Encounter (3)
The heavy thud, thud, thud echoed through the hotel room.
“…”
Thud, thud, thud!
“…Ugh, what the hell…”
Something was knocking on the window, filling the entire suite with the sound. At first Sa Jaehyuk thought it was rain, but rain didn’t fall in such a precise rhythm. The moment that realization hit him, he finally rose from his seat and walked over to the window.
Clack!
He undid the latch and threw the window open. Damp, cold air rushed inside, sharpening his weary mind.
Caw!
“…The hell? It was you.”
Soon enough, Sa Jaehyuk spotted a single crow perched on the windowsill. As if it had been waiting for the window to open, the bird immediately hopped into the room. The crow had a distinctive patch of white feathers on its crown—familiar to Sa Jaehyuk. It belonged to Mok Jinu, his old classmate from the cradle and former comrade-in-arms.
Mok Jinu currently served as the Masada branch manager for the Information Bureau. The fact that he had sent a message through a secure channel meant he had a favor to ask. If he had simply wanted to check in, he would have used the hotel’s regular phone line.
“You… water—ah, never mind. Just hand it over.”
The crow was enthusiastically shaking water from its feathers onto the carpet. Sa Jaehyuk frowned for a moment, then gave up and held out his hand.
Caw!
Seeing the gesture, the crow plucked the bundle of papers tied to its leg with its beak and passed it over. Sa Jaehyuk took the papers, moved to the rocking chair by the window, and sat down. The sound of rain tapping against the glass filled his ears.
He untied the string and placed his palm on the bundle. Heavy black particles flowed from his hand into the blank white paper. Letters began to appear where there had been nothing.
“Let’s see… What annoying job is he trying to dump on me this time?”
The letter contained a brief update on the capital’s situation along with details of a recent incident. A small residential area in the northeastern part of the Masada metropolitan region had been attacked by demons a few days ago. All residents were killed except for one boy. It was presumed to be the work of remnants from the last subjugation that had slipped through the encirclement, but there were suspicious points that required further investigation. However, the Information Bureau was currently devoting all its resources to matters in the capital and had no personnel to spare. Therefore, Mok Jinu’s request was simple: secure the boy’s safety until Sa Jaehyuk’s current business in the capital was finished.
“…I knew it would be something like—ngh.”
Just as he was about to frown at the troublesome request, Sa Jaehyuk suddenly clutched the left side of his chest. A burning, throbbing pain spread outward from his heart like fire racing through his veins. The old wound had tormented him relentlessly for thirteen years. On rainy days like today, it was especially vicious.
Sa Jaehyuk, as if used to it, pulled a medicinal cigarette from his pocket, put it in his mouth, and lit it. As he inhaled the smoke, the pain eased and his mind grew calmer.
He sank deeper into the rocking chair and fell into thought. Truthfully, his mood had been poor lately. It wasn’t because his unit had been deployed to exterminate the demons that had descended south this time. Sa Jaehyuk and his unit already held a record of slaughtering over three figures worth of demons—including dozens of high-ranking ones with multiple horns. A unit with such achievements being sent on a subjugation mission was only natural. They would have volunteered even without a request.
What disturbed him was something else entirely. Because the matter was so significant, he had been forced to return to deliver a report on the subjugation. But Sa Jaehyuk hated visiting the capital. Every time he stepped through the majestic gate, old memories flooded his mind. On top of that, breathing in the rotten stench of greedy power-mongers was no small burden. Their power struggles had grown even fiercer than when he had left over a decade ago. Though his own family had long withdrawn from the front lines, these people still fought like starving ghouls over scraps. Lately there had even been signs of armed conflict—which was exactly why Mok Jinu was mobilizing the full strength of the Information Bureau.
And with factions clashing every single day, the country could hardly function. The frontier regions painstakingly developed over decades were turning into ruins. Monsters and criminals ran rampant as if the land belonged to them. Even in this latest subjugation, although the encirclement should have been airtight, holes had formed because each faction was too busy competing for credit and coordination had grown lax. The boy currently hospitalized was simply a victim of that pathetic chaos.
“…Should I take it? Doesn’t seem so bad.”
In Sa Jaehyuk’s opinion, this request was an excuse Mok Jinu had crafted for his sake. After all, Mok Jinu knew better than most how much Sa Jaehyuk had grown disillusioned with the capital and the high-ranking mage families. Moreover, the job didn’t stray far from the 66th Brigade’s authority, so there was little risk of anyone finding fault later. Since he had planned to return to the eastern front after finishing his rest anyway, he could simply stop by on the way.
