Seven years since I awakened black magic; being, for all intents and purposes, a second-generation black mage, I often find that people misunderstand.
For one thing, first-generation black mages are not assigned to cleanup like I am now; they are still active on the battlefield.
Thanks to the exploits of certain black mages, the public perception of black mages was adorned with words like the worst, the most wicked, and the strongest. Their presence on the battlefield was beyond overwhelming, and because of those first-generation black mages, the second generation suffered hardships in quite a variety of forms.
It was not that we avoided combat. Nor was it that we could not fight.
In fact, compared to ordinary branches of magic, black magic showed nearly three times the power.
The problem, however, was mana.
The chronic lack of mana drove black mages from the battlefield.
First-generation black mages could be said to have benefited from the era in which first-generation Awakened first appeared.
The reason was simple.
In the early days of the incident known as the Great Cataclysm, humanity made all sorts of attempts to survive, and as part of countless policies to support the Awakened, they did their utmost to cover the weaknesses of each class.
Only then could the world be saved.
Close-combat Awakened were given national-treasure-grade artifacts that enhanced stamina, recovery, strength, and the like, while healers and support types were also given national-treasure-grade artifacts suited to their roles.
Since those things truly had to be used in order to protect the world, in a way, it was only natural.
On top of that, the first-generation black magic Awakened, who were judged to be the most efficient users of artifacts with options that increased mana and improved recovery, took all such items as if sweeping them up and distinguished themselves on the battlefield. As a result, they amassed tremendous fame along with infamy, but in any case, the world was saved, and the first-generation Awakened established themselves by accomplishing feats that, in various forms, could be called the birth of “heroes.”
By contrast, the second generation lived through a chaotic era but received no such proper support and had to survive with desperate tenacity. Some were assigned under first-generation Awakened and treated as manpower that the first generation could grind down as they pleased. Because of that, relations between the first and second generations were, in effect, not very good.
Thus, rather than stepping onto the battlefield to earn merit, many of the second generation gradually distanced themselves from the front lines, choosing instead to specialize in cleanup, which led to the form things have taken now.
The world has stabilized, and now it is the point in time when eleventh-generation Awakened are appearing.
“We have a request!”
Go Yujin came to work today as well with a bright expression. In truth, our company has only three employees.
Go Yujin, the president; An Somi, who handles office work; and lastly me, who works in the field. Just the three of us. But that did not mean the company was small.
Go Yujin, a first-generation black magic Awakened, was an unusual case who withdrew after becoming disgusted with the battlefield. An Somi was also an extremely skilled black magic user, but because she became excited at the sight of “blood,” frequent incidents occurred and she was driven from the front lines as a second-generation black mage.
In effect, I too had turned away from the battlefield because of my penalty and moved into ordinary cleanup work like this. So perhaps it would be more accurate to say that three defective black mages had gathered together. The amusing thing, however, was that no one could look down on our company.
The reason was simple: it was all thanks to Go Yujin.
Among first-generation black mages, she belonged to the close-combat type and was an incredible physical fighter.
Moreover, during the Gate Incident—that is, when the Great Cataclysm broke out—she was a woman who performed so brilliantly that she was called a hero. Even so, looking at her now, she was simply a good-natured woman.
“What kind of job is it?”
“Cleanup for a Grade Three Gate. They say there may still be monsters inside, so caution is required, and the pay has been set higher!”
“Grade Three. It’s been a while.”
“Right. Gates of Grade Three or higher don’t occur that often anymore.”
During the Great Cataclysm, the average Gate grade was three to four.
A Grade One Gate could be understood as a monster habitat the size of two soccer stadiums, while Grade Two was twice the size of a Grade One Gate.
And since Grade Three was twice the size of a Grade Two Gate, it meant that the higher the grade, the scale doubled compared to the previous Gate.
The largest Gate to have appeared in the world so far was Grade Eight.
It was called a great disaster, and it was a Gate that caused such tremendous damage that it would be fair to say half of China was torn apart because of it.
The largest Gate people theorized could exist was Grade Ten.
‘If a Gate of that scale occurs, humanity might be finished...’
A moment later, Go Yujin handed me the documents, and I took them and examined the contents.
“Jeong Sanghu’s team was deployed?”
“Yes. We can expect it to be quite a mess. Thanks to that, additional fees have been included, so even if it’s the same work, it’s better for us, isn’t it?”
As Go Yujin said, the more ruined the battlefield was, the more surcharges we could add, so for us, it was a highly profitable site where we could receive high wages for the same labor.
However, Jeong Sanghu’s team was a rather rough team.
“They must have torn everything apart. I’ll go to this one alone. President, why don’t you stand by?”
Hearing my words, she looked at me with a serious expression.
When I met her gaze as if asking what was wrong, she began insisting that she absolutely had to come with me. In the end, I had no choice but to take a step back and tell her to do as she pleased since she was the president.
Watching us, An Somi asked,
“Are you two dating?”
“No?!”
“We are not.”
“...?”
An Somi looked as if she could not understand, but Go Yujin grabbed me as if telling me to hurry up and left the office.
* * *
When we arrived on-site, it was a mess beyond compare.
“The ground is so broken up that vehicles can’t even enter.”
“Phew... I expected it, but this is too much.”
As Go Yujin said, I had expected it to some extent. But even so, the inside of the Gate was ruined to a degree that felt excessive.
