4
Chapter 4
A moment later.
Naturally, the driver who had suddenly thrown up in the driver's seat started to protest.
The car was still parked in the middle of the road.
However, I had a Magic Special Lecture to attend.
"Hey, you motherfucking bastard."
"Take a look at this."
"Fuck, you think you can take me!"
When I unfolded it and shoved it right in his face, the driver squeezed his eyes shut and swung his fist.
But why do people have eyes? They're there to see and dodge.
"You little shit! Stop shoving that fucking thing at me and bring it on!"
"Yes, sir."
Since he closed his eyes of his own accord, there was no reason to hold back.
I just swung the buttstock, beating the driver evenly all over as if I were tenderizing meat.
"You bastard. I'm already pissed off enough about being suddenly mobilized as an 8th-year Reservist and having to deal with this bullshit in uniform, so why the fuck are you throwing a fit?"
"Ugh, ugh! I'm dying! I'm dead! A crazy Soldier is trying to kill me!"
"Do you not know what a mobilization order is? You met the right guy. Sturdy, solid, and great at taking a beating—you're perfect Soldier material. Put on a uniform and follow me. Let's put you through some forced conscription. First, I'll break your legs, slap shackles on your ankles, and have you hauling sandbags. Today, I am your Military Manpower Administration."
"Urk! Ugh!"
Whenever I thought this bastard was glaring at me, I would flash the Magic Special Lecture in his face, and when he closed his eyes again, I would swing the buttstock, beating him mercilessly until his head was ready to bleed, repeating the process over and over.
It reminded me of my elementary school days when I learned to play the hourglass drum; my body moved on its own, swaying to the rhythm as I pummeled him, until suddenly someone grabbed my arm.
It was Kang Daniel, frantically holding me back.
"Mr. Baek Jemin! This guy is completely insane! How could you beat someone up like that!"
"Haa... Haa..."
But Kang Daniel was right.
Even if I didn't want to, as a Soldier defending liberal democracy, I couldn't commit acts of violence against civilians. I did have a sense of responsibility, after all.
I carefully shook off Kang Daniel's hand, then faced the driver with a calm demeanor.
Having deeply engraved the spirit of a Republic of Korea Soldier into my heart, I barely managed to calm myself and bowed politely to the driver.
"I apologize."
"Hey... you... I'm going to sue you. Huh? I'm suing you."
The moment I heard those words, I understood.
The sincerity of an apology must be shown through action.
I swung the buttstock and smashed it down onto the bumper of the driver's car.
Bang!
"Y-You..."
"Go ahead and sue me. Walk there."
"Hey, you fucker!"
When he glared at me, I flashed the Magic Special Lecture again, and unable to dodge, the driver started throwing up all over again.
"Urgh..."
I glanced over the Magic Special Lecture again, feeling the eyes of the vomiting driver, my squad members staring at me from behind like I was a lunatic, and the people on the street whispering among themselves.
These unidentified characters.
This thing that First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi called magic.
I needed to learn this. One way or another.
If just showing it could induce vomiting and make things this easy, what would happen if I gained real power?
Being excused from Night Watch? Who cares.
"I should've asked for some Spam."
"Excuse me?"
Leaving behind Kang Daniel's clueless question, having witnessed a fragment of this terrifying power yet understanding nothing, I was consumed by an academic fervor boiling up for the first time in 28 years.
***
And unfairly but naturally, I ended up being dragged away with my arms locked by the Military Police.
"Reservist Baek Jemin. You'll be charged with property damage and assault."
What a great life.
I can barely remember the last time I linked arms with a woman, yet here I am being dragged around sandwiched between two burly men.
But contrary to expectations, instead of being locked up or dragged off somewhere, I was sent to a consultation room where First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi was waiting.
Suddenly sitting across from him again, the first thing I heard was First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi's sigh.
"Mr. Baek Jemin. I didn't give you that for this purpose."
"Are you going to take it back?"
"..."
Conflict was visible on First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi's face.
Talented individuals unaffected by the characters weren't rare, but they weren't common either, and whether this so-called magic using these characters had genuine utility or was just potential, he was looking at me with eyes dripping with lingering attachment.
And after a long deliberation, First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi presented a compromise.
"We'll cancel the Night Watch exemption, and in return, we'll make this assault case go away. The other party has sufficient fault for trying to force their way in during a declared mobilization order, so I'll announce that disciplinary action will be handled internally and we'll wrap it up quietly."
It was a judgment befitting an officer who knew the secret to maintaining zero-accident days in the military.
Instead, he labeled me a problematic individual and ordered me confined to solitary, but calling it confinement was a stretch—it was closer to telling me to stay put quietly and read the Magic Special Lecture.
I was suddenly kicked out of the road guard squad and locked away in the Community Center storage room.
Sitting confined with the Military Police planted firmly outside the storage room door, a lot of thoughts crossed my mind.
One thing was clear: not being mobilized for work or duties and being able to study the Magic Special Lecture was closer to a privilege than a punishment.
Kang Daniel and the squad members were probably cursing me behind my back, thinking I deliberately acted crazy to get excused. Of course, it would be a lie to say I wasn't aiming for that even a little bit, but there was a difference between me and those who hadn't properly grasped the gravity of the situation.
Localized Invasive Structural Alteration—magic was real.
And these characters associated with magic were only found in the foggy restricted travel zones. In other words, neither the fog over Seoul nor the Seoul incident was normal.
Especially First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi.
