Chapter 141: Seoul Syndrome

[Translator – Aren]

Like everything else, South Korea in 2028 had its good points and its bad points.

The good point was that people no longer wasted time on the internet. Instead, their brains were melting from the daily dopamine rush of badass blockade-line news, making every day nice and exciting.

The days of installing apps, verifying your identity, and putting in effort just to check stock charts were gone. Simply being alive was enough to give you dopamine now. What a healthy society.

The bad point was that despite all these positive changes, regional prejudice was still alive and well.

The growing feud between Seoul and the provinces in 2028 was a prime example of that.

Especially the Seoul people tended to act as if Seoul were the standard for all of South Korea, the absolute baseline, and made a huge fuss whenever someone didn’t know something about the city, like they were looking at an idiot without basic common sense.

Those damn subway lines were the root of the problem.

My old job, before everything went to hell, had been in Gyeonggi Province right on the outskirts of Seoul. I still remembered the misery of swaying around on the bus like a bean sprout because I didn’t live near a subway station.

I spent days browsing real estate listings while dreaming about someday saving enough money to live near a station. Rent in Seoul was still far beyond me, so my modest dream for the future was a place near a station somewhere in Gyeonggi Province.

It was a sad memory, but I think it was the perfect example of that subtle, indescribable sense of deprivation that undeniably existed between Seoul and the provinces.

Apparently, that same kind of distance existed among Muslims too.

Imam Ali Ibrahim, who supposedly led the Muslims of Daegu, was also shaking his head at all the fuss the Muslims who had escaped from Seoul made.

"The reactions of our Muslim brothers who escaped Seoul had been strange from the beginning. We may live in Daegu, but the internet still exists. Whenever we search it up and show them what comes up, they keep insisting it’s wrong, so everyone has started avoiding the subject.”

"Haah~ those Seoul snobs, seriously. Do they get culture shock the second they try living outside the capital or something?”

Still, just in case, I turned on my authorized phone.

It wasn’t just me. Everyone gathered here went through the same process, checking whether their own memories might be wrong. The only exception was Shin Nain, who had been humming hymns, wearing his headphones.

He took them off and hung them around his neck, glanced at me, then gave me a small chuckle.

"People born and raised in Seoul can experience culture shock just from going to Gyeonggi Province.”

"What are you on about?”"

-Taap, tap.

As I tapped the screen and searched for a Seoul subway map, Shin Nain began telling us about his own vivid experience.

"There was a time when I dreamed of meditating somewhere quiet and considered renting a place in Gyeonggi Province. I was heading south anyway, so I looked around Yongin. I went somewhere with relatively few people. But the administrative address ended inri instead ofdong. I had definitely gone to a city, though.”

"So what?”

"The shocking part was that there was no 24/7 food delivery anywhere there.”

"?"

I blinked because I had no idea what he was talking about.

He said he wanted to be somewhere quiet, and then he was shocked there weren’t any places offering 24/7 delivery?

I was from the metropolitan city ofDaejeon myself, but even I had never thought like that bastard Shin Nain.

"On top of that, there were even places where the streetlights weren’t on. I later looked at some rooms to rent with a realtor. Those were really surprising as well. I had wanted a quiet place for meditation, but they were far more remote than I had imagined.”

"I mean, just how quiet were you expecting?”

"There was only one convenience store around, you know? When I asked for a quiet place, I meant somewhere with at least one 24-hourgukbap restaurant nearby, streetlights that stayed on through the night, clean sidewalks with fresh tiles, without a single leaf on them, a maintained park where I could walk around at night, and a subway station within 15 minutes that could take me into Seoul. I also assumed there would be a specialty coffee shop with excellent coffee where I could sit in the afternoon and read Scripture, and an artisan bakery that cared as much about the taste of its bread as I did about the cheap rent.”

"You’ve got to be kidding me, right?”

This fucking asshole.

If you had all that, it wouldn’t be a quiet place anymore. It’d be a bustling neighborhood with damn incredible infrastructure.

He was talking so much shit that I started wondering if Shin Nain was actually trying to piss me off, so I focused on him with Ears-branch, Stage 1 [Mind Reading]. I’d have to put up with all kinds of random noise because of the backlash, but I decided to endure it.

That was when I heard Shin Nain’s thoughts.

'The heretics who have only ever seen Seoul may have suffered psychological shock after seeing the state of Daegu Metropolitan City. Even if it’s a metropolitan city, areas outside Seoul developed somewhat later and clearly have some run-down parts. It’s highly likely that the heretics saw Seoul alone and hastily assumed the entire Republic of Korea was at the same level. Given the inferior cognitive ability of those who don’t attend church, it’s a perfectly plausible hypothesis. Even I, who went in with some degree of preparation and no prejudice against the provinces, was shocked by the reality of the Gyeonggi Province. The shock must have been even greater for the heretics who still held fantasies about the Republic of Korea.’

