31
Chapter 31
The sound of machinery interlocking echoed before us.
Click.
I pulled back my poncho and switched on the light in my chest pocket, revealing a bleak vista. I was surprised by how Korean architecture had held up despite the constant shelling, and equally surprised by the sheer amount of domestic trash scattered about.
Crushed plastic bottles and open tin cans were strewn across the floor.
Deacon Min Hyeong-jun of the Taegeuk Cloak Squad, who had arrived a step later than us Supreme Mages, clicked his tongue. Unlike us, the Taegeuk Cloak Squad wasn't wearing gas masks or ponchos, leaving his scowl clearly visible.
Deacon Min made a gesture of pinching his nose and shook his head.
"The smell tells me something's spoiled. It seems true that refugees were here."
Meanwhile, Lee Se-jun adjusted his grip on his firearm, knelt on one knee to inspect the discarded trash, and tilted his head.
He spoke aloud, clearly intending for others to hear.
"Did they deliberately scatter noisy objects to alert them of intruders? They should have disposed of this trash properly if they wanted to hide..."
Regardless, we had approximately 23 minutes left.
It was not a good choice to linger long in Seoul, where three identified species with established counter-tactics and eleven unidentified species were rampant. I love magic, but I didn't want to deal with back-to-back battles against monsters.
Normally, splitting up is a death sentence—practically an instant-kill trope from horror movies—but time was running out. We had to find something quickly and get out.
It would be great if I could find clues about magic while I was at it, but I couldn't get my hopes up too much.
With that mindset, I suggested searching by organization.
Deacon Min brushed back his thin hair, casting a worried glance my way.
"Are you sure you'll be alright with only three people? It might be better to distribute the manpower equally."
"In exchange, everyone on our side uses Alteration-type magic."
"Alteration-type? Ah, those special abilities granted by the Lord. Hmm... I suppose it'll be fine if Mr. Na-in is with you."
And so, the three of us Supreme Mages and the Taegeuk Cloak Squad split up at the entrance.
Our trio of Supreme Mages headed up the emergency stairs to check the second floor, while the Taegeuk Cloak Squad finished searching the first. Since we divided roles right from the start, moving out was much easier.
My only concern, however, was Shin Na-in's unstable state.
He kept muttering prayer verses, his eyes slightly glazed over as if he were on the verge of losing his mind. I snapped my fingers in front of his face to bring him back.
"Hey, poop-head. Snap out of it and tell me what you hear."
"...Mr. Jemin, Mr. Se-jun. Something is wrong. I keep hearing babies crying..."
Na-in swallowed hard, unconsciously tightening his grip on his gun.
"I feel like I have to protect them. This urge to protect the babies is surging up as if it's the most natural thing in the world."
"Isn't that normal?"
Lee Se-jun replied with a bored expression, causing Na-in to suddenly snap his eyes wide open.
"A heretic's child is not someone to be protected. They are objects of enlightenment and repentance! Children who might be the bastards of a heretic are not lambs, but goats—the bloodline of the Satanic Demon! While I would attempt to reform them as the Word says to love even one's enemies, they are by no means to be protected without cost."
"..."
"And yet, I want to protect them this much. Something is wrong."
After listening to Na-in's impassioned speech, Lee Se-jun looked between me and Na-in.
His gaze wavered as if he were about to cry, but eventually fixed on me with a question.
"What do you think, Mr. Jemin?"
"This world is insane."
Fwoosh.
I exhaled a short breath into my gas mask filter and activated Alteration-type Eye Stage 1, leading the way into the ruins.
It was true that Na-in's personality and various eccentricities were off-putting, but there was one thing: I could trust his abilities and utility.
"I'll follow the logic of a madman."
Having parted ways with the Taegeuk Cloak Squad, we Supreme Mages began to move in a triangular formation.
At the vanguard was I, Baek Jemin, who could see ten seconds into the future. Although the fog had thinned slightly inside the building, it was still dense. In a place like this, it was only natural for me to lead, as I could predict a monster's movements via red footprints.
To the left was Shin Na-in, who could hear the inner thoughts of monsters or humans. He frowned at the persistent sound of crying babies, stepping forward with even greater caution.
To the right was Lee Se-jun, our human catapult and tireless engine. While his detection abilities were poor and unable to spot ambushes or surprises, he was slated to provide firepower or rescue allies with his superior physical capabilities.
Fortunately, because the fog was so thick, there was almost no recoil from the magic.
