6
Chapter 6
Kang Daniel approached me carefully around that time.
"Mr. Baek Jemin. Please put down your firearm."
"..."
"If you do not put it down, I will have to take it. Do not turn around, and stand still."
Very calmly, Kang Daniel grabbed the barrel of my M16 and slowly lifted it so the muzzle was pointing at the sky.
Without a sling, it was easy for my firearm to be taken away.
The squad members who had been watching from a distance then approached stealthily, grabbed both my arms, and started carrying me like a piece of luggage.
They could have complained, but noticing that my body was stiff as a board, they just grabbed my arms and legs and loaded me onto the back of the 2.5-ton truck.
Shortly after, Kang Daniel climbed in and spoke to the squad members.
"It seems Mr. Baek Jemin is in a state of panic, so I will accompany him. Everyone, stay at the intersection checkpoint and guide the civilians back to their homes as the Local Reserve Commander instructed."
I wanted to turn my head, but my body was so stiff I couldn't.
Instead, I desperately rolled my eyes to check, catching a glimpse of the squad members, silhouetted by the streetlights, nodding seriously.
Kang Daniel patted the seat to signal the driver to head back, and that was how I escaped that nightmarish intersection.
Clank, clank!
The trashy ride quality and unpleasant suspension unique to military trucks were actually welcoming today.
I usually got severe motion sickness and would go limp the moment I got in a vehicle, but right now, I almost missed that motion sickness.
Every time we hit a speed bump and clattered, my body—which had frozen in terrible fear—felt like it was also rattling and breaking apart.
And like a primitive man breaking free from a glacier, I was released from the stiffness covering my entire body and finally able to take a deep breath.
"Huuurk..."
"Mr. Baek Jemin!"
Kang Daniel came over and patted my back.
Every time he patted me, a rotting breath that had been festering inside my body came gagging out.
It wasn't the sour smell of vomit, but the rotten fish stench characteristic of indigestion filled my mouth, causing another wave of nausea to rush up.
However, since I had already thrown up everything I could, all that came out was a sickeningly fishy saliva.
If they were going to treat what came out of my body like gold simply because it came from me, they might as well enshrine my piss and shit.
Unable to hold it back, I hawked up phlegm and spat it out with a Ptui!
It belatedly occurred to me that some poor soldiers would have to clean the dirty truck, but I didn't have the luxury to care about that right now.
What I spat out was dark red blood, plain for anyone to see.
A handful of blood emitted a nauseating rotten fish smell, dried up in an instant, and soon began to fade away like a wet stain.
Perhaps Kang Daniel saw this bizarre blood too, as he stopped patting my back.
"This is..."
Instead, Kang Daniel crossed himself and started muttering like crazy.
"Almighty God, please protect your lamb from the grasp of the Satanic Demon, let us not lose our way in tribulation, and as your people kneel and pray before the temple of Jerusalem in our hearts...."
As he did so, he subtly distanced himself from me and sat somewhere else.
His inner thoughts were obvious, but I didn't even have the energy to say anything.
Muttering away, Kang Daniel suddenly burst into what sounded like the glossolalia spoken by devout people in church, chewing over all sorts of bizarre words I could no longer understand.
Look who's calling who crazy.
This time, it was my turn to quietly shift my butt and put some distance between me and Kang Daniel.
Only then did it belatedly occur to me to grab my phone.
January 7th, 1:48 AM.
Checking the time, the fatigue I had forgotten about finally came rushing in.
I had been standing still in a firing stance for roughly an hour.
The back of my neck tingled like crazy, my fingers wouldn't unbend from a trigger-pulling position, and my shoulders felt heavily pressed and creaky.
However, I didn't feel any sense of relief whatsoever.
Instead, once I came to my senses and looked around, an intense sense of dread just kept rising up inside me.
No matter how many night owls there are in South Korea, more people should be asleep at 1:48 AM. Besides, this wasn't Seoul, but a rural town; aside from the streetlights and the occasional late-night vehicle, it should have been pitch black.
Yet, as we drove along the road overlooking the fields, I could see bright fluorescent lights turning on in every room of the apartment complexes nestled below the dark mountain ridge.
It was then that the phone in my left hand started buzzing.
And along with it came the urgent, ominous beep characteristic of disaster text messages.
Beeeeep-. Beeeeep-.
[Fog occurring in the Gyeonggi-do, Uijeongbu, Suwon, and Yongin areas. Lock your windows and doors, close your curtains, and stay indoors until morning.]
Only then was I able to ask a question to Kang Daniel, who had been muttering in tongues.
"Did you come because of the fog?"
