“Good work. The ranking assessment and clearing of all new Gates in Seoul are complete.”
Sinhyeok let out a sigh of relief at the Capital Defense Command commander’s words and stopped making Observers.
“That’s remarkable. To think it lets you sense things from a distance.”
“Then I’ll rest for a moment. My head is ringing too much.”
“Sure.”
When he stepped outside, Arin and Ichan were checking and sorting the materials needed to make Observers.
“Stop. They said Seoul is all done.”
“Ah, dammit.”
The two flopped down on the floor.
“Sleepy.”
Ichan leaned against Sinhyeok with a blank face,
and Baek Arin also let out a long yawn, leaning on Ichan’s shoulder.
“Move it.”
Ichan glared at Arin with an annoyed expression.
“Stay still before I shut your mouth for good. Noona is pretty tired right now.”
As a flicker of killing intent flashed, Ichan quietly shut his mouth.
“Hmph.”
Sinhyeok thought of his integrated skill and grabbed his head, massaging it.
“It doesn’t even use mana, which is nice, but my head hurts too much.”
[You have expended excessive Mental Power.]
[Sufficient rest is recommended for the recovery of a sound mind and soul.]
‘I should do that.’
“Hyung, that’s a total cheat skill. It melts anything, synthesizes anything, and even makes all sorts of weird stuff.”
“Haaaahm. Yeah, yeah, I’m a cheat. So what.”
He leaned his head against the wall, hoping the throbbing headache would disappear.
“My head fucking hurts. It feels like someone’s beating my brain with both hands right now? So shut it.”
The three sat in a row in the hallway—one resting with his eyes open, the two asleep—so everyone walked past with a smile.
“You’ll get crooked mouths if you sleep on the floor, you brats.”
Arin and Ichan couldn’t even wake up, and Sinhyeok, who was at least keeping his eyes open, turned to look aside.
“Ueh……?”
Sinhyeok, not in his right mind, responded with nonsense.
Operations Officer Major Baek Seokhun let out a hollow laugh.
“You’re completely out of it, huh? How many is this?”
He waved two fingers.
Sinhyeok smirked and answered.
Struggling to hold his blurred vision together, he barely managed to speak.
“……Five.”
“Sleep more.”
Major Baek Seokhun decided to just leave him be in his clearly unhinged mental state.
“Has the battalion commander arrived?”
“No, he’s currently raiding one. Rest a bit. We have to finish the Gyeonggi district too.”
At those words, Sinhyeok squeezed his eyes shut.
“Goddammit.”
The operations officer entered the command and control room with a smile.
“Attention. Operations Officer Major Baek Seokhun of Hongik.”
“Right. Long time no see. But where did I Gangyeol go?”
Major Baek Seokhun said while fiddling with an Observer he had been briefed on beforehand.
“He has entered a Gate. I came to report. Hongik will handle the Gates according to our own standards.”
The commander put on a troubled expression.
“There should be assigned priorities, shouldn’t there?”
Major Baek Seokhun smiled, put the Observer away, and stored it.
“Commander, we are an independent unit. The only superior authority who may issue orders to us is the Army Chief of Staff. This operation is merely a cooperative request from the Capital Defense Command.”
He drew a clear line and flashed a bright smile.
“I’ll head out. I’m taking the kids outside.”
The commander looked at the man who was nothing if not brazen, practically mad.
“Man, kids these days are bold. Not like us, right?”
The staff officers around him kept their mouths shut.
“I envy them. Being able to live by their convictions and beliefs.”
The commander gave orders to the silent staff officers.
“The Awakeners under Capital Defense Command will process the Gates in priority order. We should at least pretend to follow orders.”
* * *
Rustle.
Sinhyeok, who had fallen asleep at some point, twisted his body.
“Awake?”
When he lifted his eyelids, Major Baek Seokhun had stuffed the three of them into a car.
“Aaah.”
Even after opening his eyes, Sinhyeok grimaced at the throbbing headache.
[Your Mental Power has been critically depleted.]
[Sufficient rest is strongly recommended.]
“Sir, do you know anything good for Mental Power? My head feels like it’s going to crack right now.”
The major thought for a moment and said one thing.
“Try drinking a blue potion. Don’t you have the highest grade? It should help a bit.”
At his words, Sinhyeok checked if he had any left in his inventory, found nothing, and hurriedly took out a blue magic herb.
He put it in his canteen and shook it urgently.
[Attempting Potion Synthesis.]
[Success cannot be guaranteed due to depleted Mental Power.]
“Ugh! My head!”
“Tsk.”
[Synthesis successful.]
[Due to Mental Power usage beyond your limits, your Mental Power has partially increased.]
Glug, glug.
He chugged it like crazy and felt somewhat better.
“Ah. I think I’ll live.”
