Chapter 85: Top-Secret Clearance

[Translator – Aren]

The bunker door opened, and stars poured inside.

Had I still been a soldier, the overwhelming meteor shower would have stopped my heart.

One star was the bare minimum.

Captain Kim Howoon looked almost pitiful, standing alone with diamonds on his insignia amid all those glittering stars.

One particularly noteworthy detail was that every last one of them had pulled up their masks and put on sunglasses to conceal their faces.

Among them, the man wearing four stars in a vertical row was the first to remove his mask and push his sunglasses.

The four-star man was a white Westerner with graying blond hair and a stern appearance.

The white ahjussi looked over us Supreme Archmages, who had not even managed to sit properly and were now awkwardly hovering in place, unsure whether we were supposed to stand. He let out a faint chuckle and turned toward Captain Kim Howoon.

I had wondered why Captain Kim Howoon was here, but apparently he was serving as the interpreter.

Captain Kim Howoon gave us a flustered look from above his prominent cheekbones and said,

"Um, the general says he should have had you fed and washed before meeting you.”

At that, all of us Supreme Archmages stole glances at one another.

They called him a general, but between his mischievous expression and his more easygoing demeanor than expected, he seemed surprisingly approachable. This was where Shin Nain’s Ears-branch magic shone. Apparently grasping the meaning more intuitively than the flustered Captain Kim Howoon, Shin Nain added an explanation.

"He said they could’ve just blasted us once with a fire hose.”

"It seems like Captain Kim preserved the dignity of the American general for him.”

Pastor Park Yohan nodded and smiled warmly.

Captain Kim Howoon frowned slightly and began gauging the generals’ reactions. In particular, he seemed hesitant over whether he should relay the pastor’s remark to General McKinsey.

But when caught between wondering whether he should do something or shouldn’t, Captain Howoon chose the former.

If one wondered whether one should do something, then one should do it. That was one of the useful ways of thinking the military taught men.

A moment later, Captain Kim Howoon said something in English, to which General McKinsey’s eyebrows twisted.

That was when the two-star general standing beside him pulled down his mask and removed his sunglasses.

The two-star general was Korean.

Apparently feeling hot, he removed his cap and fanned himself with it, revealing a neatly trimmed crew cut underneath. His forehead had receded slightly, but not enough to call it baldness.

A moment later, the Korean major general put his cap back on, pulled a handkerchief from an inner pocket, and wiped his eyes and face.

Then he drew out a pentagram necklace hidden beneath his shirt and spoke to Captain Kim Howoon in a businesslike tone.

"Captain Kim. You confirmed that protection doesn’t work without this symbol, correct? Give General McKinsey a necklace.”

"Yes, sir!”

Captain Kim Howoon handed General McKinsey one of the pentagram necklaces he had prepared in advance.

Curious about how effective the pentagram necklace actually was, I asked Shin Nain again.

"Nutjob, how is it? Can you still hear them?”

"It has been reduced significantly. Now it sounds like someone whispering from far away with their words blurred together, so it’s difficult to make out properly.”

General McKinsey put on the pentagram necklace he had been given, looking incredibly reluctant.

When General McKinsey pursed his lips and looked around at the other generals, they too began pulling down their masks and removing their sunglasses one by one, revealing their faces.

This time, instead of Captain Kim Howoon, the tidy, businesslike Korean two-star general looked us over and began to speak.

"Pleased to meet you, members of the civilian operational unit Aphorism. My name is Jeon Minho, and I serve as commander of the Joint Alteration Operations Group under the Reality Survival Command. You can think of me as the person who will be dealing with you most often in practical terms.”

Major General Jeon Minho gestured with his eyes toward the various generals revealing their faces and personally introducing them one by one.

"The gentleman with the scar beside his mouth is Lieutenant General Royce Candler, who has become the second commander of the Reality Survival Command.”

Lieutenant General Royce Candler was a bald Black man with kindly, sparkling eyes.

Perhaps realizing that his scar had been mentioned, Lieutenant General Royce touched the scar beside his mouth with his left hand, then gave us an awkward smile and waved dismissively. It seemed he had spent a long time fighting against certain prejudices.

"This is Brigadier General Thatcher Engel, who serves as chief of staff of the Joint Alteration Operations Group.”

Brigadier General Thatcher Engel was a white man with black hair and the picture of a disciplined, exemplary soldier. He was the very stereotype that came to mind when one imagined a soldier.

Except for the way his slightly drooping eyelids made him look kind of sleepy.

Apparently, he knew that he looked sleepy as well.

Noticing our stares, Brigadier General Engel gave us a powerful, energetic salute.

