49
Chapter 49
After waking up, no one bothered to climb back into their sleeping bags.
That bright yellow gaze that had pierced and pushed through the fog. Everyone was too busy wondering what on earth that thing was.
I was organizing my thoughts on what kind of monster the owner of that gaze might be. If it had legs, there would have been thumping, but I felt no such sign. I only realized something had approached after seeing the fog recede.
Without realizing it, I had imagined I was swimming through a deep sea on land, and it felt like an apt description. A creature that size moving without a single vibration or sound. Not even the flutter of wings was audible.
Then how did it move?
I didn't know. The other Supreme Mages were in the same boat.
One thing was certain: even the Seoul Mages were hiding to avoid that monster. Pastor Park Yo-han took off his glasses and rubbed his eyelids as he spoke.
"Unless we're in a room surrounded by incredibly thick walls on the surface, I think we'd better stay underground."
"Let's do that."
I suspect the reason the survivors of Jangji Station were reluctant to leave the surface was because of that mysterious monster.
We tried to go back to sleep, but naturally, it was impossible. To be precise, my eyelids were drooping from fatigue, but my mind remained wide awake and alert.
Everyone leaned against the barricades or the walls, eyes closed, barely breathing. Normally, Shin Na-in or Lee Se-jun would have been chatting nonsense and making some noise, but this time was different.
Just as one realizes they'll die if hit by a flying blade, I needed to understand why I felt that taking that gaze head-on would mean the end.
I spoke a thought aloud, not really expecting an answer.
"Is that thing an Unidentified Species too?"
Surprisingly, it was Hamza who answered.
Hamza was curled up with his eyes closed tightly.
"I don't know. It's only been about three months since the army evacuated, so it could have appeared in the meantime."
"True, this place turned into a mess in barely four months, so it's possible."
People had been calling Seoul an Otherworld or a hell, but it had never felt as real as it did today.
Perhaps, unconsciously, I still believed Seoul belonged to humanity. Seeing the concrete debris collapsed by shelling, I must have felt a subconscious relief, thinking that humans once lived here.
Well, I think I mostly believed a draw was possible.
The blockade is broken? Monsters are overflowing? Just reset the whole Korean peninsula with nuclear bombs~. That hot-blooded mindset had drawn a psychological line. It's okay if I fail. Everyone can just die in a nuke.
But now, feeling the heavy, cold piece of iron—the gun—clutched in my arms, a chilling thought crept up.
If there's a monster that doesn't die even from a nuke, can humanity survive?
Right now, nuclear weapons are humanity's last hope. Not as some final weapon, but as the ultimate crossroads of whether physical force still works. The naive hope that nukes would end it is what keeps civilization from collapsing in terror.
If nukes wiped out all the monsters, it would be a happy ending. Of course, fifty million Koreans would be erased by the heat, but the other 7.95 billion would survive.
But if there's a monster that survives a nuke...
...then I have to learn magic.
The magic characters that had flashed in my head when that gaze targeted us were still vivid. Magic was a ladder that might reach omnipotence and the only means of survival. The gap between those who couldn't learn magic and the mages would only grow more obvious over time.
With these thoughts, I spent time with my eyes closed.
The sound of wind seeping through the broken window, the rustle of sleeping bags, the gurgling of a hungry stomach.
Then, I felt a slight itch on my eyelids. When I opened my eyes, I saw the pitch-black night fog turning slightly gray. I still couldn't see properly even right in front of me, though.
"Anyone still asleep?"
"Nope."
Lee Se-jun replied with a lazy yawn, and Shin Na-in, looking a bit better, adjusted his headset.
Everyone looked haggard, perhaps from the ordeal of the night. There's a cure for this. People wake up when they have something to focus on, and we happened to have something just for that.
When I reached into my clothes and pulled out the booklet and a ballpoint pen I had carefully packed, everyone looked at me strangely.
"What is it? Baek Jemin... we don't have time for jokes."
"Let's just jam some magic characters into our heads while the fog is thick. Everyone's exhausted anyway, so scouting will be difficult."
"Won't that make you dizzy?"
The pastor remained indifferent, but the other three agreed with me.
Lee Se-jun, blinded by greed, Shin Na-in, obsessing over Alteration-type Holy War Formulas, and even Hamza, wanting to expand his Alteration-type magic, took the magic tutorial booklet.
We drew the magic characters we knew and showed them to each other, and naturally, we threw up.
"Blergh..."
I failed to obtain the Heart or Hearing lines.
However, the side effects were definitely better than before. Previously, trying to view them caused dizziness and a stabbing pain in the brain for thirty minutes, but this time, it was just vomiting up a little bit of what I'd eaten.
If I keep hammering my head against it in this thick fog, I feel like I might actually learn it. I really think I can...
