The Choice (1)
Obsidian Circle.
A notorious terrorist group that had opposed the empire for decades and committed countless crimes.
They wielded magic so dark and secretive that they never hesitated to commit the most brutal acts if it served their goal.
Mysterious disappearances across every corner of the Gilorian Empire.
Massacres on an unimaginable scale.
And behind the unresolved terrorist attacks, the Obsidian Circle had always been the mastermind.
Only a faint black ring remained where they once stood.
Would the group known as the Black Ring finally reveal itself again?
“Yet they leave such blatant trails… Does this even make sense, Prosecutor?”
The question from Piaje, the office manager, hung in the air.
I traced the strange pattern etched into the wall with my fingertips and answered.
“This is a warning from them. Leave now…”
In that instant, dark matter surged out of nowhere and wrapped around my wrist.
A pressure far more intense than anything I had ever felt before.
Screeech.
Even if I swung my dagger down, the dark matter would crawl up the blade like a living thing.
I forced strength into my fingers gripping the hilt.
Lightning surged along the edge, sharp and cold.
Only then did the dark matter finally vanish.
…And beyond it, I saw black flames burning.
My instincts screamed a warning.
We were in danger from here on out.
“Everyone, retreat. I’m going in alone from this point.”
This was danger none of the knights or mages had ever faced.
I could protect myself, but whether I could protect them too was an open question.
“How disappointing.”
“What do you think of the empire’s knights, Prosecutor?”
“Prosecutor, we will guard you.”
The knights stepped forward.
The mage agents simply strengthened their magic circles without a word.
I watched them in silence.
Inside the stagnant darkness, the mages raised their innate magic to the fullest, each one glowing with its own light.
Deep emerald.
Clear olive green.
And vibrant magenta.
At that moment, Piaje, the office manager, smiled faintly while hugging a golden mace to his chest and met my gaze.
He gave a small nod.
I hesitated for a moment.
“Very well. But.”
The truly terrifying thing about the Obsidian Circle was not physical dark matter at all.
“Everyone, do not listen to anything. Do not touch anything. Do not trust anything.”
Now the whispers of welcome and the unknown would begin.
“Entering.”
I stepped toward the dark flames along with my words.
* * *
The flames burned black.
But there was no heat.
Instead, an extreme cold that would freeze the body.
After crossing the dual-natured flames, all that remained was an endless darkness.
Shwaa.
θ?ЖjklΩ?ΤΝ˘ːΨ
Whispers began to echo in my ears.
Like a snake, or like a baby fairy babbling, mysterious and yet bone-chilling.
“This is an illusion. Focus on something else.”
I, at the front, warned everyone.
All were illusions.
But illusions accompanied by welcome.
At that moment, one knight began shouting toward the empty air.
“Damn it!”
He started fiercely fighting something invisible.
“Why are you like this? Pull yourself together!”
A fellow knight tried to stop him.
But the knight shouting was already lost to the Obsidian Circle’s illusions.
Heavy, dense air that dominated the space followed.
It rose from beneath my feet and wrapped around my heart.
“……”
The real attack from the Obsidian Circle had begun.
“Master, I was wrong. Please don’t expel me from the magic tower, okay.”
The mage who had been spewing clear olive green dropped to his knees and begged someone.
The olive green gradually turned turbid.
Around him, unknown fireflies began to spin.
The moment the mage’s olive green was eroded by gray.
“Die. You must die.”
He clutched his own throat with both hands.
“Dirty monster, let my sister go right now!”
Another knight shouted while tears streamed down his face.
His sword slowly moved toward his own chest.
Distorted senses and blurred vision.
And the voice reached me as well.
— Kim Pro. I kept warning you not to be so arrogant, and look where it got you.
A vile voice echoed in my ear.
It was Prosecutor Hwang Chiggon of the Corruption Investigation Division of the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office.
He approached me exactly as he had ten years ago.
An illusion.
The Obsidian Circle’s only fatal attack method was to make the victim relive the most painful, desperate moment and take their own life.
Huu.
I exhaled deeply.
I closed my eyes.
