47
Chapter 47
As a result, Lee Se-jun's permanent Night Watch assignment fell through.
Despite reaching Level 3 of the Heart Line, Lee Se-jun vehemently rejected the idea of noblesse oblige. To this selfish bastard, his own mental peace was far more important than the deep sleep of four other people.
Lee Se-jun glared at us all with a chilling gaze and spoke firmly.
"The moment I'm made the permanent Night Watch, I'll show you exactly what I'm capable of."
"And what exactly can you do?"
My mocking retort was met with a terrifying warning.
"I'll spend 24 hours eating and stocking up my gut, and then I'll dump a load of shit right onto your faces while you're sleeping."
"!"
Lee Se-jun... I had a feeling about this guy since he started rambling about TS cute girls.
But seriously, does this guy have no sense of shame?
I broke into a cold sweat and looked at Hamza, Shin Na-in, and Pastor Park Yo-han. I could see the other three hesitating in the face of Lee Se-jun's intense resistance.
"Se-jun's resisting pretty hard, huh?"
At my words, the three of them nodded, their expressions grim.
"I didn't see that coming. Lee Se-jun has some serious guts. This isn't going to be easy."
"I'm scared. I don't want to wake up to a rain of shit."
"Se-jun is serious. How terrifying. To think he'd throw away his dignity just to avoid permanent Night Watch duty."
With Shin Na-in's testimony, it became clear that Lee Se-jun wasn't bluffing.
He's a lunatic. In my 28 years of life, Lee Se-jun is the first person I've met who would threaten others with his bowel movements just because he doesn't want to stay awake for 24 hours. The tide of opinion within our Supreme Mage group shifted instantly.
The problem now was how to decide the watch order.
The previous method was playing rock-paper-scissors with Shin Na-in, who uses Mind Reading; even if I played instinctively to avoid having my thoughts read, I could never beat him.
This was because Shin Na-in's intuition was freakishly sharp, far beyond just reading minds.
I realized after losing ten rock-paper-scissors matches in a row that when he acts clueless, it's not because he's actually oblivious—it's because he just doesn't give a damn. I've only lost the First Watch for one day so far, but how many more would I have to give up?
I had to fix this now.
Consequently, the three of us quickly agreed to push for a more democratic approach.
"Let's just be fair and take turns rotating the First and Last Watch."
"That sounds good. Baek Jemin is right."
"Fairness is a virtue of the Sunni."
It was a moment where a man of common sense, a Christian pastor, and a Muslim foreign worker were in total agreement.
However, the one who opposed this historic unity most violently was that convert shit-head, Shin Na-in.
Shaking his head, Shin Na-in began to spout nonsense in a calm voice.
"The people of Israel wandered the wilderness, persecuted by countless others simply because they were few in number. While the root cause was their failure to properly serve the Lord God, the story of Sodom and Gomorrah shows that being numerous does not equate to being righteous."
"And?"
"Let's decide fairly with rock-paper-scissors, or a quick count-off."
"You piece of shit. What if we refuse?"
"I shall lead you in a cross-examination and expose your most hideous and terrible memories in vivid detail. For those who are unrighteous and unrepentant, the only thing they need is the truth revealed in the name of the Lord. Amen!"
Shin Na-in's threats were equally terrifying.
For a decent, sensible man like me, Baek Jemin, the damage was minimal since my most hideous secret had long been exposed.
Back in elementary school, because of shit-heads like Shin Na-in taking up all the stalls, I was forced to relieve myself in a urinal—a sin that had already been made public.
Of course, there was a beautiful epilogue.
Out of guilt for the student who had to clean the urinal instead of me, I secretly bought them a chocolate swirl roll. This is a heartwarming tale, and I am absolutely not fabricating it now; it's just a detail that only now came back to me.
But not everyone in the world lives with only a tiny speck of dust on their soul like I do.
Both Pastor Park Yo-han and Hamza could only shrink back, powerless under Shin Na-in's fierce pressure.
"This Hearing Line magic is truly dreadful."
"Oh, Allah."
Lee Se-jun, however, just scoffed with his arms crossed as he watched the discussion.
"Go ahead, Shin Na-in. As long as I have my dreams, I, Lee Se-jun—a man of Korea—will not be broken by shame."
"I never thought I'd see such a disgusting aspiration in my life. Lord God, please give me the strength to endure this trial..."
Even Shin Na-in couldn't help but groan in the face of Lee Se-jun's confidence.
In that moment, I found myself unconsciously empathizing with Shin Na-in. Granted, both Lee Se-jun and Shin Na-in were enemies who disrupted my precious sleep.
But having heard an unnecessarily detailed amount of TMI about Lee Se-jun's dreams, I felt a strange sense of pity for Shin Na-in, who had to hear those inner thoughts via Hearing Line magic without any linguistic filter.
