Chapter 72: Operation Blue Pill

[Translator – Aren]

Go Ryeoha was an unusually bright and optimistic person for these times.

She had probably always been warmhearted and naturally good with people.

Even as she led us down into the pitch-black basement where none of the lights worked, Go Ryeoha never once forgot to look out for us.

Perhaps she was worried we might misstep, because she kept glancing back at us, pulled a flashlight from her padded jacket pocket, and brightly illuminated the stairs below, speaking in a cheerful, spirited voice.

"It’s pretty dark, right? We can only run the generator for so long, and we need to conserve batteries too, so this is how things ended up.”

"Goodness, no, it’s fine. You’re already working so hard, young lady. It can’t be helped.”

Pastor Park Yohan showered her with praise, saying how much he liked that such a young lady was so kindhearted and gave her all in everything she did.

Even Lee Sejun and Hamza, who had begun to sense that something felt off, kept their mouths shut as they continued down the stairs.

Yet Pastor Park Yohan smiled so contentedly that it was visible even through the lenses of his gas mask, responding enthusiastically to every word Go Ryeoha said.

Meanwhile, Shin Nain and I watched him with exasperation as we spoke through telepathy.

'Jemin-ssi, have you figured out her magic?'

Whatever she placed on my neck is still there.

Judging by her physical abilities, she definitely has Heart-branch magic. And considering how she reacted when we detected those monsters, she also had some means of detection.

She had demonstrated such a wide variety of abilities that it was difficult to determine the specifics. That also meant trying to ambush and kill her would be impossible.

My eye wasn’t functioning normally right now, so using Eyes-branch, Stage 2 to stop her would be far too risky.

After I laid out this perfectly reasonable analysis, Shin Nain gave me an unbelievable response.

'Can’t you just stop her with your right eye like you normally do?'

Are you going to take responsibility if the side effects blind me, you fucking bastard?

Just ask Hamza whether it’s dangerous. Tell him to figure out where it’s safe first.

While Shin Nain and I bickered through our inner voices, Pastor Park Yohan continued trying to evangelize Go Ryeoha.

"Come now, young lady. Just visit us once, alright? You have a sincere heart for faith. It’s not some strange place either. I might not look it, but I’m a pastor. A real pastor. I’m a respectable person.”

"Ahaha! Alright, alright. I’ll come visit once my spiritual sensitivity gets stronger.”

"Huh? Spiritual sensitivity?”

As the pastor questioned her, the rest of us Supreme Archmages pricked up our ears as well.

Something important was coming up.

Go Ryeoha, who was leading from the very front and shining her flashlight down the stairs, spoke lightly as though it were nothing important.

"My younger aunt was a shaman. Apparently, spiritual sensitivity runs in our family. She told me that if it looked like I might receive a spirit one day, I should find a proper church and become extremely devout instead.”

"Goodness, that works out perfectly! No need to wait until later. You can start coming right now!”

Rather than being disturbed, the pastor lit up and made an enormous fuss, even clapping his hands as he exclaimed how wonderful that was.

As the sounds of our combat boots striking the stairs overlapped, Shin Nain’s telepathy reached me again.

He seemed to have taken advantage of the pastor’s booming commotion to exchange a few whispers with Hamza.

I carefully swallowed and awaited the judgment of Hamza’s Dogma-type magic, [Angel’s Intuition].

‘The heretical heathen says it’s safe, so we should keep following her.'

That fraudulent bastard Hamza.

I knew something was wrong from the moment he claimed to believe in Allah while washing down pork belly with soju and then polishing off a slice of Spam for good measure.

It seemed like his magic had finally stopped working.

Just as I was cursing him, Shin Nain added one more thing.

'He says trying to run would be even more dangerous.'

I pressed my lips tightly shut at that.

By the time we reached the bottom of the stairs, Go Ryeoha abruptly swung her flashlight to the side.

Its beam illuminated a shabby-looking generator with exposed nozzles and wiring, as though the finishing work had never been completed.

Pointing at the generator beside the stairs, Go Ryeoha beamed brightly.

“Tada! You have no idea how hard it was to move this. I siphoned fuel from the cars over there and stored it all in containers.”

"I heard you have to suck it out through a hose. Did you do all that yourself, young lady?”

