Chapter 52

An Acquaintance Worth a Bowl of Ramen

Up until now, we'd believed the fog created the monsters.

We saw it as a kind of field effect—something that disrupted modern weapons and common sense while creating ideal hunting conditions for monsters.

And honestly, that belief wasn't unreasonable.

Humanity had spent most of its history fighting wars.

World peace?

Humanity probably hadn't gone a full century without major conflict. Africa and the Middle East were still part of humanity too.

In any case, we all carried a certain pride in mankind's long history of warfare.

A twisted sort of human supremacy.

The belief that if not for that damned fog, humanity's firepower would flatten everything.

But Kang Areum was telling us something entirely different.

The sharp-jawed Seoul Mage tapped her chest in frustration.

"Have you never felt something watching you from inside the fog?"

"The pale yellow gaze? The thing that seems to swim through it?"

"Swimming..."

A bitter smile crossed her face.

"That's a good way to describe it."

She opened her notebook and placed it on the car hood.

Then tapped a page with her finger.

The gesture was so blatant that all five Archmages exchanged glances.

A silent conversation passed between us.

Read it?

Why?

You don't want information?

This feels suspicious.

What if she's lying?

The eye-contact debate seemed destined to continue forever.

Naturally, I stepped forward to resolve it.

"Ack! Mr. Je-min, why are you pushing me?"

"Se-jun, you read it."

"Absolutely not!"

Lee Se-jun resisted so fiercely that I ended up examining it myself.

Kang Areum crossed her arms and looked at us with utter disappointment.

Then she laughed.

"You guys are kind of adorable."

"Let's start with the pale yellow gaze and the fog."

The moment I looked through the notebook, that became my first question.

Because the notebook contained an astonishing amount of information.

Among it was a theory regarding the true origin of monsters.

I pointed at the relevant passage.

"Ordinary people begin mutating the moment they're exposed to the pale yellow gaze?"

"Yeah."

Kang Areum nodded.

"It's the strongest mutation factor we've identified."

She met my gaze directly.

And from the look on her face, she clearly knew how valuable this information was.

Shin Na-in looked openly suspicious.

Lee Se-jun yawned and pretended not to care.

The pastor and Hamza, however, understood immediately how important this was.

Their eyes were practically shining.

Only after seeing our reactions did Kang Areum seem satisfied.

Resting one hand on her hip, she began explaining.

"People who survived the early stages of the disaster—or who never figured things out properly—assumed life became easier when the fog thinned."

She laughed.

"They thought they'd have an easier time avoiding monsters."

Then her expression hardened.

"They had cause and effect backwards."

***

According to Kang Areum, opinions among the Seoul Mages differed wildly regarding what had happened to the city.

But there was one point almost everyone agreed on.

The pale yellow gaze was either the cause of mutation...

...or at least one of the most important factors.

The Pale Yellow Gaze.

Scattered throughout Seoul were colossal entities that had built nests somewhere in the city.

Exposure to their gaze triggered mutation.

The gaze appeared on the night before the fog thinned.

During periods of dense fog, the creatures supposedly remained hidden within their nests.

If the pale yellow gaze found you, hiding inside a building wasn't enough.

It pierced fog.

It pierced walls.

It pierced human structures.

Only those who had learned magic could survive direct exposure.

They would suffer severe side effects.

Nausea.

Mental trauma.

Temporary impairment.

But they wouldn't begin mutating.

Nor would they become infected.

More importantly, magic users could actually hide from the gaze.

Ordinary humans couldn't.

The moment an ordinary person was exposed, mutation began.

The speed varied.

The outcome didn't.

Whether they realized it or not, they had already become incubators for monsters.

Or future monsters themselves.

Because of that, most ordinary survivors lived underground.

And even mages spent the majority of their time below ground whenever possible.

Kang Areum shrugged.

"We still don't know whether the creature moves because the fog is about to thin..."

"Or whether the fog thins because it moves."

She looked thoughtful.

"We call it different things."

"The Searchlight."

"The Lighthouse."

"..."

"Special forces got deployed?"

Kang Areum laughed.

Not because it was funny.

Because it was hopeless.

"Even if the best soldiers in the world came here, exposure to the gaze would end them."

She looked directly at us.

"The only people with a chance of surviving Seoul are mages."

Then she added:

"Or people hiding behind mages."

Her voice was completely serious.

