Chapter 78: Preparing to Escape

[Translator – Aren]

Once, Seoul, a metropolis where nearly 10 million people lived, was a place where the boundary between day and night had grown faint.

Streetlights illuminated the roads, people could stroll to a convenience store without a second thought, and whenever you opened a delivery app on your smartphone, countless restaurants offering delivery around the clock were waiting.

That was what surprised me most when I happened to visit a friend’s house there, having grown up in a small provincial city in Gyeonggi. The nights in Seoul and the provinces were completely different.

In the provinces, the streetlights along deserted roads would begin switching off around 10. The cars racing along the streets would gradually thin out until there were none left, and even obnoxious drunk customers would drag themselves home once midnight passed.

I still vividly remembered heading to Seoul Station to return home the next morning while the freezing dawn dew settled around me.

I remember resting my chin on my hand in my train seat and staring through the window at the high-rise buildings and roads packed with cars.

The heart and mind of the Republic of Korea. A light that never went out and could never be allowed to go out.

For better or worse, the symbol of the nation.

That was Seoul.

The fall of that great metropolis revealed itself in the distinction between day and night.

Once the sun set, the city beneath the dense fog looked like the remains of an undersea civilization sunken deep into a heavy, frigid abyss.

The oppressive moisture, thick enough to make me wonder whether I was breathing through gills, and the beads of dew running down the surface of my poncho created the illusion.

-Huuuff—

I let out a sigh through the filter of my gas mask and headed into the basement of the New Engineering Building.

I had finished checking the time. I had remained cautious just in case, but Go Ryeoha had been right when she said the area around Konkuk University campus was safe.

I could barely hear any monsters groaning or screaming, and none of them came closer.

The problem was that we had a ticking time bomb worse than any monster.

When I returned to the laboratory, I saw the Supreme Archmages laying out sleeping bags after moving the equipment to one side.

"Everyone, at least wash your faces with wet wipes."

"Oh, thank you. Hamza-ssi, you're really as prepared as ever.”

"Our little Muslim friend here is, what do you call it…an all-rounder."

Hamza hauled wet wipes and other supplies out of his backpack and handed them around. Lee Sejun thanked him honestly while wiping his face. Shin Nain silently prayed before accepting one, while Pastor Park Yohan laughed as though he had just offered a compliment.

Among them, Shin Nain noticed me and opened his eyes into a narrow squint.

“Jemin-ssi has returned.”

"Oh, Baek Jemin. How is it outside?”

"It’s safe. Just as Master said."

When I removed my gas mask and sighed, Go Ryeoha called out from the other side.

"Hey now, Hubae-nim. Of course, I keep the area around the people safe!”

"Are you really going to share the room with us?”

Including me, there were five guys here, but Go Ryeoha showed no intention of moving to another room.

She had divided the space using the equipment and workbenches pushed aside as makeshift partitions, then neatly stacked her belongings inside the private area she had prepared herself. She looked exactly like someone preparing to move house.

The problem was that she drifted in and out of madness, so sometimes common sense worked on her and sometimes it did not.

Go Ryeoha blinked her large eyes at my question, then asked as though I were the strange one.

"Isn’t it right for fellow wizards to stay together so no one can get up to anything? This building is so large that if we spread out, someone could end up in danger.”

"There’s a saying that boys and girls should not sit together after the age of 7. I think you’re being far too defenseless, Master.”

"Still, if I’m going to teach you various things, Hubae-nim, and protect you and the others when you’re in danger, wouldn’t this arrangement be best…?”

Go Ryeoha. This woman was not easy to deal with.

She must have known she was pretty even back when the world was still normal.

She had the eyes of a puppy sitting under the eaves after getting drenched in the rain, staring this way with bright, innocent eyes.

Only now did I understand why Lee Sejun ground his teeth so fiercely whenever Go Ryeoha was involved.

That kind of charm was only possible for someone raised with enough love to believe they could be loved by anyone.

When I, Baek Jemin, tried giving my father that same look at 22 while asking him to buy me a new computer instead of getting a job, I got the shit beaten out of me. Compared with that, Go Ryeoha’s talent was truly overwhelming.