First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi had only spoken about magic while saying nothing about what kind of threat existed in Seoul, and this led me to suspect that whatever threat lurked in Seoul was far from ordinary.
In this situation, it was essential to conduct a more detailed experiment on what kind of reactions the characters induced in others.
How much exposure does it take to cause the mental backlash the First Lieutenant mentioned? At what level of exposure does it become effective? Is it only effective when visually perceived?
The results of my experiment on the reckless driver yielded quite a significant achievement.
It helped me completely understand the parts the military hadn't disclosed, or where their explanations had been lacking.
1. The characters take effect through physical vision, specifically when the observer fully comprehends their shape. If they close their eyes or are too far away to see clearly, it doesn't seem to induce dizziness, headaches, or Vomit Induction. At the very least, the passersby didn't all throw up together.
2. Before revealing this highly classified information, First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi had asked trivial questions about religion and faith, and even inquired about spiritual matters. That meant the government or military officials considered these characters to be something spiritual. Since such metaphysical aspects could easily be distorted based on individual interpretation, I couldn't rashly attempt to decipher them.
Just looking at the Bible proved this point.
Look at the countless Christian denominations in the world. History is full of people arguing over how to interpret a single verse and fighting each other as Heretics. If I interpreted these bizarre characters arbitrarily, I was highly likely to miss their original meaning.
3. Despite that, First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi never doubted the utility of magic. At the very least, the military had confirmed the existence of magic using these characters, realized its incredible utility, and was now trying to increase the number of users or make contact with those who could already use it.
Either that, or the entire military had gone mad. Honestly, that was plausible too, but the problem was that the world itself was going crazy. In a crazy world, going crazy is probably the right answer.
A question suddenly occurred to me.
Did the effect change based on one's own interpretation, even if it wasn't the character's original meaning? If so, what were the limits of its power? Wouldn't the side effects be even more terrifying?
I turned the page of the first character—the one I had named 'Chilmo'—and examined a few other characters.
At that moment, a wave of dizziness unlike anything I had felt before rushed over me. My vision spun.
"Urgh."
After forcing down the rising urge to vomit, I flipped the page back to Chilmo, and the nausea instantly stopped.
Both the nausea and the dizziness vanished without a trace.
I had only been staring at Chilmo, meaning I hadn't even examined the other characters...
I forced myself to gulp down the sour saliva pooling in my mouth and absentmindedly tapped the Magic Special Lecture with my index finger.
Could this be...
"Some sort of mastery? Or maybe an affinity?"
For now, it seemed the other characters besides Chilmo didn't suit me—perhaps temporarily, or maybe forever.
Interpreting Chilmo had to come first.
The problem was that the interpretations densely packed on the adjacent page were a complete mess, making it impossible to get a grasp on any of them.
Restoration, severance, frustration, growth, forest, scream, tip of a spear...
I was clutching my head and frowning deeply.
I had been groaning as I desperately cross-referenced the characters with their interpretations, when I suddenly realized something.
Maybe the characters didn't contain a meaning.
"Reservist Baek Jemin. A personnel request has come in from the road guard squad."
Clank!
The Military Police officer opened the door and stared at me with a cold gaze.
However, I was just as furious and ready to explode.
"No, damn it. No. N... No!"
"Come out."
"Haa..."
I now understood why, in martial arts novels, people stood guard while someone was in closed-door training or attaining enlightenment.
I put the Magic Special Lecture in my inner pocket and left the storage room following the Military Police.
Looking out the window, it was already pitch dark, with only the streetlights and the headlights of vehicles rushing home to be seen.
Judging by the time, it didn't seem to be the First Watch or the Last Watch either.
Did I really focus that much? And just as I was about to grasp something after focusing so hard, these ignorant Military Police officers interrupted me.
"You guys are making a huge mistake right now."
The Military Police didn't even bother to reply.
***
The person assigned to the Night Watch at the town intersection was the squad member with the gentle impression who had dealt with me and the driver earlier.
His name was Han Myeong-un, boasting a gentle and smooth complexion; upon seeing me, he frowned slightly before immediately flashing a sociable smile.
"Well. It was pretty satisfying, I guess."
"Excuse me?"
"Doing what everyone else was only thinking of doing was quite satisfying. It's not something you can easily do when you think about the consequences."
"Yeah, well..."
"Still, it's a relief that nothing like that will happen this time."
Han Myeong-un and I stood our Night Watch like that, letting out languid yawns.
It was absolutely dreadful since it was right past midnight, but perhaps because I had just missed an epiphany, I was too excited to sleep; even though I kept yawning widely, my mind was perfectly clear.
Han Myeong-un was already leaning against a sandbag, fiddling with his phone.
While we were passing the time like that, overlapping footsteps of people echoed through the dreary town, despite the mobilization order.
Both Han Myeong-un and I were bored, so we turned our eyes over there, only to find a rather obscene scene waiting for us.
"Mmh... mmph..."
A man in a slightly loose suit that looked worn out by life was holding a tightly toned woman in a deep kiss. They were leaning against an alleyway so their faces couldn't be seen.
Han Myeong-un chuckled at the sight.
"Wow. That's intense. Looks like there's a big age gap, too."
"Haha..."
However, my lips were trembling without me realizing it.
12:24 AM.
"It's a bit chilly."
"True. It is still the season for it."
While Han Myeong-un replied playfully, my gaze wasn't on the two of them, but on the road.
Looking at the very thin layer of fog blanketing it.
End