Chapter 105
At Last, We Had Somewhere to Go
The temporary ward set up inside Suwon City Hall.
There, Lee Sejun and I lay side by side on hospital beds while Shin Nain and Hamza looked after us.
The fortunate part was that Sejun had already cleaned himself up and gotten properly dressed before arriving.
As for me, I lay on the bed in a strangely detached state, unable to feel touch.
Unable to sense the softness of the mattress, I found myself contemplating a philosophical question.
How was this any different from lying on the floor?
***
Lee Sejun, looking twice as clean as usual in a patient gown, ground his teeth at me.
"Mr. Jemin. Can I punch you just once?"
"No."
I'd seen what a Heart Mage who had reached Stage Three could do. I'd literally watched him kick a car hard enough to send it flying like a knuckleball.
Why the hell would I willingly let him hit me?
Still, thanks to Heart Mage Lee Sejun volunteering as a test subject, we'd learned something incredibly valuable.
The original 100% performance of Tongue Stage Two, [Desire Explosion].
Its true effect was simple:
It detonated all physiological desires within the designated target, rendering them helpless.
Which naturally led to another question.
If that was the original power of Normal Tongue Stage Two, did the original power of Reversal Tongue Stage Two explode all emotions instead?
"Probably not."
Shin Nain answered immediately.
He had dragged over a folding chair and was slouching against the backrest while lazily flipping through a book.
"What do you mean, not?"
"Didn't that wealthy American with all the heretical knowledge say that Tongue Magic was the branching point between Normal and Reversal Sacred Formulae?"
"You were listening? Thought you were ignoring it."
"I merely reinterpreted the information and knowledge that a heretic incorrectly assigned to Sacred Formulae through proper doctrine."
A miraculous piece of logic.
Apparently, he wasn't stealing someone else's ideas.
He was reclaiming what rightfully belonged to God.
What mattered wasn't Shin Nain's self-justification, however.
It was his reasoning.
Closing the book, he tapped the headset hanging around his neck.
"When we organize everything we've discovered about Sacred Formulae so far, each possesses a unique characteristic. I suspect that utilizing them at one hundred percent through the Tongue branch is a unique function exclusive to the Normal Sacred Formulae."
His theory went like this.
Every magical system possessed its own distinct nature.
Which was why compatibility between systems was terrible, or they operated independently altogether.
The very fact that magic was divided into four Forms suggested as much.
The characteristics we'd identified so far were:
Doctrinal Type
- No clearly defined stages.
- Effects ignore stage differences.
- Likely capable of consecration.
- Leaves behind holy relics upon death.
Ritual Type
- Contracts with transcendent beings.
- Receives spells through those contracts.
- Leaves behind grimoires upon death.
Sorcery Type
- Uses knowledge, inspiration, and materials to create magical items.
Alteration Type
- Suffers reduced effectiveness according to stage differences.
- Can level up.
- Leaves behind remains upon death.
Shin Nain believed that Normal and Reversal Alteration Magic each possessed their own unique functions.
And according to him—
"Following Mr. Jemin's reasoning, I suspect the unique functions originate from Tongue Stage One."
It was surprisingly convincing.
Tongue Magic symbolized humanity's ability to accept, adapt, and change.
Normal Tongue represented memetic change through the inheritance of human culture and knowledge.
Reversal Tongue represented physical change through consumption—the beastly side of humanity.
The important distinction was what each prioritized.
Normal Tongue prioritized change.
As evidenced by [Degradation], its purpose was to process something into a form humans could accept.
Reversal Tongue prioritized acceptance.
As evidenced by [Predatory Devouring], it consumed first and processed later.
When combined with the knowledge I'd gained after destroying and consuming the remains of the Dubai Sticky Witch—
"Then Normal Alteration's unique ability is using Original 100% Magic, while Reversal Alteration's unique ability is acquiring magic from other branches by consuming remains."
Normal Alteration allowed the use of original magic that humans normally couldn't wield.
Reversal Alteration allowed rapid advancement by consuming the remains of mages from branches one hadn't awakened.
It was surprisingly straightforward.
***
"Cannibalism, one of humanity's more barbaric customs, wasn't merely nutritional. It also had significant religious implications."
Shin Nain continued.
"The concept of mana frequently found in fantasy novels originally referred to an energy believed to exist within all things. Followers of primitive religions who believed in mana thought that consuming the bodies of those they killed allowed them to absorb that mana."
"You're not actually Shin Nain, are you?"
What surprised me wasn't the leveling-up-through-cannibalism part.
It was that Shin Nain had researched non-Christian concepts at all.
Peeking closer, I finally realized the book in his hands wasn't even a Bible.
I genuinely thought this fanatic only read Scripture.
Shin Nain's face twisted into something demonic.
