Chapter 74

Why My Heart Doesn't Beat

The life I'd lived wasn't particularly long.

Twenty-eight years old.

Too young to confidently claim I'd discovered some great truth.

Too old to say I knew nothing without people asking what I'd been doing all that time.

And whenever I voiced an opinion, people immediately looked at me through colored glasses.

High-school equivalency diploma.

Company went bankrupt, spent two months unemployed.

An eighth-year reservist dragged in under mobilization orders.

Never scored above 400 on TOEIC.

Driver's license gathering dust in a drawer.

For some reason, those facts alone were enough for people to treat me like non-recyclable trash.

It was infuriating.

But even I could confidently declare one truth.

In twenty-first century society, there is no reward system that compensates suffering one hundred percent.

The idea that rewards arrive in proportion to pain is nothing more than an illusion created by expectation.

Only magic rewards suffering exactly according to what one endures.

Only those willing to tear apart their own flesh while crossing paths with monsters thrashing through the fog are granted the reward called magic.

That was why I'd chosen Goryeoha as my teacher.

If this humiliation, despair, inferiority, and jealousy were all pain on the road toward magic, I could endure them gladly.

Why do people cry when they're hurt?

Because there's no compensation.

If every injury came with a cash payout, people would cry and laugh at the same time.

That was exactly how I felt now.

While every other Supreme Mage sat around looking bored and half-asleep, I alone listened attentively to every word Goryeoha spoke.

"A disciple... that's a little much. Hehe. How about junior instead?"

"As you wish."

"Junior! Ahaha, you seem older than me. Are you really okay with me calling you that?"

"Of course."

I remained kneeling, back straight.

People say learning has no age limit.

What they really mean is that when someone younger knows more than you, you should beg like a dog if that's what it takes to learn.

Of course, while secretly recording every grievance in your heart until you've extracted every last drop of value.

That's how I'd survived in corporate life.

And that's how I intended to survive now.

"This bastard. Wow. You seriously have no pride at all?"

"If a senior mage is willing to teach me, what's wrong with being a junior?"

"Mr. Jemin. You really are insane."

The pastor and Hamza could click their tongues all they wanted.

My posture remained reverent.

If I was going to betray someone later, I could do that later.

When learning, I would show complete respect.

That was Baek Jemin's educational philosophy.

How could scholarship advance if students never dreamed of surpassing their teachers?

Goryeoha merely laughed as she looked down at me.

"Alright, Junior! What do you want to know first?"

"First, I'd like to ask about the magical systems you learned from the Sixty-Six Society. Before that, since I'm the only one who volunteered to become your junior, let's kick everyone else out for a bit."

"Mr. Jemin! Don't tell me you're trying to turn this into a date!"

Ignoring Lee Sejun's horrified outburst, I gestured toward Shin Nain.

As expected, he immediately understood and sent telepathy while pretending to adjust his headset.

'Listening.'

I'm kicking them out.

Go investigate the corpses in the student cafeteria.

Use Eye Tier 1 past-sight if you have to.

Use Ear Tier 3 and talk to the dead.

Take the pastor too.

Let him understand the situation.

'Will that be alright? If the pastor learns the truth, he might not be able to keep acting normally.'

If I'm learning magic, I need to stay attached to Goryeoha anyway.

The pastor would just keep talking about church.

While I gather useful information, you guys should move independently.

Use the pastor's luck.

Prevent emergencies.

Find clues.

'Understood.'

Shin Nain accepted the plan and began whispering.

Lee Sejun and Hamza understood immediately.

Convincing the pastor took longer.

"You want me to leave Baek Jemin alone with Miss Goryeoha? Nain, the more I think about it, the worse that sounds. What did Miss Goryeoha do to deserve that? I feel like I'd be committing a sin."

"Pastor, didn't you think well of Mr. Jemin?"

"No. Absolutely not. The Lord would rebuke me."

"At least give him a chance."

"Haa... alright. Everyone deserves one chance. Lord, please forgive me this once."

Even though I could hear everything from behind me, I remained unmoved.

Once you'd already knelt before someone, remarks like those barely mattered.