"Hehe. Of course!”

"Goodness. The others should be helping you with things like that!”

"Oh, Pastor. It’s difficult for everyone to move around outside, so it can’t be helped.”

"How can someone be so kindhearted? Jesus must have handpicked you.”

While the pastor clicked his tongue in admiration, the rest of us Supreme Archmages were desperate to start backing away.

Having all sensed that something was strange, Shin Nain, Lee Sejun, Hamza, and I suddenly clustered together and busied ourselves whispering.

Paradoxically, the pastor’s endless fussing over Go Ryeoha, completely blinded by his fondness for her, gave us an opening to talk among ourselves.

Lee Sejun was the first to speak within that opening, his expression grave.

"Aren’t we completely screwed?”

"How?”

"Jemin-ssi. This doesn’t look like somewhere people are actually living.”

"Shh!”

He was right.

Everything we could see and feel was a clue.

Even the way Go Ryeoha bashfully brushed the dust from the generator while the pastor showered her with praise was ominous.

Being underground and poorly cleaned explained why dust had accumulated, but any normal group would run its generator at least once a day.

Yet even as we openly walked down the stairs, no one reacted, and the generator had been left sitting there without so much as being started. That was an extremely frightening sign.

But an even bigger problem was Lee Sejun’s sharp powers of observation and complete lack of tact.

Suppressing the urge to snap at him, I kept my lips nearly closed, looking between Hamza and Lee Sejun, and whispered quickly.

"Dn’t shay anythng..."

"But Jemin-ssi..."

"I shaid dnt shay it."

That seemed to be the correct answer.

The instant Lee Sejun tried to argue, Hamza’s face went deathly pale and he began frantically fluttering his hands. That confirmed it 100%.

Memories of the radio transmission we had heard in the barracks before entering Seoul came flooding back.

The very transmission that had led the military to judge Go Ryeoha’s group as the friendliest in Seoul and attempt to establish contact with her.

What had she said again? That every wizard in Seoul was insane?

I slightly lifted my poncho and decided to switch on the L-shaped light attached to my chest for the first time in a while.

Undoing my weapon sling and using the tactical light mounted on my AR-15 carried far too great a risk of being interpreted as a hostile act.

To make the act look natural, I firmly set my mindset as well.

I wasn’t hostile toward Go Ryeoha. I didn’t particularly want to kill her.

I wasn’t handling my gun, and I had already sheathed my combat knife again. I simply wanted to look around the basement.

With that mindset, I placed my hand over the L-shaped light.

-Click.

"What are you doing?”

At some point, Go Ryeoha’s gaze had settled on me.

For a moment, I wondered whether my lower half had gotten the better of me again and drawn my eyes toward her, but that wasn’t it.

"Young lady, when did you get over there? Want me to start the generator for you?”

"Ah! It’s alright, Pastor. I’ll turn it on!”

In the blink of an eye, Go Ryeoha moved and appeared directly in front of me.

She blinked with an innocent look in her eyes and lowered the flashlight in her hand, but she had positioned herself so perfectly in front of the L-shaped light on my chest that I couldn't properly see deeper inside.

I remained frozen for a while, seized by an icy chill crawling up my spine.

As the back of my neck stiffened with a prickling sensation, I focused on Shin Nain, the one person I could somewhat trust. Never had I been more relieved by the fact that telepathy remained possible between wizards of the same stage even if they belonged to different branches or between those who shared the Ears-branch.

While I had tried to inspect the place directly by switching on my light, Shin Nain seemed to have examined it through his own magic.

In stark contrast to the pounding in my heart, Shin Nain calmly and evenly told me what he had seen and heard.

'I’m certain. There are no living people here.’

How do you know? Couldn’t she be interfering with Ears-branch magic using some other spell?

'I can hear them with Ears-branch, Stage 3.'

The instant I remembered what Ears-branch, Stage 3 was, my mouth went completely dry.

I smacked my lips for no reason and fiddled with the L-shaped light on my chest.

Ears-branch, Stage 3 was a spell that allowed one to converse with the lingering remnants of souls.

To give it a broad and extremely straightforward name, it would be something like [Hearing the Dying Words of the Dead].

The moment I reached that conclusion, I immediately waved toward Pastor Park Yohan and spoke.