My vision was a bit blurry, but it was nothing compared to the stinging sensation I felt outside Seoul, as if my eyes had been scrubbed raw with toothpaste. I kept my ten-second precognition active at all times to prepare for incoming threats.
Luckily, there wasn't a single footprint on the emergency stair door.
Still, making sure not to let my guard down, I signaled Na-in with a glance, and he nodded.
"Nothing."
Screeee—.
Tucking the gun under my right arm, I pushed the emergency stair door open with my left hand. Since it was a door that just needed to be pushed without a handle, it made a loud noise with just a bit of pressure.
Fortunately, the stairs were intact.
Just in case, I used the light on my chest to check the stairs below and found benches and bookshelves tangled with trash, which hadn't been visible from the lobby. It looked as if they were trying to block the way to the basement.
If we had more time, I might have cleared that debris to investigate further down.
However, it was clear that these weren't just discarded items, but traces of a hurried attempt to block the path to the basement. If it were a simple trash site, there would be at least one person's waste or urine, but it was surprisingly clean.
There weren't even any red footprints.
I gestured for Lee Se-jun and Shin Na-in to enter and then readjusted my grip on my gun. Having confirmed the lower stairs were blocked, it was time to head up to the second floor.
As we climbed the stairs, I checked on Na-in and Se-jun.
Na-in was still tight with tension, and Se-jun muttered to himself after glancing down at the stairs.
"Maybe the stairs weren't even used."
Following those words, a heavy silence descended for a while.
A silence where only the sound of concrete dust and glass shards, shaken loose by the shelling, could be heard under our boots.
Crunch, crunch.
The sound of various particles crushing and rolling under the soles of my combat boots made the inside of my gas mask humid. Beyond the lenses, the world was dyed in thick fog, creating a terrifying sense of mystery.
People used to believe that hell was filled with sulfur-scented flames, but I had recently changed my mind.
Hell is not bright or lively.
It is dark and damp, a place where it's been determined that the human race isn't even worth eternal punishment. A place where not even the standards of good and evil are applied to humanity.
Hell is a place that doesn't even grant the chance to emit light by burning to death.
And right now, we were in hell.
The fog wavered slightly with every step we took. The tension—knowing that corpses and monsters might be lurking beneath that fog—made my heart race a tingling sensation.
At the same time, I discovered traces of human habitation.
"Candles?"
Melted wax and candles with completely burnt-out wicks were placed along both sides of the hallway.
Just in case, I scanned the surroundings with Alteration-type Eye Stage 1, but no red footprints appeared. However, I couldn't be careless. My precognition only predicts threats from moving targets, monsters, from ten seconds ahead.
If a monster were lying in ambush and lunged within ten seconds, I could be caught completely off guard.
So, with my gun shouldered, I waited exactly ten seconds at every intersection, corner, and door. After waiting dozens of seconds without seeing any red footprints, I asked Na-in.
"Poop-head. Hear anything?"
"The babies... they're not nearby. They're deep inside."
"Let's check them one by one, quickly."
As Lee Se-jun swallowed hard, the Supreme Mages' formation was decided.
I, Baek Jemin, would take the dangerous task of checking the rooms. Shin Na-in and Lee Se-jun would guard against monsters that might burst out from the hallway. We would make sure to close every door we passed so we could hear a monster's attack, and the three of us would always stay within each other's sight.
With those rules established, the search began in earnest.
I don't know how much time has passed. Ten minutes? Maybe 17 minutes left?
Without hesitation, taking advantage of the low magic recoil, I turned corners and swung open closed doors, scanning them rapidly. This was possible because Alteration-type Eye Stage 1 greatly reduced the burden of staying alert for danger.
Swing.
Empty.
Clatter.
Locked. I instantly tightened my grip on my gun.
I slammed the buttstock against the door and kicked it.
Slam!
Dust swirled in the beam of my light. With my weapon shouldered, I quickly scanned the room.
After about ten seconds, the dust settled slightly, revealing a bizarre sight.
Then, Lee Se-jun asked in a slightly trembling voice.
"Mr. Jemin, do you see anything?"
"Bloodstains and clothes."
I approached slowly and knelt on one knee to see what was hidden beneath the dust and fog.
I saw clothes covered in dark, murky bloodstains. From white shirts yellowed by long-term grime to a padded jacket with a tattered collar. It looked like clear evidence that people had lived here.
The problem was that these clothes were mingled with blood.
