Chapter 113: Natural Rights

[Translator – Aren]

People come in all kinds.

In my case, I was the type who remembered everything I still had to do the moment I lay down to sleep. Once I actually fell asleep, I slept like the dead, but getting there took a whole preparation process.

Go to the bathroom, drink some water, fix my position for no reason, stretch my legs out so the blanket wouldn’t wrinkle, carefully trim my fingernails and toenails so they wouldn’t catch on anything…

I’d been too exhausted to do any of that lately, but apparently I’d finally hit my limit.

My heart was pounding so hard I couldn’t keep my eyes closed.

It felt like I’d chugged a ton of caffeine and gotten pointlessly fired up.

The back of my neck was stiff, with a pinching kind of pain.

My body already felt like it had been beaten to a pulp with a laundry bat, and now another layer of pain and excitement settled over it.

-Thump, thump.

The thrill made the corners of my mouth twitch.

I couldn’t help laughing at the fact that I’d filmed the greatest highlight reel of my life today, one good enough to be played at my funeral.

But somehow I still felt empty.

"Shin Nain, how’s your thigh?”

"Haah…I’ve done everything I can. Yellow-Bandage Straggler is dead too, so it should be easier for the soldiers to operate now.”

"Persistent bastards. Hurting people even while running away.”

Listening to the fanatic zealot duo take care of each other beside me only made the strange feeling stronger.

I’d forgotten something.

Something very precious and important…

At that moment, my eyes snapped wide open as I stared up at the clear sky.

-Jump!

The pastor turned toward me when I scrambled to my feet.

"Hm? What is it? Baek Jemin, why’d you suddenly get up?”

"There’s no time to waste."

"...Did more wizards show up?”

I had almost forgotten one of the most important pieces of loot.

My face serious, I looked between Shin Nain and the pastor then nodded.

"I forgot to cut off Yellow-Bandage’s tongue.”

"Ah~. Tsk. The soldiers are coming though. You still want to go?”

"Can’t we just go together?”

I, Baek Jemin.

I had lived my life with nothing to be ashamed of under the vast heavens.

Calling what I’d done misconduct would be excessive. They were nothing more than cute, adorable little indiscretions, so I had every right to hold my head high.

But Shin Nain and the pastor, our fanatic zealot duo, apparently thought differently.

Shin Nain frowned and spoke first.

"Jemin-ssi. Defeating devils and destroying their remains to purify them isn’t a bad thing. And considering how much we've expended, the argument that we should do it under the protection of the soldiers may seem reasonable at first glance.”

From experience, that was the kind of opening people used when they were about to disagree with you indirectly.

"Let’s skip the flowery words and keep it simple.”

"Ordinary soldiers probably won’t get a very good impression from watching you butcher and carve up a person.”

"Hmm."

I opened my mouth to argue, then closed it again.

I fiddled with the chin strap of my gas mask and thought it over. As a man blessed with rich sensitivity and understanding, I found myself reluctantly accepting his point.

"Calling it butchering is a bit much, isn’t it?”

"Then what would you call it?”

"Let’s call it carving. Butchering makes me sound too much like some human slaughterer."

Instead of using a violent, gruesome word like butchering for something done to a person, I proposed a nice bit of linguistic purification with a more fitting expression.

Truly, a beautiful and adorably refined phrase. The pastor was the first to recoil.

"You bastard, are you serious?"

"Since I’m transferring someone’s tongue to a person who needs it more, should we call it redistribution?”

"Fine. Go carve it up and bring it back.”

The moment I had the pastor’s permission, I headed downstairs.

As I descended, soldiers started appearing one by one on the street where we’d been fighting. They weren't special forces. They were troops from the military units that had been holding back the monsters around the Sanseong area.

Their dog-tag armbands, marking them as blockade line troops, jingled as they approached while keeping watch with flamethrowers and shotguns.

[Survivors confirmed. Disarm and wait calmly. Anyone approaching will be shot!]

Judging by the booming announcement over the loudspeaker, they had spotted us.

After coming all the way down the villa’s exterior stairs, I obediently raised both hands and cooperated with the soldiers. Standing stiffly at one side of the road with my arms up in surrender, I found myself on the receiving end of a lot of wary, confused looks.