"Pastor. Why don’t you evangelize Ryeoha-ssi some more? Now that I think about it, she really is a perfect fit for church. Didn’t you say you needed more young people?”

"Hm? What’s gotten into you, Baek Jemin?"

Seeing the pastor blinking in complete ignorance while sticking closely to Go Ryeoha made me feel a slight pang of guilt.

Still, the pastor and his outrageous Dogma-type spell, [Redemptive Conviction], made him the ideal choice.

Shin Nain, Hamza, Lee Sejun, and I had already silently appointed him as the person in charge of distracting her, so everyone hurried to back me up.

"A young woman who doesn’t lose her faith in difficult circumstances like Ryeoha-ssi is exactly what we need most in times like these.”

"Lord Jibril andIsa would welcome you as well."

Pretty, really, is best. Even the pastor fell for her!”

One person’s support was overflowing with ulterior motives, but the plan succeeded regardless.

The pastor nodded as though we had a point and gave Go Ryeoha several hearty pats on the shoulder.

"See? Our boys might look a little lacking, but they aren’t truly bad people. They’ll all be attending church someday too. What do you think, Ryoeha-ssi?”

"Oh my, Pastor. If you keep doing this, you’re going to make me feel pressured.”

“Alright, alright. Then tell me about that thing, your spiritual sensitivity. Even if you don’t come to church, I’ll speak to the Lord and pray that our Ryeoha-ssi won’t have to suffer any discomfort. Alright? Surely this much is fine.”

"Ahaha. Still, I should have a proper conversation with the soldier-ahjussis too. They wanted to talk with me after all. Anyway!”

-Hssst!

Go Ryeoha seemed to have a serious misconception about soldiers.

She apparently thought every soldier went weak at the knee for a young, pretty woman, but that applied to most men in general.

I, for one, was definitely that kind of bastard.

Still, just as trash was divided into recyclables, general waste, and outright nuclear waste, I at least knew how to distinguish the proper time and place. That put me just barely in the category of recyclable nuclear waste.

"Nonono. We’re exhausted right now, so we’ll just rest here and chat for a while. You don’t monitor people for taking breaks here or anything, right?”

"Hmm…We don’t, but the others don’t really like soldier-ahjussis. Will you be all right?”

"Of course! And we told you, we’re civilians.”

"Oh, come on. What kinds of civilians walk around dressed like that?”

"This is what things are like outside Seoul these days. Now, hurry along and talk to the pastor. You need to be saved.”

"Would you look at that, Baek Jemin? I told you, you’re perfect leadership material for the youth group!”

In my opinion, the pastor was the kind of person who either died first in a horror movie or somehow survived until the very end.

Regardless, now that all of us Supreme Archmages had united to cheer him on for once, the pastor grinned from ear to ear and began chatting with Go Ryeoha in front of the generator.

Go Ryeoha apparently didn’t dislike loud, energetic people like the pastor either. Even with her mask on, she mimed covering her mouth as she giggled.

Meanwhile, the rest of us Supreme Archmages quickly slipped farther inside to inspect the area.

The moment the L-shaped light on my chest illuminated the interior, every one of us sucked in a breath.

There were people here.

The problem was that they were no longer breathing.

Basement Level 1 of the building known as the student union.

It seemed to have originally been a cafeteria. Beneath a wall still bearing stained menu boards, heaps of people lay collapsed in tight clusters, their heads resting against one another.

They were skeletal, nothing but skin and bones.

The corpses looked as though they had starved to death, their cheekbones jutting out clearly. Beneath their thick layers of clothing, their bellies were distended and swollen, while every patch of visible skin had turned pitch-black.

Every so often, maggots could be seen crawling over skin dried stiff like a mummy’s. Maggots. The first familiar insect we had discovered in Seoul.

After seeing every imaginable horror lurking in the fog, a plump mass of maggots writhing over dead bodies was almost bearable.

And yet, something about it made simple starvation seem unlikely.

Opened cans, torn snack bags, maggot-infested rice, and disposable spoons lay scattered haphazardly in front of the corpses.

Even the usually tactless Lee Sejun must have felt how deeply wrong this was because he sucked in a sharp breath. Hamza outright clamped a hand over his gas-mask filter, apparently afraid he might scream. Only the rubber of the mask could be seen twitching slightly.