.........

At the very least I was pretty sure where Shin Nain had been born and raised. I didn’t want to get lumped in with him, so I decided to ignore it. Haah. What a damn lunatic. I should never have read his mind with Ears-branch magic.

What made this bastard Shin Nain even more irritating was that this was the result of his completely serious thinking.

Unable to resist, I subtly glanced at him. Shin Nain had taken out his phone and was tapping away at the screen, genuinely serious as he started trying to convince the pastor with talks about ‘Paris Syndrome’ or whatever.

"It’s a documented phenomenon. A psychological syndrome observed in people who held idealized fantasies about Paris, France, but we can’t completely rule out the possibility of a similar phenomenon occurring with Seoul, South Korea.”

"Shin Nain. Normally I’d stick up for a fellow believer, but you’re definitely getting hit later.”

Apparently even the pastor had decided to pull up his barricades.

Anyway, now that the specialist assigned to Shin Nain had stepped in, that problem was handled. Instead, after tapping around on my screen, I found a complete map of the Seoul subway system. Even with Seoul crushed and turned into a living hell, the records were still perfectly intact.

Yongsan Station.

A transfer station between Lines 1 and 3.

See?

"Those guys who supposedly escaped Seoul weren’t already Amalgams, right?”

"No. We had those shamans over there confirm that they were human before taking them in.”

Imam Ali pointed toward Poodle-noona and the Pyeongtaek shaman as he spoke. Judging by his expression, with his type of sensibilities, the fact that he’d needed help from shamans clearly didn’t seem to sit well with him.

Still, if Imam Ali was right, then at least those Muslims who escaped Seoul really were human.

Even that vicious Human-Skin Tapeworm had reacted, albeit briefly, to [Spirit Sight], the shamans’ Dogma-type magic. If they’d looked at one of those things with [Spirit Sight], it would’ve immediately failed to hide its hostility and attacked.

The others in the room reacted about the same.

"Yongsan Station is Line 3. That’s right.”

"The electronics market may have fallen behind the times, but it’s located in the heart of Gangbuk. Anyone from Seoul would know that Lines 1 and 3 pass through Yongsan Station.”

"Shin Nain, come here for a second.”

The pastor kept flipping through pages, wearing his glasses, while ShiN nain put his headset back on with a triumphant smile.

"Still, those Allah-believing folks seemed to know something. Our patron spirits told us not to go underground if we could help it, so we didn’t.”

"Geulmun went anyway. Tsk. That man’s fate was doomed from the moment he took on some female ancestral spirit telling him to go around calling himself Bosal. Nothing good ever comes of going somewhere you were told not to just because you want to save people.”

"Hmm~ Father Kang Peter did tell me to avoid using the subway tracks.”

The Pyeongtaek shaman waving her hands and making a fuss, Poodle-noona lamenting Bosal Geulmun, who had died just like that together with Father Jeong Yonghwan, and Go Ryeoha looking pretty confused, as though she felt like she couldn’t trust her own memories anymore.

"How strange. Command also has a report saying that some civilians insisted the Suwon Station collision couldn’t have happened at an underground platform. It seems insignificant, but it sure is peculiar. I think it’s worth investigating.”

"If Kang Peter, who abandoned his priestly duties, made a point of mentioning the subway specifically, then there must clearly be some serious danger involved.”

"Sometimes a question worth contemplating lies hidden in scenery we casually pass by. As long as we do not forget it, perhaps one day we will understand."

Anderson-ssi’s eyes sparkled with curiosity as he gave a thumbs up, Father Kim Daeung Paul narrowed his eyes and concentrated the instant Kang Peter was mentioned, and Monk Wonhaeng calmly nodded his head.

For now, one thing was certain. Everyone was on the same page.

Only then did Imam Ali pick up the bag he had set beside his chair, unzip it, and pull out a sheet covered in writing.

"So, just in case, I requested the testimony and records of people who found the underground collision at Suwon Station strange, and Command provided them.”

What was supposed to be strange about it?

I wasn’t particularly interested, but whatever. The American generals had flagged it as an anomaly as well, so I figured I might as well take a look. They were even neatly organized into Case A, B, and C, so going through them wasn’t difficult.

Case A. Identity Unknown.

Resident of Suwon. Arrested by military authorities after strongly doubting the incident, saying it’s either AI-generated fabrication or a staged pretext for a military coup when Amalgams spilled onto the surface following the underground collision at Suwon Station.

