Chapter 99: Dopamine Detox

[Translator – Aren]

The heat radiating from the barrel faintly reached my fingertips.

If I grabbed it now, my hand would cook on the spot. That was just what sustained fire did. Leaving aside whether a person could withstand the recoil, it ate away at the firearm’s lifespan, so if you wanted to keep using the gun for a long time, it was something best avoided.

Even so, breathing in the distinctive sharp smell of gunpowder tinged with that pungent reek, I switched the selector back to safe.

My custom AR-15 with a low-power light, waterproof components, a red-dot sight, and a shortened barrel had retained its reliability even after the fight with the Human-skin Tapeworm the other day. Reliable enough that Captain Kim Howoon had every right to whine and make a big fuss about how it contributed.

-Haaaah......

I lowered the rifle with a deep sigh, and Instructor Song Smith, who had been watching silently, walked over. He studied the shot group on the target 50 meters away, stroked his chin thoughtfully, then gave my shoulder a couple of taps.

One good thing about Instructor Song Smith teaching me marksmanship was that he didn’t sugarcoat shit.

"Mister Baek. To be frank, you still have a long way to go in terms of your capabilities as a gunfighter. I trust you understand that.”

"Yes. Well, obviously.”

I nodded like it was only natural.

I’d spent plenty of time wondering how to coast through life without working for anything, but I had never once agonized over wanting to become a good shot. Even during reserve training, I had pulled the trigger thinking that if I shot badly, I’d just give up on getting dismissed early.

My old reserve-unit teammates might have found that disappointing and infuriating, but hopefully it had served as another valuable lesson that life was inherently shitty and unfair.

There was no way someone like me would satisfy Instructor Song Smith, a man who made his living through marksmanship.

However, he didn’t only criticize me.

"Still, Mister Baek. You’ve improved a lot in the areas we first tried to correct. Nobody expects you to perform like a top-tier special forces gunfighter anyway. Considering that you are a practitioner of Localized Invasive Structural Alteration phenomena, the fact that you show interest in marksmanship and maintain a tactical mindset actually makes your unusual nature quite clear.”

"Ahem, hm."

Had I inhaled too much gunsmoke?

My throat suddenly felt scratchy, like I had phlegm stuck in it, so I cleared it a few times.

"And naturally, you still fall behind people who have spent their whole lives as gunfighters, but your marksmanship is far superior to that of the average Korean conscript. As you’ve repeatedly fought monsters and hostile survivors, how should I put it…I can see that your instincts and intuition as a fighter have developed. Even this shot group shows it.”

Instructor Song looked at the somewhat broad cluster of holes in the target 50 meters away and added a few more comments.

"The grouping from the first shot through the fifth is extremely tight and fast. Even accounting for the fixed target and short range, that’s not performance you’d normally expect from an average Korean conscript. I’m happy to see your skills improving, Mister Baek.”

"That’s because I’ve been soaking up Instructor Song Smith’s meticulous teaching like a sponge.”

I realized once again just how excellent Instructor Song Smith was as an educator.

To see through to the true worth of Baek Jemin, the man, he really was a talent worthy of being handpicked by Command.

"With your aptitude, Mister Baek, I think you would've made a fine soldier too. Have you considered enlisting?”

I take it back.

I was not so insignificant that I’d fall for some cheap buildup from Instructor Song Smith after Command had clearly put him up to it.

Fortunately, I was no longer the only Supreme Archmage visiting the shooting range.

-Clack.

At the sound of heavy footsteps, Instructor Song Smith and I both turned in that direction. Familiar faces. The Supreme Archmages, having poured MPC into getting their respective equipment inspected and receiving training ammunition, were entering the firing lanes in combat uniforms.

Each of them awkwardly fiddled with the headsets they had been issued.

"Instructor Song. Can I use a machine gun here?”

"I was notified ahead of time, so I’ve got it prepared. Go to Lane 3. Mister…Lee. I’ll supervise you. The rest of you can take any open lane and fire until you’ve formed a shot group on the target.”