At this rate, I might actually end up taking Shin Na-in's side.
I felt a wave of profound humiliation at the fact that I felt a kinship with that lunatic, fanatical shit-head. No matter how rich my empathy is, I didn't think I'd ever relate to a guy like that.
So, I decided to change the subject and pressure Lee Se-jun.
"Se-jun, what exactly are you going to do if you don't erase your Sleep Drive? We should first find out what the penalty is for erasing a desire."
These were the side effects of the various magic lines that our Supreme Mage had confirmed so far.
Eye Line. The pain is just incredibly unpleasant. It feels as if eyeballs are being rubbed with plastic or scrubbed with shampoo.
Hand Line. Must bleed.
Ear Line. Unless focused, one must hear everything in the surroundings.
Tongue Line. The papillae on the tongue split, and wounds burst open.
Yet, only the Heart Line seemed to lack a penalty. Since no magic comes without a price, it was only logical to assume Se-jun's Level 3 magic also had some cost.
Of course, it was easy to guess that the price would be more manageable than other lines.
Just then, Pastor Park Yo-han snapped his fingers, his eyes sparkling.
"How about erasing Se-jun's sex drive? Then he'll stop saying he wants to be a cute girl."
I blinked at those words, then instinctively clapped my hands.
Right.
Come to think of it, that was a great idea.
The reactions from Shin Na-in and Hamza were equally cheerful and energetic.
"Sounds good!"
"What a wonderful idea. The Korean Christian Imam is truly great."
"As expected of the Pastor. That is a brilliant thought."
I thought we'd reached a satisfactory conclusion, even if the watch duty issue was brushed aside.
Then came the sound of clicking tongues. The culprit was the Heart Line mage, Lee Se-jun.
With his arms crossed, he wagged his index finger, looking down on us as if we were idiots who'd failed every single class.
The level of condescension was something I hadn't seen since I showed my English teacher my failing mock exam scores.
Se-jun explained to the Pastor in a calm, resigned voice.
"Pastor. Do you really think my wish to be a TS cute girl is based on some petty fetish?"
"Isn't it?"
"Sigh... Pastor. If I wanted to be a TS cute girl just to get intimate with men, that would be gay. Total gay!"
Murmurs broke out...
Me, Hamza, Shin Na-in, and Pastor Park Yo-han.
The four of us could only look at each other and whisper.
Wasn't he already a total gay the moment he said he wanted to be a TS cute girl?
For the four of us, who had tentatively labeled him as gay, Se-jun's statement was a complete shock.
In this atmosphere, Se-jun uncrossed his arms and thumped his chest with his fist.
"My desire to be a TS cute girl isn't about some petty fetish. It's about the need for recognition!"
"Isn't a gay man's desire to be popular with other men also a need for recognition?"
"NO!!!"
Pastor Park Yo-han's timely and rational question was drowned out by Se-jun's furious scream.
Se-jun began to snap back, sounding frustrated.
"I just want to be pampered! Infinite positivity, total affirmation, being praised for everything! I can't do that as a burly man, so I want to be a cute girl! A being who is loved and praised just for existing—that's what a TS cute girl is!"
Only then did a flicker of understanding cross the faces of Pastor Park Yo-han and Shin Na-in.
Even the last shred of contempt vanished, replaced entirely by benevolent, compassionate smiles.
"Se-jun, you should come to church. Jesus gives love without conditions."
"The moment you come to the Lord, you will realize you were born to be loved."
"Everyone, stop."
If I, Baek Jemin, hadn't stepped in, I can't even imagine how chaotic this would have become.
Under my firm and thorough mediation, we were able to return to the conversation about magic. A hairy ex-Staff Sergeant dreaming of being a cute girl and a religious zealot—it was a hopeless pairing.
To think that Hamza, a Pakistani medical student and foreign worker, was the only other sensible person here; the future of Aphorism looked bleak.
Hamza seemed to be feeling a similar agony, his expression darkening.
"Jemin is the only other sensible person after me. I'm worried about Aphorism."
"I know, right."
I decided to generously overlook the slight misunderstanding implicit in Hamza's words.
But this was the time to keep my wits about me.
On the 7th floor of the department store, in a secured area, we continued our discussion on magic. The fact that we could chat while the smell of burning corpses wafted up from below was typical of our Supreme Mage group.
Through Se-jun, we got a rough idea of what the penalty for Heart Line magic was.
"I felt like my appetite increased? Like I end up eating a lot? It was something like that."
"Now that you mention it, Se-jun was eating hardtack every time I saw him."
Each stage of the Heart Line felt like this.
Heart Level 1. Metabolic efficiency is pushed to the limit, so one does not tire easily.
Heart Level 2. General physical abilities improve, and aging is suppressed.