Pastor Park Yohan had already fallen completely for those eyes and turned into a total yes-man.

"Hey! Baek Jemin! Don’t you know it’s a gentleman’s duty to protect a lady? Hm? In this day and age, don’t just cling to that whole boys-and-girls-must-sit-apart nonsense. As a gentleman, you should have some manners, you hear? Manners.”

"Pastor."

It seemed to me that if we were really going to act like gentlemen, all of us should leave, but apparently the definition of a gentleman in the pastor’s mind seemed a little different.

"Being willing to set aside even your own opinion in order to respect the feelings and intentions of a young lady who has endured such a difficult life. That’s the true Christian attitude of service, isn’t it?”

The urge to snap back at him, asking if he meant I should snap off my dick and set it aside along with my opinion.

Was the pastor so dried up that he couldn’t understand the suffering of young men who had fought for their lives for over a week and finally reached somewhere safe to rest? and now had to sleep beside a woman?

I, Baek Jemin, was not some desireless log. I was a human being enduring this through cold reason and unshakable moral discipline!

"Ahem! Hmm! Ahehem!"

The sudden coughing came from Shin Nain.

He shot a sidelong, skeptical glance at me, Go Ryeoha, and the pastor, clicked his tongue, and spoke.

"Pastor. Jemin-ssi does not attend church, so unlike our faithful brothers, he cannot easily cast aside the devil’s whispers within his heart."

"Huh? Nain, what kind of nonsense are you suddenly…Aah. Tsk, tsk, tsk.”

The pastor looked me up and down with utter contempt, clicked his tongue, and waved me away.

"Fine. You leave, you little punk. Good grief.”

Never in my life had I felt so wronged.

"Pastor, let me be clear. I’m not the strange one here. Hey, Hamza. Come outside with me. You’re normal, right?”

"I’m fine. Ryeoha-ssi isn’t my type.”

Hamza, who I thought would understand me best among the Supreme Archmages, drew a firm line.

I felt betrayed, but after looking into his eyes, I soon understood.

Hamza still wanted to run at the first opportunity. There was no way he would embrace the bomb called Go Ryeoha and go down with her.

"Nain-ssi?”

"You may take a believer’s vow lightly, Jemin-ssi, but I have sworn to preserve my chastity until marriage.”

"Pastor!”

"Baek Jemin…You little punk, this is pathetic. How could I harbor impure thoughts toward a girl young enough to be my daughter? Get out! Take your things and come back once you’ve cooled off.”

"Jemin-ssi, aren’t you going to ask me?”

I let out a deep sigh and was forced to acknowledge just how peculiar every member of the Supreme Archmages was.

This time, I was the one who had to back down.

As the only two-eyed man standing among a crowd of one-eyed people, even if I felt wronged, the proper thing for a cultured democratic citizen to do was follow the majority vote. As long as I remained certain that I was right and everyone else was wrong, that was enough.

There was nothing bad about sleeping apart from Go Ryeoha anyway, so I packed my backpack and decided to sleep in the room beside the laboratory that had been used as a storage area.

"Jemin-ssi, you should ask me too!”

"Shut the fuck up.”

It seemed Lee Sejun’s need for recognition was growing stronger by the day.

Could it be a penalty of Heart-branch, Stage 3? The longer he replaced his desires through magic, the stronger the backlash became?

As I arrived at that perfectly reasonable conclusion, I quickly began packing my things.

Then I heard something like a bolt from the blue.

"It would be dangerous for you to go alone, Hubae-nim, so I’ll come with you.”

"Oh dear, what are you saying, Ryeoha-ssi? This fellow is leaving because he’s harboring impure thoughts.”

"No. Someone needs to stand watch, right? You’ve traveled a long way and must be exhausted, so it makes sense for me to take the role since I’m still full of energy. I’m also worried about sending our Hubae-nim off alone. And since you call me Master, I want to look after you a little more, Hubae-nim.”

Go Ryeoha smiled brightly with pride and thrust out her chest.

Some people might have felt their hearts flutter at the sight, but I abruptly recalled Shin Nain’s warning.

