Chapter 133: Supreme Archmage Time

[Translator – Aren]

Anyone would be shocked to see a 10-story hospital stop halfway through collapsing and floating in midair instead.

Even more so if one person had caused it.

I couldn’t hide the satisfied smile on my face as I looked up at the miracle I’d obtained by sacrificing my right eye. At least, I wouldn’t have if someone beside me hadn’t suddenly collapsed, gasping for breath.

-Splat.

Turning my head at the loud noise, I saw Go Ryeoha sprawled on the ground, coughing up blood. With her gas mask off, her mouth opened and closed as she spat out blood in tiny waves. It seemed like about 38% of it was saliva, though.

It looked like she was suffering the backlash from Tongue-branch magic.

Tongue-branch magic…

Tongue-branch magic?

Only then did the stinging burn at the root of my tongue return. The pain I’d been ignoring while drowning in adrenaline and dopamine came rushing back, with tears streaming down my face. I squeezed my one remaining left eye shut and started bawling.

"Ahuuaah, ahuua. Waah."

Shit, this hurt like hell.

Pastor Park Yohan, a cold-hearted macho man merciless toward his fellow men, didn’t even try to sympathize with my pain. He just glared at me through his gas mask lenses.

"This bastard loses an eye and sits there grinning, and now you’re suddenly like this? More importantly, Ryeoha-ssi! Ryeoha-ssi, are you okay?”

He even threw his gun aside and rushed over in a fluster to take care of Go Ryeoha.

That damn fanatic zealot pastor.

Anyone could see I was the more serious patient, yet the sight of him making such a fuss just because Go Ryeoha collapsed made anger boil up inside of me.

My tears dried up instantly from the sheer annoyance I felt.

That was when Lee Sejun quietly approached and tried to bond with me.

"See, Jemin-ssi? I’m telling you, the pastor dotes on Ryeoha-ssi like crazy just because she’s a girl.”

"Don’t try to bond with me. It’s unpleasant.”

No matter how much of a mongrel or maggot the human Baek Jemin might be, I still had standards.

I was merely a little ambitious when it came to my dreams. There was no way I could find common ground with a degenerate like Lee Sejun, whose head was filled with nothing but finding ways to coast through life without doing anything.

Thanks to the pastor acting all worried over Go Ryeoha like she was his own daughter, though, I managed to overhear some important information.

"Uh…Uuh…”

"Is it your tongue? Does your tongue hurt?”

"Aaaang……”

She started bawling in a nasal, whiny tone.

The instant I heard her crying, I desperately had to draw out all the resentment I could to keep my anger from melting away.

Go Ryeoha.

Have you really coasted through life like this?

Is being pretty, having a nice voice, being slim, and being smart all it takes?

I scraped together every bit of hatred scattered in my heart with a rake, but I, Baek Jemin, man among men, was tragically forced to face the cruel and miserable reality.

Fuck.

I did think being pretty, having a nice voice, being slim, and being smart actually was all it took…

"Jemin-ssi. Magic. Think about magic.”

"Lee Sejun. What the hell are you on about?”

"Even without Ears-branch magic, I can tell exactly what you’re thinking just from watching your expression melting like that, Jemin-ssi!”

Right. Magic.

The reason of Baek Jemin, the Great Archmage chasing his dream, could suppress his horny reproductive instincts in an instant.

And the moment I did, it became obvious what Go Ryeoha’s symptoms meant.

The backlash from Tongue-branch magic.

Didn’t the penalty of using Tongue-branch magic include blood bursting out from inside your mouth and slurred speech?

If it were Inverted Tongue-branch magic, it would’ve been completely useless in a fight against Father Kang Peter, so given the circumstances, it was most likely Upright Alteration-type Tongue-branch magic.

The way she was crying her eyes out because she couldn’t endure the pain even looked similar to how Lee Sejun reacted.

Pain was indeed part of Tongue-branch magic’s backlash.

Backlash…Pain?

The moment I thought about the backlash, the pain in my own tongue came rushing back in as well, and before I knew it, I was bawling right alongside her.

"Ahiha, oha, aha. Waaah.”

"Jemin-ssi, seriously, why do you turn into such an idiot the second a fight ends?!”

This bastard Lee Sejun had thrown a damn fit the moment he went through this pain once, and now he was giving me shit for crying so sweetly?

If spilling some tears, snot, drool, and piss was enough to endure this much pain, wasn't that actually quite impressive? Did he still not realize this was the kind of power that could kill you from shock if you weren’t careful?

