#33. The Witch's Calamity
#33. The Witch's Calamity
"Are you kidding me?"
When Gu Jin-ha voiced his disbelief, Gwanghwi nodded.
"I understand. But I can't tell you."
As Woo-taek struggled to hold back an erupting Hong Yuri, Gu Jin-ha drew a deep breath and asked again.
"Is it true that Gowon once collaborated with the Prodigal Sons?"
"More precisely, my father and I did. The others are innocent."
Father. That meant Changseon. So it was true they had cooperated with the Prodigal Sons for an "unspeakable reason." But the crucial part was that very reason—the reason they'd had no choice but to cooperate.
"And you stand there without a shred of shame, knowing full well that's treason?"
"Which is why I'm cleaning it up."
His nonchalant reply made Gu Jin-ha's blood boil. He wanted to snap back, but the situation was too dire.
"Let's summarize. This is one of the Prodigal Sons' main bases. And drinking that so-called Unfinished Product of the Imitation Elixir turns you into one of those flesh-mass chimeras. Am I wrong so far?"
"Precisely."
"And for an unspeakable reason, you cooperated with the Prodigals. And you were secretly eliminating the Prodigal Sons to clean up that mess...?"
"Couldn't have put it better myself."
"...Do you think this makes any sense?"
"Why wouldn't it?"
At that brazenly unapologetic stance, Gu Jin-ha finally lost his temper and slammed the table. It shattered to pieces, a mirror of his state of mind.
"Are you joking?!"
"Hey! Gu Jin-ha!"
"You, Gowon, are the spiritual pillar of this country—no, of all humanity! The day Changseon rallied the Seven Heroes will be etched in history forever!"
"......."
"And you turned your backs on humanity? You collaborated with that filth?!"
Unlike his usual self, his impassioned outburst made Hong Yuri furrow her brow. But she felt the same. Who could possibly accept that Changseon, of all people, had conspired with turncoats? Gwanghwi said nothing. In the suffocating silence, Gu Jin-ha, unable to quell his anger for a long while, finally muttered in a deflated voice.
"...You, of all people, should never have done this."
Suspicion and certainty are different things. He had thought it might be possible, but now that he'd heard the admission, he felt hollow. Fifty years had already passed since dungeons and monsters first appeared. Monsters had existed before Gu Jin-ha was even born. It had all become too normal by now, but if you thought back to society before the monsters came—
If you considered the impact on society at that time—
Who could accept that the hero who led humanity through that chaos had joined hands with turncoats?
"......."
Gwanghwi still said nothing. Yet a deep shadow had settled over his expression. Even so, Gwanghwi refused to speak of the reason, right to the end—as if he couldn't, as if he shouldn't.
"...Fine. I don't know what grand reason you have, but can I assume Gowon and the Prodigal Sons now walk different paths?"
"They do."
"You knew what they were up to, and still you joined hands with them."
At Gu Jin-ha's sneer, Gwanghwi perhaps had nothing to say. He remained silent. After a long stretch of stillness, Gu Jin-ha steadied his breath and calmed his heart.
"Is there a way off this island?"
They had likely been found out the moment they arrived. And who knew how many of those flesh chunks there truly were. Gwanghwi gave a small nod.
"Two ways. One is the bridge connecting Deokjeok Island to Soya Island. I secretly hid a boat on Soya Island as a contingency. If you can cross that bridge, you'll be fine. But..."
"I doubt that bridge is still standing."
Woo-taek had already returned after confirming the boat was destroyed. And why would they have left a bridge to another island intact?
"Truthfully, if it were just me, it wouldn't matter."
Gwanghwi pulled a scroll from his chest. A long-distance Teleport Scroll. A priceless item so rare even Square could barely produce any, but for Gwanghwi, it wouldn't be strange if he carried a genuine one.
"The closest distance from Deokjeok Island to Suya Island is less than a kilometer."
"......."
"But... you there."
At Gwanghwi's sudden call, Woo-taek looked puzzled.
"Me?"
"I'll tell you where the boat is hidden. Go and bring it back."