Heart Level 3. One of the essential human needs or requirements can be replaced via magic.
There was almost no penalty up to Level 1, but from Level 2, one starts eating a lot. It seems more fuel is needed to enhance physical abilities, though the amount eaten is tiny compared to the improvement gained.
If you can get a body capable of punching through a leg with a grenade just by eating a bag of hardtack, that's definitely magic.
The penalty for the long-awaited Level 3 was an increase in another desire.
Lee Se-jun suddenly blinked and let out a long yawn.
"Level 3... uh. I think replacing one desire just increases another. I turned off appetite, and now I'm feeling a bit sleepy..."
After the four of us grilled Lee Se-jun in front of the department store tables, this is what we learned about Heart Level 3 magic.
Heart Level 3 magic is [Complete Requirement Substitution].
It allows one to completely satisfy one of the various human needs—appetite, excretion, sleep, sex, recognition, and so on—that the body inevitably requires or the consciousness desires.
In exchange, the consumption of another random desire increases slightly.
For example, replacing sleep makes you energetic without resting but requires more food. Replacing appetite requires more sleep. Replacing sex drive inflates the need for recognition to the point where you need praise just for breathing, and replacing recognition makes the sex drive boil over.
Among these, the smallest penalty came from replacing the excretion drive.
Replacing excretion meant eating less, feeling less fatigue, and maintaining a normal sex drive, with the only downside being a higher need for recognition, leading to more of that TS rambling.
Hamza offered a theory: since it feels more like maximizing the efficiency of a biological function rather than replacing it entirely, the penalty remains low.
"I think the magical backlash is smaller because it's easier than a complete replacement."
"The Heart Line should still be affected by the mist, but the penalties are definitely lower than other lines."
As I agreed with Hamza, Pastor Park Yo-han nodded as well.
"When discussing this with that monk Cheong-hwi, he mentioned the five lines and the five aggregates. I thought it was nonsense back then, but given the knowledge you've gained, Jemin... it seems clear this system was designed for learning all five lines. The Heart Line exists explicitly to handle the backlash of other lines."
"Monk Cheong-hwi definitely knew something."
"That's probably why he came to Seoul. He's no ordinary guy. Looking back, he was subtly tipping us off. And those concepts of Sephirot and Qliphoth... the Orthodox and the Inverse? What happens if that evil monk comes here and teaches the Orthodox concepts?"
I wondered what he was talking about.
When I blinked and looked at the Pastor, he let out a deep sigh. Perhaps sharing a kinship as fellow believers, only Shin Na-in seemed to catch on, widening his eyes and clicking his tongue.
Shin Na-in took off his headset, draped it around his neck, and kindly explained it for us.
"If that evil monk Cheong-hwi contacts the mages inside Seoul and passes on his knowledge, the information advantage currently held by those outside Seoul will be stripped away."
This was the concern shared by the Pastor and Shin Na-in.
Monk Cheong-hwi was a monk deeply fascinated by the esoteric Buddhist system, knowing how to raise the stages of Alteration-type magic through mystical knowledge and rituals.
What would happen if he used that knowledge as bait to contact and influence the mage groups inside Seoul?
If Cheong-hwi's knowledge reached Seoul, where organized occult knowledge is hard to acquire, the information edge held by the outside would weaken.
The occult knowledge possessed by the Seoul Mages was already vast, and if combined with the knowledge of a mystic from the outside, the magical achievements inside Seoul would become irreversible—.
I offered a simple answer to that concern.
"Doesn't that just increase the chance of us getting nuked?"
If it's confirmed that the situation is uncontrollable, the UN Security Council could simply launch a nuclear baptism, sacrificing fifty million people on the Korean Peninsula.
They'd probably just hold a memorial service and call it a day. Diplomacy and such are only possible when people are actually alive. While humanitarian arguments might exist, they were useless to us Supreme Mages who had witnessed countless monsters and the Seoul Mages.
Given that the Korean government had revealed the monsters rampant in Seoul to the world, it's unlikely the world leaders are completely ignorant of the situation inside.
The only reason nukes have been avoided so far is the possibility of magic, the First Blockade Line guarded by 140,000 soldiers, and the Second Blockade Line held by reservists and second-tier units throughout Gyeonggi-do.
Facing this reality, even the Pastor, who always talked about the lambs, rested his chin on his hand and clicked his tongue.
"That's the problem."
Pastor Park Yo-han tapped the arm of his glasses with his index finger, letting out a pained groan.
"If the Seoul Mages become too powerful, nuking them will be the only option. It's almost as if they're trying to force a nuclear strike."
***
April 16, 2028, 4:16 PM.
Second day of exploration.
We, the Supreme Mages, decided to stay the night here, on the 7th floor of the department store near Jangji Station.