Sinhyeok rested his head against the window and gazed outside with vacant eyes.
“But where are we?”
“Somewhere in Gyeonggi-do? I don’t know. We just came wherever.”
“It’s not even a kidnapping, seriously.”
He stopped sightseeing and pressed his still-throbbing forehead against the cold glass.
“We have to sweep the Gyeonggi district too, right?”
“Aah, th-that, use that. You have plenty in stock, don’t you?”
He raised his head in a hurry and checked the number of Observers.
Major Baek Seokhun was snickering.
“Ah, come on.”
“Ahem, rest more. Thanks to you, most of the sweeping is being handled.”
Sinhyeok opened the car door with his foot and got out.
“Guuuh.”
They seemed to have stopped somewhere secluded.
As he stretched and looked around, he saw someone in the sky above.
“Who is that?”
Looking closely, it was quite familiar.
The figure looked around and snapped his fingers.
Magic circles covered the area in an instant, then vanished.
“Hm? Hey, that’s!”
He realized who it was.
A massive pillar of lightning precisely obliterated a Gate entirely.
Rumble.
The violent thunderclap echoing through the atmosphere made his ears ring sharply.
“That crazy bastard.”
I Gangyeol waved with a smile.
He seemed to have spotted Sinhyeok.
“Is that a human or a monster?”
He had obliterated the area with lightning, yet it was incredibly precise.
Only the Gate was destroyed; everything else was unharmed.
He flew through the air and quickly disappeared.
“Staff Sergeant Bu Sinhyeok. If you’ve rested enough, get to work too. There are still many Gates left.”
Major Baek Seokhun lowered the window and said with a smile.
“Ah, no.”
“Or else make more of these?”
Sinhyeok hastily climbed into the passenger seat.
“I’ll just go around to the Gates.”
He laughed and turned the car around.
Major Baek Seokhun took the three and only returned to base after touring Gyeonggi-do all day.
The sun had already set, and the moon shone serenely on the surroundings.
“Home.”
Ichan muttered, resting his head against the window.
“Let’s go in and rest.”
Sinhyeok grabbed the wheel, and Major Baek Seokhun, sitting in the passenger seat, yawned and nodded.
“I want to rest quickly. How many days has it been already?”
The base was noisy when they returned. For the first time in a while, most of the personnel had gathered.
“Yo~ Sinhyeok! This thing is crazy neat, yeah?”
A passing sergeant pointed at an Observer and said.
“You, aren’t you gonna make more of these?”
Sinhyeok made a disgusted face.
“I can’t for the time being. I almost died with my head splitting while making those.”
“Kekekeup.”
Everyone laughed and passed by.
The three who had arrived at the base trudged off to return their equipment.
“Hyung, my whole body is heavy.”
“Mister, carry my stuff for me~”
“It’ll get lighter once you return it quickly.”
The three trudged to the barracks to return their equipment.
Before long, the two moved with lightened bodies and swiftly ran off to the barracks.
“Haaaahm.”
Sinhyeok came out of the quartermaster admin office and was heading to the barracks when the door slightly opened again.
“Hm?”
As he went to close it, two people were standing behind the door.
Aurumstone and Bloom were looking at him with eyes full of anxiety and expectation.
“What is it?”
Aurumstone hurriedly asked.
“Did you learn it?!”
“Did you learn Enchant well?”
Bloom blocked the dwarf and asked to confirm.
Sinhyeok took out an Observer, intending to ask about the system message saying he had learned ‘Transmutation’.
“I learned something, but I’m not sure if it’s Enchant? The system calls it Transmutation.”
At those words, a smile spread across Aurumstone’s face.
And Bloom became dumbfounded and anxious.
“That can’t be!”
He took the Observer and urgently asked.
“Did you make this?!”
“Yes, is this how you do Enchant? I did as I was told.”
Bloom looked at him with a bewildered gaze.
“Y-you’re not wrong, but. This is Transmutation….”
Aurumstone laughed heartily and shouted at Sinhyeok.
“Well done! Haha! How about that, you incompetent mage!”
Sinhyeok stepped back as the two started scuffling and making a fuss again.
“It doesn’t make sense. How could he….”
Seeing the spaced-out man and the dwarf happily chewing him out, Sinhyeok decided to just come back later.
“I’ll get some sleep first and come back.”
“Yes, yes! Okay, rest well and come back!”
Bloom held onto the Observer with a bewildered face and muttered.
“This is a dream. Transmutation, of all things. Something out of a fairy tale….”
“Hahaha! I told you, that kid can do it!”
Aurumstone rejoiced and was delighted.
“If it’s him, it’s possible. He can do it! A true legend…!”
* * *
“Are you coming in now?”
In front of Hongik’s guard post.
Sergeant Major Gim Hyeonsuk beckoned to I Gangyeol.
