—Only in Gangnam
There were no small number of black mages in the Magic Tower, but not many of them could create high-level monstrous lifeforms.
In truth, that sort of work had originally tended to fall to Yashin and Nasanhaegyeong.
That was why, upon seeing the footage of the monstrous lifeform terror attack in Seoul, the first question that sprang into both their minds was whose doing it was.
‘Who made those lifeforms?’
‘Whose work is this?’
Just then, Samir’s voice burrowed into their minds again.
[Did you see that? Something this absurd is happening right under my nose. Some insolent mage is throwing down a challenge to our Magic Tower. And yet the two of you are here, wasting your time on a pathetic fight? Come up to Seoul at once!]
“Lord Samir. Forgive me.”
“Please forgive us, Lord Samir.”
Yashin and Nasanhaegyeong bowed their heads again and begged for forgiveness.
Even so, their minds were still filled with curiosity about the identity of the one who had created those monstrous lifeforms.
‘An insolent mage? Throwing down a challenge? Just who the hell is it?’
‘It wasn’t one of the Magic Tower’s black mages? Then who?’
All around them was silent. No more sound came. The image before their eyes had also vanished.
The two slowly raised their heads. The pain that had been clamping down on their skulls was gone as if washed away, leaving only stillness behind.
“It’s over……”
“We’d better go to Seoul.”
“You and I can settle our problem later, old man.”
“Any time.”
The two rose to their feet, glared at each other for a moment, then each hurried away from the place.
Just as he had when he came, Yashin invoked propulsion magic and moved as if flying. He did not forget to hide his body within the black darkness.
‘An insolent mage…… Could it be Oudin?’
In Yashin’s mind appeared the image of Oudin creating a heap of monstrous lifeforms like a mountain of amoebas.
Nasanhaegyeong gathered up the ash-gray energy scattered around him once more and created a small portal. He intended to leave this forest through spatial movement magic.
“Throwing down a challenge to the Magic Tower? It really is Oudin, that bastard, isn’t it?”
As he stepped into the red portal, Nasanhaegyeong thought again of Oudin, who had trapped him in the Chains of Binding, and ground his teeth once more.
* * *
Early the next morning, we took an express bus bound for Seoul.
Ren said he would fly there with the crows. There was no need to hurry, so I told him to do that.
It had been a while since I’d ridden an express bus, and it was comfortable and nice. Since I didn’t have to drive, I felt like I could take my time sorting out my thoughts.
I had Cheon Danbi and Gil sit side by side in the seats in front, while I sat alone behind them.
Perhaps because it was so early, there were hardly any passengers on the bus.
Aside from an elderly couple who seemed to have fallen asleep the moment they boarded, there was no one.
I was about to close my eyes and sink into thought as well when Cheon Danbi suddenly whipped her head around and looked at me over the seat.
“They say there was another terror attack in Seoul!”
“Yeah. I know.”
“What, you knew? Then why didn’t you tell us? It sounds like everything’s been in an uproar since last night.”
“What would’ve changed if I told you? We were far away from Seoul. We were going to find out today anyway, so I didn’t say anything so you could at least get a good night’s rest.”
“Really? Well, thanks to that, I did rest well.”
Once Cheon Danbi confirmed that I already knew about the terror attack, she turned back around and buried her face in her phone. It looked like she was searching the news.
Then I heard her and Gil murmuring to each other.
“Just what are these monstrous lifeforms? No matter how many pictures I look at, I can’t figure out what they are.”
“Mm. They’re a mass. They say amorphous lifeforms like amoebas are gathering and dispersing, taking on the form of a giant monster.”
“I read that explanation in the article, but I still don’t really get it. Stranger and stranger things keep appearing, don’t they?”
“They really do.”
“Another terror attack. Just how many black mages are there in our country? Yashin and Nasanhaegyeong shouldn’t have been in Seoul, so who is it this time?”
“I doubt those two are the only black mages.”
“Well, I suppose not. But it appeared last night, and it’s still there near Samseong Station? Why haven’t they dealt with it yet?”
“It seems to be harder to deal with because it’s amorphous. The mages struggled with it all night.”
“Hmph! Let them suffer a little. They framed our Oudin like that, so now they can handle it themselves. Don’t you think?”
“That’s right.”
Cheon Danbi and Gil’s conversation paused for a moment.
I had gone on the internet last night and seen photos of the monstrous lifeform too. What stood out was that it was a mass of amorphous, amoeba-like lifeforms.
Who on earth had caused this terror attack? And what black mage had created such bizarre lifeforms?
At the same time, like Cheon Danbi had wondered, I was curious as to why they still hadn’t dealt with the monstrous lifeform.
Could it not be burned with fire magic? They should have at least tried freezing it with ice magic.
No matter how many mages from the Hall had been sacrificed recently, leaving them short on numbers, considering the government mages and even the foreign mages currently attending the World Tournament, it was hard to understand why they had yet to succeed in subjugating it.
‘Could they be leaving it alone on purpose?’
I began to suspect that the mages of the Hall and the government, who were scheming behind the scenes, might have some intention in letting things unfold like this.
“Wait. Look at this. Public opinion is kind of ridiculous, isn’t it? People are raging about why terror attacks keep happening only in Gangnam.”
“Terror attacks only happen in Gangnam?”
Cheon Danbi and Gil began talking again.
I naturally pricked up my ears.
“The place where the tentacle monster appeared last time was Seolleung Station, and this time it’s the Samseong Station intersection, so I guess it is Gangnam.”