"If those special forces knew about the gaze and stayed underground, maybe."

"If they had hidden mages among them, maybe."

"But if they were exposed..."

She paused.

"...then there are probably monsters wearing special-forces uniforms walking around Seoul right now."

***

The rules of Seoul were brutal.

But simple.

Mage? Live.

Non-mage? Die.

I honestly couldn't think of a place more biased toward mages.

I finally asked the question bothering me.

"How do you know monsters get weaker in the fog?"

"Because it happens regularly."

Kang Areum answered immediately.

"The thinning cycle comes every so often."

"Usually around three days."

"The third day is the worst."

She leaned against the car.

"By the third day, Mimic Trees stop bothering with fake disguises."

"They stop pretending."

"They just hunt."

According to her, their senses became dramatically stronger.

Their eyesight improved.

Their hearing improved.

They actively pursued ordinary humans.

The Human Slimes became more active as well.

"Imagine a slug dried out by salt suddenly recovering."

"That's what it's like."

****

"Wait."

I returned to the others.

The information was too important.

Too shocking.

Too different from everything we'd believed.

And Kang Areum was giving it away far too easily.

We needed to discuss it.

"Do you think she's telling the truth?"

The pastor clicked his tongue.

"I don't know."

He looked troubled.

"It's completely different from everything we've assumed."

The possibility that she was lying clearly hadn't escaped him.

Shin Na-in felt the same.

"Mr. Je-min."

Her eyes narrowed.

"She's an Ear Stage 2 Mage."

"And?"

"If someone whose intentions we can't fully read offers more goodwill than we're paying for..."

She paused.

"...we should be suspicious."

"What are you getting at?"

"She isn't a Christian."

I stared at her.

She stared back.

"As a faithful Christian, I am naturally more trustworthy."

"..."

God help me.

I immediately gave up and turned toward Lee Se-jun and Hamza instead.

Lee Se-jun looked deeply offended.

"She calls me an old man."

"She called you an old man because you look like one."

"I'm twenty-four."

No one replied.

Eventually I asked Hamza.

"What do you think?"

"She isn't dangerous."

He hesitated.

"But I don't know if she's telling the truth."

Fair enough.

His magic detected danger.

Not honesty.

Still, learning that she wasn't dangerous had value.

At the very least, her information could serve as a reference point for future verification.

So I opened my backpack and pulled out a bundle of military vouchers.

"Here."

Kang Areum accepted them suspiciously.

"What are these?"

"Military scrip."

I shrugged.

"Did you really think Korean currency would keep its value after Seoul fell?"

She blinked.

"We left after the stock market triggered emergency circuit breakers."

"If civilians want evacuation tickets through the second containment line, they need these."

I pointed at the vouchers.

"One hundred per person."

"Equivalent to about a hundred days of labor."

"We brought extras for cooperative survivors."

Kang Areum stared.

"Seriously?"

"The economy's that wrecked?"

I looked around.

Honestly, I didn't know much more myself.

Fortunately, Hamza answered.

"After the exchange rate passed three thousand won per dollar, the news basically stopped reporting it."

He adjusted his backpack straps.

"Most exchange services stopped functioning too."

"The real exchange rate is probably even worse."

Kang Areum looked genuinely confused.

"That's considered collapsed?"

I couldn't help shrugging.

Big numbers sounded impressive.

Maybe Korea was doing fine after all.

***

In the end, we explained our situation honestly.

"We'll take your information seriously."

I looked at her directly.

"But please understand that we need to be cautious."

"We only entered Seoul recently."

Kang Areum sighed.

"Fair enough."

She leaned back against the vehicle.

"If everyone outside thinks the fog comes first, I can see why."

Then she smiled bitterly.

"Whatever."

"If we're all doomed together, I guess it doesn't matter."

Ultimately, the Archmages decided not to immediately accept Kang Areum's information as absolute truth.

The information was too important.

Too world-shattering.

Before treating it as fact, we'd need confirmation from other survivors.

For now, we'd file it away as our first major piece of local intelligence.

And wait to see whether Seoul itself agreed with Kang Areum's version of the truth.

Instead, we told her about our goal of crossing the Han River and showed her the route we had planned, hoping to get advice from a local like Kang Areum.

When she heard our objective, she slowly nodded.

"Crossing the Han River. Mm."

"Yeah. We were planning to follow Line 8's railway tracks."

