Chapter 140: Idea

[Translator – Aren]

The Pyeongtaek US camp was broadly divided into four zones.

The first was the American zone, where, as the name suggested, the US troops lived separately. Even all the signs there were in English. If I had to describe it, it felt likeOsan Air Base.

Back when I was doing my military service, I’d once been temporarily assigned to a joint-service unit and happened to see Osan Air Base. It really looked like rural America, with countryside houses everywhere and signs in English. I still remember some western elementary school kid waiting for the school bus staring at me like I was pathetic while I struggled carrying some boxes.

The American zone at the Pyeongtaek camp looked exactly like that now. Container barracks, enormous semi-cylindrical tents, and excavators and bulldozers constantly moving around as they built permanent facilities.

The second was the port zone. Just like the name suggested, it was where supplies were transported. Civilians who came to earn MPC were brought there by the truckload like some chaotic open-air market, put to work, given rations and MPC, then driven back out again.

I heard from the pastor that diligent workers who cooperated with the military were assigned living quarters inside the port zone, which made competition outside the camp for jobs there extremely fierce.

The third was the Korean military zone.

It might have been called the Pyeongtaek US camp, but Korean troops were the majority, and the existing Korean military facilities still had to be operated, so their zone was arranged mainly along the major roads.

The Korean military zone stretched all the way into downtown Pyeongtaek. The military had either driven out the civilians who originally lived there or persuaded them to leave the Gyeonggi Province, then occupied the existing buildings. Soldiers from the blockade line were mainly assigned there when rotating off duty, and the city was also undergoing major reconstruction to make ambushes or surprise attacks by monsters more or less impossible.

Put simply, they were smashing buildings apart and remodeling the place to suit military barracks.

Pyeongtaek as a whole was steadily being turned into one massive military city, enjoying an unexpected construction boom in the process.

The fourth and final area was the outer zone.

It was protected by the Pyeongtaek camp’s fences and outer walls but referred collectively to be undeveloped vacant land beyond the developed areas. That was the official explanation, anyway. In reality, it was where they assigned people connected to magic that still couldn’t be fully disclosed to the public.

Top priority for all infrastructure. Top priority for all supplies.

Anyone who cooperated with the Korean-US Combined Command and made sufficient contributions could obtain US citizenship and even permission to relocate to the United States. For people who saw magic not as the end itself but as a means to an end, those were conditions guaranteed to make them salivate.

In other words, everyone gathered here had been recognized by the command.

Yeah...

Including the owner of those cheerful footsteps approaching me from the other side of the door right now.

-Step, step, step.

As soon as I heard them, I could instantly tell whose footsteps these were.

And the moment the doorknob turned, I squeezed my eyes shut on instinct.

-Bang!

"Hello!”

A ponytail that only reached the nape of her neck, dead-fish eyes, and yet still grinning away like a little kid trying to win everyone over, showing off her natural beauty and smooth, youthful skin.

Go Ryeoha, the false idol who had recently begun threatening the Great Archmage’s fame.

Normally, I would’ve glared at her at least once the moment I saw her, but as soon as our eyes met, I felt my jealousy toward Go Ryeoha softly melt away and the corners of my mouth loosen up.

Go Ryeoha. Once she’d gotten her hair trimmed, washed herself properly, and added some natural-looking makeup, she was just too damn beautiful.

It was already hard enough to meet women my age in a place and time like this, so just seeing her dressed up a little had the corners of my mouth twitching unnecessarily.

Ah. No.

Baek Jemin, get a grip.

Rise above those pathetic desires that make you grin like an idiot just because the false idol threatening the Great Archmage’s popularity happens to be a little pretty. Fortunately, I wasn’t the only one making a fool of myself.

"Ooh. The Konkuk University girl is here too?”

"Tsk. Still, you do look a little better.”

The Pyeontaek shaman and Poodle-noona greeted Go Ryeoha like they knew her.

Go Ryeoha wasn’t an actual shaman, but since she came from a family with spiritual sensitivity, I guess they had something in common.

She then naturally came over to us Supreme Archmages and pulled out a chair.

-Scrrrape!

The moment she sat down, Go Ryeoha shook out her bandaged left hand and grinned.

"Hehe. I worked before coming here, and they even gave me deodorant. How is it? I don’t smell, right?”

"Don’t push yourself too hard just because you want praise. Ryeoha-ssi, you need to take care of yourself as well. Especially around those soldiers. They’re all gathered together like that, so some of them might try something weird. If anyone does, tell me.”