“But that’s not the only place where terror attacks happened. There was one in our neighborhood on Namsan, and one in the dwarf village. Ah! And there were the swarms of rats too.”
“There was also the zombie virus incident in Itaewon. Though, to be fair, the zombie virus incidents happened in lots of places.”
“Now that I think about it, the very first terror attack was the Incheon Port explosion, wasn’t it? There was also the jellyfish incident in Daejeon. What do they mean, only Gangnam?”
“I suppose people just don’t pay attention to other areas.”
“They always act like Gangnam is the only place where people live. Still, if it’s Samseong Station, then it is right in the middle of a busy district in Gangnam.”
They did not mention Yashin’s terror attack at Chairman Kim Seonho’s mansion, but that too had been in Gangnam, so I could understand to some extent why people were complaining that terror attacks only happened in Gangnam.
It was only natural for people to remember recent incidents and the major ones.
As I listened to their conversation over their shoulders, I also thought about the places where the terror attacks had occurred.
The swarms of rats and the zombie virus incidents had spread to multiple places, but they had been relatively easily suppressed.
The Namsan dwarf village incident had been a fabricated case in which the government had officially announced that the dwarves themselves had caused the terror attack.
The tentacle monster and this amoeba mass terror attack had both occurred in Gangnam, at Seolleung Station and Samseong Station—locations close to each other.
The two incidents also had in common that they were terror attacks using monstrous lifeforms.
They were similar to the jellyfish incident in Daejeon too, but that had been in the provinces.
‘Samseong Station is where Vanaheim’s headquarters is. Could that have any connection to this attack?’
A building of over a hundred floors with a massive display attached to its front. It was certainly symbolic enough as a location.
But the place where the amoeba mass terror attack occurred was not directly in front of Vanaheim’s headquarters.
It had broken through the middle of the road at the Samseong Station intersection, but the scene was closer to the life insurance company building across from the Vanaheim building.
Could there be some meaning to it being in front of a life insurance company building?
“No, what the hell! Conspiracy theories are spreading that the dwarves caused this terror attack too!”
Cheon Danbi’s voice suddenly rose.
Then she quickly looked around, but the elderly couple was still asleep, and the driver seemed absorbed in the radio.
“What are you talking about?”
When I asked, Cheon Danbi twisted around to face me and lowered her voice as she answered.
“They’re saying the dwarves created that monstrous lifeform, the amoeba mass or whatever it is. Seriously, why do these absurd rumors keep spreading? I’m telling you, dwarves don’t play around with living creatures!”
“Was that on the news, or is it just something people are saying?”
“I don’t think it’s on the news yet. But at this rate, it’ll be on the news in no time.”
“Where did you see it?”
Cheon Danbi handed her phone over the seat.
I took the phone and looked at the post on the screen.
It was a blog post, and it had quite a lot of views and comments.
The content was pure speculation and guesswork, yet the tone was extremely definitive.
[Yesterday afternoon, there was a protest near Samseong Station opposing dwarves. You all know how things are these days. The dwarves who had been living illegally on Namsan caused a terror attack on their own, then ran away from the police station. How are humans supposed to live in peace like this?
That’s why the protest was held. Ridiculously enough, those criminals even held a protest demanding that dwarven rights be guaranteed, didn’t they? So what else were we supposed to do? Humans had to hold a counterprotest.
Anyway, the point is, that protest happened there yesterday afternoon, and then at night, a monstrous lifeform appeared in that exact same place. Isn’t it obvious? Do you really not know who carried out that monstrous lifeform terror attack?
It’s the same as when they spread those monster rat swarms. This time, the ones who spread those weird things, whether they’re called amoeba masses or whatever, were the dwarves. A protest opposing their rights was held, so they just released the things right there.
Dwarves really shouldn’t be allowed to wander around the city freely. At this rate, Seoul—no, Gangnam—is going to turn into a sea of bugs. The government had better keep my words in mind.]
The comments were mostly in agreement too.
They had already concluded that the dwarves were the ones who had carried out the terror attack, and all with one voice, they denounced and condemned the dwarves.
On top of that, because this post seemed to provide an answer to the question of why terror attacks kept happening specifically in Gangnam, everyone was treating the speculation that the dwarves had caused the attack because of the opposing protest as established fact.
The atmosphere was extremely bad. The dwarves were being saddled with one absurd conspiracy after another.
“People are really too much. Why do they keep tormenting the dwarves like this? The dwarves haven’t done anything wrong.”
After seeing the blog post, Gil lamented.
“The problem is that the conspiracy theory started with the government and the Hall. They pinned a ridiculous false charge on the dwarves of Namsan.”
Cheon Danbi spoke while glaring into the distance. She seemed to be glaring in the direction of Seoul, where we were headed.
Once we got to Seoul, it seemed we would have to focus more on digging into the conspiracy surrounding the terror attack than on subjugating it.
I suspected this terror attack too might have been fabricated or was being left alone on purpose.
Who on earth had made the amoeba mass? Once again, I wondered who was behind this attack.
“That’s true. The government, the Hall, and Vanaheim are all suspicious. A monstrous lifeform like an amoeba mass seems like it would be hard for even a decent mage to create, let alone dwarves. Unless it was someone who had been experimenting on living creatures regularly.”
“Oh! That might be it. There’s no guarantee Vanaheim doesn’t have black mages, is there? They even conduct dangerous golden apple experiments.”
Gil and Cheon Danbi’s deductions were reaching toward Vanaheim.
I thought more deeply about the location of the terror attack.
Most important of all was going to the scene in person.