Chapter 223: Deep Layer Magic (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 223: Deep Layer Magic (2)
There is an apple on the table in front of you.
Does the apple exist?
Yes!
It exists.
Now, let’s say Wizus comes and eats the apple.
Does the apple still exist?
If you answered no, take a look deep inside your mind.
The image, the color, the shape that came to your mind as we discussed the apple. A certain existence represented by those things.
The horticultural information about the fruit of the species Malus domestica of the Rosaceae family, stored in the limbic system of your frontal lobe through empirical learning.
Recall that concept, and then ponder the same question again.
Does the apple exist?
‘No, it’s not on my table, but it must exist somewhere. What kind of bullshit question is this?’
If you answered that, let’s say this time Wizus destroyed the entire Earth.
The species known as apple has been completely annihilated.
And yet, the same conceptual form remains in your head, in your mind.
‘Unbound by the physical phenomenal world, as a simple question of absolute knowledge, does the thing called an apple exist?’
Hmm.
Well.
That question isn’t asking whether an apple is rolling around somewhere in the physical world.
It’s asking how much you can trust knowledge that cannot be perceived by human sensory organs.
For example, what if the Labyrinth Master deceived your limbic system, manipulating all your senses and memories to make you believe in a fruit called an apple that never existed in the world?
Would you still offer only phenomenal answers bound by your sensory organs?
Or would you take a step forward, make a mental leap, and seek true existence and substance?
“Ah, senior, enough with the nonsense. Let’s just drink. Cheers, cheers.”
I often used to pour my senior another drink like that at our grad school lab dinners.
He was a scientist, but he was also a madman who enjoyed philosophy. Especially when he drank, he’d torment everyone by spouting Kant’s idealism.
Why am I suddenly thinking of that now?
Of course, it’s thanks to the Labyrinth Master’s fucking Deep Layer magic.
“Everyone, stay sharp!”
Deceiving the senses is child’s play for this demon.
In the Deep Layer, illusions possess physical force.
But as my senior told me, there is a substance that exists beyond phenomena, independent of the senses.
Kant called it the thing-in-itself, and for me, that’s the 21st-century Republic of Korea I came from.
“This is all an illusion! Don’t fall for it! No matter how real it seems, there’s no way it can be permanent!”
I felt like I was about to lose my mind, but I somehow managed to hold on to my sanity.
“True. It is not permanent,” the Labyrinth Master said.
“Not until I get my hands on the Hourglass. This is a temporary magic that only works in the Deep Layer.”
“…”
“That is why I am telling you to cooperate with the Labyrinth Eruption.”
“Shut up,” Krom said, beads of cold sweat on his neck.
“You lied to us in the Gourmet Whale’s maw. You said then that a great eruption wouldn’t happen. But now you’re changing your story!”
“Did I say such a thing?”
“Did you not?”
“I did not.”
The Labyrinth Master shook his head.
“At that time, I was pointing out the weakness of your argument as you pointed your blades at me. You had come all that way based on Caleb’s claim alone.”
“What kind of bullshit…”
“The reason I spoke with you then was because you had come before me not with conviction or will, but like rotten logs swept along by the current. I do not consider such beings my ‘enemies.’ They are merely a ‘phenomenon,’ like a monster wave.”
“…”
“And now, I wish to test you once more. What choice will Blackdog make?”
CRACK!
Unable to hold back, Krom swung his axe, aiming for the space between the Labyrinth Master’s eyes.
But the spell ‘Bulwark of Wisdom’ activated, protecting the Labyrinth Master.
There was no incantation, not even the use of a wand.
And…
“Labyrinth Master!”
Blackdog came running down the alley hill, a Colt .45 pistol in his right hand.
“Don’t fuck with me!”
With a furious roar, the pistol spat fire.
He may have lived in Sohen for over a decade, but it seemed Fernando, the gang leader, hadn’t lost his marksmanship.
BANG!
The bullet struck the Labyrinth Master squarely in the head.
However.
“You are in a hurry.”
The Bulwark of Wisdom, again.
“Do not rush. Your wavering mind has seized the reins of your will and is galloping off in any direction.”
“Shut up!”
“Become the true master of your mind. I will give you time.”
The Labyrinth Master now looked at me.
“Your analysis is correct, wizard. My Deep Layer magic is not permanent. Not until I obtain the Hourglass. At most, it will last one turn, maybe two.”
“…”
“But by the standards of a mortal life, that is a very long time. The Wizard King lived here for 170 years.”
“…”
“He personally gave a congratulatory speech at his grown grandson’s wedding.”
The corners of the demon’s mouth crept up into a slight smile.
“Turn-Based Wizard. I look forward to seeing what kind of life you will live.”
*
He was gone.
