Chapter 158: Negotiations Concluded

There was something strange about watching the sunset hanging over the horizon.

The sunset staining the sky had a strange power that made you stop and stare, even if only for a moment, without thinking much of anything. It was a mysterious sight that stirred something in your chest and made you reminisce about the past for no particular reason.

I was no exception. Something stirred in my chest as countless memories passed through my mind. Even painful moments that could hardly be called fond memories surfaced in flashes. But I didn’t let myself get swept up in them.

The softer my nostalgia grew, the colder and harder my reason became in response, watching me like a third party as I spoke.

It’s only natural to long for the past. Memories are constantly summoned into the present, dressed up beautifully, and reshaped into forms that the person I am now can embrace.

The truth is always cruel.

The past was never beautiful, not even once, and pain was never sweet.

The reason I call the past beautiful and pain a trial is because I couldn’t endure otherwise. To keep moving toward the reward waiting in the future, I have to keep embracing the suffering placed before me.

The truth behind the word "nostalgia" is that, in order to embrace and accept the pain of the present, we even embrace memories that weren’t actually happy.

-Ting.

The moment I realized that, I broke free of the sunset’s spell.

I lost my balance for an instant and staggered backward.

-Splash.

Water sprayed up as I stepped backward through the ankle-deep lake. Watching the double-semicircle ripples spread leisurely from where my foot had landed, I felt a dizzying wave of vertigo and reality slipping far away, and suddenly I realized something.

The owner of the Double-Semicircle Grimoire had tested me the moment they heard my question.

They had tested whether I could face the truth.

As soon as I realized that, my fading senses sharpened again. The fishy scent of water and the clean smell unique to a cool natural breeze faintly brushed against me. When I raised my head again, the sunset was gone.

In its place, all kinds of stars glittered ominously across a perfectly clear night sky without a single cloud.

The stars blinked irregularly, sometimes even vanishing completely into darkness, each one a different size, and every ficker activated the magic. I wiped the blood from my nose with the back of my hand and pushed myself upright, all my attention and interest focused so sharply so that I could catch even a single word from this being vastly superior to humanity.

A few drops fell into the shallow lake and spread like ink. After that final sight, all my attention and interest focused on the words of the grimoire’s owner.

My question was that important.

The thing I didn’t want to call a god.

Something even I had never dared casually reveal its existence to others. Something so overwhelmingly powerful that I was afraid even to think about it, consciously refusing to do so and putting it off. A sense of duty that I had to learn about it, along with the curiosity of wanting to know, surged within me.

It had revealed its presence when the centuries-old Three-Tiger Sword supposedly brought front the Ulsan Museum was reforged into a Four-Tiger Sword, and again when I destroyed the remains of Gangnam Thousand-Mile Eyes.

Horrifyingly and unfortunately, that being had taken an interest in me.

And not only me, but in humanity as a whole.

If there were a being holding the Big Dipper said to govern human life and fate in its grapes, humanity would have no choice but to call it a god. But if the being holding humanity’s fate was neither the savior nor the judge humanity had hoped for…

Then humanity wouldn’t want to call that being a god.

So what was that thing? What was the relationship between the 66 Society and humanity?

The question I had asked was an indirect clue that could let me infer the answer to all of those questions. It was one step toward the truth behind this entire situation, purchased with the joy and ecstasy I had felt the moment I regained my eye.

But the answer didn’t come immediately.

Even the sound of the ripples gradually died away, and silence continued for some time. I had no way of knowing what the owner of the Double-Semicircle Grimoire was thinking or by what logic they would decide how detailed an answer to give. I waited calmly, trusting in absolute fairness.

To presume to understand them would be rude and irreverent.

To attempt to force an answer from them would itself be unfair.

I wasn't in a position to demand an answer. The contract and transaction between the owner of the Double-Semicircle Grimoire and me were absolutely fair. It wouldn't show consideration simply because I was weaker. It wouldn't throw in anything extra simply because I was powerless.

I could sense it instinctively.

If I failed to understand that absolute fairness was more or less the same as unfairness from a human perspective, I would be destroyed.