The one who boldly pressed forward was Shin Nain.

He approached the dozens of corpses and knelt in front of them. Then, as though that weren’t enough, he slung his rifle over his shoulder and pulled up his gas mask with his left hand.

What caught his attention was a container of instant rice with a disposable spoon stuck in it.

Shin Nain picked it up, sniffed it with his bare nose, then turned toward us and spoke with extreme caution.

"It hasn’t gone bad."

"What?"

"There’s no sour smell. It’s fresh.”

Now was our chance, while the pastor kept Go Ryeoha occupied.

Having reached my decision, I immediately turned toward Shin Nain, Lee Sejun, and Hamza.

"While Shin Nain uses Past Vision and Ears-branch, Stage 3 to figure out what happened, Hamza, stay right beside him in case something goes wrong. Judging by the fact that I can still feel something around my neck, she must still be keeping an eye on me. If this goes south, Lee Sejun, step in and knock her flat.”

"What will you do if she snaps your neck, Jemin-ssi?”

"What else?”

I'd have to use Eyes-branch, Stage 3 [Cognitive Dissonance], come back to life, and lose my eyes. There was no other choice.

Death marked the end of my learning. Losing my Eyes-branch magic would be truly horrifying, but not horrifying enough for me to abandon even the possibility of surviving and continuing to learn magic.

Even if it meant going blind, I would live as a wizard.

Fortunately, Pastor Park Yohan was putting on such an incredible performance that we had plenty of time.

"Have you ever heard ofchurch planting? You go out to people who haven’t heard the gospel yet and help them directly with all sorts of things. Everyone would be delighted to have someone as kindhearted as you, Ryeoha-ssi.”

"You’re a little different from how I imagined pastors. Aren’t pastors supposed to collect tithes and live like kings?”

"Oh dear, that image is all the media’s fault. The media. There are very few megachurches run like franchises. Most pastors spend their lives agonizing over how to use the offerings everyone scraped together little by little. Church planting especially is…”

Go Ryeoha was impressive as well.

She was actually listening to all of that.

I couldn’t even begin to imagine how much dense madness layered within her.

While the pastor continued his performance, the mysterious pressure resting against the back of my neck gradually weakened until, at some point, it disappeared completely.

Around then, Shin Nain and Hamza, who had been waddling around side by side in a crouch, returned to us with the results of their investigation.

-Huuff, huff.

As the sounds of breathing through our gas masks cut through the silence of the basement, Shin Nain slipped between Lee Sejun, who stood with his arms crossed, and me, who was keeping watch on Go Ryeoha.

Shin Nain had put his gas mask back on.

Judging by the ghastly look on his face, he had probably witnessed something so disgusting that he had gone somewhere out of sight to vomit.

His complexion suggested he had silently retched his guts out.

"She didn’t kill them directly.”

"Give me a clear explanation. Summarize it so it's easy to understand, and leave out the unnecessary details.”

Only after my precise request did Shin Nain finally give me a precise answer.

According to Shin Nain:

Nothing had changed when he examined the past several hours through Past Vision. The survivors in this basement had definitely died a long time ago.

However, perhaps because advancing to Ears-branch, Stage 3 had also affected Past Vision, he had been able to hear the sounds of the basement through the visions of the past.

So Shin Nain reported that, despite the worsening backlash, he had looked as far back as one day ago to the time when we first contacted Go Ryeoha.

"It was the same one day ago and several hours ago. I heard neither the generator nor anyone breathing. Except for one person.”

The underground cafeteria, its generator dead and not even a single lightbulb flickering.

Within those dark shadows, only one set of footsteps could be heard.

In front of the opened cans and containers of instant rice laid out together with spoons, before the people collapsed against the walls or one another’s shoulders, only one person remained alive, breathing and chatting away.

-Hey, apparently some soldier-ahjussis are coming. It sounds like escaping will still be difficult…but judging by their messages, they seem like a lively bunch.

Within Shin Nain’s Past Vision, a woman wandered through the dark, silent cafeteria in front of the corpses.

-We should help one another when times are hard. They all sound very spirited, so once they arrive, things should brighten up around here! And it might become easier to communicate with the military outside too. We won’t have to worry quite so much about our coordinates being exposed anymore, right?

