Harnessing the Jigwi (3)

The soldiers, having pieced together who I was from just a brief exchange, bundled me into a vehicle without so much as a by-your-leave.

The bike whined at me about being left behind, but frankly, the car suited me better. For one thing, I didn't have to drive it, it was safer, and the ride was smoother, too.

“What about this bike, then……?”

“Ah, that…… I got lucky and found it on the road.”

I gave a quick rundown of how I'd come to be riding the thing in the first place. The soldier who'd listened to my explanation fell silent for a moment, then had the bike loaded into the vehicle's cargo bed as well.

『Heyyy, hey! You gotta contract with me later, okay─』

The bike, which had been nattering on about who-knew-what, went silent in an instant. It felt less like the bike had decided to hush and more like someone had hit a forced mute button.

Sorry, bike. Honestly, though? It was a relief.

Thanks to that thing's exhaust roar, I'd already been through ordeals ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I might otherwise have dodged, so I couldn't exactly muster much sympathy. And after barely scraping through alive, a vehicle begging me for a contract was just plain exhausting.

FWOOROOSH!

In any case, the Bulgasal hunt raged on even then. The Bulgasal had tried to bolt for the open fields, but the fire the Jigwi had raised spread too fast, and too wide.

Hah! Hah!

“Haetae, hold the fire line!”

“Three o'clock, mark it!”

What's more, the flames weren't spreading wildly, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠either. Every time the beasts — neither dog nor lion, so presumably Haetae — darted about like border collies herding sheep, the blaze swung to follow them.

KRUOOONG!

At some point, the Hogurokmo had galloped up near the Bulgasal and lent a hand with the drive. Remarkably, the Bulgasal seemed afraid of it — every time the creature cut off its path, the Bulgasal veered away.

“Moving out!”

The vehicle carrying me and the bike joined the drive as well. Whether it was because of my presence or not, it never once pressed up to the front, though there was a quiet stubbornness in the way it refused to fall behind the main force, either.

The fire consuming the field and the Bulgasal trapped at its heart kept scrambling my vision. The driver was skilled, at least — the gap held steady at around two hundred meters, neither shrinking nor widening.

The Bulgasal's massive frame was beginning to shrink.

“Recall the Jigwi!”

“Haetae!”

Then, once the Bulgasal could no longer be seen between the flames, the Haetae gradually tightened the fire demon's perimeter. The charred field still radiated a scorching heat even now that the fire was out.

“Recovery complete!”

That said, a few of the soldiers trotted around on top of all that heat without fireproof suits, perfectly fine. And wouldn't you know it — a Haetae just happened to be stationed at each of their sides.

“This is Tiger. Bulgasal hunt complete. Returning to HQ.”

Cleanup seemed to take about thirty minutes, though I can't swear to it. By that point my consciousness had gone foggy with nodding off.

The moment safety was confirmed, every last thread of tension in my body had snapped at once, and there was nothing to be done about it. My vision dimmed by degrees, and the sounds around me grew distant.

The only reason I didn't drop off completely was that I couldn't quite bring myself to judge this place as perfectly safe.

“……He's asleep, sir?”

“Can't blame him. He survived a standoff with a Bulgasal, alone.”

Whether I caught the soldiers' conversation from the same vehicle in the depths of half-sleep, or didn't catch it at all, I couldn't say.

“But earlier…… he was definitely talking to that bike, right?”

“You noticed that too, huh.”

“……Other than the Major, you're the first person I've ever seen hold a conversation with an object-type phantasm.”

“Same. Ha. So this is what real talent looks like?”

Luckily, none of my cursing seemed to carry. So my consciousness kept sinking, until at last nearly every sound was swallowed in silence.

『……It is.』

『……He goes.』

『……is the master of——.』

…Had I really just heard that?

“……Just now.”

“Hm?”

“Just now, you called——”

My consciousness, which had been plunging toward the very bottom, shot back up all at once. The scenery around me had already changed completely.

My head, still muddled from just having woken, swiveled this way and that.

“Who woke the kid up?”

“Wasn't me?”