-Snap!

Once the introductions were finished, Major General Jeon Minho looked around the bunker, sighed, and gestured toward Captain Kim Howoon.

"Captain Kim. I understand we came here in a hurry, so just bring enough chairs for the generals and keep the others from entering. You know this needs to remain classified, right?”

"Y-yes, sir!”

While Captain Kim Howoon hurried out of the bunker, General McKinsey strode toward us and extended his hand.

Even after seeing that, none of us felt shameless enough to remain awkwardly seated.

Among us Supreme Archmages, who hurriedly rose to our feet, Pastor Park Yohan was the first to clasp General McKinsey’s hand.

"My goodness, I never thought I’d get to shake a general’s hand.”

When Pastor Park Yohan shook his hand in an emotional voice, General McKinsey vigorously pumped it up and down.

The pastor was only released after McKinsey finished pounding him on the shoulder hard enough to make loud thud sounds.

He was so damn strong that tears welled in the eyes of the pastor, who had been so moved moments earlier.

"Oh my..."

I could clearly read the pastor’s expression. He wanted to curse his lungs out, but the other man’s status left him no choice but to swallow it down.

Lee Sejun was next.

Here, Lee Sejun displayed some quick wit by snapping into a rigid posture and saluting crisply.

General McKinsey, who had been holding out his hand, blinked, then returned the salute with a laugh.

-Snap!

Of course, there were no exceptions.

The instant Lee Sejun lowered his salute, General McKinsey mercilessly seized his hand and shook it.

He even used only extremely simple and straightforward words for those of us who could not properly speak English.

"Good job! Well done!”

"Thank you!”

Lee Sejun was a Heart-branch wizard, so it probably didn’t hurt him, but I was different.

The moment General McKinsey stood before me, I saluted.

A salute I had absolutely no intention of lowering.

"Loyalty!”

General McKinsey smiled and said some bullshit in English.

Did it work?

"Good posture. But you're no soldier – you're a civilian, right?"

I had definitely avoided the handshake.

Instead, a hand even rougher and more forceful than the one that had struck the pastor’s shoulder earlier came crashing down against my shoulder and back. It was an intensely affectionate gesture, on the level of getting smacked on the back by your mother.

I had expected a cute little pat, pat sound, but the touch of a military general had quite the sting to it.

-Wham!

"Agh!”

General McKinsey burst into laughter before moving to Shin Nain and Hamza.

Shin Nain chose to grit his teeth and endure it, while Hamza responded by hopping up and down. Every time they shook hands, he jumped and made an enormous fuss over how much it hurt.

"It hurts! It hurts! Agh!”

"Oh, sorry.”

Even General McKinsey could not withstand Hamza’s theatrics and backed off.

That bastard Hamza really was clever.

Meanwhile, Shin Nain had squeezed his eyes shut and was forcibly enduring it, his lips trembling.

Then a thought suddenly occurred to me.

I approached Hamza, who was still exaggerating his pain, and quietly asked,

"Come to think of it, you seem like you’d be insanely good at English, too. Why aren’t you speaking it?”

"Jemin-ssi, people like cats and dogs because they can’t speak human language. And safety doesn’t mean being able to endure while walking through danger. It means never going near danger in the first place.”

"Ah."

Fortunately, unlike General McKinsey, the other generals didn’t fool around and instead offered us a polite handshake.

Lieutenant General Royce had apparently learned some Korean. He even spoke to me in a friendly tone while shaking my hand.

"I received a report. Mister Baek. You like Spam?”

"Huh? Yes, I do.”

"I like kimchi too. Kimchi Spam. Look forward to it.”

The sleepy-looking, black-haired Brigadier General Thatcher silently offered me a handshake with a smile.

He didn’t speak Korean very well and also seemed quiet by nature, so he didn’t bother praising me aloud.

Instead, he gave my hand a short, firm shake, slowly nodded, and moved on.

The last person I shook hands with was the businesslike, tidy-looking Major General Jeon Minho.

The moment he clasped my hand, he finally spoke in a voice that trembled faintly with exhaustion.

"I’m sorry that we can’t only bring good news to those who voluntarily stood at the forefront of this struggle. And thank you.”

Major General Jeon took my hand in both of his and shook it.

"The Korean-US Combined Command and the Reality Survival Command have extremely high expectations for Aphorism’s experience and the information you acquired. I believe the people gathered here are proof of that. We sincerely ask for your cooperation.”

Captain Kim Howoon returned soon afterward.

