[Translator – Aren]
The fragrant scent of cheap coffee greeted me.
Sitting inside the second-floor study cafe, sipping instant coffee while absentmindedly crushing the paper cup in my hand, I casually looked out the window.
Armored vehicles and soldiers moved busily through the streets, while civilians cast anxious glances around them and hurried along in quick, nervous steps.
By now, it had become a common sight. And the more common it became, the louder the voices of dissatisfaction and fear grew.
Letting out a long yawn, I turned on my phone.
January 10th, 10:47 AM.
Already four days had passed since that nightmarish mobilization order.
South Korea was gradually becoming a place where weekdays and weekends no longer meant anything. And yet, in some ways, daily life still persisted.
The indifferent sound of card payments coming from the cafe downstairs was the perfect example."Owner, here’s the payment for the coffee.”
"Yes..."
This cafe, requisitioned by the military and converted into a research room for civilian Operators, had become fairly famous among the soldiers.
Most of that fame came from the bravery of the shop owner. While everyone else was busy fleeing, he’d stayed behind, worrying about looters, and as a result, at least managed to keep charging people for instant coffee.
But the only people still living anything resembling ordinary lives were us wizards known as Operators. The South Korea visible beyond my phone screen looked entirely different.
[Artillery Fire Begins in Seoul? Military Authorities Dismiss Incident as Urban Gas Line Explosions Caused by Civil Unrest…Experts Condemn Explanation as Desperate Excuse.]
[An Eerie Silence…What is Happening in Seoul Right Now?]
[Shocking Orders Issued at Namtaeryeong and Gyeongsu Boulevard…'Shoot Anything Approaching Without Authorization.’ Has the Military Forgotten Its Duty?]
[President Evacuates to Incheon Government Complex, Suggests Possibility of Transitioning to Wartime Economy… Signs of Limited Rationing in Southern Gyeonggi Province. Civilian Exodus Accelerates…]
Damn, these headlines were grim.
If someone kept reading nothing but this stuff, their personality was bound to rot away. I turned my phone off again and decided to focus on the Magic Crash Course booklet instead.
Life was already too short to spend staring only at misery and despair.
Of course, I still didn’t have the courage to actually turn the pages of the booklet, so I merely stared blankly at the same page instead.
Once I started suspecting that Dogma-type magic was built through repeating actions, discipline, and adherence to religious tenets in order to temper both mind and spirit and establish unwavering belief within oneself, it became easier to understand this pattern.
It wasn’t about devotion alone.
The depth of belief was what mattered. And that belief wasn’t merely the shallow sort where someone simply thought something might be true. It was closer to the very way a person perceived and understood reality itself. The fact that Catholic and Protestant clergy manifested different magic had become an important turning point in my thinking.
Catholics believed that through the Eucharist, humans accepted the flesh and blood of God into their bodies, shared in His divinity, and thereby guaranteed salvation. At least, that was my rough understanding of it. For them, the core of salvation lay in the Eucharist itself.
Protestants also considered communion extremely important, but they additionally possessed the Puritan-influenced concept of predestination. The idea that those destined for salvation had already been chosen, though no one knew who they were, and therefore one must prove through one’s own actions that they belonged among the saved.
And Korean Protestantism had further developed toward ‘Salvation through faith alone,' so perhaps that was what eventually led to Redemptive Conviction.
The reason Korean Protestants shouted things like “Believe in Jesus and enter Heaven, reject Him and fall to Hell!" calling nonbelievers servants of Satan destined for damnation, likely stemmed in part from this doctrinal and ideological background. From their perspective, the very act of rejecting faith already marked someone as a person never destined for salvation to begin with.
Could such belief truly arise from someone merely ‘kind of believing’ in something?
From the perspective of ordinary people like us, it would require either a complete fanatic beyond all reason or someone possessing an unshakable conviction deep within their heart that no argument in the world could ever truly overturn.
For example, if someone shouted, ‘Believe in Jesus and enter Heaven, reject Him and fall to Hell!’ at me, I’d immediately get angry and ask whether that meant all my ancestors were rotting in Hell. So while people casually called it ‘belief,’ it was actually closer to the concept of a person’s entire [worldview]. The way they fundamentally perceived reality.
Then what would happen if someone genuinely believed in something like Cthulhu, or if a mentally unstable schizophrenic awakened magic?
To that fascinating hypothetical, I found myself arriving at an equally fascinating answer.
Their body would collapse, or they would lose their magic entirely. Because the whole premise of that damn Cthulhu mythos was that merely beholding it shattered sanity and dissolved intelligence and identity. Anyone who truly believed in such a thing would inevitably melt away their own reason and ego like sea squirts in order to prove the magnificent effects of Cthulhu.
And since belief as a concept could only exist within intelligence itself, they wouldn’t be able to withstand the contradiction.
Of course, it might be possible if they convinced themselves of some alternate interpretation like ‘You don’t go insane even after seeing Cthulhu' or if they attempted spirit possession while wielding a genuinely powerful magical relic. But the moment compromise entered the picture, Dogma-type magic would gradually weaken.
