who’d run away because I didn’t want tutoring, pocketed my cram-school tuition because I didn’t want to go, and thrown away my schoolbag because I didn’t want to attend mandatory night study.

That was the kind of man I, Baek Jemin, was.

Ignoring the wildly different looks Hamza, the pastor, Shin Nain, Lee Sejun, and Go Ryeoha were giving me, I shamelessly stared Lieutenant General Royce straight in the face. Even with the first US 5-star general in 70 years and his inner circle right in front of me, I wasn’t backing down.

"I taught myself.”

At that, Lieutenant General Royce pulled a sheet from the stack of documents and started scribbling something on it with his fountain pen.

Captain Kim Howoon quietly came closer and carefully listened to Lieutenant General Royce, then straightened up and relayed his words to me.

"Jemin-ssi, Lieutenant General Royce says he’d like to explain the care package they’ve prepared for you and your companions.”

"I’m not that easy to buy.”

How petty.

Did he really think he could win over a man’s pride just by promising a few material rewards?

Wolves might live in packs, but that didn’t make them easy to tame.

I snorted and let Royce’s proposed care package go in one ear and out the other.

Royce: Officially, the Republic of Korea is still considered to exist as a state, but in international affairs, the question of who can actually represent it is being quietly avoided. The leadership of the Republic of Korea and most of its executive branch effectively ceased to exist as a result of the Seoul Monster Disaster. Under these circumstances, Communist China has established a new government through limited voting in the Incheon area and is claiming democratic legitimacy. This is generating negative public opinion toward the Korean-US Combined Command and the Korean martial-law forces.

What a long introduction.

I had no idea why he was dragging this out like whatever came next was going to be that amazing.

Royce: The Korean-US Combined Command, Reality Survival Command, and even Congress and the President, who have been briefed on the relevant facts, all rate Mister Baek’s operational capability and resolve very highly. We have also determined that you have had little contact with the unknown organization known as the 66 Society and are unlikely to be swayed by them. Accordingly, we are preparing active cooperation and extensive support. The first item is broad legal immunity for Mister Baek, along with US citizenship.

Just like you’d expect from a rich country. It seemed like they were dangling US citizenship in front of me as bait, trying to sell the American Dream.

Seriously…

"Immunity?”

Royce: The Korean-US Combined Command and the United States government will assume responsibility for the consequences of any legal disputes or physical altercations that may arise on the Korean Peninsula, whether during a mission or in the course of your private life. If an incident develops into an international dispute, we may request an interview to establish the precise circumstances, but Mister Baek won’t be forcibly detained or dragged into unjust or trivial lawsuits.

"So what? I can kill people on the Korean Peninsula, steal stuff, beat up anyone I don’t like, and tie them up with a rope and drag them around, and that’s fine? I won’t get hauled into an American court instead?”

When he said immunity, I thought of diplomatic immunity and got a little sarcastic.

As far as I’d heard, diplomatic immunity meant you weren’t subject to the laws and courts of a foreign country but to those of your own country instead. Was the Republic of Korea even still alive right now, though?

The more I thought about it, the more obvious it seemed that the judicial system probably wasn’t functioning properly in the first place.

If the courts that were supposed to accept lawsuits couldn’t even do their jobs, what good did having America at my back actually do?

That was when Marshal McKinsey, who had been quietly watching, pulled out his crumpled cigarette pack and started fiddling with it.

With his rough hands, Marshal McKinsey crushed the cigarette pack and even the cigarettes inside as he gave a cold smile.

"If necessary. As much as it takes."

Captain Kim Howoon went white as a sheet.

But he didn’t translate it, so I looked at Shin Nain, who was sitting beside me and calmly listening to the conversation. He knew exactly what I wanted. The moment he caught my gaze, Shin Nain, the translator wizard, did his job.

Shin Nain lowered his head with a grave expression and said,

"From the way he said it, it sounds almost unlimited within the Korean Peninsula. Of course, there’d probably be some degree of review, but their intention to protect you first seems pretty clear.”

