7
Chapter 7
When morning came, even this quiet little town began to stir with commotion.
First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi only set out with the non-commissioned officers after confirming there was no fog, taking me along to head elsewhere—but along the way, we got caught in the town's traffic jam and came to a halt.
While sitting in the back seat trying to make a call, I stole a glance out the window—the scenery beyond was no longer peaceful.
Bweeeeep-. Bweep-.
Police officers frantically blew their whistles as they ran about alongside reservists and civil defense personnel.
Vehicles that had even ignored traffic signals lay tangled chaotically on the road, and between makeshift positions constructed with sandbags and vehicle barriers, reservists in combat uniforms mingled with civil defense personnel in civilian clothes.
Amidst all sorts of screams and shouts, it was only natural that some people would emerge in the chaos, desperately searching for a way to survive.
Clang!
With the sound of shattering glass, a group of looters rushed toward a convenience store—and in that moment, the police's patience finally snapped.
Bang!
One officer, struggling physically while blowing his whistle, fired a shot into the air.
Heaving for breath, he then aimed his gun at the would-be looters and shouted.
"Hands up and on your knees!"
The reservists and civil defense personnel following behind to assist the police also looked startled, but they soon seemed to collect themselves, shouldering their weapons and aiming them at the looters.
The flustered looters grew so awkward they even tried to politely request a conversation.
"E-excuse me. There's no need to shoot..."
"Shut up. Drop everything you're holding and get down!"
The murmuring civilians seemed to realize this wasn't the time to protest about excessive force, keeping their distance instead.
The officer who had fired the shot glared heavily, surveying the surroundings in silence before, with the help of the reservists and civil defense personnel, forcing the looters to the ground and handcuffing them one by one.
Click, click...
That sound cut through the eerie silence of the town.
It was around this time that the call connected.
"Dad."
[It's Mom. I answered instead of your dad. So, something's going on in Gyeonggi-do? Are you sure you're okay?]
After looking at the people gathering outside the window, their faces covered as they murmured among themselves, I spoke with hesitation.
I meant the ones who kept glancing around nervously, conscious of the police, reservists, and civil defense personnel.
But not everyone was like that yet.
People who found those suspicious outfits and conspicuous behaviors questionable were subtly helping the police and military to weed out and isolate such individuals.
"Hey, why are you wearing a mask? And why did you bring a baseball bat?"
"Aren't those guys robbers too?!"
It was still okay for now.
People were still trying to maintain order. So, with a slightly lighter heart, I answered.
"Yeah. I'm okay."
[You're not okay! All the young people in our neighborhood put on military uniforms too. That's why I told you to come down here earlier, didn't I? You quit your job, so why are you still stuck in Gyeonggi-do...]
"Ah, Mom."
[I can clearly imagine you not washing your kimchi containers and not doing the dishes properly, just like last time I visited. You told me not to come, so I didn't—but if I'd known something like this would happen...]
The nagging words that drilled into my ears pierced into my head like thorns.
But knowing she was saying this out of worry, I couldn't bring myself to talk back, only nodding along with "Yes, yes."
Only after being scolded like that for a while did my father finally take the phone.
[Is that you, Jaemin?]
"Yes, sir."
[How's your duty going?]
"I'm on break right now, so I thought I'd call."
[You'll get scolded.]
After a brief silence, my father spoke in a flat voice.
[You know... a person can't always like where they live.]
"That's true."
[It's chaos here too—they're taking all the young people away, so military police are patrolling every street. Even if you came, there's nowhere to hide you. So don't run away. Serve your duty well. Protect the country.]
"Yes, sir..."
I thought the call would end there, but my father kept it going, only letting out shallow breaths.
Only then did I notice the slight tremor at the edge of my father's voice.
[Are they... feeding you well?]
"Yes. When I asked for Spam, they said they'd give me luncheon meat."
[They're giving you luncheon meat? They must be taking good care of you. Even your mother doesn't give me that these days.]
