The Black Stone
Time marched on.
With Colonel McDonald's authorization, we brought in a variety of laboratory equipment along with dozens of mineral samples. The equipment was purely for show—smoke and mirrors to make it look as if we were conducting legitimate scientific analyses. The gear alone had cost several billion won, but we didn't even bat an eye.
Well, to be precise, Hyung-jun was the only one who didn't flinch.
“Hey, the daily interest on our bank balance earns several times more than that.”
That was what he had told me when my hands started trembling at the bill for equipment purchased purely as window dressing. Good grief. A life where you could burn through billions of won a day and your net worth still grew!
“Then why the hell do we still look like absolute bums?”
“Why ask me? Go ask the bastards who trashed our lab.”
“Good point. Death to the lab-wrecking bastards. They are my sworn nemeses.”
Shivering with theatrical indignation, I tore into the newly arrived parcel boxes. Gold, silver, iron, copper, ruby, sapphire, diamond, amber, platinum, quartz, lapis lazuli, chalcopyrite...
“What on earth is this? Why does this box have a radiation warning on it?”
“Ah, that's radium. It's radioactive, so don't open it.”
“You lunatic, why the hell did you bring that in?!”
Horrified, I set the box down gingerly and scrambled backward. My dreams of a long, healthy life had flashed before my eyes.
Hyung-jun smirked and threw up his hands in protest. “Didn't you tell me to gather every mineral sample on the planet? I busted my ass getting them, and now you're nagging me for doing what you asked?”
“I didn't expect you to import biohazards! What's next on your shopping list, uranium and plutonium?”
“Uh, yeah, I ordered those too.”
“Cancel them right now!”
Inspecting high-octane carcinogens like that could wait until every other stone on Earth had been turned over. Grumbling under his breath, Hyung-jun wandered off to cancel the orders.
In the meantime, I laid out the mineral samples across the table and focused on the surrounding flow of mana. As I have mentioned before, the defining characteristic of a mana stone is the absorption of mana. I checked them one by one, watching closely to see if the ambient mana was being pulled into any of the specimens.
Hmm... A bust?
“Nothing?” Hyung-jun asked, leaning over my shoulder. I hadn't even heard him walk back in.
“Yeah. Total duds, the lot of them.”
“Not so simple, huh.”
“If it were a common mineral, I would've noticed it back when we were still in Seoul.”
“Fair point.”
If something was common, it was bound to catch your eye sooner or later.
“I'll keep ordering samples,” Hyung-jun said. “Whenever they arrive, inspect them and check them off the master list.”
“Got it.”
I swept the discarded rocks back into a crate and asked, “How are things looking on your end?”
“They're practically squirming,” Hyung-jun replied with a chilly grin. “Purchase inquiries keep pouring in from China, Hwasung, and everywhere else, and I've just been leaving them on read. At first they waited politely, but when no answer came, panic set in. Now they're sending a desperate proposal every single day.”
“Kim Hyung-jun, you truly are an evil bastard.”
Inflicting the high-level psychological warfare known as leaving someone on read—there was honestly nothing more infuriating when you were on the receiving end. And because we were still dutifully fulfilling our existing deliveries to Suseong and Teslam in the meantime, our silent treatment must have been driving them insane.
“So, when are we going public with the announcement?”
“Whenever you're ready.” Hyung-jun shrugged. “Declaring war recklessly won't do us any good. We need your Circle rank to rise so we have at least a baseline level of self-defense before we pull the trigger.”
“Understood.”
All the more reason to track down a mana stone as fast as humanly possible.
Even if you haven't found a mana stone, a man still has to eat.
Camp Humphreys was satisfactory in almost every respect, but there was one glaring exception: the food was an absolute trial. It was tailored with brutal fidelity to the American palate. Dishes so sweet, salty, and greased to the gills that just looking at them made your arteries scream, 'We're checking out early!' People say there's never a good restaurant near your workplace, but I never expected to suffer that curse inside a military fortress.
Regardless, lunchtime arrived right on schedule.
“So, what are we eating today?”
“Let's hit the DFAC and demolish whatever Korean food they've got.”
As we debated our options, a knock sounded, and the door swung open.
“Aren't you gentlemen heading out for chow?”
It was Staff Sergeant Stephen, the escort assigned to us by Colonel McDonald. A young Caucasian man with blond hair and blue eyes, he had initially eyed us with wary suspicion. But after sharing countless meals and shooting the breeze over the past few weeks, we had developed a rather warm, friendly rapport.