“You can sleep more, sir.”

“Okay…….”

The soldiers told me I could keep sleeping, but my mind was already awake. I stole a quiet look at the surroundings they'd been shielding from view.

A landscape like nothing so much as a vast ranch stretched out as far as the eye could see.

『It's watching this place!』

『Run!』

『Don't make it angry!』

Why a ranch, of all things? Because inside every enclosure divided off by special walls, a phantasm sat each in its own territory.

Some of them had bolted to the far edge at the sight of us, faces twisted in sheer terror — as if…… they were afraid of the convoy moving along the road.

『How on earth did they come to bring that one along?』

『Humans truly have no fear.』

No, wait. Could they really be afraid of the army itself? It wasn't as if this was their first or second time watching a unit sortie out and come back.

“What's with those guys?”

“Keep that up and they'll break the fence. Hey, get word to the handlers.”

“Yes, sir.”

I turned my gaze toward the Hogurokmo and the Haetae running at a matched pace alongside the vehicle.

Krruheung. 『Pay the cowards no mind.』

The beast let out a low bellow the moment it caught my gaze. Its voice, too, was remarkably clearer than it had been at first.

“Cowards?”

“……?”

“Sorry?”

My exhaustion-addled brain echoed the word back on pure reflex. But it wasn't the Hogurokmo that reacted to my voice. The soldiers surrounding me all turned their heads.

“What did you just say?”

“No, uh, hm. The tiger said not to mind the cowards, so……”

“……I must have misheard that??”

I blinked slowly at the soldier's reaction. It was the next moment that the sense of something being off finally clicked.

Krrung. 『They can't understand you.』

My gaze landed on the Hogurokmo again. Beep. In that exact same instant, the soldier in the front seat raised his radio.

“Yes, Major——”

「You've got the secured civilian in your vehicle? Switch with someone.」

“Yes, sir.”

The soldier looked a bit flustered, but handed the radio over to me with brisk efficiency.

My brain registered the radio a half-beat late. Napping the instant the tension let go will do that. Even lifting my hand to take it felt somehow effortful. My body weighed a ton.

Before I knew it, my bandaged hand had accepted the radio.

“Uh, copy the transmis——”

「You. Can you understand what the Hogurokmo says?」

“——sion.”

…Straight to the point, huh? Also, what exactly was the plan if I had no idea what a Hogurokmo was?

I pressed my heavy eyelids down hard with my palm. That much, at least, seemed to jar me awake.

“Whether I know what a Hogurokmo even is……”

I knew what a Hogurokmo was from my past-life knowledge. Whether it was common knowledge in this world as well, though, I genuinely couldn't say.

Taking that into account, I played dumb, same as I had with the soldiers. It was only possible because my mind was slowly clearing.

「The green tiger.」

“Ah, yes. Its cry overlapped a little, so I couldn't quite make it out at first……”

It was right around then that, battered by every conceivable surprise and bone-deep fatigue, I managed to dredge up one more fact I'd forgotten.

According to the manhwa, the ability to converse with phantasms was itself a form of talent. And being able to communicate even with beings whose legends contained not a single word about human speech was treated as an extraordinary aptitude.

Say, beast-shaped phantasms, or object-type ones. The very kids I'd been chatting with so casually, without a second thought, this whole time.

「You were displaced here during the third exam, correct?」

“Yep.”

「Have you settled on the Hwadam Army as your chosen path?」

“Yep.”

It felt like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over me. It wasn't as if this getting out would hurt me in any way — but I had definitely, unmistakably been letting myself get too loose.

Pull it together. Exhausted or not, this is going too far.

A penniless orphan's only backing was himself. Which meant I couldn't afford not to look after my own interests. No matter how brilliant my talent was, that didn't change.

If anything, it was precisely because my talent was brilliant that I had to be more careful, more prudent. Survival aside, a future where I was nothing but a leaf blown about by other people's whims? No, thank you.

I wanted to live the way I wanted to live.

「When you graduate, come to the Hwadam Reconnaissance Special Task Force.」

“Yes…… I'm sorry, what?”