[What the hell are you talking about? Why would a Line 1 train that left Yongsan collide at an underground platform? Are you people insane?]

Displayed Cognitive Dissonance and continued denying of reality despite being shown actual evidence, taken to the site, and receiving psychological counseling.

Case B. Drone operator who attempted to block the track of the following train at Hwaseo Station.

While piloting a drone to destroy the following train that had departed from Yongsan, claimed that the live video feed differed from the operation orders. Presumed to have suffered temporary transmission interference caused by the fog and PTSD stemming from the soldier’s extreme guilt.

[The Line 1 train going from Hwaseo Station to Suwon Station was above ground. It wasn’t an underground station… I was looking at the surface. I really was…]

Special note: Server errors in GPS navigation were confirmed at the time. Temporary reductions in the accuracy of guided weapons were also reported.

Case C. Married couple in their 40s.

Discovered during the blockade and quarantine of the Suin-Budang Line tracks. A soft-hearted soldier ordered them to turn back, and they complied and left. Their identities couldn’t be secured later. Reliability is low because the record depends entirely on the soldier’s memory.

[Soldier: Sir, ma’am, I’m sorry. If you come any further, I have to shoot. Please turn back.]

[Man: Please, somehow… at least my wife...]

[Soldier: No. I’m not even supposed to be talking to you like this right now. I really do have to shoot if you don’t comply. If this gets reported, we’re all dead.]

[Woman: Young man, just tell us. Where are we right now? Just…where are we?]

[Soldier: You’re at the Suin-Bundang Line blockade. I’m sorry. Please turn back.]

Special Note: Upon hearing the answer, they reportedly fled without any further hesitation.

After reading all three cases, only one thought came to my mind.

"Are these people reading from the same script or something?"

Case C was practically a fabrication.

My first reasonable suspicion was that the soldier who’d failed at his checkpoint duty had invented the while thing to cover his ass. A was about to get punished, so he was just spouting whatever bullshit came to mind. And B screwed up the controls, failed to stop the train, everyone died because of it, and he lost his mind.

I do feel a little bad for B, though.

Still, since they were all saying similar things, it looked like South Korea had developed some new conspiracy theory centered on Seoul’s subway map, like the old conspiracy theories people used to share in the past.

The pastor didn’t know what was strange either, so he just rolled his eyes around before clicking his tongue and asking Imam Ali.

"Isn’t there at least some common factor? Even if we can’t learn anything about the couple from Case C who disappeared, we need some clue that ties them together.”

I never knew our Pastor Park Yohan was such a socially capable person.

Just as I was about to look at him with admiration, someone unusually conspicuous at the end of my vision drew my attention.

It was Shin Nain, standing beside the pastor with his arms crossed, wearing a sullen expression clearly showing his displeasure.

Only then did I immediately understand what was going on.

Ah. Shin Nain, the Seoul-elite bastard who looks down on the provinces, must have been giving everyone so much shit that the pastor was reading the room for him.

Who knew regional prejudice could have a positive side I’d never even imagined? Once again, I was reminded that everything in the world had both good and bad points.

Meanwhile, Imam Ali groaned softly and shook his head.

"Well, Command’s conclusion was that it was difficult to find any shared characteristics. Their genders were different, their places of residence were different, and even their religions were different. There was one thing, but it didn’t seem strong enough to count as a major factor.”

"Please tell us anyway."

Amid Pastor Park’s unusual politeness and Shin Nain’s visibly sulky irritation, Imam Ali told us that one thing they had in common.

"They had all stayed in Seoul before January 6th. That’s about it. But as you know, this country has 10 million people in Seoul alone. It’s probably rare to find someone who had never visited Seoul before January."

"Hmm."

"Is there anyone who’s never been to Seoul?”

Thankfully, I could now proudly talk about my own experience of living in Seoul.

Seoul.

I lived there for about 2 weeks, and true to its murderous prices, it was damn brutal to survive there.

A nasty place where even sleeping through the night was hard without a gun.

There’s an old saying that if you close your eyes in Seoul, someone will cut off your nose. By 2028, they’d apparently upgraded to taking your whole face, though.

Even the pastor frowned hard when he realized their only clue was basically a garbage stock on the verge of being delisted.

"That’s not much of a clue.”

"Haah… Anyway, that’s about it.”

Imam Ali seemed to have suffered a lot of stress because of the Muslims who escaped from Seoul as well.

The snobbishness of Seoul people had definitely gotten worse in 2028.

Damn, they’d gone beyond looking down on you for not knowing the subway map. Now they were outright insisting that things you could find with a simple search were wrong?

The contempt had seriously gone too far.