Lee Sejun effortlessly lifted the huge, heavy-looking K15 machine gun, checked the ammo box. then followed Instructor Song Smith toward the firing lane.

Meanwhile, I looked around to see what the others were doing. As expected.

"Almighty Lord God, guide my muzzle toward Your enemies. Let the bullets I pour forth become Your righteous wrath, tearing apart the flesh of Satan’s demons…”

ShinNain had his own headset hanging around his neck and was wearing the hearing protection provided by the range.

The noteworthy part was his fashion sense.

It was fine that Shin Nain wore his poncho around to show that he was a Supreme Archmage, but apparently he also felt the need to advertise the fact that he was a fanatic zealot because he had painted red crosses all over his rifle.

Ordinary people would probably just assume some red paint had dripped all over it.

But Lee Sejun wasn’t the only one who had awakened a new branch of magic.

With his own right hand wrapped thickly in bandages, SHin Nain stroked his K2 like a lover and prayed in an ecstatic voice.

"The Lord shall strengthen me. With Your righteous right hand, You shall uphold me.”

"Nain-ssi. That’s not a miracle from the Lord. That’s Alteration-type, Hand-branch, Stage 1 [Blood of the Right Hand] magic.”

While Lee Sjeun had gained Tongue-branch, Stage 1 [Degradation], Shin Nain had gained Hand-branch, Stage 1 [Blood of the Right Hand].

While I was fighting the Human-skin Tapeworm and having my experience points shaved away by the penalty of [Mutation Immunity], these bastards had been throwing an EXP party at the blockade line and unlocking new branches.

It pissed me off so much that I tried to needle him however I could, but Shin Nain slowly opened his eyes at my words and smiled like he had attained nirvana.

"Jemin-ssi, it’s Holy Alteration Battle Arts. And the very fact that the power of the Lord, His righteous right hand, wields absolute force against Satan’s demons is itself proof that He is at work. Blessed are those who believe without seeing, while those who see and still refuse to believe shall fall into Hell on Judgment Day. Jemin-ssi, I pray that you repent before it’s too late.”

"Aren’t we already in hell?”

"An evil spirit has entered your heart, Jemin-ssi. Lord, shine Your light even upon this impoverished soul who sees You and still cannot believe!”

Once Shin Nain raised that mental fortress of his, I realized there was no getting under his skin.

Now that was mental fortitude worthy of an Ears-branch wizard.

An ironclad mind that remained completely unfazed even after hearing Lee Sejun’s TS nonsense, the animalistic cries of monsters, and the screams of their victims.

With no other choice, I stepped away from the firing lane and came face-to-face with the person who looked least suited to a shooting range.

A turban and neatly trimmed mustache.

A familiar face taking short, ragged breaths while gripping a K2 so tightly his hands trembled.

Hamza.

"Hamza. Didn’t you say you were going to hang back in the rear?”

When I asked mischievously, Hamza blinked, then raised the rifle as though hugging it.

-Squeeze—.

Hamza clutched the rifle to his chest and spent a long while catching his breath before finally answering.

"It’s still hard. I’m still scared. It still hurts. And I still want to run away.”

Apparently Hamza was pretty good at objectively assessing himself as well.

He had become a Supreme Archmage while crushed beneath fear and driven forward by it, and by nature he was someone completely unsuited to fighting.

Almost enough to rival me, Baek Jemin, who silently wept inside at the tragedy every time everyone else killed monsters.

And even so, Hamza squeezed his eyes shut and spoke up.

"But I hate the idea of dying without ever even firing a gun even more.”

I had already finished my shooting practice, so there was no reason for me to stay at the range.

I stepped back, took off my headset, checked the condition of my rifle, and watched the other Supreme Archmages receive their shooting instruction. I wanted to see how good they were and publicly roast them if they sucked.

There was nothing to make fun of with Lee Sejun.

