Chapter 29
Seoul Theme Park
I, Baek Jemin, had completed my military service and disliked North Korea as much as any Korean, but I'd never actually experienced war.
And it wasn't just me.
South Korea might technically still be in a state of armistice, but more than half a century had passed since the last full-scale war.
Virtually nobody alive truly understood the terror of artillery fire and battlefields.
But the farther north our rattling military truck traveled, the closer we got to Seoul, the more the very air itself began to change.
It was already suffocating enough traveling under the protection of two armored vehicles—one at the front, one at the rear—and a helicopter overhead.
Yet now it felt as though someone was slowly stuffing wet towels down my throat.
The smell was worse.
Like the scent of burned rubber amplified hundreds of times and forced directly into my face.
Every breath made my throat sting.
Every breath made me thirsty.
When Seongnam finally came properly into view, I unconsciously licked my dry lips.
Artillery positions had been established wherever roads were accessible and buildings remained low enough.
Soldiers hurriedly unloaded shells from trucks.
Officers inspected firing positions.
Radio operators clutched handsets and relayed reports.
The battery nearest us had stopped firing.
Others hadn't.
The war was still going on.
Lee Se-jun pulled his poncho over his mouth.
Shin Na-in simply put on a gas mask.
Even the members of the Taegeuk Jesus Advent Eastern Academy Division covered their faces with their Korean-flag capes.
Only I, Baek Jemin, was fully appreciating the renovated city of Seongnam through every sensory organ available.
Even then, when I looked north, a mutter escaped me.
"Jesus..."
To the north.
Toward Seoul.
The sky was buried beneath fog.
No.
Calling it fog almost felt wrong.
A massive gray mass stretched from the ground all the way into the heavens.
It resembled a thundercloud heavy with rain.
Yet it didn't move.
It didn't sway.
It remained fixed above Seoul like some gigantic solid object.
Most striking of all was the artillery.
The shockwaves reached my organs before they reached my ears.
Every time a cannon fired, the ground trembled.
My insides trembled with it.
Then flashes would appear inside the immense gray wall.
Hundreds of meters thick.
Perhaps more.
Like distant yellow traffic lights blinking inside a storm.
Only after the flashes came the sound of shells tearing through the air.
And all across fog-covered Seoul, explosions glittered endlessly like fireworks.
An endless bombardment.
All to disperse even a handful of fog.
The farther north we traveled, the harsher everything became.
The smell of explosives.
The smell of burning things.
The smell of war.
Collapsed concrete buildings.
Endless coils of barbed wire.
Hundreds.
Thousands.
Perhaps tens of thousands of spent shell casings scattered across a landscape drained of color.
Only the military vehicles still possessed any hint of life.
Then—
Kzzzt...
Radio static.
A squad of infantry emerged from a nearby alley.
These weren't the soldiers I'd seen back at Suwon Station.
Not even close.
Every one of them wore full MOPP Level 4 protective gear.
Chemical suits.
Gas masks.
Not a single inch of skin visible.
The lead soldier carried a flamethrower.
Behind him marched soldiers carrying heavy magazine-fed semi-automatic shotguns instead of ordinary K2C1 rifles.
There were riflemen too.
But seeing a squad of roughly eight men carrying two flamethrowers and three shotguns felt distinctly un-Korean.
I'd always imagined the military solved everything by issuing more rifles.
Yet what stood out most wasn't their equipment.
It was their posture.
Their killing intent.
Even through their masks, I could hear their breathing.
Not one finger left the trigger.
Not one gaze wandered.
They watched us continuously until we'd completely passed.
Only then did they resume moving.
Apparently this was considered relaxed by frontline standards.
As we approached the fog, the atmosphere inside the convoy became increasingly tense.
The reality of the front line was no longer filtered through reports.
Now we could see it ourselves.
Flamethrower teams.
Shotgun patrols.
Searchlights sweeping every alley and ruin.
The only sounds were boots striking pavement and weapons rattling against equipment.
Occasionally someone would start a conversation.
It never lasted long.
The first real noise came when we passed a park some distance away from the road.
"Help us!"
"Please!"
"We're human!"
A complete encirclement operation.
The military had surrounded a group of civilians.
Dozens of them.