I could see soldiers creeping toward me while staying carefully behind cover, only the tips of their muzzles peeking out.

Even as they stole glances at the drones scattered all over the ground, they never lowered their weapons from me. One of them took a deep breath.

-Haaaah…

"Y-Your affiliation and name.”

The moment I heard that question, I felt my cheekbones twitch.

The world really was…such a warm and wonderful place, right?

I never dreamed it would set up a surprise event like this for me.

I answered in the deepest, most solemn voice I could manage, worthy of the weight carried by my name.

"Baek Jemin."

"Pardon?"

"I’m Baek Jemin of the Supreme Archmages.”

A silent ripple of agitation passed through the soldiers.

Some slowly lowered their muzzles while their eyes darted around, and the guy holding the flamethrower let his shoulders sag completely. Even the soldier who’d asked the question apparently couldn't believe it, because he asked again.

"I…think I misheard you.”

Aah—.

I love this kind of cliché.

I deliberately moved the arms I still had raised overhead.

I wanted the poncho covered in blood and flesh to flutter.

As someone who understood that presentation mattered just as much as actual ability, I couldn't let the impact of this moment go to waste.

Listen carefully.

Then go brag about it.

You may even pass it down for generations that you once saw the strongest man outside the blockade line in the flesh. The Great Archmage who acquired all five branches postponing the end of humanity!

"Top contributor to this operation. First-rate Civilian Operator. Baek Jemin of the Supreme Archmages.”

"......"

"I understand your confusion.”

My clear and rational mind immediately saw through why they couldn’t start applauding right away.

They had just witnessed a real wizard freely wielding miracles that worthless non-wizards couldn’t even imagine. They couldn’t possibly just accept the appearance of an overwhelming being who completely overturned everything they had ever known.

I just needed to get things started for them.

While the soldiers hesitated, I began clapping first.

-Clap, clap, clap.

Northern Seongnam.

My applause echoed across the silent road where skirmishes had taken place only moments before.

-Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap...

I kept clapping as I looked at the stunned soldiers one by one.

Right now, clapping was more important than the pain wrapped around my entire body.

The Seoul wizards looked down on non-wizards like they wanted them dead, and it was honestly pathetic enough to make me sick. Calling non-wizards useless vermin who only ate up food was an utterly warped sense of superiority.

All humans were completely and perfectly equal.

At least, that was what I, Baek Jemin, believed.

So once I finished clapping, I kindly gave them some advice.

"Next time, clap.”

Non-wizards had the right and the qualifications to praise and applaud the Great Archmage Baek Jemin!

*t*t*

May 13th, 2028, 4:28 PM.

After being transported by helicopter to a military hospital in Seongnam to the rear, us three Supreme Archmages quickly learned how the battle had gone.

Wounded soldiers, soldiers complaining of psychological aftereffects, exhausted nurses letting out heavy sighs, doctors hurrying around with charts in hand, civilians with severe injuries who had barely been allowed transport to the military hospital…

It was because they could hear all the little conversations the people were heaving beyond the hallway.

The fighting centered around the subway lines and Sanseong in northern Seongnam had ended.

It was a heroic victory. We successfully overcame the unprecedented crisis of a possible collapse of the blockade line.

In many ways, the military had come out on top.

From the military's perspective, they could finally breathe easier after Yellow-Bandage Straggler, a Gangnam-group executive who had entrenched himself in an area packed with elementary schools and thoroughly harassed the troops while crushing their morale, was killed along with his bodyguard, Velcro Corporal.

On top of that, the 55-Unit, which was known to consist entirely of wizards, had been routed in this battle. Most importantly, thanks to the special forces’ swift blocking operations and the cooperative attitude of the civilian Operators, they had been able to win with far fewer casualties than originally expected.

...At least that was the version of events that was accepted within the military.

Shin Nain and I had to receive a group of terrifying-looking military policemen while lying in beds inside a VIP hospital room assigned exclusively to us. They were there to deliver a request for cooperation from an officer dispatched directly by the Reality Survival Command.

The officer sent this time had his entire face covered by a balaclava that looked like a sock with holes cut into it.

With sunglasses and a beret on top of that, he looked less like a person and more like a black cotton swab.

