Chapter 101 – Ghost (3)

The five cadets froze for a long time and occasionally looked around. The mountain suddenly became flat and Kim Hajin disappeared. Another strange phenomenon occurred. The scenery rapidly changed as if time had reversed. The sun in the middle of the sky fell and disappeared. Darkness covered them as they panicked. The five cadets nervously came together.

“Hiik.”

Yoo Yeonha began to tear up. She couldn’t even look at a horror movie poster, much less endure this frightening phenomenon.

“Let’s… stay calm.”

Kim Suho snapped out first as Shin Jonghak also stepped up so he wouldn’t lose.

“Calm down. That Kim Hajon must’ve gotten lost since he’s a bit dull. Or maybe he sneaked away to claim something for himself. After all, we’re on Wind Mountain.”

“It’s Kim Hajin, not Kim Hajon.”

The Jinsung group privately owned Wind Mountain. No one could enter without permission, which meant plenty of precious herbs grew about. Shin Jonghak theorized that Kim Hajin came across one and sneaked away to steal it.

“What? Then how do you explain this? Not only did the mountain become flat, but the sun also disappeared from the sky!”

Chae Nayun pointed to the darkness around them and the thick, overgrown weeds at least 80 centimeters tall.

“That’s…”

Shin Jonghak became speechless. Psss— They heard an animal moving through the grass. Yoo Yeonha shrunk like a frightened rabbit as Kim Suho and Shin Jonghak pointed their weapons in that direction. Ssss— Ssss— Something approached them while rustling through the leaves. Gulp. They nervously waited for three minutes.

“I thought it was a mountain beast. Who would’ve thought it was a bunch of kids?”

A man in his mid-forties appeared. He wore dark blue pants and a baggy dress shirt. He looked like a typical salaryman from the 70s and 80s.

“What are you kids doing here?”

He spoke with somewhat of an old accent. The cadets silently examined him. The man also scrutinized them, especially the female cadets.

“Eh? Why aren’t you talking?”

Shin Jonghak stepped up when the middle-aged man urged them.

“Oy, you. Where is—”

Kim Suho quickly interrupted Shin Jonghak’s ill-mannered speech.

“Um, sir, where are we?”

“Huh?” The man stared incredulously at Kim Suho, then suddenly smirked. “What do you mean? We’re in Gwangmyeong. This is a danger zone. We don’t know when magic power will explode again.”

“Magic power explosion?” Kim Suho murmured. The term sounded familiar.

[A phenomenon where unstable mana exploded. The world’s unstable mana frequently exploded for three years after Outcall.]

He recalled from a textbook.

“That’s right. You’ll die if you stay here, so follow me.”

“…”

The man mentioned an extinct phenomenon like it still happened. Kim Suho fell into thought. Magic power explosion. A mountain that turned into flat ground. The man’s old-fashioned clothes…

“Let’s follow him for now.”

They should follow this man to better understand the situation. All five cadets thought the same and nodded somewhat reluctantly. Shin Jonghak then spoke to the man.

“Lead the way.”

“Eh?” Kim Suho quickly corrected him and pushed him to the side. “Ahaha, this is our first time here, so we’ll have to ask you to guide us.”

“What, Kim Suho, you’re gonna provoke me in this situation?”

“Shut up…”

“Just stay quiet and follow along.”

They followed the middle-aged man through the tall grass and heard occasional howls. Eventually, they reached what seemed like a city.

“This is…”

The cadets suddenly halted and blankly stared at the collapsed buildings and barricades of scrap cars and iron bars. Smoke and flames rose from the city.

“Yo, Myungjong. Have you been doing a good job?”

“Of course. Um… who are they?”

“Haha.”

The middle-aged man greeted a young man guarding the entrance who glanced at them with a smile. The middle-aged man turned to the cadets and spoke.

“What’s up? Come in.”

“Um, first, where is this?” Kim Suho asked.

The middle-aged man grinned at Kim Suho’s serious tone.

“It’s the safest place around, Gwangmyeong City Hall.”

They had driven by in a limousine earlier in the day. However, the Gwangmyeong City Hall they passed wasn’t dilapidated like this. Kim Suho began to understand the situation.

The man’s clothes. Magic power explosion.

“Can you tell me today’s date?”

“Date?”

Kim Suho asked in a stiff voice. The man rubbed his chin and shook his head.

“Don’t know. Who has the time to count nowadays? I guess it’s about 72 now.”

The cadets fell into a daze once again. Ding— Their heads rang.

“As in… 1972?”

“Well, it sure isn’t 1872.”

The young man guarding the entrance walked up. Then several men appeared from on top of the barricades. Their eyes coldly flickered as they looked down at the cadets.

“Come in. It’s dangerous outside.”

The young man grabbed Chae Nayun’s wrist.

“Hey, let her go.”

Kim Suho pushed him away and pulled out the branch he brought just in case.

“A branch?”

“Hey kiddo, put that down. We’re not bad people.”

“…”

Kim Suho tried to unleash his magic power to intimidate them. Right, he tried. Unfortunately, he couldn’t muster any magic power.

“Hey, Kim Suho. I can’t use my magic power!”

Chae Nayun experienced the same thing and sounded flustered. Meanwhile, the men on top of the barricades jumped down. At least twenty surrounded them. They imbued magic power into their iron bars.

“These pieces of trash dare to…”

A neon light flashed in the distance as Shin Jonghak began to curse them. Everyone’s attention fell on the light. A man in a helmet rode on a high-tech bike.

“A-Ah! That son of a bitch is back! Run inside guys!”

The middle-aged man urged his friends.

“Hurry! He’s a man-eating monster! Stop dilly-dallying! Alert Asura… aak!”