Just in case, I grabbed the edge of a relatively clean garment and tried to pull it, but with a scraping sound, the dried blood cracked. It was old. Had they been attacked by a monster?
I searched the area further, but there was nothing else in the room. The place, which must have once been a clinic, was filled only with clothes covered in mysterious bloodstains. Time was too short for deductions or imagination.
I stood up, feeling a chill run down my spine.
"Everyone, get ready to fight. A monster was definitely here."
"..."
Seeing Shin Na-in and Lee Se-jun silently readjust their grip on their weapons, I checked the other rooms.
Swing!
The doorknob turned easily. Inside, there were signs of resistance. Blood-soaked handprints trailed long along the walls and floor before abruptly stopping. They hadn't been dragged toward the window.
Judging by the direction of the dragging marks, it seemed they had been pulled toward the hallway, but the trail ended before reaching it.
Instead, thick bloodstains, looking as if they had exploded, were dried near the entrance. I saw nothing else unusual.
I closed the doors that had intact knobs.
Time for the next room.
Slam, slam-slam!
The knob on this room was broken. I thought about shooting it, but decided against it, fearing that gunfire might attract monsters. To put it bluntly, there was no guarantee they wouldn't track the smell of gunpowder.
I had the selector on safe. I was still worried it might accidentally discharge, but I was desperate.
I struck the knob several times with the buttstock and then gave it a hard kick.
Slam!
I quickly scanned the area. I waved away the thick dust with my hand, eyes wide.
No footprints. Instead, there was a strange pattern.
It was a character that looked like a bowl.
I checked to see if it was a magic rune, but I didn't feel that distinct sensation of something forcibly stirring in my mind. The unique thing was the vivid bloodstains, looking as if they had been drawn with a blood-soaked palm.
Was that all?
This place was similar to the second room. Blood-soaked clothes were strewn about.
However, several bags, including school backpacks, were placed neatly against the wall. I headed toward them, the sling over my right shoulder, and quickly checked the insides.
Half-eaten snack bags, spoiled triangle kimbap that probably smelled sour, a moldy tin of tuna, a drink can stuck to the bottom of a bag...
The traces of people having once lived here were vividly apparent.
Then I saw a violently torn notebook. I picked it up and skimmed through it.
The content wasn't much.
It was a curse poured out by someone left in Seoul toward those on the outside. The sentences that seemed to be written while still sane were as follows:
-Communications asking them to stop the shelling were ignored.
-A vehicle came nearby. It wasn't a relief vehicle. A newlywed couple who approached it were murdered.
-Babies were born even in a place like this. I want to show these babies the sunlight.
After that, it was just mad ramblings about everyone outside dying, about breaking through the blockade line to scatter monsters so everyone would die together, and about helping the monsters to get revenge on the government and military.
There were no further leads.
I tossed the notebook aside and readjusted my grip on my gun. Only one room remained.
The only one left was the deepest room, furthest from the stairs, where the baby cries were coming from. When I stepped back into the hallway, Shin Na-in and Lee Se-jun were aiming their weapons, eyes fixed on the corridor ahead.
Lee Se-jun spoke while maintaining a steady firing stance.
"Mr. Jemin, you took a while this time."
"There were some food scraps left. They didn't starve to death. Something happened here, so stay alert."
Our trio of Alteration-type users, the Supreme Mages, quickly formed a line and headed inward.
No red footprints were visible yet. I asked Na-in to detect anything, and he nodded.
As we stood before the door of the deepest room, Lee Se-jun and I could also hear the crying of a baby.
Waaah.... Waaah....
A surge of emotion welled up in a corner of my heart.
It was too complex to describe as a single feeling.
First came the sadness that an abandoned baby remained in such a place. This was followed by mourning for the noble spirit of those who tried to protect the infant even in this extreme situation.
Then, a righteous anger flared against the environment and the circumstances that forced this absurdity.
If there were a being who could answer, I wanted to scream and ask what South Korea had done wrong to deserve such a horrific tragedy.
Why us? Why humans? Why did this disaster strike South Korea, this tiny country of all places?
It was the moment I set those questions aside and tried to open the door.
Grab.
"Mr. Jemin."
Na-in gripped my shoulder firmly.
"You're not that kind of hero, Mr. Jemin."
"...."
"You're here for magic, Mr. Se-jun is here to repay his debt to the country, and I'm here for a holy war of atonement to God. None of us came here to save a bunch of heretics."
I closed my eyes tightly.
It was madness, but I needed it to clear my head.