[Mad people are mad precisely because they are incapable of making such objective judgments.]

I immediately held out my palm and cut Go Ryeoha off.

"Stop.”

What reason could I give to repel that shallow yet relentless madness of hers?

I needed something everyone would accept.

A reason that would ensure no one could interfere with my time alone or, at the very least, keep Go Ryeoha from following me.

In that urgent moment, I desperately needed one indisputable justification powerful enough to silence every argument and excuse…

I squeezed my eyes shut and asked myself.

Baek Jemin. How much of yourself can you cast aside in order to become a Great Archmage?

The answer came out of my mouth.

"I’m going out to drain some pus from my lower body.”

*t*t*

April 23rd, 2028, 8:43 AM.

Day 9 of our expedition.

Lee Sejun was placed in charge of communicating with the outside.

Even though he had been a combat officer, he had remained in the military most recently, so he was familiar with military radio procedure and knew the most about the military’s protocol.

We began attempting communication more than 30 minutes after the bombardment ended. Naturally, we had to climb all the way to the 10th-floor rooftop and repeated the same, often futile, process.

Even though I had enchanted the tin-can-like 999K with [Best], it still had plenty of trouble transmitting and receiving.

-Beeeeep—.

Whenever the noisy signal tone sounded, Lee Sejun picked up the receiver without fail and responded.

[Konkuk, this is Seongnam. Report the survivors’ condition. Over.]

"Seongnam, this is Konkuk. Reading you. All survivors are in good condition. Over."

[This is Seongnam. Provide your list of required supplies. Over.]

"This is Konkuk. Ammunition expenditure severe. Requesting at least 2000 rounds, emergency medical supplies, high-calorie combat rations, and light meals. Requesting water purification tablets. Over."

[Reading you. Precise drop impossible due to poor visibility. Please understand. Drop scheduled within 2 days. Good Luck. Over.]

Lee Sejung and I finally breathed sighs of relief as we listened to the exchange about the Korean Armed Forces’ supplies in front of the 999K.

"This should take care of our immediate ammunition problem.”

"Don’t you need to tell them what caliber?”

"The AR-15 you’re using is chambered in 5.56 mm, Jemin-ssi. We’re all using K2 variants, and those are all 5.56 mm too, so there’s no need. This is why standardizing supplies is best.”

"What about that revolver of yours? Don’t you need ammunition for that massive thing?”

"It’s not like that’s the only thing I’m going to shoot.”

Apparently, once our ammunition was replenished, Lee Sejun intended to start using a gun again.

He said crushing monsters with his bloody fists wasn’t exactly a pleasant experience. Close combat with monsters was clearly best avoided whenever possible, so I agreed.

When fighting with Eyes-branch, Stage 2 at 100% and distorting time, shooting would probably offer greater killing power than going out of my way to swing a blade myself.

"If we’re done, let’s go coat those 300 rounds we have left in blood.”

"Ah~ Aren’t we going to get metal poisoning?”

The two of us shouldered the radio and descended the stairs.

It was worth mentioning that there was a perfectly good reason Lee Sejun and I had formed a duo without him going on about his TS nonsense for once.

When we descended all 10 floors and returned to the basement, everyone who saw me looked either awkward or openly contemptuous. Only the pastor laughed as though he found the whole thing hilarious.

The pastor’s lips twitched with a sly grin as he spoke.

"Hey, wanker Baek Jemin. You little punk, did you pray for the sin you committed against God? You do know masturbation is a sin, right?”

What I had lost was the title of Great Archmage.

But knowing that this was the equivalent exchange spoken of in mysticism, I was able to smile humbly.

Maintaining nothing but silence and a smile, I sat down with Lee Sejun. We removed the loaded magazines again, cut our right hands with a knife, and began coating the ammunition one round at a time.

Sitting across from one another, Lee Sejun and I silently focused on creating anti-monster rounds with Hand-branch, Stage 1 [Blood of the Right Hand].

"Jemin-ssi.”

"Yeah."

"I think you and I are the type of people who live life on hard mode.”

"Seems that way."

People were not always made up solely of their worst qualities.

Feeling a strange sense of kinship, Lee Sejun and I continued working in silence.