Sa Jaehyuk quickly reached a decision. He flipped the paper over, carved the character 可 into it, resealed the bundle, and placed it back in the crow’s beak.
Caw!
Having received the papers, the crow immediately flew back out into the pouring rain beyond the window.
Clack!
“Seriously! Where does it suddenly start pouring like this!”
“Shut up… Anyone would think you’re the only one who got rained on…”
“Still, we bought everything we needed today. This much is lucky, I guess…”
Almost the moment the crow disappeared, the door to the suite opened. Three women burst inside at once. Their chatter immediately clouded Sa Jaehyuk’s mind again. While he had holed up in the hotel suite to avoid the stench, his subordinates had been out shopping and blowing off steam, releasing all the pent-up stress from their recent mission.
“Don’t you guys ever get tired? How many outfits did you even buy?”
Sa Jaehyuk grumbled as he stood up. He reached for the coat hanging on the rack. The short-haired woman who had just set down her shopping bags—Yoon Chaewon—looked at him and spoke.
“Jaehyuk. You’re going out? It’s raining outside right now.”
“I know. And call me Commander.”
At Sa Jaehyuk’s curt words, all three women froze in place. When he referred to himself as Commander, it meant it was time to get back to work.
“…You’re joking, right? We’ve only rested for three days…”
The long-haired woman, Ryu Sehwa, lamented.
“…I haven’t even finished shopping yet… I already made plans for tomorrow…”
The woman with a ponytail, Ye Jin, muttered in a despairing voice. Her usually expressionless eyes were trembling as if an earthquake had struck.
“…Sorry. We’ll come back another time.”
“…No, it’s fine. We’ve rested plenty. But what about the report?”
Yoon Chaewon, seeing Sa Jaehyuk’s unusually gentle demeanor, asked in a softened tone.
“Jinu will take care of that. We’re heading to the northeast. Chaewon, go find the particle suits. The repairs should be done by now. Sehwa, pack our gear. Jin, get the vehicle ready.”
“Got it.”
“…Understood.”
Upon receiving their orders, Chaewon and Sehwa immediately left the room. From the mirror, Sa Jaehyuk caught sight of Ye Jin lingering behind, hesitating unlike the others.
“What? Got something to say?”
At Sa Jaehyuk’s prompting, Ye Jin hesitated before opening her mouth.
“Oppa… I mean, Commander. Earlier I ran into Aunt and Uncle…”
The moment he heard those words, Sa Jaehyuk’s hands stopped dead.
After a brief silence, he spoke again.
“Father and Mother? That’s unusual.”
“…Yeah. And… they asked about your well-being. They wondered if this time maybe…”
“Jin. We’re running late. You should go prepare now.”
“…Yes.”
Sa Jaehyuk cut her off as if he didn’t want to hear any more. Confirming his intent, Ye Jin gave up and followed after Chaewon and Sehwa, leaving the room.
“Hoo…”
Left alone, Sa Jaehyuk finally let out a heavy sigh. His parents were another reason he hadn’t wanted to leave the hotel suite. He turned and made one final adjustment to his clothes.
In the mirror stood a tall, fierce-looking man with tired eyes. The silver locket around his neck swayed lightly, letting out a soft clink.
“Gaaah…! It hurts… I said it hurts!!”
“Shut your damn mouth. Sehwa, restrain this bastard and drag him away. Chaewon. What about that one?”
Sa Jaehyuk ground his military boot into the captured dark mage. Yoon Chaewon briefly checked the body sprawled on the ground before shaking her head.
“…No biological response. Looks like his arm was severed and the demonic energy backflowed. It hits dark mages especially hard…”
“Tsk. Understood. Jin and I will finish up here. You go help Sehwa with the interrogation.”
“Yessir~”
At Sa Jaehyuk’s command, Chaewon vanished into the darkness. Moments later, the smell of burning flesh and the dark mage’s screams began echoing from a distance.
I’m pretty sure he said it was just simple escort duty.
Figures. Mok Jinu’s requests are always like this, Sa Jaehyuk thought with a mental sigh.