I hurled every curse I could think of at him in my head.

Not that Le Sejun could hear any of it, since he wasn’t an Ears-branch wizard.

At least him making such a fuss managed to get the pastor to focus back on me.

"Baek Jemin, now that I think about it, what about the magic? Did you figure out how Thousand-Miles Eyes killed people?”

"Wait a second…”

It definitely was an effective change of topic.

Because the adrenaline and dopamine from investigating magic made me forget the pain. Not that it was gone. It was closer to being momentarily numbed. My body was screaming, but my mind was filled to the brim with so much joy that I couldn’t feel it.

Thanks to that, I regained my composure and desperately retraced the knowledge I’d gained.

I’d destroyed the remains and definitely absorbed them.

Although I lost some experience points after [Mutation Immunity] activated, farming the Tongue-branch, Stage 3 remains still had been enough to make me level up. Maybe because it was a hallucination indirectly caused by memory, or rather a hallucination indirectly caused by remains, there’d been something like a double filter at work, reducing how many experience points I actually lost.

The question was whether I’d managed to pull any knowledge out of it.

The lingering image of that thing drenched in blood was still faintly burned into my mind, and the sight of the candles going out remained so vivid that it was hard to recall anything else.

If Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes had deliberately set this up, then he was one hell of a nasty bastard.

But he’d seriously picked the wrong person to mess with.

I was a man whose life was magic.

I gritted my teeth and combed through the restroom hallucination.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t even tell whether the hallucination had been a memory belonging to Thousand-Miles Eyes, his inner world, or simply some maliciously fabricated nightmare.

Candles going out one after another, and blood running through the cracks between the restroom tiles.

The gaze of that grotesque thing painted with blood from dozens of corpses.

The illusion of the rest room buried beneath piles of corpses alternated with the asphalt road. At some point, Lee Sejun, trying to stop me, and the pastor, shouting at me, faded away, until only the words Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes had cried out remained.

Jemin-ssi… Baek Jemin… Waaah…

We have to save them, they’re still trapped, recovering the nuclear warhead takes priority, is that thing really human, he’s on our side, Hyeokwoo, you took my money and now you’re actually dying on me, Lord please save us, how many died, kill all these fucking bastards, God, I really hate being alive…

Countless voices overlapped, then scattered away.

The moment the rest disappeared, only Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes’ voice remained.

-Miracle.

I had to remember.

The magic. The knowledge I stole.

-The three-thousand worlds, all creation.

Countless worlds flashed past my vision one after another.

Through a pool of rotting blood gathered on the restroom's tiled floor, I saw a city. I saw families walking hand in hand. I saw old people sitting on benches beneath roadside trees, sighing as they cooled themselves with small electric fans.

-Extinguishing the sun of countless eons.

Stars vanished into the darkness of space.

As the stars that adorned the universe went out one by one, an enormous shadow approached from beyond.

My vision flashed and showed me another hallucination.

A candle flame flickering precariously.

Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes rubbing his hands together to snuff out a match.

-Burning immeasurable numbers of people to death.

Some spoke of their families, some of the world, some of humanity.

The dead were whispering through Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes’ mouth.

-If even a single handful can be saved, that’s a miracle.

Humans worshipped disasters and calamities they could not resist as gods.

They developed sacrifices and rituals to appease evil gods and spirits. That was how the cruel, capricious beings of history and folklore, who regarded humans as insignificant, came into being. Humanity personified overwhelming beings it could never dare resist as gods.

-If death will let you escape, then die. Beg for death and pray that your eyes never open again.

The heavens twisted.

The celestial bodies fell silent.

The constellations into which humanity had inscribed its fate disappeared one by one.

-Curse the fact that you ever lived and breathed. The one who brought you into this world is your enemy.

Romance faded, dreams grew hazy, and only regret and resentment remained.

Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes.

The man in a coat, wearing a baseball cap and gas mask, looked toward me before calmly removing the mask and revealing his face. Something I couldn’t tell was an illusion, a memory, or an actual soul was staring at me.

-Weep over the fact that no one ever judged us.

Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes’ face had originally been perfectly normal.

It was the kind of handsome, clean-cut face you’d expect to see on some government office website, neatly dressed and wearing a gentle smile as he kindly dealt with citizens.

He had the upright impression of someone who’d grown up without any major hardships, listened well to his parents, learned right from wrong, lacked for nothing, developed a strong sense of justice, and never engaged in any kind of rebellious acts.

That face began to warp and crumple beneath burns.

There were no flames, yet the illusion of Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes burned once again.