“Yeah, Seoul and the Gyeonggi district are roughly handled.”
She reported on the current Gate occurrence status.
“New Gates are still surging, but strangely, they show a widely distributed pattern.”
“Huh. This is something.”
I Gangyeol harbored doubts about the truly strange phenomenon of the sudden Gate surge.
“You checked too, right?”
“Yeah, it was all filled with black mana.”
Suspicion peaked at the consistent attribute of the Gates.
“It’s quite blatant, so I’m suspicious, but there’s no physical evidence.”
“What do we do about this.”
I Gangyeol entered Hongik with her, deep in thought.
“My head knows, but I lack the means to convince those damned higher-ups.”
“Black mana isn’t a crime, and demons are viewed favorably in other countries.”
He sighed and decided to table the problem for now.
“For now, I’ll ask Gicheol to check the rest. Let’s end it on our end here.”
She immediately headed to the Sergeant Major’s office to work, but suddenly turned around.
“But what are you going to do with Sinhyeok? He’s going to become quite famous with this.”
She was talking about the ‘Observer’ she had already been briefed on.
“He needs to endure this level of attention now. The water’s slowly heating up, so shall we keep him locked away for a while?”
At those words, Gim Hyeonsuk immediately thought of a good move.
“Perfect. We need more of these Observers. We can lock him in the workshop and make him keep producing them.”
“Okay. Then pass that along.”
I Gangyeol moved his steps toward the workshop.
“Where are you going?”
“To see the cat.”
“You’re addicted to that. Hey! Do you think that will change the future?”
“At least I’ll worry a little less….”
When he arrived at the workshop, he opened the door Sinhyeok had not yet entered.
“Nyaaang?”
A catkin lay in a space where a tranquil forest and grassland mingled.
She was playing, batting at a ball of yarn with her feet.
“You’re here again-nyang?”
“You already knew, didn’t you?”
I Gangyeol approached her, greeted her politely, and sat on the grass.
“I don’t always see-nyang. But is it about that guy again-nyang?”
He nodded.
The catkin sighed and spoke.
“You’re foolish-nyang. Fate isn’t fixed-nyang. Especially you should know that better-nyang?”
“I know. Still, I want to ask. Is Sinhyeok safe?”
She sighed and stood up.
She flicked the ball of yarn away and gazed into the empty air.
“Give it here-nyang.”
I Gangyeol carefully pulled out a strand of hair and offered it.
“This is running out too-nyang. Isn’t this a strike of fate telling you to stop-nyang?”
“I will bring more….”
“Eugh.”
She made a face of disgust, took the hair, and flicked it into the air.
She grabbed it.
She watched the countless destinies blooming in the air and chased the fate of their owner, Bu Sinhyeok.
Her hazy, mysterious eyes scanned the unseen beyond.
She pressed the air with her claw and pulled a transparent thread.
“Found it-nyang. Hee-hee.”
She rolled it up, closed her eyes, and savored it.
“I can’t see well anymore-nyang. Fate deviants like you are rarely visible-nyang.”
I Gangyeol urged her as he listened to her struggles.
“Still, please look.”
She stared for a long while, then eventually frowned and put down the ball of yarn wound around her hand.
“I don’t know-nyang.”
“Hmm.”
Seeing I Gangyeol’s forehead wrinkle deeper, the catkin spoke in a hurry.
“There are too many-nyang! Too many futures are visible, so I can’t be sure-nyang!”
“Please tell me just one thing. Is he safe?”
She said with a frown.
“Probably safe-nyang. There weren’t many futures where he dies-nyang.”
At those words, I Gangyeol felt relieved.
“One last request.”
“You already know that one, don’t you-nyang? She and the child are neither alive nor dead-nyang.”
“Do you not know where they are either?”
“I only know they are in the grasp of a deviant like you-nyang.”
I Gangyeol muttered.
“A demon, a god, or an existence on that level.”
The catkin nodded.
“Thank you.”
I Gangyeol stood up and moved to exit the catkin’s space.
She called out to him as he was leaving.
“Are you not curious about your own fate-nyang?”
“No. I know my fate. I’ve already decided it.”
“You’re a madman-nyang.”
She watched I Gangyeol with disgust.
“I don’t know why you would decide your own fate yourself-nyang.”
The catkin rubbed her face on the floor and enjoyed the scent of grass.
“Heh-heh-hmm. Fragrant-nyang.”
She was enjoying the stimulating catnip when she touched the ball of yarn tangled with Bu Sinhyeok that she had kicked aside.
“Hurk?!”
She startled, straightened her back, and hissed.
“Hyaaahk! What is it-nyang?!”
She was terrified by the intense trace of fate that had flashed by in an instant.
“That crazy… why is the Giant God Disease showing up again-nyang?!”