Just like a soap bubble popping and vanishing into thin air.
The Labyrinth Master simply disappeared.
“He just spouts some fucking nonsense and leaves…” Back Attack sighed.
“Now…”
Yernil looked around with an anxious expression.
“What do we do now, Caleb?”
I didn’t know either.
For starters, the Stair Gate was already gone. The very gate we had just entered.
The magic was perfectly deceiving all our senses.
Whenever a scene like this appeared in a comic or a novel, I used to laugh at the protagonist shouting, “This is all an illusion! Snap out of it!” But now that it was my story, it was driving me crazy.
My honest impression was…
‘It feels like I’ve returned to the modern world.’
Even knowing this is all fake, I can’t help it.
I don’t know how to wake up from this dream. There’s no Stair Gate. I feel just as lost as I did that day when I was scratching my thighs in my underwear, launched the developer difficulty, and was dropped into the middle of Sohen’s Magic University plaza.
It feels like I’ve been possessed, but in reverse. Or like I’ve been transported to another world (?).
“Rococo, Nimue. Is there any way to break this illusion?”
I asked the priest and the wizard with a sliver of hope.
“This is a spell born from mixing Tier 10 magic that governs the Deep Layer with the Labyrinth Master’s Tier 10 mind control. In the language of the Magic University, it’s like binding two Tier 10 spells together. I have no way of breaking it.”
“…Nimue, you don’t know either?”
“I was just about to ask you the same thing. If you had a way.”
We’re seriously fucked.
“Hey. You guys.”
It was Blackdog.
“Come to my place for now. Whatever’s going on, let’s get something to eat and think.”
“Hold on.”
The man with the cartel-style mustache, Fernando, stepped in front of us.
“Explain what the hell is going on. Who are you, and where did you come from?”
“You come too.”
Blackdog slung an arm over the shoulder of the mustached man who must have been his friend.
“Let’s just eat.”
We went into Fernando’s house and sat at his dining table. His mother served us tacos.
*
We have to find the stairs, somehow.
The area of Cancún is said to be about 2,000 square kilometers. Three times the size of Seoul.
It’s shocking that the Labyrinth Master summoned all of Cancún, but if we search carefully, we should be able to find the stairs.
Didn’t they disappear?
The one the Labyrinth Master temporarily summoned, yes.
But there must still be stairs somewhere. That’s how the Labyrinth works. There are always stairs.
Even in the game, there wasn’t a single Labyrinth floor without stairs. Even in the Deep Layer, there must be stairs leading up.
We’ll search every inch of Cancún, find them, and go back…
—This is breaking news.
On the television next to the table where we were eating tacos, an anchor was reporting major news.
—Strange phenomena are occurring all over the world.
“What the fuck…”
*
I thought if we traveled to the edge of the Cancún the Labyrinth Master had summoned, we would find a wall.
But no.
That demon’s mental world is far vaster than I could have ever imagined.
—We also do not know what is happening right now.
The Consul was on TV, giving an interview!
—It is presumed to be the Labyrinth Master’s magic. We will do our best to find a way for the people of both worlds to coexist…
I shot up from my chair.
“Blackdog! Your computer!”
I opened his computer, connected to the internet, and started searching.
In an instant, I found out what was happening all over the world.
The back alleys of Sohen were in the city of Cancún.
Sohen’s central plaza and the Magic University were in Canada.
The Public Security Headquarters and the Adventurer’s Guild were in Washington D.C.
The cities of the Western Lizard Lord were spread across Angola, Congo, and Tanzania in Central Africa.
Barbarian encampments were scattered across several Northern European countries. The Orc Great King’s cities stretched from France to Italy.
The Artisan’s Citadel was on the southern coast of Australia.
Wyndham was divided across various parts of China. The Frostian Magic Republic was in Russia.
And in Seoul, there was Fox Ridge.
Bimun-gol.
The Fairy Forest stretched from the Kansai to the Kanto region of Japan.
“Ha…”
I felt mentally exhausted.
But at the same time, my heart was pounding violently.
‘I can go home.’
*
Isn’t the very fact that I had that thought proof that I’m fucked?
The demon’s trap is so cunning and deep that once you step in, you not only can’t find the exit, but you lose the very will to leave.
“National Intelligence Service. Mr. Kim Jeong-hoon, correct? Your otherworld name is Caleb.”
“Yes, that’s right. And these are my companions.”
Three weeks had passed, and we still hadn’t found the stairs. We had even searched the United States, assuming they would be somewhere in Sohen, but we failed.
And now, we were about to board a plane to Korea with the NIS agents who had come to meet us.
The world was in a state of tremendous chaos, but at the same time, it was also calming down.
Naturally, there was discrimination and hatred.
And just as naturally…
—Caleb! This new civilization is truly magnificent!