It was painful to watch him repeatedly travel in and out of the bunker alone because he couldn’t order anyone else to help, carrying in a folding table, chairs, drinks in paper cups, and armfuls of other supplies, but there was no way for us to stop him.

Once everything had been arranged, the briefing on the information secured by us Supreme Archmages began.

The American generals in particular questioned us in exhaustive detail through Captain Kim Howoon and Major General Jeon Minho, so the explanation dragged on at length, but briefly summarized, it went as follows:

1. Knowledge concerning the Alteration-type magic system. Fragmentary information regarding the existence of Upright and Inverted forms, as well as the belief that the five branches and five stages represented the limits of advancement.

2. The existence of the 66-Society, the spell phones they used, and the influence they wielded over survivor groups.

3. The countless previously unknown monsters we had encountered.

However, what provoked the most intense reaction was the fourth point. The truth about the fog.

The moment Major General Jeon Minho heard our testimony, he became so shaken that his neat expression twisted as he questioned us again.

"The fog is favorable toward humanity? You mean the fog suppresses the monsters?”

Faced with that question, Pastor Park Yohan spoke with far greater composure than usual.

"I understand how that sounds. I can’t swear it in the name of my Lord, but I can swear upon the name and life of Park Yohan. You must have seen us crossing Olympic Bridge. That was when we learned it too. I can say with certainty that the monsters grow stronger without the fog.”

Even Lee Sejun, who usually critically eyed the pastor, joined him this time.

"You gentlemen with stars must have seen the monsters flying over Seoul too, right? I saw several fighter jets go down. The monster that brought them down was something we never encountered while we were inside the fog. We’ve been calling it Sky Centipede for convenience, but even after spending 11 days in Seoul, we never once saw one inside the fog.”

"Sejun-ssi is correct. The monsters that appeared outside the fog were unquestionably more dangerous. In addition, the fact that Holy Alteration Battle Arts are easier to perform inside the fog should already have been demonstrated through other crusaders.”

"There are also things called Holy Alteration Battle Arts?”

Major General Jeon Minho looked confused by Shin Nain’s nonsense, so I stepped in.

"That guy is, well, such a devout fanatic bastard that he can’t accept magic as magic and insists on calling it Holy Alteration Battle Arts.”

"Hmm. I’ll bear that in mind."

In any case, once they had secured the additional testimony, countless words passed between the generals.

Captain Kim Howoon, serving as interpreter, repeatedly glanced toward us with a face that had gone deathly pale as he listened to their discussion.

The generals kicked up a fuss across the folding table, while we Supreme Archmages merely stole glances at one another and waited for their conclusion.

Even General McKinsey, who had been so playful earlier, repeatedly rubbed his clean-shaven jaw as he considered the matter seriously.

After roughly 10 minutes had passed, Major General Jeon Minho slowly turned toward us with a complicated look in his eyes.

"I will summarize the report. Civilian operational unit Aphorism, despite knowing that Korean soldiers deployed alongside you had gone missing, you decided not to retreat and continued the operation. You then made contact with local survivors in Seoul and used a communications medium called a spell phone to contact individuals known as the 66-Society. Is that correct?”

"Yes. Go Ryeoha-ssi, the survivor who came with us, has a spell phone too. Jemin-ssi should have one as well."

"The reduced local and Baek Jemin-ssi may possess spell phones…Understood.”

Seeing Hamza, who had been shrinking into himself earlier, answer so calmly felt strangely novel.

But I had the peculiar feeling that we had overlooked the most important part.

That was when realization struck me.

Why had they allowed Go Ryeoha to keep her spell phone?

Monk Cheonghwi had told me to throw away the spell phone I found at Jangji Station, yet he had left Go Ryeoha’s untouched. The two actions clearly contradicted each other.

The problem was that I could no longer avoid testifying about it.

The opportunity to gloss over the matter without mentioning the truth about the Han River had disappeared.

Either I had to clearly state my intent or limit my account to the fact that I simply threw the phone away because I was told to.

But if I chose the latter option, I would inevitably be asked why I had followed his order.

The most certain option was to recount exactly what I had witnessed.

Doing so would make it easier to dispel unnecessary suspicion, provide the military with rational information, and secure my freedom and rights. I could feel a subtle push disguised as the rational choice.

As though it wanted me to speak.

The thought that the 66-Society might be guiding my actions left me slightly uneasy, but even so, I could no longer hide it from all the eyes fixed on me.

"I threw the spell phone I had into the Han River.”

"Why? Baek Jemin, why would you throw it away?!”

While the pastor widened his eyes and made a fuss, I had no choice but to explain what happened.