“Ah, we were just about to. Perfect timing, Sergeant.”
“What are you having today?”
“I'm sick of carbs and heavy meat, so I think I'll become an herbivore today.”
“Oh, Jesus.” Staff Sergeant Stephen wore an expression of sheer horror. “A man can't survive on grass alone.”
“Americans might not, but Koreans manage just fine. We're heading to the DFAC anyway, so feel free to load up on whatever you want, Sergeant.”
“Uuuugh...”
Stephen groaned aloud, making no effort to conceal his disappointment. The man had been enjoying fine meals on our corporate card for days; clearly, he was getting spoiled.
Over at the DFAC, the dining hall was packed to the brim with soldiers who had arrived ahead of us. Loading our trays with rice, assorted side dishes, and an enormous mountain of kimchi, Hyung-jun and I sat down at an empty table alongside Stephen.
God, how long had it been since I last had proper kimchi? A Korean's veins truly do run with fermented chili juice. Just as I raised a crimson, glistening piece to savor it—
“Hey, Steve. Playing babysitter again today?”
A towering wall of muscle carrying a meal tray strode up to our table. He stood a full head taller than Staff Sergeant Stephen, his frame looking like it had been carved out of granite. With close-cropped black hair and rugged, chiseled features, he bore unmistakable Native American heritage.
“Come on, Bull. How many times do I have to tell you? It's VIP escort duty, not babysitting,” Stephen grumbled before turning to introduce him. “Gentlemen, this is Sergeant Bull. Bull, say hello. These are CEO Kim and Director Park from Arcane Technology.”
“Pleasure. John Bull.”
“Likewise,” Hyung-jun answered.
While Hyung-jun shook his hand, my eyes were pinned to Sergeant Bull's throat.
“Hey, what are you staring at?” Hyung-jun nudged my ribs with his elbow.
“Ah. Forgive me.”
Even as I reached out to shake Sergeant Bull's hand, I couldn't tear my gaze away from his chest. Dangling from a worn leather cord was a small, smooth pebble that gave off a deep, glass-like black sheen.
“Pardon the intrusion on our first meeting, but may I ask about your necklace?”
Sergeant Bull looked slightly taken aback. “This? It's an heirloom from my grandmother. Passed down through generations in her tribe.” His eyes softened with warm nostalgia. “My grandmother always told me it would swallow up all the bad luck. I don't know if there's any truth to that, but I've served all these years without a scratch, so maybe there's something to it.”
What his grandmother had told him was grounded in indisputable reality.
The proof was unfolding right before my eyes: the ambient mana around the black stone was being pulled steadily into its core, vanishing without a trace. As far as my knowledge extended, there was only one substance in existence that exhibited such behavior.
A mana stone.
The single most important question was what this stone was called in this world.
“I see. I'd love to find one for myself. Do you happen to know what kind of stone it is?”
“Oh, it's nothing rare at all,” Bull chuckled. “It's just obsidian.”
“Thank you for telling me. Ah, forgive me for keeping you from your lunch. Please, go ahead and eat.”
I fought with every ounce of willpower to maintain a calm facade, but my chest was thumping like a war drum. I barely touched my food before cooking up an urgent work emergency, grabbing Hyung-jun by the arm, and dragging him straight back to our warehouse office.
“What is wrong with you all of a sudden?”
Gripping the shoulders of a completely bewildered Hyung-jun, I spoke, unable to contain the sheer, manic excitement in my voice:
“I think I found it.”
Around the same time.
Beijing, China.
Deep within an underground bunker belonging to the Ministry of State Security.
Ding Xuexiang, the president of China Investment Corporation, was trembling like an aspen leaf in the harsh fluorescent lighting of the interrogation chamber. Standing before him was a uniformed man holding a leather horsewhip. His visor cap was pulled low, casting his upper face in deep shadow. Li Lianjie, Minister and Chief Police Commissioner of the MSS, spoke in a voice dripping with icy contempt.
“The Party's directive was explicit: secure the technology, or secure an exclusive monopoly.”
“Y-Yes, sir!” Cold sweat poured down Ding Xuexiang's flabby cheeks as he nodded frantically.
“And yet, what have you brought back?”
“H-Hiiik!”
Ding recoiled in terror as the tip of the whip tapped rhythmically against his chin.
“You failed to negotiate. You failed to acquire the product. And on top of that, you threw an arrogant tantrum simply to protect your petty personal face, did you not?”
