Chapter 16

A Late Surge of Studying

I couldn't move anymore.

The moment the monsters—each one a grotesque mass of hundreds of tangled faces—collapsed with shrieks, only two thoughts remained in my head.

Feeling a terror that trampled even pain beneath its feet, I let go of the machine gun's heated barrel with my left hand.

Crack—

The makeshift bandage Monk Cheonghwi had wrapped around it had become soaked with blood and stuck to the wound, clammy and tangled. Only after seeing the blood crust that had hardened from the intense heat and the flesh that had partially melted did a groan escape from my throat.

"Huuugh... huuugh..."

Like an overturned insect flailing its limbs before curling up and dying, I too could do nothing but lie on my side in a fetal position, my fingers and toes naturally curling inward.

It felt as though my entire body might fold up neatly like origami. Just as the sensitive mimosa folds its leaves to avoid being eaten, it felt as though my body was curling up to avoid being devoured by some horrific predator.

Rat-tat-tat... bang...

In my fading consciousness, only the gradually diminishing gunfire told me that this chaos was finally being brought under control.

Honestly, no—that wasn't surprising.

If the military was determined to stop everything here, even if it meant mowing down the few surviving survivors with bullets, then it was entirely possible for them to contain the situation.

At this point, the other thought that came to mind was remarkably simple.

Could I learn alteration magic from other branches?

First-stage alteration spells didn't differ all that much from one another. But from the second stage onward, they became ridiculously brutal. Still, if you paid the price of pain, the reward was equally honest.

Besides, there was a possibility that instant-death spells like Avada Kedavra or direct attack magic like fireballs were concentrated in other branches.

Even if they weren't...

If a second-stage Eye Branch spell was this useful, I couldn't even imagine how incredible the others might be. The suspicion that their power varied drastically by stage, the yearning for greater strength, and simple curiosity about magic's potential all battled against the pain.

Someone grabbed my shoulder around then.

"Survivor! Stay with us!"

"They aren't approaching! We'll pull him back! Cover us! Cover, cover!"

Dragged along by soldiers, I finally entered the machine gun emplacement.

Inside, sweat-soaked soldiers were doing their utmost at their assigned positions. A private grunting as he hauled ammunition boxes toward the machine gun. The gunner pouring canteen water over the barrel to cool it down. The assistant gunner helping replace ammunition belts.

By the time I staggered past them and leaned against one of the station's pillars, I had no strength left to speak.

"Uuuugh..."

I could only groan like a zombie.

A military doctor approached, examined me, and immediately frowned.

"Yeah, this hand's in trouble."

"No... no..."

"Your name is Baek Jemin? If you don't want to lose that hand, get a grip. I'll give you painkillers and antibiotics for now. Stay conscious. If you pass out, you'll end up with one arm. If this goes badly, we may have to amputate. You're not left-handed, right?"

"Right... hand..."

"Ah. Well, that's something at least."

The moment he said that, I snapped awake.

"No!"

"I'm telling you—"

"No! Not my pain vending machine! My second-stage magic vending machine can't disappear!"

This left hand had to be saved no matter what.

It wasn't about bodily function.

Wasn't this basically a magical artifact—or even a grimoire? Something that let me feel pain whenever I touched it, making it easier to activate powerful second-stage Eye Branch magic?

If I cut off this excellent vending machine that dispensed magic with a simple click, I'd have to start injuring myself again or come up with some absurd new method. That completely defeated the purpose.

When I carefully and clearly explained these feelings to the medic, he looked utterly devastated and turned toward the soldiers behind him.

"His condition's not good. Send him to one of the controlled hospitals the moment the area is secure."

"But..."

A report from a communications soldier fiddling with a bulky radio came through unusually clearly.

"There's nothing more we can do here. Looks like the bleeding's stopped somehow, but... Mr. Baek Jemin? Since we're talking, let's disinfect it and apply some coagulant. This is going to hurt."

The medic treated me with painstaking care, inspecting me from every angle before slowly shaking his head.

That complicated expression finally made it feel real.

Did I survive?

Somehow, through all that madness...

To keep my drifting mind focused, I concentrated on the sounds around me.

Relatively hopeful voices reached my ears.

"This is Paldal Two, Paldal Two. Station lockdown successful. Main routes secured."

