Chapter 69

The World Seen Through One Eye

The first thing we did after returning to the city, now filling once more with fog, was look for a shelter.

The pastor made that decision after taking stock of our condition.

"This won't do. If we run all the way to Konkuk University and run into those monsters again, we're finished."

His gaze landed on my closed left eye behind the lens of my gas mask.

"Baek Jemin. You holding up?"

"For now."

"With Jemin in that condition, he won't be able to move around like he did on the bridge. Hamza, stay next to him. Let's find a place quickly."

As a result, our formation changed.

Shin Nain, with her eye and hearing magic, took the lead as scout and detector. Lee Sejun guarded the rear as a reliable combat force. Hamza supported me as we walked, while the pastor followed after Shin Nain.

We proceeded along the overpass, passing between apartment complexes.

Fortunately, even though Shin Nain barely used her eye magic, [Past Sight], which allowed her to glimpse scenes from several hours ago, wasn't completely useless.

As she walked ahead, Shin Nain occasionally raised her clenched left fist—sometimes faster than Hamza could react—to send hand signals.

Whenever we stopped in response, she would always provide brief, concise warnings.

"Two Spine-types. They've gone over the guardrail beneath the overpass."

"Nain, do you think they'll follow us?"

Lee Sejun asked in an unusually serious voice.

Shin Nain shook her head.

"They seem to be lying in ambush. I haven't seen them since. As long as we don't go underneath the overpass, we should be fine."

"The fog's rolling in, so they're preparing ahead of time. Whether that's fortunate or unfortunate..."

With the pastor's muttering bringing the matter to a close, we resumed walking.

The real problem, however, was the extent of my injuries.

I had boldly declared that I'd become Odin, but if living with one eye were easy, everyone and their dog would be offering up eyeballs.

I was walking perfectly fine—or so it seemed—yet my body kept unexpectedly dropping downward.

I couldn't help but think of those sinkhole incidents in Seoul I'd seen on the news.

"This city is insane. The road looks perfectly normal, but my feet keep sinking into it."

"Something's wrong with you, Jemin."

Hamza frowned.

"You've been stumbling since earlier. A lot."

"What? No. I'm walking just fine."

I point out Seoul's terrible roads, and somehow I'm the problem?

I was about to argue when Hamza cut me off, breathing heavily.

"You lost one eye. Your depth perception is messed up."

"Be careful not to drop the greatsword. It'll hurt if you stab me."

I was left speechless and had no choice but to rely on him.

That was the reality.

Being one-eyed was a far harsher handicap than I'd imagined.

Hamza kept catching me whenever I nearly fell because my sense of distance was off.

The problem was made worse by the colorful assortment of pain spreading throughout my body. Once I lost my balance, recovering wasn't easy. The moment I swayed, dizziness would wash over me, enough to make me gag.

To make matters worse, now that the Tier-3 Eye spell [Cognitive Dissonance] had ended, the vision in my right eye was becoming blurry as well.

As soon as I realized the growing heaviness pressing down on my shoulders was a sign of pain returning, I asked Hamza:

"Can't you give me another shot of morphine?"

"That's really dangerous. I've already given you more than I originally planned. No."

Despite panting for breath, Hamza patiently explained.

Morphine wasn't something you casually injected.

He added that he'd originally brought it for emergency rescue situations after learning that alteration-type magic used pain as its price, though he'd hoped never to need it.

His theory was that [Cognitive Dissonance] rejecting the drug's effects had actually reduced the side effects I should have been suffering.

Every so often, Hamza would wave a finger in front of my face to check my condition.

"Jemin, can you see this?"

"One..."

"It's the middle finger."

"You little bastard."

"Jemin's still fine."

And so I found myself being dragged along, occasionally serving as Hamza's test subject.

As my consciousness gradually drifted into a haze, all I knew was that we were passing through a large intersection.

Then, just as the rising fog began brushing against the remnants of old flyers stuck to utility poles, we turned into an alley and came face-to-face with a tattered Korean flag hanging like a rag.

The pastor and Lee Sejun cleared away a crude barricade blocking the entrance.