Woo-taek glanced at Gu Jin-ha to gauge his reaction.
"Why don't you go yourself, Gwanghwi?"
Gwanghwi shook his head.
"Can you trust me?"
"......."
Both of them knew they couldn't. If they had trusted him, they wouldn't have come this far. Gwanghwi nodded calmly.
"Of course not. The feeling is mutual. I'm worried about what might happen to you while I'm gone."
Who was worried about whom in this situation? Hong Yuri tilted her head back in disbelief, staring at the ceiling and mouthing words. Though she made no sound, it was a phrase that started with an F and ended with an 'uck.'
"Let's hear it. You said two ways, so there must be another method."
"Helping me clear out Deokjeong Island."
"......."
"Then you can return to the mainland without worry."
In its own way, it made sense. But.
"...Do you need our help? You came here because you were confident, weren't you?"
"I was. But this is far worse than I expected. Originally, there shouldn't have been this many Unfinished Products here."
"......."
Gu Jin-ha chewed his lip. It looked like someone had recently delivered more of the Unfinished Products. And he had a lead on who that "someone" might be.
'So that's why he left his seat empty.'
The hideout was burned beyond recognition, but the original purpose for building Blind Spot's safe house must have been to create the Elixir.
"These flesh chunks won't die from ordinary attacks. And there's no telling how many there are."
The group nodded. Ordinary attacks—unless you were an A-Class Hunter, even killing one was no sure thing. Not because they were strong, but purely because they were so persistent.
"So first, we must deal with Chimmuk-haneun Ip."
"Chimmuk-haneun Ip?"
"One of the Prodigal Sons' executives. He governs this place—Deokjeok Island."
"Just what are the Prodigals? How can an organization of this scale remain shrouded in secrecy?"
"...Who knows. I don't understand it either."
His eyes and expression didn't waver. But Gu Jin-ha instinctively knew it was a lie. No—it would be more accurate to say he didn't reveal everything he knew. Gu Jin-ha let out a deep sigh.
"Once we return, I will lodge a formal protest at the clan level."
"Do as you wish. Though it won't change anything."
At those words, their gazes clashed heatedly. Neither looked away, and Gu Jin-ha let out a long breath. For now, they had no choice but to cooperate.
"...We'll do both. Woo-taek, secure the boat first and then join us. In the meantime, we'll deal with Chimmuk-haneun Ip."
Woo-taek nodded, and Gwanghwi handed him the Teleport Scroll, pointing at a map.
"Here. There's a boat anchored at Tteburi Beach. Take it, and come here—to Batjireum Beach."
It was nearly three or four kilometers of rowing from Tteburi Beach to Batjireum Beach, but for Woo-taek, that was doable within thirty minutes.
"Once you've secured the boat, come up here, to Buk-ri."
"Is Chimmuk-haneun Ip there?"
"Probably. But the man isn't a fool, so he won't just be waiting around."
"Meaning there might be a trap, or he may have already fled."
"That's right. But."
Gwanghwi exchanged glances with Gu Jin-ha and Hong Yuri.
"You have me, and yourselves. What could go wrong?"
At those words, the team leader considered. Normally, he wouldn't have worried. But recalling Agail from not long ago, a sliver of unease remained.
'I can't let my guard down.'
Square's heir hadn't been part of the Prodigals, but they were an allied group—no, considering everything they'd done, they were even worse than Blind Spot, if anything.
'He called it the Unfinished Product of an Imitation Elixir.'
The apogee of legendary alchemy. The Elixir.
Gwanghwi hadn't confirmed it outright, but Gu Jin-ha wasn't dull enough to miss the implication after hearing this much. The Prodigal Sons' goal was, in all likelihood, to create the Elixir. Though whether it truly existed, whether it could be made, and even its rumored effects—everything remained a mystery.
'Could it be that Gowon needed the Elixir?'
Was that why they collaborated with the Prodigal Sons? ...Beyond that, he had too few clues to deduce more. He could speculate, but it would only be baseless conjecture. His head was a mess. As he sorted his thoughts, he recalled a question he absolutely had to ask.