As the illusion burned away and vanished, the knowledge trapped beyond it began flowing again. Some might call it blasphemous and irreverent knowledge, but I called it grains of gold.

The rushing stream, the waterfall of knowledge, washed the filthy restroom clean.

I readied myself to willingly leap into the incoming tidal wave. I reached out, ready to salvage even just a handful of knowledge Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes’ little trick had kept from me.

-If only we had been sinners instead.

The world had always been miserable.

-If there had been something I'd done wrong.

The belief that good deeds will always be rewarded…

-...Why is the desire to live so…

…is nothing more than one of the most beautiful dreams humans can dream.

-Crunch!

I grabbed something in the water.

At that moment, the hallucination completely vanished.

In its place came a flood of knowledge. Precious, priceless knowledge.

For the first time, I’d destroyed the remains of someone from the 66 Society and stolen their knowledge.

Desperate not to miss even a single thing, I watched, memorized, listened, and felt it all.

The 66 Society.

66 for 7. 55 for 66. Humanity for 55.

The passphrases used by those from outside and those from within were different. Outsiders were only allowed to memorize the slogan with everything replaced by numbers and weren’t treated as insiders until they could decipher the true meaning behind these phrases for themselves.

5 represented the Five Aggregates, the Five senses, and the Five elements of humanity. That meant completing Alteration-type magic in order to prove one’s humanity was their highest priority.

Alteration-type magic was considered the most important, while Dogma-type magic was treated as secondary.

Incantation-type magic was the mainstream, while Ritual-type magic was dangerous but tolerated out of necessity.

If you didn’t understand the theme behind Alteration-type magic, you were only considered half a wizard.

Whether through study or intuition, those who grasped the meaning behind each magic’s theme and backlash showed talent as wizards. Those who failed to understand it showed poor aptitude for magic.

The theme of Upright Alteration-type magic was humanity and civilization. The preservation ofHomeostasis.

Those who sought to impose their will upon the world had to accept the risk of having their will broken by the world.

The theme of Inverted Alteration-type magic was beasts and savagery. The pursuit of absoluteness.

Those who sought to entrust themselves to the world had to accept the risk of losing themselves completely to it.

Even within the Society, there were ideological conflicts over how Alteration-type magic should ultimately be perfected, collectively referred to as [Methodology].

The truth behind what had just happened was that those factions had paired off and clashed a lot.

The faction Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes belonged to was [EschatologicalRevelation].

They would announce that the end was approaching human society as a whole, trigger a massive restructuring into a wizard-centered society, thoroughly weed out non-wizards, and cultivate more wizards…

That was as far as it went.

I couldn’t uncover anything more about the 66 Society.

Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes simply hadn’t known anything beyond that.

Instead, I managed to read the knowledge concerning Tongue-branch magic.

Upright Tongue-branch, Stage 3 [Information Alteration], had been Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes’ signature killing technique.

[Information Alteration] demanded tremendous concentration, but in exchange, it exerted nearly absolute power over objects and the internal organs of humans with low magic resistance.

For example, if you saw someone you wanted to kill and could use Eyes-branch magic to see through to the inside of their body, you could use [Information Alteration] to alter their internal organs.

You could make the bladder backflow so uric acid circulated through the blood and tore through the blood vessels, killing them. You could stop thealveolifrom expanding so they couldn't breath. You could make the tongue completely block the airway and suffocate them. Or you could completely disable the immune system so that even a minor infection killed them through sepsis. 

But unlike Hands-branch, Stage 2 [Enchant], it couldn’t be used in all sorts of different ways, and its effects lasted only an instant. Besides, that wasn’t its original purpose.

The original purpose of [Information Alteration] was self-hypnosis or self-brainwashing.

You could manipulate your own memories or beliefs to obtain Dogma-type magic or make trauma as though it had never existed. The price was depersonalization. Your own body would stop feeling like it belonged to you.

As a result, all of the magic becomes weaker overall.

When the price you pay becomes weaker, the magic grows weaker too.

Magic was fair like that.

The torrent of knowledge that had swept through and rinsed out my head left me able to look around with a much clearer mind. That was when I saw Lee Sejun and the pastor making a huge fuss.

"Jemin-ssi, did you figure something out?”

"Baek Jemin, did you fall victim to some strange sorcery? You’ve been muttering something under your breath the whole time. More importantly, let’s get Ryeoha-ssi out of here! This is going to get serious!"

