Chapter 18
Translator: IPO
Chapter 18
Humans fear the dark.
Darkness triggers the primal fear in all living beings. Fear fundamentally stems from the unknown.
No, all humans naturally fear the dark, but the survivors living in the transformed world after the Great Rift feared it more than any previous generation of humanity.
First-generation Awakened and Hunters shed countless blood to protect this land from unknown entities, and even the world barely preserved is still under threats from the unknown.
In the current age, humanity still cannot comprehend the identities of things crawling out from the sky that has opened, or the spaces shattered like cracked glass.
At least with goblins, people are familiar and know how to respond, as they often appear in media and general subculture. But from a Hunter’s perspective, even trivial C-grade monsters are feared by civilians as monsters.
“Mom, it’s so dark outside…”
“Yu, Yul! You must not go out!”
So on nights like tonight, when the Night Sea opens and the darkness is thicker than usual, people shiver and refuse to leave their homes.
Saturday, 1 a.m.—normally a time after work when friends meet to unwind. A little late, but people would drink and enjoy themselves with friends or lovers, chatting endlessly over soju in restaurants and pubs.
But tonight, no one went out.
Even within the safe zones perfectly fortified by Seoul City’s protective spells and barriers, people stayed inside.
—Yesterday, the Night Sea opened.
—And today, monsters, demons, cursed entities, creepypastas, and all manner of terrifying beings pour out.
“Hyung-sik, you know what day it is today, right?”
“Yes. The Night Sea opened yesterday, and today is the ‘day the fog comes in,’ isn’t it?”
“You can hang out after academy, but make sure you’re home before midnight. Got it? Even taxis stop running before 12, so keep that in mind.”
“Don’t worry. The academy is all within safe zones anyway, right?”
Parents tremble with fear as they send their children off, and children respond in kind.
Yet, even then, one cannot feel safe on the ‘day the fog comes in.’
You might ask if Seoul City’s protective spells aren’t safe. Objectively, they are.
Unless hordes of S-grade dangerous entities appear, there’s no way to physically break through. Theoretically, people inside the protective spells can continue their daily lives and even have drinking parties without any problem.
After the protective spell system was completed, no issues arose for a while.
People still drank at night, wandered drunk on the streets, and even mocked monsters inside safe zones, joking about who could get closer to a monster, testing their courage recklessly.
After all, beings like anomalies, monsters, and urban legends cannot harm humans as long as they stay within the transparent protective spells.
But the problem was the disaster six years ago.
At the time, the Seoul City and National Assembly decided: “Huh? The Night Sea opens, aftereffects happen, but nothing goes wrong inside the safe zones? Cut all budgets for protective spells! How much was that anyway?” And they slashed the budget entirely.
Factually, the budget would have been healthier.
High officials claimed it was to secure a healthy national budget and reduced related departments to use funds elsewhere. Later, it was discovered that the slashed budget ended up in the pockets and accounts of the very lawmakers who pushed for the cuts.
As a result, the Awakened assigned to maintain Seoul City’s protective spells went from 100 to 27.
Twenty-seven people were tasked with installing, maintaining, and continuously monitoring protective spells across all of Seoul. Without direct experience, one could never understand how absurd this was.
Even 100 people weren’t enough.
Awakened were physically and mentally superior to ordinary humans, but how could they cover 605.21 km² of Seoul?
The spells were originally created by exploiting the lifeforce of lower-rank civil servant Hunters, and now the number of Awakened maintaining them had been slashed to less than half.
Sure, some individuals could cover all of Seoul with a single gesture, but why would someone do that for a pittance?
“Damn it, you want me to set protective spells across Seoul? I’m not doing it!”
“Ah, yes. The Los Dodgers Guild in LA, right? They offered citizenship, didn’t they? I’ll go. Why the sudden change of heart? The state is pushing me there.”
“I’m not doing it, damn it. From today, I’m a villain.”