"Holy fuck.”

That wasn’t me.

It was Lee Sejun.

Lee Sejun, who had been listening with a somewhat serious expression, looked back and forth between me and the American generals in shock. Then reacted with even more shock.

"Baek Jemin-ssi gets the US military backing him on the Korean Peninsula and basically enjoys unlimited immunity? That’s seriously ridiculous. What about the will of the Korean people? This is a vicious, unethical decision that undermines the Korean people’s right to survive and the honor of the Republic of Korea!”

"The problem is, this is only the first condition.”

There were far too many treacherous bastards losing their minds over Baek Jemin, Supreme Archmage, and pride of the Korean people, receiving the power he rightfully deserved.

After Lee Sejun’s frantic nonsense, even Shin Nain, who occasionally served as our translator wizard, started voicing his concern.

"I can understand US citizenship being the first condition, but the near-unlimited community on the Korean Peninsula? Baek Jemin-ssi may possess exceptional aptitude as a Holy Battle Arts practitioner, but his character is base and vulgar, and his inner self is consumed by insecurity and jealousy, placing him far from true goodness. Perhaps if he listened to the words of scripture, felt shame of his own accord, and corrected himself, but granting the current Baek Jemin that much authority and freedom could lead to the corruption of unchecked indulgence.”

"Shin Nain, you sure use pretty words when you talk about Baek Jemin, but you’re practically cussing him out.”

Pastor Park Yohan glanced at me every so often as he gently reined Shin Nain in.

At times like this, the understanding and seasoned wisdom unique to an elder really were desperately needed.

I might usually call him a damn fanatic zealot, but the moderation and wisdom born from all the years he’d lived were truly radiant.

Unfortunately, the pastor was the only Supreme Archmage on my side.

Hamza, his face drained white, dragged his chair away to put some distance between us, while Go Ryeoha stared at me with her mouth hanging open, pointing at me with one hand while covering her mouth with the other.

"Jemin-ssi, I think we should put a little distance between us for now.”

"Hubae-nim? With immunity? Impossible!”

The wailing of the insignificant no longer mattered.

Since this was important, I straightened myself in my seat and decided to hear the American generals’ next condition.

"Please continue."

I could feel Captain Kim Howoon giving me a complicated, indescribable look, but I figured that was only natural now that he was seeing Baek Jemin, Supreme Archmage and pride of the Korean people, in the flesh.

Meanwhile, Lieutenant Royce gave a faint chuckle and presented the next condition.

Royce: From this point forward, Mister Baek will receive top-priority, uncensored, unrestricted access to knowledge concerning LISA obtained by the military, those cooperating with the military, and anything discovered or recovered on the Korean Peninsula. He will also be granted access to various religious relics and scriptures present on the Korean Peninsula, and if he personally recovers relics stolen by the 66 Society, he will be granted a 100-year lease on them.

Remembering how recklessly I’d been treating my back lately, I straightened my posture a little more.

It had nothing to do with the condition. Lieutenant General Royce had just mentioned, but the timing was unfortunate enough that everyone gave me strange looks. I could say this with absolute certainty. It was a coincidence. People had a bad habit of assigning far too much meaning to coincidences.

Royce: Accordingly, the prayer beads continuing the 3 True-Body Sarira that Mister Baek recovered from Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes will belong to Mister Baek. However, please understand that military collaborators may request to borrow them for research purposes.

The explanation continued for a while after that. Including everything they’d already said, it would be something like this.

1. Issuance of US citizenship and immunity for all actions on the Korean Peninsula except those that could provoke an international dispute.

2. Top-priority access to relics and magical knowledge secured by the Korean-US Combined Command and the US military.

3. Authority to issue MPC.

4. If there is no serious threat to the blockade line and I personally request it, support for relocating my residence to a rear area or emigrating to the US.

5. Allocation of logistical resources to improve the facilities where I and the Supreme Archmages stay and provide whatever supplies we need.

Once I heard all that, an objection came from somewhere I never expected.