Though both members of the Christian duo earned very large entries in my personal grudge notebook.

In any case, Operation Blue Pill was now Shin Nain's responsibility.

Rising to his feet with the others, he smiled politely at Goryeoha.

"We'd rather not hear this due to religious and personal reasons. We'll go meet the other survivors."

"Uh... really? Are you sure? You're wearing military uniforms... maybe just stay and listen?"

"No. The survivors should spend some time praying with the pastor."

"Then I'll come too!"

The bomb was trying to follow them.

I narrowed my eyes.

She clearly didn't want us realizing the survivors were dead.

She feared we'd swallow the red pill.

An unconscious defensive reaction.

I immediately stood and blocked her path.

"Eh?!"

"Miss Goryeoha. You seem strangely determined to keep us away from the survivors. Is there something you don't want us to know?"

"N-No... it's not that..."

"Then let's talk about magic."

At that moment, Shin Nain led the others out of the laboratory.

The die had been cast.

Goryeoha's eyes trembled briefly.

Then she suddenly smiled brightly and nodded.

"Hmph. Don't blame me later if someone punches you for wearing that uniform."

Only then did I relax.

Good.

At least I didn't have to worry about Shin Nain or Lee Sejun surpassing my magical level.

***

While the other Supreme Mages investigated the corpses beneath the student union building, I gathered valuable information from Goryeoha.

As a survivor leader who'd interacted directly with the Sixty-Six Society, she knew far more than Sister Kang Areum.

The Sixty-Six Society.

Magic systems.

Unknown monsters.

To summarize what Goryeoha told me:

First: The Sixty-Six Society

"The Sixty-Six Society appeared after the military collapsed and monsters began rampaging everywhere. They distributed knowledge to survivors for free. I met them around January 9th. They knew an incredible amount about magic, mysticism, and spellcraft. They helped me a lot."

Outside Seoul, the moment when the government lost control over the monsters became known as Threshold Break.

Three days later, mysterious figures began appearing among terrified survivors hiding from monsters.

These individuals showed magical characters hidden within the fog and taught knowledge only to those capable of awakening magic.

They never gave names.

Only incantations.

Goryeoha had been one of the survivors they approached.

Early in the disaster, the Konkuk University survivor group had rapidly grown to nearly two hundred fifty people.

It was impossible for the Society to overlook them.

After promising aid, the Society shared immense amounts of knowledge.

Goryeoha still remembered being astonished by Society members carrying several hundred kilograms of supplies as though they weighed nothing.

Given the destroyed roads and military sabotage, only Heart-lineage mages possessed the strength to move supplies on that scale.

That was also when she first learned about their incantations.

"'Sixty-Six to create Seven. Fifty-Five to complete Sixty-Six. Humanity seeking Fifty-Five.' That's one of their incantations. Sort of a password."

"It differs slightly from what I've heard."

"Yep! Apparently it changes based on rank within the Society. I never got very close to them though. They always felt creepy."

The details differed slightly from what I'd heard, but the overall structure matched.

After establishing contact, the Society began gathering scattered survivors into their own strongholds.

They converted dead smartphones into cursed phones and distributed them among survivor groups.

From that point onward, survival rates within Seoul increased dramatically.

According to Goryeoha, this happened around January 23rd.

"They're gloomy people, but not bad. They stopped looting and murder. They helped people awaken as mages. They shared mystical knowledge freely. Of course, there was always the condition that you cooperate with the Society. But honestly? With the military gone, who would refuse?"

"Did they hunt soldiers?"

"Actually... they were more likely to rescue surviving soldiers. Other mages and civilians often tried to find soldiers first and kill them before the Society could."

That detail was extraordinarily important.

Had I misunderstood the Society's relationship with the military?

Maybe.

But I shook my head.

Absorbing surviving soldiers into the Society would've served their interests too.

After all, the Society was clearly trying to breach the quarantine line around Seoul.

If they truly cooperated with the military, the cursed phones would've never warned people that the military couldn't save them.

And they would've openly shared information.

Especially given their communication capabilities.

No.

The Sixty-Six Society was deliberately withholding information.

