Memorial Service (1)
The shrill ringing drilled into her ears without mercy, snatching away the fragile comfort of deep sleep. Baek Seoyeon clenched her jaw against the violent urge to smash every object in the room to pieces. In the end, she dragged herself upright on the bed. A thin gown that hinted at her pale skin swayed unsteadily with each step she took. Empty sleeping-pill bottles scattered across the floor were kicked aside, clattering and rolling away.
"Miss. I apologize for calling at this early hour. The scouts have brought back demon language they need decoded urgently. They’re asking for your assistance. How should I respond?"
"Tell them I understand. I’ll head down shortly. Prepare a vehicle."
Her voice remained impeccably refined, yet Baek Seoyeon snapped the phone shut with an irritated flick of her wrist. She let out a long, heavy sigh, then moved to the mirror and began a minimal grooming routine. She slid her precious ring onto her finger, fastened the clasp of her necklace, and finally inspected her expression one last time. The corners of her mouth refused to lift, so she forced them upward with her fingertips until she could manage a nod of approval.
In the mirror, Baek Seoyeon stared at herself. The woman reflected there possessed breathtaking beauty, yet not a trace of life or warmth could be found in her. She was breathing, but her heart had long since died and turned to ash.
When her slender fingers fumbled across the phonograph and pressed the play button, a bizarre chorus of howls flooded the darkroom. Threatening barks like dogs on the verge of attack. Shrill squeals resembling hoofed beasts in panic. Low, rumbling growls designed to instill terror. The harsh, hissing breaths of enormous creatures. It sounded as though dozens of wild animals had gathered for some savage assembly, so vivid that one could almost believe they had been dropped into the heart of an untamed wilderness.
Most ordinary people would dismiss it as meaningless noise. But this was precious data collected at the cost of lives by scouts who had ventured beyond the barrier.
In the air of the darkroom, tiny glowing particles floated densely, reacting to the sound vibrations. Between the beastly cries, hidden rhythms and patterns caused the particles to cluster into specific formations before scattering again in an eerie, repeating dance.
"...When was this information collected?"
"Roughly a month ago. A gathering of beasts was held in the old demon-town region. This is a recording of the conversation between the chieftains who attended."
The phonograph spun for a long while before finally stopping with a sharp click. Baek Seoyeon switched on the lights and sat down across from the female officer wearing a captain’s insignia.
"They said the scale was unusually massive. The stench of the beasts and their howls echoed all the way past the cliffs."
"Unusually massive..."
"...Is something wrong?"
The officer noticed Baek Seoyeon’s grave murmur and asked.
"It’s nothing but talk of battle. Who will lead the vanguard, how many each tribe will contribute, which sections of the barrier are vulnerable..."
Seoyeon handed over the neatly organized documents containing her decoded demon language.
"Then..."
"If my judgment is correct... they appear to be planning another large-scale invasion."
The demon race’s great invasion two years ago had left an unhealable scar on the Republic. Fortresses had burned. Countless lives had been lost. Baek Seoyeon herself could be counted among both its direct and indirect victims.
"...Understood. I’ll convey your assessment to headquarters immediately."
The female officer’s face hardened as she nodded.
"Also, the term ‘Agent’ keeps appearing repeatedly in the conversations. This follows the previous decoded texts I provided. Has any new information regarding that entity surfaced?"
"Aside from speculation that it may be a newly created rank, we have nothing further..."
"I see..."
"My apologies. The moment we receive updated information, you will be the first to know."
As Baek Seoyeon stepped out of the building, she exchanged a few more words with the officer.
"Without the young lady of the Paecheon family, such swift decoding would have been impossible. On behalf of the entire Northern Army, I offer my deepest gratitude."
"Hehe, there’s no need for such thanks. It is simply the duty of someone in my position..."
Seoyeon waved her hand lightly, an elegant smile gracing her lips.
The cries beasts used to communicate with one another—so-called demon language. Because meaning was conveyed through vibrational patterns in particles, those with low sensitivity could never understand it innately. Moreover, the demon race as a whole possessed overwhelmingly superior sensitivity, so ordinary mages could usually only comprehend the lower ranks. Almost no one could understand and decode the high-rank demon language used to exchange critical information.
"It’s truly remarkable. How are you able to handle high-rank demon language at such a level? Even specialists normally take days to interpret a single sentence."
"Oh, please. You flatter me too much; my face is burning. When I was young I was simply so bored that I read every book I could reach. It happened by coincidence..."
Seoyeon offered a bright, bashful smile. The female officer nodded in sudden understanding. It was common knowledge that the young lady of Paecheon had been kept hidden by her father’s excessive doting and protection, only appearing when it was time for her to enroll in the academy.