This damn fanatic zealot…

Seeing him fuss like that over a little blood coming from a girl’s tongue while there was a one-eyed man standing right here killed whatever affection I had left for him.

But instead of scolding or reprimanding him, I calmly held out my palm and waved it from side to side.

"Nah. Leave Go Ryeoha-ssi to Lee Sejun-ssi, the other member of the Siblings.”

"Jemin-ssi. A man has to step up at times like this if he wants to score points. Where did the man who wanted to flirt with Go Ryeoha-ssi until just a moment ago go?!”

Lee Sejun tried to stop me, practically spitting fire, but this time I had an answer.

I folded down the palm I’d been waving, left only my thumb raised, and pointed it over my shoulder.

At the still-floating collapsing hospital.

"I, Baek Jemin, the man, am currently holding that building up until the soldiers who nearly got buried underneath it without even leaving recoverable bodies can get out.”

"......"

"I’ll specially permit you a reverse charge, Supreme Archmage. And have Hamza inspect Thousand-Miles Eyes’ remains before you do anything with them.”

-Whoosh!

I tossed him the body parts I’d harvested, and Lee Sejun reflexively caught them.

The pastor’s expression turned complicated as well. Apparently he’d just remembered that while he’d been busy tending to Go Ryeoha as she went from bawling to sniffing, he’d completely forgotten about the soldiers fighting for their lives. In the end, the pastor let out a short sigh and handed Go Ryeoha over to Lee Sejun.

"Sejun. You take Ryeoha-ssi.”

"Wouldn’t it make more sense for me to go and you to take care of her, Pastor?”

"How cheated would those dying soldiers feel if the last person they saw was you and they didn’t even get a chance to pray?”

The demon Lee Sejun grumbled, but when it came down to it, he still took good care of his fellow Sibling.

Lee Sejun looked down at Go Ryeoha with a twisted expression, then let out a deep sigh and rummaged around until he pulled out some candy and a cranberry-flavored energy bar to cheer her up.

"Ryeoha-ssi, I broughtChupa Chups."

"Sejun-ssiiii…Where did you get candy?”

"I was planning to hand them out to people when I got all soft and fluffy, so they’d be prompted to give them back to me as presents.”

Was I experiencing the backlash of Ears-branch magic right now?

This was why you shouldn’t learn these kinds of messed-up things. I titled my head and looked over, only to see the pastor’s face had twisted up as well. He’d even pulled off his gas mask and was sighing heavily.

"That bastard’s got Satan in his head. He really needs to come to church.”

"Pastor, you can save Sejun’s life later. Get the dying people out first.”

"What are you going to do, Baek Jemin?”

"Count down those 10 minutes.”

The pastor let out a quiet “Amen” and joined the line of soldiers heading back into the building.

Lee Sejun kept comforting Go Ryeoha, then glanced back at me, nodded with a complicated expression, and headed toward the evacuation vehicles.

Left alone, I stood with my back to the collapsing hospital, my poncho fluttering as I stroked the eyelid covering my right eye.

I hadn’t told everyone to clear out for nothing.

Now that things had turned out this way, every soldier and rescue worker gathered at the scene naturally had no choice but to focus their attention on me.

Even I was getting drunk on myself.

The one man holding back the complete collapse of a 10-story hospital.

Standing with his back to it like a fucking badass, using some awesome magic to seal the crumbling building and buy time until everyone could be rescued.

Living proof of human triumph, refusing to break and standing firm despite being covered in blood and losing one eye!

And soon, this awesome spotlight began to shine on me.

Soldiers began emerging one after another on stretchers, muffled groans pouring from their lips. Others were supported by medics or fellow soldiers, dragging their legs behind them as they broke into tears.

Emergency treatment was fast and forceful.

-Thump!

Administration of CPR accompanied by the sound of cracking ribs was a given.

A soldier bleeding badly was lowered onto the ground, flailing and gasping for breath, and medics came scrambling out of an evacuation vehicle.

"Why’d you stop halfway?!”

"We couldn't get the bleeding under control!”

"Ugh, hgh. Mom, Mom…”

"Hey, don’t close your eyes. Focus on my voice. You can’t pass out yet.”

"Mooooom.”

The moment their gas masks and CBRN protective suits were stripped off, what emerged were kids who looked like they’d barely graduated high school.

They pat out blood and saliva down their stained faces and sobbed like the world was ending. One arm hung limp, apparently shot during the fight. He seemed to realize he’d lost the use of part of his body and cried his heart out.

But the ones who’d at least kept their lives were better off.