Unfortunately, Goryeoha's last contact with them had been nearly two months ago.

And she insisted she wasn't deeply involved.

That was all she knew.

Second: Magic Systems

Goryeoha raised her glove and waved it gently.

The dark-red glove intertwined with five-colored threads looked deeply strange.

She pointed at it proudly.

"This is called Fire-Marquis Hand. I made it using knowledge from the Society."

"Is that spellcraft, Master?"

"Ahaha! Senior is fine! And... yes. This is what the Society calls spellcraft."

"The Society calls it that?"

I leaned forward.

Every fiber of my being focused on her next words.

"Yes! Most of the information about magic inside Seoul came from what the 66 Society told us..."

Go Ryeoha chattered away while lowering the hand wearing the Fire Virtue Hand.

Based on what I had analyzed from listening to her, the Society's transmission of knowledge was thoroughly divided by rank.

Access to knowledge varied depending on one's position within the group and level of cooperation with the Society, and it seemed that Go Ryeoha, who had led the Konkuk University campus, had been regarded as holding a fairly high position among them. On top of that, she had originally been a shamanic spirit-medium, something that was apparently highly valued, making it obvious she had been granted related occult knowledge.

Thanks to that, I was able to learn in detail about magical systems such as Alteration-Type and Ritual-Type magic, whose existence I hadn't even known about outside Seoul.

"Sunbae, listen carefully. Every mystical tradition, ritual, curse, and form of magic requires a price. Orthodoxy follows the law of equivalent exchange!"

"I've heard of equivalent exchange before."

"If you know that, it's easy!"

Even though much of Go Ryeoha's knowledge aligned with my own theories, there were plenty of crucial differences.

Overall, the details she knew were far more comprehensive and internally consistent.

To summarize:

"Curse-Type magic is something anyone can perform if they possess the knowledge, offerings, and inspiration. Take this Fire Virtue Hand, for example. First, you align the Five Elements attributes of your internal organs, weave a circuit on the glove using five-colored threads, then borrow the name and power of Hwadeok Jingun, our people's traditional deity of fire, to control flames. After that, you launch chunks of metal like lead pellets or beads, which belong to the opposing Metal element. Sulfur-based talismans are used as well. It's similar to the principles behind firearms, but it utilizes the mutual overcoming cycle of the Five Elements, and since the necessary materials can be supplied through Alteration-Type magic, it's easy to maintain."

"Ah, cut, cut! I know you want to show off, but let me organize things first!"

"Ah... Hehehe."

As Go Ryeoha smiled bashfully with her eyes, I clicked my tongue and quickly organized the information.

The magical systems revealed by the 66 Society were broadly divided into four categories. Since their activation principles and developmental paths were entirely different, they were classified by type.

These four types formed the most fundamental framework that defined magic.

1. Curse-Type

These were the traditional occult practices everyone was familiar with.

By combining mystical knowledge—such as drawing magic circles or matching ritual timings—with the offerings required by the practitioner, one could bring about the desired effect.

Talismans, tarot cards, pentagram necklaces, and similar objects were products of the Curse-Type system. The 66 Society wielded a remarkably diverse and practical range of Curse-Type magic based on their extensive occult knowledge.

Items created through Curse-Type magic were classified as cursed objects and guaranteed consistent performance regardless of the practitioner's level or magical specialization.

The Fire Virtue Hand Go Ryeoha wore—the glove that launched projectiles through firepower—was also a product of Curse-Type magic and therefore qualified as a cursed object.

2. Doctrine-Type

This was the type of magic I had suspected drew upon religious faith and worldviews.

Originally, I had believed human belief functioned as a sort of lens, but the detailed explanation I learned through Go Ryeoha was much more specific.

"If it's not a response to prayers from some transcendent being, and not an individual's faith taking shape, then what exactly is it?"

"The spiritual energy accumulated by people who believed in and followed a worldview systematized and established under the name of religion. Hmm... It's complicated. To put it simply, it's like borrowing power from the beliefs dead people held about the afterlife. That's why it's called Doctrine-Type, not Religion-Type."

The Society's explanation wasn't too different from my own assumptions.