"Haaah... fuck... did we actually stop it?"

"We're entering a lull. Requesting reinforcements to Suwon Station. We'll deploy drones for reconnaissance and conduct additional burn operations after confirmation."

"We'll check our side first. Good work."

Just as they said, the gunfire that had echoed throughout the station gradually faded away.

As the acrid scent of gun smoke and the slightly spicy smell of gunpowder drifted through the air, I weakly turned my head toward the distance.

There, among the surreal wreckage, I spotted familiar faces that had somehow survived.

Pastor Park Yohan, Monk Cheonghwi, and four soldiers.

The soldiers stationed inside the station were questioning them at gunpoint, and yet despite having rifles aimed at them, the pastor and his group looked relieved.

The world had truly gone insane.

A world where seeing someone point a gun at you could bring relief.

The sound of military boots echoed busily as soldiers once again checked their weapons.

Then a major who appeared to be in command shouted loudly.

"The monsters called Amalgams rely on human bodies for movement! The big ones increase their numbers by splitting apart and surrounding their targets, but it looks like they're dead now, so relax! Always move as a squad and shoot the heart or the legs first, just like in training! Then finish them with a shot to the head! Stay calm and they're nothing special, so don't get yourselves killed like idiots!"

The major then approached the soldiers crouched beside the communications operators.

"Drone team. Check inside the buses, between them, and even underneath. If even one of those things is hiding and attacks us, this whole mess starts over again."

As he spoke and turned around, his eyes happened to meet mine.

Me—the civilian operator—leaning against a pillar, receiving treatment from the medic and barely managing to breathe.

The major's name was Kang Minsu.

The moment Major Kang Minsu saw me, he clenched his lower lip. Then his hands began trembling slightly before he abruptly turned his head away.

It seemed he had realized I was a civilian operator—a magician.

Then, as if making sure I could hear him, he muttered,

"If we'd just shot them all dead from the start, none of this would've happened."

Ah, for fuck's sake.

"Y-Yes, sir!"

"Remember this, all of you. Try to save one person, and your friends, lovers, and families back there get eaten instead. If something seems suspicious, point your gun first. And if it still doesn't feel right, shoot first!"

It was a shitty thing to say.

Yet after climbing all the way up here from that underground platform, I found myself agreeing with about half of it.

Under Major Kang Minsu's command, the ROK Army at Suwon Station continued their extermination and search operation against the Amalgams.

Gunshots echoed a few more times amid the overlapping noise of radios and shouted orders.

Before long, the foul smell of burning corpses drifted in on the wind.

It was around then that Pastor Park Yohan and Monk Cheonghwi approached me.

"Well, Mr. Baek Jemin. Still can't believe in the grace of the Lord God after this?"

"They said they might have to cut off my left hand."

"Ahem. You're not left-handed, are you?"

"I'm right-handed, but..."

"Then it's fine. The Lord took your left hand instead of your right. What a true and blessed thing, hm?"

This damned evangelical pastor.

I almost unleashed a stream of curses before clamping my mouth shut.

At least Monk Cheonghwi offered something vaguely resembling comfort.

"It is only natural that you remain in this world when your attachment to it runs so deep, benefactor. Truly profound."

"That was supposed to be comforting, right?"

"Closer to admiration, perhaps. Even I find myself wondering whether I truly did everything I could."

After exchanging a few words, we fell silent as we gazed outside the station at the gradually thinning fog.

It was then that murmurs of exhausted relief finally spread among the soldiers.

Only the radio operator's voice remained clearly audible.

"This is Paldal Two. Visibility through the fog is now three hundred meters... It's opening up. Fog dissipating. Fog dissipating. Request confirmation from the other stations as well."

As the hellish fog receded, the corpses of the Amalgams began to reveal themselves.

Given that they had devoured the equivalent of two subway trains' worth of people before bursting all the way up to ground level, their numbers were staggering.

Even a rough estimate put them close to a hundred bodies.

Just realizing that I had escaped from that many monsters made my legs tremble.

At that moment, Pastor Park Yohan pulled out a glasses cloth, cleaned his spectacles, and let out a laugh.

"Come to think of it, Shin Nain, was it? The guy who faithfully attends church. You know the one who learned Ear Branch alteration magic?"