I got another call from Professor Meldini before boarding the plane. A video call.
Professor Isilof and Isel were with him.
—This world certainly has much to learn from. It seems several times more advanced than Sohen, Isel said.
“Not necessarily. There’s no magic here. No magic stone products, either.”
—But the science is incredible, Caleb. I can see why you were so successful in Sohen.
—The Abyss of the Labyrinth.
Isel was interested in that.
—I downloaded it on Steam and tried it. It’s quite fun. I also watched the guide video you posted a long time ago.
Isel giggled, mimicking my awkward tone of voice.
—Here. You. Use. Volcanic. Eruption. Like. This.
“Don’t make fun of me.”
I glanced to the side and saw that everyone else was on the phone too.
“Yeah, honey. I’m going to Korea now. To Caleb’s real home. That’s right. Yeah. Just watch the kids for a little while.”
Aimus was talking to Renick’s wife.
“That’s right, my little cutie! I was so, so worried. Ah, of course. Other women in Korea? What are you talking about! You’re the only one for me.”
Back Attack was on the phone with what must have been his seventh or eighth girlfriend.
“…”
Yernil was alone.
She had said it didn’t matter since the people everyone was talking to were fake illusions anyway, but she still looked lonely.
“Caleb.”
She poked my shoulder.
It was time to go.
Blackdog’s party had stayed behind in Cancún but had now gone up to the United States, while my party and I were returning to Korea.
“We have to board the plane now, so we’ll have to hang up.”
—Why must you hang up? Meldini asked.
“The radio waves can interfere with the aircraft’s operation.”
—Radio waves? Huh… For such an advanced world, it has strange limitations.
—A pity. If you had made a Designated Coordinate Transfer Scroll for that area, you could have teleported instantly.
—Or couldn’t you just fly over with high-speed flight magic?
The two worlds certainly had a lot to learn from each other.
*
Although people from another world had appeared all over the globe, we were being treated as persons of interest.
Because we were considered to be at the epicenter of this incident.
The scene in the Cancún slum where the Labyrinth Master had personally cast his spell had been filmed by some local kids and spread all over the internet.
“Are we going to be locked up in an NIS basement somewhere now…?”
So it was only natural for me to ask.
“No. For now, let’s go to your residence.”
“Really?”
“That doesn’t mean you’re free to roam. Our agents will be on standby near your home at all times.”
Even if it was an illusion, I never thought the day would come when I’d be taking Yernil, Aimus, and Back Attack to my apartment in an NIS limousine.
Even Grandpa Wizus would slap his knee in disbelief, saying he could never have imagined it.
“I feel sick…”
Sohen had three-wheeled magic stone vehicles, but they weren’t this fast, so Yernil was having a hard time.
“Hyung-nim.”
Back Attack checked Instagram for some crazy news and relayed it.
“Cardinal Servan opened a Nathaniel General Hospital in the US.”
I knew they’d do something similar, but the Order of Nathaniel was really quick when it came to business and making money.
The best hospital in America was no longer the Mayo Clinic, but Nathaniel General Hospital.
“And some of the Lizardmen army joined Hamas. Hamas, isn’t that the name of an animal from this world?”
“I don’t think it’s that kind of hippo…”
Looks like the Middle East is even more screwed.
“We’ve arrived.”
Listening to the news of the chaotically spinning Fusion Continent, we arrived home before I knew it.
Jukjeon 1-dong, Suji-gu, Yongin-si. Apartment 402 in an old building.
“E-Excuse me…”
Yernil entered cautiously.
“Don’t worry, no one’s home.”
“Do you live alone, Caleb?”
“Yes.”
“Are you not married here, Caleb?” Aimus asked.
Yernil’s ears twitched.
“No. I’m not.”
If I were married, I would’ve tried to get into a new housing development, not be living in this dump.
“Everyone, gather around.”
I have to keep my head straight.
“Let’s come up with an escape plan.”
The more time passes, the harder it will be to escape. The Labyrinth Master used a terrifyingly insidious spell.
I know because I’ve experienced possession. Just as I grew fond of Yernil, Back Attack, Aimus, the professors, the Public Security Headquarters, Blackdog, the priests, and the paladins in Sohen…
“Before you all get attached.”
They too will be won over as time goes on. The reason the Wizard King was corrupted and became the White Lion.
He supposedly lived in a dream like this for 170 years.
He even officiated his grandson’s wedding.
And then all of that just vanishes? It’s enough to drive a man insane.
“It’s a race against time.”
In my opinion, this is a hundred times harder than fighting Deep Layer monsters. As time passes, we’ll want to live here. We’ll want to follow the Labyrinth Master’s will.
That is how the demon controls the powerful beings of the Deep Layer.