The pastor fussed over Go Ryeoha with a sweetness he had never once shown me, Shin Nain, Lee Sejun, or Hamza.

If it were Lee Sejun, he probably would’ve flown into a rage over such blatant favoritism, but I, Baek Jemin, was different.

As my Ears-branch magic had grown stronger lately, I’d realized there was some history behind the way the pastor acted around her. It seemed like whenever he looked at Go Ryeoha, something from his past came up into his mind, so I just let it be.

I, Baek Jemin, have no interest in other people’s pasts or suffering.

Knowing about it would only make me worry for no reason.

Shin Nain was still staring at her with displeasure, his lips pressed tightly together.

"What’s your problem now?”

"Go Ryeoha-ssi hasn’t repented.”

Shin Nain, you exhausting bastard.

I gave up on trying to mediate between him and Go Ryeoha. Instead, I pulled out a chair and sat down, then looked at Anderson-ssi, who was still standing there awkwardly with his arms spread and an embarrassed smile on his face.

"Everyone’s here, right?”

"That’s correct, Mister Baek. I suppose this is considered excessive physical contact, huh? Ahem.”

That was Anderson-ssi for you. What a burning passion for learning.

Apparently embarrassed once he thought about it himself, Anderson-ssi cleared his throat several times before finally clapping his hands together and drawing everyone’s attention.

"I’m sure everyone has a great deal they would like to discuss, but there’s only one reason we have gathered here today."

Anderson Makenford.

This wealthy Westerner was practically glowing with joy at finally coming face-to-face with the secrets of magic.

"To share as much useful information as possible and produce meaningful results.”

*t*t*

The people gathered in this quiet chapel were all human assets the Korean-US Combined Command had judged useful or highly valuable.

Of course, there was no way a gathering like this could happen without money.

At the center of it all was our Supreme Archmages’ eternal friend and benevolent sponsor. Anderson Makenford, CEO of an oil-refining company. The information Anderson-ssi shared broadly fell into two categories. The political situation inside the United States and conclusions he had drawn from his own knowledge of the occult.

"The decision to deploy nuclear weapons came about because the hardliners in Congress gained the upper hand.”

It seemed Anderson-ssi had been studying Korean even more diligently so he could speak with us.

Speaking far more naturally than before, he explained it like this.

When the monster crisis first broke out, the United States had originally supported nuking the Korean Peninsula out of fear that the infection would spread.

The withdrawal of the Korean-US Combined Forces had been the first sign. But the Korean government, still functioning at the time, shared information about magic with the United States, demonstrated Reality Survival Command’s leadership and its strong commitment to maintaining the blockade, and only then did America reverse its position.

America’s judgement was ruthless.

If they could use the Korean military’s wartime capabilities to obtain the power of magic, it was worth it.

That was the reasoning behind establishing the Korean-US Combined Command in place of the Korean-US Combined Forces, which had effectively been dissolved. From the very beginning, it wasn’t a command structure built on an equal alliance but one completely led by the US military and reflecting American intentions almost 100%.

Naturally, hardliners in the US who were unhappy with that decision still remained.

"Epsecinyll, the moment reports from the front suggested that the blockade line could be brought down by a single group of wizards, it placed an enormous political burden on the current President. They decided it would be better to make it look as though the collapse came from a massive monster assault, and that was why the nuclear strike was approved. Even our lobbying efforts were swallowed up by fear and failed to have much effect.”

"Just as the flames that purified Sodom did, wouldn’t the nuclear missiles actually have worked if you had imbued them with Holy Battle Arts?”

Shin Nain.

Come to think of it, this bastard had been screaming about launching nukes ever since the old Suwon City Hall days.

Even though Shin Nain sharply retorted to him, Anderson-ssi only gave a bitter smile.

"At the time, three Catholic priests recited Latin prayers while sprinkling holy water, a Protestant pastor read from the Bible, a lamb’s blood was sprinkled as well, and sayings believed to hold theological significance were inscribed on the missile. That was done to the second missile.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at the fact that they'd actually tried that.

"Guess they didn’t know you had to dunk those guys into the fog first for them to learn Dogma-type magic.”

"Unfortunately, Korea is regarded by biblical fundamentalists on the American mainland as a land abandoned by God, the Third Sodom and Gomorrah, so they refused even when the government tried to persuade or entice them. Haah.”