The only thing that mattered was the contract terms.

That was absolute fairness.

I waited calmly. Time in this space flowed according to the other party’s perspective anyway, so It wasn’t something I could control. The owner of the Double-Semicircle Grimoire had understood what I meant long ago despite never having said it directly, and they had been watching all along to see whether I was conducting the transaction properly.

At last, after a silence where an instant and an eternity seemed to overlap, the answer came.

That thing is repulsive.

My face twisted the moment I heard it. It had answered indirectly. Fortunately, from a human perspective, the other party was extraordinarily generous. The owner of the Double-Semicircle Grimoire was willing to spare me its attention for the sake of mocking me.

We are different from it.

I understood. The Double Semicircle Grimoire knew far more extensive knowledge and truth but deliberately offered none of it for free.

They answered only within the exact scope of the question. And that was how you kept the price low.

They answered only as much as you paid for.

How fair. If I mistook this for some chaotic marketplace where I could haggle for a little bit extra and tried to negotiate that way, this wonderfully fair transaction would reward me by reducing me to an idiot. Sure brings a tear to my eye, seriously.

At least I had gotten something out of it.

The owners of the grimoires and the thing that held humanity’s fate in its grasp, the thing I didn't want to call a god, were separate beings. The Double-Semicircle Grimoire had even gone so far as to call the being controlling humanity’s fate repulsive.

Then it was time for my second question.

"I, Baek Jemin, offer the ecstasy and joy I felt when I became convinced that I was the most powerful man on the Korean Peninsula and an idol to exemplary citizens while filming that propaganda video. In exchange, I ask this question. What is the relationship between the 66 Society and the thing I refuse to call a god?”

I had suspected it ever since I saw the vision after destroying the remains of Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes.

In that vision, Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes wailed before an image of the thing I refuse to call a god and burned himself alive. Whether what burned in that illusion truly was Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes’ final lingering thought didn’t matter. As a Stage 4 Ears-branch wizard, he had clearly become aware of that being as well.

Then why had Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes burned himself in that vision?

And how had that thing been able to appear after he made a contract with the Cuneiform Grimoire? The owners of the grimoires and the thing I refuse to call a god were supposedly different beings, but on the contrary, there was also a possibility that the horrifying thing had been disguising itself as one.

I had to consider the possibility that the owner of the Cuneiform Grimoire had actually been the being that held humanity’s fate in its grasp in disguise.

To get closer to the truth behind this absurd situation humanity had found itself in, I had to doubt everything, seize as many possible clues as I could, and remain wary of everything beyond the human world.

I did feel a sense of duty here, but my curiosity was just as strong.

I alone was approaching secret knowledge that no one else knew. The moment I realized that, I could finally indulge in the sense of superiority that came from being ahead of everyone else to my heart’s content.

Even the ecstasy and joy of advancing into a realm that not even those born as geniuses could reach could now be converted into currency.

From now on, every bit of happiness and joy I experienced could be used to push me further ahead.

Behind that absolute fairness was the fact that the owners of the grimoires couldn’t comprehend human values. Humans were so insignificant to them, and the things humans pursued were so meaningless that as long as I disguised them as reasonable contract terms, I could get them accepted and reap the benefits.

The joy of one human, an infinite power that drives humans to run forever, things like that were so trivial to the owners of the grimoires that they simply shrugged and let them pass. If I tried to gain something without giving anything in return, I would be punished. But giving up something precious and valuable to me in order to obtain something of greater value was allowed.

They showed no consideration and gave nothing extra, but neither did they stop the other party from making the most of the contract.

Pay what is precious to you. Then take what you desire.

This was…

Absolute fairness!

At that moment, every star suddenly blazed brighter, shining down on me like sunlight.

Beneath the dim night sky, on the gently rippling lake, only the area around me shone brightly as if beneath the sun. It was because I had understood absolute fairness. The instant they realized that I, Baek Jemin, had grasped at least some of the standard of absolute fairness presented by the grimoire, it began showing positive interest.

The owner of the Double-Semicircle Grimoire still regarded me as insignificant and mocked me.