They had set out immediately after accepting the request and reached the destination surprisingly quickly, but the boy had already disappeared from the hospital. Fortunately, they were able to confirm his passage record at the city gate, so they left the anxious doctor behind and immediately gave chase. By the time they caught up, however, the boy was already cornered. They had engaged in combat right away and successfully subdued the threats. That was the situation up to now.
Only after catching his breath did Sa Jaehyuk’s gaze finally turn to the boy. He looked to be in his early teens. A long scar running beneath his left eye stood out sharply. Even with everything happening right in front of him, the boy simply sat there in a daze. His eyes were hollow, completely devoid of light.
“Hey, kid. Are you okay? Are you hurt anywh—”
Slap!
The moment Ye Jin reached out to examine him, the boy swatted her hand away and flinched backward. His whole body was trembling so violently it was visible even in the darkness.
“Jin. We should light up the area first.”
“Ah, right.”
At Sa Jaehyuk’s words, Ye Jin nodded in understanding. In this kind of darkness, no one would look friendly. Especially not after having just been threatened with death.
Ye Jin raised her hand and began to cast a spell. But no matter how much time passed, the surroundings showed no sign of brightening. She tilted her head while fiddling with the particle array device on her wrist.
“…That’s strange. The spell won’t activate. The PA seems fine… It was working when we left earlier…”
“Forget it. I’ll do it for now. Check it again later.”
With a casual tone, Sa Jaehyuk took over and raised his hand. He traced the pattern for the Light Orb spell stored in his PA.
“…?”
Yet Sa Jaehyuk’s PA refused to respond either. Just in case, he tried forming the spell formula manually, but the magic still showed no sign of activating. No matter how many times he tried, there was only silence. Or rather, it felt as if the particles themselves refused to gather at all.
“…Wait a second.”
Has my body already started aging? The thought had just crossed his mind when a sudden intuition flashed through Sa Jaehyuk’s head. It was the instinct of a soldier who had survived the battlefield for over a decade.
He looked back at the boy. The boy was still sitting there with those empty eyes. But Sa Jaehyuk’s gut kept insisting there was something more.
“…”
After a moment of hesitation, Sa Jaehyuk pulled a particle filter from his coat. It was a pair of glasses that used polarized sensing stones to measure atmospheric particle density.
“What the…?”
The moment he put on the filter and looked around, a rare look of astonishment crossed Sa Jaehyuk’s face. Bessel particles existed everywhere in the atmosphere, even if their concentration was low. Therefore, the scenery viewed through the filtered sensing stone should have been filled with tiny, sparkling grains of light.
But right now, only cold, heavy darkness of night hung over Sa Jaehyuk’s surroundings. There wasn’t a single trace of activated particles to be found. He tried opening his hand again, but magic still refused to manifest.
“…”
After thinking for a moment, Sa Jaehyuk came up with one hypothesis. For some unknown reason, it seemed that not only atmospheric particles but also internalized particles were being deactivated in this area. That would explain why neither the PA nor manually drawn formulas could activate any magic.
His gaze returned to the boy. Beyond the semicircular boundary surrounding the boy, particles still glittered in the air. He could also see the spatial boundary shifting along with the boy’s subtle movements. It wasn’t difficult for Sa Jaehyuk to realize that this space was centered on the boy.
“…Commander, what are you doing?”
Sa Jaehyuk ignored Ye Jin’s question and stepped outside the boundary. He drew the Light Orb formula once more. As expected, the spell activated without issue this time. A glowing orb floated gently above his palm, brightly illuminating the surroundings.
“Oh…! It worked! Then what on earth was the problem? A device malfunction…?”
Ye Jin muttered as she stared at the orb. Sa Jaehyuk kept the Light Orb active and stepped back inside the boundary. The instant the orb touched the boundary, it shattered into tiny fragments and scattered into the air.
Judging from the circumstances, it was almost certain that this phenomenon—which deactivated particles in the surrounding area—originated from the boy. If he could control this effect at will, then he was no different from a natural enemy to mages. A mage who couldn’t use magic was nothing more than a powerless human. Not only mages, but every particle-sensitive lifeform—including demons and monsters—would be rendered equally helpless before the boy.
“…”
Sa Jaehyuk couldn’t speak. He had encountered beings with similar abilities once before. There was only one kind of existence he knew that wielded an incomprehensible domain beyond magic—an Authority.
A Witch.
The nightmare from thirteen years ago that had dragged his life through the mud had come back to life.