According to Go Ryeoha, even within the 66 Society, the terms Doctrine-Type and Afterlife-Type were sometimes used interchangeably, though Doctrine-Type was the more common term.

For example:

A Hindu could only use the accumulated power left behind by people who believed in the Hindu worldview. Through the practitioner, that power would influence reality and manifest in a Hindu-style Doctrine-Type form.

Naturally, because spiritual energy had to accumulate through deceased believers, relatively young religions or faiths with too few followers couldn't develop their own independent Doctrine-Type system and instead had to borrow from similar ones.

This led to a fundamental difference between monotheistic and polytheistic Doctrine-Type magic.

Exclusive monotheistic faiths produced extremely powerful Doctrine-Type magic, but severely restricted the user's ability to practice other forms of magic.

The reason was simple:

If one truly believed miracles could only occur through a single god, attempting to create miracles through any other method would utterly shatter one's perception of reality.

To compensate for that, one had to accept other mystical traditions, but doing so would make them an undeniable heretic in the eyes of orthodox religious institutions.

As a result, clergy who wished to use other forms of magic had to accept that they could never return to orthodoxy.

Surprisingly, there were even Doctrine-Type systems that denied the existence of an afterlife.

"Materialists, I think they're called? Things like Soviet atheism. I don't know the details, but I've heard they have a Doctrine-Type too."

"Does it actually do anything?"

"Nothing too amazing. Umm... Machines don't break down as easily, firearms almost never jam, and guns hurt more when they shoot people. That's what a monk from the Society told me while laughing."

"Guns hurt more?"

Wasn't that ridiculously overpowered???

You deny the afterlife and salvation, and in exchange you get super-painful bullets?

...Come to think of it, maybe it wasn't that great.

Accepting the nihilistic truth that death was the end and getting nothing more than stronger bullets did sound pretty underwhelming.

3. Ritual-Type

According to Go Ryeoha, even the 66 Society hadn't properly explained this one.

The only thing they said was that it was extremely dangerous, that people should avoid touching it whenever possible, and that if someone ended up wielding Ritual-Type magic, it meant they had already paid a tremendous price.

So whenever they used it, they should be prepared to kill their target.

4. Alteration-Type

The 66 Society had remained mostly silent regarding Alteration-Type magic as well, and Go Ryeoha actually seemed apologetic about not knowing more.

"But I'll tell you about the magic I use instead! And some miscellaneous trivia while we're at it. Come to think of it, what stage are you at, Sunbae?"

"Eye, Stage 3."

"Ooh! Eye magic! That's insanely overpowered!"

"Hand, Stage 2. Ear, Stage 1."

"...What?"

"And Tongue, Stage 2. All Orthodox."

For a moment, Go Ryeoha and I simply stared at each other.

Both of us blinking slowly.

Then she spoke first.

"Eye Stage 3, Hand Stage 2, Ear Stage 1, Tongue Stage 2... That's four lineages."

"Yes. Four lineages."

Tsk.

There it was.

The kind of deception only a magic aristocrat could pull off!

Someone with Doctrine-Type magic, Curse-Type magic, a Heart lineage, and even a Stage 4 Hand lineage making such a fuss over four lineages irritated me.

Instead of making a scene, she should've just spit out the information she knew.

"My goodness. So that's why."

Go Ryeoha covered her mouth with both hands and widened her eyes.

"Why?"

"You were wearing military gear and even received air support, yet neither the 66 Society nor the civilians had any reason to keep you alive. Normally!"

"Then are you saying there's another reason?"

As I glared at her with naturally sharpened eyes, she suddenly began hopping around me excitedly.

"Of course!!! There are barely any four-lineage people even inside the 66 Society! The highest-ranking executive I've seen only had three!"

"Eyes. Human cognition and distortion. The fact that your Eye lineage is the highest means your perception and sensory abilities are naturally exceptional."

"Hmph. Then what about Ears, Hands, and Tongue?"

"Hands manifest when intellectual ability is exceptional, Tongue when adaptability is outstanding, and Ears when someone possesses unwavering conviction in their future! That's usually how Alteration-Type humanity manifests."