Even the 27 who remained had their compensation slashed, and many quit, saying it wasn’t worth it.
That year, every time the Night Sea opened, Seoul experienced disasters and chaos.
Even though the remaining protective spells worked, they required constant mana supply and maintenance. Without it, vulnerabilities were exploited by anomalies and urban legends.
Within one night, safe zone casualties reached 120,142, and the President and ruling party faced near-impeachment-level public outrage.
Ironically, this disaster created opportunities for Awakened and Hunters, shaping the current society, but that’s another story.
In conclusion, even inside safe zones, people in Seoul still trembled with fear.
Even though protective spells now properly mark the safe zones and fear is unnecessary.
The anomalies and creepypastas, having feasted on human fear, grow bolder and crawl out of the darkness.
When thick fog unseen before spreads at night, people rush home in terror.
Companies and restaurants close early, even those that normally require overtime send employees home early due to danger.
Some black companies tell employees to ignore the danger, close the office, and return the next morning.
“Ugh, ugh…”
“Hik!”
“What… what is that… a larva with a human face is crawling…”
“Ugh….”
So people trembling from fear hurried home as the fog passed. They draw curtains, wishing the night would pass quickly, pulling blankets over themselves.
Yet, anomalies and fogs exploit humans’ primal fear, preventing them from sleeping, leaving families only to hope the horrors outside won’t reach them.
But the anomalies were starving for human fear.
Even with protective spells, they pressed against buildings to find humans hiding inside.
A human-like entity, with limbs long and thin like branches, clings to an apartment building and bangs its head against the unbreakable protective spell.
“Kyahhh!”
If someone accidentally looks outside and meets its eyes, sleep is over.
The entity targets the window where the scream came from, repeatedly banging its head.
The protective spell remains intact.
But what if it weakens? Cracks? The anomaly is stronger than expected and breaks through?
The unknown fear excites them further; they thrash, smashing heads against windows repeatedly.
A lone woman cannot sleep tonight. She can only tremble under the blanket, listening to the pounding outside.
Elsewhere, cute mascots from children’s animations, with gaping demonic mouths, hunt people.
Passersby see spikes and nails protruding from the mascots’ mouths and flee in terror.
“Hel- help me!”
“Hiiiik!”
The protective spells block them, but the mascots, having feasted on fear, look for new victims.
Thus, today is the day anomalies pound protective spells, turning humans’ peaceful nights into nightmares.
Do Hunters deal with anomalies?
Unfortunately, anomalies, monsters, and bizarre creatures on the ‘day the fog comes in’ leave no mana stones.
In short, they provide almost no material benefit, yet their horrific appearance drains human mental strength.
Hunting them voluntarily offers no reward.
Only when the government, local authorities, or private entities deposit fees do Hunters move, but if protective spells remain, the government doesn’t pay.
It was once a time when Awakened and Hunters were forced to sacrifice, but now that is reversed.
What? Take responsibility without pay? That’s the U.S., right? “Yes, I’ll emigrate.”
Thus, ordinary citizens must rely on thin, transparent protective spells and tremble in fear.
Then, anomalies sensing the citizens’ fear noticed a strong, sweet scent.
—Delicious.
—Sweet.
—Where is it? Wher■■■■?
—Hungr■■■■gh!
—■■■ihihi■■■!
The scent wafted through alleys and streets, even where there were no protective spells. The anomalies, intoxicated, moved toward it.
It smelled so good.
So sweet.
I want to eat it.
How delicious would it be to bite that sweet scent into my mouth?
Ah, hungry. Hungry. Hungry.
Feeding on human fear alone was not enough; anomalies, monsters, and creepypastas were still starving.
Blocked by protective spells, they could not eat humans directly. Perhaps one unlucky human outside would exist, but they were all Hunters or Awakened on duty.
Of course, Hunters and Awakened could be careless and be eaten, but many anomalies remained famished.
Then came the sweet scent.
Any anomaly not captivated would be abnormal.