That was apparently why the woman’s eyes had seemed to shine all the more intensely.

Barely visible as a writhing shadow in the darkness, the woman repealed herself through her voice and tone, speaking with bold, cheerful confidence.

-...What? How could I leave?! I’m staying here with all of you. We have to escape together!

As I listened to Shin Nain’s vivid report, a chill slowly began creeping over me at that part.

Hamza and Lee Sejun still didn’t seem to have realized it, merely frowning, but my vision began to tint faintly yellow.

Regardless, Shin Nain continued delivering his testimony in vivid detail.

-...Alright.

For the first time, the woman who had been chattering cheerfully before dozens of corpses in that dark underground cafeteria sniffled as she declared her resolve.

-I’ll follow the soldier-ahjussis out and meet the people outside. I’ll help the soldier-ahjussis, go out with them, and make sure I meet the people outside and convince them!

Silence settled over us for a while.

At the end of that silence, I desperately regained my composure.

First of all, Go Ryeoha wasn’t an Ears-branch wizard.

While the pastor chatted excitedly with Go Ryeoha, the rest of us Supreme Archmages had been listening to Shin Nain’s testimony. If she hadn’t noticed us talking this much, there was no chance she was an Ears-branch wizard.

An Ears-branch wizard would have eavesdropped on every word we exchanged.

But that left an even more terrifying possibility.

"...That’s all."

The instant Shin Nain finished in a heavy voice, Lee Sejun covered his cheeks with both hands.

Even though he was wearing a gas mask.

"Holy shit.”

Hamza also seemed to finally understand why [Angel’s Intuition] had judged the situation as not dangerous. He stared at us with the eyes of someone on the verge of fainting.

"D-don’t say anything… We have to play along…”

As expected of a spell that only helped him avoid the worst possible answer.

Following Lee Sejun’s example, I pointlessly covered my mouth despite wearing a gas mask and swayed my body.

All the while, I desperately worked my brain.

There were dozens of old corpses. Maggots were swarming over them. The basement didn’t even have a running generator.

There was a reason no one could live here, sane or otherwise.

"Shin Nain. What about the smell?”

"It’s overpowering. The stench of decay is severe. No one could possibly live here. Past Vision confirmed the same thing. Other than when we contacted her, she never came here.”

"So Go Ryeoha must stay somewhere else.”

Did she unconsciously know they were corpses?

Then consciously realize it too, for fuck’s sake…

I considered ambushing her and taking her remains and information, but she was the highest-stage opponent we had encountered among Seoul’s wizards and possessed more information than any of them.

She definitely had Heart-branch magic, but with the secret of those gloves still unresolved, there were too many unknown dangers.

On top of that, judging by how she had dealt with the monsters, she possessed some form of detection even if it wasn’t Ears-branch magic.

Maybe it would be different if she couldn’t read our intentions, but she was insanely good at fighting even while out of her mind. There simply was no answer. 

Even if we won, it would be as good as over if we suffered casualties.

Believing we could kill Go Ryeoha without even receiving a single fatal wound would be unbelievably stupid. Besides, we only had 300 rounds left. Were we really going to burn through all our ammunition here?

Separate from my wailing emotions, and separate from my lower half, which had gone completely cold, the intellect of Great Archmage Baek Jemin had produced a single solution.

Think, Baek Jemin. In the grand scheme of things, this wasn’t any different from what social workers do.

You bastard.

It was about time you did one good deed in this world.

After comforting myself like that, I drew in a deep breath and slowly exhaled.

-Huuuuuuuuff...

"Operation Blue Pill."

My brief words carried a great deal of meaning.

Shin Nain was the only one who stiffened and nodded in understanding. Lee Sejun and Hamza stared at me in disbelief.

"What? Jemin-ssi, what did you say?”

"Jemin-ssi…U-uhm…Angel, is this really right…?”

"Hamza. I already want to beat the shit out of you, so don’t argue.”

"Yes."

Right. The angel had said it wasn’t dangerous.

Even if she wasn’t as exceptional as Kang Areum-noonim, the fact that she could hold a normal conversation and remained friendly probably placed her among the top 1% of Seoul wizards in terms of personality.