Their clothes were stained with soot and dirt.
Many were crying.
Hands raised.
Begging.
They looked like refugees who had somehow escaped the horrors of Seoul.
Among them was a small girl clutching tightly to her mother's leg.
Being a sensitive person, I naturally felt a lump in my throat.
The military did not.
They maintained their perimeter.
Shotguns.
Flamethrowers.
Rifles.
All aimed directly at the refugees.
For a moment I actually wondered whether somebody should stop this.
Then Shin Na-in appeared beside me.
"See the little girl?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"Monster."
Click-click-click-click.
A lighter-like ignition sound echoed through the air.
The flamethrower activated.
The instant flames touched the girl wrapped around her mother's leg, she released an inhuman shriek.
Then her body changed.
Twisted.
Warped.
She rubbed her face affectionately against her mother's cheek.
The mother didn't understand.
She hugged her daughter.
Then her own face began melting.
Before the fire could even consume her.
She screamed.
But by then her screams were no longer entirely her own.
The little girl's body dangled from her.
The mother desperately tried to tear her away.
Too late.
The flames spread.
Their eyes merged.
Overlapped.
Multiplied into clusters.
Their mouths fused together.
And a single horrific scream emerged.
"SKREEEEEEE!"
"OPEN FIRE! OPEN FIRE! ELIMINATE ALL TARGETS! DON'T LET THEM LEAVE THE BURN ZONE! AIM FOR LEGS AND TORSOS!"
Gunfire erupted.
Some of the refugees had genuinely been human.
Others revealed their true forms once the flames touched them.
But they posed no threat.
The soldiers had already prepared.
Several Devouring Spines appeared as well.
Human necks twisted a full three hundred and sixty degrees before monsters burst outward with wet cracking sounds.
Most died instantly beneath the crossfire.
The convoy kept moving.
We couldn't watch until the end.
But we did see the aftermath.
The gunfire gradually faded.
The soldiers lowered their weapons.
And silently watched the burning piles of corpses.
I couldn't see their eyes behind the masks.
I wasn't sure I wanted to.
Past the infantry positions, we began passing tanks and machine-gun nests aimed directly toward the fog.
The scene looked straight out of a World War I film.
Gray dust drifted into my lungs.
"Cough. Cough."
Unable to endure it any longer, I grabbed my canteen and took several gulps of water.
Then the truck stopped.
I thought we'd finally arrived.
Instead, the man riding in the front passenger seat leaned out the window.
"Looks like a small engagement is about to happen. We'll hold position for thirty minutes."
Ahead lay a vast kill zone.
Cratered by artillery.
Littered with concrete debris.
Watched over by trenches and tanks.
Then the sirens began.
Loud.
Urgent.
Soldiers who had briefly removed their masks immediately put them back on.
Everyone rushed to their positions.
Orders echoed across the battlefield.
Most soldiers now carried grenade launchers, flamethrowers, and shotguns more frequently than rifles.
They clustered around machine-gun crews.
Soon I understood why.
Shapes emerged from the fog.
Human silhouettes.
At first glance.
Then they came closer.
And it became obvious they weren't human at all.
One head.
Hundreds of limbs.
Gigantic amalgams.
Their countless overlapping eyes rolled independently as they advanced.
The moment they exited the fog, they began splitting apart.
Faces melted away from the central body like ice cream left in the sun.
Each face grew into a separate creature.
Two tanks fired.
One gigantic amalgam vanished beneath a high-explosive shell.
The fragments kept coming.
Fearless.
Unstoppable.
Grenadiers opened fire first.
Thunk-thunk-thunk.
The signal.
Moments later, the machine guns joined in.
The noise was overwhelming.
Even from our distance.
The barrels glowed red.
Tank guns alternated fire.
Smoke and flame poured from their muzzles.
Infantry weapons concentrated entirely on stopping the advance.
The amalgams responded by fragmenting again and again.
Rather than relying on sheer mass, they chose mobility.
Division.
Dispersion.
Forcing the defenders to spread their fire.
Then, as the creatures approached the defensive line—
The flamethrowers unleashed their fire.
And the battlefield became an inferno.
The monsters' shrieks as they burned intertwined with the screams humans forced from their throats to suppress their terror.