Well, 40 million people had been sealed onto the Korean Peninsula in the name of infection quarantine. The hardcore American fanatic zealots over there probably hadn’t really wanted to travel halfway around the world to protect some Koreans.

In that case, the results were obvious.

A very, very special few seemed capable of using magic without exposure to the fog, and perhaps extremely careful preparation could make certain spells or rituals work, but they would never be enough to beat a wizard who had been dunked in the fog and pulled back out.

You think I keep going on about “fog access” and “magic access” for nothing?

The pastor just rubbed the corner of his mouth, his expression seeming troubled.

"A land abandoned by God…”

I could hear the anguish in the pastor’s sigh.

Without even bothering to look at him, I offered him some comfort.

"Correct that to ‘a land chosen by Great Archmage Baek Jemin.’”

"Yeah. Baek Jemin, looking at you, it does seem like the Lord is trying to toughen us up a little."

"?”

Anyway, thanks to Anderson-ssi, we were able to get our hands on some high-grade information.

The other Dogma-type wizards, after hearing about the situation inside the United States, could only look grim or quietly close their eyes. Slowly realizing that everything had gone to hell was one thing. Hearing someone else saying it out loud carried a different weight.

Out of consideration for the Koreans in the room, Anderson-ssi fell silent for a moment before steering the conversation back toward magic.

Anderson-ssi’s own speculation about the Alteration-type magic system was kind of absurd.

"I believe the Alteration-type magic system is a form of alchemy performed on human beings. According to the teachings ofHermes Trismegistus, alchemy is fundamentally about humanity drawing closer to God by imitating the Creator.”

Just as the Creator made matter, alchemists also created and transmuted matter in order to understand its principles. Through that, they ultimately become capable of handling the soul and continue their spiritual development. Apparently, that was what alchemy had fundamentally been about.

Alchemy assumed that once humans became capable of fully mastering matter, they would be able to impose their own will upon the world. The process of reaching that state is described by the concept of the [Great Work], or the [Magnum Opus].

This was the key point.

If so, why couldn’t the human body itself be used as alchemical material? And what if the backlash arose because processes such as combustion, heating, and distillation were being applied to the human body?

If pain was the easiest way to distort the human psyche, couldn’t there be some kind of system that used pain to reshape humans into something closer to God?

What if Alteration-type magic was precisely such a system, through which humans sought to impose their will upon the world by gaining absolute mastery over their own bodies?

Anderson-ssi pointed out the official name of Alteration-type magic as the basis for this.

"We mustn’t forget that most of the terminology and knowledge currently known to the military originated from the 66 Society. Why LISA? And among its forms, why is Alteration-type magic officially called [Self-Alteration-type] magic?”

Reaching Stage 5 in all 5 branches was the Great Work of human alchemy to reach that ultimate state. 66 was the result produced along the way, while 7 was the completion of human alchemy.

In other words, the Magnum Opus.

The ones who reacted most violently to this theory were our fanatic zealot duo.

"Heresy!”

"Shin Nain, this isn't the time for that. What you should be suspicious of is how plausible this theory sounds. Anderson-ssi, has the 66 Society contracted you?”

Anderson-ssi held out his palms to deny those claims.

"No, quite the opposite. I believe the 66 Society may be making use of the teachings of Hermes Trismegistus. Quite some time ago, I studied some astrology for Mister Baek, considered the magic square of Mars, and sent over various materials I thought might be useful.”

Was he talking about the ritual I had used to raise my Hand-branch magic to Stage 2?

As I subtly glanced his way, Anderson continued calmly.

"I didn’t directly participate in the ritual, but I was told that when I sent the materials associated with Mars, the ritual was conducted by Monk Chong-hi, who is suspected of having defected. If he knew how to use the materials I sent to raise the level of a branch of Self-Alteration magic, that would be more than enough evidence that he knew those materials originated in the conventional Hermetic tradition.”

"Hmm."

Monk Wonhaeng, who had been listening quietly, let out a thoughtful hum.

After Anderson-ssi finished explaining his theory, Monk Wonhaeng spoke up. He gave us a very brief explanation of Korean Buddhism, then stared intently at the prayer beads wrapped around my left arm and spoke calmly.

"Cheonghwi was originally a trainee monk under my care. When he became a novice, I was even the one who gave him his Dharma name…”

I already knew that much.

But apparently, Monk Cheongwhi soon began questioning the practice ofZen meditation. At some point, instead of seeking answers throughZen dialogue, he began pursuing only the mantras ofShakyamuni Buddha until he ultimately became fascinated by the mystical traditions ofEsoteric Buddhism and left theJogye Order of his own accord.