Then the pastor said:

"Nain says it's safe, so let's stay here for now. Looks like Hamza managed to grab a decent amount of medical supplies, so we should check everyone over before moving again."

That was when Hamza reached out and grabbed the edge of my gas mask.

He was probably trying to remove it so I could breathe more comfortably.

But I seized his hand almost reflexively.

Clench!

Hamza seemed to understand everything from that brief reaction alone and nodded vigorously.

"Then take it off yourself."

"Yeah..."

"Ow!"

"Don't take it off."

They were brief experiences, but unforgettable ones.

The amalgam's eyeballs that had poured over my gas mask lens.

The internal organs of the Skin-Flaying Jellyfish.

A single layer of gas mask had been the only thing separating my flesh from those monsters.

After what I'd gone through today, I had absolutely no desire to remove it outside a secure shelter.

Throughout the commotion, the pastor stood guard behind us.

Near the entrance, he awkwardly shouldered his rifle and checked every fog-filled corner of the alley by leading with the barrel first.

It was an impressive sight.

The pastor seemed to be adapting to Seoul as well.

Following Hamza's guidance, we climbed to the second floor.

There, traces of people who had once lived here greeted us.

Scattered clothes and collapsed mattresses littered even the hallway.

Apparently survivors had stayed here before either moving on or meeting some unfortunate fate.

Unfortunately, they'd left no food behind.

We settled in a room at the far end of the hallway, the most secluded one with the fewest windows.

Most of the furniture had already been dismantled for barricades or construction materials, leaving the room nearly empty.

That made it perfect for unloading our gear.

Aside from the dust, it even looked relatively sanitary.

I was laid down in the farthest corner.

Leaning against the wall, I finally removed my gas mask.

A deep breath escaped me.

Hissss... fuuuuh...

For a while, the room filled with the sounds of rustling clothes as everyone removed their backpacks.

Some prayed.

Others searched through their bags for water bottles.

Then the pastor called out:

"Jemin."

"Yeah."

"Your left eye. Is it completely gone? How is it?"

I raised my left hand first.

Touching my eye with blood- and dirt-covered fingers seemed like a fast track to an infection.

Keeping my left eye shut, I explained the intuitive understanding the magic had implanted into my mind.

Specifically, the penalty of the Tier-3 Eye spell [Cognitive Dissonance].

The pastor clicked his tongue when he heard how severe the price truly was.

"So the backlash gets concentrated into one eye, and the moment permanent blindness is guaranteed, it starts taking the other eye too. Tsk. That's truly heretical."

At that, Shin Nain, who had been quietly meditating while listening through her headset, slowly spoke.

"But considering those strange movements you showed..."

She opened her eyes.

"It truly was a magnificent miracle worthy of a holy war ritual."

"Yeah."

Lee Sejun chimed in.

"You suddenly started moving insanely fast."

He was already tearing through a pack of hardtack, stuffing it into his mouth.

Watching him crunch through dry biscuits without even a trace of hesitation was very much like him.

Then, as I thought about it, irritation started rising inside me at his hypocritical praise.

"Hey. Says the guy who punted a wrecked car with a no-spin shot and sent a monster flying with it."

"Did I?"

Lee Sejun blinked innocently while shoving another piece of hardtack into his mouth.

The sight was so infuriating that I turned my gaze away.

The cloth Hamza handed me was so white it practically glowed.

Caught off guard, I accepted it. Hamza mimed washing his face and said,

"Use that to clean your eye. I put disinfectant on it."

"Uh... right. Thanks, Hamza."

Even if he sometimes spoke awkwardly, Hamza was thoroughly prepared.

I could feel something like cool gel on the cloth. It was obvious he was paying more attention to my injury than I'd expected.

Maybe the whole Pakistani medical student thing wasn't just talk.

Though I had no idea why someone like him had come all the way to a foreign country to haul bricks for a living, his presence brought me a sense of reassurance.

At that moment, the pastor, who had been watching me intently, spoke in a calm tone.