When I opened my eyes again, the baby's crying continued. Waaah, waaaah. I imagined a baby with stubby arms and legs flailing, waiting for a guardian, but my heart and mind remained ice cold.
Lee Se-jun seemed to have had a similar experience.
I could see him frowning through the gas mask lens, but as he tucked his gun under his arm and fiddled with a grenade on his ammo belt, it seemed he had steeled his resolve.
In that moment, I recited the motto of our Supreme Mages.
We are madness facing madness.
Absurdity facing absurdity.
We march into hell before hell seeps into us.
"Hmph!"
Slam!
I kicked the door and entered quickly.
Alteration-type Eye Stage 1 and the ten-second Future Sight finally revealed red footprints. They were incredibly slow, as if something were crawling on its belly.
Slow enough that I could have defeated them without precognition.
The moment I saw the owner of those red footprints, two visions overlapped.
One was the vision of an ordinary human. The sight I had when I wasn't using magic.
There, stained and abandoned babies were wrapped in podaegis that still held a faint trace of human warmth, flailing their limbs and crying.
Pity surged within me as they wailed with a desire to live, begging for their fading lives to find peace once more.
"Waaah, waaaah...."
However, the magic vision showed a different scene.
Wrapped in the podaegi was a silhouette that only looked like a baby. The entity hidden by the thick fog, the fabric, and the cries revealed its true form through the magical sight.
I remembered a clickbait post from long ago where I had seen something called a teratoma.
Teratomas, weren't they?
A type of cancer where dysfunctional teeth, eyes, and all sorts of organs grow in clusters. And, though I hate to admit it, cancer is a form of life.
Cancer, too, simply wants to survive.
Wishing to find a new host once the current one dies.
Wrapped in the podaegis were Teratomas that crudely and blasphemously mimicked the human form. Those Teratomas were acting like babies.
They flailed limbs covered in teeth, revealed hearts that pulsed meaninglessly, and rolled lidless eyes to look my way. When the lips positioned in their throats opened, what came out wasn't a monster's roar.
"Waaah..."
Click.
The three of us shouldered and aimed our weapons instantly.
Selector on semi-auto. Index finger on the trigger.
" laaaaaaaaah!"
Gunshots rang out along with Lee Se-jun's roar, which sounded like a scream.
Spent shells fell heavily onto the blood-stained clothes, and flashes of light rained down, bursting the masses of tumors.
Then the Teratomas stopped their act and began to crawl toward us swiftly, waddling. All the while, they continuously let out baby cries to avoid the gunfire.
"Waaah! Waaah!"
Every time they did, my vision grew dim, as if static were interfering.
I finally realized. It was a mental attack.
A species instinct of humanity. A monster that approached by using that noble human emotion—the need to protect a child—as bait.
A monster that could neutralize even the survival instinct of humans with nothing but the sound of a fragile baby's cry.
A nightmarish existence that only those with a cold survival instinct capable of overcoming human love, or those who had awakened to magic and noticed the contradiction, had a chance to oppose!
"Waaaaah!"
While my muzzle wavered for a moment, the Teratomas closed the distance.
Only then did I realize why I hadn't thrown in a grenade beforehand. I understood why I had opted to enter the room.
An unconscious species instinct. Even though I vaguely sensed they were monsters, my ethical sense that a baby cannot be killed recklessly made me choose the worst option over the best, hoping for a miracle.
A mere 1% miracle.
Hoping that in this hell, a noble human love had achieved the miracle of keeping some babies safe...!
"In the name of Lord Jesus Christ, Satan, be gone!"
Rat-tat-tat-tat!
Some of the red footprints vanished instantly.
It was Shin Na-in.
Amidst the acrid gunsmoke and flashing muzzle, he was aiming without hesitation and gunning down the approaching Teratomas.
But we couldn't handle them all, so Lee Se-jun and I prepared for close combat.
There wasn't even time to scatter the Blood of the Right Hand, the Hand-type magic.
I grabbed the slightly overheated barrel and swung it.
Instead, I used Vision Line Stage 2.
Since my pain is longer and deeper than in any other time....
Thwack!
A lunging Teratoma was crushed against the buttstock.
The moment the red footprints were cut off and it leaped, the fog dispersed, and the precognition showed me exactly where it would fly.
Calculating the ten-second time lag and predicting the future while swinging my firearm to knock back the Teratomas was taxing, but manageable. Since Vision Line Stage 2 even applied a stun, fighting in close quarters was almost easier than shooting.