I thought they had come because it was time for the Night Watch shift change, but thinking about it, there was no reason for the squad members to swarm over here carrying a Searchlight just for a shift change.
I must have been so shocked that my brain stopped working.
Even after hearing my words, Kang Daniel kept muttering and swaying his body for a long time before his eyes snapped open, looking this way and nodding.
"Yes, yes. Mr. Baek Jemin. The people on Night Watch at the Community Center have gone missing too."
"...."
Could that even be called missing?
I found myself pressing my lips tightly together.
"It's the Local Reserve Commander's order to bring in everyone who was outside when the fog rolled in. I, well, that is..."
Kang Daniel was a very by-the-book kind of person.
While others either tightened their M16 Slings to carry them or loosened the straps to hold them slackly, this man had his Sling perfectly adjusted, cradling the firearm in his right arm so he could shoulder it or take aim at any moment.
It would be great if only he wasn't keeping his distance while looking at me with meaningful, cautious eyes.
"..."
A subtle tension and silence settled between us.
Clank.
The 2.5-ton Truck came to a stop around that time.
The front of the Community Center was just as chaotic. Fluorescent lights were on everywhere, and Reservists just like us were sweeping the area with Flashlights, firearms in hand.
Knock knock.
A Civil Servant in his twenties wearing a Combat Uniform, who was sitting in the driver's seat, peeked his head out the window and looked this way.
"Please get out. Everyone's nerves are on edge, so don't provoke them."
***
The moment I got out, four Military Police officers surrounded me.
They raised their palms to stop Kang Daniel and spoke firmly.
"We'll take him from here."
"Yes, yes."
Kang Daniel stepped back with a relieved expression.
The Military Police moved in silence, encircling me as we walked, and I naturally followed their lead.
It was then that my eyes met with the Local Reserve Commander, who was already commanding the other Reservists in front of the Community Center.
However, the Local Reserve Commander quietly turned his head and pretended not to see me, instead speaking into the Radio to issue urgent commands to the Reservists.
"Turn on the Searchlights and check every corner of the alleys, never move outside the checkpoint, and report immediately if the fog rolls in. Absolutely follow the rules of engagement!"
Led by the Military Police, I headed inside the Community Center, toward a place where an eerie silence lingered amidst all the clamor and bustle.
They said the Local Reserve Commander called for me, but in reality, it was First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi.
Eventually, when I stepped into the counseling room where First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi was stationed, he and two Non-Commissioned Officers wearing sunglasses were waiting inside.
"Mr. Baek Jemin, please sit."
First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi barely managed a professional smile as he guided me to a seat.
Without a word, the Non-Commissioned Officers naturally headed out of the counseling room.
Sitting down and facing each other again, the two of us remained silent for a while.
I was convinced that First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi knew more than he let on, so after the silence, I cut straight to the point.
All sorts of curses like 'you convert bastard' and 'you insect-like bastard' were bubbling up in my chest, but I somehow managed to maintain my politeness.
"First Lieutenant."
"Yes, I'm listening."
"Fuck, how the hell am I supposed to beat the shit out of something like that?"
I've lived for 28 years.
It's an age where the outline of my talents and career is slowly revealing itself, making it possible to gauge what kind of later years I'll live. A time when the days ahead become clearer than mere possibilities. To the elderly, it might not seem like much, but living to this age means even trivial experiences have steadily piled up.
I thought I knew all sorts of bizarre things after enjoying all kinds of cultural media.
But even for someone like me, the sight I witnessed today, merely 13 hours or so after the mobilization order was declared, was far more horrific than any gory image I had seen in my 28 years of life.
"You knew."
"..."
"Fuck, you hid it because you knew people would run."
"Haa..."
First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi didn't make any excuses.
Instead, he kept letting out deep sighs while massaging his eye sockets with his right hand.
After taking a long moment to compose himself, First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi looked at me with slightly bloodshot eyes.
"The military is a mess right now too. Unrelated to the fog in Seoul, the newly generated fog appeared in isolated spots. I checked the weather map, and they aren't connected."
"That means..."
"The worst-case scenario has become reality, Mr. Baek Jemin. They can appear wherever fog forms. Whether this phenomenon is confined to the Korean Peninsula, or if it will spread to other foggy regions, other countries, and other continents, we don't know anything. But this phenomenon is clearly spreading. As of today... it's certain."
I suddenly thought of my parents.
The ones spending their twilight years modestly in Daejeon Metropolitan City. I had implicitly assumed they would be fine since they lived far from Seoul or Gyeonggi-do.
"Do you think I'll just let this go because you scared me like this?"