Monk Wonhaeng had tried to persuade him that Buddhist devotion lay in reflecting upon and emptying oneself, not in some separate system of stages and ranks, but it wasn’t enough. Cheonghwi counted that Shakyamuni Buddha had taken seven steps at birth, hence called the Seven Steps, and asked how he could be forbidden from taking even a single step himself. Then he disappeared.

"The True-Body Sarira of Shakyamuni Buddha currently resting on Benefactor Baek’s left arm is an exceedingly precious relic believed to have been the last discovered among theeight stupas erected in his honor after he entered nirvana.”

"You’re not suddenly going to ask me to give it back, right?”

I cautiously lowered my left arm, but Monk Wonhaeng slowly shook his head.

"If it has come to Benefactor Baek, then that must be the Buddha’s will. However, I believe we will need to investigate separately how exactly the Buddha intends to aid you.”

I mean, in Buddhism it was basically on the level of having a piece of Jesus’ bones. It should be pretty powerful then, right?

Monk Wonhaeng offering to help determine its effects certainly was some welcome news.

At that, the fanatic zealot duo remained visibly sulky, Go Ryeoha listened while blinking blankly, Anderson-ssi’s eyes sparkled with fascination, and Poodle-noona and the Pyeongtaek shaman were busy rushing to praise the monk for his generosity.

"Real monks sure are different.”

"Exactly, Unni.”

After buttering up Monk Wonhaeng like that, the two shamans beckoned to Go Ryeoha.

"You there. Konkuk girl, don’t just sit over there. Come here. You’re technically on our side too.”

"Oh, come on, Unni. Don’t say ominous things like that to a kid whose family took the spirit sickness in her place. What do you mean, ‘our side’?”

"Uh…If you need me for something, I’ll come over!”

Go Ryeoha immediately moved her chair before she could miss the opportunity.

She must have been secretly happy to meet two shamanes who understood her situation, because her 6-month-old dead-fish eyes improved to something closer to one-month-old dead-fish eyes. Poodle-noona kept sighing as she pounded Go Ryeoha on the back and brushed over it soothingly.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk… Even if you had your circumstances, that still won’t do. From now on, you need to get your act together and do good properly. Follow eightfold Yang around, and if you can help people, help as many as you can. Got it?”

"Hehe, I'm already planning to help Hubae-nim anyway, you know?”

"Unni. Doesn’t it seem like the Konkuk girl got bit by baleful spiritual energy or something?”

"She’s killed more than one or two people, so of course she did! Tsk. She tangled up her own fate, but…whew. The world itself is the enemy these days.”

Ahem, hmm.

I had been listening quietly, but before I knew it, I found myself sitting up a little straighter. I mean, sure. Go Ryeoha was pretty, so of course other people might like her. Especially soldiers stuck inside this military camp basically filled with nothing but men.

Thinking about it carefully, I hadn’t been understanding the circumstances of those young soldiers nearly enough.

No matter how great a hero I, Baek Jemin, was, could I really be more popular than a beautiful young woman?

Wanting to praise a pretty woman instead of some dark, hairy man was the proper reaction for any man. Lee Sejun was the weird bastard here.

But when I turned my head, the pastor, who still didn’t know the exact circumstances, was whispering to Shin Nain.

"Nain, what are they talking about?”

An incredible amount of conflict and anguish passed over Shin Nain’s face.

A moment later, he abandoned his own honesty for the sake of the pastor’s peace of mind.

"I wouldn't know. I don’t listen to the words of pagans.”

"Hmph. Well, you’re not wrong.”

Shin Nain began pressing his headset tightly against his ears.

After comforting Go Ryeoha for a little while longer, Poodle-noona shook her curly hair and began to speak seriously.

"First, I’ll tell you about how those 66 Society bastards came looking for Jeju’s GreatSimbang.”

"Simbang?”

"Basically, a Jeju shaman."

The fact that she could explain it so even a dumbass like me understood immediately made me think Poodle-noona probably would’ve made one hell of a teacher.

She kept talking for quite a while after that.

It was so damn long and ridiculously detailed that I, Baek Jemin, needed to cop it up into something I could understand. Once I sliced away all the excess, cut out the fillers, folded my arms, and dozed off for a bit, then focused again, it came together pretty neatly.

"So some lunatic wearing aHahoe mask over his face came looking for them?”