My comrades, the Supreme Archmages I trusted and relied on more than anyone, vehemently objected.

Even the pastor, who had been gently trying to rein Shin Nain in just moments ago, raised his brows and started speaking up to the American generals.

"Whew, I understand what you generals are thinking, but if you give Baek Jemin that much, that bastard’s going to go astray.”

"Hubae-nim isn’t a bad person, but he’s dangerous! You can’t!”

Why was Go Ryeoha, this non-wizard hoarder, butting in and stopping someone from receiving the proper treatment he deserved?

And it wasn’t just Go Ryeoha and the pastor.

"No! I never want to live in a world where Baek Jemin-ssi is respected by the state!”

"Rights must be preceded by sufficient reflection and sound faith. Baek Jemin-ssi has neither.”

Lee Sejun and Shin Nain started shouting their absolute opposition as well, while Hamza trembled and discreetly dragged his chair over to sit beside Shin Nain.

Looking at these faithless Supreme Archmages, I couldn’t hide my devastation. The saying aboutyour stomach hurting when your cousin buys land really was true. Just as my eyes began to sharpen with bitter resentment…

-Whoosh.

Marshal McKinsey raised a hand.

Even Brigadier General Thatcher, who had been typing furiously on his laptop beside him, stopped, while Lieutenant General Royce lowered the papers in his hands and listened. Marshal McKinsey tapped his crumpled cigarette pack with one finger and grinned.

"A commander knows an advantage when he sees one. They may know more about LISA than we do, but they can't give him honor."

The pastor, Lee Sejun and I, the three of us who couldn’t understand English, just looked at one another and blinked.

Lieutenant General Royce and Brigadier General Thatcher, on the other hand, nodded as though it were obvious, while Shin Nain clamped his mouth shut with an expression that was hard to describe. Captain Kim Howoon and Hamza had already gone silent and were busy reading the room.

With no other choice, I urged on you, translator wizard.

"What’d he say?”

"They minted to keep you from being won over by giving you what the 66 Society can’t.”

That was when Brigadier General Thatcher called Captain Kim Howoon over and spoke to him.

He hurried over with a helpless look on his face, listened, then came rushing back, sweating profusely as he translated.

Thatcher: Aphorism, not just Mister Baek, is one of the civilian Operator groups successfully managed by the previous Korean government. The Korean-US Combined Command plans to formally establish a Military-Service Operator system in order to create a more precise and effective structure and reduce losses among blockade-line personnel. By publicizing the achievements of the earliest civilian Operators and selectively releasing information on LISA, while also offering institutional benefits designed to make civilians hostile to the military reconsider their position, we intend to maintain the blockade line and stabilize the Korean Peninsula.

"So because civilians are running away to avoid mobilization, you’re going to dangle bait in front of them and make them jump in willingly?”

Surprisingly, the pastor, who had basically been playing yes-man until now, was the only one who sharply pointed it out.

He adjusted his glasses and gave Brigadier General Thatcher a slight glare, his tone turning stiff, but the sleepy-looking Thatcher wasn’t someone to be pushed around either. The only one looking like he was about to die was Captain Kim Howoon, stuck in the middle as interpreter.

Thatcher: The first contingent of 140,000 UN peacekeepers whose deployment has been approved will be stationed not along the blockade line, but in rear cities such as Busan, Gunsan, and Ulsan. The intensity of the fighting at the blockade line is causing considerable unrest even among the US forces. Since education about the monsters and retaining are essential to properly maintain the front, Reality Survival Command and the Joint Alteration Operations Group will focus on passing on tactical doctrine. In the meantime, the resulting manpower shortage must be filled by redeploying martial-law forces from rear cities to the blockade line. In that process, whether or not the Koreans cooperate is no longer something up to them.

Then Brigadier General Thatcher glanced at me and added.

Thatcher: Of course, if Mister Baek strongly requests it, the Korean-US Combined Command will guide the process as humanly as possible.