Lee Se-jun performed even better than expected.
The moment I knocked back one Teratoma and tucked my gun under my arm, Lee Se-jun was sweeping the Teratomas away as if swinging a bat.
"Se-jun, I'm going to blink, so hold on!"
Blink.
"Aaaaah! Aaah! Ah!"
Hearing the powerful shout, I bit my left hand once.
The effect of Vision Line Stage 2 was certain.
The swarm of Teratomas flinched and stopped, and Lee Se-jun, now beyond screaming and filled with rage, began kicking and stomping them one by one with his combat boots.
"Die! Die! Die!"
Shin Na-in was relatively composed.
"It's fine. They aren't actually human. I won't be shaken by the sound of baby cries from now on."
As if his previous hesitation were a lie, he pulled the trigger with precision and speed.
Bang, bang...
I followed Na-in's lead and fired without hesitation.
It was point-firing, but since they were so sluggish, they were easy targets. Their durability was so poor that whenever a bullet ricocheted off the floor, a tumor mass would inevitably explode.
They were unremarkable monsters, provided one could withstand their mental attacks.
They moved in packs but were weak, and though they could leap, they were easy to predict.
Blink.
When I opened my eyes again, all the Teratomas were dead.
They weren't as resilient as Amalgams or Predatory Spines. I felt they were nothing special.
But perhaps I only thought that in my head.
As the adrenaline subsided and my senses slowly returned to normal, I noticed certain things.
Huff, huff-.
My breathing was heavy.
The breath leaking through the gas mask filter smelled sweet, mixed with the scent of rubber.
Dried saliva lingered on my parched lips. Soon, an overwhelming fatigue weighed down my shoulders. I tapped my knee with my left hand to steady my shaking legs.
For a while, the room was filled only with the corpses of tumor masses and the sound of breathing through gas masks.
"Swap magazines."
The thought of recovering spent magazines didn't even cross my mind.
At my word, we all swapped, regardless of how many rounds were left. It seemed everyone had switched to 30-round magazines, as they weren't the rectangular box type.
Click.
I sighed at the sight of spent shells tangled with melted flesh.
"I'll finish searching the inside, so Poop-head and Se-jun, watch the perimeter."
"...Yes."
"In the name of Lord Jesus Christ, in the name of Lord God."
I don't know how many minutes passed.
Perhaps having heard the gunshots from outside, the static noise from the radio Lee Se-jun brought grew louder. The problem was that the reception was too poor to understand properly.
Figuring I could just tell them later, I quickly scanned the interior.
Only then could I properly see the scene in the room, filled with gunsmoke and bloodstains.
Blood-soaked handprints densely covered the walls. They didn't symbolize any signs or letters. They just looked like traces left by those desperately scratching the walls in agony.
Instead, beneath those handprints, a heavy notebook lay with a pen.
I approached, knelt, and opened the notebook.
It was filled with entries written densely by an anonymous person.
***
Eye - Perception, Distortion?
Ear - Fate?, Detection
Hand - Intellect, Alchemy?
Heart - Life?, Strengthening
Tongue - Acceptance, Change
+Thought is guided at each stage. When asking mages for explanation, 'Retrospection' for Stage 1 and 'Lamentation' for Stage 2 appear commonly.
+The closer the aptitude is to the meaning symbolized by the part, the more the magic aptitude changes? It seems influenced by thoughts and emotions.
+Stage 1 magic of the hand part is very useful. Although the duration is short, it can block monster attacks to some extent with handprints. When applied to a bat and swung, the monster took significant damage.
"Not enough blood."
"It only applies to blood shed by the right hand."
"It led me to a meaningless death."
+Someone who knows the Tongue pattern joined. A new magic.
"Awakened. Acceptance and change."
"The side effects are more severe than other parts."
+I realized. Humanity cannot win this fight.
"We cannot win because we love ourselves too much."
"We must accept that humanity is not special."
"I have decided to give up the Tongue magic."
+The Tongue pattern is on the last page.
"The cries of babies echo."
"Everyone who could have killed them is dead."
+Avoid the sound of baby cries.
***
I expressed my gratitude to the owner of this journal.
How concise and wonderful. It wasn't overflowing with sentimental phrases or modifiers like Father Jeong Yong-hwan's.
It was great that it was written plainly in Korean for the reader's convenience. I checked the back pages of the journal without hesitation.
Then, I set the journal down amidst the light fog mixed with acrid gunsmoke.
Then, the meaningless symbols began to transform into something that looked significant.