"Mr. Jemin. I merely became concerned that the pastor had been exposed to heretical and pagan teachings for too long. One cannot stand against evil alone. Only beneath the Lord's roof can we resist it together. Therefore, I chose to share his burden."
"Uh-huh."
There he went again.
At that moment, a plate landed on my lap.
Turning my head, I found Hamza peeling an apple with a fruit knife.
The plate contained rough-cut apple slices.
The strange thing was that they looked wet.
Almost as if they'd been dipped in water.
"Bismillah."
"Why are the apples soaking wet?"
"Water's valuable, so I dipped them once and took them back out. We don't have forks. Here's a wet wipe. Clean your hands first."
Hamza actually handed me a wet wipe.
Meanwhile, Sejun was already busy shoveling bite-sized apple pieces into his mouth.
"These apples don't even have any crunch."
I simply picked up the plate, dumped the entire thing into my mouth, and started chewing.
Hamza shouted something in horror.
Then he watched me use the wet wipe he'd given me to clean my mouth and chin instead of my hands.
Eventually, he gave up.
Shin Nain, however, was staring at me with a strange expression.
"What?"
"Mr. Jemin. You used the original one-hundred-percent version of Eye Stage Three, [Cognitive Dissonance], correct?"
"Yeah. My ribs healed, all the pain disappeared, and now I'm just lying here."
In exchange for losing my sense of touch.
Yet Shin Nain looked me up and down with obvious discomfort before speaking seriously.
"I don't believe it's simple healing."
"Here we go again. Stop setting the mood and spit it out. If you don't talk, I'll shoot you."
Shin Nain knew perfectly well that when Baek Jemin said he'd shoot someone, he meant it.
He grinned lazily.
"Mr. Jemin. Are you consciously breathing right now?"
"I'm not falling for a trick like tha—"
Pause.
Only then did I realize something was wrong.
I'd thought the healing and pain suppression were oddly underwhelming for a one-hundred-percent original Stage Three spell.
Still, I'd dismissed it.
Not every spell could be overpowered.
If there were miracle spells, surely there were mediocre ones too.
But—
The instant realization struck, something heavy settled into my chest.
Like sticky sheets of plastic pressed tightly together.
"Khk—"
"Mr. Jemin?"
"Hrk— Kgh—"
Fortunately, the commotion didn't last long.
I'd merely forgotten how to breathe.
For a moment.
"HAAAAAH!"
After several deep breaths, I finally regained my composure.
Hamza looked worried.
Sejun tilted his head.
And Shin Nain sat there smiling.
"You seem to have figured it out."
Normally I'd have fired back with an insult.
But the truth I'd just uncovered was too overwhelming.
I panted.
Then breathed.
Then laughed.
Because I'd finally realized just how absurdly powerful magic truly was.
People who only imagined flashy killing spells—fireballs, chain lightning, all that nonsense—could never understand.
Was magic merely a tool for killing?
Did that deserve to be called a miracle?
Guns and nuclear bombs killed people far more effectively.
"Hahahaha... HAHAHAHAHA!!!"
I trembled.
The original one-hundred-percent performance of Eye Stage Three.
[Cognitive Dissonance].
It allowed life to continue by rejecting the perception that biological processes were not occurring.
Healing injuries by denying they existed was merely a tiny part of its function.
You didn't need to breathe.
Simply deny the fact that breathing was necessary to live.
Your heart could stop.
Simply deny the fact that a heartbeat was necessary for life.
This was the logic of returning from death.
A power that achieved limited immortality by sacrificing one of the senses connected to human cognition for a restricted period of time.
***
"Up!"
I shot out of bed immediately.
The fact that my sense of touch still hadn't returned suggested the effect remained active.
How long did it last?
Six hours?
A full day?
Dopamine flooded my brain so violently that I couldn't even feel mentally exhausted.
After witnessing the true power of Original Magic, I stopped caring whether the Seoul Mages arrived or not.
"Anyone who wants to explore magic before those Gangnam Clairvoyant bastards show up, get over here!"
My exploration of Original Magic continued for only five more hours.
Eventually, my fragile human mind reached its limit.
Pain.
Sensory deprivation.
Human will could never truly overcome suffering.
Fear could only be driven away by something even more frightening.
As an Alteration Mage, I had learned that lesson thoroughly.
So I stopped before going too far.
Still, thanks to the assistance of Shin Nain, Lee Sejun, and Hamza, we managed to identify several Original Magic functions.
The first was Hand Stage One.
[Blood of the Right Hand]
This spell forcibly imposed humanity's common sense upon monsters, dealing absolute damage.
To investigate it, I coated several 5.56mm rounds from my rifle magazine with Blood of the Right Hand and observed them for nearly an hour.
And after that experiment—
We finally learned what its true one-hundred-percent performance really was.
"The blood isn't drying."
"It seems to stay in the state before it scabs over. Ugh."