"Let's give it a day and see if Jemin's eye can recover. With our ammunition nearly exhausted, it's too dangerous if he can't fight properly. And... everyone's exhausted right now, aren't they?"

Everyone answered his question with silence.

Crossing the Han River under clear daylight, without the fog that weakened the monsters, had been insanity.

Never before had I realized so clearly just how difficult it was to fight those creatures without the fog.

But after reaching the shelter, catching my breath, and letting the Tier-3 spell [Cognitive Dissonance] wear off, the senses that had been running wild began settling down.

And then I noticed something.

Bzzzzzz—

My cursed phone.

Looking at it now, it seemed the thing had been vibrating nonstop in my inner pocket.

My head had been such a mess that I hadn't even felt it.

I reached into my pocket.

The result was unexpected.

Swish.

"Huh?"

My hand passed through empty air where it should have touched.

Startled, I patted my chest and immediately felt something strange.

My hand was landing slightly away from where I thought it should.

There was a subtle disconnect between perception and reality.

That was when Shin Nain, humming to herself, spoke up.

"Yeah, I don't think it'll be easy right away. Jemin still hasn't adapted to judging distance."

"Do you think it'll recover, Jemin?"

It was the first time I'd ever seen Lee Sejun sound genuinely worried.

That annoyed me even more.

After slapping my chest a few more times, I finally got the hang of it.

With more difficulty than expected, I pulled out the cursed phone.

After my thumb missed the screen several times, I managed to check the messages.

[Kang Areum: The people in charge north and south of the river are different.]

[Kang Areum: There are decent people in Gangbuk, but they'll be wary once they learn you're receiving military support. Be careful.]

[Kang Areum: And never stay under direct sunlight for long again. It was seriously dangerous!]

Noona Kang Areum looked like a clean-shaven, square-jawed bodybuilder.

But she really was kindhearted.

I tried replying to her concern, but a poor connection warning appeared and cut off the conversation.

So I checked the anonymous messages instead.

[Five military survivors confirmed crossing the Han River.]

[Interception confirms survivor group name: "Aphorism."]

[Different from the soldiers operating near Line 3.]

[All members strongly suspected to be mages.]

[Observed military activity raises concern that the military may be operating anti-mage kill teams utilizing cooperating mages.]

[Avoid rash contact and meaningless engagements.]

[Confirmed cursed phone belongs to Kim Beom-gi, leader of Jangji District.]

[All direct communication with Kim Beom-gi's cursed phone is prohibited.]

Countless messages scrolled by.

Then one sentence caught my eye.

[Aphorism. The military cannot help you. We will leave the cursed phone active.]

I set the cursed phone down and slid it toward the gathering of Supreme Mages.

It bumped against the pastor's foot with a light thud.

Shin Nain picked it up and read the messages aloud.

After reading everything, the Supreme Mages exchanged glances.

The first to speak was Shin Nain.

"The mention of soldiers near Line 3 suggests they're monitoring that area."

"The most dangerous mage in Gangnam is over there."

Hamza added,

"They may have already clashed."

He was remembering the locations marked by the doctrinal spell [Angel's Intuition] on the map.

Now that our suspicion about the special forces heading toward Line 3 had been confirmed, I could only click my tongue imagining the dangers they might have encountered.

"Good thing we didn't follow them."

While I was feeling relieved, Lee Sejun tilted his head, slow on the uptake as usual.

"More importantly... don't these guys seem aware of us?"

"Sejun. They're openly leaving room for us to defect."

The pastor clicked his tongue and folded his arms.

After several moments of deep thought and a groan of contemplation, he finally spoke.

"These people... so if someone is identified as a mage, they'll still leave room for negotiation even after killing their companions? Doesn't sound like they treat ordinary civilians very well."

We already knew the story hidden within the aura of the Ski-Goggle Mage.

To him, non-mages were future monsters.

Dead weight.

Sacrifices to reduce food consumption.

The real question was whether that mindset was unique to him or common throughout Seoul.

Shin Nain tapped her headset thoughtfully.