The revealed symbol looked like a semi-circle with a vertical center line, with branches extending alternately to both sides. It was somewhat similar to a key.
It was a truly strange symbol.
Naturally, the recoil from learning the magic hit me instantly.
I let out a choked gasp.
"Mr. Jemin?"
I shrieked in pain.
It was incredibly spicy.
A pain as if my tongue had been soaked in chili oil forced tears from my eyes. Dammit, tears I had saved for my parents' funerals streamed down my cheeks...!
Now was not the time to be holding a gun.
I dropped my gun on the floor and frantically poured water from my canteen over my tongue.
For a moment, the cold water seemed to cool my tongue, but instead, the water began to heat up as if it were soaked in chili powder.
I screamed and groaned in agony.
I swear, it wasn't this spicy even during chemical warfare training.
Feeling like I was going to die, I lifted my gas mask slightly, and saliva mixed with blood bubbles streamed down.
Lee Se-jun and Shin Na-in seemed to be saying something, but I couldn't hear them.
I wonder how long I stayed collapsed there.
At some point, I felt my burning, spicy tongue cool down. It was moderately sticky and cold, like melted ice cream.
Only then did I spit out the residue and pull my gas mask back down.
When I looked up, Lee Se-jun was looking down at me with a pathetic expression.
"Mr. Jemin, this is why you shouldn't learn magic recklessly."
I told him he should learn a thing or two from me.
He sighed, wondering why our magic wasn't something like throwing fireballs or striking with lightning.
The comments of the mediocre Lee Se-jun were unimportant.
What mattered was the cold gaze Shin Na-in was directing toward us.
"The baby cries are still audible. Let's get out of here."
I told them to wait a second.
I skillfully tucked the journal into the waistband of my pants. Since there was nowhere else to put it, I relied on the elastic band of my underwear. With the belt added, it was a double lock.
As I packed the journal and picked up my gun, Lee Se-jun's gaze turned almost to contempt.
"Damn it. You're planning to submit something covered in pubes?"
I told him there were things more disgusting than my hair here and urged him to leave.
Our exit was swift.
As we had seen on the way in, the roof and upper floors were smashed by shelling, but the second floor seemed safe.
Contrary to the tension, I felt no threats this time. The only threat was Shin Na-in saying he could hear baby cries.
We faced that threat directly around the time we reached the first-floor entrance.
The Taegeuk Cloak Squad should have returned, but they didn't.
Instead, Shin Na-in, aiming his weapon at the dark hallway where the lights were out, spoke in a slightly trembling voice.
He mentioned the baby cries.
Lee Se-jun asked what happened to the men and women who had gone in.
Shin Na-in didn't answer the tactless question.
It would be more accurate to say he couldn't answer.
We didn't leave immediately but waited for a while with our muzzles aimed at the dim first-floor hallway.
Looking beyond with Alteration-type Eye Stage 1, I saw red footprints. However, the red footprints did not approach us. Instead, I felt them lingering under the dark shadows, confronting us.
I don't know how Teratomas reproduce.
My guess is that, as cancerous monsters, they use species instincts as bait to approach, penetrate, and spread tumors.
While letting out cries like a baby nursing from its mother, and curling up like a soft infant in a father's arms, they probably use pacifier-like appendages to weave flesh to flesh and merge with the host.
The victims would then be covered in tumor masses and scatter as Teratomas.
The reason they cannot be killed is that they mimic the appearance of a baby and emit baby cries.
Because it is so noble and pure, people hesitate even when they know it's a monster in this desperate situation, meeting a blasphemous death in tears.
Although they were people who brandished Taegeuk flags and boasted loud names...
It was certain they were people who had courageously marched into this hell.
I patted the back of Shin Na-in, who still couldn't move his feet, and spoke.
"Let's go."
Only the three of us Supreme Mages returned.
The armored vehicle's gunner flinched when he saw us, and as we climbed inside, the driver glanced at us and asked.
He asked about the members of the Taegeuk Cloak Squad who went in with us.
Shin Na-in, unable to take off his gas mask, pressed his hands together in prayer, and Lee Se-jun closed his eyes tight as he removed his mask.
I was the only one who could remove my mask and speak to the driver.
"They aren't coming back. Let's move."
Only then did the armored vehicle's door close and the wheels begin to roll.
I finally slumped over and let out a sigh.
There were no flames that burned for eternity, nor were there demons serving as jailers.
Nevertheless, we were in hell.
End