Hearing all of that, I felt the bitterness in my heart, hardened by constant pain and every kind of inferiority complex, soften and loosen.

I’d been looking down on these people as non-wizards all this time, yet they were intellectuals capable of weighing right and wrong like this. Come to think of it. Whether someone could use magic didn’t necessarily guarantee refinement or intelligence.

Just because I wanted to be the only special one, I’d unconsciously started looking down on other people’s intelligence and character as well.

I even found myself reflecting on my earlier attitude of comparing myself to a wolf and refusing to engage in conversation.

Come to think of it, wolves ate food given to them by humans and were eventually domesticated into dogs.

I knew why the American generals were promising me such exceptional treatment, so I decided to skip the formalities and repay the favor.

"You generals are going to such lengths for someone like me, so I’ll do my best to dig through my memories too. You were asking how I came to handle and use Tongue-branch magic, right?”

"Baek Jemin, you little bastard. You seriously don’t have any backbone.”

The pastor scolded me, but I could just laugh it off.

Looking down on hotter people and treating them as worthless wasn’t what you called having backbone.

Now that I had been reborn as Super WHite Jemin, capable of understanding the anxiety of citizens who hadn’t learned magic, simplistic criticism like that no longer worked on me.

Instead, I racked my brain and went over the reasons I’d come to use Tongue-branch magic one by one.

My first encounter with the Teratoma.

It had started when I read what looked like a journal left behind by the survivor group living in that hospital building. I awakened after seeing the Tongue-branch magic symbol, though I handed the journal itself over to the military afterward.

Lieutenant General Royce, who had been quietly listening, didn’t seem satisfied.

With his fountain pen tucked between his fingers, he neatly clasped both hands together and smiled gently as he pointed something out through Captain Kim Howoon.

Royce: According to Miss Go Ryeoha’s report, most people who come into contact with the Tongue-branch without any guidance from the 66 Society awaken the Inverted Alteration-type. That’s because ordinary people associate the tongue much more strongly with tasting. To awaken Upright Alteration-type, one must think more strongly and distinctly of the tongue as something involved in speech rather than something that tastes. But as you know, no hint or record connecting the tongue with vocalization was found in the journal recovered by the military.

Couldn’t that just be thanks to my, Baek Jemin’s, innate intuition and genius mind?

I desperately wanted to think so, but I wasn't strong enough to look away from the cruel truth that I was a dumbass. In the end, only after crossing my arms and groaning while I thought did something vaguely flicker through my mind.

[It appeared that only once one becomes capable not merely of reading Alteration-type magic but also of speaking it aloud can one truly wield magic to its full power.]

Where had I seen that again?

[While the military has secured these symbols known as magic symbols, nothing is yet known regarding coalizing and utilizing them beyond merely reading and understanding them. Tone, pronunciation symbols, and similar elements must be discovered…]

It had been such an important record that I’d even considered tearing it up.

[And considering the side effects that their true effects may bring, it is presumed necessary to modify them into softened pronunciation using other languages.]

Father Jeong Yonghwan.

Looking back, unlike Kang Peter, I’d never heard his baptismal name. Don’t Catholics usually make a point of using their baptismal names? Had his own faith wavered so much that he no longer considered himself worthy of one?

Normally, I would’ve ended it there by mourning a priest who had been shouting for the Lord as an Amalgam devoured him, but connecting it to the clues we’d gathered while digging into the secrets of the 66 Society made the coincidence hard to ignore.

After thinking it over, I decided to tell them.

"I got the clue from the records left by Father Jeong Yonghwan, who was found as a blood web at Suwon Station.”

It felt too suspicious to just brush aside.

What if the insight written in Father Jeong Yonghwan’s records hadn't actually been his? Connecting the idea that the symbols had to be spoken aloud with Tongue-branch magic had been entirely thanks to my own intuition, but without that clue, it honestly would’ve been extremely difficult.

There also was the fact that 6 Dogma-type wizards who had been studying the 66 Scriptures had defected.

