[Translator – Aren]
I couldn’t move anymore.
The moment those monsters made out of hundreds of tangled faces collapsed amidst their ear-splitting screams, only two thoughts remained in my head.
Feeling a terror that even trampled over pain itself, I finally let go of the heated barrel with my left hand.
-Riiiip—.
The makeshift bandage Monk Cheonghwi had wrapped around it had fused into the wound, soaked in blood, and stuck to my skin. Only after seeing the blood crusted over from the sudden heat and bits of skin that had nearly melted did a groan finally leak out of my throat.
"Hnnngh… Hnngh…”
Like an overturned bug curling its legs inward while dying, I could only curl myself into a fetal position, involuntarily clenching my fingers and toes.
It felt like my entire body was folding in on itself like origami. Just like those sensitivemimosa leaves that folded themselves up to avoid being eaten, my body felt like it was curling inward to avoid some horrible predator.
Ratatata…Bang…Through the haze of my fading consciousness, the slowly dying gunfire told me that the chaos was finally being brought under control.
How astonishing, or actually, not really. If the military had already resolved themselves to grind even a handful of returning survivors into paste if necessary just to stop the spread, then it was indeed conceivable that they could bring this situation under control.
And at that point, lying here in this wretched state, another thought surfaced.
Could I learn Aleration-type magic from other branches?
Stage 1 Alteration-type magic honestly didn’t change all too much, or at least less than expected. But Stage 2 was insane. Sure, the price was a hellish pain, but as long as you paid the price, you got a reward just as hellishly honest in return.
And besides, maybe some other branch had direct attack magic. An Avada Kedavra-style instant death spell. Or stuff like Fireball. Things like that.
And even if that weren't the case…given how useful the 2nd Stage of the Eye-branch was, how ridiculous would the others be? Maybe each stage had a completely different level of power. That suspicion along with a burning desire for greater strength and pure, unadulterated curiosity toward the true potential of magic battled against the agony I was in.
Someone grabbed my shoulder around then.
"Survivor, stay with us!”
"They’re not approaching! We're pulling him back! Cover us! Cover, cover!”
Dragged along by the soldiers, I finally crossed into the machine gun emplacement.
Inside, soldiers drenched in sweat were desperately doing their respective jobs. A private struggling to drag ammo boxes toward the machine gun.
The gunner pouring canteen water over the machine gun barrel to cool it, while the assistant gunner helped swap out ammo boxes.
I passed all of them before finally being propped up against one of the station pillars.
I didn’t even have the energy to speak anymore. The only sounds that came out of me were zombie-like groans, like “Uuuurgh…” Then a medic walked over, took one look at my hand, and immediately frowned.
"This hand’s going to need some serious work.”
"No…No…”
"Your name’s… Baek Jemin-ssi? Pull yourself together if you don’t want to lose it. I’ll give you painkillers and antibiotics, so stay awake. If you pass out, you'll become a one-armed man. If things go wrong, we’ll have to amputate. You’re not left-handed, right?”
"Right hand..."
"Ah. Well, thank God for that.”
The moment he said that, my mind instantly cleared.
"No!”
"Like I said…”
"My pain vending machine…My Stage 2 magic vending machine can’t disappear!”
No matter what, this left hand had to survive.
My concern wasn’t about bodily functions. No, this thing had become something like a magical artifact, or perhaps even a grimoire, that enabled me to use powerful 2nd Stage Eye-branch magic with just a single touch, causing me immense pain.
What would be the point of cutting off this top-tier vending machine, which would spew out magic as long as you pressed its button, only for me to start hurting myself again or invent some insane method to recreate the effect?
Now that would just be putting the cart before the horse. So I carefully explained these feelings to the medic in the most detailed and logical way possible. The medic, on the other hand, looked toward the soldiers behind him with an utterly devastated expression.
"His condition isn’t good. The moment the area’s secure, we need to send him to one of the hospitals under military control.”
"But…”
"There’s nothing more I can do here. Looks like the bleeding’s stopped for now, but…Baek Jemin-ssi? Since we’re talking about it, I’m disinfecting it and applying a clotting agent. This is going to hurt.”
The medic treated me with incredible care, checked a few more things, and then slowly shook his head.
That complicated expression finally made reality sink in.
I had actually survived.
I had somehow made it through all that bullshit…
I tried to gather my slipping consciousness by focusing on the sounds around me. Compared to earlier, the voices sound almost hopeful. The report from a communications officer fiddling with the dials of a heavy radio came through especially clearly.