So I looked around and was able to spot Jeong Sanghu’s team. Seeing them snickering at us, it felt as if they had deliberately wrecked the place like this.
The relationship between ordinary Awakened and black mages who handled cleanup was extremely poor.
It would not be an exaggeration to call it an ill-fated relationship.
Just then, Go Yujin also discovered Jeong Sanghu’s team and started walking toward them. Left with no choice, I followed after her. Jeong Sanghu, who seemed to be acquainted with her, flashed Go Yujin a repulsive smile.
“It’s been a while, Ms. Go Yujin.”
“Yes, it has. You don’t seem to stand on the front lines much these days. What brings you here?”
“We have some rookies, so it was for training. It’s a bit of a mess, but that’s all right, isn’t it?”
“There will be quite a bit of additional cost, but you’re not someone who would whine over that much, are you?”
“Hahaha, of course not. I don’t mind however much it costs, so please handle it properly. And if there happen to be any monsters left, take care of the cleanup as well.”
At those words, Go Yujin nodded, saying she understood. The conversation itself was ordinary, but the way they glared at each other was quite fierce.
In truth, the two of them had something close to a bad history.
It was partly because they had operated on the same battlefield, but also because Jeong Sanghu fought in a way that destroyed the terrain itself. For Go Yujin, who had to utilize the corpses scattered across the battlefield, that could not help but be inconvenient.
But during the Great Cataclysm, there was neither justification, reason, nor leisure to nitpick such things one by one, so she gritted her teeth and fought the war. In the end, when Go Yujin withdrew from the front lines for certain reasons, the first-generation Awakened often treated her as a coward or a deserter.
That atmosphere seemed to affect Awakened of other generations as well, but thanks to the first-generation black mages still active on the front lines, it strongly felt as though they could not openly look down on us.
“Well then, we have another Gate scheduled. Let’s meet again next time.”
Jeong Sanghu’s team passed us and exited the Gate. Go Yujin watched them until the end, then said,
“Mr. Seongchan, we’ll have to be careful.”
“There are probably quite a few monsters left, right?”
Go Yujin nodded.
When the ground collapsed, many monsters survived as if wedged between the layers.
There was no reason they could not have dealt with those too, but it strongly felt as if they had deliberately left them. In reality, once the Gate core had been dealt with, it counted as having cleared the Gate, so even if monsters remained inside, the Association and the government did not take issue with it.
Because, in the literal sense, they had indeed cleared the Gate.
From time to time, damage occurred during cleanup because of such problems, but these days, most of the people handling this sort of cleanup were black mages and therefore not weak, so deaths did not tend to occur.
But there was something unpleasant about this Gate.
‘Is this another ill-fated tie born from an old one?’
Clicking my tongue, I first emitted mana.
It was to use search magic. My aim was to determine in advance how many monsters there were and then deal with them one by one.
A moment later, the mana that spread out drew a single magic circle and shone brightly.
At the same time, I had no choice but to frown at the countless pieces of information pouring into my head.
“...There are quite a lot, I take it?”
“It seems they deliberately buried most of the monsters underground and then only dealt with the core.”
Go Yujin also furrowed her brow fiercely and was about to run off at once.
So I quickly grabbed her and said,
“We’ll handle it. Let’s do a little hunting for the first time in a while.”
“But...”
I shook my head and said to Go Yujin,
“We’ll lose work. Even if it’s filthy, if you beat up a client like last time, our notoriety will only grow.”
As I mentioned earlier, Go Yujin was a first-generation Awakened hated by the first generation. Cases like this occurred from time to time. And since Go Yujin had not withdrawn from the front lines because of any personal defect, she was extremely powerful. Even among first-generation Awakened, there were not many who could match her by force.
The same went for Jeong Sanghu. The reason he was especially harsh toward Go Yujin also seemed to involve an inferiority complex.
‘Everyone has their own circumstances, but... well, most of them are wounded anyway, so dealing with them won’t be difficult.’
“It’s frustrating...”
Go Yujin gritted her teeth. I could understand how she felt.
“Shall we go have a drink after the job?”
Hearing my words, Go Yujin smiled brightly. Then, no sooner had I finished speaking than she immediately began emitting mana, so I shook my head and said,
“There aren’t many corpses, so it’ll be hard to make golems. So I’ll handle this place. Well, it’s not as if there are any monsters of an impressive grade, so I should be able to take care of it easily.”
Go Yujin nodded.
Through the search, I had identified nearly all the monsters’ locations. Perhaps because of that, I naturally judged what magic would be most effective for dealing with them, and soon I released mana and used Dark Press, a spell that lightly placed weight upon the ground.
‘They’re already barely holding on while being crushed by the earth, so dealing with them won’t be difficult if I apply a suitable amount of weight. And monster blood has little value.’
My goal was to apply as much pressure as possible and squeeze the monsters to death. If I did that, it was certain to be less filthy when making corpse golems, so it was also a consideration for Go Yujin.
Afterward, the area was submerged in darkness, and at the same time, the ground was pressed down little by little as pressure was applied.
After the pressure continued for about a minute, I looked around at the ground that had sunk quite a bit and said to Go Yujin,
“Most of the monsters should be dealt with, so let’s clean up the rest and go have that drink.”
“Sounds good!”
Go Yujin agreed with a bright expression.