Naturally, he had removed his name tag, and I could tell he was deliberately straining his vocal cords, speaking in falsetto.

His insignia was a captain’s, but even that might not have been real.

After strictly restricting access to the hospital room, the black cotton-swab officer spoke only to us.

"Everything up until the drones stopped, along with the various pieces of information gathered by the sniper, has been reported up the chain of command. Major General Jeon Minho is dismissing the simultaneous neutralization of drones in certain areas as communications-system malfunctions caused by rushed field modifications. Meanwhile, Aphorism’s testimony regarding Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes’ Stage 4 magic is being elevated to classified status.”

"Wouldn’t it be better to just make it public?”

I said it without putting much thought into it, wrapped head to toe in bandages, but Shin Nain reacted even more strongly than the black cotton-swab officer.

Shin Nain, whose leg had been suspended in midair with some kind of strap, shot me a contemptuous glare.

"Jemin-ssi. Didn’t you hear it when Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes used his magic?”

"I mean, come on. It’s not exactly the first time non-wizards have been dying.”

With the world like this, it was probably about time we got used to people who weren’t wizards dying off.

If anything, I figured that if people knew what kind of tricks the enemy could pull, they’d be forced into some harsh self-reflection and end up praising and worshiping me even harder.

Then Shin Nain presented an absolutely horrifying possibility.

"Or they could all learn Holy Alteration Battle Arts and willingly join the holy war together. I’d be fine with that, but I doubt that’s the future you want, Jemin-ssi.”

"No!”

I hadn’t considered the worst-case scenario where everyone became a wizard.

I had to be the only special one. I had to be the only amazing one.

I don’t want some future where everyone becomes a wizard!!!

The black cotton-swab officer watched the two of us like we were pathetic, then spoke again.

"The frontline soldiers can’t handle that information. Instead, we plan to issue guidance that equipment failures may occur more frequently than before due to the harsh combat environment, so they should perform maintenance whenever they get the chance. For now, that’s the approach.”

"But if Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes can force death itself…”

Shin Nain’s concern was reasonable.

The guy was originally famous for long-range killings. If he could outright kill someone once he knew enough about them, then he was completely insane. But I saw it a little differently.

"He only kills non-wizards."

He couldn’t kill everyone.

"Jemin-ssi.”

"You know this. Wizards naturally have some resistance to mutation, and the higher their Stage, the less magic affects them. Wouldn’t Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes’ long-range killing work the same way? Isn’t it reasonable to assume he needs a lot more preparation to kill a wizard?”

Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes’ long-range killing seemed to depend on how much was known about the target.

Knowing someone’s face and name alone was enough to satisfy the requirement, but then why did Madam Yongsan Station and other wizard groups still exist?

Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes had been gathering forces to break through the blockade line, and if that was the case, the surest method would have been to bring powerful wizards under him. The possibility that he spared them because they all belonged to the 66-Society sounded plausible enough, but then his attempts to break through the blockade should have been much more aggressive.

If he strengthened Eyes-branch, Stage 1 with Tongue-branch magic, he could send out scouts, pinpoint their locations, and spy on them. Then he could use that to threaten them.

But he hadn’t.

Ordinary people, or rather non-wizards, would’ve been racking their brains over this, but the reason for a Great Archmage picked out one very simple difference.

There was no one in Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes’ group at the same Stage as him.

What if the reason was that the amount of information needed to kill a wizard was different from what he needed for a non-wizard?

What if a non-wizard could be killed just by knowing their face, name, and affiliated organization, but killing a wizard required knowing the most important things as well, like their Stage and the magic they used?

Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes must have examined us with his Thousand-Miles Eyes when he intervened. There was no doubt about it. That was what I would’ve done after all.

And there was only one reason we were still alive and well after killing two of his executives.

The 61 military generals who died were non-wizards.

And we were wizards.

The black cotton-swab officer was the one who reacted to that.

"That’s a very interesting hypothesis, one we can’t afford to ignore…and an unpleasant one.”

It was hard to read his gaze hidden behind those sunglasses.

Instead, he clasped his hands behind his back, paced for a moment, then slowly turned toward us.

"I’ll report it for now.”

With that, the black cotton-swab officer left the hospital room with the military policemen.