"This is Paldal 2, Paldal 2. Station containment successful. Major routes successfully blocked.”
[Haah…Fuck…we actually stopped it?]
"The situation is entering a lull. Requesting reinforcements for Suwon Station. We’ll deploy drones for nearby reconnaissance and then proceed with the final verification and incineration protocols.”
[We’ll verify things on this side first. Good work.]
Just as he said, the gunfire echoing throughout the station slowly died down.
The smell of burnt gunpowder and acrid gun smoke drifted through the station, riding on the wind. I weakly turned my head and looked into the distance. And somehow, I managed to spot some familiar faces that had also survived this hell.
Pastor Park Yohan, Monk Cheonghwi, and four soldiers.
The soldiers stationed here were checking them thoroughly while pointing their rifles at them. Yet despite several guns being pointed directly at them, the pastor and the others looked relieved. What a truly fucked-up world. A world where it felt reassuring having a rifle pointed at you just because the one holding it was human.
The sound of combat boots echoed busily as soldiers checked their weapons again.
That was when someone that looked like a major shouted loudly.
"The monsters called Amalgams rely on human bodies for movement! Larger ones increase their numbers through splitting and attempting to surround targets, but the big one appears dead, so relax! Always move in squads! Shoot the heart or legs first like you practiced! Then shoot the head! As long as you stay calm, they aren’t anything special, so stop dying like idiots!”
Then the major walked toward several soldiers crouched near the communications officer.
"Drone operator. Check inside the buses, between them, underneath them, in all possible places. If even one of those bastards is hiding and ends up attacking us, we’ll end up right back in this mess.”
"Y-yes, sir!”
"Remember this. Save one person recklessly, and your friends, lovers, and families in the rear get devoured instead. If you’re suspicious, point your gun first. If it still feels wrong, shoot first and ask questions later!”
As he turned around after saying his piece, our eyes met.
Me, the civilian Operator, leaning against a pillar getting patched up by a medic and barely breathing and staring blankly. It seemed the major’s name was Major Kang Minsoo. The moment he saw me properly, his lower lip tightened. His hands trembled uncontrollably, and then he sharply turned his head away.
It seemed like he realized I was one of the civilian Operators—a wizard.
And as if making sure I heard him, he muttered.
"If we just shot all of them, none of this would’ve happened.”
Hah, fuck.
What a seriously shitting thing to say. But after crawling my way up from that underground platform, part of me agreed with him.
Under Major Kang Minsoo’s command, the military at Suwon Station continued their extermination and search operation against the Amalgams. Amidst the cacophony of radio chatter and soldiers’ shouts, the sporadic crackle of gunfire rang out again.
Before long, the sickening smell of burning corpses drifted over on the wind. Around then, Pastor Park Yohan and Monk Cheonghwi finally walked over.
"So then, Baek Jemin-ssi. You still can’t believe in Jehovah’s protection after all this?”
"They said they might have to cut off my left hand, though?”
"Ahem. You’re not left-handed, right?”
"I’m right-handed, but..."
"Then it’s fine. The Lord took your left hand instead of your right. What a truly righteous and blessed turn of events! Right?”
I was really close to just unleashing a full barrage of insults on him like ‘You goddamn , heartless bastard of a ‘Christian’ pastor.’ But somehow I managed to keep my mouth shut.
At least Monk Cheonghwi offered something resembling comfort.
"Because your attachment to the worldly realm is so deep, benefactor, naturally you remain here. A truly profound destiny.”
"That’s supposed to be comforting, right?”
"Closer to admiration, I suppose I too may need to reflect on whether I truly did my utmost.”
After exchanging a few words, we all fell silent while staring outside the station, at the fog that was finally beginning to thin out.
The murmuring among the soldiers, displaying great relief, started around that time.
Only the communications officer’s radio clearly cut through this quiet.
"This is Paldal 2. Fog visibility 300m…decreasing. Fog dissipating. Fog dissipating. Requesting confirmation from other stations.”
As the hellish fog lifted, the bodies of the Amalgams finally came into view.
Considering those bastards had apparently eaten the equivalent of two subway trains before surging up to the surface, there were a horrifying number of them. Just eyeballing it, there had to be nearly 100 corpses. Realizing we’d run away from that many made my legs feel weak.
Then Pastor Park Yohan pulled out his glasses cloth and started cleaning his lenses while letting out a laugh.
"Oh, right, what was his name? Shin Nain? That kid who attends church faithfully. The one with the Ear-branch Alteration-type magic. You know him, right?”
"You mean the nut job who sits in the bathroom for 20 minutes with earphones in, listening to hymns? Why?”