"I don't know when that devil-spawn made those comments, but even if Seoul's power grid remained active for humanitarian reasons or facility maintenance, they probably couldn't utilize the situation properly. The government that still existed at the time likely avoided cutting power completely to preserve at least some humanitarian justification."

"After trapping ten million people and shooting them?"

I couldn't help pointing it out.

Shin Nain answered calmly.

"If they'd trapped ten million people and cut the power first, the truth would have been exposed much faster. Anyone would find it suspicious. It likely would have caused more immediate backlash than roadblocks. More importantly, the Threshold Breakthrough happened so suddenly they may not have had time."

"Ahhh..."

"The key point is that even if there are many survivor groups inside Seoul, the total probably doesn't exceed several hundred thousand. The devil's servants are everywhere and hostile. Considering creatures like the teratoma and those tadpole-belly swarms, anyone lacking strong faith can barely operate outside."

What she meant was simple.

In Seoul, survival had become a matter of whether you were a mage or not.

Ordinary people could no longer survive without mages.

And if mages were forced to support people who contributed nothing to survival, how long could that arrangement last before conflict emerged?

"The people operating the cursed phones seem to think ordinary soldiers are useless. But the Crusaders who use Holy War rituals think differently. They know exactly that Crusaders are the most effective and capable fighters against these devilish servants. The issue is that they're hostile toward soldiers even though modern weapons are performing well, yet they show us a contradictory attitude despite us also relying on modern weapons."

The core of Shin Nain's argument was finally taking shape.

Hamza was the first to notice the prejudice underlying it.

Perhaps because he was one of its targets.

"Nain's right. It's like they've already decided modern weapons have limits. Like they're saying, you people won't get any farther than this anyway."

"Come on."

Lee Sejun snorted.

"That's taking it too far. What are they going to do when someone launches a nuke?"

The pastor shrugged.

"Sejun. What if there's a monster that survives a nuclear strike?"

"...Huh?"

"I think I'm starting to understand what these bastards are after. They're similar to those people who profit by spreading fear with the Book of Revelation."

The pastor adjusted his glasses.

"They're forcing a gamble on world leaders."

He continued quietly.

"'A nuke? Go ahead and fire one. But if even a single monster survives, you're finished.'"

His hand trembled slightly.

I thought I understood why.

Fear.

Fear that human civilization would never return to what it was.

Fear that it could never recover.

That fear finally found words.

"Society only functions because everyone assumes the military will hold the line, and if all else fails, nuclear weapons can solve the problem. People take that for granted. The fact that nukes haven't been used yet is what's preventing panic."

"Pastor... so if they actually launch nukes and devastate the Korean Peninsula..."

Lee Sejun's expression hardened as realization dawned.

"...and even then they can't eliminate the monsters..."

The pastor closed his eyes.

"A catastrophic panic would sweep across all of humanity. And after that, it can't be stopped. Society's capacity to function would collapse."

"Vicious bastards."

The pastor rubbed his face.

Silence settled over the room.

The scale of it was so absurd it was difficult to believe.

Yet at the same time, the possibility lingered.

If a monster really survived dozens of hydrogen bombs...

Then humanity truly would be finished.

That was when the cursed phone vibrated again.

Bzzzzzz—

"Dammit. Who now?"

"Jemin."

The pastor tossed the phone back toward me.

"You take a look."

Come to think of it, now wasn't the time to worry about humanity after a nuclear apocalypse.

Honestly, if nukes could solve everything cleanly, what was there to worry about?

Magic would disappear with the blast anyway.

Before a nuke erased magic from existence, I needed to learn at least one more spell.

Thunk!

The cursed phone skipped across the floor like a stone across water and came to rest in front of me.

Clicking my tongue, I picked it up.

Then I saw a familiar name.

[Go Ryeoha: Are those really soldiers over there?]

[Go Ryeoha: Are the five people who crossed the Han River via Olympic Bridge really you guys?]

I—

Baek Jemin, aspiring Odin and future Archmage—

held up the message for the Supreme Mages to see.

Then I said:

"Forget the nukes. Let's eat, drink some water, and go see this friend of ours."