—Iiiiiihihihi■■■!!!
—Kkakkkakkkakkk!
—Ahaha!
—Uhhuhahaha hyhyhya hy!
Obsessed by the scent, anomalies convulsed as a group.
The sweet aroma paralyzed remaining intelligence and free will, enforcing absolute fascination.
At the center was a woman.
Dressed elegantly in a suit.
Black hair reaching her ankles.
Slender, beautiful, and captivating.
A sweet, dizzying fragrance that paralyzes reason.
And…
She removed her veil.
—Ihigigigi■■■■!?!?!!
—■■■!!!■■!
Seeing her unveiled face, anomalies and monsters convulsed even more violently.
What was the sweetness?
Why was I here?
Some anomalies felt doubt or confusion, but it didn’t matter.
Reason and free will were lost to enchantment.
“Everyone, everyone, eat. Eat the blades. This is my gift.”
—Thwack!
With those words, blades shot out from all mouths, eyes, and presumed holes of the anomalies.
Many died instantly. Others writhed on the floor.
Jaehui, avoiding the filthy blood and flesh, re-draped her veil.
She could not risk being seen.
“Fortunately, everyone drew their curtains tonight.”
Good.
Had anyone seen her face, they could have run outside and been swept away by the anomaly wave.
Huhu, but this is unpleasant to watch.
“Eating blades is not beautiful. Spikes protruding are not pretty.”
A giant larva with a human face had spikes protruding from its body.
Not beautiful.
A centipede-like human crawled on all fours.
Writhed on the blades I fed it.
Floating flesh jellyfish in the air.
Ah, not pleasant to watch.
Slicing with blades.
What am I doing?
Simple.
Although it looks like magic, my power stems from manipulating immense lifeforce and energy.
Lifeforce includes blood, flesh, bone, marrow—everything.
By compressing energy densely, I can create a material hard as bone and sharp, yet soft like flesh.
With this, I feed anomalies blades, pierce them, grow spikes from them, or make skewers.
“Ultimately, they crave human lifeforce and energy.”
Thus, anomalies feast sweetly on the life and energy I control.
Spread in the air, they grab it ravenously.
With a gesture, bang~
Simple.
Closer they come, or more fascinated they are, efficiency in controlling lifeforce increases, letting me form towers of flesh from anomalies if desired.
I tried this once—it was beautiful.
Next day, citizens panicked and had seizures from mental contamination, so I chose not to do it again.
Anyway, the conclusion.
“…Not beautiful.”
Larvae with protruding blades are boring.
That magical girl mascot with spiked teeth? I dislike it.
Beasts forcing contracts on underage girls must die.
Blades, spikes, spines.
Protrusions are not beautiful.
Where is something more beautiful and elegant?
“Ah.”
I thought of it.
Beautiful things.
Scenes where the grotesque, filthy, lowly, repulsive, and utterly ugly anomalies die beautifully.
I gestured to the violin floating beside me, voicing its boredom.
So cute.
Bouncing toward me like a child.
“One performance per day.”
—■■■■!
Whining.
Wanting to play more.
Wanting to be touched more, to make more beautiful sounds by my hand.
“But if beauty happens too often, it becomes ordinary. Ordinary means the decline and loss of beauty.”
—■?
“Ah, meaning that if the perfectly beautiful me plays the violin often, its brilliance will fade.”
—■■!
“Nonsense. That cannot happen.”
Children are children, indeed.
So, I took the violin in hand.
For humans, a melody of pleasant dreams.
For anomalies…
“—Funeral March (Marche Funèbre).”
Frédéric Chopin, Piano Sonata No. 2.
Playing it on violin won’t be easy, but I trust the beauty of the Succubus Empress.
Anything beautiful.
Make sounds into tones.
Tones into lines.
Lines into my life energy.
Let the sound become blades.
Let tones become my flesh.
Let lines become my blood.
Performance begins.
—The price: the blood and flesh of anomalies.