Pastor Park Yo-han patted my shoulder and clicked his tongue.
"You noticed that monster at dawn, right? That thing might be why other monsters aren't coming. It's dangerous to stay in one place."
"Ugh... damn it. I feel like I'd be fine if I just got the Heart line."
"Hey, kid. It's only been three days. Aren't you trying to get a free ride too early?"
"Pastor, getting a free ride is the trend these days. If anything, we're the hardworking traditionalists."
Just look at the various media based on worlds where these strange phenomena happen.
Either they have a status window or an innate talent so great they level up just by breathing, but we Supreme Mages were learning painstakingly, one stitch at a time, while gagging.
Lee Se-jun and Shin Na-in agreed with this claim.
"Isn't this just like the struggle of working out?"
"Promising easy results is a trick demons love to use. I prefer the Holy War Formula, which grants power through trials and pain."
"You guys are unbelievable. How about you, Hamza?"
"Blergh..."
The pastor wondered if Hamza felt the same as the rest of us, but Hamza was too busy vomiting.
The three of us in the Alteration-type group had long since figured out how to throw up without getting it on our mouths or clothes, so we were fine. However, Hamza, a Dogma-type mage, was slumped against the barricade, retching.
It was another moment proving how difficult it was for Dogma-type mages to learn Alteration-type magic characters.
Still, Hamza being dizzy was an unexpected bonus.
Normally, we would have gotten up and moved immediately, but since every porter counts and Hamza was out of commission, we were forced to take a break. So, we spent the time preparing while Hamza recovered.
Packing our sleeping bags and gear came first.
We ate some cans and tinned food we'd scavenged from the seventh floor of the department store, but it was a shame there was no Spam or Richam. People are always busy frying them, but Spam and Richam taste great even cold.
Of course, the others looked at me like I was weird.
The pastor raised an eyebrow as he opened a can of tuna with chopsticks he'd wiped with a tissue.
"You eat ham raw? You're supposed to fry that."
"It's really fine to eat it as is."
"It's only 'fine' because it doesn't kill you."
The pastor snapped at me as if I were pathetic.
I felt wronged, but I held it in because I didn't want to argue. Ham is delicious raw... I wondered if this is how people who love sashimi feel when told they should eat grilled fish.
Meanwhile, Lee Se-jun asked calmly while placing a piece of tuna on a piece of hardtack.
"It would probably be delicious if we put ham on there instead of tuna."
"True. I wonder if there's any ham left anywhere."
It was a passing comment, but it became a surprisingly compelling side goal.
The first reason I, Baek Jemin, came to Seoul was to learn magic. The mission to stop nukes from hitting the peninsula belongs to the soldiers. To be honest, I'm starting to think it might be fine to just nuke the place.
The problem is that foreign powers won't be satisfied with just Seoul.
Just blow up Seoul? Wouldn't it be better to just wipe out the entire peninsula? You're going to fire nukes anyway. Since you're doing it, why not just scorch everything?
It's such a rational and obvious reaction that it's hard to argue against. If foreigners saw the list of monsters we're facing, they might even protest asking why we aren't nuking the place.
I couldn't help but laugh at the thought of setting a humble goal of securing ham for my diet in such an extreme environment. Once the fear of death faded, all that remained was a craving for salty rice and ham.
Seeing me like that, a haggard Hamza narrowed his eyes.
"Jemin. Why are you laughing?"
"Because I want some ham."
I replied while munching on some canned peaches.
I remembered the can of Spam First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi had given me before I came to Seoul, but I decided to save it. In a situation where outdoor activity is limited, Spam is precious.
Therefore, I'm going to eat it in secret.
While I was making that vow, another vibration rang out.
Bzzzz—.
I pulled my dark blue phone from my pocket and showed it to the Supreme Mages.
"Look at this. I definitely turned it off, but it just turns itself on."
After emphasizing that it wasn't my fault, I checked the screen.
As expected, a message from an unknown source arrived with a 'Ka-talk' sound.
[Fog is thinning. Non-mages are strictly forbidden from outdoor activities. Beware of rooftops and airspace.]
When I showed the message, the pastor was the first to react sharply.
"I thought the fog reduced the recoil of magic? Then why are non-mages forbidden from going outside?"
"The Seoul Mages have been here for four months, so they clearly know way more than we do. It's a shame they're probably not friendly."
Lee Se-jun shrugged, scratching his beard.
The message was written assuming the Seoul Mages already knew the context, making it hard for outsiders to grasp. I thought only rural towns had strong cliques, but Seoul's cliques are no joke either.
Around then, the heavy sound of shelling began to echo.
Fortunately, it wasn't near us. The shelling was aimed south, the direction we had come from. Instead, strange moans and cries were receding from the road like an ebbing tide.