I imagined the most peaceful time.
I had to find a hiding place in my heart.
Sssssaa.
What came to mind was a field of reeds swaying in the autumn wind.
— Is it because I keep looking under your feet that I feel relieved? Kim Pro. I never meant to get your blood on my hands.
Through the reeds, the face of Director Hwang appeared.
Huu.
I exhaled again.
The swaying reeds covered the director’s face.
Hee hee hee.
His vile laugh echoed into the autumn sky.
After exhaling once more, the only sound left was the dry rustling of leaves rubbing against each other.
The sound of reeds in the wind.
My mind cleared instantly.
I opened my eyes.
The illusions screamed and faded away.
Only then did I see the scene.
The knight’s sword had pierced his own chest and was stained with blood.
The mage’s face, clutching his throat, had turned pale.
I stared fixedly into the darker darkness deeper inside the black void.
‘That’s it.’
My instinct that this was the source of everything.
And I clenched my fist, aimed at that place.
Kwaaak!
Blue lightning shot out from my fingertips and crashed into the endless darkness.
Kyaaaaaah!
The space split by lightning screamed as if it were alive.
But the dark matter struggled desperately to endure.
I twisted my fist.
Lightning exploded violently and gouged deep into the darkness with fierce momentum, erasing the remnants in an instant.
A horrifying stench filled the air.
The black flames that had dominated the space slowly began to subside.
The dark matter that had dominated the space started to retreat, its foul stench fading.
The twisted space that had been under the dark matter’s control returned to its original state.
The knight stared at the sword stuck in his chest with confused eyes.
“W-what the hell happened?”
His voice was ragged.
Fortunately, the wounds were light enough to heal with healing potions.
“Cough.”
The pale mage agent also gasped and looked at the hand that had been choking his neck.
Gradually, the agents regained their senses and looked around with dazed expressions.
Piaje was the same.
He was having a wonderful dance with someone.
“Are you all right?”
I handed healing potions to the knights and agents.
The agents and knights who emptied their potions nodded awkwardly.
The knight’s chest wound was visibly healing.
In the space where the darkness had receded, all the things they had desperately wanted to protect were neatly laid out.
Zylas’s office.
In the plain, colorless office with no decorations, long-planned documents were neatly arranged.
They must have been confident this place would never be discovered.
We approached carefully and began to examine the contents.
“Records of bribery between the Ministry of Environment and EcoNova.”
Piaje discovered multiple transaction records.
“The money that flowed into EcoNova operations… it was directly deposited by Director Zylas?”
Had they prepared thorough tail-cutting in case of exposure?
“Prosecutor, here are the terrorist plan documents.”
The documents held by the knight.
[Green Energy Park Sewer Design Drawings]
[Pathogen Distribution Plan]
[Projected Death Toll: 100 million]
“Projected death toll of 100 million?”
A shocked Piaje held a map covered in red dots.
“Prosecutor, what is the official population of Clovan City?”
“Officially 11 million. Unofficially 20 million.”
Everyone fell silent in shock.
The enemy’s plan was to exterminate every single citizen of Clovan City.
20 percent of the Gilorian Empire’s population of 102 million lived in Clovan City.
So their target was not just the water supply in Sector A-3 of Clovan City.
They intended to destroy the entire Clovan City.
We had no time to waste.
Piaje quickly took out a magic receiver.
“Request immediate inspection of all water supplies in every district.”
“Report to the Capital Defense Unit’s Counter-Terrorism Headquarters immediately.”
“I’ll also request cooperation from other departments.”
The agents responded quickly, each one.
But my gaze had already turned beyond them into the darkness.
Something was not yet finished.
Far away, in the deepest part of the darkness, red light was rising.
It was a giant eye.
“Prosecutor, that gray whirlpool area looks like their hidden passage.”
“Prosecutor, you’re going in right away? Should I request additional support?”
“Prosecutor? Prosecutor?”
My colleagues’ voices grew distant.
Instead, a clear, unfamiliar voice came through.
— Mortal.
Behind Piaje’s voice, the voice of an unknown existence layered on top.