And precisely because they mocked me, they were willing to give me the answer I wanted. They laid the groundwork to mock me even more. Laughing at how impossible it would be anyway, they willingly decided to hand it over.

For the first time, the owner of the Double-Semicircle Grimoire whispered to me entirely in human language, without making me go through the process of interpreting signs and revelations and translating them with Tongue-branch, Stage 1 [Degradation].

The voice sounded like the hoarse voice of an old man nearing the end of his life, the wail of a newborn who had only just entered the world, the sultry temptation of a decadent woman beckoning someone toward her bed, and a solemn clergyman delivering a sharp sermon from the pulpit all at once.

Countless voices overlapped and became a single sentence.

"One world, one time.”

The ragged breathing of the old man posed the opening thought.

"Future and present."

The newborn stopped crying and continued in clear pronunciation despite its babbling voice.

"You treat the word ruin too lightly."

The breath of a decadent, seductive woman brushed along my jaw as she mocked me.

"Your ruin has opened its jaws toward your beginning.”

The resigned sermon of a clergyman warning of the end times spoke of despair.

Cold. The back of my neck was cold. Chilly sweat ran down my chest and back. I had to endure it. I bit my lip to keep from losing consciousness. Blood seeped out, and together with the disgusting metallic smell, my scattered mind snapped firmly back into place.

"You stand before the beginning of eternity.”

I know.

But I couldn't bring myself to voice this thought out loud. 

Trapped within the sunlight, I found myself staring at the lake, which had somehow turned pitch-black and begun bubbling violently.

The horizon wavered. The ominous stars began falling beyond it.

With the instinctive certainty that taking even a single step outside this light would leave me unable to return, I remained completely still within this sunlight.

Then voices of every kind began screaming.

Save me, why did you abandon me, this isn't what I thought would happen, I was saved… 

Then they abruptly stopped.

The voices that had been screaming over one another unified beneath a single will and spoke as one sentence. 

"Your enemies understood its might.” 

I almost protested, then clamped my mouth shut. 

Right. I had only asked about their relationship, so it was perfectly capable of answering me like this. I instinctively knew that if I wanted anything beyond this, I would have to pay a greater price. Getting the answers I wanted without destroying myself was trickier than I had expected. Even more so now that I knew that the other party wasn’t some benevolent being.

Should I dig deeper?

My curiosity about the truth behind everything slowly began to rise again. But at the same time, non-wizard Baek Jemin’s panicked voice was wailing in my head. What good was learning the truth if I couldn’t escape from here afterward?

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel a certain self-destructive urge to just get it all over with and end up a mindless idiot.

If someone could stand before a being that gave answers as long as you offered something in return and didn't feel like that even a little bit, they probably had no hunger for intellectual advancement at all. Whether the answer was actually correct didn’t matter.

More important than verifying the truth was the base curiosity of warning to learn something unknown before anyone else did.

This was exhausting.

The more I tried to suppress that desire, the more it swelled like a balloon. I wanted to ask. I wanted to grab them by the collar and wrestle with them until they just told me everything and got it over with.

But the smell of blood from where I’d bitten my lip hit my nose and brought me back to my senses.

My goal was to become a Great Archmage.

Learning every possible truth until I became a complete idiot was only a secondary desire.

Once I realized that, I knew what I should ask.

"I, Baek Jemin, offer the irrepressible joy and ecstasy I felt when I met Go Ryeoha for the first time and a pretty woman showed interest in me after a long expedition. In exchange, I ask this question. Tell me where I can find a clue that will let me escape the Republic of Korea in 2038 and return to the Korea of my original world."

If the scope of the question was vague, the answer would be equally imprecise. The other party knew that and deliberately mocked me with it. If I demanded that it give me the answer I wanted, it would cram an insane amount of information and knowledge into my head, most of it useless to me right now, and take every memory I had in exchange.

Humans often delude themselves.

They think there must be something uniquely theirs even without memories or consciousness. Something that would still make them themselves. I don’t understand why people like that believe in reincarnation or possession. They know perfectly well that if your environment changes, your life changes, yet somehow they don’t understand that if your memories change, your life changes too.