Monk Cheonghwi had been a Dogma-type wizard studying the 66 Scriptures too.

Naturally, the American generals couldn’t simply ignore that coincidence either.

Reading too much into coincidence wasn’t right, but when coincidences kept piling up so neatly, it was only human to suspect something.

If anything, the American generals were busy nodding as though they’d expected as much. Brigadier General Thatcher turned back to his laptop and started typing again. The ones making a fuss about this were us Supreme Archmages.

Especially Lee Sejun, who for some reason had recently started throwing himself into magic, glaring at me with blazing eyes.

"Jemin-ssi, what the hell? Why are you hoarding such valuable information and knowledge all to yourself?!”

"One Great Archmage is enough.”

And if I could crush Lee Sejun’s dream while I was at it, I considered that an act of patriotism for the surviving people.

After typing for a while, Brigadier General Thatcher sighed and tugged at his drooping eyelids with his thumb.

Fortunately, Captain Kim Howoon didn’t neglect his interpreting duties, so I understood what he said.

Thatcher: There was a high likelihood that Jeong Yonghwan Marcellino was also approached by the 66 Society. We may not be able to fully map out the Society, but given its involvement in the establishment of the Reality Survival Command and its continued intervention with Dogma-types, its intention to control Dogma-type LISA appears clear.

Royce: Thatcher, do you believe they are wary of deploying materialist Dogma-types in actual combat, as described in Miss Go Ryeoha’s report?

Thatcher: It’s possible. However, even materialism covers a very broad spectrum. I suppose we’ll have to hope that a hard-line materialist who rejects souls, the afterlife, superstitious thinking, and various religious beliefs will willingly walk into the fog-covered Seoul, where monsters walk around everywhere.

Shin Nain clicked his tongue and condemned Father Jeong Yonghwan’s weakness.

"This is why I turned my back on Catholicism. The purity of faith can only be preserved through an exclusivity that refuses to tolerate so much as a speck of heresy or pagan tradition and through absolute conviction in the inerrancy of Scripture. But they've become far too steeped in worldliness. Pandering to people who flip tarot cards, believing things like Four Pillars fortune-telling orface reading, and trying to divine the future… Those who claim to believe in the Lord ought to be ashamed of themselves.”

"Hmph. Shin Nain, it doesn't matter how obedient you are if you get taken in by the Antichrist Pope. His teachings are false. The Lord alone is the only true good in the universe. Baek Jemin, Islam, and Go Ryeoha too. Quit looking down other paths and just come to church.”

With the pastor joining in too, I suddenly felt dizzy.

Go Ryeoha pouted and turned her head away, while Hamza frowned. Even the American generals gave awkward smiles or deliberately looked elsewhere rather than respond. I just ignored them.

Meanwhile, Captain Kim Howoon started pacing around and handing another document to each of us Supreme Archmages.

-Rustle.

A sheet of paper fluttered down onto the file in my hands.

When I looked over what it said, I realized that it was about shamans.

Captain Kim Howoon cleared his throat a few times, then began explaining.

"The person who revealed her identity and joined the fight to stop Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes from moving south was Bosal Cheongsin.”

"Bosal Cheongsin?

I rolled my eyes around, wondering who that was, to which Captain Kim Howoon leaned close to whisper in my ear.

"The lady who looked like a curly-haired ajumma.”

"Ah."

So Poodle-noona was actually called Bosal Cheongsin.

The paper Captain Kim Howoon had just handed out summarized the current state and limitations of Korean shamanism. It began by explaining that Korean shamanism had its own mythological system with ties to theTengribelief of the steppe but had already been heavily influenced by China’sThree Teachings from the Three Kingdoms period onward, particularly Daoism and Buddhism, resulting in extensive Daoist-Buddhist syncretism.

Even so, a distinct culture had survived. Spirit sickness and the role of the shaman that was passed down through it.