A white flash erupted and something instantly penetrated the man’s shoulder. It didn’t end there. Several streaks of light shot forward and lit up the darkness. Yoo Yeonha easily identified the attack.

“Bullets?”

“Uuk—”

The barrage of bullets dissolved the encirclement as Kim Suho and the others quickly retreated. They stopped and turned to the man on the bike once they reached far enough. The mysterious man raised his hands and slowly took off his helmet. Soon, they saw his face.

“Huh?”

The man neatly tied up his long hair and had a scruffy beard that covered his chin. His facial hair made him look like someone from a Western movie, but they all recognized him. Kim Suho murmured in a daze.

“Kim Hajin?”

***

I thought I would be sent back to the past with them just because we walked in the same place at the same time. I was too naive.

About forty days ago, or what should’ve been a few minutes for Kim Suho and the others, I fell into the past while climbing Wind Mountain. The other five experienced a more natural progression since they arrived together.

I panicked at first. However, I realized the situation wasn’t that bad. As expected, the djinns ruling over this place felt stronger than in the original story. Being sent back before the others gave me more time to prepare.

I got busy from the first day. First, I looked for a place to stay. A djinn ruled over Gwangmyeong City Hall, so I had to pick another place close enough to observe them. Next, I observed the djinn’s movements and attacked his subordinates to hinder their growth. I ate alone, attacked alone, and ran alone for 40 days. Today, I finally reunited with them.

“Then this really is…”

Kim Suho quietly listened to my story as we returned to my base.

“That’s right. We’re in Gwangmyeong of 1972. Outcall happened only 15 months ago, so this place is still hell.”

They turned as stiff as a rock. Even Shin Jonghak had a grave look.

“Then how long have you been here?” Yoo Yeonha asked.

“I don’t know.”

My hair and beard grew a lot after 40 days because of the high mana concentration. Energy conversion also made my facial hair grow faster.

“Maybe a year?” I said that as a joke. However, a heavy silence descended. The moonlight lit up the darkness as the only source of light. The others stared at me with incomprehensible faces. I felt satisfied and laughed as I corrected myself.

“I’m kidding. I’ve only been here for about five weeks.”

“…”

However, they remained silent.

“R-Really. It wasn’t that bad of an experience.”

It felt like a necessary experience. For two months, I fought people, not monsters. The atmosphere became awkward, but Shin Jonghak asked without much care.

“So did you find out what caused this phenomenon?”

“Yeah, more or less.”

“Really?” Yoo Yeonha’s eyes widened.

“I’ll explain later. For now, let’s get to the base.”

***

We arrived at my base. I chose an abandoned building buried in a nearby forest. It served as a good temporary shelter with only one entrance.

“Not even my horse would live here.”

“Hajin, you spent a year here? With nothing around?”

Shin Jonghak shook his head in disapproval as Kim Suho asked with a look of pity.

“It hasn’t been a year. Please believe me!”

I emphasized once again. I never would’ve made that joke if I knew they would pity me like this.

“But there’s… nothing.”

“Yeah, I’m surprised you lived here for so long. You have my respect.”

Yoo Yeonha and Chae Nayun grimaced. I couldn’t blame them. This was probably their first time seeing such a dilapidated home with only rocks and cockroaches. However, that was only for now.

“Just wait. There’s a lot more to see.”

I took out the duffel bag on my motorbike and pulled out two magic tents. I imbued a bit of stigma’s magic power into them… tada! They instantly expanded.

“Whoa! What’s this?”

Two proper homes popped up. Chae Nayun’s eyes lit up as she approached the tents.

“Oh, before I explain what’s going on, aren’t you guys hungry?”

Everyone other than Shin Jonghak looked at me with sparkling eyes. I took out a grill, an icebox, and several pieces of cooking equipment.

“Oh, but we’ll need to butcher it first.”

I already ate most of the food I brought other than some spam and ten bags of ramen I saved for an emergency. As a result, we would have to hunt wild animals and butcher them.

“Butcher?”

“Yeah.”

I opened the icebox with a pig’s torso split in half. I caught this one two days ago and butchered it myself. For the record, I vomited twice during the entire process.

“We have to butcher this.”

I looked at Kim Suho. He grinned and raised his hand.

“I’ll do it. I’m good at stuff like this.”

“Yi Yeonghan, you help him too.”

“Okay.”

“Butchering, it suits you. Kim Suho the Butcher, that can be your title.”

Shin Jonghak taunted Kim Suho from the side. I handed him four empty water buckets.

“You, go get water. There’s a stream to the right.”

“What?”

Shin Jonghak frowned. I had never seen him so angry. He seemed to be saying something like, How dare you order me around! However, I already knew the magic words to control him.

“Hey, Chae Nayun. Go with him.”

“Hm? Me?” Chae Nayun scurried out of the tent.

“Hm.”

Shin Jonghak silently took the canteens. Then he coughed a few times and handed two buckets to Chae Nayun.

“Let’s go.”

“Are we going to get water?”

“Yeah.”

“Great. I was getting thirsty.”

Chae Nayun and Shin Jonghak walked to the stream.

“Hmph, why is it Chae Nayun?”

Yoo Yeonha grumbled as she watched them leave. She turned away and sulked when I glanced at her. I murmured to myself.

“Let’s make some ramen when they come back with water.”

“Ramen?”

Yoo Yeonha’s grumpy face instantly disappeared. I took out a few bags of ramen from the duffel bag.

“Yeah. Why? You don’t like them? You’re not going to pretend to be a chaebol, right?”

Yoo Yeonha smacked her lips and shook her head. “No, ssp. I guess there’s, ssp, no choice. It’s better than starving to death, ssp.”

She must’ve been hungry as she loudly swallowed her saliva.