「I'll be expecting you.」

“No, hold on — what?”

And with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that, the transmission cut off. I frantically bounced my gaze between the radio and the soldiers around me. As if to ask whether what I'd just heard was real.

“H-he understood the Hogurokmo…….”

“Th-the Major himself…….”

As it turned out, the soldiers were in worse shape than I was. Even the driver, visible in the rearview mirror, was gaping with his mouth hanging open, floundering — say no more.

I gave up on getting an answer out of them. Truthfully, the reactions they were displaying right now were proof enough that I hadn't misheard.

The Hwadam Reconnaissance Special Task Force, of all things…….

Graduates of the Hwadam Army Special Military Academy had two roads open to them.

One was the Hwadam Mobile Special Task Force, operating in the real world and specializing in repelling Dimension Gates. The other was the Hwadam Reconnaissance Special Task Force, operating in the Rear World, capturing and containing phantasms.

If you twisted my arm, my preference was the Mobile Task Force.

And the reason? Well…… in the original story, Yahui, Seong Gwon, and the protagonist were all, to a man, assigned to that branch?

From the start, the Reconnaissance Task Force barely featured in the manhwa at all. It was an important unit, sure, but the story devoted far more pages to the real world and the Otherworld than to the Rear World. Naturally, the major events all kicked off on that side, too.

In my mental map, the Rear World was, quite literally, nothing more than a zone where you went to acquire phantasms.

Above all, both task forces were portrayed as organizations with practically no days off to begin with. And on top of that, if I were stuck in the Rear World instead of the real one? My free time would be zero. Actually zero.

This was a matter of considerable importance.

My circumstances were what they were for now, but I had a genuine desire to wander around a city and have some fun for once. Even if my future was one where a mission order meant instant recall, holiday or no holiday.

I wanted to see the world outside the hospital — really see it, and enjoy it — at least once in my life.

“There's a Hwadam Reconnaissance Special Task Force too? I've only ever heard of the Mobile one……”

Be that as it may — at this point in the timeline, I was not supposed to know the Reconnaissance Task Force existed. Not according ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to anything covered in the main story.

Canonically, the Rear World was not information released to the public, and the very existence of units operating inside it was classified.

So if only to avoid exposing the fact that I already knew, I asked the question in bits and pieces. Only then did the soldiers' faces register an oh, right.

“Ah, well, that's……”

For a moment I figured they might dodge the question by citing confidentiality. But after a little deliberation, the soldiers gave me a brief explanation of the Rear World and the Reconnaissance Task Force's basic concept.

Troubles aside, I supposed they were treating me as someone who'd been caught up in the incident. Or extending a little leniency because I was, technically, a soldier-to-be.

“Sir, we're supposed to blindfold you from here — what do we do?”

“Blindfold him. Regulations are regulations.”

By the time the explanation wrapped up, the vehicle had passed completely through the ranch zone. What replaced it was a road climbing into the mountains, a checkpoint controlling entry, and vehicle barriers.

“I need to be blindfolded?”

“It's a classified facility from this point on.”

Well, fair enough. Even with academy enrollment pending, I was, as of right now, unambiguously a civilian. They could give me a concept-level briefing, but handing out direct information about a military installation was another matter entirely.

I accepted the blindfold without complaint and put it on. Either it was a high-quality one or they'd fitted it properly — apart from a sliver here and there, almost no light got through.

Just when I thought the darkness and the vehicle's intermittent jolting had finally subsided, the sleep demon staged a full revival.

“Wake up.”

“Ugh…….”

“We have to move.”

I was positive I'd only closed my eyes for a moment, and yet hours had simply been deleted.

The soldiers shook me forcibly awake. My field of view was still pitch black — apparently this was still a no-blindfold-removal zone.

“Can you get out, sir?”

“Yep…….”

The soldier was holding my hand and guiding me, so even half-blind, getting down wasn't hard. I felt my way step by step, then hopped lightly off.

A wobble.

“Whoa—”

“Th-thank you.”

I lost my balance mid-landing. Without the soldier's help, I probably would have taken a spectacular tumble.

