Chapter 1
Chapter 1
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: The End of the War
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BOOM! KRRRUMBLE—.
A flash of yellow light erupted as the terrorists' last airship was obliterated.
As debris from the airship rained down on the pier, which was now crushed beyond recognition, a wave of dust and dirt surged forward.
RUUUMBLE—.
As the echo of the ensuing roar faded, silence fell over the pier.
The thick dust that had clouded the area slowly settled, revealing the fallen terrorists.
“Wooooo!”
“Yeeaaah!”
Cheers erupted from all sides, so loud it felt like the sea itself was shaking.
The exhausted people, their faces etched with fatigue, screamed, forgetting the pain of their injuries and the weariness of battle.
At the forefront stood a young woman, Eun Haon. She awkwardly raised a clenched fist and let out something that resembled a cheer.
“Huuuh, huuh.”
Haon collapsed, sobbing uncontrollably. Her limbs trembled, but she somehow managed to keep her fist raised.
“It’s finally… It’s finally over…!”
The Mana Engineering War, which had raged for two long years, had at last ended in victory.
“Haon! Eun Haon!”
A man with a scratch on his cheek pushed through the crowd, limping toward her on an injured leg.
“Juyeol!”
With a tear-streaked face, Haon threw her arms around her childhood friend, Woo Juyeol.
He was her closest friend, the only family she had, and the mere fact that he was safe was enough to overwhelm her with emotion.
“Ugh, Haon.”
Juyeol winced, patting her back with one arm.
Startled, Haon quickly pulled back and looked him over. It seemed his arm was broken.
“S-Sorry! I’m sorry. I was just so happy.”
“Me too. I’m so happy.”
Juyeol smiled warmly and wiped the tears from her cheeks. His touch was gentle and affectionate.
“You did well, Haon. We survived.”
“Yeah. You too. You did well, too.”
Juyeol stroked Haon’s brown hair as she sniffled.
Amid the ceaseless cheers and sobs from all around, soldiers began apprehending the surviving terrorists.
They were terrorists who sought to conquer the world by monopolizing Mana Cores, the essential component for Mana Engineering.
In Korea, the largest repository of Mana Cores was the Mana Engineering Central Research Institute at the Gimpo Institute of Technology, also known as GIT.
The Mana Engineers of GIT couldn't stand by as terrorists attacked their school and plundered the Mana Cores, so many professors and researchers naturally joined the war effort.
Haon and Juyeol were no different, and Haon, hailed as the Mana Engineering genius of the century, stood at the forefront.
Someone raised a tattered Mana Engineering department T-shirt high in the air and shouted the slogan created during the war.
“Above Mana! There are People!”
“Wooooo!”
The GIT Mana Engineers, who had contributed greatly to defeating the terrorists, raised their phones and roared in triumph from all corners.
Even a professor being carried away on a stretcher, blood streaming from his nose, lifted his phone.
If wizards in movies have wands, then Mana Engineers have cell phones.
The cell phone was a device capable of manipulating mana, an indispensable ‘magic wand’ for Mana Engineers.
Wiping her tears and composing herself, Haon pointed to the stretcher and said,
“Juyeol. You should follow the professor and get treated, too.”
“You come with me. That wound you got last time hasn’t even fully healed.”
Juyeol helped Haon up, but she shook her head.
“I’ll go after I see that thing close.”
Her finger pointed toward a cylindrical metal structure. The Dimension Gate.
The terrorists had prolonged the war by drawing mana from another dimension. Without that gate, the war would have ended much sooner.
The relatively uninjured Mana Engineers were gathered to close the gate. Grains of golden mana glittered near it.
“Once the Dimension Gate is closed, it’s really over.”
As Haon stared at the long passageway, the hardships of the past two years flashed through her brown eyes.
They may have won the war, but too many people had died or been injured.
The people she couldn’t save. The ones she had saved, only for them to die from their severe injuries.
The vivid memories made her eyes well up.
Juyeol, who had been watching her quietly, wrapped an arm around her small shoulders.
“Haon. There’s something I’ve wanted to tell you for a long time…”
As he began to speak, his lips trembling slightly, Haon looked up.
Just then, a red light blinked from within the airship’s wreckage.
“…Huh?”
Haon froze, a chilling sensation seizing her heart.
“Haon? What’s wrong?”
“That.”
The red light began to blink faster and faster. It was a terribly familiar sight.
“N-No…!”
Haon instinctively sprinted toward the wreckage. Her body moved before her mind could think.
“Blue! I need to get the bomb out!”
[Yes! You can count on me!]
Blue, the AI assistant installed on her phone, replied cheerfully.
Haon swung her phone, and mana morphed into a claw, like that of a heavy-duty vehicle, snatching the bomb from the debris.