The scale of the battle was so overwhelming that even I began wondering whether I should risk the backlash and start using magic.
That was around the time fighter jets appeared overhead with a deafening roar.
Soon the airstrikes began.
Monsters vanished beneath overwhelming force.
The bombardment of Seoul's outskirts resumed.
When artillery shells landed among a cluster of eight gigantic amalgams, white smoke billowed upward.
The amalgams ignited.
Then they released a howl that seemed capable of shaking the human heart itself.
AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH—!!!
"Almighty Lord God, shelter us amidst this tribulation..."
The sharp-faced leader of the Taegeuk Jesus Advent Eastern Academy Division clasped his hands and began praying.
The rest of us weren't much different.
Lee Se-jun covered his ears and muttered to himself.
Shin Na-in pulled up the hood of his poncho and lowered his head.
As a true man who never tells lies, I, Baek Jemin, shall tell the truth.
I peed myself a little.
I could feel Shin Na-in subtly moving farther away from me, but honestly, only leaking a few drops after hearing a scream like that was an achievement worth bragging about.
The frontline soldiers seemed to treat it as routine.
They flinched briefly.
Then immediately resumed fighting.
It was a contest of overwhelming violence.
The military crushed monsters beneath the firepower produced by humanity's intelligence and civilization.
The monsters responded by becoming increasingly grotesque, twisting themselves into forms that mocked human dignity and humanity itself as they charged forward without fear.
Some soldiers carrying flamethrowers ran out of fuel.
Unable to stop the advancing amalgams, they were seized and dragged away.
Even from a distance, I could see their legs kicking frantically.
I couldn't hear their screams beneath the gas masks.
But I didn't need to.
The terror was obvious.
The soldiers' comrades aimed their guns at the monsters.
And at the captured soldiers.
The moment a defensive position was breached, grenades rained down.
Bullets filled the air.
Monsters collapsed.
Several soldiers bled out beneath them.
Then artillery targeted the fog once more.
Flashes erupted.
Smoke merged with the gray cloud above.
Nobody riding in our truck could hold a proper conversation anymore.
The battle ended soon afterward.
Another military victory.
We learned the outcome through a report crackling over the radio.
"... Engagement duration: four minutes. Successful elimination of cranial-fusion mimic cluster. Six casualties. Will resume communication after securing perimeter."
"Copy."
February 29, 2028 — 11:24 AM
That was the time displayed on the cracked screen of my phone.
The officer riding in the front leaned out the window, looked back at us, and smiled bitterly.
We had arrived near the First Containment Line.
Near Seoul.
"Let's get in and out quickly."
And with that, we entered the outskirts of Seoul.
Our route followed Seongnam-daero northward.
The plan was simple.
Reach the area around Bokjeong Station.
If fog was present, open the Special Magic Lecture booklets, awaken magic, then immediately retreat.
The location had been selected because it remained relatively close to military-controlled territory and offered fewer structures suitable for ambushes.
Originally, the military had planned to demolish Seongnam-daero entirely to block southbound movement.
But once it became accepted that fog was required to awaken magic symbols, access routes had become necessary.
The road remained.
Still, the farther we advanced...
The closer we approached the fog...
The stronger a sense of dread became.
Do not enter the fog.
Do not walk willingly into territory ruled by creatures of impossible biology.
When the moment arrives from which regret itself becomes impossible, even your tears will no longer belong to you.
The feeling wasn't mine alone.
All three of us shared it.
"This is bad," Lee Se-jun muttered. "Mr. Jemin. Mr. Na-in. Was coming to Seoul really the right decision?"
"I thought you wanted to save the country."
"Ugh... damn it. Fine. Lee Se-jun can't just ignore a debt. I can't. But still...!"
The moment I criticized his hesitation, he grabbed his hair dramatically.
"Honestly, haven't we already repaid enough?"
"Quit whining and keep moving."
"The church remains open to you as well, Mr. Se-jun."
Lee Se-jun nervously fiddled with his rifle.
Probably calculating how quickly he could chamber a round if necessary.
Meanwhile, the leader of the Taegeuk-Cape Brigade was busy leading a group prayer.
None of them carried firearms.
Only staffs, mop handles, and similar improvised weapons.