Shin Na-in stared past the window and nodded silently.
"It seems they've moved toward the front line."
"Those first-line soldiers are really going through it."
***
April 17, 2028, 7:35 AM.
Day 3 of exploration.
We packed our things, avoiding the ceiling that shook from the shelling and rained down dust. After putting on our gas masks and checking them with a few breaths, we moved again. Our final goal for now was to head to Konkuk University and contact a friendly mage known as Go Ryeo-ha.
To achieve this, we decided to alternate between the surface and the subway lines of Line 8.
Since shelling was underway and monster hordes were on the move, we decided not to rush out and instead searched the outlet connected to the department store. Aside from the electronics section, everything was either looted or useless.
The only win was picking up a few AA batteries.
Next, we checked the department store map and headed toward the subway, which was connected to the nearby station via underground passages.
I couldn't examine it properly at Jangji Station because of that human slime and the need to check the surface, but I thought using the basement passages to reach the station would be very useful.
However, this plan was completely scrapped the moment we approached the underground passage.
"Shh."
Hamza, who had been moving quietly, raised his hand; since he was an expert at spotting the wrong move, this was a very bad sign.
Instead of going underground, we stayed near the basement entrance on the first floor and waited for Shin Na-in's detection.
Fortunately, as if being considerate, the monsters decided to help us so that Shin Na-in wouldn't have to spend too much time using his Hearing Line magic. A very peculiar sound echoed up the first-floor stairs.
Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle...
It was a very familiar sound—what the military called the Amalgam subspecies Blood-Shatter Delta, but we just called 'Blood-Monsters.'
They are the type to devour mages and use them as puppets to launch mental attacks.
That distinct sound—of something trying to speak through a vocal hole with its upper jaw gone and its tongue lolling out—was echoing through the underground void.
Since it hadn't reached the first floor, it seemed to be coiled up only in the basement.
I could now guess why there were no proper survivor groups in this massive department store and why only one Seoul Mage remained.
With surface movement limited, clumsy mages and survivors couldn't break through the Blood-Monsters, and the army likely noticed them and forced their way back to the surface.
We could handle them, but it would be an incredibly tedious and dangerous chore.
When I looked back at Lee Se-jun and Shin Na-in, they seemed to be thinking the same thing and immediately gave up on the idea.
Only the pastor and Hamza, who hadn't seen one before, looked puzzled.
"Are our 'Best of the Best' actually backing down?"
"It's dangerous... can the three of you not handle it?"
It was a provocation that scratched at the pride of a Supreme Mage, but I didn't bite.
Unless there were magic characters to be found, it wasn't a monster I wanted to go hunting for.
"It's a monster that uses mage corpses as puppets for mental attacks. For some reason, it even jams drones. I don't think it's worth the risk to go to Jangji Station via the subway."
"Hmph... I can only hope they aren't good people. You shouldn't pray too often for the temperature of hellfire to drop."
"Why?"
I thought it would be great if hellfire cooled down and became a warm sauna, but the pastor and Shin Na-in disagreed.
"What's the point if it's just lukewarm? Sinners are meant to suffer! We need strict punishment!"
"This is the correct attitude for a Christian. Plenty of opportunities are being given now. Though the Antichrist Pope might try to sugarcoat it!"
It was a situation where moving was difficult until we were sure the shelling wouldn't hit us.
In the remaining time, we found some piles of charred corpses and paid our respects.
We also didn't forget to clean our firearms, wiping away the gunpowder residue while yawning deeply in front of the fallen soldiers.
It was 10:11 AM when we judged that the shelling was only audible in the distance.
After the pastor said a brief prayer for the burnt bodies, he adjusted his sling and spoke.
"Let's go."
Step, step.
Without anyone needing to say a word, we fell into formation.
Our formation had already proven its effectiveness, and there was no hesitation as we exited the Jangji Station department store.
Our footsteps crushed the heavy sound of distant shelling and the echoes of far-off screams as we stepped into the gray fog.
Only then did I understand what "thin fog" meant.
It was hard to tell inside the dark building, but once we stepped outside, the increase in visibility was immediately apparent.
Where it had previously been barely ten meters, today the visibility seemed to be around two hundred meters.
We could even see the traffic lights a few blocks away.
Lee Se-jun looked around, unintentionally marveling at the sight.
"After all, people should live in clear air."
As we walked through the fog feeling as if our lungs had finally opened up, Hamza threw cold water on our mood.
Just as I was internally agreeing with Se-jun, Hamza calmly told us the truth.
"Se-jun, you're being gaslit. This isn't clear."
"If it's way clearer than yesterday, it's clear."
Still, I could feel everyone relaxing a bit.