For a moment I wondered whether Father Kang Peter had hidden himself behind a Hahoe mask but decided to leave it as just a possibility for now.

There wasn’t enough evidence, and if I got fixated on that possibility already, I might end up overlooking the real evidence instead. Still, I could tell one thing. That 66 Society member wasn’t a true Korean. Any Korean with a sense of style would’ve shown up wearing aGakisital instead.

"Yeah. Whew. You were dozing off, but somehow you still heard all that.”

"I’m pretty quick on the uptake.”

Taking Poodle-noona’s praise completely at face value, I organized what she’d said.

September 23rd, 2027.

The Hahoe-mask wizard showed up. Apparently, he didn’t even give them his name.

The heavenly signs were in chaos, and even their patron spirits were frightened or confused when the Hahoe-mask wizard appeared. Then he made contact with one seriously amazing shaman who served aPrincess Spirit specializing in guiding the dead.

All the Hahoe-mask wizard did was make them an offer.

This was what he proposed to the Jeju shamans.

"What was it again?”

"You really need a beating before you’re any use. Tsk, I’ll say it one more time, so listen.”

Poodle-noona kindly repeated it again for me.

She did glare at me like I was damn hopeless, though.

"Those without spiritual sensitivity have no souls. Even if they do possess souls, if those souls cannot interact with the world, then they are no different from nonexistent and cannot be saved when the Other Shore rises. The natural order of Heaven has been twisted, leaving only defiance of Heaven. When the end times are over, the handful who survive will become humanity. That’s what the bastard said.”

"What the hell does that mean?”

"What do you think? He was saying we should abandon everyone without a patron spirit and run!”

So the shamans figured a bunch of lunatics had shown up. For the time being, those whose patron spirits were still sane or brave banded together and tried to protect national treasures with deep symbolic significance.

Then, around November 2027, Jeju’s great Simbang collapsed while performing divination. Everyone panicked, saying what they’d feared had finally come to pass, and rushed to report it to museums and government offices all over the place. But apparently, people just found the whole thing unsettling, asked what kind of nonsense they were talking about, and refused to listen.

On top of that, a Seoul shaman, who had happened to awaken Dogma-type magic, was horrified after learning who was behind Reality Survival Command and spread the truth far and wide. That was another reason cooperation from the shamans had been so sluggish.

"We were divided. Some said the military was already in league with those lunatics. Others said we should knock some sense into the military.”

Poodle-noona had apparently infiltrated them with the latter idea in mind.

That was when the turbaned imam spoke with a troubled expression on his face.

"Idolatry. Normally, we don’t do it. TheQuran,Hadith, and God forbid it. But when several Muslims in Seoul felt their lives were threatened and came to theDaegu mosque, I acknowledge that these people helped them. May God grant you peace.”

"Oh, Allah’s way too powerful to become a patron spirit. Konkuk girl, you don’t have any spiritual sensitivity like that, right? If it ever develops, go to church or even a mosque instead. Their spiritual force is so strong that most petty spirits will get chased right off.”

"Ahahaha, I’m not going to church.”

The Pyeongtaek shaman shifted the conversation toward Go Ryeoha, who had been standing there blankly, easing the mood a bit. While the Pyeongtaek shaman lady and Go Ryeoha whispered back and forth, creating a friendly atmosphere…

The wizards and Anderson-ssi watched on with interest.

Among them, the greasy-haired priest spoke up for the first time.

"I heard the report on former Father Kang Peter and studied his words and behavior. His arguments are very similar to those of the Hahoe-mask wizard Bosal Cheongsin just described. The difference is that this one revealed a little more of his true inner motives.

The greasy-haired priest introduced himself as Father Kim Daeung Paul, then idly fiddled with the collar of his black cassock and wet his dry lips with his tongue.

"I read the documents from the diocesan investigation into Kang Peter that was conducted in secret. One word in particular stood out because it’s not commonly used. It seems to have been something Kang Peter was unusually fixated on. And when I compare it with Baek Jemin-ssi’s report on Kang Peter and Bosal Cheongsin’s testimony, I can see one connection.”

As he spoke, Father Kim Daeung Paul rummaged through his gas mask pouch.

Everyone watched with great interest, serious expressions on our faces. Even the turbaned imam, who had not been particularly proactive until then, blinked as though his eyesight wasn’t good, took a pair of reading glasses from inside his clothes, put them on the tip of his nose, and straightened up in his seat.