"Are you people insane?"

Kang Areum stared at us blankly, walked over to a car trunk, pulled out a map, and spread it across the hood.

For someone focused on long-term survival, she seemed surprisingly attentive to hygiene—her hands were clean.

More importantly, however, she pointed directly to the middle of the Line 8 route we intended to follow.

"Seokchon Lake."

Her finger slid further.

"Then Lotte Tower."

"Oh, nice. They say it's one of Seoul's landmarks. Guess I'll finally get to see it."

Lee Se-jun grinned faintly.

Then Kang Areum dropped a bombshell.

"Lotte Tower is where the Pale Yellow Gaze nests."

April 17, 2028 — 6:24 PM

The Archmages decided to spend one night at Kang Areum's hideout.

Friendly local survivors were rare.

Safe shelters were even rarer.

We also needed a place where we could genuinely relax and reorganize.

There was probably no better opportunity.

In this damned Seoul, where every time you closed your eyes it felt like something was trying to suck your brains out, hospitality like this was almost miraculous.

And this was where Hamza's background as a Pakistani medical student unexpectedly proved useful.

Granted, he was studying surgery.

Still, that made him more qualified than most quacks.

And Hamza had brought something none of us had even considered.

Something every stranded woman in Seoul had probably been desperately missing.

When he pulled it from his backpack, Kang Areum visibly choked up.

The item was...

Pads.

"Sanitary pads? You brought these?"

"Women live in Seoul too."

Hamza shrugged.

"If they've been isolated and unable to move around freely, high-quality sanitary products would be valuable."

Then he handed them over.

"Take them. A gift between friends."

Kang Areum stared.

Then smiled.

"You guys are genuinely good people."

"Hard to find those in Seoul."

Meanwhile, the other four of us had removed our gas masks and were cleaning our firearms, scraping carbon residue from the mechanisms while watching the scene unfold.

Even the pastor seemed impressed.

Though he pouted slightly.

"The Muslim prepared more thoroughly than expected."

He sighed.

"Whether that's fortunate or not, I'm not sure."

I watched Hamza and reflected on my own life.

"So this is the level of preparation needed to date women?"

Shin Na-in immediately snorted.

"If you tried it, Mr. Je-min, you'd start your story in prison."

"You'd awaken Holy War Magic and get released through a plea bargain before being drafted into the First Containment Line as a specialist."

"Truly no destiny..."

Even while joking around, we didn't neglect important work.

I marked a magazine with tape and began enhancing ammunition.

One bullet at a time.

I drew my combat knife.

Closed my eyes.

Then pricked my right index finger.

Blood welled up.

I smeared it onto individual rounds.

The sting crawled up my fingertip.

Goosebumps spread across my skin.

I endured it.

Because this was my secret weapon.

A way to kill monsters with fewer shots.

Afterward, I loaded the enhanced rounds back into the marked magazine.

While working, we discussed the route.

"If we follow the tracks, we pass Seokchon Lake and approach Lotte Tower."

I looked around.

"The nest of the Pale Yellow Gaze."

"Do we still go?"

"There are pros and cons."

Lee Se-jun actually offered a serious opinion for once.

"The advantage is that we're moving near the Pale Yellow Gaze's territory."

He tapped the map.

"Hostile mages probably avoid the area."

"We still don't know what kinds of abilities exist out there. Avoiding human enemies could be a major benefit."

"The downside is obvious."

The pastor nodded while assembling his K2 almost entirely through muscle memory.

"People are just as dangerous as monsters."

He tightened a pin into place.

"In a place like this, it's hard to preserve your faith."

Then his expression darkened.

"Still."

"Considering that creature..."

"We should at least consider a detour."

He raised a stained hand.

"Fighting monsters isn't worthless."

"We gain things from combat."

"But it carries enormous risks."

"And ammunition isn't free."

At that point Shin Na-in completed a chamber check.

Clack.

Then pointed to another section of the map.

"There's an alternative."

"If we turn right at Garak Market Station and head toward Olympic Park..."

His finger traced the route.

"...we can avoid the nest."

"We'd lose access to Jamsil Bridge and have to use Olympic-daero instead."

"It'll take longer."

The pastor sighed.

"Wasting time isn't ideal."

"But we may not have a choice."

"May God watch over us."

And so the route changed.

At the enormous intersection where Songpa-daero and Yangjae-daero crossed, we'd turn right and head toward Olympic Park.