With the physical ability of a Heart-branch wizard, he suppressed the recoil to a superhuman degree and kept firing until the machine gun barrel heated up. When I saw the shot group punching into a target 200 meters away in a stream like a laser, even I couldn’t help but click my tongue in amazement.

I could occasionally hear Instructor Song Smith’s excited voice over the gunfire.

"Mister Lee, if Heart-branch magic can control firearms' recoil this dramatically, then your range of weapon choices opens up considerably. If you don’t mind me asking, how many MPC do you currently have…?”

"I got 150 MPC for each mission, so I’ve got around 180 right now.”

"Good. If you’d like, call for me. I’ll accompany you to the military supply store and recommend various pieces of equipment and firearms.”

I found myself impressed as Lee Sejun answered coolly and indifferently, like none of it was a big deal.

From the outside, he really did look like a model soldier who quietly did his job.

Meanwhile, Shin Nain was showing excellent marksmanship in his own lane.

Judging by the way he muttered something every time he fired, he seemed to be rapidly reciting a prayer with each pull of the trigger. He had always fought calmly and steadily using marksmanship alone, so his shot groups formed quickly and consistently.

Only Hamza showed an awkward shouldering stance and trembling hands.

Instructor Song Smith must have realized Hamza was going to be the biggest challenge, because eventually he started giving him one-on-one coaching.

"You're far too tense. Instead of pulling the trigger right away, let's start slowly with raising the rifle and learning how to align the sights.”

"Y-yes…”

Hamza probably never imagined he’d come all the way to Korea and end up holding a gun.

At first, I watched because I wanted to make fun of him, but as I saw Hamza desperately struggling through his clumsy stance, my thoughts gradually changed. He was absolutely hopeless with firearms.

So hopeless that I could practically hear the voice of the endlessly patient Instructor Song Smith growing stiffer in real time.

Naturally, placed under such pressure, he sweated profusely. But even while drowning in embarrassment and defeat, Hamza listened carefully to every word Instructor Song Smith said and followed his instructions as best he could. That attitude was probably why Instructor Song Smith continued taking his time and teaching him so respectfully.

"Mister…”

"K-Kirmani.”

"Mister Kirmani. If you want to improve as a gunfighter, it’s going to take a great deal of effort. But you already possess the most basic understanding that marksmanship shares with martial arts. That it is an extension of self-defense, a means of protecting yourself. Because you have that mindset, I'll do everything I can to teach you. Focus.”

"Ye…yes! Yessir!”

Hamza answered in English heavily colored by Korean pronunciation and faithfully followed Instructor Song Smith’s directions.

Under normal circumstances, this was a weapon Hamza never would have had any reason to hold. And under normal circumstances, this was a skill he never would have needed to learn. Ordinary civilians generally had no reason to learn firearm handling or marksmanship.

But the world had changed beyond any possibility of going back.

Even Hamza was putting in the effort to train with a gun. If you wanted to adapt to this changed world, you at least needed to be capable of picking up a gun and firing it.

At the very least, we Supreme Archmages understood the new rules of this changed world painfully well.

Again and again, we had watched what happened to people who could do nothing but scream and hope soldiers or police would come save them when monsters appeared.

At least we would make the gunshots come before the screams.

Listening to the successive cracks of gunfire, I pulled my smartphone from inside my clothes.

May 11th, 2028, exactly 11:00 AM.

Through that tiny screen, I could understand, if only in fragments, just how brutally the world had changed.

Every foreign news outlet and public internet broadcaster was reporting the same thing.

The times had gotten convenient enough that AI translation could give me subtitles with the general nuance. Even someone as hopeless at English as me could now watch and listen to all the juicy dopamine-packed news from overseas.

[Breaking) US House and Senate designate biological catastrophe on the Korean Peninsula as a wartime situation. Declaration of war passes with majority approval.]

[First deployment of UN forces begins. Final troop commitment estimated at 500 thousand. Largest deployment of the Korean Peninsula since theKorean War, as concern over the biological catastrophe continues to grow.]