"Alright. Try deserting."
First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi's gaze turned fierce.
"A mobilization order has been declared; do you think the airports or harbors are functioning normally? The country's airports and harbors have been under control or going through closure procedures for a while. Everyone who wanted to leave has left, and all that remains are the people who can't do anything but live or die with this country. Even the US Forces Korea reduced their personnel under the guise of reallocation a month ago. It's already over."
"Hey, you fucker..."
"Mr. Baek Jemin. Think about it. Do you think neighboring countries will welcome refugees right now? The Japanese bastards, the Chinese bastards, and even those northern pig bastards are strengthening their borders and coast guards to prevent our collapse while sending what little supplies they can. Even those North Korean pig bastards are so desperate to keep the South Korean kids alive that they're bringing their outdated firearms and ammunition across the West Sea to sell to civilians. Over in Incheon, the military units are even tacitly approving the formation of vigilante groups for civil-military cooperation."
"So we all just die together? And then what? That fucker... does it at least die if we shoot it?"
If this were a manageable disaster, I would have said, 'Sure, let's give it a try,' even if it was a shit show.
If they were zombies, I would have just wrapped my clothes tight to avoid getting bitten and fired a gun. Even zombies that supposedly won't die still die when their heads get blown off.
But what the hell am I supposed to do against a Monster when I'm not even sure if guns work on it? If I hadn't realized magic, I would have been eaten alive right then!
At that moment, First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi's gaze changed.
Subtly, he started looking at me as if he had already figured it out.
"Mr. Baek Jemin. Do you know what it takes to survive an encounter with that thing?"
"..."
"Repelling it by forming a wall of fire through concentrated fire from a squad of at least eight people. Or..."
I could guess what he was going to say even if he didn't finish his sentence.
As I kept my mouth firmly shut, First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi did all the talking.
"...Magic."
It was then that First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi pulled out a bag he had kept under the desk.
He opened the bag to reveal a stack of documents, handed me a pen, and spoke.
"Mr. Baek Jemin. Let's make a deal."
"A deal? What kind of deal can you make with a drafted Reservist? You're just going to order me around anyway."
When I responded sarcastically, First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi let out a snort and replied.
"If you agree to cooperate with military operations and the chain of command, this clause authorizes the use of Localized Invasive Structural Alteration and magic, priority in rations and meals, priority distribution of secured supplies, and even grants independent operational authority."
I wondered if I had misheard him.
But what really made me doubt my ears was something else entirely.
"Also, regarding the government's ongoing evacuation plans, it guarantees priority evacuation or overseas relocation for your family members, Mr. Baek Jemin."
"...."
I blinked slowly.
Then, curling up slightly, I shot him a glare.
"Why should I trust the military?"
"Mr. Baek Jemin, isn't this opportunity here precisely because the military doesn't always run strictly by the book?"
Tap tap tap tap...
I found myself unconsciously tapping the desk with my index finger.
Chewing the inside of my lip, I ran the calculations in the back of my mind.
Trust the military? I wasn't some blind patriot who would willingly trust the government when things had already gone to hell. To be blunt, anyone could write a rubber check to some poor bastard spinning his wheels on the front lines waiting to die.
Authorization to use magic? Fuck, what gives these bastards who don't even know how to use it the right to act so high and mighty?
Looking back at them one by one, the parts that were actually helpful were close to being toxic clauses with very little real benefit.
However, there were exactly a few points worth noting.
"...."
First: The supply of firearms and ammunition. In South Korea, where there is no such thing as a gun market, this was the easiest way to obtain essential supplies that would otherwise require smuggling or paying exorbitant prices.
Second: The military had secured magic over the past two months, like the Magic Special Lecture Booklet. There was a high possibility that magic the military couldn't use or hadn't yet figured out, along with related knowledge, was just lying around everywhere.
Third, and lastly: Information near the restricted control zone that was hard to trust but better than nothing. Plus, the opportunity to amicably approach others who had awakened magic like me in non-combat situations.
I glared at First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi with bloodshot intensity.
"Alright. Let's do this."
"Oh?"
"I'm doing this trusting you with my parents' evacuation."
"Haha, of course. On behalf of the military, I thank you for your patriotic spirit and selfless dedication, Mr. Baek Jemin."
A handshake born of filial piety and patriotism was exchanged between us.
Gripping First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi's firm hand, I somehow managed to force a smile.
"First off, I assume you can at least give me some Spam, right?"
"I'll give you Luncheon Meat."
Luncheon Meat instead of Spam.
I had no lingering regrets for the bastards who had rejected my final alliance proposal.
End