It was certainly much better than the thick fog; I almost didn't understand the warning for non-mages to stay inside.
Logically, if the fog was thin, non-mages should be the ones taking action, but the message said the opposite.
While wondering if mages made up such rules to exert power, we moved along the road covered in shell craters and concrete debris.
Then we heard the sound of a large hornet, looked up to see a drone, and heard the pastor say, "Oh. Looks like the army hasn't forgotten us yet."
The age of AI and drones.
We gazed up at the unusually clear sky, cheering on the brave drone as it flew. At least, until something dark and fluttering approached through the fog.
It was too far to see clearly, but something resembling a black plastic bag was drifting in the sky.
Its size was considerable; even from a distance and appearing crumpled, it was visible enough that it couldn't be a normal bag. I guessed it was at least the size of a 100-liter trash bag.
Up to this point, I might have thought it was just a coincidence—something floating in the air.
But there wasn't just one.
As soon as one appeared, other large, bag-like shapes emerged from the fog, fluttering leisurely. Noticing something was wrong, we instinctively ducked behind the obstacles on the road without needing to be told.
We crouched and crawled beneath the ruins of a collapsed building to continue observing the sky.
Bzzzz—.
The brave hornet-like drone sound continued for a while. That is, until a strange noise suddenly overwhelmed it.
Chomp!
The buzzing sound was muffled, and something heavy hit the ground. Unable to tell what it was by sound alone, I looked at Hamza and Shin Na-in, but the results weren't great, perhaps because the thin fog weakened the recoil of their magic.
"It seems dangerous..."
Hamza's Dogma-type magic had become even more vague.
"It does seem to be a monster."
"Just 'seem'?"
"I can't hear the details, but it's not a human sound."
Shin Na-in's Level 2 Hearing Line magic, used to detect monster sounds, was clearly lacking in detail.
In the end, the safest way to identify the thing was to use my Level 1 Tongue skill to fully leverage my Level 1 Eye skill.
One minute, the past, the road, near the Jangji Station department store.
The recoil of the magic hit me honestly.
I could almost hear a popping sound as the taste buds on my tongue split open all at once. Since the wounds had barely healed, they tore open again, bringing tears to my eyes.
My eyes felt incredibly gritty, as if they were being rubbed with dried plastic or a sponge, which was almost more disgusting than the pain.
However, the moment I saw what my eyes revealed, I momentarily forgot the pain.
The thing that attacked the drone was a monster.
It floated in the sky like a jellyfish, extending thin, microscopic tentacles, and would instantly envelop anything it touched like a cloth. They seemed to move in packs, though their sizes varied.
Biologically, it seemed like a fairly ordinary monster.
But as with all the monsters rampant in Seoul, it had a more aggressive design.
It was a jellyfish made of slightly translucent human skin. With eyeballs embedded in the skin and limbs protruding, the hides of countless mixed people drifted and wavered like a jellyfish.
Faces of the victims were plastered across the surface, some drooping and others crumpled; some sockets were empty, while others still held eyeballs.
Those eyes rolled incessantly whenever the jellyfish shifted position, scanning below and to the sides. Then it spotted the brave drone and, the moment its tentacles touched it, enveloped the machine like a wrap.
The drone plummeted, consumed.
The fallen jellyfish writhed, expanding and contracting repeatedly, before realizing it wasn't human and began to limpily spit it out. The faces plastered on its skin only rolled their eyes with expressions of agony or distortion.
The jellyfish returned to its pack, and my magic ended.
Naturally, no one has a stomach strong enough to be fine after seeing such a thing, so I immediately pulled up my gas mask.
"Bleh!"
You get a knack for vomiting if you do it often enough. I let out one short, powerful heave, rinsed my mouth with my canteen, and spat again. After soothing my stomach with lukewarm water warmed by my body heat, I looked at the Supreme Mages who were urgently pestering me.
Pastor Park and Lee Se-jun were the most impatient.
"What did you see? Jemin, what kind of monster is it?"
"Jemin, don't keep it to yourself, tell us quickly!"
Phew...
Only Shin Na-in, who had already guessed my thoughts, looked at me calmly, while Hamza whispered a small prayer, sensing the danger.
I started to worry about the fate of the vanguard reconnaissance unit.
Is this a place where even the Special Forces can survive?
How should I describe that monster?
After long deliberation, I described it with a single term.
"It's a Human-skin Jellyfish."
Dawn, April 17, 2028.
We encountered a massive entity that scattered bright yellow gazes.
And then, 10:28 AM, April 17, 2028.
Day 3 of exploration.
We encountered a pack of an unknown Unidentified Species, tentatively named Human-skin Jellyfish.
The Human-skin Jellyfish were monsters made of human skin that swam through the thin fog clouds and lunged to swallow their prey.
End.