Sure, he was a complete lunatic with terrible bathroom habits who randomly started speaking in tongues, but he was still someone I knew. So I kind of hoped he hadn’t died.
"Once he found out about the Amalgams, he started laughing and called themDubai Chewy Humans. Hahaha…isn’t he insane?”
"Holy shit…He actually called them Dubai Chewy Humans…?”
"He said that the most certain way to defeat Satan’s forces is to overcome fear with humor. You should hang around him sometime, Baek Jemin-ssi. He’s a funny guy.”
Dubai Chewy Humans? Where did he get that? Wasn’t that some trend from, like, 2026?
More importantly, that bastard Shin Nain’s brain worked on a completely different wavelength. Faced with such overwhelming linguistic creativity, I was suddenly reminded of how painfully ordinary I was in comparison.
Faced with this absurdity, I let out a hollow laugh, then noticed the medic approaching.
Apparently he’d overheard the Dubai Chewy Human thing too, because he was scowling in disgust as he looked at Pastor Park Yohan. Then he gestured for the other medics to haul me up.
"Let’s go, Baek Jemin-ssi. We at least have to try saving your hand.”
Following the medic and his subordinates toward the vehicle, I glanced around.
Major Kang Minsoo was standing beside the requisitioned van waiting for us. He glared at me for a moment, then raised his radio and reported,
"0110, 16:24 Report: Suwon Station situation concluded. Containment of subterranean-origin identified species breach successful. Confirmation of target population destruction through concentrated firepower complete. As of current time, all surface sectors of Suwon Station secured. Proceeding with survivor confirmation and preliminary quarantine procedures.”
-Clunk.
At least it wasn’t a military truck this time. Sitting in the back seat of the requisitioned van, I quietly listened to Major Kang Minsoo’s final report.
"Establish a containment line until handover is complete, then designate the area as a free-fire zone.”
*t*t*
Time flowed on mercilessly.
And the fact that the monsters called Amalgams had overrun Suwon Station spread everywhere through the electronic circuitry known as the internet. The government’s and military’s information control had practically become meaningless.
January 13th, 10:43 AM.
I raised my phone with its shattered screen in my right hand and looked at the articles setting major web portals on fire.
[How much longer did the government intend to hide this…? Growing outrage spreads nationwide]
[US-China talks gain momentum, calls emerge to classify the Seoul Unrest as a transnational biological disaster]
[Those left behind in northern Gyeonggi…Expressing deep sense of betrayal, "The government abandoned us.”]
Even after all that stuff happened, my smartphone had stubbornly survived, so I felt a strange affection for it and gave the cracked screen a little kiss before looking down at my left hand swathed tightly in bandages.
Right then, the doctor who’d come to check on me tilted his head and asked,
"You haven’t been using your left hand, right?”
"N-No…”
"Like I said before, you were really lucky. If a bullet passes between your thumb and index finger, you usually have to prepare yourself for your thumb getting blown off, you know? Even if you didn't shoot through your palm. That's reality.
"I heard…”
"It’s just fascinating to me. Truly fascinating. The bullet only severed a few peripheral nerves and some muscle tissue between your thumb and index finger, but there’ll likely still be some side effects, so there’ll still be some aftereffects. Do you normally go to church or believe in shamans or something?”
"Not really…”
"Then I guess your ancestors were looking out for you. Visit their graves later when things calm down. So, do you feel any aches or pain?”
"My left hand feels like it’ still burning."
"Well, that’s perfectly normal. Baek Jemin-ssi, if anything feels uncomfortable, tell me. The bandages were changed recently, so we’ll leave them alone until disinfecting time.”
The chatty doctor filled out a simple chart, nodded, and left.
With injured people flooding in, even setting aside this much time for me would have normally been difficult. But simply because I was a wizard, the hospital was giving me top-priority medical support.
You couldn’t ask for a better promotion than this, but being treated like a VIP didn’t actually make me feel all that great.
I simply stared at my phone screen, the only window to the outside world available to me, while confined in this hospital room.
I stared for a long time, until the battery finally died, forcing me to switch the phone off.
The world I used to know would never come back.
Instead…
I stroked the Magic Crash Course booklet resting on the bedside table beside me and grinned to myself.
Next time, instead of waiting for the monsters to come to me, I’d venture into the fog first.
The fear of death and the memories of those moments balanced between life and death had planted an even stronger desire in me.
I wanted to learn stronger magic. More useful magic.
If I can only learn it inside the fog, then I’d gladly dive straight in!