Not long after the wounded began coming out, soldiers appeared carrying limp comrades on their backs, their faces somber. Their dog tags jingled as they carried comrades who couldn’t even manage a breath mixed with a groan.

That was when someone approached me.

The soldier was thoroughly concealed beneath a gas mask, helmet, and CBRN protective gear, even his rank insignia and name tag were covered. I could only barely guess from the way he spoke that he was an officer. Even the lenses of his gas mask were darkened like sunglasses as he cautiously addressed me.

-Huuuff—.

I could hear his breathing tremble with tension.

"Baek Jemin-ssi of Aphorism.”

The unidentifiable officer carefully stated his purpose.

"10 minutes have passed."

Hearing that, I glanced back over my shoulder.

The collapsing hospital was still floating in midair. Beneath it were still soldiers who had nearly been buried, yet to reach the rescue teams rushing toward them, preparing to meet their end beneath the rubble.

At that moment, I stroked my right eye.

Half the world I’d lost.

When I considered the weight of that sacrifice, I could guess just how powerful my magic had to be.

"Looks like you timed it wrong.”

"Yes?"

I turned my one eye back toward the unidentified officer and folded my arms.

"By Supreme Archmage Time, it’s only been 5 minutes.”

1 minute passed.

More vehicles pulled up around the scene, and more soldiers formed teams and rushed beneath the collapsing hospital. Rescue teams, or whatever they called themselves. They searched through the ruined debris for anyone still groaning beneath it.

2 minutes passed.

The critically wounded who’d been left behind because there hadn’t been enough time were treated on the spot and carried out on stretchers. Every one of them was either groaning, trembling, or slowly growing cold. Most seemed to spend the last of their strength the moment they saw sunlight. and their breathing stopped.

In the middle of the hollow, exhausted sighs of the rescue team, the pastor’s prayers echoed as he followed them.

3 minutes passed.

They gradually began bringing out more warm corpses than living people. Some had lost their dog tags, while others had died together with their entire squad still wearing theirs.

Watching from farther away near the transport vehicles, the officers raised their walkie-talkies.

48 casualties. Recovering bodies……

4 minutes passed.

The building gradually began falling faster. The debris that had been floating in midair was visibly sinking now. The magic’s effect was running out. The rescue teams began withdrawing. They couldn’t recover everyone.

After the pastor came out with the rescue team, he prayed facing the collapsing building, then headed over to where the bodies were being recovered.

That was also when people in protective suits brought out a nuclear warhead marked with a blood-red cross.

I heard the officers’ radio transmissions from a distance.

Tidal count 62. 52 killed. 5 missing…

Nuclear warhead successfully recovered.

5 minutes passed.

-Ruuuuumble.

The building began crashing down like thunder. The magic really was reaching its end now. I stared up at the sight of the 10-story hospital collapsing, overcome with emotion.

It didn’t look like anyone else was coming out.

Then a soldier calmly walked out from beneath the falling cloud of concrete dust. The other soldiers didn’t find anything strange about that. I’d thought they’d been hit by the magic of an Inverted Eyes-branch wizard or something, but seeing how they didn’t even look at him, they apparently couldn’t perceive him at all.

I knew exactly who the soldier walking out was and clenched my hand into a fist.

With his helmet, gas mask, CBRN protective suit, and even a K2 rifle, he looked exactly like a Korean soldier. But an ordinary Korean conscript couldn’t possibly stroll so calmly out from beneath a collapsing building.

That was when I heard the sound of a babbling stream.

-Trickletrickletrickletrickle…

At last, with the building collapsing completely behind him, the soldier and I faced each other.

-Click.

The soldier tightened the sling of his K2 and spoke in a soft, gentle voice.

"Let’s speak in private, Baek Jemin-ssi.”

"What if I say no?”

"You drive to kill me and plunder my knowledge is truly exemplary for a wizard. But your current achievements and applications are not yet sufficient to face a regular wizard of the Society. You know that, and so do I. Please don't misunderstand me, though. My hostility remains under control.”

The soldier added this with impeccable politeness as he made the sign of the cross.

"As a member of the Society, I simply wish to show goodwill toward the ambition and resolve of an outstanding junior wizard like yourself, Baek Jemin-ssi.”

The building collapsed.

Hearing the deafening roar, everyone flinched and backed away or watched from a distance. Hundreds of people gathered at the scene were staring at my back.

And strangely enough, not one of them noticed the soldiers standing right in front of me.

Only then did I realize.

He was using [Cognitive Revelation] to show his illusion to me alone.