"The idiot who sits in the bathroom for twenty minutes with earbuds in listening to hymns? What about him?"

He was a lunatic with terrible bathroom habits who constantly tried speaking in tongues, but he was still a familiar face.

I couldn't help hoping he had survived.

"After hearing about the Amalgams, he started laughing and calling them 'Dubai Chewy Humans.' Hahaha... Isn't he insane?"

"Fuck... he called that a Dubai Chewy..."

"The best way to defeat Satan's demonic army is to overcome fear with humor, or so he says. You should spend some time with him, Mr. Baek Jemin. He's a fun guy."

Dubai Chewy?

Wasn't that a meme from way back in 2026?

More importantly, Shin Nain's mindset was something else entirely.

Faced with that kind of vocabulary, I was once again reminded of just how ordinary I was.

I laughed weakly in disbelief before noticing the medic approaching.

Apparently he had overheard the phrase Dubai Chewy Human, because he was making the most horrified face imaginable as he looked at Pastor Park Yohan.

Then he had the medics help me to my feet.

"Let's go, Mr. Baek Jemin. We should at least try to save that hand."

Following the medic and his assistants toward a vehicle, I glanced around.

Major Kang Minsu was waiting beside a requisitioned van.

He glared at me as I approached, then lifted his radio and spoke.

"At 01:10, January 24th, Suwon Station operation complete. Containment of subterranean unidentified species confirmed. Destruction of hostile population through concentrated firepower confirmed. As of this time, all surface areas of Suwon Station secured. Survivor identification and primary quarantine procedures now underway."

Clunk.

At least this time it wasn't a military truck.

As I settled into the back seat of the requisitioned van, I caught the end of Major Kang Minsu's report.

"Establishing containment lines until handover. Designating area for unrestricted engagement."

★

Time flows mercilessly onward.

And news that the monster known as the Amalgam had attacked Suwon Station spread everywhere through the electronic circuitry known as the internet.

Government and military information control had become practically meaningless.

January 13th, 10:43 a.m.

Holding my smartphone with its cracked screen in my right hand, I stared at the articles dominating every portal site.

[How Much Longer Did the Government Intend to Hide This? Public Outrage Grows Nationwide]

[Emergency U.S.-China Talks Accelerate — Calls to Designate the Seoul Disturbance a Transnational Biological Disaster]

[Those Left Behind in Northern Gyeonggi Province — "The Government Abandoned Us," Citizens Express Deep Betrayal]

My smartphone had survived that entire catastrophe.

Feeling affection for it, I gave the cracked screen a little kiss before looking down at my left hand, wrapped heavily in bandages.

Just then, the doctor who had come to check on my condition tilted his head.

"You don't normally use your left hand as your dominant hand, right?"

"N-No."

"I'll say it again—you were incredibly lucky. When a bullet passes between the thumb and index finger, you usually have to prepare yourself to lose the thumb entirely. Even if it doesn't hit the palm directly."

"I've heard..."

"It's fascinating, that's all. A few peripheral nerves and some muscle tissue between the thumb and index finger were severed, but there shouldn't be any major long-term disability. Do you attend church or believe in shamans or anything?"

"Not really."

"Then your ancestors must've been looking after you. Visit their graves sometime when things settle down. Any other pain?"

"My left hand feels like it's burning all the time..."

"Then that's normal. Let me know if anything else bothers you. The bandages were changed recently, so we'll leave them until the next disinfection."

The talkative doctor completed a simple questionnaire and nodded before leaving.

With injured people flooding in, it was probably difficult to spare even this much time.

Yet simply because I was a magician, I was receiving the highest priority access to medical supplies.

It was quite the promotion in status.

And yet being treated like a VIP wasn't nearly as pleasant as one might think.

All I could do was stare through the phone screen at the world visible from my hospital room.

After watching for a long while, the battery finally died.

I turned the phone off.

The world I once knew would never return.

But...

I grinned as I stroked the booklet titled Special Magic Lectures resting on the bedside table.

Next time, before the monsters come to me—

I'll be the one entering the fog first.

The fear of death and the memories of countless moments spent on the edge between life and death had given rise to an even stronger desire within me.

I wanted to learn stronger magic.

More useful magic.

And if the only place to learn it was inside the fog—

Then I'd gladly dive into it.