"Then please rest well. The Northern Army will always stand with Paecheon."
Before climbing into the waiting vehicle, Seoyeon exchanged one final light greeting. She had been working to draw the Northern Army into her influence rather than the neutral Intelligence Bureau or other regional forces. To that end, she had unhesitatingly used both her own abilities and the prestige of her family. On the surface it appeared she was simply bringing them under the Paecheon banner, leaving almost no room for her father to grow suspicious.
Once inside the vehicle’s back seat, Baek Seoyeon closed her eyes. She turned the officer’s praise over in her mind once more. When she considered the truth behind those words, she nearly laughed. Beauty and protection were terms that had nothing to do with her past. Indifference and threat were far more fitting.
With a frail body cursed by an incurable illness, the only thing she could manage was reading books. Among them had happened to be a volume on demon-language decoding. Through the heightened sensitivity she had gained in exchange for her lifespan, she had coincidentally developed exceptional comprehension. In truth, she herself had never imagined it. That one piece of knowledge acquired in childhood would twist the entire course of her life so completely.
The flames licked the air with bright red tongues. Acrid smoke so thick it blinded. Blood and the stench of death drenched everything. The happy days that had felt like a dream scattered like grains of sand in an instant.
—Target confirmed. Eliminate together with the male and withdraw from the scene.
In that hellish landscape, the monster’s pupils fixed on her were chillingly devoid of emotion. From its maw spilled the savage, razor-sharp tongue of beasts. It was clearly a conversation among their own kind, yet the vibrations carried the exact same meaning to the young girl’s ears.
"Yeon, I’ll hold the monster back! Run while you can!"
"What are you—!"
Before she could stop him, the boy stepped in front of her and threw himself forward with reckless courage. But it was no different from an ant challenging a giant.
"I told you… not to!!"
The boy was trampled and hurled aside. His entire body became drenched in blood. An indelible scar carved itself across his once-handsome, clear features. Yet he rose again like a roly-poly, fearless. He continued his hopeless battle against the monsters.
The sole reason he kept standing was to save the girl he loved.
"Khuk… keuk…"
Resistance proved futile. In the end the monster seized him by the throat.
"Hyun!!!"
—KWAANG!!
The shaggy monster slammed him into the stone wall. The boy crumpled and lay motionless.
"No!!!"
All the powerless girl could do was scream from where she stood. The monsters closed in on her from every direction. Overwhelmed by the danger signals flooding her senses, her unprepared mage body began an incomplete awakening.
—Crackle… crackle…!!
The girl sensed the anomaly in her body in a single instant. Golden particles that had filled her core erupted outward uncontrollably. They raged in all directions like a broken dam.
—KWAANG!!
—KYAAAAK! KYAAAK!
The uncontrollable golden storm swept the front in a massive fan shape. The dozens of hooves forming the encirclement were shredded into bloody chunks amid agonized shrieks.
"Haa… haa… heuk…!"
Her head felt ready to split. Bloody, viscous tears streamed from her eyes. Every blood vessel in her body felt as though it had been shredded by knives from within.
"Haa… haa…!"
Desperately, the girl tried to suppress the rampage. The mortality rate of an incomplete awakening rose exponentially with one’s potential. Yet she could not abandon even that minuscule chance. If she failed to regain control of her body now, the boy would be lost forever.
"Haa… ugh…"
She did not know how much time passed. After sealing the passage and focusing every ounce of her will, the storm around her gradually subsided. The surroundings fell quiet as though nothing had happened. The pain vanished as if washed clean. Only neat, pure energy remained in her body. Vitality surged through her limbs and her vision expanded.
At the end of her frantic struggle, she had suppressed the incomplete awakening and perfectly reclaimed control. It also meant she had finally overcome Particle Hypersensitivity Syndrome and escaped the terror of death completely.
"Hyun… Hyun…!"
She had no chance to feel joy at having become a mage. The girl, now lucid, rushed toward the collapsed section of the stone wall. Without even thinking to use magic, she tore at the rubble with her bare hands. All ten fingernails tore away and blood poured freely, but she felt nothing. At last the small, motionless form of the boy with closed eyes was revealed.
"Heuk… Hyun… please wake up…"
Even at her desperate pleas he did not stir. His face was stained dark with blood from a long gash. The sticky, wet sensation of blood met her fingers everywhere she touched. His pulse was faint, like a candle flame about to be extinguished by the wind.
"Sob… Hyun… no…"
From a distance came the belated clamor of rescue forces arriving, but none of it reached the girl’s ears. The birthday of the boy she loved had ended in the worst way imaginable.