- Yasin’s Warning
On the screen, Yasin, with snow-white hair and a gaunt, wrinkled face, was speaking with a bright smile.
“Well then, I suppose you’re all ready to hear what I have to say now? My name is Yasin. Some of you may be seeing my face for the first time today, but there must be others who already know me.
To the gentlemen who have worked with me all this time and, unintentionally or not, helped me—thank you. Thanks to you, I was able to come this far. And there is also a mage I exchanged greetings with in advance.
I suspect we’ll be meeting again before long. In any case, it’s terribly exciting to reveal my face like this before the entire nation. Hahaha!”
Listening to the old man with his bright smile speak in such a cheerful tone, as if he were a middle schooler introducing himself in front of his class, sent chills down my spine.
A perky dark mage. It was grotesque beyond words.
Yasin was currently hijacking base stations without authorization and transmitting a broadcast.
There was no way he was trying to share good news. His opening greeting alone was ominous enough.
‘A mage he exchanged greetings with in advance? Is he talking about me?’
Right. Even if he hadn’t said it, the fact that we would meet again soon was already a foregone conclusion.
Even if Yasin didn’t show himself, I was going to chase him.
I wondered what he was scheming by deliberately mentioning me, but there was something else that bothered me even more.
‘Gentlemen who worked with him and unintentionally helped him? Who is he talking about?’
It meant there were people who had joined hands with Yasin, intentionally or not.
Of course, he couldn’t be talking about the dark mages. If he were, there would be no reason to say it over a broadcast.
Rather, it likely meant there was some suspicious connection on our side, among those dealing with the dark mages—in other words, among our allies.
‘The government? The Hall of Magic? Or a corporation like Vanaheim? Who helped Yasin?’
Surely they hadn’t helped him commit terrorism, but it sounded as if someone had been involved in some sort of work with Yasin, and Yasin had received help in the process.
Had they been carrying out some kind of experiment? Creating test subjects?
Even as my thoughts raced, Yasin’s speech continued.
“By now, some of you have probably figured out who I am. The dark mage who carried out the tentacled monster terror attack—that was me. The tentacled monster is a life-form I created.
What did you think? Wasn’t it magnificent? The monster’s power was quite remarkable, wasn’t it? Though in the end, it was subdued.”
A sound like a scream came from somewhere. Was it the Hall’s staff?
Countless people across the country were probably watching this broadcast right now.
Yasin had appeared on his own and confessed that he was the dark mage behind the terrorist attack. That alone was enough to spread fear.
I bit my lip, focusing on a different point.
Having heard the thoughts inside the tentacled monster’s mind, I had assumed that the creature had been summoned from some other dimension.
But that wasn’t the case? It was a life-form Yasin had created?
Yasin continued speaking.
“But if you think that tentacled monster is my only creation, you are gravely mistaken. I still have many creations left that are far superior to it.
After all, the universe is home to as many life-forms as there are stars. I’ve been preparing for a long time. From now on, I intend to present them to the world one by one, so please look forward to it.”
Hearing what followed, it didn’t seem accurate to say that Yasin had created the tentacled monster entirely on his own.
It was possible he had summoned it from another dimension of the universe, then modified or controlled it and sent it out.
That wasn’t what mattered.
Yasin was announcing a terrorist attack. He was declaring that he would unleash even more monsters from now on.
“What the hell? Is this a terror warning?”
“There are more monsters?”
“Damn it. The real war starts now, then.”
The mages in the conference room murmured among themselves.
Yasin kept talking.
“If you mages fight without even knowing who the creator is, you’ll feel terribly disappointed, won’t you? That’s why I’m introducing myself in advance. The creator of the marvelous monsters you will encounter from now on is none other than me, Yasin.
Look well. Hahahaha! Ah, and I have a special fondness for confusion. The universe began with chaos, after all. In that spirit, I will now give you confusion as a gift, so do try your best to find out where it is. Hahahaha!”
With that spine-chilling laughter, the screen suddenly flickered off. When it came back on a moment later, the variety show that had originally been airing resumed.
On the recorded program, the cast happened to be laughing cheerfully at something, but even that laughter felt ominous for no reason.
A Hall employee shuddered and quickly pressed the remote to turn off the screen.
A heavy silence settled over the room. Then, before long, the room grew noisy.
“That’s it?”
“He’s a complete psychopath. A madman drunk on himself, pickled in narcissism.”
“Guys like that always have inflated egos.”
“What the hell is with his way of talking? He sounds like some middle schooler with eighth-grader syndrome. ‘None other than me! I, Yasin!’ It’s so cringeworthy I can’t even listen.”
“What? Since the universe began with chaos, he’s going to give us confusion as a gift?”
“We’ll have to smash him to pieces!”
The conference room filled with jeers. Still, as senior mages of the Hall, they were putting on a show of bravado.
Looking at it another way, it meant Yasin’s broadcast had shocked them that much.
If ordinary people were plunged into fear simply because a dark mage had revealed himself, then the mages, who would be the ones to face him from now on, had to at least bluff in order to raise their fighting spirit.