It was a time bomb. There wasn’t enough time to disarm it.
Haon didn’t stop; she kept running.
It wasn’t out of a sense of sacrifice or responsibility.
She hadn’t stood at the forefront of the Mana Engineers fighting the terrorists because she was brave. She had simply been trying to survive alongside everyone else, crying as she walked, only to find herself at the front whenever she came to her senses.
So there was no way to explain this impulsive act, either.
Clutching the bomb, Haon leaped into the Dimension Gate.
The researchers who had been trying to close the gate screamed, and from behind her, she heard Juyeol’s voice cry out, “Eun Haon!”
‘Juyeol. What do I do? I’m scared.’
She was half out of her mind, yet tears welled in her eyes. Still, her feet didn’t stop.
Soon, the black expanse at the end of the dimension unfolded before her.
Haon planted her feet at the precarious edge of the passage and threw the bomb with all her might.
But the bomb didn’t fly far; it just floated in place.
It was now glowing so brightly that the blinking was no longer visible.
“...!”
Her heart sank. Haon glanced back at the passage. She could see a light in the distance, which meant the gate hadn’t been closed yet.
If it exploded now, the entire area would collapse.
Haon bit her lip hard and thrust her phone out in front of the bomb.
“Blue! Use all the mana to create a barrier.”
[Executing!]
She planted her feet firmly and blocked the passage with a mana barrier.
BOOM! KABOOOM!
A split second later, the bomb detonated with a deafening roar. A crack spiderwebbed across the barrier.
“Urk—.”
The force of the world-shattering explosion threw her backward.
She clung to the railing, trying to hold on, but the barrier was crumbling.
“N-No! Blue, please!”
She squeezed out every last drop of mana she could, but the ground beneath her gave way, and her vision went black.
***
“*Gasp*.”
Haon’s eyes flew open as she desperately sucked in a breath, her entire body tingling with a pins-and-needles sensation.
‘Wh-What? Am I alive?’
Panting, she felt over her aching body. Thankfully, all her limbs were still attached.
Lying down, she turned her head to survey her surroundings and saw familiar objects.
Various pieces of lab equipment, a large chart on a screen, and a glimpse of a sealed door.
This was clearly a laboratory, but it didn’t seem to be a Mana Engineering lab.
If it were, it wouldn’t be in such pristine condition.
“Hello? Anyone there?”
Haon called out, her voice hoarse.
“There’s a survivor here! Is anybody here?”
There was no reply.
Seeing the floor was spotless, it didn't seem like the lab had been evacuated and left empty during the war.
Maybe everyone was gathered somewhere, having a party.
‘The war is over, after all!’
The thought gave Haon a sudden burst of energy, and she shot upright.
“Oof. Ugh.”
But she immediately clutched her throbbing side and groaned. A piece of shrapnel from the bomb was embedded in her flank, and it was bleeding.
Stifling a scream, Haon pulled out the shrapnel, then yanked a white coat from a half-open cabinet. She needed something to press against the wound.
‘Sorry for using this without permission. Uh, whose is it?’
Pressing down hard on the wound in her side, Haon looked for the name embroidered on the coat.
“…Eun Haon?”
A bewildered voice escaped her small lips.
Coincidentally, the owner of this coat had the same name as her: ‘Eun Haon’.
‘This is the first time I’ve met someone with the same name as me.’
Just as she was thinking that,
Screeeech—.
The sharp screech of tires came from somewhere outside, followed by the blare of a loud siren.
‘Who’s causing trouble right after the war ended? They must be busy enough rescuing the injured.’
Haon found her phone and grunted as she pushed herself to her feet.
She wanted to check the situation outside, but there were no windows in sight.
Still, being in an undamaged lab brought a faint smile to her face.
‘The fact that I’m okay must mean I succeeded in stopping the explosion, right?’
A wave of relief washed over her at the thought.
Grinning to herself in the quiet, clean lab, it felt like a peaceful day where nothing had ever happened.
It was as if the two years of war had been erased.
‘…No, it can’t be erased. I’ll never forget.’
Clenching the hand that had been resting on the wall into a fist, Haon turned her gaze back to the lab.
‘Anyway, how do you get caught in an explosion and end up inside a building?’
Looking around didn’t give her any clues, so she checked her phone’s battery. It was critically low.
‘Juyeol must be worried. I need to contact him right away.’
But no matter how many times she tried, she couldn’t make a call. Anxious, Haon gripped her phone tightly and spoke.
“Blue. Where am I?”
[%on, ¿G#HaW∑œ!]
“…Blue?”
[D￥&ata þυ?@Corrup∃ted!]
The only response was an unintelligible stream of electronic noise.