Odok—the human starfish chasing us, and the protective symbols breaking one by one. Monk Cheonghwi’s message delivered through the spell phone. The monsters that swarmed after the spell phone once I threw it in and the deep sea that contained those countless monsters.

The countless monsters were rolling their eyes and swimming after the single ray of light from the spell phone as it sank into the lightless depths.

And the enormous eel-like something that pulsed near the wreckage of a fallen fighter jet after detecting the light.

"When I threw the spell phone, its screen lit up, and the Han River’s true form appeared. I saw this piercingly cold, clear, lightless deep sea glitter brightly in the spell phone’s light, and there were monsters..."

I had clearly intended to organize everything and present it elegantly, yet my words fell apart on their own.

What I had seen remained vivid in my mind, but I couldn’t refine it into speech or language.

Frustrated, I asked Captain Kim Howoon for a pen and paper. Yet even after receiving a small pad of sticky notes and a pen, the result was the same.

[When I threw the spell phone, monsters were swimming in a glittering deep sea, and a transparent eel was writhing…]

Only after writing the sentence with its ending trailing off did I realize it.

The truth beneath that surface had shown me something too overwhelming.

So overwhelming that merely recalling it inside my mind pressed down upon my body as though I were being crushed beneath an industrial press.

Even now, despite possessing a clear memory and being filled with the will and reason necessary to write, my tongue loosened on its own and my hand sagged without my control.

Several kilometers below, at the farthest edge of that empty, transparent deep sea where a single point of light could illuminate everything, the enormous eel-like something waiting there was pulsing once again.

Was I imagining it? Had it actually done that in my memory?

Instinctively, I knew the answer was no.

This was something different from imagination or memory.

The enormous eel that had pulsed in response to a single point of light…

A chilling realization swept over me.

Light.

Had it truly been reacting to the light?

"Jemin-ssi? Baek Jemin-ssi?”

Without hesitation, I threw the pen away.

I crumpled and tore the sticky note apart in one motion, then desperately forced myself to think only pleasant thoughts.

Pleasant thoughts, pleasant thoughts, pleasant thoughts…

I become a Great Archmage and receive praise from everyone.

Pleasant thoughts, pleasant thoughts…

I awaken to the omnipotence of magic and become a one-man army capable of swatting nuclear bombs away.

Pleasant thoughts...

Once I become the number 1 Great Archmage, should I just rule the world?

I could even write into the constitution that everyone had to praise me.

Whenever people saw me, they would be legally required to smile, applaud, and cheer.

Long live the Great Archmage Baek Jemin.

Since everyone was bound to smile at least once someday anyway, wouldn’t it be better for everyone if they smiled while praising the Great Archmage?

The vision of Great Archmage Baek Jemin guaranteeing humanity a bright and lively future had now become crystal clear.

At that moment, a heavy grip clamped down on the back of my neck.

-Press!

"Jemin-ssi, you seemed to really enjoy that squish, squish thing. Mind if I do it too?”

Lee Sejun had seized me firmly by the nape.

I felt another kind of chill.

"Lee Sejun, you damn bastard. Take your hand off me.”

"Let’s hear why you suddenly started acting like that first. Can’t you see everyone’s freaked out.”

Only then did I notice the generals watching me warily and the Supreme Archmages looking at me with expressions that said, ‘There he goes again.’

"Did Baek Jemin-ssi’s mental health deteriorate significantly while he was in Seoul?”

"Baek Jemin has always been like that. He’s the kind of guy who jumped in because he wanted to learn magic, so please understand.”

"Jemin-ssi, that was dangerous. You did well.”

"No. Jemin-ssi is someone who shot his own left hand back at Suwon Station. In order to use Holy Alteration Battle Arts, that is. His aptitude as a crusader is exceptional, but when it comes to the sensibilities required for ordinary life, he’s somewhat…lacking.”

When Shin Nain answered Major General Jeon Minho’s question, murmuring spread among the generals.

Perhaps because this was an informal meeting, interjections like “Holy shit” and “Bloody Hell” were mixed in as well.

The commotion continued for a while, but once Lee Sejun released the back of my neck and returned to his place, Major General Jeon Minho spoke calmly.

"I’ll be frank with you.”

Major General Jeon Minho looked over us Supreme Archmages and gestured toward Captain Kim Howoon.

At the signal, Captain Kim hurried over carrying a stack of papers and handed one sheet to each of us. They were messier than the forms normally used by the military.

The entire page was packed with text and all kinds of symbols, with barely any margins left, making it difficult to understand at a glance.