[China and Russia issue statement regarding the US military administration in the southern Korean Peninsula: ‘Control is necessary under extreme circumstances, but the exclusion of civilians from political power and the permanent transformation of the Korean Peninsula into a puppet state must be prevented.’ Conflict between the Korea-China Combined Command and Korean-US Combined Command interpreted as a new struggle for hegemony over command of UN peacekeeping forces and influence on the Korean Peninsula…]

The international situation I saw while scrolling down with my thumb was undergoing upheaval after upheaval.

Even foreign civilians were arguing conspiracy theories that the monsters were AI-generated fabrications or groundwork for censorship and control, while idealists left comments insisting that this was a global crisis facing all humanity and that people needed to rise above ideology and national conflict to unite as one.

[US President awards rank of Marshal to Commander McKinsey of the Korean-US Combined Command in Pyeongtaek… War returns after more than 70 years.]

[Return of the rank of Marshal after about 80 years. What does it signify?]

And secular nations weren’t the only ones responding to this unprecedented crisis.

One of the oldest religious organizations in existence, an institution that had endured no small amount of hostility yet had also inadvertently helped preserve the rites and traditions of countless pagan faiths, finally broke its long silence.

[Vatican holds special Mass praying for deliverance from biological catastrophe on the Korean Peninsula. Possibility of College of Cardinals visit raised… Vatican remains silent on potential papal visit to Korea.]

-Click.

I turned off the smartphone and quietly folded my arms, savoring the news.

Hmm. I couldn’t let my dopamine threshold get too high. It was time for a detox from this stimulating news.

-Ratatatata…

As the gunfire from training continued to echo around me, I found myself impressed that I had now attained enough of a Great Archmage’s composure to enjoy the shots like the sound of rainfall.

-Thud, thud, thud.

That was when haggard, hurried footsteps echoed out. By now, I could tell who it was just from the sound. Captain Kim Howoon, who was running himself ragged going back and forth between the Supreme Archmages and Command.

When I opened my eyes, sure enough, there was Captain Kim Howoon, panting heavily.

He braced his hands on his knees, drooling as he struggled for breath, then looked around the firing range, noticed me watching him, and practically staggered over.

"What’s the rush?”

"B-Baek Jemin-ssi. C-Command is calling for you…”

"The US Congress declared war? Marshal McKinsey got promoted? I already know, so quit making such a fuss.”

Having just drenched myself in dopamine, I figured whatever news Captain Kim Howoon had brought couldn’t possibly be that impressive.

Wasn’t this the perfect moment to sit here with my arms folded and demonstrate the composure of Great Archmage Baek Jemin?

Surely there couldn’t be anything left that could squeeze even more dopamine out of me…

"It’s a rebellion.”

There couldn’t possibly…

"What?"

"There’s a rebellion in Seongnam!"

Well, damn.

I unfolded my arms and looked around the firing range.

A hollow laugh escaped me from sheer disbelief, and then I asked again because I genuinely couldn’t believe it.

"What the fuck? Why is there suddenly a rebellion?”

Captain Kim Howoon glanced around, shifting anxiously from foot to foot, then cautiously leaned closer and whispered as quickly and quietly as possible.

"Obviously, the troops on the Seongnam blockade line haven’t actually rebelled.”

So it was just an overreaction after all?

Right. Wasn’t this supposed to be the part where I got information from Anderson-ssi, did this and that, and powered up nice and smoothly?

I had experience and gear to farm. A rebellion suddenly breaking out in Seongnam was obviously complete bullshit…

"It’s the 55 Unit. The 55 Unit is moving south and breaking through the blockade line right now…!”

"..."

..............................

International news? Foreign media? Nothing but small-time shit.

I’d forgotten that I was standing on humanity’s front line. The holy land of dopamine itself.

"Supreme Archmages! Get in the car!”

*t*t*

May 11th, 2028, 11:16 AM.

The place where I, Shin Nain, Lee Sjeun, Hamza, Pastor Park Yohan, and Go Ryeoha had been brought was none other than the Reality Survival Command. After seeing nothing but Major General Jeon Minho of the Joint Alteration Operations Group for a while, it felt strangely nostalgic to meet Lieutenant General Royce Chandler with his kindly eyes again.