The department store was much larger than expected. I thought it was a separate building, but Hamza, after checking a nearby sign, pointed something out in an excited voice.
"It says it's connected to the outlet. I think we should check it out."
I accepted Hamza's suggestion because of the Pastor's judgment.
While stacking tables in a remote corner to create a makeshift barricade and placing sleeping bags inside, the Pastor shared his opinion.
"Putting aside the fact that the Seoul Mage was proficient with walkie-talkies because he absorbed human brains, just identifying what supplies are missing near this department store will show us how specialized the survivors have become. At the very least, we can guess how many survivors have been coming and going. We'll focus on electronics to gauge the communication level of the Seoul survivor groups, search the vicinity for tracks, and secure small, valuable items like medicine."
I decided to keep handling the dark blue phone that had received the messages.
Simply because I, Baek Jemin, am the most adaptable. Since Shin Na-in had to handle physical threats along with Hamza, we had to share the mental burden.
Lee Se-jun continued to excel in his role as the porter.
He scoured the 7th-floor food court for edible cans and even gathered the tables for the barricade. However, as a former Staff Sergeant well-versed in blackout protocols, Se-jun raised a valid question.
"With all the gunfire echoing and the bodies being burned, won't monsters or other mages come here?"
The Pastor gave a brief answer.
"Want to go back to Jangji Station?"
All went silent at the thought of the filth, bloodstains, and Degenerative Cell Clusters waiting at Jangji Station.
Sure, we could just fight and kill whatever showed up, but it wasn't tempting.
As for the watch duty, we simply handed the First Watch to Shin Na-in without any rock-paper-scissors.
"Since you trust me so much, this must be the grace of God."
"Pah!"
It was too disgusting and petty to even bother playing the game.
But that wasn't the only thing on our agenda.
First, we had to set several objectives while continuing to explore the vicinity of this strange department store.
Huddled together behind the barricade, we spread out the map of Seoul Hamza had brought and studied the areas marked with red circles.
The military had narrowed down the locations through eavesdropping during their first attempts to contact survivors, though it didn't look very precise.
Hamza was well-versed in such intel, as he was frequently called to military headquarters due to his Dogma-type magic.
Five red circles.
Hamza pointed to each one in turn.
"Nowon-gu. Extremely dangerous. You'll die if you go in unprepared."
That was the area where the Professor's voice had been heard.
During the communication, they had shown extreme rage and hatred toward outsiders, and were estimated to be far stronger than the Seoul Mage at the Songpa department store. Nowon-gu, located in the northeast, was tentatively ruled out.
Next was the Gangnam area, and once again, Hamza frowned.
"Gangnam. It's a miracle anyone survived there to communicate. Very dangerous."
"They were the most hostile, right?"
"Yes. Could be even more dangerous than the Professor in Nowon-gu."
Gangnam was far from Bukhansan, the source of the mist, but perhaps due to the high population density, it was incredibly risky.
Moreover, it was suspected to be the home of that most dangerous mage—the one who had noticed the gas masks and missing name tags.
Surviving in the most dangerous zone while wielding the most dangerous magic meant they had reached a terrifying level of mastery.
They were not an opponent that we, the newly arrived Supreme Mages, should try to challenge.
The next location Hamza pointed to was Yongsan.
"This place is also dangerous."
The Pastor narrowed his eyes and questioned Hamza.
"Who's supposed to be there?"
"That middle-aged woman who negotiated with the military."
Hamza said it was hard to tell if the sly woman herself was the danger or if it was the monsters rampaging near Yongsan Station.
Still, the risk seemed slightly—very slightly—lower than in Nowon-gu or Gangnam.
Hamza then pointed to the area where the man who had been sobbing during the first contact was believed to be.
Dobong-gu.
It was near Bukhansan, where the mist first appeared.
"That guy's gone."
"Amen. I hope he attended church."
Entering Bukhansan in our current state would lead to total annihilation.
Sadly, the probability of that man surviving was essentially zero.
Finally, Hamza pointed to the region where Go Ryeo-ha, whom the military considered the most friendly survivor, was located.
"Konkuk University?"
"Wow. Great school."
"It's just as dangerous here."
Hamza's Dogma-type magic, [Angel's Intuition], was truly impressive, allowing him to judge danger just by looking at the map.
The problem was that he kept claiming every single part of inner Seoul was a death trap.
"Is there anywhere safe?"
"Nope."
"Sigh... fuck..."
Even as the Pastor let out a short sigh, our destination became clearer.
From the outskirts of the Songpa department store to Konkuk University.
The five of us—me, Hamza, Shin Na-in, Lee Se-jun, and Pastor Park Yo-han—looked at one another.
We instinctively knew that our journey would be far from smooth.
We had to cross the Han River.
End.