Pastor Park Yohan came in to fill the space they left behind.

He looked between us, grumbling.

"They’re too busy throwing their weight around to even commend us for our achievements. Good grief. I couldn’t even ask how our people at Seongnam City Hall are doing. So intimidating.”

"What did the doctor say about us?”

"Baek Jemin, you little punk. Aren’t you worried about the guys at City Hall?”

The ones left at City Hall were Hamza, Go Ryeoha, and Lee Sejun, and I couldn’t think of anything more pointless than worrying about those three.

What mattered more was how badly our human detector Shin Nain and I were hurt.

The pastor let out a long sigh and sat down beside Shin Nain.

"It barely missed Nain’s artery, but it looks like the nail nicked a nerve. We’ll have to watch how it goes. Even if you recover miraculously fast, and even if things get bad enough that they have to deploy you again, 3 days. No matter what happens, you rest for 3 full days.”

Even after hearing something that serious, Shin Nain calmly clasped his hands and prayed.

"The Lord has granted me rest. Amen.”

Now it was time to ask the most important question.

"What about me?”

"Baek Jemin, maybe it’s because you hit Heart-branch, Stage 2, but they say your recovery is unusually fast. Nain might have to prepare for the possibility of limping for the rest of his life, but they said you’ll probably heal up in no time if you just eat, shit, and sleep properly, Just take the antibiotics.”

Hmm~.

This was why I studied magic.

If I were still non-wizard Baek Jemin, I’d probably be heading straight for the crematorium by now.

"Why don’t we have Nain try doping using that Tongue?”

“We transferred that under Mister Anderson’s name for now.”

"Why?!!!”

The moment I couldn’t hold back and shouted, the pastor twisted his face up like some satanic demon and flicked a finger at my forehead.

But Super Baek Jemin, awakened to Heart-branch, Stage 2, decided to enjoy the benefits of my magic without concern.

What was Heart-branch magic? Magic that improves your physical abilities in exchange for just eating proper food!

Normally, even if I saw it coming, I wouldn't have been able to dodge it. But Heart-branch wizards were different.

I dodged the pastor’s forehead flick just by leaning my upper body backward.

"Oho?”

"Pastor, I’m a proper Heart-branch wizard now.”

At that moment, something hard slammed into the back of my head.

Bam!

"Uuwagh!”

"Baek Jemin, you should’ve calculated properly. Instead of putting your head on the pillow, you smacked it into the wall.”

I’d misjudged the distance and ended up with a bump on the back of my head.

Does that make any damn sense?

Goddamn it. The world really had it out for me…

"Command was skeptical about destroying and acquiring remains, but after this incident, they’ve decided to start making serious use of them.”

"They’re not touching our remains, right?”

The pastor bit straight into a pear beside Shin Nain’s hospital bed, skin and all, then spoke while chewing.

"That’s why we transferred the Human-skin Tapeworm you named and Yellow-Bandage’s tongue under Mister Anderson’s name. South Korea is practically under US military rule right now. They call it a request for cooperation, but if they keep pressuring us, we won’t be able to stop them. Putting it under an American’s name is the best shield we’ve got.”

"What if Anderson just gobbles the whole thing up?”

"You've gotten plenty already. Give up one at least. And you think Mister Anderson only looks out for himself? You do realize the reason we’re getting treated this well is because he’s gotten powerful backing in the US, right?”

"Ah, damn it. Finish chewing before you talk. You're spraying juice everywhere."

I grumbled and made a huge fuss of wiping myself off, then frowned.

I couldn’t imagine what other way there was to make use of remains.

When I glanced over, Shin Nain was frowning deeply too. That was when the pastor let out a long sigh and turned the bitten pear around in his hand.

"They’re starting to requisition all the symbolic objects from temples, churches, cathedrals…basically every religious facility in South Korea. They’re also gathering post-consent participants who’ll give consent afterward to be sent into the fog.”

"By ‘post-consent,’ you mean…?”

"If they go in and awaken magic, that counts as consent.”

-Crunch!

The pastor took another bite of the pear.

Neither Shin Nain nor I could bring ourselves to speak right away.

"Lord, protect us through this tribulation. Amen.”

We quietly listened to the pastor’s prayer as he crunched away at the pear.

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