"What’s the price that lets you spam it like this? Is the price for Inverted Eyes-branch magic lighter than Upright Eyes-branch magic?”

"Hahaha. Brilliant. You noticed. Wizards of the younger generation who possess curiosity, passion, and intellect are always rare to find. Shall we talk while we walk?”

"No."

"I’ll teach you about Inverted Alteration-type Eyes-branch magic. I’ve already taught you quite a bit about Inverted Hands-branch as well, so I’d be rather hurt if you still didn't trust me. More importantly…”

The soldier’s illusion chuckled as he tapped the lens of his gas mask with the back of his hand.

It was an incredibly sinister, unpleasant laugh, like a starving beast forcing the corners of its mouth upward.

"For a wizard, there are no allies or enemies. There are only masters, disciples, and seekers. If you turn down an opportunity to learn about magic, can you really call yourself a wizard?”

He did have a point.

Convinced, I reflexively nodded and turned my back. The soldier’s illusion naturally followed, and the two of us began walking together, leaving behind the hospital that had finally collapsed completely.

Ahead of us, soldiers stood around everywhere, frozen where they stood.

-Step, step.

Only my footsteps could be heard.

The soldier’s illusion walked calmly beside me like a ghost, causally adjusting his rifle sling as part of the act. Even if someone unusually perceptive noticed him, it was convincing enough that they wouldn't suspect a thing.

"Baek Jemin-ssi. I was secretly quite delighted to meet such a worthy opponent. So there can be sincere seekers like you outside Seoul as well."

"Didn’t the 66 Society just get thoroughly wiped out? What’s there to be happy about?”

The remaining members of the Gangnam group had been completely destroyed.

Only about 3 survived, and even those were non-wizards from the 55 Unit who had originally defected from the Korean military. Everyone else was killed on the spot by Korean soldiers consumed by their thirst for vengeance. I could even hear officers at the entrance of an alley trying to calm down the squad leaders present there.

"I told you to take them alive.”

"Company Commander, those bastards shot everyone in the squad members standing with us. Why should we keep the people who made those monsters alive? Are our lives really worth that little?”

"Gyeseok, you little shit. What am I supposed to say back when you put it like that?”

-Step, step.

On a road filled with groans of the dying, a single soldier who’d barely managed to get himself wrapped in bandages was fighting with the medics.

"Let go! Don’t treat me!”

"If you don’t get antibiotics right now…”

"So what if I don’t?! You’re just sending me back to the front! You’re not planning to pull me out at all!!!”

-Step, step.

I also saw officers who’d give me a slight salute, sigh, turn away, and fiddle with their walkie-talkies.

"I heard Seongnam City Hall Control Point got wiped out. Give me a cigarette.”

"Major Shin too…Man was stubborn. If he had connections with the Americans, he should’ve gone to Pyeongtaek and never come back. Could’ve begged them to pull him off blockade-line duty or something.”

"And if he did? They’d have to drag guys out of the rear to replace him. You think the civilians would’ve liked that?”

"Fuck."

-Step, step.

As I walked among the soldiers, I threw an accusation at the illusion of the soldier shamelessly walking beside me, the illusion of Father Kang Peter.

"You’ve got some damn nerve.”

"Baek Jemin-ssi, magic is the breath of the Creator. It is living proof of human spirituality, something that can physically demonstrate that the Creator’s breath dwells within us. Even if the Creator shaped it Himself, without that breath, it is nothing more than a clay doll.”

"That’s differing from the [Methodology] I learned from Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes’ memories.”

"Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes…? Ah, is that what you call him? Hahaha! That faction is rather crude and idealistic, isn’t it?”

The soldier’s, Father Kang Peter’s, illusion spoke with laughter in his voice.

"We are different. As above, so below. If the Creator made humanity in His own image, then only wizards imbued with the Creator’s breath are human. Only the true humans hidden among the clay dolls may enjoy the rights granted by the Creator, and naturally so. Let us not forget that the status of lord over all creation, and even the promise of Heaven in the afterlife, was granted to humans alone. That is my own interpretation of the [Methodology] I follow.”

"What the fuck’s this ‘breath of the Creator’ supposed to be?”

"Agency, free will, the divine spark… The power to reshape the world according to one’s will, or to change oneself. And yet, an immortality that remains unchanged. Put simply, you may call it a soul.”

Wizard supremacism.

But I couldn't dismiss his words outright.

It was impossible for a single human eye to slow the collapse of a falling building almost indefinitely. There were countless things an ordinary human couldn’t accomplish even by giving up their life.