"It may even work on heretical magical items. Though I suspect it suppresses the effect slightly rather than completely nullifying it."
The original performance of Hand Stage One, [Blood of the Right Hand], turned out to be straightforward.
Duration extension.
We didn't know exactly how long it lasted, but blood that should have dried remained moist and fresh no matter how much time passed.
Mosquitoes would probably love it.
More importantly, for a spell whose effectiveness normally diminished as the blood dried, eliminating that limitation made it far more useful than it initially appeared.
***
The second spell we investigated was Heart Stage One.
[Enhanced Endurance]
We had considered exploring Hand Stage Two, [Enchant], first.
However, Heart Magic had always seemed unusually passive, so we wondered whether it might possess some hidden active function.
This time, Lee Sejun was the star of the experiment.
"I'm checking the other branches. You explore Heart Magic."
"Ugh. Me? Watching Tongue Magic already looked insanely painful."
"It's honestly not that bad."
The results proved otherwise.
Through Sejun's sacrifice, we learned the truth.
As expected.
The original one-hundred-percent performance of Heart Stage One, [Enhanced Endurance], was:
Maximum metabolic efficiency and complete metabolic regulation.
The user could freely manipulate their body's metabolism.
Accelerate it to burn through energy rapidly in exchange for increased regeneration and faster reflexes.
Or slow it to an extreme, allowing survival in harsh environments with little or no food.
Unfortunately, further Heart Magic experiments became impossible.
Because Lee Sejun lost his mind.
With a blood-soaked tongue hanging out of his mouth, he rolled around screaming and causing chaos.
"AAAAAAAGH! HOLY SHIT! AAAAAGH!"
"Sejun! Stop exaggerating! It's only like getting your tongue hit with a pork-cutlet hammer! I experienced being crushed by a factory press!"
"AAAAAAAGH!!!"
Despite my heartfelt attempts at persuasion, Sejun remained unconvinced.
Eventually Hamza administered painkillers and calmed him down.
But after actually wetting his patient gown, Sejun glared at me with murderous intent.
"I'm never doing that again. If you ask me to, I'll punch you."
"Seriously, this guy is such a baby."
Even Baek Jemin had merely cried.
This guy looked ready to commit homicide.
With Heart Magic exploration suspended, I moved on.
Ear Magic.
Shin Nain volunteered as the test subject.
Partly because we were considered roughly the same stage.
Partly because I was curious about what went on inside his head.
"Shin Nain. I'll expose your dark secrets."
"Mr. Jemin, the righteous hide nothing."
"I'm checking because I hope your true self isn't just religious fanaticism."
And thus we discovered the original one-hundred-percent performance of Ear Stage One.
[Mind Reading]
Its true capability wasn't simply reading a person's current thoughts.
It allowed one to perceive what they thought in the past, present, and future.
I chose not to dig into Shin Nain's past.
Instead, I checked whether he'd still be a religious fanatic in the future.
From some distant point in time, thoughts flowed backward toward me like salmon swimming upstream.
Before my faith breaks, it will all end. Lord, thank You. Today I enter the battlefield carrying hope for martyrdom.
What the actual fuck.
I immediately canceled [Mind Reading].
Shin Nain looked at me smugly.
"Well? What did you hear?"
"I have complicated feelings. Don't talk to me."
If Shin Nain weren't a fanatic, he'd practically be the completed form of an extrovert.
The instant he abandoned religion he'd probably become wildly popular.
On the other hand, keeping him as a fanatic was also awful.
After careful consideration, I decided to leave him exactly as he was.
Having a fanatic nearby was preferable to having another popular guy around.
A perfectly rational decision.
Unfortunately, that was where our Original Magic exploration ended.
The pain was finally catching up.
The duration of [Cognitive Dissonance] was nearing its end.
The moment I realized that, I ignored everyone's calls and rushed back to the medical ward.
Thump!
I threw myself onto a bed.
"Mr. Jemin, what are you doing?"
"I think I'm about to start hurting."
As the softness of the mattress and pillow gradually returned to my senses, I winked at everyone.
"I'm probably going to scream."
That night, I spent hours writhing in agony, tears, mucus, and drool streaming down my face.
Morning eventually arrived.
May 13, 2028 — 6:34 A.M.
The Suwon Colonel and Duckbill Sergeant frowned the moment they saw us in the conference room.
"I heard you even suffered a compulsion effect. Are you alright?"
"Yep. Never been better."
"If you say so."
The colonel tilted his head at my energetic response but let it go.
There were more important matters.
I briefly wondered whether Goryeoha had regained his senses.
He hadn't.
Supported by the pastor, he sat with his face covered and head lowered.
Clicking my tongue internally, I focused on the briefing.
There was a reason we'd abandoned Original Magic research to attend.