In China, 'face' was of paramount importance. But personal face never, under any circumstances, took precedence over the orders of the Party. Regardless of whether Ding could form an answer, Li Lianjie pressed on mercilessly.
“Your incompetence has caused a severe disruption to the Party's flagship initiative—the great rise of our national battery industry. I cannot begin to fathom how you intend to atone for such a catastrophic blunder.”
Li Lianjie's frigid glare swept down across Ding Xuexiang's neck. Sensing his imminent doom, Ding collapsed onto his knees and clutched desperately at the minister's trouser leg.
“Minister! Please, grant me one more chance! I will not fail this time! Minister, have mercy!”
“Imbecile. Have you still not realized? Your turn is already over.”
Crack!
“Aaaargh!”
The whip slashed across his face with full force, sending Ding sprawling across the concrete floor, howling in agony as he clutched his bleeding cheek.
“Drag him out.”
“Minister! Minister, please!”
Ding Xuexiang's desperate shrieks echoed down the corridor before fading into silence. From this day forward, he would be destined to wander foreign lands under mysterious circumstances, stripped of everything he had ever owned.
Li Lianjie gave the whip a sharp flick, as if shaking off the filth of a vermin. Then he addressed the secretary standing at attention behind him.
“What is the status of reverse-engineering the unit we acquired?”
“A complete failure, Minister. Even after mobilizing the sharpest minds from Tsinghua, Peking University, and the University of Science and Technology of China, they could not decipher the manufacturing process, let alone the underlying scientific principle.”
“Hmph... Incompetent fools.” Li Lianjie scoffed. “Can those two be swayed to our side?”
“The analysis team assessed the probability as negative, sir. The only conceivable angle would be a honey trap, but given that they dismissed their entire staff prior to founding Arcane Technology, they are fiercely insular. Infiltrating their circle will be exceptionally difficult.”
“Attempt it regardless. Even if the operation fails, no one will be held accountable.”
“Understood, Minister!”
Toying lightly with the whip's handle, Li Lianjie asked again, “Have you verified the recent intelligence report?”
“Yes, sir. It involves an ethnic Korean syndicate from Incheon, with origins in Yanbian, that raided Arcane Technology's laboratory in an attempt to seize their computers and research materials. The two key figures, Kim and Park, successfully escaped and vanished under the protection of the National Intelligence Service. They have not shown themselves publicly since.”
“Still...?” A glint of genuine curiosity surfaced in Li Lianjie's eyes. “Do we not even have an educated guess regarding their location?”
“There was an anomaly, sir. Despite their laboratory being ransacked, product deliveries have continued without interruption. We tracked Suseong's transport convoys.”
“And the result?”
The secretary swallowed hard before delivering the answer.
“It's... Camp Humphreys.”
“...Ha!”
Li Lianjie let out a sharp bark of laughter. It was an exclamation of utter disbelief.
“They crawled straight under the aegis of the United States Forces Korea to keep their hides safe? Audacious bastards.”
Li Lianjie paced back and forth across the interrogation room, buried in thought. After a moment, he stopped and asked, “You said they've been ignoring our purchase proposals?”
“Yes, sir. Delivery receipts are confirmed, but there has been zero response.”
“They must suspect our involvement...” Li Lianjie froze in place. “I don't like this.”
Tapping the whip rhythmically against his open palm, Li Lianjie murmured, “We could offer them whatever terms they desire to mend relations. But that would amount to Great China bowing its head to a pair of mere individuals. A private citizen's face is one thing, but the dignity of the Party is quite another.”
Beneath the shadow of his cap, Li Lianjie's eyes flashed with cold resolve.
“Yet the Party's supreme decree is the absolute defense of our battery rise. We are duty-bound to carry out that order, even at the cost of our lives.”
In a voice laden with irritation, Li Lianjie issued his commands.
“Even if seizing the technology proves impossible, we cannot allow ourselves to fall behind. Hand over the evidence proving this raid was Hwasung's doing directly to Arcane Technology. Clear up the misunderstanding, and secure the procurement of the Magician. Understood?”
“Yes, Minister!”
“As for the thugs who carried out this circus—drag every single one of them in and liquidate them. They dared to sabotage the glorious work of the Party.”
“Understood!”
“And Hwasung.” Li Lianjie ground his molars so hard they creaked. “They dared to use the Party as their personal shield? Insolent dogs. I will show them what happens when you offend the Party while daring to conduct business on Chinese soil.”
With eyes blazing with murderous fury, Chief Police Commissioner Li Lianjie turned on his heel and strode out of the bunker.