"Gwanghwi. Final question."
"Speak."
"You, Gowon—why exactly did you hand over information on Alpha to us at Dawn?"
"Hm."
"This, I can't let slide. What exactly is Alpha? Why? And how is it that you're pursuing the Prodigal Sons?"
At this, Gwanghwi shook his head.
"I don't know, either."
Just as Gu Jin-ha was about to press him, Gwanghwi murmured, as if telling him to listen.
"But... if there is something fishy, you must ask the fishy character, no?"
A fishy character. Gu Jin-ha thought for a moment, then let out a dry laugh. Hadn't there been one? A person who had no business showing up—appearing right where Alpha revealed itself.
"Just how far does this go?"
"Who knows..."
Instead of answering, Gwanghwi simply stared into the distance.
***
"Yeah. Who is it~?"
Jarred awake by an unexpected call at dawn, Eun-ha answered the phone in a half-asleep daze.
[Lee Eun-ha! Come to the clan immediately!]
The urgent voice instantly chased the sleep away. Eun-ha checked the contact on the LCD screen, confirmed it was a clan member, and asked again.
"What's going on?"
[No, wait. You're in Songpa-gu, right? Then head straight to the Academy and rendezvous there.]
"...The Academy?"
When she questioned him, bewildered, the caller spoke urgently and hung up one-sidedly.
[You'll learn the situation on the way. Hurry!]
Stunned, Eun-ha threw on some clothes and prepared to head to the Academy, then spotted her younger sister standing vacantly on the balcony.
"Lee Eun-a. What are you doing out there?"
"Unnie."
Her sister was staring beyond the balcony as if entranced. Both hands gripping the railing were trembling. Eun-ha frowned and approached, and her sister raised a hand to point somewhere far away.
"What... is that?"
And then, Eun-ha too opened her eyes wide, her mouth falling open at the unbelievable sight.
***
Reaching Buk-ri didn't take long. The flesh chunks' intelligence was minimal; they just lumbered about. If you wanted to hide, it was easily done.
Taking advantage of the night, the three arrived at Buk-ri and could see the flesh chunks roaming the town.
"More than I thought."
How could this cramped island be overflowing with such monsters? Though they were makeshift inferiors, these were creatures that even average hunters would dread facing.
Surveying the area, Gu Jin-ha asked in a low voice.
"Can we sneak in?"
"Hm... It won't be easy."
"How about we clean them out as we go?"
"Before we could, we'd run out of arrows and mana."
At a glance, Gwanghwi's quiver only had seven arrows left. He might have wondered why Gwanghwi hadn't brought more, but Gwanghwi himself hadn't known there would be this many Unfinished Products of the Imitation Elixir—it couldn't be helped.
"Ascunde."
As soon as Hong Yuri's words fell, a transparent membrane formed around the three of them.
"Why fret? You've got a mage right next to you."
At that, the two men chuckled wryly. Getting to the place Gwanghwi mentioned wasn't difficult. Arriving at the front door, they hesitated briefly, then circled around to the side. At Gwanghwi's nod, Gu Jin-ha sliced through the window frame and slipped inside. A move only Hunters could conceive. Infiltrating without a sound, they exchanged glances.
Three presences confirmed by mana detection. Simultaneously, the three of them held up two fingers each.
"......."
Holding their breath, the moment they threw the door open, Gu Jin-ha lunged to the left. As if there was no need to confirm, he pierced a heart, and the remaining two jolted with terror.
"tăcere."
"——?!"
Before a sound could escape, the spell Hong Yuri cast sealed their mouths. The next instant, arrows shot out, piercing their ankles and pinning their feet to the floor before they could even grab weapons to resist. Unable to even scream, the whole thing took barely two seconds.
"...Are these Chimmuk-haneun Ip?"
"Hardly. They're small fry. If Chimmuk-haneun Ip had been here, it wouldn't have been this easy."
About ten minutes later, confirming that the information they'd each extracted matched, Gu Jin-ha and Gwanghwi beheaded them without a second thought.