Did she think flattery that couldn't even be verified would move the iron resolve of this man, Baek Jemin?

I folded my arms and listened silently with the dignity of Mount Taishan.

"Alteration-Type magic follows personal aptitude. And that aptitude is often directly tied to the practitioner's life. If you think about the human qualities represented by each lineage, Sunbae, you have incredible potential!"

Go Ryeoha continued rambling excitedly, folding down her fingers one by one.

In the end, I couldn't hide the corners of my mouth from rising and had to uncross my arms.

Go Ryeoha.

No wonder Lee Sejun considered her dangerous.

Her silver tongue was no joke.

Acknowledging her eloquence, I lowered my arms and asked the question that mattered most to me.

"Then can you tell me why I still haven't obtained Heart, Teacher?"

That's right.

The final piece needed to complete the great archmage Baek Jemin.

...

If I could just get Heart, I wouldn't have to put up with Lee Sejun's nonsense anymore.

I, Baek Jemin, could handle everything myself.

So why?

Why was obtaining Heart magic so painfully slow and difficult?

Faced with my question, filled to the brim with resentment, Go Ryeoha looked troubled for the first time.

"Ahaha... That's probably..."

"Probably?!"

I raised my voice, demanding a definite answer.

Go Ryeoha surrendered.

Letting out a weak laugh, she slowly turned her head away and said:

"You don't seem like the type who exercises regularly..."

...

At that moment, footsteps sounded beyond the door again.

The Pastor, Shin Nain, Lee Sejun, and Hamza had returned.

"We're back. They all seem like good people."

Smiling calmly as he approached Go Ryeoha, he truly looked every bit the church boy.

I quietly passed the baton and moved to stand beside the Pastor.

The Pastor was staring at Go Ryeoha with an expression I couldn't even begin to describe.

Normally he'd be calling her a heretic or a demon, yet now his eyes were glistening with sympathy.

It felt completely unnatural.

While Shin Nain activated Church Boy Mode and dealt with Go Ryeoha,

we Supreme Mages gathered together and talked.

"Did you hear the story?"

"Sigh... Poor Ryeoha... Yes. I heard it. That young girl..."

"Pastor, what if Lee Sejun had done what Go Ryeoha did instead?"

"A grimy soldier protecting people is only natural! If he loses his head over that, what good is he?!"

I could feel Lee Sejun's gaze burning with rage, but I felt reassured.

That trash-tier statement.

Yep. That was definitely our Pastor.

"So what happened?"

"Two months ago, word spread among the survivors about the blockade. Ms. Ryeoha tried to convince everyone to keep holding on and not leave..."

When Hamza couldn't continue, Lee Sejun spoke calmly.

"A rumor spread that there were soldiers among the survivors. Ms. Ryeoha tried to prevent internal conflict by keeping their identities hidden. She even made sure nobody took off their hats because shaved heads could give them away."

"..."

"So while Ms. Ryeoha wasn't watching, the civilians took poison."

"Poison?"

"They said if they couldn't know who the soldiers were, then everyone should die together."

After hearing the truth about the Konkuk University survivor group, I couldn't speak for a while.

Could that drive someone insane?

Maybe.

But there was a more important issue.

I quietly discussed Go Ryeoha's value with the Supreme Mages.

"She knows a lot. An unbelievable amount. I've only talked to her briefly, but I've already learned a great deal."

"Baek Jemin, what are you suggesting?"

"I'd love to stay a few days, squeeze every bit of information out of her, and then leave. The problem is that if we do that, I don't think the military will risk any more than they already have to rescue us."

They couldn't simply ignore survivors like us who had returned with valuable information, but if they couldn't cross-check our claims through Go Ryeoha, they would continue viewing us with suspicion.

We needed to understand the military's intentions.

Whether we liked it or not, the military was the only force inside Seoul with both the will and capability to get us out.

And to do that...

We needed to use the radio hidden beneath the cloth behind the workbench.

"Let's persuade them somehow and establish contact."

The Supreme Mages and the world outside Seoul.

It was time to reconnect the two sides that had grown apart.