Maybe they know and just want to look away.

Because they want to believe humans are special. That because they are special, there must be something that proves their individuality without depending on environment or memory. That was why humans could shout about equality and still never truly be equal.

How could those who called themselves the lords of creation and wanted to be special among all things ever genuinely pursue equality among humans?

I simply accepted the base, instinctive desire that humanity covered up with hypocrisy.

I want to be special.

And to do that, I would escape this damned place, return to my original world, selectively pass on only the most useless pieces of what I had learned so I could maintain my information advantage, and use that advantage to earn everyone’s envy.

And I would never let anyone else learn magic.

Once I admitted my true intentions to myself without shame, I felt completely refreshed. With that weight lifted, I quietly waited for the answer.

Then the voice of a middle-aged man steeped in regret whispered to me.

"The President.”

"..."

"He is here.”

"What?"

But that was the end of the answer. 

When I looked around, the owner of the Double-Semicircle Grimoire had already concluded the transaction. 

A violently churning horizon. A lake that had somehow risen to my navel. A collapsing night sky.

Amid all of it, the owner of the Double-Semicircle Grimoire abandoned human language once again. They spoke through revelations and signs. 

I shall grant you a spell.

Accept that salvation is not in the form you desired. 

The revelation, sullied by [Degradation], was engraved into my mind in the base language of humans. 

This contract is absolutely fair.

You are being saved through this book right now. 

* * * 

-Huuuagh… 

I-I can’t breathe 

Why? 

I didn’t even have time to feel pain. 

I didn’t have the presence of mind to check my surroundings. 

I rolled across the floor and retched. It felt like something was lodged solidly in my stomach. Except the retching turned into actual vomiting. The moment I opened my mouth and retched, clear water came pouring out.

At first it was only a handful, but eventually it became a puddle. It soaked one corner of the supermarket floor, then rose high enough to splash when stepped in. An amount of water that could never possibly fit inside a human stomach kept pouring endlessly from my mouth.

Only after I had spent a long time throwing up this water and the amount finally began to decrease did my hearing gradually return.

-Uwegh, blegh. Uuurgh.

Some bastard was making noises like someone was wringing him out, which made my brow furrow instantly. Couldn’t he puke with a little dignity? Pulling this kind of stunt right beside the great Beak Jemin, the very embodiment of elegance who never loses his composure even while vomiting, was honestly disgusting.

As time passed, it also became clear who was making those awful noises.

"Kegh, kek. Kehehegh…”

Me.

Well, I guess it would be strange for someone to vomit up this much water without making a single choking noise.

After I finished vomiting everything out on all fours, I stared at the puddle sloshing deep enough to cover my wrists and sank into regret. Even if I drank all the water I’d ever need for the rest of my life in one sitting, I probably couldn’t spew out this much.

The high-quality poncho I was wearing saved me.

Even lying face-down, surprisingly little of me had gotten wet. Figuring this much would dry quickly, I solely pushed myself upright, and familiar voices reached me from a distance.

"Jemin-ssi, are you finally done throwing up?”

Hamza was looking at me with a mixture of worry and fear.

It wasn’t just Hamza. The other Supreme Wizards had laid cardboard over bottled-water packs and display shelves and were sitting on top of them, staring down at me with sullen expressions.

"Stop. Don’t come any closer, heretic. Baek Jemin, you’re fired as youth group leader. That whole vomiting-water thing is proof you made the contract, right? You bastard. You actually went through with making a deal with the devil?”

"Sejun-ssi and I survived because we could run. Right?”

"Looking at you like that makes me miss Wuss-Jemin-ssi. He may have been my formidable rival, but at least he was qualified to be part of us Siblings.”

Haah~ What a complete letdown.

Just as I was about to fire something back at them, I noticed I was holding something. The Double-Semicircle Grimoire was in my left hand, still open. The difference from before was that something resembling crude scribbles had appeared across the previously blank page.

Thankfully, the Double-Semicircle Grimoire hadn't done anything horrific, like engraving a double-semicircle pattern into my body.