The plan was simple:

• Use my Tongue Stage 1 and Eye Stage 1 combination to scout ahead.
• Maintain direction with long-range observation.
• Avoid Skin Jellyfish swarms through side streets.
• Use major roads whenever possible to reduce exhaustion.

Naturally, this plan required sacrifice.

Specifically, my sacrifice.

I had to buff one magazine per person using blood from my right hand.

After that, I had to stab my left index finger as well.

Because every gas mask needed a Hand Stage 2 enchantment.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

Poke.

A sharp sting.

The cold stares around me intensified.

Especially from Lee Se-jun.

"Hurry up and stab it."

He rolled his eyes.

"Why do you become a coward at times like this?"

"My precious left hand..."

I looked mournfully at my finger.

"The same hand carrying Eye Stage 2 magic..."

"My sacred magical staff..."

"...reduced to this."

Even so, I endured.

One prick after another.

Then used the blood to inscribe Purification onto everyone's gas mask.

Sooner or later we'd encounter toxic environments.

Filters alone weren't enough.

Learning new magical symbols would have to wait until we found another secure hideout after the fog thickened again.

Still.

I felt it.

A strange certainty.

I was close to learning another one.

When I said that aloud, everyone treated me like a lunatic.

Everyone except Kang Areum.

While carefully storing away the sanitary pads Hamza had gifted her, she nodded.

"There is a rumor."

"The more monsters you kill, the faster your magic seals awaken."

She shrugged.

"Could just be propaganda from people who want others to fight monsters."

"But killing monsters rarely hurts."

My eyes lit up.

"Seoul is an incredible grinding spot."

Beat stronger mages?

Level up.

Kill monsters?

Level up.

Wasn't this basically heaven for mages?

Why leave?

When the fog thickened, even I could go on monster-killing sprees with magic.

Kang Areum stared at me.

Then looked toward the others.

"Was he always like this?"

"He came here because he wanted to learn magic."

Lee Se-jun answered calmly.

Kang Areum sighed deeply.

"If you'd been born in Seoul..."

She shook her head.

"You would've become a Reverse Modified Mage."

April 18, 2028 — 5:48 AM

Dawn arrived.

The fog had turned gray.

That meant morning.

The previous night we'd shared steaming bowls of Spam ramen together for the first time in ages.

As a result, everyone's spirits seemed noticeably higher.

We brushed our teeth with salt.

Put our gas masks back on.

And began packing.

Time to leave.

Nobody said it aloud.

But everyone knew.

Even Kang Areum was gathering her things.

"Why are you packing too?"

She looked at me as if the answer were obvious.

"Because my location can now be traced through the curse phone."

Then she shrugged.

"Anyone surviving in Seoul needs at least two hideouts."

"If a Reverse Modified Mage finds one, you're finished."

The garage shutter finally opened.

Dense fog greeted us.

Visibility: ten meters.

Perfect conditions for magic.

At that exact moment my black-and-blue phone vibrated.

[Fog Dense. Outdoor Activity Recommended.]

I checked the message and slipped the phone back into my chest pocket.

Then Kang Areum approached me alone.

She lowered her voice.

"Hey."

"The pastor and the foreign student."

"They're Doctrine-Type Mages, right?"

"Yeah."

Her expression turned serious.

"Tell them to be careful."

"Doctrine Magic is different from Modified Magic."

"That makes them targets."

"Why?"

"I don't know."

She shook her head.

"I just know they attract attention."

Then she turned away.

Whether it was valuable intelligence or meaningless speculation, I couldn't tell.

But she'd shared a meal with us.

A bowl of ramen was enough of a connection.

I didn't want to part without saying anything.

So I waved.

"Let's survive and meet again."

"Sure."

Without turning around, Kang Areum lifted one hand and waved back.

Then she disappeared into the darkness beyond the garage.

The shutter descended.

Separating us once again.

It was inevitable.

The Archmages needed to cross the Han River.

Kang Areum needed to survive Seoul.

The others watched me return but said nothing.

Only the pastor met my gaze.

Determination shone through the lenses of his gas mask.

"Let's go."

We were still in hell.

We were still Archmages.

And with every step we took into the fog, our destination became clearer.

We were moving toward the truth.

Though some might call it hell instead.

April 18, 2028 — 5:50 AM
Exploration Day 4.