Still, it was enough just to know that this kind of conspiracy theory existed.

Even Go Ryeoha, a former Seoul wizard with deep ties to the 66 Society, had nothing more she could reveal here.

All she had were a few trivial stories and the contents of reports already submitted to Command.

"He didn't really tell me anything beyond this. Father Kang Peter said I didn’t have the authority yet. The Gangnam guy probably knew much more, but as you know, the Society was extremely closed-off and had very high standards.”

Was it finally time for the Baek Jemin method of conversation to shine?

If I cut away the fluff, sliced off the details, and extracted only the concentrated essence of what Go Ryeoha said, it came down to this.

The 66 Society had given Go Ryeoha a great deal of help from the very beginning.

Of course, calling it “Society” made it sound grander than it really was. In reality, it had just been Father Kang Peter.

When Father Kang Peter learned that Go Ryeoha, one of Konkuk University’s survivors, wanted to help civilians who had failed to learn magic, he took her on as his disciple, taught her all sorts of things, and spared no effort to help her.

In the process, evil wizards who inevitably looked down on civilians unable to learn magic began appearing even among the Konkuk survivors, and Go Ryeoha supposedly bravely stepped forward to protect them.

Since there wasn’t enough time or resources to reform those wicked people, things inevitably ended with her punching holes through them and taking their remains.

Apparently, Father Kang Peter had been extremely pleased with Go Ryeoha for that and watched her with a satisfied smile.

"He really cared about people. I’m sure of that! He taught not just me but other people too. He talked about sacrifice and service, saying those who awakened first had to actively help the people who hadn’t been able to step forward yet.”

Poodle-noona, and the Pyeongtaek shaman, on the other hand, listened with pitying eyes and expressions like they’d bitten their tongues.

I felt the same way.

Kang Peter.

What a vicious, depraved bastard.

Poodle-noona, the Pyeongtaek shaman, and I…

The three of us united our voices to condemn Kang Peter’s terrible actions.

"He made it sound nice, but he dumped all that killing karma on you.”

"Unni, don’t you think he did it because he wanted to funnel all that Alteration-whatever magic into her?”

"How could he just hand out the great power of magic like that…”

?

The two shamans and I met each other’s eyes.

"Eightfold Yang, what did you just say?”

"Oh my. Unni, look at this kid.”

"No, I mean, if he stuffed all that magic into her, doesn’t that mean he actually cared about her?”

Kang Peter, you vicious bastard.

Why the hell did you leave me alone and hide away at Konkuk University, choosing Go Ryeoha of all people, the woman who turns vicious for days just because she used Tonge-branch magic for a bit? He even went so far as to cultivate wizards specifically for her so she could collect their remains?

Despite possessing such outstanding qualities as an educator, choosing to become Go Ryeoha’s teacher instead of mine was an unforgivable mortal sin.

Grave enough to deserve the death penalty.

And not some ordinary death penalty. This warranted a brutal, bloody execution.

The one part of Go Ryeoha’s story that put me in a good mood was the possibility that the 66 Society possessed some kind of ritual capable of guaranteeing a wizard’s awakening. Actually that only pissed me off even more. Someone like me, a talent who was already fully prepared, hadn't been chosen simply because I lived in the Gyeonggi Province.

"66 Society. Even these bastards discriminate between Seoul and the provinces!”

The pastor grimaced at my anguished lament mixed with resentment.

"What, then? You’re saying it would’ve been better if fog started pouring out when your parents live in Daejeon, along with the 66 Society and monsters?”

"Of course not. My parents would be in danger.”

I immediately turned serious at the pastor’s sudden low blow involving my parents.

What kind of lunatic would put their parents in danger just to learn magic?

That’d be insane.

Still, imagining them happily enjoying themselves in some Korean neighborhood in America made me feel warm inside.

-Clap.

That was when I heard someone clap.

"With that, we’ve been able to share some important information. Now it’s time to try something else with everyone gathered here. Mister Baek, are you ready?”

"For what?”

Could it be that today’s gathering was actually a ceremony devoted to praising the Great Archmage Baek Jemin?

A sacred sense of duty instantly surged through me. I straightened my posture and prepared to rise from my seat.

So this was the beginning of a historic ceremony honoring Baek Jemin, the man with immunity on the Korean Peninsula, holder of a license to kill, star of the military recruitment campaign, and hero born from the hopes of the Korean people.

Ahem.

I even cleared my throat, composed my expression, and nodded solemnly.

"I’m ready."

"Good. Then, at Pastor Yoahn’s request, we’ll proceed with testing how the effects and side effects of the new Alteration-type magic Mister Baek has acquired can be adjusted.”

Ah.