I’d be the pathetic one if I threw a tantrum here.

"First, we leave this place and head to Go Ryeoha’s real hideout to gather information. If we can shake her off, we shake her off…If we can’t…”

If we couldn’t...

If we couldn’t, then what the fuck else could we do?

Us four Supreme Archmages looked toward the pastor and Go Ryeoha as they chatted away in perfect harmony.

"Kuuh~. Ryeoha-ssi, you're the best! Hm? Come with me right now, and I’ll give you the youth group leader armband I was going to give Baek Jemin. Just come!"

"Pastor, aren’t you thinking a little too highly of me? What will you do if I disappoint you later?”

"No! I have an incredible eye for people. Ryeoha-ssi, you’re someone our church absolutely, positively needs!”

"Wooow! Really?!”

Amid the suffocating weight pressing down on my chest, I raised my hand and gave the Supreme Archmages a signal.

"Operation Blue Pill. I’ll take the lead.”

When I turned and headed back toward the stairs, the other Supreme Archmages cautiously followed me.

Perhaps they hadn’t expected us to return so suddenly, because both the pastor and Go Ryeoha turned toward us and tilted their heads.

"What is it? I thought you were going to rest.”

"The people here seem to hate military uniforms too much. They won’t believe us even when we say we’re civilians.”

"Hmph. See? I told you no one would ever believe you were civilians dressed like that.”

"Yeah…You were right…”

-Click.

With the sound of machinery locking into place, I lowered my poncho again and covered the L-shaped light.

I didn’t know why the people here starved to death.

There was no way to tell whether they had willingly stopped eating after realizing rescue would never come or whether some kind of plague had spread among them.

However, the fact that dozens of people had been able to die before becoming trapped inside monsters’ bodies actually served as proof of Go Ryeoha’s efforts.

At the very least, it was certain that Go Ryeoha had protected them from the monsters.

For ordinary people without magic to die still looking human in a basement like this, a powerful wizard would have needed to protect them with absolute devotion.

"Is there somewhere else we can stay? Somewhere other than here?”

"Ah! Of course! But I was staying there alone, so it might be a little cramped…”

"That’s fine. The people here need to get some proper rest too.”

"Soldier-ahjussi, you’re softer than expected. Just as squishy as your blood vessels!”

Go Ryeoha’s eyes sparkled at my words, and she immediately began climbing the stairs.

Maybe it was just my imagination, but her steps seemed lighter going up than they had coming down.

"I’ll show you there right away. Just hang in there a little longer.”

"Haha. So there really are still people left in Seoul. Goodness, I should go say hello to them too.”

"Pastor."

"Hm? What is it? I just want to greet them and see whether any of our brothers or sisters attend church."

"They all seemed exhausted and were resting. How about we offer a brief prayer, then focus on speaking with Go Ryeoha-ssi?”

"Is that so? Hmm…If Baek Jemin, Sejun, and Islam had said that, I would’ve just ignored them…”

The pastor poked his head out past Shin Nain’s shoulder and glanced around, but there was no way he could properly inspect the basement when not even a single lightbulb was lit.

"What are they, children of darkness? Living with all the lights turned off. Electricity may be precious, but they’ll ruin their eyes like that. You boys keep the lights on when you get back outside.”

"Yes.”

"Tsk. Since Nain said so…Almighty Lord God, may Your kingdom and power be with everyone gathered here. Don’t let them feel fear within Your embrace. Amen.”

The pastor turned away sounding disappointed, while the rest of us finally breathed a sigh of relief.

-Step, step.

The sounds of combat boots struck the stairs once more.

Go Ryeoha led the way, chattering cheerfully, while the pastor laughed warmly and said she was just like a daughter to him.

The 4 Supreme Archmages following behind them couldn’t bring ourselves to briskly stride upward. We kept glancing toward the bottom of the stairs.

Hamza, gripped by fear, was the first to turn away. Lee Sejun was next, shaking his head as he withdrew his gaze.

Only Shin Nain remained with one foot on the first step, staring deep into the basement for a long, long time.

He turned around only after noticing me watching him.

His prayer consisted of a single word.

"Amen."

I patted Shin Nain once on the shoulder, then climbed the stairs beside him at the very rear.

We would not torment the dead for the sake of our curiosity.