Then Go Ryeoha slowly crept closer and subtly held out her right hand.

"Um…Hubae-nim. And your friend. I’ll help too.”

When neither of us said anything, Go Ryeoha went over to the workbench, picked up a knife she had scrubbed clean with one of the antibacterial wet wipes Hamza had brought, and sat beside us.

She lightly cut her right hand and began applying [Blood of the Right Hand] to the rounds we had yet to finish.

Me, Go Ryeoha, and Lee Sejun.

We continued like that for quite a while.

"Ahaha…Hubaenim, and friend. Excuse me for a moment.”

After Go Ryeoha left for the bathroom with an awkward smile, Lee Sejun stared straight at me and spoke.

"Jemin-ssi. I think she’s latched onto you.”

Go Ryeoha. She was not easy to shake.

Was even the title of wanker not enough to drive her away?

I began to feel a sense of duty to hand Go Ryeoha over to the military outside as soon as possible.

A sense of duty to send her out first, dump her on some competent counselor, and save her life.

We spent the rest of that day inspecting our equipment and re-enchanting gear that had already been enchanted with [Blood of the Right Hand] and [Blood of the Left Hand].

Something noteworthy happened the following day.

April 24th, 2028, 11:31 AM.

Day 10 of our expedition.

The thunderous roar of an aircraft approached, accompanied by the overlapping rattle of autocannon fire.

Amid the tearing of flesh and the screams forced from the vocal cords of humanoid monsters, the 999K on the rooftop relayed a transmission from the Korean Armed Forces.

[Konkuk, this is Seongnam. No acknowledgement required. Drop complete. Over.]

As the sound of the aircraft gradually faded into the distance, Lee Sejun and I, standing on the rooftop, stared at each other.

"So where did they drop it?”

"I think they expect us to find it ourselves.”

"Hmm~!"

Now this finally felt like our country’s military.

Still, it wasn’t difficult to understand.

With monsters rampaging inside the fog, they had to release the package from several kilometers above the ground without being able to see where it would land.

And we hadn’t requested just one or two things. We had asked for more than 2000 rounds of ammunition, so the package had to be fairly heavy.

They couldn’t exactly pull off the insane stunt of flying at low altitude over a fog-covered city, so it made sense that they couldn’t give us a precise drop point. They may also have realized that other survivor groups inside Seoul were intercepting the transmissions.

In any case, we couldn’t simply let 2000 rounds of ammunition vanish into thin air, so a search party was formed.

Me, Lee Sejun, and the pastor.

Hamza and Shin Nain would remain behind with Go Ryeoha.

Hamza apparently hated the idea of staying with her so much that he called me aside and even clung to my trouser leg.

"Jemin-ssi, I promise I won’t call you a wanker, so please take me with you…! I even prayed to Allah!”

"I’ve been to Catholic churches, Protestant churches, and Buddhist temples, but never a mosque, so Allah won’t work on me.”

In any case, there was a reason behind the personnel selection.

My injured eye was gradually recovering, restoring my depth perception and allowing me to move without difficulty. Lee Sejun was needed to carry the supplies, while the pastor would serve as a kind of good-luck charm and help with the search.

Thanks to that, we managed to find the drop, something we never would have located without absurd luck, quite quickly.

Beyond the thin fog, where visibility stretched to around 200m, we saw a large parachute and a heavy metal crate gently bobbing on the surface of the lake.

"Wow, those crazy bastards dropped it in the lake.”

"At least it stands out."

"Haah~ Looks like there’s only one man here who can drag that thing back.”

Naturally, the pastor and I both turned our gazes toward the same person.

Lee Sejun.

As obnoxious and deranged as he often was, he was an all-purpose talent who could be used in practically any situation.

A little while later, Lee Sejun dragged the metal crate all the way back to us while completely naked.

"Huff, haaah… You're not seriously expecting me to drag this all the way down to the basement where we’re staying, are you?”

"Check whether the waterproofing held up, then leave it in front of the building.”

"Jemin and I can split Sejun’s clothes and equipment between us.”