The eye watched me deeply, as if carrying a heavy curse.
Like ancient darkness warning me.
— Mortal, do not defy your fate.
The giant eye stared at me for a long time before gradually disappearing into the darkness.
And the space completely brightened.
“Prosecutor, are you all right?”
Only now did Piaje’s voice become clear again.
Looking around, none of them had seen the existence.
They looked at me with worried eyes.
“I’m fine.”
Beyond the completely brightened space, the gray whirlpool still flickered.
And beyond that, the figure of Director Zylas appeared faintly.
“That must be the entrance.”
“Passing through this gray whirlpool connects directly to where Director Zylas is.”
The colleagues’ voices returned like the ebb and flow.
But the red eyes clearly imprinted in my mind.
He had called me a mortal and given me a creepy warning not to defy fate.
I exhaled deeply.
I had to figure out what that existence was and what kind of warning it was giving me.
But right now.
We had no time to waste.
Clovan City, standing at the crossroads of life and death.
There was no other choice.
“Entering.”
Beyond the darkness, the gray whirlpool still flickered.
* * *
After stepping through the flickering gray whirlpool, I arrived at a gloomy spot inside the Green Energy Park construction site.
The office of EcoNova Director Zylas had been connected to the Green Energy Park via a secret passage.
By the time we arrived at the site, the sun had already completely set.
Rustle.
A strange presence.
The knight raised his sword.
It was the same knight who had stabbed his own chest earlier.
Toward where his sword pointed, an oddly swaying young tree reached out to the fertile soil beneath the bluish darkness before collapsing with a thud.
“Hmph.”
The knight let out a meaningless cough, as if embarrassed.
“Prosecutor, the sewer is this way.”
Following the design drawings we had secured from the dark office, Piaje guided us.
“Here it is.”
Deep stairs leading to an underground tunnel were placed there.
After going down deeper, a path barely wide enough for one person appeared.
Next to it stretched a massive pipe.
A sewer pipe.
We walked slowly along the drainage channel where the sewer pipe lay.
With every step, our footsteps echoed.
“Prosecutor, the sewer water doesn’t seem to be flowing.”
The mage agent placed his hand on the pipe with eyes closed.
Magenta flickered at his fingertips.
An expert mage in search.
“No traces of special magic either.”
If water was not flowing through the pipe, my guess was wrong.
At that moment, as if someone had heard our conversation.
Gruuuung.
A heavy mechanical sound rang out.
Swaaaaak.
A massive sound of flowing water in the sewer pipe.
The sewers in Green Energy Park were being used to reverse flow into the water supply.
This would soon connect to the capital of the Clovan City Empire.
Using machinery instead of magic in case of exposure.
“Prosecutor, the sewer water is flowing into the water supply.”
If we simply turned the sewer pipe’s direction, we would be easily discovered, so a cleverly placed pump at the connection point had reversed the water’s flow.
A meticulously designed evil.
“That must be it.”
At the end of the dark passage indicated by Piaje, a faint light was seeping through.
“Everyone. Prepare yourselves.”
This was not a simple crime.
These were people who had prepared thorough pre-planning to exterminate all Clovan citizens in one go.
Forces powerful enough to bribe the Ministry of Environment of the Gilorian Empire and influence the Green Energy Park construction.
And those who would act to carry out the plan to exterminate the entire Clovan City.
Before entering, I summoned the search expert mage who always wore a cute magenta bear-patterned hat.
“Remove the device without fail.”
The search expert mage nodded so vigorously that his head bobbed like the bear above his head.
“Entering.”
When I opened the door from which light was seeping, a voice spoke.
“Oh, a guest has arrived.”
Director Zylas of the rising new chaebol EcoNova Industry of the Gilorian Empire stood there.
“Zylas, I arrest you under the Empire’s Criminal Law and Anti-Empire Activities Punishment Law for multiple murders, body disposal, distribution of a pathogen, anti-empire terrorism, and large-scale toxic substance dumping.”
“That’s it? You still don’t understand, do you, Zeo Prosecutor?”
Zylas smiled calmly.