"That's because she's looking after your health, Dad."
[Quit drinking, quit smoking, can't even eat meat—what's the point of living.]
After about ten seconds of just breathing, my father's voice grew thick with emotion.
[Don't come here. You mustn't come. Stay put there and protect the country, stubbornly. Even if everyone else runs away, stay there like an idiot.]
"Dad..."
[That's enough. I'm hanging up. Serve your duty well. Call again when you can.]
Click.
I stared down at the phone screen for no reason, feeling an inexplicable tightness in my chest.
Around that time, the blocked road cleared and the vehicle started moving again.
Full-scale road control using military personnel had begun, and people's protests were being trampled.
People getting out of their cars to protest, soldiers pushing them back with raised hands. Vehicle barriers placed at every road entrance, sandbags hastily piled up.
As I stared blankly at the scene, I felt someone's gaze.
First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi was looking this way through the mirror, wearing a warm smile.
"What a dutiful son."
"It's just that with the situation being what it is, I'm doing things I don't normally do."
Rather than continuing the conversation, First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi faithfully returned to his duty as an escort.
"Driver, slow down when you see soldiers controlling the road from now on. I just got a message that they're starting checkpoints throughout Gyeonggi-do."
"Yes, sir."
I listened to their conversation while carefully stroking the magic special lecture booklet tucked in my inner chest pocket.
Then I picked up my phone and checked the group chat and the time.
January 7th, 9:18 AM.
Everyone was in an absolute uproar.
All sorts of rumors mixed with tiny fragments of truth were pouring out in bizarre whispers. The biggest problem was that these couldn't simply be dismissed as baseless rumors.
But there was one common sentiment.
[Jemin, are you alive???]
[Hyung, you have to avoid night watch at all costs. They're saying our side will switch to CCTV, but everyone's panicking, saying it's hopeless if the fog rolls in at night before the weather forecast predicts it.]
Urgent texts from guys I usually hung out with on Discord. Seemed like they managed to dodge night watch duty somehow.
The community posts weren't much different either.
Most had titles along the lines of "Hey you fuckers" and the content was about hearing eerie screams at dawn but legs being too wobbly to even look out the window, what the hell happened, is Seoul already done for—just a bunch of people panicking.
But not everyone was just panicking.
Rumors were circulating that the government was taking certain individuals aside to create a new unit or organization.
Knowing what that organization actually was, my lips couldn't help but go dry.
"Fuck..."
As I muttered the curse I couldn't hold back, I felt First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi glance at me through the rearview mirror.
But it was only natural, given that I knew the true nature of the organization or unit the government was newly establishing.
I could still vividly remember the contents I saw when I read the administrative documents First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi handed me and signed the contract.
***
Localized Invasive Structural Alteration—the term used to refer to magic in official documents—was abbreviated as LISA.
And the name of the newly established organization was the 'Localized Invasive Structural Alteration Civilian Advisory Group.'
In other words, the government was scraping together mages to create an entirely independent organization to face this unprecedented crisis.
At first glance, it might seem similar to the role of Hunters in those awakened mana-or-system stories, but the reality was a bit different.
Hunters, strictly speaking... yeah. They were closer to freelance contractors. The kind whose income varied wildly based on their ability level, hoping for all sorts of fortuitous encounters and growth.
Then what about me, Baek Jemin, who had become the 'Localized Invasive Structural Alteration Civilian Operator' as my official title?
I was no longer a reservist. I had become a civilian contracted with the military. The moment I signed the contract, I was freed from military discipline and absolute obedience to superiors, but in exchange, I became a civilian expert obligated to fulfill the conditions demanded by the military.
However, my qualification as a reservist who could be urgently mobilized if the military situation became dire hadn't disappeared—I still retained it.
What this absolute bullshit meant was that now, when tallying statistics, if Baek Jemin were to die, it wouldn't be recorded as a soldier falling in action—but rather as a civilian going missing due to unavoidable chaos.