In the end, unless Cthulhu genuinely existed, any Dogma-type magic based on believing in Cthulhu could only end one of two ways. Either their magic would weaken, or the believer would collapse beneath their own contradictions.
Whether schizophrenics could awaken magic at all was another matter entirely, but if a schizophrenic person recognized their own condition, then they might be capable of using Dogma-type magic through sheer desperate effort.
However, the world perceived by schizophrenics was unstable and muddled, lacking firmness. Their beliefs either improved after psychiatry treatment or devolved into paranoid delusions where they couldn’t even trust their own words.
Even if they became wizards, I could reasonably hypothesize that they would struggle to properly use magic with any actual effects during moments of crisis.
"Now that’s fascinating.”
"Baek Jemin-ssi, cut the crap and let’s go already. You’re literally the only person here seriously staring at that thing.”
At some point, Staff Sergeant Lee Sejun had started casually speaking informally to me as he patted my shoulder.
Feeling unjustly accused by his ignorant comment, I protested.
"No, but seriously, isn't this interesting? You can literally use magic now. Doesn’t that excite you?”
"Excite me? Not really. I’ll be honest now that we’re here. I prefer warriors over wizards.”
"Wow…seriously, wow…”
I could only sigh in disbelief when buzz-cut Corporal Park Sehyeok muttered another complaint from the side.
"If you had studied this hard before all this, you could’ve gotten into Seoul National University.”
"Exactly. So stop obsessing over magic, and let’s go eat."
"Good grief. To think we’ve actually become wizards, and all you can do is whine about how you prefer warriors over wizards.”
Letting out a deep sigh, I packed up my things.
Before we realized it, the four of us had become bound together by a strange sense of shared fate.
Shin Nain, forever busy listening to hymns through his earphones. Staff Sergeant Lee Sejun, the heavy-armor warrior enthusiast constantly fiddling with his phone. Corporal Park Sehyeok, who did nothing but grumble. And I, Baek Jemin, the only one genuinely researching magic and letting my imagination run wild.
If the religious types grouped together amongst themselves, then naturally we grouped together too.
And so we spent our days leisurely eating meals together in the cafeteria.
"Everyone else says the world’s ending, so it feels weird that we just keep living like this.”
"If you lack abilities, it’s only natural that you’d end up ruined…”
-Slurp, chew.
As I tasted the spicy hangover soup, I slowly frowned.
Hearing ominous things like that made it feel like trouble was about to come our way.
And as one would have it, tragic premonitions never missed their mark.
January 10th, 2:51 PM.
As we lay around in our lodging, staring blankly at our Magic Crash Course booklets, hurried footsteps began echoing down the hallway.
"Looks like we’re getting worked to death again.”
It happened the moment Staff Sergeant Lee Sejun spoke in his usual indifferent tone.
-Bang!
Lieutenant Shin Hangi and our ever-resourceful driver burst in, both pale as ghosts as they practically shouted at us.
"All personnel to the conference room. It’s an emergency.”
"Emergency?”
"It’s urgent. There’ll be an announcement soon. Move!”
It was my first time seeing Lieutenant Shin Hangi rush people like that, so I hurriedly threw on my combat jacket, tied my boots as fast as I could, and followed him out.
As we moved through the hallway with the Lieutenant, soldiers running around in frantic groups of three or four came into view.
Throughout the wide-open spaces inside Suwon City Hall, fully equipped soldiers could already be seen sprinting outside under the direction of their officers.
The four of us, along with Lieutenant Shin Hangi and the driver, were practically moving at a full sprint ourselves.
That was when the broadcast rang out.
[All personnel to combat readiness. All personnel to combat readiness. Civil servants and military employees are to receive equipment immediately.]
At that point, it became impossible to ignore that something had gone seriously wrong.
I could see the Dogma-type wizards also heading toward the usual conference room under Captain Kim Howoon’s guidance.
When we entered the room, the nameless colonel was waiting for us again.
But unlike before, nearly all the officers who usually stood beside him were gone. Only the colonel remained standing there alone.
He hurriedly adjusted the volume on his radio, but he couldn’t completely suppress the sounds leaking out.
[...This is infiltration team…failed to secure the substation…]
[Failed to persuade the local railway corporation personnel…]
The colonel wet his dry lips with his tongue before confirming that both the Dogma-type wizards and the four Alteration-types had assembled. Then he gestured toward Captain Kim Howoon and Lieutenant Shin Hangi with a faintly trembling voice.
Captain Kim and Lieutenant Shin closed the doors before positioning themselves nearby like guards.
Only then did the colonel begin speaking.
"At approximately 11 AM local time on January 10th, contact was lost with the military unit remaining inside Seoul at Yongsan Station and the Southern Terminal. Their primary mission was to prevent evacuation attempts using public transportation and railway systems. It is presumed that their loss of communication resulted from the civil unrest occurring within Seoul. The military command has determined that those units have effectively collapsed and has therefore reinforced the blockade lines, however…”
"Prevent evacuation attempts? I sincerely hope this humble monk misheard that.”
At Monk Cheonghwi’s words, the colonel signaled toward Lieutenant Shin.