"Through military surveillance and reconnaissance, we have finally identified the location of the Yellow Bandage Remnant."
Bzzzzzt—
An aging projector illuminated a map.
The colonel pointed at a location while failing to hide his exhausted expression.
"Near an elementary school close to Namhansanseong Entrance Station. They appear to be using stolen communication equipment to broadcast propaganda."
"Why don't we just shell them?" Lee Sejun asked. "Why are we going?"
It was a remarkably rational conclusion.
Personally, I'd jump in immediately for the chance to obtain a mage's remains.
But the military was already deploying chemical weapons, artillery, drones—everything.
Why not simply flatten the area?
Surely even the Yellow Bandage Remnant would die.
The answer shocked everyone.
"We are."
"...What?"
"We are. They're surviving."
Sejun stared blankly.
Hamza's face turned deathly pale.
The colonel confirmed our reactions before distributing a stack of documents.
The moment I opened mine, my eyes widened.
I should've realized it when Shin Nain suggested that Reversal Ear Magic involved hypnosis, suggestion, and mental collapse.
"The Yellow Bandage Remnant's Ear Magic appears capable of influencing monsters and directing their behavior. As a result, a rumor has spread among field troops that attacking them only intensifies monster assaults."
The colonel paused.
"And it isn't merely a rumor. We have confirmed that monster attacks closely coincide with our artillery bombardments."
The room fell silent.
"The Yellow Bandage Remnant appears to be using this phenomenon to support propaganda that they are protecting humanity by holding back the monsters. Unfortunately, troop morale is being affected."
"If it's only one remnant, special forces should be enough—"
"They aren't alone."
The colonel advanced the slide.
Several new faces appeared.
Though "several" was putting it mildly.
"In order to protect the Yellow Bandage Remnant, another mage designated Velcro Corporal is believed to be guarding them. Each mage appears to command between seven and eight soldiers from Unit 55. All are believed to be Alteration-Type Stage One mages."
That immediately changed the equation.
"Regular conscripts cannot break through them. More importantly, some are believed to possess Reversal Tongue Stage One."
"Reversal Tongue? Why?"
"Witness testimony from soldiers who observed prisoner executions."
The colonel's expression darkened.
"The methods resemble those used by the Tofu Fusion Mimic Beasts. Reversal Tongue is our strongest hypothesis."
Then the pastor spoke.
"Information theft."
He shook his head in disgust.
"They're operating far more systematically than we thought. Maybe they can't fully consume corpses. But the moment a prisoner refuses to defect, all their knowledge, experience, and containment-line intelligence become available to the enemy."
His voice hardened.
"A Reversal Tongue user devours the prisoner. The Ear Mage listens to the memories. The information gets shared. Then passed up the chain of command..."
Silence filled the room.
Everyone understood the implications.
The colonel clasped his hands behind his back.
"This operation will be dangerous and brutal. Therefore, participation will be strictly voluntary."
His eyes swept across us.
"Objective: eliminate the Yellow Bandage Remnant and Velcro Corporal. Friendly support will be available, but heavy close-quarters fighting is expected."
He paused.
"The risks may be overwhelming."
Someone slowly raised a hand.
Lee Sejun.
A man determined to repay his debt to his country despite his fear.
Seeing him volunteer, Hamza hesitantly raised his own trembling hand.
Sejun immediately grabbed Hamza's arm and lifted it higher.
"Ah!"
Before anyone could react—
Another hand went up.
Mine.
Baek Jemin's.
"...Given the likelihood of monster engagement..."
Two more hands rose.
Shin Nain and Pastor Park exchanged glances, recited a brief prayer together, and raised their hands.
"Mr. Hamza. If we're doing this, let's do it with style."
Finally—
Goryeoha.
Barely.
He only managed to lift one limp hand.
He muttered something unintelligible.
But he was going.
That was enough.
Duckbill Sergeant stared at us in amazement.
"They said the first-generation civilian operators were all volunteers. You really are different."
"Patriots."
The colonel hesitated.
Then quietly spoke.
"Good luck."
His expression grew grave.
"Ordinary luck won't be enough."
An odd mixture of tension and excitement surged through me.
Beneath the fear of marching toward death, exhilaration pulsed.
No.
What I needed was resolve.
The resolve to challenge magic itself.
The willingness to pay any price in pursuit of omnipotence.
Surely that was the attitude magic desired.
This time—
I would be chosen.
And if the day came when I reached my limits while pursuing magic, I would smash my own head against the ground without regret.
I had only one regret.
That on the day the mist arrived—
I hadn't been in Seoul.
Chairs scraped backward.
Everyone gathered their equipment.
Within minutes, preparations were complete.
Once again, we headed toward the cramped helicopter waiting outside.
As I watched the rotors slowly begin turning amid the strange silence, a thought crossed my mind.
Luck?