“Careful, sir.”

“Sorry about that……”

Under normal circumstances, this was not a fall I would have taken. But my body simply wasn't listening to me. I'd assumed a nap would restore at least some of my strength — instead, I felt heavier than I had before sleeping.

“Hold on — I think he's running a fever.”

“Aigoo…….”

“Fever reducers…… no, better to just rush him to a hospital in the real world, isn't it?”

“That's probably for the best, sir.”

According to the soldiers, I had a bit of a fever. This was hardly surprising. No matter how steel-like 'Yahui's' body was, what I'd been through yesterday and today was nothing even close to ordinary.

The reason my body felt heavier clicked into place at once. A fever.

“We're moving you to the real world immediately. Please hold on just a little longer.”

“Yes.”

They had chosen to fly me to a hospital in the real world rather than any facility here. It was all the same to me.

Two soldiers took one of my hands each and led me along. The picture we made was probably fairly comical, but it beat walking into things. I followed them docilely.

『……Has he come?』

『At last?』

『He has returned.』

『Finally.』

Then, from some point on, dozens upon dozens of voices began to hum in my ears. They were too vast to ignore, and vivid enough to bring my footsteps to a halt.

『You came?』『The destiny.』『A dragon.』『You.』『To overturn it?』『Stop.』『Why?』『My hand.』『Truly.』『Too late.』『Enough.』『Even now.』『Here.』『Change it?』『Once more.』『Make the contract.』

No — if anything, they were too vivid, which only made them harder to parse.

Dozens of voices tangled and knotted into one another until they merged completely — like a monogram made by stamping hundreds of letters on top of each other.

It was deafening.

“What's wrong, sir?!”

“Wait, the voices……”

Where on earth were the soldiers taking me? At the very least, I had the sense that we'd come inside some kind of building.

“Sir, are you alright?!”

“The sweat——!”

What kind of building was this, that it was so utterly crammed full of voices?

“Too many voices——”

It was unbearably, agonizingly loud, and I clapped my hands over my ears.

Of course, that didn't actually muffle anything. Probably because the speech of phantasms wasn't something that reached you through the ears in the first place.

My soul was soaked in the words — drenched, and drenched again.

WEEEEEOOO—!

“……Why is there an alarm NOW?!”

“Evacuate first——”

The world was simply full of sound.

Nothing but sound. Only sound, and nothing else.

Then, just two voices carved through every other sound there was. CLAANG. The ring of metal striking stone tile rang out from right at my feet — that was when it happened.

“W-wait, this is——”

“Sir!”

Shhk. I felt something being sliced clean through. The blindfold, most likely.

My vision opened up even though I hadn't done a thing. Plop. Something — sweat or tears, I couldn't tell — fell from my chin. The void where all that sound had been, cut off in a single instant, was so terribly vast. My head ached.

『We chose you.』

『We selected you.』

Even in the middle of all that, exactly two things remained clear to me.

One — I couldn't say since when, but at some point I had all but collapsed onto the floor. And the other was…….

『Do you choose us?』

『Will you take us in return?』

That the metallic ring that had thundered up from my feet had been made by a pair of swords.

“……Who are you?”

On one snow-white sheath and one jet-black, patterns symbolizing dragons shimmered in gold.

I knew these things' names.

“The Ssangyonggeom…….”

These were the swords wielded by Baek San, the protagonist of the original story.

Phantasms that had only granted permission to be used when the nation stood at the very brink of ruin — beings that had maintained a stubborn refusal to the very end, insisting that had the country never faced an unprecedented crisis, they would never have allowed so much as a hand to grasp them.

“……Why?”

Beings beyond every established rank, who barely appeared a handful of times in the entire setting.

Looking at them, I slowly lowered the hands that had been clamped over my ears. My fingertips, with great difficulty, came to rest on the two swords.

“Why me, of all people……”

『Reach the heavens.』

『You have touched the heavens.』

『You alone.』

Why was it, I wondered. What I was gripping was, unmistakably, a sword — and yet it felt as though I had seized hold of a fragment of the world itself.

My vision went dark.