What Father Kim Daeung Paul pulled out was several printed pages covered in hastily scribbled handwriting.

There was one English word written there that even I could read.

"IKEA?"

"Idea, you idiot. How the hell does a D become a K?”

The pastor, who had been nicer to me lately, instantly turned vicious again and lamented my stupidity.

Excuse me, a tired person could mistake a D for a K, okay?

Dead or Killed, the end result was the same. Did I really deserve to get shit for mixing up one letter of the alphabet?

That was when Father Kim Daeung Paul pointed at the printed page.

-Tap, tap.

"In the record of the interview with Kang Peter, he pronounced it ‘eye-dea,’ not ‘eedea.’ We did wonder why he deliberately pronounced it that way, but at the time we were focused on determining whether he had engaged in other occult practices or spread spiritually dangerous thoughts in public places, so it was overlooked.”

The records of the secret diocesan interviews preserved how Father Kang Peter had defied them despite warnings from the bishop and thecanon lawyer to cease his occult investigations.

*t*t*

I seek the archetype of humanity.

Everything in this world is merely a projection of an archetype, and humanity too is a projection branched in the form of breath from the archetype that is the great Creator. In that case, there is no sin in humanity seeking to recover its original archetype, searching for the way back to it.

I know that the teachings of the Church are the one and only path back to God, yet I couldn’t satisfy my spiritual curiosity and desire to know the Lord, who is our archetype.

Jesus Himself possessed both humanity and divinity. Then why should humanity, the nature of man created by God and sent into this world, be distinguished from divinity? Must humanity and divinity be separated? Is our desire to return to the one true goodness not itself a return to divinity?

A true human. That’s what I want to become.

Something beyond flesh, an existence in which I can know with certainty that his breath has touched me.

[Idea].

To reach true humanity, to attain certainty within myself, I simply wish to continue my spiritual path toward [Idea].

I don’t believe this violates the teachings of the Church, that we must cultivate and pursue goodness in order to become one with God and follow only the commandments of the Lord.

The Lord must be waiting for me to return to Him.

The Lord guided me to [Idea].

*t*t*

Now I understood why Father Kim Daeung Paul had focused on Idea.

I’d been yawning and old half-listening to Poodle-noona until a moment ago, but this time my ears perked right up.

Because I had a feeling. It was as if something just clicked into place.

True humanity…

"Doesn’t this sound like the name of some internal faction in the 66 Society?”

"No one knows. We’re not at the point where we can say for certain.”

Father Kim Daeung Paul sighed and quietly nodded.

"But it is almost certainly a term with very deep ties to the 66 Society.”

The imam with the reading glasses took them off again after they slipped down the end of his nose, then introduced himself.

Ali Ibrahim.

With a small click, Imam Ali folded the arms of his glasses, briefly clasped his hands in prayer, and spoke.

"I’d like to tell you about something even stranger. There was one peculiar detail that the Muslim brothers who escaped Seoul all described consistently. They called it a ‘jinn trap.’”

Even I knew what gin was.

Some type of alcohol, right?

But I didn’t really feel like showing off what I knew, so I humbly kept my mouth shut. That was when the imam said something I hadn’t expected at all.

"They say there is something wrong with Seoul’s subway.”

"Wasn’t it just that Korea’s subway culture seemed strange to foreigners?”

If you came to Korea, you should just hurry up and adapt.

Just look at our Hamza. That guy ate Spam, prayed, and lived well enough.

But the atmosphere seemed a bit strange.

"No. Not the culture. The subway itself. They said you must never use the subway or underground passages.”

"Wait…You need some kind of reason for that.”

Thinking he was just finding fault with anything he could, I pressed him on it. The imam finally let out a deep sigh and gave a reason.

"They said it was strange that Yongsan Station was on Line 3, because there was absolutely no way it could be. They looked terrified as they insisted that no one should use the subway and that people within Seoul should travel aboveground whenever possible.”

"?"

Everyone exchanged glances at those words.

Go Ryeoha with her dead-fish eyes, the pastor with his glasses slipping down his nose, Shin Nain humming as he listened to what came out of his headphones, Anderson-ssi with his eyes sparkling in fascination. The Pyeongtaek shaman with her heavy eye makeup, Poodle-noona with her tough, weathered eyes, and Father Daeung Paul letting out a heavy sigh.

Everyone of them looked at the others, thought hard for a moment, then turned back toward Imam Ali.

"Why is that strange?”

Yongsan Station is on Line 3, right?