Rather than carrying a metal crate that looked like it weighed several hundred kilograms, splitting up the things Lee Sejun normally carried was clearly the better choice.

Thanks to Lee Sejun’s tremendous contribution, we safely recovered the dropped supplies and decided to inspect the ammunition first.

We Supreme Archmages carried the items into the laboratory one by one and examined their condition, paying especially close attention to whether the bullets had gotten wet.

"Thanks to the waterproof coating and the soft padding inside, quite a lot of the actual supplies are intact, even if the packaging looks damaged.”

Still shirtless, Lee Sejun heaved the lid open with a grunt and inspected the ammunition.

True to his background as a former staff sergeant, Lee Sejun seemed able to understand everything at a glance, unlike us genuine civilians.

The ammunition crate contained 4 metal ammo cans.

Since the K2 rifles used by our country fired 5.56 mm rounds, each ammo can probably held 800 rounds. That meant they had sent us around 3200 rounds. Considerably more than the 2000 we had requested.

As Shin Nain carried one of the ammo cans over to Lee Sejun, he spoke.

"This one won’t do. The moisture wasn’t properly controlled in this can.”

"The ammunition isn’t all in perfect condition. Did they pull whatever stock they could find in a hurry?”

As Lee Sejun stroked his beard in thought, the pastor nodded with an unusually serious expression.

"The monsters have been moving toward the outskirts of Seoul throughout the past week we’ve been here, so their ammunition expenditure must have increased. Besides, the sky is crawling with monsters as well. There was bound to be a limited window for them to break through all that and deliver this to us. Let’s be grateful for what they managed to send and thank the Lord and soldiers working so hard on our behalf.”

While most of the Supreme Archmages inspected the equipment and supplies, I listened to the information Go Ryeoha had promised to share about unidentified species.

"Among Seoul wizards, monsters are broadly divided into 2 categories. Those that can be resisted, and those that cannot. The former include Mimics and Autonomous Spine Constructs. The latter refers to things like the Yellow Gate Monster nesting in Lotte Tower.”

"Are any of the latter known, Master?”

"There are a few, though the stories are practically superstition. That’s why they’re classified as unidentified species.”

Go Ryeoha told me about monsters regarded as little more than urban legends or ghost stories even among Seoul wizards.

First. The Transparent Veil.

It would gently descend like a thin, wide curtain. Because it was so thin and transparent, its victims didn’t realize they were being devoured by a monster before they were sucked dry in an instant, leaving no trace behind.

After hearing the story, I wondered whether it might be a subspecies of the Human-skin Jellyfish. Their ecologies sounded similar.

Considering that even Amalgams had a strangely named subspecies called Bloodcord Delta, it seemed plausible.

Could a Human-skin Jellyfish become this monster after devouring a wizard?

It was a rather interesting theory.

"The second is a voice crying that it’s hungry.”

"Oh."

According to Go Ryeoha’s explanation, the monster known as the Voice Crying from Hunger sounded like something straight out of an urban legend.

Whenever the fog thinned and sunlight seemed ready to break through, a voice could be heard freely roaming through the alleys of the city. Although it constantly devoured things, it remained hungry and consumed anything it judged edible.

It was a human voice, yet at the same time, it was not.

It hunted down anyone who heard it and pursued them to the very end.

Always soaked with saliva and tears, it sobbed from an insatiable hunger, devouring anyone who listened to its lament and making them sob along with it.

"Most people only heard the sound. Apparently, no wizard has actually seen it. No one moves around when the fog is thin or has cleared, after all. Have you ever heard it?”

"No. What we saw was Odok, though.”

"Odok? That’s such a cute name!”

"Right?"

Our Odok knew to come slowly and read the room when we fed it, so it was clearly nothing like the thing from that urban legend.

Besides, it had already taken a bomb straight from the sky and crossed over to the other side, so we would never meet it again.

Even so-called urban legends were ultimately nothing more than urban legends that disappeared once you dropped a bomb on them.

And at last, the moment arrived.

April 25th, 2028, 9:01 AM.

Day 11 of our expedition.

We Supreme Archmages had completed every preparation for the journey to dump the bomb known as Go Ryeoha onto the Korean Armed Forces.