Lieutenant Shin quietly approached the monk and whispered something into his ear. Only then did Monk Cheonghwi fold his hands together with a deeply displeased expression and begin praying softly.
"Namo Amitabha…”
"I will continue. Immediately following the mobilization order issued on January 6th, the military attempted to redeploy forces toward Seoul’s outskirts. However, a significant number of stragglers emerged during the process. For the past 4 days, in order to prevent the uncontrolled flood of refugees pouring out from Seoul, defensive lines have been established throughout southern Gyeonggi and the Gyeongin region. Repeated lethal force measures have been carried out against potential threats attempting to break through those lines. Namtaeryeong and Gyeongsu Boulevard served as the primary strongholds.”
"Lethal force measures? Potential threats? You insane bastards! Say it properly. You mean you shot people to death!”
Pastor Park Yohan shouted with veins bulging in his neck, but this time the colonel did not hesitate.
"After confirming the collapse of the final containment units remaining inside Seoul, the military attempted precision strikes to secure and disable railway-adjacent substations alongside cooperation from railway authorities. We failed. According to the unilateral declaration issued by the refugee groups who seized control of the stations and trains, they intend to attempt evacuation using both subway and surface rail systems. And they are appealing for us not to interfere.”
It was then that the colonel spoke in an icy tone.
"But according to the final communication received from the military units stationed at Yongsan Station and the Southern Terminal, Amalgams have mixed themselves among the refugees. As the Cranial Fusion-type Mimetic Organism began spreading throughout downtown Seoul in earnest, terrified civilians attempted to seize control of trains. The military is currently preparing precision strikes using drone operations, along with the demolition of stations, rail lines, and bridges in order to stop them, however…”
Who could possibly speak in a moment like this? Who would dare?
The colonel checked the analog watch on his wrist before painfully forcing apart his dry, cracked lips.
"Due to failed negotiations with railway corporation engineers, as well as failed attempts to secure substations because of dense fog reducing visibility below 50 meters and repeated Amalgam appearances, the military will begin demolition attempts on all subway rail lines starting at 3 PM today. The first moving train is estimated to depart from Yongsan Station at approximately 3:11 PM. The military’s objective is to stop these evacuation trains inside the containment zone and prevent the spread of the Amalgams.”
The explanation was overwhelming.
"Considering they will likely be running the trains at maximum speed in an attempt to break through the containment line, even accounting for fog and other obstacles, the estimated time remaining before the train departing Yongsan Station at 3:11 reaches Suwon Station is approximately 24 to 30 minutes.”
-Beep.
The alarm on the colonel’s analog watch rang out. Placing his hands behind his back, the colonel stared at us with bloodshot eyes.
"From this moment onward, all Operators are to prepare for containment operations at Suwon Station in anticipation of a containment breach. Stop them. Even if it means killing every last one of them.”
* * *
"Move! Everybody get on!”
"What unit are you with?! Pull yourself together!”
"Just…load them in first. We need to depart immediately!”
The area in front of Suwon City Hall had become a holy ground for military vehicles.
Officers shouted noisily while soldiers, shaken by the urgency of the situation, obeyed orders anyway.
Armored vehicles, 2.5-ton trucks, and even hastily requisitioned vans were being used to transport officers and troops.
We wizards were no exception.
We loaded ourselves on top of the 2.5-ton truck our resourceful driver got. Lieutenant Shin Hangi boarded as the vehicle commander and slammed his fist against the vehicle’s side door.
"Move out!”
At Lieutenant Shin Hangi’s shout, the military truck carrying us wizards was granted highest-priority passage.
Every other vehicle commander who had tried to move ahead first received radio orders and reluctantly cleared the road while muttering complaints at their drivers with strange expressions.
But the hearts of us wizards felt unbearably heavy.
The expressions of the religious figures plainly revealed their complicated emotions. Only Bosal Geulmin merely nodded coldly.
"They’re no longer human. They’re creatures that can neither reach Heaven, nor reincarnate, nor descend into Hell. Putting them down is the right thing to do.”
Whether he was speaking to himself or offering comfort, I couldn’t tell.
All I could hear was Lieutenant Shin shouting over the noise.
"We’ll issue firearms directly at the site! Everyone’s panicking, trying to block the rail lines first, so right now moving weapons and ammunition takes priority!”
At those words, I couldn’t help looking toward our quartet of Alteration-types with visible concern.
"Even if I can see 10 seconds into the future, can I honestly handle those monsters just because I see them 10 seconds earlier?”
"Haha, yeah, that's..."
Only Staff Sergeant Lee Sejun offered me a response, giving an awkward laugh.
I raised my head and stared beyond Suwon, toward the fog slowly spreading between the concrete alleyways of the city, while absentmindedly rubbing the Magic Crash Course booklet tucked inside my coat.
The fog was dangerous and horrible. But at the same time, it was the only place capable of teaching me the magic I needed to survive.
To think a day would come when someone like me, who used to run away because I hated tutoring lessons, would consider it fortunate to charge willingly into the fog to receive lessons when my life was on the line.
"Haah…Fuck."
So this was why adults were always screaming at kids to study.
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