"If Baek Jemin-ssi hadn’t mentioned the abnormal phenomenon involving the Han River, we would have assumed that you had defected to the other side…and become spies for the 66-Society, which we believe is based inside Seoul.”

"Good grief. We risked our lives getting out, and you were going to treat us like spies?”

Honest words naturally invited honest reactions.

After hearing that they had openly suspected us, Pastor Park Yohan crossed his arms and grumbled.

Major General Jeon Minho bowed his head toward the pastor to express his apology.

"I ask for your understanding. There have already been several confirmed cases of defection, so we had no choice but to be cautious.”

Major General Jeon Minho.

That was not the apology of a man doing it for the first or second time.

Apparently, even in a disaster like this, he was still a complete bastard toward fellow soldiers but unfailingly courteous toward civilians.

Pastor Park Yohan didn’t hide his sulky expression, but he could no longer complain. He merely shrugged his shoulders awkwardly and uncrossed his arms.

"Fine, then let’s hear it. We brought back all this information, and you’re still going to tell us there are things you have to hide because they’re classified?”

"No. Strictly speaking, everything you have told us today would fall under top-secret. And this meeting was also a procedure to determine whether civilian operational unit Aphorism could be granted access to the secrets held by the Korean-US Combined Command and the Reality Survival Command concerning this incident.”

I watched Major General Jeon Minho draw things out with an unimpressed expression, then leaned toward Lee Sejun, who seemed like he might understand what this meant.

The bastard happened to be sitting on my left, which made him incredibly irritating, but he could at least serve reasonably well as a substitute for ChatGPT.

"Sejun, how serious is top secret?”

"Hmm~. To put it at your level, Jemin-ssi, it’s the kind of secret that could bring down the country.”

"What secret wouldn’t bring down the country if it leaked?”

"To put it more simply, the fact that I want to become a beautiful TS magical girl would be confidential. It would be devastating if it leaked, but not enough to bring down the nation."

This fucking bastard. How was he so disgustingly good at analogies?

Meanwhile, the generals finished conferring in hushed voices, and with Marshal McKinsey looking toward us with a satisfied smile, Major General Jeon Minho began to speak.

"The reasons we have determined that you have not defected are as follows.”

First, despite coming into contact with the Korean-US Combined Command and key personnel currently maintaining the blockade line, we displayed no hostility.

Second, we attempted no magic other than the Ears-branch magic Shin Nain is known to possess against the unprotected Marshal McKinsey.

Third, the honesty and level of detail in our report.

Fourth, our disclosure of reconnaissance information concerning the Han River.

Fifth, our various records and experience of cooperating with the military in responding to incidents.

After stating every reason, Major General Jeon Minho looked over each individual Supreme Archmage.

Me, Shin Nain, Lee Sejun, the pastor, and Hamza.

"I’m sure you have many questions, but I will begin with the most important matter. From this moment onward, this truly is, as your companion Lee Sejun said earlier, highly sensitive information. Effective immediately, you will be treated as personnel cleared for top secret. If you are confirmed to have disclosed any related facts, we may have no choice but to detain you, and it may provoke hostile action.”

"Enough dragging it out. Tell us already.”

When the pastor tapped his foot against the floor and urged him in, Major General Jeon Minho could no longer hesitate.

Commander of the Joint Alteration Operations Group under the Reality Survival Command.

The man with that grandiose title, Major General Jeon Minho, spoke.

"An individual believed to have come from the 66-Society was involved in establishing the Anomalous Incident Initial Response Team, the predecessor organization inherited by the Reality Survival Command. A prophet or perhaps a seer. He passed on magical symbols and part of the knowledge associated with them. When military research determined that this knowledge resembled a systematized doctrine rather than the exclusive creation of one individual, an attempt was made to detain him. He then disappeared.”

"...?"

"After focusing on their obsession with the number 66, the Reality Survival Command determined that the magic symbols and knowledge secured by the military originally formed part of the Society’s teachings, known as the 66 Scripture. To continue researching them, we carefully proceeded with their decipherment in cooperation with Dogma-type wizards who were knowledgeable about mysticism and willing to assist the military.”

Had proceeded.

Everyone tensed at that ominous past tense.

"However, we believe the 66-Society made contact with the Dogma-type wizards. All six Dogma-type wizards participating in the decipherment defected, then stole or destroyed the 66 Scriptures held by the Reality Survival Command."

"Then…”

When the pastor asked in a slightly trembling voice, Major General Jeon Minho sighed and nodded.

"The monk who goes by the Dharma name Cheonghwi was one of those six.”

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*The cursive text is when characters speak English. The text as been written just as it is presented in English in the original chapter