It had only made me throw up some water.

Apparently humans were tougher than people thought. I hadn't died even after pouring out about 70% of my body.

But the moment I saw the crude writing newly engraved on the blank page, it automatically translated itself into human language inside my head. Even though the effect of Tongue-branch, Stage 1, [Degradation] had already worn off and I wasn’t using it.

Karwarak Shutet.

What a strange phrase. This spell was what resulted when a human vocal tract barely managed to imitate it, distorting it into something vaguely similar and utterly ridiculous. But the effect written beside the incantation made me understand why Ritual-type magic, despite its dangers, could serve as an alternative.

[Karwarak Shutet].

This spell reveals the location of an object or clue desired by the caster and the route leading there. Even if the caster walks without thinking after chanting the spell, they will arrive at the palace they seek, and no matter what obstructs them, they will reach it without fail.

Even if they die and turn into a corpse.

-Ssssup, haaah…

I had gained a lot.

Stepping through the puddle I had vomited up and splashing through it, I closed the grimoire and stroked its cover.

"Karwarak Shutet."

O ominous and ridiculous spell, guide me to the place where I can find a clue to escaping this damned world.

No matter if they used some trivial trick or resisted, they couldn’t ever hope to overcome, there was only one way to delay destruction. Whatever the 66 Society had done, this world had failed to stop the monsters and likely never could have stopped them.

I didn't want to stay any longer in a place that had met this ruin because it couldn’t bring itself to harm precious human lives, because it loved humanity far too much.

"Heretic! I told you not to come over here! You little punk, I’m already going easy on you by not cracking your skull open! If Christianity were the state religion of the Republic of Korea, you’d have been burned at the stake already!”

"Pastor, knock it off before I hit you with a water cannon.”

"Ugh. Jemin-ssi, you’re disgusting.”

I ignored that fanatic Christian zealot bastard and that damn Muslim bastard throwing a fit and walked over.

Obviously, there was a clear limit to the dangers I could handle alone.

"Hubae-nim, are you able to shoot water now? You’d make a perfect firefighter.”

"Firefighter…Perhaps that wouldn’t be a bad choice for your next career path.”

"Master. There are already plenty of people who’d blame me for not saving them. Do I really need to become a firefighter and get cursed out twice as much?”

I cut down the Shitblings' bullshit too.

Firefighter, my ass. When everyone else runs away, I should run away with them. Why the hell would I charge into danger? If there’s no guaranteed reward for me, that’d just be insane. I was the normal one here. Firefighters were the abnormal ones.

There are plenty of people out there getting gaslit by the idea that power comes with responsibility and agonizing themselves to death over it.

Power carries no responsibility.

I gained power so I wouldn’t have to take responsibility.

Still, I found myself thinking about the final thing the owner of the Double-Semicircle Grimoire had left me with.

The President.

There would’ve been one in 2038 as well. 

There had been mentions of an economic recession on the phone, but when it came to changes in the political system, the ruling and opposition parties were still fighting as usual, so the system itself must have remained intact here as well.

But was there really a reason for them to specifically mention the President?

As I slipped in among the Supreme Archmages, the hem of my poncho scattering water all over the floor, several clues came to my mind.

Why Gangnam Thousand-Miles Eyes, despite having reached such a high level, had gone berserk, demanding they hand over the President.

The parallel world of 2038 connected through the underground of Hwaseo Station.

Go Ryeoha, Hamza, and Lee Sejun, who hadn’t even cared to tell me, their leader, who always took such great care of the Supreme Archmages, what they had been doing for an entire week.

It was still only speculation, but one hypothesis was beginning to form in my mind.

"First, Go Ryeoha, Lee Sejun, and Hamza. Tell me everything that happened to you while I wasn't there. Including how you all joined up.”

We were latecomers.

But by making a deal with the grimoire, I had gained a chance to catch up.

Here, in this place where traces of the 66 Society should still remain, we had to plunder their plans and knowledge.

All while considering the possibility that the President of our world, Korea of 2028, might have met his end here.