Honestly, they looked more like wizards than we did.
The convoy continued.
Deeper into the fog.
At first visibility remained reasonable.
Five hundred meters, maybe.
Even after crossing a small bridge, the fog wasn't particularly dense.
But the moment we reached the vicinity of Bokjeong Station, our surroundings changed.
A heavy fog engulfed us.
Cold.
Oppressive.
Dense enough to feel physical.
The officer stopped sticking his head out the window.
"Visibility has fallen below one hundred meters. You may load live ammunition and assume combat readiness."
At least one thing remained comforting.
We could still hear helicopters overhead.
And the bright floodlights mounted on nearby armored vehicles illuminated our position.
The three of us silently loaded our weapons.
Then, just in case, I opened my Special Magic Lecture booklet again.
The symbols inside should have been for the eye, ear, and heart lineages.
If I could learn even one...
"Urgh..."
"Mr. Baek Jemin, maybe there are prerequisites?"
As the truck stopped, Lee Se-jun walked over and slapped my shoulder.
"Prerequisites?"
"Unlock conditions.
Like skill trees in games.
Sometimes choosing one path locks another.
You have to pay real money or make a new character to access the other route.
Maybe Modified Magic works the same way."
That actually sounded plausible.
We climbed out of the truck and followed the swaying lights.
The officer in charge had removed his name tag, so all I knew was that he was a captain.
Thin face.
Sharp eyes.
He raised his voice.
"We'll now distribute booklets for Localized Penetrative Modification Compatibility Awakening.
If you experience nausea, vomiting, or dizziness, close your eyes immediately and breathe deeply.
If you discover a symbol you can safely view, report both the awakening and any insights gained.
The faster you report, the faster we can get you home safely."
Around us stood heavily armed soldiers wearing the same chemical-protection gear as the frontline troops.
There were roughly ten riflemen.
Almost eight more carrying various types of shotguns.
Under their watchful eyes, all kinds of people were brought forward and handed booklets.
A bearded prisoner wearing handcuffs.
A monk in full robes.
A curly-haired middle-aged woman.
A young man who looked like a university student.
Our Modified Magic trio also opened our booklets.
Until now, only we Supreme Wizards of southern Gyeonggi knew the hand-lineage symbol.
This was the perfect opportunity to see whether learning additional lineages was possible.
Of course I'd prefer to keep all the power for myself.
But if we wanted to kill monsters, knowledge had to be shared.
Fortunately—or unfortunately—the area soon filled with vomiting.
"BLEEEEGH—!"
I wasn't exempt.
The heart lineage.
Learning even one more lineage would create incredible synergy with my eye and hand abilities.
And yet...
I couldn't learn it.
Everyone seemed equally frustrated.
People vomited.
Cried.
Clutched their stomachs.
Yet stubbornly refused to let go of the booklets.
At that point, I noticed the captain frowning.
"We might have to go deeper..."
"Deeper?"
I wiped stomach acid from my mouth and looked up.
Something about his expression told me he knew more than he was saying.
He glanced between our trio and the Taegeuk-Cape Brigade before motioning us closer.
"Not everyone. Just representatives."
The brigade leader stepped forward.
So did I, Baek Jemin—the only Supreme Wizard present who had mastered two lineages.
The captain lowered his voice.
"A theory emerged recently from the researchers in Pyeongtaek.
The denser the fog, the higher the probability of successfully learning a magic symbol.
However, you've all been briefed already.
There have been multiple reports of two unidentified species appearing within fog zones where visibility drops below fifty meters."
The sharp-faced brigade leader adjusted his glasses and shrugged.
"The Lord's revelations dwell within hardship.
Do not worry.
I didn't come here to watch young people die.
In the name of God Almighty, I, Min Hyeong-jun, shall serve as the shepherd who guides you."
"Thank you for your enthusiasm.
And what about Aphorism's Baek Jemin?"
Instinctively, I looked around.
Dense fog.
People vomiting.
Lee Se-jun trembling while gripping his rifle.
Shin Na-in smiling blissfully while swaying his shoulders like a DJ at a concert.
They were all precious lives.
Which left only one possible answer.
"Let's go immediately."
If denser fog increased the chances of learning magic—
Then denser fog meant a higher chance of survival.