But a wizard could.

I had absolute confidence that if I paid with my life, I could force at least a speck of change upon the world.

The illusion of Father Kang Peter disguised as a soldier continued calmly, speaking in the gentle tone of someone giving a lecture.

As I walked among dying soldiers, begging for death, and yet sobbed because they still didn’t want to die.

"Emotion and intellect cannot serve as proof of a soul.”

"They feel sadness?"

"Animals grieve too. Animals have emotions.”

"They think."

"Animals think too. Animals possess intelligence.”

"Then…”

"Only humans have souls. Or at least, humans themselves wish to believe so. Then what can prove the existence of a soul? What can prove an unchanging immortality, the agency and free will bestowed by God?”

Father Kang Peter spoke gently and benevolently, yet his conclusion was as sharp and merciless as a blade toward non-wizards.

"Magic. Only magic can prove the soul. The only thing separating soulless clay from humans with souls is magic. There is no other proof of human spirituality. This one is visible.”

“......”

"If something can’t be proven, it’s no different from something that doesn’t exist. I simply applied the exact logic modern humanity has championed. What do you think? Isn’t it cruel and horrifying?”

The illusion of Father Kang Peter, disguised as a soldier, knelt beside the corpse of a dead soldier.

He clasped his hands in prayer and pretended to lay his hand on the dead soldier’s forehead.

"Among the factions, I am something of an outcast. That’s why I pushed so strongly for this operation and took the lead in carrying it out. I believe every human possesses spirituality. Every human can awaken magic. They’ve simply grown exhausted after leaving their spirituality unusual for so long, so awakening it is difficult. A rusted bolt needs oil and a hard jolt before it will open.”

"No."

The moment I realized he was a vicious terrorist trying to turn every non-wizard into a wizard, my hostility exploded.

Non-wizards should stay non-wizards their whole lives. If you hate pain, then just keep hating pain, leave everything to us, and clap from the sidelines. I wanted to be special. I had absolutely no desire for some society where everyone became a wizard.

When I glared at him with such thoughts running through my mind, the illusion of Father Kang Peter disguised as a soldier burst out laughing and stood up.

"Now then. That was a rather long introduction. Since you may not yet fully understand the theme of Inverted Alteration-type magic, allow me to teach you.”

“...”

"It’s easiest to understand Inverted magic as the beast. People often call it Inverted Hand-branch magic, but among the Society’s regular wizards, the Inverted branch corresponding to Upright Hand-branch magic is called ‘Foot’-branch magic. The branch corresponding to Upright Ears-branch magic is called ‘Roar’-branch magic. If Upright Eyes-branch magic changes the world through human perception, then think of Inverted Eyes-branch magic as a beast’s perception disguising itself in order to hide. The price of Inverted Eyes-branch magic is one’s conviction.”

"Conviciton?”

"I sacrificed my faith. I am tormented by the suspicion that humanity possesses no spirituality at all, no such thing as souls, that we are merely one branch of life that happened to evolve successfully, and that the one and only absolute goodness that protects and guides humanity does not actually exist. That is my price.”

I wasn’t convinced.

Were human convictions really worth that much? For a price supposedly involving one’s humanity, the power seemed way too strong. Here I was sacrificing an entire eye, while he looked like he was happily getting everything for free.

As if he’d noticed exactly what I was thinking, Father Kang Peter smiled and removed his gas mask.

"Now I understand what you're thinking, Baek Jemin-ssi. But if humanity is truly so insignificant, then why do you avoid becoming a monster, Baek Jemin-ssi?”

The wrinkled face of a middle-aged man gently smiled at me.

“It is the eternal life that every human in the world has always longed for. You can enjoy, at no cost whatsoever, the eternity of the afterlife that gods promise only under demanding conditions. You can wander beyond death forever. All you have to do is live without a care in the world, screaming and waving around like waterweed. So why struggle so desperately not to become a monster?”

I didn’t answer.

Because it was the most horrifying eternity I could imagine.

Eternal life spent forever dwelling on possibilities, forever imagining a future you could never reach, forever powerless and screaming. That was no different from torture to me.

And it was probably the same for Father Kang Peter.

It was a strange bond only a wizard who had sacrificed half the world and wizards who had sacrificed their humanity could share.

"And the Society has already achieved its objective.”

"What?"

"The times will change. The Society’s objective was to prove magic’s absolute utility. Those unfortunate enough not to have been born with intelligence will say you can simply fire thousands of nuclear warheads to kill a single wizard. But Baek Jemin-ssi, if you have to deploy a tactical nuke every time a high-level wizard appears, then everyone will agree that siding with the Society is the more rational choice.”