“But why didn’t he tell us when and where he’s going to unleash the monster? If he’s going to give a warning, he should do it properly.”
“As if a dark mage villain would be that kind. His goal is probably to rile us up.”
“He said to try finding it. What, is he going to hide it or something?”
I struck the table with both hands and rose from my seat. It made a fairly loud sound.
I did it on purpose. They needed to get a grip.
When everyone’s eyes turned to me, I said,
“Do we have time to sit around like this? We don’t even have time for a strategy meeting. Shouldn’t we move first?”
“We should. Contact every branch immediately and tell them to strengthen their alert posture. And have all Hall mages prepared to deploy at any time.”
At Kang Yonghun’s instructions, the middle-ranking officials hurried out of the conference room.
Han Dosu rose from his seat and approached me.
“The situation has become even more urgent. Will you give me an answer to the request I made earlier? Will you fight with the Hall?”
“I can’t say I’m returning to the Hall. But I will fight alongside you against the dark mages. Of course I will.”
At my answer, Han Dosu gave a faint smile.
“Thank you. You’ll be a great help.”
Then Yu Jaeseon also rose from his seat, approached me, and said,
“Please cooperate with the government as well. Lend us your strength, Mage Oudin, as we overcome the difficult times ahead.”
“Understood. I’ll ask one thing of you as well. If you obtain any information on Yasin or the dark mages, please share it with me too.”
“I will. I promise.”
Yu Jaeseon looked me straight in the eye as he made that promise.
His eyes were clear. For some reason, I felt I could trust this man’s promise.
As if to confirm it, Yu Jaeseon shook my hand, then quickly turned away.
“I’ll be going first. I need to go to the Bureau and assess the situation.”
After Yu Jaeseon left the conference room, the other mages began rising from their seats one by one and dispersing.
Kang Yonghun beckoned me over.
“You’ll be heading back for now too, won’t you? Take this with you. You’ll need communication equipment for us to move together in an urgent situation.”
He handed me communication equipment, as if he had prepared it at some point. It was a device shaped like a wristwatch and a wireless earbud to insert into the ear.
“Keep the watch on even in your daily life. If an emergency occurs, an alarm will sound. Then contact us immediately and deploy.”
“Understood.”
“Ah, and before you go, stop by the General Affairs Department on the first floor and receive your compensation. You shouldn’t be going around doing mercenary work anymore. Isn’t that right?”
I neither replied nor reacted to Kang Yonghun’s final words, which he spoke with a slight frown.
Did he think looking down on mercenary work would uphold a mage’s authority?
Or was he trying to win me over with money?
It was a laughable sense of authority.
But the compensation I received after stopping by the General Affairs Department was generous enough to be considered an attempt to win me over, so I found myself laughing for some reason.
‘I’ll take what I’m owed.’
As I left the Hall, I looked back once more at the magnificent, palace-like building. The Hall’s inner substance was not as solid as I had thought.
The mages held power no one could dare challenge, but in actual combat, they were not able to display power to match it.
I had a feeling that the crisis might come for the mages first.
‘In any case, I need to do my own work.’
Samir’s and Yasin’s faces came to mind. Once I engraved those faces in my heart, the next faces to arise were Gil’s and Cheon Danbi’s.
I strode toward home.
* * *
When I returned home, Gil was nowhere to be seen. The room was empty.
‘Where did he go?’
My nerves immediately sharpened. I had told Gil to stay home, and Gil had said he would.
It didn’t seem likely he had gone outside on his own. Gil should know very well that the biohackers might be searching for him.
Had they already come for Gil? Had they found this place and kidnapped him?
My heart began pounding violently. Just thinking of the possibility made anger slowly rise within me.
“If I’d known this would happen, I would have put a shield over the house…”
I bit my lip at the thought that I hadn’t prepared in advance.
Then again, it might not be the biohackers. They were an organization, but they were closer to neighborhood thugs.
They had been beaten by me last time. Were they brave enough to retaliate immediately?
‘Yasin?’
The name suddenly surfaced before I knew it.
Yasin was different from the biohackers. He possessed far greater ability, and he was far more insane.
Yasin considered me an obstacle, so he would want to torment me at any time.
If it were him, he might have somehow found out where I lived and come here.
But Yasin had been broadcasting until just a moment ago.
Wait. Was this what he had meant earlier by giving us confusion as a gift?
“No. It can’t be.”
I shook my head.
I had a feeling the confusion Yasin had said he would gift would not be something this personal.
It wouldn’t be such a minor incident that the world wouldn’t even notice.
Yasin was a villain deeply intoxicated with himself.
He was the kind of person who liked loud, flashy shows. A secret kidnapping wasn’t his style.
‘Calm down. Gil might have just gone to the convenience store for a moment.’
I stopped pacing around the room and extended detection magic, thoroughly examining every corner.
There were no traces of magic anywhere.
Looking closely, there were no signs that anyone had forced their way into the room, and nothing was in disarray.
Only then did I sit down in front of the desk and calm myself, when I heard a voice calling me from outside.