But this time, there wasn’t even a moment to exchange greetings.

Korean and American officers alike stood with rigid expressions in front of Lieutenant General Royce, Brigadier General Thatcher, and Major General Jeon Minho, sweating nervously as they focused on the briefing.

The atmosphere was oppressive enough to overwhelm even us Supreme Archmages.

The briefing proceeded with Lieutenant General Royce Chandler speaking in English and Major General Jeon Minho translating for the Korean military, so naturally, the voice I focused on was Major General Jeon’s.

English first, then Korean echoing after it. It made for a strange scene.

But it was enough to understand just how serious the situation was.

Major General Jeon Minho supplemented Lieutenant General Royce’s explanation while pointing to all kinds of photographs and terrain maps attached to a whiteboard with magnets.

"Externally, this is being presented merely as unrest among soldiers in Seongnam whose relief rotation was delayed. But I trust that everyone gathered here, as key members of the Reality Survival Command, understand the gravity of the situation. The 66-Society offensive now underway is believed to have an intensely political and strategic objective, coming immediately after the US Congress designated the current situation as wartime and Commander McKinsey was promoted to Marshal. Beyond the political fallout for the Korean-US Combined Command, if Seongnam is breached, Suwon will be endangered, potentially collapsing supply lines that are already stretched to their limit.  Furthermore, the eastern Gyeonggi blockade line may collapse alongside it. Fog Depth Stage 1 has currently formed throughout northern Seongnam, with adverse conditions reducing visibility to within 200 meters, and combat reports continue to come in.”

The 55 Unit.

Conscripts made up of soldiers from units scattered in Seoul and abandoned deserters, who had been granted survival and magical knowledge in exchange for loyalty to the 66-Society. The explanation was that the fact every last one of them was an Alteration-type, Stage 1 wizard was placing considerable pressure on the blockade line.

But there was another reason the 55 Unit’s movement was especially concerning.

Major General Jeon Minho explained that part clearly, though even he couldn’t completely suppress the faint tremor at the end of his voice.

"Naturally, we have also received sightings and reports of hostile practitioners of Localized Invasive Structural Alteration phenomena at Alteration-type Stage 2 or higher throughout northern Seongnam. And…we have received communications from the individual believed to be leading this offensive.”

Lieutenant General Royce gave him a look, and Brigadier General Thatcher had a staff officer play the recording they had prepared.

For most people there, it would’ve been their first time hearing the voice, and if they had only heard it in passing, they probably wouldn’t have noticed anything.

But the instant the recorded voice played, we Supreme Archmages couldn’t help but frown.

[Three times. I’m telling you for the third time to bring me the decision-makers who ordered the blockade.]

A sharp, rasping voice so thoroughly ruined that trying to distinguish its gender was meaningless.

The hoarse voice scraped unpleasantly against my eardrums as it spoke almost in a whisper.

[You should scream for someone to save you three times too.]

Only then did I understand why the 55 Unit was targeting Seongnam instead of Anyang, which they had already nearly broken through once.

It was someone who had communicated with the military from Seongnam before. And only 5 people had received transmissions sent by the military.

Madam Yongsan Station, suspected of attempting to breach the blockade line by loading Amalgams onto a train bound for Suwon Station.

That Dobong idiot, holed up in Dobong, bawling his eyes out and whining for someone to save him.

Professor Nowon, gathering survivors in Nowon while still sitting on the fence.

Go Ryeoha, the Four-Tiger Sword scammer who joined the Supreme Archmages while still believing the Konkuk University survivors were alive even though they were all dead.

And...

The most dangerous wizard of all, believed to hate the blockade line, the outside world, and the military more than anyone.

"Holy shit."

Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes.¹

_________________________________________________________________________

¹ I previously translated his name as Gangnam Clairvoyant, but changed it to something closer to the Korean name.