Father Kang Peter put his gas mask back on and returned to the appearance of a normal soldier.

Then he turned his back and started walking away.

"Above all, Baek Jemin-ssi, you will be the one who proves the absolute supremacy of magic. Look. Feel it. The gazes of ordinary people directed at you.”

-Step.

This time, I could hear a sound.

Father Kang Peter’s CBRN protective suit fluttered as he slowly disappeared into the crowd. I considered attacking him, but there was no way he hadn’t prepared for that. Deliberately vanishing into a crowd, intentionally making footsteps… He knew exactly how to deal with Upright Eyes-branch magic.

It was still too soon to fight the Society’s regular wizards.

I needed to learn more.

With that resolution, I turned my head.

Only then could I look back at the path I’d walked and see the soldier’s reactions again.

Voices reached me.

"Gyeseok. Our lives weren’t wasted. We pressured Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes’ followers and scattered them so our wizards could pick them off one by one. We didn’t die for nothing.”

"Not being able to shoot doesn’t mean we were powerless. Even though we couldn’t fire, we didn’t run. We held our ground and did what we had to do. That’s enough.”

The soldier who had been lamenting at the entrance of the alley lowered his head.

The Supreme Archmages had become a reason that justified the deaths of nameless soldiers.

They had become a source of pride that made countless deaths easier to accept.

"You said he’d held it for 10 minutes?”

"28 minutes exactly.”

"...Aphorims and Baek Jemin. Write them down. They’re our wizards. The ones who at least make sure our bodies come home.”

"Yes!”

I could hear military doctors and medics talking quietly among themselves.

There was an emotion hard to describe in the eyes looking down at the bodies lying in eternal rest as the zippers of their body bags were pulled shut.

On battlefields where bodies couldn’t even be recovered, the Supreme Archmages had become people who could at least bring the dead home.

"Command says to prioritize cleanup for the nearby units, but we should go recover the Seongnam City Hall Command Point. See you later.”

"You owe Major Shin or something? That place is probably a goddamn mess.”

"Over there. Major Shin was the one who brought our wizards in, remember? He just had shit luck and ended up all the way on the front line despite being a logistics specialist. Let’s remember the patriotism of the guy who brought us our wizards. Haah… So young, too.”

"Patriotism, my ass.”

The officers leaning against the vehicle, smoking, tossed their half-finished cigarettes onto the ground and slapped the vehicle’s door a few times.

Too restless even to finish a single cigarette, they climbed into the vehicle commander’s position. A short while later, soldiers who had regrouped within 5 minutes began climbing one by one into the back of a 2.5-ton truck.

The Supreme Archmages had become an achievement significant enough to make even that horrific cleanup bearable.

After watching all of it, I turned my head and saw the Supreme Archmages crouching near the evacuation vehicles. Lee Sejun was pouring water over himself to cool down, the pastor had quietly bowed his head in prayer, and Go Ryeoha had her tongue hanging out while fanning it with her hand, tears streaming down her face.

The moment I took a step toward them, everyone at the scene turned their heads toward me.

A bandaged soldier gave me a small bow.

He was lying on a stretcher and couldn’t move well enough to properly express his thanks.

Soldiers wearing dog-tag armbands all gave us a crisp salute all at once.

Even with blood soaking their protective suits where gunshots had torn through them, their dog tags jingled as they saluted me politely.

The officers immediately shouted toward the uninjured soldiers the moment they saw me.

“At ease! Attention!”

The drill staff moved in perfect unison.

In a place where death had been raging and debris had fallen. At a scene where human lives had been spent cheaply and people had fought tangled together without knowing the destruction approaching them.

Combat boots truck the cracked road.

-Step, step.

I walked forward in silence, saying nothing as I accepted the respect and reverence expressed through their posture and procedure.

With my right eye closed as it wept bloody tears, my left eye alone open, I let my poncho flutter and lengthen my stride without a shred of hesitation. I held neither a gun nor the Four-Tiger Sword. I only knew the weight of the truths bearing down on me and that an endless journey of discovery still remained in front of me.

But there was one thing I could be certain of.

Even if things had gone according to the Society’s wishes, they wouldn’t go as far as the Society wanted.

Total destruction had been postponed.

The moment people’s lives came to an end had been postponed too.

By one person alone.

Me.

It was the miracle accomplished by Great Archmage Baek Jemin.