"Bosal Cheongsin claims that although Korean shamans refused the mobilization order, they contributed by protecting national treasures from being stolen by the 66 Society. She also says that rallying around the united Buddhist and Daoist communities on Jeju Island and attempting to revive Korean shamanism is the only practical contribution Korea itself can take the lead on right now.”

"And how exactly are they planning to 'revive Korean shamanism’?”

"Maybe something like giving the entire population spirit sickness?”

Hmm.

Is that really something we should be doing?

"The important point is that shamans are the Dogma-type wizards who still know at least something about the now nearly extinct occult systems of the Korean Peninsula and who are religiously free enough to study occult knowledge without restriction. And among the shamans currently cooperating with the military, those who have met Baek Jemin-ssi view him favorably. That is another reason the Marshal wants to back you.”

"Why isn’t Poodle-noona here?”

"Now that we’ve confirmed she had contact with the 66 Society, the military has to be cautious too.”

I did remember Poodle-noona making a big deal about me being Eightfold Yang or whatever.

She’d said I was one of the few guys capable of wielding the Four-Tiger Sword.

"And there’s something all the shamans agree on. Despite Aphorism’s report that the fog benefits wizards, Bosal Cheongsin and the other shamans all say the fog is fundamentally sinister. Considering that the shamans’ Dogma-type ability is Spirit Sight, the military has no choice but to withhold judgment on the fog.”

"Monk Cheonghwi called it the Mist of the Other Shore. Does that mean anything?”

"Yes. Calling it the Mist of the Other Shore made them even more afraid. “Pian”¹ is a Buddhist term meaning ‘the other shore. In Japan, it’s used to refer to the afterlife, while in Buddhism it refers to the place one reaches after attaining liberation and escaping the cycle of reincarnation.”

Captain Kim Howoon looked like he wanted to say more, but Marshal McKinsey cut him off by setting his crumpled cigarette pack down on the table with a thud.

"We'll pick this up at the church later. Back to strategy. It's time to examine what was overlooked in the initial chaos.”

"Yes, sir…”

Captain Kim Howoon nodded awkwardly and returned to interpreting.

Marshal McKinsey looked over to General Royce and then Brigadier General Thatcher, then finally swept his gaze across us Supreme Archmages before wiping the smile from his face.

McKinsey: Something about the early derailments and the mentions of Suwon Station has been bothering me. Some civilians are arguing that the entire crisis is unbelievable because a collision on Seoul Subway Line 1 underground makes no sense. On top of that, there is a Railway Traffic Control Center. The fact that it failed to prevent a following train from crashing means the control center had already stopped completely out of military control at the time.

Royce: I also find it strange that the final battle took place at Yongsan Station and Nambu Terminal. The military had priorities it should have defended. If the Railway Traffic Control Center was neutralized first and Yongsan Station and Nambu Terminal fell last, then circumstantially, someone had set strategic objectives. That isn’t the kind of judgment we would expect from evacuees who should have been panicking and prioritizing escape at the time. Even if the monsters are developing intelligence, it’s difficult to explain this with monsters alone.

Thatcher: There are also signs that the 66 Society is trying to control information inside Seoul and secure a one-sided informational advantage. Given their knowledge and ability regarding magic, operating outside Seoul would be far more advantageous to them, yet they have deliberately restricted their influence to inside the city, obstructed outside reconnaissance, and even attempted strikes against the blockade line. Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes moving south may also have been a form of preventative, preemptive action.

The three American generals went through the parts of the initial chaos that had never been properly investigated one after the other.

And finally.

"...Accordingly, to uncover the truth behind the crisis and bring the 66 Society’s criminal acts before the International Criminal Court, the Korean-US Combined Command will secure the members of the Society, acquire knowledge concerning Localized Invasive Structural Alteration phenomena, and pursue the complete termination of the monster crisis…”

The words I had secretly been waiting for with a pounding heart came through Captain Howoon’s mouth.

"...By actively utilizing the newly established Military-Service Operators, existing civilian Operators, and outside support to conduct sustained, long-term exploration of Seoul.” 

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¹피안 = Pian meaning the other shore as explained.