In return, I could receive supplies like firearms, ammunition, and basic combat rations from the military, and since I maintained civilian status, I held autonomous and independent authority as long as it wasn't an emergency mobilization.
As long as I fulfilled the required obligations, that is.
1. Share information regarding magic with the military.
2. Respect the military chain of command and follow the orders of on-site commanders.
3. Participate in at least one reconnaissance activity within the specified period (defined as 2 to 4 weeks depending on local conditions).
There was always a reason for everything—including why First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi was grinning so much right now as my escort.
That said, it wasn't like I signed the contract out of some grand admiration for the noble military spirit of sacrificing oneself for the country—I had my own reasons.
1. What are you gonna do if I don't share? The magic I had awakened was an incredibly immense power on its own.
2. As someone who had faced monsters firsthand, a commander who couldn't use magic was utterly useless.
3. It was actually an advantage. It meant I could search beyond the fog with relatively trustworthy people rather than alone.
They thought they had put these clauses in as safeguards, but these conditions were riddled with holes that anyone who had encountered and survived just once could recognize.
So I was certain. The military didn't fully understand this threat yet.
The soldiers and field commanders isolated in Seoul must have pleaded with bloodshot eyes, begging for this to be done—and so some engagement rules had been established—but the military was still underestimating this threat to some degree.
And the same went for magic.
It was clear that people like me who had awakened magic hadn't revealed everything. The military opting to cloak this in the guise of a deal rather than interrogating us relentlessly might have been why they were trying to appear friendly.
I discreetly opened the magic special lecture booklet and examined the first page—the part I had named "Seven Eyes." The magic that had aligned itself in the fog had returned to its crooked, scrawling characters.
Now I understood why the interpretations had varied so wildly.
Some saw restoration, some saw despair, some saw severance, some saw a spear's tip, some saw a forest... and I had seen footprints.
This was obscenely symbolic and obscenely twisted, but in reality, it was an incredibly intuitive kind of ideogram. The triangle symbolized humanity's base perception, while the square symbolized what humanity wanted to see.
What this magic revealed was time.
Those who saw the past through this magic called it restoration; those who saw it while interacting with surrounding objects called it severance or a spear's tip; those who saw the future called it a forest or despair.
However, there was an essential condition to truly awaken this magic.
"..."
Fog.
Paradoxically, what helped reveal this magic's true form and allowed one to awaken it was only possible within that godforsaken fog.
The magic hidden within those crooked, doodle-like symbols only aligned its lines and revealed itself when the fog corrupted sunlight and the laws of this world. When the fog receded, the magic would hide itself within the scribbles once more.
This was why I had earned that ridiculously long official title of Localized Invasive Structural Alteration Civilian Operator.
***
The temporary headquarters established at Suwon City Hall was already swarming with all sorts of people.
With road controls in effect from Suwon Station, a diverse array of people who had stepped out of their vehicles were heading toward city hall under what amounted to military surveillance.
There was a Catholic priest in clerical robes, a pastor clutching a Bible and mumbling, a monk in monastic robes, shamans holding talismans, and even people who appeared to be from the Middle East.
Among them were some in combat uniforms like me, looking around with hesitant expressions.
It was then that First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi approached and patted my shoulder.
"Don't be too intimidated, Mr. Baek Jemin."
"No, I'm just amazed, that's all."
"Nothing to be amazed about. We brought in everyone who can perform Localized Invasive Structural Alteration or is judged capable of it. The goal is to screen out those who don't qualify here, then have the remaining people exchange insights and share information secured by the military to build a knowledge base. Reconnaissance activities will come later, so don't worry."
First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi returned to the vehicle and handed a cigarette pack to the driver with a grin.
"Park the car and have a smoke."
"Thank you, sir!"
First Lieutenant Shin Han-gi gave a warm smile to the driver who snapped a stiff salute, then walked back over to me.
"Shall we go, Mr. Baek Jemin. Once everything's confirmed, I'll call you Operator."
End