"An Academy raid. They've completely lost their minds. They must know who's there."
The Academy was essentially a training ground for Hunters who would carry the nation's future. Each and every student was a future Hunter, and naturally, figures worthy of teaching them resided at the Academy. That meant mages from Square and Hunters from the highest-ranking clans were stationed there as instructors. Moreover, its head was Muno, one of the Seven Heroes. The Academy alone was a force that could easily look down on most representative clans. Even if the dead Agail came back to life, raiding it would be no easy feat. The very thought of raiding such a place drew a hollow laugh.
"It's hard to think of it that simply."
"......?"
"You've clashed with the Prodigal Sons yourself, and still you say such things? If they weren't confident, they wouldn't even attempt it."
"Then you think they can raid the Academy? The Academy in the very heart of Seoul?"
"Why do you think it's impossible? Look around you."
Immediately, Gu Jin-ha and Hong Yuri's faces went pale. What were the flesh chunks covering Deokjeok Island? Unfinished Products of Incidental Achievement—creating them would never be easy, but who could guarantee there were no other facilities for Elixir research, like the Blind Spot hideout? Who could swear there were no more Unfinished Products?
"If such creatures appeared in the heart of Seoul? Even worse, inside the Academy itself?"
"Are you serious?"
"Does it seem difficult? Anyone will do. It doesn't even have to be a Prodigal Son. Make anyone drink it, and they become a monster like that. Raiding the Academy. Does it really seem so difficult?"
"This was never the time to worry about the island. If we don't get back as fast as possible..."
"It's too late."
With a sigh-laced murmur from Hong Yuri, horrifyingly massive flesh chunks began surging toward them.
"They were bait from the start, these bastards."
Beyond the window, someone in the distance—wearing a mask with no mouth—began to chant a spell.
***
In the early dawn, before the sun had risen, it slowly swelled in size. A giant red mass of flesh swelled up. The horrific thing grew larger and larger.
'Crazy.'
The things I could confirm with my detection skill alone numbered six. Three of them were within the Academy complex. I couldn't even be sure this was all of them. Who knew what chaos was unfolding across the entirety of Seoul?
'Why did this happen?'
Things had gone wrong. I'd simply come to the Academy to meet the protagonist of this novel, and now I was faced with something utterly absurd.
'...History has changed.'
The future had shifted. There was no other way to see it.
'Where did it start going wrong?'
Gu Sang-seop, Gu Ma-jun, Lee Baek-seom. I'd cut off the Prodigal Sons' lowest branches and crushed Blind Spot. I considered it a flawless result. But was that the very cause?
'Because I cornered them?'
Had the Night of the Great Battle in Daejeon had such a profound effect? Or was it the Imitation Elixir? Had it driven them to this?
'Damn it.'
I'd thought it was a calamity that wouldn't happen. I'd believed that by preventing the Sewer Calamity, everything would be fine. That had been a grave miscalculation.
[Lv.10 Achievement Condition: Halt the Witch's Calamity]
A calamity originally slated to happen years from now had been moved up. And in an entirely different form—as an Academy raid.
"Kyururuk!"
As if telling me to snap out of it, Perry the fairy dragon rubbed the tip of my nose with her tail.
"...Yeah. I have to."
I'd been too complacent. Even without the Sewer Calamity, even without chaos erupting in Busan, kidnapping a single person would be trivial for them. There was no way it was just 0.02%. If I'd truly stopped the Witch's Calamity, the Karma assigned should have been far greater.
'It's not over yet.'
The System told me to halt it. Which meant it wasn't over yet.
'This time for sure.'
I would stop the Witch's Calamity. I would prevent the future where Baek So-yul became the Witch.
***
"Did it truly have to come to this?"
"......."
"What can you possibly gain by going this far? Just quietly disappear. I won't pursue you."
The old man let out a deep sigh, laden with emotion.
"You've lost your mind."
"Perhaps."
"You fool. How did it come to this?"
The lamenting old man, knowing nothing he said would change things, finally picked up his spear.
"Come. At the very least, I'll be the one to send you off."